Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-05-08

constitutional construction is the whole
of it's Importance for us.
Might this Federal Government,
whose wheels were but lately set in
motion, or might it not, create bank:
This was the question, for and against
which men rallied with the enthusiasm
of intense convictions. YES" said Ham
ilton, though it be not written in terms
if it be useful, proper, and necessary
IN the enjoyment Of the powers express
ly granted. it is implicitly written in
the Constitution This fundamental
doctrine of Hamiltonian federalism is
today the law OF the land, embodied
in and justified by the clear logic Of
John Marshall, the greatest of Ameri-
can Chief justices. Applause on the
Republican side.] OF any chief justice
of any land the peer; pure upright,
fearless, and patriotic, a pioneer in an
uncleared wilderness of jurisprudence.
no problem ever left his great mind
unsolved; no principle dear to the
lovers of liberty ever passed under his
pen without valuable elucidation and
adorrment. Applause on the Repub-
lican side.l
1t was a further part of Hamilton's
comprehensive craftsmanship to enlist
the national resources in the protection
of the varied industries of his country.
The growth and production of the mate
rails natural and capable of adaptation
to it's soil and their manufacture We're,
| in his judgment, entitled to the specific
aid of the General Government. What
| ever" said he, concerns the general
| interest of learning, of agriculture, of
| manufactures, and of commerce is
| within the sphere of the national con-
| Germs" That Government which today
appronriates a portion of it's means to
| scientific research and the diffusion of
knowledge; which by protection fosters
| its nome industries; which encourages a
| system of internal improvements inter-
locking the Lakes, binding ocean to
| ocean and Canada to the Gulf-eXp"n-
| SiVe, practical, beneficent-aS clea"
| stands his monument as does the gr; IL
| dcur of LondOn'S st. Paul's proclaim
| the genius of Sir Christopher :. rem.
| Applause ON the Republican side.
! Architects both, each in his sphere
peerless; 81 quoeris monumentun, cir
cunspice.
| This policy of internal improv
is it not a permanent policy? Is it not
firmly embedded in our system, and
| does it not now command universal
support? Was it of Democratic origin?
The constitutionality of appropriations
fol internal improvements was denied
by jefferson, by Madison. and by Mon
roe. In the last moments of his official
| life Madison vetoed bill 'for con-
| structng roads and canals and improv-
|
for the reason that Congress- had no
constitutional power to e:pend the pub
| lie revenues for any such purpose.
| Monroe in his first annual message
announced in most explicit terms the
| same doctrine. Andrew Jackson fol-
| lowed. In his first annual message he
condemned the constitutionality of an
internal-improvemen system, and in
veto inessag e, May q, $780, summed up
| at great length the objections to the
| system. The first convention of the
National Republicans CWhigs) assert
ed in one of it's resolutions that "a uni
| form system of internal improvements,
| sustained and supported by the Gen
eral Government, is calculated 10 Sc
cure in the highest degree the harmony,
| the strength, and the permanency of
| the Republic" From 1910 to 1864 the
| Democratic party quadrennially con-
dalnned the nternal-improvement sys-
tenn in every shape and form.
| From the foundation of the Govern
ment until the present day the tendency
| of our national life has been in accord
ance with the principles handed down
| by Hamilton-toWards national control
of all matters that a matured and in
telligert public opinion hold to be of
national concern. The tendency has
been aggravated by the advance in the
means of intercommunication whereby
matters once considered of local inter-
est are now recognized as of continent
| tai importance.
The gentleman from New York is no
| more fortunate in claiming for Andrew
! Jackson the credit for saving the Union
| than he is in claiming for Thomas
Jefferson the credit of the Louisiana
purchase.
| 1t would serve but little purpose for
| me now to go into a lengthy discussion
| of that question. Only a word in pass
| ing, and l know that my friend from
| Missouri Mr.. Clark. who is so
thoroughly posted on this question, will
recognize the truth of what l say as I
go along. Mr.. Jefferson never dreamed
of acquiring any of the territory west
of the Mississippi save only the post
| at New Orleans. And he never dreamed
even of that until the western set
| tiers. deprived of treaty rights of de-
posit at New Orleans. drove him to it,
1t was to acquire New Orleans only
that he sent Monroe to France Both
he and his Secretary of State, Mr. Mad
ison. saw nothing but danger in any
acquisition of territory west of the
Mississippi. TO the French minister in
Washington they explained that the
United States had no interest in ex-
tending its population to the west bank
''since such extension would tend to
weaken the State and to slacken the
concentration of its forces" "In spite
of afiinties in manner and language"
said his Secretary of State, mo colony
beyond the river could exist under the
same government, but would infallibly
give birth to a separate State, having
in it's bosom germs of collision with
the East, the easier to develop in pro-
portion to the very affinity between the