Not terribly well-known to most Americans but there was a dry run for secession and treason in 1831-33. The so-called Nullification Crisis. Nominally about tariffs it was in fact about slavery. Not as clear cut as in the 1861 crisis. But that was the driving underlying issue.
2/ Calhoun was both the theorist and instigator. South Carolina was always the seedbed of disunion and treason and slavery defense in the antebellum South. Across the country the crisis brought out divisions not only between North and South but within ...
3/ many Southern states, between lowland and tidewater slavery economies and the upcountry South where attachment to slavery was weaker and American nationalism was stronger. Andrew Jackson was President and was adamant on the issue, threatened and was ready to march ...
4/ a federal army down to South Carolina to snuff the treason out and hang Calhoun. This is one reason why we shouldn’t totally dismiss Jackson’s legacy whatever becomes of his statues. Much to condemn but it’s a more complex legacy than the current public discussion ...
5/ allows for. For Jackson the Union was everything - a fact about Jackson Lincoln came to appreciate as President even though as a young Whig he’d been a fierce opponent. It’s a crisis that more Americans should learn abt because it anticipates and sets the stage for the ...
6/ crisis 30 years later.
