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

In the 1830s the United States faced a mounting fiscal crisis. A series of protective tariffs placed a heavy burden on the Southern states, especially South Carolina, sparking fierce debate in Congress. Delivered to the Senate in February 1833, this speech by a leading Southern statesman outlines the region’s frustration with a tax system that seemed to favor one part of the country over another. He frames the controversy as a clash between a uniform national debt plan and an inequitable revenue policy.

Calhoun argues that the Union is a compact of sovereign states, each retaining the right to judge the constitutionality of federal actions. He defends the controversial test oath and the doctrine of nullification, insisting that South Carolina’s ordinance—declaring certain protective duties unconstitutional—should be obeyed just as any constitutional provision. The address captures the tension between federal authority and state sovereignty that would soon erupt into a national showdown. Listeners will hear a vivid portrait of the political rhetoric that set the stage for the later Force Bill and the deepening sectional divide.