Full text of "State papers on nullification : including the public acts of the Convention of the people of South Carolina, assembled at Columbia, November 19, 1832, and March 11, 1833, the proclamation of the President of the United States, and the proceedings of the several state legislatures which have acted on the subject"

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STATE PAPERS

NULLIFICATION:

INCLUDING THE PUBLIC ACTS OF THE

CONVENTION OF THE PEOPLE

SOUTH CAROLINA,

ASSEMBLED AT

COLUMBIA, NOVEMBER 19, 1832 AND MARCH 11, 1833;

THE

p a o-c L:\MATIO-N

of tljr SlntttU

AND THE

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVERAL STATE LEGISLATURES

WHICH HAVE ACTED ON THE SUBJECT.

COLLECTED AND PUBLISHED
BY ORDER OF THE GENERAL, COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS,

Under the direction of the Committee on the Library.

DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, PRINTERS TO THE STATE.
1834.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 26, 1833.

Ordered, That the Joint Committee on the Library be instruct
ed to collect the documents received from the State of South
Carolina on the subject of Nullification, the Proclamation of the
President of the United States, and the communications from
the several States in relation thereto, and to cause the same to
be printed and bound, for the use of the members of this Legis
lature.

Sent up for concurrence.

L. S. CUSHJNG, Clerk.

IN SENATE, MARCH 26, 1833
Concurred.

CHA'S. CALHOUN, Clerk.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

In the following table, the titles of all the papers comprehended in the
volume, a few of which were received too late to be inserted in their pro
per places, are arranged in the natural order of the subjects, with refer
ences to the pages at which they respectively appear.

Journal of the Convention of the People of South Carolina, assem
bled at Columbia, November 19, 1832, 295
Report of a Committee of the Convention, to whom was referred
an Act to provide for calling a Convention of the People

of South Carolina, 1

An Ordinance to nullify certain Acts of the Congress of the United
States, purporting to be laws laying duties and imposts on
the importation of foreign commodities, .... 33

Address to the People of South Carolina, by their Delegates in

Convention, 37

" to the People of the United States, by the Convention of

the People of South Carolina, 59

Proclamation of the President of the United States of America, „ 75

Resolves on the proceedings of the Convention of the People of"
South Carolina, and on the Proclamation of the Pre
sident of the United States, by the Legislature of New

Hampshire, 101

" on the same subjects, by the Legislature of Maine, . 105
Report of a Committee of the Legislature of Massachusetts, on the

same subjects, ......... 112

Resolves on the same subjects, by the Legislature of Massachusetts, 328
« « " " « " Connecticut, . 285

Report on the same subjects, of a Committee of the Legislature of

New York, 133

Resolves on the same subjects, by the Legislature of New York, 158
« « " " « " N. Jersey, 163

" « « « " " Pennsylvania, 169

Report on the same subjects, of a Committee of the Legislature of

Delaware, 175

Resolves on the same subjects, by the Legislature of Delaware, . 190

« " " " " " Maryland, . 289

« "' " « " " Virginia, . 195

« « « « " " North Carolina, 201

" « " " « " Ohio, . . 205

Further Resolves of the Legislature of Ohio, on the same subjects, 209

Resolves on the same subjects, by the Legislature of Indiana, . 213

« « " " " " Illinois, . 377

Report on the same subjects, of a Committee of the Legislature

ofAlabama, ... 219

Resolves on the same subjects, by the Legislature ofAlabama, . 222
Recommendations of the Legislature of Alabama to the President
of the United States, to the State of South Carolina, and to

the different States, ' 224

Report upon the same subjects, of a Committee of the Legislature

of Mississippi, .... 229

Resolves on the same subjects, by the Legislature of Mississippi, 231
" of the Legislature of South Carolina, proposing a Con
vention of the States, 237

" proposing a Convention of the States, erroneously certi
fied by the authorities of Georgia, as having been
adopted by the Legislature of that State, . . . 238
Report of a Committee of the Legislature of Massachusetts, on the
Resolves of South Carolina, proposing a Convention of the

States, 244

Resolves on the same subject, by the Legislature of Massachusetts, 256
" " " " " " Ohio, . . 208

Report of a Committee of the Legislature of Massachusetts^ on the
supposed Resolves of the Legislature of Georgia, proposing

a Convention of the States, 258

Resolves of the Legislature of Massachusetts, on the same subject, 267
Letter from the Governor of Georgia to the Governor of Massa
chusetts, correcting the error committed in regard to the
supposed Resolves of the Legislature of Georgia, . . 269

Vll

Resolves of the Legislature of Georgia, proposing a Convention of

the States, as in fact adopted, 271

Report of a Committee of the Legislature of Mississippi, on the

Georgia Resolves, 297

Resolves of the Legislature of Mississippi, on the same subject, . 280

Journal of the second session of the Convention of the People of

South Carolina, assembled at Columbia, March H, 1833, . 321

Resolves of the Legislature of Virginia, appointing B. W. Leigh,

Esq., Commissioner to the State of South Carolina, . . 328

Correspondence between the Commissioner of Virginia and the

Governor of South Carolina, 331

Report of a Committee of the Convention, on the mediation of

Virginia, 347

" with amendments, as adopted, 355

Ordinance of the Convention, repealing the Ordinance to nullify

the Tariff Laws, 352

Report of a Committee of the Convention, on the Act of the Con
gress of the United States further to provide for the collec
tion of duties on imposts, 363

Ordinance to nullify an Act of the Congress, entitled an Act fur
ther to provide for the collection of duties on imposts, com
monly called the Force Bill, 373

REPORT.

The Committee to whom was referred "the Act to provide for
the calling of a Convention of the people of this State," with
instructions "to consider and report thereon, and especially
as to the measures proper to be adopted by the Convention,
in reference to the violations of the Constitution of the United
States, in the enactment by Congress on divers occasions of
laws laying duties and imposts for the purpose of encouraging
and protecting domestic manufactures, and for other unwar
rantable purposes," beg leave respectfully to submit the fol
lowing

REPORT :

The Committee deeply impressed with the importance of the
questions submitted to them, and the weight of responsibility in
volved in their decision, have given to the subject their most de
liberate and anxious consideration. In stating the conclusions to
which they have arrived, they feel that it is due to themselves, to
this Convention, and to the public at large, briefly to review the
history of the Protecting system in this country, to show its
origin, to trace its progress, to examine its character, point
out its evils, and suggest the appropriate remedy. They pro
pose to execute this task with all possible brevity and simplicity,
sensible that the subject is too well understood in all its bear
ings to require at this time a very elaborate investigation.

In the natural course of human affairs, the period would have
been very remote when the people of the United States would
have engaged in manufactures, but for the restrictions upon our
commerce, which grew put of the war between Great Britain
and, Fianeeyand which led to the non-intercourse act, the em
bargo, and finally our own war of 1812. Cut off by these events
from a free commercial intercourse with the rest of the world,
the people of the United States turned their attention to manu
factures, and on the restoration of peace in 1815, an amount of
capital had been already invested in these establishments, which
made a strong appeal to the liberality, we might almost say to
the justice of the country, for protection, at least against that
sudden influx of foreign goods, which it was feared would entirely
overwhelm these domestic establishments. When therefore in
1816 it became necessary that the Revenue should be brought
down to the peace establishment, by a reduction of the duties
upon imports, it was almost by common consent conceded to
the claims of the manufacturers, that this reduction should be
gradual, and three years were accordingly allowed for bringing
down the duties to the permanent revenue standard, which (em
bracing all the ordinary expenses of the government, with libe
ral appropriations for the Navy and the Army, an extensive
system of fortifications, and the gradual extinction of the public
debt, then amounting to $130,000,000,) was fixed at 20 per
cent. If the manufacturers had at that time even hinted that
permanent protection was deemed indispensable to their suc
cess, — if the slightest suspicion had been entertained that in
stead of the gradual reduction expressly provided for by the act
of 1816, there would be claimed a gradual increase of the pro
tecting duties, and that instead of being brought down in three
years to 20 per cent., the duties were to be carried up to
50 or 100 per cent., and in many cases to prohibition, — the pain
ful contest in which the country has been engaged for the last
ten years on this subject would have commenced immediately,
and it is confidently believed that in the temper of the public
mind at that time, ample security would have been found against
the introduction of such a system. But in defiance of the clear
understanding of the whole country, and in violation of the
principles of justice and of good faith, that part of the act above-

mentioned which required that the duties should be reduced in
three years to 20 per cent., was repealed, and a broad founda
tion thus laid for the permanent establishment of the protect
ing system. This system has been still further extended and
fortified by the several successive acts of 1820, 1824, and 1828,
until by the passing of the act of 1832, (to take effect after the
discharge of the public debt,) it has become incorporated into
our political system, as the "SETTLED POLICY OF THE COUNTRY."
We have not deemed it necessary, in tracing the origin and pro
gress of this system, to go further back than the commercial
restrictions which preceded the late war ;— for whatever theo
retical opinions may have been expressed by Alexander Hamil
ton and others in relation to it, at an earlier period, it cannot be
denied that no duties were actually imposed beyond those
deemed indispensable for the public exigencies, and that prior
to the year 1816, no protection whatever was actually extended
to manufactures, beyond what was strictly incidental to a sys
tem for revenue. The discrimination between the protected and
unprotected articles now contended for as the very corner stone
of the protecting system, was so far from being established by
that act, that the highest duties were actually imposed on the
very articles now admitted duty free, while the foreign manu
factures which came into competition with our domestic fabrics
were subjected to a lower rate of duty. The truth then unques
tionably is, that the protecting policy, according to the princi
ples now contended for, was never introduced into this country
until the period we have mentioned, when it crept insidiously
into the legislation of Congress in the manner above described.
This will be made abundantly manifest to every one who will
take the pains to trace the progress of the duties from 7J per
cent., in 1790, up to 25 per cent, in 1816, 40 per cent., in
1824, and 50, 60, and even 100 per cent., in 1828 and 1832, and
who will merely examine the manner in which these duties were
adjusted in the various acts here referred to. As early as 1820,
so soon indeed as the capitalists who had relied upon the powers
of the Federal Government to enhance the profits of their in
vestments by legislation, began to look forward to its eventful
establishment as the settled policy of the country, they clearly
perceived that an extension of the appropriations to objects not

embraced in the specific grants of the Federal constitution, was
the necessary appendage of their system. They well knew that
the people would not long submit to the levying of a large sur
plus revenue merely for the protection of manufactures, carried
on almost exclusively in one quarter of the Union ; and they
therefore sought in the extension of the appropriations to new
objects, for a plausible and popular excuse for the continuance
of a system of high duties. With that instinctive sagacity,
which belongs to men who convert the Legislature of a country
into an instrument for the promotion of their own private ends,
they clearly saw that the distribution of an enormous surplus
treasure, would afford the surest means of bringing over the
enemies of the American System to its support, and of enlisting
in their cause not only large masses of the people, but entire
States who had no direct interest in maintaining the protecting
system, or who were even, in some respects, its victims. No
scheme that the wit of man could possibly have devised, was
better calculated for the accomplishment of this object. It pro
posed simply to reconcile men to an unjust system of national
policy, by admitting them to a large share of the spoils ; — in a
word, to levy contributions by the aid of those who were to
divide the plunder. If the United States had constituted one
great nation, with a consolidated Government, occupying a ter
ritory of limited extent, inhabited by a people engaged in simi
lar pursuits, and having homogeneous interests, such a system
would only have operated as a tax upon all the other great in
terests of the State, for the benefit of that which was favored by
the laws, and when time had been allowed for the adjustment
of society to this new condition of its affairs, the final result
must have been an aggregate diminution of the profits of the
whole community, by diverting a portion of the people from
their accustomed employments to less profitable pursuits. In
such a case, the hope might perhaps have been indulged that
experience would demonstrate the egregious folly of enacting
laws, the only effect of which would be, to supply the wants of
the community at an increased expense of labor and capital.
But it is the distinguishing feature of the American System, and
one which stamps upon it the character of peculiar arid aggra
vated oppression, that it is made applicable to a Confederacy

of twenty-four Sovereign and Independent States, — occupying
a territory upwards of 2000 miles in extent, — embracing every
variety of soil, climate, and productions, — inhabited by a people
whose institutions and interests are in many respects diametri
cally opposed to each other, — with habits and pursuits infinitely
diversified, — and in the great Southern section of the Union,
rendered by local circumstances altogether incapable of change.
Under such circumstances, a system, which under a consolidated
Government would be merely impolitic, and so far, an act of
injustice to the whole community, becomes in this country a
scheme of the most intolerable oppression, because it may be,
and has in fact been, so adjusted as to operate exclusively to the
benefit of a particular interest, and of particular sections of
country, rendering in effect the industry of one portion of the
confederacy tributary to the rest. The laws have accordingly
been so framed as to give a direct pecuniary interest to a sec
tional majority, in maintaining a grand system, by which taxes
are in effect imposed upon the few, for the benefit of the many; —
and imposed too, by a system of indirect taxation, so artfully
contrived, as to escape the vigilance of the common eye, and
masked under such ingenious devices as to make it extremely
difficult to expose their true character. Thus under the pretext
of imposing duties for the payment of the public debt, and pro
viding for the common defence and general welfare, (powers
expressly conferred on the Federal Government by the Consti
tution,) acts are passed containing provisions designed exclu
sively and avowedly for the purpose of securing to the American
Manufacturers, a monopoly in our own markets, to the great and
manifest prejudice of those who furnish the agricultural produc
tions which are exchanged in foreign markets for the very arti
cles which it is the avowed object of these laws to exclude. If.
so happens, that six of the Southern States, whose industry is
almost exclusively agricultural, though embracing a population
equal to only one third part of the whole Union, actually pro
duce for exportation near 40,000,000 annually, being about two-
thirds of the whole domestic exports of the United States. As
it is their interest, so it is, unquestionably, their right, to carry
these fruits of their own honest industry, to the best market,
without any molestation, hindrance, or restraint, whatsoever, and

subject to no taxes, or other charges, but such as may be neces
sary for the payment of the reasonable expenses of the govern
ment. But how does this system operate upon our industry ?
While imposts to the amount of 10 or 12 per cent., (if arranged
on just and equal principles) must be admitted to be fully ade
quate to all the legitimate purposes of Government, duties are
actually imposed (with a few inconsiderable exceptions) upon
all the Woollens, Cottons, Iron and Manufactures of Iron, Sugar,
and Salt, and almost every other article received in exchange for
the Cotton, Rice, and Tobacco of the South, equal on an ave
rage to about 50 per cent., whereby (in addition to the injurious
effects of this system in prohibiting some articles, and discour
aging the introduction of others,) a tax equal to one-half of the
first cost is imposed upon the Cottons, Woollens, and Iron,
which are the fruits of Southern industry, in order to secure an
advantage in the home market, to their rivals the American
Manufacturers of similar articles, equivalent to one-half of their
value, thereby stimulating the industry of the North, and dis
couraging that of the South, by granting bounties to the one,
and imposing taxes upon the other.

The Committee deem it unnecessary to go into an elaborate
examination of the true character and sectional operation of the
protecting system. The subject has of late been so frequently
and thoroughly examined, and the bearing of the System been
so completely exposed, that the argument is exhausted. To the
people of the Southern States, there cannot be presented a more
touching or irresistible appeal, either to their understandings or
their hearts, than is found in the melancholy memorials of ruin
and decay which are every where visible around us, — memorials
proclaiming the fatal character of that system, which has brought
upon one of the finest portions of the globe, in the full vigor of
its early manhood, the poverty and desolation, which belong
only to the most sterile regions, or to the old age and decrepi
tude of nations. The moral blight and pestilence of unwise
and partial legislation, has swept over our fields, with " the
besom of destruction." The proofs are every where around us.

It is in vain for any one to contend that this is a just and
equal system, or that the Northern States pay a full proportion
of the tax. If this were so, how is it to be accounted for, that

high duties are regarded in that quarter of the Union, not as a
burden, but as a blessing f

How comes it that a people, certainly not unmindful of their
interests, are seen courting the imposition of taxes, and crying
out against any material reduction of the public burdens ? Does
not this extraordinary fact afford conclusive evidence that high
duties operate as a bounty to Northern industry ; and that what
ever taxes the manufacturers may pay, as consumers, they are
more than remunerated by the advantages they enjoy as produ
cers ? — or, in other words, that they actually receive more than
they pay, and therefore cannot be justly said to be taxed at all ?
When, in addition to all this, we take into consideration that
the amount of duties annually levied for the protection of manu
factures, beyond the necessary wants of the Government,
(which cannot be estimated at less than 10 or 12,000,000) is ex
pended almost exclusively in the Northern portion of the Union,
can it excite any surprise, that under the operation of the Pro
tecting System, the manufacturing States should be constantly
increasing in riches, and growing in strength, with an inhospita
ble climate and barren soil, while the Southern States, the
natural garden of America, should be rapidly falling into decay ?
It is contrary to the general order of Providence, that any coun
try should long bear up against a system, by which enormous
contributions, raised in one quarter, are systematically expended
in another. If the sixteen millions of dollars now annually
levied in duties on the foreign goods received in exchange for
Southern productions were allowed to remain in the pockets of
the people, or by some just and equal system of appropriation
could be restored to them, the condition of the plantation States
would unquestionably be one of unexampled prosperity and
happiness. Such was our condition under a system of free
trade, and such would soon again be our enviable lot. Of the
results which would thereby be produced, some faint conception
may be formed by imagining what would be the effect upon the
industry of the people of our own State, if the $8,000,000 of
foreign goods now annually received in exchange for our pro
ductions, and paying duties to the amount of upwards of
$3,000,000, could be obtained by us duty free, or the duties
thus levied, were expended within our own limits. Is it not ob-

vious that several millions per annum would thereby be added
to the available industry of South Carolina? the effect of which
would assuredly be, to change the entire face of affairs in this
State, by enhancing the profits of the agriculturists, accumulat
ing capital, giving a fresh impulse to commerce, and producing
a vivifying influence upon every department of industry, the
happy consequences of which would be experienced by every
inhabitant of the State. We present this strong view of the
subject, to shew the manifest justice of the claim which South
Carolina now sets up to have this system of raising revenue by
duties upon imports restricted within the narrowest limits, and to
shew how utterly impossible it is for us to consent to have it ex
tended beyond the indispensable wants of the government,
either for the purpose of affording protection to the industry of
others, or of distributing the proceeds among individuals or
States.

Grievous, however, as the oppression unquestionably is, and
calculated in the strong language of our own Legislature, "to
reduce the Plantation States to POVERTY and UTTER DESOLA
TION," it is not in this aspect that the question is presented in
its most dangerous and alarming form. It is not merely that
Congress have resorted for unwarrantable purposes to an op
pressive exercise of powers granted to them by the Constitution;
but that they have usurped a power not granted, and have justified
that usurpation on principles, which, if sanctioned or submitted
to, must entirely change the character of the Government, re
duce the Constitution to a dead letter, and on the ruins of our
confederated republic, erect a consolidated despotism, " without
limitation of powers." If this be so, there is no man who is
worthy of the precious heritage of liberty derived from our an
cestors, or who values the free institutions of his country, who
must not tremble for the cause of freedom, not only in this
country, but throughout the world, unless the most prompt and
efficient measures are at once adopted, to arrest the downward
course of our political affairs, to stay the hand of oppression, to
lestore the Constitution to its original principles, and thereby
to perpetuate the Union.

It cannot be denied that the Government of the United States
possesses no inherent powers. It was called into being by the

States. The States not only created it, but conferred upon it
all its powers, and prescribed its limits by a -written charter
called the Constitution of the United States. Before the Fede
ral Government had thus been called into being, the several
States unquestionably possessed as full sovereignty, and were as
independent of each other as the most powerful nations of the
world ; and in the free and undisputed exercise of that sove
reignty, they entered into a solemn compact with each other,
by which it was provided, that for certain specified objects, a
General Government should be established with strictly limited
powers ; — the several States retaining their sovereignty unim
paired, and continuing to exercise all powers not expressly
granted to the Federal Government.

In the clear and emphatic language of Mr. Jefferson, "the
several States composing the United States of America, are not
united on the principle of unlimited submission to the General
Government, but by a compact under the style and title of the
Constitution of the United States, they constituted a General
Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government
certain definite powers, reserving each State to itself the resi
duary mass of right to their own self-government, and whenso
ever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its
acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force."* That such is
the true nature of the Federal compact, cannot admit of a rea
sonable doubt, and it follows of necessity, that the Federal
Government is merely a joint agency, created by the States, —
that it can exert no power not expressly granted by them, and
that when it claims any power, it must be able to refer to the
clause in the charter which confers it. This view of the Con
stitution of the United States, brings the question of the consti
tutionality of the Tariff within the narrowest limits.

The regulation of domestic industry, so far as Government may
rightfully interfere therewith, belonged to the several States be
fore the Constitution was adopted, or the Union sprang into
existence ; and it still remains exclusively with them, unless it
has has been expressly granted to the Federal Government. If
such a grant has been made, it is incumbent on those claiming,

*See Kentucky Resolutions of 1778.

under it, to point out the provision in the Constitution which
embraces it. It must be admitted that there is not a clause or
article in that instrument, which has the slightest allusion either
to manufactures or to agriculture : while, therefore, the "regu
lation of commerce" is expressly conferred on the General Gov
ernment, the regulation of every branch of domestic industry
is reserved to the several States, exclusively, who may afford
them encouragement, by pecuniary bounties, and by all the other
means, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United
States. To say that the power to regulate commerce embraces
the regulation of agriculture, and manufactures, and all other
pursuits of industry, (for they all stand upon the same footing,)
is to confound the plainest distinctions, and to lose sight of the
true meaning and intent of the grant in question. Commerce
is, in general, regulated by treaties with foreign nations ; and,
therefore, it was deemed necessary that this power should be
confided to the General Government : but agriculture, manu
factures, and the mechanic arts, can only be wisely ordered by
municipal regulation. Commerce is one object of legislation,
manufactures another, agriculture a third ; and if the regulation
of commerce implies an unlimited control over every thing
which constitutes the object of commerce, it would follow, as a
matter of course, that the Federal Government may exert a su
preme dominion over the whole labor and capital of the coun
try. This would transform our confederated Government, with
strictly limited powers, into an absolute despotism, and of the
worst sort, where, under the forms of a free Government, we
should have the spirit of a despotic one. This view of the sub
ject, we should deem perfectly conclusive, even if it could not
be shewn that the power in question, so far from being granted,
was purposely withheld from the Federal Government, by the
framers of the Constitution ; and that there are provisions of the
Constitution, from which it may be fairly inferred, that it was
intended to be reserved to the States respectively. It appears
from the history of the proceedings of the Convention which
framed the Constitution, that the subject of the protection of
manufactures, was several times brought distinctly to the view of
that body, and that they did not see fit to grant to the Federal
Government the power in question. In the original proposition,

to confer on Congress the power to impose "duties, imposts,
and excises," was embraced "prohibitions and restraints," which
may well be supposed to be intended to embrace the protection
of manufactures ; but it is is remarkable, that these words were
-omitted in the Report of the Committee, on that clause. On
the 18th of August, a motion was made, "to establish rewards
and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, commerce,
trades, and manufactures ;" but this proposition also failed. On
a subsequent day, it was moved, that there should be " a Secre
tary of Domestic Affairs, &c., whose duty it should be to attend
to matters of general police, the state of agriculture and manu
factures, the opening of roads and navigation, and facilitating of
intercourse through the United States ; and that he shall, from
time to time, recommend such measures and establishments as
may tend to promote these objects." This proposition likewise
failed, the Constitution containing no provision in conformity
therewith.

Now, as it is utterly impossible, that these several propositions,
embracing imposts, duties, prohibitions and restraints, and the
encouragement of manufactures, could have been disposed of,
without bringing the whole question of domestic manufactures
fully into view, it must follow, that, as no power was given to
Congress over manufactures, while the power to regulate com
merce is expressly conferred, it was not the intention of the fra-
mers of the Constitution, to entrust this power to Congress. Al
though repeatedly urged to confer such a power, they constantly
refused it ; and the Constitution, as finally ratified, contains no
provision, whatever, upon the subject. In the Report of Luther
Martin, a delegate from Maryland, made to the Legislature of
his State, an explanation is given of the proceedings of the
Convention, in relation to this matter, which removes every
shadow of doubt, with regard to the true meaning and intent of
the framers of the Constitution, in relation to the protection of
manufactures. It appears from this statement, that, as the en
couragement of manufactures had been refused to be conferred
upon the Federal Government, it was the desire of Mr. Martin
and others, to reserve to the states all the means which they sup
posed to be necessary for affording effectual encouragement to
manufactures within their own limits. Among those it was pre-

sumed "that there might be cases in which it would be proper
for the purpose of encouraging manufactures to lay duties to
prohibit the exportation of raw materials, and even in addition to
the duties laid by Congress on imports for the sake of revenue, to
lay a duty to discourage the importation of particular articles
into a State, or to enable the manufacturer here to supply us
on as good terms as could be obtained from a foreign market."*
Here it will be seen that it is positively stated by Mr. Martin
that the power given to Congress to impose duties upon imports,
was given expressly "for the sake of revenue," and was not con
sidered as extending to any duty "to discourage the importation
of particular articles, for the purpose of encouraging manufac
tures," and that it was considered that unless the several States
should possess this power as well as that of prohibiting the ex
portation of certain raw materials, they would not be enabled to
extend that complete protection to their own manufacturers
which might be deemed indispensable to their success. "The
most, however," says Mr. Martin, "which we could obtain, was,
that this power might be exercised by the States, by and with
the consent of Congress, and subject to its control." Thus, then,
it manifestly appears, that in relation to manufactures, the framers
of the Constitution positively refused to confer upon the Federal
Government, any power whatever; — that the power to lay duties,
&,c., was conferred for the sake of revenue alone, and was not
intended to embrace the power to lay duties "to discourage the
importation of particular articles, to enable the manufacturers
here to supply us on as good terms as could be obtained from a
foreign market ;" and finally, that the whole subject was left in
the hands of the several States, with the restriction, "that no
State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any impost or
duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely ne
cessary for executing their inspection laws." This power, it
appears, was expressly inserted for the purpose of enabling the
States to protect their own manufactures ; and this, it seems,
was the only provision which friends of domestic industry could
obtain. It is vain to allege that the powers retained by the
States on this subject, are inadequate to the effectual accom-

*Yates's Secret Debates in the Convention, p. 71.

plishment of the -object. If this were so it would only shew the
necessity of some further provision on this subject, — but surely
it will not be pretended that it would justify the usurpation by
Congress of a power, not only not granted by the Constitution,
but purposely withheld.

We think, however, that this exposition of the Constitution
places the protection of manufactures on the true foundation, on
which it should stand in such a Government as ours. Nothing
can be more monstrous than that the industry of one or more
States in this confederacy, should be made profitable at the ex
pense of others, and this must be the inevitable result of any
scheme of legislation by the General Government, calculated to
promote Manufactures by restrictions upon Commerce or Agri
culture. But leave manufactures where agriculture and other
domestic pursuits have been wisely left by the Constitution —
with the several States; and ample security is furnished that no
preference will be given to one pursuit over another, and if it
should be deemed adviseable in any particular State, to extend
encouragement to manufactures, either by direct appropriations
of money, or in the way pointed out in the Article of the Con
stitution above quoted, that this will be done not at the expense
of the rest of the Union, but of the particular State whose citi
zens are to derive the advantages of those pursuits. Should
Massachusetts, for instance, find it to her advantage to engage
in the Manufacture of Woollens or Cottons, or Pennsylvania be
desirous of encouraging the working of her Iron Mines, let those
States grant bounties out of their own Treasuries, to the persons
engaged in these pursuits; and should it be deemed adviseable
to encourage their manufactures by duties, "discouraging the
importation of similar articles," in these respective States, let
them make an application to Congress, whose consent would
doubtless be readily given to any acts of those States^ having
these objects in view. The Manufacturers of Massachusetts
and Pennsylvania would thus be encouraged at the expense of
the people of these States respectively. But when they claim
to do more than this, — to encourage their industry, at the ex
pense of the industry of the people of the other States, to pro
mote the Manufactures of the North, at the expense of the Agri
culture of the South, by restrictions upon Commerce, — in a word,

to secure a monopoly for their manufactures, not only in their own
market, but throughout the United States, then we say, that the
claim is unjust, and cannot be granted consistently with the
principles of the Constitution, or the great ends of a Confedera
ted Government. We shall not stop to inquire whether, as has
been urged with great force, that provision of the Constitution,
which confers the power upon Congress "to promote the pro
gress of science and the useful arts, by securing, for limited
times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their re
spective writings and discoveries," does not, by a necessary im
plication, deny to Congress the power of promoting the useful arts
(which include both agriculture and manufactures) by any other
means than those here specified. It is sufficient for our purpose
to shew that the power of promoting manufactures as a distinct
substantive object of legislation, has no where been granted to
Congress. As to the incidental protection that may be derived
from the rightful exercise of the power, either of regulating com
merce, or of imposing taxes, duties and imposts, for the legiti
mate purposes of government, — this certainly, may be as freely
enjoyed by manufactures as it must be by every other branch of
domestic industry. But as the power to regulate commerce,
conferred expressly for its security, cannot be fairly exerted for
its destruction, so neither can it be perverted to the purpose of
building up manufacturing establishments, — an object entirely
beyond the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, — so also, the
power to levy taxes, duties, imposts and excises, expressly given
for the purpose of raising revenue, cannot be used for the dis
couragement of importations, for the purpose of promoting man
ufactures, without a gross and palpable violation of the plain
meaning and intent of the federal compact. Acts may be pass
ed on these subjects, falsely purporting, on their face, to have
been enacted for the purpose of raising revenue and regulating
commerce, — but if in truth, they are designed (as the Acts of
1824, 1828, and 1832, confessedly and avowedly have been) for an
entirely different purpose, viz : for the encouragement and pro
motion of manufactures — the violation of the Constitution is not
less gross, deliberate and palpable, because it assumes the most
dangerous of all forms, a violation by perversion, the use of a pow
er granted for one purpose, for another and a different purpose^ in

relation to which, Congress has no power to act at all. On the
whole, even from the very brief and imperfect view which we have
here taken of this subject, we think we have demonstrated that
the protecting system is as gross and palpable a violation of
the Constitution, according to its true spirit, intent and mean
ing, as it is unquestionably unequal, oppressive and unjust in
its bearing upon the great interests of the country, and the seve
ral sections of the Union.

But great as are the evils of the American System, fatal as it
assuredly must be to the prosperity of a large portion of the
Union, and gross as is the violation of the letter and spirit of the
Constitution which it perpetrates, the consequences which must
inevitably result from the establishment of the pernicious princi
ples on which it is founded, are evils of still greater magnitude.
An entire change in the character of the Government is the nat
ural and necessary consequence of the application to the Consti
tution of those latitudinous rules of construction, from which this
system derives its existence, and which must "consolidate the
States by degrees into one sovereignty ; the obvious tendency
and inevitable result of which would be to transform the present
representative system of the United States into a Monarchy."*

We fearlessly appeal to all considerate men, whether it be in
the nature of things possible, to hold together such a Confeder
acy as ours, by any means short of a military despotism, after it
has degenerated into a Consolidated Government ; — that is to
say, after it shall come to be its established policy to exercise a
general legislative control over the interests and pursuits of the
whole American People.

Can any man be so infatuated as to believe, that Congress
could regulate wisely the whole labor and capital of this vast
Confederacy? Would it not be a burden too grievous to be
borne, that a great central Government, necessarily ignorant of
the condition of the remote parts of the country, and regardless
perhaps of their prosperity, should undertake to interfere with
their domestic pursuits, to control their labor, to regulate their
property, and to treat them in all respects as dependent Colonies,
governed not with reference to their own interests but the inter-

*Madison's Report.

ests of others? If such a state of things must be admitted to be
altogether intolerable, we confidently appeal to the sober judg
ment and patriotic feelings of every man who values our free in
stitutions and desires to preserve them whether the progress of
the Government towards this result has not, of late years, been
rapid and alarming? and whether, if the downward course of our
affairs cannot be at once arrested, the consummation of this
system is not at hand? No sooner had Congress assumed the
power of building up manufactures, by successive tariffs, calcu
lated and intended to drive men from agriculture and commerce
into more favored pursuits, than internal improvements sprung
at once into vigorous existence. Pensions have been enlarged to
an extent not only before unknown in any civilized country, but
they have been established on such principles, as manifest the
settled purpose of bestowing the public treasure in gratuities to
particular classes of persons, and particular sections of country.
Roads and canals have been commenced, and surveys made in
certain quarters of the Union, on a scale of magnificence, which
evinces a like determination to distribute the public wealth into
new and favored channels ; and it is in entire accordance both
with the theory and practice of this new system, that the Gener
al Government should absorb all the authority of the States, and
eventually become the grand depository of the powers, and the
general guardian and distributor of the wealth of the whole
Union. It is known to all who have marked the course of our
national affairs, that Congress has undertaken to create a Bank,
and have already assumed jurisdiction over science and the arts,
over education and charities, over roads and canals, and almost
every other subject, formerly considered as appertaining exclu
sively to the States; and that they claim and exercise an unlim
ited control over the appropriation of the public lands as well as of
the public money. On looking, indeed, to the legislation of the
last ten years, it is impossible to resist the conviction, that a fatal
change has taken place in the whole policy and entire operation
of the Federal Government ; that in every one of its depart
ments, it is, both in theory and practice, rapidly verging towards
Consolidation ; asserting judicial supremacy over the sovereign
States, extending Executive Patronage and influence to the re
motest ramifications of society, and assuming legislative control

over every object of local concernment ; thereby reducing the
States to petty corporations, shorn of their sovereignty, mere
parts of one great whole, standing in the same relation to the
Union as a county or parish to the State of which it is a subor
dinate part.

Such is the true character, and such the inevitable tendencies
of the American System. And when the case, thus plainly
stated, is brought home to the bosoms of patriotic men, surely it
is not possible to avoid the conclusion, that a political system,
founded on such principles, must bear within it the seeds of pre
mature dissolution, and that though it may for a season be ex
tended, enlarged and strengthened, through the corrupting influ
ence of patronage and power, until it shall have embraced in its
serpent folds all the great interests of the State, still the time
must come when the people, deprived of all other means of es
cape, will rise up in their might and release themselves from this
thraldom, by one of those violent convulsions, whereby society
is uprooted from its foundations, and the edict of Reform is
written in blood.

Against this system, South Carolina has remonstrated in the
most earnest terms. As early as 1820, there was hardly a dis
trict or parish in the whole State, from which memorials were not
forwarded to Congress, the general language of which was, that
the protecting system was "utterly subversive of their rights and
interests." Again/in 1823 and 1827, the people of this State
rose up almost as one man, and declared to Congress and the
world, "that the protecting system was unconstitutional, oppres
sive and unjust." But these repeated remonstrances were an
swered only by repeated injuries and insults, by the enacting of
the tariffs of 1824 and 1828. To give greater dignity, and if
possible more effect to these appeals, the Legislature, in Dec.
1825, solemnly declared, "that it was an unconstitutional exer
cise of power on the part of Congress, to lay duties to protect
domestic manufactures," and in 1828, they caused to be present
ed to the Senate of the U. States, and claimed to have recorded
on its Journals the solemn Protest of the State of South Carolina,
denouncing this system as " utterly unconstitutional, grossly un
equal and oppressive, and such an abuse of power as was incom
patible with the principles of a free government, and the great
4

ends of civil society," and that they were " then only restrained
from the assertion of the sovereign rights of the State, by the hope
that the magnanimity and justice of the good people of the Union
would effect an abandonment of a system partial in its nature,
unjust in its operation, and not within the powers delegated to
Congress." And finally, in Dec. 1830, it was Resolved, "That
the several Acts of Congress, imposing duties on imports, for the
protection of domestic manufactures are highly dangerous, and
oppressive violations of the constitutional compact ; and that
whenever the States which are suffering under the oppression,
shall lose all reasonable hope of redress from the wisdom and
justice of the Federal Government, it will be their right and duty
to interpose, in their sovereign capacity, for the purpose of ar
resting the progress of the evil occasioned by the said unconsti
tutional acts."

Nor has South Carolina stood alone in the expression of these
sentiments : Georgia and Virginia, Alabama and Mississippi,
and North Carolina, have raised their voices in earnest remon
strances and repeated warnings. Virginia, in 1S28, in respond
ing to South Carolina, declared "that the Constitution of the
United States, being a Federative compact between sovereign
States, in construing which no common arbiter is known, each
State has a right to construe the compact for itself; and that
Virginia as one of the high contracting parties, feels itself bound
to declare, and does hereby, most solemnly declare its deliberate
conviction, that the acts of Congress usually denominated the
Tariff Laws, passed avowedly for the protection of domestic
manufactures, are not authorized by the plain construction, true
intent and meaning of the Constitution."

Georgia, through her Legislature, pronounced this system to
be one "which was grinding down the resources of one class of
the States to build up and advance the prosperity of another of
the same confederacy — and which they solemnly believed to be
contrary to the letter and spirit of the Federal Constitution,"
and declared it to be the right of the several States, in case of
any infraction of the general compact, "to complain, remon
strate, and even refuse obedience to any measure of the General
Government manifestly against and in violation of the Constitu
tion, that otherwise the law might be violated with impunity,

and without redress, as often as the majority might think proper
to transcend their powers, and the party injured would be bound
to yield an implicit obedience to the measure, however uncon
stitutional, which must tend to annihilate all sovereignty and in
dependence of the States, and consolidate all power in the
General Government, which never was designed nor intended
by the framers of the Constitution."

Alabama also protested against " the attempt to exclude the
foreign in favour of the domestic fabrics, as the exercise of a
power not granted by the Constitution," and concluded by
stating, "that she wished it to be distinctly understood, that in
common with the other Southern and Southwestern States, she
regards the power asserted by the General Government, to con
trol her internal concerns by protecting duties, as a palpable
usurpation of powers not given by the Constitution, and a spe
cies of oppression little short of legalized pillage."

North Carolina, in the same spirit, declared, that while " it
was conceded that Congress have the express power to lay im
posts, she maintains that that power was given for the purpose
of Revenue, and Revenue alone, and that every other use of the
power is an usurpation on the part of Congress." And, finally,
the Legislature of Mississippi, "Resolved, that the State of Mis
sissippi concurs with the States of Georgia, South Carolina, and
Virginia, in their different resolutions upon the subject of the
Tariff', Colonization Society, and Internal Improvement."

It has been in the face of all these remonstrances and pro
tests, and in defiance of these repeated warnings and solemn
declarations, that the recent modification of the Tariff, by the
Act of 1832, was effected. The period of the final extinction
of the Public Debt, had always been looked to as the crisis of
our fate, when the policy of the country, in reference to the
Protective System, was to be finally settled. It was the period
assigned by common consent, as the utmost limit of the forbear
ance of South Carolina, whose citizens felt that in the adoption
of that System, their Constitutional Rights had been trampled
on, and their dearest interests cruelly sacrificed.

No one could fail to perceive, that whenever a pretext for the
continuance of the high duties under which the Southern States
had suffered for so many years, was taken away by the payment

of the National Debt, and the consequent relief of the Treasury
from an annual demand of twelve millions of dollars; that no
reason could be given why these duties should not be brought
down to the revenue standard, except that it was deliberately
designed to secure to the Manufacturers for ever, the monopoly
they had so long enjoyed, at the expense of the other great in
terests of the country.

We find, accordingly, that the new Tariff, which is intended
to take effect, only after the final extinguishment of the Public
Debt, has been arranged and adjusted with a single eye, to the
perpetuation of this System ; and with an entire disregard of
the just claims of the Plantation States. Whatever may be the
amount of the aggregate reduction effected by this bill, (and it
is not pretended in the latest Treasury estimate, to exceed
$5,000,000, of which near 4,000,000 of dollars are on the un
protected articles,) it is not denied that it will leave a surplus
of many milions in the Treasury, beyond the usual expenses or
necessary wants of the Government ; and it is notorious — nay,
it appears on the face of the Bill itself, that while duties to the
amount of 40, 50, and even 100 per cent., are still to be levied
upon the protected articles, (that is to say, upon all the Cottons,
Woollens, and Iron, the Sugar, and the Salt, and other articles
embraced in the Protecting System ;) the duties on the unpro
tected articles, have been reduced greatly below the revenue
standard, and upwards of $3,000,000, entirely repealed ; so, that
according to this System, as now established, a large surplus
revenue to be applied to Internal Improvements and other un
warrantable purposes, is to be levied by the imposition of enor
mous Taxes on the necessaries of life, the very articles received
chiefly in exchange for Southern productions; and this has
been done, in order to protect the industry of the North, with
which ours comes into competition, while the articles of luxury
universally acknowledged to be the fittest subjects for taxation,
are to be admitted duty free.*

Now, let it be remembered, that the very point in controversy,
has all along been, not the Revenue, but the Protecting duties,
and yet we see, that in answer to all our petitions and remon-

*See Treasury Estimate published in August last, shewing an aggregate reduction of
$5,187,078, of which $3,108,631 were made entirely free.

strances, Congress has been graciously pleased to make an ad
justment of the Tariff, which simply consists in taking off the
duties imposed for Revenue, while the protecting duties are
allowed to remain substantially untouched. It was not so much
the amount of the imposition, as the inequality and injustice of
the Protecting System, that has roused the people of South
Carolina to determined resistance ; and yet we find, that this
inequality has been aggravated, and that injustice perpetuated
by the deliberate adoption of a measure, which was calculated
and intended to rivet this System upon us, beyond all hope of
relief.

The grave and solemn question now occurs, what is to be done
to redeem ourselves from the state of Colonial vassalage into
which we have unhappily fallen ? Shall we still continue to
wait for a returning sense of justice on the part of our oppress
ors ? We are thoroughly persuaded, that the hope can no longer
be indulged, that the Tariff majority in Congress will, of their
own accord, relieve us from this cruel bondage ; experience
teaches us that this expectation so long and fondly indulged, is
utterly delusive. The only effect of further delay must be to
strengthen the hand of the oppressor, to crush the public spirit,
deaden the sensibility of the people to the inestimable value of
their rights, and teach them the degrading lesson of wearing
their chains in patience. It is almost inconceivable that any
reflecting man can believe that the crisis in our affairs, arising
from the final extinction of the public debt, should be suffered
to pass away, without reducing the tariff to the revenue standard,
and yet that such reduction may be expected to take place at
some future period. What period so auspicious as that which
has been allowed to pass away unimproved ? Is any one so
ignorant of human nature, as riot to know that the annual sur
plus, which then will be brought into the Treasury, under the
act of 1832, will be speedily absorbed by new and enlarged ap
propriations, serving as additional props to a system, which some
vainly imagine to be tottering on its base, ready to fall under its
own weight ? Even at the last session of Congress, the annual
appropriations were enlarged by several millions of dollars, in
anticipation of this expected surplus ; and the foundation is
already laid for its absorption, and when this shall be accom-

plished, where will be the hopes of those who now say that the
evil is to correct itself, and who tell us that the act of 1832,
which was in fact designed to rivet the system upon the country
for ever, and was hailed by its friends as " a clear, distinct,
and indisputable admission of the principle of protection," is to
be viewed as a blessed reform presenting the brightest auspices
for the future ? The truth unquestionably is, that the American
System is from its very nature progressive. When its founda
tions were laid, it was foreseen and predicted that the great
interests which it would build up, would exert a controlling in
fluence over the legislation of the country. The history of the
world, indeed, affords no example of a voluntary relinquishment
by a favored class of any pecuniary or political advantage, se
cured to them by the laws and general policy of the country.
Force has often torn from the hands of the oppressor his un
righteous gains, but reason and argument are as vain in con
vincing the understanding, as appeals to justice and magna
nimity have ever proved to be impotent in softening the hearts
of those who are enriched under the operation of laws passed
professedly for the public good. Who is there, that can for
one moment believe that any thing short of a direct appeal to
their interests, will induce the dependants upon the Federal
Government, the wealthy sugar planters and iron masters, or the
joint stock companies, who have millions invested in cotton and
woollen factories, yielding under the operation of the protecting
system an annual income of 10 or 20 per cent., voluntarily to
relinquish the advantage secured to them by the laws, and con
sent to come down to a level with the other classes of the com
munity ? It is impossible. From every view then which your
Committee have been able to take of this subject, they are con
strained to announce to this Convention the solemn truth, that
after more than ten years of patient endurance of a system,
which is believed by the people of this State to be fatal to their
prosperity, and a gross, deliberate, and palpable violation of their
constitutional rights ; after the most earnest and unavailing ap
peals to that sense of justice, and those common sympathies,
which ought to bind together the different members of a con
federated republic, the crisis has at length arrived, when the
question must be solemnly and finally determined, whether there

remain any means, within the power of the State by which these
evils may be redressed.

It is useless to disguise the fact, or to attempt to delude our
selves on this subject ; the time has come when the State must
either adopt a decisive course of action, or we must at once aban
don the contest. We cannot again petition, it would be idle to
remonstrate, and degrading to protest. In our estimation it is
now a question of Liberty or Slavery. It is now to be decided,
whether we shall maintain the rights purchased by the precious
blood of our fathers, and transmit them unimpaired to our pos
terity, or tamely surrender them without a struggle. We are
constrained to express our solemn conviction, that, under the
protecting system, we have been reduced to a state of "colonial
dependence, suffering and disgrace," and that unless we now fly
with the spirit which becomes freemen, to the rescue of our lib
erties, they are lost forever. Brought up in an ardent devotion
to the Union of the States, the people of South Carolina have
long struggled against the conviction, that the powers of the
Federal Government have been shamefully perverted to the pur
poses of injustice and oppression. Bound to their brethren by
the proud recollections of the past, and fond hopes of the future,
by common struggles for liberty and common glories, acquired
in its defence, they have been brought slowly, and with the ut
most reluctance, to the conclusion, that they are shut out from
their sympathies, and made the unpitied victims of an inexorable
system of tyranny, which is without example in any country
claiming to be free. Experience has at length taught us the
lamentable truth, that administered as the government now is,
and has been for several years past, in open disregard of all the
limitations prescribed by the Constitution, the Union itself, in
stead of being a blessing must soon become a curse. Liberty,
we are thoroughly persuaded, cannot be preserved under our
system without a sacred and inviolable regard not merely to the
letter, but to the true spirit of the Constitution ; and without
liberty the Union would not be worth preserving. If then there
were no alternative but to submit to these evils, or to seek a rem
edy even in Revolution itself, we could not, without proving our
selves recreant to the principles hallowed by the example of our
ancestors, hesitate a moment as to our choice. We should say,

in the spirit of our fathers, "we have counted the cost, and find
nothing so intolerable as voluntary slavery." But we cannot
bring ourselves for one moment to believe that the alternative
presented to us is revolution or slavery. We confidently be
lieve that there is a redeeming spirit in our institutions, which
may, on great occasions, be brought to our aid for the purpose
of preserving the public liberty, restoring the Constitution, and
effecting a regeneration of the Government; and thereby pro
ducing a redress of intolerable grievances, without war, revolu
tion, or a dissolution of the Union. These great objects, we feel
assured, may even now be effected, unless those who are in pos-
sion of the powers of the government, and charged with the ad
ministration of our national affairs, shall resolve to persevere in
a course of injustice, and prove by their conduct that they love
the usurpation (to which the people of this State are unalterably
determined not to submit) better than the Union. We believe
that the redeeming spirit of our system is State Sovereignty
and that it results from the very form and structure of the Fede
ral Government ; that when the rights reserved to the several
States are deliberately invaded, it is their right and their duty to
"interpose for the purpose of arresting the progress of the evil of
usurpation, and to maintain within their respective limits the au
thorities and privileges belonging to them as independent sove
reignties."* If the several States do not possess this right, it is
in vain that they claim to be sovereign. They are at once re
duced to the degrading condition of humble dependants on the
will of the Federal Government. South Carolina claims to be a
sovereign State. She recognizes no tribunal upon earth as above
her authority. It is true she has entered into a solemn compact
of Union with oth<3r sovereign States ; but she claims, and will
exercise the right to determine the extent of her obligations under
that compact, nor will she consent that any other power shall
exercise the right of judgment for her. And when that compact
is violated by her co-States, or by the Government which they
have created, she asserts her unquestionable right, " to judge of
the infractions, as well as of the mode and measure of redress. "f
South Carolina claims no right to judge for others. The States

"Virginia Resolutions of '98. fKentucky Resolutions of 1798.

who are parties to the compact, must judge each for itself,
whether that compact has been pursued or violated ; and should
they differ irreconcileably in opinion, there is no earthly tribunal
that can authoritatively decide between them. It was in the
contemplation of a similar case, that Mr. Jefferson declared that
if the difference could neither be compromised, nor avoided, it
was the peculiar felicity of our system, to have provided a reme
dy in a Convention of all the States, by whom the Constitution
might be so altered or amended, as to remove the difficulty. —
To this tribunal, South Carolina is willing that an appeal should
now be made, and that the constitutional compact should be so
modified as to accomplish all the great ends for which the
Union was formed, and the Federal Government constituted,
and, at the same time, restore the rights of the States, and pre
serve them from violation hereafter. Your Committee purposely
avoid entering here into an cAumiiiatiuu of trie nature and cha
racter of this claim, which South Carolina asserts, to interpose
her sovereignty, for the protection of her citizens from the ope
ration of unconstitutional Laws, and the preservation of her own
reserved rights. In an Address, which will be submitted to the
Convention, this subject will be fully examined, and they trust
that it will be made to appear, to the entire satisfaction of every
dispassionate mind, that in adopting the Ordinance which the
Committee herewith report, declaring the Tariff Laws passed
for the protection of Domestic Manufacturers, null and void,
and not Law, and directing the Legislature to provide, that the
same shall not be enforced within the limits of this State, —
South Carolina will be asserting her unquestionable rights, and
in no way violating her obligations under the Federal Compact.
The Committee cannot dismiss this point, however, even for
the present, without remarking, that in asserting the principles,
and adopting the course, which they are about to recommend,
South Carolina will only be carrying out the doctrines which
were asserted by Virginia and Kentucky in 1798, and which
have been sanctified by the high authority of Thomas Jefferson.
It is from the pen of this great apostle of liberty, that we have
been instructed that to the Constitutional compact, " each State
acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-states form
ing as to itself the other party," that " they alone being parties
5

to the compact, are solely authorized to judge in the last resort
of the powers exercised under it: Congress being not a party,
but merely the creature of the compact," that it becomes a
sovereign State, " to submit to undelegated, and. consequently,
unlimited power in no man or body of men on earth : that in
cases of abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the Gene
ral Government being chosen by the people, a change by the
people would be the Constitutional remedy ; but where powers
are assumed which have not been delegated, [the very case now
before us] a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy ;
that every State has a natural right, in cases not within the
compact, [auus non faderis] to nullify, of their own authority,
all assumption of power by others within their limits, and that
without this right they would be under the dominion absolute
and unlimited, of whomsoever might exercise the right of judg
ment for them ;" aod that iu case uf acts being passed by Con
gress. " so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an
undisguised declaration, that the compact is not meant to be
the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that
it will proceed to exercise over the States all powers whatso
ever, by seizing the rights of the States, and consolidating them
in the hands of the General Government, with a power assumed
of binding the States, not merely in cases made federal, but in
all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but
by others against their consent, it would be the duty of the
States to declare the Acts void and of no force, and that each
should take measures of its own for providing that neither such
acts, nor any other of the General Government, not plainly and
intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised
within their respective territories."

In acting on these great and essential truths, South Carolina
surely cannot err. She is convinced, and has so declared to
Congress and the World, that the protecting system is in all its
branches a "gross, deliberate, and palpable violation of the
Constitution." She believes that after having exhausted every
other means of redress in vain, it is her right, and that it has
now become her solemn duty, to interpose for arresting the evil
within her own limits, by declaring said Acts " to be null and
void, and no law. and taking measures of her own that they shall

not be enforced within her territory." That duty she means to
perform, and to leave the consequences in the hands of Him.
with whom are the issues of life and the destinies of nations.

South Carolina will continue to cherish a sincere attachment
to the onoN of the States, and will to the utmost of her poster
endeavor to preserve it, " and believes that for this end, it is her
duty to watch over and oppose any infraction of those principles
which constitute the only basis of that union, because a faithful
observance of them can alone secure its existence." She vene
rates the Constitution, and will protect and defend it " against
every aggression, either foreign or domestic ;~ but, abore all,
she estimates as beyond all price her liberty, which she is un
alterably determined never to surrender while she has the power
to maintain it. Influenced by these views, your Committee re
port herewith, for the adoption of the Convention, a solemn
Declaration and Ordinance.

AN ORDINANCE,

To Nullify certain Acts of the Congress of the United States, pur
porting to be Laws laying Duties and Imposts on the Importation
of Foreign Commodities.

WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States, by various acts,
purporting to be acts laying duties and imposts on foreign im
ports, but in reality intended for the protection of domestic
manufactures, and the giving of bounties to classes and indi
viduals engaged in particular employments, at the expense and
to the injury and oppression of other classes and individuals, and
by wholly exempting from taxation, certain foreign commodities,
such as are not produced or manufactured in the United States,
to afford a pretext for imposing higher and excessive duties on
articles similar to those intended to be protected, hath exceeded
its just powers under the Constitution, which confers on it no
authority to afford such protection, and hath violated the true
meaning and intent of the Constitution, which provides for
equality in imposing the burdens of taxation upon the several
States and portions of the Confederacy ; — And, whereas, the
said Congress, exceeding its just power to impose taxes and col
lect revenue for the purpose of effecting and accomplishing the
specific objects and purposes which the Constitution of the
United States authorizes it to effect and accomplish, hath raised
and collected unnecessary revenue, for objects unauthorized by
the Constitution ;

We, therefore, the people of the State of South Carolina, in
Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby
declared and ordained, 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, and now having actual operation and effect within
the United States, and more especially an act entitled " an act
in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports," ap
proved on the nineteenth day of May, one thousand eight him-

dred and twenty-eight, and also an act entitled " an act to alter
and amend the several acts imposing duties on imports," approved
on the fourteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-two, 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, its officers or
citizens ; and all promises, contracts, and obligations made or
entered into, or to be made or entered into with purpose to
secure the duties imposed by the said acts, and all judicial pro
ceedings which shall be hereafter had in affirmance thereof, are
and shall be held utterly null and void.

And it is further ordained, That it shall not be lawful for any
of the constituted authorities, whether of this State, or of the
United States, to enforce the payment of duties imposed by the
said acts within the limits of this State ; but it shall be the duty
of the Legislature to adopt such measures, and pass such acts as
may be necessary to give full effect to this ordinance, and to pre
vent the enforcement and arrest the operation of the said acts and
parts of acts of the Congress of the United States, within the limits
of this State, from and after the first day of February next, and
the duty of all other constituted authorities, and all persons resi
ding or being within the limits of this State, and they are hereby
required and enjoined to obey and give effect to this Ordinance,
and such acts and measures of the Legislature as may be passed
or adopted in obedience thereto.

And it is further ordained, That in no case of law or equity,
decided in the Courts of this State, wherein shall be drawn in
question the authority of this Ordinance, or the validity of such
act or acts of the Legislature as may be passed for the purpose
of giving effect thereto, or the validity of the aforesaid acts of
Congress, imposing duties, shall any appeal be taken or allowed
to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any copy
of the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose ; and if
any such appeal shall be attempted to be taken, the Courts of
this State, shall proceed to execute and enforce their judgments,
according to the laws and usages of the State, without reference
to such attempted appeal, and the person or persons attempting
to take such appeal may be dealt with as for a contempt of the
Court.

And it is further ordained, That all persons now holding any
office of honor, profit or trust, civil or military, under this State,
(members of the Legislature excepted) shall, within such time,
and in such manner as the Legislature shall prescribe, take an
oath, well and truly to obey, execute and enforce this Ordinance,
and such act or acts of the Legislature as may be passed in pur
suance thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of the
same ; and, on the neglect or omission of any such person or
persons so to do, his or their office or offices shall be forthwith
vacated, and shall be filled up, as if such person or persons were
dead, or had resigned ; and no person hereafter elected to any
office of honor, profit or trust, civil or military, (members of the
Legislature excepted) shall, until the Legislature shall otherwise
provide and direct, enter on the execution of his office, or be in any
respect competent to discharge the duties thereof, until he shall,
in like manner, have taken a similar oath ; and no juror shall be
impannelled in any of the Courts of this State, in any cause in
which shall be in question this Ordinance, or any act of the Le
gislature passed in pursuance thereof, unless he shall first, in
addition to the usual oath, have taken an oath that he will well
and truly obey, execute, and enforce this Ordinance, and such
act or acts of the Legislature, as may be passed to carry the
same into operation and effect, according to the true intent and
meaning thereof.

And we, the people of South Carolina, to the end that it may
be fully understood by the Government of the United States, and
the people of the co-States, that we are determined to maintain
this, our Ordinance and declaration, at every hazard, do further
declare that we will not submit to the application of force, on
the part of the Federal Government, to reduce this State to
obedience ; but that we will consider the passage by Congress,
of any act authorizing the employment of a military or naval
force against the State of South Carolina, her constituted autho
rities or citizens, — or any act, abolishing or closing the ports of
this State, or any of them, or otherwise obstructing the free in
gress and egress of vessels to and from the said ports, — or any
other act on the part of the Federal Government, to coerce the
State, shut up her ports, destroy or harrass her commerce, or to
enforce the acts hereby declared to be null and void, otherwise

than through the civil tribunals of the country, as inconsistent
with the longer continuance of South Carolina in the Union ;
and that the people of this State will thenceforth hold themselves
absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their
political connexion with the people of the other States, and will
forthwith proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all
other acts and things which sovereign and independent States
may of right do.

Done in Convention, at Columbia, the twenty-fourth day of
November, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred
and thirty-two, and in the fifty-seventh year of the Declaration
of the Independence of the United States of America.

JAMES HAMILTON, JUN., President of the Convention,

and Delegate from St. Peters.

James Hamilton, sen.

Richard Bohun Baker, sen.

Samuel Warren.

Nathaniel Heyvvard.

Robert Long.

J. B, Earle.

L, M. Ayer.

Benjamin Adams.

James Adams.

James Anderson.

Robert Anderson.

William Arnold.

John Ball.

Barnard E. Bee.

Thomas W. Boone.

James Lynah.

Francis Y. Legare.

Alex. L Lawton.

John Lipscomb.

John Logan.

J. Littlejohn.

A. Lancastar.

John Magrath.

Wm. M. Murray.
R. G. Mills.
John B. McCall.
D. H. Means.
R. G. Mays.
R. W. Barnwell.
Isaac Bradwell jr.
Thomas G. Blewett.
P. M. Butler.
John G. Brown.
J. G. Brown.
John Bauskett.
A. Burt.
Francis Burt, jr.
Bailey Barton.
A. Bowie.
James A. Black.
A. H. Belin.
Philip Cohen.
Samuel Cordes.
Thomas H. Colcock,
C. J. Colcock.
Charles G. Capers.

Benj. A. Markley.
John S. Maner.
John Counts.
Benjamin Chambers.
I. A. Campbell.
Wm. Dubose.
John H. Dawson.
John Douglas.
George Douglas.
F. H. Elmore.
Wm. Evans.
Edmund J. Felder.
A. Fuller.
Theo. L. Gourdin.
Peter G. Gourdin.
T. J. Goodwyn.
Peter Gaillard, jr.
John K. Griffin.
George W. Gleen.
Alex. L. Gregg.
Robert Y. Hayne.
William Harper.
Thomas Harrison.
John Hatton.
Thomas Harllee.
Abm. Huguenin.
Jacob Bond POn.
John S. Jeter.
Job Johnston.
John S. James.
M. Jacobs.
J. A. Keith.
John Key.
Jacob H. King.
Stephen Lacoste.
George McDuffie.
James Moore.
John L. Miller.
Stephen D. Miller.

Wm. C. Clifton.
West Caughman.
Wm. Porcher.
Edward G. Palmer.
Chs. C. Pinckney.
Wm. C. Pinckney.
Thomas Pinckney.
Francis D. Quash.
John Rivers.
Donald Rowe.
Benjamin Rogers.
Thomas Ray.
James G. Spann.
James Spann.
S. L. Simons.
Peter J. Shand.
James Mongin Smith,
G. H. Smith.
Wm. Smith.
Stepen Smith.
Wm. Stringfellow.
Edwin J. Scott.
F. W. Symmes.
J. S. Sims.
T. D. Singleton.
Joseph L. Stevens.
T. E. Screven.
Robt. J. Turnbull.
Elisha Tyler.
Philip Tidyman.
Isaac B. Ulmer.
Peter Vaught.
Elias Vanderhorst.
John L. Wilson.
Isham Walker.
Wm. Williams.
Thos. B. Woodward.
Sterlin C. Williamson.
F. H. Wardlaw.

John B. Miller. Abner Whatley.

R. P. McCord. J. T. Whitefield.

John L. Nowell. Saml. L. Watt.

Jennings O'Bannon. Nicholas Ware.

J. Walter Phillips. Wm. Waties.

Charles Parker. Archibald Young.
[Attest.]

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

ADDRESS

TO THE

PEOPLE OP SOUTH CAROLINA,

BY THEIR

DELEGATES IN CONVENTION.

ADDRESS.

FELLOW CITIZENS :

THE situation in which you hare been placed by the usurpa
tions of the Federal Government, is one which you so peculiarly
feel, as to render all reference to it at this moment unnecessary.
For the last ten years the subject of your grievances has been
presented to you. This subject you have well considered You
have viewed it in all its aspects, bearings, and tendencies, and
you seem more and more confirmed in the opinion, expressed by
both branches of the Legislature, that the Tariff, in its operation,
is not only "grossly unequal and unjust, but is such an abuse of
power as is incompatible with the principles of a Free Govern
ment, and the great ends of civil society ;" and that, if persisted
in, "the fate of this State would be poverty and utter desolation."
Correspondent with this conviction, a disposition is manifested
in every section of the Country, to arrest, by some means or
other, the progress of this intolerable evil. This disposition
having arisen, from no sudden excitement, but having been grad
ually formed by the free and temperate discussions of the Press,
there is no reason to believe that it can ever subside, by any
means short of the removal of the urgent abuse ; and it is under
this general conviction, that we have been convened to take into
consideration, not only the character and extent of your griev
ances, but also the mode and measure of redress.

This duty, Fellow Citizens, we have discharged to the best of
our judgments, and the result of our deliberations will be found
in the Declaration and Ordinance, just passed by us — founded
on the great and undeniable truth, that in all cases of a palpa-

ble, oppressive, and dangerous infraction of the Federal compact,
each State has a right to annul, and to render inoperative within
its limits, all such unauthorized acts. After the luminous expo
sitions which have been already furnished by so many great
minds, that the exercise of this right is compatible with the first
principles of our anomalous scheme of Government, it would be
superfluous here to state at length, the reasons by which this
mode of redress is to be sustained. A deference however, for the
opinions of those of our fellow citizens who have hitherto dis
sented from us, demands, that we should briefly state the princi
pal ground upon which we place the right, and the expediency
of Nullification.

