How Did The Highlight The Nullification Crisis

Tyler Gladney
Exam 3

Highlight the Nullification Crisis and the role of Jackson and Calhoun:

The Nullification Crisis started when John Quincy Adams was elected president in 1824. Andrew Jackson supporters were bitter that Adams had won the election so they devised a plan to sabotage his presidency. They pushed a proposal to drastically raise tariffs on manufactured goods through congress. They thought this would make him look partial to the north as they would benefit greatly from this proposal. However, the proposal did not pass until 1828, the same year Jackson was elected. The people in the south were angry with the tariff and at Jackson. So instead of negatively affecting Adams presidency, it reflected very poorly on Jackson. South
Carolina in particular was acted out against the tariffs, campaigning heavily claiming that the tariff was unconstitutional and needed to be nullified. The nullification supporters, also called “nullies”, created a pamphlet “The South Carolina Exposition” which contained very persuasive points to nullify the tariff. It later came out that the author of the pamphlet was John C. Calhoun,Vice President of the United States. The nullies attempted to pass nullification through South Carolina legislature, but were stopped by unionists. Calhoun served Jackson as Vice President, however the two had begun to differ on many levels. One of their many differences of opinion was on federal aid. In 1830, Congress passed the Maysville Road Construction proposal a road that was to run through Kentucky from Lexington to Maysville. Calhoun supported the road since it would eventually link to a national road, however when the proposal reached Jackson, he vetoed it. Supporters of the road were angry and started calling Jackson “King Andrew” saying he abused his presidential power. South Carolina continued to show discontent with the tariff with defiant acts such as lowering their flags to half mast. Acts such as this made Jackson realize that something must be done. In 1832 Calhoun persuaded congress to enact the Tariff of 1832, which only lowered the rate of the Tariff of 1828. The south was still outraged and would not compromise. Then the nullies asked South Carolina legislature to nullify the tariff and this time they agreed. They then chose Robert Y. Hayne, who also supported Calhoun and the nullification, as the new South Carolina Governor and gave Calhoun Hayne's old senate spot. The legislature then threatened to secede from the Union if the tariffs were not lowered. The threat of secession angered Jackson, so he sent an army to South Carolina and stated his intention to enforce the tariff. Jackson then asked Congress to develop a “Force Bill” which would allow him to use his army to enforce the tariff. Calhoun then called upon Henry Clay, who had been involved in the scandals surrounding the election of 1824, to help him draft a compromise. Under Clay's proposal, the tariffs would be reduced by ten percent over an eight year period. The Compromise Tariff of 1833 passed by a small majority, with the south not entirely pleased.
The Trail of Tears In the early 1800s tensions were increasing between the Native Americans and whites.
Following a discovery of gold in northern Georgia and a recommendation from President James Monroe, Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. In the Supreme Court case Cherokee Nation vs Georgia in 1831 the court ruled in favor of Georgia, however in Worcester vs Georgia in 1832 the court ruled in favor of the Cherokees. Jackson ignored the rulings and instead enforced the removal. The U.S. government used the Treaty of Echota in 1835 as leverage to justify the indian removal. The treaty, signed by about 100 Cherokees, gave up all land east of the Mississippi in exchange for land, livestock, money and other goods in Indian
Territory. In the summer of 1838, the U.S. began enforcement of the Indian Removal Act. That summer 17,000 Indians were rounded up and loaded into boats that traveled into Indian Territory and others were forced into prison camps. An estimated 4,000 died from disease, hunger and exposure.
The Eaton Affair
Soon after Jackson took office, trouble followed, this time by his Secretary of State Eaton and his wife Peggy. Peggy was known around Washington as being forward and had been married once before to a naval officer who was thought to commit suicide because of her affair with Eaton. Washington society mostly snubbed the Eaton’s and Jackson took this rather personally. Jackson spent much of his first year in office gathering evidence to disprove the accusations against Peggy. The situation eventually spilt over into politics. When Calhoun came out and supported nullification, and Calhoun’s wife did not treat Peggy as Jackson thought she should, Jackson refused to back Calhoun’s ambition to be president. The Eaton Affair, pushed a wedge between Jackson and Calhoun which lead to long following political jabs at one another.
The Cult of Domesticity Between 1820 and 1860 there came to be this idea that a woman’s role in life is to give birth and raise children and take care of household chores while the men deal with the business.
This idea has come to be called “Cult of True Womanhood” or “Cult of Domesticity”. This idea, which many have thought derived from feminine literature, speeches, and legislature, was designed for the wives and daughters of white middle class men. Even though this idea that women had to mold into perfect homemakers and had no other choice. Many women found outlets for creativity and created their own ways of dealing with having little choice in their lives. Even though the ideas would not come about for many more decades the idea of equal rights for women and women’s suffrage were
planted.