FEW years ago an elderly man, who had fought in the Union army through the great civil war of 1861, was listening to some schoolboys rehearsing their history lesson. "When was the first blow struck at the Union?" asked one.

"On April 13th, 1861, when Fort Sumter was fired upon by batteries in Charleston harbor," was the answer. "No!" thundered the old soldier, breaking in; "the first blow at the Union was struck in 1832, by John C. Calhoun; and if Andrew Jackson had been President in 1860, instead of James Buchanan, there would have been no gun fired on Fort Sumter, I can tell you! Don't forget that bit of history, boys!"

John Caldwell Calhoun is an absolutely unique figure in American history. His political life was devoted to the establishment and perpetuation of slavery. He believed that institution beneficial alike to white and black, to North and South, in a word, that slavery was morally and politically right, and that the welfare of the country was bound up with its continuance. That he was sincere in this conviction cannot be doubted. He was one of the most honest and upright of men; there was no concealment or pretence in him. As a consequence of his purity and ability, his influence was immense. His own State accepted

his doctrines and followed his lead with unquestioning faith; and it is not too much to say that the great conflict over slavery and disunion was in great measure due to the doctrines which for a quarter of a century he unceasingly advocated.

Calhoun was born in Abbeville, South Carolina, in 1782,-the same year as his great adversary, Daniel Webster. It was just at the close of the Revolution. The South, which had borne the brunt of the war in its last years, was worn out and impoverished. Calhoun's father, Patrick Calhoun, who had immigrated from the north of Ireland, died when his son was thirteen. Neverthe

JAMES MONROE,

less, Calhoun managed to work his way through Yale College, where he won distinguished honors. He used to relate that in his senior year, when he was one of the very few in his class who maintained democratic opinions, President Dwight asked him, "What is the legitimate source of power?" "The people," answered Calhoun. Dr. Dwight combated this opinion; Calhoun replied; and the whole hour of recitation was consumed in the debate. Dr. Dwight was SO much struck with the ability displayed by the student that he remarked to a friend that Calhoun had talent enough to be a President of the United States. He did not foresee that Cal. houn would imbibe ideas which, logically carried out, would leave

no United States in existence to require a President.

After two years in the South Carolina Legislature, Calhoun was elected to Congress in 1810, where he served until 1817, when he became Secretary of War under President Monroe. In 1824 he was elected Vice-President, under John Quincy Adams, and again in 1828, when Andrew Jackson was elected President. In 1832 he resigned the Vice-Presidency to become Senator from South Carolina, and remained in the Senate during nearly all the remainder of his life.

In 1828 Congress passed a tariff bill by which the protective duties were

THE NULLIFICATION DEBATE.

209

considerably increased. This bill was bitterly opposed in the South, where it was styled the "Tariff of Abominations;" and on its passage Calhoun prepared a most remarkable paper, called the "South Carolina Exposition," in which he maintained that the Constitution authorized Congress to levy tariff taxes only for revenue; that protective taxes were therefore unconstitutional; and that a State had the right and power to declare an unconstitutional law null and void, and to forbid its execution in that State. It was the purpose of the people of South Carolina to agitate for the repeal of the obnoxious law; and, in case their efforts should fail, to resort to the remedy of "nullification." "This Exposition," says Parton, "was the beginning of our woe,—the baleful egg from which were hatched nullification, treason, civil war, and the desolation of the Southern States." It was issued in December, 1828. In March, 1829, the new government, Jackson at its head, came into power. Calhoun, being re-elected Vice-President, still held his chair as President of the Senate.

In 1829 the long debate over the question, Does the Constitution make us one sovereign nation, or only a league of sovereign States? was at its height. That debate had begun as soon as the Constitution was ratified, in 1788, and it continued until the outbreak of the war in 1861. For many years the theory of a "compact," from which a State might withdraw at will, was maintained by various advocates, of whom Calhoun was the foremost. He supported his view with great ability and ingenuity, and with industry and devotion which never flagged or wavered. In his own State his doctrines were accepted with almost complete unanimity; and the Senators and Representatives in Congress from South Carolina were all disciples of the Calhoun school. In the Senate, as he was the presiding officer, he could not take an active part in debate ; but he had an able supporter in General Robert Y. Hayne, who was a strong and eloquent speaker. In January, 1830, the agitation in Congress culminated in the famous encounter of Hayne with Daniel Webster, who in his great speech on Foot's Resolution utterly demolished the theory of nullification as a constitutional right, and made his never-to-be-forgotten plea for indissoluble union. Hayne had maintained that nullification was a constitutional remedy,-a "reserved right." Webster tore this theory into shreds and scattered it to the winds. With a power of satire under which Hayne writhed in his seat, he drew a picture of practical nullification; he showed that an attempt to nullify the laws of the nation was treason,-that it led directly and necessarily to armed force, and was nothing else than revolution.

