Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/257

238 confederacy; to issue the decree of a dictator, which time would prove whether he dared or could enforce; to attempt to intimidate the Whigs of South Carolina by threats; and to encourage and foment insurrection and violence on the part of the internal enemies of the state. The State Rights men believed that the proclamation went the whole length of the doctrine of consolidation, not only assuming for the federal government the right to judge of its own powers, but arrogating this right to its full extent on behalf of the executive department. Accordingly, they greeted the document with indignation and defiance.

The Union men believed that their opponents were pouring their bitterness upon the chief magistrate because the proclamation had come like a thunderbolt to the leaders of their party. They had had no expectation that their manifesto