DEBATE ON THE NECESSITY OF WAR (1811-1812)
Excerpts from speeches given in the House of Representatives
during the period leading up to the declaration of war:
Henry Clay (Republican, Kentucky):
The pretensions of Great Britain, so unjustly set up, and
pertinaciously maintained, by her orders in council, not to
enumerate other wrongs, particularly the impressments of our
seamen, arrogate to her complete dominion of the sea, and the
exclusion of every flag from it, which does not sail under her
license… These pretensions involve no local interest, nor are
they of a transient nature. In operation they violate the
rights, and wound deeply the best interests, of the whole
American people. If we yield to them, at this time, the cause
may be considered as abandoned…. Future attempts to retaliate the
wrongs of foreign powers and to vindicate our most sacred rights,
will be in vain.
Felix Grundy (Republican, Tennessee):
It cannot be believed, by any man who will reflect, that the
savage tribes, uninfluenced by other powers, would think of
making war upon the United States. They understand too well
their own weakness and our strength. They have already felt the
weight of ours arms; they know they hold the very soil on which
they live as tenants in sufferance. How then, sir, are we to
account for their late conduct? In one way only: some powerful
nation must have intrigued with them, and turned their peaceful
disposition towards us into hostilities. Great Britain alone has
intercourse with those Northern tribes.
John C. Calhoun (Republican, South Carolina):
Sir, the destruction of our navigation and commerce; the
annihilation of mercantile capital; the extinction of revenue—
these would be minor evils. A few years of security and exertion
might repair them; but the humiliation of the American mind would
be a lasting and mortal disease. Mental debasement is the
greatest misfortune that can befall a people…In weak or young
nations, it is often wise to take every chance by patience and
address to divert hostility, and sometimes to hold parley with
insult and injury; but to capitulate with oppression, or to
surrender to it at discretion, is, in any Government that has any
power of resistance, as foolish as it is contemptible. Sir, the
honor of a nation is its life. Deliberately to abandon it, is to
commit an act of political suicide.
Robert Wright (Republican, Maryland):
But, sir, the impressments of our native seamen is a stroke at
the vitals of liberty itself…and, in the ratio that liberty is
preferable to property, ought to enlist the patriotic feelings of
that honorable member [an opponent of war], and make his bosom
burn with the holy fire that inspired the patriots of the
Revolution….
Hugh Nelson (Republican, Virginia):
[I feel] the manly dread of the consequences of this war, which
must last as long as England [has] a ship at sea, or a man to man
it. It must link us to the destinies of continental Europe; it
would place us under complete foreign influence and foreign
dominion; it would change our political institutions. The sages
who framed with Constitution…had predicted that it would not
stand the shock of war. The Republic would be ruined by war. We
do not want courage…. But few circumstances besides invasion
would justify war. It would strengthen the Executive arm at the
expense of the Legislature… The Constitution would be sapped.
Daniel Sheffey (Federalist, Virginia):
“There is another delusion with which we seem to have been
carried away…. We have considered ourselves of too much
importance in the scale of nations. It has led us into great
errors. Instead of yielding to circumstances,. which human power
cannot control,. we have imagined that our own destiny, and that
of other nations, was in our hands, to be regulated as we thought
proper. If experience is to have any influence over us, we may
see how grossly we were mistaken heretofore. The embargo, and
all its kindred measures, which were to bring the unjust
belligerents to our feet, have recoiled upon ourselves. The next
thing is war, and this is recommended as a certain cure. I fear,
by the time it is over, we shall learn practically…that there are
periods in the history of nations when not to act is a virtue;
when those who manage their affairs must accommodate themselves
to circumstances, make a choice of evils, and forego a favorite
object, because its attainment is impracticable, or there is too
much hazarded in the attempt.”
Questions:
1. Which of the members quoted support going to war? What
reasons do they give?
2. Which members oppose going to war? Why?
3. Which representative could opponents of our involvement in
Iraq and Afghanistan quote with good effect? Why?