States Rights Debate - Moore Public Schools

States Rights Nullification, Succession, and the Civil War

Presented by

Kelly Curtright Director, Social Studies Office of Standards and Curriculum Oklahoma State Department of Education

Meets Grade 8 U.S. History PASS Standards Standard 7: The student will examine the significance of the Jacksonian era. 3. Describe and explain the Nullification Crisis and the development of the states’ rights debates.

Topics in the Item Specs Document • • • • • • • •

John C. Calhoun Henry Clay Andrew Jackson Force Bill Hartford Convention, 1814 Nullification Ordinance Tariff of 1828 Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 1798

“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.” - Tenth Amendment, 1791 United States Constitution

Impact on U.S. History by State’s Rights Debate • • • •

Tariffs Public land policies National banks Native Americans within state boundaries • Internal improvement (infrastructure) • Extension of slavery

A Deep Rooted History • Regional colonial differences • Confederal philosophy fear of strong central government • Constitutional Convention & ratification fight • Hamiltonians versus Jeffersonians

With the birth of the nation the argument began over what kind of government should the colonies/states have and what kind of powers should it exercise.

Articles of Confederation, 1781-1789 • First written U.S. Constitution • Limited powers of central government • No independent judiciary or executive branch • Confederation of equal states • States retained individual sovereignty • States executed laws • Each state had one vote in Congress

U.S. Constitution, 1789 • Designed to remedy weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation • Set up a federal system of government • National government was to be supreme • No “bill of rights” • Dissension between federalists and Anti-Federalists

The Supremacy Clause "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."

The Alien and Sedition Acts 1798

President John Adams, 1797-1801

The Alien and Sedition Acts marked an attempt by Federalists to suppress opposition at home.

Alien Enemies Act • Wartime powers • Allowed for the arrest, imprisonment, & deportation of aliens • Impacted aliens subject to enemy authority

Sedition Act • Expanded treasonable activities • Prohibited the publication of “any false, scandalous and malicious writing” • Twenty five people were arrested under the Sedition law and ten of them were convicted.

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed the acts, and drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in protest.

“That the several states . . . being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction; and that a nullification, by those sovereignties, . . . is the rightful remedy . . . .” - Kentucky Resolution, 1798

O-grab-me

The Hartford Convention, 1814 • New England Federalists opposed Republican anti-foreign trade policies • During the War of 1812, New England’s economic interests suffered • Secret meetings were held in Hartford, Connecticut • Secession from the Union was discussed • Echoes of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Doctrine of Supremacy • Chief Justice John Marshall • Uses the “supremacy clause” to disallow taxing the National Bank “the government of the Union,

though limited in its power, is supreme within its sphere of action.” - McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819

Trade and Tariffs • A major and continuous strain on the Union, 1820 to the Civil War • The South imports manufactured goods from Europe and the Northern states • The Northern states viewed foreign trade as competition • Protective tariffs were viewed as harmful to the South’s economy

Tariff of 1828 In 1828, the Congress passed protective tariffs to benefit trade in the Northern States, but were detrimental to the South.

Nullification Crisis • The Tariff of 1828 is also known as the “Tariff of Abominations” • Southerners express their opposition • South Carolina Exposition and Protest, penned by John C. Calhoun

South Carolina’s Nullification Ordinance • Declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 “null and void within the

borders of South Carolina” • Passed by a state convention November 24, 1832 • This began the “Nullification Crisis”

President Jackson Responds • Sends an navy flotilla to Charleston, November 1832 • Declares that South Carolina stands “on the brink of

insurrection and treason" • Congresses passes the “Force Bill” in 1833

“Seduced as you have been, my fellow countrymen by the delusion theories and misrepresentation of ambitious, deluded & designing men, I call upon you in the language of truth, and with the feelings of a Father to retrace your steps.” - President Andrew Jackson

1830 Webster-Hayne Debate

Daniel Webster Massachusetts (unionist)

Robert Hayne South Carolina (states rights)

Daniel Webster, 1835

“Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!”

Compromise Tariff of 1833 • Proposed by the Great Compromiser, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky • Agreed to by John Calhoun • South Carolina repeals it’s nullification of the Force Bill on the same day. • It was to gradually cut back import taxes to the Tariff of 1816 levels (average of 20%) • Protectionism was reinstated in 1845

Impact of the State’s Debate and Nullification Crisis • South Carolina expected the other Southern states to support her resistance • Jackson commits the federal government to the principle of Union supremacy • The conflict helped enforce the idea of secession leading to secession by South Carolina in December 1860 • South Carolina’s resistance showed that one state could impose its will on Congress

“Nullification has done its work. It has prepared the minds of men for a separation of the states and when the question is moved again it will be distinctly union or disunion.” - James Petigru, a Unionist from South Carolina

Grade 8 United States History CRT Assessment Information For Standard 7.3

Standard 7.3 Content Limits

Sample Item 1

Sample Item 2

Sample Item 3

Released Item

From the Multiple-

Choice Released Items Booklet, 2004-05 Correct answer: B

Presentation created by: Kelly Curtright Director, Social Studies Office of Standards and Curriculum Oklahoma State Department of Education Contact: Telephone (405) 522-3523 or E-mail