what idea was espoused with the webster hayne debates what idea was espoused with the webster hayne debates

Hayne entered the U.S. Senate in 1823 and soon became prominent as a spokesman for the South and for the . It is, sir, the peoples Constitution, the peoples government; made for the people; made by the people; and answerable to the people. Webster and the North treated it as binding the states together as a single union. Sir, if we are, then vain will be our attempt to maintain the Constitution under which we sit. Webster was eloquent, he was educated, he was witty, and he was a staunch defender of American liberty. . We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow. 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. Webster-Hayne Debate. I will struggle while I have life, for our altars and our fire sides, and if God gives me strength, I will drive back the invader discomfited. Webster denied it and, attempting to draw Hayne into a direct confrontation, disparaged slavery and attacked the constitutional scruples of southern nullifiers and their apparent willingness to calculate the Union's value in monetary terms. 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. The Revelation on Celestial Marriage: Trouble Amon Hon. What can I say? . 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 This government, sir, is the independent offspring of the popular will. 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. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. 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 Webster-Hayne debate was a series of spontaneous speeches delivered before the Senate in 1830. On that system, Carolina has no more interest in a canal in Ohio than in Mexico. . 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. This is the sense in which the Framers of the Constitution use the word consolidation; and in which sense I adopt and cherish it. Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. . . But, sir, we will pass over all this. And who are its enemies? 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. . 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. 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. foote wanted to stop surveying lands until they could sell the ones already looked at 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. A four-speech debate between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina, in January 1830. . Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you . Differences between Northern and Southern ideas of good governance, which eventually led to the American Civil War, were beginning to emerge. Hayne began the debate by speaking out against a proposal by the northern states which suggested that the federal government should stop its surveyance of land west of the Mississippi and shift its focus to selling the land it had already surveyed. MTEL Speech: Public Discourse & Debate in the U.S. The Destiny of America, Speech at the Dedication o An Address. As sovereign states, each state could individually interpret the Constitution and even leave the Union altogether. 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. If I could, by a mere act of my will, put at the disposal of the federal government any amount of treasure which I might think proper to name, I should limit the amount to the means necessary for the legitimate purposes of the government. . 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. . At the foundation of the constitution of these new Northwestern states, . . 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. What idea was espoused with the Webster-Hayne debates? Two leading ideas predominated in this reply, and with respect to either Hayne was not only answered but put to silence. I admit that there is an ultimate violent remedy, above the Constitution, and in defiance of the Constitution, which may be resorted to, when a revolution is to be justified. Most people of the time supported a small central government and strong state governments, so the federal government was much weaker than you might have expected. . . . . 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. 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. 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. 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." What was going on? "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.. This will co-operate with the feelings of patriotism to induce a state to avoid any measures calculated to endanger that connection. . I supposed, that on this point, no two gentlemen in the Senate could entertain different opinions. The action, the drama, the suspensewho needs the movies? . . One of those was the Webster-Hayne debate, a series of unplanned speeches presented before the Senate between January 19th and 27th of 1830. 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. But his calm, unperturbed manner reassured them in an instant. I shrink almost instinctively from a course, however necessary, which may have a tendency to excite sectional feelings, and sectional jealousies. - Women's Rights Facts & Significance, Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points: Definition, Speech & Summary, Fireside Chats: Definition & Significance, JFK's New Frontier: Definition, Speech & Program. This is a delicate and sensitive point, in southern feeling; and of late years it has always been touched, and generally with effect, whenever the object has been to unite the whole South against northern men, or northern measures. See what I mean? lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. The debates between daniel webster of massachusetts and robert hayne of south carolina gave. 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. . Ah! Sir, as to the doctrine that the federal government is the exclusive judge of the extent as well as the limitations of its powers, it seems to be utterly subversive of the sovereignty and independence of the states. 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. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. In January 1830, a debate on the nature of sovereignty in the America. . Tariff of Abominations of 1828 | What was the Significance of the Tariff of Abominations? 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. Francis O. J. Smith to Secretary of State Dan Special Message to the House of Representatives, Special Message to Congress on Mexican Relations. More specifically, some of the issues facing Congress during this period included: Robert Y. Hayne served as Senator of South Carolina from 1823 to 1832. 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. 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. Though Webster made an impassioned argument, the political, social, and economic traditions of New England informed his ideas about the threatened nation. But it was the honor of a caste; and the struggling bread-winners of society, the great commonalty, he little studied or understood. 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. Speech of Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina, January 25, 1830. . Hayne's First Speech (January 19, 1830) Webster's First Reply to Hayne (January 20, 1830) Hayne's Second Speech (January 21, 1830) Webster's Second Reply to Hayne (January 26-27, 1830) This page was last edited on 13 June 2021, at . In The Webster-Hayne Debate, Christopher Childers examines the context of the debate between Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and his Senate colleague Robert S. Hayne of South Carolina in January 1830 . . As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 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. . Which of the following statements best represents the desires of the Northern states during the debate of Missouri statehood? This is the sum of what I understand from him, to be the South Carolina doctrine; and the doctrine which he maintains. Hayne and the South saw it as basically a treaty between sovereign states. 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. Hayne launched his confident javelin at the New England States. The arena selected for a first impression was the Senate, where the arch-heretic himself presided and guided the onset with his eye. If they mean merely this, then, no doubt, the public lands as well as everything else in which we have a common interest, tends to consolidation; and to this species of consolidation every true American ought to be attached; it is neither more nor less than strengthening the Union itself. Would it be safe to confide such a treasure to the keeping of our national rulers? A speech by Louisiana Senator Edward Livingston, however, neatly explains how American nationhood encompasses elements of both Webster and Hayne's ideas. The Northwest Ordinance. The significance of Daniel Webster's argument went far beyond the immediate proposal at hand. . 