Date: 1981-10-20
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. today. continuing my discussions on the history of the Senate. I would like to examine the period from 1817 to 1824. which encompassed the two administrations of James Monroe and the Fifteenth and Eighteenth Congresses. In the fall of 1816. a caucus of Senate and House Republicans picked. as its presidential candidate. Secretary of State and former Virginia Senator James Monroe to succeed James Madison. Grudgingly acknowledging that the party of John Adams and Alexander Hamiltkn had run its course. the Federalists made no serious attempt to organize a campaign. Their candidate was that partys lontime standard bearer. Senator Rufus King of New York. King was the only senator left in Congress who had been a framer of the Constitution. and he was respected even by his enemies. But he suffered under no illusions. King knew that he would not become president. Monroe. by an electoral vote of 183 to 34. would be the first senator and fourth Virginian to the hold the office. Not that Monroe was a magnetic figure. on the contrary. ho appeared amiable but colorless. As King later noted of his opponent. "He had the zealous support of nobody. and he was exempt from the hostility of everybody." Rufus King was the last Federalist presidential candidate. His halfhearted campaign marked the end of an era. Federalism would survive only locally and In the careers of a few men like King. who remained Its most eloquent spokesman in the Senate for nine more years. Thenceforth. as King knew. Federalists would have to be content with supporting "the least wicked section of the Republicans." 2 Shortly after his inauguration. Monroe made a goodwill tour through New England. offering reconciliation. Afterwards. the Federalist Boston Columbian Centinel reported: During the late Presidential Jubilee many persons have met at festive boards. in pleasant converse. whom party politics had long severed. We recur with pleasure to all the circumstances which attended the demonstration of good feelings.8 The article was entitled "Era of Good Feelings." While the editors probably did not intend to speak for more than Boston. the phrase grew in popularity until it became synonymous with the administrations of James Monroe. Feelings of one kind or another indeed ran high during this era. but beneath the happy surface. they were invariably not good. In Congress. the era of Good Feelings got off to an unfriendly start. The House and Senate continued to meet In the Brick Capitol while repairs were Laing made to the Capitol. The Senate mtt on the first floor and the House on the second. When it came time to make preparations for the Inauguration of Monroe. an irresolvable quarrel over whose chamber should be used broke out between the representatives and sena.tors. Finally. as inauguration day drew near. a wooden platform was erected outside the hall. Fortunately. the day was mild when Monroe delivered his Inaugural address to a crowd of eight thousand. No sooner had the Fifteenth Congress gotten underway when the troublesome question of compensation for members came up again. As I mentioned In my last talk on the Senate from 1809 to 1816. during the Fourteenth Congress the Senate and House had voted themselves an annual salary of $1.500. about a 300 percent Increase over the $8 per diem for days Congress was In session they had received up until then. The furor that erupted across the *Nation over what masy considered exorbitant remuneration had led to the defeat of several senators and representatives the previous aultUmn. Chastened and fearful for their own seats should the peoples anger not abate over the next 2 years. the conFootnotes at end ot article. gressmen decided to try to rectify the situation. During January. 1818. the Senate and House tried to decide on a Just compensation. Many supported returning to a per diem salary. but with a per df em of $10 rather than $6. Though this would have meant a considerable reduction In pay from the $1.500 annual sum. many constituents were not appeased. One Indignant reader of the popular Niles Weekly/ Register of Baltimore took that journal to task for supporting the $10 figure. Can you seriously contend for ten dollars per diem to the members of Congress. as a reasonable compensation!I It would. appear from your remarks. that you think this necessary to Induce a man of talents to attend. and enable him to live at "Washington as a gentleman." A It What a fascinating gpithet I Is It not to be feared. that the efforts making to enable our members to live like gentlemen. will. In the end. destroy the morals. and ruin tho republican Institutions of our happy country? . .. Ten dollars per day may be necessary to support a gambler. or a prodigal. but neither of them are even conterminous to a gentleman. The letterwriter angrily went on: ..In many parts of the United States six dollars a day was sufficient to produce great competitions for seats In Congress... at tho old allowance we shall never be at a loss to find members. and such as are best qualified to serve us. Your high minded. dashing. loquacious men are by no means the safest and surest representatives of a republican people. Efforts to gain a $10 per diem were defeated and the bill which the House passed on to the Senate provided for an $8 daily fee. Senators James Wilson and Mahlon Dickerson. both of New Jersey. sought to lower It still further to the old $8 rate. but they were defeated. Finally. on Januai.y 13. 