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DAVEY CROCKETT - The Max
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"NOT YOURS TO GIVE"
From: The Life of Colonel David Crockett
Compiled by: Edward S. Ellis Philadelphia, Porter & Coates, 1884
One day in the United States house of Representatives, a bill was taken
up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished
naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its
support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when David
Croquet arose: "Mr. Speaker -- I have as much respect for the memory
of
the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if
suffering for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, 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 so to 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.
Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was
in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the
government was in arrears to him. "Every man in the House knows it is
not a 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.
Mr.Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much
money of our own
as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for
this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every
member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the
bill asks." He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put
upon
its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally
supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received
but few votes, and of course, was lost. Later, when asked by a friend
why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:
"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the
Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was
attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large
fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In
spite of all that could be done, many house were burned and many
families made houseless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the
clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many
women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for
them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for
their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as
soon as it could be done. "The next summer, when it began to be time
to
think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among
the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but as the election
was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one
day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any
other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I
gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he
came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought,
rather coldly. "I began: 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate
beings called candidates and --' " 'Yes, I know you; you are Colonel
Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time
you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had
better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.'
"This was a sockdolager ... I begged him to tell me what was the
matter. "' Well, Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste time or
words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote
last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand
the Constitution, or that you wanting the honesty and firmness to be
guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me.
But
I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to
avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a
candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intended by
it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very
different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I
should not have said, that I believe you to be honest ...
But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot
overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held
sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields
power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.'
"'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about
it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any
constitutional question.' " 'No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though
I
live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, 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 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. is that
true?' "'Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me
there.
But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like
ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its
suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing
Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just
as I did.' " 'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is
the principle.
In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more
than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do
with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at
pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man,
particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which
reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the
poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is
worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight
centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess
how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while your are
contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are
even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the
amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much
right to give $2,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to
one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither
defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to
any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a
charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily
perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and
favoritism, on one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 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. If twice as
many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you
nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a
dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of
Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by
contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000.
There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have
given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.
The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be
true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about
Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the
necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give. 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. " 'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the
Constitution in what I consider 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 have no doubt you acted
honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are
personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.' "I tell
you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man
should go talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district
I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I was
so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must
satisfy him, and 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. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied
it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of
Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard
sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had
ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into
the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me
and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I
wish I may be shot.' "He laughingly replied: 'Yes Colonel, you have
sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one
condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong.
Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it.
If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote,
and that your are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you,
but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and, perhaps, I may
exert some little influence in that way.' " 'If I don't, said I, 'I wish
I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I
will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a
gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a
barbecue, and I will pay for it.' " 'No, Colonel, we are not rich people
in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a
barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops
will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a
barbecue. This is Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday
week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I
promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.' " 'Well, I
will be here. But one thing more, before I say good-bye. I must know
your name.' " 'My name is Bunce.' " 'Not Horatio Bunce?' " 'Yes.'
"
'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen
me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud
that I may hope to have you for my friend.' "It was one of the luckiest
hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public,
but was widely know for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible
integrity, and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and
benevolence, which showed themselves not only in word but acts.
He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had
extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I
had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this
meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been
beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that
district under such a vote. "At the appointed time I was at his
house,
having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man
i stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest
and a confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.
"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and under
ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up
until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government,
and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life
before. "I have know and seen much of him since, for I respect him --
no, that is not the word -- I reverence and love him more than any
living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I
will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived
and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take
the world by storm. "But to return to my story. The next
morning we
went to the barbecue, and to my surprise, found about a thousand men
there. I met a good many whom I had not know before, and they and my
friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted -- at
least, they knew me. "In due time notice was given that I would speak
to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I
opened my speech by saying: " 'Fellow-citizens -- I present myself
before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been
opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore
hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to
render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render
before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error
than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due
to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter
for your consideration only.' "I went on to tell them about the fire and
my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it
was wrong. I closed by saying: " 'And now, fellow-citizens, it
remains
only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to
with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which
your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error. " 'It is
the best
speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it.
And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up
here and tell you so.' "He came up on the stand and said: "
'Fellow-citizens -- it affords me great pleasure to comply with the
request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly
honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that
he has promised you today.' "He went down, and there went up from that
crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth
before. "I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking
then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now
that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man and the
honest hearty shout they produced is worth more to me than all the
honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever
shall make, as a member of Congress. "Now, sir," concluded
Crockett,
"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 week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men -- men who
think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner
or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of
those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude
which the country owed the deceased -- a debt which could not be paid by
money -- and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly
so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the
nation. 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." "The
liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution are
worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them
against all attacks. We have receiv'd them as a fair inheritance from
our worthy ancestors: They purchas'd them for us with toil and danger
and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care
and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the
present generation, enlight'ned as it is, if we should suffer them to be
wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of
them by the artifices of false and designing men." -- Samuel Adams
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