The American Experiment
An American Timeline
Fenning, Arthur. America on the Brink. London: Robinson, 2016. Print.
It is unfortunate that Jackson’s legendary constitution failed him at this critical moment. Who knows how Old Hickory would have altered the political landscape in late 1833. But the President was too ill to do little and watch as the Nullification Crisis came to a head. The bout of pneumonia sidelined one of the key figures and one of the few who could have perhaps have stopped the landslide.
It had been going for months, years really. South Carolina, outraged at increasingly high tariffs leveled against foreign goods, had finally grasped at a weapon. Nullification, the concept that a state had the final say on what laws would be enforced, not the federal government in Washington.
It was a radical idea, one that had only gathered support as the tariffs grew in weight. By 1833 however, it has been turned into a war-cry by South Carolinan nationalists like John C. Calhoun. Calhoun, once Jackson's Vice President and now a Senator claimed the federal government had no right to enforce ‘unconstitutional laws’.
Tensions were high in South Carolina, as Nullification voices were raised louder and louder. The fans were flamed in November 1832 when the Nullification Convention met in Charleston. As Jackson lay in his sickbed, the Southerners were emboldened by a lack of federal reaction. Declaring SOuth Carolina as ‘inviolate’ they declared any federal action would be be made ‘unenforceable’ and voted to organize a militia force of 25,000 men to defend the state.
At the close of the rambunctious and fiery meeting South Carolina Governor Robert Hayne stated, in open defiance of the federal government, “If the sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted by the footsteps of an invader, or be stained with the blood of her citizens, shed in defense, I trust in Almighty God that no son of hers … who has been nourished at her bosom … will be found raising a parricidal arm against our common mother. And even should she stand ALONE in this great struggle for constitutional liberty … that there will not be found, in the wider limits of the state, one recreant son who will not fly to the rescue, and be ready to lay down his life in her defense”.
As the words of treason and violence spread northward, attempts were made in the winter of 1832-33 to compromise and mend the fences. Henry Clay, that accomplished legislator (just coming off a presidential election defeat) headed the movement to ‘repair relations’ with the enraged South. The Kentuckian met with Calhoun many times, hammering out a new, Compromise Tariff to replace the hated ones. Calhoun, faced with laggard federal action (Jackson, slowly recovering was still in no shape to guide policy) haggled for months, hoping for weaker tariffs.
A popular political cartoon showing the effectiveness of Nullification
Even as he supposedly worked in Washington to calm tensions, he continued to fan the flames. As he had in previous years Calhoun stated, in direct terms, that no only tariffs were at stake. Slavery, the very heart of the Southern way of life, was under attack. Economics was just a guise, he said, to disguise federal power that would intrude into every part of the American sphere. Nothing was safe, nothing sacred, nothing protected if King Andy would have his way.
Tensions grew in South Carolina as the tariff was impossible to enforce and goods and bills stacked up in Charleston. Armed men on both sides nervously stared at each other as the militia grew in number, marched through the city, captained by local fire-eaters. Winfield Scott, a calm and leveled handed commander, who had been keeping the peace, was transferred away to deal with reclairant Indians in Georgia. His removal ratcheted tensions further.
Finally the Compromise Tariff of 1833 was ready in March 1833, just as violence seemed to be cresting in South Carolina. It was a hard won effort, with months of careful give and take on both sides. Calhoun, seeing how powerful his hand was had asked for much and received it.
Northern legislators balked at agreeing to such a blatant attempt at political blackmail. If Nullification was a legal tactic, what stopped any state from forbidding laws it disagreed with? Southerners took notice at the gains South Carolina had made by willing to take things to the brink. A healing Jackson, finally mobile and gaining his old powers, lambasted the Compromise as ‘all carrot and no stick’.
It was this obvious show of contempt from the American president that killed the Compromise Tariff. Disliked by all and loved by none it died, despite being the last best chance to avoid violence in South Carolina. As the bill failed to pass, armed men in South Carolina become increasingly edgy as nothing but violence presented itself as an option. Eventually, something snapped...
