Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.)

The Senate agree to the resolution for the appointment of a joint committee to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him of the proposed recess of Congress, and have appointed a committee on their part.

For some time a quorum was not present.

Bills from the Senate were waiting. A call of the House was had, and it appeared that sixty-four members only were present.

After receiving from the President all the bills which had passed, and being informed by the committee that he had no further communications to make, the House adjourned sine die.

notes

1

Missing line.

2

This ordinance of the Congress of the confederation, which became the basis of all the Territorial governments, was sanctioned by the Congress of the Union at its first session, with certain provisions added to it in order to give it full effect under the constitution. The following are the terms of this enactment: —

"Whereas that the ordinance of the United States in Congress assembled, for the government of the Territory northwest of the river Ohio may continue to have full effect, it is requisite that certain provisions should be made, so as to adapt the same to the present Constitution of the United States. Therefore, Be it enacted, &c., That in all cases in which, by the said ordinance, any information is to be given, or communication made by the Governor of the said territory to the United States in Congress assembled, or to any of their officers, it shall be the duty of the said Governor to give such information, and to make such communication to the President of the United States; and the President shall nominate, and by and with the consent of the Senate, shall appoint all officers which by the said ordinance were to have been appointed by the United States in Congress assembled, and all officers so appointed shall be commissioned by him; and in all cases where the United States in Congress assembled, might, by the said ordinance, revoke any commission or remove from any office, the President is hereby declared to have the same power of revocation and removal. Sec. 2. – And be it further enacted, That in case of the death, removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the Governor of the said Territory, the secretary thereof shall be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to execute all the powers, and perform all the duties of the Governor, during the vacancy occasioned by the removal, resignation, or necessary absence of said Governor."

This act of Congress, passed to give full effect to this ordinance by adapting its working to the new Federal Constitution, was among the earliest acts of the Federal Congress, being number eight in the list of acts passed at the first session of the first Congress; and classes with the acts necessary to the working of the new government. As such it was modified; and as such preserved and applied to successive Territories, as governments for them were given. That ordinance is, in fact, the basis of all the Territorial governments, and is extended to each of them by name, with such modifications as each one required; and its benefits secured in their deeds of territorial cession by Georgia and North Carolina. Thus, the fifth clause in the first article of the Georgia deed of cession, dated April 24th, 1802, stipulates: "That the Territory thus ceded shall form a State, and be admitted as such into the Union, as soon as it shall contain 60,000 free inhabitants, or at an earlier period, if Congress shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner, as is provided in the ordinance of Congress of the 13th day of July, 1787, for the government of the Western Territory of the United States; which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the Mississippi Territory contained in the present act of cession, that article only excepted which forbids slavery." The deed of cession from North Carolina, for the Territory since forming the State of Tennessee, and dated December – , 1789, is equally express in claiming the benefits of this ordinance; so that, made before the constitution, it has been equally sanctioned by Congress and by States since. Virginia sanctioned it immediately after its enactment, and before the commencement of the present Federal Government, to wit, on the 30th day of December, 1788. The ordinance being thus anterior to the constitution, was not formed under it, but under the authority of owners – sovereign owners – exercising the right of taking care of their own property, subject only to the conditions and limitations which accompanied its acquisition. And thus the Territories have been constantly governed independently of the constitution, and incompatibly with it, and by a statute made before it, and merely extended as a pre-existing law to each Territory as it came into existence.

3

The 6th, being the Anti-slavery article.

4

This was the end of Mr. Jefferson's administration; and, notwithstanding the purchase of Louisiana, (the annual interest on the cost of which had to be paid,) and the greatly extended frontier which required to be guarded, the system of order and economy which he cherished enabled him to carry on the government (until the privations of the embargo and non-intercourse) without increase of duties, and with a moderation of cost which should form the study and the imitation of succeeding administrations. The duties remained at the same moderate rates as before – the ad valorems, 12½, 15, and 20 per centum; the specifics (increased in number) were not increased in rate; the free list not only remained undiminished, but was happily augmented by the addition of salt. The average of the ad valorems was still about 13 per cent., and almost all fell upon the 12½ per centum class – the importations under the other two classes being inconsiderable, to wit, only about half a million, ($520,000,) subject to the 20 per centum; and only a little over nine millions under the 15 per centum; while the imports under the 12½ per centum class amounted to above thirty-six millions of dollars. The articles used by the body of the people fell into this class, (the other two classes embracing articles which might be called luxuries,) so that 12½ per centum upon the value may be considered as the duty which fell upon the country. The expenses of collection still remained at about 4 per centum, and the revenue cutter service (there being but little temptation to smuggle under such low duties) cost but a trifle; and the specific list being considerable, the number of custom house officers and agents was inconsiderable. The revenue collected from the ad valorem duties was about seven millions of dollars; that from specifics about nine millions – leaving sixteen millions for the net revenue. Of that sum the one-half (just eight millions) went to meet the interest, and part of the principal, of the public debt. Of the remainder there went to the military and Indian departments about two and three-quarter millions; to the navy about one million; to tribute to Algiers, (masked under the name of foreign intercourse,) two hundred thousand dollars; and to the civil list, embracing the whole machinery of the civil government, with all its miscellaneous expenses, about nine hundred thousand dollars – leaving some two millions surplus after accomplishing all these objects. It was a model administration of the government. Mr. Jefferson's administration terminated the 3d of March, 1809, but its fair financial working ceased two years before – with the breaking up of our commerce under the British orders in council, and the decrees of the French emperor, and the measures of privation and of expense which the conduct of Great Britain and of France brought upon us. The two last years of his administration were a strong contrast to the six first, and a painful struggle against diminished revenue and increased expenses, injuries and insults from abroad, and preparation for war with one of the greatest powers in the world, while doing no wrong ourselves, and only asking for what the laws of nations and of nature allowed us – a friendly neutrality, and exemption from the evils of a war with which we had no concern. Preparation for war was then a tedious and expensive process; embargo, non-intercourse, fortifications, ships, militia, regular troops. All this is now superseded by railroads and volunteers, ready at any moment to annihilate any invading force; and by privateers, ready to drive the commerce of any nation from the ocean.

