Wilson Lumpkin: Annual Message to the Georgia Legislature

Document Text

Executive Department, Georgia,

Milledgeville, November 6th, 1832.

Fellow Citizens: —

… Our conflicts with Federal usurpation are not yet at an end. The events of the past year have afforded us new cause for distrust and dissatisfaction. Contrary to the enlightened opinions and just expectations of this and every other State in the Union, a majority of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States have not only assumed jurisdiction in the cases of Worcester and Butler, but have, by their decision, attempted to overthrow that essential jurisdiction of the State, in criminal cases, which has been vested by our Constitution in the Superior Courts of our own State. In conformity with their decision, a mandate was issued to our court, ordering a reversal of the decree under which those persons are imprisoned, thereby attempting and intending to prostrate the sovereignty of this State in the exercise of its constitutional criminal jurisdiction. These extraordinary proceedings of the Supreme Court have not been submitted to me officially, nor have they been brought before me in any manner which called for my official action. I have, however, been prepared to meet this usurpation of Federal power with the most prompt and determined resistence, in whatever form its enforcement might have been attempted by any branch of the Federal Government.

It has afforded me great satisfaction to find that our whole people, as with the voice of one man, have manifested a calm, but firm and determined resolution to sustain the authorities and sovereignty of their State against this unjust and unconstitutional encroachment of the Federal judiciary. The ingenuity of man might be challenged to show a single sentence in the Constitution of the United States giving power, either direct or implied, to the general government, or any of its departments, to nullify the laws of a State, enacted for the government of its own population, or coerce obedience, by force, to the mandates of the judiciary of the Union. On the contrary, the journals and proceedings of the convention that framed the Federal Constitution abundantly evince that various attempts were made to effect that object, all of which were rejected. This proves that the States of this Union never did, and never will, permit their political rights to be suspended upon the breath of the agents or trustees to whom they have delegated limited powers to perform certain definite acts. I, however, deem it unnecessary for me, at this time, to animadvert on this decision of the Supreme Court. Its fallacy, its inconsistency with former decisions, and its obvious tendency to intermeddle with the political rights of the States, and to change our Federal system into one consolidated mass, has been so often exposed by the most able jurists and statesmen that a large majority of the people of this Union are confirmed in the conviction of the falliblity, infirmities, and errors of this Supreme tribunal. …

Shortly after the adjournment of the Legislature, in December last, I communicated directly to the President of the United States the views of this State, as manifested by her legislation on the subject of our unoccupied lands lying in Cherokee County; and at the same time frankly communicated to him my views, especially as to the necessity and importance of an immediate survey, and perhaps occupancy, of these lands. The President has manifested equal solicitude with ourselves to effect an amicable and satisfactory adjustment of our territorial embarrassment. He has proposed to the Cherokee people terms of the most liberal character, with a view to induce them to emigrate to the West, &c., thereby to enable him to effect the great object of his solicitude, in permanently benefiting that unfortunate race, and at the same time to fulfil the long delayed obligation of the United States Government to Georgia, entered into by the compact of 1802.

Notwithstanding the extraordinary liberality of the proposition submitted to the Cherokees, and the kind spirit in which they were presented, the enemies of the President and of Georgia have so far succeeded as to prevent any satisfactory arrangement or treaty with them; and their reply to those liberal propositions evinces a most arrogant and uncompromising spirit.

Every day’s experience has afforded new evidence of the utter impracticability and impolicy of attempting any longer to maintain our laws and government over the Cherokee part of Georgia, without an increased and better population. Every effort has been made by the Executive to maintain the inviolability of the laws of the State in Cherokee County; but these efforts have not been attended with the desired success. Our laws have been repeatedly violated, and for the want of that moral force which pervades counties inhabited by a more dense, enlightened and virtuous population the transgressors have sometimes escaped merited punishment.

