<P> South Carolinian George McDuffie popularized the "Forty Bale theory" to explain South Carolina's economic woes . He said that tariffs that became progressively higher in 1816, 1824 and 1828 had the same effect as if a thief stole forty bales out of a hundred from every barn . The tariffs applied to imports of goods such as iron, wool and finished cotton products . The Forty Bale theory was based on faulty math, as Britain could sell finished cotton goods made from Southern raw cotton around the world, not just to the United States . Still, the theory was a popular explanation for economic problems that were caused in large part by overproduction of cotton in the Deep South competing with South Carolina's declining crops because of its depleted soil . South Carolinians, rightly or wrongly, blamed the tariff for the fact that cotton prices fell from 18 cents a pound to 9 cents a pound during the 1820s . </P> <P> While the effects of the tariff were exaggerated, manufactured imports from Europe were cheaper than American - made products without the tariff, and the tariff did reduce British imports of cotton to some extent . These were largely short - term problems that existed before United States factories and textile makers could compete with Europe . Also, the tariff replaced a tax system where slave states previously had to pay more in taxes for the increased representation they got in the U.S. House of Representatives under the three - fifths clause . </P> <P> The Tariff of 1828, which South Carolina agitators called the Tariff of Abominations, set the tariff rate at 50 percent . Although John C. Calhoun previously supported tariffs, he anonymously wrote the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, which was a states' rights argument for nullifying the tariff . Calhoun's theory was that the threat of secession would lead to a "concurrent majority" that would possess every white minority's consent, as opposed to a "tyrannical majority" of Northerners controlling the South . Both Calhoun and Robert Barnwell Rhett foresaw that the same arguments could be used to defend slavery when necessary . </P> <P> President Andrew Jackson successfully forced the nullifiers to back down and allowed a gradual reduction of tariff rates . Calhoun and Senator Henry Clay agreed upon the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which would lower rates over 10 years . Calhoun later supported national protection for slavery in the form of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and federal protection of slavery in the territories conquered from Mexico, in contradiction to his previous support for nullification and states' rights . </P>

Who won the battle over the ratification of the constitution in south carolina