SECTION III.SECTION III.
Never, perhaps, did statesmen begin their task ofconstitution-making with so much aid from preceding circumstancesas the great men of the Revolution. A social neighbourhood ofcolonies, all suffering under colonial grievances, and allvarying in their internal government, afforded a broad hint ofthe present system, and fine facilities for putting it inpractice. There was much less speculation in the case than mightappear from a distance; and this fact so far takes away from thesuperhuman character of the wisdom which achieved the completionof the United States' constitution, as to bring the mind downfrom its state of amazement into one of very wholesomeadmiration.
The state governments are the conservative power, enabling thewill of the majority to act with freedom and convenience. Thoughthe nation is but an aggregation of individuals, as regards thegeneral government, their division into States, for themanagement of their domestic affairs, precludes a vast amount ofconfusion and discord. Their mutual vigilance is also a greatadvantage to their interests, both within each State, and abroad.No tyrant, or tyrannical party, can remain unwatched andunchecked. There is, in each State, a people ready forinformation and complaint, when necessary; a legislature readyfor deliberation; and an executive ready to act. Many States, inother ages and regions, have been lost through the necessity ofcreating their instruments when they should have been acting.State organisation is never managed without dispute; and it makesthe entire difference in tbe success of resistance to aggressionwhether the necessary apparatus has to be created in haste andconfusion, or whether everything is in readiness for executingthe will of the majority.
Under no other arrantrement, perhaps, could the advantage besecured of every man being, in his turn, a servant of thecommonwealth. If the general government managed everything, thepublic service would soon become the privilege of a certainclass, or a number of classes of men; as is seen to be the caseelsewhere. The relation and gradation of service which are now soremarkable a feature in the United States commonwealth, couldnever then happen naturally, as they now do. Almost every manserves in his township in New England, and in the correspondingward or section elsewhere; and has his capability tried; and, ifworthy, he serves his county, his State, and finally the Union,in Congress. Such is the theory: and if not followed up well inpractice, if some of the best men never get beyond serving theirtownship, and some of the worst now and then get into Congress,the people are unquestionably better served than if the selectionof servants depended on accident, or the favour of men in power.Whatever extraneous impediments may interfere with the trueworking of the theory, every citizen feels, or ought to feel,what a glorious career may lie before him. In his country, everyroad to success is open to all. There are no artificialdisqualifications which may not be surmounted. All humbug, whetherof fashion and show, of sanctimoniousness, of licentiousness, orof anything else, is there destined to speedy failure andretribution. There is no hereditary humbug in the United States.If the honest, wise man, feels himself depressed below the knave,he has, if he did but know it, only to wait patiently a littlewhile, and he will have his due. Though truth is equally greateverywhere, and equally sure ultimately to prevail, men of othercountries have often to wait till they reach the better countrythan all, before they witness this ultimate prevalence, exceptwith the eye of faith. The young nation over the Atlantic isindulged, for her encouragement, with a speedier retribution forher well or ill doings; and almost every one of her citizens, ifhe be truly honourable, may trust to be fitly honoured before hedies.
Another conservative effect of the state governments is thefacilities they afford for the correction of solecisms, therenovation of institutions as they are outgrown, and theamendment of all unsuitable arrangements. If anything wants to berectified in any State, it can be done on the mere will of thepeople concerned. There is no imploring of an uninterestedgovernment at a distance--a government so occupied with itsforeign relations as to have little attention to spare fordomestic grievances which it does not feel. There is no waitingany body's pleasure; nobody's leave to ask. The remedy is soclose at hand, those who are to give it are so nearly concerned,that it may always, and, for the most part, speedily, beobtained, upon good cause being shown. No external observance isneeded, except of the few and express prohibitions which thegeneral and state governments have interchanged.
