Essay On Andrew Jackson Nullification

Jackson and the Nullification

During Andrew Jackson’s presidency he was faced with many issues like the Indian act trade, and the bank, along with many other issues, and one of them was the nullification crisis. This crisis of nullification, was being pushed by South Carolina. According to this thought, the states had the right to nullify government legislature that was conflicting with its own. The doctrine was not used until 1832 when a new tariff was imposed that would reduce some duties but contain high tax on many goods. Nullification is the formal suspension by a state of a federal law within its borders. The concept was first given voice by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, in relation to the Alien and sedation acts. The generalization was accepted by the Hartford convention of New Englanders in 1814 as well as many in the South, who saw it as security against federal violation on their rights. It remained a point of disputation and reached a crisis in 1832. In 1828, Congress passed high protective tariff that angered the southern states because they felt it only profited the industrialized north. The tariff benefited American producers of cloth mostly in the north. It shrunk English demand for southern raw cotton and massed the final cost of finished goods to

Calhoun from South Carolina for leadership against what they labeled tariff abominations. Calhoun had backed up the Tariff of 1816, but he detected that if he were to have a governmental future in South Carolina, he would need to reconsider his position. Some felt that this issue was reason enough for action of the Union. Calhoun debated for a less drastic answer the belief of nullification. According to Calhoun, the federal government only existed at the will of the states. Therefore, if a state found a federal legal document unconstitutional and damaging to its superior powers, it would have the right to "nullify" that law within it’s