A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - James D. Richardson
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Great improvements may also be made by good roads in proper directions
through the interior of the country. As these roads would be laid out
on principle on a full view of the country, its mountains, rivers, etc.,
it would be useless, if I had the knowledge, to go into detail respecting
them. Much has been done by some of the States, but yet much remains to
be done with a view to the Union.
Under the colonial governments improvements of this kind were not
thought of. There was, it is believed, not one canal and little
communication from colony to colony. It was their policy to encourage
the intercourse between each colony and the parent country only. The
roads which were attended to were those which led from the interior of
each colony to its principal towns on the navigable waters. By those
routes the produce of the country was carried to the coast, and shipped
thence to the mercantile houses in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, or other
towns to which the trade was carried on. It is believed that there was
but one connected route from North to South at the commencement of the
Revolution, and that a very imperfect one. The existence and principle
of our Union point out the necessity of a very different policy.
The advantages which would be derived from such improvements are
incalculable. The facility which would thereby be afforded to the
transportation of the whole of the rich productions of our country
to market would alone more than amply compensate for all the labor
and expense attending them. Great, however, as is that advantage, it
is one only of many and by no means the most important, Every power of
the General Government and of the State governments connected with the
strength and resources of the country would be made more efficient
for the purposes intended by them. In war they would facilitate the
transportation of men, ordnance, and provisions, and munitions of war of
every kind to every part of our extensive coast and interior on which an
attack might be made or threatened. Those who have any knowledge of the
occurrences of the late war must know the good effect which would result
in the event of another war from the command of an interior navigation
alone along the coast for all the purposes of war as well as of commerce
between the different parts of our Union. The impediments to all
military operations which proceeded from the want of such a navigation
and the reliance which was placed, notwithstanding those impediments,
on such a commerce can not be forgotten. In every other line their
good effect would be most sensibly felt. Intelligence by means of the
Post-Office Department would be more easily, extensively, and rapidly
diffused. Parts the most remote from each other would be brought more
closely together. Distant lands would be made more valuable, and the
industry of our fellow-citizens on every portion of our soil be better
rewarded.
It is natural in so great a variety of climate that there should be
a corresponding difference in the produce of the soil; that one part
should raise what the other might want. It is equally natural that the
pursuits of industry should vary in like manner; that labor should be
cheaper and manufactures succeed better in one part than in another;
that were the climate the most severe and the soil less productive,
navigation, the fisheries, and commerce should be most relied on.
Hence the motive for an exchange for mutual accommodation and active
intercourse between them. Each part would thus find for the surplus
of its labor, in whatever article it consisted, an extensive market
at home, which would be the most profitable because free from duty.
There is another view in which these improvements are of still more
vital importance. The effect which they would have on the bond of union
itself affords an inducement for them more powerful than any which have
been urged or than all of them united. The only danger to which our
system is exposed arises from its expansion over a vast territory.
Our union is not held together by standing armies or by any ties other
than the positive interests and powerful attractions of its parts toward
each other. Ambitious men may hereafter grow up among us who may promise
to themselves advancement from a change, and by practicing upon the
sectional interests, feelings, and prejudices endeavor under various
pretexts to promote it. The history of the world is replete with
examples of this kind--of military commanders and demagogues becoming
usurpers and tyrants, and of their fellow-citizens becoming their
instruments and slaves. I have little fear of this danger, knowing well
how strong the bond which holds us together is and who the people are
who are thus held together; but still, it is proper to look at and to
provide against it, and it is not within the compass of human wisdom
to make a more effectual provision than would be made by the proposed
improvements. With their aid and the intercourse which would grow out
of them the parts would soon become so compacted and bound together
that nothing could break it.
The expansion of our Union over a vast territory can not operate
unfavorably to the States individually. On the contrary, it is believed
that the greater the expansion within practicable limits--and it is not
easy to say what are not so--the greater the advantage which the States
individually will derive from it. With governments separate, vigorous,
and efficient for all local purposes, their distance from each other can
have no injurious effect upon their respective interests. It has already
been shown that in some important circumstances, especially with the aid
of these improvements, they must derive great advantage from that cause
alone--that is, from their distance from each other. In every other way
the expansion of our system must operate favorably for every State in
proportion as it operates favorably for the Union. It is in that sense
only that it can become a question with the States, or, rather, with
the people who compose them. As States they can be affected by it only
by their relation to each other through the General Government and by
its effect on the operations of that Government. Manifest it is that to
any extent to which the General Government can sustain and execute its
functions with complete effect will the States--that is, the people who
compose them--be benefited. It is only when the expansion shall be
carried beyond the faculties of the General Government so as to enfeeble
its operations to the injury of the whole that any of the parts can be
injured. The tendency in that stage will be to dismemberment and not to
consolidation. This danger should, therefore, be looked at with profound
attention as one of a very serious character. I will remark here that
as the operations of the National Government are of a general nature,
the States having complete power for internal and local purposes, the
expansion may be carried to very great extent and with perfect safety.
