Nullification Crisis (United States)

The Nullification Crisis is a sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson created by the Ordinance of Nullification, an attempt by the state of South Carolina to nullify a federal law passed by the United States Congress.

The highly protective Tariff of 1828 (also called the "Tariff of Abominations") is enacted into law in 1828 during the presidency of John Quincy Adams.

Opposed in the South and parts of New England, the expectation of the tariff’s opponents is that with the election of Jackson the tariff will be significantly reduced.The nation has suffered an economic downturn throughout the 1820s, and South Carolina has been particularly hard hit.

Many South Carolina politicians blame the change in fortunes to the national tariff policy that had developed after the War of 1812 to promote American manufacturing over its British competition.

By 1828, South Carolina state politics increasingly organize around the tariff issue.

When the Jackson administration fail to take any actions to address their concerns, the most radical faction in the state begins to advocate that the state itself declare the tariff null and void within South Carolina.

In Washington, an open split on the issue occurs between Jackson and his vice-president John C. Calhoun, the most effective proponent of the constitutional theory of state nullification.

On July 14, 1832, after Calhoun has resigned his office, Jackson signs into law the Tariff of 1832 which makes some reductions in tariff rates.

The reductions are too little for South Carolina, and in November 1832 a state convention declares that the tariffs of both 1828 and 1832 are unconstitutional and unenforceable in South Carolina after February 1, 1833.

The state initiates military preparations to resist anticipated Federal enforcement.

In late February, Congress passes both a Force Bill, authorizing the President to use military force against South Carolina, and a new negotiated tariff satisfactory to South Carolina.

The South Carolina convention reconvenes and repeals its Nullification Ordinance on March 11, 1833.The crisis is over, and both sides can find reasons to claim victory.

The tariff rates are reduced, but the states’ rights doctrine of nullification has been rejected by the nation.

While tariff policy will continue to be a national political issue between Democrats and the newly emerged Whig Party, by the 1850s the intertwined issues of slavery and territorial expansion will become the most significant and sectionally divisive issue in the nation.

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