The Constitution of the United States, as is admitted by co-
temporaneous writers, is a compact between Sovereign States.
Though the subject matter of that compact, was a Government,
the powers of which Government were to operate, to a certain
extent, upon the People of those Sovereign States, aggregately,
and not upon the State Authorities, as is usual in Confederacies,
still the Constitution is a Confederacy. First : It is a Confede
racy, because in its foundations, it possesses not one single
feature of nationality. The people of the separate States, as
distinct political communities, ratified the Constitution, each
State acting for itself, and binding its own citizens, and not those
of any other State. The act of ratification declares it "to be
binding on the States, so ratifying. The States are its authors
— their power created it — their voice clothed it with authority —
the Government it formed is in reality their Government, and the
Union of which it is the bond, is a Union of States, and not of
individuals." Secondly : It is a Confederacy, because the ex
tent of the powers of the Government, depends, not upon the
People of the United States, collectively, but upon the State
Legislatures, or on the people of the separate States, acting in
their State Conventions, each State being represented by a sin
gle vote.

It must never be forgotten, that it is to the creating and to the
controlling power, that we are to look for the true character of
the Federal Government ; for the present controversy is, not as
to the sources from which the ordinary powers of the Govern
ment are drawn ; these are partly federal, and partly national.

Nor is it relevant, to consider upon whom those powers operate.
In this last view, the Government, for limited purposes, is entire
ly national. The true question is, who are the parties to the
compact ? Who created, and who can alter and destroy it. Is
it the States, or the People ? This question has been already
answered. The States, as States, ratified the compact. The
People of the United States, collectively, had no agency in
its formation. There did not exist then, nor has there existed
at any time since, such a political body as the People of the
United States. There is not now, nor has there ever been such a
relation existing, as that of a citizen of New Hampshire, and a
citizen of South Carolina, bound together in the same Social
Compact. It would be a waste of time to dwell longer on this
part of our subject. We repeat, that as regards the foundation,
and the extent of its powers, the Government of the United
States is strictly, what its name implies, a Federal Government,
— a league between several Sovereigns ; and in these views, a
more perfect Confederacy has never existed in ancient or modern
times.

On looking into this Constitution, we find that the most im
portant sovereign powers are delegated to the central Govern
ment, and all other powers are reserved to the States. A foreign,
or an inattentive reader, unacquainted with the origin, progress
and history of the Constitution, would be very apt, from the
phraseology of the instrument, to regard the States, as having
divested themselves of their Sovereignty, and to have become
great corporations, subordinate to one Supreme Government. — -
But this is an error. The States are as Sovereign now, as they
were prior to their entering into the compact. In common par
lance, and to avoid circumlocution, it may be admissible enough,
to speak of delegated and reserved Sovereignty. But, correctly
speaking, Sovereignty is an unit. It is "one, indivisible and un-
alienable." It is, therefore, an absurdity to imagine, that the
Sovereignty of the States, is surrendered in part, and retained in
part. The Federal Constitution, is a treaty, a confederation, an
alliance by which so many Sovereign States, agree to exercise
their sovereign powers conjointly, upon certain objects of exter
nal concern, in which they are equally interested, such as War,
Peace, Commerce, Foreign Negotiation, and Indian Trade ; and

upon all other subjects of civil Government, they were to exer
cise their Sovereignty separately. This is the true nature of the
compact.

For the convenient conjoint exercise of the Sovereignty of the
States, there must of necessity be some common agency or func
tionary. This agency is the Federal Government. It represents
the confederated States, and executes their joint will, as express
ed in the compact. The powers of this government are wholly
derivative. It possesses no more inherent sovereignty, than an
incorporated town, or any other corporate body; — it is a political
corporation, and like all corporations, it looks for its powers to
an exterior source. That source is the States. It wants that
"irresistible, absolute, uncontrolled authority," without which,
according to jurists, there can be no sovereignty. As the States
conferred, so the States can take away its powers. All inherent
sovereignty, is therefore in the States. It is the moral obliga
tion alone, which each State has chosen to impose upon herself,
and not the want of sovereignty, which restrains her from exer
cising all those powers, which (as we are accustomed to express
ourselves)' she has surrendered to the Federal Government. —
The present organization of our Government, as far as regards
the terms in which the powers of Congress are delegated, in no
wise differs from the old Confederation. The powers of the Old
Congress were delegated rather in stronger language, than we
find them written down in the new charter, and yet he would
hazard a bold assertion, who would say, that the States of the old
Confederacy were not as Sovereign as Great Britain, France and
Russia would be in an alliance offensive and defensive. It was
not the reservation, in express terms, of the "Sovereignty, Free
dom, and Independence of each State" which made them Sove
reign. They would have been equally Sovereign, as is univer
sally admitted, without such a reservation.

We have said thus much upon the subject of Sovereignty, be
cause the only foundation upon which we can safely erect the
right of a State to protect its citizens, is, that South Carolina, by
the Declaration of Independence, became, and has since con
tinued a Free, Sovereign, and Independent State. That as a
Sovereign State, she has the inherent power, to do all those acts,
which by the law of nations, any Prince or Potentate may of

right do. That, like all independent States, she neither has, nor
ought she to suffer any other restraint upon her sovereign will
and pleasure, than those high, moral obligations, under which
all Princes and States are bound, before God and man, to
perform their solemn pledges. The inevitable conclusion from
what has been said, therefore is, that as in all cases of compact
between Independent Sovereigns, where, from the very nature
of things, there can be no common judge or umpire, each sove
reign has a right "to judge as well of infractions, as of the mode
and measure of redress," so in the present controversy between
South Carolina and the Federal Government, it belongs solely
to her, by her delegates in solemn Convention assembled, to de
cide whether the federal compact be violated, and what remedy
the State ought to pursue. South Carolina therefore cannot,
and will not yield to any department of the Federal Government,
and still less to the Supreme Court of the United States, the
creature of a Government, which itself is a creature of the
States, a right which enters into the essence of all sovereignty,
and without which it would become a bauble and a name.

It is fortunate for the view which we have just taken, that the
history of the Constitution, as traced through the Journals of the
Convention which framed that instrument, places the right con
tended for upon the same sure foundation. These journals fur
nish abundant proof, that " no line of jurisdiction between the
States and Federal Government, in doubtful cases," could be
agreed on. It was conceded by Mr. Madison and Mr. Ran
dolph, the most prominent advocates for a Supreme Government?
that it was impossible to draw this line, because no tribunal suf
ficiently impartial, as they conceived, could be found, and that
there was no alternative, but to make the Federal Government
supreme, by giving it, in all such cases, a negative on the acts
of the State Legislatures. The pertinacity with which this neg
ative power was insisted on by the advocates of a national Gov
ernment, even after all the important provisions of the judiciary
or third article of the Constitution were arranged and agreed to,
proves beyond doubt, that the Supreme Court was never con
templated by either party, in that Convention, as an arbiter, to
decide conflicting claims of sovereignty between the States and
Congress ; and the repeated rejection of all proposals to take

from the States the power of placing their own construction
upon the articles of Union, evinces that the States were resolved
never to part with the right to judge, whether the acts of the
Federal Legislature were, or were not, an infringement of those
articles.

Correspondent with the right of a Sovereign State to judge of
the infractions of the Federal Compact, is the duty of this Con
vention to declare the extent of the grievance, and the mode and
measure of redress. On both these points, public opinion has
already anticipated us, in much that we could urge. It is doubt
ed, whether in any country, any subject has undergone, before
the people, a more thorough examination than the constitution
ality of the several acts of Congress for the protection of Do
mestic Manufactures. Independent of the present embarrass
ments, they throw in the way of our commerce, and the plain in
dications, that certain articles, which are the natural exchange
for our valuable staple products, are sooner or later to be virtu
ally prohibited — independent of the diminution which these im
post duties cause in our incomes, and the severity of the Tax
upon all articles of consumption needed by the poor, they recog
nize a principle, not less at war with the ends for which this
great confederacy was formed, than it is with that spirit of jus
tice, and [those feelings of concord which ought to prevail
amongst States, united by so many common interests and exalted
triumphs. The people surely need not be told, in this advanced
period of intellect and of freedom, that no government can be
free, which can rightfully impose a tax, for the encouragement
of one branch of industry at the expense of all others, unless
such a tax be justified by some great and unavoidable public
necessity. Still less can the people believe, that in a confedera
cy of States, designed principally, as an alliance offensive and
defensive, its authors could ever have contemplated, that the
federal head should regulate the domestic industry of a widely
extended country ; distinguished, above all others, for the diver
sity of interests, pursuits and resources, in its various sections.
It was this acknowledged diversity, that caused the arrangement
of a conjoint and separate exercise of the sovereign authority ;
the one to regulate external concerns, and the other to have ab
solute control "over the lives, liberties, and properties of the

people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of
the States."

It is the striking characteristic in the operation of a simple
and consolidated government, that it protects Manufactures,

Agriculture, or any other branch of the public industry that it

can establish corporations or make Roads and Canals, and patron
ize learning and the arts. But it would be difficult to shew, that
such was the government which the sages of the Convention de
signed for the States. All these powers were proposed to be
given to Congress, and they were proposed by that party in the
Convention who desired a firm National Government. The Con
vention having decided on the federal form, in exclusion of the
national, all these propositions were rejected ; and yet we have
lived to see an American Congress, who can hold no power ex
cept by express grant, as fully in the exercise of these powers,
as if they were part and parcel of their expressly delegated au
thority. Under a pretence of regulating Commerce; they would
virtually prohibit it. Were this regulation of Commerce resort
ed to, as a means of coercing foreign nations to a fair reciprocity
in their intercourse with us, or for some other bona fide commer
cial purpose, as has been justly said by our Legislature, the
Tariff acts would be constitutional. But none of these acts have
been passed as countervailing or retaliatory measures, for re
strictions placed on our Commerce by foreign nations. Whilst
other nations seem disposed to relax in their restraints upon
trade, our Congress seems absolutely bent upon the interdiction
of those articles of Merchandize, which are exchangeable for the
products of Southern labor, thus causing the principal burthen
of taxation to fall upon this portion of the Union, and by de
priving us of our accustomed Markets, to impoverish our whole
Southern country. In the same manner, and under the pretence
of promoting the Internal Improvement of the States, and for
other equally unjustifiable and unconstitutional purposes, Con
gress is in the constant habit of violating those fundamental
principles of the Constitution, on which alone can rest the pros
perity of the States, and the durability of the Union,

It is in vain to imagine, that with a people who have strug
gled for freedom, and know its inestimable value, such a state
of affairs can be endured longer than there is a well founded

hope, that reason and justice will resume their empire in the
common council of the confederacy. That hope having expired
with the last session of Congress, by the present Tariff act, dis
tinctly and fully recognizing as the permanent policy of the
country, the odious principle of protection, it occurs to us, that
there is but one course for the State to pursue. That course
fellow-citizens is resistance. Not physical, but moral resist
ance — not resistance in an angry or irritated feeling, but resist
ance by such counter-legislation, which, whilst it shall evince to
the world that our measures are built upon the necessity of ten
dering to Congress an amicable issue, to try a doubtful question
between friends and neighbors, shall at the same time secure us
in the enjoyment of our rights and privileges. It matters not,
fellow citizens, by what name this counter-legislation shall be
designated ; call it Nullification, State interposition, State veto,
or by whatever other name you please, still if it be but resistance
to an oppressive measure, it is the course which duty, patriot
ism, and self-preservation prescribes. If we are asked, upon
what ground we place the right to resist a particular law of
Congress, and yet regard ourselves as a constituent member of
the Union, we answer— the ground of the Compact. We do not
choose, in a case of this kind, to recur to what are called our
natural rights, or the right of revolution. We claim to nullify
by a more imposing title. We claim it as a constitutional right,
not meaning as some have imagined, that we derive the right
from the Constitution, for derivative rights can only belong to
the functionaries of the high contracting parties to the Consti
tution, but we claim to exercise it as one of the parties to the
compact, and as consistent with its letter, its genius, and its
spirit, it being distinctly understood at the time of ratifying the
Constitution, that the exercise of all sovereign rights not agreed
to be had conjointly, were to be exerted separately by the
States. Though it be true, that the provision in favor of what
we call the reserved rights of the States, was not necessary to
to secure to the States such reserved rights, yet the mere cir
cumstance, of its insertion in the instrument, makes it as clear a
constitutional provision, as that of the power of Congress to
raise armies, or to declare war. Any exercise of a right in con
formity with a constitutional provision, we conceive to be a

constitutional right, whether it be founded on an express grant
of the right, or be included in a general reservation of undefined
powers. The Constitution being the supreme law, and an instru
ment in which a distribution of powers is made between the
Federal Government and the States, it is incumbent on the au
thorities of each Government, so to shape their legislation, as not
to overstep the boundaries assigned to them. No act can there
fore be done by either Government, which for its validity can be
referred to any other test, than the standard of the Constitution.
If a State Government passes an act, defining and punishing a
burglary, or a law abolishing the rights of primogeniture, it is
more correct to say, that she is in the exercise of her constitu
tional, than of her natural rights, because it is an express con
stitutional provision, that she should exercise all her sovereign
rights, not already entrusted to the common functionary of the
parties. As it is impossible then that any act can be passed by
either Government, which, if disputed, must not be referred to
the Constitution as the supreme law of the parties, so a right is
constitutional or unconstitutional, as it shall be found to com
port with, or to be repugnant to, the terms or the spirit of that
instrument. There is not, therefore, a sovereign, or a natural
right, which South Carolina can lawfully exercise in conformity
with her engagements, which is not stipulated for in the tenth
amendment to the Constitution. All such rights stipulated for,
must be constitutional ; to regard them otherwise, would be a
perversion of terms.

That Nullification under our reserved rights was regarded as
constitutional by the Virginia Resolutions of 1798, is clear from
the exposition of them by the celebrated Report, drawn by Mr.
Madison. In defending the third of these Resolutions, which as
serts the doctrine of State interposition and protection, the Com
mittee say "that they have scanned it not merely with a strict, but
with a severe eye, and they feel confidence in pronouncing, that
in its just and fair construction, it is unexceptionably true in
its several positions, as well as constitutional and conclusive
in its inferences." What were the positions of the third Reso
lution. 1. That the powers of the Federal Government were
limited to the plain sense of the instrument constituting the
compact. 2. That in case of a deliberate, palpable and dan-

gerous infraction of the compact, the State has the right to in
terpose, &c. Now what is the inference ? It is, that " they
are in duty bound to arrest the progress of the evil, by maintain
ing within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and
liberties appertaining to them." This inference, says the Re
port, is " constitutional and conclusive." The same doctrine
was as distinctly affirmed by the Virginia Assembly, in their Re
solutions adopting the Report. They say, " that having fully
and accurately re-examined and reconsidered these Resolutions,
they find it to be their indispensable duty to adhere to the same
as founded in truth, as consonant with the Constitution, and as
conducive to its preservation."

We are aware that it has been recently maintained, that by
the State interposition referred to in this third Resolution, the
Virginia Assembly had allusion to the natural right, and Mr.
Madison himself has been brought forward to give a construc
tion to this Resolution contrary to the most obvious import of
the terms. Be it so. Then, if the State interposition here
spoken of, be a natural right, it is a right which the Virginia
Assembly have pronounced " consonant with the Constitution,
and as conducive to its preservation," — or, in other words, that
without the exercise of this natural sovereign right of interposi
tion, the Constitution cannot be preserved. There is no incon
gruity in this. It is quite competent for two monarchs to stipu
late in a treaty for that right, which, independent of the treaty,
would be a natural right, as if a power were conferred by the
treaty on the citizens of either prince, to capture, adjudge, and
execute all subjects of the other, engaged in piracy on the high
seas. It certainly would be more proper to call such a right a
Conventional right, than a natural right, though it be both.
Several of the State Constitutions furnish instances of natural
rights being secured by a constitutional provision. Even in the
instrument we are npw considering, there is a distinct affirma
tion in terms of a natural right of sovereignty — such as the sove
reign right of a State to keep troops and ships of war in a certain
emergency, or the sovereign right of a State to lay import and
export duties, for the purpose of executing its inspection laws.
In these cases, a natural right is also a constitutional right, con
trary to the definition of those who maintain that no right is

properly constitutional which is a sovereign right, because con
stitutional rights are derivative rights exercised by functionaries.
That reasoning would be indeed strange, which would place a
natural reserved sovereign right, expressed in terms upon a
better footing, than all that mass of residuary power included in
the general reservation of the tenth amendment. It would be to
create a distinction without a difference. The reserved rights,
though undefined, are easily ascertained. Any particular right
not found in the enumerated powers of Congress, of course be
longs to the States.

The right to nullify is universally admitted to be a natural or
sovereign right. The natural rights of the States are also ad
mitted to be their reserved rights. If they are reserved, they
must be constitutional, because the Constitution being an agree
ment to arrange the mode by which the States shall exercise
their sovereignty, expressly stipulates for the exercise of these
powers in all cases not enumerated. To some it may be unim
portant upon what basis we place the right of a State to protect
its citizens, as counter-legislation would be the beginning of re
sistance in either case; others may, perhaps, justly say, that the
whole controversy is resolvable into a dispute as to what is, or is
not, the proper definition of a constitutional right. We, how
ever, think it of infinite importance, in urging the right of nulli
fication, to regard it as a constitutional, rather than as a natural
remedy, because a constitutional proceeding is calculated to
give it a pacific course and a higher recommendation. The
characteristic, in fact, of the American Constitutions in general,
is, that they sanctify the fundamental principles of the American
Revolution. Whilst other nations have to resort to the law of na
ture, and by force to drive despots from their thrones, thus in
curring what amongst them is odiously termed the guilt of re
bellion ; we here have the incalculable advantage of a thorough
understanding amongst all classes, that it is the right, as well as
the duty, of a free people, to recur when necessary to their
sovereign rights, to resist oppression. Such a sentiment as this
becoming familiar to the public mind, acquires prodigious
strength, when its spirit is seen to pervade a written Constitu
tion, and prevents rather than accelerates opportunities for an
unnecessary recurrence to revolutionary movements. Under

such a structure of the public sentiment, when the voice of a
sovereign State shall be spoken, "it will be heard in a tone
which virtuous governors will obey, and tyrannical ones shall
dread." Nothing can more reconcile nullification to our citi
zens, than to know, that if we are not proceeding according to
the forms of the Constitution, we are, nevertheless, adhering to
its spirit. The convention which framed the Constitution, could
not agree upon any mode of settling a dispute, like the present.
The case was therefore left unprovided for, under the conviction
no doubt, as is admitted by Mr. Hamilton in "The Federalist,"
that if the Federal Government should oppress the States, the
State governments would be ready to check it, by virtue of their
own inherent sovereign powers. "It may safely be received as
an axiom in our political system, (says Mr. Hamilton,) that the
State Governments will, in all possible contingencies, afford
complete security against invasion of the public liberty by the
national authority. Projects of usurpation cannot be masked
under pretences so likely to escape the penetration of select
bodies of men, as of the people at large, — the Legislatures will
have better means of information, — they can discover the danger
at a distance ; and, possessing all the organs of civil power, and
the confidence of the people, they can at once adopt a regular
plan of opposition, in which they can combine all the resources
of the community."

That measure cannot be revolutionary, which is adopted, not
with a view to resort to force, but by some decisive measures, to
call the attention of the co-States to a disputed question, in such
a form, as to compel them to decide what are or are not the
rights of the States, in a case of a palpable and dangerous infrac
tion of those fundamental principles of liberty in which they all
have an interest.

In the exercise of the right of nullification, we are not un
mindful of the many objections which have been urged against
it. That it may embarrass the present majority in Congress, who
are fatally bent upon building up the sectional interests of their
constituents, upon the ruin of our commerce, we can readily im
agine : but these embarrassments, on examination, will be found
to proceed rather from an unwillingness, on their part, to adjust
the controversy on principles of reason and justice3 than from

any real difficulty existing in the Constitution. The provisions
of the Constitution are ample for taking the sense of the States
on a question more important than any which has occurred since
the formation of the Government. But if the spirit of justice
departs from the councils, to which we have a right to look up
as the guardians of the public liberty and the public peace, no
provisions of human wisdom can avail. We have heard much
of the danger of suffering one State to impede the operations of
twenty-three States : but it must be obvious to every considerate
man, that the danger can only exist where a State is wrong. If
the people of any one State are right in the principles for which
they contend, it is desirable that they should impede the opera
tions of Congress, until the sentiments of its co-States shall be
had. A higher eulogy could not be bestowed upon our system,
than the power of resorting to some conservative principle, that
shall stay a disruption of the league. It is no argument to say
that a State may have no grounds on which to place herself upon
her sovereign rights. This is a possible, but by no means a pro
bable case. Experience has given us a most instructive lesson
on this very subject — it has taught us that, the danger is not that
a State may resort to her sovereign rights too often, but that it
will not avail herself of them when necessary. Look, fellow cit
izens, to our State : for ten years we have petitioned and remon
strated against the unconstitutionality of the Tariff Acts, and
though the conviction has been universal, that the effects of the
system would be ruinous to our interests, yet the difficulty has
been great, to bring the people to the resisting point.

And so with other objections. It has been maintained by us,
that, according to the philosophy of the government, and the
true spirit of the compact, it becomes Congress in all emergen
cies like the present, to solicit from the States, the call of a
Convention. That, upon such a convocation, it should be in
cumbent on the States claiming the doubtful power, to propose
an amendment to the Constitution, giving the doubtful power ;
and on failue to obtain it by a consent of three fourths of all the
States, to regard the power as never having been intended to be
given. We must not be understood to say, that this was matter
even of implied stipulation, at the formation of the compact. —
The Constitution is designedly silent on the subject, on account
8

of the extreme difficulty in the minds of its framers of appoint
ing a mode of adjusting these differences. This difficulty we
now discover was imaginary. It had its source in apprehen
sions, which an experience of upwards of forty years has proved
to be without the shadow of a foundation. Many of the sages
of that day, were dissatisfied with their work, for a reason which
is the very opposite of the truth. They feared, not that the
General Government would encroach upon the rights of the
States, but that the States would perpetually be disposed to
pass their boundaries of power, and finally destroy the confede
ration. Had they been blessed with the experience which we
have acquired, there could have been no objection to trusting the
States,- — who created the Government, and who would not wilful
ly embarrass it, — with a veto under certain modifications. It
seems but reasonable, that a disputed power, which it would have
required three fourths of the States to add to the Constitution,
ought not to be insisted on by a majority in Congress, as impliedly
conferred, if more than one fourth should object to it. To deny
this, would be to decide finally the validity of a power, by a pos
itive majority of the people at large, instead of a concurring
majority of the States. There is, it is true, one objection, and
only one to this view : and that is, that under this theory, a ma
jority little beyond the three fourths, as for instance, seven States
out of twenty-four, might deprive Congress of powers which
have been expressly delegated. The answer to this, is, that it
would be a very extreme case for a single State to claim the re
sumption of a power, which it had clearly delegated in positive
terms. But it seems almost beyond the range of possibility, that
six other States should be found to sustain a nullifying State in
such a pretension. Should such a case ever occur, as one fourth
and upwards of the States resolving to break their pledges, with
out the slightest pretence, it would shew, that it was time to dis
solve the league. If a spirit of friendship and fair dealing, can
not bind together the members of this Union, the sooner it is
dissolved, the better. So that this objection is rather nominal,
than substantial. But the evil of this objection is, that whilst
its admission would relieve us from an imaginary peril, we should
be plunged into that certain danger of an unrestricted liberty of
Congress to give us, instead of a confederated government, a

government without any other limitation upon its power, than the
will of a majority.

Other objections have been urged against nullification. It is
said that the President or Congress might employ the military
and naval force of the United States to reduce the nullifying
State into obedience, and thus produce a civil dissention amongst
the members of the confederacy. We do not deem it necessary
in a community, so conversant with this part of the subject as
that of South Carolina, to recapitulate the arguments which
have been urged against such an improbable course, both for
the want of power, and on the ground of expediency. But we
cannot pass over one view, which we think sufficient to quiet all
apprehension on that score. We live in an age of reason and
intellect. The idea of using force on an occasion of this kind,
is utterly at variance with the genius and spirit of the American
people. In truth, it is becoming repugnant even to the genius
and spirit of the governments of the old world. We have lately
seen in England, one of the greatest reforms achieved, which
her history records — a reform which her wisest statesmen, twenty
years ago, would have predicted could not be accomplished
without civil war, brought about by a bloodless revolution. —
The cause is manifest. Not only are the people every where
better informed, but such is the influence which public opinion
exerts over constituted' authorities, that the rulers of this earth
are more swayed by reason and justice than formerly. Under
such evident indications of the march of mind and intellect, it
would be to pay but a poor compliment to the people of these
States, to imagine, that a measure taken by a Sovereign State,
with the most perfect good feeling to her confederates, and to
the perpetuity of the Union, and with no other view than to force
upon its members, the consideration of a most important consti
tutional question, should terminate otherwise than peaceably.

Fellow Citizens, it is our honest and firm belief, that nullifica
tion will preserve, and not destroy this Union. But we should
regret to conceal from you that if Congress should not be ani
mated with a patriotic and liberal feeling in this conjuncture,
they can give to this controversy what issue they please. Admit
then, that there is risk of a serious conflict with the federal gov
ernment. We know no better way to avoid the chance of hos-

tile measures in our opponents, than to evince a readiness to
meet danger, come from what quarter it will. We should think
that the American Revolution was indeed to little purpose, if a
consideration of this kind, were to deter our people from assert
ing their sovereign rights. That revolution, it is well known,
was not entered into by our Southern ancestors from any actual
oppression, which the people suffered. It was a contest waged
for principle, emphatically for principle. The calamities of rev
olution, strife, and civil war, were fairly presented to the illus
trious patriots of those times, which tried the souls of men. —
The alternative was either to remain dependant colonies in hope
less servitude, or to become free, sovereign and independent
States. To attain such a distinguished rank amongst the na
tions of the earth, there was but one path, and that the path of
glory — the crowning glory of being accounted worthy of all suf
fering, and of embracing all the calamities of a protracted war
abroad, and of domestic evils at home, rather than to surrender
their liberties. The result of their labors is known to the world,
through the flood of light which that revolution has shed upon
the science of government, and the rights of man — in the "les
son it has taught the oppressor, and in the example it has afford
ed the oppressed" — in the invigoration of the spirit of freedom
every where, and in the amelioration it is producing in the social
order of mankind.

Inestimable are the blessings of that well regulated freedom,
which permits man to direct his labors and his enterprize to the
pursuit or branch of industry to which he conceives nature has
qualified him, unmolested by avarice enthorned in power. Such
was the freedom for which South Carolina struggled when a de
pendant colony. Such is the freedom of which she once tasted
as the first fruit of that revolutionary triumph which she assisted
to achieve. Such is the freedom she reserved to herself on en
tering into the league. Such is the freedom of which she has
been deprived, and to which she must be restored, if her com
merce be worth preserving, or the spirit of her Laurens and her
Gadsden has not fled for ever from our bosoms. It is in vain to
tell South Carolina that she can look to any administration of
the Federal Government for the protection of her sovereign
rights, or the redress of her Southern wrongs. Where the foun-

tain is so polluted, it is not to be expected that the stream will
again be pure. The protection to which in all representative
governments the people have been accustomed to look, to wit, the
responsibility of the governors to be governed, has proved nerve
less and illusory ; under such a system, nothing but a radical
reform in our political institutions can preserve this union. It
is full time that we should know what rights we have under the
Federal Constitution, and more especially ought we to know
whether we are to live under a consolidated government, or a
confederacy of States — whether the States be sovereign, or their
local Legislatures be mere corporations. A fresh understand
ing of the bargain, we deem absolutely necessary. No mode
can be devised by which a dispute can be referred to the source
of all power, but by some one State taking the lead in the great
enterprize of reform. Till some one Southern State tenders to
the Federal Government an issue, it will continue to have its
"appetite increased by what it feeds on." History admonishes
us that rulers never have the forecast to substitute in good time
reform for revolution. They forget that it is always more de
sirable that the just claims of the governed should break in on
them " through well contrived and well disposed windows, not
through flaws and breaches, through the yawning chasms of their
own ruin." One State must under the awful prospects before us,
throw herself into the breach in this great struggle for constitu
tional freedom. There is no other mode of awakening the
attention of the co-States to grievances which, if suffered to ac
cumulate, must dismember the Union. It has fallen to our lot,
fellow citizens, first to quit our trenches. Let us go on to the
assault with cheerful hearts and undaunted minds.

Fellow citizens, the die is now cast. We have solemnly re
solved on the course which it becomes our beloved State to
pursue ; we have resolved, that until these abuses shall be re
formed, no more Taxes shall be paid here. " Millions for de
fence, but not a cent for tribute." And now we call upon our
citizens, native and adopted, to prepare for the crisis, and to
meet it as becomes men and freemen. We call upon all classes
and all parties to forget their former differences, and to unite in
a solemn determination, never to abandon this contest until such
a change be effected in the councils of the nation, that all the

citizens of this confederacy shall participate equally in the bene
fits and the burthens of the Government. To this solemn duty
we now invoke you in the name of all that is sacred and valu
able to man. We invoke you in the name of that Liberty
which has been acquired by you from an illustrious ancestry,
and which it is your duty to transmit unimpaired to the most
distant generations. We invoke you in the name of that Con
stitution which you profess to venerate, and of that Union which
you are all desirous to perpetuate. By the reverence you bear
to these your institutions — by all the love you bear to liberty —
by the detestation you have for servitude — by all the abiding me
morials of your past glories — by the proud association of your ex
alted and your common triumphs in the first and greatest of revo
lutions — by the force of all those sublime truths which that event
has inculcated amongst the nations — by the noble flame of repub
lican enthusiasm which warms your bosoms, we conjure you in
this mighty struggle to give your hearts and souls and minds to
your injured and oppressed State, and to support her cause pub
licly and privately, with your opinions, your prayers, and your ac
tions. If appeals such as these prove unavailing, we then com
mand your obedience to the laws and the authorities of the State,
by a title which none can gainsay. We demand it by that alle
giance which is reciprocal with the protection you have received
from the State. We admit of no obedience to any authority which
shall conflict with that primary allegiance which every citizen
owes to the State of his birth or his adoption. There is not,
nor has there ever been " any direct or immediate allegiance
between the citizens of South Carolina and the Federal Govern
ment ; the relation between them is through the State." South
Carolina having entered into the constitutional compact, as a
separate independent political community, as has already been
stated, has the right to declare an unconstitutional act of Con
gress null and void — after her sovereign declaration that the act
shall not be enforced within her limits, " such a declaration is
obligatory on her citizens. As far as its citizens are concerned,
the clear right of the State is to declare the extent of the obli
gation." This declaration once made, the citizen has no course
but to obey. If he refuses obedience, so as to bring himself
under the displeasure of his only and lawful sovereign, and within

the severe pains and penalties, which by her high sovereign
power, the Legislature, will not fail to provide in her self-de
fence, the fault and the folly must be his own.

And now, fellow citizens, having discharged the solemn duty
to which we have been summoned in a crisis big with the most
important results to the liberties, peace, safety, and happiness
of this once harmonious, but now distracted confederacy, we
commend our cause to that great disposer of events, who (if he
has not already for some inscrutable purposes of his own, de
creed otherwise) will smile on the efforts of truth and justice.
We know that "unless the Lord keepeth the city, the watchman
waketh but in vain ;" but relying as we do, in this controversy,
on the purity of our motives, and the honor of our ends, we make
this appeal with all the confidence, which in times of trial and
difficulty, ought to inspire the breast of the patriot and the
Christian. Fellow citizens, do your duty to your country, and
leave the consequences to God.

ADDRESS

TO THE

PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATE&

CONVENTION OF THE PEOPLE

SOUTH CAROLINA.

ADDRESS.

To the People of Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Pennsyl
vania, North Carolina, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, New
Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, Georgia, Delaware, Rhode
Island, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mis
sissippi, Illinois, Alabama, and Missouri.

WE, the people of South Carolina, assembled in Convention,
have solemnly and deliberately declared, in our paramount sove
reign capacity, that the act of Congress approved the 19th day
of May, 1828, and the act approved the 14th July, 1832, alter
ing and amending the several acts imposing duties on imports,
are unconstitutional, and therefore absolutely void, and of no
binding force within the limits of this State ; and for the pur
pose of carrying this declaration into full and complete effect,
we have invested the Legislature with ample powers, and made
it the duty of all the functionaries, and all the citizens of the
State, on their allegiance, to co-operate in enforcing the afore
said declaration.

In resorting to this important measure, to which we have been
impelled by the most sacred of all the duties which a free peo
ple can owe either to the memory of their ancestors, or to the
claims of their posterity, we feel that it is due to the intimate
political relation which exists between South Carolina and the
other States of this confederacy, that we should present a clear
and distinct exposition of the principles on which we have act
ed, and of the causes by which we have been reluctantly con
strained to assume this attitude of sovereign resistance in rela
tion to the usurpations of the Federal Government.

For this purpose, it will be necessary to state briefly, what we

conceive to be the relation created by the Federal Constitution,
between the States and the General Government ; and also what
we conceive to be the true character and practical operation of
the system of protecting duties, as it affects our rights, our in
terests, and our liberties.

We hold then, that on their separation from the Crown of
Great Britain, the several Colonies became free and indepen
dent States, each enjoying the separate and independent right
of self-government ; and that no authority can be exercised over
them, or within their limits, but by their consent respectively
given as States. It is equally true, that the Constitution of the
United States, is a compact formed between the several States,
acting as sovereign communities ; that the Government created
by it, is a joint agency of the States, appointed to execute the
powers enumerated and granted by that instrument ; that all its
acts not intentionally authorized, are of themselves essentially
null and void ; and that the States have the right, in the same
sovereign capacity in which they adopted the Federal Constitu
tion, to pronounce, in the last resort, authoritative judgment on
the usurpations of the Federal Government, and to adopt such
measures as they may deem necessary and expedient to arrest
the operation of the unconstitutional acts of that Government
within their respective limits. Such we deem to be the inherent
rights of the States — rights, in the very nature of things, abso
lutely inseparable from sovereignty. Nor is the duty of a State,
to arrest an unconstitutional and oppressive act of the Federal
Government, less imperative, than the right is incontestible.
Each State, by ratifying the Federal Constitution, and becom
ing a member of the confederacy, contracted an obligation to
" protect and defend" that instrument, as well by resisting the
usurpations of the Federal Government, as by sustaining that
Government in the exercise of the powers actually conferred
upon it. And the obligation of the oath which is imposed, un
der the Constitution, on every functionary of the States, to
"preserve, protect, and defend" the Federal Constitution, as
clearly comprehends the duty of protecting and defending it
against the usurpations of the Federal Government, as that of
protecting and defending it against violation in any other form,
or from any other quarter.

It is true, that in ratifying the Federal Constitution, the
States placed a large and important portion of the rights of
their citizens under the joint protection of all the States, with a
view to their more effectual security ; but it is not less true that
they reserved a portion still larger, and not less important under
their own immediate guardianship, and in relation to which
their original obligation to protect their citizens, from whatever
quarter assailed, remains unchanged and undirninished.

But clear and undoubted as we regard the right, and sacred
as we regard the duty of the States to interpose their sovereign
power for the purpose of protecting their citizens from the un
constitutional and oppressive acts of the Federal Government,
yet we are as clearly of the opinion, that nothing short of that
high moral and political necessity, which results from acts of
usurpation, subversive of the rights and liberties of the people,
should induce a member of this confederacy to resort to this in
terposition. Such, however, is the melancholy and painful ne
cessity under which we have declared the acts of Congress, im
posing protecting duties, null and void within the limits of South
Carolina. The spirit and the principles which animated your
ancestors and ours in the councils and in the fields of their com
mon glory, forbid us to submit any longer to a system of legis
lation, now become the established policy of the Federal Gov
ernment, by which we are reduced to a condition of colonial
vassalage, in all its aspects more oppressive and intolerable than
that from which our common ancestors relieved themselves by
the war of the revolution. There is no right which enters more
essentially into a just conception of liberty, than that of the free
and unrestricted use of the productions of our industry. This
clearly involves the right of carrying the productions of that in
dustry wherever they can be most advantageously exchanged,
whether in foreign or domestic markets. South Carolina pro
duces, almost exclusively, agricultural staples, which derive
their principal value from the demand for them in foreign coun
tries. Under these circumstances, her natural markets are
abroad ; and restrictive duties imposed upon her intercourse
with those markets, diminish the exchangeable value of her pro
ductions very nearly to the full extent of those duties.

Under a system of free trade, the aggregate crop of South

Carolina could be exchanged for a larger quantity of manufac
tures, by at least one third, than it can be now exchanged for
under the protecting system. It is no less evident, that the
value of that crop is diminished by the protecting system very
nearly, if not precisely, to the extent that the aggregate quan
tity of manufactures which can be obtained for it, is diminished.
It is, indeed, strictly and philosophically true, that the quantity
of consumable commodities which can be obtained for the cot
ton and rice annually produced by the industry of the State, is
the precise measure of their aggregate value. But for the pre
valent and habitual error of confounding the money price with
the exchangeable value of our agricultural staples, these proposi
tions would be regarded as self-evident. If the protecting duties
were repealed, one hundred bales of cotton, or one hundred bar
rels of rice, would purchase as large a quantity of manufactures,
as one hundred and fifty will now purchase. The annual income
of the State, its means of purchasing and consuming the neces
saries and comforts and luxuries of life, would be increased in a
corresponding degree.

Almost the entire cotton crop of South Carolina, amounting
annually to more than six millions of dollars, is ultimately ex
changed either for foreign manufactures, subject to protecting
duties, or for similar domestic manufactures. The natural value
of that crop would be all the manufactures which we could ob
tain for it, under a system of unrestricted commerce. The arti
ficial value, produced by the unjust and unconstitutional legisla
tion of Congress, is only such part of those manufactures as will
remain after paying a duty of fifty per cent, to the Government,
or, to speak with more precision, to the Northern manufactu
rers. To make this obvious to the humblest comprehension,
let it be supposed that the whole of the present crop should be
exchanged by the planters themselves, for those foreign manu
factures, for which it is destined, by the inevitable course of
trade, to be ultimately exchanged, either by themselves or their
agents. Let it be also assumed, in conformity with the facts of
the case, that New Jersey, for example, produces of the very
same description of manufactures, a quantity equal to that which
is purchased by the cotton crop of South Carolina. We have,
then, two States of the same confederacy, bound to bear an

equal share of the burthens, and entitled to enjoy an equal share
of the benefits of the common government, with precisely the
same quantity of productions, of the same quality and kind, pro
duced by their lawful industry. We appeal to your candor, and
to your sense of justice, to say whether South Carolina has not
a title as sacred and indefeasible to the full and undiminished
enjoyment of these productions of her industry, acquired by the
combined operations of agriculture and commerce, as New Jer
sey can have to the like enjoyment of similar productions of her
industry, acquired by the process of manufacture ? Upon no
principle of constitutional right — upon no principle of human
reason or justice, can any discrimination be drawn between the
titles of South Carolina and New Jersey to these productions of
their capital and labor. Yet what is the discrimination actually
made by the unjust, unconstitutional, and partial legislation of
Congress ? A duty, on an average, of fifty per cent., is imposed
upon the productions of South Carolina, while no duty at all is
imposed upon the similar productions of New Jersey ! The
inevitable result is, that the manufactures thus lawfully acquired
by the honest industry of South Carolina, are worth, annually,
three millions of dollars less to her citizens, than the very same
quantity of the very same description of manufactures are worth
to the citizens of New Jersey — a. difference of value produced
exclusively by the operation of the protecting system.

No ingenuity can either evade or refute this proposition.

The very axioms of geometry are not more self-evident. For
even if the planters of South Carolina, in the case supposed, were
to sell and not consume these productions of their industry, it
is plain that they could obtain no higher price for them, after
paying duties to the amount of $3,000,000, than the manufactu
rers of New Jersey would obtain for the same quantity of the
same kind of manufactures, without paying any duty at all.

This single view of the subject, exhibits the enormous inequal
ity and injustice of the protecting system in such a light, that
we feel the most consoling confidence that we shall be fully jus
tified by the impartial judgment of posterity, whatever may be
the issue of this unhappy controversy. We confidently appeal
to our confederate States, and to the whole world, to decide
whether the annals of human legislation furnish a parallel in-

stance of injustice and oppression perpetrated under the forms
of a free government. However it may be disguised by the
complexity of the process by which it is effected, it is nothing
less than the monstrous outrage of taking three millions of dol
lars annually, from the value of the productions of South Caroli
na and transferring it to the people of other and distant commu
nities. No human Government, can rightfully exercise such a
power. It violates the eternal principles of natural justice, and
converts the Government into a mere instrument of legislative
plunder. Of all the governments on the face of the earth, the
Federal Government has the least shadow of a constitutional
right to exercise such a power. It was created principally, and
almost exclusively, for the purpose of protecting, improving, and
extending that very commerce which, for the last ten years, all
its powers have been most unnaturally and unrighteously per
verted to cripple and destroy. The power to "regulate com
merce with foreign nations," was granted, obviously, for the pre
servation of that commerce. The most important of all the
duties which the Federal Government owes to South Carolina,
under the compact of Union, is the protection and defence of
her foreign commerce, against all the enemies by whom it may
be assailed. And in what manner has this duty been discharged?
All the powers of the earth, by their commercial restrictions, and
all the pirates of the ocean, by their lawless violence, could not
have done so much to destroy our commerce, as has been done
by that very Government, to which its guardianship has been
committed by the Federal Constitution. The commerce of
South Carolina consists in exchanging the staple productions of
her soil for the manufactures of Europe. It is a lawful com
merce. It violates the rights of no class of people in any por
tion of the confederacy. It is this very commerce, therefore,
which the Constitution has enjoined it upon Congress to en
courage, protect, and .defend, by such regulations as may be
necessary to accomplish that object. But instead of that pro
tection, which is the only tie of our allegiance, as individual
citizens to the Federal Government, we have seen a gigantic sys
tem of restrictions, gradually reared up, and at. length brought
to a fatal maturity, of which it is the avowed object and must be

the inevitable result, to sweep our commerce from the great
highway of nations, and cover our land with poverty and ruin.

Even the States most deeply interested in the maintenance of
the protecting system will admit, that it is the interest of South
Carolina to carry on a commerce of exchanges with foreign
countries, free from restrictions, prohibitory burthens, or incum-
brances of any kind. We feel, and we know, that the vital in
terests of the State, are involved in such a commerce. It would
be a downright insult to our understandings, to tell us that our
interests are not injured, deeply injured, by those prohibitory
duties, intended and calculated to prevent us from obtaining the
cheap manufactures of foreign countries for our staples, and to
compel us to receive for them the dear manufactures of our do
mestic establishments, or pay the penalty of the protecting duties,
for daring to exercise one of the most sacred of our natural
rights. What right, then, human or divine, have the manufac
turing States — for we regard the Federal Government as a mere
instrument in their hands — to prohibit South Carolina, directly,
or indirectly, from going to her natural markets ; and exchang
ing the rich productions of her soil, without restriction or in-
cumbrance, for such foreign articles as will most conduce to the
wealth and prosperity of her citizensf It will not surely be pre
tended — for truth and decency equally forbid the allegation —
that in exchanging our productions for the cheaper manufactures
of Europe, we violate any right of the domestic manufacturers,
however gratifying it might be to them, if we would purchase
their inferior productions at higher prices.

Upon what principle, then, can the State of South Carolina
be called upon to submit to a system, which excludes her from
her natural markets, and the manifold benefits of that enriching
commerce, which a kind and beneficent Providence has provided,
to connect her with the family of nations, by the bonds of mutual
interest? But one answer can be given to this question. It is
in vain that we attempt to disguise the fact, mortifying as it must
be, that the principle by which South Carolina is thus excluded,
is in strict propriety of language, and to all rational intents
and purposes, a principle of colonial dependence and vassalage,
identical with that which restrained our forefathers from trading
with any manufacturing nation of Europe, other than Great
10

Britain. South Carolina now bears the same relation to the
manufacturing States of this confederacy, that the Anglo Amer
ican Colonies bore to the mother country, with the single ex
ception that our burthens are incomparably more oppressive than
those of our ancestors. Our time, our pride, and the occasion?
equally forbid us to trace out the degrading analogy. We leave
that to the historian who shall record the judgment which an
impartial posterity shall pronounce upon the eventful transac
tions of this day.

It is in vain that we attempt to console ourselves by the empty
and unreal mockery of our representation in Congress. As to
all those great and vital interests of the States, which are affect
ed by the protecting system, it would be better that she had no
representation in that body. It serves no other purpose but to
conceal the chains which fetter our liberties under the vain and
empty forms of a representative Government. In the enactment
of the protecting system, the majority of Congress is, in strict
propriety of speech, an irresponsible despotism. A very brief
analysis will render this clear to every understanding. What,
then, we ask, is involved in the idea of political responsibility,
in the imposition of public burthens ? It clearly implies that
those who impose the burthens, should be responsible to those
who bear them. Every representative in Congress should be re
sponsible, not only to his own immediate constituents, but through
them and their common participation in the burthens imposed,
to the constituents of every other representative. If in the en
actment of a protecting tariff, the majority of Congress imposed
upon their own constituents the same burthens which they im
pose upon the people of South Carolina, that majority would act
under all the restraints of political responsibility, and we should
have the best security which human wisdom has yet devised,
against oppressive legislation.

But the fact is precisely the reverse of this. The majority in
Congress, in imposing protecting duties, which are utterly de
structive of the interests of South Carolina, not only impose no
burthens, but actually confer enriching bounties upon their con
stituents, proportioned to the burthens they impose upon us.
Under these circumstances, the principle of representative re
sponsibility, is perverted into a principle of absolute despotism.

It is this very tie, binding the majority of Congress to execute
the will of their constituents, which makes them our inexorable
oppressors. They dare not open their hearts to the sentiments
of human justice, or to the feelings of human sympathy. They
are tyrants by the very necessity of their position, however ele
vated may be their principles in their individual capacities.

The grave question, then, which we have had to determine,
as the sovereign power of the State, upon the awful responsi
bility under which we have acted, is, whether we will volunta
rily surrender the glorious inheritance, purchased and conse
crated by the toils, the sufferings, and the blood of an illustrious
ancestry, or transmit that inheritance to our posterity, untar
nished and undiminished ? We could not hesitate in deciding
this question. We have, therefore, deliberately and unalterably
resolved, that we will no longer submit to a system of oppression,
which reduces us to the degrading condition of tributary vassals ;
and which would reduce our posterity, in a few generations, to a
state of poverty and wretchedness, that would stand in melan
choly contrast with the beautiful and delightful region, in which
the providence of God has cast our destinies. Having formed
this resolution, with a full view of all its bearings, and of all its
probable and possible issues, it is due to the gravity of the sub
ject, and the solemnity of the occasion, that we should speak to
our confederate brethren, in the plain language of frankness and
truth. Though we plant ourselves upon the Constitution, and the
immutable principles of justice, and intend to operate exclusively
through the civil tribunals and civil functionaries of the State ;
yet, we will throw off this oppression, at every hazard. We be
lieve our remedy to be essentially peaceful. We believe the
Federal Government has no shadow of right or authority, to act
against a sovereign State of the confederacy, in any form, much
less to coerce it, by military power. But we are aware of the
diversities of human opinion ; and have seen too many proofs of
the infatuation of human power, not to have looked, with the
most anxious concern, to the possibility of a resort to military
or naval force on the part of the Federal Government ; and in
order to obviate the possibility of having the history of this con
test stained by a single drop of fraternal blood we have solemnly

and irrevocably resolved, that we will regard such a resort as a
dissolution of the political ties which connect us with our con
federate States ; and will, forthwith, provide for the organization
of a new and separate Government.

We implore you, and particularly the manufacturing States,
not to believe that we have been actuated, in adopting this reso
lution, by any feeling of resentment, or hostility towards them;
or, by a desire, to dissolve the political bonds which have so
long united our common destinies. We still cherish that
rational devotion to the Union, by which this State has been
pre-eminently distinguished, in all times past. But that blind
and idolatrous devotion, which would bow down and worship
Oppression and Tyranny, veiled under that consecrated title —
if it ever existed among us, has now vanished forever. Con
stitutional Liberty is the only idol of our political devotion ;
and, to preserve that, we will not hesitate a single moment, to
surrender the Union itself, if the sacrifice be necessary. If it
had pleased God to cover our eyes with ignorance — if he had
not bestowed upon us the understanding to comprehend the
enormity of the oppression under which we labor, we might sub
mit to it without absolute degradation and infamy. But the
gifts of Providence cannot be neglected, or abused, with im
punity. A people, who deliberately submit to oppression, with
a full knowledge that they are oppressed, are fit only to be
slaves ; and all history proves, that such a people will soon find
a master. It is the pre-existing spirit of slavery in the people,
that has made tyrants in all ages of the world. No tyrant ever
made a slave — no community, however small, having the spirit
of freemen, ever yet had a master. The most illustrious of those
States, which have given to the world examples of human free
dom, have occupied territories not larger than some of the dis
tricts of South Carolina ; while the largest masses of popula
tion, that were ever united under a common government, have
been the abject, spiritless, and degraded slaves of despotic
rulers. We sincerely hope, therefore, that no portion of the
States of this Confederacy, will permit themselves to be deluded
into any measures of rashness, by the vain imagination, that South
Carolina will vindicate her rights and liberties, with a less in
flexible and unfaltering resolution, with a population of some

half a million, than she would do with a population of twenty
millions.

It does not belong to Freemen to count the costs, and calcu
late the hazards of vindicating their rights and defending their
liberties; and even if we should stand alone in the worst possi
ble emergency of this great controversy, without the co-opera
tion or encouragement of a single State of the confederacy, we
will march forward with an unfaltering step, until we have ac
complished the object of this great enterprise.

Having now presented, for the consideration of the Federal
Government and our confederate States, the fixed and final de
termination of this State, in relation to the protecting system, it
remains for us to submit a plan of taxation in which we would
be willing to acquiesce, in a spirit of liberal concession, provided
we are met in due time and in a becoming spirit, by the States
interested in the protection of manufactures.

We believe that upon every just and equitable principle of
taxation, the whole list of protected articles should be imported
free of all duty, and that the revenue derived from import duties,
should be raised exclusively from the unprotected articles, or
that, whenever a duty is imposed upon protected articles im
ported, an excise duty of the same rate should be imposed upon
all similar articles manufactured in the United States. This
would be as near an approach to perfect equality as could pos
sibly be made, in a system of indirect taxation. No substantial
reason can be given for subjecting manufactures obtained from
abroad in exchange for the productions of South Carolina, to the
smallest duty, even for revenue, which would not show that sim
ilar manufactures made in the United States, should be subject
to the very same rate of duty. The former, not less than the
latter, are, to every rational intent, the productions of domestic
industry, and the mode of acquiring the one, is as lawful and
more conducive to the public prosperity, than that of acquiring
the other.

But we are willing to make a large offering to preserve the
Union ; and with a distinct declaration that it is a concession on
our part, we will consent that the same rate of duty may be im
posed upon the protected articles that shall be imposed upon
the unprotected, provided that no more revenue be raised than

is necessary to meet the demands of the Government for Consti
tutional purposes, and provided also, that a duty, substantially
uniform, be imposed upon all foreign imports.

It is obvious, that, even under this arrangement, the manufac
turing States would have a decided advantage over the planting
States. For it is demonstrably evident that, as communities,
the manufacturing States would bear no part of the burthens of
Federal Taxation, so far as the revenue should be derived from
protected articles. The earnestness with which their represen
tatives seek to increase the duties on these articles, is conclusive
proof that those duties are bounties, and not burthens, to their
constituents. As at least two-thirds of the federal revenue
would be raised from protected articles, under the proposed
modification of the Tariff, the manufacturing States would be
entirely exempted from all participation in that proportion of
the public burthens.

Under these circumstances, we cannot permit ourselves to be
lieve for a moment, that in a crisis marked by such portentous
and fearful omens, those States can hesitate in acceding to this
arrangement, when they perceive that it will be the means, and
possibly the only means, of restoring the broken harmony of this
great confederacy. They most assuredly have the strongest of
human inducements, aside from all considerations of justice, to
adjust this controversy, without pushing it to extremities. This
can be accomplished only by the proposed modification of the
Tariff, or by the call of a General Convention of all the States.
If South Carolina should be driven out of the Union, all the
other Planting States, and some of the Western States, would
follow by an almost absolute necessity. Can it be believed that
Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and even Kentucky, would
continue to pay a tribute of fifty per cent, upon their consump
tion, to the Northern States, for the privilege of being united to
them, when they could receive all their supplies through the
ports of South Carolina, without paying a single cent of tribute ?

The separation of South Carolina would inevitably produce a
general dissolution of the Union ; and as a necessary conse
quence, the protecting system, with all its pecuniary bounties,
to the Northern States, and its pecuniary burthens upon the
Southern States, would be utterly overthrown and demolished,

* 71

involving the ruin of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the
manufacturing States.

By these powerful considerations, connected with their own
pecuniary interests, we beseech them to pause and contemplate
the disastrous consequences which will certainly result from an
obstinate perseverance on their part, in maintaining the pro
tecting system. With them, it is a question merely of pecuniary
interest, connected with no shadow of right, and involving no
principle of liberty. With us, it is a question involving our
most sacred rights — those very rights which our common ances
tors left to us as a common inheritance, purchased by their com
mon toils and consecrated by their blood. It is a question of
liberty on the one hand, and slavery on the other. If we sub
mit to this system of unconstitutional oppression, we shall volun
tarily sink into slavery, and transmit that ignominious inherit
ance to our children. We will not, we cannot, we dare not
submit to this degradation, and our resolve is fixed and unalter
able that a protecting tariff shall be no longer enforced within
the limits of South Carolina. We stand upon the principles of
everlasting justice, and no human power shall drive us from our
position.

We have not the slightest apprehension that the general gov
ernment will attempt to force this system upon us by military
power. We have warned our brethren of the consequences of
such an attempt. But if, notwithstanding, such a course of
madness should be pursued, we here solemnly declare that this
system of oppression shall never prevail in South Carolina, until
none but slaves are left to submit to it. We would infinitely
prefer that the territory of the State should be the cemetery of
freemen than the habitation of slaves. Actuated by these prin
ciples, and animated by these sentiments, we will cling to the
pillars of the temple of our liberties, and if it must fall, we will
perish amidst the ruins.

J. HAMILTON, JUN., President of the Convention.
[Attest.]
ISAAC W. HAYNE, Clerk.

PROCLAMATION

BY THE

PRESIDENT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, a Convention assembled in the State of South Car
olina, have passed an Ordinance, by which they declare " 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 im
posts on the importation of foreign commodities, and now hav
ing actual operation and effect within the United States, and
more especially" two acts for the same purposes passed on the
28th of May, 1S28, and on the 14th of July, 1832, "are unau
thorized by the Constitution of the United States, and violate
the true meaning and intent thereof, and are null and void, and
no law," nor binding on the citizens of that State or its officers :
and by the said Ordinance it is further declared to be unlawful
for any of the constituted authorities of the State, or of the
United States, to enforce the payment of the duties imposed by
the said acts within the same State, and that it is the duty of the
Legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to give full
effect to the said Ordinance :

And, whereas, by the Ordinance it is further ordained, ^hat in
no case of law or equity, decided in the courts of said State,
wherein shall be drawn in question the validity of the said Ordi
nance, or the acts of the Legislature that may be passed to give
it effect, or of the said laws of the United States, shall an appeal
be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall
any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that pur
pose ; and that any person attempting to take such appeal, shall
be punished as for a contempt of Court :

And, finally, the said Ordinance declares that the people of

South Carolina will maintain the said Ordinance at every haz
ard ; and that they will consider the passage of an act by Con
gress abolishing or closing the ports of the said State, or other
wise obstructing the free ingress and egress of vessels to and
from the said port, or any other act of the Federal Government to
coerce the State, shut up her ports, destroy or harrass her com
merce, or to enforce said acts otherwise than through the civil
tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continu
ance of South Carolina in the Union ; and that the people of
the said State will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from
all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political con
nexion with the people of the other States, and will forthwith
proceed to organize a separate Government, and do all other
acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of
right do.

And, whereas, the said Ordinance prescribes to the people of
South Carolina a course of conduct in direct violation of their
duty as citizens of the United States, contrary to the laws of
their country, subversive of its Constitution, and having for its
object the destruction of the Union — that Union, which, coeval
with our political existence, led our fathers, without any other
ties to unite them than those of patriotism and a common cause,
through a sanguinary struggle, to a glorious independence —
that sacred Union, hitherto inviolate, which perfected by our
happy Constitution, has brought us, by the favor of Heaven, to
a state of prosperity at home, and high consideration abroad,
rarely, if ever, equalled in the history of nations. To preserve
this bond of our political existence from destruction, to main
tain inviolate this state of national honor and prosperity, and to
justify the confidence my fellow citizens have reposed in me, I
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, have thought
proper to issue this my Proclamation, staling my views of the
Constitution and laws applicable to the measures adopted by
the Convention of South Carolina, and the reasons they have
put forth to sustain them, declaring the course which duty will
require me to pursue, and appealing to the understanding and
patriotism of the people, to warn them of the consequences must
inevitably result from an observance of the dictates of the Con
vention.

Strict duty would require of me nothing more than the exer
cise of those powers with which I am now, or may hereafter be in
vested, for preserving the peace of the Union, and for the exe
cution of the laws. But the imposing aspect which opposition
has assumed in this case, by clothing itself with State author
ity, and the deep interest which the people of the United States
must all feel in preventing a resort to stronger measures, while
there is a hope that any thing will be yielded to reasoning and
remonstrance, perhaps demand, and will certainly justify a full
exposition to South Carolina and the nation, of the views I enter
tain of this important question, as well as a distinct enunciation
of the course which my sense of duty will require me to pursue.

This Ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of
resisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional, and too op~i
pressive to be endured, but on the strange position that any one '
State may not only declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit
its execution — that they may do this consistently with the Con- j
stitution — that the true construction of that instrument permits \
a State to retain its place in the Union, and yet be bound by no
other of its laws than those it may choose to consider as consti
tutional. It is true, they add, that to justify this abrogation of
a law, it must be palpably contrary to the Constitution ; but it is
evident that, to give the right of resisting laws of that description, /
coupled with the uncontrolled right to decide what laws deserve I
that character, is to give the power of resisting all laws./ For,
as by the theory there is no appeal, the reasons alleged by the
State, good or bad, must prevail. If it should be said that pub
lic opinion is a sufficient check against the abuse of this power,
it may be asked why it is not deemed a sufficient guard against
the passage of an unconstitutional act by Congress? There is,
however, a restraint in this last case, which makes the assumed
power of a State more indefeasible, and which does not exist in
the other. There are two appeals from an unconstitutional act
passed by Congress — one to the Judiciary, the other to the peo
ple and the States. There is no appeal from the State decision
in theory, and the practical illustration shows that the Courts
are closed against an application to review it, both judges and
jurors being sworn to decide in its favor. But reasoning on this
subject is superfluous, when our social compact in express terms

declares, that the laws of the United States, its Constitution,
and treaties made under it, are the supreme law of the land ; and
for greater caution, adds, " that the Judges in every State shall
be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any
State to the contrary notwithstanding." And it may be assert
ed, without fear of refutation, that no Federative Government
could exist without a similar provision. Look for a moment to
the consequence.

If South Carolina considers the revenue laws as unconstitu
tional, and has a right to prevent their execution in the port of
Charleston, there would be a clear constitutional objection to
their collection in every other port, and no revenue could be
collected any where ; for all imposts must be equal. It is no
answer to repeat that an unconstitutional law is no law, so long
as the question of its legality is to be decided by the State itself;
for every law operating injuriously upon any local interest, will
be perhaps thought, and certainly represented, as unconstitu
tional, and it has been shown, there is no appeal.

If this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the
Union would have been dissolved in its infancy. The excise law
in Pennsylvania, the embargo and non-intercourse laws in the
Eastern States, the carriage tax in Virginia, were all deemed un
constitutional, and were more unequal in their operation than
any of the laws now complained of; but, fortunately, none of
those States discovered that they had the right now claimed by
South Carolina. The war into which we were forced, to sup
port the dignity of the nation and the rights of our citizens,
might have ended in defeat and disgrace, instead of victory and
honor, if the States, who supposed it a ruinous and unconstitu
tional measure, had thought they possessed the right of nullify
ing the act by which it was declared, and denying supplies for
its prosecution. Hardly and unequally as those measures bore
upon several members of the Union, to the legislature of none
did this efficient and peaceable remedy, as it is called, suggest
itself. The discovery of this important feature in our constitution
was reserved to the present day. To the statesmen of South
Carolina belongs the invention, and upon the citizens of that
State will unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice.

If the doctrine of a State veto, upon the laws of the Union,

carries with it internal evidence of its impracticable absurdity,
our constitutional history will also afford abundant proof that it
would have been repudiated with indignation, had it been pro
posed to form a feature in our Government.

In our colonial state, although dependent on another power,
we very early considered ourselves as connected by common in
terest with each other. Leagues were formed for common de
fence, and before the Declaration of Independence we were
known in our aggregate character as the United Colonies of
America. That decisive and important step was taken jointly.
We declared ourselves a nation by a joint, not by several acts ;
and when the terms of our confederation were reduced to form,
it was in that of a solemn league of several States, by which
they agreed that they would collectively, form one nation, for
the purpose of conducting some certain domestic concerns, and
all foreign relations. In the instrument forming that Union, is
found an article which declares that " every State shall abide by
the determinations of Congress on all questions which by that
confederation should be submitted to them."

Under the confederation, then, no State could legally annul a
decision of the Congress, or refuse to submit to' its execution ;
but no provision was made to enforce these decisions. Con
gress made requisitions but they were not complied with. The
Government could not operate on individuals. They had no
Judiciary, no means of collecting revenue.

But the defects of the confederation need not be detailed.
Under its operation, we would scarcely be called a nation. We
had neither prosperity at home nor consideration abroad. This
state of things could not be endured, and our present happy
Constitution was formed ; but formed in vain if this fatal doctrine
prevails. It was formed for important objects that are an
nounced in the preamble made in the name and by the authori
ty of the people of the United States, whose delegates framed,
and whose conventions approved it. The most important among
these objects, that which is placed first in rank, on which all the
others rest " is to form a more perfect Union." Now, is it possible
that, even if therTTWeTu uu expTess provisions giving supremacy
to the Constitution and laws of the United States over those of
the States, it can be conceived, that an instrument made for the

purpose of " forming a more perfect Union" than that of the
confederation, could be so constructed by the assembled wis
dom of our country as to substitute for that confederation a form
of government dependent for its existence on the local interest,
the party spirit of a State, or of a prevailing faction in a State ?
Every man of plain unsophisticated understanding, who hears the
question, will give such an answer as will preserve the Union.
Metaphysical subtlety, in pursuit of an impracticable theory,
could alone have devised one that is calculated to destroy it.
I/I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United
States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence
of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Consti
tution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every princi
ple on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object
I/for which it was formed.

