This is definitely a speech that should be required reading throughout your middle, high school and college level education. There is a famous Benjamin Franklin quote when ask about what the delegates to the Constitution Convention in Philidelphia had done ("Well, Doctor, what have we got--a Republic or a Monarchy?) said "A Republic, if you can keep it."
Patriotism
Not Yours To
Give
Col. David
Crockett
US Representative from TennesseeOriginally published in "The Life of Colonel David
Crockett,"
by Edward Sylvester Ellis.
One day
in the 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 Crockett 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 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 not the 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 this 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 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 houses 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 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 worth-while 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 are
wanting in 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 intend 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 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 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
you 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
$20,000,000 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 the 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 to 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 you 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 known 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 words
but in 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 known 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 known before, and they and my friend
introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted - at least, they all
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 upon
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."
