of resistance to federal authority. Deep argument, solemn warning, and
fervent entreaty were skillfully combined. But the most powerful
effect was likely to be that produced by the President's flaming
denial--set in bold type in the contemporary prints--of the
Hayne-Calhoun creed: "I consider the power to annul a law of the
United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence
of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the
Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every
principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object
for which it was formed."

Throughout the North this vindication of national dignity and power
struck a responsive chord, and for once even the Adams and Clay men
found themselves in hearty agreement with the President. Bostonians
gathered in Faneuil Hall and New Yorkers in a great meeting in the
Park to shower encomiums upon the proclamation and upon its author.
The nullifiers did not at once recoil from the blow. The South
Carolina Legislature called upon Governor Hayne officially to warn
"the good people of this State against the attempt of the President of
the United States to seduce them from their allegiance"; and the
resulting counterblast, in the form of a proclamation made public on
the 20th of December, was as vigorous as the liveliest "fire-eater"
could have wished. The Governor declared that the State would maintain
its sovereignty or be "buried beneath its ruins."

The date of the expected crisis--February 1, 1833, when the
nullification ordinance was to take effect--was now near at hand, and
on both sides preparations were pushed. During the interval, however,
the tide turned decidedly against the nullifiers. A call for a general
convention of the States "to determine and consider ... questions of