Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-07-26

To pay the debts. and provide Tor the com,
mon defence and general welfare OF the United
States,
To borrow money, &c;
Every clause beginning with a Capital Let
ter, and pointed with a semicolon.
This part o! The Report was altered, Up. $3.50
First, by striking out may, BY joirt ballot APP
point a Treasur-r." I'd. (p. $40 by AIDING
al the end ofthc FIRST clause OF The 5'h oecuoh,
LIST. Art. Su, all Duties, Imposts and Excuses
shall be Uniform throughout the VI States, q
underwent, no other alterations. =,
The amendments adopted, we are informed
officially, Up. 372) are iuterlined II in manuscript
in The revised draft of The Constitution, usea
by Mr. Brearly, and from which, OF course II
is copied into The roll signed BY the Members
Of the Convention. As published,it readS
thus
Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power
LIST. TO lay and collect Taxes. DUTIES, I'M
posts and F~xci,es; TO pay The Deb's' ana pro
vide for ,hs common defence ani genera WEI
fare Of the United STATES; but all Duties Inns
posts and Excuses, shall be uniform Throughout
the =. States.
Here the transportation distinctly appears.
The vote was (p. S77) TO add the concluding
5tnteHtt ~ III II llduoE VI ~
which it obviously belonged, whereas II Is add
ed 10 the second. And the including OF the
three provisions in one clause, has no sanction
in he Journals II ought, to have stood thus
Sec, 5. The Congress shall have power TO
lay and collec, Taxes, Duties, 1mposts and hx>
~cises; but all Duties, Impos's and Excuses,
shall be uniform throughout The U. States:
To pay the Debls and provide Tor The COM
mon defence aud General welfare oil Inc Y.
States; SC.
The error, no doubt, arose in copying from
Mr. Brearly's interlined draft, or perhaps IN
making the interline atoms. This verbal crl'
ticism, therefore must be Abandoned.
As 10 the conlemporaneous exposition, 20
which / maintain that we are bound 10 attach
very grea, weight, il is impossible Tor any thing
to be stronger than the evidence il affords 10
III owe the understanding with which the Cons'I-
tuition was adopted ny the American people.
The first Congress, elected by the very people
who in Convention adopted it, in The very sec
ond act ever passed by them, express their
opinions in these explicit Terms. The act Is
entitled can act for laying duties on Goods,
Wares, and Merchandise, imported into the y.
States" And the preamble reads thus
"Whereas, it is necessary for the support OF
Government, for the discharging debts OF the
u. States. and The encouragement and protection
of Manufactures, that Duties be laid on Goods,
Wares, and Merohandises, imported, &C.
This Tariff imposes 10 cents on Indigo, which
was then cultivated only in South Carolina and
Georgia, and was not an article OF Import from
abroad, for we had no manufactures 10 use 1t
in, and possibly gave the FIRST start TO Cotton,
which was then scarcely sown or Imported; SO
tina, our two staples were among The very hrst
--.:-l- 49, $500. ,.1 hu thic ktpcnrnpI and
tyrannical power"
How dull and stupid must our Pinckneys and
Rutledges have been, not to see its uncons'iiu
tionality, or how groveiIipg to have accepted
a boon under II! 1t remained Tor our illumi
natl to dispel the darkness that developed US;
are they luminaries from Heaven or "balelul
meleors?' Is The light they shed around us,
an emana,ion from The divine mind, or a CLEAN
from
"The foods or whirlwinds oftempestuous fire"
Milton.
From the first organization OF the Govern
ment, down TO the time when Heaven, in its
wrath sen; among rs the fire. brands oiEng'and.
men who dared lift a sacriligious hand against
the integrity Of The Uhion-the constitutional.
~ OF the exercise Of ihis power, never was
questioned BY examining the debates Of The
day, it will be found, | believe, that there was
not a single question rais,d on the floor Of Con-
gress; when The act alluded 10 was nnder dis
t~ussion except en- points OF equality and ex>
pediency. And there Is not, | b~tlieNe,a dis
tinguished man, Of the times, from Gen Wash
ington down, who has not left Oh record, ex'
pressions of opinion, which leave no doubt Of
the prevalent sentiment Of the day, IN favour oil
the righr Of Congress so 10 exercise its power
TO lax or restrict Commerce, as to give ad-
vantages 10 American Commerce and Manu-
factures.-The policy has been uDdeviatingly
pursu,d as often a, the views and capacities Of
the country indicated lis expediency.
am bewiidered when l find The Legislature
Of my own State, surprised Into the declaration,
tina, the promotion Of manufactures (%without
reference 10 forced means) is not a "Public
CONCERN" while il is denlonstrable that we have
The skill, the population, and the means Of ex>
porting hundreds Of millions more than we DO,
and instead Of cramping cur commerce, Of
doubling and ilebling and quadrupIing i, only
by initiating the policy Of a wise and formida-
IIo &c no, , ,y;Iy ,ivo1