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Why did South Carolina threaten to secede during the Nullification Crisis?

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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.

South Carolina threatened to secede during the Nullification Crisis primarily as a reaction to federal tariffs that the state deemed unconstitutional and economically ruinous.

The conflict centered on the Tariff of 1828—often called the "Tariff of Abominations"—and the subsequent Tariff Act of 1832. Southern plantation owners, particularly in South Carolina, were heavily dependent on foreign trade with Great Britain. They argued that these high protective tariffs inflated the cost of manufactured goods and damaged the Southern economy, while primarily benefiting Northern industrial interests.12

Guided by the doctrine of nullification authored by John C. Calhoun, South Carolina adopted the Ordinance of Nullification in 1832. This ordinance declared the federal tariffs void within the state and explicitly threatened secession if the federal government attempted to collect duties by force. The state maintained that as a sovereign member of the Union, it possessed the right to reject federal laws it deemed unconstitutional to protect its vital interests.32