RESOLUTIONS ON THE RIGHT OF CONGRESS TO IMPOSE PROTECTING DUTIES. (Pamphlet Laws, Reports and Resolutions for 1828, p. 19.) In the House of Representatives, December 20, 1828. 1. Resolved, That the opinion of this Legislature, on the subject of the assumed right of Congress to regulate duties on imports, for the purpose of encouraging domestic industry, as heretofore expressed in the various resolutions adopted in the years 1825 and 1827, is unchanged; and after the further aggression by the passage of the Tariff Act of 1828, this Legislature is restrained from the assertion of the sovereign rights of the state, by the hope that the magnanimity and justice of the good people of the Union will effect the abandonment of a system, partial in its nature, unjust in its operation, and not within the powers delegated to Congress. 2. Resolved, That the measures to be pursued consequent on the perseverance in this system are purely, questions of expediency, and not of allegiance; and that for the purpose of ascertaining the opinion and inviting the co-operation of other states, a copy of these and the resolutions heretofore adopted by this legislature, be transmitted to the Governors of the several states, with a request that they be laid before the several Legislatures, to determine on such ulterior measures as they may think the occasion demands.-Ordered to Senate for concurrence. By order of the House. R. ANDERSON, C. H. R. Resolved, That the Senate concur. In the Senate, December 20, 1828. EXPOSITION AND PROTEST REPORTED BY THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF SOUTH CAROLINA ON THE TARIFF. * Read and ordered to be Printed, DECEMBER 19, 1828. THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, to whom were referred the Governor's Message, and various memorials on the subject of the Tariff, having reported, and the House having adopted the following resolution, viz: "Resolved, That it is expedient to protest against the unconstitutionality and oppressive operation of the system of protecting duties, and to have such protest entered on the Journals of the Senate of the United States-Also, to make public exposition of our wrongs, and of the remedies within our power, to be communicated to our sister States, with a request that they will co-operate with this State in procuring a repeal of the Tariff for protection, and an abandonment of the principle; and if the repeal be not procured, that they will co-operate in such measures as may be necessary for arresting the evil." "Resolved, That a Committee of seven be raised to carry the foregoing resolution into effect," which was decided in the affirmative, and the following gentlemen appointed on the committee, viz; JAMES GREGG, D. L. WARDLAW, HUGH S. LEGARE, ARTHUR P. HAYNE, WILLIAM C. PRESTON, WILLIAM ELLIOTT, and R. BARNWELL SMITH. The Special Committee, to whom the above Resolution was referred, beg leave to report the following Exposition and Protest— EXPOSITION. The Committee have bestowed on the subject referred to them the deliberate attention which its importance merits; and the result, on full investigation, is, an unanimous opinion, that the Act of Congress of the last session, with the whole system of legislation imposing duties on imports, not for revenue, but for the protection of one branch of industry, at the expense of others, is unconstitutional, unequal and oppressive; * This document is omitted in the Pamphlet Laws, Reports and Resolutions of that Session. The Editor has inserted it from the published copy of D. W. SIMS, State Printer, Columbia, South-Carolina, 1829. AND PROTEST. EXPOSITION calculated to corrupt the public morals, and to destroy the liberty of the country. These propositions they propose to consider in the order stated, and then to conclude their report, with the consideration of the important question of the remedy. 1828. The Committee do not propose to enter into an elaborate or refined argument on the question of the constitutionality of the Tariff system. The general government is one of specific powers, and it can rightfully exercise only the powers expressly granted, and those that may be "necessary and proper" to carry them into effect; all others being reserved expressly to the States, or to the people. It results necessarily that those who claim to exercise a power under the constitution, are bound to shew that it is expressly granted, or that it is necessary and proper as a means to some of the granted powers. The advocates of the Tariff have offered no such proof. It is true, that the third section of the first article of the constitution of the United States authorizes Congress to lay and collect an impost duty, but it is granted as a tax power, for the sole purpose of revenue; a power in its nature essentially different from that of imposing protective or prohibitory duties. The two are incompatible; for the prohibitory system must end in destroying the revenue from impost. It has been said that the system is a violation of the spirit and not the letter of the constitution. The distinction is not material. The constitution may