Plausibility Check: Jackson and the "Tariffs War"

Alright, so we're studying Andrew Jackson's Presidency in my class (holy crap, that guy was a nutty one), and we brought up how he nearly attacked South Carolina over their refusal to adhere to some tariff laws that helped out New England manufacturers. He was about to lead an army into the state to force them to comply when Henry Clay came to the rescue with a compromise that both sides could accept.

So, this got me thinking: what if Henry Clay died of a sudden heart attack before he could draw up a compromise? If Jackson attacked Carolina, it might make his huge popularity plummet to the point where he could loose reelection...thoughts?
 
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SC gets its butt kicked badly and you might see a president other than Washington use his powers as Comander in Cheif to command the army in person. Too bad it didn't happen as it might have averted the much more serious Amercian Civil War later.
 
South Carolina would probably be punished severely as the result of the war (and Calhoun would be lucky to avoid a noose for that matter) It would also quite conclusively resolve the problems of nullification and secession in one go. That being said, there will likely be some chilling precidents on the use of force set as a result of this.

While said war would likely be unpopular in the South, its ending would pretty much be a forgone conclusion. Southern nationalism wasn't ripe enough for full fledge secession, and Jackson has enough cachet in the South and West to leave sympathy secessions by stillborn.
 

Thande

Donor
Presumably a more federalist USA and perhaps an averted American Civil War in the long run. Jackson would probably be even more controversial a figure than in OTL, which is quite a hard thing to pull off!

I should imagine there are serious effects on US political makeup from the fact that the man to spit in the eyes of states' rights was a southerner.
 

mowque

Banned
Presumably a more federalist USA and perhaps an averted American Civil War in the long run. Jackson would probably be even more controversial a figure than in OTL, which is quite a hard thing to pull off!

I should imagine there are serious effects on US political makeup from the fact that the man to spit in the eyes of states' rights was a southerner.

I still think slavery is going to rear it's ugly head and America seemed designed to fail at dealing with it in a sane manner.
 

Thande

Donor
I still think slavery is going to rear it's ugly head and America seemed designed to fail at dealing with it in a sane manner.

Oh sure, but it won't be like OTL. It depends on how much influence the south has at Congress and what form it takes. I could see a situation where the slaver states are scared of federal intervention so make a big song and dance about abolishing slavery while quietly arranging matters so the 'free' black people have virtually the same legal status they had before as slaves.
 
I think it will result in even stronger polarization, and centralizing federal policies will become very strongly associated with Abolitionism and Free-Soil-ism, resulting in a stronger Federal government after the Civil War and the ATL equivalent of Reconstruction will be much harsher and dedicated to destroying any last remnant of the Old South.
 
I still think slavery is going to rear it's ugly head and America seemed designed to fail at dealing with it in a sane manner.

Slavery is still going to rear its ugly head but the South is more likely to be in a compromising mood than OTL after it sees what happens to South Carolina. You well might have Southern states agreeing to compensated emancipation particularly border states.
 
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