After this general view of the leading principle, we must ex
amine the particular application of it which is made in the ordi
nance.

The preamble rests its justification on these grounds : It as
sumes as a fact, that the obnoxious laws, although they purport
to be laws for raising revenue, were in reality intended for the
protection of manufactures, which purpose it asserts to be un
constitutional ; that the operation of these laws is unequal ; that
the amount raised by them is greater than is required by the
wants of the Government ; and, finally that the proceeds are to
be applied to objects unauthorized by the Constitution. These
are the only causes alledged to justify an open opposition to the
laws of the country, and a threat of seceding from the Union, if
any attempt should be made to enforce them. She first virtually
acknowledges that the law in question was passed under a pow
er expressly given by the Constitution to lay and collect imposts,
but its constitutionality is drawn in question from the motives of
those who passed it. However apparent this purpose may be in
the present case, nothing can be more dangerous than to admit
the position that an unconstitutional purpose, entertained by the
members who assent to a law enacted under a constitutional
power, shall make that law void ; for how is that purpose to be
ascertained ? Who is to make the scrutiny ? How often may
bad purposes be falsely imputed .? In how many cases are they

concealed by false profession ? In how many is no declaration
of motive made ? Admit this doctrine, and you give to the States
an uncontrolled right to decide ; and every law may be annulled
under this pretext. If, therefore, the absurd and dangerous
doctrine should be admitted, that a State may annul an uncon
stitutional law, or one that it deems such, it will not apply to the
present case.

The next objection is, that the laws in question operate une
qually. This objection may be made with truth to every law
that has been or can be passed. The wisdom of man never
yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with per
fect equality. If the unequal operation of a law makes it un
constitutional, and if all laws of that description may be abro
gated by any State for that cause, then indeed is the Federa
Constitution unworthy of the slightest effort for its preservation
We have hitherto relied on it as the perpetual bond of ou

Union. We have received it as the work of the assembled wis

dom of the nation. We have trusted to it as to the sheet anchor
of our safety, in the stormy times of conflict with a foreign or
domestic foe. We have looked to it with sacred awe as the pal
ladium of our liberties, and with all the solemnities of religion,
have pledged to each other our lives and fortunes here, and our
hopes of happiness hereafter, in its defence and support. Were
we mistaken, my countrymen, in attaching this importance to
the Constitution of our country? Was our devotion paid to the
wretched, inefficient, clumsy contrivance, which this new doc
trine would make it? Did we pledge ourselves to the support
of an airy nothing — a bubble that must be blown away by the
first breath of disaffection? Was this self-destroying, visionary
theory, the work of the profound statesmen, the exalted patri
ots, to whom the task of constitutional reform was entrusted ?
Did the name of Washington sanction, did the States deliberate
ly ratify such an anomaly in the history of fundamental legisla
tion ? No. We were not mistaken ! The letter of this great
instrument is free from this radical fault ; its language directly
contradicts the imputation : its spirit — its evident intent — con
tradicts it. No; we did not err! Our Constitution does not\
contain the absurdity of giving power to make laws, and another
power to resist them.
12

The sages, whose memory will always be reverenced, have
given us a practical, and, as they hoped, a permanent constitu
tional compact. The Father of his country did not affix his
revered name to so palpable an absurdity. Nor did the States
when they severally ratified it, do so under the impression that
a veto on the laws of the United States was reserved to them,
or that they could exercise it by implication. Search the de
bates in all their Conventions — examine the speeches of the
most zealous opposers of Federal authority — look at the amend
ments that were proposed. They are all silent — not a syllable
uttered, not a vote given, not a motion made to correct the ex
plicit supremacy given to the laws of the Union over those of
the States — or to show that implication, as is now contended,
could defeat it. No, we have not erred ! The Constitution is
jstill the object o£_o_ujLi£^verence, the bond of our Union, our de-
•fence in danger, the source of our prosperity in peace. It shall
descend, as we have received it, uncorrupted by sophistical con
struction, to our posterity ; and the sacrifices of local interest,
of State prejudices, of personal animosities, that were made to
bring it into existence, will again be patriotically offered for its
support.

The two remaining objections made by the Ordinance to these
laws are, that the sums intended to be raised by them are greater
than are required, and that the proceeds will be unconstitution
ally employed. The Constitution has given expressly to Con
gress the right of raising revenue, and of determining the sum
the public exigencies will require. The States have no control
over the exercise of this right, other than that which results from
the power of changing the representatives who abuse it, and thus
procure redress. Congress may undoubtedly abuse this discre
tionary power, but the same may be said of others with which
they are vested. Yet the discretion must exist somewhere.
The Constitution has given it to the Representatives of all the
People, checked by the Representatives of the States, and by
the Executive power. The South Carolina construction gives it
to the Legislature or Convention of a single State, where neither
the people of the different States nor the State in their separate
capacity, nor the Chief Magistrate elected by the people, have
any representation. Which is the most discreet disposition of

the power ? I do not ask you, fellow citizens, which is the Con
stitutional disposition — that instrument speaks a language not
to be misunderstood. But if you were assembled in general
convention, which would you think the safest depository for this
discretionary power in the last resort. Would you add a clause
giving it to each of the States, or would you sanction the wise
provisions already made by your Constitution ? If this should be
the result of your deliberations, when providing for the future,
are you, can you — be ready to risk all that we hold dear, to es
tablish for a temporary and a local purpose, that which you must
acknowledge to be destructive, and even absurd, as a general
provision ? Carry out the consequences of this right vested
in the different States, and you must perceive that the crisis your
conduct presents at this day would recur whenever any law of
the United States displeased any of the States, and that we
should soon cease to be a nation.

The Ordinance, with the same knowledge of the future that*
characterizes a former objection, tells you that the proceeds of
the tax will be unconstitutionally applied. If this could be as
certained with certainty, the objection would, with more pro
priety, be reserved for the law so applying the proceeds, but
surely cannot be urged against the laws levying the duty. -^

These are the allegations contained in the Ordinance. Ex
amine them seriously, my fellow citizens— judge for yourselves.
I appeal to you to determine whether they are so clear, so con
vincing, as to leave no doubt of their correctness : and even if
you should come to this conclusion, how far they justify the
reckless, destructive course, which you are directed to pursue.
Review these objections, and the couclusions drawn from them
once more. What are they ? Every law, then, for raising rev
enue, according to the South Carolina Ordinance, may be right
fully annulled, unless it be so framed as no law ever will or can
be framed. Congress have a right to pass laws for raising rev
enue, and each State has a right to oppose their execution —
two rights directly opposite to each other ; and yet is this ab
surdity supposed to be contained in an instrument drawn for the
express purpose of avoiding collisions between the States and
the General Government, by an assembly of the most enlightened
statesmen and purest patriots ever embodied for a similar purpose.

In vain have these sages declared that Congress shall have pow
er to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excise — in vain
have they provided that they shall have power to pass all laws
which shall be necessary and proper to carry those powers into
execution ; that those laws and that Constitution shall be the
"supreme law of the land ; and that the judges in every State
shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of
any State to the contrary notwithstanding." In vain have the
people of the several States solemnly sanctioned these provis
ions, made them their paramount law, and individually sworn to
support them whenever they were called on to execute any of
fice. Vain provisions ! ineffectual restrictions ! vile profanation
of oaths ! miserable mockery of legislation ! If a bare majority
of the voters in any one State may, on a real or supposed
knowledge of the intent with which a law has been passed, de
clare themselves free from its operation — say here it gives too
little, there too much, and operates unequally — here it surfers
articles to be free that ought to be taxed, there it taxes those
that ought to be free — in this case the proceeds are intended to
be applied to purposes which we do not approve ; in that the
amount raised is more than is wanted. Congress, it is true, are
invested by the Constitution, with the right of deciding these
questions according to their sound discretion. Congress is com
posed of the Representatives of all the States and all the peo
ple of the States; but we, part of the people of one State, to
whom the Constitution has given no power on the subject, from
whom it has expressly taken it away ; we, who have solemnly
agreed that this Constitution shall be our law — we, most of whom
have sworn to support it — we, now abrogate this law, and swear,
and force others to swear, that it shall not be obeyed — and we do
this not because Congress have no right to pass such laws — this
we do not allege ; but because they have passed them with im
proper views.

They are unconstitutional from the motives of those who pass
ed them, which we can never with certainty know, from their
unequal operation, although it is impossible from the nature of
things that they should be equal — and from the disposition
which we presume may be made of their proceeds, although
that disposition has not been declared. This is the plain mean-

ing of the Ordinance in relation to laws which it abrogates for
alleged unconstitutionally. But it does not stop there. It re
peals, in express terms, an important part of the Constitution
itself, and of laws passed to give it effect, which have never
been alleged to be unconstitutional. The Constitution declares
that the judicial powers of the United States extend to cases
arising under the laws of the United States, and that such laws,
the Constitution and treaties, shall be paramount to the State
Constitution and laws.

The judiciary act prescribes the mode by which the case may
be brought before a Court of the United States by appeal, when
a State tribunal shall decide against this provision of the Con
stitution. The Ordinance declares there shall be no appeal ;
makes the State law paramount to the Constitution of the
United States; forces judges and jurors to swear they will dis
regard its provisions ; and even makes it penal in a suitor to
attempt relief by appeal. It further declares that it shall not
be lawful for the authorities of the United States, or of that
State, to enforce the payment of duties imposed by the revenue
laws within its limits.

Here is a law of the United States, not even pretended to be
unconstitutional, repealed by the authority of a small majority
of the voters of a single State. Here is a provision of the Con
stitution which is solemnly abrogated by the same authority.

On such expositions and reasonings, the Ordinance grounds
not only an assertion of the right to annul the laws of which it
complains, but to enforce it by a threat of seceding from the
Union, if any attempt is made to execute them.

The right to secede is deduced from the nature of the Con
stitution, which, they say, is a compact between the sovereign
States, who have preserved their whole sovereignty, and, there
fore, are subject to no superior ; that because they made the
compact, they can break it when, in their opinion, it has been
departed from by the other States. Fallacious as this course of
reasoning is, it enlists State pride, and finds advocates in the
honest prejudice of those who have not studied the nature of our
Government sufficiently to see the radical error on which it
rests.

The people of the United States formed the Constitution, act-

ing through the State Legislatures in making the compact, to
meet and discuss its provisions, and acting in separate Conven
tions when they ratified these provisions ; but the terms used in
its construction, show it to be a Government in which the peo
ple of all the States collectively are represented. We are one
people in the choice of the President and Vice President. Here
the States have no other agency than to direct the mode in
which the votes shall be given. The candidates having the ma
jority of all the votes are chosen. The electors of a majority of
States may have given their votes for one candidate, and yet
another may be chosen. The people then, and not the States,
are represented in the Executive branch.

In the House of Representatives there is this difference, that
the people of one State do not, as in the case of President and
Vice President, all vote for the same officers. The people of
all the States do not vote for all the members, each State elect
ing only its own Representatives. But this creates no material
distinction. When chosen, they are all representatives of the
United States, not representatives of the particular State from
which they come. They are paid by the United States, not by
the State, nor are they accountable to it for any act done in the
performance of their legislative functions ; and, however they
may in practice, as it is their duty to do, consult and prefer the
interests of their particular constituents when they come in con
flict with any other partial or local interest, yet it is their first
and highest duty as representatives of the United States, to pro
mote the general good.

'The Constitution of the United States, then, forms a Govern
ment, not a league ; and whether it be formed by compact be
tween the States, or in any other manner, its character is the
game. It is a Government in which all the people are repre-
s&nted, which operates directly on the people individually, not
u^on the States ; they retained all the power they did not grant.
Bu\t each State having expressly parted with so many powers as
to Constitute jointly with the other States a single nation, can
not from that period possess any right to secede, because such
secession does not break a league, but destroys the unity of a
nation ; and any injury to that unity is not only a breach which
would result from the contravention of a compact, but it is an

187

offence against the whole Union. To say that any State may
at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that the United
States are not a nation ; because it would be a solecism to con
tend that any part of a nation might dissolve its connexion with
the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any
offence.

Secession, like any other revolutionary act, may be morally
justified by the extremity of oppression, but to call it a constitu
tional right, is confounding the meaning of terms; and can only
be done through gross error, or to deceive those who are willing
to assert a right, but would pause before they made a revolu
tion, or incurred the penalties consequent on a failure.

Because the Union was formed by compact, it is said the par
ties to that compact may, when they feel themselves aggrieved,
depart from it ; but it is precisely because it is a compact that
they cannot. A compact is an agreement or binding obligation.
It may, by its terms, have a sanction or penalty for its breach,
or it may not. If it contains no sanction, it may be broken with
no other consequence than moral guilt ; if it have a sanction,
then the breach incurs the designated or implied penalty. A'
league between independent nations, generally, has no sanction '
other than a moral one ; or, if it should contain a penalty, as
there is no common superior, it cannot be enforced. A GovJ-
ernment, on the contrary, always has a sanction, express or im
plied ; and, in our case, it is both necessarily implied and
expressly given. An attempt by force of arms to destroy a
Government, is an offence, by whatever means the constitutional
compact may have been formed ; and such Government has the
right, by the law of self-defence, to pass acts for punishing the
offender, unless that right is modified, restrained, or resumed by
the constitutional act. In our system, although it is modified
in the case of treason, yet authority is expressly given to pass
all laws necessary to carry its power into effect, and under this
grant provision has been made for punishing acts which obstruct
the due administration of the laws.

It would seem superfluous to add any thing to show the na
ture of that Union which connects us ; but as erroneous opin
ions on this subject are the foundation of doctrines the most de
structive to our peace, I must give some further developement

of my views upon this subject. No one, fellow citizens, has a
higher reverence for the reserved rights of the States, than the
Magistrate who now addresses you. No one would make greater
personal sacrifices, or official exertions, to defend them from
violation ; but equal care must be taken to prevent on their
part an improper interference with, or resumption of, the rights
they have vested in the nation. The line has not been so dis
tinctly drawn, as to avoid doubts in some cases of the exercise
of power. Men of the best intentions and soundest views may
differ in their construction of some parts of the Constitution ;
but there are others on which dispassionate reflection can leave
i no doubt. Of this nature appears to be the assumed right of
\\ a secession. It rests, as we have seen, on the alleged undivided
w, sovereignty of the States, and on their having formed in this
\\sovereign capacity a compact which is called the Constitution,
from which, because they made it, they have the right to secede.
Both of these positions are erroneous, and some of the argu
ments to prove them so have been anticipated.

The States severally have not retained their entire sove
reignty. It has been shown that in becoming parts of a nation,
not members of a league, they surrendered many of their essen
tial parts of sovereignty. The rights to make treaties — declare
war — levy taxes — exercise exclusive judicial and legislative
powers — were all of them functions of sovereign power. The
States, then, for all these important purposes, were no longer
sovereign. The allegiance of their citizens was transferred, in
the first instance, to the Government of the United States ; they
became Americans-citizens, and owed obedience to the Consti
tution of the United States, and to the laws made in conformity
with the powers it vested in Congress. This last position has
not been, and cannot be denied. How then can that State be
said to be sovereign and independent, whose citizens owe obe
dience to laws not made by it, and whose magistrates are sworn
to disregard those laws, when they come in conflict with those
passed by another f What shows conclusively that the States
cannot be said to have reserved an undivided sovereignty, is,
that they expressly ceded the right to punish treason — not trea
son against their separate power — but treason against the
United States. Treason is an offence against sovereignty, and

sovereignty must reside with the power to punish it. But the
reserved rights of the States are not less sacred, because they
have for their common interest made the General Government
the depository of these powers. The unity of our political
character (as has been shown for another purpose) commenced
with its very existence. Under the Royal Government we had
no separate character — our opposition to its oppression began
as United Colonies.

We were the United States under the confederation, and the
name was perpetuated, and the Union rendered more perfect,
by the Federal Constitution. In none of these stages did we
consider ourselves in any other light than as forming one nation.
Treaties and alliances were made in the name of all. Troops
were raised for the joint defence. How, then, with all these
proofs, that under all changes of our position, we had, for desig
nated purposes and with defined powers, created National Gov
ernments — how is it, that the most perfect of those several
modes of union, should now be considered as a mere league,
that may be dissolved at pleasure? It is from an abuse of terms.
Compact is used as synonymous with league, although the true
term is not employed, because it would at once show the fal
lacy of the reasoning.

It would not do to say that our Constitution is only a league :
but, it is labored to prove it a compact, (which in one sense it
is) and then to argue that as a league is a compact, every com
pact between nations must of course be a league, and that from
such an engagement every sovereign power has a right to secede.
But it has been shown, that in this sense the States are not sove
reign, and that even if they were, and the National Constitution
had been founded by compact, there would be no right in any
one State to exonerate itself from its operations.

So obvious are the reasons which forbid this secession, that it
is necessary only to allude to them. The Union was formed for
the benefit of all. It was produced by mutual sacrifices of in
terests and opinions. Can those sacrifices be recalled ? Can
the States, who magnanimously surrendered their title to the
Territories of the West, recall the grant ? Will the inhabitants
of the inland States agree to pay the duties that may be imposed
without their assent by those on the Atlantic, or the Gulf, for
13

their own benefit ? Shall there be a free port in one State, and
onerous duties in another ? No one believes that any right ex
ists in a single State to involve all the others in these and count-
tfess other evils, contrary to the engagements solemnly made.
|£very one must see that the other States, in self defence, must
Joppose at all hazards.

These- are the alternatives that are presented by the Conven
tion. A repeal of all the acts for raising revenue, leaving the
Government without the means of support ; or, an acquiescence
in the dissolution of our Union, by the secession of one of its
members. When the first was proposed, it was known that it
could not be listened to for a moment. It was known that
if force was applied to oppose the execution of the laws, it
must be repelled by force — that Congress could not, without
involving itself in disgrace, and the country in ruin, accede to
the proposition ; and yet, if this is not done in a given day, or
if any attempt is made to execute the laws, the State is, by the
Ordinance, declared to be out of the Union.

The majority of a Convention assembled for the purpose, have
dictated these terms, or rather this rejection of all terms, in
the name of the people of South Carolina. It is true that the
Governor of the State speaks of the submission of their griev
ances to a Convention of all the States ; which, he says, they
" sincerely and anxiously seek and desire." Yet this obvious
and constitutional mode of obtaining the sense of the other
States on the construction of the Federal compact, and amend
ing it, if necessary, has never been attempted by those who have
urged the State on to this destructive measure. The State
might have proposed the call for a General Convention to the
other States ; and Congress, if a sufficient number of them con
curred, might have called it. But the first Magistrate of South
Carolina, when he expressed a hope that, " on a review by Con
gress, and the functionaries of the General Government, of the
merits of the controversy ," such a Convention will be accorded
to them, must have known that neither Congress, nor any func
tionary of the General Government, has authority to call such a
Convention, unless it be demanded by two-thirds of the States.
This suggestion, then, is another instance of the reckless inat
tention to the provisions of the Constitution with which this cri-

sis has been hurried on, or the attempt to persuade the people
that a constitutional remedy had been sought, and refused. If
the Legislature of South Carolina " anxiously desire" a General
Convention to consider their complaints, why have they not
made application for it in the way the Constitution points out ?
The assertion that they " earnestly seek" it, is completely nega
tived by the omission.

This, then, is the position in which we stand. A small ma
jority of the citizens of one State in the Union, have elected
delegates to the State Convention : that Convention has ordain
ed, that all the revenue laws of the United States, must be re
pealed, or that they are no longer a member of the Union. The
Governor of that State has recommended to the Legislature the
raising of an army to carry the secession into effect, and that he
may be empowered to give clearances to vessels in the name of
the State. No act of violent opposition to the laws has yet
been committed; but such a state of things is hourly appre
hended, and it is the intent of this instrument to proclaim not
only that the duty imposed on me by the Constitution, " to take
care that the laws be faithfully executed," shall be performed to
the extent of the power vested in me by law, or of such others
as the wisdom of Congress shall devise and entrust to me for
that purpose ; but, to warn the citizens of South Carolina, who
have been deluded into an opposition to the laws, of the danger
they will incur by obedience to the illegal and disorganizing
Ordinance of the Convention — to exhort those who have rsfused
to support it, to persevere in their determination to uphold the
Constitution and the laws of their country, and to point out to
all the perilous situation into which the good people of that
State have been led — and that the course they are urged to pur
sue is one of ruin and disgrace to the very State whose rights
they affect to support.

Fellow citizens of my native State, let me not only admonish
you as the first Magistrate of our common country, not to incur
the penalty of its laws, but use the influence that a father would
over his children whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that
paternal language, with that paternal feeling, let me tell you,
my countrymen, that you are deluded by men who are either
deceived themselves, or wish to deceive you.

Mark, under what pretences you have been led on to the
brink of insurrection and treason, on which you stand ! First,
a diminution of the value of your staple commodity, lowered by
over-production in other quarters, and the consequent diminu
tion in the value of your lands, were the sole effects of the tariff
laws. The effect of those laws is confessedly injurious, but
the evil was greatly exaggerated by the unfounded theory you
were taught to believe, that its burthens were in proportion to
your exports, not to your consumption of imported articles.
Your pride was roused by the assertion, that a submission to
those laws was a state of vassalage, and that resistance to them
was equal, in patriotic merit, to the opposition our fathers offer
ed to the oppressive laws of Great Britain. You were told that
this opposition might be peaceable — might be constitutionally
made ; that you might enjoy all the advantages of the Union,
and bear none of its burthens.

Eloquent appeals to your passions, to your State pride, to
your native courage, to your sense of real injury were used to
prepare you for the period when the mask which concealed the
hideous features of disunion should be taken off. It fell, and
you were made to look with complacency on objects which, not
long since, you would have regarded with horror. Look back
at the nrts which have brought you to this state — look forward
to the consequences to which it must inevitably lead! Look
back to what was first told you as an inducement to enter into
this dangerous course ! The great political truth was repeated
to you, that you had the revolutionary right of resisting all laws
that were palpably unconstitutional and intolerably oppressive
— it was added that the right to nullify a law rested on the same
principle, but that it was a peaceable remedy. This character
which was given to it, made you receive, with too much confi
dence the assertions that were made of the unconstitutionality
of the law, and its oppressive effects. Mark, my fellow-citizens?
that by the admission of your leaders, the unconstitutionality
must be palpable ; or it will not justify either resistance or nul
lification! What is the meaning of the word palpable, in the
sense in which it is here used ? — that which is apparent to every
one : that which no man of ordinary intellect will fail to per
ceive. Is the unconstitutionality of these laws of that descrip-

tion? Let those among your leaders who once approved and
advocated the principle of protective duties, answer the ques
tion ; and let them choose whether they will be considered as
incapable, then of perceiving that which must have been appa
rent to every man of common understanding, or as imposing
upon your confidence, and endeavoring to mislead you now.
In either case, they are unsafe guides in the perilous path they
urge you to tread. Ponder well on this circumstance, and you
will know how to appreciate the exaggerated language they ad
dress to you. They are not champions of liberty, emulating the
fame of our Revolutionary Fathers; nor are you an oppressed
people, contending, as they repeat to you, against worse than
colonial vassalage. You are free members of a flourishing and
happy Union. There is no settled design to oppress you.

I have urged you to look back to the means that were used
to hurry you on to the position you have now assumed, and for
ward to the consequences it will produce. Something more is
necessary. Contemplate the condition of that country of which
you still form an important part ! Consider its government,
uniting in one bond of common interest and general protection,
so many different States, giving to all their inhabitants the proud
title of American citizens, protecting their commerce, securing
their literature and their arts, facilitating their intercommunica
tion, defending their frontiers, and making their name respected
in the remotest part of the earth ! Consider the extent of its
territory, its increasing and happy population, its advances in
arts which render life agreeable, and in the sciences which ele
vate the mind ! See education spreading the lights of religion,
humanity, and general information into every cottage in this
wide extent of our territories and states. Behold it as the asylum
where the wretched and the oppressed find a refuge and sup
port ! Carolina is one of these proud States : her arms have de
fended, her best blood has cemented this happy Union. Look
on this picture of happiness and honor, and say — we, too, are
citizens of America ; and then add, if you can, without horror and
remorse, this happy Union we will dissolve — this picture of
peace and prosperity we will deface ; this free intercourse we
will interrupt — these fertile fields we will deluge with blood —
the protection of that glorious flag we renounce; the very

; 94

name of Americans we discard. And for what, mistaken men !
— for what do you throw away these inestimable blessings — for
what would you exchange your share in the advantages and
honor of the Union ? For the dream of a separate independence
— a dream interrupted by bloody conflict with your neighbors
and a vile dependence on a foreign power. If your leaders
could succeed in establishing a separation, what would be your
situation ? Are you united at home- — are you free from the ap
prehension of civil discord, with all its fearful consequences ?
Do our neighboring republics, every day suffering some new
revolution, or contending with some new insurrection ; do they
excite your envy? But the dictates of a high duty oblige me
solemnly to announce that you cannot succeed.

You have indeed felt the unequal operation of laws which
may have been unwisely, not unconstitutionally passed ; but
that inequality must necessarily be removed. At the very mo
ment when you were madly urged on to the unfortunate course
you have begun, a change in public opinion had commenced.
The nearly approaching payment of the public debt, and the
consequent necessity of a diminution of duties, had already pro
duced a considerable reduction, and that too on some articles of
general consumption in your State. The importance of this
change was understood, and you were authoritatively told, that
no further alleviation of your burthen was to be expected, at the
very time when the condition of the country imperiously de
manded such a modification of the duties as should reduce them
to a just and equitable scale. But, as if apprehensive of the ef
fect of this change in allaying your discontents, you were pre
cipitated into the fearful state in which you find yourselves.

The laws of the United States must be executed — I have no
discretionary power on the subject — my duty is emphatically
pronounced in the Constitution. Those who told you that you
might peaceably prevent their execution, deceived you — they
could not have been deceived themselves. They know that a
forcible opposition could alone- prevent the execution of the
laws, and they know that such opposition must be repelled.
Their object is disunion ; but be not deceived by names ; dis
union by armed force is treason. Are you really ready to incur

its guilt? If you are, on the heads of the instigators of the act
be the dreadful consequences — on their heads be the dishonor,
but on yours may fall the punishment — on your unhappy State
will inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict you force upon
the Government of your country. It cannot accede to the mad
project of disunion, of which you would be the first victims — its
first Magistrate cannot, if he would, avoid the performance of his
duty — the consequences must be fearful for you, distressing to
your fellow-citizens here, and to the friends of government
throughout the world. Its enemies have beheld our prosperity
with a vexation they could not conceal — it was a standing refu
tation of their slavish doctrines, and they will point to our dis
cord with the triumph of malignant joy. It is yet in your power
to disappoint them.

There is yet time to show that the descendants of the Pinck-
neys, the Sumpters, the Rutledges, and of the thousand other
names which adorn the pages of your revolutionary history, will
not abandon that Union, to support which, so many of them
fought, and bled, and died. I adjure you, as you honor their
memory ; as you love the cause of freedom, to which they dedi
cated their lives, as you prize the peace of your country, the
lives of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, to retrace your
steps. Snatch from the archives of your State the disorganizing
edict of its Convention ; bid its members to re-assemble and
promulgate the decided expression of your will to remain in
the path which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity and
honor — tell them that compared to disunion all other evils are
light, because that brings with it an accumulation of all — de
clare that you will never take the field unless the star-spangled
banner of your country shall float over you — that you will not
be stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and scorned while
you live, as the authors of the first attack on the Constitution of
your country ! Its destroyers you cannot be. You may disturb
its peace — you may interrupt the course of its prosperity — you
may cloud its reputation for stability — but its tranquillity will be
restored, its prosperity will return, and the stain upon its nation
al character will be transferred, and remain an eternal blot on
the memory of those who caused the disorder.

Fellow citizens of the United States ! The threat of unhal
lowed disunion — the names of those, once respected, by whom
it is uttered — the array of military force to support it — denotes
the approach of a crisis in our affairs on which the continuance
of our unexampled prosperity, our political existence, and per
haps that of all free government, may depend. The conjunc
ture demanded a free, a full and explicit enunciation, not only of
my intentions, but of my principles of action ; and as the claim
was asserted of a right by a State to annul the laws of the Union,
and even to secede from it at pleasure, a frank exposition of my
opinions in relation to the origin and form of our government,
and the construction I give to the instrument by which it was
created, seemed to be proper. Having the fullest confidence in
the justness of the legal and constitutional opinion of my duties,
which has been expressed, I rely with equal confidence on your
undivided support in my determination to execute the laws ; to
preserve the Union by all Constitutional means ; to arrest, if
possible, by moderate but firm measures, the necessity of a re
course to force ; and if it be the will of Heaven that the recur
rence of its primeval curse on man for the shedding of a brother's
blood, should fall upon our land, that it be not called down by
any offensive act on the part of the United States.

Fellow citizens ! The momentous case is before you. On
your undivided support of your Government, depends the decis
ion of the great question it involves, whether your sacred
Union will be preserved, and the blessings it secures to us as
one people, shall be perpetuated. No one can doubt that the
unanimity with which that decision will be expressed, will be
such as to inspire new confidence in republican institutions ; and
that the prudence, the wisdom, and the courage which it will
bring to their defence, will transmit them unimpaired and in
vigorated to our children.

May the Great Ruler of nations grant that the signal blessings
with which he has favored ours, may not, by the madness of
party or personal ambition, be disregarded and lost ; and may
His wise Providence bring those who have produced this crisis,
to see their folly, before they feel the misery of civil strife 5 and
inspire a returning veneration for that Union, which, if we dare

to penetrate His designs, He has chosen as the only means of
attaining the high destinies to which we may reasonably aspire.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Seal of the United
States to be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with
my hand.

Done at the City of Washington, this 10th day of December, in
the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-
two, and of the independence of the United States, the fifty-
seventh.

By the President.

ANDREW JACKSON.
EDW. LIVINGSTON,

Secretary of State.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

State of Neto

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Court convened, That the sentiments contained in the Proclama
tion of the President of the United States, dated December 10,
1832, meet with the entire approbation of this Legislature ; and
that we hail in those sentiments, and in the general measures of
his administration, and particularly in the salutary exercise of
his Veto, a Chief Executive Magistrate, whose devoted patriot
ism and moral courage are equal to any crisis, and under the
guidance of whose wisdom the ancient landmarks of the Consti
tution will be preserved, and the confidence reposed in him, as
manifested in his recent election by a vast majority of the Ameri
can people, will be fully justified.

And resolved further, That the Secretary of State be directed
to transmit a copy of this resolution to the President of the
United States, and to each of our Delegates in Congress, and
the Governor of each State in the Union.

FRANKLIN PIERCE,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

BENNING M. BEAN,

President of the Senate.
[A true copy.]

RALPH METCALF, Secretary of State.

RESOLVES

OP THE

LE GISL A TURE

AINE.

State of Jttaine*

IN SENATE, February 1, 1833.

The Joint Select Committee, to which was referred so much of
the Governor's Message as relates to the difficulties existing
between South Carolina and the General Government, and
the Documents from South Carolina, and several other States,
upon the same subject, have had the same under considera
tion, and

REPORT :

THAT they have given their anxious and serious attention to
the several documents referred to their consideration ; all of
which have grown out of the unhappy controversy now subsist
ing between South Carolina and the General Government.
Most, if not all of them, contain speculative views of the nature
and objects of our political system. In the several communica
tions, there is observable a wide diversity of sentiment ; and in
some, especially those from South Carolina, the conclusions
adopted are made the subjects of a very extended and elaborate
argument. To review and compare with each other the several
opinions and doctrines set forth in these several communica
tions, to examine fully the various arguments and objections
which they oppose to each other, and to investigate what, if any,
errors of fact, of principle, or of reasoning, may be contained in
any, or all of them, would seem to be a task of great labor, and
one not likely, perhaps, to result in any corresponding benefit.

This State, on two occasions, has heretofore expressed her
opinion upon the subject of Federal Relations. It is believed,
15

106

that the Report and Resolutions of 1827, relative to Internal
Improvements, and the Report and Resolutions of 1831, upon
the same subject, contain a general outline of the sentiments of
Maine, as regards the origin and purposes of our political sys
tem, the powers conferred upon the General Government by the
Constitution, and the rights reserved to the People and the
States. As a declaration of our principles and opinions, as to
the relative powers and duties of the General Government and
the several State Governments, we deem it unnecessary, there
fore, at the present time, to do more than simply refer to the
several Reports and Resolutions above alluded to.

Without entering into the discussion of political theories, we
have chosen rather to take a practical view of the unhappy diffi
culties which agitate the public tranquillity, and alarm the pub
lic mind. Viewing with the deepest feelings of regret, the
excitement which pervades our sister State, and the rash and
presumptuous measures to which it has led, and deprecating
those measures as utterly inconsistent with the spirit of forbear
ance and compromise in which our Union had its origin, and
by a perseverance in which it can alone be maintained, we can
not, at the same time, forget that this excitement, this disturb
ance of the public tranquillity, and all the dangers which this
unnatural controversy threatens to bring upon the country, have
for their origin and moving cause the policy of the protective
system. Under this aspect of public affairs, it has seemed to
your Committee the more useful course to respectfully inter
pose the voice of this State for conciliation and forbearance.
There are none among us who would justify the untimely and
ruinous resistance which South Carolina threatens against the
existing laws of the United States, of whose injustice she com
plains. On the other hand, a large majority of the citizens of
Maine ever have entertained — they still entertain the most un-
doubting convictions of the impolicy and oppression of high
protecting duties.

Under these circumstances, and with these views, the Com
mittee submit the following Resolves.

J. WILLIAMSON, Chairman,

RESOLVES.

Resolved, That, we are not insensible to the wrongs and suffer
ings of our brethren of South Carolina, under the unjust and
oppressive burdens imposed upon them by the Tariffs of high
protective duties. But while we deplore their grievances, and
are ready to unite with them in any and every peaceful and
lawful mode of redress, we cannot, nor will we give our coun
tenance or support to their projected scheme for relief. We
regard nullification as neither a safe, peaceable, or constitu
tional remedy, but as unsound and dangerous in theory and in
practice, tending directly to civil commotion, disunion, and an
archy. We implore them to pause in their precipitate career,
to suspend their rash and revolutionary measures, and trust to
that redeeming spirit of justice which is a ruling characteristic
of the American people.

Resolved, That the acts of Congress, usually denominated
Tariff laws, so far as they were passed palpably and solely for
the purpose of protecting and fostering particular branches of
industry, are unequal in their operation, and contrary to the
spirit, true intent, and meaning of the Federal Compact.

Resolved, That it is due to a spirit of mutual conciliation, to
the demands of justice, to a decent respect for the opinions and
interests of large portions of the community, and absolutely
necessary to the preservation of the Union, that the Tariff laws
should be gradually (but speedily) abated to the imposition of
such duties only as are required for. the purpose of a revenue
sufficient to defray the ordinary expenses of the General Gov
ernment, confined to its appropriate objects, and economically
administered.

Resolved, That we heartily approve the policy and measures
of President Jackson's administration, and in the present diffi
cult and threatening aspect of public affairs, we look with con
fidence to the patriotism, vigilance, and firmness of our Chief

108

Magistrate, as sure pledges that all his efforts will be directec
to preserve unimpaired the union, happiness, and glory of oui
Republic.

Resolved, That the patriotic spirit and tone of the President's
recent Proclamation, relating to the extraordinary proceedings
of South Carolina, meet our warmest approbation ; and we ap
prove of the principles and policy avowed therein, as expound
ed, not in accordance with the federal doctrine of consolidation
but with the democratic doctrine of State rights, and a limita
tion of action of the Federal Government to the powers ex
pressly delegated to it by the Constitution, and in accordant
with the several messages of President Jackson, to Congress
and the uniform tenor of the acts of his administration 5 and ii
support of all constitutional measures adopted by him to pre
serve the Union, we tender him our undivided support.

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be, and hereby is direct
ed to transmit a copy of these Resolves, with the Preamble, t
each of the Representatives in Congress from this State.

Resolved, That the Governor be, and hereby is requested t
transmit a copy of these Resolves, with the Preamble to th
Executive of each of the other States of this Union, and th
President of the Senate of the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 18, 1833.
Read and passed.

NATHAN CLIFFORD, Speaker.

IN SENATE, February 19, 1833.
Read and passed.

FRANCIS O. J. SMITH, President.

February 20, 1 833.

Approved.

SAMUEL E. SMITH, Governor.

[A true copy.]

Attest:— R. G. GREENE, Secretary of State,

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

MASSACHUSETTS,

of Jtta00ac!)tt0*tt0.

HOUSE or REPRESENTATIVES, January 9, 1833.

Ordered, That Messrs. CROWNINSHIELD, of Boston,
SHAW, of Lanesborough,
LINCOLN, of Worcester,
HOLMES, of Rochester, and
ROBINSON, of Marblehead,

with such as the Senate may join, be a Committee to consider
so much of the Governor's Address as relates to the proceedings
of the late Convention of the people of South Carolina, and the
purposes and policy thereof, and also the Resolutions of the
State of Pennsylvania thereon : Sent up for concurrence.

L. S. CUSHING, Clerk.

IN SENATE, January 10th, 1833.

Concurred, and Messrs. Everett, Hoar, Barton and Burnell
are joined.

CHAS. CALHOUN, Clerk.

IN SENATE, February 15, 1833.

The Joint Select Committee, appointed to consider so much of
the Governor's Address as relates to the proceedings of the
late Convention of the people of South Carolina, and the pur
poses and policy thereof: and to whom have been referred
Resolutions of the States of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire,
Illinois, North Carolina and Delaware upon that subject, have
attended to the duty assigned them, and beg leave to submit
the following

REPORT :

IN the partial Report which they have already submitted, the
Committee have stated in general terms the character of the
proceedings of the late Convention of the people of South Car
olina ; and the subject is now so familiar to the public, that it
does not seem necessary to enter very fully into a recapitulation
of facts. It is generally known that this Convention, which ap
pears to have been assembled agreeably to the forms prescribed
by the Constitution of the State, met at Columbia on the 22d of
last November : — that almost immediately after, and with very
little deliberation, it proceeded to pass an Act, denominated an
Ordinance, declaring null and void all the laws of the United
States which impose duties upon the importation of foreign
goods, particularly those of the 19th of May, 1828, and the 14th
of June, 1S32; prohibiting the execution of them within the
State of South Carolina, and making it the duty of the Legisla
ture to pass such laws as should be necessary to give full effect

113

to the Ordinance, and to prevent the enforcement and arrest the
execution of the laws aforesaid : — that the Legislature, at a ses
sion subsequent to the meeting of this Convention, has in fact
passed certain laws for these purposes, which were to go into
operation on the first day of this month, and which, if executed,
must bring the constituted authorities of the United States and
of South Carolina, into open collision.

The papers in the hands of the Committee include a printed
copy of this Ordinance of the Convention, transmitted by its
order to His Excellency the Governor, and also printed copies
of a long report of the committee which drafted the Ordinance,
and of addresses in the name of the Convention to the people of
the United States and of South Carolina. These documents un
dertake to justify the proceedings of the Convention, on the
ground that the duties on the importation of foreign goods were
laid, in part at least, for the purpose of protecting domestic indus
try : that the General Government is not invested by the Consti
tution with the power of laying duties for this purpose, and that,
whenever the General Government assumes powers which, in the
opinion of any one of the States, are not given to it by the Con
stitution, the State which entertains this opinion may, without
violating the Constitution, declare the act by which the power
so assumed has been exercised, null and void, and prevent the
execution of it within its limits. It also appears to have been
supposed by the Convention, that, on the adoption of such
measures by any one State, it would become the duty of the
General Government to suspend the execution of the iaw com
plained of, at least within the limits of the complaining State,
and to apply to the people in the form prescribed for amending
the Constitution, for a grant of the power supposed to have been
unconstitutionally assumed : — that, if the power should on this
application be refused by the people, it would be the duty of
the General Government definitively to repeal the law by which
it had been exercised, and that if, on the contrary, it should be
granted, it would then become the duty of the complaining
State to acquiesce. There seems, however, to be some uncer
tainty in the views of this part of the subject entertained by that
portion of the citizens of South Carolina upon whom the respon
sibility for the semeasures rests : as the Legislature of the State,
16

114

instead of leaving it to the General Government to propose to
the people in the form prescribed for amending the Constitution
a grant of the power of laying duties upon the importation of
foreign goods, have themselves, at their late session, passed res
olutions, proposing to the other States to hold a Convention for
the purpose of settling this and other questions which they con
sider as doubtful.

It is affirmed, in these addresses and reports, that the laws of
the United States, imposing duties upon the importation of
foreign goods, thus declared to be null and void, are exceedingly
burthensome and oppressive to the people of South Carolina. —
This proposition is not made out by the statement of any facts
which tend to prove the existence of actual distress ; and it is
remarkable that the Governor of South Carolina, in his address
to the Legislature, at the opening of their late session, congrat
ulates them upon the extraordinary prosperity of the State. The
Convention attempt to maintain their assertion of the ruinous
tendency of the impost laws, by laying down certain abstract
principles in political economy, which are very paradoxical, and
as the Committee believe, entirely erroneous. It is unnecessary,
however, for the purpose of the present report, to enter upon a
particular examination of these doctrines, because the justifica
tion of the proceedings of South Carolina does not, after all, de
pend in any degree upon the question of their truth or falsehood.
Whatever oay be the real operation of the impost laws upon the
peculiar interests of that State, — were it as unfavorable as the
Committee believe it to be beneficial arid salutary, it is admitted
that the State would have no right to seek redress in the form in
which it is now sought, unless the enactment of these laws in
volve an assumption by the General Government of powers not
granted by the Constitution. No abuse of constitutional power,
however glaring and intolerable, would on the theory of the
Convention, justify a resort to nullification.

The question of the real operation of the impost laws upon the
prosperity of South Carolina, may therefore be laid entirely out
of the case. Nor, although the justification of the proceedings
of the Convention is to be sought, on the ground taken by that
body, in the supposed unconstitutional character of these laws,
do the Committee deem it important for the present purpose to

115

inquire particularly how far this supposition is well founded.
Entertaining, themselves, no doubt whatever, that the power of
laying duties on imported foreign goods, with a view to any ap
propriation of them which, in the discretion of the Government,
may be required by the common defence and general welfare, is
given by the Constitution, the Committee are also persuaded, that
were this a doubtful point, or were it even conceded that the
General Government has no such power, the proceedings of
South Carolina would not, on that account, be any the more de
fensible. The objection to them is, that they propose an uncon
stitutional and illegal method of obtaining relief from a supposed
political grievance. It is therefore unnecessary to inquire,
whether this grievance be real or imaginary, since the objec
tion, if substantiated, is equally valid in either contingency.

Omitting, therefore, any consideration of the expediency or
constitutionality of the laws imposing duties on imported for
eign goods, the Committee will confine themselves to the single
inquiry, how far the proceedings of the Convention of South
Carolina are consistent with the Constitution and Laws of the
Country .p Even in this restricted shape, the subject is far too
extensive to be examined, in a full and satisfactory manner,
within the limits assigned by usage to a document of this kind.
The Committee can only undertake to present a few of the
considerations that bear most strongly and obviously upon the
leading points of the argument.

The suggestion that would probably first occur to an impar
tial mind, on examining the account of these proceedings, is the
apparent want of consistency and precision in the reejoning and
conduct of the Convention, admitting even the correctness of
the general principles on which they profess to act. It would
be natural to expect, that in a case of so novel a character, and
of such extraordinary interest and importance, every step would
be carefully guarded, and no conclusions drawn, which did not
follow, in the strictest manner, from their supposed premises.
This, however, is far from being the case. The Committee have
already remarked the difference between the theories of the
Convention and the Legislature, as to the second step in the
process of nullification. While the Convention appear to sup
pose that after a State has annulled an act of Congress, it be-

116

comes the duty of the General Government to apply to the
States for a grant of the disputed power, the Legislature have
addressed themselves directly to the States, and proposed a Con
vention. The want of consistency in the texture of the Ordi
nance, is not less apparent. The whole reasoning of that act,
and the accompanying papers, supposes that the right of a State
to annul an act of Congress, can only exist in the case of an as
sumption by that body, of powers not delegated by the Consti
tution ; and for the purpose of bringing the impost laws within
this rule, the Convention attempt, at great length, to prove that
they do, in fact, involve such an assumption. Thus far their
conduct, if not justifiable, is consistent ; but after first annulling
the Tariff laws, the Convention proceed, in open defiance of
their own rules and reasoning, to annul an important provision
of another law, which has never been regarded by any one as
unconstitutional, and which the Convention themselves do not
even pretend to represent as being so. While the Judiciary
law gives the right of appeal from the State Courts to the
United States, in all cases involving any question of the validity
of an act of Congress, the Ordinance prohibits any such appeal
in all cases involving any question of the validity of the acts of
Congress which it professes to annul. This is done without
even the ceremony of affirming, or attempting to prove, that
this provision of the Judiciary act involves an assumption of
power not delegated by the Constitution.

This feature in the Ordinance renders it, perhaps, in some
degree, superfluous to examine the reasoning by which the Con
vention undertake to justify its leading provisions. If they can
venture to annul one act of Congress, without even pretending
to assert that it is unconstitutional, it is not easy to see why they
should be at so much pains to make this out, in regard to an
other, before they subject it to the same process : nor does it
seem to be very necessary to inquire, how far they succeed in
establishing this proposition, when their proceedings so clearly
shew, that if be necessary to their argument, it is in no way
necessary to their action. But without enlarging upon this con
sideration, the Committee will proceed to examine, very con
cisely, the nature of the reasoning by which the Convention
undertake to prove, that any one State has a right to annul an

117

act of Congress, which, in the opinion of such State, involves an
assumption of power not delegated by the Constitution. The
substance of the argument is understood to be as follows :

The Constitution is a compcct between the States, which
were, at the time of forming it, and are now distinct communi
ties, politically independent of each other. It confers, on the
General Government, certain specific powers, and the assump
tion by that Government of any power not so delegated, is a
breach of the compact. But in this, as in all other cases of
compacts or treaties between independent States, a breach of
the compact by one party, exempts the rest from the obligation
they were under to observe it ; and each is, of course, the only
judge for itself, whether the compact is or is not observed.
Or, in still more concise language :

The States were independent of each other at the time when
they formed the Constitution ; therefore they are independent
of each other now.

This argument appears to the Committee to be defective in
both its parts. It is far from being a settled and acknowledged
point, that the States can fairly be considered as having been
absolutely independent of each other at the time when the pre
sent Constitution was formed ; and if this were even admitted,
it would by no means follow, that they possess, and may exer
cise under the Constitution, and consistently with it, the rights
belonging to mutually and absolutely independent States.

1. It is far from being a settled point, that the States can
fairly be considered as having been absolutely independent of
each other at the time when the Constitution was formed and
adopted. It is well known, that this is a question upon which
the ablest statesmen, and purest patriots in the country have
differed, and at this moment continue to differ, in opinion. The
President of the United States, in his late Proclamation upon
the subject of the proceedings of South Carolina, expressed his
belief, that the Acts of the Union which preceded the Declara
tion of Independence, had combined the States into ONE PEO
PLE, and that it was in their joint capacity as such, that they
formed the Constitution. His predecessor has publicly pro
fessed the same sentiment. On the other hand, Presidents Jef
ferson and Madison, with various other citizens of the highest

118

respectability, many of whom had concurred in the forming of
the Constitution, consider the States as having been, from the
time of the Declaration of Independence, until the adoption of
the Constitution, distinct communities, entirely independent of
each other.

This diversity of views, among individuals of equal talent and
unsuspected integrity, will not appear very extraordinary, when
it is recollected that during the period in question, the country
was in a revolutionary state. Its condition was analogous to
that of England during the interval between the overthrow of
the arbitrary government of the Stuarts, and the settlement of
the Constitution in 1688; or that of France, between the de
struction of the old monarchy in 1789, and the final sanction of
the present charter, after the three great days of July 1830. In
both the cases alluded to, it is well known, that political institu
tions, of various and opposite characters, rapidly succeeded each
other, and that neither country could be said, with propriety, to
possess a regular and settled government. They were in a state
of transition from one form of political existence to another, and
this was substantially the condition of the United States from
the Declaration of Independence until the adoption of the Con
stitution. It was not only a natural, but, as the Committee con
ceive, a necessary result of this condition, that political events
of different and even contradictory characters, should success
ively occur, and that individuals, as they have been led, by cir
cumstances, to attach greater or less importance to one or an
other of these events, should draw different conclusions as the
existing forms of government. On the one hand, the States
acted, for many purposes, as distinct communities, claiming to
be politically independent of each other ; while, on the other
hand, they organized a Union among themselves, with a Con
gress of Delegates at the head of it, who exercised most of the
powers of a General Government. It would, perhaps, be diffi
cult to reconcile all the acts and powers of Congress and the
State Governments at that time, with any consistent and precise
political theory ; and the failure of the experiment tends to con
firm the opinion, that the elements which entered into the struc
ture of the old confederacy, were incoherent and self-contra
dictory. The Committee are inclined to believe, as they have

119

already remarked, that the future historian will consider the
whole period in question as a revolutionary one, and the form
of the government as unsettled and fluctuating, until it was final
ly fixed, for the first time, by the adoption of the present Con
stitution.

2. But the Committee deem it unnecessary to dwell upon this
point, since, were it even admitted that the States, at the time
when they formed the Constitution, were distinct communities,
politically independent of each other, it would by no means fol
low, as the Convention of South Carolina appear to suppose,
that they are still in that condition, and that the Union is a
League or Confederacy of mutually and absolutely independent
States. The rights and obligations of the parties to a contract,
are determined by its nature and terms, and not by their condi
tion previously to its conclusion. As respects the latter point,
the only question is, were the parties legally, or in cases when
they are not subject to a Common Government, morally capable
of making such a contract? If this question be answered in the
affirmative, the previous condition of the parties, in other re
spects, is immaterial ; and in order to ascertain to what the con
tract binds them, we have only to inquire what the contract is.

Now there can be no doubt, that independent States are mor
ally as capable of forming themselves into a body politic, as in
dependent individuals. A great proportion of the political so
cieties which now exist, or of which we know the history, were
constituted in this way. Hence, were it even admitted, that the
States were distinct and independent communities at the time
when they framed the Constitution, the fact would no more
prove, that they are distinct and independent communities now,
than the fact that the two parties to a contract of marriage were
single before its conclusion goes to prove that they are single
afterwards. If the States were, at the time when they framed
the Constitution., as there cannot be a doubt, morally capable
of forming a contract, involving the entire surrender of their po
litical independence, it is quite apparent that, in order to ascertain
their rights and obligations under the Constitution, we have to
look exclusively to the nature and terms of that instrument,
without regard to the mutual relations of the parties before they
made it.

120

Reposing mainly, as has been said, for the justificatkm of
their proceedings, upon the argument that the States were in
dependent at the time when the Constitution was adopted, and
must therefore of course be independent now, the Convention
has in a great measure lost sight of the course of reasoning
which is proper to the subject, and have made but little effort
to establish their doctrines, by reference either to the general
nature of the Constitution, or to its specific provisions. Some
considerations appertaining to this branch of the inquiry, are
however to be found in their publications, and to them the
Committee will now very briefly direct their attention.

Of these considerations the most important is, that the Gene
ral Government, created by the Constitution of the United
States, is a Government invested with specific and limited pow
ers, having no general and indefinite powers, excepting such as
are necessary to carry the specified ones into effect, and that the
powers not conferred upon the General Government are reserved
to the States. This is, no doubt, true in fact : but that it was not
intended in making this arrangement, to maintain the States in
possession of an absolute political independence, with a right of
judging for themselves when the General Government exceeds
its powers, and annulling any acts involving such excess, is ap
parent, as well from other particular provisions of the Constitu
tion, as from the general scope and purpose of that instrument.

1. In all cases the general purpose of a contract is one of the
most important elements to be taken into view in ascertaining
the rights and obligations resulting from it, because the general
purpose controls, to a certain extent, the construction of all the
particular provisions. It would be absurd to interpret any par
ticular part of an instrument in such a way as would suppose in
the parties an intention manifestly contrary to the general ob
ject of the whole ; as for example, to interpret one of the clauses
in a contract of marriage in such a way as would suppose that
it was the intention of the parties to remain single. Now it is
quite apparent from the general scope and purpose of the Con
stitution of the United States, that it was not the intention of
the parties who framed it, whether considered in their joint or
individual capacity, to retain the character of absolute political
independence. It is one of that class of agreements commonly

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denominated social compacts, the principal object of which is
to combine the parties forming them into one body politic, or
political society, under a common Government. This is appa
rent on the face of the instrument. 'We, the people of the
United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish
justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common de
fence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.' That such isgthe
general scope of the instrument is not contested by the warmest
advocates of the doctrines maintained by the Convention of South
Carolina. But the precise object which the parties to a social
compact have in view in forming themselves into one political
society, is to terminate the relation of mutual independence
which previously existed between them. If the contract con
tained a clause providing that the parties should retain their
political independence, it would be self-contradictory ; and to
interpret a doubtful passage or particular provision in such a
a way as to attribute to the parties such an intention, would, as
the Committee have remarked, involve the same absurdity as to
interpret a clause in a marriage contract on the supposition that
the parties intended to remain single. It is of the essence of a
social compact or Constitution of Government, that the parties
to it surrender their absolute political independence, and be
come members of a society whose will is admitted to be the
common law. To declare this will, agreeably to the forms pre
scribed in the Constitution, — in other words, to make and alter
the laws as occasion may require, is the office of the Govern
ment. No individual or other member of the body politic can
possibly as such, exercise the power of making or annulling the
laws, for the obvious reason that laws derive their character as
such, from being the acts of the Government, and that if an in
dividual, or other member of the body politic, should succeed in
giving to his own will the force of law, that is, in compelling
the society to obey it, he would at the same time cease to be a
citizen, and would concentrate in his own hands the Govern
ment of the country. In some extreme cases of intolerable op
pression, the individual and other members of the body politic
are justifiable in forcibly opposing the execution of the law ; but
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122

even in these cases there is no claim of any constitutional or
legal right to repeal or annul it. The claim is to resist, in the
exercise of the natural and inalienable right of self defence, the
execution of what is admitted at the time to be, in form, at least,
a law.

2. The general scope and objects of the Constitution pre
clude therefore the idea that it was the intention of the parties
to it to retain their absolute political independence, or that
they possess any right under it to annul the acts of the General
Government. The same conclusions result with equal certainty
from a view of its particular provisions. Had it been intended
that the States should possess the important power of annulling
or repealing at discretion the acts of the General Government,
this power would undoubtedly have been given to them in ex
press terms. It is not even pretended that the Constitution con
tains any such express concession. Not only is there no express
concession to this effect, but the idea that, any thing of the kind
was intended, is precluded by several provisions of an opposite
character. The Constitution gives to the Supreme Court cog
nizance of all cases arising under the Constitution, and the laws
and treaties made under the authority of the United States. —
This involves the right of deciding, in the last resort, whether
a law is constitutional, which the Carolina doctrine claims for
the States. The Convention have accordingly found themselves
under the necessity of annulling the section of the judiciary act
by which provision was made for carrying this clause of the
Constitution into effect without even pretending that it was un
constitutional. Again : ' This Constitution, and the laws and
treaties made in pursuance of it, are the Supreme Law of the
land, any thing in the Constitution and laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstanding.' By this provision, any act of a State?
whether performed in its sovereign or legislative capacity, pre
tending to annul an act of the General Government, is declared
in advance to be null and void. As respects the pretention
that the States retain under the Constitution their absolute po
litical independence, it may be remarked that, were there no
other objection to the dectrine, it would be satisfactorily refu
ted by the clause which regulates the form of making amend
ments. It is there provided that any amendment of the Con-

123

stitution which may be proposed by two thirds of both Houses
of Congress, and ratified by three fourths of the States, shall be
binding on the rest. It is hardly necessary to add, that a com
munity which is not only bound to obey laws which twenty
three other communities have a common agency in making, but
which is bound to acquiesce in any changes in the form of the
common Government that may be proposed by a certain number
of these other communities, can have no claim to the character
of absolute independence.

It is apparent therefore, as well from the general objects of
the Constitution as from the tenor of its particular provisions,
that it was not the intention of the parties who formed it to re
tain their entire independence, or to exercise the power of an
nulling the acts of the General Government created by it. The
fact that the Government is invested with specific and not indefi
nite powers, has no tendency to prove the existence of such an
intention, and has in fact no bearing at all upon the subject.
The question at issue is, how much power the body politic of the
United States of America possesses over the individual States
of which it is composed. To the decision of this question, it is
obviously quite immaterial whether the powers attributed by
the Constitution to the General Government, are definite or in
definite. These are exercised upon the individual citizen, and
not upon the States, and neither their extent, nor the mode in
which they are determined, can have any effect in settling the
mutual relations between the States and the United States of
America. The powers of all Governments are prescribed and
limited, if not by written instruments, at least by usage and by
the moral law. When they transgress the limits prescribed for
them, the people cure the evil either by a change in the admin
istration effected in consistency with the forms of the Constitu
tion, or if the case be extreme, by recurring to the natural right
of violent resistance to the law. When the powers of the Gov
ernment are defined by a written instrument, an attempt at
usurpation is more likely to be distinctly seen and promptly at
tended to. But no new remedy is created, and in this, as in all
other cases, the people must tolerate the existence of the evil
until it can be removed by the silent efficacy of the ballot-box,

124

or must recur at once to forcible resistance. There is, and can
be in the nature of things, no middle path between these two
courses. Every attempt to prevent by force, the execution of
the laws, — by whatever name it may be called, — is, in its na
ture, revolutionary, and can only be defended by such consid
erations as would justify an act of rebellion.

On the whole, the Committee have been led to conclude from
the best consideration which they have been able to give to the
subject, that the right claimed by South Carolina, for the sev
eral States, of annulling at discretion any act of the General
Government which they may deem unconstitutional, has no
foundation in the letter or spirit of the Constitution, Nor is it
countenanced in any degree by the practice under that instru
ment. For nearly half a century, .during which the Government
has been in operation, no case has occurred of an attempt by a
State to annul one of its acts, although serious discontents have
from time to time existed in different quarters, which would pro
bably have led to the adoption of such a course had it been
recognized by public opinion as constitutional. The only au
thority of a practical kind which has ever been adduced in sup
port of it, is that of certain Resolutions adopted by the State
Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky, in 1798 — 9. Were it
admitted that these Resolutions go the full length of the Caro
lina doctrine, they would still afford no actual precedent, and
could only be regarded as an expression of the opinion tempo
rarily prevailing in the Legislatures of these two States, but
never even by them reduced to practice. These celebrated
Resolutions have however been recently explained in reference
to this very question, by the distinguished Statesman who draft
ed one set of them, and was at the time the confidential friend
and political associate of the author of the other, to intend
nothing more than an assertion, in strong terms, of the univer
sally acknowledged right of constitutional opposition to mea
sures regarded as oppressive, and in extreme cases, of forcible
resistance. This explanation of his own intentions, and those
of his immediate political friends, of course settles the construc
tion to be put upon these Resolutions, and removes the only
shadow of practical authority and precedent, that has ever been
claimed by the advocates of the doctrine of Nullification.

125

As this doctrine receives no countenance from the theory of
the Constitution, or the practice under it, it is the less necessary
to dwell upon its practical tendency, a topic which would afford
very strong corroborating arguments against it, if, as a strict
question of right, it could be considered as doubtful. It hardly
requires any argument to shew that the exercise, by each of the
twenty-four States, of a right to annul, at discretion, any act of
the General Government which they might deem unconstitu
tional, is wholly incompatible with a consistent and settled ad
ministration of the public affairs. Any law which might be sup
posed, correctly or not, to operate with peculiar hardship upon
a particular State, would naturally appear, under the excite
ment of the moment, to be unconstitutional ; and as, in a com
munity so vast as ours, there can hardly ever be a time when there
is not some law which, for some reason, is particularly offensive
to some one State, the process of nullification, if once recog
nized, would be constantly going on in one quarter or another.
Every new attempt of the kind would shake the Government to
its foundations, and it would not probably require the occur
rence of many to reduce our happy Union to a state of dissolu
tion, more complete and hopeless than even that of the Old
Confederacy. The Committee refrain from enlarging upon
these results, the necessity of which is, however, apparent, to
the most superficial observation. The question is argued by
Carolina, chiefly as one of mere right; and the answer on that
ground only, is, in the opinion of the Committee, so clearly
against her, that it would be needless to attempt to sustain it by
any considerations of mere expediency.

With this view of the subject referred to them, and under a
conviction that it is proper and expedient that the opinion of
the General Court of this Commonwealth should be distinctly
expressed upon it, the Committee respectfully submit the ac
companying Resolves, which embody the most important prin
ciples that have now been suggested.

The Committee have felt a very deep regret at finding them
selves called upon to express opinions unfavorable to the pro
ceedings of a State so distinguished in the annals of the country,
and so remarkable for the lofty and generous character of its
sons as that of South Carolina, in so doing, they would not be

126

understood to impeach the motives by which the State has been
governed, or to intimate that it has been actuated by any other
purpose, than that of procuring relief from a supposed grievance.
The Committee are well aware, that the purest patriots and
wisest statesmen may be led, under the influence of mistaken
views and excited feelings, into very dangerous measures. The
present proceedings in South Carolina are, in their opinion, of
that description. But the Committee indulge a confident hope,
that by the exercise of the necessary firmness and discretion, on
the part of the General Government, the danger may be averted,
and that South Carolina herself, recovering from the delusion
under which, for some time past she has appeared to labor, may
continue to maintain her accustomed place among the most en
lightened and patriotic States in the Union.

Before concluding their Report, the Committee deem it a duty
to themselves and to the Legislature, to advert very briefly to
some remarks which have been made upon the tendency of the
Resolves accompanying their former Report, and adopted by
the almost unanimous vote of both branches of the General
Court. In certain quarters of high respectability, where the
Resolves have been brought under discussion, it has been inti
mated that they favor the doctrine of Nullification, because they
express the sentiment that the Legislature is not bound, silently,
to acquiesce in measures considered by them as subversive of
the spirit of the Constitution ; and this in the way of instruction
to the delegation of the Commonwealth in Congress, for the pur
pose of preventing the adoption of these measures. The differ
ence between a proceeding of this kind, and an attempt to annul
and prevent the execution of existing laws, is too obvious to be
overlooked. That the General Government may adopt an un
constitutional measure, is of course possible ; and no one can
doubt that any portion of the people have a right, in an orderly
and peaceable manner, to express their opinion upon the charac
ter of any of the measures of the General Government. But
when this is done in advance, for the purpose not of denouncing
an existing law, but of preventing a threatened mischief, it is
not easy to see how the most fastidious judge can find any thing
at which to take offence.

