USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 1 > Part 46
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" Resolved, That this Commonwealth considers the Federal Union. upon the terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, as con- ducive to the liberty and happiness of the several States; that it does now
353
VIRGINIA ALSO ENTERS A PROTEST.
unequivocally declare its attachment to the Union, and to that compact, agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be among the last to seek its dissolution ; that if those who administer the General Government be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact, by a total dis- regard to the special delegations of power therein contained, an annihilation of the State governments, and the erection upon their ruins of a general consolidated government, will be the inevitable consequence; that the prin- ciple and construction contended for by sundry of the State Legislatures- that the General Government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it-stop nothing short of despotism; since the discretion of those who administer the Government, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powers: that the several States who formed that in- strument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction, and that a nullification by those sovereignties of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument is the rightful remedy; that this Commonwealth does, upon the most deliberate recon- sideration, declare that the said alien and sedition laws are, in their opinion, palpable violations of said Constitution; and however cheerfully it may be disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of sister States in matters of ordinary or doubtful policy, yet in momentous regulations like the present, which so vitally wound the best rights of the citizen, it would consider a silent acquiescence as highly criminal; that, although this Commonwealth, as a party of the Federal compact, will bow to the laws of the Union, yet it does at the same time declare that it will not now, nor ever hereafter, cease to oppose, in a constitutional manner, every attempt, from what quarter soever offered, to violate that compact. And, finally, in order that no pretexts or arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence on the part of this Commonwealth in the constitutionality of those laws, and be thereby used as precedents for similar future violations of the Federal com- pact, this Commonwealth does now enter against them its solemn protest.
" Attest: THOMAS TODD, Clerk House Representatives. " In Senate, November 22, 1799. Read and concurred in. " Attest: BUCKNER THRUSTON, Clerk Senate."
1 In the meager debate on the first resolutions, William Murray, of Frank- lin, contended that they set forth doctrines not warranted in the terms of the Constitution of the United States, and with subtle reasoning. Said he, "This Constitution was not merely a covenant between integral States, but a compact between individuals composing these States. Accordingly, the Constitution begins with this form of expression, 'We, the people of the United States,' and not . We. the thirteen States of America.' The inter- pretation of the Constitution of the United States is not a matter for legis- lative determination, but clearly left to the decision of the courts having jurisdiction."
I Butler, p. 286-7.
23
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
On the part of John Breckinridge, it was replied: "I consider the co- States to be alone parties to the Federal compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last resort of the power exercised under the compact. Con- gress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject,. as to its assumption of power, to the final judgment of these by whom, and for whose use, itself and its powers were all created. If, upon the repre- sentation of the States from whom they derive their powers, they should; nevertheless attempt to enforce them. I hesitate not to declare it as my opinion, that it is then the right and duty of the several States to nullify - those acts, and protect their citizens from their operation.".
It is a fact of profound significance that the author of the Declaration of Independence, and the author of these resolutions of interpretation, was the same person, of whose statesmanship and patriotism no pen of sacrilege would dare to question. Of the same school of political doctrine was John C. Calhoun, no less gifted and patriotic, who succeeded Jefferson as the exponent and leader of the great and powerful party of discipleship who accepted the teachings of these masterly spirits. The student of our polit- ical history will pause with curious wonder, to inquire how it was possible that a Hamilton and a Webster on the one side, and a Jefferson and a Calhoun upon the other, could so differently and diversely construe the instrument of common adoption for the Union, and which alone must be the chart and guide of Federal administration. The Federal Constitution was the reactionary product of the monarchical despotisms of Europe, the centralism and tyrannies of which were only the more hideous and repug- nant, in the light of expanding intelligence and a pervading sense of per- sonal rights. Since the war for independence, the States had been but little restrained in the exercise of their sovereignties. The school of statesmen, of which Jefferson was the great master, believed and taught that in the Federal compact only so much of sovereignty and jurisdiction should be conceded as were set forth in the express terms of the Constitution. All else were reserved to the States, or to the people, with whom all sovereignty is originally vested. They beheld the same danger in the ascendancy of a sectional or interested majority that existed in the centralism of a mon- archy.
