Jackson & Nullification Crisis:
Effects
For Argument
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Against Argument
A pretext to the civil war: Andrew Jackson-"the tariff was only a pretext, and disunion and Southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or slavery question."
Causes
The Tariff of 1816 placed a 20-25% tax on all foreign goods
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Growth in Sectionalism
The Nullification Convention(1832)- declared that the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional.
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John Quincy Adams, former president, was one of the most influential figures in opposition to John C. Calhoun and the nullification.
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Jackson vehemently opposed any measure that could potentially break up the Union.
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The South was primarily against the protective tariffs because they were agricultural and relied on the North for manufactured goods.The South saw these tariffs as damaging to their economy and were more conscious of their minority position.
ARGUMENT
Jackson argued, despite opposition from the South, that is was the Supreme Court, rather than the states that had the ultimate right do declare something unconstitutional.
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Nullification is the formal suspension by a state of a federal law within its borders. The principle of nullification was accepted by the Hartford Convention of New Englanders in 1814 as well as many in the South. Nullification would serve as protection against federal encroachment on their rights but remained a point of contention and reached such crisis.
The Tariff of 1828 (the Tariff of Abominations) was the third protective tariff and taxes increased to nearly 50%
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John C. Calhoun, Jackson's Vice President, declared the Tariff of Abomination unconstitutional and unenforceable, proposing the theory of nullification which went against Jackson's ideals.
The Tariff of 1824 was the second protective tariff that raised duties still higher. There was 35% duty on imported iron, wool, cotton, and hemp.
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The Force Bill, which temporarily allowed Jackson to to use the U.S. military to enforce the collection of federal import duties in states that refused to pay them was a signal to the South that nullification and ideas of succession were intolerable.