“The great and leading principle is, that the General Govern…
“The great and leading principle is, that the General Government emanated from the people of the several states, forming distinct political communities, and acting in their separate and sovereign capacity, and not from all the people forming one aggregate political community; that the Constitution of the United States is, in fact, a compact, to which each state is a Party, . . . and that the several states, or parties, have the right to judge of its infractions. . .I conceive to be the fundamental principle of our system, resting on facts as certain as our revolution itself, . . . and I firmly believe that on its recognition depend the stability and safety of our political institutions.” John C. Calhoun, Address to the Southern States, 1831 Prior to Calhoun’s speech the idea of state’s rights was expressed in: