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CHAPTER II.

Second Congress, October, 1791. Closed Doors. Of Senate. Indian Hostilities. Public Finances. Additional Duties. Excise. Militia System. Power of the Federal Government over the Militia. Cessions of Land to the United States by individual States. United States troops under General St. Clair Defeated. Treaties with Indians, and Efforts to have Peace with them. British hold Forts in the Northwest. Message of President, October, 1791. Complaints of British Aggressions. Petitions against Slavery, 1792. Fisheries. Number and Apportionment of Federal Representatives; Opinion of Washington on the subject. Negotiation with Great Britain. Her Restrictions on American Commerce.

THE Second Congress met at Philadelphia, on the 24th of October, 1791. The time designated by the Constitution for the assembling of every new Congress, was December, unless some other time should be appointed by a law of the federal Legislature. There was much urgent business before the first Congress, at its last session, which terminated on the third of March, by an express provision in the Constitution; and therefore October was fixed for the meeting of the next Congress. A great proportion of the Representatives were the same as composed the House in the first Congress. And the whole number was now sixty-five; usually fifty-eight or sixty present, at the same time; Vermont and Kentucky had each two Representatives now in the House.

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During the first and second sessions of Congress, the Senate chamber was not open to strangers and spectators; but there was always free admission into the galleries of the House of Representatives, so that the speeches of the members were heard, and generally fully reported. On several occasions, however, the galleries were cleared, and the House sat with closed doors. This was matter of complaint with a few persons, of suspicious and jealous dispositions. It was afterwards known, that subjects were under discussion, which fully justified secrecy at the time. They related to an increase of the military force, on the western frontiers. And the people very generally admitted the prudence of the measure. In subsequent periods, the House has often ordered its doors closed, and all spectators excluded, when the business before them was deemed of

such a nature as to require secrecy for a short time. When engaged in executive business, the Senate still holds its meetings with closed doors. But at that Congress, and afterwards, the Senate chamber was also open to those who wished to hear the discussions of that branch of the legislature on other subjects.

In 1791, the troops of the United States on or near the Ohio river, were attacked by the hostile tribes of Indians. in that part of the country, and many Americans were slain. This defeat led to an increase of regular troops in that quarter; which was the occasion of some complaint, as if the military operations of the United States were offensive and unjust. But the western frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, were then fast settling, and it became necessary for the general government to afford protection to the inhabitants. And it was only on the territory which belonged to the United States by treaty and fair purchase, that the Americans were settled. During the same year, the Creek tribe of Indians appeared in a hostile attitude, committed some depredations, and threatened farther injuries. The Society of Friends in Pennsylvania, remonstrated to Congress against the war with the Indian tribes, and expressed an opinion that it was unnecessary and unjust. But it appears not to have had any effect. Washington would not approve or maintain hostilities against them, had he not deemed it just and proper for the government to give protection to the people of the United States, who were exposed.

In January, 1792, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, was required by the House of Representatives, to lay before them a statement of the public finances, that they might more correctly judge of the sufficiency of the revenue to meet all the demands on the government; and whether any additional duties were necessary to maintain the credit of the nation. The Secretary made a report in the same month; in which he stated, that the sums required by the appropriations voted in 1791, amounted to $7,082,190; that the net product of all the public revenue during the year 1791, was $7,029,750; that the total annual expenditures of the United States, amounted to $3,688,043, and that the product for the year 1792, was estimated at $3,700,000.

An Act of Congress was passed in 1792, altering the duties, previously required to be paid on spirits, distilled within the United States; whether from molasses, sugar,

and other foreign materials, or from materials of the growth or produce of the United States. The first enactment of the general government, imposing duties on spirits distilled within the United States, was August, 1790; and the law, now adopted, was not materially different from the first. It was called the "Excise Act," to distinguish it from that of laying duties on goods and products, imported from foreign countries; and the officers appointed to collect and receive these duties, were distinct from the collectors of the customs on imported articles, and were called Supervisors. The law for raising a revenue by an excise, was considered unreasonable, by a large portion of the citizens; and it was contended that as Congress had the whole revenue arising from duties on imported goods and products, an excise, if necessary, should be under the control and for the benefit of the several States. For each State had a large debt to pay, notwithstanding the greater portion had been assumed by the federal government. The Act laying an excise, however, was evidently within the power of Congress, as granted by the federal Constitution. The legislature of the United States was desirous of paying the interest on the public debt, promptly; and also for its reduction as soon as possible. And though the revenue was as great as most had anticipated, it was not sufficient, as first established, to meet the expenses of government, and to discharge, as good policy dictated, the heavy debt of the nation, so rapidly as was generally desired.

