South carolina Ordinance of Nullification

When people think about the Civil War and how South Carolina was connected most go straight to the Ordinance of Secession, but in fact the connection began on November 24, 1832 when the South Carolina legislature passed the Ordinance of Nullification.


With the passing of the Ordinance of Nullification it nullified the Federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 proclaiming them unconstitutional and could not be imposed within the state of South Carolina after February 1, 1833. The South Carolina Legislature made it clear that any attempt to use force to collect taxes from these Federal Tariffs would lead to the state's secession from the Union.


President, Andrew Jackson, and Vice President, John C. Calhoun were on opposite sides of the issue, thus highlighting the intense divisiveness within the nation. The North was trying to protect its manufacturing industry by imposing import tariffs while those in the South felt tariffs favored Northern-manufacturing interests at the expense of the Southern farmers.



John C. Calhoun and other politicians in South Carolina who stood for nullification were attempting to find a way to protect South Carolina’s interests against what they regarded as Federal encroachment while remaining in the Union and the Ordinance of Nullification was a step to avoid South Carolina or other Southern states from succeeding.



The nullification stated that a state could resist a federal law that was not specifically authorized by the U.S. Constitution. The crisis also involved the idea of states' rights that, in any conflict, the power of the state should prevail.



As an immediate result, President Andrew Jackson was furious, Jackson tried to pass a Force Bill early in 1833, in an attempt to force South Carolina to comply with the Tariff. It did not work, and the Ordinance ended up compelling the creation of a Compromise Tariff and the reduction of taxes on imports. This lead to the prospect of the Union being divided and the possibility of a Civil War in the future.



What many people don’t know and what I find fascinating during the War of 1812 many New England states considered actions up to and including secession because of their opposition to war with Great Britain. John C. Calhoun used this idea to enhance the doctrine of Nullification when South Carolina other agricultural states in the South found themselves economically disadvantaged by the protective tariffs of 1828 and 1832.