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“Where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.” —Thomas Jefferson

The Nullification Crisis was over the collection of tariffs. It is clear that the Constitution grants the power to levy and collect tariffs. South Carolina had no power to nullify them. In fact, it would have been unconstitutional to collect them in other states, but not SC.

Art I, Section 8

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;...

If the South was all so hep up on states being able to nullify whatever Fed legislation they desired, why were they so against the attempts in the North to nullify the Fugitive Slave Act?

If the South was all so hep up on states being able to nullify whatever Fed legislation they desired, why were they so against the attempts in the North to nullify the Fugitive Slave Act?

Because the southern leadership were what we today call liberals - they wanted all the icing and none of the cake. They wanted what they wanted; when they wanted it; and didn't give a damn how that affected anyone else.

Some LC'rs like to portray the southern leadership as poor put-upon peons totally at the mercy of the northern meanies. Quite to the contrary, the south wielded considerable power. But when things didn't go their way they turned tail and ran.

The Nullification Crisis was over the collection of tariffs

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More like Robbery.

John Calhoun:

The next is the system of revenue and disbursements which has been adopted by the government. It is well known that the government has derived its revenue mainly from duties on imports. I shall not undertake to show that such duties must necessarily fall mainly on the exporting States, and that the South, as the great exporting portion of the Union, has in reality paid vastly more than her due proportion of the revenue; because I deem it unnecessary, as the subject has on so many occasions been fully discussed. Nor shall I, for the same reason, undertake to show that a far greater portion of the revenue has been disbursed in the North, than its due share; and that the joint effect of these causes has been to transfer a vast amount from South to North, which, under an equal system of revenue and disbursements, would not have been lost to her. If to this be added that many of the duties were imposed, not for revenue but for protection--that is, intended to put money, not in the Treasury, but directly into the pocket of the manufacturers--some conception may be formed of the immense amount which in the long course of sixty years has been transferred from South to North.

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When In the Course of Human Events:

The high tariff in the North compelled the Southern states to pay tribute to the North, either in taxes to fatten Republican coffers or in the inflated prices that had to be paid for Northern goods. Besides being unfair, this violated the uniformity command of the Constitution by having the South pay an undue proportion of the national revenue, which was expended more in the North than in the South ( p26 emphasis added)