It must be obvious to all that the further the expansion is carried,
provided it be not beyond the just limit, the greater will be the
freedom of action to both Governments and the more perfect their
security, and in all other respects the better the effect will be to
the whole American people. Extent of territory, whether it be great
or small, gives to a nation many of its characteristics. It marks the
extent of its resources, of its population, of its physical force.
It marks, in short, the difference between a great and a small power.
To what extent it may be proper to expand our system of government is a
question which does not press for a decision at this time. At the end of
the Revolutionary war, in 1783, we had, as we contended and believed,
a right to the free navigation of the Mississippi, but it was not until
after the expiration of twelve years, in 1795, that that right was
acknowledged and enjoyed. Further difficulties occurred in the bustling
of a contentious world when, at the expiration of eight years more, the
United States, sustaining the strength and energy of their character,
acquired the Province of Louisiana, with the free navigation of the
river from its source to the ocean and a liberal boundary on the western
side. To this Florida has since been added, so that we now possess all
the territory in which the original States had any interest, or in which
the existing States can be said, either in a national or local point
of view, to be in any way interested. A range of States on the western
side of the Mississippi, which already is provided for, puts us
essentially at ease. Whether it will be wise to go further will turn
on other considerations than those which have dictated the course
heretofore pursued. At whatever point we may stop, whether it be at
a single range of States beyond the Mississippi or by taking a greater
scope, the advantage of such improvements is deemed of the highest
importance. It is so on the present scale. The further we go the greater
will be the necessity for them.
It can not be doubted that improvements for great national purposes
would be better made by the National Government than by the governments
of the several States. Our experience prior to the adoption of the
Constitution demonstrated that in the exercise by the individual States
of most of the powers granted to the United States a contracted rivalry
of interest and misapplied jealousy of each other had an important
influence on all their measures to the great injury of the whole. This
was particularly exemplified by the regulations which they severally
made of their commerce with foreign nations and with each other. It
was this utter incapacity in the State governments, proceeding from
these and other causes, to act as a nation and to perform all the duties
which the nation owed to itself under any system which left the General
Government dependent on the States, which produced the transfer of
these powers to the United States by the establishment of the present
Constitution. The reasoning which was applicable to the grant of any of
the powers now vested in Congress is likewise so, at least to a certain
extent, to that in question. It is natural that the States individually
in making improvements should look to their particular and local
interests, The members composing their respective legislatures represent
the people of each State only, and might not feel themselves at liberty
to look to objects in these respects beyond that limit. If the resources
of the Union were to be brought into operation under the direction of
the State assemblies, or in concert with them, it may be apprehended
that every measure would become the object of negotiation, of bargain
and barter, much to the disadvantage of the system, as well as discredit
to both governments. But Congress would look to the whole and make
improvements to promote the welfare of the whole. It is the peculiar
felicity of the proposed amendment that while it will enable the United
States to accomplish every national object, the improvements made with
that view will eminently promote the welfare of the individual States,
who may also add such others as their own particular interests may
require.
The situation of the Cumberland road requires the particular and early
attention of Congress. Being formed over very lofty mountains and in
many instances over deep and wide streams, across which valuable bridges
have been erected, which are sustained by stone walls, as are many other
parts of the road, all these works are subject to decay, have decayed,
and will decay rapidly unless timely and effectual measures are adopted
to prevent it.
The declivities from the mountains and all the heights must suffer from
the frequent and heavy falls of water and its descent to the valleys,
as also from the deep congelations during our severe winters. Other
injuries have also been experienced on this road, such as the displacing
the capping of the walls and other works, committed by worthless people
either from a desire to render the road impassable or to have the
transportation in another direction, or from a spirit of wantonness to
create employment for idlers. These considerations show that an active
and strict police ought to be established over the whole road, with
power to make repairs when necessary, to establish turnpikes and tolls
as the means of raising money to make them, and to prosecute and punish
those who commit waste and other injuries.
Should the United States be willing to abandon this road to the States
through which it passes, would they take charge of it, each of that
portion within its limits, and keep it in repair? It is not to be
presumed that they would, since the advantages attending it are
exclusively national, by connecting, as it does, the Atlantic with the
Western States, and in a line with the seat of the National Government.
