must now be regarded as the settled policy of the country," that "all
hope from Congress is irrevocably gone," and that it was for the
people to decide "whether the rights and liberties which you received
as a precious inheritance from an illustrious ancestry shall be tamely
surrendered without a struggle, or transmitted undiminished to your
posterity."

In the disaffected State events now moved rapidly. The elections of
the early autumn were carried by the nullifiers, and the new
Legislature, acting on the recommendation of Governor Hamilton,
promptly called a state convention to consider whether the "federal
compact" had been violated and what remedy should be adopted. The 162
delegates who gathered at Columbia on the 19th of November were,
socially and politically, the elite of the State: Hamiltons, Haynes,
Pinckneys, Butlers--almost all of the great families of a State of
great families were represented. From the outset the convention was
practically of one mind; and an ordinance of nullification drawn up by
a committee of twenty-one was adopted within five days by a vote of
136 to 26.

The tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 were declared "null, void, and no
law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens." None of
the duties in question were to be permitted to be collected in the
State after February 1, 1833. Appeals to the federal courts for
enforcement of the invalidated acts were forbidden, and all
officeholders, except members of the Legislature, were required to
take an oath to uphold the ordinance. Calhoun had laboriously argued
that nullification did not mean disunion. But his contention was not
sustained by the words of the ordinance, which stated unequivocally
that the people of the State would not "submit to the application