The whole of his previous life had been an unconscious preparation for these great debates.  It was one of the recollections of his childhood, that, in his eighth year, he had bought a handkerchief upon which was printed the Constitution of 1787, which he then read through; and while he was a farmer’s boy at home, the great question of its acceptance or rejection had been decided.  His father’s party was the party for the Constitution, whose only regret concerning it was, that it was not so much of a constitution as they wished it to be.  The Republicans dwelt upon its defects and dangers; the Federalists, upon its advantages and beauties:  so that all that this receptive lad heard of it at his father’s fireside was of its value and necessity.  We see in his youthful orations that nothing in the history of the continent struck his imagination so powerfully as the spectacle of thirty-eight gentlemen meeting in a quiet city, and peacefully settling the terms of a national union between thirteen sovereign States, most of which gave up, voluntarily, what the sword alone was once supposed capable of extorting.  In all his orations on days of national festivity or mourning, we observe that his weightiest eulogy falls upon those who were conspicuous in this great business.  Because Hamilton aided in it, he revered his memory; because Madison was its best interpreter, he venerated his name and deferred absolutely to his judgment.  It was clear to his mind that the President can only dismiss an officer of the government as he appoints him, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he would not permit himself to think so against Mr. Madison’s decision.  His own triumphs at the bar—­those upon which he plumed himself—–­were all such as resulted from his lonely broodings over, and patient study of, the Constitution of his country.  A native of one of the smallest of the States, to which the Union was an unmixed benefit and called for no sacrifice of pride, he grew up into nationality without having to pass through any probation of States’ rights scruples.  Indeed, it was as natural for a man of his calibre to be a national man as it is for his own Monadnock to be three thousand feet above the level of the sea.

The South Carolina Exposition of 1828 appeared to fall still-born from the press.  Neither General Jackson nor any of his nearest friends seem to have been so much as aware of its existence; certainly they attached no importance to it.  Colonel Benton assures us, that to him the Hayne debate, so far as it related to constitutional questions, seemed a mere oratorical display, without adequate cause or object; and we know that General Jackson, intimately allied with the Hayne family and strongly attached to Colonel Hayne himself, wished him success in the debate, and heard with regret that Mr. Webster was “demolishing” him.  Far, indeed, was any one from supposing that a movement had been set on foot which was to end only with the total destruction of the “interest”