Henry Clay deserves great praise and glory for his persistent efforts at conciliation,—­not only in matters pertaining to the tariff, but in the question of slavery to harmonize conflicting interests.  But Calhoun—­the greatest man whom the South has produced—­would listen to no concessions, foreseeing that the slightest would endanger the institution with which the interests and pride of the Southern States were identified.  At this crisis the country needed a man at the helm whose will was known to be inflexible.

In the session of 1830, on a question concerning the sales of public (U.S.) lands in the several States, arose the great debate between Colonel R.Y.  Hayne, of South Carolina, and Daniel Webster on the limitations of Federal power; and Hayne’s declaration of the right of a State to nullify a Federal law that was prejudicial to its interests gained him great applause throughout the South.  John C. Calhoun, United States Senator from South Carolina, was at the head of the extreme State Sovereignty party, and at a banquet celebrating the birthday of Jefferson, January 13, 1830, he proffered the toast “The Union:  next to Liberty, the most dear; may we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the States, and distributing equally the benefit and burden of the Union.”  Jackson, as President, and practical chief of the Democracy, was of course present at this political banquet.  His profound patriotism and keen political instinct scented danger, and with his usual impulse to go well forward to meet an enemy, he gave, “The Federal Union:  it must be preserved.”  This simple declaration was worth more than all the wordy messages and proclamations he ever issued; it not only served notice upon the seceders of his time that they had a great principle to deal with, but it echoed after him, and was the call to which the nation victoriously rallied in its supreme struggle with treason, thirty years later.

Notwithstanding the evident stand taken by the President, the Calhoun party continued their opposition on State lines to the Federal authority.  And when Congress passed the tariff of July, 1832, the South Carolina legislature in the autumn called a convention, which pronounced that Act and the Tariff Act of 1828 unconstitutional,—­“null and void, and no law;” called on the State legislature to pass laws to prevent the execution of the Federal revenue acts; and declared that any attempt at coercion on the part of the Federal authorities would be regarded as absolving South Carolina and all its people from all further obligation to retain their union with the other States, and that they should then forthwith proceed to organize a separate government, as a sovereign and independent State.