fullscreen: A history of the United States for schools

232 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 
selves properly and did their. work well. But when Jackson 
came into power he dismissed great numbers of these office- 
holders in order to make room for his own faithful followers 
who clamored loudly for office. He could do this with a good 
sonscience, for he believed that in most cases no special fitness 
was required for public service. One man, he said, could per- 
form the duties of an office about as well as another. Moreover, 
Jackson looked upon the offices as the spoils of political warfare, 
and he believed in the maxim, “To the victor belong the spoils.” 
So he used the offices in his gift to reward his political friends, 
and the Presidents who came after him usually followed his ex- 
ample. 
177. South Carolina and Nullification.— The tariff question, 
which began to give trouble under Adams, grew far more 
troublesome under Jackson. We have seen that the people of 
South Carolina, in their resentment against the tariff of 1828, 
resolved not to buy the goods of Northern manufacturers, Soon 
their resentment grew still stronger, and it was not long before 
they began to talk of destroying the effect of the law entirely by 
refusing to pay the duties on goods brought into their harbors. 
Could they rightfully do this? Could a State thus disobey a law 
of Congress? This was the old ques- 
tion of nullification, which came up 
first in 1799 (p. 166) and later in 
1814 (p. 203). In 1830 the question 
came up in the Senate of the United 
States and gave rise to one of the 
most famous debates in our history- 
In this debate Senator Hayne of 
South. Carolina spoke on the side of 
nullification. He contended that when 
the national government passed a law 
| that was contrary to the Constitution 
Borat ‚Daniel Webster: aiea Of the United States, the State gov- 
at Marshfield, Massachusetts m 1832. ernment had a right to step in and 
prevent the law from going into effect. He also contended that 
each Statu w&s to decide for itself whether a law was contrary
	        
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