The most expensive parts of this road lie within Pennsylvania and
Virginia, very near the confines of each State and in a route not
essentially connected with the commerce of either.
If it is thought proper to vest this power in the United States,
the only mode in which it can be done is by an amendment of the
Constitution. The States individually can not transfer the power
to the United States, nor can the United States receive it. The
Constitution forms an equal and the sole relation between the General
Government and the several States, and it recognizes no change in it
which shall not in like manner apply to all. If it is once admitted
that the General Government may form compacts with individual States
not common to the others, and which the others might even disapprove,
into what pernicious consequences might it not lead? Such compacts are
utterly repugnant to the principles of the Constitution and of the most
dangerous tendency. The States through which this road passes have given
their sanction only to the route and to the acquisition of the soil
by the United States, a right very different from that of jurisdiction,
which can not be granted without an amendment to the Constitution, and
which need not be granted for the purposes of this system except in the
limited manner heretofore stated. On full consideration, therefore, of
the whole subject I am of opinion that such an amendment ought to be
recommended to the several States for their adoption.
I have now essentially executed that part of the task which I imposed
on myself of examining the right of Congress to adopt and execute a
system of internal improvement, and, I presume, have shown that it does
not exist. It is, I think, equally manifest that such a power vested in
Congress and wisely executed would have the happiest effect on all the
great interests of our Union. It is, however, my opinion that the power
should be confined to great national works only, since if it were
unlimited it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil.
For all minor improvements the resources of the States individually
would be fully adequate, and by the States such improvements might be
made with greater advantage than by the Union, as they would understand
better such as their more immediate and local interests required.
In the view above presented I have thought it proper to trace the
origin of our institutions, and particularly of the State and National
Governments, for although they have a common origin in the people, yet,
as the point at issue turned on what were the powers granted to the
one government and what were those which remained to the other, I was
persuaded that an analysis which should mark distinctly the source of
power in both governments, with its progress in each, would afford the
best means for obtaining a sound result. In our political career there
are, obviously, three great epochs. The colonial state forms the first;
the Revolutionary movement from its commencement to the adoption of the
Articles of Confederation the second, and the intervening space from
that event to the present day the third. The first may be considered
the infant state. It was the school of morality, of political science
and just principles. The equality of rights enjoyed by the people of
every colony under their original charters forms the basis of every
existing institution, and it was owing to the creation by those
charters of distinct communities that the power, when wrested from the
Crown, passed directly and exclusively to the people of each colony.
The Revolutionary struggle gave activity to those principles, and its
success secured to them a permanent existence in the governments
of our Union, State and National. The third epoch comprises the
administration under the Articles of Confederation, with the adoption
of the Constitution and administration under it. On the first and
last of these epochs it is not necessary to enlarge for any purpose
connected with the object of this inquiry. To the second, in which we
were transferred by a heroic exertion from the first to the third stage,
and whose events give the true character to every institution, some
further attention is due. In tracing in greater detail the prominent
acts of a movement to which we owe so much I shall perform an office
which, if not useful, will be gratifying to my own feelings, and I hope
not unacceptable to my readers.
Of the Revolutionary movement itself sentiments too respectful, too
exalted, can not be entertained. It is impossible for any citizen having
a just idea of the dangers which we had to encounter to read the record
of our early proceedings and to see the firmness with which they were
met and the wisdom and patriotism which were displayed in every stage
without being deeply affected by it. An attack on Massachusetts was
considered an attack on every colony, and the people of each moved in
her defense as in their own cause. The meeting of the General Congress
in Philadelphia on the 6th of September, 1774, appears to have been
the result of a spontaneous impulse in every quarter at the same time.
The first public act proposing it, according to the Journals of
the First Congress, was passed by the house of representatives of
Connecticut on the 3d of June of that year; but it is presumed that the
first suggestion came from Massachusetts, the colony most oppressed,
and in whose favor the general sympathy was much excited. The exposition
which that Congress made of grievances, in the petition to the King, in
the address to the people of Great Britain, and in that to the people
of the several colonies, evinced a knowledge so profound of the English
constitution and of the general principles of free government and of
liberty, of our rights founded on that constitution and on the charters
of the several colonies, and of the numerous and egregious violations
which had been committed of them, as must have convinced all impartial
minds that the talent on this side of the Atlantic was at least equal
to that on the other. The spirit in which those papers were drawn, which
was known to be in strict accord with the public sentiment, proved that,
although the whole people cherished a connection with the parent country
and were desirous of preserving it on just principles, they nevertheless
stood embodied at the parting line, ready to separate forever if
a redress of grievances, the alternative offered, was not promptly
rendered. That alternative was rejected, and in consequence war and
dismemberment followed.
