1. Andrew Jackson and Immigration

2. Nullification Crisis Tariffs Nullification Prohibitive in 1828
lower tariff rate, but applies to more goods
Nullification
Idea proposed by John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson’s vice president.
A state has the right to nullify federal laws within its own borders.

3. Jackson’s response Organized army.
Force Act – congress authorized the president to use force to make South Carolina comply with federal law.
THIS SETS A HUGE PRECEDENT:
The union was inviolable and affirms that federal law supercedes state law

4. Compromised - again Henry Clay organized it – again
Tariff reduced to pre-1828 levels.
South saved face – asserted that their ideals won out.
South Carolina legislature passed a resolution nullifying the Force Act.

5. What does this have to do with slavery?
Jamaica had a slave insurrection that convinced Great Britain to abolish slavery.
Accomplished within two years.
Compensation to owners.
Nat Turner’s rebellion.
The South viewed nullification as a method for keeping the federal government out of all aspects of Southern society.
if the federal government can tax them via tariffs and force it to stick, they could possibly pass laws against slavery

6. The Bank War
325 different private banks printed money

7. Bank War Currency Circular Specie Act Result – MASSIVE deflation
Removed all denominations greater than $5.
Specie Act
Requirement that all public lands be paid in gold or silver.
Result – MASSIVE deflation
Cotton prices dropped.
Unemployment surged.

8. Immigration

9. Immigration in US Early decades of the 1800s
Only about 5,000 immigrants per year.
1830s – increased to 50,000
1840s – increased to 150,000
1850s – increased to 300,000
Nation’s largest cities
Boston – ½ of the population
New York – more than ¾
Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and Providence – more than ½.

10. Effects of Immigration
The North’s population surged ahead of the South.
In many urban areas native born Americans are in the minority.

11. Irish Immigration Largely illiterate and took lowest paying jobs.
Lived in slum conditions.
Catholics

12. Irish Potato Famine Begins summer of 1845.
One expert thought it was static, smoke, or an underground volcano
Actually a fungus that originated in central America.

13. Famine’s impact 750,000 starved to death. 2 million left Ireland.
By 1850 Ireland’s population declined by 25%