Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 2).djvu/13

Rh embodied the well known propositions that the Constitution is a mere compact between sovereign states; that the general government is the mere agent of the same sovereign states; that whenever any one of the parties to the compact — any state — considers any law made by the general government to be unconstitutional, it may “nullify” that law, — that is, declare and treat it as void and of no force. This, as Calhoun affirmed, was not inimical to the Union, but rather calculated to promote a good understanding among the states composing it; for, if that right of nullification were recognized, the majority would be more apt to listen to reason, and nullification would really be equivalent only to a suspension of the offensive law in the nullifying state or states, until the mistake committed by the majority should be rectified. If that mistake be not rectified, then the aggrieved state or states should have the constitutional right to secede from the Union.

This doctrine, which in our days would scarcely find a serious advocate in the country, was then argued with a great display of political metaphysics, and sincerely believed in by a very large number of people in South Carolina and other Southern States. In August, 1832, Calhoun put forth another manifesto, developing his constitutional theory to the highest degree of perfection it ever attained, and urging an immediate issue on account of the oppressive tariff legislation under which the South was then suffering.