be as grossly violated by acting against its meaning as against its letter; but it may be proper to dwell a moment on the point, in order to understand more fully the real character of the acts under which the interest of this, and other States similarly situated, has been sacrificed. The facts are few and simple. The constitution grants to Congress the power of imposing a duty on imports for revenue, which power is abused by being converted into an instrument for rearing up the industry of one section of the country on the ruins of another. The violation then consists in using a power granted for one object, to advance another, and that by the sacrifice of the original object. It is, in a word, a violation of perversion, the most dangerous of all, because the most insidious and difficult to resist. Others cannot be perpetrated without the aid of the judiciary; this may be, by the executive and legislative alone. The courts by their own decisions cannot look into the motives of legislators— they are obliged to take acts by their titles and professed objects, and if they be constitutional they cannot interpose their power, however grossly the acts may violate the constitution. The proceedings of the last session sufficiently prove, that the House of Representatives are aware of the distinction, and determined to avail themselves of the advantage. In the absence of arguments drawn from the constitution itself, the advocates of the power have attempted to call in the aid of precedent. The committee will not waste their time in examining the instances quoted. If they were strictly in point, they would be entitled to little weight. Ours is not a government of precedents, nor can they be admitted, except to a very limited extent, and with great caution, in the interpretation of the constitution, without changing in time the entire character of the instrument. The only safe rule is the constitution itself, or, if that be doubtful, the history of the times. In this case, if doubts existed, the journals of the convention would remove them. It was moved in that body to confer on Congress the very power in question, to encourage manufactures; but it was deliberately withheld, except to the extent of granting patent rights for new and useful inventions. Instead of granting the power to Congress, permission was given to the States to impose duties, with consent of that body, to encourage their own manufactures; and AND 1828. thus in the true spirit of justice, imposing the burden on those who were EXPOSITION to be benefited. But giving to precedents whatever weight may be PROTEST claimed, the committee feel confident, that in this case there are none in point, previous to the adoption of the present Tariff system. Every instance which has been cited, may fairly be referred to the legitimate power of Congress to impose duties on imports for revenue. It is a necessary incident of such duties to act as an encouragement to manufactures, whenever imposed on articles which may be manufactured in our own country. In this incidental manner Congress has the power of encouraging manufactures; and the committee readily concede, that in the passage of an impost bill, that body may, in modifying the details, so arrange the provisions of the bill, as far as it may be done consistently with its proper object, as to aid manufactures. To this extent Congress may constitutionally go, and has gone from the commencement of the government, which will fully explain the precedents cited from the early stages of its operation. Beyond this, they never advanced until the commencement of the present system, the inequality and oppression of which your committee will next proceed to consider. The committee feel, on entering upon this branch of the subject, the painful character of the duty they must perform. They would desire never to speak of our country, as far as the action of the general government is concerned, but as of one great whole, having a common interest, which all its parts ought zealously to promote. Previously to the adoption of the Tariff system, such was the unanimous feeling of this State; but in speaking of its operation it will be impossible to avoid the discussion. of sectional interest, and the use of sectional language. On its authors, however, and not on us, who are compelled to adopt this course in selfdefence, by the injustice and oppression of their measures-be the censure. So partial are the effects of the system, that its burdens are exclusively on one side, and its benefits on the other. It imposes on the agricultural interest of the South, including the South West, and that portion of our commerce and navigation engaged in foreign trade, the burden not only of sustaining the system itself, but that also of sustaining government. In stating the case thus strongly, it is not the intention of the committee to exaggerate. If exaggeration were not unworthy of the gravity of the subject, the reality is such as to render it unnecessary. That the manufacturing States, even in their own opinions, bear no share of the burden of the Tariff in reality-we