Fresh analysis revises many previous theories on origins & significance of the nullification controversy.

In this clear, authoritative account, Richard E. Ellis shows how the President's swift, decisive response reaffirmed the primacy of the national government and helped to shape Jacksonian democracy.

This book presents Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, views on the constitutional reasons for the Civil War.

The book "was a sensation in its day, evoking attacks by Northern and Southern champions of causes upon which it impinged.": Dictionary of American Biography IX:574.