Do they mean, or can they mean, anything more than that the Union of the states will be strengthened, by whatever continues or furnishes inducements to the people of the states to hold together? To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. This is the sum of what I understand from him, to be the South Carolina doctrine; and the doctrine which he maintains. We are ready to make up the issue with the gentleman, as to the influence of slavery on individual and national characteron the prosperity and greatness, either of the United States, or of particular states. There yet remains to be performed, Mr. President, by far the most grave and important duty, which I feel to be devolved on me, by this occasion. Neither side can be said to have 'won' the debate, but Webster's articulation of the Union solidified for many the role of the federal government. So soon as the cessions were obtained, it became necessary to make provision for the government and disposition of the territory . But I do not admit that, under the Constitution, and in conformity with it, there is any mode in which a state government, as a member of the Union, can interfere and stop the progress of the general government, by force of her own laws, under any circumstances whatever. Expert Answers. It develops the gentlemans whole political system; and its answer expounds mine. In contrasting the state of Ohio with Kentucky, for the purpose of pointing out the superiority of the former, and of attributing that superiority to the existence of slavery, in the one state, and its absence in the other, I thought I could discern the very spirit of the Missouri question[1] intruded into this debate, for objects best known to the gentleman himself. What can I say? Daniel webster (ma) and sen. Hayne of . This was the tenor of Webster's speech, and nobly did the country respond to it. The discussion took a wide range, going back to topics that had agitated the country before the Constitution was formed. The main issue of the Webster-Hayne Debate was the nature of the country that had been created by the Constitution. We look upon the states, not as separated, but as united. . This feeling, always carefully kept alive, and maintained at too intense a heat to admit discrimination or reflection, is a lever of great power in our political machine. . They ordained such a government; they gave it the name of a Constitution, and therein they established a distribution of powers between this, their general government, and their several state governments. What idea was espoused with the Webster-Hayne debates? The Hayne-Webster Debate was an unplanned series of speeches in the Senate, during which Robert Hayne of South Carolina interpreted the Constitution as little more than a treaty between sovereign states, and Daniel Webster expressed the concept of the United States as one nation. Connecticut's proposal was an attempt to slow the growth of the nation, control westward expansion, and bolster the federal government's revenue. Go to these cities now, and ask the question. Webster replied to his speech the next day and left not a shred of the charge, baseless as it was. After his term as a senator, he served as the Governor of South Carolina. We all know that civil institutions are established for the public benefit, and that when they cease to answer the ends of their existence, they may be changed. Let us look at the historical facts. Speech to the U.S. House of Representatives. It impressed on the soil itself, while it was yet a wilderness, an incapacity to bear up any other than free men. . . This is the sense in which the Framers of the Constitution use the word consolidation; and in which sense I adopt and cherish it. I maintain that, from the day of the cession of the territories by the states to Congress, no portion of the country has acted, either with more liberality or more intelligence, on the subject of the Western lands in the new states, than New England. God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind. They undertook to form a general government, which should stand on a new basisnot a confederacy, not a league, not a compact between states, but a Constitution; a popular government, founded in popular election, directly responsible to the people themselves, and divided into branches, with prescribed limits of power, and prescribed duties. It is the servant of four-and-twenty masters, of different wills and different purposes, and yet bound to obey all. How do Webster and Hayne differ in regard to their understandings of the proper relationship among the several states and between the states and the national government? Edited and introduced by Jason W. Stevens. Next, the Union was held up to view in all its strength, symmetry, and integrity, reposing in the ark of the Constitution, no longer an experiment, as in the days when Hamilton and Jefferson contended for shaping its course, but ordained and established by and for the people, to secure the blessings of liberty to all posterity. Crittenden Compromise Plan & Reception | What was the Crittenden Compromise? In 1830, the federal government collected few taxes and had two primary sources of revenue. Speech of Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, January 26 and 27, 1830. South Carolina nullification was now coming in sight, and a celebrated debate that belongs to the first session exposed its claims and