This being the true answer to this part of Mr. Calhoun's argument, it is unnecessary to go at length into an examination of the doctrine of absolute and concurring majorities. We shall therefore merely remark that it is, as far as we have considered it, as incorrect and unsubstantial, as it is novel. It is important, no doubt, that the respective interests of the various territorial, professional, religious and other sections of society should be, as far as may be convenient, represented in the administration of the Government. This was the first rude form, in which the great modern discovery of the principle of _Representation_ in Government dawned upon the minds of our European ancestors. The idea was acted upon in the political assemblies of the middle ages, denominated States General and Parliaments, in which the nobles, the clergy, the cities, the commons, and in some cases the peasants had each a separate representation. But in these and all other similar cases, the object was to obtain a concurrence of the different classes of society in _making_ the law: nor do we believe that any example can be produced, either from ancient or modern history, with perhaps the single exception of the _Confederations_ of Poland, in which the Constitution, written or unwritten, that is, the form prescribed by express agreement or usage for _making_ the law, expressly authorizes any individual citizen or class of citizens to _break_ the law. The idea is obviously self-contradictory and absurd. The case of the tribunes at Rome, to which the Vice-President alludes, is not in point. The tribunes possessed, by law, a negative upon the acts of the Senate, precisely as the President of the United States and the Governors of all the States possess a qualified negative upon the acts of Congress, and the State Legislatures. An act of the Roman Senate, which was negatived by a tribune, never became a law, and of course could not be _nullified_.