N ULLIFICATION C RISIS : Civil war averted

T HE E CONOMIES OF THE N ORTH AND S OUTH Economy of the North Fishing, shipbuilding industry and naval supplies, trade and port cities Skilled craftsmen, shopkeepers, manufacturing (textiles, tools, metals, building materials, etc.) Economy of the South Large farms/plantations, cash crops (tobacco, indigo, rice, cotton), wood products, small farms Slavery

T HE D EBATE O VER T ARIFFS Tariffs are taxes that the government puts on imported goods (Goods brought in from other countries). Pro : If you were a craftsman or manufacturer in the United States, you would like tariffs because your products would not have that additional tax, therefore your products are cheaper than foreign products. People will be more likely to buy your products. Con : If your business is agriculture, you need to sell your food and raw materials and buy manufactured goods. You may depend on foreign nations to buy your goods and in return you buy their manufactured goods. You are afraid that tariffs will make foreign goods more expensive. You worry that if you don’t buy their goods, then they won’t buy your farm goods and your economy will suffer.

T ARIFF OF 1828 T ARIFF OF 1828 T HE T ARIFF OF A BOMINATIONS Congress passed a controversial high protective tariff on imported raw materials and manufactured goods Southerners felt economic interests of the Northeast were determining national policy

J OHN C. C ALHOUN – S OUTH C AROLINA Vice President under Andrew Jackson Believed the Tariff of 1828 was unconstitutional since it favored the North Insisted that states had a right to refuse to follow a law if the state felt it violated its rights States could declare a federal law null and void This is called nullification, a rejection of the law He and many other Southerners called the 1828 tariff a “Tariff of Abominations”

S OUTH C AROLINA E XPOSITION AND P ROTEST J OHN C. C ALHOUN Read the Document and Complete the APPARTS Analysis – 15 minutes

A NDREW J ACKSON Believed in preserving the Union and fought nullification Recommended to Congress to reduce the Tariff of 1828, so they passed another tariff in 1832

N ULLIFICATION O RDINANCE South Carolina was not pleased with the new tariff either. They said it was oppressive, so the state passed the Nullification Ordinance in Declared the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void Stated they would secede if the federal government used force to make them comply.

J ACKSON ’ S R ESPONSE Claimed secession would be considered treason. Defended the federal government’s power to impose tariffs and chastised South Carolina for violating federal law because a state had no right to declare any national law null and void.

A NDREW J ACKSON ’ S N ULLIFICATION P ROCLAMATION Read the Document and Complete the APPARTS Analysis – 10 minutes

J ACKSON ’ S N ULLIFICATION P ROCLAMATION A uthor P lace and Time P rior Knowledge A udience R eason T he Main Idea S ignificance Andrew Jackson 1832, Washington D.C. Jackson is President; He supports the Union; South Carolina has nullified the Tariffs and threatened to secede if they are forced to comply South Carolina political leaders; leaders of other states who sympathize with South Carolina; people of South Carolina To assert federal authority and enforce the federal tariffs; to prevent South Carolina from seceding from the Union when it is enforced; Wants to keep the union together Nullification is not an option; federal law will be enforced; South Carolina wants to break up the union; secession will be considered treason; appealing to S.C.’s patriotism and history with references to Revolutionary families Jackson is upholding federal authority and establish that secession is treason; responding to first true threat of breaking apart the union; We see the beginnings of the state’s rights arguments and a growing rift between the north and the south over federal policy

F ORCE B ILL The Force Bill Jackson asked Congress to grant him the ability to use military force to compel South Carolina to accept and follow the law -- The Force Bill Compromise Tariff Meanwhile Henry Clay proposed another tariff in Congress that would reduce tariffs significantly over the next ten years – Compromise Tariff Both of these passed in 1833, and South Carolina repealed its ordinance.

W HO W ON ? Both sides claimed victory Nationalists said they won because they showed that no state is more powerful than the federal government. South Carolina said that the nullification process allowed them to get what they wanted. What do you think?