VOA慢速英语:安德鲁·杰克逊宣布联邦高于各州的权利
From VOA Learning English, welcome to The Making of a Nation -- our weekly program of Americanhistory for people learning English. I’m Steve Ember.
Last week in our series, we talked about the election of 1828. General Andrew Jackson defeatedPresident John Quincy Adams, after a campaign in which both sides made strong and bitteraccusations.
Rowdy Supporters Cheer on the New President
On March 4, 1829, Andrew Jackson was sworn in as president. The sky over Washington was cloudythat day. But the clouds parted, and the sun shone through, as Jackson began the ride to the Capitolbuilding.
Thousands of cheering supporters saw this change in weather as a good sign. So many peoplecrowded around the Capitol that Jackson had to climb a wall and enter from the back. He walked throughthe building and into the open area at the front where the ceremony would be held.
The ceremony itself was simple. Jackson made a speech that few in the crowd were able to hear. Then Chief Justice JohnMarshall swore in the new president. In the crowd was a newspaperman from Kentucky, Amos Kendall. "It is a proud day for the people," Kendall wrote. "General Jackson is their own president."
From the Capitol, Jackson rode down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Behind him followed all those who hadwatched him become the nation's seventh president. The crowds followed him all the way into the White House, where foodand drink had been put out for a party.
Everyone tried to get in at once. Clothing was torn. Glasses and dishes were broken. Chairs and tables were damaged. Neverhad there been a party like this at the president’s mansion.
Jackson stayed for a while. But the crush of people tired him, and he was able to leave. He spent the rest of the day at his hotelroom in Virginia.
The guests at the White House finally left after drinks were put on the table outside the building. Many of the people left throughwindows, because the doorways were so crowded.
Jackson was popular with many voters, who saw him as representing the common man. But Jackson’s first term seemed to be mostly a political battle with his own vice president, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
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| Portrait of John C. Calhoun at Age 40 (1822) |
Calhoun wanted to become the next president. But Jackson preferred his secretary of state, Martin van Buren.
Jackson and Calhoun Split over States' Rights
The split between Jackson and Calhoun deepened over another issue. Jackson learned that Calhoun had once called forJackson's arrest. Calhoun wanted to punish Jackson for his unauthorized military campaign into Spanish Florida in 1818.
The most important division between the two men was Calhoun's belief about who had more power: the states or the federalgovernment. Calhoun came to believe the rights of the states were stronger than the rights of the federal government. Hisfeelings became well known during a debate on a congressional bill.
The year before Jackson took office, Congress passed a bill to require taxes on imports. The purpose of the taxes was toprotect American industries.
The state of South Carolina, Calhoun’s state, opposed the measure. South Carolina, like other Southern states, had almost noindustry. It was an agricultural area. Import taxes would only raise the price of products the South imported.
South Carolina refused to pay the tax. Calhoun wrote a long statement defending South Carolina's action. In the statement, hedeveloped what was called the Doctrine of Nullification. The doctrine declared that the power of the federal government was notsupreme.
Calhoun argued that, instead, supreme power belonged to the states. He said states did not surrender this power when theyapproved the Constitution. In any dispute between the states and the federal government, he said, the states should decidewhat is right.
Calhoun argued that if the federal government passed a law that any state thought was notconstitutional, or against its interests, that state could temporarily suspend the law.
The other states of the union, Calhoun said, would then be asked to decide the question of the law'sconstitutionality. If two-thirds of the states approved the law, the complaining state would have to acceptit, or leave the union. If less than two-thirds of the states approved it, then the law would be rejected.None of the states would have to obey it. It would be nullified — cancelled.
Senators Robert Hayne of South Carolina and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts debated the questionof nullification in Congress. Senator Hayne spoke first. He said that there was no greater evil than givingmore power to the federal government. The major point of his speech could be put into a few words:liberty first, union afterwards.
Senator Webster said Hayne had spoken foolishly. Liberty and union could not be separated, Webstersaid. It was liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable.
