JAN. 19, 1833.] Public Lands. [SENATE. the Government, merely as a source of revenue. A large the present system, and appropriate the money arising proportion of the ceded territory was covered by grants and from the sales of the public lands among the several warrants issued by North Carolina to the officers and sol- States, for the beneficent purposes enumerated in the diers of that State in the continental line, who fought in bill. To this plan, various objections have been made, the revolutionary war. All the lands which were not co- which it is my purpose to notice in the order in which vered by grants of this description have been disposed of, they have been introduced into the debate. The honorafor purposes of benevolent donations to individual settlers, ble Senator from Missouri [Mr. BENTON] has endeavored and concessions to the State of Tennessee, in which they to show, by certain estimates to which he has referred, but are situated; and, as yet, no part of them has been sold which I do not deem at all applicable to the subject, that or appropriated for the common benefit of all the States. after deducting the various charges of surveying and sellIn 1802, the purchase from Georgia was effected, and, in ing the public lands, and the amount of money which has the following year, Louisiana was purchased from the been paid in acquiring them, and for the relinquishment of Government of France, which, including the acquisition Indian titles, there will remain no surplus to be distribof Florida, under the treaty with Spain in 1819, comprises uted among the States, even if a bill for that purpose the entire territory claimed by the United States in right should become a law. This view of the subject is altoof purchase. Notwithstanding the enlargement of the gether erroneous, and the deductions, which the Senator powers of Congress, by the article of the constitution to seems to suppose ought to be made before the distribuwhich I have referred, the lands ceded to the Govern- tion takes place, are in direct opposition to the uniform ment have, with some unimportant exceptions, been sur-practice of the Government in like cases. We know that veyed and sold, and the nett proceeds applied, for the be- the new States are, by compact with the Government of nefit of all the States, to the payment of the national debt, the United States made, on their admission into the Union, and the current expenses which might accrue in the ad- entitled, for certain purposes, to five per cent. of the nett ministration of the Government. Thus the original inten-proceeds of the sales of the public lands within their limtion of the grantees in the voluntary cessions, and the its. In estimating the amount to be paid to each State, stipulations in the treaties of cession from Georgia and under these compacts, the rule observed at the Departforeign Powers, have been carried into effect, and the ment of the Treasury has invariably been to reduce the money arising from the sales of the public lands has actual amount of sales, by deducting the expenses incurbeen applied to the general purposes of the treasury from red in surveying and selling the lands, and to calculate the the commencement of the Government up to the present five per cent. due to the State on the sum which shall time. appear after making these deductions. And now, sir, the national debt is paid; the great debt Conforming to this practice, which could not be deof the revolution is finally discharged; the country finds parted from without some special provision by law, the itself entirely absolved from all the obligations incurred same rule must be observed in the distribution contemin that arduous struggle, as well as those incurred in the plated by the bill under consideration. Taking the amount late war with Great Britain, which has very properly of sales for the past year as the data on which to calcubeen called the second war of independence; and the pub-late the probable sales in future years, (and experience lic domain remaining undisposed of is, as heretofore, the has shown that they will rather increase than diminish,) common property of all the States of the confederacy, the amount to be divided on these principles could not and may be disposed of by Congress, for their benefit, fall short of three millions of dollars annually. But it is in the exercise of a sound discretion, reposed in the Na-manifest, that the items included in the estimate of the tional Legislature, "to dispose of, and make all needful Senator might, according to his own reasoning, be exrules and regulations respecting, the territory or other tended to a great variety of objects which he has not enuproperty of the United States." The President of the United States, at the opening of the present session of Congress, proposes to dispense with these lands altogether, as a source of revenue for the general purposes of the Government; to bring them down to a price which will simply cover the expenses of surveying and selling them to individuals; and ultimately ceding them to the several States within the jurisdiction of which they are situated. merated. The question then arises, under the existing circum- Besides the large sums paid to the State of Georgia, stances of the country, free from debt, and with a treasu- to France, under the Louisiana treaty, and to Spain, for ry overflowing, beyond the most extravagant wants of the the cession of Florida, the Senator from Missouri insists Government, what disposition ought to be made of the that we must deduct. 1st. Indian annuities. 2d. The public lands yet remaining unsold and unappropriated? sums paid for the relinquishment of Indian title of occuTwo propositions are under consideration. pancy. 3d. The whole expense of Indian intercourse. 4th. The salaries of all the land officers, and their clerks, throughout the United States. 