8 – The proposition which it asserts was, he thought,
sufficiently maintained by barely reading the clause in
the constitution on which it rests: ‘the congress _shall
have_ power to dispose, &c. the territory or other
property belonging to the United States.’
9 – The house of representatives has uniformly maintained its
right to deliberate upon those treaties, in which their
coöperation was asked by the executive. In the first case
that occurred in the operation of our government, that of
the treaty commonly called Mr. Jay’s treaty, after general
Washington refused to communicate his instructions to
that minister, the house asserted its rights, by fifty
odd votes to thirty odd. In the last case that occurred,
the convention in 1815 with Great Britain, although
it passed off upon what was called a compromise, this
house substantially obtained its object; for, if that
convention operated as a repeal of the laws with which
it was incompatible, the act which passed was altogether
unnecessary.
10 – The resolution, offered by Mr. Clay, declaring that
the United States would not see with indifference any
interference of the holy alliance in behalf of Spain
against the new American republics.