The title-page discloses the sources from which this abridgment is made,
and shows them all to be authentic, and reliable,--well known to the
public, and sanctioned by resolves of Congress. Of the latter of these
authorities--"Gales and Seaton's Register of Debates," "The
Congressional Globe and Appendix, by Blair and Rives," and the same
afterwards by "John C. Rives"--it is not necessary to speak, further
than to remind the reader, that they are original reports, made either
by the publishers or their special reporters, and revised by the
speakers, and accepted as authority by Congress; and therefore needing
no historical elucidation to show their correctness. But of the
first--"The Annals of Congress by Gales and Seaton"--being a
compilation, a special, but brief notice is necessary to show the credit
to which they are entitled. And first, of the qualifications of the
compilers for their work. To education and talent, and a particular turn
for political disquisition and history, they added, at the time, more
than forty years' personal connection with the Debates of Congress, as
reporters and publishers of the speeches and proceedings in that body.
Both of these gentlemen reported, on extraordinary occasions; and both
with great aptitude and capacity for the business, and Mr. Gales
especially, (under whose particular care the compilation of the Annals
was made,)--of whom Mr. Randolph, a most competent judge, was accustomed
to say, that he was the most perfect reporter he had ever known--a
perfection which resulted not merely from manual facility in noting
down what was said, but from quickness and clearness of apprehension,
and a full knowledge of the subject spoken upon.[1] To this capacity for
the work, these gentlemen added peculiar advantages for knowing and
reaching the sources of information. The father of one of them, and the
father-in-law of the other,--(Mr. Joseph Gales, Senior,)--had been an
early reporter of the Debates of Congress;--in the time of Washington
and the first Mr. Adams,--and, of course, a collector and preserver of
all contemporary reports. These came into their hands, with ample
knowledge of all the sources from which further collections could be
made. To these capabilities and advantages, were added the pride of
character which exults in producing a perfect work;--and they spared
neither pains nor cost to produce such a work--and succeeded. The
following extracts from a letter of the late Mr. Justice Story, of the
Supreme Court of the United States, dated January 14th, 1837--and from
one from Mr. Justice McLean, still of that high court, dated 24th of
February, 1843--sufficiently attest the value of the Compilation, and
the excellence of its execution. Mr. Justice Story says:
"I have examined these volumes with great attention, and I am entirely
satisfied with the plan and execution of them. I have, for many years,
deemed the publication of the Debates in Congress, interwoven as they
should be, and as they are in your plan, with the proceedings
explanatory of them, one of the most important and valuable enterprises
for public patronage. In an historical view, it will reflect the
strongest and best lights upon the nature and operations of the
Government itself, its powers, its duties, and its policy. As a means of
expounding and interpreting the Constitution itself, it can scarcely be
over-estimated. When I was employed in the task of preparing my
Commentaries on the Constitution I constantly had recourse to this
source of information in all cases within my reach. I had occasion then
deeply to regret, however, that many of my researches terminated in
disappointment from there not being any complete collection of the
debates in print, or at least none in any one repository, or without
large chasms, which it was difficult if not impossible to supply. If
any such collection had existed, I am satisfied that it would have
enabled me to make my own work far more accurate, full, and satisfactory
than it now is. The Parliamentary Debates of England have been long
since published, and constitute, in a political and historical view,
some of the most authentic and useful documents for statesmen and
jurists which have ever issued from the press. They are an indispensable
part of the library of every real British statesman. A similar
publication of all the Debates in Congress would be, if possible, of
more permanent and extensive value to us, since questions of
constitutional law and general public policy are more frequent topics of
public debate here than in England. Indeed, I do not well see how
American statesmen, seeking a profound knowledge of the nature and
operations of our Government, can well do without them. At all events,
if published, they would and ought to be found in the library of every
American statesman, lawyer, and judge, who should aspire to an exact or
thorough knowledge of our Constitution, laws, or national policy."
