SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE 22D OF
MARCH, 1838, IN ANSWER TO MR. CALHOUN.
[On Thursday, the 22d of March, Mr. Calhoun spoke at length in answer to
Mr. Webster's speech of the 12th of March.
When he had concluded, Mr. Webster immediately rose, and addressed the
Senate as follows.]
Mr. President,--I came rather late to the Senate this morning, and,
happening to meet a friend on the Avenue, I was admonished to hasten my
steps, as "the war was to be carried into Africa," and I was expected to
be annihilated. I lost no time in following the advice, Sir, since it
would be awkward for one to be annihilated without knowing any thing
about it.
Well, Sir, the war has been carried into Africa. The honorable member
has made an expedition into regions as remote from the subject of this
debate as the orb of Jupiter from that of our earth. He has spoken of
the tariff, of slavery, and of the late war. Of all this I do not
complain. On the contrary, if it be his pleasure to allude to all or any
of these topics, for any purpose whatever, I am ready at all times to
hear him.
Sir, this carrying the war into Africa, which has become so common a
phrase among us, is, indeed, imitating a great example; but it is an
example which is not always followed with success. In the first place,
every man, though he be a man of talent and genius, is not a Scipio; and
in the next place, as I recollect this part of Roman and Carthaginian
history,--the gentleman may be more accurate, but, as I recollect it,
when Scipio resolved upon carrying the war into Africa, Hannibal was not
at home. Now, Sir, I am very little like Hannibal, but I am at home; and
when Scipio Africanus South-Caroliniensis brings the war into my
territories, I shall not leave their defence to Asdrubal, nor Syphax,
nor anybody else. I meet him on the shore, at his landing, and propose
but one contest.
"Concurritur; horae
Momento cita mors venit, aut victoria laeta."
Mr. President, I had made up my mind that, if the honorable gentleman
should confine himself to a reply in the ordinary way, I would not say
another syllable. But he has not done so. He has gone off into topics
quite remote from all connection with revenue, commerce, finance, or
sub-treasuries, and invites to a discussion which, however uninteresting
to the public at the present moment, is too personal to be declined by
me.
He says, Sir, that I undertook to compare my political character and
conduct with his. Far from it. I attempted no such thing. I compared the
gentleman's political opinions at different times with one another, and
expressed decided opposition to those which he now holds. And I did,
certainly, advert to the general tone and drift of the gentleman's
sentiments and expressions for some years past, in their bearing on the
Union, with such remarks as I thought they deserved; but I instituted no
comparison between him and myself. He may institute one if he pleases,
and when he pleases. Seeking nothing of this kind, I avoid nothing. Let
it be remembered, that the gentleman began the debate, by attempting to
exhibit a contrast between the present opinions and conduct of my
friends and myself, and our recent opinions and conduct. Here is the
first charge of inconsistency; let the public judge whether he has made
it good. He says, Sir, that on several questions I have taken different
sides, at different times; let him show it. If he shows any change of
opinion, I shall be called on to give a reason, and to account for it. I
leave it to the country to say whether, as yet, he has shown any such
thing.
But, Sir, before attempting that, he has something else to say. He had
prepared, it seems, to draw comparisons himself. He had intended to say
something, if time had allowed, upon our respective opinions and conduct
in regard to the war. If time had allowed! Sir, time does allow, time
must allow. A general remark of that kind ought not to be, cannot be,
left to produce its effect, when that effect is obviously intended to be
unfavorable. Why did the gentleman allude to my votes or my opinions
respecting the war at all, unless he had something to say? Does he wish
to leave an undefined impression that something was done, or something
said, by me, not now capable of defence or justification? something not
reconcilable with true patriotism? He means that, or nothing. And now,
Sir, let him bring the matter forth; let him take the responsibility of
the accusation; let him state his facts. I am here to answer; I am here,
this day, to answer. Now is the time, and now the hour. I think we read,
Sir, that one of the good spirits would not bring against the Arch-enemy
of mankind a railing accusation; and what is railing but general
reproach, an imputation without fact, time, or circumstance? Sir, I call
for particulars. The gentleman knows my whole conduct well; indeed, the
journals show it all, from the moment I came into Congress till the
peace. If I have done, then, Sir, any thing unpatriotic, any thing
which, as far as love to country goes, will not bear comparison with his
or any man's conduct, let it now be stated. Give me the fact, the time,
the manner. He speaks of the war; that which we call the late war,
though it is now twenty-five years since it terminated. He would leave
an impression that I opposed it. How? I was not in Congress when war was
declared, nor in public life anywhere. I was pursuing my profession,
keeping company with judges and jurors, and plaintiffs and defendants.
