The Arkansas advocate., 1830-07-07

ine.it, 1t IS hoped that 1t may lead te the adoption ot some plan which will rec oacile the diversified interests of the States, and strengthen the bonds which unite them. Every member oi the Ul- ion, in peace and Ill war, will be bene- hted by the improvement of inland nav igation and the construction of highways ill the several States. Let us then en- deayor to attain this benefit ih mode which will be satisfactory to ali. That hitherto adopted has been deprecated as an iniractlon of the Constitution by ma y of our fellow citizens; while by others 1t has been viewed as inexpedl- ent. All feel that it has been employ ed at the expense of harmony i'll the Legislative Councils" And adserting to tic constitutional power of Congress to make what ] considered a proper dis position of the surplus revenue, l sub join the following remarks: ssI'o avoid these evils, 1t appears to me that the most safe, just and federal disposition which could be made of the surplus rev enue would be it's apporJionment among the several States, according to their ra- tio os representation and should tiliis measure not be found warranted by the Constitution, that t would be expedi- ent to propose te the States an amend ment authorizing it.
 The constitutional power of the Fed eral Government to construct or pro- mote works of internal improvement, presents itself in two points of view the first, as bearing upon the sovereignty of the States within whose limits their ex- ecution is contemplated, if jurisdiction of the territory, which they may oeeu- py, be claimed as necessary to their preservation and use; the second, as 4as- serting the simple right to appropriate money from the National Treasury ii aid ofsueh works, when undertaken by State authority, surrendering the claim of jurisdiction. In the first view, the
 question Of power is an open enc, and can be decided without the embarrass- ments attending the other arising from the practice Of Government. Although frequently and Strenuously attempted, the power to this extent, has never been exercised by the Government ina sin- gle instance. IL does not, in my opinion, possess it; and no bill therefore, which admits it, can receive my official sane ton.
 But,in the other view of the power, the question is differently situated. The ground taken at all early period ol the
 Government, was, Esthat whenever mo- iiey has been raised by the general au- rhority and is to be applied to partic- ular measure, a question arises whether the particularmeasure be withinthe en- umerated authorities yestedin Congress. fit be, the money requisite forit may be applied to 1t; if not, no such application can be made, The document in which this principle was first advanced is of deseryedly nigh authority, and should be held ie greatfal remembrance for it's immediate agency in rescuing the country from much existing abuse, and for its conservative effect upon some of tine most valuable principles Of the Constitution. Thessynmetry and puri- ty of the Government would doubtless. have been better preserved, if this res friction of the power of appropriation could have been maintained without weakening its ability to fulfil the gener- al objections of its institution-an effect so likely to attain its admission, not withstanding its apparent fitness that every subsequent administration of the Government, embracing a period of thirty out of the forty-two years of it's existence, has adopted more enlarged construction of the power. It is not my purpose to detain you by a minute recital of the acts which sustain this as- sertion, but 1t is proper that ! should notice some of the most prominent. in orderthat the reflections which they sug- gest to nay mind may be the better ull- derstood.
 In the administration of Mr. Jefferson we have two examples ofthe exercise of the right of appropriation, which, in the considerations that led to their adoption and in their effects upon the public mind have had . greater agency in marking the character of the power, than any subsequent events. allude to the payment of fifteen millions of dol lars for the purchase of Louisiana, and the original appropriation for the con- of the Cumberland Road the latter act deriving much weight from