Our scattered population of good character, who now inhabit this County, have often found themselves destitute of security from the depredations of dishonest men; and when they have sought protection from the laws of the land, they have often found those laws evaded and perverted by combinations of such characters, aided by the advice and counsel of those whose enlarged acquirements should have directed their influence in aid of the cause of justice and the supremacy of the laws. Legal and pettifogging subtilties in this County seem measurably to have triumphed over equity and a fair administration of the laws. …

The survey of the County of Cherokee, in conformity with, and under the provisions of, the several acts of the Legislature, has been completed without any serious obstacle or difficulty, and, in the exercise of that discretion confided to me by law, I have not hesitated to move forward in that direct line which I deemed best calculated to ensure a speedy settlement of the unoccupied lands in Cherokee County. Accordingly, in due time, the Justices of the Inferior Courts of the several counties were notified and required to execute the duties devolving on them, in regard to receiving and returning the names of persons entitled to draws in the lotteries, which having been done according to law, and the tickets having been prepared, the Lottery Commissioners were convened, and commenced the preparatory arrangements for the drawings, which was commenced on the twenty-second day of October last, and is now in progress, under their superintendence. …

It now becomes my duty to call the serious and deliberate attention of the Legislature to the subject of the present condition of the Cherokees who remain within our State. By our existing laws, their homes and improvements are secured to them, so long as they may choose to remain thereon; but these laws are by no means adapted to the security of their persons and property. Therefore, special and appropriate legislation is most earnestly recommended, whereby these objects will be secured to them, and their rights be as effectually shielded from violation as those of the white man. It is due to the character of the State that this dependent people should be protected by laws as liberal as may be consistent with their moral and intellectual condition. To afford them such protection, and to extend to them suitable privileges, without endangering the rights of our own citizens, will require the most careful deliberation and prudent forecast. …

The territory embraced in Cherokee County should be divided into counties of suitable size and form to promote the convenience of that portion of our population who may inhabit that section of the State; and the organization of such counties should be provided for without unnecessary delay. The situation of the public property embraced in the fractional surveys requires immediate legislation, which will place that portion of the public interest beyond the probability of trespass or intrusion. I would therefore recommend that said fractions be disposed of with the least possible delay, and be made available for public uses. …

I might here close this communication, under the conviction of having submitted for the consideration of the Legislature the most important subjects which will require their attention during the present session; but at a time like the present, when our country is agitated from its centre to its circumference upon subjects of vital importance to the cause of liberty, and the perpetuation of our civil institutions, I deem it to be a duty attached to the trust which I occupy to give a free and frank avowal of my sentiments upon the exciting subjects before us regarding alone the interest of my country.

Upon all subjects relating to the usurpations of the Federal Government, and especially upon that of the protective tariff system, great unanimity of opinion prevails throughout this and the Southern States generally. They never will be reconciled to the present tariff, or the principles upon which it is based. They believe it to be contrary to the principles and spirit of the Federal Constitution, and the auxiliary measures by which this odious system of taxation is kept up and supported are no less objectionable than the tariff itself. The partial and extravagant appropriations of every succeeding Congress, since the introduction of this desolating and strife-stirring system, clearly evince an abandonment of those principles of economy and republican simplicity upon which our Federal system is based.

To preserve and perpetuate the blessings of our political institutions, it is indispensable that the Federal and State Governments should be kept within the limits of their constitutional spheres of action. Intolerable assumption and usurpations, which will not yield to the ordinary influence of reason and justice, must be checked by some means; and the power to accomplish this end must unquestionably reside in the respective Sovereignties. It is inconsistent with every principle of liberty and free government for the political reserved rights of a State to be confided to, or dependent on, the decision of any power under Heaven, except it be the will of her own people. When burthens become insufferable, the time, the mode, and the measure of redress are questions which must be determined by those who feel themselves aggrieved; and this brings us at once to the questions which at this time agitate the public mind.

The people of this State have already, through their primary assemblies, as well as by their representatives in Congress, and the State Legislature, repeatedly remonstrated and protested against the protective tariff system, and declared their interminable hostility to it.

While the feelings of our people have been strong and urgent on this subject, they have, nevertheless, exercised a spirit of moderation and forbearance, under the prospect of relief being afforded before endurance would become intolerable.

We have looked to the final extinguishment of the public debt as the period when we should be relieved from the burthens of unequal taxation.

