Coincidence

So, I went looking for what historians believe caused recessions and depression in American history.

Even the downturns that coincide with tariff increases are generally attributed to speculation and collapse of a foreign bank or market.

There's no causal relationship between the tariff increases and the downturns.

The 1828 recession that many people are blaming on the US increasing tariffs was happening because the United Kingdom had banned trade with the US.  The tariffs were a, "yeah, fuck you too!" measure that didn't really affect the loss of trade.  The increases were also set to match the tariffs that England had placed on the trade it had just banned.  Oh, and it lasted about a year.  Hardly the existential crisis that some people are making out to have been.

The 1820s saw a lot of recessions, actually.

Hmmmmm...  The '20's seem to be bad times no matter what two numbers are in front of them.

History might not repeat, but it rhymes.

Also, the Great Depression was shorter and less severe than many in the late 1800's and early 1900's!  It lasted 3 years 7 months and the economic downturn was around 25%.

The Panic of 1873 aka The Long Depression lasted 5 years 5 months and the downturn was about 34%.  Some historians say it really lasted until 1896.  It was caused by (surprise) economic problems in Europe and a domestic bank that was invested in those European problems failing.

Look it up!

I'll bet you'd never even heard of The Long Depression!

That there are many, compelling, arguments to the cause of the Great Depression that contradict each other, you cannot say, with certainty, that any one thing caused it.  Written by very highly educated and competent economists.

As with everything affected by the invisible hand, it's the combined circumstances that do it.

It's speculation AND tariffs AND changing the monetary policy AND deflation AND...  AND AND AND.