Thomas Jefferson Quotes

State Bond Holders prospects were not looking very good and some states would only discount their debts while others would not pay for the War Bonds at all. Most people had written off their State Bonds. The idea of the new National Government assuming this debt was profound for people who understood government, laws, and the like, but most patriotic farmers and frontiersmen sold their bonds to Speculators for a fraction of the value. Under the theory of bailing out the States, the rich Bankers, financiers and speculators of some states who had paid pennies on the dollar to buy the bonds would get the full face. would and make a huge windfall profit, The patriots who originally bought the bonds would have taken a big loss. The same argument with fairness and business support to be balanced has been ongoing in our democracy over and over whenever, the Federal Government has bailed out banks, countries, and corporations or guaranteed debts.

Madison was defending the proposed Constitution against a vocal minority who complained that the Federal government would be dominant over the States and the large cities. Madison pointed out that it was people who fought the Revolution and sacrificed for it, not States or political entities. The Constitution was to be for the people, not the existing governmental entities. It was for Americans and not for local politicians. The “State’s Rights faction lost the debate, and the Constitution and Bill of Rights was adopted. That is why this quotation is so important. The slavery enthusiasts, racists, and others have constantly tried to diminish the Federal supremacy even to this day.

The national government shall have the power

On February 11, 1790 American Quakers submitted a petition to immediately abolish the African slave trade from America. Southerners like Jackson argued that the Congress should not even “consider” such a petition or debate such as subject for if it did, that per se, would imply the possible consideration of emancipation, and if that were possible, they would be on the slippery slope toward emancipation of existing slaves which would be the end of the world as the Southern whites then knew it.

Washington and his staff had throughout the Revolution wanted to enlist Negroes but were thwarted by the Southern and conservative blocs of the Continental Congress when they tried it in the South. However, they finally succeeded in Rhode Island. Other states followed when it was clear that the Rhode Island experiment had been successful. See {614120} for the policy statement of the legislature and {614119} for the motto and a picture of the Negro regiment. This was however not the first Black military unit in North America. The Loyalist Governor of Virginia had formed a regiment comprised of slaves who he emancipated. See {636965}.

The Constitution was not drafted until 1787 and was ratified later. In the interim the young United States functioned under the Articles of Confederation, in a sense, our first Constitution. This clause established that the Federal Government should have the exclusive power and authority to conduct foreign affairs.

See {604501} for another of his statements. It was Alexander Hamilton who called the national debt a national blessing. See {207891}. Jackson was convinced that a moneyed class who held the national debt could dictate to any administration by threatening to not renew their bonds. The same concern was expressed at the beginning of the 21st century regarding the Chinese and the Middle Eastern countries which held do many of our bonds.

Congressman Preston Brooks had attacked and almost murdered, Senator Sumner, who was caught in his desk and could not defend himself. While the beating of legislators who positions that were disliked was castigated by almost all newspapers and community leaders in the North and many in the South, this editorial shows how far the polarization of American had gone before the Civil War. It also illustrated that the issue causing the schism was slavery and not as later Southern apologists suggested, different philosophies of government.

The States sold bonds to finance the Revolutionary War. Some states had better prospects for redeeming their bonds than others. Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina in particular had poorer prospects than most and their bonds were selling at about 25 cents on the dollar. Alexander Hamilton, then the Secretary of the Treasury, wanted the new Federal government to assume the state’s war debt and pay off the bonds. He made his proposal for how he would accomplish this on January 14, 1790. He delivered his report and proposal to Congress “Report on the Public Credit”. As soon as Hamilton’s proposal was read in Congress, sophisticated speculators set off for the Southern States to buy up as many bonds as they could before the owners found out that a Federal bail-out was under serious consideration. They could easily double, triple or even quadruple their money. To Jackson this was gross immorality. Other representatives had a different point of view. See {619928} & {619929}.

This quotation is very interesting historically. Despite the fact that Washington DC was a thoroughly racially segregated city, and the Southern racists controlled much of Congress, Blacks as well as whites were welcome in the Congressional galleries, and they attended many debates. Slavery and equality were not just debated in the 1850s but the issue was in constant friction from the earliest Congress.

Jefferson used the name because in Latin in meant “city on a hill” which had great meaning for the original colonial settlers. Remember that in the original plan for Washington DC, the Capitol was the center of the city in the sense that it is where the 4 quadrants in which the city was divided, meet.

The treaty ending the Revolutionary war guaranteed that the English bankers and merchants who had debts going back to before the American Revo
lution would have “no impediment” in collecting their debts in America. However, Rhode Island and Virginia in particular placed many impediments and made it virtually impossible for debts to be collected in their states. The John Jay led Supreme Court, in particular, overturned state actions on the grounds that they had implemented Patrick Henry’s sentiment and hence violated the treaty.

That decade was a particularly contentious one with respect to American politics. Ideologues tended to dominate much of the political rhetoric. Chambliss, a conservative Republican. had just been criticized by one of the non-elected right wing ideologues for having conversations with a Democratic senator about the framework that might be used for a bipartisan effort to deal with the rapidly growing entitlements fraction of the national budget. Chambliss was not deterred by the fanatics in his own party.

At the time, the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party had refused to compromise on anything and many saw as their primary objective was to make sure that the Democratic President was not successful with any of his legislative program. There was gridlock and divided government had become paralyzed government. Buffet and most other Americans were fed up with the gridlock and wanted Congress to start compromising and solving problems.

He made this statement before the gridlock of the Stalemate of 2011 when some Republican Tea Party members held the Debt Ceiling limit—which had been almost 100 times been passed routinely under Presidents of both parties—hostage to obtaining a Constitutional amendment and severe budget cuts with no taxes on the super rich.

In the early years of the Obama Administration, the minority leader of the Senate declared that the object of the Republicans in the Senate was to prevent Obama from being reelected. Therefore, the Republicans used the filibuster to block virtually all legislation. In 2010, the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives and would not pass any legislation that the President favored lest he get credit for accomplishing something. It had gotten so bad, that even when the President proposed Republican ideas about which everyone agreed, that too was blocked.