Ch.12, Sec.3 – Conflicts Over States’ Rights

Rising Sectional Differences

- Jackson dealt with economic conflicts between the United States’ three main areas: the Northeast, the South, & the West

- the economic problems were: 1. the sale of public lands2. internal improvements3. tariffs

- Northeasterners did not want the federal government selling new lands for cheap prices because it would attract workers who were needed in their factories

Ch.12, Sec.3 – Conflicts Over States’ Rights

- Westerners wanted the land sold cheaply so more people would settle there, giving the areas more political power

- business leaders in the Northeast & West backed government spending on internal improvements (roads & canals)

- Southerners opposed these improvements because the government got its funding for these projects through tariffs, which were taxes on imported goods

- tariffs were the government’s main source of income

Ch.12, Sec.3 – Conflicts Over States’ Rights

- Northerners supported high tariffs because they made imported goods more expensive than American-made goods

- Southerners did not support tariffs because its economy depended on foreign trade

Tariff Abominations

- before John Quincy Adams left office, he passed a tariff act which enraged Southerners and cost them money at the expense of the Northerners who were unaffected

- Southerners called the act the Tariff of Abominations

Ch.12, Sec.3 – Conflicts Over States’ Rights

Ch.12, Sec.3 – Conflicts Over States’ Rights

Crisis over Nullification

- South Carolina was hit hard by the tariff and there was talk of them leaving the Union

- John C. Calhoun, Jackson’s vice-president, came up with the doctrine of nullification, which granted states the right to nullify federal laws they deemed as unconstitutional

- many political leaders felt that freedom and a unified country went hand in hand, so the doctrine went against their beliefs

- John C. Calhoun & Andrew Jackson became political enemies

Ch.12, Sec.3 – Conflicts Over States’ Rights

South Carolina Threatens to Secede

- South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union if the tariffs were collected by the federal government

- When Jackson won re-election in 1832, he threatened the South Carolina congressmen with military force if they didn’t obey federal laws