From: Jonathan Heller
Date: 3/20/00
Time: 8:24:46 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.158.109
Why was the President angry with some of the leaders of South Carolina?
Andrew Jackson was angry with some of the leaders of South Carolina because South Carolina was acting as a confederacy. South Carolina, under the leadership of John C. Calhoun, and his henchmen were “destroying the constitution”. Citizens of South Carolina were imprisoned, fined, & perhaps hung, under the ordinance of South Carolina. Andrew Jackson states that it would destroy all confidence in the government (at home and abroad) if he were to just sit and let it all happen. The few issues behind Jackson being angry for the whole South Carolina fiasco was not just the fact that innocent people were being harmed or even killed, but South Carolina also put him in a position where if he didn’t respond, he would look bad.
What does this letter tell you about the history of the relationship between the federal government and the states?
It basically says that certain states (South Carolina in this case) did not want to comply with the Federal government, or the constitution. Some southern states went behind the back of the federal government and were not ready to let go of being a confederacy. Being that this is around the time of the civil war, it makes sense. The southern states were a confederacy and wanted to remain a confederacy. South Carolina tried to ignore the government as Jackson states that they have isolated themselves away from the federal government.