Nullification was directly related to federal taxes. South Carolina was facing an agricultural depression, and most South Carolinians blamed the high federal tariff for raising the price of manufactured goods imported from Europe. Not only were tariff rates increasing, but so too was the number of products subject to tariffs: new tariffs were placed on woolens, iron, glass, hemp, and salt. Insofar as tariffs discouraged the sale of foreign goods in the United States, they reduced the ability of British and French traders to buy southern cotton because of the loss of export income.
