The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 73
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CONGRESSIONAL. GLOBE.
PUBLISHED BY BLAIR AND RIVES, AT ONE DOLLAR PER SESSION, IN ADVANCE.
28th Cong 1st Sess.
FRIDAY, DEGEMBER 22, 1843.
Volume 13....No., 4
[Continuedfrom No. 3.]
attempt to dictate to Congress what amount of at-
tention they should bestow upon the subject, but
left it entirely to their own discretion. It should be
left to the discretion of the committee, when the
question of internal improvement should arise, to
determine how far they should go. No one had
denied the power of the Government to construct
upon the lakes, or anywhere else, works that might
be necessary in case of war, either for military or
naval operations. All matters, therefore, connected
with naval operations, were properly submitted to
the Committee on Naval Affairs. They would find,
when the subject came to be taken up, that the
steam navy upon the waters of the Mississippi
would require a large expenditure in the construc-
tion of harbors; and that species of internal im-
provement was incidental to the military operations
of the country, and the great object of self-defence.
In conclusion, he repeated that he wished this
subject to go to the Committee on Commerce before
they entered into any debate in relation to it.
Mr. KENNEDY said he was glad that gentlemen
on this floor had found out that there was a place
called "the "West." It had been a long time since
the West had received much notice. There was
another additional remark which he wished to
make, that gentlemen might understand it from the
start; it was, that "the West" intended to take care
of itself, and of its own interests, and in its own
way. So far as this question was concerned—the
referring of this message—lie thought it was a small
one; but it would spring a question that might be
found to be a large one before it was got rid of; and
he, as one of the Representatives of the West, (and
he felt just exactly as one of that number now,)
would say, "Hands off, gentlemen; you have long
enough acted without regard to the interests of the
West, and we will help ourselves now. (Laughter.)
The gentleman from Virginia had given them
some good advice. That gentleman was anxious
that the West should come in with its strength, and
take advice as to the good old straight-jacket con-
struction of the Constitution. He (Mr. K.) appre-
ciated the gentleman's motives. The gentleman was
as anxious now to help the West as others were;
and why? Because the West had become an em-
pire of herself. The gentleman from Virginia had
got some notions of strict construction about him,
on which he feared they of the West would stum-
ble. Now he (Mr. K.) belonged to the straight-
jacket sect of strict constructionists of the Consti-
tution in general, (laughter,) and the gentleman
need not entertain any fears. They of the West
would, however, take care of themselves, and not
go farther than they were authorized to do by even
a strict construction. (Laughter.) He would give
his word for that. The gentleman from New
York took some objections to the West; and he
(Mr. K.) thought that gentleman spoke of the
West with a kind of sneer. That gentleman
talked about the West, and then referred to the
Hudson river; and what did the gentleman want to
do? He wanted to add that "spring branch" to the
freat waters of the West. [Laughter.] He (Mr.
Z.) admitted that the Hudson river was a great
river. It would do very well to drink out of; (it
was, however, a little brackish, and was not so
good as the Mississippi.) But how long had the
Government been spending money upon it? He
travelled up that river once; and all the obstructions
he saw were artificial ones—the poles stuck down to
fish by. But he would tell the gentleman, who af-
fected to sneer at the Mississippi, and the waters of
the West, that the Hudson was nothing more i1im.ii
a "spring branch," as compared with the Missis-
sippi and its tributaries. The Hudson river, it was
true, was in the State of New York; and he would
admit that New York was the Empire State. But
look at the great valley of the West, through which
the Mississippi and her tributaries flowed, whose
sources were in the Western mountains, and whose
streams flowed through thousands and thou-
sands of miles of rich and fertile land, for whose
commerce she was the natural channel;—and New
York, great as she undoubtedly was, was small m
comparison—so small, comparatively, that she
might be put into his breeches pocket. Some gen-
tlemen sneered at the Mississippi valley who never
saw it. He (Mr. K.) had seen it, and knew how he
ought to express himself towards it. They of the
West were all from the older States, or descended from
those who were from the older States—at least most
of those on this side of the mountains were—and
the older States had been in the habit of looking
upon them as a parent looks upon absent children.
The older States had been too much accustomed to
look upon the West as colonies of those old States.
They had been treated as children who had left their
father's hearth to make the West their home; but
they forgot that, in the West, they had grown beyond
their knowledge; and if they still looked upon the
West as a mother does upon a son; who had
left the paternal roof, as always looking, when
his head was covered with the frosts of many
winters, and when he had become the head of
a mighty family and a powerful nation, as when he
was playing about his mother's knee in his native
village, they were much mistaken. The West had
bccome a mighty empire; and he charged gentlemen
no longer to adhere to a system which had well nigh
alienated the child from its mother's heart. No, no;
for (as one gentleman had correctly remarked) the
West no longer wanted "milk for babes," but the
meat of men; and what was more, they would have
it. He would add, too, that while what they want-
ed they would do for themselves, they would never
trespass on the strict rule of right, or the strict and
proper construction of the Constitution. They asked
for that which was right; but they asked for no
more. The gentleman from Virginia said he (Mr.
