Evaluating The Contrasting Opinions Of Andrew Jackson And John C. Calhoun

In the United States so far, there have been dozens of presidents. To be exact, there have been 44 presidents. Every president has made his own, unique contribution to get the country to where it is today. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, was perhaps the most controversial president America has experienced. Jackson was a successful president in his own mind, escaping difficult living conditions as a child in South Carolina and fighting for the nation in the War of 1812 to completing his goals as president. Some of his achievements, however, did not benefit the country and its people. His egocentric behavior caused for harsh and brutal actions towards Indians. Although Jackson was able to fulfill his goals

Correspondingly, there was the quarrel over state versus federal rights. States felt they didn’t have any say if they disliked a federal law. So when all these compromises came about concerning slavery in the West, people wanted to be able to nullify federal laws. To nullify is to cancel, and in this case to cancel a federal law. People like John C. Calhoun fought for this right along with many others. However, the federal government felt this was not necessary, therefore, some states threatened to secede.

He pleaded Henry Clay, an old friend, to draft a solution with him. Clay developed a compromise proposal, which lowered the high tariffs by ten percent over eight years. The Compromise Tariff of 1833 barely passed through Congress, but it significantly changed the tariff. These new rates were not nearly as low as the Southerners had hoped they would be, but it was a better compromise than the Force Bill had offered. South Carolina’s legislature voted to recede their efforts to nullify the tariff acts, but they did attempt to nullify the Force Bill. Even though their nullification of the Force Bill was insignificant, it allowed South Carolina to feel slightly victorious.

While the United States worked hard to set up a working government, a heavily debated topic was states’ rights. “When high protective tariffs were passed by Congress in 1828 and 1832, South Carolina, led by John Calhoun, threatened to nullify them, making them null and void within that state” (What Caused the Civil War). Nullifying the law means that the state would ignore it. The Southern states were angered by the tariffs because they benefited the North and made it more difficult for the South. Hinston Helper states, “It is a fact well known to every intelligent Southerner that we are compelled to go to the North for almost every article of utility and adornment, from matches, shoepegs and paintings up to cotton-mills, steamships and …; that almost everything produced at the North meets with ready sale, while at the same time, there is no demand, even among our own citizens, for the productions of

The Nullification Crisis of 1832 is one of the crises that would eventually lead to the Civil War. Following the suffering of an economic downturn throughout the 1820s, the United States government passed several new tariffs. When the Tariff of 1828 was passed by the Congress of the United States on May 19, 1828, it sparked the debate over states’ rights and highlighted the growing sectional difference between the South and the North in America.

The people of South Carolina felt that the Tariff of Abominations placed upon them favored northern manufacturers, and wanted to invalidate, or nullify it. This movement was led by Jackson’s Vice President, John C. Calhoun, who was known to be the “Voice of the South.” However, Jackson claimed that nullification is “unauthorized by the constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State” (Primary). In other words, Jackson decided to stand against nullification of laws because they were a violation of the constitution and a sectionalism action by the South Carolinians. Jackson’s effort to fight for the rights of the union imprinted an idea that future presidents would follow. Sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln fought for the nationalist mentality his forefathers had worked to build. He attempted to abolish slavery in the South, because he believed that “A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Jackson 2001). Because Jackson fearlessly stood up for the rights of the union, he set a precedent of nationalist notions and actions that has carried throughout

Nullification Crisis was a political crisis that happen back in 1812 to 1813 in the United States. Andrew Jackson’s vice president and a native of South Carolina, proposed the theory of nullification, which declared the tariff unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable The Nullification Crisis created tensions because they raised prices on manufactured goods, which benefited the domestic manufacturing industry in the North but was bad for Southern slaveholders, who had to pay higher prices for goods was a problem between South Carolina and the federal government. Sothern’s said that the Tariffs of 1832 were unconstitutional and therefore and they have to be annulated. The Nullification Crisis happen because the United States had a bad moment in the economy since it went down in the late 1820’s. They also feared that foreign countries would enact higher tariffs on raw materials produced in the South. Moreover, because the British reduced their exports to the United States in response to the tariff, they had less money to pay for US imports, especially cotton from the South. The tariff of 1828 raised taxes on imported manufactures to reduce foreign competition with American manufacturing. Southerners, argued that the tariff enhanced the interests of the Northern manufacturing industry at their expense. In 1828, during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, the first protective tariff was passed, the first legislation that included an even higher tariff,

Everyone was hoping Andrew Jackson would lower tariffs once he became president. When Andrew Jackson did not address tariffs South Carolina decided to take charge. A convention place in South Carolina in 1832. It ruled that the tariffs of 1828 and and 1832 were unconstitutional and not enforceable in South Carolina after February 1, 1833. Just before this date Andrew Jackson created a force bill that allowed him to use military forces against South Carolina. He then created a new negotiated tariff for South Carolina, which was passed by congress.

The Tariff of 1828 raised taxes and the Southerners did not like this at all. South Carolina threatened to leave the union if the taxes were not lowered. Calhoun wanted to nullify the taxes in South Carolina, but Jackson threatened to bring military forces to South Carolina to solve the problem.

South Carolina retaliated against this insulting lack of concern for their voice in U.S. government. South Carolina then opted to act upon the Doctrine of Nullification and they threatened to break away from the union.2 Within this doctrine, South Carolina would preserve the right to null and void a law if they felt it was unconstitutional. South

The Nullification Crisis was a major political crisis that began with the Tariff of Abominations of 1828, which occurred during the presidency of Andrew Jackson involving a conflict with the United States Federal Government and South Carolina. South Carolina felt the Tariff was unconstitutional and

Many politicians also made attempts to either increase states rights or to increase those of the federal government. The debate over states rights led to a further division in political ideologies and consequently strengthened the two-party system. One such debate was over the Maysville Road Bill. When Jackson vetoed the bill to appropriate federal funds to repair an interstate road, it marked an enormous setback for nationalism and also the American System. His states' rights partiality angered Henry Clay and other believers in the American system because the veto attacked one of the major components of the system, a strong infrastructure including roads. Another issue dealing with the rights of the state governments that divided the nation political was South Carolina's Ordinance of Nullification. In reaction to the burden that the Tariff of Abominations placed upon the farmers of South Carolina, the state utilized its right to nullify the federal law. In nullifying the tariff, South Carolina took a bold step to declare its governmental rights. Jackson's hostile reaction to the South Carolinians created a growing political division, strengthening the imminent separation

Nullification considered by some, as the proper exercise of a state’s constitutional right to limit federal powers, is debated by others as the definitive unbalancing of the powers given to the state by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

In 1787, the creation of the U.S. Constitution would grant the national government dominance over the states. However, the southerners still felt that they should be able determine whether or not they accepted certain acts, and the idea of nullification was proposed. John C. Calhoun was first to present the states right to nullify, or ignore federal laws in which they disagreed, in his doctrine.[6] Things seemed to have remained calm until the commencement of Lincoln’s presidency when nullification was no longer allowed.

At the time of Jackson's election, there existed a protective tariff that aided big businesses and domestic transportation initiatives. However, the tariff was met unfavorably by the South, which felt that the tariff's ultimate purpose was to strengthen the industrial north at the expense of the agrarian south. Jackson's vice president, John Calhoun, campaigned on behalf of the South and attempted to nullify the tariff law within the South Carolina state borders. His premise was based on a provision settled in 1798 declaring