tate against the attempt of the President of
the United States to seduce them from their allegiance"; and the
resulting counterblast, in the form of a proclamation made public on
the 20th of December, was as vigorous as the liveliest "fire-eater"
could have wished. The Governor declared that the State would maintain
its sovereignty or be "buried beneath its ruins."

The date of the expected crisis--February 1, 1833, when the
nullification ordinance was to take effect--was now near at hand, and
on both sides preparations were pushed. During the interval, however,
the tide turned decidedly against the nullifiers. A call for a general
convention of the States "to determine and consider ... questions of
disputed power" served only to draw out strong expressions of
disapproval of the South Carolina program, showing that it could not
expect even moral support from outside. On the 16th of January Jackson
asked Congress for authority to alter or abolish certain ports of
entry, to use force to execute the revenue laws, and to try in the
federal courts cases that might arise from the present emergency. Five
days later a bill on these lines--popularly denominated the "Force
Bill"--was introduced; and while many men who had no sympathy with
nullification drew back from a plan involving the coercion of a State,
it was soon settled that some sort of measure for strengthening the
President's hand would be passed.

Meanwhile a way of escape from the whole difficulty was unexpectedly
opened. The friends of Van Buren began to fear that the disagreement
of North and South upon the tariff question would cost their favorite
the united support of the party in 1836. Accordingly they set on foot
a movement in Congress to bring about a moderate reduction of the
prevailing rates; and it was of course their hope that the nullifiers
would be induced to recede altogether from the position which they had
taken. Through Verplanck of New York, the Ways and Means Committee of
the House brought in a measure reducing the duties, within two years,
to about half the existing rates. Jackson approved the plan, although
personally he had little to do with it.

But though the Verplanck Bill could not muster sufficient support to
become law, it revived tariff discussion on promising lines, and it
brought nullification proceedings to a halt in the very nick of time.
Shortly before February 1, 1833, the leading nullifiers came together
in Charleston and entere