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HENRY CLAY: THE GREAT COMPROMISER, PART III - Page 2

© John S. Cooper

South Carolina threatened to use force to prevent the tariff from being enforced in that state, and Jackson vowed to use force to enforce federal laws in South Carolina. He even promised to lead the troops personally. Speaking of the nullifiers, Jackson promised to “hang the first man of them I can get my hands on to the first tree I can find.” South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union if force was used, and Jackson called disunion by force treason. To avoid violence, Clay worked out a compromise tariff that satisfied both sides. Under the Compromise of 1833, or the Tariff of 1833, the Tariff of 1832 would remain in force, but tariff rates would be reduced each year for ten years. This compromise defused the situation for the time being and gained Clay renewed national fame and respect, but it did not settle the issue of nullification. It merely postponed the showdown.

After the election of 1832, Jackson took his overwhelming re-election as a mandate on the bank issue. He felt the people had voted their disapproval of the Bank, which he had intended to leave alone until its charter ran out in 1836. But now, he decided to kill the Bank. He prevented any further deposit of federal funds in the Bank, and ordered his Secretary of the Treasury to remove all federal funds. When his Secretary of the Treasury told him it was illegal, he fired the man. He did the same to the next Secretary of the Treasury when he also refused to remove federal funds from the Bank. He then appointed his Attorney General as interim Secretary of the Treasury. (An interim appointment is made when Congress is not in session, subject to Senate approval upon its return.) This interim Secretary of the Treasury, Roger Taney, did remove the funds.

When the Senate returned, they refused to confirm Taney, and the position was again vacant. In addition, led by Clay, the Senate passed a resolution of censure against Jackson calling his actions a tyrannical abuse of executive power.

Clay knew that Jackson was still enormously popular, and that he could appoint his own successor in 1836. Jackson secured the Presidential nomination for his Vice President, Martin Van Buren. Clay, knowing that Van Buren would win with Jackson’s support, did not seek the Whig nomination in 1836. Van Buren was elected, and was President when the Panic of 1837 brought on the first economic depression in our history. The Panic of 1837 was largely the result of Jackson’s and Van Buren’s policies in ending the Bank of the United States and the centralized financial control it exercised.

Henry Clay (1777-1852)

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