Abstract

John Taylor was not only the main interpreter of the ideas of Jeffersonian democracy among nineteenth-century American political thinkers, but also a reference point for all the politicians of the Southern States who opposed the institutional theory of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists. The true enemy of Republican values and principles was identified by Taylor and the Jeffersonians in the American judicial system and in the Supreme Court, which was led by John Marshall for thirty-five years. The theory of States’ sovereignty, as drawn up by Taylor, affirmed the power of any State to declare null and void a Congressional law and to prohibit its application within the State’s own territory.