factor

factor – A person who acts or transacts business for another; an agent entrusted with the possession of goods to be sold in the agent's name; a merchant earning a commission by selling goods belonging to others.

Obviously, the word has several definitions; I've given a couple that may be less familiar. In the ante-bellum South, such crops as cotton, tobacco, and indigo would be shipped overseas to a factor, who would then handle the sale. The factor might also purchase and ship back items that were not readily available in the states. This became a bone of contention in the states that eventually made up the Confederacy. Since the federal government in its pre-income-tax days was mostly financed by import tariffs, Southerners felt - with some justification - that they were bearing a disproportianate share of the burden.