5th. The appropriation annually made for surveying the public lands, and to the General Land Office, at the seat of Government, including the salary of the Commissioner, his clerks, and all others in his employment in that department. I ask, why did the Senator not include the salary of the Secretary of the Treasury? He is by law placed at the head of the This recommendation of the President, although it has land department. Why not also include the salary of been highly eulogized and commended by several honor- the President? He has numerous duties to perform in the able Senators, in the progress of this debate, was entirely disposal of the public lands, and among them the very onoverlooked by the Committee on the Public Lands, who erous and almost impracticable duty of affixing his signahave simply reported to the Senate a very imperfect ture to all the patents which may be issued to purchasers. scheme for graduating the price of such lands as may Various other charges of a similar character might be have remained in market unsold for a specified number mentioned, which would properly come within the rule of years. We are thus driven back to the other proposi- laid down by the honorable Senator from Missouri. But tion contained in the bill on our table, which was report- I consider the objection as mere declamation, unsupported by the Committee on Manufactures at the last session, ed by a proper interpretation of the existing laws; inconand received the sanction of this branch of the Legislasistent with common sense and the plainest dictates of ture. Considering this measure in connexion with the justice, and contrary to all the antecedent actions of the views presented by the Chief Magistrate, we are called Government in estimating what are denominated the nett on to decide whether the interests of the country, and es- proceeds of the sales of the public lands. The Senator pecially those of the new States, will be best promoted by from Missouri has delivered a labored argument to show reducing the price, making it nearly nominal, or retain that an annual appropriation of two millions of dollars VOL. IX.-9 SENATE.] Public Lands. [JAN. 19, 1833. will be necessary for defraying the expenses incident to series of measures proposed for perpetuating the system the gradual acquisition of Indian titles, and other objects of high duties, for the protection of domestic manufacconnected with the sales of the public lands; from which tures. He deprecates the withdrawal of the nett prohe draws the inference that no revenue has ever accrued ceeds of the public lands from the treasury, because he to the United States, and none is likely to accrue, from alleges that duties on foreign importations must be im the sales of these lands; and he has examined the provi- posed to supply the place of the three millions of dollars sions of several Indian treaties, to establish the position which this bill proposes to distribute among the States; which he has assumed, that the mere purchase of the and yet we are told, at the same moment, that these lands right of occupancy from the several tribes of Indians costs do not cover the sum required to purchase them of the the Government more than the minimum price at which Indian tribes, and the expenses incurred in bringing them the public lands are directed to be sold by law. Since into market. This is, indeed, reasoning in a circle, in the this novel and extraordinary idea was advanced in the de-progress of which the Senator assumes false premises, bate, I have turned my attention more particularly to the and arrives at conclusions directly opposed to those prevarious Indian treaties which have been made since the mises. establishment of the Government, to ascertain the esti- I shall, however, sir, have occasion to recur again to mated price per acre which had been given from time to this view of the subject, and will for the present dismiss time for the extinguishment of Indian titles. I have ex-it, and proceed to notice the objections which have been amined the instructions from the Department of War to urged against the bill, both as to its principle and details.. commissioners appointed to form Indian treaties; and 1 The first objection, in the order of this discussion, find that, in almost every instance, they were limited to which has been made to the passage of the bill, is, that the one cent per acre, on the quantity of lands supposed to objects designated as those only to which the several be ceded, and were positively instructed not to exceed States shall be permitted to apply their respective prothat limitation, including the expense of the treaty, the portions of the general fund are unconstitutional, and for round sum stipulated to be given for the ceded lands, and which Congress could not appropriate directly the money the annuities and other presents granted to the Indians. of the United States, and therefore they cannot indirectly In the year 1807, during the administration of Mr. Jeffer-appropriate it, by granting the nett proceeds of the sales son, it will be seen, by the instructions from General Dear- of the public lands for the purposes specified in the bill. born, then Secretary of War, to Governor Hull, authoriz- The first section of the bill contains a special provision ing him to treat with the chiefs of various Indian tribes in favor of the new States, within which the public lands or nations for the relinquishment of their right of occu- are situated, by which they are to receive, in addition to pancy, that he is explicitly instructed not to exceed two the five per centum heretofore allowed, twelve and a cents per acre. half per centum upon the nett amount of the sales of the Among other things, the instructions contain the follow-public lands which shall subsequently be made within the ing sentence: several limits of said States. "It will be difficult to ascertain, with any tolerable de- This sum of twelve and a half per centum is to be apgree of certainty, the quantity of acres included in any propriated by the States "to some objects of internal im purchase you may make; but you will endeavor to cal-provements, or education, within the said States, under "culate the price in such manner, as not, on