U.S. Senate: The Most Famous Senate Speech Webster and the North treated it as binding the states together as a single union. And what has been the consequence? 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. The Webster-Hayne Debate | Hopkins Press In this moment in American history, the federal government had relatively little power. The people read Webster's speech and marked him as the champion henceforth against all assaults upon the Constitution. It was plenary then, and never having been surrendered, must be plenary now. 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 have but one word more to add. 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]. 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. . . 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. Well, it's important to remember that the nation was still young and much different than what we think of today. The Webster-Hayne debate concluded with Webster's ringing endorsement of "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." In contrast, Hayne espoused the radical states' rights doctrine of nullification, believing that a state could prevent a federal law from being enforced within its borders. At the foundation of the constitution of these new Northwestern states, . This is the sense in which the Framers of the Constitution use the word consolidation; and in which sense I adopt and cherish it. 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The debate was on. Edited and introduced by Jason W. Stevens. we find the most opposite and irreconcilable opinions between the two parties which I have before described. 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? . 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. . He served as a U.S. senator from 1823 to 1832, and was a leading proponent of the states' rights doctrine. The Webster Hayne Debate. 1. emigration the movement of people from one place to another 2. immigration a situation in which resources are being used up at a faster rate than they can be replenished 3. migration the leaving of one's homeland to settle in a new place 4. overpopulation the movement of people to a new country 5. sustainable development a situation in which the birth rate is not sufficient to replace the . 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. While the debaters argued about slavery, the economy, protection tariffs, and western land, the real implication was the meaning of the United States Constitution. . The gentleman takes alarm at the sound. 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. In January 1830, a debate on the nature of sovereignty in the America. 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. They will also better understand the debate's political context. The Webster-Hayne debate was a famous debate in the United States between Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina.It happened on January 19-27, 1830. Webster stood in favor of Connecticut's proposal that the federal government should stop surveying western land and sell the land it had already surveyed to boost it's revenue and strengthen it's authority. Several state governments or courts, some in the north, had espoused the idea of nullification prior to 1828. Webster and Hayne on the American Constitution 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. . Webster also tried to assert the importance of New England in the face of . The militia of the state will be called out to sustain the nullifying act. 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. South Carolinas Declaration of the Causes of Sece Distribution of the Slave Population by State. He describes fully that old state of things then existing. 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. Who, then, Mr. President, are the true friends of the Union? 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. This will co-operate with the feelings of patriotism to induce a state to avoid any measures calculated to endanger that connection. There was an end to all apprehension. God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind. Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. 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. Sir, an immense national treasury would be a fund for corruption. See Genesis 9:2027. The Virginia Resolution asserted that when the federal government undertook the deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of powers not granted to it in the constitution, states had the right and duty to interpose their authority to prevent this evil. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. On this subject, as in all others, we ask nothing of our Northern brethren but to let us alone; leave us to the undisturbed management of our domestic concerns, and the direction of our own industry, and we will ask no more. 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. 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. He had allowed himself but a single night from eve to morn to prepare for a critical and crowning occasion. Pet Banks History & Effects | What are Pet Banks? Webster's Reply to Hayne - National Park Service But, sir, the gentleman is mistaken. . The gentleman, indeed, argues that slavery, in the abstract, is no evil. Would it be safe to confide such a treasure to the keeping of our national rulers? 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. Hayne and the South saw it as basically a treaty between sovereign states. Are we in that condition still? . Webster-Hayne Debate. 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 must now beg to ask, sir, whence is this supposed right of the states derived?where do they find the power to interfere with the laws of the Union? You see, to the south, the Constitution was essentially a treaty signed between sovereign states. So they could finish selling the lands already surveyed. This statement, though strong, is no stronger than the strictest truth will warrant. "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.. 