K.) was taking that gentleman's advice; and he
would remark that lie was always willing to take
food advice, come from what quarter it might. But,
esides taking advice, he would give it too. He
would advise his associates from the Mississippi
valley not to allow others to hang upon the in-
terests of the great West the dead weights which,
for years past, had been fastened upon them,
and oy which they had been borne down. He
would say to the gentlemen from the West, Keep
your eyes steadily fixed on your object, and receive
none of those interests into the connexion, (such as
the Hudson river and others,) which had hitherto
struck it down. By such union of interests the good
was lost. Yes, the Dutch message was killed yesterday
by its union with other propositions. There were
two ways to kill a thing; the one was by voting it
down by main force, and the other by its pretended
friends pressing it down. But he would say to gen-
tlemen there, they must not suppose, now that
the West had got eighty-odd Representatives,
that she would not be determined to do jus-
tice to herself; and for the future, that she was
not going to allow anything else to be thrown on
her shoulders. Now the West w~as able, she was
going to do herself justice. Her waters were of as
much national importance as the harbors on the sea-
board; and if they supposed that she was going to
allow them to hang upon her any exploded system,
they were mistaken. But if they had not yet strength
sufficient, rather than see the interests of the West
hitched on to any other he would be willing to
wait ten years longer, and then they could get them
attended to by her own ample constitutional strength.
He made these remarks because he did not wish to
be misunderstood on the subject.
He, however, again said lie was glad that gentle-
men had discovered there was such a place as the
West; and he would repeat, that the West would
attend to her own interests. He had no doubt
many gentlemen now supposed they could hitch 011
to the Western country. He admitted that they
were treated a little more kindly in the message than
they had been before; but still, though it might not
be the court fashion, he had thought it the best
policy to tell the naked truth, as he had done.'With
respect to the reference of that portion of the mes-
sage which was in consideration, he would remark,
that he cared not to what committee it was sent. He
cared so little about it, that he had not even looked
where the proposed committee was located; for he
was satisfied that, if the committee (be it which it
might) did not do them justice, there was a place
where justice would be done, out of committee.
Mr. HOLMES was greatly rejoiced to listen to
the speech of the gentleman from the West. With
that gentleman, he was greatly rejoiced that the
great West, like a strong man after sleep, had arisen
and was resolved to shake her locks. He was grat-
ified to hear the sentiments of the gentleman who
came from a territory which had been planted by
the descendants of the early colonists of the New
England States: and that the West would rise, up
and become a great empire he fondly believed; and
as a Southern man, he fondly cherished the idea.
It was time for the West, with her vast rivers
and her mighty resources of soil, to arise and
act, and, like the descendants of that great na-
tion which sent her colonists to the Western
World to'wake^up against their mother, and no
longer suffer that mother to give them milk for
babes; but (in the language of a gentleman who had
preceded him) to claim the right to purchase the
strong meat of men, and likewise to control that
mother, and no longer permit her to poison the very
sources from which they drew the element of life.
The West was progressing with a rapidity that few
men, who had not looked carefully at her statistics,
had any conception of. The produce of her
soil multiplied, until actually she produced
forty-four bushels to every man, woman, and
child in the United States; giving of grain no less
than one hundred million bushels more than could be
consumed by the eighteen millions of people in the
United States. And what was to become of this
immense wealth of her soil? Her abundance, in-
stead of being a blessing,-would become a burden,
unless there was improvement in the navigation of
her waters, and until she said to the Eastern and to
the Northern States, We must come in for a partici-
pation in equal benefits and equal rights, that we
may transmit to other markets the vast resources of
our soil. There were already very great amounts of
grain floated down the Mississippi, which required
facilities for its transmission, and might soon
require protection. They had heard the sound
of distant thunder, and no man knew when it would
burst upon them, nor from what quarter it would
com^; and so greatly had the interests of the West
been disregarded by the Representatives of the whole
people, that there was not a single mode of protec-
tion devised for the commerce, in time of war,
which floated to the ocean down the Mississippi.
South of Chesapeake bay there was not a single na-
val station, nor a solitary navy-yard—for Pensacola-
was not one in the strict sense of the term; and what
was the result to the West, and to her produce,
which floated down her mighty waters? Why, a
small fleet of British cruisers in the Gulf of Mexico,
after a storm had dismantled our vessels, would be
in possession of the produce of the West. The
Mississippi ought, therefore, not only to have her
navigation improved, but the gentleman from Ten-
nessee and the Representatives from the other
States ought to insist on having a navy-yard at
Memphis, or some other point, that vessels injured
in a storm might be repaired in the shortest possible
time. For if, in time of war, our vessels are dis-
masted, and must be sent to the North for repairs,
the many millions of produce which floats down
the valley of the Mississippi would be blocked up
by the ships of Great Britain, who had now Barba-
does, and Jamaica, and other neighboring points;
and, if that power get possession of our produce,
there would be no means of restoring it unUl peace
was restored.
He did not want this question to go to the Com-
mittee on Commerce; and amongst the reasons
which would influence him to vote against that refer-
ence there was one which he entertained honestly
and in all sincerity; it was, that on that committee
there was no Western man. He was afraid to
allow the interests of the West to go there; for
he apprehended further, that that committee would
adhere to the tariff system, which crushed all the
business of the West. He feared that committee
would not be favorable to the peculiar interests of
the West; and hence he called upon Western gen-
tlemen to go with them of the South m breaking
down the tariff and in bringing it to a revenue
standard. Let the system adopted be such as would
make the North, the East, the South, and the West,
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, book, 1844; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2367/m1/73/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.