d therefore null
and void; its enforcement in South Carolina is unlawful; if the federal
government attempts to coerce the state into obeying the law, "the
people of this state will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all
further obligations to maintain or preserve their political connection
with the people of the other states and will forthwith proceed to
organize a separate government and do all other acts and things which
sovereign and independent states may of right do."

_Southern States Condemn Nullification._--The answer of the country to
this note of defiance, couched in the language used in the Kentucky
resolutions and by the New England Federalists during the war of 1812,
was quick and positive. The legislatures of the Southern states, while
condemning the tariff, repudiated the step which South Carolina had
taken. Georgia responded: "We abhor the doctrine of nullification as
neither a peaceful nor a constitutional remedy." Alabama found it
"unsound in theory and dangerous in practice." North Carolina replied
that it was "revolutionary in character, subversive of the Constitution
of the United States." Mississippi answered: "It is disunion by
force--it is civil war." Virginia spoke more softly, condemning the
tariff and sustaining the principle of the Virginia resolutions but
denying that South Carolina could find in them any sanction for her
proceedings.

_Jackson Firmly Upholds the Union._--The eyes of the country were turned
upon Andrew Jackson. It was known that he looked with no friendly
feelings upon nullification, for, at a Jefferson dinner in the spring of
1830 while the subject was in the air, he had with laconic firmness
announced a toast: "Our federal union; it must be preserved." When two
years later the open challenge came from South Carolina, he replied that
he would enforce the law, saying with his frontier directness: "If a
single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to the laws of
the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hands on
engaged in such conduct upon the first tree that I can reach." He made
ready to keep his word by preparing for the use of military and naval
forces in sustaining the authority of the federal government. Then in a
long and impassioned proclamation to the people of South Carolina he
pointed out the national character of the union, and announced his
solemn resolve to preserve it by all constitutional means. Nullification
he branded as