Hawk1981
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- Apr 1, 2020
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In November 1832, the South Carolina legislature passed an ordinance of nullification against the protective tariffs legislation passed by the US Congress in 1828 and 1832 which dramatically increased the cost of manufactured goods. The ordinance declared that South Carolina would "not submit to the application of force, on the part of the Federal Government, to reduce this state to obedience; but that we will consider the passage by Congress, of any act to coerce the state, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her commerce, or enforce the acts hereby declared null and void..."
Concluding the statement with the threat that South Carolina would secede from the union and "forthwith proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent states may of right do."
President Andrew Jackson and members of Congress recognized the ordinance as a threat to the Federal Union. Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, normally a staunch opponent to the President's policies, rallied to Jackson's defense by denouncing nullification, stating that "It is resistance to law by force, it is disunion by force, it is secession by force: it is civil war!"
On news that South Carolina was raising an army, Jackson drafted orders to General Winfield Scott to lead federal troops against the rebellious forces. Jackson stating that "I will meet all things with deliberate firmness and forbearance, but woe to those nullifiers who shed the first blood."
Jackson responded to South Carolina's ordinance by sending ships to Charleston harbor and forces to strengthen federal fortifications there. He formally issued a Proclamation to the People of South Carolina in December, 1832, where he declared nullification to be "incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed."
Appealing to the people of South Carolina, Jackson wrote "Seduced as you have been, my fellow countrymen by ambitious, deluded and designing men, I call upon you in the language of truth, and the feelings of a Father to retrace your steps."
Again taking up his role as the “Great Compromiser”, Henry Clay led Congress to pass the revised Compromise Tariff Act of 1833 which provided for the reduction of tariffs over the next ten years to the levels of 1816. On the same day Congress also passed the Force Bill authorizing Jackson to employ military forces to uphold federal law.
The combination of the two laws allowed the federal government to assert its authority while allowing South Carolina to save face and rescind the nullification ordinance, resolving the showdown without bloodshed.
Concluding the statement with the threat that South Carolina would secede from the union and "forthwith proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent states may of right do."
President Andrew Jackson and members of Congress recognized the ordinance as a threat to the Federal Union. Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, normally a staunch opponent to the President's policies, rallied to Jackson's defense by denouncing nullification, stating that "It is resistance to law by force, it is disunion by force, it is secession by force: it is civil war!"
On news that South Carolina was raising an army, Jackson drafted orders to General Winfield Scott to lead federal troops against the rebellious forces. Jackson stating that "I will meet all things with deliberate firmness and forbearance, but woe to those nullifiers who shed the first blood."
Jackson responded to South Carolina's ordinance by sending ships to Charleston harbor and forces to strengthen federal fortifications there. He formally issued a Proclamation to the People of South Carolina in December, 1832, where he declared nullification to be "incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed."
Appealing to the people of South Carolina, Jackson wrote "Seduced as you have been, my fellow countrymen by ambitious, deluded and designing men, I call upon you in the language of truth, and the feelings of a Father to retrace your steps."
Again taking up his role as the “Great Compromiser”, Henry Clay led Congress to pass the revised Compromise Tariff Act of 1833 which provided for the reduction of tariffs over the next ten years to the levels of 1816. On the same day Congress also passed the Force Bill authorizing Jackson to employ military forces to uphold federal law.
The combination of the two laws allowed the federal government to assert its authority while allowing South Carolina to save face and rescind the nullification ordinance, resolving the showdown without bloodshed.