Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/260

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Jackson and Nullification
241

the South Carolina leaders had been in great haste in order to get their "rebellious ordinance,....nullifying doctrine, and rights of secession" sustained by the Virginia legislature. By the middle of January, however, the President was confident that Virginia, excepting a few Nullifiers and politicians, was true to the core, and that he could march forty thousand men from that state in forty days. He was then, indeed, without doubt that he could get many times the troops needed, not simply from "good old Democratic Pennsylvania," but from Tennessee, North Carolina, and all the western states. Although the New York legislature, because of political fears, disappointed him by its silence, he was assured that the people and the press were with him.[1]

  1. Van Buren Papers: Jackson to Van Buren, November 18, December 23, 1832; January 13, 25, 1833; Jackson Papers: John Randolph to Jackson, December 6, 1832; Jackson to Van Buren, January 25, 1833; James A. Hamilton to Jackson, New York, January 32, 1833. When James Hamilton, Jr., of South Carolina, visited Augusta in January, Jackson believed that it was in behalf of nullification; it was alleged that when the steamboat with Hamilton on board got a short distance from the wharf at Augusta the tricolored flag of South Carolina was raised on the boat and that the American Jack reversed was placed under it. When he heard of this Jackson said: "For this indignity to the flag of the country she ought to have been instantly sunk, no matter who owned or commanded her" (Van Buren Papers: Silas Wright, Jr., to Van Buren, January 13, 1833).