If the time of the
Senate permitted, I would feel it to be my duty to call for the reading of the
mass of petitions on the table, in order that we might know what language they
hold towards the slaveholding States and their institutions; but as it will
not, I have selected, indiscriminately from the pile, two; one from those in manuscript,
and the other from the printed, and without knowing their contents will call
for the reading of them, so that we may judge, by them, of the character of the
whole.
[Here the Secretary,
on the call of Mr. Calhoun, read the two petitions.]
Such is the language
held towards us and ours. The peculiar institution of the South—that, on the
maintenance of which the very existence of the slaveholding States depends, is
pronounced to be sinful and odious, in the sight of God and man; and this with
a systematic design of rendering us hateful in the eyes of the world—with a
view to a general crusade against us and our institutions. This, too, in the
legislative halls of the Union; created by these confederated States, for the
better protection of their peace, their safety, and their respective
institutions;—and yet, we, the representatives of twelve of these sovereign
States against whom this deadly war is waged, are expected to sit here in
silence, hearing ourselves and our constituents day after day denounced,
without uttering a word; for if we but open our lips, the charge of agitation
is resounded on all sides, and we are held up as seeking to aggravate the evil
which we resist. Every reflecting mind must see in all this a state of things
deeply and dangerously diseased.
I do not belong to
the school which holds that aggression is to be met by concession. Mine is the
opposite creed,
which teaches that encroachments must be met at the beginning, and that those
who act on the opposite principle are prepared to become slaves. In this case,
in particular, I hold concession or compromise to be fatal. If we concede an
inch, concession would follow concession—compromise would follow compromise,
until our ranks would be so broken that effectual resistance would be
impossible. We must meet the enemy on the frontier, with a fixed determination
of maintaining our position at every hazard. Consent to receive these insulting
petitions, and the next demand will be that they be referred to a committee in
order that they may be deliberated and acted upon. At the last session we were
modestly asked to receive them, simply to lay them on the table, without any
view to ulterior action. I then told the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Buchanan), who so strongly urged that course in the Senate, that it was a
position that could not be maintained; as the argument in favor of acting on
the petitions if we were bound to receive, could not be resisted. I then said,
that the next step would be to refer the petition to a committee, and I already
see indications that such is now the intention. If we yield, that will be
followed by another, and we will thus proceed, step by step, to the final
consummation of the object of these petitions. We are now told that the most
effectual mode of arresting the progress of abolition is, to reason it down;
and with this view it is urged that the petitions ought to be referred to a
committee. That is the very ground which was taken at the last session in the
other House, but instead of arresting its progress it has since advanced more
rapidly than ever. The most unquestionable right may be rendered doubtful, if
once admitted to be a subject of controversy, and that would be the case in the
present instance. The subject is beyond the jurisdiction of Congress—they have
no right to touch it in any shape or form, or to make it the subject of
deliberation or discussion.
In opposition to
this view it is urged that Congress is bound by the constitution to receive
petitions in every case and on every subject, whether within its constitutional
competency or not. I hold the doctrine to be absurd, and do solemnly believe,
that it would be as easy to prove that it has the right to abolish slavery, as
that it is bound to receive petitions for that purpose. The very existence
of the rule that requires a question to be put on the reception of petitions,
is conclusive to show that there is no such obligation. It has been a standing
rule from the commencement of the Government, and clearly shows the sense of
those who formed the constitution on this point. The question on the reception
would be absurd, if, as is contended, we are bound to receive ; but I do not
intend to argue the question; I discussed it fully at the last session, and the
arguments then advanced neither have been nor can be answered.
