This is a re-post from my U.S. history blog.
New England textile manufacturers complained of British products being dumped on the market, so they wanted a higher tariff to protect their domestic products. Westerners wouldn't agree to this unless imported raw materials (especially wool) also had a tariff put on them. The tariff was revised, and a little more than half of New England opposed it. Many of those were merchants, who did not wish to pay a 62% rate on raw goods when they brought them into the country. The New Englanders who supported the tariff saw that the long term benefits, increasing America's industrial system and power, would be worth it.
The South was opposed to it almost entirely, with 50 out of 53 votes going against the tariff. Their cotton would be more expensive for Britain to import (so they would buy less), and the European goods that the South liked to buy would become more expensive. It was a lose-lose situation, they felt. The South lost money from decreased exports and more expensive imports. (Britain also lowered their imports of Southern cotton from abolitionist pressure.) On top of that, the economies of some of the older Southern states were also hurt by people moving towards the newer ones for better soil and more land.
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