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A Nation Divided
(1840-1861)
 Nullification and Secession

Nullification and Secession
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.88

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    calhoun, farm-based, same-states, tariff, mainly, federal, military, deals, slavery, possible, affected, equal, vice, anti-slavery, industry, government
     content words:    South Carolina, Vice President John C., President Jackson, Missouri Compromise, Confederate States, Fort Sumter, Other Southern, North Carolina, Civil War

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Nullification and Secession
By Mary L. Bushong 		  
1     Is it possible for two events that seem to have nothing in common to be linked in splitting apart a country? Though they seem unlike on the surface, the issues under them are the same—states' rights.
 
2     The Ordinance of Nullification (null-ih-fi-KAY-shun) was passed by the state of South Carolina in 1832. It was in reply to a heavy tariff (TARE-if) passed by Congress in 1828. A tariff is a tax that is applied to goods coming into the country. It was used to increase the money to build new roads. It also helped make the prices of costly Northern goods more equal.
 
3     Since the new rich of the South were big spenders, they saw the tax as aimed mainly at them. Their complaints to Congress seemed to be ignored. Vice President John C. Calhoun (from South Carolina) was for states' rights. He supported his state taking action on its own to fix the problem.
 
4     The Ordinance of Nullification was passed by the state in November 1832. This new law said that the tax could be ignored; it was against the rights of states and against the constitution.

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