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 CONTENTS vii

4. FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH ISSUES 72

Validity: An Introduction 73
Variables 73
Operational Definitions of Variables 74
Relationships Between Variables 76
Nonexperimental Versus Experimental Methods 79
Experimental Methods: Additional Considerations 86
Evaluating Research: Summary of the FOUR Validities 89
Review Questions 94
Study Terms 94
Check Your Learning: Answers 95

5. MEASUREMENT CONCEPTS 96
Reliability of Measures 97
Construct Validity of Measures 101
Reactivity of Measures 105
Variables and Measurement Scales 105
Review Questions 111
Study Terms 112
Check Your Learning: Answers 112

6. OBSERVATIONAL METHODS 113

Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches 114
Naturalistic Observation 114
Systematic Observation 117
Case Studies 119
Archival Research 120
Review Questions 125
Study Terms 125
Check Your Learning: Answers 125

7. ASKING PEOPLE ABOUT THEMSELVES: SURVEY RESEARCH 126

Why Conduct Surveys? 127
Constructing Questions to Ask 128
Responses to Questions 131
Finalizing the Survey Instrument 135
Administering Surveys 136
Survey Designs to Study Changes Over Time 138
viii CONTENTS

Sampling From a Population 139

Sampling Techniques 141
Evaluating Samples 144
Reasons for Using Convenience Samples 145
Review Questions 149
Study Terms 149
Check Your Learning: Answers 150

8. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN 151

Confounding and Internal Validity 152
Basic Experiments 153
Assigning Participants to Experimental Conditions 157
Review Questions 165
Study Terms 166
Check Your Learning: Answers 166

9. CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTS 167

Selecting Research Participants 168
Manipulating the Independent Variable 168
Measuring the Dependent Variable 173
Additional Controls 176
Final Planning Considerations 179
Analyzing and Interpreting Results 181
Communicating Research to Others 181
Review Questions 185
Study Terms 186
Check Your Learning: Answers 186

10. COMPLEX EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS 187

Increasing the Number of Levels of an Independent Variable 188
Increasing the Number of Independent Variables: Factorial Designs 189
Outcomes of a 2 × 2 Factorial Design 194
Assignment Procedures and Factorial Designs 197
Increasing the Number of Levels of an Independent Variable 198
Factorial Designs with Three or More Independent Variables 200
Review Questions 204
Study Terms 204
Check Your Learning: Answers 205
 CONTENTS ix

11. SINGLE-CASE, QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL

RESEARCH 206
Single-Case Experimental Designs 207
Quasi-Experimental Designs 210
Developmental Research Designs 218
Review Questions 224
Study Terms 225
Check Your Learning: Answers 225

12. UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH RESULTS: DESCRIPTION AND

CORRELATION 227
Scales of Measurement: A Review 228
Describing Results 229
Frequency Distributions 230
Descriptive Statistics 233
Graphing Relationships 234
Correlation Coefficients: Describing the Strength of Relationships 235
Effect Size 240
Regression Equations 241
Multiple Correlation/Regression 241
The Third-Variable Problem 243
Structural Equation Modeling 244
Review Questions 247
Study Terms 247
Check Your Learning: Answers 248

13. UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH RESULTS: STATISTICAL INFERENCE

249
Samples and Populations 250
Inferential Statistics 251
Null and Research Hypotheses 251
Probability and Sampling Distributions 252
Group Differences: The t and F Tests 254
Type I and Type II Errors 260
Choosing a Significance Level 263
Interpreting Nonsignificant Results 264
Choosing a Sample Size: Power Analysis 265
The Importance of Replications 266
Significance of a Pearson r Correlation Coefficient 266
x CONTENTS

Statistical Analysis software 267

Selecting the Appropriate Statistical Test 267
Review Questions 271
Study Terms 272
Check Your Learning: Answers 272

14. GENERALIZATION 274

Generalizing to Other Populations 275
Generalizing Across Methods 280
Supporting Good External Validity 282
Using Research to Improve Lives 288
Review Questions 290
Study Terms 290
Check Your Learning: Answers 291

