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Tariffs, Treaties and a Bank: A Historian's Notes on 1832–1834

Use a historian's field notes and real Senate votes to see federalism and checks and balances tested.

Answer Key

The field notes

Read the field notes of Dr. Lena Marchetti, a made-up historian. The events and votes she records are real. Then answer the questions.

Field Notes: Testing the Constitution, 1832–1834

1Entry 1, Columbia, South Carolina. In the state archives I held a printed copy of the Ordinance of Nullification, adopted by a South Carolina convention on November 24, 1832. It declared the national tariffs of 1828 and 1832, taxes on imported goods, "null, void" in the state and said they would not be collected there after February 1, 1833. Many South Carolina planters said the tariffs protected Northern factories while raising the prices Southerners paid. John C. Calhoun, who resigned as Vice President in December 1832 to become a senator, argued that a state could refuse to enforce a national law it judged unconstitutional.

2Entry 2, Columbia. President Andrew Jackson, a Southerner who often defended states' rights, answered with a proclamation on December 10, 1832. He called the power of one state to cancel a national law "incompatible with the existence of the Union." In March 1833 Congress passed two laws together: a Force Bill letting the President use the army and navy to collect the tariff, and a compromise tariff that lowered rates step by step over about ten years. A South Carolina convention then withdrew its ordinance.

3Entry 3, New Echota, Georgia. This was the capital of the Cherokee Nation, which had its own written constitution, courts and newspaper. Georgia passed laws claiming power over Cherokee land and ordered white people living there to get a state license. Samuel Worcester, a missionary, refused and was sentenced to four years of hard labor. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia's laws had no force inside the Cherokee Nation, because the nation's treaties were with the national government. Georgia ignored the ruling, and President Jackson took no steps to enforce it. Worcester stayed in prison until Georgia's governor released him in early 1833. Today the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina govern their own citizens.

4Entry 4, Washington, D.C. At the library I read the Senate Journal for 1832. Congress passed a bill to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, and on July 10 Jackson vetoed it. In 1819 the Supreme Court had ruled that Congress had the power to create such a bank, but Jackson wrote that each officer who swears to support the Constitution "swears that he will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by others." The Senate then voted on overriding the veto.

5Entry 5, Washington. In 1833 Jackson had Roger Taney, his Treasury Secretary, move the national government's money out of the bank. Taney had been named while the Senate was out of session. When senators returned, they voted to censure, or formally criticize, Jackson in March 1834. In June they voted on Taney's nomination, the first time the Senate turned down a President's choice for the cabinet.

1.
Sort each event. Does it mainly show federalism (a conflict between the nation and a state), or one branch of the national government checking another?
South Carolina declares a national tariff void inside the stateThe Senate turns down the President's choice for Treasury SecretaryGeorgia claims power over land covered by national treatiesThe President rejects a bank bill passed by CongressThe national government readies troops to collect a tariff South Carolina called voidThe Senate formally criticizes the President over the bank
Federalism (nation and a state)One branch checking another
South Carolina declares a national tariff void inside the state
Georgia claims power over land covered by national treaties
The national government readies troops to collect a tariff South Carolina called void
The Senate turns down the President's choice for Treasury Secretary
The President rejects a bank bill passed by Congress
The Senate formally criticizes the President over the bank
2.
Use entries 1 and 2. Why would Jackson, who often defended states' rights, oppose South Carolina's ordinance?
  • A. He wanted the Supreme Court to set the tariff rates.
  • B. He feared one state cancelling national laws would break up the Union.
  • C. He had written the Ordinance of Nullification himself.
  • D. He believed tariffs should be set by each state.
3.
How did Congress settle the crisis in March 1833?
  • A. It let South Carolina skip the tariff while other states paid it.
  • B. It backed collecting the tax by force while slowly lowering it.
  • C. It asked the Supreme Court to choose a fair tariff rate.
  • D. It voted to remove the President for opposing the state.
4.
Circle the sentence in entry 3 that shows the Supreme Court depended on another branch to carry out its ruling.

Samuel Worcester, a missionary, refused and was sentenced to four years of hard labor.In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia's laws had no force inside the Cherokee Nation, because the nation's treaties were with the national government.Georgia ignored the ruling, and President Jackson took no steps to enforce it.Worcester stayed in prison until Georgia's governor released him in early 1833.

5.
What does the Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia show about federalism?
  • A. The Supreme Court could remove a state's governor.
  • B. A state could make its own treaties with a Native nation.
  • C. National treaties limited what a state could do.
  • D. The Cherokee Nation answered to Georgia's state courts.

The vote cards

Dr. Marchetti copied these votes from the Senate and House journals. Use them with the field notes.

Votes in Congress on the Bank and the President, 1832–1834
DateVoteYesNoNeeded to pass
June 1832Senate: renew the bank's charter2820Majority
July 1832House: renew the bank's charter10785Majority
July 1832Senate: override the bank veto2219Two-thirds
March 1834Senate: censure Jackson2620Majority
June 1834Senate: confirm Taney1828Majority
6.

Use the July 1832 override vote. Write the number. With 41 senators voting, at least 28 yes votes were needed for two-thirds.

7.
Which votes show the Senate succeeding in checking the President? Choose all that apply.
  • A. Senate: confirm Taney
  • B. Senate: renew the bank's charter
  • C. Senate: override the bank veto
  • D. Senate: censure Jackson
8.
What does Jackson claim in the words quoted in entry 4?
  • A. A President may judge for himself whether a law fits the Constitution.
  • B. Officers swear to support the laws of their own state first.
  • C. The Supreme Court's reading of the Constitution binds the President.
  • D. Congress should ask the President before it writes a bank bill.
9.
Suppose that in 1836 a President names a Secretary of War while the Senate is out of session. Based on entry 5 and the table, what could happen when the senators return?
  • A. The Senate could vote to reject his nomination.
  • B. The Supreme Court could choose a new Secretary of War.
  • C. The states could vote on whether he keeps the job.
  • D. The House could vote to replace him with its own choice.
10.
Dr. Marchetti copied the vote counts by hand. What would be the best way to check them?
  • A. Ask what visitors to New Echota remember about 1832.
  • B. Read another historian's notes on the tariff of 1828.
  • C. Read Jackson's proclamation to South Carolina again.
  • D. Compare them with the printed Senate and House journals.
11.
Claim to judge: "From 1832 to 1834, the Constitution's limits on power worked as the framers hoped." Do you agree? Make a claim, use at least two events from the field notes or the vote table as evidence, and explain your reasoning.

I partly agree. Some limits worked. When South Carolina declared the tariff void, Jackson and Congress defended national law with the Force Bill but also passed a compromise tariff, and the state withdrew its ordinance, so the Union held without one state cancelling a national law. The Senate also checked the President: it censured Jackson 26 to 20 and rejected Taney 28 to 18. But other limits failed. In Worcester v. Georgia the Court ruled that Georgia's laws had no force in the Cherokee Nation, yet Georgia ignored the ruling and Jackson did not enforce it, so the Court's check meant little without the executive branch. Checks and balances worked only when the branches were willing to use them.