Chapter CXXII: Alabama Expunging Resolutions

Mr. King, of Alabama, presented the preamble and joint resolution of the general assembly of his State, entreating their senators in Congress to use their "untiring efforts" to cause to be expunged from the journal of the Senate, the resolve condemnatory of President Jackson, for the removal of the deposits. Mr. Clay desired to know, before any order was taken on those resolutions, whether the senator presenting them, proposed to make any motion in relation to expunging the journal? This inquiry was made in a way to show that Mr. King was to meet resistance to his motion if he attempted it. The expunging process was extremely distasteful to the senators whose act was proposed to be stigmatized;--and they now began to be sensitive at its mention.--When Mr. Benton first gave notice of his intention to move it, his notice was looked upon as an idle menace, which would end in nothing. Now it was becoming a serious proceeding. The States were taking it up. Several of them, through their legislatures--Alabama, Mississippi, New Jersey, New-York, North Carolina--had already given the fatal instructions; and it was certain that more would follow. Those of Alabama were the first presented; and it was felt necessary to make head against them from the beginning. Hence, the interrogatory put by Mr. Clay to Mr. King--the inquiry whether he intended to move an expunging resolution?--and the subsequent motion to lay the resolutions of the State upon the table if he answered negatively. Now it was not the intention of Mr. King to move the expunging resolution. It was not his desire to take that business out of the hands of Mr. Benton, who had conceived it--made a speech for it--given notice of it at the last session as a measure for the present one--and had actually given notice at the present session of his intention to offer the resolution. Mr. King's answer would necessarily, therefore, be in the negative, and Mr. Clay's motion then became regular to lay it upon the table. Mr. Benton, therefore, felt himself called upon to answer Mr. Clay, and to recall to the recollection of the Senate what took place at the time the sentence of condemnation had passed; and rose and said:

"He had then (at the time of passing the condemnatory
resolution), in his place, given immediate notice that he should
commence a series of motions for the purpose of expunging the
resolutions from the journals. He had then made use of the word
expunge, in contradistinction to the word repeal, or the word
reverse, because it was his opinion then, and that opinion had
been confirmed by all his subsequent reflection, that repeal or
reversal of the resolution would not do adequate justice. To
do that would require a complete expurgation of the journal.
It would require that process which is denominated expunging,
by which, to the present, and to all future times, it would be
indicated that that had been placed upon the journals which
should never have gone there. He had given that notice, after
serious reflection, that it might be seen that the Senate was
trampling the constitution of the United States under foot; and
not only that, but also the very forms, to say nothing of the
substance, of all criminal justice.

"He had given this notice in obedience to the dictates of
his bosom, which were afterwards sustained by the decision
of his head, without consultation with any other person, but
after conference only with himself and his God. To a single
human being he had said that he should do it, but he had not
consulted with any one. In the ordinary routine of business, no
one was more ready to consult with his friends, and to defer
to their opinions, than he was; but there were some occasions
on which he held council with no man, but took his own course,
without regard to consequences. It would have been a matter
of entire indifference with him, had the whole Senate risen
as one man, and declared a determination to give a unanimous
vote against him. It would have mattered nothing. He would not
have deferred to any human being. Actuated by these feelings he
had given notice of his intention in the month of May; and in
obedience to that determination he had, on the last day of the
session, laid his resolution on the table, in order to keep the
matter alive.

"This brought him to the answer to the question proposed. The
presentation of the resolutions of the legislature of Alabama
afforded a fit and proper occasion to give that public notice
which he had already informally and privately given to many
members of the Senate. He had said that he should bring forward
his resolution at the earliest convenient time. And yesterday
evening, when he saw the attempt which was made to give to a
proceeding emanating from the Post Office Committee, and to
which, by the unanimous consent of that committee, a legislative
direction had been assigned, a new form, by one of the senators
from South Carolina, so as to make it a proceeding against
persons, in contradistinction to the public matters embodied in
the report; when he heard these persons assailed by one of the
senators from South Carolina, in such a manner as to prevent any
possibility of doubt concerning them; and when he discovered
that the object of these gentle gentlemen was impeachment in
substance, if not in form, he did at once form the determination
to give notice this morning of his intention to move his
resolution at the earliest convenient period.

"This was his answer to the question which had been proposed.

