[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 22 (Thursday, March 3, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: March 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO DAVY CROCKETT
______
HON. JAMES H. (JIMMY) QUILLEN
of tennessee
in the house of representatives
Thursday, March 3, 1994
Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, one of the most colorful Members of this
body in its 205-year history was undoubtedly David Crockett, the
legendary frontiersman. Davy Crockett was born in what is now Greene
County, TN, which is in my district, in 1786. He was a Member of the
House from 1827 to 1831, and again from 1833 to 1835. In 1836 he went
to Texas to join in its struggle for independence from Mexico, and he
died defending the Alamo on March 6 of that year.
During his service in the House, Davy Crockett was a paragon of
fiscal restraint and public responsibility. Recently, my constituent,
Thelma Cutshall, sent me an excerpt from a biography of Crockett
entitled ``A Humbling Lesson--Congressman Davy Crockett Learns About
Limited Government.'' I have not heard the story before, and it hit me
right between the eyes. I am certain that these words will provide
guidance to my colleagues as well, so I am happy to include them here.
A Humbling Lesson--Congressman Davy Crockett Learns About Limited
Government
(In the following, excerpted from the book, The Life of
Colonel David Crockett (1884), compiled by Edward S. Ellis,
the famous American frontiersman, war hero and congressman
from Tennessee, relates how he learned--from one of his own
backwoods constituents--the vital importance of heeding the
Constitution and the dangers of disregarding its restraints.)
Crockett was then the lion of Washington. I was a great
admirer of his character; and, having several friends who
were intimate with him, I found no difficulty in making his
acquaintance. I was fascinated with him, and he seemed to
take a fancy to me.
I was one day in the lobby of the House of Representatives
when 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, rather, as I
thought, because it afforded the speakers a fine opportunity
for display than from the necessity of convincing anybody,
for it seemed to me that everybody favored it.
The Speaker was just about to put the question when
Crockett arose. Everybody expected, of course, that he was
going to make one of his characteristic speeches in support
of the bill. He commenced:
``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
no 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. This government can owe
no debts but for services rendered, and at a stipulated
price. If it is a debt, how much is it? Has it been audited,
and the amount due ascertained? If it is a debt, this is not
the place to present it for payment, or to have its merits
examined. If it is a debt, we owe more than we can ever hope
to pay, for we owe the widow of every soldier who fought in
the War of 1812 precisely the same amount.
``There is a woman in my neighborhood, the widow of as
gallant a man as ever shouldered a musket. He fell in battle.
She is as good in every respect as this lady--and is as poor.
She is earning her daily bread by her daily labor. But if I
were to introduce a bill to appropriate five or ten thousand
dollars for her benefit, I should be laughed at, and my bill
would not get five votes in this House. There are thousands
of widows in the country just such as the one I have spoken
of, but we never hear of any of these large debts to them.
``Sir, this is no debt. The government did not owe it to
the deceased when he was alive; it could not contract it
after he died. I do not wish to be rude, but I must be plain.
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 a charity.
``Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as
much of our own money 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.
Like many other young men--and old ones too for that
matter--who had not thought upon the subject, I desired the
passage of the bill and felt outraged at its defeat. I
determined that I would persuade my friend Crockett to move a
reconsideration the next day.
Previous engagements preventing me from seeing Crockett
that night, I went early to his room the next morning and
found him engaged in addressing and franking letters, a large
pile of which lay upon his table.
I broke in upon him rather abruptly by asking him what
devil had possessed him to make that speech and defeat that
bill yesterday. Without turning his head or looking up from
his work, he replied:
``You see that I am very busy now; take a seat and cool
yourself. I will be through in a few minutes; then I will
tell you all about it.''
He continued his employment for about ten minutes, and when
he had finished he turned to me and said:
``Now, Sir, I will answer your question. But thereby hangs
a tale, and one of considerable length, to which you will
have to listen.''
I listened, and this is the tale which I heard:
``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,
evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over
as fast as we could. When we got there, I went to work, and I
never worked as hard in my life as I did there for several
hours. But, in spite of all that could be done, many houses
were burned and many families made houseless. 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.
Everybody else seemed to feel the same way.
``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.
``I said everybody felt as I did. That was not quite so;
for, though they perhaps sympathized as deeply with the
sufferers as I did, there were a few of the members who did
not think we had the right to indulge our sympathy or excite
our charity at the expense of anybody but ourselves. They
opposed the bill and, upon its passage, demanded the yeas and
nays. There were not enough of them to sustain the call. Many
of us wanted our names to appear in favor of what we
considered a praiseworthy measure, so we voted with them to
sustain it. They yeas and nays were recorded, and my name
appeared on the journals in favor of the bill.
``The next summer, when it began to be time to think about
the 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, and I though it was best to let the boys know that I
had not forgot them, and that going to Congress had not made
me too proud to go to see them.
``So I put a couple of shirts and a few twists of tobacco
into my saddlebags and put out. I had been out about a week
and had found things going very smoothly, 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, and was about turning his
horse for another furrow when I said to him, `Don't be in
such a hurry, my friend; I want to have a little talk with
you and get better acquainted.'
``He replied, `I am very busy, and have but little time to
talk, but if it does not take too long, I will listen to what
you have to say.'
``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 worthwhile 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 here 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?'
```Certainly it is, and I thought that was the last vote
which anybody in the world would have found fault with.'
```Well, Colonel, where do you find in the Constitution any
authority to give away the public money in charity?'
``Here was another sockdolager; for, when I began to think
about it, I could not remember a thing in the Constitution
that authorized it. I found I must take another tack, so I
said:
```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 to do 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
the 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 not any other member of Congress would have though 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.'''
``I have given you,'' continued Crockett, ``an imperfect
account of what he said. Long before he was through, I was
convinced that I had done wrong. He wound up by saying:
```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 there 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-by. 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. You must let me shake your hand before I go.'
``We shook hands and parted.
``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. 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 I got more real,
true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before.
``I have told you Mr. Bunce converted me politically. He
came nearer converting me religiously than I had ever been
before. He did not make a very good Christian of me, as you
know; but he has wrought upon my mind a conviction of the
truth of Christianity, and upon my feelings a reverence for
its purifying and elevating power such as I had never felt
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. I go to see him two or three times every
year. 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. 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 as I have told it to you, 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 of 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 me
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. I have had several thousand copies of
it printed and was directing them to my constituents when you
came in.
``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 weighted 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.''
____________________