The Webster-Hayne debates began over one issue but quickly switched to another. Now, have they given away that right, or agreed to limit or restrict it in any respect? . Mr. Hayne having rejoined to Mr. Webster, especially on the constitutional question. Webster-Hayne Debate. Eloquence threw open the portals of eternal day. Competing Conceptions of Union and Ordered Liberty in The Webster-Hayne debate was a series of spontaneous speeches presented to the United States Senate by senators Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina. . Webster's description of the U.S. government as "made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people," was later paraphrased by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address in the words "government of the people, by the people, for the people." In contrasting the state of Ohio with Kentucky, for the purpose of pointing out the superiority of the former, and of attributing that superiority to the existence of slavery, in the one state, and its absence in the other, I thought I could discern the very spirit of the Missouri question[1] intruded into this debate, for objects best known to the gentleman himself. The growing support for nullification was quite obvious during the days of the Jackson Administration, as events such as the Webster-Hayne Debate, Tariff of 1832, Order of Nullification, and Worcester v. Georgia all made the tension grow between the North and the South. The Webster-Hayne debate, which again was just one section of this greater discussion in the Senate, is traditionally considered to have begun when South Carolina senator Robert Y. Hayne stood to argue against Connecticut's proposal, accusing the northeastern states of trying to stall development of the West so that southern agricultural interests couldn't expand. Most people of the time supported a small central government and strong state governments, so the federal government was much weaker than you might have expected. Some of Webster's personal friends had felt nervous over what appeared to them too hasty a period for preparation. An error occurred trying to load this video. . What idea was espoused with the Webster-Hayne debates? Competing Conceptions of Union and Ordered Liberty in The Webster-Hayne He was dressed with scrupulous care, in a blue coat with metal buttons, a buff vest rounding over his full abdomen, and his neck encircled with a white cravat. Webster-Hayne Debate - Federalism in America - CSF Let us look at the historical facts. Webster and Hayne on the American Constitution The Constitutional Convention: The Great Compromise, The Webster-Hayne Debate of 1830: Summary & Issues, The History of American Presidential Debates, Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening: Sermons & Biography, Who Was Susan B. Anthony? The gentleman, indeed, argues that slavery, in the abstract, is no evil. This will co-operate with the feelings of patriotism to induce a state to avoid any measures calculated to endanger that connection. Thirty years before the Civil War broke out, disunion appeared to be on the horizon with the Nullification Crisis. On the one side it is contended that the public land ought to be reserved as a permanent fund for revenue, and future distribution among the states, while, on the other, it is insisted that the whole of these lands of right belong to, and ought to be relinquished to, the states in which they lie. Sir, I may be singularperhaps I stand alone here in the opinion, but it is one I have long entertained, that one of the greatest safeguards of liberty is a jealous watchfulness on the part of the people, over the collection and expenditure of the public moneya watchfulness that can only be secured where the money is drawn by taxation directly from the pockets of the people. It is the common pretense. The United States' democratic process was evolving and its leaders were putting the newly ratified Constitution into practice. It develops the gentlemans whole political system; and its answer expounds mine. I know that there are some persons in the part of the country from which the honorable member comes, who habitually speak of the Union in terms of indifference, or even of disparagement. What was the main issue of the Webster-Hayne debate? Under that system, the legal actionthe application of law to individuals, belonged exclusively to the states. I did not utter a single word, which any ingenuity could torture into an attack on the slavery of the South. He had allowed himself but a single night from eve to morn to prepare for a critical and crowning occasion. . Hayne maintained that the states retained the authority to nullify federal law, Webster that federal law expressed the will of the American people and could not be nullified by a minority of the people in a state. . During the course of the debates, the senators touched on pressing political issues of the daythe tariff, Western lands, internal improvementsbecause behind these and others were two very different understandings of the origin and nature of the American Union. Address to the Slaves of the United States. I have but one word more to add. It is the servant of four-and-twenty masters, of different wills and different purposes, and yet bound to obey all. .Readers will finish the book with a clear idea of the reason Webster's "Reply" became so influential in its own day. No doubt can exist, that, before the states entered into the compact, they possessed