Commonwealth of Virginia does religiously and affectionately adhere,
opposing, with equal fidelity and firmness, the usurpation of either set
of functionaries on the rightful powers of the other.
But the federal branch has assumed in some cases, and claimed in others,
a right of enlarging its own powers by constructions, inferences, and
indefinite deductions from those directly given, which this Assembly
does declare to be usurpations of the powers retained to the independent
branches, mere interpolations into the compact, and direct infractions
of it.
They claim, for example, and have commenced the exercise of a right to
construct roads, open canals, and effect other internal improvements
within the territories and jurisdictions exclusively belonging to the
several States, which this Assembly does declare has not been given to
that branch by the constitutional compact, but remains to each State
among its domestic and unalienated powers, exercisable within itself and
by its domestic authorities alone.
This Assembly does further disavow, and declare to be most false and
unfounded, the doctrine, that the compact, in authorizing its federal
branch to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay
the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the
United States, has given them thereby a power to do whatever they may
think, or pretend, would promote the general welfare, which construction
would make that, of itself, a complete government, without limitation
of powers; but that the plain sense and obvious meaning were, that they
might levy the taxes necessary to provide for the general welfare, by
the various acts of power therein specified and delegated to them, and
by no others.
Nor is it admitted, as has been said, that the people of these States,
by not investing their federal branch with all the means of bettering
their condition, have denied to themselves any which may effect that
purpose; since, in the distribution of these means, they have given to
that branch those which belong to its department, and to the States have
reserved separately the residue which belong to them separately: and
thus by the organization of the two branches taken together, have
completely secured the first object of human association, the full
improvement of their condition, and reserved to themselves all the
faculties of multiplying their own blessings.
Whilst the General Assembly thus declares the rights retained by the
States, rights which they have never yielded, and which this State
will never voluntarily yield, they do not mean to raise the banner of
disaffection, or of separation from their sister States, co-parties with
themselves to this compact. They know and value too highly the blessings
of their Union, as to foreign nations and questions arising among
themselves, to consider every infraction as to be met by actual
resistance. They respect too affectionately the opinions of those
possessing the same rights, under the same instrument, to make every
difference of construction a ground of immediate rupture. They would,
indeed, consider such a rupture as among the greatest calamities which
could befall them; but not the greatest. There is yet one greater,
submission to a government of unlimited powers. It is only when the
hope of avoiding this shall become absolutely desperate, that further
forbearance could not be indulged. Should a majority of the co-parties,
therefore, contrary to the expectation and hope of this Assembly,
prefer, at this time, acquiescence in these assumptions of power by the
federal member of the government, we will be patient and suffer much,
under the confidence that time, ere it be too late, will prove to them
also the bitter consequences in which that usurpation will involve us
all. In the mean while, we will breast with them, rather than separate
from them, every misfortune, save that only of living under a government
of unlimited powers. We owe every other sacrifice to ourselves, to our
federal brethren, and to the world at large, to pursue with temper and
perseverance the great experiment which shall prove that man is capable
of living in society, governing itself by laws self-imposed, and
securing to its members the enjoyment of life, liberty, property, and
peace; and further to show, that even when the government of its choice
shall manifest a tendency to degeneracy, we are not at once to despair
but that the will and the watchfulness of its sounder parts will reform
its aberrations, recall it to original and legitimate principles, and
restrain it within the rightful limits of self-government. And these are
the objects of this Declaration and Protest.
Supposing then, that it might be for the good of the whole, as some of
its co-States seem to think, that the power of making roads and canals
should be added to those directly given to the federal branch, as more
likely to be systematically and beneficially directed, than by the
independent action of the several States, this Commonwealth, from
respect to these opinions, and a desire of conciliation with its
co-States, will consent, in concurrence with them, to make this
addition, provided it be done regularly by an amendment of the compact,
in the way established by that instrument, and provided also, it be
sufficiently guarded against abuses, compromises, and corrupt practices,
not only of possible, but of probable occurrence.
