How did the South attempt to preserve slavery by keeping the issues of nullification and states rights.?
Basically, the states in the south wanted to maintain their right to slavery by emphasizing the right of each state to govern itself and by promoting the idea of nullification which gave them the right to nullify any law the federal government tried to impose if they felt it went too far. In other words, the state has the right (state’s rights) to nullify a federal law. (nullification) When South Carolina nullified the tariffs put on it by the government, they were saying that not only did they have the right to nullify tariffs, but potentially they had the right to nullify any laws that would try to prohibit slavery in their states. ======================================… When the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which provide a classic statement in support of states’ rights. According to this theory, the Federal Union is a voluntary association of states and if the central
