Proclamation Regarding Nullification Theme of Politics

Politics is a four-letter word. Well, it's actually eight letters, but you get our drift.

The election of 1828 marked the rise of modern political parties and the types of political campaigns we know and love today. You know—the ones with the lies, scandals, and mudslinging; where the personality of the candidate can mean more than his or her policy positions; where newspapers take sides and tempers flare; where endless rallies and meet-the candidate opportunities abound.

For about ten years—a period called "The Era of Good Feelings"—there was really only one party—the Democratic-Republicans aka Jeffersonian Republicans aka Republicans. (No wonder there were good feelings.) But Jackson and Van Buren co-starred to bring us a new party: the Democrats. States' rights friendly, populist, and favoring the common farmer and worker, the new party felt that the Republicans were acting a little too much like big-government nationalists in their embrace of manufacturing, a central bank, and federal spending on roads and canals.

These two parties defined the political debate of the Jacksonian Era and beyond, sparring over states' rights, tariffs, slavery, and just about everything else. But in the Nullification Crisis, Jackson was fighting with his own party. He was an avid states' rights advocate, but not of the states' right to decide what is and isn't constitutional. Things sure look different once you get to be the president.

We're sure some choice words were said during some of these confrontations. They were probably more than four letters, though—those guys could expound.

1. Jackson and Calhoun are sitting across from each other at Thanksgiving. What would they say to each other? What might they avoid?
2. Where do you see ideals of a Jacksonian Democracy popping up in the language and arguments?
3. What kind of authority is Jackson granting to the Constitution?
4. Who would Jackson have supported in the 2016 presidential race?

Jackson hoped that his Proclamation would act as nullification kryptonite, putting an end to the first serious flare-up between two parts of the country that once worked together to fight the British, but were quickly becoming mortal foes to one another.

The Constitutional question of federal vs. state control that propelled the Nullification Crisis is the primary issue in U.S. politics now and forever.