Andrew Jackcon Biography
During Andrew Jackson presidency (1829-1837), Jackson put in his own ideas that were drastically diverse. These ideas were called Jacksonian Democracy. Jackson dealt with the nullification in Southern states because of tariffs, removal of Native Americans, dealing with Federalist vs. State regarding removal, spoil system, and attacking the National Bank. Some of these events had a positive outcome and some outcomes were not as good.
To protect America from British manufacturers trying to destroy American competitors, Congress passed tariffs to protect American industry. These were increased in 1824 and 1828. The high tariff of manufactured goods reduced British exports to the U.S., and because of this Britain bought less cotton. With this decline of British goods, the south was forced to buy more expensive northern manufactured goods. The south felt that the north was getting richer at their expense. Calhoun, the vice-president and native of South Carolina created a nullification theory. This theory questioned the legality of applying some federal laws in sovereign states. If the constitution had been established by thirteen sovereign states, he reasoned, and then they must be sovereign, and each has the right to determine whether an act of congress was constitutional. If not, the states had the right to declare that law abolished. If not, the majority in the Federal government would crush the rights of the minority. In 1832, the issue of states rights was tested when a tariff law was passed that South Carolina legislators saw as unacceptable, they declared the tariffs nullified and they threatened to secede from the Union if anyone came to collect taxes. Jackson became furious when hearing these threats. He felt that the
actions in declaring a federal law void, ignored the will of the people as written in the Constitution. He declared these actions as treasonous and threatened to hang Calhoun and send troops into South Carolina to impose the tariff. In 1883, with Jackson?s approval, a Force Bill was passed. This allowed the federal government to use the army against South Carolina if state authorities refused to accept paying dues. There would possibly been a Civil War, until Henry Clay stepped in and created a compromise. He proposed a tariff that would gradually lower taxes over a ten-year period. There was a compromise for now but this topic would come again in the Civil War. Andrew Jackson acted too hastily and forcefully and if not for...