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A D D R E S S T O T H E P E O P L E O F

T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S

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–––––––––––––––––––––– John C. Calhoun ––––––––––––––––––––––

To the People of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,

Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New

Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North

Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana,

Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama and Missouri:

We, the people of South Carolina assembled in Convention in our sovereign

capacity, as one of the parties to the compact, which formed the Constitution of

the United States, have declared the act of Congress, approved the 14th of July,

1832…to be unconstitutional, and therefore null and void.…

But, while we hold the rights and duties of the States to be such as we have

stated, we are deeply impressed with the conviction…that the occasion to justify

a State in interposing its authority, ought to be one of necessity; where all other

peaceful remedies have been unsuccessfully tried; and where the only

alternative is, interposition on one side, or oppression of its citizens, and

imminent danger to the Constitution and liberty of the country on the other;

and such we hold to be the present.…

That the prohibitory, or protective system, which, as has been stated, is

embraced in the acts which we have declared to be unconstitutional, and

therefore null and void, is, in fact, unconstitutional, unequal, and oppressive in

its operation on this, and the other staple and exporting States, and dangerous

to the Constitution and liberty of the country,—and that (all other peaceful

remedies having been tried without success) an occasion has occurred, where it

becomes the right and duty of the State to interpose its authority to arrest the

evil within its limits, we hold to be certain; and it is under this deep and solemn

conviction, that we have acted.

For more than ten years, the system has been the object of continued, united,

and strenuous opposition on the part both of the Government of the State and

its representatives in Congress; and, we may add, of the other staple and

exporting States. During this long period, all the ordinary means of

opposition—discussion, resolution, petition, remonstrance, and protest—have

been tried and exhausted, without effect. We have, during the whole time,

waited with patience under the unequal and oppressive action of the system,

hoping that the final payment of the public debt, when there would be no

longer a pretext for its continuance, would bring it to a termination. That

period, for all practical purposes, is now passed.… The system remains in full

force;—its restrictive character established and openly avowed; the inequality of

its action, between this and other sections, greatly increased; and the amount of

its exertions vastly exceeding,—probably doubling, the just and constitutional

wants of the Government.…

We…hold it as unquestionable, that, on the separation from the Crown of

Great Britain, the people of the several colonies became free and independent

States, possessed of the full right of self-government;—and that no power can

be rightfully exercised over them, but by the consent and authority of their

respective States, expressed or implied. We also hold it as equally

unquestionable, that the Constitution of the United States is a compact between

the people of the several States, constituting free, independent, and sovereign

communities;—that the Government it created was formed and appointed to

execute, according to the provisions of the instrument, the powers therein

granted, as the joint agent of the several States; that all its acts, transcending

these powers, are simply and of themselves, null and void, and that in case of

such infractions, it is the right of the States, in their sovereign capacity, each

acting for itself and its citizens, in like manner as they adopted the Constitution,

to judge thereof in the last resort, and to adopt such measures—not inconsistent

with the compact—as may be deemed fit.…

That something is wrong, all admit; and that the assumption, by

Government, of a power so extensive and dangerous, and the control which it

has thereby acquired, through its fiscal operations, over the wealth and labor of

the country,—exacting, in the shape of high duties, a large portion of the annual

income of our section, and bestowing it in the form of monopolies and

appropriations on the other,—is the true cause of the existing disorder…we

cannot entertain a doubt. To this unequal and excessive fiscal action of the

Government, may be…clearly traced the growing discontent and alienation on

the part of the oppressed portion of the community…—and with it, the

increasing spirit of servility, subserviency, and corruption on the other;—which

all must see and acknowledge, and which every lover of the country, and its

institutions must deplore.…

Such, we hold to be the general character of the system, viewed in its political

connections, and its certain effects, if left to its natural operations;—to arrest

the evils of which, within our limits, we have interposed the authority of the

State as the only peaceful remedy that remains of defending the Constitution

against its encroachments,—the citizens of the State against its oppression,—and

the liberty of the country against its corrupting influence and danger.…

Having thus taken, immovably, her stand, there remain,—to bring the

controversy to a happy termination, but two possible courses. It may be

effected, by the Government ceasing to exercise the unconstitutional power,

through which, under the name of duties, it has assumed the control over the

labor and wealth of the country, and substituting, for the present high rates, an

average ad valorem duty,—or some other system of revenue equally just and

fair;—or by obtaining a positive grant of the power, in the manner prescribed by

the Constitution.

But, when we consider the great interests at stake, and the number and

magnitude of the questions involved in the issue, directly and indirectly; and the

necessity of a full understanding on all the points, in order to a satisfactory and

permanent adjustment of the controversy; we hold it difficult, if not

impracticable, to bring it to a final and satisfactory close, short of convening

again, the body, to whose authority and wisdom we are indebted for the

Constitution: and under this conviction we have made it the duty of the

Legislature of the State to apply, in the manner prescribed by the Constitution,

for a general convention of the States, as the most certain, prompt, and

effectual, if not the only practicable mode of terminating the conflict, and

restoring harmony and confidence to the country. If the other States of the

Union be actuated by the same feelings which govern us;—if their desire to

maintain the Constitution,—to preserve the Union,—and to transmit to posterity

the blessings of liberty,—be as strong as ours (and we doubt not that it is), this

most august of all assemblies,—provided by the Constitution to meet this and

similar emergencies,—as a great moral substitute for revolution and force,—

may be convened in a few months; when the present, and every other

constitutional question, endangering the peace and harmony of the Union,—

may be satisfactorily adjusted.…