ndence; that sacred Union, hitherto inviolate, which, perfected by
our happy Constitution, has brought us, by the favor of Heaven, to a
state of prosperity at home and high consideration abroad rarely, if
ever, equaled in the history of nations:

To preserve this bond of our political existence from destruction, to
maintain inviolate this state of national honor and prosperity, and to
justify the confidence my fellow-citizens have reposed in me, I, Andrew
Jackson, President of the United States, have thought proper to issue
this my proclamation, stating my views of the Constitution and laws
applicable to the measures adopted by the convention of South Carolina
and to the reasons they have put forth to sustain them, declaring the
course which duty will require me to pursue, and, appealing to the
understanding and patriotism of the people, warn them of the
consequences that must inevitably result from an observance of the
dictates of the convention.

Strict duty would require of me nothing more than the exercise of those
powers with which I am now or may hereafter be invested for preserving
the peace of the Union and for the execution of the laws; but the
imposing aspect which opposition has assumed in this case, by clothing
itself with State authority, and the deep interest which the people of
the United States must all feel in preventing a resort to stronger
measures while there is a hope that anything will be yielded to
reasoning and remonstrance, perhaps demand, and will certainly justify,
a full exposition to South Carolina and the nation of the views I
entertain of this important question, as well as a distinct enunciation
of the course which my sense of duty will require me to pursue.

The ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of resisting
acts which are plainly unconstitutional and too oppressive to be
endured, but on the strange position that any one State may not only
declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit its execution; that they
may do this consistently with the Constitution; that the true
construction of that instrument permits a State to retain its place in
the Union and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those it may
choose to consider as constitutional. It is true, they add, that to
justify this abrogation of a law it must be palpably contrary to the
Constitution; but it is evident that to give the right of resisting laws
of that description, coupled with the uncontrolled righ