What Andrew Jackson Thought About Tariffs

In an otherwise excellent column (“

Trump’s Echo of 1829,” op-ed, Feb. 27) Karl Rove contends that President Andrew Jackson “presided over the ‘Tariff of Abominations.’” This requires some clarification.

The Tariff of Abominations was signed into law by John Quincy Adams in 1828. It was a major issue in that year’s election that swept Jackson and his new party, the Democratic Republicans, into power. Jackson supporters viewed the tariff as an elitist policy that benefited the few at the expense of the many.