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THE

LIFE AND SPEECHES

OF

HENRY CLAY,

¦I Pi'J. "! :

VOLUME II.

NEW YORK:
GREELEY & M'ELRATH, TRIBUNE OFFICE.
1843.

Entered according to an act of Congress, in the year 1842, by
JAMES B. SWAIN,
In the Clerk's Office of the IT. S. Court for the Southern District of New-York.

CONTENTS

OF VOLUME II.

SPEECHES. Page
In Defence of the American System,  9> v
On a National Bank,  68
On the Bank Charter,  82
On the Veto of the Bank  89
On the Public Lands,  104
On Introducing the Compromise Bill,  139 y
In support of the Compromise Act,  157 *
On the Removal of the Depositees,  177
On the State of the Country,  -  231
On the State of the Country  235
On Our Treatment of the Cherokees,  -  249
On Surrendering the Cumberland Road,  266
On Appointments and Removals,  269
On the Land Distribution,  287.
On the Expunging Resolutions,  295
On the Sub-Treasury,  313
On the Sub-Treasury,  344
Outline of a National Bank,  390
On Abolition Petitions,  395
On the Presidential Election,  420
On the Pre-Emption Bill  443
-~0n the Bank Veto  492
On a True Public Policy,  518
On Retiring from the Senate,  552
On Returning to Kentucky,  560
In Reply to Mr. Mendenhall,  „  591

SPEECHES

HENRY CLAY

DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM:.

In the Senate of the United States, February 2d, 3d, and
6th, 1832.

[Mr. Clay, having retired from Congress soon after the establishment of the
American System, by the passage of the Tariff of 1824, did not return to it till 1831-2,
when the opponents of this system had covertly acquired the ascendancy, and were
bent on its destruction. An act reducing the duties on many of the protected articles,
was devised and passed. The bill being under consideration in the Senate, Mr
Clay addressed that body as follows :]
In one sentiment, Mr. President, expressed by the honorable gen
tleman from South Carolina, (General Hayne,) though perhaps not
in the sense intended by him, I entirely concur. I agree with him>
that the decision on the system of policy embraced in this debate, in
volves the future destiny of this growing country. One way I verily
believe,'it would lead to deep and general distress, general bankrupt
cy and national ruin, without benefit to any part of the Union : the
other, the existing prosperity will be preserved and augmented, and
the nation will continue rapidly to advance in wealth, power, and
greatness, without prejudice to any section of the confederacy.

10 speeches of henry clat.
Thus viewing the question, I stand here as the humble but zealous
advocate, not of the interests of one State, or seven States only, but
of the whole Union. And never before have I felt, more intensely,
the overpowering weight of that share of responsibility which belongs
to me in these deliberations. Never before have I had more occasion
than I now have to lament my want of those intellectual powers, the
possession of which might enable me to unfold to this Senate, and to
illustrate to this people great truths, intimately connected with the
lasting welfare of my country. I should, indeed, sink overwhelmed
and subdued beneath the appalling magnitude of the task which lies
before me, if I did not feel myself sustained and fortified by a thorough
consciousness of the justness of the cause which I'have espoused, and
by a persuasion I hope not presumptuous, that it has the approba
tion of that Providence who has so often smiled upon these United
States. Eight years ago, it was my painful duty to present to the other
House of Congress, an unexaggerated picture of the general distress
pervading the whole land. We must all yet remember some of its
frightful features. We all know that the people were then oppress
ed and borne down by an enormous load of debt ; that the value of
property was at the lowest point of depression ; that ruinous sales and
_ sacrifices were every where made of real estate ; that stop laws, and
relief laws, and paper money were adopted to save the people from
impending destruction ; that a deficit in the public revenue existed,
which compelled government to seize upon, and divert from its legiti
mate object the appropriations to the sinking fund, to redeem the na
tional debt ; and that our commerce and navigation were threatened
with a complete paralysis. In short, sir, if I were to select any term
of seven years since the adoption of the present constitution which
exhibited a scene of the most wide-spread dismay and desolation, it
would be exactly that term of seven years which immediately prece
ded the establishment of the tariff of 1824.
I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting an im
perfect sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled prosperity of
the country. On a general survey, we behold cultivation extended,
the arts flourishing, the face of the country improved, our people
fully and profitably employed, and the public countenance exhibiting
tranquility, contentment and happiness. And if we descend into par-

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. II
ticulars, we have the agreeable contemplation of a people out of debt :
land rising slowly in value, but in a secure and salutary degree ; a
ready though not extravagant market for all the surplus productions
of our industry ; innumerable flocks and herds browsing and gambol
ing on ten thousand hills and plains, covered with rich and verdant
grasses ; our cities expanded, and whole villages springing up, as it
were, by enchantment ; our exports and imports increased and in
creasing ; our tonnage, foreign and coastwise, swelling and fully occu
pied ; the rivers of our interior animated l>y the perpetual thunder
and lightning of countless steam-boats ; the currency sound and
abundant ; the public debt of two wars nearly redeemed ; and, to
crown all, the public treasury overflowing, embarrassing Congress,
not to find subjects of taxation, but to select the objects which shall
be liberated from the impost. If the term of seven years were to be
selected, of the greatest prosperity which this people have enjoyed
since the establishment of their present constitution, it would be ex
actly that period of seven years which immediately followed the pas
sage of the tariff of 1 824.
This transformation of the condition of the country from gloom and
distress to brightness and prosperity, has been mainly the work of
American legislation, fostering American industry, instead of allow
ing it to be controlled by foreign legislation, cherishing foreign indus
try. The foes of the American System, in 1824, with great boldness
and confidence, predicted, 1st. The ruin of the public revenue, and
the creation of a necessity to resort to direct taxation. The gentle
man from South Carolina, (General Hayne,) I believe, thought that
the tariff of 1824 would operate a reduction of revenue to the large
amount of eight millions of dollars. 2d. The destruction of our navi
gation. 3d. The desolation of commercial cities. And 4th. The
augmentation of the price of objects of consumption, and further de
cline in that of the articles of our exports. "Every prediction which
they made has failed — utterly failed. Instead of the ruin of the pub
lic revenue, with which they then sought to deter us from the adop
tion of the American System, we are now threatened with its sub
version, by the vast amount of the public revenue produced by that
system. Every branch of our navigation has increased. As to the
desolation of our cities, let us take as an example, the condition of
the largest and most commercial of all of them, the great northern
capital. IhavB, in my hands, the assessed value of real estate in the

12 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
city of New York, from 1817 to 1831. This value is canvassed
contested, scrutinized and adjudged by the proper sworn authorities.
It is, therefore, entitled to full credence. During the first term, com
mencing with 1817, and ending in the year of the passage of the
tariff of 1824, the amount of the value of real estate was, the first
year, $57,799,435, and, after various fluctuations in the intermediate
period, it settled down at 52,019,730, exhibiting a decrease, in seven
years, of $5,779,705. During the first year of 1825, after the pas
sage of the tariff, it rose, and, gradually ascending throughout the
whole of the latter period of seven years, it finally, in 1831, reached
the astonishing height of $95,716,485 ! Now, if it be said that this
rapid growth of the city of New York was the effect of foreign com
merce, then it was not correctly predicted, in 1824, that the tariff
would destroy foreign commerce, and desolate our commercial cities.
If, on the contrary, it be the effect of internal trade, then internal
trade cannot be justly chargeable with the evil consequences imputed
to it. The truth is, it is the joint effect of both principles, the do
mestic industry nourishing the foreign trade, and the foreign com
merce in turn nourishing the domestic industry. Nowhere more'
than in New York is the combination of both principles so complete
ly developed. In the progress of my argument, I will consider the
effect upon the price of commodities produced by the American Sys
tem, and show that the very reverse of the prediction of its foes, in
1824, actually happened.
Whilst we thus behold the entire failure of all that was foretold
against the system, it is a subject of just felicitation to its friends, that
all their anticipations of its benefits have been fulfilled, or are in pro
gress of fulfillment. The honorable gentleman ' from South Carolina
has made an allusion to a speech made by me, in 1824, in the other
House, in support of the tariff, and to which, otherwise, I shouid not
have particularly referred. But I would ask any one, who can
now command the courage to peruse that long production, what
principle there laid down is not true ? what prediction then made has
been falsified by practical experience ?
It is now proposed to abolish the system, to which we owe so much
of the public prosperity, and it is urged that the arrival of the period
of the redemption of the public debt has been confidently looked to
as presenting a suitable occasion to rid the country of the evils with

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 13
which the system is alledged to be fraught. Not an inattentive ob
server of passing events, I have been aware that, among those who
were most early pressing the payment of the public debt, and, upon that
ground, were opposing appropriations to other great interests, there
were some who cared less about the debt than the accomplishment
of other objects. But the people of the United States have not cou
pled the payment of their public debt with the destruction of the pro
tection of their industry, against foreign laws and foreign industry.
They have been accustomed to regard the extinction of the public
debt as relief from a burthen, and not as the infliction of a curse. If
it is to be attended or followed by the subversion of the American
System, and an exposure of our establishments and our productions to
the unguarded consequences of the selfish policy of foreign powers,
the payment of the public debt will be the bitterest of curses. Its
fruit will be like the fruit
" Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden."
If the system of protection be founded on principles erroneous in
theory, pernicious in practice — above all if it be unconstitutional, as
is alledged, it ought to be forthwith abolished, and not a vestage of
it suffered to remain. But, before we sanction this sweeping de
nunciation, let us look a little at this system, its magnitude, its rami
fications, its duration, and the high authorities which have sustained
it. We shall see that its. foes will have accomplished comparatively
nothing, after having achieved their present aim of breaking down
our iron-founderies, our woollen, cotton, and hemp manufactories, and
our sugar plantations. The destruction of these would, undoubtedly,
lead to the sacrifice of immense capital, the ruin of many thousands
of our fellow citizens, and incalculable loss to the whole community.
But their prostration would not disfigure, nor produce greater effect
upon the whole system of protection, in all its branches, than the de
struction of the beautiful domes upon the capitol would occasion to
the magnificent edifice which they surmount. Why, sir, there is
scarcely an interest, scarcely a vocation in society, which is not em
braced by the beneficence of this system.
It comprehends our coasting tonnage and trade, from which all
foreign tonnage is absolutely excluded.

14 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
It includes all our foreign tonnage, with the inconsiderable excep
tion made by treaties of reciprocity with a few foreign powers.
It embraces our fisheries, and all our hardy and enterprising fish
ermen. It extends to almost every mechanic art : to tanners, cordwainers,
tailors, cabinet-makers, hatters, tinners, brass-workers, clock-makers,
coach-makers, tallow-chandlers, trace-makers, rope-makers, cork-cut
ters, tobacconists, whip-makers, paper-makers, umbrella-makers,
glass-blowers, stocking-weavers, butter-makers, saddle and harness-
makers, cutlers, brush-makers, book-binders, dairy-men, milk-farm
ers, black-smiths, type-founders, musical instrument-makers, basket-
makers, milliners, potters, chocolate-makers, floor-cloth-makers, bon
net-makers, hair-cloth-makers, copper-smiths, pencil-makers, bellows-
makers, pocket book-makers, card-makers, glue-makers, mustard-
makers, lumber-sawyers, saw-makers, scale-beam-makers, scythe-
makers, wood-saw-makers, and many others. The mechanics enu
merated, enjoy a measure of protection adapted to their several con
ditions, varying from twenty to fifty per cent. The extent and im
portance of some of these artizans may be estimated by a few par
ticulars. The tanners, curriers, boot and shoe-makers, and other
workers in hides, skins and leather, produce an ultimate value per
annum of forty millions Of dollars ; the manufacturers of hats and
caps produce an annual value of fifteen millions ; the cabinet-makers
twelve millions ; the manufacturers of bonnets and hats for the fe
male sex, lace, artificial flowers, combs, &c. seven millions ; and the
manufacturers of glass, five millions.
It extends to all lower Louisiana, the Delta of which might as weil
be submerged again in the Gulf of Mexico, from which it has been a
gradual conquest, as now to be deprived of the protecting duty upon
its great staple.
It effects the cotton planter* himself, and the tobacco planter, both
of whom enjoy protection. '
• To say nothing of cotton produced in other foreign countries, the cultivation of
this article, of a very superior quality, is constantly, extending in the adjacent Mexi
can Provinces, and, but for the duty probably a large amount would be introduced
mto the United States, down Red river and along the coast of »he Gulf of Mexicp.

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 15
The total amount of the capital vested in sheep, the land to sustain
them, wool, woollen manufactures, and woollen fabrics, and the sub
sistence of the various persons directly or indirectly employed in the
growth and manufacture of the article of wool, is estimated at one
hundred and sixty-seven millions of dollars, and the number of per
sons at one hundred and fifty thousand.
The value of iron, considered as a raw material, and of its manu
factures, is estimated at twenty-six millions of dollars per annum.
Cotton goods, exclusive of the capital vested in. the manufacture, and
of the cost of the raw material, are believed to amount annually, to
about twenty millions of dollars.
These estimates have been carefully made, by practical men of un
doubted character, who have brought together and embodied their
information. Anxious to avoid the charge of exaggeration, they
have sometimes placed their estimates below what was believed to
be the actual amount of these interests. With regard to the quantity
of bar and other iron annually produced, it is derived from the known
works themselves ; and I know some in western States which they
have omitted in their calculations.
Such are some of the items of this vast system of protection, which
it is now proposed to abandon. We might well pause and contem
plate, if human imagination could conceive the extent of mischief and
ruin from its' total overthrow, before we proceed to the work of de
struction. Its duration is worthy also of serious consideration. Not
to go behind the constitution, its date is coeval with that instrument.
It began on the ever memorable fourth day of July — the fourth day of
July, 1789. The second act which stands recorded in the statute
book, bearing 'the illustrious signature of George Washington, laid the
corner stone of the whole system. That there might be no mistake
about the matter, it was then solemnly proclaimed to the American
people and to the world, that it was necessary for " the encourage
ment and protection of manufactures," that duties should be laid. It
is in vain to urge the small amount of the measure of the protection
then extended. The great principle was then established by the fa
thers of the constitution, with the father of his country at their head.
And it cannot now be questioned, that, if the government had not
then been new and the subject untried, a greater measure of protec-

16 ^ SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
(ion would have been applied, if it had been supposed necessary.
Shortly after, the master minds of Jefferson and Hamilton were
brought to act on this inteiesting subject. Taking views of it apper
taining to the departments of foreign affairs and of the treasury, which
they respectively filled, they presented, severally, reports which yet
remain monuments of their profound wisdom, and came to the same
conclusion of protection to American industry. Mr. Jefferson argued
that foreign restrictions, foreign prohibitions, and foreign high duties,
ought to be met at home by American restrictions, American prohi
bitions, and American high duties. Mr. Hamilton, surveying the
entire ground, and looking at the inherent nature of the subject, treat
ed it with an ability, which, if ever equalled, has not been surpassed,
and earnestly recommended protection.
The wars of the French revolution commenced about this period,
and streams of gold poured into the United States through a thousand
channels, opened or enlarged by the successful commerce which our
neutrality enabled us to prosecute. We forgot or overlooked, in the
general prosperity, the necessity of encouraging our domestic manu
factures. Then came the edicts of Napoleon, and the British orders
in council ; and our embargo, non-intercourse, non-importation, and
war, followed in rapid succession. These national measures, amount
ing to a total suspension, for the period of their duration, of our for
eign commerce, afforded the most efficacious encouragement to Amer
ican manufactures; and accordingly they everywhere sprung up.
While these measures of restriction, and this state of war continued,
the manufacturers were stimulated in their enterprise by every assu
rance of support, by public sentiment, and by legislative resolves. It
was about that period (1808) that South Carolina bore her high tes
timony to the wisdom of the policy, in an act of her legislature, the
preamble of which, now before me, reads :
"Whereas, the establishment and encouragement of domestic manufactures is
conducive to the interests of a State, by adding new incentives to industry, and as
being the means of disposing to advantage the surplus productions of the aericvlta-
rust : and whereas, in the present unexampled state of the world, their establishment
in our country is not only expedient, but politic in rendering us independent of foreign
^ The legislature, not being competent to afford the most efficacious
aid, by imposing duties on foreign rival articles, proceeded to incor
porate a company.

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 17
Peace, under the treaty of Ghent, returned in 1815, but there did
not return with it the golden days which preceded the edicts levelled
at our commerce by Great Britain and France. It found all Europe
tranquilly- resuming the arts and the business of civil life. It found
Europe no longer the consumer of our surplus, and the employer of
our navigation, but excluding, or heavily burthening, almost all the
productions of our agriculture, and our rivals in manufactures, in
navigation, and in commerce. It found our country, in short, in a
situation totally different from all the past — new and untried. It be
came necessary to adapt our laws, and especially our laws of impost,
to the new circumstances in which we found ourselves. Accordingly,
that eminent and lamented citizen, then at the head of the treasury,
(Mr. Dallas,) was required, by a resolution of the House of Repre
sentatives, under date the twenty-third day of February, 1815, to
prepare and report to the succeeding session of Congress, a system of
of revenue conformable with the actual condition of the country. He
had the circle of a whole year to perform the work, consulted mer
chants, manufacturers, and other practical men, and opened an ex
tensive correspondence. The report which he made at the session of
1816, was the result of his inquiries and reflections, and embodies the
principles which he thought applicable to the subject. It has been
said, that the tariff of 1816 was a measure of mere revenue, and that
it only reduced the war duties to a peace standard. It is true that
the question then was, how much and in what way should the double
duties of the war be reduced ? Now, also, the question is, on what
articles shall the duties be reduced so as to subject the amounts of
the future revenue to the wants of the government ? Then it was
deemed an inquiry of the first importance, as it should be now, how,
the reduction should be made, so as to secure proper encouragement
to our domestic industry. That this was a leading object in the ar
rangement of the tariff of 1816, I well remember, and it is demon
strated by the language of Mr. Dallas. He says in his report :
" There are few, if any governments, which do not regard the establishment of do
mestic manufactures as a chief object of public policy. The United States have al
ways so regarded it. * * * * The demands of the country, while the
acquisitions of supplies from foreign nations was either prohibited or impracticable,
may have afforded a sufficient inducement for this investment of capital, and this
application of labor : but the inducement, in its necessary extent, must fail wheri
the day of competition returns. Upon that change in the condition of the country,
the preservation of the manufactures, which private citizens under favorable auspices
have constituted the property of the nation, becomes a consideration of general poli
cy, to be resolved by a recollection of past embarrassments ; by the certainty of an
increased difficulty of reinstating, upon any emergency, the manufactures which
shall be allowed to perish and pass away," &c.

18 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The measure of protection which he proposed was not adopted, in
regard to some leading articles, and there was great difficulty in as
certaining what it ought to have been. But the principle was then1
distinctly asserted and fully sanctioned.
The subject of the American system was again brought up in 1820,
by the bill reported by the chairman of the committee of manufac
tures, now a member of the bench of the Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States, and the principle was successfully maintained by the rep
resentatives of the people ; but the bill which they passed was de
feated in the Senate. It was revived in 1824 ; the whole ground
carefully and deliberately explored, and the bill then introduced, re
ceiving all the sanctions of the constitution, became the law of the
land. An amendment of the system was proposed in 1828, to the
history of which I refer with no agreeable recollections. The bill of
that year, in some of its provisions, was framed on principles directly
adverse to the declared wishes of the friends of the policy of protec
tion. I have heard, without vouching for the fact, that it was so
framed, upon the advice of a prominent citizen, now abroad, with the
view of ultimately defeating the bill, and with assurances that^ being
altogether unacceptable to the friends of the American system, the
bill would be lost. Be that as it may, the most exceptionable fea
tures of the bill were stamped upon it, against the earnest remon
strances of the friends of the system, by the votes of southern mem
bers, upon a principle, I think, as unsound in legislation as it is repre
hensible in ethics. The bill was passed, notwithstanding this,
it having been deemed better to take the bad along with the good
which it contained, than reject it altogether. Subsequent legislation
has corrected the error then perpetrated, but still that measure is ve
hemently denounced by gentlemen who contributed to make it what
it was. '
Thus, sir, has this great system of protection been gradually built,
stone upon stone, and step by step, from the fourth of July, 1789,
down to the present period. In every stage of its progress it has re
ceived the deliberate sanction of Congress. A vast majority of the
people of the United States has approved and continue to approve it.
Every chief magistrate of the United States, from Washington to the
present, in some form or other,'has given to it the authority of hi*
name ; and however the opinions of the existing President are inter-

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERIOAN SYSTEM. 19
preted South of Mason's and Dixon's line, on the north they are at
least understood to favor the establishment of a judicious tariff.
The question, therefore, which we are now called upon to deter
mine, is not whether we shall establish a new and doubtful system of
policy, just proposed, and for the first time presented to our consider
ation, but whether we shall break down and destroy a long establish
ed system, patiently and carefully built up and sanctioned, during a
series of years, again and again, by the nation and its highest and
most revered authorities. And are we not bound deliberately to con
sider whether we can proceed to this work of destruction without a
violation of the public faith ? The people of the United States have
justly supposed that the policy of protecting their industry against
foreign legislation and foreign industry was fully settled, not by a
single act, but by repeated and deliberate acts of government, per
formed at distant and frequent intervals. In full confidence that the
policy was firmly and unchangeably fixed, thousands upon thousands
have invested their capital, purchased a vast amount of real and other
estate, made permanent establishments, and accommodated their in
dustry. Can we expose to utter and irretrievable ruin this countless
multitude, without justly incurring the reproach of violating the na
tional faith ?
I shall not ¦discuss the constitutional question. Without meaning
any disrespect to those who raise it, if it be debateable, it has been
sufficiently debated. The gentleman from South Carolina suffered it
to fall unnoticed from his budget ; and it was not until after he had
closed his speech and resumed his seat, that it occurred to him that
he had forgotten it, when he again addressed the Senate, and, by a
sort of protestation against any conclusion from his silence, put for
ward the objection. The recent free trade convention at Philadelphia,
it is well known, were divided on the question ; and although the
topic is noticed in their address to the public, they do not avow their
own belief that the American system is unconstitutional, but repre
sent that such is the opinion of respectable portions of the American
people. Another address to the people of the United States, from a
high source, during the past year, treating this subject^ does not as
sert the opinion of the distinguished author, but states that of others
to be that it is unconstitutional. From which I infer that he did not
himself believe it unconstitutional.

20 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
[Here the Vice-President interposed and remarked that, if the Senator from, Ken
tucky alluded to him, he must say that his opinion was, that the measure wasun*
constitutional.] When, sir, I contended with you, side by side, and with perhaps
less zeal than you exhibited, in 1816, 1 did not understand you then
to consider the policy forbidden by the constitution.
[The Vice-President again interposed, and said that the constitutional question
was not debated at that time, and that he had never expressed an opinion contrary
to that now intimated]
I give way with pleasure to these explanations, which I hope will
always be made when I say any thing bearing on the individual
opinions of the Chair. I know the delicacy of the position, and
sympathise with the imcumbent, whoever he may be. It is true,
the question was not debated in 1816 ; and why not ? Because it
was not debatable ; it was then believed not fairly to arise. It never
has been made as a distinct, substantial and leading point of objec
tion. It never was made until the discussion of the tariff of 1824,*
when it was rather hinted at as against the spirit of the constitution,
than formally announced as being contrary to the provisions of that
instrument. What was not dreamt of before, or in 1816, and scarce
ly thought of in 1824, is now made, by excited imaginations, to as
sume the imposing form of a serious constitutional barrier.
Such are the origin, duration, extent and sanctions of the policy
which we are now called upon to subvert. Its beneficial effects, al- .
though they may vary in degree, have been felt in all parts of the
Union. To none, I verily believe, has it been prejudicial. In the
North, every where, testimonials are borne to the high prosperity
which it has diffused. There, -all branches of industry are animated
and flourishing. Commerce, foreign and domestic, active ; cities and
towns springing up, enlarging and beautifying ; navigation fully and
profitably employed, and the whole face of the country smiling with
improvement, cheerfulness and abundance. The gentleman from
South Carolina has supposed that we, in the West derive no advan
tages from this system. He is ^mistaken. Let him visit us, and he
will find, from the head of La Belle Riviere, at Pittsburgh, to Ameri
ca, at its mouth, the most rapid and gratifying advances. He will
behold Pittsburg itself, Wheeling, Portsmouth, Maysville, Cincinnati'

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 21
Louisville, and numerous other towns, lining and ornamenting the
banks of the noble river, daily entending their limits, and prosecuting,
with the greatest spirit and profit, numerous branches of the manu
facturing and mechanic arts. If he will go into the interior, in the
State of Ohio, he will there perceive the most astonishing progress, in
agriculture, in the useful arts, and in all the improvements to which
they both directly conduce. Then let him cross over into my own,
my favoriteJstate, and contemplate the spectacle which is there ex
hibited. He will perceive numerous villages, not large, but neat
thriving, and some of them highly ornamented ; many manufactories
of hemp, cotton, wool, and other articles. In various parts of the
country, and especially in the Elkhorn region, an endless succession
of natural parks ; the forests thinned ; fallen trees and undergrowth
cleared away ; large herds and flocks feeding on luxuriant grasses ;
and interspersed with comfortable, sometimes elegant mansions, sur
rounded by extensive lawns. The honorable gentleman from South
Carolina says, that a profitable trade was carried on from the West,
through the Seleuda gap, in mules, horses and other live stock, which
has been checked by the operation of the tariff. It is tru« that such
a trade was carried on between Kentucky and South Carolina, mu
tually beneficial to both parties ; but, several years ago, resolutions,
at popular meetings, in Carolina, were adopted, not to purchase the
produce of Kentucky byway of punishment for her attachment to the
tariff. They must have supposed "us as stupid as the sires of one of
the descriptions of the stock of which that trade consisted, if they
imagined that their resolutions would affect our principles. Our dro
vers cracked their whips, blew their horns, and passed the Seleuda
gap, to other markets, where better humors existed, and equal or
greater profits were made. I have heard of your successor in the
House of Representatives, Mr. President, this anecdote : that he
joined in the adoption of those resolutions, but when, about Christ
mas, he applied to one of his South Carolina neighbors, to purchase
the regular supply of pork for the ensuing year, he found that he had
to pay two prices for it ; and he declared if that were tne patriotism
on which the resolutions were based, he would not conform to them,
and, in point of fact, laid in his annual stock of pork by purchase from
the first passing Kentucky drover. The triple, now partially resum
ed, was maintained by the sale of western productions, on the one
side, and Carolina money on the other. From that condition of it
the gentleman from South Carolina might have drawn this conclusion,
*B

22 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
that an advantageous trade may exist, although one of the parties to
it pays in specie for the production which he purchases from the
other; and consequently that it does not follow, if we did not pur
chase British fabrics, that it might not be the interest of England to
purchase our raw material of cotton. The Kentucky drover receiv
ed the South Carolina specie, or, taking bill^, or the evidences of de-
posite in the banks, carried these home, and, disposing of them to the
merchant, he brought out goods, of foreign or domestic manufacture,
in return. Such is the circuitous nature of trade and remittance,
which no nation understands better than Great Britain.
Nor has the system which has been the parent source of so much
benefit to other parts of the Union, proved injurious to the cotton
growing country. I cannot speak of South Carolina itself, where I
have never been, with so much certainty ; but of other portions of
the Union in which cotton is grown, especially those bordering on
the Mississippi, I can confidently speak. If cotton planting is less
profitable than it was, that is the result of increased production ; but
I believe it to be still the most profitable investment of capital of any
branch of business in the United States. And if a committee were
raised, with power to send for persons and papers, I take it upon my
self to say, that such would be the result of the inquiry. In Ken
tucky, I know many individuals who have their cotton plantations
below, and retain their residence in that state, where they remain
during the sickly season ; and they are all, I believe, without excep
tion, doing well. Others, tempted by their success, are constantly
engaging in the business, while scarcely any comes from the cotton
region to engage in western agriculture. A friend, now in my eye,
a member of this body, upon a capital of less than seventy thousand
dollars, invested in a plantation and slaves made, the year before last,
sixteen thousand dollars. A member of the other House, I under
stand, who, without removing himself, sent some of his slaves ' to
Mississippi, made last year, about twenty per cent. Two friends of
mine, in the latter State, whose annual income is from thirty to sixtv
.thousand dollars, being desirous to curtail their business, have offered
estates for sale which they are willing to show, by regular vouchers
of receipt and disbursement, yield eighteen per cent, per annum. One
of my most opulent acquaintances, in a county adjoining that in which
I reside, having married in Georgia, has derived a large portion of his
wealth from a cotton estate there situated.

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 23
The loss of the tonnage of Charleston, which has been dwelt on,
does not proceed from the tariff; it never had a very large amount,
and it has not been able to retain what it had, in consequence of the
operation of the principle of free trade on its navigation. Its tonnage
has gone to the more enterprizing and adventurous tars of the north
ern States, with whom those of the city of Charleston could not main
tain a successful competition in the freedom of the coasting trade, ex
isting between the different parts of the Union. That this must be
the true cause, is demonstrated by the fact, that however it may be
with the port of Charleston, our coasting tonnage, generally, is con
stantly increasing. As to the foreign tonnage, about one-half of that
which is enaaa;ed in the direct trade between Charleston and Great
-Britain, is English ; proving that the tonnage of South Carolina can
not maintain itself in a competition, under the free and equal naviga
tion secured by our treaty with that power.
When gentlemen have succeeded in their design of an immediate
or gradual destruction of the American System, what is their substi
tute ? Free trade ? Free trade ! The call for free trade is as una
vailing as the cry of a spoiled child, in its nurse's arms, for the moon,
¦or the stars that glitter in the firmament 'of heaven. It never has
existed, it never will exist. Trade implies, at least two parties. To
be free, it should be fair, equal ajid reciprocal. But if we throw
our ports wide open to the admission of foreign productions, free of
all duty, what ports of any other foreign nation shall we find open to
the free admission of our surplus produce ? We may break down all
barriers to free trade on our part, but the work will not be complete
until foreign powers snail have removed theirs. There would be
freedom on one side, and restrictions, prohibitions and exclusions on
the other. The bolts, and the bars, and the- chains of all other na
tions will remain undisturbed. It is, indeed, possible, that our in
dustry and commerce would accommodate themselves to this unequal
and unjust, state of things; for, such is the flexibility of our nature,
that it bends itself to all circumstances. The wretched prisoner in
carcerated in a jail, after a long time becomes reconciled to his soli-<
tude, and regularly notches down the passing days of his confinement.
Gentlemen deceive themselves. It is not free trade that they are
recommending to our acceptance. It is in effect, the British colonial
system that we are invited to adopt ; and, if their policy prevail, it

24 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
will lead substantially to the re-colonization of these States, uirfc
the commercial dominion of Great, Britain. And whom do we fin'.
some of the principal supporters, out of Congress, of this foreign sys
tem ? Mr. President, there are some foreigners who always remain
exotics, and never become naturalized in our country ; whilst, happi
ly, there are many others who readily attach themselves to our prin
ciples and our institutions. The honest, patient and industrious Ger
man readily unites with our people, establishes himself upon some of
our fat land, fills his capacious barn, and enjoys in tranquility, th,e
abundant fruits which his diligence gathers around him, always rea
dy to fly to the standard of his adopted country, or of its laws, when
called by the duties of patriotism. The gay, the versatile, the philo
sophic Frenchman, accommodating himself cheerfully to all the vicis
situdes of life, incorporates himself without difficulty in our society.
But, of all foreigners, none amalgamate themselves so quickly with
our people as the natives of the Emerald Isle. In some of the vis
ions which have passed through my imagination, I have supposed
that Ireland was originally, part and parcel of this continent, and
that, by some extraordinary convulsion of nature, it was torn from
America, and drifting across the ocean, was placed in the unfortunate.
vicinity of Great Britain. The same open-heartedness ; the same
generous hospitality ; the same careless and uncalculating indiffer
ence about human life, characterize the inhabitants of both countries.
' Kentucky has been sometimes called the Ireland of America. And I
have no doubt, that if the current of emigration were reversed, and
set from America upon the shores of Europe, instead of bearing 'from
Europe to America, every American emigrant to Ireland would there
find, as every Irish emigrant here finds, a hearty welcome and a hap
py home !
But sir, the gentleman to whom I am about tO' allude, although
long a resident of this country, has no feelings, no attachments, no
sympathies, no principles, in common with our people. Near fifty
years ago, Pennsylvania took him to her bosom, and warmed, and
cherished, and honored him ; and how does he manifest his gratitude ?
By aiming a vital blow at a system endeared to her by a thorough
conviction that it is indispensable to her prosperity. He has filled at
home and abroad some of the highest offices undes this government
during thirty years, and he is still at heart an alien. The authority
of his name has been invoked, and the labors of his pen, in the form

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 25
of a memorial to Congress have been engaged to overthrow the
American System, and to substitute the foreign. Go home to your
native Europe, and there inculcate upon her sovereigns your Utopian
doctrines of free trade, and when you have prevailed upon them to
unseal their ports, and freely admit the produce of Pennsylvania and
other States, come back, and we shall be prepared to become con
verts, and to adopt your faith.
A Mr. Sarchet also makes no inconsiderable figure in the common
attack upon our system. I do not know the man, but I understand
he is an unnaturalized emigrant from the island of Guernsey, situated
in the channel which divides France and England. The principal
business of the inhabitants is that of driving a contraband trade with
the opposite shores, and Mr. Sarchet, educated in that school, is, I
h^e been told, chiefly engaged in employing his wits to elude the
operation of our revenue laws, by introducing articles at less rates of
duty than they are justly chargeable with, which he effects by vary
ing the denominations, or slightly changing their forms. This man,
at a former session of the senate, caused to be presented a memorial
signed by some 150 pretended workers in iron. Of these a gentle
man made a careful inquiry and examination, and he ascertained that
there were only about ten of the denomination represented ; the rest
were tavern keepers, porters, merchants' clerks, hackney coachmen,
&c. I have the most respectable authority, in black and white, for
this statement.
?
[HereOeneralHayne asked, who T and was he a manufacturer 1 Mr. Clay replied,
Col. Murray, of New York, a gentleman of the highest standing for honor, probity,
and veracity ; that he did not know whether he was a manufacturer or not, but the
gentleman might take him as one.*]
Whether Mr. Sarchet got up the late petition presented to the
Senate from the journeyman tailors of Philadelphia, or not, I do not
know. But I should not be surprised if it were a movement of his,
and if we should find that he has cabbaged from other classes of so
ciety to swell out the number of signatures.
To the facts manufactured by Mr. Sarchet, and the theories by
Mr. Gallatin there was yet wanting one circumstance to recommend
* Mr. Clay subsequently understood that Col. Murray was a merchant.

26 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
them to favorable consideration, and that was the authority of some
high name. There was no difficulty in obtaining one from a British
Repository. The honorable gentleman has cited a speech of my lord
Goderich, addressed to the British Parliament, in favor of free tradej.
and full of deep regret that old England could not possibly conform
her practice of rigorous restriction and exclusion to her liberal doc
trines of unfettered commerce, so earnestly recommended to foreign
powers. Sir, I know my lord Goderich very well, although my
acquaintance with him was prior to his being summoned to the
British House of Peers. We both signed the convention between
the United States and Great Britain of 1815. He is an honor
able man, frank, possessing business, but ordinary, talents, about the
stature and complexion of the honorable gentleman from South Caro
lina, a few years older than he, and every drop of blood running in
his veins being pure and unadulterated Anglo-Saxon blood. If Jte
were to live to the age of Methuselah, he could not make a speech
of such ability and eloquence as that which the gentleman from South
Carolina recently delivered to the Senate; and there would be much
more fitness in my lord Goderich making quotations from the speech
of the honorable gentleman, than his quoting, as authority, the theo
retical doctrines of my lord Goderich. We are too much in the habit
of looking abroad, not merely for manufactured articles, but for the
sanction of high names, to support favorite theories. I have seen
and closely observed the British Parliament, and, without derogating
from its justly elevated character, I have no hesitation in saying, that
in all the attributes of order, dignity, patriotism and eloquence, Ihe
American Congress would not suffer, in the smallest degree^ by a
comparison with it.
I dislike this resort to authority, and especially foreign and interest
ed authority, for the support of principles of public policy. I would
greatly prefer to meet gentlemen upon the broad ground of fact, of
experience, and of reason ; but, since they will appeal to British
names and authority, I feel myself compelled to imitate their bad ex
ample. Allow me to quote from the speech of a member of the Brit
ish Parliament, bearing the same family name with my lord Goderich
but whether or not a relation of his, I do not know. The member
alluded to was arguing against the violation of the treaty of Methuen
— that treaty, not less fatal to the interests of Portugal than would

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 27
be the system of gentlemen to the best interests of America— and he
went on to say :
" It was idle for us to endeavor to persuade other nations to join with ws in adopting
the principles of u>hat teas called "free trade." Other nations knew, as wellastheno-
ble lord opposite, and those who acted with him, what we meant by "free tra.de" was
nothing more nor less than, by means of the great advantages we enjoyed, to get a mo
nopoly of all their markets for our manufactures, and top-event them, one and all,from
ever becoming manufacturing nations. When the system of reciprocity and free
trade had been proposed to a French embassador, his remark was, that the plan was
excellent in theory, but, to make it fair in practice, it would be necessary to defer
the attempt to put it in execution for half a century, until France should be on the
same footing with Great Britain, in marine, in manufactures, in capital, and the
many other peculiar advantages which it now enjoyed. The policy that France act
ed on, was taht of encouraging its native manufactures, and it was a wise policy ;
because if it were freely to admit our manufactures, it would speedily be reduced to
the rank of an agricultural nation ; and therefore, a poor nation, aB all must be that
depend exclusively upon agriculture. America acted too upon the same principle
with France. America legislated for futurity — legislated for an increasing popula
tion. America too, was prospering under this system. In twenty years America
would be independent of England for manufactures altogether.' ***** But
since the peace, France, Germany, America, and- all the other countries of the
world, had proceeded. upon the principle oi encouraging and protecting native man-
factures." But I have said that the system nominally called " free trade," so
earnestly and eloquently recommended to our adoption, is a mere re
vival of the British colonial system, forced upon us by Great Britain
during the existence of our colonial vassalage. The whole system is
fully explained and illustrated in a work published as far back as the
^ear 1750, entitled " The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain
considered, by Joshua Gee," with extracts from which I have been
furnished by the diligent researches of a friend. It will be seen from
these, that the South Carolina policy now, is identical with the long
cherished policy of Great Britain, which remains the same as it was
when the thirteen colonies were part of the British empire. In that
work the author contends —
" 1. That manufactures, in American colonies, should be discouraged or prohi
bited. " Great Britain, with its dependencies, is doubtless as well able to subsist within
itself as any nation in Europe. We have an enterprising people, fit for all the arts
¦of peace and war. We have provisions in abundance;, and those of the best sort, and
are able to raise sufficient for double the number of inhabitants. We have the very
best materials for clothing, and want nothing either for use or even for luxury, but
what we have at home, or might have from our colonies : so that we might make
such an intercourse of trade among ourselves, or between us and them, as would
maintain a vast navigation. But we ought always to keep a watchful eye over our
colonies, to restrain them from setting up any-of the manufactures which are car
ried on in Great Britain ; and any such attempts should be crushed in the beginning ;
for if they are suffered to grow up to maturity, it will be difficult to suppress them."
Pages 177, 8, 9.
" Our colonies are much in the same state Ireland was in, when they began the
woollen manufactory, and as their numbers increase, will fall upon manufactures
for clothing themselves, if due care be not taken to find employment for them ia

28 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
raising such productions as may enable them to furnish themselves with all their
necessaries from us."
Then it was the object of this British economists to adapt the
means or wealth of the colonists to the supply required by their ne
cessities, and to make the mother country the source of that supply.
Now it seems the policy is only so far to be reversed that we must
continue to import necessaries from Great Britain, in order to enable
her to purchase raw cotton from us.
" I should, therefore, think it worthy the care of the government to endeavor, by
all possible means, to encourage them in raising of silk, hemp, flax, iron, [only pig
to be hammered in England] pot ash, &c, by giving them competent bounties in
the beginning, and sending over judicious and skilful persons at the public charge, to
assist and instrucl them in the most proper methods of management, which in my
apprehension would lay a foundation for establishing the most profitable trade of
any we have. And considering the commanding situation of our colonies along th«
sea coast ; the great convenience of navigable rivers in all of them ; the cheapness of
land, and the easiness of raising provisions, great numbers of people would transport
themselves thither to settle upon such improvements. Now, as people have been
filled with fears thatthe colonies, if encouraged to raise rough materials, would set
up for themselves, a little regulation would remove all those jealousies out of the
way. They have never thrown or wove any silk as yet that we have heard of.
Therefore, if a law was made to prohibit the use of every throwster's mill, of
doubling or horsling silk with any machine whatever, they would then send it to us
raw. And as they will have the providing rough materiasl to themselves, so shall
we have the manufacturing of them. If encouragement be given for raising hemp,
flax, &c, doubtless they will soon begin to manufacture, if not prevented. There
fore to stop the progress of any such manufacture, it is proposed that no weaver.
shall have liberty to set up any looms without first registering at an office kept for
that purpose, and the name and place of abode of any journeyman that shall work •
for him. But if any particular inliabitant shall be inclined to have any linen or
woollen made of their own spinning, they should not be abridged of the same liber
ty that they now make use of, namely, to carry to a weaver, (who shall be licensed
by the governor,) and have it wrought up for the use of the family, but not to be sold
to any person in a private manner, nor exposed to any market or fair, upon pain of
forfeiture. "And, inasmuch as they have been supplied with all their manufactures from
hence, except what is used in building of ships and'other country work, one half of
our exports being supposed to be in NAILS— a manufacture which they allow has
never hitherto been carried on among them— it is proposed they shall, for time to
come, never erect the manufacture of any under the size of a two shilling nail, horse
nails excepted ; that all slitting mills and engines, for drawing wire, or weaving
stockings, be put down, and that every smith who keeps a common forge or shop,
shall register his name and place of abode, and the name of every servant which he
shall employ, which license shall be renewed once every year, and pay for the liberty
of working at such trade. That all negroes shall be prohibited from weaving either
linen or woollen, or spinning or combing of wool, or working at any manufacture of
iron, further than making it into pig or bar iron. That they also be prohibited from
manufacturing hats, stockings, or leather of any kind. This limitation will not
abridge the planters of any privilege they now enjoy. On the contrary, it will turn
their industry to promoting and raising those rough materials."
The author then proposes that the board of trade and plantations
should be furnished with statistical accounts of the various permitted
manufactures, to enable them tp encourage or depress the industry of
the colonists, and prevent the danger of interference with British in
dustry.

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 29
" It is hoped that this method would allay the heat that some people have shown
for destroying the iron w rks on the plantations, and pulling down all their forges —
taking away in a violent manner their estates and properties— preventing the hus
bandmen from getting their ploughshares, carts, and other utensils mended ; destroy
ing the manufacture of ship building,' by depriving them of the liberty of making
bolts, spikes, and other things proper for carrying on that work, by which article
returns are made for purchasing our woollen manufactures." — Pages 87, 88, 89.
Such is the picture of colonists dependent upon the mother coun
try for their necessary supplies, drawn by a writer who was not among
the number of those who desired to debar them the means of building
a vessel, erecting a forge, or mending a ploughshare, but who was
willing to promote their growth and prosperity as far as was consist
ent with the paramount interests of the manufacturing or parent •
State. " 2. The advantages to Great Britain from keeping the colonists dependent on her
for their essential supplies.
" If we examine into the circumstances of the inhabitants of our plantations, and
our own, it will appear that not one fourth part of their product redounds to their
oum profit, for, out of all that comes here, they only carry back clothing and other
accommodations for their families, all of which is of the merchandise and manufac
ture of this kingdom."
After showing how this system tends to concentrate all the surplus
of acquisition over absolute expenditure in England, he says :
" All these advantages we receive by the plantations, besides the mortgages on
the planter's estates, and the high interest they pay us, which is very considerable ;
and therefore very great care ought to be taken in regulating all the affairs of the
colonists, that the planters be not put under too many difficulties, but encouraged to
go on cheerfully.
" New England, and the northern colonies, have not commodities and productr"
enough to send us in return for purchasing their necessary clothing, but are under
very great difficulties ; and therefore any ordinary sort sell with them. And when
they have grown out of fashion with us, they are new-fashioned enough there."
Sir, I cannot go on with this disgusting detail. Their refuse goods,
their old shop keepers, their cast-off clothes good enough for us!
Was there ever a scheme more artfully devised by which the ener
gies and faculties of one people should be kept down and rendered
subservient to the pride, and the pomp, and the power of another !
The system then proposed differs only from that which is now recom
mended, in one particular ; that was intended to be enforced by pow
er, this would not be less effectually executed by the force of circum
stances. A gentleman in Boston, (Mr. Lee,) the agent of the free
trade convention, from whose exhaustless mint there is a constant
issue of reports, seems to envy the blessed condition of dependent
Canada, when compared to the oppressed state of this Union ; and it

30 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
is a fair inference from the view which he presents, that he would
have us hasten back to the golden , days of that colonial bondage,
which is so well depicted in the work from which I have been quo
ting. Mr. Lee exhibits two tabular statements, in one of which he
presents the high duties which he represents to be paid in the ports
of the United States, and in the other, those which are paid in Can
ada, generally about two per cent, ad valorem. But did it not occur
to him that the duties levied in Canada are paid chiefly in British
manufactures, or on articles passing from one part to another of a
common empire ; and that to present a parallel case in the United
-States, he ought to have shown that importations made into one State
from another, which are now free, are subject to the same or higher
duties than are paid in Canada ?
I will now, Mr. President, proceed to a more particular considera
tion of the arguments urged against the Protective System, and an in
quiry into its practical operation, especially on the cotton growing
country. And as I wish to state and meet the argument fairly, I in
vite the correction of my statement of it, if necessary. It is alleged
that the system operates prejudicially to the cotton planter, by dimin
ishing the foreign demand for his staple ; that we cannot sell to Great
Britain unless we buy from her ; that the import duty is equivalent
to an export duty, and falls upon the cotton grower ; that South Ca
rolina pays a disproportionate quota of the public revenue ; that an
abandonment of the protective policy would lead to an augmentation
of our exports of an amount not less than one hundred and fifty mill
ions of dollars ; and finally, that the South cannot partake of the ad
vantages of manufacturing, if there be any. Let us examine these
various propositions in detail. 1. *That the foreign demand for cot
ton is diminished ; and that we cannot sell to Great Britain unless we
buy from her. The demand of both our great foreign customers is
constantly and annually increasing. It is true, that the ratio of the
increase may not be equal to that of production ; but this is owing to
the fact that the power of producing the raw material is much great
er, and is, therefore, constantly in advance of the power of consump
tion. A single fact will illustrate. The average produce of laborers
engaged in the cultivation of cotton, maybe estimated at 'five bales, or
fifteen hundred weight to the hand. Supposing the annual average
consumption of each individual who uses cotton cloth to be five

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTM 31
pounds, one hand can produce enough of the raw material to clothe
three hundred.
The argument comprehends two errors, one of fact and the other
of principle. It assumes that we do not in fact purchase of Great
Britain. What is the true state of the case ? There are certain,
but very few articles which it is thought sound policy requires that
we should manufacture at home, and on these the tariff operates.
But, with respect to all the rest, and much the larger number of ar
ticles of taste, fashion, and utility, they are subject to no other than
revenue duties, and are freely introdnqed. I have before me from the
treasury a statement of our imports from England, Scotland and Ire
land, including ten years, preceding the last, and three quarters of
the last year, from which it will appear that, although there are some
fluctuations in the amount of the different years, the largest amount
imported in any one year has been since the tariff of 1824, and that
the last year's importation, when the returns of the fourth quarter
shall be received, will probably be the greatest in the whole term of
eleven years.
Now, if it be admitted that there is a less amount of the protected'
articles imported from Great Britain, she may be, and probably is,
compensated for the deficiency, by the increased consumption in
America of the articles of her industry not falling within the scope of
the policy of our protection. The establishment of manufactures
among us excites the creation of wealth, and this gives new powers
of Consumption, which are gratified by the purchase of foreign objects
A poor nation can never be a great consuming nation. Its poverty
will limit its consumption to bare subsistence.
The erroneous principle which the argument includes, is, that it
devoVves on us the duty of taking care that Great Britain shall be en
abled to purchase from us without exacting from Great Britain the
corresponding duty. If it be true, on one side, that nations are bound
to shape their policy in reference to the ability of foreign powers, it
must be true on both sides of the Atlantic. And this reciprocal obli
gation ought to be emphatically regarded towards the nation supply
ing the raw material, by the manufacturing nation, because the in
dustry of the latter gives four or five values to what had been pro
duced by the industry of the former.

32

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

But, does Great Britain practice towards us upon the principles
which we are now required to observe in regard to her ? The ex
ports to the 'United Kingdom, as appears from the same treasury
statement just adverted to, during eleven years, from 1S21 to 1831,
and exclusive of the fourth quarter of the last year, fall short of the
amount of imports by upwards of forty-six millions of dollars, and the
total amount, when the returns of that quarter are received, will ex
ceed fifty millions of dollars ! It is surprising how we have been
able to sustain, for so long a time, a trade so very unequal. We
must have been absolutely ruined by it, if the unfavorable balance
had not been neutralized by more profitable commerce with, other
parts of the world. Of all nations, Great Britain has the least cause
to complain of the trade between the two countries. Our imports
from that single power are nearly one-third of the entire amount of
our importations from all foreign countries together. Great Britain
constantly acts an the maxim of buying only what she wants and
cannot produce, and selling to foreign nations the utmost amount she
can. In conformity with this maxim, she excludes articles of prime
necessity produced by us — equally, if not more necessary than any of
her industry which we tax, although the admission of those articles
would increase our ability to purchase from her, according to the ar
gument of gentlemen.
If we purchased still less from Great Britain than we do, and our
conditions were reversed, so that the value of her imports from this
country exceeded that of her exports to it, she would only then be
compelled to do what we have so long done, and what South Caro
lina does, in her trade with Kentucky, make up for the unfavorable
balance by trade with other places and countries. How does she
now dispose of the one hundred and sixty millions of dollars worth
of cotton fabrics, which she annually sells ? Of that amount the
United States do not purchase five per cent. What becomes of the
other ninety-five per cent ? Is it not sold to other powers, and would
not their markets remain, if ours were totally shut ? Would she not
continue, as she now finds it her interest, to purchase the raw mate
rial from us, to supply those markets ? Would she be guilty of the
folly of depriving herself of markets to the amount of upwards of
one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, because we refused her a
market for some eight or ten millions ?

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 33
But if there were a diminution of the British demand for cotton
equal to the loss of a market for the few British fabrics which are
within the scope of our protective policy, the question would still
remain, whether the cotton planter is not amply indemnified by the
creation of. additional demand elsewhere ? With respect to the cot
ton-grower, it is the totality of the demand, and not its distribution,
which effects his interests. If any system of policy will augment the
aggregate of the demand, that system is favorable to his interests,
although its tendency may be to vary the theatre of the demand. It
could not, for example, be injurious to him, if, instead of Great Brit
ain continuing to receive the entire quantity of cotton which she now
does, two or three hundred thousand bales of it were taken to the
other side of the channel, and increased to that extent, the French
demand. It would be better for him, because it is always better to
have several markets than one. Now, if, instead of a transfer to the,
opposite side of the channel, of those two or three hundred thousand
bales, they are transported to the northern States, can that be injuri
ous to the cotton grower ? Is it not better for him ? Is it not better
to have a market at home, unaffected by war or other foreign causes,
for that amount of his staple ?
If the establishment of American manufactures, therefore, had the
sole effect of creating a new and an American demand for cotton, ex
actly to the same extent in which it lessened the British demand, there
would be no just cause of complaint against the tariff. The gain in
one place would precisely equal the loss in the other. But the true
state of the matter is much more favorable to the cotton grower. It
is calculated that the cotton manufactories of the United States absorb
at least two hundred thousand bales of cotton annually. I believe it to
be more. The two ports of Boston and Providence alone received dur
ing the last year, near one hundred and ten thousand bales. The amount
is annually increasing. The raw material of that two hundred thousand
bales is worth six millions, and there is an additional value conferred
by the manufacturer of eighteen millions ; it being generally calculated
that, in such cotton fabrics as we are in the habit of making, the manu •
facture constitutes three-fourths of the value of the article. If, there
fore, these twenty -four millions worth of cotton fabrics were not made
in the United States, but were manufactured in Great Britain, in or
der to obtain them, we should have to add to the already enormous
disproportion between the amount of our imports and exports, in the

34 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
trade with Great Britain, the further sum of twenty-four millions, or
deducting the price of the raw material, eighteen millions ! And will
gentlemen tell me how it would be possible for this country to sustain
such a ruinous trade ? From all that portion of the United States
lying North and East of James River, and West of the mountains,
Great Britain receives comparatively nothing. How would it be
possible for the inhabitants of that largest portion of our territory, to
supply themselves with cotton fabrics, if they were brought from
England exclusively ? They could not do it. But for the existence
of the American manufacture, they would be compelled greatly to
curtail their supplies, if not absolutely to suffer in their comforts.
By its existence at home, the circle of those exchanges is created
which reciprocally diffuses among all who are embraced within it the
productions of their respective industry. The cotton-grower sells
the raw material to the manufacturer ; he buys the iron, the bread,
the meal, the coal, and the countless number of objects of his con
sumption from his fellow-citizens, and they in turn purchase his
fabrics. Putting it upon the ground merely of supplying those with
necessary articles who could not otherwise obtain them, ought there
to be from any quarter, an objection to the only system by which that
object can be accomplished ? But can there be any doubt, with those
who will reflect, that the actual amount of cotton consumed is in
creased by the home manufacture ? The main argument of gentle
men is founded upon the idea of mutual ability resulting from mutual
exchanges. They would furnish an ability to foreign nations by pur
chasing from them, and I to our own people, by exchanges at home.
If the American mauufacture were discontinued, and that of England
were to take its place, how would she sell the additional quantity of
twenty-four millions of cotton goods, which we now make ? To us ?
That has been shown to be impracticable. To other foreign nations ?
She has already pushed her supplies to them to the utmost extent
The ultimate consequence would then be, to diminish the total con
sumption of cotton, to say nothing now of the reduction of price that
would take place by throwing into the ports of Great Britain the two
hundred thousand bales, which no longer being manufactured in the
United States would go thither.
That the import duty is equivalent to an export duty, and falls on
the producer of cotton.

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 35
[Here General Hayne explained, and said that he never contended that an import
duty was equivalent to an export duty, under all circumstances ; he had explained
in his speech his ideas of the precise operation of the existing system. To which
Mr. Clay replied, that he had seen the argument so stated in some of the ingenious
essays from the South Carolina press, and would therefore answer it.]
The framers of our Constitution, by granting the power to Con
gress to lay imports, and prohibiting that of laying an export duty,
manifested that they did not regard them as equivalent. Nor does
the common sense of mankind. An export duty fastens upon, and
incorporates itself with, the article on which it is laid. The article
cannot escape from it — it pursues and follows it, wherever the article
goes ; and if, in the foreign market, the supply is above or just equal
to the demand, the amount of the export duty will be a clear deduc
tion to the exporter from the price of the article. But an import du
ty on a foreign article leaves the exporter of the domestic article free,
1st, to, import specie ; 2dly, goods which are free from the protect
ing duty ; or, 3dly, such goods as being chargeable with the protect
ing duty, he can sell at home, and throw the duty on the consumer.
But, it is confidently argued that the import duty falls upon the grow
er of cotton ; and the case has been put in debate, and again and again
in conversation, of the South Carolina planter, who exports one hun
dred bales of cotton to Liverpool, exchanges them for one hundred
bales of merchandise, and, when he brings them home, being compelled
to leave, at the custom-house, forty bales in the form of duties. The
argument is founded on the assumption that a duty of forty per cent.
amounts to a subtraction of forty from the one hundred bales of mer
chandise. The first objection to it is, that it supposes a case of barter,
which never occurs. If it be replied, that it nevertheless occurs in the
operations of commerce, the answer would be that, since the export
of Carolina cotton is chiefly made by New York or foreign merchants^
the loss stated, if it really accrued, would fall upon them, and not upon
the planter. But, to test the correctness of the hypothetical case, let us
suppose that the duty, instead of forty per cent., should be one hundred
and fifty, which is asserted to be the duty in some cases. Then, the
planter would not only lose the whole hundred bales of merchandise,
which he had gotten for his hundred bales of cotton, but ,he would
have to purchase, with other means, an additional fifty bales, in order
to enable him to pay the duties accruing on the proceeds of the cot
ton. Another answer is, that if the producer of cotton in America,

36 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
exchanged against English fabrics pays the duty, the producer of
those fabrics also pays it, and then it is twice paid. Such must be
the consequence, unless the principle is true on one side of the Atlan
tic, and false on the other. The true answer is, that the exporter of
an article, if he invests its proceeds in a foreign market, takes care to
make the investment in such merchandise, as when brought home,
he can sell with a fair profit ; and, consequently, the consumer would
pay the original cost, and charges and profit.
3. The next objection to the American System is, that it subjects
South Carolina to the payment of an undue proportion of the public
revenue. The basis of this objection is the .assumption, shown to
have been erroneous, that the producer of the exports from this coun
try pays the duty on its imports, instead of the consumer of those
imports. The amount which South Carolina really contributes to
the public revenue, no more than that of any other State, can be pre
cisely ascertained. It depends upon her consumption of articles pay
ing duties, and we may make an approximation sufficient for all prac
tical purposes. The cotton planters of the valley of the Mississippi
with whom I am acquainted, generally expend about one-third of
their income in the support of their families and plantations. On this
subject I hold in my hands a statement from a friend of mine, of great
accuracy, and a member of the Senate. According to this statement,
in a crop of ten thousand dollars, the expenses may fluctuate between
two thousand eight hundred dollars and three thousand two hundred
dollars. Of this sum, about one-fourth, from seven to eight hundred
dollars, may be laid out in articles paying the protecting duty ; the
residue is disbursed for provisions, mules, horses, oxen, wages of
overseer, &c. Estimating the exports of South Carolina at eight
millions,.one-third is two millions six hundred and sixty-six thousand
^ix hundred and sixty-six dollars ; of which one-fourth will be six
hundred and sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty-six and two-
thirds dollars. Now supposing the protecting duty to be fifty per
cent., and that it all enters into the price of the article, the amount
paid by South Carolina would only be three hundred and thirty-three
thousand three hundred and thirty-three and one third, dollars. But
the total revenue of the United States may be stated at twenty-five
millions, of which the proportion of South Carolina, whatever stand
ard, whether of wealth or population, be adopted, would be about
one million. Of course, on this view of the subject, she actually

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 37
pays only about one-third of her fair and legitimate share, I repeat,
that I have no personal knowledge of the habits of actual expenditure
in South Carolina ; they may be greater than I have stated, in re
spect to other parts of the cotton country ; but if they are, that fact
does not arise from any defect in the system of public policy.
4. An abandonment of the American System, it is urged, would
lead to an addition to our exports of one hundred and fifty millions of
dollars. The amount of one hundred and fifty millions of cotton in
the raw state, would produce four hundred and fifty millions in the
manufactured state, supposing no greater measure of value to be com
municated, in the manufactured form, than that which our industry
imparts. Now sir, where would markets be found for this vast ad
dition to the supply ? Not in the United States, certainly, nor in
any other quarter of the globe, England having already everywhere
pressed her cotton manufactures to the utmost point of repletion. We
must look out for new worlds ; seek for new and unknown races of
mortals to consume this immense increase of cotton fabrics.
[General Hayne said that he did not mean that the increase of one hundred and
fifty millions to the amount of our exports would be of cotton alone, bu,t of other
articles.] What other articles ? Agricultural produce — bread stuffs, beef and
pork J &c. Where shall we find markets for them ? Whither shall we
go ? To what country whose ports are not hermetically sealed against
their admission ? Break down the home market and you are without
resource ? Destroy all other interests in the country for the imagina
ry purpose of advancing the cotton planting interest, and you inflict a
positive injury, without the smallest practical benefit to the cotton
planter. Could Charleston, or" the w-hole South, when all other mar
kets are prostrated, or shut against the reception of the surplus of our
farmers, receive that surplus ? Would they buy more than they
might want for their own consumption ? Could they find markets
which other parts of the Union could not ? Would gentlemen force
the freemen of all north of James river, east and west, like the mis
erable slave, on the Sabbath day, to repair to Charleston, with a tur
key under his arm, or a pack upon his back, and beg the clerk of
some English or Scotch merchant, living in his gorgeous palace, or
rolling in his splendid coach in the streets, to exchange his " truck"
for a bit of flannel to cover his naked wife and children ! No ! I am
*C

38 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
sure that I do no more than justice to their hearts, when I believe
that they would reject, what I believe to be the inevitable effects
of their policy.
5. But it is contended} in the last place, that the South cannot,
from physical and other causes, engage in the manufacturing arts. 1
deny the premises, and I deny the conclusion. I deny the fact of in
ability, and, if it existed, I deny the conclusion, that we must, there
fore, break down our manufactures, and nourish those of foreign coun
tries. The South possesses, in an extraordinary degree, two of the
most important elements of manufacturing industry — water-power
and labor. The former gives to our whole country a most decided
advantage over Great Britain. But a single experiment, stated by
the gentleman from South Carolina, in wich a faithless slave put the
torch to a manufhcturing establishment, has discouraged similar en
terprises. We have in Kentucky the same description of population,
and we employ them, and almost exclusively them, in many of our
hemp manufactories. A neighbor of mine, one of our most opulent
and respectable citizens, has had one, two, if not three, manufactories
burnt by incendiaries ; but he persevered, and his perseverance has
been rewarded with wealth. We found that it was less expensive to
keep night watches than to pay premiums for insurance, and we em
ployed them.
Let it be supposed, however, that the South cannot manufacture ,
must those parts of the Union which can, be, therefore, prevented ?
Must we support those of foreign countries ? I am sure that injustice
would be done to the generous and patriotic nature of South Caroli
na, if it were believed that she envied or repined at the success of
other portions of the Union in branches of industry to which she
might happen not to be adapted. Throughout her whole career she
has been liberal, national, high-minded.
The friends of the American System have been reminded by the
honorable gentleman from Maryland, (General Smith,) that they are
the majority, and he has admonished them to exercise their power in
moderation. The majority ought never to trample upon the feelings,
or violate the just rights of the minority. They ought never to tri-
ssjnpn over the fallen, nor to make any but a temperate and equitable
w«e of their power. But these counsels come with an ill grace from

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTM. 39
the gentleman from Maryland. He, too, is a member of a majority —
a political majority. And how has the administration of that major
ity exercised their power in this country ? Recall to your recollec
tion the 4th of March, 1829, when the lank, lean, famished forms,
from fen and forest, and the four quarters of the Union, gathered to
gether in the halls of patronage ; or stealing by evening's twi light
into the apartments of the President's mansion, cried out, with ghast
ly faces, and in sepulchral tones, " Give us bread ! give us treasury
pap ! give us our reward !" England's bard was mistaken ; ghosts
will sometimes come, called or uncalled. Go to the families who
were driven from the employments on which they were dependent
for subsistence, in consequence of their exercise of the dearest right
of freemen. Go to mothers, while hugging to their bosoms their
starving children. Go to fathers, who, after being disqualified by
long public service for any other business, were stripped of their hum
ble places, and then sought, by the minions of authority, to be stripped
of all that was left them — their good names — and ask, what mercy
was shown to them ! As for myself, born in the midst of the revolu
tion, the first air that I ever breathed1 on my native soil of Virginia,
having been that of liberty and independence, I never expected jus
tice, nor desired mercy at their hands ; and scorn the wrath and defy
the oppression of power.
I regret, Mr. President, that one topic has, I think, unnecessarily
been introduced into this debate. I allude to the charge brought
against the manufacturing system, as favoring the growth of aristoc
racy. If it were true, would gentlemen prefer supporting foreign
accumulations of wealth, by that description of industry, rather than
in their own country ? But is it correct ? The joint stock companies
of the north, as I understand them, are nothing more than associa
tions, sometimes of hundreds, by means of which the small earnings
of many are brought into a common stock, and the associates, ob
taining corporate privileges, are enabled to prosecute, under one su
perintending head, their business to better udvantage. Nothing can
be more essentially democratic or better devised to counterpoise the
influence of individual wealth. In Kentucky, almost every manufac
tory known to me, is in the hands of enterprising and self-made men,
who have acquired whatever wealth they possess by patient and dil
igent labor. Comparisons are odious, and but in defence, would not
be made by me. But is there more tendency to aristocracy in a man-

40

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

ufactory supporting hundreds of freemen, or in a cotton plantation,
with its not less numerous slaves, sustaining perhaps only two white
families — that of the master and the overseer ?
I pass, with pleasure, from this disagreeable topic, to two general
propositions which cover the entire ground of debate. The first is,
that under the operation of the American System, the objects which
it protects and fosters are brought to the consumer at cheaper prices
than they commanded prior to its introduction, or, than they would
command if it did not exist. If that be true, ought' not the country
to be contented and satisfied with the system, unless the second pro
position, which I mean presently also to consider, is unfounded ? And
that is, that the tendency of the system is to sustain, and that it ha?
upheld the prices of all our agricultural and other produce, including
cotton. And is the fact not indisputable, that all essential objects of con
sumption affected by the tariff, are cheaper and better since the act of
1 824, than they were for several years prior to that lav/ ? I appeal
for its truth to common observation and to all practical men. I appeal
to the farmer of the country, whether he does not purchase on bettei
terms his iron, salt, brown sugar, cotton goods, and woollens, for his
laboring people ? And I ask the cotton planter if he has not been
better and more cheaply supplied with his cotton bagging ? In re
gard to this latter article, the gentleman from South Carolina was
mistaken in supposing that I complained that, under the existing duty
the Kentucky manufacturer could not compete with the Scotch. The
Kentuckian furnishes a more substantial and a cheaper article, and at
a more uniform and regular price. But it was the frauds, the viola
tions of law of which I did complain ; not smuggling, in the common
sense of that practice, which has something bold, daring, and enter
prising in it, but mean, barefaced cheating, by fraudulent invoices and
false denomination.
I plant myself upon this fact, of cheapness and superiority, as upon
impregnable ground. Gentlemen may tax their ingenuity and pro
duce a thousand speculative solutions of the fact, but the fact itself
will remain undisturbed. Let us look into some particulars. The
total consumption of bar iron in the United States is supposed to be
about 146,000 tons, of which 112,866 tons are made within the coun
try and the residue imported. The number of men employed in the

IN 'DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 41
manufacture is estimated at 29,254, and the total number of persons
subsisted by it, at 146,273. The measure of protection extended to
this necessary article, was never fully adequate until the passage of
the act of 1 82S ; and what has been the consequence ? The annual
increase of quantity, since that period, has been in a ratio of near
twenty-five per cent., and the wholesale price of bar iron in the
northern cities was, in 1828, $105 per ton, in 1829, $100, in 1830
$90, and in 1831, from $85 to $75 — constantly diminishing. We
import very little English iron, and that which we dp, is very inferior,
and only adapted to a few purposes. Ininstituting a comparison be
tween that inferior article and our superior iron, subjects entirely dif
ferent are compared- They are made by different processes. The
English cannot make iron of equal quality to ours, at a less price than
we do. They have three classes, best-best, and best and ordinary.
It is the latter which is imported. Of the whole amount imported,
there is only about 4,000 tons of foreign iron that pays the high duty,
the residue paying only a duty of about thirty per cent., estimated on
the prices of the importation of 1829. Our iron ore is. superior to
that of Great Britain, yielding often from sixty to eighty per cent.,
while theirs produces only about twenty-five. This fact is so well
known, that I have heard of recent exportations of iron ore to Eng
land. It has been alleged, that bar iron, being a raw material, ought to be
admitted free, or with low duties, for the sake of the manufacturers
themselves. But I take this to be the true principle, that if our coun
try is producing a raw material of prime necessity, and with reason
able protection, can produce it in sufficient quantity to supply our
wants, that raw material ought to be protected, although it may be
proper to protect the article also out of which it is manufactured.
The tailor will ask protection for himself, but wishes it denied to the
grower of wool and the manufacturer of broadcloth. The cotton
planter enjoys protection for the raw material, but does not desire it
to be extended to the cotton manufacturer. The ship builder will
ask protection for navigation, but does not wish it extended to the
essential articles which enter into the construction of his ship. Each
in his proper vocation solicits protection, but would have it denied to
all other interests which are supposed to come into collision with his.
Now the duty of the statesman is. to elevate himself above these

42 SPECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
petty conflicts ; calmly to survey all the various interests, and delib
erately to proportion the measures of protection to each, according to
its nature and to the general wants of society. It is quite possible
that, in the degree of protection which has been afforded to the va
rious workers in iron, there maybe some error committed, although I
have lately read an argument of much ability, proving that no injustice
has really been done to them. If there be, it ought to be remedied.
The next article to which I would call the attention of the Senate,
is that of cotton fabrics. The success of our manufacture of coarse
cottons is generally admitted. It is demonstrated by the fact that
they meet the cotton fabrics of other countries, in foreign markets,
and maintain a successful competition with them. There has been
a gradual increase of the exports of this article, which is sent to
Mexico and the South American Republics, to the Mediterranean, and
even to Asia. The remarkable fact was lately communicated to me,
that the same individual, who twenty-five years ago was engaged in
the importation of cotton cloth from Asia for American consumption,
is now engaged in the exportation of coarse American cottons to Asia,
for Asiatic consumption ! And my honorable friend from Massachu
setts, now in my eye, (Mr. Silsbee,) informed me that on his depart
ure from home, among the last orders which he gave, one was for the
exportation of coarse cottons to Sumatra, in the vicinity of Calcutta !
I hold in my hand a statement, derived from the most authentic source,
showing that the identical description of cotton cloth, which sold in
1817, at twenty-nine cents per yard, was sold in 1819 at twenty-one
cents, in 1821 at nineteen and a half cents, in 1823 at seventeen cents
in 1825 at fourteen and a half cents, in 1827 at thirteen cents, in 1829
at nine cents, in 1830 at nine and a half cents, and in 1831 at from
ten and a half to eleven. Such is the wonderful effect of protection
competition, and improvement in skill, combined ! The year 1829 was
one of some suffering to this branch of industry, probably owing to the
principle of competition being pushed too far. Henee we observe a
small rise in the article of the next two years. The introduction of
calico printing into the United States, constitutes an important era in
our manufacturing industry. It commenced about the year 1825 and
has since made such astonishing advances, that the whole quantity
now annually printed is but little short of forty millions of yards 
about two-thirds of our whole consumption. It is a beautiful manu
facture, combining great mechanical skill with scientific discoveries

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 43
in chemistry. The engraved cylinders for making the impression
require much taste, and put in requisition the genius of the fine arts
of design and engraving. Are the fine graceful forms of our fair
countrywomen less lovely when enveloped in the chintses and cali
coes produced by native industry, than when clothed in the tinsel of
of foreign drapery ? i
Gentlemen are no doubt surprised at these facts. They should
not underrate the energies, the enterprise, and the skill of our fellow-
citizens. I have no doubt they are every way competent to accom
plish whatever can be effected by any other people, if encouraged
and protected by the fostering care of our own government. Will
gentlemen believe the fact, which I am authorised now to state, that
the United States, at this time, manufacture one-half the quantity of
cotton which Great Britain did in 1816 ! We possess three great
advantages ; 1st. The raw material. 2d. Water power instead of
that of steam, generally used in England. And 3d. The cheaper
labor of females. In England, males spin with the mule and weave ;
in this eountry women and girls spin with the throstle, and superin
tend the power loom. And can there be any employment more ap
propriate ? Who has not been delighted with contemplating the
clock-work regularity of a large cotton manufactory ? I have often
visited them at Cincinnati and other places, and always with increas
ed admiration. The women, separated from the other sex, work in
apartments, large, airy, well warmed and spacious. Neatly dressed,
with rudy complexions, and happy countenances, they watch the
work before them, mend the broken threads, and replace the exhaust
ed balls or broaches. At stated hours they are called to their meals,
and go and return with light and cheerful step. At night they sepa
rate, and repair to their respective houses, under the care of a mother,
guardian or friend. " Six days shalt thou labor, and do all that thou
hast to do, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
Accordingly, we behold them, on that sacred day; assembled together
in His Temples, and in devotional attitudes and with pious counte
nances offering their prayers to Heaven for all its blessings, of which
it is not the least that a system of policy has been adopted by their
country, which admits of their obtaining a comfortable subsistence.
Manufactures have brought into profitable employment a vast
amount of female labor, which, without them, would be lost to the
country.

44 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
In respect to woollens, every gentleman's own observation and ex
perience will enable him to judge of the great reduction of price
which has taken place in most of these articles, since the tariff of
#1824. It would have been still greater, but for the high duty on the
raw material, imposed for the particular benefit of the farming interest.
But, without going into particular details, I shall limit myself to in
viting the attention of the Senate to a single article of general and
necessary use. The protection given to flannels in 1828 was fully
adequate. It has enabled the American manufacturer to obtain com
plete possession of the American market ; and now, let us look at the
effect. I have before me a statement from a highly respeetable mer
cantile house, showing the price of four descriptions of flannel, during
six years. The average price of them, in 1826, was thirty-eight and
three quarter cents ; in 1827, thirty-eight ; in 1828, (the year of the
tariff,) forty-six ; in 1829, thirty-six ; in 1830, (notwithstanding the
advance in the price of wool) thirty-two ; and in 1831, thirty-two
and one-quarter. These facts require no comments. I have be
fore me another statement of a practical and respectable man, well
versed in the flannel manufacture in America and England, demon
strating that the cost of manufacture is precisely the same in both
countries ; and that, although a yard of flannel which woul dsell in
England at 15 cents, would command here twenty^two, the differ
ence of seven cents is the exact difference between the duties in the
two countries, which are paid on the six ounces of wool contained in
a yard of flannel.
Brown sugar, during ten years, from 1792 to 1802, with a duty of
one and a half cents per pound, averaged fourteen cents per pound.
The same article, during ten years, from 1820 to 1830, with a duty
of three cents, has averaged only eight cents per pound. Nails, with
a duty of five cents per pound, are selling at six cents. Window
glass, eight by ten, prior to the tariff of 1824, sold at twelve or thir
teen dollars per hundred feet ; it now sells for three dollars seventy-
five cents.
The gentleman from South Carolina, sensible of the incontestible
fact of the very great reduction in the price of the necessaries of life
protected by the American System has felt the full force of it, and
has presented various explanations of the causes to which he ascribes
it. The first is the diminished production of the precious metals, in

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 45
consequence of the distressed state of the countries in which they are
extracted, and the consequent increase of their value relative to that
of the commodities for which they are exchinged. But, if this be
the true cause of the reduction of price, its operation ought to have
been general, on all objects, and of course upon cotton among the
rest. And, in point of fact, the diminished price of that staple is not
greater than the diminution of the value of other staples of our agri
culture. Flour, which commanded some years ago, ten or twelve
dollars per barrel, is now sold for five. The fall of tobacco has been
still more. The kite-foot of Maryland, which sold at from sixteen
to twenty dollars per hundred, now produces only four or five. That
of Virginia has sustained an equal decline. Beef, pork, every article
almost, produced by the farmer, has decreased in value. Ought not
South Carolina then to submit quietly to a state of things, which is
general, and proceeds from an uncontrolable cause ? Ought she to
ascribe to the "accursed" tariff what results from the calamities of
civil and foreign war, raging in many countries ?
But, sir, I do not subscribe to this doctrine implicitly. I do not
believe that the diminished production of the precious metals, if that
be the fact, satisfactorily accounts for the fall in prices : For I think
that the augmentation of the c.urrency of the world, by means of
banks, public stocks and other facilities arising out of exchange and
credit, has more than supplied any deficiency^n the amount of the
precious metals.
It is further urged that the restoration of peace in Europe, after the
battle, of Waterloo, and the consequent return to peaceful pursuits of
large masses of its population, by greatly increasing the aggregate
amount of effective labor, had a tendency to lower prices ; and un
doubtedly such ought to have been its natural tendency. The same
cause, however, must also have operated to reduce the price of our
agricultural produce, for which there was no longer the same demand
in peace as in war — and it did so operate. But its influence on the;
price of manufactured articles, between the general peace of Europe
in 1815, and the adoption of our tariff in 1824, was less sensibly felt,
because, perhaps, a much larger portion of the labor, liberated by the
disbandment of armies, was absorbed by manufactures than by agri
culture. It is also contended that the invention and improvement of
labor saving machinery hav% tended to lessen the prices of manufac-

46 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tured objects of consumption ; and undoubtedly this cause has had
some effect. Ought not America to contribute her quota of this cause,
and has she not, by henskill and extraordinary adaptation to the arts,
in truth, largely contributed to it ?
This brings me to consider what I apprehend to have been the
most efficient of all the causes in the reduction of the prices of manu
factured articles — and that is competition.. By competition, the to
tal amount of the supply is increased, and by increase of the supply,
a competition in the sale ensues, and this enables the consumer to
buy at lower rates. Of all human powers operating on the affairs
of mankind, none is greater than that of competition. It is action
and re-action. It operates between individuals in the same nation,
and between different nations. It resembles the meeting of the moun
tain torrent, grooving by its precipitous motion, its own channel, and
ocean's tide. Unopposed, it sweeps every thing before it ; but, coun
terpoised, the waters become calm, safe and regular. It is like the
segments of a circle or an arch ; taken separately, each is nothing ;
but in their combination they produce efficiency, symmetry, and per
fection- By the American System this vast power has been excited
in America, and brought into being to act in co-operation or collision
with European industry. Europe acts within itself, and with Ame
rica ; and America acts within itself, and with Europe. The conse
quence is, the reduction of prices in both hemispheres. Nor is it fair
to argue from the reduction of prices in Europe, to her own presum
ed skill and labor, exclusively. We affect her prices, and she 'affects
ours. This must always be the case, at least in reference to any ar
ticles as to which there is not a total non-intercourse ; and if our in
dustry, by diminishing the demand for her supplies, should produce
a diminution in the price of those supplies, it would be very unfair to
ascribe that reduction to her ingenuity, instead of placing it to the
credit of our own skill and excited industry.
Practical men understand very well this state of the case, whether
they do or do1 not comprehend the causes which produce it. I have
in my possession a letter from a respectable merchant, well known to
me, in which he says, after complaining of the operation of the tariff
of 1828, on the articles to which it applies, some of which he had
imported, and that his purchases having been made in England, be
fore the passage of that tariff was known, it produced such an effect

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 47
upon the English market, that the articles could not be re-sold with
out loss, he adds : " for it really appears that, when additional duties
are laid upon an article1, it then becomes lower instead of higher."
This would not probably happen, where the supply of the foreign
article did not exceed the home demand, unless upon the supposition
of the increased duty having excited or stimulated the measure of the
home production.
The great law of price is determined by supply and demand. What
ever affects either, affects the price. If the supply is increased, the
demand remaining the same, the price declines ; if the demand is in
creased; the supply remaining the same, the price advances ; if both
supply and demand are undiminished, the price is stationary, and the
price is influenced exactly in proportion to the degree of disturbance
to the demand or supply. It is therefore a great error to suppose
that an. existing or new duty necessarily becomes a component ele
ment to its exact amount of price. If the proportions of demand
and supply are varied by the duty, either in augmenting the supply,
or diminishing the demand, or vice versa, price is affected to the ex
tent of that variation. But the duty never becomes an integral part
of the price, except in the instances where the demand and the sup
ply remain after the duty is imposed, precisely what they were before,
or the demand is increased, and the supply remains stationary.
Competition, therefore, wherever existing, whether at home or
abroad, is the parent cause of cheapness. If a high duty excites pro
duction at home, and the quantity of the domestic article exceeds
the amount which had been previously imported the' price will fall.
This accounts for an extraordinary fact stated by a Senator from
Missouri. Three cents were laid as a duty upon a pound of lead,
by the act of 1828. The price at Galena, and the other lead mines,
afterwards fell to one and a half cents per pound. Now it is obvious '
that the duty did not, in this case, enter into the price : for it was
twice the amount of the price. What produced the fall-? It was
stimulated production at home, excited by the temptation of the ex
clusive possession of the home market. This state of things could
not last. Men would not continue an unprofitable pursuit ; some
abandoned the business, or the total quantity produced was diminish
ed, and living prices have been the consequence. But, break down
the domestic supply, place us again in a state of dependence on the

48 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
foreign source, and can it be doubted that we should ultimately have
to supply ourselves at dearer rates ? It is not fair to credit the for
eign market with the depression of prices produced there by the in
fluence of our competition. Let the competition be withdrawn, and
their prices would instantly rise. On this subject, great mistakes are
committed. I have seen some most erroneous reasoning in a late
report of Mr. Lee, of the Free Trade Convention in regard to the ar
ticle of sugar. He calculates the total amount of brown sugar pro
duced in the world, and then states, that what is made in Louisiana
is not more than two and a half per cent, of that total. Although
his data may be questioned, let us assume their truth, and what might
be the result ? Price being determined by the proportions of sup
ply and demand, it is evident that when the supply exceeds the de
mand, the price will fall. And the fall is not always regulated by
the amount of that excess. If the market at a given price, required
five or fifty millions of hogsheads of sugar, a surplus of only a few
hundred might materially influence the price, and diffuse itself
throughout the whole mass. Add, therefore, the eighty or one hun
dred thousand hoghsheads of Louisiana sugar to the entire mass
produced in other parts of the world, and it cannot be doubted that
a material reduction of the price of the article throughout Europe
and America, would take place. The Louisiana sugar substituting
foreign sugar in the home market, to the amount of its annual pro
duce, would force an equal amount of foreign sugar into other mar
kets, which being glutted, the price would necessarily decline, and
this decline of price would press portions of the foreign sugar into
competition in the United States, with Louisiana sugar, the price of
which would also be brought down. The fact has been in exact con
formity with this theory. But now let us suppose the Louisiana su
gar to be entirely withdrawn from the general consumption — what
then would happen ? A new demand would be created in America
for foreign sugar, to the extent of the eighty or one hundred thou
sand hogsheads made in Louisiana ; a less amount by that quantity r
would be sent to the European markets, and the price would conse
quently everywhere rise. It is not, therefore, those who, by keep
ing on duties, keep down prices, that tax the people, but those who,
by repealing duties, would raise prices, that really impose burthens
upon the people.
But, it is argued that if, by the skill, experience, and perfection

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 48
which we have acquired in certain branches of manufacture, they
can be made as cheap as similar articles abroad, and enter fairly into
competition with them, why not repeal the duties as to those articles ?
And why should we ? Assuming the truth of the supposition the
foreign article would not be introduced in the regular course of trade,
but would remain excluded by the possession of the home market,
which the domestic article had obtained. The repeal, therefore,
would have no legitimate effect. But might not the foreign article
be imported in vast quantities, to glut our markets, break down our
establishments, and ultimately to enable the foreigner to monopolize
*he supply of our consumption? America is the greatest foreign
market for European manufactures. It is that to which European
attention is constantly directed. If a great house becomes bankrupt
there, its store-houses are emptied, and the goods are shipped to
America, where, in consequence of our auctions, and our custom
house credits, the greatest facilities are afforded "in the sale of them.
Combinations among manufacturers might take place, or even the
operations of foreign governments might be directed to the destruc
tion of our establishments. A repeal, therefore, of one protecting
duty, from some one or all of these causes, would be followed by
flooding the country with the foreign fabric, surcharging the market,
reducing the price, and a complete prostration of our mannfactories ;
after which the foreigner would leisurely look about to indemnify him
self in the increased prices which he would be enabled to command
by his monopoly of the supply of our consumption. What American
citizen, after the government had displayed this vascillating policy,
would be again tempted to place the smallest confidence in the public
faith, and adventure once more in this branch of industry ?
Gentlemen have allowed to the manufacturing portions of the
community no'peace ; they have been constantly threatened with the
overthrow of the American System. From the year 1820, if not from
1816, down to this time, they have been held in a condition of con
stant alarm and insecurity. Nothing is more prejudicial to the great
interests of a nation than unsettled and varying policy. Although
every appeal to the national legislature has been responded to in con
formity with the wishes and sentiments of the great majority of the
people, measures of protection have only been carried by such small
majorities as to excite hopes on the one hand, and fears on the other.
Let the country breathe, let its vast resources be developed, let its

50 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
energies be fully put forth, let it have tranquillity, and my word for
it, the degree of perfection in the arts which it will exhibit, will be
greater than that which has been presented, astonishing as our pro
gress has been. Although some branches of our manufactures might,
and in foreign markets now do, fearlessly contend with similar foreign
fabrics, there are many others yet in^-their infancy, struggling with
the difficulties which encompass them. We should look at the whole
system, and recollect that time, when we contemplate the great
movements of a nation, is very different from the short period which
is allotted for the duration of individual life. The honorable gentle
man from South Carolina well and eloquently said, in 1824, " No
great interest of any country ever yet grew up in a day ; no new
branch of industry can become firmly and profitably established but
in a long course of years ; every thing, indeed, great or good,* is ma
tured by slow degrees : that which attains a speedy maturity is of
small value, and is destined to a brief existence. It is the order of
Providence, that powers gradually developed, shall alone attain per
manency and perfection. Thus must it be with our national institu
tions, and national character itself."
I feel most sensibly, Mr. President, how much I have trespassed
upon the Senate. My apology is a deep and -deliberate conviction,
that the great cause under debate involves the ' prosperity and the
destiny of the Union. But the best requital I can make, for the
friendly indulgence which has been extended to me by the Senate,
and for which I shall ever retain sentiments of lasting gratitude, is
to proceed with as little delay as practicable, to the conclusion of a
discourse which has not been more tedious to the Senate than ex
hausting to me. I have now to consider the remaining of the two
propositions which I have already announced. That is :
Secondly. That under the operation of the American System, the
products of our agriculture command a higher price than they would
do without it, by the creation of a home market ; and by the aug
mentation of wealth produced by manufacturing industry, which en
larges our powers of consumption both of domestic and foreign arti
cles. The importance of the home market is among the established
maxims which are universally recognised by all writers and all men.
However some may differ a's to the relative advantages of the foreigr.
and the home market, none deny to the latter great value and high

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 51
consideration. It is nearer to us ; beyond the control of foreign legis
lation ; and undisturbed by those vicissitudes to which all internation
al intercourse is more or less exposed. The most stupid are sensible
of the benefit of a residence in the vicinity of a large manufactory, or
of a market town, of a good road, or of a navigable stream, which
connects their farms with some great capital. If the pursuits of all
men were perfectly the same, although they would be in possession
of the greatest abundance of the particular produce of their industry,
they might, at the same time, be in extreme want of other necessary
articles of human subsistence. The uniformity of the general occu
pation would preclude all exchanges, all commerce. It is only in the
diversity of the vocations of the members of a community that the
means can be found for those salutary exchanges which conduce to
the general prosperity. And the greater that diversity, the more ex
tensive and the more animating is the circle of exchange. Even- if
foreign markets were freely and widely open to the reception of our
agricultural produce, from its bulky nature, and the distance of the
interior, and the dangers of the ocean, large portions of it could never
profitably reach the foreign market. But let us quit this field of the-
ory,/clear as it is, and look at the practical operation of the system of
protection, beginning with the most valuable staple of our agriculture.
In considering this staple, the first circumstance that excites our
surprise, is the rapidity with which the amount of it has annually in
creased. ¦ Does not this fact, however, demonstrate that the cultiva
tion of it could not have been so very unprofitable ! If the business
were ruinous, would more and more have annually engaged in it ?
The quantity in 1816, was eighty-one millions of pounds ; in 1826,
two' hundred and four millions; and in 1S30, near three hundred
millions ! The ground of greatest surprise is, that it has been able to
sustain even its present price with such an enormous augmentation of
quantity. It could not have been done but for the combined opera
tion of three causes, by which the consumption of cotton fabrics has
been greatly extended, in consequence of their reduced prices : 1st.
competition ; 2d., the improvement of labor-saving machinery ; and
3dly., the low price of the raw material. The crop of 1819, amount
ing to eighty-eight millions of pounds, produced twenty-one millions
of dollars ; the crop of 1823, when the amount was swelled to one
hundred and seventy-four millions (almost double that of 1819,) pro
duced a less sum by more than half a million of dollars ; and the crop

52 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
of 1824, amounting to thirty millions of pounds less than that of the
preceding year, produced a million and a half of dollars more.
If there be any foundation for the established law of price, supply,
and demand, ought not the fact of this great increase of the supply to
account satisfactorily for the alleged low price of cotton ? Is it neces
sary to look beyond that single fact to the tariff — to the diminished
products of the mines furnishing the precious metals, or to any other
cause, for the solution ? This subject is well understood in the South,
and although I cannot approve the practice which has been intro
duced of quoting authority, and still less the authority of newspapers,
for favorite theories, I must ask permission of the Senate to read an
article from a southern newspaper.
. [Here General Hayne requested Mr. Clay to give the name of the anthority, that
it might appear whether it was not some other than a southern paper expressing
southern sentiments. Mr. Clay stated that it was from the Charleston City Gazette,
one, he believed, of the oldest and most respectable prints in that city, although he
was not sure what might be its sentiments on the question which at present divides
the people of South Carolina. The article comprises a full explanation of the low
price of cotton, and assigns to it its true cause — increased production.]
Let us suppose that the home demand for cotton, which has been
created by the American System, were to cease, and that the two
hundred thousand* bales, which the home market now absorbs, were
thrown into the glutted markets of foreign countries — would not the
effect inevitably be to produce a further and great reduction in the
price of the article ? If there be any truth in the facts and principles
which I have before stated and endeavored to illustrate, it cannot be
doubted that the existence of American manufactures has tended to
increase the demand, and extend the consumption of the raw mate
rial ; and that, but for this increased demand, the price of the article
would have fallen, possibly one-half lower than it now is. The error
* Mr. Clay stated that he assumed the quantity which was generally computed
but he believed it much greater, and subsequent information justifies his belief. It
appears from the report of the cotton Committee appointed by the New York Con
vention, that partial returns show a consumption of upwards of two hundred and
fifty thousand bales ; that the cotton manufacture employs nearly forty thousand
females, and about five thousand children ; that the total dependents on it are one
hundred and thirty one thousand four hundred eighty-nine ; that the annual wages
paid are $12,155723; the annual value of its products $32,306,076; the capital
$44,914,984 ; the number of mills 795 ; of spindles, 1,246,503 ; and of cloth made
260,461,990 yards. This statement does not comprehend the western manufactures!

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 53
of the opposite argument is, in assuming one thing, which being de
nied, the whole fails ; that is, it assumes that the whole labor of the
United States would be profitably employed without manufactures.
Now, the truth is, that the System excites and creates labor, and this
labor creates wealth, and this new wealth commupicates additional
ability to consume, which acts on all the objects contributing to hu
man comfort and enjoyment. The amount of cotton imported into
the two ports of Boston and Providence alone during the last year,
Cand it was imported exclusively for the home manufacture,) was
one hundred and nine thousand five hundred and seventeen bales.
On passing from that article to others of our agricultural produc
tions, we shall find not less gratifying facts. The total quantity of
flour imported into Boston, during the same year, was two hundred
eighty-four thousand five hundred and four barrels, and three thou
sand nine hundred and fifty-five half barrels ; of which, there were
from Virginia, Georgetown and Alexandria, one hundred fourteen
thousand two hundred and twenty-two barrels; of Indian corn, six
hundred eighty-one thousand one hundred and thirty-one bushels ; of
oats, two hundred thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and nine bush
els ; of rye, about fifty thousand bushels ; and of shorts, thirty-three
thousand four hundred and eighty-nine bushels. Into the port of Pro
vidence, seventy-one thousand three hundred and sixty-nine barrels
of flour ; two hundred sixteen thousand six hundred and sixty-two
bushels of Indian corn, and" seven thousand seven hundred and seven
ty-two bushels of rye^ And there were discharged at the port of
Philadelphia, four hundred twenty thousand three hundred and fifty-
three bushels of Indian corn ; two hundred one thousand eight hun
dred and seventy eight bushels of wheat, and one hundred ten thou
sand five hundred and fifty-seven bushels of rye and barley. There
were slaughtered in Boston, during the same year, 1831, (the .only
northern city from which I have obtained returns,) thirty-three thou
sand nine hundred and twenty-two beef cattle ; fifteen thousand and
four hundred calves ; eighty-four thousand four hundred and fifty-
three sheep, and twenty-six thousand eight hundred and seventy-one
swine. It is confidently believed that there is not a less quantity of
Southern flour consumed at the North than eight hundred thousand
barrels — a greater amount, probably, than is shipped to all the forejgn
markets of the world together.
#D

54

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

What would be the condition of the farming country of the United
States — of all that portion which lies North; East and West of James
river, including a large part of North Carolina, if a home market did
not exist for this immense amount of agricultural produce ? Without
that market, where could it be sold ? In foreign markets ? If their
restrictive laws did not exist, their capacity would not enable them
to purchase and consume this vast addition to their present supplies,
which must be thrown in, or thrown away, but for the home market.
But their laws exclude us from their markets. I shall content my
self by calling the attention of the Senate to Great Britain only. The
duties in the ports of the United Kingdom, on bread-stuffs are pro
hibitory, except in times of dearth. On rice, the duty is fifteen shill
ings sterling per hundred weight, being more than one hundred per
cent. On manufactured tobacco it is nine shillings sterling per pound,
or about two thousand per cent. On leaf tobacco three shillings per
pound, or one thousand two hundred per cent. On lumber, and some
other articles, they are from four hundred to fifteen hundred per cent.
more than on similar articles imported from British colonies. In the
British West Indies the duty on beef, pork, hams and bacon is twelve
shillings sterling per hundred, more than one hundred per cent, on
the first cost of beef and pork in the western States. And yet Great
Britain is the power in whose behalf we are called upon to legislate,
so that we may enable her to purchase our cotton ! Great Britain
that thinks only of herself in her own legislation ! When have we
experienced justice, much less favor, at her hands ? When did she
shape her legislation in reference to the interests of any foreign pow
er ? She is a great, opulent and powerful nation ; but haughty, ar
rogant, and supercilious — not more separated from the rest of the
world by the sea that girts her island, than she is separated in feeling
sympathy, or friendly consideration of their welfare. Gentlemen in
supposing it impracticable that we should successfully compete with
her in manufactures, do injustice to the skill and enterprise of their
own country. Gallant, as Great Britain undoubtedly is, we have
gloriously contended with her, man to man, gun to gun, ship to ship
fleet to fleet, and army to army. And I have no doubt we are des
tined to achieve equal success in the more useful, if not nobler contest
for superiority in the arts of civil life.
4 I could extend and dwell on the long list of articles — the hemp
-iron, lead, coal and other items, for which a demand is created in the

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 55
home market by the operation of the American System ; but I should
exhaust the patience of the Senate. Where, where should we find a
market for all these articles, if it did not exist at home ? What would
be the condition of the largest portion of our people, and of the terri
tory, if this home market were annihilated ? How could they be sup
plied with objects of prime necessity ? What would not be the certain
and inevitable decline in the price of all these articles, but for the
home market ? And allow me, Mr. President, to say, that of all the
agricultural parts of the United States which are benefited by the
operation of this system, none are equally so with those which bor
der the Chesapeake Bay, the lower parts of North Carolina, Virginia,
and the two shores jof Maryland. Their facilities of transportation,
and proximity to the North, give them decided advantages.
But if all this reasoning were totally fallacious — if the price of
manufactured articles were really higher, under the American Sys
tem, than, without it, I should still argue that high or low prices were
themselves relative — relative to the ability to pay them. It is in vain
to tempt, to tantalize us with the lower prices of European fabrics
than our own, if we have nothing wherewith to purchase them. If,
by the home exchanges, we can be supplied with necessary, even if
they are dearer and worse, articles of American production than the
foreign, it is better than not to be supplied at all. And how would
the large portion of our country which I have described be supplied,
but for the home exchanges ? A poor people, destitute of wealth or
of exchangeable commodities, has nothing to purchase foreign fabrics.
To them they are equally beyond their reach, whether their cost be
a dollar or a guinea. It is in this view of the matter that Great
Britain, by her vast wealth — her excited and protected industry— is
enabled to bear a burden of taxation which, when compared to that
of others nations, appears enormous ; but which, when her immense
riches are compared to theirs, is light and trivial. The gentleman
from South Carolina has drawn a lively and flattering picture of our
coasts, bays, rivers and harbors ; and he argues that these proclaimed
the design of Providence, that we should be a commercial people.
I a°ree with him. We differ only as to the means. He would cher
ish the foreign, and neglect the internal trade. I would foster both.
What is navigation without ships, or ships without cargoes ? By pen
etrating the bosoms of our mountains, and extracting from them their
precious treasures ; by cultivating the earth, and securing a home

56 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
market for its rich and abundant products ; by employing the water
power with which we are blessed ; by stimulating and protecting our
native industry, in all its forms ; we shall but nourish and promote
the prosperity of commerce, foreign and domestic.
I have hitherto considered the question in reference only to a state
of peace ; but a season of war ought not to be entirely overlooked.
We have enjoyed near twenty years of peace ; but who can tell when
the storm of war shall again break forth ? Have we forgotten, so
soon, the privations to which, not merely our brave soldiers and our
gallant tars were subjected, but the whole community, during the last
war, for the want of absolute necessaries ? To what an enormous
price they rose ! And how inadequate the supply was, at any price !
The statesman who jusly elevates his views, will look behind, as well
as forward, and at the existing state of things-; and he will graduate
the policy, which he recommends, to all the probable exigencies
which may arise in the Republic. Taking this comprehensive range,
it would be easy to show that the higher prices of peace, if prices
were higher in peace, were more than compensated by the lower
prices of war, during which supplies of all essential articles are indis
pensable to its vigorous, effectual and glorious prosecution. I con
clude this part of the argument with the hope that my humble exer
tions have not been altogether unsuccessful in showing —
¦ 1. That the policy which we have been considering ought to con
tinue to be regarded as the genuine American System.
2. That the Free Trade System, which is proposed as its substi
tute, ought really to be considered as the British Colonial System.
3. That the American System is beneficial to all parts of the Union,
and absolutely necessary to much the larger portion.
4. That the price of the great staple of cotton, and of all our chief
productions of agriculture, has been sustained and upheld, and a de
cline averted by the Protective System.
5. That if the foreign demand for cotton has been at all diminish
ed by the operation of that system, the diminution has been more
than compensated in the additional demand created at home.

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 57
6. That the constant tendency of the system, by creating competi
tion among ourselves, and between American and European industry,
reciprocally acting upon each other, is to reduce prices of manufac
tured objects.
7. That in point of fact, objects within the scope of the policy of
protection have greatly fallen in price.
8. That if, in a season of peace, these benefits are experienced, in
a season of war, when the foreign supply might be cut off, they would
be much more extensively felt.
9. And finally, that the substitution of the British Colonial System
for the American System, without benefiting any section of the Union,
by subjecting us to a foreign legislation, regulated by foreign interests,
would lead to the prostration of our manufactures, general impover
ishment, and ultimate ruin.
And now, Mr. President, I have to make a few observations on a
delicate subject, which I approach with all the respect that is due to
its serious and grave nature. They have not, indeed, been rendered
necessary by the speech from the gentleman from South Carolina,
whose forbearance to notice the topic was commendable, as his argu
ment throughout, was characterized by an ability and dignity worthy
bf him, and of the Senate. The gentleman made one declaration,
which might possibly be misinterpreted, and I submit to him whether
an explanation of it be not proper. The declaration, as reported in
his printed speech, is " the instinct of self-interest might have taught
us an easier way of relieving ourselves from this oppression. It
wanted but the will to have supplied ourselves with every article
embraced in the protective system, free of duty, without any other
participation on our part than a simple consent to receive them."
{Here General Hayne .rose and remarked, that -the passage which immediately
preceded and followed the paragraph cited, he thought plainly indicated his mean
ing, which related to evasions of the system, by illicit introduction of goods, which
ihey were not disposed to countenance in South Carolina.]
I am happy to hear this explanation. But, sir, it is impossible to
conceal from our view the facts that there is a great excitement in
South Carolina ; that the protective system is openly and violently

58 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
denounced in popular meetings ; and that the Legislature itself has
declared its purpose of resorting to counteracting measures — a sus
pension of which has only been submitted to, for the purpose of al
lowing Congress time to retrace its steps. With respect to this
Union, Mr. President, the truth cannot be too generally proclaimed,
nor too strongly inculcated, that it is necessary to the whole and to all
the parts — necessary to those parts, indeed, in different degrees, but
vitally necessary to each — and that threats to disturb or dissolve it,
coming from any of the parts, would be quite as indiscreet and im
proper as would be threats from the residue to exclude those parts
from the pale of its benefits. The great principle, which lies at the
foundation of all free governments, is, that the majority must govern ;
from which there is or can be no appeal but to the sword. That ma
jority ought to govern wisely, equitably, moderately and constitu
tionally, but govern: it must, subject only to that terrible appeal. If
ever one, or several States, being a minority, can, by menacing a dis
solution of the Union, succeed in forcing an abandonment of great
measures deemed essential to the interests and prosperity of the
whole, the Union, from that moment, is practically gone. It may
linger on, in form and name, but its vital spirit has fled for ever ! En
tertaining these deliberate opinions, I would entreat the patriotic peo
ple of South Carolina — the land of Marian, Sumpter and Pickens ;
of Rutledge, Laurens, the Pinkneys and Lowndes — of living and
present names, which I would mention if they were not living or
present — to pause, solemnly pause ! and contemplate the frightful
precipice which lies directly before them. To retreat may be pain
ful and mortifying to their gallantry and pride, but it is to retreat to
the Union, to safety, and to those brethren with whom, or with
whose ancestors, they, or their ancestors, have won, on fields of
glory, imperishable renown. To advance, is to rush on certain and
inevitable disgrace and destruction-
We'have been told of deserted castles, of uninhabited halls, and of
mansions, once the seats of opulence and hospitality, now abandoned
and mouldering in ruins. I never had the honor of being in South
Carolina ; but I have heard and read of the stories of its chivalry,
and of its generous and open-hearted liberality. I have heard, too,
of the struggles for power between the lower and upper country.
The same causes which existed in Virginia, with which I have been
acquainted, I presume, have had their influence in Carolina. In.

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 59
whose hands now are the once proud seats of Westover Curl, May-
cox, Shirley,* and others, on James River, and in lower Virginia ?
Under the operation of laws, abolishing the principle of primogeni
ture, and providing the equitable rule of an equal distribution of
estates among those in equal degree of consanguinity, they have pass
ed into other and stranger hands. Some of the descendants of illus
trious families have gone to the far West, while others, lingering
behind, have contrasted their present condition with that of their
venerated ancestors. They behold themselves excluded from their
father's houses, now in the hands of those who were once their fa
ther's overseers, or sinking into decay ; their imaginations paint an
cient renown, the fading honors of their name — glories gone by; too
poor to live, too proud to work, too high-minded and honorable to
resort to ignoble means of acquisition, brave, daring, chivalrous;
what can be the cause of their present unhappy state ? The " ac
cursed" tariff presents itself to their excited imaginations, and they
blindly rush into the ranks of those who, unfurling the banner of nul
lification, would place a State upon its sovereignty !
The danger to our Union does not lie on the side of persistence in
the American System, but on that of its abandonment. If, as I have
supposed and believe, the inhabitants of all north and east of James
river, and all west of the mountains, including Louisiana, are deeply
interested in the preservation of that system, would they be recon
ciled to its overthrow ? Can it be expected that two-thirds, if not
three-fourths, of the people of the United States, would consent to
the destruction of a policy, believed to be indispensably necessary to
their prosperity ? When, too, the sacrifice is made at the instance of
a single'interest, which they verily believe will not be promoted by
it ? In estimating the degree of peril which may be incident to two
opposite courses of human policy, the statesman would be short
sighted who should content himself with viewing only the evils, real
or imaginary, which belong to that course which is in practical ope
ration. He should lift himself up to the contemplation of those
greater and more certain dangers which might inevitably attend the
adoption of the alternative course. What would be the condition of
this Union, if Pennsylvania and New York, those mammoth members
* As to Shirley, Mr. Clay acknowledges his mistake, made in the warmth of de
bate. It is yet the abode of the respectable and hospitable descendants of its former
opulent proprietor.

80 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
of our confederacy, were firmly persuaded that their industry was
paralysed, and their prosperity blighted, by the enforcement of the
British colonial system, under the delusive name of free trade ? They
are now tranquil and happy, and contented, conscious of their wel
fare, and feeling a salutary and rapid circulation of the products of
home manufactures and home industry throughout' all their great ar
teries. But let that be checked, let them feel that a foreign system
is to predominate, and the sources of their subsistence and comfort
dried up ; let New England and the West, and the middle States, all
feel that they too are the victims of a mistaken policy, and let these
vast portions of our country despair of any favorable change,- and
then indeed might we tremble for the continuance and safety of this
Union !
And need I remind you, sir, that this dereliction of the duty of pro
tecting our domestic industry, and abandonment of it to the fate of
foreign legislation, would be directly at war with leading considera
tions which prompted the adoption of the present constitution ? The
States respectively, surrendered to the general government the whole
power of laying imposts on foreign goods. They stripped themselves
of all power to protect their own manufactures, by the most effica
cious means of encouragement — the imposition of duties on rival for
eign fabrics. Did they create that great trust ? Did they voluntarily
subject themselves to this self-restriction, that the power should re
main in the Federal government inactive, unexecuted, and lifeless ?
Mr. Madison, at the commencement of the government, told yoit
otherwise. In discussing at that early period this very subject, he
declared that a failure to exercise this power would be a " fraud"
upon the northern States, to which may now be added the middle and
western States.
[Governor Miller asked to what expression of Mr. Madison's opinion Mr. Clay re
ferred ; and Mr. Clay replied, his opinion, expressed in the House of. Representatives
in 1789, as reported in Lloyd's Congressional Debates.]
Gentlemen are greatly deceived as to the hold which this system
has in the affections of the people of the United States. They repre
sent that it is the policy of New England, and that she is most bene
fitted by it. If there be any part of this Union which has been most
steady, most unanimous, and most determined in its support, it is
Pennsylvania. Why is not that powerful State attacked } Why pass

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 61
her over, and aim the blow at New England ? New England came
reluctantly into the policy. In 1824 a majority of her delegation was
opposed to it. From the largest State of New England there was
but a solitary vote in favor of the bill. That enterprising people can
readily accommodate their industry to any policy, provided it be set
tled- They supposed this was fixed, and they submitted to the de
crees of government. And the progress of ^public opinion has kept
pace with the developments of the benefits of the system. Now, all
New England, at least in this house (with the exception of one small
still voice) is in favor of the system. In 1824 all Maryland was
against it ; now the majority is for it. Then, Louisiana, with one
exception, was opposed to it ; now, without any exception, she is in
favor of it. The march of public sentiment is to the South. Virginia
will be the next convert ; and in less than seven years, if there be no
obstacles from political causes, or prejudices industriously instilled,
the majority of eastern Virginia will be, as the majority of western
Virginia now is, in favor of the American System. North Carolina
will follow later, but not less certainly. Eastern Tennessee is now
in favor of the system. And finally, its doctrines will pervade the
whole Union, and the wonder will be, that they ever should have
been opposed.
I have now to proceed to notice some objections which have been
urged against the resolution under consideration. With respect to the
amendment which the gentleman from South Carolina has offered, as
he has intimated his purpose to modify it, I shall forbear for the pre
sent to comment upon it. It is contended that the resolution propo
ses the repeal of duties on luxuries, leaving those on necessaries to
remain, and that it will, therefore, relieve the rich without lessening
the burdens of the poor. And the gentlemen from South Carolina
has carefully selected, for ludicrous effect, a number of the unprotect
ed articles, cosmetics, perfumes, oranges, &c. I must say, that this
exhibition of the gentleman is not in keeping with the candor which
he has generally displayed ; that he knows very well that the duties
upon" these articles are trifling, and that it is of little consequence
whether they are repealed or retained. Both systems, the American
and the foreign, comprehend some articles which may be deemed
luxuries. The Senate knows that the unprotected articles which
yield the principal part of the revenue, with which this measure would
dispense, are coffee^ tea, spices, wines, and silks. Of all these articles,

62

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

wines and silks alone can be pronounced to be luxuries ; and as to
wines, we have already ratified a treaty, not yet promulgated, by
which the duties on them are to be considerably reduced. If the
universality of the use of objects of consumption determines their
classification, coffee, tea, and spices, in present condition of civilized
society, may be considered necessaries. Even if they were luxuries,
why should not the poor, by cheapening their prices, if that can be
effected, be allowed to use them ? Why should not a poor man be
allowed to tie a silk handkerchief on his neck, occasionally regale
himself with a glass of cheap French wine, or present his wife or
daughter with a silk gown, to be worn on Sabbath or gala days ? I
am quite sure that I do not misconstrue the feelings of the gentle
man's heart, in supposing that he would be happy to see the poor as
well as the rich moderately indulging themselves in those innocent
gratifications. For one, I am delighted to see the condition of the
poor attracting the consideration of the opponents of the tariff. It is
for the great body of the people, and especially for the poor, that I
have ever supported the American System. It affords them profita
ble employment, and supplies the means of comfortable subsistence.
It secures to them, certainly, necessaries of life, manufactured at home
and places within their reaoh, and enables them to acquire a reasona
ble share of foreign luxuries ; while the system of gentlemen promises
them necessaries made in foreign countries, and which are beyond
their power, and denies to them luxuries, which they would possess
no means to purchase.
The constant complaint of South Carolina against the tariff, is,
that it checks importations, and disables foreign powers from pur
chasing the agricultural productions of the United States. The ef
fect of the resolution will be to increase importations, not so much,
it is true from Great Britain, as from the other powers, but not the
less acceptable on that account. It is a misfortune that so large a
portion of our foreign commerce concentrates in one nation ; it sub
jects us too much to the legislation and the policy of that nation, and
exposes us to the influence of her numerous agents, factors, and mer
chants. And it is not among the smallest recommendations of the
measure before the Senate, that its tendency will be to expand our
commerce with France, our great revolutionary ally — the land of
our Lafayette. There is much greater probability also, of an enlarge
ment of the present demand for cotton in France, than in Great

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 63'
Britain. France engaged later in the manufacture of cotton, and has
made, therefore, less progress. She has, moreover, no colonies pro
ducing the article in abundance, whose industry she might be tempt
ed to encourage.
The honorable gentleman from Maryland, (General Smith,) by his
reply to a speech which, on the opening of the subject of this resolu
tion, I had occasion to make, has rendered it necessary that I should
take some notice of his observations. The honorable gentleman
stated that he had been accused of partiality to the manufacturing in
terest. Never was there a more groundless and malicious charge
" preferred against a calumniated man. Sin<^ this question has been
agitated in the public councils, although I have often heard from him
professions of attachment to this branch of industry, I have never
known any member a more uniform, determined and uncompromising
opponent of them, than the honorable Senator has invariably been.
And if, hereafter, the calumny should be repeated, of his friendship
to the American System, I shall be ready to furnish to him, in the
most solemn manner, my testimony to his innocence. The honor
able gentleman supposed that I had advanced the idea that the perma
nent revenue of this country should be fixed at eighteen millions of dol
lars. Certainly I had no intention to announce such an opinion, nor
do my expressions, fairly interpreted, imply it. I stated, on the oc
casion referred to, that, estimating the ordinary revenue of the coun
try at twenty-five millions, and the amount of the duties on the un
protected articles proposed to be repealed by the resolution, at seven-
millions, the latter sum taken from the former would leave eighteen.
But I did not intimate any belief that the revenue of the country
ought, for the future, to be permanently fixed at that or any other
precise sum. I stated that, after having effected so great a reduc
tion, we might pause, cautiously survey the whole ground, and de
liberately determine upon other measures of reduction, some of which
I indicated. And I now say, preserve the Protective System in full
vigor ; give us the proceeds of the public domain for internal im
provements, or if you please, partly for that object, and partly for the
removal of the firee'blacks, with their own consent, from the United
States ; and for one, I have no objection to the reduction of the pub
lic revenue to fifteen, to thirteen, or even to nine millions of dollars.
In regard to the scheme of the Secretary of the Treasury for pay*

64

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

ing off the whole of the remaining public debt, by the 4th day of
March 1S33, including the three per cent., and for that purpose, sell
ing the bank stock, I had remarked that, with the exception of the
three per cent., there was not more than about four millions of dol
lars of the debt due and payable within this year, that, to meet this,
the Secretary had stated in his annual report, that the treasury Would
have, from the receipts of this year, fourteen millions of dollars, ap
plicable to the principal of the debt ; that I did not perceive any ur
gency for paying off the three per cent, by the precise day suggested :
and that there was no necessity, according to the plans of the treasu
ry, assuming them to be expedient and proper, to postpone the repeal
of the duties on unprotected articles. The gentleman from Mary
land imputed to me ignorance of the act of the 24th April 1830, ac
cording to which in his opinion the Secretary was obliged to pur
chase the three per cent. On what ground the Senator supposed I
was ignorant of that act he has not stated. Although when it passed
I was at Ashland, I assure him that I was not there altogether unin
formed of what was passing in the world. I regularly received the
Register of my excellent friend (Mr. Niles,) published in Baltimore,
the National Intelligencer, and other papers. There are two errors
to which gentlemen are sometimes liable ; one is to magnify the
amount of knowledge which they possess themselves, and the second
is to depreciate that which others have acquired. And will the gen
tleman from Maryland excuse me for thinking that no man is more
prone to commit both errors than himself ? I will not say that he is
ignorant of the true meaning of the act of 1830, but I certainly place
a different construction upon it from what he does. It does not oblige
the Secretary of the Treasury, or rather the Commissioners of the
Sinking Fund, to apply the surplus of any year to the purchase of
the three per cent, stock particularly, but leaves them at liberty " to
apply such surplus to the purchase of any portion of the public debt,
at such rates as, in their opinion may be advantageous to the United
States." This vests a discretionary authority, to be exercised under
official responsibility. And if any Secretary of the Treasury, when
he had the option of purchasing a portion of the debt, bearing a high
er rate of interest at par or about par, were to execute the act by
purchasing the three per cents., at its present price, he would merit
impeachment. Undoubtedly a state of fact may exist, such as there
being no public debt remaining to be paid, but the three per cent
stock, with a surplus in the treasury, idle and unproductive, in which

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 65
it might be expedient to apply that surplus to the reimbursement of
the three per cents. But whilst the interest of money is at a greater
rate than three per cent., it would not, I think, be wise to produce
an accumulation of public treasure for such a purpose.. The post
ponement of any reduction of the amount of the revenue, at this ses
sion, must however give rise to that very accummulation ; and it is,
therefore, that I cannot perceive the utility of the postponement.
We are told by the gentleman from Maryland, that offers have
been made to the Secretary of the Treasury to exchange three per
cents, at their market price of ninety-six per cent, for the bank stock
of the government at its market price, which is about one hundred
and twenty-six, and he thinks it would be wise to accept them. If
the charter of the Bank is renewed, that stock will be probably worth
much more than its present price ; if not renewed, much less. Would
it be fair in government, while the question is pending and undecided,
to make such an exchange ? The difference in value between a stock
bearing three per cent, and one bearing seven per cent, must be really
much greater than the difference between ninety-six and one hundred
and twenty-six per cent. Supposing them to be perpetual annuities,
the one would be worth more than twice the value of the other. But
my objection to the treasury plan is, that it is not necessary to execute
it — to continue these duties as the Secretary proposes. The Secre
tary has a debt of twenty-four millions to pay ; he has from the ac
cruing receipts of this year fourteen millions, and we are now told by
the Senator from Maryland, that this sum of fourteen millions is ex
clusive of any of the duties accruing this year. He proposes to raise
• eight millions by sale of the Bank stock, and to anticipate from the
revenue receivable next year, two millions more. These three items
then of fourteen millions, eight millions, and two millions, make up
the sum required, of twenty-four millions, without the aid of the du
ties to which the resolution relates.
The gentleman from Maryland insists that the general government
has been liberal toward the West in its appropriations of public lands
for internal improvements ; and, as to fortifications, he contends that
the expenditures near the mouth of the Mississippi are for its especial
benefit. The appropriations of la,nd to the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, and Alabama, have been liberal ; but it is not to be overlook
ed, that the general government is itself the greatest proprietor of
6

66

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

land, and that a tendency of the improvements, which these appropri
ations were to effect, is to increase the value of the unsold public do
main. The erection of the fortifications for the defence of Louisiana,
was highly proper ; but the gentleman might as well place to the ac
count of the West, the disbursement for the fortifications intended to
defend Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, to all which capitals
western produce is sent, and in the security of all of which the west
ern people feel a lively interest. They do not object to expenditures
for the army, for the navy, for fortifications, or for any other offensive
or commercial object on the Atlantic, but they do think that their
condition ought also to receive friendly attention from the general go
vernment. With respect to the State of Kentucky, not one cent of
money, or one acre of land, has been applied to any object of internal
improvement within her limits. The subscription to the stock of the
canal at Louisville was for an object in which many States were in
terested. The Senator from Maryland complains that he has been
unable to obtain any aid for the railroad which the enterprise of Bal
timore has projected, and in part executed. That was a great work,
the conception of which was bold, and highly honorable, and it de
serves national encouragement. But how has the committee of roads
and canals, at this session been constituted ? The Senator from Ma
ryland possessed a brief authority to organize it, and, if I am not mis
informed, a majority of the members composing it, appointed by him,
are opposed both to the constitutionality of the power, and the expe
diency of exercising it.
And now, sir, I would address a few words to the friends of the
American System in the Senate. The revenue must — ought to be .
reduced. The country will not, after, by the payment of the public
debt, ten or twelve millions of dollars become unnecessary, bear such
an annual surplus. Its distribution would form a subject of perpetual
contention. Some of the opponents of the system understand the
stratagem by which to attack it, and are shaping their course accord
ingly. It is to crush the system by the accumulation of revenue, and
by the effort to persuade the people that they are unnecessarily taxed,
while those would really tax them who would break up the native
sources of supply, and render them dependent upon the foreign. But
the revenue ought to be reduced, so as to accommodate it to the fact
of the payment of the public debt. And the alternative is or may be,
to preserve the protecting system, and repeal the duties on the unpro-

IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 67
tected articles, or to preserve the duties on unprotected articles, and
endanger if not destroy the system. Let us then adopt the measure
before us, which will benefit all classes ; the farmer, the professional
man, the merchant, tb,e manufacturer, the mechanic ; and the cotton
planter more than all. A few months ago there was no diversity of
opinion as to the expediency of this measure. All, then, seemed to
unite in the selection of these objects for a repeal of duties which
were not produced within the country. Such a repeal did not touch
our domestic industry, violated no principle, offended no prejudice.
Can we not all, whatever may be our favorite theories, cordially
unite on this neutral ground ? When that is occupied, let us look be
yond it, and see if any thing can be done in the field of protection, to
modifyj.to improve it, or to satisfy those who are opposed to the sys
tem. Our southern brethren believe that it is injurious to them, and
ask its repeal. We believe that its abandonment will be prejudicial to
them, and ruinous to every other section of the Union. However
strong their convictions may be, they are not stronger than ours. Be
tween the points of the preservation of the system and its absolute
repeal, there is no principle of union. If it can be shown to operate
immoderately on any quarter — if the measure of protection to any
article can be demonstrated to be undue and inordinate, it would be
the duty of Congress to interpose and apply a remedy. And none
will co-operate more heartily than I shall in the performance of that
duty. It is quite probable that beneficial modifications of the system
may be made without impairing its efficacy. But to make it fulfill
the purposes of its institution, the measure of protection ought to be
adequate. If it be not, all interests will be injuriously affected. The
manufacturer, crippled in his exertions, will produce less perfect and
dearer fabrics, and the consumer will feel the consequence. This is
the spirit, and these are the principles only, on which, it seems to
me, that a settlement of the great question can be made, satisfactorily
to all parts of our Union.

ON A NATIONAL BANK.

In the Senate of the United States— 1811.

[The course of Mr. Clav, in regard to a National Bank has been a subject of
extensive comment throughout the last ten years. AH know that he opposed the
Recharter of the first United States Bank in 1811 ; that he favored the creation of
the second in 1816, and that he has ever since been an ardent and prominent cham
pion of such an institution. As this is the only topic of any moment on which Mr.
Clay, has seen occasion to change his opinions in the course of a long and active
public life, we have chosen to present at one view his sentiments at each different
period on this much controverted question. We give, therefore, in succession, his
speech of 1811, the substance of his remarks in 1816, and his speech of 1832— as
follows ;]
Mr. President, when the subject involved in the motion now un
der consideration was depending before the other branch of the Legis
lature, a disposition to acquiesce in their decision was evinced; For
although the committee who reported this bill had been raised many
weeks prior to the determination of that House on the proposition to
re-charter the Bank, except the occasional reference to it of memo
rials and petitions, we scarcely ever heard of it. The rejection, it is
true, of a measure brought before either branch of Congress does not
absolutely preclude the other from taking up the same proposition ;
but the economy of our time, and a just deference for the opinion of
others, would seem to recommend a delicate and cautious exercise of
this power. As this Subject, at the memorable period when the
charter was granted, called forth the best talents of the nation — as it
has, on various occasions, undergone the most thorough investigation,
and as we can hardly expect that it is susceptible of receiving any
further elucidation, it was to be hoped that we should have been spared
useless debate. This was the more desirable because there are, I
conceive, much superior claims upon us for every hour of the small
portion of the session yet remaining to us. Under the operation of
these motives, I had resolved to give a silent vote, until I felt myself
bound, by the defying manner of the arguments advanced in support

on a national bank. 69
of the renewal, to obey the paramount duties I owe my country and its
constitution ; to make one effort, however feeble, to avert the pas
sage of what appears to me a most unjustifiable law. After my hon
orable friend from Virginia ( Wr. Giles) had instructed and amused us
with the very able and ingenious argument which he delivered on
yesterday, I should have still forborne to tresspass on the Senate, but
for the extraordinary character of his speech. He discussed both
sides of the question with great ability and eloquence, and certainly
demonstrated to the satisfaction of all who heard him, both that it
was constitutional and unconstitutional, highly proper and improper
to prolong the charter of the bank. The honorable gentleman ap
peared to me in the predicament in which the celebrated orator of
Virginia, Patrick Henry, is said to have been once placed. Engaged
in a most extensive and lucrative practice of the law, he mistook in
one instance the side of the cause in which he was retained, and ad
dressed the court and jury in a very masterly and convincing speech
in behalf of his antagonist. His distracted client came up to him
whilst he was thus employed, and interrupting him, bitterly exclaim
ed, " you have undone me ! You have ruined me !" — " Never mind,
give yourself no concern," said the adroit advocate ; and turning to
the court and jury continued his argument by observing, may it
please your honors and you, gentlemen of the jury, I have been stat-
ting to you what I presume my adversary may urge on his side. I
will now show you how fallacious his reasoning and groundless his
pretensions are." The skilful orator proceeded, satisfactorily refuted
every argument he had advanced, and gained his cause ! A success
with which I trust the exertion of my honorable friend will on this
occasion be crowned.
It has been said by the honorable gentleman from Georgia, (Mr.
Crawford) that this has been made a party question, although the
law incorporating the Bank was passed prior to the formation of par
ties, and when Congress was not biased by party prejudices.
[Mr. Crawford explained. He did not mean that it had been made a party ques
tion in the Senate. His allusion was elsewhere.]
I do not think it altogether fair to refer to the discussions in the House
of Representatives, as gentlemen belonging to that body have no oppor
tunity of defending themselves here. It is true that this law was not to
*E

70 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the effect, but it is no less true that it was one of the causes of the po
litical divisions in this country. And, if, during the agitation of the
present question, the renewal has, on one side, been opposed on party
principles, let me ask if, on the other, it has not been advocated on
similar principles ? Where is the Macedonian phalanx, the opposi
tion in Congress ? I believe, sir, I shall not incur the charge of pre
sumptuous prophecy, when I predict we shall not pick up from its
ranks one single straggler ! And if, on this occasion, my worthy friend
from Georgia has gone over into the camp of the enemy, is itrkind in
him to look back upon his former friends, and rebuke them for the
fidelity with which they adhere to their old principles ?
I shall not stop to examine how far a representative is bound by
the instructions of his constituents. That is a question between the
giver and receiver of the instructions. But I must be permitted to
express my surprise at the pointed difference which has been made
between the opinions and instructions of State Legislatures^ and the
opinions and details of the deputations with which we have been sur
rounded from Philadelphia. Whilst the resolutions of those legisla
tures—known legitimate, constitutional and deliberative bodies — have
been thrown into the back ground, and their interference regarded as
officious, these delegations from self-created societies, composed of
nobody knows whom, have been received by the committee with the
utmost complaisance. Their communications have been treasured
up with the greatest diligence. Never did the Delphic priests col
lect with more holy care the frantic expressions of the agitated Py-
thia, or expound them with more solemnity to the astonished Gre
cians, than has the committee gathered the opinions and testimonies
of these deputies, and through the gentleman from Massachusetts,
pompously detailed them to the Senate ! Philadelphia has her im
mediate representatives, capable of expressing her wishes upon the
floor of the other house, If it be improper for States to obtrude upon
Congress their sentiments, it is much more highly so for the unau
thorized deputies of fortuitous congregations.
The first singular feature that attracts attention in this bill is the
new and unconstitutional veto which it establishes. The constitution
has required only, that after bills have passed the House of Repre
sentatives and the Senate, they shall be presented to the President
for his approval or rejection, and his determination is to be made

ON A NATIONAL BANK. 71
known in ten days. But this bill provides, that when all the con
stitutional sanctions are obtained, and when according to the usual
routine of legislation it ought to be considered as a law, it is to be
submitted to a new branch of the legislature, consisting of the Presi
dent and twenty-four Directors of the Bank of the United States,
holding their sessions in Philadelphia, and if they please to approve
it, why then it is to become a law ! And three months (the term
allowed by our law of May last, to one of the great belligerents for
revoking his edicts, after the other shall have repealed his) are grant
ed them to decide whether an act of Congress shall be the law of the
land or not ! An act which is said to be indispensably necessary to
our salvation, and without the passage of which universal distress
and bankruptcy are to pervade the country. Remember, sir, that
the honorable gentleman from Georgia has contended that this char
ter is no contract Does it then become fiie representatives of the
nation to leave the nation at the mercy of a corporation ? Ought the
impending calamities to be left to the hazard of a contingent remedy ?
This vagrant power to erect a Bank, after having wandered
throughout the whole constitution in quest of some congenial spot to
fasten upon, has been at length located by the gentleman from Geor
gia on that provision which authorizes Congress to lay and collect
taxes, &c. In 1791, the power is referred to one part of the instru
ment ; in 1811, to another. Sometimes it is alleged to be deducible
from the power to regulate commerce. Hard pressed here, it disap
pears and shows itself under the grant to coin money. The sagacious
Secretary of the Treasury in 1791 pursued the wisest course — he has
taken shelter behind general, high-sounding and imposing terms. He
has declared, in the preamble establishing the Bank, that it will be
very conducive to the successful conducting of the national finances ;
will tend to give facility to the obtaining of loans, and will be produc
tive of considerable advantage to trade and industry in general. No
allusion is made to the collection of taxes. What is the nature of this
government ? It is emphatically federal^vested with an aggregate of
specified powers for general purposes, conceded by existing sovereign
ties, who have themselves retained what is not so conceded. It is
said that there are cases in which it must act on implied powers.
This is not controverted, but the implication must be necessary, and
obviously flow from the enumerated power with which it is allied.
The power to charter companies is not specified in the grant, and I

72 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
contend is of a nature not transferable by mere implication. It is one
of the most exalted attributes of sovereignty. In the exercise of this
gigantic power, we have seen an East India Company created, which
has carried dismay, desolation, and death, throughout one of the
largest portions of the habitable world. A company which is in itself
a sovereignty — which has subverted empires, and set up new dynas
ties, and has not only made war, but war against its legitimate sove
reign ! Under the influence of this power, we have seen arise a South
Sea Company, and a Mississippi Company, that distracted and cOn-
vulsed all Europe, and menaced a total overthrow of all credit and
confidence, and universal bankruptcy. Is it to be imagined that a
power so vast would have been left by the wisdom of the constitu
tion to doubtful inference ? It has been alleged that there are many
instances in the constitution, where powers in their nature incidental,
and which would have necessarily been vested along with the princi
pal, are nevertheless expressly enumerated ; and the power " to make
rules and regulations for the government of the land and naval forces,"
which it is said is incidental to the power to raise armies and provide
a navy, is given as an example. What does this prove ? How ex
tremely cautious the convention were to leave as little as possible to
implication. In all cases where incidental powers are acted upon,
the principal and incidental ought to be congenial with each other,
and partake of a common nature. The incidental power ought to be
strictly subordinate and limited to the end proposed to be attained
by the specified power. In other words, under the name of accom
plishing one object which is specified, the power implied ought not to
be made to embrace other objects, which are not specified in the con
stitution. If then you could establish a bank to collect and distribute
the revenue, it ought to be expressly restricted to the purpose of such
collection or distribution. It is mockery, worse than usurpation, to
establish it for a lawful object, and then to extend it to other objects
which are not lawful. In deducing the power to create corporations,
such as I have described it, from the power to collect taxes, the rela
tion and condition of principal and incident are prostrated and destroy
ed. The accessory is exalted above the principal. As well might it
be said that the great luminary of to-day is an accessory, a satelite to
the humblest star that twinkles forth its feeble light in the firmament
of heaven !
Suppose the constitution had been silent as to an individual depart-

ON A NATIONAL BANK 73
ment of this government, could you, under the power to lay and col
lect taxes, establish a judiciary ? I presume not ; but if you could
derive the power by mere implication, could you vest it with any
other authority than to enforce the collection of the revenue ? A bank
is made for the ostensible purpose of aiding in the collection of the
revenue, and while it is engaged in this, the most inferior and subordi
nate of all its functions, it is made to diffuse itself throughout society,
and to influence all the great operations of credit, circulation, and
commerce. Like the Virginiajustice, you tell the man whose turkey
had been stolen, that your books of precedents furnish no form for his
case, but then you will grant him a precept to search for a cow, and
when looking for that he may possibly find his turkey ! You say to
this corporation — we cannot authorize you to discount, to emit paper,
to regulate commerce, &c. No ! Our book has no precedents of that
kind. But then we can authorize you to collect the revenue, and
while occupied with that, you may do whatever else you please !
What is a corporation, such as the bill contemplates ? It is a splen
did association of favored individuals, taken from the mass of society,
and invested with exemptions, and surrounded by immunities and
privileges. The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr.
Lloyd,) has said that the original law, establishing the Bank, was
justly liable to the objection of vesting in that institution an exclusive
privilege, the faith of the government being pledged that no other
bank should be authorized during its existence. This objection he
supposes is obviated by the bill under consideration ; but all corpora
tions enjoy exclusive privileges — that is, the corporators have privi
leges which no others possess : if you create fifty corporations instead
of one, you. have only fifty privileged 'bodies instead of one. Icon-
tend that the States have the exclusive power to regulate contracts,
to declare the capacities and incapacities to contract, and to provide
as to the extent Of responsibility of debtors to their creditors. If Con
gress have the power to erect an artificial body, and say it shall be
endowed with the attributes of an individual — if you can bestow on
this object of your own creation the ability to contract, may you not,
in contravention of State rights, confer upon your slaves, infants, and
femmes covert the ability to contract ? And if you have the power
to say that an association of individuals shall be responsible for their
debts only in a certain limited degree, what is to prevent an exten
sion of a similar exemption to individuals ? Where is the limitation

74 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
upon this power to set up corporations ? You establish one in the
heart of a State, the basis of whose capital is money. You may erect
others whose capital shall consist of land, slaves, and personal estates,
and thus the whole property within the jurisdiction of a State might
be absorbed by these political bodies. The existing Bank contends
that it is beyond the power of a State to tax it, and If this pretension
be well founded, it is in the power of Congress, by chartering compa
nies, to dry up all the sources of State revenue. Georgia has under
taken, it is true, to levy a tax on the branch within her jurisdiction ;
but this law, now under a course of litigation, is considered as invalid.
The United States own a great deal of land in the State of Ohio.
Can this government, for the purpose of creating an ability to pur
chase it, charter a company ? Aliens are forbidden, I believe, in that
State, to hold real estate — could you, in order to multiply purchasers,
confer upon them the capacity to hold land, in derogation of the local
law ? I imagine this will hardly be insisted upon ; and yet there ex
ists a more obvious connexion between the undoubted power which
is possessed by this government, to sell its land, and the means of
executing that power, by increasing the demand in the market, than-
there is between this Bank and the collection of a tax. This govern
ment has the power to levy ts,xes, to raise armies, provide a navy,
make war, regulate commerce, coin money, &c, &c. It would not
be difficult to show as. intimate a connexion between a corporation,
established for any purpose whatever, and some one or other of those-
great powers, as there is between the revenue and the Bank of the
United States.
Let us inquire into the actual participation of this bank in the col
lection of the revenue. Prior to the passage of the act of 1800, re
quiring the collectors of those ports of entry at which the principal
bank, or any of its offices are situated, to deposit with them the cus
tom-house bonds, it had not the slightest agency in the collection of
the duties. During almost one moiety of the period to which the
existence of this institution was limited, it was nowise instrumental
in the collection of that revenue, to which it is now become indis
pensable ! The collection previous to 1800, was made entirely by
the collectors ; and even at present, where there is one port of entry,
at which this bank is employed, there are eight or ten at which the
collection is made as it was before 1800. And, sir, what does this
bank or its branches, where resort is had to it ? It doesnot adjust

ON A NATIONAL BANK. 75
with the merchant the amount of duty, nor take his bond, nor, if the
bond is not paid, coerce the payment, by distress or otherwise. In
fact, it has no active agency whatever in the collection. Its opera
tion is merely passive ; that is, if the obligor, after his bond is placed
in the bank, discharges it, all is very well. Such is the mighty aid
afforded by this tax-gatherer, without which the government cannot
get along ! Again, it is not pretended that the very limited assis
tance which this institution does in truth render, extends to any other
than a single species of tax, that is, duties. In the collection of the
excise, the direct and other internal taxes, no aid was derived from
any bank. It is true, in the collection of those taxes, the farmer did
not obtain the same indulgence which the merchant receives in pay
ing duties. But what obliges Congress to give credit at all ? Could
it not demand prompt payment of the duties ? And, in fact, does it
not so demand, in many instances ? Whether credit is given or not,
is a matter merely of discretion. If it be a' facility to mercantile ope
rations, (as I presume it is) it ought to be granted. But I deny the
right to engraft upon it a bank, which you would not otherwise have
the power to erect. You cannot create the necessity of a bank, and
then plead that necessity for its establishment. In the administration
of the finances, the bank acts simply as a payer and receiver. The
Secretary of the Treasury has money in New York and wants it in
Charleston — the bank will furnish him with a check, or bill, to make
the remittance, which any merchant would do just as well.
I will now proceed to show by fact, actual experience, not theo
retic reasoning, but by the records themselves of the treasury, that
the operations of that department may be as well conducted without
as with this bank. The delusion has consisted in the use of certain
high-sounding phrases, dexterously used on the occasion — " the col
lection of the revenue" — " the administration of the finance" — " the
conducting of the fiscal affairs of the government," the usual lan
guage of the advocates of the bank, extort express assent, or awe into
acquiescence, without inquiry or examination into its necessity.
About the commencement of this year, there appears, by the report
of the Secretary of the Treasury of the 7th of January, to have been
a little upwards of two millions and four hundred thousand dollars in
the treasury of the United States ; and more than one-third of this
whole sum was in the vaults of local banks. In several instances
, where opportunities existed of selecting the bank, a preference has

76 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
been given to the State bank, or at least a portion of the deposits has
been made with it. In New York, for example, there was deposited
with the Manhattan Bank $188,970, although a branch bank is in
that city. In this district, $115,OS0 were deposited with the Bank
of Columbia, although here also is a branch bank, and yet the State
banks are utterly unsafe to be trusted ! If the money, after the bonds
are collected, is thus placed with these banks, I presume there can be
no difficulty in placing the bonds themselves there, if they must be
deposited with sonie bank for collection, which I deny.
Again, one of the most important and complicated branches of the
treasury department, is the management of our landed system. The
sales have, in some years, amounted to upwards of half a million of
dollars — are genrally made upon credit, and yet no bank whatever is
made use of to facilitate the collection. After it is made, the amount,
in some instances, has been deposited with banks, and, according to
the Secretary's report, which I have before adverted to, the amount
so deposited was, in January, upwards of three hundred thousand
dollars, not one cent of which was in the vaults of the Bank of the
United States, or in any of its branches, but in the Bank of Pennsyl
vania, its branch at Pittsburgh, the Marietta Bank, and the Kentucky
Bank- Upon the point of responsibility, I cannot subscribe to the
opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, if it is meant that the ability
to pay the amount of any deposits which the government may make,
under any exigency, is greater than that of the State banks ; that
the accountability of a ramified institution, whose affairs are managed
by a single head, responsible for all its members, is more simple than
that of a number of independent and unconnected establishments, I
shall not deny ; but, with regard to safety, I am strongly inclined to
think it is on the side of the local banks. The corruption or miscon
duct of the parent, or any of its branches, may bankrupt or destroy the
whole system, and the loss of the government, in that event, will
be of the deposits made with each ; whereas, in the failure of one
State bank, the loss will be confined to the deposit in the vault of
that bank. It is said to have been a part of Burr's plan to seize on
the branch bank at New Orleans. At that period large sums, im
ported from La Vera Cruz, are alledged to have been deposited with
it, and if the traitor had accomplished the design, the Bank of the
United States, if not actually bankrupt, might have been constrained
to stop payment.