But were it even true, that the Legislature of this Common-

127

wealth had expressed the intention of forcibly resisting the ex
ecution of an unconstitutional law, it would not therefore follow,
that they had countenanced the doctrine of Nullification. The
right of forcible resistance to the laws, in cases of extreme op
pression, is undisputed. If such a case should ever occur, Mas
sachusetts will openly take her stand upon that undisputed and
indefeasible natural right. Nullification undertakes to recon
cile resistance with submission ; to obey and break the law at
one and the same time. It must be justified, if at all, on prin
ciples entirely different from those which justify the natural
right of resistance, and on principles which have never been
professed, countenanced or practised upon by the Government
or people of this Commonwealth.

All which is respectfully submitted.
For the Committee,

A. H. EVERETT.

RESOLVES

In relation to the Proceedings of the Convention of South

Carolina.

Whereas, The People of South Carolina, assembled by their
Delegates in Convention, have recently passsed an act, denomi-
ted an Ordinance, purporting to annul certain acts of the Gov
ernment of the United States, and to arrest their execution
within the limits of that State, and have transmitted a copy of
the same to His Excellency the Governor, witli an accompany
ing address to the people of this Commonwealth, setting forth
the reasons by which they justify this extraordinary measure ;
and

Whereas, It is important that the opinion of the General
Court of this Commonwealth should be publicly and distinctly
expressed upon those proceedings, in order that their silence
may not be construed into acquiescence in the propriety of the
same, or approbation of the reasons alleged in justification of
them : therefore

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com
monwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled, That the
Constitution of the United States of America, is a solemn Social
Compact, by which the people of the said States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the gene
ral welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for themselves
and their posterity, formed themselves into one body politic,
under a common Government : that this Constitution, and the
laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof, and all
treaties made under the authority of the same, are the supreme
law of the land, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any
State to the contrary notwithstanding : and that no citizen,
State, or other member of the body politic, has a right in any

129

shape, or under any pretext, to annul or prevent the execution
of the said Constitution, laws, or treaties, or any of them, ex
cepting in such extreme cases as justify a violent resistance to
the laws on the principle of the natural and indefeasible prerog
ative of self-defence against intolerable oppression.

Resolved, That the right claimed by the Convention of South
Carolina for that State, of annulling any law of the United
States which it may deem unconstitutional, is unauthorized by
the letter or spirit of the Constitution — not supported by any
contemporaneous exposition of that instrument, or by the prac
tice under it : — inconsistent with the nature of political society,
and tending, in practice, to the subversion of public tranquillity,
and the complete overthrow of the Government.

Resolved, That the President of the United States is empow
ered, and in duty bound by the express provisions of the Con
stitution, and by his oath of office, to take care that the laws
are faithfully executed : — that when attempts are made to dis
turb by force the execution of the laws, it is the duty of the
President to employ the means which are placed at his disposal
by the Constitution and laws for the purpose of defeating them :
that the Proclamation of the 10th December last, is a judicious,
well timed and salutary measure, well calculated to prevent the
necessity of recurring to others of a different character : — that
we approve the determination therein expressed by the Presi
dent, to enforce the laws ; and that we are prepared to support
him and the other constituted authorities of the Union, in all the
necessary, suitable, constitutional and legal measures, which
they may be called upon to adopt for that purpose.

Resolved, That while we find ourselves compelled to express
an unfavorable opinion of the recent proceedings of South
Carolina, we entertain no sentiments of unkindness towards
our fellow citizens of that State : — that we look back with
pride and satisfaction to the brilliant services rendered by
South Carolina in the struggle for Independence, and have ever
regarded her as among the most distinguished members of the
Union : — that we deeply regret that measures adopted in good
faith, and in a strictly constitutional form, by the constituted au
thorities of the country, should have been considered by the
people of that State as intended to build up another section of
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130

the Union at their expense : — that we are, and always have been
ready and desirous to listen in a sincere spirit of conciliation to
any propositions for changing, in a constitutional and legal
manner, any part of the existing legislation, and to give them all
the attention to which they are fairly entitled : — and that we
earnestly entreat our brethren and fellow citizens of South
Carolina, to desist from the irregular, violent and uncon
stitutional attempts to obtain redress for their supposed griev
ances, in which they are now engaged, the result of which, if
further pursued, can only be to create collision between the
General and State Governments, endanger the public tranquil
lity, and seriously compromise the safety of the persons imme
diately concerned in them.

Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor be requested to
transmit a copy of these Resolves, and the Report preceding
them, to the President of the United States, the Governors of all
the States, and to each of the Senators and Representatives of
this Commonwealth in Congress.

IN SENATE, March 1, 1833.
Read twice, and passed.

Sent down for concurrence.

B. T. PICKMAN, President.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, March 9, 1833.
Read twice, and passed in concurrence.

W. B. CALHOUN, Speaker.

March 11, 1833.
Approved.

LEV! LINCOLN.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

NEW YORK.

REPORT.

THE right claimed by the State of South Carolina, to make
void the laws of the United States within her territory, is so
fully set forth in the Ordinance and Documents before the Leg
islature, and so well understood, that a precise statement, in
this report, of its nature and extent, would be superfluous.

The Committee have considered the claim, thus set up,; with
the attention due to the high respectability of the source from
which it emanated, and to the very grave consequences that
would unavoidably result from its establishment; and they con
cur with the Governor in regarding it as a pretension, "not
merely unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States
but fatally repugnant to all the objects for which it was framed."

The unfounded nature of the authority asserted by South Car
olina, has been so clearly demonstrated in the Proclamation of
the President of the United States, which has been published by
order of the Legislature, and is now on its files ; and is so fully
confirmed by the concurring opinions of the people of every
other State in the Union ; that it cannot be necessary that the
Committee should attempt to shed any additional light upon a
subject, in respect to which, the argument may, with so much
truth, be said to be exhausted.

The duty of the President to exercise the authority vested in

him by the Constitution and laws of the United States; to en-

rce the latter in the State of South Carolina, notwithstanding

the unjustifiable attempt on the part of that State to arrest the

due execution thereof, is obvious and imperative. And the

>mmittee are well satisfied that they represent truly the opin-
ons of the Government and People of the State of New York

ien they reciprocate the assurance given by the Governor'

134

that in the performance of that great and responsible duty, by
the exercise of necessary and proper means, the President may
count on their support and co-operation.

With this brief statement of the principal matter referred to
them, the Committee would prefer to leave the subject. Con
sidered only with reference to the present aspect of the affair,
it might not be strictly necessary to say more ; and they depre
cate too sincerely the asperities which usually grow out of di
versities of opinion upon doctrinal points, not to be anxious to
avoid them as far as it can properly be done. The more espe
cially are they impressed with the propriety of such a course, in
reference to the present posture of our public affairs, when the
hearts and minds of our citizens should be exclusively directed
to the measures best calculated to preserve the happy union of
these States in the spirit of affection and brotherly love in which
it was established. The Committee however, are too well ad
vised of the desire of the Legislature that their opinion should
be distinctly expressed upon some points of deep interest, grow
ing out of the assumptions of right contained in the Ordinance
of South, Carolina, and the commentary of the President there
on in his recent Proclamation and Message, to feel themselves
at liberty to exercise a discretion upon the subject.

In the performance of the duty assigned them, they will sub
mit the dictates of their best judgment, in that spirit of liberal
ity and forbearance which, under any circumstances, it would
give them pleasure to cherish, but which, under those that now
exist, they consider it a sacred duty to observe.

They believe that this duty cannot be better discharged than
by a frank and explicit avowal of the principles which, in their
opinion, ought to be applied to the construction of the Consti
tution of the United States, and to control in that respect the
administration of the government established by it. They re
gard it the more important to do so, from the attempts which
have been made to bring into discredit political principles
which the people of this State have so long and so ardently
cherished ; and upon the maintenance of which, in all their pu
rity, the Committee firmly believe the safety of our institutions,
and the future welfare of the country, mainly depend. The re-
assertion of those principles at a period like the present, when

135

there is reason to fear that they may suffer from misapprehen
sion or misrepresentation, is, in the opinion of the Committee, a
matter of paramount obligation.

There is no reasonable ground to doubt, that the great body
of the American people are fervently attached to the Union of
the States, and sincerely desirous that the partition and limita
tions of power intended to be established by the Federal Con
stitution, and the republican principle on which it rests, should
be preserved inviolate. They have, however, greatly differed
as to the most effectual and least exceptionable means, of ef
fecting those objects ; and as to the true source of the dangers
to which our political system was exposed.

These differences arose in the Convention which framed the
Constitution ; attended every step of its formation and estab
lishment, and have never ceased to exist. Consolidation on the
one hand, tending to monarchy in the head, and on the other,
anarchy, consequent upon the insubordination and resistance of
the members, were the evils anticipated at its formation, and
have ever since been dreaded by the respective parties.

A portion of the people believed, that unless great vigor was
imparted to the Federal arm, it would not be able to sustain it
self against the power and influence of the States, and effect the
great objects which all desired to accomplish, through the agency
of the Federal Government. Others supposed, that the natural
tendency of the new system would be towards consolidation ;
and that unless the powers delegated to the government, thus
created, were granted with a sparing hand, scrupulously and
vigilantly guarded, and the remaining powers and sovereignty
of the States amply protected, there would be reason to appre
hend that the revolution of 1776 would be shorn of its honors
and its benefits ; and the consequence ultimately would be, a
return to that form of government which had been thrown off at
so much cost. No candid and intelligent observer can have
failed to witness the enduring effects of these early differences,
nor be ignorant of the unceasing influence they have exercised
on public affairs. On every recurrence to the conflicting prin
ciples by which they were generated, we have seen on the one
side, a strong inclination to yield, readily, to that construction?
and to that course of measures, which might best serve to

136

strengthen the Federal Government, and extend the sphere of
its action ; a disposition which at all times, but with various suc
cess, has been resisted by those, who entertain different views,
as to the best means of securing the efficacy and harmony, and
of preserving the equilibrium and constant stability of the entire
system. It is not the intention of the Committee to enter into
a particular consideration of the reasons, by which these con
flicting opinions are respectively sustained ; nor to advert to them,
farther than is necessary to the distinct and intelligible expla
nation of their own views, upon the subject referred to them.

The Committee are advocates for the reserved rights of the
States, and a strict construction of the Constitution of the United
States. Experience has, they think, fully demonstrated the
wisdom of the determination of the Convention to commit to the
Federal Government, the management of such concerns only, as
appertain to the relations of the States with each other, and with
foreign nations, and certain other matters particularly enumera
ted in the Constitution : leaving the great mass of the business
of the people, relating as it does mainly to their domestic con
cerns, to the legislation of the States. They were wisely re
garded as the safest depositories of the latter powers. This
course was moreover due to the reserved sovereignty of the
States, and required by an enlightened estimate of the dangers
to the harmony of National Legislation, inseparable from the
great diversity in the interests and conditions of the different
States. A sincere adherence to this partition of legislation
amongst the respective governments, and an honest and inflexi
ble observance of the specifications and restrictions by which it
was defined, in the sense designed by the Convention, and as
understood by the people in the adoption of the Constitution,
are in the best judgment of the Committee, indispensably ne
cessary to its preservation.

Time, and the course of events, have solved the great prob
lem that divided the Convention. It is now apparent that the
tendency of the system is to encroachments by the Federal
Government upon the reserved rights of the States, rather than
to an unwillingness on the part of the States to submit to a full
exercise of the powers which were intended to be delegated to
the General Government. So manifest has this tendency been

137

rendered to the people of the United States, that at several in
teresting eras in our history, they have been induced by the ex
cesses to which it led, to rise in their strength, and drive from
power, the agents employed in giving it effect. Such was their
course in the memorable civil revolution of 1800 : and the same
sovereign remedy, upon the same impulse, and, it is hoped, with
similar effect, was applied by the people in 1828. Whilst these
scenes have passed before our eyes, and stand forth upon the
page of our history, for our edification and security, not an in
stance has occurred in which the resistance of a single State, to
the measures of the Federal Government, has excited sufficient
sympathy or countenance from her sister States, to afford cause
for a well grounded apprehension of detriment to the Union, by
an improper combination amongst its members. Even at this
critical emergency in our public affairs, when so much discredit
is apprehended to the sacred cause of State rights from the ex
cesses of South Carolina, the confidence of the Committee in the
correctness of that cause is strengthened by the exemplary con
duct of her sister States. When we witness the fervent zeal that
pervades them all, and see so many who have the same cause of
complaint as South Carolina, and who are equally solicitous for
a redress of their grievances, rising superior to local interests,
exhibiting to the world the most sublime spectacle of devoted
patriotism, and throwing their great moral and physical weight
into the scale of the Union, who can doubt that now, as in the
late war, the federal arm, in the hour of its greatest peril, will
be upheld by the State authorities ? The Committee are cheer
ed by this animating indication of fidelity, not merely because
they see in it the unequivocal evidence of the safety of that
Union which they so highly cherish, but on account of the fa
vorable influence which the complete establishment of the prin
ciples to which they have avowed their attachment, is calcula
ted to exercise on the future administration of this government.
In " the support of the State governments in all their rights as
the most competent administrators of our domestic concerns and
the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies : and the
preservation of the general government in its whole constitu
tional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety
abroad," the Committee recognize the highest duties of every
19

138

public functionary ; and in the encouragement derived from the
approving voice of a virtuous and grateful people, the best se
curity for their faithful performance.

Of the deeply interesting questions arising upon the Ordi
nance and other documents referred to the Committee, there is
none of more immediate importance, than the claim which is
advanced, that a single State has a right to withdraw herself,
against the wishes of her co-States, from the Union, whenever,
in her sole judgment, the acts of the Federal Government shall
be such as to justify the step.

The Committee cannot approve this doctrine. Anxious as
they are to sustain the sovereignty of the States in its full force,
they do not feel it to be less their duty to " preserve," in the lan
guage of Mr. Jefferson, "the General Government, in its whole
constitutional vigor." There is no conflict of duty between
these sentiments ; so far from it, that, in the opinion of the
Committee, no man can be a good citizen, who is disloyal to
either. No apprehension too alarming, can be entertained as to
the injurious consequences which may result from the principles
attempted to be established. The Committee have witnessed,
with deep regret, that an impression has gone abroad, that the
assertion of this right was embraced in the proceedings of the
Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky, in 1798 and 1799.
Whatever authority there may be for the right of secession, it
certainly cannot, in the opinion of the Committee, claim any
from those proceedings. They took place at a very dark and
portentous period in our history ; when the encroachments of
the Federal Government, and the general temper of the times
had filled the hearts of many of our firmest patriots with alarm.

The respect of the people of this State, for those emanations
of lofty and devoted patriotism, is at this day as great, and their
devotion to the principles they inculcated, as sincere as it was
in 1800. And the Committee cannot, as they conceive, render a
more acceptable service to the Republic, than by separating
them from a doctrine which, however sincerely it may be enter
tained by others, is rejected by our citizens, with a degree of
unanimity heretofore unknown to political controversy. A very
brief exposition of the nature and history of those proceedings,
is all that is essential for that purpose. The portions of the

139

Virginia Resolutions, upon the alien and sedition laws, (and
there is not, in this respect, sufficient difference between them
and those of Kentucky, to make the separate examination of each
necessary) from which such a deduction is attempted to be made,
are in the following words :

" That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare,
that it views the powers of the Federal Government, as resulting
from the Compact, to which the States are parties, as limited by
the plain sense and intention of the Instrument constituting that
Compact ; as no farther valid than they are authorized by the
grants enumerated in that Compact ; and that, in case of a de
liberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of other powers, not
granted by the said Compact, the States who are parties
thereto, have a right, and are in duty bound, to interpose, for
arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within
their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties ap
pertaining to them."

et That the good people of this Commonwealth, having ever
felt, and continuing to feel the most sincere affection for their
brethren of other States: the truest anxiety for establishing and
perpetuating the union of all ; and the most scrupulous fidelity
to that Constitution which is the pledge of mutual friendship,
and the instrument of mutual happiness ; the General Assembly
doth solemnly appeal to the like dispositions in the other States,
in confidence that they will concur with this Commonwealth in
declaring, as it does hereby declare, that the acts aforesaid are
unconstitutional ; and, that the necessary and proper measures
will be taken by each, for co-operating with this State in main
taining unimpaired, the authorities, rights and liberties reserved
in the States respectively, or to the people."

These resolutions were met by several of the State Legisla
tures to whom they had been communicated, by counter reso
lutions, protesting against them with much warmth, chiefly on
the ground that the act of a State Legislature, declaring a law
of the United States unconstitutional, was, in itself, an unconsti
tutional assumption of authority, and an unwarrantable interfer-
ance with the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the
United States : accompanied, in some instances, with severe de
nunciations against their disorganizing tendency.

140

The resolutions of the protesting States were, at a succeeding
session of the Virginia Legislature, referred to and reported
upon, at large, by a Committee of that body. Their report was
written by Mr Madison, and led to a re-affirmance by Virginia,
of the unconstitutionally of the alien and sedition laws, and a
re-assertion of the doctrines of the original resolutions. This
masterly exposition of the true principles of the Constitution,
and of the abuses which had been practised under it, contrib
uted more than any event, to that radical change in the public
sentiment of the country, which was consummated by the elec
tion of Mr. Jefferson, and has, from that day to the present, been
justly regarded as the genuine text book of political orthodoxy.
The Committee do, unhesitatingly, and with great satisfaction,
embrace this occasion to avow their decided approbation of its
doctrines ; and they feel, that they would be wanting in grati
tude and duty, if they were not to express their conviction of the
benefits which have been derived from their influence : of the
extent to which, in their opinion, the future operations of our
political institutions are dependent upon the continued respect
and confidence of the people in them : as well as their unfeign
ed admiration of the unsurpassed disinterestedness and inflexi
ble fidelity, with which those doctrines have, through evil and
through good report, been sustained by that truly patriotic
member of the confederacy.

That the judicial department of the Federal Government, was
the exclusive expositor of the Constitution, in cases submitted
to its judgment, in the last resort, was freely admitted. But, it
was contended by that Committee — " First, that there may be
instances of usurped power, which the forms of the Constitution
would never draw within the control of the judicial department :
Secondly, that if the decision of the judiciary be raised above
the authorities of the sovereign parties to the Constitution, the
decisions of the other departments not carried by the forms of
the Constitution before the Judiciary, must be equally authorita
tive and final with the decisions of that department. That the
resolutions of the General Assembly, related to those great and
extraordinary cases in which all the forms of the Constitution
may prove ineffectual against infractions dangerous to the essen
tial rights of the parties to it. That the resort to the judiciary

141

must necessarily be deemed the last, in relation to the authori
ties of the other departments of the Government : not in rela
tion to the rights of the parties to the constitutional compact,
from which the judicial as well as the other departments hold
their delegated trusts. On any other hypothesis, the delegation
of judicial power would annul the authority of the power dele
gating it ; and the concurrence of this department with others
in usurped powers, might subvert forever, and beyond the pos
sible reach of any rightful remedy, the very Constitution which
all were instituted to preserve." That "a declaration that pro
ceedings of the Federal Government are not warranted by the
Constitution, was a novelty neither among the citizens nor the
Legislatures of the States ;" — " nor could the declarations of
either, whether affirming or denying the constitutionality of the
measures of the Federal Government ; or whether made before
or after judicial decisions thereon, be deemed in any point of
view an assumption of the office of a judge. The declarations
in such cases are expressions of opinion, unaccompanied with
other effect than what they may produce on opinion by exciting
reflection. The expositions of the judiciary, on the other hand,
are carried into immediate effect by force. The former may lead
to a change in the legislative expression of the general will —
possibly to a change in the opinion of the judiciary." Hence it
was urged that there was no impropriety in the declaration by
the Legislature that the alien and sedition laws were unconsti
tutional : nor was there any valid objection to the communica
tion of that resolution to her sister States ; nor in the invita
tion which was given to them to concur therein ; nor in asking
for the adoption of " necessary and proper measures by each,
for co-operating with her in maintaining unimpaired the author-
ties, rights, and liberties reserved in the States respectively, or
to the people."

But what were those measures which the Legislature of Vir
ginia deemed " necessary and proper" to meet the exigency in
the affairs of the country so truly alarming as that which then
existed, and to which their proceedings had reference ? Was it
to oppose, by State authority, the regular administration of jus
tice in any case in law or equity committed by the Constitution

142

to the Federal Judiciary ? Did they relate to resistance by a
member of the confederacy, to the execution of the laws of the
United States, passed in conformity to the provisions of the Con
stitution ; or embrace the revocation by a State of the powers
which had, with so much solemnity, and under such high penal
ties, been granted by the people of the respective States to the
Federal Government ? Far, very far from it. Anticipations of
this character were entertained when those resolutions were
under discussion in the Virginia Legislature, and they were con
sequently denounced as the harbinger of civil commotion.
These denunciations were met and refuted by the advocates of
the resolutions, not only after they had been submitted to the
other States, but when they were first submitted to the Legisla
ture of that State. They were introduced by John Taylor, of
Caroline.

In reply to these predictions, he said, " Suppose a clashing of
opinion should exist between Congress and the States, respect
ing the true limits of the constitutional territories, it was easy to
see that if the right of decision had been vested in either party,
that party deciding in the spirit and interest of party, would in
evitably have swallowed up the other. The Constitution must
not only have foreseen the possibility of such a clashing, but
also the consequence of a preference on either side as to its con
struction ; and out of this foresight must have arisen the fifth
article, by which two-thirds of Congress may call upon the
States for an explanation of any such controversy as the present,
by way of amendment to the Constitution, and thus correct an
erroneous construction of its own acts, by a minority of the
States ; whilst two-thirds of the States are also allowed to com
pel Congress to call a convention, in case so many should think
an amendment necessary, for the purpose of checking the un
constitutional acts of that body. Thus, so far as Congress may
have power, it might exert it to check the usurpations of a
State, and so far as the States may possess it, an union of two-
thirds in one opinion might effectually check the usurpations of
Congress. And under this article of the Constitution, the in
controvertible principle before stated might become practically
useful, otherwise no remedy did exist for the only case which
could possibly destroy the Constitution, namely, an encroach-

143

ment by Congress or the States upon the rights of the other.
* * * * Mrt Taylor then proceeded to apply these observ
ations to the threats of war, and the apprehension of civil
commotion, towards which the resolutions were said to have a
tendency. Are the republicans, said he, possessed of fleets and
armies ? If not, to what could they appeal for defence and sup
port? To nothing except public opinion. If that should be
against them, they must yield. * * * * How could the
fifth article of the Constitution be brought into practical use,
even upon the most flagrant usurpations ? War or insurrection,
therefore, could not happen," &c. * " Such, how

ever, he hoped would be the respect to public opinion, that he
doubted not but that the two reprobated laws would be sacri
ficed, to quiet the apprehensions even of a single State, without
the necessity of a convention or a mandate from three-fourths of
the States, whenever it shall be admitted that the quiet and hap
piness of the people is the end and design of Government."

Similar sentiments were advanced by the other supporters of
the resolutions. Mr. Mercer said "that force was never thought
of by any one. The preservation of the Federal Constitution,
the cement of the Union, with its original powers, was the ob
ject of the resolutions."

But all pretence for misapprehension or misconstruction upon
this head is put at rest by the direct explanations of the Virginia
Legislature, in the report which was made and received their
sanction in the session of 1799; in which, in relation to the
means referred to in the resolutions, and in answer to the objec
tion that they might have been such as conflicted with the order
and stability of the Union, they say, "In the example given by
the State, of declaring the alien and sedition acts to be uncon
stitutional, and of communicating the declaration to the other
States, no trace of improper means has appeared. And if the
other States had concurred in making a like declaration, sup
ported too by the numerous applications flowing immediately
from the people, it can scarcely be doubted, that these simple
means would have been as sufficient as they are unexceptionable.

" It is no less certain that other means might have been em
ployed which are strictly within the limits of the Constitution.
The Legislatures of the States might have made a direct repre-

144

sentation to Congress, with a view to obtain a rescinding of the
two offensive acts ; or they might have represented to their re
spective Senators in Congress their wish that two-thirds thereof
would propose an explanatory amendment to the Constitution;
or two-thirds of themselves, if such had been their option,
might, by an application to Congress, have obtained a conven
tion for the same object.

" These several means, though not equally eligible in them
selves, nor probably to the States, were all constitutionally open
for consideration. And if the General Assembly, after declaring
the two acts to be unconstitutional, the first and most obvious
proceeding on the subject, did not undertake to point out to the
other States a choice among the farther measures that might
become necessary and proper, the reserve will not be miscon
strued by liberal minds into any culpable imputation."

Such was the understanding of the import and the intent of
the resolutions by him who introduced them ; by those who sup
ported them ; by the Committee to which they were at a subse
quent session referred ; and by the Legislature which adopted
their exposition.

It is a matter of undoubted historical fact, that the Virginia
resolutions were drawn up by Mr, Madison, and those of Ken
tucky by Mr. Jefferson.

In the dispensation of an all-wise Providence, Mr. Madison's
useful and brilliant life has been prolonged to this late period of
existence. He has borne his testimony against the justice of any
of the inferences which the Committee have felt it their duty to
repel ; and they are unadvised of any act or declaration of Mr.
Jefferson, who, in the confidence and affections of his fellow
citizens, was only second to the Father of his Country, which
conflicts with the known views of his great coadjutor. The
Committee are well aware that the advocates of nullification
have attempted to sustain that doctrine by expressions contained
in an unpromulgated draft of the Kentucky resolutions found
among his papers, in which is set forth the right of a State to
nullify an act of Congress, passed in respect to a subject upon
which its action is expressly inhibited, or upon which it had no
authority to legislate at all. A suggestion which, if it were pos
sible to make a paper so circumstanced whenever it may be

145

found, the basis of so solemn an act, is clearly inapplicable to
the case under consideration, inasmuch as it expressly declares,
that for "an abuse of delegated power," (the most that could by
possibility be made of the revenue laws) "the members of the
General Government being chosen by the people, a change by
the people would be the Constitutional remedy." But the pub
lished writings of that great man are replete with the evidences
of his avowed opinions, inconsistent with the supposition that
he believed in the right of a single State either to make consti
tutional resistance to the laws of the United States or to dissolve
the Union by withdrawing herself from it, when in her sole
judgment, the circumstances were sufficient to justify the act.

In a letter to Mr. Destutt Tracy, in January, 1811, he says,
"Dangers of another kind might more reasonably be apprehend
ed from this perfect and distinct organization, civil and military,
of the States, to wit: that certain States from local and occa
sional discontents, might attempt to secede from the Union.
This is certainly possible ; and would be befriended by this
regular organization. But it is not probable that local discon
tents can spread to such an extent as to be able to face the
sound parts of so extensive a Union — and if ever they should
reach the majority, they would then become the regular govern
ment, acquire ascendency in Congress, and be able to redress
their own grievances by laws peaceably and constitutionally
passed."

In a letter to Elbridge Gerry, of January, 1812, he uses these
significant and emphatic expressions : — "What, then, does this
English faction with you mean ? Their newspapers say rebel
lion, and that they will not remain united with us, unless we
will permit them to govern the majority. If this be their pur
pose, their anti-republican spirit, it ought to be met at once.
But a government like ours should be slow in believing this,
should put forth its whole might when necessary to suppress it,
and promptly return to the paths of reconciliation. The extent
of our country secures it, I hope, from the vindictive passions of
the petty incorporations of Greece. I rather suspect that the
principal office of the other seventeen States, will be to mode
rate and restrain the local excitement of our friends with you,
20

146

when they (with the aid of their brethren of the other States,
if they need it,) shall have brought the rebellious to their feet."

In a letter to Major John Cartwright, as late as June, 1824, he
says, "But, you may ask, if the two departments, (meaning the
General and State Governments,) should claim each the same
subject of power, where is the common umpire to decide ulti
mately between them ? In cases of little importance or urgency,
the prudence of both parties will keep them aloof from the
questionable ground ; but if it can neither be avoided nor com
promised, a convention of the States must be called, to ascribe the
doubtful power to that department which they may think best.
You will perceive by these details, that we have not yet so far
perfected our Constitutions as to venture to make them un
changeable. But still, in their present state, we consider them
not otherwise changeable than by the authority of the people,
on a special election of representatives for that purpose express
ly : They are until then the lex legum."

The Committee have felt it their duty to say thus much, in
order to separate the doctrines of 1798, from the principle now
in question. So far, at least, as they are contained in and de
pend on documents which deserve to be held in respectful re
membrance whilst the Constitution endures.

Neither do the Committee concur in the opinion that the
right of secession necessarily results from the sovereignty of the
States. It appears to the Committee, and they express their
views with unfeigned deference to the highly respectable opin
ions of those who differ with them, that this impression arises
from erroneously regarding the sovereignty of the respective
States as unqualified, and the association a mere confederacy of
free and sovereign States. If such were the case, if the union
were a mere league, the result contended for might follow ; but
the Committee do not so understand the system. The States,
on the contrary, as it was competent for the people of each, act
ing in their highest sovereign character, have voluntarily estab
lished, by express grant, a sovereignty in some respects concur
rent with, and in other respects superior to, their own. This
authority thus established, though founded on a compact, is nev
ertheless a government which is made by that compact sovereign
and independent as to the powers granted to it, in the same

147

manner as the States are sovereign and independent as to powers
not granted. The people of the respective States have stipula
ted that their legislatures, and all their executive and judicial
officers, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support the
Constitution of that government. For a breach of their allegi
ance to it, they have voluntarily subjected themselves to the
highest penalties known to human laws; and to maintain its
sovereignty, they have invested this government of their own
creation with the purse and sword of the nation. The faithful
performance of this contract is certainly matter of high obliga
tion on all the parties to it ; and no condemnatien by the people
can be too severe upon such as are so lost to the obligation
under which they rest, to each other, to the people, and to the
cause of free government throughout the world, as to be guilty
of its intentional violation. But, of the fact and consequences
of such a breach, in cases where no other umpire has been de
signated, it is the right of each party to judge for itself; not for
the Federal Government exclusively, as was contended by the
States which protested against the Virginia and Kentucky res
olutions in 1799 ; nor for each State solely, as is now contend
ed. No right is reserved to the people of any State to absolve
themselves from the performance of duties which they have so
solemnly assumed, without the consent of the other party or par
ties to the compact. Each State, on surrendering a portion of
its sovereignty, acquired, in consequence thereof, a right to the
perpetual adherence of each of its co-States to that Union which
is so necessary to, and was established for, the security of all.

The articles of Confederation abound with declarations that
the Union then formed should be perpetual ; and the present
Constitution was established for the avowed purpose of making
it more perfect. New York entered into the formation of it ex
pressly " to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exi
gencies of the Government, and the preservation of the Union."
Deficient, indeed, would have been the work which came from
the hands of those great men who framed the Constitution, the
final adoption of which was hailed with so much joy by the peo
ple, if it thus contained the elements of its own destruction.

When a State shall attempt to withdraw herself from the Con
federacy, it is for her co-States to decide whether they wilt re-

148

linquish the rights which they acquired when they surrendered
a portion of their sovereignty — consent to a dissolution, and en
deavor to establish a new Government ; or whether they will
insist on the preservation of the Union as it is. Without the
recognition of this right, the Union could not have existed to the
present day. Strip the States of this right, and a system which
but yesterday excited the respect and admiration of the world,
must soon, very soon, serve only as an additional argument in
the mouths of monarchists and absolutists against the capacity
of man for self-government.

Let it not, however, be supposed that the Committee are the
advocates of unconditional submission. Such are not their
views. They concur fully in the sentiment, " that the authority
of constitutions over governments, and of the sovereignty of the
people over constitutions, are truths which are at all times neces
sary to be kept in mind." Or, in the language of our own
State, " that the powers of Government may be re-assumed by
the people, whenever it shall become necessary to their happi
ness." In respect to State governments, this control can be
constitutionally exercised by a bare majority of the people ; and
in the Federal Government, by a specified number of the States.
But this is not the only mode by which the people can redress
intolerable grievances. There is another, which cannot be bet
ter described than has been done by Mr. Madison. " And in
the event (says he) of the failure of every constitutional resort,
and an accumulation of usurpations and abuses, rendering pass
ive obedience and non-resistance a greater evil than resistance
and revolution, there can remain but one resort, the last of all —
an appeal from the cancelled obligations of the compact, to
original rights and the law of self-preservation. This is the ultima
ratio under all governments, whether consolidated, confederated,
or a compound of both. And it cannot be doubted that a single
member of the Union, in the extremity supposed, but in that
only, would have a right, as an extra and ultra-constitutional
right, to make the appeal."

It was to this species of separation, which God in his infinite
mercy avert ! that the Committee understand Mr. Jefferson as
referring, when he alluded to the farther measure of redress
which might be resorted to in extreme cases, and spoke of Vir-

149

ginia's " standing by her arms." It was this great calamity that
he sought to avoid, when he so eloquently and feelingly invoked
his native State never to think of it, until the sole alternatives
left, were a dissolution of the Union, or submission to a Gov
ernment, without limitation or power.

The history given by the President, of the formation of our
Government, has drawn forth conflicting opinions in respect to
its accuracy ; and lest the Committee might be regarded as hav
ing omitted any portion of their duties, they will, upon this sub
ject, also, with deference to the views of others, but frankly
state their own.

The character of our Government, so far as that is effected by
the manner in which the Federal Constitution was framed and
adopted, has been always a matter of more or less contention.
Differences of opinion upon the subject, have been in some de
gree fostered by a seeming discrepancy between the preamble
of the Constitution, and historical facts ; and perhaps in a still
greater degree, by the different senses in which the term
" States," is used by different persons. If we use that term, not
merely as denoting particular sections of territory, nor as refer
ring to the particular governments, established and organized
by the political societies within each, but as referring to the
people composing those political societies, in their highest sove
reign capacity (as the Committee think that in this respect the
term should be used) it is incontrovertible, that the States must
be regared as parties to the compact. For it is well establish
ed, that, in that sense, the Constitution was submitted to the
States ; that in that sense, the States ratified it. This is the ex
planation which is given of the matter in the report to the Vir
ginia Legislature, which has already received the sanction of
the Committee. It is in this sense of the term " States," that
they form the constituency from which the Federal Constitution
emanated, and it is by the States, acting either by their Legis
latures, or in Convention, that any valid alterations of the in
strument can alone be made. It is by so understanding the
subject, that the preamble is reconciled with facts, and that it is
a Constitution established by "the people of the United States,"
not as one consolidated body, but as members of separate and
independent communities, each acting for itself, without regard

150

to their comparative numbers. It was in this form that the Con
stitution of the United States was established by the people of
the different States, with the same solemnity that the Constitu
tions of the respective States were established ; and, as the
Committee have heretofore insisted, with the same binding force
in respect to the powers which were intended to be delegated
to the Federal Government. The effects which are likely to be
produced by the adoption of either of the different versions of
the Constitution, which have at different times been contended
for, it is not the intention of the Committee to discuss. The
positive provisions and restrictions of that instrument, could not
be directly abrogated by the recognition of either. The com
parative weight and influence which would be attached to
the allegations and remonstrances of the States, in respect to the
supposed infractions of the Compact, might, however, be very
different, whether they are regarded as sovereign parties of the
Compact, acting upon their reserved rights, or as forming only
indiscriminate portions of the great body of the people of the
United States, thus giving a preponderence to mere numbers, in
compatible with the frame and design of the Federal Consti
tution.

The diversities of opinion which have arisen upon this sub
ject, have been more or less injurious according to their influ
ence in inclining or disinclining the minds of those who enter
tain them, to a faithful observance of the landmarks of authority
between the respective Governments. Professions are easily
made ; and the best evidence of a correct appreciation of the
nature and design of the system by a public agent, is to be found
in the general bearing of his official acts. If his conduct be
characterized by a desire to administer the Government upon
the principles which his constituents have elected, and by a de
termination to repudiate the dangerous heresy, that the Consti
tution is to be interpreted, not by the well understood intentions
of those who framed and those who adopted it, but by what can
be made out of its words by ingenious interpretation ; if he
honestly believes that the people are the safest depository of
power, and acts up to that belief, by evincing an unwillingness
to exercise authority which was not intended to be granted, and
which the States and the people might not, on open application?

151

be willing to grant ; if he has steadily opposed the adoption of
all schemes, however magnificent and captivating, which are
not warranted by the Constitution — which, from the inequality
of their benefits and burthens, are calculated to sow discord
where there should be union, and which are too frequently
the offspring of that love of personal authority and aggrandize
ment which men in power find it so difficult to resist. If he has
done all in his power to arrest the increase of monopolies, under
all circumstances so adverse to public liberty, and the equal
interests of the community. If his official career has been dis
tinguished by unceasing assiduity to promote economy in the
public expenditures, to relieve the people from all unnecessary
burthens, and generally to preserve our republican system in
that simplicity and purity which were intended for it — under
which it has hitherto been so successful, by which it can alone be
maintained ; and on account of which it has, until this moment,
stood in such enviable and glorious contrast with the corrupt
systems of the old world. If such be the traces of his official
course, and if in maintaining it he shall have impressed all man
kind with the conviction that he regards as nothing, conse
quences which are merely personal to himself, when they come
in contact with duty to his country, the people of the United
States will not doubt his attachment to the true principles of
that Constitution which he has so faithfully administered and so
nobly supported. Such, the Committee take pride in saying,
has been the official course of our present Chief Magistrate — a
course by which, in the judgment of the people of this State, he
has established for himself imperishable claims to their grati
tude, respect, and confidence.

The Committee have thus explained their views upon the
several delicate and deeply interesting questions before them,
with that frankness which becomes the solemn occasion on
which they act, and which should always characterize the move
ments of a sovereign State upon matters involving her relations
with her sister States. In doing so, they have felt it to be their
duty to vindicate and explain the political principles which are
entertained by themselves, and, as they believe, by a majority
of the go~d people of this State. In the performance of this
act of justice and duty, they have endeavored to avoid all impu-

152

tations upon the motives of those who may differ from them-
The same independence and toleration which they claim for
themselves, they are disposed to extend to others. Amidst the
conflict of interest and feelings with which those, who are
charged with the conduct of public affairs at this interesting
crisis, are obliged to struggle, there is happily one opinion
which has not yet met with a dissenting voice in all the land j
and which it is fervently hoped, is too deeply implanted in the
minds and hearts of the people to be ever eradicated. It is a
thorough conviction, that anarchy, degradation, and intermina
ble distress, will be, must be, the unavoidable results of a disso
lution of the union of these States. Associated with this undeni
able and undenied truth, and growing out of it, there are, we
trust, two other sentiments of eqnal universality — a determina
tion to maintain the Union at all hazards, and a willingness to
make liberal concessions, nay sacrifices, for the preservation of
peace and reciprocal good will amongst its members. Upon
this great conservative platform, all sincere friends of the Union,
all who honor and truly respect the parting admonitions of the
Father of his country, all who prefer that country to their own
ambitious views and personal aggrandizement, and who are dis
posed to give the Executive of the United States a cordial and
efficient support, can meet, and act in concert to promote the
greatest of all earthly objects. Here all may earn the enduring
respect and confidence of the people, by an honorable sacrifice
of personal and party feelings on the altar of their country's
safety. We may differ as to the time, the manner, or the extent
of the measures to be employed, whether of conciliation or co
ercion. It cannot be expected, at the present crisis, that honest
and unprejudiced minds should all happen to arrive at the same
conclusion. But such differences should not occasion heart
burnings, much less resentments. Our fathers differed in like
manner in the establishment of our Government; and it is in
vain for us to hope for exemption from similar embarrassments ;
the causes which produced them have not yet ceased to operate ;
they have been planted by the hand of nature, and cannot be
entirely removed by that of man. Those, to whose valor and
disinterested patriotism we are indebted for this glorious system
under which we have so long and so happily lived, overcame

153

them by mutual concession and compromise. If every man
looks only to his own interests, or every State to its own favorite
policy, and insists upon them, this Union cannot be preserved.
We must not deceive ourselves upon this point, or suffer others
to deceive us. Our errors, in this respect, may lead to conse
quences which can never be recalled ; and over which we and
our posterity may have occasion to shed bitter tears of repen
tance ; we must take higher counsel than that which is derived
from our pockets or our passions; we must be just, and, if need
be, generous ; and the deep and overpowering attachment of
the great mass of the people to the Union, the fidelity, energy,
and fortitude of their character, directed by the illustrious man
so providentially at the head of the Government, will carry us
safely through the dangers which threaten our beloved country.

It remains only to reciprocate, as the Committee doubt not the
two Houses will readily do, the magnanimous and enlightened
sentiments expressed by the Governor, upon the subject which
has caused the present embarrassments in our public affairs.
Most cheerfully, therefore, do they respond to his declarations,
which "disclaim for New York all desire to aggrandize herself
at the expense of her sister States, or to pervert to local purpo
ses, a system of government intended for the common benefit of
all ;" which assert her estimate of the value of the Union and
her devotion to it; and which avow her willingness, if the ope
ration of existing laws be adverse to those views, to consent to
such a modification of them as will remove all just ground of
complaint, and afford substantial relief to every real grievance.
In these sentiments the committee recognize the best policy as
well as the true glory of these States ; a policy, "which culti
vates peace and harmony by observing justice."

The opinion of this State in favor of the constitutional power
of Congress, to afford encouragement and protection to domestic
products, by the establishment for that object of suitable com
mercial regulations, has been too often declared to need repeti
tion. Neither time nor circumstances have contributed to
change its convictions, either of the existence or importance of
this right. Without it, it would not be possible for the Federal
Government to carry into effect one of the principal objects of
its institution : and the United States would, in relation to our
21

154

own exports, be left altogether at the mercy of foreign nations.
The possession of the right, however, and the manner and extent
of its exercise are very different matters. Whatever causes of
serious apprehension for the stability of the Union may hereto
fore have arisen from this source, it appears to the Committee
that they have been greatly lessened by the payment of the na
tional debt, and the disposition of the Executive of the United
States, and, as the Committee firmly believe, of the great body
of the people, to make such a modification of the tariff as be
comes by that event just and practicable. The repeated recom
mendations of the President to reduce the revenue to what is
requisite to defray the expenses of the government, necessarily
incurred within the pale of the Constitution, and under a strictly
economical administration of our affairs, have been so distinctly
and emphatically sanctioned by the people of this State, as to
leave no room for doubt or cavil as to their cheerful acqui
escence in the measure. Indeed, the Committee are yet to learn,
that there is any man in this great community who advocates or
would justify the collection of taxes from the people for any
other purpose, and certainly not for the sole one of taking money
from the pockets of one class of our people to put into those
of another. All that is asked, is, that the amount of duties thus
raised, and so expended, shall be levied in such a manner as to
afford reasonable encouragement and protection to our own
manufactures and other productions, to enable them to compete
with similar articles, the manufacture or production of other
countries. With such qualifications as may be necessary to
prevent injustice, and to preserve inviolate that sound rule of
'egislation, which requires that all public burthens should be
borne in a fair proportion to the ability of the contributors, and
the extent of the security which they derive from the govern
ment. In other words, that too large a share of the public
taxes be not imposed upon those articles of prime necessity to
the poor, to the exoneration of articles of luxury, which are used
only by the rich. And further, that the reduction of duties thus
rendered practicable by the payment of the public debt, though
ultimately certain, should not be sudden or capricious, but tem
pered to the condition of existing establishments — establishments
which have grown up and been encouraged by our legislation^

155

and whose claims to the favor and indulgence of the government
and people are founded upon the public faith. To a claim so
reasonable the Committee are unwilling to believe that the real
friends of the Union any where can object. Men may resist to
the uttermost the imposition of unreasonable burthens for the
protection of articles, in the manufacture and production of
which they are not immediately concerned. But, there are,
surely, no American citizens who, exempt from such impositions,
would not prefer to encourage those of their own country, in
preferenoe to the fruits of foreign labor.

It is not in behalf of New York, particularly, that these con
siderations are urged. For it is notorious that this State is not
the principal seat of manufacturing establishments. But jus
tice dictates the same course whatever and wherever be its ap
plication.

The rules by which this distribution and reduction of the pub
lic burthens are to be effected, must from the nature of things,
be more or less arbitrary and uncertain. But if the subject be
undertaken and prosecuted in good faith — if the tariff system be
not made subservient to the purposes of personal ambition, nor
to the cravings of individual cupidity, but treated as a matter of
business, affecting deeply the private concerns of every man in
every quarter of the Union, there is no doubt of the ability of
Congress to adopt such rules as will be satisfactory to the nation.

That the bill of the last session will not reduce the revenue to
the proposed standard is certain. The anticipated excess is es
timated at between six and seven millions of dollars. Whether
the late act should be permitted to go into operation with the
intention of modifying the system at the next session of Con
gress; or whether the object in view shall be effected at the
present session, by a law which, though passed now, shall have
a gradual operation, is an important point in the difficult and
deeply interesting question to be decided. The Committee are
by no means insensible to the embarrassment arising from the
existence of the Ordinance of the State of South Carolina, and
regret that any such obstruction should have been thrown in
the way of a regular expression of the public will. They could
never advise any legislation by Congress under the dictation of
any power; and they have very little fear, that any such will be

156

desired by the Executive, or sanctioned by that body. It must,
however, be borne in mind, that South Carolina is not the only
State which considers herself injuriously affected by the existing
law, and seeks relief from its operation ; that there are many
other States who are, in this respect, similarly circumstanced*
whose alienation from the Union would be the greatest calamity
that could befal us, but who have shown as much devotion to
the Union, and have manifested as much repugnance to the
measures of South Carolina as any. It is then for the justice
and sound discretion of Congress to decide, whether, whilst all
proper measures are adopted to maintain the laws of the United
States in the State of South Carolina, in the same manner as if
no such Ordinance had been passed, they may not without det
riment to the honor and dignity of the Government, now act
upon a matter which has been so specially and urgently submit
ted to them by the Executive. We may be assured that there is
sufficient intelligence and virtue in the people to judge those
greatly deprecated measures by themselves, uninfluenced by
prejudices of any sort on the one hand, or by the cotemporane-
ous measures of the Government on the other. Nor is it a mat
ter of slight importance to the people of this State to consider
whether the acts of South Carolina ought to occasion a collec
tion from them of about one million of dollars annually, a sum
three times as large as is required for the entire expenses of our
State Government, when the President informs us that it is not
needed for the public service.

The duty of deciding upon these grave matters, rests, as has
been justly observed by the Governor, so far as this State has a
voice in the discussion, with those who represent us in the Con
gress of the United States. There, the Committee think, with a
general expression of the sense of the Legislature, it ought and
may with safety be left. It would, doubtless, be competent for
the Legislature to give explicit advice and instruction to their
representatives upon the subject; but from the obvious superi
ority in position of our representatives in Congress, to take a
better view of the whole ground than that which is possessed by
us, and from the great extent to which the question as to the
most proper time for action, as well as the particular provisions
which ought to be made, are dependent on facts and details, of

157

which it is impossible that we can be as capable of judging as they
are, the Committee think the Legislature will best consult their
duty and the interests of all, by confining themselves, at this
time, to the general expression of opinion which is now most
respectfully proposed.

If by a faithful adherence to the principles here advanced in
their behalf, the people of this State can contribute to th<; res
toration and preservation of that fraternal affection in which t.-u;
Union was originally founded, by which it was once cemented,
and which is so essential to its preservation, it will be to them ^
source of much joy and deep gratitude to the Supreme Disposer
of events, for the agency they have been permitted to exercise
in effecting so great a good. But if, on the contrary, their well-
meant efforts prove unavailing ; if (he offerings of peace and
good will which have been freely and so sincerely tendered by
them, in conjunction with their co-States who participate in the
same sentiments, shall be rejected ; if, in the providence of God,
it be decreed that this Government and this happy Union, the
affairs of which have been hitherto so successfully directed by
it, are to be put to the final test, the Government and people of
this State will meet the crisis with the sustaining consciousness,
that they have done all that duty enjoined and honor permitted
to avert the worst calamity that could befall the country.

The Committee respectfully suggest, for the consideration of
the Legislature, the following resolutions.

RESOLVES.

State of mto

IN SENATE, February 16th, 1833.

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That we approve of the
general views and conclusions of the preceding Report.

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That we regard the Union
of these States as indispensable to their prosperity and happi
ness : that we participate fully in the desire which has been
manifested by the President, to restore harmony, and conciliate
affection amongst all the people of the United States, by a sea
sonable and equitable modification of the Tariff, adapting it to
the present condition of the country : that we approve the mea
sures he has adopted and recommended to sustain the authority
and execute the laws of the United States ; and that the Govern
ment and people of this State will cordially co-operate with him
in the exercise of all the means which may be necessary and
proper to secure those objects.

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That we regard the right
of a single State, to make void within its limits the laws of
the United States, as set forth in the Ordinance of South Caro
lina, as wholly unauthorized by the Constitution of the United
States, and in its tendency subversive of the Union and the Gov
ernment thereof.

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That we do dissent from
the doctrine, that a single State has a right to withdraw itself
from the Union against the wishes of its co-States, whenever in

159

its sole judgment the acts of the Federal Government shall be
such as to justify the step.

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That the Governor be re
quested to transmit a copy of the foregoing Report and Resolu
tions, to the Executive of the State of South Carolina, and to the
Executives of the other States respectively, to the end that they
may be communicated to the Legislatures thereof, and also a
copy of the same to the President of the United States, and to
each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress.

By order,

J. F. BACON,

Clerk of the Senate.

IN ASSEMBLY, February 23d, 1833.

Resolved, That this House do concur with the Senate, in their
said Resolutions.

By order,

FRANCIS SEGER,

Clerk of the Assembly.

RESOLVES

OP THE

LEGISLATURE

NEW-JERSEY.

State of

WHEREAS the people of the State of South Carolina, in Con
vention assembled, have, by an ordinance, dated twenty-fourth
of November, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, declared and
ordained that the several acts and parts of acts of the Con
gress of these United States, purporting to be laws for the
imposing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign
commodities, are unauthorised by the constitution, violate the
true intent and meaning thereof, and are null and void and
not binding upon the said State, its officers or citizens and have
proclaimed their determination to enforce said ordinance at
every hazard, denied the authority of the general government
to enforce the revenue laws within the said State of South
Carolina, and transmitted a copy of such ordinance, together
with an appeal to the people of the United States, to the
Executive of this State: AND WHEREAS the high obligations
we owe to our common country, as a member of this great
confederacy, as well as the due preservation of the inestima
ble privileges we enjoy under this free and happy government,
secured by the toils and cemented by the blood of our com
mon ancestors, has rendered it an imperative duty to proclaim
our opinions upon this important subject — THEREFORE, in the
name and in behalf of the people of the State of New Jer
sey, and as their legal representatives,

•• 1 . Be it Resolved, by the Council and General Assembly of said
State, That the Constitution adopted and sanctioned by the peo
ple of these United States, as well as our early history, our com
mon interest, our habits, our intercourse, our love of freedom,
the honor, strength and durability of our country, proclaim that

164

all the States of this Union make one indivisible nation united in
prosperity and adversity, in peace as in war, by the sacred and
indissoluble bond of their Union.

2. Resolved, That we deprecate the acts and proceedings of
our brethren of the State of South Carolina, as opposed to the
fundamental principles upon which the government of these
United States is based, as violating the spirit and meaning of
the Federal Constitution, and tending to rend asunder those ties
of common interest and fraternal regard, of mutual dependance
and reciprocal obligation, which are alike our pride, our glory,
and our strength, and which have proclaimed us to the world a
United People.

3. Resolved, That when South Carolina, together with all the
other States, acceded to this Union, and adopted the Constitu
tion, she and they became thereby irrevocably bound that all
controversy upon the constitutionality of an act of Congress,
should be finally adjudicated by the Supreme Court of these
United States. The sacred charter of our liberties never con
templated that each state had reserved to itself an ultimate ap
peal to its own citizens in their sovereign capacity.

4. Resolved. That the manufactures of America, are one of the
elements of our Independence and greatness ; not oppressing
but advancing hand in hand with agriculture and commerce.
These three sources of National prosperity, demand equally the
fostering protection of Government ; to crush either would be
to paralyze all ; and to the General Government, alone, standing
on an elevation to survey the whole ground, belongs the infor
mation, the wisdom, and the power to apportion just patronage
wherever circumstances may require.

5. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, now
contains within itself, an ample provision for its amendment, and
for the remedy of every evil which may arise from unforeseen
events, or ambiguous construction. When this provision shall
be legally called into operation, we shall be prompt to concede
all to justice, much to fraternal feeling, and somewhat even to
local excitement and mistaken enthusiasm. But it cannot com
port either with dignity or sound policy to yield aught in the
face of threatened disunion and an armed resistance to the
laws.

165

6. Resolved, That the principles contained in the Proclama
tion, and late Message of the President of the United States,
meet our entire approbation ; and that we will sustain the Chief
Magistrate of the Union in the Constitutional enforcement of
these principles.

7. Resolved, That we implore our Fellow Citizens of South
Carolina, allied as they are to us, by all the heart stiring and in
spiriting recollections of the eventful struggle, that made us an
independent nation, maturely to ponder over the present crisis
in their affairs, and magnanimously to return to more temperate
councils, and a juster sense of that obedience to the general
will which constitutes the lasting security, and should be the
glory and the ornament of every member of this confederacy.
But should our fellow citizens of South Carolina, contrary to
our reasonable expectations, unsheath the sword, it becomes our
solemn and imperative duty to declare, that no separate nation
ought or can be suffered to intrude into the very centre of our
Territory.

8. Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit a
copy of these resolutions to the President of the United States,
to each Senator and Representative in Congress, from this State,
and to the Governors of the respective States of the Union.

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, February 18th, 1833.

These re-engrossed Joint Resolutions having been three times
read in the House of Assembly.

Resolved, That the same do pass.
By order of the House.

JOHN P. JACKSON, Speaker of Assembly.
IN COUNCIL, February 18th, 1833.

These re-engrossed Joint Resolutions having been three times
read in the Council and compared.

Resolved, That the same do pass.
By order of Council.

ELIAS P. SEELEY, Vice President.

166

I, JAMES D. WESTCOTT, Secretary of the State of New-Jer
sey, do certify, that the foregoing is a true copy of the Joint
Resolutions of the Legislative Council and General Assembly
of the State of New-Jersey, passed February 18th, A. D. one
thousand eight hundred and thirty three, as compared with the
original, now remaining on file in my office.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed
the seal of my said office, at the city of Trenton, in said
State, this 18th day of February, A. D. one thousand
eight hundred and thirty-three.

JAMES D. WESTCOTT.

RESOLVES

or THE

LEGISLATURE

PENNSYLVANIA.

RESOLVES

Relative to the Union of the States and the Constitution of the

United States.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com-
monweallh of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, That the
Constitution of the United States, and the laws of the United
States made in pursuance of the Constitution, are the supreme
law of the land, to which every citizen of the United States owes
obedience ; and that no authority whatever can release him
from his obligation to obey, or require him to take any oath, or
enter into any engagement inconsistent with such obligation;
and that any pretension on the part of a State, or any portion
thereof, so to release any citizen of the United States, or so to
require of him, is unconstitutional, and without the least foun
dation of right, and can afford neither shelter nor excuse for
offences he may commit against the laws of the United States.

Resolved, That no portion of the citizens of the United States,
have a rightful power to render invalid an act of the Congress
of the United States, duly made by the people's representatives,
and approved by the Executive, in the mode prescribed by the
Constitution ; nor to nullify the same, either generally, or with
in particular districts ; but that every such act of Congress con
tinues in full force every where within the United States, not
withstanding any such asserted nullification ; and all persons
who resist its execution, offend against the Constitution and
laws of the United States, and are liable to prosecution and
punishment for such offence.

Resolved, That no State has a right to withdraw from the
Union, and to declare itself independent of it; and that every
attempt to do so, would be a virtual infraction of the Constitu
tion of the United States, justifying and requiring the use of
constitutional measures to suppress it.
23

170

Resolved That the faithful execution of all laws of the United
States, made in the mode prescribed by the Constitution, is a
duty enjoined upon the President of the United States, in the
constitutional discharge of which he is entitled to, and ought to
receive the aid and support of every citizen of the Union.

Resolved, That it is the clear and indisputable right of Con
gress, to impose duties upon importations, and of the Govern
ment of the United States to collect the duties payable by law
upon goods imported into every part of the Union ; and that
every resistance to the collection of the same, is an offence
against the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that
the offenders are liable to prosecution and punishment for such
offence.

Resolved, That in enforcing, by all constitutional means, the
laws passed by Congress, for imposing and collecting duties
upon goods imported into the United States, and all other acts
of the Congress of the United States; and in bringing to pun
ishment all persons, who, under any pretence, may offer resist
ance to them, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will, if neces
sary, aid and assist the Government of the United States, by all
the means in her power.

Resolved, That we pledge ourselves, jointly and individually
to sustain the Chief Magistrate of the United States, in all con
stitutional measures calculated to preserve and perpetuate the
union of the States.

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit a copy
of these Resolutions to the President of the United States, and
to each Senator and Representative in Congress from this Com
monwealth, and to the several Governors of the respective
States and Territories of these United States.

SAMUEL ANDERSON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

JESSE R. BURDEN,

Speaker of the Senate.

171

Approved, the twentieth day of December, A. D. one thou
sand eight hundred and thirty-two.

GEO. WOLF.

SECRETARY'S OFFICE, PENNSYLVANIA,
HARRISBURG, December 21, 1832

-•I

This is to certify, that the foregoing Resolutions are truly
copied from the original roll in this office.

Witness my hand and seal.

SAML. M'KEAN.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

DELAWARE.

REPORT.

The Committee to whom was referred so much of the Governor's
Message as relates to the communication from the Governor
of the State of South Carolina, respectfully submit the following

REPORT:

THE communication from the Governor of South Carolina is
composed of documents ordered by a Convention of the people
of that State, held in November last, to be transmitted to the
Governors of the several States for the information of their re
spective Legislatures. These documents consist of a report of
a Committee of twenty-one, to the Convention, on the subject
of the several acts of Congress imposing duties for the protec
tion of domestic manufactures, with the Ordinance to Nullify
the same, an address to the people of that State, and an address
to the people of the United States. Your Committee have ex
amined the papers with great care, and with that respectful at
tention which is due to the source from which they emanate, but
they cannot disguise their astonishment at the position assumed
by the Convention and the arguments by which it is attempted
to be sustained. The position taken by the Convention is, that
they have a right to suspend the operation of certain acts of
Congress within the limits of the State by declaring those acts
null and void, on the ground of their supposed unconstitutional-
ity. This extraordinary right is assumed not as a revolutionary
measure, but as one that results from the nature of the compact,
created by the Constitution, and as in perfect harmony with its
principles. It becomes necessary, therefore, to settle distinctly,

176

the nature of that instrument, in order to decide the question of
this right.

The ground taken by the Convention on this subject is, " that
the Federal Constitution is a treaty, a confederation, an alliance,
by which so many sovereign States agree to exercise their sove
reign powers conjointly, upon certain objects of external con
cern, in which they are equally interested." That the Federal
Government is the common agency of the sovereign States, and
possesses no more inherent sovereignty than an incorporated
town, that it is a mere political corporation, " and that it is the
moral obligation alone which each state has chosen to impose
on herself, and not the want of sovereignty" which restrains her
from exercising all those powers which have been granted to the
Federal Government. And this is declared by the Convention
to be the true nature of the compact. The principle with which
they set out, and upon which the whole doctrine is built, is thus
laid [down in the address to the people of the State— page 4.
" The Constitution of the United States, as is admitted by co-
temporaneous writers, is a compact between sovereign States."
This is the corner stone of the whole system of Nullification.
For if it be true that the Constitution is a mere treaty or com
pact between sovereign States, which now possess all the sove
reignty they ever had, and among whom there can be no com
mon arbiter, the rest of the doctrine follows as a matter of
course. The question then arises, is this proposition true?
Your Committee conceive that it is false in both its branches. It
is neither a compact between sovereign States, nor is so admitted
to be, by cotemporaneous writers, at least of any credit.

The first and most natural source to look to, for the settle
ment of this question, is the instrument itself. Since it is appa
rent that it would be utterly useless to reduce an agreement or
compact to writing, that it would be useless to establish a writ
ten constitution for any government or any people, if the crude
notions and wild conceits of any individual may be substituted
for the terms of the instrument. This is more particularly true
with regard to such an instrument as the Constitution of the
United States, which was the work, in the first instance, of a
general convention from the different States, and was afterwards
submitted to the conventions of the people in each of the States.

177

So that not a word or letter, and certainly not a single principle
contained in it can be supposed to have escaped the severest
srcutiny, and the whole must therefore have the highest sanction.

Upon opening that instrument, the first principle which pre
sents itself is, that it purports to be the act of the American
people. It is not stated to be a compact between New Hamp
shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the other ten sovereign
States, and which would have been the appropriate, and indeed
the only preamble, if the idea intended to be conveyed was, that
of a compactor treaty between those sovereign States; but on
the contrary, it is declared to be the act of the American peo
ple. The language is, "We the people of the United States do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America." The principle here established is, that the govern
ment created by that Constitution is the act of the people of the
United States, and not the act of the States, as sovereignties.
As this principle lies at the foundation of the whole system, it is
impossible that it should have escaped the attention of the Gen
eral Convention, and of the thirteen State conventions which
passed upon it. They could not have been ignorant of, or inat
tentive to, the difference of the two principles involved in the
question, whether the instrument to which they assented, was a
Constitution of Government to be established by the people, or a
treaty or compact between thirteen sovereign States. To sup
pose them ignorant, is to suppose them incompetent to their
task, and to suppose them inattentive, is to suppose them culpa
bly negligent of their duty. But we will show that they were
neither the one or the other.

