USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, the Spanish domination > Part 42
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551
MR. WHITE IN THE SENATE.
from crossing the river. Louisiana must and will become settled, if we hold it, and with the very population that would otherwise occupy part of our present territory. Thus our citizens will be removed to the immense dis- tance of two or three thousand miles from the capital of the Union, where they will scarcely ever feel the rays of the General Government ; their affections will become alienated ; they will gradually begin to view us as stran- gers ; they will form other commercial connections, and our interests will become distinct.
"These, with other causes that human wisdom may not now foresee, will in time effect a separation, and I fear our bounds will be fixed nearer to our houses than the water of the Mississippi. We have already territory enough, and when I contemplate the evils that may arise to these States from this intended incorporation of Louisiana into the Union, I would rather see it given to France, to Spain, or to any other nation of the earth, upon the mere condition that no citizen of the United States should ever settle within its limits, than to see the territory sold for a hundred millions of dollars, and we retain the sovereignty.
* And I do say that, under existing circumstances, even supposing that this extent of territory was a desirable acquisition, fifteen millions of dollars was a most enor- mous sum to give." Mr. Wells, of the same State, took the same view of the question with his colleague, Mr. White.
Mr. Pickering, from Massachusetts, spoke also against the bill, as he thought that Congress was not bound to carry the treaty into execution : "The Constitution, and the laws of the United States," said he, " made in pursu- ance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land. But a treaty, to be thus
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552
MR. PICKERING IN THE SENATE.
obligatory, must not contravene the Constitution, nor contain any stipulations which transcend the powers therein given to the President and Senate. The treaty between the United States and the French Republic, professing to cede Louisiana to the United States, ap- pears to me to contain such an exceptionable stipula- tion-a stipulation which cannot be executed by any authority now existing. It is declared in the 3d article, that the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorpo- rated in the Union of the United States. But neither the President and Senate, nor the President and Con- gress, are competent to such an act of incorporation. I believe that our administration admitted that this incor- poration could not be effected without an amendment of the Constitution; and I conceive that this necessary amendment cannot be made in the ordinary mode by the concurrence of two thirds of both houses of Congress, and the ratification of the legislatures of three fourths of the several States. I believe the assent of each indi- vidual State to be necessary for the admission of a foreign country as an associate in the Union: in like manner as in a commercial house, the consent of each member would be necessary to admit a new partner into the company ; and whether the assent of every State to such an indispensable amendment would be attainable, is uncertain. But the articles of a treaty are necessarily related to each other, the stipulation in one article being frequently the consideration for another. If, therefore, in respect to the Louisiana treaty, the United States fail to execute, and within a reasonable time, the engage- ment in the 3d article, to incorporate that territory into the Union, the French government will have the right to declare the whole treaty void. We must then aban- don the country, or go to war to maintain our possession.
*
553
MR. TRACY IN THE SENATE.
" But," added Mr. Pickering, "I have never doubted the right of the United States to acquire new territory, either by purchase or by conquest, and to govern the territory so acquired as a dependent province; and in this way might Louisiana have become a territory of the United States, and have received a form of govern- ment infinitely preferable to that to which its inhabit- ants are now subject."
Mr. Tracy, from Connecticut, followed in the same line of argument, objecting also to what he called giving a commercial preference to the ports of the ceded terri- tory over the other ports of the Union, in conformity with the 7th article of the treaty, which stipulated, that the ships of France and Spain should be admitted for twelve years into the ports of Louisiana, free of foreign duty. He concluded with the following sentiments : " We can hold territory ; but to admit the inhabitants into the Union, to make citizens of them and States, by treaty, we cannot constitutionally do; and no subsequent act of legislation, or even ordinary amendment to our Constitution, can legalize such measures. If done at all, they must be done by universal consent of all the States or partners of our political association ; and this univer- sal consent I am positive can never be obtained to such a pernicious measure as the admission of Louisiana, of a world-and such a world-into our Union. This would be absorbing the northern States, and rendering them as insignificant in the Union as they ought to be, if, by their own consent, the new measure should be adopted."
