Exposition and Protest (1828–1829)
EXPOSITION AND PROTEST (1828–1829)
john c. calhoun drafted the Exposition in 1828. The next year, the legislature of South Carolina published the Exposition in amended form along with its own resolution of protest against the tariff act of 1828. Like most of the great controversial documents in American politics it took the form of a discourse on the meaning of the Constitution. It argued the case for strict construction of the powers of the federal government and spelled out the doctrine of nullification.
Rejecting the argument that a protective tariff was justified by custom and precedent, the Exposition declared: "Ours is not a government of precedent.… The only safe rule is the Constitution itself." But even the Constitution was not a safe rule if its interpretation were left to Congress and the Supreme Court, which were its creatures. The only authoritative interpreter was the constituent body itself, the people of the states in convention.
According to the Exposition, if a convention in any state declared a federal law unconstitutional, the law was null and void in that state until the Constitution was amended to authorize the disputed act. Should an amendment pass the state would have no recourse but secession.
Dennis J. Mahoney
(1986)
Bibliography
Freehling, William W. 1965 Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816–1865. New York: Harper & Row.