The very first question, as might naturally be supposed, that
presented itself to the General Convention was, whether the
Constitution they were about to form should be a compact
among the States, or the act of the people. The particular busi
ness of the Convention was opened by Governor Randolph, who
submitted to their consideration, on the 29th May, 1787, various
resolutions, with a view to settle the principles on which they
were to proceed. The first of those resolutions was in these
words— "Resolved, that the articles of confederation ought to
be so corrected and enlarged as to accomplish the objects pro
posed by their institution, namely, common defence, security of
24

178

liberty and general welfare." — Elliott's Debates, vol. 4, p. 41.
Now it must be recollected that the articles of confederation
were, in point of fact, and in terms, a compact between the dif
ferent States as sovereignties. The instrument itself purports
to be such, and is described in the preamble as " Articles of
confederation and perpetual union between the States of New
Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations," &c. As Governor Randolph's proposition was
merely to correct and enlarge those articles, if it had been adop-
ed, the nature of the compact would have been the same, and
it would have continued to stand on the fooling of an agreement
among the States as sovereignties. The very point now at issue
was therefore brought at once, and directly before the Conven
tion. On the same day the Convention resolved to go into
Committee of the whole, on the State of the Union, and the pro
positions of Governor Randolph were referred to that Commit
tee. On the following day, May 30th, these resolutions were
taken up for consideration, and the particular one in question
being the first in order, was, on his own motion, postponed ; and
another, offered likewise by him, was, after debate, adopted as a
substitute, in the following words : " Resolved that a National
Government ought to be established, consisting of a Supreme
Legislative. Judiciary, and Executive." On this question, six
States, namely, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virgin
ia, North Carolina and South Carolina voted in the affirmative ;
Connecticut voted in the negative, and New York was divided.
Elliott's Debates, vol. 4, p. 49. Mr. Yates, a member of the
Convention from New York, who was opposed to the present
Constitution, and afterwards withdrew from the Convention be
cause he thought they were exceeding their powers, kept min
utes of the debates while he was there, which are published in
the fourth volume of Elliott's Debates, and has thus thrown much
light on the questions that were agitated ; and may be consider
ed for that purpose, as of the highest authority. In his minutes
of the debate on that day, he observes, " this last resolve had its
difficulties, the term supreme required explanation. It was ask
ed whether it was intended to annihilate the State Governments ?
It was answered only so far as the powers intended to be granted
to the new government should clash with the States, when the

179

lattershould yield." — Yates' Minutes, p. 50. It was thus decided
that the articles of confederation should be laid aside, and the
principle of a compact among the States as sovereignties aban
doned. Accordingly, we find that on the 6th June following,
when the fourth resolution offered by Governor Randolph, was
under consideration, which provided that the members of the
first branch of the National Legislature should be elected by the
people, a motion having been made to strike out the word
" people," and substitute the word " Legislatures, "of the several
States, the motion was lost by a vote of eight States to three.
In the debate on that point, Mr. Madison is reported by Mr.
Yates, to have observed " that when we agreed to the first re
solve of having a National Government, consisting of a Supreme
Executive, Judicial and Legislative power, it was then intended
to operate to the exclusion of a Federal Government, and the
more extensive we made the basis, the greater probability of du
ration, happiness and order." — Yates' Minutes, p. 63.

The first resolution was afterwards modified so as to read thus :
" Resolved that the Government of the United States ought to
consist of a Supreme Legislative, Judiciary and Executive/'
The reason for which is stated by Mr. Luther Martin, one of the
delegates from Maryland, and a most determined opponent of the
proposed system at the time, to have been that they were afraid
that the word national might tend to alarm. — Yates' Minutes,
p. 22.

The principle was thus therefore clearly established and re
mained unchanged, that the new government was not to be
placed on the footing of a compact among the States as sove
reigns ; but was to emanate from the people and be established
by their authority. On the twenty-third of July the resolution
thus modified, was, together with the others which had been
elaborated in the debate that had been carried on in the Com
mittee of the whole, referred to a Committee of five for the pur
pose of reporting a Constitution. It is evident that the Com
mittee appointed for the purpose, were bound, in drafting the
instrument, to preserve that fundamental principle. Accordingly,
on the 6th of August, the Committee reported the draught of a
Constitution, the preamble to which began in these words : " We
the people of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, &c.

180

do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the gov
ernment of ourselves and our posterity." — Elliot's Debates, vol.
4, p. 116. The principle was here distinctly set forth, but as it
might have afforded some room for cavil, and it was determined
that there should not be a loop to hang a doubt upon, the phra
seology was changed, and that of the present Constitution adopt
ed, "We the people of the United States," &c. If it is possi
ble for human language or for human conduct to express the
intentions of the mind, nothing can be clearer than the inten
tion of the General Convention on this point. If regard then
be had to the instrument itself, it is, and it purports to be, a
Constitution of Government established by the people of the
United States. For this purpose it was not at all necessary that
they should be assembled in one body, in one place, or by one
authority. It was sufficient for them to assemble in their respec
tive states, at their usual places of election, and under the usu
al authority. When once assembled and they proceeded to rat
ify the instrument, it became to all intents and purposes their act.
Nor does it at all affect the question that it was provided, that
the ratification of a certain number of the States should be ne
cessary for its establishment. That was a mere condition which
amounted to no more than a declaration, that the experiment
was not worth the trial, unless such a portion of the people
should concur. So far as this particular subject is concerned,
the term States is a mere description of the people by classes,
and is of no more moment in the argument than if the provision
had been, that it should not take effect unless ratified by two
millions of people, or by two hundred and forty counties, or one
hundred districts. The provision was a condition precedent
which ceased to be of importance the moment it was ful
filled.

The tenth amendment of that Constitution which provides
that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively or to the people," illustrates and confirms
the view here taken of the character of the instrument and the
source of its authority. But if in addition to this, the frame of
government be considered which deprives the States of almost
all the essential rights of sovereignty, and makes them amena-

181

ble to the tribunals of the United States' Government, whose
decisions are conclusive in relation to all controversies arising
under the Constitution or laws of the United States, it becomes
a matter of surprise that any doubt should have been expressed
on the subject.

It thus appears that the Constitution is not a treaty or com
pact between sovereign States, and it remains to show that such
was the opinion of cotemporaneous writers. Reference has al
ready been made to the work of Mr. Yates who was a member
of the Convention from New York, and whose minutes of the
debates are of the highest degree of authenticity, and which in
the passage already cited, as well as in others, confirms the po
sition taken by your Committee. In the debate on the 29th June,
the first clause of the seventh proposition being under consider
ation, which respected the suffrage of each State in the first
branch of the Legislature, Mr. Madison who was so much re
lied on by the Carolina Convention as an authority, in the cele
brated resolutions of 1798, expressed himself as follows, as re
ported by Mr. Yates : " Some gentlemen are afraid that the plan is
not sufficiently national, while others apprehend that it is too
much so. If this point of representation was once well fixed, we
would come nearer to one another in sentiment. The necessity
would then be discovered of circumscribing more effectually the
State governments, and enlarging the bounds of the general
government. Some contend that States are sovereigns, when in
fact, they are only political societies. There is a gradation of
power in all societies, from the lowest corporation to the highest
sovereign. The States never possessed the essential rights of
sovereignty. These were always vested in Congress. Their
voting as States in Congress, is no evidence of sovereignty.
The State of Maryland voted by counties— did this make the
counties sovereign f The States at present are only great cor
porations having the power of making by-laws, and these are
effectual only if they are not contradictory to the general con
federation. The States ought to be placed under the control of
the general government. If the power is not immediately de
rived from the people, in proportion to their numbers, we may
make a paper confederacy, but that will be all. VV^e know the

182

effects of the Old Confederation, and without a general govern
ment this will be like the former." — Yates' Minutes, p. 114.

In the debate on the 5th June, the last or 15th proposition of
Governor Randolph, being under consideration, which provided
that the work of the convention should be submitted to assem
blies of representatives to be chosen by the people expressly for
that purpose. Mr. Yates resports that " Mr. Madison endeavor
ed to enforce the necessity of this resolve, because the new
National Constitution ought to have the highest source of au
thority — at least, paramount to the powers of the respective
constitutions of the States ; points out the mischiefs that had
arisen in the Old Confederation, which depends upon no higher
authority than the confirmation of an ordinary act of the Legis
lature." — Yates' Minutes, p. 62.

Mr. Luther Martin, who was a delegate from the State of
Maryland, in the General Convention, and violently opposed to
the new system at the time, in his report to the Legislature of
Maryland, on the subject of the proceedings of the Convention,
thus details the arguments used by himself and his friends : " It
was urged, that the Government we were forming, was not in
reality a Federal, but a National Government, not founded on
the principles of the preservation, but the abolition or consoli
dation of all State governments. That we appeared totally to
have forgot the business for which we were sent, and the situa
tion of the country for which we were preparing our system.
That we had not been sent to form a Government over the in
habitants of America, considered as individuals, that as individ
uals they were all subject to their respective State governments,
which governments would still remain, though the Federal
Government should be dissolved. That the system of govern
ment we were entrusted to prepare, was a government over
these thirteen States ; but that in our proceedings, we adopted
principles which would be right and proper only on the suppo
sition that there were no State governments at all, but that all
the inhabitants of this extensive continent were in their individ
ual capacity without government, and in a state of nature.
That, accordingly, the system proposes the Legislature to con
sist of two branches, the one to be drawn from the people at
large, immediately in their individual capacity, the other to be

183

chosen in a more select manner, as a check upon the first. It
is in its very introduction, declared to be a compact between
the people of the United States, as individuals ; and it is to be
ratified by the people at large in their capacity as individuals ;
all which it was said would be quite right and proper, if there
were no State governments, if all the people of this continent
were in a state of nature, and we were forming one National
Government for them as individuals, and is nearly the same as
was done in most of the States, when they formed their govern
ments over the people who compose them." — Yates' Minutes,
pages 19, 20. Notwithstanding these arguments, the Constitu-
tution was prepared and adopted on the principles which were
thus opposed ; and we have here the commentary of one of the
ablest lawyers that this country ever produced, who was him-
mself a member of the Convention, and opposed to the system,
upon that very instrument ; and putting it beyond all doubt and
controversy, that it was the design of the Convention to abandon
the principle of a compact among the States as sovereigns, and
substitute for it, that of a government established by the people.
The same view of the subject is presented in the Federalist, a
work which was written at the time for the express purpose of
explaining and recommending the new Constitution, and which
was the joint production of three of the ablest men of the day, and
has been regarded and relied upon, both in and out of Congress,
and even in the courts of justice, as presenting a most able, au
thentic, and correct exposition of its principles. The conclu
sion of the twenty-second number, in which some of the evils
of the Old Confederation, are pointed out, is as follows : " It has
not a little contributed to the infirmities of the existing Federal
system, that it never had a ratification by the people. Resting
on no better foundation than the consent of the several Legisla
tures, it has been exposed to frequent and intricate questions
concerning the validity of its powers; and has, in some in
stances, given birth to the enormous doctrine of a right of legis
lative repeal. Owing its ratification to the law of a State, it has
been contended that the same authority might repeal the law
by which it was ratified. However gross a heresy it may be, to
maintain that a party to a compact has a right to revoke that
compact, the doctrine itself has had respectable advocates

184

The possibility of a question of this nature, proves the necessity
of laying the foundations of our National Government deeper
than in the mere sanction of delegated authority. The fabric
of the American empire, ought to rest on the solid basis of the
consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to
flow immediately from that pure original fountain of all legiti
mate authority."

It is unnecessary to multiply quotations. The question is
not under what name the Government established by the Con
stitution would be classed by political writers ; whether it would
be called a Federal Government, or a National Government, or
a compound of the two — but simply from whom does it derive
its powers ? whether from the States as sovereigns ? or from the
people ? It thus appears from the Constitution itself, from the
journal of the Convention, from the debates on its proceedings,
from the reports of its enemies, and from the arguments of its
friends, that the principle on which it was founded, was, that it
was to be a government emanating from, and established by the
people. If any thing more were wanting to make assurance
doubly sure, the ratification by the State of Virginia, where
more opposition was experienced than in any other State, and
more debate was had on the subject, the solemn act of ratifica
tion by that State recognizes the fact in so many words. It is
as follows :

" We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, &c. do, in the
name and behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and make
known, that the powers granted under the Constitution, being
derived from the people of the United States, may be resumed
by them, whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury
or oppression ; and that every power not granted thereby, re
mains with them, and at their will," &c. — Elliott's Debates, vol.
4, p. 215.

It is thus established beyond a doubt, whether we regard the
instrument itself, or its cotemporaneous history, that the Consti
tution is a form of government established by the people, and
not a compact or treaty among the States. If this be true, then
the whole system of nullification topples into ruin.

The principle on which that system is built, is, that the Con
stitution is a treaty between sovereign States and the General

185

Government — an agency for them. The moment this founda
tion is destroyed, the whole system of reasoning fails with it.
If the General Government be one, established by the people of
the United States, then they owe it allegiance, and may be
guilty of treason towards it. Its laws are supreme, and no por
tion of the people can abrogate them. The State Governments
are component but subordinate parts of the system. They are as
necessary and useful in their sphere as the General Government,
but that portion of the people of the -United States, who consti
tute a particular State, can have no more right to nullify or sus
pend a law of the United States, than a smaller portion of them,
as a county of a particular State, or than any individual : in
other words, the union of any number, whether great or small,
can give no greater or other right than that which belongs to
each individual, as a constitutional measure. It is to be recol
lected, that the ground taken by the Nullification Party, is, that
Nullification is a right consistent with the Constitution, and
peaceable in its nature. In order to sustain that position, it
was essential to show that the Constitution is a treaty between
sovereign States, and that in such case there could be no com
mon arbiter, but that each was entitled to construe the instru
ment for itself, and was bound only by moral obligation to ob
serve its stipulations, and was therefore the judge of their
infraction, and of the measure and mode of redress. But so far
from this being true, it has been shown that the Constitution is
a form of government established by the people of the United
States ; and having provided a tribunal for the settlement of all
controversies arising under its provisions, or the laws of the
United States, it necessarily follows, that no other mode of de
cision can be resorted to as consonant with its principles.

If the ground had been taken, that it was a revolutionary
measure, and justified on the great principle of self-preservation,
it would have had the merit of being intelligible; and, if true,
would have enlisted the sympathies of other States, and, indeed,
of other nations. In such a case it would be an appeal to arms,
and the legal consequences of such a step would have to be
met. The case would then be one of an insurrection of a por
tion of the people against the Government, in consequence of
alleged oppression. But it was clearly seen, that the real state
25

186

of the case would not justify such a measure. It was clearly
seen, that neither the rest of the people of the United States, nor
any portion of the world, could be made to believe that in the
midst of so much general happiness and prosperity, in a time of
profound peace, with an overflowing treasury, and under such a
Government as that of the United States, such a case of oppress
ion could be made out, as would justify rebellion. It was there
fore necessary to resort to this doctrine of nullification, for the
purpose of disguising the real nature of the measure, and to give
to a contemplated resistance the air of constitutional right.
The act of nullification is, itself, nullity, and the consequences
are treason.

The State governments, it is true, are sovereign for some
purposes; but have, by the Constitution of the United States,
been stripped of most of the essential attributes of sovereignty —
such as the right to declare war, make peace, enter into treaties
and alliances, coin money, &c. It is a matter of no sort of im
portance, which instrument happened to precede the other in
point of time, whether the Constitution of the State, or the
Constitution of the United States. The latter instrument hav
ing been declared the supreme law, and being the work of the
same people, necessarily controls and abridges any sovereign
power vested in the State Governments under the State Consti
tutions. It is needless to pursue the subject further ; it is apparent
that the State of South Carolina has no such right as she claims
under the Constitution. And if she can justify the measure at
all, it must be on the ground of intolerable oppression, and the
unconstitutionally of the acts complained of; but, on this
ground, the rights of her whole body of citizens, or any portion
of them, are no other and no greater than those of the humblest
individual in the community ; but they cannot trammel up the
consequences. Their political organization as a State, may
furnish readier means of resistance and greater probabilities of
success, but the consequences are the same. They cannot
sanctify or legalize resistance, and the predicament in which
the individual may stand, if mistaken in his judgment, is that of
a traitor to his country.

The view here taken of the origin of the Government, and the
nature of the Constitution, is confirmed by the solemn decisions

187

of that great tribunal which has been created by that instru
ment, and which is the sole and proper one for the settlement of
all controversies arising under it. The language of the Su
preme Court, as delivered by Chief Justice Marshall, in the case
of M'Cullough against the State of Maryland, is as follows :
"In discussing this question, the counsel for the State of Mary
land have deemed it of some importance in the construction of
the Constitution, to consider that instrument not as emanating
from the people, but as the act of sovereign and independent
States. The powers of the General Government, it has been
said, are delegated by the States, who alone are truly sove
reign ; and must be exercised in subordination to the States,
who alone possess supreme dominion. It would be difficult to
sustain this proposition. The Convention which framed the
Constitution, was indeed elected by the State Legislatures.
But the instrument, when it came from their hands, was a mere
proposal, without obligations or pretentions to it, It was re
ported to the then existing Congress of the United States, with
a request that it might ' be submitted to a Convention of Dele
gates chosen in each State, by the people thereof, under the
recommendation of its Legislature, for their assent and ratifica
tion.' This mode of proceeding was adopted ; and by the Con
vention, by Congress, and by the State Legislatures, the instru
ment was submitted to the people. They acted upon it in the
only manner in which they can act safely, effectually, and wisely
on such a subject, by assembling in Convention. It is true,
they assembled in their several States — and where else should
they have assembled ? No political dreamer was ever wild
enough to think of breaking down the lines which separate the
States, and of compounding the American people into one com
mon mass. Of consequence, when they act, they act in their
States. But the measures they adopt, do not on that account
cease to be the measures of the people themselves, or become
the measures of the State Governments. From these conven
tions the Constitution derives its whole authority. The Govern
ment proceeds directly from the people, is ' ordained and estab
lished' in the name of the people ; and is declared to be
ordained in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
ensure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty

188

to themselves and to their posterity." — Wheaton's Rep. vol. 4,
p. 403.

The same principles are recognized as being true in the late
admirable Proclamation of the President of the United States.

As to the doctrine of Nullification, your Committee would
scarcely have considered it worth the trouble of discussion, but
for the grave sanction that has thus been given to it by the
Convention of South Carolina. They would have treated it as
one of those conceits which might have formed the subject of
debate in a Moot Court of a law school, but would never have
conceived it possible that it could enter into the business reali
ties of life.

Under the view which had been taken of the subject, it is
scarcely necessary to inquire into the grounds of complaint,
since they are not deemed strong enough, even on the part of the
Convention, to warrant a revolutionary measure — or, in other
words, rebellion ; and the particular subject of attention under
the communication, is the attitude assumed by the State on the
ground of her sovereign power.

But your Committee cannot forbear from expressing the opin
ion, that their views of political economy are as erroneous as
their constitutional principles. They conceive that it would be
no difficult matter to show that the distress of South Carolina
may be imputed to very different causes than those assigned,
and might be traced with much more semblance of reason,
among other causes, to the increased production of their prin
cipal staple, both here and in other parts of the world ; but
your Committee refrain from touching further on this subject.
They cannot perceive that the people of South Carolina have
any constitutional cause of complaint. If there is distress
among them, it is a matter in which we deeply sympathize.
But if in the due administration of the General Government, any
measure has borne hardly upon them, we know of but one rem
edy under the Constitution and Laws, and that is in the exercise
of the elective franchise.

Your Committee abstain from the expression of any hopes or
wishes on the subject, they lament the delusion under which
they believe a portion of the people of that State labor. But
they are free to say, that as the people of this State were the

189

first to adopt the present Government, they will be the last to
abandon it ; and that whenever and wherever the exigency may
arise they will be found on the side of the Constitution and the
Country.

Your Committee therefore report the following Resolutions :

RESOLVES.

WHEREAS, a Convention of tfie people of the State of South
Carolina has undertaken, by an ordinance passed in November
last, to declare certain acts of Congress, for imposing duties and
imposts on the importation of foreign commodities, null and
void, and not binding on the State, its officers and citizens ; and
has prohibited the enforcement of those laws within the limits of
that State, and has also prohibited any appeal from the decisions
of the State Courts, wherein the authority of the ordinance shall
be drawn in question, to the United States Courts : And
whereas, this measure has been communicated by order of the
Convention to the Governor of this State, for the purpose of be
ing laid before the Legislature, and it is expedient that the
sense of the people of this State should be expressed in relation
thereto — Therefore,

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State
of Delaware, in General Assembly met, That the Constitution of
the United States is not a treaty or compact between sovereign
States, but a form of Government emanating from, and estab
lished by, the authority of the people of the United States of
America.

Resolved, That the Government of the United States, although
one of limited powers, is supreme within its sphere, and that the
people of the United States owe to it an allegiance which can
not be withdrawn, either by individuals or masses of individuals,
without its consent.

Resolved, That the Supreme Court of the United States is the
only and proper tribunal for the settlement, in the last resort, of
controversies in relation to the Constitution and the Laws of Con
gress.

Resolved, That if in the regular action of the Government,
mischief of any kind be produced, the proper remedy is to be
found in the elective franchise, and the responsibility of its offi
cers.

191

Resolved, That in cases of gross and intolerable oppression,
which in a Government like that of the United States, can be
little else than a hypothesis, the natural right of self defence re
mains ; but which must, in the nature of things, be an appeal to
arms, and subject to all the consequences of resistance to the
constituted authorities. In such a case the measure is revolu
tionary, and the result remains in the hands of the Almighty.

Resolved, That the Convention of South Carolina can have no
other or greater right to annul or resist the laws of Congress,
than any assemblage of an equal number of individuals in any
part of the United States ; nor can any assemblage, however
large, have any other or greater right, for such a purpose, than
belongs to each individual citizen, considered as a constitutional
measure.

Resolved^ That it is a subject of regret, that such a delusion
should exist among any portion of the citizens of that State,
towards whom the people of this State, entertain the kindest
feelings, with whom they stood side by side in the war of the
revolution, and in whose defence their blood was freely spilt.
But if the measure which has been adopted is intended ab the
precursor of resistance to the government, the people of Dela
ware will not falter in their allegiance, but will be found now as
then, true to their country and its government.

Resolved, That we cordially respond to the sentiments on this
subject, contained in the able Proclamation of the President of
the United States, and shall be at all times prepared to support
the Governmont in the exercise of its constitutional rights, and
in the discharge of its constitutional duties.

Resolved^ That the Governor be requested to transmit a copy
of these Resolutions and the accompanying Report of the Com
mittee to the President of the United States, to each of our
Senators and our Representatives in Congress, and to the Gov
ernors of the respective States and Territories of the United
States of America.

JOSHUA BURTON,

Speaker of the Senate.
THOMAS DAVIS,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Passed at Dover, January 16th, 1833.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

VIRGINIA.

RESOLVES.

WHEREAS, the General Assembly of Virginia, actuated by an
ardent desire to preserve the peace and harmony of our common
country — relying upon the sense of justice of the people of each
and every State of the Union, as a sufficient pledge that their
Representatives in Congress, will so modify the acts laying du
ties and imposts on the importation of foreign commodities,
commonly called the Tariff Acts, that they will no longer fur
nish cause of complaint to the people of any particular State ;
believing, accordingly, that the people of South Carolina are
mistaken in supposing that Congress will yield them no relief
from the pressure of those acts, especially as the auspicious ap
proach of the extinguishment of the public debt affords a just
ground for the indulgence of a contrary expectation ; and con
fident that they are too strongly attached to the union of the
States, to resort to any proceedings which might dissolve or en
danger it, whilst they have any fair hope of obtaining their ob
ject by more regular and peaceful measures ; persuaded, also,
that they will listen willingly and respectfully to the voice of
Virginia, earnestly and affectionately requesting and entreating
them to rescind or suspend their late Ordinance, and await the
result of a combined and strenuous effort of the friends of union
and peace, to affect an adjustment and reconciliation of all pub
lic differences now unhappily existing ; regarding, moreover, an
appeal to force on the part of the General Government, or on
the part of the Government of South Carolina, as a measure
which nothing but extreme necessity could justify or excuse in
either 5 but, apprehensive at the same time, that if the present
state of things is allowed to continue, acts of violence will oc
cur, which may lead to consequences that all would deplore,
cannot but deem it a solemn duty to interpose and mediate be-

196

tween the high contending parties, by the declaration of their
opinions and wishes, which they trust that both will consider and
respect. Therefore,

1 . Resolved, by the General Assembly, in the name and on behalf of
the people of Virginia, That the competent authorities of South
Carolina be, and they are hereby earnestly and respectfully re
quested and entreated to rescind the Ordinance of the late Con
vention of that State, entitled " An Ordinance to Nullify certain
Acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting to be laws
laying duties and imposts on the importation of foreign com
modities ;" or, at least to suspend its operation until the close of
the first session of the next Congress.

2. Resolved, That the Congress of the United States be, and
they are hereby earnestly and respectfully requested and entreat
ed, so to modify the Acts laying duties and imposts on the impor
tation of foreign commodities, commonly called the Tariff Acts,
as to effect a gradual but speedy reduction of the resulting reve
nue of the General Government, to the standard of the necessary
and proper expenditure for the support thereof.

3. Resolved, That the people of Virginia expect, and in the
opinion of the General Assembly, the people of the other States
have a right to expect, that the General Government, and the
Government of South Carolina, and all persons acting under the
authority of either, will carefully abstain from any and all acts
whatever, which may be calculated to disturb the tranquillity of
the country, or endanger the existence of the Union.

AND, WHEREAS, considering the opinions which have been ad
vanced and maintained by the Convention of South Carolina, in
its late Ordinance and Addresses, on the one hand, and by the
President of the United States, in his Proclamation, bearing
date the 10th day of December, 1832, on the other, the Gene
ral Assembly deem it due to themselves, and the people whom
they represent, to declare and make known their own views in
relation to some of the important and interesting questions
which these papers present. Therefore,

4. Resolved by the General Assembly, That they continue to
regard the doctrines of State Sovereignty and State Rights, as

197

set forth in the Resolutions of 1798, and sustained by the Re
port thereon of 1799, as a true interpretation of the Constitution
of the United States, and of the powers therein given to the
General Government ; but that they do not consider them as
sanctioning the proceedings of South Carolina, indicated in her
said Ordinance ; nor as countenancing all the principles as
sumed by the President in his said Proclamation — many of
which are in direct conflict with them.

5. Resolved, That this House will, by joint vote with the Sen
ate, proceed on this day to elect a Commissioner, whose duty it
shall be to proceed immediately to South Carolina, and commu
nicate the foregoing Preamble and Resolutions to the Governor
of that State, with a request that they be communicated to the
Legislature of that State, or any Convention of its citizens, or
give them such other direction, as in his judgment may be best
calculated to promote the objects which this Commonwealth
has in view ; and that the said Commissioner be authorized
to express to the public authorities and people of our sister
State, in such manner as he may deem most expedient, our sin
cere good will to our Sister State, and our anxious solicitude
that the kind and respectful recommendations we have address
ed to her, may lead to an accommodation of all the difficulties
between that State and the General Government.

6. Resolved, That the Governor of the Commonwealth be, and
he hereby is requested to communicate the foregoing Preamble
and Resolutions to the President of the United States, to the
Governors of the other States, and to our Senators and Repre
sentatives in Congress.

VIRGINIA — City of Richmond, to wit :

I, GEORGE W. MUNFORD, Clerk of the House of Delegates,
and Keeper of the Rolls of the Commonwealth of Virginia, do
hereby certify and make known, that the foregoing is a true
copy of a Preamble and Resolutions adopted by the General
Assembly of Virginia, on the 26th day of January, 1833.

Given under my hand, this 8th of February, 1833.

GEORGE W. MUNFORD, C. H. D

And Keeper of the Rolls of Virginia.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

NORTH CAROLINA.

RESOLVES.

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Resolved, That the General Assembly of the State of North
Carolina doth entertain, and doth unequivocally express a warm
attachment to the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, That the General Assembly doth solemnly declare
a devoted attachment to the Federal Union, believing that on
its continuance depend the liberty, the peace and prosperity of
these United States.

Resolved, That whatever diversity of opinion may prevail in
this State, as to the constitutionality of the acts of Congress
imposing duties on imports for protection, yet, it is believed, a
large majority of the people think those acts unconstitutional ;
and they are united in the sentiment, that the existing Tariff is
impolitic, unjust and oppressive ; and they have urged, and will
continue to urge its repeal.

Resolved, That the doctrine of Nullification as avowed by the
State of South Carolina, and lately promulgated in an Ordinance,
is revolutionary in its character, subversive of the Constitution of
the United States and leads to a dissolution of the Union.

Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and
our Representatives be requested to use all constitutional means
in their power, to procure a peaceable adjustment of the exist
ing controversy between the State of South Carolina and the
General Government, and to produce a reconciliation between
the contending parties.

Resolved further, That a copy of these resolutions, be respect
fully communicated by his Excellency the Governor of this State,
to the President of the United States, the Governors of the sev-
27

202

eral States, and to our Senators and Representatives in Con
gress.

Read three times and ratified in General Assembly, this 5th
day of January, 1833.

LOUIS D. HENRY, S. H. C.
W. D. MOSELY, S. S.

RESOLVES

LEGISLATURE

OHIO

RESOLVES

.On the subject of the South Carolina Ordinance.

WHEREAS, His Excellency the Governor, has transmitted to
this General Assembly, the Ordinance of the late Convention of
the people of South Carolina, together with the proceedings of
that body, whose object appears to be, a resistance to the collec
tion of duties, imposts, &c. upon foreign commodities, imported
into that State, by nullifying the acts of Congress, providing for
the levying and collecting such duties. And this General Assem
bly cannot but view, with the deepest regret, the avowed deter
mination of a majority of the citizens of the State of South Car
olina, to resist the operation of the laws of the General Govern
ment, in the manner pointed out by the ordinance adopted by
their late Convention ; and we have no doubt that such a course,
if persisted in, must inevitably lead to consequences the most
disastrous, and ruinous to the peace, prosperity and happiness of
our common country.

Being connected, as we are, with our brethren of South Car
olina by the strongest ties of consanguinity, and endeared by the
mutual reciprocity of friendly intercourse and national attach
ment, and being sensible of the importance of our connexion
as States, belonging to the same Federal Union, we cannot but
deprecate every effort or measure which is calculated, in the re
motest degree, to operate to the severance of any of those ties,
or render doubtful the permanent existence of our Confederacy.
And entertaining, as we do, the most implicit confidence in the
wisdom, justice, and integrity of the General Government, we
are well persuaded that no partial evil would be permitted to ex
ist in any particular section of the Union, should it not be appa
rent that such evil was fully overbalanced by a general benefit
afforded by the same policy, out of which that evil was found to
spring up. Such evils, if such exist, we should endeavor to rem
edy in a spirit of moderation and good faith, to the end, that the

206

unparalleled prosperity of the whole Union, unequalled as it is,
in the history of civilized man, may not be intercepted, or paral-
ized in any of its parts.

Believing that the prosperity and independence of this Repub
lic, mainly depend upon the general peace and harmony which
ought to exist among the several States, and that all should ever
keep in view the adopted maxim, "united we stand, divided we
fall," we feel it a duty, therefore, as American citizens, to cling,
with pertinacity, to the Constitution of the United States, and to
the preservation of the Union of the States. We cannot, there
fore, view with indifference, much less can we lend our aid to
any measure which is calculated to disturb the integrity of that
Union.

Resolved, therefore, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio,
That we view with the deepest regret the unhappy movements,
and apparent determination of the late Convention of the people of
South Carolina, to Nullify the Laws of the General Government,
made in conformity to the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, That the Federal Union exists in a solemn compact,
entered into by the voluntary consent of the people of the United
States, and of each and every State, and that, therefore, no State
can claim the right to secede from, or violate that compact, and
however grievous may be the supposed or real burthens of a
State, the only legitimate remedy is in the wise and faithful ex
ercise of the elective franchise, and the solemn responsibility of
the public agents.

Resolved, That the doctrine, that a State has the power to
Nullify a Law of the General Government, is revolutionary in its
character, and is, in its nature, calculated to overthrow the great
Temple of American Liberty. Such a course cannot absolve
that allegiance which the people of this Union, owe to the su
premacy of the laws.

Resolved, That in levying and collecting duties, imposts and
excises, whilst the general good should be the primary object, a
special regard ought to be had to the end, that the interest and
prosperity of every section of the country, should be equally con
sulted, and its burthens proportionably distributed.

Resolved, That the first object of the American people, should
be, to cherish the most ardent attachment to the Constitution

207

and Laws of this Union ; and as a first and paramount object of
a free people, we should use every honorable means to preserve
the honor and integrity of the Union.

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit copies
of the foregoing preamble and resolutions to the President of the
United States, and to the Executives of the several States.

DAVID T. DISNEY,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

SAMUEL R. MILLER,

Speaker of the Senate.
February 25th, 1833.

208

RESOLVES

In relation to a call of a Convention to amend the Constitution
of the United States.

Resolved, ly the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That in
the opinion of this General Assembly, it is inexpedient, at the
present time, to apply to the Congress of the United States, for
a call of a Convention of the people to amend the Constitution of
the United States, or to call a Convention of the States to con
sider and define questions of disputed powers, which may have
arisen between any State of this Confederacy and the General
Government.

Resolved further, That His Excellency the Governor be, and
he is hereby requested to transmit copies of the foregoing reso
lution to each of the Executives of the several States of this
Union, for the consideration of the Legislatures thereof.

DAVID T. DISNEY,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

SAMUEL R. MILLER.

Speaker of the Senate.

February 25th, 1833.

209

RESOLVES

Relating to the President's Proclamation and Message.

Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That this

Legislature do cordially approve of the exposition of the princi-

>f the Constitution of the United States, touching the per-

ious doctrines of nullification and secession, set forth in the

Proclamation of the President of the United States, of the tenth

December last, and in his late Message to Congress, and that

Legislature do also feel the strongest assurance that the

>nnciples contained in that exposition, will be firmly sustained

by the people of Ohio.

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to forward a copy
the foregoing resolution to the President of the United States
to the Executive of each of the United States, and to each of our
senators and Representatives in Congress.

DAVID T. DISNEY,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

SAMUEL R. MILLER,

Speaker of the Senate.
February 25th, 1833.

SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE, )
COLUMBUS, OHIO, Feb. 26, 1833. 5

I hereby certify, that the foregoing Resolutions are true copies
the original rolls now on file in this office.

MOSES H. KIRBY,

Secretary of State.

RESOLVES

LEGISLATURE

INDIANA.

RESOLVES

Relative to the Proceedings of a late Convention of South
Carolina, and to the President's Proclamation in relation
thereto.

WHEREAS, An unusual and alarming excitement prevails in the
State of South Carolina, on the subject of the Tariff Laws, awak
ened, as is believed, by a mistaken view of their constitutionali
ty, and by exaggerated representations of their unequal opera
tion ; and whereas, heretical and dangerous doctrines have
sprung up under the name of Nullification, in which the consti
tutional right in a state, to render nugatory and resist the laws
of the United States, and to secede from the Union, is boldly
assumed ; and whereas, a Convention, delegated from a portion
of the citizens of that State, has recently passed an Ordinance,
a copy of which, and of the report of a Committee of said
Convention thereon, and of Addresses to the people of the sev
eral States and of South Carolina, transmitted by order of the
said Convention, through the Governor of that State to the Gov
ernor of Indiana, avowedly for the information of this Legisla
ture, are now before the same ; and whereas, we, the Represen
tatives of the People of Indiana, view the doctrines contained
in those documents, as carrying with them internal evidence of
their impracticability, absurdity, and treasonable tendency ; and
whereas, we regard the said Ordinance as prescribing to, and
attempting to enforce upon the people of South Carolina, " a
course of conduct, in violation of their duty as citizens of the
United States, contrary to the laws of their country, subversive
of its Constitution, and as having for its object the destruction
of the Union," and as a necessary consequence, the prostration
of our liberties : Therefore,

Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of [ndiana,
that we deeply deplore the political heresies, and threatened dis-

214

organization, recently promulgated by a portion of our brethren
of South Carolina.

Resolved, That we cordially concur in the persuasive appeals
of our venerable Chief Magistrate, to the people of South Car
olina, to pause ere it be too late to save themselves from ruin.

Resolved, That the sentiment, " our Union must be preserved,"
meets with a hearty response from the people of Indiana, bound
as they are, by interest and honor, to that confederacy into
which they voluntarily entered, and from which they will never
willingly be severed.

Resolved, That we regard the present juncture of our national
affairs, as involving the preservation of our liberties, and as
scarcely inferior in importance to that in which they were
achieved.

Resolved, That as regards this important question, all minor
differences should be forgotten ; — that devotion to party should
be lost in devotion to country, and that the great contest among
Americans, should be, as to the means best calculated to prevent
the temple of our Union from crumbling into ruins.

Resolved, That the constitutional doctrines advanced, and
views of policy embraced in the President's Proclamation on the
present difficulties in South Carolina, — the patriotic spirit per
vading that able document, and the prompt and decisive manner
in which he has rebuked the pernicious doctrines, and unjustifi
able course, recently adopted by a portion of the citizens of
that State, command our entire approbation, and have crowned
with new laurels the " Defender of his Country."

Resolved, That at the present alarming and eventful crisis,
we conceive it to be a solemn and paramount duty of the peo
ple of the different States to express through their Representa
tives, a firm and unwavering determination, to protect "the Ark
of our political safety" from the hand of violence, and to pledge
their support in furtherance of the laudable resolution of the
National Executive, " to take care that the Republic receive no
detriment."

Resolved, That the Governor of this State be requested to
transmit a copy of the foregoing Preamble and Joint Resolu
tions, to the President of the United States, and also, a copy to
each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress, to be

215

laid before that body, and one to the Governor of each State in
the Union.

JOHN W. DAVIS,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

DAVID WALLACE,

President of the Senate.

Approved 9th January, 1833.

N. NOBLE.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

ALABAMA.

REPORT

Of the Select Committee of the House of Representatives, to
whom was referred so much of the Message of the Governor,
as relates to the Tariff, to the principle of protection and to
the doctrine of Nullification.

THE Select Committee to whom was referred so much of the
Message of the Governor, as relates to the Tariff, to the princi
ple of protection and to the doctrine of Nullification, have had
the same under consideration, and have instructed me to report
a preamble and resolutions, which they respectfully submit to
the House for its adoption.

Your Committee deeply impressed with the present alarming
crisis in our history, have given to the subject that profound con
sideration, which its paramount importance so justly demands.

So much has been said and written on the subject submitted
to them, that they may be said to be exhausted, and they will
therefore submit a very few remarks prefatory to the resolu
tions, which they recommend to the adoption of the House.

In a country of such vast extent as the United States, em
bracing such a variety of soil, climate and products, arid inhabit
ed by a people, whose pursuits are as various as the climate un
der which they live ; any attempt on the part of the Government
to force manufactures into existence, by governmental bounties,
must of necessity operate unequally, and therefore be unjust.

If it be a truth, not now to be questioned, that no Govern
ment can justly take from one portion of its citizens a part of
their property, to benefit another, it is more especially unjust in
a country like ours, composed of different States, who are unit
ed in one common bond, only for the purpose of providing for
the common defence, of promoting the general welfare, and se
curing the blessings of liberty to themselves and posterity. For
these purposes, this Union was formed, and it cannot be sup-

220

posed, that those who consented to it, intended by implication
and construction to confer on the General Government powers
destructive of their happiness and best interest. Laws having
their operation, and professing to derive their authority from the
Constitution under which we live, being opposed to the true in
terest of every section of the republic and unjust in their oper
ation on the Southern States, even if sustained by the letter of
the Constitution, are contrary to its spirit and at war with the
general scope and tenor of that instrument.

It cannot be believed that if the framers of the Constitution
had assigned the exercise of such a power, as the right to cre
ate and protect domestic manufactures, by a system of high du
ties, that it would have been left to inference or implication ; its
framers therefore could not have intended that such a power
should be exercised. This reasoning is founded on, and these
results drawn from the instrument itself; but in addition there
to, contemporaneous history informs us, that in the Convention
which framed the Constitution, it was proposed in various modes
to give that power to Congress, and refused.

It is the exercise of this power, which a large majority of the
South believe to be against the spirit of the Constitution, and
no inconsiderable number, contrary to its express letter, which
has driven them to consider their Government as foreign to their
interests, and alien to their feelings. Instead of looking up to
it with pride and veneration, as the world's last hope, and as the
favorite resort of freedom, no inconsiderable portion of the
South have begun to estimate its value ; and to contemplate
even disunion itself, as an evil less formidable than submission
to the exactions of the Government.

And now at this fearful crisis, when one of our co-States has
assumed the alarming attitude of declaring an act of Congress
void within her limits, and the note of preparation is sounded to
sustain this attitude by force, what shall Alabama do ? Our an
swer is never despair of our country. We believe that there is
a vital energy, a living principle inherent in our institutions, and
a sense of justice residing in the bosoms of our fellow citizens,
which when properly appealed to, must succeed. We concede
that our Northern brethren believe that they are acting within
the pale of the Constitution ; but can it be believed, that they

221

will by insisting on the obnoxious duties, peril the Union of
these States, and make shipwreck of the last hope of mankind?
Can any pecuniary benefit compensate for results like these?
If blood be shed in this unhallowed contest, a wound will be in
flicted, which may never be healed, to confidence will succeed
distrust, mutual recriminations, and mutual interest, and the
choicest blessings of Heaven, by madness and folly of man, will
be converted into the most deadly poison.

Deeply impressed with these views, we recommend the adop
tion of the following resolutions, which we are satisfied embody
the opinions of our constituents, and in their name propose to
our co-States a Federal Convention.

RESOLVES.

JBe it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
State of Alabama in General Assembly convened, That we consider
the present Tariff of duties, unequal, unjust, oppressive and
against the spirit, true intent and meaning of the Constitution ;
that if persevered in, its inevitable tendency will be to alienate
the affections of the people of the Southern States from the
General Government.

And. be it further Resolved, That we do not consider the Tariff
of 1832, as fastening upon the country the principle of protection,
but that we receive it as the harbinger of better times, as a
pledge that Congress will at no distant period, abandon the prin
ciple of protection altogether, and reduce the duties on imports
to the actual wants of the Government, levying those duties on
such articles as W7ill operate most equally on all sections of the
Union.

And be it further Resolved, That Nullification, which some of
our Southern brethren recommend as the Constitutional remedy
for the evils under which we labor, is unsound in theory and
dangerous in practice, that as a remedy it is unconstitutional and
essentially revolutionary, leading in its consequences to anarchy
and civil discord, and finally to the dissolution of the Union.

And be it further Resolved, That we earnestly intreat the peo
ple of this State, not to distrust the justice of the General Gov
ernment, and to rest satisfied, though long delayed, it will cer
tainly be accorded to them. And above all things, to avoid
those dangerous and unconstitutional remedies proposed for their
imitation and adoption, no matter how specious their exterior,
which may lead to bloodshed and disunion, and will certainly
end in anarchy and civil discord. And at the same time we
would most solemnly adjure the Congress of the United States,
in the name of our common country to abandon the exercise of
those dubious and constructive powers, claimed under the Consti
tution, the assertion of which has produced jealousy, excitement

223

and dissatisfaction to the Government, and if persevered in, will
in all human probability dissolve this Union. By this means,
and by this alone, can we be prevented from fulfilling our high
destinies, and our onward march to greatness be arrested.

And be it further Resolved, That as we have now for the first
time in the history of our country, presented to us the appalling
spectacle of one of the States of this Union, arraying herself
against the General Government, and declaring sundry acts of
Congress void and of no effect within her limits ; presenting to
Congress the alternative of repealing the obnoxious laws or per
mitting her secession from the Union, and preparing by an
armed force to sustain the position she has assumed, and as we
cannot silently look on and witness the failure of the high
raised hopes and just expectations of those patriots who cement
ed our liberty with their blood : Therefore, as a last resort, we
recommend to our co-States the calling of a Federal Convention,
to meet in the City of Washington on the first of March, 1834,
or at such other time and place as may be agreed on, which
shall be authorized to devise and recommend such plan, which
will satisfy the discontents of the South, either by an explicit de
nial of the right of Congress to protect domestic industry by
duties on imports laid for protection, or by defining and restrict
ing the power aforesaid, within certain prescribed limits, and
making such other amendments and alterations in the Constitu
tion as time and experience have discovered to be necessary.

Resolved, That the Governor be desired to transmit a copy of
the foregoing resolutions to the President of the United States,
and to the Executive of each of the States, with a request that
the same may be communicated to the Legislature thereof.

Resolved further, That the Governor furnish a copy of said res
olutions to each of the Senators and Representatives of this
State, in the Congress of the United States.

Approved, January 12, 1833.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama to the Pres
ident of the United States, to the State of South Carolina,
and to the different States.

THE General Assembly of the State of Alabama have received
and considered with absorbing interest, the late Ordinance of
South Carolina, with the Address to the co-States accompany
ing the same, together with the Proclamation of the President
of the United States, consequent thereon. The attitude assum
ed by the State of South Carolina and the Government of the
United States through its Chief Magistrate, forbodes a crisis
which threatens the peace of society and the harmony of the
Union, and which should be deplored by every one who loves
his country and liberty. The existence of our Constitution and
the integrity of the Union, require the instant exertion of that
patriotism, forbearance and virtue, which have hitherto charac
terised the history of our Government. Omitting, on this occa
sion, to enter into the causes which have produced the present
afflicting posture between one State and the Federal Govern
ment; this General Assembly now affectionately and solemnly ap
peals to the Congress of the United States, and to the State of
South Carolina, for that forbearance, patriotism and virtue, which
alone can restore, by mutual sacrifice of opinion, harmony,
peace and prosperity to our common country. The only bonds
of our Union, and the sole preservatives of rational and con
stitutional liberty, are a strict adherence on the part of the con
stituted authorities, to the principles of our Government — the af
fection of the people for that Government, and a firm persuasion
of the equality and justice of its administration, aided by a spir
it of forbearance on the part of those States who may differ
from the opinion of the majority.

To this end the General Assembly of Alabama recommend to
the Congress of the United States, a speedy modification of the

225

Tariff Laws, in such manner as to equalise their burthens, and
cause only so much revenue to be collected as will be necessary
to pay the expenses of the Government, in its constitutional and
economical administration. This Assembly further recommends
to the Congress of the United States, as she has already done to
her co-States, the call of a Federal Convention, to propose such
amendments to our Federal Constitution, as may seem necessary
and proper, to restrain the Congress of the United States from
exerting the taxing power, for the substantive protection of do
mestic manufactures. This Assembly further earnestly recom
mends to the State of South Carolina, to suspend the operation
of her late Ordinance, that the unfortunate collision of powers
between that State and the Government of the United States,
may be amicably adjusted in such manner as not to impair the
rights and powers granted to the General Government, or re
tained and reserved to the States, or the people by the Consti
tution. This General Assembly further urgently recommends to
the State of South Carolina to abstain from the use of military
power, in enforcing her Ordinance, or in resisting the execution
of the revenue laws of the United States. And this General As
sembly, with equal earnestness, recommends to the Government
of the United States, to exercise moderation, and to employ only
such means as are peaceful and usual to execute the laws of the
Union. The General Assembly of this State further recommends
to her co-States, to concur with this State in the foregoing re
commendations.

Resolved, That the Executive of this State be requested to
transmit copies of the foregoing recommendations, to the Exec
utive authorities of each of the United States : to the President
of the United States, and to our Senators and Representatives
in Congress, with instructions to lay the same before the Con
gress of the United States.

Approved, January 12, 1833,

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

MISSISSIPPI.

REPORT.

The select Committee to which was referred " so much of the
Governor's Message as rektes to the Resolutions from the
States of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylva
nia, with the accompanying documents," beg leave to report:

That they have had them under consideration, and would
recommend, in regard to the Resolution first named, the adoption
of the following Resolutions :

In relation to the Resolutions from the States of Maine, New
Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, and that portion of the Message
which points to their consideration, your Committee would ex
press the belief that the sentiments of a majority of the people
of this State, in regard to the subjects to which "they relate, are
in accordance with those expressed by the General Assembly in
the year 1829, declaring the Tarifflaw of 1828, so far as it con
templated a system of protection, carried beyond the manufac
ture of such articles as are necessary to the national defence, to
be « contrary to the spirit of the Constitution of the United
States, impolitic and oppressive in its operation on the southern
States, and should be resisted by all constitutional means."
But fearful lest false inferences should be drawn from this ex
pression of public opinion— inferences, calculated to induce a
belief that this State is prepared to advocate and uphold the
disorganizing doctrines, recently promulgated in South Caroli
na, your Committee deem it their duty to speak plainly, and to
undeceive their sister States in this respect. We are opposed to
Nullification. We regard it as a heresy, fatal to the existence
f the Union. « It is resistance to law by force—it is disunion
by force— it is civil war." Your Committee are constrained to
express the opinion, that the State of South Carolina has acted

230

with a reckless precipitancy, (originating, we would willingly be
lieve, in delusion,) well calculated to detract from her former
high character for wisdom in council, purity of patriotism, and
a solicitous regard for the preservation of those fundamental
principles, on which alone rest the peace, the prosperity and
permanency of the Union. Your Committee deeply deplore the
alarming crisis in our national affairs ; they regret it the more as
proceeding from the unwarrantable attitude assumed by a sister
of the South, whose best interests are identified with our own.
In the spirit of brethren of the same family, we would invoke
them to pause — to hearken attentively to the paternal, yet omin
ous, warning of the Executive of the Union. We would con
jure them to await patiently the gradual progress of public opin
ion ; and to rely, with patriotic confidence, on the ultimate de
cision of the talented statesmen and pure patriots in the Congress
of the United States. But they would also loudly proclaim, that
this State owes a duty to the Union, above all minor considera
tions. That she prizes that Union less than liberty alone. That
we heartily accord in the general political sentiments of the
President of the United States, as expressed in his recent Proc
lamation ; and that we stand firmly resolved, at whatever sacri
fice of feeling, in all events, and at every hazard, to sustain him
in enforcing the paramount laws of the land, and preserving the
integrity of the Union — that Unicn, whose value we will never
stop to calculate — holding it, as our fathers held it, precious
above all price. Your Committee would therefore recommend
the adoption of the following resolutions :

RESOLVES.

1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi,
That, in the language of the father of his country, we will " in
dignantly frown upon the first dawning of every attempt to
alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble
the ties which link together its various parts."

2. Resolved, That the doctrine of Nullification is contrary to
the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and in direct conflict
with the welfare, safety and independence of every State in the
Union ; and to no one of them would its consequences be more
deeply disastrous, more ruinous, than to the State of Mississippi

— that State in which are concentrated our dearest interests

around which cling our most tender ties— the fair land of our
nativity or adoption — the haven of our hopes, the home of our
hearts.

3. Resolved, That we will, with heart and hand, sustain the
President of the United States, in the full exercise of his legiti
mate powers, to restore peace and harmony to our distracted
country, and to maintain, unsullied and unimpaired, the honor,
the independence and integrity of the Union.

4. Resolved, That the Governor of the State be, and he is
hereby required to transmit a copy of the last Resolutions, with
the preamble, to our Senators and Representatives in Congress,
also to the Governors of the different States, with a request that
the same may be laid before their respective Legislatures.

DAVID PEMBLE,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

CHARLES LYNCH,

President of the Senate,

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURES

SOUTH CAROLINA AMD GEORGIA,

PROPOSING A

CONVENTION OF THE STATES

The following Resolves of the Legislatures of South
Carolina and Georgia, with those of the Legislature of Massa
chusetts, consequent upon them, though not directly embraced
by the terms of the order under which the present volume has
been published, are so closely connected with the general sub
ject of the late political controversies, that it has been thought
expedient to include them. It appears from a letter of the Gov
ernor of Georgia, subsequently received by the Governor of this
Commonwealth, and which is also published, that the document
transmitted and certified by the Governor of Georgia, as Re
solves of the Legislature of that State, was in fact, a mere re
port, which was not adopted. The Resolves which were really
passed, are now published from the printed volume of the Laws
of Georgia.

State of Sotttlj

IN THE SENATE, 13th December, 1832.

The Committee on Federal Relations, to whom was referred that
portion of the Governor's Message, No. 3, which relates to the
call of a Convention of the States, respectfully report the fol
lowing

PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS :

WHEREAS, serious causes of discontent do exist among the
States of this Union, from the exercise, by Congress, of powers
not conferred or contemplated, by the sovereign parties to the
Compact — therefore,

Resolved, That it is expedient that a Convention of the States
be called as early as practicable, to consider and determine
such questions of disputed power, as have arisen between the
States of this confederacy and the General Government.

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit copies
of this Preamble and Resolutions to the Governors of the several
States, with a request that the same be laid before the Legisla
tures of their respective States, and also to our Senators and
Representatives in Congress, to be by them laid before Congress
for consideration.

Resolved, That the Senate do agree.

Ordered to the House of Representatives for concurrence.
IN THE SENATE, 19th December, 1832.

The House of Representatives returned, with their concur
rence, the Report of the Committee on Federal Relations, on
that portion of the Governor's Message, No. 3, which relates to
the call of a Convention of the States.

A true copy from the Journals.

JACOB WARLEY, Clerk of the Senate.

State of fttovgf au

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

FOR as much as throughout the United States, there exist
many controversies growing out of the conflicting interests
which have arisen among the people, since the adoption of the
Federal Constitution ; out of the cases in which Congress claims
the right to act under constructive or implied powers ; out of the
disposition, shown by Congress, too frequently to act under as
sumed powers, and out of the rights of jurisdiction, either claim
ed or exercised by the Supreme Court — all of which tend di
rectly to diminish the affection of the people for their own gov
ernment, to produce discontent, to repress patriotism, to excite
jealousies, to engender discord, and finally to bring about the
event, of all other, most deeply to be deplored, and most anx
iously to be guarded against, viz : a dissolution of our happy
Union, and a severance of these States into hostile communities,
each regarding and acting towards each other with the bitterest
enmity.

And the experience of the past having clearly proved, that the
Constitution of the United States needs amendment in the fol
lowing particulars :

1. That the powers delegated to the General Government, and
the rights reserved to the States or to the people, may be more
distinctly defined.

2. That the power of coercion by the General Government
ever the States, and the right of a State to resist an unconstitu
tional act of Congress, may be determined.

3. That the principle involved in a Tariff for the direct pro
tection of domestic industry, may be settled.

4. That a system of Federal taxation may be established,
which shall be equal in its operation upon the whole people, and
in all sections of the country.

5. That the jurisdiction and process of the Supreme Court?
may be clearly and unequivocally settled.

239

6. That a tribunal of last resort may be organized to settle
disputes between the General Government and the States.

7. That the power of chartering a Bank and of granting in
corporations, may be expressly given to, or withheld from Con
gress.

8. That the practice of appropriating money for works of In
ternal Improvement, may be either sanctioned by an express del
egation of power, or restrained by express inhibition.

9. That it may be prescribed, what disposition shall be made
of the surplus revenue, when such revenue is found to be on hand.

10. That the right to, and the mode of disposition of the pub
lic lands of the United States, may be settled.

11. That the election of President and Vice President may be
secured, in all cases, to the people.

12. That their tenure of office may be limited to one term.

13. That the rights of the Indians may be definitely settled.

Be it therefore Resolved by the Senate and House of Representa
tives of the State of Georgia, in General Assembly met, and acting
for the people thereof, That the State of Georgia, in conformity
with the Fifth Article of the Federal Constitution, hereby makes
application to the Congress of the United States, for the call of
a Convention of the people, to amend the Constitution afore
said, in the particulars herein enumerated, and in such others as
the people of the other States may deem needful of amendment.

Resolved further, That His Excellency the Governor be, and he
is hereby requested to transmit copies of this document to the
other States of the Union, and to our Senators and Representa
tives in Congress.

Agreed to, 12th December, 1832.

Attest> ASBURY HULL, Speaker.

ROBERT W. CARNES, Clerk.

IN SENATE, 20th December, 1832.
Concurred in.

Attest> THOMAS STOCKS, President.

IVERSON L. HARRIS, Secretary.
Approved, 22d December, 1832.

WILSON LUMPKIN, Governor.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

MASSACHUSETTS.

eommoutoealti) of

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 16th, 1833.

Ordered, That the Resolutions of the Legislature of Georgia,
proposing a Convention of the People of the United States, for
the Amendment in various respects of the Constitution, and so
much of the Governor's Special Message as relates thereto, be
referred to

Messrs. CUSHING, of NEWBURYPORT,
SHAW, of LANESBOROUGH,
WHITE, of BOSTON,

with such as the Senate may join.
Sent up for concurrence.

L. S. CUSHING, Clerk.

IN SENATE, January 17, 1833.

Read, and referred to Messsrs. BLAKE and WELLS, in con
currence.

CHARLES CALHOUN, Clerk.

IN SENATE, February, 1833.

The Special Joint Committee, to whom was referred, among
other things, that portion of His Excellency the Governor's
Message, relating to the subject of the Preamble and Reso
lutions of the Legislature of South Carolina, proposing that
a " Convention of the States should be called, as early as
practicable, to consider and determine such questions of dis
puted power as have arisen between the States of this con
federacy and the General Government," have had the same
under consideration, and respectfully submit the following

REPORT IN PART :

Upon the first presentment of the Resolutions in question,
taken in connection with the matter contained in the Preamble,
with which they are introduced, your Committee were consid
erably at a loss to determine what should be regarded as being
their precise scope and object. The question occurred to them,
whether it was the intention of the Legislature of South Caro
lina to invite a Convention of the States, with a view to certain
specific amendments of the Constitution of the General Gov
ernment, in conformity with the provisions in the fifth article of
that instrument, or to assume the novel and extraordinary ground
that such a Convention was necessary or expedient, for the pur
pose, merely, of considering, and determining, in their sove
reign capacity, certain questions of disputed power, which are
supposed to exist between that State more particularly, and the
Government of the Union.

245

With reference to this point, the Committee were naturally
led, in the first place, to a consideration of the very unusual
manner (in case an amendment of the Constitution, in conform
ity with the article alluded to, were alone contemplated,) in
which the proposition is submitted to the Legislature of Massa
chusetts.

Since the first organization of the Federal Government, it
has, as the Committee believe, been the uniform practice of the
Legislature of a State, whenever it has proposed to bring about
any amendment or change in the Constitution of that Govern
ment by a Convention of the States, to specify, in their applica
tion to other States, for co-operation and support in such a
measure, the precise points wherein the existing provisions of
the system were supposed to be doubtful or insufficient, and the
nature and extent of the correction proposed to be applied.
This form of application, which, whether prescribed or not by
the terms of the article before referred to, would seem to be
such as the nature of the case requires, appears, nevertheless, to
have been not inadvertently, but studiously avoided by the
Legislature of South Carolina on the present occasion.

In another particular, the novelty of the proposition now sub
mitted to this Legislature, not as respects its form only, but its
matter and substance, is not less conspicuous. It is not pro
posed that a Convention should be called, with a view to any
particular amendment, or even, in general terms, to a revision
of the Constitution of the General Government, but that it
should take upon itself, when assembled, in a manner wholly
unknown in any existing provision of the Federal Compact, the
office of umpire, and sit in judgment on certain disputes which
are alleged to exist between a State or States, and the nation.
It is believed by your Committee, that, with the exception of
one solitary case of an analogous description, to which they
may hereafter have occasion to advert, for another purpose, but
which, considering the time of its occurrence, and the fate that
awaited it, they can hardly suppose would be relied upon as
affording the authority of a precedent, the proposition now sub
mitted is entirely unexampled in the history of this Government.

It i?, at any rate, most manifest, that, if assented to by the
States, it would necessarily be attended with the most fatal con-

246

sequences to the Union. If the principle be sanctioned that,
whenever a single member of this confederacy, conceiving itself
aggrieved by any, even a questionable measure of the General
Government, shall be permitted, first, to resist the measure, and
then to summon a Convention of the whole, in order to consider
and determine the matter in dispute, it is easy to foresee what
utter degradation of all the regular authorities of the Govern
ment, what scenes of anarchy and disorder throughout the land
must inevitably and speedily ensue. But it appears to your
Committee, that the proposition, in itself, is not more extraor
dinary than is the sweeping assertion with which it is prefaced,
and which seerns, indeed, to constitute the only grounds upon
which it is predicated. In the Preamble to the Resolutions in
question, it is declared " that serious causes of discontent do
exist among the States of this Union, from the exercise by Con
gress of powers not conferred or contemplated by the sovereign
parties to the compact." The Committee will not trust them
selves to express, in terms such as their feelings might prompt
them to employ on the occasion, the surprise, as well as the
regret they have experienced, at meeting with a solemn, delib
erate announcement like this, from the Legislative body of a
respectable member of this Union. Nor will they stop to con
sider how far, under almost any imaginable circumstances, it is
consistent with that courtesy and comity, to say nothing of
respect and confidence, which the constituted authorities of the
different States have hitherto been accustomed to manifest in
their intercourse with one" another, and with the several depart
ments of the General Government. In the view of your Com
mittee, the position here assumed, for it is unaccompanied by
any reserve or qualification whatsoever, amounts in fact to
nothing less than this, that both branches of the legislative de
partment of this nation, including of course the chief executive,
who must have sanctioned their proceedings, have manifestly
been guilty of a dereliction of duty, a palpable abuse of power,
while in the pretended exercise of their official functions.

An imputation of so grave and serious a nature, is not indeed
in so many words pronounced against them, but as much as this
is clearly implied by the whole tenor of the document alluded
to. If, according to the naked assertion of the Preamble, which

247

is wholly unaccompanied by any allowance for a possible error
of judgment, the Congress of the United States have, on any oc
casion, been found to have exercised " powers not conferred
nor even contemplated by the parties to the Federal Compact,"
the inference would seem to follow of course, for all acts of a
legislative body must be supposed to have been the result of de
liberation, that the outrage was perpetrated knowingly, inten
tionally. Indeed, the Committee have been reluctantly led to
the conclusion, especially when taking into view the present
communication from the Legislature of South Carolina, in con
nection with the extraordinary measures antecedently adopted,
and still maintained by a majority of the people of that State,
in their Convention, and in their halls of legislation, that it was,
in reality, their deliberate intention to pronounce a sentence
not less serious and severe than that before supposed, against
the legislative authorities of the General Government. It is, as
your Committee, from a due consideration of all the circum
stances of the case, are constrained to believe, principally, with
a view to the confirmation or the reversal of this sentence, that
the invitation is now given to Massachusetts, to unite in sum
moning a Convention of the States. In this connection, it may
be useful to notice, very briefly, the grounds on which, not the
leading politicians only, but the high functionaries in the Gov
ernment of South Carolina, have attempted to justify the extra
ordinary proceedings that have been adverted to. It has been
promulgated as one of the first and fundamental principles in
their new theory of the Federal Government, that not one jot or
tittle of the sovereignty of any State was surrendered or com
promised, in any manner, at the formation of the Union. That
a State has a right of course to be its own interpreter of the
laws of the General Government, and to be the judge in the last
resort of their validity. That, whenever a State, in its sovereign
capacity, shall be pleased to pronounce that the Congress of the
United States have, in regard to any of their enactments, tran
scended the authority delegated to them by the Constitution, all
such acts must thenceforth, so far at least as concerns the citi
zens of such State, be considered as utterly void and ineffectual.
Furthermore, it is contended, that a declaration, of the kind
above mentioned, is not only binding upon all within the juris-

248

diction of the disaffected State, but conclusive also, for the time
being at least, against all the authorities of the General Govern
ment. From this novel and most extravagant doctrine, it results
as a consequence, that an act of the highest legislative authority
of this nation, whatever may be its scope or object, or however
urgent in reference either to the foreign or internal affairs of
the whole people may have been the cause of its adoption,
must, when thus brought into question, remain as it were in
abeyance, at the commandment of a single State. In other
words, that the vast and complicated machinery of the National
Government shall be made to stand still, until a grand Conven
tion of twenty-four independent, contending sovereignties, if so
many should be pleased to assemble on the occasion, shall have
considered and determined the question of its validity.

