No. 27. Nullification and Compromise; A Retrospective View.

Williams, John Mason; Loyal Publication Society

Published by Francis & Loutrel, Stationers & Printers, No. 45 Maiden Lane, New York, 1863

About this Item

Original publisher's beige paper pamphlet. Text printed in black ink. Formerly bound together with other tracts. 5 1/2" x 8 1/2." Thirty-two pages, complete. Pages are clean and intact overall but have light age toning and splitting and slight chipping along spine (spine completely split between Pages 16 and 17). A Very Good copy. This pamphlet is No. 27 in a series of pro-Union articles issued by the Loyal Publication Society of New York. The Society was founded in early 1863 to help boost morale for the Union cause through the circulation of pro-Union pamphlets after the Union had suffered a series of defeats in the American Civil War. This pamphlet contains a brief history of the Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833 by John Mason Williams that was first published in 1860. The Nullification Crisis involved the federal government and South Carolina. The Crisis began when South Carolina claimed that the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and prepared its military to ward off federal enforcement. South Carolina claimed that state nullification, the idea that states have the right to nullify federal laws they deem unconstitutional, was valid. The federal government, in turn, passed the Force Bill which permitted its use of military force against South Carolina. South Carolina and the federal government eventually reached an agreement after the Compromise Tariff of 1833 was passed in order to pacify South Carolina. However, the Nullification Crisis came to be a prelude to and a model for Southern secession and Southern slaveholders' claims that states' rights protected slavery. Williams writes that the Nullification Crisis was "one of the outbursts of that 'irrepressible conflict' between freedom and slavery ." Williams discusses the subject in general chronological order and refers to several outside sources for his research. In the first half of the pamphlet, Williams analyzes many aspects of the Crisis such as the reasons why South Carolina opposed the tariffs, South Carolina's attempts to nullify federal laws, other states' reactions to the Crisis, and the actions taken by President Andrew Jackson and other politicians in response to the Crisis. With the exception of Virginia, all of the states vehemently denounced South Carolina's nullification proceedings. These states argued that nullification threatened the stability of the Union and was antithetical to the republican principles governing the United States. In the latter half of the pamphlet, Williams describes the response of Jackson, how the Crisis was concluded, and aftermath of the Crisis. Williams excoriates South Carolina for doubling down on its nullification efforts following the near-unanimous denouncement of its actions by the other states and federal government. Williams quotes Senator Robbins of Rhode Island who discerned the troubling implications of the Crisis, "We have seen a State arm herself with this power [of nullifying federal laws] . Now we offer to her this [compromise tariff bill] to induce her, not to renounce this power, but to refrain from its exercise at present. Is this not a practical recognition of this power? . If this precedent is to govern, where is the security for the stability of the Union? . If [the bill] does pass, it may smother the fire now raging in one place, but I fear it will preserve the embers that one day will consume the fabric of the Union." Other Northern senators correctly predicted the rise of the Confederacy and the threat of a civil war as a result of the Nullification Crisis. Williams finishes with a searing critique of Jackson's response to the Crisis. He argues that it was "morally and politically wrong" for Jackson "to adopt a temporizing, compromising policy which sacrifices future permanent good to present and transient ease and convenience." He argues that the Crisis ultimately empowered the Southern states and was a direct cause of the ongoing Civil War.

Seller Inventory # 026584

Bibliographic Details

• Title: No. 27. Nullification and Compromise; A Retrospective View.
• Publisher: Francis & Loutrel, Stationers & Printers, No. 45 Maiden Lane, New York
• Publication Date: 1863
• Language: English
• Binding: No Binding
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature
  • U.S. History
  • Civil War