It was contended that one great object of the constitution in bestowing this power on the General Government was the establishment of national credit upon the broad principles of justice; such was the effect of the system of bankruptcy by which the same obligations were imposed upon the merchants of all States in their relation to each other, and towards foreigners. Remove this system, and you virtually re-enact the partial and varying laws of the different States. In Virginia, for instance, the person only of the debtor is liberated, while in Maryland both person and property are liberated. Will not the citizen of one State acquire advantages over the citizen of another, and will not foreigners have reference in their dealings to the laws of the States, and prefer dealing with the citizens of that State where there shall exist the greatest security for the recovery of their debts? Will not the citizen of one State remove into another, and evade the operation of the laws of the States where contracts were made? The friends of the repeal say the bankrupt system is retrospective in its operation. That was true, inasmuch as it changed the relations of debtor and creditor. But what will the repeal do? Contracts have been made under the contemplated existence of the act for a fixed period. By repealing it before that period arrives, you likewise change again the relations of debtor and creditor.
About four o’clock, the debate being closed, the question on the resolution to repeal, was taken and carried in the affirmative, ayes 94.
The Committee rose, and the House immediately took up their report, on agreeing to which the yeas and nays were required, and were, yeas 99, nays 13, as follows:
Yeas.—Willis Alston, jun., Nathaniel Alexander, Isaac Anderson, John Archer, Simeon Baldwin, David Bard, George M. Bedinger, Silas Betton, Phanuel Bishop, William Blackledge, John Boyle, Robert Brown, Joseph Bryan, William Butler, George W. Campbell, Levi Casey, William Chamberlain, Martin Chittenden, Thomas Claiborne, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, Frederick Conrad, Jacob Crowninshield, Richard Cutts, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, John Dawson, William Dickson, Thomas Dwight, John B. Earle, James Elliot, John W. Eppes, William Findlay, John Fowler, James Gillespie, Calvin Goddard, Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, Andrew Gregg, Thomas Griffin, Gaylord Griswold, Roger Griswold, Samuel Hammond, Wade Hampton, John A. Hanna, Josiah Hasbrouck, Seth Hastings, Joseph Heister, William Hoge, David Holmes, Walter Jones, William Kennedy, Nehemiah Knight, Michael Leib, Joseph Lewis, jun., John B. C. Lucas, Andrew McCord, David Meriwether, Nahum Mitchell, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, jun., Gideon Olin, Beriah Palmer, John Patterson, John Randolph, jun., John Rea of Pennsylvania, John Rhea of Tennessee, Jacob Richards, Cæsar A. Rodney, Erastus Root, Thomas Sammons, Thomas Sanford, Ebenezer Seaver, John Smilie, John C. Smith, John Smith of Virginia, Richard Stanford, Joseph Stanton, William Stedman, James Stephenson, John Stewart, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, David Thomas, Philip R. Thompson, Abram Trigg, John Trigg, Isaac Van Horne, Joseph B. Varnum, Matthew Walton, John Whitehill, Marmaduke Williams, Richard Winn, Joseph Winston, and Thomas Wynns.
Nays.—John Campbell, Joseph Clay, Peter Early, William Eustis, Daniel Heister, Benjamin Huger, John G. Jackson, Thomas Lowndes, William McCreery, Nicholas R. Moore, Joseph H. Nicholson, Tompson J. Skinner, John Smith of New York.
Ordered, That a bill or bills be brought in, pursuant to the said resolution; and that Mr. Newton, Mr. Hammond, Mr. Tallmadge, Mr. Van Cortlandt, and Mr. Marmaduke Williams, do prepare and bring in the same.
Thursday, November 24.
Amy Dardin.
On the motion of Mr. Claiborne, the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the report of the Committee of Claims on the petition of Amy Dardin. The report is unfavorable to the prayer of the petitioner.
On agreeing to this report, a discussion took place which occupied the greater part of the day. Messrs. J. C. Smith, Gregg, and Macon supported, and Messrs. Claiborne, Smilie, and Elliot opposed the report; when the question was taken on agreeing to the report of the Committee of Claims and lost—ayes 32.