Question

The North American Civil War, October, 1861
The Trent Case, November, 1861
The Anglo-American Conflict, November, 1861
Controversy Over the Trent Case, December, 1861
The Progress of Feelings in England, December, 1861
The Crisis Over the Slavery Issue, December, 1861
News from America, December, 1861
The Civil War in the United States, October, 1861
The Dismissal of Frémont, November, 1861

Friedrich Engels: Lessons of the American Civil War, December, 1861

based on Karl Marx's analysis of the causes of the U. S. Civil War in his article of 20 October 1861 from the above articles,

Why does Karl Marx in his article The North American Civil War of October, 1861 claim that the mainstream British press falsely describe that war as an issue of free-trade vs. protectionist economic policy? (History question)

Answer 1

The British press, while covering the American Civil war, was of the opinion that the war was not because of slavery, but rather it was a war between free-trade and protectionist economic policies- where the north stood for protectionism and the south stood for free trade and slavery was not the main issue.

Karl Marx disagreed with that notion. Marx said that the British press was arguing that the south wants to enjoy the full fruits of the slave labor (essentially, free trade) while the north is asking the south to reduce its benefits of slave labor (essentially, being protectionist) and so the issue is rather of free trade. Marx was of the opinion that USA already has a free trade system from 1846 to 1861, and the protectionist tariffs introduced by Rep Morill in 1861 were done after the civil war had already broken out, not before. So to say that the protectionism was the reason for civil war can't be true. In fact, Marx argued, that secession congress held at Montgomery didnt even discuss tariffs and protectionism and that Louisiana, a secessionist state, depended entirely on protectionism!

Marx also hints that the British view is tinted in favor of the South, maybe because of their own history with USA, and hence biased against the North- that the British would be glad to see the USA reduced in size. Hence, while they supported the idea of South seceding in one article, wrote another article saying slavery was not the main reason- so that they could maintain moral high ground.