THE REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA. DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE. VOL. V.-NO. 1. REPORT, EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD. PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 2, 1830. NO. 105, Having plenary power to lay duties and imposts, as well as to regulate commerce with foreign nations, the detail of any act which they may pass on these subjects, the name which may be given to it, or the reasons which lead to its adoption, become necessarily matter, not of power but expediency. Mr. Wilkins, from the committee to whom was referred the letter from the Governor of Mississippi to the Governor of Pennsylvania, enclosing a copy of certain resolutions of the general assembly of that state, relative to the tariff of the general government, of 1828, made the following report, which was read, viz. That we have given to this subject, that serious and deliberate consideration, which is due to proceedings emanating from a source, which is entitled to all possible respect. We have examined, in all their bearings, the resolutions submitted, and as the result of our most serious reflection, beg leave to state to the House, that in our opinion, they ought not to receive its sanction. The resolutions of the legislature of Mississippi, present the tariff of 1828, to our consideration, in four aspects. First, that it is contrary to the spirit of the constitution of the United States. In the first clause of the eighth section of the first article of the constitution of the United States, it is ordained, that Congress shall have power "1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States." "2. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes." In the third clause of the second section of the first article, it is declared, that "3. Representatives, and direct taxes, shall be apportioned among the several states, which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers." In the clause first referred to, in the eighth section of the first article, is another limitation. "But all duties, imposts and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States." In the fourth clause of the ninth section of the first article, is another declaration, that "4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration, hereinbefore directed to be taken." And in the fifth clause of the ninth section of the same article, it is also declared, that "5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one state over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another." These are all the provisions of the constituion of the United States to impose taxes, duties, imposts, excises, or to regulate commerce. These powers are given in terms too clear to admit of construction, too comprehensive to exclude any subject, too plenary to admit of any limitation, without actual violence to, and total perversion of the plain language and evident intention of the convention. It could have been considered by the convention, in no other view, else they would not VOL. V. 1 have thought it necessary to fix any restraints or limitations to powers which had no existence. These limi tations evince, on their face, the intention and meaning of the convention, and are in themselves an express de claration, that the powers granted in the first and third clauses of the eighth section of the first article, were so supreme and unlimited, as to render it indispensable to restrain and limit their exercise on some subjects, and prohibit their application to others. These limitations and prohibitions are few, simple, and easily understood. They merely provide, that direct taxes shall be laid and apportioned according to representation; that duties, excises and imposts shall be uniform; that no duty or tax shall be imposed on exports; that no regulation of commerce or revenue, shall give a preference to the ports of one state over another, or impose a duty on a vessel bound from one state to another. Had other restraints on these high powers delegated to Congress, been deemed necessary, they would have been inserted in the constitution before its adoption.Had the states, before its ratification, been fearful of their extent, they would have imposed conditions, or, at the time of adopting the amendments proposed by Congress, on the 4th of March, 1789, have added another to the ten restrictions, on the powers delegated in the original constitution, by some declaratory or restrictive clause. None such having been inserted or added, it would seem to your committee, that all powers in relation to commerce, duties, imposts, taxes and excises, were finally and irrevocably delegated by the people and states to congress, with no other exceptions than such as are contained in the act of delegation, the constitution; the language of which, is as plain as man can use, and which cannot be construed so as completely to destroy its meaning, import and effect. In comparing with the constitution, the act of congress of 1828, and the various laws of congress, imposing duties and imposts on imported articles, which compose what is called the tariff, the committee can per ceive no discrepancy. No direct tax is imposed; the duties and imposts are uniform, and exports are not taxed. Viewed as a regulation of commerce, it touches no prohibited subject, nor in any of its parts does it pass over any limitation. It is but an ordinary act of legislation, under an authority expressly delegated, laying and so apportioning duties on imports, as in the opinion of the three branches of the general government, seems best to comport with their duties to its citizens, and the pros perity of the nation: invading no state or private right, violating no constitutional injunction; adopted by no construction or implied power, brought for the first time into action by a fancied or assumed necessity, or forced into the constitution by refined or metaphysical reasoning. The tariff is a mixed measure of policy, revenue and commercial regulation, indispensable in every government, and without which none can effectuate the object of its institution. How far congress may be influenced by the one or other consideration separately, or by all combined, is for them to decide under their high responsibility to the people. But the power to give greater or less weight to the various reasons which may be urged on them, for the adoption of any act of legislation, is necessarily incident to every deliberative assembly, and entirely incapable of any precise definition. These considerations fully satisfy your committee that the present tariff is not only, not contrary to, but in perfect accordance with the words, the meaning, as well as the declared intention of the constitution. But as the legislature of the state of Mississippi declared it to be contrary to its spirit, some further remarks are deem⚫ed necessary. When by an inspection of the constitution, there is found EXPRESS and EXPLICIT authority in Congress, to legislate on any subject, we