Mr. Breckenridge, from Kentucky, made in support of the bill, one of the most eloquent speeches of the session. Alluding to the treaty he said : "If my opinion were of any consequence, I am free to declare that this transac- tion, from its commencement to its close, not only as to the mode in which it was pursued, but as to the object
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554
MR. BRECKENRIDGE IN THE SENATE.
achieved, is one of the most splendid which the annals of any nation can produce. To acquire an empire of per- haps half the extent of the one now possessed, from the most powerful and warlike nation on earth, without bloodshed, without the oppression of a single individual, without in the least embarrassing the ordinary operations of your finances, and all this through the peaceful forms of negotiation, and in despite too of the opposition of a considerable portion of the community, is an achieve- ment of which the archives of the predecessors, at least, of those now in office, cannot furnish a parallel.
"The gentleman from Massachusetts has told us, that this acquisition will, from its extent, soon prove destruc- tive to the Confederacy.
"This is an old, hackneyed doctrine-that a republic ought not to be too extensive. But the gentleman has assumed two facts, and then reasoned from them : first, that the extent is too great; and secondly, that the country will soon be populated. I would ask, Sir, what is his standard extent for a republic ? How does he come at that standard ? Our boundary is already exten- sive. Would his standard extent be violated by includ- ing the island of Orleans and the Floridas ? I presume not, as all parties seem to think their acquisition, in part or in whole, essential. Why not then acquire territory on the west, as well as on the east side of the Mississippi ? Is the goddess of liberty restrained by water courses ? Is she governed by geographical limits ? Is her domi- nion on this continent confined to the east side of the Mississippi ? So far from believing in the doctrine that a republic ought to be confined within narrow limits, I believe, on the contrary, that the more extensive its dominion, the more safe and more durable it will be. In proportion to the number of hands you intrust the precious blessings of a free government to, in the same
555
MR. BRECKENRIDGE IN THE SENATE.
. proportion do you multiply the chances for their preser- vation. I entertain, therefore, no fears for the Confede- * * racy, on account of its extent.
" But nothing so remote is more clear to me, than that this acquisition will tend to strengthen the Confederacy. It is evident, as this country has passed out of the hands of Spain, that whether it remained with Spain, or should be acquired by England, its population would have been attempted. Such is the policy of all nations but Spain. Whence would that population come ? Certainly not from Europe. It would come almost exclusively from the United States. The question, then, would simply be : Is the confederacy more in danger from Louisiana, when colonized by American people under American jurisdic- tion, than when populated by Americans under the control of some foreign, powerful, and rival nation ? Or, in other words, whether it would be safer for the United States to populate this country when and how they pleased, or permit some foreign nation to do it at their expense ? "
The adoption of this bill was advocated by Mr. John Quincy Adams, who yet had voted, on the 26th of Octo- ber, against the passage of the bill to enable the Presi- dent to take possession of the territories ceded by France to the United States.
"It has been argued," said Mr. Adams, " that the bill ought. not to pass, because the treaty itself is an uncon- stitutional act, or, to use the words of the gentleman from Connecticut, an extra-constitutional act; because it contains engagements which the powers of the Senate were not competent to ratify, the powers of Congress not competent to confirm, and, as two of the gentlemen have contended, not even the legislatures of the number of States requisite to effect an amendment of the Consti-
556
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS IN THE SENATE.