the right to the fullest extent, of determining the limits of their own powersit is incident to all sovereignty. Sir, it is because South Carolina loves the Union, and would preserve it forever, that she is opposing now, while there is hope, those usurpations of the federal government, which, once established, will, sooner or later, tear this Union into fragments. Gloomy and downcast of late, Massachusetts men walked the avenue as though the fife and drum were before them. Expert Answers. Though Webster made an impassioned argument, the political, social, and economic traditions of New England informed his ideas about the threatened nation. . No hanging over the abyss of disunion, no weighing of the chances, no doubting as to what the Constitution was worth, no placing of liberty before Union, but "liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable." The taxes paid by foreign nations to export American cotton, for example, generated lots of money for the government. When, however, the gentleman proceeded to contrast the state of Ohio with Kentucky, to the disadvantage of the latter, I listened to him with regret. I maintain that, from the day of the cession of the territories by the states to Congress, no portion of the country has acted, either with more liberality or more intelligence, on the subject of the Western lands in the new states, than New England. In fact, Webster's definition of the Constitution as for the People, by the People, and answerable to the People would go on to form one of the most enduring ideas about American democracy. I love a good debate. . . In January 1830, a debate on the nature of sovereignty in the America. Our Core Document Collection allows students to read history in the words of those who made it. Battle of Fort Sumter in the Civil War | Who Won the Battle of Fort Sumter? Do they mean, or can they mean, anything more than that the Union of the states will be strengthened, by whatever continues or furnishes inducements to the people of the states to hold together? If they mean merely this, then, no doubt, the public lands as well as everything else in which we have a common interest, tends to consolidation; and to this species of consolidation every true American ought to be attached; it is neither more nor less than strengthening the Union itself. The Webster-Hayne debate concluded with Webster's ringing endorsement of "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." In contrast, Hayne espoused the radical states' rights doctrine of nullification, believing that a state could prevent a federal law from being enforced within its borders. Record of the Organization and Proceedings of The Massachusetts Lawmakers Investigate Working Condit State (Colonial) Legislatures>Massachusetts State Legislature. . Rush-Bagot Treaty Structure & Effects | What was the Rush-Bagot Agreement? Speech of Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina, January 19, 1830. This leads us to inquire into the origin of this government, and the source of its power. I say, the right of a state to annul a law of Congress, cannot be maintained, but on the ground of the unalienable right of man to resist oppression; that is to say, upon the ground of revolution. . All of these contentious topics were touched upon in Webster and Hayne's nine day long debate. Let's start by looking at the United States around 1830. U.S. Senate: The Most Famous Senate Speech . God grant that, in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise. The following states came from the territory north and west of the Ohio river: Ohio (1803), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848) and Minnesota (1858). By the time it ended nine days later, the focus had shifted to the vastly more cosmic concerns of slavery and the nature of the federal Union. Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. Between January and May 1830, twenty-one of the forty-eight senators delivered a staggering sixty-five speeches on the nature of the Union. Finding our lot cast among a people, whom God had manifestly committed to our care, we did not sit down to speculate on abstract questions of theoretical liberty. Sheidley, Harlow W. "The Wester-Hayne Debate: Recasting New England's Sectionalism", Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 179899, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WebsterHayne_debate&oldid=1135315190, This page was last edited on 23 January 2023, at 22:54. . At the time of the debate, Webster was serving his term as Senator of Massachusetts. Winners and Losers History's Famous Debates - Medium The debate continued, in some ways not being fully settled until the completion of the Civil War affirmed the power of the federal government to preserve the Union over the sovereignty of the states to leave it. Create your account, 15 chapters | The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions Add Song of the Spinners from the Lowell Offering. . I supposed, that on this point, no two gentlemen in the Senate could entertain different opinions. 