any condition, the direction of their respective State Legislatures." "to exceed two cents per acre; and I presume it will not The second section of the bill provides, that, after de"be necessary to exceed one cent per acre." ducting the said twelve and a half per centum, the resi I might refer to other instructions of similar import, due of the nett proceeds of the public lands shall be dibut I content myself by stating, in general terms, that al-vided among the twenty-four States of the Union, accordthough, at subsequent periods, these limits have been tran-ing to their respective federal representative population, scended, a fair average of the whole of the purchases to be applied by the Legislatures of said States to objects from the Indians, made up to the present time, will not of "education, internal improvements, colonization of exceed four cents per acre, exclusive of Indian reserva-free people of color, or reimbursement of any existing tions, which are never taken into the estimate. debt contracted for internal improvements, as the said The question then arises, are these objects for which the public domain of the United States cannot be grant ed without a violation of the constitution? I ask, therefore, on what foundation the Senator from Legislatures may severally designate and authorize." Missouri rests the broad declaration which he has made, These are the purposes contemplated in the bill, to which that the extinguishment of Indian title costs the Govern- the fund shall be applied, after it shall have been distributment more than the minimum price of the public lands; that ed among the States. these lands produce no revenue to the national treasury; and that it would be sound policy, in future, to stipulate for the sale of all such lands as may be hereafter ceded, for the sole benefit of the Indian tribes who make the ces- The Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. GRUNDY,] and the sions? He has resorted to every source of expenditure, Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. BIBB,] have taken ground having the most remote relation to the public lands, and in their argument, on this subject, against the exercise of thereby swelled the amount to more than two millions of the power to dispose of the public lands for the specific dollars annually. He has relied on his own exaggerated purposes enumerated in the sections of the bill to which statements, unsupported by the official records of the I have referred. country, to prove that the price actually paid to the In- If the reasoning advanced by these honorable Senators dian tribes exceeds one dollar and twenty-five cents per be sound, they at once destroy the bill, and it will be unacre, although the contrary has been already shown by necessary to enlarge the discussion on the details or exthe instructions and treaties to which I have referred; pediency of the measure. But considering, as I do, and in this manner, and by this process of reasoning, he their positions unsound and untenable, I must be pergravely draws the conclusion that the bill under con-mitted to dissent from them, and beg the indulgence of sideration, if enacted into a law, will be worthless to the Senate while I offer very concisely my views on the the States, as there will not remain, according to his constitutional difficulty which they have urged in oppoviews, one cent to be distributed among the States after sition to the bill. his enormous, and, I will add, ridiculous enumeration of charges shall have been paid at the public treasury. Prior to the adoption of the federal constitution, as I have attempted to show in a preceding part of my argu But the Senator has given a sufficient answer to his own ment, Congress had no power to make any other disposi argument, when he denounces this bill as No. 3 in the tion of the public domain than that which was authorized JAN. 19, 1833.] Public Lands. by the deeds of cession which had been accepted on the conditions therein contained. During the existence of the old confederation, no grants of land were made to individuals or bodies corporate, nor in any other manner but in strict accordance with these deeds of cession. [SENATE. eral precaution that no new States shall be formed without the concurrence of the federal authority and that of the States concerned, is consonant to the principles which ought to govern such transactions. The particular precaution against the erection of new States, by the partition of a State without its consent, quiets the jealousy of the larger States; as that of the smaller is quieted by a like precaution against a junction of States without their The enlargement of the powers of Congress, under the new constitution, I have already adverted to, which in express terms confers on the National Legislature the pow-consent. er to dispose of the "territory and other property of the United States," without limitation or restriction, either in respect to the amount, or objects to which it should be appropriated. On the remaining part of the section which I have already quoted, having relation to the disposal of the territory and other property of the United States, Mr. Madison adds, "This is a power of very great importance, and required by considerations similar to those which show the propriety of the former. I wish it to be distinctly understood, that I claim for Congress no power, by implication or construction, on this subject; I confine myself literally to the ceded pow- "The proviso annexed is proper in itself, and was proers, expressed in language which can neither be misun-bably rendered absolutely necessary by jealousies and derstood nor perverted. questions concerning the Western territory, sufficiently known to the public." The general phraseology used in the third section of the fourth article of the constitution comprehends the power This I consider to be the true and only legitimate interto admit new States into the Union, with the exception pretation of the clauses in the constitution to which they "that no new State shall be formed