Jackson's union: A nullification crisis TL

"the tariff was only a pretext, and disunion and southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro, or slavery question."-Andrew Jackson



March 1833:

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How could this have happened to us, the elite of South Carolina, or rather what remained of them asked, in shock that their gamble could have backfired so massively. It seemed so simple on paper. They were simply calling the president’s bluff, and besides the rest of the south will back us up if he actually gets serious.

As it turns out, Old Hickory was wiser man than many imagined. He had come to the conclusion that unless crushed decisively, disunion would spread. Knowing that the people running South Carolina were more prideful than even himself, he made sure to sabotage every face saving solution that was proposed by congress, leaving them no option but confrontation. Later generations of historians would come to question just how justified his paranoia of disunion was, scoffing at the notion that secession could ever become a widely accepted idea.



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Blue=Loyal Brown=neutral or unclear Red=hostile


The so called “southern solidarity” South Carolina gambled upon, simply put, did not materialize. Louisiana for one actually benefited from the tariffs, The President’s home state remained as loyal to him as ever, and North Carolina even furnished troops of their own to put down the revolt. Three other deep south states made superficial pronouncements about neutrality and troop movements, but for all practical purposes remained in the union, leaving South Carolina isolated.

A more interesting case was that of Virginia’s John Floyd, the only governor sympathetic to South Carolina. He was arrested quickly by president Jackson before he had any chance to mobilize. The bewildered legislature called for an emergency session however, by that time, with Jackson's troops in Richmond it had become fait accompli.


South Carolina was left smoldering, in more ways than one. While they were defeated militarily, and were setback economically, The more devastating blow was to their influence across the south. Considering Calhoun had been executed, along with the governor and many of the legislators, the other states would think twice before considering following in their example, not that South Carolina has any trust left in them anyway.
 
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Chapter 1: Calhoun's War



6 February 1833

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Governor Hayne quickly called for a militia of 25,000 to be mobilized. Despite this the state was barely capable of supplying 17,000. The first order of business being to split the army in two with 7,000 sent to attack the Charleston artillery garrisons and 8,000 ordered to move northeast of Columbia to intercept any hostile forces coming from Tennessee. 2,000 would remain to garrison the capitol.


8 February 1833

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Winfield Scott was the man put in charge of crushing the revolt. He was currently stationed in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, His objective being to march on Columbia from the northwest. So far he has available a main force of 18,000 of which 15,000 were Tennesseans, with 3,000 from surrounding states, in addition to another 11,000 from North Carolina in reserve.

11 February 1833

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Among the most unlikely factors in the outcome of this short conflict was ardent unionist Joel Roberts Poinsett. Having represented the United States abroad for extended periods of time, as well as a follower of Jackson, his loyalty to the union surpassed all else, a peculiarity among his social class in the state. From early on in the crisis, he kept the president informed, and was of great assistance in purging disloyal officers from Charleston. Once it became clear that conflict was inevitable, he moved to consolidate control of the city and surrounding area, in what is today dubbed “Poinsett’s coup”.

The biggest mistake the nullifiers had made was to underestimate the unionist sentiment that had existed beneath the surface in the state. Governor Hayne ordered 7,000 troops to retake Charleston under the assumption that the four artillery brigades were the only real threat to his forces. As it turned out, Poinsett had been recruiting unionists for months before the crisis began, and managed to recruit 11,000 in total although not all of them were readily available.

14 February 1833

At midday the artillery barrage begins as the 7,000 troops got closer to Charleston. Poinsett judged that 3,000 will be enough to guard the city as the now secessionist forces go on the offensive, while 4,000 more go on a flanking maneuver lead by himself to the south. The defenders of the city however do well enough on their own surprisingly, partially due to their superior equipment. Poinsett seeing that things are going his way, orders that all forces charge. The morale of the secessionists, already low from fighting their own “countrymen”, plummets further leading to an absolute rout. Only around 2,000 retreated in fighting shape back to the capitol, from suffering 2,803 desertions, 1,253 casualties, and 1,349 wounded. The loyalist militia by contrast suffered 942 casualties, and 1,172 wounded.

15 Feburary 1833

Having seized Spartanburg at a dizzying pace , General Scott raced to Greenville, Where 8,000 of the enemy forces had dug in, gambling that he would be slow and cautious. Under orders from the president however he was ordered to advance as quickly as possible. Under most circumstances this would be considered reckless, However the rapid collapse of South Carolinian Forces from lack of supplies overshadowed this detail, And massively increased his prestige. The battle ended with The South Carolinian forces making a hasty retreat suffering 2,317 casualties and another 1,582 wounded, while the union suffered 341 casualties and 117 wounded.