"Mr. King, of Alabama, said he was surprised to hear the
question of the honorable senator from Kentucky, as he did
not expect such an inquiry: for he had supposed it was well
understood by every member of the Senate what his sentiments
were in regard to the right of instruction. The legislature of
Alabama had instructed him to pursue a particular course, and he
should obey their instructions. With regard to the resolution
to which the legislature alluded, he could merely say that he
voted against it at the time it was adopted by the Senate. His
opinion as to it was then, as well as now, perfectly understood.
If the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Benton] declined bringing
the subject forward relative to the propriety of expunging
the resolution in question from the journal of the Senate,
he, himself should, at some proper time, do so, and also say
something on the great and important question as to the right
of instruction. Now, that might be admitted in its fullest
extent. He held his place there, subject to the control of the
legislature of Alabama, and whenever their instructions reached
him, he should be governed by them. He made this statement
without entering into the consideration of the propriety or
impropriety of senators exercising their own judgment as to
the course they deemed most proper to pursue. For himself,
never having doubted the right of a legislature to instruct
their senators in Congress, he should consider himself culpable
if he did not carry their wishes into effect, when properly
expressed. And he had hoped there would have been no expression
of the Senate at this time, as he was not disposed to enter into
a discussion then, for particular reasons, which it was not
necessary he should state.

"As to the propriety of acting on the subject then, that would
depend upon the opinions of gentlemen as to the importance, the
great importance, of having the journal of the Senate freed
from what many supposed to be an unconstitutional act of the
Senate, although the majority of it thought otherwise. He would
now say that, if no one should bring forward a proposition to
get the resolution expunged, he, feeling himself bound to obey
the opinions of the legislature, should do so, and would vote
for it. If no precedent was to be found for such an act of the
Senate, he should most unhesitatingly vote for expunging the
resolution from the journal of the Senate, in such manner as
should be justified by precedent.

"Mr. Clay said the honorable member from Alabama had risen
in his place, and presented to the Senate two resolutions,
adopted by the legislature of his State, instructing him and
his colleague to use their untiring exertions to cause to be
expunged from the journals of the Senate certain resolutions
passed during the last session of Congress, on the subject
of the removal of the deposits from the Bank of the United
States. The resolutions of Alabama had been presented; they were
accompanied by no motion to carry the intentions of that State
into effect; nor were they accompanied by any intimation from
the honorable senator, who presented them, of his intention to
make any proposition, in relation to them, to the Senate. Under
these circumstances, the inquiry was made by him (Mr. C) of the
senator from Alabama, which he thought the occasion called for.
The inquiry was a very natural one, and he had learned with
unfeigned surprise that the senator did not expect it. He would
now say to the senator from Alabama, that of him, and of him
alone, were these inquiries made; and with regard to the reply
made by another senator (Mr. Benton), he would further say, that
his relations to him were not such as to enable him to know what
were that senator's intentions, at any time, and on any subject;
nor was it necessary he should know them.

"He had nothing further to say, than to express the hope that
the senator from Alabama would, for the present, withdraw the
resolutions he had presented; and if, after he had consulted
precedents, and a careful examination of the constitution of
the United States, he finds that he can, consistently with
them, make any propositions for the action of the Senate, he
(Mr. C.) would be willing to receive the resolutions, and pay
to them all that attention and respect which the proceedings
of one of the States of this Union merited. If the gentleman
did not pursue that course, he should feel himself bound, by
every consideration, by all the obligations which bound a public
man to discharge his duty to his God, his country, and his own
honor, to resist such an unconstitutional procedure as the
reception of these resolutions, without the expressed wish of
the legislature of Alabama, and without any intimation from her
senators, of any proposition to be made on them, at the very
threshold. He did hope that, for the present, the gentleman
would withdraw these resolutions, and at a proper time present
them with some substantive proposition for the consideration
of the Senate. If he did not, the debate must go on, to the
exclusion of the important one commenced yesterday, and which
every gentleman expected to be continued to-day, as he should in
such case feel it necessary to submit a motion for the Senate
to decide whether, under present circumstances, the resolutions
could be received.

"Mr. Clay declared that when such a resolution should be offered
he should discharge the duty which he owed to his God, his
country and his honor.

"Mr. King of Alabama, had felt an unwillingness from the first
to enter into this discussion, for reasons which would be
understood by every gentleman. It was his wish, and was so
understood by one or two friends whom he had consulted, that
the resolutions should lie on the table for the present, until
the debate on another subject was disposed of. In reply to the
senator from Kentucky, he must say that he could not, situated
as he was, accede to his proposition. His object certainly
was to carry into effect the wishes of the legislature of his
State; and he, as well as his colleague, felt bound to obey the
will of the sovereign State of Alabama, whenever made known
to them. He certainly should, at a proper time, present a
distinct proposition in relation to these resolutions for the
consideration of the Senate; and the senator from Kentucky could
then have an opportunity of discharging 'his duty to his God,
to his country, and his own honor,' in a manner most consistent
with his own sense of propriety.

