Jackson and the Nullification Crisis

The Nullification Crisis was the most serious and hardest crisis that Andrew Jackson had to face during his presidency. The Nullification Crisis started when the states wanted to have their rights and nullify certain laws they did not want to abide by. Citizens in South Carolina were the leaders in the crisis due to the tariffs that were placed on items. The tariffs were raised in 1824 with other southern states and South Carolina objecting to the cause. After the Tariff of 1828 passed, due to Jackson thinking that his thought of placing a high tariff would not work, John C. Calhoun drafted the South Carolina Exposition. The exposition gave the idea for nullification so that serious problems of the political society could be answered such as: how to protect the rights of the minority in the government. Calhoun believed that the United States consisted of independent and sovereign states, and since they had joined the Union they had the right to reject any and every federal law they felt was unconstitutional. The nullification was fully put into action in 1832 when the Congress did not revise the Tariff of Abominations. On February 1, 1833 the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were ruled out in South Carolina. Even though the tariffs were voided out in South Carolina, President Jackson did not want South Carolina to defeat the government so he delivered a Proclamation on Nullification in December of 1832. In address he stated that the states that joined the Union were in fact not independent so they were not able to reject laws by the federal government and only the Supreme Court could take that action. So with statement that Calhoun had said he committed treason, and that is when the Force Bill in March 1833 was created. Calhoun decided after everything that had taken place to back away from the nullification and support the lower tariff bill that went into effect the same day as the Force Bill on March 1, 1833.