21 February 1833

With Poinsett’s loyalists advancing from the coasts, and Scott’s forces advancing from upcountry, Governor Hayne by this point had wanted to stand down, but he was no longer in a position to stand up to the legislature and Calhoun, so he did the only thing he could, disappear. Quickly Calhoun was made the acting governor and ordered a last stand at Columbia.

24 February 1833

General Scott had by this time arrive in the outskirts of the capitol. Having received secret orders to execute as many of the secessionist leaders as possible, he proceeded to covertly encircle the City first while the artillery softened up the opposition. By the late afternoon when the final advance was commenced, He found that resistance had dissolved into unorganized hand to hand fighting, and by 5 in the evening the last resisters had surrendered. While the former governor was nowhere to be seen, Calhoun as well as many of the legislators were shot on sight. To this day however it is told that Calhoun ran away like a coward, a rumor that many attribute to the vindictive nature of this era's president.

28 February 1833

Having successfully set an example about the consequences of rebellion, The president was now facing a conundrum, that being how to manage an occupied state, something the constitution was silent on, leaving him open to charges of despotism if handled incorrectly. The nation watched in nervous anticipation of how congress would react to these rapid developments.
 
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Deleted member 97083

I believe you wrote 1883 when you meant 1833. Nonetheless, great update and I'll be interested in seeing more.

What are your ultimate plans for the ramifications of this bigger Nullification Crisis?
 
For now, Andrew Jackson is setting all kinds of new precedents, basically unopposed, and at the height of his popularity.

The constitutional butterflies will take several decades to fully mature however.
 
I feel like these casualty figures are a little high, especially for the early battles. Given that they're using muskets still, it suggests protracted hand to hand combat. But given the poor morale of the secessionists mentioned, you'd expect them to break and run sooner. The political ramifications remain interesting, however.
 
For now, Andrew Jackson is setting all kinds of new precedents, basically unopposed, and at the height of his popularity.

The constitutional butterflies will take several decades to fully mature however.

March 4, 1833 is inauguration day. I wonder what Jackson will say in his speech?
 
I should mention that the military history book by Robert W. Coakley had the governor mobilize 12,500. I saw another source say 25,000 but it seems implausible that the state was actually capable of affording that much. I went on the safe side and had the arrogant governor mobilize 17,000 underequipped troops.
 
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Chapter 2: Jackson seizes the initiative

4 March 1833

While president Jackson was outside delivering a slightly bombastic inaugural speech to his supporters, feelers had already been sent beforehand to gauge just how far he could push without getting burned. "My rivals are isolated, so I just need to play this right", he thought as he received feedback from those around him. Few knew of the calculating side he needed to get get his way , and he intended to keep it that way, fooling even some of the biographers.

17 march 1833

The president, knowing this moment is as good as it will possibly get for him, planned on mobilizing his allies for a few months of little rest. That is not to say things went by smoothly however. Only a few days into trying to get the contentious issue past them, certain obstructionists were already trying to dampen the mood. It was an open secret that several congressman from the deep south harbored sympathies for the defeated state. No longer trusting of the president of their own party, a effort was made to split the Presidents supporters, and poison debate on the issue of the future of South Carolina, seeing as though though they were isolated on their own. It could have made the debate much more acrimonious, had the president not reached out to the other party in congress, namely like leaders Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. While he made it clear that he could not concede on core issues of his like the bank, He would be willing to concede on infrastructure, along with a few other issues he considered inconsequential.

The president muttered to them " this deliberation as they call it, will fill the minds of the people of the south with hysteria if this debate is not quashed quickly enough."

15 April 1833

After some railroading from the unlikely coalition of Jacksonian democrats and some Whigs, the South Carolina reconstruction act was passed. The opposition, knowing the consequences of voicing their true thoughts on the matter during this patriotic fervor, wisely kept their mouths shut. The provision included:

1. Formally install Poinsett as governor of South Carolina, and delegate to him "emergency powers".

2. Establish a permanent garrison in Charleston.

3. Provide support to the Governor's militia until consolidates power.

4. Remove disloyal elements from the state legislature, and disenfranchise the leaders of the rebellion.

5. Hold elections once 3 and 4 have been fulfilled.

While measures 1 and 2 merely formalized the status quo, The president's push to give his protege near absolute power necessitated a cutoff date if he was going to get the Whig's support which lead to part 5. While it did not go far enough in his eyes in term of property seizures, he realized that being a southerner did not confer an unlimited amount of trust, and thus bowed to political reality, resorting to informal measures to further punish them.
 