Such, in substance, appears to be the theory of reform which
has recently been promulgated, and is still maintained by the
constituted authorities of South Carolina ; and your Committee
is constrained to believe that it is, with reference to this system,
and to a consummation of the very extraordinary course of pro
cedure therein contemplated, that the proposition for a Conven
tion of the States is now submitted to this Legislature. The
Committee conceive that it would be a very useless appropria
tion of time, especially as the whole subject matter involved in
the late extraordinary proceedings of South Carolina is already
entirely familiar to the community, were they to proceed any
further, on a course of reasoning, in order to demonstrate the
utter fallacy and impracticability of the doctrines here adverted
to ; or to dwell longer in contemplating the consequences in
which, should they be sustained, they must naturally and neces
sarily involve the peace and safety of the Union. Their tend
ency, it is conceived, is quite too obvious to require, or even to
admit of argument or illustration. They manifestly go to re
solve at once our present gloriuus system of National Govern
ment into its original elements, and would leave, not for the pre
sent generation, but for posterity, the fearful, if not utterly
hopeless task, of building some trail and miserable fabric upon
its ruins.

In fine, your Committee are unanimously of the opinion, that,
upon any such grounds, or for any such reasons as those which

249

are set forth in the said Preamble and Resolutions, according
to the construction thus given to them, it would be wholly in
consistent with the honor and the dignity of this Commonwealth,
to accede to the call of a Convention of the States, for the
purposes therein specified.

But, secondly, in case your Committee have been so unfortu
nate, in regard to the before mentioned particulars, as to have
misinterpreted the import and intent of the communication from
the Legislature of South Carolina; if, contrary to the construc
tion now assumed, its real intention was to invite the co-opera
tion of Massachusetts in the call of a Convention of the States,
with a view to some legitimate amendment of the Constitution,
in conformity with the existing provisions of the instrument, the
Committee are, nevertheless, entirely agreed in the opinion, that
there are, in truth and in fact, no such causes existing, as would
justify, even for such a purpose, (especially during the present
irritable state of feeling among the people of several States of
the Union) a resort to a measure so unusual and extraordinary.
Unless some one or two discontented States in this Union,
should, by reason of their pre-eminence in virtue and patriot
ism, be considered as justly entitled to the distinguishing appel
lation of "the States of this Union," the Committee cannot as
sent to the position which is laid down in the sweeping language
of the Preamble to the Resolutions from South Carolina, that
there are, in fact, existing serious causes, or any just causes
whatever, whether serious or trivial, of discontent among " the
States of this Union" ; much less are the Committee prepared to
sanction the yet more extravagant assertion, that if discontents
of any kind, or to any extent, do, in fact exist, " they have
arisen from the exercise, by Congress, of powers not conferred,
or contemplated, by the sovereign parties to the Federal Com
pact."

It is indeed true, that within the period of the last two or
three years, one of the States of this Union has seen fit to pro
claim aloud, throughout the land, her displeasure on account of
certain prominent measures of the General Government.

She has been pleased to assign, as the cause of the discon
tent, that the highest legislative authority of the nation had as
sumed to itself the exercise of unwarrantable and exorbitant
33

250

power ; and, on this ground, has, at length, placed herself in the
attitude of open defiance of the Constitution and the laws of the
land.

It is not less true, however, that \\hatever of sympathy or com
miseration may have been expressed or felt, by any, for the
errors and delusion of a much beloved, but wayward associate
in the political family, not a single other State in this Union is
united with her in sentiment, either as to the legal grounds of
her complaint, or the propriety of the measures to which she
has seen fit to resort for redress. On the contrary, in relation
to both the one and the other, the voice of nearly the whole
people, in their primary assemblages, in their halls of legisla
tion, and every where throughout the land, has been heard, in a
tone not of expostulation only, but of severe censure and re
proof, to pronounce its decision against her.

In the opinion of your Committee, a Convention of the States
cannot now be necessary to consider the validity of that deci
sion, or to add any new provisions to those already existing in
the Federal Compact, with the view of preventing a recurrence
of similar discontents among the States, in future.

It is now nearly half a century since the present admirable
system of Government first came from the hands of the illustrious
statesmen and patriots by whom it was framed. Its theory, con
ceived as it would now seem to have been, almost by the power
of superhuman intelligence, has been found, in experiment, in
its wonderful adaptation to all the various and complicated con
cerns of this great and growing nation, not only to have equal-
led> but greatly to have transcended, the most sanguine hopes
and expectations of the country.

In peace and in war, throughout all the trials and vicissitudes
to which the nations, as well as individuals, in this imperfect
state of being are necessarily subjected, its original principles,
as they were at first established and understood by the people,
have, to this day, remained without essential change or variation
—unpolluted, undisturbed. Indeed, the members of the Com
mittee are solemnly impressed with the conviction, that next to
the superintending agency of a wise and beneficent Providence,
which seems from the first, to have watched over the destinies of
this much favored people, it is to this same system of civil Gov-

251

ernment, and to the mild, but firm and undeviating manner in
which its principles have, for the most part, been maintained
and administered, that we are chiefly indebted for the general,
nay, almost universal prosperity which is now seen and felt in
every part of this wide spread nation. It is this, as they verily
believe, which, under the smiles of Heaven, has been the means
of elevating these States from their once confused and imbecile
condition, to that distinguished station which they now occupy
among the proudest and most powerful nations of the world.

In the Constitution of a Government framed with such wisdom ,
which has been thus tried and proved, and found to have been
attended with such happy results, it surely would not be the part
of prudence or good policy to attempt, on any light occasion,
or indeed in any case but one of the most imperious and urgent
necessity, a fundamental change of any kind. It is the opinion
of your Committee, that in the complaints lately put forth by
the State of South Carolina, there is nothing, when their real
causes are fairly and fully investigated, that can be supposed to
amount to the presentment of an exigency of this latter descrip
tion.

Nor do the Committee believe that a revision of the Federal
Constitution, by a Convention of the States, would at this time
be useful, much less that it can be necessary, as has of late been
sometimes alleged, or pretended, with a view to some more
clear and exact definition than is to be found in the existing pro
visions of that instrument, in relation either to the legitimate
boundaries of jurisdiction between the General and the State
Governments, or to any of the powers or immunities which these
high parties respectively have hitherto been accustomed to claim
or enjoy.

It was not unforeseen by the illustrious framers of the Federal
compact, nor by the intelligent people who adopted it, that, in
the very nature of things, such "questions of disputed power,"
(to use the language of the South Carolina resolutions,) would
be likely to arise in the course of its operation. They were
doubtless well aware also, that it was not in the power of any
human wisdom or forecast, or indeed of any thing less than the
intelligence which belongs alone to the Omniscient, to devise a
system of Government for a nation like this, that should be for-

252

ever exempt from such doubts and exceptions as the ingenuity
or ambition of men might suggest, especially in times of party
zeal or excitement. Differences of this kind in political opin
ion, and the collisions which sometimes spring from them?
should be regarded as the natural, perhaps necessary incidents
of all free institutions ; as constituting in fact that portion of
alloy which, by the ordination of Providence, seems to have
been mingled with all our best comforts and blessings, and
without which we could not have been permitted to enjoy the
blessing of civil liberty, which is more precious in our estimation
than all others.

But it is believed that the testimony of all history will de
monstrate that such difficulties have been of less frequent oc
currence, and attended with much less serious consequences in
this, than in any other Government partaking in any degree of
the republican form, which has existed on the face of the earth.
It was, at any rate, precisely with a reference to these natural
and necessary consequences of the freedom of all our political
institutions, that the grand conservative principle, which is
found in the Judiciary department, was deeply implanted in the
system ; that a high tribunal was appointed to stand, as it were,
by the very tenure of its office, as well as by the peculiarity of
its attributes in other respects, separate and distinct from all
other departments of the Government. That to this tribunal
was confided the great business of interpreting the Constitution
and the laws, and of performing the high office of arbiter, in
the last resort, of all questions " of disputed power" that might
arise in the course of their administration. It is, in the opinion
of the Committee, no more than a tribute justly due to the
character and conduct of this distinguished tribunal, as well as
to the wisdom and forecast of the illustrious statesmen who pro
vided for its organization, to pronounce that it has hitherto ful
filled most faithfully and effectually, the great purposes of its
appointment.

It must be admitted, indeed, that, in the course of a series of
years, during which the system has been in operation, a few iso
lated instances of insubordination, not only among considera
ble masses of citizens, but extending, even, to the constituted
authorities of whole States, have been known to exist, which

253

seemed, at first, too mighty to be controlled by the mild, and
peaceable operation of the principle alluded to; but, happily,
for the peace, and honor of the country, the Constitution and
the laws have hitherto in all such cases, eventually triumphed.
The Committee, here, feel a degree of pride as well as pleasure,
from having an opportunity to unite their humble voice with
that of a late distinguished Commentator, who had, perhaps, as
much to do, as any other mortal, now living or dead, in the
original formation and subsequent administration of our present
system of government, in the declaration that, " with few excep
tions, the course of the Judiciary has, hitherto, been sanctioned
by the predominant sense of the nation."

If, in relation to this particular branch of the subject, any
thing further were wanting in confirmation of the opinions
which are entertained by every member of the Committee, they
would beg leave to invoke to their aid, and indeed to adept as
their own, the sentiments that were once expressed by the Au
thorities of another leading State of this Union in a case cor
responding, essentially, in its character, and in fact almost en
tirely analogous, in its circumstances, to that which is now pre
sented for consideration.

The Committee, here, allude to the proceedings of the Legis
lature of Virginia, some thirty years ago, when a proposition
was submitted to them by the Government of a neighboring
State, then the largest, and most influential member of the
confederacy, for an amendment of the Constitution of the United
States, by providing for " the appointment of an impartial tri
bunal to decide disputes between the State, and Federal Judi
ciary ;" in other words, a tribunal, in relation to which, the one
now established by the Constitution, should become, a mere
Subordinate and Dependent. It would be foreign from the
purpose of the present inquiry, and serve only to revive the
remembrance of scenes, which, for the honor of the country,
should rather be permitted to pass silently to oblivion, and, if
possible, be obliterated from the history of this government,
were the Committee to attempt a detail of the reasons, or rather,
pretexts^ which were urged as the grounds of this extraordinary,
and, at the time, wholly unprecedented proposal, on the part of
the great State that has been alluded to.

254

It is sufficient for us to know, that it was a case in which the
highest Authorities of one of the States of this Union were seen
in hostile array, on the very verge of open insurrection, against
the Judicial power of the nation ; and which, but for a return
ing consciousness of error and delusion, on the one side, and a
firm, undeviating perseverance in the execution of its high du
ties, on the other, must inevitably have involved the country in
all the complicated horrors of civil war.

But, happily for the nation, the pretensions and the project
of the disaffected State received no countenance from the State
of Virginia Her response, on the occasion, was precisely such
as might reasonably have been anticipated from the intelligence
and pure patriotism of such men as are known to have presided,
at that day, in the councils of that much distinguished Common
wealth.

" It was. among other things, unanimously resolved by both
Branches of their Legislature, that, in their opinion, there was
a Tribunal, already provided by the Constitution of the United
States, to wit, the Supreme Court, more eminently qualified, from
their habits and duties, from the mode of their selection, and
from the tenure of their office, to decide the disputes aforesaid,
in an enlightened and impartial manner, than any other Tribu
nal which could be erected."

Such, to the very letter, was the magnanimous declaration of
Virginia, when, by reason of an unpopular Judicial decision, (in
the celebrated Olmstead case of Pennsylvania) she was invited
to co-operate in an attempt to break up the existing foundations
of the Judiciary Department of our Government. The example
thus presented to us, is worthy of all praise, and of imitation ;
and it surely is of not the less authority, from the circumstance of
being holden up to us, by a member of this Union, which, what
ever may at any time have been said, or thought of its political
character, in other respects, has, it is believed, never been sus
pected of any deficiency of zeal, or devotedness to the cause of
State rights, or the protection of its own dignity and sovereignty.

The Committee will not attempt, by any further commentary
of their own, to give to this precedent, additional strength or
weight.

255

In fine, upon a mature, and deliberate consideration of the
whole subject submitted to them, the Committee have unani
mously, agreed to recommend to this Legislature, the adoption
of the following Resolves.

For the Committee.

GEORGE BLAKE.

RESOLVES.

WHEREAS, the Governor of the State of South Carolina did, by
his communication, under date of the fifth day of January last
past, transmit to His Excellency the Governor of this Common
wealth, copies of a certain preamble, and resolutions connected
therewith, recently passed by both branches of the Legislature
of the said first mentioned State, with a request that the same
might be laid before the Legislature of this Commonwealth ; in
which said preamble and resolutions, it is set forth that " serious
causes of discontent do exist among the States of this Union,
from the exercise, by Congress, of powers not conferred or con
templated by the sovereign parties to the compact ; and resolv
ing, therefore, that it is expedient that a Convention of the
States be called, as early as practicable, to consider and deter
mine such questions of disputed power as have arisen between
the States of this Confederacy and the General Government."

AND WHEREAS, His Excellency the Governor of this Common
wealth hath, in pursuance of the said request, submitted to the
consideration of this Legislature, the preamble and resolutions
aforesaid : Therefore

1. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled, That
the Legislature of this Commonwealth do not recognize the ex
istence, at this time, of any serious causes of discontent, among
the States generally, of this Union, or in any one of them ; much
less, can they admit that, if any such discontents do, in fact, ex
ist, they have arisen from the exercise by Congress of powers not
conferred or contemplated by the sovereign parties to the com
pact, as is asserted in the before mentioned communication from
the Legislature of South Carolina.

2. Resolved, That there is, already existing, under the Con
stitution of the United States, a proper and competent tribunal,
namely, the Supreme Court of the United States, who are in
vested with sufficient power and authority; who are eminently

257

qualified, and to whom it constitutionally belongs, to consider
and determine " the questions of disputed power," and all other
matters of controversy which are referred to in the said preamble
and resolutions : Therefore

3. Resolved, That the Legislature of this Commonwealth do
not accede to the proposition of calling a Convention of the
States for the purposes therein expressed, or for any other pur
pose whatsoever.

4. Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor, be requested
to transmit a copy of these resolves, together with the report
which accompanies them, to the President of the United States,
the Governors of all the States, and to each of the Senators and
Representatives of this Commonwealth in Congress.

IN SENATE, March 16, 1833.
Read twice and passed. Sent down for concurrence.

B. T. PICKMAN, President.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, March 18, 1833.
Read twice and passed in concurrence.

W. B. CALHOUN, Speaker.

March 18, 1833.
Approved.

LEVI LINCOLN.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 18TH, 1833.

The Joint Select Committee, appointed to consider the Resolu
tions of the Legislature of Georgia, proposing a Convention
of the People of the United States, for the Amendment, in
various respects, of the Constitution, and also so much of the
Governor's Special Message as relates thereto, have attended
to the duty assigned them, and ask leave to submit the fol
lowing

REPORT :

The Resolutions of the State of Georgia propose to the other
States of the Union the call of a Convention of the people, in
conformity with the provisions of the fifth article of the Consti
tution, for the purpose of defining and making certain that in
strument in regard to certain questions of disputed power, and
for the purpose of altering it in other respects, wherein it needs
amendment, in the opinion of the Legislature of Georgia. In
the preamble to their resolutions, they premise that " through
out the United States there exist many controversies, growing
out of the conflicting interests which have arisen among the
people since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, — out of
the cases in which Congress claims the right to act under con
structive or implied powers, — out of the disposition, shown by
Congress, too frequently to act under assumed powers, — and
out of the rights of jurisdiction, either claimed or exercised by
the Supreme Court," — all of which controversies, they allege
have a tendency to produce discontent and disaffection among
the citizens of the United States, and ultimately to bring about
a dissolution of the Union ; and upon these premises they con
clude that experience has " clearly proved" the Constitution to

259

need amendment in thirteen distinct particulars, which they
proceed to set forth specifically, as the basis of their Resolu
tions. Your Committee propose briefly to remark upon the
several portions of the Preamble to the Resolutions, and in so
doing they will have explained the grounds of the Resolves,
which they offer to the consideration of the Senate and House
of Representatives.

Your Committee do not pretend to deny, that " controversies"
exist in some parts of the Union, " growing out of the conflict
ing interests, which have arisen among the people since the
adoption of the Federal Constitution." Such controversies, and
such sources of controversy, are inseparable from the very ex
istence of political society, and belong to the practical operation
of every system of government in every country. They are not
such as any modifications of the present Constitution could re
move, or any prescribed form of fundamental law prevent. Of
course, whatever may be the extent, nature, degree, or tendency
of controversies of this description, they do not seem to your
Committee to afford any argument in favor of the call of a Con
vention.

And whatever controversies may have arisen out of " the
cases, in which Congress claims the right to act under construc
tive or implied powers," your Committee conceive that still less
can such cases be admitted to render the call of a Convention
necessary or expedient. Prior to the time when the people of
the United States adopted the Constitution, they possessed,
either in themselves individually, or in their respective state
governments, all the powers of sovereignty. That Constitution
consists in part of a specification of powers, whereof the people
saw fit to divest themselves or the States, in order to concede
them to the government of the United States ; and it is mani
fest that, according to the settled principles of constitutional
jurisprudence, the Union cannot rightly claim any powers, other
than such as are bestowed upon it by the Constitution. What
those powers are, and what their extent, are in themselves es
sentially questions of construction, that is, of the legal meaning
and effect of the terms of the instrument. Whether it shall be
construed liberally, or whether it shall be construed strictly, —
or whether neither liberally nor strictly, if there be any middle

260

course, — still at any rate it must be construed in some way ;
and the force of any grant, in respect of the powers conveyed
by it either expressly or impliedly, is and must forever continue
to be a question of construction. That construction is a process
of definition, dependant upon the same rules of law, philology,
and common sense, which settle the construction of other in
struments ; and if any doubts arise thereon, the Constitution it
self provides for the mode by which such doubts are to be re
moved, namely, by means of the Supreme Court of the United
States. To assemble a Convention for the purpose of making
such construction, would not only be contrary to the tenor of
the Constitution itself, but would serve to defeat its own object,
because every definition or explanation, which a Convention
should undertake to give concerning questions which now exist,
would of necessity furnish the materials of new questions, just
as difficult to decide as the old ones, and just as much requiring
the interposition of a Convention. Your Committee are of
opinion that the Constitution, as it stands, is a model of clear,
exact, intelligible specification and limitation, admirable for the
distinctness of its language, remarkable as well for legal pre
cision of expression, as for the profound political wisdom which
characterizes it ; and they have no hopes that in these respects
it could be improved as a whole by the labors of a new Con
vention

Your Committee, with all due respect for the Legislature of
Georgia, feel bound to say they are not conscious that Congress
has frequently shewn a disposition " to act under assumed pow
ers" — provided the Legislature of Georgia understand by those
words what alone the Committee can understand by them, —
powers not conferred by the Constitution. Congress acts on
the people through the medium of legislation, and it cannot so
act without the concurrence of the Executive ; and the rules
of conduct which Congress and the Executive conjointly pre
scribe in the form of laws, are subject to the revision of the
Judiciary, by whom their constitutionality, and of course their
validity, is to be judged. Your Committee deem this mode of
redress amply sufficient, in the ordinary course of affairs, to
protect the people against the actual exercise of usurped powers ;

261

and they are wholly at a loss to perceive how a Convention
could govern and control the disposition of any future Congress.

The Supreme Court, in the judgment of your Committee,
neither claims nor exercises ' any rights of jurisdiction' not vest
ed in it by the Constitution. They are persuaded, on the con
trary, from careful observation of the judgments of that august
tribunal, that it has ever manifested a becoming diffidence of its
own powers, a disposition to act strictly within the prescribed
boundaries of its constitutional functions, and a conscientious
deference for the reserved rights of the States.

Your Committee are constrained to say thus much in reference
to the premises laid down by the Legislature of Georgia, be
cause the Committee cannot admit them to be sound, in any
view of which they seem to be justly susceptible, as alleged in
ducements to the call of a Convention, or even as any genuine
or adequate causes of such discontent among the people, as
should menace the safety of the Union. And while the Commit
tee deny that these general consideratious afford any motives to
constitutional action, they equally deny that past ' experience5
proves the necessity of altering the Constitution in the manner
proposed by the State of Georgia.

The Legislature of Georgia seeks 'amendment' of the Consti
tution, —

' First, That the powers delegated to the General Government,
and the rights reserved to the States or to the people, may be
more distinctly defined.'

The Committee have already remarked upon this point, which
is purely a matter of judicial construction, not of fundamental
legislation by the agency of a Convention.

' Secondly, That the power of coercion by the General Gov
ernment over the States, and the right of a State to resist an un
constitutional act of Congress, may be determined.'

Your Committee conceive that these points are ' determined'
already by the Constitution. The people of the several States
have bestowed certain specified powers upon the General Gov
ernment, and all the citizens of the Union, whether acting indi
vidually as men, or collectively through the intervention of the
constituted authorities of a State, are alike bound to yield obedi
ence to the General Government within the limits prescribed by

262

the Constitution. If Congress, or the Executive, overleap those
limits, the Judiciary affords the means of immediate redress ; and
the people, in the exercise of their functions as electors, can pro
vide new depositaries of the legislative and executive power ; and
if these remedies fail, and the public abuse and usurpation be of
adequate magnitude to warrant recurrence to ultimate means of
relief, there remains the right of revolution and of armed resist
ance. These principles, sufficiently clear in themselves, have
already been acted upon by the Legislature in their decision
upon the proceedings in South Carolina, and do not require any
further elucidation ; and your Committee will only add that this
subject of amendment, like the preceding, is also matter of ju
dicial definition, not of constitutional organization.

' Thirdly, That the principle involved in a tariff for the direct
protection of domestic industry may be settled.'

Your Committee have only to refer, on this point, to the opin
ions heretofore expressed by the Legislature upon the constitu
tionality of protective tariff regulations, and to add that this also
is a question of definition or construction.

'Fourthly, That a system of federal taxation may be establish
ed, which shall be equal in its operation upon the whole people,
and in all sections of the country.'

Your Committee, knowing that Congress has power to lay
and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, do not perceive
any cause, in the history of the country or the nature of the sub
ject, for taking away that authority ; and they are not aware of
any useful object to be attained by subjecting this part of the
Constitution to revision by a Convention.

{ Fifthly, That the jurisdiction and process of the Supreme
Court may be clearly and unequivocally settled.'

Your Committee are of opinion that the jurisdiction of the Su
preme Court, extending to all cases in law and equity arising
under the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the Union, and to
various other classes of cases described in the Constitution, is
therein defined with comprehensive precision, so far as it can be
defined by means of language. Its process is matter of legisla
tion, within the powers of Congress, and there is no need of the
action of a Convention upon that point. And although an
amendment of the Constitution might grant new powers to the

263

Supreme Court, or abstract from it powers which it now possess
es, the Committee do not perceive how its jurisdiction could be
any more < clearly aud unequivocally settled' by a Convention.

1 Sixthly, That a tribunal of last resort may be organized to
settle disputes between the General Government and the States.'

Your Committee conceive such an object to be entirely im
practicable ; and moreover, to be quite incompatible with the
principles or the healthful action of the Constitution. The au
thority of the United States, under the Constitution, attaches
to individuals, not to States ; and a Convention could neither
cure nor prevent such « disputes,' unless it should totally change
the whole theory of the Government, and interpose the authority
of the States between individuals and the Union. The great
distinction between our Constitution and the fundamental sys
tem of other federal governments is, that the latter were sove
reignties over sovereignties, and that they legislated for political
communities, and thus whenever either of the members of those
confederacies chose to disobey the commands of their general
government, either a civil war or a dissolution of the confederacy
ensued ; whereas the power of the United States acts upon pri
vate individuals, and thus holds the constitutional, as well as the
physical means, to compel the obedience of the citizens of any
refractory State. Your Committee regard this as one of the most
beautiful and essential features of that admirable charter ; as the
great object, in fact, which our forefathers sought to secure in
substituting the present Constitution in place of the old articles
of confederation, — and as among the last of its provisions, which
we ought to be willing to abandon or jeopardize.

' Seventhly, That the power of chartering a bank, and of
granting incorporations, may be expressly given to or withheld
from Congress.'

Your Committee cannot think it of any consequence now to
introduce a clause into the Constitution, to the effect of express
ly authorizing Congress to establish a bank or other corporation.
The power of Congress is incontrovertibly settled in the point
of general power, by the repeated action of Congress and of the
Executive on the subject, and by adjudications of the Supreme
Court. Of course, the power of chartering a bank is to be
deemed and taken as a part of the Constitution, just as much

264

as if it had been expressly specified. No practical object
could be answered by a Convention, in respect of this, unless to
prohibit the establishment of a bank by Congress, which your
Committee cannot recommend, impressed as they are with a
strong sense of the utility and importance of a National Bank,
to every portion of the Union.

'Eighthly, That the practice of appropriating money for
works of internal improvement, may be either sanctioned by an
express delegation of power, or restrained by express inhibition.

If the Constitution were now to be framed, your Committee
will not deny that it might be expedient to insert in it an ex
plicit provision upon this vexed question. They are aware that
grave differences of opinion have obtained among the most dis
tinguished statesmen of the country, as to the power of Con
gress to make appropriations of money for objects of internal
improvement, so called, within the limits of any of the States.
Under the power to establish post roads, to regulate commerce,
and to raise moneys to provide for the general welfare, Con
gress has repeatedly authorized the execution, at the charge of
the United States, in part or in whole, of public works of this
description ; and whatever questions have been, or may here
after be raised, concerning the extent of this power, your Com
mittee believe that the opinions and practice of the two Houses
of Congress and the Executive, in their discussion and action
upon the subject, will ere long have provided a safe construc
tion of the Constitution in this respect, as they have done in
others, where doubt once existed as to the meaning of that in
strument. However this may be, your Committee do not think
it is a matter which demands the call of a Convention ; and that
if the Constitution needs amendment in that particular, it should
be provided by means of Congress, under the provisions in the
fifth article of the Constitution.

« Ninthly, That it may be prescribed, what disposition shall
be made of the surplus revenue, when such revenue is found to
be on hand.'

« Tenthly, That the right to, and the mode of disposition of
the public lands of the United States, may be settled.'

Your Committee are not aware that any serious constitutional
difficulty exists in relation to these two subjects, which they

265

deem to be mere questions of public policy and expediency, en
tirely within the competency of Congress.

4 Eleventhly, That the election of President and Vice Presi
dent may be secured, in all cases, to the people.'

* Twelfthly, That their tenure of office may be limited to one
term.5

Whatever considerations there may be in favor of an amend
ment of the Constitution in these particulars, and your Commit
tee admit that the expediency of a change in the second of them
rests upon highly plausible grounds, yet the mode of amendment
through the agency of Congress, pointed out by the Constitution,
seems to them to be fully competent to effect such an amend
ment, whenever it shall be the will and desire of a decided ma
jority of the people of the United States.

1 Lastly, that the rights of the Indians may be definitely set
tled.7

Your Committee believe this to be purely a subject of judi
cial construction under the Constitution, laws, and treaties of
the United States ; that the Supreme Court is competent to set
tle any questions appertaining to it, which do exist, or which
may hereafter exist ; and that, of course, it offers no exigency
requiring the call of a Convention.

In fine, the specific objects of amendment proposed by the
State of Georgia, are of two kinds : — first, things wherein the
true intendment of certain clauses of the Constitution may have
been deemed questionable, which your Committee regard as the
proper subject matter of judicial construction or definition, in
the last resort of constitutional, as distinguished from extra con
stitutional modes of procedure, and of course as not fitting ob
jects of a Convention ; and, secondly, things wherein specific
alterations of, or additions to the Constitution may have been
deemed expedient, which your Committee regard as belonging
to the competency of Congress, and by no means of such vital
consequence as to justify the extraordinary step of a Convention
of the people of the United States.

Having thus adverted to the reasons on which the Legislature
of Georgia found their proposition for the call of a Convention,
and also to the specific objects of amendment which they pro
pound for investigation, your Committee have only to add, in
35

266

conclusion, that they conceive the meeting of a Convention of
the people, for the purpose of revising the Constitution, in these
or any other respects, to be a remedy required only by pressing
emergencies of national exigency ; and they apprehend that,
under any subsisting state of public feeling, its tendency would
be to create new questions of difficulty, and to augment the dif
ferences of opinion in regard to old ones, and thus to weaken
rather than confirm the power of the Union. The Legislature
of Georgia have alleged various subjects of fundamental law as
requiring the agency of a Convention, being such as the pecu
liar views or position of the State of Georgia have suggested to
her Legislature. It would be easy for your Committee to swell
the number of subjects equally suitable for the consideration of a
Convention with those under discussion, derived from the views
and position of this Commonwealth ; and some of the latter class
of subjects involve questions of public right, of national expe
diency, of constitutional organization, quite as important in
themselves, and quite as dear to the convictions of the people
of Massachusetts, as any of the former class can possibly be to
the people of Georgia. But your Committee are content with
the Constitution in the form they have received it from their
fathers, regarding it as a monument of comprehension and sa
gacity, which the labors of a Convention might perhaps improve
in some points, but which they would be more likely to unsettle
and overturn, without possessing the capacity or the power to
raise upon its ruins another equally noble fabric of political
wisdom to supply its place. Whilst entertaining, therefore, all
proper respect for the opinions of the Legislature of Georgia,
and while solicitous to treat that State with deference as a co
equal member of the Union, your Committee, in view of the
whole matter, recommend to the Legislature the adoption of the
following Resolves.

For the Committee,

CALEB CUSHING.

RESOLVES.

Whereas, the Governor of the State of Georgia did, by his
communication under date of the twenty-eighth day of Decem
ber last, transmit to His Excellency the Governor of the Com
monwealth, copies of a certain Preamble and Resolutions con
nected therewith, recently adopted by the Legislature of said
State of Georgia, and His Excellency did, by his Special Mes
sage of the sixteenth of January last, communicate the same to
the Legislature of this Commonwealth : —

And whereas, in said Preamble and Resolutions it is set forth
that, for certain reasons therein alleged, the State of Georgia
doth make application to the Congress of the United States for
the call of a Convention of the People to amend the Constitu
tion in sundry particulars, enumerated in said Preamble, and in
such others as the People may consider needful : —

And whereas, the specified subjects of amendment are either
matters of definition or construction merely, arising on the face
of the Constitution, as to which the meaning of the Constitution
is already, or may hereafter be, satisfactorily ascertained under
the Constitution, and by means provided therein, and which
matters do not properly come within the functions of a Conven
tion ; or else matters of amendment suitable for the considera
tion of Congress, under the Fifth Article of the Constitution,
and not of such vital moment as to require the call of a Conven
tion : — Therefore,

1. Resolved, That the Legislature of this Commonwealth
do not concur in the proposition of the State of Georgia, inviting
a Convention of the People of the United States for the purpose
of amending the Constitution.

2. Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor be re
quested to transmit a copy of these Resolves, together with the
Report which accompanies them, to the President of the United
States, to the Governors of all the States, and to each of the
Senators and Representatives of this Commonwealth in Con
gress.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, GA.

MILLEDGEVILLE, JUNE 7, 1833.

SlR,-

IN transmitting to you, the Acts of the General Assembly of
this State, passed at its last session, I beg leave to correct an
error, which occurred through the inadvertence of the press, and
a want of proper scrutiny at this Department, in regard to a
resolution, transmitted to you on the 28th of December last, and
purporting to have been approved on the 22d of said month.
The resolution forwarded to you, was rejected by the Legisla
ture, and a substitute adopted (which you will find in the print
ed laws, pages 49 and 50.)

The official signatures of the officers of both branches of the
General Assembly, and that of the Governor, were improperly
placed by the printer, to the resolutions heretofore forwarded
to you, and forwarded from this Department without detecting
the error.

I have the honor to be, respectfully,

Your Obedient Servant,

WILSON LUMPKIN.

His Excellency the Governor of Massachusetts.

RESOLVES.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

WHEREAS, The Tariff Law of the last session of Congress has
not satisfied the just expectation of the people of the Southern
States : whereas, the recent attempt to provide a remedy for the
evils which we suffer from the protective system, by a State
Convention, not only will probably be abortive, but is likely, if
persisted in, materially to disturb the public harmony, and lessen
the moral force of the State : and, whereas, the resolutions
adopted by the delegates of a minority of the people, and which
are about to be submitted to the whole State for ratification,
are in several respects of a most objectionable character, it be
comes the duty of those who are the unquestionable representa
tives of the people of Georgia, to interpose for the purpose of
tranquillizing the public mind, and concentrating the public
will, by the recommendation of a course of policy, which, they
trust, will obtain the general approbation of the community.
Therefore,

Resolved, That if a Southern Convention be desirable, it is
expedient for the State of Georgia, to invite the States of Vir
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and
Mississippi, to concur with her in electing Delegates to a Con
vention, which shall take into consideration the Tariff system of
the General Government, and devise and recommend the most
effectual and proper mode of obtaining relief from the evils of
that system.

Resolved, That in order to ascertain the sense of the people
of Georgia, on this subject, the following plan of a Southern

272

Convention, be submitted to them, and that their votes on the
same be received at the appointed time and places of voting for
county officers in the several counties of this State, on the first
Monday in January next ; that no person be allowed to vote on
this matter, who is not entitled to vote for members of the Gen
eral Assembly ; that the vote be expressed by endorsing on the
ticket the words " Southern Convention," or " No Southern
Convention ;" and that a regular list be kept of the votes so en
dorsed, and transmitted to the Executive Department, by the
officers presiding at the elections.

PLAN OF A SOUTHERN CONVENTION.

ART. 1. The State of Georgia invites the States of Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mis
sissippi, to concur with her in electing Delegates to a Conven
tion, which shall take into consideration the Tariff system of the
General Government, and devise and recommend the most ef
fectual and proper mode of obtaining relief from the evils of that
system.

ART. 2. She proposes that each invited State, shall send to
the Convention, a number of Delegates equal to the number of
Senators and Representatives to which such State is entitled in
the Congress of the United States.

ART. 3. The Convention shall not take place, unless (five)
States of the six, which it is proposed to invite, assent to the
proposal.

ART. 4. The time and place of assembling the proposed Con
vention, shall be arranged and determined by correspondence
among those who shall be duly authorized by the States assent
ing to this plan.

ART. 5. The Governor of this State, is authorized and desired
to communicate the invitation and proposals contained in the
four preceding articles to the Governors of the other States
above mentioned, with a request that they be made known to
the people of those States respectively. He is also authorized
and desired to arrange by correspondence, the time and place
of assembling the proposed Convention, conformably to the pro
vision of the fourth article.

273

ART. 6. When the time and place for the meeting of said
Convention, are determined, the Governor of this State is au
thorized and desired to issue his proclamation, with timely no
tice, for an election of eleven delegates by general ticket, to
represent the State in said Convention ; the election to be regu
lated by the same principles as those which govern the election
of members of Congress. It is also desired and expected, that
the Legislature of this State will make such provision as may
be necessary for carrying more completely and readily into
effect, the above plan, if it should be adopted as proposed.

ART. 7. If the delegates assembled in a Southern Convention,
according to the above plan, shall agree on a course of pro
ceeding which they recommend to the States represented,
the Governor of this State is authorized and desired to issue a
proclamation, with timely notice, for an election of delegates to
a State Convention, declaring the time and place at which it
shall assemble. Such Convention shall consist of delegates
from every County, equal in number to that of its members in
the House of Representatives of this State, and the elections for
said delegates shall be regulated by the same principles, and
authenticated by the same forms as elections for members of the
General Assembly. To the State Convention thus elected, the
recommendations of the Southern Convention shall be submit
ted. If the same are approved by the State Convention, they
shall then be referred to the people for final ratification, in such
manner as may be prescribed by said Convention ; and if they
are ratified by the majority of those persons entitled to vote for
members of the General Assembly, the State Convention shall
proclaim that the said recommendations being regularly adopted,
express the will ofthe people of Georgia ; and shall also provide
the mode of giving permanent and authentic record to such rat
ification.

Resolved, That if the above plan of a Southern Convention is
adopted by the votes of a majority of the citizens of this State,
given in the manner therein described, it will be the right and
duty of the different functionaries of the State Government, to
afford all necessary aid in facilitating its execution.

Resolved, That we earnestly advise our fellow-citizens, not to
36

274

give their votes on the resolutions of the Convention recently
adjourned, as therein proposed. That Convention manifestly
consisted of delegates from a minority of the people ; yet they
submit their acts for ratification to the whole people, according
to a form contrived by themselves, through the agency of per
sons appointed by themselves, while they themselves remain
final judges of the ratification proposed. To sanction such a
procedure, would open a door for the grossest imposition, would
establish an alarming precedent for usurping the rights of the
majority, and might alternately [ultimately] expose us to all the
horrors of discord and anarchy.

Resolved, That while we would provide a corrective for the
possible continuance of those evils, of which we have so much
reason to complain, we still hope that the regular operations of
the General Government will supercede the necessity of any
extraordinary measures on the part of the Southern people, and
that we recognize the happiest augury of better things, in the
growing certainty of the re-election of that illustrious patriot,
Andrew Jackson.

Resolved, That we abhor the doctrine of Nullification as nei
ther a peaceful, nor a constitutional remedy, but, on the con
trary, as tending to civil commotion and disunion ; and while
we deplore the rash and revolutionary measures, recently adopt
ed by a Convention of the people of South Carolina, we deem
it a paramount duty to warn our fellow citizens against the dan
ger of adopting her mischievous policy.

Agreed to, November 29, 1832.

ASBURY HULL, Speaker.
Attest, ROBERT W. CARNES, Clerk.

IN SENATE, concurred in, December 12, 1832.
THOMAS STOKES, President.

Attest, IVERSON L, HARRIS, Secretary.

Approved, December 14? 1832.

WILSON LUMPKIN, Governor.

RESOLVES

LEGISLATURE

MISSISSIPPI

RESOLVES.

The Committee to which was referred the communication of the
Executive, transmitting to this House a resolution of the Sen
ate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia,
"making application to the Congress of the United States, in
conformity with the fifth article of the Federal Constitution,
for the call of a Convention of the people to amend the Consti
tution aforesaid, in the particulars therein enumerated, and in
such others as the people of the other States deem needful of
amendment", beg leave to

REPORT:

That, deeply impressed with the momentous importance of
the subject referred to them, they have bestowed on it their
most deliberate consideration. They are proud to avow the sin
cere and sacred reverence, which they, in common with a vast
majority of their fellow citizens entertain for the Federal Con
stitution, the great charter of our national liberties, our inde
pendence and union. Framed as it was originally, by a Con
vention of the people of the United States, and sanctioned after
wards by the people of the respective States, in their highest
sovereign capacity, we should, it would seem, await the exist
ence of the most urgent and palpable necessity of amendment
ere we proceed to provide for any important alteration in a sys
tem of government presented to us under such imposing circum
stances. But when to these circumstances is added the recol
lection of the great, the good, the pure and gifted statesmen by
whom it was framed, the all embracing spirit of conciliation and
patriotism in which it originated, and by which it was perfect
ed — the signal and glorious triumphs which under it have at
tended the eagle of our star-spangled banner on the land and on

278

the deep — the high and wide spread national character which it
has enabled us to attain — the unexampled rapidity of our march
under its fortunate auspices to national glory, power, prosperity
and happiness — the marked and all pervading influence which
it has exerted in liberalizing the forms of government through
out the civilized world, by conferring on mankind a knowledge
of their rights, and a determination and courage to maintain and
defend them ; — when to all these glorious results, it is added,
that the paternal voice of Him who was first in war, first in
peace, and still is first in the hearts of his countrymen, employ
ed its latest accents in inculcating a deep and solemn venera
tion for this Constitution and the Union ; — your Committee
would do injustice to their feelings, were they to suppress the
avowal that they seem to themselves to be treading upon holy
ground, and that nothing short of the most palpable necessity
could induce them to recommend the adoption of any measures
which, however well designed, might ultimately endanger the
existence or mar the symetry and beauty of this most perfect
monument of uninspired wisdom.

Your Committee, however, cannot refrain from expressing,
that they believe that a wild and latitudinarian construction has
been placed upon the Constitution of the United States, by many
in our Government, and which they believe to be well calcu
lated, by the exercise of such unlimited construction, to be pro
ductive of discontent, sectional injustice, and even oppression
itself. Your Committee believe that the Congress of the United
States have no right to exercise any powers other than those
which are expressly delegated, and those incidental powers
which arise under that express grant; and would gladly see
those ambiguities which are contained in that instrument, which
has been justly styled the " charter of the liberties of the Amer
ican people," at the proper time so amended as to set at rest
those disputed powers which have agitated our happy Govern
ment for a series of years; but the turbulent spirit of the times,
and the numberless sectional influences, which under almost
every variety of form and shape and intensity, pervade and agi
tate the great divisions of our country, would, in the opinion of
your Committee, render it imprudent to concur in the application
contained in the resolutions of the State of Georgia at the pre-

279

sent critical period of our national affairs ; while the citizens of
the Union are subjected to those adverse influences, it would
seem more than madness to expect that calm deliberation — that
mutual spirit of concession and conciliation, that broad patriot
ism in which alone it originated, and which should inform, direct
and animate the proceedings of any body of men who may be
called together to alter or amend it. Under the Constitution as
it exists, we enjoy a freedom of laws, of order, of security and
peace, and we enjoy it to an extent hitherto unexampled in the
records of the world. Freedom, Americans always will possess.
Her image is stamped so deeply upon our hearts, that like the
form of Phidias on the shield of his Minerva, it can be obliterated
by the annihilation alone of the substance on which it is im
pressed. But an unsuccessful attempt to render the Constitu
tion more congenial to the wishes of those States which are most
anxious for its amendment — the angry warmth and excitement
which would attend the struggle, and the malignant passions it
would engender, might change this peaceful freedom, (which is
our pride and boast,) into a freedom of fraternal wars, of blood
shed and desolation.

If a Convention were called for the purpose of defining with
more precision those parts of the Constitution which are consid
ered indefinite, and prohibiting the exercise of those powers
which being considered doubtful, have constituted the ground
work of those violent party divisions which distract our country,
your Committee believe that it would be productive of results
wholly foreign to the wishes of those who are most anxious for
the call. A Convention assembled at this time, they have every
reason to believe, would affirm these very powers which are so
obnoxious to a majority of the citizens of the southern sections
of the Union. The constitutionality of a Tariff of protection
has been affirmed by eighteen of the twenty-four States ; the
larger States all being in favor of the affirmation. Now it
should be recollected that the power of the smaller States is
greater in Congress than it would be in a Convention of the
States, called upon any plan of representation which we could
reasonably expect would be adopted ; under the most favorable
circumstances the co-ordinate power held by us in the Senate,
would be merged in the mass of the popular representation of

280

the larger States. For a redress of the grievances, therefore
which are assigned as the causes for the call, prudence would
seem to dictate a reliance on the equity and patriotism of the
National Legislature, and more especially a reliance on the pro
gressive influence, the intelligence and virtue of the people of
the Union.

In accordance with these suggestions, your Committee would
recommend the adoption of the following resolution :

Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That
this State does not conceive it expedient to concur in the
resolution of the State of Georgia, " making application to the
Congress of the United States for the call of a Convention of the
people to amend the Federal Constitution in the particulars
therein enumerated, and in such others as the people of the
other States may deem needful of amendment."

Be it further resolved, That His Excellency the Governor be re
quested to transmit a copy of this Resolution to the Executive
of the State of Georgia, and of each of the other States of the
Union.

DAVID PEMBLE,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

CHARLES LYNCH,

President of the Senate.

KT The following Documents were received at too late
period, to be inserted in their proper places.

RESOLVES

LEGISLATURE

CONNECTICUT.

RESOLVES.

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hart
ford, in said State, on the first Wednesday of May, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.

Upon the Report of the Joint Committee, to whom had been
referred so much of the Message of His Excellency the Govern
or, as relates to the several communications from the Executive
Departments of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachu
setts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia,
South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
and Mississippi, on the subject of the Tariff Laws, Internal Im
provements, and Amendments of the Constitution of the United
States :

Resolved by this Assembly, That the Congress of the United
States are authorized by the Constitution, to pass acts for the
levying and collecting of duties on imposts, and thereby to raise
a revenue sufficient for all the exigencies of the Government;
that in forming a Tariff of such duties, it is just and constitutional
that the interests of our own manufactures should be regarded,
and due encouragement and protection thereby given to them ;
that such acts, when approved by the President, are binding on
all the States, and on all the people of every State, and that no
State has power to nullify, or the right to resist the execution
of the same.

Resolved, That it is the imperious duty of the President of the
United States, to see that such laws are carried into execution ;
and that in the constitutional discharge of this duty, he is en
titled to and ought to receive the aid and support of every citi
zen of the Union.

Resolved, That this Assembly do most fully approve the essen-

286

tial principles and the determination avowed by the President,
in his Proclamation of the 10th of December, 1832, and in his
subsequent Message to Congress ; and that this Assembly, and
the people of this State, will cordially and faithfully co-operate
with him in carrying the same into effect.

Resolved, That the members of this Assembly cherish a sin
cere regard and affection for the citizens of the State of South
Carolina, as well as for all their brethren of this great confed
erated family ; and that they shall ever remember with gratitude
and pride the many and brilliant services rendered by that dis
tinguished State, in the struggle for independence.

Resolved, That much would be hazarded, and nothing valu
able could be gained, by an attempt, at the present time, and in
the present state of the Union, to amend the Constitution of the
United States ; and, therefore, this Assembly do not concur in
the proposition of the State of Georgia, inviting a Convention of
the people for that purpose.

Resolved, That the Secretary of this State cause thirty copies
of the foregoing Resolutions to be printed ; and that His Excel
lency the Governor of this State be requested to transmit one
copy thereof to the President of the United States, and a similar
copy thereof to the Governor of each State and Territory of the
Union.

A true copy of record,

Examined and certified by

THOMAS DAY, Secretary.

RESOLVES

OF THE

LEGISLATURE

MARYLAND.

RESOLVES.

BY THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, Feb. 9, 1S33.

The Joint Committee, to whom was referred the Ordinance and
other Documents, transmitted us by the Governor of South
Carolina, and that part of our late Governor's Message, relat
ing thereto, have given the subject that attention which its
serious import demands, and report the following :

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That in express
ing our opinion upon the Ordinance of Nullification, and the re
cent proceedings of South Carolina, it is our duty to declare our
opinions firmly on the principles assailed, and to expostulate
mildly and affectionately with her.

Resolved, That we hold these principles to be incontroverti
ble, that the Government of the United States was adopted by
the people of the different States, and established " in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the gen
eral welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and
our posterity ;" that it possesses all the powers necessary for the
purposes for which it was instituted ; that it is irreconcileable with
the objects and purposes for which the Constitution was adopt
ed, to suppose that it contains in itself the principles of its own
destruction, or has failed to endue the Government, created by
it, with the essential power of self-preservation.

That it is not in the power of any one State to annul an act of
the General Government, as void or unconstitutional.

That the power of deciding controversies among the different
States, or between the General Government and a State, is
reposed in the Federal Judiciary, and that it is an act of usurpa-
38

290

tion for any State to arrogate to herself jurisdiction in such
cases.

That the Supreme Court is the only tribunal, having conclu
sive jurisdiction in cases involving the constitutionality of the
acts of the General Government.

That whenever a State is aggrieved by the Constitutional acts
of the General Government, the fifth article of the Constitution
prescribes the remedy, declaring that " the Congress, whenever
two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose
amendments to this Constitution, or on the application of the
Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Con
vention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall
be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution,
when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several
States, or by Conventions, in three-fourths thereof, as the one
or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress."

That the right to annul a law of the General Government, as
sumed by one State, is " incompatible with the existence of the
Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution,
unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on
which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for
which it was formed."

That our fellow citizens of South Carolina, who remain faith
ful to the Constitution and laws of the United States, are enti
tled to the protection of the General Government, both for their
property and their persons.

That if any State, regardless of the constitutional remedies
which are afforded for every grievance and oppression, should
attempt to withdraw from the Union, it is the right and duty of
the General Government, to protect itself, and the other States,
from the fatal consequences of any such attempt.

Further Resolved, That the Ordinance of Nullification of
South Carolina, is calculated to mislead her citizens from the
true character of the Federal Government, and the just alle
giance, which they owe to that Government.

Resolved, That this State is ardently attached to the Union —
that it does not desire any additional powers to be conferred on
the General Government, but wishes every delegated power to
be exerted that has a tendency to strengthen the bonds that

291

unite us, and to fortify the hope that the Union will be per
petual.

Resolved, That this State does not recognize the power in any
State, to nullify a law of Congress, nor to secede from the Un
ion, and that it will sustain the General Government in the ex
ercise of every constitutional means to preserve unimpaired the
integrity of the United States.

Resolved, That our mutual interests and general welfare impel
us to guard with care, the integrity of the Constitution, and to
appeal in the most solemn and affectionate manner to the other
States, and particularly to South Carolina, to reciprocate with
this State, its well founded attachment to the Union, and to op
pose, with becoming firmness, every infraction of those great
and fundamental principles of the Constitution, which form the
only basis on which our happy institutions can with safety re
pose.

Resolved, That we deeply deplore the excitement which has
prompted our sister State of South Carolina to the attitude of
defiance, which she now exhibits ; that however extravagant her
irritation may be deemed, or impatient her proceedings, we will
not renounce the hope that a calmer feeling will yet enable her
to see the dreadful consequences of repelling the laws of the
Union. That, conspicuous and persevering as her valor was in
achieving the great results which gave birth to our Union, she
will yet remember the glory of her early toils, and will offer up,
in the sanctuary of the Union, her Ordinance and her conse
quent laws, a patriotic sacrifice to the cause of American liberty
and union.

Resolved, That the Tariff Laws of 1828, and of 1832, are
within the Legitimate exercise of the constitutional powers of
Congress, but we will acquiesce with pleasure, in any modifica
tion of those laws, which the wisdom of Congress may devise
for allaying the excitement on that subject, in the Southern por
tion of our country, which shall reduce the amount of revenue
to the necessary expenditures of the Government, and at the
same time sufficiently guard those great interests which have
grown up under the system of protection.

Resolved, That the following words from Washington's Fare
well Address, should at all times, but particularly at the present

292

alarming crisis, be impressed upon the heart of every American :
" The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people,
is also now dear to you, it is justly so, for it is a main pillar of
the edifice of your real independence ; the support of your
tranquillity at home, your peace abroad ; of your safety, of your
prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize."

" It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate
the immense value of your National Union to your collective
and individual happiness, that you should cherish a cordial, ha
bitual and immoveable attachment to it ; accustoming yourselves
to think and speak of it as the palladium of your political safety
and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anx
iety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion
that it can, in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frown
ing upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any por
tion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties
which now link together the various parts."

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit a copy
of the above Resolutions to the President of the United States,
to the Executives of the several States, and to each of our Sen
ators and Representatives in Congress.

By order,

G. G. BREWER, Clerk.

BY THE SENATE, Feb. 26, 1833.
Read and assented to.

JOS. H. NICHOLSON, Clerk.

JOURNAL

OF THE

CONVENTION

THE PEOPLE

SOUTH CAROLINA,

WHICH

ASSEMBLED AT COLUMBIA, ON THE 19TH NOVEMBER, 1832,
AND AGAIN ON THE 11TH MARCH, 1833.

JOURNAL

MONDAY, November 19, 1832.

PURSUANT to an Act of the Legislature of the State of South
Carolina, entitled " An Act to provide for the calling of a Con
vention of the People of this State," passed on the 26th of Oc
tober, 1832, the Delegates of the several Election Districts of
this State, assembled in the Hall of Representatives, in the
Town of Columbia, on this day at twelve o'clock.

On motion of Gen. J. B. EARLE, the Hon. STEPHEN D. MIL
LER, of Claremont, was called to the Chair, and Mr. A. BURT, of
Abbeville, appointed Secretary.

The credentials of the following individuals were then ex
hibited, and their names enrolled as Members of the Conven
tion.

From Greenville.
B. F. Perry, Thomas P. Brockman, Silas R. Whitten.

From Spartenburg.
John S. Rowland, J. S. Richardson, J. B. O'Neal, James Crook.

From Laurens.

Archibald Young, William Arnold, John S. James, A. Fuller,

Robert Long.

From Mbeville.

George M'Duffie, John Lipscomb, John Logan, A. Bowie, Sam
uel L. Watt, A. Burt.

From York.

Benjamin Chambers, I. A. Campbell, James A. Black, James
Moore, John L. Miller.

296

From Maryborough.
Benjamin Rogers, Nicholas Ware.

From Union.

J. S. Sims, Thomas Ray, A. Lancaster, John Littlejohn, George
0 Douglas.

From Kershaw.
Everard Cureton, Chapman Levy, John Chesnut, C. J. Shannon.

From Chesterfield.
P. Phillips, James R. Ervin, Alfred M. Lowry.

From Darlington.
William H. Cannon, S. B. Wilkins, Robert Ervin.

From Marion.
A. L. Gregg, Thomas Harllee, William Evans.

From Williamsburg.
T. D. Singleton, Sen., William Waties, P. G. Gourdin.

From Clarendon.
John P. Richardson, Richard J. Manning, N. R. Burgess.

From Claremont.

Stephen D. Miller, John B. Miller, James G. Spann, Stephen

Lacoste.

From All Saints.
Peter Vaught.

From Prince George, Winyaw.
Philip Tidyman, Allard H. Belin.

From Saint Peter's.
J. Hamilton, Jr., A. J. Lawton, John S. Maner.

From Saint Luke's.
A. Huguenin, T. E. Screven, James Mongin Smith.

297

From Saint Helena.
R. W. Barnwell, Charles G. Capers.

From Saint James, Goose Creek.
Isaac Bradwell, Jr., G. H. Smith.

From Saint Thomas and Saint Dennis.
Francis D. Quash, John L. Nowell.

From Saint John's, Berkley.
Peter Gailliard, Jr., William Porcher.

From Saint John's, Cotteton.
William M. Murray.

From Chester.

R. G. Mills, John Douglas, Thomas B. Woodward, Thomas G.
Blewett, William Stringfellow.

From Fairfield.

William Harper, D. H. Means, Edward G. Palmer, John B.
McCall, William Smith.

From Richland.

Pierce M. Butler, William C. Clifton, Sterling C. Williamson,
Sen., James Adams, John G. Brown.

From Saint Philip's and Saint Michael's.

James Hamilton Sen., Richard B. Baker, Sen., Robert J.
Turnbull, S. L. Simons, John Magrath, Charles Parker, Barnard
E. Bee, Elias Vanderhorst, Peter J. Shand, Nathaniel Heyward,
Robert Y. Hayne, C. J. Colcock, John Ball, John L. Wilson,
James Lynah, C. C. Pinckney, Philip Cohen.

From Christ Church.
Jacob Bond POn, James Anderson.

From Saint James\ Santee.

Samuel Cordes.
39

298

From Saint Stephen's.
W. Dubose, Theodore L. Gourdin.

From Saint Matthew's.
R. P. McCord, T. J. Goodwyn.

From Saint Andrew's.
Benjamin Adams, John Rivers.

From Saint Paul's.
F. Y. Legare, Thomas W. Boone.

From Saint Bartholomew's.
W. C. Pinckney, F. H. Elmore, Isham Walker.

From Prince William's.
Wm. Williams, Thomas H. Colcock, J. B. Ulmer.

From Orange.
Edmund J. Felder, Donald Rowe.

From Barnwell.
Jennings O'Bannon, Stephen Smith, L. M. Ayer, J. G. Brown.

From Lexington.
West Caughman, Jacob H. King, Edwin J. Scott.

From Edgefield.

James Spann, John Key, John Bauskett, Abner Whatley, John
S. Jeter, R. G. Mays, F. H. Wardlaw.

From Pcndleton.

R. Anderson, Thomas Harrison, J. B. Earle, Thomas Pinck
ney, J. T. Whitefield, Francis Burt, Jr., F. W. Symmes, Bailey
Barton.

From Newberry.

Job Johnston, George W. Glenn, John Counts, John K. Griffin,

John Hatton.

From Lancaster.
Samuel R. Gibson.

299

On motion of Judge Harper, the Convention now proceeded
to the election of a President. Colonels Pinckney, of Pendle-
ton, and Butler, of Richland, and Mr. Black, of York, having
been appointed a Committee to count the votes, reported that
His Excellency James Hamilton, Jr., Governor and Commander
in Chief in and over the State, has been duly elected President
of the Convention.

On motion of Judge Harper, a Committee was appointed to
inform Governor Hamilton of his election, and to conduct him
to the chair. The Committee consisted of the Hon. Robert Y.
Hayne, the Hon. George McDuffie, arid the Hon. R. W. Barn-
well. The President, in a short address, returned his grateful
acknowledgments for the honor conferred, and entered upon the
duties of his station.

Col. Butler now moved that the Convention should go into
the election of a Clerk, which being agreed to, Judge Colcock
nominated Mr. Isaac W. Hayne. Messrs. Elmore, Cohen, and
Barton, were appointed a Committee to count the votes.

While the Committee had retired, Judge Harper moved that
the Messenger and Door Keeper of the House of Representatives,
should be appointed Messenger and Door Keeper of the Con
vention, which was agreed to ; and on motion of the Hon. John
L. Wilson, Mr. A. S. Johnston was appointed Printer.

Col. Elmore, on the part of the Committee appointed to
count the votes for Clerk, now reported Isaac W. Hayne, Esq.,
duly elected Clerk of the Convention.

On motion of Col. I'On, a Committee was appointed to draft
and report rules for the regulation of the Convention during its
further session. The Committee consisted of Col. I'On, Col.
Thomas Pinckney, and the Hon. J. B. O'Neal.

On motion of Judge Colcock, it was ordered that Clergymen

should be invited to open the proceedings of each day with
prayer.

Judge Colcock, then introduced the following Resolution :
" Resolved, That the Act ' to provide for the calling of a Con
vention of the People of this State,' be referred to a Select Com
mittee, to consist of twenty-one members, and to be nominated
by the President, with instructions to consider and report there
on, and especially as to the measures proper to be adopted by

300

this Convention, in reference to ' the violations of the Constitu
tion of the United States, in the enactment by Congress, on di
vers occasions, of laws laying duties and imposts for the purpose
of encouraging and protecting domestic manufactures, and for
other unwarrantable purposes.' "

This Resolution having been considered and adopted, Gen.
Hayne moved that the Convention stand adjourned until 10
o'clock to-morrow, in order that time might be allowed the Pre
sident for the selection of the Committee, which being agreed
to, the Convention adjourned accordingly.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

TUESDAY, November 20, 1832.

The Convention met according to adjournment. After a pray
er from the Rev. Mr. Ray, the Journal of the proceedings of the
day previous was read. The following gentlemen then appeared
and enrolled their names as members of the Convention : Henry
Middleton, from Greenville, Minor Clinton, from Lancaster, M.
Jacobs, from St. Helena.

Col. I'On, on the part of the Committee to draft Rules for the
regulation of the Convention, then made the following Report,
to wit :

RULES FOR THE CONVENTION.

The Committee appointed to draft Rules for the government of
the Convention in its deliberations, beg leave to submit the
following :

1. The President and one hundred and twelve members shall
be a quorum to transact business.

2. If any member shall break the Convention, or absent him
self without leave, he shall be sent for at his own expense, and
be subject to the censure of the Convention.

301

3. No member shall speak more than twice to the same point^
without leave of the Convention.

4. Each member, when speaking, shall address himself to the
chair, standing, and uncovered, at his place.

5. If two members rise to speak nearly at the same time, the
President shall decide which was first up.

6. Every member, when speaking, shall adhere to the point
before the Convention, and shall not be interrupted unless he
departs from it, when he may be called to order.

7. When a question of order arises, it shall be determined by
the President in the first instance, but any member may appeal
from his determination, to the Convention.

8. When a motion is made and seconded, it shall, if required
by a member, be reduced to writing, and delivered in at the
table.

9. When a question is put by the President, and the Conven
tion divides, the Clerk shall, at the request of any seven members
present, take down and enter on the Journals, the names of all
those members who vote for and against the question, and have
them published and printed in any Gazette of the State.

10. When the President desires to be heard, the members
shall take their seats, and keep order whilst he is speaking.

11. When a motion is made for adjournment, and seconded,
no question shall be debated until the Convention have decided
on that motion.

J. B. PON,

Chairman of the Committee.

The Report having been adopted, Col. FOn moved that two
hundred and fifty copies should be printed for the use of the
members, which was agreed to.

Joseph L. Stephens and Alfred Huger appeared, and enrolled
their names as Delegates from St. John's, Colleton, and Spar-
tanburg.

The President, under the Resolution of the day previous, now
appointed the following gentlemen to constitute the Select
Committee of twenty-one, to consider and report upon the Act

302

of the Legislature, entitled " An Act to provide for the calling
of a Convention of the People of this State," to wit :

Hon. Charles J. Colcock,

Gen. J. B. Earle, Hon. Robert Y. Hayne,
Hon. J. B. O'Neal, Hon. S. D. Miller,

Col. W. C. Pinckney, Hon. Geo. McDuffie,

Chancellor Johnston, R. J. Turnbull, Esq.,

Hon. J. K. Griffin, Hon. R. W. Barnwell,

Benjamin Rogers, Esq., J. R. Ervin, Esq.,

Col. J. Bond I'On, Col. P. M. Butler,

T. D. Singleton, Esq., Col. John Bauskett,

James A. Black, Esq., Hon. R. J. Manning,

Hon. William Harper, Hon. Henry Middleton.

J. A. Keith, of Prince George, Winyaw, appeared, and enroll
ed his name.

On motion of Judge Colcock. the Convention then adjourned
until one o'clock to-morrow.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Cleric of the Convention.

WEDNESDAY, November 21, 1832.

The Convention met according to adjournment, and the pro
ceedings were opened with a prayer from the Rev. Mr. Ray.

303

Gourdin, Goodwyn, Gailliard, Griffin, Glenn, Gibson, J. Hamil
ton, Sen., Heyward, Harper, Hatton, Harllee, Huguenin, Alfred
Huger, 1'On, Jeter, Johnston, James, Jacobs, Keith, Key, Levy,
Lowry, Lacoste, Lynah, Legare, Lawton, Long, Lipscomb, Lo
gan, Littlejohn, Lancaster, Magrath, Manning, Maner, Murray,
Mills, Means, Moore, John L. Miller, Stephen D. Miller, John
B. Miller, McCord, Middleton, Nowell, O'Neale, O'Bannon, P.
Phillips, Parker, Porcher, Palmer, Perry, C. C. Pinckney,
Thomas Pinckney, Quash, John P. Richardson, Rivers, Rowe,
Rowland, Rogers, Ray, James G. Spann, James Spann, Simons,
Shand, James M. Smith, G. H. Smith, William Smith, Stephen
Smith, Stringfellow, Scott, Symmes, Sims, Shannon, Singleton,
Stevens, Screven, Turnbull, Tyler, Tidyman, Ulmer, Vaught,
Vanderhorst, Wilson, Walker, Williams, Woodward, Williamson,
Wardlaw, Whatley, Whitefield, Whitten, Watt, Waties, Wilkins,
Ware, Warren, Young.

