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Here are the teacher pack items for States’ Rights:
Overview In this experience, students learn about the South Carolina Nullification Crisis and Andrew Jackson’s Nullification Proclamation. Then, they research current situations where states have taken action to nullify federal laws. Students will be working with small groups for scene 1 through scene 4. Divide students into their small groups before beginning the experience. Objective:
From the beginning of the establishment of the United States government, there has been an ongoing struggle between the rights of the states and the rights of the federal government. Federalists believed in a strong central government while Democrats felt that the states should determine what was best for them individually. This argument came up again during Andrew Jackson’s presidency in a conflict known as the South Carolina Nullification Controversy.
Objective:
What do you think the South Carolina Nullification Controversy might be about? If you don’t know, use your imaginations.
Discuss with students some of their answers and explain to them that nullification is the formal suspension by a state of a federal law within its borders. In other words, if a state feels that a federal law is not fair, it can vote to nullify the law and not to follow that law within the state.