Save de Union

In May of 1828, after approval by the House and Senate, President John Quincy Adams signed a tariff bill which, with high duties on manufactured products, prompted opponents to call it the “Tariff of Abominations”. In December, the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, secretly drafted by Vice President, John C. Calhoun, was presented to the South Carolina House of Representatives. Although not adopted, it asserted that a state could overrule Federal legislation, within its boundary, that they considered unjust. This theory of nullification framed an early basis for secession. On March 4th of 1829, Andrew Jackson was sworn in as the seventh President and Calhoun remained as his Vice President. In January 1830, during a Senate debate over states’ rights brought on by the nullification question, Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina declared, “The very life of our system is the independence of the states.” New Hampshire Senator, Daniel Webster, countered, “I go for the Constitution, the people’s government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.” Hayne went on to assert that states’ rights empower them with the authority to nullify acts of the federal government and, if it be their predilection, even to secede if necessary. Webster maintained that, “...sentiment dear to every true American heart—liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable.” That April, referring to the theory of nullification at a celebration of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, President Jackson offered a toast, “Our Federal Union—it must be preserved!” Vice President, Calhoun, responded with his own toast, “The Union, next to our liberty, the most dear!” In November of 1832, South Carolina legislators held a convention and, following the principles of John C. Calhoun and Governor George McDuffie, passed the Nullification Ordinance, proclaiming the state’s right to nullify, within its boundary, Federal Law that they considered unjust.
When Jackson was overwhelmingly victorious in his re-election, Vice President, Calhoun, resigned his position to run for the Senate and concentrate on South Carolina’s nullification issue. Prompted by South Carolina’s Nullification Ordinance, President Jackson issued a proclamation to the people of South Carolina denouncing the right of a state to nullify Federal Laws, declaring that “Disunion by armed force is treason.” Congress passed the Force Act of 1833, authorizing military action to uphold Federal law and Jackson began to prepare for possible military action. Henry Clay simultaneously proposed a compromise bill which President Jackson signed and, along with the urging of moderation by Virginia’s Benjamin Watkins Leigh, South Carolina revoked its Nullification Ordinance, thus easing tension and avoiding civil strife. No state has since attempted to nullify Federal law though it did not end the idea of secession.
Here are five of eight verses of a song published in the Richmond Enquirer (October 25, 1833) to the tune of the then-popular minstrel song, “Clare de Kitchen”. The “Old Virginny, never tire” at the end of each chorus is a remnant of the original song.