1832-1833
The Nullification Crisis began when Congress passed the ‘Tariff of Abominations’ in 1828. The Tariff angered the South, as they felt that the Tariff only benefitted the North and slowed their economy. John C. Calhoun led the nullification movement, taking ideas from the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions as well as the Tenth Amendment. His theory of nullification stated that the federal government only existed at the will of the states, and therefore if a state found a federal law unconstitutional, it would have the right to nullify that law within its borders. After the Webster-Hayne Debate in 1830, President Andrew Jackson’s stance against nullification was hardened. In 1832, the issue became a real crisis …show more content…
Jackson belonged to the Democratic party, and the anti-Jacksonians called themselves Whigs. The main Whig leaders were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun, who were known as the ‘Great Triumvirate’. As the election of 1836 grew closer, the divided leadership led to a cracked system. To end this, the Democrats rallied around Martin Van Buren as their candidate and Van Buren even had Jackson’s support. The Whigs were not as decisive, and chose multiple representatives. For New England, they chose Daniel Webster. Hugh White represented the South. And William Henry Harrison was the representative for the middle and Western United States. The plan for the Whigs was to spread across different parts of the nation so that Jackson would not be able to get the majority vote, which would lead to the House of Representatives making the decisions. This strategy failed, and Van Buren won the election with 170 electoral …show more content…
But many white Americans, especially the ones who lived on the western frontier, resented the Native American, as they were living on lands that they wanted. Previous attempts to solve this issue ended with civilizing some Native Americans, who became known as the Five Civilized Tribes. But the land that they lived on was valuable, white settlers flooded into the region to make their fortunes. President Andrew Jackson was an advocate of Indian removal, and passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. He frequently threatened and forced Native Americans off their lands. In 1831, the Choctaw were expelled from its land under the invasion of the U.S. Army. They were under harsh conditions on their journey towards new territory, such as being bound by chains, without any food, and had no supplies or help from the government. A Choctaw leader called it a ‘trail of tears and death.’ The removal process continued, and the government drove the Creeks from their lands. Over three thousand died on the trip to Oklahoma. The Cherokee people were divided between leaving or staying to fight. But by 1838, only 2,000 Cherokees left their homeland. President Martin Van Buren sent soldiers to expedite the process, where the Native Americans were forced to arch over 1,200 miles to Indian territory. Diseases like whooping cough, typhus, and cholera were common, and historians estimate