A Year of Campaigning
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for federated associations made such rapid progress that before the end of August as many as twenty-two meetings had been held in different parts of the state, at nearly all of which associations were formed. The constitutions were all modeled after that of the Charleston association, the central association of the state. The party press made much of , and took great hope from, the movement.[1]
On November 7 the Charleston Association recommended that the auxiliary associations scattered over the state appoint delegates to a convention to be held at Columbia in December to adopt a more efficient plan of publishing and distributing among the people information in regard to the American system, the interests of the
- ↑ Messenger, August 10, 1831; Mercury, August 26. That these were looked upon as associations for the more perfect organization of the party in the face of local opposition, is shown by the resolutions adopted by a Pendleton meeting, which asserted that the people of the district were so thoroughly united that it was unnecessary to form a Free Trade and State Rights association. Though the Pendleton meeting expressed sympathy with the spirit of the movement and wished the associations success, yet the people of Pendleton seemed to be in favor of delaying any further action until the next Congress had met, in view of the work of the anti-tariff convention at Philadelphia and of the fact that the entire public debt would soon be paid, which made it likely that Congress would act then, if ever. See Messenger, August 24, November 9.
