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The Primary Source: Vice President John C. Calhoun

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The historical context for the primary source, “Vice President John C. Calhoun Argues That Tariffs Disadvantage the South, 1828," is Vice President John C. Calhoun's speech in 1828, where he argues against the tariff system and its negative impact on the Southern states. The speech was likely delivered in a political setting, such as a congressional session or a public gathering, where Calhoun expressed his views on the tariff policy. Vice President John C. Calhoun criticizes tariffs, saying they hurt the South's agricultural economy while benefiting the North's manufacturing industries. He argues that this system favors some regions over others, “So partial are the effects of the system, that its burdens are exclusively on one side, and the …show more content…

The primary source is a speech delivered by Daniel Webster in response to Robert Hayne, a senator from South Carolina, during a debate in the United States Senate in January 1830. The debate centered around the issue of nullification, which was the idea that individual states had the right to nullify or reject federal laws they deemed unconstitutional within their borders. Webster’s quote, “I understand the honorable gentleman from South Carolina to maintain, that it is a right of the State legislatures to interfere, whenever, in their judgment, this government transcends its constitutional limits, and to arrest the operation of its laws,” (Daniel Webster, p. 247), highlights the central issue of the debate, which is the assertion that state legislatures have the right to nullify federal laws if they believe the government exceeded its constitutional authority. This concept caused a major disagreement between people who believed in states' rights and those who supported a strong central government. Senator Daniel Webster asserts that the United States government is created and answerable to the people, not the State legislatures. He emphasizes the Constitution's supremacy as the people's law, granting them the authority to control and modify the government. Webster concludes that the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, should resolve constitutional disputes, strengthening a centralized government for national

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Nullification was a controversial constitutional theory started by John C. Calhoun. He came up with the idea because he believed the tariff of 1816 was responsible for fall of South Carolinas economy. When in fact it was the exhausted farm land in the state which had caused the downfall. With his future political dreams resting on how he met this challenge in his home state he developed the theory of nullification. The theory stated that a state can suspend, within its boundaries, a federal law that was thought to be unconstitutional.

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The new tariff plagued the young nation by added fuel to growing sectional differences. States’ Rights Debate Andrew Jackson taking office in 1829 meant he had was forced to respond to the conflicts over tariffs, the core of dispute was questioning of an individual state’s right disregarding a law passing by the U.S Congress. Nullification Crisis Vice President John C. Calhoun’ s early political career supported a criteria of a strong central government, 1828 was when congress passed Tariff of Abominations, ands Calhoun joined fellow southerners in protests. Economic depression/ previous tariffs severely damaging economy of his home town South Carolina, recovering in 1828, some leader spoke of leaving Union over the issue of tariffs.

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He also served in the United States House of Representatives and was Secretary of War under James Monroe and Secretary of State under John Tyler. John Calhoun argued that states or groups could nullify, which meant to cancel, a federal law. Calhoun also argued that the states had the power to decide whether federal laws are constitutional. Calhoun said that it is to allow the

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“The accumulation of all powers… in the same hands, whether one, a few, or many… may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny. ”-James Madison. Fifty-five delegates, from the thirteen states, met in Philadelphia in May of 1787 to discuss and revise the Articles of Confederation. The chief executive and the representatives worked to create a frame for what is now our Constitution. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways; Federalism that creates a State and Federal government, Separation of Powers that gives equal power to the three branches, Checks and Balances that create balance in the three branches by checking each other and being checked and the Small States vs the Big States ensures an equal voice for all states no matter what their size.

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After the War of 1812, Calhoun worked together with other U.S. Congressmen to establish the Second Bank of the United States, a standing army and navy, and also introduced the idea of a permanent road system. In the 1820’s Southerners grew worried that the North was strongly influencing the federal government. The south was anxious that the government would end southern institutions. In 1828, the Tariff of Abominations was passed. The tariff “sought to protect northern and western agricultural products from competition with foreign imports; however, the resulting tax on foreign goods would raise the cost of living in the South and would cut into the profits of New England's industrialists” (http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/36974).