It is amusing to look over the proceedings ot the statelegislatures for any one year. Maine amends her libel law,decreeing that proof of truth shall be admitted as just)fication.Massachusetts decrees a revision and consolidation of her laws,and the annihilation of lotteries. Rhode Island improves herquarantine regulations. Connecticut passes an act for thepreservation of cornfields from crows. Vermont decrees theprotection of the dead in their graves. New York prohibits theimportation of foreign convicts. New Jersey incorporates a dairycompany. Pennsylvania mitigates the law which authorisesimprisonment for debt. Maryland authorises a geological survey.Georgia enlarges her law of divorce. Alabama puts children, incertain circumstances, under the protection of chancery.Mississippi decrees a census. Tennessee interdicts barbacues inthe neighbourhood of camp meetings. Ohio regulates the care ofescheated lands. Indiana prohibits a higher rate of interest thanten per cent. Missouri authorises the conveyance of real estateby married women. And so on. It seems difficult to imagine howmany abuses can reach an extreme, or be tardy of cure, where thewill of the majority is not only speedily made known, but wherethe division of employment is so skilfully arranged that themajority may be trusted to understand the case on which they areto decide.
It has always appeared to me that much misapprehension isoccasioned by its being supposed that the strength of the generalgovernment lies in the number of its functions: and its weaknessin the extent of its area. To me it appears directly the reverse.A government which has the management of all the concerns of apeople, the greater and the smaller, preserves its stability bythe general interest in its more important functions. If youdesire to weaken it, you must withdraw from its guardianship themore general and important of its affairs. If you desire toshield it from cavil and attack, you must put the more local andpartial objects of its administration under other management. Ifthe general government of the United States had to manage alllegislation and administration within their boundaries, it couldhardly hold together one year. If it had only one function,essential to all, and impossible to be otherwise fulfilled, thereseems no reason why it should not work prosperously till thereare fifty States around it, and longer. The importance of thefunctions of the general government depends partly upon theuniversality of the interest in them; and partly upon the numbersincluded under them. So far, therefore, from the enlargement ofthe area of the United States being perilous to the generalgovernment, by making it "cumbrous," as many fear, itseems to me likely to work a directly contrary effect. There arestrong reasons why an extension of her area would be injurious toher, but I cannot regard this as one. A government which has tokeep watch over the defence, foreign policy, commerce, andcurrency, of from twenty-five to fifty small republics, is saferin the guardianship of its subjects than if it had to managethese same affairs for one large republic, with the additionalsuperintendence of its debtors, its libellers, and the crows ofits corn-fields.
Little or no room for rebellion seems to be left under theconstitution of the United States. In the progress of humanaffairs, familiar evils expire with worn-out institutions, andnew dangers arise out of the midst of renovated arrangements.Assassinations are the form which resistance to governmentassumes in pure despotisms. Rebellion is the name it bears undergovernments somewhat more liberal. In the United States, nothingworse than professed Nullification has yet been heard of-- unlessColonel Burr's secret schemes were indeed treasonable. A briefaccount of the South Carolina Nullification may exhibit therelations, and occasional enmities of the general and statesgovernment in a clearer way than could be done, otherwise than bya narrative of facts. This little history shows, among many otherthings, that America follows the rest of the world in quoting theconstitution as a sanction of the most opposite designs andproceedings: what different sympathies respond to the word"patriotism;" and of how little avail is the letter ofthe constitution, when there is variance as to its spirit.
Georgia laid claim, some years ago, to the Cherokee territory,on the ground that the United States had no right to make thelaws and treaties by which the Cherokees were protected; thatsuch legislation was inconsistent with the reserved rights of thesovereign state of Georgia. Georgia thus acted upon thesupposition, that she was to construe the federal compact in herown way, and proceed according to her own construction. Congresschecked her in this assumption, and rejected her pretensions byan almost unanimous vote. Soon after the accession of GeneralJackson to the presidentship, Georgia, either presuming upon hisfavour, or wishing to test his dispositions, began to encroachupon the Cherokee lands. The Cherokees appealed to the federalgovernment for protection, under the laws and treaties framed forthat very purpose. The President replied, that Georgia was rightin annulling those laws and treaties, and that the executivecould not interfere. The Indian cause was brought before theSupreme Court. There was difficulty about tbe character in whichthe plaintiffs were to sue, and as to whether they could sue atall, under that provision of the constitution which authorises foreignnations to demand justice from the federal tribunals. Thecourt expressed a strong opinion, however, that the Cherokeeswere entitled to protection from the Executive.
