Battle of the Press: The Nullification Crisis in South Carolina, 1828-1833

This study focuses on the role of the press during the Nullification Crisis in SouthCarolina. It examines how the Charleston Mercury and the Charleston Courier usedideas centered around economics, states’ rights and honor to convince South Caroliniansto support their side in the conflict over tariffs. South Carolina was divided betweenNullifiers who favored declaring the Tariff of 1828 null and void within the borders ofSouth Carolina and Unionists who opposed nullification and feared the potential fordisunion that the radical doctrine possessed. The Unionists represented an older politicaltradition that sought the greater good of the nation as the best way to ensure a prosperousfuture, while the Nullifiers advanced strong states’ rights doctrines that advocated forSouth Carolinian interests above all. The strict states’ rights beliefs held by the Nullifierscame to be the dominant political view in South Carolina for the rest of the antebellumperiod. The editors of the Mercury and Courier played a major role in shaping theinternal debate in South Carolina over the tariff and the Mercury’s victory firmlyestablished states’ rights as the primary political doctrine of antebellum SouthCarolinians.