If I had been in Congress, and had enjoyed the benefit of hearing the
honorable gentleman's speeches, for aught I can say, I might have
concurred with him. But I was not in public life. I never had been, for
a single hour; and was in no situation, therefore, to oppose or to
support the declaration of war. I am speaking to the fact, Sir; and if
the gentleman has any fact, let us know it. Well, Sir, I came into
Congress during the war. I found it waged, and raging. And what did I do
here to oppose it? Look to the journals. Let the honorable gentleman tax
his memory. Bring up any thing, if there be any thing to bring up, not
showing error of opinion, but showing want of loyalty or fidelity to the
country. I did not agree to all that was proposed, nor did the honorable
member. I did not approve of every measure, nor did he. The war had been
preceded by the restrictive system and the embargo. As a private
individual, I certainly did not think well of these measures. It
appeared to me that the embargo annoyed ourselves as much as our
enemies, while it destroyed the business and cramped the spirits of the
people. In this opinion I may have been right or wrong, but the
gentleman was himself of the same opinion. He told us the other day, as
a proof of his independence of party on great questions, that he
differed with his friends on the subject of the embargo. He was
decidedly and unalterably opposed to it. It furnishes in his judgment,
therefore, no imputation either on my patriotism, or on the soundness of
my political opinions, that I was opposed to it also. I mean opposed in
opinion; for I was not in Congress, and had nothing to do with the act
creating the embargo. And as to opposition to measures for carrying on
the war, after I came into Congress, I again say, let the gentleman
specify; let him lay his finger on any thing calling for an answer, and
he shall have an answer.
Mr. President, you were yourself in the House during a considerable part
of this time. The honorable gentleman may make a witness of you. He may
make a witness of anybody else. He may be his own witness. Give us but
some fact, some charge, something capable in itself either of being
proved or disproved. Prove any thing, state any thing, not consistent
with honorable and patriotic conduct, and I am ready to answer it. Sir,
I am glad this subject has been alluded to in a manner which justifies
me in taking public notice of it; because I am well aware that, for ten
years past, infinite pains has been taken to find something, in the
range of these topics, which might create prejudice against me in the
country. The journals have all been pored over, and the reports
ransacked, and scraps of paragraphs and half-sentences have been
collected, fraudulently put together, and then made to flare out as if
there had been some discovery. But all this failed. The next resort was
to supposed correspondence. My letters were sought for, to learn if, in
the confidence of private friendship, I had ever said any thing which an
enemy could make use of. With this view, the vicinity of my former
residence has been searched, as with a lighted candle. New Hampshire has
been explored, from the mouth of the Merrimack to the White Hills. In
one instance a gentleman had left the State, gone five hundred miles
off, and died. His papers were examined; a letter was found, and I have
understood it was brought to Washington; a conclave was held to consider
it, and the result was, that, if there was nothing else against Mr.
Webster, the matter had better be let alone. Sir, I hope to make
everybody of that opinion who brings against me a charge of want of
patriotism. Errors of opinion can be found, doubtless, on many subjects;
but as conduct flows from the feelings which animate the heart, I know
that no act of my life has had its origin in the want of ardent love of
country.
Sir, when I came to Congress, I found the honorable gentleman a leading
member of the House of Representatives. Well, Sir, in what did we
differ? One of the first measures of magnitude, after I came here, was
Mr. Dallas's[1] proposition for a bank. It was a war measure. It was
urged as being absolutely necessary to enable government to carry on the
war. Government wanted revenue; such a bank, it was hoped, would furnish
it; and on that account it was most warmly pressed and urged on
Congress. You remember all this, Mr. President. You remember how much
some persons supposed the success of the war and the salvation of the
country depended on carrying that measure. Yet the honorable member from
South Carolina opposed this bill. He now takes to himself a good deal of
merit, none too much, but still a good deal of merit, for having
defeated it. Well, Sir, I agreed with him. It was a mere paper bank; a
machine for fabricating irredeemable paper. It was a new form for paper
money; and instead of benefiting the country, I thought it would plunge
it deeper and deeper in difficulty. I made a speech on the subject; it
has often been quoted. There it is; let whoever pleases read and examine
it. I am not proud of it for any ability it exhibits; on the other hand,
I am not ashamed of it for the spirit which it manifests. But, Sir, I
say again that the gentleman himself took the lead against this measure,
this darling measure of the administration. I followed him; if I was
seduced into error, or into unjustifiable opposition, there sits my
seducer.
What, Sir, were other leading sentiments or leading measures of that
day? On what other subjects did men differ? The gentleman has adverted
to one, and that a most important one; I mean the navy. He says, and
says truly, that at the commencement of the war the navy was unpopular.
It was unpopular with his friends, who then controlled the politics of
the country. But he says he differed with his friends; in this respect
he resisted party influence and party connection, and was the friend and
advocate of the navy. Sir, I commend him for it. He showed his wisdom.
That gallant little navy soon fought itself into favor, and showed that
no man who had placed reliance on it had been disappointed.
Well, Sir, in all this I was exactly of the opinion of the honorable
gentleman.
Sir, I do not know when my opinion of the importance of a naval force to
the United States had its origin. I can give no date to my present
sentiments on this subject, because I never entertained different
sentiments. I remember, Sir, that immediately after coming into my
profession, at a period when the navy was most unpopular, when it was
called by all sorts of hard names and designated by many coarse
epithets, on one of those occasions on which young men address their
neighbors, I ventured to put forth a boy's hand in defence of the navy.