ON A NATIONAL BANK. 77
It is urged by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lloyd,)
that as this nation advances in commerce, wealth and population,
new energies will be unfolded, new wants and exigences will arise,
and hence he infers that powers must be implied from the consti
tution. But, sir, the question is, shall we stretch the instrument to
embrace cases not fairly within its scope, or shall we resort to that
remedy, by amendment, which the constitution prescribes ?
Gentlemen contend that the construction which they give to the
constitution has been acquiesced in by all parties, and under all admin
istrations ; and they rely particularly on an act which passed in 1804,
for extending a branch to New Orleans ; and another act of 1807, for
punishing those who should forge or utter forged paper of the Bank.
With regard to the first law, passed no doubt upon the recommenda
tion of the treasury department, I would remark, that it was the ex
tension of a branch to a territory over which Congress possesses the
power of legislation almost uncontrolled, and where, without any
constitutional impediment, charters of corporation may be granted .
As to the other act, it was passed no less for the benefit of the com
munity than the Bank — to protect the ignorant and unwary from
counterfeit paper, purporting to have been emitted by the Bank.
When gentlemen are claiming the advantage supposed to be deduci-
ble from acquiescence, let me inquire what they would have had
those to do who believed the establishment of a Bank an encroach
ment upon Slate rights ? Were they to have resisted, and how ? By
force ? Upon the change of parties in 1800, it must be well recol
lected that the greatest calamities were predicted as a consequence of
that event. Intentions were ascribed to the new occupants of power,
of violating the public faith, and prostrating national credit. Under
such circumstances, that they should act with great circumspection,
was quite natural. They saw in full operation, a bank chartered by
a Congress who had as much right to judge of their constitutional
powers as their successors. Had they revoked the law which gave
it existence, the institution would, in all probability, continued to
transact business notwithstanding. The judiciary would have been
appealed to, and from the known opinions and predilections of the
judges then composing it, they would have pronounced the act of
incorporation as in the nature of a contract, beyond the repealing
power of any succeeding legislature. And, sir, what a scene of con
fusion would such a state of things have presented — an act of Con-
_ 7

78 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
gress, which was law in the statute book, and a nullity on the judicial
records ! was it not the wisest to wait the natural dissolution of the
corporation rather than accelerate that event by a repealing law in
volving so many delicate considerations ?
When gentlemen attempt to carry this measure upon the ground
of acquiescence or precedent, do they forget that "we are not in West
minster Hall ? In courts of justice, the utility of uniform decision,
exacts of the judge a conformity to the adjudication of his predeces
sor. In the interpretation and administration of the law, this practice
is wise and proper, and without it, every thing depending upon the
caprice of the judge, we should have no security for our dearest rights.
It is far otherwise when applied to the source of legislation. Here
no rule exists but the constitution, and to legislate upon the ground
merely that our predecessors thought themselves authorized, under
similar circumstances, to legislate, is to sanctify error and to perpetu
ate usurpation. But if we are to be subjected to the trammels of
precedent, I claim on the other hand, the benefit of the restrictions
under which the intelligent judge cautiously receives them. It is an
established rule, that to give a previous adjudication any effect, the
mind of the judge who pronounced it, must have been awakened to
the subject, and it must have been a deliberate opinion, formed after
full argument. In technical language, it must not have been sub
sihnlio. Now the acts of 1804 and 1807, relied upon as pledges for
the rechartering this company, passed not only without any discus
sion whatever of the constitutional power of Congress to establish a
Bank, but I venture to say, without a single member having had his
attention drawn to this question. I had the honor of a seat in the
Senate, when the latter law passed, probably voted for it, and I de:
clare with the utmost sincerity, that I never once thought of that
point, and I appeal confidently to every honorable member who was
then present, to say if that was not his situation.
This doctrine of precedents, applied to the legislature, appears to
me to be fraught with the most mischievous consequences. The
great advantage of our system of government over all others, is, that
we have a written constitution, defining its limits, and prescribing its
authorities ; and, that, however, for a time, faction may convulse the
nation, and passjpn and party prejudice sway its functionaries, the
season of reflection, will recur, when calmly retracing their deeds,

ON A NATIONAL BANK. 79
all aberrations from fundamental principle will be corrected. But
once substitute practice for principle — the exposition of the constitu
tion for the text of the constitution, and in vain shall we look for the
instrument in the instrument itself ! It will be as diffused and intan
gible as the pretended constitution of England : — and must be sought
for in the statute book, in the fugitive journals of Congress, and in
reports of the Secretary of the Treasury ! What would be our con
dition if we were to take the interpretations given to that sacred
book, which is, or ought to be, the criterion of our faith, for the book
itself ? We should find the Holy Bible buried beneath the interpre
tations, glosses, and comments of councils, synods, and learned di
vines, which have produced swarms of intollerant and furious sects,
partaking less of the mildness and meekness of their origin than of a
vindictive spirit of hostility towards each other ! They ought to af
ford us a solemn warning to make thatconstiution which we have
sworn to support, our invariable guide.
I conceive then, sir, that we were not empowered by the constitu
tion, nor bound by any practice under it, to renew the charter of this
Bank, and I might here rest the argument. But as there are strong
objections to the renewal on the score of expediency, and as the dis
tresses which will attend the dissolution of the Bank, have been
greatly exaggerated, I will ask for your indulgence for a few mo
ments longer. That some temporary inconvenience will arise, I shall
not deny ; but most groundlessly have the recent failures in New
York been attributed to the discontinuance of this Bank. As well
might you ascribe to that cause the failures of Amsterdam and Ham
burg, of London and Liverpool. The embarrassments of commerce
— the sequestrations in France — the Danish captures — in fine, the
belligerent edicts, are the obvious sources of these failures. Their
immediate cause in the return of bills upon London, drawn upon the
faith of unproductive or unprofitable shipments. Yes, sir, the pro
tests of the notaries of London, not those of New York, have occa
sioned these bankruptcies.
The power of a nation is said to consist in the sword and the purse.
Perhaps at last all power is resolvable into that of the purse, for with
it you may command almost every thing else.' The specie circula
tion of the United States is estimated by some calculators at ten mil
lions of dollars, and if it be no more, one moiety is in the vaults of

80 SPEECHES OF HENRY GLAY.
this Bank. May not the time arrive when the concentration of such
a vast portion of the circulating medium of the country in the hands
of any corporation, will be dangerous to our liberties ? By whom is
this immense power wielded ? By a body, who, in derogation of
the great principle of all our institutions, responsibility to the people,
is amenable only to a few stockholders, and they chiefly foreigners.
Suppose an attempt to subvert this government — would not the trai
tor first aim by force or corruption to acquire the treasure of this
company ? Look at it in another aspect. Seven-tenths of its capital
are in the hands of foreigners, and these foreigners chiefly English
subjects. We are possibly on the eve of a rupture with that nation.
Should such an event occur, do you apprehend that the English pre
mier would experience any difficulty in obtaining the entire control
of this institution ? Republics, above all other governments, ought
most seriously to guard against foreign influence. All history
proves that the internal dissentions excited by foreign intrigue,
have produced the downfall of almost every free government that has
hitherto existed ; and yet, gentlemen contend that we are benefitted
by the possession of this foreign capital ! If we could have its use,
without its attending abuse, I should be gratified also. But it is in
vain to expect the one without the other. Wealth is power, and,
under whatsoever form it exists, its proprietor, whether he lives on
this or the other side of the Atlantic, will have a proportionate influ
ence. It is argued that our possession of this English capital gives
us a great influence over the British government. If this reasoning
be sound, we had better revoke the interdiction as to aliens holding
land, and invite foreigners to engross the whole property, real and
personal, of the country. We had better at once exchange the con
dition of independent proprietors for that of stewards. We should
then be able to govern foreign nations, according to the reasoning of
the gentleman on the other side. But let us put aside this theory,
and appeal to the decisions of experience. Go to the other side of
the Atlantic, and see what has been achieved for us there by Eng
lishmen holding seven-tenths of the capital of this Bank. Has it re
leased from galling and ignominious bondage one solitary American
• seaman bleeding under British oppression ? Did it prevent the un.
manly attack upon the Chesapeake ? Did it arrest the promulgation,
or has it abrogated the orders of council — those orders which have
given birth to a new era in commerce ? In spite of all its boasted
effect, are not the two nations brought to the very brink of war?

ON A NATIONAL BANK 81
Are we quite sure, that on this side of the water, it has had no ef
fect favorable to British interests? It -has often been stated, and
although I do not know that it is susceptible of strict proof, I believe
it to be a fact that this Bank exercised its influence in support of
Jay's treaty — and may it not have contributed to blunt the public
sentiment, or paralyze the efforts of this nation against British ag
gression. The duke of Northumberland is said to be the most considerable
stockholder in the Bank of the United States. A late lord chancel
lor of England besides other noblemen, was a large stockholder.
Suppose the prince of Essling, the duke of Cadore, and other French
dignitaries owned seven-eighths of the capital of the Bank, should
we witness the same exertions (I allude not to any made in the
Senate) to re-charter it ? So far from it, would not the danger of
French influence be resounded throughout the nation ?
I shall therefore give my most hearty assent to the motion for stri
king out the first section of the bill.

ON THE BANK CHARTER.
At Lexington, Kentucky, June 3, 1816.

[Mr. Clay's speech on the question of chartering the Bank of the United States m
1S16 was not reported ; but in an Address to his Constituents, published in the Ken
tucky Gazette, Lexington, June 3d, lSlfi, he gave the substance of it, as follows :]
On one subject, that of the Bank of the United States, to which,
at the late session of Congress, I gave my humble support, I feel
particularly anxious to explain the grounds on which I acted. This
explanation, if not due to my own character, the State and district to
which I belong have a right to demand. It would have been unne-
cessary, if my observations, addressed to the House of Representa
tives, pending the measure, had been published ; but they were not
published, and why tbey were not published, I am unadvised.
When I was a member of the Senate of the United States, I was
induced to oppose the renewal of the charter of the old Bank of the
United States, by three general considerations. The first was, that
I was instructed to oppose it by the Legislature of the State. What
were the reasons that operated with the Legislature, in giving the
instruction, I do not know. I have understood from members of that
body, at the time it was given, that a clause, declaring that Congress
had no power to grant the charter, was stricken out ; from which it
might be inferred, either that the Legislature did not believe a bank
unconstitutional, or that it had formed no opinion on that point. This
inference derives additional strength from the fact, that, although the
two late Senators from this State, as well as the present Senators,
voted for a National Bank, the Legislature, which must have been
wejl apprised that such a measure was in contemplation, did not
again interpose, either to protest against the measure itself, or to
censure the conduct of those Senators. From this silence on the
part of a. body which has ever fixed a watchful eye upon the pro-

ON THE BANK CHARTER. 83
ceedings of the general government, I had a right to believe that the
Legislature of Kentucky saw, without dissatisfaction, the proposal to
establish a National Bank ; and that its opposition to the former one
was upon grounds of expediency, applicable to that corporation alone,
or no longer existing. But when, at the last session, the question
came up as to the establishment of a National Bank, being a member
of the House of Representatives, the point of inquiry with me was
not so much what was the opinion of the Legislature, although un
doubtedly the opinion of a body so respectable would have great
weight with me under any circumstances, as what were the senti
ments of my immediate constituents. These I believed to be in favor
of such an institution, from the following circumstances : In the first
place, my predecessor, (Mr. Hawkins) voted for a National Bank,
without the slightest murmur of discontent. Secondly, during the
last fall, when I was in my district, I conversed freely with many of
my constituents upon that subject, then the most common topic of
conversation, and all, without a single exception as far as I recollect,
agreed that it was a desirable, if not the only efficient remedy, for the
alarming evils in the currency of the country. And lastly, during the
session I received many letters from my constituents, prior to the pas
sage of the bill, all of which concurred, I believe without a solitary
exception, in advising the measure. So far, then, from being instruct
ed by my district to oppose the bank, I'had what was perhaps tanta
mount to an instruction to support it — the acquiescence of my con
stituents in the vote of their former representative, and the communi
cations, oral and written, of the opinions of many of them in favor of
a bank. The next consideration which induced me to oppose the renewal
of the old charter, was, that I believed the corporation had, during a
portion of the- period of its existence, abused its powers, and had
sought to subserve the views of a political party. Instances of its
oppression for that purpose were asserted to have occurred at Phila
delphia and at Charleston ; and, although denied in Congress by the
friends of the institution during the discussions on the application for
the renewal of the charter, they were, in my judgment, satisfactorily
made out. This oppression, indeed, was admitted in the House of
Representatives, in the debate on the present bank, by a distinguished
member of that party which had so warmly espoused the renewal of
the old charter. It may be said, what security is there that the new

84 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
bank will not imitate this example of oppression ? I answer, the
fate of the old bank warning all similar institutions to shun politics,
with which they ought not to have any concern ; the existence of
abundant competition, arising from the multiplication of banks, and
the precautions which are to be found in the details of the present bill.
A third consideration, under which I acted in 1811, was that, as
the power to create a corporation, such as was proposed to be con
tinued, was not specifically granted in the constitution, and did not
then appear to me to be necessary to carry into effect any of the
powers which were specifically granted, Congress was not authorized
to continue the bank. The constitution contains powers delegated
and prohibitory, powers expressed and constructive. It vests in
Congress all powers necessary to give effect to enumerated powers —
all that may be necessary to put into motion and activity the machine
of government which it constructs. The powers that may be so ne
cessary are deducible by construction. They are not defined in the
constitution. They are, from their nature, indefinable. When the
question is in relation to one of these powers, the point of inquiry
should be, is its exertion necessary to carry into effect any of the
enumerated powers and objects of the general government ? With
regard to the degree of necessity, various rules have been, at different
times, laid down ; but, perhaps, at last, there is no other fhan-a sound
and honest judgment exercised, under the checks and control which
belong to the constitution and to the people.
The constructive powers, being auxiliary to the specifically granted
powers, and depending, for their sanction and existence, upon a neces
sity to give effect to the latter, which necessity is to be sought for
and ascertained by a sound and honest discretion, it is manifest that
this necessity may not be perceived, at one time, under one state of
things, when it is perceived at another time, under a different state
of things. The constitution, it is true, never changes ; it is always
the same ; but the force of circumstances and the lights of experience
may evolve to the fallible persons, charged with its administration,
the fitness and necessity of a particular exercise of a constructive
power to-day, which they did not see at a former period.
When the application was made to renew the pld charter of the
Bank of the United States, such an institution did not appear to me

ON THE BANK CHARTER. 85
to be so necessary to the fulfillment of any of the objects specifically
enumerated in the constitution as to justify Congress in assuming, by
construction, power to establish it. It was supported mainly upon
the ground that it was indispensable to the treasury operations. But
the local institutions in the several Stales were at that time in pros
perous existence, confided in by the community, having a confidence
in each other, and maintaining an intercourse and connexion the most
intimate. Many of them were actually employed by the treasury
to aid that department, in a part of its fiscal arrangements , and they
appeared to me to be fully capable of- affording to it all the facility
that it ought to desire in all of them. They superseded, in my judg-
.ment, the necessity of a national institution. But how stands the
case in 1S16, when I am called upon again to examine the power of
the general government to incorporate a National Bank ? A total
change of circumstances is presented. Events of the utmost magni
tude have intervened.
A general suspension of specie payments has taken place, and this
has led to a train of consequences of the most alarming nature. I
behold, dispersed over the immense extent of the United States,
about three hundred banking institutions, enjoying, in different de
grees, the confidence of the public, shaken as to them all, under no
direct control of the general government, and subject to no actual re
sponsibility to the State authorities. These institutions are emitting
the actual currency of the United States ; a currency consisting of a
paper, on which they neither pay interest nor principal, while it is
exchanged for the paper of the community, on which both are paid.
I see these institutions, in fact, exercising what has been considered,
at all times and in all countries, one of the highest attributes of sov
ereignty, the regulation of the current medium of the country. They
are no longer competent to assist the treasury in either of the great
operations of collection, deposit, or distribution of the public revenues.
In fact, the paper which they emit, and which the treasury, from the
force of events, finds itself constrained to receive, is constantly ob
structing the operations of that department. For it will accumulate
where it is not wanted, and cannot be used where it is wanted for
the purposes of govejnment, without a ruinous and arbitrary broker
age." Every man who pays or receives from the government, pays or
receives as much less than he ought, as is the difference between the
medium in which the payment is effected, and specie. Taxes are m
*F

86 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
longer uniform. In New England, where specie payments have not
been suspended, the people are1 called upon to pay larger contribu
tions than where they are suspended. In Kentucky, as much more
is paid by the people in their taxes than is paid, for example, in the
State of Ohio, as Kentucky paper is worth more than Ohio paper.
It appears to me that, in this condition of things, the general gov
ernment can no longer depend upon these local institutions, multiplied
and multiplying daily — coming into existence by the breath of eighteen
State sovereignties, some of which, by a single act of volition, have
created twenty or thirty at a time. Even if the resumption of specie
payments could be anticipated, the general government remaining
passive, it does not seem to me that the general government ought
longer to depend upon these local institutions exclusively for aid in
its operations. But I do not believe it can be justly so anticipated.
It is not the interest of all of them that the renewal shall take place
of specie payments, and yet, without concert between all or most of
them, it cannot be effected. With regard to those disposed to return
to a regular state of things, great difficulties may arise, as to the time
of its commencement.
Considering, then, that the state of the currency is such that no
thinking man can contemplate it without the most serious alarm, that
it threatens general distress, if it does not ultimately lead to convul
sion and subversion of the government, it appears to me to be the
duty of Congress to apply a remedy, if a remedy can be devised. A
National Bank, with other auxiliary measures, is proposed as that
remedy. I determined to examine the question, with as little preju
dice as possible arising from my former opinion. I know that the
safest course for me, if I were to pursue a cold, calculating policy, is
to adhere to that opinion, right or wrong. I am perfectly aware that
if I change or seem to change it, I shall expose myself to some cen
sure. But, looking at the subjet with the light shed upon it by events
which have happened since the commencement of the war, I can no
longer doubt. A Bank appears to me not only necessary, but indis
pensably necessary, in connexion with another measure, to remedy
the evils of which all are but too sensible. I prefer, to the sugges
tions of the pride of consistency, the evident interests of the commu
nity, and am determined to throw myself upon their candor and jus
tice. That which appeared to me in 1811, under the state of things

ON THE BANK CHARTER. 87
then existing, not to be necessary to the general government, seems
now to be necessary, under the present state of things. Had I then
foreseen what now exists, and no objection had laid against the re
newal of the charter, I should have voted for the renewal.
Other provisions of the constitution, but little noticed, if noticed at
all, on the discussions in Congress in 1811, would seem to urge that
body to exert all its powers to restore to a sound state the money of
the country. That instrument confers upon Congress the power to
coin money, and to regulate the value of foreign coins ; and the States
are prohibited to coin money, to emit bills of credit, or to make any
thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. The
plain inference is, that the subject of the general currency is in
tended to be submitted exclusively to the general government. In
point of fact, however, the regulation of the general currency is in
the hands of the State governments, or, which is the same thing, of
the banks created by them. Their paper has every quality of money
except that of being a tender, and even this is imparted to it 6y some
States, in the law by which a creditor must receive it, or submit to a
ruinous suspension of the payment, of his debt. It is incumbent upon
Congress to recover the control which it has lost over the general
currency. The remedy called for is one of caution and moderation,
but of firmness. Whether a remedy, directly acting upon the banks
and their paper thrown into circulation, is in the power of the gen
eral government or not, neither Congress nor the community are pre
pared for the application of such a remedy. An indirect remedy, of
a milder character, seems to be furnished by a National Bank. Going
into operation with the powerful aid of the Treasury of the United
States, I believe it will be highly instrumental in the renewal of specie
payments. Coupled with the other measure adopted by Congress for
that object, I believe the remedy effectual. The local banks must
follow the example, which the National Bank will set them, of re
deeming their notes by the payment of specie, or their notes will be
discredited and put down.
If the constitution, theD, warrants the establishment of a Bank,
other considerations, besides those already mentioned, strongly urge
it. The want of a general medium is everywhere felt. Exchange
varies continually, not only between different parts of the Union, but
betweeen different parts of the same city. If the paper of a National

88 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Bank is not redeemed in specie, it will be much better than the cur
rent paper, since, although its value, in comparison with specie, may
fluctuate, it will afford an uniform standard.
If political power be incidental to banking corporations, there ought
perhaps to be in the general government some counterpoise to that
which is exerted by the States. Such a counterpoise might not in
deed be so necessary, if the States exercised the power to incorporate
banks equally, or in proportion to their respective populations. But
this is not the case. A single State has a banking capital equivalent,
or nearly so, to one-fifth of the whole banking capital of the United
States. In the event of any convulsion, in which the distribution of
banking institutions might be important, it may be urged that the
mischief would not be alleviated by the creation of a National Bank,
since its location must be within one of the States. But in this re
spect the location of the Bank is extremely favorable, being in one of
the middle States, not likely, from its position as well as its loyalty,
to concur in any scheme for subverting the government. And a suf
ficient security against such contingency is to be found in the distri
bution of branches in different States, acting and reacting upon the
parent institution, and upon each other.

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK.

In the Senate of the United States, July 12, 1832.

I have some observations to submit on this question, which I would
not trespass on the Senate in offering, but that it has some command
of leisure, in consequence of the conference which has been agreed
upon in respect to the tariff.
A bill to recharter the bank has recently passed Congress, after
much deliberation. In this body, we know that there are members
enough who entertain no constitutional scruples, to make, with the
vote by which the bill was passed, a majority of two-thirds. In the
House of Representatives, also, it is believed, there is a like majority
in favor of the bill. Notwithstanding this state of things, the Presi
dent has rejected the bill, and transmitted to the Senate an elaborate
message, communicating at large his objections. The constitution
requires that we should reconsider the bill, and that the question of
its passage, the President's objections notwithstanding, shall be taken
by ayes and noes. Respect to him, as well as the injunctions of the
constitution, require that we should deliberately examine his reasons,
and reconsider the question.
The veto is an extraordinary power, which, though tolerated by
the constitution, was not expected, by the convention, to be. used in
ordinary cases. It was designed for instances of precipitate legisla
tion, in unguarded moments. Thus restricted, and it has been thus
restricted by all former Presidents, it might not be mischievous. Dur
ing Mr. Madison's administration of eight years, there occurred but
two or three cases of its exercise. During the last administration I
do not now recollect that it was once. In a period little upwards of
three years, the present Chief Magistrate has employed the veto four
times. We now hear quite frequently, in the progress of measures

90 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
through Congress, the statement that the President will veto them,
urged as an objection to their passage.
The veto is hardly reconcileable with the genius of representative
government. It is totally irreconcileable with it, if it is to be fre
quently employed in respect to the expediency of measures, as well
as their constitutionality. It is a feature of our government borrowed
from a prerogative of the British king. And it is remarkable that in
England it has grown obsolete, not having been used for upwards of
a century. At the commencement of the Freneh revolution, in dis-
cusssing the principles of their constitution, in national convention,
the veto held a conspicuous figure. The gay, laughing population
of Paris bestowed on the king the appellation of Monsieur Veto, and
on the queen, that of Madame Veto. The convention finally decreed
that if a measure rejected by the king should obtain the sanction of
two concurring legislatures, it should be a law, notwithstanding the
veto. In the constitution of Kentucky, and perhaps in some other
of the State constitutions, it is provided that if, after the rejection of
a bill by the Governor, it shall be passed by a majority of all the
members elected to both Houses, it shall become a law, notwithstand
ing the Governor's objections. As a co-ordinate branch of the gov
ernment, the chief magistrate has great weight. If, after a respect
ful consideration of his objections urged against a bill, a majority of
all the members elected to the legislature shall still pass it, notwith
standing his official influence and the force of his reasons, ought it
not to become a law ? Ought the opinion of one man to overrule
that of a legislative body twice deliberately expressed ?
It cannot be imagined that the convention contemplated the appli
cation of the veto to a question which has been so long, so often, and
so thoroughly scrutinized, as that of the Bank of the United States,
by every department of the government, in almost every stage of its
"existence, and by the people, and by the State legislatures. Of all
the controverted questions which have sprung up under our govern
ment, not one has been so fully investigated as that of its power to
establish a Bank of the United States. More than seventeen years
ago, in January, 1815, Mr. Madison then said, in a message to the
Senate of the United States :
" Waiving the question of the constitutional authority of the Legislature to eetab

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK. 91
fish an incorporated Bank, as being precluded, in my judgment, by repeated recog-
rtitions, under varied circumstances, of the validity of such an institution, in acts of
the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government, accompanied by
indications, in different modes, of a concurrence of the general will of the nation."
Mr. Madison, himself opposed to the first Bank of the United
States, yielded his own convictions to those of the nation, and all
the departments of the government thus often expressed. Subse
quent to this true but strong statement of the case, the present Bank
of the United States was established, and numerous other acts, of all
the departments of government, manifesting their settled sense of the
power, have been added to those which existed prior to the date of
Mr. Madison's message.
No question has Deen more generally discussed, within the last two
years, by the people at large, and in State Legislatures, than that of
the Bank. And this consideration of it has been prompted by the
President himself. In his first message to Congress, (in December,
1829,) he brought the subject to the view of that body and the nation,
and expressly declared, that it could not, for the interest of all con
cerned, be " too soon" settled. In each of his subsequent annual mes
sages, in 1830 and 1831, he again invited the attention of Congress to
the subject. Thus, after an interval of two years, and after the inter
vention of the ejection of a new Congress, the President proposes to
renew the charter of the Bank of the United States. And yet his
friends now declare the agitation of the question to be premature !
It was not premature in 1829 to present the question, but it is pre
mature in 1832 to consider and decide it !
After the President had directed public attention to this question,
ifbeeame uot only a topic of popular conversation, but was discussed
in the press and employed as a theme in popular elections. I was
myself interrogated, on more occasions than one, to make a public
expression of my sentiments ; and a friend of mine in Kentucky, a
candidate for the State Legislature, told me near two years ago, that
he was surprised, in an obscure part, of his county, (the hills of Ben
son) where there was but little occasion for Banks, to, find himself
questioned on the stump, as to the recharter of the Bank of the United
States. It seemed as if a sort of general order - had gone out, from
head-quarters, to the partizans of the administration every where, to
agitate and make the most of the question. They have done so : and

92 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
their condition now reminds me of the fable invented by Dr. Frank
lin of the eagle and the cat, to demonstrate that iEsop had not ex
hausted invention, in the construction of his memorable fables. The
eagle, you know, Mr. President, pounced from his lofty flight in the
air upon a cat, taking it to be a pig. Having borne off' his prize, he
quickly felt most painfully the paws of the cat thrust deeply into his
sides and body. Whilst flying, he held a parley with the supposed
pig, and proposed to let go his hold, if the other would let him alone.
No says puss, you brought me, from yonder earth below, and I will
hold fast to you until you carry me back— a condition to which the
eagle readily assented.
The friends of the President, who have been for near three years
agitating this question, now turn round upon their opponents, who
have supposed the President quite serious and in earnest in present
ing it for public consideration, and charge them with prematurely
agitating it. And that for electioneering purposes ! The other side
understands perfectly the policy of preferring an unjust charge in or
der to avoid a well founded accusation.
, If there be an electioneering motive in the matter, who have
been actuated by it ? Those who have taken the President at his
word, and deliberated on a measure which he has repeatedly recom
mended to their consideration ; or those who have resorted to all sorts
of means to elude the question ? By alternately coaxing and threat
ening the Bank ; by an extraordinary investigation into the admini
stration of the Bank ; and by every species of postponement and pro
crastination, during the progress of the bill.
Nothwithstanding all these dilatory expedients, a majority of Con
gress, prompted by the will and the best interests of the nation, passed
the bill. And I shall now proceed, with great respect and deference,
to examine some of the objections to its becoming a law, contained
in the President's message, avoiding, as much as I can, a repetition of
what gentlemen have said who preceded me.
The President thinks that the precedents, drawn from the proceed
ings of Congress, as to the constitutional power to establish a Bank,
are neutralized, by there being two for and two against the authori
ty. He supposes that one Congress in 1811, and another in 1815.

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK. " 93
decided against the power. Let us examine both of these cases.
The House of Representatives in 1811, passed the bill to re-charter
the Bank, and, consequently affirmed the power. The Senate during
the same year were divided, 17 and 17, and the Vice-President gave
the casting vote. Of the 17 who voted against the Bank, we know
from the declaration of the senator from Maryland, (General Smith,)
now present, that he entertained no doubt whatever of the constitu
tional power of Congress to establish a Bank, and that he voted on
totally distinct ground. Taking away his vote and adding it to the
17 who voted for the Bank, the number would have stood 18 for, and
16 against the power. But we know further, that Mr. Gaillard, Mr.
Anderson and Mr. Robinson, made a part of that 16 ; and that in
1815, all three of them voted for the Bank. Take those three votes
from the 16, and add them to the 18, and the vote of 1811, as to the
question of constitutional power, would have been 21 and 13. And of
these thirteen there might have been others still who were not go
verned in their votes by any doubts of the power.
In regard to the Congress of 1815, so far from their having enter
tained any scruples in respect to the power to establish a Bank, they
actually passed a Bank bill, and thereby affirmed the power. It is
true that, by the casting vote of the" speaker of the House of Repre
sentatives, (Mr. Cheves,) they rejected another bank bill, not on
grounds of want of power, but upon considerations of expediency in
the particular structure of that Bank.
Both the adverse precedents therefore, relied upon in the message,
operate directly against the argument which they were brought for
ward to maintain. Congress, by various other acts, in relation to the
Bank of the United States, has again and again sanctioned the power.
And I believe it may be truly affirmed that from the commencement
of the government to this day, there has not been a Congress opposed
to the Bank of the United States upon the distinct ground of a want
of power to establish it.
And here, Mr. President, I must request the indulgence of the
Senate, whilst I express a few words in relation of myself.
I voted, in 1811, against the old Bank of the United States, and I
delivered on the occasion, a speech, in which, among other reasons,

94 ¦ SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
I assigned that of its being unconstitutional. My speech has been
read to the Senate, during the progress of this bill, but the reading
of it excited no other regret than that it was read in such a wretched,
bungling, mangling manner.* During a long public life, (I mention
the fact, not as claiming any merit for it, the Only great question in
which I have ever changed my opinion, is that of the Bank of the
United States. If the researches of the Senator had carried him a
little further, he would, by turning over a few more leaves of the
same book from which he read my speech, have found that which I
made in 1816, in support of the present Bank. By the reasons as
signed in it for the change of my opinion, I am ready to abide in the
judgment of the present generation and of posterity. In 1816, being
speaker of the House of Representatives, it was perfectly in my pow
er to have said nothing and done nothing, and thus have concealed
the change of opinion which my mind had undergone. But I did not
choose to remain silent and escape responsibility. I chose publicly
to avow my actual conversion. The war and the fatal experience
of its disastrous events, had changed me. Mr. Madison, Governor
Pleasants, and almost all the public men around me, my political
friends, had changed their opinions from the same causes.
The power to establish a Bank is deduced from that clause of the
constitution which confers on Congress all powers necessary and
proper to carry into effect the enumerated powers. In 1811, I be
lieved a Bank of the United States not necessary, and that a safe re-,
liance might be placed on the local banks, in the administration of
the fiscal affairs of the government. The war taught us many les
sons, and among others demonstrated the necessity of the Bank of the
United States, to the successful operations of the government. I will
not trouble the Senate with a perusal of my speech in 1816, but ask
its permission to read a few extracts :
" But how stood the case in 1816, when he was called upon to examine, the pow
ers of the general government to incorporate a National'Bank 1 A total change of
circumstances was presented— events of the utmost magnitude had. intervened. •
"A general suspension of specie payments had taken place, and this had led to a
train of circumstances of the most alarming nature. He beheld, dispersed over the
immense extent of the United States, about three hundred banking institutions en
joying, in' different degrees, the confidence of the public, shaken as to therri all-
under no direct control of the general government, and subject to no actual respon
sibility to the state authorities. These institutions were emitting the actual cur-
* It ia understood to have been read by Mr. Hill.

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK. 95
rency of the United States— a currency consisting of paper, on which they neither
paid interest nor principal, whilst it was exchanged for the paper of the community,
on which both were paid. We saw these institutions in fact, exercising what had
been considered, at all times, and in all countries, one of the highest attributes of
sovereignty— the regulation of the current medium of the country. They were no
longer competent to assist the Treasury, in either of the great operations of collec
tion, deposite or distribution of the public revenues. In fact, the paper which they
emitted, and which the Treasury, from the force of events, found itself constrained
to receive, was constantly obstructing the operations of that department ; for it
would accumulate where it was not wanted, and could not be used where it was
wanted, for the purposes of government, without a ruinous and arbitrary brokerage.
Every man who paid to or received from the government, paid or received as much
less than he ougnt to have done, as was the difference between the medium in
which the payment was effected and specie. Taxes were no longer uniform. In
New England, where specie payments had not been suspended, the people were
called upon to pay larger contributions than where they were suspended. In Ken
tucky as much more was paid by the people, in their taxes, than was paid, for ex
ample, in the State of Ohio, as Kentucky paper was worth more than Ohio paper.
*#* * * * # * * * *
" Considering, then, that the state of the currency was such that no thinking man
could coutemplate it without the most serious alarm ; that it threatened general
distress, if it did not ultimately lead to convulsion and subversion of the government
—it appeared to him to be the duty of Congress to apply a remedy, if a remedy
could be devised. A National Bank, with other auxiliary measures was proposed as
that remedy. Mr. Clay said he determined to examine the question with as little
prejudice as possible, arising from his former opinion ; he knew that the safest course
to him, if he pursued a cold calculating pnudence, was to adhere to that opinion
right or wrong. He was perfectly aware that if he changed, or seemed to change
it, he should expose himself to some censure ; but, looking at the subject with the
light shed upon it, by events happening since the commencement of the war, he
could no longer doubt * * * He preferred to the suggestions of the pride of
consistency, the evident interests of the community, and determined to throw him
self upon their justice and candor."
The interest which foreigners hold in the existing Bank of the
United States, is dwelt upon in the message as a serious objection to
the recharter. But this interest is the result of the assignable nature
of the stock ; and if the objection be well founded, it applies to gov
ernment stock, to the stock in local banks, in canal and other compa
nies, created for internal improvements, and every species of money
or moveables in which foreigners may acquire an interest. The as
signable character of the stock is a quality conferred not for the bene
fit of foreigners, but for that of our own citizens. And the fact of its
being transferred to them is the effect of the balance of trade being
against us — an evil, if it be one, which the American system will
correct. All governments wanting capital, resort to foreign nations
possessing it in superabundance, to obtain it. Sometimes the resort
is even made by one to another belligerent nation. During our revo
lutionary war we obtained foreign capital (Dutch and French) to aid
us. During the late war American stock was sent to Europe to sell ;
and if I am not misinformed, to Liverpool. The question does not
depend upon the place whence the capital is obtained, but the advan
tageous use of it. The confidence of foreigners in our stocks, is a proof

96 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
of the solidity of our credit. Foreigners have no voice in the admin-
is'tration of this Bank ; and if they buy its stock, they are obliged to
submit to citizens of the United States to manage it. The senator
from Tennessee, (Mr. White,) asks what would have been the condi
tion of this country, if, during the late war, this Bank had existed,
with such an interest in it as foreigners now hold ? I will tell him.
We should have avoided many of the disasters of that war, perhaps
those of Detroit and at this place. The government would have pos
sessed ample means for its vigorous prosecution ; and the interest of
foreigners, British subjects especially, would have operated upon
them, not upon us. Will it not be a serious evil to be obliged to remit
in specie to foreigners the eight millions which they now have in this
bank, instead of retaining that capital within the country to stimulate
its industry and enterprise ?
The President assigns in his message a conspicuous place to the
alleged injurious operation of the* Bank on the interests of the western
people. They ought to be much indebted to him for his kindness
manifested towards them ; although, I think, they have much reason
to deprecate it. The people of all the west owe to this Bank about
thirty millions, which have been borrowed from it; and the President
thinks that the payments for the interest, and other facilities which
they derive from the operation of the Bank, are so onerous as to pro
duce " a drain of their currency, which no country can bear without
inconvenience and occasional distress." His remedy is to compel
them to pay the whole of the debt which tbey have contracted in a
period short of four years. Now, Mr. President, if they cannot pay
the interest without distress, how are they to pay the principal ? If
they cannot pay a part how are they to pay the whole ? Whether the
payment of the interest be or be not a burthen to them, is a question
for themselves to decide, respecting which they might be disposed to
dispense with the kindness of the President, if, instead of borrowing
thirty millions from the Bank, they had borrowed a like sum from a
Girard, John Jacob Astor, or any other banker, what would they
think of one who should come to them and say — " Gentlemen of the
west, it will ruin you to pay the interest on that debt, and therefore I
will oblige you to pay the whole of the principal in less than four
years." Would they not reply — " We know what we are about;
mind your own business ; we are satisfied that in ours we can make
not only the interest on what we loan, but a fair profit besides."

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK. 97
A great mistake exists about the western operation of the Bank. It
is not the Bank, but the business, the commerce of the west, and the
operations of government, that occasions the transfer, annually, of
money from the west to the Atlantic States. What is the actual
course of things ? The business and commerce of the west are car
ried on with New Orleans, with the southern and southwestern States
and with the Atlantic cities. We transport our "dead or inanimate
produce to New Orleans, and receive, in return checks or draffs of the
Bank of the United States at a premium of a half per cent. We send
by our drovers our live stock to the south and southwest, and receive
similar checks in return. With these drafts or checks our merchants
proceed to the Atlantic cities, and purchase domestic or foreign goods
for western consumption. The lead and fur trade of Missouri and
Illinois is also carried on principally through the Bank of the United
States. The government also transfers to places where it is wanted,
through that Bank; the sums accumulated at the different land offices,
for purchases of the public lands.
Now all these varied operations must go on ; all these remittances
must be made — Bank of the United States or no Bank. The Bank
does not create, but facilitates them. The Bank is a mere vehicle ;
just as much so as the steamboat is the vehicle which transports our
produce to the great mart of New Orleans, and not the grower of that
produce. It is to confound cause and effect, to attribute to the Bank
the transfer of money from the west to the east. Annihilate the
Bank tomorrow, and similar transfers of capital, the same description
of pecuniary operations, must be continued ; not so well, it is true,
but performed, they must be, ill or well, under any state of circum
stances. The true questions are — how are they now performed ; how were
they conducted prior to the existence of the Bank ; how would they
be after it ceased ? I can tell you what was our condition before the
Bank was established ; and, as I reason from the past to future expe
rience, .under analogous circumstances, I can venture to predict what
it will probably be without the Bank.
- Before the establishment of the Bank of the United States, the
exchange business of the west was carried on by a premium, which
was generally paid on all remittances to the east of two and a half

08 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
per cent. The aggregate amount of all remittances, throughout the
whole circle of the year, was very great, and instead of the sum then
paid, we now pay half per cent, or nothing, if notes of the Bank of
the United States be used. Prior to the Bank, we were without the
capital of the thirty millions which that institution now supplies,
stimulating our industry and invigorating our enterprise. In Ken
tucky we have no specie paying Bank, scarcely any currency other
than that of paper of the Bank of the United States and its branches.
How is the west to pay this enormous debt of thirty millions of
dollars ? It is impossible. It cannot be done. General distress,
certain, wide-spread, inevitable ruin must be the consequences of an
attempt to enforce the payment. Depression in the value of all pro
perty, sheriff's sales and sacrifices — bankruptcy, must necessarly
ensue , and, with them, relief laws, paper money, a prostration of
the courts of justice, evils from which we have just emerged, must
again, with all their train of afflictions, revisit our country. But it
is argued by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. White) that similar
predictions were made, without being realized, from the downfall of
the old Bank of the United States. It is, however, to be recollected,
that the old Bank did not possess one-third of the capital of the pre
sent ; that it had but one office west of the mountains, whilst the
present has nine ; and that it had little or no debt due to it in that
quarter, whilst the present Bank has thirty millions. The war, too,
which shortly followed the downfall of the old Bank, and the sus
pension of specie payments, which soon followed the war, prevented
the injury apprehended from the discontinuance of the old Bank.
The same gentleman further argues that the day of payment must
come ; and he asks when, better than now 1 It is to be indefinitely
postponed ; is the charter of the present Bank to be perpetual ? Why
Mr. President, all things — governments, republics, empires, laws,
human life — doubtless are to have an end ; but shall we therefore
accelerate their termination ? The west is now young, wants capi
tal, and its vast resources, needing nourishment, are daily developing. ¦
By and by, it will accumulate wealth from its industry and enterprise,
and possess its surplus capital. The charter is not made perpetual,
because it is wrong to bind posterity perpetually. At the end of the
term limited for its renewal, posterity will have the power of deter
mining for itself whether the Bank shall then be wound up, or pro-

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK. 99
longed another term. And that question may be decided, as it now
ought to be, by a consideration of the. interests of all parts of the Union,
the west among the rest. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
The President tells us, that, that if the executive had been called
upon to furnish the project of a Bank, the duty would have been
cheerfully performed ; and he states that a Bank, competent to all the
duties which may be required by the government, might be so orga
nized, as not to infringe on our own delegated powers, or the reserv
ed rights of the States. The President is a co-ordinate branch of the
legislative department. As such, bills which have passed both houses
of Congress, are presented to him for his approval or rejection. The
idea of going to the President for the project of a law, is totally new
in the practice, and utterly contrary to the theory of the government.
What should we think of the Senate calling upon the house, or the
House upon the Senate, for the project of a law. ?
In France, the king possessed the initiative of all laws, and none
could pass without its having been previously presented to one of the
chambers by the crown, through the ministers. Does the President
wish to introduce the initiative here ? Are the powers of recommen
dation, and that of veto, not sufficient ? Must all legislation, in its
commencement and in its termination concentrate in the President ?
When we shall have reached that state of things, the election and
annual sessions of Congress will be a useless charge upon the peo
ple, and the whole business of government may be economically con
ducted by ukases and decrees.
Congress does sometimes receive the suggestions and opinions of
the heads of department, as to new laws. And, at the commence
ment of this session, in his annual report, the Secretary of the Trea
sury stated his reasons at large, not merely in favor of a Bank, but in
support of the renewal of the charter of the existing Bank. Who
could have believed that that responsible officer was communicating
to Congress opinions directly adverse to those entertained by the
President himself? When before has it happened, that the head of a
department recommended the passage of a law which, being accord
ingly passed and presented to the President, is subjected to his veto ?
What sort of a Bank it is, with a project of which the President
would have de igned to furnish Congress, if they had applied to him,

100 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
he has not stated. In the absence of such statement, we can only
conjecture that it is his famous Treasury Bank, formerly recommended
by him, from which the people have recoiled with the instinctive
horror, excited by the approach of the cholera.
The message states, that " an investigation unwillingly conceded,
and so restricted in time as necessarily to make it incomplete and un
satisfactory, disclose enough to excite suspicion and alarm." As
there is no prospect of the passage of this bill, the President's objec
tions notwithstanding, by a constitutional majority of two-thirds, it
can never reach the House of Representatives. The members of that
House, and especially its distinguished chairman of the committee of
ways and means, who reported the bill, are therefore cut off from all
opportunity of defending themselves. Under these circumstances,
allow me to ask how the President has ascertained that the investi-
o-ation was "unwillingly conceded ? I have understood directly the
contrary ; and that the chairman, already referred to, as well as other
members in favor of the renewal of the charter, promptly consented
to and voted for the investigation. And we all know that those in
support of the renewal could have prevented the investigation, and
that they did not. But suspicion and alarm have been excited !
Suspicion and alarm ! Against whom is this suspicion ? The
House, or the Bank, or both ?
Mr. President, I protest against the right of any Chief Magistrate
to come into either house of Congress, and scrutinize the motives of
its members ; to examine whether a measure has been passed, with
promptitude or repugnance ; and to pronounce npon the willingness
or unwillingness with which it has been adopted or rejected. It is an
interference in concerns which partake of a domestic nature. The
official and constitutional relations between the President and the
two houses of Congress subsist with them as organized bodies. His
action is confined to their consummated proceedings, and does not
extend to measuses in their incipient stages, during their progress
through the houses, nor to the motives by which they are actuated.
There are some parts of this message that ought to excite deep alarm ;
and that especially in which the President announces that each pub
lic officer may interpret the constitution as he pleases. His language
is, " Each public officer, who takes an oath to support the constitu
tion, swears that he will support it as he understands it, and not as it

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK. 101
is understood by others." * * * " The opinion of the judges
has no more authority over Congress than the opinion of Congress
has over the judges ; and on that point the President is independent of
both." Now, Mr. President, I conceive,' with great deference, that
the President has mistaken the purport of the oath to support the
constitution of the United States. No one swears to support it as he
understands it, but to support it simply as it is in truth. All men are
bound to obey the laws, of which the constitution is the supreme ;
but must they obey them as they are, or as they understand them ? If
the obligation of obedience is limited and controlled by the measure
of information — in other words, if the party is bound to obey the con
stitution only as he understands it, what would be the consequence ?
The judge of an inferior court would disobey the mandate of a supe
rior tribunal, because it was not in conformity to the constitution, as
he understands it ; a custom house officer would disobey a circular
from the treasury department, because contrary to the constitution,
as he understands it ; an American minister would disregard an in
struction from the President, communicated through the department
of State, because not agreeable to the constitution, as he understands
it ; and a subordinate officer in the army or navy, would violate the
orders of his superior, because they were not in accordance with the
constitution, as he understands it. We should have nothing settled,
nothing stable, nothing fixed. There would be general disorder arid
confusion throughout every branch of administration, from the high
est to the lowest officers — universal nullification. For what is the
doctrine of the President but that of South Carolina applied through
out the Union ? The President, independent both of Congress and
the Supreme Court ! Only bound to execute the laws of the one and
the decisions of the other, as far as they conform to the constitution
of the United States, as far as he understands it ! Then it should be
the duty of every President, on his installation into office, to carefully
examine all the acts in the statute book, approved by his predeces
sors, and mark out those which he was resolved not to execute, and
to which he meant to apply this new species of veto, because "they
were repugnant to the constitution as he understands it. And, after
the expiration of every term of the supreme Court, he should send for
the record of its decisions, and discriminate between those which he
would, and those which he would not, execute, because they were
or were not agreeable to the constitution, as he understands it.
*G

102 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
There is another constitutional doctrine contained in the message,
which is entirely new to me. It asserts that " the government of the
United States have no constitutional power to purchase lands within
the States," except " for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals,
dockyards, and other needful buildings ;" and even for these objects,
only " by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the
same shall be." Now sir, I had supposed that the right of Congress
to purchase lands in any State was incontestible : and, in point of
fact, it probably at this moment, owns land in every State of the
Union, purchased for taxes, or as a judgment ors mortgage creditor.
And there are various acts of Congress which regulate the purchase
and transfer of such lands. The advisers of the President have con
founded the faculty of purchasing lands with the exercise of exclusive
jurisdiction, which is restricted by the constitution to the forts and
other buildings described.
The message presents some striking instances of discrepancy. ( 1st.
It contests the right to establish one bank, and objects to the bill that
it limits and restrains the power of Congress to establish several. 2d.
It urges that the bill does not recognise the power of State taxation
generally ; and complains that facilities are afforded to the exercise
of that power in respect to the stock held by individuals. 3d. It ob
jects that any bonus is taken, and insists. that not enough is demand
ed. And 4th. It complains that foreigners have too much influence,
and that stock transferred loses the privilege of representation in the
elections of the Bank, which, if it were retained, would give them
more. '
Mr. President, we are about to close one of the longest and most
arduous sessions of Congress under the present constitution ; and
when we return among our constituents, what account of the opera
tions of their government shall we be bound to communicate ? We
shall be compelled to say, that the Supreme Court is paralysed, and
the missionaries retained in prison in contempt of its authority, and in
defiance of numerous treaties and laws of the United States ; that
the Executive through the Secretary of the Treasury, sent to Con
gress a tariff bill which would have destroyed numerous branches of
our domestic industry, and led to the destruction of all ; that the yeto
has been applied to the Bank of the United States, our only reliance
for a sound and uniform currency ; that the Senate has been violently

ON THE VETO OF THE BANK. 103
attacked for the exercise of a clear constitutional power ; that the
House of Representatives has been unnecessarily assailed ; and that
the President has promulgated a rule of action for those who have
taken the oath to support the constitution of the United States, that
must, if there be practical conformity to it, introduce general nullifi
cation, and end in the absolute subversion of the government.

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS.
In the Senate of the United States, 1S32.

[The proper disposition of the Public Lands of the United States, after the pay
ment of the Revolutionary Debt for which they were originally pledged, and to aid
in discharging which was a principal inducement to their cession by the States to
the Union, had for some time been a subject of increasing solicitude to our wisest
statesmen. President Jeiferso.v, as early as 1806, suggested the appropriation of
their proceeds to the construction of Works of Internal Improvement and to the support
of Education, even though it should be deemed prerequisite to alter the Federal Con
stitution. General Jacksox, as early as 1S30, again called the attention of Congress to
the subject, and proposed the cession of the remaining Lands, without recompense, to
the several States which contained them, thus shutting out the Old Thirteen States
altogether (with a good part of the New,) from any participation in their benefits.
This proposition would very naturally be received with great favor in the States
containing Public Lands, while the others might very safely be relied on, judging
¦from all experience, to take little or no interest in the subject. Mr. Clay and Gen
eral Jackson- were then rival candidates for President, and the election not very
distant ; and the adversaries of Mr. Clay, composing a decided majority of the
Senate, having placed him at the head of the Committee on Manufactures, now
resolved to embarrass and prejudice him with the New States by referring to that
commiuee this proposition to give away to those States the Public Lands. Extra
ordinary as this resolution may well seem, it was carried into effect, and Mr. Clay
required to report directly on this project of Cession. He did not hesitate to discharge
manfully the duty so ungraciously thrust upon him, and after earnest consideration,
devised and reported a bill lo Distribute to all the States the Proceeds of the
Public Lands, with which his fame and fortunes will stand identified to all future
time. In support of this bill, he addressed the Senate as follows:]
In rising to address the Senate, I owe, in the first place, the ex
pression of my hearty thanks to the majority, by whose vote, just
given, I am indulged in occupying the floor on this most important
question. I am happy to see that the days when the sedition acts
and gag laws were in force, and when screws were applied for the
suppression of the freedom of speech and debate, are not yet to return ;
and that, when the consideration of a great question has been special
ly assigned to a particular day, it is not allowed to be arrested "and
thrust aside by any unexpected and unprecedented parliamentary
manoeuvre. The decision of the majority demonstrates that feelings

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 105
of liberality, and courtesy, and kindness still, prevail in the Senate ;
and that they will be extended even to one of the humblest members
of the body ; for such, I assure the Senate, I feel myself to be.*
It may not be amiss again to allude to the extraordinary reference
of the subject of the public lands to the committee of manufactures.
I have nothing to do with the motives of honorable Senators who com
posed the majority by which that reference was ordered. The deco
rum proper in this hall obliges me to consider their motives to have
been pure and patriotic. But still I must be permitted to regard the
proceeding as very unusual. The Senate has a standing committee
on the public lands, appointed under long established rules. The
members of that committee are presumed to be well acquainted with
the subject ; they have some of them occupied the same station for
many years, are well versed in the whole legislation on the public
lands, and familiar with every branch of it — and four out of five of
them come from the new States. Yet, with a full knowledge of all
these circumstances, a reference was ordered by a majority of the
Senate to the committee on manufactures — a committee than which
there is not another standing committee of the Senate whose prescrib
ed duties are more incongruous with the public domain. It happen
ed, in the constitution of the committee of manufactures, that there
was not a solitary Senator from the new States, and but one from any
western State. We earnestly protested against the reference, and
insisted upon its impropriety ; but we were overruled by the majority,
including a majority of Senators from the new States. I will not at
tempt an expression of the feelings excited in my mind on that occa
sion. Whatever may have been the intention of honorable Senators,
I could not be insensible to the embarrassment in which the commit
tee of manufactures was placed, and especially myself. Although
any other other member of that Committee could have rendered him
self, with appropriate researches and proper time, more competent
than I was to understand the subject of the public lands, it was known
that, from my local position, I alone was supposed to have any par-
* This subject had been set down for this day. It was generally expected, in and
out of the Senate, that it would be taken up, and that Mr. Clay would address the
Senate. The members were generally in their seats, and the gallery and lobbies
crowded. At the customary hour, he moved that the subject pending should be laid
on the table, to take up the Land Bill. It was ordered accordingly. At this point of
time Mr. Forsyth made a motion, supported by Mr. Tazwell, that the Senate pro
ceed ta executive business. The motion was overruled

106 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
ticular knowledge of them. Whatever emanated from the committee
was likely, therefore, to be ascribed to me. If the committee should
propose a. measure of great liberality towards the new States, the old
States might complain. If the measure should seem to lean towards
the old States, the new might be dissatisfied. And, if it inclined to
neither class of States, but recommended a plan according to which
there would be distributed impartial justice among all the States, it
was far from certain that any would be pleased.
Without venturing to attribute to honorable Senators the purpose
of producing this personal embarrassment, I felt it as a necessary con
sequence of their act, just as much as if it had been in their contem
plation. Nevertheless, the committee of manufactures cheerfully
entered upon the duty which, against its will, was thus assigned to it
by the Senate. And, for the causes already noticed, that of prepar
ing a report and suggesting some measure embracing the whole sub
ject, devolved in the committee upon me. The general features of
our land system were strongly impressed on my memory ; but I found
it necessary to re-examine some of the treaties, deeds of cession, and
laws which related to the acquisition and administration of the
public lands ; and then to think of, and, if possible, strike out some
project, which, without inflicting injury upon any of the States, might
deal equally and justly with all of them. The report and bill, sub
mitted to the Senate, after having been previously sanctioned by a
majority of the committee, were the results of this consideration. The
report, with the exception of the principle of distribution which con
cludes it, obtained the unanimous concurrence of the committee of
manufactures. This report and bill were hardly read in the Senate before they
were violently denounced. And they were not considered by the
Senate before a proposition was made to refer the report to that very
committee of the public lands to which, in the first instance, I con
tended the subject ought to have'been assigned. It was in vain that
we remonstrated against such a proceeding, as unprecedented, as im
plying unmerited censure on the committee of manufactures as lead
ing to interminable references ; for what more reason could there be
to refer the report of the committee of manufactures to the land com
mittee, than would exist for a subsequent reference to the report of
this committee, when made, to some third committee, and so on in

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 107
an endless circle ? In spite of all our remonstrances, the same ma
jority, with but little if any variation, which had originally resolved
to refer the subject to the committee of manufactures, now determin
ed to commit its bill to the land committee. And this not only with
out particular examination into the merits of that bill, but without
the avowal of any specific amendment which was deemed necessary !
The committee of public lands after the lapse of some days, presented
a report, and recommended a reduction of the price of the public
lands immediately to one dollar per acre, and eventually to -fifty cents
per acre ; and the grant to the new States of fifteen per cent, on the
nett proceeds of the sales, instead of ten, as proposed by the com
mittee of manufactures, and nothing to the old States.
And now, Mr. President, I desire, at this time, to make a few ob
servations in illustration of the original report ; to supply some omis
sions in its composition ; to say something as to the power and rights
of the general government over the public domain to submit a few
remarks on the counter report ; and to examine the assumptions
which it contained, and the principles on which it is founded.
No subject which had presented itself to the present, or perhaps
any preceding Congress, was of greater magnitude than that of the
public lands. There was another, indeed, which possessed a more
exciting and absorbing interest — but the excitement was happily but
temporary in its nature. Long after we shall cease te be agitated by
the tariff, ages after our manufactures shall have acquired a stability
and perfection which will enable them successfully to cope with the
manufactures of any other country, the public lands will remain a
subject of deep and enduring interest. In whatever view we con
template them, there is no question of such vast importance. As to
their extent, there is public land enough to found an empire ; stretch
ing across the immense continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific
ocean, from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwestern lakes, the quan
tity,, according to official surveys and estimates, amounting to the
prodigious sum of one billion and eighty millions of acres ! As to
the duration of the interest regarded as a source of comfort to our
people, and of public income — -during the last year, when the great
est quantity was sold that ever in one year, had been previously sold,
it amounted to less than three millions of acres, producing three mil
lions and a half of dollars. Assuming that year as affording the stand-

108 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
ard rate at which the lands will be annually sold, it would require
three hundred years to dispose of them. But the sales will probably
be accelerated from increased population and other causes. We may
safely, however, anticipate that long, if not centuries after the pre
sent day, the representatives of our children's children may be de
liberating in the halls of Congress, on laws relating to the public
lands. The subject in other points of view, challenged the fullest atten
tion of an American statesman. If there were any one circumstance
more than all others which distinguished our happy condition from
that of the nations of the old world, it was the possession of this
vast national property, and the resources which it afforded to our
people and our government. No European nation, (possibly with
the exception of Russia,) commanded such an ample resource. With
respect to the other republics of this continent, we have no informa
tion that any of them have yet adopted a regular system of previous
survey and subsequent sale of their wild lands, in convenient tracts,
well defined, and adapted to the wants of all. On the contrary, the
probability is that they adhere to the ruinous and mad system of old
Spain, according to which large unsurveyed districts are granted to
favorite individuals, prejudicial to them, who often sink under the
incumbrance, and die in poverty, whilst the regular current. of emi
gration is checked and diverted from its legitimate channels.
And if there be in the operations of this government, one which
more than any other displays comsummate wisdom and statesman
ship, it is that system by which the public lands have been so suc
cessfully administered. We should pause, solemly pause, before we
subvert it. We should touch it hesitatingly, and with the gentlest
hand. The prudent management of the public lands, in the hands of
the general government, will be more manifest by contrasting it with
that of several of the States,which had the disposal of large bodies
of waste lands. Virginia possessed an ample domain west of the
mountains, and in the present State of Kentucky, over and above her
munificent cession to the general government. Pressed for pecuni
ary means, by the revolutionary war, she brought her wild lands,
during its progress, into market, receiving payment in paper money.
There were no previous surveys of the waste lands — no townships,
no sections, no official definition or description of tracts. Each pur-

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 109
chaser made his own location, describing the land bought as he
thought proper. These locations or descriptions were often vague
and uncertain. The consequence was, that the same tract was not
unfrequently entered various times by different purchasers, so as to
be literally shingled over with conflicting claims. The state perhaps
sold in this way, much more land than it was entitled to, but then it
received nothing in return that was valuable ; whilst the purchasers
in consequence of the clashing and interference between their rights,
were exposed to tedious, vexatious, and ruinous litigation. Ken
tucky long and severely suffered from this cause ; and is just emerg
ing from the troubles brought upon her by improvident land legisla
tion. Western Virginia has also suffered greatly, though not to
the same extent.
The state of Georgia had large bodies of waste lands, which she
disposed of in a manner satisfactory no doubt to herself, but aston
ishing to every one out of that commonwealth. According to her
system, waste lands are distributed in lotteries among the people of
the State, in conformity with the enactments of the legislature. And
when one district of country is disposed of, as there are many who do
not draw prizes, the unsuccessful call out for fresh distributions.
These are made from time to time, as lands are acquired from the
Indians ; and hence one of the causes of the avidity with which the
Indian lands are sought. It is manifest that neither the present gen
eration nor posterity can derive much advantage from his mode of
alienating public lands. On the contrary, I should think, it cannot
fail to engender speculation and a spirit of gambling.
The State of Kentucky, in virtue of a compact with Virginia, ac
quired a right to a quantity of public lands south of Green river.
Neglecting to profit by the unfortunate example of the parent State,
she did not order the country to be surveyed previous to its being
offered to purchasers. Seduced by some%f those wild land projects,
of which at all times there have been some afloat, and which hither
to the general government alone has firmly resisted, she was tempted
to offer her waste lands to settlers, at different prices, under the name
of head-rights or pre-emptions. As the laws, like most legislation
upon such subjects, were somewhat loosely worded, the keen eye of
the speculator soon discerned the defects, and he took advantage of
them. Instances had occurred of masters obtaining cerificates of

110 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
head-rights in the name of their slaves, and thus securing the land,
in contravention of the intention of the legislature. Slaves generally
have but one name, being called Tom, Jack, Dick, or Harry To
conceal the' fraud, the owner would add Black, or some other cog-
nomination, so that the certificate would read Tom Black, Jack
Black, &c. The gentleman from- Tennessee, (Mr. Grundy,) will
remember, some twenty-odd years ago, when we were both mem
bers of the Kentucky legislature, that I took occasion to animadvert
upon these fraudulent practices, and observed that when the names
came to be alphabeted, the truth would be told, whatever might be
the language of the record ; for the alphabet would read Black Tom,
Black Harry, &c. Kentucky realised more in her treasury than the
parent State had done, considering that she had but a remnant of
public lands, and she added somewhat to her population. But they
were far less available than they would have been under a system of
previous survey and regular sale.
These observations in respect to the course of the respectable States
referred to, in relation to their public lands, are not prompted by any
unkind feelings towards , them, but to show the supeiiority of the
land system of the United States.
Under the system of the general government, the wisdom of which,
in some respects, is admitted even by the report of the land commit
tee, the country subject to its operation, beyond the Alleghany
mountains, has rapidly advanced in population, improvement and
prosperity. The example of the State of Ohio was emphatically re
lied on by the report of the committee of manufactures — its million
of people, its canals, and other improvements, its flourishing towns,
its highly cultivated fields, all put there within. less than forty years.
To weaken the force of this . example, the land committee deny that
the population of the State is principally settled upon public lands
derived from the general- government. But, Mr. President, with
great deference to that committee, I must say that it labors under
misapprehension. Three-fourths, if not four-fifths of the population
of that State, are settled upon public lands purchased from the United
States, and they are the most flourishing parts of the State. For the
correctness of this statement I appeal to my friend from Ohio, (Mr.
Ewing,) near me. He knows as well as I do, that the rich valleys
of the Miami of Ohio, and the Maumee of the Lake, the Sciota and

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. Ill
the Muskingum are principally settled by persons deriving titles to
their lands from the United States.
In a national point of view, one of the greatest advantages which
these public lands in the west, and this system of selling them, affords,
is the resource which they present' against pressure and want, in other
parts of the Union, from the vocations of society being too closely
filled, and too much crowded. They constantly tend to sustain the
price of labor, by the opportunity which they offer of the acquisition
of fertile land at a moderate price, and the consequent temptation to
emigrate from those parts of the Union where labor may be badly
rewarded. The progress of settlement, and the improvement in the fortunes
and condition of individuals, under the operation of this beneficent
systelh, are as simple as they are manifest Pioneers of a more ad
venturous character, advancing before the tide of emigration, pene
trate into the uninhabited regions of the west. They apply the axe
to the forest, which falls before them, or the plough to the prairie,
deeply sinldng its share in the unbroken wild grasses in which it
abounds. They build houses, plant orchards, enclose fields, cultivate
the earth, and rear up families around them. Meantime, the tide of
emigration flows upon them, their improved farms rise in value, a de
mand for them takes place, they sell to the new comers, at a great
advance, and proceed farther west, with ample means to purchase
from government, at reasonable prices, sufficient land for all the mem
bers of their families. Another and another tide succeeds, the first
pushing on westwardly the previous settlers, who, in their turn, sell
out their farms, constantly augmenting in price, until they arrive at
a fixed and stationary value. In this way, thousands and tens of
thousands are daily improving their circumstances and bettering their
condition. I have often witnessed this gratifying progress. On the
same farm you may sometimes behold, standing together, the first
rude cabin of round and unhewn logs, and wooden chimneys, the
hewed log house, chinked and shingled, with stone or brick chim
neys ; and, lastly, the Comfortable brick or stone dwelling, each de
noting the different occupants of the farm, or the several stages of the
condition of the same occupant. What other nation can boast of such
an outlet for its increasing population, such.bountiful means x>f pro
moting their prosperity, and securing their independence ?

112 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
To the public lands of the United States, and especially to the ex
isting system by which they are distributed with so much regularity
and equity, are we indebted for these signal benefits in our national
condition. And. every consideration of duty, to ourselves, and to
posterity, enjoins that we should abstain from the adoption of any
wild project that would cast away this vast national property, holden
by the general government in sacred trust for the whole people of the
United States, and forbids that we should rashly touch a system which
has been so successfully tested by experience.
It has been only within a few years that restless men have thrown
before the public their visionary plans for squandering the public do
main. With the existing laws the great State of the west is satisfied and
contented. She has felt their benefit, and grown great and powerful
under their sway. She knows and testifies to the liberality of the
general government in the administration of the public lands, extend
ed alike to her and to the other new States. There are no petitions
from, no movements in Ohio, proposing vital and radical changes in
the systsm. During the long period, in the House of Representa
tives, and in the Senate, that her upright and unambitious citizen, the
first representative of that State, and afterwards successively Senator
and Governor, presided over the committee of public lands, we heard of
none of these chimerical schemes. AH went on smoothly, and quietly,
and safely. No man, in the sphere within which he acted, ever com
manded or deserved the implicit confidence of Congress more than
Jeremiah Morrow. There existed a perfect persuasion of his entire
impartiality and justice between the old States and the new. A few
artless but sensible words, pronounced in his plain Scotch Irish dia
lect, were always sufficient to ensure the passage of any bill or reso
lution which he reported. For about twenty-five years, there was
no essential change in the system ; and that which was at last made,
varying the price of the public lands from two dollars, at which it had
all that time remained, to one dollar and a quarter, at which it has
been fixed only about ten or twelve years, was founded mainly on the
consideration of abolishing the previous credits.
Assuming the duplication of our population in terms of twenty-
five years, the demand for waste land, at the end of every term, will
at least be double what it was at the commencement. But the ratio
of the increased demand will be much greater than the increase of

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 113
the whole population of the United States, because the Western
States nearest to, or including the public lands, populate much more
rapidly than other parts of the Union ; and it will be from them that
the greatest current of emigration will flow. At this moment Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, are the most migrating States in the Union.
To supply this constantly augmenting demand, the policy, which
has hitherto characterized the general government, has been highly
liberal b/>th towards individuals and the new States. Large tracts,
far surpassing the demand of purchasers, in every climate and situa
tion, adapted to the wants of all parts of the Union, are brought into
market at moderate prices, the government having sustained all the
expense of the original purchase, and of surveying, marking, and di
viding the land. For fifty dollars any poor man may purchase forty-
acres of first rate land ; and for less than the wages of one year's labor,
he may buy eighty acres. To the new States, also, has the govern
ment been liberal and generous in the grants for schools and for inter
nal improvements, as well as in reducing the' debt, contracted for the
purchase of lands, by the citizens of those States, who were tempted,
in a spirit of inordinate speculation, to purchase too much, or at too
high prices.
Such is a rapid outline of this invaluable national property — of the
system which regulates its management and distribution, and of the
effects of that system. We might here pause, and wonder that there
should be a disposition with any to waste or throw away this great
resource, or to abolish a system which has been fraught with so many
manifest advantages. Nevertheless, there are such, who, impatient
with the slow and natural operation of wise laws, have put forth va
rious pretensions and projects concerning the public lands, within a
few years past. One of these pretensions is an assumption of the
sovereign right of the new States to all the lands within their respec
tive limits, to the exclusion of the general government, and to the
exclusion of all the people of the United States, those in the new
States only excepted. It is my purpose now to trace the origin, ex
amine the nature, and expose the injustice of this pretension.
This pretension may be fairly ascribed to the propositions of the
gentleman from Missouri, (Mr. Benton,) to graduate the public lands,
to reduce the price, and cede the " refuse" lands (a term which I

114 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
believe originated with him) to the States within which they lie.
Prompted probably, by these propositions, a late Governor of Illinois,
unwilling to be outdone, presented an elaborate message to the legis
lature of that State, in which he gravely and formally asserted the
right of that State to all the land of the United States, comprehended
within its limits. It must be allowed that the Governor was a most
impartial judge, and the legislature a most disinterested tribunal, to
decide such a question. •
The senator from Missouri was chanting most sweetly to the tune,
" refuse lands," " refuse lands," " refuse lands," on the Missouri side
of the Mississippi, and the soft strains of his music, having caught
the ear of his excellency, on the Illinois side, he joined in chorus, and
struck an octave higher. The senator from Missouri wished only to
pick up some crumbs which fell from Uncle Sam's table ; but the
Governor resolved to grasp the whole loaf. The senator modestly
claimed only an old smoked, rejected joint ; but the stomach of his
excellency yearned after the whole hog ! The Governor peeped over
the Mississippi into Missouri, and saw the senator leisurely roaming
in some rich pastures, on bits of refuse lands. He returned to Illinois,
and, springing into the grand prairie, determined to claim and occupy
it, in all its boundless extent.
Then came the resolution of the senator from Virginia, (Mr. Taze
well,) in May, 1826, in the following words :
" Resolved, That it is expedient for the TJuited States to cede and surrender to the
several States, within whose limits the same may be situated, all the right, title, and
interest of the United States, to any lands lying and being within the boundaries of
such States, respectively, upon such terms and conditions as may be consistent with
the due observance of the public faith, and with the general interest of the United
States." The latter words rendered the resolution somewhat ambiguous ;
but still it contemplated a cession and surrender. Subsequently, the
senator from Virginia proposed, after a certain time, a gratuitous sur
render of all unsold lands, to be applied by the legislature, in support
of education and the internal improvement of the State.
[Here Mr. Tazewell controverted the statement. Mr. Clay called to the Secretary
to hand him the journal of April, 1828, which he held up to the Senate, and read from
it the following :
" The bill to graduate the price of the publie lands, to make donations thereof to

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 115
actual settlers, and to cede the refuse to the States in which they lie, being under
consideration — ,
Mr. Tazewell moved to insert the following as a substitute :
" That the lands which shall have been subject to sale under the provisions of this
act, and shall remain unsold for two years, alter having been offered at twenty-five
cents per acre, shall be, and the same is ceded to the State in which the same may
lie, to be applied by the legislature thereof in support of education, and the internal
improvement of the State."]
Thus it appears not only that the honorable senator proposed the
cession, but showed himself the friend of education and internal im
provements, by means derived from the general government. For
this liberal disposition on his part, I believe ii was, that the State of
Missouri honored a new county with his name. If he had carried
his proposition, that State might well have granted a principality to
him. The memorial of the legislature of Illinois, probably produced by
the message of the Governor already noticed, had been presented,
asserting a claim to the public lands. And it seems (although the
fact had escaped my recollection until I was reminded of it by one of
her senators (Mr. Hendricks,) the other day, that the legislature of
Indiana had instructed her senators to bring forward a similar claim.
At the last session, however, of the legislature of that State, resolu
tions had passed, instructing her delegation to obtain from the gene
ral government cessions of the unappropriated public lands, on the
most favorable terms. It is clear from this last expression of the will
of that legislature, that, on reconsideration, it believed the right to
the public lands to be in the general government, and not in the State
of Indiana. For, if they did not belong to the general government,
it had nothing to cede ; if they belonged already to the State, no
cession was necessary to the perfection of the right of the State.
I will here submit a passing observation. If the general govern
ment had the power to cede the public lands to the new States for
particular purposes, and on prescribed/conditions, its power must be
unquestionable to make some reservations for similar purposes in be
half of the old States. Its power cannot be without limit as to the
new States, and circumscribed and restricted as to the old. Its capa
city to bestow benefits or dispense justice is not confined to the new
States, but is coextensive with the whole Union. It may grant to
all, or it can grant to none. And this comprehensive equity is not

1 16 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
only in conformity with the spirit of the cessions in the deeds from
the ceding States, but is expressly enjoined by the terms of those
deeds. Such is the probable origin of the pretension which 1 have been
tracing : and now let us examine its nature and foundation. The ar
cs '
gument in behalf of the new States, is founded on the notion, that as
the old Stales, upon coming out of the revolutionary war, had or
claimed a right to all the lands within their respective limits ; and as
the new States have been admitted into the Union on the same foot
ing and condition in all respects with the old, therefore they are enti
tled to all the waste lands embraced within their boundaries. But the
argument forgets that all the revolutionary States had not waste
lands ; that some had but very little, and others none. It forgets
that the right of the States to the waste lands within their limits was
controverted ; and that it was insisted that, as they had been con
quered in a common war, waged with common means, and attended
with general sacrifices, the public lands should be held for the com
mon benefit of all the States. It forgets that in consequence of this
right asserted in behalf of the whole Union, the States that contained
any large bodies of waste lands (and Virginia, particularly, that had
the most) ceded them to the Union for the equal benefit of all the
States. It forgets that the very equality, which is the basis of the
argument, would be totally subverted by the admission of the validity
of the pretension. For how would the matter then stand ? The re
volutionary States will have divested themselves of the large districts
of vacant lands which they contained, for the common benefit of all
the States ; and those same lands will enure to the benefit of the new
States exclusively. There will be, oa the supposition of the validity
of the pretension, a reversal of the condition of the two classes of
States. Instead of the old having, as is alleged, the wild lands which
they included at the epoch of the revolution, they will have none,
and the new States all. And this in the name and for the purpose
of equality among all the members of the confederacy ! What, espe
cially, would be the situation of Virginia ? She magnanimously ceded
an empire in extent for the common benefit. And now it is proposed,
not only to withdraw that empire from the object of its solemn dedi
cation, to the use of all the States, but to deny her any participatioft
in it, and appropriate it exclusively to the benefit of the new States.
carved out of it.

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 117
If the new States had any right to the public lands, in order to
produce the very equality contended for,- they ought forthwith to cede
that right to the Union, for the common benefit of all the States. Ha
ving no such right, they ought to acquiesce cheerfully in an equality
which does, in fact, now exist between them and the old States.
The committee of manufactures has clearly shown, that if the right
were recognised in the new States now existing, to the public lands
within their limits, each of the new States, as they might, hereafter
be successively .admitted into the Union, would have the same right ;
and consequently that the pretension under examination embraces, in
effect, the whole public domain, that is, a billion and eighty millions
of acres of land.
The right of the Union to the public lands is incontestible. It ought
not to be considered debateable. It never was questioned but by a
few, whose monstrous heresy, it was probably supposed, would escape
animadversion from the enormity of the absurdity, and 'the utter im
practicability of the success of the claim. The right of the whole is
sealed by the blood of the revolution, founded upon solemn deeds of
cession from sovereign States, deliberately executed in the face of the
world, or resting upon national treaties concluded with foreign pow
ers, on ample equivalents contributed from the common treasury of
the people of the United States.
This right of the whole was stamped upon the face of the new
States at the very instant of their parturition. They admitted and
recognised it with their first breath. They hold their stations, as
members of the confederacy, in virtue of that admission. The sena
tors who sit here, and the members in the House of Representatives
from the new States, deliberate in Congress with other senators and
representatives, under that admission. And since the new States came
into being, they have recognised this right of the general government
by innumerable acts.
By their concurrence in the passage of hundreds of laws respecting
the public domain, founded upon the incontestible right of the whole
of the States.
By repeated applications to extinguish Indian titles, and to survey
the lands which they covered. H

US SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
And by solicitation and acceptance of extensive grants from the
general government, of the public lands.
The existence of the new State is a falsehood, or the right of all
the States to the public domain is an undeniable truth. They have
no more right to the public lands, within their particular jurisdiction,
than other States have to the mint, the forts and arsenals, or public-
ships within theirs, or than the people of the District of Columbia
have to this magnificent capitol, in whose splendid halls we now de
liberate, The equality contended for between all the States now exists. The
public lands are now held, and ought to be held and administered for
the common benefit of all. I, hope our fellow citizens of Illinois, In
diana, and Missouri will reconsider the matter ; that they will cease
to take counsel from demagogues who would deceive them, and instill
erroneous principles into their ears; and that they will feel and ac
knowledge that their brethren of Kentucky and of Ohio, and of all
the States in the Union, have an equal right with the citizens of those
three States in the public lands. If the possibility of an event so dire
ful as a severance of this Union, were for a moment contemplated,
what would be the probable consequence of such an unspeakable
calamity ; if three confederacies were formed out of its fragments, do
you imagine that the western confederacy would consent to the States
including the public lands, holding them exclusively for themselves ?
Can you imagine that the States of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee,
would quietly renounce their right in all the public lands west of
them ? No, sir ! No, sir ! They would wade to their knees in
blood before they would make such an unjust and ignominious sur
render. But this pretension, unjust to the old States, unequal as to all,
would be injurious to the new States themselves, in whose behalf it
has been put forth, if it were recognized. The interest of the new
States is not confined to the lands within their limits, but extends to
the whole billion and eighty millions of acres. Sanction the claims
however, and they are cut down and restricted to that which is in
cluded in their own boundaries. Is it not better for Ohio, instead of
the five millions and a half — for Indiana, instead of the fifteen mil
lions — or even for Illinois, instead of the thirty-one or thirty -two mill-

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 119
ions — or Missouri, instead of the thirty-eight millions — within their
lespective limits; to retain their interest in those several quantities,
and also retain their interest, in common with the other members of
the Union, in the countless millions of acres that lie west, or north
west, beyond them ?
I will now proceed, Mr. President, to consider the expediency of a
reduction of the price of the public lands and the reasons assigned by
the land committee, in their report, in favor of that measure. They
are presented there in formidable detail, and spread out under seven
different heads. Let us examine them : the first is, " because the
new States have a clear right to participate in the benefits of a reduc
tion of the revenue to the wants of the government, by getting the
reduction extended to the article of revenue chiefly used by them." Here
is a renewal of the attempt made early in the session to confound the
public lands with foreign imports, which was so successfully exposed
and refuted by the report of the committee on manufactures. Will
not the new States participate in any reduction of the revenue, in
common with the old States, without touching the public lands ? As
far as they are consumers of objects of foreign imports, will they not
equally share the benefit with the old States ? What right, over and
above that equal participation, have the new States to a reduction of
the price of the public lands ? As States, what right, much less
what " clear right" have they to any such reduction ? In their sove
reign or corporate capacities, what right ? Have not all the stipula
tions between them, as States, and the general government been fully
complied with ? Have the people within the new States, consider
ed distinct from the States themselves, any right to such reduction ?
Whence is it derived ? They went there in pursuit of their own
happiness. They bought lands from the public because it was their
interest to make the purchase, and they enjoy them. Did they, be
cause they purchased some land, which they possess peacefully, ac
quire any, and what right, in the land which they did not buy ? But
it may be argued, that by settling and improving these lands, the ad
jacent public lands are enhanced. True ; and so are their own. The
enhancement of the public lands was not a consequence which they
went there to produce, but was a collateral effect, as to which they'
were passive. " The public does riot seek to avail itself of this aug
mentation in value, by augmenting the price. It leaves that where.it
ivas : and the demand for reduction is made in behalf of those who

120 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
say their labor has increased the value of the public lands,, and the
claim to reduction is founded upon the fact of enhanced value! i The
public, like all other landholders, had a right to anticipate that the
sale of a part would communicate, incidentally, greater value upon
the residue. And, like all other land proprietors, it has the right to
ask more for that residue, but it does not, and for one, I should be as
unwilling to disturb the existing price by augmentation as by reduc
tion. But the public lands is the article of revenue which the people
of the new States chiefly consume. . In another part of this report libe
ral grants of the public lands are recommended, and the idea of hold
ing the public lands as a source of revenue' is scouted, because it is
said that more revenue could be collected from the settlers as consu
mers, than from the lands. Here it seems that the public lands are
the articles of revenue chiefly consumed by the new States.
With respect to lands yet to be sold, they are open to the purchase
alike of emigrants from the old States, and settlers. in the new. As
the latter have most generally supplied themselves with lands, the
probability is, that the emigrants are more interested in the question .
of reduction than the settlers. At all events, there can be no peculiar
right to such reduction existing in the new States. It is a question
common to all, and to be decided in reference to the interest of the
whole Union.
2. "Because the public debt being now paid, the public lands are entirely released
from the pledge they were under to that object, and are free to receive a new and
liberal destination, for the relief of the States in which they lie."
The payment of the public debt is conceded to be near at hand ;
and it is admitted that the public lands, b.eing liberated, may now re
ceive a new and liberal destination. Such an appropriation of their
proceeds is proposed by the bill reported by the committee of manu
factures, and which I shall hereafter call the attention of the Senate
more particularly to. But it did not seem just to that committee,
that this new and liberal destination of them should be restricted " for
the relief of the States in which they lie," exclusively, but should
extend to aH the States indiscriminately upon principles of equitable
distribution. 3. "Because, nearly one hundred millions of acres of the land now in market pre
the refuse of sales and donations, through a long series of years, and are of very lit
tle actual value, and only fit to be'given to'settfers.or abandoned to the State's In
which they lie."

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 121
According to an official statement, the total quantity of public land
which has been surveyed up to the 31st of December last, was a little
upwards of one hundred and sixty-two millions of acres. Of this a
large proportion, perhaps even more than the one hundred millions
of acres stated in the land report, has been a long time in market,
The entire quantity which has ever been sold by the United States,
up to the same day, after deducting lands relinquished and lands re
verted to the United States, according to an official statement, also,
is twenty-five millions two hundred forty-two thousand five hundred
and ninety acres. Thus after the lapse of thirty-six years, during
which the present land system has been in operation, a little more
than twenty-five millions of acres have been sold, not averaging a
million per annum, and upwards of one hundred millions of the sur
veyed lands remain to be sold. The argument of the report of the
land committee assumes that " nearly one hundred millions are the
refuse of sales, and donations," are of very little actual value, and
only fit. to be given to settlers, or abandoned to the States in which
they lie.
Mr. President, let us define as we go — let us analyze. What do
the land committee mean by " refuse land ?" Do they mean worth
less, inferior, rejected land, which nobody will buy at the present
government price ? Let us look at facts, and make them our guide.
The government is constantly pressed by the new States to bring
more and more lands into the market ; to extinguish more Indian titles ;
to survey more. The new States themselves are probably urged
to operate upon the general government by emigrants and settlers,
who see still before them, in their progress west, other new lands
which they desire The general government yields to the solicita
tions. It throws more land into the market, and it is annually and
daily preparing additional surveys of fresh lands. It has thrown,
and is preparing to throw open to purchasers already one hundred
and sixty-two millions of acres. And now, because the capacity to
purchase, in its nature limited by the growth of our population, is to
tally incompetent to absorb this immense quantity, the government
is called upon, by some of the very persons who urged the exhibition
of this vast amount to sale, to consider all that remains unsold as re
fuse ! Twenty-five millions in thirty-six years only are sold, and all
the rest is to be looked upon as refuse. Is this right? If tr^ere had
been five hundred millions in market, there probably would not have

122 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
been more, or much more sold. But I deny the correctness.of the
conclusion that it is worthless because not sold. It is not sold be
cause there were not people to buy it. You must have gone to other
countries, to other worlds, to the moon, and drawn from thence peo
ple to buy the prodigious quantity which you offered to sell.
Refuse land ! A purchaser goes to a district of country and buys
out of a township a section which strikes his fancy. He exhausts
his money. Others might have preferred other sections. Other sec
tions may even be better than his. He can with no more propriety
be said to have " refused" or rejected all the other sections, than a
man who, attracted by the beauty, charms and accomplishments of
a particular lady, marries her, can be said to have rejected or refused
all the rest of the sex.
Is it credible that out of one hundred and fifty or one hundred and six
ty millions of acres of land in a valley celebrated for its fertility, there
are only about twenty -five millions of acres of good land, and that all
the rest-is refuse ? Take the State of Illinois as an example. Of all
the States in the Union, that State probably contains the greatest
proportion of rich, fertile lands ; more than Ohio, more than Indiana,
abounding as they both do in fine lands. Of the thirty-three mil
lions and a half of pnblic lands in Illinois, a little more only than two
millions have been sold. Is the residue of thirty-one millions all re
fuse land ? Who that is acquainted in the west can assert or believe
it ? No, sir ; there is no such thing. The unsold lands are unsold
because of the reasons already assigned. Doubtless there is much
inferior land remaining, but a vast quantity of the best of lands also.
For its timber, soil water power, grazing, minerals, almost all land
possesses a certain value. If the lands unsold are refuse and worth
less in the hands of the general government, why are they sought
after with so much avidity ? If in our hands they are good for noth
ing, what more would they be worth in- the hands of the new States ?
" Only fit to be given to settlers !" What settlers would thank you ?
what settlers would not scorn a gift of refuse, worthless land ? If you
mean to be generous, give them what is valuable ; be manly in your
generosity. But let us examine a little closer this idea of refuse land. If there
be any State in which it is to be found in large quantities, that State

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 123
would be Ohio. It is the oldest of the new States. There the pub
lic lands have remained longer exposed in the market. But there
we find only five millions and a half to be sold. And I hold in my
hand an account of sales in the Zanesville district, one of the oldest
in that State made during the present year. It is in a paper, entitled
the " Ohio Republican," published at Zanesville the 26th May, 1832.
The article is headed " refuse land," and it states : " It has suited
the interest of some to represent the lands of the United States which
have remained in market for many years, as mere ' refuse' which
cannot be sold ; and to urge a rapid reduction of price, and the ces
sion of the residue in a short period, to the States in which they are
situated. It is strongly urged against this plan that it is a specula
ting project, which, by alienating a large quantity of land from the
United States, will cause a great increase of price to actual settlers,
in a few years — instead of their being able forever, as it may be said
is the case under the present system of land sales, to obtain a farm
at a reasonable price. To show how far the lands unsold are from
being worthless, we copy from the Gazette the following statement
of recent sales in the Zanesville district, one of the oldest districts in
the west. The sales at the Zanesville land office since the com
mencement of the present year have been as follows : January,
$7,120 80, February $8,542 67, March $11,744 75, April $9,209
IS, and since the first of the present month about $9,000 worth
have been sold, more than half of which was in 40 acre lots." And
there cannot be a doubt that the act, passed at this season, authoriz
ing sales of forty acres, will from the desire to make additions to
farms, and to settle young members of families, increase the sales very
much, at least during this year.
A~ friend of mine in this city bought in Illinois last fall about two
thousand acres of this refuse land, at the minimum price, for which
he has lately refused $f3 per acre. An officer of this body, now in
my eye, purchased a small tract of this same refuse land of one hun
dred and sixty acres, at second or third hand, entered a few years
ago, and which is now estimated at $1,900. It is a business, a very
profitable business, at which fortunes are made in the new States, to
purchase these refuse lands, and, without improving them, to sell
them at large advances.
Far from being discouraged by the fact of so much surveyed publie

124 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
land remaining unsold, we should rejoice that this bountiful resource,
possessed by our country, remains in almost undiminished quantity,
notwithstanding so many new and flourishing States have sprung up
in the wilderness, and so many thousands of families have been ac
commodated. It might.be otherwise, if the public land was dealt out
by government with a sparing, grudging, griping hand. But they
are liberally offered, in exhaustless quantities, and at moderate prices,
enriching individuals, and tending to the rapid improvement of the
country. The two important facts brought forward and emphatical
ly dwelt on by the committee of manufactures, stand in their full
force, unaffected by anything stated in the report of the land commit
tee. These facts must carry conviction to every unbiassed mind that
will deliberately consider them. The first is, the rapid increase of the
new States, far outstripping the old, averaging annually an increase
of eight and a half per cent., and doubling of course in twelve years.
One of these States, Illinois, full of refuse land, increasing at the rate
of eighteen and a half per cent. ! Would this astonishing growth
take place if the lands were too high or all the good land sold ? The
other fact is, the vast increase in the annual sales : in 1830, rising of
three millions. Since the report of the committee of manufactures,
the returns have come in of the sales of last year, which had been
estimated at three millions. They were in fact $3,566,127 94 !
Their progressive increase baffles all calculation. Would this hap
pen, if the price were too high ?
It is argued that the value of different townships and sections is
various ; and that it is, therefore, wrong to fix the same price for all.
The variety in the quality, situation, and advantages of different tracts,
is no doubt great. After the adoption of any system of classification,
there would still remain very great diversity in the tracts belonging
to the same class. This is the law of nature. The presumption of
inferiority, and of refuse land, founded upon the length of time that
the land has been in market, is denied, for reasons already stated-
The offer, at public auction, of all lands to the highest bidder, previ
ous to their being sold at private sale, provides in some degree for the
variety in the value, sinee each purchaser pushes the land up to the
price which, according to his opinion, it ought to command. But if
the price demanded by government is not too high for the good land,
(and no one can believe it,) why not wait until that is sold before any
reduction in the price of the bad? And that will not be sold for

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 125
many years to come. It would be quite as wrong to bring the price
of good land down to the standard of the bad, as it is alledged to be
to carry the latter up to that of the former. Until the good land is
sold there will be no purchasers of the bad : for, as has been stated in
the report of the committee of manufactures, a discreet farmer would
rather give a dollar and a quarter per acre for first rate land, than
accept refuse and worthless land as a present.
" 4. Because the speedy extinction of the federal title within their limits is neces
sary to the independence ofthe new States, to their equality with .the elder States; to
the development of their resources ; to the subjection of their soil to taxation, culti
vation and settlement, and to the proper enjoyment of their jurisdiction and sover
eignly." All this is mere assertion and declamation. The general govern
ment at a moderate price, is selling the public land as fast as it can find
purchasers. The new States are populating with unexampled ra
pidity ; their condition is now much more eligible than that of some
ofthe old States. Ohio, I am sorry to be obliged to confess, is, in
internal improvement and some other respects, fifty years in advance
of her elder sister and neighbor, Kentucky. How have her growth
and prosperity, her independence, her equality with the elder States,
the development of her resources, the taxation, cultivation, and set
tlement of her soil, or the proper enjoyment of her jurisdiction and
sovereignty, been affected or impaired by the federal title within her
limits ? The federal title! It has been a source of blessings and of
bounties, but not one of real grievance. As to the exemption from
taxation ofthe public lands, and the exemption for five years of those
sold to individuals, if the public land belonged to the new States,
would they tax it ? And as to the latter exemption, it is paid for by
the general government, as may be seen by reference to the compacts ;
and it is moreover, beneficial to the new States themselves, by hold
ing out a motive to emigrants to purchase and settle within their
limits. " 6. Because the ramified machinery of the land office department, and the own
ership of so much soil, extends the patronage and authority of the general govern
ment into the heart and comers of the new States, and subjects their policy to the
danger of a foreign and powerful influence."
A foreign and powerful influence ! The federal government a for
eign government ! And the exercise of a legitimate control over the
national property, for the benefit of the whole people of the United
States, a deprecated penetration into the heart and corners of the, new

126 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
States ! As to the calamity of the land offices, which are held with
in them, I believe that is not regarded by the people of those States
with quite as much horror as it is by the land committee. They
justly consider that they ought to hold those offices themselves, and
that no persons ought to be sent from the other foreign States of this
Union to fill them. And, if the number of the offices were increased,
it would not be looked upon by them as a grievous addition to the
calamity. »
But what do the land committee mean by the authority of this
foreign, federal government ? Surely they do not desire to get rid of,
the federal government. And yet the final settlement of the land
question will have effected but little in expelling its authority from
the bosoms of the new States. Its action will still remain in a thou
sand forms, and the heart and corners of the new States will still be
invaded by post-offices and post-masters, and post-roads, and the Cum
berland road, and various other modifications of its power.
" Because the sum of $425,000,000 proposed to be drawn from the new States and
Territories, by the sale of their soil, at $1 25 per acre, is. unconscionable and im
practicable — such as never can be paid — and the bare attempt to raise which, must
drain, exhaust and impoverish these States, and give birth to the feelings, which a
tense of injustice and oppression never fail to excite, and the excitement of which
snould be. so carefully avoided in a confederacy of free States."
In another part of their report the committee say, speaking of the
immense revenue alledged to be derivable from the public lands,
" this ideal revenue is estimated at $425,000,000, for the lands now
within the limits of the States and Territories, and at $1,363,589,-
691 for the whole federal domain. Such chimerical calculations pre
clude the propriety of argumentative answers." Well, if these cal
culations are all chimerical, there is no danger from the preservation
of the existing land system of draining, exhausting and impoverish
ing the new States, and of exciting them to rebellion.
The manufacturing committee did not state what the public lands
would, in fact, produce. They could not state if. It is hardly a
subject of approximate estimate. The committee stated what would
be the proceeds, estimated by the minimum price of the public lands ;
what, at one-half of that price ; and added that, although there might
be much land that would never sell at one dollar and a quarter per
acre, " as fresh lands are brought into market and exposed to sale at
auction, many of them sell at prices exceeding one dollar and a quar-

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 127
ter per acre." They concluded by remarking that the least favora
ble view of regarding them was to consider them a capital yielding
an annuity of three millions of dollars at this time ; that, in a few
years, that annuity would probably be doubled, and that the capital
might then be assumed as equal to one hundred millions of dollars.
Whatever may be the sum drawn from the sales of the public lands,
it will be contributed, not by citizens of the States alone in which
they are situated, but by emigrants from all the States. And it will
be raised, not fn a single year, but in along series of years. It would
have been impossible for the State of Ohio to have paid, in one year,
the millions that have been raised in that State by the sale of public
lands ; but in a period of upwards of thirty years the payment has
been made, not only without impoverishing, but with the constantly
increasing prosperity of the State.
Such, Mr. President, are the reasons ofthe land committee for the
reduction of the price of the public lands. Some of them had been
anticipated and refuted in the report of the manufacturing committee ;
and I hope that I have now shown the insolidity of the residue.
I will not dwell upon the consideration urged in that report against
any large reduction, founded upon its inevitable tendency to lessen
the value of the landed property throughout the Union, and that in
the western States especially. That such would be the necessary
consequence, no man can doubt who will seriously reflect upon such
a measure as that of throwing into market, immediately, upwards of
one hundred and thirty millions of acres, and at no distant period up
wards of two hundred millions more, at greatly reduced rates.
If the honorable chairman of the land committee (Mr. King,) had
relied upon his own sound practical sense, he would have presented
a report far less objectionable than that which he has made. He has
availed himself of another's aid, and the hand of the Senator from
Missouri (Mr. Benton,) is as visible in the composition as if his name
had been subscribed to the instrument. We hear again, in this pa
per, of that which we have so often heard repeated before in debate, by
the Senator from Missouri — the sentiments of Edmund Burke. And
what was the state of things in England, to which those sentiments
were applied.

128 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
England has too little land, and too many people. America has too
much land, for the present population ofthe country, and wants peo
ple. The British crown had owned, for many generations, large
bodies of land, preserved for game and forest from which but small
revenues were derived. It was proposed to sell out the crown lands,
that they might be peopled and cultivated, and that the royal family
should be placed on the civil list. Mr. Burke supported the propo
sition by convincing arguments. But what analogy is there between
the crown lands ofthe British sovereign, and the public lands of the
United States ? Are they here locked up from the people, and, for
the sake of their game or timber, excluded from sale? Are not they
freely exposed in market, to all who want them, at moderate prices ?
The complaint is, that they are not sold fast enough, in other words,
that people are not multiplied rapidly enough to buy them. Pa
tience, gentlemen of the land committee, patience ! The new States
are daily rising in power and importance. Some of them are already
great and flourishing members of the confederacy. And, if you will
only acquiesce in the certain and quiet operation of the laws of
God and man, the wilderness will quickly teem with people, and be
filled with the monuments of civilization.
The report ofthe land committee proceeds to notice and to animad
vert upon certain opinions of a late Secretary of the Treasury, con
tained in his annual report, and endeavors to connect them with some
sentiments expressed in the report ofthe committee of manufactures.
That report has before been the subject of repeated commentary in
the Senate, by the Senator from Missouri, and of much misrepresen
tation and vituperation in the public press. Mr. Rush showed me
the rough draft of that report, and I advised him to expunge the
paragraphs in question, because I foresaw that they would be mis
represented, and that he would be exposed to unjust accusation. But
knowing the purity of his intentions, believing in the soundness ofthe
views which he presented, and confiding in the candor of a just pub
lic, he resolved to retain the paragraphs. I cannot suppose the Sen
ator from Missouri ignorant of what passed between Mr. Rush and
me, and of his having, against my suggestions, retained the para
graphs in question, because these facts were all stated by Mr. Rush
himself, in a letter addressed to a late member of the House of Rep
resentatives, representing the district in which I reside, which letter,
more than a year ago, was published in the western papers.

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 129
I shall say nothing in defence of myself — nothing to disprove the
charge of my cherishing unfriendly feelings and sentiments towards
any part of the west. If the public acts in which I have participa
ted ; if the uniform tenor of my whole life will not refute such an
imputation, nothing that I could here say would refute it.
But I will say something in defence ofthe opinions of my late pa
triotic and enlightened colleague, not here "to speak for himself; and
I will vindicate his official opinions from the erroneous glosses and
interpretations which have been put upon them.
Mr. Rush, in an official report which will long remain a monument
of his ability, was surveying with a statesman's eye the condition of
America. He was arguing in favor of the Protective Policy— the
American system. He spoke ofthe limited vocations of our society,
and the expediency of multiplying the means of increasing subsis
tence, comfort and wealth. * He noticed the great and the constant
tendency of our fellow-citizens to the cultivation of the soil, the want
of a market for their surplus produce, the inexpediency of all blindly
rushing to the same universal employment, and the policy of dividing
ourselves into various pursuits. He says :
" The manner in which the remote lands of the United States are selling and set
tling, whilst it possibly may tend to increase more quickly the aggregate population
ofthe country, and the mere means of subsistence, does not increase capital in the
same proportion. , * * * Anything that may serve to hold back this tendency
to diffusion from running too far and too long into an extreme^ can scarcely prove
otherwise than salutary. * * * * If the population of these, (a ma
jority of the States, including some western States,) not yet redundant in fact,
though appearing to be so, under this legislative incitement to emigrate, remain
fixed in more instances, as it probably would be by extending the motives to manu-
facturinglabor, it is believed that the nation would gain in two ways : first, by the
more rapid accumulation- of capital ; and next by the gradual reduction ofthe ex
cess of its agricultural population over that engaged in other vocations. It is not
imagined that it ever would be practicable, even if it were desirable, to turn this
stream of emigration aside; but resources, opened through the influence ofthe
laws, in new fields of industry, to the inhabitants of the States already sufficiently
peopled to enter upon them, might operate to lessen, in some degree, and usefully
lessen, its absorbing force."
Now, Mr. President, what is there in this view adverse to the
west, or unfavorable to its interests ? Mr. Rush is arguing on the
tendency of the people to engage in agriculture, and the incitement to
emigration produced by our laws. Does he propose to change those
laws in that particular ? Does he propose any new measure ? So far
from suggesting any alteration of the conditions on which the public
lands are sold, he expressly says that it is not desirable, if it were

130 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
practicable, to turn this stream of emigration aside. Leaving all the
laws in full force, and all the motives to emigration, arising from fer
tile and cheap lands, untouched, he recommends the encouragement
of a new branch of business, in which all the Union, the west as well
as the rest, is interested ; thus presenting an option to population to en
gage in manufactures or in agriculture, at its own discretion. And does
such an option afford just ground of complaint to any one ? Is it not
an advantage to all,? Dc the land committee desire (I am sure they do
not) to create starvation in one part of the Union, that emigrants may
be forced into another ? If they do not, they ought not to condemn a
multiplication of human employments, by which, as its certain conse
quence, there will be an increase in the means of subsistence and com
fort. The objection to Mr. Rush, then, is, that he looked at his whole
country, and at all parts of it ; and that, whilst he desired the prosperity
and growth ofthe west to advance undisturbed, he wished to buildup,
on deep foundations, the welfare of all the people.
Mr, Rush knew that there were thousands of the poorer classes
who never would emigrate ; and *that emigration, under the best aus
pices, was far from being unattended with evil. There are moral,
physical, pecuniary obstacles to all emigration ; and these will increase
as the good vacant lands ofthe west are removed, by intervening set
tlements further and further from society, as it is now located. It is,
I believe, Dr. Johnson, who pronounces that of all vegetable and ani
mal creation, man is the. most difficult to be uprooted and transferred
to a distant country ; and he was right. Space itself— rmountains, and
seas, and rivers, are impediments. The want of pecuniary means—
the expenses of the outfit, subsistence and transportation of a family,
is no slight circumstance. When all these difficulties are overcome,
(and how few, comparatively, can surmount them,) the greatest of
all remains — that of being torn from one's natal spot — separated for
ever from the roof under which the companions of his childhood were
sheltered, from the trees which have shaded him from summer's heats,
the spring from whose gushing fountain he has drunk in his youth,
the tombs that hold the precious relic of his venerated ancestors !
But I have said that the land committee had attempte4 to con
found the sentiments of Mr. Rush with some of the reasoning em
ployed by the committee of manufactures against the proposed reduc
tion of the price of the public lands. What is that reasoning ? Here

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 131
it is ; it will speak for itself; and without a single comment will de
monstrate how different it is from that of the late Secretary of the
Treasury, unexceptionable as that has been shown to be.
"The greatest emigration (says the manufacturing committee) that is believed
now to take place from any of the States, is from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
The effects of a material reduction in the price of the public lands would be— lst.,to
lessen the value of real estate in those three States ; 2d., to diminish their interest in
the public domain, as a common fund for the benefit of all the States; and 3d., to
offer what would operate as a bounty to further emigration from those States, occa
sioning more and more lands, situated within them, to be thrown into the market,
thereby not only lessening the value of their lands, but draining them both of their
population and labor."
There are good men in different parts, but especially in the Atlantic
portion of the Union, who have been induced to .regard lightly this
vast national property; who have been persuaded that the people of
the west are dissatisfied with the administration of it ; and who be
lieve that it will, in the end, be lost to the nation, and that it is not
worth present care and preservation. But these are radical mistakes.
The great body of the west are satisfied — perfectly satisfied with the
general administration ofthe public lands. They would indeed like,
and are entitled to, a more liberal expenditure among them of the
proceeds of the sales. For this provision is made by the bill to which
I will hereafter call the attention of the Senate. But the great body
of the west have not called for, and understand too well their real
interest to desire any essential change in the system of survey, sale,
or price of the lands. There may be a few, stimulated by dema
gogues, who desire change ; and what system is there, what govern
ment, what order of human society, that a few do not desire change ?
It is one of the admirable properties of the existing system, that it
contains within itself and carries along principles of conservation and
safety. In the progress of its operation, new States become identified
with the old, in feeling, in thinking, and in interest. Now, Ohio is
as Sound as any old State in the Union, in all her views relating to
the public lands. She feels that her share in the exterior domain is
much more important than would be an exclusive right to the few
millions of acres left unsold, within her limits, accompanied by a vir
tual surrender of her interest in all the other public lands of the Uni
ted States. And I have no doubt that now, the people of the other
new States, left to their own unbiassed sense of equity and justice,
would form the same judgment. They cannot believe that what they
have not bought, what remains the property of themselves and all

132 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
their brethren of the United States, in common, belongs to them ex
clusively. But if I am mistaken — if they haVe been deceived by
erroneous impressions on their mind, made by artful men, as the sales
proceed, and the land is exhausted, and their population increased,
like the State of Ohio, they will feel that their true interest -points to
their remaining copartners in the whole national domain, instead of
bringing forward an unfounded pretension to the inconsiderable rem
nant which will be then left in their own limits.
And now, Mr. President, I have to say something, in respect to
the particular plan brought forward by the committee of munufac-
tures for a temporary appropriation of the proceeds of the sales of the
public lands.
The committee say that this fund is not wanted by the general go
vernment ; that the peace of the country is not likely, from present
appearances, to be speedily disturbed ; and that the general govern
ment is absolutely embarrassed in providing against an enormous
surplus in the treasury. While this is the condition of the Federal
government, the States are in want of, and can most beneficially use,
that very Surplus with which we do not know what to do. The pow
ers of the general government are limited ; those of the States are
ample. If those limited powers authorised an application of the fund
to some objects, perhaps there are some others, of more importance,
to which the powers of the States would be more competent, or to
which they may apply a more provident care.
But the government of the whole and of the parts, at last is but one
government of the same people. In form they are two, in substance
one. They both stand under the same solemn obligation to promote
by all the powers with which they are respectively entrusted, the
happiness of the people ; and the people in their turn, owe respect
and allegiance to both. Maintaining these relations, there should be
mutual assistance to each other afforded by these two systems. When
the States are full-handed, and the coffers of the general government
are empty, the States should come to the relief of the general govern
ment, as many of them did, most promptly and patriotically, during
the late war. When the conditions of the parties are reversed, as is
now the Case, the States wanting what is almost a burthen to the

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 133
general government, the duty of this government is to go to the relief
of the States.
They were views like these which induced a majority of the com
mittee to propose the plan of distribution contained in the bill now
under consideration, For one, however, I will again repeat the de
claration, which I made early in the session, that I unite pordially
with those who condemn the application of any principle of distribu
tion among the several States, to surplus revenue derived from taxa
tion. I think income derived from taxation stands upon ground totally
1 distinct from that which is received from the public lands. Congress
can prevent the .accumulation, at least for any considerable time, of
revenue from duties, by suitable legislation, lowering or augmenting
the imposts ; but it cannot stop the sales of the public lands, without
the exercise of arbitrary and intolerable power. The powers of Con
gress over the public lands are broader and more comprehensive than
those which they possess over taxation and the money produced by it.
This brings me to consider 1st — the power of Congress to make
the distribution. By the second part of the third section of the fourth
article of the constitution, Congress " have power to dispose of, and
make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or
other property of the United States." The power of disposition is
plenary, unrestrained, unqualified. It is not limited to a specified
object or to a defined purpose, but left applicable to any object or
purpose which the wisdom of Congress shall deem fit, acting under
its high responsibility.
The government purchased Louisiana and Florida. May it not
apply the proceeds of lands within those countries to any object which
the good of the Union may seem to indicate ? If there be a restraint
in the constitution, where is it — what is it ?
The uniform practice of the government has conformed to the idea
of its possessing full powers over the public lands. They have been
freely granted, from time to time, to communities and individuals, for
a great variety of purposes. To States for education, internal im
provements, public buildings ; to corporations for education ; to the
deaf and dumb ; to the cultivators of the olive and the vine ; to pre-
emptioners ; to General Lafayette, &c.
•I

134 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The deeds from the ceding States, far from opposing, fully warrant
the distribution. That of Virginia ceded the land as " a common
fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have be
come, or shall become members of the confederation or federal alli
ance ofthe said States, Virginia inclusive." The cession was for the
benefit of all the States. It may be argued that the fund must be
retained in the common treasury, and thence paid out. But by the bill
reported, it will come into the common treasury, and then the ques
tion how it shall be subsequently applied for the use and benefit of
such of the United States as compose the confederacy, is one of
modus only. Whether the money is disbursed by the general govern
ment directly, or is paid out upon some equal and just principle to the
States, to be disbursed by them, cannot affect the right of distribution.
If the general government retained the power of ultimate disburse
ment, it could execute it only by suitable agents ; and what agency is
more suitable than that of the States themselves ? If the States ex
pend the money, as the bill contemplates, the expenditure will, in
effect, be a disbursement for the benefit of the whole, although the
several States are organs of the expenditure ; for the whole and all
the parts are identical. And whatever redounds to the benefit of all
the parts necessarily contributes in the same measure to the benefit of
the whole. The great question should be, Is the distribution upon
equal and just principles ? And this brings me to consider,
2d. The terms of the distribution proposed by the bill of the com
mittee of manufactures. The bill proposes a division of the nett pro
ceeds of the sales of the public lands among the sveral States compo
sing the Union, according to their federal representative population,
as ascertained by the last census ; and it provides for new States that
may hereafter be admitted into the Union. The basis of the distribu
tion, therefore, is derived from the constitution itself, which has
adopted the same rule in respect to representation and direct taxes.
None could be more just and equitable.
But it has been contended in the land report, that the revolutionary
States which did not cede their public lands, ought not to be allowed
to come into the distribution. This objection does not apply to th>5
purchases of Louisiana and Florida, because the consideration for
them was paid out of the common treasury, and was consequently(
contributed by all the States. Nor has the objection any just founda-

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 135
tion when applied to the public lands derived from Virginia and the
other ceding States ; because by the terms of the deeds the cessions
were made for the use and benefit of all the States. The ceding
States having made no exception of any State, what right has the
general government to interpolate in the deeds, and now create an
exception? The general government is a mere trustee, holding the
domain in virtue of those deeds, according to the terms and conditions
which they expressly describe ; and it is bound to execute the trust
accordingly. But how is the fund produced by the public lands now
expended ? It comes into the common treasury, and is disbursed for
the common benefit, without exception of any State. The bill only
proposes to substitute to that object, now no longer necessary, another
and more useful common object. The general application of the fund
will continue, under the operation of the bill, although the particular
purposes may be varied.
The equity of the proposed distribution, as it respects the two class
es of States, the old and the new, must be manifest to the Senate.
It proposes to assign to the new States, besides the five per cent.
stipulated for in their several compacts with the general government,
the further sum of ten per cent, upon the nett proceeds. Assuming
the proceeds of the last year, amounting to $3,566,127 94, as the
basis of the calculation, I hold in my hand a paper which shows the
sum that each of the seven new States would receive. They have
complained of the exemption from taxation of the public lands sold
by the general government for five years after the sale. If that ex
emption did not exist, and they were to exercise the power of taxing
those lands, as the average increase of their population is only eight
and a half per cent, per annum, the additional reveuue which they
would raise would only be eight and a half per cent, per annum ;
that is to say, a State now collecting a revenue of $100,000 per an
num, would collect only $108,500, if it were to tax the lands recent
ly sold. But by the bill under consideration, each of the seven new
States will annually receive, as its distribvtive share, more than the
whole amount of its annual revenue.
It may be thought that to set apart ten per cent to the new States,
in the first instance, is too great a proportion, and is unjust towards
the old States. But it will be recollected that, as they populate much
faster than the old States, and as the last census is to govern in the

136 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
apportionment, they ought to receive more than the old States. If
they receive too much at the commencement of the term, it may be
neutralized by the end of it.
After the deduction shall have been made of the fifteen per cent.
allotted to the new States, the residue is to be divided among the
twenty-four States, old and new, composing the Union. What each
ofthe States would receive, is shown by a table annexed to the re
port. Taking the proceeds of the last year as the standard, there
must be' added one-sixth to what is set down in that table as the pro
portion of the several States.
If the power and the principle of the proposed distribution be satis
factory to the Senate, I think the objects cannot fail to be equally so.
They are education, internal improvements, and colonization — all
great and beneficent objects — all national in their nature. No mind
can be cultivated and improved ; no work of internal improvement
can be executed in any part of the Union, nor any person of color
transported from any of its ports, in which the whole Union is not
interested. The prosperity of the whole is an aggregate of the pros
perity of the parts.
The States, each judging for itself, will select among the objects
enumerated in the bill, that which comports best with its own policy
There is no compulsion in the choice. Some will prefer, perhaps, to
apply the fund to the extinction of debt, now burdensome, created for
internal improvement ; some to new objects of internal improvement ;
others to education; and others again to colonization. It maybe
supposed possible that the States will divert the fund from the speci
fied purposes : but against such a misapplication we have, in the first
place, the security which arises out of their presumed good faith ;
and, in the second, the power to withhold subsequent, if there has
been any abuse in previous appropriations.
It has been argued that the general government has no power in
respect to colonization. ' Waiving that, as not being a question at this
time, the real inquiry is, have the States themselves any such power ?
For it is to the States that the subject is referred. The evil of a free
black population is not restricted to particular States, but extends to
and is felt "by all. It is not, therefore, the slave question, but totally

ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. 137
distinct from and unconnected with it. I have heretofore often ex
pressed my perfect conviction that .the general government has no
constitutional power which it can exercise in regard to African sla
very. That conviction remains unchanged. The States in which
slavery is tolerated, have exclusively in their own hands the entire
regulation of the subject. But the slave States differ in opinion as to
the expediency of African colonization. Several of them have sig
nified their approbation of it. The legislature of Kentucky, I believe
unanimously, recommended the encouragement of colonization to
Congress. Should a war break out during the term-of five years, that the
operation of the bill is limited to, the fund is to be withdrawn and
applied to the vigorous prosecution of the war. If there be no war,
Congress, at the end of the term, will be able to ascertain whether
the money has been beneficially expended, and to judge of the pro
priety of continuing the distribution.
Three reports have been made, on this great subject-of the public
lands, during the present session of Congress, besides, that ofthe Sec
retary of the Treasury at its commencement — two in the Senate and
one in the House. All three of them agree, 1st, In the preservation
of the control of the general government over the public lands ; and
2d, They concur in rejecting the plan of a cession of the public lands
to the States in which they are situated, recommended by the Secre
tary. The land committee of the Senate propose an assignment of
fifteen per cent of the nett proceeds, besides the five per cent, stipu
lated in the compacts, (making together twenty per cent.) to the new
States, and nothing to the old.
The committee of manufactures of the Senate, after an allotment
of an additional sum of ten per cent, to the new States, propose an
equal distribution of the residue among all the States, old and new,
upon equitable principles.
The Senate's land committee, besides the proposal of a distribution,
restricted to the new States, recommends an immediate reduction of
the price of " fresh lands," to a minimum of one dollar per acre, and
to fifty cents per acre for lands which have been five years or up
wards in market.

138 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The land committee of the House is opposed to all distribution,.
general or partial, and recommends a reduction of the price to One
dollar per acre.
And now, Mr. President, I have a few more words to say and shall
be done. We are admonished by all our reflections, and by existing
signs, of the duty of communicating strength and energy to the glori
ous Union which now encircles our favored country. Among the
ties which bind us together, the public domain merits high considera
tion. And if we appropriate, for a limited time, the proceeds of that
great resource, among the several States, for the important objects
which have been enumerated, a new and ppwerful bond of affection
and of interest will be added. The States will feel and recognize the
operation of the general government, not merely in power and bur
dens, but in benefactions and blessings. And the general government
in its turn will feel, from the expenditure of the money which it dis
penses to the States, the benefits of moral and intellectual improve
ment of the people, of greater facility in soeial and commercial inter
course, and ofthe purification ofthe population of our country, them
selves the best parental sources of national character, national Union,
and national greatness. Whatever may be the fate of the particular
proposition now under consideration, I sincerely hope that the atten
tion of the nation may be attracted to this most interesting subject ;
that it may justly appreciate the value of this immense national prop
erty ; and that, preserving the regulation of it by the will of the whole,
for Hie advantage of the whole, it may be transmitted, as a sacred
and inestimable succession, to posterity, for its benefit and blessing
for ages to come

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE BILL.
In the Senate of the United States, February 12, 1833.

[The election of General Jackson to the Presidency for a second term took place
in the fall of 1832, and immediately thereafter, the State of South Carolina assum
ed, by the formal edict of a regular Convention of her people, to nullify and make
void the Tariff laws of the United States, on the ground that, being imposed for the
purpose of protecting American Manufactures, they were unconstitutional and in
valid. General Jackson promptly issued a vigorous Proclamation, denouncing the
act as rebellious and treasonable, and declaring that he should use all the power
entrusted to him to vindicate the laws of the Union and cause them to be respected.
General Scott . at the head of a considerable regular force, was posted at Charles
ton, S. C. and every portent of a desperate and bloody struggle was visible. Gen.
Jackson's imperious passions were lashed to madness by the Carolina resistance,
and the whole physical power of the country but awaited his nod. At this crisis
Congress assembled, and the efforts of Mr. Clay were promptly directed to the de
vising and maturing of some plan to prevent a collision between the Union and the
nullifying State, and spare the effusion of blood. Under these circumstances, he
projected and presented the bill known as the Compkomise Act. On introducing this
bill, he addressed the Senate as follows ] »
I yesterday, sir, gave notice that I should ask leave to introduce
a bill to modify the xvarious acts imposing duties on imports. I at
the same time added, that I should, with the permission ofthe Sen
ate, offer an explanation of the principle on which that bill is founded.
I owe, sir, an apology to the Senate for this course of action, because,
although strictly parliamentary, it is, nevertheless, out of the usual
practice of this, body ; but it is a course which I trust that the Senate
will deem to be justified by the interesting nature of the subject.
I rise, sir on this occasion, actuated by no motives of a private nature;
by no personal feelings, and for no personal objects ; but exclusively
in obedience to a sense of the duty which I owe to my country. I
trust, therefore, that no one will anticipate on my part any ambitious
display of such humble powers as I may possess. It is sincerely my
purpose to present a plain, unadorned, and naked statement of facts
connected with the measure which I shall have the honqj; to propose,
and with the condition of the country. When I survey, sir, the whole

140 SPEECHES of henry clay.
face of our country, I behold all around me evidences of the most
gratifying prosperity, a prospect which would seem to be without a
cloud upon it, were it not that through all parts of the country there
exist great dissensions and unhappy distinctions, which, if they can
possibly be relieved and reconciled by any broad scheme of legisla
tion adapted to all interests, and regarding the feelings of all sections,
ought to be quieted ; and leading to which object any measure ought
to be well received.
In presenting the modification of the tariff laws, which I am now
about to submit, I have two great objects in view. My first object
looks to the tariff. I am compelled to express the opinion, formed
after the most deliberate reflection, and on full survey ofthe whole
country, that whether rightfully or wrongfully, the tariff stands in
imminent danger. If it should be preserved during this session, it
must fall at the next session. By what circumstances, and through
what causes, has arisen the necessity for this change in the policy of
our country, I will not pretend now to elucidate. Others there are
who may differ from the impressions which my mind has received
upon this point. Owing, however, to a variety ef concurrent causes,
the tariff, as it now exists, is in imminent danger, and if the system
can be preserved beyond the next session, it must be by some means
not now within the reach of human sagacity. The fall of that policy,
sir, would be productive of consequences calamitous indeed. When
I look to the variety of interests which are involved, to the number
of individuals interested, the amount of capital invested, the value
of the buildings erected, and the whole arrangement of the business
for the prosecution of the various branches of the manufacturing art
which have sprung up under the fostering care of this government, I
cannot contemplate any evil equal to the sudden overthrow of all those
interests. History can produce no parallel to the extent of the mis
chief which would be produced by such a disaster. The repeal of the
edict of Nantes itself was nothing in comparison with it. That con
demned to exile and brought to ruin a great number of persons. The
most respectable portion of the population of France was condemned
to exile aud ruin by that measure. But in my opinion, sir, the sud
den repeal of the tariff policy would bring ruin and destruction on
the whole people of this country. There is no evil, in my opinion,
equal to the Consequences which would result from such a catas
trophe.

ON introducing the compromise bill. 141
What, sir, are the complaints which unhappily divide the people
of this great country ? On the one hand, it is said by those who are
opposed to the tariff, that it unjustly taxes a portion of the people,
and paralyzes their industry ; that it is to be a perpetual operation ;
that there is to be no end to the system ; which, right or wrong, is to
be urged to their inevitable ruin. And what is the just complaint,
on the other hand, of those who support the tariff? It is, that the
.policy ofthe government is vascillating and uncertain, and that there
is no stability in our legislation. Before one set of books are fairly
opened, it becomes necessary to close them, and to open a new set.
Before a law can be tested by experiment, another is passed. Be
fore the present law has gone into operation — before it is yet nine
months old — passed, as it was, under circumstances of extraordinary
deliberation, the fruit of nine months labor — before we know anything
of its experimental effects, and even before it commences its opera
tions, we are required to repeal it. On one side we are urged to re
peal a system which is fraught with ruin ; on the other side, the
check now imposed on enterprise, and the state of alarm in which the
public mind has been thrown, renders all prudent men desirous, look
ing ahead a little way, to adopt a state of things, on the stability of
which they may have reason to count. Such is the state of feeling
on the one side and on the Other. I am anxious to find out some
principle of mutual accommodation, to satisfy, as far as practicable,
both parties — to increase the stability of our legislation ; and at some
distant day — but not too distant, when we take into view the magni
tude of the interests which are involved — to bring down the rate of
duties to that revenue standard for which our opponents have so long
contended. The basis on which I wish to found this modification, is
one of time ; and the several parts of the bill to which I am about to
call the attention ofthe Senate, are founded on this basis. I propose
to give protection to our manufactured articles, adequate protection,
for a length of time, which, compared with the length of human life;
is very long, but which is short, in proportion to the legitimate dis
cretion of every wise and parental system of government — securing
the stability of legislation, and allowing time for a gradual reduction,
on one side ; and, on the other, proposing to reduce the duties to that
revenue standard for which the opponents of the system have so long
contended. I will now proceed to lay the provisions of the bill before
the Senate, with a view to draw their attention to the true character
ofthe bill.

142 speeches of henry clay.
[Mr. Clay then proceeded to read the first section of the bill.]
According to this section, it will be perceived that it is proposed to
come down to the revenue standard at the end of little more than ninev
years and a half, giving a protection to our own manufactures which
I hope will be adequate, during trie intermediate time.
[Mr, Clay here recapitulated the provisions of the sections, and showed by vari
ous illustrations how they would operate : and then proceeded to read and comment
upon the second section of the bill.]
It will be recollected, that at the last session of Congress, with a
view to make a concession to the southern section of the country, low
priced woollens, those supposed to enter into the consumption of
slaves and the poorer classes of persons, were taken out ofthe general
class of duties on woollens, and the duty on them reduced to five per
cent. It will be also recollected that at that time the gentlemen from
the south said that this concession was of no consequence, and that they
did not care for it, and I believe that they do not now consider it of any
greater importance. As, therefore, it has failed ofthe purpose for which
it was taken out ofthe common class, I think it ought to be brought back
again, and placed by the side ofthe other description of woollens, and
made subject to the same reduction of duty as proposed by this section-
[Having next read through the third section ofthe bill, Mr. Clay said :]
After the expiration of a term of years, this section lays down a
rule by which the duties are to be reduced to the revenue standard,
which has been so long and so earnestly contended for. Until other
wise directed, and in default of provision being made for the wants
of the government in 1842, a rule is thus provided for the rate of
duties thereafter, Congress being in the meantime authorized to adopt
any other rule which the exigencies of the country, or its financial
condition, may require. That is to say, if, instead of the duty of
twenty per cent, proposed, fifteen or seventeen per cent, of duty is
sufficient, or twenty-five per cent, should be found necessary, to pro-.
duce a revenue to defray the expenses of an economical administra
tion of the government, there is nothing to prevent either of those
rates, or any other, from being fixed upon : whilst the rate of twenty
per cent, is introduced to guard against any failure on the part of
Congress to make the requisite provision in due season.

ON introducing the compromise bill. 143
This section of the bill contains also another clause, suggested by
that spirit of harmony and conciliation which I pray may preside over
the councils of the Union at this trying moment. It provides (what
those persons who are engaged in manufactures have so lqng anx
iously required for their security) that duties shall be paid in ready
money — and we shall thus get rid of the whole of that credit system,
into which an inroad was made, in regard to woollens, by the
act of the last session. This section further contains a proviso that
nothing in any part of this act shall be construed to interfere with the
freest exercise of the power of Congress to lay any amount of duties,
in .the event of war breaking out between this country and any foreign
power. [Mr. Clay then read the fourth section of the bill.]
One of the considerations strongly urging for a reduction of the
tariff at this time is, that the government is likely to be placed in a
dilemma by having an overflowing revenue ; and this apprehension is
the ground of an attempt totally to change the protective policy of
the country. The section which I have read is an effort to guard
against this evil, by relieving altogether from duty a portion of the
articles of import now subject to it. Some of these would, under
the present rate of duty upon them, produce a considerable revenue ;
the article of silks alone would yield half a million of dollars per an
num. If it were possible to pacify present dissensions, and let things
take their course, I believe that no difficulty need be apprehended.
If the bill which this b»dy passed at the last session of Congress, and
has again passed at this session, shall pass the other House, and be
come a law, and the gradual reduction of duties should take place
which is contemplated by the first section of this bill, we shall' have
settled two (if not three) of the great questions which have agitated
this country, that ofthe tariff, of the public lands, and, I will add, of
internal improvement also. For, if there should still be a surplus
revenue, that surplus might be applied, until the year 1S42, to the
completion of the works of internal improvement already commenced ;
and, after 1842, a reliance for all funds for purposes of internal im
provement should be placed upon the operation of the land bill, to
which I have already referred.
It is not my object in referring to that measure in connexion with

144 speeches of henry clay.
that which I am about to propose, to consider them as united in their
fate, being desirous, partial as I may be to both, that each shall stand
or fall upon its own intrinsic merits. If this section of the bill, ad
ding to the number of free articles, should become law, along with
the reduction of duties proposed by the first section of the bill, it is
by no means sure that we shall have any surplus revenue at all. I
have been astonished indeed at the process of reasoning by which the
Secretary of the Treasury has arrived at the conclusion, that we
shall have a surplus revenue at all, though I admit that such a con
clusion can be arrived at in no other way. But what is this process ?
Duties of a certain rate now exist. The amount wliich they produce
is known ; the Secretary, proposing a reduction of the rate of duty,
supposes that the duties will be reduced in proportion to the amount
of the reduction of duty. Now no calculation can be more uncertain
than that. Though perhaps the best that the Secretary could have
made, it is still .all uncertainty ; dependent upon the winds and waves,
on the mutatioos of trade, and on the course of commercial opera
tions. If there is any truth in political economy, it cannot be that
result will agree with the prediction ; for we are instructed by all ex
perience that the consumption of any artick is in proportion to the
reduction of its price, and that in general it may be taken as a rule,
that the duty upon an article forms a portion of its price. I do not
mean to impute any improper design to any one ; but, if it had been
so intended, no scheme for getting rid of of the tariff could have been
more artfully devised to effect its purposes, than that which thus cal
culated the revenue, and in addition, assumed that the expenditure
of the government every year would be so much, &c. Can any one
here say what the future expenditure of the government will be ? In
this young, great, and growing community, can we say what will be
the expenditure -of the government even a year hence, much less
what it will be three, or four, or five years hence ? Yet it has been
estimated, on assumed amounts, founded on such uncertain data, both
of income and expenditure, that the revenue might "be reduced so
many millions a year!
I ask pardon for this digression, and return to the examination of
articles in the fourth section, which are proposed to be left free of
duty. The duties on these articles now vary from five to ten per
cent, ad valorem ; but low as they are, the aggregate amount of
revenue which they produce is considerable. By the bill of the last

ON introducing the compromise bill. 145
session, the duties on French silks was fixed at five per cent, and that
on Chinese silks at ten per cent, ad valorem. By the bill now pro
posed, the duty on French silks is proposed to be repealed, leaving
the other untouched. I will frankly state why I made this distinc
tion. It has been a subject of anxious desire with me to see our com
merce with France increased. France, though not so large a cus
tomer in the great staples of our country as Great Britain, is a great
growing customer. I have been much struck with a fact going to
prove this, which accidentally came to my knowledge the other day ;
which is, that within the short period of fourteen years, the amount
of consumption in France of the great southern staple of cotton has
been tripled. Again, it is understood that the French silks of the
lower grades of quality cannot sustain a competition with the Chinese
without some discrimination of this sort. I have understood, also,
that the duty imposed upon this article at the last session has been
very much complained of on the part of France ; and,, considering all
the circumstances connected with the relations between the two gov
ernments, it appears to me to be desirable to make this discrimina
tion in favor of the French product. If the Senate should think
differently, I shall be content. If, indeed, they should think proper
to strike out this section altogether, I shall cheerfully submit to their
decision. /
[After reading the fifth and sixth sections, Mr. Clay said :]
I will now take a few of some of the objections which will be made
to the bill. It may be said that the act is prospective, that it binds
our successors, and that we have no power thus to bind them. It
is true that the act is prospective, and so is almost every act which
we ever passed, but we can repeal it the next day. It is the estab
lished usage to give all acts a prospective operation. In every tariff
there are some provisions which go into operation immediately, and
others at a future time. Each Congress legislate according to their
own views of propriety ; their act does not bind their successors, but
creates a species of public faith, which will not rashly be broken.
But if this bill shall go into operation, as I hope even against hope,
that it may, I doubt not that it will be adhered to by all parties.
¦ There is but one contingency which will render a change necessary,
and that is the intervention of a war, which is provided for in the
bill. The hands of Congress are left untied in this event, and they
will be at liberty to resort to any mode of taxation which they may

146 speeches of henry clay.
propose. But if we suppose peace to continue, there will be no mo
tive for disturbing the arrangement, but on the contrary, every motive
to carry it into effect. In the next place, it will be objected to the
bill, by the friends of the protective policy, of whom I hold myself to
be one, for my mind is immutably fixed in favor of that policy, that
it abandons the power of protection. But I contend, in the first place,
that a suspension of the exercise of the power is not an abandonment
of it ; tor the power is in the constitution according to our theory —
was put there by its framers, and can only be dislodged by the people.
After the year 1842, the bill provides that the power shall be exer
cised in a certain mode. There are four modes by which the industry
of the country can be protected.
First, The absolute prohibition of rival foreign articles that are
totally untouched by the bill ; but it is competent to the wisdom of
the government to exert the power whenever they wish. Second ;
The imposition of duties in such a manner as to have no reference to
any object but revenue. When we had a large public debt in 1816,
the duties yielded thirty-seven millions, and paid so much more of
the debt, and subsequently tbey yielded but eight or ten millions, and
paid so much less of the debt. Sometimes we have to trench on the
sinking fund. Now we have no public debt to absorb the surplus
revenue, and no motive for continuing the duties. No man can look
at the'condition of the country, and say that we can carry on this
system with accumulating revenue, and no practical way of expend
ing it. The third mode was attempted last session, in a resolution
which I had the honor to submit last year, and which in fact ulti
mately formed the basis of the act which finally passed both Houses.
This was to raise as much revenue as was wanted for the use of the
government, and no more, but to raise it from the protected and not
from the unprotected articles. I will say, that I regret most deeply
that the greater part of the country will not suffer this principle to
prevail. It ought to prevail — and the day, in my opinion, will come,
when it will be adopted as the permanent policy of the country.
Shall we legislate for our own wants or that of a foreign country ?
To protect our own interests in opposition to foreign legislation was
the basis of this system. The fourth mode in which protection can
be afforded to domestic industry, is to admit free of duty every arti
cle which aided the operations of the manufacturers. These are the
four modes for protecting our industry ; and to those who say that

ON introducing the compromise bill. 147
the bill abandons the power of protection, I reply, that it does
not touch that power ; and that the fourth mode, so far from being
abandoned, is extended and upheld by the bill. The most that can
be objected to the bill by those with whom I co-operate to support
the protective system, is that, in consideration of nine and a half years
of peace, certainty, and stability, the manufacturers relinquished some
advantages which they now enjoy. What is the principle which has
always been contended for in this and in the other House ? After the
accumulation of capital and skill, the manufacturers will stand alone,
unaided by the government, in competition with the imported articles
from any quarter. Now give us time ; cease all fluctuations and
agitations, for nine years, and. the manufacturers in every branch will
sustain themselves against foreign competition. If we can see our
way clearly for nine years to come, we can safely leave to posterity
to provide for the rest. If the tariff be overthrown, as may be its fate
next session, the country will be plunged into extreme distress and
agitation. I want harmony. I wish to see the restoration of those
ties which have carried us triumphantly through two wars. I delight
not in this perpetual turmoil. Let us have peace, and become once
more united as a band of brothers.
It may be said that the farming interest cannot subsist under a
twenty per cent, ad valorem duty. My reply is, " sufficient for the
day is the evil thereof." I will leave it to the day when the reduction
takes effect, to settle the question. When the reduction takes place,
and the farmer cannot live under it, what will he do ? I will tell you
what he ought to do. He ought to try it — make a fair experiment of
it — and if he cannot live under it, let him come here and say that he
is bankrupt and ruined. If then nothing can be done to relieve him,
sir, I will not pronounce the words, for I will believe that something
will be done, and that relief will be afforded, without hazarding the
peace and integrity of the Union. The confederacy is an excellent
contrivance, but it must be managed with delicacy and skill. There
are an infinite variety of prejudices and local interests to be regarded,
but they should all be made to yeild to the Union.
If the system proposed cannot be continued, let us try some inter
mediate system, before we think of any other dreadful alternative.
Sir, it will be said, on the other hand — for the objections are made
by the friends of protection principally — that the time is too fopg ;

148 speeches of hen.ry clay.
that the intermediate reductions are too inconsiderable, and that there
is no guarantee that, at the end of the time stipulated, the reduction
proposed would be allowed to take effect. In the first place, should
be recollected, the diversified interests of the country — the measures
of the government which preceded the establishment of manufactures
 the public faith in some degree pledged for their security ; and the
ruin in which rash and hasty legislation would involve them. I will
not dispute about terms. It would not, in a court of justice; be main
tained that the public faith is pledged for the protection of manufac
tures ; but there are other pledges which men of honor are bound by,
besides those of which the law- can take cognizance.
If we excite, in our neighbor, a reasonable expectation which in
duces him to take a particular course Of business, we are in honor
bound to redeem the pledge thus tacitly given. Can any man doubt
that a large portion of our citizens believed that the system would be
permanent ? The whole country expected it. The security against
any change ofthe system proposed by the bill, is in the character of
the bill, as a compromise between two conflicting parties If the bill
should be taken by common consent, as we hope it will be — the his
tory of the revenue will be a guarantee of its permanence. The cir
cumstances under which it was passed will be known and recorded —
and no one will disturb a system which was adopted with a view to
give peace and tranquillity to the country.
The descending gradations by which I propose to arrive at the
minimum of duties, must be gradual. I never would consent to any
precipitate operation to bring distress and ruin on the community.
Now, viewing it in this light, it appears that there are eight years
and a half, and nine years and a half, taking the ultimate time, which
would be an efficient protection, the remaining duties will be with
drawn by a biennial reduction. The protective principle must be said
to be, in some measure, relinquished at the end of eight years and a
half. This period cannot appear unreasonable, and I think that no
member of the Senate, or any portion of the country, ought to make
the slightest objection. It now remains for me to consider the other
objection — the want of guarantee to there being an ulterior continu
ance of the duties imposed by the bill, on the expiration of the term
which it prescribes. The best guarantee will be found in the circum

ON introducing the compromise bill. 149
stances under which the. measure would bev passed. If it passes
by common consent ; if it is passed with the assent of a portion — a
considerable portion of those who have directly hitherto supported
this system, and by a considerable portion of those who opposed it —
if they declare their satisfaction with the measure, I have no doubt
the rate of duties1 guarantied, will be continued after the expiration of
the term, if the country continues at peace. And, at the end of the
term, when the experiment will have been made ofthe efficiency of
the mode of protection fixed by the bill, while the constitutional ques
tion has been suffered to lie dormant, if war should render it neces
sary, protection might be carried up to prohibition ; while if the coun
try should remain at peace, and this measure go into full operation,
the duties will be gradually lowered down to the revenue standard,
which has. been so earnestly wished for.
But suppose that I am wrong in all these views, for there are no
guarantees, in one sense of the term, of human infallibility. Suppose
a different state of things in the south — that this Senate, from causes
which I shall not dwell upon now, but which are obvious to every
reflecting man in this country— causes which have operated for years
past, and which continue to operate — suppose, for a moment, that
there should be a majority in the Senate in favor of the southern
views, and that they should repeal the whole system at once,
what guarantee would we have that the repealing of the law would
not destroy those great interests which it is so important to preserve ?
What guarantee will you have that the thunders of those powerful
manufactures will not be directed against your capitol, because of this
abandonment of their interests, and because you have given them no
protection against foreign legislation. Sir, if you carry your measure
of repeal without the consent, at least, of a portion of those who are
interested in the preservation of manufactures, you have no security
no guarantee, no certainty, that any protection will be continued.
But if the measure should be carried by the common consent of both
parties,, we shall have all security ; history will faithfully record the
transaction ; narrate under what circumstances the bill was passed •
that it was a pacifying measure ; that it was as oil poured from the
vessel of the Union to restore peace and harmony to the country.
When all this was known, what Congress, what Legislature, would
mar the guarantee ? What man who is entitled to deserve the char-
*K

150 speeches of henry clay.
acter of an American statesman, would stand up in his place in either
House of Congress, and disturb this treaty of peace and amity ?
Sir, I will not say that it may not be disturbed. All that I say is,
that here is all the reasonable security that can be desired by those
on the one side of the question, and much more than those on the
other would have by any unfortunate concurrence of circumstances.
Such a repeal of the whole system should be brought about as would
be cheerfully acquiesced in by all parties in this country. All parties
may find in this measure some reasons for objection. And what
human measure is there which is free from objectionable qualities ?
It has been remarked, and justly remarked, by the great father of our
country himself, that if that great work which is the charter of our
liberties, and under which we have so long flourished, had been sub
mitted, article by article, to all the different States composing this
Union, that the whole would have been rejected ; and yet when the
whole was presented together, it was accepted as a whole. I will
admit that my friends do not get all they could wish for ; and the
gentlemen on the other side do not obtain all they might desire ; but
both will gain all that in my humble opinion is proper to be given in
the present condition of this country. It may be true that there will
be loss and gain in this measure. But how is this loss and gain dis
tributed ? Among our countrymen. What we lose, no foreign hand
gains ; and what we gain, will be no loss to any foreign power. It
is among ourselves the distribution takes place. The distribution is
founded on that great principle of compromise and concession which
lies at the bottom of our institutions, which gave birth to the consti
tution itself, and which has continued to regulate us in our onward
march, and conducted the nation to glory and renown.
It remains for me now to touch another topic. Objections have
been made to all legislation at this session of Congress, resulting from
the attitude of one of the States of this confederacy. I confess that
I felt a very strong repugnance to any legislation at all on this sub
ject at the commencement of the session, principally because I mis
conceived the purposes, as I have found from subsequent observation,
which that State has in view. Under the influence of more accurate
information, I must say that the aspect of things since the commence
ment ofthe session have, in my opinion, greatly changed. When I
came to take, my seat on this floor, I had Supposed that a member of

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE BILL. 151
this Union had taken an attitude of defiance and hostility against the
authority of the general government. I had imagined that she had
arrogantly required that we should abandon at once a system which
had long been the settled policy of this country. Supposing that she
had manifested this feeling, and taken up this position, I had, in con
sequence, felt a disposition to hurl defiance back again, and to impress
upon her the necessity of the performance of her duties as a member
of this Union. But since my arrival here, I find that South Carolina
does not contemplate force, for it is denied and denounced by that
State. She disclaims it — and asserts that she is merely making an
experiment. That experiment is this : by a course of State legisla
tion, and by a change in her fundamental laws, she is endeavoring by
her civil tribunals to prevent the general government from carrying
the laws ofthe United States into operation within her limits. That
she has professed to be her object. Her appeal is not to arms, but to
another power ; not to the sword, but to the law. I must say, and I
will say it with no intention ot disparaging that State, or any other
of the States — it is a feeling unworthy of her. As the purpose of
South Carolina is not that of force, this at once disarms, divests legis
lation of one principal objection, which it appears to me existed
against it at the commencement of this session. Her purposes are all
of a civil nature. She thinks she can oust the United States from
her limits ; and unquestionably she has taken good care to prepare
her judges beforehand by swearing them to decide in her favor. If
we submitted to her, we should thus stand but a poor chance of ob
taining justice. She disclaims any intention of resorting to force un
less we should find it indispensable to execute the laws of the Union
by applying force to her. It seems to me the aspect of the attitude
of South Carolina has changed — or rather, the new light which I have
obtained, enables me to see her in a different attitude — and I have
not truly understood . her until she passed her laws, by which it was
intended to carry her ordinance into effect. Now, I venture to pre
dict that the State to which I have referred must ultimately fail in her
attempt. Idisclaim any intention of saying anything to the dispar
agement of that State. Far from it. I think that she has been rash,
iutemperate, and greatly in error ; and to use the language of one of
her own writers — made up an issue unworthy of her. From one end
to the other of this continent, by acclamation, as it were, nullification
has been put down, and put down in a manner more effectually than
by a thousand wars or a thousand armies ; by the irresistible force,

152 speeches of henry clay
by the mighty influence of public opinion. Not a voice beyond the
single State of South Carolina has been heard in favor of the princi
ple of nullification, which she has asserted by her own ordinance ;
and I will say, that she must fail in her lawsuit. I will express two
opinions ; the first of which is, that it is not possible for the ingenuity
of man to devise a system of State legislation to defeat the execution
of the laws of the United States, which cannot be countervailed by
federal legislation.
A State might take it upon herself to throw obstructions in the way
of the execution of the laws of the federal government ; but federal
legislation can follow at her heel quickly, and successfully counteract
the course of State legislation. The framers of the constitution fore
saw this, and the constitution has guarded against it. What has it
said? It is declared, in the clause enumerating the powers of this
government, that Congress shall have all power to carry into effect
all the powers granted by the constitution, in any branch of the gov
ernment under the sweeping clause — for they have not specified con
tingencies, because they could not see what was to happen — but
whatever powers were necessary, all, all are given to this govern
ment by the fundamental law, necessary to carry into effect those
powers which are vested by that constitution in the federal govern
ment. That is one reason. The other is, that it is not possible for
any State, provided this government is administered with prudence
and propriety, so to shape its laws as to throw upon the general gov
ernment the responsibility of first resorting to the employment of force ;
but, if force at all is employed, it must be by State legislation, and
not federal legislation : and the responsibility of employing that force
must rest with, and attach to, the State itself.
I shall not go into the details of this bill. I merely throw out these
sentiments for the. purpose of showing you that South Carolina, hav-,
ing declared her purpose to be this, to make an experiment whether,
by a course of legislation, in a conventional form, or a legislative form
of enactment, she can defeat the execution of certain laws of the
United States, I, for one, will express my opinion — that I believe it
is utterly impracticable, whatever course of legislation she may choose
to adopt, for her to succeed- I am ready, for one, to give the tribu
nals and the executive of the country, whether that executive has or
has not my confidence, the necessary measures of power and authority

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE BILL. 153
to execute the laws of the Union. But I would not go a hair's breadth
further than what was necessary for those purposes. Up to that point
I would go, and cheerfully go ; for it is my sworn duty, as I regard
it, to go to that point.
Again : taking this view of the subject, South Carolina is doing
nothing more, except that she is doing it with more rashness, than
some other States have done — that respectable State, Ohio, and, if I
am not mistaken, the State of Virginia also. An opinion prevailed
some years ago, that if you put the laws of a State into a penal form,
you could oust federal jurisdiction out of the limits of that State, be
cause the State tribunals had an exclusive jurisdiction over penalties
and crimes, and it was inferred that no federal court could wrest the
authority from them. According to that principle, the State of Ohio
passed the laws taxing the" branch of the United States Bank, and
high penalties were to be enforced against every person who should
attempt to defeat her taxation. The question was tried. It happened
to be my lot to be counsel at law to bring the suit against the State,
and to maintain the federal authority. The trial took place in the
State of Ohio ; and it is one of the many circumstances which re
dounds to the honor of that patriotic State, she submitted to the fed
eral force. I went to the office of thepublic treasury myself to which
was taken the money of the Bank of the United States, it having re
mained there in sequestration until it was peaceably rendered, in obe
dience to the decision of the court, without any appeal to arms. In
a building which I had to pass in order to reach the treasury, I saw
the most brilliant display of arms and musquetry that I ever saw in
my life ; but not one was raised or threatened to be raised against the
due execution of the laws ofthe United States, when they were then
enforced. In Virginia (but I am not sure that I am correct in the
history of it,) there was a case of this kind. Persons were liable to
penalties for selling lottery tickets. It was contended that the State
tribunals had an exclusive jurisdiction over the subject. The case
was brought before the Supreme Court^the parties were a Mr. Myers
and somebody else, and it decided as it must always decide, no mat
ter what obstruction — no matter what the State law may be, the con
stitutional laws ofthe United States must follow and defeat it, in its
attempt to arrest the federal arm in the exercise of its lawful authority.
South Carolina has attempted — and, I repeat it, in a much more of
fensive way, attempted to defeat the execution of the laws of the

154 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
United States. But it seems that, under all the circumstances of the
case, she has, for the present, determined to stop here, in order that,
by our legislation, we may prevent the necessity of her advancing any
further. But there are other reasons for the expediency of legisla
tion at this time. Although I came here impressed with a different
opinion, my mind has now become reconciled.
The memorable first of February is past. I confess I did feel an
unconquerable repugnance to legislation until that day should have
passed, because of the consequences that were to ensue. I hoped
that the day would go over well. I feel, and I think that we must
all confess, we breathe a freer air than when the restraint was upon
us. But this is not the only consideration. South Carolina has prac
tically postponed her ordinance, instead of letting it go into effect, till
the fourth of March. Nobody who has noticed the course of events,
can doubt that she will postpone it by still further legislation, if Con
gress should rise without any settlement of this question. I was
going to say, my life on it, she will postpone it to a period subsequent
to the fourth of March. It is in the natural course of events. South
Carolina must perceive the embarrassments of her situation. She
must be desirous — it is unnatural to suppose that she is not — to re
main in the Union. What ! a State whose heroes in its gallant an
cestry fought so many glorious battles along with those .of the other
States of this Union — a State with which this confederacy is linked
by bonds of such a powerful character ! I have sometimes fancied
what would be her condition if she goes out of this Union ; if her five
hundred thousand people should at once be thrown upon their own
resources. She is out ofthe Union. What is the consequence ? She
is an independent power. What then does she do ? She must have
armies and fleets, and an expensive government — have foreign mis
sions — she must raise taxes — enact this very tariff, which has driven
her out of the Union, in order to enable her to raise money, and to
sustain the attitude of an independent power. If she should have no
force, no navy to protect her, she would be exposed to piratical in
cursions. Their neighbor, St. Domingo, might pour down a horde
of pirates on her borders, and desolate her plantations. She must
have her embassies, therefore must she have a revenue. And, let me
tell you, there is another consequence — an inevitable one ; she has a
certain description of persons recognized as property south of the
Potomac, and west of the Mississippi, which would be no longer

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE BILL. 155
recognized as such, except within their own limits. This species of
property would sink to one-half of its present value, for it is Louis
iana and the south-western States which are her great market.
But I will not dwell on this topic any longer. I say it is utterly
impossible that South Carolina ever desired, for a moment, to become
a separate and independent State. If the existence of the ordinance,
while an act of Congress is pending, is to be considered as a, motive
for not passing that law, why, this would be found to be a sufficient
reason for preventing the passing of any laws. South Carolina , by
keeping the shadow of an ordinance even before us, as she has it in
her power to postpone it from time to time, would defeat our legisla
tion for ever. I would repeat that, under all the circumstances of the
case, the condition of South Carolina is only one of the elements of a
combination, the whole of which, together, constitutes a motive of
action which renders it expedient to resort, during the present session
of Congress, to some measure in order to quiet and tranquilize the
country. If there be any who want civil war — who want to see the blood
of any portion of our countrymen spilt — I am not one of them. I
wish to see war of no kind ; but, above all, I do not desire to see a
civil war. When war begins, whether civil or foreign, no human
sight is competent to foresee when, or how, or where it is to termi
nate. But when a civil war shall be lighted up in the bosom of our
own happy land, and armies are marching, and commanders are win
ning their victories, and fleets are in motion on our coast — tell me, if
you can, tell me if any human being can tell its duration. God alone
knows where such a war would end. In what a state will be left
our institutions ? In what state our liberties ? I want no war ; above
all, no war at home.
Sir, I repeat, that I think South Carolina has been rash, intemper
ate, and greatly in the wrong , but I do not want to disgrace her, nor
any other member of this Union. No : I do not desire to see the
lustre of one single star dimmed, of that glorious confederacy which
constitutes our political system still lessdo I wish to see it blotted out,
and its light obliterated for ever. Has not the State of South Caro
lina been one of the members of this Union in " days that tried men's
souls ?" Have not her ancestors fought along side our attestors ?

156. SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Have we not, conjointly, won together many a glorious battle ? If
we had to go into a civil war with such a State, how would it termi
nate ? Whenever it should have terminated, what would be her con
dition j If she should ever return to the Union, what would be the
condition of her feelings and affections ; what the state of the heart
of her people ? She has been with us before, when her ancestors
mingled in the throng of battle, and as I hope our posterity will min
gle with hers, for ages and centuries to come, in the .united defence
of liberty, and for the honor and glory of the Union, I do not wish to
see her degraded or defaced as a member of this confederacy.
In conclusion, allow me to entreat and implore each individual mem
ber of this body to bring into the consideration of this measure, which
I have had the honor of proposing, the same love of country which,
if I know myself, has actuated me , and the same desire of restoring
harmony to the Union, which has prompted this effort. If we can
forget for a moment — but that would be asking too much of human
nature — if we could suffer, for one moment, party feelings and party
causes — and, as I stand here before my God, I declare I have looked
beyond those considerations, and regarded only the vast interests of
this united people— I should hope that, under such feelings, and with
such dispositions, we may advantageously proceed to the considera
tion of this bill, and heal, before they are yet bleeding, the wounds
of our distracted country.

IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPROMISE ACT.
In the Senate of the United States February 25, 1833.

[The bill before noted, having been introduced and favorably reported, its passage
was opposed in the Senate, especially by Mr. Webster. Mr. Clay replied to the
arguments adduced against it as follows >]
Being anxious, Mr. President, that this bill should pass, and pass
this day, I will abridge as much as I can the observations I am called
upon to make. I have loDg, with pleasure and pride, co-operated
in the public service with the Senator from Massachusetts ; and I
have found him faithful, enlightened, and patriotic. I have not a par
ticle of doubf as to the pure and elevated motives which actuate him.
Under these circumstances, it gives me deep and lasting regret to find
myself compelled to differ from him as to a measure involving vital
interests, and perhaps the safety of the Union. On the other hand,
I derive great consolation from finding myself on this occasion, in the
midst of friends with whom 1 have long acted, in peace and in war,
and especially with the honorable Senator from Maine, (Mr. Holmes)
with whom I had the happiness to unite in a memorable instance. It
was in this very chamber, that Senator presiding in the committee
of the Senate, and I in committee of twenty-four of the House of
Representatives*, on a Sabbath day, that the terms were adjusted, by
which the compromise was effected of the Missouri question. Then
the dark clouds that hung over our beloved country were dispersed ;
and now the thunders from others not less threatening, and which *
have been longer accumulating, will, I hope, roll over us harmless
and without injury.
The senator from Massachusetts objects to the bill under consider
ation on various grounds. He argues that it imposes unjustifiable
restraints on the power of future legislation ; that it abandons the
protective policy,, and that the details of the bill are practically de-

158 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
fective. He does not object to the gradual, but very inconsiderable,
reduction of duties which is made prior to 1842. To that he could
not object, because it is a species of prospective provision, as he ad
mits, in conformity with numerous precedents on our statute book.
He does not object so much to the state of the proposed law prior to
1842, during a period of nine years ; but throwing himself forward to
the termination of that period, he contends that Congress will then
find itself under inconvenient shackles, imposed by our indiscretion.
In the first place I would remark, that the bill contains no obligatory
pledges ; it could make none ; none are attempted. The power over
the subject is in the constitution ; put there by those who formed it,
and liable to be taken out only by an amendment of the instrument.
The next Congress, and every succeeding Congress, will undoubtedly
have the power to repeal the law whenever they may think proper.
Whether they will exercise it or not, will depend upon a sound dis
cretion, applied to the state of the whole country, and estimating
fairly the consequences of the repeal, both upon the general harmony
and the common interests. Then the bill is founded in a spirit of
compromise. Now, in all compromises there must be mutual conces
sions. The friends of free trade insist that duties should be laid in
reference to revenue alone. The friends of American industry say,
that another, if not paramount object in laying them, should be to
diminish the consumption of foreign, and increase that of domestic
products. On this point the parties divide, and between these two
opposite opinions, a reconciliation is to be effected, if it can be accom
plished. The bill assumes as a basis, adequate protection for nine
years, and less beyond that term. The friends of protection say to
their opponents, we are willing to take a lease of nine years with the
long chapter of accidents beyond that period including thexhance of
war, the restoration of concord, and along with it, a conviction com
mon to all, of the utility of protection ; and in consideration of it, if,
in 1842, none of these contingencies shall have been realized, we are
willing to submit as long as Congress may think proper, to a maxim
um rate of twenty per cent., with the power of discrimination below
it, cash duties, home valuations, and a liberal list of free articles, for
the benefit of the manufacturing interest, To these conditions the
opponents of protection are ready to accede. The measure is what it
professes to be, a compromise ; but it imposes, and could impose no
restriction upon the will or power of a future Congress. Doubtless
great respect will be paid, as it ought to be paid, to the serious con-

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE BILL. 159
dition of the country that has prompted the passage of this bill. Any
future Congress that might disturb this adjustment, would act under
a high responsibility, but it would be entirely within its competency
to repeal, if it thought proper, the whole bill. It is far from the ob
ject of those who support this bill, to abandon or surrender the policy
of protecting American industry. Its protection or encouragement
may be accomplished in various ways. 1st. By bounties, as far as
they are within the constitutional, power of Congress to offer them.
2d. By prohibitions, totally excluding the foreign rival article. 3d.
By high duties, without regard to the aggregate amount of revenue
which they produce. 4th. By discriminating duties so adjusted as to
limit the revenue to the economical wants of govern in ent. And 5thly,
By the admission ofthe raw material, and articles essential to manu
factures, free of duty. To which may be added, cash duties, home
valuations, and the regulation of auctions. A perfect system of pro
tection would comprehend most if not all these modes of affording it.
There might be at this time a prohibition of certain articles, (ardent
spirits and coarse cottons, for example,) to public advantage. If
there were not inveterate prejudices and conflicting opinions prevail
ing, (and what statesman can totally disregard impediments ?) such
a compound system might be established.
Now, Mr. President, before the> assertion is made that the bill sur
renders the protective policy, gentlemen should understand perfectly
what it does not as well as what it does propose. It impairs no
power of Congress over the whole subject ; it contains no promise or
pledge whatever, express or implied, as to bounties, prohibitions, or
auctions ; it does not touch the power of Congress in regard to them,
and Congress is perfectly free to exercise that power at any time ; it
expressly recognizes discriminating duties within a prescribed limit ;
it provides for cash duties and home valuations ; and it secures a free
list, embracing numerous articles, some of high importance to the
manufacturing arts. Of all the modes of protection which I have
enumerated, it affects only the third ; that is to say, the imposition of
high duties, producing a revenue beyond the wants of government.
The senator from Massachusetts contends that the policy of protec
tion was settled in 1816, and that it has ever since been maintained.
Sir, it was settled long before 1816. It is coeval with the present
constitution, and it will continue under some of its various aspects,
during the existence of the government. No nation can exist — no

160 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
nation perhaps ever existed, without protection in some form, and to
some extent, being applied to its own industry. The direct and ne
cessary consequence of abandoning the protection of its own industry,
would be to subject it to the restrictions and prohibitions of foreign
powers ; and no nation, for any length of time, can endure an alien
legislation in which it has no will. The discontents which prevail,
and the safety of the republic, may require the modification of a spe
cific mode of protection, but it must be preserved in some other more
acceptable shape.
All that was settled in 1816, in 1824, and in 1828, was that pro
tection should be afforded by high duties, without regard to the amount
of the revenue which they might yield. During that whole period, we
had a public debt which absorbed all the surpluses beyond the ordi
nary wants of government. Between 1816 and 1824, the revenue
was liable to the great fluctuations, vibrating between the extremes
of about nineteen and thirty-six millions of dollars. If there were
more revenue, more debt was paid ; if less, a smaller amount was
reimbursed. Such was sometimes the deficiency of the revenue that
it became necessary to the ordinary expenses of government, to trench
upon the ten millions annually set apart as a sinking fund, to extin
guish the public debt. If the public debt remained undischarged, or
we had any other practical mode of appropriating the surplus revenue,
the form of protection, by high duties, might be continued without
public detriment. It is the payment ofthe public debt, then, and the
arrest of internal improvements by the exercise of the veto, that un
settle that specific form of protection. Nobody supposes, or proposes
that we should continue to levy by means of high duties, a large an
nual surplus, of which no practical use can be made, for the sake of
the incidental protection which they afford. The Secretary of the
Treasury estimates that surplus on the existing scale of duties, and
with the other sources of revenue, at six millions annually. An an
nual accumulation at that rate, would, in a few years, bring into the
treasury the whole currency of the country, to lie there inactive and
dormant. This view of the condition of the country has impressed every pub
lic man with the necessity of some modification of the principles of
protection, so far as it depends upon high duties. The senator from
Massachusetts feels it; and hence, in the resolutions which he sub-

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE BILL. IQ\
mitted, he proposes to reduce the duties, so as to limit the amount of
• the revenue to the wants of the government. With him revenue is
the principal, protection the subordinate object. If protection cannot
be enjoyed after such a reduction of duties as he thinks ought to be
made, it is not to be extended. He says, specific duties and the pow
er of discrimination, are preserved by his resolutions. So they may
be under the operation of the bill. The only difference between the
two schemes is, that the bill in the maximum which it provides, sug
gests a certain limit, while his resolutions lay down none. Below
that maximum the principle of descrimination and specific duties may
be applied. The senator from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Dallas,) who,
equally with the senator from Massachusetts, is opposed to this bill,
would have agreed to the bill if it had fixed thirty instead of twenty
per centum ; and he would have dispensed with home valuation, and
come down to the revenue standard in five or six years. Now Mr.
President, I prefer, and I think the manufacturing interest will prefer,
nine years of adequate protection, home valuations, and twenty per
centum to the plan ofthe senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. President, I want to be perfectly understood as to the motives
which have prompted me to offer this measure. I repeat what I said
on the introduction of it, that they are, first, to preserve the manufac
turing interest, and secondly, to quiet the country. I believe the
American system to be in the greatest danger ; and I believe it can
be placed on a better and safer foundation at this session than at the
next. I heard with surprise, my friend from Massachusetts say, that
nothing had occurred within the last six months to increase its hazard,
I entreat him to review that opinion. Is it correct. Is the issue of
numerous elections, including that of the highest officer of the gov
ernment nothing? Is the explicit recommendation of that officer, in
his message, at the opening of the session, sustained, as he is, by a
recent triumphant election, nothing ? Is his declaration in his procla
mation, that the burdens of the South ought to be relieved, nothing ?
Is the introduction of a bill into the House of Representatives, during
this session, sanctioned by the head of the treasury and the adminis
tration, prostrating the greater part ofthe manufactures of the country,
nothing ? Are the increasing discontents, nothing ? Is the tendency
of recent events to unite the whole South, nothing ? What have we
not witnessed in this chamber ? Friends of the administration, burst
ing all the ties which seemed indissolubly to unite them to its chief,

162 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and, with few exceptions south of the Potomac, opposing, and vehe
mently opposing, a favorite measure of that administration, which
three short months ago they contributed to establish ! Let us not de
ceive ourselves. Now is the time to adjust the question in a manner
satisfactory to both parties. Put it off until the next session, and the
alternative may, and probably then would be a speedy and ruinous
reduction of the tariff, or a civil war with the entire South.
It is well known, that the majority of the dominant party is adverse
to the tariff. There are many honorable exceptions, the senator from
New Jersey, (Mr. Dickerson,) among them. But for the exertions
of the other party, the tariff would have been long since sacrificed '
Now let us look at the composition of the two branches of Congress
at the next session. In this body we lose three friends ofthe protec
tive policy, without being sure of gaining one. Here, judging from
present appearances, we shall at the next session be in the minority.
In the House it is notorious that there is a considerable accession to
the number of the dominant party. How then, I ask, is the system
to be sustained against numbers, against the whole weight of the ad
ministration, against the united South, and against the increased pen
ding danger of civil war ? There is, indeed, one contingency that
might save it, but that is too uncertain to rely upon. A certain class
of northern politicians, professing friendship to the tariff, have been
charged with being secretly inimical to it, for political purposes.
They may change their ground, and come out open and undisguised
supporters of the system. They may even find in the measure which
I have brought forward, a motive for their conversion. Sir, I shall
rejoice in it, from whatever cause it may proceed. And, if they can
give greater strength and durability to the system, and at the same
time quiet the discontents of its opponents, I shall rejoice still more.
They shall not find me disposed to abandon it, because it has drawn
succour from an unexpected quarter. No, Mr. President, it is not
destruction, but preservation of the system at which we aim. If dan
gers now assail it, we have not created them. I have sustained it
upon the strongest and clearest convictions of its expediency. They
are entirely unaltered. Had others, who avow attachment to it, sup
ported it with equal zeal and straight-forwardness, it would be now
free from embarrassment ; but with them it has been a secondary in
terest. I utter no complaints ; I make no reproaches. I wish only
to defend myslf now, as heretofore, against unjust assaults. I have

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE ACT. 163
been represented as the father of this system, and I am charged with
an unnatural abandonment of my own offspring. I have never arro
gated to myself any such intimate relation to it. I have, indeed,
cherished it with parental fondness, and my affection is undiminished.
but in what condition do I find this child? It is in the hands of the
Philistines, who would strangle it. I fly to its rescue, to snatch it
from their custody, and to place it on a bed of security and repose for
nine years, where it may grow and strengthen, and become accepta
ble to the whole people. I behold a torch about being applied to a
favorite edifice, and 1 would save it if possible before it is wrapt in
flames, or at .least preserve the precious furniture which it contains.
I wish to see the tariff separated from the politics of the country,
that business men may go to work in security, with some prospect of
stability in our laws, and without everything being staked on the is
sue of elections as it were on the hazards of the die.
And the other leading object which has prompted the introduction
of this measure, the tranquilizing of the country is no less important.
All wise human legislation must consult in some degree the passions
and prejudices, and feelings, as well as the interests ofthe people. It
would be vain and foolish to proceed at all times, and under all cir
cumstances, upon the notion of absolute certainty in any system, or
infallibility in any dogma, and to push these out without regard to
any consequences. With us, who entertain the opinion that Congress
is constitutionally invested with power to protect domestic industry,
it is a question of mere expediency as to the form, the degree, and
the time that the protection shall be afforded. In weighing all the
considerations which should control and regulate the exercise of that
power, we ought not to overlook what is due to those who honestly
entertain opposite opinions to large masses of the community, and to
deep, long cherished and growing prejudices. Perceiving, ourselves
no constitutional impediment, we have less difficulty in accommoda
ting ourselves to the sense of the people of the United States upon
this interesting subject, I do believe that a majority of them is in
favor of this policy ; but I am induced to believe this almost against
evidence. Two States in New England, which "have been in favor
of the system, have recently come out against it. Other States of
the north and east have shown a remarkable indifference to its preser
vation. If, indeed, they have wished to preserve it, they have nev
ertheless placed the powers of government in hands which ordinary

164 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
information must have assured them were rather a hazardous deposi
tory. With us in the west, although we are not without some direct,
and considerable indirect interest in the system, we have supported it
more upon national than sectional grounds.
Meantime the opposition of a large and respectable section of the
Union, stimulated by political success, has increased, and is increas
ing. Discontents are multiplying and assuming new-and dangerous
aspects. They have been cherished by the course and hopes inspired
during this administration, which, at the very moment that it threatens
and recommends the use of the power of the Uniori, proclaims aloud
the injustice of the system which it would enforce. These discontents
are not limited to those who maintain the extravagant theory of nul
lification ; they are not confined to one State ; they are coextensive
with the entire South, and extend even to northern States. It has
been intimated by the senator from Massachusetts, that, if we legis
late at this session on the tariff, we would seem to legislate under the
influence of a panic. I believe, Mr. President, I am cot more sensi
ble to danger of any kind, than my fellow-men are generally. It per
haps requires as much moral courage to legislate under the imputa
tion of a panic, as to refrain from it lest such an imputation should be
made. But he who regards the present question as being limited to
South Carolina alone, takes a view of it much too contracted.
There is a sympathy of feeling and interest throughout the whole
South. Other southern States may differ from that as to the reme
dy to be now used, but all agree (great as in my humble judgment
is their error,) in the substantial justice of the cause. Can there
be a doubt that those who think in common will sooner or later act
in concert ? Events are on the wing, and hastening this co-operation.
Since the commencement of this session, the most powerful southern
member of the Union has taken a measure which cannot fail to lead
to important consequences. She has deputed one of her most distin
guished citizens to request a suspension of measures of resistance. No
attentive observer can doubt that the suspension will be made. Well,
sir, suppose it takes place, and Congress should fail at the next ses
sion to afford the redress which will be solicited, what course would
¦every principle of honor, and every consideration of the interests of
Virginia, as she understands them, exact from her ? Would she not
make common cause with South Carolina ? — and if she did, would

IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPROMISE ACT. 165
not the entire South eventually become parties to the contest ? The
rest of the Union might put down the South, and reduce it to submis
sion ; but, to say nothing of the uncertainty and hazards of all war,
is that a desirable state of things ? Ought it not to be avoided if it
can be honorably prevented ? I am not one of those who think that
we must rely exclusively upon moral power, and' never resort to
physical force. I know too well the frailties and follies of man, in
his collective as well as individual character, to reject in all possible
cases, the employment of force ; but I do think that when resorted to,
especially among th« members of a confederacy, it should manifestly
appear to be the only remaining appeal.
But suppose 'the present Congress terminates without any adjust
ment of the tariff, let us see in what condition its friends will find
themselves at the next session. South Carolina will have postponed
the execution of the law passed to carry into effect her ordinance
until the end of that session. All will be quiet in the south for the
present. The President, in his opening message, will urge that jus
tice, as he terms it, be done to the south, and that the burdens im
posed upon it by the tariff be removed. The whx>le weight of the ad
ministration, the united south, and majorities of the dominant party
in both branches of Congress, will be found in active co-operation.
W^ll the gentleman from Massachusetts tell me how we are to save
the tariff against this united and irresistible force ? They will accuse
us of indifference to the preservation of the Union, and of being will
ing to expose the country to the dangers of civil war. The fact of
South Carolina postponing her ordinance, at the instance of Virginia,
and once more appealing to the justice of Congress, will be pressed
with great emphasis and effect. It does appear to me impossible that
we can prevent a most injurious modification of the tariff at the next
session, and that this is the favorable moment for an equitable arrange
ment of it. Ihave been subjected to animadversion for the admission of
the fact, that, at the next session,our opponents will be stronger, and the
friends of the American System weaker than they are in this Congress.
But, is it not so ? And is it not the duty of every man who aspires
to be a statesman to look at naked facts as they really are ? Must h<>.
suppress them ? Ought he, like children, to throw the counterpana
over his eyes, and persuade himself that he is secure from danger r
Are not our opponents as well informed as we are about their own
strength ? *L

166 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
If we adjourn, without any permanent settlement of the tariff, in
what painful suspense and terrible uncertainty shall we not leave the
manufacturers and business men of the country ? All eyes will be
turned, with trembling and fear, to the next session. Operations will
be circumscribed, and new enterprises checked, or, if otherwise, ruin
and bankruptcy may be the consequence. I believe, sir, this meas
ure, which offers a reasonable guarantee for permanence and stability,
will be hailed by practical men with pleasure. The political manu
facturers may be against it, but it will command the approbation of a
large majority of the business manufacturers of the country.
But the objections of the honorable Senator from Massachu
setts are principally directed to the period beyond 1842. During
the intermediate time, there is every reason to hope and believe that
the bill secures adequate protection. All my information assures me
of this ; and it is demonstrated by the fact, that, if the measure of
protection, secured prior to the 31st December, 1841, were perma
nent, or if the biff were even silent beyond that period, it would com
mand the cordial and unanimous concurrence of the friends of the
policy. What then divides, what alarms us ? It is what may pos
sibly be the state of things in the year one thousand eight hundred
and forty-two, or subsequently ! Now, sir, even if that should be
as bad as the most vivid imagination or the most eloquent tongue
could depict it, if we have intermediate safety and security, it does
not seem to me wise to rush upon certain and present evils, because
of those which, admitting their possibility, are very remote and con
tingent. What ! shall we not extinguish the flame which is burst
ing through the roof that covers us, because, at some future and dis
tant day, we may be again threatened with conflagration ?
I do not admit that this bill abandons, or fails by its provisions to
secure reasonable protection beyond 1842. I cannot know, I pre
tend not to know, what will then be the actual condition of this coun
try, and of the manufacturing arts, and their relative -condition to the
rest of the world. I would as soon confide in the forecast ofthe hon
orable. Senator from Massachusetts, as in that of any other man in
this Senate, or in this country ; but he, nor any one else, can tell
what that condition will then be. The degree of protection which
will be required for domestic industry beyond 1842, depends upon
the reduction of wages, the accumulation of capital, the improvement

IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPROMISE ACT. 167
in skill, the perfection of machinery, and the cheapening ofthe price,
at home, of essential articles, such as fuel, iron, &c. I do not think
that the honorable Senator can throw himself forward to 1842, and
tell us what, in all these particulars, will be the state of this country,
and its relative state to other countries. We know that, in all human
probability, our numbers will be increased by an addition of one-third,
at least, to their present amount, and that may materially reduce
wages. We have reason to believe that our capital will be augment
ed, our skill improved ; and we know that great progress has been
made, and is making, in machinery. There is a constant tendency
to decrease in the price of iron and coal. The opening of new mines
and new channels of communication, must continue to lower it. The
successful introduction ofthe process of coaking will have great effect.
The price of these articles, one of the most opulent and intelligent
manufacturing houses in this country assures me, is a principal cause
of the present necessity of protection to the cotton interest ; and that
house is strongly inclined to think that 20 per cent, with the other
advantages secured in this bill, may do beyond 1842 Then, sir,
what effect may not convulsions and revolutions in Europe, if any
should arise, produce ? I am far from desiring them, that our coun
try may profit by their occurrence. Her greatness and glory rest, I
hope, upon a more solid and more generous basis. But we cannot
shut our eyes to the fact, that our greatest manufacturing, as well as
commercial competitor, is undergoing a momentous political experi
ment, the issue of which is far from being absolutely certain.- Who
can raise the veil of the succeeding nine years, and show what, at
their termination, will be the degree of competition which Great
Britain can exercise towards us in the manufacturing arts ?
Suppose, in the progress of gradual descent towards the revenue
standard, for which this bill provides, it should, some years hence,
become evident that further protection, beyond 1842, than that which
it contemplates, may be necessary, can it be doubted that, in some
form or other, it will be applied ? Our misfortune has been, and yet
is, that the public mind has been constantly kept in a state of feverish
excitement in respect to this system of policy. Conventions, elec
tions, Congress, the public press, have been for years all acting upon
the tariff, and the tarhTacting upon them all. Prejudices have been
excited, passions kindled, and mutual irritations carried to the high
est pitch of exasperation, insomuch that good feelings have been al-

168 - SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
most extinguished, and the voice of reason and experience silenced,
among the members of the confederacy. Let us separate the tariff
from the agitating politics of the country, place it upon a stable and
firm foundation, and allow our enterprising countrymen to demon
strate to the whole Union, by their skilful and successful labors, the
inappreciable value of the arts. If they, can have, what they have
never yet enjoyed, some years of repose and tranquillity, they will
make, silently, more converts to the policy, than would be made
during a long period of anxious struggle and boisterous contention.
Above all, I count upon the good effects resulting from a restoration
of the harmony of this divided people, upon their good sense and their
love of justice. Who can doubt, that when passions have subsided,
and reason has resumed her empire, that there will be a disposition
throughout the whole Union to render ample justice to all its parts ?
Who will believe that any section of this great confederacy would
look with indifference to the prostration of the interests of another
section, by distant and selfish foreign nations, regardless alike of the
welfare of us all ? No, sir; Ihave no fears beyond 1842. The peo
ple ofthe United States are brethren, made to love and respect each
other. Momentary causes may seem to alienate them, but, like
family differences, they will terminate in a closer and more affection
ate union than ever. And how much more estimable will be a sys
tem of protection, based on common conviction and common consent,
and planted in the bosoms of all, than one wrenched by power from
reluctant and protesting weakness ?
That such a system will be adopted, if it should be necessary for
the period of time subsequent to 1842, I will not doubt. But, in the
scheme which I originally proposed, I did not rely exclusively, great
as my reliance is, upon the operation of fraternal feelings, the return
nf reason, and a sense of justice. The scheme contained an appeal to
the interests ofthe South. According to it, unmanufactured cotton
was to be a free article after 1S42. Gentlemen from that quarter
have again and again asserted that they were indifferent to the duty
of three cents per pound on cotton, and that they feared no foreign
competition. I have thought otherwise ; but I was willing, by way
of experiment, to take them at their word ; not that I was opposed
to the protection of cotton, but believing that a few cargoes of for
eign cotton introduced into our northern ports, free of duty, would
hasten our southern friends to come here and ask that protection for

IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPROMISE ACT. 169
their great staple, which is wanted in other sections for their interests.
That feature in tfre scheme was stricken out in the select committee,
but not by the consent of my friend from Delaware (Mr. Clayton) or
myself. Still, after 1842, the south may want protection for sugar,
for tobacco, for Virginia coal, perhaps for cotton and other articles,
whilst other quarters may need it for wool, woollens, iron and cotton
fabrics ; and these mutual wants, if they should exist, will lead, I hope,
to some amicable adjustment of a tariff for that distant period, satis
factory to all. The theory of protection supposes, too, that, after a
certain time, the protected arts will have acquired such strength and
perfection as will enable them subsequently, unaided, to stand up
against foreign competition. If, as I have no doubt, this sliould prove
to be correct, it will, on the arrival of 1842, encourage all parts of
the Union to consent to the continuance of longer protection to the
few articles which may then require it.
The bill before us stronglyrecommends itself by its equity and im
partiality. It favors no one interest, and no one State, by an unjust
sacrifice of others. It deals equally by all. Its basis is the act of
July last. That act was passed after careful and thorough investi
gation, and long deliberation, continued through several months. Al
though it may not have been perfect in its adjustment of the proper
measure of protection to each article which was supposed to merit it,
"Tt'is not likely that, even with the same length of time before us, we
could make one more perfoct. Assuming the justness of that act, the
bill preserves the respective propositions for which the act provides,
avid subjects them all to the same equal but moderate reduction,
spread over the long space of nine years. The Senator from Massa
chusetts contends that a great part of the value of all protection is
given up by dispensing with specific duties arid the principle of dis
crimination. But much the most valuable articles of our domestic
manufactures (cotton and woollens, for example,) have never enjoy
ed the advantage of specific duties. They have always been liable
to ad valorem duties, with a very limited application of the minimum
principle. The bill does not, however, even after 1842, surrender
either mode of laying duties. Discriminations are expressly recog
nised below the maximum, and specific duties may also be imposed,
provided they do not exceed it.
The honorable Senator also contends that the bill is imperfect, and

170 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY.
that the execution of it will be impracticable. He asks, how is the-
excess above 20 per cent, to be ascertained on coarse and printed
cottons, liable to minimums of 30 and 35 cents, and subject to a duty
of 25 per cent, ad valorem ; and how is it to be estimated in the case
of specific duties ? Sir, it is very probable that the bill is not perfeot,
but I do not believe that there is anything impracticable in its execu
tion. Much will, however, depend upon the head of the treasury
department. In the instance of the cotton minimums, the statute
having, by way of exception to the general ad valorem rule, declared,
in certain cases, how the value shall be estimated, that statutory
value ought to govern ; and consequently the 20 per cent, should be
exclusively deducted from the 25 per cent, being the rate of duties
to which cottons generally are liable ; and the biennial tenths should
be subtracted from the excess of five per cent. With regard to spe
cific duties, it will, perhaps, be competent to the Secretary of the
Treasury, in the execution of the law, for the sake of certainty, to
adopt some average value, founded upon importations of a previous
year. But if the value of each cargo, and every part of it, is to be
ascertained, it would be no more than what now is the operation in
the case of woollens, silks, cottons above 30 and 35 cents, and a va
riety of other articles : and consequently there would be no more im
practicability in the law.
To all defects, however, real or imaginary, which may be supposed
will arise in the execution of the principle of the bill, I oppose one
conclusive, and, I hope, satisfactory answer. Congress will be in
session one whole month before the commencement of the law ; and
if, in the meantime, omissions calling for further legislation shall be
discovered, there will be more time then than we have now to sup
ply them. Let us, on this occasion of compromise, pursue the exam
ple of our fathers, who, under the influence of the same spirit, in the
adoption ofthe constitution ofthe United States, determined to ratify
it, and go for amendments afterwards..
To the argument of the Senator from Massachusetts, that this in
terest, and that, and the other, cannot be sustained under the protec
tion beyond 1842, 1 repeat tfte answer, that no one can now tell what
may then be necessary. That period will provide for itself. But I
was surprised to hear my friend singling out iron as an article that
would be most injuriously affected by the operation of this bill. If I

IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPROMISE ACT. 171
am not greatly mistaken in my recollection, he opposed and voted
against the act of 1824, because of the high duty imposed on iron.
But for that duty, (and perhaps the duty on hemp,) which he then
considered threw an unreasonablejburden upon the navigation of the
country, he would have supported that act. Of all the articles to
which protecting duties are applied, iron, and the manufactures of
iron, enjoy the highest protection. During the term of nine years,
the deductions from the duty are,not such as seriously to impair those
great interests, unless all my information deceives me ; and beyond
that period the remedy has been already indicated. Let me suppose
that the anticipations which I form upon the restoration of concord
and confidence shall be all falsified ; that neither the sense of frater
nal affection, nor common justice, nor even common interests, will
lead to an amicable adjustment of the tariff beyond 1842. Let me
suppose that period has arrived, and that the provisions of the bill
shall be interpreted as an obligatory pledge upon the Congress of
that day ; and let me suppose, also, that a greater amount of protec
tion than the bill provides is absolutely necessary to some interests,
what is to be done ? Regarded as a pledge, it does not bind Congress
for ever to adhere to the specific rate of duty contained in the bill
The most, in that view, that it exacts, is to make a fair experiment.
If, after such experiment, it should be demonstrated that, under such
an arrangement of the tariff, the interests of large portions of the
Union would be sacrificed, and they exposed to ruin, Congress will
be competent to apply some remedy that will be effectual ; and I hope
and believe that, in such a contingency, some will be devised that
may preserve the harmony and perpetuate the blessings of the Union.
It has been alledged that there will be an augmentation, instead of
a diminution of revenue, under the operation of this bill. I feel quite
confident of the reverse ; but it is sufficient to say that both contin
gencies are carefully provided for in the bill, without affecting the pro
tected articles.
The gentleman from Massachuetts dislikes the measure, because it
commands the concurrence of those who have been hitherto opposed,
in regard to the tariff; and is approved by the gentleman from South
Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun) as well as by myself. Why, sir, the gen
tleman has told us that he is not opposed to any compromise. Will
lie be pleased, to say how any compromise can be effected^ without a

172 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
concurrence between those who had been previously divided, and
taking some medium between the two extremes ? The wider the di
vision may have been, so much the better for the compromise, which
ought to be judged of by its nature and by its terms, and not solely
by those who happen to vote for it. It is an adjustment to which
both the great interests in this country may 'accede without either be
ing dishonored. The triumph of neither is complete. Each, for the
sake of peace, harmony, and union, makes some concessions. The
south has contended that every vestige of protection should be eradi
cated from the statute book, and the revenue standard forthwith
adopted. In assenting to this bill, it waives that pretension— -yields
to reasonable protection for nine years ; and consents, in considera
tion of the maximum of twenty per cent, to be subsequently applied,
to discriminations below it, cash duties, home valuations, and a long
list of free articles. The north and west have contended for the prac
tical application of the principle of protection, regulated by no other
limit than the necessary wants ofthe country. If they accede to this
adjustment, they agree, in consideration of the stability and certainty
which nine years' duration of a favorite system of policy affords, and
ofthe other advantages which have been enumerated, to come down
in 1842 to a limit not exceeding twenty per cent. Both parties, ani
mated by a desire to avert the evils which might flow from carrying
out into all their consequences the cherished system of either, have
met upon common ground, made mutual and friendly concessions,
and, I trust, and sincerely believe, that neither will have, hereafter,,
occasion to regret, as neither can justly reproach the other with what
may be now done.
This, or some other measure of conciliation,' is now more than ever
necessary, since the passage, through the Senate, of the enforcing bill.
To that bill, if I had been present, on the final vote, I should have •
given my assent, although with great reluctance. I believe this gov
ernment not only possessed of the constitutional power, but to be
bound by every consideration, to maintain the authority of the laws.
But I deeply regretted the necessity which seemed to me to require
the passage of such a bill. And I was far from being without serious
apprehensions as to the consequences to which it might lead. I felt
no new-born zeal in favor of the present administration, of which I
now think as I have always thought. I could not vote against the
measure ; I would not speak in its behalf. I thought it most proper

IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPROMISE ACT. 173
in me to leave to the friends of the administration and to others, who
might feel themselves particularly called upon, to defend and sustain
a strong measure of the administration. With respect to the series
of acts to which the executive has resorted, in relation to our south
ern disturbance, this is not a fit occasion to enter upon a full consid
eration of them ; but I will briefly say, that, although the proclama
tion is a paper of uncommon ability and eloquence, doing great credit,
as a composition, to him who prepared it, and to him who signed it,
I think it contains some ultra doctrines, which no party in this coun
try had ventured to assert. With these are mixed up many sound
principles and just views of our political systems. If it is to be judged
by its effects upon those to whom it was more immediately addressed,
it must be admitted to have been ill-timed and unfortunate. Instead
of allaying the excitement which prevailed, it increased the exaspe
ration in the infected district, and afforded new and unnecessary causes
of discontent and dissatisfaction in the south generally. The mes
sage, subsequently transmitted to Congress, communicating the pro
ceedings of South Carolina, and calling for countervailing enactments,
was characterized with more "prudence and moderation. And, if this
unhappy contest is to continue, I sincerely hope that the future con
duct ofthe administration maybe governed by wise and cautious
counsels, and a parental forbearance. But when the highest degree
of animosity exists ; w'hen both parties; however unequal, have ar
rayed themselves for the conflict, who can tell when, by the indis
cretion of subordinates, or other unforseen causes, the bloody strug
gle may commence ? In the midst of magazines, who kpows when
the fatal spark may produce a terrible explosion ? And the battle
once begun, where is its limit ? What latitude will circumscribe its
rage? Who is to command our armies? When, and where, and
how is the war to cease ? In what condition will the peace leave
the American System, the American Union, and, what is more than
all, American liberty ? I cannot profess to have a confidence, which
I have not, in this administration, but if I had all confidence in it, I
should still wish to pause, and, if possible, by any honorable adjust
ment, to prevent awful consequences, the extent of which no human
wisdom can foresee.
It appears to me, then, Mr. President, that we ought not to con
tent ourselves with passing the enforcing bill only. Both that and
the bill of peace seem to me to be required for the good of our coun-

174 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
try. The first will satisfy all who love order and law, and disapprove
the inadmissible doctrine of nullification. The last will soothe those
who love peace and concord, harmony and union. One demonstrates
the power and the disposition to vindicate the authority and suprema
cy of the laws of the Union ; the other offers that which, if it be ac
cepted in the fraternal spirit in which it is tendered, will supersede
the necessity of the employment of all force.
There are some who say, let the tariff go down ; let our manufac
tures be prostrated, if such be the pleasure, at another session, of those
to whose hands the government of this country is confided : let bank
ruptcy and ruin be spread over the land : and let resistance to the
laws, at all hazards, be subdued. Sir, they take counsel from their
passions. They anticipate a terrible reaction from the downfall of
the tariff, which would ultimately re-establish it upon a firmer basis
than ever. But it is these very agitations, these mutual irritations
between brethren of the same family, it is the individual distress and
general ruin that would necessarily follow the overthrow of the tariff;
that ought, if possible, to be prevented. Besides, are we certain of
this reaction ? Have we not been disappointed in it as to other meas
ures heretofore ? But suppose, after a long and embittered struggle,
it should come, in what relative condition would it find the parts of
this confederacy ? In what state our ruined manufactures ? When
they should be laid low, who, amidst the fragments of the general
wreck, scattered over the face of the land, would have courage to en
gage in fresh enterprises, under a new pledge of the violated faith of
the government ? If we adjourn, without passing this bill, having
entrusted the executive with vast powers to maintain the laws, should
he be able by the next session to put down all opposition to them,
will he not, as a necessary consequence of success, have more power
than ever to put down the tariff also ? Has he not said that the south
is oppressed, and its burdens ought to be relieved ? And will he not
feel himself bound, after he shall have triumphed, if triumph he may
in a civil war, to appease the discontents of the south by a modifica
tion ofthe tariff, in conformity with its wishes and demands? No,
sir ; no, sir ; let us save the country from the most dreadful of all
calamities, and let us save its industry, too, from threatened destruc
tion. Statesmen should regulate their conduct and adapt their meas
ures to the exigencies of the times in which they live. They cannot,
indeed, transcend the limits of the constitutional rule; but with re-

ON INTRODUCING THE COMPROMISE ACT. 175
spect to those systems of policy which fall within its scope, they should
arrange them according to the interests, the wants, and the prejudices
of the people. Two great dangers threaten the public safety. The
true patriot will not stop to inquire how they have been brought
about, but will fly to the deliverance of his country. The difference
between the friends and the foes of thefcompromise, under considera
tion, is, that they would, in the enforcing act, send forth alone a flam
ing sword. We would send out that also, but along with it the olive
branch, as a messenger of peace. They cry out, the law ! the law !
the law ! Power ! power ! power ! We, too, reverence the law, and
bow to the supremacy of its obligation ; but we are in favor of the
law executed in mildness, and of power tempered with mercy. They,
as we think, would hazard a civil commotion, beginning in South
Carolina and extending, God only knows where. While we would
vindicate the federal government, we are for peace, if possible, union
and liberty. We want no war, above all, no civil war,' no family
strife. We want to see no sacked cities, no desolated fields, no smok
ing ruins, no streams of American blood shed by American arms !
I have been accused of ambition in presenting this measure. Am
bition ! inordinate ambition ! If I had thought of myself only, I should
have never brough it forward. I know well the perils to which I
expose myself; the risk of alienating faithful and valued friends, with
but little prospect of making new ones, if any new ones could com
pensate for the loss of those whom we have long tried and loved ;
and the honest misconceptions both of friends and foes. Ambition F
If I had listened to its soft and seducing whispers ; if I had yielded
myself to the dictates of a cold, calculating, and prudential policy, I
would have stood still and unmoved. I might even have silently
gazed on the raging storm, enjoyed its loudest thunders, and left those
who are charged with the care of the vessel of Sftate, to conduct it as
they could. I have been heretofore often unjustly accused of ambi
tion. Low, grovelling souls, who are utterly incapable of elevating
themselves to the higher and nobler duties of purepatriotism — beings
who, for ever keeping their own selfish aims in view, decide all pub
lic measures by their presumed influence on> their aggrandizement,
judge me by the venal rule which they prescribe to themselves. £
have given to the winds those false accusations, as I consign that
which now impeaches my motives. I have no desire for office, not
«ven the highest. The most exalted is but a prison, in which the

176 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
incarcerated incumbent daily receives his cold, heartless visitants,
marks his weary hours, and is cut off from the practical enjoyment of
all the blessings of genuine freedom. I am no candidate for any of
fice in the gift of the people of these States, united or separated ; I
never wish, never expect to be. Pass this bill, tranquilize the coun
try, restore confidence and affection in the Union, and 1 am willing to
go home to Ashland, and renounce public service for ever, I should
there find, in its groves, under its shades, on its lawns, amidst my
flocks and herds, in the bosom of my family, sincerity and truth,
attachment and fidelity, and gratitude, which I have not always
found in the walks of public life  Yes, I have ambition, but it is
the ambition of being the humble instrument, in the hands of Provi
dence, to reconcile a divided people, once more to revive concord
and harmony in a distracted land — the pleasing ambition of contem
plating the glorious spectacle of a free, united, prosperous, and
fraternal people !

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES.
In the Senate of the United States,, December 26, 1833.

[The war of General Jackson upon- the United States Bank having tieen prose
cuted so far as to secure the ultimate downfall of the institution— a renewal of its
charter having been prevented by the Executive Veto — the House of Representa
tives, in the spring of 1833, resolved that the ifeposites ofthe Public Moneys in the
United States Bank were safe, and (impliedly) that they ought to be continued. In
the face of this, General Jackson, on the ISth of September, read a paper to his
Cabinet, avowing his determination to procure the Removal of the Deposites. On
the 24th he removed Mr. Duane from the office of Secretary ofthe Treasury, and
appointed Roger B. Taney Cbefore Attorney General) in his stead. Mr. Taney
immediately removed the Deposites. Upon the assembling of Congress the follow
ing December, the propriety of this important and novel step came naturally under
discussion. Mr. Clay submittedrthe following resolutions :
Resolved, That by dismissing the late Secretary of the Treasury because he would
not, contrary to his sense of his own duty, remove the money of the United States
in deposite with the Bank of the United States and its branches, in conformity with
the President's opinion ; and by appointing his successor to effect such removal,
which has been done, the President has assumed the exercise of a power over the
Treasury ofthe United States.not granted to him by the constitution and laws, and
dangerous to the liberties of the people.
Resolved, That the reasons assigned by the Secretary of the Treasury for the re
moval ofthe money ofthe United States, deposited in the Bank ofthe United States
and its branches, communicated to Congress on the 3d of December, 1833, are
unsatisfactory and insufficient.]
We are in the midst of a revolution, hitherto bloodless, but rapidly
tending towards a total change ofthe pure republican character of the
government, and to the concentration of all power in the hands of one
man. The powers of Congress are paralyzed, except when exerted
in conformity with his will, by frequent and an extraordinory exer
cise of the executive veto,, not anticipated by the founders of our con
stitution, and not practised by any of the predecessors of the present
chief magistrate. And, to cramp them still more, a new expedient
is springing into use, of withholding ^together bills which have re
ceived the sanction of both Houses of Congress, thereby cutting off

178 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
all opportunity of passing them, even if, after their return, the mem
bers should be unanimous in their favor. The constitutional parti
cipation of the Senate in the appointing power is virtually abolished
by the constant use ofthe power of removal from office, without any
known cause, and by the appointment of the same individual to the
same office, after his rejection by the Senate. How often have we,
Senators, felt that the check of the Senate, instead of being, as the
constitution intended, a salutary control, was an idle ceremony ? How
often, when acting on the case of the nominated successor, have we
felt the injustice of the removal ? How often have we said to each
other, well, what can we do ; the office cannot remain vacant, with
out prejudice to the public interest, and, if we reject the proposed
substitute, we cannot restore the displaced, and, perhaps, some more
unworthy man may be nominated ?
The judiciary has not been exempt from the prevailing rage for
innovation. Decisions of the tribunals, deliberately pronounced,
have been contemptuously disregarded. And the sanctity of nu
merous treaties openly violated. Our Indian relations, coeval with
the existence of the government, and recognised and established by
numerous laws and treaties, have been subverted, the rights of the
nelpless and unfortunate aborigines trampled in the dust, and they
brought under subjection to unknown laws, in which they have no
voice, promulgated in an unknown language. The most extensive
and most valuable public domain that ever fell to the lot of one na
tion, is threatened with a total sacrifice. The general currency of
the country — the life-blood of all its business — is in the most immi
nent danger of universal disorder and confusion. The power of inter
nal improvement lies crushed beneath the veto. The system of pro
tection of American industry was snatched from impending destruc
tion, at the last session ; but we are now coolly told by the Secretary
of the Treasury, without a blush, " that it is understood to be con
ceded on all hands, that the tariff for protection merely is to be finally
abandoned." By the 3d of March, 1837, if the progress of innova
tion continues, there will be scarcely a vestige remaining of the gov
ernment and its policy, as they existed prior to the 3d of March,
1829. In a term of eight years, a little more than equal to that
which was required to establish our liberties, the government will
have been transformed into arFelective monarchy — the worst of all
forms of government.

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 179
Such is a melancholy but faithful picture of the present condition
of our public affairs. It is not sketched or exhibited to excite, here
or elsewhere, irritated feeling. I have no such purpose. I would,
on the contrary, implore the Senate and the people to discard all pas
sion and prejudice, and to look calmly, btit resolutely, upon the ac
tual state of the constitution and the country. Although I bring into
the Senate the same unabated spirit, and the same firm determination
which have ever guided me in the support of civil liberty, and the
defence of our constitution, I contemplate the prospect before us with
feelings of deep humiliation and profound mortification.
It is not among the least unfortunate symptoms of the times, that
a large portion of the good and enlightened men of the Union,
of all parties, are yielding to sentiments of despondency. There is,
unhappily, a feeling of distrust and insecurity pervading the commu
nity. Many of our best citizens entertain serious apprehensions that
our Union and our institutions are destined to a speedy overthrow.
Sir, I trust that the hopes and confidence of the country will revive.
There is much occasion for manly independence and patriotic vigor,
but none for despair. Thank God, we are yet free ; and, if we put
on the chains which are forging for us, it will be because we deserve
to wear them. We should never despair of the republic. If our
ancestors had been capable of surrendering themselves to such igno
ble sentimens, our independence and our liberties would never have
been achieved. The winter of 1776-7 was one ofthe gloomiest pe
riods of the revolution ; but on this day, fifty-seven years ago, the
father of his country achieved a glorious victory, which diffused joy
and gladness and animation threughout the States i Let us cherish
the hope that, since he has gone from among us, Providence, in the
dispensation of his mercies, has near at hand in reservefor us, though
yet unseen by us, some sure and happy deliverence from all impend
ing dangers.
When we assembled here last year, we were full of dreadful fore
bodings. On the one hand we were menaced with a civil war, which,
lighting up in a single State, might spread its flames throughout one
ofthe largest sections of the Union. On the other, a cherished sys
tem of policy, essential to the successful prosecution of the industry
of our countrymen, was exposed to imminent danger of immediate'
destruction. Means wereliappily applied by Congress to avert both

180 SPEECHES. OF HENRY CLAY.-}
calamities. The country reconciled, and our Union once more be
came a band of friends and brothers. And I shall be greatly disap
pointed, if we do not find those who were denounced as being un
friendly to the continuance of our confederacy, among the foremost to
fly to its preservation, and to resist all executive encroachment.
Mr. President, when Congress adjourned, at the termination of
the last session, there was one remnant of its powers, that over the
purse, left untouched. The two most important powers of civil gov
ernment are,, those of the swoid and the purse. The first, with some
restriction, is confided by the constitution to the executive, and the
last to the legislative department. If they are separate, and exer
cised by different responsible departments, civil liberty is safe ; but
if they are united in the hands of the same individual, it is gone.
That clear-sighted and sagacious revolutionary orator and patriot,
(Patrick Henry) justly said, in the Virginia Convention, in reply to
one of his opponents :
" Let him candidly tell me where and when did freedom exist, when the sword
and purse were given up from the people % Unless a miracle in human affairs in
terposed, no nation ever retained its liberty after the loss of the sword and the' purse.
Can you .prdve by any argumentative deduction, that it is possible to be safe without
one of them \ ¦ If you give them up you are gone."

Up to the period of the termination of the last session of Congress
the exclusive constitutional power of Congress over the Treasury of
the United States had never been contested. Among its earliest acts
was one to establish the treasury department, which provided for the
appointment of a treasurer, who was required to give bond and secu
rity in a very large amount, " to receive and keep the moneys of the
United States, and to disburse the same upon warrants drawn by the
Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the Comptroller, record
ed by the Register, and not otherwise." Prior to the establishment
of the present Bank of the United States, no treasury or place had
been provided and designated by law for the safe-keeping of the pub
lic moneys, but the treasurer was left to his own discretion and re
sponsibility. When the existing Bank was established, it was pro
vided that the public moneys should be deposited with it, and conse
quently that Bank became the Treasury of the United States. For
whatever place is designated by law for the keeping of the public
money of the United States, under the care of the treasurer of the

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 181
United States, is for. the time being the treasury. Its safety was
drawn in question by the chief magistrate, and an agent was ap
pointed a little more than a year ago, to investigate its ability. He
reported to the executive that it was perfectly safe. His apprehen
sions of its solidity were communicated by the President to Congress,
and a committee was appointed to examine the subject. They, also,
reported in fayor of its security. And, finally, among the last acts
of the House of Representatives, prior to the close of the last session,
was the adoption of a resolution, manifesting its entire confidence in
the ability and solidity of the bank.
After all these testimonies to the perfect safety of the public
moneys, in the place appointed by Congress, who could have sup
posed that the place would have been changed ? Who could have
imagined that, within sixty days of the meeting of Congress, and, as
it were, in utter contempt of its authority, the change should have
been ordered ? Who would have dreamed that the treasurer should
have thrown away the single key to the treasury, over which Con
gress held ample control, and accepted in lieu of it some dozens of
keys, over which neither Congress nor he has any adequate control ?
Yet, sir, all this has been done, and it is now Our solemn duty to
inquire — 1st, By whose authority it has been ordered ? and 2d,
Whether the order has been given in conformity with the constitution
and laws of the United States ?
I agree, sir, and I am happy whenever I can agree with the Presi
dent, as to the immense importance of these questions. He says, in
a paper which I hold in my hand, that he looks upon the pending
question as involving higher considerations than the " mere transfer
of a sum of money from one bank to another. Its decision may affect
the character of our government for ages to come." And, with him,
I view it as of transcendent importance both in its consequences and
the great principles which the question involves. In the view which
I have taken of this subject, I hold the bank as nothing, as perfectly
insignificant, faithful as it has been in the performance of all its duties,
efficient as it has proved in regulating the currency, than which there
is none in all Christendom so sound, and deep as is the interest of the
country in the establishment and continuance of a sound currency,
and the avoidance of all those evils which result from a defective or
unsettled currency. All these I regard as questions of no importance,
»M

182 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
in comparison with the principles involved in this executive' innova
tion. It involves the assumption of power by the executive, and the
taking away a power from Congress which it was never before doubted
to possess — the power over the public purse. Entertaining these
views, I shall not, to-day, at least, examine the reasons assigned by
the President, or by the Secretary of the Treasury ; for if the Presi
dent had no power to perform the act, no reasons, however cogent or
strong, which he can assign as urging him to the accomplishment of
his purpose, no reasons can sanctify an unconstitutional and illegal act.
The first question, sir, which I intimated it to be my purpose to
examine, was, by whose direction was this change of the deposites
made ?
Now, sir, is there any man who hears me, who requires proof on
this point ? Is there an intelligent man in the whole country who
does not know who it was that decided on the removal of the de
posites ? Is it not of universal notoriety ? Does any man doubt that
it was the act of the President ? That it was done by his authority
and at his command ? The President, on this subject, has himself
furnished evidence which is perfectly conclusive, in the paper which
he has read to his cabinet ; for, although he has denied to the Senate
an official copy of that paper, it is universally admitted that he has
given it to the world as containing the reasons which influenced him
to this act. As a ,part of the people, if not in our senatorial character,
we have a right to avail ourselves of that paper, and of all which it
contains. Is it not perfectly conclusive as to the authority by which
the deposites have been removed ? I admit that it is an unprece
dented and most extraordinary paper. The constitution of the United
States admits of a call, from the chief magistrate, on the heads of
departments, for their opinions in writing.
It appears, indeed, that this power which the constitution confers
on the President, had. been exercised, and that the cabinet were divi
ded, two and two, and one, who was ready to go on either side, being
a little indifferent how this great constitutional power was settled by
the President. The President was not satisfied with calling on his
cabinet for their opinions, in the customary and constitutional form ;
but he prepares a paper of his own, and, instead of receiving reasons
from them, reads to them, and thus indoctrinates them according to

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 183
his own views. This, sir, is the first time in the history of our coun
try, when a paper has>been thus read, and thus published. The pro
ceeding is entirely without precedent. Those who now exercise
power consider all precedents wrong. They hold precedents in con
tempt : and, casting them aside, have commenced a new era in ad
ministration. But while they thus hold all precedents in contempt,
disregarding all, no matter how long established, no matter to what
departments of the government they may have given sanction, they
are always disposed to shield themselves behind a precedent, when
ever they can fihd one to subserve their purpose.
But the question is — who gave the order for the removal of the
deposites ? By whose act were they removed from the Bank of the
United States, where they were required by the law to be placed,
and placed in banks which the law never designated ? I tell the gen
tlemen who are opposed to me, that I am not to be answered by the
exhibition of an order signed by R. Taney, or anyone else. I want
to know, not the clerk who makes the writing, but the individual who
dictates — not the hangman who executes the culprit, but the tribunal
which orders the execution. I want the original authority, that" I
may know by whose order, on whose authority the public deposites
were removed, and I again ask— is there a member of this Senate, is
there an intelligent man in the whole country, who doubts on this
point ? Hear what the President himself says, in his manifesto, read
to his Cabinet:
"The President deems it HIS duty, to communicate in this manner to his cabi
net the final conclusions of his own mind, and the reasons on which they are found
ed," &c.
At the conclusion of this paper what does he say ?
" The President again repeats that he begs his cabinet to consider the proposed
•measure as his own, in the support of which he shall require no one of them to make
a sacrifice of opinion or principle. Its responsibility has been assumed, after the
most mature reflection, as necessary to preserve the morals of the people, the free
dom of the press, and the purity of the elective franchise, without which all will
nnite in saying that the blood and treasure expended by our forefathers in the estab
lishment of our happy system of government will have been vain and fruitless. Un
der these convictions, he feels that a measure so important to the American people
cannot be commenced too soon ; and HE therefore names the first day of October
next as a period proper for the change ofthe deposites, or sooner, provided the neces
sary arrangements with the State Banks can be made."
Sir, is there a Senator here who will tell me that this removal was
not made by the President ? I know, indeed, that there are in this

184 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
document many of those most mild, most gracious, most condescend
ing expressions, with which power well knows how to clothe its man
dates. The President coaxes, he soothes the Secretary in the most
bland and conciliating language :
" In the remarks he has made on this all important question, he trusts the Secre
tary of the Treasury will see only the frank and respectful declarations of the opin
ions which the President has formed on a measure of great national interest, deeply
affecting the character and usefulness of his administration ; and not a spirit of dic
tation, which the President would be as careful to avoid, as ready to resist. Happy
will he be, if the facts now disclosed produce uniformity of opinion and unity ot
action among the members of the administration."
Sir, how kind ! how gentle ! • How very gracious must this have
sounded in the gratified ear of the Secretary of the Treasury ! Sir, it
reminds me of an historical anecdote related of one of the most re
markable characters which our species has ever produced. While
Oliver Cromwell was contending for the mastery of Great Britain, or
Ireland, (I do not now remember which,) he besieged a certain Catho
lic town. The place made a stout resistance ; ,but at length the town
being likely to be taken, the poor Catholics proposed terms of capitu
lation, stipulating therein for the toleration of their religion. The
paper containing the terms was brought to Oliver, who, putting on
his spectacles to read it, cried out, " Oh, granted, granted ; certain
ly"— he, however, added—" but if one of them shall dare to be found
attending mass, he shall be hanged" — (under what section is not men
tioned ; whether under a second, or any other section, of any particu
lar law, we are not told.)
• Thus, sir, the Secretary was told by the President that he had not
the slightest wish to dictate— oh, no : nothing is farther from the Presi
dent's intention : but, sir, what was he told in the sequel ? « If you
do not comply with my wishes— if you do not effect the removal of
these deposites within the period I assign you, you must quit your
office." And what, sir, was the effect ? This document bears date
on the 18th of September. In the official paper, published at the seat
of government, and through which it is understood that the govern
ment makes known its wishes and purposes to the people of the
United States, we were told, under date of the 20th September, 1833,
two days only after this cabinet paper was read, as follows :
,n"iC?e are ™^9™z&}o ^"-[authorized; this is the word which gave credit
to this annunciation]-" We are authorized to state that the deposites ofthe public
money will be changed from the Bank of the United States to the State Banks, is

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 185
soon as necessary arrangements can be made for that purpose, and that it is believed
they can be completed in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, in time
to make the change by the first of October, and perhaps sooner, if circumstances should
render an earlier action necessary on the part of the government."
Yes, sir, on the 18th of September this measure was decided on ;
and on the 20th, it is announced to the people, that the deposites
would be removed by the first of October, or sooner, if practicable !
Mr. Duane was continued in office till the 23d, on which day he was
dismissed : and between the 23d and the 26th, on which latter day
the mere clerical act of signing the order for removal was performed,
Mr. Taney, by whom it was done, was appointed Secretary of the
Treasury, having conformed to the will of the President, against his
own duty, which Mr. Duane would not do. Yes, sir, on the 20th
went forth this proclamation, by authority, of the removal of the
deposites, although Mr. Duane remained in office till the 23d. On
this point we have conclusive proof in a letter of the President to that
gentleman, dated on the 23d, which letter, after all the gracious,
friendly and conciliating language of the cabinet paper, concludes in
these terms :
"I feel constrained to notify you, that your further services as Secretary of the
Treasury are no longer required."
Such, Mr. President, is the testimony on the one side to prove the
truth of the proposition, that the removal of the deposites from the
Bank of the United States was a measure determined on by the Pre
sident himself — determined on while the latter Secretary ofthe Trea
sury was still in office, and against the will of the Secretary ; although
Mr. Taney may have put his signature to the order on the 26th — a
mere ministerial act, done in conformity with the previous decision
of the President, that the removal should take place on or before the
first of October.
I now call the attention of the Senate to testimony of the other
party : I mean Mr. Duane. After giving a history of the circum
stances which accompanied his appointment to office, and what pass
ed antecedent to'his removal, he proceeds to say :
" Thus was I thrust into office— thus was I thrust from office— not because I had
neglected any duty — not because I had differed with him about the Bank of the
United States— but because I refused, without further inquiry by Congress, to remove
the deposites."
Can testimony be more complete to establish the proposition I have

186 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
advanced ? And is it possible, after the testimony of the President
on one side, and of his Secretary on the other, that the former had
decided that the deposites should be removed, and had removed the
Secretary because he would not do it^ that any man cati doubt that
the removal was the President's own act ? that it was done in ac
cordance with his command ?
And now, sir, having seen that the removal was made by the com
mand and authority of the President, I shall proceed to inquire
whether it was done in conformity with the constitution and laws of
of the United States.
I do not purpose at this time to go into the reasons alleged by the
President or his Secretary, except so far as those reasons contain an
attempt to show that he possessed the requisite authority. Because
if the President of the United States had no power to do this thing. —
if the constitution and laws instead of authorizing it, required him to
keep his hands off the treasury, it is useless to inquire into any reasons
he may give for exercising a power which he did not possess. Sir,
what power has the President ofthe United States over" the treasury !
Is it in the charter establishing the Bank ? The clause of the char
ter relating to the public deposites declares,
" That the deposites of the money of the United States, in places in which the said
Bank and branches thereof may be established, shall be made in said bank or
branches thereof, unless the Secretary of the treasury shall at any time otherwise
order and direct ; in which case the Secretary of the Treasury shall immediately
lay before Congress, if in session, and if not, immediately after the commencement
of the next session, the reasons of such order or direction.".
This is in strict consonance with the act creating the treasury de
partment in 1789. The Secretary of the Treasury is by that act
constituted the agent of Congress ; he is required to report to Con
gress annually the state of the finances, and his plans respecting them ;
and if Congress in either of its branches shall require it, he is to re
port at any time on any particular branch of the fiscal concerns of
the country. He is the agent of Congress to watch over the safety
of the national deposites ; and if, from any peculiar circumstances,
the removal of them shall be required, he is to report the fact — to
whom ? to the President ? No, sir — he must report it to Congress,
together with his reasons therefor. By the charter of the Bank, the
President of the United States is clothed with two powers respecting .
it, and two only. By one of its clauses he is authorized to nominate,

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 187
and by and with the consent of the Senate, to appoint the govern
ment directors, and to remove them,: by the other clause he is em
powered to issue a scire facias when he shall apprehend that the
charter of the institution has been violated. These, I say, are the
only powers given him by the charter, all others are denied to him,
and are given to others. The Bank is not bound to report the state
of its affairs to him, but to the Secretary of the Treasury ; and it is
thus to report whenever he shall call upon it for information ; but
when it becomes necessary to go farther, a committee of Congress is
authorized to examine the books of the Bank and look into the whole
state of its affairs, and to report, not to the President, but to Congress
who appointed them. The President as I have said, is restricted , to
the two powers of appointing directors, and issuing a scire facias.
And has the President any power over the treasury by the consti
tution ? None, sir — none. The constitution requires that no money
shall be drawn from the treasury exeept by appropriation, thus placing
it entirely under the control of Congress. But the President himself
says : " upon him has been devolved, by the constitution and the
suffrages ofthe American people, the duty of superintending the ope
ration of the executive departments of the government, and seeing
that the laws are faithfully executed." Sir, the President in another
part of this same paper, refers to the same suffrages of the American
people, as the source of some other and new powers over and above
those in the constitution, or at least as expressive of their approba
tion of the exercise of them. Sir, I differ from the President on this
point ; and though it does not belong exactly in this place in the ar
gument, I will add a remark or two on this idea. His re-election re
sulted from his presumed merits generally, and the confidence and
attachment of the people ; and from the unworthiness of his compet
itor ; nor was it intended thereby to express their approbation of all
the opinions he was known to hold. Sir, it cannot be believed that
the great State of Pennsylvania, for instance, which has so justly been
denominated the key stone of our federal arch, in voting again and
again for the present Chief Magistrate, meant by that act to reverse
her own opinions on the subject of domestic industry. Sir, the truth
is, that the re-election ofthe President proves as little an approbation
by the people of all the opinions he may hold, even if he had ever
unequivocally expressed what those opinions were, (a thing which
he never, so far as my knowledge extends, has yet done) as it would

188 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
prove that if the President had a carbuncle or the king's evil, they
meant by re-electing him, to approve of his carbuncle.
But the President says, that the duty " has been devolved upon
him," to remove the deposites, " by the Constitution and the suffrages
of the American people." Sir, does he mean to say that these suf
frages created of themselves a new source of power ? That he deri
ved an authority from them which he did not hold as from any other
source ? If he means that their suffrages made him the President of
the United States, and that, as President, he may exercise every
power pertaining to that office under the constitution and the laws,
there is none who controvert it ; but then there could be no need
to add the suffrages to the constitution. But his language is, " the
suffrages ofthe American people and the constitution." Sir, I deny
it. There is not a syllable in the constitution which imposes any such
duty upon him. There is nothing of any such thing ; no color to the
idea. It is true, that by law, all the departments, with the exception
of the treasury, are placed under the general care of the President.
He says this is done by the constitution. The laws, however, have
appointed but three executive departments ; and it is true that the
secretaries are often required by law to act in certain cases according
to the directions of the President. So far, it is admitted that they
have been, by the law, (not by the constitution,) placed under the
direction of the President. Yet, even as to the State department,
there are duties devolving upon the Secretary over which the Presi
dent has no control ; and for the non-performance of which that offi
cer is responsible, not to the President, but to the legislative tribunals
or to the courts of justice. This is no new opinion. The supreme
court, in the case of Marbury and Madison, expressed it in the fol
lowing terms :
" By the constitution of the United States, the President is invested with certain
.important political powers, in the exercise of which, he is te use his own discretion,
and is accountable only to his country in his political charac»er„and to his own eon-
science. To aid him in the performance of these duties, he is authorized to appoint
certain officers, who act by his authority, and in conformity to hi3 orders.
* * # * # # *
" In such cases, meir acts are his acts ; and whatever opinion may be entertained
of the manner in which executive discretion may be used, still there exists, and can
exist, no power to control that discretion. The subjects are political. They respect
the nation, not individual rights, and being entrusted to the executive, the decision
of the executive is conclusive. The application of this remark will be perceived.by
adverting to the act of Congress for establishing the department of foreign affairs.
This officer, as his duties were prescribed by that act, is to conform precisely to the
will of the President. He is the mere organ by whom that will is communicated
The acts of such an officer, as an officer, can never be examined by the courts.

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 189
"But when the legislature proceeds to impose on that officer other duties; when
he is directed peremptorily to perform certain acts, (that is, when he is not placed
under the direction of the President,) when the rights of-rfldividuals are dependent
on the performance of those acts, he is so far the officer of the law ; is amenable to
tlie laws for his conduct ; and cannot at his discretion sport away the vested rights of
others. ,
" The conclusion from this reasoning is, that where the heads of departments are
the political or confidential agents of the executive, merely to execute the will of
the President, or rather to act iu cases in which the executive possesses a constitu
tional or legal discretion, nothing can be more perfectly clear than that their acts
are only politically examinable. But where a specific duty is assigned by law, arid
individual rights depend upon the performance of that duty, it seems equally clear
that, the individual who considers himself injured, has a' right to resort to the laws
of his country for a remedy."
Though the President is mistaken in his assertion, that the consti
tution devolves upon the President the superintendence of the depart
ments, there is one clause of that instrument which he has very cor
rectly quoted, and which makes it his duty to " see that the laws are
faithfully executed," as it is mine 'now to examine what authority he
obtains by this clause in the case before us. Under it, the most enor
mous pretensions have been set up for the President.
It has been contended, that if a law shall pass which the President
does not conceive to be in conformity with the constitution, he is not
bound to execute it : and if a treaty shall have been made, which, in
his opinion has been unconstitutional in its stipulations, he is not
bound to enforce them- And it necessarily follows, that, if the courts
of justice shall give a decision, which he shall in like manner deem
repugnant to the constitution, he is not expected or bound to execute
that law.. Sir, let us look a little into this principle, and trace it out
into some of its consequences.
One of the most important acts performed at the departments is, to
settle those very large accounts which individuals have with the
government ; accounts amounting to millions of dollars ; to settle
them, an auditor and a comptroller have been appointed by law,
whose official acts may affect, to the extent of hundreds of thousands
of dollars, the property of individual contractors. If the pretensions
of the President are well founded, his power goes further than he
has exerted it. He may go into the office of the auditor, or the office
of the comptroller, and may say to him, Sir, Mr. A. B. has an account
under settlement in this office, one item of which objected to by you,
I consider to be in accordance with the constitution ; pass that ac
count and send it to the auditor : and he may then go to the auditor

190 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and hold similar language. If the clause of the constitution is to be
expounded, as is contended for, it amounts to a complete absorption
of all the powers of government in the person of the executive. Sir,
when a doctrine like this shall be admitted as orthodox, when, it shall
be acquiesced in by the people of this country, our government will
have become a simple machine enough. The will of the President
will be the whole of it. There will be but one bed, and that will be
the bed of Procrustes ; but one will, the will of the President. All
the departments, and all subordinate functionaries of government,
great or small, must submit to that will ; and if they do not, then the
President will have failed to " see that the laws are faithfully execu
ted." Sir, such an extravagant and enormous pretension as this must be
set alongside of its exploded compeer, the pretension that Congress
has the power of passing any and all laws which it may suppose
conducive to " the general welfare."
Let me, in a few words, present to the Senate what are my own
views as to the structure of this government. I hold that no pow
ers can legitimately he exercised under it but such as are expressly
delegated, and those which are necessary to carry these into effect.
Sir, the executive power as existing in this government, is not to be
traced to the notions of Montesquieu, or of any other writer of that
class, in the abstract nature of the executive power. Neither is the
legislative nor the judicial power to be decided by any such reference.
These several powers with us, whatever they may be elsewhere, are
jast what the constitution has made them, and nothing more. And
as to the general clauses in which reference, is made to either^ they
are to be controlled and interpreted by those where these several
powers are specially delegated, otherwise the executive will become
a great vortex that must end in swallowing up all the rest. Nor will
the judicial power be any longer restrained by the restraining clauses
in the constitution, which relate to its exercise. What then, it will
be asked, does this clause, that the President shall see that the laws
are faithfully executed, mean ? Sirs, it means nothing more nor less
than this, that if resistance is made to the laws, he shall take care
that resistance shall cease. Congress by the 1st article of the 8th
section of the constitution is required to provide for calling out the
militia to execute the laws, in case of resistance. Sir, it might as

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 191
well be contended under that clause, that Congress have the power
of determining what are, and what are not the laws of the land.
Congress has the power of calling out the military ; well sir, what is
the President, by the constitution ? He is commander of the army
and navy of the United States, and of the militia when called out
into actual service- When, then, we are here told that he is clothed
with the whole physical power of the nation, and when we are af
terwards told, that he must take care that the'laws are faithfully ex
ecuted, is it possible that any man can be so lost to the love of liber
ty, as not to admit that this goes no farther than to remove any^re-
sistance which may be made to the execution of . the laws ? We '
have established a system in which power has been carefully divided
among different departments of the government. And we have been
told a thousand times, that this division is indispensable as a safe
guard to civil liberty. We have designated the departments, and
have established in each, officers to examine the power belonging to
each. The President, it is true, presides over the whole ; his eye
surveys the whole extent of the system in all its movements. But
has he power to enter into the courts, for example, and tell them
what is to be done ? Or may he come here, and tell us the same ?
Or when we have made a law, can he withhold the power necessary
to its practical effect ? He moves, it is true, in a high, a glorious
sphere. It is his to watch over the whole with a paternal eye ; and,
when any one wheel of the vast machine is for a time interrupted
by the occurrence of invasion or rebellion, it is his care to propel its
movements, and to furnish it with the requisite means of performing
its appropriate duty in its own place.
That this is the true interpretation of the constitutional clause to
which I have alluded, is inferred from the total silence of all contem
poraneous expositions of that instrument on the subject. I have my
self (and when it was not in my power personally, have caused
others to aid me,) made researches into the numbers of the Federal
ist ; the debates.in the Virginia convention, and in the conventions
of other States, as well as all other sources of information to which I
could obtain access, and I have not, in a solitary instance, found the
slightest color for the claims set up in these most extraordinary times
for the President, that he has authority to afford or withhold at pleas
ure the means of enforcing the laws, and to superintend and control
an officer charged with a specific duty, made by the law exclusively

192 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY
his. But, sir, I have found some authorities which strongly militate
against any such claim. If the doctrine be indeed true, then it is
most evident that there is no longer any control over our affairs than
that exerted by the President. If it be true that when a duty is by
law specifically assigned to a particular officer, the President may go
into his office and control him in the manner of performing it, then is
it most manifest that all barriers for the safety of the treasury are
gone. Sir, it is that union of the purse and the sword, in the -hand
of one man, which constitutes the best definition of tyranny which
our language can give.
The charter of the Bank of the United States requires that the
public deposites be made in its vaults. It also gives the Secretary
of the Treasury power to remove them — and why ? The Secretary
is at the' head of the finances of the government. Weekly report are
made by the bank to him. He is to report to Congress annually ;
and to either House whenever he shall be called upon. He is the
sentinel of Congress— the agent of Congress — the representative of
Congress. Congress has prescribed and has defined his duties. He
is required to report to them, not'to the President. He is put there
by us as our representative : he is required to remove the deposites
when they shall be in danger, and we not in session : but when he
does this, he is required to report to Congress the fact, with his rea
sons for it. Now, sir, if, when an officer of government is thus spe
cifically assigned his duty, if he is to report his official acts on his
responsibility to Congress, if in a case where no power whatever is
given to the President, the President may go and say to that officer,
" go and do as I bid you, or you shall be removed from office"- — let
me ask whether the danger apprehended by that eloquent man has
not already been realized ?
But, sir, let me suppose that I am mistaken in my construction of
the constitution ; and let me suppose that the President has, as is con
tended, power to see every particular law carried into effect ; what,
then, was it his duty to do in the present case under the clause thus
interpreted ? The law authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to
remove the deposites on his responsibility to Congress. Now, if the
President has power to see this, like other laws, faithfully executed,
then surely the law exacted of him that he should see that the Sec
retary was allowed to exercise his free, unbiassed, uncontrolled judg

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 193
ment in removing or not removing them. That was the execution
of the law. Congress had not said that the Secretary of War, or the
Secretary of State, might remove the public deposites from the trea
sury. The President had no right to go to the Secretary of War and ask
him what the Secretary of the Treasury ought to do. He might as
well have consulted the Secretary of the Treasury about a contem
plated movement of the army, as to ask the Secretary of War about
the disposition of the public moneys. It was not to the President,
and all his secretaries combined, that the power was given to alter
the disposition of the deposites in the bank. It was to the Secretary
alone, exclusive ofthe President and all the other officers of govern
ment. And according to gentlemen's own showing, by their con
struction of the clause, the Secretary ought to have been left to his
own unbiassed determination, uncontrolled by the President or any
body else.
I would thank.the Secretary of the Senate to get me the sedition
law. It is not very certain how soon we may be called to act upon it.
Now, sir, let us trace some of the other sources ofthe exercise of
this power, or motives for it, or by whatever other name they are to
be called. He says to Mr. Duane :
" The President repeats that he begs the cabinet to consider the proposed measure
as his own, in the support of which he shall require no one of them to make a sac
rifice of opinion or principle. Its responsibility has been assumed, after the most
mature deliberation and reflection, as necessary to preserve the morals ofthe people,
the freedom of the press, and the purity of the elective franchise."
•
The morals of the people ! What part of the constitution has given
to the President any power over " the morals ofthe people ?" None.
It does not give such power even over religion, the presiding and
genial influence over every true system of morals. No, sir, it^gives
him no such power. *
And what is the next step ? To-day he claims a power as neces
sary to the morals of the people; to-morrow he will claim another,
as still more indispensable to our religion. And the President might
in this case as well have said that he went into the office of the Sec
retary ofthe Treasury, and controlled his free exercise of his authority

194 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
as Secretary, because it was necessary to preserve " the religion of
the people !" I ask for the authority. Will any one of those gen
tlemen here, who consider themselves as the vindicators of the execu
tive, point me to any clause of the constitution which gives to the
present President of the United States any power to preserve " the
morals of the people ?"
But " the freedom of the press," it seems, was another motive.
Sir, I am not surprised that the present Secretary of the Treasury
should feel a desire to revive this power over the press. He, I think,
was a member of that party which passed the sedition law, under
precisely the same pretext. I recollect it was said, that this Bank,
this monster of tyranny, was taking into its pay a countless number
of papers, and by this means was destroying the fair fame of the Pre
sident and his Secretary, and all that sort of thing. Sir, it is some
times useful to refer back to those old things — to the notions and the
motives whicri induced men in former times to do certain acts which
may not be altogether unlike some others in our own time.
The famous sedition act was passed, sir, in 1789 ; and it contained,
among others, the following provision :
" Sec. 2. That if any person shall write, print, utter or publish, or shall cause or
procure to be written, printed, uttered or published, or shall, knowingly and will
ingly, assist or aid in writing, printing, utterfng or publishing, any false, scandalous
and malicious, writing or writings, against the government of the United States or
either House of the Congress ofthe United States, or the President of the United
States, with intent to defame the said government, or either House of the said Con
gress, or the said President, or to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or
disrepute ; or to excite against them, or either of them, the hatred of the good
people of the United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States; or to
excite any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or resisting any law of the
United States, or any act of the President of the United States, done in pursuance
of any such law, or of the powers in him vested by the constitution of the United
States ; or to resist, oppose or defeat, any such law or act ; or to aid, encourage or
abet, any hostile designs of any foreign nation against the United States, their people,
or government, then such person, being thereof convicted before any court of the
United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding
two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years."
We have now, sir, in the reasonsTor the removal of the govern
ment deposites, the same motives avowed and acted upon. The
abuse ofthe government, bringing it into disrepute, using contemptu
ous language to persons high in authority, constituted the motives
for passing the sedition law : and what have we now but a repetition
ofthe same complaints of abuses, disrespect, &c. As it is now, so it
was then : for, says the next section of the same sedition act :

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 195
•
" That if any person shall be prosecuted under this act for the writing or publish
ing any libel aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the defendant, upon the trial ofthe
cause, to give in evidence in his defence, the truth of the matter contained in the
publication charged as a libel. And the jury who shall try the cause, 6hall have a
right to determine the law and the fact, under the direction ofthe court, as in other
cases." It is only for the sake of the truth, said they who favored the pas
sage of that law — for the sake of justice ; as it is now said that it
was necessary to remove the deposites in order to preserve the purity
ofthe press. That's all, sir. But there is one part of this assump
tion of power by the President much more tyrannical than that act.
Under that law, the offending party was to have a trial by jury ; the
benefit of witnesses and of counsel ; and the right to have the truth
of his alledged libels examined. But what is the case now under
consideration ? Why, sir, the President takes the whole matter in
his own hands ; he is at once the judge, the jury, and the executioner
of the sentence, and utterly deprives the accused party of the oppor
tunity of showing that the imputed libel is no libel at all, but founded
in the clearest truth.
But " the purity of the elective franchise," also, the President has
very much at heart. And here, again, I ask what part of the consti
tution gives him any power over that " franchise ?" Look, sir, at
the nature of the exercise of this power ! If it was really neces
sary that steps should be taken to preserve the purity of the press or
the freedom of elections, what ought the President to have done ?
Taken the matter into his own hands ? No, sir ; it was his duty to
recommend to Congress the passage of laws for the purpose, under
suitable sanctions ; laws which the courts of the United States could
execute. We could not have been worse off under such laws, (how
ever exceptionable they might be,) than we are now. We could
then, sir, have reviewed the laws, and seen whether Congress or the
President had properly any power over this matter ; or whether the
article of the constitution which forbids that the press shall be touched,
and declares that religion shall be sacred from all the powers of legis
lation, applied in the case or not. This the President has underta
ken to do of himself, without the shadow of authority, either in the
constitution or the laws.
Suppose, sir, that this contumacious institution, which committed
the great sin, in 1829, of not appointing a new President to a certain
one of its branches — suppose that the bank should go on and vindi-

196 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
cate itself against the calumnies poured out upon it — that it should
continue to stand upon its defence, how inefficient will have been the
exercise of power by the President ! How inadequate to the end he
had in view, of preserving the press from being made use of to de
fend the bank! Why, sir, if we had had the power, and the Presi
dent had come to us, we could have laid Mr. Nicholas Biddle by the
heels, if he should have undertaken to publish another report of gen
eral Smith or Mr. Dufiie, or another speech of the eloquent gen
tleman near me, (Mr. Webster) or any other such libels, tending to
bring the President or his administration into disrepute. But the
President of the United States, who thought he had the bank in his
power; who thought he could stop it ; who was induced to believe,
by that " influence behind the throne, greater than itself," that he
could break down the bank at a word, has only shown his want of
power over the press by his attempt to exercise it in, the manner he
has done. The bank has avowed and openly declared its purpose to
defend itself on all suitable occasions. And, what is still more pro
voking, instead of being a bankrupt, as was expected, with its doors
closed, and its vaults inaccessible, it has now, it seems, got more
money than it knows what to do with ; and this greatest of misers
and hoarders cruelly refuses to let out a dollar of its ten millions of
specie to relieve the sufferings of the banks to which the government
deposites have been transferred.
Sir, the President ofthe United States had nothing to do with the
morals ofthe community. No, sir ; for the preservation of our mor
als we are responsible to God, and I trust that that responsibility will
ever remain to Him and His mercy alone. Neither had the Presi
dent anything to do with the freedom of the press. The power over
it is denied, even to Congress, by the people. It was said, by one of
those few able men aad bright luminaries whom Providence has yet
spared to uSj in answer to complaints by a foreign minister, against
the freedom with which the American press treated certain French
functionaries, that the press was one of those concerns which admit
ted of no regulation by the government ; that its abuses must be tol
erated, lest its freedom should be abridged. Such, sir, is the freedom
ofthe press, as recognized by our constitution, and so it has been re
spected ever since the repeal of the obnoxious act which I have al
ready quoted, until the detestable principles of that law have been

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 197
reasserted by the President in his assumption of a power, in nowise
belonging to his office, of preserving the purity of the press.
Such, sir, are the powers on which the President relies to justify
his seizure of the Treasury of the United States. I have examined
them one by one ; and they all fail, utterly fail, to bear out the act.
We are irresistibly brought to the conclusion, that the removal of the
public money from the Bank of the United States has been effected
by the displacement from the head of the treasury department of one
who would not remove them, and putting in his stead another person
who would ; and, secondly, that the President has no color of au
thority in the constitution or the laws for the act which he has under
taken to perform. (
Let us now, for a few moments examine the consequences which
may ensue from the exercise of this enormous power. If the Presi
dent has authority, in a case in which the law has assigned a speci
fic duty exclusively to a designated officer, to control the exercise of
his discretion by that officer, he has a right to interfere in every other
case, and remove every one from office who hesitates to do his bid
ding, against his judgment of his own duty. This, surely, is a logi
cal deduction not to be resisted. Well, then, how stands the matter ?
Recapitulating the provisions of the law prescribing how money
should be drawn from the treasury arid the deduction above stated,
what is to prevent the President from going to the Comptroller and
if he will not countersign a warrant which he has found an accom
modating Secretary to sign, turning him out for another ; then going
to the Register, and doing the same ; and then to the Treasurer,
and commanding him to pay over the money expressed in the war
rant, or subject himself to expulsion.
Where is the security against such conduct on the part of the Pre
sident ? Where the boundary to this tremendous authority which he
has undertaken to exercise ? Sir, every barrier* around the treasury
is broken down. From the moment that the President said, " I make
this measure myown. I take upon myself the responsibility," —
from that moment the public treasury might as well have been at the
Hermitage as at this place. Sir, the measure adopted by the Presi
dent is without precedent — in our day at best. There is indeed,' a
precedent on record, but you must go down to the Christian era for
*N

198 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
it. It will be recollected, by those who are conversant with ancient
history, that after Pompey was compelled to retire to Brundusium,
Caesar, who had been anxious to give him battle, returned to Rome,
" having reduced Italy (says the historian) in sixty days, (the exact
period sir, between the removal of the deposites, and the meeting of
Congress, without the usual allowance of three day's grace,) — with
out bloodshed." The historian goes on " Finding the city in a more
settled condition than he expected, and many Senators there he ad
dressed them in a mild and gracious manner — (as the President ad
dressed his late Secretary of the Treasury,) and desired them to send
deputies to Pompey with an officer of honorable terms of peace. As
Metellus, the Tribune opposed his taking money out of the public
treasury, and cited some laws against it — (such, sir, I suppose, as I
have endeavored to cite on this occasion) — Caesar said, "Arms and
laws do not flourish together. If you are not pleased with what I am
about, you have only to withdraw — (leave the office, Mr. Duane !)
— War, indeed, will not tolerate much liberty of speech. When J
say this, I am renouncing my own right ; for you and all those whom
I have found exciting a spirit of faction against me, are at my dispo
sal." Having said this, he approached the doors of the treasury,
and as the Keys were not produced, he sent for workmen to break
them open. Metellus again opposed him, and gained credit with
some for his firmness ; but Caesar with an elevated voice threatened
to put him to death, if he gave- him any farther trouble. "And you
know very well, young man," said he, " that this is harder for me
to say than to do." Metellus, terrified by the measure, retired, and
Caesar was afterward, easily and readily supplied with every thing
necessary for the war.
And where now, sir, is the public treasury ? Who can tell ? It is
certainly without a local habitation, if it be not without a name.
And where is the money of the people of the United States ? Float
ing about in treasury draughts or checks to the amount of millions,
placed in the hands of tottering banks, to enable them to pay their
own debts, instead of being appropriated to the service of the people.
These checks are scattered to the winds by the treasurer of the Uni
ted States, who is required by law to let out money from the treasu
rer, on warrants signed by the Secretary of the treasury, countei
signed, registered, &c, and not otherwise.

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEP08ITES. 199
[Mr. Clay here referred to a correspondence, which he quoted, between the trea
surer and the officers of the bank, complaining of these cheeky drawn without pro
per notice, &c, in which the treasurer says they were only issued to be used in cer.
tain contingencies, &c]
Thus, sir, the people's money is put into a bank here, and the bank
theTe, in regard to the solvency of which we know nothing, and it is
placed there to be used in the event of certain contingencies — contin
gencies of which neither the Treasurer nor the Secretary have yet
deigned to furnish us any account.
Where was the oath of office of the treasurer when he ventured
thus to sport with the people's money ? Where was the constitution,
which forbids money to be drawn from the treasury without appro
priation by law ? Where was the treasurer's bond when he thus cast
about the people's money ? Sir, his bond, is forfeited. I do not pre
tend to any great knowledge of the law, but give me an intelligent
and unpacked jury, and I undertake to prove to him that he has for
feited the penalty of his bond.
Mr. President, the people of the United States are indebted to the
President for the boldness of this movement ; and as one among the
humblest of them, I profess my obligations to him. He has tOld the
Senate, in his message refusing an official copy of his cabinet paper,
that it has been published for the information of the people* As a
part ofthe people, the Senate, if not in their official character, have
a right to its use. In that extraordinary paper he has proclaimed
that the measure is his own ; and that he has taken upon himself the
responsibility of it. In plain English, he has proclaimed an open,
palpable, and daring usurpation !
For more than fifteen years, Mr. President, I have been struggling
to avoid the present state of things. I thought I perceived in some
proceedings, during the conduct of the Seminole war, a spirit of de
fiance to the constitution and to all law. With what sincerity and
truth — with what earnestness and devotion to civil liberty, I have
struggled, the Searcher of all human hearts best knows. With what
fortune, the bleeding constitution of my country now fatally attests.
I have nevertheless, persevered ; and under every discouragement,
during the short time that I expect to remain in the public councils,

200 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
I will persevere. And if a bountiful Providence would allow an un
worthy sinner to approach the throne of grace, I would beseech him,
as the greatest favor he could grant to me here below, to spare me
until I live to behold the people rising in their majesty, with a peace
ful and constitutional exercise of their power, to expel the Goths
from Rome; to rescue the public treasury from pillage, to preserve
the constitution of the United States ; to uphold the Union against
the danger of the concentration and consolidation of all power in the
hands of the executive ; and to sustain the liberties of the people of
this country against the imminent perils to which they now stand
exposed. [Here Mr. Clay, who was understood to have gone through the first part of his
speech only, gave way, and Mr. Ewing of Ohio moved that the further considera
tion of the subject be postponed until Monday next ; which was ordered accordingly.
And then the Senate adjourned to that day. December 80, Mr. Clav resumed his
speech.] Before I proceed to a consideration of the report of the Secretary
of the Treasury, and the second resolution, I wish to anticipate and
answer an objection, which may be made to the adoption of the first.
It may be urged that the Senate, being in a certain contingency, a
court of impeachment ought not to prejudge a question which it may
be called upon to decide judicially. But by the constitution the Se
nate has three characters, legislative, executive, and judicial. Its
ordinary, and by far its most important character, is that of its being
a component part of the legislative department. Only three or four
cases, since the establishment of the government, (that is, during a
period of near half a century,) have occurred, in which it was neces
sary that the Senate should act as a judicial tribunal, the least im
portant of all its characters. Now it would be most strange if, when
its constitutional powers were assailed, it could not assert and vindi
cate them, because, by possibility, it might be required to act as a
court of justice. The first resolution asserts only, that the President
has assumed the exercise of a power over the public treasury not
granted by the constitution and laws. It is silent as to motive ; and
without the quo animo — the deliberate purpose of usurpation— the
President would not be liable to impeachment. But if a concurrence
of all the elements be necessary to make out a charge of wilful viola
tion of the constitution, does any one believe that the President will
now be impeached ? And shall we silently sit by and see ourselves

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 201
stripped of one of the most essential of our legislative powers, and the
exercise of it assumed by the president, to.which it is not delegated,
without effort to maintain it, because, against all human probability
he may be hereafter impeached ?
The report ofthe Secretary of the Treasury, in the first paragraph,
commences with a misstatement of the fact. He says, " I have direct
ed" that the deposites of the money of the United States shall not be
made in the Bank of the United States. If this assertion is regarded
in any other than a mere formal sense, it is not true. The Secretary
may have been the instrument, the clerk the automaton, in whose
name the Order was issued ; but the measure was that of the Presi
dent, by whose authority or command the order was given ; and of
this we have the highest and most authentic evidence. The Presi
dent has told the world that the measure was his own, and that he
took it upon his own responsibility. And he has exonerated his cabi
net from all responsibility about it. The Secretary ought to have
frankly disclosed all the circumstances of the case, and told the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If he had done so, he
would have informed Congress that the removal had been decided by
the President on the 18th of September last; that it had been an
nounced to the public on the 20th ; and that Mr. Duane remained in
office until the 23d. He would have informed Congress that this
important measure was decided before he entered into his new office,
and was the cause of his appointment. Yes, sir, the present Secretary
stood by, a witness to the struggle in the mind of his predecessor,
between his attachment to the President and his duty to the country ;
saw him dismissed from office, because he would not violate his con
scientious obligations, and came into his place, to do what he could
not honorably, and would not perform. A son Of one of the fa
thers of democracy, by an administration professing to be democrat
ic, was expelled from office, and his place supplied by a gentleman
who, throughout his whole career, has been uniformly opposed to de
mocracy ! A gentleman who, at another epoch of the republic, when
it was threatened with civilwar, and a dissolution of the Union,
voted, (although a resident of a slave State) in the legislature of
Maryland, against the admission of Missouri into the union with
out a restriction incompatible with her rights as a member of the con
federacy. Mr. Duane was dismissed because the solemn convictions
of his duty would not allow him to conform to the President's will ;

202 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
because his logic did not bring his mind to the same conclusion with
those of the logic of a venerable old gentleman, inhabiting a white
house not distant from the capital ; because his watch [Here Mr.
Clay held up his own,] did not keep time with that ofthe President.
He was dismissed under that detestable system of proscription for
opinion's sake, which has finally dared to intrude itself into the halls
of Congress — a system under which three unoffending clerks, the fa
thers of families, the husbands of wives, dependent on them for sup
port, without the slightest imputation of delinquency, have been re
cently unceremoniously discharged, and driven out to beggary, by a
man, himself the substitute of a meritorious officer, who has not been
in this city a period equal to one monthly revolution of the moon!
I tell' our Secretary, (said Mr. Clay, raising his voice,) that, if he
touch a single hair of the head of any one of the clerks of the Se
nate, (I am stire he is not disposed to do it,) on account of his opin
ions, political or religious, if no other member of the Senate does it,
I will instantly submit a resolution for his own dismission.
The Secretary ought to have communicated all these things ; he
ought to have stated that the cabinet was divided two and two, and
one of the members equally divided with himself on the question,
willing to be put into either scale. He ought to have given a full
account of this, the most important act of executive authority since
the origin of the government ; he should have stated with what
unsullied honor his predecessor retired from office, and on what de-.
grading conditions he accepted his vacant place. When a moment
ous proceeding like this, varying the constitutional distribution of
the powers of the legislative and executive departments, was resolved
on ; the ministers against whose advice it was determined, should
have resigned their stations. No ministers of any monarch In Eu
rope, under similar circumstances, would have retained the seals of
office. And if, as nobody doubts, there is a cabal behind the curtain,
without character and without responsibility, feeding the passions,
* The following is the proceeding to which Mr. Clay referred :
Resolved, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Senators and Repre
sentatives from this State in Congress, he requested to use their utmost endeavors in
the admission ofthe State of Missouri into the Union, to prevent the prohibition of
slavery from being required of that State as a condition of its admission."
It passed, January, 1820, in the affirmative. Among the names of those in the
negative, is that of Mr. Taney.

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 203
stimulating the prejudices, and moulding the actions of the incumbent
of the presidential office, it was an additional reason for their resig
nations. There is not a Maitre d'hotel in Christendom, who, if the
scullions were put into command in the parlor and dining room,
would not scorn to hold his place, and fling it up in disgust with in
dignant pride !
I shall examine the report before us, first, As to the power of the
Secretary over the deposites ; second, His reasons for the exercise
of it ; and third, The manner of its exercise.
1. The Secretary asserts that the power of removal is exclusively
reserved to him ; that it is absolute and unconditional, so far as the
interests of the Bank are concerned ; that it is not restricted to any
particular contingencies ; that the reservation of the power to the
Secretary of the Treasury exclusively, is a part of the compact ; that
he may exercise it, if the public convenience or interest would in any
degree be promoted ; that this exclusive power, thus reserved, is so
absolute, that the Secretary is not restrained by the considerations
that the public deposites in the Bank are perfectly safe ; that the
Bank promptly meets all demands upon it ; and that it faithfully per
forms all its duties ; and that the power of Congress, on the contrary,
is so totally excluded, that it could not, without a breach ofthe com
pact, order the deposites to be changed, even if Congress were satis
fied that they were not safe, or should be convinced that the interests
of the people of the United States imperiously demanded the re
moval. Sueh is the statement which this unassuming Secretary makes of
his own authority. He expands his own power to the most extrava
gant dimensions ; and he undertakes to circumscribe that of Congress
an the narrowest and most restricted limits ! Who would have expect
ed that, after having so confidently maintained for himself such abso
lute, exclusive, unqualified and uncontrollable power, he would have
let in any body else to share with him its exereise ? Yet he says,
" as the Secretary of the treasury presides over one of the executive
departments of the government, and Ms power over this subject forms
a part of the executive duties of his office, the manner in which it is
exercised must be subject to the supervision of the officer, "(meaning
the President, whose official name his modesty would not allow him

204 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
to pronounce) " to whom the constitution has confided the whole ex
ecutive power, and has required to take care that the laws be faith
fully executed." If the clause in the compact exclusively vests the
power of removal in the Secretary of the treasury, what has the Pre
sident to do with it ? What part of the charter conveys to him any
power ? If, as the Secretary contends, the clause of removal, being
part of the compact, restricts its exercise to the Secretary, to the en
tire exclusion of Congress, how does it embrace the President ? espe
cially since both the President and Secretary conceive that " the
power over the place of deposite for the public money, would seem
properly to belong to the legislative department of the government ?"
If the Secretary be correct in asserting that the power of removal is
confined to the Secretary of the treasury, then Mr. Duane, while in
office, possessed it ; and his dismission, because he would not exer
cise a power which belonged to him exclusively, was itself a viola
tion of the charter.
But by what authority does the Secretary assert that the treasury
department is one ofthe executive departments ofthe government ? He
has none in the act which creates the department ; he has none in the
constitution. The treasury department is placed by law on a different
footing from all the other departments, which are, in the acts creating
them, denominated executive, and placed under the direction of the
President. The treasury department, on the contrary, is organized
on totally different principles. Exceptthe appointment ofthe officers,
with the co-operation of the Senate, and the power which is exer
cised of removing them, the President has neither by the constitution
nor the law creating the department, anything to do with it. The
Secretary's reports and responsibility are directly to Congress. The
whole scheme of the department is one of checks, each officer actini
as a control upon his associates. The Secretary is required by the
law to report, not to the President, but directly to Congress. Either
House may require any report from him, or command his personal
attendance before it. It is not, therefore, true that the treasury is one
of the executive" departments, subject to the supervision of the Presi
dent. And the inference drawn from that erroneous assumption en
tirely fails. The Secretary appears to have no precise ideas either
of the constitution or duties of the department over which he pre
sides. He says :

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 205
" The treasury department being intruBted with the administration of the finances
ofthe country, it was always the duty of the Secretary, in the absence of any legis
lative provision on the subject, to take care that the public money was deposited in
safe keeping, in the hands of faithful agents," &c.
The premises of the Secretary are only partially correct, and the
conclusion is directly repugnant to law. It never was the duty of the
Secretary to take care that the public money was deposited in safe
keeping, in the hands of faithful agents, &c. That duty is expressly,
by the act organizing the department, assigned to the Treasurer of the
United States, who is placed under oath, and under bond, with a
large penalty, not to issue a dollar out of the public treasury, but in
virtue of warrants granted in pursuance of acts of appropriation, " and
not otherwise." When the Secretary treats ofthe power ofthe Pres
ident, he puts on corsets and prostrates himself before the executive,
in the most graceful, courteous and lady-like form ; but when he
treats of that of Congress, and of the treasurer, he swells and expands
himself, and flirts about, with all the airs of high authority.
But I cannot assent to the Secretary's interpretation of his power
of removal, contained in the charter. Congress has not given up its
control over the treasury, or the public deposites, to either the Sec
retary or the Executive. Congress could not have done so without
a treacherous renunciation of its constitutional powers, and a faithless
abandonment of its duties. And now let us see what is the true state
of the matter. Congress has reserved to itself, exclusively, the right
to judge of the reasons for removal of the deposites, by requiring the
report of them to be made to it ; and, consequently, the power to
ratify or invalidate the act. The Secretary of the Treasury is the
fiscal sentinel of Congress, to whom the bank makes weekly reports,
and who is presumed constantly to be well acquainted with its actual
condition. He may, consequently, discover the urgent necessity of
prompt action, to save the public treasure, before it is known to Con
gress, and when it is not in session. But he is immediately to report
— to whom ? To the executive ? No, to Congress. For what pur
pose ? That Congress may sanction or disprove the act.
The power of removal is a reservation for the benefit of the people,
not of the bank. It may be waived. Congress, being a legislative
party to the compact, did not thereby deprive itself of ordinary powers
of legislation, It cannot, without a breach of the national faith, re-

206 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
peal privileges or stipulations intended for the benefit of the bank.
But it may repeal, modify or waive the exercise altogether, of those
parts of the charter which were intended exclusively for the public.
Could not Congress repeal altogether the clause of removal ? Such
a repeal would not injure, but add to the security of the bank. Could
not Congress modify the clause, by revoking the agency of the Sec
retary of the Treasury, and substituting that ofthe Treasurer, or any
other officer of government ? Could not Congress, at any time dur
ing the twenty years duration of the charter, abolish the office alto
gether of Secretary of the Treasury, and assign all his present duties
to some newly constituted department ? The right and the security
of the bank do not consist in the form of the agency, nor in the name
ofthe agent, but in this : that, whatever may be its form or his de
nomination, the removal shall only be made upon urgent and satis
factory reasons. The power of supplemental legislation was exer
cised by Congress both under the new and old bank. Three years
after the establishment of the existing bank, an act passed, better to
regulate the election of directors, and to punish any one who should
attempt, by bribes, or presents in any form, to influence the operation
ofthe institution.
The denial of the Secretary, to Congress, of the power to remove
the deposites, under any circumstances, is most extraordinary. Why,
sir, suppose a corrupt collusion between the Secretary and the bank
to divide the spoils of the treasury ? Suppose a total nonfulfillment
of all the stipulations on the part of the bank ? Is Congress to re
main bound and tied, whilst the bank should be free from all the obli
gations of the charter ? The obligation of one party, to observe faith
fully his stipulations, in a contract, rests upon the corresponding obli
gation of the other party to observe his stipulations- If one party is
released, both are free. If one party fail to comply with his contract.
that releases the other. This is the fundamental principle of all con
tracts, applicable to treaties, charters, and private agreements. If it
were a mere private agreement, and one party who had bound him
self to deposite, from time to time, his money with the other, to be
redrawn at his pleasure, saw that it was wasting and squandered
away, he would have a clear right to discontinue the deposites. It
is true that a party has no right to excuse himself from the fulfillment
of his contract, by imputing a breach to the other which has never
been made. And it is fortunate for the peace and justice of society,

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 307
that neither party to any contract, whether public or private, can de
cide conclusively the question of fulfillment by the other, but must
always act under subjection to the ultimate decision, in case of con
troversy, of an impartial arbiter, provided in the judicial tribunals of
civilized communities.
As to the absolute, unconditional and exclusive power which the Sec
retary claims to be vested in himself, it is in direct hostility with the
principles of our government, and adverse to the genius of all free
institutions. The Secretary was made, by the charter, the mere rep
resentative or agent of Congress. Its temporary substitute, acting in
subordination to it, and bound, whenever he did act, to report to his
principal his reasons, that they might be judged of and sanctioned, or
overruled. Is it not absurd to say that the agent can possess more
power than the principal ? The power of revocation is incident to
all agency, unless, in express terms, by the instrument creating it,
a different provision is made. The powers, whether of the principal
or the agent, in relation to any contract, must be expounded by the
principles which govern all contracts. It is true that the language
of the clause of removal, in the charter, is general, but it is not there
fore to be torn from the context. It is a part only of an entire com
pact, and is so to be interpreted in connexion with every part and with
the whole. Upon surveying the entire compact, we perceive that
the bank has come under various duties to the public ; has underta
ken to perform important financial operations for the government ;
and has paid a bonus into the public treasury of a million and a half
of dollars. We perceive that, in consideration of the assumption of
these heavy engagements, and the payment of that large sum of money
on the part of the bank, the public has stipulated that the public de
posites shall remain with the bank, during the continuation of the
charter, and that its notes shall be received by the government, in
payment of all debts, dues and taxes. Except the corporate charac
ter conferred, there is none but those two stipulations of any great
importance to the bank. Each of the two parties to the compact
must stand bound to the performance of his engagements, whilst the
other is honestly and faithfully fulfilling his. It is not to be conceiv
ed, in the formation of the compact, that either party could have an
ticipated that, whilst he was fairly and honestly executing every obli
gation which he had contracted, the other party might arbitrarily or
capriciously exonerate himself from the discharge of his obligations.

208 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Suppose, when citizens ofthe United States were invited by the gov
ernment to subscribe to the stock of this bank, that they had been
told that, although the bank performs all its covenants with perfect
fidelity, the Secretary of the Treasury may, arbitrarily or capricious
ly, upon his speculative notions of any degree of public interest or
convenience to be advanced, withdraw the public deposites, would
they have ever subscribed ? Would they have been guilty of the folly
of bind ing themselves to the performance of burdensome duties, whilst
the government was left at liberty to violate at pleasure that stipula
tion of the compact which by far was the most essential to them ?
On this part of the subject, I conclude, that Congress has not parted
from, but retains, its legitimate power over the deposites ; that it
might modify or repeal altogether the clause of removal in the char
ter ; that a breach of material stipulations on the part of the bank
would authorize Congress to change the place of the deposites ; that
a corrupt collusion, to defraud the public, between the bank and a
Secretary ofthe Treasury, would be a clear justification to Congress
to direct a transfer ofthe public deposites ; that the Secretary of the
Treasury is the mere agent of Congress, in respect to the deposites,
acting in subordination to his principal ; that it results from the na
ture of all agency that it may be revoked, unless otherwise expressly
provided ; and, finally, that the principal, and much less the agent,
of one party cannot justly or lawfully violate the compact, or any of
its essential provisions, whilst the other party is in the progressive
and faithful performance of all his engagements.
If I am right in this view of the subject, there is an end of the ar
gument. There was perfect equality and reciprocity between the
two parties to the compact. Neither could exonerate himself from
the performance of his obligations, while the other was honestly pro
ceeding fairly to fulfil all his engagements. But the Secretary of the
Treasury concedes that the public deposites were perfectly safe in the
hands of the bank ; that the bank promptly met every demand upon
it ; and that it faithfully performed all its duties. By these conces
sions, he surrenders the whole argument, admits the complete obli
gation of the public to perform its part of the compact, and demon
strates that no reasons, however plausible or strong, can justify an
open breach of a solemn national compact.

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 209
2. But he has brought forward various reasons to palliate or justify
his violation of the national faith ; and it is now my purpose to pro
ceed, in the second place, to examine and consider them. Before I
proceed to do this, I hope to be allowed again to call the attention of
the Senate to the nature of the office of Secretary of the Treasury.
It is altogether financial and administrative. His duties relate to the
finances, their condition and improvement, and to them exclusively.
The act creating the treasury department, and defining the duties of
the Secretary, demonstrates this. He has no legislative powers ; and
Congress neither has nor could delegate any to him. His powers,
wherever given, and in whatever language expressed, must be inter
preted by his defined duties. Neither is the treasury department an
executive department. It was expressly created not to be an execu
tive department. It is administrative, but not executive. His rela
tions are positive and direct to Congress, by the act of his creation,
and not to the President. Whenever he is put under the direction
ofthe President, (as he is by various subsequent acts, especially those
relating to the public loans,) it is done by express provision of law,
and for specified purposes.
With this key to the nature of the office and the duties Of the offi
cer, I will now briefly examine the various reasons which he assigns
for the removal ofthe public deposites. The first is the near approach
of the expiration of the charter. But the charter had yet to run about
two and a half of the twenty years to which it was limited. During
the whole term the public deposites were to continue to be made with
the bank. It was clearly foreseen, at the commencement of the term,
as now, that it would expire, and yet Congress did not then, and has
never since, thought proper to provide for the withdrawal of the de
posites prior to the expiration ofthe charter. Whence does the Sec
retary derive an authority to do what Congress had never done ?
Whence his power to abridge in effect the period of the charter, and
to limit it to seventeen and a half years, instead of twenty ? Was
the urgency for the removal of the deposites so great that he could
not wait sixty days, until the assembling of Congress ? He admits
that they were perfectly safe in the bank ; that it promptly met every
demand upon it ; and that it faithfully performed all its duties. Why
not, then, wait the arrival of Congress? The last time the House
of Representatives had spoken, among the very last acts of the last
session, that House had declared its full confidence in the safety of

210 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the deposites. Why not wait until it could review the subject, with
all the new light which the Secretary could throw upon it, and again
proclaim its opinion ? He comes into office on the 23d of September,
1833, and, in three days, with intuitive celerity, he comprehends the
whole of the operations of the complex department of the treasury,
perceives that the government, from its origin, had been in uniform
error, and denounces the opinions of all his predecessors ! And, has
tening to rectify universal wrong, in defiance and in contempt of the
resolution ofthe House, he signs an order for the removal of the de
posites ! It was of no consequence to him, whether places of safety,
in substitution ofthe Bank ofthe United States, could be obtained or
not ; without making the essential precautionary arrangements, he
commands the removal almost instantly to be made.
Why, sir, if the Secretary were right in contending that he alone
could order the removal, even he admits that Congress has power to
provide for the security of the public money, in the new places to
which it might be transferred. If he did not deign to consult the rep
resentatives ofthe people as to the propriety of the first step, did not
a decent respect to their authority and judgment exact from him a
delay, for the brief term of sixty days, that they might consider what
was fitting to be done ? The truth is, that the Secretary, by law,
has nothing to do with the care and safe-keeping of the public money.
As has been already shown, that duty is specifically assigned by law
to the treasurer of the United States. And, in assuming upon him
self the authority to provide other depositories than the Bank of the
United States, he alike trampled upon the duties ofthe treasurer, and
what was due to Congress. Can any one doubt the motive of this
precipitancy ? Does anybody doubt that it was to preclude the ac
tion of Congress, or to bring it under the influence of the executive
veto ? Let the two Houses, or either of them, perform their duty to
the country, and we shall hereafter see whether, in that respect, at
least, Mr. Secretary will not fail to consummate his purpose-
3. The next reason assigned for this offensive proceeding, is the
re-election of the present chief magistrate. The Secretary says :
" I have always regarded the result of the last election of President of the United
States as the declaration of a majority ofthe people, that the charter ought not to be
renewed." * * * " Its voluntary application to Congress for the renewal of
its charter four years before it expired, and upon the eve of the election of President,
was understood on all sides as bringing forward that question for incidental decision

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 211
at the then approaching election. It was accordingly argued on both sides before
the tribunal of the people, and their verdict pronounced against the bank," &c.
What has the Secretary to do with elections ? Do they belong to
the financial concerns of his department ? Why this constant refer
ence to the result of the last presidential election ? Ought not the
President to be content with the triumphant issue of it ? Did he
want still more vetoes ? The winners ought to forbear making any
complaints, and be satisfied, whatever the losers may be. After an
election is fairly terminated, I have always thought that the best way
was to forget all the incidents of the preceding canvass, and espe
cially the manner in which votes had been cast. If one has been suc
cessful, that ought to be sufficient for him ; if defeated, regrets are
unavailing. Our fellow citizens have a right freely to exercise their
elective franchise as they please, and no one, certainly no candidate,
has any right to complain about it.
But the argument of the Secretary is, that the question of the bank
was fully submitted to the people, by the consent of all parties, fully
discussed before them, and their verdict pronounced against the insti
tution, in the re-election ofthe President. His statement of the case
requires that we should examine carefully the various messages of
the President to ascertain whether the bank question was fairly and
frankly (to use a favorite expression of the President) submitted by
him to the people of the United States. In his message of 1829, the
President says :
" The charter of the Bank of the United States expires in 1836, and its stockhold
ers will most probably apply for a renewal of their privileges. In order to avoid the
evils resulting from precipitancy in a measure involving such important principles,
and such deep pecuniary interests, 1 feel that I cannot, in justice to the parties in
terested, too soon present it, to the deliberate consideration of the legislature and
the people."
The charter had then upwards of six years to run. UpOn this
solemn invitation of the chief magistrate, two years afterwards, the
bank came forward with an application for renewal. Then it was
discovered that the application was premature. And the bank was
denounced for accepting the very invitation which had been formally
given. The President proceeds :
" Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the bank are well questioned,
by a large portion of our fellow citizens."

212 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
This message Was a non-committal. The President does not an
nounce clearly his own opinion, but states that of a large portion of
our fellow citizens- Now we all know that a large and highly respec
table number of the people of the United States have always enter
tained ap opinion adverse to the bank on both grounds. The Presi
dent continues :
"/fsuch an institution is deemed essential to the fiscal operations of the gov
ernment, I submit to the wisdom of the legislature whether a national one, founded
upon the credit of the government, and its resources, might not be devised.''
Here, again, the President, so far from expressing an explicit opin
ion against all national banks, makes a hypothetical admission of the
utility of a bank, and distinctly intimates the practicability of devising
one on the basis of the credit and resources of the government.
In his message of 1830, speaking of the bank, the President says :
"Nothing has occurred to lessen, in any degree, the dangers which many of our
citizens apprehend from that institution, as at present organized. In the spirit of im
provement and compromise, which distinguishes Our country and its institutions, it
becomes us to inquire whether it be not possible to secure the advantages afforded
by the present bank through the agency of a Bank of the United States, so modified
in its principles and structure, as to obviate constitutional and other objections."
Here, again, the President recites the apprehensions of " many of
our citizens," rather than avows his own opinion. He admits indeed
" the advantages afforded by the present bank," but suggests an in
quiry whether it be possible (of course doubting) to secure them by
a bank differently constructed. And towards the conclusion of that
part of the message, his language fully justifies the implication, that
it was not to the bank itself, but to " its present form," that he ob
jected. The message of 1831, when treating of the bank, was very brief.
The President says :
" Entertaining the opinions heretofore expressed in relation to the Bank of the
United States, as at present organized"— [non-committal once more : and what that
means, Mr. President, nobody better knows than you and I]—" I felt it my duty, in
my former messages, frankly to disclose them." -
Frank disclosures ! Now, sir, I recollect perfectly well the impres
sions made on my mind, and On those of other Senators with whom
I conversed, immediately after that message was read. We thought

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 213
and said to each oth^r, the President has left a door open to pass out.
It is not the bank ; it is not any Bank of the United States to which
he is opposed, but it is to the particular organization of the existing
bank. And we all concluded that, if amendments could be made to
the charter satisfactory to the President, he would approve a bill for
its renewal.
We come now to the famous message of July, 1832, negativing th»
bill to recharter the bank. Here, it might be expected, we shall cer
tainly find clear opinions, unequivocally expressed. The President
cannot elude the question. He must now be perfectly frank. We
shall presently see. He says :
" A Bank of the United States is, in many respects, convenient to the government,
and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the
belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank, are
unauthorized by the constitution," &c. * * * " I felt it my duty, at an early
period of my administration, to eall the attention of Congress to the practicability
of organizing an institution, combining all its advantages, and obviating these ob
jections. I sincerely regret, that in the act before rne I can perceive none of those
modifications," &c- * * * " That a Bank of the United States, competent
to all the duties which may be required by the government, might be so organized
as not to infringe on our own delegated powers, or the reserved rights of the States,
I do not entertain a doubt. Had the Executive been calied on to furnish the jn-oject
of such an institution, the duty would have been cheerfully performed."
The message is principally employed in discussing the objections
which the President entertained to the particular provisions of the
charter, and not to the bank itself ; such as the right of foreigners to
hold stock in it ; its exemption from State taxation ; its capacity to
hold real estate, &c. &c. Does the President, even in this message,
array himself in opposition to any Bank of the United States ? Does
he even oppose himself to the existing bank under every organiza
tion of which it is susceptible ? On the contrary, does he not declare
that he does not entertain a doubt that a bank maybe constitutionally
organized ? Does he not even rebuke Congress for not calling on
him to furnish a project of a bank, which he would have cheerfully
supplied ? Is it not fairly deducible, from the message, that "the
charter ofthe present bank might have been so amended as to have
secured the I President's approbation to the institution ? So far was
the message from being decisive against all Banks of the United
States, or against the existing bank, under any modification, tjie
President expressly declares that the question was adjourned. He

*0

214 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
'• A general discussion will now take place, eliciting new light, and settling im-
pprtant principles ; and a new Congress, elected in the midst of such discussion, and
furnishing an equal representation of the people, according to the last census,, will
bear to the Capitol the verdict of public opinion, and I doubt not bring this impor
tant question to a satisfactory result."
This review of the various messages of the President, conclusive
ly evinces that they were far from expressing, frankly and decisively,
any opinions of the chief magistrate, except that he was opposed to
?he amendments of the charter contained in the bill submitted to him
for its renewal, and that he required further amendments. It demon
strates that he entertained no doubt that it was practicable and desir
able to establish a Bank of the United States ; it justified the hope
that he might be ultimately reconciled to the continuation of the
present Bank, with suitable modifications ; and it expressly pro
claimed that the whole subject was. adjourned to the new Congress,
to be assembled under the last census. If the parts of the messages
which I have cited, or other expressions, in the same document, be
doubtful, or susceptible of a different interpretation, the review is
sufficient for my purpose ; which is, to refute the argument so confi
dently advanced, that the President's opinion, in opposition to the
present or any. other Bank of the United States, was frankly and
fairly stated to the people, prior to the late election, was fully under
stood and finally decided by them.
Accordingly, in the canvass, which ensued, it was boldly asserted
oy the partisans of the President that he was not opposed to a Bank
of the United States, nor to the existing Bank with proper amend
ments. They maintained, at least wherever those friendly to a Na
tional Bank, were in the majority, that the re-election would be fol
lowed by a recharter of the Bank, with proper amendments. They
dwelt, it is true, with great earnestness, upon his objections to the
pernicious influence of foreigners in holding stock in it ; but they
nevertheless contended that these objections would be cured, if he
was re-elected, and the Bank sustained. I appeal to the whole Senate,
to. my colleagues, to the people of Kentucky, and especially to the
citizens ofthe city of Louisville, for the correctness of this statement.
After all this, was it anticipated by the people ofthe United States
that, in the re-election of the President, they were deciding against
an institution of such vital importance ? Could they have imagined
that, after an express adjournment of the whole matter to a new

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 215
Congress, by the President himself, he would have prejudged the
action of this new Congress, and pronounced that a question, express
ly by himself referred to its authority, was previously settled by the
people ? He claimed no such result in his message, immediately af
ter the re-election ; although in it he denounced the Bank as an un
safe depository of the public money, and invited Congress to investi
gate its condition. The President, then, and the Secretary of the
Treasury, are without all color of justification for their assertions,
that the question of bank or no bank was fully and fairly submitted
to the people, and a decision pronounced against it by them.
Sir, I am surprised and alarmed at the new. source of executive
power, which is found in the result of a presidential election. I had
supposed that the constitution and the laws were the sole source of
executive authority $ that the constitution could only be amended in
the mode which ithas itself prescribed ; that the issue of a presiden
tial election, was merely to place the chief magistrate in the post as
signed to him ; and that he had neither more nor less power, in con
sequence of the election, than the constitution defines and delegates.
But it seems that if, prior to an election, certain opinions, no matter
how ambiguously put forth by a candidate, are known to the people,
these loose opinions, in virtue of the election, incorporate themselves
with the constitution, and afterwards are to be regarded and ex
pounded as parts of the instrument.
4. The public money ought not, the Secretary thinks, to remain in
the Bank until the last moment of the existence of the charter. But
that was not the question which he had to decide on the 26th Sep
tember last. The real question then was, could he not wait sixty
days for the meeting of Congress ? There were many last moments,
near two years and a half, between the 26th of September and the
day of the expiration of the charter. But why not let the public
money remain in the Bank until the last day of the charter ? It is a
part of the charter that it shall so remain ; and Congress having so
ordered it, the Secretary ought to have acquiesced in the will of Con
gress, unless the exigency had arisen on which alone it was supposed
his power over the deposites would be exercised. The Secretary is
greatly mistaken, in believing that the Bank will be less secure* in
the last hours, of its existence than previously. It will then be col
lecting its resources, with a view to the immediate payment of its

216 . SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
notes, and the ultimate division among the stockholders of their cap!
tal ; and at no period of its existence will it be so strong and able to
pay all demands upon it. As to the depreciation in the value of its
notes in the interior, at that time, why, sir, is the Secretary possess
ed of the least knowledge of the course of the trade of the interior,
and especially of the western States ? If he had any, he could not
have made such a suggestion. When the Bank itself is not di awing,
its notes form the best medium of remittance from the interior to the
Atlantic capitals. They are sought after by merchants and traders
with avidity, are never below par, and in the absence of Bank drafts
may command a piemium. This will continue to be the case as long
as the charter endures, and especially during the last moments of its
existence, when its ability will be unquestionable, Philadelphia be
ing the place of the redemption ; whilst the notes themselves will
be received in all the large cities in payment of duties.
The Secretary asserts that " it is well understood that the superior
credit heretofore enjoyed by the Notes of the Bank of the United
States, was not founded on any particular confidence in its manage
ment or solidity. It was occasioned altogether by the agreement on
behalf of the public, in the act of incorporation, to receive them in
all payments to the United States."— I have rarely seen any state
paper characterised by so little gravity, dignity and circumspection,
as the report displays. The Secretary is perfectly reckless in his as-i
sertions of matters of fact, and culpably loose in his reasoning. Can
he believe the assertion which he has made ? Can he believe for ex
ample, that if the Notes of the Bank of the Metropolis were made
receivable in all payments to the government, they would ever ac
quire, at home and abroad, the credit and confidence which are at
tached to those of the Bank of the United States ? If he had stated
that the faculty mentioned, was one of the elements of the great
credit of those notes, the statement would have been true ; but who
can agree with him, that it is the sole cause ? The credit of the
Bank of the United States results from the large amount of its capi
tal ; from the great ability and integrity with which it has been ad
ministered ; from the participation of the government in its affairs ;
from its advantageous location ; from its being the place of deposite
ofthe public moneys, and its Notes being receivable in all payments
to the government ; and from its being emphatically the. Bank of tlie

ON THE REMOVAL 01? THE DEPOSITES. 217
United States. This latter circumstance arranges it with the Bank
of England, France, Amsterdam, Genoa, &c.
6. The expansion and contraction of the accommodations of the
bank to its individual customers, are held up by the Secretary, in bold
relief, as evidences of misconduct, which justified his withdrawal of
the deposites. He represents the bank as endeavoring to operate on
the public, by alternate bribery and oppression, with the same object
in both cases, of influencing the election, or the administration of the
President. Why this perpetual reference of all the operations of the
institution to the executive ? Why does the executive think of no
thing but itself? It is I ! It is I ! It is I, that is meant, appears to be
the constant exclamation. Christianity and charity enjoin us never
to ascribe a bad motive if we can suppose a good one. The bank is
a moneyed corporation, whose profits result from its business ; if that
be extensive, it makes better ; if limited, less profit. Its interest is
to make the greatest amount of dividends which it can safely. And
all its actions may be more certainly ascribed to that than any other
principle. The administration must have a poor opinion of the vir
tue and intelligence of the people of the United States, if it supposes
that their judgments are to be warped and their opinions controlled
by any scale of graduated bank accommodations. The bank must
have a still poorer conception of its duty to the stockholder, if it were
to regulate its issues by the uncertain and speculative standard of po
litical effect, rather than a positive arithmetical rule for the computa
tion of interest.
As to the alleged extension of the business of the bank, it has been
again and again satisfactorily accounted for by the payment of the
public debt, and the withdrawal from Europe of considerable sums,
which threw into its vaults a large amount of funds, which, to be
productive, must be employed ; and, as the commercial wants pro
ceeding from extraordinary activity of business, created great demands
about the same period for bank accommodations, the institution nat
urally enlarged its transactions. It would have been treacherous to
the best interests of its constituents if it had not done so. The re
cent contraction of its business is the result of an obvious cause.
Notwithstanding the confidence in it, manifested by one of the last
acts of the last House of Representatives, Congress had scarcely left
the district before measures were put in operation to circumvent its

21S ' SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
authority. Denunciations and threats were put forth against it. Ru
mors stamped with but too much authority, were circulated, of the
intention of the- executive to disregard the admonition of the House of
Representatives. An agent was sent out — and then such an agent —
to sound the local institutions as to the terms on which they would
receive the deposites. Was the bank, who could not be ignorant of
all this, to sit carelessly by, without taking any precautionary mea
sures ? The prudent mariner, when he sees the coming storm, furls
his sails, and prepares for all its rage. The bank knew that the ex
ecutive was in open hostility to it, and that it had nothing to expect
from its forbearance. It had numerous points to defend, the strength
or weakness of all of which was well known from its weekly returns
to the Secretary, and it could not possibly know at which the first
mortal stroke would be aimed. If, on the twentieth of September
last, instead of the . manifesto of the President against the bank, he
had officially announced that he did not mean to make war upon the
bank, and intended to allow the public deposites to remain until the
pleasure of Congress was expressed, public confidence would have
beln assured and unshaken, the business of the country continued in
quiet and prosperity, and the numerous bankruptcies in our commer
cial cities averted. The wisdom of human actions is better known
in their results than at their inception. That ofthe bank is manifest
from all that has happened, and especially from its actual condition
of perfect security.
7. The Secretary complains of misconduct of the bank in delegar
ting to the committee of exchange the transaction of important busi
ness, and in that committee being appointed by the President and not
the board, by which the government directors have been excluded.
The directors who compose the board meet only periodically. Deri
ving no compensation from their places, which, the charter indeed
prohibits them from receiving, it cannot be expected that they should
be constantly in session. They must, necessarily, therefore, devolve
a great part of the business of the bank ia its details, upon the offi
cers and servants of the corporation. It is sufficient, if the board
controls, governs, and directs the whole machine. The most impor
tant operation of a bank is that of paying out its cash, and that the
cashier or teller, and not the board performs. As to committees' of
exchange, the board, not being always in session, it is evident that
the convenience of the public requires that there should be some au-

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 219
thority at the bank daily, to pass daily upon bills, either in the sale
or purchase, as tlie wants of the community require. Every bank, I
believe, that does business to «ny extent, has a committee of exchange
similar to that of the Bank of the United States. In regard to the
mode of appointment by the President of the board, it is in conform
ity with the invariable usage of the House of Representatives, \vith
the practice of the Senate for several years, and until altered at the
commencement of this session, with the usage in a great variety, it
not all of the State legislatures, and with that which prevails in our
popular assemblies. The president, speaker, chairman, moderator,
almost uniformly appoints committees. That none of the government
directors have been on the committee of exchange, has proceeded, it
is to be presumed, from their not being entitled, from their skill and
experience, and standing in society, to be put there. The govern
ment directors stand upon the same equal footing with those appoint
ed by the stockholders. When appointed they are thrown into the
mass, and must take their fair chances with their colleagues. If the
President of the United States will nominate men of high character
and credit, of known experience and knowledge in business, they will
no doubt be placed in corresponding stations. If he appoints different
men he cannot expect it. Banks are exactly the places where cur
rency and value are well understood and duly estimated. A piece of
coin, having even the stamp of the government, will not pass unless
the metal is pure.
8. The French bill forms another topic of great complaint with the
Secretary. The state of the case is that the government sold to the
bank a bill on that of France for $900,000, which the bank sold in
London, whence it was sent by the purchaser to Paris to receive the
amount. When the bank purchased the bill,, it paid the amount to
the government, or which is the same thing, passed it to the credit of
the treasury, to be used on demand. The bill was protested in Paris,
and the agents of the bank, to avoid its being liable to damages, took
up the bill on account of the bank. The bill being dishonored, the
bank comes back on the drawer, and demands the customary dama
ges due according to the course of all such transactions. The com
plaint of the Secretary is, that the bank took up the bill to save its
own credit, and that it did not do it on account of the government ;
in other words, that the bank did not advance at Paris $900,000 to
the government on account of a bill whieh. it had already paid every

220 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
dollar at Philadelphia. Why, Sir, has the Secretary read the charter t
If he has, he must have known that the bank could not have ad
vanced the $900,000 for the government at Paris, without subjecting
itself to a penalty of three times the amount (2,700,000.) The 13th
section of the charter is express and positive :
" That if the said corporation shall advance or lend any sum of money for the use
or on account of the government of the United States, to an amount exceeding five
hundred thousand dollars, all persons concerned in making such unlawful advances
or loan, shall forfeit treble the amount, one fifth to the informer," &c.
9. The last reason which I shall notice of the Secretary is, that
this ambitious corporation aspires to possess political power. Those
in the actual possession of power, especially when they have grossly
abused it, are perpetually dreading its loss. The miser does not cling
to his treasure with a more death-like grasp. Their suspicions are
always active and on the alert. In every form they behold a rival,
and every breeze comes charged with alarm and dread. A thousand
spectres glide before their affrighted imaginations, and they see, in
every attempt to enlighten those who have placed them in office, a,
sinister design to snatch from them their authority. On what other
principles can we account for the extravagant charges brought for
ward by the Secretary against the bank ? More groundless and reck
less assertions than those which he has allowed himself to embody in
his report, never were presented to a deceived, insulted, and outraged
people. Suffer me, sir, to groupe some of them. He asserts, " that
there is sufficient evidence to prove that the bank has used its means
to obtain political power ;" that, in the Presidential election, " the
bank took an open and direct interest, demonstrating that it was using'
its money for the purpose of obtaining a hold upon the people of this
country ;" that it " entered the political arena ;" that it circulated
publications containing " attacks on the officers of government ;" that
" it is now openly in the field as a political partisan ;" that there
are " positive proofs" of the efforts ofthe bank to obtain power. And,
finally, he concludes, as a demonstrated proposition :
" Fouthly, That there is sufficient evidence to show that the bank has been and
still is seeking to obtain political power, and has used its money for the purpose of
influencing the election of the public servants."
After all this, who can doubt that this ambitious corporation is a
candidate for the next Presidency ? Or, if it can moderate its lofty
pretensions, that it means at least to go for the office of Secretary of

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 221
the Treasury, upon the next removal ? But sir, where are the proofs
of these political designs ? Can anything be more reckless than these
confident assertions of the Secretary ? Let us have the proofs : I call
for the proofs. The bank has been the constant object for years of
vituperation and calumny. It has been assailed in every form of bit-.
terhess and malignity. Its operations have been misrepresented ; its
credit and the public confidence in its integrity and solidity attempted
to be destroyed ; and the character of its officers assailed. Under
these circumstances, it has dared to defend itself. It has circulated
public documents, speeches of members of Congress, reports made by
chairmen of committees, friends of the administration, and other pa
pers. And, as it was necessary to make the defence commensurate
with the duration and the extensive theatre of the attack, it has been
compelled to incur a heavy expense to save itself from threatened
destruction It has openly avowed, and yet avows, its right and
purpose to defend itself. All this was known to the last Copgress.
Not a solitary material fact has been since disclosed. And when be
fore, in a 'country where the press is free, was it deemed criminal for
any body to defend itself? Who invested the Secretary of the Trea
sury with power to interpose himself between the people, and light
and intelligence ? Who gave him the right to dictate what informa
tion should be communicated to the people and by whom ? Whence
does he derive his jurisdiction ? Who made him censor ofthe public
press ? From what new sedition law. does he deduce his authority ?
Is the superintendence of the American press a part of the financial
duty of a Secretary of the Treasury ? Why did he not lay the whole
case before Congress, and invite the revival of the old sedition law ?
Why anticipate the arrival of their session ? Why usurp the authority
of the only department of government competent to apply a remedy,
if there be any power to abridge the freedom of the press ? If the
Secretary wishes to purify the press, he has a most Herculean duty
before him. And when he sallies out on his Quixotic expedition^
he had better begin with the Augean stable, the press nearest to him,
his organ, as most needing purification.
I have done with the Secretary's reasons. They have been weighe4
and found wanting. There was not only no financial motive for his
acting — the sole motive which he could officially entertain — but
every financial consideration forbade him to act. I proceed now, in

222 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the third and last place, to examine the manner in which he has ex
ercised his power over the deposites.
3. The whole people ofthe United States derive an interest from
the public deposites in the Bank of the United States, as a stockholder,
in that institution. The bank is enabled, through its branches, to
throw capital into those parts of the Union where it is most needed.
Thus it distributes and equalizes the advantages accruing from the
collection of a large public revenue, and the consequent public de
posites. Thus it neutralizes the injustice which would otherwise
flow from the people of the west and the interior, paying their full
proportion of the public burdens, without deriving any corresponding
benefit from the circulation and deposites of the public revenue. The
use of the capital of the bank has been signally beneficial to the West.
We there want capital, domestic, foreign — any capital that we can
honestly get. We want it to stimulate enterprise, to give activity to
business, and to develope the vast resources which the bounty of Na
ture has concentrated in that region. But, by the Secretary's finan
cial arrangements, the twenty-five or thirty millions of the public
revenue collected from all the people of the United States (including
those of the west) will be retained in a few Atlantic ports. Each
port will engross the public moneys there collected. And, as that of
New York collects about one-half of the public revenue, all the peo
ple of the United States will be laid under contribution, not for the
sake of the people of the city of New York, but of two or three banks
in that city, in which the people of the United' States, collectively,
have not a particle of interest ; banks, the stock in which is or may
be held by foreigners.
Three months have elapsed, and the Secretary has not yet found
places of deposite for the public moneys, as substitutes for the Bank
of the United States. He tells us, in his report of yesterday, that the-
bank at Charleston, to which he applied to receive them, declined
the custody, and that he has yet found no other bank willing to assume
it. But he states that the public interest does not in consequence
suffer. No ! What is done with the public moneys constantly re
ceiving in the important port of Charleston, the largest port (New
Orleans excepted) from the Potomac to the gulf of Mexico ? What
with the revenue bonds ? It appears that he has not yet received the
charters from all the banks selected as places of deposite. Can any-

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 223
thing be more improvident than that the Secretary should undertake
to contract with banks, without knowing their power and capacity to
contract by their charters. • That he should venture to deposite the
people's money in banks, without a full knowledge of everything re
specting their actual condition ? But he has found some banks will
ing to receive the public deposites, and he has entered into contracts
with them. And the very first step he has taken has been in direct
violation of an express and positive statute of the United States. By
the act ofthe 1st of May, 1820, sixth section, it is enacted :
" That no contract shall hereafter be made by the Secretary of State, or of the
Treasury, or of the department of war, or of the navy, except under a law authoriz
ing the same, or under an appropriation adequate to its fulfillment ; and excepting,
also, contracts for the subsistence and clothing of the army or navy, and contracts
by the quarter master's department, which may be made by the Secretaries of those
departments." Now, sir, what law authorized these contracts with the local banks,
made by the Secretary of the Treasury ? The argument, if I under
stand the argument intended to be employed oh the other side, is this :
that, by the bank charter, the Secretary is authorized to remove the
public deposites, and that includes the power in question ? But the
act establishing the treasury department confides, expressly, the safe
keeping of the public moneys of the United Slates to the Treasurer
of the United States, and not to the Secretary ; and the Treasurer,
not the Secretary, gives a bond for the fidelity with which he shall
keep them. The moment therefore, that they are withdrawn from
the Bank of the United States, they are placed, by law, under the
charge and responsibility of the Treasurer and his bond, and not of
the Secretary, who has given no bond. But let us trace this argu
ment a little further. The power to remove the deposites, says the
Secretary from a given place, implies the power to designate the
place to which they shall be removed. And this implied power to
designate the place to which they shall be removed, implies the power
to the Secretary of the Treasury to contract with the new banks of
deposite. And, on this third link, in the chain Of implications, a
fourth is constructed, to dispense with the express duties ofthe Trea
surer of tne United States, defined in a positive statute ; and yet a
fifth, to repeal a positive statute of Congress, passed four years after
the passage of the law containing the present source of this most ex
traordinary chain of implications. The exceptions in the act of 1820,
prove the inflexibility of the rule which it prescribes. Annual appro
priations" are made for the clothing and subsistence of the army

224

¦SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

and navy. These appropriations might have been supposed to be in
cluded in a power to contract for those articles, notwithstanding the
prohibitory clause in that act. But Congress thought otherwise, and
therefore expressly provided for the exceptions- It must be admit
ted that our clerk (as the late Governor Robinson, of Louisiana, one
of the purest republicans I have ever known, used to call a Secretary
ofthe Treasury,) tramples with very little ceremony upon the duties
of the Treasurer, and the acts of the Congress of the United States,
when they come in his way.
These contracts, therefore, between the Secretary of the Treasury
and the local banks are merek nullities, and absolutely void, enforcea
ble in no court of justice whatever, for two causes — 1st. Because they
are made in violation of the act of the 1st of May, 1820 ; and 2d.
Because the Treasurer, and not the Secretary of the Treasury, alone
had, if any federal officer possessed, the power to contract with the
local banks. And here again we perceive the necessity there was
for avoiding the precipitancy with which the executive acted, and for
awaiting the meeting of Congress. Congress could have deliberately
reviewed the previous legislation, decided upon the expediency of a
transfer of the public deposites, and if deemed proper, could have
passed the new laws adapted to the new condition of the treasury.
It could have decided whether the local banks should pay any bonus,
or pay any interest, or diffuse the public deposites throughout the
United States, so as to secure among all their parts equality of bene
fits as well as of burdens, and provided for ample guaranties for the
safety of the public moneys in their new depositories.
But let us now inquire whether the Secretary of the Treasury has
exercised his usurped authority, in the formation of these contracts,
with prudence ana discretion. Having substituted himself to Con
gress and to the Treasurer of the United States, he ought at least to
show that, in the stipulations of the contracts themselves, he has
guarded the public moneys and provided for the public interests. I
will examine the contract with the Girard Bank of Philadelphia,
which is presented as a specimen of the contracts with the Atlantic
banks. The first stipulation limits the duty of the local banks to
receive in deposite, on account of the United States, only the notes
of banks convertible into coin, ¦" in its immediate vicinity," or which
it is, "for the time being, in the habit of receiving." Under this

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 225
stipulation, the Girard Bank', for example, will not be bound to re
ceive the notes of the Louisville Bank, although that also be one of
the deposite banks, nor the notes of any other bank, not in its imme
diate vicinity. As to the provision that it will receive the notes of
banks which, for the time being, it is in the habit of receiving, it is
absurd to put such a stipulation in a contract, because by the power
retained to change the habit, for the time being, it is an absolute nul
lity. Now, sir, how does this compare with the charter and Bank of
the United States ? The bank receives everywhere, and credits the
government with the notes, whether issued bv the branches or the
principal bank. The amount of all these notes is everywhere availa
ble to the government. But the government may be overflowing in
distant bank notes when they are not wanted, and a bankrupt, at the
places of expenditure, under this singular arrangement.
With respect to the transfer of moneys from place to place, the
local banks require in this contract that it shall not take place but upon
reasonable notice. And what reasonable is, has been left totally un
defined, and of course open to future contest. When hereafter a
transfer is ordered, and the bank is unable to make it, there is noth
ing to do but to alledge the unreasonableness of the notice. The
local bank agrees to render to the government, all the services
now performed by the Bank of the United States, subject, how
ever, to the restriction that they are required " in the vicinity" ofthe
local bank. But the Bank ofthe United States is under no such re
strictions ; its services are coextensive with the United States and
their territories.
The local banks agree to submit their books and accounts to the
Secretary of the Treasury, or to any agent to be appointed by him,
but to be paid by the local banks pro rata, as, far as such examination
is admissible without a violation of their respective charters ; and how
far that may be the Secretary cannot tell, because he has not yet
seen all the charters. He is, however, to appoint the agents of ex
amination, and to fix the salaries which the local banks are to pay.
And where does the Secretary find the authority to create officers and
fix their salaries, without the authority of Congress ?
But the most improvident, unprecedented and extraordinary pro
vision in the contract is that which relates to the security. When,

226 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and not until, the deposites in the local bank shall exceed one-half
of the capital stock actually paid in, collateral security, satisfactory to
the Secretary of the Treasury, is to be given for the safety of the de
posites. Why, sir, a freshman, a schoolboy, would not have thus
dealt with his father's guardian's money. Instead of the security
preceding, it is to follow the deposite of the people's money ! That
is, the local bank gets an amount of their money, equal to one-half
its capital, and then it condescends to give security ! Does not the
Secretary know, that, when he goes for the security, the money may
be gone, and that he may be entirely unable to get the one or the
other ? We have a law, if I mistake not, which forbids the advance
of any public money, even to a disbursing agent of the government,
without previous security. Yet, in violation of the spirit of that law,
or, at least, of all common sense and common prudence, the Secre
tary disperses upwards of twenty-five millions of public revenue among
a countless number of unknown banks, and stipulates that, when the
amount ofthe deposite exceeds one-half of their respective capitals,
security is to be given !
The best stipulation in the whole contract is the last, which re
serves to the Secretary of the treasury the power of discharging these
local banks from the service of the United States whenever he pleases ;
and the sooner he exercises it, and restores the public deposites to
the place of acknowledged safety, from which they have been rashly
taken, the better for all parties concerned.
Let us look into the condition of one of these local banks, the near
est to us, and that with respect to which we have the best informa
tion. The banks of this district (and among them that of the Me
tropolis) are required to make annual reports of their condition on
the first day of January. The latest official return from the Metrop
olis bank is of the first of January, 1832. Why it did not make one
on the first of last January, along with the other banks, I know not.
In point of fact,- 1 am informed, it made none. Hfcre is its account of
January, 1832, and I think you will agree that it is a Flemish one.
On the debit side stand capital paid in $500,000. Due to the banks,
$20,911 10 ; individuals on deposite $74,977 42 ; dividend and ex-
penses$17,591 77; and surplus $8,131 02 ; making an aggregate of
$684,496 31. On the credit side there are bills and notes discount
ed, and stock (what sort ?) bearing interest, $626,011 90 ; real estate,

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 227
$18,404 86 ; notes of other banks on hand, and checks on do., $23,
218 80 ; specie — now Mr. President, how much do you imagine ?
Recollect, that this is the bank selected at the seat of government,
where there is necessarily concentrated a vast amount of public mo
ney, employed in the expenditure of government. Recollect that, by
another executive edict, all public officers, charged with the disburse
ment of the public money here, are required to make their deposites
with this Metropolis ; and how much specie do you suppose it had
at the date of its last official return? $10,974 76. Due from other
banks, $5,890 99 ; making in the aggregate on the credit side,$684,
496 31. Upon looking into the items, and casting them up, you will
find that this Metropolis bank, on the first day of January, 1832, was
liable to an immediate call for $176,335 29, and that the amount
which it had on hand ready to meet that call, was $40,079 55. And
this is one of the banks selected at the seat of the general government,
for the deposite of the public moneys of the United States. A bank
with a capital of thirty-millions of dollars, and upwards of ten mill
ions of specie on hand has been put aside, and a bank with a capital
of half a million, and a little more than ten thousand dollars in specie
on hand, has been substituted in its place ! How that half million
has been raised — whether in part or in the whole, by the neutralizing,
operation of giving stock notes in exchange for certificates of stock,
does not appear.
The design of the whole scheme of this treasury arrangement seems
to have been; to have united in one common league a number of local
banks, dispersed throughout the Union, and subject to one central
will, with a right of scrutiny instituted by the agents of that will. It
is a bad imitation of the New York project of a safety fund. This
confederation of banks will probably be combined in sympathy as well
as interest, and will be always ready to fly to, the succor of the
source of their nourishment. As to their supplying a common cur
rency, in place of that of the bank of the United States, the plan is
totally destitute of the essential requisite. They are not required to
credit each other's paper, unless it be issued in the " immediate vici
nity." We have seen what is in this contract. Now let us see what is
not there. It contains no stipulation for the preservation of the pub
lic morals ; none for the freedom of elections ; none for the purity of

228 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the press. All these great interests, after all that has been said against
the Bank of the United States, are left to shift and take care of th»m-
selves as they can. We have already seen the President of a bank
in a neighboring city, rushing impetuously to the defence of the Se
cretary of the treasury against an editorial article in a newspaper,
although the " venom of the shaft was quite equal to the vigor of the
bow." Was he rebuked by the Secretary of the treasury ? Was the
bank discharged from the public service ? Or, are mor als, the press,
and elections, in no danger of contamination, when a host of banks
become literary champions on the side of power and the officers of
government ? Is the patriotism of the Secretary only alarmed when
the infallibility, of high authority is questioned? Will the States
silently acquiesce, and see tne federal authority ^insinuating itself into
banks of their creation, and subject to their exclusive control ?
We have, Mr. President, a most wonderful financier at the head of
our treasury department. He sits quietly by in the cabinet, and wit
nesses the contest between his colleague and the President ; sees the
conflict in the mind of that colleague between his personal attach
ment to the President on the one hand, and his solemn duty to the
public on the other. Beholds the triumph of conscientious obligation ;
contemplates the noble spectacle of an honest man, preferring to sur
render an exalted office with all its honors and emoluments, rather
than betray the interests of the people. Sees the contemptuous and
insulting expulsion of that colleague from office ; and then coolly en
ters the vacated place, without the slightest sympathy or the small
est emotion. He was installed on the 23d of September, and by the
26th, the brief period of three days, he discovers that the government
of the United States had been wrong from its origin ; that every one
of his predecessors from Hamilton down including Gallatin (who,
whatever I said of him on a former occasion, and that I do not mean
to retract, possessed more practical knowledge of currency, banks,
and finance, than any man I have ever met in the public councils,)
Dallas, and Crawford had been mistaken about both the expediency
and constitutionality of the ba.ik, that every chief magistrate, prior to
him whose patronage he enjoyed, had been wrong ; that the supreme
court of the United States, and the people of the United States, dur
ing the thirty-seven years that they had acquiesced in or recognised
the usefulness of a bank, were all wrong. And opposing his single
opinion to their united judgments, he dismisses the bank, scatters the

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITES. 229
public money, and undertakes to regulate and purify the public mo
rals, the public press, and popular elections.
If we examine the operations of this modern Turgot, in their finan
cial bearing merely, we shall find still less for approbation.
1 . He withdraws the public moneys, where, by his own deliberate
admission, they were perfectly safe, with a bank of thirty-five mill-
Ions of capital, and ten millions of specie, and places them at great
hazard with banks of comparatively small capital, and but little spe
cie, of which the Metropolis bank is an example.
2. He withdraws them from a bank created by, and over which
the federal government had ample control, and puts them in other
banks, created by different governments, and over which it has no
control. 3. He withdraws them from a bank in which the American peo
ple as a stockholder, were drawing their fair proportion of interest
accruing on loans, of which those deposites formed the basis, and puts
them where the people of the United States draw no interest.
4. From a bank which has paid a bonus of a million and a half,
which the people of the United States may be now liable to refund,
and puts them in banks which have paid to the American people no
bonus. 5. Depreciates the value of stock in a bank, where the general
government holds seven millions, and advances that of banks in whose
stock it does not hold a dollar ; and whose aggregate capital does
not probably much exceed that very seven millions. And, finally,
6. He dismisses a bank whose paper circulates, in the greatest
credit throughout the Union and in foreign countries, and engages in
the public service banks whose paper has but a limited and local cir
culation in their " immediate vicinities." '
These are immediate and inevitable results. How much that large
and long-standing item of unavailable funds, annually reported to
*p

230; SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Congress, will be swelled and extended, remains to be developed by
time. And now, Mr. President, what, under all these circumstances, is it
our duty to do ? Is there a senator, who can hesitate to affirm, in
the language of the resolution, that the President has assumed a dan
gerous power over the treasury of the United States not granted to
him by the constitution and the laws ; and that the reasons assigned
for the act, by the Secretary of the treasury, are insufficient and un
satisfactory ?
The eyes and the hopes of the American people are anxiously
turned to Congress. They 'feel that they have been deceived and in
sulted ; their confidence abused ; their interests betrayed ; and their
liberties in danger. They see a rapid and alarming concentration of
all power in one man's hands. They see that, by the exercise of the
positive authority of the executive, and his negative power exerted
over Congress, the will of one man alone prevails, and governs the
Republic. The question is no longer what laws will Congress pass,
but what will the executive not veto ? The President, and not Con
gress, is addressed for legislative action. We have seen a corpora
tion, charged with the execution of a great national work, dismiss an
experienced, faithful and zealous President, afterwards testify to his
ability by a voluntary resolution, and reward his extraordinary servi
ces by a large gratuity, and appoint in his place an executive favor
ite, totally inexperienced and incompetent, to propitiate the Presi
dent. We behold the usual incidents of approaching tyranny. The
land is filled with spies and informers ; and detraction and denuncia
tion are the orders ofthe day. People, especially official incumbents
in this place, no longer dare speak in the fearless tones of manly free
men, but in the cautious whispers of trembling slaves. The premoni
tory symptoms of despotism are upon us ; and if Congress do not ap
ply an instantaneous and effective remedy, the fatal collapse will soon
come on, and we shall die — ignobly die ! base, mean, and abject slaves
— the scorn and contempt of mankind — unpitied, unwept, unmourned !

