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The Reign of Andrew Jackson by Frederic Austin Ogg
page 109 of 194 (56%)
President, came gradually to feel that his political future would be
worth little unless he had the support of his own State.

As the election of 1828 approached, the hope of the discontented
forces centered in Jackson. They did not overlook the fact that his
record was that of a moderate protectionist. But the same was true of
many South Carolinians and Georgians, and it seemed not at all
impossible that, as a Southern man and a cotton planter, he should
undergo a change of heart no less decisive than that which Hayne and
Calhoun had experienced. Efforts to draw him out, however, proved not
very successful. Lewis saw to it that Jackson's utterances while yet
he was a candidate were safely colorless; and the single mention of
the tariff contained in the inaugural address was susceptible of the
most varied interpretations. The annual message of 1829 indicated
opposition to protection; on the other hand, the presidential message
of the next year not only asserted the full power of Congress to levy
protective duties but declared the abandonment of protection "neither
to be expected or desired." Gradually the antiprotectionist leaders
were made to see that the tariff was not a subject upon which the
President felt keenly, and that therefore it was useless to look to
him for effective support.

Even the adroit efforts which were made to get from the incoming
executive expressions that could be interpreted as endorsements of
nullification were successfully fended off. For some months the
President gave no outward sign of his disapproval. With more than his
usual deliberateness, Jackson studied the situation, awaiting the
right moment to speak out with the maximum of effect.

The occasion finally came on April 13, 1830, at a banquet held in
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