The states cannot now make war; they cannot contract alliances; they cannot make, each for itself, separate regulations of commerce; they cannot lay imposts; they cannot coin money. Hayne argued that the sovereign and independent states had created the Union to promote their particular interests. 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. . The militia of the state will be called out to sustain the nullifying act. President Andrew Jackson had just been elected, most of the states got rid of property requirements for voting, and an entire new era of democracy was being born. It laid the interdict against personal servitude, in original compact, not only deeper than all local law, but deeper, also, than all local constitutions. Some of his historical deductions may be questioned; but far above all possible error on the part of her leaders, stood colonial and Revolutionary New England, and the sturdy, intelligent, and thriving people whose loyalty to the Union had never failed, and whose home, should ill befall the nation, would yet prove liberty's last shelter. 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. Is it the creature of the state legislatures, or the creature of the people? sir, this is but the old story. 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. Prejudice Not Natural: The American Colonization "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Though Webster made an impassioned argument, the political, social, and economic traditions of New England informed his ideas about the threatened nation. Before his term as a U.S. senator, Hayne had served as a state senator, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, South Carolina's Speaker of the House, and Attorney General of South Carolina. Daniel webster (ma) and sen. Hayne of . copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. webster hayne debate Flashcards | Quizlet My life upon it, sir, they would not. One of the most storied match-ups in Senate history, the 1830 Webster-Hayne debate began with a beef between Northeast states and Western states over a plan to restrict . Benton was rising in renown as the advocate not only of Western settlers but of a new theory that the public lands should be given away instead of sold to them. . He entered the Senate on that memorable day with a slow and stately step and took his seat as though unconscious of the loud buzz of expectant interest with which the crowded auditory greeted his appearance. Pet Banks History & Effects | What are Pet Banks? Webster-Hayne Debate book. Conversation-based seminars for collegial PD, one-day and multi-day seminars, graduate credit seminars (MA degree), online and in-person. 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. . Hayne launched his confident javelin at the New England States. In whatever is within the proper sphere of the constitutional power of this government, we look upon the states as one. Wilmot Proviso of 1846: Overview & Significance | What was the Wilmot Proviso? It cannot be doubted, and is not denied, that before the formation of the constitution, each state was an independent sovereignty, possessing all the rights and powers appertaining to independent nations; nor can it be denied that, after the Constitution was formed, they remained equally sovereign and independent, as to all powers, not expressly delegated to the federal government. 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 excited crowd which had packed the Senate chamber, filling every seat on the floor and in the galleries, and all the available standing room, dispersed after the orator's last grand apostrophe had died away in the air, with national pride throbbing at the heart. I'm imagining that your answer is probably 'I do.' I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Webster and Hayne on the American Constitution This would have been the case even if no positive provision to that effect had been inserted in that instrument. Where in these debates do we see a possible argument in defense of Constitutional secession by the states, later claimed by the Southern Confederacy before, during, and after the Civil War? Connecticut and other northeastern states were worried about the pace of growth and wanted to slow this down. What interest, asks he, has South Carolina in a canal in Ohio? Sir, this very question is full of significance. This was the man to fire an aristocracy of fellow citizens ready to arm when their interests were in danger, and upon him, it devolved to advance the cause of South Carolina, break down the tariff, and fascinate the Union with the new rattlesnake theories. It is the servant of four-and-twenty masters, of different wills and different purposes, and yet bound to obey all. The gentleman, therefore, only follows out his own principles; he does no more than arrive at the natural conclusions of his own doctrines; he only announces the true results of that creed, which he has adopted himself, and would persuade others to adopt, when he thus declares that South Carolina has no interest in a public work in Ohio. The real significance of this debate was in each man's interpretation of the United States Constitution. The action, the drama, the suspensewho needs the movies? Hayne was a great orator, filled with fiery passion and eloquent prose. In coming to the consideration of the next great question, what ought to be the future policy of the government in relation to the public lands? The people were not satisfied with it, and undertook to establish a better. . 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. Webster realized that if the social, political, and economic elite of Massachusetts and the Northeast were to once again lay claim to national leadership, he had to justify New England's previous history of sectionalism within a framework of nationalistic progression. If I had, sir, the powers of a magician, and could, by a wave of my hand, convert this capital into gold for such a purpose, I would not do it. succeed. Sir, I should fear the rebuke of no intelligent gentleman of Kentucky, were I to ask whether, if such an ordinance could have been applied to his own state, while it yet was a wilderness, and before Boone had passed the gap of the Alleghany, he does not suppose it would have contributed to the ultimate greatness of that commonwealth? . . . Sheidley, Harlow W. "The Wester-Hayne Debate: Recasting New England's Sectionalism", Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 179899, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WebsterHayne_debate&oldid=1135315190, This page was last edited on 23 January 2023, at 22:54. 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.. The Senate debates between Whig Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Democrat Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina in January 1830 started out as a disagreement over the sale of Western lands and turned into one of the most famous verbal contests in American history. This statement, though strong, is no stronger than the strictest truth will warrant. Sir, we narrow-minded people of New England do not reason thus. Lincoln-Douglas Debates History & Significance | What Was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate? If these opinions be thought doubtful, they are, nevertheless, I trust, neither extraordinary nor disrespectful. Sir, we will not stop to inquire whether the black man, as some philosophers have contended, is of an inferior race, nor whether his color and condition are the effects of a curse inflicted for the offences of his ancestors. The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions Add Song of the Spinners from the Lowell Offering. I now proceed to show that it is perfectly safe, and will practically have no effect but to keep the federal government within the limits of the Constitution, and prevent those unwarrantable assumptions of power, which cannot fail to impair the rights of the states, and finally destroy the Union itself. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Robert Young Hayne, (born Nov. 10, 1791, Colleton District, S.C., U.S.died Sept. 24, 1839, Asheville, N.C.), American lawyer, political leader, and spokesman for the South, best-remembered for his debate with Daniel Webster (1830), in which he set forth a doctrine of nullification. Webster-Hayne debate - Wikipedia The debaters were Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina. flashcard sets. The gentleman insists that the states have no right to decide whether the constitution has been violated by acts of Congress or not,but that the federal government is the exclusive judge of the extent of its own powers; and that in case of a violation of the constitution, however deliberate, palpable and dangerous, a state has no constitutional redress, except where the matter can be brought before the Supreme Court, whose decision must be final and conclusive on the subject. . 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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. What was going on? . . Can any man believe, sir, that, if twenty-three millions per annum was now levied by direct taxation, or by an apportionment of the same among the states, instead of being raised by an indirect tax, of the severe effect of which few are aware, that the waste and extravagance, the unauthorized imposition of duties, and appropriations of money for unconstitutional objects, would have been tolerated for a single year? ", What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?. . It develops the gentlemans whole political system; and its answer expounds mine. Webster-Hayne Debate by Stefan M. Brooks Webster's "Second Reply to Hayne" was generally regarded as "the most eloquent speech ever delivered in Congress."[1]. Robert Young Hayne | American politician | Britannica The gentleman takes alarm at the sound. . . . We love to dwell on that union, and on the mutual happiness which it has so much promoted, and the common renown which it has so greatly contributed to acquire. Speech of Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, January 26 and 27, 1830. Now, I wish to be informedhowthis state interference is to be put in practice, without violence, bloodshed, and rebellion. 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. The 1830 Webster-Hayne debate centered around the South Carolina nullification crisis of the late 1820s, but historians have largely ignored the sectional interests underpinning Webster's argument on behalf of Unionism and a transcendent nationalism. The Curious Case of Evangelist Pat Robertson | Winter Watch Post-Civil War, as the nation rebuilt and reconciled the balance between federal and state government, federal law became the supreme law of the land, just as Webster desired. Democratic Party Platform 1860 (Breckinridge Facti (Southern) Democratic Party Platform Committee. Hayne, Robert Young | South Carolina Encyclopedia Thirty years before the Civil War broke out, disunion appeared to be on the horizon with the Nullification Crisis. . Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. It would be equally fatal to the sovereignty and independence of the states. 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. I did not utter a single word, which any ingenuity could torture into an attack on the slavery of the South. . Explore the Webster-Hayne debate. 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 is not, and never has been, a disposition in the North to interfere with these interests of the South. I understand the honorable gentleman from South Carolina to maintain, that it is a right of the state legislatures to interfere, whenever, in their judgment, this government transcends its constitutional limits, and to arrest the operation of its laws. [Its leader] would have a knot before him, which he could not untie. . It is to state, and to defend, what I conceive to be the true principles of the Constitution under which we are here assembled. Congress could only recommendtheir acts were not of binding force, till the states had adopted and sanctioned them. Connecticut's proposal was an attempt to slow the growth of the nation, control westward expansion, and bolster the federal government's revenue. Debate on the Constitutionality of the Mexican War, Letters and Journals from the Oregon Trail. 136 lessons Consolidation, like the tariff, grates upon his ear. It moves vast bodies, and gives to them one and the same direction. Sir, there does not exist, on the face of the whole earth, a population so poor, so wretched, so vile, so loathsome, so utterly destitute of all the comforts, conveniences, and decencies of life, as the unfortunate blacks of Philadelphia, and New York, and Boston. But his reply was gathered from the choicest arguments and the most decadent thoughts that had long floated through his brain while this crisis was gathering; and bringing these materials together in a lucid and compact shape, he calmly composed and delivered before another crowded and breathless auditory a speech full of burning passages, which will live as long as the American Union, and the grandest effort of his life. Daniel Webster argued against nullification (the idea that states could disobey federal laws) arguing in favor of a strong federal government which would bind the states together under the Constitution. An undefinable dread now went abroad that men were planning against the peace of the nation, that the Union was in danger; and citizens looked more closely after its safety and welfare. Webster spoke in favor of the proposed pause of federal surveyance of western land, representing the North's interest in selling the western land, which had already been surveyed. .Readers will finish the book with a clear idea of the reason Webster's "Reply" became so influential in its own day. 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. . I know, full well, that it is, and has been, the settled policy of some persons in the South, for years, to represent the people of the North as disposed to interfere with them, in their own exclusive and peculiar concerns. We who come here, as agents and representatives of these narrow-minded and selfish men of New England, consider ourselves as bound to regard, with equal eye, the good of the whole, in whatever is within our power of legislation. Representatives of the northern states were concerned by the rapid growth of the nation; just 27 years earlier, the Louisiana Purchase had nearly doubled the size of the nation, and the newly elected President Andrew Jackson was hungry for more territory. . He was dressed with scrupulous care, in a blue coat with metal buttons, a buff vest rounding over his full abdomen, and his neck encircled with a white cravat. . 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. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you . Now that was a good debate! A state will be restrained by a sincere love of the Union. The theory that the states' may vote against unfair laws. When, however, the gentleman proceeded to contrast the state of Ohio with Kentucky, to the disadvantage of the latter, I listened to him with regret.
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