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Tariff of Abominations
The Tariff of 1828 created an inflation on imported goods by 50 percent so that Americans wouldn't want to buy foreign products and have an advantage for their domestic counterparts. Manufacturers in the Middle and Northeastern states, along with farmers in Western States were in favor of the Tariff. Southern states were not especially the cotton plantation owners because they knew that Britian would import less cotton which would hurt the Southern economy (which is what happened). -
South Carolina Exposition and Protest
U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun anonymously advocated or "penned a challenge" for South Carolina. He brought up that states have the rights to nullify and void federal laws that were seen as a lack of authority by the United States because of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. He added that the Tariff of 1828 was unconstitutional since the Constitution does not give Congress the ability to enforce laws just to raise revenue. -
Webster-Hayne Debate
During a serious of speeches senators Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina discussed that issues that were happening during the 1820s and 1830s. It talked about the balance of power between the federal and state governments, development of the democratic process, and the tensions between the Northern and Southern states. They addressed the way that the federal government was trying to gain revenue which was by using protective tariffs and selling federal land. -
Tariff of 1832
Congress passed this tariff to mainly protect the textile industry when it imposed high tariffs on imported goods. It taxed all foreign goods in order to increase the sales of US products. It also protected manufactures in the North from cheap British goods. Since it mainly protected those in North the people in the South were negatively affected since they struggled with receiving imports because of these high taxed tariffs. -
Ordinance of Nullification
After South Carolina saw little to no change in the Tariff of 1832 they decided to take Calhoun's idea and called a special state convention. The ordinance formally addressed that the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were "null" and "void." No one was able to appeal the ordinance and all state officeholders had to take an oath of support for the ordinance and if the federal government tried to use force to collect tariff duties, then they will threaten to separate from the Union. -
Jackson's Proclamation
Jackson wrote this proclamation to address the people of South Carolina and warn them that by continuing to support the Nullification of a law passed by the United States is dangerous. He thinks that it is unconstitutional for them to do this since the Constitution was made as an agreement between the states and going against it defeats the purpose and can cause corruption the Union. -
Clay's Tariff Bill
People were questioning the tariff duties once again, so Jackson’s political rival Senator Henry Clay created a compromise. The bill stated that there would be a reduction year by year of all duties in excess of 20 percent. This was because they wanted the duties on all articles to reach the level of moderate tariff of 1826 by 1842. -
Force Bill
U.S. Congress decided to pass the Force Bill that would allow the president to use military power to help carry out import duties if a state refused to follow the federal tariffs. It was placed while South Carolina tried to nullify and ignore the Tariff laws passed by the United States because they believed that they did not have to follow the laws that they did not seem fit or constitutional for the state.