Force Bill - Original Intent

Original Intent

The Force Bill was initially enacted on March 2, 1833 to authorize U.S. President Andrew Jackson's use of whatever force necessary to enforce Federal tariffs. It was intended to suppress South Carolina's refusal to collect tariffs during the Nullification Crisis. Opponents of the bill referred to it as Jackson's Bloody Bill or War Bill. The bill was a work of political mastery on Jackson's part as it gave the President the authority to close ports or harbors at his will. This in turn would require opponents to the tariff to travel a distance to carry out any threats or insurrection against federal facilities. Hostile acts against government facilities or personnel would then be considered pre-meditated and blatant.

The importance of the Force Bill is that it is the first piece of legislation to publicly deny the right of secession to individual states. Its approval meant that the principle of secession was no longer in keeping with the idea of a national union. In a presidential proclamation to the people of South Carolina, Jackson stated:

Seduced as you have been, my fellow countrymen by the delusion theories and misrepresentation of ambitious, deluded & designing men, I call upon you in the language of truth, and with the feelings of a Father to retrace your steps. As you value liberty and the blessings of peace blot out from the page of your history a record so fatal to their security as this ordinance will become if it be obeyed. Rally again under the banners of the union whose obligations you in common with all your countrymen have, with an appeal to heaven, sworn to support, and which must be indissoluble as long as we are capable of enjoying freedom. Recollect that the first act of resistance to the laws which have been denounced as void by those who abuse your confidence and falsify your hopes is Treason, and subjects you to all the pains and penalties that are provided for the highest offence against your country. Can (you)...consent to become Traitors? Forbid it Heaven!

South Carolina, in turn, nullified this Bill. Henry Clay's Compromise Tariff passed the same day, satisfying John Calhoun and South Carolina, making nullification unnecessary in any event.

The issue of nullification was a precursor to the American Civil War. Nullification is not specifically shown in the constitution; rather, Nullification pertains to the issue of sovereignty of every state which historically predates the Constitution, and is not expressly relinquished therein by any law.