its fallacies to the country. Jackson himself would raise a national toast for 'the Union' later that year. . We met it as a practical question of obligation and duty. . Are we in that condition still? . "The most eloquent speech ever delivered in Congress" may have been Webster's 1830 "Second Reply to Hayne", a South Carolina Senator who had echoed John C. Calhoun's case for state's rights.. Who, then, Mr. President, are the true friends of the Union? This would have been the case even if no positive provision to that effect had been inserted in that instrument. The specific issue that sparked the Webster-Hayne debate was a proposal by the state of Connecticut which said that the federal government should halt its surveying of land west of the Mississippi and focus on selling the land it had already surveyed to private citizens. But still, throughout American history, several debates have captured the nation's attention in a way that would make even Hollywood jealous. Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster's "Second Reply" to South Carolina Senator Robert Y. Hayne has long been thought of as a great oratorical celebration of American Nationalism in a period of sectional conflict. . By the time it ended nine days later, the focus had shifted to the vastly more cosmic concerns of slavery and the nature of the federal Union. It makes but little difference, in my estimation, whether Congress or the Supreme Court, are invested with this power. But, sir, the task has been forced upon me, and I proceed right onward to the performance of my duty; be the consequences what they may, the responsibility is with those who have imposed upon me this necessity. Explore the Webster-Hayne debate. States' rights (South) vs. nationalism (North). Visit the dark and narrow lanes, and obscure recesses, which have been assigned by common consent as the abodes of those outcasts of the worldthe free people of color. The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts while he exonerates me personally from the charge, intimates that there is a party in the country who are looking to disunion. When the honorable member rose, in his first speech, I paid him the respect of attentive listening; and when he sat down, though surprised, and I must say even astonished, at some of his opinions, nothing was farther from my intention than to commence any personal warfare: and through the whole of the few remarks I made in answer, I avoided, studiously and carefully, everything which I thought possible to be construed into disrespect. I love a good debate. I understand him to insist, that if the exigency of the case, in the opinion of any state government, require it, such state government may, by its own sovereign authority, annul an act of the general government, which it deems plainly and palpably unconstitutional. Religious Views: Letter to the Editor of the Illin Democratic Party Platform 1860 (Douglas Faction), (Northern) Democratic Party Platform Committee. See what I mean? Webster and the northern states saw the Constitution as binding the individual states together as a single union. . Whose agent is it? When they shall become dissatisfied with this distribution, they can alter it. Shedding weak tears over sufferings which had existence only in their own sickly imaginations, these friends of humanity set themselves systematically to work to seduce the slaves of the South from their masters. . I spoke, sir, of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery, in all future times, northwest of the Ohio,[6] as a measure of great wisdom and foresight; and one which had been attended with highly beneficial and permanent consequences. . A four-speech debate between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina, in January 1830. . The Northwest Ordinance. I wish to see no new powers drawn to the general government; but I confess I rejoice in whatever tends to strengthen the bond that unites us, and encourages the hope that our Union may be perpetual. . The people had had quite enough of that kind of government, under the Confederacy. Excerpts from Ratification Documents of Virginia a Ratifying Conventions>New York Ratifying Convention. No hanging over the abyss of disunion, no weighing of the chances, no doubting as to what the Constitution was worth, no placing of liberty before Union, but "liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Van Buren responded to the Panic of 1837 with the idea of the independent treasury, which was a. a system of depositing money in select independent banks Gloomy and downcast of late, Massachusetts men walked the avenue as though the fife and drum were before them. . Most are forgettable, to put it charitably. These irreconcilable views of national supremacy and state sovereignty framed the constitutional struggle that led to Civil War thirty years later. .Readers will finish the book with a clear idea of the reason Webster's "Reply" became so influential in its own day. Hayne, South Carolina's foremost Senator, was the chosen champion; and the cause of his State, both in its right and wrong sides, could have found no abler exponent while [Vice President] Calhoun's official station kept him from the floor. They have agreed, that certain specific powers shall be exercised by the federal government; but the moment that government steps beyond the limits of its charter, the right of the states