evils under which we are this day so lament-
ably suffering, in looking back into the
past history of my country, I have seen every-
where the Federal Government has been too
eager to assume to itself powers of a doubt-
ful character, that the assumption of these
powers has engendered discord and jarring
among the sovereign States of this Union.
I had very clearly seen in the past bistory of
our people, that. from the origin of the gov-
ernment there have been two classes of poli-
ticians in the land—political thinkers, if you
choose to call them so.
There had been one class of men who have
taken the preamble of the Constitution of the
United States, and by an interpretation of that
preamble, assumed to exercise powers in the
administration of the Federal Government,
which the States, North and South, protested
against from its origin. The exercise of these
powers has well nigh driven the States, North
and South, heretofore upon the verge of re-
sisting by force and violence the Government
at Washington,
Looking back upon that history, I am un-
willing to take any new step now that, by
doubtful construction of ibis very article,
may induce those men who are disposed to
put a latitudinous construction upon the pow-
ers of the General Government in all time
to come, to interfere with the rights of the
State of Maryland. For, as I have just said,
I believe that the exercise of those unauthor-
ized powers—not what the majority who
have spoken here have designated as the pes-
tilent doctrine of State rights—I believe be-
fore God that the assumption of those powers
by the General Government has precipitated
upon us all the calamities and bickerings,
and troubles that ever have existed between
the States; aye, sir, has eventually brought
about this deplorable war.
Sir, that school of politicians of which
John Adams was the head, first started this
theory, this idea that we were to have a great
government at Washington with transcendent
powers; an idea which I know addressed it-
self with some patriotic force to the minds of
men—an idea, I believe, which, carried out
in France, ultimately converted her govern-
ment into a despotism and an empire. They
held that the Government of the United States
was to be glorified; that it was to be clothed
with these undefined and illimitable powers
to the prejudice of States and State institu-
tions. These leaders of that party, whenever
they have heretofore held the reins of govern-
ment, and undertaken to carry out that idea,
have brought about these jealousies and these
troubles. When Adams was President of the
United States, they inaugurated the alien and
sedition laws.
Then came the charter of the United States
Bank. What said the State rights party
of this country then? They said it was
a power of doubtful constitutionality; a |
power not clearly defined, one not delegated
to the government at Washington: hands off:
leave this question to be controlled by the
legislatures of the States. Again, when the no
less dangerous policy of projecting schemes of
internal improvements in this country seized
the public mind; when it was proposed to con-
centrate in the General Government the power
of carrying out grand and startling projects
of railroads from one section of the country
to the other; a power which the States'
rights party in this country always denied,
and which they said would produce difficul-
ties among the States; contending that their
practical effect when carried out would pro-
duce jealousy between sections of the country.
it would be said to the Government at Wash-
ington—you are dispensing the benefits of
this Government to the States of one section,
to the prejudice of the States of another section.
When that question came up the State
rights party of the country said: Your true
policy is to leave that subject to the States ;
let it rest with them; you cannot point out
in the Constitution of the United States any
warrant for the exercise of the power; and
unless you find there the authority expressly
enumerated and clearly defined, then forbear
its exercise. This alone will secure peace;
otherwise it will result in sectional jealousies
and in sectional discord. It will tear the
hearts of the people of the States away from
their common Government at Washington.
Sir, it was the same thing with the tariff.
There was one portion of the States that
maintained you must have what was termed
a high, protective, discriminating tariff in
this country. Another section of the country
said that free trade was the right policy; and
that the power to lay this high protective tariff
was a power that no man could point out in
the Constitution of the United States; that
it was a power of inferences; and that these
inferential powers ought not to be exercised
by the Government of the United States. To
what did it lead? The very moment the
Government at Washington undertook to
carry out their high protective tariff doctrine,
there was a spirit of discord in one section of
the confederacy. South Carolina itself was
upon the verge of nullification. It was in
this manner that this practice grew up of this
exercise of doubtful powers by the Govern-
ment; this disposition to ignore the rights of
the States, and to build up and concentrate
all power in the Government of the United
States.
Now, sir, we say that this policy is being
carried out by the Government at this very
time; the assumption of these unlimited and
undefined powers. Then, sir, we come. to
this other question of slavery, which gentle-
men .charge has been the cause of the dissolu-
tion of the Union, or this war, if they prefer
so to charge it. How natural was it for the
State rights party in the land to say to the |
