"One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of the 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 Mr. Crockett arose:Urban legend or true story, the central argument of Colonel Crockett's "Not Yours to Give" speech certainly applies to the current discussion about the allocation of federal tax dollars to the victims of 9/11, does it not?'Mr. Speaker - I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering 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 to 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.He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, not doubt, it would but for that speech, it received but few votes, and of course was lost.'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.'
Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation..."
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I like reading these kinds of historical items regarding the early years of the Republic.
Need more hours in the day also!
Whether the speech was made by Crockett or not, it should have been made by someone.
Thanks for the ping, RonDog.
Even if Crockett did not give the speech, it should be given for bailouts, and any charitable appropriation. Of course, with the passage of the sixteenth amendment, we basically gave away our freedom from tyranny through the Income Tax.
I do believe that through our current system, such as FEMA, the 9/ll disaster would qualify for relief to the victims, but I was not aware that the government had appropriated funds to do so. Isn't this being done under the auspices of the WTC Fund?