Mr. Speaker,
No government which does not trust its people, may expect or indeed deserve be trusted by its people. No college, no Assembly, no Magisterial Court may supplant the people as the foundation and embodiment of a free State. Insofar as the Constitution of such a State may be understood as the common property of the people, it is essential that the people by their ballots have the final say in its amendment.
I confess, Mr. Speaker, that on this principle I am unsurprised (though no less unhappy) to hear the opposition of the British Hamiltonians, who prove themselves Tory in their inclination and, with the late defections, Tory also in their composition. It is their stated policy, expressed by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, to ignore the voice of the people, and to oppose at all costs their consultation, for fear the popular will may otherwise be insufficiently obscured and distorted by the deliberations of this body. To this bad system the gentleman from Pennsylvania gives the name 'democracy,' which we presume is his idea of a joke.
I will say it again, gentlemen: a government which trusts not its people, deserves not the trust of its people; and furthermore no faction which purports to represent 'American democracy,' while arguing against the consultation of the people on constitutional questions, may be known by any other name than liars and scoundrels.
I vote that the amendment to the federal Constitution be adopted, and recommend my fellow Whigs to follow so.
I yield my time to the chair.
Hear, hear!
Mr Speaker, I rise to support the statement made by the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts and to support this amendment as well.
Our government derives its power from the people, and thus the consent of the governed must be the ultimate decider in the fate of our nation. The Hamiltonian faction, time and time again, has consistently shown itself to believe that power flows in the opposite direction, and has sidelined the rights of the people in favor of its own prospects for power.
I see no reason why a plebiscite ought to be opposed, for if an amendment is thusly popular enough to be ratified by both chambers, and by all states, it ought to be able to muster enough support among the voting populace to pass as well. And if it cannot, it demonstrates that the government assembled here is deeply out of touch with the body politic, which ought to be of grave concern.
I urge all members of the Radical faction, few as they may be, to support this amendment.
I yield.