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Chapter 3: Jackson's second term


While historian would cite the raucous first few months as the most consequential part of his second term, The rest of his time in office would not be uneventful either. Among his more positive accomplishments was the complete paying off of the national debt. A more festering issue was his support for Indian removal. While northern congressmen were loathe to be seen as “pro Indian”, they seized upon the president’s defiance of Worcester V. Georgia to exemplify his “lawless”, and “tyrannical” presidency, although with mixed results.


He did himself no favors with his accusation after an assassination attempt. The man responsible was Richard Lawrence, a man who is believed to have gone insane due to the lead and other substances he interacted with during his career as a house painter. His condition deteriorated to the point that he believed that he was Richard III of England. He specifically hated Andrew Jackson for his anti bank policies, as supposedly that had crippled the federal government's ability to pay its “debts”. With this in mind, on April 11, 1835 he waited for the president to get close by as he was attending the funeral of an old friend. He quickly saw there was no ideal moment to get close to the president, so he fired from a distance, grazing his shoulder and then charged, intent on finishing the job with a knife, only to regret that less than a minute later.


A few minutes later, with the man driven unconscious from his cane injuries, the president finally relented, assuming the man was as good as dead. The man had suffered several broken ribs and head fractures, the injuries being so severe that once he woke up the interrogators realized that he had developed genuine memory loss, and so they realized it was unlikely he would name any co-conspirators. “What man in my circumstances wouldn’t be overtaken by passion?” An embarrassed president replied, as soon as he had been told of this. Lawrence would spend the rest of his days in an asylum.


Nevertheless the lack of evidence did not stop him from calling out supposed suspects, namely George Poindexter.


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George Poindexter:


While initially a supporter of Jacksonian Democracy, he was also a massive supporter of state’s rights, and became massively disillusioned with the president in the wake of the nullification war. While most former nullifier had gone silent in the wake of the brief conflict, he went in the opposite direction, becoming an ever bigger thorn in the president's side, despite his apparent isolation.


His relationship with the president became openly acrimonious however, as a result of the president accusing him of being behind the assassination attempt. The attempted assassin did paint the house of the suspected senator recently, which is quite a flimsy piece of evidence, but combined with the fact they had the same kind of firearm, it was all they had to go on.


It was initially expected that the accusations would destroy the reputation of Senator Poindexter, however everybody had underestimated the amount of anger the people of Mississippi felt towards the president, some of whom gained a more positive impression of the senator once they heard what he was suspected of! He was reelected unanimously as senator by the Mississippi legislature with a few abstentions. The incident had cemented His status as the leader of the Anti-Jackson Democrats, and the support he enjoyed emboldened to take a more defiant tone as well.


South Carolina rebuilds:


Governor Poinsett had amassed near dictatorial powers in the wake of the brief conflict. While land appropriation was not formally on the table, there was a high rate of emigration from the upper classes, due to unionist militiamen asserting their squatter rights, and resorting to violence if need be to claim their slice of the pie, along with few slaves too if possible. Along with the disenfranchisement in place the governor and his supporters had managed to ensure they would remain in power with their control over drafting the new constitution. By the time free elections were held in 1836 they could afford to loosen up as control of the economy and institutions had drastically shifted, although nobody doubted the Democratic machine would deliver victory.
 

Chapter 4: The 1836 election



On the Democratic side, the 1836 elections were largely uneventful. The president and the party establishment had long ago settled on making Van Buren the next president, and while there was some mutterings of discontent from the deep south, they largely boycotted the primary altogether as most viable challengers wisely decided to wait for a better opportunity. That is not to say they were not influential in other ways however.


On the Whig side however the other extreme had occurred, with multiple candidates running in the general election, as the nascent party had not yet become very organized, and opposition to Jackson had been one of the main forces keeping them together. As a result Daniel Webster was the Whig candidate for his home state, William H. Harrison was the candidate for the rest of the north plus Delaware, Kentucky and Maryland, and Hugh L. White on the ballot across the rest of the south. The party leaders promised their supporters that this was a blessing in disguise as they could throw the election to the house of representatives and decide among themselves which of the Whigs is to be president, although most were skeptical, and saw through it as a ploy to raise turnout.


