[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Speech of Gen. Davis – 2
Editorial: The Irrepressible Conflict – 3
Arrival of the Overland Pony Express – 3
A Fearful Tragedy and other news – 3-4
Coroner’s Inquests – 4
Police Reports – 4
Another Meeting of Anti-Law Germans – 4

[BroJoeK]

And here we see Senator Jefferson Davis' May 7, 1860 speech on the Senate floor printed in full.
In it Davis makes several key points:

1. Davis said: the US does not have a national government of "we the people", but rather constitutional compact between the sovereign states.

   That's a false dichotomy -- in fact our Founders intended a blend allowing as much sovereignty to states as possible, while assuming only as much national leadership as necessary.

2. Davis said: the Declaration of Independence was not for the colonies united, but for them separately.

   In fact, the Declaration's language is quite clear:

   "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States..."
   Congress created the United States, making the old colonies "United" at the same moment it made them "States".

3. Davis said: the Constitution was not adopted by the mass of the people, but by the states severally.

   In fact the Constitution was adopted by "we the people" as embodied in special state ratifying conventions.

4. Davis read from debates of state ratifying conventions (which he falsely called "legislatures") to support his views that states could at any time, when it was necessary, resume powers they delegated to national government.

   Right, and the key word here is "necessary" which, to our Founders, implied conditions similar to those they themselves faced in 1776.
   Nothing remotely resembling such conditions existed in 1860.

5. Davis argued the South deserved & demanded tariff protections for its cotton exports.

   Notice that Davis is not attacking Federal tariffs on imports of foreign made Northern products, he's not saying tariffs justify secession, he's merely defending Federal protective tariffs on imports of cotton from other countries.

6. Davis said the Federal government had no right to abolish importation of slaves from foreign countries.

   In fact the US Constitution specifically authorizes Congress to abolish importation of slaves from abroad.

7. Davis said that when the old Whig party split, many old Whigs became Democrats.

   True, but many became Republicans and were joined by Free Soil Democrats.
   In the Upper South & Border States, John Bell's Constitutional Union party was a potent alternative to Democrat secessionists.

8. Davis argued against what Senator Douglas called "popular sovereignty" in territories -- the voters' right to chose slavery or non-slavery -- saying only Congress had such authority.

   Then Davis argued that Congress could not constitutionally abolish slavery in territories, even though Congress had long done just that, beginning with the Northwest Territories in 1787.

9. Davis said the country had reached a period of civil war.
   He asked, if Republican abolitionists took over in Washington, should Southern Democrats calmly wait for some overt act?
   Davis asked [ironically as it turned out] was not a declaration of war an overt act?
   If a hostile army stood before your city, must you wait until it is sacked?
   Davis said he would meet them at the outer gate, and yet for this, he said, the South is charged with menacing the Federal government.
   The South's determination to defend her equal rights was tortured into a menace, he said, but it wasn't a threat, merely a warning, said Davis.

   In fact, it was a threat Southerners had been making for decades, at least since the 1830s when they began to renege on their original intentions to gradually abolish slavery, as other states had done..

10. The report says much of Senator Davis' speech was inaudible, and he complained of indisposition.

    Likely the more inaudible parts were those most menacing to the republic.