ad any strength inherent in
itself, the physical situation of the country would render the excise of
that strength very difficult. [See Note 2.] The United States cover an
immense territory; they were separated from each other by great
distances; and the population is disseminated over the surface of a
country which is still half a wilderness. If the Union were to
undertake to enforce the allegiance of the confederate States by
military means, it would be in a position very analagous to that of
England at the time of the War of Independence."

The Federal Government never displayed more weakness than in the
question of the tariff put upon English goods to support the
manufacturers of the Northern States. The Southern States, as producers
and exporters, complained of this as prejudicial to their interests.
South Carolina, one of the smallest States, led the van, and the storm
rose. This State passed an act by convention, _annulling_ the Federal
Act of the tariff, armed her militia, and prepared for war. The
consequence was that the Federal Government abandoned the principle of
the tariff, but at the same time, to save the disgrace of its defeat, it
passed an act warranting the President to _put down resistance by
force_, or, in other words, making the Union _compulsory_. South
Carolina _annulled_ this law of the Federal Government, but as the State
gained its point by the Federal Government having abandoned the
principle of the tariff, the matter ended.

Another instance in which the Federal Government showed its weakness
when opposed to a State, was in its conflict with Georgia. The Federal
Government had entered into a solemn, and what ought to have been an
inviolable treaty, with the Cherokee Indians, securing to them the
remnant of their lands in the State of Georgia. The seventh Article of
that treaty says, "The United States _solemnly_ guarantee to the
Cherokee nation all their lands not hitherto ceded." The State of
Georgia, when its population increased, did not like the Indians to
remain, and insisted upon their removal. What was the result?--that the
Federal Government, in violation of a solemn treaty and the national
honour, submitted to the dictation of Georgia, and the Indians were
removed to the other side of the Mississippi.

These instances are sufficient to prove the weakness of the Federal
Government when opposed to the States; it is still weaker when opposed
to the will of the majority. I