“The Southern States now stand exactly in the same position toward the Northern States that our ancestors in the colonies did toward Great Britain. 

The Northern States having the majority in Congress claim the same power of omnipotence in legislation as the British Parliament.  The “general welfare” is the only limit to the legislation of either; and the majority in Congress as in the British Parliament are the sole judges of the expediency of the legislation this “general welfare” requires. 

 Thus the government of the United States are compelled to meet the very despotism their fathers threw off in the Revolution of 1776.”  Robert Barnwell Rhett