South Carolina
The History of an American State
Chapter 11:
Sectionalism, States’ Rights, and
Democracy
©2006 Clairmont Press
South Carolina
The History of an American State
Chapter 11: Sectionalism,
States’ Rights, and Democracy
Section 1: Sectionalism
Section 2: States’ Rights and Democracy
Section 1: Sectionalism
Essential Question
• How did sectional differences
affect the American people
after the War of 1812?
Section 1: Sectionalism
What terms do I need to know?
• sectionalism
• free state
• slave state
• Missouri Compromise
• caucus
• mud-slinging
• platform
• spoils system
US Presidents in Order
A Southern Personality
• sectionalism: extreme loyalty to one’s region instead of the
country as a whole
• Many southerners developed the myth that they were
descended from important and wealthy English families –
northerners were thought to be from poor Puritans
• Planters were described as noble and honorable
• Southern ladies were described as pure and proper
• The myth described slaves as loyal and childlike
• Many southerners encouraged the idea that their experiences
were different from the northern ones
Growing Differences
• Differences with the north included: vegetation, climate, soil,
and land regions – created differences in experiences and
economies
• Southern states mostly farmers – cash crops (rice, tobacco,
cotton) important to economy
• Rural southerners did not want or need a strong national
government in their lives
• Northern states grew rapidly – immigrants poured into the
region working in new factories
• Slavery was a big difference in the regions – legal in the
south but not in the north
Growing Differences
• Invention of cotton gin caused increase in number of slaves
• Planters could make lots of money planting cotton using the
gin with slave labor
• In S.C., Up Country and Low Country citizens worked to
improve transportation and develop a huge cotton industry
across the state
• The number of slaves in S.C. more than doubled from 1790
to 1820
• More northerners began to speak out against slavery, but
southerners felt they were being pushed around
• As the country grew westward, a new section, “the West”
added another side to America’s sectionalism
The Missouri Compromise
• In 1819, the numbers of slave and free states represented in
the Senate were equal – no side could force the other on the
slavery issue
• Missouri wanted to enter the U.S.A. as a slave state –
northern states did not want this so Maine was allowed to
enter as a free state to maintain balance
• Also, slavery would not be allowed north of Missouri’s
southern border
• John C. Calhoun (S.C.) was for the compromise and as
Secretary of War supported it to President Monroe
• Charles Pinckney (S.C.) was in Congress and believed that
the states should decide the slavery issue for themselves
The Election of 1824
• Issues in S.C. were falling cotton prices and slave
revolts
• Calhoun wanted to run for president, but many in
S.C. believed he did not pay enough attention to his
state and region
• John Quincy Adams was elected president; Calhoun
was elected Vice President
• Andrew Jackson lost the election and was bitter –
began campaigning for 1828 election
A Split in the Republican Party
• The fight for president split the Republicans
• National Republicans: President Adams and his supporters
• Democratic-Republicans: Andrew Jackson and his supporters
• Jackson was seen as a “common man”; however, he was a
wealthy planter
• Jackson worked to get support from uneducated, average
men – talked against “the rich”
• Jackson won the 1828 election, but John C. Calhoun (S.C.)
remained as vice president
Brain Pop - Andrew Jackson
The People’s Government
• As president, Jackson wanted all men to have the right to
vote, not just property owners
• Democrats had a new kind of campaign – barbecues,
parades, rallies, and “mud-slinging”
• spoils system: appointing people to jobs in the government
based on their loyalty not their experience or qualifications
• “kitchen cabinet”: friends of Jackson who had no government
job but served as unofficial advisors
• “King Andrew”: name given to Jackson because he tended to
do what he wanted to do
• Calhoun became his bitter enemy and resigned as vice
president
Section 2: States’ Rights and
Democracy
Essential Question
• How did economics play a
role in people’s attitudes
towards government?
Section 2: Growing Tensions in
the Colonies
What terms do I need to know?
• treason
• Nullifiers
• Unionists
• capital
• test oath
The Nullification Crisis
• Calhoun believed strongly in states’ rights – Jackson
believed in a strong national government
• National tariff (1816): tax on foreign goods to make it
cheaper to buy American products
• The tariff caused prices in S.C. to rise over time and
did not increase the amount of manufacturing jobs
• Great Britain did not like the tariff and threatened to
stop importing cotton from S.C.
• Calhoun wrote The South Carolina Exposition and
Protest – it said the states could nullify a tariff by
special convention
A National Debate on
Nullification
• By 1830, the senate was having tough debates about
states’ rights and the power of the federal government
• Southerners believed that a state could nullify (cancel)
any federal law or even secede (leave) the Union
• President Jackson was against nullification
• Vice-President Calhoun believed that nullification was
an option for the states
South Carolina and Nullification
• Nullifiers: people who believed in the nullification option (known
as States Rights & Free Trade party)
• Unionists: States Rights & Union Party in S.C.
• Nullifiers won most of the seats in the 1832 S.C. General
Assembly – had enough votes to nullify the tariff
• General Assembly voted to ignore the tariff and to secede if the
federal government tried to force them to collect the tax
• President Jackson prepared to send troops to S.C.
• Senators worked out a compromise in 1833 before any shots
were fired
The Second Bank of the
United States
• Bank that held the nation’s money
• It made loans and tried to regulate state’s banks
• Jackson did not like the bank and did not allow it to stay open –
moved government money to state banks
• Without the national bank, many other banks lost the ability to
do business and failed – “Panic of 1839”
• 1839: economic depression – in S.C. many farmers lost their
farms
• Price of cotton fell and did not recover
• People blamed President Van Buren for the depression even
though it was Jackson who created the problems
Opposition to Jackson
• Whig party started to oppose Jackson
• S.C. Nullifiers worked to destroy the Unionists
• test oath: candidates would be required to swear an
oath of loyalty to the nation – Nullifiers wanted an oath
to S.C. to be above the U.S.
• Calhoun grew more powerful in S.C. controlling most
state politics
• The Whig party lasted only until the Civil War