may infer with the greatest certainty from their own conduct. The fact, that they incessantly demand an increase of duties, and consider every addition as a blessing, and a failure to obtain one, a curse, is the strongest confession, that whatever burden it imposes, in reality falls, not on them, but on others. Men ask not for burdens, but for benefits. The tax paid by the duty on imports, by which, with the exception of the receipts from the sale of the public lands, the government is wholly supported, and which, in its gross amount is annually equal to about $23,000,000, is then in truth no tax on them. Whatever portion of it they advance, as consumers of the articles on which it is imposed, returns to them from the labour of others, with usurious interest, through an artfully contrived system. That such are the facts, the committee will proceed to demonstrate by other arguments, than the confession of the party by its acts, conclusive as that ought to be considered. If the duty were imposed upon exports instead of imports, no one would doubt its partial operation. It would clearly fall on those engaged in rearing products for foreign markets, and as rice, tobacco and cotton VOL. I.-32. AND PROTEST. 1828. EXPOSITION Constitute the great mass of our exports, such a duty would, of necessity, mainly fall on the Southern States, where they are exclusively cultivated; and to prove that the burthen of the Tariff also falls on them almost exclusively, it is only necessary to shew, that, as far as their interest is concerned, there is little or no difference between an export and an import duty. We export to import. The object is, an exchange of the fruits of our labour, for those of other countries. We have, from soil and climate, a facility in rearing certain great agricultural staples, while other and older countries, with a dense population, and capital greatly accumulated, have equal facility in manufacturing various articles suited to our use; and thus a foundation is laid for an exchange of the products of labour, mutually advantageous. A duty, whether it be laid on imports or exports, must fall upon this exchange, and on whichever laid in our country, must in reality be paid by the American producer of the articles exchanged. Such must be the operation of all taxes on sales or exchanges. The owner in reality pays it, whether laid on the vender or purchaser. It matters not in the sale of a tract of land, or any other article, if a tax be imposed on the sale, whether it be paid by him who sells or him who buys; the amount must, in both cases, be deducted from the price. Nor can it alter, in this particular, the operation of such a tax, if imposed on the exchanges of communities instead of individuals. Such exchanges are but the aggregate of sales of the individuals of the respective countries, and must, if taxed, be governed by the same rules. Nor is it material whether the exchange be barter or sale, direct or circuitous; in every case it must fall on the producer. To the growers of rice, cotton and tobacco, it is the same whether the government takes one third of what they raise, for the liberty of sending the other two-thirds abroad; or one third of the salt, sugar, iron, coffee, cloth and other articles they may need in exchange, for the liberty of bringing them home; in both cases he gets a third less than he ought, a third of his labour is taken; yet the one is an import and the other an export duty. It is true, that a tax on the imports, by raising the price of the articles imported, may, in time, produce the supply at home, and thus give a new direction to the exchanges of a country; but it is also true, that a tax on the exports, by diminishing at home the price of the raw material, may have the same effect, and with no greater burden to the grower. Whether the situation of the South will be materially benefitted by this new direction to its exchanges, will be considered hereafter; but whatever portion of our foreign exchanges may in fact remain in any stage of this process of changing her market, must be governed by the rule laid down. Whatever duty may be imposed to bring it about, must fall on the foreign trade which remains, and be paid by the South almost exclusively; as much so as an equal amount of duty on their exports. Let us now trace the operation of the system in some of its prominent details, in order to understand with greater precision, the extent of the burden it imposes on us, and the benefits which it confers, at our expense, on the manufacturing States. The committee, in the discussion of this point, will not aim at minute accuracy. They have neither the means nor the time requisite for that purpose, nor do they deem it necessary, if they had, to estimate the fractions of gain or loss on either side, in transactions of such great magnitude. The exports of domestic produce, in round numbers, may be estimated as averaging $53,000,000 annually, of which, the States growing cotton, rice and tobacco, produce about $35,000,000. The average value of the exports of cotton, tobacco and rice, for the last four years, |