Britannica Sources used in this answer

Why did Andrew Jackson believe that one state could not decide which federal laws to obey?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Jackson's “Proclamation to the People of South Carolina” — Nullification Crisis U.S. Pres. Andrew Jackson issued his “Proclamation to the People of South Carolina” on December 10, 1832, in response to South Carolina's refusal to be bound by federal tariffs. In it Jackson asserted the supremacy of the federal government and rejected South Carolina's argument that it, as a state, had the right to reject laws made by the federal government that it deemed unconstitutional. Jackson's proclamation was an escalation of the Nullification Crisis, and some argue that it helped lay the foundation for the American Civil War.

President Andrew Jackson rejected the doctrine of nullification because he viewed it as fundamentally incompatible with the existence of the United States and a direct threat to national authority.12

In his December 1832 proclamation to the people of South Carolina, Jackson argued that the U.S. Constitution did not permit a state to remain in the Union while simultaneously choosing which federal laws to obey. He contended that granting a state the power to unilaterally declare an act of Congress void and prohibit its execution would effectively grant that state the power to resist all federal laws.12

Jackson maintained that such a position was "contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution" and warned that any attempt to achieve disunion through armed force constituted treason. By asserting the supremacy of the federal government, Jackson sought to preserve the integrity of the Union against the states' rights theory advocated by John C. Calhoun, which claimed that individual states held the final authority to judge the constitutionality of federal legislation.12