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Collection Reference Number GLC01025
From Archive Folder Documents Relating to 1844 
Title Andrew Jackson to Amos Kendall discussing the Nullification Crisis and his own general health
Date 26 April 1844
Author Jackson, Andrew (1767-1845)  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description Writes to the former Postmaster General, also Jackson's close friend and biographer. Jackson relates how he learned that nullifiers secretly sent an agent to Great Britain for aid during the Nullification Crisis of 1832. "... the nullifiers of the south having sent a secrite agent to Great Britain to obtain aid in carrying into effect their designs against the Union." He details the source of his information so that it might be enclosed with his papers by Kendall. Without naming his former vice president, John C. Calhoun, Jackson accuses him and other nullifiers of being traitors and refers to their plan as, "... their wicked plan, to destroy the Union." Prophecies his own death: "My health is very bad, my affliction & debility increasing, & unless a change soon for the better, I cannot hope to live long." Also predicts that Henry Clay will lose the presidential election over the issue of the annexation of Texas, "The people of the west feel great solicitude for the annexation of Texas -- This will destroy Clay even in Ky." Written from Jackson's home, Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee.
Subjects President  Nullification  Global History and Civics  Government and Civics  Secession  Vice President  Treason  Health and Medical  Death  Texas  Westward Expansion  Politics  
People Jackson, Andrew (1767-1845)  Kendall, Amos (1789-1869)  Calhoun, John Caldwell (1782-1850)  
Place written Nashville, Tennessee
Theme The Presidency; Government & Politics; Health & Medicine; Foreign Affairs; Banking & Economics; Industry; Westward Expansion
Sub-collection The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859
Additional Information The Nullification Crisis was a sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson over the issue of protective tariffs passed by the federal government in 1828 and 1832 that benefited trade in the northern states but caused economic hardships for Southern states. In response, a number of South Carolina citizens endorsed the states' rights principle of "nullification," which was enunciated by John C. Calhoun, Jackson's vice president until 1832. South Carolina adopting the Ordinance of Nullification, which declared both the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void within state borders. Senator Henry Clay mediated a compromise between South Carolina and the federal government in 1833 but the crisis deepened the divide between the north and the south and planted the seeds for the Civil War.
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859
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