The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-08-28

SafiyHS Ihuo fuHoWs as a natural result OF inc
other assumptions OF power. Thus, under a mere
power 10 prescribe uniform rules for conducting
our foreign and domestic commerce., Congress be-
comes an absolute despolism, monopollzng the
entire commerce Of the country, foreign and do
nestle, and driving all competitors from our
waters.
A conclusion so monstrous, SO utterly at war
with all the principles OF our conederated Repub-
lie, should cover with shame and confusion the adj
vocates of such construction of plain language
which conveys but single meaning.
AGAIN, sir, II 10 improve the highways over
winch commerce IL transported be TO regulate
commerce, as the committee contend, then all the
ooverseers Of roads and road makers, and all the
Irish and German emigrants laborng on the rail-
roads OF the United States, actively engaged in
regulating commerce among the States. /" They
are dong that which the Constitution has coniided
alone to Congress. Their acts are therefore un-
constitutional and void, and the Committee on
Commerce should sally out and work the roads
themselves by way Of executing their constitu-
uonal power to regulate commerce,
But, SIR, If to improve harbors be TO regulate
commerce in the United States, this bill violates
the Constitution in another particular. Several of
the ports of the United States are not included in
the bill, and the Constitution declares that % No
preference shall be given by any regulation of
commerce to the ports OF one State over those Of
another" This bill gives preference to the ports
" ~" Aoih oSoA VIC pottS VI Scfeiut ouict
States. .
This clause of the Constitution should satisfy
the committee that they wrong in the nterpre-
tation they have given to the power to regulate
commerce. IL is wholly impossible TO improve
all the ports of the United States alike. Some
require large expenditures Of money, while others
are perfect by nature and require none at ALL But
if the regulation of commerce be simply to pre-
scribe rules by which commerce and navigation is
to be conducted one set of rules will apply TO all
the ports in the Union; and hence no preference
would be given to any port by such regulations !;
and such is clearly the intent of the trainers of the
Constitution
The question was then taken on the amendment,
and IT was rejected.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
Mr.. FREEMAN. Mr.. Chairman, am OPP
posed to the amendment of the gentleman from
Alabama. In my former remarks Of this morning
disputed the power of Congress to make internal
improvements under the power to regulate COM
merce," but do not deny the power Of Congress,
under other grants of the Constitution to improve
such rivers and harbors as are strictly national
highways, and not exclusively ithin the Jurisdiction
Of State. Congress may regulate the commerce
of rivers within the jurisdiction of State, but
cannot interfere with the right of State to con-
st'riet Improvements by removing distractions,
erecting wharves, locks, dams, or even turning
the channels Of rivers. A State may levy tolls on
vessels navigating such improved rivers or har-
bors; but the Constitution expressly forbids any
State to levy any duty of tonnage, or any impost
or duties on imports or exports, except what may
be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection
laws, and even such duties are for the use Of the
Unit States, and subject to the revision of Con-
gress These and the like regulations of COM
merce reserved exclusively to Congress, and
lend additional force to the conclusion that the
improvement, of rivers and harbors are not reguia-
fions Of commerce.
All oceans, bays, CULTS, har5ors, rivers, and
lakes not entirely within the territorial jurisdiction
Of State are national highways, and liable to be
improved by authority of Congress. No State
can assume the power TO improve such waters,
because they are the common property Of all the
States. They cannot be improved by combina-
ton of States, because the Constitution declares
that no State shall, without the consent of Con-
gress, enter into any agreement or compact Nth
another Stdie.n
The Mississippi river is an illustration of this
principle. IL has its source near the boundary
between the United States and the British posses
sions; it passes through the commercial as well as
the geographical heart Of the Union, and finally
empiies into the Gulf of Mexico. Bordering on
the west bank of the river are the States of Loui-
siana Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and the Territory
of Minnesota; on the east bank are Wisconsin,
Illinois, Keatucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi
making two continuous tiers of States, spanning
the entire Union from British America to the Gulf
Of Mexico. All the great rivers that flow from
the Rocky mountains, through Nebraska the In
dian Territory, and upper Texas-the Missouri,
the Platte, the Arkansas, the Canadian, and the
Red rivers, with their numerous navigabe branches
empty into the Mississippi On the east side
are several rivers in Wisconsin and Illinois. the
Ohio and its tributaries, including the Cumberland
and Tennessee rivers, and minor streams from the
O. orh O., n
Territories IN the richest and most productive
portion of the habItabe globe, whose commerce
naturally flows into the channel of the Mississippi
river. IL such river be not a national highway
for the United States, then the Atlantic ocean Is
not. The border Of the Atlantic coast, from the
State Of Mississippi to the British line, has Ala
bama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jer-
sey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts,, New
Hampshire, and Maine-being fourteen States
Add Pennsylvania and Vermont, which are not
Immediately on the coast, and there would be
sixteen States. But the western part Of Pennsyl-
vania has large commerce on the Ohio, and
thence down the Mississippi river. So that the
commerce OF the Mississippi river arises from as
many States and Territories as border tho Atlantic
coast from Maine TO the Mississippi line, thereby
making the Mifsissippi river as much national
highway for all the purposes OF commerce and
national defence as the Atlantic ocean itself No
single State has the sole right TO improve this
river. The Constitution forbids all the States
from making csmpacts or agreements with one
another, and therefore the Mississippi cannot be
improved by a combination Of part or all OF the
fifteen States and Territories Immediately inter-
ested in its navigation.
The same is the case with regard TO the great
lakes and connecting rivers that separate US from
British America. Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York,
all border upon this chain Of inland seas. No
single State can claim their exclusive jurisdiction.
IT, then, no single State improve these waters,
and no combination Of States can be made for that
purpose, it follows, an irresistible conclusion,
TINT the power rests in the United States. But,
independent OF this argument, there are other
grants in the Constitution which throw upon the
FEDERAL Government. the onus Of improving the
navigation Of the class of waters named.
Congress is authorized to lay and collect taxes,
duties, impos,s, and excuses, pay the debts and
provide for the common defence and general veifare
Of the United States" ITO provide and main
tain navy" "To raise and support armies v
ITO provide for calling forth the militia to exc
cute the laws Of the Union, suppress insurrections
and rcpel invssions." ITO establish post roads y
and under the war power, military roads.