The Supreme Court and Georgia were thus brought intoopposition, while tbe Executive took the part of Georgia.Compassion for the Cherokees was now swallowed up in anxiety,about the decision of the question of state rights. The Executivehad, as yet, only negatively declared himself, however; and theSupreme Court had not been driven on to deliver a verdict againstthe Georgian laws, by which tbe Cherokees were oppressed. Thetopic of the right of a State to annul the laws and treaties ofthe federal government was meantime generally discussed; andreconsideration was forced upon the President.
South Carolina presently followed the example of Georgia. Sheannulled the acts of Congress, which regarded such revenue lawsas she considered contrary to general principles, and to her owninterests. The President now perceived that if every Stateproceeded to nullify the acts of Conrress, upon its ownconstruction of the federal constitution, the general governmentcould not be secure of its existence for a day. While theExecutive was still in a position of observation, the SupremeCourt pronounced, in another case, a verdict against theunconstitutional laws of Georgia. In 1829, the legislature ofVirginia asserted the right of each State to construe the federalconstitution for itself: and thus there appeared to be threeStates already in the course of withdrawing from the Union.
Congress went on legislating about the tariff, without regardto this opposition; and the protests of certain States againsttheir proceedings were quietly laid on the table, asimpertinences. The South Carolina advocates of Nullificationworked diligently in their own State to ripen the peoplesufhciently to obtain a convention which should proclaim theirdoctrine as the will of the State: in which case, they doubtednot that they should secure the countenance and co-operation ofmost, or all, of the southern States. A convention in favour offree trade met at Philadelphia; another in favour of the tariffmet at New York; and the nullifiers saw reason to turn thediscussion of the quarrel as much as possible from the principleof Nullification to the principle of free trade. They perceivedthe strength of the latter ground, whether or not they saw theweakness of the former; and by their skilful movement upon it,they eventually caused a greater benefit to the nation, thantheir discontent did harm to themselves.
The President was invited to dine at Charleston on the 4th ofJuly, 1831; and in his answer, he thought fit to announce that heshould do his duty in case of any attempt to annul the laws ofthe Union. This was a virtual retractation of his encouragementto Georgia. A committee of the legislature of South Carolinareported the letter to be at variance with the duties of thePresident, and the rights of the States. The heat was risingrapidly. The nullifiers were loud in their threats, and watchfulin observing the effect of those threats abroad. North Carolinarepudiated the whole doctrine of Nullification: otherneighbouring States showed a reluctance to sanction it. ThePresident's next message recommended a modification of thetaritf, which was known to be no favorite of his; but themodification he proposed had no other bearing than upon theamount of the revenue.
During the session of Congress of 1832, various alterationswere made in the duties, which it was hoped would be to thesatisfaction of South Carolina: but the complaint of herrepresentatives was, that the reductions which were ordained wereon those articles in which she had no interest; while her burdenswere actually increased. These representatives met at Washington,and drew up an address to the people of South Carolina, in whichthey declared their wrongs, and inquired whether they were to betamely submitted to.
The legislature of South Carolina, after the next election,exhibited a large majority in both houses in favour ofNullification. A convention was called at Columbia, inconsequence of whose proceedings an ordinance was prepared, andspeedily passed through the legislature, declaring all the actsof Congress imposing duties on imported goods, to be null andvoid within the state of South Carolina. It prohibited thelevying of all such duties within the State, and all appeals onthe subject to the Supreme Court. A number of minor provisionswere made to hinder the levy of import duties. The governor wasempowered to call the militia into service against any oppositionwhich might be made by the general government to this bold modeof proceeding. The entire military force of the State, and theservices of volunteers, were also placed at his disposal. Armsand ammunition were ordered to be purchased.
This was too much for the President's anxiety aboutconsistency. He ordered all the disposable military force toassemble at Charleston; sent a sloop of war to that port, toprotect the federal officers in the discharge of their duties;and issued a vigorous proclamation, stating the constitutionaldoctrine, about the mutual relations of the general and stategovernments, and exhorting the citizens of South Carolina not toforfeit their allegiance. Governor Hayne issued a counterproclamation, warning the citizens of the State against beingseduced from their state allegiance by the President. This was atthe close of 1832.
Everything being thus ready for an explosion, South Carolinaappeared willing to wait the result of another session. This wasneedful enough; for she was as yet uncertain whether she was tohave the assistance of any of her sister States. Mr. Calhoun, thevice-president, resigned his office, and became a senator in theroom of governor Hayne: and thus the nullification cause was inpowerful hands in the senate. Its proceedings were watched withthe most intense anxiety by the whole Union. The crisis of theUnion was come.