tution, are adequate to sanction. It is therefore, say . they, a nullity ; we cannot fulfil our part of its condi- tions, and on our failure in the performance of any one stipulation, France may consider herself absolved from the obligations of the whole treaty on her. I do not conceive it necessary to enter into the merits of the treaty at this time. The proper occasion for that dis- cussion is past. But, allowing even that this is a case for which the Constitution has not provided, it does not in my mind follow, that the treaty is a nullity, or that its obligations, either on us or on France, must necessa- rily be cancelled. For my own part, I am free to con- fess, that the 3d article and more especially the 7th, contain engagements placing us in a dilemma, from which I see no possible mode of extricating ourselves but by an amendment, or rather an addition to the Constitution. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Tracy), both on a former occasion, and in t is day's debate, appears to have shown this to demons ration. But what is this more than saying, that the President and Senate have bound the nation to engagements which require the cooperation of more extensive powers than theirs, to carry them into execution ? Nothing is more common in the negotiations between nation and nation, than for a minister to agree to and sign articles beyond the ex- tent of his powers. This is what your ministers, in the very case before us, have confessedly done. It is well known that their powers did not authorize them to con- clude this treaty ; but they acted for the benefit of their country, and this house, by a large majority, has advised to the ratification of their proceedings. Suppose then, not only that the ministers who signed, but the Presi- dent and Senate who ratified this compact, have exceed- ed their powers. Nay, suppose even that the majority of States competent to amend the Constitution in other
557
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS IN THE SENATE.
cases, could not amend it in this, without exceeding their powers-and this is the extremest point to which any gentleman on this floor has extended his scruples-sup- pose all this, and there still remains in the country & power competent to adopt and sanction every part of our engagements, and to carry them entirely into execu- tion. For, notwithstanding the objections and appre- hensions of many individuals, of many wise, able and excellent men in various parts of the Union, yet such is the public favor attending the transaction which com- menced by the negotiation of this treaty, and which, I hope, will terminate in our full, undisturbed and undis- puted possession of the ceded territory, that I firmly believe if an amendment to the Constitution, amply suffi- cient for the accomplishment of everything for which we have contracted, shall be proposed, as I think it ought, it will be adopted by the legislature of every State in the Union. We can therefore fulfil our part of the convention, and this is all that France has a right to require of us. France never can have the right to come and say : I am discharged from the obligations of this treaty, because your President and Senate, in ratify- ing it, exceeded their powers ; for this would be interfering in the internal arrangement of our government. It would be intermeddling in questions with which she has no concern, and which must be settled altogether by ourselves. The only question for France is, whether she has contracted with the department of our govern- ment authorized to make treaties; and this being clear, her only right is to require that the conditions stipulated in our name be punctually and faithfully performed. I trust they will be so performed, and will cheerfully lend my hand to every act necessary for the purpose. For I consider the object as of the highest advantage to us ; and the gentleman from Kentucky himself (Mr. Brecken-
558
MR. GRISWOLD IN THE HOUSE.
ridge), who has displayed with so much eloquence the immense importance to the Union of the possession of the ceded territory, cannot carry his ideas further on that subject than I do."
Finally, the bill passed on the 3d of November, by a vote of 26 to 5. Those voting in the negative were: James Hillhouse and Uriah Tracy from Connecticut, Pickering from Massachusetts, Wells and White from Delaware.
Descending from the Senate into the Lower House let us now see what had been done there.
On the 24th of October, Mr. Griswold, from Connec- ticut, moved the following resolution :
Resolved,-That the President of the United States be requested to cause to be laid before this house a copy of the treaty between the French Republic and Spain, of the 1st of October, 1800, together with a copy of the deed of ces- sion from Spain, executed in pursuance of the same treaty, conveying Louisiana to France (if any such deed exists) ; also copies of such correspondence between the government of the United States and the government or minister of Spain (if any such correspondence has taken place), as will show the assent or dissent of Spain to the purchase of Louisiana by the United States; together with copies of such other documents as may be in the department of state, or any other department of this government, tending to ascertain whether the United States have, in fact, acquired any title to the province of Louisiana by the treaties with France, of the 30th of April, 1803.
He believed it would be admitted that, by the express terms of the treaty, the United States had neither acquired new territory nor new subjects .* "It appears," said he, " by that treaty, that Spain stipulated to cede to France, upon certain conditions, the province of Lou-
* Annals of Congress, by Gales and Seaton.
