John Randolph Tucker

“ Suffrage thus only transfers the propensity to abuse power from constituencies to representatives, and despotism is secured through that suffrage which was devised to prevent it. The remedy for this evil is to be found in such an organism as will give to each of the diverse interests a separate voice and permit the majority of each to speak in a separate branch of the organism, and not take the voice of the majority of the whole community as the only expression of the people's will. To do the last bases government on the numerical or absolute majority ”

“ The people of the north would not fail to reciprocate, and to favor them instead of the whites. Under the influence of such feelings, and impelled by fanaticism and love of power, they would not stop at emancipation. Another step would be taken, to raise them to a political and social equality with their former owners by giving them the right of voting and holding public offices under the federal government. ”

“ But when once raised to an equality they would become the fast political associates of the north, acting and voting with them on all questions, and by this political union between them holding the south in complete subjection. The blacks and the profligate whites that might unite with them would become the principal recipients of federal offices and patronage, and would in consequence be raised above the whites in the south in the political and social scale. ”

“ When society is homogeneous in interests this may suffice, for it insures a control of no man's right by any other than himself and those who have common interest with him. But where, as is generally the case, society has diverse and inimical interests, then suffrage is no security, for each representative speaks the will of each constituency, and constituencies, through representation, may war on each other, and the majority interests may devour those of the minority through their representatives. ”

“ Our great mission, as a people, is to occupy this vast domain; to replenish it with an intelligent, virtuous, and industrious population; to convert the forests into cultivated fields; to drain the swamps and morasses, and cover them with rich harvests; to build up cities, towns, and villages in every direction, and to unite the whole by the most rapid intercourse between all the parts. ”

“ He preferred the bank of the United States to what was called the “pet bank system” of the executive. He condemned what he deemed executive usurpation, and denounced the influence of patronage as tending to the organization of parties upon the principle “of the cohesive power of public plunder.” He claimed to belong to neither party, but to lead the band of “state-rights” men, whose course was directed by principle, and not by the motives of party triumph or personal ambition. ”

“ It can only be fully comprehended by considering the slavery question, with which it became involved in the act of annexation and in its consequences. In the federal convention of 1787 the diversity of industries growing up in states where slavery did and did not exist was clearly foreseen. This difference was marked by the terms northern and southern, slaveholding and non-slaveholding, commercial and agricultural states. The well-known antipathy of people, among whom slavery does not exist, to that form of labor gave rise to strong feelings in the northern states for its abolition. ”

“ Henry Clay, after paying a tribute to his private character and to his patriotism and public honor, said: “He possessed an elevated genius of the highest order. In felicity of generalization of the subjects of which his mind treated I have seen him surpassed by no one, and the charm and captivating influence of his colloquial powers have been felt by all who have conversed with him.” Daniel Webster, his chief competitor in constitutional debate, said: “He was a man of undoubted genius and of commanding talent. All the country and all the world admit that. ”

“ Clay the great leader, Webster the great orator, Calhoun the great thinker. John Stuart Mill speaks of the great ability of his posthumous work, and of its author as “a man who has displayed powers as a speculative political thinker superior to any who has appeared in American politics since the authors of 'The Federalist.'” It has been said that Calhoun labored to destroy the Union, that he might be the chief of a southern confederacy because he could not be president of the Union. ”

“ Free trade; low duties; no debt; separation from banks; economy; retrenchment, and strict adherence to the constitution. Victory in such a cause will be great and glorious; and long will it perpetuate the liberty and prosperity of the country.” The hostility of President Tyler to the American system made its restoration during his administration only partial; but questions of deeper import came before the country, from which results of great consequence have followed. Mr. Tyler had frequently resorted to the veto power to defeat Mr. Clay's measures. ”

“ His fame results from the possession of an ardent, sincere, and intense soul which gave impulse and motive to a mind endowed with extraordinary analytic force, acute and subtile in its insight, fertile in suggestion, full of resources, careful, laborious, and profound in research and comprehensive in its deduction of general principles. ”

“ Both parties were opposed to him, and the administration menacingly so. A man of less intellect or less courage would have shrunk from the conflict. But he was courageous in conviction, and fearless of personal consequences. He gave up the second and surrendered all hope of the first, office in the country, to defend his state in her solitary attitude of opposition to the protective policy. The president's proclamation of November, 1802, was followed by the proposed “force bill.” Mr. Calhoun, in February, 1833, made an elaborate speech against it. ”

“ Accordingly, the federal constitution left it for the states to deal with, threw around it interstate guarantees, and put it beyond the reach of the federal government. Without these guarantees, the union could not have been formed. The two sections watched their respective growth in population, and their settlement of our territories, as bearing on their related powers in the federal government. The north had a large majority in the house of representatives, and in the electoral college. ”

“ It was claimed for the state, as a party to the compact, to declare when it was violated, and to pronounce void an unconstitutional law; not to annul a valid law, but to declare void an unconstitutional law. 3. ”

“ Hamilton on state interposition, 28 Aug., 1832; also an address to the people of the United States by the convention of South Carolina in November, 1832. In these papers he maintained the doctrine of state interposition, or “nullification.” During Jackson's first term, the influence of Mr. Van Buren became paramount with the president, and the alienation between the latter and Mr. Calhoun became irreconcilable. Mr. Van Buren was elected vice-president in 1832. The South Carolina convention in November, 1832, passed the ordinance nullifying the tariff laws of 1828 and 1832, and Mr. ”