we have all ways had a problem
its a good reed
In the early 1800's Congress was considering
a bill to appropriate tax dollars for the widow
of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful
speeches had been made in support of this
bill. It seemed that everyone in the House
favored it. The Speaker of the House was just
about to put the question to a vote, when
Davy Crockett, famous frontiersman and then
Congressman from Tennessee, rose to his feet.
“Mr. Speaker, I have as much respect for the
memory of the deceased and as much sympathy
for the suffering of the living as any man in
this House, but we must not permit our respect
for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the
living to lead us into an act of injustice to the
balance of the living. I will not go into an
argument to prove that Congress has no power
to appropriate this money as an act of charity.
Every member upon this floor knows it. We
have the right, as individuals to give away as
much of our own money as we please in
charity, but as members of Congress we have
no right to so appropriate a dollar of the public
money. Some eloquent appeals have been made
to us upon the ground that it is a debt due
the deceased. Sir, this is no debt. We cannot
without the grossest corruption, appropriate
this money as the payment of a debt. We have
not the semblance of authority to appropriate
it as a charity. I cannot vote for this bill, but
I will give one week's pay, and if every member
of Congress will do the same, it will amount
to more than the bill asks.”
There was silence on the floor of the House
as Crockett took his seat. When the bill was put
to a vote, instead of passing unanimously as
had been expected, it received only a few votes.
The next day a friend approached Crockett
and asked why he spoken against a bill for
such a worthy cause. In reply, Crockett related
the following story:
Just a few years before, he had voted to spend
$20,000.00 of public money to help the victims
of a terrible fire in Georgetown. When the
legislative session was over, Crockett made a
trip back home to do some campaigning for his
re-election. In his travels he encountered one of
his constituents, a man by the name of Horatio
Bunce. Mr. Bunce bluntly informed Crockett,
“I voted for you the last time. I shall not vote
for you again.”
Crockett, feeling he had served his constituents
well, was stunned. He inquired as to what he
had done to so offend Mr. Bunce.
Bunce replied, “You gave a vote last winter
which shows that either you have not capacity
to understand the Constitution, or that you are
wanting in the honesty and firmness to be
guided by it. The Constitution, to be worth
anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly
observed in all its provisions.”
“I take the papers from Washington and read
very carefully all the proceedings of Congress.
My papers say that last winter you voted for a
bill to appropriate $20,000.00 to some sufferers
by a fire. Well, Colonel, where do you find in
the Constitution any authority to give away public
money in charity? No Colonel, Congress has no
right to give charity. Individual members may
give as much of their own money as they
please, but they have no right to touch a dollar
of the public money for that purpose.”
“The people have delegated to Congress, by
the Constitution, the power to do certain things.
To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay
moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond
this is usurpation, and a violation of the
Constitution. You have violated the Constitution
in what I consider to be a vital point. It is a
precedent fraught with danger to the country, for
when Congress once begins to stretch its power
beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is
no limit to it, and no security for the People.”
“I could not answer him,” said Crockett. “I was so
fully convinced that he was right.” I said to him,
“Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head
when you said I had not sense enough to understand
the Constitution. If you will forgive me
and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another
unconstitutional law, I wish I may be shot.”
After finishing the story, Crockett said, “Now sir,
you know why I made that speech yesterday.
There is one thing now to which I will call your
attention. You remember that I proposed to give
a weeks pay? There are in that House many very
wealthy men, men who think nothing of spending
a weeks pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner
or a wine party when they have something to
accomplish by it. Some of these same men made
beautiful speeches upon the debt of gratitude
which the country owed the deceased, yet not
one of them responded to my proposition.
Money with them is nothing but trash when it
is to come out of the people. But it is the one
great thing for which most of them are striving,
and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity,
and justice to obtain it.”