or erected within relate. Mr. Madison does not even intimate a limitation the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be form- on the powers of Congress, arising out of the conditions ed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of in the deeds of cession, or compacts entered into under States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States the confederation; and surely, if it had been the intention concerned, as well of the Congress;" and also the power of the framers of the constitution to restrict the action of to dispose of the public domain, and other property of Congress, in conformity with these deeds of cession or the United States, with a proviso, "that nothing in this compacts, it would have been of sufficient importance to constitution shall be so construcel as to prejudice any have attracted his attention, and must have drawn from claims of the United States, or of any particular State."him, while treating of this subject, a full and explicit exThe language conferring both powers is the same, and planation. None such has been given, from which I draw each has been carried into practical operation according the conclusion that we are left without any guide which to their Interal import. "New States may be admitted can lead us to a construction of this power distinct from by the Congress into this Union." that which accords with the words of the constitution. Can honorable Senators point out any rule of construction by which this power can be limited, except in the cases specified in the article of the constitution to which I have referred? Was it confined to the original limits of the United States, as they were defined at that period? Certainly not. The power has been exercised in its broadest sense, and new States have been admitted, formed of territory acquired from foreign Powers, long subsequent to the adoption of the federal constitution. But it has been said that the constitution of the United States did not confer on Congress the power to depart in any manner from the deeds of cession under which the public domain was acquired. And this opinion rests for its support on the proviso in the article, that nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State;" from which it is inferred that the delegated power meant nothing more than to vest The power over the public domain is equally compre- Congress with authority to make all "needful rules and hensive, and therefore cannot be limited in its exercise regulations" for carrying these deeds of cession into efeither by the conditions of the former deeds of cession, or fect. All beyond this is said to be undelegated power. I the treaties by which it has subsequently been acquired. confess I am at a loss to trace the singular process of reaThis opinion, it will be seen, is in strict conformity with soning, by which any one, in the full possession of a sound the action of Congress on this subject, from the founda- mind, could have arrived at a conclusion so totally incontion of the Government up to the present time. Will sistent with the plainest dictates of common sense, and so honorable Senators say that there is a limitation in this contrary to all the rules by which written instruments are to grant of power? If so, where is the limitation to be found? be construed and expounded. The proviso has not the None such exists, either in the letter or spirit of the con- remotest relation to the power delegated; but, out of abunstitution. I am supported in these views by a cotempo- dant caution, it was inserted to quiet the apprehensions raneous exposition given of the section of the con- and jealousies which at that time existed among the States stitution embracing the subjects to which I have referred. in relation to the unsettled boundaries of their Western In the 43d number of the Federalist, written by James territory. This is the view taken of it by Mr. Madison, Madison, one of the illustrious founders of the constitu- and assuredly it can mean nothing more. tion, these powers are expounded as they were understood by the writer at the time the constitution was adopted. The construction contended for would lead to the absurdity of abrogating an important power explicitly conferred on Congress, by a mere proviso inserted to guard against contingent evils, which might by possibility arise in the execution of the granted power. Mr. Madison, in speaking of the admission of new States, says "In the articles of confederation no provision is found on this important subject. Canada was to be ad- The idea is too ridiculous and absurd to merit even the mitted of right, on her joining in the measures of the Unit- short notice which I have taken of it. Having, as I trust, ed States; and the other colonies" (by which were evident-sufficiently shown the nature and extent of the powers of ly meant the other British colonies) "at the discretion of Congress, in reference to the public domain, I shall pronine States." The eventual establishment of new States ceed to answer the objections which have been made to seems to have been overlooked by the compilers of that the appropriations of the public lands, or the money acinstrument. We have seen the inconveniences of this cruing from the sales of such of them as may be brought omission, and the assumption of power into which Con- into market, to the purposes enumerated in the bill. The gress have been led by it. With great propriety, there- honorable Senator from Tennessee [Mr. GRUNDY] confore, has the new system supplied the defect. The gen- tends that we have no power to appropriate the public SENATE.] Public Lands. [JAN. 19, 1833. money to works of internal improvement, or for the sup- Land Office be directed to report to the Senate a detailed port of schools, within the limits of the several States; statement of the donations of the public lands of the Unithence he concludes that we cannot apply the public ed States, made to the several States of the Union, and lands to these objects. Territorial Governments, to bodies corporate created