The North-eastern States composed a majority in the Government; and being more a commercial and manufacturing people, had interests some- what different from their agricultural neighbors of the South. Already, the majority in Congress had shown a crafty disregard of the interests of the minority, by an effort to barter away the right of navigation on the Missis- sippi river, by years of neglect to provide for the defense of the western borders against Indian hostilities, and now by the passage of the repugnant alien and sedition laws, not less odious to the spirit of the Constitution than avowed nullification. Intensely jealous of encroachment by the Federal Government on what were believed to be the rights of the States and indi-
----
355
THE RESOLUTIONS UNDISTURBED UNTIL 1833.
viduals, the resolutions of '98, on the part of Virginia and Kentucky, were resistant protests against the first manifestations of power assumed and im- plied, but not stated, in the terms of the Constitution.
We readily concede the mutually patriotic motives, and doubt if any realized the germ of evil that was contained in the doctrine of nullification, in its practical working in the action of South Carolina, years after, and in the application, more recently, of the secession of a number of States from the Union, and the consequent civil war that convulsed the country.
1 Mr. Madison says of the Virginia resolutions : "It is worthy of remark and explanatory of the intentions of the Legislature, that the words, ' not law, but utterly null and void, and of no force and effect,' which had followed, in one of the resolutions, the word unconstitutional, were struck out by common consent."
These resolutions remained on record, undisturbed, until 1833. On the 2d of February of that year, in answer to the nullification acts of South Carolina, resolutions were passed by the Kentucky Legislature, of which the following extract forms the essence: "That so long as the present Con- stitution remains unaltered, the legislative enactments of the constituted authorities of the United States can only be repealed by the authorities that made them; and if not repealed, can in no wise be finally and authorita- tively abrogated or annulled, than by the sentence of the Federal judiciary declaring their unconstitutionality; that those enactments, subject only to be repealed or declared null, and treaties made by the United States, are supreme laws of the land; that no State of this Union has any constitutional right or power to nullify any such enactment or treaty, or to contravene them, or to obstruct their execution; that it is the duty of the president of the United States, a bounden, solemn duty. to take care that these enact- ments and treaties be faithfully executed, observed, and fulfilled; and we receive, with unfeigned and cordial approbation, the pledge which the presi- dent has given to the nation in his late proclamation, that he will perform this high and solemn duty."
This doctrine of nullification, and the right of the protesting State to find its remedy within its own jurisdiction, must have been asserted by its authors, with a full consciousness that it implied, in its practical enforcement, the principle of anarchy within, or the disintegration of the Federal Union with- out, as the better, in a choice of evils between this and centralism. These extreme views are to be judged of in the light of the circumstances of the age and conditions within which they were then announced. They do not raise a question of patriotic motive, but evince to us the intense jealousy with which the fathers of the republic guarded the tender plant of liberty against the devouring rapacity of despotism, which, hydra-headed, might become a monster of danger in the embodiment of a majority. as well as in the forms of monarchy. Very naturally, and without the testimony of later
I Letter to Everett, Book of the Constitution, p. 87.
· 356
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
experience, they did not give due consideration and significance to the fact that, in the swell-tide of awakened sentiment for personal and civil liberty that was pervading this country and threatening to inundate Europe, as great a danger lurked in the excessive diffusion of power among the subject masses, and the tendency, under undue influences, to licentious use of the same. From this source, our republic may anticipate no less trouble and danger than from centralism, against which the argus-eyed vigilance of popular intelligence is ever directed. There is little doubt but that the action of Virginia and Kentucky, ominous of future trouble in certain con- tingencies, exerted a marked and healthy influence on the public sentiment. of the entire country for the time, in arresting and turning back the tendency to aggrandizement of power on the part of the majority in Congress, on a loose and latitudinarian construction of the Constitution. It made a pro- found and lasting impression on the political sentiment of the nation, as was evinced in the election of Democratic administrations for the succeeding twenty-four years, in the persons of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.