APPENDIX A: REPORTING RESEARCH 292

Introduction 292
Writing Your Report 293
Formatting Your Report 299
Organization of the Report 300
The Use of Headings 312
Citing and Referencing Sources 312
Abbreviations 320
Reporting Numbers and Statistics 321
Paper and Poster Presentations 323
Sample Paper 325

APPENDIX B: ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGISTS AND CODE

OF CONDUCT 344
General Principles 344
Standard 8: Research and Publication 345

APPENDIX C: STATISTICAL TESTS 346

Descriptive Statistics 346
Statistical Significance and Effect Size 349

Illustrative Articles
Chapter 1: Introduction
 CONTENTS xi

Chapter 2: Laptops in Class

Chapter 3: Replication of Milgram
Chapter 4: Studying Behavior
Chapter 5: Measurement Concepts
Chapter 6: Observational Methods
Chapter 7: Conducting Experiments
Chapter 8: Experimental Design
Chapter 9: Conducting Experiments
Chapter 10: Complex Experimental Designs
Chapter 11: Longitudinal Study
Chapter 14: Generalizing Results

Glossary 369
References 380
Index 397

APA Formatting Checklist 412

Preface
Methods in Behavioral Research featuring updates from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (7th ed.) guides students toward success by helping them study smarter and more efficiently. Sup-
ported by SmartBook®, McGraw-Hill Education’s adaptive and personalized reading experience, Cozby and
Bates provide helpful pedagogy, rich examples, and clear voice in their approach to methodological decision
making.
IN THE FOURTEENTH EDITION, we strive for an accessible presentation and continue looking for oppor-
tunities to drive home foundational concepts and reinforce students’ understanding of the material. We have
reimagined end-of-chapter content. We chose concepts that students have traditionally found most challeng-
ing and designed exercises that ask them to reflect, recall, and organize the material. We have also aligned the
fourteenth edition with the newly released the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Associa-
tion (7th ed.). Focused organization combined with clear and direct writing remains a hallmark of Methods
in Behavioral Research. Chapters follow the arc of a research investigation from planning through conducting
and presenting.

ORGANIZATION
Methods in Behavioral Research moves carefully through the major concepts in behavioral research from the
foundations of scientific study through practical issues in research design and implementation.
“Scientific Understanding of Behavior” grounds students in the scientific approach, emphasizing the distinc-
tion between basic and applied research. “Where to Start” discusses sources of ideas for research and the
importance of library research. “Ethics in Behavioral Research” focuses on research ethics; ethical issues
are covered in depth here and emphasized throughout the book. “Fundamental Research Issues” intro-
duces validity and examines psychological variables and the distinction between experimental and nonex-
perimental approaches to studying relationships among variables. “Measurement Concepts” focuses on mea-
surement issues, including reliability and validity. Nonexperimental research approaches—including natural-
istic observation, cases studies, and content analysis—are described in “Observational Methods.” “Asking
People About Themselves: Survey Research” covers sampling as well as the design of questionnaires and
interviews. “Experimental Design” and “Conducting Experiments” present the basics of designing and con-
ducting experiments. Factorial designs are emphasized in “Complex Experimental Designs.” “Single-Case,
Quasi-Experimental, and Developmental Research” discusses the designs for special applications: single-
case experimental designs, developmental research designs, and quasi-experimental designs. “Understanding
Research Results: Description and Correlation” and “Understanding Research Results: Statistical Inference”
focus on the use of statistics to help students understand research results. These chapters include material on
effect size and confidence intervals. Finally, “Generalization” discusses generalization issues, meta-analyses,
and the importance of replications.

FEATURES
Methods in Behavioral Research includes the following features to enhance learning:
NEW! Critical Thinking: Consumer of Research. These exercises are designed to get students out of the text-
book and out of their classrooms and into the broader world in which we all move. These exercises ask stu-
dents to look at examples of research—such as studies on the predictors of happiness and the causes and
 PREFACE xiii

effects of sitting in the front of the classroom—to compare what they’ve learned in class or the text with what
they see. Applying the concepts they have learned will help them expand their understanding of the content.