And our hopes have been strengthened and encouraged from the patriotic and independent course which has been pursued by the present Executive of the United States, in arresting, by his veto, unconstitutional measures of expenditure. This check upon the extravagant measures of Congress has been well calculated to strengthen the hope that the Federal Government might finally be brought back to the principles of the Constitution. Hitherto we have confided much in the republican doctrine, that freedom of discussion would eventually give to truth the victory over errors, without considering as we ought that exceptions must be made, where the majority believe it to be their interest to decide erroneously. But, whatever may have been our anticipations, thus far it must be admitted that our reasonable expectations have been greatly disappointed, and that burthens of which we complain have been but partially alleviated. Nevertheless, with these discouraging facts before me, I still feel extreme reluctance at the idea of yielding up all hope of a peaceable and satisfactory adjustment of these perplexed and embarrassing questions, through the operations of the constitutional authorities of the country. The proceedings of the late session of Congress were noted with intense interest and solicitude, and with a spirit and desire to find something in the proceedings of that body tending to harmony, founded upon acts of justice, and a more sacred regard to the principles of our Federal system. But each succeeding mail, during the late long session, did but strengthen my misgivings in longer looking to that body to save the country from the threatening evils of partial, oppressive and unconstitutional legislation. Yet justice requires the admission that in the passage of the Tariff act of the late session a majority of both branches of Congress did manifest something of a spirit of conciliation towards each other. This majority, too, manifested a spirit of co-operation with the Executive branch of the Federal Government, in sustaining this act, which (although by no means a satisfactory measure of compromise) has been calculated to allay present excitement, and to check the impetuosity of the rash and violent. This act was passed by the votes of members who did not approve its provisions, but sustained it as a choice of evils. They voted for its passage in preference to disunion, or the tariff act of 1828. While I consider the principles of the late act equally, if not more obnoxious than that of 1828, yet I am bound to admit that it relieves the whole people of the United States of a portion of the burthens of taxation; and, therefore, it may be considered as an effort, at least on the part of a portion of the friends of the protective system, to modify the law, so as to make it less obnoxious to our feelings. But unless this spirit of conciliation is followed by further concessions, they do but deceive themselves, if they suppose the South will ever become reconciled. Upon a full view of the whole subject I would most decidedly recommend that our forbearance and moderation be made manifest to the whole Union, before we enter upon any doubtful or violent remedy calculated to jeopardize the existence of the Federal Union itself. Our complaints are just, and our cause righteous; endurance is yet not intolerable; and a new Congress, under the late census, will assemble under circumstances and at a time more auspicious for calm and patriotic deliberations. I am not a stranger to the selfishness of man and of communities, but I have not yet lost all confidence in the virtue and intelligence of the American people.

If our opponents be capable of wise self-government, they must ere long be brought to see the justice of our cause, based as it is on principles no less essential to them than to us; at least, may we not hope that the common classes of the laboring people everywhere will yet be brought to unite with us against the whole system, as being designed to benefit an aristocratic few and to oppress the poor for the exclusive benefit of the wealthy. But should these, my best anticipations, be founded in error, and originate in weakness, I beseech my countrymen who are in favor of direct and immediate resistance to remember that they are required by every principle of sound philosophy, virtue and patriotism to exercise patience and long forbearance towards their brethren of the same faith and principles with themselves, in regard to the usurpations of the Federal Government. It is truly gratifying to know that the Southern people are so well agreed as to the existence of the evils complained of. This being the case, nothing but union and concert are wanting to give an irresistible moral force to our opinions and feelings, and to make ourselves formidable in any event. To obtain this desired union of action, time and labor are required. I do not consider the mode and manner of producing these joint deliberations material, nor do I care by what name such councils may be called. It is only necessary that these measures should emanate directly from the enlightened and deliberate will of the people, founded upon their inherent and unalienable rights, admitted to be extraordinary, and intended to meet a most extraordinary crisis. No State can act efficiently in sustaining her just rights against a mighty power, unless her own population are united in the policy to be pursued. I cannot consider it advisable for a single State, upon her separate action, to undertake to force a redress of grievances from the Federal Government, while her sister States, equally interested, are not even consulted as to the policy to be pursued.