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 Mr. Hayne having rejoined to Mr. Webster, especially on the constitutional question. On that system, Carolina has no more interest in a canal in Ohio than in Mexico. A state will be restrained by a sincere love of the Union. foote wanted to stop surveying lands until they could sell the ones already looked at It impressed on the soil itself, while it was yet a wilderness, an incapacity to bear up any other than free men. Well, let's look at the various parts. 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. Which of the following is the best definition of a hypothesis? It is worth noting that in the course of the debate, on the very floor of the Senate, both Hayne and Webster raised the specter of civil war 30 years before it commenced. Webster was eloquent, he was educated, he was witty, and he was a staunch defender of American liberty. It would be equally fatal to the sovereignty and independence of the states. The tendency of all these ideas and sentiments is obviously to bring the Union into discussion, as a mere question of present and temporary expediency; nothing more than a mere matter of profit and loss. South Carolinas Declaration of the Causes of Secession (1860), Jefferson Daviss Inaugural Address (1861), Documents in Detail: The Webster-Hayne Debates, Remarks in Congress on the Tariff of Abominations, Check out our collection of primary source readers. What was the main issue of the Webster-Hayne debate? In all the efforts that have been made by South Carolina to resist the unconstitutional laws which Congress has extended over them, she has kept steadily in view the preservation of the Union, by the only means by which she believes it can be long preserveda firm, manly, and steady resistance against usurpation. . Our Core Document Collection allows students to read history in the words of those who made it. What they said I believe; fully and sincerely believe, that the Union of the states is essential to the prosperity and safety of the states. The Webster-Hayne debates began over one issue but quickly switched to another. The theory that the states' may vote against unfair laws. I deem far otherwise of the Union of the states; and so did the Framers of the Constitution themselves. To them, this was a scheme to give the federal government more control over the cost of land by creating a scarcity. Mr. Webster arose, and, in conclusion, said: A few words, Mr. President, on this constitutional argument, which the honorable gentleman has labored to reconstruct. 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. No doubt can exist, that, before the states entered into the compact, they possessed the right to the fullest extent, of determining the limits of their own powersit is incident to all sovereignty. 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. We resolved to make the best of the situation in which Providence had placed us, and to fulfil the high trust which had developed upon us as the owners of slaves, in the only way in which such a trust could be fulfilled, without spreading misery and ruin throughout the land. . 1830's APUSH Flashcards | Quizlet Chris has a master's degree in history and teaches at the University of Northern Colorado. It was motivated by a dispute over the continued sale of western lands, an important source of revenue for the federal government. . He must cut it with his sword. But until they shall alter it, it must stand as their will, and is equally binding on the general government and on the states. . Though Webster made an impassioned argument, the political, social, and economic traditions of New England informed his ideas about the threatened nation. By establishing justice, promoting domestic tranquility, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. This is the true reading of the Constitution. 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. Northern states intended to strengthen the federal government, binding the states in the union under one supreme law, and eradicating the use of slave labor in the rapidly growing nation. Most assuredly, I need not say I differ with him, altogether and most widely, on that point. 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. . If these opinions be thought doubtful, they are, nevertheless, I trust, neither extraordinary nor disrespectful. Allow me to say, as a preliminary remark, that I call this the South Carolina doctrine, only because the gentleman himself has so denominated it. Let's start by looking at the United States around 1830. The debate, which took place between January 19th and January 27th, 1830, encapsulated the major issues facing the newly founded United States in the 1820s and 1830s; the balance of power between the federal and state governments, the development of the democratic process, and the growing tension between Northern and Southern states. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Create your account. Correspondence Between Anthony Butler and Presiden State of the Union Address Part II (1846). He remained a Southern Unionist through his long public career and a good type of the growing class of statesman devoted to slave interests who loved the Union as it was and doted upon its compromises. We will not look back to inquire whether our fathers were guiltless in introducing slaves into this country. 1824 Presidential Election, Candidates & Significance | Who Won the Election of 1824? I said, only, that it was highly wise and useful in legislating for the northwestern country, while it was yet a wilderness, to prohibit the introduction of slaves: and added, that I presumed, in the neighboring state of Kentucky, there was no reflecting and intelligent gentleman, who would doubt, that if the same prohibition had been extended, at the same early period, over that commonwealth, her strength and population would, at this day, have been far greater than they are. Webster-Hayne Debate - Federalism in America - CSF . Sir, when the gentleman provokes me to such a conflict, I meet him at the threshold. . But his calm, unperturbed manner reassured them in an instant. . 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. Hayne quotes from the Virginia Resolution (1798), authored by Thomas Jefferson, to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798). 