Nullification Crisis in South Carolina

South Carolina was significantly affected by the economic decline of the 1820s after the war between Britain and the United States in 1812. During this period the Northern part of America was becoming increasingly industrialized while the Southern States dominated in agriculture. But because of the cheap imports from Britain, the federal government was concerned and devised ways to rescue the then diminishing industries in the North. The federal government without considering all the sectors decided to sign into law the Protective Tariff of 1828 under President John Quincy Adams (Macoll, 1972). The effect of the duties was not universally accepted by all the states because of its selectivity. This was because the taxation of the British imports boosted the industrialization industry in the North. But consequently increased the cost of living in the South because with the high taxes the British no longer bought raw materials(Cotton) from the South yet it was the source of livelihood for the Southerners (Bils, 1984).
The tariff of 1828 dubbed the “Tariff of Abominations” therefore caused a lot of scuffles between the National Government and the state of South Carolina. They, therefore, looked up to John Calhoun who was a leader figure for the southerners, by considering the situation at hand, Calhoun opted to find a solution before the states opted out of the union. He came up with a theory that pillared on the fact that the federal government existed by the will of its constituent states.

Hence drafting the theory that, if a state found that a law was being enforced in its borders, but it does not serve their sovereign interests and unconstitutional in nature, it had the power to scrap it off or nullify it within its boundaries (Freehling, 1992). But proponents to the tariffs were arguing on the importance of the development of the industrial sector to the country at larger rather than the effect on a single state. South Carolina then hoped for the reduction of the tariffs to no avail after the election of President Andrew Jackson in 1828.
After the struggle by Henry Clay and John Calhoun in 1832 to address the issues of South Carolina by reducing the Tariff rates, his success was received with an immediate negative reaction by the Southerners who found the reductions compromised too small (Maier, 1981). President Andrew Jackson despite the compromise and signing the tariffs into law in July of 1832 after Calhoun resigned from office, the Southerners went head in November of the same year and called for a convention that voted for the nullification of the law in their state. The nullification was drafted by William Harper and was referred an “Ordinance of Nullification” and was based on Calhoun’s theory of 1828.
The pressure and challenge applied on Andrew Jackson by the issues regarding South Carolina and the State Rights led to him looking for a solution to tame the State’s aggressiveness in fighting the Federal Government’s laws. After the resistance, the US Congress then voted for a Force Bill labeled Jackson’s Bloody Pill that gave President Jackson the authority to use military force to enforce laws in the states (Ericson, 1995). The looming violence was evaded when a compromise was worked by Clay and Calhoun which was satisfactory to the Southerners and was passed in Congress successfully by March of 1833. The ordinance was thereafter repealed by the South Carolina convention; this saw both parties win the tussle and conflicts were avoided. All the southern States were affected by the tariffs, but South Carolina was the only State that spoke and fought against with the help of influential leaders like John Calhoun

References
Bils, M. (1984). Tariff protection and production in the early US cotton textile industry. The Journal of Economic History, 44(04), 1033-1045.
Ericson, D. F. (1995). The Nullification Crisis, American Republicanism, and the Force Bill Debate. The Journal of Southern History, 61(2), 249-270.
Freehling, W. W. (1992). Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836. Oxford University Press, USA.
Macoll, J. D. (1972). Representative John Quincy Adams’ Compromise Tariff of 1832. Capitol Studies, 2, 40-58.
Maier, P. (1981). The road not taken: Nullification, John C. Calhoun, and the revolutionary tradition in South Carolina. The South Carolina Historical Magazine, 82(1), 1-19.