Daniel Webster’s Carriage.

356. The Theoretical and the Historical View.—Few will now deny that Webster was right as a theoretical publicist, for a constitution which admitted the right of secession or of nullification would have framed a farcical government. But whether he was right from the point of view of the constitutional lawyer or of the historical annalist is quite a different matter. There were nationalists from the beginning, but it seems probable that most men in 1789 believed that the Constitution was a compact between the states. By 1830 the North, and much of the West, had been nationalized and had more or less forgotten or abandoned the compact theory. But the South, less changed, adhered to it, especially as on it a minority party could base a constitutional resistance to an obnoxious policy like the tariff. Hence it seems fair to conclude that Webster was right as a publicist, partly unsound as a lawyer and annalist; but that the future was with him, the past with Hayne. That the past was with Hayne is partly at least confirmed by the general historical fact that minority parties, needing all the support they can get, make a careful study of precedents and have every interest in not making mistakes in their procedure. Parties of progress, on the other hand, are rarely careful about their reasoning from precedents. It is to be noted further that much of the political strength the Southerners still possessed lay in the fact that they were on the defensive and could obstruct legislation by strictly construing the Constitution.

THE TARIFF AND NULLIFICATION.

357. Jackson and Calhoun.—Shortly after the debate it looked as if South Carolina at least would put Calhoun’s theory in operation. The tariff of 1828 had been reformed in 1830 and in 1832, but the protective idea was still dominant, and against this idea the Southerners were firmly set. They wished to resist in some way, but they soon found that they could not count on Jackson to help them as he had helped Georgia. That old warrior had answered their overtures, when attending a banquet given on Jefferson’s birthday, at which disunion sentiments were openly expressed, by giving, as his contribution to the entertainment, the toast, “Our Federal Union: it must be preserved.” They could count on Calhoun, however, with more certainty than ever, for his break with Jackson took place about this time; and, so far as logical exposition goes, no cause has ever had more remarkable support than Calhoun gave the nullifiers. Jackson, however, received a stronger support. He was reëlected in 1832 by a very large majority and believed that the people meant him to go ahead and preserve the Union, as well as to carry out other important policies.

358. Nullification.—Meanwhile those South Carolinians who thought as Calhoun did, in spite of considerable opposition from their fellow-citizens, caused a State Convention to be assembled in November, 1832. This body declared the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 null and void so far as South Carolina was concerned, and prohibited payment of duties under them after February 1, 1833. Jackson replied by a strong proclamation, which urged the necessity of every true patriot’s supporting the laws and officers of the Union. Unfortunately many good South Carolinians thought that a patriot ought to support the state first, and the Union afterward. Jackson, however, did not rely on a mere proclamation. He dispatched soldiers and vessels to Charleston, and asked Congress to pass a bill enlarging his powers so that he might legally crush the incipient revolution. Congress in reply passed what is known as the Force Bill, March 1, 1833. No force was needed, however. The other Southern states did not stand by South Carolina, for although most of them believed in the right of secession as a last resort, they had little sympathy with nullification. They did not see how a state could remain in the Union, and yet not obey the latter’s laws. The nullifiers, under their leaders,—Hayne, who was now Governor of South Carolina, and Calhoun, who had taken Hayne’s place in the Senate,—had hoped for concession rather than war, and, pending the action of Congress, suspended the nullification ordinance. The administration, too, while determined to assert itself, had no great interest in the protective system, the cause of the quarrel. At this juncture Clay again played the part of a compromiser, and a tariff act, providing for a gradual return in ten years to the mild duties of 1816, was made law, March 2, 1833, one day after the Force Bill was passed and a day before the obnoxious tariff of 1832 was to have gone into effect. On their side, the South Carolinians held another convention, and repealed their first nullifying ordinance, but nullified the Force Bill. Thus it was practically a drawn battle—neither side abandoning its principles, but both making concessions in a not altogether brave and creditable way. As was to be expected, both parties claimed a victory. In South Carolina Calhoun’s influence grew steadily stronger, and the militia of the state seems to have been kept up with the distinct idea that it might be available in another crisis with the general government. On the other hand, Jackson had maintained the dignity of the Union, and the tariff compromisers, following the Missouri compromisers, had succeeded in putting off the day of reckoning until the Free states were strong enough to crush slavery and still retain the Southern states in the Union.

References.—General Works: see Chapter XVIII.

Special Works: same as for Chapter XVII., with the addition of: George T. Curtis, Daniel Webster; T. Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton (“American Statesmen”); E. M. Shepard, Martin Van Buren (“American Statesmen”); A. C. McLaughlin, Lewis Cass (“American Statesmen”); W. G. Sumner, Andrew Jackson (“American Statesmen”); J. Parton, Andrew Jackson; W. P. Trent, Calhoun, in Southern Statesmen of the Old Régime; C. W. Loring, Nullification, Secession, etc.; D. F. Houston, Study of Nullification in South Carolina (“Harvard Historical Studies”).

[153] Born, 1782; died, 1862. Early rose to eminence in New York as a lawyer and politician; United States senator, 1821–1828; governor, 1828–1829; Secretary of State under Jackson, 1829–1831; Vice President with Jackson, 1833–1837; elected President, 1836; was overwhelmingly defeated by Harrison in 1840; opposed the annexation of Texas in 1844; received a majority of votes in Democratic Convention in 1844, but was beaten by Polk under the two thirds rule; was Free Soil candidate for President in 1848, and drew enough electoral votes from Cass to elect Taylor.