Walterboro meeting, that the legislature or a convention be asked to take steps toward such "open resistance" as became a "Sovereign and Independent State"; but in July it interpreted this to be simply a forcefiil declaration that the tariff act was unconstitutional and must be repealed; that the rights of the southern states had been destroyed and must be restored; that the Union was "in danger, and must be aved."[1] Surely there was no earnest advocacy of disunion in that; it merely suggested disunion as a possibility if the tariff system were not altered, and the suggestion was offered more for moral effect than with any immediate purpose.
As yet there were no clearly defined party lines throughout the state, as there came to be later when the State Rights party and the Union party were definitely organized. At this time, in the summer and fall of 1828, the main body of the people were just beginning to be aroused to the point where they were ready to contemplate other methods than resolutions against the tariff.
The hostility between the two factions kept increasing, however, and the leaders of the
- ↑ Mercury, May 29, June 18, July 4, 1828.
