5) Nullification Crisis

Question 1

What was the Tariff of abominations?

Answer 1

• after the war of 1812, a series of tariffs was enacted, in order to protect American manufacturing, which was still in its infancy, from low-prioced British manufactured goods
• 1828, the highest of these tariffs placed by John Quincy Adams, Congress passing legislation to shelter arising American manufacturing from British competition

Question 2

How did the Tariff 1828 effect the South domestically?

Answer 2

• known by S opp as the Tariff of Abominations
• heightened sectional tensions
• tariffs would benefit the Northern domestic manufacturing industry but meant that S slaveholders had to pay higher prices for goods

Question 3

How did the 1828 Tariff effect the South internationally?

Answer 3

• S feared foreign countries would raise higher tariffs on the South’s produced raw materials
• in response, the british reduced their exports to the US, which meant they had less money to pay for US exports, esp S cotton- imported less cotton, which deppresses the S economy

Question 4

What did people expect of Jackson?

Answer 4

• had been voted into office in 1828 partly due to a belief in the South that he would enact policies more aligned with their planters and slaveholders interests
• John C Calhoun is his VP
• S expected he would repeal or at least the tariff and so protect their interests more than JQA had

Question 5

What happend after Jackson failed to address the tariff?

Answer 5

• rift between the VP & president developed
• Calhoun wrote and anonymously published a pamphlet titled ‘SOUTH CAROLINA EXPOSITION AND PROTEST’
• the theory of nullification, insisting that SCarolina could refuse to enforce federal law, spiked a crisis over the doctrine of nullification and constitutionality

Question 6

What was in Calhoun’s pamphlet?

Answer 6

• put forward the theory of nullification
• federal law is null and void within state borders
• because given federal authority is gained from the consent of states, states could nullify any federal law they found unconstitutional
• he said that the US const only authorised tariffs in order to raise revenue, not to discourage foreign competition

Question 7

What did JQA think of nullification?

Answer 7

• leading voice oppposing JCC and nullification
• said that the Supreme Court had teh ultimate authority to claim federal legislation unconstitutional, not states

Question 8

What did Jackson think of nullification?

Answer 8

• sympathetic to Southeners and supported states’ rights but refused to support or entertain threats of nullification as he viewed it as a prelude to succession
• opposed any measure that could pot break up the union
• july 1832, signed a new tariff bill that lowered most import duties to their 1816 levels

Question 9

What did Southern radicals do in response to Jackson’s 1832 compromise?

Answer 9

• wished to see the tariff repealed
• in november 1832, a convention of Southern politicians and proponents of states rgights met to discuss nullification, where they declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional and so unenforcable in the state of South Carolina
• the delelgates of this convention threatened to secede if the fed gov tried to forcibly collect import duties

Question 10

What was Jackson’s 2nd compromise/ response to the 1832 nov convention?

Answer 10

• march 1833, signed new tariff bill to lower tariffs even further- appeased the South

but-
- also signed the Force Bill- authorised the compulsorary collection of import duties from the South, by force of arms if necesary
- this was a signal to the South that threats of nullification and secession would not be tolerated

• effectively brought the const crisis to an end but would not prevent the outbreak fo civil war

Question 11

What were the impacts if the nullification crisis?

Answer 11

• southern planters & slaveholders would continue to use the doctrine of states’ rights to protect the institution of slavery
• the crisis marks start of a dangerous precedent- could create a domino effect
• SC the first time any state threatens to secede
• tariff issue a pretext for the threat of secession for Southern radicals
• they were still suspicious of the fed gov, and would threaten to secede every time a federal policy or law was perceived as antagonistic to Southern slaveholding interests

Question 12

Why would N worry about S states seceding?

Answer 12

all the profits from S cotton are building N factories- S plantation owners are investing in the N infrastructure- money coming from S cotton

Question 13

What was the doctrine of nullification?

Answer 13

• states are predominantly states first before America- all have a right to NULLIFY (me void, cancel) or INVALIDATE any federal law which that state has deemed uNCONSTITUTIONAL