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 attack nobody, and menace nobody. Nor those other words of delusion and folly,liberty first, and union afterwardsbut everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole Heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heartliberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable! Speech of Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina, January 27, 1830. . Why? These irreconcilable views of national supremacy and state sovereignty framed the constitutional struggle that led to Civil War thirty years later. [was] fixed, forever, the character of the population in the vast regions Northwest of the Ohio, by excluding from them involuntary servitude. 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. flashcard sets. Mr. Hayne having rejoined to Mr. Webster, especially on the constitutional question. I will yield to no gentleman here in sincere attachment to the Union,but it is a Union founded on the Constitution, and not such a Union as that gentleman would give us, that is dear to my heart. Crittenden Compromise Plan & Reception | What was the Crittenden Compromise? 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. 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. The gentleman, indeed, argues that slavery, in the abstract, is no evil. 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. It is only by a strict adherence to the limitations imposed by the Constitution on the federal government, that this system works well, and can answer the great ends for which it was instituted. As a pious son of Federalism, Webster went the full length of the required defense. This, sir, is General Washingtons consolidation. It was a great and salutary measure of prevention. Webster argued that the American people had created the Union to promote the good of the whole. What followed, the Webster Hayne debate, was one of the most famous exchanges in Senate history. 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. Ostend Manifesto of 1854 Overview & Purpose | What was the Ostend Manifesto? I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Sir, there exists, moreover, a deep and settled conviction of the benefits, which result from a close connection of all the states, for purposes of mutual protection and defense. It was not a Union to be torn up without bloodshed; for nerves and arteries were interwoven with its roots and tendrils, sustaining the lives and interests of twelve million inhabitants. . . Sir, I may be singularperhaps I stand alone here in the opinion, but it is one I have long entertained, that one of the greatest safeguards of liberty is a jealous watchfulness on the part of the people, over the collection and expenditure of the public moneya watchfulness that can only be secured where the money is drawn by taxation directly from the pockets of the people. succeed. Webster and the northern states saw the Constitution as binding the individual states together as a single union. 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: The Webster-Hayne debate was a series of spontaneous speeches presented to the United States Senate by senators Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina. . Let their last feeble and lingering glance, rather behold the gorgeous Ensign of the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscuredbearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as, what is all this worth? The Webster-Hayne debate was a series of spontaneous speeches delivered before the Senate in 1830. 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. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. 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. 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. Lincoln-Douglas Debates History & Significance | What Was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate? 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. 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). We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow. . 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.. Webster's argument that the constitution should stand as a powerful uniting force between the states rather than a treaty between sovereign states held as a key concept in America's ideas about the federal government. 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. . 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. . Under the circumstances then existing, I look upon this original and seasonable provision, as a real good attained. The honorable member himself is not, I trust, and can never be, one of these. The debate can be seen as a precursor to the debate that became . The Northwest Ordinance. Consolidation, like the tariff, grates upon his ear. 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. States' rights (South) vs. nationalism (North). You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hopefully stay awake until the end of the lesson. The people had had quite enough of that kind of government, under the Confederacy. On the one side it is contended that the public land ought to be reserved as a permanent fund for revenue, and future distribution among the states, while, on the other, it is insisted that the whole of these lands of right belong to, and ought to be relinquished to, the states in which they lie. See Genesis 9:2027. Let's start by looking at the United States around 1830. . But I take leave of the subject. Compare And Contrast The Tension Between North And South. The debates between daniel webster of massachusetts and robert hayne of south carolina gave. . Our Core Document Collection allows students to read history in the words of those who made it. 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. But, sir, the gentleman is mistaken. . Sir, I cordially respond to that appeal. But it was the honor of a caste; and the struggling bread-winners of society, the great commonalty, he little studied or understood. 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. Sir, I deprecate and deplore this tone of thinking and acting. For Calhoun, see the Speech on Abolition Petitions and the Speech on the Oregon Bill. . For all this, there was not the slightest foundation, in anything said or intimated by me. It is only regarded as a possible means of good; or on the other hand, as a possible means of evil. And now, Mr. President, let me run the honorable gentlemans doctrine a little into its practical application. 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. Hayne and the South saw it as basically a treaty between sovereign states. . He was a lawyer turned congressional representative who eventually worked his way to the office of U.S. Secretary of State. On January 19, 1830, Hayne attacked the Foot Resolution and labeled the Northeasterners as selfish and unprincipled for their support of protectionism and conservative land policies. Religious Views: Letter to the Editor of the Illin Democratic Party Platform 1860 (Douglas Faction), (Northern) Democratic Party Platform Committee. Webster's description of the U.S. government as "made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people," was later paraphrased by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address in the words "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Senator Foote, of Connecticut, submitted a proposition inquiring into the expediency of limiting the sales of public lands to those already in the market. . It was plenary then, and never having been surrendered, must be plenary now. 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. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. 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.