have always believed it to be supreme; capable of no diminution, but by its own limitations, and these declared in terms equally clear with the original grant of power; and we confess our selves entirely unable to understand, what is that spirit of the constitution, which can annul its plainest enactments, and abrogate the most plenary powers which it confers: which takes from our government the right to regulate commerce; to lay and apportion duties and imposts, leaving it incompetent to protect and support even itself, to pay its debts, to protect its citizens from foreign legislation, or provide for the defence or welfare experience and the patriotism of its framers, it is the most perfect and noble work which ever came from man. Self-explaining, self-construing, it is in all respects what it ought to be, to accomplish what were the great purposes of its adoption. Had it been so accepted and acted on, had not the mighty lever of construction been applied to force ungranted powers into, or granted powers out of the constitution, the country would have been saved the dreadful conflicts, which have, yet do, and may continue to threaten its peace and national existence. They have arisen, not from the difficulty of ascertaining, what is the declared intention or meaning of any of its provisions, but what was the object of their enactment, from not being content with finding them clearly and plainly contained in the instrument, but inquiring, why they were there, and into the reasons of their adoption, the mode in which they should be exercised, and the objects to which they should be applied. This must necessarily lead to endless contention. The individual or the state who is permitted to assign the reasons, motives, uses, objects or purposes, of any constitutional enactment, becomes the maker of the constitution. It is no longer the work of the convention, but becomes subject to alteration, resulting from every change of opinion. The treaty making power, the chartering of banks, the sedition law, the embargo and nonintercourse laws, the measures connected with the late war, the Missouri question, internal improvement, and the tariff, have agitated the country for forty years,-not because the constitutionality of every measure could not be easily settled, by reference to the plain words of a written compact of confessedly binding obligation; but because statesmen have devoted all the faculties of their minds, to look through the constitution, to discover the secret reasons why its authors had agreed on this or that particular provision. If the lessons of experience and the present situation of the country, do not furnish a severe commentary on this subject, the committee are much deceived. To them, they seem a solemn warning, against all attempts to bend the constitution to the varying views, which interested party or local feelings, may cause to predominate in the minds of individuals, or the deliberations of state, over the safety and permanency of our institutions. of the country. Your committee can recognize no oth- If public peace and private rights are at all worthy of consideration:-if there must be a concession by the people and states to a federative government, of so much of their rights as is necessary for federal purposes; it is of infinite importance, that it be done by a compact, clear, simple and explicit in its terms, and containing in itself a standard and test, by which collisions of power with power, and right with right, may at all times be avoided or settled. Without such a standard, without some unerring regulating balance wheel, the complicated machinery of our governments will never move in harmony, but be soon destroyed, by the conflicting interference of parts with parts and of parts with the whole. The convention of 1787, gave such a standard to the country. Whoever examines, can understand it. Free from obscurity, consistent and harmonious in all its parts, the result of the wisdom, the If after forty years of discussion, the great fundamental principles of our government are set unsettled, if the powers of Congress, in relation to revenue, commerce and manufactures, navigation and internal improvement, are yet undefined, the wisest man in the nation will not dare to predict the period of political peace, or, the youngest expect to witness it. Public good requires that these distracting questions should be settled, and that we should, by common consent, unite in adopting, as the rule of our political faith, the great charter of our fathers, which, to all times, and to all generations, speaks the same language; and no longer mislead ourselves or others, in vain attempts to discover reasons, motives_or purposes, about which politicians and statesmen, have never yet been, or ever can be, able to agree. No subject can more forcibly illustrate the propriety of these remarks, than the one which is now immediately under consideration. The tariff of 1828, is a regulation of commerce with foreign nations; a matter not only of express, but of exclusive delegation to Congress.By the second clause of the tenth section of the first article of the constitution, the states are prohibited from imposing any duty on tonnage, imposts or duties on imports or exports, without the consent of Congress. We know not by what authority, any state can say, that she has refused any control over foreign commerce, or, can attempt to deny to Congress express, plenary, exclusive and supreme power to so regulate it, as in their discretion the public good may require. This tariff is also a revenue measure, imposing duties and imposts on imported goods. States are prohibited from legislation on this subject, except so far as may "be absolutely ne 1830.] REPORT ON THE TARIFF OF 1828. cessary for executing its inspection laws;" and by the last recited clause, "the nett produce of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports and exports, shall be paid into the treasury of the United States, and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress." And are the laws of Congress on these subjects to be subject to the revision and control of the states! Can THEY prescribe the articles of foreign importation, which shall alone be subject to duty and impost, and determine on the amount which shall be apportioned to each? If such is the language, the meaning, or the spirit of the constitution, then we must apply to it a rule of construction, which contradicts and reverses the plainest and most distinct of all its declarations. 