Mr. Webster had intimated in his Reply to Hayne that South Carolina was playing a high game. There were some at that time who thought that he had sounded the note of alarm in too loud a strain; but when in November, 1832, the State Convention, assembled at Columbia, South Carolina, adopted an ordinance declaring the revenue laws of the United States null and void, the voice of the croakers ceased to be heard in the general excitement that filled the country. The Legislature assembled on the 27th, and the governor in his message said that "the die has been at last cast," and that the Legislature was called upon to make "such enactments as would make it utterly impossible to collect within our limits the duties imposed by the protective tariffs thus nullified." The Legislature passed acts providing that any one who should attempt to collect the revenue should be punished, and made it lawful to use the military force of the State to resist any attempt of the United States to enforce the tariff laws. Mr. Webster now had a very difficult and delicate task before him; he was bound to criticise the general tone of the administration of Jackson, for he believed that it had not met the needs of the country, and yet he was equally bound not to put himself in such antagonism as to prevent him from aiding the administration, should his aid be sought, against those who were determined to destroy the laws of the land. In the then impending presidental canvass he took the ground that President Jackson was in hostility to the idea of protection, and that therefore he could not be safely trusted with the executive power. But President Jackson, whatever had been his record on the question of the tariff, showed that he had no desire to shirk his duty, for he at once issued a proclamation, which embodied the principles maintained by Mr. Webster in his Reply to Hayne, and warned the authorities of South Carolina that all opposition to the laws of the United States would be put down. He thus served notice that treason was not to win by default of the President. Calhoun had resigned the vice-presidency and had taken his seat in the Senate, and it was known that such an act meant the attempt to raise the flag of nullification high in the Senate-chamber.