pite the most strenuous resistance on the part of the
minority who called themselves Unionists. South Carolina now formally
declared the tariff laws of the United States suspended after February
1, 1833, unless the Federal Government gave some relief; and it was
further declared that in case no relief were accorded, and the national
authority should be enforced within the boundaries of their State, war
would immediately ensue. The new governor, James Hamilton, and the
legislature, which might be called into extra session at any time, were
authorized to call out the militia, purchase arms, and organize for the
conflict.

Meanwhile Jackson had been preparing for the contest in the Southwest.
In 1827-28 all the legislatures of that region had declared the
protective tariff unconstitutional and some had threatened secession.
But after the election of 1828 these same legislatures refused to concur
in the doctrines of nullification which South Carolina submitted to
them. The situation had changed. John Quincy Adams, the New Englander,
was President in 1828; Andrew Jackson, the Westerner and the most
popular man in the country, was at the head of the Union in 1832.
Besides, Jackson was already moving the Indians from the cotton lands,
going so far as to acquiesce in the flagrant nullification of the
federal law by the Georgia governor and legislature. The decision of the
Supreme Court in favor of the Cherokees, who refused to surrender their
lands, was publicly flouted by the President. It was plain that the
planters of the Southwest would get what they wanted even if they had to
violate treaties of the Federal Government. They refused to sustain
South Carolina. Had not the President carried every county in Alabama
and Mississippi in the recent election?

And in the older South the anti-national feeling had wonderfully cooled
since 1828. North Carolina reversed her attitude; Tennessee would not
consider Calhoun's plan of bringing the Union to terms. In Virginia the
tobacco counties of the Piedmont section united with the tidewater
counties and made a show of supporting South Carolina. New England men
who had as recently as 1820 declared the protective system
unconstitutional had no thought of maintaining such a doctrine when
advocated by Calhoun.

Thus, instead of a solid group of planter States, South Carolina's
proposed national referendum met with almost unanimous opposition.
Jackson had undermined the party of Calhoun,