Federalist: Trump needs to copy Jackson & Crush Minnesota Insurrection

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No other southern state opposed the tariffs more than South Carolina. After a new tariff law in 1832 did little to alleviate the situation, South Carolina moved to put nullification theory into practice. A state convention in November 1832 passed the Ordinance of Nullification, which stated that the tariff laws of 1828 and 1832 were “null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens.” Calhoun resigned the vice presidency to support his home state.

South Carolina Gov. Robert Hayne then began organizing an armed militia to resist federal efforts to collect tariff revenue in South Carolina. The South Carolina powder keg was primed and ready to explode.....

In response to the Nullification Proclamation, South Carolina declared, “that the state will repel force by force, and, relying upon the blessings of God, will maintain its liberty at all hazards.”

This all sounds rather familiar, doesn’t it?

Jackson had also ordered Secretary of War Lewis Cass to begin gathering troops and weapons to force South Carolina’s compliance if the state did not back down. Subsequently, Congress passed the Force Bill in early 1833, which would grant Jackson the authority to use federal troops to enforce the tariff laws.

Modern-day Minnesota isn’t that far off from 19th-century South Carolina. The North Star State and other Democrat-controlled states believe that they can nullify federal immigration law with their own “sanctuary” policies. And the state has a leader who has openly threatened to use the state National Guard to resist federal efforts to execute constitutionally valid laws.

There cannot and should not be a compromise effort on immigration in the same vein as the compromise bill on tariffs in 1833. The uncontrolled mass migration into this country is an existential threat and must be treated as such. But the reaction by the would-be insurrectionists in Minnesota must be dealt with as decisively as Jackson dealt with the South Carolinians. The immediate threat of overwhelming federal force and backbone to follow through with that threat if Minnesota does not back down is the only way to end this crisis without a stinging defeat for the president and the country as a whole.

And if, or perhaps rather when, a federal judge steps in to try to stop Trump from doing anything to curb the chaos, he should resurrect Jackson’s famous (though likely apocryphal) reaction to the Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia: “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!”

Jackson knew how to deal with the threat of treason. It requires a firm hand and decisive action. Nearly 30 years after the Nullification Crisis of 1832-33, President James Buchanan’s weak leadership allowed the secession movement to grow in strength and helped unleash the deadliest war in American history. Trump needs to make a choice: Will he follow in Jackson’s footsteps and prove that he is truly the man of the hour, or will he allow the chaos to spiral out of control, leaving the country to pay the price?

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