NEW! Fully updated according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.):
This edition includes and supports new guidelines on ethical and bias-free writing, adopted the new standard
for in-text citations, updated rules for manuscript formatting, and adopted APA’s final resolution to the eter-
nal question: One space or two after a period? (Answer: One!)
NEW! Updated to align with 2019 federal guidelines that govern IRBs, including new categories of exempt
review.
UPDATED! Check Your Learning: Practice Exercises. In previous editions, these Check Your Learning boxes
were placed within the body of the chapter. We found that students often found this placement distracting
and preferred to be able to control when to complete the exercises. We now include an in-text callout to place
the content; the actual exercises and answers are at the end of the chapter.
Illustrative articles. These boxes include published journal articles with questions and exercises designed to
focus on chapter-related material. In addition, the articles help students become familiar with the structure
and language of journal articles in psychology. We have several new articles in this edition. Most important,
we have provided links to online copies of the articles whenever possible.
Solid pedagogy. Each chapter opens with a set of learning objectives that serve as reading guides and ends
with a review of major concepts and key terms.
Practical examples. Thought-provoking examples help students interpret challenging concepts and complex
research designs. The concept of diversity of ideas is examined through the lens of biases regarding rap music.
Theory article formats are introduced though a recent study on suicide.
Decision-making emphasis. Distinguishing among a variety of research designs helps students understand
when to use one type of design over another.

FLEXIBLE
Chapters are designed to work independently, so that they can be adapted to any curriculum or syllabus. Sec-
tions are clearly defined and relevant practice exercises called out within each, making it easy to reorder or
skip topics.
In addition, three appendices related to communicating research findings, ethical standards, and conducting
statistical analyses can be used any time throughout the course. Appendix A includes an annotated version
of a published paper and provides firm instructions for organizing research. Students can easily refer to the
APA Ethics Code in Appendix B, and Appendix C includes a bank of statistical tests that can be applied to a
variety of research designs.

Methods in Behavioral Research is available to instructors and students in traditional print format as well as
online within McGraw Hill Connect, a digital assignment and assessment platform. Connect includes assign-
able and assessable videos, quizzes, exercises, and interactive activities, all associated with learning objectives
xiv PREFACE

for Methods in Behavioral Research. These online tools make managing assignments easier for instructors, and
learning and studying more motivating and efficient for students.
Power of Process, available in Connect for Research Methods, guides students through the process of critical
reading, analysis, and writing. Faculty can select or upload their own content, such as journal articles, and
assign analysis strategies to gain insight into students’ application of the scientific method. For students,
Power of Process offers a guided visual approach to exercising critical thinking strategies to apply before, dur-
ing, and after reading published research.

BETTER DATA, SMARTER REVISIONS, IMPROVED RESULTS

For this new edition, data were analyzed to identify the concepts students found to be the most difficult, allow-
ing for expansion upon the discussion, practice, and assessment of challenging topics. The revision process
for a new edition used to begin with gathering information from instructors about what they would change
and what they would keep.
Experts in the field were asked to provide comments that pointed out new material to add and dated material
to review. Using all these reviews, authors would revise the material. But today a new tool has revolutionized
that model.
McGraw-Hill Education authors now have access to student performance data to analyze and inform their
revisions. These data are anonymously collected from the many students who use SmartBook, the adaptive
learning system that provides students with individualized assessment of their own progress. Because virtu-
ally every text paragraph is tied to several questions that students answer while using SmartBook, the specific
concepts with which students are having the most difficulty are easily pinpointed through empirical data in
the form of a “heat map” report.
New to this edition, SmartBook is now optimized for mobile and tablet and is accessible for students with
disabilities. Content-wise, it has been enhanced with improved learning objectives that are measurable and
observable to improve student outcomes.

