A Study Of The Abolition Of The Federal Republic Of South Carolina

Nullification crisis, which happened in 1832 in America, was a crisis caused by the South Carolina's nullification of the Federal act and its declaration to secede from the Union. The direct cause of the crisis was the expensive tariff policy formulated by the Congress. Realizing that the protest was null, South Carolina then refused to execute the tariff. This incident produced hostility between the president Andrew Jackson and South Carolina, and the Union was nearly to be divided. Finally, it was ended in compromise, it played an important role in the development of American constitution.This essay was trying to make the nullification crisis as a stating point, aiming at studying the debate about "how to build up the American nation" by the theory of state building. The nineteenth century witnessed the great economic and political changes. From the early 19th, Manufacture began to be an important kind of industry, giving vitality to American economic. At the same time, Southern plantation agriculture was prosperous. There were irreconcilable contradictions between the two economic patterns, such as issue of slavery and federal economic policy. With the upheaval of economic development, there were renewed discussion about "the source of state power", "how to allocate power between the federal government and state governments" and "the basis of federal legitimacy". The nationalists in Congress advocated building a consolidated federal government and weakening the power of states. The states'rights advocates were in favor of limiting the federal government's "centralization" process and defending the power of the state.Considered about its own economic interests, South Carolina was dissatisfied with the tariff, regarding the tariff policy as an execrable system which was at the expense of the interests of one region in exchange for the prosperity of another region, namely, "oppression" and "tyrannical". South Carolina looked itself as the defender of "freedom", it used states' rights theory to denounce the federal government. John Calhoun combined the states'rights theory of the 18th century and South Carolina's social reality in 19th century to contrive the nullification theory. This theory advocated that the state's power originated from the numerous states, states had inviolable sovereignty, and the legitimacy of the nation built on contract. Based on this theory, South Carolina determined to declare the tariff policy null and void. President Andrew Jackson adhered to the "neutral" and "compromise" constitutional standpoint, advocated that sovereignty can be divided, states and the nation respectively held part of sovereignty, what's more, the legitimacy of the nation based on the people, states had no right to secede from the Union. Based on this theory, Jackson peacefully ended the crisis, and also made consensus among the contemporary people about "how to build up the American nation", influenced people's constitutional opinion until American civil war.In a word, the nullification crisis was an incident that southern extreme states' rights advocates tried to use a kind of "outdated" states'rights theory---nullification theory to defend southern planters'interests as "minority". It showed the collision among three kinds of opinions about "how to build up the American nation", such as national pattern, nullification pattern and "neutral" pattern. "Neutral" pattern fit American social economic situation in 1930s, widely accepted by states. However, with the issue of slavery intensified, the economical balance vanished, the greater conflict------American civil war then broke out.