I insisted on its importance, its adaptation to our circumstances and to
our national character, and its indispensable necessity, if we intended
to maintain and extend our commerce. These opinions and sentiments I
brought into Congress; and the first time in which I presumed to speak
on the topics of the day, I attempted to urge on the House a greater
attention to the naval service. There were divers modes of prosecuting
the war. On these modes, or on the degree of attention and expense which
should be bestowed on each, different men held different opinions. I
confess I looked with most hope to the results of naval warfare, and
therefore I invoked government to invigorate and strengthen that arm of
the national defence. I invoked it to seek its enemy upon the seas, to
go where every auspicious indication pointed, and where the whole heart
and soul of the country would go with it.
Sir, we were at war with the greatest maritime power on earth. England
had gained an ascendency on the seas over all the combined powers of
Europe. She had been at war twenty years. She had tried her fortunes on
the Continent, but generally with no success. At one time the whole
Continent had been closed against her. A long line of armed exterior, an
unbroken hostile array, frowned upon her from the Gulf of Archangel,
round the promontory of Spain and Portugal, to the extreme point of
Italy. There was not a port which an English ship could enter.
Everywhere on the land the genius of her great enemy had triumphed. He
had defeated armies, crushed coalitions, and overturned thrones; but,
like the fabled giant, he was unconquerable only while he touched the
land. On the ocean he was powerless. That field of fame was his
adversary's, and her meteor flag was streaming in triumph over its whole
extent.
To her maritime ascendency England owed every thing, and we were now at
war with her. One of the most charming of her poets had said of her,--
"Her march is o'er the mountain waves,
Her home is on the deep."
Now, Sir, since we were at war with her, I was for intercepting this
march; I was for calling upon her, and paying our respects to her, at
home; I was for giving her to know that we, too, had a right of way over
the seas, and that our marine officers and our sailors were not entire
strangers on the bosom of the deep. I was for doing something more with
our navy than keeping it on our own shores, for the protection of our
coasts and harbors; I was for giving play to its gallant and burning
spirit; for allowing it to go forth upon the seas, and to encounter, on
an open and an equal field, whatever the proudest or the bravest of the
enemy could bring against it. I knew the character of its officers and
the spirit of its seamen; and I knew that, in their hands, though the
flag of the country might go down to the bottom, yet, while defended by
them, that it could never be dishonored or disgraced.
Since she was our enemy, and a most powerful enemy, I was for touching
her, if we could, in the very apple of her eye; for reaching the highest
feather in her cap; for clutching at the very brightest jewel in her
crown. There seemed to me to be a peculiar propriety in all this, as the
war was undertaken for the redress of maritime injuries alone. It was a
war declared for free trade and sailors' rights. The ocean, therefore,
was the proper theatre for deciding this controversy with our enemy, and
on that theatre it was my ardent wish that our own power should be
concentrated to the utmost.
So much, Sir, for the war, and for my conduct and opinions as connected
with it. And, as I do not mean to recur to this subject often, nor ever,
unless indispensably necessary, I repeat the demand for any charge, any
accusation, any allegation whatever, that throws me behind the honorable
gentleman, or behind any other man, in honor, in fidelity, in devoted
love to that country in which I was born, which has honored me, and
which I serve. I, who seldom deal in defiance, now, here, in my place,
boldly defy the honorable member to put his insinuation in the form of a
charge, and to support that charge by any proof whatever.
The gentleman has adverted to the subject of slavery. On this subject,
he says, I have not proved myself a friend to the South. Why, Sir, the
only proof is, that I did not vote for his resolutions.
Sir, this is a very grave matter; it is a subject very exciting and
inflammable. I take, of course, all the responsibility belonging to my
opinions; but I desire these opinions to be understood, and fairly
stated. If I am to be regarded as an enemy to the South, because I could
not support the gentleman's resolutions, be it so. I cannot purchase
favor from any quarter, by the sacrifice of clear and conscientious
convictions. The principal resolution declared that Congress had
plighted its faith not to interfere either with slavery or the slave
trade in the District of Columbia.
Now, Sir, this is quite a new idea. I never heard it advanced until this
session. I have heard gentlemen contend that no such power was in the
Constitution; but the notion, that, though the Constitution contained
the power, yet Congress had plighted its faith not to exercise such a
power, is an entire novelty, so far as I know. I must say, Sir, it
appeared to me little else than an attempt to put a prohibition into the
Constitution, because there was none there already. For this supposed
plighting of the public faith, or the faith of Congress, I saw no
ground, either in the history of the government, or in any one fact, or
in any argument. I therefore could not vote for the proposition.
Sir, it is now several years since I took care to make my opinion known,
that this government has, constitutionally, nothing to do with slavery,
as it exists in the States. That opinion is entirely unchanged. I stand
steadily by the resolution of the House of Representatives, adopted,
after much consideration, at the commencement of the government, which
was, that Congress has no authority to interfere in the emancipation of
slaves, or in the treatment of them, within any of the States; it
remaining with the several States alone to provide any regulations
therein, which humanity and true policy may require. This, in my
opinion, is the Constitution and the law. I feel bound by it. I have
quoted the resolution often. It expresses the judgment of men of all
parts of the country, deliberately and coolly formed; and it expresses
my judgment, and I shall adhere to it. But this has nothing to do with
the other constitutional question; that is to say, the mere
constitutional question whether Congress has the power to regulate
slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
On such a question, Sir, when I am asked what the Constitution is, or
whether any power granted by it has been compromised away, or, indeed,
could be compromised away, I must express my honest opinion, and always
shall express it, if I say any thing, notwithstanding it may not meet
concurrence either in the South, or the North, or the East, or the West.