POWERFUL REPORTING
Whether a class is face-to-face, hybrid, or entirely online, McGraw-Hill Connect provides the tools needed
to reduce the amount of time and energy instructors spend administering their courses. Easy-to-use course
management tools allow instructors to spend less time administering and more time teaching, while reports
allow students to monitor their progress and optimize their study time.
 PREFACE xv

▪ The At-Risk Student Report provides instructors with one-click access to a dashboard that identifies
students who are at risk of dropping out of the course due to low engagement levels.
▪ The Category Analysis Report details student performance relative to specific learning objectives and
goals, including APA learning goals and outcomes and levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
▪ Connect Insight is a one-of-a-kind visual analytics dashboard—now available for both instructors and
students—that provides at-a-glance information regarding student performance.
▪ The SmartBook Reports allow instructors and students to easily monitor progress and pinpoint areas of
weakness, giving each student a personalized study plan to achieve success.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Achieve simplicity in assigning and engaging your students with course materials. Craft your teaching
resources to match the way you teach! With McGraw-Hill Create, you can easily rearrange chapters, combine
material from other content sources, and quickly upload content you have written, such as your course syl-
labus or teaching notes. Find the content you need in Create by searching through thousands of leading
McGraw-Hill textbooks. Arrange your book to fit your teaching style. Create even allows you to personalize
your book’s appearance by selecting the cover and adding your name, school, and course information. Order
a Create book and you’ll receive a complimentary electronic review copy (eComp) via email in about an hour.
Experience how McGraw-Hill Create empowers you to teach your students your way: http://create.mheduca-
tion.com

McGraw-Hill Campus provides faculty with true single sign-on access to all of McGraw-Hill’s course content,
digital tools, and other high-quality learning resources from any LMS. This innovative offering allows for
secure and deep integration, enabling seamless access for faculty and students to any of McGraw-Hill’s
course solutions, such as McGraw-Hill Connect (all-digital teaching and learning platform) and McGraw-Hill
Create (state-of-the-art custom-publishing platform McGraw-Hill Campus includes access to McGraw-Hill’s
entire content library, including eBooks, assessment tools, presentation slides, multimedia content, and other
resources. McGraw-Hill Campus provides instructors with open, unlimited access to prepare for class, create
tests/quizzes, develop lecture material, integrate interactive content, and more: http://www.mhcampus.com

CHANGES TO THE FOURTEENTH EDITION

The fourteenth edition of Methods in Behavioral Research includes numerous updates and new references.
Here is a list of major changes as they appear by chapter.
xvi PREFACE

Chapter 1
• Added discussion on the importance of becoming a savvy consumer of research.
• Added discussion of risky outcomes that result from researcher overreach.
• Critical Thinking: Read editorials from large national newspapers and evaluate for intuition, appeals to
authority, and supporting evidence. Consider both sides of two arguments about major assertions about
behavioral research studies as a discipline. Sift through data presented in an online article about eating
disorders to identify cause and effect and explanation.

Chapter 2
• New discussion added to “Source of Ideas” offers clues to where one might find inspiration for a new
research study.
• Added example of how practical problems in everyday life can stimulate research studies.
• New analysis of biases toward rap music within the framework of diversity of ideas.
• Refined discussion of literature reviews, where to find them and how to use them.
• New example of a recent theory article about suicide.
• New example of an article search using Web of Science.
• New Critical Thinking box: Review four different articles related to behavioral science that have recently
appeared in the popular press including stress in teens and happy memories as health boosters.

Chapter 3
• Added emphasis on the exempt review of minimal risk research.
• Deeper discussion of the functions of an IRB.
• New Critical Thinking box: Consider the ethics behind three controversial research studies including
Milgram. Read your college’s student code of conduct and consider ways to improve upon the
plagiarism section.

Chapter 4
• A fourth validity added: statistical validity.
• New Critical Thinking box: Review operational definitions and why they are important. Work through
the components of research including hypothesis (both experimental and nonexperimental method)
variable, cause and effect.

Chapter 5
• New study added to illustrative article on measurement concepts that aimed to reduce bias in STET
ratings by adjusting language on the form.
• New Critical Thinking box: Review two personality assessments to determine their reliability and
consider ways to assess construct validity.
 PREFACE xvii

Chapter 6
• New Critical Thinking box: Develop a research question that can best be used addressed through
qualitative techniques. Locate and summarize two reviews of a recent book about Henry Molaison by
his grandson.

