Compare And Contrast The Tension Between North And South

The growing support for nullification was quite obvious during the days of the Jackson Administration, as events such as the Webster-Hayne Debate, Tariff of 1832, Order of Nullification, and Worcester v. Georgia all made the tension grow between the North and the South. To understand this conflict and tension one must first know what made the North and South so different. The North was an industrial powerhouse, full of bustling cities, and all kinds of cultures and peoples, on the other hand was the South. The South was seen as unadvanced and prehistoric to the Northerners, as the South relied heavily on the growth of cotton to fuel their economy, giving them their name , “King Cotton”. The main difference between the two were their economies.

Daniel Webster (Massachusetts) disagreed with Robert Hayne (South Carolina), as Hayne was wanting the states (mostly the southern) to be able to dispute federal laws or rulings, and also to be able to put them aside. This was a want of his because many of the farmers in the South wanted to get the cheaper lands in the west, where slavery was fought to be banned. Since the South relied on slavery so much, Hayne thought that they should be able to practice slavery in the Western lands since it was so monumental, and he believed heavily in state’s rights, leading him into thinking the federal government shouldn’t have so much control over the states. Webster on the other hand thought differently, as Webster (being from the North) wanted slavery to not even have a chance to make an appearance in the West, as well as he believed in a more central government that had control over the states. The debate was really a race to make an alliance with the West, in the end, Webster and the North came out victorious. Webster’s ability to twist and to use words ultimately was the defeat of Hayne. This defeat led to all of the South’s hopes and dreams of forming an alliance with the West evaporate, leading to more resentment towards the

Georgia. This case was over the fact that Georgia had completely ignored the Federal Government’s rulings, and they took the Cherokee Nation. Andrew Jackson did nothing to force Georgia into obeying the rule of the court, giving legitimacy to Georgia’s state rights. This would later come back around, as South Carolina would use this as an argument to justify their nullification in the early 1830s, which action did take action with, riding down there with federal troops to calm down the public and to put them back in order. This case really showed how much disregard the (Southern) states had for the federal government and their rulings, and it was a big move. Overall, this move proved to cause more conflict than it did resolve, as this fueled the rebellious South Carolina in the latter years into more intense emotions of wanting a secession. This was a big event, due to the fact that it showed how strongly the South believed in their own rights, by disregarding the Federal Government they show early acts of treason, and they could not predict how many lives would be lost in the conflict between the two regions, and how impactful the war would be, changing the nation for the rest of the