I cannot express by my vote what I do not believe. The gentleman has
chosen to bring that subject into this debate, with which it has no
concern; but he may make the most of it, if he thinks he can produce
unfavorable impressions against me at the South from my negative to his
fifth resolution. As to the rest of them, they were commonplaces,
generally, or abstractions; in regard to which, one may well feel
himself not called on to vote at all.
And now, Sir, in regard to the tariff. That is a long chapter, but I am
quite ready to go over it with the honorable member.
He charges me with inconsistency. That may depend on deciding what
inconsistency is, in respect to such subjects, and how it is to be
proved. I will state the facts, for I have them in my mind somewhat more
fully than the honorable member has himself presented them. Let us begin
at the beginning. In 1816 I voted against the tariff law which then
passed. In 1824 I again voted against the tariff law which was then
proposed, and which passed. A majority of New England votes, in 1824,
were against the tariff system. The bill received but one vote from
Massachusetts; but it passed. The policy was established. New England
acquiesced in it; conformed her business and pursuits to it; embarked
her capital, and employed her labor, in manufactures; and I certainly
admit that, from that time, I have felt bound to support interests thus
called into being, and into importance, by the settled policy of the
government. I have stated this often here, and often elsewhere. The
ground is defensible, and I maintain it.
As to the resolutions adopted in Boston in 1820, and which resolutions
he has caused to be read, and which he says he presumes I prepared, I
have no recollection of having drawn the resolutions, and do not believe
I did. But I was at the meeting, and addressed the meeting, and what I
said on that occasion was produced here, and read in the Senate, years
ago.
The resolutions, Sir, were opposed to the commencing of a high tariff
policy. I was opposed to it, and spoke against it; the city of Boston
was opposed to it; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was opposed to it.
Remember, Sir, that this was in 1820. This opposition continued till
1824. The votes all show this. But in 1824 the question was decided; the
government entered upon the policy; it invited men to embark their
property and their means of living in it. Individuals thus encouraged
have done this to a great extent; and therefore I say, so long as the
manufactures shall need reasonable and just protection from government,
I shall be disposed to give it to them. What is there, Sir, in all this,
for the gentleman to complain of? Would he have us always oppose the
policy adopted by the country on a great question? Would he have
minorities never submit to the will of majorities?
I remember to have said, Sir, at the meeting in Faneuil Hall, that
protection appeared to be regarded as incidental to revenue, and that
the incident could not be carried fairly above the principal; in other
words, that duties ought not to be laid for the mere object of
protection. I believe that proposition to be substantially correct. I
believe that, if the power of protection be inferred only from the
revenue power, the protection could only be incidental.
But I have said in this place before, and I repeat it now, that Mr.
Madison's publication after that period, and his declaration that the
Convention did intend to grant the power of protection under the
commercial clause, placed the subject in a new and a clear light. I will
add, Sir, that a paper drawn up apparently with the sanction of Dr.
Franklin, and read to a circle of friends at his house, on the eve of
the assembling of the Convention, respecting the powers which the
proposed new government ought to possess, shows plainly that, in
regulating commerce, it was expected that Congress would adopt a course
which should protect the manufactures of the North. He certainly went
into the Convention himself under that conviction.
Well, Sir, and now what does the gentleman make out against me in
relation to the tariff? What laurels does he gather in this part of
Africa? I opposed the _policy_ of the tariff, until it had become the
settled and established policy of the country. I have never questioned
the constitutional power of Congress to grant protection, except so far
as the remark made in Faneuil Hall goes, which remark respects only the
length to which protection might properly be carried, so far as the
power is derived from the authority to lay duties on imports. But the
policy being established, and a great part of the country having placed
vast interests at stake in it, I have not disturbed it; on the contrary,
I have insisted that it ought not to be disturbed. If there be
inconsistency in all this, the gentleman is at liberty to blazon it
forth; let him see what he can make of it.
Here, Sir, I cease to speak of myself; and respectfully ask pardon of
the Senate for having so long detained it upon any thing so unimportant
as what relates merely to my own public conduct and opinions.
Sir, the honorable member is pleased to suppose that our spleen is
excited, because he has interfered to snatch from us a victory over the
administration. If he means by this any personal disappointment, I shall
not think it worth while to make a remark upon it. If he means a
disappointment at his quitting us while we were endeavoring to arrest
the present policy of the administration, why then I admit, Sir, that I,
for one, felt that disappointment deeply. It is the policy of the
administration, its principles, and its measures, which I oppose. It is
not persons, but things; not men, but measures. I do wish most fervently
to put an end to this anti-commercial policy; and if the overthrow of
the policy shall be followed by the political defeat of its authors,
why, Sir, it is a result which I shall endeavor to meet with equanimity.
Sir, as to the honorable member's wresting the victory from us, or as to
his ability to sustain the administration in this policy, there may be
some doubt about that. I trust the citadel will yet be stormed, and
carried, by the force of public opinion, and that no Hector will be able
to defend its walls.