559
MR. GRISWOLD IN THE HOUSE.
isiana. The treaty between the United States and the French government does not ascertain whether these terms have been complied with by France, or whether the cession has been actually made by Spain to France. All that appears is a promise made by Spain to cede. If the terms stipulated by France have not been com- plied with, and Spain has not delivered the province to France, then it results that France had no title, and of consequence that the United States have acquired no title from France. If this be correct, the consequence will be that we have acquired no new territory or new subjects, and that it is perfectly idle to spend time in passing laws for possessing the territory, and governing the people. This point not being ascertained by the language of the treaty, it may be important to obtain documents that may satisfy the House whether the United States have acquired new territory or new sub- jects. In the treaty lately concluded with France, the treaty between France and Spain is referred to; only a part of it is copied. The treaty referred to must be a public treaty. In the nature of things it must be the title-deed for the province of Louisiana. The Govern- ment must have a copy of it. As there is but a part recited, it is evidently imperfect. It becomes therefore necessary to be furnished with the whole, in order to ascertain the conditions relative to the Duke of Parma ; it also becomes necessary to get the deed of cession ; for the promise to cede is no cession. This deed of cession, I also presume, is in the possession of Government. It is also important to know under what circumstances Louisiana is to be taken possession of, and whether with the consent of Spain, as she is still possessed of it. If it is to be taken possession of with her consent, the posses- sion will be peaceable, and one kind of provision will be necessary ; but if it is to be taken possession of in oppo-
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560
MR. GRISWOLD IN THE HOUSE.
sition to Spain, a different provision may be necessary. From these considerations I think it proper in the House to call upon the Executive for information on this point."
This Resolution was violently opposed by the friends of the administration on the ground that, in the present stage of the proceedings respecting the treaty and con- vention with France concerning Louisiana, it was im- proper to embarrass the business by an unseasonable* call upon the Executive for papers; that the President had already communicated various information on this sub- ject, in his message on the first day of the session ; that additional information was given in his message of the 21st, wherein he told the House that the ratification and exchanges had been made ; that this message was accom- panied with the instrument of cession and covenant con- cluded at Paris between the American ministers and the agents of the French Republic; that this information was already on the tables of the House ; that the Presi- dent had put the House in possession of it from his own sense of duty; that he had communicated such intelli- gence as he had received; and that if he was possessed of anything else needful for the examination of the House, it was to be presumed that the chief magistrate of the Union would have spontaneously imparted it; that al- though the right of the House to request the President to give copies of the papers mentioned in the Resolution under debate was acknowledged, yet that this opposition to it arose merely from their persuasion that those papers were unnecessary, and that some of them were impos- sible to be had; that, although it might be agreeable to examine these papers as matters of rational curiosity, or as documents of authentic history, yet that this was not
* Annals of Congress by Gales and Seaton.
561
ARGUMENTS OF HIS OPPONENTS.
the time for these secondary researches, however amus- ing they might be; that graver objects demanded the immediate attention of the House, and that there might be danger in delay ; that the operation of the Resolution, if adopted, would certainly be to procrastinate and em- barrass ; and that it was impossible to discern what good would be wrought at the present time by agreeing to it; that there was an additional reason, and that a very weighty one, for refusing the motion at this stage of the proceedings ; that the treaty, by its express terms, "must be ratified in good and due form, and the ratifications exchanged within six months after execution ;" that the date of this deed of cession was the 30th of April last ; consequently, that the limited time would expire on the 30th of the current month ; and that this procrastinating Resolution had been sprung up so late as the 24th ; that the treaty of cession had been officially made and offi- cially ratified by the constitutional authorities; that it was now laid before the whole world ; and that it would be more honorable for those who did not relish it to come boldly forward, and deny the propriety of carrying the treaty into effect, than to assail it in secret ambushes, than to fight it behind entrenchments and under covered ways, in order to conceal their hostility to that great national measure from the public view.
