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

But Robert Livingston. our minister
to France, awaited himself of his oppor-
tunity and eff Napoleon's necessity and
made the purchase of the great terri
tory now constituting SO many glorious
States of the Union. The purchase
took Jefferson by surprise. At first he
thought he would cede part OF 1t to
the Indians in exchange for their hold
ings on the east side of the mississippi
and "shut up all the rest from settle
ment for long time to come" Then
he raised the question of constitu-
tional amendment. II suppose Con-
gress must appeal to the nation for an
additional article to the Constitution
approving and confirming an act which
the nation had not previously author
ized,'' he wrote Senator Breckenridge.
of Kentucky. '"Thes Constitution has
eign territory. still less for incorpora-
ting foreign nations into our Union.
The Executive in seizing the fugitive
commandments the term, the "fugi.
tive occurrence'-"wh so much adj
vances the good of their country, have
done an act beyond the Constitution.
When these views reached Living
ston in France, he Immediately gave
Jefferson to understand that if the
business were to be done over again
it never would be done. And thereupon
Jefferson took alarm and Immediately
sent off another letter to Senator
Breckenridge, in which he said:
I wrote you on the 18th instant on the
subject of Louisiana and the constitu-
tional provision which might be neces-
sary for ii. A letter Just received yeSter-
day shows that nothing must be said on
that subject which may give 4 preteXt
for retreating,. but that we should do
sub sientio what shall be found neces-
sary. BE SO good, therefore. as to consid-
or that part of my letter confidential.
Laughter and applause on the Re-
publican side.]
Was there any constitutional amend
ment ever afterwards suggested to in
dorse the Louisiana purchase? Ger
tainly not! No such amendment was
sought.
Resort was had to the Hamiltonian
doctrine that the Constitution created
nation with all the powers thereof
The dominant statesmen of that day
held, as was subsequently held by the
courts, that the United States was
| sovereign nation, having and entitled
| to exercise all the powers of any
sovereign nation, the right to make
| war and peace, the right to acquire
| territory, and, as a necessary conse-
| quence of that right, the right to
govern it without limitation save in
| the discretion of the Congress. That
| is the law of the land today as applied
| with respect to our new possessions
| so that not only was Mr.. Jefferson not
| the author of the Louisiana purchase
| in the first instance, but the credit of
having that great territory that We
| have today is due to the doctrines laid
down by Alexander Hamilton in as
sertion of the nations powers under
the Constitution. Applause on the
! Republican side.
! On January 10, 1903, Mr. Gallatin
/ Nice to Mr.. Jefferson as to the
Louisiana Purchase:
But does any constitutional objection
| first. that the United States a nation
| have an inherent right to acquire terri
tory: second that whenever that acqui-
Sition is by treaty, the same constitu-
tional authorities i'm whom The treatv-
| making power is vested have the con-
sttutional right to sanction the acquisi-
| ton.
| The gentleman from New York is
not content with eliminating from our
national history every party but his
own in general terms. He enters into
further particulars. He says:
The history of the last fifty years has
| been the enforcement reluctantly of
Democratic policies by Republican poll
| tlcianS.
[Laughter1
The policies Of the last fifty years,
what are they?
1t is no exaggeration to say that
they are writ large in the worlds
| ledger, not as belonging to the United
States alone, but as bearing on the
destinies of mankind. Like some great
mountain peak dominating the land
scape, the most conspicuous of these
policies is that which in simple terms
told the bOndman to go free-the
emancipation proclamation of the Re-
publican politician. Abraham Lincoln
Applause on the Republican side]
| Was the enforcement of the national
authority Democratic policy-the
giant war with it's awful record of
human sacrifice, enforced by the
|
they Republican politcians), who in
camp, on the battlefield, and in prison,
laid down their lives a willing sacrifice
that the Union might endure? ZAP
plause on the Republican side.l
| Were those Democratic policies
whereby a broken and disrupted Union
was reconstructed, and States whose
| relations with their sister States had
been dissolved were again brought in
to harmonious relations, so that to-
| gether they renewed their onward
march under a common flag to a COM
mon destiny?
Were they Democratic policies
which wrote into the Constitution the
| thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
amendments?
Was it Democratic policy that con-
ferred on the black man of the South
for the protection of his newborn
freedom the right of suffrage?
Was that a Democratic policy which
grasped anew the conception of
Hamilton and in harmony Herewith
preserved our splendid credit both at
nome a hx-f mt