And as a further pledge of the sincere and cordial attachment of this
Commonwealth to the union of the whole, so far as has been consented
to by the compact called ‘The Constitution of the United States of
America,’ (construed according to the plain and ordinary meaning of its
language, to the common intendment of the time, and of those who framed
it;) to give also to all parties and authorities, time for reflection
and for consideration, whether, under a temperate view of the possible
consequences, and especially of the constant obstructions which an
equivocal majority must ever expect to meet, they will still prefer the
assumption of this power rather than its acceptance from the free will
of their constituents; and to preserve peace in the mean while, we
proceed to make it the duty of our citizens, until the legislature shall
otherwise and ultimately decide, to acquiesce under those acts of
the federal branch of our government which we have declared to be
usurpations, and against which, in point of right, we do protest as null
and void, and never to be quoted as precedents of right.
We therefore do enact, and be it enacted by the General Assembly of
Virginia, that all citizens of this Commonwealth, and persons and
authorities within the same, shall pay full obedience at all times to
the acts which may be passed by the Congress of the United States, the
object of which shall be the construction of post-roads, making canals
of navigation, and maintaining the same, in any part of the United
States, in like manner as if the said acts were, _totidem verbis_,
passed by the legislature of this Commonwealth.
LETTER CLXXXVII.--TO WILLIAM B. GILES, December 25, 1825
TO WILLIAM B. GILES.
Monticello, December 25, 1825.
Dear Sir,
Your favor of the 15th was received four days ago. It found me engaged
in what I could not lay aside till this day.
Far advanced in my eighty-third year, worn down with infirmities which
have confined me almost entirely to the house for seven or eight
months past, it afflicts me much to receive appeals to my memory for
transactions so far back as that which is the subject of your letter.
My memory is indeed become almost a blank, of which no better proof can
probably be given you than by my solemn protestation, that I have not
the least recollection of your intervention between Mr. John Q. Adams
and myself, in what passed on the subject of the embargo. Not the
slightest trace of it remains in my mind. Yet I have no doubt of the
exactitude of the statement in your letter. And the less, as I recollect
the interview with Mr. Adams, to which the previous communications which
had passed between him and yourself were probably and naturally the
preliminary. That interview I remember well; not indeed in the very
words which passed between us, but in their substance, which was of a
character too awful, too deeply engraved in my mind, and influencing too
materially the course I had to pursue, ever to be forgotten. Mr. Adams
called on me pending the embargo, and while endeavors were making to
obtain its repeal. He made some apologies for the call, on the ground of
our not being then in the habit of confidential communications, but that
that which he had then to make, involved too seriously the interest of
our country not to overrule all other considerations with him, and make
it his duty to reveal it to myself particularly. I assured him there was
no occasion for any apology for his visit; that, on the contrary,
his communications would be thankfully received, and would add a
confirmation the more to my entire confidence in the rectitude
and patriotism of his conduct and principles. He spoke then of the
dissatisfaction of the eastern portion of our confederacy with the
restraints of the embargo then existing, and their restlessness
under it. That there was nothing which might not be attempted, to rid
themselves of it. That he had information of the most unquestionable
certainty, that certain citizens of the Eastern States (I think he
named Massachusetts particularly) were in negotiation with agents of the
British government, the object of which was an agreement that the New
England States should take no further part in the war then going on;
that, without formally declaring their separation from the Union of the
States, they should withdraw from all aid and obedience to them,
that their navigation and commerce should be free from restraint and
interruption by the British; that they should be considered and treated
by them as neutrals, and as such might conduct themselves towards both
parties; and, at the close of the war, be at liberty to rejoin the
confederacy. He assured me that there was imminent danger that the
convention would take place; that the temptations were such as might
debauch many from their fidelity to the Union; and that, to enable
its friends to make head against it, the repeal of the embargo was
absolutely necessary. I expressed a just sense of the merit of this
information, and of the importance of the disclosure to the safety
and even the salvation of our country: and however reluctant I was to
abandon the measure (a measure which persevered in a little longer, we
had subsequent and satisfactory assurance would have effected its object
completely), from that moment, and influenced by that information, I saw
the necessity of abandoning it, and instead of effecting our purpose by
this peaceful weapon, we must fight it out, or break the Union. I then
recommended to my friends to yield to the necessity of a repeal of the
embargo, and to endeavor to supply its place by the best substitute, in
which they could procure a general concurrence.
