SENATE.] Revenue Collection Bill-Powers of the Federal Judiciary. Eastern States; and upon the wisdom and The bill, though proposing on its face to be The Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. WILKINS) asked us the other day, if we were unwilling that the powers proposed to be given to the Executive by the bill should be confided to the present President of the United States. But [FEBRUARY, 1833. that was not the question. He would say that the past course of the President had been such as to entitle him to unlimited confidence, and there was no individual to whom he would more willingly confide this power than to the President. But there was no man, however elevated in station and ennobled by virtue, however pure his integrity and honest his purposes, to whom he would give a power which was unwarranted by the constitution. We are told that a jealous watch over the repositories of power is the only way of preserving liberty. He could not believe for a moment, that, if this power were given to the President, he would abuse it. But it might, in worse times than these, and in worse hands than his, be abused to the destruction of our institutions. We may be told that the power will be limited as to continuance and application. But what does history teach us? That the fact of to-day becomes a precedent to-morrow. Our own history shows us instances of powers, some well established as constitutional, which the framers of the constitution and its early friends would have shrunk from with dread. The General Government has been gradually drawing to itself the exercise of doubtful powers. When told that they are not given by the constitution, they reply that they are justified by precedent. The honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania, in the course of his remarks, spoke of the submissive manner in which that State would yield obedience to the most unjust and injurious legislation of Congress. The history of that State was illustrated by the virtues and patriotism of her citizens, but the Senator would pardon him if he should say that the State of Pennsylvania was not quite exempt from the faults which are imputed to the State of South Carolina. The course of Pennsylvania, in the famous Olmstead case, had some agency in bringing about the present state of things in South Carolina. Though South Carolina had not derived her impulse from that source, yet the doctrines once contended for by Pennsylvania were appealed to in justification of her present course. The opinions and principles of Pennsylvania in the Olmstead case had been cited in the discussions in South Carolina, as justifying her resort to selfredress. He did not stamp his approbation on them, nor on those of Carolina. [Mr. B. then read extracts from the report made in the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, on the message of the Governor, relative to the mandamus of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Gideon Olmstead, as follows:] "That the subject referred to them has not failed viewed it in every point of light in which it could be to engage their most serious reflection. They have considered. It is by no means a matter of indifference. In whatever way the Legislature may decide, it will be in the highest degree important. We may purchase peace by a surrender of right, or exhibit to the present times, and to late posterity, an awful lesson in the conflicts to prevent it. It becomes a sacred duty we owe to our common country, to dis FEBRUARY, 1833.] Revenue Collection Bill-Powers of the Federal Judiciary. [SENATE. card pusillanimity on the one hand, and rashness Should not the recollection of this transaction on the other. In either case, we shall furnish ma- inculcate upon Pennsylvania moderation, and terials for history; and future times must judge of unabated confidence in a peaceful remedy? The our wisdom or our weakness. Ancient history furcase addressed itself particularly to that State, nishes no parallel to the constitution of this united and bound her to practise the same moderation republic. And should this great experiment fail, towards Carolina which the Union practised vain may be every effort to establish rational liberty towards her, when, in a moment of high exciteThe spirit of the times gives birth to jealousy of power; it is interwoven in our system; and is, per- Union. He would, in further support of his ment, she opposed herself to the laws of the haps, essential to perfect freedom and the rights of mankind. But this jealousy, urged to the extreme, views, read from a speech delivered by a highly may eventually destroy even liberty itself. As con- distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania, a passage nected with the federal system, the State Govern- which was fraught with just and liberal sentiments, with their inherent rights, must at every haz-ments. [From the address delivered before the ard, be preserved entire; otherwise the General Gov- literary societies of Jefferson College, at the anernment may assume a character never contemplated nual commencement in September, 1832, by the by its framers, which may change its whole nature." honorable W. WILKINS, he read the following "Resolved, That in a Government like that of the passage:] United States, where there are powers granted to the General Government, and rights reserved to the States, it is