Mr. Thomas Randolph, from Virginia, opposed the Resolution, " because," said he, " I do not conceive that, the nation or the House entertain a doubt of our having acquired new territory and people to govern. Could I for a moment believe that even a minority, respectable as to numbers, required any other evidence of this fact than the extract from the treaty which has just been read, I would readily concur with the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Griswold), in asking of the Executive, whether indeed we had a new accession of territory and
36
562
THOMAS RANDOLPH IN THE HOUSE.
of citizens, or, as that gentleman has been pleased to ex- press himself, subjects to govern. * * * %
" The treaty which we are now called upon to sanction, has been hailed by the acclamations of the nation. It is not difficult to foresee, from the opinions manifested in every quarter, that it will receive the cordial approba- tion of a triumphant majority of this House. If such be the general opinion-if we are not barely satisfied with the terms of this treaty, but lost in astonishment at the all-important benefits which we have so cheaply acquired, to what purpose do we ask information respecting the detail of the negotiation ? Has any one ventured to hint disapprobation of the conduct of the ministers who have effected this negotiation ? Has any one insinuated that our interests have been betrayed ? If, then, we are satisfied as to the terms of the treaty, and with the con- duct of our ministers abroad, let us pass the laws neces- sary for carrying it into effect. To refuse-to delay, upon the plea now offered, is to jeopardize the best in- terests of the Union. Shall we take exception to our own title ? Shall we refuse the offered possession ? Shall this refusal proceed from those who so lately affirmed, that we ought to pursue this very object at every national hazard ? I should rather suppose the eagerness of gentle- men would be ready to outstrip the forms of law in making themselves masters of this country, than that, now, when it is offered to our grasp, they should display an unwillingness, or at least an indifference, for that which so lately was all important to them. After the message which the President has sent us, to inquire of him if indeed we have acquired any new subjects, as the gentleman expresses it, who render the exercise of our Legislative functions necessary, would be nothing less
563
MR. GRISWOLD IN THE HOUSE.
than a mockery of them, of this solemn business, and of ourselves."
In the course of the lengthy debate to which this " Resolution" gave rise, various amendments were pro- posed, and, at last, the final question was taken on the adoption of the original motion amended as follows :
Resolved-That the President of the United States be requested .to cause to be laid before the House, a copy of the treaty between the French Republic and Spain, of the 1st of October, 1800, together with a copy of any instru- ment in possession of the Executive, showing that the Spanish government has ordered the province of Louisi- ana to be delivered to the Commissary or other agent of the French government.
The question was lost by a vote of 57 yeas to 59 nays.
On the 25th (October), the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole to take into consideration the motion to adopt the necessary measures to carry the treaty of cession into effect.
In opposition to this motion, Mr. Griswold from Con- necticut observed : "By the 3d article of the treaty it is declared-That the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the prin- ciples of the Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens. It is, perhaps, somewhat difficult to ascertain the precise effect which it was intended to give the words which have been used in this stipulation. It is, however, clear, that it was intended to incorporate the inhabitants of the ceded territory into the Union, by the treaty itself, or to pledge the faith of the nation that such an incorporation should take place within a reasonable time. It is pro-
564
MR. GRISWOLD IN THE HOUSE.
per, therefore, to consider the question with a reference to both constructions.
"It is, in my opinion, scarcely possible for any gentle- man on this floor to advance the assertion that the Presi- dent and Senate may add to the numbers of the Union by a treaty whenever they please, or, in the words of the treaty, may incorporate in the Union of the United States a foreign nation who, from interest or ambition, may wish to become a member of our government. Such a power would be directly repugnant to the origi- nal compact between the States, and a violation of the principles on which that compact was formed. It has been already well observed that the Union of the States was formed on the principle of a copartnership, and it would be absurd to suppose that the agents of the parties, who have been appointed to execute the busi- ness of the compact, in behalf of the principals, could admit a new partner, without the consent of the parties themselves. And yet, if the first construction is as- sumed, such must be the case under this Constitution, and the President and Senate may admit at will any foreign nation into this copartnership without the con- sent of the States.
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