Bluffton Movement

The Bluffton Movement was spawned during a political rally held under the "Secession Oak" in the village of Bluffton, South Carolina, on July 31, 1844. The movement was an attempt to invoke "separate state action" against the tariff of 1842, after John Calhoun's failure to secure the presidential nomination and the Northern Democrats' abandonment of the South on the tariff had apparently destroyed hope for relief within the Democratic Party. Though many of the "Blufftonites" undoubtedly contemplated disunion, the object of their leader, Robert Barnwell Rhett, seems rather to have been a "reform" of the Union giving further safeguards to Southern interests. The movement collapsed within a short time, largely through its repudiation by Calhoun.

The impetus for the movement was the passing in congress of the Tariff of 1842, a protectionist tariff that enraged southern planters. The tariff raised the amount of dutiable goods as well as the rate of taxation on all goods, and it resulted in a sharp decrease in international trade. That was beneficial to northern industrialists, who no longer had to worry about competition from overseas, but greatly hurt southern planters, who relied on international markets for their products. The inequity of the tariff, in direct contrast to the Compromise of 1833, which lowered the protectionist tariffs for the South, caused massive opposition.

A second, equally-important motivation for the movement was the debate over the Annexation of Texas. Southerners were adamant for Texas to be admitted as a slave state, but many northerns opposed the admission of any more slave states. Southerners feared that slavery would be doomed and that Texas would join the British Empire if it was not annexed.

Both outcomes were unacceptable to southerners. While they agreed that action needed to be taken, politicians in South Carolina, the most radical state, squabbled over which action would be most. effective. Influential South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun had hoped to gain a presidential nomination from the Democratic Party on the principles of annexation of Texas and nullification of the tariff of 1842 without compromise. While Calhoun felt strongly about the injustices of the tariff and abolition, he also was against separate state action and insisted that the South must act together to stand strong against the North. His strong stance was too much for the rest of the party, and James K. Polk was nominated. While some southerners and South Carolinians rejoiced that Polk was the answer to their problems, many were not so optimistic. A group known as the "regency" or the "clique," led by Rhett, called for immediate state action and gained followers. The movement came to a head in Bluffton, when several hundred prominent young planters and followers of Rhett gathered under a large oak tree, which came to be known as the "secession oak." Rhett declared that there was no hope for the South and that nothing would be gained by Polk being elected He proclaimed that the only hope was for immediate nullification of the tariff or secession of South Carolina. He insisted that once it took action others would follow, and he called for a state convention as soon as the next Congress was finished to resolve the issues. To conclude his revolutionary speech, Rhett raised his glass and said, "May it be as useful as the convention of 1776."

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