Remarks of Mr. Calhoun of South Carolina on the bill to prevent the interference of certain federal officers in elections: delivered in the Senate of the United States February 22, 1839

On Nullification and the Force Bill


Calhoun's speech on the force bill was one of the best encapsulations of the argument over what the nature of the American union actually is. "The people of Carolina," Calhoun's said, "believe that the Union is a union of States, and not of individuals..." With resurgent nationalism becoming common again in Western polities, Calhoun's speech begs the modern American citizenry to consider whether the continual consolidation of political power to the federal state under the auspices of an unconstitutional national ideal will continue to be politically prudent.