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. . What interest, asks he, has South Carolina in a canal in Ohio? Sir, this very question is full of significance. . . flashcard sets. The real significance of this debate was in each man's interpretation of the United States Constitution. By means of missionaries and political tracts, the scheme was in a great measure successful. 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. This leads, sir, to the real and wide difference, in political opinion, between the honorable gentleman and myself. Daniel webster, in a dramatic speech, showed the. 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 main issue of the Webster-Hayne Debate was the nature of the country that had been created by the Constitution. . What idea was espoused with the Webster-Hayne debates? Gloomy and downcast of late, Massachusetts men walked the avenue as though the fife and drum were before them. They had burst forth from arguments about a decision by Connecticut Senator Samuel Foote. . Excerpts from Ratification Documents of Virginia a Ratifying Conventions>New York Ratifying Convention. New England, the Union, and the Constitution in its integrity, all were triumphantly vindicated. Whose agent is it? He describes fully that old state of things then existing. . . He was a lawyer turned congressional representative who eventually worked his way to the office of U.S. Secretary of State. What followed, the Webster Hayne debate, was one of the most famous exchanges in Senate history. . 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. 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? sir, this is but the old story. . 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. Ham, one of Noahs sons, saw him uncovered, for which Noah cursed him by making Hams son, Canaan, a slave to Ham's brothers. 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. . Battle of Fort Sumter in the Civil War | Who Won the Battle of Fort Sumter? . Assuredly not. Who, then, Mr. President, are the true friends of the Union? They will also better understand the debate's political context. . . 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. Democratic Party Platform 1860 (Breckinridge Facti (Southern) Democratic Party Platform Committee. 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. The next day, however, Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster rose with his reply, and the northern states knew they had found their champion. Webster and the northern states saw the Constitution as binding the individual states together as a single union. And now, Mr. President, let me run the honorable gentlemans doctrine a little into its practical application. 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 faction of voters in the North were against slavery and feared it spreading into new territory. The debate continued, in some ways not being fully settled until the completion of the Civil War affirmed the power of the federal government to preserve the Union over the sovereignty of the states to leave it. The Significance of the Frontier in American Histo South Carolinas Ordinance of Nullification. . Drama, suspense, it's all there. 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. Is it the creature of the state legislatures, or the creature of the people? One was through protective tariffs, high taxes on imports and exports. The object of the Framers of the Constitution, as disclosed in that address, was not the consolidation of the government, but the consolidation of the Union. It was not to draw power from the states, in order to transfer it to a great national government, but, in the language of the Constitution itself, to form a more perfect union; and by what means? 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. The debate itself, a nine-day long unplanned exchange between Senators Robert Y. Hayne and Daniel Webster, directly addressed the methods by which the federal government was generating revenue, namely through protective tariffs and the selling of federal lands in the newly acquired western territories. 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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. So soon as the cessions were obtained, it became necessary to make provision for the government and disposition of the territory . . In January 1830, a debate on the nature of sovereignty in the American federal union occurred in the United States Senate between Senators Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina. . . An accomplished politician, Hayne was an eloquent orator who enthralled his audiences. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. MTEL Speech: Notable Debates & Speeches in U.S. History, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858: Summary & Significance, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, The Significance of Daniel Webster's Argument, MTEL Speech: Principles of Argument & Debate, MTEL Speech: Understanding Persuasive Communication, MTEL Speech: Public Argument in Democratic Societies. The Most Famous Senate Speech January 26, 1830 The debate began simply enough, centering on the seemingly prosaic subjects of tariff and public land policy. 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. . 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? They will not destroy it, they will not impair itthey will only save, they will only preserve, they will only strengthen it! Sir, when gentlemen speak of the effects of a common fund, belonging to all the states, as having a tendency to consolidation, what do they mean? Well, the southern states were infuriated. Go to these cities now, and ask the question. The theory that the states' may vote against unfair laws. 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. 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. 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. The United States' democratic process was evolving and its leaders were putting the newly ratified Constitution into practice. Some of Webster's personal friends had felt nervous over what appeared to them too hasty a period for preparation. . . Wilmot Proviso of 1846: Overview & Significance | What was the Wilmot Proviso? 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. Lincoln-Douglas Debates History & Significance | What Was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate? The Confederation was, in strictness, a compact; the states, as states, were parties to it. 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 one from which we are not disposed to shrink, in whatever form or under whatever circumstances it may be pressed upon us. 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.. Speech of Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, January 20, 1830. Under the circumstances then existing, I look upon this original and seasonable provision, as a real good attained. Pet Banks History & Effects | What are Pet Banks? . . The debate can be seen as a precursor to the debate that became . Why? God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind. The heated speeches were unplanned and stemmed from the debate over a resolution by Connecticut Senator Samuel A. I'm imagining that your answer is probably 'I do.' 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. . . Edited and introduced by Jason W. Stevens. . Well, let's look at the various parts. Senator Foote, of Connecticut, submitted a proposition inquiring into the expediency of limiting the sales of public lands to those already in the market. . 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. . . 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." Such interference has never been supposed to be within the power of government; nor has it been, in any way, attempted. The purpose of the Constitution was to permit cooperation between states under a shared political standard, but that meant that any growth in a federal government threatened the sovereignty of the states. . It is to state, and to defend, what I conceive to be the true principles of the Constitution under which we are here assembled. . 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. South Carolinas Declaration of the Causes of Sece Distribution of the Slave Population by State. . 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. 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. But the feeling is without all adequate cause, and the suspicion which exists wholly groundless. 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? The Webster-Hayne debate laid out key issues faced by the Senate in the 1820s and 1830s. 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.