1. emigration the movement of people from one place to another 2. immigration a situation in which resources are being used up at a faster rate than they can be replenished 3. migration the leaving of one's homeland to settle in a new place 4. overpopulation the movement of people to a new country 5. sustainable development a situation in which the birth rate is not sufficient to replace the . To them, this was a scheme to give the federal government more control over the cost of land by creating a scarcity. . Edited and introduced by Jason W. Stevens. During his first years in Congress, Webster railed against President James Madison 's war policies, invoking a states' rights argument to oppose a conscription bill that went down to defeat.. Would it be safe to confide such a treasure to the keeping of our national rulers? If I had, sir, the powers of a magician, and could, by a wave of my hand, convert this capital into gold for such a purpose, I would not do it. . . The Webster-Hayne debate laid out key issues faced by the Senate in the 1820s and 1830s. Tariff of Abominations of 1828 | What was the Significance of the Tariff of Abominations? The object of the Framers of the Constitution, as disclosed in that address, was not the consolidation of the government, but the consolidation of the Union. It was not to draw power from the states, in order to transfer it to a great national government, but, in the language of the Constitution itself, to form a more perfect union; and by what means? It is one from which we are not disposed to shrink, in whatever form or under whatever circumstances it may be pressed upon us. Hayne was a great orator, filled with fiery passion and eloquent prose. [O]pinions were expressed yesterday on the general subject of the public lands, and on some other subjects, by the gentleman from South Carolina [Senator Robert Hayne], so widely different from my own, that I am not willing to let the occasion pass without some reply. Crittenden Compromise Plan & Reception | What was the Crittenden Compromise? Will it promote the welfare of the United States to have at our disposal a permanent treasury, not drawn from the pockets of the people, but to be derived from a source independent of them? . Liberty has been to them the greatest of calamities, the heaviest of curses. Prejudice Not Natural: The American Colonization "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Such interference has never been supposed to be within the power of government; nor has it been, in any way, attempted. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. The Hayne-Webster Debate - Constitution.org The arena selected for a first impression was the Senate, where the arch-heretic himself presided and guided the onset with his eye. I spoke, sir, of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery, in all future times, northwest of the Ohio,[6] as a measure of great wisdom and foresight; and one which had been attended with highly beneficial and permanent consequences. But, the simple expression of this sentiment has led the gentleman, not only into a labored defense of slavery, in the abstract, and on principle, but, also, into a warm accusation against me, as having attacked the system of domestic slavery, now existing in the Southern states. Their own power over their own instrument remains. . Go to these cities now, and ask the question. This was the man to fire an aristocracy of fellow citizens ready to arm when their interests were in danger, and upon him, it devolved to advance the cause of South Carolina, break down the tariff, and fascinate the Union with the new rattlesnake theories. The debate can be seen as a precursor to the debate that became . They significantly declare, that it is time to calculate the value of the Union; and their aim seems to be to enumerate, and to magnify all the evils, real and imaginary, which the government under the Union produces. Webster replied to his speech the next day and left not a shred of the charge, baseless as it was. Nullification, Webster maintained, was a political absurdity. One was through protective tariffs, high taxes on imports and exports. Speech of Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina, January 25, 1830. . When the honorable member rose, in his first speech, I paid him the respect of attentive listening; and when he sat down, though surprised, and I must say even astonished, at some of his opinions, nothing was farther from my intention than to commence any personal warfare: and through the whole of the few remarks I made in answer, I avoided, studiously and carefully, everything which I thought possible to be construed into disrespect. Nor shall I stop there. The action, the drama, the suspensewho needs the movies? to expose them to the temptations inseparable from the direction and control of a fund which might be enlarged or diminished almost at pleasure, without imposing burthens upon the people? Visit the dark and narrow lanes, and obscure recesses, which have been assigned by common consent as the abodes of those outcasts of the worldthe free people of color. He was a lawyer turned congressional representative who eventually worked his way to the office of U.S. Secretary of State. States' rights (South) vs. nationalism (North). . It is observable enough, that the doctrine for which the honorable gentleman contends, leads him to the necessity of maintaining, not only that this general government is the creature of the states, but that it is the creature of each of the states severally; so that each may assert the power, for itself, of determining whether it acts within the limits of its authority. Democratic Party Platform 1860 (Breckinridge Facti (Southern) Democratic Party Platform Committee. In 1830, the federal government collected few taxes and had two primary sources of revenue. For the next several days, the men traded