Question

I'm doing a biography & I am reading this part of a source I found online, but I don't get it. Is he for the tariff ? Against it ? What has the North done ? To me, the wording is odd. Can someone give me just a quick overview of what that is saying ? Thanks!

In 1824 there was a very large increase in protective duties. In 1828 a still higher tariff act, the so-called "Bill of Abominations", was passed, avowedly for the purpose of protection. The passage of these acts caused great discontent, especially among the Southern states, which were strictly agricultural. They felt that the great burden of this increased tariff fell on them, as they consumed, but did not produce, manufactured articles. Under such conditions the Southern states questioned the constitutionality of the imposition. Calhoun himself now perceived that the North and the South represented diverse tendencies. The North was outstripping the South in population and wealth, and already by the tariff acts was, as he believed, selfishly levying taxes for its sole benefit. The minority must, he insisted, be protected from "the tyranny of the majority." his first important political essay, "The South Carolina Exposition", prepared by him in the summer of 1828, he showed how this should be done. To him it was clear that the Federal Constitution was a limited instrument, by which the sovereign states had delegated to the Federal government certain general powers. The states could not, without violating the constitutional compact, interfere with the activities of the Federal government so long as the government confined itself to its proper sphere; but the attempt of Congress, or any other department of the Federal government, to exercise any power which might alter the nature of the instrument would be an act of usurpation. The right of judging such an infraction belonged to the state, being an attribute of sovereignty of which the state could not be deprived without being reduced to a wholly subordinate condition. As a remedy for such a breach of compact the state might resort to nullification, or, as a last resort, to secession from the Union. Such doctrines were not original with Calhoun, but had been held in various parts of the Union from time to time. It remained for him, however, to submit them to a rigid analysis and reduce them to a logical form.

Answer 1

is the biography on Calhoun?

Answer 2

Yes it is

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff_of_1828

Calhoun was joined with President Jackson to make the tariff. Later that year he realized that it was a big mistake and wrote anonymously to end this. No action was taken and Calhoun resigned later that year.

Answer 4

Okay, thanks !

Answer 5

Yup(: