On November 24, 1832, a special session of the South Carolina state legislature passed an ordinance of nullification, which declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null in the state as of February 1, 1833. It pledged that any effort by the federal government to enforce the tariff would be met by secession.

The issue of tariffs had been the subject of controversy since 1819, when Congress began to consider tariffs a form of protection for manufacturing rather than purely a revenue-raising measure. When Congress passed the Tariff of 1832, South Carolinians, who had long opposed the tariff, organized a campaign to reject the legislation. Nullifiers rode the issue to victory in the state elections in October, defeating unionists and gaining a two-thirds control of the legislature. In a special session, legislators called for a convention, which convened November 19. A committee drafted an Ordinance of Nullification, authored by William Harper, as well as addresses explaining the ordinance.

Only two weeks later, President Andrew Jackson issued a proclamation against nullification that rejected the nullifiers’ claims that the states retain sovereignty and the right of secession under the Constitution. Jackson maintained that such action was treason against the federal government.