PREFACE
II Is indeed fortunate for &c historian when few is able to view
current event# that r«t4ilf lead Ihemidvet t  comparison with topics
of past interest and influence. "The pretest furor over state-rights
and interposition, even tteagh it be to a lesser degree* offers such a
eonpaiiem to lito&er period in this coaatty's history. The political
crisis of the battle over state-rights which reached its climax to li§0
was the result of s aay and varied caoses. Not only polities lay be-
Mod tit# dispute* but also treasons economic* social ami moral in
nature. la reviewing the source of those difficulties that transpired
just over a hundred years ago, many points need ©nty a cursory re-
view while a few fact* respire mora ewphasis or illustration.
Hot since the Union was founded had it come so elose to a dis-
solution, not even ia the mollification controversy im the 1830*s.
From that time on, however, the Sooth continued to claim certain
"avowed rights*4 that had bees guaranteed to them by the Constitution.
The struggle over those rights became enmeshed in the emotional
quarrel over the institution of slavery as the abolitionists pushed for
emancipation of the Hegtoes. A battle had raged over slavery ia 1820
and had been solved, temporarily. In 1850, the issue was once again
met with no serious consequences. In 1861, forcible resistance was
iv