<P> Part of the South's strategy to force repeal of the tariff was to arrange an alliance with the West . Under the plan, the South would support the West's demand for free lands in the public domain if the West would support repeal of the tariff . With this purpose Robert Hayne took the floor on the Senate in early 1830, thus beginning "the most celebrated debate, in the Senate's history ." Daniel Webster's response shifted the debate, subsequently styled the Webster - Hayne debates, from the specific issue of western lands to a general debate on the very nature of the United States . Webster's position differed from Madison's: Webster asserted that the people of the United States acted as one aggregate body, Madison held that the people of the several states had acted collectively . John Rowan spoke against Webster on that issue, and Madison wrote, congratulating Webster, but explaining his own position . The debate presented the fullest articulation of the differences over nullification, and 40,000 copies of Webster's response, which concluded with "liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable", were distributed nationwide . </P> <P> Many people expected the states' rights Jackson to side with Hayne . However once the debate shifted to secession and nullification, Jackson sided with Webster . On April 13, 1830 at the traditional Democratic Party celebration honoring Thomas Jefferson's birthday, Jackson chose to make his position clear . In a battle of toasts, Hayne proposed, "The Union of the States, and the Sovereignty of the States ." Jackson's response, when his turn came, was, "Our Federal Union: It must be preserved ." To those attending, the effect was dramatic . Calhoun would respond with his own toast, in a play on Webster's closing remarks in the earlier debate, "The Union . Next to our liberty, the most dear ." Finally Martin Van Buren would offer, "Mutual forbearance and reciprocal concession . Through their agency the Union was established . The patriotic spirit from which they emanated will forever sustain it ." </P> <P> Van Buren wrote in his autobiography of Jackson's toast, "The veil was rent--the incantations of the night were exposed to the light of day ." Senator Thomas Hart Benton, in his memoirs, stated that the toast "electrified the country ." Jackson would have the final words a few days later when a visitor from South Carolina asked if Jackson had any message he wanted relayed to his friends back in the state . Jackson's reply was: </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> Yes I have; please give my compliments to my friends in your State and say to them, that if a single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to the laws of the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hand on engaged in such treasonable conduct, upon the first tree I can reach . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Who emerged as the most prominent spokesman for states' rights and the cause of nullification