te: Jackson's warning.]

[Sidenote: He prepares to enforce the law.]

[Sidenote: The Force Bill, 1833.]

306. Nullification, 1832-33.--In 1832 Congress passed a new tariff
act. The South Carolinians decided to try Calhoun's weapon of
nullification. They held a convention, declared the act null and void,
and forbade South Carolinians to obey the law. They probably thought
that Jackson would not oppose them. But they should have had no doubts
on that subject. For Jackson already had proposed his famous toast on
Jefferson's birthday, "Our federal Union, it must be preserved." He now
told the Carolinians that he would enforce the laws, and he set about
doing it with all his old-time energy. He sent ships and soldiers to
Charleston and ordered the collector of that port to collect the duties.
He then asked Congress to give him greater power. And Congress passed
the Force Bill, giving him the power he asked for. The South
Carolinians, on their part, suspended the nullification ordinance and
thus avoided an armed conflict with "Old Hickory," as his admirers
called Jackson.

[Sidenote: Tariff of 1833.]

307. The Compromise Tariff, 1833.--The nullifiers really gained a
part of the battle, for the tariff law of 1832 was repealed. In its
place Congress passed what was called the Compromise Tariff. This
compromise was the work of Henry Clay, the peacemaker. Under it the
duties were to be gradually lowered until, in 1842, they would be as low
as they were by the Tariff Act of 1816 (p. 231).

[Sidenote: Second United States Bank, 1816.]

[Sidenote: Jackson's dislike of the bank.]

308. The Second United States Bank.--Nowadays any one with enough
money can open a national bank under the protection of the government at
Washington. At this time, however, there was one great United States
Bank. Its headquarters were at Philadelphia and it had branches all over
the country. Jackson, like Jefferson (p. 163), had very grave doubts as
to the power of the national government to establish such a bank. Its
size and its prosperity alarmed him. Moreover, the stockholders and
managers, for the most part, were his political opponents. The United
States Bank also interfered seriously with the operations of the state
banks--some of which were managed by Jackson's friends. The latter urged
him on to destroy the United States Bank, and he determined to
destroy it.

[Sidenote: Jackson, Clay, and the bank charter.]

[Sidenote: Constitution,