Mr. Justice McLean says:
"I have read with much interest your proposal to publish the Debates in
Congress from the adoption of the Constitution. This is an undertaking
of great magnitude, and will require large expenditures: but the work
will embody a mass of information in regard to the history and policy of
the Government, which can be found nowhere else. There is no subject
within the action of the Government, which will not be found discussed
in these volumes. They will contain materials rich in facts and talent
for the writer of history, and will reward the researches of all who may
wish to acquire a thorough knowledge of our system of government. This
work when completed will become, I think, more interesting and valuable
to this country, than are the Parliamentary Debates in England. The
questions considered, (from the nature of our Government, and especially
in regard to our domestic relations,) are more diversified than the
Debates in Parliament; and I have no doubt, that the general ability
displayed in the American Congress, will not suffer in comparison with
that of the British Parliament. Our statesmen and jurists will find in
these Debates much to guide them in the performance of their public
duties; for it is from the history of that time that knowledge is
acquired for an enlightened public action. If our Government is to be
handed down to those who come after us, these volumes will increase in
value with the progress of time, and will be one of the richest
memorials of our early enterprise and patriotism, and the best evidence
of our national advancement."
And to these opinions of these two eminent jurists of the value of these
Annals, and the qualifications of the publishers for their task, and the
merits of their work, is to be added the encouraging opinion of Mr.
Madison, given at the commencement of the enterprise, in the year
1818,--near forty years ago,--when, in a letter to _Messrs._ Gales and
Seaton, he said:
"The work to which you have turned your thoughts, is one which justly
claims for it _my_ favorable wishes. A legislative history of our
country is of too much interest not to be at some day undertaken; and
the longer it is postponed, the more difficult and deficient the
execution becomes. In the event of your engaging in it, I shall
cheerfully contribute any suggestions in my power as to the sources from
which materials may be drawn; but I am not aware, at present, of any not
likely to occur to yourselves."
Such is the value which these eminent men place upon these annals of our
earlier Congresses, and these annals embrace the whole period during
which our Government was presided over by those who helped to make
it--the whole period from Washington to Monroe inclusive--a period of
thirty-five years, and covering more than half the time that our
Government has existed. The two Justices of the Supreme Court who gave
their opinion of the work, and who were then (as one of them still is)
in the actual discharge of great public duties, have declared the
personal benefit which they derived from the compilation--one of them
(Mr. Justice Story) going so far as to say that his own work--the
Commentaries upon the Constitution--(deemed faultless by others)--would
have been "more accurate, full and satisfactory," if the Annals had been
published before them. With such opinions in favor of the Annals, no
more need be said to show their value to the rising generations; and in
abridging them, the author feels that he is only making accessible to
the community what is now inaccessible to it, on account of quantity and
price; and useless (nearly), if accessible, on account of the obsolete
or irrelevant matter which overlays and buries the useful. As late as
the year 1840, the publishers of the Annals say, in a Memorial to
Congress, that they had sold to individuals but twenty sets of their
work; and the present enterprising and faithful publisher of the
Congress Debates, (Mr. John C. Rives,) says he sells but some three or
four sets a year of his valuable and voluminous work;--and these, not to
individuals, but to institutions. It is the Congress subscription alone,
that has enabled the publishers of all these works to bring them out;
and no public money was ever more worthily applied: but still Congress
cannot supply the community.
Mr. Madison, in his letter of characteristic modesty to _Messrs._ Gales
and Seaton, speaks of their (then) intended work, as one which justly
claimed _his_ favorable wishes. And well it might! for nowhere, in all
the just and impressive eulogiums which have been pronounced upon him,
does he appear to such advantage as in his own modest, temperate,
luminous, and patriotic speeches during his service in Congress--putting
that new Government into operation, of which he was one of the founders,
and giving to all its machinery, a smooth, clean, and harmonious
working. And so of innumerable others--illustrious men, and his
compatriots--national reputations in their day, but contracting into
local names under the progress of time, for want of a record of their
patriotic labors, of national circulation, and popular accessibility. Of
that character, it is the desire of the author to make this Abridgment.
It is to him a labor of love and of pride--resuscitating the patriotic
dead, putting them in scene again, passing them in long procession over
an extended domain--no one skipped, and each in his place, with the best
of his works in his hand. It is a work of justice to them, and may be of
advantage to the present age, and to posterity, by reproducing for study
and imitation, the words and conduct of the wise, just, modest,
patriotic, intelligent, and disinterested men, who carried their country
through a momentous revolution--moulded that country into one brotherly
Union--and then put the Government they had formed into operation, in
the same fraternal spirit of "_amity, mutual deference and concession_,"
in which they had made it.