No one really knew how President Andrew Jackson felt about nullification. He made no public statementduring the debate. Leaders in South Carolina developed a plan to get the president's support. Theydecided to hold a big dinner honoring the memory of Thomas Jefferson. Jackson agreed to attend the dinner.
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Andrew Jackson |
The speeches were carefully planned. They began by praising the democratic ideas of Jefferson. Next they discussed SouthCarolina's opposition to the import tax.
Finally, the speeches were finished. It was time for toasts. President Jackson made the first one. Hestood up, raised his glass, and looked straight at Vice President John C. Calhoun. He waited for thecheering to stop. "Our union," he said, "it must be preserved."
Calhoun rose with the others to drink the toast. He had not expected Jackson's opposition to nullification.His hand shook, and he spilled some of the wine from his glass.
Calhoun was called on to make the next toast. "The union," he said, "next to our liberty, most dear." Hewaited a moment, then, continued. "May we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting therights of the states and by giving equally the benefits and burdens of the union."
President Jackson left a few minutes later. Most of those at dinner left with him.
Jackson Asserts Federal Power over States' Rights
The nation now knew how the president felt. And the people were with him — opposed to nullification. But the idea was notdead among some people in South Carolina.
The nullifiers held a majority of seats in the state's legislature at that time. They called a special convention. Within five days,convention delegates approved a declaration of nullification. They said citizens of South Carolina need not pay the federalimport taxes.
The nullifiers also declared that if the federal government tried to use force against South Carolina, then the state wouldwithdraw from the union and form its own independent government.
“This cut very deeply with Jackson. Jackson was a nationalist. He was a great believer in the federal union. He was a flag-waving patriot. As Jackson saw it, nullification was the beginning of the end of the United States as a nation.”
That was historian Daniel Feller. He says Jackson believed in a limited federal government. But that did not mean the people ofevery state should decide what the constitution means.
“That way lies chaos. As Jackson said, ‘Either we have a national government or we don’t.’ And if Congress does pass lawswhich might prove to be unconstitutional, we have a procedure for dealing with that. We have the Supreme Court, we have theability of the people and their elected representatives to appeal to Congress to repeal those laws – to take them back. But youcan’t have every state going off on its own and deciding what the Constitution says.’”
Jackson wrote a proclamation answering the nullifiers. In it, he said America's constitution formed a government, not just anassociation, or group, of sovereign states. South Carolina had no right to cancel a federal law or to withdraw from the union.
Jackson explained that it was his duty, as president, to enforce the laws of the land. Even, as Daniel Feller says, if he had touse force.
“It’s going to come to a test of arms, and this I can quote. And it was in italics, underlined, emphasized in the printed version of the proclamation.
‘Disunion by armed force is treason. Are you really read to incur its guilt?’”
Jackson sent eight warships to the port of Charleston, South Carolina, and soldiers to federal military bases in the state.
While preparing to use force, Jackson offered hope for a peaceful settlement. In a message to Congress, he spoke of reducingthe federal import tax that hurt the sale of southern cotton overseas. He said the tax could be reduced, because the nationaldebt would soon be paid.
Congress passed a compromise bill to end the import tax by 1842. South Carolina's congressmen accepted the compromise. And the state's legislature called another convention. This time, the delegates voted to end the nullification act they hadapproved earlier.
They did not, however, give up their belief in the idea of nullification.
Daniel Feller says one reason is because Southern politicians thought they might need to use nullification later. An anti-slaverymovement was beginning to grow in the country. Some southerners worried that Congress would one day make laws they didnot like against slavery.
The issues of slavery and states’ rights would continue to be areas of conflict. Eventually, they would help start the Civil War in 1861.
But well before that, President Andrew Jackson would fight a different battle. The struggle over the Bank of the United Stateswill be our story next week.
I’m Steve Ember, inviting you to join us next time for The Making of a Nation — American history from VOA Learning English.
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