The relationship between the North and the South was tenuous when Andrew Jackson came to office in 1828. Ever since the Constitutional Convention of 1787, they had been fighting over slavery and tariffs. Each region wanted to make sure their economies were protected in the new Union. In 1828, the issue of tariffs surfaced again. Congress passed a tariff on imported, primarily manufactured, goods (Text, 299). The South saw this tariff as an affront to their economy. Vice President John C. Calhoun stated in his pamphlet The South Carolina Exposition and Protest that he believes the states should have the power to determine if laws passed by Congress are constitutional (Text, 299). South Carolina declared that Congress was overstepping its power by offering such support of the North’s manufacturing industries. The confrontation quickly spun into a debate over the power of the federal government to decide the rights of states. In 1832, after the passage of another tariff, South Carolina approved an Ordinance of Nullification (Text, 299). The Ordinance stated that taxes on imports would not be collected in South Carolina and …show more content…
Hayne states, “In the great struggle in which we engaged, for the preservation of our rights and liberties, it is my fixed determination to assert and uphold the sovereign authority of the state, and to enforce by all means that may be entrusted to my hands, her sovereign will” (Hayne, 1). This means that Hayne believes that states should hold more power than the government. It also means that he will protect states’ right even if it means succeeding from the Union. South Carolina believed that the federal government only existed at the will of the states. Therefore, if a state found a federal law unconstitutional and detrimental to its sovereign interests, it would have the right to nullify that law within its