3 tion, the harmony of our public councils, the safety of our institutions, and the good feeling between the citizens of different states, and those engaged in the supposed rival and hostile pursuits of life, may no longer be disturbed by complaints against the oppression of 'unconstitutional tariffs.' It is presumed that the legislature of the state of Mississippi, in declaring the tariff of 1828, to be unconstitutional, could not have intended to exempt former tariff's from the same imputation. Such presumption would be derogatory to their patriotism, their sense of national justice, as well as their regard for the interests of other states and sections of country. This so much vilified tariff, imposed no rate of duties not contained in others; it neither embodied any new principle, nor abrogated any old one-its principal object was to equalise the duties on imports, so as to bring the products and manufactures of the middle and western states, under the operation of the same national protection which former laws had afforded to the products of the southern, and the shipping, the fisheries and the manufactures of the eastern. The tariff of 1816, imposed on cotton, wool and brown sugar, a duty of three cents per pound, on snuff twelve, and manufactured tobacco ten. Yet the most distinguished statesmen of the south voted for these duties. Was it for revenue alone? Had they no eye to the protection of the products of southern climates? At this time no question of power had arisen in congress.Policy and expediency alone, influenced its deliberations. Yet in the same law which fixed these duties, the duty on bar iron was reduced to nine dollars the ton, a convincing proof, that even in the estimation of southern statesmen, congress not only had the power of protecting the staple products of one state, to a greater degree than those of another; but, that considerations of sound policy authorised its exercise, both on manufaetures and raw materials. These are not views of recent development. They were declared by the fathers of our constitution, the founders of our republic, at the first session of the first congress in "An act for laying a duty on goods, wares and merchandises, imported into the United States," in these words "Whereas it is necessary for the support of government, for the discharge of the debts of the United States, and the ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROTECTION OF DOMESTIC MANU If the powers of Congress are to be thus restrained, as to the regulation of commerce, and the laying of duties & imposts, we must naturally inquire, whether there are any which remain for their exercise, on the other subjects of express delegation. Your committee are certain, that this state, and are confident that the nation, is not prepared to apply any rule of construction which shall not be uniform. The control of all our foreign relationswar and peace-the army, navy, and judiciary, is not more fully or expressly delegated to Congress, than our revenue and commerce. If by any refinement of construction or implication, a supposed case, object or purpose, can be discovered, which can impair, abrogate, or restrain them, as to the one, it can as to all the great powers which have been conferred by the people and states. If the great design of our confederacy, was not to enable the general government to afford protection to the interests of all parts of our republic, then, it is powerless as to all. If it is unconstitutional to encourage and protect any one great branch of national industry, then, are all at the mercy of foreign policy. If the government cannot in the same law provide for its own support, the welfare of the people and the defence of the nation, then, it is incompetent to do it by separate acts, and incapable of fulfilling any one object of its formation. The interests of agriculture and commerce, manufactures and navigation, are not separated in the constitution; neither is its favorite or reprobate; all are alike legitimate subjects of national guardianship, or are equally excluded from national protection. If duties on imported manufactures are contrary to its spirit, so are duties on tonnage, bounties on fisheries, and all embargo, non-intercourse and navigation acts Thus, the great question which involves the validity of the tariff of 1828, involves alike, our whole code of legislation, over every item of national interest and industry, which can be affected by foreign policy. On its decision by the American people, the fate of the farmer and the fisherman, the planter and the mechanic, the manufacturer and the merchant, alike depend. Our government is competent to protect the products of our soil and seas, our shipping as well as our workshops, or it must abandon all to one common destruction. It is earnestly hoped, that in this great contest, no section or state of the union, will be governed by sectional or interested views; that none will claim for its own productions, a greater degree of protection than they are willing to afford to others; that those who have already received protection by former laws, will cheerfully consent to the reduction of all duties on all articles, which come into competition It is much regretted by your committee, that the with their own, to the same rate which shall remain, on olutions under consideration, do not point specifically to those embraced in the tariff of 1828, after it shall have the parts of the law of 1828, which transcend the powers been repealed. And that the tariff which is to recon- of congress: that they do not designate the articles on cile all conflicting interests, and restore peace not only which an unconstitutional duty is imposed, or afford any between contending parties, but states, and the great criterion by which the line can be drawn between those sections of the country shall, when modified with a sin- duties, imposts and regulations of foreign commerce, gle eye to revenue, IMPOSE THE SAME DUTY ON SUGAR AS which are valid and binding on the states, and those which ON IRON, ON COTTON AS ON HEMP, ON TOBACCO AS ON are void and "ought to be resisted." If your committee WOOLLENS, AND ON FISH AS ON HARDWARE. That with are left to judge from the uniform course of legislation common consent, the protecting principle shall be im- for forty years, under every administration, and midst partially applied, or expunged from our statute book, all the strifes of contending parties, congress has always wherever it can be found; so that the repose of the na- | freely acted on the principle of being fully authorized to FACTURES, that duties be laid on goods, wares and merchandises imported;" be it enacted, &c. This was the first tariff under the new government.It has never been declared or even said to be unconstitutional. Yet it contains one explicit declaration, that one of the reasons which led to its adoption was the protection of manufactures; a declaration publicly asserting the power of congress, which was never questioned by any statesman in the union for more than thirty years. Congress have from time to time selected such objects, as seemed to them most deserving of encouragement and protection, varying in degree according to circumstances, and extended in amount as the public interest seemed to them to demand. Never dreaming until 1820, that the constitution had interposed any impediments to that system, which was coeval with the governmert, and which was proclaimed in the first revenue law which was passed after its organization. res |