As widely as this
incendiary spirit has spread, it has not yet infected this body, or the great
mass of the intelligent and business portion of the North; but unless it be
speedily stopped, it will spread and work upwards till it brings the two great
sections of the Union into deadly conflict. This is not a new impression with
me. Several years since, in a discussion with one of the Senators from
Massachusetts (Mr. Webster), before this fell spirit had showed itself, I then
predicted that the doctrine of the proclamation and the Force Bill,—that this
Government had a right, in the last resort, to determine the extent of its own
powers, and enforce its decision at the point of the bayonet, which was so
warmly maintained by that Senator, would at no distant day arouse the dormant
spirit of abolitionism. I told him that the doctrine was tantamount to the
assumption of unlimited power on the part of the Government, and that such
would be the impression on the public mind in a large portion of the Union. The
consequence would be inevitable. A large portion of the Northern States
believed slavery to be a sin, and would consider it as an obligation of
conscience to abolish it if they should feel themselves in any degree
responsible for its continuance,—and that this doctrine would necessarily lead
to the belief of such responsibility. I then predicted that it would commence
as it has with this fanatical portion of society, and that they would begin
their operations on the ignorant, the weak, the young, and the thoughtless,—and
gradually extend upwards till they would become strong enough to obtain
political control, when he and others holding the highest stations in society,
would, however reluctant, be compelled to yield to their doctrines, or be
driven into obscurity. But four years have since elapsed, and all this is
already in a course of regular fulfilment.
Standing at the
point of time at which we have now arrived, it will not be more difficult to
trace the course of future events now than it was then. They who imagine that
the spirit now abroad in the North, will die away of itself without a shock or
convulsion, have formed a very inadequate conception of its real character; it
will continue to rise and spread, unless prompt and efficient measures to stay
its progress be adopted. Already it has taken possession of the pulpit, of the
schools, and, to a considerable extent, of the press; those great instruments
by which the mind of the rising generation will be formed.
However sound the
great body of the non-slaveholding States are at present, in the course of a
few years they will be succeeded by those who will have been taught to hate the
people and institutions of nearly one-half of this Union, with a hatred more
deadly than one hostile nation ever entertained towards another. It is easy to
see the end. Ву the necessary course of events, if left to themselves, we must
become, finally, two people. It is impossible under the deadly hatred which
must spring up between the two great sections, if the present causes are
permitted to operate unchecked, that we should continue under the same
political system. The conflicting elements would burst the Union asunder,
powerful as are the links which hold it together. Abolition and the Union
cannot co-exist. As the friend of the Union I openly proclaim it—and the sooner
it is known the better. The former may now be controlled, but in a short time
it will be beyond the power of man to arrest the course of events. We of
the South will not, cannot surrender our institutions. To maintain the existing
relations between the two races, inhabiting that section of the Union, is
indispensable to the peace and happiness of both. It cannot be subverted
without drenching the country in blood, and extirpating one or the other of the
races.
Be it good or bad,
it has grown up with our society and institutions, and is so interwoven with
them, that to destroy it would be to destroy us as a people. But let me not be
understood as admitting, even by implication, that the existing relations
between the two races in the slaveholding States is an evil: — far otherwise; I
hold it to be a good, as it has thus far proved itself to be to both, and will
continue to prove so if not disturbed by the fell spirit of abolition. I
appeal to facts. Never before has the black race of Central
Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so
civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually.
It came among us in a low, degraded, and savage condition, and in the course of
a few generations it has grown up under the fostering care of our institutions,
reviled as they have been, to its present comparatively civilized condition.
This, with the rapid increase of numbers, is conclusive proof of the general
happiness of the race, in spite of all the exaggerated tales to the contrary.
In the mean time,
the white or European race has not degenerated. It has kept pace with its
brethren in other sections of the Union where slavery does not exist. It is
odious to make comparison; but I appeal to all sides whether the South is not
equal in virtue, intelligence, patriotism, courage, disinterestedness, and all
the high qualities which adorn our nature. I ask whether we have not
contributed our full share of talents and political wisdom in forming and
sustaining this political fabric; and whether we have not constantly inclined
most strongly to the side of liberty, and been the first to see and first to
resist the encroachments of power.
In one thing only are
we inferior—the arts of gain; we acknowledge that we are less wealthy than the
Northern section of this Union, but I trace this mainly to the fiscal action of
this Government, which has extracted much from, and spent little among us. Had
it been the reverse,—if the exaction had been from the other section, and the
expenditure with us, this point of superiority would not be against us now, it
was not at the formation of this Government.
