The Bluffton Movement in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 state of South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, was an attempt to invoke "separate state action" against the tariff of 1842

Tariff of 1842

The Tariff of 1842, or Black Tariff as it became known, was a protectionist tariff schedule adopted in the United States to reverse the effects of the Compromise Tariff of 1833...

, after John Calhoun

John C. Calhoun

John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...

's failure to secure the presidential nomination and the Northern Democrats

Northern Democrats

The Northern Democrats was the third section of the split United States Democratic party during the election of 1864. The party supported the Lincoln Administration during the United States presidential election, 1864....

' abandonment of the South

South

South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....

 on the tariff had apparently destroyed hope for relief within the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. 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

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 giving further safeguards to Southern interests. The movement collapsed within a short time, largely through its repudiation by Calhoun.

Source

• Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams
  James Truslow Adams
  James Truslow Adams was an American writer and historian. He was not related to the famous Adams family...
  
  , New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940