Question

\we, therefore, the people of the state of south carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain... that the several acts and parts of acts of the congress of the united states, purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign commodities... are unauthorized by the constitution of the united states, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this state...\ south carolina ordinance of nullification, 1832 arguments similar to those expressed in the excerpt were later employed to justify which of the following? a the entry into the mexican - american war b the passage of the kansas - nebraska act c the secession of most southern states d the ratification of the fourteenth amendment

Explanation:

The South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification in 1832 was based on the idea that a state could nullify federal laws it deemed unconstitutional. This concept of states' rights and the power of a state to act against federal authority was later used to justify secession. When Southern states seceded before the Civil War, they argued that states had the right to leave the Union (similar to the idea of nullifying federal laws as an extreme form of asserting state sovereignty). The Mexican - American War was about territorial expansion and national interests, not states' rights nullification. The Kansas - Nebraska Act was about popular sovereignty regarding slavery in territories, not state nullification or secession. The ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment was a federal response to issues after the Civil War (like citizenship and equal protection), which was the opposite of the nullification/secessionist ideas.

Answer:

C. The secession of most Southern states