Nullifier Party
Nullifier Party | |
---|---|
Leader | John C. Calhoun |
Founded | 1828 |
Dissolved | 1839 |
Split from | Democratic-Republican Party |
Merged into | Democratic Party |
Headquarters | Charleston, South Carolina |
Ideology | Economic liberalism Nullification States' rights |
Colors | Turquoise |
The Nullifier Party was an American political party based in South Carolina in the 1830s. Considered an early American third party, it was started by John C. Calhoun sometime in May–December 1828.
The Nullifier Party was a states' rights, pro-slavery party that supported the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, holding that states could nullify federal laws within their borders and that slavery should remain legal. It narrowly missed claiming the unofficial title of being the first ever third party to be created within the United States—that title belongs to the Anti-Masonic Party, which was created in New York in February 1828. The Nullifier Party had several members in both houses of the Congress between 1831 and 1839. Calhoun outlined the principles of the party in his South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828), a reaction to the "Tariff of Abominations" passed by Congress and signed into law by President John Quincy Adams. The party supported Calhoun's ally John Floyd of Virginia for President in the 1832 presidential election and the state legislature gave Floyd South Carolina's 11 electoral votes, even though Floyd was not a candidate and had himself unsuccessfully tried to convince Calhoun to run for President. The party's candidate for Vice President was the Massachusetts-based political economist Henry Lee.
After President Andrew Jackson left office, Calhoun and most of his followers joined the Democratic Party.
Notable members
- John C. Calhoun
- Robert Y. Hayne
- John Floyd
- Stephen D. Miller
- James H. Hammond
- William C. Preston
- Henry L. Pinckney
- Robert B. Campbell
- William K. Clowney
- Warren R. Davis
- John Myers Felder
- John K. Griffin
- Francis Wilkinson Pickens
- George McDuffie
- Franklin H. Elmore
Electoral history
Presidential elections
Election | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Vote % | Electoral votes | +/- | Outcome of election |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1832 | John Floyd | Henry Lee | —[a] | — | 11 / 286
|
New | Lost |
1836 | Not presented[b] |
- ^ a: All of John Floyd's electoral votes came from South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislatures rather than by popular vote.
- ^ b: Endorsed Hugh Lawson White as President and John Tyler as Vice President.
Congressional elections
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- ^ c: South Carolina class 2 seat: Jacksonian changed party to Nullifier before the beginning of the first session.
- ^ d: Office left vacant when Calhoun resigned to become Senator on December 28, 1832.
See also
- Defunct political parties in the United States
- Political parties established in 1828
- Political parties in South Carolina
- History of South Carolina
- John C. Calhoun
- Nullification (U.S. Constitution)
- Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
- 1839 disestablishments in South Carolina
- 1828 establishments in South Carolina
- Political parties disestablished in 1839
- Factions in the Democratic Party (United States)