Jackson in The Whitehouse

• once in office, further controversy

  • new scandals and personal vendettas

  • authoritarian tendencies

• in the first year alone, he replaced 919 federal officials with campaign supporters

  • claimed it would reduce corruption, however, it actually increased it

  • beginning of the “spoils system” as later administrations did the same

The Nullification Crisis, 1832-1833

• 1828 import tariffs were passed under Adams

  • to boost northern manufacturing

  • hurt southern planters

• South Carolina politicians feared the “tariff of abominations” could lead to a direct attack on slavery

• John C. Calhoun (Jacksons VP) anonymously wrote “South Carolina Exposition and Protest”, which argued:

  • US was a compact of states, not people

  • states were still sovereign

  • thus, a state could nullify a federal law it considered unconstitutional

  • if necessary, a state could leave the union

• Jackson furious, felt personally betrayed

• November 1832, a special convention was held in South Carolina

  • declared tariffs null and void

  • threatened secession if federal government attempted enforcement

• Jackson immediately responded

  • threatened to hang Calhoun for treason

  • 1833 Force Bill authorized the use of military to enforce tariffs

  • Henry Clay and others broker a compromise deal with Calhoun

• legacies:

  • showed slaveholder power and axiety]

  • linked states’ rights, slavery and secession

  • ideas shaped future crises over slavery