within the States, and to individuals for public services, or for other causes, either by special or general laws, specifying the objects for which such donations have been granted to the States and Territorial Governments. "I have the honor, herewith, to submit the enclosed statement, furnishing the information required. "With great respect, your obedient servant, "ELIJAH HAYWARD. "The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE." I do not deem it necessary, on the present occasion, to deny the premises of the honorable Senator, in respect to appropriations of the money in the treasury of the United States to internal improvement, or education; but I utterly deny the correctness of the conclusion which he has drawn from these premises. The power to levy and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, is given for the express purpose of paying the debts, and providing for the common defence, and for the general welfare of the United States. It may well be doubted whether the revenue derived from these sources can be constitutionally applied to any local purpose within the limits of a sovereign State of the confederacy. But the power which it is now proposed to exercise, in distributing among the States, who are the joint owners of all the public lands, the money accruing from the sale of these lands, is of a character wholly different from that which relates to revenue from taxation. In the one case Congress may exercise unlimited discretion over the subject, according to the views which may be taken of the public good; and in the other, the power can only be exercised under the limitations specified in the constitution. The distribution which it is proposed to make of this fund among the States, leaves it subject to the sound discretion of their respective Legislatures; it is not to be applied, in any event, according to the will of Congress. The stockholders, having redeemed the mortgage, which, by general consent, and by acts of legislation, operated as an implied lien upon the public lands for the speedy discharge of the national debt, now desire to make an annual division among the partners, according to an equitable ratio of the joint income to which they are entitled, for the common and separate benefit of each, reserving to themselves the control and application of their respective proportions, but concurring in the general objects to which it shall be appropriated, for the ad. vancement of the prosperity and welfare of the country. And, sir, I ask if there is any rule of moral action, or principle of constitutional restriction, which can be interposed to prevent an arrangement so manifestly beneficial to the parties interested in this great and increasing fund? The construction which has been put upon the powers of Congress, in relation to the disposal of the public lands of the United States, is to be found in every page of our statute book. No limitation on these powers has ever been recognised, but they have been uniformly deemed as broad as language could make them; and in all our legislation under these powers, no questions have arisen, except in reference to the expediency of the various measures which have from time to time been proposed, and adopted, or rejected. The public lands have been granted in donations to private persons, having no other claim to them than actual settlement and cultivation, and the bounty of Congress. Large grants have been made, as a reward for meritorious public services, to colleges, seminaries of learning, and common schools; to institutions for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, to internal improvements, and a variety of other objects, a summary of which is contained in a report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in answer to a resolution which I had the honor to submit to the Senate on the 20th April, 1832, which I beg leave to read to the Senate. [Mr. P. then read the report as follows:] "GENERAL LAND OFFICE, May 9, 1832. "SIR:-In obedience to a resolution of the Senate of the United States, passed on the 20th ultimo, in the words following, to wit: "Resolved, That the Commissioner of the General STATEMENT rendered in pursuance of a resolution of the Senate of April 20, 1832. Lands ap- ernment. 23,040 1,737,838 (6) 151,700 1,280 206,128 1,712,225 2,080 1,181,248 320 Mississippi, 46,080 685,884 732,244 15,571 Alabama, 400,000 46,560 722,190 (3) 23,040 , 23,040 1,216,450 14,740 Louisiana, 46,080 873,973 920,053 12,880 Michigan, 46,080 543,893 599,973 1,679 Arkansas, 46,080 950,258 996,338 Florida, 46,080 877,484 (4) 23,040 1,120 947,724 24,308 Aggregate, (acres) 2,187,665 508,000 7,952,538 89,605 21,589 298,288 11,057,685 224,558 versities. JAN. 19, 1833.] Notes to preceding Table. Public Lands. (1) Section No. 29, appropriated for religious purposes in the purchase made by John C. Symmes and the Ohio Company. (2) Including lands appropriated for schools in "Clark's grant." (3) For the benefit of the Connecticut Deaf and Dumb Asylum. (4) For the benefit of the Kentucky Deaf and Dumb Asylum. (5) Including salt spring reservations, which are authorized to be sold by the State, and the proceeds applied to literary purposes. [SENATE. cumulating on the sales of the public lands, to be used for the views of the legislative body in each State. No enthese important purposes, in any manner which may meet croachment on State sovereignty, no violation of the reserved rights of the States, or usurpation of power by Congress in this distribution, either expressed or implied, can be inferred from this act of humanity and benevolence. The measure is recommended by every consideration of national policy, and its results cannot be otherwise than salutary in giving strength and stability to the Union, and be seen, by the statement transmitted from the General perpetuating the blessings of our free institutions. It will Land Office, that grants have already been made to the States and Territorial Governments for colleges, and academies, and universities, amounting, in the whole, to five NOTE.