The Gilded Age · 1897
The Dingley Tariff
The Gilded Age
This tariff act redeemed the promises made in the Republican campaign to restore high protective tariffs. Average tariffs became 47%. The Dingley Tariff replaced the Wilson-Gorman Act of 1894.
The tariff was introduced by US Representative Nelson Dingley of Maine. President McKinley had run on a promise of raising additional protections. The act placed a tariff on wool and hides which had been duty free. In the first year of its operation the average tariff was raised to 51% the highest in American history. The tariff remained in effect until 1909 making it the longest-lived tariff in American history.