Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-05-08
the REPUBLICAN, RECORD AND
WHAT II HAS ACCOMPLISHED.
Mastery Speech of Congressman Dalzell OF PENN
sylvania, in House of Representatives,
Wednesday, Feb. 70, 1908.

and desecrated it's flag. And it still re-
mains a historic truth also that it was
a Republican President who, backed
by the heroisr of a great people not
only said the Union must and shall be
preserved, but preserved it for all our
people, North and South alike, the
priceless heritage of our fathers; and
who, not born to the purple, a plain
man of the people, wears such a crown
of Immortality as never in all the tide
of time graced the brow of king or en-
peror, Abraham Lincoln. Prolonged
applause on the Republican side.]
But the saving of the Union by An
drew Jackson in 1865 is not the only
achievement that the gentleman claims
for his party.
He ventures The assertion-and it is
a venturesome assertion
That from the very first establishment
of this government there never has been
q policy permanently Incorporated into
our political system that was not or
Democratic origin
assert that there never has been such
policy that was of Democratic origin,
with the exception of the establishment
of the Independent Treasury system
90
terest of slavery.
The history of the United States is
the history of continuous struggle be-
tween two opposing schools OF political
thought One school is represented by
the party which has cOntended from
the beginning that the United States
is a nation, solid, compact, sovereign
State, while the other has contended
that it is but confederacy, an ag-
gregation OF sovereign States bound
together by Constitution, the terms
of which are to be strictly construed.
The conflict between these two schools
of thought reaches back to the Revolu-
ton, prevailed in the Confederation.
and made itself felt in the Convention
which framed the Constitution. When
the Constitution was framed and the
new Government created thereby en-
tered upon it's experimental career this
conflict gave rise to the two parties,
which, under one name and another,
struggled for mastery until decision
was rendered on the tented field in the
greatest war of all time.
One of these parties was the party of
Alexander Hamilton, the other that of
Thomas Jefferson. One of these par
ties was the party of constructive
craftsmanship, the other the party of
obstruction and criticism. He certain
| ly is a bold man who, in the face of his
tory. denies today that the permanent
policies which have entered into and
constitute our character as nation
are not the policies advocated by Alex
ander Hamilton and his followers.
Hamilton's relation to the Constitu-
ton was threefold-first, with respect
| to it's formation; second, with respect
to its adoption, and third, with respect
to the rule of it's construction. In it's
' formation he bore but a comparatively
I small part, though Guizot, the great
Frenchman said: There is not in the
Constitution of the United States an
element of order, of force, or duration
which lie has not powerfully contrib
uted to Introduce into it and to cause
to predominant"
1t can not be denied that. when made.
the Constitution failed in many re-
spects to meet his views. He regarded
it as weak and, he feared. insufficient as
framework of successful government.
My friend from Missouri, l think, at
tributes to the friends of Hamilton
claims which they do not make. No
man ought to deny that to James Madi-
son rightly belongs the glorious title
of father of the Constitution. lap
plause.l But when it was finally
framed, certainly no man did more nor
any man so much as Hamilton to Sc
cure it's adoption by the States. Cap
I leo To tor in
the literature of government equals
i'll perspicacity of thought, in clear
and convincing logic, in attractiveness
of style. the papers that constitute the
Federalist.' From out their pages their
chief author stands a colossal figure in
the worlds history. [Applause.]
When, largely due to Hamilton's
powerful influence, the Constitution
was finally adopted, it was he who
stamped upon it the character of ma
tionality. His measures as Secretary
of the Treasury embodied an entire
system of public policy. Our system of
taxation and finance today is his sys-
TEN. In the words of Webster: HE
smote the rock of the national resources
and abundant streams of revenue
gushed forth. HI touched the dead
corpse of the public credit, and it
sprang upon it's feet. The tabled birth
of Minerva from the birth of Jove was
hardly more sudden or more perfect
than the financial system of the United
States as it burst forth from the con-
ceptien of Alexander Hamilton" ZAP
plause.l In his first report on the
public credit he advocated and sus-
tanned by unanswerable logic the policy
of funding the public debt and of the
assumption by the General Government
of the debts of the State. Differ as
men may as to these measures. there
is no debatable ground as to the genius
of their conception and the ability
with which they were urged. Their
significance was political, not CONNER
cial. To satisfy foreign creditors was
to establish with them the power and
Importance of the Government which
did them justice. To satisfy home
creditors was to create friends In every
State for the Central Government,
which became their debtor and to en-
list the allegiance of their interest in
its stability and resources. 1t was. in
fact, to consolidate the Government and
rally to it's support all the elements of