Tariff Nullification

About Tariff Nullification

South Carolinas nullification of federal tariffs in 1832 was the most serious challenge to federal authority before the Civil War. Vice President John C Calhoun, a South Carolinian, had secretly written the South Carolina Exposition and Protest arguing that states could nullify federal laws. The Ordinance of Nullification declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void in South Carolina. President Jackson issued the Proclamation to the People of South Carolina denying the right of nullification. Congress passed the Force Bill authorizing Jackson to use military force. Senator Henry Clay negotiated a compromise tariff that gradually reduced rates. South Carolina repealed the nullification ordinance but symbolically nullified the Force Act. The crisis established that states could not nullify federal law, a principle settled definitively by the Civil War.