Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnTHE WEBSTER-HAYNE DEBATErnON THE NATURE OF THE UNIONrnIntroduction by Herman BelzrnThe debates between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and RobertrnHayne of South Carolina gave fateful utterance to the differingrnunderstandings of the nature of the American Union that had comernto predominate in the North and the South, respectively, by 1830.rnTo Webster the Union was the indivisible expression of one nation ofrnpeople. To Hayne the Union was the voluntary compact among sovereignrnstates. Each man spoke more or less for his section, and their classicrnexpositions of their respective views framed the political conflictsrnthat culminated at last in the secession of the Southern states andrnwar between advocates of Union and champions of Confederacy.rnThe Webster-Hayne Debate consists of speeches delivered in the UnitedrnStates Senate in January of 1830. By no means were Webster and Haynernthe only Senators who engaged in debate “on the nature of the Union.”rnWell over a score of the Senate’s members spoke in response in sixty-fivernspeeches all told, and these Senators did not merely echo either ofrnthe principals. The key speakers and viewpoints are included inrnThe Webster-Hayne Debate. The volume opens with Hayne’s speech,rnwhich, as Herman Belz observes, turned debates on “the public lands”rninto “a clash between state sovereignty and national sovereignty,rnexpounded as rival and irreconcilable theories of constitutional construction and the nature of the federalrnUnion.” Webster responded, Hayne retorted, and Webster concluded with an appeal to “Libert}’ and Union,rnnow and forever, one and inseparable,” in what later historians would deem to be “the most powerful andrneffective speech ever given in an American legislature.” Other speeches in the volume are by SenatorsrnThomas Hart Benton, John Rowan, William Smith, John M. Clayton, and Edward Livingston. Together,rnthese speeches represent every major perspective on “the nature of the Union” in the early nineteenth century.rnHerman Belz is Professor of History at the University of Maryland, and the author most recently of A LivingrnConstitution or Fundamental Law?: American Constitutionalism in Historical Perspective and Abraham Lincoln,rnConstitutionalism, and Equal Rights During the Civil War Era.rnForeword, notes on the text, bibliography, index.rnHardcover $25.00 0-86597-272-9rnPaperback $14.00 0-86597-273-7rn(Indiana residents add 5% sales tax)rnCall 800-9S5-833S I i h ^ r h / F i i n r irnFax 317-579-6060rnor writernWe payrnshipping onrnprepaid orders.rnS335 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite #300, Dept. STiL, Indianapolis, IN 4625()-’16S4rnExplore Liberty Fund’s caialogue on the World Vv’ide Web atrnwww. 1 i b e rtvfu n d. o rarnrnrn