"Mr. Clay would not renew the intimation of any intention on
his part, to submit a motion to the Senate, if there was any
probability that the senator from Alabama would withdraw the
resolutions he had submitted. He now gave notice that, if the
senator did not think fit to withdraw them, he should feel it
his duty to submit a proposition which would most probably lead
to a debate, and prevent the one commenced yesterday from being
resumed to-day.

"Mr. Calhoun moved that the resolution be laid upon the table,
to give the senator from Alabama [Mr. King], an opportunity to
prepare a resolution to accomplish the meditated purpose of
rescinding the former resolutions of the Senate. I confess, sir
(observed Mr. C), I feel some curiosity to see how the senator
from Alabama will reconcile such a proceeding with the free
and independent existence of a Senate. I feel, sir, a great
curiosity to hear how that gentleman proposes that the journals
are to be kept, if such a procedure is allowed to take effect. I
should like to know how he proposes to repeal a journal. By what
strange process he would destroy facts, and annihilate events
and things which are now the depositories of history. When he
shall have satisfied my curiosity on this particular, then there
is another thing I am anxious to be informed upon, and that
is, what form, what strange and new plan of proceeding, will
he suggest for the adoption of the Senate? I will tell him; I
will show him the only resource that is left, the point to which
he necessarily comes, and that is this: he will be obliged to
declare, in his resolution, that the principle upon which the
Senate acted was not correct; that it was a false and erroneous
principle. And let me ask, what was that principle, which now,
it seems, is to be destroyed? The principle on which the Senate
acted, the principle which that gentleman engages to overthrow,
is this: 'we have a right to express our opinion.' He will be
compelled to deny that; or, perhaps, he may take refuge from
such a predicament by qualifying his subversion of this first
principle of legislative freedom. And how will he qualify the
denial of this principle? that is, how will he deny it, and yet
apparently maintain it? He has only one resource left, and that
is, to pretend that we have a right to express our opinions, but
not of the President. This is the end and aim; yes, this is the
inevitable consequence and result of such an extraordinary, such
a monstrous procedure.

"So then, it is come to this, that the Senate has no right to
express its opinion in relation to the Executive? A distinction
is now set up between the President and all other officers, and
the gentleman is prepared with a resolution to give effect and
energy to the distinction; and now, for the first time that
such a doctrine has ever been heard on the American soil, he is
prepared to profess and publish, in the face of the American
people, that old and worn-out dogma of old and worn-out nations,
'the King can do no wrong!' that his officers, his ministers,
are alone responsible; that we shall be permitted perhaps to
utter our opinions of them; but a unanimous opinion expressed by
the Senate, in relation to the President himself, is no longer
suffered to exist, is no longer permitted to be given; it must
be expunged from the journals.

"I confess I am agitated with an intense curiosity: I wish
to see with what ingenuity of artful disguise the Senate is
to be reduced to the dumb legislation of Bonaparte's Senate.
This very question brings on the issue. This very proposition
of expunging our resolutions is the question in which the
expunging of our legislative freedom and independence is to be
agitated. I confess I long to see the strange extremities to
which the gentleman will come. It is a question of the utmost
magnitude; I an anxious to see it brought on; two senators
[Messrs. Benton, and King of Alabama] have pledged themselves
to bring it forward. They cannot do it too soon--they cannot
too soon expose the horrible reality of the condition to which
our country is reduced. I hope they will make no delay; let
them hasten in their course; let them lose no time in their
effort to expunge the Senate, and dissolve the system of
government and constitution. Yes, I entreat them to push their
deliberate purpose to a resolve. They have now given origin
to a question than which none perhaps is, in its effects and
tendencies, of deeper and more radical importance; it is a
question more important than that of the bank, or than that of
the Post Office, and I am exceedingly anxious to see how far
they will carry out the doctrine they have advanced; a doctrine
as enslaving and as despotic as any that is maintained by the
Autocrat of all the Russias. To give them an opportunity, I move
to lay the resolutions on the table, and I promise them that,
when they move their resolution, I will be ready to take it up.

"Mr. Clay said that the proposition to receive the resolutions
was a preliminary one, and was the question to which he had
at first invited the attention of the Senate. The debate,
certainly, had been very irregular, and not strictly in order.
He had contended, from the first, for the purpose of avoiding an
interference with a debate on another subject, that the subject
of the Alabama resolutions should not be agitated at that time.
The senator from Alabama having refused to withdraw these
resolutions, he was compelled to a course which would, in all
probability, lead to a protracted debate.

