The state
court now refused to issue a writ of _habeas corpus_ in behalf of
Worcester, and the prisoner was held--precisely as if the law under
which he was convicted had been pronounced constitutional--until he
was pardoned by the Governor a year later.
This action on the part of the State was, of course, nothing less than
nullification. Yet Jackson did not lift a finger. "John Marshall has
made his decision," he is reported to have said; "now let him enforce
it." The South Carolinians were quick to seize upon the
inconsistencies of the situation. Nullification in their State was
apparently one thing; in Georgia, quite another. The very fact,
however, that the Georgians had successfully defied the federal
Supreme Court did much to encourage their neighbors in a course of
similar boldness. Jackson's leniency toward Georgia has never been
wholly explained. He was undoubtedly influenced by his sympathy with
the purpose of the State to establish its jurisdiction over all lands
within its borders. Furthermore he cherished an antipathy for Marshall
which even led him to refuse in 1835 to attend a memorial meeting in
the great jurist's honor.
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