The Journal of the day previous having been read, this was
announced by the President as the proper time for presenting
Reports from Committees.

Gen. J. B. Earle, of the Select Committee, to which was re
ferred the consideration of the Act of the Legislature, providing
for the call of a Convention, in the absence of the Chairman,
stated, on the part of the Committee, that they had not found it
practicable to prepare a Report for to-day, and moved that fur
ther time should be allowed them ; which was agreed to.

Mr. A. M. Lowry, from Chesterfield, then introduced the fol
lowing Resolution, viz :

" Resolved, That the tenth section of the first article of the
Constitution of this State, be altered and made to read as fol
lows :

" Senators and Members of the House of Representatives,
shall be chosen on the second Monday in October next, and on
the same days in every year thereafter, in such manner, and at
such time as are herein directed. And shall meet on the fourth
Monday in November, annually, at Columbia, (which shall re
main the seat of Government until otherwise determined by the
concurrence of two-thirds of both branches of the whole Repre
sentation,) unless the casualties of war, or contagious disorders
should render it unsafe to meet there ; in either of which cases,

304

the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time being, may,
by Proclamation, appoint a more secure and convenient place
of meeting."

The question of consideration being put by the President, the
Convention refused to consider this Resolution.

Benjamin A. Markley, from St. Philip's and St. Michael's, and
J, Walter Philips, from All Saints, appeared and enrolled their
names as members of the Convention. The Convention then
adjourned until to-morrow at one o'clock.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

THURSDAY, November, 22, 1832.

The Convention met according to adjournment, and the pro
ceedings were opened with a prayer by the Rev. Mr. Ware.

The roll being called, the following gentlemen answered to
their names, viz : — B. Adams, James Adams, Ayer, J. Anderson,
Robert Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Ball, Bee, Boone, Barnwell,
Bradwell, Blewett, Butler, J. G. Brown, Richland, J. G. Brown,
Barnwell) Bauskett, A. Burt, Francis Burt, Barton, Brockman,
Bowie, Black, Burgess, Belin, Cohen, Cordes, Thomas H. Col-
cock, C. J. Colcock, Capers, Clifton, Caughman, Counts,
Crooke, Chambers, Campbell, Cureton, Chesnut, Cannon, Clin
ton, Dubose, Dawson, John Douglas, Geo. Douglas, Elmore,
Earle, James R. Ervin, Robert Ervin, Wm. Evans, Felder, Ful
ler, T. L. Gourdin, P. G. Gourdin, Goodwyn, Gailliard, Griffin,
Glenn, Gibson, Gregg, James Hamilton, Sen., Hayne, Heyward,
Harper, Harrison, Hatton, Harllee, Huguenin, Alfred Huger,
I'On, Jeter, Johnston, James, Jacobs, Keith, Key, King, Levy,
Lowry, Lacoste, Legare, Lawton, Long, Lipscomb, Logan, Lit-
tlejohn, Lancaster, Magrath, Markley, Manning, Marier, Murray,
Mills, McCall, Means, Mays, Moore, J. L. Miller, S. D. Miller,
John B. Miller, McCord, Nowell, O'Neale, O'Bannon, P. Phil-

305

lips, J. W. Phillips, Parker, Porcher, Palmer, Perry, C. C. Pinck-
ney, W. C. Pinckney, Thomas Pinckney, Quash, J. P. Richard
son, J. S. Richardson, Rivers, Rowe, Rowland, Rogers, Ray, J.
G. Spann, James Spann, Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith, G. H.
Smith, Wm. Smith, Stephen Smith, Stringfellow, Scott, Symmes,
Sims, Shannon, Singleton, Stevens, Screven, Turnbull, Tyler,
Tidyman, Ulmer, Vaught, Vanderhorst, Wilson, Walker, Wil
liams, Woodward, Whitefield, Whitten, Watt, Waties, Wilkins,
Ware, Whatley, Young.

The Journal of the day previous having been read, Samuel
Warren, from St. James, Santee, and D. E. Huger, from King
ston, appeared and enrolled their names as members of the Con
vention.

Judge Colcock, from the Select Committee of twenty-one, in
formed the Convention that the Committee was ready to report,
and moved that the reading of the Report should be dispensed
with, and that it should lie on the table, and be ordered to be
printed. Judge O'Neal moved to amend this motion, so as to
make this Report the order of the day for Saturday. To this
Judge Colcock objected, and obtained leave to withdraw his
motion, upon which Judge O'Neal withdrew his amendment.
Judge Colcock then called to his assistance Gen. Hayne, one of
the Committee, by whom the Report was read to the Conven
tion. An Ordinance, accompanying the Report, was then read
by the Chairman.

At the motion of Col. Barnwell, the Report and Ordinance
were ordered to lie on the table, be printed, and made the order
of the day for to-morrow.

Mr. Wilson moved to amend this motion, by specifying the
number of copies to be printed, and proposed five thousand,
which Col. Pinckney, of St. Bartholomew's, moved to amend, by
inserting ten thousand instead of five ; but on the suggestion of
Judge Harper, that it would be best to defer the printing of a
larger number of copies than were needed for the use of the
Convention, until the Report should be finally adopted, the
amendments were withdrawn.

The following Resolution was then introduced by the Hon.
Henry Middleton, a Delegate from Greenville, to wit :

;< Whereas, the Sovereignty of the State of South Carolina, re-
40

306

sides in the aggregate body of freemen, inhabiting the territory;
and, consequently, all just legislation can be alone founded upon
the collective will of a majority of that body. And, whereas, the
supreme will of this body of freemen can only be collected
either by an actual vote of the majority taken in primary assem
blies, or by the election of Delegates, chosen in numbers, pro
portionate to the number of free white men, in each District
and Parish of the State, so as to constitute an equal and ade
quate representation of the people thereof. And, whereas, the
Convention now actually here assembled, under the recom
mendation of the Legislature, is apportioned on a compound
ratio of population and of property, which may be, and probably
is, an equitable apportionment for the purposes of taxation and
municipal regulations; but is by no means adequate or com
petent, to the exercise of the highest attributes of sovereignty,
by reason of the want of a full and equal representation of the
people, a defect which cannot be remedied by any enactment
of the Legislature. And, whereas, any act amounting to an ex
ercise of sovereignty, on the part of the portion of the people,
here convened at this time, might be considered as a manifest
and palpable usurpation of power, possessed alone by the whole
people ; therefore,

"Resolved, That this Convention, deeming itself incompetent,
for the reasons above assigned, to wield the sovereign authority
of the people it unequally represents, doth remand to the
Legislature, the high matters referred, by the Act of the 25th
October last, with a recommendation to the said Legislature,
that they reconsider, at their next stated meeting, the whole
question ; and if, according to the constitutional provision, two-
thirds of both branches shall agree so to do, then, and in that
case to recommit the said subject matter to a Convention,
wherein the representation of the people shall be full and com
plete, and which will be thereby competent to determine such
questions of sovereign right, as they may see fit to consider as
affecting the interest of the State of South Carolina, her dignity
and honor."

The Hon. George M'Duffie moved the question of considera
tion. Judge Huger requested the withdrawal of the motion,
that the Resolution might be freely discussed j but the question

307

being insisted on, and put by the President, the Convention re
fused to consider the Resolution.

Col. Anderson, of Pendleton, submitted to the Convention a
Memorial from sundry citizens of Pendleton District, praying
that the Constitution might be so amended as to make two Elec
tion Districts of the two Judicial Districts into which Pendleton
is divided. The question of consideration being moved by
Judge Harper, the Convention refused to consider the Memo
rial.

On motion of Gen. Hayne, it was then ordered that the Se
lect Committee of twenty-one have leave to sit again, and the
Convention adjourned until twelve o'clock to-morrow.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

FRIDAY, November 23, 1832.

The Convention met according to adjournment; and after a
prayer from the Rev. Mr. Goulding, the roll was called, and the
following gentlemen answered to their names, viz : — B. Adarns,
James Adams, Ayer, James Anderson, R. Anderson, Arnold, Ba
ker, Ball, Bee, Boone, Bradwell, Blewett, Butler, J. G. Brown,
Richland, J. G. Brown, Barnwell, Bauskett, A. Burt, Francis
Burt, Jr., Barton, Brockman, Bowie, Black, Burgess, Cohen,
Cordes, T. H. Colcock, C. J. Colcock, Capers, Clifton, Caugh-
man, Counts, Crooke, Chambers, Campbell, Cureton, Chesnut,
Cannon, Clinton, Dubose, Dawson, John Douglas, Geo. Doug
las, Elmore, Earle, J. R. Ervin, Robert Ervin, Wm. Evans,
Felder, Fuller, T. L. Gourdin, P. G. Gourdin, Goodwyn, Gail-
liard, Griffin, Glenn, Gibson, Gregg, J. Hamilton, Sen., Hayne,
Heyward, Harper, Harrison, Hatton, Harllee, Huguenin, Alfred
Huger, POn, Jeter, Johnston, James, Jacobs, Keith, Key, King,
Levy, Lowry, Lacoste, Legare, J^awton, Long, Lipscomb, Lo
gan, Littlejohn, Lancaster, Magrath, Manning, Maner, Murray,
Mills, McCall, Means, Mays, Moore, J. L. Miller, S. D. Miller,

308

John B. Miller, McCord, Nowell, O'Neale, O'Bannon, P. Phil-
lips, J. W. Phillips, Parker, Porcher, Palmer, Perry, C. C.
Pinckney, Wm. C. Pinckney, Thomas Pinckney, Quash, J. P.
Richardson, J. S. Richardson, Rivers, Rowe, Rowland, Rogers?
Ray, J. G. Spann, James Spann, Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith,
G. H. Smith, Wm. Smith, Stephen Smith, Stringfellow, Scott,
Symmes, Sims, Shannon, Singleton, Stevens, Screven, Turnbull,
Tyler, Tidyman, Ulmer, Vanderhorst, Wilson Walker, Williams,
Woodward, Williamson, Wardlaw, Whatley, Whitten, Watt,
Waties, Wilkins, Ware, Warren, Young.

The Journal of the previous day having been read, the Hon.
R. W. Barnwell, offered the following Resolution, which was
agreed to, viz :

11 Resolved , That the President of the Senate, and Speaker of
the House of Representatives, be invited to take seats upon the
floor in the Chamber in which the Convention is now assem
bled."

Judge Colcock, from the Committee of twenty-one, made a
further Report to the Convention, consisting of an Address to
the People of the State, which having been read by Robert J.
Turnbull, Esq., on motion of Judge Colcock, it was ordered to
lie on the table and to be printed.

Mr. Samuel R. Gibson, a Delegate from Lancaster, presented
a Memorial from a portion of the citizens of that District,
praying an alteration of the Constitution as to the basis of rep
resentation in the State Legislature.

Mr. S. D. Miller moved that the Memorial be laid on the
table.

Mr. McDuffie moved the question of consideration.
The President deciding the first motion to be first in order,
the question was taken, and the Memorial ordered to be laid on
the table.

The Hon. J. L. Wilson then introduced the following Reso
lution, viz :

" Whereas, the Convention of the People of the State of South
Carolina, having learned with deep and unfeigned regret, the
death of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the last surviving signer
of the Declaration of Independence, and lately the only living

309

link that connected us with that important event — as a testimony
of respect to the memory of the deceased,

" Resolved, That the members of this Convention wear crape
on the left arm, for the space of thirty days."

This Resolution having been adopted by the unanimous vote
of the Convention, it was ordered to be so entered on the Jour
nal of the proceedings.

The Ordinance, which was made the order of the day, was
now taken up for consideration. The Ordinance having been
read by the Clerk, Col. Wilson moved that it should be read
again, clause by clause ; but at the suggestion of Judge Col-
cock, that further time for consideration was desirable, the mo
tion was withdrawn.

Judge Colcock then moved that the consideration of the Or
dinance should be made the order of the day for to-morrow, and
that the Convention should stand adjourned until 11 o'clock on
that day, which being agreed to, the Convention adjourned ac
cordingly.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

SATURDAY, November 24, 1832.

The Convention met according to adjournment, and the pro
ceedings were opened with a prayer by the Rev. Mr. Freeman.

A Parchment Roll was then exhibited, on which, at the Pre
sident's request, the members enrolled their names, with the
respective Election Districts which had delegated them, which
was ordered to be deposited with the Records of the Conven
tion. The following gentlemen were found to be present :

From Greenville.

B. F. Perry, Thomas P. Brockman, Silas R. Whitten, Henry

Middleton.

310

From Spartanburg.

John S. Rowland, J. S. Richardson, J. B. O'Neal, James Crooke,
Alfred Huger, J. P. Evans.

From Laurens.

Archibald Young, William Arnold, John S. James, A. Fuller,

Robert Long.

Fro:n Abbeville.

George M'Duffie, John Lipscomb, John Logan, A. Bowie, Sam
uel L. Watt, A. Burt.

From York.

Benjamin Chambers, I. A. Campbell, James A. Black, James
Moore, John L. Miller.

From Marlborough.
Benjamin Rogers, Nicholas Ware.

From Union.

J. S. Sims, Thomas Ray, A. Lancaster, John Littlejohn, George

Douglas.

From Kershaw.
Everard Cureton, Chapman Levy, John Chesnut, C, J. Shannon.

From Chesterfield.
P. Phillips, James R. Ervin, Alfred M. Lowry.

From Darlington.
William H. Cannon, S. B. Wilkins, Robert Ervin.

From Marion.
A. L. Gregg, Thomas Harllee, William Evans.

From Williamsburg.
T. D. Singleton, Sr., William Waties, P. G. Gourdin.

From Clarendon.
John P. Richardson, Richard J. Manning, W. R. Burgess.

311

From Claremont.

Stephen D. Miller, John B. Miller, James G. Spann, Stephen

Lacoste.

From Jill Saints.
Peter Vaught, J. Walter Phillips.

From Prince George, Winyaw.
Philip Tidyman, Allard H. Belin, J. A. Keith.

From Saint Peter's.
J. Hamilton, Jr., A. J. Lawton, John S. Maner.

From Saint Luke's.
A. Huguenin, T. E. Screven, James Mongin Smith.

From Saint Helena.
R. W. Barnwell, Charles G. Capers, M. Jacobs.

From Saint James, Goose Creek.
Isaac Bradwell, Jr., G. H. Smith.

From Saint Thomas and Saint Dennis.
Francis D. Quash, John L. Nowell.

From Saint John's, Berkley.
Peter Gailliard, Jr., William Porcher, J. H. Dawson.

From Saint John's, Collet on.
William M. Murray, Joseph L. Stevens.

From Chester.

R. G. Mills, John Douglas, Thomas B. Woodward, Thomas G.
Blcwett, William Stringfellow.

From Fairfield.

William Harper, D. H. Means, Edward G. Palmer, John B,
McCall, William Smith,

312

From Richland.

Pierce M. Butler, William C. Clifton, Sterling C. Williamson,
Senr., James Adams, John G. Brown.

From Saint Philip's and Saint Michael's.

James Hamilton Senr., Richard B. Baker, Senr., Robert J.
Turnbull, S. L. Simons, John Magrath, Charles Parker, Barnard
E. Bee, Elias Vanderhorst, Peter J. Shand, Nathaniel Heyward,
Robert Y. Hayne, C. J. Colcock, John Ball, John L. Wilson,
James Lynah, C. C. Pinckney, Philip Cohen, B. A. Markley.

From Christ Church.
Jacob Bond I'On, James Anderson.

From Saint James's, Santee.
Samuel Cordes, Samuel Warren.

From Saint Stephen's.
W. Dubose, Theodore L. Gourdin.

From Saint Matthew's.
R. P. McCord, T. J. Goodwyn.

From Saint Andrew's.
Benjamin Adams, John Rivers.

From Saint Paul's.
F. Y. Legare, Thomas W. Boone.

From Saint Bartholomew's.
W. C. Pinckney, F. H. Elmore, Isham Walker.

From Prince William's.
Wm. Williams, Thomas H. Colcock, J. B. Ulmer.

From Orange.
Edmund J. Felder, Donald Rowe, Elisha Tyler.

From Barnwell.
Jennings O'Bannon, Stephen Smith, L. M. Ayer, J. G. Brown.

313

From Leocington.
West Caughman, Jacob H. King, Edwin J. Scott.

From Edgefield.

James Spann, John Key, John Bauskett, Abner Whatley, John
S. Jeter, R. G. Mays, F. H. Wardlaw.

From Pendleton.

R. Anderson, Thomas Harrison, J. B. Earle, Thomas Pinck-
ney, J. T. Whitefield, Francis Burt, Jr., F. W. Symmes, Bailey
Barton.

From Newberry.

Job Johnston, George W. Glenn, John Counts, John K. Griffin,

John Hatton.

From Lancaster.
Samuel R. Gibson, Miner Clinton.

From Kingston.
D. E. Huger.

The Journal of the day previous having been read, on motion
of Chancellor Johnston, a correction of the Journal was ordered,
and made accordingly.

Judge Colcock, on the part of the Select Committee of twen
ty-one, announced that the Committee were ready with a fur
ther Report, consisting of an Address to the People of the
United States. This Address having been read by the Hon.
George McDuffie, was, on motion of Mr. Turnbull, adopted by
the Convention.

The Ordinance which had been made the special order of the
day, was now taken up for consideration. Having been read by
the Clerk, Judge Colcock moved so to amend it as to exempt
the members of the Legislature from the oath required of the
civil and military officers of the State, which amendment was
adopted.

Mr. Turnbull moved to amend the title of the Ordinance, by
41

314

striking out the words " provide for arresting the operation of,"
and substituting the word " Nullify," so that when amended it
should read, " An Ordinance to Nullify certain Acts of the Con
gress," &,c. This amendment was likewise adopted.

The question was then taken on the adoption of the Ordi
nance thus amended. Seven members having risen for the
Ayes and Noes, they were taken accordingly, and found to be
as follows :

AYES — B. Adams, James Adams, Ayer, James Anderson, Rob
ert Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Ball, Bee, Boone, Barnwell, Brad-
well, Blewett, Butler, J. G. Brown, John G. Brown, Bauskett,
A. Burt, F. Burt, Barton, Bowie, Black, Belin, Cohen, Cordes,
T. H. Colcock, C. J. Colcock, Capers, Clifton, Caughman,
Counts, Chambers, Campbell, Dubose, Dawson, J. Douglas, G.
Douglas, Elmore, Earle, W. Evans, Felder, Fuller, T. L. Gour-
din, P. G. Gourdin, Goodwyn, Gailliard, Griffin, Glenn, Gregg,
J. Hamilton, Sen., Heyward, Hayne, Harper, Harrison, Hatton,
Harllee, Huguenin, I'On, Jeter, Johnston, James, Jacobs, Keith,
Key, King, Lacoste, Legare, Lawton, Long, Lipscomb, Logan,
Littlejohn, Lancaster, Magrath, Markley, Maner, Murray, Mills,
McCall, Means, Mays, McDuffie, Moore, J. L. Miller, S. D. Mil
ler, J. B. Miller, McCord, Nowell, O'Bannon, J. W. Phillips,
Parker, Porcher, Palmer, C. C. Pinckney, W. C. Pinckney, T.
Pinckney, Q,uash, Rivers, Rowe, Rogers, Ray, J. G. Spann, J.
Spann, Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith, W. Smith, S. Smith, G. H.
Smith, Stringfellow, Scott, Symmes, Sims, Singleton, Stevens,
Screven, Turnbull, Tyler, Tidyman, Ulmer, Vaught, Vander-
horst, Wilson, Walker, Williams, Woodward, (Williamson, Ward-
law, Whatley, Whitefield, Watt, Ware, Waties, Warren, and
Young.

His Excellency James Hamilton, Jr., President of the Con
vention, claimed his privilege of voting as a Delegate from St.
Peter's, and gave it in the affirmative, making, in all, one hun
dred and thirty-six — Ayes.

NOES — Brockman, Burgess, Crooke, Cureton, Chestnut, Can
non, Clinton, J. R. Ervin, R. Ervin, J. P. Evans, Gibson, Alfred
Huger, D. E. Huger, Levy, Lowry, Manning, Middleton,
O'Neale, P. Phillips, Perry, John P. Richardson, J. S. Richard-

315

son, Rowland, Shannon, Whitten, and Wilkins. — Making, in all,
twenty-six — Noes.

One member absent from sickness — five not yet enrolled.

The Ordinance was consequently adopted, by a majority of
the members present of 109, and a majority of 103 of the whole
number of Delegates elected by the people.

On motion of Mr. M'Duffie, the Report accompanying the
Ordinance was taken up for consideration, and the reading be
ing dispensed with, was adopted by the Convention.

Mr. M'Duffie then moved the consideration of the Address to
the People of this State, reported by the Select Committee of
twenty-one, which being agreed to, and the reading being dis
pensed with, the Address was adopted by the Convention.

On motion of Chancellor Johnston, a reconsideration of the
Address was granted.

Mr. Turnbull then moved to amend the Address, by striking
out in the 19th paragraph, the words " with a full confidence
that other divisions of the Confederacy will nobly follow and
sustain us." He explained, that the State wished to be under
stood, notwithstanding her hopes that she would be sustained by
other members of the Confederacy, as relying not on them, but
on herself alone. The amendment was agreed to without oppo
sition, and the Address so amended, adopted by the Convention.

Col. W. C. Pinckney, of St. Bartholomew's, introduced the
following Resolution, which was concurred in by the Conven
tion, to wit :

" Resolved, That twenty thousand copies of the Report, the
Addresses, and the Ordinance, (as adopted) be printed ; and
that for each of the members of the Convention, thirty copies in
separate sheets, shall be immediately printed — that ten thousand
copies, with the Ordinance annexed to the Report, in pamphlet
form, be separately printed for distribution ; and that the re
maining five thousand be bound up with the proceedings of the
Convention, the whole of which shall be published under the
direction of a Committee to be appointed by the President, for
that purpose ; — that the documents thus ordered to be printed,
be distributed under the direction of the President. And it
shall be the duty of the Clerk, under the direction of the Com
mittee, to assist in superintending the printing, and to make

316

such distribution as the President shall direct. — That he carry
on the necessary correspondence, and cause a record of all the
proceedings of the Convention to be made, and deposited in the
Secretary of State's Office, in Columbia; and to perform such
other duties in reference to the business of the Convention, as
may be prescribed by the President ; and that during his con
tinuance in office, he shall receive the same compensation as
the Clerk of the House of Representatives."

Judge Harper, of Fairfield, and Cols. Brown and Clifton, of
Richland, were appointed a Committee under this Resolution.

On motion of the Hon. John Lynde Wilson, a Committee was
appointed to engross the Ordinance as adopted, and to superin
tend its signature, by such members as might wish to affix their
names to it.

Messrs. Wilson and C. C. Pinckney, were appointed the Com
mittee.

Col. Wilson then moved a recess until 5 o'clock, P. M., that
the Engrossing Committee might have time to perform that ser
vice. The motion was carried, and the Convention adjourned
accordingly.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

SATURDAY, November 24 — 5 o'clock, P. M.

The Convention met according to adjournment. The Jour
nal of the morning's proceedings having been read, Mr. Wilson,
on the part of the Engrossing Committee, made the following
Report to wit :

" The Engrossing Committee, to whom was confided the care
of the Ordinance of this Convention, for engrossing and enrol
ment, have performed that duty, and caused the great Seal of
the State to be attached thereto.

"Your Committee have so engrossed the Ordinance, as to

317

admit the signatures of all the members of the Convention, a
ratification observed by those who proclaimed our Independ
ence. Your Committee suggest the propriety of submitting to
the Patriots of '76, yet abiding with us, and laboring in one
common cause, for the continuance of our liberties, the first
lines for their signatures."

JOHN L. WILSON, Chairman.

This Report was was unanimously adopted.

The Report of the Select Committee accompanying the Ordi
nance, as adopted by the Convention, and the Ordinance, as
finally ratified, are as follows, to wit :

[For the Report and Ordinance, see pages 1 and 28.]

Of the signatures to the Ordinance, the seven first, are ac
cording to the Resolution, the signatures of those Delegates who
bore arms in the war of the Revolution. The signatures of the
other Delegates approving, were taken alphabetically, with the
exception of R. Barnwell Smith, Esq., who, though prevented
by sickness from taking his seat in the Convention, was, by a
Resolution of the Convention, permitted to sign the Ordinance,
and record his approval of the proceedings.

The Address to the People of the State, read by Robert J.
Turnbull, Esq., as adopted by the Convention, is as follows, to
wit:

[For the Address, see p. 37.]

The Address to the People of the United States, as read by
the Hon. George McDuffie, and adopted by the Convention, is
as follows, to wit :

[For the Address, see page 59.]

The Report and Ordinance, with the two Addresses, as given
above, having been adopted by the Convention, the Convention
then, on motion of Dr. Tidyman, went into a Committee of the
whole, Col. POn being called to the Chair. Dr. Tidyman offer
ed the following Resolution :

318

" Resolved, That the thanks of the members of this Conven
tion be given to the President, for the very able, dignified and
impartial manner with which he has presided over their delib
erations, and for the zeal and fidelity with which he has dis-
discharged the duties of his office."

The Resolution having been unanimously adopted, the Com
mittee rose, and reported it to the Convention, as so adopted.

Gen. Hayne then offered the following Resolution, which was
adopted by the Convention, to wit :

" Resolved, That copies of the Ordinance just adopted by this
Convention, with the Report thereon, and the Addresses to the
People of the several States, and of this State, be transmitted,
by the Governor, to the President of the United States, to be,
by him, submitted to Congress ; and also to the Governors of
the several States, for the information of their respective Legis
latures."

Judge Harper offered the following Resolution, to wit:

" Resolved, That when this Convention adjourns, it shall ad
journ to meet at this place, at such time as the President shall
appoint, who is authorized, if in his opinion the public exigen
cies shall require, by notice under his hand, duly published, to
assemble the Convention at any time before the 12th of Novem
ber next ; and that he appoint a Committee, a majority of
whom, or the survivors or survivor of such majority, in case of
the death or disqualification of the President, shall have like
authority to assemble the Convention, and appoint a time for its
meeting."

This Resolution was adopted, and the Hon. William Harper,
of Fairfield, the Hon. Robert Y. Hayne, of Charleston, and
Messrs. Benjamin Rodgers, of Marlborough, Thomas Harrison,
of Pendleton, and John S. Maner, of Saint Peter's, were appoint
ed the Committee.

On motion of Chancellor Johnston, the following Resolution
was adopted, to wit :

" Resolved, That the President be authorized to draw his war
rant or warrants on the Treasury, for the contingent expenses of
this Convention."

319

Mr. Turnbull moved the following, which was likewise adopt
ed, to wit :

" Resolved, That the President of this Convention be request
ed to transmit to the Legislature, a copy of the Ordinance
just passed by this Convention, together with copies also of
the Report of the Committee of twenty-one, and of the Ad
dresses to the People of this State, and the People of the United
States."

Chancellor Johnston offered the following Resolution, which
was concurred in by the Convention, to wit :

11 Resolved, That any Delegate shall be at liberty hereafter to
sign the Ordinance adopted by the Convention, and record his
approbation of the proceedings thereof."

The Hon. Robert W. Barnwell then moved the following, to
wit :

Whereas, It is the duty of a people at all times to acknowl
edge their dependence upon God, and more especially to com
mit themselves to his keeping, when they have adopted measures
of deep import to their future welfare and security."

"Be it resolved, That we, the Delegates of South Carolina,
assembled in Convention, do recommend to our fellow citizens
of the State, to observe Thursday, the 31st day of January, 1833,
as a day of solemn fasting, humiliation and prayer, imploring
the Almighty to bestow his blessing upon the proceedings of
this body, that they may eventuate in the promotion of his glory,
and in restoring and perpetuating the liberty and prosperty of
our native State."

This Resolution was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be
so entered on the Journal of the Convention.

The President then rose and asked, " Has any member any
further proposal to bring before this Convention ?"

None being offered, the President held up the Ordinance, and
said, " I do announce that this Ordinance has been adopted and
ratified by the good people of the State of South Carolina, as
sembled in their highest sovereign capacity."

The President then addressed the Convention, in a short

320

speech. In concluding it, he requested the Rev. Mr. Ware to
ask the Divine blessing upon the proceedings of the Assembly.

After prayer by that reverend gentleman, Col. I'On moved an
adjournment.

The motion was carried. Whereupon the President pro
nounced the Convention adjourned, until it should be again as
sembled according to the provisions of Judge Harper's Resolu
tion.

ISAAC WILLIAM HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

SECOND SESSION.

MONDAY, March 11, 1833*

PURSUANT to a Proclamation of the President of the Conven
tion, issued on the 13th day of February, one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-three, the Convention of the people of South
Carolina re-assembled in the Hall of the House of Representa
tives, in the Town of Columbia, on this day, at meridian.

The proceedings were opened by a prayer from the Rev. Mr.
Ware ; after which the roll was called, and the following mem
bers answered to their names, viz : — James Adams, Ayer, J. An
derson, Robert Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Ball, Bee, Boone,
Blewett, Butler, J. G. Brown, Richland, J. G. Brown, Barnwell,
Bauskett, F. Burt, Black, Belin, Cohen, Cordes, Thos. H. Col-
cock, C. J. Colcock, Capers, Clifton, Caughman, Counts,
Crooke, Chambers, Campbell, Cureton, Chesnut, Clinton, Du-
bose, Dawson, John Douglas, George Douglas, Elmore, Earle,
J. R. Ervin, William Evans, J. P. Evans, Felder, T. L. Gourdin,
P. G. Gourdin, Goodwyn, Gailliard, Griffin, Glenn, Gibson,
Gregg, Hayne, Heyward, Harper, Harrison, Hatton, Harllee,
Huguenin, I'On, Jeter, Johnston, James, Keith, Key, King,
Levy, Lowry, Lacoste, Legare, Lawton, Long, Logan, Little-
John, Lancaster, Magrath, Maner, Murray, Mills, McCall, Means,
Mays, McDuffie, Moore, J. L. Miller, S. D. Miller, John B. Mil
ler, McCord, Nowell, O'Neale, O'Bannon, P. Phillips, J. W.
Phillips, Porcher, Palmer, Perry, C. C. Pinckney, William C.
Pinokney, Thomas Pinckney, Quash, Rowland, Rivers, Rowe,
Rogers, Ray, J. G. Spann, James Spann, Simons, Shand, J. M.
Smith, G. H. Smith, Wm. Smith, Stephen Smith, Stringfellow,
42

322

Scott, Symmes, Sims, Shannon, Singleton, Stevens, Turnbull,
Tyler, Tidyman, Ulmer, Wilson, Walker, Williams, Woodward,
Whitten, Watt, Waties, Wilkins, Ware, Warren, Williamson,
Wardlaw, Whatley, Young.

The President then addressed the Convention, explaining to
them the objects for which they had been convoked. In con
cluding, he announced, that as he had been chosen to preside
over this body, as Governor of the State, and as another now
filled that station, he would, after submitting to the Convention
the documents which had induced him to call them together at
this time, resign his office into their hands. The following doc
uments were then read by the Clerk, to wit :

Letter from the Governor of the State, to the President of the

Convention.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, )
COLUMBIA, March 11, 1833. )

To JAMES HAMILTON, JUN. ESQ.,

President of the Convention of the People of South Carolina.

Sm, — I herewith transmit you a letter which I have received
from the Hon. Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Commissioner from the
State of Virginia, which, together with the correspondence in
relation to Mr. Leigh's Mission, and the Resolutions of Virginia,
of which he is the bearer, you are requested to lay before the
Assembly over which you preside.

I am very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

ROBERT Y. HAYNE.

323

COLUMBIA, March llth, 1833.
SIR,—

Having, at our first interview, presented you the Resolutions
of the General Assembly of Virginia, of the 26th January last,
on the subject of Federal Relations, I have now to request your
Excellency to lay these Resolutions before the Convention of
the People of South Carolina, which, at my instance, has been
re-assembled for the purpose of considering them.

The General Assembly of Virginia has expressed, in its own
language, its sentiments concerning the unhappy controversy
between the State of South Carolina and the Federal Govern
ment, and its motives, its views and object, in making this inter
cession. In these respects, therefore, the Commissioner it has
thought proper to depute to South Carolina, can have nothing to
add, and nothing even to explain. The duty presented to him
is simple and precise. He is instructed to communicate the
Preamble and Resolutions to the proper authorities of this
State, and " to give them such direction as in his judgment may
be best calculated to promote the objects which the Legislature
of Virginia has in view;" and this part of his duty he has al
ready, by the prompt and cordial compliance of those authori
ties, had the happiness to accomplish, to the entire satisfaction
(as he has reason to believe) of the Legislature of Virginia.
And he is further instructed and " authorized to express to the
public authorities and people of this, our sister State, the sincere
good will of the Legislature, and people of Virginia, towards
their sister State, and their anxious solicitude that the kind and
respectful representations they have addressed to her, may lead
to an accommodation of the differences between this State and
the General Government."

Virginia is animated with an ardent and devoted attachment
to the Union of the States, and to the rights of the several States
that compose the Union ; and if similarity of situation and of
interests naturally induce her to sympathize, with peculiar sen
sibility, in whatever affects the prosperity and happiness of
South Carolina, and the other Southern States, she knows how

324

to reconcile this sentiment with her affection and duty towards
each and every other State, severally, and towards the United
States. She is most solicitous to maintain and preserve our
present institutions, which, though they partake of imperfection,
from which no human institutions can ever be exempt, and not
withstanding some instances of maladministration or error, to
which all governments are liable, are yet, as she confidently be
lieves, the happiest frame of polity that is now or ever has been
enjoyed by any people ; — to maintain and preserve the whole?
and every part of these institutions, in full vigor and purity ; to
uphold the Union, and the States ; to maintain the Federal
Government in all its just powers, administered, according to
the pure principles of the Constitution, without the least depa*rt-
ure from the limitations prescribed by the compact, fairly un
derstood, and the State Governments, in all their rights and au
thority, as absolutely necessary to the good government and hap
piness of their respective citizens. Consolidation and disunion
are alike abhorrent from her affections and her judgment — the
one involving, at the least, a forfeiture of the manifold advan
tages and blessings so long and so generally felt and acknowl
edged to have been derived from the Union ; and the other hav
ing an apparent, perhaps inevitable, tendency to military des
potism. And she is apprehensive, for reasons too obvious to
need particular mention, that in case any differences between
the Federal Government and the States, shall ever be brought
to the arbitrament of force, the result, let it be what it may,
must effect such a change in our existing institutions as cannot
but be evil, since it would be a change from those forms of gov
ernment, which we have experienced to be good, and under
which we have certainly been, in the main, free, prosperous,
contented and happy. Therefore, in the present controversy,
between the Federal Government and the State of South Caro
lina, she deprecates any resort to force by either, and is san
guine in the hope, that, with proper moderation and forbearance
on both sides, this controversy may be adjusted (as all our con
troversies hitherto have been) by the influence of truth, reason
and justice.

Virginia, remembering the history of South Carolina, her ser
vices in war and in peace, and her contributions of virtue and

325

intelligence to the common councils of the Union ; and knowing
well the generosity, the magnanimity, and the loyalty of her
character, entertained the most perfect confidence, that these
sentiments, so cherished by herself, would find a response in the
heart and understanding of every citizen of this State. And
that confidence induced her intercession on the present occa
sion. She has not presumed to dictate, or even to advise. She
has addressed her entreaty to the Congress of the United States,
to redress the grievance of which South Carolina complains.
And she has spoken to South Carolina also, as one sovereign
State, as one State of this Union, ought to speak to another.
She has earnestly, affectionately, and respectfully requested and
entreated South Carolina, " to rescind or suspend her late Ordi
nance, and to await the result of a combined and strenuous ef
fort of the friends of Union and Peace, to effect an adjustment
and conciliation of all public differences now unhappily exist
ing." She well hoped, that this State "would listen willingly
and respectfully to her voice ;" for she knew and felt that South
Carolina could not descend from the dignity, and would nowise
compromit the rights of her sovereignty, by yielding to the in
tercession of a sister State.

If, therefore, no other considerations could have been pre
sented to the Convention of the people of South Carolina— if
no other motives for compliance could have been suggested,
than the intercession of Virginia, offered in the temper and
manner it has been, and the interests we all have in the Union,
the common attachment we feel for our tried republican institu
tions, the aversion from civil discord and commotion, and the
wise and just dread of changes of which no sagacity can foresee
the consequences, — it might have been hoped and expected,
that the Convention would rescind, or at least suspend for a
time, its late Ordinance.

But, in truth, the Convention comes now to a consideration
of this subject, under a state of circumstances, not anticipated
by Virginia when she interposed her good offices to promote a
peaceable adjustment of the controversy between this State and
the Federal Government. There has been made that " com
bined and strenuous effort of the friends of peace and union, to
effect an adjustment and conciliation" of this controversy — the

326

result of which South Carolina was requested and expected to
await — and that effort, it is hoped, will prove successful. The
recent Act of Congress, " to modify the Act of the 14th July,
1832, and all other Acts imposing duties on imports," is such a
modification of the Tariff Laws as (I trust) will leave little
room for hesitation on the part of the Convention of the People
of South Carolina, as to the wisdom and propriety of rescinding
its Ordinance.

Forbearing, therefore, to enter at large into the many and
forcible considerations of justice and policy, which, independ
ently of this measure of Congress, might, I humbly conceive,
have sufficed to induce the Convention to suspend, if not to re
scind the Ordinance. I shall rest in the hope, that the wisdom of
the Convention will adopt, at once, the course which the dignity
and patriotism of South Carolina, her attachment to the Union,
so constantly expressed, and manifested by her deeds, her duty
to herself and towards her sister States, and (1 hope I may add.
without presumption,) her respect for the intercession of Vir
ginia, shall dictate to be proper ; and that that course will lead
to a renewal of perfect harmony.

Sensible as I am, how little any effort of mine has or could
have contributed to the result I now anticipate, I shall be well
content with the honor of having been the bearer of the" Resolu
tions of Virginia, and of a favorable answer to them — happy in
being the humblest instrument of such a work.

I have the honor to be,

With profound respect,

Your most obedient servant,

B. W. LEIGH.

To His Excellency ROBERT Y. HAYNE,
Governor of South Carolina.

327

[II.]

Letter from the Governor of Virginia, to the Governor of South

Carolina.

VIRGINIA.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, )
January 26, 1833. )

To His Excellency ROBERT Y. HAYNE :

SIR, — This will be delivered to you by the Hon. Benjamin
Watkins Leigh, a distinguished citizen of Virginia, who has
been elected by the General Assembly, a Commissioner of this
State, to the State of South Carolina, in conformity to a Pre
amble and Resolutions on the subject of Federal Relations, this
day adopted by the General Assembly of Virginia. Mr. Leigh
will make known to you any further views, that may be enter
tained, on the subject of the Preamble and Resolutions.

I have the honor to be,

With high consideration and respect,

Your Excellency's most obedient servant,

JOHN FLOYD.

[III.]

Certified Copy of the Preamble and Resolutions adopted by the Vir
ginia Legislature, and transmitted, through their Commissioner, to
the constituted Authorities of this State.

VIRGINIA, TO WIT:

I, JOHN FLOYD, Governor of the State aforesaid, do hereby
certify and make known unto all whom it may concern, that
George W. Munford, whose name is subscribed to the certificate
to two documents hereunto annexed, marked A and B, is as he

328

there styles himself, Clerk of the House of Delegates, and
Keeper of the Rolls of Virginia, duly appointed and qualified
according to law ; and to all his official acts as such, full faith,
credit and authority are had and ought to be given.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name, and caused
the great seal of the State to be affixed hereunto.

Done at the City of Richmond, the twenty-sixth
[ L. S. ] day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand
eight hundred and thirty-three, and of the Common
wealth the fifty-seventh.

JOHN FLOYD.
[By the Governor.]

WM. H. RICHARDSON, Secretary

of the Commonwealth, and Keeper of the Seal.

WHEREAS, The General Assembly of Virginia, actuated by a
desire to preserve the peace and harmony of our common coun
try, — relying upon the sense of justice of each and every State
in the Union, as a sufficient pledge that their Representatives in
Congress will so modify the Acts laying duties and imposts on
the importation of foreign commodities, commonly called the
Tariff Acts, that they will no longer furnish cause of complaint
to the people of any particular State ; believing, accordingly,
that the People of South Carolina are mistaken, in supposing
that Congress will yield them no relief from the pressure of those
Acts, especially as the auspicious approach of the extinguish
ment of the Public Debt, affords a just ground for the indulgence
of a contrary expectation ; and confident that they are too
strongly attached to the Union of the States, to resort to any
proceedings which might dissolve or endanger it, whilst they
have any fair hope of obtaining their object, by more regular
and peaceful measures ; persuaded, also, that they will listen
willingly and respectfully to the voice of Virginia, earnestly and
affectionately requesting and entreating them to rescind or sus-

329

pend their late Ordinance, and await the result of a combined
and strenuous effort of the friends of Union and Peace, to effect
an adjustment and reconciliation of all public differences now
unhappily existing ; regarding, moreover, an appeal to force, on
the part of the General Government, or on the part of the Gov
ernment of South Carolina, as a measure which nothing but ex
treme necessity could justify or excuse in either; but appre
hensive, at the same time, that if the present state of things is
allowed to continue, acts of violence will occur, which may lead
to consequences that all would deplore — cannot but deem it a
solemn duty to interpose, and mediate between the high con
tending parties, by the declaration of their opinions and wishes,
which they trust that they both will consider and respect :
Therefore,

Resolved, by the General Assembly, in the name and on behalf of
the people of Virginia, That the competent Authorities of South
Carolina be, and they are, hereby, earnestly and respectfully
requested and entreated to rescind the Ordinance of the late
Convention of that State, entitled " An Ordinance to Nullify
certain Acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting to
be laws, laying duties and imposts on the importation of foreign
commodities;" or, at least to suspend its operation until the
close of the first session of the next Congress.

Resolved, That the Congress of the United States be, and
they are, hereby, earnestly and respectfully requested and en
treated, so to modify the Acts laying duties and imposts on the
importation of foreign commodities, commonly called the Tariff
Acts, as to effect a gradual but speedy reduction of the result
ing Revenue of the General Government, to the standard of the
necessary and proper expenditures for the support thereof.

Resolved, That the people of Virginia expect, and, in the
opinion of the General Assembly, the people of the other States
have a right to expect, that the General Government and the
Government of South Carolina, and all persons acting under the
authority of either, will carefully abstain from any and all acts,
whatever, which may be calculated to disturb the tranquillity of
the country, or endanger the existence of the Union.
43

330

And, whereas, considering the opinions which have been ad
vanced and maintained by the Convention of South Carolina, in
its late Ordinance and Addresses, on the one hand, and by the
President of the United States, in his Proclamation, bearing
date the tenth day of December, one thousand eight hundred
and thirty-two, on the other, the General Assembly deem it due
to themselves, and the people whom they represent, to declare
and make known their own views in relation to some of the im
portant and interesting questions which these papers present :
Therefore,

Resolved, by the General Assembly, That they continue to re
gard the doctrines of State Sovereignty and State Rights, as set
forth in the Resolutions of 1798, and sustained by the Report
thereon, of 1799, as a true interpretation of the Constitution of
the United States, and of the powers therein given to the Gen
eral Government ; but that they do not consider them as sanc
tioning the proceedings of South Carolina, indicated in her said
Ordinance ; nor as countenancing all the principles assumed by
the President in his said Proclamation, many of which are in
direct conflict with them.

Resolved, That this House will, by joint vote with the Senate,
proceed, on this day, to elect a Commissioner, whose duty it
shall be to proceed immediately to South Carolina, and commu
nicate the foregoing Preamble and Resolutions to the Governor
of that State, with a request that they be communicated to the
Legislature of that State, or any Convention of its citizens, or
give them such other direction as, in his judgment, may be best
calculated to promote the objects which this Commonwealth has
in view ; and that the said Commissioner be authorized to ex
press to the public authorities and people of our sister State, in
such manner as he may deem most expedient, our sincere good
will to our sister State, and our anxious solicitude that the kind
and respectful recommendations we have addressed to her may
lead to an accommodation of all the differences between that
State and the General Government.

Resolved, That the Governor of the Commonwealth be, and he
is, hereby, requested to communicate the foregoing Preamble
and Resolutions to the President of the United States, to the

331

Governors of the other States, and to our Senators and Repre
sentatives in Congress.

Agreed to by the House, the t'.venty-sixth day of January, one
thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.

GEORGE W. MUNFORD,

Clerk of the House of Delegates, and

Keeper of the Rolls of Virginia.

IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, Jan. 26, 1833.

The House of Delegates have, this day, by joint vote with the
Senate, elected Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Esq., a Commissioner
of this State to the State of South Carolina, in conformity to a
Preamble and Resolutions upon the subject of Fedural Rela
tions, also adopted to-day.

GEGRGE W. MUNFORD,

Clerk of the House of Delegates, and

Keeper of the Rolls of Virginia.

[IV.]

Correspondence between the Commissioner of Virginia, and the Con
stituted Authorities of this State.

LETTER No. 1.

CHARLESTON, February 5, 1833.
SIR,—

When I had the honor, yesterday, of laying before your Ex
cellency, the Resolutions of the General Assembly of Virginia,

332

of the 26th January last, and called your attention particularly
to the Resolution of the General Assembly, in the name and on
behalf of the people of Virginia, that the competent authorities
of South Carolina be, and are hereby earnestly and respectfully
requested and entreated to rescind the Ordinance of the State
Convention of that State, entitled " An Ordinance to Nullify
certain Acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting to
be laws, laying duties and imposts on the importation of foreign
commodities ;" or, at least, to suspend its operation until the
close of the first session of the next Congress, you informed me,
that the only authority competent to comply with that request,
or even to consider it, is the Convention of the people of South
Carolina, which made the Ordinance, and the power of re-as
sembling the Convention is vested in the President of that body.
I have now, therefore, to request your Excellency to commu
nicate the Resolutions of the General Assembly of Virginia, and
this letter also, to the President of the Convention ; confidently
hoping that that officer will not refuse or hesitate to re-assemble
the Convention, in order that the Resolutions of the General
Assembly may be submitted to it, and that the Convention may
consider, whether, and how far the earnest and respectful re
quest and entreaty of the General Assembly shall and ought to
be complied with.

I have the honor to be, &c. &c.,

B. W. LEIGH.

To His Excellency ROBERT Y. HAYNE, )
Governor of South Carolina. }

LETTER No. 2.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
CHARLESTON

PARTMENT, )

, Feb. 6, 1833. $

SIR,-

I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 5th instant,
and in compliance with the request therein contained, commu-

333

nicated its contents, together with the Resolutions of the Legis
lature of Virginia, of which you are the bearer, to Gen. James
Hamilton, Jun., the President of the Convention. I have now
the pleasure of inclosing you his answer, by which you will per
ceive, that in compliance with the request conveyed through
you, he will promptly re-assemble the Convention, to whom the
Resolutions adopted by the Legislature of Virginia, will be sub
mitted, and by whom they will doubtless receive the most
friendly and respectful consideration. In giving you this infor
mation, it is due to the interest manifested by Virginia, in the
existing controversy between South Carolina and the Federal
Government, to state that as soon as it came to be understood
that the Legislature of Virginia had taken up the subject in a
spirit of friendly interposition, and that a bill for the modifica
tion of the Tariff was actually before Congress, it was determin
ed, by the common consent of our fellow-citizens, that no case
should be made under our Ordinance until after the adjourn
ment of the present Congress. The propriety of a still further
suspension, can, of course, only be determined by the Conven
tion itself. With regard to the solicitude expressed by the Leg
islature of Virginia, that there should be " no appeal to force,"
on " the part of either the General Government, or the Govern
ment of South Carolina, in the controversy now unhappily ex
isting between them," and that " the General Government and
the Government of South Carolina, and all persons acting under
the authority of either, should carefully abstain from any and all
acts, whatever, which may be calculated to disturb the tranquil
lity of the country, or endanger the existence of the Union ;" it
is proper that I should distinctly and emphatically state, that no
design now exists, or ever has existed, on the part of the Gov
ernment of South Carolina, or any portion of the people, to
" appeal to force," unless that measure should be rendered in
dispensable in repelling unlawful violence.

I beg leave to assure you, and through you, the people of
Virginia, and our other sister States, that no acts have been
done, or are contemplated by South Carolina, her constituted
authorities, or citizens, in reference to the present crisis, but
such as are deemed measures of precaution. Her preparations
are altogether defensive in their character ; and notwithstand-

334

ing the concentration of large naval and military forces in this
harbor, and the adoption of other measures on the part of the
General Government, which may be considered as of a charac
ter threatening the peace and endangering the tranquillity and
safety of the State, we shall continue to exercise the utmost
possible forbearance, acting strictly on the defensive, firmly re
solved to commit no act of violence, but prepared, as far as our
means may extend, to resist aggression. Nothing, you may be
assured, would give me, personally, and the people of South
Carolina, more satisfaction than that the existing controversy
should be happily adjusted, on just and liberal terms ; and I
beg you to be assured, that nothing can be further from our de
sire, than to disturb the tranquillity of the country, or endanger
the existence of the Union.

Accept, Sir, for yourself,

The assurance of the high consideration
Of yours, respectfully and truly,

ROBERT Y. HAYNE.
To the Hon. B. W. LEIGH.

LETTER No. 3.

CHARLESTON, February 6, 1833.

SIR, —

I do myself the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your
letter of the 5th, enclosing a copy of a communication you have
received from Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Esq., Commissioner
from the State of Virginia, covering certain Resolutions passed
by the Legislature of that State, which that gentlemen has been
deputed to convey to the Executive of this State.

In reply to the reference which you have made to me, as Pres
ident of the Convention of the People of South Carolina, conse-

335

quent on the application on the part of that gentleman, for
the meeting of that body, I beg leave to communicate to him,
through your Excellency, that, appreciating very highly, the
kind disposition, and the patriotic solicitude, which have induced
the highly respectable Commonwealth which he represents, to
interpose her friendly and mediatorial offices in the unhappy
controversy subsisting between the Federal Government and the
State of South Carolina, I should do great injustice to those dis
positions on her part, and, I am quite sure, to the feelings of
the people of South Carolina, if I did not promptly comply with
his wishes in reference to the proposed call.

You are, therefore, authorized to say to Mr. Leigh, that the
Convention will be assembled with as much despatch as may be
compatible with the public convenience, and with a due regard
to those circumstances which best promise a full consideration
and final decision, on the proposition of which he is the bearer.

1 have the honor to remain,

With distinguished consideration and esteem,
Your Excellency's obedient servant,

JAMES HAMILTON, JR.,

President of the Convention of the People of South Carolina.

To His Excellency ROBERT Y. HAYNE.

Messrs. Geo. Sistrunk, from St. George's, R. Barnwell Smith,
from St. Bartholomew's, Robert W. Gill, from Lancaster, Ben
jamin Gause, from Kingston, and James C. Coggeshall, from
Prince George, Winyaw, now appeared for the first time, exhib
ited their credentials, enrolled their names, and took their seats
as members of the Convention.

The Convention then proceeded to the election of a Presi
dent. Messrs. Butler, Burt, and Quash, were appointed a Com-
mitttee to count the votes, and make known the result. The
Committee reported His Excellency Robert Y. Hayne, Governor
and Commander in Chief in and over the State, duly elected
President of the Convention.

336

Chancellor Johnston and Col. Thomas Pinckney, were ap
pointed a Committee to wait on the President elect, inform him
of his election, and conduct him to the chair ; which, having
been done, Governor Hayne, after a short address, entered upon
the duties of his station.

On motion of General Hamilton, the following Resolutions
were adopted unanimously, to wit :

Resolved, That a Committee of three be appointed to wait on
Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Esq., Commissioner of the Common
wealth of Virginia, and invite him to a seat within the bar of
this Convention."

" Resolved, That this Convention will receive Mr. Leigh,
standing and uncovered."

The Committee consisted of Gen. Earle, Col. I'On, and Mr.
Heyward.

On motion of the Hon. C. J. Colcock, it was

" Resolved, That a Committee of twenty-one be appointed to
take into consideration the communication of the Hon. Benja
min W. Leigh, Commissioner from the State of Virginia, and all
other matters connected with the subject, and the course which
should be pursued by the Convention, at the present important
crisis of our political affairs."

The following gentlemen were named by the President, to
constitute the Committee, viz :

Hon. C. J. Colcock,

Gen. J. B. Earle, R. J. Turnbull, Esq.,

Hon. William Harper, B. Rogers, Esq.,

Hon. J. B. O'Neal, Hon. R. W. Barnwell,

Col. Wm. C. Pinckney, Col. J. R. Ervin,

Hon. S. D. Miller, Col. J. Bond FOn,

Chancellor Job Johnston, T. D. Singleton, Esq.,

Hon. G. McDuffie, Col. P. M. Butler,

Hon. R. J. Manning, Jas. A. Black, Esq.,

Hon. J. K. Griffin, Col. John Bauskett,

On motion of Judge Harper, it was ordered, that the corres
pondence between Mr. Leigh and Governor Hayne, should be
printed for the use of the Convention ; likewise the Acts of the

337

late Congress, connected with the controversy between this
State and the Federal Government.

On motion of Col. POn, the members of Congress, and of the
State Legislature, who might be present, were invited to a seat
within the bar of the Convention.

On motion of Gen. Hamilton, the Convention now adjourned
until to-morrow at one o'clock, P. M.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

TUESDAY, March 12, 1833.

The Convention met according to adjournment, at one o'clock,
P. M., and the proceedings were opened by a prayer from the
Rev. Mr. Ray.

The roll having been called, the President suggested that as
this formality was an unnecessary consumption of the time of
the Convention, and as there was no rule requiring its observ
ance, it would, if no objections were made, be dispensed with
for the future.

Messrs. John Lipscomb, of Abbeville, and J. T. Whitefield,
of Pendleton, appeared and took their seats.

The President then announced the names of Gen. James
Hamilton, Jun., and Samuel B. Wilkins, Esq. as completing the
Select Committee of twenty-one ; these names being substituted
for those of his Excellency R. Y. Hayne, now President of the
Convention, and of the Hon. Henry Middleton, absent, who,
with the gentlemen named yesterday, constituted the select Com
mittee of the Convention, at its late session.

Judge Colcock, on the part of the Committee, stated that
they were unable to report to-day, and obtained leave to sit
again.

On motion of Gen. Hamilton, the following Resolution was
adopted, to wit :
44

338

"Resolved, That a Committee of Accounts, to consist of three
members, be raised, for the purpose of examining and reporting
on the Accounts of this Convention, and what balance may
stand to its credit in the Treasury, and what further sum may be
necessary for defraying the expenses of its present session."

Messrs. Simons, Bauskett, and Chesnut, were appointed the
Committee.

Mr. Turnbull moved that, until otherwise ordered, the Con
vention should adjourn from day to day to meet at twelve
o'clock, meridian, which being agreed to, he moved that the
Convention do now adjourn ; which being likewise concurred
in, the Convention adjourned accordingly.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1S33.

The Convention met pursuant to adjournment, at meridian to
day. The proceedings were opened by a prayer from the Rev.
Mr. Wafford, and the Journal of yesterday read.

Messrs. A. Bowie and A. Burt, of Abbeville, M. Jacobs, of St.
Helena, and Peter Vaught, of All Saints, appeared and took
their seats.

The Hon. C. J. Colcock, from the Select Committee of twen
ty-one, reported to the Convention an Ordinance and an ac
companying Report, on the subject of the Act of the late Con
gress of the United States, entitled " An Act to modify the Act
of the 14th July, 1832, and all other Acts imposing duties on
imports."

On motion of Mr. Wilson, these were ordered to be printed;
and, on motion of Judge Colcock, made the order of the day
for to-morrow.

Mr. Wilson, after a few explanatory remarks, introduced the
following Resolution, to wit :

" Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to wait on our

339

Senators and Representatives lately in Congress, and now in the
Town of Columbia, requesting them to give us genuine infor
mation relative to the late proceedings of the Federal Govern
ment towards South Carolina, in consequence of the Ordinance
of Nullification, passed by the people of this State, in Conven
tion in November last; and that the Committee report what
arrangements may be made as to the manner and time of giving
the information desired."

On motion of Judge Colcock, this Resolution was ordered to
lie on the table. After a short interval, Mr. Wilson' moved to
take it up for immediate consideration. Cen. Hamilton moved
to postpone it until to-morrow. After some slight debate, the
vote was taken on the question of postponement, and the motion
failed — Ayes, 66 — Noes, 69. The Resolution was then adopt
ed, and Mr. Wilson, Gen. Hamilton, and Chancellor Johnston,
were appointed the Committee.

Mr. Wilson then introduced the following Resolutions, to wit :

" Whereas, A Convention of the People of the State has been
called, to place the State of South Carolina upon its Sovereign
ty, and to consider of, and do such acts as may, in the opinion
of this Convention, serve more effectually to perpetuate the
same ; and, whereas, protection and allegiance are reciprocal
duties, and a fundamental principle of all Governments ; be it,
therefore,"

" Resolved, That it is expedient and proper, that the Consti
tution of this State, be so altered and amended, as to require
every Elector, who may claim to exercise the elective franchise,
in addition to the oath of qualification now prescribed, to take
an oath of allegiance to the State of South Carolina; and upon
the refusal of any Elector to take such oath, the Managers of
Elections shall not be permitted to receive his vote."

" Resolved, That it is expedient and proper, that all officers
hereafter to be elected to any office of honor, profit or trust,
civil or military, be required to take an oath of paramount alle
giance to the State of South Carolina."

These Resolutions having been laid before the Convention,
by the President, Mr. Turnbull stated that the Committee of
twenty-one, already had the subjects to which they related, un
der consideration ; whereupon Mr. Wilson moved that they

340

should be referred to that Committee, which was agreed to.
Gen. Hamilton then moved that the gentleman who offered
these Resolutions, should be added to the Committee, which
being agreed to, the Hon. John L. Wilson was added to the
Select Committee of twenty-one.

Gen. Earle then moved to adjourn, but withdrew the motion,
in order that an earlier hour than the regular time of meeting
might be fixed on for that purpose. On motion of Col. Elmore,
it was ordered that when the Convention adjourned, it should
adjourn £to meet at 11 o'clock, A. M, to-morrow. Gen. Earle
renewed his motion for immediate adjournment, which having
been carried, the Convention adjourned accordingly.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention,

THURSDAY, March 14, 1833.

The Convention met to-day at 11 o'clock, A. M., pursuant to
adjournment. The proceedings were opened with a prayer by
the Rev. Mr. Keeney, and the Journal of yesterday read.

Judge Colcock, on the part of the Select Committee of twen
ty-one, stated that they were not prepared to make a further
report to-day, and obtained leave to sit again.

The following Report was then presented by Mr. Wilson, to
wit :

" The Committee appointed to wait upon our late Members and
Senators in Congress from this State, now in Columbia, re
questing them to give such genuine information as they may
possess, in relation to the Acts of the Federal Government,
growing out of the late Ordinance of Nullification, by the
People of this State, in Convention, in November last, have
performed the duty assigned them, and beg leave respect
fully to

REPORT :

" That the gentlemen lately composing our Delegation in

341

Congress, now in Columbia, deem it unnecessary, as a body, to
give any exposition of the Acts of Congress referred to, but that
the views of those who are members of this Convention, on the
subject, will be submitted to the Convention."

" J. L. WILSON, Chairman."

The Report was, at the motion of Mr. Wilson, ordered to lie
on the table.

The Convention then proceeded to the consideration of the
Ordinance, which had been made the order of the day.

Judge Colcock moved that the Ordinance should be amended,
by striking out, in the Preamble, the words, " as amounts, sub
stantially, to an ultimate reduction of the duties to the Revenue
standard, and that no higher duties shall be laid, than may be
necessary to defray the economical expenditures of the Govern
ment," and inserting the following, to wit : " as will ultimately
reduce them to the Revenue standard, and provides that no
more Revenue shall be raised than may be necessary to defray
the economical expenses of the Government." This amendment
was adopted.

Mr. Wilson moved the following amendments, which were
likewise adopted, to wit : — that after the word " Ordinance,"
should be inserted, " adopted by this Convention, on the 24th
day of November, 1832," — after the word "passed," to insert
" by the General Assembly of this State," — and again, after the
word " passed," occurring the second time, the same words, to
wit : " by the General Assembly of this State."

After some discussion upon the question of the adoption of
the Ordinance, thus amended, in which the Hon. Stephen D.
Miller, the Hon. R. W. Barnwell, R. Barnwell Smith, Esq.,
Gen. Hamilton, and Col. F. H. Elmore, took part, Gen. Hamil
ton moved to re-commit the Report and Ordinance to the Com
mittee of twenty-one. Chancellor Johnston moved that the
question should be separately taken on the Report and Ordi
nance. The President stated that, as the Report was not prop
erly before the Convention, the question would be solely on the
re-commitment of the Ordinance. Gen. Hamilton then with
drew his motion. After some further discussion, as to the adop
tion of the Ordinance, Mr. Bowie moved that its further con-

342

sideration should be postponed until to-morrow. The vote by
acclamation leaving the President in doubt, a division was call
ed for, and the Ayes were found to be 57 — the Noes, 83. The
motion was consequently lost. Mr. Butler then moved to ad
journ, which was also lost. On motion, a recess of t\vo hours
was taken by the Convention.

Four o'clock, P. M.

The Convention re-assembled. Mr. J. Walter Phillips moved
that the Preamble to the Ordinance should be stricken out.
This elicited a debate, in which Mr. Wilson, Mr. Phillips, Gen.
Hamilton, and Mr. Whitefield, bore a part, when the question
being taken, the motion was lost. Judge Colcock then moved
that the further consideration of the Ordinance should be post
poned, and that it should be made the order of the day for to
morrow, which was agreed to.

On motion of Mr. Butler, the Report was then taken up, and
ordered to be re-committed to the Committee of twenty-one.
The Convention then adjourned until 10 o'clock to-morrow.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

FRIDAY, March 15, 1833.

The Convention met to-day at 10 o'clock, pursuant to adjourn
ment. After a prayer from the Rev. Mr. English, the Journal of
yesterday was read.

The following Resolution was submitted by Mr. Wilson, to
wit :

" Resolved, That the Librarian receive dollars, for his

attendance at the Legislative Library, during the last and pres
ent session of the Convention ; and the President of the Con
vention be authorized to draw his warrant for the same."

343

On motion of Mr. Wilson, the blank was filled with the word
" sixty," and the Resolution adopted.

