r names survive our times, they will only be recorded as those
of a degenerate race, who had not the manhood to preserve what
their fathers won.

"Gentlemen cannot come here and say, 'We demand this; or, we demand
that; stand and deliver.' That is the language of the highwayman.
This is a great tribunal, where men reason and judge and weigh and
doubt and hesitate and talk--and we have a good deal of that. No
section and no state can, because the presidential election has
gone against it, say, 'We will have this change in the constitution,
or we will fire upon your flag; we will have that change in the
constitution, or we will seize upon your forts.' That is not the
principle upon which this government was founded. Mr. Jefferson,
when elected President in 1801, declared the true principle. He
said it was the duty of all good citizens to obey the constitution;
to submit to a constitutional election; and he congratulated the
country that the Federalists were willing to give the Democrats a
fair trial. . . .

"Under the grave responsibility upon which we are acting, I feel
it to be my duty to you, my fellow Members, and to my countrymen,
north and south, to say frankly, that, in voting for this army
bill, I vote with the expectation that the army will be used in
protecting the acknowledged property of the United States, in
recovering that which has been unlawfully taken, and in maintaining
the Union.

"It may be said that the gravity of the events that surround us
demands a greater force than is provided by this bill. The regular
army is a mere skeleton. The present force will scarcely defend
our frontier from Indian incursions; but it forms a nucleus capable
of any re-enforcement demanded by the exigencies of the times. I
do not contemplate, in any event, hostile invasions of the soil of
any state, unless demanded for the defense of the acknowledged
property of the United States. It is the duty of the government
to suppress insurrection in a state; but in this event the military
power can only be used in strict subordination to the civil authority.
If the civil authority refuse to call for such aid, or suppress
the courts, the military power cannot interfere. If the courts
are closed, the duties of postmasters must necessarily be suspended.
No doubt this measure will soon be adopted. If the revenue is
refused, or cannot be collected, then goods cannot be imported,
and ports must be closed. If a state shall