Proclamation Regarding Nullification: Main Idea
Proclamation Regarding Nullification: Main Idea
President Jackson gets all up in the face of the South when South Carolina threatens to act in its own self-interest by nullifying a federal law (about taxes, natch) and threatening to secede if the feds try to stop them.
Simple as that.
Jackson writes a very, very long letter, proclaiming that the nullifiers are a bunch of cowards and basically threatens to send in the troops all Incredible Hulk style if the Nullies don't back down.
Questions
- What is Jackson's problem? Why does he have such a hard time letting South Carolina have their way on this one issue?
- The Constitution is kind of like the ball in a tennis match between Jackson and the Nullifiers. How is each side putting spin on the Constitution to their own advantage?
- How does Jackson justify his own presidential authority, especially in relation to the states?
- Put on your nullification hat and put yourself in the place of those reading Jackson's proclamation. How do you think the Nullies felt about his arguments?
Chew On This
Andrew Jackson's "Proclamation Regarding Nullification" proved to South Carolina that he was willing to stick to his guns on the states' versus federal rights debates plaguing the nation.
Jackson's role in the Nullification Crisis is a classic case of the playground bully.
Quotes
Quote #1
Every man, of plain, unsophisticated understanding, who hears the question, will give such an answer as will preserve the Union. (12)
The question that precedes this line basically asks this: What's more important, one state's self-interest or the Union itself? But the answer's more important than the question here. Jackson is saying that any idiot knows the Union comes first. He's really poking an already irritated South Carolina.
Quote #2
However apparent this purpose may be in the present case, nothing can be more dangerous than to admit the position that an unconstitutional purpose, entertained by the members who assent to a law enacted under a constitutional power, shall make that law void; for how is that purpose to be ascertained? Who is to make the scrutiny? How often may bad purposes be falsely imputed? (15)
What happens when you challenge laws? Anarchy. Chaos. Bloodshed and the end of the world. Jackson is using a common idea that Thomas Jefferson helped to promote: without a strong government, society will slip into disarray. And he's saying that if South Carolina continues down this path, what's to prevent any state from deciding that any law is invalid?
Quote #3
Our Constitution does not contain the absurdity of giving power to make laws, and another power to resist them. (16)
This is the entire proclamation in a nutshell. Insult the Nullifiers by calling their argument absurd, and state it has no constitutional basis.
Quote #4
We are one people in the choice of the President and the Vice President. (25)
Jackson's saying that his power comes from all the people, not just from one state. He's establishing his own cred and reminding the South Carolinians that they voted for him, too. If this sounds like something a parent might say to get their kid to shut up, just imagine how South Carolina might have felt about it.
Quote #5
[…] tell them that compared to disunion, all other evils are light […] that you will never take the field unless the star-spangled banner of your country shall float over you—that you will not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and scorned while you live, as the authors of the first attack on the Constitution of your country!—its destroyers you cannot be. (37)
Jackson appeals to the self-respect of the people of South Carolina. After all, who'd want to be known as the destroyer of this glorious nation? Do you think they bought it?