Part III, Chapter I: The Tariff Rebellion

By 1828, despite the United States' best efforts to reduce its growing deficit (which had grown exponentially due to the nation's overarching expenditures during the War of 1812 and the 1815 Treaty of Ghent,) the budgetary crisis remained at large, and neither the federal government nor the state governments had presented any feasible means for it to be reduced in the 13 years of peace that had subsequently resulted from the end of hostilities with Great Britain. The primary factor that entitled so much focus from the American government to seek immediate taxable revenues in order to repay the debt was the belief that the deficit would continue growing, and would eventually reach a cataclysmic peak or climax that would be impossible to reverse, and thus fundamentally and slowly bankrupt the nation. The government's unique sense of urgency was heightened in the beginning months of 1828, as many of the contracts and leases that the United States had acquired throughout the mid-1810's had now reached their "late payment" clauses, and the remaining balance of funds owed to the various institutions that had contracted their services during the War of 1812 (many of which had yet to even see one payment) now began to accumulate interest. The United States Dollar, which had been established as a national currency courtesy of the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States, slowly depreciated in value as a result, and the American legislature was quickly running out of taxable revenue to pacify the growing economic conundrum.



In some cases, the American Congress displayed a sense of hesitancy when imposing new taxes, and often used enforcement of regulation and new taxes in the Michigan Territory as an example, as the enforcement of regulation had ultimately lead to the demise of several businesses in the area, most importantly the once lucrative fur trade. A lack of time and other viable options, however, fostered necessity, and two possible enterprises were notably remarked for having escaped regulation and taxation at the hands of the American legislature: trade and agriculture. Both had escaped regulation due in part to being key players in the economy of both southern and New England states, and presenting a bill that would enact taxation and thus effect daily living of constituent voters was regarded as foolhardy, as any Congressman who were to draft such a proposal would most likely lose his reelection bid in his home state or district, especially if he was a representative from an agrarian-based state, which the majority of the southern states were. However, by 1828, the issue of debt reduction had reached such a fever pitch in Washington that the idea soon began to turn practical, and the Tariff of 1828 was passed soon after, even despite widespread Southern opposition. The Tariff's main focus was to protect northern industry by imposing harsh regulatory fees on imported goods, and as the Southern states lacked industry, they were forced to pay higher prices on goods they did not manufacture domestically as a result, as most of their industry-based consumers relied directly on cheap imports of steel and machine parts from Europe, and the infrastructure of the United States did not provide readily available routes of access to domestic based production of these goods in New England for the South. Furthermore, it forced Great Britain, the main importer of Southern crops (specifically cotton) to pay harsh regulatory tariffs on any of its exports to the United States, and as a result limited the amount of money they were able to spend on purchasing imported cotton.



In the Upper Midwest, the adoption of agrarian practices due to the death of the fur trade in the mid-1820's accounted for nearly 95% of all family revenue by 1828. The monopolization of the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence following the United States' victory in the War of 1812 and the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 had opened the Minnesota and Wisconsin territories directly to the Atlantic, and as a result farming had become very profitable in the regions, and international exportation of Northwoods crops throughout the 1820's had become widespread. Subsistence farming was also practiced by workers of the many paper mills and printing presses along the Mississippi and Lake Superior in order to avoid spending their profits on costly imported foods. The death of the fur trade due to the construction of Fort Pike and its sometimes ruthless enforcement of taxation, however, had not been forgotten, and the implementation of the Tariff of 1828 was seen by most Northwoods farmers as only adding injury to injury. In the South, broad protest and rampant political opposition occurred, and this began to heighten in both severity and intensity throughout the remainder of 1828 as more negative economic effects for farmers and agrarian based communities due to the Tariff's passage became more evident.



The most vehement opposition to the Tariff came from South Carolinian and Vice President John C. Calhoun, who voiced and encouraged nullification of the tariffs by individual States, as was their alleged constitutional right to do so, and commonly referred to the Tariff of 1828 as the "Tariff of Abominations," a title obviously given in contempt. The people of the Michigan Territory and its governor, Zebulon Pike, however, were in no position to begin the process towards nullification, as the Territory was regarded as Federally owned, and to complicate matters further its residents had no representation in the American Legislature (with the exception of Pike, who had been presidentially appointed.) As the road to statehood was still years in the making due to population requirements, by late 1828, Pike had been pressured to voice his people's concern in Washington, as the economic difficulties that had resulted from passage of the Tariff had begun to be severe. Pike's resulting natural political alliance with Calhoun, however, was regarded as trivial and minor, as the topic of nullification had yet to receive popular attention, and most congressional debate concerned the stipulations of the tariff itself, rather than its repeal. Thus, Pike's return to Saint Anthony Falls in March of 1829 brought only a sense of rejection and denial, as both the newly elected American President, Andrew Jackson, and the northern-dominated Congress refused to even give Pike an audience. As news spread of the federal government's stubborn policy to uphold its unpopular tariff, so too did public dissent.



