Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/243

224 But the legislature also made provision for the possibility that everything might not proceed as planned with its "peaceable" remedy. It passed an act authorizing the governor to accept an unlimited number of volunteer companies, to be ready to march at a moment's notice, "to suppress insurrection and repel invasion and support the civil authorities," which the Union men interpreted to mean to put down the Union party, trample on the rights and liberties of the people, and resist the United States government in the execution of its laws. A fund of $200,000 was appropriated to the contingent fund, always at the disposal of the governor, and $200,000 more for the purchase of arms.

During the preliminary discussions on nullification various and conflicting reports had come from other states as to their opinions of the doctrine. After South Carolina had taken the step, however, there was apparently no doubt that the action met but little favor, even in the other southern states. The South Carolinians who