Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is running for president, has defended Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s belief that Texas has the right to reject federal law, even when mandated by the Supreme Court. Abbott’s position has received support from 25 out of 26 current Republican governors. Haley went further by affirming the right of Texas to secede from the union, although she later tried to backtrack on this statement. This is not the first time Haley has expressed secessionist views, as she previously stated in 2010 that states could leave the union based on the Constitution.
Haley’s position is odd considering that the issue of the indissolubility of the union was settled in 1865 by the Civil War, and the Supreme Court affirmed this in Texas v. White (1869) by declaring the United States an “indestructible union.” The Republican Party, which Haley and Abbott are affiliated with, was formed in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who rejected states’ rights arguments. However, the current GOP seems to owe more to John C. Calhoun, the leading antebellum theorist of states’ rights. Calhoun developed a constitutional theory of minority rights that prioritized states over the federal government, including the right to nullify laws they deemed unconstitutional.
The shift from the party of Lincoln to the party of Calhoun can be traced back to the political realignment that occurred after World War II. The rise of the conservative movement encouraged the Republicans to appeal to disaffected Southern whites, leading to a revival of Calhoun’s ideas. Calhoun’s defense of privilege and racial hierarchy continues to resonate with those who want to maintain these hierarchies in the face of popular resistance. This revival of Calhoun’s ideas within the GOP raises questions about the future direction of the party and whether the Democrats can return to the clarity of the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln.
