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