Secession and Nullification Essay Example

affirm the existence of the right to secede” (Morse 420). Basically, Morse is arguing that the states must have had the right to secede at one point if, after the war, they were made to sign away that right. As a strategy for fighting the war, nullification followed by secession was good, because it showed the Northern states that the Southern states did not agree with what was going on.

The Southern states passed legislature basically warning the Northern states to leave them alone and to respect their rights, while the Northern states continued to impose high tariffs and other laws that the South felt were unfair. When nothing else worked, the South carried out their threats and seceded from the Union. Morse points out that these two strategies, nullification and secession, were necessary as political moves to secure what the South felt was their due.Regardless of any arguments about how the South did not have the right, how else were they going to secure their independence and their rights as states? Nullification is a powerful political move that shows that states are not willing to take bullying from the central government, and is followed up by even more powerful political move, simply refusing to be a part of the country anymore.

That is exactly what the Southern states did, and although it did not work out very well for them in the end, it was a good way to make the North understand their position.