"Mr. Clay then submitted the following:

"_Resolved_, That the resolutions of the legislature of Alabama,
presented by the senator from that State, ought not to be acted
upon by the Senate, inasmuch as they are not addressed to the
Senate, nor contain any request that they be laid before the
Senate; and inasmuch, also, as that which those resolutions
direct should be done, cannot be done without violating the
constitution of the United States."

"Mr. Calhoun here moved to lay the resolutions on the table,
which motion took precedence of Mr. Clay's, and was not
debatable. He withdrew it, however, at the request of Mr.
Clayton.

"Mr. Benton said an objection had been raised to the resolutions
of Alabama, by the senator from South Carolina and the senator
from Delaware, to which he would briefly reply. Need he
refer those gentlemen to the course of their own reading? he
would refer them to the case in a State contiguous to South
Carolina, where certain proceedings of its legislature were
publicly burnt. (The journal of the Yazoo fraud, in Georgia.)
Need he refer them to the case of Wilkes? where the British
House of Commons expunged certain proceedings from their
journal--expunged! not by the childish process of sending out
for every copy and cutting a leaf from each, but by a more
effectual process. He would describe the _modus_ as he read it
in the parliamentary history. It was this: There was a total
suspension of business in the House, and the clerk, taking the
official journal, the original record of its proceedings, and
reading the clause to be expunged, obliterated it, word after
word, not by making a Saint Andrew's cross over the clause, as
is sometimes done in old accounts, but by completely erasing out
every letter. This is the way expunging is done, and this is
what I propose to get done in the Senate, through the power of
the people, upon this lawless condemnation of President Jackson:
and no system of tactics or manoeuvres shall prevent me from
following up the design according to the notice given yesterday.

"Mr. King of Alabama, in reply, said that when the proper
time arrived--and he should use his own time, on his own
responsibility--he would bring forward the resolution, of which
the senator from Missouri had given notice, if not prevented by
the previous action of that gentleman. He had no doubt of the
power of the Senate to repeal any resolution it had adopted.
What! repeal facts? asked the senator from South Carolina. He
would ask that gentleman if they had it not in their power to
retrace their steps when they have done wrong? If they had it
not in their power to correct their own journal when asserting
what was not true? The democratic party of the country had
spoken, pronounced judgment upon the facts stated in that
journal. They had declared that these facts were not true; that
the condemnation pronounced against the Chief Magistrate, for
having violated the constitution of the United States, was not
true; and it was high time that it was stricken from the journal
it disgraced.

"Mr. Calhoun observed that the senator from Alabama having made
some personal allusions to him, he felt bound to notice them,
although not at all disposed to intrude upon the patience of
the Senate. The senator had said that he (Mr. C.) was truly
connected with party. Now, if by 'party' the gentleman meant
that he was enlisted in any political scheme, that he desired
to promote the success of any party, or was anxious to see
any particular man elevated to the Chief Magistracy, he did
him great injustice. It was a long time since he (Mr. C.) had
taken any active part in the political affairs of the country.
The senator need only to have looked back to his vote, for the
last eight years, to have been satisfied that he (Mr. C.) had
voluntarily put himself in the very small minority to which he
belonged, and that he had done this to serve the gallant and
patriotic State of South Carolina. Would the gentleman say that
he did not step forward in defence of South Carolina, in the
great and magnanimous stand which she took in defence of her
rights? Now, he wished the senator to understand him, that he
had put himself in a minority of at least one to a hundred; that
he had abandoned party voluntarily, freely; and he would tell
every Senator--for he was constrained to speak of himself, and
therefore he should speak boldly--he would not turn upon his
heel for the administration of the affairs of this government.
He believed that such was the hold which corruption had obtained
in this government, that any man who should undertake to reform
it would not be sustained."

Mr. King of Alabama moved that the resolutions be printed, which motion was superseded by a motion to lay it on the table, which prevailed--yeas twenty-seven, nays twenty--as follows:

"YEAS.--Messrs. Bell, Bibb, Black, Calhoun, Clay, Clayton,
Ewing, Frelinghuysen, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, Knight,
Leigh, Mangum, Naudain, Poindexter, Porter, Prentiss, Robbins,
Silsbee, Smith, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson, Tyler, Waggaman,
Webster.

"NAYS.--Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Cuthbert, Grundy, Hill,
Kane, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Linn, McKean, Moore,
Morris, Preston, Robinson, Shepley, Tallmadge, Tipton, White,
Wright."

And thus the resolutions of a sovereign State, in favor of expunging what it deemed to be a lawless sentence passed upon the President, were refused even a reception and a printing--a circumstance which seemed to augur badly for the final success of the series of expunging motions which I had pledged myself to make. But, in fact, it was not discouraging--but the contrary. It strengthened the conviction that such conduct would sooner induce the change of senators in the democratic States, and permit the act to be done.