◄ John C. Calhoun
In 1828, John C. Calhoun wrote an anonymous document in response to the high tariff Congress adopted that year. The tariff, known as the Tariff of Abominations to people in the South who adamantly opposed it, meant high prices for goods that southern planters needed.
“So partial are the effects of the [Tariff] system that its burdens are exclusively on one side and its benefits on the other. It imposes on the agricultural interest of the South…. That the manufacturing States … bear no share of the burden of the Tariff …”
—John C. Calhoun, South Carolina Exposition and Protest, 1828
Reading Skill: Compare Fill in a table like the one below to compare the viewpoints of Jackson and Calhoun on the issue of nullification.
Andrew Jackson | John C. Calhoun |
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Why It Matters Jackson’s presidency featured a number of conflicts and crises, and it helped bring about the formation of a rival political party. In spite of this, Jackson was able to secure the election of a handpicked successor. That administration was unable to survive its own crises and gave way to a Whig presidency. Section Focus Question: What major political issues emerged during the 1830s?
The protective tariffs had long been a topic of debate and discord in the United States. In general, the industrial North favored them, but the agricultural South disliked them.
In 1828, Congress adopted an especially high tariff. Southerners called it the Tariff of Abominations. This tariff had been designed by members of Congress not only to promote American industry but to embarrass President Adams and ensure a Jackson victory in that year’s presidential election. In fact, Adams did sign the tariff, though reluctantly, and it did help bring about his defeat in 1828.
Jackson’s Vice President, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, violently opposed the tariff. During the War of 1812, he had been a strong nationalist. But his opinions changed after the the Missouri controversy of 1819 and 1820. This episode convinced him that the future of slavery, which he