The powers granted to the delegates of each colony who composed the
First Congress looked primarily to the support of rights and to a
redress of grievances, and, in consequence, to the restoration of
harmony, which was ardently desired. They justified, however, any
extremity in case of necessity. They were ample for such purposes,
and were executed in every circumstance with the utmost fidelity.
It was not until after the meeting of the Second Congress, which took
place on the 10th May, 1775, when full proof was laid before it of the
commencement of hostilities in the preceding month by a deliberate
attack of the British troops on the militia and inhabitants of Lexington
and Concord, in Massachusetts, that war might be said to be decided on,
and measures were taken to support it. The progress even then was slow
and reluctant, as will be seen by their second petition to the King and
their second address to the people of Great Britain, which were prepared
and forwarded after that event. The arrival, however, of large bodies of
troops and the pressure of war in every direction soon dispelled all
hope of accommodation.
On the 15th of June, 1775, a commander in chief of the forces raised and
to be raised for the defense of American liberty was appointed by the
unanimous vote of Congress, and his conduct in the discharge of the
duties of that high trust, which he held through the whole of the war,
has given an example to the world for talents as a military commander;
for integrity, fortitude, and firmness under the severest trials; for
respect to the civil authority and devotion to the rights and liberties
of his country, of which neither Rome nor Greece have exhibited the
equal. I saw him in my earliest youth, in the retreat through Jersey,
at the head of a small band, or rather in its rear, for he was always
next the enemy, and his countenance and manner made an impression on me
which time can never efface. A lieutenant then in the Third Virginia
Regiment, I happened to be on the rear guard at Newark, and I counted
the force under his immediate command by platoons as it passed me, which
amounted to less than 3,000 men. A deportment so firm, so dignified,
so exalted, but yet so modest and composed, I have never seen in any
other person.
On the 6th July, 1775, Congress published a declaration of the causes
which compelled them to take up arms, and immediately afterwards took
measures for augmenting the Army and raising a navy; for organizing the
militia and providing cannon and small arms and military stores of every
kind; for raising a revenue and pushing the war offensively with all the
means in their power. Nothing escaped the attention of that enlightened
body. The people of Canada were invited to join the Union, and a force
sent into the province to favor the Revolutionary party, which, however,
was not capable of affording any essential aid. The people of Ireland
were addressed in terms manifesting due respect for the sufferings, the
talents, and patriotism of that portion of the British Empire, and a
suitable acknowledgment was made to the assembly of Jamaica for the
approbation it had expressed of our cause and the part it had taken
in support of it with the British Government.
On the 2d of June, 1775, the convention of Massachusetts, by a letter
signed by their president, of May the 10th, stated to Congress that they
labored under difficulties for the want of a regular form of government,
and requested to be favored with explicit advice respecting the taking
up and exercising the powers of civil government, and declaring their
readiness to submit to such a general plan as the Congress might direct
for the colonies, or that they would make it their great study to
establish such a form of government there as should not only promote
their own advantage, but the union and interest of all America. To this
application an answer was given on the 9th, by which it was recommended
to the convention "to write letters to the inhabitants of the several
places entitled to representation in assembly, requesting them to choose
such representatives, and that the assembly, when chosen, should elect
councilors, and that said assembly or council should exercise the powers
of government until a governor of His Majesty's appointment will consent
to govern the colony according to its charter."
On the 18th October of the same year the delegates from New Hampshire
laid before Congress an instruction from their convention "to use their
utmost endeavors to obtain the advice and direction of Congress with
respect to a method for administering justice and regulating their civil
police." To this a reply was given on the 3d November, by which it was
recommended to the convention "to call a full and free representation of
the people, and that the representatives, if they thought it necessary,
should establish such a form of government as in their judgment would
best promote the happiness of the people and most effectually secure
peace and good order in the Province during the continuance of the
present dispute between Great Britain and the colonies."
On the 4th November it was resolved by Congress "that if the convention
of South Carolina shall find it necessary to establish a form of
government in that colony it be recommended to that convention to
call a full and free representation of the people; and the said
representatives, if they think it necessary, shall establish such a
form of government as in their judgment will best promote the happiness
of the people and most effectually secure peace and good order in the
colony during the continuance of the present dispute between Great
Britain and the colonies."