^ AND THE SENTIMENT OF UNION 395 



ent Constitution and Frame of Government, they 

 meant to do nothing more than to amend the articles 

 of the old confederation." As the immediate result of 

 the debates, both the force bill and the compromise 

 tariff bill were adopted, and this enabled Mr. Calhoun 

 to maintain that the useful and conservative character 

 of nullification had been demonstrated, since the action 

 of South Carolina had, without leading to violence, 

 led to such modifications of the tariff as she desired. 

 But the abiding result was, that Mr. Webster had set 

 forth the theory upon which the Union was to be 

 preserved, and that the administration, in acting upon 

 that theory, had established a precedent for the next 

 administration that should be called upon to confront 

 a similar crisis. 



The alliance between Mr. Webster and President 

 Jackson extended only to the question of maintaining 

 the Union. As an advocate of the*policy of a national 

 bank, a protective tariff, and internal improvements, 

 Mr. Webster's natural place was by the side of Mr. 

 Clay in the Whig party, which was now in the process 

 of formation. He was also at one with both the 

 Northern and the Southern sections of the Whig party 

 in opposition to what Mr. Benton called the "demos 

 krateo" principle, according to which the President, 

 in order to carry out the " will of the people," might 

 feel himself authorized to override the constitutional 

 limitations upon his power. This was not precisely 

 what Mr. Benton meant by his principle, but it was 

 the way in which it was practically illustrated in Jack- 

 son's war against the bank. In the course of this 

 struggle, Mr. Webster made more than sixty speeches, 

 remarkable for their wide and accurate knowledge of 



