Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the First Session of the Twenty-Fourth Congress Page: 3,925
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3925
OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS.
3926
Mat 24, 1836.]
Fortification Sill.
[H. of R.
said he would not undertake to say whether the Mays-
ville road and the Louisville canal were local or national
improvements. Now, I regret to hear my friend say that
the new roads in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Maine,
&c., on which hundreds of thousands have been expend-
ed, were national, while he stands in a state of non-com-
mittal as to the nationality of a Kentucky road. I regret
to hear the gentleman vindicating the national character
of improvements which this administration has made at
the mouths of creeks which he can with difficulty find
on the maps, while he will not say whether the Louis-
ville canal, along which half the commerce of the whole
Union passes, is local or national. I can very well re-
member a time when the gentleman and his political
friends in Kentucky thought the Maysville road a na-
tional improvement. When the news arrived in that
State of the passage of the Maysville road bill through
both Houses of Congress, the gentleman and his friends
were filled with joy, and they exultingly proclaimed from
the housetops that the new administration had already
done more for Kentucky than ever had been done. And
just in the flood-tide of their rejoicings came another
mail, and brought the veto, which did not at all abate
their joy; they faeed about, and said the veto was cer-
tainly the greatest act that ever was performed in the
tide of time, always excepting the battle of New Orleans.
On the subject of the extravagant expenditures of this
administration the gentleman has had before him the
tables in my speech for two months, and I am happy to
find that he has not denied the accuracy of a single
figure in them. I proved that the expenditure from the
4th of March, 1829, to the 4th of March, 1837, will ex-
ceed the expenditure for the preceding eight years by
the sum of $45,116,634 47. Not being able to find any
inaccuracy in my tables, he seeks to evade their force
by making calculations for different periods of time.
But, after all his calculations, he does not deny the in-
crease of expenditure during this administration of over
forty-five millions of dollars; which he has undertaken to
excuse and defend, and to prove that an increase was
unavoidable, from the growth of the country.
The gentleman has entirely changed over since the
year 1828, when he was electioneering for the office of
elector; he told the people that the expenses of the
Federal Government were too high, and ought to be
brought down to the scale of Jeffersonian economy.
Now, in 1836, when the gentleman's party is in the
receipt of the spoils, he tells the people that, so far from
reducing, it is necessary that the increasing expenditure
should keep pace with the growth of the country. It
now appears that what he told them in 1828 was a mis-
take. When I was listening to the gentleman's dis-
courses in 1828 upon economy and reform, I little
thought of ever standing by his side in this hall, and see-
ing him the advocate of increasing the expenses of this
Government in proportion to the increase of the popula-
tion and resources of the nation. Did not the gentleman
know in 1828 that the numbers and wealth of the nation
would increase? Why did he not then tell the people
that it would be necessary for General Jackson's admin-
istration to increase the public expenses in proportion
to the growth of the nation? The case being altered,
alters the case. " The party" was then seeking power,
and to talk of reform and retrenchment was the way to
get it. Now that they have power, the way to get spoils
is to increase expenditure.
The gentleman, with great apparent satisfaction, pro-
duced the number of Indian treaties and the quantity of
land purchased from them, as evidences of the diplo-
matic skill of this administration. There is nothing new
in this: the business of buying land from the Indians has
been carried on for a long time. But I agree that this
administration has introduced several new practices,
which I regret my friend did not tell of while he was on
the subject; but as he has failed to do so, I will endeavor
to supply what he has omitted. The treaties with the
Indians for their lands were formerly made for the bene-
fit of the country: now, much of the benefit is reserved
as a means of patronage to reward partisans for political
services. In almost all of the treaties with the Indians
for cessions of their lands, large reservations are made
to particular chiefs and headmen of the best parts of the
territories ceded, in fee simple, with power to such
chiefs and headmen to sell the same to such persons as
the President or his agents shall agree may buy. No one
can purchase against the consent of the President. So
that the accusation of cheating the Indians out of these
reservations is exclusive.
We have seen large portions of the public lands
brought into conflict with the public liberty, by being,
under the forms of treaties, drawn into the vortex of
governmental patronage. We have also seen eleven
millions of acres, the common property of all ihe States,
distributed by partial legislation to six of them; while
the pioneers of Kentucky, the founders of the great
Western empire, who bore the winter's cold and the
summer's heat, and stood firm for a score of years in
the front of a hundred battles, are most unjustly de-
prived of any share in the public domain, which is the
fruit of their victories.
The gentleman eulogized the administration, especial-
ly, for the new system of removing the Indians. This
novelty being a- total departure from the benevolent
policy of Washington, and all of his successors, has to
be tested by time and experience, before we can judge
correctly of its wisdom. This administration has under-
taken to move the numerous tribes to the same territory.
There have already been removed 31,348 Indians, and
72,181 are yet to be removed, making in all 103,529.
What will be the result of placing so many tribes near
together, with their fierce passions roused to the highest
point of resentment, from having been forced to leave
the land and graves of their fathers, where, by their
union and their wrongs, they can learn their strength,
time will show.
In addition to the remoyed Indians, there are of the
indigenous tribes, within striking distance of the fron-
tier, 150,341; so that, altogether, there will be a body
of 253,870. We are bound to take part in all the wars
that may occur among these numerous hostile bands, or
which may occur between any of them and Mexico; for
we have agreed by treaty to protect and defend the re-
moved Indians, and to prevent all the Indians within our
borders from making war over the Mexican line. The
fruit of this Indian-driving policy, so far, does not argue
much good for the future. It has already cost us several
millions of money, and produced three wars. The Black
Hawk war cost $1,237,473; it is estimated that the Flor-
ida war will cost $5,000,000; and what the Creek war
will cost, we cannot tell. We have this session appro-
priated $1,000,000 to enable General Gaines to keep
.peace on the frontier. We have been compelled to add
two regiments of mounted dragoons to the regular army,
and to pass a bill authorizing the President to raise a
provisional army of 10,000 volunteers, and the com-
manding general has written for an increase of the regu.
lar army to 20,000 men. The new relations of the nu-
merous tribes will, it is anticipated, produce a general
Indian war. These are some of the fruits which have
already ripened, by driving the Indians to despair. In
fifty years, if this system does not cost a hundred mil-
lions of dollars and fifty thousand lives, we shall get off
better than many anticipate. I hope for the best, and
shall rejoice if all the good comes of it that its friends
anticipate. r
The gentleman brought forward, also, a great many
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Gales, Joseph, 1761-1841. Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the First Session of the Twenty-Fourth Congress, book, 1836; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30757/m1/47/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.