The Webster-Hayne Debate: Defining Nationhood in the Early American While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Hayne's First Speech (January 19, 1830) Webster's First Reply to Hayne (January 20, 1830) Hayne's Second Speech (January 21, 1830) Webster's Second Reply to Hayne (January 26-27, 1830) This page was last edited on 13 June 2021, at . Sir, I may be singularperhaps I stand alone here in the opinion, but it is one I have long entertained, that one of the greatest safeguards of liberty is a jealous watchfulness on the part of the people, over the collection and expenditure of the public moneya watchfulness that can only be secured where the money is drawn by taxation directly from the pockets of the people. It was not a Union to be torn up without bloodshed; for nerves and arteries were interwoven with its roots and tendrils, sustaining the lives and interests of twelve million inhabitants. . Webster and Hayne on the American Constitution This means that South Carolina is essentially its own nation, Georgia is its own nation, and so on. But, sir, the task has been forced upon me, and I proceed right onward to the performance of my duty; be the consequences what they may, the responsibility is with those who have imposed upon me this necessity. Webster scoffed at the idea of consolidation, labeling it "that perpetual cry, both of terror and delusion." What Hayne and his supporters actually meant to do, Webster claimed, was to resist those means that might strengthen the bonds of common interest. Gloomy and downcast of late, Massachusetts men walked the avenue as though the fife and drum were before them. Who Won the Webster-Hayne Debate of 1830? - Abbeville Institute Now that was a good debate! Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster's "Second Reply" to South Carolina Senator Robert Y. Hayne has long been thought of as a great oratorical celebration of American Nationalism in a period of sectional conflict. We love to dwell on that union, and on the mutual happiness which it has so much promoted, and the common renown which it has so greatly contributed to acquire. Correspondence Between Anthony Butler and Presiden State of the Union Address Part II (1846). He rose, the image of conscious mastery, after the dull preliminary business of the day was dispatched, and with a happy figurative allusion to the tossed mariner, as he called for a reading of the resolution from which the debate had so far drifted, lifted his audience at once to his level. Congress could only recommendtheir acts were not of binding force, till the states had adopted and sanctioned them. . Consolidation!that perpetual cry, both of terror and delusionconsolidation! flashcard sets. The Webster-Hayne debate was a famous debate in the United States between Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina.It happened on January 19-27, 1830. Where in these debates do we see a possible argument in defense of Constitutional secession by the states, later claimed by the Southern Confederacy before, during, and after the Civil War? In fact, Webster's definition of the Constitution as for the People, by the People, and answerable to the People would go on to form one of the most enduring ideas about American democracy. I spoke, sir, of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery, in all future times, northwest of the Ohio,[6] as a measure of great wisdom and foresight; and one which had been attended with highly beneficial and permanent consequences. An error occurred trying to load this video. The people of the United States cherish a devotion to the Union, so pure, so ardent, that nothing short of intolerable oppression, can ever tempt them to do anything that may possibly endanger it. In this regard, Webster anticipated an argument that Abraham Lincoln made in his First Inaugural Address (1861). Hayne was a great orator, filled with fiery passion and eloquent prose. The Webster-Hayne Debate | Hopkins Press . By establishing justice, promoting domestic tranquility, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. This is the true reading of the Constitution. [O]pinions were expressed yesterday on the general subject of the public lands, and on some other subjects, by the gentleman from South Carolina [Senator Robert Hayne], so widely different from my own, that I am not willing to let the occasion pass without some reply. . Daniel Webster, in a dramatic speech, showed the danger of the states' rights doctrine, which permitted each State to decide for itself which laws were unconstitutional, claiming it would lead to civil war. Mr. Webster arose, and, in conclusion, said: A few words, Mr. President, on this constitutional argument, which the honorable gentleman has labored to reconstruct. Democratic Party Platform 1860 (Breckinridge Facti (Southern) Democratic Party Platform Committee. Far, indeed, in my wishes, very far distant be the day, when our associated and fraternal stripes shall be severed asunder, and when that happy constellation under which we have risen to so much renown, shall be broken up, and be seen sinking, star after star, into obscurity and night! Webster-Hayne Debate. I did not utter a single word, which any ingenuity could torture into an attack on the slavery of the South. The great debate, which culminated in Hayne's encounter with Webster, came about in a somewhat casual way. . These irreconcilable views of national supremacy and state sovereignty framed the constitutional struggle that led to Civil War thirty years later. Prejudice Not Natural: The American Colonization "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? I propose to consider it, and to compare it with the Constitution. Why was the Hayne-Webster debate important? - eNotes.com . Webster-Hayne Debate 1830, an unplanned series of speeches in the Senate, during which Robert Hayne of South Carolina interpreted the Constitution as little more than a treaty between sovereign states, and Daniel Webster expressed the concept of the United States as one nation. The speech is also known for the line Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable, which would subsequently become the state motto of North Dakota, appearing on the state seal. . This will co-operate with the feelings of patriotism to induce a state to avoid any measures calculated to endanger that connection. For all this, there was not the slightest foundation, in anything said or intimated by me. . If the gentleman provokes the war, he shall have war. U.S. Senate: The Most Famous Senate Speech They will also better understand the debate's political context. Most assuredly, I need not say I differ with him, altogether and most widely, on that point. . . . I deem far otherwise of the Union of the states; and so did the Framers of the Constitution themselves. The honorable member himself is not, I trust, and can never be, one of these. The arena selected for a first impression was the Senate, where the arch-heretic himself presided and guided the onset with his eye. We had no other general government. 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More specifically, some of the issues facing Congress during this period included: Robert Y. Hayne served as Senator of South Carolina from 1823 to 1832. . I maintain that, from the day of the cession of the territories by the states to Congress, no portion of the country has acted, either with more liberality or more intelligence, on the subject of the Western lands in the new states, than New England. To them, the more money the central government made, the stronger it became and the more it took rights away from the states to govern themselves. The significance of Daniel Webster's argument went far beyond the immediate proposal at hand. TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, Ohio 44805 PHONE (419) 289-5411 TOLL FREE (877) 289-5411 EMAIL [emailprotected], The Congress Sends Twelve Amendments to the States, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 3rd Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 3rd Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 4th Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 4th Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 6th Debate Part I, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 6th Debate Part II, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 7th Debate Part I, National Disfranchisement of Colored People, William Lloyd Garrison to Thomas Shipley. Broadside Advertisement for Runaway Slave, Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Free-Soiler, Free & Slave-holding States and Territories. . Speech of Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina, January 27, 1830. . Sir, I cordially respond to that appeal. Webster-Hayne Debate book. . It cannot be doubted, and is not denied, that before the formation of the constitution, each state was an independent sovereignty, possessing all the rights and powers appertaining to independent nations; nor can it be denied that, after the Constitution was formed, they remained equally sovereign and independent, as to all powers, not expressly delegated to the federal government. . The idea of a strong federal government The ability of the people to revolt against an unfair government The theory that the states' may vote against unfair laws The role of the president in commanding the government 2 See answers Advertisement holesstanham Answer: 1830's APUSH Flashcards | Quizlet Lincoln-Douglas Debates History & Significance | What Was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate? All of these contentious topics were touched upon in Webster and Hayne's nine day long debate. I am opposed, therefore, in any shape, to all unnecessary extension of the powers, or the influence of the Legislature or Executive of the Union over the states, or the people of the states; and, most of all, I am opposed to those partial distributions of favors, whether by legislation or appropriation, which has a direct and powerful tendency to spread corruption through the land; to create an abject spirit of dependence; to sow the seeds of dissolution; to produce jealousy among the different portions of the Union, and finally to sap the very foundations of the government itself.