But now, Sir, I must advert to a declaration of the honorable member,
which, I confess, did surprise me. The honorable member says, that,
personally, he and myself have been on friendly terms, but that we
always differed on great constitutional questions. Sir, this is
astounding. And yet I was partly prepared for it; for I sat here the
other day, and held my breath, while the honorable gentleman declared,
and repeated, that he had always belonged to the State-rights party. And
he means, by what he has declared to-day, that he has always given to
the Constitution a construction more limited, better guarded, less
favorable to the extension of the powers of this government, than that
which I have given to it. He has always interpreted it according to the
strict doctrines of the school of State rights! Sir, if the honorable
member ever belonged, until very lately, to the State-rights party, the
connection was very much like a secret marriage. And never was secret
better kept. Not only were the espousals not acknowledged, but all
suspicion was avoided. There was no known familiarity, or even kindness,
between them. On the contrary, they acted like parties who were not at
all fond of each other's company.
Sir, is there a man in my hearing, among all the gentlemen now
surrounding us, many of whom, of both houses, have been here many years,
and know the gentleman and myself perfectly,--is there one who ever
heard, supposed, or dreamed that the honorable member belonged to the
State-rights party before the year 1825? Can any such connection be
proved upon him, can he prove it upon himself, before that time?
Sir, I will show you, before I resume my seat, that it was not until
after the gentleman took his seat in the chair which you now occupy,
that any public manifestation, or intimation, was ever given by him of
his having embraced the peculiar doctrines of the State-rights party.
The truth is, Sir, the honorable gentleman had acted a very important
and useful part during the war. But the war terminated. Toward the end
of the session of 1814-15, we received the news of peace. This closed
the Thirteenth Congress. In the fall of 1815, the Fourteenth Congress
assembled. It was full of ability, and the honorable gentleman stood
high among its distinguished members. He remained in the House, Sir,
through the whole of that Congress; and now, Sir, it is easy to show
that, during those two years, the honorable gentleman took a decided
lead in all those great measures which he has since so often denounced
as unconstitutional and oppressive, the bank, the tariff, and internal
improvements. The war being terminated, the gentleman's mind turned
itself toward internal administration and improvement. He surveyed the
whole country, contemplated its resources, saw what it was capable of
becoming, and held a political faith not so narrow and contracted as to
restrain him from useful and efficient action. He was, therefore, at
once a full length ahead of all others in measures which were national,
and which required a broad and liberal construction of the Constitution.
This is historic truth. Of his agency in the bank, and other measures
connected with the currency, I have already spoken, and I do not
understand him to deny any thing I have said, in that particular.
Indeed, I have said nothing capable of denial.
Now allow me a few words upon the tariff. The tariff of 1816 was
distinctly a South Carolina measure. Look at the votes, and you will see
it. It was a tariff for the benefit of South Carolina interests, and
carried through Congress by South Carolina votes and South Carolina
influence. Even the _minimum_, Sir, the so-much-reproached, the
abominable _minimum_, that subject of angry indignation and wrathful
rhetoric, is of Southern origin, and has a South Carolina parentage.
Sir, the contest on that occasion was chiefly between the cotton-growers
at home, and the importers of cotton fabrics from India. These India
fabrics were made from the cotton of that country. The people of this
country were using cotton fabrics not made of American cotton, and, so
far, they were diminishing the demand for such cotton. The importation
of India cottons was then very large, and this bill was designed to put
an end to it, and, with the help of the _minimum_, it did put an end to
it. The cotton manufactures of the North were then in their infancy.
They had some friends in Congress, but, if I recollect, the majority of
Massachusetts members and of New England members were against this
cotton tariff of 1816. I remember well, that the main debate was between
the importers of India cottons, in the North, and the cotton-growers of
the South. The gentleman cannot deny the truth of this, or any part of
it. Boston opposed this tariff, and Salem opposed it, warmly and
vigorously. But the honorable member supported it, and the law passed.
And now be it always remembered, Sir, that that act passed on the
professed ground of protection; that it had in it the _minimum_
principle, and that the honorable member, and other leading gentlemen
from his own State, supported it, voted for it, and carried it through
Congress.
And now, Sir, we come to the doctrine of internal improvement, that
other usurpation, that other oppression, which has come so near to
justifying violent disruption of the government, and scattering the
fragments of the Union to the four winds. Have the gentleman's
State-rights opinions always kept him aloof from such unhallowed
infringements of the Constitution? He says he always differed with me
on constitutional questions. How was it in this most important
particular? Has he here stood on the ramparts, brandishing his
glittering sword against assailants, and holding out a banner of
defiance? Sir, it is an indisputable truth, that he is himself the man,
the _ipse_ that first brought forward in Congress a scheme of general
internal improvement, at the expense and under the authority of this
government. He, Sir, is the very man, the _ipsissimus ipse_, who
considerately, and on a settled system, began these unconstitutional
measures, if they be unconstitutional. And now for the proof.