to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits the authorities, rights, and liberties, appertaining to them,[7] is as full and complete as it was before the Constitution was formed. . Ham, one of Noahs sons, saw him uncovered, for which Noah cursed him by making Hams son, Canaan, a slave to Ham's brothers. In this moment in American history, the federal government had relatively little power. On that system, Ohio and Carolina are different governments, and different countries, connected here, it is true, by some slight and ill-defined bond of union, but, in all main respects, separate and diverse. . . Record of the Organization and Proceedings of The Massachusetts Lawmakers Investigate Working Condit State (Colonial) Legislatures>Massachusetts State Legislature. It is not the creature of state Legislatures; nay, more, if the whole truth must be told, the people brought it into existence, established it, and have hitherto supported it, for the very purpose, amongst others, of imposing certain salutary restraints on state sovereignties. . It has been said that Hayne was Calhoun's sword and buckler and that he returned to the contest refreshed each morning by nightly communions with the Vice-President, drawing auxiliary supplies from the well-stored arsenal of his powerful and subtle mind. And now, Mr. President, let me run the honorable gentlemans doctrine a little into its practical application. A state will be restrained by a sincere love of the Union. My life upon it, sir, they would not. It has always been regarded as a matter of domestic policy, left with the states themselves, and with which the federal government had nothing to do. . Every scheme or contrivance by which rulers are able to procure the command of money by means unknown to, unseen or unfelt by, the people, destroys this security. The speech is also known for the line Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable, which would subsequently become the state motto of North Dakota, appearing on the state seal. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. . . And what has been the consequence? The Webster-Hayne debate was a series of spontaneous speeches delivered before the Senate in 1830. He tells us, we have heard much, of late, about consolidation; that it is the rallying word for all who are endeavoring to weaken the Union by adding to the power of the states. But consolidation, says the gentleman, was the very object for which the Union was formed; and in support of that opinion, he read a passage from the address of the president of the Convention[3] to Congress (which he assumes to be authority on his side of the question.) Webster scoffed at the idea of consolidation, labeling it "that perpetual cry, both of terror and delusion." What Hayne and his supporters actually meant to do, Webster claimed, was to resist those means that might strengthen the bonds of common interest. Daniel webster, in a dramatic speech, showed the. . The taxes paid by foreign nations to export American cotton, for example, generated lots of money for the government. In fact, Webster's definition of the Constitution as for the People, by the People, and answerable to the People would go on to form one of the most enduring ideas about American democracy. If the federal government, in all or any of its departments, are to prescribe the limits of its own authority; and the states are bound to submit to the decision, and are not to be allowed to examine and decide for themselves, when the barriers of the Constitution shall be overleaped, this is practically a government without limitation of powers; the states are at once reduced to mere petty corporations, and the people are entirely at your mercy. . And, therefore, I cannot but feel regret at the expression of such opinions as the gentleman has avowed; because I think their obvious tendency is to weaken the bond of our connection. We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow. . The real significance of this debate was in each man's interpretation of the United States Constitution. to expose them to the temptations inseparable from the direction and control of a fund which might be enlarged or diminished almost at pleasure, without imposing burthens upon the people? The dominant historical opinion of the famous debate between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Young Hayne of South Carolina which took place in the United States Senate in 1830 has long been that Webster defeated Hayne both as an orator and a statesman. They had burst forth from arguments about a decision by Connecticut Senator Samuel Foote. . By means of missionaries and political tracts, the scheme was in a great measure successful. . It is observable enough, that the doctrine for which the honorable gentleman contends, leads him to the necessity of maintaining, not only that this general government is the creature of the states, but that it is the creature of each of the states severally; so that each may assert the power, for itself, of determining whether it acts within the limits of its authority. . The Webster-Hayne debates began over one issue but quickly switched to another. Now, have they given away that right, or agreed to limit or restrict it in any respect? He had allowed himself but a single night from eve to morn to prepare for a critical and crowning occasion. . [O]pinions were expressed yesterday on the general subject of the public lands, and on some other subjects, by the gentleman from South Carolina [Senator Robert Hayne], so widely different from my own, that I am not willing to let the occasion pass without some reply. It was motivated by a dispute over the continued sale of western lands, an important source of revenue for the federal government. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. This seemed like an Eastern spasm of jealousy at the progress of the West. Even more pointedly, his speech reflected a decade of arguments from other Massachusetts conservatives who argued against supposed threats to New England's social order.[2]. The Revelation on Celestial Marriage: Trouble Amon Hon. . . Certainly, sir, I am, and ever have been of that opinion. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. . Would it be safe to confide such a treasure to the keeping of our national rulers? The Commercial Greatness of the United States, Special Message to Congress (Tyler Doctrine), Estranged Labour and The Communist Manifesto, State of the Union Address Part II (1848). Eloquence threw open the portals of eternal day. Well, it's important to remember that the nation was still young and much different than what we think of today. Rather, the debate eloquently captured the ideas and ideals of Northern and Southern representatives of the time, highlighting and summarizing the major issues of governance of the era. Mr. Webster arose, and, in conclusion, said: A few words, Mr. President, on this constitutional argument, which the honorable gentleman has labored to reconstruct. . . Assuredly not. There was no winner or loser in the Webster-Hayne debate. . What followed, the Webster Hayne debate, was one of the most famous exchanges in Senate history. If the government of the United States be the agent of the state governments, then they may control it, provided they can agree in the manner of controlling it; if it be the agent of the people, then the people alone can control it, restrain it, modify, or reform it. It was of a partizan and censorious character and drew nearly all the chief senators out. But, sir, we will pass over all this. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each state in the Convention to be less rigid, on points of inferior magnitude, than might have been otherwise expected.. The Webster-Hayne Debate between New Hampshire Senator Daniel Webster and South Carolina Senator Robert Young Hayne highlighted the sectional nature of the controversy. They switched from a. the tariff of 1828 to national power . Noah grew a vineyard, got drunk on wine and lay naked. It was plenary then, and never having been surrendered, must be plenary now. . The great debate, which culminated in Hayne's encounter with Webster, came about in a somewhat casual way. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. But I take leave of the subject. Sir, I deprecate and deplore this tone of thinking and acting. Robert Young Hayne spent more than two decades in elected offices, including mayor of Charleston, member of South Carolina's legislature, attorney general, and then governor of the state. The Constitutional Convention: The Great Compromise, The Webster-Hayne Debate of 1830: Summary & Issues, The History of American Presidential Debates, Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening: Sermons & Biography, Who Was Susan B. Anthony? 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But it was the honor of a caste; and the struggling bread-winners of society, the great commonalty, he little studied or understood. . South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification 1832 | Crisis, Cause & Issues. An equally talented orator, Webster rose as the advocate of the North in the debate with his captivating reply to Hayne's initial argument. I hold it to be a popular government, erected by the people; those who administer it responsible to the people; and itself capable of being amended and modified, just as the people may choose it should be. . The debaters were Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 Having thus distinctly stated the points in dispute between the gentleman and myself, I proceed to examine them. Daniel Webster, in a dramatic speech, showed the danger of the states' rights doctrine, which permitted each State to decide for itself which laws were unconstitutional, claiming it would lead to civil war. Read reviews from world's largest community for readers. . . Nullification, Webster maintained, was a political absurdity. The gentleman takes alarm at the sound. . We had no other general government. . . Web hardcover $30.00 paperback $17.00 kindle nook book ibook. . . Sir, I will not stop at the border; I will carry the war into the enemys territory, and not consent to lay down my arms, until I shall have obtained indemnity for the past, and security for the future.[4] It is with unfeigned reluctance that I enter upon the performance of this part of my duty. Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) | Case, Significance & Summary. 