But I take higher
ground. I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of
different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences,
as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the
slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good—a positive
good. I feel myself called upon to speak freely upon the subject where the
honor and interests of those I represent are involved. I hold then, that there
never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of
the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other. Broad
and general as is this assertion, it is fully borne out by history. This is not
the proper occasion, but if it were, it would not be difficult to trace the
various devices by which the wealth of all civilized communities has been so
unequally divided, and to show by what means so small a share has been allotted
to those by whose labor it was produced, and so large a share given to the
nonproducing classes. The devices are almost innumerable, from the brute force
and gross superstition of ancient times, to the subtle and artful fiscal
contrivances of modern. I might well challenge a comparison between them and
the more direct, simple, and patriarchal mode by which the labor of the African
race is, among us, commanded by the European. I may say with truth, that in few
countries so much is left to the share of the laborer, and so little exacted
from him, or where there is more kind attention paid to him in sickness or
infirmities of age. Compare his condition with the tenants of the poor
houses in the more civilized portions of Europe—look at the sick, and the old
and infirm slave, on one hand, in the midst of his family and friends, under
the kind superintending care of his master and mistress, and compare it with
the forlorn and wretched condition of the pauper in the poor house. But I will
not dwell on this aspect of the question; I turn to the political; and here I
fearlessly assert that the existing relation between the two races in the
South, against which these blind fanatics are waging war, forms the most solid
and durable foundation on which to rear free and stable political institutions.
It is useless to disguise the fact. There is and always has been in an advanced
stage of wealth and civilization, a conflict between labor and capital. The
condition of society in the South exempts us from the disorders and dangers
resulting from this conflict; and which explains why it is that the political
condition of the slaveholding States has been so much more stable and quiet
than that of the North. The advantages of the former, in this respect, will
become more and more manifest if left undisturbed by interference from without,
as the country advances in wealth and numbers. We have, in fact, but just
entered that condition of society where the strength and durability of our
political institutions are to be tested; and I venture nothing in predicting
that the experience of the next generation will fully test how vastly more
favorable our condition of society is to that of other sections for free and
stable institutions, provided we are not disturbed by the interference of
others, or shall have sufficient intelligence and spirit to resist promptly and
successfully such interference. It rests with ourselves to meet and repel them.
I look not for aid to this Government, or to the other States; not but there
are kind feelings towards us on the part of the great body of the
non-slaveholding States; but as kind as their feelings may be, we may rest
assured that no political party in those States will risk their ascendency for
our safety. If we do not defend ourselves none will defend us; if we yield we
will be more and more pressed as we recede; and if we submit we will be
trampled under foot. Be assured that emancipation itself would not satisfy
these fanatics:—that gained, the next step would be to raise the negroes to a
social and political equality with the whites; and that being effected, we
would soon find the present condition of the two races reversed. They and their
northern allies would be the masters, and we the slaves; the condition of the
white race in the British West India Islands, bad as it is, would be happiness
to ours. There the mother country is interested in sustaining the supremacy of
the European race. It is true that the authority of the former master is
destroyed, but the African will there still be a slave, not to individuals but
to the community, forced to labor, not by the authority of the overseer, but by
the bayonet of the soldiery and the rod of the civil magistrate.
Surrounded as the
slaveholding States are with such imminent perils, I rejoice to think that our
means of defence are ample, if we shall prove to have the intelligence and
spirit to see and apply them before it is too late. All we want is concert, to
lay aside all party differences, and unite with zeal and energy in repelling
approaching dangers. Let there be concert of action, and we shall find ample
means of security without resorting to secession or disunion. I speak with full
knowledge and a thorough examination of the subject, and for one, see my way
clearly. One thing alarms me—the eager pursuit of gain which overspreads the land,
and which absorbs every faculty of the mind and every feeling of the heart. Of
all passions avarice is the most blind and compromising—the last to see and the
first to yield to danger. I dare not hope that any thing I can say will arouse
the South to a due sense of danger; I fear it is beyond the power of mortal
voice to awaken it in time from the fatal security into which it has fallen.
SOURCE: Richard Crallé, Editor, The Works of John C.
Calhoun: Volume 2: Speeches delivered in the House of Representatives, and the
Senate of the United States, p. 625-33
