States Rights Nullification Seccession and the Civil War

States Rights Nullification, Seccession, and the Civil War

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. ” - Tenth Amendment, 1791 United States Constitution

A Deep Rooted History • Regional colonial differences • Confederal philosophy fear of strong central government • Constitutional Convention & ratification fight • Hamiltonians versus Jeffersonians

With the birth of the nation the argument began over what kind of government should the colonies/states have and what kind of powers should it exercise.

Articles of Confederation, 17811789 • First written U. S. Constitution • Limited powers of central government • No independent judiciary or executive branch • Confederation of equal states • States retained individual sovereignty • States executed laws • Each state had one vote in Congress

U. S. Constitution, 1789 • Designed to remedy weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation • Set up a federal system of government • National government was to be supreme

State Powers • Use the document…. . • In your groups read and summarize for the class your section of the document. • Summarize each section in the interactions part of your notes. • Write a summary of the whole document at the bottom.

The Supremacy Clause "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. "

Doctrine of Supremacy • Chief Justice John Marshall • Uses the “supremacy clause” to disallow taxing the National Bank “the government of the Union, though limited in its power, is supreme within its sphere of action. ” - Mc. Culloch v. Maryland, 1819

Trade and Tariffs • A major and continuous strain on the Union, 1820 to the Civil War • The South imports manufactured goods from Europe and the Northern states • The Northern states viewed foreign trade as competition • Protective tariffs were viewed as harmful to the South’s economy

Tariff of 1828 In 1828, the Congress passed protective tariffs to benefit trade in the Northern States, but were detrimental to the

Nullification Crisis • The Tariff of 1828 is also known as the “Tariff of Abominations” • Southerners express their opposition • South Carolina Exposition and Protest, penned by John C. Calhoun

South Carolina’s Nullification Ordinance • Declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 “null and void within the borders of South Carolina” • Passed by a state convention November 24, 1832 • This began the “Nullification Crisis”

President Jackson Responds • Sends an navy flotilla to Charleston, November 1832 • Declares that South Carolina stands “on the brink of insurrection and treason" • Congresses passes the

“Seduced as you have been, my fellow countrymen by the delusion theories and misrepresentation of ambitious, deluded & designing men, I call upon you in the language of truth, and with the feelings of a Father to retrace your steps. ” - President Andrew Jackson

1830 Webster-Hayne Debate Daniel Webster Massachusetts (unionist) Robert Hayne South Carolina (states rights)

“Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!” Daniel Webster, 1835

Compromise Tariff of 1833 • Proposed by the Great Compromiser, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky • Agreed to by John Calhoun • South Carolina repeals it’s nullification of the Force Bill on the same day. • It was to gradually cut back import taxes to the Tariff of 1816 levels (average of 20%)

Impact of the State’s Debate and Nullification Crisis • South Carolina expected the other Southern states to support her resistance • Jackson commits the federal government to the principle of Union supremacy • South Carolina’s resistance showed that one state could impose its will on Congress

“Nullification has done its work. It has prepared the minds of men for a separation of the states and when the question is moved again it will be distinctly union or disunion. ” - James Petigru, a Unionist from South Carolina