1818. the Senate voted to return to the per diem system at a rate of $8 per day. So hot an Issue was congressional pay that the rate remained unchanged for almost forty yearsl Fromn 1818 until 1855. regardless of inflation and depression. boom and bust. senators and representatives received $8 each day Congress was In session.5 After his inauguration. Monroe and the House and Senate settled down to business. The confrontation between the president and Congress. with regard to their respective authority In the area of internal Improvements. wasinstantly renewed. In his first annual address to Congress. Monroe made It clear that. while roads and canals were necessary. he agreed with his predecessor that Congress had no right to appropriate public money for such things. To enable Congress to do so. he believed. would require an amendment to the Constitution. That was a long and tedious process. When it became bogged down In detail. the whole matter was dropped. but only temporarily. Monroe became preoccupied with foreign affairs. but the growing number of senators and representatives from the new western states would *soon be heard from again. Monroes Secretary of State. John Quincy Adams. was trying -to negotiate with Spain for the peaceful cession of Florida to the United States. Negotiations were proceeding nicely when extremely unsettling news began to reach Washington about the exploits of Andrew Jackson. the gangling young man from Tennessee who had served an undistinguished twoyear term In the Senate two deciades earlier. Jackson had made quite a name for himself In the Intervening years. He had captured the nations Imagination and risen to fame as the supreme military hero of the War of 1812. the victor of the Battle of New Orleans. In 1817. however. Jacksons excessive zeal as commander of the Southern Division was bringing the United States to the brink of war with Spain. He had been sent south to punish the Seminole Indians who had been marauding In Georgia. He had orders to pursue them Into Spanish territory if necessary to break up their bands. The overlyenthusiastic general sent a secret letter to Monroe. offering to reduce the whole of Florida In sixty days If the president wished. Monroe. who was sick in bed. never read the letter. Taking silence for consent. Jackson proceeded to make good his offer. In the midst of its negotiations with Spain. the State Department was horrified to learn that Jackson was busily capturing town after town In the very territory for which the government was negotiating. Before Jackson could be stopped. he had seized the Fort of St. Marks. hanged two Indian leaders. courtmarshalled and hanged two British adventurers. bombarded the fort at Barrances. and taken the city of Pensacola.$ Not surprisingly. Spain. the President. the Secretary of State. and the Congress were furious. Monroes chagrined report to Congress on Jacksons exploits was referred to agitated House and Senate committees. If Monroe. despite his protests to the contrary. had actually authorized Jacksons expedition. he had grossly usurped Congress power. And. if Jackson had not been so authorized. then he had wronged Congress. The final House report on the issue. however. vindicated the general. In the Senate. the report condemned Jackson. The announcement of the unexpected success of Secretary of State Adams diplomacy made the whole matter a dead Issue. Adams had negotiated a treaty with Spain which transferred Florida to the United States in return for the relinquishment of a dubious American claim to Texas. The treaty was unanimously approved by the Senate.0 The year before. the government had signed an agreement with England establishing the fortyhinth parallel. as the boundary between the United States and Canada. and sanctioning the joint occupation of the Oregon country. The nation was expanding rapidly. And It was this expansion that precipitated the most bitterly fought crisis of the -decade. Since the War of 1812. four new states had Joined the Union. Indiana In 1816. Mississippi in 1817. Ilinois in 1818. and Alabama In 1819. The country to the east of the Mississinpi River was filling up. Towns renlaced forests In the North. and cotton fields were spree ding out across the fiatiands of the South. Men were moving beyond the Mississippi. Daniel Boone had been one of the first when October 20. 1981. CO~ he moved west In 1798 to escape civilized Kentucky. but now a host of hardy pioneers followed. Hitherto. by an unspoken agreement in Congress. northern and southern states had been admitted In pairs as was the case with Indiana and Mississippi. as well as Illinois and Alabama. By 1819. all the land east of the Mississippi River. with the exception of the Michigan Territory. was divided by the Potomac and Ohio Rivers into two equal groups of eleven slave and -free states.* which would be the first transMississippi state to seek admission to the Union? Would It be slave or free? The answer to the first question came swiftly. Late in December 1818. Missouri made Its bid for statehood. But the process of arriving at an answer to the second question would violently split apart the Senate. the House. and the nation. and leave a wound that refused to heal. The enabling act for statehood was drawn up In the House and mentioned nothing about slavery. The issue was not raised until February 13. 1819. when Representative James Tallmadge of New York arose .and offered amendments prohibiting the further Introduction of slaves Into Missouri and emancipating. at age 25. all slaves thereafter born in the state. Tailmadges specific motives in offering his explosive amendment remain unknown. but its effect was Immediate. The battle over slavery had begun. Though he would not live to see his grisly prophecy come true. Representative Thomas Cobb of Georgia was correct when he shouted at Tallmadge. "You have kindled a fire which all the waters of the ocean cannot put out. which seas of blood can dnly extinguish."I Talitnadges amendments made sense to antislavery northerners. The Northwest Ordinance banned slavery in any state created from the territory north of the Ohio River. Missouri. however. had been settled mainly by southerners. many of whom had brought their slaves with them. The slave- holders argued that it was unconstitutional for Congiess to place restrictions on the citizens of a state as a condition of admittance. The antishivery forces. however. had the votes in the House. The Tailmadge amendments were adopted by a strictly sectional vote on February 16. 1819. and the amended enabling bill was sent to the Senate. In the Senate. the southerners had the votes and. on February 27. by votes of 31 to 7 and 22 to 16.. they struck out the amendments and returned the bill to thq House In its original form." At that point. the Fifteenth Congress had only two days remaining. The House restored the antislavery amendments. and the bill returned to the Senate. Again. the Senate struck them out and sent the bill back to the House. The House refused to concur In the Senates action. the Senate remained: obdurate. And so. on March 4. 1819. at the close of the Fifteenth Congress. the Missouri Enabling Bill died. While the Enabling Bill had been set aside. the awful paradox that slavery Footnotes at end of article.