5

LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE SENATE.

• New Hampshire.– Nicholas Gilman, Nahum Parker.

• Massachusetts.– Timothy Pickering.

• Connecticut.– James Hillhouse, Chauncey Goodrich.

• Rhode Island.– Elisha Mathewson, Francis Malbone.

• Vermont.– Jonathan Robinson, Stephen R. Bradley.

• New York.– John Smith.

• New Jersey.– John Lambert, John Condit.

• Pennsylvania.– Andrew Gregg, Michael Leib.

• Delaware.– Samuel White, James A. Bayard.

• Maryland.– Samuel Smith, Philip Reed.

• Virginia.– William B. Giles, Richard Brent.

• North Carolina.– Jesse Franklin, James Turner.

• South Carolina.– John Gaillard.

• Georgia.– William H. Crawford.

• Kentucky.– Buckner Thruston, John Pope.

• Tennessee.– Joseph Anderson, Jenkin Whiteside.

• Ohio.– Return Jonathan Meigs, jr., Stanley Griswold.

6

LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES.

New Hampshire.– Daniel Blaisdell, John C. Chamberlain, William Hale, Nathaniel A. Haven, James Wilson.

Massachusetts.– Ezekiel Bacon, William Baylies, Richard Cutts, Orchard Cook, William Ely, Gideon Gardner, Barzillai Gannett, Edward St. Loe Livermore, Benjamin Pickman, jr., Josiah Quincy, Ebenezer Seaver, Samuel Taggart, William Stedman, Jabez Upham, Joseph B. Varnum, Laban Wheaton, Ezekiel Whitman.

Rhode Island.– Richard Jackson, jr., Elisha E. Potter.

Connecticut.– Epaphroditus Champion, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Jonathan O. Mosely, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Lewis B. Sturges, Benjamin Tallmadge.

Vermont.– William Chamberlin, Martin Chittenden, Jonathan H. Hubbard, Samuel Shaw.

New York.– James Emott, Jonathan Fisk, Barent Gardenier, Thomas E. Gold, Herman Knickerbacker, Robert Le Roy Livingston, Vincent Matthews, John Nicholson, Gurdon S. Mumford, Peter B. Porter, Ebenezer Sage, Thomas Sammons, Erastus Root, John Thompson, Uri Tracy, Killian K. Van Rensselaer.

Pennsylvania.– William Anderson, David Bard, Robert Brown, William Crawford, William Findlay, Daniel Heister, Robert Jenkins, Aaron Lyle, William Milnor, John Porter, John Rea, Benjamin Say, Matthias Richards, John Ross, George Smith, Samuel Smith, John Smilie, Robert Whitehill.

New Jersey.– Adam Boyd, James Cox, William Helms, Jacob Hufty, Thomas Newbold, Henry Southard.

Delaware.– Nicholas Van Dyke.

Maryland.– John Brown, John Campbell, Charles Goldsborough, Philip Barton Key, Alexander McKim, John Montgomery, Nicholas R. Moore, Roger Nelson, Archibald Van Horne.

Virginia.– Burwell Bassett, James Breckenridge, William A. Burwell, Matthew Clay, John Dawson, John W. Eppes, Thomas Gholson, jr., Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, John G. Jackson, Walter Jones, Joseph Lewis, jr., John Love, Thomas Newton, Wilson Carey Nicholas, John Randolph, John Roane, Daniel Sheffey, John Smith, James Stephenson, Jacob Swoope.

North Carolina.– Willis Alston, jr., James Cochran, Meshack Franklin, James Holland, Thomas Kenan, William Kennedy, Archibald McBride, Nathaniel Macon, Joseph Pearson, Lemuel Sawyer, Richard Stanford, John Stanley.

South Carolina.– Lemuel J. Alston, William Butler, Joseph Calhoun, Robert Marion, Thomas Moore, John Taylor, Robert Witherspoon, Richard Wynn.

Georgia.– William W. Bibb, Howell Cobb, Dennis Smelt, George W. Troup.