The+Nullification+Crisis_Dimitri


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== =The Nullification Crisis=


 * North and South had different economies. North was geared more toward industry and manufacturing and South was geared more toward growing cash crops and importing manufactured goods.
 * Congress was enacting tariff laws making imports expensive.
 * Nullification is to render something null, or to make it have no legal force.
 * Calhoun proposed nullification to prevent the secession of South Carolina.
 * South Carolina nullified a national tariff law and a warship was sent there.
 * Henry Clay was able to relieve the tensions and get congress to lower tariffs.

Tariffs, taxes, revenue. Tariffs weren't too burdensome for the northern states (they had many industries and less imports than the south) but for the southern states (who imported many goods) the tariffs where immensely costly. One state rebelled and threatened to secede from the union. With their economy declining and with congress passing another tariff (in 1828) S. Carolinians became very irate. Many understandably named the 1828 tariff "The Tariff of Abominations." To quell the turmoil, and prevent the secession of S. Carolina, Vice President John C. Calhoun proposed //nullification//. This concept would allow a state to annul the laws of the national government. Ultimately it would allow states of the union to decide which national laws it would abide by at which ones it wouldn't. Calhoun contended that since the states constituted the union, they also had the right to reject its decisions.

The schismatic atmosphere was elevated on the senate floor. In 1830 South Carolina Senator Hayne and Massachusetts Senator Webster had a dispute over nullification doctrine. On one hand, Hayne supported the idea that liberty came before the union; on the other, Webster declared: "Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable." Webster believed that national supremacy was necessary to preserve liberty and the union.

South Carolina didn't use nullification until 1832 -- after The U.S. Congress enacted yet another tariff law. The S. Carolina legislature assembled and nullified the new tariff law. As a result, President Jackson dispatched a warship to Charleston. S. Carolina's defiance was nothing short of treason.

Henry Clay, a senator, was able to allay the uneasiness and the crisis. Eventually, South Carolina repealed its nullification of the tariff law, but not before congress passed legislation, at Clay's plea, that would steadily lower tariffs. Thus the nullification crisis was brought to an end.


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