We quote a just and true comment on this action from Shaler's Kentucky Commonwealth :
"All that was before the minds of men was a new and very debatable instrument, concerning whose meaning there was naturally great difference of opinion. The Kentucky resolutions were the first proclamation of the great discussion destined to be continued for two generations, to be in the end decided, as it could only be decided, by a third in the most famous civil struggle of all time. That the resolutions were intended only as the expression of a sentiment, and not as the basis for any contemplated action, is shown by the previous and succeeding course of politics in the State. It would be a distortion of history to look upon this action as though it had been taken in 1860. It was, in fact, only a caveat directed against the course of a party disposed to take an even more unconstitutional view of the Union than was held by those who voted for the resolutions."
Among the suffering victims to defective land titles, pursued and perse- cuted by the land-sharks who infested the country, and with their arts and rogueries made it their business to hunt up elder and adverse claims, or to invalidate those that might be shown to be defective, was Daniel Boone, now passing the sere autumn of life, and into the frosty chill of its wintry days. Innocent of guile himself, and suspecting none in others. the simple and trusting old woodsman had contented himself with such titles to land as were issued to him after the subtle and treacherous forms of the day. One tract after another passed from his possession, and last among them a beau- tiful farm in the Bluegrass section, not far from Boonesborough. He keenly felt the injustice and ingratitude of his harsh fortune ; and finally, discour- aged and despairing, he determined to exile himself forever from the land which he had made so many sacrifices to conquer from the savage foe, and to subdue to the peaceful and happy pursuits of civilization. The fruitage
357
BOONE'S MISFORTUNES.
of all his work, now at ripe harvest time, like the apples of Sodom, had turned to ashes on the lips that would vainly taste.
1 With family and worldly possessions, he transferred his habitation to a new home in Virginia, near the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Here he remained for several years, cultivating a farm, raising stock, and at proper seasons engaging in his favorite sport of hunting. In 1795 or 1797, we find him removed again to the far West, and located in Missouri, then upper Louisiana, in the Femme Osage settlement, in the district of St. Charles, fifty miles west of St. Louis. The country of this last retreat belonged to Spain, and the governor of the same had given him assurance that an ample portion should be given to him and his family. A commission was issued appointing him commandant or syndic of the district in which he lived. The duties of his office were both military and civil, and he continued to discharge them until the transfer of the territory to the United States, in 1803. In consideration of his services, over eight thousand acres of land were given Boone under Spanish grant, and all seemed propitious for the founding of a magnificent estate, with all the comforts of home surround- ings, once more. But the Nemesis of misfortune again followed the careless and inattentive habits of the old pioneer. Some formalities were neglected in securing the title, and so when, years after, the commissioners of the United States appointed to decide on claims were called on to examine that of Boone, they felt constrained to reject it for want of the observance of legal forms.
There is a romantic account of Boone residing in Greenup county in the closing years of the century, given by Collins : He made his home where Riverton now stands, over one mile above Greenupsburg, on the bank of the Ohio. In March, 1857, Mr. Warnock, then seventy-nine years old, made oath that in the fall of 1799 he saw Daniel Boone, at a point one or two miles above the mouth of Little Sandy river, cut down a tree out of which to make a canoe, and that, soon after, he saw Boone in the canoe when he started for his new home in Missouri. These apparently-conflicting statements of different historians may be reconciled in the probability that Boone may have tarried for some time in Greenup county on his way from the Kanawha to Missouri, or that, after visiting Missouri, following the pas- sion of his restless nature, he may have returned to Kentucky and lived for a time on the Ohio, at the site of Riverton, and finally removed to Missouri about 1800.