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

In the Senate of the United States, March 7, 1834.

[On presenting certain memorials praying for relief from the effects of the Removal
of the Deposites, Mr. Clav said—]
I have been requested by the committee from Philadelphia, charg
ed with presenting the memorial to Congress, to say a few words on
the subject ; and although after the ample and very satisfactory ex
position which it has received from the Senator from Massachusetts,
further observations are entirely unnecessary, I cannot deny myself
the gratification of complying with a request, proceeding from a
source so highly worthy of respectful consideration.
And what is the remedy to be provided for this most unhappy state
of the country ? I have conversed freely with the members of the
Philadelphia committee. They are real, practical, working-men ;
intelligent, well acquainted with the general condition, and with the
sufferings of their particular community. No one, who has not a
heart of steel, can listen to them, without feeling the deepest sym
pathy for the privations and sufferings unnecessarily brought upon
the laboring classes. Roth the committee and the memorial declare
that their reliance is, exclusively, on the legislative branch of the
government. Mr. President, it is with subdued feelings of the pro-
foundest humility and mortification, that I am compelled to say that,
constituted as Congress now is, no relief will be afforded by it, unless
its members shall be enlightened and instructed by the people them
selves. A large portion of the body, whatever may be their private
judgment upon the course of the President, believe it to be their
duty, at all events safest for themselves, to sustain him without re
gard to the consequences of his measures upon the public interests.
And nothing but clear, decided and unequivocal demonstrations of

232 speeches of henry clay.
the popular disapprobation of what has been done, will divert them
from their present purpose.
But there is another quarter which possesses sufficient power and
influence to relieve the public distresses. In twenty-four hours, the
executive branch could adopt a measure which would afford an effi
cacious and substantial remedy, and re-establish confidence. And
those who, in this chamber, support the administration, could not
render a better service than to repair to the executive mansion, and,
placing before the chief magistrate the naked and undisguised truth,
prevail upon him to retrace his steps and abandon his fatal experi
ment. No one, sir, can perform that duty with more propriety than
yourself. You can, if you will, induce him to change his course.
To you, then, sir, in no unfriendly spirit, but with feelings softened
and subdued by the deep distress which pervades every class of our
countrymen, I make the appeal. By your official and personal rela
tions with the President, you maintain with him an intercourse which
I neither enjoy nor covet. Go to him and tell him, without exagge
ration, but in the language of truth and sincerity, the actual condi
tion of his bleeding country. Tell him it is nearly ruined and un
done by the measures which he has been induced to put in operation.
Tell him that his experiment is operating on the nation like the phi
losopher's experiment upon a convulsed animal, in an exhausted re
ceiver, and that it must expire in agony, if he does not pause, give it
free and sound circulation, and suffer the energies of the people to
be revived and restored. Tell him that, in a single city, more than
sixty bankruptcies, involving a loss of upwards of fifteen millions of
dollars, have occurred. Tell him of the alarming decline in the
value of all property, of the depreciation of all the products of in
dustry, of the stagnation in every branch of business, and of the close
of numerous manufacturing establishments, which, a few short
months ago, were in active and flourishing operation. Depict to him,
if you can find language to portray, the heart-rending wretchedness
of thousands of the working classes cast out of employment. Tell
him of the tears of helpless widows, no longer able to earn their
bread, and of unclad and unfed orphans who have been driven, by his
policy, out of the busy pursuits in which but yesterday they were
gaining an honest livelihood! Say to him that if firmness be honor
able, when guided by truth and justice, it is intimately allied to
another quality, of the most pernicious tendency, in the prosecution

on the state of the country. 233
of an erroneous system. Tell him how much more true glory is to
be won by retracing false steps, than by blindly rushing on until his
country is overwhelmed in bankruptcy and ruin. Tell him of the
ardent attachment, the unbounded devotion, the enthusiastic grati
tude towards him, so often signally manifested by the American peo
ple, and that they deserve at his hands better treatment. Tell him
to guard himself against the possibility of an odious comparison with
that worst of the Roman emperors, who, contemplating with indiffer
ence the conflagration of the mistress of the world, regaled himself
during the terriffic scene in the throng of his dancing courtiers. If
you desire to secure for yourself the reputation of a public benefactor,
describe to him truly the universal distress already produced, and the
certain ruin which must ensue from perseverance in his measures.
Tell him that he has been abused, deceived, betrayed, by the wicked
counsels of unprincipled men around him. Inform him that all ef
forts in Congress to alleviate or terminate the public distress are par
alyzed and likely to prove totally unavailing, from his influence upon
a large portion of the members, who are unwilling to withdraw their
support, or to take a course repugnant to his wishes and feelings.
Tell him that, in his bosom alone, under actual circumstances, does
the power abide to relieve the country ; and that, unless he opens it
to conviction, and corrects the errors of his administration, no human
imagination can conceive, and no human tongue can express, the
awful consequences which may follow. Intreat him to pause, and
to reflect that there is a point beyond which human endurance can
not go ; and let him not drive this brave, generous, and patriotic peo
ple to madness and despair.
Mr. President, unaffectedly indisposed, and unwilling as I am to
trespass upon the Senate, I could not decline- complying with a re
quest addressed to me by a respectable portion of my fellow citizens,
part of the bone and sinew of the American public. Like the Sena
tor from Massachusetts, who has been entrusted with the presenta
tion of their petition to the Senate, I found them plain, judicious,
sensible men, clearly understanding their own interests, and, with
the rest of the community, writhing under the operation of the mea
sures of the executive. If I have deviated from the beaten track of
debate in the Senate, my apology must be found in the anxious solici
tude which I feel for the condition of the country. And, sir, if I
shall have been successful in touching your heart, and exciting in you

234 SPEECHES OF henry clay.
a glow of patriotism, I shall be most happy. You can prevail upon
the President to abandon his ruinous course ; and, if you will exert
the influence which you possess, you will command the thanks and
the plaudits of a grateful people.

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.
In the Senate of the United States, March 14, 1834.

I am charged with the pleasing duty of presenting to the Senate
the proceedings of a public meeting of the people, and two memori
als, subscribed by large numbers of my fellow citizens, in respect to
the exciting state of public affairs.
The first I would offer are the resolutions of the young men of
Troy, assembled upon a call of upwards of seven hundred of their
number. I have recently visited that interesting city. It is one of
the most beautiful of a succession of fine cities and villages that de
corate the borders of one of the noblest rivers of our country. In
spite of the shade cast upon it by its ancient and venerable sister end
neighbor, it has sprung up with astonishing rapidity. When I saw it
last fall, I never beheld a more respectable, active, enterprizing and
intelligent business community. Every branch of employment was
flourishing. Every heart beat high in satisfaction with present en
joyment, and hopes from the prospect of future success. How sadly
has the scene changed ! How terribly have all their anticipations of
continued and increasing prosperity been dashed and disappointed by
the folly and wickedness of misguided rulers !
The young men advert to this change, in their resolutions, and to
its true cause. They denounce all experiments upon their happiness.
They call for the safer councils which prevailed under the auspices
of Washington and Madison, both of whom gave their approbation to
charters of a Bank of the United States.
But what gives to these resolutions peculiar interest, in my esti
mation, is, that they exhibit a tone of feeling which rises far above
any loss of property, however great, any distress from the stagnation
of business, however intense. They manifest a deep and patriotic

236 speeches of henry clay.
sensibility to executive usurpations, and to the consequent danger to
civil liberty. They solemnly protest against the union of the purse
and the sword in the hands of one man. They would not have con
sented to such a union in the person of the father of his country,
much less will they in that of any living man. They feel that, when
liberty is safe, the loss of fortune and property is comparatively no
thing ; but that when liberty is sacrificed, existence has lost all its
charms. The next document which I have to offer is a memorial, signed by
near nine hundred mechanics of the city of Troy. Several of them
are personally known to me. And judging from what I know, see
and hear, I believed there is not any where a more skilful, indus
trious and respectable body of mechanics than in Troy. They bear
testimony to the prevalence of distress, trace it to the legal acts of
the executive branch of the government in the removal of the public
deposites ; ask their restoration, and the recharter of the Bank of
the United States. And the committee, in their letter addressed to
me, say : " We are, what we profess to be, working men, dependent
upon our labor for our daily bread, confine our attention to our seve
ral vocations, and trust in God and the continental Congress for such
protection as will enable us to operate successfully."
The first mentioned depository of their confidence will not deceive
them. But I lament to say that the experience, during this session,
does not authorize us to anticipate that co-operation in another quar
ter which is indispensable to the restoration of the constitution and
laws, and the recovery of the public purse.
The last memorial I would present, has been transmitted to me
by the Secretaries to a meeting stated to be the largest ever held in
the county of Schenectady, in New York. It is signed by about
eight hundred persons. In a few instances, owing to the subscrip
tions having been Obtained by different individuals, the same name
occurs twice. The memorialists bring their testimony to the exis
tence of distress, aud the disorders of the currency, and invoke the
application of the only known, tried and certain remedy, the estab
lishment of a National Bank.
And now, Mr. President I will avail myself of the occasion to say

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 237
a few words on the subject matter of these proceedings and memori
als, and on the state of the country as we found it at the commence
ment of the session, and its present state.
When we met, we found the executive in the full possession of
the public treasury. All its barriers had been broken down, and in
place of the control of the law was substituted the uncontrolled will
of the chief magistrate. I say uncontrolled : for it is idle to pretend
that the executive has not unrestrained access to the public treasury,
when every officer connected with it is bound to obey his paramount
will. It ts not the form of keeping the account; it is not the place
alone where the public money is kept ; but it is the power, the au
thority, the responsibility of independent officers, checking and check
ed by each other, that constitute the public security for the safety of
the public treasure. This no longer exists, is gone, is annihilated.
The Secretary sent us in a report containing the reasons (if they
can be dignified with that appellation) for the executive seizure of
the public purse. Resolutions were promptly offered in this body,
denouncing the procedure as unconstitutional and dangerous to liber
ty, and declaring the total insufficiency of the reasons. Near three
months were consumed in the discussion of them. In the early part
of this protracted. debate, the supporters of distress, pronounced it a
panic got up for dramatic effect, and affirmed that the country was
enjoying great prosperity. Instances occurred of members asserting
that the places of their own residence was in the full enjoyment of
enviable and unexampled prosperity, who, in the progress of the de
bate, were compelled reluctantly to own their mistake, and to admit
the existence of deep and intense distress. Memorial after memorial
poured in, committee after committee repaired to the capitol to re
present the sufferings of the people, until incredulity itself stood re
buked and abashed. ' Then it was the Bank that had inflicted the
calamity upon the country — that Bank which was to be brought un
der the feet of the President, should' proceed forthwith to wind up
its affairs.
And, during the debate, it was again and again pronounced by the
partisans of the executive, that the sole question involved in the
resolutions was bank or no bank. It was in vain that we protested,
solemnly protested, that tha£ was not the question ; and that the

238 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
true question was of immensely higher import ; that it comprehended
the inviolability of the constitution, the supremacy of the laws, and
the union of the purse and the sword in the hands of one man. In
vain did members repeatedly rise in their places, and proclaim their
intention to vote for the restoration of the deposites, and their settled
determination to vote against the recharter of the Bank, and against
the charter of any Bank. Gentlemen persisted in asserting the iden
tity of the bank question, and that contained in the resolutions ; and
thousands of the people of the country are, to this moment, deluded
by the erroneous belief in that identity.
Mr. President, the arts of power and its minions are the same in
all countries and in all ages. It marks a victim ; denounces it ; and
excites the public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own
abuses and encroachments. It avails itself of the prejudice, and the
passions of the people, silently and secretly, to forge chains to en
slave the people.
Well, sir, during the continuance of the debate, we have been told
over and over again, that, let the question ofthe deposites be settled,
let Congress pass upon the report of the Secretary, and the activity
of business and the prosperity of the country will again speedily re
vive. The Senate has passed upon the resolutions, and has done its
duty to the country, to the constitution, and to its conscience.
And the report of the Secretary has been also passed upon in the
other house ; but how passed upon ? The official relations which
exist between the two houses, and the expediency of preserving good
feelings and harmony between them, forbid my saying all that I feel
on this momentous subject. But I must say, that the House, by the
constitution, is deemed the especial guardian of the rights and inte
rests of the people ; and, above all, the guardian of the people's mo
ney in the public treasury. The House has given the question of the
sufficiency of the Secretary's reasons the go-by, evaded it, shunned
it, or rather merged it, in the previous question. The House of Re
presentatives have not ventured to approve the Secretary's reasons.
It cannot approve them ; but, avoiding the true and original question,
has gone off upon a subordinate and collateral point. It has indirect
ly sanctioned the executive usurpation. It has virtually abandoned
its constitutional care and control over the public treasury. It has

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 239
surrendered the keys, or rather permits the executive to retain their
custody ; and thus acquiesces in that conjunction of the sword and
the purse of the nation, which all experience has evinced, and all
patriots have believed, to be fatal to the continuance of public liberty.
Such has been the extraordinary disposition of this great question.
Has the promised relief come ? In one short week, after the house
pronounced its singular decision, three Banks in this District of Co
lumbia have stopped payment and exploded. In one of them the
government has, we understand, sustained a loss of thirty thousand
dollars. And in another, almost within a stone's throw of the capi-
tol, that navy pension fund, created for our infirm and disabled, but
gallant tars, which ought to be held sacred, has experienced an ab
straction of $20,000 ! Such is the realization of the prediction of
relief made by the supporters of the executive.
And what is the actual state of the public treasury ? The Presi
dent, not satisfied with the seizure of it, more than two months be
fore the commencement of the session, appointed a second Secretary
of the treasury since the adjournment of the last Congress. We are
now in the fifth month of the session ; and in defiance of the sense
of the country, and in contempt of the participation of the Senate in
the appointing power, the President has not yet deigned to submit
the nomination of his Secretary to the consideration of the Senate.
Sir, I have not looked into the record, but, from the habitual prac
tice of every previous President/from the deference and respect which
they all maintained towards a co-ordinate branch of the government,
I venture to say that a parallel case is not to be found.
Mr. President, it is a question of the highest importance what is
to be the issue, what the remedy of the existing evils. We should
deal with the people openly, frankly, sincerely. The Senate stands
ready to do whatever is incumbent upon it ; but unless the majority
in the House will relent , unless it will take heed of and profit by
recent events, there is no hope for the nation from the joint action of
the two Houses of Congress at this session. Still, I would say to
my countrymen, do not despair. You are a young, brave, intelligent
and as yet a free people. A complete remedy for all that you suffer,
and all that you dread, is in your own hands. And the events, to
which I have just alluded, demonstrate that those of us have not

240 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
been deceived who have always relied upon the virtue, the capacity,
and the intelligence of the people.
I congratulate you, Mr. President, and I hope you will receive the
congratulation with the same heartfelt cordiality with which I tender
it, upon the issue of the late election in the city of New York. I
hope it will excite a patriotic glow in your bosom. I congratulate
the Senate, the country, the city of New York, the friends of liberty
every where. It was a great victory. It must be so regarded in
every aspect. From a majority of more than six thousand, which
the dominant party boasted a few months ago, if it retain any, it is a
meagre and spurious majority of less than two hundred. And the
whigs contended with such odds against them. A triple alliance of
state placemen, corporation placemen and federal placemen, amount
ing to about thirty-five hundred, and deriving, in the form of salaries,
compensations and allowances, ordinary and extra, from the public
chests, the enormous sum, annually, of near one million of dollars.
Marshalled, drilled, disciplined, commanded. The struggle was tre
mendous ; but what can withstand the irresistible power of the vota
ries of truth, liberty, and their country ? It was an immortal triumph
— a triumph of the constitution and the laws over usurpation here,
and over clubs and bludgeons and violence there.
Go on, noble city ? Go on, patriotic whigs ! follow up your glo
rious commencement ; persevere, and pause riot until you have re
generated and disenthralled your splendid city, and placed it at the
head of American cities devoted to civil liberty, as it now stands pre
eminently the first as the commercial emporium of our common
country ! Merchants, mechanics, traders, laborers, never cease to
recollect that, without freedom, you .can have no sure commerce or
business ; and that without law you have no security for personal
liberty, property, or even existence ! Countrymen of Tone, of Em
met, of Macneven, and of Sampson, if any of you have been deceiv
ed, and seduced into the support of a cause dangerous to American
liberty, hasten to review and correct your course ! Do not forget
that you abandoned the green fields of your native island to escape
what you believed the tyranny of a British king ! Do not, I adjure
you, lend yourselves, in this land of your asylum, this last retreat of
the freedom of man, to the establishment here, for you, and for us all,
of that despotism which you had proudly hoped had been left behind

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 241
you, in Europe, forever ! There is much, I would fain believe, in
the constitutional forms of govern ment. •. But at last it is its parental
and beneficent operation that must fix its character. A government
may in form be free, in practice tyrannical ; as it may in form be des
potic, and in practice liberal and free.
It was a brilliant and signal triumph Of the whigs. And they have
assumed for themselves, and bestowed on their opponents, a demon
stration which, according to all the analogy of history, is strictly cor
rect. It deserves to be extended throughout the whole country.
What was the origin, among our British ancestors, of those appella
tions ? The tories were the supporters of executive power, of royal
prerogative, of the maxim that the king could do no wrong, of the
detestable doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance. The
whigs were the champions of liberty, the friends of the people, and
the defenders of the power of their representatives in the House of
Commons. During our revolutionary war, the tories took sides with executive
power and prerogative, and with the king, against liberty and inde
pendence. And the whigs, true to their principles, contended against
royal executive power, and for freedom and independence.
And what is the present but the same contest in another form?
The partisans of the present executive sustain his power in the most
boundless extent. They claim for him all executive authority.
They make his sole will the governing power. Every officer con
cerned in the administration, from the highest to the lowest, is to
conform to his mandates. Even the public treasury, hitherto regard
ed as sacred, and beyond his reach, is placed by them under his en
tire direction and control. The whigs of the present day are oppos
ing executive encroachment, and a most alarming extension of ex
ecutive power and prerogative. They are ferreting out the abuses
and corruptions of an administration, under a chief magistrate who is
endeavoring to concentrate in his own person the whole powers of
government. They are contending for the rights of the people, for
civil liberty, for free institutions, for the supremacy of the constitu
tion and the laws. The contest is an arduous one ; but, although
the struggle may be yet awhile prolonged, by the blessing of God
and the spiritsof our ancestors, the issue cannot be doubtful

242 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The Senate stands in the breach, ready to defend the constitution,
and to relieve the distresses of the people. But, without the con
currence of another branch of Congress, which ought to be the first
to yield it, the Senate alone can send forth no act of legislation. Un
aided, it can do no positive good ; but it has vast preventive power.
It may avert and arrest evil, if it cannot rebuke usurpation. Sena
tors, let us remain steadily by the constitution and the country, in
this most portentous crisis ; let us oppose, to all encroachments and
to all corruption, a manly, resolute and uncompromising resistance ,
let us adopt two rules from which we will never deviate, in deliber
ating upon all nominations. In the first place, to preserve untarnish
ed and unsuspected the purity of Congress, let us negative the nomi
nations of every member for any office, high or low, foreign or do
mestic, until the authority of the constitution and laws is fully re
stored. I know not that there is any member of either house capable
of being influenced by the prospect of advancement or promotion , I
would be the last to make such an insinuation ; but suspicion is
abroad, and it is best, in these times of trouble and revolution, to de
fend the integrity of the body against all possible imputations. For
one, whatever others may do, I here deliberately avow my settled,
determination, whilst I retain a seat in this chamber, to act in con
formity to that rule. In pursuing it, we but act in consonance with
a principle proclaimed by the present chief magistrate himself when
out of power ! But, alas ! how little has he respected it in power ?
How little has he, in office, conformed to any of the principles which
he announced when out of office !
And, in the next place, let us approve of the original nomination
of no notorious brawling partisan and electioneerer ; but, especially,
of the reappointment of no officer presented to us, who shall have
prostituted the influence of his office to partisan and electioneering
purposes. Every incumbent has a clear right to exercise the elec
tive franchise. I would be the last to controvert or deny it. But he
has no right to employ the inflnence of his office, to exercise an agen
cy which he holds in trust for the people, to promote his own selfish
or party purposes. Here, also, we have the authority of the present
chief magistrate for this rule ; and the authority of Mr. Jefferson.
The Senator from Tennesee (Mr. Grundy) merits lasting praise for
his open and manly condemnation of these practices of official incum
bents. He was right, when he declared his suspicion and distrust of

ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 243
the purity of the motives of any officer whom he saw busily interfer
ing in the elections of the people.
Senators ! we have a highly responsible and arduous position ; but
the people are with us, and the path of duty lies clearly marked be
fore us. Let us be firm, persevering and unmoved. Let us perform
our duty in a manner worthy of our ancestors — worthy of American
Senators — worthy of the dignity of the sovereign States that we re
present — above all, worthy of the name of American freemen ! Let
us " pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor," to rescue
our beloved country from all impending dangers. And, amidst the
general gloom and darkness which prevail, let us continue to present
one unextinguished light, steadily burning, in the cause ofthe people,
of the constitution, and of civil liberty.

ON OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE.
In the Senate of the United States, January 14, 1835.

[General Jackson having in a Special Message recommended the adoption of ex
treme measures, or the conferring on the Executive of power to adopt such meas
ures against France, in case her government did not promptly comply with her Min
istry's stipulation to pay us 25,000,000 francs in satisfaction of our claims, Mr.
Clay, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported the following resolu
tion :
Resolved, That it is inexpedient, at this time, to pass any law vesting in the Presi
dent anthority for making? reprisals upon French property, in the contingency of pro
vision not being made for paying to the United States the indemnity stipulated by
the treaty of 1831, during.the present session of the French Chambers.
The question being on agreeing to this resolution, Mr. Clay said :]
It is not my purpose, at the present stage of consideration of this
resolution, and I hope it will not be necessary at any stage, to say
much witji the view of enforcing the arguments in its favor, which
are contained in the report of the committee. In the present posture
of our relations with France, the course which has appeared to me
and to the committee most expedient being to await the issue of those
deliberations in the French Chambers which may even at this mo
ment be going on, it would not be proper to enter at large, at the
present time, into all the particulars touched upon in the report. On
all questions connected with the foreign affairs of the country, differ
ences of opinion will arise, which'will finally terminate in whatever
way the opinion of the people of this country may so tend as to in
fluence their representatives. But, whenever the course of things
shall be such that a rupture shall unfortunately take place between
this country and any foreign country, (whether France or any other)
1 take this opportunity of saying that, from that moment, whatever
of energy or ability, whatever of influence I may possess in my coun
try, shall be devoted to the carrying on that war with the utmost
vigor which the arms and resources of the United States can giye to

ON OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 245
it. I will not anticipate, however, such a state of things — nay, I
feel very confident that such a rupture will not occur between the
United States and France.
Withfespect to the justice of our claim upon France for payment
of the indemnity stipulated by the treaty, the report ofthe committee
is in entire concurrence with the executive. The opinion ofthe com
mittee is that the claims stipulated to be paid are founded in
justice ; that we must pursue them ; that we must finally obtain sat
isfaction for them, and, to do so, must, if necessary, employ such
means as the law of nations justifies and the constitution has placed
within our power. On these points there is no diversity of sentiment
between the" committee and the President ; there could be no diver
sity between either the committee or the President and any American
citizen. In all that the President has said of the obligation of the French
government to make the stipulated provision for the claims, the com
mittee entirely concur. If the President, in his message, after making
his statement of the case, had stopped there, and abstained from the
recommendation of any specific measure, there could not have been
possibly any diversity of opinion on the subject between him and any
portion of the country. But when he declares the confidence which
he entertains in the French government ; when he expresses his con
viction that the executive branch of that government is honest and
sincere in its professions, and recites the promise by it of a renewed
effort to obtain the passage of a bill of appropriation by the French
Chambers, it did appear to the committee inconsistent with these pro
fessions of confidence, that they should be accompanied by the recom
mendation of a measure which could only be authorized by the con
viction that no confidence, or, atleast, not entire confidence, could be
placed in the declaration and professions of the French government.
Confidence and_ distrust are unnatural allies. If we profess confidence
anywhere, especially if that confidence be but for a limited period, it
should be unaccompanied with any indication whatever of distrust —
a confidence full, free, frank. But to say, as the President, through
our minister, has said, that he will await the issue ofthe deliberations
of the Chambers, confiding in the sincerity of the king, and this, too,
after hearing of the rejection ofthe first bill of appropriation by the
Chambers, and now, at the very moment when the Chambers are
*Q

246 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
about deliberating on the subject, to throw out in a message to Con
gress what the President himself considered might possibly be viewed
as a menace, appeared to the committee, with all due deference to the
executive, and to the high and patriotic purposes which may be sup
posed to have induced the recommendation, to be inconsisteBt to such
a degree as not to be seconded by the action of Congress. It also ap
peared to the committee, after the distinct recommendation by the
President on this subject, that there should be some expression of the
sense of Congress in regard to it. Such an expression is proposed by
the resolution now under consideration.
In speculating upon probabilities in regard to the course of the
French government, in reference to the treaty, four contingencies
might be supposed to arise : First, that the French government may
have made the appropriation to carry the treaty into effect before the
reception of the President's message : Secondly, the Chambers may
make the appropriation after the reception of the President's message,
and notwithstanding the recommendation on this subject contained in
it : Thirdly, the Chambers may, in consequence of that recommenr
dation, hearing of it before they shall have acted finally on the sub
ject, refuse to make any appropriation until what they may consider
a menace shall have been explained or withdrawn : Or, fourthly, they
may, either on that ground, or on the ground of dissatisfaction with
the provisions of the treaty, refuse to pass the bill of appropriation.
Now, in any of these contingencies, after what has passed, an expres
sion of the sense of Congress on the subject appears to me indispen
sable, either to the passage of the bill, or the subsequent payment of
the money, if passed.
Suppose the bill to have passed before the reception of the message,
and the money to be in the French treasury, it would throw upon
the king a high responsibility to pay the money, unless the recom
mendation of the message should be explained or done away, or at
any rate unless a new motive to the execution of the treaty should be
furnished in the fact that the two Houses of Congress, having consid
ered the subject, had deemed it inexpedient to act until the French
Chambers should have had an opportunity to be heaid from. In the
second contingency, that of the passage of a bill of appropriation after
receiving the message, a vote of Congress, as proposed, would be
soothing to the pride of France, and calculated to continue that good

ON OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 247
understanding which it must be the sincere desire of every citizen of
the United States to cultivate with that country. If the Chambers
shall have passed the bill, they will see that though the President of
the United States, in the prosecution of a just claim, and in the spirit
of sustaining the rights of the United States, had been induced to
recommend the measure of reprisals, yet that a confidence was enter
tained in both branches of Congress that there would be a compliance,
on the part of the French government, with the pledges it had given
&c. In that contingency, the expression of such a sentiment by Con
gress could not but have a happy effect. In the other contingency
supposed, also, it is indispensable that some such measure should be
adopted. Suppose the bill of appropriation to be rejected, or its pas
sage to be suspended, until the Chambers ascertain whether the
recommendation by the President is to be carried out by the passage
of a law by Congress, a resolution like this will furnish the evidence
desired of the disposition of Congress.
If, indeed, upon the reception of the President's message the Cham
bers shall have refused to make the appropriation, they will have put
themselves in the wrong by not attending to the distribution of the
powers of this government, and informing themselves whether those
branches which alone can give effect to the President's recommenda
tion, would respond to it. But, if they take the other course sug
gested, that of suspending action on the bill until they ascertain
whether the legislative department of the government coincides with
the executive in the contingent measure recommended, they will
then find that the President's recommendation — the expression of the
opinion of one high in#authority, indeed, having a strong hold on the
affections and confidence of the people, wielding the executive power
of the nation — but still an inchoate act, having no effect whatever
without the legislative action — had not been responded to by Con
gress, &c. Thus under all contingencies happening on the other side
of the water, and adapted to any one of those contingencies, the pas
sage of this resolution can do no mischief in any event, but is eminently
calculated to prevent mischief, and to secure the very object which
the President doubtless proposed to accomplish by his recommendation.
I will not now consume any more time of the House by further re
marks, but will resume my seat with the intimation of my willingness
to modify the resolution in any manner, not changing its result, which

248 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
may be calculated to secure, what on such an occasion would be so
highly desirable, the unanimous vote of the Senate in its favor. I
believe it, however, all essential that there should be a declaration
that Congress do not think it expedient, in the present state of the
relations between the. United States and France, to pass any law
whatever concerning them.
[After brief remarks by several other members, the resolution was slightly modi
fied and passed by a unanimous vote.]

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES.
In the Senate of the United States, February 14, 1835.

[The fiat for the Removal of the Cherokees from their territory within the United
States having gone forth, Mr. Clay presented to the Senate the memorial of those
Indians, and accompanied it by the following Speech.
I hold in my hands, and beg leave to present to the Senate certawi
resolutions and a memorial to the Senate and House of Representa
tives of the United States, of a Council met at Running Waters, con
sisting of a portion of the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokees have a
country — if, indeed, it can be any longer called their country — which
is comprised within the limits of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and
South Carolina. They have a population which is variously estima
ted, but which, according to the best information which I possess,
amounts to about fifteen thousand souls. Of this population, a por
tion, believed to be much the greater part, amounting, as is estimated
to between nine and ten thousand souls, reside within the limits of
the State of Georgia. The Senate is well aware, that for several
years past it had been the policy of the general government to trans
fer the Indians to the west of the Mississippi river, and that a portion
of the Cherokees have already availed themselves of this policy of
the government, and emigrated beyond the Mississippi. Of those
who remain, a portion — a respectable, but also an inconsiderable por
tion — are desirous to emigrate to the west, and a much larger portion
, desire to remain on their lands, and lay their bones where rest those
of their ancestors. The papers which I now present emanate from
the minor portion of the Cherokees ; from those who are in favor of
emigration. They present a case which appeals strongly to the sym
pathies of Congress. They say that it is impossible for them to con
tinue to live under laws whieh they do not understand, passed by
authority in which they have no share, promulgated in language of
which nothing is known to the greater portion of them, and estab
lishing rules for their government entirely unadapted to their nature,

250 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
education and habits. They say that destruction is hanging over
them if they remain ; that, their right of self-government being de
stroyed, though they are sensible of all the privations, and hardships,
and sufferings of banishment from their native homes, they prefer
exile with liberty,' to residence in their homes with slavery. They
implore, therefore, the intervention of -the general government to
provide for their removal west of the Mississippi, and to establish
guaranties never hereafter to be violated, of the possession of the
lands to be acquired by them west of the Mississippi, and ofthe per
petual right of self-government. This is the object of the resolutions
and petition which I am about to offer to the Senate.
But I have thought that this occasion was' one which called upon
me to express the opinions and sentiments which I hold in relation to
this entire subject, as respects not only the emigrating Indians, but
those also who are desirous to remain at home ; in short, to express
in concise terms, my views of the relations between the Indian tribes
and the people of the United States, the rights of both parties, and
the duties of this government in regard to them.
The rights of the Indians are to be ascertained, in the first place,
by the solemn stipulations of numerous treaties made with them by
the United States. It is not my purpose to call the attention of the
Senate to all the treaties which have been made with Indian tribes
bearing on this particular topic : but I feel constrained to ask the at
tention of the Senate to some portions of those treaties which have
been made with the Cherokees, and to the memorable treaty of
Greenville, which has terminated the war that previously thereto,
for many years, raged between the United States and the northwest
ern Indian tribes. I find, upon consulting the collection of Indian
treaties in my hand, that within the last half century, fourteen differ
ent treaties have been concluded with the Cherokees, the first of
which bore date in the year 1775, and some one or more of which*
have been concluded under every administration of the general
government, from the beginning of it to the present time, except the
present administration, and that which immediately preceded it. The
treaty of Hopewell, the first in the series was concluded in 1775; in
the third article of which " the said Indians for themselves, and their
respective tribes and towns, do acknowledge all the Cherokees to be
under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES. 251
sovereign whatsoever." The fifth article of the same treaty provides
that, " If any citizen of the United States, or other person, not being an Indian, shall
attempt to settle on any of the lands westw ard or southward of the said boundary,
which are hereby allotted to the Indians for their hunting grounds, or, having al
ready settled, and will not remove from the same within six months after the ratifi
cation of this treaty such person shall forfeit the protection ofthe United States, and
the Indians may punish him or not, as they please : provided nevertheless, that this
orticle shall not extend to the people settled between the fork of French, Broad, and
Holston rivers," &c.
The next treaty in the series, which was concluded after the esta
blishment of the government of the United States, under the auspices
of the father of his country, was in the year 1791, on the banks of
the Holston, and contains the following provision :
" Art. 7. The United States solemnly guarantee to the Cherokee nation all their
lands not hereby ceded."
This is not an ordinary assurance of protection, &c, but a solemn
guaranty of the rights of the. Cherokees to the lands in question.
The next treaty to which I will call the attention of the Senate, was
concluded in 1794, also, under the auspices of General Washington,
and declares as follows : '
" The undersigned Henry Knox, Secretary for fhe department of war, being au
thorized thereto by the President of the United States, in behalf of the said United
States, and the undersigned chiefs and warriois, in their own names, and in behalf
of the whole Cherokee nation, are desirous of re-establishing peace and friendship
between the said parties in a permanent manner, do hereby declare that the said
treaty of Holston is, to all intents and purposes, in full force and binding upon uie
said parties, as well in respect to boundaries therein mentioned, as in all other re
spects whatever."
This treaty, it is seen, renews the solemn guarantee contained in
the preceeding treaty, and declares it to be binding and obligatory
upon the parties in all respects whatever.
Again : in another treaty, concluded in 1798, under the second
Chief Magistrate of the United States, we find the following stipula
tions : "
" Art. 2. The treaties subsisting between the present contracting parties are ac
knowledged to be of full and operating force ; together with the construction and
usage under their respective articles, and so to continue."
" Art. 3. The limits and boundaries of the Cherokee nation, as stipulated and
marked by the existing treaties between the parties shall be and remain the same,
where not altered by the present treaty."
There were other provisions, in other treaties, to which, if I did

252 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
not intend to take up as little time as possible of the Senate, I might
advantageously call their attention. I will, however, pass on to one
of the'last treaties with the Cherokees, which was concluded in the"
year 1817. That treaty recognized the difference existing between
the two portions of the Cherokees, one of which was desirous to re
main at home and prosecute the good work of civilization, in which
they had made some progress^ and the other portion was -desirous to
go beyond the Mississippi^. In that treaty, the fifth article, after
several other stipulations, concludes as follows :
"And it is further stipulated, that the treaties heretofore between the Cherokee
nation and the United States are to continue in full force with both parts of the na
tion, and both parts thereof entitled to all the privileges and immunities which the
old nation enjoyed under the ojbresaid treaties; the United States reserving the
right of establishing factories, a military post, and roads within the boundaries above
defined." x\nd to this treaty, thus emphatically renewing the recognition of
the rights of the Indians, is signed the name as one of the Commis
sioners of the United States who negotiated it, of the present Chief
Magistrate of the United States.
These were the stipulations in treaties with the Cherokee nation,
to which I thought proper to call the attention of the Senate. I
will now turn to the treaty of Greenville, concluded about forty years
ago, recognizing some general principles applicable to this subject.
The fifth article of that treaty reads as follows :
"To prevent any misunderstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the
United Statesin the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared, that the meaning
of that relinquishment is this : the Indian tribes who have a right to those lands are
quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting, and dwelling thereon so long as they please,
without any molestation from the United States ; but when these tribes, or any of
them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any part of them, they are to be sold
only to the United States ; and, until such sale, the United States will protect all the,
said Indian tribes in the quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens of the*
United States, and against all other white persons who intrude upon the same. And
the said Indian tribes again acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of
the said United States, and no other power whatever."
Such, sir, are the rights of the Indian tribes. And what are those
rights ? They are, that the Indians shall live under their own cus
toms and laws ; that, they shall live upon their own lands, hunting,
planting and dwelling thereon so long as they please, without inter
ruption or molestation of any sort from the white people of the United
States, acknowledging themselves under the protection of the United
States, and of no other power whatever ; that when they no longer

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES. 253
wish to keep the lands, they shall sell them only to the United States,
whose government thus secures to itself the pre-emptive right of pur
chase in them. These rights, so secured by successive treaties and
guaranties, have also been recognized, on several occasions, by the
highest judicial tribunals.
[Mr. Clay here quoted from an opinion of the Supreme Court a passage declaring
that the Indians are acknowledged to have an unquestionable and heretofore un
questioned right to their land, until it shall be extinguished by voluntary cession to
this government.]
But it is not at home alone that the rights of the Indians within
the limits of the United States have been recognized. Not only has
the Executive, the Congress of the United States, and the Supreme
Court, recognized these rights, but in one of the most important
epochs of this government, and on one of the most solemn occasions
in our intercourse with foreign powers, these rights of the Indian
tribes have been acknowledged. You, sir, will understand me at
once to refer to the negotiation between the government of Great
Britain and that of the United States, which had for its object' the
termination of the late war between the two countries. Sir, it must
be within your recollection, and that of every member ofthe Senate,
that the hinge upon which that negotiation turned — the ground upon
which it was for a long time apprehended that the conference be
tween the commissioners would terminate in a rupture of the nego
tiation between the two countries — was, the claim brought forward
' on that memorable occasion by Great Britain in behalf of the Indians
within the limits of the United States. It will be recollected that
she advanced-, as a principle from which she would not recede, as a
sina qua non, again and again, during the progress ofthe negotiation,
that the Indians as her allies, should be included in the treaty of peace
which the negotiators were about forming ; that they should have a
permanent boundary assigned them, and that neither Great Britain
nor the United States should be at liberty to purchase their lands.
Such were the pretensions urged on that occasion, which the com
missioners of the United States felt it to be their imperative duty
to resist. To establish, as the boundary, the line of the treaty of
Greenville, as proposed, which would have excluded from the
benefit of American laws and privileges a population of not less than
a hundred thousand of the inhabitants of Ohio, American citizens, en-

254 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
titled to the protection of the government, was a proposition which
the American negotiators could not for a moment entertain : they
would not even refer it to their government, though assured that it
would there meet the same unanimous rejection that it did from them.
But it became a matter of some importance that a satisfactory assur
ance should be given to Great Britain that the war, which we were
about to bring to a conclusion with her, should close also with her
allies : and what was that assurance ? I will not trouble the Senate
with tracing the whole account of that negotiation, but I beg leave
to call your attention to one of the passages of it. You will find, on
examining the history of the negotiation, that the demand brought
forward by the British government, through their minister, on this
occasion, was the subject of several argumentative papers. Towards
the close of this correspondence, reviewing the course pursued towards
the Aborigines by the several European powers which had planted
colonies in America, comparing it with that of the United States, and
contrasting the lenity, kindness and forbearance of the United States,
with the rigor and severity of other powers, the American negotiators
expressed themselves as follows :
" From the rigor of this system, how;ever, as practised by Great Britain, and all the
other European powers in America, the humane and liberal policy of the United
States has voluntarily relaxed. A celebrated writer on the law of nations, to whose
authority British jurists have taken particular satisfaction in appealing, after stating,
in the most explicit manner, the legitimacy of colonial settlements in America, to
the exclusion of all rights of uncivilized Indian tribes, has taken occasion to praise
the first settlers of New England, and of the founder of Pennsylvania, in having
purchased of the Indians the lands they resolved to cultivate, notwithstanding their
being furnished with a charter from their sovereign. It is this example which the
United States, since they became by their independence the sovereigns of the terri
tory, have adopted and organized into apolitical system. Under that system the In
dians residing in the United States are so far independent that they live under their
own customs, and not under the laws of the United States j that their rights upon the
lands where they inhabit or hunt are secured to them by boundaries defined in amica
ble treaties between the United States and themselves ; (and that whenever those
boundaries are varied, it is also by amicable and voluntary treaties, by which they
receive from the United States ample compensation for every right they have to the
lands ceded by them," &c.
The correspondence was further continued ; and finally the com
missioners on the part of Great Britain proposed an article to which
the American commissioners assented, the basis of which is a decla
ration of what is the state of the law between the Indian tribes and
the people of the United States. They then proposed a further arti
cle, which declared that the United States should endeavor to restore
peace to Ihe Indians who had acted on the side of Great Britain, to
gether with all the rights, possessions, privileges and immunities which

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES- 255
they possessed prior to the year 1811, that is, antecedent to the war
between England and the United States ; in consideration that Great
Britain would terminate the war so far as respected the Indians who
had been allies of the United States, and restore to them all the rights,
privileges, possessions and immunities which these also had enjoyed
previously to the same period. Mr. President, I here state my solemn
belief that, if the American commissioners had not declared the laws
between the Indians and the people of this country, and the rights of
the Indians to be such as they are stated to be in the extracts I have
read to the Senate ; if they had then stated that any one State^of this
Union who happened to have Indians residing within its limits, pos
sessed the right of extending over them the laws of such State, and
of taking their lands when and how it pleased, that the effect would
have been a prolongation of the war. I again declare my most solemn
belief, that Great Britain, who assented with great reluctance to this
mutual stipulation with respect to the Indians, never would have done
it at all, but under a conviction of the correspondence of those prin
ciples of Indian international law, (if I may. use such a phrase) with
those which the United States government had respected ever since
the period of our independence.
Sir, if lam right in this, let me ask whether in adopting the new
code which now prevails, and by which the rights of the Indians
have been trampled on, and the most solemn obligations of treaties
have been disregarded, we are not chargeable with having induced
that power to conclude a peace with us by suggestions utterly un
founded and erroneous ?
Most of the treaties between the Cherokee nation of Indians and
the United States have been submitted to the Senate for ratification,
and the Senate have acted upon them in conformity with their con
stitutional power. Besides the action of the Senate, as a legislative
body, in the enactment of laws in conformity with their stipulations,
regulating the intercourse of our citizens with that nation, it has acted
in its separate character, and confirmed the treaties themselves by the
constitutional majority of two-thirds of its members. Thus have
those treaties been sanctioned by the government of the United States
and by every branch of this government ; by the Senate, the Execu
tive, and the Supreme Court; both at home and abroad. But not
only have the rights of the Cherokees received all these recognitions ,

256 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
they have been, by implication, recognized by the State of Georgia
itself, in the act of 1S02, in which she stipulated that the government
of the United States, and not the State of Georgia, should extinguish
the Indian title to the land within her limits ; and the general govern
ment has been, from time to time, urged by Georgia to comply with
its engagements, from that period until the adoption of the late new
policy upon this subject.
Having thus, Mr. President, stated, as I hope, with clearness, the
RiGHTs,of the Indian tribes, as recognised by the most solemn acts
that can be entered into by any government, let me in the next place
inquire into the nature of the injuries which have been inflicted upon
them ; in other words, into the present condition of the Cherokees, to
whom protection. has been assured as well by solemn treaties as by
the laws and guaranties of the United States government.
And here let me be permitied to say, that I go into this subject
with feelings which no language at my command will enable me ad
equately to express. I assure the Senate, and in an especial manner
do I assure the honorable senators from Georgia, that my wish and
purpose is any other than to excite the slightest possible irritation on
the part of any human being. Far from it. I am actuated only by
feelings of grief, feelings of sorrow, and of profound regret, irresistibly
called forth by a contemplation of the miserable condition to which
these unfortunate people have been reduced by acts of legislation
proceeding from one of the States of this confederacy. I again assure
the honorable senators from Georgia, that, if it has become my pain
ful duty to comment upon some of these acts, I do it not with any
desire to place them, or the State they represent, in an invidious po
sition ; but because Georgia was, I believe, the first in the career,
the object of which seems to be the utter annihilation of every Indian
right, and because she has certainly, in the promotion of it, far out
stripped every other State in the Union.
I have not before me the various acts of the State in reference to
the Indians within her bounds ; and it is possible I may be under
some mistake in reference to them ; and if I am, no one will correct
the error more readily or with greater pleasure.
If, however, I had all those laws in my hands, I should not now

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES. 257
attempt to read them. Instead of this, it will be sufficient for me to
state the effects which have been produced by them upon the condi
tion of the Cherokee Indians residing in that State. And here follows
a list of what has been done by her legislature. Her first act was to
abolish the government of these Cherokees. No human community
can exist without a government of some kind ; and the Cherokees,
imitating our example, and having learned from us something of the
principles of a free constitution, established for themselves a govern
ment somewhat resembling our own. It is quite immaterial to us
what its form was. They always had had some government among
them ; and we guarantied to them the right of living under their own
laws and customs, unmolested by any one ; insomuch that our own
citizens were outlawed, should they presume to interfere with them.
What particular regulations they adopted in the management of their
humble and limited concerns is a matter with which we have, no
concern. However, the very first act of the Georgia legislature was
to abolish all governments of every sort among these people, and to
extend the laws and government of the State of Georgia over them.
The next step was to divide their territory into counties ; the next,
to survey the Cherokee lands ; and the last, to distribute this land
among the citizens of Georgia by lottery, giving to every head of a
family one ticket, and the prize in land that should be drawn against
it. To be sure there were many reservations for the heads of Indian
families ; and of how much did gentlemen suppose ? — of one hundred
^nd sixty acres only, and this to include their improvements. But
even to this limited possession the poor Indian was to have no fee
simple title : he was to hold as a mere occupant at the will of the
¦ State of Georgia for just as long or as short a time as she might think
proper. The laws at thesame time gave him no one particular right
whatever. He could not become a member of the State legislature,
nor could he hold any office under State authority, nor could he vote
as* an elector. He possessed not one single right of a freeman. No,
not even the poor privilege of testifying to his wrongs in the charac
ter of a witness in the courts of Georgia, or in any matter of contro
versy whatsoever.
These, Mr. President are the acts of the legislature of the State of
Georgia, in relation to the Indians. They were not all passed at one
session ; they were enacted, time after time, as the State advanced
.further and further in her steps to the acquisition of the Indian coun-

258 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
try, and the destruction and annihilation of all Indian rights, until, by
a recent act of the same body, the courts of the State itself are occlu
ded against the Indian sufferer, and he is actually denied an appeal
even to foreign tribunals, in the erection and in the laws of which he
had no voice, there to complain of his wrongs. If he enters the hall
of Georgia's justice, it is upon a surrender at the threshold of all his
rights- The history of this last law to which I have alluded, is this.
When the previous law of the State, dividing the Indian lands by
lottery was passed, some Indians made an appeal to one of the judges
of the State, and applied for an injunction against the proceeding ;
and such was the undeniable justice of their plea, that the judge found
himself unable to refuse it, and he granted the injunction sought. It
was the injunction which led to the passage of this act : to some of
the provisions of which I now invite the attention of the Senate.
And first, to the title of the act :
" A bill to amend an act entitled an act more effectually to provide for the govern
ment and protection of the Cherokee Indians residingwithin the limits of Georgia:
and to prescribe the bounds of their occupant claims : and also to authorize grants
to issue for lots drawn in the late land and gold lotteries."
Ah, sir, it was the pursuit of gold which led the Spanish invader
to desolate the fair fields of Mexico and Peru — " and to provide for
the appointment of an agent to carry certain parts thereof into exe
cution ; and to fix the salary of such agent, and to punish those per
sons who may deter Indians from enrolling for emigration, passed 20th
December, 1833." Well) sir, this bill goes on to provide,
"That it shall be the duty of the agent or agents appointed by his excellency the
Governor, under the authority of this or the act of which it is amendatory, to report
to him the number, district, and section of all lots of land subject to be granted by
the provisions of said act, which he may be required to do by the drawer, or his
agent, or the person claiming the same; and it shall be the duty of his excellency
the Governor, upon the application of the drawer of any of the aforesaid lots, his 6r
her special agents, or the person to whom the drawer may have bona-fide conveyed
the same, his agent or assigns, to issue a grant therefor ; and it shall be the duty 6f
the said agent or agents, upon the productions of the grant so issued as aforesai<R>y
the grantor, his or her agent, or the person, or his pr her agent to whom the said land
so granted as aforesaid may have been bona-fide conveyed, to deliver possession of
said granted lot to the said grantee,' or person entitled to the possession of the same
under the provisions of this act, or the act of which this is amendatory, and his ex
cellency the Governor is hereby authorized upon satisfactory evidence that the said
agent is impeded or resisted in delivering such possession, by a force which he can
not overcome, to order out a sufficient force to carry trie power of said agent or
agents fully into effect, and to pay the expenses of the same out of the contingent
fund : provided nothing in this act shall be so construed as to require the interference
of the said agent between two or more individuals claiming possession, by virtue of
titles derived from a grant from the State to any lot.'
Thus after the State of Georgia had distributed the lands of the-

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES. 259
Indians by lottery, and the drawers of prizes were authorized io re
ceive grants ofthe land drawn, and with these grants in their hand
were authorized to demand of the agent of the State, appointed for
the purpose, to be put in possession of the soil thus obtained ; and if
any resistance to their entry should be made — and who was to make
it, but a poor Indian ? — the Governor was empowered to turn out the
military force of the State, and enable the agent to take possession by
force, without trial, without judgment, and without investigation.
But, should there be two claimants of the prize, should two of the
ticket holders dispute their claim to the same lot, then no military
force was to be used. It was only when the resistance was by an
Indian — it was only when Indian rights should come into collision
with the alledged rights ofthe State of Georgia, that the strong hand
of military power was instantly to interpose.
The next section of the act is in these words :
" And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person dispos
sessed of a lot of land under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, shall go
before a justice of the peace or of the inferior court, and make affidavit that he or
she was not liable to be dispossessed under or by any of the provisions of this or the
aforesaid act, and file said affidavit in the clerk's office of the superior court of the
county in which said land shall lie, such person upon giving bond and security in the
clerk's office for the costs to accrue on the trial, shall be permitted within ten days
from such dispossessing to enter an appeal to said superior court, and at said court
the judge shall cause an issue to be made up between the appellant and the person to
whom possession of said land was delivered by either of said agents, which said
issue shall be in the following form."
[Mr. Cuthbert, of Georgia, here interposed: and having obtained Mr. Clay's
consent to explain, stated that he had unfortunately not been in the Senate when
thehonorable Senator commenced his speech ; but had learned that it was in sup
port of a memorial from certain Cherokee Indians in the State of Georgia, who de
sired to emigrate. He must be permitted to say, that the current of the honorable
Senator's remarks did not suit remarkably well the subject of such a memorial. A
memorial of a different kind had been presented, and which the Committee on In
dian Affairs had before it, to which the Senator's remarks would better apply. The
present discussion was wholly unexpected, and it seemed to him not in consistency
with the object of the memorial he hadpresented.]
I am truly sorry the honorable gentleman was absent when I com
menced speaking. I delayed presenting the memorial because I ob
served that neither of the Senators from Georgia were in their seats,
until the hour when they might be expected to be present, and when
one of them (Mr. King) had actually taken his seat. If thehonora-

•260 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
ble Senator had been present he would have heard me say that I
thought the presentation ofthe memorial a fit occasion to express my
sentiments, not only touching the rights of these individual petition
ers, but on the rights of all the Indian tribes, and their relations to
this government. And if he will have but a little patience he will
find that it is my intention to present propositions which go to em
brace both resolutions. '
And here, Mr. President, let me pause and invite the attention of
the Senate to the provision in the act of Georgia which I was reading
— that is, that he may have the privilege of an appeal to a tribunal
of justice, by forms and by a bond with the nature and force of which
he is unacquainted ; and that then he may have — what besides ? I
invoke the attention of the Senate to this part of the law. What, I
ask, does it secure to the Indian ? His rights ? The rights recog
nized by treaties ? The rights guarantied to him by the most solemn
acts which human governments can perform ? No. It allows him
to come into the courts of the State, and there to enjoy the benefit
of the summary proceeding called in the act "an appeal!" — but
which can never be continued beyond a second term ; and when he
pomes there, what then ? He shall be permitted to come into court
and enter an appeal, which shall be in the following form :
" A. B., who was dispossessed of a lot of land by an agent of the State of Georgia,
comes into court, and admitting the right of the State of Georgia to pass the law
under which agent acted, avers that he was not liable to be dispossessed of said land,
by or under any one of the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of Georgia,
passed 20th December, 1833, ' more effectually to provide for the protection of the
Cherokee Indians residing within the limi:s of Georgia, and to prescribe the bounds
of their occupant claims, and also,to authorize grants to issue for lots drawn in the
land and gold lotteries in certain cases, and to provide for the appointment of an
agent to carry certain parts thereof into execution, and fix the salary of such agent,
and to punish those persons who may deter Indians from enrolling for emigration,'
or the act amendatory thereof, passed at the session of the legislature of 1834 : ' in
which issue the person to whom possession of said land was delivered shall join ;
and which issue shall constitute the entire pleadings between the parties ;-nor shall
the court allow any matter other than is contained in said issue to be placed upon
the record or files of said court ; and said cause shall be tried at the first term of the
court, unless good cause shall be shown for a continuance, and the same party shall
not be permitted to continue said cause more than once, except for unavoidable
providential cause : nor shall said court at the instance of either party pass anv order
or grant any injunction to stay said cause, nor permit to be engrafted on said cause
any other proceedings whatever.' "
At the same time we find, by another enactment, the judges ofthe
courts of Georgia are restrained from granting injunctions, so thatthe
only form in which the Indian can come before them is in the form
of an appeal; and in this, the very first step is an absolute renuncia-

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES. 261
tion of the rights he holds by treaty, and the unqualified admission
of the rights of his antagonist, as conferred by the laws of Georgia ;
and the court is expressly prohibited from putting anything else upon
the record. Why ? Do we not all know the reason ? If the poor
Indian was allowed to put in a plea stating his rights, and the court
should then decide against him, the cause would go upon an appeal
to the supreme court ; the decision could be re-examined, could be
annulled, and the authority of treaties vindicated. But, to prevent
this, to make it impossible, he is compelled, on entering the court, to
renounce his Indian rights, and the court is forbidden to put anything
on record which can bring up a decision upon them.
Mr. President, I have already stated that, in the observations I have
made, I am actuated by , no other than such as ought to be in the
breast of every honest man, the feelings of common justice. I would
say nothing, I would whisper nothing, I would insinuate nothing, I
would think nothing, which can, in the remotest degree, cause irrita
tion in the mind of any one, of any Senator here, of any State in this
Union, I have too much respect for every member of the confederacy.
I feel nothing but grief for the wretched condition of these most un
fortunate people, and every emotion of my bosom dissuades me from
the use of epithets that might raise emotions which should draw the
attention of the Senate from the justice of their claims. I forbear to
apply to this law any epithet of any kind. Sir, no epithet is needed.
The features of the law itself ; its warrant for the interposition of
military power, when no trial and no judgment has been allowed ; its
denial of any appeal, unless the unhappy Indian shall first renounce
his own rights, and admit the rights of his opponent — features such
as these are enough to show what the true character of the act is,
and supersede the necessity of all epithets, were 1 even capable of
applying them.
The Senate will thus perceive that the whole power of the State
of Georgia, military as well as civil, has been made to bear upon these
Indians, without their having any voice in forming, judging upon, or
executing the laws under which he is placed, and without even the
poor privilege of establishing the injury he may have suffere by In
dian evidence : nay, worse still, not even by the evidence of a white
man ! Recause the renunciation of his rights precludes all evidence,
white or black, civilized or savage. There then he lies, with his
*R

262 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
property, his rights, and every privilege which makes human exis
tence desirable, at the mercy of the State of Georgia ; a State, in
whose government or laws he has no voice. Sir, it is impossible for
the most active imagination to conceive a condition of human society
more perfectly wretched. Shall I be told that the condition of the
African slave is worse ? No, sir ; no, sir. It is not worse. The in
terest of the master makes it at once his duty and his inclination to
provide for the comfort and the health of his slave : for without these
he would be unprofitable. Both pride and interest render the master
prompt in vindicating the rights of his slave, and protecting him from
the oppression of others, and the laws secure to him the amplest
means to do so. But who, what human being, stands in the relation
of master or any other relation, which makes him interested in the
preservation and protection of the poor Indian thus degraded and mis
erable ? Thrust out from human society, without the sympathies of
any, and placed without the pale of common justice, who is there to
protect him, or to defend his rights ?
Such, Mr. President, is the present condition of these Cherokee
memorialists, whose case it is my duty to submit to the consideration
of the Senate. There remains but one more inquiry before I con
clude. Is there any remedy within the scope of the powers of the
federal government as given by the constitution ? If we are without
the power, if we have no constitutional authority, then we are also
without responsibility. Our regrets may be excited, our sympathies
may be moved, our humanity may be shocked, our hearts may be
grieved, but if our hands are tied, we can only unite with all the good,
the Christian, the benevolent portion of the human family, in deplor
ing what we cannot prevent.
But, sir, we are not thus powerless. I stated to the Senate, when
I began, that there are two classes of the Cherokees ; one of these
classes desire to emigrate, and it was their petition I presented this
morning, and with respect to these, our powers are ample to afford
them the most liberal and effectual relief. They wish to go beyond
the Mississippi, and to be guarantied in the possession of the country
which may be there assigned to them. As the Congress of the United
States have full powers over the territories, we may give them all
the guaranty which Congress can express for the undisturbed pos
session of their lands. With respect to their case there can be no
question as to our nowers.

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES. 263
And then, as to those who desire to remain on this side the river,
1 ask again, are we powerless ? Can we afford them no redress ?'
Must we sit still and see the injury they suffer, and extend no hand
to relieve them ? It were strange indeed, were such the case. Why
have we guarantied to them the enjoyment of their own laws ?
Why have we pledged to them protection ? Why have we as
signed them limits of territory ? Why have we declared that
they shall enjoy their homes in peace, without molestation from any ?
If the United States government has contracted these serious obliga
tions, it ought, before the Indians were reduced by our assurances to
rely upon our engagement, to have explained to them its want of
authority to make the contract. Before we pretend to Great Britain,
to Europe, to the civilized world, that such were the rights we would
secure to the Indians, we ought to have examined the extent and the
grounds of our own rights to do so. But is such, indeed, our situa
tion ? No, sir. Georgia has shut her courts against these Indians.
What is the remedy ? To open ours. Have we not the right ?
What says the constitution ?
"The judicial power shall extend to all cases inlaw and equity, arising under
this constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made or which shall
be made under their authority."
But here is a case of conflict between the rights of the proprie
tors and the local laws ; and here is the very case which the consti
tution contemplated, when it declared that the power of the federal
judiciary should extend to all cases under the authority ofthe United
States. Therefore it is fully within the competence of Congress, un
der the provisions ofthe constitution, to provide the manner in which
the Cherokees may have their rights decided, because a grant of the
means is included in the grant of jurisdiction. It is competent, then,
for Congress to decide whether the Cherokees have a right, to come
into a court of justice and to make an appeal to the highest authority
to sustain the solemn treaties under which their rights have been
guarantied, and in the sacred*character of which they have reposed
their confidence. And if Congress possesses the power to extend
relief to the Indians, are they not bound by the most sacred of human
considerations, the obligations of treaties, the protection assured them,
by every Christian tie, every benevolent feeling, every humane im
pulse of the human heart, to extend it ? If they were to fail to do
this, and there is, as reason and revelation declares there is, a tribunal

264 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
of eternal justice to which all human power is amenable, how could
they, if they refused to perform their duties to this injured and op
pressed, though civilized race, expect to escape the visitations of that
Divine vengeance which none will be permitted to avoid who have
committed wrong, or done injustice to others ?
At this moment, when the United States are urging on the govern
ment of France the fulfillment of the obligations of the treaty con
cluded with that country, to the execution of which it is contended
that France has plighted her sacred faith, what strength, what an ir
resistible force would be given to our plea, if we could say to France
that, in all instances, we had completely fulfilled all our engagements,
and that we had adhered faithfully to every obligation which we had
contracted, no matter whether it was entered into with a powerful or
a weak people ; if we could say to her that we had complied with
all our engagements to others, that we now came before her, always
acting right as we had done, to induce her also to fulfil her obliga
tions with us. How shall we stand in the eyes of France and of the
civilized world, if, in spite of the most solemn treaties, which have
existed for half a century, and have been recognized in every form,
and by every branch of the government, how shall we be justified if
we suffer these treaties to be trampled under foot, and the rights
which they were given to secure trodden in the dust ? How would
Great Britain, after the solemn understanding entered into with her
at Ghent, feel after such a breach of faith ? And how could I, as a
commissioner on the negotiation of that treaty, hold up my head he-
fore Great Britain, after being thus made an instrument of fraud and
deception, as I assuredly shall be, if the rights ofthe Indians are to be
thus violated, and the treaties, by which they were secured, violated ?
How could I hold up my head, after such a violation of rights, and
say that I am proud of my country, of which we must all wish to be
proud ?
For myself, I rejoice that I have been spared, and allowed a suita
ble opportunity to present my views and opinions on this great na
tional subject, so interesting to the national character of the country
for justice and equity. I rejoice that the voice which, without charge
of presumption or arrogance, I may say, has ever been raised in defence
of the oppressed ofthe human species, has been heard in defence of this
most oppressed of all. To me, in that awful hour of death, to which

OUR TREATMENT OF THE CHEROKEES. 265
all must come, and which, with respect to myself, cannot be very far
distant, it will be a source of the highest consolation that an oppor
tunity has been found by me, on the floor of the Senate, in the dis
charge of my official duty, to pronounce my views on a course of
policy marked by such wrongs as are calculated to arrest the atten
tion of every one, and that I have raised my humble voice, and pro
nounced my solemn protest against such wrongs.
I will no longer detain the Senate, but will submit the following
propositions :
Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be directed to inquire into the
expediency of making further provision, bylaw, to enable Indian nations, or tribes,
to whose use and occupancy lands are secured by treaties concluded between them
and the United States, in conformity with the constitution of the United States.
Resolved, That trie Committee on Indian Affairs be directed to inquire into the
expediency of making further provisidti, by law, for setting apart a district of coun
try west of the Mississippi river, for such of the Cherokee nation as may be disposed
to emigrate and to occupy the same, and for securing in perpetuity the peaceful and
undisturbed enjoyment thereof to the emigrants and their descendants.

ON SURRENDERING THE CUMBERLAND ROAD.
In the Senate of the United States, February 11, 1835.

[A bill making appropriations for the completion of certain portions of the Cum
berland Road, and their surrender thereupon to the States, having been reported and
discussed by several senators, in favor of and adverse to the Internal Improvement
policy, Mr. Clay spoke in substance as follows :]
I would not say a word now but for the introduction in this dis
cussion of collateral matters not immediately connected with it. I
mean to vote for the appropriation contained in the bill, and I shall
do so with pleasure, because, under all the circumstances ofthe case,
I feel myself called upon by a sense of imperative necessity to yield
my assent to the appropriation. The road will be abandoned, and all
the expenditures which have heretofore been made upon it, will be
entirely thrown away, unless we now succeed in obtaining an appro
priation to put the road in a state of repair. Now, I do not concur
with the gentleman (Mr. Ewing) that Ohio can as a matter of strict
right demand of the government to keep this road in repair. And
why so ? Because, by the terms of the compact, under the operation
of which the road was made, there was a restricted and defined fund set
apart in order to accomplish that object. And that fund measures the
obligation of the government. It has been, however, long since ex
hausted. There is no obligation then on the part ofthe government
to keep the road in repair. But I am free to admit, that considera
tions of policy will prompt it to adopt that course, in order that an
opportunity shall be presented to the States to take it into their own
hands. The honorable senator from Pennsylvania felicitated himself on
having, at a very early epoch, discovered the unconstitutionality of the
general government erecting toll gates upon this road, and he voted
against the first measure to carry that object into execution. I must
say, that for myself, I think the general government have a right to

ON SURRENDERING THE CUMBERLAND ROAD. 267
adopt that course which it deems necessary for the preservation of
a road which is made under its own authority. And as a legiti
mate consequence from the power of making a. road, is derived the
power of making an improvement on it. That is established ; and
on that point I am sure the honorable gentleman does not differ from
those who were in favor of establishing toll-gates at the period to
which I have alluded. I would repeat, that if the power to make a
road be conceded, it follows, as a legitimate consequence from that
power, that the general government has a right to preserve it. And,
if the right to do so, there is no mode of preservation more fitting and
suitable than that which results from a moderate toll for keeping up
the road, and thus continuing it for all time to come.
The opinion held by the honorable senator at the period to which
I have adverted, was not the general opinion. He will well remem
ber that the power which I contended did exist, was sustained in the
other branch ofthe legislature by large majorities. And in that Sen
ate, if I am not mistaken, there were but nine dissentients from the
existence of it. If my recollection deceives me not, I had the pleas
ure of concurring with the distinguished individual who now presides
over the deliberations of this body. I think that he, (the Vice Presi
dent) in common with the majority of the Senate and House of Rep
resentatives, coincided in the belief, that a road, constructed under
the orders of the general government, ought to be preserved by the
authority which brought it into being. Now that is my opinion still.
I am not one of those who, on this or any other great • national sub
ject, have changed my opinion in consequence of being wrought upon
by various conflicting circumstances.
With regard to the general power of making internal improve
ments, as far as it exists in the opinions I have frequently expressed
in both houses, my opinion is still unaltered. But with respect to
the expediency of exercising that power, at any period, it must de
pend upon the circumstances of the times. And in my opinion the
power is to be found in the constitution. This belief I have always
entertained, and it remains unshaken. I cannot coincide in the opin
ion expressed by the honorable senator from Pennsylvania and the
honorable senator from Massachusetts, in regard to the disposition
that is to be made of this road.

268 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
What, I would ask, has been stated on all hands ? That the Cum
berland road is a great national object in which all the people of the
United States are interested and concerned ; that we are interested in
our corporate capacity, on account ofthe stake we posses in the pub
lic domain, and that we are consequently benefited by that road ;
that the people of the westsare interested in it as a common thorough
fare to all places from one side of the country to the other.
I say that the principle is fundamentally wrong ; I protest against
it — have done so from the first, and do so again now. It is a great
national object, and we might as well give the care of the mint to
Pennsylvania ; the protection of the breakwater, or of the public ves
sels in New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, to the respective le
gislatures of the States in which that property was situated, as give
the care of a great national road in which the people of the United
States were concerned, to the care of a few States which were ac
knowledged to have no particular interest in it — States having so"
little interest in that great work that they would not repair it when
offered to their hands.
But I shall vote for this appropriation ; I am compelled to vote for
it by the force of circumstances over which I have no control. I have
seen, in reference to internal improvements, and other measures of a
national character, not individuals merely, but whole masses— entire
communities — prostrating their own settled opinions, to which they
have conformed for half a century, wheel to the right or to the left —
march this way or that, according as they see high authority for it.
And I see that there is no way of preserving this great object, which
affords such vast facilities to the western States, no other mode of
preserving it, but by a reluctant acquiescence in a course of policy,
which all at least, have not contributed to produce, but which is
formed to operate on the country, and from which there is no appeal.
In conclusion, I again reiterate, that I shall vote for the appropria
tion in this bill, although very reluctantly, and with the protest that
the road in question, being the common property of the whole nation,
and under the guardianship ofthe general government, should not be
treacherously parted from by it and put into the hands of the local
governments, who feel no interest in the matter.

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS.
In the Senate of the United States, February 18, 1835.

[A bill to define and fix the tenure of office, by limiting the President's power to
remove subordinate officers to cases in which reasons shall be given by him, and
prescribing the mode of its exercise, having been submitted to the Senate, Mr. Cr,Ay,
upon the question of its passage, addressed the Senate as follows :]
I thine it extremely fortunate that this subject of executive patron
age came up, at this session, unencumbered by any collateral ques
tion. At the last session we had the removal ofthe deposites, the
treasury report sustaining it, and the protest of the President against
the resolution ofthe Senate. The bank mingled itself in all our dis
cussions, and the partisans of executive power availed themselves of
the prejudices which had been artfully excited against that institution,
to deceive and blind the people as to the enormity of executive pre
tensions. The bank has been doomed to destruction, and no one now
thinks the recharter of it practicable, or ought to be attempted. I
fear that the people will have just and severe cause to regret its de
struction. The administration of it was uncommonly able ; and one
is at a loss which most to admire, the imperturbable temper or the
wisdom of its enlightened piesident. No country can possibly pos
sess a better general currency than it supplied. The injurious conse
quences of the sacrifice of this valuable institution will soon be felt.
There being no longer any sentinel at the head of our banking estab
lishments, to warn them, by its information and operations, of ap
proaching danger, the local institutions, already multiplied to an alarm
ing extent, and almost daily multiplying, in seasons of prosperity, will
make free and unrestrained emissions. All the channels of circula
tion will become gorged. Property will rise extravagantly high, and,.
constantly looking up, the temptation to purchase will be irresistible.
Inordinate speculation will ensue, debts will be freely contracted, and
when the season of adversity comes, as come it must, the banks, act
ing without concert and without guide, obeying the law of self-pres-

270 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
ervation, will all at the same time call in their issues ; the vast num
ber will exaggerate the alarm, and general distress, wide-spread ruin,
and an explosion of the whole banking system, or the establishment
of a new Bank of the United States, will be the ultimate effects.
We can now deliberately contemplate the vast expansion of execu
tive power, under the present administration, free from embarrass
ment. And is there any real lover of civil liberty who can behold it
without great and just alarm ? Take the doctrines of the Protest
and the Secretary's report together, and, instead of having a balanced
government with three co-ordinate departments, we have but one
power in the State. According to those papers all the officers con
cerned in the administration of the laws are bound to obey the Presi
dent. His will controls every branch of the administration. No
matter that the law may have assigned to other officers of the govern
ment specifically defined .duties , no matter that the theory ofthe con
stitution and the law supposes them bound to the discharge of those
duties according to their own judgment, and under their own respon
sibility, and liable to impeachment for malfeasance ; the will of the
President, even in opposition to their own deliberate sense of their
obligations, is to prevail, and expulsion from office is the penalty of
disobedience ! It has not, indeed, in terms, been claimed, but it is a
legitimate consequence from the doctrine asserted, that all the decis
ions of the judicial tribunals, not conformable with the President's
opinion, must be inoperative, since the officers charged with their
execution are no more exempt from the pretended obligation to obey
his orders than any other officer of the administration.
The basis of this overshadowing superstructure of executive power
is, the power of dismission, which is one ofthe objects ofthe bill un
der consideration somewhat to regulate, but which it is contended by
the supporters of executive authority is uncontrolable. The practi
cal exercise of this power, during the administration, has reduced the
salutary co-operation of the Senate, as approved by the constitution,
in all appointments, to an idle form. Of what avail is it that the
Senate shall have passed upon a nomination, if the President, at any
time thereafter, even the next day, whether the Senate be in session
or in vacation, without any known cause, may dismiss the incumbent ?
Let us examine the nature of this power. It is exercised in the re
cesses of the executive mansion, perhaps upon secret information.

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 271
The accused officer is not present, nor heard, nor confronted with the
witnesses against him, and the President is judge, juror, and execu
tioner. No reasons are assigned for the dismission, and the public is
left to conjecture the cause. Is not a power so exercised essentially
a despotic power ? It is adverse to the genius of all free governments,
the foundation of which is responsibility. Responsibility is the vital
principle of civil liberty, as irresponsibility is the vital principle of
despotism. Free government can no more exist without this princi
pie than animal life can be sustained without the presence of the at
mosphere. But is not the President absolutely irresponsible in the
exercise of this power ? How can he be reached ? By impeachment ?
It is a mockery.
It has been truly said that the office was not made for the incum
bent. Nor was it made for the incumbent of another office. In both
and in all cases public offices are created for the public ; and the peo
ple have a right to know why and wherefore one of their servants
dismisses another. The abuses which have flowed and are likely to
flow from this power, if unchecked, are indescribable. How often
have all of us witnessed the expulsion of the most faithful officers,
of the highest character, and of the most undoubted probity, for no
other imaginable reason, than difference in political sentiments ? It
begins in politics and may end in religion. If a President should be
inclined to fanaticism, and the power should not be regulated, what
is to prevent the dismission of every officer who does not belong to
his sect, or persuasion ? He may, perhaps truly, say, if he does not
dismiss him, that he has not his confidence. It was the cant lan
guage of Cromwell and his associates, when obnoxious individuals
were in or proposed for office, that they could not confide in them-
The tendency of this power is to revive the dark ages of feudalism,
and to render every officer a feudatory. The bravest man in office,
whose employment and bread depend upon the will of the President,
will quail under the influence of the power of dismission. If opposed
in sentiments to the administration, he will begin by silence, and
finally will be goaded into partisanship.
The Senator from New York, (Mr. Wright) in analyzing the list
of one hundred thousand who are reported by the committee of pa
tronage to draw money from the public treasury, contends that a large
portion of them consists ofthe army, the navy, and revolutionary pen-

272 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
sioners ; and, paying a just compliment to their gallantry and patri>-
otism, asks, if they will allow themselves to be instrumental in the
destruction of the liberties of their country 1 It is very remarkable
that hitherto the power of dismission has not been applied to the
army and navy, to which, from the nature of the service, it would
seem to be more necessary than to those in civil places. But accu
mulation and concentration are the nature of all power, and especially
of executive power. And it cannot be doubted that, if the power of
dismission, as now exercised, in regard to civil officers, is sanctioned
and sustained by the people, it will, in the end, be extended to the
army and navy. When so extended, it will produce its usual effect
of subserviency, or if the present army and navy should be too stern
and upright to be moulded according to the pleasure of the executive,
we are to recollect that the individuals who compose them are not to
live always, and may be succeeded by those who will be more pliant
and yielding. But I would ask the Senator what has been the effect
of this tremendous power of dismission upon the classes of officers to
which it has been applied ? Upon the post-office, the land-office, and
the custom-house ? They constitute so many corps d'armee, ready
to further, on all occasions, the executive views, and wishes. They
take the lead in primary assemblies whenever it is deemed expedient
to applaud or sound the praises of the administration, or to carry out
its purposes in relation to the succession. We are assured that a large
majority ofthe recent convention at Columbus, in Ohio, to nominate
the President's successor, were office-holders. And do you imagine
that they would nominate any other than the President's known fa
vorite ?
The power of removal, as now exercised, is nowhere in the consti
tution expressly recognized. The only mode of displacing aipublic
officer for which it does provide, is by impeachment. But it has been
argued on this occasion, that it is a sovereign power, an inherent
power, and an executive power ; and, therefore, that it belongs to the
President. Neither the premises nor the conclusion can be sustained.
If they could be, the people of the United States have all along to
tally misconceived the nature of their government, and the character
of the office of their supreme magistrate. Sovereign power is su
preme power ; and in no instance whatever is there any supreme
power vested in the President. "- Whatever sovereign power is, if there
be any, conveyed by the constitution of the United States, is vested

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 273
;n Congress, or in the President and Senate. The power to declare
war, to lay taxes, to coin money, is vested in Congress ; and the
treaty making power in the President and Senate. The post-master
general has the power to dismiss his deputies. Is that a sovereign
power, or has he any ?
Inherent power ! That is a new principle to enlarge the powers
of the general government. Hitherto it has been supposed that there
are no powers possessed by the government of the United States, or
any branch of it, but such as are granted by the constitution ; and in
order to ascertain what has been granted, that it was necessary to
show the grant, or to establish that the power claimed was necessary
and proper to execute some granted power. In other words, that
there are no powers but those which are expressed or incidental. But
it seems that a great mistake has existed. The partisans of the exe
cutive have discovered a third and more fruitful source of power.
Inherent power ! Whence is it derived ? The constitution created the
office of President, and made it just what it is. It had no power prior
to its existence. It can have none but those which are conferred
upon it by the instrument which created it, or laws passed in pursu
ance of that instrument. Do gentlemen mean, by inherent power,
such power as is exercised by the monarchs or chief magistrates of
other countries ? If that be their meaning, they should avow it.
It has been argued that the power of removal from office is an ex
ecutive power ; that all executive power is vested in the President ;
and that he is to see that the laws are faithfully executed, which, it
is contended he cannot do, unless at his pleasure he may dismiss any
subordinate officer.
The mere act of dismission or removal may be of an executive
nature, but the judgment or sentence which precedes it is a function
of a judicial and not executive nature. Impeachments which, as has
been already observed, are the only mode of removal from office ex
pressly provided for in the constitution, are to be tried by the Senate,
acting as a judicial tribunal. In England, and in all other States,
they are tried by judicial tribunals. In several of the States removal
from office sometimes is effected by the legislative authority, as in the
case of judges on the concurrence of two-thirds ofthe members. The
administration of the laws of the several States proceeds regularly

274 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
without the exercise on the part of the governors of any power simi
lar to that which is claimed for the President. In Kentucky, and in
other States, the governor has no power to remove sheriffs, collectors
of the revenue, clerks of courts, or any one officer employed in ad
ministration ; and yet the governor, like the President, is constitu
tionally enjoined to see that the laws are faithfully executed.
The clause relied upon to prove that all executive power is vested
in the President, is the first section of the second article. On exam
ining the constitution, we find that, according to its arrangement, it
treats first of the legislative power, then of the executive, and lastly,
of the judicial power. In each instance it provides how% those pow
ers shall be respectively vested. The legislative power is confided to
a Congress, and the constitution then directs how the members of the
body shall be chosen, and after having constituted the body enume
rates and carefully specifies its powers. And the same course is ob
served both with the executive and the judiciary. In neither case,
does the preliminary clause convey any power ; but the powers of the
several departments are to be sought for in the subsequent provisions.
The legislative powers granted by the constitution are to be vested,
how? In a Congress. What powers? Those which are ennmerated.
The executive power is to be vested, how ? In a council, or in sev
eral ? No, in a President of the United States of America. What
executive power ? That which is possessed by any chief magistrate
in any country, or that which speculative writers attribute to the
executive head ? No such thing. That power, and that only, which
the constitution subsequently assigns to the chief magistrate.
The President is enjoined by the constitution to take care that the
laws be faithfully executed. Under this injunction, the power of
dismission is claimed for him ; and it is contended that if those
charged with the execution of the laws attempt to execute them in a
sense different from that entertained by the President, he may prevent
it or withhold his co-operation. It would follow, that if the judiciary
give to the law an interpretation variant from that of the President,
he would not be bound to afford means which might become neces
sary to execute their decision. If these pretensions are well found
ed, it is manifest that the President, by means of the veto, in arresting
the passage of laws which he disapproves, and the power of expound
ing those which are passed, according to his own sense of them, will

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 275
become possessed of all the practical authority of the whole govern
ment. If the judiciary decide a law contrary to the President's opin
ion of its meaning, he may command the marshal not to execute the
decision, and urge his constitutional obligation to take care that the
laws be faithfully executed. It will be recollected perhaps, by the
Senate, that during the discussions on the deposite question, I pre
dicted that the day would arrive when a President, disposed to en
large his powers, would appeal to his official oath as a source of
power. In that oath he undertakes that he will " to the best of his
ability preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United
States." The fulfilment of the prediction quickly followed : and
during the same session, in the .protest of the President, we find him
referring to this oath as a source of power and duty. Now, if the
President, in virtue of his oath, may interpose and prevent anything
from being done contrary to the constitution, as he understands it ,
and may in virtue of the injunction to take care that the laws be
faithfully executed, prevent the enforcement of any law contrary to
the sense in which he understands it, I would ask what powers re
main to any other branch of the government ? Are they not all sub
stantially absorbed in the WILL of one man.
The President's oath obliges him to do no more than every member of
Congress is also bound by official oath to do ; that is, to support the
constitution of the United States in their respective spheres of action
In the discharge ofthe duties specifically assigned to him by the con
stitution and laws, he is for ever to keep in view the constitution ;
and this every member of Congress is equally bound to do, in the
passage of laws. To step out of his sphere ; to trench upon other
departments of the government, under the notion that they are about
to violate the constitution, would be to set a most pernicious and dan
gerous example of violation of the constitution. Suppose Congress,
by two-thirds of each branch, pass a law contrary to the veto of the
President, and to his opinion of the constitution, is he afterwards at
liberty to prevent its execution ? The injunction, to which I have
adverted, common both to the Federal and most of the State Consti
tutions, imposes only upon the chief magistrate the duty of executing
those laws with the execution of which he is specially charged ;
of supplying, when necessary, the means with which he is entrusted
to enable others to execute those laws, the enforcement of which is
confided to them ; and to communicate to Congress infractions of the

276 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
laws, that the guilty may be brought to punishment, or the defects of
legislation remedied. The most important branch of the government
to the rights of the people, as regards the mere execution of the laws,
is the judiciary ; and yet they hold their offices by a tenure beyond
the reach of the President. Far from impairing the efficacy of any
powers with which he is invested, this permanent character in the
judicial office is supposed to give stability and independence to the
administration of justice.
The power of removal from office not being one of those powers
which are expressly granted and enumerated in the constitution, and
having, I hope, successfully shown that it is not essentially of an
executive nature, the question arises to what department of the gov
ernment does it belong, in regard to all offices created by law, or whose
tenure is not defined in the constitution ? There is much force in the
argument which attaches the power of dismission to the President
and Senate conjointly, as the appointing power. But I think w ;
must look for it to a broader and higher source — the legislative de
partment. The duty of appointment may be performed under a law
which enacts the mode of dismission. This is the case in the post-
office department, the post-master general being invested with both
the power of appointment and of dismission. But they are not neces
sarily allied, and the law may separate them ; and assign to one func
tionary the right to appoint, and to a different one the right to dis
miss. Examples of such a separation may be found in the State gov
ernments. It is the legislative authority which creates the office, defines its
duties, and may prescribe its duration. I speak, of course, of offices
not created by the constitution, but the law. The office, coming into
existence by the will of Congress, the same will may provide how,
and in what manner, the office and the officer shall both cease to
exist. It may direct the conditions on which he shall hold the office,
and when and how he shall be dismissed. Suppose the constitution
had omitted to prescribe the tenure of the judicial oath, could not
Congress do it ? But the constitution has not fixed the tenure of any
subordinate offices,' and therefore Congress may supply the omission.
It would be unreasonable to contend that, although Congress, in pur
suit of the public good, brings the office and the officer into being, and
assigns their purposes, yet the President has a control over the offi-

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 277
cer which Congress cannot reach or regulate ; and this control, in
virtue of some vague and undefined implied executive pOwer which
the friends of executive supremacy are totally unable to attach to any
specific clause in the constitution.
It has been "contended, with great ability, that under the clause of
the constitution which declares that Congress shall have power "to
make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
execution the foregoing powers, and all others vested by this consti
tution in the government of the United States, or in any department
or officer thereof," Congress is the sole depository of implied powers,
and that no' other department or officer Of the government possesses
any. If this argument be correct, there is an end of the controversy.
But if the power of dismission be incident to the legislative authority,
Congress has the clear right to regulate it. And if it belong to any
other department of the government, under the cited clause, Congress
has the power to legislate upon the subject, and may regulate it, al
though it cannot divest the department altogether of the right.
Hitherto I have considered the question upon the ground of the
constitution, unaffected by precedent. We have in vain called upon
our opponents to meet us upon that ground ; and to point out the
clause of the constitution which by express grant, or necessary im
plication, subjects the will ofthe whole official Corps to the pleasure
of the President, to be dismissed whenever he thinks proper, without
any reasons publicly assigned or avowed for the dismission, and which
excludes Congress from all authority to legislate against the tremen
dous consequences of such a vast power. No such clause has been
shown ; nor can it be, for the best of all reasons, because it does not
exist. Instead of bringing forward any such satisfactory evidence,
gentlemen entrench themselves behind the precedent which was es
tablished in 1789, when the first Congress recognized the power of
dismission in the President ; that is, they rely upon the opinion ofthe
first Congress as to what the constitution meant as conclusive of what
it is. The precedent of 1789 was established in the House of Represen
tatives against the opinion of a large and able minority, and in the
Senate by the casting vote of the Vice President, Mr. John Adams.
It is impossible to read the debate which it occasioned" without being
*S

278 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
impressed with the conviction that the just confidence reposed in the
father of his country, then at the head ofthe government, had great,
if not decisive influence in establishing it. It has never, prior to the
commencement of the present administration, been submitted to the
process of review. It has not been reconsidered, because under the
mild administrations of the predecessors of the President, it was not
abused, but generally applied to cases to which the power was justly
applicable. [Mr. Clav here proceeded to recite from a memorandum, the number of officers
removed under the different Presidents, from "Washington down ; but the reporter
not having access to the memorandum, was unable to note the precise number under
each, and can only state, generally, that it was inconsderable under all the adminis
trations prior to the present, hut under that of General Jackson the number of re
movals amounted to more than two thousand— of which five or six hundred were
postmasters.] Precedents deliberately established by wise men are entitled to
great weight. They are the evidence of truth, but only evidence. If
the same rule of interpretation has been settled, by concurrent deci
sions, at different and distant periods, and by opposite dominant par
ties, it ought to be deemed binding, and not disturbed. But a solitary
precedent, established, as this was, by an equal vote of one branch,
and a powerful minority in the Other, under the influence of a confi
dence never , misplaced in an illustrious individual, and which has
never been re-examined, cannot be conclusive.
The , first inquiry which suggests itself upon such a precedent as
this is, brought forward by the friends of the administration, is, what
right have they to the benefit of any precedent ? The course of this
administration has been marked by an utter and contemptuous disre
gard of all that has been previously done. Disdaining to move on in the
beaten road carefully constructed by preceding administrations, and
trampling upon every thing, it has seemed resolved to trace out for
itself a new line of march. Then let us inquire how this administra
tion and its partisans dispose of precedents drawn from the same
source, the first Congress under the present constitution. If a
precedent of that Congress be sufficient authority to sustain an exe
cutive power, other precedents established by it, in support of legis
lative powers, must possess a like force. But do they admit this
principle of equality ? No such thing ; they reject the precedents of
the Congress of 1789 sustaining the power of Congress, and cling to

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 279
that only which expands the executive authority. They go for pre
rogative, and they go against the rights ofthe people.
It was in the first Congress that assembled in 1789, that the bank
ofthe United States was established, the power to adopt a protective
tariff was maintained, and the right was recognized to authorize in
ternal improvements. And these several powers do not rest on the
basis of a single, precedent. They have been again and again affirm
ed and reaffirmed by various Congresses, at different and distant pe
riods, under the administration of every dominant party ; and in re
gard to the bank, it has been sanctioned by every branch of the gov
ernment, and by tbe people. Yet the same gentlemen who console
themselves with the precedent of 1789 in behalf of the executive
prerogative, reject as unconstitutional all these legislative powers.
No one can carefully examine the debate in the House of Repre
sentatives in 1789, without being struck with the superiority of the
argument on the side of the minority, and the unsatisfactory nature
of that of the majority. How various are the sources whence the
power is derived ! Scarcely any two of the majority agree in their
deduction of it. Never have I seen, from the pen or tongue of Mr.
Madison, one of the majority, any thing so little persuasive or con
vincing. He assumes that all executive power is vested in the Presi
dent. He does not qualify it ; he does not limit it to that executive
power which the constitution grants. He does not discriminate be
tween executive power assigned by the constitution, and executive
power enacted bylaw. He asks, if the Senate had not been associa
ted with the President in the appointing power, whether the President
in virtue of his executive power, would not have had the' right to
make all appointments ? I think not ; clearly not. It would have
been a most sweeping and far-fetched implication. In the silence of
the constitution, it would have devolved upon Congress to provide by
law for the mode of appointing to office ; and that in virtue of the
clause, to which I have already adverted, giving to Congress power
to pass all laws necessary and proper to carry on the government.
He says, " the danger then merely consists in this : the President can
displace from office a man whose merits require that he should be
continued in it. What will be the motives which the President can
feel for such an abuse of his power ? What motives ! The pure heart
of a Washington could have had none ; the virtuous head of Madison

280 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
could conceive none ; but let him ask General Jackson, and he will
tell him of motives enough. He will tell him that he wishes his ad
ministration to be a unit ; that he desires only one will to prevail in
the executive branch of government ; that he cannot confide in men
who opposed his election ; that he wants places to reward those who
supported it ; that the spoils belong to' the victor ; and he is anxious
to create a great power in the State, animated by one spirit, governed
by one will, and ever ready to second and sustain his administration
in all its acts and measures ; and to give its undivided force to the
appointment of the successor whom he may prefer. And what, Mr.
President, do you suppose are the securities against the abuse of this
power, on which Mr. Madison relied ? " In the first place," he says,
" He will be impeachable by this House before the Senate for such
an act of mal-administration," &c. Impeachment! It is not a scare
crow. Impeach the President for dismissing a receiver or register of
the land office, or a collector of the customs ! But who is to impeach
him ? The House of Representatives. Now suppose a majority of
that House should consist of members who approve the principle that
the spoils belong to the victors ; and suppose a great number of them
are themselves desirous to obtain some of these spoils, and can only
be gratified by displacing men from office whose merits require that
they should be continued, what chance do you think there would be
to prevail upon such a House to impeach the President ? And if it
were possible that he should, under such circumstances, be impeach
ed, what prospect do you believe would exist of his conviction by
two-thirds of the Senate, comprising also members not particularly
averse to lucrative offices, and where the spoils doctrine, long prac
tised in New York, was first boldly advanced in Congress ?
The next security was, that the President, after displacing the
meritorious officer, could not appoint another person without the con
currence of the Senate. If Mr. Madison had shown how, by any
action of the Senate, the meritorious officer could be replaced,
there would have been some security. But the President has dis
missed him ; his office is vacant ; the public service requires it to be
filled, and the President nominates a successor. In considering this
nomination, the President's partisans have contended that the Senate
is not at liberty to inquire how the vacancy was produced, but is limi
ted to the single consideration of the fitness of the person nominated
But suppose the Senate were to reject him, that would only leave the

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 281
office stil vacant, and would not reinstate the removed officer. The
President would have no difficulty in nominating another, and another,
until the patience of the Senate being completely exhausted, they
finally confirm the appointment. What I have supposed is not theory,
but actually matter of fact. How often, within a few years past,
have the Senate disapproved of removals from office, which they have
been subsequently called wpon to concur in filling ? How often,
wearied in rejecting, have they approved of persons for office whom
they never would have appointed ? How often have members ap
proved of bad appointments, fearing worse if they were rejected ? If;
the powers of the Senate were Exercised by one man, he might op
pose, in the matter of appointments, a more successful resistance to
executive abuses. He might take the ground that, in cases of improper
removal, he would persevere in the rejection of every person nomi
nated, until the meritorious officer was reinstated. But the Senate
now consists of forty-eight members, nearly equally divided, one por
tion of which is ready to approve of all nominations, and of the other,
some members conceive that they ought not to incur the responsibility
of hazarding the continued vacancy of a necessary office, because the
President may have abused his powers. There is, then, no security,
not the slightest practical security, against abuses ofthe power of re
moval in the concurrence of the Senate in appointment to office.
During the debate in 17S9, Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, called
for the clause ofthe constitution granting the power. He said :
" "We are declaring a power in the President which may hereafter be greatly abus
ed; for we are not always to expect a chief magistrate in whom such entire confidence
can be placed as the present. Perhaps gentlemen are so much dazzled with the
splendor of the virtues ofthe present President, as not to be able to see into futurity:"
* . . * * . * " "We ought to contemplate this power in the hands of an
ambitious man who might apply it to dangerous purposes. If we give this power
to the President, he may from caprice remove the most worthy men from office :
his will and pleasure will be the slight tenure hy which the ofHce is to be held, and
of consequence you render the officer the mere state dependent, the abject slave of
a person who may be disposed to abuse the confidence his fellow citizens have
placed in him."
Mr. Huntington said :
" If we have a vicious President, who inclines to abuse this power, which God
forbid, his responsibility will stand us in little stead."
Mr. Gerry, afterwards the republican Vice President of the United
States, contended,

282 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
" That we are making these officers the mere creatures of the President ; they
dare not exercise the privilege of their creation, if the President shall order them to
forbear; because he holds their thread of life. His power will be sovereign over
them, and will soon swallow up the small security we have in the Senate's concur
rence to the appointment ; and we shall shortly need no other than the authority
of the supreme executive officer to nominate, appoint, continue or remove."
Was not that prophecy ; and do we not feel and know that it is
prophecy fulfilled ?
There were other members who saw clearly into the future, and
predicted, with admirable forecast, what would be the practical ope
ration of this power. But there was one eminently gifted in this
particular. It seems to have been specially reserved for a Jackson
to foretell what a Jackson might do. Speaking of some future Pres
ident, Mr. Jackson — I believe of Georgia — that was his name. What
a coincidence !
" Ifhe wants to establish an arbitrary authority, and finds the secretary of finance
(Mr. Duane) not inclined to second his endeavors, he has nothing more to do than
to remove him, and get one appointed (Mr. Taney) of principles more congenial to
his own. Then, says he, 1 have got the army, let me have, but the money, and I
Will establish my throne upon the ruins of your visionary republic. Black, indeed,
is the heart of that man who even suspects him (Washington) to be capable of
abusingpowers. But alas ! he cannot be with us lor ever; he is but mortal," &c
• * * "May not a man with a Pandora's box in his breast come into power,
andgive us sensible cause to lament our present confidence and want of foresight."
In the early stages, and during a considerable portion of the de
bate, the prevailing opinion seemed to be not that the President was
invested by the constitution with the power, but that it should be
conferred upon him by act of Congress. In the progress of it the
idea was suddenly started that the President possessed the power
from the constitution, and the first opinion was abandoned. It was
finally resolved to shape the acts, on the passage of which the ques
tion arose, so as to recognize the existence of the power of removal
in the President.
Such is the solitary precedent on which the contemners of all pre
cedents rely for sustaining this tremendous power in one man ! A
precedent established against the weight of argument, by a House of
Representatives greatly divided, in a Senate equally divided, under
the influence of a reverential attachment to the father of his country,
upon the condition that, if the power were applied as we know it has
been in hundreds of instances recently applied, the President himself
would be justly liable to impeachment and removal from office, and

ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 283
which, until this administration, has never, since its adoption, been
thoroughly examined or considered. A power, the abuses of which,
as developed under this administration, if they be not checked and
corrected, must inevitably tend to subvert the constitution, and over
throw public liberty. A standing army has been in all free countries,
a just object of jealousy and suspicion. But is not a corps of one
hundred thousand dependents upon government, actuated by one s'pirit,
obeying one will, and aiming at one end, more dangerous and formid
able than a standing army ? The standing army is separated from
the mass of society, stationed in barracks or military quarters, and
operates by physical force. The official corps is distributed and ram
ified throughout the whole country, dwelling in every city, village,
and hamlet, having daily intercourse with society, and operates on
public opinion. A brave people, not yet degenerated, and devoted to
liberty, may successfully defend themselves against a military force.
But if the official corps is aided by the executive, by the post-office
department, and by a large portion of the public press, its power is
invincible. That the operation of the principle which subjects to
the will of one man the tenure of all offices, which he may vacate at
pleasure, without assigning any cause, must be to render them sub
servient to his purposes, a knowledge of human nature, and the short
experience which we have had, clearly demonstrate
It may be asked why has this precedent of 1789 not been reviewed ?
Does not the long acquiescence in it prove its propriety ? It has not
been re-examined for several reasons. In the first place, all feel and
own the necessity of some more summary and less expensive and less.
dilatory mode of dismissing delinquents from subordinate offices than
that of impeachment, which, strictly speaking, was perhaps the only
one in the contemplation of the framers of tr^e constitution ; certainly
it is the only one for which it expressly provides. Then, under all
the predecessors of the President, the power was mildly and benefi
cially exercised, having been always, or with very few exceptions,
applied to actual delinquents. Notwithstanding all that has been
said about the number of removals which were made during Mr. Jef
ferson's administration, they were, in faet, comparatively few. And
yet he came into power as the head of a great party, which for years
had been systematically excluded from the executive patronage ; a
plea which cannot be urged in excuse for the present chief magistrate.
It was reserved for him to act on the bold and daring principle of

284 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
dismissing from office those who had opposed his election ; of dis
missing from office for mere difference of opinion !
But it will be argued that if the summary process of dismission be
expedient in some cases, why take it away altogether ? The bill
under consideration does not disturb the power. By the usage of
the government, not I think by the constitution, the President prac
tically possesses the power to dismiss those who are unworthy of
holding these offices. By no practice or usage, but that which he
himself has created, has he the power to dismiss meritorious officers
only because they differ from him in politics. The principal object
of the bill is to require the President, in cases of dismission, to com
municate the reasons which have induced him to dismiss the officer ;
in other words, to make an arbitrary and despotic power a responsi
ble power. It is not to be supposed that, if the President is bound
publicly to state his reasons, that he would act from passion or ca
price, or without any reason. He would be ashamed to avow that he
discharged the officer because he opposed his election. And yet this
mild regulation of the power is opposed by the friends of the ndmin-
istration ! They think it unreasonable that the President should state
his reasons. If he has none, perhaps it is.
But, Mr. President, although the bill is, I think, right in principle,
it does not seem to me to go far .enough. It makes no provision for
the insufficiency of the reasons of the President, by restoring or do
ing justice to the injured officer. It will be some, but not sufficient
restraint against abuses. I have, therefore, prepared an amendment,
which I beg leave to offer, but which I will not press against the de
cided wishes of those having the immediate care of the bill. By
this amendment,* as to .all offices created by law, with certain ex-
* The amendment was in the following words : ¦
Be it further enacted, That in all instances of appointment to office, by the Presi
dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the power of removal shall
be exercised only in concurrence with the Senate ; and when the Senate is not in
session, the President may suspend any such officer, communicating his reasons for
the suspension during the first month of its succeeding session, and if the Senate
concur with him the officer shall be removed, but if it do not concur with him, the
officer shall be restored to office.
Mr. Clav was subsequently induced not to urge his amendment at this time-

^ ON APPOINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. 285
ceptions, the power at present exercised is made a suspensory power.
The President may, in the vacation of the Senate, suspend the offi
cer, and appoint a temporary successor. At the next session of the
Senate he is to communicate his reasons : and if they are deemed
sufficient, the suspension is confirmed, and the Senate will pass upon
the new officer. If insufficient, the displaced officer is to be restored.
This amendment is substantially the same proposition as one which
I submitted to the consideration of the Senate at its last session. —
Under this suspensory power, the President will be able to discharge
all defaulters or delinquents ; and it cannot be doubted that the Sen
ate will concur in all such dismissions. On the other hand, it will
insure the integrity and independence of the officer, since he will feel
that if he honestly and faithfully discharges his official duties, he can
not be displaced arbitrarily, or from mere caprice, or because he has
independently exercised the elective franchise.
It is contended that the President cannot see that the laws are
faithfully executed, unless he possesses the power of removal. That
injunction of the constitution imports a mere general superintendence,
except where he is specially charged with the execution of a law.
It is not necessary that he should have the power of dismission. It
will be a sufficient security against the abuses of subordinate officers
that the eye of the President is upon them, and that he can commu
nicate their delinquency. The State Executives do not possess this
power of dismission. In several, if not all, the States, the Governor
cannot even dismiss the Secretary of State; yet we have heard no
complaints of the inefficiency of State Executives, or of the adminis
tration of the laws of the States. The President has no power to dis
miss the judiciary ; and it might be asked, with equal plausibility,
how he could see that the laws are executed, if the judges will not
conform to his opinion, and he cannot dismiss them ?
But it is not necessary to argue the general question, in considering
either the original bill or the amendment. The former does not touch
the power of dismission, and the latter only makes it conditional in
stead of being absolute.
It may be said that there are certain great officers, heads of depart
ments and foreign ministers, between whom and the president entire
confidence should exist. This is admitted. But surely if the Presi-

286 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
dent removes any of them, the people ought to know the cause. The
amendment, however, does not reach those classes of officers. .And
supposing, as I do, that the legislative authority is competent to regu
late the exercise of the power of dismission, there can be no just cause
to apprehend that it will fail to make such modifications and excep
tions as may be called for by the public interest ; especially as what
ever bill may be passed must obtain the approbation of the chief
magistrate. And if it should attempt to impose improper restrictions
upon the executive authority, that would furnish a legitimate occa
sion for the exercise of the veto. In conclusion, I shall most heartily
Vote for the bill, with or without the amendment which I have pro
posed.

ON THE LAND DISTRIBUTION.
In the Senate of the United States, December 24, 1835.

[Former attempts to procure a Distribution to the several States of the Proceeds
ofthe Public Lands having been baffled by Executive influence and the Executive
Veto, Mr. Clay, on the day above indicated, introduced the plan anew, advocating
it as follows :]
Although I find myself borne down by the severest affliction with
which Providence has ever been pleased to visit me, I have thought
that my private griefs ought not longer to prevent me from attempt
ing, ill as I feel qualified, to discharge my public duties. And I now
rise, in pursuance ofthe notice which has been given, to ask leave to
introduce a bill to appropriate, for a limited time, the proceeds of the
sales of the public lands of the United States, and for granting land
to certain States.
I feel it incumbent on me to make a brief explanation of the highly
important measure which I have now the honor to propose. The
bill, which I desire to introduce, provides for the distribution of the
proceeds ofthe public lands in the years 1833, '34, '35, '36 and '37,
among the twenty-four States of the Union, and conforms substan
tially to that which passed in 1833. It is therefore of a temporary
character ; but if it shall be found to have a salutary operation, it will
be in the power of a future Congress to give it an indefinite continu
ance, and, if otherwise, it will expire by its own terms. In the event
of war unfortunately breaking out with any foreign power, the bill is
to cease, and the fund which it distributes is to be applied to the
prosecution of the war. The bill directs that ten per cent, of the
nett proceeds ofthe public lands, sold within the limits ofthe seven,
new States, shall be set apart for them, in addition to the five per
cent, reserved by their several compacts with the United States ; and
that theresidue of the proceeds, whether from sales made in the States »
or Territories, shall be divided, among the twenty-four States in pro- '

288 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
portion to their respective federal population. In thisrespect the bill
conforms to that which was introduced in 1832. For one I should
have been willing to have allowed the new States twelve and a half
per cent., but as that was •objected to by the President, in his veto
message, and has been opposed in other quarters, I thought it best to
restrict the allowance to the more moderate sum. The bill also con-
i tains large and liberal grants of land to several of the new States, to
¦ place them upon an equality with others to which the bounty of Con
gress has been heretofore extended, and provides that, when other
States shall be admitted into the Union, they shall receive their share
of the common fund.
The nett amount ofthe sales of the public lands in the year 1833,
was the sum of $3,967,682 55, in the year 1834, was $4,857,600 69,
and in the year 1S35, according to actual receipts in the three first
quarters and an estimate of the fourth, is $12,222,121 15 ; making
an aggregate for the three years of $21,047^404 39. This aggregate
is what the bill proposes to distribute and pay to the twenty-four
States on the first day of may, 1S36, upon the principles which I
have stated. The difference between the estimate made by the Sec
retary of the Treasury and that which I have offered of the product
of the last quarter of this year, arises from my having taken, as the
probable sum, one-third ofthe total amount ofthe three first quarters,
and he some other conjectural sum. Deducting from the $21,047,-
404 39 the fifteen per cent, to which the seven new States, accord
ing to the bill, will be first entitled, amounting to $2,612,350 18,
there will remain for distribution among the twenty-four States of the
Union the sum of $18,435,054 21. Of this sum the proportion of
Kentucky will be $960,947 41 ; of Virginia, the sum of $1,581,-
669 39 ; of North Carolina, $988,632 42 ; and of Pennsylvania,
$2,083,233 32. The proportion of Indiana, including the fifteen per
cent, will be $855,58S 23 ; of Ohio, $1,677,110 84, and of Missis
sippi, $958,945 42. And the proportions of all the twenty-four
States are indicated in a table which I hold in my hand, prepared at
my instance in the office of the Secretary of the Senate, and to which
any Senator may have access.* The grounds on which the extra
* The following is the table referred to by Mr. Clav :
Statement showing the dividend of each State (according to the federal popula
tion) of the proceeds of the Public Lands, during the years 1833-4 and '35, after de

ON THE LAND DISTRIBUTION.

289

allowance is made to the new States are, first, their complaint that
all lands sold by the federal government are five years exempted from
taxation ; secondly, that it is to be applied in such manner as will
augment the value ofthe unsold public lands within them ; and, lastly,
their recent settlement.
It may be recollected that a bill passed both Houses of Congress,
in the session which terminated on the 3d of March, 1833, for the
distribution of the amount received from the public lands, upon the
principles of that now offered. The President, in his message at the ,
commencement of the previous session, had specially invited the at- \
tention of Congress to the subject of the public lands ; had adverted ':
to their liberation from the pledge for the payment of the public debt ; j
and had intimated his readiness to concur in any disposal of them
which might appear to Congress most conducive to the quiet, har
mony, and general interest of the American people.
After such a message, the President's disapprobation of the bill
could not have been anticipated. It was presented to him on the 2d
of March, 1833. It was not returned, as the constitution requires,
but was retained by him after the expiration of his official term, and
ducting from the amount 15 per cent, previously allowed to the seven New States.
[Fractions of dollars are ommitted in the following sums.']

Federal Popu- Share tor each
States. latioii. State.
Maine  399,437 $617,269
New Hampshire...... 269,326 416,202
Massachusetts,  710,408 943,293
Rhode Island,  97,194 150,198
Connecticut,  297,665 459,996
Vermont,  280,657 433,713
New York,  1,918,553 2,964,834
New Jersey,  319,922 494,391
Pennsylvania,  1,348,072 2,0S3S233
Delaware,  75,432 116,568
Maryland,  405,843 627,169
Virginia,  1,023,503 1,581,669
North Carolina,  639,747 988,632
South Carolina,  455,025 701,495
Georgia,  429,811 664,208
Kentucky, ....."  621 ,832 960,947
Tennessee,  625,263 966,249
Ohio  935,884 1,446,266
Louisiana,  171,694 265,327
Indiana,  343,031 530,102
Illinois,  157,147 242,846
Missouri,  130,419 201,54s
Mississippi,  110,353 170,541
Alabama,  262,508 405,666

Fifteen per cent.
to New Slates.

Total to nev
States.

230,844 67,661
325,485 483,760
174,354
788,403 541,940

1,677,110 332,888 S55,588 726,606
375,897
958,945 947,607

290 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
until the next session of Congress, which had no power to act upon
it. It was understood and believed that, in anticipation of the pas
sage ofthe bill, the President had prepared objections to it, which he
had intended to return with his negative ; but he did not. • If the bill
had been returned, there is reason to believe that it would have been
passed, notwithstanding those objections. In the House, it had been
carried by a majority of more than two-thirds. ' And, in the Senate,
, although there was not the majority on its passage, it was supposed
that, inconsequence of the passage ofthe compromise bill, some ofthe
Senators who had voted against the land bill had changed their views,
and would have voted for it upon its return, and others had left the
Senate. There are those who believe the bill was unconstitutionally re
tained by the President and is now the law of the land. But whether
it be so or not, the general government holds the "public domain in
trust for the common benefit of all the States ; and it is, therefore,
competent to provide by law that the trustees shall make distribution
of the proceeds of the three past years, as well as future years, among
those entitled to the beneficial interest. The bill makes such a pro
vision. And it is very remaruable, that the sum which it proposes to
distribute is about the gross surplus, or balance, estimated in the
treasury on the 1st of January, 1836. When the returns of the last
quarter of the year come in, it will probably be found that the sur
plus is larger than the sum which the bill distributes. But if it should
not be, there will remain the seven millions held in the Bank ofthe
United States, applicable, as far as it may be received, to the service
of the ensuing year.
It would be premature now to enter into a consideration of the
probable revenue of future years ; but, at the proper time, I think it
will not be difficult to show that, exclusive of' what may be received
from the public lands, it will be abundantly sufficient for all the eco
nomical purposes of government, in a time of peace. And the bill,
as I have already stated, provides for seasons of war. I wish to guard
against all misconception by repeating, what I have heretofore several
times said, that this bill is not founded upon any notion of a power in
Congress to lay and collect taxes and distribute the amount among
the several States. I think Congreas possesses no such power, and
has no right to exercise it, until some such amendment as that pro-

ON THE LAND DISTRIBUTION. 291
posed by the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) shall be
adopted. But the bill rests on the basis of a clear and comprehensive
grant of power to Congress over the territories and property of the
United States in the constitution, and upon express stipulations in
the deeds of cession.
Mr. President, I have ever regarded, with feelings of the profound-
?st regret, the decision which the President of the United States felt
himself induced to make on the bill of 1833. If it had been his pleas
ure to approve it, the heads of departments wbuld not now be taxing
their ingenuity to find out useless objects of expenditure, or objects
which may well be postponed to a more distant day. If the bill had
passed, about twenty millions of dollars would have been, during the
last three years, in the hands of the several States, applicable by them
to the beneficent purposes of internal improvement, education, or
colonization. What immense benefits might not have been diffused
throughout the land by the active employment of that large sum ?
What new channels of commerce and communication might not have
been opened ? What industry stimulated, what labor rewarded ?
How many youthful minds might have received the blessings of edu
cation and knowledge, and been rescued from ignorance, vice, and
ruin ? How many descendants of Africa might have been transported
from a country where they can never enjoy political or social equality,
to the native land of their fathers, where no impediment exists to their
attainment ofthe highest degree of elevation, intellectual, social, and
political ? Where they might have been successful instruments in
the hands of God, to spread the religion of the Lord, and to lay the
foundations of civil liberty !
And, sir, when we institute a comparison between what might have
been effected, and what has been in fact done, with that large amount
of national treasure, our sensations of regret, on account ofthe failure
ofthe bill of 1833, are still keener. Instead of its being dedicated to
the beneficent uses of the whole people, and our entire country, it has
been an object of scrambling among local corporations, and locked up
in the vaults, or loaned out by the directors of a few of them, who
are not under the slightest responsibility to the goverument or people
of the United States. Instead of liberal, enlightened, and national
purposes, it has been partially applied to local, limited, and selfish
uses. Applied to increase the semi-annual dividends of favorite stock-

292 SPEECHES OP HENRY CLAY.
holders in favorite banks ! Twenty millions of the national treasure
are scattered in parcels among petty corporations ; and while they
are growling over the fragments and greedy for more, the secretaries
are brooding on schemes for squandering the whole.
But although we have lost three precious years, the Secretary of
the Treasury tells us that the principal is yet safe, and much good
may be still achieved with it. The general government, by an ex
traordinary exercise of executive power, no longer affords aid to any
new works of internal improvement. Although it sprung from the
Union, and cannot survive the Union, it no longer engages in any
public improvement to perpetuate the existence of the Union. It is
but justice to it to acknowledge that, with the co-operation of the
public spirited State of Maryland, it effected one national road having
that tendency. But the spirit of improvement pervades the land, in
every variety of form, active, vigorous, and enterprising, wanting
pecuniary aid as well as intelligent direction. The States have un
dertaken what the general government is prevented from accomplish
ing. They are strengthening the Union by various lines of commu
nication thrown across and through the mountains. New York has
completed one great chain : Pennsylvania another, bolder in concep
tion and far more arduous in the execution. Virginia has a similar
work in progress, worthy of all her enterprise and energy. A fourth
: farther south, where the parts of the Union are too loosely connected,
has been projected, and it can certainly be executed with the sup
plies which this bill affords, and perhaps not without them.
This bill passed, and these and other similar undertakings comple-
; ted, we may indulge the patriotic hope that ou» Union will be bound
j by ties and interests that render it indissoluble. As the general gov-
1 ernment withholds all direct agency from these truly national works,
I and from all new objects of internal improvement, ought it not to
yield to the States, what is their own, the amount received from the
public lands ? It would thus but execute faithfully a trust expressly
created by the original deeds of cession, or resulting from the treaties
of acquisition. With this ample resource, every desirable object of
improvement, in every part of our extensive country, may, in due
time, be accomplished. Placing this exhaustless fund in the hands
ofthe several members of the confederacy, their common federal

ON THE LAND DISTRIBUTION. 393
head may address them in the glowing language of the British bard,
and ¦' Bid harbors open, public ways extend,
Bid temples worthier of the God ascend.
Bid the broad arch the dangerous flood contain,
The mole projecting, break the roaring main.
Back to his bounds, that subject command,
And roll obedient rivers through the land."
The affairs ofthe public lands was forced upon me. In the session
of 1831-2, a motion from a quarter principally unfriendly to me, was
made to refer it to the committee on manufactures, of which I was a
member. I strenuously opposed the reference. I remonstrated, I
protested, I entreated, I implored. It was in vain that I insisted that
the committee on the public lands was the regular standing commit
tee to which such reference should be made. It was in vain that I
contended that the public lands and domestic manufactures were sub
jects absolutely incongruous. The unnatural alliance was ordered
by the vote of a majority of the Senate. I felt that a personal embar
rassment was intended me. I felt that the design was to place in my
hands a many edged instrument, which I could not touch without
being wounded. Nevertheless I subdued all my repugnance, and I
engaged assidulously in the task which had been so unkindly assigned
me. This, or a similar bill, was the offspring of my deliberations.
When reported, the report accompanying it was referred by the same
majority of the Senate to the very committtee on the public land, to
which I had unsuccessfully sought to have the subject originally as
signed, for the avowed purpose of obtaining a counteracting, report.
But in spite of all opposition, it passed the Senate at that session. At
the next, both Houses of Congress.
I confess I feel anxious for the fate of this measure, less on account
of any agency I have had in proposing it, as I hope and believe, than
from a firm, sincere, and thorough conviction, that no one measure
ever presented to the councils of the nation was fraught with so much
unmixed good, and could exert such powerful and enduring influence
in the preservation of the Union itself, and upon some of its highest
interests. If I can be instrumental, in any degree, in the adoption of
it, I shall enjoy, in that retirement into which I hope shortly to enter,
a heart-feeling satisfaction and a lasting consolation. I shall carry
there no regrets, no complaints, no reproaches on my own account
*T

294 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
When I look back upon my humble origin, left an orphan too young
to have been conscious of a father's smiles and caresses, with a wid
owed mother, surrounded by a numerous offspring, in the midst of
pecuniary embarrassments, without a regular education, without for
tune, without friends, without patrons, I have reason to be satisfied
with my public career. I ought to be thankful for the high places
and honors to which I have been called by the favor and partiality
of my countrymen, and I am thankful and grateful. And I shall take
with me the pleasing consciousness that, in whatever station I have
been placed, I have earnestly and honestly labored to justify their
confidence by a faithful, fearless, and zealous discharge of my public
duties. Pardon these personal allusions. I make the motion of which
notice has been given.

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION.
In the Senate of the United States, January 16, 1837.

[The Senate of the United States, having, in 1834, resolved, by a decisive vote,
that the President (Jackson,) in his proceedings in connexion with the Removal of
the Deposites, had assumed and exercised power not granted by the Constitution
or the laws, but inconsistent with them— Mr. Benton immediately gave notice that
he should move to expunge the same from the journal of the Senate. He made his
motion accordingly, but it did not prevail until the session of 1836-7, when a strong
Jackson majority having been secured, it was iressed to a successful issue. On this
occasion, Mr. Clav spoke as follows :]
Considering that I was the mover of the resolution of March,
1834, and the consequent relation in which I stood to the majority
of the Senate by whose vote it was adopted, I feel it to be my duty
to say something On this expunging resolution, and I always have
intended to do so when I should be persuaded that there existed a
settled purpose of pressing it to a final decision. But it was so taken
up and put down at the last session — taken up one day, when a
speech was prepared for delivery, and put down when it was pronoun
ced, that I really doubted whether there existted any serious inten
tion of ever putting it to the vote. At the very close of the last ses
sion, it will be recollected that the resolution came up, and in several
quarters of the Senate a disposition was manifested to come to a defi
nitive decision. On that occasion, I offered to waive my right to
address the Senate, and silently to vote 'upOn the resolution ; but it
was again laid upon the table, and laid there forever, as the country
supposed, and as I believed. It is however now revived ; and sundry
changes having taken place in the members of this body, it would
seem that the present design is to bring the resolution to an absolute
conclusion. I have not risen to repeat at full length the argument by
which the friends of the resolution of March, 1834, sustained it.
That argument is before the world — was unanswered at the time,

296 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and is unanswerable. And I here, in my place, in the presence of
my country and my God, after the fullest consideration and delibera
tion of which my mind is capable, reassert my solemn conviction of
the truth of every proposition contained in that resolution. But
it is not my intention to commit such an infliction upon the Senate as
that would be, of retracing the whole ground of argument formerly
occupied, I desire to lay before it at this time, a brief and true state
ofthe case. Before the fatal step is taken of giving to the expunging
resolution the sanction ofthe American Senate, I wish, by presenting
a faithful outline of the real questions involved in the resolution of
1834, to make a last, even if it is to be an ineffectual appeal to the
sober judgments of senators. I begin by reasserting the truth of that
resolution. Our British ancestors understood perfectly well the immense im
portance of the money power in a representative government. It is
the great lever by which the crown is touched, and made to conform
its administration to the interests of the kingdom, and the will of the
people. Deprive parliament of the power of freely granting or with
holding supplies, and surrender to the king the purse of the nation,
he instantly becomes an absolute monarch. Whatever may be the
form of government, elective or hereditary, democratic or despotic,
that person who commands the force of the nation, and at the same
time has uncontrolled possession of the purse of the nation, has abso
lute power, whatever may be the official name by which he is
called. Our immediate ancestors, profiting by the lessons on civil liberty,
which had been taught in the country from which we sprung, endea
vored to encircle around the public purse, in the hands of Congress,
every possible security against the intrusion of the executive. With
this view, Congress alone is invested by the Constitution with the
power to lay and collect the taxes. When collected, not a cent is to
be drawn from the public treasury, but in virtue of an act of Congress,
And among the first acts of this government, was the passage. of a
law establishing the treasury department, for the safe keeping and
the legal and regular disbursement of the money so collected. By
that act a Secretary of the Treasury is placed at the head of the de
partment ; and varying in respect from all the other departments, he
is to report, not to the President, but directly to Congress, and is lia-r

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 297
ble to be called to give information in person before Congress, It is
impossible to examine dispassionately that act, without coming to the
conclusion that he is emphatically the agent of Congress in perform
ing the duties assigned by the constitution of Congress. The act fur
ther provides that a treasurer shall be appointed to receive and keep
the public money, and none can be drawn from his custody but under
the authority of a law, and in virtue of a warrant drawn by the sec
retary of the treasury, countersigned by the comptroller, and recorded
by the register. Only when such a warrant is presented can the
treasurer lawfully pay one dollar from the public purse. Why was
the concurrence of these four officers required in disbursements ofthe
public money ? Was it not for greater security ? Was it not intended
that each, exercising a separate and independent will, should be a
check upon every other ? Was it not the purpose of the law to con
sider each of these four officers, acting in his proper sphere, not as a
mere automaton, but as an intellectual, intelligent, and responsible
person, bound to observe the law, and to stop the warrant, or stop
the money, if the authority of the law were wanting ?
Thus stood the treasury from 1789 to 1816. During that long time
no President had ever attempted to interfere with the custody of the
public purse. It remained where the law placed it, undisturbed, and
every chief magistrate, including the father of his country, respected
the law.
In 1816 an act passed to establish the late Bank of the United
States for the term of twenty years ; and, by the 16th section of the
act, it is enacted,
¦' That the deposites of the money of the United States in places in which thfe
said Bank and the branches thereof may be established, shall be made in said Bank
or branches thereof, unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall at at anytime other
wise order and direct ; in which case the Secretary of the Treasury shall immedi
ately lay before. Congress if in session, and if not, immediately after the commence
ment of the next session, the reasons of such order or direction."
Thus it is perfectly manifest, from the express words of the law,
that the power to make any order or direction for the removal of the
public deposites, is confided to the Secretary alone, to the absolute
exclusion of the President, and all the world besides. And the law,
proceeding upon the established principle that the Secretary of the
treasury, in all that concerns the public purse, acts as the direct agent
of Congress, requires, in the event of his ordering or directing a re-

298 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
moval of the deposites, that he shall immediately lay his reasons
therefor before whom ? the President ? No : before Congress.
So stood the public treasury and the public deposites from the year
1816 to September, 1833. In all that period of seventeen years,
running through or into four several administrations of the govern
ment, the law had its uninterrupted operation, nO chief magistrate
having assumed upon himself the power of diverting the public purse
from its lawful custody, or of substituting his will to that of the offi
cer to whose care it was exclusively entrusted.
In the session of Congress of 1832~'3, an inquiry had been insti
tuted by the House of Representatives into the condition of the Bank
Ofthe United States. It resulted in a conviction of its entire safety,
and a declaration by the House, made only a short time before the
adjournment of Congress on the fourth of March 1833, that the pub
lic deposites were perfectly secure. This declaration was probably
made in consequence of suspicions then afloat of a design on the part
ofthe executive to remove the deposites. These suspicions were de
nied by the press friendly to the administration. Nevertheless, the
members had scarcely reached their respective homes, before meas
ures were commenced by the executive to effect a removal of the
deposites from that very place of safety which it was among the
last acts of the House to declare existed in the Bank of the United
States. In prosecution of this design, Mr. McLain, the Secretary of the
Treasury, who was decidedly opposed to such a measure, was pro
moted to the Department of State, and Mr. Duane was appointed to
succeed him. But Mr. Duane was equally convinced with his pre
decessor that he was forbidden by every consideration of duty to ex
ecute the power with which the law had entrusted the Secretary of
the Treasury, and refused to remove the deposites ; whereupon he
was dismissed from office, a new Secretary of the Treasury was ap
pointed, and, in September, 1833, by the command of the President,
the measure was finally accomplished. That it was the President's
act was never denied, but proclaimed, boasted, defended. It fell
upon the country like a thunderbolt, agitating the Union from one
extremity to the other. The stoutest adherents of the administra
tion were alarmed t and all thinking men, not blinded by party pre-

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 299
judice, beheld in the act a bold and dangerous exercise of power ; and
no human sagacity can now foresee the tremendous consequences
which will ensue. The measure was adopted not long before the
approaching session of Congress ; and, as the concurrence of both
branches might be necessary to compel a restoration of the deposites,
the object was to take the chance of a possible division between them,
and thereby defeat the restoration.
And where did the President find the power for this most extraor
dinary act ? It has been seen that the constitution, jealous of all
executive interference with the treasury of the nation, had confined it
to the exclusive care of Congress by every precautionary guard, from
the first imposition of the taxes to the final disbursement of the pub
lic money.
It has been seen that the language of the sixteenth section of the
law of 1816, is express and free from all ambiguity; and that the
Secretary of the Treasury is the sole exclusive depository of the au
thority which it confers.
Those who maintain the power of the President have to support it
against the positive language of the constitution, against the explicit
words of the statute, and against the genius and theory of all our
institutions. And how do they surmount these insuperable obstacles ? By a
series of far-fetched implications, which, if every one of them were
as true as they are believed to be incorrect or perverted, would stop
far short of maintaining the power which was exercised.
The first of these implied powers is, that of dismissal, which is
claimed for the President. Of all the questioned powers ever exer
cised by the government, this is the most questionable. From the
first Congress down to the present administration, it had never been
examined. It was carried then, in the Senate,, by the casting vote
of the Vice President. And those who, at that day argued in behalf
of the power, contended for it upon conditions which have been ut
terly disregarded by the present Chief Magistrate. The power of
dismissal is no where on the constitution granted, in express terms,
to the President. It is not a necessary incident to any granted power ;

300 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and the friends of the power have never been able to agree among
themselves as to the precise part of the constitution from which it
springs ?
But, if the power of dismissal was as incontestible as it is justly
controvertable, we utterly deny the consequences deduced from it
The argument is, that the President has, by implication, the power
of dismissal. From this first implication another is drawn, and that
is, that the President has the power to control the officer, whom he
may dismiss, in the discharge of his duties, in all cases whatever ;
and that this power, of control is so comprehensive as to include even
the case of a specific duty expressly assigned by law to the designa
ted officer.
Now, we deny these results from the dismissing power. That
power, if it exists, can draw after it only a right of general superin
tendence. It cannot authorize the President to substitute his will to
the will of the officer charged with the performance of official duties.
Above all, it cannot justify such a substitution in a case where the
law, as in the present instance, assigns to a designated officer exclu
sively the performance of a particular duty, and commands him to
report, not to the President, but to Congress, in a case regarding the
public purse of the nation, committed to the exclusive control of
Congress. Such a consequence as that which I am contesting would concen
trate in the hands of one man the entire executive power of the na
tion, uncontrolled and unchecked.
It would be utterly destructive of all official responsibility. In
stead of each officer being responsible, in his own separate sphere,
for his official acts, he would shelter himself behind the orders of the
President. And what tribunal, in heaven above or on earth below,
could render judgment against any officer for an act, however atro
cious, performed by the express command of the President, which,
according to the argument, he was absolutely bound to obey ?
Whilst all official responsibility would be utterly annihilated in
subordinated officers, there would be no practical or available respon
sibility in the President himself.

ON THE ETUNGING RESOLUTION. 301
But the case has been supposed, of a necessity for the removal of
the deposites, and a refusal of the Secretary of the Treasury to re
move them ; and it is triumphantly asked if, in such a case, the Pre
sident may not remove him, and command the deed to be done. That
is an extreme case, which may be met by another. Suppose the
President, without any necessity, orders the removal from a place of
safety to a place of hazard. If there be danger that a President may
neglect his duty, there is equal danger that a President may abuse
his authority. Infallibility is not a human attribute. And there is
more security for the public in holding the Secretary of the Treasury
to the strict performance of an official duty specially assigned to him,
under all his official responsibility, than to allow the President to
wrest the work from his hands, annihilate his responsibility, and
stand himself practically irresponsible. It is far better that millions
should be lost by the neglect of a Secretary of the Treasury, than to
establish the monstrous principle that all the checks and balances of
the executive government shall be broken down, the whole power
absorbed by one man, and his will become the supreme rule. The
argument which I am combating places the whole treasury of the
nation at the mercy of the executive. It is in vain to talk of appro
priations by law, and the formalities of warrants upon the treasury.
Assuming the argument to be correct, what is to prevent the execu
tion of an order from the President to the Secretary of the Treasury
to issue a warrant, without the sanction of a previous legal appro
priation, to the Comptroller to countersign it, to the Register to re
gister it, and to the Treasurer to pay it ? What becomes of that
quadruple security which the precaution of the law provided ? In
stead of four substantive and independent wills, acting under legal
obligations, all are merged in the executive.
But there was in point of fact, no cause, none whatever for the
measure. Every fiscal consideration, (and no other had the Secre
tary or the President a right to entertain,) required the deposites to
be left undisturbed in the place of perfect safety where by law they
were. We told you so at the time. We asserted that the charges
of insecurity and insolvency of the bank were without the slightest
foundation. And time, that great arbiter of human controversies,
has confirmed all that we said. The Bank, from documents submit
ted to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury at the present ses
sion, appears to be able not only to return every dollar of the stock

302 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
held in its capital by the public, but an addition of- eleven per cent.
beyond it.
Those who defend the executive act, have to maintain not only
that the President may assume upon himself the discharge of a duty
especially assigned to the Secretary of the Treasury, but that he may
remove that Officer, arbitrarily, and without any cause, because he
refused to remove the public deposites without cause.
My mind conducts me to a totally different conclusion. I think, I
solemnly believe, that the President " assumed upon himself authority
and power not conferred by the constitution and laws, but in deroga
tion of both," in the language of the resolution. I believed then in
the truth of the resolution ; and I now in my place, and under all
my responsibility, re-avow my unshaken conviction of it.
But it has been contended on this occasion, as it was in the debate
which preceded the adoption of the resolution of 1834, that the
Senate has no right to express the truth on any question which by
possibility, may become a subject of impeachment. It is manifest,
that if it may, there is no more usual or appropriate form in which it
may be done than that of resolutions, joint or separate, orders, or
bills. In no other mode can the collective sense of the body be ex
pressed. But Senators maintain that no matter what may be the
executive encroachment upon the joint powers of the two Houses, or
the separate authority of the Senate, it is bound to stand mute, and
not breathe one word of complaint or remonstrance. According to
the argument, the greater the violation of the constitution or the law,
the greater the incompetency of the Senate to express any opinion
upon it ! Further, that this incompetency is not confined to the acts
of the President only, but extends to those of every officer who is
liable to impeachment under the constitution. Is this possible ? Can
k be true ? Contrary to all the laws of nature, is the Senate the
only being which has no power of self-preservation — no right to com
plain or to remonstrate against' attacks upon its very existence ?
The argument is, that the Senate, being the constitutional tribunal
to try all impeachments, is thereby precluded from the exercise of
the right to express any opinion upon any official malfeasance, except
when acting in its judicial character.

