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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Professor Selinger, class of last Wednesday:
 The second party system as “an institutional technology … to win
national elections without re-opening the slavery question” (p. 6)
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Professor Selinger, class of last Wednesday:
 The second party system as “an institutional technology … to win
national elections without re-opening the slavery question” (p. 6)
 Professor Meardon, class of today:
 The nullification debate of 1828-1833 suggests that the slavery
question was one of a complex of controversial questions. It
would become the paramount one – but not yet.
John C. Calhoun ca. 1830. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
online collection, LC-DIG-ppmsca-19251
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Who cares?
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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Who cares?
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), ca.
1850. Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs online collection,
LC-DIG-cwpbh-02605
“The committee [of the South Carolina Legislature]
have bestowed on the subjects referred to them the
deliberate attention which their importance demands;
and the result, on full investigation, is a unanimous
opinion that the act of Congress of the last session,
with the whole system of legislation imposing duties
on imports, not for revenue, but the protection of one
branch of industry at the expense of others, is
unconstitutional, unequal, and oppressive, and
calculated to corrupt the public virtue and destroy the
liberty of the country; which propositions they propose
to consider in the order stated, and then to conclude
their report with the consideration of the important
question of the remedy.”
From the “South Carolina Exposition and Protest”
(1828). John C. Calhoun, unsigned author.
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Who cares?
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), ca.
1830. Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs online collection, LCDIG-ppmsca-19251
“The committee [of the South Carolina Legislature]
have bestowed on the subjects referred to them the
deliberate attention which their importance demands;
and the result, on full investigation, is a unanimous
opinion that the act of Congress of the last session,
with the whole system of legislation imposing duties
on imports, not for revenue, but the protection of one
branch of industry at the expense of others, is
unconstitutional, unequal, and oppressive, and
calculated to corrupt the public virtue and destroy the
liberty of the country; which propositions they propose
to consider in the order stated, and then to conclude
their report with the consideration of the important
question of the remedy.”
From the “South Carolina Exposition and Protest”
(1828). John C. Calhoun, unsigned author.
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Who cares?
Calhoun at Marion Square, Charleston, June 23, 2015
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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Who cares?
“John C. Calhoun Statue Vandalized in Downtown
Charleston,” by Philip Weiss, WCSC TV, June 23, 2015
Calhoun at Marion Square, Charleston, June 23, 2015
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 What “unequal, and oppressive” system?
Average tariff, 1821-1850
(ratios of merchandise import duties to dutiable imports and to all imports)
70
average tariff (%)
60
duties / all
imports
50
40
duties /
dutiable
imports
30
20
10
0
1820
1830
1840
Year
1850
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 What “unequal, and oppressive” system?
Tariffs under U.S. tariff acts, 1804-1832
Iron and steel
manufactures, Wool manufactures
Coffee Cotton
manufactures unspecified
unspecified
1804 5 c./lb
15%
17.5%
15%
1812 10 c./lb
27.5%
32.5%
27.5%
1816 5 c./lb
25%
25%
20%
1824
"
"
25%
"
1828
"
"
"
50%
1832
Free
"
"
"
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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 The debate among political economists
Mathew Carey (1760-1839)
Condy Raguet (1784-1842)
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet’s background
Entrance to the harbor of Rio de Janeiro, ca. 18211825, near the beginning of Raguet’s mission.
Voyage Pittoresque dans le Brésil (Paris:
Engelmann, 1835), plate 6.
Condy Raguet (1784-1842)
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet’s background
Raguet’s exhortation for more forceful diplomacy,
and reciprocity, with Brazil. Raguet to Clay, 23
September 1826.
Condy Raguet (1784-1842)
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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet’s background
New career: advocate of free trade … and Jackson?
Condy Raguet (1784-1842)
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet’s background
“Import duties and prohibitions have often been
resorted to as a means of retaliation … this is the
favourite plea, and the basis of most commercial
treaties.”
“The only point in question is this, what degree of
vengeance you are animated by, and how much
you will consent to throw away upon its
gratification.”
“To adopt the restrictive system merely
because another nation has adopted it
would be as absurd, as a man to tie his
hands, that he might diminish his power
to work, merely because other persons,
with whom he dealt, had the folly to tie
theirs.”
-- Raguet, The Free Trade Advocate, 2
Jan. 1829
-- J.-B. Say, Treatise on Political Economy (ed. by. C.
C. Biddle) 1821, 161-163.
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet’s background
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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet vs. Mathew Carey [a.k.a. “Hamilton”], The Banner of the
Constitution, Aug. 25, 1830:
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet vs. Mathew Carey [a.k.a. “Hamilton”], The Banner of the
Constitution, Aug. 25, 1830:
“[Washington’s] language, in 1796, could have had
no reference but to the encouragement indirectly
afforded by the duties of that day, laid for purposes
of revenue, none of which exceeded 15 per cent. Ad
valorem, except upon coaches and looking glasses
…”
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 Raguet vs. Mathew Carey [a.k.a. “Hamilton”], The Banner of the
Constitution, Aug. 25, 1830:
“[Washington’s] language, in 1796, could have had
no reference but to the encouragement indirectly
afforded by the duties of that day, laid for purposes
of revenue, none of which exceeded 15 per cent. Ad
valorem, except upon coaches and looking glasses
…”
“In laying duties for purposes of revenue, few
people would doubt the power to select those
articles of manufacture the encouragement of
which would be indirectly promoted by a duty; and
it was, doubtless, in reference to this indirect
protection, that the phrase was employed.”
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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 What’s the big constitutional deal about “direct” vs. “indirect”
protection?
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 What’s the big constitutional deal about “direct” vs. “indirect”
protection?
Constitution of the United States of America
Article. I.
Section. 8.
[i.] The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and
provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and
Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
[iii.] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
[ix.] To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of
Nations;
[x.] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and
Water;
[xii.] To provide and maintain a Navy;
[xvii.] –And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing
Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in
any Department or Officer thereof.
AMENDMENT X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 The “olive branch”: the Compromise Tariff of 1833
 All tariff rates above 20% phased down to 20% by 1842.
 Thereafter, tariffs are to be confined to whatever is necessary for the
“economical administration of government”
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NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 The “olive branch”: the Compromise Tariff of 1833
 All tariff rates above 20% phased down to 20% by 1842.
 Thereafter, tariffs are to be confined to whatever is necessary for the
“economical administration of government”
 Settled the issue, right?
NULLIFICATION AND COMPROMISE
 The “olive branch”: the Compromise Tariff of 1833
 All tariff rates above 20% phased down to 20% by 1842.
 Thereafter, tariffs are to be confined to whatever is necessary for the
“economical administration of government”
 Settled the issue, right?
Rep. Henry A. Wise of Virginia, 1841:
“Gentlemen will not violate the compromise … Oh no! they will not violate
the compromise as they understand it; yet they can do all the mischief I
dread within the terms of their comprehension!” (Cong. Globe, 26th Cong.,
2nd sess., Appendix: 290)
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