impossible, from the imperfection of language, so to define the limits of each, that difficulties should not sometimes arise from a collision of powers; and it is to be lamented that no provision is made in the constitution, for determining disputes between the General and State Governments, by an impartial tribunal, when such cases occur. "Resolved, That from the construction the United States courts give to their powers, the harmony of the States, if they resist encroachments on their rights, will frequently be interrupted; and if, to prevent this evil, they should, on all occasions, yield to stretches of power, the reserved rights of the States will depend on the arbitrary power of the courts. Those papers show what were the doctrines of Pennsylvania at that time; and it is well known that she went on to carry those into practical operation. She called out her whole military power to resist the decree of the court, and steps were taken to bring her military force into actual service. He did not adduce this fact because he approved of the doctrines of Pennsylvania, for, in his opinion, she went too far. But he meant to show her rashness did not draw down upon her the power of the Union. The administration of that day had not recourse to military coercion. The decided stand which the State had taken was known to the Government and to Congress, but they did not consider that any coercive measure was necessary before the judicial tribunals had tried their remedy. No bill was introduced in Congress, no measures recommended by the President for meeting the measures of Pennsylvania with military force. They trusted to the force of our institutions, without other remedy, and those institutions triumphed. "If we start with horror from such frightful consequences, let our efforts be directed to avert the evil which brings them in its train. Ever keep in mind the spirit of compromise in which our Constitution had its origin. Instead of defiance and derision, let us adopt the tone of conciliation, and, where practicable, of concession. Instead of hunting up materials, from spiteful comparisons between different States or districts, let us remember only what is glorious in the history, or estimable in the character of each; adopting the happy quotation of Lord Chatham, when deprecating that stubborn and contemptuous defiance which led to the dismemberment of the British empire; let each State, in reference to every other, 'Be to her faults a little blind, Be to her virtues very kind.'" common sacrifices-on that precious fund of In dwelling on the common efforts and the glorious recollections which two wars have accumulated for the whole country-there must be kindled a generous and sympathetic ardor which will prove the most powerful of centripetal forces. I agree, continued Mr. B., that the spirit of compromise and conciliation is the strongest bond which binds us together, and it is that tie which unites us, and not the strong arm of military power. The gentleman from New Jersey, in the course of his remarks, said that the constitution was ratified by the people; that it was submitted to the States merely from convenience; and that the people had clothed the General Government with its powers. To that position he would not assent. It brings up the great question of consolidated powers. The establishment of this doctrine utterly annihilates the constitution as it was expounded by the most enlightened republicans of '98 and '99. If that doctrine had been constitutional, then it was only necessary that the constitution should be ratified by the majority of the people. The ceremony of submitting the instrument for the ratification of the States was an idle mockery, if the powers granted by the constitution were not granted by the sovereign States, but by the people in mass. He would refer to the history of the transaction. Eleven States had ratified the constitution, constituting an overwhelming majority of the peo SENATE.] Revenue Collection Bill-Powers of the Federal Judiciary. [FEBRUARY, 1833. ple; but still North Carolina refused to ratify it, | The aspiring pride of the State sovereignties! and so did Rhode Island. As sovereign States, they refused their sanction to it. If the doctrine of the Senator from New Jersey was correct, North Carolina was, at this time, guilty of resistance to the constitution and laws. Little Rhode Island was guilty of opposition to the supreme law of the land, for she did not come into the Union for some time after North Carolina. That single circumstance shed much light on this subject. The State of Rhode Island, a small State, but little larger in population than some of the counties in New York, yet exercising on that occasion a sovereignty co-extensive with that of New York, Pennsylvania, or any other State in the Union. Another fact repudiates the doctrine here advanced, that the constitution is the work of the people. It is only necessary for a majority of the States, constituting one-fourth of the people, to refuse to elect Senators, and an end is put at once to the General Government. This consideration puts to flight all the arguments urged to prove that this is a consolidated Government. He was aware that it had been said, in reply to this remark, the meaning of the quorum, which was necessary to enable the Senate to transact business, would in this case be construed to mean