Nullification: Why It’s Important to Revisit It’s True Meaning
I am tired of seeing negative, fear mongering press in regards to Tom Wood’s recent book, Nullification. Here is a recent article posted at the mises.org summerizing his views.
Nullification was successfully used BY THE NORTH, to avoid enforcing the Jefferson’s embargo and (ughh Jefferson….one of your two bad decisions) the Fugitive Slave Acts. As per normal however, society focuses on what the state taught us in its textbooks.
What most people don’t know about nullification is that the states believed they had this power under the Constitution. This fact was used by the Federalists to the opposing anti federalists to enter into a COMPACT, thus creating the United States of America. Kentucky specifically reiterated this view point before Marbury v. Madison (establishing judicial review) with the Kentucky Resolutions which rejected the odious Alien and Sedition Acts (The Pricipals of ’98, audio of history lecture by Tom Woods).
Say the Federal government instituted something like Arizona’s new law that, in my opinion, allows for an unlawful search and seizure on national scale. Nullification would provide the states with recourse.
The classic argument from those in the legal world is that that this is why we have the judicial branch. Really, so what they are telling me is that the states agreed to a binding agreement in which the federal government would be the referee for federal laws? That’s like letting Joe Montana be the booth review official for all Super Bowls. Wait a minute, what if the 49ers are playing in the Super Bowl? Well, what if the legal issue is a states interpretation of the Constitution versus a federal interpretation of the Constitution. Can we really expect a federal branch to relinquish its power and defer to the states?
History shows that the states absolutely believed Nullification was constitutional. In fact Hamilton used this as a point of encouragement to get the states to sign.
I believe that Nullification can be used as a peaceful means to put a true check on Washington.
Please, before jumping to conclusions to about Nullification, read Tom Wood’s book or at least read this article. Perhaps you’ll shed your preconceived notions that were dumped into your head year after year in grade school.
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