Public unrest began in earnest along the Mississippi in April of 1829, although this amounted to little more than peaceful protest and at most vandalism to the exterior walls of government installations, notably Fort Pike and the bureaucratic offices around Duluth. Jackson, however, upon hearing the news of civil disobedience, responded harshly. The 5th Infantry Regiment, which had been garrisoned in Fort Pike since its completion in 1825, immediately began measures to quell any further resistance. The peaceful demonstrations in Saint Anthony Falls, which was home to over 1,000 people, turned violent on May 2nd, and two American male settlers, one of them only 13 years old, were killed by stampede as an assembled crowd rapidly dispersed when warning shots had been fired by a company from the Regiment, who had been dispatched by order of the President to confront the protesters. News of the unintended lethal engagement spread like wildfire throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin, and by June similar protests had turned into full-blown riots throughout the Northwoods frontier, the most sizable occurring in Duluth in July, where a 3,000 man protest burned a full straw-based figure of President Jackson in effigy. The riots were highlighted and encouraged, in some cases, by the savage and biased Michigan Territory presses, the most prominent the Minnesota Voyager, who advocated direct confrontation of federal assets in light of the Saint Anthony Falls incident, which it had inappropriately deemed a "massacre." As Congress in Washington still remained deadlocked on the tariff issue, and its supporters still remarkably stubborn, the riots were thus only speculated to become worse. Throughout the end of May, hundreds of protesters and dissenters began to flock towards Saint Anthony Falls from across the Upper Midwest's frontier, in an effort to confront the only physical representation of the federal government in the Upper Mississippi River Valley - Fort Pike. The violent clashes that resulted between the growing crowds and the federal 5th Infantry Regiment, which still remained on orders to quell the uprisings, had resorted to open brawls. This era of dissent would later become known as the Tariff Rebellion.



In June, Pike had again returned to Washington under pressure from the Michigan Territory's press, this time with a new demeanor on the account that the Saint Anthony Falls protest had claimed two innocent lives of his constituents. The natural alliance between Pike and Calhoun that had been forged as a result of the tariff debates in late 1828 was made stronger, as news of unrest and dissent in the Minnesota and Wisconsin frontiers and their increasing severity had reached every corner of the nation by the end of May, and had received both sympathy and support from the South and its representatives and senators. Pike, however, was once again refused an audience by Congress and President Jackson alike, who voiced their staunch opposition to the continuing dissent in the Minnesota and Wisconsin territories by holding it akin to direct violation of a strong federal government, and as these territories were federal property, their riots and protests were regarded as open rebellion. The issue of nullification, which had also been reignited and its mostly southern supporters now unified under one banner, was introduced into the chambers of the Capitol building, but southern congressmen, behind their standard-bearer Calhoun, were quick to be chastised and regarded as a radical minority, as they made up only roughly 35% of the legislature. Pike, frustrated and out of all alternatives, drafted a bill with Calhoun prior to his departure that even proposed an impeachment of the President himself. The enraged Congress, with Jackson at its helm, quickly destroyed the bill in overwhelming numbers, and Pike returned to Saint Anthony Falls in July of 1829 in defeat, completely unable to introduce a practical peaceful solution to appease the growing sentiment of his countrymen, who had turned overtly hostile towards the federal government upon learning of the failure of Pike's attempts to negotiate.



By August, the growing numbers of protesting farmers and settlers in the town of Saint Anthony Falls had swelled to nearly 7,000 men, hailing from almost every settlement and town across the Michigan Territory's frontier. Their quantity, increasing daily, had prompted the federal 5th Infantry Regiment to take refuge inside Fort Pike's walls, as they were now unable to confront any protest or rally openly without lethal consequences for both sides. Jackson responded in kind, and introduced federal directives to close both the Mississippi River south of Fort Pike and Lake Superior, disallowing any further traffic from either entering or exiting the profitable waterways, which almost all Upper Midwest farmers relied on in order to export their goods. This sole act, followed by a forced immediate removal of Pike's governorship in response to his impeachment attempt, had unleashed a wild fervor throughout the Upper Mississippi River Valley. By September, the Saint Anthony Falls rebellion had accumulated nearly 8,500 protesters, and had reached an irreversibly volatile condition, short only of complete and utter open rebellion.