The North wanted high tariffs that would protect industries from foreign competition.
We love tariffs!!- North
Tariffs hurt our economy.- South
The South wanted low tariffs because it encouraged trade between countries.
After the Tariff of Abominations and 1832, southern states who were hurt by tariffs became huge critics of Andrew Jackson.
Vice President John C. Calhoun, led a movement in South Carolina that said a state could nullify, or cancel, a federal law within its own borders if it so desired.
Delegates to a special convention urged the state legislatures to take military action and to secede, separate from the Union if the federal government demanded the customs duties. This idea of states having the power of nullification almost developed into a civil war.
When South Carolina undertook to nullify the tariff, Jackson ordered armed forces to Charleston and privately threatened to hang Calhoun. Violence seemed imminent until Henry Clay negotiated a compromise to lower tariffs. South Carolina dropped the idea of nullification for the moment.
Jackson handled the situation by passing the Force Bill, which gave him the power to use force to enforce the tariffs, and by making strong appeals to the American people.