a majority of the States actually represented; and the States not represented would not be considered as belonging to the Union. But this objection would drive gentlemen to an admission of the rights of secession-a doctrine which, perhaps, they would not be willing to allow; for if a State has not the right of secession, no act that she herself may do, or omit to do, can place her out of the Union. It was an avowal of doctrines such as these which was so repugnant to his feelings. It was well known that in the origin of the Government the country was divided into two great parties. One of these parties contended in favor of the reserved rights of the States, and to restricted powers of the General Government. The other was for conferring on the General Government unlimited powers. This last was called the federal party. With a loud note they proclaimed the necessity of investing the General Government with a vast range of authority. Some of them even went so far as to propose a form of Government which would have been substantially a monarchy. Mr. Hamilton, in the convention which framed the federal constitution, had advocated the appointment of a chief Executive Magistrate, and a Senate during good behavior, which was equivalent to appointing them for life. Such, said Mr. B., is my remembrance of the subject. The history of these times will show the fact. The doctrine of State rights, and of the reserved powers of the State sovereignties, was abhorrent to the leaders of that party. They did not, however, succeed in carrying their enlarged views into effect. He did not intend to characterize the whole of that party as entertaining these views. But such were the sentiments of some of its leaders. Nor did he intend to impugn the motives of these gentlemen, though he doubted not they were actuated by feelings as patriotic as those which actuated any men. But it was well known that the high-toned part of the federal party did doubt the competency of the people to selfgovernment. They were for arming the federal power with all authority, in order, as they said, to save the people from their own worst enemies. There were some of the prominent men of the country who did not subscribe to that principle, but who did believe that the people were competent to self-government; that they were fully able to go through the work which they had begun, and to carry out that beautiful theory of republican rule. Happily for the country, they prevailed. Happily for the country, the principle was established, that the States were sovereign and independent, as to all powers which they had not delegated to the General Government. And some of the republican party went so far as to believe that the States themselves had the right, in the last re But if the origin and nature of our government did not put this idea to rest, the character and extent of our country would have done so. The people of so wide and various a surface would never have delegated the powers to make a consolidated Government. They knew that no such Government could exist here. What says Mr. Hamilton in the Federalist? What says Mr. Madison on the subject? Why, that to adopt a consolidated Government would be destroying the principles of the revolution, and would inevitably lead to monarchy. And why? Because whenever a majority, having adverse interests to the minority, should combine to oppress the smaller portion, the latter would have to intrench themselves behind their reserved rights, and make resistance to the oppres-sort, to determine for themselves what were the sion, or be annihilated. precise powers which they had delegated. He was well aware that the doctrine of nullification, as it now prevailed in South Carolina, was about to be made use of, not against that doctrine alone, which he did not rise up to defend, but for the purpose of founding upon it a war of extermination. It was against that that he desired to enter his protest; under this masked battery, he saw that it was intended to fire upon the rights of the States. Gentlemen held up the flag of nullification, rang all the changes upon the word, sounded the tocsin of alarm FEBRUARY, 1833.] Revenue Collection Bill-Powers of the Federal Judiciary. throughout the country, and presented the whole matter in a light the most unfavorable to South Carolina, in order to justify to the other States the war which they were disposed to wage. It was a war, too, which would admit of no neutrals. The gentlemen who have taken the strong ground, like Napoleon, have thrown out the declaration that there must be no neutrals. [SENATE. which would meet with the approbation of all pure democrats. It was the authority of George Clinton, a name deserving of all respect; clarum et venerabile nomen; a man distinguished for his steady adherence to democratic doctrines. When he was President of the Senate in 1810, he gave his casting vote against the bank. It was on that occasion that he used the following language: Government is not to be strengthened by the as"In the course of a long life I have found that sumption of doubtful powers, but by a wise and energetic execution of those which are incontestable; the former never fails to produce suspicion and distrust, whilst the latter inspires respect and confidence. "If, however, after a fair experiment, the powers vested in the General Government shall be found incompetent