Nullification Crisis of 1832 -
South Carolina Rejection of Federal Tariffs
The Nullification Crisis was a significant event in U.S. history where several states, including South Carolina, sought to nullify federal tariffs. This led to a confrontation between President Andrew Jackson (center) and South Carolina officials led by John C. Calhoun (left). Ultimately, Calhoun and Henry Clay (right) reached a compromise, ending the crisis, but the event highlighted tensions between states’ rights and the power of the federal government.
Source:
Nullification Crisis: 1832-1833
American History Central
https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/nullification-crisis/
Significance
The Nullification Crisis is important to American History because it was the first time a dispute between the Federal Government and a state government teetered on the verge of civil war. Although the Tariff of 1833 helped ease tensions, it did not resolve the regional differences between the North and the South, nor did it resolve the issue of state’s rights. When South Carolina threatened secession and passed the Ordinance of Nullification, it set a precedent for future disputes between the Federal Government and the states.
Source:
Nullification Crisis - Significance
American History Central
https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/nullification-crisis/
Overview
The Nullification Crisis of 1832–1833 was a political dispute between the Federal Government and the state of South Carolina over tariffs that were designed to protect manufacturers in the Northern states who were competing with British manufacturers. The tariffs imposed heavy taxes on British products, which hurt the Southern states’ economies. In 1832, South Carolina political leaders responded to the tariffs with the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, challenging the authority of the Federal Government. South Carolina justified its actions with the principle of nullification and declared the tariffs unconstitutional. As the dispute escalated, South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union. President Andrew Jackson responded by issuing a proclamation that made it clear he intended to preserve the Union and he also sent troops to Charleston. Senators Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun brokered the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which helped bring the crisis over tariffs to an end.
Source:
Nullification Crisis - Overview
American History Central
https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/nullification-crisis/
Jackson’s Proclamation to the People of South Carolina
Pres. Andrew Jackson regarded the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification as a clear threat to the federal union and to national authority. He reacted by submitting to Congress a Force Bill authorizing the use of federal troops in South Carolina if necessary to collect tariff duties. On December 10, 1832, Jackson issued his “Proclamation to the People of South Carolina,” asserting the supremacy of the federal government and warning that “disunion by armed force is treason.” In rebutting Calhoun’s states’ rights position, Jackson argued:
The ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of resisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional and too oppressive to be endured but on the strange position that any one state may not only declare an act of Congress void but prohibit its execution; that they may do this consistently with the Constitution; that the true construction of that instrument permits a state to retain its place in the Union and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those it may choose to consider as constitutional. It is true, they add, that to justify this abrogation of a law it must be palpably contrary to the Constitution; but it is evident that to give the right of resisting laws of that description, coupled with the uncontrolled right to decide what laws deserve that character, is to give the power of resisting all laws.
Jackson’s proclamation evoked a defiant response from South Carolina in the resolutions of December 20, including the declaration “that each state of the Union has the right, whenever it may deem such a course necessary for the preservation of its liberties or vital interests, to secede peaceably from the Union” and that the South Carolina legislature “regards with indignation the menaces which are directed against it, and the concentration of a standing army on our borders—that the state will repel force by force, and, relying upon the blessings of God, will maintain its liberty at all hazards.”
Source:
Jackson’s Proclamation to the People of South Carolina
Britannica.com
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Revised and updated by J.E. Luebering.
Outcome of the Nullification Crisis
In its attempts to have other Southern states join in nullification, South Carolina met with total failure. On March 1, 1833, Congress passed the Force Bill. South Carolina’s isolation, coupled with Jackson’s determination to employ military force if necessary, ultimately forced South Carolina to retreat. But, with the help of Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky, a moderate tariff bill more acceptable to South Carolina also was passed on March 1. The South Carolina convention responded on March 15 by rescinding the Ordinance of Nullification but three days later maintained its principles by nullifying the Force Bill.
The Nullification Crisis made President Jackson a hero to nationalists. But Southerners were made more conscious of their minority position and more aware of their vulnerability to a Northern majority as long as they remained in the union.
Source:
Jackson’s Proclamation to the People of South Carolina -
Outcome of the Nullification Crisis
Britannica.com
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Revised and updated by J.E. Luebering.
See Also:
Nullification Proclamation: Primary Documents in American History
Library of Congress
https://guides.loc.gov/nullification-proclamation
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