In his last adopted home, Boone found a congenial life and surroundings. His sons and sons-in-law settled around him in the same country. The wilds of nature gratified the longings of the veteran forester, and here he indulged to his heart's content in hunting the buffalo, the deer, and the bear, and in trapping the beaver. With the help at hand, his land was cul- tivated, and produced in abundance the grain, the vegetables, and the fruits
I Peck's Life of Boone ; Perkins' Western Annals.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
which supplied the wants of all. His duties as syndic were light, being much the same in importance as those of our magistrate now, and gave him leisure to pursue the congenial habits of old. He would go off many miles from home on his hunting excursions, build his camp, and remain for days or weeks. Sometimes a friend accompanied him, but most generally a col- ored servant boy who had learned to know his ways and wants. On one occasion, he fell extremely ill in camp, with no help nigh but his faithful servant boy. 1 He pointed out to the latter a place where he wished to be buried, in case he should die in camp, and also gave him directions about his burial, and the disposal of his rifle, blankets, and peltry.
In 1812, Boone sent a petition to Congress, praying for a confirmation of his Spanish title to lands. The Legislature of Kentucky joined in this petition in the following :
"Resolved, That our senators in Congress be requested to use their ex- ertions to procure a grant of land in the territory of Missouri to Daniel Boone-either the land granted him by the Spanish Government or such quantity in such place as shall be deemed most advisable, by way of dona- tion."
The usual dallying of long delay followed this, during which time Mrs. Boone, the partner of his life, died at the age of seventy-six years, a be- reavement that fell with a chill of gloom over the spirits of the venerable pioneer. Congress finally granted about one-tenth the amount of land asked for, to which he was entitled in common with all other emigrants.
Before the death of his wife, Boone gave up his hunting expeditions, the feebleness of old age disqualifying him for the exposure and toils. He made his home in his later years with his daughter, Mrs. Callaway, visiting his other children at times, by whom and his grandchildren he was greatly be- loved. His time was usefully spent in extreme old age in making powder- horns for his grandchildren, neighbors, and friends, in repairing rifles, and in other descriptions of handicraft, which he did with neatness and style of finish.
Early in September, 1820, Boone had an attack of fever, and after a lin- gering illness of some two or three weeks, died on the 26th day of the month, in the eighty-sixth year of his life, and was buried by the side of his wife, in a coffin which he had some years before prepared for the event. The Legislature of Missouri passed resolutions that its members wear the badge of mourning for twenty days. In 18.45, the remains of Daniel Boone and wife were removed and deposited in the cemetery at Frankfort, Kentucky, followed by a splendid pageant of kindred and citizens in honor of the hero's memory. Had Kentucky been as just and generous to the living Boone as she was to the memory of the dead hero, she might have afforded him the consolation and pride of spending his last days amidst the friends and scenes of his best manhood.
I Peck's Life of Boone.
359
A DIRGE FOR THE PIONEER.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer ! Knight-errant of the wood!
Calmly beneath the green sod here, He rests from field and flood. The war-whoop and the panther's screams No more his soul shall rouse,
For well the aged hunter dreams Beside his good old spouse.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer! Hushed now his rifle's peal-
The dews of many a vanish'd year Are on his rusted steel ;
His horn and pouch lie mouldering Upon the cabin door-
The elk rests by the salted spring, Nor flees the fierce wild boar.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer ! Old Druid of the West!
His offering was the fleet wild deer ; His shrine the mountain's crest.
Within his wildwood temple's space An empire's towers nod,
Where erst, alone of all his race, He knelt to nature's God.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer ! Columbus of the land !
Who guided freedom's proud career Beyond the conquer'd strand, And gave her pilgrim's sons a home No monarch's step profanes,
Free as the chainless winds that roam Upon its boundless plains.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer ! The muffled drum resound ! A warrior is slumb'ring here Beneath his battle-ground. ·
For not alone with beast of prey The bloody strife he waged.
Foremost where'er the deadly fray Of savage combat raged.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer ! A dirge for his old spouse !