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. 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: Expert Answers. 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 had had quite enough of that kind of government, under the Confederacy. It makes but little difference, in my estimation, whether Congress or the Supreme Court, are invested with this power. 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. The Webster-Hayne Debate: Defining Nationhood in the Early American . Webster rose the next day in his seat to make his reply. 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 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. Webster-Hayne Debate by Stefan M. Brooks As a pious son of Federalism, Webster went the full length of the required defense. 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. Rachel Venter is a recent graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver. . I propose to consider it, and to compare it with the Constitution. The people of the United States have declared that this Constitution shall be the Supreme Law. 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. TEST: THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT Flashcards | Quizlet 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. . . TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, Ohio 44805 PHONE (419) 289-5411 TOLL FREE (877) 289-5411 EMAIL [emailprotected], The Congress Sends Twelve Amendments to the States, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 3rd Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 3rd Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 4th Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 4th Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 6th Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 6th Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 7th Debate Part I, National Disfranchisement of Colored People, William Lloyd Garrison to Thomas Shipley. 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. Thirty years before the Civil War broke out, disunion appeared to be on the horizon with the Nullification Crisis. The United States' democratic process was evolving and its leaders were putting the newly ratified Constitution into practice. Well, the southern states were infuriated. But, according to the gentlemans reading, the object of the Constitution was to consolidate the government, and the means would seem to be, the promotion of injustice, causing domestic discord, and depriving the states and the people of the blessings of liberty forever. Webster argued that the American people had created the Union to promote the good of the whole. .Readers will finish the book with a clear idea of the reason Webster's "Reply" became so influential in its own day. Ostend Manifesto of 1854 Overview & Purpose | What was the Ostend Manifesto? . Finding our lot cast among a people, whom God had manifestly committed to our care, we did not sit down to speculate on abstract questions of theoretical liberty. Battle of Fort Sumter in the Civil War | Who Won the Battle of Fort Sumter? The Webster-Hayne Debate between New Hampshire Senator Daniel Webster and South Carolina Senator Robert Young Hayne highlighted the sectional nature of the controversy. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions | Overview, Impact & Significance, Public Speaking for Teachers: Professional Development, AEPA Earth Science (AZ045): Practice & Study Guide, ORELA Early Childhood Education: Practice & Study Guide, Praxis Middle School English Language Arts (5047) Prep, MTLE Physical Education: Practice & Study Guide, ILTS Mathematics (208): Test Practice and Study Guide, MTLE Earth & Space Science: Practice & Study Guide, AEPA Business Education (NT309): Help & Review, Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE): Exam Prep & Study Guide, GACE Special Education Adapted Curriculum Test I (083) Prep, GACE Special Education Adapted Curriculum Test II (084) Prep, Create an account to start this course today. I say, the right of a state to annul a law of Congress, cannot be maintained, but on the ground of the unalienable right of man to resist oppression; that is to say, upon the ground of revolution. A speech by Louisiana Senator Edward Livingston, however, neatly explains how American nationhood encompasses elements of both Webster and Hayne's ideas. . To all this, sir, I was disposed most cordially to respond. Liberty has been to them the greatest of calamities, the heaviest of curses. 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. They had burst forth from arguments about a decision by Connecticut Senator Samuel Foote. Crittenden Compromise Plan & Reception | What was the Crittenden Compromise? 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. . Will it promote the welfare of the United States to have at our disposal a permanent treasury, not drawn from the pockets of the people, but to be derived from a source independent of them? An equally. It is only regarded as a possible means of good; or on the other hand, as a possible means of evil. . . While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. I'm imagining that your answer is probably 'I do.' 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. 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. 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. Noah grew a vineyard, got drunk on wine and lay naked. Understand the 1830 debate's significance through an overview of issues of the Constitution, the Union, and state sovereignty. What interest, asks he, has South Carolina in a canal in Ohio? Sir, this very question is full of significance. . These verses recount the first occurrence of slavery. 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. . flashcard sets. But, the simple expression of this sentiment has led the gentleman, not only into a labored defense of slavery, in the abstract, and on principle, but, also, into a warm accusation against me, as having attacked the system of domestic slavery, now existing in the Southern states.