CONGRESS, U. S. 



321 



of the constitutionality of the power of Con- 

 gress to declare the Treasury notes contem- 

 plated by this bill a legal tender in the pay- 

 ment of all debts, public and private, may be 

 stated in these three propositions : first, Con- 

 gress may declare these notes a legal tender 

 because it is not inhibited ; secondly, the Gov- 

 ernment must maintain itself, and Congress 

 may exercise all the power and adopt any 

 measure it judges necessary for that object; 

 and thirdly, that the power to declare these 

 notes a legal tender is a means necessary and 

 proper to the full execution of the power to 

 regulate commerce. 



The Constitution found gold and silver coin 

 the medium in which all contracts were to be 

 settled. It recognized, but did not seek to dis- 

 turb it. It gave Congress no power to disturb 

 it, and inhibited the States from making any- 

 thing else a tender in payment of debts. And 

 we have no power to alter what the Constitu- 

 tion chose to leave untouched. "We have no 

 constitutional power to pass this bill." 



Mr. Pike, of Maine, followed, saying : " In 

 my judgment, any measure of finance now as- 

 sumes the highest character. The existence of 

 the Government depends upon a successful ad- 

 ministration of the finances. Crippled here, 

 we are balked everywhere. Upon the consid- 

 eration of every financial measure there might 

 well present itself anew the same question so 

 fitly put by President Lincoln, in his message 

 to "Congress in July : ' Is it better to assume 

 powers, the exercise of which shall violate a 

 portion of the Constitution, rather than allow 

 the whole to be destroyed 1 ' and the country 

 come to the paradoxical conclusion that it was 

 his duty, as President, to violate the Constitu- 

 tion in order to preserve it. 



" I trust that I have as much respect for that 

 instrument as any man in the House ; and it is 

 because I would not have its authority over 

 any portion of the Union impaired that I am 

 bold in the exercise of power under it. But I 

 would construe it in the light of the rule au- 

 thoritatively announced for our action : ' The 

 Sabbath was made for man, and not man for 

 the Sabbath.' 



" I have a high respect for the motives of 

 gentlemen who discover so many constitutional 

 objections to contemplated action ; but for 

 myself, I have concluded that whatever has a 

 tendency to furnish means to suppress this re- 

 bellion, and affords a reasonable probability of 

 hastening the consummation of what all loyal 

 men so much desire, is perfectly constitutional. 

 Nothing but an absolute prohibition would pre- 

 vent me from adopting a measure which an- 

 swers these conditions. I will never render to 

 my people as a reason why I voted against such 

 a measure that I deemed it unconstitutional, 

 nor will I assist this Congress in proclaiming to 

 the world and sending down to posterity the 

 lack of constitutional power as a reason for 

 failing to enact any law which will have a ten- 

 dency to preserve this Union. This is no time 



VOL. II.-21 



for the exercise of thin constitutional pedantry. 

 Let us act boldly and forcibly, and so discharge 

 the high and solemn duty imposed upon us in- 

 finitely better than if we shrunk from action 

 under fear of constitutional scruples." 



Mr. Alley, of Massachusetts, expressed his 

 view of the constitutionality of the bill in these 

 words : " This question of its constitutionality 

 is hardly worthy of consideration in the face 

 of the overshadowing necessities of the Gov- 

 ernment, for the reason that at most it can only 

 be claimed as doubtful ; for, to say the least, 

 we have the authority of legal eminence as 

 much in favor as against it ; and every intel- 

 ligent man knows, and will admit, outside of 

 the legal profession, that legal enactments and 

 constitutional provisions themselves have al- 

 ways in this country, whenever occasion re- 

 quired, with courts as well as statesmen, proved 

 as packthreads upon the arms of an nnshorn 

 Samson before the resistless will of the people. 



" No. sir ; not a man will oppose this bill, 

 or vote against it, upon any constitutional 

 grounds, unless he is opposed to it for other and 

 satisfactory reasons. This question of making 

 paper money legal tender has never before been 

 seriously entertained or discussed in this country 

 since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 

 because the emergency has never before arisen 

 to make it necessary." 



Mr. Wright, of Pennsylvania, rose in oppo- 

 sition to the bill ; he said : " Mr. Chairman, I 

 have never been more embarrassed in my life 

 as to how I should cast rny vote than I am in 

 regard to the vote I am about to cast upon this 

 bill ; for, as I live, I have no object or desire to 

 embarrass the Government in regard to any of 

 its measures, or the measures of any of the 

 committees of this House, which have in view 

 the putting down the rebellion now upon our 

 hands. I am willing to do anything I constitu- 

 tionally can, to bring about that result which, 

 of all others, is most desirable ; but at the 

 same time, Mr. Chairman, I have the obligations 

 of a constitutional oath resting upon me. I do 

 not desire, and it is not my intention, unless 

 we arrive at a period when there are more 

 difficulties surrounding us than there are now, 

 to violate the obligations of that oath. If it is 

 to be done, it must be done in a case of more 

 extremity than we have now upon us. 



" I was going on to state that I voted, during 

 the extra session of Congress, to affirm the act 

 of the President of the United States in the 

 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. I 

 voted also to approve his act by whifti he de- 

 clared certain of our seaports in a state of 

 blockade. I also voted to approve his act de- 

 claring the establishment of military law. I 

 did it for the sole reason that I regarded, at 

 that time, that the exigency had arisen which 

 justified us and the President of the United 

 States himself in violating a constitutional pro- 

 vision. It was a vote in extremis. I voted the 

 other day also to give the President of the 

 Unite<?States the control of all the railroads in 