speeches which contemporaries of the time described as the greatest orations ever delivered in the Senate. Southern states advocated for strong, sovereign state governments, a small federal government, the western expansion of the agricultural economy, and with it, the maintenance of the institution of slavery. In January 1830, a debate on the nature of sovereignty in the American federal union occurred in the United States Senate between Senators Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Robert Hayne of South Carolina. Religious Views: Letter to the Editor of the Illin Democratic Party Platform 1860 (Douglas Faction), (Northern) Democratic Party Platform Committee. . Webster scoffed at the idea of consolidation, labeling it "that perpetual cry, both of terror and delusion." What Hayne and his supporters actually meant to do, Webster claimed, was to resist those means that might strengthen the bonds of common interest. The measures of the federal government have, it is true, prostrated her interests, and will soon involve the whole South in irretrievable ruin. . Compare And Contrast The Tension Between North And South. The gentleman insists that the states have no right to decide whether the constitution has been violated by acts of Congress or not,but that the federal government is the exclusive judge of the extent of its own powers; and that in case of a violation of the constitution, however deliberate, palpable and dangerous, a state has no constitutional redress, except where the matter can be brought before the Supreme Court, whose decision must be final and conclusive on the subject. Webster-Hayne Debate 1830, an unplanned series of speeches in the Senate, during which Robert Hayne of South Carolina interpreted the Constitution as little more than a treaty between sovereign states, and Daniel Webster expressed the concept of the United States as one nation. Webster also tried to assert the importance of New England in the face of . Robert Young Hayne, (born Nov. 10, 1791, Colleton District, S.C., U.S.died Sept. 24, 1839, Asheville, N.C.), American lawyer, political leader, and spokesman for the South, best-remembered for his debate with Daniel Webster (1830), in which he set forth a doctrine of nullification. Jackson himself would raise a national toast for 'the Union' later that year. - Definition and Uses, Public Speaking: Assignment 1 - Informative Speech, Public Speaking: Assignment 3 - Special Occasion Speech, The Role of Probability Distributions, Random Numbers & the Computer in Simulations, The Monte Carlo Simulation: Scope & Common Applications, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community, The methods by which the federal government earned its revenue, The federal government's surveying and selling of land west of the Mississippi River, The issue of slavery, which was beginning to divide the Northern and Southern states, The balance of power between federal and state governments. In coming to the consideration of the next great question, what ought to be the future policy of the government in relation to the public lands? Union, of itself, is considered by the disciples of this school as hardly a good. She has worked as a university writing consultant for over three years. Debate on the Constitutionality of the Mexican War, Letters and Journals from the Oregon Trail. Before his term as a U.S. senator, Hayne had served as a state senator, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, South Carolina's Speaker of the House, and Attorney General of South Carolina. For all this, there was not the slightest foundation, in anything said or intimated by me. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. Wilmot Proviso of 1846: Overview & Significance | What was the Wilmot Proviso? In all the efforts that have been made by South Carolina to resist the unconstitutional laws which Congress has extended over them, she has kept steadily in view the preservation of the Union, by the only means by which she believes it can be long preserveda firm, manly, and steady resistance against usurpation. They switched from a. the tariff of 1828 to national power . The WebsterHayne debate was a debate in the United States between Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina that took place on January 1927, 1830 on the topic of protectionist tariffs. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 . Well, the southern states were infuriated. . What was going on? The Webster-Hayne debate was a series of unplanned speeches in the Senate between January 19th and 27th of 1830 between Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina. . 1824 Presidential Election, Candidates & Significance | Who Won the Election of 1824? sir, this is but the old story. But the feeling is without all adequate cause, and the suspicion which exists wholly groundless. New England, the Union, and the Constitution in its integrity, all were triumphantly vindicated. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. . But, sir, we will pass over all this. Who, then, Mr. President, are the true friends of the Union? Lincoln-Douglas Debates History & Significance | What Was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate? His ideas about federalism and his interpretation of the Constitution as a document uniting the states under one supreme law were highly influential in the eyes of his contemporaries and would influence the rebuilding of the nation after the Civil War. This is a delicate and sensitive point, in southern feeling; and of late years it has always been touched, and generally with effect, whenever the object has been to unite the whole South against northern men, or northern measures. . I now proceed to show that it is perfectly safe, and will practically have no effect but to keep the federal government within the limits of the Constitution, and prevent those unwarrantable assumptions of power, which cannot fail to impair the rights of the states, and finally destroy the Union itself. They attack nobody, and menace nobody. Let us look at his probablemodus operandi. Well, you're not alone. Speech of Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina, January 27, 1830. . The Webster-Hayne Debate: An Inquiry into the Nature of Union by Stefan Connecticut and other northeastern states were worried about the pace of growth and wanted to slow this down. . The Confederation was, in strictness, a compact; the states, as states, were parties to it. This debate exposed the critically different understandings of the nature of the American. The Commercial Greatness of the United States, Special Message to Congress (Tyler Doctrine), Estranged Labour and The Communist Manifesto, State of the Union Address Part II (1848). . The tendency of all these ideas and sentiments is obviously to bring the Union into discussion, as a mere question of present and temporary expediency; nothing more than a mere matter of profit and loss. If these opinions be thought doubtful, they are, nevertheless, I trust, neither extraordinary nor disrespectful. Representatives of the northern states were concerned by the rapid growth of the nation; just 27 years earlier, the Louisiana Purchase had nearly doubled the size of the nation, and the newly elected President Andrew Jackson was hungry for more territory. [was] fixed, forever, the character of the population in the vast regions Northwest of the Ohio, by excluding from them involuntary servitude. If the federal government, in all or any of its departments, are to prescribe the limits of its own authority; and the states are bound to submit to the decision, and are not to be allowed to examine and decide for themselves, when the barriers of the Constitution shall be overleaped, this is practically a government without limitation of powers; the states are at once reduced to mere petty corporations, and the people are entirely at your mercy. But his reply was gathered from the choicest arguments and the most decadent thoughts that had long floated through his brain while this crisis was gathering; and bringing these materials together in a lucid and compact shape, he calmly composed and delivered before another crowded and breathless auditory a speech full of burning passages, which will live as long as the American Union, and the grandest effort of his life. The Webster Hayne Debate - DEBETE CJK Nullification Crisis | American Battlefield Trust That's what was happening out West. . To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. But that was found insufficient, and inadequate to the public exigencies. Having thus distinctly stated the points in dispute between the gentleman and myself, I proceed to examine them. Sir, we will not stop to inquire whether the black man, as some philosophers have contended, is of an inferior race, nor whether his color and condition are the effects of a curse inflicted for the offences of his ancestors. We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow. All rights reserved. Correct answers: 2 question: Which of the following is the best definition of a hypothesis? On that system, Carolina has no more interest in a canal in Ohio than in Mexico. What interest, asks he, has South Carolina in a canal in Ohio? Sir, this very question is full of significance. Webster denied it and, attempting to draw Hayne into a direct confrontation, disparaged slavery and attacked the constitutional scruples of southern nullifiers and their apparent willingness to calculate the Union's value in monetary terms. . He remained a Southern Unionist through his long public career and a good type of the growing class of statesman devoted to slave interests who loved the Union as it was and doted upon its compromises. It would be equally fatal to the sovereignty and independence of the states. . The excited crowd which had packed the Senate chamber, filling every seat on the floor and in the galleries, and all the available standing room, dispersed after the orator's last grand apostrophe had died away in the air, with national pride throbbing at the heart. . In a time when the country was undergoing some drastic changes, this debate managed to encapsulate the essence of the growing tensions dividing the nation. . I understand the honorable gentleman from South Carolina to maintain, that it is a right of the state legislatures to interfere, whenever, in their judgment, this government transcends its constitutional limits, and to arrest the operation of its laws. . This, sir, is General Washingtons consolidation. The faction of voters in the North were against slavery and feared it spreading into new territory. Ah! He joined Hayne in using this opportunity to try to detach the West from the East, and restore the old cooperation of the West and the South against New England. . Van Buren responded to the Panic of 1837 with the idea of the independent treasury, which was a. a system of depositing money in select independent banks