to the attainment of the objects for which it was instituted, the constitution happily furnishes the means for remedying the evil by amendment; and I have no doubt that, in such event, on an appeal to the patriotism and good sense of the community, it will be readily applied." I take my stand, said Mr. B., on the reserved rights of the States. I repudiate the doctrine of nullification. I repudiate also the high-toned doctrine of the federal party. I believe it is to that high-toned doctrine that we are to attribute nullification. I believe that doctrine produced it; is the parent of it. It is by an improper pressure of the Federal Government on the rights of the States, and by exercising doubtful powers, that the State of South Carolina has been thrown into this position. He did not mean to justify the course of that State. But whether she was right or whether she was wrong, this furnished her with something like an excuse for her conduct. He believed that the principle was as susceptible of demonstra- What was the result of his experience? That tion as any principle of mathematics; that the Government was never strengthened by the almost any attitude of resistance against the exercise of doubtful powers. A doctrine which Federal Government, in which States had been still prevails among the distinguished leaders seen, arose out of the unwarrantable exercise of the party in the State of New York, and of doubtful powers by the United States. They which they can never consent to surrender, unhad always been inclined to tranquillity. They less they should become recreant to the great had always been disposed to make a child's bar- principles which they have always maintained. gain with the United States: If you will let But he would not only quote authority, but he us alone, we will let you alone. They would would also quote facts. What was it which excitnever have admitted the idea of rising in oppo-ed the first controversy between a State and the sition to the United States, unless there had been some exciting cause. The whole history of the world proves this fact. There is no precedent where a people have arrayed themselves against a supreme power without any occasion, because the great body of mankind has always been found more ready to acquiesce in oppression than to resist it. He desired gentlemen to produce a single precedent where a people whose pursuits are peaceful and agricultural for the most part, were willing to cast away "the piping times of peace," and for the mere love of glory to rush into a conflict against power, and that power twenty times larger than itself. Could gentlemen produce an instance where any State, without provocation, had ever offered resistance to the General Government? He had thus, he believed, established the great principle that the States themselves were always willing to be quiet, and that most of the opposition which had been manifested against the General Government had arisen from the exercise of doubtful power by that Government, by which had been provoked that State pride which the gentleman from New Jersey so earnestly denounced. Without that pride this republic would now have been as nothing. To justify this principle, that most of the controversies which had arisen, have arisen from the circumstance of the Federal Government taking their debatable ground, he would read an authority United States; a conflict which threatened to bring ruin on the country, and which was designated the reign of terror by the republican party, as it well deserved to be characterized? He referred to the alien and sedition law, which, by usurping the power of trampling into dust the liberty of speech, the freedom of the press, and all the rights and securities which the people had enjoyed, called forth a movement the most glorious to the country that could be imagined. It drew forth the celebrated report of Mr. Madison, a report to the merits of which he was totally inadequate to do justice. This was a movement of the aspiring pride of the State sovereignties, which, instead of destroying the Union, brought back the Government to its first principles. So much, then, for State pride. If that State pride had preserved the constitution at its last gasp, it ought not to have called down upon it such unqualified reprobation. The doctrines of Virginia saved the confederacy in that dangerous crisis. They produced a civil revolution, which brought into power the wisest and the ablest statesman who ever lived in any country. This was one of the benefits which had resulted from State pride. In the case of the establishment of the United States Bank there arose also a conflict of powers. There were many who believed that it was an assumption of power not delegated to the Federal Government. Ohio was one of the States which SENATE.] Revenue Collection Bill-Powers of the Federal Judiciary. [FEBRUARY, 1833. do wrong, but we should not fear to do justice. The gentleman from New Jersey had said he would not strike a sister State, but would retire to the wall. He, Mr. B., admired this principle, which so admirably accorded with what he knew of the private worth of the gentleman from New Jersey. But when the gentleman went on to say that the dignity of the country required that the laws should be executed, he could not avoid asking him in what that dignity consisted? Did it consist in calling out the