State Documents on Federal Relations/17
17. Extracts from the Answer of the House.
Resolves of Massachusetts (1809), 236–242.May it please Your Honour,
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We are unwilling to believe that any division of sentiment can exist among the New England States or their inhabitants as to the obvious infringement of rights secured to them by the Constitution of the United States; and still more so that any man can he weak or wicked enough to construe a disposition to support that Constitution and preserve the union by a temperate and firm opposition to acts which are repugnant to the first principles and purposes of both, into a wish to recede from the other states. If a secession has been conceived by the states or people referred to in your Honour's communication, it is unknown to the House of Representatives, who absolutely disclaim any participation therein, or having afforded the least colour for such a charge. If ever such suspicions existed they can have arisen only in the minds of those who must be sensible that they had adopted and were persisting in, measures which had driven the people to desperation, by infringing rights which the citizens of Massachusetts conceive to be unalienable, and which they fondly hoped had been inviolably secured to them by the federal compact.
The Legislature and people of Massachusetts ever have been and now are firmly and sincerely attached to the union of the States, and there is no sacrifice they have not been, and are not now, willing to submit to, in order to preserve the same, according to its original purpose. Of this truth your Honour must be conceived.
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That the regulation of our commercial intercourse and our national defence, is most wisely confided to the general government, is a truth so plain and palpable, that we should hold it unnecessary to be repeated here, were it not for the purpose of concurring with your Honour in the justice of the sentiment; but the liberty of discussing the measures of our general government with freedom and firmness, though with fairness and moderation, is a right the House of Representatives never will relinquish.
We cannot agree with your Honour that in a free country there is any stage at which the constitutionality of an act may no longer be open to discussion and debate; at least it is only upon the high road to despotism that such stages can be found.
At such a point the Government undertaking to extend its powers beyond the limits of the constitution, degenerates into tyranny. The people, if temperate and firm, will, we confidently rely, eventually triumph over such usurpations.
Were it true, that the measures of government once passed into an act, the constitutionality of that act is stamped with the seal of infallibility, and is no longer a subject for the deliberation or remonstrance of the citizen, to what monstrous lengths might not an arbitrary and tyrannical administration carry its power. It has only to pass through rapid readings and mid-night sessions, without allowing time for reflection and debate to the final enacting of a bill and before the people are even informed of the intentions of their rulers, their claims are riveted, and the right of complaint denied them. Were such doctrine sound, what species of oppression might not be inflicted on the prostrate liberties of our country. If such a doctrine were true, our constitution would be nothing but a name—nay worse, a fatal instrument to sanctify oppression, and legalize the tyranny which inflicts it.
Nothing but madness or imbecility could put at hazard the existence of a "balanced government, capable of operating and providing for the public good," unless the administration of that Government, by its arbitrary impositions had endangered or destroyed the very objects for the protection of whch it had been instituted.
Should such a case ever occur, on the administration who should usurp powers and violate such sacred obligations, must rest the odium of having hazarded a government "so safe, so reasonable and so beyond everything else essential to the liberty and happiness of our fellow ctizens."
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It cannot be denied, that jealousy and distrust have arisen among the people of Massachusetts, and much it is to be regretted, that they have been so well founded. A system of policy ruinous to their interests, and uncongenial to their enterprising spirit—a system for which the adminstration has yet, in our opinion, assigned no adequate reason, has borne most heavily and unequally on the northern and commercial States. For relief from this oppression the people fondly looked to the meeting of Congress—but alas! how fatally have their hopes been blasted: Their humble prayers have been answered by an act so arbitrary and oppressive, that it violates the first principles of civil liberty, and the fundamental provisions of the Constitution. At such a moment and under such a pressure, when everything which freemen hold dear, is at stake it cannot be expected and it ought not to be wished, that they should suffer in silence. The House of Representatives cannot admit that laws which operate unequally are unavoidable. The government, in their opinion, has no right to sacrifice the interests of one section of the Union to the prejudices, partialities, or convenience, of another.
We perfectly agree with your Honour in the general principle that, in a free government, the majority must determine and decide upon all existing or projected measures. But it will be recollected, that the decision of that majority, to be binding, must be constitutional and just. Government is formed for the security of the citizen, and the protection of its rights. Whenever his liberty is infringed, his rights violated or unprotected, if not absolved from his allegiance, he may demand redress, and take all lawful measures to obtain it.
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The early habits and constant practice of our fathers and ourselves have led us, on every great emergency, and on the pressure of political calamities, to resort to town meetings, wherein the general sense of the people might be collected. This practice, so wholesome and salutary, was one of the most influential means employed in bringing about the glorious revolution which established our independence. It was against these meetings, therefore, that the strong arm of royal power was elevated, in the year seventeen hundred and seventy-four, and they were prohibited under severe penalties. Had the British ministry of that day attended to the voice of the people so expressed, they would have avoided the evils which they had afterwards so much reason to deplore. The expression of the publick sentiment has become necessary to counteract the errours and misrepresentations of those who have falsely inculcated upon the administration of the General Government a belief, that the measures they were pursuing were satisfactory to the people. From the suppression of these meetings would liberty have more to apprehend than from any other cause whatever. From such a cause should we most dread "the overturning the splendid edifice erected by the wisdom and valour of our fathers." A privilege so wisely secured by our constitution, we cannot hesitate to declare, the citizens of Masaachusetts will never resign.
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In the description which your Honour has drawn of the situation of our country previous to the adoption of the federal constitution, we cannot but observe the very strong resemblance which it bears to the picture of the present times. "Our government humbled and inefficient, our Union a thread, our commerce unprotected, our revenue nothing, individuals embarrassed, grievances complained of, our rulers censured, town and county resolutions published, combinations formed, non-compliance with the laws announced, property sold for one-third its value, the insolvent imprisoned, and the courts of justice stopped;" that this description applies to the present state of parts, if not the whole, of our country, we believe will not be denied.
Whence comes it that from a state of the most flourishing prosperity a few months should have produced a change so truly astonishing? It is not in the restless and unsteady habits of the people, till lately contented and happy, that we must look for the causes of these frightful calamities; it is in the pernicious and dreadful consequences of this shallow system of Embargo and Non Intercourse, that we shall find the fruitful sources of our country's ruin. We do most sincerely hope that neither Virginia or any other state may ever succeed in "dictating measures to Congress and by a convulsed state of things force their adoption." However, such an usurpation might from various causes endure for a time, the returning good sense of the people would eventually restore the equilibrium and effectually prevent those tempestuous scenes which your Honour has so eloquently described. "The importance and the interesting and perilous nature of the crisis," have excited the most alarming reflections in our minds, and we doubt not that every member of the Legislature will devote himself to the arduous yet necessary duty of "devising some reconciling expedient to quiet the agitated minds of our citizens," and relieve them from the weight of these unconstitutional restrictions.