The Democratic party found itself in the unusual position of being hemmed in as the northern Whigs attacked Van Buren for his lack of vision, free trade sympathies, opposition to the bank, and a bit more hypocritically associated him with the authoritarian excess of Jackson, which they in some circumstances supported. The southern Whigs however were also attacking the Democrats from a different direction, accusing van Buren of being to noncommittal on states rights, and although they were usually in line with Whig policies their ranks were being swelled angry Democrats who simply wanted to sink Jackson’s hand picked successor. The democrats still enjoyed the organizational advantage, although they were hobbled by the attacks and ended up relying on the president’s persona to push them across the finish line, something that may impede the party’s rebranding efforts in future cycles.


In hindsight, the Whig leaders should not have been all that enthusiastic…




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Just as many Whig parliamentarians had feared, they had somehow managed to block the Democratic nominee from reaching a majority of the electoral vote. As soon as meeting began the Whigs, both north and south had the daunting realization that they were lacking a candidate that could satisfy everybody’s demands. The shouting matches that erupted further incentivized them to call it quits and install Van Buren as president, if only to pauper over their relatively fragile unity without any lasting damage.


Van Buren emerged from the debacle as damaged goods, as the only reason he was allowed to to take office was the Whig party’s inability to agree on a nominee of their own. The Whig party on the other hand emerged looking strong and vibrant, on paper at least, although in an awkward position as their supporters were demanding to know why even though they delivered the votes they had failed to install one of their own as president.
 
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Chapter 5: The Van Buren years



The Texas compromise


One of the most pressing priorities of the outgoing administration has been to secure the annexation of Texas. Initially those efforts bore little fruit, as Van Buren was not all that willing to expend so much political capital so early in his administration for the sake of creating a new slave state that his fellow northerners vehemently opposed. After a few meetings, Jackson managed to convince Van Buren of the urgency in annexing Texas, so he hesitantly began negotiations with his rivals in congress. Much to Jackson’s disappointment however, he later found out that an immediate annexation was never seriously on the table, which lead to feelings of betrayal as he had largely expected Van Buren to be as bold as himself. Afterwards historians would note that the resulting deal was the best that could have been achieved when when the circumstances are considered, owing to the weak legitimacy of the Van Buren administration and its potential to inflame sectional tensions.


The initial effects of what was dubbed “The Texas Compromise” were little more than a glorified military alliance. The treaty signed by the United States and Texas agreed upon the eventual principle of annexation, but were to hold it off until sometime in the future. It was understood that the trigger for annexation would be a free territory gaining enough population for statehood, after which which Texas would hold a formal vote for statehood or retaining independence. In the meantime a formal defensive military alliance would be established, and a token force of 2,000 troops will be stationed to dissuade Mexican attempts at reconquest . All of Texas debt shall be assumed by the United States upon statehood.


The Mexican “government” was predictably outraged, but having felt defeat so recently they were in no position to take any action. More fortunately for them however, the United States remained unwilling to go to war over Texas claims to the Rio Grande boundary, a bitter pill for Texans to swallow.


Depression of 1837


The new president would face his first test nearly immediately after entering office, with a panic having started only a week before his inauguration. By the middle of the year a full blown deflationary depression had developed, putting an end to the earlier period of growth.


Much of the blame for this depression however, can be laid at the hands of a seemingly inconspicuous executive order issued by former president Andrew Jackson in the middle of the 1836 election. Conveniently it began being enforced during the transition period, only feeding the impression that Van Buren was to blame for economic maladies as it would take a few months for people to feel the worst of the effects. The name of this executive order is the Specie Circular, which required that all purchases of government land be made in hard currency. While the policy may have had some benefits, when combined with the abolition of the bank they had made the United States very susceptible to downturns in other economies, acting as a multiplier on what otherwise could have been a minor recession.




In the face of this calamity, Van Buren’s initial response was to wait it out and hope a recovery would begin on its own, which made him a perfect target of whig propaganda which labelled him as the “do nothing president”. He had received assurances from the former president that the reason


The 1840 election


President Van Buren entered the year 1840 limping along politically.






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It is speculated that he only seriously campaigned because he felt a sense of duty to the democratic party to give it his best effort to win, but at the same time being pretty confident in his defeat he ceased political calculation and went with his conscience more frequently.


Having judged that he was unlikely to be reelected, he felt no need to pander and vetoed a bill that allowed state government to censor abolitionist mail.


