Under the Jackson Administration, the nation came closer to Civil War than at any other time in history. However, it was not over slavery. During the 1828 Presidential Campaign, Jackson supporters in Congress passed a high protective tariff in an effort to court Northern voters. However, for southern merchants, the tariff made European good more expensive. Southernors soon became enraged over the tariff, and cited the doctrine of nullification, which upheld the right of a state to declare a law null and void. Jackson's Vice President, John C. Calhoun, supported nullification by anonymously writing a widely circulated defense of the doctrine called, the South Carolina Exposition and Protest. For Jackson, Calhoun's defense of states' rights threatened national unity and was an affront to him personally. Following Jackson's re-election in 1832, Congress passed and Jackson signed yet another raise in tariff rates. South Carolina immediately convened a special convention, which declared the tariff law null and void and authorized the state government to block collection fo the tariff. In addition, the state government called the state militia to arms and threatened to secede from the Union. An angry Jackson denounced the moves as treason and asked for congressional authority to collect the tariff in South Carolina at gunpoint. South Carolina soon backed down, however, when a behind-the-scenes deal was struck which introduced a new tariff with declining rates over the next decade. The nation breathed a sign of relief having avoided Civil War. However, the crisis marked the beginning of serious divisions between the North and the South that would continue until the Civil War. So, what can be said about Jackson's role in this crisis? Certainly, his bold leadership during the crisis was admirable. However, his stubborness almost led the nation into a Civil War. For what? Because Jackson had a personal agenda against John C. Calhoun. Bringing the nation to the brink of war and causing deep sectional divisions in the years that followed is absolutely inexcusable, espescially when it was all because of politics and personal agendas.