Nullification Dbq Essay

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In the early 1830’s, South Carolina had the idea that they could nullify the law. This meant that the states could disregard some of the federal laws. A man named John C. Calhoun Promoted the idea. In 1828, there was a tariff passed that put a tax on all imports. Calhoun and a lot of Southern states were outraged. They thought this was one way to prevent succession. Some thought that state government outranked federal government, so they could decide which laws to follow, and which to ignore. Due to this conflict, there were two sides. Only the merchants of Charleston and the small farmers of the up country supported the Union side. Many of the people supported the nullification. The South thought that they were being treated unfairly. Senator …show more content…

Webster argued that from the beginning the Revolution had been a crusade of the united colonies rather than of each separately. True sovereignty, he stated, resided in the people as a whole for whom both state and federal governments acted as agents in the people's behalf. Haynes agreed with Calhoun and thought that states could nullify laws but Webster argued that it would lead to a civil war. Andrew Jackson, a slave owner and a southerner, was president while Calhoun was vice president. Jackson supported the Union and didn’t agree with the nullification. In the end, he said that anyone that supported it would be convicted of an act of treason. He didn’t think that it was necessary to act upon this and he said you would use the military he need be. But being the president, he needed to make both sides happy. In the end, the tariffs were lowered and the people accepted it. This event was a big thing in our countries history but do I think that it could've been prevented? I do think that if the Tariff wasn’t passed, then this specific event maybe could've been avoided. But the north and south never agreed. So who's to say that another problem could of erose? I believe that both sides had different forms of living and doing things, so for them to be in agreement with one another would be close to impossible. So I don’t think an event like this could've been

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