The act incorporating the Bank of the United States was passed in April,
1816. For the privileges of the charter, the proprietors of the bank
were to pay to government a _bonus_, as it was called, of one million
five hundred thousand dollars, in certain instalments. Government also
took seven millions in the stock of the bank. Early in the next session
of Congress, that is, in December, 1816, the honorable member moved, in
the House of Representatives, that a committee be appointed to consider
the propriety of setting apart this _bonus_, and also the dividends on
the stock belonging to the United States, as a permanent fund for
internal improvement. The committee was appointed, and the honorable
member was made its chairman. He thus originated the plan, and took the
lead in its execution. Shortly afterwards, he reported a bill carrying
out the objects for which the committee had been appointed. This bill
provided that the dividends on the seven millions of bank stock
belonging to government, and also the whole of the _bonus_, should be
permanently pledged as a fund for constructing roads and canals; and
that this fund should be subject to such specific appropriations as
Congress might subsequently make.
This was the bill; and this was the first project ever brought forward
in Congress for a system of internal improvements. The bill goes the
whole doctrine at a single jump. The Cumberland Road, it is true, was
already in progress; and for that the gentleman had also voted. But
there were, and are now, peculiarities about that particular expenditure
which sometimes satisfy scrupulous consciences; but this bill of the
gentleman's, without equivocation or saving clause, without if, or and,
or but, occupied the whole ground at once, and announced internal
improvement as one of the objects of this government, on a grand and
systematic plan. The bill, Sir, seemed indeed too strong. It was thought
by persons not esteemed extremely jealous of State rights to evince too
little regard to the will of the States. Several gentlemen opposed the
measure in that shape, on that account; and among them Colonel
Pickering, then one of the Representatives from Massachusetts. Even
Timothy Pickering could not quite sanction, or concur in, the honorable
gentleman's doctrines to their full extent, although he favored the
measure in its general character. He therefore prepared an amendment, as
a substitute; and his substitute provided for two very important things
not embraced in the original bill:--
First, that the proportion of the fund to be expended in each State,
respectively, should be in proportion to the number of its inhabitants.
Second, that the money should be applied in constructing such roads,
canals, and so forth, in the several States, as Congress might direct,
_with the assent of the State_.
This, Sir, was Timothy Pickering's amendment to the gentleman's bill.
And now, Sir, how did the honorable gentleman, who has always belonged
to the State-rights party,--how did he treat this amendment, or this
substitute? Which way do you think his State-rights doctrine led him?
Why, Sir, I will tell you. He immediately rose, and moved to strike out
the words "_with the assent of the State_"! Here is the journal under my
hand, Sir; and here is the gentleman's motion. And certainly, Sir, it
will be admitted that this motion was not of a nature to intimate that
he was wedded to State rights. But the words were not struck out. The
motion did not prevail. Mr. Pickering's substitute was adopted, and the
bill passed the House in that form.
In committee of the whole on this bill, Sir, the honorable member made a
very able speech both on the policy of internal improvements and the
power of Congress over the subject. These points were fully argued by
him. He spoke of the importance of the system, the vast good it would
produce, and its favorable effect on the union of the States. "Let us,
then," said he, "bind the republic together with a perfect system of
roads and canals. Let us conquer space. It is thus the most distant
parts of the republic will be brought within a few days' travel of the
centre; it is thus that a citizen of the West will read the news of
Boston still moist from the press."
But on the power of Congress to make internal improvements, ay, Sir, on
the power of Congress, hear him! What were then his rules of
construction and interpretation? How did he at that time read and
understand the Constitution? Why, Sir, he said that "he was no advocate
for refined arguments on the Constitution. The instrument was not
intended as a thesis for the logician to exercise his ingenuity on. It
ought to be construed with plain good-sense." This is all very just, I
think, Sir; and he said much more in the same strain. He quoted many
instances of laws passed, as he contended, on similar principles, and
then added, that "he introduced these instances to prove the uniform
sense of Congress and of the country (for they had not been objected to)
as to our powers; and surely," said he, "they furnish better evidence of
the true interpretation of the Constitution than the most refined and
subtile arguments."
Here you see, Mr. President, how little original I am. You have heard me
again and again contending in my place here for the stability of that
which has been long settled; you have heard me, till I dare say you have
been tired, insisting that the sense of Congress, so often expressed,
and the sense of the country, so fully shown and so firmly established,
ought to be regarded as having decided finally certain constitutional
questions. You see now, Sir, what authority I have for this mode of
argument. But while the scholar is learning, the teacher renounces. Will
he apply his old doctrine now--I sincerely wish he would--to the
question of the bank, to the question of the receiving of bank-notes by
government, to the power of Congress over the paper currency? Will he
admit that these questions ought to be regarded as decided by the
settled sense of Congress and of the country? O, no! Far otherwise. From
these rules of judgment, and from the influence of all considerations of
this practical nature, the honorable member now takes these questions
with him into the upper heights of metaphysics, into the regions of
those refinements and subtile arguments which he rejected with so much
decision in 1817, as appears by this speech. He quits his old ground of
common-sense, experience, and the general understanding of the country,
for a flight among theories and ethereal abstractions.