He spent the last of his political capital on reaching a compromise for the peaceful relocation of the mormons, which only served to make him more unpopular in Missouri.
 
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Chapter 1: Calhoun's War



6 February 1833

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Governor Hayne quickly called for a militia of 25,000 to be mobilized. Despite this the state was barely capable of supplying 17,000. The first order of business being to split the army in two with 7,000 sent to attack the Charleston artillery garrisons and 8,000 ordered to move northeast of Columbia to intercept any hostile forces coming from Tennessee. 2,000 would remain to garrison the capitol.


8 February 1833

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Winfield Scott was the man put in charge of crushing the revolt. He was currently stationed in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, His objective being to march on Columbia from the northwest. So far he has available a main force of 18,000 of which 15,000 were Tennesseans, with 3,000 from surrounding states, in addition to another 11,000 from North Carolina in reserve.

11 February 1833

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Among the most unlikely factors in the outcome of this short conflict was ardent unionist Joel Roberts Poinsett. Having represented the United States abroad for extended periods of time, as well as a follower of Jackson, his loyalty to the union surpassed all else, a peculiarity among his social class the state. From early on in the crisis, he kept the president informed, and was of great assistance in purging disloyal officers from Charleston. Once it became clear that conflict was inevitable, he moved to consolidate control of the city and surrounding area, in what is today dubbed “Poinsett’s coup”.

The biggest mistake the nullifiers had made was to underestimate the unionist sentiment that had existed beneath the surface in the state. Governor Hayne ordered 7,000 troops to retake Charleston under the assumption that the four artillery brigades were the only real threat to his forces. As it turned out, Poinsett had been recruiting unionists for months before the crisis began, and managed to recruit 11,000 in total although not all of them were readily available.

14 February 1833

At midday the artillery barrage begins as the 7,000 troops got closer to Charleston. Poinsett judged that 3,000 will be enough to guard the city as the now secessionist forces go on the offensive, while 4,000 more go on a flanking maneuver lead by himself to the south. The defenders of the city however do well enough on their own surprisingly, partially due to their superior equipment. Poinsett seeing that things are going his way, orders that all forces charge. The morale of the secessionists, already low from fighting their own “countrymen”, plummets further leading to an absolute rout. Only around 2,000 retreated in fighting shape back to the capitol, from suffering 2,803 desertions, 1,253 casualties, and 1,349 wounded. The loyalist militia by contrast suffered 942 casualties, and 1,172 wounded.

15 Feburary 1833

Having seized Spartanburg at a dizzying pace , General Scott raced to Greenville, Where 8,000 of the enemy forces had dug in, gambling that he would be slow and cautious. Under orders from the president however he was ordered to advance as quickly as possible. Under most circumstances this would be considered reckless, However the rapid collapse of South Carolinian Forces from lack of supplies overshadowed this detail, And massively increased his prestige. The battle ended with The South Carolinian forces making a hasty retreat suffering 2,317 casualties and another 1,582 wounded, while the union suffered 341 casualties and 117 wounded.

21 February 1833

With Poinsett’s loyalists advancing from the coasts, and Scott’s forces advancing from upcountry, Governor Hayne by this point had wanted to stand down, but he was no longer in a position to stand up to the legislature and Calhoun, so he did the only thing he could, disappear. Quickly Calhoun was made the acting governor and ordered a last stand at Columbia.

24 February 1833

General Scott had by this time arrive in the outskirts of the capitol. Having received secret orders to execute as many of the secessionist leaders as possible, he proceeded to secretly encircle the City first while the artillery softened up the opposition. By the late afternoon when the final advance was commenced, He found that resistance had dissolved into unorganized hand to hand fighting, and by 5 in the evening the last resisters had surrendered. While the former governor was nowhere to be seen, Calhoun as well as many of the legislators were shot on sight. To this day however it is told that Calhoun ran away like a coward, a rumor that many attribute to the vindictive nature of this era's president.

28 February 1833

Having successfully set an example about the consequences of rebellion, The president was now facing a conundrum, that being how to manage an occupied state, something the constitution was silent on, leaving him open to charges of despotism if handled incorrectly. The nation watched in nervous anticipation of how congress would react to these rapid developments.

You have a good point here when you talk
about how powerful unionist sentiment in
South Carolina was. Also liked the starring
role you give Winfred Scott- I think he's one
of the greatest generals this country has
ever produced & yet he never seems to get
any recognition.
 
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