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This made Jackson have to make an ultimate decision, either he should support the tariff or if he should not. He thought about the union and if the south secedes, then it would not be called The United States. Furthermore, Jackson was known as the common man, which

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Calhoun’s Ordinance of Nullification was not an ingenious idea. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson already adopted ordinance of nullification when they were against to Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 and 1799. Even though this precedent, Calhoun had considerable difficulty in bring support for the nullification. Congress passed tariff of 1832 which was another tariff that southerners saw as favoring for northern industries. And this time, people who supported Nullification win as, “An act in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports, approved on the nineteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight and

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When Congress issued tariffs on foreign goods, Southerners believed that Congress favored the North since this tariff would benefit them. John Randolph spoke of this issue, arguing that Congress was being unfair since the South was not benefiting from the actions of Congress at all while the North benefited (Doc A). As for political conflict, there was a clear case of factionalism and political rivalry in 1824 (Doc I). With these conflicts amongst the varying factions and political parties, the political tension and sectionalism within America continued to grow. Accusations and anger from the South further separated them from the North, which did not contribute “good feelings” to the country at

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By: Abdulaziz Alaskar John C. Calhoun Crisis #3 Dear Citizens of the U.S., I am 100% opposing to the tariffs. The purpose of the Tariffs was to provide protection to Industrialists and Manufacturers in the North, to do that they increased duties on imported foreign goods by the British. The union is helping one part and affecting the other. Us the southerners are being harmed firstly by paying higher prices on goods that we couldn’t produce, and secondly increasing taxes on British imports made it difficult for Britain to pay for the cotton they imported from the South.

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In Gibbons, Marshall continues this same logic as he asserts the supremacy of the Federal over the states; Marshall writes, “the acts of congress… are supreme; and the law of the state… must yield to it,” Though the states righters believed the states to win out in conflicts of state and federal shared powers, Marshall, by means of the Constitution, makes it clear that the unified government over the Union is supreme as a body with more widespread will granted by the unified people rather than by the individual state

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It is clear to understand the South is against the high tariffs. However, others have a different perspective on tariffs. For example, it was clear the North supported tariffs when it was stated, “The tariff made British cloth more expensive than American made cloth. The tariff guaranteed that Americans would buy the cotton cloth his factory would soon be making.” It is

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Jackson refused to get rid of the Tariffs of 1828. "This import tax provided protection for northern manufacturing interests by raising the prices of European products in America. Southerners, however, blamed the tariff for a massive transfer of wealth. It forced them to purchase goods from the North’s manufacturers at higher prices, and it provoked European countries to retaliate with high tariffs of their own, reducing foreign purchases of the South’s raw materials." (The American Yawp) Jackson loss his vice president John C Calhoun behind his decision.

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Calhoun did not do his public promoting committing to federalism on time which was in other words a way of saying that he was late to his promoting committing to federalism. Calhoun wanted to keep his place as a well-known southern leader and get to is political goals that he wanted to complete in life as he as being taken to a future. Calhoun had a new and even more influential bully pulpit for his pro-Southern arguments Calhoun gave a bill to make good things in roads Calhoun offered a bill to make improvement in

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Yet, to most people at the time the Constitution created an effective central government and federal system, “…Should all the states adopt it, it will be then a government established by the thirteen states of America…, but by the people at large… The existing system has been derived…whereas this is derived from the superior power of the people”(Document 8). James Madison included the statement above in his speech defending the Constitution, for he believed that the Constitution was a document by the people and for the people. What’s more was that he believed the Constitution provided a balance between the states and federal government that no other document had ever did

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The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution is the outline our founding fathers created to describe the nature and functions of government. Its first three articles consist of a doctrine of the separation of powers, which divides the federal government into three branches: the legislative, consisting of Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. The constitution is meant to govern the federal government while the bill of rights is meant to govern the

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