Nullification Crisis Dbq

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Once the War of 1812 was declared over, many taxes on imported goods, or tariffs, were passed on the Americans. These tariffs were enacted to protect the American manufacturing businesses from the inexpensive manufactured British goods (Khan, “The Nullification Crisis”). Specifically, the Tariff of 1828, or most commonly known as the Tariff of Abominations, was passed in the years that followed the War of 1812 to protect the American businesses. This tariff defended products in the North from the imports competition overseas (History, Art, and Archives, “The Tariff of Abominations: The Effects”). However, the tariff did little to support the businesses in the South.
As a result of the tariff, it would increase the taxes on raw materials in …show more content…
South Carolina protested this tariff strongly than any other state through the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions made by Madison and Jefferson that supported the state’s rights (Aboukhadijeh, “Nullification Crisis”). These resolutions stated that the state had the right to declare unconstitutional laws as null and void. Moreover, Calhoun wrote The South Carolina Exposition and Protest that included the Theory of Nullification, which was “the declaration of a federal law as null and void within state borders” (Khan Academy, “The Nullification Crisis”). Calhoun believed that states could nullify laws that were unconstitutional, such as the Tariff of 1828. He argued that the U.S. Constitution only passed tariffs to boost the revenue and not protect them from overseas competition (Khan Academy, “The Nullification Crisis”). The tariff did not aid their protection from foreign rivalries, and it only helped those in the North. Thus, Calhoun wanted the Tariff of 1828 to be …show more content…
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Kentucky Resolution while James Madison wrote the Virginia Resolution, and they both claimed the rights of the states (Bill of Rights Institute, “Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions”). This means that the government could not stop the states from their own individual rights. Specifically, in the Kentucky Resolution, Jefferson claimed that the states could nullify federal laws that they saw as unconstitutional (Bill of Rights Institute, “Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions”). To oppose the Tariff of 1828, Calhoun expressed this same idea, and he argued to nullify the tariff. This idea was expressed in both the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, and it served as a way for Calhoun to strengthen his argument about nullifying the tariff.
In conclusion, the War of 1812 generated many tariffs, but the one that had the most effect towards America was the Tariff of 1828. In the South, this was seen as the Tariff of Abominations due to its negative effects in their states. Many southerners, specifically Vice-President Calhoun, protested and wanted to nullify the tariff because he deemed it as unconstitutional. His ideas were expressed before in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions that Madison and Jefferson wrote in the previous

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