And to revolution South Carolina now proceeded. The tariff of 1828 was not repealed; and after the presidential election of 1832, under the direction of Calhoun, who had resigned the Vice-Presidency, a convention of the people of the State was called, which passed the famous Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the tariff law of 1828 null and void in South Carolina. General

Hayne, who had been United States Senator, was made Governor of South Carolina; and Calhoun was elected to the Senate of the United States. On the passage of the famous Ordinance of Nullification by the people of South Carolina, the excitement throughout the Union became intense. The apprehension of civil war, and of the dissolution of the Union, prevailed everywhere.

On the 10th of December, 1832, General Jackson issued his memorable proclamation against nullification. This was followed by Governor Hayne's de

counter-proclamation,

The

fending the position as-
sumed by the State, and
calling out twelve thousand
volunteers. The crisis evi-
dently approached.
United States troops were
concentrated, in some force,
at Augusta and Charleston,
seemingly for the purpose of
repressing any insurrection-
ary or rebellious movement
in the State; while on the
other side equal preparation
was made. The militia in
certain sections of the State
were called out and drilled,
muskets were put in order,
swords cleaned and sharp-
ened, and depots of provi-
sions and supplies estab-
lished. Officers, natives of
the State, in the United
States army and navy, con-
templated resigning their
commissions, and taking up

arms in defense of the State; and some foreign officers, then in the country, actually tendered their services to the governor, against the forces of the general government.

On the 4th of January, 1833, Mr. Calhoun took his seat in the Senate of the Union, as the great champion of nullification. This was the most important period in his political life-a period when the whole resources of his intellect were put forth in defense of his favorite doctrine. His most powerful oratorical effort was made on the 15th and 16th of February, 1832, against a bill "further

SPEECH ON THE FORCE BILL.

211

to provide for the collection of duties on imports." This was the celebrated "Force Bill," the object of which was to enable the Federal executive to enforce the collection of the revenue in South Carolina.

On the 15th of February, Mr. Calhoun addressed the Senate, beginning as follows: "Mr. President, I know not which is most objectionable, the provisions of the bill, or the temper in which its adoption has been urged. If the extraordinary powers with which the bill proposes to clothe the Executive, to the utter prostration of the Constitution and the rights of the States, be calculated to impress our minds with alarm at the rapid progress of despotism in our country, the zeal with which every circumstance calculated to misrepresent or exaggerate the conduct of Carolina in the controversy is seized on, with a view to excite hostility against her, but too plainly indicates the deep decay of that brotherly feeling which once existed between these States, and to which we are indebted for our beautiful Federal system. ..

"It has been said by the senator from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) to be a measure of peace! Yes, such peace as the wolf gives to the lamb-the kite to the dove. Such peace as Russia gives to Poland, or death to its victim! A peace, by extinguishing the political existence of the State, by awing her into an abandonment of the exercise of every power which constitutes her a sovereign community. It is to South Carolina a question of self-preservation; and I proclaim it, that should this bill pass, and an attempt be made to enforce it, it will be resisted at every hazard-even that of death itself. Death is not the greatest calamity: there are others still more terrible to the free and brave, and among them may be placed the loss of liberty and honor. There are thousands of her brave sons who, if need be, are prepared cheerfully to lay down their lives in defense of the State, and the great principles of constitutional liberty for which she is contending. God forbid that this should become necessary! It never can be, unless this government is resolved to bring the question to extremity, when her gallant sons will stand prepared to perform the last duty-to die nobly.

"In the same spirit, we are told that the Union must be preserved, without regard to the means. And how is it proposed to preserve the Union? By force! Does any man in his senses believe that this beautiful structure-this harmonious aggregate of States, produced by the joint consent of all—can be preserved by force? Its very introduction will be the certain destruction of this Federal Union. No, no. You cannot keep the States united in their constitutional and Federal bonds by force. Force may, indeed, hold the parts together, but such union would be the bond between master and slave: a union of exaction on one side, and of unqualified obedience on the other."

In spite of Mr. Calhoun's efforts, the "Force Bill Force Bill" was passed; and it is said that President Jackson privately warned him that the moment news was