In the discontented State, the union party, which was strong,though excluded from the government, was in great sorrow andfear. Civil war seemed inevitable; and they felt themselvesoppressed and insulted by the imposition of the oath ofallegiance to the State. The nullifiers justified thisrequisition by saying that many foreigners resident inCharleston, who did not understand the case, believed that theirduty to the general government required them to support it, whileits vessels of war and troops were in port; however well theymight be disposed to the nullification cause. It was merely as amethod of enlightenment, it was protested, that this oath wasimposed.
The ladies, meanwhile, had a State Rights ball at the arsenal,and contributed their jewels for the support of the expected war.I could not learn that they made lint--the last test of women'searnestness for war; but I was told by a leading nullifier thatthe ladies were "chock full of fight." The expectationof war was so nearly universal that I could hear of only onecitizen of Charleston who discouraged the removal of his wife andchildren from the city, in the belief that a peaceful settlementof the quarrel would take place.
The legislatures of the States passed resolutions, none ofthem advocating nullification; (even Georgia forsaking thatground;) many condemned the proceedings of South Carolina; butsome, while doing so, made strong remonstrances against thetariff. Five of the States, in which manufactures had been setup, declared their opposition to any alteration of the tariff. Itis amusing now to read the variety of terms in which the SouthCarolina proceedings were condemned; though, at the time, thereports of these resolutions must have carried despair to thehearts of the citizens of the solitary discontented State. Theeffect of these successive shocks is still spoken of in strongand touching language by those who had to sustain them.
While the South Carolina militia were training, and themunitions of war preparing, the senators and representatives ofthe State were wearing stern and grave faces at Washington. Thesession was passing away, and nothing but debate was yetachieved. Their fellow legislators looked on them with grief, asbeing destined to destruction in the field, or on the scaffold.They were men of high spirit and gallantry; and it was clear thatthey had settled the matter with themselves and with each other.They would never submit to mere numbers; and would oppose forceto force, till all of their small resources was spent. No one canestimate their heroism, or desperation, whichever it may becalled, who has not seen the city and State which would have beenthe theatre of the war. The high spirit of South Carolina is ofthat kind which accompanies fallen, or inferior fortunes. Prideand poverty chafe the spirit. They make men look around forinjury, and aggravate the sense of injury when it is real. InSouth Carolina, the black population outnumbers the white. Thecurse of slavery lies heavy on the land, and its inhabitants showthe usual unwillingness of sufferers to attribute their maladiesto their true cause. Right as the South Carolinians may be as tothe principle of free trade, no tariff ever yet occasioned suchevils as they groan under. If not a single import duty had everbeen imposed, there would still have been the contrasts whichthey cannot endure to perceive between the thriving States of thenorth and their own. Now, when they see the flourishing villagesof New England, they cry "We pay for all this." Whenthe north appears to receive more favour from the generalgovernment, in its retrospective recompenses for service in war,the greater proportion of which service was rendered by thenorth, the south again cries, "We pay for all this." Itis true that the south pays dearly; but it is for her owndepression, not for others' prosperity. When I saw the face ofthe nullifiers' country, I was indeed amazed at their hardihood.The rich soil, watered by full streams, the fertile bottoms,superintended by the planters' mansions, with their slave quartera little removed from the house, the fine growth of trees, and ofthe few patches of pasturage which are to be seen, show howflourishing this region ought to be. But its aspect is mostdepressing to the traveller. Roads nearly impassable in manyparts, bridges carried away and not restored, lands exhausted,and dwellings forsaken, are spectacles too common in SouthCarolina. The young men, whose patrimony has deteriorated,migrate westward with their 'force;' selling their lands, if theycan; if not, forsaking them. There are yet many plantations ofunsurpassed fertility; but there are many exhausted: and it ismore profitable to remove to a virgin soil than to employ slavelabour in renovating the fertility of the old. There is an air ofrudeness about the villages, and languor about the towns, whichpromise small resource in times of war and distress. And then,the wretched slave population is enough to paralyse the arm ofthe bravest community, and to ensure defeat to the best cause. Isaw the soldiers and the preparations for war at Charleston, twoyears after the crisis was past. When I was to be shown the armsand ammunition, it appeared that "the gentleman that had thekey was not on the