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 303
If this disqualification exist, it applies to all impeachable officers,
and ought to have protected the late Postmaster General against the
resolution, unanimously adopted by the Senate, declaring that he had
borrowed money contrary to law. And it would disable the Senate
from considering that treasury order, which has formed such a prom
inent subject of its deliberations during the present session.
And how do Senators maintain this obligation of the Senate to
remain silent and behold itself stript, one by one, of all constitutional
powers, without resistance, and without murmur ? Is it imposed by
the language of the constitution ? Has any part of that instrument
been pointed to which expressly enjoins it ? No, no, not a syllable.
But it is attempted to be deduced by another far-fetched implication.
Because the Senate is the body which is to try impeachments, there
fore it is inferred the Senate can express no opinion on any matter
which may form the subject of impeachment. The constitution does
not say so. That is undeniable : but Senators think so.
The Senate acts in three characters, legislative, executive and ju
dicial ; and their importance is in the order enumerated. By far the
most important of the three is its legislative. In that, almost every
day that it has been in session from 1789 to the present time, some
legislative business has been transacted ; whilst in its judicial cha
racter, it has- not sat more than three or four times in that whole
period. Why should the judicial function limit and restrain the legislative
function of the Senate more than the legislative should the judicial ?
If the degree of importance of the two should decide which ought to
impose the restraint, in cases of conflict between them, none can
doubt which it should be.
But if the argument is sound, how is it possible for the Senate to
perform its legislative duties ? An act in violation of the constitu
tion or laws is committed by the President or a subordinate execu
tive officer, and it becomes necessary to correct it by the passage of a
law. The very act of the President in question was under a law' to
which the Senate had given its concurrence. According to the argu
ment, the correcting law cannot originate in the Senate, because it
would have to pass in judgment upon that act. Nay, more, it can-

304 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
not originate in the House and be sent to the Senate, for the same
reason of incompetency in the Senate to pass upon it. Suppose the
bill contained a preamble reciting the unconstitutional or illegal act,
to which the legislative corrective is applied, according to the argu
ment, the Senate must not think of passing it. Pushed to its legiti
mate consequence, the argument requires the House of Representa
tives itself cautiously to abstain from the expression of any opinion
upon an executive act, except when it is acting as the grand inquest
of the nation, and considering articles of impeachment.
Assuming that the argument is well founded, the Senate is equally
restrained from expressing any opinion which would imply the inno
cence or the guilt of an impeachable officer, unless it be maintained
that it is lawful to express praise and approbation, but not censure or
difference of opinion. Instances have occurred in our past history,
(the case of the British minister, Jackson, was a memorable one,)
and many others may arise in our future progress, when in reference
to foreign powers, it may be important for Congress to approve what
has been, done by the executive, to present a firm and united front,
and to pledge the country to stand by and support him. May it not
do that ? If the Senate dare not entertain and express any opinion
upon an executive measure, how do those who support this expunging
resolution justify the acquittal of the President which it proclaims ?
No Senator believed in 1834 that, whether the President merited
impeachment or not, he ever would be impeached. In point of fact
he has not been, and we have every reason to suppose that he never
will be impeached. Was the majority of the Senate, in a case where
it believed the constitution and . laws to have been violated, and Ibe
liberties of the people to be endangered to remain silent, and to re
frain from proclaiming the truth, because, against all human proba
bility, the President might be impeached by a majority of his political
friends in the House of Representatives ?
If an impeachment had been actually voted by the House of Repre
sentatives, there is nothing in the constitution which enjoins silence
on the part of the Senate. In such a case, it would have been a
matter of propriety for the consideration of each Senator to avoid the
expression of any opinion on a matter upon which, as a sworn judge,
he would be called to act

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 305
Hitherto I have considered the question on the supposition, that
the resolution of March, 1834, implied such guilt in the President;
that he would have been liable to conviction on a trial by impeach
ment before the Senate of the United States. But the resolution, in
fact, imported no such guilt. It simply affirmed, that he had " as
sumed upon himself, authority and power not conferred by the con
stitution and laws, but in derogation of both." It imputed no crim
inal motives. It did not profess to penetrate into the heart of the
President. According to the phraseology of the, resolution, the ex
ceptionable act might h'ave been performed with the purest and most
patriotic intention. The resolution neither affirmed his innocence,
nor pronounced his guilt. . It amounts then, say his friends on this
floor, to nothing. Not so. If the constitution be trampled upon,
and the laws be violated, the injury may be equally great, whether it
has been done with good or bad intentions. There may be a differ
ence to the officer, none to the country. The country, as all expe
rience demonstrates, has most reason to apprehend those encroach
ments which take place on plausible pretexts, and with good in
tentions. I put it, Mr. President, to the calm and deliberate consideration of
the majority of the Senate, are you ready to pronounce, in the face
of this enligtened community, for all time to come, and whoever may
happen to be the President, that the Senate dare not, in language the
most inoffensive and respectful, remonstrate against any executive
usurpation, whatever may be its degree or danger ?
For one, I will not, I cannot. I believe the resolution of March,
1834, to have been true ; and that it was competent to the Senate to
proclaim the truth. And I solemly believe that the Senate would
have been culpably neglectful of its duty to itself, to the constitution,
and to the country, if it had not announced the truth.
But let me suppose that in all this I am mistaken ; that the act of
the President, to which exception was made, was in conformity with
the spirit of our free institutions, and the language of our constitution
and laws ; and that, whether it was or not, the Senate of 1834 had
no authority to pass judgment upon it ; what right has the Senate of
1837, a component part of another Congress, to pronounce judgment
upon its predecessor ? How can you who venture to impute to thos

306 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
who have gone before you an unconstitutional proceeding, escape a
similar imputation ? What part of the constitution communicates
to you any authority to assign and try your predecessors ? In what
article is contained your power to expunge what they have done ?
And may not the precedent lead to a perpetual code of defacement
and restoration of the transactions of the Senate as consigned to the
public records ?
Are you not only destitute of all authority, but positively forbidden
to do what the expunging resolution proposes ? The injunction of
the constitution to keep a journal of our proceedings is clear, express
and emphatic. It is free from ambiguity : no sophistry can pervert
the explicit language of the instrument ; no artful device can elude
the force of the obligation which it imposes. If it were possible to
make more manifest the duty which it requires to be performed, that
was done by the able and eloquent speeches, at the last session, of
the Senators from Virginia and Louisiana, (Messrs. Leigh and Porter)
and at this of my colleague. I shall not repeat the argument. But
I would ask, if there were no constitutional requirement to keep a
journal, what constitutional right has the Senate of this Congress to
pass in judgment upon the Senate of another Congress, and to expunge
from its journal a deliberate act there recorded ? Can an unconsti
tutional act of that Senate, supposing it to be so, justify you in per
forming another unconstitutional act ?
But, in lieu of any argument upon the point from me, I beg leave
to cite for the consideration of the Senate two precedents : one drawn
from the reign ofthe most despotic monarch in modern Europe, under
the most despotic minister that ever bore sway over any people : and
the other from the purest fountain of democracy in this country. I
quote from the interesting life of the Cardinal Richelieu, written by
that most admirable and popular author, Mr. James. The Duke of
Orleans, the brother of Louis XIII. had been goaded into rebellion by
the wary Richelieu. The king issued a decree declaring all the sup
porters ofthe duke guilty of high treason, and a copy of it was des>-
patched to the Parliament at Paris, with an order to register it at
once. The parliament demurred, and proceeded to what was called
an arret de partage.
" Richelieu, however, could bear no contradiction in the course which he had laid

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 307

down for himself ;" [how strong a resemblance does that feature of his character
bear to one of an illustrious individual whom I will not further describe!] "and
hurrying back to Paris with the king, he sent, in the monarch's name, a command
for the members of the Parliament to present themselves at the Louvre in a body
and on foot. He was obeyed immediately ; and the king receiving them with great
haughtiness, the keeper of the seals made them a speech, in which he declared that
they had no authority to deliberate upon affairs of state : that the business of private
individuals they might discuss, but that the will of the monarch in other matters
they were alone called upon to register. The king then tore with his own hands the
page of the register on which the arret de partage had been inscribed,, and punished
vnth suspension from, their functions several of the members of the various courts com
posing the Parliament of Paris."
How repeated acts of the exercise of arbitrary power are likely to
subdue the spirit of liberty, and to render callous the public sensibility,
and the fate which awaits us, if we had not been recently unhappily
taught in this country, we may learn from the same author.
" The finances of the State were exhausted, new impositions were devised, and
a number of new offices created and sold. Against the last named abuse the Par
liament ventured to remonstrate : but the government of the Cardinal had for its
first principle despotism, and the refractory members were punished, some with
exile, some with suspension of their functions. All were forced to comply with his
will, and the Parliament, unable to resist, yielded, step by step, to his exactions."
The Other precedent is suspended by the archives of the democ
racy of Pennsylvania, in 1816, when it was genuine and unmixed with
any other ingredient.
The provisions of the constitution of the United States and of Penn
sylvania, in regard to the obligation to keep a journal, are substan
tially the same. That ofthe United States requires that,
" Eafch House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time pub
lish the same, except such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the
yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at the desire
of one-fifth of the members present, be entered on the journal."
And that of Pennsylvania is :
" Each House Bhall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish them weekly
except such parts as require secrecy, and the yeas and nays of the members, on any
question shall, at the desire of any two of them, be entered on the journals."
Whatever inviolability, therefore, is attached to a journal, kept in
confoimity with the one constitution, must be equally stamped on that
kept under the other. On the 10th of February, 1816, in the House
of Representatives of Pennsylvania, " the speaker informed the House
that a constitutional question being involved in a decision by him yes-

308 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
terday, on a motion to expunge certain proceedings from the journal,
he was desirous of having the opinion of the House on that decision,
viz. : that a majority can expunge from the journal any proceedings
in which the yeas and nays have not been called." Whereupon Mr.
Holgate and Mr- Smith appealed from said decision ; and on the ques
tion, Is the speaker right in his decision ? the members present
voted as follows : yeas three, nays seventy-eight. Among the latter
are to be found the two Senators now representing in this body the
State of Pennsylvania. On the same day a motion was made by one
of them f Mr. Buchanan) and Mr. Kelly, and read as follows :
" Resolved, That in the opinion of this House no part of the journals of the
House can be expunged even by unanimous consent."
The Senate observes that the question arose in a case where there
were but four members out of eighty-two who thought it was compe
tent to the House to expunge it. Had the yeas and nays been called
and recorded, as they were on the resolution of March, 1834, there
would not have been a solitary vote in the House of Representatives
of Pennsylvania in support of the power of expunging. And if you
can expunge the resolution, why may you not expunge also the re
corded yeas and nays attached to it ?
But if the matter of expunction be contrary to the truth of the
case, reproachful for its base subserviency, derogatory from the just
and necessary powers of the Senate, and repugnant to the constitu
tion of the United States, the manner in which it is proposed to ac
complish this dark deed, is also highly exceptionable. The expung
ing resolution, which is to blot out or enshroud the four or five lines
in which the resolution of 1834 stands recorded, or rather the recitals
by which it is preceded, are spun out into a thread of enormous length.
It runs, whereas, and whereas, and whereas, and whereas, &c, into a
formidable array of nine several whereases. One who should have
the courage to begin to read them, unaware of what was to be their
termination, would think that at the end of such a tremendous dis
play he must find the very devil. It is like a kite or a comet, except
that the order of nature is inverted, and the tail, instead of being be
hind, is before the body to which it is appended.
I shall not trespass on the Senate by inquiring into the truth of all
the assertions of fact and of principle, contained in these recitals. It

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 309
would not be difficult to expose them all, and to show that not one
of them has more than a colorable foundation. ' It is asserted by one
of them that the President was put upon his trial and condemned,
unheard, by the Senate, in 1834. Was that true ? Was it a trial ?
Can the majority now assert, upon their oaths, and in their : con
sciences, that there was any trial or condemnation ? During the
warmth of debate, senators might endeavor to persuade themselves
and the public that the proceeding of 1834 was, in its effects and
consequences, a trial, and would be a condemnation of, the President ;
but now, after the lapse of near three years, when the excitement
arising from an animated discussion has passed away, it is marvelous
that any one should be prepared to assert that an expression of the
opinion of the Senate upon the character of an executive act was an
arraignment, trial and conviction of the President of the United
States !
Another fact, asserted'in one of those recitals, is, that the resolu
tion of 1834, in either of the forms in which it was originally pre
sented, or subsequently modified prior to the final shape which it
assumed when adopted, would have been rejected by a majority of
the Senate. What evidence is there in support of this assertion ?
None. It is, I verily believe, directly contrary to the fact. In either
of the modifications of the resolution, I have not a doubt, that it
would have passed ! They were all made in that spirit of accommo
dation by which the mover of the resolution has ever regulated his
conduct as a member of a deliberative body. In not one single in
stance did he understand from any senator at whose request he made
the modification, that, without it, he would vote against theresolution.
How, then, can even the senators, who were of the minority of
1834j undertake to make the assertion in question ? How can the
new senators, who have come here since, pledge themselves to the
fact asserted, in the recital of which they could not have had any
connusance ? But all the members of the majority — the veterans and
the raw recruits — the six years men and six weeks men — are requir
ed to concur in this most unfounded assertion, as I believe it to be.
I submit it to one of the latter (looking toward Mr. Dana, from
Maine, here by a temporary appointment from the executive,) whe
ther, instead of inundating the Senate with a torrent of fulsome and
revolting adulation poured on the President, it would .not be wiser and
more patriotic to illustrate the brief period of his senatorial existence
*U

310 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
by some great measure, fraught with general benefit to the whole
Union ? Or, if he will not or cannot elevate himself to a view of
the interest of the entire country, whether he had not better dedicate
his time to an investigation into the causes of an alien jurisdiction
being still exercised over a large part of the territory of the State
which he represents ? And why the American carrying trade to the
British coloneis, in which his state was so deeply interested, has been
lost by a most improvident and bungling arrangement ?
Mr. President, what patriotic purpose is to be accomplished by this
expunging resolution ! What new honor or fresh laurels will it win
for our common country ? Is the power of the Senate so vast that
it ought to be circumscribed, and that of the President so restricted,
that it ought to be extended ? What power has the Senate ? None
seperately. It can only act jointly with the other House, or jointly
with the executive. And although the theory of the constitution
supposes, when consulted by him, it may freely give an affirmative
or negative response according to the practice, as it now exists, it has
lost the faculty of pronouncing the negative monosyllable. When
the Senate expresses its deliberate judgment, in the form of resolu
tion, that resolution has no compulsory force, but appeals only to the
dispassionate intelligence, the calm reason, and the sober judgment
of the community. The Senate has no army, no navy,, no patronage,
no lucrative offices, nor glittering honors to bestow. Around us
there is no swarm of greedy expectants, rendering us homage, antici
pating our wishes, and ready to execute our commands.
How is it with the President ? Is he powerless. He is'felt from
one extremity to the other of this vast republic. By means of prin
ciples which he has introduced, and innovations which he has made
in our institutions, alas ! too much countenanced by Congress and a
confiding people, he exercises uncontrolled the power of the State.
In. one hand he holds the purse, and in the other brandishes the
sword of the country. Myriads of dependents and partizans, scat-'
tered over the land, are ever ready to sing hosannas to him, and to
laud to the skies whatever he does. He has swept over the govern
ment, during the last eight years, like a tropical tornado. Every
department exhibits traces of the ravages of the storm. Take, as
one example, the Bank of the United States. No institution could

ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. '311
have been more popular with the people, with Congress, and with
State Legislatures. None ever better fulfilled the great purposes of
its establishment. But it unfortunately incurred the displeasure of
the President ; he spoke, and, the Bank lies prostrate. And those
who were loudest in its praise are now loudest in its condemnation.
What object of his ambition is unsatisfied ? When disabled from age
any longer to hold the sceptre of power, he designates his successor,
and transmits it to his favorite. What more does he want. Must
we blot, deface and mutilate the records of the country to punish
the presumptuousness of expressing an opinion contrary to his own.
What patriotic purpose is to be accomplished by this expunging
resolution ? Can you make that not to be which has been ? Can
you eradicate from memory and from history the fact, that in March,
1834, a majority of the Senate of the United States passed the reso
lution which excites your enmity ? Is it your vain and wicked object
to arrogate to youselves that power of annihilating the past which
has been denied to Omnipotence itself? Do you intend to thrust your
hands into our hearts, and to pluck out the deeply rooted convictions
which are there ? or is it your design merely to stigmatize us ? You
cannot stigmatize US.
" Ne'er yet did base dishonor blur our name."
Standing securely upon our conscious rectitude, and bearing aloft
the shield of the constitution of our country, your puny efforts are
impotent, and we defy all your power. Put the majority of 1834 in
one scale, and that by which this expunging resolution is to be car
ried in the other, and let truth and justice, in heaven above and on
the earth below, and liberty and patriotism decide the preponderance.
What patriotic purpose is to be accomplished by this expunging ?
Is it to appease the wrath, and to heal the wounded pride of the Chief
Magistrate ? If he be really the hero that his friends represent him,
lie must despise all mean condescension, all grovelling sycophancy,
all self-degradation, and self-abasement. He would reject with scorn
and contempt, as unworthy of his fame, your black scratches, and
your baby lines in the fair records of his country. Black lines !
Black lines ! Sir, I hope the Secretary of the Senate will preserve
the pen with which he may inscribe them, and present it to that Sen
ator of the majority whom he may select, as a proud trophy, to be

312 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
transmitted to his descendants. And hereafter, when we shall lose
the forms of our free institutions, all that now remain to us, some fu
ture American monarch, in gratitude to those by whose means he has
been enabled, upon the ruins of civil liberty, to erect a throne, and to
commemorate especially this expunging resolution, may institute a
new order of knighthood, and confer on it the appropriate name ofthe
knight of the black lines.
But why should I detain the Senate or needlessly waste my breath
in fruitless exertions. The decree has gone forth. It is one of ur
gency, too. The deed is to be done — that foul deed, like the blood
stained hands of the guilty Macbeth, all ocean's waters will never
wash out. Proceed, then, to the noble work which lies before you,
and like other skilful executioners, do it quickly. And when you
have perpetrated it, go home to the people, and tell them what glori
ous honors you have achieved for our common country. Tell them
that you have extinguished one ofthe brightest and purest lights that
ever burnt at the altar of civil liberty. Tell them that you have
silenced one of the noblest batteries that ever thundered in defence
of the constitution, and bravely spiked the cannon. Tell them that,
henceforward, no matter what daring or outrageous act any President
may perform, you have forever hermetically sealed the mouth of the
Senate. Tell them that he may fearlessly ¦ assume what power he
pleases — snatch from its lawful custody the public purse, command a
military detachment to enter the halls of the eapitol, overawe Con
gress, trample down the constitution, and raze every bulwark of free
dom ; but that the Senate must stand mute, in silent submission, and
not dare to raise its opposing voice. That it must wait until a House
of Representatives, humbled and subdued like itself, and a majority
of it composed of the partisans of the President, shall prefer articles
of impeachment. Tell them finally, that you have restored the glo
rious doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, and, if the
people do not pour out their indignation and imprecations, I have yet
to learn the character of American freemen.

ON THE SUB.-TREASURY.
In the Senate of the United States, September 25 1837.

[The State Bank Deposite system of keeping and disbursing the Public Moneys
having exploded on the general suspension of Specie Payments by the Banks
throughout the Country in May, 1837, leaving the government nearly destitute of
pecuniary means or financial machinery, Mr. Van Burepj (then newly inaugurated
as President) promptly summoned the new Congress to mset in Washington on the
first Monday of September of that year. Although the Elections after the suspen
sion went heavily against him, yet the previous choice of members from one half
the States, including New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio, had 'secured to
his Administration a decided preponderance in each House. Congress assembled on
the 4th, and the President in his message submitted the fiscal plan known as the
Ibdepehdent Treasury or Sub-Treasury, for the collection, safe keeping, and dis
bursement of the Public Moneys entirely ' divorced' from Banks. A bill embodying
this proposition, having been reported to the Senate,- from its Committe on Finance
by Mr. Wright of New York, upon its consideration Mr. Clay addressed the Sen
ate as follows :]
Feeling an anxious desire to see some effectual plan presented to
correct the disorders in the currency, and to restore the prosperity of
the country, I have avoided precipitating myself into the debate now
in progress, that I may attentively examine every remedy that
may be proposed, and impartially weigh every consideration urged
in its support. No period has ever existed in this country, in which
the future was covered by a darker, denser, or more impenetrable
gloom. None, in which the duty was more imperative to discard all
passion and prejudice, all party ties, and previous bias, and look ex
clusively to the good of our afflicted country. In one respect, and I
think it a fortunate one — our present difficulties are distinguishable
from former domestic trouble, and that is their universality. They
are felt it is true, in different degrees, but they reach every section,
every State, every interest, almost every man in the Union. All '
feel, see, hear, know their existence. As they do not array, like our
former divisions, one portion of the confederacy against another, it is
to be hoped that common sufferings may lead to common sympathies

314 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and common counsels, and that we shall, at no distant day, be able to
see a clear way of deliverance. If the present s'tate of the country
were produced by the fault of the people ; if it proceeded from their
wasteful extravagance, and their indulgence of a reckless spirit of
ruinous speculation ; if public measures had no agency whatever in
bringing it about, it would nevertheless be the duty of government to
exert all its energies and to employ all its legitimate powers to devise
an efficacious remedy. But if our present deplorable condition has
sprung from our rulers ; if it is to be clearly traced to their acts and.
operations, that duty becomes infinitely more obligatory ; and gov
ernment would be faithless to the highest and most solemn of human
trusts should it neglect to perform it. And is it not too true that the
evils which surround us are to be ascribed to those who have had
the conduct of our public affairs ?
In glancing at the past, nothing can be further from my intention
than to excite angry feelings, or to find grounds of reproach. It
would be far more congenial to my wishes that, on this occasion we
should forget all former unhappy divisions and animosities. But in
order to discover how to get out of our difficulties, we must ascertain
if we can how we got into them.
Prior to that series of unfortunate measures which had for its ob
ject the overthrow ofthe Bank ofthe United States, and the discontinu
ance of its fiscal agency for the government, no people upon earth ever
enjoyed a better currency, or had exchanges better regulated than the
people of the United States. Our monetary system appeared to have
attained as great perfection as anything human can possibly reach.
The combination of United States and local Banks presented a true
image of our system of general and State governments, and worked
quite as wejl. Not only within the country had we a local and gen
eral currency perfectly sound, but in whatever quarter of the globe
American commerce had penetrated, there also did the bills of the
United States Bank command unbounded credit and confidence. Now
we are in danger of having fixed upon us, indefinitely as to time, that
medium, an irredeemable paper currency, which, by the universal
consent of the commercial world, is regarded as the worst. How
has this reverse come upon us ? Can it be doubted that it is the re
sult of those measures to which I have adverted ? When, at the very
moment of adopting them, the very consequences which have hap-

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 315
pened were foretold as inevitable, is it necessary to look elsewhere
for their cause ? Never was prediction more distinctly made ; never
was fulfilment more literal and exact.
Let us suppose that those measures had not been adopted ; that
the Bank of the United States had been rechartered ; that the public
deposites had remained undisturbed ; and that the treasury order had
never issued : is there not every reason to believe that we should be
now in the enjoyment of a sound currency ; that the public deposites
would be now safe and forthcoming, and that the suspension of specie
payments in May last would not have happened ?
The President's message asserts that the suspension has proceeded
from over-action, over-trading, the indulgence of a spirit of speculation
produced by bank and other facilities. I think this is a view of the
case entirely too superficial. It would be quite as correct and just,
in the instance of a homicide perpetrated by the discharge of a gun, to
allege that the leaden ball, and not the man who levelled the piece,
was responsible for the murder. The true inquiry is, how came that
excessive over-trading and those extensive bank facilities which the
message describes ? Were they not the necessary and immediate
consequences of the overthrow of the Bank, and the removal from its
custody of the public deposites ? And is not this1 proven by the vast
multiplication of banks, the increase of the line of their discounts and
accommodations, prompted and stimulated by Secretary Taney, and
the great augmentation of their circulation which ensued ?
What occurred in the State of Kentucky in consequence ofthe veto
of the recharter of the Bank of the United States illustrates its effects
throughout the Union. That State had suffered greatly by banks. It
was generally opposed to the re-establishment of them. It had found
the notes of ,the Bank of the United States answering all the purposes
of a sound currency at home and abroad, and it was perfectly con
tented with them. At the period of the veto, it had but a single
bank of limited capital and circulation. After it, the State, reluctant
to engage in the banking system, and still cherishing hopes of the
creation of a new Bank of the United States, encouraged by the sup
porters of the late President, hesitated about the incorporation of new
banks. But at length, despairing of the establishment of a Bauk of
the United States, and finding itself exposed to a currency in bank

316 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
notes from adjacent States, it proceeded to establish banks of its own ;
and since the veto, since 1S33, has incorporated for that single State
bank capital to the amount of ten millions of dollars— a sum equal to
the capital of the first Bank of the United States created for the whole
Union. That the local banks, to which the deposites were transferred from
the Bank of the United States, were urged and stimulated freely to
discount upon them, we have record evidence from the treasury de
partment. The message, to reconcile us to our misfortunes, and to exonerate
the measures of our own government from all blame in producing the
present state of things, refers to the condition of Europe, and espe
cially to that of Great Britain. It alledges that,
" In both countries we have witnessed the same redundancy of paper money, and
other facilities of credit '; the same spirit of speculation ; the same partial success ;
the same difficulties and reverses ; and, at length, nearly the same overwhelming
catastrophe." The very clear and able argument of the Senator from Georgia,
(Mr. King) relieves me from the necessity of saying much upon this
part of the subject. It appears that during the period referred to by
the message of 1833-4-5, there was, in fact, no augmentation, or a
very trifling augmentation, ofthe circulation ofthe country, and that
the message has totally misconceived the actual state of things in
Great Britain. According to the publications to which I have had
access, the Bank of England in fact diminished its circulation, com
paring the first with the last of that period, about two and a half
millions sterling ; and although the joint-stock and private banks in
creased theirs, the amount of increase was neutralized by the amount
of diminution
If the state of things were really identical, or similar, in the two
countries, it would be fair to trace it to similarity of causes. But is
that the case ? In Great Britain a sound currency was preserved by
a recharter of the Bank of England about the same time that the re
charter ofthe Bank of the United States was agitated here.» In the
United States we have not preserved a sound currency, in conse
quence of the veto. If Great Britain were near the same catastrophe
(the suspension of specie payments) which occurred here, she never-

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 317
theless escaped it ; and this difference in the condition of the two
countries makes all the difference in the world. Great Britain has
recovered from whatever mercantile distresses she experienced ; we
have not ; and when shall we ? All is bright, and cheerful, and en
couraging in the prospects which lie before her ; and the reverse is
our unfortunate situation.
Great Britain has, in truth, experienced only those temporary em
barrassments which are incident to commercial transactions, conduct
ed upon the scale of vast magnitude on which hers are carried on.
Prosperous and adverse times, action and reaction, are the lot of all
commercial countries. But our distresses sink deeper ; they reach
the heart, which has ceased to perform its office of circulation in the
great concerns of our body politic.
Whatever of embarrassment Europe has recently experienced, may
be satisfactorily explained by its trade and connexions with the
United States. The degree of embarrassment has been marked, in
the commercial countries there, by the degree of their connexion with
the United States. All, or almost all, the great failures in Europe
have been of houses engaged in the American trade. Great Britain,
which, as the message justly observes, maintains the closest relations
with us, has suffered most, France next, and so on, in the order of
their greater or less commercial intercourse with us. Most truly
was it said by the Senator from Georgia, that the recent embarrass
ments of Europe were the embarrassments of a creditor, from whom
payment was withheld by the debtor, and from whom the precious
metals have been unnecessarily withdrawn by the policy of the same
debtor. Since the intensity of suffering, and the disastrous state of things in
this country, have far transcended anything that has occurred in
Europe, we must look here for some peculiar and more potent causes
than any which have been in operation there. They are to be found
in that series of measures to which I have already adverted.
1st. The veto of the Bank.
2d. The removal of the deposites, with the urgent injunction-of
Secretary Taney upon the banks to enlarge their accommodations.

I

318 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
3d. The gold bill, and the demand of gold for the foreign indemnities.
4th. The clumsy execution of the deposite law ; and
5th. The treasury order of July, 1836.
[Here Mr. Clay went into an examination of these measures to show that the
inflated condition of the country, the wild speculations, which had risen to their
height when they began to be checked by the preparations ofthe local banks neces
sary to meet the deposite law of June, 1836, the final suspension of specie payments,
and the consequent disorders in the currency, commerce, and general business of
the country, were all to be traced to the influence ofthe measures enumerated. All
these causes operated immediately, directly, and powerfully upon us, and their
effects were indirectly felt in Europe.]
The message imputes to the deposite law, an agency in producing
the existing embarrassments. This is a charge frequently made by
the friends of the administration against that law. It is true that
the Banks having increased their accommodations, in conformity with
the orders of Secretary Taney, it might not have been convenient to
recall and pay them over for public use. It is true, also, that the
manner in which the law was executed by the treasury department,
transferring large sums from creditor to debtor portions of the coun
try, without regard to the commerce or business of the country might
have aggravated the inconvenience. But what do those who object
to the law think ought to have been done with the surpluses which
had accumulated, and were daily augmenting to such an enormous
amount in the hands of the deposite banks ? Were they to be incor
porated with their capital, and remain there for the benefit of the
stockholders ? Was it not proper and just, that they should be ap
plied to the uses of the people from whom they were collected ?
And whenever and however taken from the deposite banks, would
not inconvenience necessarily happen ? »
The message asserts that the Bank of the United States, chartered
by Pennsylvania, has not been able to save itself or to check other
institutions, notwithstanding "the still greater strength it has been
said to possess under its present charter." That Bank is now a mere
Slate or local institution. Why is it referred to more than the Bank
of Virginia, or any other local institution ? The exalted station
which the President fills forbids the indulgence of the supposition,
that the allusion has been made to enable the administration to profit

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 31&
by the prejudices which have been excited against it. Was it the
duty of that bank, more than any other State Bank, to check the
local institutions ? Was it not even under less obligation to do so
than the deposite banks, selected and fostered by the general govern
ment ?
But how could the message venture to assert, that it has greater
strength than the late Bank of the United States possessed ? What
ever may be the liberality of the conditions of its charter, it is impos
sible that any single State could confer upon it faculties equal to those
granted to the late Bank of the United States — first, in making it the
sole depository of the revenue ofthe United States ; and secondly, in
making its notes receivable in the payment of all public dues. If a
Bank of the United States had existed, it would have had ample
notice of the accumulation of public moneys in the local banks, and,
by timely measures of precaution, it could have prevented the specu
lative uses to which they were applied. Such an institution would
have been bound by its relations -to the government, to observe its
¦ appropriations and financial arrangement and wants, and to hold itself
always ready promptly to meet them. It would have drawn together
gradually, but certainly, the public moneys, however dispersed. Re
sponsibility would have been concentrated upon it alone, instead of
being weakened or lost by diffusion among some eighty or ninety
local banks, despersed throughout the country, and acting without
any effective concert.
A subordinate but not unimportant cause of the evils which at
present encompass us, has been the course' of the late administration
towards the compromise act. The great principle of that act, in re
spect to our domestic industry, was its stability. It was intended
and hoped that, by withdrawing the tariff from their annual discus
sions in Congress, of which it had been the fruitful topic, our manu
factures would have a certainty, for a long period, as to the measure
of protection, extended to them by its provisions, which would com
pensate any reduction in the amount contained in prior aets. For a
year or two after it was adopted, the late administration manifested
a disposition to respect it, as an arrangement which was to be invio
lable. But, for some time past, it has been constantly threatened from
that quarter, and a settled purpose has been displayed to disregard
its conditions. Those who had an agency in bringing it forward, and

320 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY
carrying it through Congress, have been held up to animadversion ; it
has been declared by members, high in the confidence of the admini
stration in both Houses, to possess no obligatory force beyond any
ordinary act of legislation, and new adjustments of the tariff have
been proposed in both Houses, in direct contravention of the princi
ples of the compromise ; and, at the last session, one of them actu
ally passed the Senate, against the most earnest entreaty and remon
strance. A portion of the South has not united in these attacks upon
the compromise ; and I take pleasure in saying, that the two Senators
from South Carolina, especially, have uniformly exhibited a resolu
tion to adhere to it with perfect honor and fidelity.
The effect of those constant threats and attacks, coming from those
high in power, has been most injurious. They have shown to the
manufacturing interest that no certain reliance was to be placed upon
the steadiness of the policy, of the government, no matter under what
solemn circumstances it was adopted. That interest has takeri alarm ;
new enterprises have been arrested, old ones curtailed ; and at this
moment it is the most prostrate of all the interests in the country.
One-half in amount, as I have been informed, of the manufacturers
throughout the country have actually suspended operations, and
those who have not, chiefly confine themselves to working up their
stock en hand.
The consequence has been, that we have made too little at home,
and purchased too mnch abroad. This has augmented that foreign
debt, the existence of which so powerfully contributed to the sus
pension, and yet forms an obstacle to the resumption of specie pay
ments. The Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) attributed the
creation of the surplus revenue to the tariff policy, and especially to
the acts of 1824 and 182S. I do not perceive any advantage, on the
present occasion, in reviving or alluding to the former dissensions
which prevailed on the subject of that policy. They were all settled
and quieted by the great healing measure (the compromise) to which
I have referred. By that act I have been willing and ready to abide.
And I have desired only that it should be observed and executed in a
spirit of good faith and fidelity similar to that by which I have been
ever actuated towards it.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 321
The act of 1828 was no measure of the friends of the manufactu
rers. Its passage was forced by a coalition between their secret and
open opponents. But the system of protection of American industry
did not cause the surplus. It proceeded from the extraordinary rules
of the public lands. The receipts, from all sources other than that
of the public lands, and expenditures of the years 1833-4-5-6, (dur
ing which the surplus was accumulating) both amount to about
eighty-seven millions of dollars ; thus clearly showing that the cus
toms only supplied the necessary means of public disbursement, and
that it was the public domain that produced the surplus.
If the land bill had been allowed to go into operation, it would
have distributed generally and regularly among the several States
the proceeds of the public lands, as they would have been received
from time to time. They would have returned back in small streams
similar to those by which they have been collected, animating, and
improving, and fructifying the whole country. There would have
been no vast surplus to embarrass the government; no removal
of deposites from the Bank of the United States to the deposite
banks, to disturb the business of the country ; no accumulations in
the deposite banks of immense sums of public money, augmented by
the circuit it was performing between the land offices and the banks,
and the banks and the land offices ; no occasion for the Secretary of
the Treasury to lash the deposite banks into the grant of inordinate
accommodations ; and possibly there would have been no suspension
of specie payments. But that bill was suppressed by a most extra
ordinary and dangerous exercise of executive power.
The cause of our present difficulties may be stated in another way.
During the late administration we have been deprived of the practi
cal benefit of a free government ; the forms, it is true, remained and
were observed, but the essence did not exist. In a free, or self-gov
ernment, the collected wisdom, the aggregate wisdom of the whole, or
at least of a majority, moulds and directs the course of public affairs.
In a despotism the will of a single individual governs. In a practi
cally free government, the nation controls the chief magistrate ; in
an arbitrary government, the chief magistrate controls the nation.
And has not this been our situation in the period mentioned ? Has
not one man forced his will on the nation ? Have not all these dis
astrous measures — the veto of the bank ; the removal of the depo-

322 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
sites ; the rejection of the land bill, and the treasury order, which
have led to our present unfortunate condition, been adopted, in spite
of the wishes of the country, and in opposition, probably, to those
of the dominant party itself?
Our misfortune has not been the want of wisdom, but of firmness.
The party in power would not have governed the country very ill,
if it had been allowed its own way. Its fatal error has been to lend
its sanction, and to bestow its subsequent applause and support upon
executive acts which, in their origin, it previously deprecated or con
demned. We have been shocked and grieved to see whole legisla
tive bodies and communities approving and lauding the rejection of
the very measures which previously they had unanimously recom
mended ! To see whole States abandoning their long-cherished poli
cy and best interests in subserviency to the executive pleasure ! And
the numberless examples of individuals who have surrendered their
independence, must inflict pain in every patriot bosom. A single case
forces itself upon my recollection as an illustration, to which I do not
advert from any unkind feelings towards the gentleman to whom I
refer, between whom and myself civil and courteous relations have
ever existed. The memorial of the late Bank of the United States,
praying for a recharter, was placed in his hands, and he presented it
to the Senate. He carried the recharter through the Senate. The veto
came ; and, in two or three weeks afterwards, we behold the same Sen
ator at the head of an assembly ofthe people in the state-house yard, in
Philadelphia, applauding the veto, and condemning the bank — con
demning his own act ! Motives lie beyond the reaeh of the human eye,
and it does not belong to me to say what they were which prompted
this self-casligation, and this praise of the destruction of his own
work ; but it is impossible to overlook the fact that this same Sena
tor, in due time, received from the author of the veto the gift of a
splendid foreign mission !
The moral deducible from the past is, that our free institutions are
superior to all others, and can be preserved in their purity and excel
lence only upon the stern condition that we shall for ever hold the
obligations of patriotism paramount to all the ties of party, and to in
dividual dictation ; and that we shall never openly approve what we
secretly condemn.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 323
In this rapid, and I hope not fatiguing review of the causes which
I think have brought upon us existing embarrassments, I repeat that
it has been for no purpose of reproaching or criminating those who
have had the conduct of our public affairs ; but to discover the
means by which the present crisis has been produced, with a view to
ascertain, if possible, what (which is by far much more important)
should be done by Congress to avert its injurious effects. And this
brings me to consider the remedy proposed by the administration.
The great evil under which the country labors is the suspension of
the banks to pay specie ; the total derangement in all domestic ex
changes ; and the paralysis which has come over the whole business
of the country. In regard to the currency, it is not that' a given
amount of bank notes will not now command as much as the same
amount of specie would have done prior to the suspension ; but it is
the future, the danger of an inconvertible paper money being in
definitely or permanently fixed upon the people, that fills them with
apprehensions. Our great object should be to re-establish a sound cur
rency, and thereby "to restore the exchanges, and revive the business
of the country.
The first impression which the measures brought forward by the
administration make, is, that they consist of temporary expedients,
looking to the supply of the necessities of the treasury ; or, so far as
any of them possess a permanent character, its tendency is rather to
aggravate than alleviate the sufferings of the people. None of them
proposes to rectify the disorders in the actual currency ofthe country ;
but the people, the States, and their banks, are left to shift for them
selves as they may or can. The administration, after having inter
vened between the States and their banks, and taken them into their
federal service, without the consent of the States ; after having puffed
and praised them ; after having brought them, or contributed to bring
them, into their present situation, now suddenly turns its back upon
them, leaving them to their fate ! It is not content with that ; it must
absolutely discredit their issues. And the very people who were told
by the administration that these banks would supply them with a
better currency, are now left to struggle as they can with the very
currency which the government recommended to them, but which it
now refuses itself to receive !

324 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The professed object of the administration is to establish what it
terms the currency of the" constitution, which it proposes to accom
plish by restricting the federal government, in all receipts and pay
ments, to the exclusive use of specie, and by refusing all bank paper,
whether convertible or not. It disclaims all purposes of crippling or
putting down the banks of the States : but we shall better determine
the design or the effect of the measures recommended by considering
them together, as one system.
1. The first is the sub-treasuries, whichare to be made the deposi
tories of all the specie collected and paid out for the service of the
general government, discrediting and refusing all the notes of the
States, although payable and paid in specie.
2. A bankrupt law for the United States, levelled at all the State
banks, and authorizing the seizure of the effects of any one of them
that stop payment, and the administration of their effects under the
federal authority- exclusively.
3. A particular law for the District of Columbia, by which all the
corporations' and people of the District, under severe pains and penal- '
ties, are prohibited from circulating, sixty days after the passage of
the law, any paper whatever not convertible into specie on demand,
and are made liable to prosecution by indictment.
4. And lastly, the bill to suspend the payment of the fourth instal
ment to the States, by the provisions of which the deposite banks in
debted to the government are placed at the discretion of the Secretary
of the Treasury.
It is impossible to consider this system without perceiving that it
is aimed at, and, if carried out, must terminate in, the total Subver
sion of the State Banks ; and that they will all be placed at the mercy
of the federal government. It is in vain to protest that there exists
no design against them. The effect of those measures cannot be mis
understood. And why this new experiment or untried expedient ? The people
of this country are tired of experiments. * Ought not the administra
tion itself to cease with them ? Ought it not to take warning from

ON THE SUB-TREASURY- 325
the events of recent elections ? Above all, should not the Senate,
constituted as it now is, be the last body to lend itself to further ex
periments upon the business and happiness of this great people ? Ac
cording to the latest expression of public opinion in the several States,
the Senate is no longer a true exponent of the will of the States or
ofthe people. , If it were, there would be thirty -two or thirty-four
whigs, to eighteen or twenty friends of the administration.
Is it desirable to banish a convertible paper medium, and to substi
tute the precious metals as the sole currency to be used in all the
vast extent of varied business of this entire country ? I think not.
The quantity of precious metals in the world, looking to our fair dis
tributive share of them, is wholly insufficient. A convertible paper
is a great time-saving and labor-saving instrument, independent of its
superior advantages in transfers and remittances. A friend no longer
ago than yesterday, informed me of a single bank whose payments
and receipts in one day amounted to two millions of dollars. What
time would not have been necessary to count such a vast sum ? The
payments, in the circle of a year, in the city of New York,. were es
timated several years ago at fifteen hundred millions. How many
men and how many days would be necessary to count such a sum ? A
young, growing, and enterprising people, like those of the United
States, more than any other, need the use of those credits which are
incident to a sound paper system. Credit is the friend of indigent
merit. Of all nations, Great Britain has most freely used the credit
system ; and of all, she is the most prosperous. We must cease to
be a commercial people ; we must separate, divorce ourselves from
the commercial world, and throw ourselves back for centuries, if we
restrict our business to the exclusive use of specie.
It is objected against a convertible paper system, that it is liable to
expansions and contractions ; and that the consequence is the rise and
fall of prices, and sudden fortunes or sudden ruin. But it is the im
portation Or exportation of specie, which forms the basis of paper,
that occasions these fluctuations. If specie alone were the medium
of circulation, the same importation or exportation of it would make
it plenty or scarce, and affect prices in the saime manner. The nomi
nal or apparent prices might vary in figures, but the sensation upon
the community would be as great in the one case as in the other.
These alternations do not result, therefore, from the nature of the me-
*v

326 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
dium , whether that be specie exclusively, or paper convertible into spe
cie, but from the operations of commerce. It is commerce, at last, that
is chargeable with expansions and contractions ; and against commerce,
and not its instrument, should opposition be directed.
Ihave heard it urged by the Senator from South Carolina (Mr.
Calhoun) with no little surprise, in the course of this debate, that a
convertible paper would not answer for a currency, but that the true
standard of value was to be found in a paper medium not convertible
into the precious metals. If there be, in regard to currency, one
truth which the united experience of the whole commercial world
ha£ established, I had supposed it to be that emissions of paper
money constituted the very worst of all conceivable species of cur
rency. The objections to it are : 1st. That it is impracticable to as
certain, a priori, what amount can be issued without depreciation ;
and, 2d. That there is no adequate security, and, in the nature of
things, none can exist, against excessive issues. The paper money
of North Carolina, to which the Senator referred, according to the in
formation which! have received, did depreciate. It was called Proc.,
an abbreviation of the authority under which it was put forth, and it
took one and a half and sometimes two dollars of Proc. to purchase
one in specie. But if any one desires to understand perfectly the
operation of a purely paper currency, let him study the history of the
bank of the commonwealth of Kentucky. It was established about
fifteen or sixteen years ago, with the consent of a majority of the
people of that State. It is winding up and closing its career with the
almost unanimous approbation of the whole people. It had an au
thority to issue, and did issue, notes to the amount of about two mill
ions of dollars. These notes, upon their face, purported an obliga
tion of the bank to pay the holder, on demand, the amount in specie ;
but it was well known that they would not be so paid. As a secu
rity for their ultimate payment, there were : 1st. The notes of indi
viduals supposed to be well secured, every note put out by the bank
being represented by an individual note discounted. 2d. The funds
of the State in a prior State bank, amounting to about half a million
of dollars. 3d. The proceeds of a large body of waste lands belong
ing to the State. And 4th. The annua] revenue of the State, and
public dues, all of which were payable in the notes of the Common
wealth Bank

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 327
Notwithstanding this apparently solid provision for the redemption
of the notes of the bank, they began to depreciate shortly after it com
menced operation, and in the course of a. few months they sunk as
low as fifty per cent. — two dollars for one specie dollar. They con
tinued depreciated for a long time, until after large amounts of them
were called in and burned. They then rose in value, and now, when
there is only some fifty or one hundred thousand dollars out, they have
risen to about par. This is owing to the demand for them, created
by the wants of the remaining debtors to the bank, and their receiva-
bility in payment for taxes. The result of the experiment is, that,
although it is possible to sustain at about par a purely paper medium
to some amount, if the legislative authority which creates it also cre
ate a demand for it, it is impracticable to adjust the proportions of
supply and demand so as to keep it at par, and that the tendency is
always to an excess of issue. The result, with the people of Ken
tucky, has been a general conviction of the mischiefs of all issues of
an irredeemable paper medium.
Is it practicable for the federal government to put down the State
banks, and to introduce an exclusive metallic currency ? In the oper
ations of this government, we should ever bear in mind that political
power is distributed between it and the States, and that, while our
duties are few and clearly defined, the great mass of legislative au
thority abides with the States. Their banks exist without us, inde
pendent of us, and in spite of us. We have no constitutional power
or right to put them down. Why, then, seek their destruction, openly
or secretly, directly or indirectly, by discrediting their issues, and by
bankrupt laws, and bills of pains and penalties. What are these
banks now so descried and denounced ? Intruders, aliens, enemies
that have found their way into the bosom of our country against; our
will. Reduced to their elements, and the analysis shows that they
consist: 1st. of stockholders ; 2d. debtors; and 3d. bill-holders and
other creditors. In some one of these three relations, a large majority
ofthe people of the United States stand. In making war upon the
banks, therefore, you wage war upon the people ofthe United States.
It is not a mere abstraction that you would kick and cuff, bankrupt
and destroy, but a sensitive, generous, confiding people, who are
anxiously turning their eyes towardsyou, and imploring relief. . Every
blow that you inflict upon the banks, reaches them. Press the banks,
and you press them.

328 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
True wisdom, it seems to me, requires that we should not seek
after if we could discover unattainable abstract perfection ; but should
look to what is practicable in human affairs, and accommodate out-
legislation to the irreversible condition of things. Since the States
and the people have their Banks and will have them, and since we
have no constitutional authority to put them down, our duty is to
come to their relief when in embarrassment, and to exert all our
legitimate powers to retain and enable them to perform, in the most
beneficial manner, the purposes of their institution. We should em
bank, not destroy, the fertilizing stream which sometimes threatens
an inundation.
We are told that it is necessary to separate, divorce the govern
ment from the banks. Let us not be deluded by sounds. Senators
might as well talk of separating the government from the States, or
from the people, or from the country. We are all — People — States
— Union — Banks, bound up and interwoven together^ united in for
tune and destiny, and all, all entitled to the protecting care of a par
ental government. You may as well attempt to make the govern
ment breathe a different air, drink a different water, be lit and warm
ed by a different sun from the people ! A hard money government
and a paper money people ! A government, an official corps — the
servants of the people — glittering in gold, and the people themselves,
their masters, buried in ruin, and surrounded with rags.
No prudent or practical government, will in its measures run
counter to the long-settled habits and usages of the people. Religion,
language, laws, the established currency and business of a whole
country, cannot be easily or suddenly uprooted. After the denom
ination of our coin was changed to dollars and cents, many years
elapsed before the old method of keeping accounts, in pounds, shillings
and pence, was abandoned ; and, to this day, there are probably some
men of the last century who adhere to it. If a fundamental change
becomes necessary, it should not be sudden, but conducted by slow
and cautious degrees. The people of the United States have been
always a paper money people. It was paper money that carried us
through the revolution, established our liberties, and made us a free
and independent people. And, if the experience of the revolutionary
war convinced our ancestors, as we are convinced, of the evils of an
irredeemable paper medium, it was put aside only to give place to

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 329
that convertible paper which has so powerfully contributed to our
rapid advancement, prosperity, and greatness.
The proposed substitute of an exclusive metallic currency, to the
mixed medium with which we have been so long familiar, is forbid
den by the principles of eternal justice. Assuming the currency of
the country to consist of two-thirds of paper and one of specie ; and
assuming, also, that the money of a country, whatever may be its
component parts, regulates all values, and expresses the true amount
which the debtor has to pay to his creditor, the effect of the change
upon that relation, and upon the property of the country, would be
most ruinous. — All property would be reduced in value to one-third
of its present nominal amount, and every debtor would, in effect,
have, to pay three times as much as he had contracted for. The pres
sure of our foreign debt would be three times as great as it is, whilst
the six hundred millions, which is about the sum now probably due
to the Banks from the people, would be multiplied into eighteen hun
dred millions.
But there are some more specific objections to this project of sub-
treasuries, which deserve to be noticed. The first is, its insecurity.
The sub-treasurer and his bondsmen constitute the only guaranty for
the safety of the immense sums of public money which pass through
his hands. Is this to be compared with that which is possessed
through the agency of Banks ? The collector, who is to be sub-
treasurer, pays the money to the bank, and the bank to the disburs
ing officer. . Here are three checks ; you propose to distroy two of
them ; and that most important of all, the bank, with its machinery
of president, directors, cashier, teller and clerics, all of whom are so
many sentinels. At the very moment, when the Secretary of the
Treasury tells us how will his sub-treasury system work, he has'
communicated to Congress a circular, signed by himself, exhibiting
his distrust in it, for he directs in that circular that the public mo
neys, when they amount to a large sum, shall be specially deposited
with these very banks which he would repudiate. In the State of Ken
tucky, ("other gentlemen can speak of their respective States) although
it has existed but about forty-five years, three treasurers, selected by
the legislature for their established characters of honor and probity,
proved faithless. And the history of the delinquency of one, is the
history of all. It commenced in human weakness, yielding to earnest

330 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
solicitations for temporary loans, with the most positive assurances;
of a punctual return. In no instance was there originally any inten
tion to defraud the public. We should not expose poor human na
ture to such temptations. How easy will it be, as has been done, to
indemnify the sureties out of the public money, and squander the
residue ?
2. Then there is the liability to favoritism. In the receipts, a po
litical partisan or friend may be accommodated in the payment of
duties, in the disbursement, in the purchase of bills, in drafts upon
convenient and favorable offices, and in a thousand ways.
3. The fearful increase of executive patronage. Hundreds and
thousands of new officers are to be created ; for this bill is a mere
commencement of the system, and all are to be placed under the direct
control of the President.
The Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) thinks that the
executive is now weak, and that no danger is to be apprehended from
its patronage. I wish to God I could see the subject in the same
light that he does. I wish I could feel free from that alarm at ex
ecutive encroachments by which he and I were so recently animated.
Where and how, let me ask, has that power, lately so fearful and
formidable, suddenly become so weak and harmless ? Where is that
corps of one hundred thousand office-holders and dependents, whose
organized strength, directed by the will of a single man, was lately
held up in such vivid colors and powerful language by a report made
by the Senator himself? When, were they disbanded ? What, has
become of proscription ? Its victims may be exhausted, but the spirit
and the power which sacrificed them remain unsubdued. What of
the dismissing power ? What of the veto ? Of that practice of
withholding bills contrary to the constitution, still more reprehensi
ble than the abuses of the veto ? Of treasury orders, put in force
and maintained in defiance and contempt of the legislative authority ¦?
And although last, not least, of that expunging power which degra
ded the Senate, and placed it at the feet of the executive ?
Which of all these numerous powers and pretensions has the pres
ent chief magistrate disavowed ? So far from disclaiming any one
of them, has he not announced his intention to follow in "the very

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 331
footsteps of his predecessor ? And has he not done it ? Was it against
the person of Andrew Jackson that the Senator from South Carolina,
so ably co-operated with us ? No, sir, no, sir, no. It was against
his usurpations, as we believed them, against his arbitrary admin
istration, above all, against that tremendous and frightful augmenta
tion of the power of the executive branch of the government, that
we patriotically but vainly contended. The person of the chief ma
gistrate is changed ; but there stands the executive power, perpetu
ated in all its vast magnitude, undiminished, re-asserted, and over
shadowing all the other departments of the government. Every
trophy which the late President won from them, now decorates the
executive mansion. Every power, which he tore from a bleeding
constitutionals now in the executive armory, ready, as time and oc
casion may prompt the existing incumbent, wherever he may be, to
be thundered against the liberties of the people.
Whatever may have been the motives of the course of others, I
owe it to myself and to truth to say, that, in deprecating the election
of General Andrew Jackson to the office of Chief Magistrate, it was
not from any private considerations, but because I considered it would
be a great calamity to my country ; and that, in whatever opposition
I made to the measures of his administration, which more than real
ized my very worst apprehensions, I was guided solely by a sense of
public duty. And I do now declare my solemn and unshaken convic
tion, that, until the executive power, as enlarged, extended, and con
solidated by him, is reduced within its true constitutional limits,
there is no permanent security for the liberties and happiness of this
people. 4. Lastly, pass this bill, and whatever divorce its friends may pro
fess to be its aim, that perilous union of the purse and the sword, so
justly dreaded by our British and revolutionary ancestors, becomes
absolute and complete. And who can doubt it who knows that over
the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington, and every sub-treasu
rer, the President claims the power to exercise uncontrolled sway-
to exact implicit obedience to his will ?
The message states that, in the process both of collection and dis
bursement of the public revenue, the officers who perform it act under
the executive commands ; and it argues that, therefore, the custody

332 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
also of the treasury might as well be confided to the executive care.
I think the safer conclusion is directly opposite. The possession of
so much power over the national treasure is just cause of regret, and
furnishes a strong reason for diminishing it, if possible, but none for
its increase, none for giving the whole power over the purse to the
Chief Magistrate.
Hitherto I have considered this scheme of sub-treasuries as if it
was- only what its friends represent it — a system solely for the pur
pose of collecting, keeping, and disburseing the public money, in
specie exclusively, without any bank agency whatever. But it is
manifest that it is destined to become, if it be not designed to be, a
vast and ramified connexion of government banks, of which the prin
cipal will be at Washington, and every sub-treasury will be a branch.
The Secretary is authorized to draw on the several sub-treasurers in
payment for all the disbursements of government. No law restricts
him as to the amount or form of his drafts or checks. He may throw
them into amounts suited to the purposes of circulation, and give
them all the appearance and facilities of bank notes. Of all the branch
es of this system, that at New York will be the most important, since
about one half of the duties is collected there. Drafts on New York
are at par, or command a premium from every point of the Union. It
is the great money centre of the country. Issued in convenient sums,
they will circulate throughout the whole Union as bank notes ; and
as long as confidence is reposed in them, will be preferred to the
specie, which their holders have a right to demand. They will sup
ply a general currency, fill many of the channels of circulation, be a
substitute for notes of the Bank of the United States, and supplant to
a great extent the use of bank notes. The necessities of the people
will constrain them to use them. In this way they will remain a long
time in circulation; and in a few years we shall see an immense portion
of the whole specie of the country concentrated in the hands of the
branch bank — that is, the sub-treasurer at New York, and represent
ed by an equal amount of government paper dispersed throughout the
country. The responsibility of the sub-treasurer will be consequently
greatly increased, and the government will remain bound to guaran
tee the redemption of all the drafts, checks, or notes (whatever may
be their denomination,) emitted upon the faith of the money in his
custody, and, of course, will be subject to the hazard of the loss of
the amount of specie in the hands of the sub-treasurer. If, in the

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 333
commencement of this system, the holders of this government paper
shall be required to present it for payment in coin, within a specified
time, it will be found inconvenient or impracticable to enforce the re
striction, and it will be ultimately abandoned,
'¦ Is the Senate prepared to consent to place not only all the specie
that may be collected for the revenue ofthe country at the will of the
President, or which is the same thing, in the custody of persons act
ing in obedience to his will, but to put him at the head of the most
powerful and influential system of government banks that ever existed.
It is said, in the message, that government is not bound to supply
the country with the exchanges which are necessary to the transac
tion of its business. But was that the language held during the pro
gress of the contest with the late Bank of the United States' ? Was
not the expectation held out to the people that they would be sup
plied with a better currency, and with better regulated exchange ?
And did not both the late President and the Secretary of the Treas
ury dwellj with particular satisfaction, in several messages and reports
upon the improvement of the currency, the greater amount in ex
change, and the reduction of the rates, under the operation of the
State bank system, than existed under the Bank of the United States ?
Instead of fulfilling his promises then held Out, the government now
wraps itself up in its dignity — tells the people that they expect too
much of it ; that it is not its business to furnish exchanges ; and that
they may look to Europe for the manner in which, through the
agency of private bankers, the commerce and business of its countries
are supplied with exchange. We are advised to give up our Ameri
can mode of transacting business through the instrumentality of
banking corporations, in which the interests of the rich and the poor
are happily blended, and to establish bankers similar to the Hopes,
the Barings, the Rothschilds, the Hotiirguers, of Europe ; houses
which require years of ages to form and to put in successful opera
tion, and whose vast overgrown capitals, possessed by the rich ex
clusively of the poor, control the destiny of nations, and determine
the fate of empires.
Having, I think, Mr. President, shown that the project of the ad
ministration is neither desirable nor practicable, nor within the con
stitutional power of the general government, nor just ; and that it is

334 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
contrary to the habits of the people of the United States, and is dan
gerous to their liberties. I might here close my remarks ; but I con
ceive it to be the duty of a patriotic opposition not to confine itself
merely to urging objections against measures to promote the general
prosperity brought forward by those in power. It has further and
higher duties to perform. There may be circumstances in which the
opposition is bound formally to present such measures as, in its judg
ment, are demanded by the exigency of the times ; but if it had just
reason to believe that they would be unacceptable to those who alone
can adopt them and give them effect, the opposition will discharge its
duty by suggesting what it believes ought to be done for the public
good. I know, sir, that I have friends whose partiality has induced them
to hope that I would be able to bring forward some healing measure
for the disorders which unhappily prevail, that might prove accepta
ble. I wish to God that I could realize this hope, but I cannot. The
disease is of such an alarming character as to require more skill than
I possess ; and I regret to be compelled to fear that there is no effec
tual remedy but that which is in the hands of the suffering patient
himself. Still, under a deep sense ofthe obligation to which I have referred,
I declare that, after the most deliberate and anxious consideration of
which I am capable, I can conceive of no adequate remedy which
does not comprehend a national Bank as an essential part. It ap
pears to me that a National Bank, with such modifications as experi
ence has pointed out, and particularly such as would limit its profits,
exclude foreign influence in the government of it, and give publicity
to its transactions, is the only safe and certain remedy that can be
adopted. The great want of the country is a general and uniform
currency, and a point of union, a sentinel, a regulator of the issues of
the local banks, and that would be supplied by such an institution.
I am not going now to discuss, as an original question, the consti
tutional power of Congress to establish a National Bank. In human
affairs there are some questions, and I think this is one, that ought to
be held as terminated. Four several decisions of Congress affirming
the power, the concurrence of every other department of the govern
ment, the approbation ofthe people, the concurrence of both the great

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 335
parties into which the country has been divided, and forty years of
prosperous experience with such a bank, appear to me to settle the
controversy, if any controversy is ever to be settled. Twenty years
ago Mr. Madison, whose opposition to the first Bank of the United
States is well known, in a message to Congress said :
" Waiving the question of the constitutional authority of the legislature to esta
blish an incorporated bank, as being precluded, in my judgment, by repeated recog
nitions, under varied circumstances, ofthe validity of such an institution, in acts of
the legislative, executive and judicial branches ofthe government, accompanied by
indications, in different modes, of a correspondence of the general will of the na
tion ; the proposed bank does not appear to be calculated to answer the purposes of
reviving the public credit, of providing a national medium of circulation, and of aid
ing the treasury by facilitating the indispensable anticipations of revenue, and by
affording to the public more durable loans " s
To all the considerations upon which he then relied, in treating it
as a settled question, are now to be added two distinct and distant
subsequent expressions of the deliberate opinion of a Republican
Congress ; two solemn decisions of the Supreme Court of the United
States, twenty years of successful experience and disastrous conse
quences quickly following the discontinuance of the Bank.
I have been present, as a member of Congress on the occasion of
the termination of the charters of both the Banks of the United States ;
took part in the discussion to which they gave rise, and had an op
portunity of extensively knowing the opinions of members ; and I
declare my deliberate conviction that, upon neither was there one-
third of the members in either house who entertained the opinion that
Congress did not possess the constitutional power to charter a Bank.
But it is contended that, however indispensable a Bank of the
United States may be to the restoration of the prosperity of the
country, the President's opinion against it opposes an insuperable ob
stacle to the establishment of such an institution.
It will indeed be unfortunate if the only measure which can bring
relief to the people should be prevented by the magistrate whose
elevated^ station should render him the most anxious man in the na
tion to redress existing grievances.
The opinion of the President which is relied upon is that contained
in his celebrated letter to S. Williams, and that which is expressed
in the message before us. I must say, with all proper deference,

336 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
that no man, prior to or after his election to the chief magistracy
has a right to say, in advance, that he would not approve of a particu
lar bill, if it were passed by Congress. An annunciation of such a
purpose is premature, and contrary to the spirit, if not the express
letter of the constitution. According to that instrument, the partici
pation of the President in the legislative power — his right to pass
upon a bill — is subsequent and not previous to the deliberations of
Congress. The constitutional provision is, that when a bill shall
have passed both Houses, it shall, be presented to the President for
his approval or rejection. His right to pass upon it results from the
presentation of the bill, and is not acquired until it is presented.
What would be thought of the judge who, before a cause is brought
before the court, should announce his intention to decide in favor of a
named party ? Or of the Senate, which shares the appointing power,
if it should, before the nomination of a particular individual is made
for an office, pass a resolution that it would not approve the nomina
tion of that individual ?
It is clear that the President places his repugnance to a Bank of
the United States mainly upon the ground that the popular will has
been twice " solemnly and unequivocally expressed" against it. In
this I think the President is mistaken. The two occasions to which
he is understood to refer, are the election of General Andrew Jack
son in 1832, and his own election in 1836. Now, as to the first,
there was not, before it took place, any unequivocal expression of the
opinion of the late President against a National Bank. There was,
in fact, a contrary expression. In the Veto Message, President
Jackson admitted the public convenience of a Bank ; stated that he
did not find in the renewed charter such modifications as could se
cure his approbation, and added that if he had been applied to, he
could have furnished the model of a Bank that would answer the
purposes of such an institution. In supporting his re-election, there
fore, the people did not intend, by the exercise of their suffrage, to
deprive themselves of a National Bank. On the contrary, it is with
in my own knowledge, that many voted for him who believed in the
necessity of a Bank quite as much as I do. And I am perfectly per
suaded that thousands and tens of thousands sustained his re-election
under the full expectation that a National Bank would be established
during his second term.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 337
Nor, sir, can I think that the election of the present chief magis
trate ought to be taken as evidence that the people are against a
Bank. The most that can be asserted is, that he was elected, the
expression of his opinion in the letter to Mr. Williams notwithstand
ing. The question of the election of a chief magistrate is a complex
question, and one of compensations and comparison. All his opinions,
all his qualifications are taken into consideration, and compared with
those of his competitors. And nothing more is decided by the people
than that the person elected is preferred among the several candidates.
They take him as a man takes his wife, for better or for worse, with
all the good and bad opinions and qualities which he possesses. You
might as well argue, that the election of a particular person to the
chief magistracy implies that his figure, form and appearance exhibit
the standard of human perfection, as to contend that it sanctions and
approves every opinion which he may have publicly expressed on
public affairs. It is somewhat ungrateful to the people to suppose that
the particular opinion of Mr. Van Buren in regard to a United States
Bank, constituted any, much less the chief recommendation of him
to their suffrages. It would be more honorable to him 'and to them,
to suppose that it proceeded from his eminent abilities, and his dis
tinguished services at home and abroad. If we are to look beyond
them and beyond him, many believe that the most influential cause
of his election was the endorsement of that illustrious predecessor,
in whose footsteps he stands pledged to follow.
No, sir, no ; the simple and naked question of a Bank or no Bank
of the United States was not submitted to the people and " twice
solemnly and unequivocally" decided against by them. I firmly be
lieve, that if such a question were now submitted to them, the re
sponse, of a vast majority would be in the affirmative. I hope, how
ever, that no Bank will be established or proposed, unless there shall
be a clear and undisputed majority of the people and. of the States in
favor of such an institution. If there be one wanted, and an une
quivocal manifestation be made of the popular will that it is desired,
a Bank will be established. The President's opposition to it is found
ed principally upon the presumed opposition ofthe people. .Let them
demonstrate that he is mistaken, and he will not separate himself
from them. He is too good a democrat, and the whole tenor of his
life shows that, whatever other divorces he may recommend, the least
that he would desire, would be one between him and the people

338 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Should this not prove to be the case, and if a majority should not
exist sufficiently large to pass a Bank Charter in spite of the veto,
the ultimate remedy will remain to the people to change their ruler*
if their rulers will not change their opinions.
But, during this debate it has been contended that the establish
ment of a new Bank of the United States would aggravate existing
distresses ; and that the specie necessary to put it in operation
could not be obtained without prejudice to the local Banks.
What is the relief for which all hearts are now so anxiously throb
bing ? It is to put the Banks again in motion ; to restore exchanges
and revive the drooping business of the country. And, what are the
obstacles ? They are, first, the foreign debt, and, secondly y a want
of confidence. If the banks were to re-open their vaults, it is appre
hended that the specie would be immediately exported to Europe to
discharge our foreign debt. Now, if a Bank ofthe United States
were established, with a suitable capital, tne stock of that Bank itself
would form one ofthe best subjects of remittance ; and an amount of
it equal to what remains of the foreign debt would probably be remit
ted, retaining at home, or drawing from abroad the equivalent in
specie. A great, if not the greatest existing evil is the want of confidence,
not merely in the government, but in distant Banks, and between the
Banks themselves. There are no ties or connexion binding them to
gether, and they are often suspicious of each other. To this, want
of confidence among the Banks themselves, is to be ascribed that ex
traordinary derangement in the exchanges of the country. How
otherwise can we account for the fact, that the paper of the Banks
of Mississippi cannot now be exchanged against the paper of 'the
Banks of Louisiana, without a discount on the former of ten or fifteen
per cent. ; nor that of the Banks of Nashville, without a discount of
eight or ten per cent, against the paper of the Banks of the adjoining
State of Kentucky ? It is manifest that, whatever may be the me
dium of circulation, whether it be inconvertible paper, or convertible
paper and specie, supposing confidence to exist, the rates of ex
change in both cases ought to be nearly the same. But, in times like
tnese, no Bank will allow its funds to accumulate, by the operations
of exchange, at points whereno present use can be made of them.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 339
Now, if a Bank of the United States were established, with a
proper capital, and it were made the sole depository of the public
moneys, and its notes were receivable in all government dues, it
might commence operations forthwith, with a small amount of specie,
perhaps not more than two millions. That sum would probably be
drawn from the community, when it is now hoarded and dormant ,
or if it were taken even from the local banks, they would be more
than compensated in the security which they would enjoy , by the
remittance of the stock of the new Bank to Europe, as a substitute
for their specie.
Such a new Bank, once commencing business, would form a rally
ing point; confidence would revive, exchanges be again regulated,
and the business and prosperity of the country be restored. And it
is by no means certain that there would be any actual augmentation
of the banking capital of the country, for it is highly probable that
the aggregate amount of unsound Banks, which can never resume
specie payments, would be quite equal to that of the new Bank.
An auxiliary resolution might be adopted with salutary effect, sim
ilar to that which was adopted in 1816, offering to the State Banks,
as a motive to resume specie payments, that their paper should be
received for the public dues ; or, as their number has since that pe
riod greatly increased, to make the motive more operative, the offer
niight be confined to one or two Banks in each State known to be
tiustworthy. Let them and a Bank of the United States, commence
specie payments, and all the other sound banks would be constrained,
by the united force of public opinion and the law, to follow the ex
ample. If, in contrasting the two periods of 1817 and 1837, some advan
tages for the resumption of specie payments existed at the former
epoch, others which distinguish the present, greatly preponderate.
At the first there were none except the existence of a public debt,
and a smaller number of banks. But then an exhausting war had
wasted our means. Now we have infinitely greater wealth, our re
sources are vastly more developed and increased, our population near
ly doubled, our knowledge of the disease much better, and, what is
ofthe utmost importance, a remedy, if applied now, would be admin
istered in a much earlier stage of the disorder.

940 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
A general currency of sound and uniform value is necessary to the
well-being of all parts of the confederacy, but it isindispensableto the
interior States. The seaboard States have each of them Banks,
whose paper freely circulates within their respective limits, and serves
all the purposes of their business and commerce at their capitals, and
throughout their whole extent. The variations, in the value of this
paper, in passing through those States, from one commercial metro
polis to another, are not ordinarily very great. But how are we of
the interior to come to the Atlantic cities to purchase our supplies of
foreign and domestic commodities, without a general medium ? The
paper of our own Banks will not be received but at an enormous dis
count. We want a general currency, which will serve at home and
enable us to carry on our accustomed trade with our brethren of the
Atlantic States. And such a currency we have a right to expect.
I do not arrogate to myself a right to speak for and in behalf of all
the western states ; but as a Senator from one of them, I am entitled
to be heard. This union was formed to secure certain general, but
highly important objects, of which the common defence, commerce,
and a uniform currency were the leading ones. To the interior
States none is of more importance than that of currency. Nowhere
is the attachment to the union more ardent than in those States ; but
if this government should neglect to perform its duty, the value of
the union will become impaired, and its very existence in process of
time may become endangered. I do believe, that between a sound
general currency, and the preservation of itself, in full vigor and per
fect safety, there is the most intimate connection.
If, Mr. President, the remedies which I have suggested were suc
cessful, at a former period of our history, there is every reason to
hope, that they would again prove efficacious ; but let me suppose
that they should not, and that some unknown cause, which could
not then, should now, thwart their operation, we should have, in any
event, the consolation of knowing that we had endeavored to profit
by the lessons of experience, and if they failed, we should stand ac
quitted in the judgment of the people. They are heartily tired of
visionary schemes and wild experiments. They wish to get out of
the woods, into which they have been conducted, back to the plain,
beaten, wide road, which they had before trod.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 34 1
How, and when, without such measures as *I have suggested, are
the State Banks to resume specie payments ? They never can je-
sume without concert ; and concert springs from confidence ; and
confidence from knowledge. But what knowledge can eight hundred
banks, scattered over our own vast territory, have of the actual con
dition of each other ? It is in vain that statements of it be periodi
cally published. It depends at last, mainly upon the solvency of the
debtors to the bank ; and how, whenever their names are not known,
can that be ascertained ?
' Instead of coming to the aid of these prostrate institutions, and
assisting them by a mild and parental exercise of your power, in a
mode sanctioned and approved by experience, you propose to aban
don them and the country to their fate. You propose worse, to dis
credit their paper, to distrust them even as special depositories, and to
denounce against them all the pains and penalties of bankruptcy.
How, and when will they resume specie payments ? Never, as far
as my information extends, have exertions been greater than those
which the banks have generally made to open again their vaults.
It is wonderful that the community should have been able to bear,
with so much composure and resignation, the prodigious curtail
ments which have been made. Confidence re-established, the for
eign debt extinguished, and a national institution created, most of
them could quickly resume specie payments, some of them, urged by
a high sense of probity, and smart ing under severe reproaches, will
no doubt make tbe experiment of resuming and continuing specie
payments. They may even go on a while ; but without the co-ope
ration of the State Banks generally, and without the co-operation of a
National Bank, it is to be apprehended that they will be again seized
with a paralysis. It is my deliberate conviction that the preserva
tion of the existence of the State Banks themselves, depends upon
the institution of a National Bank. It is as necessary to them as the
union is to the welfare of the States in our political system. Without
it, no human being can foresee when we shall emerge from the diffi-,.
culties which surround us. It has been my fortune several times to
see the country involved in great danger ; but never before have I
beheld it encompassed with any more menacing and portentous.
Entertaining the views which I have presented, it may be asked,
*W

342 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
why I do not at once propose the establishment of a National Bank.
1 have already adverted to the cause, constituted as Congress now is,
I know that such a proposition would be defeated ; and that it would
be, therefore, useless to make it. I do not desire to force upon the
Senate, or upon the country, against its will, if I could, my opinion,
however sincerely or strongly entertained. If a National Bank be
established, its stability and its utility will depend upon the general
conviction which is full of its necessity. And until such s conviction
is deeply impressed upon the people, and clearly manifested by them,
it would in my judgment, be unwise even to propose a Bank
Ofthe scheme of the Senator from Virginia, (Mr. Rives) I think
now as I thought in 1834, I do not believe that any practicable con
nection of State Banks can supply a general currency, be a safe de
pository of the public moneys, or act efficiently as a fiscal agent of
the general Government. I was not then opposed to the State Banks
in their proper sphere. I thought that they could not be relied upon
to form exclusively a Banking System for the country, although they
were essential parts of a general system.
The amendment of the Senator, considered as a measure to bring
aDout the resumption of specie payments, so much desired, I think
must fail. The motive which it holds out of the receivabtfity in all
payments to the government of the paper of such banks as may re
sume at a given day, coupled with the conditions proposed, is wholly
inadequate. It is an offer to' eight hundred banks ; and the revenue,
payment of which in their notes is held out as the inducement,
amounts to some twenty or twenty-five millions. To entitle them
to the inconsiderable extension of their circulation which would result
from the credit given by government to the paper of all of them, they
are required to submit to a suppression of all notes below five dollars,
and at no very distant period, to all below twenty. The enlarge
ment of their circulation, produced by making it receivable by govern
ment, would be much less than the contraction which would arise
from the suppression ofthe prohibited notes. Besides, if the quality
proposed again to be attached to the notes of these local banks was
insufficient to prevent the suspension, how can it be efficacious enough
to stimulate a resumption of specie payments ?
T shall, nevertheless, if called upon to give a vote between the pro-

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 343
!ject of the administration and the amendment of the Senator from
Virginia, vote' for the latter, because it is harmless, if it effects no
good, and looks to the preservation of the State Banks ; whilst the
other is fraught with mischiefs, as I believe, and tends, if it be not
designed, to the utter destruction of those institutions. But, prefer-
ing to either, the postponement moved by the Senator from Georgia,
I shall in the first instance, vote for that.
Such, Mr. President, are the views which I entertain on the pre
sent state of our public affairs. It is with the deepest regret that I
can perceive no remedy, but such as is in the hands of the people
themselves. Whenever they shall impress upon Congress a convic
tion of that which they wish applied, they will obtain it, and not
before. In the mean time, lei us go home, and mix with and cousult
¦our constituents. And do not, I entreat you, let us carry with us
the burning reproach, that our measures here display a selfish solici
tude for the government itself, but a cold and heartless insensibility to
the sufferings of a bleeding people.
[The bill passed the Senate, by a vote of 26 to 20 ; but, on reaching the House
it was, after a vehement struggle, laid upon the table for the session, by a vote of
120 to 107]

ON THE SUB-TREASURY.
In the Senate of the United States, February 19, ISjo.

[The Sub-Treasury or Independent Treasury scheme of Finance, defeated at the
Extra Session of 1837, was again strongly recommended' by President Yaw Buben,
on the re-assembling of Congress in regular session, in December of that year, and
a bill to establish it again reported to the Senate, by Hon. Silas "Wkight, from the
Finance Committee. In the course of the debate on that bill, Mr. Clay addressed
the Senate as follows :]
I have seen some public service, passed through many troubled
times, and often addressed public assemblies, in this capitol and else
where ; but never before have I risen in a deliberative body, under
more oppressed feelings, or with a deeper sense of awful responsibil
ity. Never before have I risen to express my opinions upon any
public measure fraught with such tremendous consequences to the
welfare and prosperity of the country, and so perilous to the liberties
of the people, as I solemnly believe the bill under consideration will
be. If you knew, sir, what sleepless hours reflection upon it has
cost me ; if you knew with what fervor and sincerity I have implored
Divine assistance to strengthen and sustain me in my opposition to it,
I should have credit with you, at least, for the sincerity of my convic
tions, if I shall be so unfortunate as not to have your concurrence as
to the dangerous character of the measure. And I have thanked my
God that he has prolonged my life until the present time, to enable
me to exert myself in the service of my country, against a project far
transcending, in pernicious tendency, any that I have ever had occa
sion to consider. I thank him for the health I am permitted to enjoy ;
I thank him for the soft and sweet repose which I experienced last
night ; I thank him for the bright and glorious sun which shines upon
us this day.
It is not my purpose, at this time, Mr. President, to go at large into
a consideration of the causes which have led to the present most dis
astrous state of public affairs. That duty was performed by others,

UN THE SUB-TREASURY. 345
a»d my self, at the extra session of Congress. It was then .•learly
shown that it sprung from the ill-advised and unfortunate measures
of executive administration. I now will content myself with saying
that, on the 4th day of March, 1829, Andrew Jackson, not by the
blessing of God, was made President of the United States ; that the
country then was eminently prosperous ; that its currency was as
sound and safe as any that a people were ever blessed with ; tnat,
throughout the wide extent of this whole Union, it possessed a uni
form value ; and that exchanges were conducted with such regularity
and perfection, that funds could be transmitted from one extremity
of the Union to the other, with the least possible risk or loss. In
this encouraging condition of the business of the country, it remained
for several years, until after the war, wantonly waged against the
late Bank of the United States, was completely successful, by the
overthrow of that invaluable institution. What our present situation
is, it is as needless to describe as it fs painful to contemplate. First
felt in our great commercial marts, distress and embarrassment have
penetrated into the interior, and now pervade almost the entire Union.
It has been justly remarked, by one of the soundest and most practi
cal writers that I have had occasion to consult, that " all convulsions
in the circulation and commerce of every country must originate in
the operation of the government, or in the mistaken views and erro
neous measures of those possessing the power of influencing credit
and circulation ; for they are not otherwise susceptible of convulsion,
and, if left to themselves, they will find their own level, and flow
nearly in one uniform stream."
Yes, Mr. President, we all have but too melancholly a conscious
ness of the unhappy condition of our country. We all too well know
that our noble and gallant ship lies helpless and immovable upon
breakers, dismasted, the surge beating over her venerable sides, and
the crew threatened with instantaneous destruction. How came she
there ? Who was the pilot at the helm when she was stranded ?
The p&'ty in power ! The pilot was aided by all the science and skill,
by all the charts and instruments of such distinguished navigators as
Washington, the Adamses, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe ; and yet
he did not; or could not, save the public vessel. She was placed in
her present miserable condition by his bungling navigation, or by his
want of skill and judgment. It is impossible for him to escape from
one or the other horn of that dilemma. I leave him at liberty to
choose between them.

346 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
I shall endeavour, Mr. President, in the course of the address I am
about making, to establish certain propositions, which I believe to be
incontestible ; and, for the sake of perspicuity, I will state them
severally to the Senate. I shall contend —
1st. That it was the deliberate purpose and fixed design of thelate
administration to establish a government bank — a treasury bank — to-
be administered and controlled by the executive department.
2d. That with the view, and to that end, it was its aim and inten
tion to overthrow the whole banking system, as existing in the United
States, when the administration came into power, beginning with the
Bank of the United States, and ending with the State Banks.
'3d That the- attack was first confined, from considerations of poli
cy, to the Bank of the United States ; but that, after its overthrow
was accomplished, it was then directed, and has since been continued,
against the State Banks.
4. That the present administration, by its acknowledgements,
emanating from the highest and most authentic source, has succeeded
to the principles, plans and policy of the preceding administration^
and stands solemnly pledged to complete and perfect them.
And, 5th. That the bill under consideration is intended to execute
the pledge, by establishing, upon the ruins of the late Bank of the
United States, and the State Banks, a government Bank, to be man>-
aged and controlled by the treasury department, acting under th*
commands of the President of the United States.
I believe, solemnly believe the truth of every one of these five
propositions. In the support of them I shall not rely upon any gratu
itous surmises or vague conjectures, but upon proofs, clear, positive,
undeniable, and demonstrative. To establish the first four I shah
adduce evidence of the highest possible authenticity, or facts admitted
or undeniable, and fair reasoning founded on them. And as to the
last, the measure under consideration, I think the testimony intrinsic
¦¦»nd extrinsic, on which I depend, stamps, beyond all doubt, its true
character as a government bank, and ought to carry to the mind of
*he Senate the conviction which I entertain, and in which I feel per
fectly confident the whole country will share.

/
ON THE SUB-TREASURY , 347
1. My first proposition is, that it was the deliberate purpose and
fixed design of the late administration to estahlish a government
bank, a treasury bank, to be administered and controlled by the ex
ecutive department. To establish its truth, the first proof which 1
offer is the following extract from President Jackson's annual mes
sage of December, 1829 :
" The Charter of1 the Bank of th • United States expires in 1836, and its stockhold
ers will most probably apply for a renewal of their privileges. In order to avoid the
evils resulting from precipitancy, in a measure involving such important principles,
and such deep pecuniary interests, I feel that I cannot, m justice to the parties inter
ested, too soon present it to the consideration of the Legislature and the people.
Both the constitutionality and the expediency ofthe law creating this bank, are well
auestioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens ; and it must be admitted by all, that
it has failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency.
" Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed essential to the fiscal
operations ofthe government, I submit to the wisdom of the legislature, whether a na
tional one, founded upon the credit ofthe government and its revenues, might not be
devised which would avoid all constitutional difficulties, and at the same time secure
all the advantages to the government and the country that were expected to result
from the present Bank."
This was the first open declaration of that implacable war against
the late Bank of the United States, which was afterwards waged with
so much ferocity. It was the sound of the distant bugle to collect
together the dispersed and scattered forces, and prepare for battle.
The country saw with surprise the statement that " the constitution
ality and expediency of the law creating this bank are well question
ed by a large portion of our fellow-citizens," when, in truth and in
fact, it was well known, that but few then doubted the constitution
ality, and none the expediency of it. And the assertion excited much
greater surprise that " it must be admitted by all that it has failed in
the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency." In this
message, too, while a doubt is intimated as to the utility of such an
institution, President Jackson clearly first discloses his object to es
tablish a national one, founded upon the credit of the government and
its revenues. His language is perfectly plain and unequivocal. Such
*>. bank, founded upon the credit of the government and its revenues,
, would secure all the advantages to the government and the country,
he tells us, that were expected to result from the present bank.
In his annual message of the ensuing year, the late President says :
" The importance of the principles involved in the ;iquiry, whether it will be
proper to recharter the Bank of the United States, requires that I should again call
th/r retention of Congress to the subject. Nothing has occurred to lessen in any de

348 SPEECHES OF HENKY CLAY.
gree the dangers which many of our citizens. apprehended from that institution, as
at present organized. In the spirit of improvement and compromise which distin
guishes our country and its institutions, it becomes us to inquire, whether it be not
possible to secure the advantages afforded by the present bank through the agency of a
Bank. of the United States, so modified in its principles as to obviate constitutional
and other objections.
" It is thought practicable to organize such a bank, with the necessary officers, as
a branch of the Treasury department, based on the public and individual deposites,
without power to make loans or purchase property, which shall remit the funds of
the government ; and the expense of which may be paid, if thought advisable, by
allowing its officers to sell bills of exdiange to private individuals at a moderate pre
mium. Not being a corporate body,- having no stockholders, debtors, and property,
and but -lew officers, it would not be obnoxious to the constitutional objections
which are urged against the present bank ; and having no means to operate on the
hopes, fears, or interests of large masses of the community, it would be shorn' of the
influence which makes that bank formidable."
In this message, President Jackson, after again adverting to the
imaginary dangers of a Bank of the United States, recurs to his fa
vorite project, and inquires " whether it be not possible to secure the
advantages afforded by the present bank through the agency of a
Bank of the United States, so modified in its principles and structure
as to obviate constitutional and other objections." And to dispel all
doubts of the timid, and to confirm the wavering, he declares that it
is thought practicable to organize such a bank, with the necessary
officers, as a branch ofthe treasury department. As a branch of the
treasury department ! The very scheme now under consideration.
And, to defray the expenses of such an anomalous institution, he
suggests that the officers of the treasury department may turn bank
ers and brokers, and sell bills of exchange to private individuals at a
moderate premium !
In his annual message of the year 1S31 upon this subject, he was
brief and somewhat covered in his expressions. But the fixed pur
pose which he entertained is sufficiently disclosed to the attentive
reader. He announces that,
" Entertaining the opinion heretofore expressed in relation to the Bank of the
United States, as at present organized, I felt it my duty, in my former message,,
to disclose them, in order that the attention of the legislature and the people should
be seasonably directed to that important subject, and that it might be considered,
and finally disposed of in a manner best calculated to promote the ends of the con
stitution, and subserve the public interests."
What were the opinions ' heretofore' expressed in relation to the
Bank of the United States, as at present organized, that is to say, an
organization with any independent corporate government ; and in fa
vor of a national bank, which should be so constituted as to be sub
ject to exclusive executive control.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 349
At the session of lS31-'2, the question of the recharter of the Bank
of the United States came up ; and although the attention of Congress
and the country had been repeatedly and deliberately before invited
to the consideration of it by President Jackson himself, the agitation
of it was now declared by him and his partisans to be precipitate
and premature. Nevertheless, the country and Congress, conscious
of the value of a safe and sound uniform currency, oonscious that
such a currency had been eminently supplied by the Bank of the
United States, and unmoved by all the outcry raised against that ad
mirable institution, the recharter commanded large majorities in both
houses of Congress. Fataljy for the interests of this country, the ¦
stern, self-will of General Jackson prompted him to risk every thing
upon its overthrow. On the 10th of July, 1832, the bill was return
ed with his veto : from which the following extract, is submitted to
the attentive consideration of the Senate :

•' A bank of the United States is, in many respects, convenient for the government
and useful to the-people. Entertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the
belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are
unauthorized by the constitution, subversive of the rights of the States, and danger
ous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty, at an early period of my adminis
tration^ to call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organizing and insti
tution combining all its advantages, and obviating these objections. I sincerely re
gret that, in the act before me, I can perceive none of those modifications of the
Bank Charter, which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with |us
tlce, w-ith sound policy, or with the constitution of bur country."
" That a Bank of the United States, competent to all the duties which may be
required by government, might be so organized as not to infringe upon our own de
legated powers, or the reserved rights ofthe States, I do not entertain a doubt. Had
the executive been called upon to furnish the project of such an institution, the duty
would have been cheerfully performed. In the absence of such a call, it is obviously
proper that he should confine himself to pointing out those prominent features in the
act presented, which, in his opinion, make it incompatible with the. constitution and
sound policy."
President Jackson admits in the citation which has just been made,
that a' Bank of the United States is, in many respects, convenient for
the government ; and reminds Congress that he had, at an early pe
riod of his administration, called its attention to the practicability of
so organizing such an institution as to secure all its advantages with
out the defects of the existing bank. It is perfectly manifest that he
alludes to his previous recommendations of a government — a treasury
bank. In the same message he tells Congress that if he had been
called upon to furnish the project of such an institution, the duty
would have been cheerfully performed. Thus it appears that he had
not only settled in his mind the general principle, but had adjusted

350 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the details of a government bank to be subjected to executive con
trol ; and Congress is even chided for not calling upon him to present
them. The bill now under consideration, heyond all controversy, is
the very project which h e had in view, and is to consummate the
work which he began. I think, Mr. President, that you must now
concur with me in considering the first proposition as fully maintained.
I pass to the second and third, which, on account of their intimate
connection, I will consider together. 4
2. That, with a view of establishing a government bank, it was
the settled aim and intention of the late .administration to overthrow
the whole banking system of the United ¦ States when that adminis
tration came into power, beginning with the Bank of the United
States, and ending with the State Banks.
3. That the attack was first confined, from considerations of policy,
to the Bank of the United States ; but that, after its overthrow was
accomplished, it was then directed, and has since continued, against
the State Banks.
We are not bound to inquire into the motives of President Jackson
for desiring to subvert the established monetary and financial system
which he found in operation ; and yet some examination into those
which probably influenced his mind is not without utility. These
are to be found in his peculiar constitution and character. His,egotism
and vanity prompted him to subject everything to his will ; to
change, to remould, and retouch everything. Hence the proscription
which characterized his administration, the universal expulsion from
office, at home and abroad, of all who were not devoted to him, and
the attempt to render the executive department of government, to
use a favorite expression of his own, a complete " unit." Hence his
seizure of the public deposites in the Bank of the United States, and
his desire to unite the purse with the sword. Hence his attack upon
all the systems of policy which he found in practical operation — on
that of internal improvements, and on that of the protection of nation
al industry. He was animated by the same sort of ambition which
induced the master-mind of the age, Napoleon Bonaparte, to impress
his name upon every thing in France. When I was in Paris, the
sculptors were busily engaged chisseling out the famous N.,, so odious
» the Bourbon line, which had been conspicuously carved in the

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 351
palace 01 the Tuilleries, and on other public edifices and monuments
in the proud capital of France. When, Mr. President, shall we see
effaced, all traces of the ravages committed by the administration of
Andrew Jackson ? Society has been uprooted, virtue punished, vice
rewarded, and talents and intellectual endowments despised ; brutal
ity, vulgarism, and loco-focoism, upheld, cherished, and countenanced.
Ages will roll around before the moral and political ravages which
have been committed, will I fear, cease to be discernable. General
Jackson's ambition was to make his administration an era in the his
tory of the American government, and he has accomplished that ob
ject of his ambition ; but I trust that it will be an era to be shunned
as sad and lamentable, and not followed and imitated as supplying
sound maxims and principles of administration.
•
I have heard his hostility to Banks ascribed to some collision which
he had with one of them, during the late war, at the city of New
Orleans ; and it is possible that may have had some influence upon
his mind. The immediate cause, more probably, was the refusal of
that perverse and unaccommodating gentleman, Nick Biddle, to turn
out of the office of President of the New Hampshire branch of the
Bank of the United States, at the instance of his excellency Isaac
Hill, in the summer of 1829, that giant-like person, Jeremiah Mason
— giant in body, and giant in mind. War and strife, endless war and
strife, personal or national, foreign or domestic, were the aliment of
the late President's existence. War against the Bank, war against
France, and strife and contention with a countless number of individ
uals. The wars with Black Hawk and the Seminoles were scarcely
a luncheon for his voracious appetite. And he made his exit from
public life, denouncing war and vengeance against Mexico and th«
State Banks.
My acquaintance with that extraordinary man commenced in this
city, in the fall of 1815 or 1816. It was short, but highly respectful,
and mutually cordial. I beheld in him the gallant and successful
general, who, by the glorious victory of New Orleans, had honorably
closed the second war of our independence, and I paid him the hom
age due to that eminent service. A few years after, it became rnj
painful duty to animadvert, in the House of Representatives, with
the independence which belongs to the Representative character, upoti
some of his proceedings in the conduct of the Seminole war, which ,

352! , SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
thought illegal and contrary to the constitution and the law of nations
A non-intercourse between us ensued, which continued until the fall
of 1824, when, he being a member of the -Senate, an accommodation
between us was sought to be brought about, by the principal part of
the delegation from his own State. For that purpose, we were in
vited to dine with them at ClaXton's boarding house, on Capitol Hill,
where my venerable friend from Tennessee, (Mr. White) and his
colleague on the Spanish commission, were both present. I retired
early from dinner, and was followed to the door by General Jackson
and the present minister ofthe United States at the Court of Madrid.
They pressed me earnestly to take a seat with them in their carriage.
My faithful servant and friend, Charles, was standing at the door
waiting for me, with my own. I yielded to their urgent politeness,
directed Charles to follow with my carriage, and they^set me down
at my own door. We afterwards frequently met, with mutual re- ¦
spect and cordiality ; dined several times together, and reciprocated
the hospipality of our respective quarters. This friendly intercourse
continued until the election, in the House of Representatives, of a
President of the United States came on in February, 1S25. I gave
the vote which, in the contingency that happened, I told my col
league, (Mr. Crittenden,) who sits before me, prior to my departure
from Kentucky, in November, 1824, and told others, that I should
give. All intercourse ceased between General Jackson and myself.
We have never since, except once accidentally, exchanged saluta
tions, nor met, except on occasions when we were performing the
last offices towards deceased members of Congress, or other officers of
government. Immediately after my vote, a rancorous war was com
menced against me, and all the barking dogs let loose upon me. I
shall not trace -it during its ten years' bitter continuance. But I thank
my God that I stand here, firm and erect, unbent, unbroken, unsub
dued, unawed, and ready to denounce the mischievous measures of
this administration, and ready to denounce this its legitimate offspring,
the most pernicious of them all.
His administration consisted of a succession of astounding mea
sures, which fell on the public ear like repeated bursts of loud and
appalling thunder. Before the reverberations of one peal had ceased,
another and another came, louder and louder, and more terrifying.
Or rather, it was like a volcanic mountain, emitting frightful erup
tions of burning lava. Before one was cold and crusted, before the

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 353
voice of the inhabitants of buried villages and cities were hushed in
eternal silence, another, more desolating, was vomited forth, extend
ing wider and wider the circle of death and destruction.
Mr- President, this is no unnecessary digression. The personal
character of such a chief as I have been describing, his passions, his
propensities, the character of his mind, should be all thoroughly
studied, to comprehend clearly his measures, and his administration.
But I will now proceed to more direct and strict proofs of my second
and third propositions. That he was resolved to break -down the
Bank of the United States, is proven by the same citations from his
messages which I have made, to exhibit his purpose to establish a
treasury bank, is proven by his veto message, and by the fact that he
did destroy it. The war against all other banks was not originally
announced, because he wished the State Banks to be auxiliaries in
overthrowing the Bank of the United States, and because such an
annunciation would have been too rash and shocking upon the people
of the United States for even his tremendous influence. It was
necessary to proceed in the work with caution, and to begin with
that institution against which could be embodied the greatest amount
of prejudice. The refusal to recharter the Bank of the United States
was followed by a determination to remove from its custody the
public money of the United States. That determination was first
whispered in this place, denied, again intimated, and finally, in Sep
tember, 1832, executed. The agitation of the American publicwhich
ensued, the warm and animated discussions in the country and in
Congress, to which that unconstitutional measure gave rise, are all
fresh in our recollection. It was necessary to quiet the public mind,
and to reconcile the people to what had been done, before President
Jackson seriously entered upon his new career of hostility to the
State Banks. At the commencement of the session of Congress, in
1834, he imagined" a sufficient calm had been produced, and, in his
annual message of that year, the war upon the State Banks was
opened. In that message he says :
" It seems due to the safety of the public funds remaining in that bank, and to
the honor ofthe American people, that measures be taken to separate the govern
ment entirely from an institution so mischievous to the public prosperity, and so
regardless of the constitution and laws. By transferring the public deposites, by
appointing other pension agents, as far as it had the power, by ordering the discon
tinuance of the receipt of bank checks in payment of the public dues after the first
day of January next, the executive has exerted all its lawful authority to sever the
connexion between the government and this faithless corporation."

354 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
In this quotation it will be seen that the first germ is contained of
that Separation and divorce of the1 government from banks, which has
recently made such a conspicuous figure. It relates, it is true; to the
late Bank of the United States, and he speaks of separatiag and sev
ering the connexion between the government and that institution.
But the idea, once developed, was easily susceptible of application to
all banking institutions. In the message of the succeeding year, his
meditated attack upon the State Banks is more distinctly disclosed.
Speaking of a sound currency, he says :
" In considering the means of obtaining So important an end, [.that is, a sound
currency,] we must set aside all calculations of temporary convenience, and be in
fluenced by those only that are in harmony with the true character and permanent
interests of the Republic. "We must recur to the first principles, and see what it is
fiat has prevented the legislation of Congress and the_ States on the subject of cur
rency from satisfying the public expectation, and realizing results corresponding to
those which have attended the action of our system when truly consistent with the
great principle of equality upon which it rests, and with that spirit of forbearance
and mutual concession and generous patriotism which was originally, and must ever
continue to be, the vital element of our Union.
" On this subject, I am 'sure that I cannot be mistaken in-ascribing our want of
success to the undue countenance which has been afforded to the spirit of monopoly.
All the serious dangers which our system has yet encountered may be traced to the
resort to implied powers, and the use of corporations clothed with privileges, the
effect of which is to advance the interests of the few at the expense of the many.
We have felt but one class of those dangers, exhibited in the contest waged by the
Bank of the United States against the government for the last four years. Happily,
they have been obviated for the present by the indignant resistance of the people;
but we should recollect that the principle whence they sprang is an ever-active one,
which will not fail to renew its efforts in the same and in other forms, so long as
there is a hope of success, founded either on the inattention of the people, or the
treachery of their representatives to the subtle progress of its influence." * * *
" We are now to see whether, in the present favorable condition of the country, we
cannot take an effectual stand against this spirit of monopoly, and practically prove,
-in respect to the currency, as well as other important interests, that there is no ne
cessity for so extensive a resort to it as that which has been heretofore practised."
* # * * "it das been seen that without the agency of a great moneyed monop
oly the revenue can be collected, and conveniently and safely applied to all the pur
poses ofthe public expenditure. It is also ascertained that, instead of being neces
sarily made to promote the evils of an unchecked paper system, the management of
. the revenue can be made auxiliary to the reform which the legislature of several of
the States have already commenced in regard to the suppression of small bills ; and
which has only to be fostered by proper regulations on the part of Congress, to secure
a practical return, to the extent required for the security of the currency, to the con
stitutional medium."
As in the instance of the attack upon the Bank of the United States,
the approach to the State Banks is slow, cautious, and insidious. He
reminds Congress and the country that all calculations of temporary
convenience must be set aside ; that we must recur to first princi
ples ; and that we must see what it is that has prevented legislation
of Congress and the States on the subject of the currency from satis
fying public expectation. He declares his conviction that the want

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 355
ot success has proceeded ,from undue countenance which has been
afforded to the spirit of monopoly. All the serious dangers which
oui system has yet encounterd, may be traced to the resort to implied
powers, and to the use of corporations. We have felt, he says, but
one class of those dangers in the contest with the Bank of the United
States, and he clearly intimates that the other class is the State
Banks. We are now to see, he proceeds, whether, in the present
favorable condition of the country, we cannot take an effectual stand
against the spirit of monopoly. Reverting to his favorite scheme of
a government bank, he says it is ascertain^ that, instead of being
made necessary to promote the evils of an unchecked paper system,
the management of the revenue can be made auxiliary to the reform
which he is desirous to introduce. The designs of President Jackson
against the State Banks are more fully developed and enlarged upon
in his annual message of 1836, from which I beg leave to quote the
following passages :
"I beg leave to call your attention to another subject intimately associated with
the preceding one — the currency of the country.
" It is apparent, from the whole context ofthe constitution, as well as the history
of the times that gave birth to it, that it was the purpose of the convention to estab
lish a currency consisting of the precious metals. These, from theirpeculiar proper
ties, which rendered them the standard of value in all other countries, were adopted
m this, as well to establish its commercial standard, in reference to foreign countries,
by a permanent rule, as to exclude the use of a mutable medium of exchange, such
as of certain agricultural commodities, recognized by the statutes of some States as
a tender for debts, or the still more pernicious expedient of a paper currency.
" Variableness must ever be the characteristic of a currency of which the precious
metals are not the chief ingredient, or which can be expanded or contracted without
regard to the principles that regulate the value of those metals as a standard in the
general trade ofthe world. With us, bank issues constitute such a currency, and
must ever do so, until they are made dependent on those just proportions of gold and
silver, as a circulating medium, which experience has proved to be necessary, not
only in this, but in all other commercial countries. Where those proportions are
not infused into the circulation, and do not control it, it is manifest that pricels must
vary according to the tide of bank issues, and the value and stability of property
must stand exposed to all the uncertainty which attends the administration of insti
tutions that are constantly liable to the temptation of an interest distinct from that
of the community in which they are established."
"But, although various dangers to our republican' institutions have been obviated
by the failure of the bank to extort from the government a renewal of its charter,
it is obvious that little has been accomplished, except a salutary change of public
opinion, towards restoring to the country the sound currency provided for in the
constitution. In the acts of several ofthe States prohibiting the circulation of small
notes, and the auxiliary enactments of Congress at their last session, forbidding their
reception or payment on public account, the true policy of the country hasbeen ad
vanced, and a larger portion of the precious metals infused into our circulating me
dium. These measures will probably be followed up in due time by the enactment
of State laws, banishing from circulation bank notes of still higher denominations :
and the objeet may be materially promoted by further acts of Congress, forbidding

356 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the employment, as fiscal agents, of such banks as issue notes of low denominations
and throw impediments in the way of the circulation of gold and silver."
" The. effects of an extention of bank credits and over-issues of bank paper, have
been strikingly illustrated in the sales of the public lands. From the returns made by
the various registers and receivers in the early part of last summer, it was perceived
that the receipts arising from the sales of public lands were increasing to an unpre
cedented amount. In effect, however, these receipts amount to nothing more than
credits in banks* The banks lent out their notes to speculators • they were paid to
receivers, and immediately returned to the banks, to be lent out again and again,
being mere instruments to transfer to speculators the most valuable public land, and
pay the government by a credit on the books of the banks. Those credits on the
books of some of the western banks, usually called deposites, were already greatly
beyond their immediate means of payment, and were rapidly increasing. Indeed,
each speculation furnished means for another; for no sooner had one individual or
company paid in the notes* than they were lent to another for a like purpose ; and
the banks were extending.tneir business and their issues so largely as to alarm con
siderate men, and render it doubtful whether these bank credits, if permitted to accu
mulate, would ultimately be of tlie least value to the government. The spirit of expan
sion and speculation was not confined to the deposite banks, but pervaded the whole
multitude of banks throughout the Union, and was giving rise to new institution^
to aggravate the evil.
'f The safety ofthe public funds, and the interest of the people generally, required
that these operations should be checked; and it became the duty of every branch of
the general and Stale governments to adopt all legitimate and proper means to pro
duce that salutary effect. Under this view of my duty, I directed the issuing of the
order, which will be laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury, requiring pay
ment of the public lands sold to be made in specie, with an exception until the fif
teenth of fhe present month in favor of actual settlers. This measure has produced
many salutary consequences. It checked the career ofthe western banks, and gave
them additional strength in anticipation of the pressnre which has since pervaded
our eastern as well as the European commercial cities. By preventing the expan
sion of the credit system, it measurably cut off, the means of speculation, and re
tarded its progress m monopolizing the most valuable of the public lands. It has
tended to save fhe new States from a non-resident proprietorship — one of the great
est obstacles to the advancement of a new country and the prosperity of an old one.
It has tended to keep_ open the public lands for entry by emigrants at government
prices, instead of their being compelled to purchase of speculators at double or treble
prices. And it is conveying into the interior large sums in silver and gold, there to
enter permanently into the currency of the country, and place it on a firmer foun
dation. It is confidently believed that the, country will find, in the motives which
induced that order, and the happy consequences which have ensued, much to com
mend and nothing to condemn." ,
It is seen that he again calls the attention of Congress to the cur
rency of the country, alledges that it was apparent from the whole
context of the constitution, as well as the history of the times that
gave birth to it, that it was the purpose of the convention to establish
a currency consisting of the precious metals ; imputes variableness
and a liability to inordinate contraction and expansion to the existing
paper system, and denounces bank issues as being an uncertain stand
ard. He felicitates himself upon the dangers which have been ob
viated by the overthrow of the Bank of the United States, but de
clares that little has been yet done, except to produce a salutary
change of public opinion towards restoring to the country the sound
currency provided for in the constitution. I will here say, in passingr

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 357
that all this outcry about the precious metals, gold, and the consti
tutional currency, has been put forth to delude the people, and to use
the precious metals as an instrument to break down the banking insti
tutions ofthe States, and to thus pave the way for the ultimate estab
lishment of a great government bank. In the present advanced state
of civilization, in the present condition of the commerce of the world,
and in the actual relations of trade and intercourse between the differ-
ent nations of the world, it is perfectly chimerical to suppose that the
currency of the United States should consist exclusively, or princi
pally, of the precious metals.
In fhe quotations which I have made from the last annual message
of General Jackson, he speaks of the extension of bank credits, and
the over-issues of bank paper, in the operations upon the sales of
public lands. In his message of only the preceding year, the vast
amount of those sales had been dwelt upon with peculiar complaisance,
as illustrating the general prosperity of the country, and as proof of
the wisdom of his administration. But now that which had been an
nounced as a blessing is deprecated as a calamity. Now, his object
being to assail the banking institutions of the States, and to justify
that fatal treasury order, which I shall hereafter have occasion to
notice, he expresses his apprehension of the danger to which we are
•exposed of losing the public domain, and getting nothing for it but
bank credits. He describes, minutely, the circular process by which
the notes of the banks passed out of those institutions to be employed
in the purchase of the publie lands, and returned again to them in the
form of credits to the government. He forgets that Mr. Secretary
Taney, to reconcile the people of the United States to the daring
measure of removing the public deposites, had stimulated the banks
to the exercise of great liberality in the grant of loans. He informs
us, in that message, that the safety of the public funds, and the in
terests of the people generally, required that these copious issues of
the banks should be checked, and that the conversion of the public
lands into mere bank credits should be arrested. And his measure
to accomplish these objects was that famous treasury order, already
adverted to. Let us pause here for a moment, and contemplate the
circumstances under which it was issued. The principle of the order
had been proposed and discussed in Congress. But one Senator, as"
far as I know, in this branch of the Legislature, and not a solitary
nfrember, within my knowledge, in the House of Representatives, was
*X

358 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
in favor of it. And yet, in about a week after the adjournment of
Congress, the principle, which met with no countenance from the
legislative authority was embodied in the form of a treasury edict,
and promulgated under the executive authority, to the astonishment
of the people of the United States.
If we possessed no other evidence whatever of the hostility of Pre
sident Jackson to the State Banks of the United States, that order
would supply conclusive proof. Bank notes, bank issues, bank credits,
were distrusted and denounced by him.. It was proclaimed to' the
people that they were unworthy of confidence. The government
could no longer trust in their security. And at a moment when the
banking operations were extended, and stretched to their utmost ten
sion ; when they were almost all tottering and ready to fall, for the
want of that metallic basis on which they all rested, the executive
announces its distrust, issues the treasury order, and enters the mar
ket for specie, by a demand of an extraordinary amount to supply the
means of purchasing the public lands. If the sales had continued in
the same ratio they had been made during the previous year, that is,
at about the rate of twenty-four millions per annum, this unprece
dented demand created by government for specie must have exhausted
the vaults of most of the banks, and produced much sooner the ca
tastrophe which occurred in May last. , And, what is more extraor
dinary, this wanton demand for specie upon all the banks of the com
mercial capitals, and in the, busy and thickly peopled portions of the
country, was that it might be transported into the wilderness, and,
after having been used in the purchase of public lands, deposited to
the credit ofthe government in the books of western banks, in some
of which, according to the message, there were, already credits to the
government " greatly beyond their immediate means of payment."
Government, therefore, did not itself receive, or rather did not retain,
the very specie which it professed to demand as the only medium
worthy of the public lands. The specie, which was so uselessly ex
acted, was transferred from one set of banks, to the derangement of
the commerce and business of the country, and placed in the vaults
of another set of banks in the interior, forming only those bank credits
to the government upon which President Jackson placed so slight a
value. Finally, when General Jackson was about to retire from the cares

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 359
of government, he favored his countrymen with a farewell address.
The solemnity of the occasion gives to any opinions which he has
expressed in that document a claim to peculiar attention. It will be
seen, on perusing it, that he denounces, more emphatically than in
any of his previous addresses, the bank paper of the country, corpo
rations, and what he chooses to denominate the spirit of monopoly.
The Senate will indulge me in calling its attention to certain parts
of that address in the following extracts :
" The constitution of the United States unquestionably intended to secure to the
people a circulating medium of gold and silver; But the establishment of a National
Bank by Congress, with the privilege of issuing paper money receivable in payment
ofthe public dues, and the unfortunate course of legislation in the several States
upon the same subject, drove from general circulation the constitutional currency,
and submitted one of paper in its place."
" The mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from
a paper currency, which they are able to control ; from the multitude of corpora
tions, with exclusive privileges, which they have succeeded in obtaining in the dif
ferent States, and which are employed altogether for their benefit ; and unless you
become more watchful in your States, and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst
for exclusive privileges, you will in the end, find that the most important powers of
government have been given or bartered away, and thy? control over your dearest
interests has passed into the hands of these corporations."
" But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid your
selves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system, and check the spirit of
monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main
aupport. So many interests are united to resist all reform, on this subject, that you
must not hope that the conflict will be a short one, nor success easy. My humble
efforts have not been spared, during my administration of the government, to restore
the constitutional currency of gold and silver : and something, I trust, has been done
towards the accomplishment of this most desirable object. But enough yet remains
to require all your energy and perseverance. The power, however, is in your hands,
and the remedy must and will be applied, if you determine upon it."
The mask is now thrown off, and he boldly says that the constitu
tion of the United States unquestionably intended to secure to the
people a circulating medium of gold and silver. They have not en
joyed, he says, that benefit, because of the establishment of a National
Bank, and the unfortunate course of legislation in the several States.
He does not limit his condemnation of the past policy of this country
to the federal government, of which he had just ceased to be the
chief, but he extends it to the States also, as if they were incompe
tent to judge ofthe interests of their respective citizens. He tells us
that mischief springs from the power which the monied interest de
rives from a paper currency, which they are able to control, and the
multitude of corporations ; and he stimulates the people to become
more watchful in their several States y to check this spirit of monop
oly. To invigorate their fortitude, he tells the people that it will

360 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
require steady and persevering exertions, on their part, to rid them
selves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system, and to
check the spirit of monopoly. They must not hope that the conflict
will be a short one, nor success easy. His humble efforts have not
been spared, during his administration, to restore the constitutional
currency of gold and silver ; and, although he has been able to do
something towards the accomplishment of that object, enough yet
remains to require all the energy and perseverance of the people.
Such, Mr. President are the proofs and the argument on which I
rely to establish the second and third propositions which I have been
considering. Are they not successfully maintained ? Is it possible
that any thing could be more conclusive on such a subject ? I pass to
the consideration of the fourth proposition.
4. That the present administration, by acknowledgments emana
ting from the highest and most authentic source, has succeeded to the
principles, plans, and policy of the preceding administration, and
stand solemnly pledged to complete and perfect them.
Tne proofs on this subject are brief; but they are clear, direct and
plenary. It is impossible for any unbiassed mind to doubt for a mo
ment about them. You, sir, will be surprised, when I shall array
them before you, at their irresistible force. The first that I shall offer
is an extract from Mr. Van Buren's letter of acceptance of the nomi
nation of the Baltimore convention, dated May 23d, 1835. In that
letter he says :
" I content myself, on this occasion, with saying that I consider myself the hon
ored instrument, selected by the friends of the present administration, to carry out
lis principles and policy ; and that, as well from inclination as from duty, I" shall, if
honored with the choice of the American people, endeavor generally to follow in
the footsteps of President Jackson, happy if I shal be able to perfect the work which
he has so gloriously began."
Mr. Van Buren announces that he was the honored instrument se
lected by his friends of the present administration, to carry out its
principles and policy. The honored instrument ! That word, accord
ing to the most approved definition, means tool. He was then, the
honored tool — to do what ? to promote the honor, and advance the
welfare of the people of the United States, and to add to the glory of
the country ? No, no ; his country was not in his thoughts. Party,
party, filled the place in his bosom, which country should have oc-

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 361
cupied. He was the honored tool to carry out the principles and
policy of General Jackson's administration ; and if elected, he should,
as well from inclination as from duty, endeavor, generally, to tread in
the footsteps of General Jackson — happy, if he should be able to per
fect the work which he had so gloriously begun. Duty to whom ?
to the country, to the whole people of the United States ? No such
thing ; but duty to the friends of the then administration ; and that
duty required him to tread in the footsteps of his illustrious predeces
sor, and to perfect the work which he had begun ! Now, the Senate
will bear in mind, that the most distinguishing features of General
Jackson's administration related to the currency ; that he had de
nounced the banking institutions of the country ; that he had over
thrown the Bank" of the United States ; that he had declared, when
that object was accomplished, only one half the work was completed ;
that he then commenced a war against the State Banks, in order to
finish the other half; that he constantly persevered in, and never
abandoned, his favorite project of a great government treasury Bank ;
and that he retired from the office of Chief Magistrate, pouring out,
in his farewell address, anathemas against paper money, corporations,
and the spirit of monopoly. When these things are recollected, it is
impossi^e not to comprehend clearly what Mr. Van Buren means
by carrying out the principles and policy of the late administration
No one can mistake that those principles and that policy require him
to break down the local institutions of the States, and to discredit
and destroy the paper medium which they issue. No one can be at
a loss to understand that, in following in the footsteps of President
Jackson, and in perfecting the work which he begun, Mr. Van Buren
means to continue attacking, systematically, the Banks of the States,
and to erect on their ruins that great government Bank, begun by his
predecessor, and which he is the honored instrument selected to com
plete. The next proof which I shall offer is supplied by Mr. Van
Buren's inaugural address, from which I request permission of the
Senate to read the following extract :
" In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious
predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well, I know that I
cannot expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success. But,
united as I have been in his counsels, a daily witness of his exclusive and unsurpassed
devotion to his country's welfare, agreeing with him in sentiments which his coun
trymen have warmly supported, and permitted to partake largely of his confidence,
I may hope that somewhat of tie same cheering approbation will be found to attend
Upon my path V

362 SPEECHESvOF HENRY CLAY.
Here we find Mr. Van Buren distinctly avowing, what the Ameri
can people well knew before, that he had been united in the councils
of General Jackson ; that he had agreed with him in sentiments, and
that he had partaken largely of his confidence. This intimacy and
confidential intercourse could not have existed without the concur
rence of Mr. Van Buren in all those leading and prominent measures
of his friend, which related to the establishment of a government
bank, the overthrow of the Bank of the United States, the attack
upon the State institutions, and the denunciation of the paper cur
rency, the spirit of monopoly, and corporations. Is it credible that
General Jackson should have aimed at the accomplishment of all
those objects, and entertained all these sentiments, without Mr. Van
Buren's participation ?
I proceed to another point of powerful evidence, in the conduct
of Mr. Van Buren, in respect to the famous treasury order. That
order had been promulgated, originally, in defiance of the opinion of
Congress, had been continued in operation in defiance of the wishes
and will of the people, and had been repealed by a bill passed at the
last ordinary session of Congress, by overwhelming majorities. The
fate of that bill is well known. Instead of being returnedfcto the
House in which it originated, according to the requirement of the
constitution, it was sent to one of the pigeon-holes ofthe department.
of state, to be filed away with an opinion of a convenient Attorney
General, always ready to prepare one in support of executive en
croachment. On the fifth of March last not a doubt was entertained,,
as far as my knowledge or belief extends, that Mr. Van Buren would
rescind the obnoxious order. I appeal to the Senator from Missouri,
who sits near me, (Mr. Linn,) to the Senator from Mississippi, who.
sits farthest from me, (Mr. Walker,) to the Senator from Alabama,
(Mr. King,) and to the whole ofthe administration Senators, if such
was not the expectation of all of them. Was there ever an occasion
in which a new administration had so fine an opportunity to signalize
its commencement by an act of grace and wisdom, demanded by the
best interests and most anxious wishes of the people ? But Mr. Van
Buren did not think proper to embrace it. He had shared too largely
in the confidence of his predecessor, agreed too fully with him in his
councils, to rescind an order which constituted so essential a part of
the system which had been deliberately adopted to overthrow tha
State Banks.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 363
Another course pursued by the administration, after the catastrophe
of the suspension of specie payments by the banks, demonstrates the
hostile purposes towards them of the present administration. When a
similar event had occurred during the administration of Mr. Madison,
did he discre'dit and discountenance the issues of the banks by
refusing to receive them in payment of the public dues ? Did the
State governments, upon the former or the late occasion, refuse to
receive them in payment of the dues to them, respectively ? And if
irredeemable bank notes are good enough for State governments and
the people, are they not good enough for the federal government of
the same people ? By exacting specie, in all payments to the gene
ral government, that government presented itself in the market as a
powerful and formidable competitor with the Banks, demanding spe
cie at a moment when the Banks were making unexampled struggles
to strengthen themselves, and prepare for the resumption of specie
payments. The extent of this government demand for specie does
not admit of exact ascertainment ; but when we reflect that the an
nual expenditures of the government were at the rate, including the
post-office department, of about thirty-three millions of dollars, and
that its income, made up either of taxes or loans, must be an equal
sum, making together an aggregate of sixty-six millions, it will be
seen that the amount of specie required for the use of government
must be immensely large. It cannot be precisely determined, but
would not be less probably than fifteen or twenty millions of dollars
per annum. Now, how is it possible for the banks, coming into the
specie market, in competition with all the vast power and influence
of the government, to provide themselves with specie in a reasonable
time to resume specie payments ? That competition would have
been avoided, if upon the stoppage of the Banks, the notes of those
of whose solidity there was no doubt, had been continued to be re
ceived in payment of the publie dues, as was done in Mr. Madison's
administration. And, why, Mr. President, should they not have been ?
Why should not this government receive the same description of me
dium which is found to answer all the purposes of the several State
governments ? Why should they have resorted to the expedient of
issuing an inferior paper medium, in the form of treasury notes, and
refusing to receive the better notes of safe and solid banks ? Do not
misunderstand me, Mr. President. No man is more averse than I am to
a permanent inconvertible paper medium. It would have been as a
temporary measure only that 1 should have thought it expsdient to

364 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
receive the notes of good local banks. If, along with that measure, the
treasury order had been repealed, and other measures adopted to en
courage and coerce the resumption of specie payments, we should have
been much nigher that desirable event than, I fear, we now are. In
deed, I do not see when it is possible for the banks to resume specie
payments, as long as the government is in the field making war upon
them, and in the market demanding specie.
Another conclusive evidence of the hostility to the State Banks,
on the part of Mr. Van Buren, is to be found in that extraordinary
recommendation of a bankrupt law, contained in his message at the
extra session. According to all the principles of any bankrupt sys
tem with which I am acquainted, the Banks, by the stoppage of
specie payments, had rendered themselves liable to its operation. If
the recommended law had been passed, commissions of bankruptcy
could have been immediately sued out against all the suspended
banks, their assets seized, and the administration of them transferred,
from the several corporations to which it is now entrusted, to commis
sioners appointed by the President himself. Thus, by one blow,
would the whole of the State Banks have been completely prostrated,
and the way cleared for the introduction of the favorite Treasury
Bank ; and is it not in the same spirit of unfriendliness to those banks,
and with the same view of removing all obstacles to the establish
ment of a government bank, that the bill was presented to the Senate
a few days ago by the Senator from Tennesee (Mr. Grundy) against
the circulation of the notes of the old Bank of the United States ?
At a time when there is too much" want of confidence, and when
every thing that can be done, should be done to revive and strengthen
it, we are called upon to pass a law denouncing the heaviest penalty
and ignominious punishment against all who shall re-issue the notes
of the old Bank of the United States, of which we are told that about
seven millions of dollars are in circulation ; and they constitute the
best portion of the paper medium of the country, the only portion of
it which has a credit everywhere, and which serves the purpose of
a general circulation ; the only portion with which a man can travel
from one end of the continent to the other ; and I do not doubt that
the Senator who has fulminated those severe pains and penalties
against that best part of our paper medium, provides himself with a
sufficient amount of it, whenever he leaves Nashville, to take him to
Washington.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 365
[Here Mr. Grundy rose, and remarked : No, sir; I always travel on specie. 1
Ah ! my old friend is always specious- I am quite sure that mem
bers from a distance in the interior generally find it indispensable to
supply themselves, on commencing their journey, with an adequate
amount of these identical notes to defray their expenses. Why, sir,
will any man in his senses deny that these notes are far better than
those which have been issued by that government banker, Levi
Woodbury, aided though he be by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
(I beg his pardon, I mean the ex-Chancellor,) the Senator from New
York, (Mr. Wright ?) I am not going to stop here to inquire into
the strict legality of the re-issue of these notes ; that question, to
gether with the power of the government to pass the proposed bill,
will be taken up when it is considered. I am looking into the mo
tive of such a measure. Nobody doubts the perfect safety of the
notes ; no one can believe that they will not be fairly and fully paid.
What, then, is the design of the bill ? It is to assail the only sure
general medium which the people possess. It is because it may
come in competition with treasury notes, or other government paper.
Sir, if the bill had not been proposed by my old friend from Tennes
see, I would say its author better deserved a penitentiary punishment
than those against whom it is directed. I remember to have heard
of an illustrious individual, now in retirement, having on some oc
casion, burst out into the most patriotic indignation, because of a
waggish trick played off upon him, by putting a note of the late
Bank of the United States into his silk purse with his gold.
But it is unnecessary to dwell longer on the innumerable proofs of
the hostility against the State Banks, and the deliberate purpose c
those in power to overthrow them. We hear and see daily through
out the country among their partisans and presses, denunciations
against banks, corporations, rag barons, the spirit of monopoly, &c. ¦
and the howl for gold, hard money, and the constitutional currency
and no one can listen to the speeches of honorable members, friends
of thejadministration, in this house and the other, without being in-
pressed with a perfect conviction that the destruction of the State
Banks is meditated. I have fulfilled my promise, Mr. President, to
sustain the first four propositions with which I set out. I now pro
ceed to the fifth proposition-

366 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
5. That the bill under consideration is intended to execute Mr.
Van Buren's pledge to complete and perfect the principles, plans and
policy of the past administration, by establishing upon the ruins of
the late Bank of the United States, and the State Banks, a govern
ment Bank, to be managed and controlled by the treasury depart
ment, acting under the commands of the President of the United
States. The first impression made by the perusal of the hill, is the prodigal
and boundless discretion which it grants to the Secretary of the
Treasury, irreconcileable with the genius of our'free institutions, and
contrary to the former cautious practice of the government. As ori
ginally reported, he was authorized by the bill to allow any number
of clerks he thought proper to the various Receivers General, and to
fix their salaries. It will be borne in mind that this is the mere com
mencement of a system ; and it cannot be doubted that, if put into
operation, the number of Receivers General and other depositaries of
the public money would be indefinitely multiplied. He is allowed to
appoint as many examiners of the public money, and to 'fix their sal
aries as he pleases ; he is allowed to erect at pleasure, costly build
ings ; there is no estimate for any thing ; and all who are conversant
with the operations of the executive branch of the government, know
the value and importance of previous estimates. There is no other
check upon wasteful expenditure but previous estimates, and that
was a point always particularly insisted upon by Mr. Jefferson. The
Senate will recollect that, a few days ago, when the salary of the
Receiver General at New York was fixed, the chairman of the Com
mittee on Finance rose in his place and stated that it was suggested by
the Secretary of the Treasury that it should be placed at three tnou-
sand dollars ; and the blank was accordingly so filled. There was no
statement of the nature or extent of the duties to be performed, of the
time that he would be occupied, of the extent of his responsibility, or
the expense of living at the several points where they were to De lo
cated ; nothing but the suggestion of the Secretary of the Treasury,
and that was deemed all-sufficient by a majority. There is n£ limit
upon the appropriation which is made to carry into effect the uill3
contrary to all former usages, which invariably prescribed a sum not
to be transcended.
A most remarkable feature in the bill, is that to which I have al-

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 367
ready called the attention of the Senate, and of which no satisfactory
explanation has been given. It is that which proceeds upon the idea
that the treasury is a thing distinct from the treasure of the United
States, and gives to the treasury a local habitation and a name, in the
new building which is being erected for the treasury department in
the city of Washington. In the treasury, so constituted, is to be
placed that pittance of the public revenue which is gleaned from the
District of Columbia. All else, that is to say, nine hundred and ninety-
nine hundredths of the public revenue of the United States is to be
placed in the hands of the Receivers General, and the other deposit
aries beyond the District of Columbia- Now, the constitution of the
United States provides that no mOneyshall be drawn from the public
treasury but in virtue of a previous appropriation by law. That tri
fling portion of it, therefore, which is within the District of Columbia,
will be under the safeguard of the constitution, and all else will be at
the arbitrary disposal of the Secretary of the Treasury.
It was deemed necessary, no doubt, to vest in the Secretary of the
Treasury this vast and alarming discretionary power. A new and
immense government bank is about to be erected. How it would
work in all its parts, could not be anticipated with certainty ; and it
was thought proper, therefore, to bestow a discretion commensurate
with its novelty and complexity, and adapted to any exigencies which
might arise. The tenth section of the bill is that in which the power
to create a bank is more particularly conferred. It is short, and I will
read it to the Senate.
" Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Secretary ot
the Treasury, to transfer the moneys in the hands of any depositary hereby constitu
ted, to the' treasury ofthe United States ; to the mint at Philadelphia ; to the branch
mint at New Orleans ; or to the offices of either of the Receivers General of public
moneys, by this act directed to he appointed ; to be there safely kept, according to
the provisions of ¦this act ; and also to transfer moneys in the hands of any one deposit
ary, constituted by this act, to any other depositary constituted by the same, at his dis
cretion, and as the Safety of the publie moneys, and the convenience of the public ser
vice, shall seem to him to require. And, for the purpose of payments on the public
account, it shall be lawful, for the said Secretary to draw upon any ofthe said deposita
ries, as he m.ay think most conducive to the public, interests, or to the convenience of the
public creditors, or both."
It will be seen that it grants a power, perfectly undefined, to the
Secretary ofthe Treasury, to shift and transfer the public money, from
depositary to depositary, as he pleases. He is expressly authorized
to transfer moneys in the hands of any one depositary, constituted by
the act, to any other depositary constituted by it, at his discretion,

368 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and as the safety of the public moneys, and the convenience of the
public service, shall seem to him to require. There is no specifica
tion of any contingency or contingencies on which he is to act. All
is left to his discretion. He is to judge .when the public service (and
more indefinite terms could not have been employed) shall seem to
him to require it. It has been said that this is nothing more than the
customary power of transfer, exercised by the treasury department
from the origin of the government. I deny it, utterly deny it. It is
a totally different power from that which was exercised by the cau
tious Gallatin, and other Secretaries of the Treasury^-a power, by
the by, which, on more than one occasion, has been controverted,
and which is infinitely more questionable than the power to establish
a bank of the United States. The transfer was made by them rarely,
in large sums, and were left to the banks to remit. When payments
were made, they were effected in the notes of banks with which the
public money was deposited, or to which it was transferred. The
rates of exchange were regulated by the state of the market, and un-
*der the responsibility of the banks. But here is a power given to
transfer the public moneys, without limit as to sum, place or time,
leaving everything to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury,
the Receivers General, and other depositaries. What a scope is al
lowed in the fixation of the rates of exchange, whether of premium
or discount, to regulate the whole domestic exchanges of the country,
to exercise favoritism ! These former transfers were not made for
disbursement, but as preparatory to disbursement ; and, when dis
bursed, it was generally in bank notes. The transfers of this bill are
immediate payments, and payments made, not in bank notes, but in
specie. The last paragraph in the section provides that, for the purpose of
payments on the public account, it shall be lawful for the Secretary
to draw upon any of the said depositaries, as he may think most con
ducive to the public interest, or to the convenience of the public credi
tors, or both. It will be seen that no limit whatever is imposed upon
the amount or form of the draft, or as to the depositary upon which
it is drawn. He is made the exclusive judge of what is " most con
ducive to the public interests." Now let us pause a moment, and
trace the operation ofthe powers thus vested. The government has
a revenue of from twenty to thirty millions. The Secretary may
draw it to any one or more points, as he pleases. More than a

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 369
moiety of the revenue arising from customs is receivable at the port
of New York, to which point the Secretary may draw all portions of
it, if he thinks it conducive to the public interest. A man has to re
ceive, under an appropriation law, $10,000, and applies to Mr. Sec
retary for payment. Where will you receive it ? he is asked. On
New York. How ? In drafts from $5 to $500. Mr. Secretary
will give him these drafts accordingly, upon bank note paper, im
pressed like and simulating bank notes, having all suitable embla
zonry, signed by my friend the Treasurer, (whose excellent practical
sense, and solid and sound judgment, if he had been at the head of
• the treasury, instead of Mr. Levi Woodbury, when the suspension of
specie payments took place, would have relieved or mitigated the
pecuniary embarrassments of the government and the people,) and
countersigned by the Comptroller, and filled up in the usual way of
bank notes. Here is one of them !
[He here held up to the gaze of the Senate a treasury note, having all the appearance
of a bank note, colored, engraved, and executed like any other bank note, for $50.]
This is a government post-note, put into circulation, paid out as
money, and prepared and sent forth, gradually to accustom the peo
ple of this country to government paper.
I have supposed $10,000 to be received, in the mode stated, by a
person entitled to receive it under an appropriation law. " Now, let
us suppose what he will do with it. Anywhere to the south or west
it will command a premium of from two to five per cent. Nowhere
in the United States will it be under par. Do you suppose that the
holder of these drafts would be fool enough to convert them into spe
cie, to be carried and transported at his risk. Do you think that he
would not prefer that this money should be in the responsible custody
of the government, rather than in his own insecure keeping ? Do
you think that he will deny to himself the opportunity of realizing
the premium of which he may be perfectly sure ? The greatest want
ofthe country is a medium of general circulation, and of uniforin value
everywhere. That, especially, is our want in the western and inte
rior States. Now, here is exactly such a medium ; and, supposing
the government bank to be honestly and faithfully administered, it
will, during such an administration, be the best convertible paper
money in the world, for two reasons The first is, that every dollar

370 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
of paper out will be the representative of a dollar of specie in the
hands ofthe Receivers General, or other depositaries ; and, secondly,
if the Receivers General should embezzle the public money, the re
sponsibility ofthe government to pay the drafts issued upon the basis
of that money would remain unimpaired. The paper, therefore,
would be as far superior to the paper of any private corporation as
the ability and resources of the government of the United States are
superior to those of such corporations.
The banking capacity may be divided into three faculties — de
posites, discount of bills of exchange, and promissory notes, or either,
and circulation. This government bank would combine them all,
except that it would not discount private notes, nor receive private
deposites. In payments for the public lands, indeed, individuals are
allowed to make deposites, and to receive certificates of their amount.
To guard against their negotiability, a clause has been introduced to
render them unassignable. But how will it be possible to maintain
such an inconvenient restriction, in a country where every descrip
tion of paper imposing an obligation to pay money or deliver property
is assignable, at law or in equity, from the commercial nature and
trading character of our people ?
Of all the faculties which I have stated of a bank, that which cre
ates a circulation is the most important to the community at large. It
is that in "which thousands may be interested, who never obtained a
discount or made a deposite with a bank. Whatever a government
agrees to receive in payment of the puclic dues, as a medium of cir
culation, is money, current money, no matter what its form may be,
treasury notes, drafts drawn at Washington by the treasurer, on the
Receiver General at New York, or, to use the language employed in
various parts of this bill, " such notes, bills or paper issued, under the
authority of the United States." These various provisions were
probably inserted not only to cover the case of treasury notes, but
that of these drafts, in due season. But if there were no express pro
vision of law, that these drafts should be receivable in payment of
public dues, they would, necessarily, be so employed, from their own
intrinsic value.
The want of the community of a general circulation of uniform
value everywhere in the United States, would occasion vast amounts

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 371
of the species of drafts which I have described to remain in circula
tion. The appropriations this year will probably fall not much short
of thirty millions. Thirty millions of treasury draf^ on Receivers
General, of everydenomination and to any amount, may be issued by
the Secretary of the Treasury. What amount would remain in circu
lation cannot be determined a priori, I suppose not less than ten or
fifteen millions ; at the end of another year some ten or fifteen mill
ions more ; they would fill all the channels of circulation. The war
between the government and State Banks continuing, and this mam
moth government bank being in the market, constantly demanding
specie for its varied and ramified operations, confidence would be lost
in the notes ofthe local banks, their paper would gradually cease to
circulate, and the banks themselves would be,' crippled and broken.
The paper of the government bank would ultimately fill the vacuum,
as it would instantly occupy the place of the notes of the late Bank
of the United States.
I am aware, Mr. President, that the 25th section of the bill, in or
der to disguise the purpose of the vast machinery which we are about
constructing, provides that it shall be the duty of the Secretary
of the Treasury to issue and publish regulations to enforce the speedy
presentation of all government drafts for payments at the place where
payable, &c. Now, what a tremendous power is here vested in the
Secretary ! He is to prescribe rules and regulations to enforce the
speedy presentation of all government drafts for payment at the place
where payable. The. speedy presentation ! In the case I have sup
posed, a man has his $10,000 in drafts on the Receiver General at
New York. The Secretary is empowered to enact regulations re
quiring him speedily to present them, and, if he do not, the Secretary
may order them to be paid at St. Louis. At New York they may
be worth a premium of five per cent. ; on St. Louis they may be
liable to a discount of five per cent. Now, in a free government, who
would ever think of subjecting the property or money of a citizen to
the exercise of such a power by any Secretary of the Treasury?
What opportunity does it not afford to reward a partisan or punish an
opponent ? It will be impossible to maintain such an odious and use
less restriction for any length, of time. Why should the debtor (as
the government would be in the case of such drafts as I have sup
posed) require his creditor (as the holder of the draft would be) to
apply within a prescribed time for his payment ? No, sir ; the sys-

372 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tem would control you ; you could not control the system ¦ But, it
such a ridiculous restriction could not be so continued, the drafts
would, nevertheless, while they were out, be the time long or short
perform the office of circulation and money.
Let us trace a little further the operation of this government bank,
and follow it out to its final explosion. I have supposed the appro
propriation of some thirty millions of dollars annually by the govern
ment, to be disbursed in form of drafts, issued at Washington by the
treasury department, upon the depositaries. Of that amount some
ten or fifteen millions would remain, the first year^ in circulation ; at
the end of one year, a similar amount would continue in circulation ;
and so on, from year, to year, until, at the end of a series of some five
or six years, there would be in circulation, to supply the indispensa
ble wants of commerce and of a general medium of uniform value,
not less than some sixty or eighty millions of drafts issued by the gov
ernment. These drafts would be generally upon the Receiver General
at New York, because on that point they would be preferred over all
others, as they would command a premium, or be at par, throughout
the whole extent of the United States; and we have seen that the
Secretary of the Treasury is invested with ample authority to con
centrate at that point the whole revenue of the United States
All experience has demonstrated, that in banking operations a
much larger amount of paper can be kept in circulation than the spe
cie which it is necessary to retain in the vaults to meet it when pre
sented for payment. The proportions which the same experience
has ascertained to be entirely safe, are one of specie to three of paper.
If, therefore, the executive government had sixty millions of dollars
accumulated at the port of New York, in the hands of the Receiver
General, represented by sixty millions of government drafts in circu
lation, it would be known that twenty of that sixty millions would be
sufficient to retain to meet any amount of drafts which, in ordinary
times, would be presented for payment. There would then remain
forty millions in the vaults, idle and unproductive, and of which no
practical use could be made. Well, a great election is at hand in the
State of New York, the result of which will seal the fate of an exist
ing administration. If the application of ten millions of that dormant
capital could save, at some future day, a corrupt executive from
overthrow, can it be doubted that the ten millions would be applied

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 373
to preserve it in power ? Again : let us suppose some great exigen
cy to arise, a season of war, creating severe financial pressure and
embarrassment. Would not an issue of paper, founded upon and ex
ceeding the specie in the vaults, in some such proportions as experi
ence had demonstrated might be safely emitted, be authorized?
Finally, the whole amount of specie might be exhausted, and then, as
it is easier to engrave and issue bank notes than to perform the un
popular office of imposing taxes and burdens, the discovery would be
made that the credit of the government was a sufficient basis where
on to make emissions of paper money, to be redeemed when peace
and prosperity returned. Then we should have the days of conti
nental money and of assignats restored ! Then we should have that
government paper medium, which the Senator from South Carolina,
(Mr. Calhoun) considers the most perfect of all currency !
Meantime, and during the progress of this vast government ma
chine, the State Banks would be all prostrated. Working well, as it
may, if honestly administered, in the first period of its existence, it
will be utterly impossible for them to maintain the unequal competi
tion. They could not maintain it, even if the government were'ac-
tuated by no unfriendly feelings towards them. But, when we know
the spirit which animates the present executive towards them, who
can doubt that they must fall in the unequal contest ? Their issues
will be discredited and discountenanced ; and that system of bank
ruptcy which the President would even now put into operation against
them, will, in the sequel be passed and enforced without difficulty.
Assuming the downfall of the local banks, the inevitable conse
quence ofthe operations of this great government bank ; assuming, as
I have shown would be the case, that the government would mono
polize the paper issues of the country, and obtain the possession of
a great portion of the specie of the country, we should then behold a
combined and concentrated moneyed power, equal to that of all the
existing banks ofthe United States, with that of the late bank of the
United States superadded. This tremendous power would be wield
ed by the Secretary ofthe Treasury, acting under the immediate com
mands ofthe President of the United States. Here would be a per
fect union of the sword and purse ; here would be no imaginary, but
an actual, visible, tangible, consolidation of the moneyed power. Who
or what could withstand it ? The States themselves would become
*Y

374 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
suppliants at the feet of the executive for a portion of those paper
emissions, of the power to issue which they had been stripped, and
which he now exclusively posssessed.
Mr. President, my observation and experience have satisfied me
that the safety of liberty and prosperity consists in the division of
power, whether political or pecuniary. In our federative system, our
security is to be found in that happy distribution of power which ex
ists between the Federal government and the State governments. In
our monetary system, as it lately existed, its excellence resulted from
that beautiful arrangement by which the States had their institutions
for local purposes, and the general government its institution for the
more general purposes of the whole Union. There existed the great
est congeniality between all the parts of this admirable system. All
was homogeneous. There was no separation of the federal govern
ment from the States or from the people. There was no attempt to
execute practically that absurdity of sustaining, among the same peo
ple, two different currencies of unequal value. And how admirably
did -the whole system; during the forty years of its existence move
and work ! And on the two unfortunate occasions of its ceasing to
exist, how quickly did the business and transactions of the country
run into wild disorder and utter confusion.
Hitherto I have considered this new project as it is, according to
its true nature and character, and what it must inevitably become.
1 have not examined it as it is not, but as its friends would represent
it to be. They hold out the idea that it is a simple contrivance to
collect, to keep and disburse the public revenue. In that view of it,
every consideration of safety and security recommends the agency of
responsible corporations, rather than the employment of particular in
dividuals. It has been shown, during the course of this debate, that
the amount which has been lost by the defalcation of individuals has
exceeded three or four times the amount of all that has been lost by
the local banks, although the sums confided to the care of individuals
have not been probably one-tenth part of the amount that has been in
the custody of the local banks. And we all know that, during the
forty years of the existence of the two banks of the United States,
not one cent was lost of the public revenue.
I have been curious Mr. President, to know whence this idea of

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 375
Receivers General was derived. It has been supposed to have been
borrowed from France. It required all the power of that most ex
traordinary man that ever lived, Napoleon Bonaparte, when he was
in his meridian greatness, to displace the Farmers General, and to
substitute in their place the Receivers General. The new system
requires, I think I have heard it stated, something like 100,000 em
ployees to have it executed. And notwithstanding the modesty of
the infant promise of this new project, I have no doubt that ulti
mately we shall have to employ a number of persons approximating
to that which is retained in Fran6e. That will undoubtedly be the
case whenever we shall revive the system of internal taxation. In
France, what reconciled them to the system was, that Napoleon first,
and the Bourbons afterwards, were pleased with the immense patro
nage which it gave them. They liked to have 100,000 dependents
to add strength to the throne, which had been recently constructed
ot re-ascended.
Ithought, however, that the learned Chairman of the Committee
on Finance must have had some other besides the French model for
his Receivers General ; and accordingly, upon looking into Smith's
history of his own state, I found that, when it was yet a colony some
century and a half ago, and when its present noble capital still re
tained the name of New Amsterdam, the historian says :
"Among the principal laws enacted at this session, we may mention that for es
tablishing the revenue, which was drawn into precedent. The sums raised hy it
were ,made payable into the hands of Receivers General, and issued by the Gover
nor's warrant. By this means the Governor became, for a season, independent of
the people, and hence we find frequent instances of the assemblies contending with
him for the discharge of debts to private persons contracted on the faith of the go
vernment." The then Governor of the colony was a man of great violence of
temper, and arbitrary in his conduct. How the sub-treasury system
of that day operated, the same historian informs us in a subsequent
part of his work.
' The revenue," he says, " established the last year, was at this session continued
five years longer fhan was originally intended. This was rendering the Governor
independent of the people. For, at that day, the Assembly had no treasure, but the
amount of all taxes went, of course, into the hands of .the Receiver General, who
was appointed by the crown. Out of the fund, moneys were only issuable by the
Governor's warrant, so that every officer in the government, from Mr. Blaithwart,
who drew annually five per cent, out of the revenue, as Auditor General, down to
the meanest servant of the public, became dependent, solely, on the Governor. And
hence we find the house, at the close of every session, humbly addressing his excel
lency for the urfling wages of their own clerk ."

