Measures, Not Men: Illustrated by Some Remarks Upon the Public Conduct and Character of John C. Calhoun, Collected Principally from Public Documents

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E.B. Clayton, 1825 - 49 pages
 

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Page 28 - But there are higher and more powerful considerations why Congress ought to take charge of this subject. If we were only to consider the pecuniary advantages of a good system of roads and canals, it might, indeed, admit of some doubt whether they ought not to be left wholly to individual exertions ; but.
Page 30 - Let it not. however, be forgotten, let it be forever kept in mind, that it exposes us to the greatest of all calamities, next to the loss of liberty, and even to that in its consequences, disunion.
Page 30 - We are great, and rapidly — I was about to say fearfully — growing. This is our pride and our danger ; our weakness and our strength. Little does he deserve to be intrusted with the liberties of this people, who does not raise his mind to these truths.
Page 38 - The defects of the mere contract system are so universally acknowledged by those who have experienced its operation in the late war, that it cannot be necessary to make many observations in relation to it. Nothing can appear more absurd than that the success of the most important military operations, on which the very fate of the country may depend, should ultimately rest on men who are subject to no military responsibility, and on whom there is no other hold than the penalty of a bond.
Page 30 - It is thus the most distant parts of the republic will be brought within a few days' travel of the centre ; it is thus that a citizen of the West will read the news of Boston still moist from the press. The mail and the press are the nerves of the body politic. By them, the slightest impression made on the most remote parts, is communicated to the whole system ; and the more perfect the means of transportation, the more rapid and true the vibration.
Page 30 - Those who understand the human heart best know how powerfully distance tends to break the sympathies of our nature. Nothing — not even dissimilarity of language — tends more to estrange man from man. Let us, then, bind the republic together with a perfect system of roads and canals.
Page 43 - ... time be thrown in for its relief. By this speedy communication, the regular forces, with the militia of the cities and their neighborhood, would be sufficient to repel ordinary invasions, and would either prevent, or greatly diminish, the harassing calls upon the militia of the interior. If to these considerations we add the character of the climate of the southern portion of the Atlantic frontier, so fatal to those whose constitutions are not inured to it, the value of this system of defence,...
Page 38 - Nothing can appear more absurd than that the success of the most important military operations, on which the very fate of the country may depend, should ultimately rest on men who are subject to no military, responsibility, and on whom there is no other hold than the penalty of a bond. When we add to this observation that it is often the interest of a contractor to fail at the most critical juncture, when the means of supply become the most expensive, it seems strange that the system should have...
Page 23 - Those being the foundations of our government, its policy ought to comport with them. It is the duty of all nations, especially of one whose institutions recognize no principle of force, but appeal to virtue for their strength, to act with justice and moderation; with moderation, approaching to forbearance. In all possible conflicts with foreign powers, our government should be able to make it manifest to the world, that it has justice on its side. We should always forbear if possible, until all...

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