1787_ The 3/5th Compromise

3/5th of slaves were counted for purposes of the distribution of taxes and the number of
members each state was allowed in the House of Representatives. Increased
Sectionalism.

1793_ Invention of the Cotton Gin

Revolutionized the cotton industry, removed cotton seeds 50 times faster. Demand for
slaves in South increases.

1803_ Louisiana Purchase, Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny

United States size doubled. Manifest Destiny was the idea that Muricans had the God
given right to expand westwards. Issue of slavery, the new territories are either free or
slave.

1820_ Missouri Compromise

11 free, 11 slave states. South wanted to enter Missouri as slave, which would upset the
balance. Maine entered as free state. No territory gained north of the 3630 latitude

line was allowed to be slave except Missouri.

1832_ Nullification Crisis

Congress passed a high protective tariff that mainly benefited the North, enraged the
South. Calhoun stated that federal government only existed at the will of states.
Therefore states should be allowed to nullify federal law within its borders. South
Carolina.
In 1832, Henry Clay pushed through Congress a new tariff bill, with lower rates than the Tariff of
Abominations, but still too high for the southerners. A majority of states-rights proponents had
won the South Carolina State House in the recent 1832 election and their reaction was swift.
The

SOUTH CAROLINA ORDINANCE OF NULLIFICATION

was enacted into law on November 24, 1832. As

far as South Carolina was concerned, there was no tariff. A line had been drawn. Would President
Jackson dare to cross it?
Nullification
Do you think that South Carolina had the constitutional right to nullify the Tariff of Abominations?
Yes

No

Vote!

Jackson rightly regarded this

STATES-RIGHTS

challenge as so serious that he asked Congress to

enact legislation permitting him to use federal troops to enforce federal laws in the face of
nullification. Fortunately, an armed confrontation was avoided when Congress, led by the efforts of
Henry Clay, revised the tariff with a compromise bill. This permitted the South Carolinians to back
down without "losing face."
In retrospect, Jackson's strong, decisive support for the Union was one of the great moments of
his Presidency. If nullification had been successful, could secession have been far behind?

1850_ Compromise of 1850

1852_ Uncle Toms Cabin
1854_ Kansas Nebraska Act
1855_ Bleeding Kansas
1857_ Dred Scott
1859_ Harpers Ferry
1860_ Lincoln Elected President
1861_ Fort Summer