-No measures having been yet taken by the Go-hundred and eight thousand acres of the public lands; and vernment for the surveying and disposing of the public for common schools the grants have amounted to nearly lands in the State of Tennessee, no attention has been given eight millions of acres. to the appropriation made of any part of that domain for the purposes of education, or other objects. (6) Including donation of 100,000 acres to the Ohio Company. ELIJAH HAYWARD. Have these grants been made in violation of the constitution, or of the deeds of cession, compacts, or treaties, by which the public domain was acquired? Surely not, sir. I have endeavored to demonstrate the fallacy of this objection to the bill in a preceding part of my ar gument, and I now refer to an authority which I cannot Thus it appears that two millions one hundred and eighty- doubt will satisfy the scruples of Senators who so highly seven thousand six hundred and sixty-five acres of the pub-appreciate the source from which it comes, and who have lic lands have already been appropriated by Congress to pronounced the eulogy of the distinguished individual works of internal improvements in the several States and whose constitutional opinion is conclusive on this subject. Territories; and the constitutional power of Congress to I have said that the public lands may be disposed of in make the grants has, on no occasion, been contested, until such manner, and for such purposes, as Congress, in the the honorable senator from Tennessee has made the point exercise of a sound discretion, may think proper for the in aid of his argument against the passage of this bill. general good. I am supported in this opinion by the plain The power is fixed in the constitution; it has been carried letter of the constitution, by the uniform practice of the into practical operation, for benevolent purposes, through- Government, and by the Chief Magistrate of the United out the whole history of the Government; it has never States, in his message to Congress of the 4th day of Debeen doubted by any one; and the attempt to connect it cember, 1832. with the general power of appropriating the money in the treasury to the same objects is equally novel and untenable. This view of the subject is fully established by the summary which I have just read to the Senate; and it cannot be necessary for me to refer in detail to reports of committees and other documents, which are on file, and may be seen by any Senator who shall think proper to examine them, clearly demonstrating the principles on which all these grants have been made. I presume it will not be denied, if the lands unsold can be applied to works of internal improvements within the States, to be disposed of under the direction of the Legislatures, that the nett proceeds of the sales of these lands, after they have been sold by the Government, may, with equal justice and propriety, be appropriated in like manner. There can be no reasonable discrimination between a grant of land and its value in the market, whether it be sold by the Government of the United States or of the States to whom the grant is made. But the Senator is alarmed at that provision of the bill which authorizes the States to apply their respective proportions of this fund to the purposes of education. After an elaborate view of the policy which is recommended for the final disposal of the public lands, President Jackson says: "Among the interests which merit the consideration of Congress, after the payment of the public debt, one of the most important, in my view, is that of the public lands. Previous to the formation of our present constitution it was recommended by Congress that a portion of the waste lands owned by the States should be ceded to the United States for the purposes of general harmony, and as a fund to meet the expenses of the war. "The recommendation was adopted, and, at different periods of time, the States of Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, granted their vacant soil for the uses for which they had been asked. "As the lands may now be considered as relieved from this pledge, the object for which they were ceded having been accomplished, it is in the discretion of Congress to dispose of them in such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and general interest of the American people. "In examining this question, all local and sectional feelings should be discarded, and the whole United States regarded as one people, interested alike in the prosperity of the common country. He asks if Congress can exercise the dangerous power of regulating schools in the education of youth within the Sovereign States of the confederacy? I answer the Senator by a simple denial that any such power is claimed, or that the words of the bill justify the inference that a sys- This paragraph in the message of the President covers tem of education is contemplated to be prescribed to the the whole ground of the unlimited powers of Congress, in States as a corollary of the measure now under considera- relation to the public lands, for which I have contended; it tion. The States are left, as heretofore, free to establish is clear, ample, and explicit, and needs no comments from their own systems of education; to provide for the instruc- me to interpret its meaning. Those who claim to be the extion of the poor and indigent orphan; to diffuse the lights of science among the rising generation, by means of well organized colleges and seminaries of learning; and to the accomplishment of these great ends, we offer them, not the money in the treasury collected on imposts, but a distributive share of the vast resources which are annually ac clusive friends of the President on this floor have denied the power which he here asserts to be in the National Legislature; they go back to the conditions annexed to the ancient deeds of cession to sustain them, and yet they tell us of the "statesman-like views of the President," which they deem worthy of this enlightened age, and of the free and |