The Influence of the 1830s Nullification Crisis on the 1860s Secession Crisis
Open Access
- Author:
- Mangiaracina, James
- Area of Honors:
- History
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Amy S Greenberg, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Michael James Milligan, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Jackson
John C. Calhoun
Nullification
Secession - Abstract:
- This thesis aims to connect the constitutional arguments for and against secession during the Nullification Crisis of 1832 with the constitutional arguments for and against secession during the Secession Crisis of 1860-1861. Prior to the Nullification Crisis, Vice President John C. Calhoun, who has historically been considered to be a leading proponent of secession, outlined his doctrine of nullification in 1828. This thesis argues that Calhoun’s doctrine was initially intended to preserve the Union. However, after increasingly high protective tariffs, the state delegates of the South Carolina Nullification Convention radicalized his version of nullification as expressed in the Ordinance of Nullification of 1832. In response to the Ordinance, President Andrew Jackson issued his Proclamation Regarding Nullification. In this document, Jackson vehemently opposed the notion of nullification and secession through various constitutional arguments. Next, this thesis will look at the Bluffton Movement of 1844 and the Nashville Convention of 1850. In the former, Robert Barnwell Rhett pushed for immediate nullification of the new protective Tariff of 1842 or secession. In this way, Rhett further removed Calhoun’s original intention of nullification and radicalized it. The latter caused strong divisions within the South itself and illustrates the growing fragility of the Union. Finally, this thesis will examine the constitutional arguments for and against secession during the Secession Crisis of 1860-1861 by analyzing South Carolina’s Declaration of Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union and President Lincoln's First Inaugural Address. Both of these documents use similar methods and sources to argue their cases. Additionally, the fact that Lincoln studied Jackson’s 1832 Proclamation helps reveal the significance of the Nullification Crisis of 1832 to the Secession Crisis of 1860-1861.