dec 10, 1832 - Nullification Crisis

Description:

A confrontation between the federal government and South Carolina's attempt to void and nullify the tariff.

In response, Congress passed the Force Bill of 1833, authorizing the president to use whatever deemed necessary to enforce tariffs.

Andrew Jackson responded to South Carolina's voiding of the tariff by sending federal troops to South Carolina, asserting the supremacy of the federal government and arguing that nullifying federal law is unconstitutional and treason. He also asserts that secession was illegal because "it is an [insult] to national authority" as said, "in becoming parts of a nation...[states] surrender many of their essential parts of sovereignty" and "disunion, by force, is treason."

Andrew Jackson's rebuttal would become the North's first purpose of fighting in the Civil War: preservation of the union because secession is illegal.

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