From: Kristy Ortenzi
Date: 3/19/00
Time: 3:11:02 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.201.202
Week 9
Primary Source Assignment
This is a letter President Andrew Jackson wrote Senator, Martin Van Buren, responding to his many letters that remain unanswered. Jackson’s letter explains how he is angry with many of the leaders in South Carolina. He is angry because the leaders of South Carolina are taking exceptional liberal views on the government. During the Nullification Crisis a feud broke out between Andrew Jackson and vice president Calhoun. When this happened it became obvious that Van Buren would become Jackson’s designated successor rather than the vice president. In November 1832, members voted to nullify the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 and it forbid the collection of customs within the state. (306) The federal government passed legislation that allowed tariffs on manufactured goods. This increases the price they would have to pay on imported goods. This nullification crisis revealed that people living in South Carolina would not allow federal action that were different from their interests about the institution of slavery. The legislatures of South Carolina declared that the new laws were unconstitutional. Jackson did not agree with this because in his view, federal power should be held in check. (page 305) The reason why Jackson was so opposed to this is because he was a proslavery president, he was a Southerner and a slaveholder. He did not agree with abolitionists and disagreed with everything that they stood for.