Martin Van Buren would "name" his successor, and that there was still immediate danger of the liberties of the country being crushed by the consolidation of all powers in the Executive, would have been simply ridiculous. The fears entertained on this head during the administration of Jackson had certainly not been fictitious, though they had been generally very highly colored for the sake of effect. The best proof of their serious character was furnished by a movement for an amendment to the Constitution, abolishing the veto power of the President. Calhoun, however, had not so far lost the sobriety of his judgment as to approve of this idea. He declared the veto "indispensable," because without it "the independence of the President," so far as concerned Congress, would be destroyed. He.shared for the moment the erroneous views of the Whigs as to the future, but as to the past, i. e., the origin of the evil, he went farther back than they. The encroachments of the Executive upon the legislative and judicial department of the government were with him "the second stage of the revolution; but it had begun "many years ago, with the commencement of the restrictive system, and terminated its first stage with the passage of the Force Bill of the last session, which absorbed all the rights and sovereignty of the States, and

Thus

consolidated them in this government." his argument returned to its starting - point. The only way to secure "the preservation of our institutions" was to adopt the doctrine of state sovereignty with all its consequences; and the last cause of all the evils complained of, by which the liberty of the country, and perhaps even the existence of the republic, were put in jeopardy, was the violation of this fundamental principle by the federal government.

From this time forward, every speech of Calhoun which is not strictly confined to some special subject, contains a repetition of these two assertions in some form or other, and his inclination is constantly growing to make the range for his observations, on all subjects whatsoever, wide enough to permit some remarks on these topics, or at least a passing allusion to them. The wiseacres, who laughed all the warnings of the alarmists to scorn, began to consider him a kind of monomaniac on this head. Yet it was they whose minds wandered through the dales and o'er the hills of cloud-land, while his feet remained firmly planted on the rock of actualities. Every day the slavery question became more exclusively the needle which determined the course of the politics of the country, and if safety for the interests of the slave-holders could be obtained at all in the Union, it was

only through the doctrine of state sovereignty. No one understood so well as Calhoun that the appearance of the abolitionists had laid the axe to the root of slavery, though they were but a handful of men and women, with neither fame, social position, office, money, nor the general approbation of the public mind to make them. formidable adversaries; and therefore as yet no one fully understood how terribly in earnest he was and how correctly he read the future, when he declared at every opportunity that the minority, that is the South, was doomed, if state sovereignty was not recognized as the central pillar on which the dome of the Constitution rested.

In January, 1831, William Lloyd Garrison had established in Boston "The Liberator," with the programme of "immediate and unconditional emancipation," and in December, 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society had put forth its "declaration of principles," declaring against slavery a war which excluded the possibility of peace. The slave States were thrown into a wild excitement by the proceedings of the enthusiastic little band, and in the North the mob, very generally countenanced by public opinion and even by the authorities, had begun to hunt the agitators down as criminals who, like Western horse-thieves, were of too danger

ous a character to be admitted within the pale of the law. Some time, however, was yet to elapse, ere the question came directly before Congress. An occasional remark on "the fanatics and madmen of the North, who are waging war against the domestic institutions of the South, under the plea of promoting the general welfare," is therefore about all we hear from Calhoun on this subject, during the first years. But when at last the discussion made its way into the halls of legislation he at once took part in it in a manner which proved that for a long time all his faculties had been concentrated upon the topic; for he, and he alone, fully mastered it.

4

i

CHAPTER VI.

SLAVERY.

IN the Senate the flood-gates of debate were opened by Calhoun's motion (January 7, 1836) not to receive two petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The war of words, in which nearly one half of all the senators took part, lasted until March 11. Even by his Southern colleagues Calhoun was severely reproved for opening this box of Pandora. They accused him of going on a quixotic expedition in search of abstract political principles, because he himself declared that the abolitionists could not possibly "entertain the slightest hope that Congress would pass a law, at this time, to abolish slavery in this District, . . . and that seriously to attempt it would be fatal to their cause." Was it not a frivolous playing with fire and powder to force the discussion of this question upon Congress, since the material rights and interests of the South were absolutely secured by the perfect unanimity of Congress, most energetically backed by public opinion in all the Northern States? Would