Civil War Even One Hundred

¶ … Civil War

Even one hundred and fifty years after its conclusion, the Civil War remains one of the most controversial issues in American history. The memories of slavery that any mention of the Civil War recalls stirs up racial tensions even today, and this can make any real grievance that the South had prior to this conflict seem almost taboo to mention, as though the evil of slavery tainted all things Southern. One figure that is especially divisive in this regard is John C. Calhoun. Some even give him the credit of being the primary cause of the Civil War (Weider).

While John C. Calhoun's personality certainly is one of the most important and one of the most controversial of the causes of the Civil War, but there are other factors that also carried great weight. The Tariff of Abominations, as it came to be known, was instituted in 1828 to protect Northern industries from foreign competition, with drastic economic effects on the South (Foreign Affairs). This tariff was one of Calhoun's main points of argument with the policies of the North, and fueled the rhetoric that he used to help stir up the Civil War (ThinkQuest).

Another aspect of Calhoun's reasoning was the compact theory of the founding of the United States. According to this theory, the Constitution was derived from a compact formed between the individual states (Cole et al., 97). By this reasoning, any state or group of states should have the right to determine when the federal government has exceeded its authority, and thus should also have the right to refuse to submit to that authority. This was ultimately interpreted by Calhoun and other instigators of the Civil War as justification for the secession of the Southern states (Cole et al., 99).

John C. Calhoun was an eloquent speaker and an eminent member of Congress long before the outbreak of the Civil War. He was first elected to Congress in 1810, and actually began his career as a staunch federalist; a position that was destined to undergo a major change (Weider). He resigned from Congress to become Secretary of War under James Monroe, and became Vice President under John Quincy Adams in 1824 -- just four years before the passage of the Tariff of Abomination (Weider).

1828 was a tumultuous year for Calhoun. His president was defeated and the tariff was passed, and at the same time he changed from a Republican to a Democrat and became the most prominent speaker for Southern rights (ThinkQuest). He would continue in this position for several more decades. Calhoun's changing stance against federalism and a national government that was more powerful than the states made problems grow between the new President Andrew Jackson and himself (Weider). Eventually, his belief in the states' supremacy led to his decision to lead South Carolina into secession.

The Tariff of Abominations proved a major turning point for Calhoun. It was this tariff that first made him begin to question the power of the federal government. Before this tariff was passed, Calhoun and worked hard in the federal government to increase its military power, and was instrumental in bringing the United States into the War of 1812 (ThinkQuest). When he began to see the disparity between the states, however, his attitude began to shift towards advocating state power.

The Tariff of Abominations was a major indicator of this increasing disparity (Trumbore). It imposed tariffs on imported goods, especially from Britain, which led to higher prices for goods in the largely agricultural and therefore non-industrial South (Trumbore). In addition, British importers were left with a huge loss in profit, making them less able to buy the cotton and other agricultural products with which the South provided them costing Southerners even more money (Foreign Affairs).

As the Tariff of Abominations and other issues of disparity in state power grew in prominence, the idea of the compact theory grew more and more important. Not everyone agreed with this interpretation of the nation's formation; some believed that the Constitution provided for a strong central government to reign over the states (Cole et al., 87). Increasingly, though, Calhoun and others saw the government as a compact between the states, able to be changed or terminated whenever the states wish (Cole, 98).