Is South Carolina A Part of The Union?
Statue of John C. Calhoun in Charleston, South Carolina. Library of Congress
Now that the government of the Palmetto State has decided that flying the racist flag is in bad taste, perhaps the time has come to decide whether the first state to secede might be asked to do that again?
The history of South Carolina as an independent nation goes back to 1832. John C. Calhoun, then the Vice President under Andrew Jackson, believed that South Carolina should over rule a federal effort at placing tariffs on imports used in his state. According to Calhoun, the federal government only existed at the will of the states. Therefore, if a state found a federal law unconstitutional and detrimental to its sovereign interests, it would have the right to “nullify” that law within its borders. Calhoun advanced the position that a state could declare a national law void.
The SOUTH CAROLINA ORDINANCE OF NULLIFICATION was enacted into law on November 24, 1832. As far as South Carolina was concerned, there was no tariff. A line had been drawn. Would President Jackson dare to cross it?
Of course this was the prelude to the civil war as well as to later efforts to resist the Civil Rights Act.
On a more local issue, South Carolina has been rewriting its labor laws, making the state more like China in not having labor unions and doing away with State responsibilities for workman’s compensation. I wonder whether it may be time to ask what difference is there between jobs stolen form more civilzed states and jobs exported to China?