The Constitution gives Congress power to provide by law, for calling out the militia of the United States, to execute the laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions; for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia; and for governing those called into the public service. But the right was justly reserved to the States of appointing the officers of the militia; and the laws relating to the militia it was intended, no doubt, should be uniform throughout the United States. In 1792, Congress passed a law on this subject, with an ultimate view of providing for the national defence, and to prevent the necessity of constantly maintaining a large army of regular troops. The law provided for an uniform militia system in all the States of the Union; in which, the ages of men liable to do duty in the militia, were stated, and directions given for arming them, and for the mode of discipline. But this did not prevent the State authorities from making laws more in detail, requiring how often the militia should be obliged to assemble for training and for military discipline in each

year. And these have frequently since been altered and modified in most of the States. The authority given to the President and Congress of the United States, to call the militia into the public service, and to direct and command them, has proved a subject of much difference of opinion, and of dispute, as to the extent of the power intended to be vested in the federal government; and particularly, what must be the exigency to justify such a call, or to require such service. It has been contended, that it is altogether a discretionary power, and that it may be exercised whenever Congress or the President may judge proper, even to the extent of calling forth the militia when there is no invasion, but merely apprehended; and of keeping them in service so long as may be supposed or pretended to be proper by the federal Executive. Others insist, that in this case, and in all others indeed, granting authority to the general government, the Constitution should be rigidly construed; and that the power delegated should not be exceeded; and therefore, insist, that the militia are only to be called out when an invasion takes place, or when it imminently and immediately threatens to take place; and that they should be promptly discharged when the danger no longer exists or impends; and by no means used as a standing army, or as regular troops.

Several of the old, or original States, claimed large tracts of wild lands in the west and northwest parts of the country, before the war of the Revolution, on the supposition that their respective territories extended to the farthest lakes, and to the Mississippi, if not to the Pacific ocean; for their patents were limited only by the Western ocean.

Soon after the peace of 1783, these States made cessions of certain parts of their claims, in the "far west," to the United States, but expressly for the benefit of all. The former Congress, under the Confederation, called upon the States, which advanced such claims, to cede the lands to the United States, and declared, "that they should be for the common benefit of the Union." The States which advanced these claims, made the cession on this express condition and these were Virginia, North Carolina,* Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. When Louisiana, at a later period, was admitted into the Union, a condition was imposed, that it should cede to the

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* North Carolina did not cede the territory which that State claimed till 1791, after the federal government was established.

United States all the waste and unappropriated lands lying in that newly acquired territory, purchased by the federal government; and that the same should be, and remain at the sole disposal of the United States. And yet the legislatures in some of the new States, have been so unreasonable as to claim a right to all the public lands within their respective territories; and would exclude the original States, who struggled and sacrificed so much for national freedom and independence, from all right or benefit in them. This great question is still (1839) undetermined. Congress has repeatedly made liberal grants of land to the new States, for the purpose of public roads and schools: but this seems not to satisfy the craving demands of the people in the States more recently formed in the territory, ceded for the benefit of the whole Union. It was good policy to make grants for the above objects in new States, as inducements to settle the waste lands, and for the improvement of the character of the population. This is for the benefit of the whole United States. But the old States have also a just right to a portion of the benefit of the public lands, in their separate and individual character. In this early period of the federal government, however, this subject was less warmly discussed, than it has since been. Most of the States, formed out of these lands, have been established at later periods: and scem now disposed to demand as a right, what was formerly requested of Congress as a favor.

After the defeat of the federal troops under General St. Clair, by the Indians, near the Ohio river, in November, 1791, new complaints were made against the war on the savage tribes, as impolitic and unjust. President Washington ordered a statement of the causes and reasons for employing troops to defend the frontier settlements, to be made by General Knox, then Secretary of War, which was published. The paper states, that treaties or conventions were formed with several tribes in the west and northwest, as early as 1775 and 1776: but that they had not been duly regarded by the Indians, during the war, nor afterwards: but from some cause, they had violated those treaties; (with the exception of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, within the State of New York ;) and that numerous women and children had been slain by those tribes, at different times, without any sufficient pretence of aggressions on the part of the people of the United States: that when peace took place between Great Britain and the United States, instead of indulging resentments against the Indians, efforts

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