military power, in bringing citizen into conflict with citizen, and deluging the country with the blood of her chil held that opinion. This matter also was finally adjusted. What was the next question which agitated the country? It was the exercise of the power of internal improvement. That was not an expressed power granted to the General Government. It was among the doubtful powers, and the right to exercise it was denied by several of the States. It was denied by the State of New Hampshire, and by a very respectable portion of the State of New York, which held that it was one of the doubtful powers. The right of appropriating money to all or any objects was another of the doubtful powers. The State of New York, and some other of the States, disputed the right of the Federal Govern-dren? If that was the meaning of the dignity ment to appropriate money except for the purposes pointed out by the constitution. Such are the contentions which had arisen from the exercise of doubtful powers by the Federal Gov ernment. The case of Georgia was the next to which he would call the attention of the Senate. The usurped powers which the United States attempted to exercise over her provoked the pride | of that State, as well it might. When the Government of the United States undertook to tell her that she could not extend her jurisdiction over the whole of her own soil, she might well resist. This contention, arising also from the exercise of doubtful powers by the United States, was at one moment pregnant with awful menace. of the country, he, Mr. B., prayed Heaven to deliver him from such dignity. He considered that the dignity and honor of the country would be best promoted and established by doing justice, and carrying out peacefully and efficiently the principles of the constitution. This would be worth all false glory, all the national glory of which we have heard so much. It would eclipse all the glory of imperial Rome, and of imperial France, which was nothing to the glory of a just, equal, and benignant dispensation of the laws. One of the reasons which had mainly induced him to rise was, to show that every peaceful remedy should be resorted to. The constitution was framed in a spirit of mutual deference. It was ratified in that same spirit of deference, and so it ought to be administered. The whole history of our country conforms to that principle; a mutual deference to all great interests of the country. The practice of the Government has been invariably marked with the spirit of conciliation. The last, but not the least, of the conflicts which have arisen from the exercise of doubtful powers by the General Government, was in relation to the protective system. Here the Government of the United States had assumed the right of unlimited taxation, of taxing one portion of the community for the benefit of another and a more favored portion. He hoped that he had thus succeeded in establishing the position that most of the controversies which had arisen had their origin in the exercise of doubtful pow-State made a strong remonstrance on the subers by the Federal Government, operating against those rights which the States deem necessary for the preservation of their existence in a sovereign capacity. The State of Kentucky, in 1794, was dissatisfied with the Government of the United States, because the free navigation of the Mississippi had not been secured. The Legislature of that ject to the General Government, claiming that free navigation as their right. They asserted that God and nature had given them this right; and they menaced a withdrawal from the The gentleman from New Jersey had held up Union if it was not obtained for them. What the constitution in his hand, and, with all that was the course of Washington? What was the patriotic ardor for which he was distinguished, course of the American Congress on this occasaid he should cling to the bond. I, too, said sion? They did not assume the ground that Mr. B., will cling to the bond; and while I will they would not legislate while this menace was willingly allow the gentleman to take full usage, held over them. Yet no one could doubt the I hope that, in taking the pound of flesh, he will courage of Washington. No one could doubt not spill one drop of blood. The gentleman that he was not prepared for every emergency. had also said, that old Rome never submitted He said that the Government had been estabto the dictation of any of her provinces. This lished in a spirit of compromise, and he recomwas a luminous commentary on the rest of his mended that a respectful reply be given to the remarks. No wonder that he had spoken dis-State. He laid before the Legislature the facts paragingly of the States, when he compared in the case, and the free navigation of the Misthem to Roman provinces. This sufficiently sissippi was obtained. accounted for the consolidated principles of the gentleman from New Jersey. But old Rome was always ready to extend justice to her provinces. Whenever the deputies of a province came before her Senate, she did not fear to do them justice. We may all becomingly fear to There was also another case, which was the assumption of the State debts. At the close of the war of the revolution, besides the national debt, each State had contracted its debt; and it was demanded by the Eastern States that the General Government should assume the pay |