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Then he began his speech, his words flowing on so completely at command that a fellow senator who heard him likened his elocution to the steady flow of molten gold. . ", What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?. Broadside Advertisement for Runaway Slave, Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Free-Soiler, Free & Slave-holding States and Territories. The action, the drama, the suspensewho needs the movies? In the course of my former remarks, I took occasion to deprecate, as one of the greatest of evils, the consolidation of this government. He was a lawyer turned congressional representative who eventually worked his way to the office of U.S. Secretary of State. . The debates between daniel webster of massachusetts and robert hayne of south carolina gave. An error occurred trying to load this video. Which of the following statements best represents the desires of the Northern states during the debate of Missouri statehood? Sir, I am one of those who believe that the very life of our system is the independence of the states, and that there is no evil more to be deprecated than the consolidation of this government. But I do not understand the doctrine now contended for to be that which, for the sake of distinctness, we may call the right of revolution. The growing support for nullification was quite obvious during the days of the Jackson Administration, as events such as the Webster-Hayne Debate, Tariff of 1832, Order of Nullification, and Worcester v. Georgia all made the tension grow between the North and the South. Are we yet at the mercy of state discretion, and state construction? In a time when the country was undergoing some drastic changes, this debate managed to encapsulate the essence of the growing tensions dividing the nation. It was a speech delivered before a crowded auditory, and loud were the Southern exultations that he was more than a match for Webster. . There was no clear winner of the debate, but the Union's victory over the Confederacy just a few decades later brought Webster's ideas to fruition. We could not send them back to the shores from whence their fathers had been taken; their numbers forbade the thought, even if we did not know that their condition here is infinitely preferable to what it possibly could be among the barren sands and savage tribes of Africa; and it was wholly irreconcilable with all our notions of humanity to tear asunder the tender ties which they had formed among us, to gratify the feelings of a false philanthropy. What a commentary on the wisdom, justice, and humanity, of the Southern slave owner is presented by the example of certain benevolent associations and charitable individuals elsewhere. Webster-Hayne Debate 1830, an unplanned series of speeches in the Senate, during which Robert Hayne of South Carolina interpreted the Constitution as little more than a treaty between sovereign states, and Daniel Webster expressed the concept of the United States as one nation. I deem far otherwise of the Union of the states; and so did the Framers of the Constitution themselves. Sir, when the gentleman provokes me to such a conflict, I meet him at the threshold. Debate on the Constitutionality of the Mexican War, Letters and Journals from the Oregon Trail. Senator Foote, of Connecticut, submitted a proposition inquiring into the expediency of limiting the sales of public lands to those already in the market. . He rose, the image of conscious mastery, after the dull preliminary business of the day was dispatched, and with a happy figurative allusion to the tossed mariner, as he called for a reading of the resolution from which the debate had so far drifted, lifted his audience at once to his level. . I understand the gentleman to maintain, that, without revolution, without civil commotion, without rebellion, a remedy for supposed abuse and transgression of the powers of the general government lies in a direct appeal to the interference of the state governments. Two leading ideas predominated in this reply, and with respect to either Hayne was not only answered but put to silence. I'm imagining that your answer is probably 'I do.' It would enable Congress and the Executive to exercise a control over states, as well as over great interests in the country, nay, even over corporations and individualsutterly destructive of the purity, and fatal to the duration of our institutions. . The Webster-Hayne debate was a series of unplanned speeches in the Senate between January 19th and 27th of 1830 between Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina. The honorable member himself is not, I trust, and can never be, one of these. Let us look at his probablemodus operandi. Hayne maintained that the states retained the authority to nullify federal law, Webster that federal law expressed the will of the American people and could not be nullified by a minority of the people in a state. . . . Daniel Webster stood as a ready and formidable opponent from the north who, at different stages in his career, represented both the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. - Definition and Uses, Public Speaking: Assignment 1 - Informative Speech, Public Speaking: Assignment 3 - Special Occasion Speech, The Role of Probability Distributions, Random Numbers & the Computer in Simulations, The Monte Carlo Simulation: Scope & Common Applications, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community, The methods by which the federal government earned its revenue, The federal government's surveying and selling of land west of the Mississippi River, The issue of slavery, which was beginning to divide the Northern and Southern states, The balance of power between federal and state governments.