Such a tax was
called a protective tariff.
Calhoun, who voiced the feeling of the Southern planters, said: "This high
tariff is unfair, for, while it protects the Northern man, it makes us of
the South poorer, because we have to pay so high for the things we do not
make."
You understand, there were no factories in the South, for the people were
mostly planters. With the cheap slave labor, a Southern man could make
more money by raising rice, cotton, sugar, or tobacco than he could by
manufacturing. Also, it was thought that the soil and climate of the South
made that section better fitted for agriculture than for anything else.
"So the South should be allowed," said Calhoun, "to buy the manufactured
goods--such as cheap clothing for her slaves, and household tools and
farming implements--where she can buy them at the lowest prices."
[Illustration: The Home of Daniel Webster, Marshfield, Mass.]
But in spite of this bitter opposition in the South, Congress passed the
high-tariff law in 1828, and another in 1832.
The people of South Carolina were indignant. So, under the guidance of
Calhoun, some of the leading men there met in convention and declared: "We
here and now nullify the tariff laws.
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