And now, Sir, let me ask, when did the honorable member relinquish these
early opinions and principles of his? When did he make known his
adhesion to the doctrines of the State-rights party? We have been
speaking of transactions in 1816 and 1817. What the gentleman's opinions
then were, we have seen. When did he announce himself a State-rights
man? I have already said, Sir, that nobody knew of his claiming that
character until after the commencement of 1825; and I have said so,
because I have before me an address of his to his neighbors at
Abbeville, in May of that year, in which he recounts, very properly, the
principal incidents in his career as a member of Congress, and as head
of a department; and in which he says that, as a member of Congress, he
had given his zealous efforts in favor of a restoration of specie
currency, of a due protection of those manufactures which had taken root
during the war, and, finally, of a system for connecting the various
parts of the country by a judicious system of internal improvement. He
adds, that it afterwards became his duty, as a member of the
administration, to aid in sustaining against the boldest assaults those
very measures which, as a member of Congress, he had contributed to
establish.
And now, Sir, since the honorable gentleman says he has differed with me
on constitutional questions, will he be pleased to say what
constitutional opinion I have ever avowed for which I have not his
express authority? Is it on the bank power? the tariff power? the power
of internal improvement? I have shown his votes, his speeches, and his
conduct, on all these subjects, up to the time when General Jackson
became a candidate for the Presidency. From that time, Sir, I know we
have differed; but if there was any difference before that time, I call
upon him to point it out, to declare what was the occasion, what the
question, and what the difference. And if before that period, Sir, by
any speech, any vote, any public proceeding, or by any mode of
announcement whatever, he gave the world to know that he belonged to the
State-rights party, I hope he will now be kind enough to produce it, or
to refer to it, or to tell us where we may look for it.
Sir, I will pursue this topic no farther. I would not have pursued it so
far, I would not have entered upon it at all, had it not been for the
astonishment I felt, mingled, I confess, with something of warmer
feeling, when the honorable gentleman declared that he had always
differed with me on constitutional questions. Sir, the honorable member
read a quotation or two from a speech of mine in 1816, on the currency
or bank question. With what intent, or to what end? What inconsistency
does he show? Speaking of the _legal_ currency of the country, that is,
the coin, I then said it was in a good state. Was not that true? I was
speaking of the legal currency; of that which the law made a tender. And
how is that inconsistent with any thing said by me now, or ever said by
me? I declared then, he says, that the framers of this government were
hard-money men. Certainly they were. But are not the friends of a
convertible paper _hard-money men_, in every practical and sensible
meaning of the term? Did I, in that speech, or any other, insist on
excluding all convertible paper from the uses of society? Most assuredly
I did not. I never quite so far lost my wits, I think. There is but a
single sentence in that speech which I should qualify if I were to
deliver it again, and that the honorable member has not noticed. It is a
paragraph respecting the power of Congress over the circulation of State
banks, which might perhaps need explanation or correction. Understanding
it as applicable to the case then before Congress, all the rest is
perfectly accordant with my present opinions. It is well known that I
never doubted the power of Congress to create a bank; that I was always
in favor of a bank, constituted on proper principles; that I voted for
the bank bill of 1815; and that I opposed that of 1816 only on account
of one or two of its provisions, which I and others hoped to be able to
strike out. I am a hard-money man, and always have been, and always
shall be. But I know the great use of such bank paper as is convertible
into hard money on demand; which may be called specie paper, and which
is equivalent to specie in value, and much more convenient and useful
for common purposes. On the other hand, I abhor all irredeemable paper;
all old-fashioned paper money; all deceptive promises; every thing,
indeed, in the shape of paper issued for circulation, whether by
government or individuals, which cannot be turned into gold and silver
at the will of the holder.
But, Sir, I have insisted that government is bound to protect and
regulate the means of commerce, to see that there is a sound currency
for the use of the people. The honorable gentleman asks, What then is
the limit? Must Congress also furnish all means of commerce? Must it
furnish weights and scales and steelyards? Most undoubtedly, Sir, it
must regulate weights and measures, and it does so. But the answer to
the general question is very obvious. Government must furnish all that
which none but government can furnish. Government must do that for
individuals which individuals cannot do for themselves. That is the very
end of government. Why else have we a government? Can individuals make a
currency? Can individuals regulate money? The distinction is as broad
and plain as the Pennsylvania Avenue. No man can mistake it, or well
blunder out of it. The gentleman asks if government must furnish for the
people ships, and boats, and wagons. Certainly not. The gentleman here
only recites the President's message of September. These things, and all
such things, the people can furnish for themselves; but they cannot make
a currency; they cannot, individually, decide what shall be the money of
the country. That, everybody knows, is one of the prerogatives, and one
of the duties, of government; and a duty which I think we are most
unwisely and improperly neglecting. We may as well leave the people to
make war and to make peace, each man for himself, as to leave to
individuals the regulation of commerce and currency.
Mr. President, there are other remarks of the gentleman of which I might
take notice. But should I do so, I could only repeat what I have already
said, either now or heretofore. I shall, therefore, not now allude to
them. My principal purpose in what I have said has been to defend
myself; that was my first object; and next, as the honorable member has
attempted to take to himself the character of a strict constructionist,
and a State-rights man, and on that basis to show a difference, not
favorable to me, between his constitutional opinions and my own,
heretofore, it has been my intention to show that the power to create a
bank, the power to regulate the currency by other and direct means, the
power to enact a protective tariff, and the power of internal
improvement, in its broadest sense, are all powers which the honorable
gentleman himself has supported, has acted on, and in the exercise of
which, indeed, he has taken a distinguished lead in the counsels of
Congress.
