In the mid-19th century, the Australian colonies needed to work together on things that affected them all, especially tariffs between the colonies. This cooperation led to plans to join the colonies together in a single federation. The push to do this came mainly from Britain and there was little local support. The smaller colonies thought they would be taken over by the larger ones. Victoria and New South Wales did not agree about the need to protect local industry, as opposed to allowing everyone to trade freely. The then-recent American Civil War also weakened the case for federalism. These difficulties led to the failure of several attempts to bring about federation in the 1860s and 1850s.