376 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
And, Mr. President, if the measure should unhappily pass, the day-
may come when the .Senate ofthe United States will have humbly to
implore some future President of the United States to grant it money
to pay the wages of its own sergeant-at-arms and dooikeeper.
Who, Mr. Presideut, are the most conspicuous of those who per-
severingly pressed this bill, upon Congress and the American peo
ple ? Its drawer is the distinguished gentleman in the White House
not far off, its endorser is the distinguished Senator from South
Carolina, here present. What the drawer thinks of the endorser,
his cautious reserve and stifled enmity prevent us from knowing.
But the frankness of the endorser has not left us in the same igno
rance with respect to his opinion of the drawer. He has often ex
pressed it upon the floor of the Senate. On an occasion not very
distant, denying him any of the nobler qualities of the royal beast of
the forest, he attributed to him those which belong to the most crafty,
most skulking, and one of the meanest of the quadruped tribe. Mr.
President, it is due to myself to say that I do not altogether share
with the Senator from South Carolina, in this opinion of the Presi
dent of the United States. I have always found him, in his man
ners and deportment, civil, courteous, and gentlemanly ; and he dis
penses, in the noble mansion which he now occupies, one worthy the
residence of the Chief Magistrate of a great people, a generous and
liberal hospitality. An acquaintance with him of more than twenty
years' duration has inspired me with a respect for the man, although
I regret to be compelled to say, I detest the magistrate.
The eloquent Senator from South Carolina has intimated that the
course of my friends and myself, in opposing this bill, was unpatriotic,
and that we ought to have followed in his lead ; and, in a late letter
of his, he has spoken of his alliance with us, and of his motives for
quitting it. I cannot admit the justice of his reproach. We united,
if indeed, there were any alliance in the case, to restrain the enor
mous expansion of executive power , to arrest the progress of cor
ruption ; to rebuke usurpation ; and to drive the Goths and Vandals
from the capital ; to expel Brennus and his horde from Rome, who,
when he threw his sword into the scale, to augment the ransom de
manded from the mistress of the world, showed his preference for
gold ; that he was a hard-money Chieftain. It was by the much
more valuable metal of iron that he was driven from her gates. And

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 377
how often have we witnessed the Senator from South Carolina, with
woful countenance, and in doleful strains, pouring forth touching and
mournful eloquence on the degeneracy of the times, and the down
ward tendency of the republic ? Day after day, in the Senate, have
we seen the displays of his lofty and impassioned eloquence. Al
though I shared largely with the Senator in his apprehension for the
purity of our institutions, and the perminancy of our civil liberty,
disposed always to look at the brighter side of human affairs, I was
sometimes inclined to hope that the vivid imagination of the Senator
had depicted the dangers by which we were encompassed in some
what stronger colors than they justified. The arduous contest in
which we were so long engaged was about to terminate in a glorious
victory. The very object for which the alliance was formed was
about to be accomplished. At this critical moment the Senator left
us ; he left us for the very purpose of preventing the success of the
common cause. He took up his musket, knapsack, and shot-pouch,
and joined the other party. He went, horse, foot, and dragoon, and
he himself composed the whole corps. He went, as his present most
distinguished ally commenced with his expunging resolution, solitary
and alone. The earliest instance recorded in history, within my re
collection, of an ally drawing off his forces from the combined army,
was that of Achilles at the siege of Troy. He withdrew, with all
his troops, and remained in the neighborhood, in sullen and dignified
inactivity. But he did not join the Trojan forces ; and when, dur
ing the progress of the siege, his faithful friend fell in battle, he rais
ed his avenging arm, drove the Trojans back into the gates of Troy,
and satiated his vengeance by slaying Priam's noblest and deafest
son, the finest hero in the immortal Illiad. But Achilles had been
vyronged, or imagined himself wronged in the person of the fair and
beautiful Briseis. We did no wrong to the disinguished Senator from
South Carolina. On the contrary, we respected him, confided in his
great and acknowledged ability, his uncommon genius, his extensive
experience, his supposed patriotism ; above all, we confided in his
stern and inflexible fidelity. Nevertheless, he left us, and joined our
common opponents, distrusting and distrusted. He left us, as he
tells us in the Edgefield letter, because the victory which our com
mon arms were about to achieve, was not to enure to him and his
party, but exclusively to the benefit of his allies and their cause. I
thought that, actuated by patriotism — that noblest of human virtues
— we had been contending together for one common country, for her

378 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
violated rights, her threatened liberties, her prostrate constitution.
Never did I suppose that personal or party considerations entered into
our views. Whether, if victory shall ever again be about to perch
upon the standard of the spoils party,— the denomination which the
Senator from South Carolina has so often given to his present allies —
he will not feel himself constrained, by the principles on which he has
acted, to leave them because it may not enure to the benefit of him
self and his party, I leave to be adjusted between themselves.
The speech of the Senator from South Carolina was plausible, in-
genious, abstract, metaphysical, and generalizing. It did not appear
to me to be adapted to the bosoms and business of human life. It
was aerial, and not very high up in the air, Mr. President, either,
not quite as high as Mr. Clayton was in his last ascension in his ba-
loon. The Senator announced that there was a single alternative,
and no escape from one or the other branch of it. He stated that we
must take the bill under consideration, or the substitute propssed by
the Senator from Virginia. I do not concur in that statement of the
case. There is another course embraced in neither branch of the
Senator's alternative ; and that course is to do nothing ; always the
wisest when you are not certatn what you ought to' do. Let us sup
pose that neither branch of the alternative, is accepted, and that noth
ing is done. What, then, would be the consequence ? There would
be a restoration of the law of 1789, with all its cautious provisions
and securities, provided by the wisdom of our ancestors, which has
been so trampled upon by the late and present administrations. By
that law, establishing the treasury department, the treasure of the
United States is to be received, kept, and disbursed, by the treasurer,
under a bond with ample security, under a large penalty fixed by
law, and not left, as this bill leaves it, to the uncertain discretion of a
Secretary of the Treasury. If, therefore,' we were to do nothing,
that law would be revived ; the treasurer would have the custody,
as he ought to have, of the public money, and doubtless he would
make special deposites of it in all instances, with safe and sound
State Banks, as in some cases the Secretary of the Treasury is now
obliged to do. Thus, we should have in operation that very special
deposite system, so much desired by some gentlemen, by which the
public money would remain separate and unmixed with the money
of banks. There is yet another course, unembraced by either branch
of the alternative presented by the Senator from South Carolina ; and

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 379
that is to establish a Bank of the United States, constituted according
to the old and approved method of forming such an institution, tested
and sanctioned by experience ; a Bank of the United States which
should blend public and private interests, and be subject to public and
private control, united together in such a manner as to present safe
and salutary checks against all abuses. The Senator mistakes his
own abandonment of that institution as ours. I know that the
party in power has barricaded itself against the establishment of such
a bank. It adopted, at the last extra session, the extraordinary and
unprecedented resolution, that the people of the United States should
not have such a bank, although it might be manifest that there was a
clear majority of them demanding it. But the day may come, and I
trust is not distant, when the will of the people must prevail in the
councils of her own government; and when it does arrive, a bank
will be established.
The Senator from South Carolina reminds us that we denounced
the pet bank system ; and so we did, and so we do. But does it
therefore follow that, bad as that system was, we must be driven into
the acceptance of a system infinitely worse ? He tells us that the
bill under consideration takes the public funds out of the hands of the
executive, and places them in the hands of the law. It does no such
thing. They are now without law, it is true, in the custody of the
executive ; and the bill proposes by law to confirm them in that cus
tody, and to convey new and enormous powers of control to the ex
ecutive over them. Every custodary of the public funds provided by
the bill is a creature of the executive, dependent upon his breath, and
subject to the same breath for removal, whenever the executive, from
caprice, from tyranny, or from party motives, shall choose to order
it. What safety is there for the public money, if there were a hund
red subordinate executive officers charged with its care, while the
docrine of the absolute unity ofthe whole executive power, promul
gated by the last administration, and persisted in by this, remains
unrevoked and unrebuked ?
While the Senator from South Carolina professes to be the friend
of State Banks, he has attacked the whole banking system of the
United States. He is their friend ; he only thinks they are all un
constitutional ! Why ? Because the coining power is possessed by
the general government, and that coining power, he argues, was in-

380 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tended to supply a currency of the precious metals ; but the State
Banks absorb the precious metals, and withdraw them from circula
tion, and, therefore, are in conflict with the coining power. That
power, according to my view of it, is nothing but a naked authority
to stamp certain pieces of the precious metals, in fixed proportions of
alloy and pure metal prescribed by law, so that their exact value be
known. When that office is performed, the power is functus officio ;
the money passes out of the mint, and becomes the lawful property
of those who legally acquire it. They may do with it as they please,
throw it into the ocean, bury it in the earth, or melt it in a crucible,
without violating any law. When it has once left the vaults of the
mint, the law maker has nothing to do with it, but to protect it against
those who attempt to debase or counterfeit, and subsequently, to pass
it as lawful money. In the sense in which the Senator supposes the
banks to conflict with the coining power, foreign commerce, and es
pecially our commerce with China, conflicts with it much more ek-
tensively. That is the great absorbent ofthe precious metals, and is
therefore much more unconstitutional than the State Banks. For
eign commerce sends them out of the country ; banks retain them
within it. The distinguished Senator is no enemy to the banks ; he
merely thinks them injurious to the morals and industry of the coun
try. He likes them very well, but he nevertheless believes that they
levy a tax of twenty-five millions annually on the industry of the
country ! Let us examine, Mr. President, and see how this enor
mous assessment is made, according to the argument of the Senator
from South Carolina. He states that there is a mass of debt due from
the community to the banks, amounting to $475,000,000, the inter
est upon which, constituting about the sum of $25,000,000, forms
the exceptionable tax. Now, this sum is not paid by the whole com
munity, but only by those individuals who obtain discounts from the
banks. They borrow money at six per cent, interest, and invest it
in profitable adventures, or otherwise employ it. They would not
borrow if they did not suppose they could make profit by it. Instead,
therefore, of there being any loss in the operation, there is an actual
gain to the community, by the excess of profit made beyond six per
cent, interest, which they pay. What are banks ? They are mere
organized agencies for the loan of money and the transaction of mone
tary business ; regulated agencies acting under the prescriptions of
law, and subject to a responsibility, moral and legal, far transcending
that under which any private capitalist operates. A number of per-

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. , 381
sons, not choosing to lend out their money privately, associate to
gether, bring their respective capitals into a common stock, which is
controlled and managed by the corporate government of a bank. If
no association whatever had been formed, a large portion of this capi
tal, therefore, of that very debt of $475,000,000, would still exist, in
the shape of private loans.
The Senator from South Carolina might as well connect the aggre
gate amount of all the mortgages, bonds, and notes, which have been
executed in the United States for loans, and assert that the interest
paid upon the total sum constituted a tax levied upon the community.
In the liquidation of the debt due to the banks from the community,
and from the banks to the community, there would not be as much
difficulty as the Senator seems to apprehend. From the mass of
debts due to the banks are to be deducted, first, the amount of sub
scriptions which constitute their capitals ; secondly, the amount of
deposites to the credit of individuals in their custody ; and, thirdly,
the amount of their notes in circulation. How easily these mutual
debts neutralize each other ! The same person, in numberless instan
ces, will combine in himself the relations both of creditor and debtor.
The only general operation of banks beyond their discounts and de
posites, which pervades the whole community, is that of furnishing a
circulation in redeemable paper, beyond the amount of specie to re
deem it in their vaults. And can it be doubted that this additional
supply of money furnishes a powerful stimulus to industry and pro
duction, fully compensating any casual inconvenience, which some
times, though rarely, occurs ? Banks reduce the rate of interest, and
repress inordinate usury. The salutary influence of banking opera
tions is demonstrated in countries and sections of country where they
prevail, when contrasted with those in which they are not found. In
the former, all is bustle, activity, general prosperity. The country
is beautified and adorned by the noble works of internal improve
ments ; the cities are filled with splendid edifices, and the wharves
covered with the rich productions of our own and of foreign climates.
In the latter, all is sluggishness, slothfulness, and inactivity. Eng
land, in modern times, illustrates the great advantages of banks, of
credit, and of stimulated industry. Contrast her with Spain, desti
tute of all those advantages- In ancient times, Athens would present

382 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
an image of full and active employment of all the energies of man,
carried to the highest point of civilization, while her neighbor, Sparta,
with her iron money, affords another of the boasted benefits of me
tallic circulation.
The Senator from South Carolina would do the banks no harm ;
but they are deemed by him highly injurious to the planting interest !
According to him, they inflate prices, and the poor planter sells his
productions for hard money, and has to purchase his supplies at the
swollen prices produced by a paper medium. Now I must dissent
altogether from the Senator's statement of the case. England, the
principal customer of the planter is quite as much, if not more, a pa
per country than ours. And the paper-money prices ofthe one coun
try are neutralized by the paper-money prices of the other country.
If the argument were true that a paper-money trades disadvantage^
ously with a hard-money country, we ought to continue to employ a
- paper medium, to counter-balance the paper medium of England.
And if we were to banish our paper, and substitute altogether a me
tallic currency, we should be exposed to the very inequality which
has been insisting upon. But there is nothing in that view of the
matter which is presented by the Senator from South Carolina. If,
as he asserts, prices were always inflated in this country beyond their
standard in England, the rate of exchange would be constantly against
us. An examination, however, into the actual state of exchange be
tween the two countries, for a long series of years, evinces that it has
generally been in our favor. In the direct trade between England
and this country, I have no doubt there is a large annual balance
against us ; but that balance is adjusted and liquidated by balances
in our favor in other branches of our foreign trade, which have been
finally concentrated in England, as the great centre of the commer
cial world.
Of all the interests and branches of industry in this country, none
has profited more by the use and employment of credit and capital,
derived from the banks and other sources, than the planting interests.
It habitually employs credit in all countries where planting agricul
ture prevails. The States of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and
Louisiana, have almost sprung into existence, as it were by magic, or
at least, have been vastly improved and extended under the influence
of the credit system. Lands, slaves, utensils, beasts of burden, and

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 383
other supplies, have been constantly bought, and still continue to be
purchased, upon credit; and bank-agency is all-essential to give the
most beneficial operation to these credits. But the argument of the
Senator from South Carolina, which I am combating, would not be
correct, if it were true that we have inflated prices on this side ofthe
Atlantic, without a corresponding inflation of price on the other side ;
because the planter, generally selling at home, and buying at home,
the proceeds of his sale, whatever they may be, constitute the means
by which he effects his purchases, and consequently neutralizes each
other. In what do we of the West receive payment for the immense
quantity of live stock and other produce of our industry, which we
annually sell to the South and Southwest, but that paper-medium
now so much decried and denounced ? The Senator from South
Carolina is very fond of the State banks ; but he thinks there is no
legitimate currency except that of the constitution. He contends
that the power which the government possesses to impose taxes re
stricts it, in their payment, to the receipt of the precious metals. But
the constitution does not say so. The power is given in broad and
unrestricted terms ; and the government is left at liberty to collect the
taxes in whatever medium or commodity from the exigencies of the
case, it can collect them. It is, doubtless, much the most convenient
to collect them in money, because that represents, or can command,
every thing, the want of which is implied by the power of taxation.
But suppose there was no money in the country, none whatever, to
be$ xtorted by the tax gatherer from an impoverished people ? Is
the power of government to cease, and the people to be thrown back
into a state of nature ? The' Senator asks if taxes could be levied
and collected on tobacco in cotton and other commodities ? Undoubt
edly they could, if the necessity existed for such an inconvenient im
position. Such a case of necessity did exist in the colony of Virginia,
and other colonies, prior to the revolution, and taxes were accord
ingly levied in tobacco or other commodities, as wolf-scalps, even at
this day, compose a part ofthe revenue of more than one State.
The argument, then, ofthe Senator against the right of fhe govern
ment to receive bank notes in payment of public dues, a practice co
eval with the existence of the government, does not seem to me to'
be sound. It is not accurate, for another reason. Bank notes, when
convertible at the will of the holder into specie, are so much counted
or told specie, like the specie which is counted and put in marked

384 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
kegs denoting the quantity of their contents. The Senator tells us
that it has been only within a few days that he has discovered that
it is illegal to receive bank notes in payment of public dues. Does
he think that the usage of the government, under all its administra
tions, and with every party in power, which has prevailed for nigh
fifty years, ought to be set aside by a novel theory of his, just dream
ed into existence, even if it possesses the merit of ingenuity ? The
bill under consideration, which has been eulogized by the Senator as
perfect in its structure and details, contains a provision that bank
notes shall be received in diminished proportions, during a term of
six years. He himself introduced the identical principle. It is the
only part of the bill that is emphatically his. How then can he con
tend that it is unconstitutional to receive bank notes in payment of
public dues ? I appeal from himself to himself. The Senator further
contends that general deposites cannot be made with banks, and be
thus confounded with the general mass of the funds on which they
transact business. The argument supposes that the money collected
for taxes must be preserved in identity ; but that is impossible often
to do. May not a collector give the small change which he has re
ceived from one tax-payer to another tax-payer to enable him to effect
his payment ? May he not change gold for silver, or vice versa, or
both, if he be a distant collector, to obtain an undoubted remittance to
the public treasury ? What Mr. President, is the process of making
deposites with banks ? The deposite is made, and a credit is entered
for its amount to the government. That credit is supposed to be Jhe
exact equivalent of the amount deposited, ready and forthcoming to
the government whenever it is wanted for the purposes of disburse
ment. It is immaterial to the government whether it receives back
again the identical money put in, or other money of equal value. All
that it wants is what it put in the bank, or its equivalent ; and that,
in ordinary times, with such prudent banks as alone ought to be se
lected, it is sure of getting Again : the treasury has frequently to
make remittances to foreign countries, to meet the expenditure neces
sary there for our naval squadrons and other purposes. They are
made to the bankers, to the Barings or the Rothschilds, in the form
of bills of exchange, purchased in the market by the agents of the
governmenthere, with money drawn out of the treasury ; Here is
one conversion of the money received from the tax-gatherer into the
treasury. The bills are transmitted to the bankers, honored, paid,
and the amount credited by them to the United States. Are the

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 385
bankers bound to retain the proceeds of the bills in identity ? Are
they bound to do more than credit the government for an equal
amount for which they stand responsible whenever it is wanted ? If
they should happen to use any portion of those very proceeds of bills
remitted to them in their banking operations, would it be drawing
money from the treasury contrary to the provisions of the constitu
tion ?
The Senator from South Carolina contends that there is no consti
tutional power to contract with the twenty-five selected banks, as
proposed in the substitute ; yet the deposite act of 1836, which ob
tained the hearty approbation of that Senator, contained a similar
provision ; and the very bill under consideration, so warmly support
ed by him, provides, under certain contingencies, for contracts to be
made with State Banks, to receive deposites of the public money
upon compensation. He objects to the substitute, that it converts
twenty- five State Banks into a system of federal institutions ; but the
employment of State institutions by the federal authority no more
makes them federal, than the employment of federal institutions by
the states converts them into State institutions. This mutual aid,
and this reciprocal employment "of the several institutions ofthe
general and particular governments, is one Of the results and beauties
of our admirable though complex system of government. The gene
ral government has the use of the capital, court-houses, prisons, and
penitentiaries, in the several States. Do they, therefore, cease to
appertain to the States ? It is to be borne in mind that, although the
State Banks may occasionally be used by the federal authority, their
legal responsibility to the several States remains unimpaired. They
continue to be accountable to them and their existence can only be
terminated or prolonged by the state authority. And being governed,
as they are, by corporate authority, emanating from, and amenable
to, state jurisdiction, and not under the control of the executive of
the United States, constitutes at once a greater security for the public
money, and more safety to the public liberty. It has been argued
that a seperation of the government from the banks will diminish the
executive power. It must be admitted that the custody of the pub
lic money in various banks, subject to the control of state authority,
furnishes some check upon the possible abuses of the executive gov
ernment. But the argument maintains that the executive has least
power when it has most complete possession of the public treasury !

388 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The Senator from South Carolina contends that the separation in ques
tion being once effected, the relation of the federal government and
the State Banks will be antagonistical. I believe so, Mr. President.
This is the very thing I wish to prevent. I want them to live in peace,
harmony and friendship. If they are antagonists, how is it possible
that the State Banks can maintain their existence against the tremen
dous influence of the government ? Especially, if this government
should be backed by such a vast treasury bank as I verily believe
this bill is intended to create ? And what becomes of the argument
urged by the Senator from South Carolina, and the abolition reso
lutions, offered by him at an early period of the session, asserting that
the general government is bound to protect . the domestic institutions ,
of the several States ?
The substitute is not, I think, what the welfare of the country re^
quires. It may serve the purpose of a good half-way house. Its
accommodations appear fair, and, with the feelings of a wearied
traveler, one may be tempted to stop awhile and refresh himself
there. I shall vote for it as an amendment to the bill, because I be
lieve it the least of two evils, if it should, indeed, inflict any evil ; or
rather, because I feel myself in the position of a patient to whom the
physician presents in one hand a cup of arsenic, and in the other a cup
of ptisan ; I reject the first, because of the instant death with which
it is charged ; I take the latter as being, at the most, harmless, and
depend upon the vis medicalrix nalurat It would have been a great
improvement, in my opinion, if the mode of bringing about the re
sumption of specie payments, contained in the substitute, were re
versed : that is to say, if, instead of fixing on the first of July, for
resumption, it had provided that the notes of a certain number of safe,
sound and unquestionable Banks to be selected, should be forthwith
received by the general government, in payment of all public dues ;
and that if the selected Banks did not resume, by a future designated
day, their notes should cease to be taken. Several immediate effects
would follow -. 1st. The government would withdraw from the mar
ket as a competitor with the banks for specie, and they would be left
undisturbed to strengthen themselves. And, 2dly, confidence would
be restored by taking off the discredit and discountenance thrown
upon all Banks by the government. And why should these notes
not be so received ? They are as good as treasury notes, if not bet
ter. They answer all the purposes ofthe State governments and the

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 387
people. They now would buy as much as specie could have com
manded at the period of suspension. They could be disbursed by the
government. And finally, the measure would be temporary.
But the true and only efficacious and permanent remedy, I solemn
ly believe, is to be found in a Bank of the United States, properly
organized and constituted. We are told that such a bank is fraught
with indescribable danger, and that the government must, in the se
quel, get possession of the bank, or the bank of the government. I
oppose to these imaginary terrors the practical experience of forty
years. I oppose to them the issue of the memorable contest, com
menced by the late President of the United States, against the late
Bank of the United States. The administration of that bank had been
without serious fault. It had given no just offence to government,
towards which it had faithfully performed every financial duty. Un
der its. able and enlightened President, it had fulfilled every anticipa
tion which had been formed by those who created it ; President Jack
son pronounced the edict that it must fall, and it did fall, against the
wishes of an immense majority of the people of the United States ;
against the convictions of its utility entertained by a large majority
of the States ; and to the prejudice of the best interests of the whole
country- If an innocent, unoffending and highly beneficial institu
tion could be thus easily destroyed by the power of one man, where
would be the difficulty of crushing it, if it had given any real cause
for just animadversion ? Finally, I oppose to these imaginary terrors
the example deducible from English history. There a bank has ex
isted since the year 1694, and neither has the bank got possession of
the government, nor the government of the bank. They have existed
in harmony together, both conducing to the prosperity of that great
country ; and they have so existed, and so contributed, because each
has avoided cherishing towards the other that wanton and unneces
sary spirit of hostility whicn was unfortunately engendered in the
late President of the United States.
I am admonished, sir, by my exhausted strength, and by, I fear,
your more exhausted patience, to hasten to a close. Mr. President,
a great, novel, and untried measure is perseveringly urged upon the
acceptance of Congress. Tbat it is pregnant with tremendous con
sequences, for good or evil, is undeniable, and admitted by all. We
firmly believe that it will be fatal to the best interests of this country,

388 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and ultimately subversive of its liberties. You, who have been
greatly disappointed in other measures of equal promise, can only
hope, in the doubtful and uncertain future, that its operation may
prove salutary. Since it was first proposed at the extra session, the
whole people have not had an opportunity of passing in judgment
upon it at their elections. As far as they have, they' have expressed
their unqualified disapprobation. From Maine to the State of Mis
sissippi, its condemnation has been loudly thundered forthi In every
intervening election, the administration has been defeated, or its for
mer majorities neutralized. Maine has spoken ; New York, Penn
sylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Rhode Island, Mississippi and Michigan;
all these States, in tones and terms not to be misunderstood, have
denounced the measure. The key-stone State (God bless her) has
twice proclaimed her rejection of it, once at the polls, and once
through her legislature. Friends and foes of the administration have
united in condemning it. And, at the very moment when I am ad
dressing you, a large meeting of the late supporters of the adminis
tration, headed by the distinguished gentleman who presided in the
electoral college which gave the vote of that patriotic State to Presi
dent Van Buren, are assembling in Philadelphia, to protest solemnly
against the passage of this bill. Is it right that, under such circum
stances, it should be forced upon a reluctant but free and intelligent
people ? Is it right that this Senate, constituted as it now is, should
give its sanction to the measure ? I say it in no disrespectful or
taunting sense, but we are entitled, according to the latest expres
sions of the popular will, and in virtue of manifestations of opinion
deliberately expressed by State Legislatures, to a vote of thirty-five
against the bill ; and I am ready to enter, with any Senator friendly
to the administration, into details to prove the assertion. Will the
Senate, then, bring upon itself the odium of passing this bill ? I im
plore it to forbear, forbear, forbear ! I appeal to the instructed Sen
ators. Is this government made for us, or for the people and the
States, whose agents we are ? Are we not bound so to administer
it as to advance their welfare, promote their prosperit}7, and give gen
eral satisfaction ? Will that sacred trust be fulfilled, if the known
sentiments of large and respectable communities are despised and con
demned by those whom they have sent here ? I call upon the hon
orable Senator from Alabama, (Mr. King) with whom I have so long
stood in the public councils, shoulder to shoulder, bearing up the
honor and the glory of this great people, to come now to their rescue.

ON THE SUB-TREASURY. 389
I call upon all the Senators ; let us bury, deep and for ever, the cha
racter of the partisan, rise up patriots and statesmen, break the vile
chains of party, throw the fragments to the winds, and feel the proud
satisfaction that we have made but a small sacrifice to the paramount
obligations which we owe our common country.
[This bill again failed, the Specie exaction having been first struck out in the
Senate, (31 to 21) when Mr. Calhoun voted against it, but it passed nevertheless,
by 25 to 17. On reaching the House, however, it was instantly met by Mr. Patton,
of Virginia, with a motion that it do lie on the table, which prevailed : Yeas 106 ;
Nays 9S. It was likewise defeated at the next session, and only became a law on
the fourth trial, July, 1840, after the illegal admission of the sub-treasury claimant*
lrom New Jersey to seats in the House.] *z

OUTLINE OF A NATIONAL BANK.
In the Senate of the United States, May 21, 1838.

[Mr. Clay, on presenting a petition asking Congress to establish a Bank of the
United States, spoke briefly as follows :]
I wish to present a petition, confided to my care, signed by a
number of persons, praying for the establishment of a Bank of the
United States. It is similar to several other petitions which have
been presented to the Senate or to the House, during the present ses
sion, praying for the same object. They afford evidence of a deep
and returning conviction among the people of the utility of such an
institution. While I am up, with the permission of the Senate, I beg leave to
submit a few observations upon this subject. There is reason to be
lieve that much honest misconception, and some misrepresentation
prevail in regard to it, which I wish to correct. It has been supposed
that those who are desirous of seeing a Bank of the United States
established, are anxious that a charter should be granted to an exist
ing State institution, which has an eminent individual at its head, and
that this was the sole object of all their exertions. Now,' I wish for
one to say, that I have no such purpose in view. I entertain for that
gentleman very high respect. I believe him uncommonly able, pro
foundly skilled in finance, and truly patriotic. There is but one other
person connected with the banking institutions of the country, in
whose administration, of a Bank of the United States I should have
equal confidence with Mr. Biddle, and that is Albert Gallatin, who, I
am glad to learn, at an advanced age, retains in full vigor the facul
ties of his extraordinary mind. There may be other citizens equally
competent with those two gentlemen, but I do not know them, or
am not acquainted with their particular qualifications.
But it is not for any existing State Bank, or any particular indi-

outline of a national bank. 391
vidual at its head, that I am contending. I believe the establishment
of a Bank of the United States is required by the common good of
the whole country ; and although I might be willing, if it were prac
ticable, to adopt an existing bank as the basis of such an institution,
under all circumstances, I think it most expedient that a new bank
with power to establish branches, be created and chartered under the
authority of Congress. My friends (as far as I know their opinions,)
and I, are not particularly attached to this or that individual, to this
or that existing bank, but to principles, to the thing itself, to the in
stitution, to a well organized Bank of the United States, under the
salutary operation of which, the business ofthe country had so greatly
prospered, and we had every reason to hope, would again revive and
prosper. And, presuming upon the indulgence of the Senate, I will
now take the liberty to suggest for public consideration^ some of those
suitable conditions and restrictions under which it appears to me that
it would be desirable to establish a new bank.
1. The capital not to be extravagantly large, but at the same time,
amply sufficient to enable it to perform the needful financial duties for
the government; to supply a general currency of uniform value
throughout the Union, and to facilitate as nigh as practicable, the
equalization of domestic exchange. I suppose that about fifty mill
ions would answer all those purposes. The stock might be divided
between the general government, the States according to their federal
population and individual subscribers. The portion assigned to the
latter, to be distributed at auction, or by private subscription.
2. The corporation, in the spirit of a resolution, recently adopted
by the General Assembly of the State, one of whose Senators I have
the honor to be, to receive such an organization as to blend, in fair
proportions, public and private control, and combining public and pri
vate interests. And, in order to exclude the possibility of the exer
cise of all foreign influence, non-resident foreigners to be prohibited
not only from any share in the administration ofthe corporation, but
from holding, directly, or indirectly, any portion of its stock. Al
though I do not myself think this latter restriction necessary, I would
make it, in deference to honest prejudices, sincerely entertained, and
which no practical statesman ought entirely to disregard. The bank
would thus ,be, in its origin, and continue, through its whole exist
ence, a genuine American institution.

.392 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
3. An adequate portion of the capital to be set apart in productive
stocks, and placed in permanent security beyond the reach of the cor
poration, (with the exception of the accruing profits on those stocks)
sufficient to pay promptly, in any contingency, the amount of all
such paper, under whatever form, that the bank shall put forth as a
part of the general circulation. The bill or note holders, in other
words, the mass of the community, ought to be protected against the
possibility of the failure or the suspension of a bank. The supply of
the circulating medinm of a country, is that faculty of a bank, the
propriety of the exercise of which may be most controverted. The
dealing with a bank, of those who obtain discounts, or make deposites,
are voluntary and mutually advantageous, and they are comparatively
few in number. But the reception of what is issued and used as a
part ofthe circulating medium ofthe country, is scarcely a voluntary
act, and thousands take it who have no other concern whatever with
the bank. The many ought to be guarded and secured by the care
of the legislative authority ; the vigilance of the few will secure them
against loss. I think this provision is a desideratum in our American
banking, and the credit of first embodying it in a legislative act is due
to the 'State of New York.
4. Perfect publicity as to the state of the bank at all times, inclu
ding, besides the usual heads of information, the names of every debt
or to the bank, whether as drawer, endorser, or surety, periodically
exhibited, and open to public inspection ; or if that should be found
inconvenient, the right to be secured to any citizen to ascertain at the
bank the nature and extent ofthe responsibility of any of its custom
ers. There is no necessity to throw any veil of secrecy around the
ordinary transactions of a bank- Publicity will increase responsibili
ty, repress favoritism, insure the negotiation of good paper, and when
individual insolvency unfortunately occurs, will deprive the bank of
undue advantages now enjoyed by banks practically in the distribution
of the effects of the insolvent. %
5. A limitation of the dividends so as not to authorize more than
— per cent to be struck. This will check undue expansion in the
circulating medium, and restrain improper extension of business in
the administration ofthe bank.
6. A prospective reduction in the rate of interest so as to restrict

OUTLINE OF A NATIONAL BANK. 393
the bank to six per cent, simply, or if practicable, to only five per
cent. Banks now receive at the rate of near six and a half per cent.,
by demanding the interest in advance, and by charging for an addi
tional day. The reduction may be effected by forbearing to exact
any bonus, or when the profits are likely to exceed the prescribed
limit of the dividends, by requiring that the rate of interest shall be
so lowered as that they shall not pass that limit.
7. A restriction upon the premium demanded upon post notes and
checks used for remittances, so that the maximum should not be more
than say one and a half per cent, between any two of the remotest
points ofthe Union. Although it may not be practicable to regulate
foreign exchange, depending as it does upon commercial causes not
within the control of any one government, I think that it is otherwise
with regard to domestic exchange.
8. Every practicable provision against the exercise of improper
Influence, on the part of the executive, upon the bank, and, on the
part of the bank, upon the elections of the country. The late Bank
of the United States has been, I believe, most unjustly charged with
interference in the popular elections. There is, among the public
documents evidences of its having scrupulously abstained from such
interference. It never did more than to exercise the natural right of
self-defence by publishing such reports, speeches, and documents, as
tended to place the institution and its administration in a fair point of
view before the public. But the people entertain a just jealousy
against the danger of any interference of a bank with the elections of
the country, and every precaution ought to be taken strictly to guard
against it.
This is a brief outline of such a new Bank of the United States as
I think, if established, would greatly conduce to the prosperity ofthe
country. Perhaps on full discussion and consideration, some of the
conditions which I have suggested might not be deemed expedient,
or might require modification, and important additional ones may be
proposed by others.
I will only say a word or two on the constitutional power. I think
that it ought no longer to be regarded as an open question. There
ought to be some bounds to human controversy. Stability is a neces-

394 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
sary want of society. Among those who deny the power, there are
many who admit the benefits of a Bank of the United States. Four
times, and under the sway of all the political parties, have Congress
deliberately affirmed its existence. Every department of the govern
ment has again and again asserted it. Forty years of acquiescence by
the people ; uniformity every where in the value of the currency ;
facility and economy in domestic exchanges, and unexampled pros
perity in the general business of the country, with a Bank of the
United States ; and, without it, wild disorder in the currency, ruinous
irregularity in domestic exchange, and general prostration in the com
merce and business of the nation, would seem to put the question at
rest, if it is not to be perpetually agitated. The power has been sus
tained by Washington, the Father of his Country ; by Madison, the
Father of the Constitution ; and by Marshall, the Father of the Ju
diciary. If precedents are not to be blindly followed, neither ought
they to be wantonly despised. They are the evidence of truth ; and
the force of the evidence is in proportion to the integrity, wisdom,
and patriotism, of those who establish them. I think that on no occa
sion could there be an array of greater or higher authority. For one,
I hope to be pardoned for yielding to it, in preference to submitting
my judgment to the opinion of those who now deny the power, how
ever respectable it may be.
TNo action was at this time taken on these suggestions }

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS.

'.a the Senate of the United States, February 7, 1839

[From the relations of the Federal Government and of the Peopleof the Free
States to Slavery, spring the most perplexing and delicate questions which have arisen
under our complex Political System — questions exciting acrimony, irritation and
alarm in the Southern States, and requiring of the North conventional action in re
gard to the Right of those held in bondage, adverse to the fundamental principles of
Free Government, on which the Institutions of the Free States are based. The pro
per disposition of the Petitions poured in upon Congress asking action adverse to
the existence of Slavery, is one of the related topics which has at times arrested the
action of Congress and threatened the existence of the Union. Mr. Clay, having
received one of these Petitions, with a request that he present it to the body ot
which he was a Member snoke as follows :]
I have received, Mr. President, a petition to the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United States, which I wish to present to
the Senate. It is signed by several hundred inhabitants of the Dis
trict of Columbia, and chiefly of the city of Washington. Among
them I recognize the name of the highly esteemed Mayor of the city,
and other respectable names, some of which are personally and well
known to me. They express their regret, that the subject of the
abolition of slavery within the District of Columbia, continues to be
pressed upon the consideration of Congress by inconsiderate and mis
guided individuals in other parts of the United States. They state
that they do not desire the abolition of slavery within the district,
even if Congress possesses the very questionable power of abolishing
it, without the consent of the people whose interests would be im
mediately and directly affected by the measure ; that it is a question
solely between the people ofthe District and their only constitutional
legislature, purely municipal, and one in in which no exterior influ
ence or interest can justly interfere ; that, if at any future period the'
people of this District should desire the abolition of slavery within it,
they will doubtless make their wishes known, when it will be time
enough to take the matter into consideration ; that they do not, on
this occasion, present themselves to Congress because they are slave-

396 speeches of henry clay.
holders — many of them are not ; some of them are conscientiously
opposed to slavery — but they appear because they justly respect the
rights of those who own that description of property, and because
they entertain a deep conviction that the continued agitation of the
question by those who have no right to interfere with it, has an in
jurious influence on the peace and tranquility of the community, and
upon the well-being and happiness of those who are held in subjec
tion ; they finally protest as well against the unauthorized investiga
tion of which they complain, as against any legislation on the part of
Congress in compliance therewith. But, as I wish these respectable
petitioners to be themselves heard, I request that their petition may
be read.
Lit was read accordingly, and Mr. Clay proceeded.]
I am informed by the Committee which requested ine to offer this
petition, and believe, that it expresses the almost unanimous senti
ments ofthe people ofthe District of Columbia.
The performance of this service affords me a legitimate oppor
tunity, of which, with the permission of the Senate, I mean now to
avail myself, to say something, not only on the particular objects of
the petition, but upon the great and interesting subject with which it
is intimately associated.
It is well known to the Senate, that I have thought that the most
judicious course with abolition petitions has not been of late pursued
by Congress. I have believed that it would have been wisest to
have received and referred them, without opposition, and to have
reported against their object in a calm and dispassionate and argu
mentative appeal to the good sense of the whole community. It
has been supposed, however by a majority of Congress, that it was
most expedient either not to receive the petitions at all, or, if formally
received, not to act definitively upon them. There is no substantial
difference between these opposite opinions, since both look to an ab
solute rejection ofthe prayer ofthe petitioners. But there is a great
difference in the form of proceeding; and, Mr. President, some ex
perience in the conduct of human affairs has taught me to believe
that a neglect to observe established forms is often attended with
more mischievous consequences than the infliction of a positive injury.

on abolition petitions. 397
We all know that, even in private life, a violation of the existing
usages and ceremonies of society cannot take place without serious
prejudice. I fear, sir, that the abolitionists have acquired a consider
able apparent force by blending with the object which they have in
view a collateral and totally different question arising out of an al-
ledged violation of the right of petition. I know full well, and take
great pleasure in testifying, that nothing was remoter from the inten
tion of the majority of the Senate, from which I differed, than to
violate the right of petition in any case in which, according to its
judgment, that right could be constitutionally exercised, or where
the object of the petition could be safely or properly granted. Still,
it must be owned that the abolitionists have seized hold ofthe fact of
the treatment which their petitions have received in Congress, and
made injurious impressions upon the minds of a large portion of the
community. This, I think, might have been avoided by the course
which I should. have been glad to have seen pursued.
And I desire now, Mr. President, to advert to some of those topics
which I think might have been usefully embodied in a report by a
Committee of the Senate, and which, I am persuaded would have
checked the progress, if it had not altogether arrested the efforts of
abolition. I am sensible, sir, that this work would have been ac
complished with much greater ability and with much happier effect,
under the auspices of a committee, that it can be by me. But, anx
ious as I always am to contribute whatever is in my power to the
harmony, concord, and happiness of this great people, I feel myself
irresistably impelled to do whatever is in my power, incompetent as I
feel myself to be, to dissuade the public from continuing to agitate a
subject fraught with the most dreadful consequences.
There are three classes of persons opposed, or apparently opposed,
to the continued existence of slavery in the United States. The first
are those who, from sentiments of philanthropy and humanity, are
conscienciously opposed to the existence of slavery, but who are no
less opposed, at the same time, to any disturbance of the peace and
tranquillity of the Union, or the infringement of the powers of the
States composing the confederacy. In this class may be comprehend
ed that peaceful and exemplary society of " Friends," one of whose
established maxims is, an abhorrence of war in all its forms, and the
cultivation of peace and good-will among mankind. The next class

398 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
consists of apparent abolitionists — that is, those who, having been
persuaded that the right of petition has been violated by Congress,
co-operate with the abolitionists for the sole purpose of asserting and
vindicating that right. And the third class are the real ultra-aboli
tionists, who are resolved to persevere in the pursuit of their object
at all hazards, and without regard to any consequences, • however
calamitous they may be. With them the right of property is noth
ing ; the deficiency of the powers of the general government is noth
ing ; the acknowledged and incontestible powers of the States are
nothing ; a civil war, a dissolution of the Union, and the overthrow
of a government in which are concentrated the fondest hopes of the
civilized world, are nothing. A single idea has taken possession of
their minds, and( onward they pursue it, overlooking all barriers, and
regardless of all consequences. With this class, the immediate aboli
tion of slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the territory of
Florida, the prohibition of the removal of slaves from State to State,
and the refusal to admit any new State, comprising within its limits
the institution of domestic slavery, are but so many means conducing
to the accomplishment of the ultimate but perilous end at which they
avowedly and boldly aim ; are but so many short stages in the long
and bloody road to the distant goal at which they would finally ar
rive. Their purpose is abolition, universal abolition, peaceably if
they can, forcibly if they must. Their object is no longer concealed
by the thinnest veil ; it is avowed and proclaimed. Utterly destitute
of constitutional or other rightful power, living in totally distinct
communities, as alien to the communities in which the subject on
which they would operate resides, so far as concerns political power
over that subject, as if they lived in Africa or Asia, they nevertheless
promulgate to the world their purpOse to be to manumit forthwith,
and without compensation, and without moral preparation, three mill
ions of negro slaves, under jurisdictions altogether separated from
those under which they live. I have said that immediate abolition
of slavery in the District of Columbia and the territory of Florida,
and the exclusion of new States, were only means towards the at
tainment of a much more important end. Unfortunately, they are
not the only means. Another, and much more lamentable one is that
which this class is endeavoring to employ, of arraying one portion
against another portion of the Union. With that view, in all their
leading prints and publications, the alledged horrors of slavery are
depicted in the most glowing and exaggerated colors, to excite the

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 399
imaginations and stimulate the rage of the people in the free States
against the people in the slave States. The slave-holder is held up
and represented as the most atrocious of human beings. Advertise
ments of fugitive slaves and of slaves to be sold, are carefully collect
ed and blazoned forth, to infuse a spirit of detestation and hatred
against one entire and the largest section of the Union. And like a
notorious agitator upon another theatre, they would hunt down and
proscribe from the pale of civilized society the inhabitants of that en
tire section. Allow me, Mr. President, to say, that while I recognize
in the justly wounded feelings ofthe minister ofthe United States at
the Court of St. James, much to excuse the notice which he was pro
voked to take of that agitator, in my humble opinion, he would have
better consulted the dignity of his station and of his country in treat
ing it with contemptuous silence. He would exclude us from Euro
pean society — he who himself can only obtain a contraband admission,
and is received with scornful repugnance into it ! If he be no more
desirous of our society than we are of his, he may rest assured that
a state of eternal non-intercourse will exist between us. Yes, sir, I
think the American minister would have best pursued the dictates of
true dignity by regarding the language of the member of the British
House of 'Commons as the malignant ravings of the plunderer of his
own country, and the libeller of a foreign and kindred people.
But the means to which I have already adverted, are not the only
ones which this third class of ultra-abolitionists are employing to
effect their ultimate end . They began their operations by professing
to employ only persuasive means in appealing to the humanity, and
enlightening the understandings of the slave-holding portion of the
Union, If there were some kindness in this avowed motive, it mnst
be acknowledged that there was rather a presumptuous display also
of an assumed superiority in intelligence and knowledge.. For some
time they continued to make these appeals to our duty and our inter
est ; but impatient with the slow influence of their logic upon our
minds, they recently resolved to change their system of action. To
the agency of their powers of persuasion, they now propose to substi
tute the powers of the ballot box ; and he must be blind to what is
passing before us, who does not perceive that the inevitable tendency
of their preceedings is, if these should be found insufficient, to invoke,
finally, the more potent powers of the bayonet.

400 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Mr. President, it is at this alarming stage of the proceedings of the
ultra-abolitionists that I would seriously invite every considerate man
in the country solemnly to pause, and deliberately to reflect, not
merely on our existing posture, but upon that dreadful precipice down
which they would hurry us. It is because these ultra-abolitionists
have ceased to employ the instruments of reason and persuasion, have
made their cause political, and have appealed to the ballot box, that
I am induced, upon this occasion, to address you.
There have been three epochs in the history of our country at
which the spirit of abolition displayed itself. The first was immedi
ately after the formation of the present federal government. When
the constitution was about going into operation, its powers were not
well understood by the community at large, and remained to be ac
curately interpreted and defined. At that period numerous abolition
societies were formed, comprising not merely the society of Friends,
but many other good men. Petitions were presented to Congress,
praying for the abolition of slavery. They were received without
serious opposition, referred, and reported upon by a committee. The
report stated that the general government had no power to abolish
slavery as it existed in the several States, and that these States them
selves had exclusive jurisdiction over the subject. The report was
generally acquiesced in, and satisfaction and tranquillity ensued ; the
abolition societies thereafter limiting their exertions, in respect to the
black population, to offices of humanity within the scope of existing
laws. The next period when the subject of slavery, and abolition inci
dentally, were brought into notice and discussion, was that on the
memorable occasion ofthe admission ofthe State of Missouri into the
Union. The struggle was long, strenuous, and fearful. It is too re
cent to make it necessary to do more than merely advert to it, and to
say, that it was finally composed by one of those compromises charac
teristic of our institutions, and of which the constitution itself is the
most signal instance.
The third is, that in which we now find ourselves. Various causes,
Mr. President, have contributed to produce the existing excitement
on the subject of abolition. The principal one, perhaps, is the exam
ple of British emancipation of the slaves in the islands adjacent t<

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 401
our country. Such is the similarity in laws, in language, in institu
tions, and in common origin, between Great Britain and the United
States, that no great measure of national policy can be adopted in the
one country without producing a considerable degree of influence in
the other. Confounding the totally different cases together, of the
powers of the British parliament and those of the Congress of the
United States, and the totally different situations of the British Wes
India Islands, and the the slaves in the sovereign and independent
States of this confederacy, 'superficial men have inferred from 'the
undecided British experiment, the practicability of the abolition of
slavery in these States. The powers of the British parliament are
unlimited, and are often described to be omnipotent. The powers of
the American Congress, on the contrary, are few, cautiously limited,
scrupulously excluding all that are not granted, and above all, care
fully and absolutely excluding all power over the existence and con
tinuance of slavery in the several States. The slaves, too, upon
which British legislation operated, were not in the bosom of the king
dom, but in remote and feeble colonies having no voice in parliament.
The West India slaveholder was neither represented nor representa
tive in that parliament. And while I most fervently wish complete
success to the British experiment of West India emancipation, I con
fess that I have fearful forebodings of a disastrous termination of it.
Whatever it may be, I think it must be admitted that, if the British
parliament had treated the West India slaves as freemen, it also treat
ed the West India freemen as slaves. If, instead of these slaves being
separated by a wide ocean from the parent country, three or four
millions of African negro slaves had been dispersed over England,
Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and their owners had been members of
the British parliament — a case which would have presented some
analogy to that of our country — does any one believe that it would
have been expedient or practicable to have emancipated them, leav
ing them to remain, with all their embittered feelings, in the United
kingdom, boundless as the powers of the British parliament are ?
Other causes have conspired with the British example to produce
the existing excitement from abolition. I say it with profound regret,
but with no intention to occasion irritation here or elsewhere, that
there are persons in both parts of the Union who have sought to
mingle abolition with politics, and to array one portion of the Union
against the other. It is the misfortune in free countries that, in high

402 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
party times, a disposition too often prevails to seize hold of every
thing which can strengthen the one side or weaken the other.
Charges of fostering abolition designs have been heedlessly and un
justly made by one party against the other. Prior to the late election
of the President of the United, he was charged, with being an aboli
tionist, and abolition designs were imputed to many of his supporters,
Much as I was opposed to his election, and am to his administration,
I neither shared in making nor believing the truth of the charge. He
was "scarcely installed in office before the same charge was directed
against those who opposed his election.
Mr. President, it is not true, and I rejoice that it is not true, that
either of the two great parties in this country has any designs or aim
at abolition. I should deeply lament if it were true. I should con
sider, if it were true, that the danger to the stability of our system
would be infinitely greater than any which does, I hope, actually
exist. While neither party can be, I think, justly accused of any
abolition tendency or purpose, both have profited, and both have been
injured in particular localities, by the accession or abstraction of abo
lition support. If the account were fairly stated, I believe the party
to which I am opposed has profited much more, and been injured
much less, than that to which I belong. But I am far, for that reason,
from being disposed to accuse our adversaries of being abolitionists.
And now, Mr. President, allow me to consider the several cases in
which the authority of Congress is invoked by these abolition peti
tioners upoh the subject of domestic slavery. The first relates to it
as it exists in the District of Columbia. The following is the provi
sion of the constitution of the United States in reference to that
matter :
" To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not
exceeding ten miles square) as may by cession of particular States, and the accept
ance of Congress, become the seat of government qf the United States."
This provision preceded, in point of time, the actual cessions which
were made by the States of Maryland and Virginia. The object of
the cession was, to establish a seat of government of the United States ;
and the grant in the constitution of exclusive legislation must be un
derstood, and should be always interpreted, as having relation to the
object of the cession. It was with a full knowledge of this clause in

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 403
the constitution that those two States ceded to the general govern
ment the ten miles square, constituting the district of Columbia. In
making the cession, they supposed that it was to be applied, and ap
plied solely, to the purposes of a seat of government, for which it
was asked. When it was made, slavery existed in both those com
monwealths, and in the ceded territory, as it now continues to exist
in all of them. Neither Maryland nor Virginia could have anticipa
ted that, while the institution remained within their respective limits,
its abolition would be attempted by Congress without their consent.
Neither of them would probably have made an unconditional cession,
if they could have anticipated such a result.
From the nature of the provision in the constitution, and the avow
ed object of the acquisition of the territory, two duties arise on the
part of Congress. The first is, to render the district available, com
fortable, and convenient, as a seat of government of the whole Union ;
the other is to govern the people within the district so as best to pro
mote their happiness and prosperity. These objects are totally dis
tinct in their nature, and in interpreting and exercising the grant of
the power of exclusive legislation, that distinction should be con
stantly borne in mind. Js it necessary, in order to render this place
a comfortable seat of the general government, to abolish slavery with
in its limits ? No one can or will advance such a proposition. The
government has remained here near forty years without the slightest
inconvenience from the presence of domestic slavery. Is it necessary
to the well-being of the people of the District that slavery should be
abolished from among them ? They not only neither ask nor desire,
but are almost unanimously opposed to it. It exists here in the
mildest and most mitigated form. In a population of 39,834, there
were, at the last enumeration of the population of the United States,
but 6,119 slaves. The number has not probably much increased
since. They are dispersed over.the ten miles square, engaged in the
quiet pursuits of husbandry, or in menial offices in domestic life. If
it were necessary to the efficiency of this place, as a seat of the gen
eral government, to abolish slavery, which is utterly denied, the abo
lition should be confined to the necessity which prompts it, that is, to
the limits of the City of Washington itself. Beyond those limits, per
sons concerned in the government of the United States, have no more
to'do with the inhabitants of the District than they have with the
inhabitants of the adjacent counties of Maryland and Virginia which
lie beyond the District.

404 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
To abolish slavery within the District of Columbia, while it remains
in Virginia, and Maryland, situated, as that District is, within the
very heart of those States, would expose them to great practical in
convenience and annoyance. The District would become a place of
refuge and escape for fugitive slaves from the two States, and a place
from which the spirit of discontent, insubordination, and insurrection
might be fostered and encouraged in the two States. Suppose, as
was at one time under consideration, Pennsylvania had granted ten
miles square within its limits, for the purpose of a seat of the general
government ; could Congress without a violation of good faith, have
introduced and established slavery within the bosom of that common
wealth, in the ceded territory, after she had abolished it so long ago
as the year 17S0 ? Yet the inconvenience to Pennsylvania in the
case supposed, would have been much less than that to Virginia and
Maryland in the case we are arguing
It was upon this view of the subject that the Senate, at its last
session, solemnly declared that it would be a violation of implied
faith, resulting from the transaction of the cession, to abolish slavery
within the District of Columbia. And would it not be ? By implied
faith is meant, that, when a grant is made for one avowed and de
clared purpose, known to the parties, the grant should not be pervert
ed to another purpose, unavowed and undeclared, and injurious to
the grantor. The grant, in the case we are considering, of the terri
tory of Columbia, was for a seat of government. Whatever power is
necessary to accomplish that object, is carried along by the grant.
But the abolition of slavery is not necessary to the enjoyment of this
site as a seat of the general government. The grant in the constitu
tion, of exclusive power of legislation over the District, was made to
ensure the exercise of an exclusive authority of the general govern
ment to render this place a safe and secure seat of government, and
to promote the well being of the inhabitants of the District. The
power granted ought to be interpreted and exercised solely to the end
for which it was granted. The language of the grant was necesarily
broad, comprehensive, and exclusive, because all the exigencies which
might arise to render this a secure seat of the general government,
could not have been foreseen and provided for. The language may
possibly be sufficiently comprehensive to include a power of abolition,
but it would not at all thence follow that the power could be right
fully exercised. The case may be resembled to that of a plenipoten^

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 405
tiary invested with a plenary power, but who, at the same time has
positive instructions from his government as to the kind of treaty
which he is to negotiate and conclude. If he violates those instruc
tions, and concludes a different treaty, this government is not bound
by it. And, if the foreign government is aware of the violation, it
acts in bad faith. Or it may be illustrated by an example drawn from
private life. I am an endorser for my friend on a note discounted in
bank. He applies to me to endorse another to renew it, which I do
in blank. Now this gives him power to make any other use of my
note which he pleases. But, if instead of applying it to the intended
purpose, he goes to a broker and sells it, thereby doubling my respon
sibility for him, he commits a breach of trust, and a violation of the
good faith implied in the whole transaction.
But, Mr. President, if this reasoning were an erroneous one as I
believe it to be correct and conclusive, is the affair'of the liberation
of six thousand negro slaves In this District, disconnected with the
three millions of slaves' in the United States, of sufficient magnitude
to agitate, distract and embitter this great confederacy ?
The next case in which the petitioners ask the exercise of the
power of Congress, relates to slavery in the Territory of Florida.
Florida is the extreme southern portion of the United States. It
is bounded on all its land sides by slave states, and is several hun
dred miles from the nearest free state. It almost extends within the
tropics, and the nearest important island to it on the water side is
Cuba, a slave island. This simple statement of its geographical po
sition should of itself decide the question. When, by the treaty of
1819 with Spain, it was ceded to the United States^ slavery existed
within it. By the terms of that treaty, the effects and property of
the inhabitants are secured to them, and they are allowed to remove
and take them away, if they think proper to do so, without limitation
as to time. If it were expedient, therefore, to abolish slavery in it
it could not be done consistently with the treaty, without granting to
the ancient inhabitants a reasonable time to remove their slaves.
But further : By the compromise which took place on the passage of
the act for the admission of Missouri into the Union, in the year
1820, it was agreed and understood that the line of 36 deg. 30 min.
of north latitude should mark the boundary between the free states
*AA

406 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and the slave states to be created in the territories of the United
States ceded by the treaty of Louisiana ; those situated south of
it being slave states, and those north of it, free states. But Florida
is south of that line, and consequently, according to the spirit of
the understanding which prevailed at the period alluded to, should
be a slave state. It may be true that the compromise does not in
terms embrace Florida, and that it is not absolutely binding and obliga
tory ; but all candid and impartial men must agree that it ought not
to be disregarded without the most weighty considerations, and that
nothing could be more to be deprecated than to open anew the bleed
ing wounds which were happily bound up and healed by that com
promise. Florida is the only remaining territory to be admitted into
the Union with the institution of domestic slavery, while Wisconsin
and Iowa are now nearly ripe for admission without it.
The next instance in which the exercise of the power of Congress
is solicited, is that of prohibiting what is denominated by the peti
tioners the slave trade between the states, or, as it is described in
abolition petitions, the trafic in human beings between the States.
This exercise of the power of Congress is claimed under that clause
of the constitution which invests it with authority to regulate com
merce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the
Indian tribes. The power to regulate commerce among the several
States, like other powers in the constitution, has hitherto remained
dormant in respect to the interior trade by land between these states.
It was a power granted like all the other powers of the general gov
ernment, to secure peace and harmony among the states. Hitherto
it has not been necessary to exercise it. All the cases in which,
during the progress of time it may become expedient to exert the
general authority to regulate commerce between the states, cannot be
conceived- We may easily imagine, however, contingencies which,
if they were to happen, might require the interposition of the com
mon authority. If, for example, the State of Ohio were, by law, to
prohibit any vessel entering the port of Cincinnati, from the port of
Louisville, in Kentucky, if that case be not already provided for by
the laws which regulate our coasting trade, it would be competent to
the general government to annul the prohibition emanating from state
authority. Or, if the State of Kentucky were to prohibit the intro
duction, within its limits, of any articles of trade, the production of
the industry of the inhabitants of the State of Ohio, the general gov-

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 407
«rnment might by its authority, supersede the state enactment. But
I deny that the general government has any authority whatever, from
the constitution, to abolish what is called the slave trade, or, in other
words to prohibit the removal of slaves from one slave state to ano
ther slave state.
The grant in the constitution is of a power Of regulation, and not
prohibition. It is conservative, not destructive. Regulation ex vi
termini implies the continued existence or prosecution of the thing
regulated. Prohibition implies total discontinuance or annihilation.
The regulation intended was designed to facilitate and accommodate,
not to obstruct and incommode the commerce to be regulated. Can
it be pretended that, under this power to regulate commerce among
the States, Congress has the power to prohibit the transportation of
live stock which, in countless numbers, are daily passing from the
western and interior States to the southern, southwestern, and Atlan
tic States ? The moment the incontestible fact is admitted that ne
gro slaves are property, the law of moveable property irresistibly
attaches itself to them, and secures the right of carrying them from
one to another State, where they are recognized as property, without
any hindrance whatever from Congress.
But, Mr. President, I will not detain the Senate longer on the
subjectsof slavery within the District and in Florida, and ofthe right
of Congress to prohibit the removal of slaves from one State to ano
ther. These, as I have already intimated, with ultra abolitionists,
are but so many masked batteries, concealing the real and ultimate
point of attack. That point of attack is the institution of t/omestic
slavery as it exists in these States. It is to liberate three millions of
slaves held in bondage within them. And now allow me, Sir, to
glance at the insurmountable obstacles which lie in the way of the
accomplishment of this endj and at some of the consequences which
would ensue if it were possible to attain it.
The first impediment is the utter and absolute want of all power on
the part of the general government to effect the purpose. The con
stitution of the United States cre*a?a u limited government, compri
sing comparatively few powers, and leaving the residuary mass of
political power in the possession of the several States. It is well
known that the subject of slavery interposed one of the greatest diffi-

408 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
culties in the formation of the constitution. It was happily compro
mised and adjusted in a spirit of harmony and patriotism. According
to that compromise, no power whatever was granted to the general
government in respect to domestic slavery, but that which relates to
taxation and representation, and the power to restore fugitive slaves
to their lawful owners. All other power in regard to the institution
of slavery, was retained exclusively by the States, to be exercised by
them severally, according to their respective views of their own pe
culiar interest. The constitution of the United States never could
have been formed upon the principle of investing the general govern
ment with authority to abolish the institution at its pleasure. It
never can be continued for a single day if the exercise of such a pow
er be assumed or usurped.
But it may be contended by these ultra abolitionists that their ob-
]ect is not to stimulate the action of the general government, but to
operate upon the States themselves in which the institution of domes
tic slavery exists. If that be their object, why are these abolition
societies and movements all confined to the free States ? Why are
the slave States wantonly and cruelly assailed ? Why do the aboli
tion presses teem with publications tending to excite hatred and ani
mosity on the part of the inhabitants of the free States against those
of the slave States ? Why is Congress petitioned ? The free States
have no more power or right to interfere with institutions in the slave
States, confided to the exclusive jurisdiction . of those States, than
they would have to interfere with institutions existing in any foreign
country. What would be thought of the formation of societies in
Great Britain, the issue of numerous inflammatory publications, and
the sending out of lecturers throughout the kingdom, denouncing and
aiming at the destruction of any ofthe institutions of France ? Would
they be regarded as proceedings warranted by good neighborhood ?
Or what would be thought of the formation of societies in the slave
States, the issuing of violent aud inflammatory tracts, and the depu
tation of missionaries, pouring out impassioned denunciations against
institutions under the exclusive control of the free States ? Is their
purpose to appeal to our understandings, and to actuate our human
ity ? And do they expect to accomplish that purpose by holding us
up to the scorn, and contempt, and detestation of the the people of the
free States, and the whole civilized world ? The slavery which ex
ists among us, is our affair not theirs ; and they have no more jiwt

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 409
concern with it than they have with slavery as it exists throughout
the world. Why not leave it to us, as the common constitution of
our country has left it, to be dealt with, under the guidance of Provi
dence, as best we may or can ?
The next obstacle in the way of abolition arises out ofthe fact of
the presence in the slave States of three millions of slaves. They are
there, dispersed throughout the land, part and parcel of our popula
tion. They were brought into the country originally under the au
thority of the parenT government whilst we were colonies, and their
importation was continued in spite of all the remonstrances of our
ancestors. If the question were an original question, whether, there
being no slaves within the country, we should introduce them, and
incorparate them into our society, that would be a totally different
question. Few, if any ofthe citizens ofthe United States would be
found to favor their introduction. No man in it would oppose, upon
that supposition, their admission with more determined resolution
and conscientious repugnance than I should. But that is not the
question. The slaves are here ; no practical scheme for their removal
or separation from us has been yet devised or proposed ; and the true
inquiry is, what is best to be done with them. In human affairs we
are often constrained, by the force of circumstances and the actual
state of things, to do what we would not do if that state of things did
not exist. The slaves are here, and here must remain, in some con
dition ; and, I repeat, how are they to be best governed ? What is
best to be done for their happiness and our own ? In the slave
States the alternative is, that the white man must govern the black,
or the black govern the white. In several of those States, the num
ber of the slaves is greater than that of the white population. An
immediate abolition of slavery in them, as these ultra abolitionists
propose, would be followed by a desperate struggle for immediate as
cendancy of the black race over the white race, or rather it would be
followed by instantaneous collisions between the two races, which
would break out into a civil war that would end in the extermination
or subjugation of the one race or the other. In such an alternative,
who can hesitate ? Is it not better for both parties, that the existing
state of things should be preserved, instead of exposing them to the
horrible strifes and contests which would inevitably attend an imme
diate abolition ? This is our true ground of defence for the continued
existence of slavery in our country. It is that which our revolution-

410 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
ary ancestors assumed. It is that which, in my opinion, forms our
justification in the eyes of all Christendom.
A third impediment to immediate abolition is to be found in the
immense amount of capital which is invested in slave property. The
total number of slaves in the United States, according to the last
enumeration of the population, was a little upwards of two millions.
Assuming their increase at a ratio, which it probably is., of five per
cent, per annum, their present number would be three millions. The
average value of slaves at this time is stated by persons well informed
to be as high as five hundred dollars each. To be certainly within
the mark, let us suppose that it is only four hundred dollars. The
total value, then, by that estimate, of the slave property in the United
States, is twel ve hundred millions of dollars . This property is diffused
throughout all classes and conditions of society. It is owned by
widows and orphans, by the aged and infirm, as well as the sound and
vigorous. It is the subject of mortgages, deeds of trust, and family
settlements. It has been made the basis of numerous debts contracted
upon its faith, and is the sole reliance, in many mstances, of creditors
within and without the slave States, for the payment of debts due to
them. And now it is rashly proposed, by a single fiat of legislation,
to annihilate this immense amount of property ! To annihilate it
without indemnity and without compensation to its owners ! Does
any considerate man believe it to be possible to effect such an object
without convulsion, revolution, and bloodshed?
I know that there is a visionary dogma, which holds that negro-
slaves cannot be the subject of property. I shall not dwell long on
this speculative abstraction. That is property which the law de
clares to be property. Two hundred years of legislation have sanc
tioned and sanctified negro slaves as property. /.Under all the forms
of government which have existed upon this continent during that
long space of time — under the British government — under the colo
nial government — under all the State constitutions and governments
— and under the federal government itself- — they have been deliber
ately and solemnly recognized as the legitimate subjects of property.
To the wild speculations of theorists and innovators stands opposed
the fact, that in an uninterrupted period of two hundred years' dura
tion, under every form of human legislation, and by all the depart
ments of human government, African negro slaves have been held

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS- 411
and respected, have descended and been transferred, as lawful and
indisputable property. They were treated as property in the very
British example which is so triumphantly appealed to as worthy of
our imitation. Although the West India planters had no voice in the
united parliament of the British Isle, an irresistible sense of justice
extorted from that legislature the grant of twenty millions of pounds
sterling to compensate the colonists for their loss of property.
If, therefore, these ultra-abolitionists are seriously determined to
pursue their immediate scheme of abolition, they should at once set
about raising a fund of twelve hundred millions of dollars, to indem
nify the owners of slave property. And the taxes to raise that enor
mous amount can only be justly assessed upon themselves or upon the
free States, if they can persuade them to assent to such an assess
ment ; for it would be a mockery of all justice and an outrage against
all equity to levy any portion of the tax upon the slave States to pay
for their own unquestioned property.
If.the considerations to which I have already adverted are not suf
ficient to disswade the abolitionists from further perseverance in their
designs, the interest of the very cause which they profess to espouse
ought to check their career. Instead of advancing, by their efforts,
that cause, they have thrown back for half a century the prospect of
any species of emancipation of the African race, gradual or immediate,
in any of the States. They have done more ; they have increased the
rigors of legislation against slaves in most, if not all, of the slave
States. Forty years ago the question was agitated in the State of
Kentucky of a gradual emancipation of the slaves within its limits.
By gradual emancipation, I mean that slow but safe and cautious
liberation of slaves which was first adopted in Pennsylvania at the
instance of Dr. Franklin, in the year 1780, and according to which,
the generation in being were to remain in slavery, but all their off
spring born after a specified day were to be free at the age of twenty-
eight, and, in the meantime, were to receive preparatory instruction
to qualify them for the enjoyment of freedom. That was the species
of emancipation which, at the epoch to which I allude, was discussed
v in Kentucky. No one was rash enough to propose or think of imme
diate abolition. No one was rash enough to think of throwing loose
upon the community, ignorant and unprepared, the untutored slaves
ofthe, State. Many thought, and I among them, that as each ofthe

412 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
slave States had a right exclusively to judge for itself in respect to
the institution of domestic slavery, the proportion of slaves compared
with the white population in that State, at that time, was so incon
siderable that a system of gradual emancipation might have been
safely adopted without any hazard to the security and interests ef the
commonwealth. And I still think that the question of such emanci
pation in the farming States is one whose solution depends upon the
relative numbers of the two races in any given Stale. If I had been
a citizen of the State of Pennsylvania, when Franklin's plan was
adopted, 1 should have voted for it, because by no possibility could
the black race ever acquire the ascendancy in that State. But if I
had been then, or were now, a citizen of any of the planting States —
the southern or southwestern States— I should have opposed, and
would continue to oppose, any scheme whatever of emancipation,
gradual or immediate, because of the danger of an ultimate ascendancy
ofthe black race, or of a civil contest which might terminate in the
extinction of one race or the other.
The proposition in Kentucky for a gradual emancipation did not
^prevail, but it was sustained by a large and respectable minority.
That minority had increased and was increasing, until the abolition
ists commenced their operations. The effect has been to dissipate all
prospects whatever for the present, of any scheme of gradual or other
emancipation. The people of that State have been shocked and
alarmed by these abolition movements, and the number who would
now favor a system even of gradual emancipation, is probably less
than it was in the years 1798-'9. At the session of the legislature
held in lS37-'8, the question of calling a Convention was submitted
to the consideration ofthe people by a law passed in conformity with
the constitution of the State. Many motives existed for the passage
of the law, and among them that of emancipation had its influence.
When the question was passed upon by the people at their last annu
al election, only about one-fourth of the whole voters of the State
supported a call of a Convention. The apprehension of the danger
of abolition was the leading consideration among the people for oppo
sing the call. But for that — but for the agitation of the question of
abolition in States whose population had no right, in the opinion of
the people of Kentucky to interfere in the matter, the vote for a Con
vention would have been much larger, if it had not been carried. I
felt myself constrained to take immediate, bold, and decided ground
against it.

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 413
Prior to the agitation of this subject of abolition, there was a pro
gressive melioration in the condition of slaves throughout all the slave
States. In some of them, schools of instruction were opened by hu
mane and religious persons. These are all now checked, and a spirit
of insubordination having shown itself in some localities, traceable,
it is believed, to abolition movements and exertions, the legislative
authority has found it expedient to infuse fresh vigor into the police,
and laws which regulate the conduct of the slaves.
And now, Mr. President, if it were possible to overcome the in
surmountable obstacles which lie in the way of immediate abolition,
let us briefly contemplate some of the consequences which would in
evitably ensue. One of these has been occasionally alluded to in the
progress of these remarks. It is the struggle which would instanta
neously arise between the two races in most of the southern and
southwestern States. And what a dreadful struggle would it not be !
Embittered by all the recollections of the past, by the unconquerable
prejudices which would prevail between two races, and stimulated by
all the hopes and fears of the future, it would be a contest in which
the extermination ofthe blacks, or their ascendancy over the whites,
would be the sole alternative. Prior to the conclusion, or during the
progress of such a contest, vast numbers, probably of the black race
would migrate into the free States ; and what effect would such a
migration have upon the laboring classes in those States !
Now the distribution of labor in the United States is geographical ;
the free laborers occupying one side of the line, and the slave laborers
the other ; each class pursuing its own avocations almost altogether
unmixed with the other. But on the supposition of immediate aboli
tion, the black class> migrating into the free States, would enter into
competition with the white class, diminishing the wages of their labor,
and augmenting the hardships of their condition.
This is not all. The abolitionists strenuously Oppose all separation
of the two races. I confess to you, sir, that I have seen with regret,
grief, and astonishment, their resolute opposition to the project of
colonization. No scheme was ever presented to the acceptance of
man, which, whether it be entirely practicable or not, is character
ized by more unmixed humanity and benevolence than that of trans
porting, with their own consent, the free people of color in the United

414 SPEECHES OF HENRY Ct,AY.
States to the land of their ancestors. It has the powerful recommen
dation that whatever it does is good ; and, if it affects nothing, it in
flicts, no one evil or mischief upon any portion of our society. There
is no necessary hostility between the objects of colonization and abo
lition. Colonization deals only with the free man of color, and that
with his own free voluntary consent. It has nothing to do wilh sla
very. It disturbs no man's property, seeks to impair no power in the
slave States, nor to attribute any to the general government. All its
action, and all its ways and means are voluntary, depending upon the
blessing of Providence, which hitherto has graciously smiled upon it.
And yet, beneficent and harmless as colonization is, no portion of the
people of the United States denounce it with so much persevering
zeal and such unmixed bitterness as do the abolitionists.
They put themselves in direct opposition to any separation what
ever between the two races. They would keep them for ever pent
up together within the same limits, perpetuating their animosities,
and constantly endangering the peace of the community. They pro-*
claim, indeed, that color is nothing ; that the organic and character
istic differences between the two races ought to be entirely overlook
ed and disregarded. And, elevated themselves to a sublime but im
practicable philosophy, they would teach us to eradicate all the re
pugnances of our nature, and to take to our bosoms and our boards
the black man as we do the white, on the same footing of equal social
condition. Do they not perceive that in thus confounding all the
distinctions which God himself has made, they arraign the wisdom
and goodness of Providence itself? It has been his divine pleasure
to make the black man black, and the white man white, and to dis
tinguish them by other repulsive constitutional differences. It is not
necessary for me to maintain, nor shall I endeavor to prove, that it
was any part of his divine intention that the one race should be held
in perpetual bondage by the other ; but this I will say, that those
whom he has created different, and has declared, by their physical
structure and color, ought to be kept asunder, should not be brought
together by any process whatever of unnatural amalgamation.
But if the dangers of the evil contest which I have supposed could
be avoided, separation or amalgamation is the only peaceful alterna
tive, if it were possible to effectuate the project of abolition. The
abolitionists oppose all colonizatiou, and it irresistibly follows, what-

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 415
ever they may protest or declare, that they are in favor of amalga
mation. And who are to bring about this amalgamation ? I have
heard of none of these ultra abolitionists furnishing in their own fam
ilies or persons examples of intermarriage. Who is to begin it ? Is
it their purpose not only to Create a pinching competition between
black labor and white labor, but do they intend also to contaminate
the industrious and laboring classes of society at the north, by a re
volting admixture of the black element?
It is frequently asked, what is to become of the African race among
us ? Are they for ever to remain in bondage ? That question was
asked more than half a century ago. It has been answered by fifty
years of prosperity, but little chequered from this cause. It will be
repeated fifty or a hundred years hence. The true answer is, that
the same Providence who has hitherto guided and governed us, and
averted all serious evils from the existing relation between the two
races, will guide and govern, our posterity. Sufficient to the day is
the evil thereof. We have hitherto, with that blessing, taken care of
ourselves. Posterity will find the means of its own preservation and
prosperity. It is only in the most direful event which can befal this
people that this great interest, and all other of our greatest interests,
would be put in jeopardy. Although in particular districts the black
population is gaining upon the white, it only constitutes one fifth of
the whole population of the United States. And taking the aggre
gates of the two races, the European is constantly, though slowly,
gaining upon the African portion. This fact is demonstrated by the
periodical returns of our population. Let us cease, then, to indulge
in gloomy forebodings about the impenetrable future. But, if we
may attempt to lift the veil, and contemplate what lies beyond it, I,
too, have ventured on a speculative theory, with which I will not
now trouble you, but which has been published to the world. Ac
cording to that, in the progress of time, some one hundred and fifty
or two hundred years hence, but few vestiges of the black race will
remain among our posterity.
Mr. President, at the period of the formation of our constitution,
and afterwards, our patriotic ancestors apprehended danger to the
Union from two causes. One was, the Alleghany mountains, divid
ing the waters which flow into the Atlantic ocean from those which
found their outlet in the Gulf of Mexico. They seemed to present a

416 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
natural separation. That danger has vanished before the noble
achievements ofthe spirit of internal improvement, and the immortal
genius of Fulton. And now, no where is found a more loyal attach
ment to the Union than among those very western people, who, it
was apprehended, would be the first to burst its ties.
The other cause, domestic slavery, happily the sole remaining
cause which is likely to disturb our harmony, continues to exist. It
was this which created the greatest obstacle and the most anxious
solicitude in the deliberations ofthe convention that adopted the gen
eral constitution. And it is this subject that has ever been regarded
with the deepest anxiety by all who are sincerely desirous of the per-
manencv of our Union. The father Of his country, in his last affect
ing and solemn appeal to his fellow-citizens, deprecated, as a most
calamitous event, the geographical divisions which it might produce.
The convention wisely left to the several states the power over the
institution of slavery, as a power not necessary to the plan of union
which it devised, and as one with which the general government
could not be invested without planting the seeds of certain destruc
tion. There let it remain undisturbed by any unhallowed hand.
Sir, I am not in the habit of speaking lightly of the possibility of
dissolving this happy Union. The Senate knows that I have depre
cated allusions, on ordinary occasions, to that direful event. The
country will testify that, if there be any thing in the history of my
public career worthy of recollection, it is the truth and sincerity of
my ardent devotion to its lasting preservation. But we should be
false in our allegiance to it, if we did not discriminate between the
imaginary and real dangers by which it may be assailed. Abolition
should no longer be regarded as an imaginary danger. The aboli
tionists, let me suppose, succeed in their present aim of uniting the
inhabitants of the free states as one man, against the inhabitants of
the slave states. Union on the one side will begetunion on the other.
And this process of reciprocal consolidation will be attended with all
the violent prejudices, embittered passions, and implacable animosi
ties which ever degraded or deformed human nature. A virtual dis
solution of the Union will have taken place, while the forms of its
existence remain. Tbe most valuable element of union, mutual kind
ness, the feelings of sympathy, the fraternal bonds, which now hap
pily unite us, will have been extinguished for ever. One section will

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. . 417
stand in menacing and hostile array against the other. The collision
of opinion will be quickly followed by the clash of arms. I will not
attempt to describe scenes which now happily lie concealed from our
view. Abolitionists themselves would shrink back in dismay and
horror at the comtemplation of desolated fields, conflagrated cities,
murdered inhabitants, and the overthrow of the fairest fabric of hu
man government that ever rose to animate the hopes of civilized man.
Nor should these abolitionists flatter themselves that, if they can
succeed in their object of uniting the people of the free states, they
will enter the contest with numerical superiority that must ensure
victory. All history and experience proves the hazard and uncer
tainty of war. And we are admonished by holy writ that the race,
is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. But if they were to
conquer, whom would they conq uer ? A foreign foe — one who had
insulted our flag, invaded our shores, and laid our country waste r
No, sir : no, sir. It would be a conquest without laurels, without
glory — a self, a suicidal conquest — a conquest of brothers over bro
thers, achieved by one over another portion of the descendants of
common ancestors, who nobly pledging their lives, their fortunes, and
their sacred honor, had fought and bled, side by side, in many a hard
battle on land and ocean, severed our country from the British crown,
and established our national independence.
The inhabitants Of the slave states are sometimes accused by their
northern brethren with displaying too much rashness and sensibility
to the operations and proceedings of abolitionists. But, before they
can be rightly judged, there should be a reversal of conditions. Let
me suppose that the people of the slave states were to form societies,
subsidize presses, make large pecuniary contributions, send for thenu-
merous missionaries throughout all their own borders, and enter into
machinations to burn the beautiful capitols, destroy the productive
manufactories, and sink in the ocean the gallant ships of the northern
States. Would these incendiary proceedings be regarded as neigh
borly and friendly, and consistent with the fraternal sentiments which
should ever be cherished by one portion of the Union towards ano
ther ? Would they excjte no emotion ? Occasion no manifestations
of dissatisfaction, nor lead to any acts of retaliatory violence ? But
the supposed case falls far short of the actual one in a most essential
circumstance. In no contingency could these capitols, manufactories,

418 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and ships rise in rebellion and massacre the inhabitants of the north
ern States.
I am, Mr. President, no friend of slavery.; The searcher of all
hearts knows that every pulsation of mine beats high and strong in
the cause of civil liberty. Wherever it is safe and practicable, I de
sire to see every portion of the human family in the enjoyment of it.
But I prefer the liberty of my own country to that of any other peo
ple ; and the liberty of my own race to that of any other race. The
liberty of the descendants of Africa in the United States is incompat
ible with the safety and.liberty of the European descendants. Their
slavery forms an exception — an exception resulting from a stern and
inexorable necessity — to the general liberty in the United States. —
We did not originate, nor are we responsible for, this necessity.
Their liberty, if it were possible, could only be established by viola
ting the incontestable powers of the States, and subverting the Union.
And beneath the ruins of the Union would be buried, sooner or later,
the liberty of both races.
But if one dark spot exists on our political horizon, is it not ob
scured by the bright and effulgent and cheering light that beams all
around us ? Was ever a people before so blessed as we are, if true
to ourselves ? Did ever any other nation contain within its bosom so
many elements of prosperity, of greatness, and of glory ? Our only
real danger lies ahead, conspicuous, elevated, and visible. It was
clearly discerned at the commencement, and distinctly seen through
out our whole career. Shall we wantonly run upon it, and destroy
all the glorious anticipations of the high destiny that awaits us ? I
beseech the abolitionists themselves, solemnly to pause in their mad
and fatal course. Amid the infinite variety of objects of humanity
and benevolence which invite the employment of their energies, let
them select some one more harmless, that does not threaten to deluge
our country in blood. I call upon that small portion of the clergy,
which has lent itself to these wild and ruinous schemes, not to forget
the holy nature of the divine mission of the Founder of our religion,
and to profit by his peaceful examples. I entreat that portion of my
countrywomen who have given their countenance to abolition, to re
member that they are ever most loved and honored when moving in
their own appropriate and delightful sphere ; and to reflect that the
ink which they shed in subscribing with their fair hands abolition

ON ABOLITION PETITIONS. 419
petitions may prove but the prelude to the shedding of the blood of
their brethren. I adjure all the inhabitants of the free states to rebuke
and discountenanee, by their opinion and their example, measures
which must inevitably lead to the most calamitous consequences.
And let us all as countrymen, as friends, and as brothers, cherish in
unfading memory the motto which bore our ancestors triumphantly
through all the trials of the revolution, as, if adhered to, it will con
duct their posterity through all that may, in the dispensations of
Providence, be reserved for them.

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
At Taylorsville, Virginia, July 10, 1S40.

LMr. Clav was invited by the Whigs of his native County, to visit and meet
them at the festive board during the Presidential canvass of 1840. He complied as
soon as his duties in the Senate would permit, and, being addressed from the chair
in a sentiment expressive of gratitude and admiration, responded as follows :]
I. think my friends and fellow citizens, that availing myself of the
privilege of my long service in the public councils, just adverted to,
the resolution, which I have adopted, is not unreasonable of leaving
to younger men, generally, the performance of the duty, and the en
joyment of the pleasure of addressing the people in their primary
assemblies. After the event which occurred last winter at the capi-
tol of Pennsylvania, I believed it due to myself, to the Whig cause,
and to the country, to announce to the public, with perfect truth and
sincerity, and without any reserve, my fixed determination to support
the nomination of WillIam Henry Harrison, there made. To put
down all misrepresentations, I have, on suitable occasions, repeated
this annunciation, and now declare my solemn conviction that the
purity and security of our free institutions, and the prosperity of the
country, imperatively demand the election of that citizen to the office
of Chief Magistrate of the United States.
But the occasion forms an exception from the rule which I have
prescribed to myself. I have come here to the county of my nativity
in the spirit of a pilgrim, to meet, perhaps for the last time, the com
panions and the descendants of the companions of my youth. Wher
ever we roam, in whatever climate or land we are cast by the acci
dents of human life, beyond the mountains or beyond the ocean, in
the legislative halls of the capitol, or in the retreats and shades of
private life, our hearts turn with an irresistible instinct to the cher
ished spot which ushered us into existence. And we dwell with
delightful associations on the recollection of the streams in which,

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 421
during our boyish days, we bathed, the fountains at which we drunk,
the piney fields, the hills and the valleys where we sported, and the
friends who shared these enjoyments with us. Alas ! too many of
these friends of mine have gone whither we must all shortly go, and
the presence here of the small remnant left behind attests bpth our
loss and our early attachment. I would greatly prefer, my friends,
to employ the time which this visit affords in friendly and familiar
conversation on the virtues of our departed companions, and on the
scenes and adventures of our younger days ; but the expectation
which prevails, the awful state of our beloved country, and the op
portunities which I have enjoyed in its public councils impose on me
the obligation of touching on topics less congenial with the feelings
of my heart, but possessing higher public interest. I assure you,
fellow citizens, however, that I present myself before you for no pur
pose of exciting prejudices or inflaming passions, but to speak to you
in all soberness and truth, and to testify to the things which I know,
or the convictions which I entertain, as an ancient friend, who has
lived long and whose career js rapidly drawing to a close. Through
out an arduous life, I have endeavored to make truth and the good
of the country the guides of my public conduct ; but in Hanover
county, for which I cherish sentiments of respect, gratitude and ven
eration, above all other places, would I avoid saying anything that
I did not sincerely and truly believe.
Why is the plough deserted, the tools of the mechanic laid aside,
and all are seen rushing to gatherings of the people ? What occa
sions those vast and useful assemblages which we behold in every
State, and in almost every neighborhood ? Why those conventions
of the people, at a common centre, from all the extremities of this
vast Union, to consult together upon the sufferings of the community,
and to deliberate on the means of deliverance ? Why this rabid ap
petite for public discussions ? What is the solution of the phenome
non, which we observe, of a great nation, agitated upon its whole
surface, and at its lowest depths, like the ocean when convulsed by
some terrible storm ? There must be a cause, and no ordinary cause.
It has been truly said, in the most memorable document, that ever
issued from the pen of man, that "all experience hath shown that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they areaccus-
*BB

422 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tomed. The recent history of our people furnishes confirmation of
that truth. They are active, enterprising and intelligent ; but are
not prone to make groundless complaints against public servants. If
we now every where behold them in motion, it is because they
feel that the grievances under which they are writhing can be no
longer tolerated. They feel the absolute necessity of a change, that
no change can render their condition worse, and that any change
must better it. This is the judgment to which they have come : this
the brief and compendious logic which we daily hear. They know
that, in all the dispensations of Providence, they have reason to be
thankful and grateful ; and if they had not, they would be borne with
fortitude and resignation. But there is a pervading conviction and
persuasion that, in the administration of government, there has been
something wrong, radically wrong, and that the the Vessel of State
has been in the hands of selfish, faithless and unskilful pilots, who
have conducted it amidst the breakers.
In my deliberate opinion, the present distressed and distracted state
of the country may be traced to the single cause of the action, the
encroachments, and the usurpations of the executive branch of the
government. I have no time here to exhibit and to dwell upon all
the instances of these, as they have occurred in succession, during
the last twelve years. They have been again and again exposed on
other more fit occasions. But I have thought this a proper opportu
nity to point out the enormity of the pretensions, principles and prac
tices of that department, as they have been, from time to time, dis
closed in these late years, and to throw the rapid progress which has
been made in the fulfilment of the remarkable language "of our illus
trious countryman, that the federal executive had an awful squinting
towards monarchy. Here, in the county of his birth, surrounded by
sons, some of whose sires with him were the first to raise their arms
in defence of American liberty against a foreign monarch, is an ap
propriate place to expose the impending danger of creating a domes
tic monarch. And may I not, without presumption, indulge the hope
that the warning voice of another, although far humbler, son of Han
over may not pass unheeded ?
The late President of the United States advanced certain new and
alarming pretensions for the executive department of the government,
the effect of which, if established and recognized by the people, must

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 423
inevitably convert it into a monarchy. The first of these, and it was
a favorite principle with him, was, that the executive department
should be regarded as a unit. By this principle of unity, he meant
and intended that all the executive officers of government should be
bound to obey the commands and execute the orders of the President
of the United States, and that they should be amenable to him, and
he be responsible for them. Prior to his administration, it had been
considered that they were bound to observe and obey the constitu
tion and laws, subject only to the general superintendance of the
President, and responsible by impeachment, and to the tribunals of
justice for injuries inflicted on private citizens.
But the annunciation of this new and extraordinary principle was
not of itself sufficient for the purpose of President Jackson ; it was
essential that the subjection to his will, which was its object, should
be secured by some adequate sanction. That he sought to effect by
an extension of another principle, that of dismission from office, be
yond all precedent, and to cases and under circumstances which would
have furnished just grounds for his impeachment, according to the
solemn opinion of Mr. Madison and other members of the first Con
gress under the present constitution.
Now, if the whole official corps, subordinate to the President of
the United States, are made to know and to feel that they hold their
respective offices by the tenure of conformity and obedience to his
will, it is manifest that they must look to that will, and not to the
constitution and laws, as the guide of their official conduct. The
weakness of human nature, the love and emoluments of office, per
haps the bread necessary to the support of their families, would make
this result absolutely certain.
The development ot this new character to the power of dismission,
would have fallen short of the aims in view, without the exercise of
it were held to be a prerogative, for which the President was to be
wholly irresponsible. If he were compelled to expose the grounds
and reasons upon which he acted, in dismissals from office, the ap
prehension of public censure would temper the arbitrary nature of
the power, and throw some protection around the subordinate officer.
Hence the new and monstrous pretension has been advanced, that

424 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
although the concurrence of the Senate is necessary by the constitu
tion to the confirmation of an appointment, the President may subse
quently dismiss the person appointed, not only without communica
ting the grounds on which he has acted to the Senate, but without
any such communication to the people themselves, for whose benefit
all offices are created ! And so bold and daring has the executive
brance of the government become, that one of its cabinet ministers,
himself a subordinate officer, has contemptuously refused to members
of the House of Representatives, to disclose the grounds on which he
has undertaken to dismiss from office persons acting as deputy post
masters in his department.
As to the gratuitous assumption made by President Jackson,
of responsibility for all the subordinate executive officers, it is the
merest mockery that was ever put forth. They will escape punish
ment by pleading his orders, and he by alledging the hardship of being
punished, not for his own acts, but for theirs. We have a practical
exposition of this principle in the case of the two hundred thousand
militia. The Secretary of War comes out to screen the President,
by testifying that he never saw what he strongly recommended ; and
the President reciprocates that favor by retaining the Secretary in
place, notwithstanding he has proposed a plan for organizing the mi
litia, which is acknowledged to be unconstitutional. If the President
is not to be held responsible for a cabinet minister, in daily intercourse
with him, how is he to be rendered so for a receiver in Wisconsin or
Iowa ? To concentrate all responsibility in the President, is to anni
hilate all responsibility. For who ever expects to see the day arrive
when a President of the United States will be impeached — or if im
peached, when he cannot command more than one-third of the Senate
to defeat the impeachment ?
But to construct the scheme of practical despotism, while all the
forms of free government remained, it was necessary to take one fur
ther step. By the constitution, the President is enjoined to take care
that the laws be executed. This injunction was merely intended to
impose on him the duty of a general superintendence ; to see that
offices were filled, officers at their respective posts in the discharge
of their official functions, and all obstructions to the enforcement of
the laws were removed, and when necessary for that purpose, to call
out the militia. No one ever imagined, prior to the administration

ON THE PRESIDENTIA ELECTION. 425
of President Jackson, that a President of the United States was to
occupy himself with supervising and attending to the execution of all
the minute details of one of the hosts of offices in the United States.
Under the constitutional injunction just mentioned, the late Presi
dent put forward that most extraordinary pretension, that the consti
tution and laws of the United States were to be executed as he un
derstood them ; and this pretension was attempted to be sustained by
an argument equally extraordinary, that the President, being a sworn
officer, must carry them into effect according to his sense of their
meaning. The constitution and laws were to be executed not ac
cording to their import, as handed down to us by our ancestors, as
interpreted by contemporaneous expositions, as expounded by con
current judicial decisions, as fixed by an uninterrupted course of Con
gressional legislation, but in that sense which a President of the
United States happened to understand them !
To complete this executive usurpation, one further object remained.
By the constitution, the command of the army and the navy is con
ferred on the President. If he could unite the purse with the sword,
nothing would be left to gratify the insatiable thirst for power. In
1833 the President seized the treasury of the United States, and from
that day to this it has continued substantially under his control. The
seizure was effected by the removal of one Secretary of the Treasury,
understood to be opposed to the measure, and by the dismissal of
another, who refused to violate the law of the land, upon the orders
of the President.
It is indeed said, that not a dollar in the treasury can be touched
without a previous appropriation by law, nor drawn out of the treas
ury without the concurrence and signature of the Secretary, the
Treasurer, the Register, and the Comptroller. But are not all these
pretended securities idle and unavailing forms ? We have seen that,
by the operation of the irresponsible power of dismission, all those
officers are reduced to mere automata, absolutely subjected to the
will of the President. What resistance would any of them make
with the penalty of dismission suspended over their heads, to any
orders of the President, to pour out the treasure of the United States,
whether an act of appropriation existed or not ? Do not mock us
with the vain assurance of the honor and probity of a President, nor

426 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
remind us of the confidence which we ought to repose in his imagined
virtues. The pervading principles of our system of government — of
all free government — is not merely the possibility, but the absolute
certainty of infidelity and treachery, with even the highest function
ary of the State ; and hence all the restrictions, securities, and gua
ranties, which the wisdom of our ancestors, or the sad experience of
history had inculcated, have been devised and thrown around the
Chief Magistrate.
Here, friends and fellow-citizens, let us pause and contemplate this
stupendous structure of executive machinery and despotism, which
has been reared in our young republic. The executive branch ofthe
government is a unit ; throughout all its arteries and veins there is
to be but one heart, one head, one will. The number of the subordi
nate executive officers and dependents in the United States has been
estimated in an official report, founded on public documents, made by
a Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,) at one hundred thou
sand. Whatever it may be, all of them, wherever they are situated,
are bound implicitly to obey the orders of the President. An absolute
obedience to his will is secured and enforced by the power of dis
missing them at his pleasure, from their respective places. To make
this terrible power of dismission more certain and efficacious, its ex
ercise is covered up in mysterious secrecy, without the smallest re
sponsibility. The constitution and laws of the United States are to
be executed in the sense in which the President understands them — -
although that sense may be at variance with the understanding of
every other man in the United States. It follows, as a necessary
consequence, from the principles deduced by the President from the
constitutional injunction as to the execution ©f the laws, that, if an
act of Congress be passed, in his opinion, contrary to the constitution,
or if a decision be pronounced by the courts, in his opinion, contrary
to the constitution or the laws, that act or that decision the President
is not obliged to enforce, and he could not cause it to be enforced,
without a violation, as is pretended, of his official oath. Candor re
quires the admission, that the principle has not yet been pushed in
practice in these cases ; but it manifestly comprehends them ; and who
doubts, that if the spirit of usurpation is not arrested and rebuked,
they will be finally reached ? The march of power is ever onward.
As times and seasons admonish, it openly and boldly in broad day
makes its progress ; or if alarm be excited by the enormity of its

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 427
pretensions, it silently and secretly, in the dark of the night, steals its
devious way. It now storms and mounts the ramparts of the fortress
of liberty ; it now saps and undermines its foundations. Finally, the
command of the army and navy being already in the President, and
having acquired a perfect control over the treasury of the United
States, he has consummated that frightful union of purse and sword,
so long, so much, so earnestly deprecated by all true lovers of civil
liberty. And our present Chief Magistrate stands solemnly and vo
luntarily pledged, in the face of the whole world, to follow in the foot
steps and carry out the measures and the principles of his illustrious
predecessor !
The sum of the whole is, that there is but one power, one will in
the State. All is concentrated in the President. He directs, orders,
commands the whole machinery of the State. Through the official
agencies, scattered throughout the land, and absolutely subjected to
his will, he executes, according to his pleasure or caprice, the whole
power of the commonwealth, which has been absorbed and engrossed
by him. And one sole will predominates in, and animates the whole
of this vast community. If this be not practical despotism, I am not
capable of conceiving or defining it. Names are nothing. The ex
istence or non-existence of arbitrary government does not depend
upon the title or denomination bestowed on the chief of the State,
but upon the quantum of power which he possesses and wields. Au
tocrat, sultan, emperor, dictator, king, doge, president, are all mere
names, in which the power respectively possessed by them is not to
be found, but is to be looked for in the constitution, or the established
usages and practices of the several States which they govern and
control. If the Autocrat of Russia were called President of all the
Russias, the actual power remaining unchanged, his authority under
his new denomination, would continue undiminished ; and, if the
President of the United States were to receive the title of Autocrat of
the United States, the amount of his authority would not be increas
ed, without an alteration ofthe constitution.
General Jackson was a bold and fearless reaper, carrying a wide
row, but he did not gather the whole harvest ; he left some gleanings
to his faithful successor, and he seems resolved to sweep clean the
field of power. The duty of inculcating on the official corps the
active exertion of their personal and official influence was left by him

428 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
to be enforced by Mr. Van Buren, in all popular elections. It was
not sufficient that the official corps was bound implicitly to obey the
will of the President. It was not sufficient that this obedience was
coerced by the tremendous power of dismission. It soon became ap
parent that this corps might be beneficially employed to promote, in
other matters than the busines of their offices, the views and interests
of the President and his party. They are far more efficient than any
standing army of equal numbers. A standing army would be sepa
rated, and stand out from the people, would be an object of jealousy
and suspicion ; and, being always in corps, or in detachments, could
exert no influence-on popular elections. But the official corps is dis
persed throughout the country, in every town, village, and city, mix
ing with the people, attending their meetings and conventions, becom
ing chairmen and members of committees, and urging and stimulating
partizans to active and vigorous exertion. Acting in concert, and
throughout the whole Union, obeying orders issued from the centre,
their influence, aided by executive patronage, by the post-office de
partment, and all the vast other means of the executive, is almost
irresistable. To correct this procedure, and to restrain the subordinates ofthe
executive from all interference with popular elections, my colleague,
(Mr. Crittenden,) now present, introduced a bill in the Senate. He
had the weight of Mr. Jefferson's opinion, who issued a circular to
restrain federal officers from intermedling in popular elections. He
had before him the British example, according to which place men
and pensioners were not only forbidden to interfere, but were not,
some of them, even allowed to vote at popular elections. But his
bill left them free to exercise the elective franchise, prohibiting only
the use of their official influence. And how was this bill received in
the Senate ? Passed, by those who profess to admire the character
and to pursue the principles of Mr. Jefferson ? No such thing. It
was denounced as a sedition bill. And the just odium of that sedition
bill, which was intended to protect office-holders against the people,
was successfully used to defeat a measure of protection of the people
against the office-holders ! Not only were they left unrestrained,
but they were urged and stimulated by an official report to employ
their influence in behalf of the administration at the election of the
people.

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 429
Hitherto, the army and the navy have remained unaffected by the
power of dismission, and they have not been called into the political
service of the executive. But no attentive observer of the principles
and proceedings of the men in power could fail to see that the day
was not distant when they, too, would be required to perform the
partisan offices of the President. Accordingly, the process of con
verting them into executive instruments has commenced in a court
martial assembled at Baltimore. Two officers of the army of the
United States have been there put upon their solemn trial, on the
charge of prejudicing the democratic party by making purchases for
the supply of the army from members of the Whig party '. It is not
pretended that the United States were prejudiced by those purchases ;
on the contrary, it was I believe, established that they were cheaper
than could have been made from the supporters ofthe administration.
But the charge was, that to purehnse at all from the opponents, in
stead ofthe friends of the administration, was an injury to the demo
cratic party, which required that the offenders should be put upon
their trial before a, court martial ! And this trial was commenced at
the instance of a committee of a democratic convention, and conduct
ed and prosecuted by them ! The scandalous spectacle is presented
to an enlightened world of the Chief Magistrate of a great people exe
cuting the orders of a self-created power, organized within the bosom
of the State, and upon such an accusation, arraigning, before a mili
tary tribunal, gallant men, who are charged with the defence of the
honor and the interest of their country, and with bearing its eagles in
the presence of an enemy !
But the army and navy are too small, and in composition are too
patriotic to subserve all the purposes of this administration. Hence
the recent proposition of the Secretary of War, strongly recommend
ed by the President, under color of a new organization of the militia,
to create a standing force of 200,000 men, an amount which no con
ceivable foreign exigency can ever make necessary. It is not my
purpose now to enter upon an examination of that alarming and most
dangerous plan of the executive department of the federal govern
ment. It has justly excited a burst of general indignation, and no
where has the disapprobation of it been more emphatically expressed
than in this ancient and venerable Commonwealth.
The monstrous project may be described in a few words. It pro-

430 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
poses to create the force by breaking down Mason and Dixon's line,
expunging the boundaries of States ; melting them up into a confluent
mass, to be subsequently cut up into ten military parts, alienates the
militia from its natural association, withdraws it from the authority
and command, and sympathy of its constitutional officers, appointed
by the States, puts it under the command of the President, authorises,
him to cause it to be trained, in palpable violation of the constitution,
and subjects it to be called out from remote and distant places, at his
pleasure, and on occasions not warranted by the constitution !
Indefensible as this project is, fellow citizens, do not be deceived
by supposing that it has been or will be abandoned. It is a principle
of those who are now in power, that an election or re-election of the
President implies the sanction of the people to all the measures which
he had proposed, and all the opinions which he had expressed, on
public affairs, prior to that event. We riave seen this principle ap
plied on various occasions. Let Mr. Van Buren be re-elected in No
vember next, and it will be claimed that the people have thereby
approved of this plan of the Secretary of War. All entertain the
opinion that it is important to train the militia, and render it effec
tive ; and it will be insisted, in the contingency mentioned, that the
people have demonstrated that they approve of that specific plan. —
There is more reason to apprehend such a consequence from the fact
that a committee of the Senate, to which this subject was referred,
instead of denouncing the scheme as unconstitutional and dangerous
to liberty presented a labored apologetic report, and the administra
tion majority in that body ordered twenty thousand copies of the
apology to be printed for circulation among the people. I take plea
sure in testifying that one administration Senator had the manly inde
pendence to denounce, in his place, the project as unconstitutional.
That Senator was from your own State.
I have thus, fellow citizens, exhibited to you a true and faithful
picture of executive power, as it has been enlarged and expanded
within the last few years, and as it has been - proposed further to ex
tend it. It overshadows every other branch of the government. The
source of legislative power is no longer to be found in the capitol, but
in the palace of the President. In assuming to be a part of the legis
lative power, as the President recently did, contrary to the constitu
tion, he would have been nearer the actual fact if he- had alledged

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 431
that he was the sole legislative power of the Union. How is it pos
sible for public liberty to be preserved, and the constitutional distri
butions of power, among the departments of government, to be main
tained, unless the executive career be checked and restrained ?
It may be urged that two securities exist ; first, that the Presiden
tial term is of short duration ; and, secondly, the elective franchise.
But it has been already shown, that whether a depositary of power
be arbitrary or compatible with liberty does not depend upon the du
ration of the official term, but upon the amount of power invested.
The dictatorship in Rome was an office of brief existence, generally
shorter than the Presidential term. Whether the elective franchise
be an adequate security or not, is a problem to be solved next No
vember. I hope and believe it yet is. But if Mr. Van Buren should
be re-elected, the power already acquired by the executive be retain
ed, and that which is in progress be added to that department, it is
my deliberate judgment that there will be no hope remaining for the
continuance of the liberties of the country.
And yet the partizans of this tremendous executive power arrogate
to themselves the name of democrats, and bestow upon us, who are
opposed to it, the denomination of the federalists ! In the Senate of
the United States there are five gentlemen who were members of the
federal party, and four of them have been suddenly transformed into
democrats, and are now warm supporters of this administration,
whilst I, who had exerted the utmost of my humble abilities to arouse
the nation to a vindication of its insulted honor and its violated rights,
and to the vigorous prosecution of the war against Great Britain, to
which they were violently opposed, find myself, by a sort of magical
influence, converted into a federalist ! The . only American citizen
that I ever met with, who was an avowed monarchist, was a sup
porter of the administration of General Jackson ; and he acknowledg
ed to me that his motive was to bring about the system of monarchy,
which his judgment preferred.
There were other points of difference between the federalists and
the democratic or rather republican party of 1798, but the great,
leading, prominent discrimination between them related to the con
stitution of the executive department of the government. The fed
eralists believed that in its structure, it was too weak, and was in

432 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
danger of being crushed by the preponderating weight of the legisla
tive branch. Hence they rallied around the executive, and sought to
give to it strength and energy. A strong government,* an energetic
executive was, among them, the common language and the great ob
ject of that day. The republicans, on the contrary, believed that
the real danger lay on the side of the executive ; that, having a con
tinuous and uninterrupted existence, it was always on the alert, rea
dy to defend the power it had, and prompt in acquiring more; and
that the experience of history demonstrated that it was the encroach
ing and usurping department. They, therefore, rallied around the
people and the legislature.
What are the positions of the two great parties of the present day ?
Modern democracy has reduced the federal theory of a strong and
energetic executive to practical operation. It has turned from the
people, the natural ally of genuine democracy, to the executive, and,
instead of vigilance, jealousy and distrust, has given to that depart
ment all its confidence, and made to it a virtual surrender of all the
powers of government. The recognised maxim of royal infallibility is
transplanted from the British monarchy into modern American demo
cracy, and the President can do no wrong ! This new school adopts,
modifies, changes, renounces, renews opinions at the pleasure of the
executive. Is the Bank of the United States a Useful and valuable
institution ? Yes, unanimously, pronounces the democratic legisla
ture of Pennsylvania. The President vetoes it as a pernicious and
dangerous establishment. The democratic majority in the same
legislature pronounce it to be pernicious and dangerous. The demo
cratic majority ofthe House of Representatives of the United States
declare the deposites of the public money in the Bank of the United
States to be safe. The President says they are unsafe, and removes
them. The democracy say they are unsafe, and approve the re
moval. The President says that a scheme of a Sub-TreasUry is revo
lutionary and disorganizing. The democracy say it is revolutionary
and disorganizing. The President says it is wise and salutary. The
democracy say it is wise and salutary.
The whigs of 1840 stand where the republicans of 1798 stood, and
where the whigs of the revolution were, battling for liberty, for the
people, for free institutions, against power, against corruption; against
executive encroachments, against monarchy.

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 433
We are reproached with struggling for offices and their emolu
ments. If We acted on the avowed and acknowledged principle of
our opponents, that •' the spoils belong to the victors," we should in
deed be unworthy ofthe support of the people. No ! fellow citizens ;
higher, nobler, more patriotic motives actuate the whig party. Their
object is the restoration of the constitution, tne preservation of liber
ty, and rescue of the country. If they were governed by the sordid
and selfish motives acted upon by their opponents, and unjustly im
puted to them, to acquire office and emolument, they have only to
change their names, and enter the Presidential palace. The gate is
always wide open, and the path is no narrow one which leads through
it. The last comer, too, often fares best.
On a resurvey of the few past years, we behold enough to sicken
and sadden the hearts of true pattiots. Executive encroachment has
quickly followed upon executive encroachment ; persons honored by
public confidence, and from whom nothing but grateful and parental
measures should have flowed, have inflicted stunning blow after blow
in such rapid succession that, before the people could recover from
the reeling effects of one, another has fallen heavily upon them. Had
either of various instances of executive misrule stood out separate
and alone, so that its enormity might have been seen and dwelt upon
with composure, the condemnation of the executive would have long
since been pronounced ; but it has hitherto found safety and impunity
in the bewildering effects of the multitude of its misdeeds. The na
tion has been in the condition of a man, who, having gone to bed
after his barn has been consumed by fire, is aroused in the morning to
witness his dwelling-house wrapt in flames. So bold and presumptu
ous has the executive become, that, penetrating in its influence the
hall of a co-ordinate branch of the government, by means of a sub
missive or instructed majority of the Senate, it has caused a record of
the country to be effaced and expunged, the inviolability of which
was guarantied -by a solemn injunction of the constitution ! And that
memorable and scandalous scene was enacted only because the offen
sive record contained an expression of disapprobation of an executive
proceeding. If this state of things were to remain — if the progress of executive
usurpation were to continue uncnecRea, nopeless despair would seize
the public mind, or the people would'be .goaded to acts of open and

434 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
violent resistance. But, thank God, the power of tne President.
fearful and rapid as its strides have been, is not yet too great for the
power of the elective franchise ; and a bright and glorious prospect,
in the election of William Henry Harrison, has opened upon the
country. The necessity of a change of rulers has deeply penetrated
the hearts of the people ; and we everywhere behold cheering mani
festations of that happy event. The fact of his election alone, with
out reference to the measures of his administration, will powerfuliy
contribute to the security and happiness ofthe people. It will bring
assurance of the cessation of that long series of disastrous experi
ments which have so greatly afflicted the people. Confidence will
immediately revive, credit be restored, active business will return,
prices of products will rise ; and the people will feel and know that,
instead of their servants being occupied in devising measures for their
ruin and destruction, they will be assiduously employed in promoting
their welfare and prosperity.
But grave and serious measures will, unquestionably, early and
anxiously command the earnest attention of the new administration.
I have no authority to announce, and do not pretend to announce the
purposes of the new President. I have no knowledge of them other
than that which is accessible to every citizen. In what I shall say
as to the course of a new administration, therefore, I mean to express
my own sentiments, to speak for myself, without compromitting any
other person. Upon such an interesting occasion as this, in the midst
ofthe companions of my youth, or their descendants, I have felt that
it is due to them and to myself, explicitly to declare my sentiments,
without reserve, and to show that I have been, and, as I sincerely be
lieve, the friends with whom I have acted, have been, animated by
the disinterested desire to advance the best interests of the country,
and to preserve its free institutions.
The first, and in my opinion, the most important object which
should engage the serious attention of a new administration, is that
of circumscribing the executive power, and throwing around it such
limitations and safe-guards as will render it no longer dangerous to
the public liberties.
Whatever is the work of man, necessarily partakes of his imper
fections ; and it was not to be expected that, with all the acknow-

ON the presidential ELECTION. 435
ledged wisdom and virtues of the framers of our constitution, they
could have sent forth a plan of government, so free from all defect,
and so full of guaranties, that it should not, in the conflict of embit
tered parties, and of excited passions, be perverted and misinterpre
ted. Misconceptions, or erroneous constructions of the powers grant
ed in the constitution, would probably have occurred, after the lapse
of many years, in seasons of entire calm, and with a regular and
temperate administration of the government ; but during the last
twelve years, the machine, driven by a reckless charioteer, with
frightful impetuosity, has been greatly jarred and jolted, and it needs
careful examination and a thorough repair.
With the view, therefore, to the fundamental character of the go
vernment itself, and especially of the executive branch, it seems to
me that, either by amendments of the constitution, when they are
necessary, or by remedial legislation when the object falls within the
scope of the powers of Congress, there should be,
1st. A provision to render a person ineligible to the office of Presi
dent of the United States, after a service of one term.
Much observation and deliberate reflection have satisfied me that
too much of the time, the thoughts, and the exertions of the incum
bent are occupied, during his first term, in securing his re-election.
The public business, consequently, suffers, and measures are pro
posed or executed, with less regard to the general prosperity than
to their influence upon the approaching election. If the limitation
to one term existed, the President would be exclusively devoted to
the discharge of his public duties ; and he would endeavor to signal
ize his administration by the beneficence and wisdom of its measures
2d. That the veto power should be more precisely defined, and be
subjected to further limitations and qualifications. Although a large,
perhaps the largest proportion of all the acts of Congress, passed at
the short sessions of Congress, since the commencement of the govern
ment, were passed within the three last days ofthe session, and when,
of course, the President, for the time being, had not the ten days for
consideration allowed by the constitution, President Jackson, availing
himself of that allowance, has failed to return important bills. When
not returned by the President within the ten days, it is questionable

436 SPEECHES OF HENRY GLAY.
whether they are laws or not. It is very certain that the next Con
gress cannot act upon them by deciding whether Or not they shall
become laws, the President's objections notwithstanding. All this
ought to be provided for.
At present, a bill, returned by the President, can only become a
law by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of each House.
I think if Congress passes a bill after discussion and consideration,
and, after weighing the objections of the President, still believes it
ought to pass, it should become a law, provided a majority of all the
members of each'House concur in its passage. If the weight of his
argument, and the weight of his influence conjointly, cannot prevail
on a majority, against their previous convictions, in my opinion the
bill ought not to be arrested. Such is the provision of the constitu
tions of several ofthe States, and that of Kentucky among them. ...
3d. That the power of dismission from office should be restricted,
and the exercise of it be rendered responsible.
The constitutional concurrence of the Senate is necessary to the
confirmation of all important appointments, but, without consulting
the Senate, without any other motive than resentment or caprice, fhe
the President may dismiss at his sole pleasure, an officer created by
the joint action of himself and the Senate. The practical effect is to
nullify the agency of the Senate. There may be occasionally, cases
in which the public interest requires an immediate dismission without
waiting for the assembling of the Senate ; but, in all such cases, the
President should be bound to communicate fully the grounds and
motives of the dismission. The power would be thus rendered re
sponsible, Without it the exercise ofthe power is utterly repugnant
to free institutions, the basis of which is perfect responsibility, and
dangerous to the public liberty, as has been already shown.
4th. That the control over the treasury of the United States should
be confided and confined exclusively to Congress ; and all authority
of the President over it, by means of dismissing the Secretary of the
Treasury, or other persons having the immediate charge of it, be
rigorously precluded.
You have heard much, fellow citizens, ofthe divorce of banks and

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. ' 437
government. After crippling them and impairing their utility, the
executive and its partisans have systematically denounced them.
The executive and the country were warned again and again of the
fatal course that has been pursued ; but the executive, nevertheless,
persevered, commencing by praising and ending by decrying the State
banks. Under cover of the smoke which has been raised, the real
object all along has been, and yet is, to obtain the possession of the
money power of the Union. That accomplished and sanctioned by
the people — the union of the sword and the purse in the hands of
the President effectually secured — and farewell to American liberty.
The sub-treasury is the scheme for effecting that union ; and I am
told, that of all the days in the year, that' which gave birth to our
national existence and freedom, is the selected day to be disgraced by
ushering into existence a measure, imminently perilous to the liberty
which, on that anniversary, we commemorate in joyous festivals.
Thus, in the spirit of destruction which animates our rulers, would
they convert a day of gladness and of glory into a day of sadness and
mourning. Fellow-citizens, there is one divorce urgently demanded
by the safety and the highest interests of the country — a divorce of
the President from the treasury of the United States.
And 5th. That the appointment of members of Congress to any
office, or any but a few specific offices, during their continuance in
office, and for one year thereafter, be prohibited.
This is a hackneyed theme ; but it is not less deserving serious con
sideration. The constitution now interdicts the appointment of a
member of .Congress to any office created, or the emoluments of
which had been increased while he was in office. In 'the purer days
of the republic, that restriction might have been sufficient, but in
these more degenerate times, it is necessary, by an amendment of the
constitution, to give the principle a greater extent^
These are the subjects, in relation to the permanent character of
the government itself, which, it seems to me, are worthy of the seri
ous attention of the people, and of a new administration. There are
others, of an administrative nature, which require prompt and careful
consideration. 1st. The currency of the country, its stability and uniform value,
*CC

438 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and, as intimately and indissolubly connected with it, the assurance
of the faithful performance of the fiscal services necessary to the go
vernment should be maintained and secured by exercising all the
powers requisite to those objects with which Congress is constitution
ally invested. These are the great ends to be aimed at — the means
are of subordinate importance. Whether these ends, indispensable
to the well-being of both the people and the government, are to be
attained by sound and safe State banks, carefully selected, and pro
perly distributed, or by a new Bank of the United States, with such
limitations, conditions, and restrictions as have been indicated by ex
perience, should be left to the arbitrament of enlightened public
opinion. Candor and truth require me to say, that, in my judgment, while
banks continue to exist in the country, the services of a Bank of the
United States cannot be safely dispensed with. I think that the
power to establish such a bank is a settled question ; settled by
Washington and by Madison, by the people, by forty years' acquies
cence, by the judiciary, and by both of the great parties which so
long held sway in the country. I know and I respect the contrary
opinion which is entertained in this State. But, in my deliberate
view ofthe matter, the power to establish such a bank being settled,
and being a necessary and proper power, the only question is as to
the expediency of its exercise. And on questions of mere expediency
public opinion ought to have a controlling influence. Without banks
I believe we cannot have a sufficient currency ; without a Bank of
the United States, I fear we cannot have a sound currency. But it is
the end, that of a sound and sufficient currency, and a faithful execu
tion of the fiscal duties of government, that should engage the dis
passionate and candid consideration of the whole community. There
is nothing in the name of the Bank of the United States which has
any magical charm, or to which any one need be wedded. It is to
secure certain great objects, without which society cannot prosper ,;
and if, contrary to my apprehension, these objects can be occomplish-
ed by dispensing with the agency of a Bank ofthe United States, and
employing that of State Banks, all ought to rejoice and heartily ac
quiesce, and none would more than I should.
2d. That the public lands, in conformity with the trusts created
expressly or by just implication, on their acquisition, be administered

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 439
in a spirit of liberality towards the new states and territories, and in
a spirit of justice towards all the States.
The land bill which was rejected by President Jackson, and acts
of occasional legislation, will accomplish both these objects. I regret
that the time does not admit of my exposing here the nefarious plans
and purposes of the administration as to this vast national resource.
That, like every other great interest of the country, is administered
with the sole view of the effect upon the interests of the party in
power. A bill has passed the Senate, and is now pending before the
House, according to which forty millions of dollars are stricken from
the real value of a certain portion of the public lands by a short pro
cess ; and a citizen of Virginia, residing on the southwest side of the
Ohio, is not allowed to purchase lands as cheap, by half a dollar per
acre, as a citizen living on the northwest side of that river. I have
no hesitation in expressing my conviction that the whole public do
main is gone if Mr. Van Buren be re-elected.
3d. That the policy of protecting and encouraging the productions
of" American industry, entering into competition with the rival pro
ductions of foreign industry, be adhered to and maintained on the
basis of the principles and in the spirit ofthe' compromise of March,
1833. Protection and national independence are, in my opinion, identical
and synonymous. The principle of abandonment of the one cannot
be surrendered without a forfeiture of the other. Who, with just
pride and national sensibility, can think of sufjWf.og fhe products of
our industry to all the taxation and it&t'aints of foreign pr tvers, with
out effort on our part to counteract thei" prohibitions and burdens by
suitable countervailing legislation ? Ije question cannot be, ought
not to be, one of principle but of measutfc and degree. I adopt that
of the compromise act, not because that act is irrepealable, but be
cause it met with the sanction of the nation. Stability with moderate
and certain protection, is far more important than instability, the ne
cessary consequence of high protection. But the protection of the
compromise act will be adequate, in most, if not as to all interests.
The twenty per cent, which it stipulates, cash duties, home valua
tions, and the list of free articles inserted in the act, for the particu
lar advantage of the manufacturer, will ensure, I trust, sufficient pro-

440 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tection. All together, they will amount probably to no less than
thirty per cent. ; a greater extent of protection than was secured
prior to the act of 1828, which no one stands up to defend. Now the
valuation of foreign goods is made not by the American authority,
except in suspected cases, but "by foreigners, and abroad. They as
sess the value, and we the duty ; but, as the duty depends, in mOst
cases, upon the value, it is manifest that those who assess the value
fix the duty. The home valuation will give our government what it
rightfully possesses, both the power to ascertain the true value of the
thing which it taxes, as well as the amount of that tax.
4th. That a strict and wise economy, in the disbursement of the
public money be steadily enforced ; and that, to that end, all useless
establishments, all unnecessary offices and places, foreign and domes
tic, and all extravagance, either in the collection or expenditure of
the public revenue, be abolished and repressed.
I have not time to dwell on details in the application of this princi
ple. I will say that a pruning knife, long, broad, and sharp, should
be applied to every department of government. There is abundant
scope for honest and skilful surgery. The annual expenditure may,
in reasonable time, be brought down from its present amount of about
forty millions to near one-third of that sum.
5th. The several States have made such great and gratifying pro
gress jn their respective systems of internal improvement, and have
been so aided by the distribution under the deposite act, that, in fu
ture, the erection of new roads and canals should be left to them with
such further aid only from Ihe general government as they would
derive from the payment of '$he last instalment under that act, from
an absolute relinquishment of the right of Congress to call upon them
to refund the previous instalments, and from their equal and just
quotas, to be received by a future distribution of the nett proceeds
from the sales of the public lands.
And 6th. That the right to slave property, being guarantied by the
constitution, and recognized as one of the compromises incorporated
in that instrument by our ancestors, should be left where the consti
tution has placed it, undisturbed and unagitated by Congress.

ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 441
These, fellow citizens, are views both of the structure of the go
vernment and of its administration, which appear to me worthy of
commanding the grave attention of the public and its new servants.
Although, I repeat, I have neither authority nor purpose to commit
any body else, I believe most, if not all of them, are entertained by
the political friends with whom I have acted. Whether the salutary
reforms which they include will be effected or considered, depends
upon the issue of that great struggle which is now going on through- '
out all this country. This contest has had no parallel since the period
of the revolution. In both instances there is a similarity of object.
That was to achieve, this is to preserve the liberties of the country.
Let us catch the spirit which animated, and imitate the virtues which
adorned our noble ancestors. Their devotion, their constancy, their
untiring activity, their perseverance, their indomitable resolution,
their sacrifices, their valor ! If they fought for liberty or death, in
the memorable language of one ofthe most illustrious of them, let us
never forget that the prize now at hazard, is liberty or slavery. We
should be encouraged by the fact that the contest to the success of
which they solemnly pledged their fortunes, their lives, and their sa
cred honor, was far more unequal than that in which we are engaged.
But, on the other hand, let us cautiously guard against too much con
fidence. History and experience prove that more has been lost by
self-confidence and contempt of enemies, than won by skill and
courage. Our opponents are powerful in numbers and in organiza
tion active, insidious, and possessed of ample means, and wholly un
scrupulous in the use of them. They count upon success by the use
of two words, Democracy and Federalism — Democracy which, in vio
lation of all truth, they appropriate to themselves, and Federalism
which, in violation of all justice, they apply to us. And allow me to
conjure you not to suffer yourselves to be diverted, deceived, or dis
couraged by the false rumors which will be industriously circulated,
between the present time and the period ofthe election, by our oppo
nents. They will put them forth in every variety and without num
ber, in the most imposing forms, certified and sworn to by conspicuous
names. They will brag, they will boast, they will threaten. Re
gardless of all their arts, let us keep steadily and faithfully, and fear
lessly at work.
But if the opposition perform its whole duty, if every member of
it act, as in the celebrated battle of Lord Nelson, as if the eyes of the

442 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
whole nation were fixed on him, and as if on his sole exertions de
pended the issue of the day, I sincerely believe, that at least twenty
of the States of the Union will unite in the glorious work ofthe sal
vation of the constitution, and the redemption of the country.
Friends and fellow-citizens, I have detained you too long. Ac
cept my cordial thanks and my profound acknowledgments for the
> honors of this day, and for all your feelings of attachment and confi
dence towards me, and allow me in conclusion to propose a senti
ment :
Hanover County : it was the first in the commencement of the revolution to
raise its arras, under the lead of Patrick Henry, in defence of American liberty ; it
will be the last to prove false or recreant to the holy cause.

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL.
In the Senate of the United States, January 28, 1841.

With the measure of the distribution of the proceeds of the sales
of the public lands among the States of the Union, I have been so
associated for the last eight or ten years, that, although it had not
been my original purpose to say one word in respect to that measure
at the present session of Congress, the debate on my colleague's mo
tion has taken such a wide range that my silence might be construed
into indifference or an abandonment on my part, of what I conscien
tiously believe to be one of the most important and beneficial mea
sures ever submitted to the " consideration of an American Congress.
I did not intend to move in the matter at this session, because of the
extraordinary state of parties and of public affairs. The party against
which the people of the United States had recently pronounced de
cisive judgment, is still in power, and has majorities in both Houses
of Congress. It has been always opposed to the distribution bill.
The new administration, to which a majority of the people of the
United States have given their confidence, has not yet the possession
of power, and, prior to the 4th of March next, can do nothing to fulfil
the just expectations of the country. The Treasury is exhausted
and in a wretched condition. I was aware that its state would be
urged as a plausible plea against present distribution — urged even by
a party, prominent members of which had heretofore protested against
any reliance whatever on the public lands as a source of revenue.
Now, although, I do not admit the right of Congress to apply the
proceeds of all the public lands, consistently with the terms of the
deeds of cession from Virginia and the other ceding States, to the pur
poses of ordinary revenue of government, yet Congress being in the
habit of making such an application, I was willing to acquiesce in the
continuation of the habit until, I hope at some early day, a suitable
ble provision can be made for the exchequer out of some more ap
propriate and legitimate source than the public lands.

444 speeches of henry clay.
The distribution proposed by my colleague can be made, and, if no
other Senator does, I will propose to make it, to commence on the
first day of January next, leaving the proceeds of the lands of the
current year applicable to the uses of the treasury. This will avoid
the financial objection, as I hope, prior to that day, that some per
manent and adequate provision will be made to supply government
with the necessary revenue. I shall therefore, vote for the proposi
tion with that qualification since it has been introduced, although I
had not intended to move it myself a.t this session.
I came to the present session of Congress under the hope that it
would dedicate itself earnestly to the urgent and necessary work of
such a repair of the shattered Vessel of State as would put it in a con
dition to perform the glorious voyage which it will begin on the fourth
of March next. I supposed, indeed, that all new anil doubtful mea
sures of policy would be avoided ; but persuaded myself that a spirit
of manliness, of honor, and of patriotism would prompt those who yet
linger in power and authority at least to provide the necessary ways
and means to defray the, expenses of government, in the hands of
their successors, during the present year, if not permanently. But I
confess with pain that my worst fears are about to be realized. The
administration not only perseveres in the errors which have lost It
the public confidence, but refuses to allow its opponents to minister,
in anyway, to the sufferings of the community or the necessities of
the government. Our constitution is defective, in allowing those to
remain in authority three or four months after the people have pro
nounced judgment against them ; or rather the convention did not
foresee the possibility of the existence of an administration which
would deliberately treat with neglect and contempt the manifest sen
timents of their constituents. It did not imagine that an administra
tion could be so formed as that, although smarting under a terrible
but merited defeat, it would, in the spirit of the ancient fable, dog-%
gedly hold on to power, refusing to use it, or to permit others to use
it, for the benefit of the people.
We have just had read to us a lecture from the honorable and-
highly respectable Senator from New Hampshire, (Mr. Pierce,)
which ought to have been exclusively addressed to his own friends-
He tells us that we are wasting onr time in party debate, and that a
measure is always got up at the commencement of every session on

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL- 445
which a general political battle is fought, to the exclusion, of all im
portant public business. There is soma1 truth in the charge ; and, if
it be wrong, who ought to be held responsible for it ? Clearly those
to whom the administration of the government has been entrusted,
and who have majorities in both Houses of Congress. What has
been the engrossing subject of this session'? The permanent pre
emption bill. Who introduced it, and why was it introduced ? Not
my friends but the Senator's. And it has been brought up when
there is an operating pre-emption law in existence which has a long
time to run. After the debate had been greatly protracted, and after
one administration Senator had notified the officers of the chamber
that they might get their lamps in order, and another had declared
that they were ready to encamp on the ground until the bill was
passed, why has the debate been permitted to continue weeks longer,
without explanation, and to the surprise of every one on this side of
the Senate ? Why has more than half the session been consumed
with this single and unnecessary subject ? I would ask that Senator,
who assumes the right to lecture us all, why he concurred in press
ing on the Senate this uncalled for measure ? Yes, sir, my worst
fears are about to be realized. Nothing will be done for the country
during this session. I did hope that, if the party in power would not,
in some degree, atone for past misdeeds during the remnant of their
power, Ihey would at least give the new administration a fair trial,
and forbear all denunciation or condemnation of it in advance. But
has this been their equitable course ? Before the new President has
entered upon the duties of his office, gentlemen who have themselves
contributed to bring the country to the brink Of ruin, (they will par
don me for saying it, but the truth must be spoken,) these very gen
tlemen are decrying beforehand those measures of the coming admin
istration which are indispensable, and which they must know to be
indispensable, to restore the public happiness and prosperity ! The
honorable Senator in my eye, (Mr. Wright,) said, in so many words
that he meant to condemn this measure of distribution in advance.
[Mr. Wright shook his head.]
I have taken down the Senator's words, and have them here on
my notes.
[Mr. WitiGHT. If the honorable Senator will permit me, I will tell him what I
said. I said that the course of his friends had forced the consideration of this
measure on us in advanve.\

446 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Forced it on them in advance ! How ? Projects to squander. the
public domain are brought forward by friends of the administration,
in the form of a graduation bill, by which fifty millions in value of a
portion of it would have been suddenly annihilated : pre-emption
bills, cessions to a few of the States of the whole within their limits.
Under these circumstances, my colleague presents a conservative
measure, and proposes, in lieu of on.e of these wasteful projects by
way of amendment, an equitable distribution among all the States of
the avails of the public lands. With what propriety then can it be
said that we, who are acting solely on the defensive, have forced the
measure upon our opponents ? Let them withdraw their bill, and 1
will answer for it that my colleague will withdraw his amendment,
and will not, at this session, press any measure of distribution. No,
sir, no. The policy of gentlemen on the other side, the clearly de
fined and distinctly marked policy, is, to condemn, in advance, those
measures which their own sagacity enables them to perceive that the
new administration, faithful to their own principles and to the best
interests of the country, must bring forward to build up once more
the public prosperity. How, otherwise, are we to account for oppo
sition, from leading friends of the administration, to the imposition of
duties on the merest luxuries in the world ? It is absolutely neces
sary to increase the public revenue. That is incontestable. It can
only be done by the imposition of duties on the protected articles, or
on the free articles, including those of luxury ; for no one, I believe,
in the Senate, dreams of laying a direct tax. Well ; if duties were
proposed on the protected articles, the proposition would instantly be
denounced as reviving a high tariff. And when they are proposed
on silks and wines, Senators on the other side raise their voices in
opposition to duties on these articles of incontestable luxury. These,
moreover, are objects of consumption chiefly with the rich, and they,
of course, would pay the principle part ofthe duty. But the exemp
tion of the poor from the burden does not commend the measure to
the acceptance of the friends of this expiring administration. And
yet they, sometimes, assume to be guardians of the interests of the
poor. Guardians of the poor ! Their friendship was demonstrated
at a former session by espousing a measure which was to have the
tendency of reducing wages, and now they put themselves in oppo
sition to a tax which would benefit the poor, and fall almost exclu
sively on the rich.

