Conflicts over
States’ Rights
Calhoun, Jackson's Vice President
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVur0cRs7A
North
High Prices for
Public Lands
Why?
Tariffs
Internal
Improvements
West
South
States’ Rights Debate
 Calhoun’s
ideas added fuel to the
debate over the nature of the federal
union
 Strong federal government vs. Rights kept
by states
 Webster- Hayne debate
Webster
Hayne
Senator from Massachusetts
Senator from South Carolina
Most powerful speaker of the
time
Defended nullification
Argued that the people and
not the states that made the
union
Declared that freedom and
the Union go together
Argued that it gave the states
a lawful way to protest and to
maintain their freedom
Argued that real enemies of
the Union were those who are
constantly stealing power
from the states and adding
strength to the Federal
government
Jackson (Pres.) vs. Calhoun
(VP)
 At
Thomas Jefferson’s birthday dinner, the
two confronted each other during the
toast
 Jackson said the union must be preserved
 Calhoun raised his glass and stated that
the union would only be preserved if the
states’ rights were respected
 From then on, they were political enemies
South Carolina Threatens to
Secede
CAUSE
EFFECT
South is growing angry
Jackson gets worried, doesn’t
want them to leave the Union
Jackson asks Congress to lower
tariffs
Congress responds, lowers tariffs in
1832
South Carolina still angry and they
nullified the tariff acts in 1828 and
1832, voted to build own army
Jackson is enraged, irate; he
makes it clear that they will follow
the laws (says he will “hang the first
Henry Clay comes up with
compromise on tariffs
South Carolina stays in Union, crisis
ends
man of them I can get my hands on”)