Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-02-13
GxApu.rloN BILL.--MR. CALHOUN 5 RE-
MARKS.

gfossrlent OF the bill ior graduating ths
price Of public lands.
Mr.. Calhoun said: have no desIre'
Mr.. President, to re;ard, in the SMALLEST DE-
gree, the final action of the Senate on TINS
bin and in order 10 avoid unnecessary
consunp,ion of time, intend to State, as
conciseiy as possible, my views OF the
proper policy to be pursued IN reference 10
the public lands lying within the i''nis OF
the new States aud my reasons Tor voting
aya:as, the ensrossment of ibis bill.
i shall begin with promising that | am
under strong conviction, both from obser-
va;iou and reflection, that we have arrived
at the period when an en- ire revolution oil
our land system, as far as it is applicable
10 those States, is unavoidable. They have,
in fac, outgrown the system. Since its frs,
adup;ion, they have come into existence:
have passed through a state OF INFANCY ana
have now arrived at manhood. The system
which was wise and just at frs, Is neither
wise nor just applied - them in their Chan.
ged condition.
We have heard much, Mr.. President, in
the present discussion, about the growth
of the new States; but, i'll may Judge from
the various measures proposed on the pres
en-, occasion, we have neither realized us
rapidity, nor the unavoidable changes in our
land system which must follow m its train.
Their wonderful growth is, idced, one OF
those realities almost beyond the grasp of
Imagination. When go back twenty. seven
years, to the period when | first became a
member of the other House, and compare
what the new States then were, to what
,hev are, am lest in wonder and amaze
ment. Their growth is without example.
There is nothing like it in history. AT thai
time there was but single new State,
(Ohio exclude Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Maine, all Of which have been admitled
since the adoption ofthe Constitution, and
limi. my remarks 20 those which have since
sprung up on the public domain.
OHIO had then but one Representative in
the other House, Jeremiah Morrow, an
honest and sensible man, who was al that
time at the head of the Committee on Pub.
lie Lands, and had the confidence of the
House so completely that his voice was the
law on all subjects connected with them
So little interest did they, a, that time, excite.
There were then llirty.two Senators in all,
Of which Ohio had, of course, two; thai is,
the one sixteenth of the whole. In the
electoral college she had three votes, which
made her weight about the one fitleth in
,ha, body-a weight scarcely fell or estl'
ma,ed in the political movements OF the
day.
Such, at that time, was the infant and fee
bic condition of the new states. Snce then,
in period but little exceeding that allotted
to single generation, to pass over tho stage
Of life, how wonderful the change! Instead
one, as then, there arc now nine new
States; and in the place Of two Senators
in thirty.;wo, We now have eighteen IN fifty.
two; making, instead of oue-slxleen'h,
more than third of,he whole; and already
three Territories. Florida, Wisconsin, and
Iowa, are struggling for admission. When
admitted, which must be shortly, there VIII
then 10 Twelve now STATES, with twcnty-tou'
Senators in fifiy-six, which will Increase
their relative weight in this body TO three
sevenlhs of the whole.
Bu; as wonderful as las been the increase
in this body, ii will be still more so, alter
the mex, census, N the other. 1t will be
taken next year, and lew apporlionmen
of The members will be made under the
Constitution when, instead of a single
member, beng less than one IN q hundred
as was the case twenty. seven years ago
iha representation Of the new States vii
ttfsa stand to the old, at least, as forty te
Sky, or two-fiths ofthc hole, as calcula'
ted by a friend familiar with the subject
and in whose accuracy have entire conf
dcnco. The new Safes having, as they
vii! then, tnree.seYcnills 10 ihls, and two-hiths
in the other Louise, w, Of c1urse, have a
relative weight in the electoral colitge, oil
ihe same thing in Il choice of President
compounded of,he two, that is, five. .twelfths
of tne whole, So much for the past.
Now If We turn TO the future, we shal
find he cause of amazing growth so fal
iro'n 0=,ng exhausted or weakened. is act
lug si.H increased force, aud urging for.
ware the growth of those STATES wit, &C.
CELEBRATED, instead ola decreasing. velocity
SO much SO, tnat the past changes in the
.aSt VENT seven years will appear as nolh.
az. cotnpared with what viii take place in
t'ae ncAt tNcnIy seven, unless some untore-
seen occurrence should intervene to Ietard
their progress. ifmy memory serves me
our population, twenty seven years ago
was aooul seven Millions and our annua
n:rease then, that is, the excess OF birth:
over deaths, including emigration, abou
two hundred thousand, estimating ou'
growth at three per cent. compound. Since
then, our population has increased not les:
than nine millions, making the presen
Nrnhohlx, ,oh N