I cannot too often repeat, that this statement is not pretended to be
in the very words which passed; that it only gives faithfully the
impression remaining on my mind. The very words of a conversation are
too transient and fugitive to be so long retained in remembrance. But
the substance was too important to be forgotten, not only from the
revolution of measures it obliged me to adopt, but also from the
renewals of it in my memory on the frequent occasions I have had of
doing justice to Mr. Adams, by repeating this proof of his fidelity to
his country, and of his superiority over all ordinary considerations
when the safety of that was brought into question.
With this best exertion of a waning memory which I can command, accept
assurances of my constant and affectionate friendship and respect.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLXXXVIII.--TO WILLIAM B. GILES, December 26, 1825
TO WILLIAM B. GILES.
Monticello, December 26, 1825.
Dear Sir,
I wrote you a letter yesterday, of which you will be free to make what
use you please. This will contain matters not intended for the public
eye. I see, as you do, and with the deepest affliction, the rapid
strides with which the federal branch of our government is advancing
towards the usurpation of all the rights reserved to the States, and the
consolidation in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic; and that
too, by constructions which, if legitimate, leave no limits to their
power. Take together the decisions of the federal court, the doctrines
of the President, and the misconstructions of the constitutional compact
acted on by the legislature of the federal branch, and it is but too
evident, that the three ruling branches of that department are in
combination to strip their colleagues, the State authorities, of the
powers reserved by them, and to exercise themselves all functions,
foreign and domestic. Under the power to regulate commerce, they assume
indefinitely that also over agriculture and manufactures, and call it
regulation to take the earnings of one of these branches of industry,
and that too the most depressed, and put them into the pockets of the
other, the most flourishing of all. Under the authority to establish
post-roads, they claim that of cutting down mountains for the
construction of roads, of digging canals, and aided by a little
sophistry on the words ‘general welfare,’ a right to do, not only the
acts to effect that, which are specifically enumerated and permitted,
but whatsoever they shall think or pretend will be for the general
welfare. And what is our resource for the preservation of the
constitution? Reason and argument? You might as well reason and argue
with the marble columns encircling them. The representatives chosen by
ourselves? They are joined in the combination, some from incorrect views
of government, some from corrupt ones, sufficient, voting together,
to outnumber the sound parts; and with majorities only of one, two, or
three, bold enough to go forward in defiance. Are we then to stand
to our arms, with the hot-headed Georgian? No. That must be the last
resource, not to be thought of until much longer and greater sufferings.
If every infraction of a compact of so many parties is to be resisted at
once, as a dissolution of it, none can ever be formed which would last
one year. We must have patience and longer endurance then with our
brethren while under delusion; give them time for reflection and
experience of consequences; keep ourselves in a situation to profit by
the chapter of accidents; and separate from our companions only when the
sole alternatives left, are the dissolution of our Union with them, or
submission to a government without limitation of powers. Between these
two evils, when we must make a choice, there can be no hesitation. But
in the mean while, the States should be watchful to note every material
usurpation on their rights; to denounce them as they occur in the most
peremptory terms; to protest against them as wrongs to which our present
submission shall be considered, not as acknowledgments or precedents
of right, but as a temporary yielding to the lesser evil, until their
accumulation shall overweigh that of separation. I would go still
further, and give to the federal member, by a regular amendment of the
constitution, a right to make roads and canals of intercommunication
between the States, providing sufficiently against corrupt practices in
Congress (log-rolling, &c.), by declaring that the federal proportion
of each State of the monies so employed, shall be in works within
the State, or elsewhere with its consent, and with a due _salvo_ of
jurisdiction. This is the course which I think safest and best as yet.