For her who blest his forest cheer, And kept his birchen house. Now soundly by her chieftain may The brave old dame sleep on,
The red man's step is far away, The wolf's dread howl is gone.
!
A dirge for the brave old pioneer! His pilgrimage is done ;
He hunts no more the grizzly bear, About the setting sun.
Weary at last of chase and life, He laid him here to rest,
Nor recks he now what sport or strife Would tempt him further West.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer ! The patriarch of his tribe!
He sleeps, no pompous pile marks where, No lines his deeds describe ;
They raised no stone above him here, Nor carved his deathless name-
An empire is his sepulcher, His epitaph is fame. -O' Hara.
1 Boone appeared to have considered love to mankind, reverence to the Supreme Being, delight in His works, and constant usefulness, as the legiti- mate ends of life. He was one of the purest and noblest of the pioneers of the West. Regarding himself as an instrument in the hands of Providence for accomplishing great purposes, he was, nevertheless, always modest and unassuming, never seeking distinction, but always accepting the post of duty and danger. As a military leader he was remarkable for prudence. coolness, bravery, and imperturbable self-possession. His knowledge of Indian char- acter enabled him to divine their intentions and baffle their best laid plans ; and yet, he was a great favorite with them.
Of General George Rogers Clark, the greatest military genius that figures in the early history of Kentucky, we have for years been silent. since the hero of the North-west ceased himself to be an actor in the last scenes of
t Hartley's Life of Boone, p. 332.
360
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
the tragic drama of the pioneer age of Kentucky. Charity would fain drop the mantle over the blended faults and misfortunes of one more of the countless great and gifted many who have fallen victims to the demon of intemperance, if the faithfulness of history permitted. Of his last days, a friendly and admiring eulogist pathetically says : 1 " The great work of his life was done, and done thoroughly. He was still barely twenty-seven years of age. He was made a major-general ; led a number of successful expeditions against hostile tribes of Indians, and one against Detroit, which proved abortive by desertions; and, finally, he settled in the home of his nephew, Colonel Croghan, at Locust Grove, about eight miles above.this city on the river road.
"So far the story is all pleasing. But time brings change. A hero in war, peace fell upon him like a blight. He became intemperate and paralyzed. The enormous land bounties, which had long before been voted him by the Virginia Assembly for his public services, were for years withheld from him, and he left helpless and penniless upon the bounty of his kinsmen. The strong, dashing young soldier decayed away as he approached old age, morti- fied but proud. Day after day, year after year, he sat meditating on the . glories of the past, the ingratitude of the present, and the assured grandeur of the future. His surgeon required the amputation of his right leg. 'All right,' said he; 'bring in the boy of the regiment and let him beat the drum.' What a scene that must have been, the old warrior with his mouth firm set, the surgeon sawing his leg off above the knee, and the drummer-boy beating as for his life, like he did when he led the victorious little army through the floods of the Wabash. The old spirit came back at times, and sat in the ruins of the old temple.
" When decrepitude and death were closing fast upon him, there came into his room one day, leading a party of friends, an eloquent representative of the State of Virginia to present him a jeweled sword voted by the Virginia Assembly in consideration of his gallant and invaluable services to the State and to the country. While his praise was being eloquently worded the old man listened with his eyes fixed upon the fire, then drew himself up in his chair, and said : 'Young man, go tell Virginia that when she needed a sword I found one. Now, I want bread.' And when that sword was returned, re- jected, and with his just rebuke, the Virginia Assembly neglected no longer to make good its broken promises of land to Clark and the gallant men who followed him. But the worn-out old soldier lived but a little while longer, and in February, 1818, he died and was buried at Locust Grove. There for over half a century, his bones lay, with hardly a man able to mark the spot. They now rest beneath a plain headstone in Cave Hill, while all around them the country, which he entered a wild wilderness and won for us, is becoming the heart-center of civilization destined to be the glory of cen- turies to come."
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