debtors to their creditors. If Congress have the power to erect an artificial body, and say it shall be endowed with the attributes of an individual—if you can bestow on this object of your own creation the ability to contract, may you not, in contravention of State rights, confer upon slaves, infants, and femes coven, the ability to contract 1 And if you have the power to say that an association of individuals shall be responsible for their debts only in a certain limited degree, what is to prevent an extension of a similar exemption to individuals'! Where is the limitation upon this power to set up corporations ? You establish one in the heart of a State, the basis of whose capital is money. You may erect others, whose capital shall consist of land, slaves, and personal estates, and thus the whole properly' within the jurisdiction of a State might be absorbed by these political bodies. The existing bank contends, that it is beyond the power of a State to tax it - and, if this pretension be well founded, it is in the power of Congress, by chartering companies, to dry up all the sources of State revenue.” Yes, sir, the honorable Senator was right, when he said that the incidental power ought to be strictly subordinate, and limited to the end proposed to be attained by the specified power. He Was right in saying, that in all cases where incidental powers are acted upon, the principal and incidental ought to be congenial with each other, and partake of a common nature. And he would have been equally right, had he added, that no means can be proper that are not compatible with the spirit of the constitution and the genius of our government. But I will no longer detain the committee on this branch of the subject, having already shown, as I believe, beyond all cavil, that the clause which has been last examined does not confer on Congress power to incorporate a moneyed institution of any description. । 1 will now proceed to examine arguments—-not ofa constitutional character, nor strictly applicable—but nevertheless frequently appealed to by the advocates of a national bank. I allude to that class of arguments which rest on precedent alone for support. The friends arid champions of a United States bank, when no longer able to find legitimate support, when forced to abandon every constitutional position, seek refuge in the misty regions of precedent. The acts of former legislatures, and the opinions of the Supreme Court, and not the constitution, are appealed'to for authority: and Io f King Precedent is anointed with the unction of infallibility; becomes the keeper of their consciences, and the object of their idolatry; his behests the laws, his standard the missletoe, which these political Druids venerate. But to vary the figure—what is there in the character or nature pf precedent so sanative and holy that can heal all moral maladies, and justify all political transgressions'? Or; wherefore is it, that precedent should fetter the intellect, destroy moral"agency, and bear sway where reason and conscience should alone' preside ? Sir, would it not be well for those who Have sworn to’support the constitution, to pause’and reflect before they subscribe to a doctrine so* fraught with mischief; and* so inimical to reason? : It is alleged, by,some of the servile brain-bound slaves of precedent, that Congress would be justified in chartering'a bank, (at the present time,) whether authorized by the'constitution or not, because similar institutions have hitherto existed.’ THey ’bontehd, that inasmuch as those institutions were established by‘Congress, submitted to by the people,'acquiesced in by the States,’and sanctioned byhhe Supreme Court, that they were'recognised by all the acts which’ imply the sanction of organic law. Sir, I cannot, for one, yield assented dbetrmes'!so false, so loose,' so licentious. I deny that the great body of.the American people,’the democracy,, are,- or ever weye^in favor of a chartered money monopoly, whether States or national. The insinuation is a rank and insolent patriotism, their intelligence, and "their integrity. " No/'sif, the frank and honest hearted demo-
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