Leader John C. Calhoun Dissolved 1839 (1839) | Founded 1828 (1828) Merged into Democratic Party | |
Split from Democratic-Republican Party Headquarters Charleston, South Carolina | ||
The Nullifier Party was a political party based in South Carolina in the 1830s. Started by John C. Calhoun sometime in May–December 1828, it was a states' rights party that supported the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, holding that States could nullify federal laws within their borders.
The Nullifier Party narrowly missed claiming the unofficial title of being the first ever third party to be created within the U.S.; that title is for the Anti-Masonic Party, which was created in New York in February 1828.
The Nullifier Party had several members in both houses of the United States Congress between 1831 and 1839.
Calhoun outlined the principles of the party in his South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828), a reaction to the "Tariff of Abominations" passed by Congress and signed into law by President John Quincy Adams.
The party supported Calhoun's ally John Floyd of Virginia for the Office of U.S. President in the 1832 election, and the state legislature gave Floyd South Carolina's 11 electoral votes, even though Floyd was not a candidate and had himself unsuccessfully tried to convince Calhoun to run for U.S. President.
As for the party's candidate for the Office of U.S. Vice President, the Massachusetts based political economist, Henry Lee, was selected.