Arkansas intelligencer., 1844-12-21

portion ora part :of the Constitution, and without,
SO viewing them, no man can properly understand
that instrument. OF these amendments to the
Constitution, in the opinion of the author of the
Declaration of Independence, The tenth is the most
important. The truth is, the tenth amendment,
is the Judgment of the people themselves how, and
in what manner, the Constitution to be interpret
ed by those vested with governmental power.
will read it directly.
Mr.. President, now come to my resolution
1t declares the law, distributing the proceeds of
the sales of the public lands, unconstitutional.
will here read from the Constitution the powers
granted to Congress on tho subject .a .
. Art. ls. Sec. Sth. Con. U. S. " Tho Con.
gress shall have power to lay and collect taxes,
duties, mPosts, and excises, to pay the debts and
provide for the common defence and general wei
fare of the United States" 1t goes on to emu.
merate the general powers of Congress, such as to
borrow money, to declare war, to raise armies
&c. But all these powers are for particular OBJ
Jects, and the objects named. Afer enumerating
the grants of power, the section concludes in
these words: TO make all laws necessary and
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing
powers, and all other powers vested by this Con-
sttntion in the Government of the United States.
or in any department or officer thereof" 1t is in
the beginning and conclusion of this section, that
the wings profess to find power and constitutional
authority for most of their favorte mea S.
And 1t was IN particular, to limit and define this
sectIon that the people attached to all the grants
of power conferred in the Constitution. the ton,h
amendment of which h.ve spoken, and which
will now read
Amendments Con. U. S. Art. 10. "The pow
ers not delegated to the United States by tho Con-
stituton. prohibited by it to the States are re-
served to the States respectively, or to tho peo-
ple.''
With this Interpretation of the Constitution
by the American people, we in vain search in it
for any constitutions! authority to pass the distri.
button law. 1t has there no :. local habl,nton. ~
And |, Mr.. President, with perfect confidence in
the correctness o! my position. declare any law to
distribute the proceeds Of the sales of the public
lands TO be clearly unconstitutional.
Having established the unconstitutionality of
the law, will now prove TO the Senate, that in IL
pecun'ary aspect, it is unjust and nexpedcnt
that 1t will take more money from The people than
it will dis tribute to them, and that the whole ope
ration of the law will be one of cost. of loss. and
OF injustice. Tho amount to be distributed is SUD-
posed to average about S3,000,OO0. | will here
remove wrong conception. The idea held ou,.
TO distribute the proceeds Of the sales of public
lands, lsa delusion, humbug, held out by the
WbiUS. hpD iS yoJ
sources Of revenue, for instance from the public
lands, or from the Custom House, it is paid over
into the Treasury of tho United States. All pub.
lie monies received from all sources of revenue,
arc paid into the Treasury, and these form the rev.
enue of government. Congress do not, thev can
not, distribute the proceeds of the sales of public.
lands. But they can distribute an amount equal
to the sum received from that source. and that
amount, SO distributed, must be taken out of tho
Treasury, where were deposited the monies deriv.
cd from every source of revenue. Congress would
then have to raise by law an amount equa! TO the |
sum distributed. How could Congress do this ! |
Congress cannot augment the amount derived from
hefsales of public land. That source Of revenue
yields all it be made to vioId. The power of
grCSS is SlTelcIlGu 10 lis extreme tension. he
power of Congress (omtling direct taxation ).has
only source that II can act on, that is the Gus
om House revenue. Congress raise the
amount by a tariff law. If then, out of the rev.
,nue the government distributes certain sum of
money, and raises the same amount by increasing
he ia riff, does it not follow. that the amount dis
lributod would be derived from impost duties in
stead of the sales of public lands! And for tins
very plain and common sense reason that the land !
revenue is now at its highest point, and cannot be
The additional revenue required by
the law must be derived from the source which
Congress has power to increase, and that source
is the tariff and Custom House revenue.
Here, then, is the delusion and humbuggcry off
the law. 1t is represented to the people as dstrib-
uting The land revonue, while have plainly it, |
lustrated, that the money CONES, in most part,
from tax laid on articles, goods, and wares i'm
ported from abroad. No person understands this
truth better than the whig leaders and the manu-.
facturers. 1t is the fact which ! have hero SET
forth, that so recommends the law to its friends.
nj. prosdant | will pn,v VII ihit ha Iovs x,hi i.b