[Sidenote:  Tariff of 1832.]

[Sidenote:  “Nullified” by South Carolina, 1833.]

[Sidenote:  Jackson’s warning.]

[Sidenote:  He prepares to enforce the law.]

[Sidenote:  The Force Bill, 1833.]

306.  Nullification, 1832-33.—­In 1832 Congress passed a new tariff act.  The South Carolinians decided to try Calhoun’s weapon of nullification.  They held a convention, declared the act null and void, and forbade South Carolinians to obey the law.  They probably thought that Jackson would not oppose them.  But they should have had no doubts on that subject.  For Jackson already had proposed his famous toast on Jefferson’s birthday, “Our federal Union, it must be preserved.”  He now told the Carolinians that he would enforce the laws, and he set about doing it with all his old-time energy.  He sent ships and soldiers to Charleston and ordered the collector of that port to collect the duties.  He then asked Congress to give him greater power.  And Congress passed the Force Bill, giving him the power he asked for.  The South Carolinians, on their part, suspended the nullification ordinance and thus avoided an armed conflict with “Old Hickory,” as his admirers called Jackson.

[Sidenote:  Tariff of 1833.]

307.  The Compromise Tariff, 1833.—­The nullifiers really gained a part of the battle, for the tariff law of 1832 was repealed.  In its place Congress passed what was called the Compromise Tariff.  This compromise was the work of Henry Clay, the peacemaker.  Under it the duties were to be gradually lowered until, in 1842, they would be as low as they were by the Tariff Act of 1816 (p. 231).

[Sidenote:  Second United States Bank, 1816.]

[Sidenote:  Jackson’s dislike of the bank.]

308.  The Second United States Bank.—­Nowadays any one with enough money can open a national bank under the protection of the government at Washington.  At this time, however, there was one great United States Bank.  Its headquarters were at Philadelphia and it had branches all over the country.  Jackson, like Jefferson (p. 163), had very grave doubts as to the power of the national government to establish such a bank.  Its size and its prosperity alarmed him.  Moreover, the stockholders and managers, for the most part, were his political opponents.  The United States Bank also interfered seriously with the operations of the state banks—­some of which were managed by Jackson’s friends.  The latter urged him on to destroy the United States Bank, and he determined to destroy it.

[Sidenote:  Jackson, Clay, and the bank charter.]

[Sidenote:  Constitution, Art.  I, sec. 7, par. 3.]

[Sidenote:  Reelection of Jackson, 1832.]

309.  Struggle over the Bank Charter.—­The charter of the bank would not come to an end until 1836, while the term for which Jackson had been elected in 1828 would come to an end in 1833.  But in his first message to Congress Jackson gave notice that he would not give his consent to a new charter.  Clay and his friends at once took up the challenge.  They passed a bill rechartering the bank.  Jackson vetoed the bill.  The Clay men could not get enough votes to pass it over his veto.  The bank question, therefore, became one of the issues of the election of 1832.  Jackson was reflected by a large majority over Clay.