So the tempest passed. Both sides claimed victory, and with some show
of reason. So far as was possible without an actual test of strength,
the authority of the Federal Government had been vindicated and its
dignity maintained; the constitutional doctrines of Webster acquired a
new sanction; the fundamental point was enforced that a law--that
every law--enacted by Congress must be obeyed until repealed or until
set aside by the courts as unconstitutional. On the other hand, the
nullifiers had brought about the repeal of the laws to which they
objected and had been largely instrumental in turning the tariff
policy of the country for some decades into a new channel. Moreover
they expressed no regret for their acts and in no degree renounced the
views upon which those acts had been based. They submitted to the
authority of the United States, but on terms fixed by themselves. And,
what is more, they supplied practically every constitutional and
political argument to be used by their sons in 1860 to justify
secession.




CHAPTER IX


THE WAR ON THE UNITED STATES BANK

"Nothing lacks now to complete the love-feast," wrote Isaac Hill
sardonically to Thomas H. Benton after the collapse of nullification,
"but for Jackson and Webster to solemnize the coalition [in support of
the Union] with a few mint-juleps! I think I could arrange it, if
assured of the coöperation of yourself and Blair on our side, and