ate which
has imposed the obligation to declare, in the last resort, the extent
of this obligation, so far as her citizens are concerned; and this
upon the plain principles which exist in all analogous cases of
compact between sovereign bodies. On this principle, the people of the
state, acting in their sovereign capacity in convention, precisely as
they adopted their own and the federal Constitution, have declared by
the ordinance, that the acts of Congress which imposed duties under
the authority to lay imposts, are acts, not for revenue, as intended
by the Constitution, but for protection, and therefore null and void.

[Mr. Calhoun's biographer, Mr. Jenkins, adds,
"Nullification, it has been said, was 'a little
hurricane while it lasted;' but it cooled the air, and
'left a beneficial effect on the atmosphere.' Its
influence was decidedly healthful."]

THE WISE CHOICE.

(_From a speech in 1816._)

This country is now in a situation similar to that which one of the
most beautiful writers of antiquity ascribes to Hercules in his youth.
He represents the hero as retiring into the wilderness to deliberate
on the course of life which he ought to choose. Two goddesses approach
him; one recommending a life of ease and pleasure; the other, of labor
and virtue. The hero adopts the counsel of the latter, and his fame
and glory are known to the world. May this country, the youthful
Hercules, possessing his form and muscles, be animated by similar
sentiments, and follow his example!

OFFICIAL PATRONAGE.

(_Speech in the Senate, 1835._)

Their object is to get and hold office; and their leading political
maxim . . . is that, "to the victors belong the spoils of victory!"[8]
. . . Can any one, who will duly reflect on these things, venture to
say that all is sound, and that our Government is not undergoing a
great and fatal change? Let us not deceive ourselves, the very essence
of a free government consists in considering _offices as public
trusts_, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit
of an individual or a party; and that system of political morals which
regards offices in a different light, as _public prizes_ to be won by
combatants most skilled in all the arts and corruption of political
tactics, and to be used and enjoyed as their proper spoils--strikes a
fatal blow at the very vitals of free institutions.

FOOTNOTE:

[8] William L. Marcy of New York, in the Senate