(This is part V of
The Nullification Crisis)
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In the crisis South Carolina found itself standing alone, despite the sympathy expressed elsewhere. Jackson's response was measured and firm, but not rash-- at least not in public. In private he threatened to hang Calhoun and all other traitors-- and later expressed regret that he had failed to hang at least Calhoun. In his annual message on December 4, 1832, Jackson announced his firm intention to enforce the tariff, but once again urged Congress to lower the rates.
On December 10 Jackson followed up with his The Nullification Crisis, which characterized the doctrine of nullification as an”
impractical absurdity." He said in part: "I consider, then, the power to annul a law in the United States, assumed by one state, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed." He appealed to the people of his native state not to follow false leaders: "The laws of the United States must be executed....Those who have told you that you might peaceably prevent their execution, deceived you; they could not have been deceived themselves... Their object is disunion. But be not deceived by names. Disunion by armed force is treason."
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