PrAcTIcInG historical Thinking
Identify: What is Calhoun’s argument against high tariffs for American exports?
Analyze: How does Calhoun’s argument represent a conflict between the develop-
ment of technology and larger economic concerns?
Evaluate: In what ways does Calhoun’s argument reflect the United States’ changing
and continuing role in the world economy?Document 8.7 John C. CAlhoun, “South Carolina
Exposition and Protest”
1828In this excerpt, John C. Calhoun (1782–1850), vice president under Andrew Jackson and
senator from South Carolina, justifies state nullification of federal law. President Jack-
son vehemently rejected Calhoun’s reasoning and helped pass the Force Bill through
Congress to counteract the theory that states could “nullify” federal law. When Calhoun
refers to “they” and “their” in this passage, he is referring to New England textile manu-
facturers and their supporters in Congress.We cultivate certain great staples for the supply of the general market of the
world; and they manufacture almost exclusively for the home market. Their
object in the Tariff is to keep down foreign competition, in order to obtain
a monopoly of the domestic market. The effect on us is to compel us to pur-
chase at a higher price, both what we purchase from them and from others,
without receiving a corresponding increase of price for what we sell. The price
at which we can afford to cultivate, must depend on the price at which we
receive our supplies. The lower the latter, the lower we may dispose of our
products with profit; and in the same degree our capacity of meeting competi-
tion is increased; on the contrary, the higher the price of our supplies, the less
the profit at the same price, and the less consequently the capacity for meeting
competition....Statutes at Large of South Carolina, ed. Thomas Cooper, vol. 1 (Columbia, SC: A. S.
Johnston, 1836), 252.the Politics of Growth
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