An American Timeline
Fenning, Arthur. America on the Brink. London: Robinson, 2016. Print.
It is unfortunate that Jackson’s legendary constitution failed him at this critical moment. Who knows how Old Hickory would have altered the political landscape in late 1833. But the President was too ill to do little and watch as the Nullification Crisis came to a head. The bout of pneumonia sidelined one of the key figures and one of the few who could have perhaps have stopped the landslide.
It had been going for months, years really. South Carolina, outraged at increasingly high tariffs leveled against foreign goods, had finally grasped at a weapon. Nullification, the concept that a state had the final say on what laws would be enforced, not the federal government in Washington.
It was a radical idea, one that had only gathered support as the tariffs grew in weight. By 1833 however, it has been turned into a war-cry by South Carolinan nationalists like John C. Calhoun. Calhoun, once Jackson's Vice President and now a Senator claimed the federal government had no right to enforce ‘unconstitutional laws’.
Tensions were high in South Carolina, as Nullification voices were raised louder and louder. The fans were flamed in November 1832 when the Nullification Convention met in Charleston. As Jackson lay in his sickbed, the Southerners were emboldened by a lack of federal reaction. Declaring SOuth Carolina as ‘inviolate’ they declared any federal action would be be made ‘unenforceable’ and voted to organize a militia force of 25,000 men to defend the state.
At the close of the rambunctious and fiery meeting South Carolina Governor Robert Hayne stated, in open defiance of the federal government, “If the sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted by the footsteps of an invader, or be stained with the blood of her citizens, shed in defense, I trust in Almighty God that no son of hers … who has been nourished at her bosom … will be found raising a parricidal arm against our common mother. And even should she stand ALONE in this great struggle for constitutional liberty … that there will not be found, in the wider limits of the state, one recreant son who will not fly to the rescue, and be ready to lay down his life in her defense”.
As the words of treason and violence spread northward, attempts were made in the winter of 1832-33 to compromise and mend the fences. Henry Clay, that accomplished legislator (just coming off a presidential election defeat) headed the movement to ‘repair relations’ with the enraged South. The Kentuckian met with Calhoun many times, hammering out a new, Compromise Tariff to replace the hated ones. Calhoun, faced with laggard federal action (Jackson, slowly recovering was still in no shape to guide policy) haggled for months, hoping for weaker tariffs.
A popular political cartoon showing the effectiveness of Nullification
Even as he supposedly worked in Washington to calm tensions, he continued to fan the flames. As he had in previous years Calhoun stated, in direct terms, that no only tariffs were at stake. Slavery, the very heart of the Southern way of life, was under attack. Economics was just a guise, he said, to disguise federal power that would intrude into every part of the American sphere. Nothing was safe, nothing sacred, nothing protected if King Andy would have his way.
Tensions grew in South Carolina as the tariff was impossible to enforce and goods and bills stacked up in Charleston. Armed men on both sides nervously stared at each other as the militia grew in number, marched through the city, captained by local fire-eaters. Winfield Scott, a calm and leveled handed commander, who had been keeping the peace, was transferred away to deal with reclairant Indians in Georgia. His removal ratcheted tensions further.
Finally the Compromise Tariff of 1833 was ready in March 1833, just as violence seemed to be cresting in South Carolina. It was a hard won effort, with months of careful give and take on both sides. Calhoun, seeing how powerful his hand was had asked for much and received it.
Northern legislators balked at agreeing to such a blatant attempt at political blackmail. If Nullification was a legal tactic, what stopped any state from forbidding laws it disagreed with? Southerners took notice at the gains South Carolina had made by willing to take things to the brink. A healing Jackson, finally mobile and gaining his old powers, lambasted the Compromise as ‘all carrot and no stick’.
It was this obvious show of contempt from the American president that killed the Compromise Tariff. Disliked by all and loved by none it died, despite being the last best chance to avoid violence in South Carolina. As the bill failed to pass, armed men in South Carolina become increasingly edgy as nothing but violence presented itself as an option. Eventually, something snapped...
