There is not, and never has been, a disposition in the North to interfere with these interests of the South. . Those who would confine the federal government strictly within the limits prescribed by the Constitutionwho would preserve to the states and the people all powers not expressly delegatedwho would make this a federal and not a national Unionand who, administering the government in a spirit of equal justice, would make it a blessing and not a curse. This is the sum of what I understand from him, to be the South Carolina doctrine; and the doctrine which he maintains. Inflamed and mortified at this repulse, Hayne soon returned to the assault, primed with a two-day speech, which at great length vaunted the patriotism of South Carolina and bitterly attacked New England, dwelling particularly upon her conduct during the late war. The answer is Daniel Webster, one of the greatest orators in US Senate history, a successful attorney and Senator from Massachusetts and a complex and enigmatic man. And here it will be necessary to go back to the origin of the federal government. Sir, all our difficulties on this subject have arisen from interference from abroad, which has disturbed, and may again disturb, our domestic tranquility, just so far as to bring down punishment upon the heads of the unfortunate victims of a fanatical and mistaken humanity. There was an end to all apprehension. Foote Idea To Limit The Sale Of Public Lands In The West To New Settlers. . Connecticut's proposal was an attempt to slow the growth of the nation, control westward expansion, and bolster the federal government's revenue. . 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. After his term as a senator, he served as the Governor of South Carolina. In our contemplation, Carolina and Ohio are parts of the same country; states, united under the same general government, having interests, common, associated, intermingled. If an inquiry should ever be instituted in these matters, however, it will be found that the profits of the slave trade were not confined to the South. . . They tell us, in the letter submitting the Constitution to the consideration of the country, that, in all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true Americanthe consolidation of our Unionin which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety; perhaps our national existence. These debates transformed into a national crisis when South Carolina threatened . Webster-Hayne Debate book. Though the debate began as a standard policy debate, the significance of Daniel Webster's argument reached far beyond a single policy proposal. But to remove all doubt it is expressly declared, by the 10th article of the amendment of the Constitution, that the powers not delegated to the states, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.. . . . Several state governments or courts, some in the north, had espoused the idea of nullification prior to 1828. Create your account. Connecticut and other northeastern states were worried about the pace of growth and wanted to slow this down. . Hayne quotes from Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, December 26, 1825, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-william-branch-giles/?_sft_document_author=thomas-jefferson. 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). What followed, the Webster Hayne debate, was one of the most famous exchanges in Senate history. The debate can be seen as a precursor to the debate that became . . 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 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. . 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. But I take leave of the subject. Foot calling for the temporary suspension of further land surveying until land already on the market was sold (to effectively stop the introduction of new lands onto the market). . Webster's speech aroused the latent spirit of patriotism. The Webster-Hayne debate was a series of spontaneous speeches delivered before the Senate in 1830. The War With Mexico: Speech in the United States H What Are the Colored People Doing for Themselves? But the topic which became the leading feature of the whole debate and gave it an undying interest was that of nullification, in which Hayne and Webster came forth as chief antagonists. Compare And Contrast The Tension Between North And South. The gentleman has made an eloquent appeal to our hearts in favor of union. 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.) I regard domestic slavery as one of the greatest of evils, both moral and political. For one, Hayne and Webster were arguing for the fate of the West and, in particular, whether the North or South would control western development. Well, you're not alone. . 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. 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. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 To all this, sir, I was disposed most cordially to respond. Sir, it is because South Carolina loves the Union, and would preserve it forever, that she is opposing now, while there is hope, those usurpations of the federal government, which, once established, will, sooner or later, tear this Union into fragments. . We do not impose geographical limits to our patriotic feeling or regard; we do not follow rivers and mountains, and lines of latitude, to find boundaries, beyond which public improvements do not benefit us. . The Significance of the Frontier in American Histo South Carolinas Ordinance of Nullification. 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. He accused them of a desire to check the growth of the West in the interests of protection. Since as Vice President and President of the Senate, Calhoun could not take place in the debate, Hayne represented the pro-nullification point-of-view. 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. The idea of a strong federal government The ability of the people to revolt against an unfair government The theory that the states' may vote against unfair laws The role of the president in commanding the government 2 See answers Advertisement holesstanham Answer: Though Webster made an impassioned argument, the political, social, and economic traditions of New England informed his ideas about the threatened nation. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. So soon as the cessions were obtained, it became necessary to make provision for the government and disposition of the territory . 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. Why? South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification 1832 | Crisis, Cause & Issues. 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? 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? The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions Add Song of the Spinners from the Lowell Offering. We, sir, who oppose the Carolina doctrine, do not deny that the people may, if they choose, throw off any government, when it becomes oppressive and intolerable, and erect a better in its stead. They switched from a. the tariff of 1828 to national power . . . The action, the drama, the suspensewho needs the movies? Sir, when arraigned before the bar of public opinion, on this charge of slavery, we can stand up with conscious rectitude, plead not guilty, and put ourselves upon God and our country. . Webster's second reply to Hayne, in January 1830, became a famous defense of the federal union: "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Just beneath the surface of this debate lay the elements of the developing sectional crisis between North and South. Such interference has never been supposed to be within the power of government; nor has it been, in any way, attempted. They will not destroy it, they will not impair itthey will only save, they will only preserve, they will only strengthen it! Excerpts from Ratification Documents of Virginia a Ratifying Conventions>New York Ratifying Convention. I understand him to maintain, that the ultimate power of judging of the constitutional extent of its own authority, is not lodged exclusively in the general government, or any branch of it; but that, on the contrary, the states may lawfully decide for themselves, and each state for itself, whether, in a given case, the act of the general government transcends its power. The arena selected for a first impression was the Senate, where the arch-heretic himself presided and guided the onset with his eye. | 12 If the gentleman provokes the war, he shall have war. Historians love a good debate. This absurdity (for it seems no less) arises from a misconception as to the origin of this government and its true character. Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural So "The Whole Affair Seems the Work of a Madman", John Brown and the Principle of Nonresistance.