premises." This showed that no immediateinvasion was expected; but it was almost incredible what had beenthreatened with such resources. The precautionary life of thecommunity, on account of the presence of so large a body ofslaves, may be, in some sort, a training for war; but it pointsout the impediments to success. If South Carolina had, what someof her leading men seem to desire, a Lacedemonian government,which should make every free man a soldier, she would be fartherfrom safety in peace, and success in war, than any quakercommunity, exempt from the curse of a debased and wronged servileclass. One glance over the city of Charleston is enough to show astranger how helpless she is against a foreign foe, ifunsupported. The soldiers met, at every turn, the swarms ofservile blacks, the very luxuries and hospitalities of thecitizens, grateful as these luxuries are to the stranger, andhonourable as these hospitalities are to his entertainers,betoken a state of society which has no strength to spare fromthe great work of self-renovation. Those who remained at homeduring the winter of 1832 and 1833, might be hopeful about theconflict, from being unaware of the depressed condition of theirState, in comparison with others: but the leaders at Washingtonmight well look stern and grave. It is no impeachment of theirbravery, if their hearts died within them, day by day.
The session was within fourteen days of its close, when Mr.Clay brought in a bill which had been carefully prepared as acompromise between the contending parties. It provided that allimport duties exceeding twenty per cent. should be graduallyreduced, till, in 1842, they should have declined to that amount;leaving liberty to augment the duties again, in case of war. Thisbill, with certain amendments, not affecting its principle, waspassed, as was the Enforcing Bill,--for enforcing the collectionimposed by act of Congress. A convention was held in SouthCarolina: the obnoxious ordinance was repealed; the EnforcingBill was, indeed, nominally nullified; but no powers were offeredto the legislature for enforcing the nullification; and thequarrel was, to all intents and purposes, at an end.
The triumph remained,--if triumph there were, --with SouthCarolina. This was owing to the goodness of her principle of freetrade; and in no degree, to the reasonableness of her nullifyingpractices. The passage of the Compromise Bill was a wise andfortunate act. Its influence on the planting and manufacturinginterests is a subject to be considered in another connexion. Itsimmediate effect in honourably reconciling differences which hadappeared irreconcileable, was a blessing, not only to the UnitedStates, but to the world. The lustre of democratic principleswould have heen shrouded to many eyes by a civil war among thecitizens of the Union; while now, the postponement of a danger soimminent, the healing of a breach so wide, has confirmed theconfidence of many who feared that the States remained unitedonly for want of a cause of separation.
Some ill effects remain,--especially in the irritation ofSouth Carolina. There is still an air of mystery and fellowshipabout the leading nullifiers, and of disquiet among the Union menof Charleston. But there is cause enough for restless inCharleston, as I have before said; and much excuse for pique.
Meanwhile, these events have proved to thousands ofrepublicans the mischief of compromise conveyed in vaguephraseology, in so solemn an instrument as a writtenconstitution.
There could not have been a doubt on this case, if thequestion of construction had not had place, from the unfortunateclause ordaining that the general government shall have allpowers necessaly for the fulfilment of certain declared purposes.While this provision, thus worded, remains, the nullificationtheory will be played off, from time to time. The goodconsequence will arise from this liability, that a habit will beformed of construing the constitution liberally, with regard tothe States, wherever there is a doubt as to the exercise of itspowers; but this collateral good is no justification of thelooseness of language by which the peace and integrity of theUnion have been made to hang on a point of construction. Thepeople of the United States will probably show their wisdom inhenceforth accepting the benefit by shunning the evil.
In the privacy of their houses, many citizens have lamented tome, with feelings to which no name but grief can be given, thatthe events of 1832-3 have suggested the words "use" or"value of the Union." To an American, a calculation ofthe value of the Union would formerly have been as offensive, asabsurd, as an estimate of the value of religion would be to aright-minded man. To Americans of this order, the Union has longbeen more than a matter of high utility. It has been idealisedinto an object of love and veneration. In answer to this cuibono, many have cried in their hearts, with Lear,"O reason not the need!" I was struck with the contrastin the tone of two statesmen, a chief nullifier and one of hischief opponents. The one would not disguise from me that the nameof the Union had lost much of its charm in the south, since 1830.The other, in a glow, protested that he never would hear of theUnion losing its charm.
