Tariff of 1828

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The Tariff of 1828 (also known as the Tariff of Abominations, ch. 55, 4 Stat. 270), was a protective tariff passed by the U.S. Congress in 1828.

The goal of the tariff was to protect industry in the northern United States from competing European goods by causing the prices of European products to increase. The system of tariffs had begun after end of the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars, when a recession in Europe led British manufacturers to offer goods in America at prices American manufacturers often could not match.

The first protective tariff was passed by Congress in 1816, and was increased in 1824, followed in 1828 by the Tariff of Abominations, a name given by the state of South Carolina. President John Quincy Adams signed the tariff, although he realized it would be used to discredit him politically. In the Election of 1828, Andrew Jackson did indeed defeat Adams.

John C. Calhoun was a South Carolinian, and thus felt strongly against the tariff. Faced with a reduced market for goods, the British reduced their imports of cotton, which hurt the South. Thus, not only did the tariff force the South to buy manufactured goods at a higher price, but Southern states also faced a reduced income from sales of raw materials. This inspired Calhoun to attempt nullification of the tariff within South Carolina. He authored the South Carolina Exposition and Protest in response and would later participate in the Nullification Crisis in 1832.

A revised and generally lower tariff was passed by Congress in 1832.