The crisis began in 1828 when the Congress of the United States passed the tariff, which infuriated the southern states. Calhoun refuses to accept the protective tariff. He argues that the tariff will bring disadvantages to the South. He talks to the committee about nullifying the tariff. As president he states and believes that the state has the right to nullification. The manufacturing states fail to share burden of the tariff. As Calhoun states, “The fact that they urgently demand an increase, and consider any addition as a blessing, and failure to obtain one, a curse, is the strongest confession, that whatever burden it imposes in reality, falls, not on them but on others” (Calhoun). He continues to argue that the only ones benefiting from the tariff are the northerners, and that it unfairly impacts the south. …show more content…
The south paid more for products, but could not increase the price of their cotton. As stated in the article, “The effect on us is to compel us to purchase at a higher price, both what we purchase from them and from others, without receiving a correspondent increase in the price, of what we sell” (Calhoun). The South feels as if they are being cheated because all the profits are going out to the North. The southerners could not raise the cotton prices because they would lose their market share, nor reduce the supply of cotton because the compositors will grow more cotton and take their customers. The south was compelled to produce on penalty of losing their hold on the general market, and once it may be lost, it was lost