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 447
I will not detain the Senate nowiby dwelling on the ruinous state
of the trade with France, in silks and wines especially, as it is now
carried on. But I cannot forbear observing, that we import from
France and her dependencies thirty-three millions of dollars annually,
whilst we export in return only about nineteen millions, leaving a
balance against us, in the whole trade, of fourteen millions of dollars ;
and, excluding the French dependencies, the balance against us in
the direct trade, with France, is seventeen millions. Yet gentlemen ,
say, we must not touch this trade ! We must not touch a trade with
such a heavy and ruinous balance against us — a balance, a large part,
if not the whole, of which is paid in specie. I have been informed,
and believe, that the greater part of the gold wnich was obtained from
France under the treaty of indemnity, ana which, during General
Jackson's administration, was with so much care and parade intro
duced into the United States, perhaps under the vain hope that it
would remain here, in less than eighteen months was re-exported to
France in the very boxes in which it was brought, to liquidate our
commercial debt. Yet we must not supply the indispensable wants
of the treasury by taxing any of the articles of this disadvantageous
commerce ! And some gentlemen, assuming not merely the guar
dianship of the poor, but of the south also, (with about as much fi
delity in the one case as in the other,) object to the imposition of du
ties upon these luxuries, because they might affect somewhat the
trade with France in a Southern staple. But duties upon any for
eign imports may affect in some small degree, our exports. If the
objection, therefore, be sustained, we must forbear to lay any imposts,
and rely as some gentlemen are understood to desire, on direct taxes.
But to this neither the country nor Congress will ever consent. We
have hitherto resorted mainly, and I have no doubt always will re
sort, to our foreign imports for revenue. And can any objects be
selected with more propriety than those which enter so largely into
the consumption of the opulent ? It is of more consequence to the
community, in the consideration of duties, who consumes the articles
charged with them, and consequently, who pays them, than how the
dutied articles are purchased abroad. The South is the . last place
from which an objection should come on the score of disproportionate
consumption. I venture to assert that there is more champaign wine
consumed in the Astor House in the city of New York, in one year,
than in any State south of the Potomac. Our total amount of im
ports last year was one hundred and four millions of dollars, De-

448 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
ducting the free articles, the amount of goods suojec*, to duty was
probably not more than between fifty and sixty millions. Now, if
we are to adhere to the compromise of the tariff, which it is my wish
to be able to do, but concerning which I have remarked lately a por
tentous silence on the part of some of its professing friends on the
other side, it will be recollected that the maximum of any duty to be
imposed is twenty per cent, after June 1842. It would not be safe
to assume our imports in future of articles that would remain for
consumption, and not be re-exported, higher than one hundred mil
lions, twenty per cent, on which would yield a gross revenue annu
ally of twenty millions. But I think that we ought not to estimate
our imports at more than ninety millions ; for, besides other causes
that must tend to diminish them, some ten or twelve millions of our
exports will be applied annually to the payment of interest or princi
pal of our state debts held abroad, and will not return in the form of
imports. Twenty per cent, upon ninety millions would yield a gross
revenue of eighteen millions only. Thus it is manifest that there
must be additional duties. And I think it quite certain that the
amount of necessary revenue cannot be raised without going up to
the limit of the compromise upon all articles whatever which, by its
terms, are liable to duty. And these additional duties ought to be
laid now, forthwith, clearly before the close of the session. The
revenue is now deficient, compelling the administration to resort to
the questionable and dangerous use of treasury notes. Of this defi
cient revenue, there will go off five millions during the next session
of Congress, according to the estimate of the Secretary of the Trea
sury, two and a half millions on the 31st December, 1841, and two
and a half millions more on the 30th June, 1842. This reduction
takes place under that provision ofthe compromise act by which one
half the excess of all duties beyond twenty per cent, is repealed on
the last day of this year, and the other moiety of that excess on the
last day of June, 1842. Now, if Congress does not provide for this
great deficiency in the revenue prior to the close of the present ses
sion, how is it possible to provide for it in season at the session which
begins on the first Monday in December next ? No great change in
the customs ought to be made without reasonable notice to the mer-
chant, to enable him to adapt his operations to the change. How is
it possible to give this notice, if nothing is done until the next regu
lar meeting of Congress ? Waiving all notice to the merchant, and
adverting merely to the habits of Congress, is it not manifest that no

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 449
revenue bill can be passed by the last day of December, at a session
commencing on the first Monday of that month ? How, then, can
gentlemen who have, at least the temporary possession of the govern
ment, reconcile it to duty and to patriotism to go home and leave it
in this condition ? 1 heard the Senator from Pennsylvania, (Mr.
Buchanan,) at the last session, express himself in favor of a duty on
wines and silks. Why is he now silent ? Has he, too, changed his
opinion ?
[Mr. Buchanan. I have changed none of my opinions on the subject.]-
I am glad, most happy, to hear it. Then the Senator ought to
unite with us in the imposition of duties sufficient to produce an ade
quate revenue. Yet his friends denounce, in advance, the idea of
imposing duties on articles of luxury ? They denounce distribution !
They denounce an extra session, after creating an absolute necessity
for if ! They denounce all measures to give us a sound currency but
the Sub-Treasury, denounced by the people ! They denounce the
administration of President Harrison before it is commenced ! Part
ing from the power of which the people have stript them, with regret
and reluctance, and looking all around them with sulliness, they re
fuse to his administration that fair trial which the laws allow to
every arraigned culprit. I hope that gentleman will reconsider this
course, and that, out of deference to the choice of the people, if not
from feelings of justice and propriety, they will forbear to condemn
before they have heard President Harrison's administration. If gen
tlemen are for peace and harmony, we are prepared to meet them in
a spirit of peace and harmony, to unite with them in healing the
wounds and building up the prosperity of the country. But if they
are for war, as it seems they are, I say, "Lay on, Macduff."
One argument of the honorable Senator who has just taken his
seat, (Mr. Wright) I wish to detach from the residue of his speech,
that I may, at once, put it to sleep forever. With all his well known
ability, and without meaning to be disrespectful, I may add, with all
his characteristic ingenuity and subtlety, he has urged that if you
distribute the proceeds of the public lands, you arrogate to yourselves
the power of taxing the people to raise money for distribution among
the States ; that there is no difference between revenue proceeding
from the public lands and revenue from the customs ; and that there

450 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
is nothing in the constitution which allows you to lay duties on im
ports for the purpose of making up a deficiency produced by distri
buting the proceeds of the public,lands.
I deny the position, utterly deny it, and I will refute it from the
express language of the constitution. From the first, I have been of
those who protested against the existence of any power in this go
vernment to tax the people for the purpose of a subsequent distribu
tion of the money among the States. I still protest against it. There
exists no such power. We invoke the aid of no such power in main
tenance ofthe principle of distribution, applied to the proceeds ofthe
sales of the public domain. But if such a power clearly existed,
there would not be the slightest ground for the apprehension of its
exercise. The imposition of taxes is always an unpleasant, sometimes
a painful duty. What government will ever voluntarily incur the
odium and consent to lay taxes, and become a tax-gatherer, not to
have the satisfaction of expending-the money itself, but to distribute it
among other governments, to be expended by them ? But to he
constitution. Let us see whether the taxing power and the land
power are, as the argument of the Senator assumes, identical and the
same. What is the language of the constitution ?
" The Congress shall have power 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 ; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout
the United States."
Here is ample power to impose taxes ; but the object for which
the money is to be raised is specified. There is no authority what
ever conveyed to raise money by taxation, for the purpose of subse
quent distribution among the States, unless the phrase " general wel
fare" includes such a power. The doctrine, once held by a party upon
whose principles the Senator and his friends now act, in relation to
the Executive Department, that those phrases included a grant of
power, has been long since exploded and abandoned. They are now,
by common consent, understood to indicate a purpose, and not to
vest a power. The clause of the constitution, fairly construed and
understood, means that the taxing power is to be exerted to raise
money to enable Congress to pay the debts and provide for common
defence and general welfare. And it is to provide '. for the general
welfare, in any exigency, by a fair exercise of the powers granted in
the constitution. The Republican party Of 1798, in whose school I

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 451
was brought up, and to whose rules of interpreting the constitution I
have ever adhered, maintained that this was a limited government-;
that it had no powers but granted powers, or powers necessary and
proper to carry into effect the granted powers ; and that, in any given
instance of the exercise of power, it was necessary to show the spe
cific grant of it, or that the proposed measure was necessary and
proper to carry into effect a specifically granted power or rjowers.
There is then, I repeat, no power or authority in the general go
vernment to lay and collect taxes in order to distribute the proceeds
among the States. Such a financial project, if any administration
were mad enough to adopt it, would be a flagrant usurpation. But
how stands the case as to the land power ? There is not in the whole
constitution a single line or word that indicates an intention that the
proceeds of the public lands should come into the public treasury to
be used as a portion of the revenue of the government. On the con
trary, the unlimited grant of power to raise revenue in all the forms
of taxation, would seem to manifest, that that was to be the source
of supply, and not the public lands. But the grant of power to Con
gress over the public lands in the constitution is ample and compre
hensive. •
" The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and
regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States. '»
This is a broad, unlimited, and plenary power, subject to no restric
tion other than a sound, practical, and statesmanlike discretion, to be
exercised by Congress. It applies to all the territory and property
of the United States, whether acquired by treaty with foreign pow
ers, or by cessions of particular States, or however obtained. It can
not be denied that the right to dispose of the territory and property
of the United States, includes a right to dispose of the proceeds of
their territory and property, and consequently a right to distribute
those proceeds among the States. If the general clause in the con
stitution allows and authorizes, as I think it clearly does, distribution
among the several States, I will hereafter show that the conditions
on which the States ceded to the United States can only now receive
their just and equitable fulfilment by distribution.
The Senator from New York argued that if the power contended
for, to dispose of the territory and property of the United States, or

452 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
their proceeds, existed, it would embrace the national ships, public
buildings, magazines, dock-yards, and whatever else belonged to the
government. And so it would. There is not a doubt of it ; but
when will Congress ever perpetrate such a folly as to distribute this
national property ? It annually distributes arms, according to a fixed
rule, among the States, with great propriety. Are they not property
belonging to the United States ? To whose authority is the use of
them assigned ? To that of the States. And we may safely con
clude, that when it is expedient to distribute, Congress will make
distribution, and when it is best to retain any national property, un
der the common authority, it will remain subject to it. I challenge
the Senator, or any other person, to show any limitation on the power
of Congress to dispose of the territory or property of the United
States or their proceeds, but that which may be found in the terms
of the deed? of cession, or in a sound and just discretion. Come on ;
who can show it ? Has it not been shown that the taxing power, by
specification of the objects for which it is to be exercised, excludes
all idea of raising money for the purpose of distribution ? And that
the land power places distribution on a totally different footing ? That
no part of the proceeds of the public domain compose necessarily, or
perhaps properly, a portion of the public revenue ? What is the
language of the constitution ? That to pay the debts, provide for the
common defence and general welfare of the United States, you may
take the proceeds of the public lands ? No, no. It says, for these
ends, in other words, for the conduct ofthe government ofthe Union,
you shall have power, unlimited as to amount and objects, to lay
taxes. That is what it says ; and if you go to the constitution, this
is its answer. You have no right to go for power anywhere else.
Hereafter, 1 shall endeavor further to show that, by adopting the
distribution principle, you do not exercise or affect the taxing power ;
that you will be setting no dangerous precedent, as is alledged ; and
that you will, in fact, only pay an honest debt to the States, too long
withheld from them, and of which some of them now stand in the
greatest need.
In the opposition to distribution, we find associated together the
friends of pre-emption, the friends of graduation, and the friends of a
cession of the whole of the public lands to a few of the States. In
stead of reproaching us with a want of constitutional power to make
an equitable and just distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 453
public lands among all the States, they would do well to point to the
constitutional authority or to the page in the code of justice by which
their projects are to be maintained. But it is not my purpose now
to dwell on these matters. My present object is with the argument
of the Senator from New York, and his friends, founded on financial
considerations. All at once, these gentlemen seem to be deeply interested in the
revenue derivable, from the public lands. Listen to them now, and
you would suppose that heretofore they had always been, and here
after would continue to be, decidedly and warmly, in favor of carefully
husbanding the public domain, and obtaining from it the greatest
practicable amount of revenue, for the exclusive use of the general
government. You would imagine that none of them had ever es
poused or sanctioned any scheme for wasting or squandering the pub
lic lands ; that they regarded them as a sacred and inviolable fund,
to be preserved for the benefit of posterity as well as this generation.
It is my intention now to unmask these gentlemen, and to show that
their real system for the administration of the public lands embraces
no object of revenue, either in the general government or the States ; ,
that their purpose is otherwise to dispose of them ; that the fever for
revenue is an intermittent, which appears only when a bill to distri
bute the proceeds equally among all the States is pending ; and that,
as sOon as that bill is got rid of gentlemen relapse into their old pro
jects of throwing away the .public lands, and denouncing all objects
of revenue from the public lands as unwise, illiberal, and unjust to-.
ward the new States. I will make all this good by the most incon
trovertible testimony. I will go to the very highest authority in the
dominant party during the last twelve years, and from that I will
come down to the honorable Senator from New York and other mem
bers of the party. (I should not say come down ; it is certainly not
descending from the late President of the United States to approach
the Senator from New York. If intellect is the standard by which
to measure elevation, he would certainly stand far above the measure
of the Hermitage.) I will show, by the most authentic documents,
that the opponents of distribution, upon the principle now so urgently
pressed, of revenue, are no bonafide friends of revenue. from the pub
lic lands. I am afraid I shall weary the Senate, but I entreat it to
bear patiently with me, while I retrace the history of this measure of
distribution.
*DD

454 speeches Of henry clay.
You will recollect, sir, that some nine or ten years ago the subject
ofthe public lands, by one of the most singular associations that was
ever witnessed, was referred to the committee on manufactures, by
one of the strangest parliamentary manoeuvres that was ever prac
tised, for no* other purpose than to embarrass the individual who now
has the honor to address you, and who happened at that time to be
a member of that committee. It was in vain that I protested against
the reference, showed the total incongruity between the manufactures
ofthe country and the public lands, and entreated gentlemen to spare
us, and to spare themselves the reproaches which such a forced and
unnatural connection would bring upon them. It was all to no pur
pose; the subject was thrown upon the committee on manufactures,
in other words, it was thrown upon me ; for it was well known that
although among my colleagues of the committee there might be those
who were my superiors in other respects, owing to my local position,
it was supposed that I possessed a more familiar knowledge with the
public lands than any of them, when, in truth, mine was not con
siderable. There was another more weighty motive with the ma
jority of the Senate for devolving the business on me. The zeal, and
perhaps too' great partiality of my friends, had, about that time, pre
sented my name for a high office. And it was supposed, that no
measure, for permanently settling the question of the public lands,
could emanate from me, that would not affect injuriously my popu
larity either with the new or the old States, or with both. I felt the
embarrassment ofthe position in which I .was placed ; but I resolved
not to sink under it. I pulled off my coat and went hard to work.
1 manufactured the measure for distributing equitably, in just propor
tions, the proceeds of the public lands among the eeveral States-
When reported from the committee, its reception in the Senate, in
Congress, and in the country, was triumphant. I had every reason
to be satisfied with the result of my labors, and my political oppo
nents had abundant cause for bitter regrets at their indiscretion in
wantonly throwing the subject on me. The bill passed the Senate,
but was not acted upon in the House at that session. At the suc
ceeding session it passed both Houses. In spite of all those party
connexions, which are, perhaps, the strongest ties that bind the hu
man race, Jackson men, breaking loose from party thraldom, united
with anti-Jackson men, and voted the bill by overwhelming majori
ties in both Houses. If it had been returned by the President, it
would have passed both houses by constitutional majorities, bir veto

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 455
notwithstanding. But it was a measure suggested, although not
voluntarily, by an individual who shared no part in the President's
counsel* or his affections ; and although he had himself, in his annual
message, recommended a < similar measure, he did not hesitate to
change his ground in order to thwart my views. He knew, as I have
always believed and have understood, that if he returned the bill, as
by the constitution he was bound to do, it would become a law, by
the sanction of the requisite majorities in the two Houses. He re
solved, therefore, upon an arbitrary course, and to defeat, by an irre
gular and unprecedented proceeding, what he could not prevent by
reason and the legitimate action ofthe constitution. He resolved not
to return the bill, and did not return it to Congress, but pocketed it !
I proceed now to the documentary proof which I promised. In his
annual message of December 4, 1832, President Jackson says :
" Previous to the formation of our present constitution, it was recommended by
Congress that a portion ofthe waste lands owned by the States, should be ceded to
the United States for the purposes of general harmony, and as a fund to meet the
expenses of the war. The recommendation was adopted, and at different periods
of time, the States of Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, North and South
Carolina, and Georgia, granted their vacant soil, for the uses for which they had
been asked. As the lands may now be considered as relieved from this pledge, the
object for which they were ceded having been accomplished, it is in the discretion
of Congress to dispose of them iri such a way as best to conduce to the quiet, har
mony, and general interest of the American people," &c. " It seems to me to be
our true policy that the public latids shall cease as soon as practicable to be a source
of revenue," ifcc.
Thus, in December, 1832, President Jackson was of opinion, first,
that the public lands were released from the pledge of them to the
expenses of the revolutionary war. Secondly, that it was in the
power of Congress to dispose of them according to its discretion, in
such way as "best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and general in
terest of the American people. And, thirdly, that the public lands
should cease as soon as practicable to be a source of revenue. So
far from concurring in the argument, now insisted upon by his friends,
for the sole purpose of defeating distribution, that the public lands
should be regarded and cherished as a source of revenue, was clearly
of opinion that they should altogether cease to be considered as a
source of revenue.
The measure of distribution was reported by me from the commit
tee on manufactures, in April, 1832, and what was done with it?
The same majority of the Senate which had so strangely discovered
a congeniality between American manufactures and the public lands,

456

SPEECHES qf HBNRY clay.

instead of acting on the report, resolved to refer it to the committee
on public lands, of which the Senator from Alabama, (Mr. King) was
chairman ; thus exhibiting the curious parliamentary anomaly of re
ferring the report of one standing committee to another standing com
mittee. The chairman, on the ISth May, made a report, from which
many pertinent extracts might be made, but I shall content myself
with one:
" This committee turn with confidence from the land offices to the customhouse
and say, here are the true sources of Federal revenue ! Give lands to the cultivator
And tell him to keep his money, and lay it out in their cultivation !"
Now, Mr. President, bear in mind that this report, made by the
Senator from Alabama embodies the sentiments of his party; that the
measure of distribution which came from the committee on manufac
tures, exhibited one system for the administration ofthe public lands,
and that it was referred to the committee on public lands, to enable
that committee to make an argumentative report against it, and to
present their system — a counter or antagonist system. Well, this
counter system is exhibited — and what is it ? Does it propose to re
tain and husband the public lands as a source of revenue ? Do we
hear any thing from that committe about the wants of the exchequer
and the expediency of economizing and preserving the public lands to
supply them ? No such thing. No such recommendation. On the
contrary, we are deliberately told to avert our eyes from the land
offices, and to fix them exclusively on the custom houses, as the true
sources of federal revenue ! Give away the public lands, was the
doctrine of that report. Give it to the cultivator, and tell him to
keep his money ! And the party of the Senator from New York,
from that day to this, have adhered to that doctrine, except' at occa
sional short periods, when the revenue fit has come upon them, and
they have found it convenient, in order to defeat distribution, to
profess great solicitude for the interests of the revenue. Some of
them, indeed, are too frank to make any such profession. I should
be glad to know from the Senator from Alabama if he adheres to the
the sentiments of his report of 1832, and still thinks that the custom
houses, and not the land offices, are the true sources of federal
revenue. [Mr. King here nodded assent.]
I expected it. This reavowal is honorable to the candor and in-

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 457
dependence ofthe Senator. He does not go, then, with the revenue
arguers. He does not go with the Senator from New York, who
speaks strongly in favor of the revenue from the public lands, and
votes for every proposition to throw away the public lands. During
the whole progress of the bill of distribution through the Senate, as
far as their sentiments were to be inferred from their votes, or were
to be known by the positive declarations of some of them, the party
dominant then and now acted in conformity with the doctrines con
tained in the report of their organ, (Mr. King.) Nevertheless, the
bill passed both Houses of Congress by decisive majorities.
Smothered, as already stated by President Jackson, he did not re
turn it to the Senate until the 4th of December, 1833. With it
came his memorable Veto message — one of the most singular omni-
busses that was ever beheld — a strange vehicle that seemed to chal
lenge wonder and admiration on account of the multitude of hands
evidently employed in its construction, the impress of some of them
smeared and soiled as if they were fresh from the kitchen. Hear how
President Jackson lays down the law in this message :
" On the whole, I adhere to the opinion expressed by me in my annual message
of 1832, that it is our true policy that the public lands shall cease, as soon as practi
cable, to be a source of revenue, except for the payment of those general charges
which grow out ofthe acquisition of the lands, their survey and sale." " I do not
doubt that it is the real interest of each and all the States in the Union, and particu
larly ofthe new States, that the price of these lands shall be reduced and graduated ;
and that after they have been offered for a certain number of years, the refuse, re
maining unsold, shall be abandoned to the States, and the machinery of our land
system entirely withdrawn."
These are the conclusions of the head of that party which has been
dominant in this country for twelve years past. I say twelve, for the
last four have been but as a codicil to the will, evincing a mere con
tinuation of the same policy, purposes, and designs with that which
preceded it. During that long and dismal period, we all know too
well that the commands of no major-general were ever executed with
more implicit obedience than were the orders of President Jackson,
or, if you please, the public policy as indicated by him. Now, in
this message, he repeats, that the public lands should cease to be a
source of revenue, with a slight limitation as to the reimbursement of
the charges of their administration ; and adds that their price should
be reduced and graduated, and what he terms the refuse land, should
be ceded to the states within which it is situated. By-the-by, these
refuse lands, according to statements which I have recently seen from

458 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the land office, have been the source of nearly one half— upwards of
forty millions of dollars — of all the receipts from the public lands,
and that too, principally, since the date of that veto message !
It is perfectly manifest, that the consideration of revenue, now so
earnestly pressed upon us by the friends of General Jackson, was no
object with him in the administration ofthe public lands, and that it
was his policy, by reduction of the price, by graduation, by pre-emp
tions, and by ultimate cessions, to get rid of them as soon as practi
cable. We have seen that the committee on the public lands and his
party coincided with him. Of this, further testimony is furnished in
the debates, in the early part of the year 1838, which took place on
the distribution bill. Mr. Kane, of Illinois, (a prominent administra
tion Senator,) in that debate, said :
" Should any further excuse be demanded for renewing again this discussion, I re
fer to the message of the President of the United States at the commencement of
the present session, which, upon a comprehensive view of the general substantial in
terests o'f the confederacy, has, for the first time on the part of any Executive Ma
gistrate of this country, declared ¦. ' It seems to me, (says the President,) to be our
true policy that the public lands shall cease as soon as pi-acticable to be a source of revenue,
and that they should be sold to settlers in limited parcels, at a price barely sufficient
to reimburse the United States the expense of the present system, and the cost arising
under our Indian treaties,*" &c.
Mr. Bucknerr (an administration Senator from Missouri,) also re
fers to the same message of President Jackson, with approbation and
recommendation. His colleague, (Mr. Benton,) in alluding, on that
occasion, to the same message, says :
" The President was right. His views were wise, patriotic, and'statesmanlike."
"He had made it clear, as he hoped and believed, that the President's plan was
right — that all idea of profit from the lands ought to be given up," &c.
I might multiply these proofs, but there is no necessity for it. Why
go back eight or nine years ? We need only trust to our own ear's,
and rely upon what we almost now daily hear. Senators from the
new States frequently express their determination to wrest from this
government the whole of the public lands, denounce its alledged il
liberally, and point exultingly to the strength which the next census
is to bring to their policy. It was but the other day we heard the
Senator from Arkansas, (Mr. Sevier) express some of these senti
ments. What were we told by that Senator ? " We will have the
public lands. We must have them, and we will take them in a few
years." [Mr.SEViEB. So we will.]

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 469
Hear him ! Hear him ! He repeats it. Utters it in the ears of
the revenue-pleading Senator (Mr. Wright) on my left. And yet he
will vote against distribution. I will come now to a document of
more recent origin. Here it is— the work nominally of the Senator
from Michigan, (Mr. Norvell,) but I take it from the internal evi
dence it bears, to be the production of the Senator from South Caro
lina, over the way, (Mr. Calhoun.) The report, in favor of cession,
proposes to cede to the States, within which the public lands are
situated, one-third, retaining, nominally, two-thirds to the Union.
Now, if this precedent of cession be once established, it is manifest
that it will be applied to all new States, as they are hereafter suc
cessively admitted into the Union. We begin with ceding one-third ;
we shall end in granting the whole.
[Mr. CALi-iotra asked Mr. Clat to read the portions of the report to which he
alluded.] I should be very glad to accommodate the Senator, but I should
have to read the whole of his report, and I am too much indisposed
and exhausted for that. But I will read one or two paragraphs :
" It belongs to the nature of things that the old and new States should take differ
ent views, have different feelings, and favor a different' course of policy in reference
to the lands within their limits. It is natural for the one to regard them chiefly as
a source of revenue, and to estimate them according to the amount of income an
nually derived from them ; While the other as naturally regards them, almost exclu
sively, as a portion, of their domain, and as the foundation of their population, wealth,
power and importance. They have more emphatically the feelings of ownership,
accompanied by the impression that they ought to have the principal control, and the
greater share of benefits derived from them." " To sum up the whole in a few
words : — " Of all subjects of legislation, land is that which more emphatically re
quires a .local superintendence and administration ; and, therefore ought pre-emi
nently to belong, under our system, to State legislation, to which this bill proposes
to subject it exclusively in the new States, as it has always been in the old."
It must be acknowledged that the new States will find some good
reading in this report. What is the reasoning ? That it is natural
for the old States to regard the public lands as a source of revenue,
and as natural for the new States to take a different view of the mat
ter ; ergo, let us give the lands to the new States, making them, of
course, cease any longer to be a source of revenue. It is discovered,
too, that land is a subject which emphatically requires a local super
intendence and -administration. It therefore proposes to subject it
exclusively to the new States as (according to the assertion of the
report) it always has been in the old. The public lands of the United
States, theoretically, have been subject to the joint authority of the

460 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
two classes of States, in Congress assembled, but, practically, have
been more under the control of the members from the new States
than those from the old. I do not think that the history of the ad
ministration of public domain in this country sustains the assertion
that the States have exhibited more competency and wisdom for the
management of it than the general government.
I stated that I would come down (I should have said go up) from
the late President of the United States to the Senator from NewYork.
Let us see what sort of notions he had on this matter of revenue from
the public lands, when acting in his character of Chairman of the
Committee of Finance, during this very session, on another bill. —
There has been, as you are aware, sir, before the Senate, at times,
during the last twelve or fifteen years, a proposition for the reduction
of the price of the public lands, under the imposing guise of " gra
duation." A bill, according to custom, has been introduced during the
present session for that object. To give it eclat, and as a matter of
form and dignity, it was referred to the Committee of Finance, of
which the honorable Senator from New York is the distinguished
chairman ; the same gentleman who, for these two days, has been
defending these lands from waste and spoliation, according to the
scheme of distributing their proceeds, in order to preserve them as a
fruitful source of revenue for the general government. Here^was a
fine occasion for the display of the financial abilities of the Senator.
He and his friends had exhausted the most ample treasures that any
administration ever succeeded to They were about retiring from
office, leaving the public coffers perfectly empty. Gentlemanly con
duct toward their successors, to say nothing of the duties of office or
of patriotism, required of them to do all in their power — to pick up
and gather together, whenever they could, any means, however scat
tered or little the bits might be — to supply the urgent wants of the
treasury. At all events, if the financial skill of the honorable Sena
tor was incompetent to suggest any plan for augmenting the public
revenue, he was, under actual circumstances, bound, by every con
sideration of honor and of duty, to refrain from espousing or sanc
tioning any measure that would diminish the national income.
Well ; what did the honorable Senator do with the graduation
bill? — a bill which, I assert, with a single stroke of the pen, by a
short process, consummated in April, 1842, annihilates fifty millions

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 461
of dollars of the avails of the public lands ! What did the Senator do
with this bill, which takes off fifty cents from the very moderate
price of one dollar and a quarter per acre, at which the public lands
are now sold ? The bill was in the hands of the able Chairman of
the Committee of Finance, some time. He examined it, no doubt,
carefully, deliberated upon it attentively and anxiously. What re
port did he make upon it ? If uninformed upon the subject, Mr.
President, after witnessing, during these two days, the patriotic soli
citude of the Senator in respect to the revenue derivable from the
public lands, you would surely conclude that he had made a decisive
if not indignant report against the wanton waste of the public lands
by the graduation bill. I am sorry to say, that he made no such re
port. Neither did he make an elaborate report to prove that, by
taking off fifty cents per acre of their entire value, the revenue would
be increased. Oh no ; that was a work he was not prepared to com
mit even to his logic. He did not attempt to prove that. But what
did he do ? Why simply presented a verbal compendious report, re
commending that the bill do pass ! And yet that Senator can rise here
— in the light of day — in the face of this Senate — in the face of his
country, and in the presence of his God — and argue for retaining and
husbanding the public lands, to raise revenue from them !
But let us follow these revenue gentlemen a little further. By one
of the strangest phenomena in legislation and logic that was ever
witnessed, these very Senators who are so utterly opposed to the dis
tribution of the proceeds of the public lands among all the States,
because it is distribution, are themselves for all other sorts of distri
bution — for cessions, for pre-emptions, for grants to the new States to
aid them in education and improvement, and even for distribution of
the proceeds ofthe public lands among particular States. They are
for distribution in all conceivable forms and shapes, so long as the
lands are tb be gotten rid of, to particular persons or particular States.
But when an equal, general, broad, and just distribution is proposed,
embracing all the States, they are electrified and horror-struck. You
may distribute- — and distribute among States, too — as long as you
please, and as much as you please, but not among all the States. '
And here, sir, allow me to examine more minutely the project of
cession, brought forward as the rival of the plan of distribution.
There are upwards of one billion of acres of public land belonging to

462 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the United States, situated within and without the limits of the States
and Territories, stretching from the Atlantic ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico to the Pacific ; they have been ceded by seven of the old
thirteen States to the United States, or acquired by treaties with for
eign powers. The Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) pro
poses by his bill to cede one hundred and sixty million acres of this
land to the nine States wherein they lie, granting to those States 36
per cent., and reserving to the United States 65 per cent, of the pro
ceeds of those lands.
Now what I wish to say, in the first place, is that, if you com
mence by applying the principle of cession to the nine land States
now in the Union, you must extend it to other new States, as they
shall be, hereafter, from time to time, admitted into the Union, until
the whole public land is exhausted. You will have to make similar
cessions to Wiskonsin, to Iowa, to Florida, (in two States, perhaps,
at least in one,) and so to every new State as it shall be organized
and received ? How could you refuse ? When other States to the
north and to the west of Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, and Wiskonsin,
to the very shores of the Pacific, shall be admitted into the confed
eracy, will you not be bound by all the principles of equality and
justice to make to them respectively similar cessions of the public
land, situated within their limits, to those which you will have made
to the nine States ? Thus your present grant, although extending
nominally to but one hundred and sixty millions of acres, virtually,
and by inevitable consequence, embraces the whole of the public do
main. And you bestow a gratuity of 35 per cent, of the proceeds of
this vast national property upon a portion of the States, to the ex
clusion and to the prejudice of the revolutionary States, by whose
valor a large part of it was achieved.
Will the Senator state whence he derives the power to do this ?
Will he pretend that it is to cover the expenses and charges of man
aging and administering the public lands ? On much the greater
part, nearly the whole of the one hundred and sixty millions of acres,
the Indian title has been extinguished, and they have been surveyed.
Nothing but a trifling expense is to be incurred on either of those
objects ; and nothing remains but to sell the land. I understand that
the total expense of sale and collection is only about two per cent.
Why, what are the charges ? There is one per cent, allowed by law

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 463
to the receivers, and the salaries of the registers and receivers in each
land district, with some other inconsiderable incidental charges. Put
all together, and they will not amount to three per cent, on the aggre
gate of sales. Thus the Senator is prepared to part from the title
and control ofthe whole public domain upon these terms ! To give
thirty-five per cent, to cover an expenditure not exceeding three !
Where does he get a power to make the cession to particular States,
which would not authorise distribution among all the States ? And
when he has found the power, will he tell me why, in virtue of it,
and in the same spirit of wasteful extravagance or boundless gener
osity, he may not give to the new States, instead of thirty-five per
cent., fifty, eighty or a hundred ? Surrender at onpe the whole pub
lic domain to the new States? The percentage, proposed to be al
lowed, seems to be founded on no just basis, the result of no official
data or calculation, but fixed by mere arbitrary discretion. I should
be exceedingly amused to see the Senator from South Carolina rising
in his place, and maintaining before the Senate ah authority in Con
gress to cede the public lands to particular States, on the terms pro
posed, and at the same time denying its power to distribute the pro
ceeds equally and equitably among all the States.
Now, in the second place, although there is a nominal reservation
of sixty-five per cent, of the proceeds to the United States, in the
sequel, I venture to predict, we should part with the whole. You
vest in the nine States the title. They are to sell the land and grant
titles to the purchasers. Now, what security have you for the faith
ful collection and payment into the common treasury of the reserved
sixty-five per cent. ? In what medium would the payment be made ?
Can there be a doubt, that there would be delinquency, collusion,
ultimate surrender of the whole debt ? It is proposed, indeed to re- '
tain a sort of mortgage upon the lands, in the possession of purchasers
from the State, to secure the payment to the United States of their
sixty-five per cent. But how could you enforce such a mortgage ?
Could you expel from their homes some, perhaps 100,000 settlers,
under state authority, because the State possibly without any fault
of theirs, had neglected to pay over to the United States the sixty-
five per cent. ? The remedy of expulsion would be far worse than
the relinquishment of the debt, and you would relinquish it.
There is no novelty in this idea of cession to the new States. The

464 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY
form of it is somewhat varied, by the proposal of the Senator to di
vide the proceeds between the new States and the United States, but
it is still substantially the same thing — a present cession of thirty-five
per cent., and an ultimate cession of the whole ! When the subject
of the public lands was before the committee on manufactures, it con
sidered the scheme of cession among the other various projects then
afloat. The report made in April, 1832, presents the views enter
tained by the committee on that topic.
The Senator from New York has adverted, for another purpose,
to the twenty-eight millions of surplus divided a few years ago among
the States. He has said truly that it arose from the public lands.
Was not that, in effect, distribution ? Was it not so understood at
the time ? Was it not voted for by Senators, as practical distribu
tion ? The Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Mangum) has stated
that he did. I did. Other Senators did ; and no one, not the boldest,
will have the temerity to rise here and propose to require or compel
the States to refund that money. If, in form, it was a deposite with
the States, in fact and in truth it was distribution. So it was then
regarded. So it will ever remain. Let us now see, Mr. President,
how this plan of cession will operate among the new States them
selves. And I appeal more especially to the Senators from Ohio.
That state has about a million and a half of inhabitants. The United
States have (as will probably be shown when the returns are publish
ed of the late census) a population of about fifteen millions. Ohio,
theto, has, within her limits one-tenth ofthe population ofthe United
States. Now, let us see what sort of a bargain the proposed cession
makes for Ohio.
[Mr. Allen here interposed, to explain, that the vote he gave for Mr. Calhoun's
plan of cession to the new States, was on the ground of substituting that in preference
to the plan of distribution among all the States.]
Oh ! ho ! — ah ! is that the ground of the Senator's vote ?
[Mr. Allen said he had had a choice between two evils — the amendment of the
Senator from South Carolina, and the amendment of the Senator from Kentucky ;
and it was well known on this side of the House that he took the first only as a less
evil than the last.]
Well, all I will say is, that that side of the house kept the secret
remarkably well. And no one better than the Senator himself.
There were seventeen votes given in favor ofthe plan ofthe Senator

ON THE PRE-EMPTION EILL. 465
from South Carolina, to my utter astonishment at the time. I bad
not expected any other vote for it but that ofthe Senator from South
Carolina himself, and the Senator from Michigan, (Mr. Norvell.) No
other did, or I suppose would rise and vote to cede away, without
any just or certain equivalent, more than a billion of acres of public
land of the people of the United States. If the vote of the other
fifteen Senators was also misunderstood in the same way as the Sena
tors from Ohio, I shall be very glad of it.
But I was going to show what sort of a bargain for Ohio her two
Senators, by their votes, appeared to be assenting to. There are
800,000 acres of public land remaining in Ohio, after being culled for
near half a century, thirty-five per cent, of the proceeds of which are
to be assigned to that State by the plan of cession. For this trifling
consideration she is to surrender her interest in 160,000,000 of acres ;
in other words, she is to give 16,000,000 (that being her tenth,) for
the small interest secured to her in the 800,000 acres. If, as I be
lieve, and have contended, the principle of cession being once esta
blished, would be finally extended to the whole public domain, then
Ohio would give one hundred millions of acres of land, (that being
her tenth part ofthe whole of the public lands, for the comparatively
contemptible consideration that she would acquire in the 800,000
acres. A capitafbargain this, to which I supposed the two Senators
had assented, by which, in behalf of their State they exchanged one
hundred millions of acres of land against eight hundred thousand !
I do not think that the Senator's explanation mends the matter
much. According to that, he did not vote for cession because he
liked cession. No ! that is very bad, but, bad as it may be, it is not
so great an evil as distribution, and he preferred it to distribution.
Let us see what Ohio would get by distribution. Assuming that the
public lands will yield only five millions of dollars annually, her pro
portion being one-tenth, would be half a million of dollars. But I
entertain no doubt that, under proper management, in a few years the
public lands will produce a much larger sum, perhaps ten or fifteen
millions of dollars ; so that the honorable Senator prefers giving away
for a song the interest of his State, presently, in 160,000,000 of acres,
and eventually in a billion, to receiving annually, in perpetuity, half
a million of dollars, with an encouraging prospect of a large augmen
tation of that sum. That is the notion which the two Senators from

466 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Ohio entertain of her interest ! Go home, Messieurs Senators from
Ohio, and tell your constituents of your votes. Tell them of your
preference of a cession of all their interest in the public lands, with
the exception of that inconsiderable portion remaining in Ohio, to the
reception of Ohio's fair distributive share of the proceeds of all the
public lands of the United Statesj now and hereafter. I do not seek to
interfere in the delicate relation between Senators and their constitu
ents ; but I think I know something of the feelings and views of my
neighbors, the people of Ohio. I have recently read an exposition of
her true interests and views in the message of her enlightened go
vernor, directly contrary to those which appear to be entertained by
her two Senators ; and I am greatly deceived if a large majoriiy of the
people of that State do not coincide with their governor.
The unequal operation of the plan of cession among the nine new
States has been, perhaps, sufficiently exposed by others. The States
with the smallest population get the most land. Thus Arkansas,
with only about one-fifteenth part of a population of Ohio, will re
ceive upwards of twenty-eight times as much land as Ohio. The
scheme proceeds upon the idea of reversing the maxim of the^greatest
good to the greatest number, and of substituting the greatest good to
the smallest number. There can be every species of partial distribu
tion of public land or its proceeds, but an honest, impartial, straight
forward distribution among all the States. Can the Senator from
New York, with his profound knowledge of the constitution, tell me
on what constitutional authority it is that lands are granted to the
Indians beyond the Mississippi ?
[Mr. "Wright said that there was no property acquired, and therefore no constitu
tional obligation applied.]
And that is the amount of the Senator's information of our Indian
relations ! Why, sir, we send them across the Mississippi, and put
them upon our lands, from which all Indian title had been removed.
We promise them even the fee simple ; but, if we did not, they are
at least to retain the possession and enjoy the use of the lands until
they choose to sell them ; and the wholei amount of our right would
be a pre-emption privilege of purchase, to the exclusion of all private
persons or public authorities, foreign or domestic. This is the doc
trine coevil with the colonization of this continent, proclaimed by the
king of Great Britain, in his proclamation of 1763, asserted in the

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 467
conferences at Ghent, and sustained by the Supreme Court of the
United States. Now, such an allotment of public lands to the In
dians, whether they acquire the fee or a right of possession indefinite
as to time, is equivalent to any distribution. Thus, sir, we perceive,
that all kinds of distribution ofthe public lands or their proceeds may
be made— to particular States, to pre-emptioners, to charities, to ob
jects of education or internal improvement, to foreigners, to Indians,
to black, red, white, and grey, to every body, but among all the
States of the Union. There is an old adage according to which
charity should begin at home ; but according to the doctrines of the
opponents of distribution, it neither begins nor ends at home.
[Here Mr. Clay gave way to an adjournment.]
It is not my intention to inflict upon the Senate even a recapitula
tion of the heads of argument which I had the honor to address to it
yesterday. On one collateral point I desire to supply an omission as
to the trade between this country and France. I stated the fact that,
according to the returns of imports and exports, there existed an un
favorable balance against the United States, amounting, exclusively
of what is re-exported, to seventeen millions of dollars; but I omit
ted another important fact, namely, that by the laws of France, there
is imposed on the raw material imported into that kingdom a duty of
twenty francs on every hundred kilogrammes, equal to about two
cents per pound on American cotton, at the present market price.
Now what is the fact as to the comparative rate of duties in the two
countries ? France imposes on the raw product (which is the mere
commencement of value in articles which, when wrought, and finally
touched, will be worth two or three hundred fold) a duty of near
twenty-five per cent, while we admit free of duty, or with nominal
duties, costly luxuries, the product of French industry and -taste,
wholly unsusceptible of any- additional value by any exertion of
American skill or industry. In" any thing I have said on this occa
sion, nothing is further from my intention than to utter one word un
friendly to France. On the contrary, it has been always my desire
to see our trade with France increased and ex-tended upon terms of
reciprocal benefit. With that view, I was in favor of an arrange
ment in the tariff of 1832, by which silks imported into the United
States from beyond the Cape of Good Hope, were charged with a
duty of ten per cent, higher than those brought from France and

468 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
countries this side of the cape, especially to encourage the commerce
with France.
While speaking of France, allow me to make an observation, al
though it has no immediate or legitimate connexion with any thing
before the Senate. It is to embrace the opportunity of expressing
my deep regret at a sentiment attributed by the public journals to a
highly distinguished and estimable countryman of ours in another part
of the capitol, which implied a doubt as to the validity of the title of
Louis Philippe to the throne of France, inasmuch as it was neither
acquired by conquest nor descent, and raising a question as to his be
ing the lawful monarch of the French people. It appears to me,
that after the memorable revolution of July, in which our illustrious
and lamented friend, Lafayette, bore a part so eminent and effectual,
and the subsequent hearty acquiescence of all France in the estab
lishment of the Orleans branch of the house of Bourbon upon the
throne, the present king has as good a title to his crown as any of
the other sovereigns of Europe have to theirs, and quite as good as
any which force or the mere circumstance of birth could confer. And
if an individual so humble and at such a distance as I am, might be
allowed to express an opinion on the public concerns of another
country and another hemisphere, I would add that no Chief Magis
trate of any nation, amid difficulties, public and personal, the most
complicated and appalling, could have governed with more ability,
wisdom and firmness than have been displayed by Louis Philippe.
All Christendom owes him an acknowledgement for his recent suc
cessful efforts to prevent a war which would have been disgraceful to
Christian Europe — a war arising from the inordinate pretensions of
an upstart Mahometan Pacha, a rebel against his lawful sovereign
and a usurper of his rights — a war which, if once lighted up, must
have Involved all Europe, and have led to consequences which it is
impossible to foresee. I return to the subject immediately before us.
In tracing the history of that portion of our public domain which
was acquired by the war of the revolution, we should always recol
lect the danger to the peace and harmony among the members of the
confederacy with which it was pregnant. It prevented for a long time
the ratification of the articles of confederation by all the States, some
of them refusing their asssent until a just and equitable settlement
was made of the question of the crown lands. The argument they

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 469
urged as to these lands, in a waste and unappropriated state, was,
that they had been conquered by the common valor, the common ex
ertions, and the common sacrifices of all the states ; that they ought,
therefore, to be the common property of all the states ; and that it
would be manifestly wrong and unjust that the states, within whose
limits these crown lands happened to lie, should exclusively enjoy
the benefit of them. Virginia, within whose boundaries by far the
greater part of these crown lands were situated, and by whose sepa
rate and unaided exeitions on the bloody theatre of Kentucky, and
beyond the Ohio, under the direction of the renowned George Rogers
Clarke, the conquest of most of them was achieved, was, to her im
mortal honor, among the first to yield to these just and patriotic
views, and by her magnificent grant to the Union, powerfully con
tributed to restore harmony, and quiet all apprehensions among the
several states.
Among the objects 'to be attained by the cession from the states to
the confederation of these crown lands, a very" important one was to
provide a fund to pay the debts ofthe revolution. The Senator from
New York (Mr. Wright) made it the object of a large part of the ar
gument which he addressed to the Senate, to show the contrary ; and
so far as the mere terms of the deeds of cession are concerned, I ad
mit the argument was sustained. No such purpose appears on the
face of the deeds, as far as I have examined them.
[Mr "Wright here interposed, and said that he had not undertaken to argue that
the cessions made by the States to the Union were not for the purpose of extinguish
ing the public debt, but that they were not exclusively for that purpose.]
It is not material whether they were made for the sole purpose of
extinguishing the revolutionary debt or not- I think I shall be able
to show, in the progress of my argument, that, from the moment of
adoption of the federal constitution, the proceeds of the public lands
ought to have been divided among the states. But that the payment
of the revolutionary debt was one of the objects of the cession, is a
matter of incontestable history; We should have an imperfect idea
of the intentions of the parties, if we confined our attention to the
mere language of the deeds. In order to ascertain their views, we
must exemine contemporaneous acts, resolutions, and proceedings.
One of these resolutions, clearly manifesting the purpose I have sta
ted has probably escaped the notice of the Senator from New York.
*EE

470 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
It was a resolution of the old Congress, adopted in 1783, preceding?
the final cession from Virginia, which was in March, 1783. There
had been an attempt to make the cession as early as 1781, but, owing
to the conditions with which it was embarrassed, and other difficul
ties, the cession was not consummated until March, 17S4. The reso
lution I refer to, bears a date prior to that of the cession, and must
be taken with it, as indicative of the motives which probably operated
on Virginia to make, and the confederation to accept, that memorable
grant. I will read it :
" Resolved, That as a further means, as well of hastening the extinguishment of
the debts, as of establishing the harmony of the United States, it be recommended to
the States which have passed no acts towards complying with the resolutions of
Congress ofthe 6th of September and 10th of October, 1780, relative to the cession
of territorial claims, to make the liberal cessions therein recommended, and to the
States which may have passed acts complying with the said resolutions in part only,
to revise and complete such compliance."
That was one of the great objects of the ceseion. Seven of the old
thirteen states had waste crown lands within their limits ; the other
six had none. These complained that what ought to be regarded as
property common to them all, would accrue exclusively to the seven
States, by the operation ofthe articles of confederation ; and, therefore,
for the double purpose of extinguishing the revolutionary debt, and
of establishing harmony among the states of the Union, the cession
of those lands to the United States was recommended by Congress.
And here let us pause for a moment, and contemplate the proposi
tion of the Senator from South Carolina and its possible consequences.
We have seen that the possession by seven states of these public
lands, won by the valor of the whole thirteen, was cause of so much
dissatisfaction to the other six as to have occasioned a serious im
pediment to the formation of the confederacy ; and we have seen that
to remove all jealousy and disquietude on that account, in conformity
with the recommendation of Congress, the seven States, Virginia ta
king the lead, animated by a noble spirit of justice and patriotism',
ceded the waste lands to the United States for the benefit of all the
states. Now what is the measure of the senator from South Carolina ?
It is in effect to restore the discordant and menacing state of things
which existed in 1783, prior to any cession from the states. It is
worse than that, for it proposes that seventeen states shall give up
immediately or eventually all their interest in the public lands, lying
in nine states, to those nine states. Now if the seven states had re-

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 471
fused to cede at all, they could at least have asserted that they fought
Great Britain for these lands as hard as the six. They would have
had, therefore, the apparent right of conquest, although it was a com
mon conquest. But the senator's proposition is to cede these public
lands from the states which fought for them in the revolutionary war,
to states that neither fought for them, nor had existence during that
war. If the apprehension of an appropriation of these lands to the
exclusive advantage of the seven states was nigh preventing the es
tablishment of the Union, can it be supposed that its security and
harmony will be unaffected by a transfer of them from seventeen to
nine states ? But the senator's proposition goes yet further. It has
been shown that it will establish a precedent which must lead to a
cession from the United States of all the public domain, whether won
by the sword or acquired by treaties with foreign powers, to new
states as they shall be admitted into the Union.
In the second volume of the laws of the United States will be found
the act known as the funding act, which passed in the year 1790.
By the last section of that act the public lands are pledged, and
pledged exclusively, to the payment of the revolutionary debt, until
it should be satisfied. Thus we find prior to the cession, an invita
tion from Congress to the states to cede the waste lands, among other
objects, for the purpose of paying the public debt ; and after the ces
sions were made, one of the earliest acts of Congress pledged them to
that object. So the matter stood while that debt hung over us.
During all that time there was a general acquiescence in the dedica
tion of the public lands to that just object. No one thought of dis
turbing the arrangement. But when the debt was discharged, or
rather when, from the rapidity of the process of its extinction, it was
evident that it would soon be discharged, attention was directed to a
proper disposition of the public lands. No one doubted the power of
Congress to dispose of them according to its sound discretion. Such
was the view of President Jackson, distinctly communicated to Con
gress, in the message which I have already cited.
" As the lands may now be considered as relieved from this pledge, the object for
whiph they were ceded having been accomplished, it is in the discretion of Coqgress
to dispose of them in such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and gene
ral interest of the American people."
Can the power of Congress" to dispose of the public domain be
more broadly asserted ? What was then said about revenue ? That

472 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
it should cease to be a source of revenue ! We never hear of the re
venue argument but when the proposition is up to make an equal and
just distribution of the proceeds. When the favorable, but, as I re
gard them, wild and squandering projects of gentlemen are under
consideration, they are profoundly silent as to that argument. I come
now to an examination of the terms on which the cession was made
by the states, as contained in the deeds of cession. And I shall take
that from Virginia, because it was in some measure the model deed,
and because it conveyed by far the most important part of the public
lands acquired' from the ceding states. I will first dispose of a pre
liminary difficulty raised by the Senator from New York. That Se
nator imagined a case, and then combatted it with great force. The
case he supposed was, that the senator from Massachusetts and I
had maintained that, under that deed there was a reversion to the
states, and much of his argument was directed to prove that there is
no reversion, but that if there were, it could only be to the ceding
states. Now neither the Senator from Massachusetts nor I attempted
to erect any such windmill as the Senator from New York has ima
gined, and he might have spared himself the heavy blows which, like
another famed hero not less valorous than himself, he dealt upon it.
What I really maintain and have always maintained is, that, accord
ing to the terms themselves of the deed of cession, although there is
conveyed a common property to be held for the common benefit, there
nevertheless is an assignment of a separate use. The ceded land, I ad
mit, is to remain a common fund for all the states, to be administered
by a common authority, but the proceeds or profits were to be appro
priated to the several states in severalty, accoiding to a certain pre
scribed rule. I contend this is manifestly true from the words of the
deed. What are they ?
" That all the lands within the territory so ceded to the United States, and not
reserved for or appropriated to any of the before-mentioned purposes, or disposed of
in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American army, shall be considered, a
common fund for the use and benefit of such ofthe United States as have become or
shall become, members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said States.
Virginia inclusive, according to their usual respective proportions in the general
charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bonafide disposed of for that pur
pose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever."
The territory conveyed was to be regarded as an inviolable fund for
the use and benefit of such states as were admitted or might be ad
mitted into the Union, Viiginia inclusive, according to their usual re
spective proportions in the general charge and expenditure. It was

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 478
to be faithfully and bonafide administered for that sole purpose, and
for no other purpose whatever. Where then is the authority for all
those wild, extravagant, and unjust projects, by which, instead of
administration of the ceded territory for all the States and all the
people of the Union, it is to be granted to particular states, wasted in
schemes of graduation and pre-emption, for the benefit of the tres
passer, the alien, and the speculator ?
The Senator from New York, pressed by the argument as to the
application of the fund to the separate use of the states, deducible
from the phrases in the deed, " Virginia inclusive," said that they
were necessary, because without them, Virginia would have been
entitled to no part of the ceded lands. No ? Were they not ceded
to the United States ; was she not one of those states, and did not the
grant to them include her ? Why then were the words inserted ? Can
any other purpose be imagined than that of securing to Virginia her
separate or " respective" proportion ? The whole paragraph cau
tiously and carefully composed, clearly demonstrates that, although
the fund was to be common, the title common, the administration
common, the use and benefit were to be separate among the several
states, in the defined proportions.
The grant was for the benefit of the States, " according to their
usual respective proportions in the common charge and expenditure."
Bear in mind the date of the deed ; it was in 1784 — before the adop
tion of the present constitution, and while the articles of confedera
tion were in force. What, according to them, was the mode of as
sessing the quotas of the different States towards the common charge
and expenditure ? It was mads upon the basis of the value of all
the surveyed land, and the improvements, in each state. Each State
was assessed according to the aggregate value of surveyed land and
improvements within its limits. After that was ascertained, the pro
cess of assessment was this : suppose there were five millions of dol
lars required to be raised for the use of the general government, and
one million of that five were the proportion of Virginia ; there would
be an account stated on the books of the general government with
the State of Virginia, in which she would be charged with that mill
ion. Then there would be an account kept for the proceeds of the
sales of the public lands ; and, if these amounted to five millions of
dollars also, Virginia would be credited with one million, being her

474 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
fair proportion ; and thus the account would be balanced. It is un
necessary to pursue the process with all the other States ; this is
enough to show that, according to the original contemplation Of the
grant, the common fund was for the separate benefit of the States ;
and that, if there had been no change in the form of government,
each would have been credited with its share of the proceeds of the
public lands in its account with the general government. Is not this
indisputable ? But let me suppose that Virginia or any other State
had said to the general government : " I choose to receive my share
of the proceeds of the public lands into my separate treasury ; pay it
to me, and I will provide in some other mode, more agreeable to me,
for the payment of my assessed quota of the expenses of the general
government :" can it be doubted that such a demand would have been
legitimate and perfectly compatible with the deed of cession ? Even-
under our present system, you will recollect, sir, that, during the
last war, any State was allowed to assume the payment of its share
of the direct tax, and raise it, according to its own pleasure or con
venience, from its own people, instead of the general goverment col
lecting it.
From the period of the adoption of the present constitution of the
United States, the mode of raising revenue, for the expenses of the
general government, has been changed. Instead of acting upon the
States, and through them upon the people of the several States, ill
the form of assessed quota or contribution, the general government
now acts directly upon the people themselves, in the form of taxes,
duties, or excises. Now, as the chief source of revenue raised by
this government, is from foreign imports, and as the consumer pays
the duty, it is entirely impracticable to ascertain how much of the
common charge and general expenditure is contributed by any one
State of the Union.
By the deed of cession a great and a sacred trust was created.
The general government was the trustee, and the States were the
cestuy que trust. According to the trust the measure of benefit ac
cruing to each State from the ceded lands was to be the measure of
burden which it bore In the general charge and expenditure. But,
by the substitution of a new rule of raising revenue to that which
was in contemplation at the time of the execution of the deed of ces
sion, it has become impossible to adjust the exact proportion of bur-

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 475
den and benefit with each other. The measure of burden is lost,
although the subject remains which was to be proportioned according
to that measure. Who can now ascertain whether any one of the
States has received, or is receiving, a benefit from the ceded lands
proportionate to its burden in the general government ? Who can
know that we are not daily violating the rule of apportionment pre
scribed by the deed of cession ? To me it appears clear that, either
from the epoch of the establishment of the present constitution, or
certainly from that of the payment of the revolutionary debt, the
proceeds of the public lands being no longer applied by the general
government according to that rule, they ought to have been trans
ferred to the States upon some equitable principle of division, con
forming as near as possible to the spirit of the cessions. The trustee
not being able, by the change of government, to execute the trust
agreeably to the terms of the trnst, ought to have done, and ought
yet to do, that which a chancellor would decree if he had jurisdiction
of the case — make a division of the proceeds among the States upon
some rule approximating as near as practicable to that of the trust.
And what rule can so well fulfil this condition as that which was
introduced in the bill which I presented to the Senate, and which is
contained in my colleague's amendment ? That rule is founded on
federal numbers, which are made up of all the inhabitants of the
United States other than the slaves, and three-fifths of them. The
South, surely, should be the last section to object to a distribution
founded on that rule. And yet, if I rightly understood one of the
dark allusions of the Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,)
he has attempted to excite the jealousy of the north on that very
ground. Be that as it may, I can conceive of no rule more equitable
than that compound one, and, I think, that will be the judgment of
all parts of the country, the objection of that Senator notwithstand
ing. Although slaves are, in a limited proportion, one of the ele?;
ments that enter into the rule, it will be recollected that they are
both consumers and the objects of taxation.
It has been argued that since the fund was to be a common one,
and its administration was to be by the general government, the fund
ought to be used also by that government to the exclusion of the
States separately. But that is a non sequitw. It may be a common
fund, a common title, and a common or single administration ; but is
(there any thing, in all that, incompatible with a periodical distribu-

476 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tion of the profits of the fund among the parties for whose benefit the.
trust was created ? What is the ordinary case of tenants in common ?
Where the estate is common, the title is common, the defence against
all attacks is common ; but the profits of the estate go to the sepa
rate use of, and are enjoyed by each tenant. Does it therefore cease
to be an estate in common ? Again. There is another view. It has
been argued, from the fact that the ceded lands in the hands of the
trustee were for the common benefit, that that object could be not
otherwise accomplished than to use them in the disbursements of the
general government ; that the general government only must expend
them. Now, I do not admit that. In point of fact, the general go
vernment would continue to collect and receive the fund, and as a
trustee would pay over to each State its distributive share.
The public domain would'still remain in common. Then, as to the
expenditure, there may be different modes of expenditure. One is,
for the general government itself to disperse it, in payments to the
civil lists, the army, the navy, &c. Another is, by distributing it
among the States, to constitute them so many agencies through which
the expenditure is effected. If the general government and the state
governments were in two different countries ; if they had entirely
distinct and distant theatres of action, and operated upon different
races of men, it would be another case ; but here the two sys
tems of government, although for different purposes, are among the
same people, and the constituency of both of them is the same. The
expenditure, whether made by the one government directly, or
through the state governments as agencies, is all for the happiness
and prosperity, the honor and the glory of one and the same people.
The subject is susceptible of other illustrations, of which I will add
one or two. Here is a fountain of water held in common by several
neighbors, living around it. It is a perennial fountain — deep, pure,
copious, and salubrious. Does it cease to be common because some
equal division is made by which the members of each adjacent family
dip their vessels into it, and take out as much as they want ? A
tract of land is held in common by the inhabitants of a neighboring
village. Does it cease to be a common property because each vil
lager uses it for his particular beasts ? A river is the common high
road of navigation of conterminous powers or states. Does it cease
to be common because on its bosom are borne vessels bearing the

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 477
stripes and the stars or the British cross ? These, and other exam
ples which might be given, prove that the argument, on which so
much reliance has been placed, is not well founded, that, because the
public domain is held for the common benefit ofthe States, there can
be no. other just application of its proceeds than through the direct
expenditures of the general government.
I might have avoided most of this consumption of time by follow
ing the bad example of quoting from my own productions ; and I ask
the Senate to excuse one or two citations from the report I made in
1834, in answer to the veto message of President Jackson, as they
present a condensed view of the argument which I have been urg
ing. Speaking of the cession from Virginia the report says :
" This deed created a trust in the United States, which they are not at liberty to
violate. But the deed does not require that the fund should be disbursed in the pay
ment of the expenses ofthe general government. It makes no such provision in
express terms, nor is such a duty on the part of the trustee fairly deducible from the
language of the deed. On the contrary, the language ofthe deed seems to contem
plate a separate use and enjoyment of ihe fund by the States individually, rather
than a preservation of it for common expenditure. The fund itself is to be a com
mon fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become or
shall become members of the confederation or federal alliance, Virginia inclusive.
The grant is not for the benefit of the confederation, but for that of the several
States which compose the confederation. The fund is to be under the management
of the confederation collectively,' and is so far a common fund ; but it is to be man
aged for the use and benefit of the. States individually, and is so far a separate fund
under a joint management. While there was a heavy debt existing, created by the
war of the Revolution, and by a subsequent war, there was a fitness in applying the
proceeds of a common fund to the discharge of a common debt, which reconciled
all ; but that debt being now discharged, and the general government no longer
standing in need of the fund, there is evident propriety in a division of it among
those for whose use and benefit it was originally designed, and whose wants require
it. And the committee cannot conceive how this appropriation of it, upon princi
ples of equality and justice among the several States, can be regarded as contrary to
either the letter or spirit of the deed."
The Senator from New York, assuming that the whole debt of
the Bevolution has not yet been paid by the proceeds of the public
lands, insists that we should continue to retain the avails of them until
a reimbursement shall have been effected of all that has been applied
to that object. But the public lands were never set apart or relied
upon as the exclusive resource for the payment of the revolutionary
debt. To give confidence to public creditors, and credit to the go
vernment, they were pledged to that object, along with other means
applicable to its discharge. The debt is paid, and the pledge of the
public lands has performed its office. And who paid what the lands
did not ? Was it not the people of the United States ?— those very
people to whose use, under the guardianship of their States, it is now

478 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
proposed to dedicate the proceeds of the public lands ? If the money
had been paid by a foreign government, the proceeds of the public
lands, in honor and good faith, would have been bound to reimburse
it. But our revolutionary debt, if not wholly paid by the public
lands, was otherwise, paid out of the pockets of the people who own
the lands ; and if money has been drawn from their pockets for a
purpose to which these lands were destined, it creates an additional
obligation upon Congress to replace the amount so abstracted by dis
tributing the proceeds among the States for the benefit and the reim^
bursement of the people.
But the Senator from New York has exhibited a most formidable
account against the public domain, tending to show, if it be correct,
that what has been heretofore regarded, at home and abroad as a
source of great national wealth, has been a constant charge upon the
treasury, and a great loss to the country. The credit side, according
to his statement, was, I believe one hundred and twenty millions, but
the debit side was much larger. It is scarcely necessary to remark
that it is easy to state an account presenting a balance to the one side
or the other, as may suit the taste or views of the person making it
up. This may be done by making charges that have no foundation,
or omitting credits that ought to be allowed, or by both. The most
certain operation is the latter, and the Senator, who is a pretty tho
rough-going gentlemen, has adopted it.
The first item that I shall notice, with which, I think, he impro
perly debits the public lands, is a charge of eighty odd million of dol
lars for the expense of conducting our Indian relations. Now, if this
single item can be satisfactorily expunged, no more need be done to
turn a large balance in favor of the public lands. 1 ask, then, with
what color of propriety can the public lands be charged with the en
tire expense incident to our Indian relations ? If the government did
not own an acre of public lands, this expense would have been in
curred. The aborigines are here ; our fathers found them in posses
sion of this land, these woods and these waters. The preservation
of peace with them, the fulfilment of the duties of humanity towards
them, their civilization, education, conversion to Christianity, friendly
and commercial intercourse — these are the causes of the chief expen
diture on their account, and they are quite distinct from the fact of
our possessing the public domain. When every acre of that domain

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 479
has gone from you, the Indian tribes, if not in the mean time extinct,
may yet remain, imploring you, for charity's sake, to assist them, and
to share with them those blessings, of which, by the weakness of
their nature, or the cruelty of your policy, they have been stripped.
Why, especially, should the public lands be chargeable with that
large portion of the eighty odd millions of dollars, arising from the re
moval of the Indians from the east to the west side of the Mississippi ?
They protested against it. They entreated you to allow them to re
main at the homes and by the side of the graves of their ancestors ;
but your stern and rigorous policy would not allow you to listen to
their supplications. The public domain, instead of being justly
chargeable with the expense of their removal, is entitled to a large
credit for the vast territorial districts beyond the Mississippi which it
furnished, for the settlement of the emigrant Indians. I feel that I
have riot strength to go through all the items of the Senator's ac
count, nor need I. The deduction of this single item will leave a
nett balance in favor ofthe public lands of between sixty and seventy
millions of dollars.
What, after all, is the Senator's mode of stating the account with
the public lands ? Has he taken any other than a mere counting
house view of them ? Has he exhibited any thing more than any
sub-accountant or clerk might make out in any of the departments,
as probably it was prepared, Cut and dry, to the Senator's hands?
Are there no higher or more statesmanlike views to be taken of the
public lands, and of the acquisitions of Louisiana and Florida,, than
the account of dollars and cents which the Senator has presented ?
I have said that the Senator by the double process of erroneous inser
tion and unjust suppression of items, has shaped an account to suit
his argument, which presents any thing but a full and fair statement
ofthe Case, and is it not so ? Louisiana cost fifteen millions of dol-
'lars. And, if you had the power of selling, how many hundred mill
ions of dollars would you now ask for the States of Louisiana, Mis
souri and Arkansas — people, land, and all ? Is the sovereignty which
you acquired of the two provinces of Louisiana and Florida nothing ?
Are the public buildings and works, the fortifications, cannon, and
other arms, independent of the public lands, nothing ? Is the navi
gation of the great father of waters, which you secured from the head
to the mouth, on both sides of the river, by the purchase of Louisi
ana, to the total exclusion of all foreign powers, not worthy of being

480 SPEECHES OP HENRY CLAY.
taken into the Senator's estimate of the advantage ofthe acquisition^
Who, at all acquainted with the history and geography of this conti
nent, does not know that the Mississippi could not have remained in
the hands, and its navigation continued subject to the control of a
foreign power, without imminent danger to the stability of the Union ?
Is the cost of the public domain undeserving of any credit on account
of the vast sums which, during the -greater part of this century, you
have been receiving into the public' treasury from the custom-houses
¦ of New-Orleans and Mobile? Or, on account of the augmentation
of the revenue ofthe government, from the consumption of dutiable
articles by the population within the boundaries of the two former
provinces ? The national benefits and advantages accruing from their
possession have been so various and immense that it would be impos
sible to make any more pecuniary estimate of them. In any aspect
of the subject, the Senator's petty items of Indian annuities must
appear contemptible in comparison with these splendid national ac
quisitions. But the public lands are redeemed. They have long been redeem
ed. President Jackson announced, more than eight years ago, an
incontestible truth when he stated that they might be considered as
relieved from the pledge which had been made of them, the object
having been accomplished for which they were ceded, and that it
was in the discretion of Congress to dispose, of them in such way as
best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and general interest of the
American people. That which Congress has the power to do, by an
express grant of, authority in the constitution, it is, in my humble
opinion, imperatively bound to do by the terms of the deed of ces
sion. Distribution, and only distribution of the proceeds of the pub
lic lands, among the States, upon the principle proposed, will con
form to the spirit, and execute the trust created in the deeds of ces
sion. Each State, upon grounds of strict justice as well as equity,
has a right to demand its distributive share of those proceeds. It is
a debt which this government owes to every state- — a debt, payment
of which might be enforced by the process of law if there were any
forum before which the United States could be brought.
And are there not, sir, existing at this moment the most urgent and
powerful motives for this dispensation of justice to the States at the
hands of the general government ? A stranger listening to the argu-

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 481
ment of the Senator from New York, would conclude that we were
not one united people, but that there were two separate and distinct
nations — one acted upon by the general government, and the other
by the State governments. But is that a fair representation of the
case ? Are we not one and the same people, acted upon, it is true,
by two systems of government, two sets of public agents — the one
established for general and the other for local purposes ? The con
stituency is identical and the same, although it is doubly governed.
It is the bounden duty of those who are charged with the adminis
tration of each system so to administer it as to do as much good and as
little harm as possible, within the scope of their respective powers.
They should also each take ipto view the defects in the powers or
defects in the administration of the powers ofthe other, and endeavor
to supply them as far as its legitimate authority extends,, and the
wants or necessities ofthe people require. For, if distress, adversity
and ruin come upon our constituents from any quarter, should they
not have our active exertions to relieve them as well as all our sym
pathies and our deepest regrets ? It would be but a poor consolation
to the general government, if such were the fact, that this unhappy
state of things was produced by the measures and operation of the
State governments and not by its own. And if the general govern
ment, by a seasonable and legitimate exercise of its authority, could
relieve the people, and would not relieve them, the reproaches due
to it would be quite as great as if that government itself, and not the
State governments, had brought these distresses upon the people.
The powers of taxation possessed by the general government are
unlimited. The most fruitful and the least burdensome modes of
taxation are confided to this government exclusive of the States.
The power of laying duties on foreign imports is entirely monopolized
by the federal government. The States have only the power of di
rect or internal taxation. They have none to impose duties on im
ports, not even luxuries ; we have. And what is their condition at
this moment ? Some of them are greatly in debt, at a loss even to
raise means to pay the interest upon their bonds. These debts were
contracted under the joint encouragement of the recommendation of
this government and prosperous times, in the prosecution of the Iaud7
able object of internal improvements. They may have pushed,;in
some instances, their schemes too far ; but it was in a good cause,
and it is easy to make reproaches when things turn out ill.

482 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
And here let me say, that, looking to the patriotic object of these
State debts, and the circumstances under which they were contract
ed, I saw with astonished and indignant feelings, a resolution sub
mitted to the Senate at the last session, declaring that the general go
vernment would not assume the payment of them. A more wicked,
malignant, Danton-like proposition was never offered to the consider
ation of any deliberative assembly. It was a negative proposition,
not a negative of any affirmative resolution presented to the Senate ;
for no such affirmative resolution was offered by any one. When,
where, by whom, was the extravagant idea ever entertained of an
assumption of the State debts by the general government ? There
was not a solitary voice raised in favor of such a measure in this
Senate. Would it not have been time enough to have denounced
assumption when it was seriously proposed ? Yet, at a moment
when the States were greatly embarrassed, when their credit was
sinking, at this critical moment, was a measure brought forward,
unnecessarily, wantonly and gratuitously, made the subject of an
elaborate report, and exciting a protracted debate, the inevitable
effect of all which must have been to create abroad distrust in the
ability and good faith of the debtor states. Can it be doubted that a
serious injury was inflicted upon them by this unprecedented pro
ceeding ? Nothing is more delicate than credit or character. Their
credit cannot fail to have suffered in the only place where capital
could be obtained, and where at that very time some of the agents
of the States were negotiating with foreign bankers. About that
period one of the Senators of this body had in person gone abroad for
the purpose of obtaining advances of money on Illinois stock.
The Senator from New York said that the European capitalists
had fixed the value of the State bonds of this country at fifty per
cent. ; and therefore it was a matter of no consequence what might
be said about the credit of the States here. But the Senator is mis
taken, or I have been entirely misinformed. I understand that some
Bankers have limited their advances upon the amount of State-bonds,
prior to their actual sale, to fifty per cent., in like manner as commis
sion merchants will advance on the goods consigned to them, prior to
their sale. But in such an operation it is manifestly for the interest
of the States as well as the Bankers, that the bonds should command
tn the market as much as possible above the fifty per cent. ; and any
proceeding which impairs the value of the bonds must be injurious to

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 483
both. In any event, the loss would fall upon the States ; and that
this loss was aggravated by what occurred here, on the resolution to
which I have referred, no one, at all acquainted with the sensitive
ness of credit and of capitalists, can hesitate to believe. My friends
and I made the most strenuous opposition to the resolution, but it was
all unavailing, and a majority of the Senate adopted the report of the
committee to which the resolution had been referred. We urged the
impolicy and injustice of the proceeding ; that no man in his senses
would ever propose the assumption of the State debts ; that no such
proposal had, in fact, been made ; that the debts of the States were
unequal in amount contracted by States of unequal population, and
that some States were not in debt at all. How then was it possible
to think of a general assumption of State debts ? Who could con
ceive of such a proposal ? But there is a vast difference between our
paying their debts for them, and paying our own debts to them, in con
formity with the trusts arising out of the public domain, which the
general government is bound to execute.
Language has been held in this chamber which would lead any
one who heard it to believe that some gentleman would take delight
in seeing States dishonored and unable to pay their bonds. If such a
feeling does really exist, I trust it will find no sympathy with the
people of this country, as it can have none in the breast of any honest
man. When the honorable Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Web
ster) the other day uttered, in such thrilling language, the sentiment
that honor and probity bound the States to the faithful payment of
all their debts, and that they would do it, I felt my bosom swelling
with patriotic pride — pride, on account of the just and manly sentiment
itself; and pride, on account of the beautiful and eloquent language
in which that noble sentiment was clothed. Dishonor American
credit ! Dishonor the American name ! Dishonor the whole coun
try ! Why sir, what is national character, national credit, national
honor, national glory, but the aggregate of the character, the credit,
the honor, the glory, of the parts of the nation ? Can the parts be
dishonored, and the whole remain unsullied ? Or can the whole be
blemished, and the parts stand pure and untainted ! Can a younger
sister be disgraced, without bringing blushes and shame upon the
whole family ! Can our young sister Illinois (I mention her only for
illustration, but with all feelings and sentiments of fraternal regard,)
can she degrade her character as a State without bringing reproach

484 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
and obloquy upon all of us ? What has made England — pur coun
try's glorious parent — (although she has taught us the duty of eter
nal watchfulness, to repel aggression, and maintain our rights against
even her) — what has made England the wonder of the world ? What
has raised her to such pre-eminence in wealth, power, empire and
greatness, at once the awe and the admiration of nations ? Undoubt
edly, among the prominent causes, have been the preservation of her
credit, the maintenance ot her honor, and , the scrupulous fidelity
with which she has fulfilled her pecuniary engagements, foreign as
well as domestic. An opposite example of a disregard of national
faith and character presents itself in the pages of ancient history.
Every schoolboy is familiar with the phrase " Punic faith," which at
Rome became a by-word and a reproach against Carthage, in conse
quence of her notorious violations of her public engagements. The
stigma has been transmitted down to the present time, and will re
main for ever uneffaced. Who would not lament that a similar stig
ma should be affixed to any member of our confederacy ? If there
be any one so thoroughly imbued with party spirit, so destitute of
honor and morality, so regardless of just feelings of national dignity
and character, as to desire to see any of the States of this glorious
Union dishonored, by violating their engagements to foreigners, and
refusing to pay their just debts, I repel and repudiate him and his
sentiments as unworthy of the American name, as sentiments dis
honest in themselves^ and neither entertained nor approved by the
people of the United States.
Let us not be misunderstood, or our feelings and opinions be per
verted. What is it that we ask ? That this government shall as
sume the debts of the States ? Oh no, no. The debts of Pennsyl
vania, for example ? (who is, I believe, the most indebted of all the
States.) No, no ; far from it. But seeing that this government has
the power, and, as I think, is under a duty, to distribute the proceeds
of the public lands, and that it has the power, which the States have
not, to lay duties on foreign luxuries, we propose to make that distri
bution, pay our debt to the States, and save the States, to that extent
at least, from the necessity of resorting to direct taxation, the most
onerous of all modes of levying money upon the people. We pro
pose to supply the deficiency produced from the withdrawal of the
land fund by duties on luxuries, which the wealthy only will pay,
and so far save the States from the necessity of burdening the poor.

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 485
We propose that, by a just exercise of incontestable powers possessed
by this government, we shall go to the succor of all the states, and,
by a fair distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among
them, avert, as far as that may avert, the ruin and dishonor with
which some of them are menaced. We propose, in short, such an
administration of the powers of this government as shall protect and
relieve our common constituents from the embarrassments to which
they may be exposed from the defects in the powers or in the admin
istration of the state governments.
Let us look a little more minutely at consequences. The distribu
tive share of the state of Illinois in the land proceeds would be, ac
cording to the present receipt from the public lands, about one hun
dred thousand dollars. We make distribution, and she receives it.
To that extent it would then relieve her from direct taxation to meet
the debt which she has contracted, or it wOuld form the basis of new
loans to an amount equal to about two million. We refuse to make
distribution. She must levy the hundred thousand dollars upon her
population in the form of direct taxation. And, if I am rightly in
formed, her chief source of revenue is a land tax, the most burdensome
of all taxes. If I am misinformed, the Senators from Illinois can
correct me.
[Here Messrs. Robinson and Young explained, stating that there was an addition
al source in a tax on the stock in the State Bank.]
Still the land tax is, as I had understood, the principal source of the
revenue of Illinois. We make distribution, and, if necessary, we
supply the deficiency which it produces, by an imposition of duties
on luxuries, which Illinois cannot tax. We refuse it, and having no
power herself to lay any duty on foreign imports, she is compelled to
resort to the most inconvenient and oppressive of all the modes of
taxation. Every vote, therefore, which is given against distribution,
is a vote in effect, given to lay a land tax on the people of Illinois.
Worse than that — it is a vote in effect, refusing to tax the luxuries of
the rich, and rendering inevitable the taxation ofthe poor — that poor
in whose behalf we hear, from the other side of the chamber, profes
sions of such deep sympathy, interest, and devotion ! In what atti
tude do gentlemen place themselves who oppose this measure — gen
tlemen who taunt us as the aristocracy, as the friends of the banks,
&c. — gentlemen who claim to be the peculiar guardians of the demo-

486 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
cracy ? How do they treat the poor ? We have seen at former
sessions a measure warmly espoused, and finally carried by them,
which they represented would reduce the wages of labor. At this
session, a tax, which would be borne exclusively by the rich, en
counters their opposition. And now we have proposed another mode
of benefitting the poor, by distribution of the land proceeds, to pre
vent their being borne down and oppressed by direct taxation ; and ]
this, too, is opposed from the same quarter ! These gentlemen will
not consent to lay a tax on the luxuries of the affluent, and by their
votes insist upon leaving the states under the necessity of imposing
direct taxes on the farmer, the laboring man, the poor, and all the
while set up to be the exclusive friends of the poor ! Really, sir,
the best friends appear to be the worst enemies of the poor, and their
greatest enemies their best friends.
The gentlemen opposed to us have frightened themselves, and
have sought to alarm others, by imaginary dangers to spring from this
measure of distribution. Corruption, it seems, is to be the order of
the day ! If I did not misunderstand the Senator from South Caro
lina, he apprised us of the precise sum — one million of dollars — which
was adequate to the corruption of his own. He knows best about
that ; but I should be sorry to think that fifty millions of dollars could
corrupt my state. What may be the condition of South Carolina at
this time I know not ; there is so much fog enveloping the dominant
party that it is difficult to discern her present latitude and longitude
What she was in her better days — in the days of her Rutledges,
Pinckneys, Sumpters, Lowndeses, Cheveses — we all well know, and
I will not inflict pain on the Senator by dwelling on it. It is not for
me to vindicate her from a charge so degrading and humiliating. She
has another Senator here far more able and eloquent than I am to de
fend her. Certainly I do not believe, and should be most unwilling
to think, that her Senator had made a correct estimate of her moral
power. It has been indeed said that our whole country is corrupt ; that
the results of recent ebctions were brought about by fraudulent
means ; and that a foreign influence has produced the great political
revolution which has just taken place. I pronounce that charge a
gross, atrocious, treasonable libel on the people of this country, on the
institutions of this country, and on liberty itself. I do not attribute

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 487
this calumny to any member of this body. I hope there is none who
would give it the slightest countenance. But I do charge it upon
some of the newspapers in the support of the other party. And it is
remarkable that the very press which originates and propagates this
foul calumny of foreign influence has indicated the right of unnatural
ized foreigners to mingle at the poles in our elections ; and maintained
the expediency of their owning portions of the soil of our country,
before they have renounced their allegiance to foreign sovereigns.
I will not consume the time of the Senate in dwelling long upon
the idle and ridiculous story about the correspondence between the
London bankers and some Missouri bank — a correspondence which
was kept safely until after the Presidential election, in the custody
of the directors of what is vaunted as a genuine locofoco bank in that
state, when it was dragged out by a resolution of the legislature, au
thorizing the sending for persons and papers. It was then blazed
forth as conclusive and damning evidence of the existence of a foreign
influence in our Presidential election. And what did it all amount
to ? These British bankers are leally strange fellows. They are
foolish enough to look to the safety of their money advanced to for
eigners ! If they see a man going to ruin, they will not lend him ;
and if they see a nation pursuing the same road, they are so unrea
sonable as to decline vesting their funds in its bonds. If they find
war threatened, they will speculate on the consequences ; and they
will indulge in conjectures about the future condition of a country in
given contingencies ! Very strange ! They have seen — all the
world is too familiar with — these embarrassments and distresses
hrought upon the people ofthe United States by the measures of Mr.
Van Buren and his illustrious predecessor. They conclude that, if
he be re-elected, there will be no change of those measures, and no
better times in the United States. On the contrary, if General Har
rison be elected, they argue that a sound currency may be restored,
confidence return, and business once more be active and prosperous.
They therefore tell their Missouri banking correspondents that Ameri
can bonds and stocks will continue to depreciate if Mr. Van Buren
be re-elected ; but that, if his competitor should succeed, they will
rise in value and sell more readily in the market. And these opinions
and speculations ofthe English bankers, carefully concealed frem the
vulgar gaze of the people, and locked up in the vaults of a locofoco
bank, (what wonders they may have wrought there have not been

488 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
disclosed,) are dragged out and paraded as full proof of the corrupt
exercise of a foreign influence in the election of General Harrison as
President of the United States. Why, sir, the amount of the whole
of it is, that the gentlemen calling themselves, most erroneously, the
Democratic party, have administered the government so badly, that
they have lost all credit and confidence at home and abroad, and be
cause the people of the United States have refused to trust them any
longer, and foreign bankers will not trust them either, they utter a
whining cry that their recent signal defeat has been the work of fo
reign influence.
Democratic party ! They have not the slightest pretension to this
denomination. In the school of 1798, in which I was taught, and to
which I have ever faithfully adhered, we were instructed to be
watchful and jealous of executive power, enjoined to practice econo
my in the public disbursements, and urged to rally around the people
and not attach ourselves to the Presidential car. This was Jefferson's
democracy. But the modern democrats, who have assumed the
name, have reversed all these wholesome maxims, and have given to
democracy a totally different version. They have run it down, as
they have run down, or at least endangered State rights, the right of
instruction — admirable in their proper sphere — and all other rights,
by perversion and extravagance. But, thank God, true democracy,
and true democrats have not been run down. Thousands of those
who have been deceived and deluded by false colors, will now eager
ly return to their ancient faith, and unite, under Harrison's banner,
with their old and genuine friends and principles, as they were held
at the epoch of 1798. We shall, I trust, be all once more united as
a fraternal band, ready to defend liberty against all dangers that may
threaten it at home, and the country against all that shall menace it
from abroad.
But to return from this digression to the patriotic apprehension en
tertained by Senators of corruption, if the proceeds of the public
lands should be distributed among the states. If, in the hands ofthe
general government, the land fund does not lead to corruption, why
should it in the hands of the state governments ? Is there less dan
ger from the fund if it remain undivided and concentrated, than if it
be distributed ? Are the state governments more prone to corruption
than the federal government ? Are they more wasteful and extrava-

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 489
gant in the expenditure of the money of the people ? 1 think that if
we are to consult purity and economy, we shall find fresh motives
for distribution-
Mr. President, two plans of disposing of the vast public domain
belonging to the United States, have been, from time to time, submitted
to the consideration of Congress and the public. According to one of
them, it should not be regarded as a source of revenue, either to the
general or to the state government. That I have, I think, clearly demon
strated, although the supporters of that plan do press the argument
of revenue whenever the rival plan is brought forward. They con
tend that the general government, being unfit, or less competent than
the state governments, to manage the public lands, it ought to hasten
to get rid of them, either by reduction of the price, by donation, by
pre-emptions, or by cessions to certain States, or by all these methods
together. Now, sir, it is manifest, that the public lands cannot be all settled
in a century or centuries to come. The progress of their settlement
is indicated by the growth of the population of the United States.
There have not been, on an average, five millions of acres per annum
sold, during the last half century. Larger quantities will be probably
hereafter, although not immediately, annually sold. Now, when we
recollect, that we have at least a billion of acres to dispose of, some
idea may be entertained, judging from the past, of the probable length
of time before the whole is sold. Prior to their sale and settlement,
the unoccupied portion of the public domain must remain either in
the hands of the general government or in the hands of the state go
vernments, or pass into the hands of speculators. In the hands of
the general government, if that government shall perform its duty, we
know that the public lands will be distributed on liberal, equal, and
moderate terms. The worst fate that can befall them would be for
them to be acquired by speculators. The emigrant and settler would
always prefer purchasing from government, at fixed and known rates,
rather than from the speculator, at unknown rates, fixed by his cu
pidity or caprice. But if they are transferred from the general go
vernment, the best of them will be engrossed by speculators. That
is the inevitable tendency of reduction of the price by graduation, and
of cession to the States within which they lie.

490 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The rival plan is for the general government to retain the public
domain, and make distribution ofthe proceeds in time of peace among
the several states, upon equal and just principles, according to the
rule of federal numbers, and in time of war to resume the proceeds
for its vigorous prosecution. We think that the administration ofthe
public lands had better remain with the common government, than
administered according to various, and, perhaps, conflicting views.
As to that important part of them which was ceded by certain states
to the United States for the common benefit of all the states, a trust
was thereby created which has been voluntarily accepted by the
United States, and which they are not at liberty now to decline or
transfer. The history of public, lands held in the United States, de
monstrates that they have been wasted or thrown away by most of
the states that owned any, and that the general government has dis
played more judgment and wisdom in the administration of them
than any of the states. While it is readily admitted that revenue
should not be regarded as the sole or exclusive object, the pecuniary
advantages which may be derived from this great national property
to both the states and the Union, ought not to be altogether over
looked. The measure which I have had the honor to propose, settles this
great and agitating question forever. It is founded upon no partial
and unequal basis, aggrandizing a few of the states to the prejudice
of the rest. It stands on a just, broad, and liberal foundation. It is
a measure applicable not only to the states now in being, but to the
territories, as states shall hereafter be formed out of them, and to all
new states as they shall rise tier behind tier, to the Pacific ocean. It
is a system operating upon a space almost boundless, and adapted to
all future time. It was a noble spirit of harmony and union that
prompted the revolutionary states originally to cede to the United
States. How admirably does this measure conform to that spirit and
tend to the perpetuity of our glorious Union ! The imagination can
hardly conceive one fraught with more harmony and union among
the States. If to the other ties that bind us together as one people,
be superadded the powerful interest springing out of a just adminis
tration of our exhaustless public domain,by which, for a long succes
sion of ages, in seasons of peace, the states will enjoy the benefit of
the great and growing revenue which it produces, and in periods of
war that revenue will be applied to the prosecution of the war, we

ON THE PRE-EMPTION BILL. 491
we shall be' forever linked' together with the strength of adamantine
chains. No section, no state, would ever be mad enough to break
off from the Union, and deprive itself of the inestimable advantages
which it secures. Although thirty or forty more of the new states
should be admitted into this Union, this measure would cement them
all fast together. The honorable member from Missouri near me,
(Mr. Linn,) is very anxious to have a settlement formed at the
mouth of the Oregon, and he will probably be gratified at no very
distant day. Then will be seen members from the Pacific States
scaling the Rocky Mountains, passing through the country of the
grizzly bear, descending the turbid Missouri, entering the father of
rivers, ascending the beautiful Ohio, and coming to this capitol, to
take their seats in its spacious and magnificent halls. Proud of the
commission they bear, and happy to find themselves here in council
with friends, and brothers, and countrymen, enjoying the incalculable
benefits of this great confederacy, andmmong them their annual dis
tributive share of the issues of a nation's inheritance, would even
they, the remote people of the Pacific, ever desire to separate theim-
selves from such a high and glorious destiny ? The fund. which is to
be dedicated to these great and salutary purposes, does not proceed
from a few thousand acres of land, soon to be disposed of ; but of
more than ten hundred millions of acres ; and age after age may roll
away, state after state arise, generation succeed generation, and still
the fund will remain not only unexhausted, but improved and in
creasing, for the benefit of our children's children to the remotest
posterity. The measure is not one pregnant with jealousy, discord,
or division, but it is a far-reaching, comprehensive, healing measure
of compromise and composure, having for its patriotic object the har
mony, the stability, and the prosperity of the states and of the Union

ON THE BANK VETO.
In the Senate of the United States, August 19, 1841.

[The bill which had passed both Houses of Congress, chartering a Bank of the
United States, having been returned by Acting President Tyleh, with objections to
its becoming a law, Mr. Clay thereupon addressed the Senate as follows :]
Mr. President, the bill which forms the present subject of our
deliberations had passed both houses of Congress by decisive majori
ties, and, in conformity with the requirements of the constitution, was
presented to the President of the United States for his consideration.
He has returned it to the Senate, in which it originated, according to
the directions ofthe constitution, with a message announcing his veto
of the bill, and containing his objections to its passage. And the
question now to be decided is, shall the bill pass, by the required
constitutional majority of two-thirds, the President's objections not
withstanding ?
Knowing, sir, but too well that no such majority can be obtained,
and that the bill must fall, I would have been rejoiced to have found
myself at liberty to abstain from saying one word on this painful oc
casion. But the President has not allowed me to give a silent vote.
I think, with all respect and deference to him, he has not reciproca
ted the friendly spirit of concession and compromise which animated
Congress in the provisions of the bill, and especially in the modifica
tion of the sixteenth fundamental condition of the Bank. He has
commented, I»think, with undeserved severity on that part of the
bill ; he has used, I am sure unintentionally, harsh, if not reproachful
language ; and he has made the very concession, which was prompted
as a peace-offering, and from friendly considerations, the cause of
stronger and more decided disapprobation of the bill. Standing in
the relation to that bill which I do, and especially to the exception
able clause, the duty which I owe to the Senate and to the country,
and self-respect, impose upon me the obligation of at least attempting

on the bank veto. 493
the vindication of a measure which has met with a fate so unmerited
and so unexpected.
On the 4th of April last, the lamented Harrison, the President
of the United States, paid the debt of nature. President Tyler, who,
as Vice-President, succeeded to the duties of that office, arrived in
the city of Washington on the 6th of that month. He found the
whole metropolis wrapped in gloom, every heart filled with sorrow
and Sadness, every eye streaming with tears, and the surrounding hills
yet flinging back the echos of the bells which were tolled on that
melancholy occasion. On entering the Presidential mansion he con
templated the pale body of his predecessor stretched before him, and
clothed in the black habiliments of death. At that solemn moment I
have no doubt that the heart of President Tyler was overflowing
with mingled emotions of grief, of patriotism, and of gratitude — above
all, of gratitude to that country by a majority of whose suffrages, be
stowed at the preceding November, he then stood the most distin
guished, the most elevated, the most honored of all living Whigs of
the United States.
It was under these circumstances, and in this probable state of
mind, that President Tyler, on the 10th day of the same month of
April, voluntarily, promulgated an address to the people of the
United States. That address was in the nature of a coronation oath,
which the Chief of the State, in other countries, and under other
forms, takes, upon ascending the throne. It referred to the solemn
obligations, and the profound sense of duty, under which the new
President entered upon the high trust which had devolved upon him,
by the joint acts of the people and of Providence, and it stated the
principles and delineated the policy by which he would be governed
in his exalted station. It was emphatically a Whig address, from
beginning to end — every inch of it was Whig, and was patriotic. In
that address the President, in respect to the subject-matter embraced
in the bill, held the following conclusive and emphatic language :
" I shall promptly give my sanction to any constitutional measure which, origin
ating in Congress, shall have for its objeet the restoration of a sound circulating
medium, so essentially necessary to give confidence in all the transactions of life, to
secure to industry its just and adequate rewards, and to re-establish the public pros-
perity. In deciding upon the adaptation of any such measure to the end proposed,
as well as its conformity to the constitution, I shall resort to the fathers of the great
Republican school for advice and instruction, to be drawn from their sage views of
our system of government, and the light of their ever glorious example."

494 speeches of henry clay.
To this clause in the address of the President, I believe but one
interpretation was given throughout this whole country, by friend
and foe, by Whig and Democrat, and by the presses of both parties.
It was, by every man with whom I conversed on the subject at the
time of its appearance, or of whom I have since inquired, construed
to mean that the President intended to occupy the Madison ground,
and to regard the question of the power to establish a National Bank
as immovably settled. And I think I may confidently appeal to the
Senate, and to the country, to sustain the fact that this was the con
temporaneous and unanimous judgment of the public. Reverting
back to the period of the promulgation of the address, could any
other construction have been given to its language ? What is it ?
" I shall promptly give my sanction to any constitutional measure
which, originating in Congress," shall have defined objects in view.
He concedes the vital importance of a sound circulating medium to
¦industry and to the public prosperity. He concedes that its origin
must be in Congress. And, to prevent any inference from the quali
fication, which he prefixes to the measure, being interpreted to mean
that a United States Bank was unconstitutional, he declares that, in
deciding on the adaptation of the measure to the end proposed, and
its conformity to the constitution, he will resort to the fathers of the
great republican school. And who were they ? If the father of his
country is to be excluded, are Madison, (the father of the constitu
tion,) Jefferson, Monroe, Gerry, Gallatin, and the long list of repub
licans who acted with them, not to be regarded as among those
fathers ? But President Tyler declares he shall not only look to the
principles and creed of the republican fathers for advice and instruc
tion, but to the light of their ever glorious example. What exam
pie ? What other meaning could have been possibly applied to the
phrase, than that he intended to refer to what had been done during
the administration of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe ?
Entertaining this opinion of the address, I came to Washington,
at the commencement of the session, with the most confident and
buoyant hopes that the Whigs would be able to carry all their promi
nent measures, and especially a Bank of the United States, by far
that one of the greatest immediate importance. I anticipated nothing
but cordial co-operation between the two departments of government ;
and I reflected with pleasure that I should find, at the head of the
Executive branch, a personal and political friend, whom I had long

ON THE BANK VETO. 495
and intimately known, and highly esteemed. It will not be my fault
if our amicable relations should unhappily cease, in consequence of
any difference of opinion between us on this occasion. The Presi
dent has been always perfectly familiar with my opinion on this bank
question. Upon the opening of the session, but especially on the receipt of
the plan of a National Bank, as proposed by the Secretary of the
Treasury, fears were excited that the President had been misunder
stood in his address, and that he had not waived but adhered to his
constitutional scruples. Under these circumstances it was hoped that
by the indulgence of a mutual spirit of compromise and concession, a
Bank, competent to fulfil the expectations and satisfy the wants of
the people, might be established. Under the influenc of that spirit,
the Senate and the House agreed, first, as to the name of the pro
posed Bank. I confess, sir, that there was something exceedingly
outre and revolting to my ears in the term " Fiscal Bank," but I
thought, " What is there in a name ? A rose, by any other name,
would smell as,.sweet." Looking, therefore, rather to the utility of
the substantial faculties than to the name of the contemplated insti
tution, we consented to that which was proposed.
2d. As to the place of location of the Bank. Although Washing
ton had passed through my mind as among the cities in which it
might be expedient to place the Bank, it was believed to be the least
eligible of some four or five other cities. Nevertheless we consented
to fix it here.
And lastly, in, respect to the branching power, there was not pro
bably a solitary vote, given in either house of Congress, for the bill,
that did not greatly prefer the unqualified branching power, as assert
ed in the charters of the two former Banks of the United States, to
the sixteenth fundamental condition, as finally incorporated in this
bill. It is perfectly manifest, therefore, that it was not in conformity
with the opinion and wish of majorities in Congress, but in a friendly
spirit of concession towards the President and his particular friends,
that the clause assumed that form. So repugnant was it to some of
the best friends of a National Bank in the other House, that they
finally voted against the bill because it contained the compromise of
the branching power.

49b SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
It is true that, in presenting the compromise to the Senate, I stated,
as was the fact, that I did not know whether it would be acceptable
to the President or not ; that according to my opinion, each depart
ment of the government should act upon its own responsibility, inde
pendently of the other ; and that I presented the modification of the
branching power because it was necessary to ensure the passage of
the bill in the Senate, having ascertained that the vote would stand
twenty-six against it to twenty-five, if the form of that power which
had been reported by the committee were persisted in. But I never
theless did entertain the most confident hope and expectations that
the bill would receive the sanction of the President ; and this motive,
although not the immediate one, had great weight in the introduction
and adoption of the compromise clause. I knew that our friends
who would not vote for the bill as reported were actuated, as they
avowed, by considerations of union and harmony, growing out of
supposed views of the President, and I presumed that he would not
fail to feel and appreciate their sacrifices. But I deeply regret that
we were mistaken. Notwithstanding all our concessions, made in a
genuine and sincere spirit of conciliation, the sanction of the Presi
dent could not be obtained, and the bill has been returned by him
with his objections. And I shall now proceed to consider those ob
jections, with as much brevity as possible, but with the most perfect
respect, official and personal towards the Chief Magistrate.
After stating that the power of Congress to establish a National
Bank, to operate per se, has been a controverted question from the
origin of the government, the President remarks, " Men most justly
and deservedly esteemed for their high intellectual endowments,
their virtue and their patriotism, have in regard to it, entertained dif
ferent and conflicting opinions. Congresses have differed. The ap
proval of one President has been followed by the disapproval of
another." From this statement of the case it may be inferred that the Presi
dent considers the weight of authority, pro and con, to be equal and
balanced. But if he intended to make such an array of it — if he in
tended to say that it was in equilibrium — I most respectfully, but
most decidedly, dissent from him. I think the conjoint testimony of
history, tradition, and the knowledge of living witnesses prove the
contrary. How stands the question as to the opinions of Congresses ?

ON THE BANK VETO. 497
The Congress of 1791, the Congress of 1813-14, the Congress of
1815-16, the Congress of 1S31-32, and, finally, the present Congress,
have all respectively and unequivocally, affirmed the existence of a
power in Congress, to establish a National Bank, to operate per se.
We behold, then, the concurrent opinion of five different Congresses
on one side. And what Congress is there on the opposite side ? The
Congress of 181 1 ? I was a member of the Senate in that year, when
it decided, by the casting vote of the Vice-President, against the re
newal of the charter of the old Bank of the United States. And I
now here, in my place, add to the testimony already before the public,
by declaring that it is within my certain knowledge, that that decision
of the Senate did not proceed from a disbelief of a majority of the
Senate in the power of Congress to establish a National Bank, but
from combined considerations of inexpediency and constitutionality.
A majority of the Senate, oh the contrary, as I know, entertained no
doubt as to the power of Congress. Thus the account, as to the
Congresses, stands five for, and not one, or at most, not more than
one, against the power.
Let us now look into the state of authority derivable from the .
opinions of Presidents of the United States. President Washinoton
believed in the power of Congress, and approved a bank bill. Presi
dent Jefferson approved acts to extend branches into other parts of
the United States, and to punish counterfeiters of the notes of the
bank — acts which were devoid of all justification whatever upon the
assumption of the unconstitutionality of the bank. For how could
branches be extended or punishment be lawfully inflicted upon the
counterfeiters ofthe paper of a corporation which came into existence
without any authority, and in violation ofthe constitution ofthe land.
James Madison, notwithstanding those early scruples "which he had
entertained, and which he probably still cherished, sanctioned and
signed a bill to charter the late Bank of the United States. It is per
fectly well known that Mr. Monroe never did entertain any scruples
or doubts in regard to the power of Congress. Here, then, are four
Presidents, who have directly or collaterally borne official testimony
to the existence of the bank power in Congress. And what President
is there that ever bore unequivocally opposite testimony — that dis
approved a bank charter in the sense intended by President Tyler ?
General Jackson, although he did apply the veto power to the bill for
rechartering the late Bank of the United States in 1832, it is within

498 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the perfect recollection of us all that he not only testified to the utility
of a Bank of the United States, but declared that, if he had been ap
plied to by Congress, he could have furnished the plan of such a
bank. Thus, Mr. President, we perceive that, in reviewing the action of
the legislative and executive departments of the government, there is
a vast preponderance of the weight of authority maintaining the ex
istence of the power in Congress. But President Tyler has, I pre
sume unintentionally, wholly omitted to notice the judgment and de
cisions of the third co-ordinate department of the government upon
this controverted question — that department, whose interpretations
ofthe constitution, within its proper jurisdiction and sphere of action,
are binding upon all ; and which, therefore, may be considered as ex
ercising a controlling power over both the other departments. The
Supreme Court of the United States, with its late Chief Justice, the
illustrious Marshall, at its head, unanimously decided that Congress
possessed this bank power ; and this adjudication was sustained and
reaffirmed whenever afterward the question arose before the court.
After recounting the occasions, during his public career, on which
he had expressed an opinion, against the power of Congress to char
ter a Bank of the United States, the President proceeds to say :
" Entertaining the opinions alluded to, and having taken this oath, the Senate and
the country will see that I could not give my sanction to a measure of the character
described, without surrendering all claim to the respect of honorable men— all confi
dence on the part of the people— all self-respect — all regard for mora! and religious
ohligations ; without an observance of which no government can be prosperous, and
no people can be happy. It would be to commit a crime which I would not wilfully
commit to gain any earthly reward, and which would justly subject me to the ridi
cule and scorn of all virtuous men."
Mr. President, I must think, and hope I may be allowed to say,
with profound deference to the Chief Magistrate, that it appears to
me he has viewed with too lively sensibility the personal consequen
ces to himself of his approval of the bill ; and that, surrendering
himself to a vivid imagination, he has depicted them in much too
glowing and exaggerated colors, and that it would have been most
happy if he had looked more to the deplorable consequences of a veto
upon the hopes, the interests, and the happiness of his country.
Does it follow that a magistrate who yields his private judgment to
the concurring authority of numerous decisions, repeatedly and de-

ON THE BANK VETO. 499
liberately pronounced, after the lapse of long intervals, by all the de
partments of government, and by all parties, incurs the dreadful pe
nalties described by the President ? Can any man be disgraced and
dishonored who yields his private opinion to the judgment of the na
tion ? In this case, the country, (I mean a majority) Congress, and
according to common fame, a unanimous cabinet, were all united in
favor of the bill. Should any man feel himself humbled and degraded
in yielding to the conjoint force of such high authority ? Does any
man who at one period of his life shall have expressed a particular
opinion, and at a subsequent period shall act upon the opposite opin
ion, expose himself to the terrible consequences which have been
portrayed by the President ? How is it with the judge, in the case
by no means rare, who bows to the authority of repeated precedents,
settling a particular question, while in his private judgment the law
was otherwise ? How is it with that numerous class of public men,
in this country, and with the two great parties that have divided it,
who at different periods have maintained and acted on opposite opin
ions in respect to this very bank question ?
How is it with James Madison, the father ofthe constitution — that
great man whose services to his country placed him only second to
Washington — whose virtues and purity in private life — whose patri
otism, intelligence, and wisdom in public councils stand unsurpassed ?
He was a member ofthe national convention that formed,- and of the
Virginia convention that adopted the constitution. No man under
stood it better than he did. He was opposed in 1791 to the establish
ment of the Bank of the United States upon constitutional ground ;
and in 1816 he approved and signed the charter of the late Bank of
the United States. It is a part of the secret history Connected with
the first bank, that James Madison had, at the instance of General
Washington, prepared a veto for him in the contingency of his rejec
tion of the bill. Thus stood James Madison when, in 1S15, he ap
plied the veto to a bill to charter a bank upon considerations of expc-
pediency, but with a clear and express admission of the existence of
a constitutional power in Congress to charter one. In 1816, the bill
which'was then presented to him being free from the objections ap
plicable to that of the previous year, he sanctioned and signed it. Did
James Madison surrender " all claim to the respect of honorable men —
all confidence on the part of the people — all self-respect — all regard
for moral and religious obligations ?" Did the pure, the virtuous, the

500 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
gifted James Madison, by his sanction and signature to the charter
of the late Bank of the United States, commit a crime which justly
subjected him " to the ridicule and scorn of all virtuous men ?"
Not only did the President, as it respectfully appears to me, state
entirely too strongly the consequences of his approval of the bill, but
is he perfectly correct in treating the question (as he seems tq me
to have done) which he was called upon to decide, as presenting the
sole alternative of his direct approval or rejection of the bill ? Was
the preservation of the consistency and the conscience of the Presi
dent wholly irreconcilable with the restoration of the blessings of a
sound currency, regular and moderate exchanges, and the revival of
confidence and business which Congress believes will be secured by
a National Bank ! Was there no alternative but to prolong the suf
ferings of a bleeding country, or to send us this veto ! From the
administration of the executive department of the government, during
the last twelve years, has sprung most of the public ills which have
afflicted the people. Was it necessary that that source of suffering
should continue to operate, in order to preserve the conscience of the
President unviolated ? Was that the only sad and deplorable alter
native ? I think, Mr. President, there were other alternatives worthy
of the serious and patriotic consideration of the President. The bill
might have become a law, in virtue of the provision which required
its return within ten days. If the President had retained it three
days longer, it would have been a law without his sanction and with
out his signature. In such a contingency the President would have
remained passive, and would not have been liable to any accusation
of having himself violated the constitution. All that could have been
justly said, would be, that he did not choose to throw himself in the
way as an obstacle to the passage of a measure indispensable to the
prosperity of the nation, in the judgment of the party which brought
him into power, of the Whig Congress which he first met, and, if
public fame speaks true, of the cabinet which the lamented Harrison
called around him, and which he voluntarily continued. In an analo
gous case, Thomas McKean, when governor of Pennsylvania, than
whom the United States have produced but few men of equal vigor of
mind and firmness of purpose, permitted a bill to become a law, although
in his opinion it was contrary to the constitution of that State. And
I have heard, and from the creditable nature of the source I am in
clined to believe, although I will not vouch for the fact, that, towards

ON THE BANK VETO. 501
the close of the charter of the first Bank of the United States, during
the second term of Mr. Jefferson, some consideration of the question
of the renewal of the charter was entertained, and that he expressed
a wish that if the charter were renewed, it might be effected by the
operation of the ten days' provision, and his consistency thus pre
served. If it were possible to disinter the venerated remains of James
Madison, reanimate his perishing form, and place him once more in
that chair of state which he so much adorned, what would have been
his course if this bill had been presented to him, even supposing him
never to have announced his acquiescence in the settled judgment of
the nation ? He would have said, that human controversy in regard
to a single question should not be perpetual, and ought to have a ter
mination. This, about the power to establish a Bank of the United
States, has been long enough continued. The nation, under all the
forms of its public action, has often deliberately decided it. A bank,
and associated financial and currency questions, which had long slept,
were revived, and have divided the nation during the last ten years
of arduous and'bitter struggle ; and the party which put down the
bank, and which occasioned all the disorders in our currency and
finances, has itself been signally put down, by one of those moral and
political revolutions which a free and patriotic people can but seldom
arouse itself to make. Human infallibility has not been granted by
God ; and the chances of error are much greater on the side of one
man than on that ofthe majority of a whole people and their succes
sive legislatures during a long period of time. I yield to the irresis
tible force of authority,. I will not put myself in opposition to a
measure so imperatively demanded by the public voice, and so essen
tial to elevate my depressed and suffering countrymen.
And why should not President Tyler have suffered the bill to be-
come'a law without his signature ? Without meaning the slightest
possible disrespect to him, nothing is further from my heart than the
exhibition of any such feeling towards that distinguished citizen, long
my personal friend — it cannot be forgotten that he came into his pre
sent office under peculiar circumstances. The people did not foresee
the contingency which has happened. They voted for him as Vice
President. They did not, therefore, scrutinize his opinions with the
care which they probably ought to have done, and would have donej
*GG

502 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
if they could have looked into futurity If the present state of the
fact could have been anticipated — if at Harrisburg, or at the polls, it
had been foreseen that General Harrison would die in one short
month after the commencement of his administration ; that Vice
President Tyler would be elevated to the Presidential chair ; that a
bill passed by decisive majorities of the first Whig Congress, charter
ing a National Bank, would be presented for his sanction ; and that
he would veto the bill, do I hazard any thing when I express the
conviction that he would not have received a solitary vote in the
nominating convention, nor one solitary electoral vote in any state in
the Union ?
Shall I be told that the honor, the firmness, the independence of
the Chief Magistrate might have been drawn in question if he had
remained passive, and so permitted the bill to become a law ? I
answer that the office, of Chief Magistrate is a sacred and exalted
trust, created and conferred for the benefit of the nation, and not for
the private advantage of the person who fills it. Can any man's re
putation for firmness, independence, and honor, be of more importance
than the welfare of a great people ? There is nothing, in my humble
judgment, in such a course, incompatible with honor, with firmness,
with independence properly understood.
Certainly, I must respectfully think in reference to a measure like
this, recommended by such high sanctions — by five Congresses-^-by
the authority of four Presidents — by repeated decisions , of the Su
preme Court — by the acquiescence and judgment of the people of
the United States during long periods of time— by its salutary opera
tion on the interests of the community for a space of forty years, and
demanded by the people, whose suffrages placed President Tyler in
that second office, from whence he was translated to the first, that he
might have suppressed the promptings of all personal pride of private
opinion, if any arise in his bosom, and yielded to the wishes and
wants of his country. Nor do I believe that in such a course, he
would have made the smallest sacrifice, in a just sense of personal
honor, firmness, or independence.
But, sir, there was still a third alternative, to which I allude, not
because I mean to intimate that it should be embraced, but because
I am reminded of it by a memorable event in the life of President

ON THE BANK VETO. 503
Tyler. It will be recollected that, after the Senate had passed the
resolution declaring the removal of the public deposites from the late
Bank of the United States to have been derogatory from the consti
tution and laws of the United States, for which resolution President,
then Senator Tyler, had voted, the General Assembly of Virginia
instructed the Senators from that State to vote for the expunging of
that resolution. Senator Tyler declined voting in conformity with
that instruction, and resigned his seat in the Senate of the United
States. This he did because he could not conform, and did not think
it right to go counter to the wishes of those who had placed him in
the Senate. If, when the people of Virginia were his only constitu
ency, he would not set up his own particular opinion in opposition to
theirs, what ought to be the rule of his conduct when the people of
twenty-six States — a whole nation— compose his constituency ? Is
the will of the constituency of one State to be respected, and that of
twenty-six to be wholly disregarded ? Is obedience due only to the
single State of Virginia ? The President admits that the Bank ques
tion deeply agitated and continues to agitate the nation. It is incon
testable that it was the great absorbing, and controlling question, in
all our recent divisions and exertions. I am firmly convinced, and it
is my deliberate judgment, that an immense majority, not less than
two-thirds of the nation, desire such an institution. All doubts in this
respect ought to be dispelled by the recent decisions of the two
Houses of Congress. I speak of them as evidence of the popular
opinion. In the House of Representatives, the. majority was 131 to
100. If the House had been full, and but for the modification of the
16th fundamental condition, there would have been a probable ma
jority of 47. Is it to be believed that this large majority of the im
mediate representatives of the people, fresh from among them, and
to whom the President seemed inclined, in his opening message, to re
fer this very question, have mistaken the wishes of their constituents ?
I pass to the 16th fundamental condition, in respect to the branch
ing power, on which I regret to feel myself obliged to say, that I
think the President has commented with unexampled severity, and
with a harshness of language not favorable to the maintenance of
that friendly and harmonious intercourse which is so desirable be
tween co-ordinate departments of the government. The President
could not have been uninformed that every one of the twenty-six
Senators, and every one of the hundred and thirty-one Represent*-

504 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tiveswho voted for the bill, if left to his own separate wishes, would
have preferred the branching power to have been conferred uncondi
tionally, as it was in the charters of the two former Banks of the
United States. In consenting to the restrictions upon the exercise of
that power, he must have been perfectly aware that they were ac
tuated by a friendly spirit of compromise and concession. Yet, no
where in his message does he reciprocate or return this spirit. Speak
ing of the assent or dissent which the clause requires, he says :
" This iron rule is to give way to no circumstances — it is unbending
and inflexible. It is the language of the master to the vassal. An
unconditional answer is claimed forthwith." The " high privilege"
of a submission of the question on the part of the State Representa
tives, to their constituents, according to the message, is denied. He
puts the cases of the popular branch of a State Legislature express
ing its dissent " by a unanimous vote, and its resolution may be de
feated by a tie vote in the Senate," and "both branches of the Legis
lature may concur in a resolution of decided assent, and yet the Go
vernor may exert the veto power conferred on him by the State con
stitution, and their legislative action be defeated." " The State may
afterwards protest against such unjust inference, but its authority is
gone." The President continues :
" To inferences so violent, and, as they seem to me, irrational, I cannot yield
my consent. No court of justice would or could sanction them, without reversing
all that is established in judicial proceeding, by introducing presumptions at.vari-
ance with fact, and inferences at the expense of reason. 'A State in a condition of
duresse would be presumed to speak as an individual, manacled and in prison, might
be presumed to be in the enjoyment, of freedom. Far better to say to the States,
boldly and frankly, Congress wills, and submission is demanded."
Now, Mr. President, I will not ask whether these animadversions
were prompted by a reciprocal spirit of amity and kindness, but I in
quire whether all of them are perfectly just. Beyond all question,
those who believed in the constitutional right of Congress to exercise
the branching power within the States^ unconditionally and without
limitation, did make no small concession when they consented that it
should be subjected to the restrictions specified in the compromise
clause. They did not, it is true, concede every thing ; they did not
absolutely renounce the power to establish branches without the
authority of the States during the whole period of the existence of
the charter ; but they did agree that reasonable time should be allow
ed to the several States to determine whether they would or would
aot give their assent to the. establishment of branches, within their

ON THE BANK VETO. 505
respective limits. They did not think it right to leave it an open
question, for the space of twenty years, nor that a State should be
permitted to grant to-day and revoke to-morrow its assent ; nor that
it should annex onerous or impracticable conditions to its assent, but
that it should ddfcaitely decide the question, after the lapse of ample
time for full deliberation. And what was that time? No State
would have had less than four months, and some of them trom five
to nine months, for consideration. Was it, therefore, entirely correct
for the President to say that an " unconditional answer is claimed
forthwith ?" Forthwith means immediately, instantly, without de
lay, which cannot be affirmed of a space of time varying from four to
nine months. And the President supposes that the " high privilege"
of the members of the State Legislature submitting the question to
their constituents is denied ! But could they not at any time during
that space have consulted their constituents ?
The President proceeds to put what I must, with the greatest de
ference and respect, consider as extreme cases. He supposes the
popular branch to express its dissent by a unanimous vote, which is
overruled by a tie in the Senate. He supposes that " both branches
of the Legislature may concur in a resolution of decided dissent, and
yet the Governor may exert the veto power." The unfortunate case
of the State whose legislative will should be so checked by executive
authority, would not be worse than that of the Union, the will of
whose Legislature, in establishing this Bank^is checked and con
trolled by the President;
But did it not occur to him that extreme cases brought forward on
the one side, might be met by extreme cases suggested on the other ?
Suppose the popular branch were to express its assent to the estab
lishment of a Branch Bank by a unanimous vote, which is overruled
by an equal vote in the Senate. Or suppose that both branches of
the Legislature, by majorities in each exactly wanting one vote to
make them two-thirds, were to concur in a resolution inviting the
introduction of a branch within the limits of the State, and the Go
vernor were to exercise the veto power and defeat the -resolution.
Would it be very unreasonable in these two cases to infer ' the assent
of the State to the establishment of a branch ? Extreme cases should
never be resorted to. Happily for mankind, their affairs are but sel
dom affected or influenced by them, in consequence of their rarity.

506 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
The plain, simple, unvarnished statement of the case is this : Con
gress believes itself invested with constitutional power to authorize,
unconditionally, the establishment of a Bank of the United States
and Branches, any where in the United States, without asking any
other consent of the States than that which is alr^Jy expressed in
the constitution. The President does not concur in the existence of
that power, and was supposed to entertain an opinion that the pre
vious assent of the States was necessary. Here was an unfortunate
conflict of opinion. Here was a case for compromise and, mutual
concession, if the difference could be reconciled. Congress advanced
so far towards the compromise as to allow the States to express their
assent or dissent, but then it thought that this should be done within
some limited but reasonable time ; and it believed, since the Bank
and its branches were established for the benefit of twenty-six States,
if the. authorities of any one of them really could not make up their
mind within that limited time either to assent or dissent to the intro
duction of a branch, that it was not unreasonable, after the lapse of
the appointed time without any positive action, one way or the other,
on the part of the State, to proceed as if it had assented. Now, if
the power contended for by Congress really exists, it must be admit
ted that here was a concession — a concession, according to which an
unconditional power is placed under temporary restrictions ; a privi
lege offered to the States which was not extended to them by either
of the charters of two former Banks of the United States. And I
am totally at a loss to comprehend how the President reached the
conclusion that it would have been " far better to say to the States,
boldly and frankly, Congress wills, and submission is demanded."
Was it better for the States that the power of branching should be
exerted without consulting them at all ? Was it nothing to afford
them an opportunity of saying whetber they desired branches or not ?
How can it be believed that a clause which qualifies, restricts and
limits the branching power, is more derogatory from the dignitv, in
dependence and sovereignty of the States, than if it inexorably re
fused to the States any power whatever to deliberate and decide on
the introduction of branches ? Limited as the time was, and uncon
ditionally as they were required to express themselves, still those
States (and that probably would have been the case with the, greater
number) that chose to announce their assent or dissent could do so,
and get or prevent the introduction of a branch. But the- President
remarks that " the State may express, after the most solemn form of

ON THE BANK VETO. 507
legislation, its dissent, which may from time to time thereafter be
repeated, in full view of its own interest, which can never be sepa
rated from the wise and beneficent operation of this government ;
and yet Congress may, by virtue of the last proviso, overrule its law,
and upon grounds which, to such State will appear to rest on a
constructive necessity and propriety, and nothing more."
Even if the dissent of a State should be overruled, in the manner
supposed by the President, how is the condition of that State worse
than it would have been if the branching power had been absolutely
and unconditionally asserted in the charter ? There would have
been at least the power of dissenting conceded, with a high degree of
probability that if the dissent were expressed, no branch would be
introduced. The last proviso to which the President refers is in
these words :
"And provided, nevertheless, That whenever it shall become necessary and proper
for carrying into execution any of the powers granted by the constitution to estab
lish an office or offices in any ofthe States whatever, and the establishment thereof
shall be directed by law, it shall be the duty of the said directors to establish such
©fficeor offices accordingly."
This proviso was intended to reserve a power to Congiess to com
pel the Bank to establish branches, if the establishment of them
should be necessary to the great purposes of this government, not
withstanding the dissent of a State. If, for example, a state had
once conditionally dissented to the establishment of a branch, and
afterwards assented, the Bank could not have been compelled, with
out this reservation of power, to establish the branch, however urgent
the wants of the Treasury might be.
The President, I think, ought to have seen in the form and lan
guage ofthe proviso, the spirit of conciliation in which it was drawn,
as I know. It does not assert the power ; it employs the language
of the constitution itself, leaving every one free to interpret that lan
guage according to his own sense of the instrument.
Why was it deemed necessary to speak of its being " the language
of the master to the vassal," of " this iron rule," that " Congress
wills and submission is demanded ?" What is this whole federal go
vernment but a mass of powers abstracted from the sovereignty of
the several States, and wielded by an organized government for their

508 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
common defence and general welfare, according to the grants of the
constitution ? These powers are necessarily supreme ; the constitu
tion, the acts of Congress, and treaties being so declared by the express
words of the constitution. Whenever, therefore, this government
acts within the power granted to it by the constitution, submission
and obedience are due from all ; from States as well as from persons.
And if this present the image of a master and a vassal, of State sub
jection and Congressional domination, it is the constitution, created
or consented to by the States, that ordains these relations, nor can it
be said, in the contingency supposed, that an act of Congress has
repealed an act of State legislation. Undoubtedly in case of a con
flict between a State constitution or State law, and the constitution
of the United States or an act of Congress passed in pursuance of it,
the State constitution and the State law would yield. But it could
not at least be formally or technically said that the State constitution
or law was repealed. Its operation would be suspended or abroga
ted by the necessary predominance of the paramount authority
The President seems to have regarded as objectionable that provi
sion in the clause which declares that a branch being once established,
it should not afterwards be withdrawn or removed without the pre
vious consent of Congress. That provision was intended to operate
both upon the bank and the states. And considering the changes and
fluctuations in public sentiment in some of the states within the last
few years, was the security against them to be found in that provision
unreasonable ? One legislature might invite a branch, which the
next might attempt, by penal or other legislation, to drive away. We'
have had such examples heretofore ; and I cannot think that it was
unwise to profit by experience. Besides, an exactly similar provision
was contained in the scheme of a bank which was reported by the
Secretary of the Treasury, and to which it was understood the Presi
dent had given his assent. But if I understand this message, that
scheme could not have obtained his sanction if Congress had passed
it without any alteration whatever. It authorized, what is termed by
the President, local discounts, and he does not believe the constitu
tion confers on Congress the power to establish a bank having that
faculty. He says, indeed,
" I regard the bill as asserting for Congress the right to incorporate a United States
Bank, with power and right to establish offices of discount and deposite in the seve
ral States of this Union, with or without their consent ; a principle to which I have al
ways heretofore been opposed, and which can never obtain my sanction."

ON THE BANK VETO. * 509
I pass with pleasure from this painful theme ; deeply regretting
that I have been constrained so long to dwell on it. On a former oc
casion I stated that, in the event of an unfortunate difference of opin
ion between the legislative and executive departments, the point of
difference might be developed, and it would be then seen whether
they could be brought to coincide in any measure corresponding with
the public hopes and expectations. I regret that the President has
not, in this message, favored us with a more clear and explicit exhi
bition of his views. It is sufficiently manifest that he is decidedly
opposed to the establishment of a new Bank of the United States-
formed after the two old models. I think -it is fairly to be inferred
that the plan of the Secretary of the Treasury could nbt have received
his sanction. He is opposed to the passage of the bill which he has
returned ; but whether he would give his approbation to any bank,
and if any, what sort of a bank, is not absolutely clear. I think it
may be collected from the message, with the aid of. information de
rived through other sources, that the President would concur in the
establishment of a bank whose operations should be limited to dealing
in bills of exchange, to deposites, and to the supply of a circulation,
excluding the power of discounting promissory notes. And I under
stand that some of our friends are now( considering the practicability
of arranging and passing a bill in conformity with the views of Pre
sident Tyler. While I regret that I can take no active part in such
an experiment, and must reserve to myself the right of determining
whether I can or cannot vote for such a bill, after I see it in its ma
tured form, I assure my friends that they shall find no obstacle or
impediment in me. On the contrary, I say to them, go on ; God
speed you in any measure which will serve the country and preserve
or restore harmony and concert between the departments of govern
ment. An executive Veto of a Bank of the United States, after the
sad experience of late years, was an event which was not anticipated
by the political friends of the President ; certainly not by me. But
it has come upon us with tremendous weight, and amid the greatest
excitement within and without the metropolis. The question now is,
What shall be done ? What, under this most embarrassing and unex
pected state of things, will our constituents expect of us ? What is
required by the duty and the dignity of Congress ? I repeat, that if,
after a careful examination of the executive message, a bank can be
devised, which will afford any remedy to existing evils, and secure
the President's approbation, let the project of such a bank be present-

510 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
ed. . It shall encounter no opposition if it should receive no support
from me.
But what further shall we do ? Never since I have enjoyed the
honor of participating in the public councils of the nation — a period
now of near thirty-five years — have I met Congress under more hap
py or more favorable auspices. Never have I seen a House of Re
presentatives animated by more patriotic dispositions — more united,
more determined, more business-like. Not even that House which
declared war in 1812 ; nor that which in 1815-6 laid broad and deep
foundations of national prosperity, in adequate provisions for a sound
currency, by the establishment of a Bank of the United States, for
the payment of the national debt, and for the protection of American
industry. This House has. solved the problem of the competency of
of a large deliberative body to transact the public business. If hap
pily there had existed a concurrence of opinion and cordial co-opera
tion between the different departments of the government and all the
members of the party, we should have carried every measure con
templated at the extra session, which the people had a right to ex
pect from our pledges, and should have been by this time at our re
spective homes. We are disappointed in one, and an important one,
of that series of measures ; but shall we therefore despair ? Shall
we abandon ourselves to unworthy feelings and sentiments ? Shall
we allow ourselves to be transported by rash and intemperate pas
sions and counsels ? Shall we adjourn and go home in disgust ? No !
no ! no ! A higher, nobler, and more patriotic career lies before us. Let
us here, at the east end of Pennsylvania Avenue, do our duty, our whole
duty, and nothing short of our duty, towards our common country.
We have repealed the Sub- Treasury. We have passed a bankrupt
law, a beneficent measure of substantial and extensive relief. Let us
now pass the bill for the distribution of the proceeds of the public
lands ; the revenue bill, and the bill for the benefit of the oppressed
people of the district. Let us do all, let us do every thing we can
for the public good. If we are finally to be disappointed in our hopes
of giving to the country a bank which will once more supply it with
a sound currency, still let us go home and tell our constituents that
we did all that we could under actual circumstances ; and that if we
did not carry every measure for their relief, it was only because to do
so was impossible. If nothing can be done at this extra session to
put upon a more stable and satisfactory basis the currency and ex-

ON THE BANK VETO. 511
changes of the country, let us hope that hereafter some way will be
found to accomplish that most desirable object, either by an amend
ment of the constitution limiting and qualifying the enormous execu
tive power, and especially the veto, or by increased majorities in the
two houses of Congress, competent to the passage of wise and salu
tary laws, the President's objections notwithstanding.
This seems to me to be the course now incumbent upon us to pur
sue ; and by conforming to it, whatever may be the result of laudable
endeavors now in progress, or in contemplation, in relation to a new
attempt to establish a bank, we shall go home, bearing no self-re
proaches for neglected or abandoned duties.
[Mr. Rives of Virginia, followed Mr. Clay, in the debate. At the conclusion of
Mr. Rives's remarks, Mr. Clay addressed the Senate in rejoinder as follows :]
I have no desire to prolong this unpleasant discussion, but I must
say that I heard with great surprise and regret the closing remark,
especially, of the honorable gentleman from Virginia, as indeed, I did
ma,ny of those which preceded it. That gentleman stands in a pe
culiar situation. I found him several years ago in the half-way-
house, where he -seems afraid to remain, and fronAvhich he is yet
unwilling to go. I had thought, after the thorough riddling which
the roof of the house had received in the breaking up of the pet bank
system, he would have fled some where else for refuge ; but there
he still stands, solitary and alone, shivering and pelted by the pitiless
storm. The Sub-Treasury is repealed — the pet bank system is aban
doned — the United States Bank Bill is vetoed — and now when there
is as complete and perfect a re-union of the purse and the sword in
the hands of the Executive as ever there was under General Jack
son or Mr. Van Buren, the Senator is for doing nothing ! The Sena
tor is for going home, leaving the treasury and the country in their
lawless condition ! Yet no man has heretofore, more than he has,
deplored and deprecated a state of things so utterly unsafe, and re
pugnant to all just pffecautions, indicated alike by sound theory and
experience in free governments. And the Senator talks to us about
applying to the wisdom of practical men, in respect to Banking, and
advises further deliberation ! Why, I should suppose that we are at
present in the very best situation to act upon the subject. Besides
the many painful years we have had for deliberation, we have been
near three months almost exclusively engrossed with the very sub-

512 SPEECHES OF HENR'Y CLAY.
ject itself. We have heard all manner of facts, statements, and ar
guments in any way connected with it. We understand, it seems to
me, all we ever can learn or comprehend about a National Bank.
And we have, at least, some conception too of what sort of one will
be acceptable at the other end of the avenue. Yet now, with a vast
rnajority of the people of the entire country crying out to us for a
Bank — with the people throughout the whole valley of the Missis
sippi rising in their majesty, and demanding it asindispensable to their
well-being, and pointing to their losses, their sacrifices, and their suf
ferings, for the want of such an institution — in such a state of things,
we are gravely and coldly told by the Senator from Virginia, that we
had best go home, leaving the purse and the sword in the uncontroll
ed possession of the President, and, above all things, never to make a
Party Bank ! Why sir, does he, with all his knowledge of the con
flicting opinions which prevail here, and have prevailed, believe that
We ever can make a Bank but by the votes of one party who are in
favor of it, in opposition to the votes of another party against it? I
deprecate this expression of opinion from that gentleman the more,
because, although the honorable Senator professes not to know the
opinions of the President, it certainly does turn out in the sequel that
there is a most (J^narkable coincidence between those opinions and
his own ; and he has, on the present occasion, defended the motives
and the course of the President with all the solicitude and all the
ferverit zeal of a member of his Privy Council. There is a rumor
abroad that a cabal exists — a> new sort of kitchen cabinet-^whose
object is the dissolution of the regular cabinet — the dissolution of the
Whig party — the dispersion of Congress, without accomplishing any
of the great purposes of the extra session ; and a total change in fact, '
in the whoje face of our political affairs. I hope, and I persuade
myself, that the honorable Senator is not, cannot be, one of the com
ponent members of such a cabal ; but I must say that there has been
displayed by the honorable Senator to-day a predisposition, astonish
ing and inexplicable, to misconceive almost all of what I have said,
and a perseverance, after repeated corrections, in misunderstanding ;
for I will not charge him with wilfully and intentionally misrepre
senting — the whole spirit and character of the address, which as a
man of honor, and as a Senator, I felt myself bound in duty to make
to this body.
The Senator begins with saying that I charge the President with

ON THE BANK VETO. 513
" perfidy !" Did I use any such language ? I appeal to every gen
tleman who heard me to say whether I have in a single instance gone
beyond a fair and legitimate examination of the executive objections
to the bill. Yet he has charged me with " arraigning" the President,
with indicting him in various counts, and with imputing to him mo
tives such as I never even intimated or dreamed, and that, when I
was constantly expressing, over and over, my personal respect and
regard for President Tyler, for whom I have cherished an intimate
persona] friendship of twenty years' standing, and while I expressly
said that if that friendship should now be interrupted, it should not
be my fault ! Why, sir, what possible, what conceivable motive can
I have to quarrel with the President, or to break up the Whig party ?
What earthly motive can impel me r§ wish for any other result than
that that party shall remain in perfect harmony, undivided, and shall
move undismayed, boldly and unitedly forward to the accomplish
ment of the all-important public objects which it has avowed to be
its aim ? What imaginable interest or feeling can I have other than
the success, the triumph, the glory of the Whig party ? But that
there may be designs and purposes on the part of certain other indi
viduals to place me in inimical relations with the President, and to
represent me as personally opposed to him, lean well imagine — indi
viduals who are beating up for recruits,- and endeavoring to form a
third party with materials so scanty as to be wholly insufficient to
Compose a decent corporal's guard. I fear there are such individuals,
though I do not charge the Senator as being himself one of them.
What a spectacle has been presented to this nation during this entire
session of Congress ! That of the cherished and confidential friends
of John Tyler, persons who boast and claim to be, par excellence, his
exclusive and genuine friends, being the bitter, systematic, deter
mined, uncompromising opponents of every leading measure of John
Tyler's administration ! Was there ever before such an example
presented, in this or any other age, in this or any other country ? I
have myself known the President too long, and cherish toward him
too sincere a friendship, to allow my feelings to be affected or aliena
ted by any thing which has passed here to-day. If the President
chooses — which I am sure he cannot, unless falsehood has been whis
pered into his ears or poison poured into his heart — to detach him
self from me, I shall deeply regret it, for the sake of our common
friendship and our common country. I now repeat, what I before
said, that of all the measures of relief which the American people

514 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
have called upon us for, that of a National Bank, and a sound and
uniform currency has been the most loudly and importunately de
manded. The Senator says that the question of a Bank was not the
issue made before the people at the late election. I can say, for one,
my own conviction is diametrically the contrary. What may have
been the character of the canvass in Virginia, I will not say ; proba
bly gentlemen on both sides were, every where governed in some
degree by considerations of local policy. What issues may therefore
have been presented to the people of Virginia, either above or below
tide-Water, I am not prepared to say. The great error, however, of
the honorable Senator is in thinking that the sentiments of a particu
lar party in Virginia are always a fair exponent of the sentiments of
the whole Union. I can tell"hat Senator that wherever I was — in
the great valley of the Mississippi — in Kentucky — in Tennessee — in
Maryland — in all the circles in which I moved every where, " Bank
or no Bank" was the great, the leading, the vital question. At Han
over, in Virginia, during the last summer, at one of the most remark
able and respectable, and gratifying assemblages that I ever attended,
I distinctly announced my conviction that a Bank of the United States
was indispensable. As to the opinions of General Harrison, 1 know
that, like many others, he had entertained doubts as to the constitu
tionality of a Bank ; but I also know that, as the election approached,
his opinions turned more in favor of a National Bank ; and I speak
from my own personal knowledge of his opinions, when I say that I
have no more doubt he would have signed that bill, than that you,
Mr. President, now occupy that chair, or that I am addressing you.
I rose not to say one word which should wound the feelings of
President Tyler. The Senator says that, if placed in like circum
stances, I would have been the last man to avoid putting a direct
veto upon the bill, had it met my disapprobation ; and he does me
the honor to attribute to me high qualities of stern _and unbending
intrepidity. I hope that in all that relates to personal firmness — all
that concerns a just appreciation of the insignificance of human life-
whatever may be attempted to threaten or alarm a soul not' easily
swayed by opposition, or awed or intimidated by menace — a stout
heart and a steady eye that can survey, unmoved and undaunted,
any mere personal perils that assail this poor 'transient, perishing
frame, I may without disparagement compare with other men. But,
there is a sort of courage, which, I frankly confess it, I do not pos-

ON THE BANK VETO. 515
sess — a boldness to which I dare not aspire, a valor which I cannot
covet. I cannot lay myself down in the way of the welfare and hap
piness of my country. That I cannot, I have not the courage to do.
1 cannot interpose the power with which I may be invested, a power
conferred not for my personal benefit, nor for my aggrandizement, but
for my country's good, to check her onward march to greatness and
glory. I have not courage enough, I am too cowardly for that. 1
would not, I dare not, in the exercise of such a trust, lie down, and
place my body across the path that leads my country to prosperity
and happiness. This is a sort of courage widely different from that
which a man may display in his private conduct and personal rela
tions. Personal or private courage is totally distinct from that high
er and nobler courage which prompts the patriot to offer himself a
voluntary sacrifice to his country's good.
Nor did I say, as the Senator represents, that the President should
have resigned. I intimated no personal wish or desire that he should
resign. I referred to the fact of a memorable resignation in his pub
lic life. And what I did say was, that there were other alternatives
before him besides vetoing the bill ; and that it was worthy of his
consideration whether consistency did not require that the example
which he had set when he had a constituency of one state, should
not be followed when he had a constituency commensurate with the
whole Union. Another alternative was to suffer the bill, without
his signature, to pass into a law under the provisions of the constitu
tion. And I must confess I see, in this, no such escaping by the
back door, no such jumping out of the window, as the Senator talks
about. Apprehensions of the imputation of the want of firmness
sometimes impel us to perform rash and inconsiderate acts. It is the
greatest courage to be able to bear the imputation of the want of
courage. But pride, vanity, egotism, so unamiable and offensive in
private life, are vices which partake ofthe character of crimes in the
conduct of public affairs. The unfortunate victim of these passions
cannot see beyond the little, petty, contemptible circle of his own
personal interests. All his thoughts are withdrawn from his country,
and concentrated on his consistency, his firmness, himself. The high,
the exalted, the sublime emotions of a patriotism, which soaring to
wards heaven, rises far above all mean, low, or selfish things, and is
absorbed by one soul-transporting thought of the good and the glory
of one's country are never felt in his impenetrable bosom. That pa-

516 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
triotism which, catching its inspirations from the immortal God,
and leaving at an immeasurable distance below all lesser, groveling,
personal interests and feelings, animates and prompts to deeds of self-
sacrifice, of valor, of devotion, and of death itself — that is public vir
tue — that is the noblest, the sublimest of all public virtues !
I said nothing of any obligation on the part of the President to con
form his judgment to the opinions of the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives, although the Senator argued as if I had, and persevered
in so arguing, after repeated corrections. I said no such thing. I
know and respect the perfect independence of each department, acting
within its proper sphere of other departments. But I referred to
the majorities in the two Houses of Congiess as further and strong
evidence ofthe opinion ofthe people ofthe United States in favor of
the establishment of a Bank of the United States. And I contended
that, according to the doctrine of instructions which prevailed in Vir
ginia, and of which the President is a disciple, and in pursuance of
the example already cited, he ought not to have rejected the bill.
I have heard that, on his arrival at the seat of the general govern
ment, to enter upon the duties of the office of Vice President, in March
last, when interrogated how far he meant to conform in his new sta
tion, to certain peculiar opinions which were held in Virginia, he
made this patriotic and noble reply : " I am Vice President of the
United States, and not of the State of Virginia ; and I shall be govern
ed by the wishes and opinions of my constituents." When I heard
of this encouraging and satisfactory reply, believing, as I most reli
giously do, that a large majority of the people of the United are in
favor of a National Bank, (and gentlemen may shut their eyes to the
fact, deny or dispute, or reason it away as they please, but it is my
conscientious conviction that two-thirds, if not more, of the people of
the United States desire such an institution) I thought I beheld a
sure and certain guaranty for the fulfilment of the wishes of the peo
ple of the United States. I thought it impossible that the wants and
wishes of a great people, who had bestowed such unbounded and
generous confidence, and conferred on him such exalted honors,
should be disregarded and disappointed. It did not enter into my
imagination to conceive that one who had shown so much deference
and respect to the presumed sentiments of a single state, should dis
play less toward the sentiments of the whole nation.

ON THE BANK VETO. 517
I hope, Mr. President, that, in performing the painful duty which
had devolved on me, I have not transcended the limits of legitimate
debate. I repeat, in all truth and sincerity, the assurance to the Se
nate and to the country, that nothing but a stern, reluctant, and in
dispensable sense of honor and of duty could have forced from me the
response which I have made to the President's objections. But in
stead of yielding without restraint to the feelings of disappointment
and mortification excited by the perusal of his message, I have anx
iously endeavored to temper the notice of it, which I have been com
pelled to take, by the respect due to the office of Chief Magistrate.
and by the personal regard and esteem which I have ever entertained
for its present incumbent.
*HH

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY.
In the Senate of the United States, March 4, 1842.

[On the 25th of February, Mr. Clay, in anticipation of his retirement from public
life, submitted to the Senate Eesolutions indicative of the line of policy upon which,
in his judgment, the Federal Government should be conducted. These Resolutions
coming up for consideration, Mr. Clay spoke as follows :
Mr. President : — The resolutions which are to form the subject
of the present discussion, are of the greatest importance, involving
interests of the highest character, and a system of policy which, in
my opinion, lies at the bottom of any restoration ofthe prosperity of
the country. In discussing them, I would address myself to you in
the language of plainness, of soberness, and truth. I did not come
here as if I were entering a garden full of flowers and of the richest
shrubbery, to cull the tea-roses, the japonicas, the jasmines and wood
bines, and weave them into a garland of the gayest colors, that by the
beauty of the assortment and by their fragance I may gratify fair la
dies. Nor is it my wish — it is far, far from my wish — to revive any
subjects of a party character, or which might be calculated to renew
the animosities which unhappily have hitherto prevailed between the
two great political parties in the country . My course is far different
from this , it is to speak to you of the sad condition of our country ;
to point out not the remote and original, but the proximate,, the im
mediate causes which have produced and are likely to continue our
distresses, and to suggest a remedy. If any one, in or out of the Se
nate, has imagined it to be my intention on this occasion to, indulge
in any ambitious display of language, to attempt any rhetorical
flights, or to deal in any other figures than figures of arithmetic, he
will find himself greatly disappointed. The farmer, if he is a judi
cious man, does nift begin to plough till he has first laid off his land,
and marked it off at proper distances by planting stakes by which his
ploughmen are to be guided in their movements ; and the ploughman
accordingly fixes his eye upon the stake opposite to the end of the

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 519
destined furrow, and then endeavors to reach it by a straight and
direct furrow. These resolutions are my stakes.
But, before I proceed to examine them, let me first meet and ob
viate certain objections, which, as I understand, have been or may be
urged against them generally. I learn that it is said of these resolu
tions that they present only general propositions, and that instead of
this, I should at once have introduced separate bills, and entered into
detail and shown in what manner I propose to accomplish the objects
which the resolutions propose. Let me here say, in reply, that the
ancient principles and mode of legislation which have ever prevailed^
from the foundation of this government, has been to fix first upon the
general principles which are to guide us and then carry out these
principles by detailed legislation. Such has ever been the course
pursued, not only in the country from which we derive our legisla
tive institutions, but in our own. The memorable resolution offerred
in the British House of Commons by the celebrated Mr. Dunning, is
no doubt familiar to the mind of every one — that " the power ofthe
Crown (and it is equally true of our own Chief Magistrate) had in
creased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished." When I was
a member of another legislative body, which meets in the opposite
extremity of this Capitol, it was the course, in reference to the great
questions of internal improvement and other leading measures of
public policy, to propose specific resolutions, going to mark out the
principles of action which ought to be adopted, and then to carry out
these principles by subsequent enactments. Another objection is
urged, as I understand, against one of these resolutions, which is this,
that by the Constitution no bill for raising revenue can originate any
where but in the House of Representatives. It is true, that we can
not originate such a bill ; but, undoubtedly, in contemplating the
condition of the public affairs, and in the right consideration of all-
questions touching the amount of revenue and the mode in which it
shall be raised, and involving the great questions of expenditure and
retrenchment, and how far the expenses of the government may safe
ly and properly be diminished, it is perfectly legitimate for us to de
liberate and to act as duty may demand. There can be no question.
but that, during the present session of Congress, a bill ot revenue
will be sent to us from the other House ; and if, when it. comes, we
shall first have gone through with a consideration of the general sub
ject, fixing the principles of policy proper to be pursued in relation

530 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
to it, it will greatly economise the time of the Senate, and proportion-
ably .save a large amount ofthe public money.
Perhaps no better mode can be pursued of discussing the resolu
tions I have had the honor to present, than to take them up in the
order of their arrangement, as I presented them to the Senate, after
much deliberate consideration. The first resolution declares :
" That it is the duty of the general Government, for conducting its administration,
to provide an adequate revenue within the year to meet the current expenses of the
year ; and that any expedient, either by loan or treasury notes, to supply, in time of
peace, a deficiency of revenue, especially during successive years, is unwise, and
must lead to pernicious consequences."
Ihave heard it asserted that this rule is but a truism. If so, I re
gret to say, that it is one from which governments too often depart,
and from which this government especially has departed during the
last five years. Has an adequate revenue been provided within each
of those years to meet the necessary expenses of those same years ?
No : far otherwise. In 1837, at the called session, instead of impo
sing the requisite amount of taxes on the free articles, according to
the provisions of the compromise act, what was the resort of the ad
ministration ? To treasury notes. And the same expedient of trea
sury notes was ever since adopted, from year to year, to supply the
deficit accruing. And of necessity this policy cast upon the adminis
tration succeeding an unascertained, unliquidated debt, inducing a
temporary necessity on that administration to have resort to the same
means of supply.
I do not advert to these facts with any purpose of crimination or
recrimination. Far from it : for we have reached that state of the
public affairs when the country lies bleeding at every pore, and when,
as I earnestly hope and trust, we shall by common consent, dispense
with our party prejudices, and agree to look at any measure proposed
for the public relief as patriots and statesmen. I say then, that,
during the four years of the administration of Mr. Van Buren, there
was an excess of expenditure over the income of the government to
the amount of between seven and eight millions of dollars ; and I say
that it was the duty of that administration, the moment they found
this deficit to exist in the revenue, to have resorted to the adequate
remedy by laying the requisite amount of taxes on the free articles to
meet and to supply the deficiency.

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 521
I shall say nothing more on the first resolution, because I do hope
that, whatever the previous practice of this government may have
been, there is no Senator here who will hesitate to concur in the truth
of the general proposition it contains. The next three resolutions all
relate to the same general subjects — subjects which I consider much
the most important of any here set forth ; and I shall, for that reason,.
consider them together. These resolutions assert :.
" That such an adequate revenue cannot be obtained by duties on foreign imports
without adopting a higher rate than twenty per cent, as provided for in the com
promise act, which, at the time of its passage, was supposed and assumed as a rate
that would supply a sufficient revenue for an economical administration of the Go
vernment." " That the rate of duties on foreign imports ought to be augmented beyond the
rate of twenty per cent, bo as to produce a net revenue of twenty-six millions of dol
lars — twenty-two for the ordinary expenses of Government, two for the payment of.
the existing debt, ond two millions as a reserved fund for contingencies."
" That, in the adjustment of a tariff to raise an amount of twenty-six millions of
revenue, the prinpiples of the compromise act generally should be adhered to ; and
that especially a maximum rate of ad valorem duties should be established, from.
which there ought to be as little departure as possible."
The first question which these resolutions suggest, is this : What
should be the amount of the annual expenditures of this government ?
Now, on this point, I shall not attempt what is impossible, to be ex
act and precise in stating what that may be. We can only make an
approximation. No man, in his private affairs, can say, or pretends
to say, at the beginning of the year, precisely what shall be the
amount of his expenses during the year : that must depend on many
unforseen contingencies, which cannot with any precision be calcu
lated beforehand : all that can be done is to make an approximation
to what ought to be or what may be the amount. Before I consider
that question, allow me to correct here an assertion made first by the
Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun)'and subsequently by
the Senator from Missouri, near me, (Mr. Linn) and! believe by one
or two other gentlemen, namely, that the Whig party, when out of
power, asserted that, if trusted with the helm, they would administer
this government at an amount of expenditure not exceeding thirteen
millions of dollars. I hope, if such an assertion was actually made
by either or all of these gentlemen, that it will never be repeated
again without resorting to proof to sustain it. I know of no such
position ever taken by the Whig party, or by any prominent member
of the Whig party. Sure I am that the party generally pledged itself
to no such reduction of the public expenses — none.

