Publication Date
12-2014
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Major
History
Keywords
Nationalism, Nullification, John C. Calhoun, States' Rights
Disciplines
Intellectual History | Other Political Science | Political History | United States History
Recommended Citation
Hopchak, William E., "“Historically as Certain as Our Revolution Itself”: The Nullifiers and History" (2014). Senior Honors Theses. 477.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/477
Abstract
Despite the common defamation of the states’ rights theories acted upon in the Nullification Crisis of 1832, there exists a great deal of historical support for the nullifiers’ positions. Nullifiers believed in a decentralized constitutional system, while nationalists believed in a centralized constitutional system. This tension between central and decentralized positions had been at issue in the American struggle for independence though the exact manner in which these problems manifested themselves was different in the two events. The states’ rights ideas championed primarily by John C. Calhoun were consistent with American political tradition. At the most basic level, the Nullification Crisis was over a disparity between constitutional interpretations. However, a demonstration of the existence of such issues in the American Revolution and the implications of those forces on the early republic demonstrate that the Nullifiers’ positions were consistent with history and traditional American resistance to centralized power.
Included in
Intellectual History Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Political History Commons, United States History Commons