You ask my opinion of the propriety of giving publicity to what is
stated in your letter, as having passed between Mr. John Q. Adams and
yourself. Of this no one can judge but yourself. It is one of those
questions which belong to the forum of feeling. This alone can decide
on the degree of confidence implied in the disclosure; whether under no
circumstances it was to be communicated to others. It does not seem to
be of that character, or at all to wear that aspect. They are historical
facts, which belong to the present, as well as future times. I
doubt whether a single fact, known to the world, will carry as clear
conviction to it, of the correctness of our knowledge of the treasonable
views of the federal party of that day, as that disclosed by this, the
most nefarious and daring attempt to dissever the Union, of which the
Hartford Convention was a subsequent chapter: and both of these having
failed, consolidation becomes the first chapter of the next book of
their history. But this opens with a vast accession of strength from
their younger recruits, who, having nothing in them of the feelings or
principles of ‘76, now look to a single and splendid government of an
aristocracy, founded on banking institutions, and monied incorporations
under the guise and cloak of their favored branches of manufactures,
commerce, and navigation, riding and ruling over the plundered ploughman
and beggared yeomanry. This will be to them a next best blessing to the
monarchy of their first aim, and perhaps the surest stepping-stone to
it.
I learn with great satisfaction that your school is thriving well, and
that you have at its head a truly classical scholar. He is one of three
or four whom I can hear of in the State. We were obliged the last
year to receive shameful Latinists into the classical school of the
University; such as we will certainly refuse as soon as we can get from
better schools a sufficiency of those properly instructed to form a
class. We must get rid of this Connecticut Latin, of this barbarous
confusion of long and short syllables, which renders doubtful whether we
are listening to a reader of Cherokee, Shawnee, Iroquois, or what. Our
University has been most fortunate in the five Professors procured from
England. A finer selection could not have been made. Besides their
being of a grade of science which has left little superior behind, the
correctness of their moral character, their accommodating dispositions,
and zeal for the prosperity of the institution, leave us nothing more
to wish. I verily believe that as high a degree of, education can now be
obtained here, as in the country they left. And a finer set of youths I
never saw assembled for instruction. They committed some irregularities
at first, until they learned the lawful length of their tether; since
which it has never been transgressed in the smallest degree. A great
proportion of them are severely devoted to study, and I fear not to say,
that within twelve or fifteen years from this time, a majority of the
rulers of our State will have been educated here. They shall carry hence
the correct principles of our day, and you may count assuredly that they
will exhibit their country in a degree of sound respectability it has
never known, either in our days, or those of our forefathers. I cannot
live to see it. My joy must only be that of anticipation. But that you
may see it in full fruition, is the probable consequence of the twenty
years I am ahead of you in time, and is the sincere prayer of your
affectionate and constant friend,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLXXXIX.--TO CLAIBORNE W. GOOCH, January 9, 1826
TO CLAIBORNE W. GOOCH.
Monticello, January 9, 1826.
Dear Sir,
I have duly received your favor of December the 31st, and fear, with
you, all the evils which the present lowering aspect of our political
horizon so ominously portends. That at some future day, which I hoped
to be very distant, the free principles of our government might change,
with the change of circumstances, was to be expected. But I certainly
did not expect that they would not over-live the generation which
established them. And what I still less expected was, that my favorite
western country was to be made the instrument of change. I had ever
and fondly cherished the interests of that country, relying on it as a
barrier against the degeneracy of public opinion from our original and
free principles. But the bait of local interests, artfully prepared
for their palate, has decoyed them from their kindred attachments,
to alliances alien to them. Yet, although I have little hope that the
torrent of consolidation can be withstood, I should not be for giving up
the ship without efforts to save her. She lived well through the first
squall, and may weather the present one. But, Dear Sir, I am not the
champion called for by our present dangers; _Non tali auxilio, nee
defensoribus istis, tempus eget_.’ A waning body, a waning mind,
and waning memory, with habitual ill health, warn me to withdraw and
relinquish the arena to younger and abler athletes. I am sensible
myself, if others are not, that this is my duty. If my distant friends
know it not, those around me can inform them that they should not, in
friendship, wish to call me into conflicts, exposing only the decays
which nature has inscribed among her unalterable laws, and injuring the
common cause by a senile and puny defence.
I will, however, say one word on the subject. The South Carolina
resolutions, Van Buren’s motion, and above all Bailey’s propositions,
show that other States are coming forward on the subject, and better for
any one to take the lead than Virginia, where opposition is considered
as common-place, and a mere matter of form and habit. We shall see what
our co-States propose, and before the close of the session we may shape
our own course more understandingly.
Accept the assurance of my great esteem and respect.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXC.--TO [ANONYMOUS], January 21, 1826
Monticello, January 21, 1826.
Dear Sir,