522 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
And I again say, that I trust, before such an assertion is repeated,
the proofs will be adduced. For in this case, as in others, that which
is asserted and reiterated comes at last to be believed. The Whig
party did promise Economy and Retrenchment, and I trust will per
form their promise. I deny (in no offensive sense) that the Whig
party ever promised to reduce the expenditures of the government
to thirteen millions of dollars. No ; but this is what they said :
During the four years of the administration of Mr. Adams the aver
age amount of the^public expenditure was but thirteen millions,
and you charged that administration with outrageous extravagance,
and came yourselves into power on promises to reduce the annual
expenditure ; but, having obtained power, instead of reducing the
public expenses, you carried them up to the astonishing amount of
nearly forty millions. But, while the Whigs never asserted that they
would administer the Government with thirteen millions, our oppo
nents, our respected opponents, after having been three years in power,
instead of bringing the expense below the standard of Mr. Adam's
administration, declared that fifteen millions was the amount at which
the expenditures should be fixed. This was the ground taken by
Mr. McLane, when he was at the head ofthe Treasury. I have his
Report before me , but as the fact, I presume, will not be denied, I
forbear to read from it. He suggests as the fit amount to be raised
by the Tariff he had proposed, the sum of fifteen millions of dollars
as sufficient to meet the wants of the Government.
I hope now, I have shown that the Whig party, before they ob
tained power, never were pledged to bring down the public expenses
either to thirteen or to fifteen millions. They were pledged, I admit,
to retrench unnecessary expenditures, and to make a reasonable de
duction whenever it could properly be made consistently with the
public service : that process, as I understand, is now going on in both
Houses, and I trust the fruits will be seen before the end of the pres
ent session. Unpledged, therefore, as the Whig party was, as to any
specific amount, the question recurs, at what sum can the expenses
of the Government be now fixed ?
I repeat that the exact amount is difficult to be ascertained. 1
have stated it in the resolutiou I now offer at twenty-two millions ,
and I shall soon show how I have arrived at that amount. But, be
fore I do that, allow me to call the attention of the Senate to the

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 523
expenditures of the preceding administration ; for, in attempting to
fix a sum for the future, I know of no course but to look back upon
the experience of the past, and then to endeavor to deduce from it
the probable amount of future expenditure. What then, were the
expenditures of the four years of the past Administration ?
In 1837 the amount was  ¦  $37,265,037 15
In 1838 it was  39,455,438 35
In 1839  37,614,936 15
In 1840  28,226,533 81
Making an aggregate of,  $142,561,945 46
Which gives us an average per year of 35,640,486 38. The sum
I have proposed is only twenty-two millions, which deducted from
thirty-five as above, leaves a reduction of $13,640,000 — being a sum
greater than the whole average expenditure of the extravagant and
profligate administration of Mr. Adams, which they told us was so
enormous that it must be reduced by a great " Retrenchment and
Reform." I am not here going to inquire into the items which composed the
large expenditures of the four years of Mr. Van Buren's administra
tion. I know what has been said, and will again be said, on that
subject — that there were many items of extra expenditure, which
may never occur again. Be it so ; but do we not know that every
administration has its extras, and that these may be expected to arise
and will and must arise under every administration beneath the sun ?
But take this also into view in looking at the expenses of that ad
ministration : that less was expended on the national defences — less
in the construction or repair of fortifications — less for the navy, and
less for other means of repelling a foreign attack, than perhaps ought
to have been expended. At present we are all animated with a com
mon zeal and determination on the subject of defence ; all feel the
necessity of some adequate plan of defence, as well upon the ocean
as the land, and especially of putting our navy and our fortifications
in a better state to defend the honor and protect the rights of the na
tion. We feel this necessity, although we all trust that the calamity
of a war may be averted. This calls for a greater amount of money
for these purposes than was appropriated under Mr. Van Buren's ad
ministration ; beside which, in the progress of affairs, unforeseen ex
igencies may arise, and do constantly occur, calling for other appror

£24 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
priations needed, which no man can anticipate. Every ministry in
every government — every administration of our own government,
has its extraordinaries and its contingencies ; and it is no apology for
Mr. Van Buren's administration to say that the circumstances which
occasioned its expenditures were extraordinary and peculiar. Making
all the allowances which its warmest friends can ask for the ex
penses of the inglorious war in Florida — a contest which has profusely
wasted not only the resources of the Treasury, but the best blood of
the nation — making the amplest allowance for this and for all other
extras whatever, the sum expended by the last administration still
remains to be far, far beyond what is proposed in these resolutions as
sufficient for the present, and for years to come. It must, in candor,
be conceded that this is a very great diminution of the national ex
penditure ; and such, if nothing else were done, would redeem the
pledge of the Whig party.
But let us now consider the subject in another light. Thirteen
millions was the average annual amount of expenditure under Mr.
Adam's administration, which terminated thirteen years ago. I
should be authorized, therefore, to take the commencement of his
administration in 1825 being a period of seventeen years, in making a
comparison of the progressive increase of the national expenditures ;
or, at all events, adding one-half of Mr. Adam's term to make the pe
riod as running fifteen years back ; but I shall not avail myself of
this perfectly fair calculation ; and I will therefore say, that at the end
of thirteen years, from the time when the expenditures were thirteen
millions, I propose that they be raised to twenty-two millions. And
is this an extraordinary increase for such a period, in a country of
such rapid increase and development as this is ? What has occurred
during this lapse of time ? The army has been doubled, or nearly
so; it has increased from a little over 6,000 men to 12,000. We
have built six, eight or ten ships of the line, (I do not recollect the
precise number ;) two or three new States have been added to the
Union ; and two periodical enumerations have been made of the na
tional population ; besides which there have been, anclyet are to be,
vast expenditures on works of fortification and national defence. —
Now, when we look at the increase in the number of members in
both Houses of Congress, and consider the necessary and inevitable
progress and growth ofthe nation, is it, I ask, an extraordinary thing
that at the end of a period of thirteen years our expenditures should

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 525
increase from thirteen to twenty-two millions of dollars ? If we take
the period at seventeen years, (as we fairly may,) or at but fifteen
years, the increase of expenses will be found not to go beyond the.
proportional increase of our population within the same period. That
increase is found to be about four per cent, annually ; and the increase
of government expenditures, at the rate above stated, will not exceed
that. This is independent of any augmentation of the army ot navy,
of the addition of new States and Territories, or the enlargement of
the numbers in Congress. Taking the addition, at the end of thirteen
years, to be nine millions of dollars, it will give an annual average in
crease of about $700,000. And I think that the government of no
people, young, free, and growing as is this nation, can under circum
stances like ours, be justly charged with rashness, recklessness or
extravagance, if its expenses increase but at the rate of $700,000
per annum. If our posterity, after their numbers shall have swelled
to one hundred millions, shall find that their expenses have augment
ed in no greater ratio than this, they will have no cause of complaint
ofthe profuseness or extravagance of their government.
But it should be recollected that while I have fixed the rate of
expenditure at the sum I have mentioned, viz : twenty-two millions,
this does not preclude further reductions, if they shall be found prac
ticable, after existing abuses have been explored, and all useless or
unnecessary expenditures have been lopped off.
The honorable Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) has
favored us, on more occasions than one, with an account of the' re
forms he effected when at the head of the War Department of this
government ; and certainly no man can be less disposed than I am to
deprive him of a single feather which he thinks he put in his cap by
that operation. But what does he tell us was his experience in this
business of retrenchment ? He tells us what we all know to be true
— what every father, every householder, especially finds to be true in
his own case — that it is much easier to plunge into extravagance
than to reduce expenses; and it is pre-eminently true of a nation.
Every nation finds it far easier to rush into an extravagant expendi
ture of the money entrusted to its public agents than to bring down
the public expenditures from a profuse and reckless to an economical
standard. All useful and salutary reforms must be made with care
and circumspection. The gentleman from South Carolina admits

526 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
that the reforms he accomplished took him four years to bring about.
It was not till after four years of constant exertion that he was ena
bled to establish a system of just accountability, and to bring down
the expenses of the army to that average, per man, to which they
were at length reduced. And now, with all his personal knowledge
of the difficulties of such a task, was it kind in him, was it kind or
fair in his associates, to taunt us, as they have done, by already ask
ing, " where are the reforms you promised to accomplish when you
were out of power ?"
[Mr. Calhoun here rose to explain, and observed that what he had again and
again said on the subject ot reforms was no more than this, that it was time the
promised reforms should begin '; it was time they should begin ; and that was all
he now asked.]
Very well ; if that is all he asks, the gentleman will not be disap
pointed. We could not begin at the extra session ; it could not then
reasonably be expected of us ; for what is the duty of a new adminis
tration when it first comes into the possession of power ? Its imme
diate and pressing care is to carry on the government ; to become ac
quainted with the machine ; to look how it acts in its various parts,
and to take care that it shall not work injuriously to the public in
terest. They cannot at once look back at the past abuses ; it is not
practicable to do so ; it must have time to look into the pigeon holes
of the various bureaux, to find out what has been done, and what is
doing. Its first great duty is to keep the machine of government in
regular motion. It could not, therefore, be expected that Congress.
would go into a thorough process of reform at the extra session. Its
peculiar object then was to adopt measures of immediate and indis
pensable reliefto the people and to the government. Besides which,
the subsequent misfortunes of the Whig party were well known.
President Harrison occupied the chair of State but for a single month,
and the members of his cabinet left it under circumstances which, let
me here say, do them fhe highest honor. I do not enter upon the
inquiry, whether the state of things which they supposed to exist
did actually exist or not ; but believing it to exist, as they did, their
resignation presents one of the most signal examples of the sacrifice
of the honors and emoluments of high station, at great expense and
personal inconvenience, and of noble adherence to honor and good
faith, which the history of any country can show. But I may justly
claim, not only on behalf of the retiring Secretaries, bat for the whole

ON A TRUE- PUBLIC POLICY. 527
Whig party, a stern adherence to principle, in utter disregard of the
spoils doctrine, and of all those base motives and considerations which
address themselves to some men with so great a power. I say, then,
that the late extra session was no time to achieve a great and exten
sive and difficult reform throughout the departments of <he govern
ment ; a process like that can be attempted only during a regular
session of Congress ; and do not gentlemen know that it is now in
progress, by the faithful hands to which it has here and elsewhere in
Congress been committed ? and that an extraordinary committee has
been raised in this body, insomuch that to effect it, the Senate has
somewhat shot from its usual and appropriate orbit by establishing a
standing Committee -of Retrenchment ? If the honorable Senator
from South Carolina took four years to bring down the expenses of
the War department, when under his own immediate superintend
ence, I may surely, with confidence, make my appeal to his sense
of justice and liberality, to allow us at least two years before he re
proaches us with a failure in a work so much more extensive.
I will now say that, in suggesting the propriety of fixing the an
nual average expenditure of this government at $22,000,000 from
this time and for some years to come, it is not my purpose to pre
clude any further reduction of expense by the dismissal of useless
officers, the abolition of useless institutions, and the reduction of
unnecessary or extravagant expenditures. No man is more de
sirous than I am of seeing this government administered at the
smallest possible expense consistent with the duties entrusted to us
in the management of our public interests both at home and abroad.
None will rejoice more if it shall be found practicable to reduce our
expenses to $18,000,000, to $15,000,000, or even to $13,000,000.
None, I repeat it, will rejoice in such a triumph of economy more
heartily than I. None — none. But now allow me to proceed to
.state by what process I have reached the sum of $22,000,000, as
proposed in the resolution I have offered. The Secretary of the
Treasury has presented to us estimates for the current year, indepen
dent of permanent expenses of $1,500,000, amounting to about
$24,500,000, which may be stated under the following heads,
namely :
For the civil list, foreign intercourse, and miscellaneous  $4,000,987 85
For the War Department, including all branches  11,717,791 27
Naval Service  8,705,579 83
Making  #24,424,358 95

528 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY-
And here let me say a single word in defence of the army. The
department of War comes to us with estimates for the sum of $11,
717,791 27 ; and those who look, only on the surface of things may
suppose that this sum is extraordinarily large ; but there are many
items in thifc sum. I have before me a statement going to show that
of that sum only $4,000,000 are asked for the military service pro
per — a sum less than is demanded for the naval service proper, and
only double the amount at which it stood when the honorable gentle
man from South Carolina left the department. The sum was then
about $2,000,000 ; it is now quite 4,000,000 ; while, during the
same period, the army has been nearly doubled, besides the raising
of mounted regiments, the most expensive for that very season of
any in the service. I think that the gentleman from South Carolina,
if he looks into the subject in detail, will find that the cost of the
army is not at this hour greater, per man, than it was when it was
under his own personal administration. So I am informed ; and that,
although the pay has been raised a dollar a month, which has very
largely augmented the expenditure.
The executive branch of the government has sent its estimates,
amounting in all to $24,500,000 for the service of the current year,
which, with the $1,500,000 of permanent expenditure, makes
twenty-six millions. How much is to be added to that amount for
appropriatians not yet estimated, which may be made during the
session by Congress, to meet honest claims, and for other objects of
a public nature ? I remember one item proposed by my friend near
me (Mr. Mangum).for a quarter of a million for the building of
a steam ship, an item not included in the estimates, but for which
the Senate has already appropriated ; besides which there are va
rious other items which have passed or will pass during the pre
sent session. When the honorable gentleman from New Hamp
shire was at the head of the Treasury, he made, in his commu
nications to Congress, constant complaints of this verypractice.
He well remembers that he was ever complaining that the expendi
tures of government were swelled far beyond the executive estimates,
by appropriations made by Congress not estimated for by the depart
ments. I have calculated that we shall add to the $26,000,000,
estimated for by the executive departments or permanently required,
at least $1,500,000, which would raise the sum for this year to
$27,500,000.

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 529
How then do I propose to bring this down to $22,000,000 ? I
have, I own, some fears that we shall not be able to effect it; but I
hope we shall so far reduce the estimates and prevent unnecessary
appropriations, that the total expenditure shall not exceed that
amount. The mode in which I propose to reach such a result is this :
I suppose we may effect a reduction ofthe civil list to the amount cf
$500,000. That general head includes, among other things, the
expenses of the two Houses, and, as I have heard, the other House
has alreadv introduced a report which, if adopted, will cut down those
expenses $100,000, though I think that they should be reduced much
more. I estimate then $3,500,000 for the civil list instead of
$4,000,000 ; then I estimate $9,000,000 for the War department,
instead of $11,717,000. In a conversation which I have lately
held with the Chairman of the Military Committee of this body,
he expressed the apprehension that it could not be reduced below
$10,000,000, but I hope it may be cut down to nine. As to the
naval service, the estimates of the Department for that branch
of the service amount to $8,707,500 ; an amount I think far too
high, and indeed quite extravagant. I was greatly astonished at
learning the amount was so large. Still I know that the Navy is the
favorite of all, and justly ; it is the boast of the nation, and our great
resource and chief dependence in the contingency of a war ; no man
thinks, for a moment, of crippling or disabling this right arm of our
defence. But I have supposed that without injury the appropriation
asked for might be reduced from $8,707,500 to $6,500,000. This
would put the reduction in the naval on a footing with that in the
military appropriation, and still leave a greater appropriation than
usual to that department. The reduction to $6,500,000, is as
large as I think will be practicable, if we are to provide for pro
posed experiments in the application of steam, and are, besides, to
add largely to the marine corps. How, then, will the total of our
expenditureststand ? We shall have —
For the civil and diplomatic expenses ofthe Government  $3,500,000
For the miliatary service  9,000,000
For the naval service..  6,500,000 '
For permanent appropriations  1,500,000
For appropriations not included in the estimates  1,500,000
Making an aggregate of  $22,000,000
To this amount I suppose and hope our expenses may be reduced,

530 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
until, on due Investigation, it shall be discovered that still further re
ductions may be effected.
Well, then, having fixed the amount at twenty-two millions for
the ordinary current expenses of Government, I have supposed it ne
cessary and proper to add $2,000,000 more to make provision for
the payment of the existing National Debt,, which is, in the event of
the loan being taken up, $17,000,000. And then I go on to add
$2,000,000 more as a reserved fund, to meet contingencies, so that,
should there be a temporary rise of the expenditures beyond $22,-
000,000, or any sudden emergency occur which could not be an
ticipated or calculated on, there may be the requisite means in the
Treasury to meet it. Nor has there been a single Secretary at the
head of the Treasury since the days of Mr. Gallatin, including the
respectable gentleman from New Hampshire opposite, (Mr. Wood
bury,) who has not held and expressed the opinion that a reserved
fund is highly expedient and proper for contingencies. Thus I pro
pose that $22,000,000 shall be appropriated for ordinary ex
penses, $2,000,000 more to provide for the public debt, and the
other $2,000,000 a reserved fund to meet contingencies ; making
in all $26,000,000.
The next enquiry which presents itself is, how this amount ought
to be raised ? There are two modes of estimating the revenue to
be derived from foreign imports, and either of them presents only
ground for a conjectural result ; but so fluctuating is the course of com
merce, that every one must see it to be impossible to estimate, with
precission, the exact amount of what it will yield. In forming my es
timate, I have taken the amount of exports as presenting the best basis
of calculation. But here let me add, that at the Treasury they have
taken the imports as the basis ; and I am gratified to be able to state
that, I understand, on comparing the results arrived a% although the
calculations were made without concert, those of the Secretary turn
out to be very nearly, if not exactly, the same with those to which I
have been conducted. I will here state why it is I have taken the
exports as the ground of my calculation, adding thereto fifteen per
cent, for profits. The exports are one means of making foreign pur
chases. Their value is ascertained at the ports of exportation, under
the act of 1820, and the returns generally present the same value.
The price of cotton, as an example, at home, is always regulated by

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 531
tin price in the Liverpool market. It follows, therefore, that by taking
the value of any commodity at the place of its export, you reach its
true value ; for, if the'price realized abroad be sometimes above and
sometimes below that amount, the excess and deficiency will probably
neutralize each other. This is the fairest mode for another reason :
if in any one year more foreign goods shall be purchased than the ex
ports of that year would pay for, a credit is created abroad which must
be extinguished by the exports of some succeeding year.
[Mr. Buchanan here inquired if any deduction had been made by Mr. Clay from
the exports, to pay the interest, Sec. on American debt held abroad 1 Mr. C replied
that the Senator would presently see that he had.]
I think the Senate will agree with me in assuming that the exports
form a more correct and reliable standard of estimation than the im
ports. However that may be, the accidental coincidence between
the results arrived at in either mode fortifies and proves the calcula
tion itself to have been founded on correct principles. Those results,
as shown by the Secretary of the Treasury are now, I believe, in the
House ; and I regretted that I could not examine them before I rose
to address the Senate.
I will now show you, that the exports from 1836 to 1841, inclu
sive — a period of six years — amount to $621,004,125, being an aver
age annual amount of $103,500,687. That I take as presenting a
safe ground of calculations for the future. To this I propose to add
fifteen per cent, for profits — in which I do but follow Mr. Ewing,
the late Secretary, in his report at the Extra Session. It is certainly
a great profit, (I include of course all expenses and charges of every
kind) and with this addition, the annual amount will be $118,957,187
— say $1 19,000,000. Deducting, for the interest and principal of the
American debt abroad $10,000,000 per annum, it will leave a net
amount of $109,000,000. There can be no dispute as to the propriety
of such a deduction; the debt exists, it must be provided for ; and
my fear is that this amount will prove too small to meet it. I think
that muchfpiore may probably be needed ; but certainly none cab ob
ject to the reserve of $10,000,000. We thus get, as I said, a net
balance from our annual exports, including profits, of $109,000,000-
Of this amount of importation how much is now free from duty ?
The free goods, including tea and coffee, amount to $30,000,000 ; from
Which amount I deduct for tea and coffee, assuming that they will be

532 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
subjected to moderate duties, $12,000,000, leaving the amount of free
articles at $18,000,000; deduct this from $109,000,000, the amount
of exports, and it will leave a balance of $91,000,000, which maybe
assumed as the amount of dutiable articles for some years to come.
How, then, out of these $91,000,000 of dutiable goods are we to raise
a revenue of 26,000,000 ? No man, I presume, will rise here in his
place and say that we are to rely either on direct or internal taxes.
Who has the temerity to meet the waves of popular indignation which
will flow round and bury him, whoever he may be, that should pro
pose, in time of peace, to raise a revenue by direct taxation ? Yet
this is the only resource to fly to, save the proceeds of the public
lands, on which I shall speak presently, and which I can satisfy any
man is not to be thought of. You are, therefore, to draw this amount
of $26,000,000 from the $91,000,000 of dutiable articles imported,
and, to reach that sum, at what rate per cent, must you go ?
1 shall here say nothing, or but a word or two, on the subject of
home valuation — a subject which afriend has care of, (Mr. Simmons,)
than whom none is more competent to its full elucidation. He thinks,
as I understand, that there can be devised a satisfactory system of
such valuation, and I heartily wish him success in the attempt. I
will only say that, in my opinion, if we raise but $10,000,000, with
out any reference whatever to protection, without reference to any
thing but to mere honesty, however small the amount may be, we
should ourselves assess the value of the goods on which we lay the
duty, and not leave that value to be fixed by foreigners. As things
now stand, we lay the duty, but foreigners fix the value of the goods.
Give me but the power of fixing the value of the goods, and I care
little, in comparison, what may be the rate of duty you impose. It
is evident that on the ad valorem principle it is the foreigner who
virtually fixes the actual amount of the duty paid. It is the foreigner
who, by fixing that value, virtually legislates for us ; and that in a
case where his interest is directly opposed to that of our revenue. I
say, therefore, that independent of all considerations of protection, in
dependent of all ends or motives but the prevention of those infamous
frauds which have been the disgrace of our custom-house — frauds in
which the foreigner, with his double and triple and quadruple invoices,
ready to be produced as circumstances may require, fixes the value
of the merchandise taxed — every consideration of national dignity,
justice, and independence demands the substitution of home valuation

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 533
in the place of foreign. What effect such a change may have in the
augmentation of the revenue I am not prepared to say, because I do
not know the amount : I think the rate may be set down at from
twenty to twenty-five per cent, in addition to the foreign value of im
ports. I do not speak with great confidence. If the rate is twenty-
five per cent., then it would add only five per cent, to the rate of
twenty per cent, established by the compromise act. Of course, if
the home be substituted for the foreign valuation, the augmentation
of duties beyond twenty per cent, will be less by that home valuation,
whatever it may be. Without, however, entering into the question
of home valuation, and leaving that subject to be arranged hereafter,
I shall treat the subject as if the present system of foreign valuation
is to continue.
I then return to the inquiry, on an importation amounting to
$91,000,000, how much duty must be imposed in order to raise a
net revenue of $26,000,000? The question does not admit of
perfect accuracy ; the utmost that can be reached is a reasonable ap
proximation. Suppose every one ofthe imported articles to be sub
ject to a duty of thirty per cent, then the gross revenue will amount
to $27,300,000. Deducting the expenses of collection, which may
be stated at $1,600,000, will give $25,700,000, or $300,000 less
than the proposed amount of $26,000,000.
But I might as well take this opportunity to explain a subject which
is not well understood. It has been supposed, when I propose to fix
a rate of ad valorem duty as the maximum to be allowed, that my
meaning is, that all articles, of every description, are to be carried up
to that point, and fixed at that rate, as on a sort of bed of Procrustes.
But that is not my idea. No doubt certain articles ought to go up
to the maximum — I mean those of prime necessity . belonging to the
class of protected articles. There are others, such as jewelry and
watches, and some others of small bulk and great comparative value,
and therefore easily smuggled, and presenting a great tetnptation to
the evasion of duty, which ought to be subjected to a less rate.
There, should, therefore, be a discrimination allowed under the maxi
mum rate according to the exigency of the respective circumstances
of each particular interest concerned. Since it will require a duty of
thirty per cent, on all articles to give the amount of $25,700,000,
and since some of them will not bear so high a duty as thirty per
cent., it follows that less than that rate will certainly not answer the
*II

534 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
necessary demands of the government, and it may in some particulai
cases require a rate somewhat higher than that in order to raise the
proposed sum of $26,000,000. But as the reserved fund of $2,000,-
000 for contingencies will not require an annual revenue for that
purpose, should the amount of duties levied be less than $26,000^000,
or even between 24,000,000 and 25,000,000, the reserved fund may
be made up by accumulations, during successive years, and still leave
an amount sufficient to meet an annual expenditure of $22,000,000,
and $2,000,000 for the public debt. I now approach the considera
tion of a very important branch of the subject in its connexion with
the compromise act.
I shall not here attempt to go again into the history of that act.
I will only say that, at the time of its passage, it was thought right
that the country should make a fair experiment of its effect ; and that
as the law itself met the approbation of all paits of the country, its
provisions ought not lightly to be departed from ; that the principles
of the act should be observed in good faith ; and that, if it be neces
sary to raise the duties higher than twenty per cent., we ought to
adhere to the principles of the compromise, then, as far as it should
be possible to do so. I have been animated, in the propositions I
now offer to the Senate, by the same desire that prompted me, when
ever the act has been assailed by its opponents to stand by and de
fend it. But it is necessary now to consider what the principles of
the compromise act really are.
1. The first principle is, that there should be a fixed rate of ad
valorem duty, and discrimination below it.
II. That the excess of duty beyond twenty per cent, should, by
a gradual process, commencing on the 31st December, 1833, be re
duced, so that by the 30th June, 1842, it should be brought down
to twenty per cent.
III. That, after that day, such duties should be laid for the purpose
of raising such revenue as might be necessary for an economical ad
ministration of the government ; consequently excluding all resort to
internal taxation, or to the proceeds of the public lands. For, con
temporaneously with the pendency of the compromise act, a bill was
pending for the distribution of those proceeds.

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 535
IV. That, after the 30th June, 1842, all duties should be paid in
ready money, to the exclusion of all credits. ( r
V. That, after the same day, the assessment of the value of all
imports should be made at home and not abroad.
• VI. That, after the same day, a list of articles specified and enu
merated in the act should be admitted free of duty, for the benefit of
the manufacturing interest.
These are the principles, and all the principles, of the compromise
act. An impression has been taken up most erroneously that the
rate of duty was never to exceed twenty per cent. There is no such
limitation in the act. I admit that at the time of the passage of the
act a hope was entertained that a rate of duty not exceeding twenty
per cent, would supply an adequate revenue to an economical ad
ministration of the government. Then we were threatened with that
overflow of revenue with which the Treasury was subsequently
inundated ; and the difficulty was to find articles which should be
liberated from duty and thrown into the free class. Hence, wines,
silks, and other luxuries were rendered free. But the act, and no
part of the act, when fairly interpreted, limits Congress to the iron
rule of adhering for ever, and under all circumstances, to a fixed and
unalterable rate of twenty per cent. duty. The first section is in the
following words :
"Be it enacted, fyc. That from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thou
sand eight hundred and thirty-three, in all cases where duties are imposed on for
eign imports by the act of the fourteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred
and thirty-two, entitled 'An act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties
on imports,' or by any other act, shall exceed twenty per centum on the value there
of, one tenth part of such excess shall be deducted ; from and after the thirty-first
day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five another tenth part
thereof shall be deducted : from and after the thirty-first day of December, one
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven another tenth part thereof shall be deduct
ed • from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred
and- thirty-nine, another tenth part thereof shall be deducted : and from and after
the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, one-
half of the residue of such excess shall be deducted ; and from and after the thir
tieth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, the other half thereof
shall be deducted."
The provision of that section is nothing more nor less than that the
existing duties should be, by the 30th June, 1842, brought down to
twenty per cent. What then ? Were they always to remain at that
rate ? The section does not so declare. Not only is this not ex-

536 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
pected, and was not so understood, but directly the reverse is assert
ed, and was so understood, if the exigencies of the Treasury required
a higher rate to provide the revenue necessary to an economical ad
ministration of the government. The third section, which embodies
most of the great principles of the act, is in these words :
" Sec 3. And %e it further enacted, That, until the thirteenth day of June, one
thousand eight hundred and forty-two, the duties imposed by existing laws, as mod
ified by this act, shall remain and continue to be collected. And, from and after
the day last aforesaid, all duties upon imports shall be collected in ready money j
and all credits now allowed by law, in the payment of duties, shall be, and hereby
are, abolished ; and such duties shall be laid for the purpose of raising such revenue
as may be necessary to an economical administration of the government ; and, from
and after the day last aforesaid, the duties required to be paid by law on goods,
wares and merchandize shall be assessed upon the value thereof at the port where
the same shall be entered, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law."
What is the meaning of this language ? Can any thing be more
explicit or less liable to misconception ? It contains two obligations.
The first is, that there shall be an economical administration of the
government ; no waste, no extravagance, no squandering of the pub
lic money. I admit this obligation in its fullest force, in all its length
and breadth, and I. trust that my friends, with or without my aid, will
fulfil it in letter and spirit, with the most perfect fidelity. But the
second obligation is no less binding and imperative ; and that is, that
such duties shall be laid as may be necessary to raise such revenue
as is requisite to an economical administration of the government.
The source of the revenue is defined and prescribed — the foreign
imports to the exclusion of all other sources. The amount, from the
nature of things, could not be specified ; but whatever it may be, be
it large or small, allowing us to come below, or requiring that we
should go beyond twenty per cent., that amount is to be raised. 1
contend, therefore, with entire confidence, that it is perfectly consist
ent with the provisions of the compromise act, to impose duties to
any amount whatever, thirty, forty, or more per cent, subject to the
single condition of an economical administration of the government.
What are the other principles of the act ? First, there is the prin
ciple that a fixed ad valorem duty shall prevail and be in force at all
times. For one, I am willing to abide by that principle. There are
certain vague notions afloat as to the utility and necessity of specific
duties and discriminations, which I am persuaded arise from a want
of a right understanding of the subject. We have had the ad valo
rem principle practically in force ever since the compromise act wa»

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 537
passed ; and there has been no difficulty in administering the duties
of the Treasury on that principle.
It was necessary first to acertain the value of the goods, and then, to
impose the duty upon them ; and from the commencement of the act
to this day, the ad valorem principle has been substantially in opera
tion. Compare the difference between specific and the ad valorem,
system of duties, and I maintain that the latter is justly entitled to
the preference. The one principle declares the duty paid shall be
upon the real value of the article taxed ; the specific principle im
poses an equal duty on articles greatly unequal in value. Coffee, for
example, (and it is an article which always suggests itself to my
thoughts,) is one -of the articles on which a specific duty has been
levied. Now it is perfectly well known that the Mocha coffee is
worth at least twice as much as the coffee of St. Domingo or Cuba,
yet both pay the same duty. The tax has no respect to the value,
but is arbitrarily levied on all articles of a specific kind alike, how
ever various and unequal may be their value. I say that, in theory,
and according to every sound principle of justice, the ad valorem
mode of taxation is entitled to the preference. There is, I admit, one
objection to it : as the value of an article is a matter subject to opin
ion, and as opinions will ever vary, either honestly or fraudulently,
there is some difficulty in preventing frauds. But with the home
valuation proposed by my friend from Rhode Island, (Mr. Simmons,)
the ad valorem system can be adopted with all practicable safety, and
will be liable to those chances only of fraud which are inevitable un
der any and every system.
Again : What has been the fact from the origin of the government
until now ? The articles from which the greatest amount of revenue
has been drawn, such as woolens, linens, silks, cottons, worsteds,
and a few others have all been taxed on the ad valorem principle, and
there has been no difficulty in the operation. I believe, upon the
whole, that it is the best mode. I believe that if we adopt a fixed
rate ad valorem, wherever it can be done, the revenue will be sub
jected to fewer frauds than the injustice and frauds incident to speci
fic duties. One of the most prolific sources of the violation of our
revenue laws has been, as every body knows, the effort to get in
goods of a finer quality and higher value, admitted under the lower
rate of duty required for those of a lower value. The honorable gen-

538 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Woodbury,) and the honorable
Senator from New York (Mr. Wright,) both well know this. But
if the duty was laid ad valorem there could be no motive for such an
effort, and the fraud, in its present form would have no place. In
England, as all who have read the able report made by Mr. Hume,
a Scottish member in the House of Commons, must perceive,
they seem to be giving up specific duties, and the tendency in the
public mind appears to be, instead of having a variety of specific du
ties and a variety of ad valorem duties, to have one permanent fixed
rate Of duty for all articles. I am willing, I repeat, to adhere to this
great principle as laid down in the compromise act. If there be those
who suppose that, under the specific form of duty, a higher degree
of protection can be secured than under the other mode, I would ob
serve that the actual measure of protection does not depend upon the
form but on the amount of the duty which is levied on the foreign
rival article.
Assuming that we are to adhere to this principle, then every one
of the leading principles of the same act can be adhered to and fully
carried out ; for I again assert that the idea that duties are always to
remain at precisely twenty per cent, and never to vary from that
point, be the exigencies of government what they may, does not be
long to the language of the act, nor is it required by any one of its
provisions. The next resolution I have proposed to the consideration
of the Senate is this :
Resolved, That the provision in the act of the Extra Session for the distribution
of the proceeds of the public lands, requiring the operation of that act to be sus
pended in the contingency o'f a higher rate of duty than twenty per cent, ought to
be repealed.
Now, according to the calculation I have made, the repeal of the
clause in question, and the recall of the proceeds of the sales of pub
lic lands from the States, even if made, will not dispense with the
necessity of a great increase in the existing rate of taxation. I have
shown that a duty of thirty per cent, will not be too much to furnish
the requisite amount of revenue for a just arid economical administra
tion of the government. And how much of that rate will be re
duced should you add to the revenue from imports the $1 , 500,000
(which was the amount realized the last year) derived from sales of
the public domain? It will be but the difference between thirty

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 539
and about twenty-eight and a half per cent. For, since thirty per
cent, yields a revenue of $26,000,000, one per cent, will bring
about $900,000; and every $1,000,000 derived from the lands
will reduce your taxation on imports onjy $900,000 ; if you get
$1,500,000 from the lands, it will reduce the taxes only from
thirty to twenty-eight and a half per cent. ; or if you get $3,000,000
as some gentlemen insist will be the case, then you will save taxes
in the amount of the difference between thirty per cent, and about
twenty-seven per cent. This will be the whole extent of benefit
derived from this land fund, which some Senators have supposed
would be so abundant as to relieve us from all necessity of additional
taxation at all. I put it, then, to every Senator, no matter whether
he was opposed to the land bill or not, whether he is willing, for the
sake of this trifling difference between thirty and twenty-eight and a
half per cent, or between thirty and twenty-seven per cent., to dis
turb a great, momentous and perplexing subject of our national poli
cy, which is now settled, and thereby show such an example of in
stability in legislation as will be exhibited by the fact of unsettling
so great a question within less than eight months after it had been
fixed on the most mature consideration ! If gentlemen can make
more out of the land fund than I have here stated it likely to yield,
I shall be glad to hear on what ground they rest their calculations.
1 say that all the difference it will produce in the amount of our in
creased taxation is the difference between thirty and twenty-eight
and a half, or between thirty and twenty-seven per cent. Will you,
I repeat the question, when it is absolutely and confessedly neces
sary that more revenue shall be raised, and the mode in which it may
be done is fraught with so many and so great benefits to the country,
as I shall presently show, will you disturb a great and vexed national
question for the sake of eking out in so trifling a degree the amount
to be raised ? But let us look at the subject in another view. The
resources on which government should depend for paying the public
creditor and maintaining inviolate the national faith and credit, ought
to be such as to admit of some certain estimate and calculation. But
what possible reliance can be placed on a fund so fluctuating and
variable as that which is derivable from the sales of the public lands ?
We have seen it rise to the extraordinary hight of $26,000,000 in
one year, and in less than six years afterwards fall down to the low
amount of $1,500,000 ! The next resolution affirms a proposition

540

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

which I hope will receive the unanimous consent of the Senate.. It
is as follows :
Resolved, That it is the duty of government, at all times, but more especially in
a season such as now exists, of general embarrassment and pecuniary distress, to
abolish all useless institutions and offices, to curtail all unnecessary expenses, and
to practice rigid economy.
And the seventh declares —
Resolved, That the contingent expenses of the two Houses of Congress ought to
be.greatly reduced ; and the mileage of members of Congress ought to be regulated
and more clearly defined.
It has appeared to me that the process of retrenchment of the pub
lic expenses and reform of existing abuses ought to begin in an es
pecial manner here, with ourselves, in Congress itself, where is found
one of the most extravagant of all the branches of the government
We should begin at home, and encourage the work of retrenchment
by our own example. I have before me a document which exhibits
the gradual progress in the contingent expenses of the two Houses
of Congress from 1820 to 1840, embracing a period of twenty years,
divided into terms four years apart, and it shows that the amount of
the contingent fund has advanced from $86,000, which it was in
1824, to $121,000, in 1828, a rate of increase not greater than was
proper considering the progress of the country ; to $165,000 in
1832 ; to $263,000 in 1S36, and in 1840 it amounted under an ad
ministration which charged that in 1824 with extravagance, to the
enormous sum of $3S4,333 ! I am really sorry, for the credit of
Congress, to be obliged to read a statement exhibiting such shameful,
such profligate waste. And allow me here to say, without any in
tention of being unkind to those able and competent officers, the
Secretary of the Senate and the Clerks of the House of Representa
tives, (not the present clerk,) that they ought to bear a share of the
responsibility for the great and sudden growth of this expenditure.
How did it arise ? The clerk presents his estimate of the sum that
will be necessary, and the Committee of Ways and Means, being
busily occupied in matters of greater moment, take it without suffi
cient examination, and insert it at once in the appropriation bill.
But I insist that it should be cut down to a sum of which members
of Congress may with some decency speak to their constituents. A
salutary reform has been commenced in the House of Representa
tives, which ought to be followed up here. They have already

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 541
stricken $100,000 from the contingent fund for both Houses; but
they should go much lower. I hope there will be another item of
retrenchment, in fixing a reasonable maximum amount to be allowed
for stationary furnished to the members of Congress. If this shall
be adopted, much will have been done, for this is one of the most
fruitful sources of Congressional extravagance. I am told that the
stationary furnished during the 25th Congress averages more than
$100 per head to each member. Can any man believe that any such
amount as this can be necessary ? Is it not an instance of profligate
waste and profusion ? My next resolution is directed to the expenses
of the Judicial department of the government :
Resolved, That the expenses of the Judicial Department of Government have, of
late years, been greatly increased, and ought to be diminished.
In this department, also, there has been a vast augmentation of
the expenses, and such an one as calls for a thorough investigation.
The amount of the appropriation for the Judicial Department has
sprung up from $209,000, which it was in 1824, to $471,000 at
which it stood for the year 1840. Can any man believe that this
has all been fairly done ? that that department actually requires the
expenditure every year of nearly $500,000 ? I have no doubt that
the District Judges and the Marshalls who have great control of the
expenditure of the fund, and the Clerks, ought to be held responsible
for this enormous increase. Without any intention to indulge in any
invidious distinctions, I think I could name a district in which great
abuses prevail, and the expenditures are four or five times greater
than they are in any other district throughout the country. I hope
this whole matter will be thoroughly investigated, and that some
necessary restraints will be imposed upon this branch of the public
service. I am truly sorry that in a branch of the government which,
for its. purity and uprightness, has ever been distinguished, and
which so well merits the admiration of the whole country, there
should have occurred so discreditable an increase in the expenses of
its practical administration. The next asserts —
Resolved, That the Diplomatic Relations of the United States with foreign pow
ers have been unnecessarily extended during the last twelve years, and ought to b»
reduced. I will not dwell long on this subject. I must remark, however,
that since the days of Mr. Adam's administration the number of

542 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
foreign ministers of the first grade has nearly doubled, and that of
ministers of the second grade has nearly tripled. Why, we have
ministers abroad who are seeking for the governments to which they
are accredited, and the governments are not to be found ! We have
ministers at Constantinople and Vienna — and for what ? We have
an unreciprocated mission to Naples — and for what ? There was at
the last session an attempt to abolish this appointment, but it unfor
tunately failed. One would think that in such a one-sided, unrecipro
cated diplomacy, if a regard to economy did not prompt us to discon
tinue the relation, national pride would. In like manner, we might
look round the coasts of Europe and of this continent, and find mis
sion after mission which there seems to be no earthly utility in re
taining. But I forbear.
On the subject of mileage, I hope there may be an effort to equal
ize it justly, and render it uniform, and that the same allowance will
be made for the same distance travelled, whether by land, by water,
or by steam-route, or whether the distance be ascertained by hori
zontal or surface measurement. I think the former the best mode,
because it limits us to a single and simple inquiry, and leaves no open
door for abuses. I hope, therefore, that we shall adopt it. The next
resolution of the series reads thus :
Resolved, That the franking privilege ought to be further restricted, the abusive
uses of it restrained and punished, the postage on letters reduced, the mode of esti
mating distances more clearly defined and prescribed, and a small addition to post
age made on books, pamphlets, and packages transmitted by mail, to be graduated
and increased according to their respective weights.
The franking privilege has been most direfully abused. We have
already reached a point of abuse, not to say corruption, though the
Government has been in operation but about fifty years, which it
has taken Great Britain centuries to attain. Blank envelopes, I have
heard it said, ready franked, have been inclosed to individuals at a
distance, who have openly boasted that their correspondence is free
of charge. The limitation as to weight is now extended, I believe,
to two ounces. But what of that, if a man may send under his frank
a thousand of these two-ounce packages ? The limitation should be
to the total weight included in any single mail, whether the packages
be few or many.' The report ofthe Postmaster General, at a former
session, states the astounding fact, that, of the whole amount trans
ported in the mails, ninety-five per cent, goes free of all duty, and let-

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 543
ters of business and private correspondence have to defray the expen
ses of the whole. It is monstrous, and calls loudly for some provi
sion to equalize the charge. The present postage on letters is enor
mously high in proportion to the other business of the country. If
you will refuse to carry those packages, which are now transmitted
by mail, simply because, in that mode, they can travel free of cost,
you will greatly relieve the business interests of the country, which
now bear nearly the whole burden for all the rest. This it is your
duty to do. Let us throw at least, a fair portion of the burdens on
those who receive at present, the whole of the benefit. Again.
The law is very loose and uncertain as to the estimation of distances.
Since the introduction of steam-travel the distance traveled has in
many cases been increased, while the time consumed has been
shortened. Take, as an illustration, a case near at hand. The near
est distance from here to Frederick City, in Maryland, is forty-four
miles ; but if you go hence to the depot on the Baltimore road, and
thence take the train to Frederick, you arrive sooner, but the dis
tance is increased to one hundred miles. Now, as letters are charged
according to the miles traveled, I hold it very wrong to subject a
letter to this more than double charge in consequence of adopting a
longer route in distance, though a shorter in time. Such cases ought
to be provided against by specific rules. I come now to the last
resolution offered ; which is as follows :
Resolved, That the Secretary of State, of the Treasury, of War, and of the Navy
Department, and the Postmaster General, be severally directed, as soon aspractica
ble, to report what offices can be abolished, and what retrenchments of public expen
diture can be made, without public detriment, in the respective branches of the public
service under their charge.
We all know that, if the heads of Departments will not go to work
with us honestly and faithfully, in truth and sincerity, Congress thus
unaided, can effect comparatively but little. I hope they will enter
with us on this good work of retrenchment and reform. I shall be
the last to express in advance any distrust of their upright intentious
in this respect. The only thing that alarms me is, that two of these
departments have come to us asking for appropriations far beyond
any that . have heretofore been demanded in time of peace, and that
with a full knowledge of the fact of an empty Treasury. But I still
hope, when they shall see Congress heartily in earnest, engaged in
retrenching useless expenditure, and reducing estimates that cannot
be complied with, that they will boldly bring out to view all abuses

544 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
which exists in their several spheres of action, and let Us apply the
pruning-knife so as to reduce the national expenditure within some
proper and reasonable amount. At all events, they are, of course,
most familiar with the details of the subject as it relates to their
several branches of the administration. Among other items, there
are several useless mints which only operate to waste the public
money. A friend, occupied in investigating this subject, has told me
that the mint in New-Orleans has already cost the country $500,000
for getting ready to coin bullion not yet dug out of the mine ! Every
piece of coin made by these Useless establishments could just as
well be coined by the central mint at Philadeldhia.
And now, having gone through with all the details of this series
of resolutions, which I thought it my duty to notice, allow me, in
drawing to a conclusion of these remarks, to present some of the
advantages which it appears to me should urge us to adopt the sys
tem of financial arrangement contemplated in the resolutions.
And first. The Government will, in this way, secure to itself an
adequate amount of revenue, without being obliged to depend on
temporary and disreputable expedients, and thus preserve the public
credit unsullied — which I deem a great advantage of the plan. Credit
is of incalculable value, whether to a nation or an individual. Eng
land, proud England, a country with which we may one day again
come in conflict — though it gives me pleasure to say that I cannot
perceive at present the least " speck of war" in the political horizon
— owes her greatness, her vastness of power, pervading the habitable
globe, mainly to her strict and uniform attention to the preservation
of the National credit.
2. The next thing recommended is retrenchment in the National
expenditure, and greater economy in the administration of the gov
ernment. And do we not owe it to this bleeding country, to our
selves, and the unparalelled condition of the times to exhibit to the
world a fixed, resolute, and patriotic purpose to reduce the public
expenditure to an economical standard ?
3. But a much more important advantage than either of those I
have yet adverted to is to be found in the check which the adoption
of this plan will impose on the efflux of the precious metals from this

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 545
country to foreign countries. I shall not now go into the causes by
which the country has been brought down from the elevated condi
tion of prosperity it once enjoyed to its present state 6f general em
barrassment and distress. I think that those causes are as distinctly
in my understanding and memory as any subjects were ever impress
ed there ; but I have no desire to go into a disoussion which can only
revive the remembrance of unpleasant topics. My purpose, my fixed
purpose on this occasion, has been to appeal to all gentlemen on all
political sides of this Chamber to come out and make a sacrifice of
all lesser differences in a patriotic, generous and general effort for the
relief of their country. I shall not open those bleeding wounds which
have, in too many instances, been inflicted by brothers' hands — es
pecially will I not do so at this time, and on this occasion. I shall
look merely at facts as they are. I shall not ask what have been the
remote causes of the depression and wretchedness of our once glori
ous and happy Country. I will turn my view only on causes which
are proximate, indisputable, and immediately before us.
One great, if not sole cause is to be found in the withdrawal of
coin from the Country to pay debts accrued or accruing abroad for
foreign imports, or 'debts contracted during former periods of pros
perity, and still hanging over the Country. How this withdrawal
operates in practice is not difficult to be understood. The Banks of
the Country, when they are in a sound state, act upon this coin as
the basis of their circulation and discounts ; the withdrawal of it not
only obliges the Banks to withhold discounts and accommodations,
but to draw in what is due from their debtors, at the precise time
when they, sharing in the general stricture, are least able to meet the
calls. Property is then thrown into the market to raise means to
comply with those demands, depression ensues, and as is invariably
the case when there is a downward tendency in its value, it falls
below its real worth. But the foreign demand for specie to pay com
mercial and other public debt operates directly upon the precious
metals themselves, which are gathered up by Bankers, Brokers and
Others, obtained from these depositories, and thence exported. Thus
this foreign demand has a double operation, one upon the Banks, and
through them upon the community, and the other upon the coin of
the Country. Gentlemen, in my humble opinion, utterly deceive
themselves in attributing to the Banking Institutions all the distress
of the Country. Doubtless the erroneous and fraudulent administra-

546 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tion of some of them has occasioned much local and individual dis
tress. But this would be temporarv and limited, while the other
cause — the continued efflux of specie from the Country — if not ar
rested, would perpetuate the distress. Could you annihilate every
Bank in the Union, and burn every bank note, and substitute in their
place a circulation of nothing but the precious metals, as long as such
a tariff continues as now exists, two years would not elapse till you
would find the imperative necessity of some paper medium for con
ducting the domestic exchanges.
I announce only an historical truth, when I declare, that during
and ever since our colonial existence, necessity has given rise to the
existence of a paper circulation of some form in every colony on this
continent ; and there was a perpetual struggle between the Crown
and Royal Governors on one hand, and Colonial Legislatures on the
other, on this very subject of paper money. No, if you had to-mor
row a circulation consisting of nothing but the precious metals, they
would leave you as the morning dew leaves the fields, and you
would be left under the necessity of devising a mode to fill the chasm
produced by their absence.
¦ I am ready to make one concession to the gentlemen on the other
side. I admit that, if the circulation were in coin alone, the ther
mometer of our monetary fluctuations would not rise as high or fall
as low as when the circulation is of a mixed character, consisting
partly of coin and partly of paper. But then the fluctuations them
selves, within a more circumscribed range," would be quite as numer
ous, and they will and must exist so long as such a tariff remains as
forces the precious metals abroad. I again repeat the assertion that,
could you annihilate to-morrow every Bank in the country, the very
same description of embarrassment, if not in the same degree, would
still be found which now pervades our country.
What, then, is to be done to check the foreign drain ? We have
tried free trade. We have had the principles of free trade operating
on more than half the total amount of our imports for the greater
part of nine years past. That will not do it, we see. Do let me
recall to the recollection of the Senate, the period when the protec
tive system was thought about to be permanently established. What
was the great argument then urged against its establishment ? It

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 547
was this : that, if duties were laid directly for protection, then we
must resort to direct taxation to meet the wants of the Government ;
every body must make up their minds to a system of internal taxa
tion. Look at the debate in the House of Representatives of 1824,
and you will find that that was the point on which the great stress
was laid. Well, it turned out as the friends of protection told you it
would. We said that such would not be the effect. True, it would
diminish importation, as it did ; but the augmented amount of taxes
would more than compensate for the reduced amount of goods. This
we told you, and we were right.
How has free trade operated on other great interests ? . I well re
member that, ten years ago, one of the most gifted of the sons of
South Carolina, (Mr. Hayne,) after drawing a most vivid and fright
ful picture of the condition of the South — of fields abandoned — hou
ses dilapidated — overseers becoming masters; and masters overseers
— general stagnation and approaching ruin — a picture, which, I con
fessed, filled me with dismay — cried out to us, abolish your tariff-
reduce your revenue to the standard of economical Government — and
once more the fields of South Carolina will smile with beauty — her
embarrassments will vanish — commerce will return to her harbors,
labor to her plantations, augmented prices for her staples, and con
tentment and prosperity and universal happiness to her oppressed
people. Well, we did reduce the tariff, and after nine years of pro
tection, we have had nine years of a descending tariff' and of free
trade. Nine years (from 1824 to 1833) we had the protective policy
of a high tariff; and nine years (from 1833 to 1S42) we have had
the full operation of free trade ,on more than a moiety of the whole
amount of our imports, and a descending tariff on the residue. And
what is the condition of South Carolina at this day ? Has she re
gained her lost prosperity ? Has she recovered from the desolation
and ruin so confidently imputed to the existence of a high tariff? I
believe if the gentleman from South Carolina could be interrogated
here, and would respond in candor, unbiassed by the delusions engen
dered by a favorite but delusive theory, he would tell us that she has
not experienced the promised prosperity which was dwelt upon with
so much eloquence by his fellow-citizen. How is it in regard to the
o-reat staple of the South ? How stand the prices of cotton during
these nine years of the descending Tariff and the prevalence of Free
Trade ? How do these years compare with the nine years of protec-

548 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
tion and high tariff? Has the price of cotton increased, as we were
told it would, by the talented South Carolinian ? It has happened
that during the nine tariff years the average price of cotton was, from
1824 to 1833, higher than during the nine years of descending Tariff
and Free Trade ; and at the instant I am speaking, I understand that
cotton is selling at lower rates than have ever been realized since the
war with Great Britain. I know with what tenacity theorists adhere
to a favorite theory, and seaich out for imaginary causes of results
before their eyes and deny the true. I am not going into the land of
abstractions and of metaphysics. There are two great, leading, incon
testible facts, which gentlemen must admit : first, that a high tariff
did not put down the prices of staple commodities ; and, second, that
a low Tariff and Free Trade have not been able to save them from
depression. These are the facts, let casuists and theorists, and the
advocates of a one-sided paralytic Free Trade, in which we turn our
sound side to the world, and our blighted and paralyzed and dead side.
toward our own people, make of them what they can. At the very
moment that England is pushing the resources of Asia, cultivating
the fields of India, and even contemplating the subsidizing of Africa,
for the supply of her factories with cotton, and when the importa
tions from India have swelled from 200,000 bales to 580,000, we are
told that there are to be no restrictions on Free Trade.
Let me not be misunderstood, and let me entreat that I may not
be misrepresented. I am not advocating the revival of a high pro
tective tariff- I am for abiding by the principles of the compromise
act ; I am for doing what no Southern man of a fair or candid mind
has ever yet denied — giving to the country a revenue which may
provide for the economical wants of the Government, and at the same
time give an incidental protection to our home industry. If there be
here a single gentleman who will deny the fairness and propriety of
this, I shall be glad to see and hear who he is.
The check on the flow of specie abroad, to pay either a commer
cial or a public debt, Will operate by the imposition of duties to meet
the wants of the government — will keep the precious metals at home
to a much greater extent than is now possible. I hope that we shall
learn to live within our own means, and not remain so dependent as
we now are on the mere good pleasure and domestic policy of foreign
governments. We go for revenue — for an amount of revenue ade

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 549
quate to an economical administration of the Government. We can
get such revenue nowhere else than from a tariff on importations.
No man in his senses will propose a resort to direct or internal taxes.
And this arrangement of the tariff, while it answers this end will at
the same time operate as a check on the efflux of the precious
metals, and retain what is necessary for the purpose of exchange and
circulation. The fourth advantage attending the adoption of the system proposed
will be, that the States will be left in the undisturbed possession of
the land fund secured to them by the act of the last session, and which
was intended to aid them in the embarrassment under which some of
them are now laboring.
And the last is that to which I have already adverted, viz. that it
will afford, indirectly, protection to the interests of American Indus
try. And the most bitter and persevering opponent to the protective
policy 1 ever met with, has never denied that it is both the right and
the duty of Government to lay the taxes necessary to the public ser
vice so as to afford incidental protection to our own home industry.
But it is said that, by the adoption of one fixed arbitrary maximum
of ad valorem duty, we shall not derive that measure of protection
which is expected ; and I admit that there may be certain articles,
the product of the mechanic arts — such, for example, as shoes, hats,
and ready-made clothing, and sugar, iron, and pepper — some or all
of which may not derive the protection which they need under the
plan I propose. On that subject I can only say, what I said at the
time of the passage of the compromise act, if some few articles shall
not prove to be sufficiently protected beneath the established maxi
mum rate, I should hope that in the spirit of harmony and compro
mise, additional duties above that rate, sufficient to afford reasonable
protection to those few articles, by general consent would be imposed.
I am not at present prepared to say whether the rule I have suggest
ed will afford adequate protection to these particular interests or not;
I fear it may not. But if the subject shall be looked at in this spirit
of patriotism, without party bias or local influences, it will be found
that the few articles alluded to are so distributed, or are of such a
nature as to furnish the grounds of a friendly adjustment. The in
terests of the sugar of the South may then be set against the iron of
*KK

550 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the centre and the productions ofthe mechanic arts, which, although
prevailing every where, are most concentrated at the North. With
respect to these, without reference to any general system of protec
tion, they have been at all times protected. And who that has a
heart, or the sympathies of a man, can say or feel that our hatters,
tailors, and shoemakers, should not be protected against the rival
productions of other countries ? Who would say that the shoema
ker, who makes the shoes of his wife — his own wife, according to
the proverb, being the last woman in the parish that is supplied with
hers — shall not be protected ? That the tailor, who furnishes him
with a new coat, or the hatter, that makes him a new hat, to go to
church, to attend a wedding or christening, or to visit his neighbor,
shall not be adequately protected ?
Then there is the essential article of iron — that is a great central
interest. Whether it will require a higher degree of protection than
it will derive from such a system as I have sketched, I have not suf
ficient information to decide ; but this I am prepared to say, that,
question will be with the Representatives of those States which are
chiefly interested, and, if their iron is not sufficiently protected, they
must take the matter up and make out their case to be an exception
to the general arrangement. When I speak of the Representatives
of these States, I mean their entire delegation without regard to po
litical denominations or distinctions. They must look into the mat
ter, and if they take it up and bring forward their propositions, and
make out a clear case of exception to the general rule, I shall be an
humble follower of their lead, but I will not myself take the lead in
any such case. If these States want certain interests protected, they
must send delegates here who are prepared to protect them. Such a
State cannot reasonably expect Senators from other States, having
no direct local, or particular concern in such interests, to force on her
the protection of her own interests against her own will, as that will
is officially expressed by her Representatives in Congress. I again
say, I am ready to follow, but I will not lead.
With me, from the first moment I conceived the idea of creating,
at home, a protection for the production of whatever is needed to
supply the wants of man, up to this moment, it has always been
purely a question of expediency. I never could comprehend the
constitutional objection which to some gentlemen seem so extremely

ON A TRUE PUBLIC POLICY. 551
obvious. I could comprehend, to be sure what these gentlemen
mean to argue, but I never had the least relief in the constitutional
objection which slept from 1789, (or rather, which reverses the doc
trine of 1789,) till it suddenly walked up in 1820. Then, for the first
time since the existence of the Constitution, was the doctrine ad
vanced that we could not legitimately afford any protection to our
own home industry against foreign and adverse industry. I say that
with me it always was a question of expediency only. If the nation
does not want protection I certainly never would vote to force it
upon the nation ; but, viewing it as a question of expediency wholly,
I have not hesitated heretofore, on the broad and comprehensive
ground of expediency, to give my assent to all suitable measures pro
posed with a view to that end. The Senate will perceive that I have
forborne to go into detail. I have presented to it a system of policy
embodied in these resolutions containing those great principles in
which I believe that the interest, prosperity and happiness of the
country are deeply involved — principles, the adoption of which alone
can place the finances ofthe Government upon a respectable footing,
and free us from a condition of servile dependence on the legislation
of foreign nations. I have persuaded myself that the system now
brought forward will be met in a spirit of candor and of patriotism,
. and in the hope that, whatever may have been the differences in the
Senate in days past, we have now reached a period in Which we can
forget our prejudices and agree to bury our transient animosities
deep at the foot of the altar of our common country, and come to
gether as an assemblage of friends and brothers and compatriots met
in common consultation to devise the best mode of relieving the pub
lic distress. It is in this spirit, that I have brought forward my pro
posed plan ; and I trust in God — invoking, as I humbly do, the aid
and blessing of His providence — that the Senators, on all sides of the
Chamber, will lay aside all party feelings, and more especially that
habitual suspicion to which we are all more or less prone, (and from
which I profess not to be exempted more than other men,) that im
pels us to reject without examination, and to distrust whatever pro
ceeds from a quarter we have been in the habit of Opposing. Let
us lay aside prejudice; let us look at the distresses of the country,
and those alone. I trust that in this spirit we shall examine these
resolutions, and decide upon them according to the dictates of our
own consciences, and in a pure and patriotic regard to the welfare of
our country.

ON RETIRING FROM THE SENATE.
In the Senate of the United States,. March 31, 1842.

|Mr. Clay had intended to retire from the Senate at the close of the Extra Ses
sion, but was prevented by the entreaties of his friends, and the unsettled state of
our Public Affairs. He early, however, gave notice to the Legislature of Kentucky,
that he should resign by the end of March, in order that his successor might be
chosen and in readiness to take his place. Mr. Crittenden having been unani
mously elected, and having arrived at Washington, Mr. Clav was at length at liber
ty to withdraw, and on the 31st of Mareh he addressed the Senate as follows :]
Before proceeding to make the motion for which I have risen, I
beg leave to submit, on the only occasion afforded me, an observation
or two on a different subject. , It will be remembered that I offered
on a former day, some resolutions going to propose certain amend
ments to the Constitution of the United States. They have under
gone some discussion, and I have been desirous of obtaining an ex
pression of the sense of the Senate upon their adoption ; but owing
to the infirm state of my health, to the pressure of business in the
Senate, and especially to the absence at this moment of several of
my friends, I have concluded this to be unnecessary ; nor should I
deem myself called upon to reply to the arguments of such gentlemen
as have considered it their duty to oppose the resolutions. I shall
commit the subject, therefore, to the hands of the Senate, to be dis
posed of as their judgment shall dictate ; concluding what I have to
say in relation to them with the remark, that the convictions I have
before entertained in regard to the several amendments, I still delibe
rately hold, after all that I have heard upon the subjects of them.
And now, allow me to announce, formally and officially, my retire
ment from the Senate of the United States, and to present the last
motion I shall ever make in this body. But, before I make that mo
tion, I trust I shall be pardoned if I avail myself of the occasion to
make a few observations which are suggested to my mind by the
present occasion.

ON RETIRING FROM THE SENATE. 553
I entered the Senate of the Uuited States in December, 1806. I
regarded that body then, and still contemplate it, as a body, which
may compare, without disadvantage, with any legislative assembly,
either of ancient or modern times, whether I look to its dignity, the
extent and importance of its powers, or the ability by which its indi
vidual members have been distinguished, or its constitution. If com
pared in any of these respects with the Senates either of France or
of England, that of the United States will sustain no derogation.
With respect to the mode of its constitution, of those bodies I may
observe that in the House of Peers in England, with the exception
but of Ireland and of Scotland — and in that of France with no excep
tion whatever — the members hold their places under no delegated
authority, but derive them from the grant ofthe Crown, transmitted
by descent, or expressed in new patents of nobility ; while here we
have the proud title of Representatives of sovereign States, of distinct
and independent Commonwealths.
If we look again at the powers exercised by the Senates of France
and England, and by the Senate of the United States, we shall find
that the aggregate of power is much greater here. In all the mem
bers possess the legislative power. In the foreign Senates, as in this,
the judicial power is invested, although there it exists in a larger de
gree than here. But, on the other hand, that vast, undefined, and
undefinable power involved in the right to co-operate with the Ex
ecutive in the formation and ratification of treaties, is enjoyed in all
its magnitude and weight by this body, while it is possessed by nei
ther of theirs ; besides which, there is another of very great practical
importance — that of sharing with the executive branch in distribu
ting the vast patronage of the Government. In both these latter re
spects, we stand on grounds different from the House of Peers either
of England or France. And then as to the dignity and decorum of
its proceedings, and ordinarily as to the ability of its members, I can
with great truth declare, that during the whole long period of my
knowledge of this Senate it can, without arrogance or presumption,
sustain no disadvantageous comparison with any public body in an
cient or modern times.
Full of attraction, however, as a seat in this Senate is, sufficient
to fill the aspirations of the most ambitious heart, I have long deter
mined to forego it, and to seek that repose which can be enjoyed only

554 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
in the shades of private life, and amid the calm pleasures which be
long to that beloved word, " home."
It was my purpose to terminate my connection with this body in
November 1840, after the memorable and glorious political struggle
which distinguished that year ; but 1 learned soon after, what indeed
I had for some time anticipated from the result of my own reflections,
that an extra session of Congress would be called ; and I felt desi
rous to co-operate with my personal and political friends in restoring,
if it could be effected, the prosperity of the country by the best mea
sures which their united counsels might be able to devise , and I
therefore attended the extra session. It was called, as all know, by
the lamented Harrison ; but his death and the consequent accession
of his successor produced an entirely new aspect of public affairs.
Had he lived, I have not one particle of doubt that every important
measure for which the country had hoped with so confident an ex
pectation, would have been consummated by the co-operation of the
Government. And here allow me to say, only, in regard to that so
much reproached extra session of Congress, that I believe if any of
those who, through the influence of party spirit or the bias of politi
cal prejudice, have loudly censured the measures then adopted, will
look at them in a spirit of candor and of justice, Iheir conclusion, and
that of the country generally, will be that if there exists any just
ground of complaint, it is to be found, not in what was done, but in
what was left unfinished.
Had President Harrison lived, and the measures devised at that
session been fully carried out, it was my intention to have resigned
my seat. But the hope (I feared it might prove a vain hope,) that
at the regular session the measures which we had left undone might
even then be perfected, or the same object attained in equivalent
form, induced me to postpone the determination ; and events which
arose after the extra session, resulting from the failure of those mea
sures which had been proposed at that session, and which appeared
to throw on our political friends a temporary show of defeat, confirm
ed me in the resolution to attend the present session also, and, whe
ther in prosperity or adversity, to share the fortune of my friends.
But I resolved at the same time to retire as soon as I could do so with
propriety and decency.

ON RETIRING FROM THE SENATE. 555
From 1806, the period of my entry on this noble theatre, with
short intervals, to the present time, I have been engaged in the pub
lic councils, at home and abroad. Of the nature or the value of the
services rendered during that long and arduous period of my life, it
does not become me to speak ; history, if she deigns to notice me, or
posterity, if the recollections of my humble actions shall be trans
mitted to posterity, are the best, the truest, the most impartial judges.
When death has closed the scene, their sentence will be pronounced,
and to that I appeal and refer myself. My acts and public conduct
are a fair subject for the criticism and judgment of my fellow-men ;
but the private motives by which they have been prompted, they
are known only to the great Searcher of the human heart and to my
self ; and I trust I may be pardoned for repeating a declaration made
some thirteen years ago, that, whatever errors — and doubtless there
have been many — may be discovered in a review of my public service
to the country, I can with unshaken confidence appeal to that Divine
Arbiter for the truth of the declaration, that I have been influenced
by no impure purposes, no personal motive — have sought no personal
aggrandizement ; but that in all my public acts I have had a sole and
single eye, and a warm and devoted heart, directed and dedicated to
what in my judgment 1 believed to be the true interest of my country.
During that period, however, I have not escaped the fate of other
public men, nor failed to incur censure and detraction ofthe bitterest
most unrelenting, and most malignant character ; and though not
always insensible to the pain it was meant to inflict, I have borne it
in o-eneral with composure, and without disturbance here, [pointing
to his breast,] waiting as I have done, in perfect and undoubting con
fidence, for the ultimate triumph of justice and truth, and in the en
tire persuasion that time would, in the end, settle all things as they
should be, and that whatever wrong or injustice I might experience
at the hands of man, He to whom all hearts are open and fully known,
would in the end, by the inscrutable dispensations of his providence,
rectify all error, redress all wrong, and cause ample justice to be done./
But I have not meanwhile been unsustained. Every where
throughout the extent of this great continent, I have had cordial
warm-hearted, and devoted friends, who have known me and justly
appreciated my motives. To them, if language were susceptible of
fully expressing my acknowledgments, I would now offer them, as all

556

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

the returns I have now to make for their genuine, disinterested and
persevering fidelity, and devoted attachment. But if I fail in suitable
language to express my gratitude to them for all the kindness they
have shown me — what shall I say — what can I say at all commensu
rate with those feelings of gratitude which I owe to the State whose
humble representative and servant I have been in this Chamber ?
I emigrated from Virginia to the State of Kentucky now nearly forty-
five years- ago : I went as an orphan who had not yet attained the
age of majority— who had never recognized a father's smile nor felt
his caresses — poor, pennyless — without the favor of the great ; with
an imperfect and inadequate education, limited to the ordinary busi
ness and common pursuits of life ; but scarce had I set my foot upon
her generous soil when I was seized and embraced with parental
fondness, caressed as though I had been a favorite child, and patro
nized with liberal and unbounded munificence. From that period
the highest honors of the State have been freely bestowed upon me ;
and afterwards, in the darkest hour of calumny and detraction, when
I seemed to be forsaken by all the rest of the world, she threw her
broad and impenetrable shield around me, and bearing me up aloft in
her courageous arms, repelled the poisoned shafts that were aimed at
my destruction, and vindicated my good name against every false and
unfounded assault.
But the ingenuity of my assailants is never exhausted, and it seems
I have subjected myself to a new epithet, which I do not know whe
ther it should be taken in honor or derogation : I am held up to the
country as a ' Dictator.' A Dictator ! The idea of a dictatorship is
drawn from Roman institutions ; and at the time the office was crea
ted, the person who wielded the tremendous authority it conferred,
concentrated in his own person, an absolute power over the lives and
property of all his fellow-citizens ; he could raise armies ; he could
man and build navies ; he could levy taxes at will, and raise any
amount of money he might choose to demand ; and life and death
rested on his fiat. If I had been a Dictator, as I am said to have
been, where is the power with which I have been clothed ? Had I
any army ? any navy ? any revenue ? any patronage ? in a word,
any power whatever ? If I had been a Dictator, I think that even
those who have the most freely applied to me the appellation, must
be compelled to make two admissions : first, that my dictatorship has

ON RETIRING FROM THE SENATE. 557
Deen distinguished by no cruel executions, stained by no blood, nor
soiled by any act of dishonor ; and in the second place I think they
must own (though I do not exactly know what date my commission
of Dictator bears ; I imagine, however, it must have commenced with
the extra session) that if I did usurp the power of a Dictator, I at
least voluntarily surrendered it within a shorter period than was al
lotted for the duration of the dictatorship of the Roman Common
wealth. If to have sought, at the extra session and at the present, by the
co-operation of my friends, to carry out the great measures intended
by the popular majority of 1840, and to have desired that they should
all have been adopted and executed ; if to have anxiously desired to
see a disordered currency regulated and restored, and irregular ex
changes equalized and adjusted ; if to have labored to replenish the
empty coffers of the Treasury by suitable duties ; if to have endea
vored to extend relief to the unfortunate bankrupts of the country,
who had been ruined in a great measure by the erroneous policy, as
.we believed, of this Government ; if to seek to limit, circumscribe,
and restrain executive authority ; if to retrench unnecessary expen
diture and abolish useless offices and institutions ; if, while the pub
lic money is preserved untarnished by supplying a revenue adequate
to meet the national engagements, incidental protection can be affordr
ed to the national industry ; if to entertain an ardent solicitude to re
deem every pledge and execute every promise fairly made by my
political friends with a view to the acquisition of power from the
hands of an honest and confiding People ; if these objects constitute
a man a Dictator, why then, I suppose I must be content to bear,
though I still only share with my friends, the odium of the honor or
the epithet, as it may be considered on the one hand or the other.
That my nature is warm, my temper ardent, my disposition, espe
cially in relation to the public service, enthusiastic, I am fully ready
to own ; and those who supposed that I have been assuming the dic
tatorship, have only mistaken for arrogance or assumption, that fer
vent ardor and devotion which is natural to my constitution, and
which I may have displayed with too little regard to cold, calculating
and cautious prudence, in sustaining and zealously supporting impor
tant national measures of policy which I have presented and proposed.

558 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
During a long and arduous career of service in the public councils
of my country, especially during the last eleven years I have held a
seat in the Senate, from the same ardor and enthusiasm of character, I
have no doubt, in the heat of debate, and in an honest endeavor to
maintain my opinions against adverse opinions equally honestly enter
tained, as to the best course to be adopted for the public welfare, I
may have often inadvertently or unintentionally, in moments of ex
cited debate, made use of language that has been offensive and sus
ceptible of injurious interpretation towards my brother Senators. If
there be any here who retain wounded feelings of injury or dissatis
faction produced on such occasions, I beg to assure them that I now
offer the amplest apology for any departure on my part from the es
tablished rules of parliamentary decorum and courtesy. On the other
hand, I assure the Senate, one and all, without exception and with
out reserve, that I retire from this Senate Chamber without carry
ing with me a single feeling of resentment or dissatisfaction to the
Senate or to any one of its members.
I go from this place under the hope that we shall mutually con
sign to perpetual oblivion, whatever personal collisions may at any
time unfortunately have occurred between us ; and that our recollec
tions shall dwell in future only on those conflicts of mind with mind,
those intellectual struggles, those noble exhibitions of the powers of
logic, argument and eloquence, honorable to the Senate and to the
country, in which each has sought and contended for what he deem
ed the best mode of accomplishing one common object, the greatest
interest and the most happiness of our beloved country. To these
thrilling and delightful scenes it will be my pleasure and my pride to
look back in my retirement.
And now, Mr. President, allow me to make the motion which it
was my object to submit when I rose to address you. I present the
credentials of my friend and successor. If any void has been created
by my own withdrawal from the Senate, it will be filled to overflow
ing by him ; whose urbanity, whose gallant and gentlemanly bearing,
whose steady adherence to principle, and whose rare and accom
plished powers in debate, are known already in advance to the whole
Senate and country. I move that his credentials be received, and
that the oath of office be now administered to him.

ON RETIRING FROM THE SENATE. 559
In retiring, as I am about to do, for ever from the Senate, suffer
me to express my heartfelt wishes that all the great and patriotic ob
jects for which it was constituted by the wise framers of the Consti
tution may be fulfilled ; that the high destiny designed for it may be
fully answered ; and that its deliberations, now and hereafter, may
eventuate in restoring the prosperity of our beloved country, in main
taining its rights and honors abroad, and in securing and upholding
its interests at home. I retire, I know it, at a period of infinite dis
tress and embarrassment. I wish I could take my leave of you un
der more favorable auspices ; but, without meaning at this time to
say whether on any or on whom reproaches for the sad condition of
the country should fall, I appeal to the Senate and to the world to
bear testimony to my earnest and anxious exertions to avert it, and
that no blame can justly rest at my door.
May the blessing of Heaven rest upon the. whole Senate and each
member of it, and may the labors of every one redound to the benefit
of the nation and the advancement of his own fame and renown.
And when you shall retire to the bosom of your constituents, may
you meet the most cheering and gratifying of all human rewards ;
their cordial greeting of " Well done, good and faithful servants."

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY.
Near Lexington, June 9, 1842.

tMr. Clay having resigned his seat in the Senate, and returned to his home m
Ashland, near Lexinglon, Ky. was enthusiastically received by his fellow-cicizeris,
who pressed him to partake of a public entertainment or Barbecue, given ifl his
honor. He consented; and, the repast being over, and his health hating been
proposed in an eloquent Speech by Hon. George Robertson, Chief Juowce of the
State, Mr. Clay — the enthusiastic and prolonged applause having sistwided— ad
dressed the immense concourse as follows :]
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — It was given to our
countryman, Franklin, to bring down the lightning from Heaven.
To enable me to be heard by this immense multitude, I should have
to invoke to my aid, and to throw into my voice, its loudest thun
ders. As I cannot do that, I hope I shall be excused for such an
use of my lungs as is practicable and not inconsistent with the pre
servation of my health. And I feel that it is our first duty, to ex
press our obligations to a kind and bountiful Providence, for the
copious and genial showers with which he has just blessed our land
— a refreshment of which it stood much in need. For one, I offer
to Him my humble and dutiful thanks. The inconvenience to us,
on this festive occasion, is very slight, while the sum of good which
these timely rains will produce is very great and encouraging.
Fellow citizens, I find myself now in a situation somewhat like
one in which I was placed a few years ago when traveling through
the State of Indiana, from which my friend (Mr. Rariden) near me
comes. I stopped at a village containing some four or five hundred
inhabitants, and I had scarcely alighted before I found myself sur
rounded in the Bar-room by every adult male resident of the place.
After a while, I observed a group consulting together in one corner
of the room, and shortly after, I was diffidently approached by one
of them, a tali, lank, lean, but sedate and sober looking person, with

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 561
a long face and high cheek bones, who, addressing me said he was
commissioned by his neighbors, to request that I would say a few
words to them. Why my good friend, said I, I should be very hap
py to do any thing gratifying to yourself and your neighbors, but I
am very much fatigued and hungry and thirsty, and I do not
think the occasion is exactly suitable for a speech, and Pwish you
would excuse me to your friends. Well, says he, Mr. Clay, I con
fess I thought so myself, especially as we have no wine to offer
you to drink !
Now, if the worthy citizen of Indiana was right in supposing,
that a glass of wine was a necessary preliminary, and a precedent
condition, to the delivery of a speech, you have no just right to ex
pect one from me at this time ; for during the sumptuous repast from
which we have just risen, you offered me nothing to drink but cold
water — excellent water it is true, from the classic fountnin of our
lamented friend Mr. Maxwell, which has so often regaled us on
celebrations of our great anniversary.
I protest against any inference of my being inimical to the Temper
ance cause. On the contrary, I think it an admirable cause that has
done great good, and will continue to do good as long as legal coer
cion is not employed, and it rests exclusively upon persuasion, and
its own intrinsic merits.
I have a great and growing repugnance to speaking in the open
air to a large assemblage. But while the faculty of speech remains
to me, I can never feel that repugnance, never feel other than grate
ful sensations, in making my acknowledgments under such circum
stances as those which have brought us together. Not that I am so
presumptuous as to believe that I have been the occasion solely of
collecting this vast multitude. Among the inducements, I cannot
help thinking that the fat white virgin Durham Heifer of my friend
Mr. Berryman, that cost $600, which has been just served up, and
the other good things which have been so liberally spread before us,
exerted some influence in swelling this unprecedently large meeting.
[Great laughter.]
I cannot but feel, Mr. President, in offering my respectful acknowl
edgments for the honor done me, in the eloquent address which you

562 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
have just delivered, and in the sentiment with which you concluded
it, that your warm partiality, and the fervent friendship which has so
long existed between us, and the kindness of my neighbors and friends
around me, have prompted an exaggerated description, in too glow
ing colors, of my public services and my poor abilities.
I seize the opportunity to present my heartfelt thanks to the whole
people of Kentucky, for all the high honors and distinguished favors
which I have received, during a long residence with them, at their
hands ; for the liberal patronage which I received from them in my
professional pursuit ; for the eminent places in which they have put
me, or enabled me to reach ; for the generous and unbounded confi
dence which they have bestowed upon me, at all times; for the gal
lant and unswerving fidelity and attachment with which they stood
by me, throughout all the trials and vicissitudes of an eventful and
arduous life ; and, above all, for the scornful indignation with which
they repelled an infamous calumny directed against my name and
fame at a momentous period of my public career. In recalling to our
memory the circumstances of that period, one cannot but be filled
with astonishment at the indefatigability with which the calumny
was propagated and the zealous partisan use to which it was applied,
not only without evidence, but in the face of a full and complete refu
tation. Under whatever deception, delusion or ignorance, it was
received elsewhere, with you, my friends and neighbors, and with
the good people of Kentucky, it received no countenance ; but in
proportion to the venom and the malevolence of its circulation was
the vigor and the magnanimity with which I was generously sup
ported. Upheld by a consciousness of the injustice of the charge, I
should have borne myself with becoming fortitude, if I had been
abandoned by you as I was by so large a portion of my countrymen ;
but to have been sustained and vindicated as I was by the people of
my own State, by you who knew me best, and whom I had so many
reasons to love and esteem, greatly cheered and encouraged me in
my onward progress. Eternal gratitude and thanks are due from me.
I thank you my friends and fellow citizens, for your distinguished
and enthusiastic reception of me this day ; and for the excellence and
abundance of the Barbecue that has been provided for our entertain
ment. And I thank from the bottom of my heart, my fair country
women for honoring and gracing and adding brilliancy to this occa-

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 563
sion by their numerous attendance. If the delicacy and refinement
of their sex will not allow them to mix in the rougher scenes of
human life, we may be sure that whenever, by their presence, their
smiles and approbation are bestowed, it is no ordinary occurrence.
That presence is always an absolute guaranty of order, decorum and
respect. I take the greatest pleasure in bearing testimony to their
value and their virtue. I have ever found in them true and stead
fast friends, generously sympathizing in distress, and, by their cou
rageous fortitude in bearing it themselves, encouraging us to imitate
their example. And we all know and remember how, as in 1840,
they can powerfully aid a great and good cause, without any depar
ture from the propriety or dignity of their sex.
In looking back upon my origin and progress through life, I have
great reason to be thankful. My father died in 1781, leaving me an
infant of too tender years to retain any recollection of his smiles or
endearments. My surviving parent removed to this State in 1792,
leaving me, a boy of fifteen years of age, in the office of the High
Court of Chancery, in the City of Richmond, without guardian, with
out pecuniary means of support, to steer my course as I might or
could. A neglected education was improved by my own irregular
exertions, without the benefit of systematic instruction. I studied
law principally in the office of a lamented friend, the late Governor
Brooke, then Attorney General of Virginia, and also under the aus
pices of the venerable and lamented Chancellor Wythe, for whom I
had acted as an amanuensis. I obtained a license to practice the
profession from the Judges of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and
established myself in Lexington in 1797, without patrons, without
the favor or countenance of the great or opulent, without the means
of paying my weekly board, and in the midst of a Bar uncommonly
distinguished by eminent members. I remember how comfortable I
I thought I should be, if I could make £100 Virginia money per
year and with what delight I received the first fifteen shilling fee.
My hopes were more than realized. I immediately rushed into a
successful and lucrative practice.
In 1803 or 4, when I was absent from the County of Fayette, at
the Olympian Springs, without my knowledge or previous consent, I
was brought forward as a candidate and. elected to the General As
sembly of this State. I served in that body several years, and was

564 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
then transferred to the Senate, and afterwards to the House of Repre
sentatives of the United States. I will not now dwell on the subse
quent events of my political life, or enumerate the offices which I
have filled. During my public career, I have had bitter, implacable,
reckless enemies. But if I have been the object of misrepresentation
and unmerited calumny, no man has been beloved or honored by
more devoted, faithful and enthusiastic friends. I have no reproaches
— none — to make towards my country, which has distinguished and
elevated me far beyond what I had any right to expect. I forgive
my enemies, and hope they may live to obtain the forgiveness of
their own hearts.
It would neither be fitting nor is it my purpose to pass judgment
on all the acts of my public life ; but 1 hope I shall be excused for one
or two observations, which the occasion appears to me to authorize.
I never but once changed my opinion on any great measure of Na
tional policy, or on any great principle of construction of the National
Constitution. In early life, on deliberate consideration, I adopted
the principles of interpreting the Federal Constitution which has
been so ably developed and enforced by Mr. Madison, in his memor
able report to the Virginia Legislature, and to them, as I understood
them, I have constantly adhered. Upon the question coming up in
the Senate of the United States to recharter the first Bank of the
United States thirty years ago, I opposed the recharter, upon con
victions which I honestly entertained. The experience of the War,
which shortly followed, the condition into which the currency ofthe
country was thrown, without a Bank, and, I may add, later and
more disastrous experience, convinced me I was wrong. I publicly
stated to my constituents in a speech in Lexington, (that which I
had made in the House of Representatives of the United States not
having been reported,) my reasons for that change, and they ate
preserved in the archives of the country. I appeal to that record :
and I am willing to be judged now and hereafter by their validity.
I do not advert to the fact of this splitary instance of change* of
opinion, as implying any personal merit, but because it is a fact. I
will, however say, that I think it very perilous to the utility of any
public man to make frequent changes of opinion, or any change but
upon grounds so sufficient and palpable, that the public can clearly
see and approve them. If we could look through a window into the

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 565
human breast, and there discover the causes which led to changes of
opinion, they might be made without hazard. But as it is impossi
ble to penetrate the human heart, and distinguish between the sinister
and honest motives which prompt it, any public man that changes
his opinion, once deliberately formed and promulgated, under other
circumstances than those which I have stated, draws around him dis
trust, impairs the public confidence, and lessens his capacity to serve
his country.
I will take this occasion now to say, that I am, and have been long
satisfied, that it would have been wiser and more politic in me to have
declined accepting the office of Secretary of State in 1825. Not that
my motives were not as pure and as patriotic as ever carried any man
into public office. Not that the calumny which was applied to the fact
was not as gross and as unfounded as any that was ever propagated.
[Here somebody cried out that Mr- Carter Beverly, who had been
made the organ of announcing it, had recently borne testimony to
its being unfounded. Mr. Clay said it was true that he had vo
luntarily borne such testimony. But, with great earnestness and em
phasis, Mr. Clay said, I want no testimony — here — here — here,
repeatedly touching his heart, amidst tremendous cheers, here is the
best of all witnesses of my innocence.] Not that valued friends, and
highly esteemed opponents did not unite in urging my acceptance of
the office. Not that the administration of Mr. Adams will not, I
sincerely believe, advantageously compare with that of any of his
predecessors, in economy, purity, prudence and wisdom. Not that
Mr. Adams was himself wanting in any of those high qualifications
and upright and patriotic intentions which were suited to the office.
Of that extraordinary man, of rare and varied attainments, whatever
diversity of opinion may exist as to his recent course in the House of
Representatives, (and candor obliges me to say that there are some
things in it which I deeply regret,) it is with no less truth than plea
sure, I declare that during the whole period of his administration,
annoyed, assailed and assaulted as it was, no man could have shown
a more devoted attachment to the Union, and all its great interests ;
a more ardent desire faithfully to discharge his whole duty, or brought
to his aid more useful experience and knowledge than he did; I
never transacted business with any man in my life, with more ease,
satisfaction and advantage than I did with that most able and inde
fatigable gentleman, as President of the United States. And I will
add, that more harmony never prevailed in any Cabinet than in his.
*LL

566 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
But my error, in accepting the office, arose out of my underrating
the power of detraction and the force of ignorance, and abiding, with .
too sure a confidence in the conscious integrity and uprightness of
my own motives. Of -that ignorance, I had a remarkable and laugh
able example on an occasion which I will relate. 1 was traveling,
in 1828, through, I believe it was, Spottsylvania county in Virginia,
on my return to Washington, in company with some young friends.
We halted at night at a tavern, kept by an aged gentleman, who, I
quickly perceived, from the disorder and confusion which reigned,
had not the happiness to have a wife. After a hurried and bad sup
per, the old gentleman sat down by me, and without hearing my
name, but understanding, that I was from Kentucky, remarked that
he had four sons in that State, and that he was very sorry they were
divided in politics, two being for Adams and two for Jackson ; he
wished they were all for Jackson. Why ? I asked him. Because,
he said, that fellow Clay and Adams had cheated Jackson out of the
Presidency. Have you ever seen any evidence my old friend, said I,
of that ? No, he replied, none, and he wanted to see none. But, I
observed, looking him directly and steadily in the face, suppose Mr.
Clay were to come here and assure you, upon his honor, that it was
all a vile calumny, and not a word of truth in it, would you believe
him ? No, replied the old gentleman, promptly and emphatically.
I said to him in conclusion, will you be good enough to show me to
bed, and bid him good night. The next morning, having in the in
terval learned my name, he came to me full of apologies, but I at
once put him at his ease by assuring him that I did not feel in the
slightest degree hurt or offended with him.
Mr. President, I have been accused of ambition, often accused of
ambition. I believe, however, that my accusers, will be generally
found to be political opponents, or the friends of aspirants in whose
way I was supposed to stand, and it was thought therefore, necessary
to shove me aside. I defy my enemies to point out any act or in
stance of my life, in which I have sought the attainment of office by
dishonorable or unworthy means. Did I display inordinate ambition,
when, under the administration of Mr. Madison, I declined a foreign
mission of the first grade, and an Executive Department, both of
which he successively kindly tendered to me ? When, under that of
his successor, Mr. Monroe, I was first importuned (as no one knows
better than that sterling old patriot, Jonathan Rorerts, now threa

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 567
tened, as the papers tell us, with expulsion from an office which was
never filled with more honesty and uprightness, because he declines
to be a servile instrument,) to accept a Secretaryship, and was after
wards offered a carle blanche of all the Foreign missions ? At the
epoch of the election of 1825, I believe no one doubted at Washing
ton that, if I had felt it my duty to vote for General Jackson, he
would have invited me to take charge of a Department. And such
undoubtedly Mr. Crawford would have done, if he had been elected.
When the Harrisburg Convention assembled, the general expectation
was that the nomination would be given to me. It was given to the
lamented Harrison. Did I exhibit extraordinary ambition when,
cheerfully acquiescing, I threw myself into the canvass and made
every exertion in my power to insure it success ? Was it evidence
of unchastened ambition in me to resign, as I recently did, my seat in
the Senate — to resign the Dictatorship, with which my enemies had
so kindly invested me, and come home to the quiet walks of private
life ?
But I am ambitious because some of my countrymen have seen fit
to associate my name with the succession for the Presidential office.
, Do those who prefer the charge know what I have done, or not done,
in connection with that object ? Have they given themselves the
trouble to enquire at all into any agency of mine in respect to it ? I
believe not. It is a subject which I approach with all the delicacy
which belongs to it, and with a due regard to the dignity of the ex
alted station ; but on which I shall, at the same time, speak to you,
my friends and neighbors, without reserve, and with the utmost
candor. I have prompted none of those movements among the people, of
which we have seen accounts. As far as I am concerned, they are
altogether spontaneous, and not only without concert with me, but
most generally without any sort of previous knowledge on my part.
That I am thankful and grateful — profoundly grateful — for these
manifestations of confidence and attachment, I will not conceal nor
deny. But I have been, and mean to remain, a passive, if not indif
ferent spectator. I have reached a time of life, and seen enough of
high official stations to enable me justly to appreciate their value
their cares, their responsibilities, their ceaseless duties. That esti
mate of their worth, in a personal point of view, would restrain me

568 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
from seeking to fill any one, the highest of them, in a scramble of
doubtful issue, with political opponents, much less with political
friends. That I should feel greatly honored by a call from a majority
of the People of this country, to the highest office within their gift,
I shall not deny ; nor, if my health were preserved, might I feel at
liberty to decline a summons so authoritative and commanding. But
I declare most solemnly, that I have not, up to this moment, deter
mined whether I will consent to the use of my name or not as a can
didate for the Chief Magistracy. That is a grave question, which
should be decided by all attainable lights, which I think, is not neces
sary yet to be decided, and a decision of which I reserve to myself,
as far as I can reserve it, until the period arrives when it ought to be
solved. That period has not, as I think, yet arrived. When it does,
an impartial survey of the whole ground should be taken, the state
of public opinion properly considered, and one's personal condition,
physical and intellectual, duly examined and weighed. In thus an
nouncing a course of conduct for myself, it is hardly necessary to
remark that it is no part of my purpose to condemn, or express any
opinion whatever upon those popular movements which have been
made, or may be contemplated, in respect to the next election of a
President of the United States.
If to have served my country, during a long series of years, with
fervent zeal and unshaken fidelity in seasons of peace and war, at
home and abroad, in the Legislative Halls and in an Executive De
partment, if to have labored most sedulously to avert the embarrass
ment and distress which now overspread this Union ; and when they
came, to have exerted myself anxiously, at the Extra session, and at
this, to devise healing remedies ; if to have desired to introduce
economy and reform in the general administration, curtail enormous
Executive power, and amply provide, at the same time, for the wants
of the Government and the wants of the People by a Tariff which
would give it revenue and them protection ; if to have earnestly
sought to establish the bright but too rare example of a party in
power, faithful to its promises and pledges made when out of power
— if these services, exertions and endeavors justify the accusation of
ambition, I must plead guilty to the charge.
I have wished the good opinion of the world ; but I defy the most
malignant of my enemies to show that I have attempted to gain it by

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 569
any low or grovelling arts, by any mean or unworthy sacrifices, by
the violation of any of the obligations of honor, or by a breach of
any of the duties which I owed to my country.
I turn, Sir, from these personal allusions and reminiscences, to the
vastly more important subject of the present actual condition of this
country. If they could ever be justifiable or excusable, it would be
on such an occasion as this, when I am addressing those to whom I
am bound by so many intimate and friendly ties.
In speaking of the present state of the country, it will be neces
sary for me to touch with freedom and independence upon the past
as well as the present, and upon the conduct, spirit and principles
of parties. In doing this, I assure my democratic brethren and fel
low citizens, of whom I am told there are many here present, (and I
tender them my cordial thanks for the honor done me by their at
tendance here this day, with as much sincerity and gratitude as if
they agreed with me in political sentiment,) that nothing is farther
from my intention than to say one single word that ought to wound
their feelings or give offence to them. But surely, if there ever were
a period in the progress of any People when all were called upon,
with calmness and candor, to consider thoroughly the present posture
of public and private affairs, and deliberately to inquire into the cau
ses and remedies of this unpropitious state of things, we have arrived
at that period in the United States. And, if ever a People stood
bound by the highest duties to themselves and to their posterity, to
sacrifice upon the altar of their country, cherished prejudices and
party predilections and antipathies, we are now called upon to make
that sacrifice, if necessary.
What is our actual condition ? It is one of unexampled distress
and embarrassment, as universal as it is intense, pervading the whole
community, and sparing none. Property of all kinds, and every
where, fallen and falling in value ; agricultural produce of every de
scription at the most reduced prices ; money unsound and at the same
time scarce, and becoming more scarce by preparations, of doubtful
and uncertain issue, to increase its.jsoundness ; all the departments of
business inactive and stagnant; exchanges extravagantly high and
constantly fluctuating ; credit, public and private, at the lowest ebb,
and confidence lost ; and a feeling of general discouragement and de-

570

SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.

pression. And what darkens the gloom which hangs over the coun
try, no one can discern any termination of this sad state, of things,
nor see in the future any glimpses of light or hope.
Is not this a faithful, although appalling picture of the United
States in 1842 ? I appeal to all present, Whigs and Democrats, La
dies and Gentlemen, to say if it be at all too high colored.
Now let us see what was our real condition only the short time of
ten years ago. I had occasion, in February 1832, in the Senate of
the United States, when I was defending the American System,
against the late Colonel Ha yne of South Carolina, to describe it;
and I refer to this description as evidence of what I believed to be the
state of the country at that time. That it conformed to the truth of
the case, I appeal with confidence to those now present. On that
occasion, among other things, I said :
" I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting an imperfect sketch
of the existing state of the unparalleled prosperity of the country. On a general
survey, we behold cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the country
improved, our people fully and profitably employed, and the public countenance ex
hibiting tranquility, contentment and happiness. And, if we descend into particu
lars, we have the agreeable contemplation of a people out of debt, land rising slowly
in value, but in a secure and salutary degree ; a ready, though not extravagant,
market for all the surplus productions of our industry ; innumerable flocks and herds
browsing and gambolling on ten thousand hills and plains, covered with rich and
verdant grasses ; our cities expanded, and whole villages springing up, as it were,
by enchantment ; our exports and our imports increased and increasing ; our ton
nage, foreign and coastwise, swelling and fully occupied ; the rivers of our interior
animated by the perpetual thunder and lightning of countless steamboats, the cur
rency sound and abundant ; the public debt of two wars nearly redeemed ; and, to
crown all, the public treasury overflowing, embarrassing Congress, not to find sub
jects of taxation, but to select the objects which shall be liberated from the impost.
If the term of seven years were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity which this
people have enjoyed, since the establishment of their present Constitution, it would
be exactly that period of seven years which immediately followed the passage of
the Tariff of 1824."
And that period embraced the whole term of the administration of
Mr. John Q. Adans, which has been so unjustly abused !
The contrast in the state of the country, at the two periods of
1832 and 1842, is most remarkable and startling. What has preci
pitated us from that great height of enviable prosperity down to the
lowest depths of pecuniary embarrassment ? What has occasioned
the wonderful change ? No foreign foe has invaded and desolated
the country. We have had neither famine nor earthquakes. That
there exists a cause there can be no doubt ; and I think it equally

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 571
clear that the cause, whatever it may be, must be a general one ; for
nothing but a general cause could have produced such .wide-spread
ruin ; and every where we behold the same or similar effects, every
interest affected, every section of the Union suffering, all descriptions
of produce and property depressed in value. And while I endeavor
to find out that cause, and to trace to their true source the disastrous
effects which we witness and feel, and lament, I entreat the Demo
cratic portion of my audience, especially, to listen with patience and
candor, and, dismissing for a moment party biases and prejudices, to
decide with impartiality and in a spirit of genuine patriotism.
It has been said by those, in high authority, that the People are
to blame and not the Government ; and that the distresses of the
country have proceeded from speculation and overtrading. The
people have been ever reproached for expecting too much from Go
vernment, and not relying sufficiently upon their own exertions.
And they have been reminded that the highest duty of the Govern
ment is to take care of itself, leaving the People to shift for them
selves as well as thej' can. Accordingly we have seen the Govern
ment retreating from the storm which it will be seen in fhe sequel,
itself created, and taking shelter under the Sub-Treasury.
That there has been some speculation and over-trading, may be
true ; but all have not speculated and over-traded ; while the dis
tress reaches, if not in the same degree, the cautious and the pru
dent, as well as the enterprising and adventurous. The error of the
argument consists in mistaking the effect for the cause. What pro
duced the overtrading ? What was the cause of speculation ? How
were the people tempted to abandon the industrious and secure pur
suits of life and embark in doubtful and perilous, but seducing enter-
prizes ? That is the important question.
Now fellow citizens, I take upon myself to show that the people
have been far less to blame than the General Government, and that
whatever of error they committed, was the natural and inevitable
consequence of the unwise policy of their rulers. To the action of
Government is mainly to be ascribed the disorders the embarrass
ment and distress which all have now so much reason to deplore.
And to be yet more specific, I think they are to be fairly attributed
to the action of the Executive branch of the Federal Government.

57? SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Three facts or events, all happening about the same time, if their
immediate effects are duly considered, will afford a clear and satisfac
tory solution of all the pecuniary evils which now unhappily afflict
this country.
The first was the veto of the recharter of the Bank of the United
States. The second was the removal of the deposites ofthe United
States from that Bank to local banks. And the third was the refu
sal of the President of the United States, by an arbitrary stretch of
of power, to sanction the passage of the Land Bill. These events
all occurred, in quick succession, in 1833-34, and each of them de
serves particular consideration.
1. When the Bank of the United States had fully recovered from
the errors of its early administration, and at a period when it was
proposed to re-charter it, it furnished the best currency that ever ex
isted, possessing not merely unbounded confidence in the United
States, but throughout the whole commercial world. No institution
was ever more popular, and the utility of a Bank of the United
States was acknowleged by President Jackson in his Veto message,
in which he expressly stated, that he could have suggested to Con
gress the plan of an unexceptionable charter, if application had
been made to him. And I state as a fact, what many, I am sure,
will here remember and sustain, that in the canvass then going on
for the Presidency, many of his friends in this State gave assurances,
that, in the event of his re-election, a Bank of the United States
would be established.
It was held out to the people, that a better currency should be
supplied, and a more safe and faithful execution of the fiscal duties
towards the Government would be performed by the local banks,
than by the Bank of the United States.
What was the immediate effect of the overthrow of that institu
tion ? The establishment of innumerable local banks, which sprung
up every where, with a rapidity to which we cannot look back with
out amazement. A respectable document which I now hold in my
hand, I believe correctly states, that " in 1830 the aggregate bank
ing capital of the Union was $145,190,268. Within two years af
ter the removal of the deposites, the banking capital had swollen to

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 573
$331,250,337, and in 1837 it reached $450,195,710. While the
United States Bank was in existence, the local banks, not aspiring
to the regulation of the currency, were chartered with small capi
tals, as occasion and business required. After 1833, they were char
tered without necessity and multiplied beyond example. In Decem
ber, 1837, there were no less than 709 State banks. Nearly four
hundred banks sprung up upon the ruins of the United States Bank,
and $250,000,000 of capital was incorporated, to supply the uses
formerly discharged by the $35,000,000 capital of the Bank of the
United States. The impulse given to extravagance and speculation
by this enormous increase of banking 'capital was quickened by the
circulars of the Treasury Department to these pet State banks that
were made the custodiers of the National Revenue."
A vast proportion of these new banks, more I believe than four-
fifths, were chartered by Legislatures in which the Democratic party
had the undisputed ascendancy. I well remember that, in this State,
the presses of that party made a grave charge against me of being
inimical to the establishment here of State banks ; and I was op
posed to their establishment, until all prospect vanished of getting a
Bank of the United States.
The effect upon the country of this sudden increase, to such an
immense amount, of the banking capital of the country, could not
fail to be very great, if not disastrous. It threw out, in the utmost
profusion, Bank accommodations in all the variety of forms, ordi
nary Bank notes, post-notes, checks, drafts, bills, &c The curren
cy thus put forth, the people had been assured was better than that
supplied by the Bank of the United States ; and, after the removal
of the deposites, the Local Banks were urged and stimulated, by the
Secretary of the Treasury, freely to discount and accommodate upon
the basis of those deposites. Flooded as the country was, by these
means and in this way, with all species of Bank money and facilities,
is it surprising that they should have rushed into speculation, and
freely adventured in the most desperate enterprises ? It would have
been better to have avoided them ; it would have been better that
the people should have been wiser and more prudent than Govern
ment • but who is most to blame, they who yielded to temptation so
thrown before them — they who yielded confidence to their rulers —
they who could not see when this inordinate issue Of money was to

574 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
cease or to become vitiated ; or Government, that tempted, seduced
and betrayed them ?
And now, fellow citizens, do let us in calmness and candor, revert
for a moment to some of the means which were employed to break
down the Bank of the United* States, and to inflict upon the country
all the sad consequences which ensued. I shall not stop to expose
the motives of the assault upon that institution, and to show that it
was because it refused to make itself basely and servilely instrumen
tal to promotion of political views and objects.
The Bank was denounced as a monster, aiming as was declared, to
rob the people of their liberties, and to subvert the Government of
the country. The Bank to subvert the Government ¦ Why how
could the Bank continue to exist after the overthrow of that Govern
ment to which it was indebted for its existence, and in virtue of whose
authority it could alone successfully operate ? Convulsions, revolu
tions, civil wars, are not the social conditions most favorable to Bank
prosperity ; but they flourish most when order, law, regularity, punc
tuality and successful business prevail.
Rob the people of their liberties ? And pray what would it do
with them after the robbery was perpetrated ? It could not put
them in its vaults, or make interest or profit upon them, the leading,
if not sole object of a Bank. And how could it destroy the liber
ties of the people, without at the same time destroying the liberties
of all persons interested or concerned in the Bank ? What is a
Bank ? It is a corporation, the aggregate of whose capital is contri
buted by individual shareholders, and employed in pecuniary opera
tions, under the management of official agents, called President, Di
rectors, Cashier, Teller and Clerks. Now all these persons are usu
ally citizens of the United States, just as much interested in the pre
servation of the liberties of the country, as any other citizens.
What earthly motive could prompt them to seek the destruction of
the liberty of their fellow citizens and, with it their own ?
The fate of the Bank of the United States clearly demonstrated
where the real danger to the public liberty exists. It was not in the
Bank. Its popularity had been great, and the conviction of its utili ty
strong and general, up to the period of the Bank Veto. Unbounded

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 575
\
as was the influence of President Jackson, and undisguised as his hos
tility was to the Bank, he could not prevent the passage through Con
gress of a bill to re-charter it. In such favor and esteem was it held,
that the Legislature of Pennsylvania, in which his friends had uncon
trolled sway, almost unanimously recommended there-charter. But
his Veto came ; he blew his whistle for its destruction ; it was neces
sary to sustain his party, which could only be done by sustaining
him, and instantly, and every where, down with the Bank and huz-
zah for the Veto, became the watch-words and the rallying cry of
his partisans. That same Legislature of Pennsylvania, now with
equal unanimity, approved the destruction of an institution which
they had believed to be indispensable to the public prosperity, and
the deluded people felt as if they had fortunately escaped a great
National calamity !
The Veto notwithstanding, the House of Representatives, by a large
majority, resolved that the public deposites were safe in the custody
ofthe Bank ofthe United States, where they were placed, under the
sanction and by the command of the law ; and it was well known at
Washington, that this resolution was passed in anticipation and to
prevent the possibility of their removal. In the face and in contempt
of this decision ofthe Representatives ofthe people, and in violation
of a positive law, the removal was ordered by the President a few
months after, the Secretary of the Treasury having been previously
himself removed to accomplish the object. And this brings me to
consider the effect produced upon the business and interests of the
country, by the
2nd event to which I have alluded. It is well known to be the
usage ofthe Banks, to act upon the standing average amount of their
deposites, as upon a permanent fund. The Bank of the United
States had so regulated its transactions upon the deposites of the
United States, and had granted accommodations and extended facili
ties as far as could be safely done on that basis. The deposites were
removed and dispersed among various local Banks, which were urged
by an authority not likely to be disregarded, especially when second
ing as it did, their own pecuniary interests, to discount and accom
modate freely on them. They did so ; and thus these deposites per
formed a double office, by being the basis of Bank facilities, first, in
the hands of the Bank of the United States, and afterwards in the

576 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
possession of the local Banks. A vast addition to the circulation of
the. country ensued, adding to that already so copiously put forth and
putting forth by the multitude of new Banks which were springing
up like mushrooms. That speculation and overtrading should have
followed, were to have been naturally expected. It is surprising
that there were not more. Prices rose enormously, as another con
sequence ; and thousands were tempted, as is always the case in an
advancing market, to hold on or to make purchases, under the hope
of prices rising still higher. A rush of speculators was made upon
the public lands, and the money invested in their purchase, coming
back to the deposite Banks, was again and again loaned out to the
same or other speculators, to make other and other purchases.
Who was to blame for this artificial and inflated state of things ?
Who for the speculation which was its natural offspring ? The poli
cy of Government, which produced it, or the people ? The seducer,
or the seduced ? The people, who only used the means so abun
dantly supplied in virtue of the public authority, or our rulers, whose
unwise policy tempted them into ruinous speculation ?
3. There was a measure, the passage of which would have greatly
mitigated this unnatural state of things. It was not difficult to fore
see, after the Veto of the Bank, some of the consequences that
would follow. The multiplication of Banks, a superabundant cur
rency, rash and inordinate speculation, and a probable ultimate sus
pension of specie payments. And the public domain was too bril
liant and tempting a prize, not to be among the first objects that
would attract speculation. In March 1833, a bill passed both Houses
of Congress, to distribute among the States the proceeds of sales of
the public lands. It was a measure of strict justice to the States,
and one of sound policy as it respects the revenue of the United
States ; but the view which I now propose to take of it, applies alto
gether to the influence which it would have exerted upon circula
tion and speculation. It was the constitutional duty of the Presi
dent to have returned the bill to Congress with his objections, if he
were opposed to it, or with his sanction, if he approved it ; but the
bill fell by his arbitrarily withholding it from Congress.
Let us here pause and consider what would have been the opera
tion of that most timely and salutary measure, if it had not been

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY.

577

arrested. The bill passed in 1833, and in a short time after, the
sales of the public lands were made to an unprecedented extent ; in
so much, that in one year they amounted to about $25,000,000, and
in a few years to an aggregate of about $50,000,000. It was mani
fest that, if this fund, so rapidly accumulating, remained in the cus
tody of the local Banks, in conformity with the Treasury circular,
and with their interests, it would be made the basis of new loans,
new accommodations, fresh bank facilities. It was manifest that the
same identical sum of money might as it in fact did, purchase many
tracts of land, by making the circuit from the land-offices to the
Banks, and from the Banks to the land-offices, besides stimulating
speculation in other forms. t
Under the operation of the measure of distribution, that great fund
would have been semi-annually returned to the States, and would
have been applied, under the direction of their respective Legisla
tures, to various domestic and useful purposes. It would have fallen
upon the land, like the rains of heaven, in gentle, genial and general
showers, passing through a thousand rills, and fertilizing and beauti
fying the country. Instead of being employed in purposes of specu
lation, it would haye been applied to the common benefit of the whole
people. Finally, when the fund had accumulated and was accumu
lating in an alarming degree, it was distributed among the States by
the deposite act, but so suddenly distributed, in such large masses,
and in a manner so totally in violation of all the laws and rules of
finance, that the crisis of suspension in 1837, was greatly accelerated.
This would have been postponed, if not altogether avoided, if the
land bill of 1833 had been approved and executed.
To these three causes, fellow-citizens, the Veto of the Bank ofthe
United States, with the consequent creation of innumerable local
Banks the removal of the deposites of the United States from the
Bank of the United States, and their subsequent free use, and the
failure of the land bill of 1833, I verily believe, all, or nearly all of
the pecuniary embarrassments of the country are plainly attributable.
If the Bank had been re-chartered, the public deposites suffered to
remain undisturbed where the law required them to be made, and the
land bill had gone into operation, it is my firm conviction that we
should have had no more individual distress and ruin than is com
mon, in ordinary and regular times, to a trading and commercial
community.

578 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
And do just now take a rapid review of the experiments of our
rulers. They began with incontestibly the best currency in the
world, and promised a better. The better currency was to be sup
plied by the local Banks ; and, in the first stages of the experiment,
after the removal of the deposites, they were highly commended,
from high authority, for their beneficial and extensive operations in
exchange, the financial facilities which they afforded to the Govern
ment, &c, &c. But the day of trouble and difficulty which had been
predicted, for the want of a United States Bank, came. They could
not standHhe. shock, but gave way, and the suspension of 1837 took
place. ;Then what was the course of those same rulers ? They had
denounced and put down the Bank of the United States. It was a
mofister. They had extolled and lavished 'praises on the local Banks.
Now, they turned round against the objects of their own creation and
commendation. Now they were a brood of little monsters, corrupt
and corrupting, with separate privileges, preying upon the vitals of
the State. They vehemently call out for a divorce of State and Bank.
And meanly retreating under the Sub-Treasury, from the storm which
themselves had raised, leaving the people to suffer under all its pelt
ing and pitiless rage, they add insult to injury, by telling them that
they unreasonably expect too much from Government, that they must
take care of themselves, and that it is the highest and most patriotic
duty of a free Government, to take care of itself, without regard to
the sufferings and distresses of the people !
They began with the best currency, promised a better, and end
with giving none ! For we might as well resort to the costumes of
our original parents in the garden of Eden, as, in this enlightened
age, with the example of the whole commercial world before us, to
cramp this energetic and enterprizing people by a circulation exclu
sively of the precious metals. Let us see how the matter stands
with us here in Kentucky, and I believe we stand as well as the peo
ple do in most of the States. We have a circulation in Bank notes
amounting to about $2,500,000, founded upon specie in their vaults,
amounting to about $1,250,000, half the actual circulation. Have we
too much money ? [No ! no ! exclaimed many voices.] If all
Banks were put down, and all Bank paper were annihilated, we
should have just one half of the money that we now have. I am
quite sure that one of the immediate causes of our present difficulties,
is a defect in quantity as well as the quality of the circulating medi-

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 579
urn. And it would be impossible, if we were reduced to such a regi
men as is proposed by the hard-money theorists, to avoid stop laws,
relief laws, repudiation, bankruptcies, and perhaps civil commotion.
I have traced the principal causes of the present embarrassed con
dition of the country, I hope in candor and fairness, without giving
offence to any of my fellow citizens, who may have differed in politi
cal opinion from me. It would haye been far more agreeable to my
feelings to have dwelt, as I did in 1832, during the third year of the
first 'term of President Jackson's administration, upon bright and
cheering prospects of general prosperity. I thought it useful to con
trast that period with the present one, and to inquire into the causes
which have brought upon us such a sad and dismal reverse. A
much more important object remains to me to attempt, and that is to
point out remedies for existing evils and disorders.
And the first I would suggest, requires the co-operation of the
Government and the people — it is economy and frugality, strict and.
persevering economy, both in public and private affairs. Govern
ment should incur or continue no expense that can be justly and
honorably avoided, and individuals should do the same. The pros
perity of the country has been impaired by causes operating through
out several years, and it will not be restored in a day or a year, per
haps not in a period less than it has taken to destroy it. But we
must not only be economical, we must be industrious, indefatigably
industrious. An immense amount of capital has been wasted and
squandered in visionary and unprofitable enterprizes, public and pri
vate. It can only be reproduced by labor and saving.
The second remedy which I would suggest, and that without which
others must prove abortive or ineffectual, is a sound currency, of uni
form value throughout the Union, and redeemable in specie upon the
demand of the holder. I know of but one mode in which that object
can be accomplished, and that has stood the test of time and practical
experience. If any other can be devised than a Bank of the United
States, which should be safe and certain, and free from the influence
of Government, and especially not under the control of the Executive
Department, I should for one, gladly see it embraced. I am not
exclusively wedded to a Bank of the United States, nor do I desire
to see one established against the will and without the consent of

580 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
the people. But all my observation and reflection have served to
strengthen and confirm my conviction, that such an institution, ema
nating from the authority of the general Government, properly re
stricted and guarded, with such improvements as experience has
pointed out, can alone supply a reliable currency.
Accordingly, at the Extra Session, a bill passed both Houses of
Congress, which, in my opinion, contained an excellent charter, with
one or two slight defects, which it was intended to cure by a supple
mental bill, if the Veto had not been exercised. That charter con
tained two new and I think admirable features ; one was to seperate
the operation of issuing a circulation from that of banking, confiding
these faculties to different boards ; and the other was to limit the div
idends of the Bank, bringing the excess beyond the prescribed amount,
into the public treasury. In the preparation of the charter, every
sacrifice was made that could be made, to accommodate it, especially
in regard to the branching power, to the reputed opinions of the Pre
sident. But instead of meeting us in a mutual spirit of conciliation,
he fired, as was aptly said by a Virginia Editor, upon the flag of
truce sent from the capitol.
Congress, anxious to fulfil the expectations of the people, another
Bank bill was prepared, in conformity with the plan of a Bank sketch
ed by the acting President in his Veto message, after a previous con
sultation between him and some distinguished members of Congress,
and two leading members of his Cabinet. The bill was, shaped in
precise conformity to his views, as communicated to others, andvwas
submitted to his inspection after it was so prepared ; and he gave
assurances that he would approve such a bill. I was no party to the
transaction, but I do not entertain a doubt of what I state. The bill
passed both Houses of Congress without any alteration or amendment
whatever, and the Veto was nevertheless again employed.
It is painful for meto advert to a grave occurrence, marked by such
dishonor and bad faith. Although the President, through his recog
nized organ, derides and denounces the Whigs, and disowns being
one ; although he administers the Executive branch of the Govern
ment in contempt of their feelings and in violation of their principles ;
and although all whom he chooses to have denominated as ultra
Whigs, that is to say the great body of the Whig party, have come

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 581
under his ban, and those of them in office are threatened with his
expulsion, I wish not to say of him one word that is not due to truth
and to the country. 1 will, however, say that, in my opinion, the
Whigs cannot be justly held responsible for his administration of the
Executive Department, for the measures he may recommend, or his
failure to recommend others, nor especially for the manner in which
he distributes the public patronage. They will do their duty, I hope,
towards the country, and render all good and proper support to
Government ; but they ought not to be held accountable for his con-
"duct. They elected him it is true, but for another office, and he
came into the present one by a lamentable visitation of Providence.
There had been no such instance occurring under the Government.
If the Whigs were bound to scrutinize his opinions, in reference to
an office which no one ever anticipated he would fill, he was bound
in honor and good faith to decline the Harrisburg nomination, if he
could not conscientiously co-operate with the principles that brought
him into office. Had the President who was elected lived, had that
honest and good man, on whose face, in that picture, we now gaze,
been spared, I feel perfectly confident that all the measures which
the principles of the Whigs authorized the country to expect, inclu
ding a Bank ofthe United States, would have been carried.
But it maybe said that a sound currency, such as I have desribed,
is unattainable during the administration of Mr. Tyler. It will be,
if it can only be obtained through the instrumentality of a Bank of
the United States, unless he changes his opinion, as he has done in
regard to the land bill.
Unfortunately, our Chief Magistrate possesses more powers, in
some respects, than a King or Queen of England. The crown is
never separated from the nation, but is obliged to conform to its will.
If the ministry holds opinions adverse to the nation, and is thrown
into the minority in the House of Commons, the crown is constrained
to dismiss the ministry, and appoint one whose opinions coincide
with the nation. This Queen Victoria has recently been obliged to
do ; and not merely to change her ministry, but to dismiss the official
attendants upon her person. But here, if the President holds an
opinion adverse to that of Congress and the nation upon important
public measures, there is no remedy but upon. the periodical return
of the rights of the ballot box.
*MM

582 PEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
Another remedy, powerfully demanded by the necessities of th<»
times, and requisite to maintaining the currency in a sound state, is a
Tariff which will lessen importations from abroad, and tend to in
crease supplies at home from domestic industry. I have so often ex
pressed my views on this subject, and so recently in the Senate of
the United States, that I do not think there is any occcsion for my
enlarging upon it at this time. 1 do not think that an exhorbitant or
very high Tariff is necessary ; but one that shall insure an adequate
revenue and reasonable protection ; and it so happens that the inte
rests ofthe Treasury and the wants ofthe people now perfectly coin^
cide. Union is our highest and greatest interest. No one can look
beyond its dissdlution without horror and dismay. Harmony is essen
tial to the preservation of the Union. It was a leading, although not
the only motive, in proposing the compromise act, to preserve that
harmony. The power of protecting the interests of our own coun
try, can never be abandoned or surrendered to foreign nations, with
out a culpable dereliction of duty. Of this truth, all parts of the
nation are every day becoming more and more sensible. In the
meantime, this indispensable power should be exercised with discre
tion and moderation, and in a form least calculated to revive preju
dices, or to check the progress of reform now going on in public opinion.
In connection with a system of remedial measures, I shall only
allude, without stopping to dwell on the distribution bill, to that just
arA equitable settlement of a great National question, which sprung
up during the Revolutionary War, which has seriously agitated the
country, and which it is deeply -to be regretted had not been settled
ten years ago, as then proposed. Independent of all other considera
tions, the fluctuation in the receipts from sales of the public lands is
so great and constant, that it is a resource on which the general Go
vernment ought not to rely for revenue. It is far better that the
advice of a Democratic land committee of the Senate, at the head of
which was the experienced and distinguished Mr. King of Alabama,
given some years ago, should be followed, that the Federal Treasury
be replenished with duties on imports, without bringing into -it any
part of the land fund.
I have thus suggested measures of relief adapted to the present
state of the country, and I have noticed some of the differences which
unfortunately exist between the two leading parties into which our

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 583
people are unhappily divided. In considering the question whether
the counsels of the one or the other of these parties are wisest, and
best calculated to advance the interests, the honor, and the prosperi
ty, of the nation, which every citizen ought to do, we should discard
all passion and predjudice, and exercise, as far as possible, a perfect
impartiality. And we should not confine our attention merely to the
particular measures which those parties respectively espouse or op
pose, but extend it to their general course and conduct, and to the
spirit and purposes by which they are animated. We should anx
iously enquire, whither shall we be led by following in the lead of
one or the other of those parties — :shall we be carried to the achieve
ment ofthe glorious destiny, which patriots here, and the liberal por
tion of mankind every where, have fondly hoped awaits us ? or shall
we ingloriously terminate our career, by adding another melancholy
example of the instability of human affairs, and the folly with which
self-government is administered ?
I do not arrogate to myself more impartiality, or greater freedom
from party bias, than belong to other men ; but, unless I deceive my
self, I think I have reached a time of life, and am now in a position
of retirement, from which I can look back with calmness, and speak,
I hope with candor and justice. I do not intend to attempt a general
contrast between the two parties as to their course, doctrines and
spirit. That would be too extensive and laborious an undertaking ,
for this occasion ; but I purpose to specify a few recent instances, in
which I think our political opponents have exhibited a spirit and
bearing, disorganizing and dangerous to the permanency and stability
of our institutions, and I invoke the serious and sober attention to
them, of all who are here assembled.
The first I would notice is the manner in which Territories have
been lately admitted, as States, into the Union. The early and regu
lar practice of the Government was for Congress to pass previously a
law authorising a Convention, regulating the appointment of mem
bers to it, specifying the qualification of voters, &c In that way
most of the States were received. Of late, without any previous
sanction or authority from Congress, several territories have proceeded
of themselves to call conventions, form Constitutions, and demand
admission into the Union ; and they were admitted. I do not deny
that their population and condition entitled them to admission ; but I

584 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
insist that it should have been done in the regular and established
mode. In the case of Michigan, aliens were allowed to vote, as
aliens have been allowed to become pre-emptioners in the public
lands. And a majority in Congress sanctioned the proceeding.
When foreigners are naturalized and incorporated, as citizens, in our
community, they are entitled to all the privileges, within the limits
of the Constitution, which belong to a native born citizen ; and, if
necessary, they should be protected at home and abroad — the thun
der of our artillery should roar as loud and as effectually in their de
fence, as if their birth were upon American soil. But I cannot but
think it wrong and hazardous, to allow aliens, who have just landed
upon our shores, who have not yet renounced their allegiance to
Foreign Potentates, nor sworn fidelity to our constitution, with all the
influences of monarchy and anarchy about them, to participate in our
elections, and affect our legislation.
2. The New Jersey election, in which the great seal of the State,
and the decision of the local authorities were put aside by the House
of Representatives, and a majority thus secured to the democratic
party. 3. Nullification, which is nothing more nor less than an assump
tion by one State to abrogate within its limits, a law passed by the
twenty-six States in Congress assembled.
4. A late revolutionary attempt in Maryland to subvert the exist
ing government, and set up a new one, without any authority of law.
5. The refusal of a minority in the Legislature of Tennessee, to co
operate with the majority (their Constitution requiring the presence
of two-thirds ofthe members) to execute a positive injunction of the
Constitution of the United States to appoint two United States Sen
ators. In principle, that refusal was equivalent to announcing the
willingness of that minority to dissolve the Union. For if thirteen
or fourteen of the twenty-six States were to refuse altogether to elect
Senators, a dissolution of the Union would be the consequence. That
minority, for weeks together, and time after time, deliberately refused
to enter upon the election. And, if the Union is not in fact dissolved,
it is not because the principle involved would not lead to a dissolu
tion, but because twelve or thirteen other States have not like them-

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY.

585

selves refused to perform a high constitutional duty. And why did
they refuse ? Simply because they apprehended the election to the
Senate of political oponents. The seats of the two Tennessee Sena
tors, in the United States Senate, are now vacant, and Tennessee
has no voice in that branch of Congress, in the general legislation.
One of the highest compliments which 1 ever received, wa3 to have
been appointed, at a popular meeting in Tennessee, One of her Sena
tors, in conjunctionwith a distinguished Senator from South Carolina,
with all the authority that such an appointment could bestow. I
repeat here an expression of my acknowledgements for the honor,
which I most ambitiously resigned, when I gave up my Dictatorship,
and my seat as a Kentucky Senator.
6. Then there is Repudiation, that foul stain upon the American
character, cast chiefly by the Democrats of Mississippi, and which it
will require years to efface from our bright escutcheon.
7. The support given to Executive usurpations, and the expunging
the records ofthe United States.
8. The recent refusal of State Legislation to pass laws to carry
into effect the act of distribution. An act of Congress passed accord
ing to all the forms of the Constitution, after ample discussion and
deliberate consideration, and after the lapse of ten years from the
period it was first proposed. It is the duty of all to submit to the
laws, regularly passed. They may attempt to get them repealed ;
they have a right to test their validity before the Judiciary ; but
while the laws remain in foree unrepealed, and without any decision
against their constitutional validity, submission to them is not merely
a constitutional and legal but a moral duty. In this case, it is true,
that those who refuse to abide by them, only bite their own noses.
But it is the principle of the refusal to which I call your attention.
If a minority may refuse compliance with one law, what is to prevent
minorities from disregarding all law ? Is this any thing but a modifi
cation of nullification ? What right have the servants of the people
(the Legislative bodies) to withhold from their masters, their as
signed quotas of a great public fund ?
9. The last, though not least, instance of the manifestation of a
spirit of disorganization, which I shall notice, is the recent convul-

586 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
sion in Rhode Island. That little but gallant and patriotic State
had a Charter derived from a British King, in operation between one
and two hundred years. There had been engrafted upon it laws and
usages, from time to time, and altogether a practical Constitution
sprung up, which carried the State as one of the glorious thirteen,
through the Revolution and brought her safely into the Union. Un
der it, her Greens and Perrys, and other distinguished men were
born and rose to eminence. The Legislature had called a Conven
tion to remedy whatever defects it had, and to adapt it to the progres
sive improvements of the age. In that work of Reform the Dorr
party might have co-operated ; but, not choosing so to co-operate,
and in wanton defiance of all established authority, they undertook
subsequently to call another Convention. The result was two Con
stitutions, not essentially differing on the principal point of contro
versy, the right of suffrage.
Upon submitting to the people that which was formed by the regu
lar Convention, a small majority voted against it, produced by a
union in casting votes between the Dorr party, and some of the
friends of the old Charter, who were opposed to any change. The
other Constitution, being also submitted to the People, an apparent
majority voted for it, made up of every description of votes, legal and
illegal, by proxy and otherwise, taken in the most irregular and un
authorized manner.
The Dorr party proceeded to put their Constitution in operation,
by electing him as the Governor of the State, members to the mock
Legislature and other Officers. But they did not stop here ; they
proceeded to collect, to drill, and to marshal a military force, and
pointed their cannon against the Arsenal of the State.
The President was calledupon to interpose the power of the Union
to preserve the peace of the State, in conformity with an express
provision of the Federal Constitution. And I have as much plea
sure in expressing my opinion that he faithfully performed his duty,
in responding to that call, as it gave me pain to be obliged to ani
madvert on other parts of his conduct.
The leading presses of the Democratic party at Washington, Al
bany, New York and Richmond, and elsewhere, came out in support

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 587
of the Dorr party, encouraging them in their work of Rebellion and
Treason. And when matters had got to a crisis, and the two parties
were prepared for a Civil War, and every hour it was expected to
blaze out, a great Tammany meeting was held in the City of New
York, headed by the leading men of the party, the Cambrelings, the
Vanderpools, the Aliens, &c, with a perfect knowledge that the mili
tary power of the Union was to be employed, if necessary, to sup
press the insurrection, and, notwithstanding, they passed resolutions
tending to awe the President, and to countenance and cheer the
Treason. Fortunately, numbers of the Dorr party abandoned their Chief;
he fled, and Rhode Island, unaided by any actual force ofthe Federal
authority, proved herself able alone to maintain law, order and go
vernment within her borders/
I do not attribute to my fellow citizens here assembled, from whom
I differ in opinion, any disposition to countenance the Revolutionary
proceedings in Rhode Island. I do not believe that they approve it,
I do not believe that their party generally could approve it, nor some
of the other examples of a spirit of disorganization which I have
enumerated ; but the misfortune is, in time of high party excitement,
that the leaders commit themselves, and finally commit the body of
their party, who perceive that unless they stand by and sustain their
leaders, a division and perhaps destruction of the party would be the
consequence. Of all the springs of human action, party ties are per
haps the most powerful. Interest has been supposed to be more so ;
but party ties are more influential, unless they are regarded as a modi
fication of imaginary interest. Under their sway, we have seen not
only individuals but whole communities abandon their long cherished
interests and principles, and turn round and oppose them with violence.
Did not the Rebellion in Rhode Island find for its support a prece
dent established by the majority in Congress, in the irregular admis
sion of Territories, as States, into the Union, to which I have hereto
fore alluded ? Is there not reason to fear that the example which Con
gress had previously presented encouraged the Rhode Island rebellion ?
It has been attempted to defend that Rebellion upon the doctrines
of the American Declaration of Independence ; but no countenance

588 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
to if. can be fairly derived from them. That declaration asserts, it is
true, that whenever a Government becomes destructive of the ends
of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for the security of which
it was instituted, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it,
and institute new government ; and so undoubtedly it is. But this is
a right only to be exercised in grave and extreme cases. " Prudence
indeed will dictate," says that venerated instrument, " that Govern
ments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes." " But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursu
ing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute despotism, it is their right, their duty, to throw off such
Government." Will it be pretended that the actual Govermment of Rhode Island
is destructive of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness ? That it
has perpetrated a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing the
same invariable object, to reduce the people under absolute despot
ism ? Or that any other cause of complaint existed but such as
might be peacefully remedied, without violence and without blood ?
Such, as in point of fact, the legitimate Government had regularly
summoned a Convention to redress, but for the results of whose de
liberations the restless spirit of disorder and rebellion had not the
patience to wait? Why, fellow citizens, little Rhody (God bless
and preserve her,) is one of the most prosperous, enterprizing and
enlightened States in this whole Union. No where is life, liberty
and property more perfectly secure.
How is this right of the people to abolish an existing Government,
and to set up a new one to be practically exercised ? Our Revolu
tionary ancestors did not tell us by words, but they proclaimed it by-
gallant and noble deeds. Who are the People that are to tear up the
whole fabric of human society, whenever and as often as caprice or
passion may prompt them ? When all the arrangements and ordi
nances of existing and organized society are prostrated and subverted,
as must be supposed in such a lawless and irregular movement as
that in Rhode Island, the established privileges and distinctions be
tween the sexes, between the colors, between the ages, between na
tives and foreigners, between the sane and insane, and between the
innocent and the guilty convict, all the offspring of positive institu
tions, are cast down and abolished, and society is thrown into one

ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY. 589
heterogeneous and unregulated mass. And it is contended that the
major part of this Babel congregation is invested with the right to
build up, at its pleasure, a new Government ? That as often, and
whenever society can be drummed up and thrown into such a shape
less mass, the major part of it may establish another, and another new
Government in endless succession ? Why this would overturn all
social organization, make Revolutions — the extreme and last resort
of an oppressed people — the commonest occurrence of human life,
and the standing order of the day. How such a principle would ope
rate in a certain section of this Union, with a peculiar population,
you will readily conceive. No community could endure such an in
tolerable state of things any where, and all would, sooner or later,
take refuge, from such ceaseless agitation, in the calm repose of abso
lute despotism.
I know of no mode by which an existing Government can be over
thrown and put aside, and a new one erected in its place but by the
consent or authority of that Government, express or implied, or by
forcible resistance, that is Revolution.
Fellow Citizens-r-I have enumerated these examples of a danger
ous spirit of disorganization, and disregard of law, with no purpose
of giving offence, or exciting bitter and unkind feelings, here or else
where ; but to illustrate the principles, character and tendency of
the two great parties into which this country is divided. In'all of
these examples, the Democratic party, as it calls itself, (a denomina
tion to which I respectfully think it has not the least pretension,) or
large portions of that party, extending to whole States, united with
apparent cordiality. To all of them the Whig party was constantly
and firmly opposed. And now let me ask you, in all candor and sin
cerity, to say truly and impartially to which of these two parties can
the interests, the happiness, and the doctrines of this great people be
most safely confided ? I appeal especially, and with perfect confi
dence, to the candor of fhe real, the ancient and long tried Demo
cracy—that old Republican party, with whom I stood side by side,
during some of the darkest days, of the Republic, in seasons of both
War and Peace.
Fellow Citizens of all parties ! The present situation of our coun
try is one of unexampled distress and difficulty ; but there is no oc-

590 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
casion for any despondency. A kind and bountiful Providence has
never deserted us — punished us he, perhaps, has, for our neglect of
his blessings and our misdeeds. We have a varied and fertile soil,
a genial climate and free institutions. Our whole land is covered, in
profusion, with the means of subsistence and the comforts of life.
Our gallant Ship, it is unfortunately true, lies helpless, tossed on a
tempestous sea, amid the conflicting billows of contending parties,
without a rudder and without a faithful pilot. But in that Ship is our
whole people, by whatever political denomination they are known.
If she goes down, we all go down together. Let us remember the
dying words of the gallant and lamented Lawrence. " Don't give up
the Ship." The glorious Banner of our country, with its unstained
Stars and Stripes, still proudly floats at its masthead. With stout
hearts and strong arms we can surmount all our difficulties. Let us
all — all — rally round that Banner and firmly resolve to perpetuate
our liberties and regain our lost prosperity.
Whigs ! Arouse from the ignoble supineness which encompasses
you — awake from the lethargy in which you lie bound — cast from
you that unworthy apathy which seems to make you indifferent to
the fate of your country — Arouse, awake, shake off the dew drops
that glitter on your garments, and once more march to Battle and to
Victory.

ON REPLY TO MR. MENDENHALL.
At Richmond, Indiana, October 1, 1842

1 hope that Mr. Mendenhall may be treated with the greatest for
bearance and respect. I assure my fellow citizens here collected that
the presentation of the petition has not occasioned the slightest pain,
nor excited one solitary disagreeable emotion. vIf it were to be pre
sented to me, I prefer that it should be done in the face of this vast
assemblage. I think I can give it such an answer as becomes me and
the subject of which it treats. At all events, I entreat and beseech
my fellow citizens, for their sake, for my country's sake, for my sake,
to offer no disrespect, no indignity, no violence, in word or deed, to
Mr. Mendenhall.
I will now, sir, make to you and to this petition such a response
as, becomes me. Allow me to say that I think you have not con
formed to the independent character of an American citizen in pre
senting a petition to me- I am, like yourself, but a private citizen.
A petition, as the term implies, generally proceeds from an inferior in
power or station to a superior ; but between us there is entire equali
ty. And what are the circumstances under which you have chosen
to offer it ? I am a total stranger, passing through your State, on
my way to its capital, in consequence of an invitation with which I
have been honored to visit it, to exchange friendly salutations with
such of my fellow-citizens of Indiana as think proper to meet' me, and
to accept of their hospitality. Anxious as I am to see them, and to
view parts of this State which I had never seen, I came here with
hesitation and reluctance, because I apprehended that the motives of

592 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
my journey might be misconceived and perverted. But when the
fulfilment of an old promise to visit Indianapolis was insisted upon, I
yielded to the solicitations of friends, and have presented myself
among you.
Such is the occasion which has been deliberately selected for ten
dering this petition to me. I am advanced in years, and neither my
self nor the place of my residence is altogether unknown to the world.
You might at any time within these last twenty-five or thirty years
have presented your petition to me at Ashland. If you had gone
there for that purpose, you should have been received and treated
with perfect respect and liberal hospitality.
Now, Mr. Mendenhall, let us reverse conditions, and suppose that
you had been invited to Kentucky to partake of its hospitality ; and
that, previous to your arrival, I had employed such means as I un
derstand have been used to get up this petition to obtain the signa
tures of citizens of that State to a petition to present to you to relin
quish your farm or other property, what would you have thought of
such a proceeding ? Would you have deemed it courteous and ac
cording to the rites of hospitality ?
I know well, that you and those who think with you controvert
the legitimacy of slavery, and deny the right of property in slaves.
But the law of my State and other States has otherwise ordained.
The law may be wrong in your opinion, and ought to be repealed ;
but then you and your associates are not the lawmakers for us, and
unless you can show some authority to nullify our laws we must
continue to respect them. Until the law is repealed, we must be
excused for asserting the rights — ay, the property in slaves which it
sanctions, authorizes, and vindicates.
And who are the petitioners whose organ you assume to be ? I
have no doubt that many of them are worthy, amiable and humane
persons, who, by erroneous representations, have been induced incon
siderately to affix their signatures to this petition, and that they will
deeply regret it. Others, and not a few, I am told, are free blacks,
men, women and children, who have been artfully deceived and im
posed upon. A very large portion, I have been credibly informed,
are the political opponents ofthe party to which I belong — Demo-

ON REPLY TO MR. MENDENHALL- 593
crats, as they most undeservedly call themselves, who have eagerly
seized this opportunity to wound, as they imagine, my feelings, and
to aid the cause to which they are attached. In other quarters
of the Union, Democrats claim to be the exclusive champions of
Southern interests, the only safe defenders of the rights in slave pro
perty, and unjustly accuse us Whigs with abolition designs wholly
incompatible with its security. What ought those distant Demo
crats to think of the course of their friends here who have united in
this petition ?
«
And what is the foundation of this appeal to me in Indiana to libe
rate the slaves under my care in Kentucky ? It is a general decla
ration in the act announcing to the world the independence of the
thirteen American Colonies, that all men are created equal. Now,
as an abstract principle, there is no doubt of the truth of that decla
ration janditisdesirable, in the original construction of society, and
in organized societies, to keep it in view as'a great fundamental prin
ciple. But, then, I apprehend that in no society that ever did exist,
or ever shall be formed, was or can the equality asserted among the
members of the human race, be practically enforced and carried out.
There are portions of it, large portions, women, minors, insane, cul
prits, transient sojourners, that will always probably remain subject
to the government of another portion of the community.
That declaration, whatever may be the extent of its import, was
made by the delegations of the thirteen States. In most of them
slavery existed, and had long existed, and was established by law.
It was introduced and forced upon the Colonies by the paramount
law of England. Do you believe that, in making that declaration,
the States that concurred in it intended that it should be tortured
into a virtual emancipation of all the slaves within their respective
limits ? Would Virginia and the other Southern States have ever
united in a declaration which was to be interpreted into an abolition
of slavery among them ? Did any one of the thirteen States enter
tain such a design or expectation ? To impute such a secret and
unavowed purpose would be to charge a political fraud upon the
noblest band of patriots that ever assembled in council — a fraud upon
the confederacy of the Revolution — a fraud upon the Union of those
States whose constitution not only recognized the lawfulness of
slavery but permitted the importation of slaves from Africa until the

594 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
year 1808. And I am bold to say that, if the doctrines of ultra po
litical abolitionists had been seriously promulgated at the epoch of
our Revolution, our glorious Independence would never have been
achieved — never, never.
I know the predominant sentiment in the Free States is adverse to
slavery ; but, happy in their own exemption from whatever evils
may attend it, the great mass of our fellow citizens there do not seek
to violate the Constitution or to disturb the harmony of these States.
I desire no concealment of my opinions in regard to the institution of
slavery. I look upon it as a great evil, and deeply lament that we
have derived it from the parental Government, and from our ances
tors. I wish every slave in the United States was in the country of
his ancestors. But here they are, and the question is how they can
be best dealt with ? If a state of nature existed, and we were about
to lay the foundations of society, no man would be more strongly op
posed than I should be to incorporate the institution of slavery among
its elements. But there is an incalculable difference between the
original formation of society and a long existing organized society,
with its ancient laws, institutions, and establishments. Now, great
as I acknowledge, in my opinion, the evils of slavery are, they are
nothing, absolutely nothing in comparison with the far greater evils
which would inevitably flow from a sudden, general, and indiscrimi
nate emancipation. In some of the States the number of slaves ap
proximates towards an equality with that of the whites ; in one or
two they surpass them. What would be the condition of the two
races in those States upon the supposition of an immediate emanci
pation ? Does any man suppose that they would become blended
into one homogeneous mass ? Does any man recommend amalgama
tion — that revolting admixture, alike offensive to God and man ; for
those whom He, by their physical properties, has made unlike and
put asunder, we may, without presumptuousness, suppose were never
intended to be joined together in one of the holiest rites. And let
me tell you, sir, if you do not already know it, that such are the
feelings — prejudice, if you please, (and what man claiming to be a
statesman will overlook or disregard the deep-seated and unconquer
able prejudices of the People) — in the slave States that no human
law would enforce a union between the two races.
What then would certainly happen ? A struggle for political as-

IN REPLY TO MR. MENDENHALL. 595
cendency ; the blacks seeking to acquire, and the whites to maintain
possession of the Government.. Upon the supposition of a general
immediate emancipation in those States where the blacks outnumber
the whites, they would have nothing to do but to insist upon another
part of the same Declaration of Independence, as Dorr and his de
luded democratic followers recently did in Rhode Island ; according
to which an undefined majority have the light, at their pleasure^ to
subvert an existing Government and institute a new one in its place,
and then the whites would be brought in complete subjection to the
blacks ! A contest would inevitably ensue between the two races —
civil war, carnage, pillage, conflagration, devastation, and the ulti
mate extermination or expulsion of thei blacks. Nothing is more cer
tain. And are not these evils far greater than the mild and continu
ally improving state of slavery which exists in this country ? I say
continually improving ; for if this gratifying progress in the ameliora
tion of the condition of the slaves has been checked in some of the
States, the responsibility must attach to the unfortunate agitation of
the subject of abolition. In consequence of it, increased rigor in the
police and further restraints have been imposed ; and I do believe
that gradual emancipation (the only method of liberation that has
ever been thought safe or wise by any body in any of the slave States)
has been postponed half .a century.
Without any knowledge of the relation in which I stand to my
slaves, or their individual condition, you, Mr. Mendenhall, and your
associates, who have been active in getting up this petition, call upon
me forthwith to liberate the whole of them. Now let me tell you
that some half a dozen of them, from age, decreptitude, or infirmity,
are wholly unable to gain a livelihood for themselves, and are a heavy
charge upon me. Do you think that I should conform to the dictates
of humanity by ridding myself of that charge, and sending them forth
into the world, with the boon of liberty, to end a wretched existence
in starvation ? Another class is composed of helpless infants, with
or without improvident mothers. Do you believe, as a Christian,
that I should perform my duty towards them by abandoning them to
their fate ? Then there is another class who would not accept their
freedom if I would give it to them. I have for many years owned a
slave that I wished would leave me, but he will not. What shall I
do with that class. ?

596 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY.
What my treatment of my slaves is you may learn from Charles,
who accompanies me on this journey, and wh# has travelled with me
over the greater part of the United States, and in both the Canadas,
and has had a thousand opportunities, if he had chosen to embrace
them, to leave me. Excuse me, Mr. Mendenhall, for saying that
my slaves are as well fed and clad, look as sleek and hearty, and are
quite as civil and respectful in their demeanor, and as little disposed
to wound the feelings of any one, as you are.
Let me recommend you, sir, to imitate the benevolent example of
the Society of Friends, in the midst of which you reside. Meek,
gentle, imbued with the genuine spirit of our benign religion, while
in principle they are firmly opposed to slavery, they do not seek to
accomplish its extinction by foul epithets, coarse and vulgar abuse,
and gross calumny. Their ways do not lead through blood, revolu
tion and disunion. Their broad and comprehensive philanthropy em
braces, as they believe, the good and the happiness of the white as
well as the black race ; giving to the one their commiseration, to the
other their kindest sympathy. Their instruments are not those of
detraction and of war, but of peace, persuasion and earnest appeals
to the charities of the human heart. Unambitious, they have no
political objects or purposes to subserve. My intercourse with them
throughout life has been considerable, interesting, and agreeable ;
and I venture to say nothing could have induced them as a society,
whatever a few individuals might have been tempted to do, to seize
the occasion of my casual passage through this State to offer me a
personal indignity
I respect the motives of rational abolitionists, who are actuated by
a sentiment of devotion to human liberty, although I deplore and
deprecate the consequences of the agitation of the question. I have
even many friends among them. But they are not monomaniacs,
who, surrendering themselves to a single idea, look altogether to the
black side of human life. They do not believe that the sum total of
all our efforts and all our solicitude should be abolition. They be
lieve that there are duties to perform towards the white man as well
as the black. They want good government, good administration,
and the general prosperity of their country.
1 shall, Mr. Mendenhall, take your petition into respectful and

IN REPLY TO MR. MENDENHALL. 597
deliberate consideration ; but before I come to a final decision, I
should like to know what you and your associates are willing to do
for the slaves in my possession ; if I should think proper to liberate
them. I own about fifty, who are probably worth fifteen thousand
dollars. To turn them loose upon society without any means of sub
sistence or support would be an act of cruelty. Are you willing to
raise and secure the payment of fifteen thousand dollars for their
benefit, if I should be induced to free them ? The security of the
payment of that sum would materially lessen the obstacle in the way
of their emancipation.
And now Mr. Mendenhall, I must take respectful leave of you.
We separate, as we have met, with no unkind feelings, no excited
anger or dissatisfaction on my part, whatever may have been your
motives, and these I refer to our common Judge above, to whom we
are both responsible. Go home, and mind your own business, and
leave other people to take care of theirs. Limit your benevolent
exertions to your own neighborhood. Within that circle you will
find ample scope for the exercise of all your charities. Dry up the
tears of the afflicted widows around you, console and comfort the
helpless orphan, clothe the naked, and feed and help the poor, black
and white, who need succor. And you will be a better and wiser
man than you have this day shown yourself.
*NN

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