Principles of common courtesy must concede to the members of the same confederacy or copartnership a right to participate in all councils where the subject under consideration, and the policy to be adopted, are equally interesting to each member. Whenever a case, however, shall arise wherein a single State shall be oppressed by the usurpations of Federal power, and that pressure shall be confined to her local interest alone, and consequently produce no identity of feeling or interest in the other States, then I would consider it the incumbent duty of the aggrieved State to judge and act for herself, independently of the advice and opinions of others.

It is due to the sovereign character of every State of the Union to maintain its territorial rights and policy over its own population.

These are rights which can never be surrendered by a free State, or submitted to the arbitration of others. But, upon the subject of the tariff, shall Georgia undertake to redress the grievances of the whole South? Shall we not hearken to the voice and movements of our sister States who agree with us in principle and feeling? Or shall we precipitately rush forward upon a novel and untried theory, which may disgust our sister States, end in abortion, and prove to be worse than submission itself? The States which agree in principle must be brought to act in concert before they can reasonably hope to produce the consummation desired by the opponents of the protective system, as well as every true patriot and friend of the Federal Union. Separate action upon this subject is calculated to engender strife and disunion, anarchy and confusion among brethren of the same principles.

The mystical doctrine of nullification, as contended for by its advocates, has only tended to bewilder the minds of the people, inflame their passions, and prepare them for anarchy and revolution. Wherever it spreads, it engenders the most bitter strifes and animosities, and dissolves the most endearing relations of life. I believe nuPlification to be unsound, dangerous and delusive, in practice as well as theory. Its advocates have, with great ability, endeavored to make their theory harmonize with the principles and operations of our Federal and State systems of government. But in my opinion the very essence of their doctrine tends directly to destroy all harmony between the Federal and State governments, and’ must inevitably produce the most direct and vexatious conflict, whenever it may be attempted by a State to enforce the theory of nullification. I am unable to comprehend or conceive of a peaceable, constitutional harmony which would attend a measure emanating from one twenty-fourth part of the sovereign power of the Union; which measure should stop the revenue operations of the Federal Government. Great ingenuity has been exercised to blend this new theory with the admirable principles and doctrines of state rights, as set forth and successfully advocated by Thomas Jefferson. But, after the most diligent research, I have not been able to find where Mr. Jefferson ever attempted to delude the people into the belief that when reason failed, and endurance became intolerable, a single State could, by its act of nullification, force the Federal Government to retract from its measures of usurpation. Mr. Jefferson would have called such a measure on the part of a State by its plain, proper name, resistance to intolerable usurpation.

Georgia should not suffer herself to be deluded or flattered into the belief that her rights have heretofore been maintained upon the principle and doctrines of nullification, as contended for by the present advocates. It is true, we may look back with pride and pain on our past conflict with Federal usurpation. Upon several occasions we have been compelled to throw ourselves upon our reserved rights, and resist Federal encroachment; but we have never veiled ourselves in the flimsy garment of peaceable constitutional nullification. In these delicate and highly responsible acts, Georgia has always relied on her own population, the justice of her cause, and the virtue and intelligence of the people of the United States, to sustain her unquestionable constitutional rights. And hitherto our confidence has not been misplaced; we have had able friends and advocates in every part of the Union who have stood by us in times of the greatest peril. We are at present very improperly charged with nullifying the intercourse laws and Indian treaties of the United States, when, in fact, these laws and treaties were set aside, and had become measurably obsolete, by the acts and assumptions of the Cherokee Indians themselves; Georgia, by her course of policy, has only nullified the arrogant assumption of sovereign power, claimed and set up by a remnant of the aboriginal race within her acknowledged chartered limits.

Finally, fellow citizens, let us strive to be of one mind —let our measures be founded in wisdom, justice and moderation—constantly bearing in mind the sacred truth, that a Nation or State “divided against itself, cannot stand.”

 

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Source: Wilson Lumpkin. The Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia, vol. 1. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1907.