ABSTRACT
The generous and conciliatory tone exhibited by General Jackson in his message of December 4, failed to arouse any reciprocating sentiments among those who managed the affairs of South Carolina. It seemed rather to make them more violent and inflammatory. Their conduct bore the appearance of being incited by the belief that they had intimidated the President, and that his liberality was the consequence of fear more than of patriotism. Among the causes of objection to the tariff laws, the Proclamation sets forth the following that "although they purport to be laws for raising revenue, they were in reality intended for the protection of manufactures, which purpose the nullifying ordinance asserts to be unconstitutional". The assertion that the tariff laws operated unequally - an assertion often repeated now - was disposed of with the same ease and clearness. The arguments of General Jackson covered the whole ground of the ordinance and laws of South Carolina.
