A History of the American People

tariffs high. Congress had enacted its first protective high tariff in 1816, over Southern protests.
In 1828 it put through an even higher one, the Tariff of Abominations,' which made US tariffs among the highest in the world and hit Britain, the South's main trading-partner. South Carolina was particularly bitter. From being one of the richer states, it feared becoming one of the poorest. It lost 70,000 people in the 1820s and 150,000 in the 1830s. It blamed high tariffs for its distress. Jackson did his best to get tariffs down and 'he 1832 Tariff Act was an improvement on the Abominations. But it lid not go far enough to satisfy the South Carolinans and their leader, Calhoun. In November 1832 the state held a constitutional convention which overwhelmingly adopted an Ordinance of Nullification. This few constitutional device, inspired by Calhoun, ruled the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832 to be unconstitutional and unlawful and forbade all collection of duties in the state from February 1, 1833. Its legislature also provided that any citizen whose property was seized by the federal authorities could get a court order to recover twice its value. To fight this battle in Washington, Calhoun quit the administration finally by resigning the vice-presidency and was promptly elected senator. In reply, Jackson (with all the authority of a newly reelected president) issued a Nullification Proclamation on December 10 which stated emphatically thatThe power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one state, [is]
incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the
Constitution, unauthorised by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was
founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed' (Jackson's italics). The
Constitution, he added, forms a government, not a league.' It wasa single nation' and the states
did not possess any right to secede.' They had already surrenderedessential parts of [their]
sovereignty,' which they could not retract. Their citizens were American citizens primarily, and
owed a prime obedience to its Constitution and laws. The people, he said, were sovereign, the
Union perpetual. This, coming from a man who was born in South Carolina, and had been an
anti-federalist all his life, was an amazing statement of anti-states' rights principle, and was to
make it infinitely easier for Lincoln to fight for the Union in 1860.
Jackson went further. As chief executive, he had to enforce the laws passed by Congress, and
that included collection of the tariffs: I have no discretionary powers on the subject; my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Constitution.' He spoke to the people of South Carolina directly. They were being deceived bywicked men'-he meant Calhoun-who assured them they would get
away with it. He, as president, wanted to disillusion them before it was too late: Disunion by force is treason' and would be put down with all the strength of the federal government. It would meancivil strife' and the necessary conquest of South Carolina by federal forces. Indeed, he
rather implied that any ringleaders would be tried for treason and hanged-and in private that is
exactly what he threatened to do to his former Vice-President. He requested Congress to pass a
Force Bill. He followed this up with a whole series of military measures-moving three divisions
of artillery, calling for volunteers, mobilizing militias. He ordered the head of the army, General
Winfield Scott, to Charleston Harbor, where Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney were reinforced,
and a battleship and seven revenue cutters took up station in the harbor. He also organized,
within the state, a pro-Union force which he hoped, if it came to war, would act and disarm the
traitors. They responded to his proclamation: Enough! What have we to fear? We are right and God and Old Hickory are with us.’ The existence of an armed Unionist party within the state was one reason why the Nullifiers were forced to hesitate. Another was the failure of any other Southern state to join the South Carolina legislature in its measures to defy the tariff. But a third was Henry Clay, theGreat
Compromiser.' On February 12, 1833, just as South Carolina was planning, in effect, to secede,