AND THE SENTIMENT OF UNION 391 



doctrine of nullification on its first bold announcement 

 in the Senate was certainly the greatest; and the 

 speech was equal to the occasion. It struck a chord 

 in the heart of the American people which had not 

 ceased to vibrate when the crisis came thirty years 

 later. It gave articulate expression to a sentiment of 

 loyalty to the Union that went on growing until the 

 American citizen was as prompt to fight for the Union 

 as the Mussulman for his Prophet or the Cavalier for 

 his king. It furnished, moreover, a clear and compre- 

 hensive statement of the theory by which that senti- 

 ment of loyalty was justified. Of the men who in 

 after years gave up their lives for the Union, doubt- 

 less the greater number had as schoolboys declaimed 

 passages from this immortal speech and caught some 

 inspiration from its fervid patriotism. Probably no 

 other speech ever made in Congress has found so 

 many readers or exerted so much influence in giving 

 shape to men's thoughts. 



Three years afterward Mr. Webster returned to the 

 struggle with nullification, being now pitted against 

 the master of that doctrine instead of the disciple. 

 In the interval South Carolina had attempted to put 

 the doctrine into practice, and had been resolutely 

 met by President Jackson with his proclamation of 

 the loth of December, 1832. In response to a spe- 

 cial message from the President, early in January, 

 1833, the so-called "force bill," empowering the 

 President to use the army and navy, if necessary, for 

 enforcing the revenue laws in South Carolina, was 

 reported in the Senate. The bill was opposed by 

 Democrats who did not go so far as to approve of 

 nullification, but the defection of these senators was 



