Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-03-02

all controverted questions about the constitu.
ton, the people, from whom all power is derry
ed, must be, at their elections, if no where else
ITS llnal arbiters and expounders. Let US then
apply tins rule of constructions. What are the
words that would have been probably used ftbe
constitution had meant to give, the power con-
tended for! These would have been make or
construct, and not establish; and let me ask, il
one was to inquire who established a particular
post road, would the inquiry be understood To
apply to the construction of the road itself. or
to the property or quality which the law had
impaired to it Would any one think of the
spades and shovels by which the road was made,
or merely ofthe legislature which had convert
ed it into a mail route?
But again, MIR. Chairman, said Mr.. r. the
power of constructing roads, insisted on bv the
advocates of this bill, n much greater mower
than that of making them the channels of con-
veying the mail. 1t is greater in the cost OF
executing it, and greater in its bearings and
Consequences. gentleman from Pennsylya-
MIA MIR. Stewart) has told US, that the C.. pense
of transporting the mail on the Cumberland
road was formely sixty dollars per mile, (now
reduced to thirty,) but the cost of constructing
1t mas been, believe, upwards of ten thousand
per mile, the interest of which is ten times the
cost OF transporting the mail. Now, supposing
the words to be ambiguous in their meaning, is
1t reasonable to construe them to give the larger
power, when the smaller will satisfy the words.
and when the trainers of the constitution could
so easily have used the unequivocal language of
making or constructing roads, if it had been
their intention to give such power,
Mr.. L. then remarked, that perhaps he had
said more than was necessary to show, that this
clause did not specifically give the power to
construct roads, as nearly all the gentlemen who
had followed the Speaker, had virtually giyen
up this point by deriving the power from some
other part of the constitution. But some, who
could not persuade themselves it could be found
in the right to establish post roads think that it
may be found in that clause winch gives all
powers that are necessary and proper for carry
ing the specific powers into execution and
that the power to construct roads is necessa-
ry power to give effect to the power of establish
ing post roads, in the limited sense in which we
understand it. But, said Mr.. T. the constitu-
ton was made for men and things as they are,
not as they possibly might be. 1t did not mean
to provide Tor extreme and highly improbable
cases, and entirely concur with the Speaker,
that ii is unfair to test the constitution by remote
possibilities. Those who framed it, knew, that.
wherever there we're people, there were roads ;
that these must, necessarily, go hand in hand
with settlement and population that their own
convenience, their necessities, would compel
them to make roads to their ordinary markets.
their court-houses, their places of Worship
Sir, our whole territory is ntersec,ed with roads
ana there IS not, perhaps, square of three
miles IN the United States, having population
OF ten persons on it, in which there is not road
sufficient for transportation of the mail. No.
thing, then, can be more unnecessary than such
a power III Congress and w IN we rememt,,-
with what cautious and jealous spirit power
was doled out to the general government by the
states, 1t may fairly be presumed that, if they
had imagined the case in which the general
government had wanted road in OPPOSE
ton to the wishes of the state through which il
was to pass, they would not have granted the
power. Sir, no questions excite more interest
or are htgated with more warmth, than disputes
about roads.--In Virginia, contests concerning
them are often carried on through all the courts
from the highest to the lowest and the ques-
ton is not there, it commonly is in more thick
ly settled countries, who shall have a road near
him, but who shall get rid oft, because it often
imposes on the landholder the burthen of add.
tional fencing they found that the ex-
ercisc of a jurisdiction by their own courts ex-
cited so much heart-burning and contention a.
moDg the people, it is one of the last powers
they would have surrendered to government
that was new, and in manner foreign to them.
Sir, IN such extreme cases as have been sup
posed to show the necessity of this power, we
must always rely on the discretion and good
sense of those on whom the constitution was in
tended to operate, and it was no more necessary
to provide for them on this subject, than it was
to provide for compelling the states to choose
| Senators or Electors. They will do so for their
own sakes, and the moment law for that pur.
pose becomes necessary, it ceases to have opera.
tion, and the government becomes dissolved
Against these remote contingencies, the good
sense and good feelings of the people are the on.
ly security.
But, 1t has been said, that, if Congress do not
possess the power Ofmaking roads, a state NAV
obstruct the mail when it pleases. But, can any
| thing be more improbable than the suppositIon
that the people will deny themselves the conve-
nience and benefits of the mail, of hearing from
distant friends, of corresponding on business, o.
gratifying their curiosity, for the mere purpose
of thwarting the General Government, Sir
10 the tunes of the most violent party spirit, in
the hottest opposition that the government ha.
ever experienced, no one, not even the Hart
ford Convention, would have purposely given a.
ny distractions to the mail. They were all
anxious to get the Dews; and it is absurd, (ifs
indecorous an expression may be allowed y to
| suppose, that men are TO act against their most
natural feelings. and their plaincst interests
II, however, there should be occasional instan.
ces of wilfu obstruction, the law may act on
the Individual and that affords sufficient securi
ty to the interests ofthe general government.
Mr.. I. said it was unnecessary to take III
further time on this clause he would, howe
yer, before he dismissed it, make single re.
mark, in reply to the gentleman from New York
(N1r. Storrs,) who had supported the Speaker:
construction of this clause. In one particular
said Mr.. T. agree with him. If, to establisf
means to create, admit that he has established
fhe rripc,rlo no ;oo;sic nm c,r a. ,,ot - l..