Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2) / or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850

by Thomas Hart Benton

The message opened with an encomium on the conquest of Mexico, and of the citizen soldiers who volunteered in such numbers for the service, and fought with such skill and courage—saying justly:

"Unlike what would have occurred in any other country, we were under no necessity of resorting to draughts or conscriptions. On the contrary, such was the number of volunteers who patriotically tendered their services, that the chief difficulty was in making selections, and determining who should be disappointed and compelled to remain at home. Our citizen soldiers are unlike those drawn from the population of any other country. They are composed indiscriminately of all professions and pursuits: of farmers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers; and this, not only among the officers, but the private soldiers in the ranks. Our citizen soldiers are unlike those of any other country in other respects. They are armed, and have been accustomed from their youth up to handle and use fire-arms; and a large proportion of them, especially in the western and more newly settled States, are expert marksmen. They are men who have a reputation to maintain at home by their good conduct in the field. They are intelligent, and there is an individuality of character which is found in the ranks of no other army. In battle, each private man, as well as every officer, fights not only for his country, but for glory and distinction among his fellow-citizens when he shall return to civil life."

And this was the case in a foreign war, in which a march of two thousand miles had to be accomplished before the foe could be reached: how much more so will it be in defensive war—war to defend our own borders—the only kind in which the United States should ever be engaged. That is the kind of war to bring out all the strength and energy of volunteer forces; and the United States have arrived at the point to have the use of that force with a promptitude, a cheapness, and an efficiency, never known before, nor even conceived of by the greatest masters of the art of war. The electric telegraph to summon the patriotic host: the steam car to precipitate them on the point of defence. The whole art of defensive war, in the present condition of the United States, and still more, what it is hereafter to be, is simplified into two principles—accumulation of masses, and the system of incessant attacks. Upon these two principles the largest invading force would be destroyed—shot like pigeons on their roost—by the volunteers and their rifles, before the lumbering machinery of a scientific army could be got into motion.

The large acquisition of new territory was fiercely lighting up the fires of a slavery controversy, and Mr. Polk recommended the extension of the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific Ocean, as the most effectual and easy method of averting the dangers to the Union, which he saw in that question. He said:

"Upon a great emergency, however, and under menacing dangers to the Union, the Missouri compromise line in respect to slavery was adopted. The same line was extended further west on the acquisition of Texas. After an acquiescence of nearly thirty years in the principle of compromise recognized and established by these acts, and to avoid the danger to the Union which might follow if it were now disregarded, I have heretofore expressed the opinion that that line of compromise should be extended on the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes from the western boundary of Texas, where it now terminates, to the Pacific Ocean. This is the middle line of compromise, upon which the different sections of the Union may meet, as they have hitherto met."

This was the compromise proposition of the President, but there were arrayed against it parties and principles which repelled its adoption. First, the large party which denied the power of Congress to legislate upon the subject of slavery in territories. Some of that class of politicians, and they were numerous and ardent, though of recent conception, were, from the necessity of their position, compelled to oppose a proposition which involved, to the greatest extent, the exercise of that denied power. Next, the class who believed in the still newer doctrine of the self-extension of slavery into all the territories, by the self-expansion of the constitution over them. This class would have nothing to do with any law upon the subject—equally repulsing congressional legislation, squatter sovereignty, or territorial law. A third class objected to the extension of the Missouri compromise line, because in its extension that line, astronomically the same, became politically different. In all its original extent it passed through territory all slave, and therefore made one side free: in its extension it would pass through territory all free, and therefore make one side slave. This was the reverse of the principle of the previous compromises, and although equal on its face, and to shallow observers the same law, yet the transfer and planting of slavery in regions where it did not exist, involved a breach of principle, and a shock of feeling, in those conscientiously opposed to the extension of slavery, which it was impossible for them to incur. Finally, those who wanted no compromise—no peace—no rest on the slavery question: These were of two classes; first, mere political demagogues on each side of the agitation, who wished to keep the question alive for their own political elevation; next, the abolitionists, who denied the right of property in slaves, and were ready to dissolve the Union to get rid of association with slave States; and the nullifiers, who wished to dissolve the Union, and who considered the slavery question the efficient means of doing it. Among all these parties, the extension of the Missouri compromise line became an impossibility.

The state of the finances, and of the expenditures of the government for the last year of the war, and the first year of peace, was concisely stated by the President, and deserves to be known and considered by all who would study that part of the working of our government. Of the first period it says:

"The expenditures for the same period, including the necessary payment on account of the principal and interest of the public debt, and the principal and interest of the first instalment due to Mexico on the thirtieth of May next, and other expenditures growing out of the war, to be paid during the present year, will amount, including the reimbursement of treasury notes, to the sum of fifty-four millions one hundred and ninety-five thousand two hundred and seventy-five dollars and six cents; leaving an estimated balance in the Treasury on the first of July, 1849, of two millions eight hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred and ninety-four dollars and eighty-four cents."

Deducting the three heads of expense here mentioned, and the expenses for the year ending the 30th of June, 1848, were about twenty-five millions of dollars, and about the same sum was estimated to be sufficient for the first fiscal year of entire peace, ending the 30th of June, 1849. Thus:

"The Secretary of the Treasury will present, as required by law, the estimate of the receipts and expenditures for the next fiscal year. The expenditures, as estimated for that year, are thirty-three millions two hundred and thirteen thousand one hundred and fifty-two dollars and seventy-three cents, including three millions seven hundred and ninety-nine thousand one hundred and two dollars and eighteen cents, for the interest on the public debt, and three millions five hundred and forty thousand dollars for the principal and interest due to Mexico on the thirtieth of May, 1850; leaving the sum of twenty-five millions eight hundred and seventy-four thousand and fifty dollars and thirty-five cents; which, it is believed, will be ample for the ordinary peace expenditures."