If this has been done, my purpose is answered. I do not wish to prolong
the discussion, nor to spin it out into a colloquy. If the honorable
member has any thing new to bring forward; if he has any charge to make,
any proof, or any specification; if he has any thing to advance against
my opinions or my conduct, my honor or patriotism, I am still at home. I
am here. If not, then, so far as I am concerned, this discussion will
here terminate.
I will say a few words, before I resume my seat, on the motion now
pending. That motion is to strike out the specie-paying part of the
bill. I have a suspicion, Sir, that the motion will prevail. If it
should, it will leave a great vacuum; and how shall that vacuum be
filled?
The part proposed to be struck out is that which requires all debts to
government to be paid in specie. It makes a good provision for
government, and for public men, through all classes. The Secretary of
the Treasury, in his letter at the last session, was still more watchful
of the interests of the holders of office. He assured us, that, bad as
the times were, and notwithstanding the floods of bad paper which
deluged the country, members of Congress should get gold and silver. In
my opinion, Sir, this is beginning the use of good money in payments at
the wrong end of the list. If there be bad money in the country, I think
that Secretaries and other executive officers, and especially members of
Congress, should be the last to receive any good money; because they
have the power, if they will do their duty, and exercise it, of making
the money of the country good for all. I think, Sir, it was a leading
feature in Mr. Burke's famous bill for economical reform, that he
provided, first of all, for those who are least able to secure
themselves. Everybody else was to be well paid all they were entitled
to, before the ministers of the crown, and other political characters,
should have any thing. This seems to me very right. But we have a
precedent, Sir, in our own country, more directly to the purpose; and
as that which we now hope to strike out is the part of the bill
furnished or proposed originally by the honorable member from South
Carolina, it will naturally devolve on him to supply its place. I wish,
therefore, to draw his particular attention to this precedent, which I
am now about to produce.
Most members of the Senate will remember, that before the establishment
of this government, and before or about the time that the territory
which now constitutes the State of Tennessee was ceded to Congress, the
inhabitants of the eastern part of that territory established a
government for themselves, and called it the State of Franklin. They
adopted a very good constitution, providing for the usual branches of
legislative, executive, and judicial power. They laid and collected
taxes, and performed other usual acts of legislation. They had, for the
present, it is true, no maritime possessions, yet they followed the
common forms in constituting high officers; and their governor was not
only captain-general and commander-in-chief, but admiral also, so that
the navy might have a commander when there should be a navy.
Well, Sir, the currency in this State of Franklin became very much
deranged. Specie was scarce, and equally scarce were the notes of
specie-paying banks. But the legislature did not propose any divorce of
government and people; they did not seek to establish two currencies,
one for men in office, and one for the rest of the community. They were
content with neighbor's fare. It became necessary to pass what we should
call now-a-days the civil-list appropriation bill. They passed such a
bill; and when we shall have made a void in the bill now before us by
striking out specie payments for government, I recommend to its friends
to fill the gap, by inserting, if not the same provisions as were in the
law of the State of Franklin, at least something in the same spirit.
The preamble of that law, Sir, begins by reciting, that the collection
of taxes in specie had become very oppressive to the good people of the
commonwealth, for the want of a circulating medium. A parallel case to
ours, Sir, exactly. It recites further, that it is the duty of the
legislature to hear, at all times, the prayer of their constituents, and
apply as speedy a remedy as lies in their power. These sentiments are
very just, and I sincerely wish there was a thorough disposition here to
adopt the like.
Acting under the influence of these sound opinions, Sir, the legislature
of Franklin passed a law for the support of the civil list, which, as it
is short, I will beg permission to read. It is as follows:--
"_Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Franklin,
and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same_, That, from
the first day of January, A.D. 1789, the salaries of the civil
officers of this commonwealth be as follows, to wit:
"His excellency, the governor, _per annum_, one thousand
deer-skins; his honor, the chief justice, five hundred do. do.; the
attorney-general, five hundred do. do.; secretary to his excellency
the governor, five hundred raccoon do.; the treasurer of the State,
four hundred and fifty otter do.; each county clerk, three hundred
beaver do.; clerk of the house of commons, two hundred raccoon do.;
members of assembly, _per diem_, three do. do.; justice's fee for
signing a warrant, one muskrat do.; to the constable, for serving a
warrant, one mink do.
"Enacted into a law this 18th day of October, 1788, under the great
seal of the State.
"Witness his excellency, &c.
"_Governor, captain-general, commander-in-chief, and admiral in and
over said State_."
This, Sir, is the law, the spirit of which I commend to gentlemen. I
will not speak of the appropriateness of these several allowances for
the civil list. But the example is good, and I am of opinion that, until
Congress shall perform its duty, by seeing that the country enjoys a
good currency, the same medium which the people are obliged to use,
whether it be skins or rags, is good enough for its own members.
[Footnote 1: The Secretary of the Treasury.]