rrival he received an
order to proceed to Washington.

The passage of the tariff act of 1828 had produced great excitement in
several of the Southern States, but especially in South Carolina. By
this act the duties on foreign goods imported into this country were
raised much higher than by any previous tariff. It was passed for the
protection of American manufactures, of which at that time none were
in the South, but all, or nearly all, in the New England States.

The cotton planters of South Carolina opposed and resisted it on the
ground that it was not only in violation of the Constitution of the
United States, but injurious to their interests, and in the interest
of other States as opposed to theirs. They argued, as it is now
argued, that a tariff is a tax, and that this tariff discriminated in
favor of certain portions of the country as against other portions,
and that therefore it unquestionably violated the fundamental law of
the land.

This tariff act was passed on May 15, 1828, and on the 12th of June
following the citizens of Colleton District, South Carolina, met at
the courthouse in Walterborough and adopted an address to the people.
Among other things this address stated: "For it is not enough that
imposts laid for protection of domestic manufactures are oppressive,
and transfer in their operation millions of our property to Northern
capitalists. If we have given our bond, let them take our blood. Those
who resist these imposts must deem them unconstitutional, and the
principle is abandoned by the payment of one cent--as much as ten
millions." The address assumed "open resistance to the laws of the
Union."

Governor Taylor was asked to convene the Legislature. He declined to
take action on the request of the Colleton meeting, on the ground that
"the time of great public excitement is not a time propitious for cool
deliberation or wise determination."

George McDuffie, a member of the House of Representatives in Congress
from South Carolina, and a man of high character and great ability,
was the leading spirit in the opposition to this tariff and resistance
to its enforcement. At a dinner in Columbia, S.C., he recommended that
the State fix a tax on Northern manufactured goods, and proposed as a
toast "Millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute." In the
district of St. Helena, S.C., a public meeting was held at which this
resolution was adopted:

"_Resolved_, That, differing from those of our fe