Jackson to The Nullification Crisis
Jackson in The Whitehouse
- once in office, further controversy
- new scandals and personal vendettas
- authoritarian tendencies
- in the first year alone, he replaced 919 federal officials with campaign supporters
- claimed it would reduce corruption, however, it actually increased it
- beginning of the “spoils system” as later administrations did the same
The Nullification Crisis, 1832-1833
- 1828 import tariffs were passed under Adams
- to boost northern manufacturing
- hurt southern planters
- South Carolina politicians feared the “tariff of abominations” could lead to a direct attack on slavery
- John C. Calhoun (Jacksons VP) anonymously wrote “South Carolina Exposition and Protest”, which argued:
- US was a compact of states, not people
- states were still sovereign
- thus, a state could nullify a federal law it considered unconstitutional
- if necessary, a state could leave the union
- Jackson furious, felt personally betrayed
- November 1832, a special convention was held in South Carolina
- declared tariffs null and void
- threatened secession if federal government attempted enforcement
- Jackson immediately responded
- threatened to hang Calhoun for treason
- 1833 Force Bill authorized the use of military to enforce tariffs
- Henry Clay and others broker a compromise deal with Calhoun
- legacies:
- showed slaveholder power and axiety]
- linked states’ rights, slavery and secession
- ideas shaped future crises over slavery