Chauncey Samuel Boucher

“ At the same time care should be taken to have the force strong enough to annihilate instantaneously the first show of resistance to our laws, and give to treason as well as tyranny so signal and severe a rebuke that they will not recover from it soon. ”

“ In Virginia especially the proclamation has wakened the people from their trance, and they are holding meetings in the counties, with the rallying cry of '98....My private advices are of the most cheering character; they assure me that whatever the legislature may do, it will be believed the temper of the people. They tell me that it is only necessary for us to present a determined front, and all will be well. We have compelled a more rapid course of thought than twenty years of discussion would have produced. ”

“ The district organizers soon enlisted a number of men as sub-organizers, who distributed circulars in which appeared the governor's call for volunteers, and did all they could personally to induce the people to enlist. These men kept the district commander informed as to local sentiment. From some quarters came reports that Jackson's proclamation, aided by the activity of the Union men, had done much harm, for the people seemed to think that the President could do all he had threatened, and they regarded him as in fact "the Ali Pasha of the United States." ”

“ The Union men alone took part in the Baltimore nominating convention, but their opponents, when the time came to cast the vote of the state, felt not at all bound by the work of the national convention, and cast the vote of the state for Floyd, governor of Virginia, and Lee, a Massachusetts free-trade advocate. [3] During September and October Jackson was kept informed of affairs in the state by letters from Joel R. Poinsett. This Union leader told the President that the Union men would firmly oppose nullification and adhere to their allegiance to the United States. ”

“ The wickedness, madness, and folly of the leaders and the delusion of their followers, in the attempt to destroy themselves and our Union, has not its parallel in the history of the world. The Union will be preserved." [12]
The President's proclamation was printed by the Union leaders in large editions to circulate throughout the districts. It would serve to give courage to the Union men and might convince others of the error of their ways. ”

“ In this part of the country the people are very ignorant and have been heretofore rather inclined to the Union party, but if you think I can be best employed in recruiting volunteers I will set about raising a company as soon as I receive your instructions as to the time and place [you] will want them, and whether you can furnish arms, etc., and will endeavor to have them ready for service in due time. I have however no choice of employment, so far as I am concerned....I take it for granted that you will concentrate a large force in Charleston to meet the emergency. ”

“ Permit me again with much humility to suggest that that concentration be effected silently and without parade; we have already done enough to alarm the more timid of our friends and to afford apparent grounds of justification for the mad counsels of the President. ”

“ Let a number of men, every one of whom keeps a horse, agree to repair at a moment's warning to any point which may be designated by the governor in any emergency. Let them then come prepared with guns or rifles, or arms of any description, with a supply of powder and ball, and come in the shortest time possible. If in each district only one hundred such men could be secured, we would have the means of throwing 2,500 of the é1ite of the whole state upon a given point in three or four days. ”

“ It reviewed the objections to the doctrine of nullification and denounced the ordinance as contrary to both the national and the state constitutions, and with special vigor decried the test oath, which would keep out of office all Union men who would not perjure themselves. It declared that as regarded the Union party the ordinance "betrayed all the features of an odious tyranny" and that its progress would be as fatal to liberty as it was to the federal Constitution. ”

“ A plan was recommended for organizing the Union men of the state into "Washington Societies," for self-defense and protection; there as to be a central society in each district, with as many branches as possible in the local neighborhoods. In case of emergency these societies were to become military companies. Poinsett was made commander-in-chief, with division officers in different parts of the state, and Colonel Robert Cunningham was appointed for the upper divisions of the state. ”

“ The volunteer corps above alluded to are intended to be called out by companies, battalions, or regiments, but a sudden emergency may arise when men may be wanted at a given point before such corps can be prepared and marched to it. ”

“ The President's proclamation proved a conundrum to the State Rights men in many ways. Some believed that it would overawe many of the less ardent in the state, and they therefore made much of Governor Hayne's counter-proclamation. [29] Many doubted that Jackson had intended more than to frighten South Carolina and felt that perhaps his appeal to Congress for more power was simply to furnish a means of retreat when Congress should have repealed the tariff and yielded to South Carolina. ”

“ To execute this plan, it may be well to select ten influential men in various parts of your district, to be called leaders; bring them fully into the scheme, and let each of them engage ten men as their quota. When the notice is given to you, that the minute men are wanted, you will instantly inform the leaders and get them to extend the notice to their respective squads....Have one or more expresses always at your command and bear in mind that you will be held responsible for the speedy and certain extension and prompt execution of all orders. ”

“ Calhoun is against this measure and insists that the state may be in and out of the Union at the same time and that the government has no right to cause the laws to be executed in South Carolina. Both parties are anxious and indulge the hope that the government will commit some act of violence which will enlist the sympathies of the bordering states." Poinsett recommended caution, and urged especially that the Nullifiers be allowed to commit the first act of violence. ”

“ Everybody is volunteering—old and young, the parent and his sons, rich and poor are found in the ranks shoulder to shoulder. Even the ministers of the gospel have turned soldiers The town begins to resemble a military encampment. An equal enthusiasm, it is said, pervades Fairfield; there they will volunteer by regiments. ”

“ The Union men were "openly threatened with every kind of violence," and in a district where their number was small they were told that they must not assemble togther, for such action would be considered "treason and rebellion" against the sovereignty of the state. [36]
Meantime, Jackson had been waiting for information that the South Carolina assembly had passed laws for raising an army to resist the execution of the United States laws. ”

“ I deem it indispensable, therefore, that a body of Mounted Minute Men should be always prepared to proceed in the shortest time possible to any place which may be designated, to be kept on duty for a few days or a few weeks, until more regularly organized corps shall be brought into the field. ”

“ Van Buren believed that if any adjustment of the tariff were made at the existing session of Congress, no large share of the credit for it would be given to Clay and Calhoun. [42]
meet and establish upon sight that sympathy which should exist between men devoted to the same glorious cause. ”

“ All the members of Congress with whom he conversed assured him that Congress would sustain him; he determined, therefore, to meet the menace at the threshold and to have the leaders arrested and arraigned for treason. He tried to encourage the Union leaders by assuring them that in forty days he could have fifty thousand men within the limits of South Carolina, and. ”

“ A majority of the leaders, however, felt that immediate military preparation was necessary, and many men eagerly aided the governor in his attempts to get a force ready for the field in the shortest time possible. ”

“ If you need assistance say so, for no excuse will be received for any failure, when your services are required I wish you to see personally each of the colonels and learn everything within your district; the temper of the men ”