Hayne, Robert Y.

Almost by accident, Robert Y. Hayne (1791–1839) ended up participating in one of the Senate's most famous debates, the Webster-Hayne debate of 1830. Hayne, then a thirty-nine-year-old senator from South Carolina, spoke boldly for states' rights, arguing that a state could reject a federal law it considered unconstitutional, a concept known as nullification. His chief opponent, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, said the Union was not a compact of states but a creation of the people. The states, Webster maintained, had no authority to reject a tariff or any other federal law. The debate, which took place over a two-week period, packed the Senate galleries with spectators. Hayne gave a stirring defense of state sovereignty, a key proslavery position, but Webster, with a deep voice and a flair for drama, was more forceful in his defense of federal power over the states. (See States and Congress.)

Hayne had been elected to the Senate in 1823 as a Tariff Democrat, with help from fellow South Carolinian John C. Calhoun, a leading proponent of nullification. While Hayne was advocating his mentor's position on the Senate floor, Calhoun, then vice president, was presiding. As South Carolina's resistance to high tariffs intensified in 1832, the state legislature named Hayne governor, opening up the Senate seat for Calhoun, whom many considered the more effective statesman. Hayne, though ready to fight any federal troops enforcing the tariff laws, responded favorably to a congressional compromise, which Calhoun had crafted with Henry Clay.

Before entering the Senate, Hayne served in the South Carolina state legislature and as the state's attorney general. He had only two years as governor; state rules prevented his serving an additional term. In 1834 Hayne became mayor of Charleston. He then devoted his energies to the establishment of a railroad that would link Charleston with the West.