South Carolina Exposition and Protest

work by Calhoun

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July 14, 2026

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The South Carolina Exposition and Protest was a document secretly drafted by John C. Calhoun in 1828. It was a response to the Tariffs of 1828, which South Carolina viewed as unconstitutional and harmful to its economy. The document argued for the doctrine of nullification, asserting that individual states had the right to declare federal laws void within their borders. Calhoun believed this was a way to protect minority rights from a potentially tyrannical federal government. This idea was rooted in the principles of states' rights previously articulated by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. The Exposition and Protest became a foundational text for the Nullification Crisis that followed.12

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Nullification Crisis
Doctrine of nullification and the Tariff of Abominations
…19, the state legislature issued South Carolina Exposition and Protest, which declared the tariff unconstitutional. Secretly drafted by Vice Pres. John C. Calhoun (whose name did not appear on it), the paper outlined the state’s grievances and furthered the nullification doctrine.
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…19, the state legislature issued South Carolina Exposition and Protest, which declared the tariff unconstitutional. Secretly drafted by Vice Pres. John C. Calhoun (whose name did not appear on it), the paper outlined the state’s grievances and furthered the nullification doctrine.
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Force Bill
…under Adams, anonymously wrote the South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828), in which he maintained that the government had exceeded its authority in passing the Tariff of Abominations and that states therefore were not required to enforce it. Congress later passed the Tariff Act of 1832, which only slightly lowered…
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…under Adams, anonymously wrote the South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828), in which he maintained that the government had exceeded its authority in passing the Tariff of Abominations and that states therefore were not required to enforce it. Congress later passed the Tariff Act of 1832, which only slightly lowered…
Read More