The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-02-09

xs,ds the new States in making various and some
very extensive grants Of the public lands Tor local Pur
poses"
n,.. ,he Senator from Kentucky complain OF this
lbe,aliiyi Far from it, Mr.. President; hear him on
that subject;
But in accordance with the same liberaliiy, the
committee wonld reco nnend appropriation to each
OF the seven States referred 10, (Ohio Indiana Illinois,
Missouri. Mississippi. Alabama. aud Louisiana, Mch-
gan and Arkansas being then Territories of further
OF ten The proceeds OF the sales OF
that part OF the public domain which lies within H."
Does this look like hlsIi 10 the new States
Sir, (said MIR. 50 the bill as II passed Congress
gave Ia per cent Of the proceeds OF the lands 10
the States In which they laid, and 10 each OF The
States named quantity Of land which, with what
lhev had received made them equal with Ohio
Under this bill, sir the Stale oi Indiana would ere
This have received over two millions and a half Of
dollars as her diStrbuive share, besides a large
additional donation OF land, creating fund which
would have been amply sufficient, had The policy
been continued TO educate every child 10 the State,
and pay The taxes OF the people for ages, besides
aiding greatly in our works Of internal improve
mcni. II will be recollecied, MIR. PrrSiden, (Said
Mr.. 81 thai we had 10 the West doctrine, al one
time lied the eminent domain doctrine, a kind OF
South Carolina ductrint, under whirh some of our
politicians claimed the whole Of the public lands
within the States BY virtue Of Stale
saw, you cannot have forgotten that such was the
claim up nv OF our western politicianS; as
fr myself, could not bring my mind 10 The
cluson that he claim was more than plausible, If
even so much. But, r, the friends OF that measure
exhibited TO The people the great advantages which
wonld result 10 The new States, should Il succeed by
making he whole of the public domain within their
limits fund for The education Of the youth the sup
port OF the State Governments without resort 10
taxation and In aiding them with their works Of in
ternal improvement; all this was admitted, but then
came the conpacis the deeds, and objects OF ces>on,
the means and treasure employed in their acqn>i-
tion as barriers T. The realization Of the fondiy
cherished hopes OF our eminent domain men, and for
sever years We have heard nothing on the subject.
Bur, sir, my object at this is not 10 cen>ure
Those who believed in the eminent domain doctrines,
but 10 say 10 them, we'll as the Senate that the
land bill of which | have been speaking was inf
nitely more advantageous 10 the new States than
their fayorite policy. In the one case Your claim
ended with the appropriation of the lands lying
within your Limits the best of which had been culed
and sold by the General Governments and, in The
other, as proposed by the bill, you received one.
eighth Of that sum, with the additional grants Of
land proposed in the BILL Of the lands lying within
the limits OF your State, and then received your
equal share of the proceeds OF the residue in The re-
spectve States and Territories, besides your equal
proportion according Ia vour federal representation
of The proceeds Of the 900 acres that lie be-
yond the States and Territories. Therefore repeat
that The amount 10 be received under the provision
OF the dSlrihutive land bill OF the Senator from
Kentucky, by the new STA rs, would have been inf
I
time Of all the lands within their limits in pecu-
Li'ry point of view.
But, sir there is another view which struck my
mind as being en'iled to great weight in the dec-
81 IN OF that question: mean It's nationality. II has
been said, Mr. President, (Said Mr. 81 by The wiseSt
and gre aest men, and believe truly said, that il is
not the mere pa chment scroll, called Consiu-
lion, that binds the people OF this great nation to-
! gether, but an equality OF rights and community
Of interests and should this equality or that com
munitv be DESTROYED, that between he mother
country and the colonies should the Gordan knot
be cut united il i'll be precisely the same IN its
results equally disastrous to the people. That Is,
therefore, wise legislation which strengthens these
lgamenlS OF equality and interest which bind us
together as a nation. And it does seem 10 me, sir,
that the tendency OF the land bill was to produce thai
happy effect. The nator from Mississippi will
! therefore pardon me- if cannot with him, see in
this great measure of the Senator from Kentucky,
hostility TO the best interests Of the West. nor do
believe that majority Of the people of the West SO
! view il.
come now tsad Mr. S) briefly to examine another
aude, sir the act distribute the surplus revenue
have heard that denounced this floor in
measured terms, being hostile to the interest Of the
West specially by the Senator from Mississippi but
by others IL is highly probable, however that this
sure III the Of hsf Senator forms of the hostile
OF the Senator from Kentucky | propose, there
fore, TO examine ii very briefly, and 10 show that such
not It's operation What was the state Of the case
before Congress aud tie country the of the pas
sage Of that act. Mr. PRESIDENT WHY. sir the national
debt paid and It was obvious that large surplus
Of public money would remain in the Treasury after the
payment OF the usual expenses Of the Government The
question then 10 the proper disposition Of these
surplus fluids. The Senator from Missouri (Mr. Ben
ton) proposed to ener upon grand system Of ortca-
tons, the construction OF which would have absorbed
the whole Of the surplus. and still have required much
more complete and arm them. without any cores
Iondng benefit whatever 10 the country This project
had hut few adhcrenfs and its rival the dis
trhutlon OF the surplus amongst the States according
their federal representation was warmly advocated by
the Senator from Kentucky and Others, and hccome a
law BY this law, the money that had been drawn from
the pockets OF the people principally from the sales
OF the public lands, was returned again to them 10 the
States 10 he appropriated for their II is true,
(said Mr. but three Of the AILMENTS have been
received by the States and it is due randor say
that CONSIDER the matter settled here that the States
to receive more, and that the Government is to
view the amount received by the States donation or
GIT to them. not to be returned So ] presume this
matter will end The States having received the three
instruments, Mr.. President, clearly benefited to
that amount while the couner-pr project, the nrlfcaton
system, would have been beneficial person, except
perhaps the contractors Between these modes OF dis
posing OF the surplus revenue, 1t seems me, could
not have hesiaied: view the support gwen
the distribution act BY the Senator from Kentucky
hostile TO the interest Of the West but, on the contrary
| highly beneficial to that section of country.
! Sir. (sald Mr. $ the support gwen by the Senator
from Kentucky to the protective system III DAVIS gone by
has been again and referred by the Senator from
Missouri as hostile to the Western interest II is not
70 he denied by that the Senator from Kentucky has
been the advocate Of the protective system or in other
words The protection Of American industry against a too
powerful foreign competition, by duties the mporta-
ton Of the foreign article feel disposition Mr.
President to revive the argument this question !;
much may he said both sides of it 1t has always
appeared to me that derive our revenue TO sup.
port and carry the operations Of the Government from
mposts il hnt right and proper 10 confne those
duties Ia articles which could be manufactured in the
United States in sufficient quantities supply the de-
mand and thereby make the tariff for projection and
revenue Identical In this light no one at this day de-