Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1880-05-11
Speech of Hon. John Randolph Tucker,
in the House Of Representatives, April
20nd. 1880.
Joint resolution No. $50.


29nd. 1880.
Joint resolution no. $50.
Resolued By the Senate and House Of Repre-
sentutiues of the United States of America f'a Con-
gress assembled, That the thanks of this Con
Algernon Coolidge, Mr.. Thomas Jefferson Cool
idge, and Mrs. Ellen Dwight, citizens OF Mas
sachusetts, for the patriotic gift of the writing
father the late Joseph Coolidge, upon which
the Declaration of Independence was written
And be 1t further resolved, That this precious
relict is hereby accepted in the name OF tne IN na
tion, and that the same be deposited for safe
keeping in the Department OF State OF I'M
United States.
And be it further resolved, That copy Of these
resolutions, signed by the President of the Sen
ate and the Speaker of the House OF Repre-
sentatlves, be transmitted to the donors.
The joint resolution was read first
and second time.
Mr.. TUCKER. Mr.. Speaker, most
cordially second the resolution offered
by the honorable gentleman from Mas
sachusetts, Mr.. CRAPo.]
1t is an interesting fact that citizens
of Massachusetts, who are also descend
ants of the author OF the Declaration OF
Independence, thus mingling in theil
veins the blood of the two most ancient
CommonWealtks of the Union, should
present to the United States tO, day this
precious mementO of that great paper
which was written by son of Virginia.
and was supported by the powerful and
fervid eloquence of an illustrious son OF
Massachusetts.
How wonderful and curious is the
power of the Imagination to infuse the
immortality of human thought into
this unconscious desk that felt the inn
press Of that pen which yindicated the
already existent fact OF the fraedOHl and
Independence of the thirteen American
States! We have long had the original
paper among our archives, aud now we
have the desk on which it was written.
How vividly these recall the head and
heart and band of Jefferson, the writer
of Adams, the advocate; and each OF
those other Representatives of the origi-
nal thirteen States whose signatures tn
the paper have given them an immortal
fameI
The office of the true statesman IL
akin to that of the poet. The statesman
must ipterDret and embody in words or
deeds the Iatslt thoughts, interests. pur-
poses and destiny 81 bis people. In a
great crisis, it is bis to manifest to them
and to declare to the world, ia we'll saii
gested forms, the cause of present Rc-
ton, gnd to forecast the future policy OF
his couatxy. Under the inspiration of
such statesman, a people become con-
scious of its appointed work, and labors
intelligentIy to achieve by the wisest
methods the highest objects OF a2t.s.a9nal
ambition.
In this sense, there was nothing new
in the Declaration of Independence.
The rough jewels of peoples thought
were gatheied, polished. and set in this
splendid coronet, PLACED upon the brow
of virgin continent by tha genius of
Jefferson. From the teeming soil OF his
fertile and comprehensive mind sprang
fruit-bearing thoughts for the generation
following; and he uttered them in an
age and to men of simple tastes and
habits, whose heroic natures preferred
conflict to indolentsubnission to wrong
if by a brave struggle freedom aad ipde
pendence could be won. Their appetite
the tastes of luxury, nor their passion
for Independence corrupted by self
indulgence. War was needed to win
liberty and independence. Luxury
could have done neither; but let us not
forget it may, as it has done, cause the
loss of both after they have been gained
by patient endurance and heroic cour-
age.
It must be remembered that the Eng
disappearing people of the Colonies
were inheritors of the muniments Of
Anglo-Saxon liberty, ascertained and
established in the thirteenth century by
Magma Charta, the written constitution
of England, which itself declared every.
thing to be void that was contrary
thereto; that the English revolution ol
the 18th century was our own; that in
1923, before James I; the Pedant King,
died, Virginia declared by statute what
was confirmed as fundamental law by
treaty in 1851 with the commonwealth
of England that the people of Virginia
could not be taxed but by the consent o1
her own house of burgesses; that Mas
sachusetts in 1886. and other Colonies
subsequently, approved the same vita
principle; that Samuel Adams in May
1764. in Faneuil Hall, and Patrick Hen
ry IN May. 1765, in the house of bur-
gesses of Virginia, in solemn and defiant
tones denounced taxation by any other
meaEs as tyrannical and agaipet law
that congress- Of nine Colonies in Oc'
tober, 1865, proclaimed the same doc
trine; that on the 18th of October. IVA
the first Continental Congress, having
met September s. IVA, memine contra
dicente, declared that the inhabitants OF
the English Colonies, by the laws ol
nature, the principles of the English
constitution, and their several charters
or compacts were "entitled to the free
and exclusive power of legislation" in
all cases OF taxation and internal poll
ty" in their ''seyeral provincial legisla-
tures," rs they wefs not and could moi
be properly represented in the Rritist
Parliament; that representation anG
taxation must go together; that jury
trial was their great and inestimable
privilege;;" :" that the keeping standing
army in any Colony in time of peace
without the consent of its legislature
was against law; ana that they claimed
all of these as ''their indubitable rights
and libertieS, and insisted they could
not be altegsI pY abridged without theil
consent sin their seveJai psoYincisl
legislatures.
And it is interesting to state further
that Mr.. Jefferson had already writer
the preamble to the constitution of Vir
ginia, drawn by the master hand O.
George Mason, az Gunsten Hall, which
had beer adopted on the astb ii June
l776, in which preamble are fecited tbs
charges against the Crown and Parlia
ment of Great Britain, with little differ.
ence Of phraseology from that used in