Judge Colcock presented a Resolution, fixing Monday next,
as the time for the adjournment of the present session of the
Convention, which was, on motion of Mr. Spann, laid on the
table.

Judge Colcock presented the Report, which was yesterday
re-committed to the Committee of twenty-one.

Judge Harper, on the part of the same Committee, made a
further report, consisting of a Report and Ordinance in relation
to the Act of the late Congress, entitled " an Act further to pro
vide for the collection of duties on imports."

Gen. Hamilton, on the part of the same Committee, made a
third Report, on the subject of the mediation of Virginia.

On motion of Judge Colcock, the two last Reports were or
dered to be printed, and made the order of the day for to
morrow.

The following Resolution was then introduced by Gen. Ham
ilton, to wit :

" Resolved, That whilst this Convention, as an offering to the
peace and harmony of this Union, in a just regard to the inter
position of the highly patriotic Commonwealth of Virginia, and
with a proper deference to the united vote of the whole South
ern States, in favour of the recent accommodation of the Tariff,
has made the late modification of the Tariff, approved by Act of
Congress, of the 2d March, 1833, the basis of the repeal of her
Ordinance of the 24th November, 1832 — yet this Convention
owes it to itself, to the people they represent, and the posterity
of that people, to declare that they do not, by reason of said re
peal, acquiesce in the principle of the substantive power exist
ing on the part of Congress, to protect domestic manufactures :
and hence, on the final adjustment, in 1842, of the reductions,
under the Act of 2d March, 1833, or at any previous period,
should odious discriminations be instituted for the purpose of
continuing in force the protective principle, South Carolina will
feel herself free to resist such a violation of what she conceives
to be the good faith of the Act of the 2nd March, 1833, by the
interposition of her sovereignty, or in any other mode she may
deem proper."

344

This resolution was also ordered to be printed, and made the
special order of the day for tomorrow. R. Barnwell Smith, Esq.
moved to append to it the following resolution, which was or
dered accordingly, to wit :

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Convention, that the
military preparations heretofore begun by the State, should be
continued, and that effectual measures should be adopted and
completed, for putting the State in a firm attitude of defence."

The Ordinance, which was made the order of the day, was
then taken up for consideration.

On motion of Chancellor Johnston, it was agreed to re-con
sider the question as to the adoption of the Preamble to the
Ordinance. Mr. J. Walter Phillips moved to strike it out. This
was opposed by Mr. Turnbull, advocated by Mr. Phillips and
Judge Richardson, and opposed by Mr. McDuffie, in reply.

Mr. Turnbull then moved to amend the Preamble, by substi
tuting the words, " provided for," for the word " made," which
was agreed to. The Ayes and Noes were then taken on strik
ing out the Preamble, and were as follows :

AYES — Messrs. Brockman, Crooke, Chesnut, Cannon, Clinton,
R. Ervin, J. P. Evans, Gibson, Cause, Gill, James, Lancaster,
McCord, O'Neale, P. Phillips, J. W. Phillips, Perry, J. S. Rich
ardson, Sistrunk, Whitten, Wilkins. — 21.

NOES — Robert Y. Hayne, President, B. Adams, J. Adams,
Ayer, J. Anderson, R. Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Ball, Bee,
Boone, Barnwell, Brad well, Blewett, Butler, John G. Brown, J.
G. Brown, Bauskett, A. Burt, F. Burt, Barton, Bowie, Black,
Belin, Cohen, Cordes, T. H. Colcock, C. J. Colcock, Capers,
Clifton, Caughman, Counts, Chambers, Campbell, Cureton,
Coggeshall, Dubose, Dawson, J. Douglas, G. Douglas, Elmore,
Earle, J. R. Ervin, W. Evans, Felder, Fuller, T. L. Gourdin,
P. G. Gourdin, Goodwyn, Gailliard, Griffin, Glenn, Gregg, J.
Hamilton, Jr., Heyward, Harper, Harrison, Hatton, Harllee,
Huguenin, 1'On, Jeter, Johnston, Jacobs, Key, Keith, King,
Levy, Lowry, Lacoste, Legare, Lawton, Long, Lipscomb, Lo
gan, Littlejohn, Magrath, Maner, Murray, Mills, McCall, Means,
Mays, McDuffie, Moore, J. L. Miller, S. D. Miller, J. B. Miller,
Nowell, O'Bannon, Parker, Porcher, Palmer, C. C. Pinckney,

345

W. C. Pinckney, T. Pinckney, Quash, Rivers, Rowe, Rogers,
Ray, J. G. Spann, J. Spann, Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith, G.
H. Smith, W. Smith, S. Smith, R. B. Smith, Stringfellow, Scott,
Symmes, Sims, Shannon, Singleton, Stevens, Turnbull, Tyler,
Tidyman, Ulmer, Vaught, Vanderhorst, Wilson, Walker, Wil
liams, Woodward, Williamson, Wardlaw, Whatley, Whitefield,
Watt, Waties, Ware, Warren, Young.— 136.

The question was then put as to the adoption of the Ordi
nance, and the Ayes and Noes being taken, were as follows :

AYES— Robert Y. Hayne, President, B. Adams, J. Adams,
Ayer, J, Anderson, R. Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Ball, Bee,
Boone, Barnwell, Bradwell, Blewett, Butler, John G. Brown,
J. G. Brown, Bauskett, A. Burt, F. Burt, Barton, Brockman,
Bowie, Black, Belin, Cohen, Cordes, T. H. Colcock, C. J. Col-
cock, Capers, Clifton, Caughman, Counts, Crooke, Chambers,
Campbell, Cureton, Chesnut, Cannon, Clinton, Coggeshall, Du-
bose, Dawson, J. Douglas, G. Douglas, Elmore, Earle, J. R.
Ervin,R. Ervin, W. Evans, J. P. Evans, Fuller, T. L. Gourdin,
P. G. Gourdin, Gailliard, Griffin, Glenn, Gibson, Gregg, Gause,
Gill, J. Hamilton, Jr., Heyward, Harper, Harrison, Hatton,
Harllee, Huguenin, POn, Jeter, Johnston, James, Jacobs, Keith,
Key, King, Levy, Lowry, Lacoste, Legare, Lawton, Long, Lips-
comb, Logan, Littlejohn, Lancaster, Magrath, Maner, Murray,
Mills, McCall, Means, Mays, McDuffie, Moore, J. L. Miller, S.
D. Miller, J. B. Miller, Nowell, O'Neale, O'Bannon, P. Phillips,
Parker, Porcher, Palmer, Perry, C. C. Pinckney, W. C. Pinck
ney, T. Pinckney, Quash, J. S. Richardson, Rivers, Rowe,
Rogers, Ray, J. G. Spann, J. Spann, Simons, Shand, S. Smith,
J. M. Smith, G. H. Smith, W. Smith, R. B. Smith, Stringfellow,
Scott, Symmes, Sims, Shannon, Singleton, Stevens, Sistrunk,
Turnbull, Tyler, Tidyman, Ulmer, Vaught, Vanderhorst, Wilson,
Walker, Williams, Woodward, Williamson, Wardlaw, Whatley,
Whitefield, Whitten, Watt, Waties, Wilkins, Ware, Warren,
Young. — 153.

NOES— Felder, Goodwyn, McCord, J. W. Phillips.— 4.
Absent— 11.

Messrs. Whitten, Perry, Lipscomb, and J. R. Ervin, obtained
45

346

leave to be absent from the Convention, during the remainder
of the session.

A motion was now made to adjourn, but having been lost, the
Report accompanying the Ordinance just adopted, was taken up
for consideration. The Report was read by the President, and
the question put as to agreeing to the amendment reported by
the Committee, recommending to strike out the words " and
triumph," from the phrase " cause for congratulation and tri
umph," which passed in the affirmative.

A verbal amendment was moved by Col. Bauskett, and
agreed to.

Mr. R. Barnwell Smith moved to lay the Report on the table,
but withdrew the motion to give an opportunity for discussion.
In this, the Hon. S. D. Miller, Judge Colcock, Mr. Smith, and
Gen. Hamilton, took part. The question was then put, on the
motion to lay the Report on the table, and the motion lost.
The vote being taken on the adoption of the Report, it was
adopted by the Convention.

It was then moved by Gen. Hamilton, to take up for consid
eration the Resolution fixing the time of adjournment. This
elicited some debate, when Mr. Miller moved to adjourn until
to-morrow, at ten o'clock, which having been agreed to, the
Convention adjourned accordingly.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

SATURDAY, March 16, 1833.

The Convention met at ten o'clock, A. M., pursuant to ad
journment. The proceedings were opened with a prayer by the
Rev. Mr. Jackson, and the Journal of yesterday read. The
following Report was presented by the Hon. J. L. Wilson, to
wit :

" The Engrossing Committee, to which was referred the Or
dinance passed yesterday, in Convention, for rescinding the

347

Ordinance of Nullification, adopted on the 24th of November
last, beg leave to report the same as engrossed, and suggest the
propriety of the same order of signature as was observed in the
Ordinance of Nullification.

JOHN L. WILSON, Chairman:'1

On motion of Mr. Miller, it was ordered that the ratification
should be according to the usual parliamentary form, viz : by
the signatures, merely, of the President and Clerk. The Ordi
nance as engrossed, after having been read by the Chair, was
so ratified, in the presence of the Convention.

A recess was then taken until twelve o'clock, M.

The Ordinance as ratified, and the accompanying Report, as
adopted by the Convention, are as follows, to wit :

REPORT.

The Committee, to whom was referred the communication of
the Hon. B. W. Leigh, Commissioner from the State of Vir
ginia, and all other matters connected with the subject, and
the course which should be pursued by the Convention, at
the present important crisis of our political affairs, beg leave to

REPORT:

(IN PART,)

That they have had under consideration, the Act passed at
the late session of Congress, to modify the "Act of the 14th
July, 1832, and all other Acts imposing duties upon imports ;"
and have duly deliberated on the course which it becomes the
people of South Carolina to pursue at this interesting crisis in
her political affairs. It is now upwards of ten years since the
people and constituted authorities of this State, took ground
against the Protecting System, as " unconstitutional, oppressive
and unjust," and solemnly declared, in language which was then
cordially responded to by the other Southern States, that it
never could be submitted to " as the settled policy of the coun-

348

try." After remonstrating for years against this system in vain,
and making every possible effort to produce a redress of the
grievance, by invoking the protection of the Constitution, and
by appealing to the justice of our brethren, we saw, during the
session of Congress which ended in July last, a modification
effected, avowedly as the final adjustment of the Tariff, to take
effect after the complete extinguishment of the Public Debt, by
which the Protecting System could only be considered as riveted
upon the country forever. Believing that under these circum
stances, there was no hope of any further reduction of the du
ties, from the ordinary action of the Federal Government, and
convinced, that under the operation of this system, the labor
and capital of the plantation States must be forever tributary to
the manufacturing States, and that we should in effect, be re
duced to a condition of colonial vassalage, South Carolina felt
herself constrained, by a just regard for her own rights and in
terests, by her love of liberty and her devotion to the Constitu
tion, to interpose in her sovereign capacity, for the purpose of
arresting the progress of the evil, and maintaining, within her
own limits, the authorities, rights and liberties, appertaining to
her as a sovereign State. Ardently attached to the union of
the States, the people of South Carolina were still more devoted
to the rights of the States, without which the Union itself would
cease to be a blessing ; and well convinced that the regulation
of the whole labor and capital of this vast Confederacy by a
great central Government, must lead inevitably to the total
destruction of our free institutions, they did not hesitate to throw
themselves fearlessly into the breach, to arrest the torrent of
usurpation which was sweeping before it all that was truly val
uable in our political system.

The effect of this interposition, if it has not equalled our
wishes, has been beyond what existing circumstances would
have authorized us to expect. The spectacle of a single State,
unaided and alone, standing up ior her rights, — influenced by
no other motive than a sincere desire to maintain the public
liberty, and bring about a salutary reform in the administration
of the Government, has roused the attention of the whole coun
try, and has caused many to pause and reflect, who have here
tofore seemed madly bent on the consummation of a scheme of

349

policy absolutely fatal to the liberty of the people, and the pros
perity of a large portion of the Union. Though reviled and
slandered by those whose pecuniary or political interests stood
in the way of a satisfactory adjustment of the controversy — de
serted by many to whom she had a right to look for succor and
support, and threatened with violence from abroad, and convul
sions within, South Carolina, conscious of the rectitude of her
intentions, and the justice of her cause, has stood unmoved ;
firmly resolved to maintain her liberties, or perish in the con
flict. The result has been a beneficial modification of the Ta
riff of 1832, even before the time appointed for that Act to go
into effect, and within a few months after its enactment; ac
companied by a provision for a gradual reduction of the duties
to the revenue standard. Though the reduction provided for
by the Bill which has just passed, is, neither in its amount, nor
the time when it is to go into effect, such as the South had a
right to require, yet such an approach has been made towards
the true principles on which the duties on imports ought to be
adjusted under our system, that the people of South Carolina
are willing so far to yield to the measure, as to agree that their
Ordinance shall henceforth be considered as having no force or
effect. Unequal and oppressive as the system of raising revenue
by duties upon imports, must be upon the agricultural States,
which furnish more than two thirds of the domestic exports of
the United States, yet South Carolina always has been, and sti1!
is willing to make large sacrifices to the peace and harmony of
the Union. Though she believes that the Protecting System is
founded in the assumption of powers not granted by the Con
stitution of the Federal Government, yet she has never insisted
on such an immediate reduction of the duties as should involve
the manufacturers in ruin. That a reduction to the lowest
amount necessary to supply the wants of the Government, might
be safely effected in four or five years, cannot, in our estima
tion, admit of a reasonable doubt; still, in a great struggle for
principles, South Carolina would disdain to cavil about a small
amount of duties, and a few years more or less in effecting the
adjustment, provided only she can secure substantial justice,
and obtain a distinct recognition of the principles for which she
has so long contended. Among the provisions of the new Bill,

350

which recommend it to our acceptance, are the establishment
of a system of ad valorem duties, and the entire abandonment
of the specific duties, and the minimums ; tyrannical provisions,
by which duties rated nominally at 25 per cent, were, in many
cases, raised to upwards of 100 per cent ; and by which the
coarse and cheap articles, used by the poor, were taxed much
higher than the expensive articles used by the rich ; a regula
tion against which we have constantly protested in the most
earnest terms, as unjust and odious. The reduction before the
expiration of the present year, of one tenth part of the excess
of the duties over 20 per cent., on all articles " exceeding 20
per cent, on the value thereof," (embracing the entire mass of
the protected articles,) and a gradual reduction thereafter, on
such articles, down to 20 per cent., (the duties upon which, un
der the Tariff of 1832, range from 30 to upwards of 100 per
cent., and average upwards of 50 per cent.,) are great and man
ifest ameliorations of the system, to the benefits of which we
cannot be insensible. But great as must be the advantages of
these reductions, they are small in comparison with the distinct
recognition, in the new Bill, of two great principles which we
deem of inestimable value — that the duties shall be eventually
brought down to the revenue standard, even if it should be found
necessary to reduce the duties on the protected articles below
20 per cent., and that no more money shall be raised than shall
be necessary to an economical administration of the Govern
ment.

These provisions embody great principles in reference to this
subject, for which South Carolina has long and earnestly con
tended ; and if the pledge therein contained shall be fulfilled in
good faith, they must in their operation, arrest the abuses which
have grown out of the unauthorized appropriations of the public
money. We should consider the reduction of the revenue to
the amonnt " necessary to the economical administration of the
government," as one of the happiest reforms which could possi
bly take place in the practical operation of our system ; as it
would arrest the progress of corruption, limit the exercise of
Executive patronage and power, restore the independence of the
States, and put an end to all these questions of disputed power,
against which we have constantly protested. It is this aspect

351

of the question which has reconciled us to the provisions of the
new Bill, (certainly not free from objections) which provide for
the introduction of linens, silks, worsted, and a number of other
articles, free of duty. The reduction of revenue which will
thereby be effected, and the beneficial influence of a free trade,
in several of these articles which are almost exclusively pur
chased by the agricultural staples of the Southern States, and
which will furnish an advantageous exchange for these produc
tions, to the amount of several millions of dollars annually, are
considerations not to be overlooked. Nor can we be insensible
to the benefit to be derived from the united efforts of the whole
South, aided by other States having interests identified with our
own, in bringing about the late adjustment of the Tariff; prom
ising, we trust, for the future, that union of sentiment, and con
cert in action, which are necessary to secure the rights and
interests of the Southern States. On the whole, in whatever
aspect the question is contemplated, your Committee find, in
the late modification of the Tariff, cause for congratulation. If
we have not yet succeeded in the complete establishment of the
great principles of free trade and constitutional liberty, such
progress has been made towards the accomplishment of the for
mer, as must serve to re-kindle our hopes, and to excite us to
fresh exertions in the glorious work of reform in which we are
engaged. Influenced by these views, the Committee is satisfied
that it would not comport with the liberal feelings of the people
of South Carolina, nor be consistent with the sincere desire by
which they have always been animated, not only to live in har
mony with their brethren, but to preserve the Union of the
States, could they hesitate under existing circumstances, in
recommending that the Ordinance of Nullification, and the acts
of the Legislature consequent thereon, be henceforth held and
deemed of no force and effect. And they recommend the fol
lowing Ordinance.

352

AN ORDINANCE.

Whereas, the Congress of the United States, by an Act re
cently passed, has provided for such a reduction and modifica
tion of the duties upon foreign imports, as will ultimately reduce
them to the Revenue Standard — and provides that no more Rev
enue shall be raised than may be necessary to defray the eco
nomical expenses of the Government.

It is, therefore, Ordained and Declared, That the Ordinance
adopted by this Convention on the 24th day of November last,
entitled " An Ordinance to Nullify certain acts of the Congress
of the United States, purporting to be laws, laying duties on the
importation of foreign commodities," and all acts passed by the
General Assembly of this State, in pursuance thereof, be hence-
forlh deemed and held to have no force or effect : Provided,
That the Act entitled "An Act further to alter and amend the
Militia laws of this State," passed by the General Assembly of
this State on the 20th day of December, 1832, shall remain in
force, until it shall be repealed or modified by the Legislature.

Done at Columbia, the fifteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, and in
the fifty-seventh year of the Sovereignty and Independence of
the United States of America.

ROBERT Y. HAYNE, Del- )

egate from the Parishes of \ President of the Convention.
St. Philip and St. Michael, )

ISAAC W. HAYNE, Clerk.

353

Twelve o'clock, M.

The Convention re-assembled. Mr. S. L. Simons, from the
Committee on Accounts, presented the following Report, to wit :

" The Committee on Accounts, to whom was referred a Resolu
tion, instructing them to examine and Report on the Accounts
of this Convention, and what balance may stand to its credit
in the Treasury, and what further sum may be necessary for
defraying the expenses of its present session, beg leave to

REPORT:

" That they have carefully examined all the accounts which
were contracted under the orders of the Convention, together
with the pay roll of its Members and Officers, and find them cor
rect in every particular. Of the sum often thousand dollars ap
propriated by the Legislature for the use of the Convention, eight
thousand, three hundred and eighty-five dollars 53-100, have
been disbursed ; and a balance of one thousand six hundred and
fourteen dollars 47-100, remain to its credit in the Treasury.
Taking the expenditures of the former as a guide for the wants
of the present session, your Committee would respectfully re
commend the adoption of the following resolution :

" Resolved, That the President of this Convention be author
ized to issue his warrants on the Treasury, to the amount of ten
thousand dollars, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of
the present session, if so much be necessary.

S. L. SIMONS, Chairman."

This Resolution was adopted by the Convention.

On motion of Mr. Spann, a Resolution was passed, inviting to
a seat within the bar of the Convention, the Hon. Dixon H. Lewis,
a Representative in Congress from the State of Alabama, now in
Columbia.

The Report and Ordinance on the Force Bill, which had been

made the order of the day, were then taken up. The Ordinance

was announced by the President to be first in order. The Hon.

R. W. Barnwell moved to strike out so much of the Ordinance as

354

relates to the requisition of an oath of allegiance. The follow
ing motions to amend having precedence, were first put and
adopted, to wit : that the words " or appointed," should be add
ed after the word " elected ;" the word " such" be inserted after
the word " any," in the first line of the last paragraph, and the
words " heretofore elected, or hereafter to be elected," be strick
en out.

Mr. BarnwelPs motion being now again before the Conven
tion, on motion, it was ordered, that when the question should
be taken, it should be by Ayes and Noes. A discussion arose,
in which Judge O'Neale, Judge Harper, Mr. Turnbull, and Mr.
P. Phillips, took part. Mr. Wilson proposed to amend the Ordi
nance, by striking out, after the words " We further ordain," and
inserting the following, to wit : " That no person, who shall be
hereafter elected or appointed, or who has heretofore been elect
ed, but who has not yet taken the oaths of office required at the
time of his election or appointment, to any office, civil or mili
tary, within this State, (members of the Legislature excepted)
shall enter on the execution of such office, or be in any respect
competent to discharge the duties thereof, until he shall have
taken, in addition to the oaths of office now required, at the
same time and in the same manner, that such oaths are required
to be taken, the following oath of allegiance.

" I declare myself a citizen of the Free and Sovereign State
of South Carolina; I declare that my allegiance is due to the
said State, and hereby renounce and abjure all other allegiance,
incompatible therewith ; and I will be true and faithful to the
said State, so long as I continue a citizen thereof: So help me
God.

"And it is farther Ordained, That if any officer heretofore
elected, shall refuse or neglect to take the aforesaid oath, within
the time that other oaths of office are required by law to be
taken, such office shall be considered as vacant, and the Governor
of the State shall proceed (except in the instance of Judges of
the State) to fill such vacancy by appointing an officer, to serve
until another officer shall be elected and qualified."

This amendment was ordered to be printed. The Convention
then took a recess of two hours.

355

Six o'clock, P. M.

The Convention re-assembled. Mr. Barnwell moved to lay
the Ordinance upon the table, and to take up the Report and
Resolutions relating to the Virginia Mediation, which was
agreed to. Mr. Perry moved that the question should be taken
separately on the Report and Resolutions, which was likewise
agreed to. The Resolutions, being first in order, were consid
ered and unanimously adopted, and were ordered to be so enter
ed on the Journals. The Report was then taken up and adopted
by the Convention.

The Report and Resolutions, as adopted, are as follows :

REPORT,

ON THE MEDIATION OF VIRGINIA

The Committee to whom were referred the Resolutions of the
General Assembly of Virginia, and the communication of Mr.
Leigh to the Governor of the State of South Carolina, beg
leave to

REPORT:

That, although circumstances have supervened, since the in
stitution of this Commission on the part of the highly respected
Commonwealth from which it proceeds, which have enabled this
Convention to accomplish the object, which her Assembly so
anxiously and patriotically had in view, we are nevertheless sen
sible of the friendly dispositions and sympathy, which induced
the interposition of her good offices, at a moment when South
Carolina, denounced by the Executive of the Federal Govern
ment, and threatened with the extremity of its vengeance, stood
absolutely alone in the contest she was waging for the rights of
the States and the Constitutional liberties of the Country.

To this interference and these friendly dispositions, South
Carolina desires to respond, as a sister, sovereign, and independ-

356

ent Commonwealth, in a tone of candor, confidence and affec
tion. Appreciating thus sensibly, both the motives and objects
which influenced the General Assembly of Virginia, to despatch
at a moment so interesting, her Commissioner to this State,
whose mission, even if the recent modification of the Tariff had
not been adopted, would have challenged her high respect and
profound consideration, she cannot permit the occasion thus of
fered, to pass, without making a few declarations which she re
gards as due to herself and the public liberty of the Country.

In the first place, South Carolina desires to stand acquitted,
and believes, on a calm and dispassionate reflection by her
co-States, she must stand acquitted, of the charge of having act
ed with any undue precipitation, in the controversy hitherto
pending with the General Government. For ten years she peti
tioned, protested and remonstrated, against that system of unjust
and unconstitutional Legislation, which had equally received
the reprobation of Virginia, before she resorted to her veto, to
forbid its enforcement within her limits. In exercising this fac
ulty of her sovereignty, she believed she rested on those doc
trines which, in 1798 and 1799, had conferred on Virginia and
her distinguished statesmen a renown so unfading. She now
refers to this subject in no invidious spirit of controversy : but
when Virginia asserted, in those memorable Resolutions of her
General Assembly, " that she viewed the powers of the Federal
Government as resulting from the compact to which the States
are parties ; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the in
strument constituting that compact; as no further valid than
they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact ;
and that, in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise
of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the States,
who are parties thereto^ have the right, and are in duty bound,
to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for main
taining within their respective limits the authorities, rights and
liberties, appertaining to them" — we conceived she had done
nothing more or less, than announce the remedy which South
Carolina has resorted to, through her State interposition. It is
moreover asserted, in the Report explanatory of those Resolu
tions, that this right is a Constitutional, and not a Revolutionary
right ; and by the whole context of the powerful argument em-

357

braced in that Report, the right itself stands forth as separate
and independent of the ordinary remedies of procuring a redress
for the ordinary abuses of the Federative Government.

When, therefore, the General Assembly of Virginia, in the
recent Resolutions, borne by her Commissioner, which your
Committee are now considering, declares " that she does not
regard the Resolutions of 1798, and '99, as sanctioning the pro
ceedings of South Carolina, as indicated in the Ordinance of her
Convention," with all proper deference, South Carolina must,
nevertheless, adhere, with an honest and abiding confidence, to
her own construction. It is within the providence of God that
great truths should be independent of the human agents that
promulgate them. Once announced, they become the subjects
and property of reason, to all men and in all time to come. Nor
will South Carolina feel less confidence in the conservative char
acter of her remedy, which she believes to be in perfect harmo
ny with a true exposition of the doctrines of the Resolutions of
1798, by the recent testimony afforded of its efficacy, in a pacific
accommodation of the late controversy with the Federal Gov
ernment, although that Government has attempted to destroy
the authority and efficiency of this remedy, by the contemporary
passage of an act, perpetrating a worse and more aggravated
outrage on the Constitution, which has again demanded the in
terposition of this Convention.

With this brief justification of the principles of South Caro
lina, your Committee take leave of the subject ; assuring the
ancient and distinguished Commonwealth, whose mission has
been borne, by her Commissioner, with an ability, temper, and
affection, entirely corresponding with her own dispositions, that
in the struggles for liberty and right which we apprehend from
the antagonist principles, now fearfully at work, between those
who support a limited and economical system of Government,
and those who favor a consolidated and extravagant one, which
the States in a minority are destined to wage, she will find, in
South Carolina, a faithful and devoted ally, in accomplishing
the great work of Freedom and Union. If she cannot say. with
Virginia, that consolidation and disunion are equivalent evHs,
because she believes, with their own Jefferson, that consolida
tion is the greatest of all political curses to which our Federa-

358

tive form of Government can have any possible tendency ; she,
nevertheless, affirms, and challenges the production of any
event in her history to disprove the declaration, that she is devo
ted to the union of these States, on the very terms and condi
tions of that compact out of which the Union had its origin ; and
for these principles she is prepared to peril, at all times and un
der all circumstances, the lives and fortunes of her people.

Your Committee conclude, by recommending the adoption of
the following Resolutions :

Resolved, unanimously, That the President of this Convention
do communicate to the Governor of Virginia, with a copy of this
Report and these Resolutions, our distinguished sense of the
patriotic and friendly motives which actuated her General As
sembly, in tendering her mediation, in the late controversy be
tween the General Government and the State of South Caroli
na ; with the assurance that her friendly councils will at all
times command our respectful consideration.

Resolved^ unanimously, That the President of this Convention
likewise convey to the Governor of Virginia, our high apprecia
tion of the able and conciliatory manner in which Mr. Leigh has
conducted his mission, during which he has afforded the most
gratifying satisfaction to all parties, in sustaining, towards us,
the kind and fraternal relations of his own State.

On motion of Mr. Barnwell, the Convention then adjourned
until Monday at 10 o'clock.

ISAAC W. HAYNE,

Clerk of the Convention.

MONDAY, March 18, 1833.

The Convention met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 o'clock,
A. M. The proceedings were opened by a prayer from the Rev.
Mr. Tradewell, and the Journal of yesterday read. The amend
ments of Mr. Wilson, as to that part of the Ordinance relating

to the oath of allegiance, were then taken up for consideration,
and supported in a speech, by the mover. After which, on mo
tion of Mr. Barnwell, a recess was taken until 4 o'clock, P. M.

Four o'clock, P. M.

The Convention re-assembled, and Mr. Wilson's amendments
were again taken up. On his motion the Ayes and Noes were
taken, and found to be as follows :

AYES— R. Anderson, Arnold, Boone, Bradwell, J. G. Brown,
F. Burt, Barton, Black, Cordes, Felder, P. G. Gourdin, Good-
wyn, Gailliard,Hatton, King, Long, Lancaster, McCord, W. C.
Pinckney, Rowe, J. G. Spann, J. Spann, W. Smith, Scott, Sin
gleton, Ulmer, Wilson, Walker, Williams, Whitefield.— 30.

JVoEs— Robert Y. Hayne, President, B. Adams, J. Adams,
Ayer, J. Anderson, Baker, Ball, Bee, Barnwell, Blewett, Butler,
John G. Brown, Bauskett, A. Burt, Brockman, Bowie, Belin,'
Cohen, T. H. Colcock, C. J. Colcock, Capers, Clifton, Caugh-
man, Counts, Crooke, Chambers, Campbell, Cureton, Chesnut,
Cannon, Clinton, Coggeshall, Dubose, Dawson, J. Douglas, G.'
Douglas, Elmore, Earle, R. Ervin, W. Evans, J. P. Evans,&Fuller,'
T. L. Gourdin, Griffin, Glenn, Gibson, Gregg, Cause, Gill,
J. Hamilton, Jr., Heyward, Harrison, Harllee, Huguenin, 1'On,
Jeter, Johnston, James, Jacobs, Keith, Key, Levy, Lowry, La-
coste, Lawton, Logan, Littlejohn, Magrath, Maner, Murray, Mills,
McCall, Means, Mays, McDuffie, Moore, J. L. Miller, S. D. Mil
ler, J. B. Miller, Nowell, O'Neale, O'Bannon, P. Phillips, J. W.
Phillips, Parker, Porcher, Palmer, Perry, T. Pinckney, C. C.
Pinckney, Rivers, Rogers, Ray, Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith, G.
H. Smith, S. Smith, R. B. Smith, Stringfellow, Symmes, Sims,
Shannon, Stevens, Sistrunk, Turnbull, Tyler, Tidyman, Vaught,
Woodward, Williamson, Wardlaw, Whatley, Watt, Waties, Wil-
kins, Ware, Warren, Young. — 118.

Chancellor Johnston then moved to strike out that part of the
Ordinance, as reported, relating to the requisition of an oath of
allegiance, and to insert the following, to wit :

" We do further Ordain and Declare, That the allegiance of
the citizens of this State, while they continue such, is due to the

360

said State ; and that obedience only, and not allegiance, is due
by them to any other power or authority, to whom a control over
them has been, or may be delegated by the State : and the
General Assembly of the said State is hereby empowered, from
time to time, when they may deem it proper, to provide for the
administration to the citizens and officers of the State, or such
of the said officers as they may think fit, of suitable oaths or af
firmations, binding them to the observance of such allegiance,
and abjuring all other allegiance ; and, also, to define what shall
amount to a violation of their allegiance, and to provide the pro
per punishment for such violation."

Judge Colcock proposed the following amendment to that
amendment :

" Resolved, That it is expedient to refer the subject of an
oath of allegiance, to the Legislature, with a recommendation
that a Bill be introduced to make it a Constitutional provision, in
the mode pointed out by that instrument ; which would afford
the people an opportunity of expressing their opinions on the
subject."

The vote having been taken on this, it was rejected.

The question then recurring on Chancellor Johnston's amend
ment, the Ayes and Noes were called for, and found to be as
follows, to wit :

AYES — Robert Y. Hayne, President, B. Adams, Ayer, J. An
derson, Baker, Ball, Bee, Boone, Barnwell, Blewett, John G.
Brown, Bauskett, A. Burt, Bowie, Belin, Cohen, Cordes, T. H.
Colcock, C. J. Colcock, Capers, Caughman, Counts, Chambers,
Campbell, Coggeshall, Dubose, Dawson, J. Douglas, G. Douglas,
Elmore, Earle, Fuller, Griffin, Glenn, J. Hamilton, Jr., Heyward,
Harrison, Hatton, Harllee, Huguenin, I'On, Jeter, Johnston, Ja
cobs, Keith, Legare, Lawton, Long, Logan, Littlejohn, Magrath,
Maner, Murray, Mills, McCall, Means, Mays, McDuffie, Moore,
J. L. Miller, Nowell, O'Bannon, Parker. Porcher, Palmer, C. C.
Pinckney, T. Pinckney, Quash, Rivers, Rogers, Ray, J. G. Spann,
Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith, G. H. Smith, W. Smith, R. B.
Smith, Stringfellow, Sims, Stevens, Turnbull, Tyler, Ulmer,
Vaught, Vanderhorst, Williams, Wardlaw, Whatley, Watt,
Young— 90.

361

NOES — J. Adams, R. Anderson, Arnold, Bradwell, Butler, J.
G. Brown, F. Burt, Barton, Brockman, Black, Clifton, Crooke,
Cureton, Chesnut, Cannon, Clinton, R. Ervin, W. Evans, J. P.
Evans, Felder, T. L. Gourdin, P. G. Gourdin, Goodwyn, Gail-
liard, Gibson, Gregg, Gause, Gill, James, Key, King, Levy,
Lowry, Lacoste, Lancaster, S. D. Miller, J. B. Miller, McCord,
O'Neale, P. Phillips,!. W. Phillips, Perry, W. C.Pinckney,Rowe,
J. Spann, W. Smith, Scott, Symmes, Shannon, Singleton, Sis-
trunk, Tidyman, Wilson, Walker, Woodward, Williamson,
Whitefield, Waties, Wilkins, Ware, Warren.— 60.

The amendment was consequently adopted.

The Hon. S. D. Miller moved to strike out all that part of the
Ordinance, after the words " the enforcement thereof," including
Chancellor Johnston's amendment. The Ayes and Noes were
again called for, and were as follows, to wit :

AYES — J. Adams, R. Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Bee, Boone,
Bradwell, Blewett, John G. Brown, F. Burt, Barton, Brockman,
T. H. Colcock, C. J. Colcock, Clifton, Counts, Crooke, Cureton,
Chesnut, Cannon, Clinton, J. Douglas, Earle, R. Ervin, J. P.
Evans, Felder, Fuller, T. L. Gourdin, P. G. Gourdin, Gailliard,
Griffin, Gibson, Gause, Gill, Harrison, Jeter, Johnston, James,
Keith, Levy, Lowry, Lacoste, Lawton, Littlejohn, Lancaster,
Means, J. L. Miller, S. D. Miller, J. B. Miller, Nowell, O'Neale,
P. Phillips, Palmer, Perry, Rowe, Ray, J. G. Spann, J. Spann,
W. Smith, Stringfellow, Shannon, Singleton, Sistrunk, Tyler,
Tidyman, Ulmer, Wilson, Walker, Wardlaw, Whatley, Wilkins,
Ware, Warren.— 73.

NOES — Robert Y. Hayne, President, B. Adams, Ayer, J. An
derson, Ball, Barnwell, Butler, J. G. Brown, Bauskett, A. Burt,
Bowie, Black, Belin, Cohen, Cordes, Capers, Caughman, Cham
bers, Cambell, Coggeshall, Dubose, Dawson, G. Douglas, El-
more, W. Evans, Goodwyn, Glenn, Gregg, J. Hamilton, Jr.,
Heyward, Hatton, Harllee, Huguenin, FOn, Jacobs, Key, King,
Legare, Long, Logan, Magrath, Maner, Murray, Mills, McCall,
Mays, McDuffie, Moore, McCord, O'Bannon, J. W. Phillips,
Parker, Porcher, C. C. Pinckney, W. C. Pinckney,T. Pinckney,
Quash, Rivers, Rogers, Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith, G. H.
Smith, S. Smith, R. B. Smith, Scott, Symmes, Sims, Stevens,
47

362

Turnbull, Vaught, Vanderhorst, Williams, Woodward, William
son, Whitefield, Watt, Waties, Young.— 70.

The Ayes and Noes were now called for, upon the question of
the adoption of the Ordinance as amended, and being taken,
were found to be as follows, to wit :

AYES — Robert Y. Hayne, President, B. Adams, J. Adams,
Ayer, J. Anderson, R. Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Ball, Bee,
Boone, Barnwell, Bradwell, Blewett, Butler, John G. Brown, J.
G. Brown, Bauskett, A. Burt, F. Burt, Barton, Bowie, Black,
Belin, Cohen, Cordes, T. H. Colcock, C. J. Colcock, Capers,
Clifton, Caughman, Counts, Chambers, Campbell, Coggeshall,
Dubose, Dawson, J. Douglas, G. Douglas, Elmore, Earle, W.
Evans, Felder, Fuller, T. L. Gourdin, P. G. Gourdin, Goodwyn,
Gailliard, Griffin, Glenn, Gregg, J. Hamilton, Jr., Heyward,
Harrison, Hatton, Harllee, Huguenin, I'On, Jeter, Johnston,
James, Jacobs, Keith, Key, King, Lacoste, Legare, Lawton,
Long, Logan, Littlejohn, Lancaster, Magrath, Maner, Murray,
Mills, McCall, Means, Mays, McDuffie, Moore, J. L. Miller, S.
D. Miller, J. B. Miller, McCord, Nowell, O'Bannon, J. W.Phil
lips, Parker, Porcher, Palmer, C. C. Pinckney, W. C. Pinckney,
T. Pinckney, Quash, Rivers, Rowe, Rogers, Ray, J. G. Spann,
J. Spann, Simons, Shand, J. M. Smith, G. H. Smith, W. Smith,
S. Smith, R. B. Smith, Stringfellow, Scott, Symmes, Sims, Sin
gleton, Stevens, Turnbull, Tyler, Tidyman,Ulmer, Vaught, Van
derhorst, Walker, Williams, Woodward, Williamson, Wardlaw,
Whatley, Whitefield, Watt, Waties, Ware, Warren, Young. —
132.

NOES — Brockman, Crooke, Cureton, Chesnut, Cannon, Clin
ton, R. Ervin, J. P. Evans, Cause, Gill, Levy, Lowry, O'Neale,
P. Phillips, Perry, Shannon, Sistrunk, Wilson, Wilkins. — 19.

The following letter from Judge Richardson, was then read ;
to wit :

"March 18, 1833.
" GENTLEMEN :

" According to my individual understanding of the end and
object of the high trust confided to me, by the People, who

363

made me a Delegate to the State Convention of South Caroli
na, they have been virtually fulfilled, by the present adjustment
of the Tariff, our proceedings thereupon, and the answer to the
Virginia Commission. I beg leave, therefore, with deep regard
for the confidence which has been reposed, to resign my seat.

With the highest consideration and

respect, your obedient servant,

J. S. RICHARDSON.

To the President and Members of the General Convention of
the State of South Carolina."

This letter was ordered to lie on the table.

The Report accompanying the Ordinance just adopted, was
read, and on motion of Mr. Edwin J. Scott, amended, by striking
out from the sentence preceding the last, the words after the
word " State." The Report as amended was then adopted by
the Convention.

It was moved to take up the Resolutions introduced on Thurs
day last by Gen. Hamilton and R. Barnwell Smith, Esq., but the
vote being taken, it was agreed not to consider them.

The Hon. J. L. Wilson, from the Engrossing Committee, re
ported the Ordinance nullifying the Force Bill, as engrossed. It
was then ratified, in the presence of the Convention, by the
signatures of the President and Clerk.

The Report and Ordinance, as adopted by the Convention,
are as follows, to wit :

REPORT.

The Committee, to whom was referred the Act of the Congress
of the United States, entitled " An Act further to provide for
the collection of duties on imports," beg leave to

REPORT:

That they have, so far as time would allow, considered the
Act with such attention as the importance of the matters con-

364

tained in it would seem to require. At the present moment,
when a question, which has long divided and perplexed the
country, has been adjusted, on terms calculated to quiet agita
tion and restore harmony, it would have been matter of peculiar
gratification, to be able to indulge, without restraint, the feelings
which such adjustment was calculated to excite. But your Com
mittee regret to say, that at the moment of returning peace, the
most serious and alarming cause of dissatisfaction has been af
forded by the Act under consideration. Your Committee do
most solemnly believe that the principles sought to be establish
ed by the Act, are calculated, when carried into practice, to
destroy our Constitutional frame of Government, to subvert the
public liberty, and to bring about the utter ruin and debasement
of the Southern States of this Confederacy.

The general purpose of the whole Act, though not expressed
in the terms of it, is perfectly well known to have been to coun
teract and render inefficacious an Act of this State, adopted in
her sovereign capacity, for the protection of her reserved rights.
Believing, as we most fully do, that the power attempted to be
exercised by the State, is among the reserved powers of the
States, and that it may be exercised consistently with the Con
stitution of the United States, an opinion formed by the good
people of this State, upon the fullest and most careful consider
ation, and expressed through their Delegates in Convention,
your Committee must on that ground alone, have been convinced
that the purpose of counteracting that Act, and the means by
which it is sought to be counteracted, are unauthorized by the
Constitution. We think that this will become more apparent by
attending to the leading provisions of the Act of Congress.

The Act gives the President of the United States, for a limit
ed time, an almost unlimited power of control over the com
merce of the whole United States ; though certainly the power
was only contemplated to be exercised against that of South
Carolina.

It exempts property in the hands of the officer of the Reve
nue, alleged to be detained for enforcing the payment of duties,
from liability to the process of the State Courts.

It exempts a class of persons residing within the State — offi
cers of the United States, and persons employed by them, or

365

acting under their direction, or any other person, professing to
act in execution of the Revenue Laws — from all responsibility
to the State laws or State tribunals, for any crime or wrong,
when it is alleged that the act was done in execution of the
Revenue Laws or under color thereof.

It gives to the same class of persons, the right to seek redress
for any alleged injury whatever, either to person or property,
however foreign to the proper subjects of the jurisdiction, in the
Courts of the United States; provided the injury be received in
consequence of any act done in execution of the Revenue Laws.

It directly supposes all the Courts of the State to be inferior
and subordinate to those of the United States, and provides for
rendering them so, by directing to them the writ of certiorari
superseding their jurisdiction.

It affects to limit and control the jurisdiction of the Courts of
the State ; providing for the removal of causes from their cogni
zance ; declaring their judgments void, and providing for the
discharge of persons confined under their process.

It tyrannically provides for rendering persons liable to punish
ment for acts done by them in execution of the laws of the State
and the process of its Courts, to which they are bound to yield
obedience, and which they are compelled, under the highest
sanctions, to enforce.

It not only provides for the punishment of persons thus acting,
by the civil tribunals, but authorizes the employment of military
force, under color of executing the laws of the United States, to
resist the execution of the laws of the State ; superseding, with
the quick execution of the sword, the slower process of Courts.

The Act authorizes the confinement of persons in unusual
places — which can only mean on board ships — in which persons
from the most remote parts of the State may be confined.

The Committee believe that all these positions are distinctly
sustained by the Act in question. By the Constitution of the
United States, the power to regulate commerce, is given to
Congress. It is an important portion of the Legislative power,
and, as Legislative power, is incapable of delegation. Congress
has, however, in effect, delegated to the President the power to
abolish, at his discretion, any port of the United States, or inter
rupt or destroy its commerce. This may easily be effected.

366

under the authority to remove the Custom-house to any port or
harbor within the Collection District, by fixing it at inconven
ient or inaccessible places. To say nothing of the unusual and
tremendous character of this power, which New York or Phila
delphia might perhaps apprehend, if there were any expectation
of its being exercised with respect to them, and the enormous
abuse to which it is liable, does the Constitution contemplate or
authorize, the delegation of this discretion to an individual ? If
it were exercised, it would be a plain violation of that part of
the Constitution which directs that, in regulations of commerce,
no preference shall be given to the ports of one State over those
of another. The same inequality is occasioned by directing the
payment of Cash Duties. It is vain to say that this has been
rendered necessary by the Act of the State, and without it, the
collection of revenue would be impracticable. Whatever lati
tude may be allowed in the selection of means necessary and
proper to carry into effect the granted powers of Congress, we
believe no one has yet imagined, that a plain provision of the
Constitution may be violated, as a means of carrying into effect
a power granted by another provision. Although we may con
cede the power of Congress, for sufficient cause and in good
faith, to abolish one port of entry and establish another, yet we,
of course, cannot concede that it may delegate this power ; or,
that the sovereign Act of the State, for the vindication of her
reserved rights, constitutes sufficient cause, or that this act has
been done in good faith.

The provisions of the Act, that all property in the hands of
any officer or other person, detained under any Revenue Law,
shall be subject only to the orders and decrees of the Courts of
the United States, plainly enact, that it shall not be subject to
any process, order or decree of the Courts of the State. We
have heretofore been accustomed to regard our Superior Courts
as having jurisdiction over all persons and all property within
the limits of the State. This jurisdiction is, of course, super
seded, whenever any other Court of concurrent jurisdiction has
possession or custody of any cause or any property. But that a
ministerial, executive officer, or that property in his hands,
should be exempted from the jurisdiction and authority of State

367

Courts, we believe to be unprecedented in our legislation, and
without any shadow of Constitutional authority.

One of the most extraordinary and exceptionable provisions of
the Act, appears to be that authorizing the removal, previous to
trial, of suits or prosecutions from the State Courts, upon affida
vit made, and a certificate of the opinion of some counsellor or
attorney to the same effect, that the suit or prosecution was for,
or on account of any act done under the Revenue Laws of the
United States, or under color thereof, or for, or on account of
any right, authority or title, set up or claimed by any officer or
other person, under any such law of the United States. If there
be any violation of the law of the State — if there be a wrong
done to person or property within the limits of the State— have
not the Courts of the State jurisdiction of that matter ? By
what authority does the Congress of the United States limit that
jurisdiction ? What shadow of Constitutional provision is there
to sanction this flagrant usurpation? True, such a violation of
the law of the State may, sometimes, be justified, as being done
in execution of a Constitutional law of the United States; but
this is a matter of defence, to be tried as every other defence is
to be tried, and can have no effect in ousting the jurisdiction, or
in giving the Courts of the United States original jurisdiction of
offences against the State laws. So any person is authorized to
bring suit in the Courts of the United States, for any injury to
person or property, for, or on account of, any act done in exe
cution of the Revenue Laws. The Constitution gives to the
Courts of the United States, jurisdiction of all cases in law and
equity arising under the Constitution and laws of the United
States. An assault on the person or trespass to property, is a
violation of the laws of the State. Can it make a difference,
that a violation of the State law was provoked by an act done
under color of executing the law of the United States? The
protection of persons and property has, heretofore, been supposed
the province of the States. In assuming to itself this new func
tion, the Federal Government indicates most clearly its tendency
to engross all power, and control all State authority.

It is plain likewise from the various provisions of the Act, that
such suits are intended to be allowed against persons acting
in execution of the process of the State Courts. Judgments

368

of those Courts are declared to be void, and persons and pro
perty exempted from their jurisdiction.

It is not only our law but part of the law of the civilized
world, that the judgment of a Court of competent jurisdiction is
valid, until it be reversed by a competent authority. The judg
ment of a Superior Court of general jurisdiction can never be
void for want of jurisdiction. When there are Courts of concur
rent jurisdiction, that which obtains possession of the cause is
entitled to retain it ; its process must be respected, and all other
jurisdiction is excluded. It is true that the judgments of Courts
of limited jurisdiction (and such are the Courts of the United
States, and so they themselves have determined) are void, if the
jurisdiction be transcended. This distinction would seem to
determine whether sovereignty is to be attributed to the State
or to the Federal authority. Hitherto, it has never occurred to
any one to doubt that an officer, acting in execution of the pro
cess of a Court of general jurisdiction, and all persons acting
under his direction, are exempted from all responsibility for that
Act. He is bound under the highest sanction to execute that
process ; and shall he be punished for performing his duty ?

If this Act were submitted to, the entire administration of the
criminal justice of the State might be interrupted ; and it is not
too much to say, that the State Governments would be rendered
impracticable. The worst criminal — one stained with the guilt
of murder — upon making an affidavit, which no such criminal
would hesitate to make, and procuring a certificate, which any
criminal might easily procure, would be able to elude the crim
inal justice of the State. His cause must be removed to the
Federal Court ; and when, upon his trial, it shall appear that his
act was not done in execution of the law of the United States,
your Committee do not perceive what other consequence can
follow, than that he must be acquitted and go with impunity.

Having taken this view of the provisions of the Act in ques
tion, the Committee would submit to the solemn consideration
and determination of this Convention, whether they do not effect
an entire change in the character of our Constitution, and will
not, when carried into practice, abolish every vestige of liberty,
and render this an absolute Consolidated Government, without
limitation of powers. It has been truly said, that if these things

369

may be done, the most solemn acts of the highest authorities of
the State may be regarded as the unauthorized proceedings of
individuals ; the Courts of justice may be shut up; the Legisla
ture dispersed, as a lawless mob ; and we, ourselves, represent
ing, as we vainly believe, the sovereignty of the State, called to
answer for what we have said and done on this floor, at the bar
of a Circuit Court of the United States. Is this an exaggerated
picture ? Let us examine it a little more closely. If these pro
visions may be made to enforce the execution of the Revenue
Laws of the United States, they may be made to enforce any
other Act which Congress shall think proper to pass. No mat
ter how oppressive, how clearly unconstitutional, there is no
power in the constituted authorities of the State to resist it. If
one class of cases may be removed from the jurisdiction of the
State Courts, any other class, subject only to the discretion of
Congress, may be likewise removed. If the process of the
Courts be void, and the officer executing it, and those acting
under his direction, responsible civilly, or punishable criminally,
the Judge who directed the process must be answerable in like
manner. He was equally without authority, and having com
manded the act, is a partaker of the guilt. The Legislature
who commanded the act of the Judge, and the Convention of
the people in obedience to whose mandate every thing was done,
must have the same participation. If the sheriff, and his posse,
obstructing the execution of the Revenue laws, may constitute
that unlawful combination and assemblage, on being notified of
which, the President is authorized to use the military force of
the United States to disperse them, then the Courts, the Legis
lature, or the Convention, in obedience to whose authority alone
the Sheriff acts, and who are the efficient causes of the obstruc
tion, are assemblages of similar character, and may be dispersed
by military force. The whole purpose of the act is to con
found the acts of the constituted authorities of the State, how
ever solemn and well considered, with the lawless and irregular
acts of individuals or mobs. The certain effect of it must be, to
restrain the States from the exercise of any other authority than
such as Congress, or the sectional majority represented in Con
gress, shall think fit to permit them to exercise ; and to ensure
the enforcement of every law which that majority may think
48

370

proper to enact. It involves the cruelty and absurdity of making
the community responsible to hostile force for its acts as a com
munity, and the individuals of the community, punishable for
their acts in obedience to the laws of their Government ; an obe
dience from which they cannot exempt themselves, unless they
absolve themselves from their allegiance, by self-banishment.

That the object of many of the politicians who supported this
bill — the politicians of that majority in whose hands all power
will be — is to establish a Consolidated Government, is now
hardly at all disguised. The chimera of a Government partly
consolidated, partly federative, is now scarcely contended for.
The same class of politicians have always had in view the same
object. It was attempted to be effected in the Convention
which framed the Constitution of the United States. The at
tempt was there foiled. After the formation of the Government,
those who affected Consolidation, assumed the term of " Fede
ral," and denied that the opinions held by them, led to that re
sult. The possession of power, however, developed their views,
and the first marked indication of their disposition to engross
the powers of the States, and meddle with their internal con
cerns, was afforded by the alien and sedition laws. This at
tempt was so strongly rebuked by public opinion, which led to
the change of administration in 1800, that the hopes of consoli
dation seemed abandoned forever. They remained dormant,
until revived by the agitations springing out of our late protect
ing system. It was perceived that nothing less strong than a
consolidated Government could sustain that system of iniquity.
Gradually, we have been told, that the States have parted with
a portion of their sovereignty ; then, that they were never sove
reign ; until at length, availing themselves of the excitement of
a particular crisis, and passion for power, and the influence of an
individual, the act before us has been passed, sweeping away
every vestige of State Sovereignty and Reserved Rights, or
causing them to be held at the mercy of the majority ; compared
to which, the alien and sedition laws sink into measures harm
less and insignificant.

And what is it to the Southern States, to be subjected to a
consolidated Government ? These States constitute a minority,
and are likely to do so forever. They differ in institutions and

371

modes of industry, from the States of the majority, and have dif
ferent, and in some degree, incompatible interests. It is to be
governed, not with reference to their own interests or according
to their own habits and feelings, but with reference to the inter
ests, and according to the prejudices of their rulers, the majori
ty. It has been truly said that the protecting system consti
tutes but a small part of our controversy with the Federal Gov
ernment. Unless we can obtain the recognition of some effec
tual Constitutional check on the usurpation of power, which can
only be derived from the sovereignty of the States, and their
right to interpose for the preservation of their reserved powers,
we shall experience oppression more cruel and revolting than
this.

While there remains within the States any spirit of liberty,
prompting them to repel Federal usurpations, one of the most
obvious means to break that spirit and reduce the States to sub
jection, will be that which has been attempted by the act before
us. It will be to Create or to sustain, by the patronage of Gov
ernment or other means, a party within the State devoted to Fed
eral power, exempted from responsibility to the State authori
ties, and having power to harass and degrade the State authori
ties, by means of the tribunals of the United States. Thus will
be created a Government within a Government, with all the con
sequences, which experience informs us, are likely to arise from
that state of things, and such as did arise from the independent
ecclesiastical jurisdictions within the Governments of Europe.
The Federal Government will interfere with every department of
the State Governments ; it will influence elections ; it will raise
up and put down parties, as they shall be more servile to its will.
Pretexts for interference will never be wanting. Already has it
been said, that ours is no longer a Republican Government, be
cause the State, in vindicating its sovereignty, has refused to en
trust with any portion of its authority, those who deny or refuse
to recognize that sovereignty. Other classes of individuals
might be found, within the State, whom it might suit the major
ity to suppose disfranchised, in derogation of true republican
principles, and to require their interference and protection.
This interference will be practiced at first with moderation, and
with some apparent respect for the rights of the States. Grad-

372

ually, as the power of the Government shall be established, and
the Southern States become weakened and less capable of re
sistance, the shew of moderation will be thrown off. Thus the
peace of those States will be embroiled ; their prosperity inter
rupted, their character degraded ; until in the natural progress
of things, your Committee think it not too strong to say, that
they will be more miserable, more utterly enslaved, more tho
roughly debased, than any provinces that have ever been ren
dered subject by the sword.

In alluding to the oath, which the State has heretofore thought
proper to exact of its citizens, and to one somewhat similar,
which the Committee propose to recommend, they think proper
to disclaim, as they do most solemnly disclaim, on behalf of
themselves and the Convention, that this or any other measure
which the Convention has adopted, has been adopted upon mere
party views, to secure party ascendancy, or gratify party resent
ment. They appeal to God, that their only object has been to
vindicate their just rights and liberties, and the common liber
ties of the whole South. This object they have pursued in sin
gleness of purpose ; though exposed to much obloquy — threat
ened with much danger, and discountenanced by those from
whom they had a right to expect support. They have never
sought to endanger this Union ; but to perpetuate it by render
ing it compatible with, and a security for liberty.

The firmness of the State seems, at length, in some degree, to
have triumphed. But let it be recollected that the moment of
triumph is commonly one of danger. Let it be kept in mind,
that this is not a contest ended, but a contest not more than be
gun, and not to be determined, till this act shall cease to dis
grace the statute book. Let this contest be carried on firmly,
steadily, without passion and without faultering. If the vigilance
of the State should relax; if it should cease to raise up barriers
against the head of usurpation, which threatens to overwhelm
us, the torrent will break loose, and sweep our liberties along
with it. Let every man consider this his own peculiar business.
If liberty be saved, every thing is saved : If liberty be lost, every
thing is lost.

As the provisions of the act have reference only to certain
acts of the people and Legislature of this State, which have been

373

superseded by the late modification of the Tariff, it could not
have been contemplated that it should have any immediate ope
ration. And your Committee doubted whether, regarding it as
merely a menace, they should recommend any action upon it, or
only that the sentiments of the Convention should be expressed,
in regard to the principles it contains. But most of its provis
ions are made permanent, and may be put in practice on some
future occasion. The Committee cannot doubt that it expresses
the true principles of many of those who voted for it, and who
will seek occasion to reduce them to practice. As a precedent,
it is most dangerous. The vote on the very act, shows how lit
tle is to be expected from a majority. It is incumbent on South
Carolina, unsupported as she is, to take care that no federal au
thority, unauthorized by our federal compact, shall be exercised
within the limits of the State. For the purpose of providing
that the act shall never have operation or effect, within the lim
its of the State, the Committee beg leave to report the follow
ing Ordinance.

AN ORDINANCE,

To Nullify an Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled
" An Act further to provide for the Collection of Duties on
Imports," commonly called the Force Bill.

We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention as
sembled, do Declare and Ordain, That the Act of the Congress
of the United States, entitled " An Act further to provide for
the collection of duties on imports," approved the 2d day of
March, 1833, is unauthorized by the Constitution of the United
States, subversive of that Constitution, and destructive of pub
lic liberty ; and that the same is, and shall be deemed null and
void, within the limits of this State ; and it shall be the duty of
the Legislature, at such time as they may deem expedient, to
adopt such measures and pass such acts as may be necessary to
prevent the enforcement thereof, and to inflict proper penalties
on any person who shall do any act in execution or enforcement
of the same within the limits of this State.

We do further Ordain and Declare, That the allegiance of the

374

citizens of this State, while they continue such, is due to the
said State : and that obedience only, and not allegiance, is due
by them to any other power or authority, to whom a control over
them has been, or may be delegated by the State ; and the Gen
eral Assembly of the said State is hereby empowered from time
to time, when they may deem it proper, to provide for the ad
ministration to the citizens and officers of the State, or such of
the said officers as they may think fit, of suitable oaths or affir
mations, binding them to the observance of such allegiance, and
abjuring all other allegiance ; and, also, to define what shall
amount to a violation of their allegiance, and to provide the
proper punishment for such violation.

Done in Convention, at Columbia, the eighteenth day of March,
in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-three, and in the fifty-seventh year of the Sovereignty
and Independence of the United States of America.

ROBERT Y. HAYNE, Del- )

egate from the Parishes of \ President of the Convention.
St. Philip and St. Michael, )

ISAAC W. HAYNE, Clerk.

Gen. Hamilton then introduced the following Resolutions,
which were adopted, to wit :

" Resolved, That the Clerk do order to be printed, by the
printer of this Convention, to be appended to the copies now on
hand of the proceedings of the former session of the Convention,
five hundred copies of the Journal, Ordinances, and Reports of
the present session $ a copy of each to be distributed to each
Member of the Convention and Legislature — also, separately,
three thousand copies of the Ordinances and Reports of the
present session, to be distributed to the people of this State;
and it be made the duty of the Clerk to attend to the distribu
tion of the same."

" Resolved, That the President of this Convention do transmit
to the President of the United States, and to the Governors of
the several States, copies of the Reports and Ordinances of this
Convention, adopted at its present session."

375

It was now moved by Gen. Hamilton, that the Convention
should resolve itself into a Committee of the whole; which be
ing agreed to, Mr. Turnbull was called to the chair. Col. Sam
uel Warren then introduced the following Resolution, which
was adopted unanimously, and ordered to be so entered on the
Journal, to wit :

" Resolved, unanimously, That the thanks of this Covention be
presented to his Excellency, Robert Y. Hayne, for the dignity,
ability, and impartiality, with which he has presided over its de
liberations."

The Committee rose and Reported to the Convention. On
motion of Mr. Turnbull, it was

" Resolved, That the Convention do now adjourn, sine die, and
that it be dissolved."

After a prayer from the Rev. Mr. Ray, the President pro
nounced the Convention dissolved.

RESOLVES

LEGISLATURE

ILLINOIS.

RESOLVES.

IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE, Dec. 26, 1832.

WHEREAS, the President of the United States, in his procla
mation of the 10th instant, has exhibited a just view of the
origin of our free constitution, and of the powers confided by
that sacred instrument to the States and the General Govern
ment ; and whereas, by the said proclamation, the assumed
power of a State to annul a law of Congress is conclusively
shown to be " incompatible with the existence of the Union,
contradicted expressly by the letter of the constitution, unau
thorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which
it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it
was formed;" and whereas, the particular application of this
assumed power to the alleged grievances of South Carolina is
most ably and unanswerably refuted, and the dangerous and
treasonable doctrine of the right of secession, combated by
the clearest reasoning, is denounced in a spirit of devoted at
tachment to the Union ; and whereas, also, the Executive has
expressed a confident reliance on the undivided support of the
nation, in his " determination to execute the laws, to preserve
the Union by all constitutional means, and to arrest, if possible,
by moderate but firm measures, the necessity of a recourse to
force :" therefore

Resolved by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in
the General Assembly, That we highly approve the sentiments
contained in the said proclamation, and the avowed purpose

380

of repelling the unconstitutional and dangerous designs an
nounced in the "disorganizing edict" of the South Carolina
Convention.

Resolved, That, whilst we admire the firmHess that would
resist " the mad project of disunion," we cordially approve the
spirit of moderation which deprecates " any offensive act on
the part of the United States."

Resolved, That " disunion by armed force is treason," and
should be treated as such by the constituted authorities of the
nation.

Resolved, That, whilst we deplore the spirit of disaffection
manifested by our South Carolina brethren, and should hail
with unmingled satisfaction their return to the first great prin
ciples of our Union, we hold it to be the duty of every citizen
of the United States, without distinction of sect or party, to
rally to the support of the great charter of American freedom.

Resolved, That, should the pacific invitation and solemn warn
ing of our illustrious President fail to recall the disaffected to
their duty — should the anti-republican doctrine of nullification
be persisted in, and treason rear its polluted form within the
bosom of our prosperous, patriotic, and peaceful Republic, we
do hereby instruct our Senators in Congress, and request our
Representative, to unite in the most speedy and vigorous meas
ures on the part of the General Government for the preserva
tion of the peace, integrity, and honor of the Union. And
we do hereby solemnly pledge the faith of our State in support
of the administration of the laws and constitution of our
beloved country.

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be trans
mitted to the President of the United States, to the heads of
the several departments at Washington, and to our Senators and
Representative in Congress.

381

I certify the foregoing preamble and resolutions were unani
mously adopted by the House of Representatives.

DAVID PRICKETT,

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

ALEXANDER M. JENKINS,

Speaker of the Rouse of Representatives.

I certify the foregoing preamble and resolutions were unani
mously adopted by the Senate.

JESSE B. THOMAS, Jr.

Secretary of the Senate.

ZADOC CASEY,

Speaker of the Senate.

14 DAY USE

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