Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/365

346 The Nullification party declared that the great battle which was to decide whether it were to lose the fruits of all its victories in the cause of state rights was to be fought at the polls in October. Even Judge Johnson had been constrained to admit that the adoption of the proposed amendment of the constitution would remove all legal objections and compel the judges to enforce it. It was clear, therefore, that the Union men must by some means manage to defeat the amendment or be compelled to take the oath and acknowledge their allegiance to the state. To prevent this contingency no stone must be left unturned, and greater efforts must be made in the October election than had been put forth at any stage of the controversy. It was, for the Union party and its principles, asserted the Nullifiers, a struggle for life or death. Allegiance to South Carolina recognized the sovereignty of the state; and men might say what they pleased, but the true—they felt that they might say almost the only—difference between the parties arose from the admission or denial of state sovereignty. The Unionists really believed, said the Nullifiers, that the