The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-12-12
ADDRESS


New York, Pennsylvania, NORTH .aroi'n H.
rylaue. Connecticut, Vernon Nen noI.'.nre
shire Maine. New Jersey, Ceofga' De'a Ct;
Rhode Island, Kentucky Tennrssee' - ~"
Iocssiana Indiana, MiSissiPp'' ii'"o'S' '''N
ms and Missouri: ,,o,.-
We the n sn, iisse solemny and deliberately |
10 0ohseni our paramount sovereign capacity
neclareoct of Congress approved the IGN Gay
ulaAAV, 1928, and the ACT approved INC i4tn
July. 1882, altering and amending Tie several
acts imposins dates on imports, are unconsti,
tutional and therefore absolutely poio' anu OF
M h;nanc force within the limits OF this State
ma e., lie burmese of carrying this declara- /
49,, INTO C,iI and complete effect, we have in
.yas,.d The LEGISLATURE with ample powers, and
,,.aa !; Ibe duty of all the iunctonarIes and all
,hs c;,izens Of the State, on their allegiance, to
co.o,cra,e in enforcing the aforesaid declara-
lion.
In resor,ing 10 this important measure, to
which we have been impelled by the most sa-
cred of ali the duties which free people can
owe other 10 the memory of their ancestors or
10 The claims Of their posterity, we feel tha. 1t
is due 10 the Intimate political relation which
er;sts hetyeen South Carolina and the other
States Of this coHfederacy, thatwe should pre-
semi clear and distinct exposition of the prin
ciDles on which we have acted. and of the causes
by which we have been reluctantly constrained
to assume this attitude os sovereign resistance
in relation to the usuIpatlons o. the Federal
Government.
For this purpose it will be necessary 10 state,
briefly, what we conceive 10 DO the relation
created by the Federal Constitution, between
the States and the General Government; and
also what we conceive 10 be the true char
actcr and practical operation of the system of
protecting duties, i, affects our rights or in.
ierests, and our liberties.
We hold, then, that on their separation from
the Crown of Great Britain, the several Colo
MES became free and independent States, each
enjoying the separate and independent right of
self government and that no authority can be
exercised over them or within their limits, but
by their consent, respectively given as States,
1t is equally true that the Constitution of the
United States is a compact formed between the
several States, acting as sovereign communi-
ties; tn at the government created by 1T is a
Joint agency of the States, appointed to execute
the powers enumerated and granted by that in
strument tina, all its acts not Intentionally au.
thoriZed, are of themselves essentially null and
void and that the States have the right, in the
same sovereign capacity in which they adopt
cd the federal Constitution, to pronounce, i'll
the lastres authoritative Judgment on the
usurpatIons of the federal government, and TO
adopt such measures as they may deem neces-
sary and expedient 10 arrest the operation oil
tut uHCoHstitullOudt hNls W tHdb government
within their respective limits. Such we deem
to be the inherent rights of the States-rghts
in the veTy asi'sre Of things, absolutely insepa-
rable from sovereignty. Nor Is sac duty OF a
State, TO arrest an unconstitutional and oppres-
sive act Of the federal government less impera-
tive, than the right is incontestbe Each
State, nv rat(ying the federal Constitution,
and becoming member OF The contederacy
contracted obligation TO protect and de-
D 4. . Ia
usurpa,ions of the federal government, as by
sustaining that government in the exercise Of
the pewers actually conferred upon il And
the obligation of the oath which is imposed un-
der the Constitution, on every iunctionary OF
the States to preserve, protect. and defend
the federal Constitution, as clearly compre-
henas the duty of protecting and defending II
against the usurpaiions Of the federal govern
ment, as that of protecting and defending it
against violation in any other form OF from any
other smarter
1t is tue that in ratifving the Federal Con
sttutlon, ,he State placed large and impor
tani portion of the rights of their citizens un-
der the JOINT protection of all the States, with
a view 10 their more effectual security but it
is not less true that they reserved portion
still larger, and not less important, under their
own immediate guardianship, and in relation 10
which their original obligation to protect their
citizens from whatever quarter assailed, re-
. mains unchanged and undlminshed.
But clear and undOubted as we regard the
right and sacred as we regard the duty OF the
States 10 interposc their sovereign power for
the purpose of protecting their citizens from
the unconstitutional and oppressive acrs 2f the
Federal Government, vet We are as clearly OF
the opinion that nothing short of that high
moral and political necessity, which results
from acts of usurpation, subversive Of the rights
and liberties Of the people, should induce
. member of this coniederaey to resort 10 this
iuterposition. Such, however, Is the melan-
Choly ana painful necessity under which we
have declared the acts Of Congress, imposing
protecting duties, null and void within the lirn-
lis of South Carolina. The spirit and the prin
ciples which animate ed your ancestors and ours
III the councils and in the fields of their com
mon glory, forbid us TO submit any longer TO a
system of Legislation, now become the estab-
lished policy of the Federal Government, bv
which we are reduced to a condition of coloni-
al vassalsge, in all its aspects more oppressive
and intolerable that that from which our COM
mon ancestors relieved themselves by the war
of the revolution There is no right which en-,
tiers more essentially into a just conception of
liberty, than that Of the free and unrestricted
use of the productions of our industry. This
clearly involves the right of carrying the pro-
dueiions of that industry wherever they can be
most advanta geously exchanged whether in
foreign or domestic markets. South Carolina
produces. almost exclusively, agricultural sta.
pies which derive their principal value from
the demand Cor them in foreign countries I'm
der these circumstances, her natural markets
are abroad: and restrictive duties imposed upon
her intercourse with those markets, diminish
the exchangeable value Of her productions very
nearly to the full extent Of those duties.
Under a system of free trade, the aggregate
crop of South Carolina could be exchanged for
a larger quantity of manufactures, by at least
one third than il can now be exchanged for
under the protecting system. 1t is no less evil
dent, that the value Of that crop is diminished
by the projecting system very nearly, if not
precisely, TO the extent that the aggregate
quantity Of manufactures, which can be obtain.
ed for it. is diminished /. Is, indeed, strictly
and philosophicaly true, that the quantity Of
. consumable commodities which can be obtain
ed for the cotton and rice annually produced by
the industry Of The State, is the precise meas
nre either aggregate value But for the prev
ihlout and habtual error Of confouhding the
money price with the exchangeable value of
our agricultural staples, these propositions
would be regarded as selfevident If the pro.
ling duties were repealed, one hundred bales
'or cotton or one hundred barrels of rice, would
puschase as large quantity Of manufactures
as one hundred and fifty will now purchase
The annual income Of the State, its means of
purchasing and consuming the necessaries and
comforts and Injuries Of life, would be increas
cd IN a corresponding degree.
Almost The entire cottOn. crop OF South Caro-
Ina, amounting annually 10 more than six mil
lions of dollars, is ultimately exchanged either
Tor ioreign manufacturer, subject 10 protecting
dulles, or Tor similar domestic manufactures
The natural value Of that crop would he all the
laRftt -. - -.