But the instances of carelessness, of levity about the Union,are very rare; and this is the reason why more show of attachmentto it is not made. The probabilities of the continuance of theUnion are so overwhelming, that no man, not in a state ofdelusion, from some strong prejudice, can seriously entertain theidea of a dissolution within any assignable period. I met withone gentleman in the north, a clergyman, who expects and desiresa dissolution of the Union, saying that thc north bore all theexpense of the war, and has had nothing but obstruction andinjury from the south. I saw, also, one gentleman in SouthCarolina, who sees no use in the Union, but much expense andtrouble. He declares the only effect of it to be the withdrawingof the best men from each State to dawdle away their time atWashington. Another, who desponds about the condition of England,and whose views are often embellished, and sometimes impaired, byhis perceptions of analogy, expressed his fears that his owncountry, an offset from mine, would share the fate of offsets,and perish with the parent. But these are examples ofeccentricity.
There are many among the slave-holders of the south whothreaten secession. Such of these as are in earnest are under themistake into which men fall when they put everything to thehazard of one untenable object. The untenable object oncerelinquished, the delusion will clear away with the disappearanceof its cause, and the Union will be to them, with good reason,dearer than it has ever been. The southern States could notexist, separately, with their present domestic institutions, inthe neighbourhood of any others. They would have thousands ofmiles of frontier, over which their slaves would be running away,every day of the year. In case of war, they might be only toohappy if their slaves did run away, instead of rising up againstthem at home. If it was necessary to purchase, Florida because itwas a retreat for runaways; if it was necessary, first to treatwith Mexico for the restitution of runaways, and then to stealTexas,--the most high-handed theft of modern times; if it isnecessary to pursue runaways into the northern States, and tokeep magistrates and jails in perpetual requisition for therestitution of southern human property, how would the southernStates manage by themselves? Only by ridding themselves ofslavery; in which case, their alleged necessity of separation issuperseded. As for their resources,--the shoe-business of NewYork State is of itself larger and more valuable than the entirecommerce of Georgia,--the largest and richest of the southernStates.
The mere act of separation could not be accomplished. In caseof war against the northern States, it would be necessary toemploy half the white population to take care of the black; andof the remaining half, no one would undertake to say how many areat heart sick and weary of slavery, and would be, therefore,untrustworthy. The middle slave States, now nearly ready todiscard slavery, would seize so favourable an opportunity as thatafforded them by the peril of the Union. The middle free States,from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi, having everything to loseby separation, and nothing to gain, would treat the first overtact as rebellion; proceeding against it, and punishing it assuch. The case is so palpable as scarcely to need even so brief astatement as this. The fact which renders such a statement worthmaking is, that most of those who threaten the dissolution of theUnion, do it in order to divert towards this impracticable objectthe irritation which would otherwise, and which will, ere long,turn against the institution of slavery. The gaze of the world isfixed upon this institution. The world is shouting the onequestion about this anomaly which cannot be answered. Thedwellers in the south would fain be unconscious of that awfulgaze. They would fain not hear the reverberation of that shout.They would fain persuade themselves and others, that they are toobusy in asserting their rights and their dignity as citizens ofthe Union, to heed the world beyond.
This self and mutual deception will prove a merely temporaryevil. The natural laws which regulate communities, and the willof the majority, may be trusted to preserve the good, and toremove the bad elements from which this dissension arises. Itrequires no gift of prophecy to anticipate the fate of an anomalyamong a self-governing people. Slavery was not always an anomaly;but it has become one. Its doom is therefore sealed; and itsduration is now merely a question of time. Any anxiety in thecomputation of this time is reasonable; for it will not onlyremove a more tremendous curse than can ever again desolatesociety, but restore the universality of that generous attachmentto their common institutions which has been, and will again be,to the American people, honour, safety, and the means ofperpetual progress.
From Harriet Martineau, Society in America, VolumeI, Part I, Chapter II, Section III - " StateGovernments." London: Saunders and Otley, 1837, pp. 85-109.
Forward to Society in America, Ch. III,"Morals of Politics."
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