Resource Center OLLibrary
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[1830-1833 |
owners and compel them to close their factories. Congress
refused to abolish the protective tariff.
Calhoun told the people of South Carolina that
the tariff law was contrary to the Constitution of the United
States. He said that they ought to refuse to obey it (§ 210).
They took his advice, and held a state convention at which they
declared that (after February 1, 1833) they would not pay duties
on goods imported into Charleston from Europe. This refusal was
called nullification. In Charleston preparations were made to
resist the collection of the duty. Governor Hayne, of South
Carolina, threatened that if the government used force, his state
would secede from the Union and declare itself independent.
268. Webster's Reply to Hayne and Calhoun;
what we owe to Webster. When, in the Capitol at Washington,
Senator Hayne, of South Carolina (1830), boldly upheld the right
of nullification (§ 267), Daniel Webster1 replied
to him, closing with the well known words: "Liberty and Union, now
and forever, one and inseparable." Later, when Calhoun in the
United States Senate defended the right of secession, Webster made
a powerful speech, in which he declared that "there can be no
secession without revolution." He saw that if a state is resolved
to leave the Union, the national government, sword in hand, must
insist that it shall remain in its place and obey the laws.
We owe an immense debt to Webster's commanding
eloquence on this subject. In the remarkable series of speeches
which he delivered at this period (1830-1833), he made Americans
realize the inestimable value and sacredness of the Union as they
had never felt it before. Thirty years later when the Civil War
threatened to destroy the nation, the reverence for the
Constitution and the Union with which that great statesman had
inspired so many
1 Daniel Webster,
born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, 1782 (see note to § 92)
died at his residence at Marshfield, near Boston, 1852. He
graduated at Dartmouth College, and began the practice of law in
1805. In 1812 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1822. From
this time forward he was constantly in public life, as
representative, senator, or in the cabinet. He was unquestionably
the greatest orator this country has produced, and as a statesman
he stood second to none. His defense of the Union in his second
reply to Senator Hayne, January 26-27, 1830, has been called "the
most remarkable speech ever made in the American Congress."
Webster's "Reply to Calhoun" was delivered February 16,
1833.
JOHN C.
CALHOUN
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[1832-1837 |
hearts, made thousands willing to die to save it. The North and
the South are now one. Discord has passed away, and as brothers we
join in honoring the memory of Daniel Webster for his services to
our common country.
269. Jackson's Fidelity to the Union; his
Orders to General Scott; Henry Clay obtains a New Tariff.
President Jackson had the same feeling that Webster had of the
necessity of preserving the Union. He did not like the protective
tariff as it then stood (§ 267), but he resolved to enforce
it so long as it remained law. He saw that what was called the
doctrine of "State Sovereignty," that is, the so-called right of a
state to decide for itself when it would obey Congress and when it
would not (§§ 210, 267), was destructive of all national
government.
The Union, said he, is at present like a bag of
meal with both ends open. Whichever way you try to handle it you
will spill the meal. "I must tie the bag and save the
country."
So saying, the President ordered General Scott
(1832) to go forthwith to Charleston and enforce the law. It was
done, and the duties on imported goods in that city were collected
as usual.
A few months later (1833) Henry Clay, the "great
compromiser and peacemaker" (§ 243), succeeded in getting
Congress to adopt a new tariff which gradually reduced the duties
or taxes on foreign goods. This change of policy pacified South
Carolina and that state said nothing more about nullification
(§ 267). At that time we were very prosperous and did not owe
a dollar of public debt.
270. Growth of the Country; Extension of
Canals and Railways; Use of Coal; the Express System. With the
exception of a very destructive fire in New York City (1835),
Jackson's presidency was a period of rapid growth for the entire
country, but especially for the West. New canals had been opened
(§ 249), lines of steamboats had been established on the
principal western rivers and on all the Great Lakes (§ 220),
and the whistle of the locomotive was beginning to be heard beyond
the Alleghenies (§§ 254, 255). Arkansas and the rapidly
growing territory of Michigan were admitted to the Union
(1836-1837), making twenty-six states in all.
DANIEL
WEBSTER
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[1832- |
The
increased activity of the country, in connection with
steamboats and railways, gave rise to a new enterprise. A
young man named Harnden 2 conceived the plan
of making a business of carrying parcels between Boston
and New York, and shortly after (1839) began it. At first
a small hand bag was sufficient to hold all the articles
sent. In that humble way he laid the foundation of the
American express system, which now extends to every town
of the United States, and employs millions of money and
an army of men to do its work.|
1833] |
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nearly
seven years. The Indians were defeated by Colonel Zachary
Taylor; they were finally conquered, and all but a few
were sent west of the Mississippi by General Worth.
settlement
took the name of Chicago. It had then become a lively
town of between five and six hundred inhabitants, and
some of its people were bold enough to think that it
might grow to be still larger. To-day the population of
Greater Chicago is estimated at about 2,500,000. It
stands the great metropolis of the Northwest.
