of Massachusetts, went on record that "it was permissible to discuss a
dissolution of the Union, amicably if we can--forcibly if we must."

Two years later, Henry Clay taunted the Massachusetts leaders with this
threat to dismember the Union. In 1844, Charles Francis Adams, in a
speech opposing the annexation of Texas, affirmed the right of the
Northern States to dissolve the Union. Even Charles Sumner and Horace
Greeley held the same views in 1861. The editor was anxious to "let the
erring sisters go," believing that the withdrawal was parliamentary;
while Charles Sumner said: "If they will only go, we will build a bridge
of gold for them to go over on."

But it was Calhoun who carried the doctrine of _Nullification_ to its
full development, and who worked out the theory of sovereignty. In the
debate with Webster, on the Force Bill, he stated his argument as
follows: "The people of Carolina believe that the Union is a union of
States and not of individuals; that it was formed by the States, and
that the citizens of the several States were bound to it through the
acts of their several States; that each State ratified the Constitution
for itself, and that it was only by such ratification of the States that
any obligation was imposed upon its citizens.... On this principle the
people of the State [South Carolina] have declared by the ordinance that
the Acts of Congress which imposed duties under the authority to lay
imposts, were acts not for revenue, as intended by the Constitution, but
for protection, and therefore null and void." "The terms union, federal,
united, all imply a combination of sovereignties, a confederation of
States. The sovereignty is in the several States, and our system is a
union of twenty-four sovereign powers, under a constitutional compact,
and not of a divided sovereignty between the States severally and the
United States."