hat military Government which
he is about to institute, by passing into hostile hands, becomes
a weapon for his destruction, not for his protection. All
dangers which we may be called upon to confront as independent
communities are light, in my estimation, compared with that
which would hang over us if this Federal Government had such
physical force; if its character was changed from a
representative agent of States to a central Government, with a
military power to be used at discretion against the States.
To-day it may be the idea that it will be used against some
State which nullifies the Constitution and the laws; some State
which passes laws to obstruct or repeal the laws of the United
States; some State which, in derogation of our rights of transit
under the Constitution, passes laws to punish a citizen found
there with property recognized by the Constitution of the United
States, but prohibited by the laws of that State.

"But how long might it be before that same military force would
be turned against the minority section which had sought its
protection; and that minority thus become mere subjugated
provinces under the great military government that it had thus
contributed to establish? The minority, incapable of aggression,
is, of necessity, always on the defensive, and often the victim
of the desertion of its followers and the faithlessness of its
allies. It therefore must maintain, not destroy, barriers.

"I do not know that I fully appreciate the purpose of my friend
from Missouri; whether, when he spoke of establishing military
posts along the borders of the States, and arming the Federal
Government with adequate physical power to enforce
constitutional rights (I suppose he meant obligations), he meant
to confer upon this Federal Government a power which it does not
now possess to coerce a State. If he did, then, in the language
of Mr. Madison, he is providing, not for a union of States, but
for the destruction of States; he is providing, under the name
of Union, to carry on a war against States; and I care not
whether it be against Massachusetts or Missouri, it is equally
objectionable to me; and I will resist it alike in the one case
and in the other, as subversive of the great principle on which
our Government rests; as a heresy to be confronted at its first