Chapter 7
• Updated Figure 1 includes new data on annual prevalence of teenage marijuana use.
• Section of nonverbal scales has been expanded to include adult populations.
• Explanation of recently developed Prime Panels, a recruiting tool for unique samples.
• New Critical Thinking box: Work through a survey from evaluating the questions to analyzing the
results. Briefly plan an online survey with an adult population regarding family, professional, and life
satisfaction.

Chapter 8
• New Critical Thinking box: Review two different experimental designs and share ideas for how they
could be improved or how specific problems could be addressed.

Chapter 9
• Refined discussion on quantifying observed behaviors.
• New illustrative article: “Conducting Experiments.”
• New Critical Thinking box: Consider sample scenario in a pilot study and work through questions about
the manipulations, variables, controls, and outcomes.

Chapter 10
• Revised illustrative article: “Complex Experimental Designs.”
• New Critical Thinking box: Work through a 2 × 2 with independent groups and consider the effects as
variables are adjusted. In a second experiment, identify the design, variables, conditions and possible
interactions.

Chapter 11
• New illustrative article: “A Longitudinal Study.”
• New Critical Thinking box: Look for problems and explain outcomes in five different sample research
scenarios.

Chapter 12
• New Critical Thinking box: Create your own sample by asking students on campus to ask a question
about the courses they are taking. Think of three variables that use a nominal scale
xviii PREFACE

Chapter 13
• Added discussion on choosing a sample size.
• New Critical Thinking box: Plan parts of a research design. Analyze research on attitudes toward
individuals in wheelchairs.

Chapter 14
• Added an in-depth note on the Open Science initiative and the replication crisis in psychology.
• New Critical Thinking box: Think through a sample of college students and consider what makes it a
unique population.

INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES

Methods in Behavioral Research also includes the following instructor resources:

Instructor’s Manual: Designed to provide a wide variety of resources for presenting the course, the instructor’s
manual includes learning objectives, ideas for lectures and discussions, laboratory demonstrations, and activ-
ities aligned specifically to facilitate a clearer knowledge of research methods.
Test Bank: By increasing the rigor of the test bank development process, McGraw-Hill has raised the bar for
student assessment. A coordinated team of subject-matter experts methodically vetted each question and each
set of possible answers for accuracy, clarity, and effectiveness. Each question is further annotated for level
of page difficulty, Bloom’s taxonomy, APA learning outcomes, and corresponding coverage in the text. Struc-
tured by chapter, the questions are designed to test students’ conceptual, applied, and factual understanding.
Test Builder: New to this edition and available within Connect, Test Builder is a cloud-based tool that enables
instructors to format tests that can be printed or administered within a Learning Management System. Test
Builder offers a modern, streamlined interface for easy content configuration that matches course needs, with-
out requiring a download.
Test Builder enables instructors to:
• Access all test bank content from a particular title
• Easily pinpoint the most relevant content through robust filtering options
• Manipulate the order of questions or scramble questions and / or answers
• Pin questions to a specific location within a test
• Determine your preferred treatment of algorithmic questions
• Choose the layout and spacing
• Add instructions and configure default settings

Lecture Presentation: Accessibility compliant, PowerPoint slides are provided that present key points of the
chapter, along with supporting visuals. All of the slides can be modified to meet individual needs.
Image Gallery: The complete set of figures and tables from the text are available for download and can be
easily embedded into PowerPoint slides.
 PREFACE xix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many individuals helped to produce this and previous editions of this book. The portfolio manager at
McGraw-Hill was Nancy Welcher; we are also indebted to the editors of previous editions, Franklin Graham,
Ken King, Mike Sugarman, and Krista Bettino, for their guidance. We are extremely grateful for the input
from numerous students and instructors, including the following individuals, who provided detailed reviews
for this edition:
Marina Bornovalova Suzanne Helfer
University of South Florida Adrian College
Kristy Boyce Charles M. Huffman
The Ohio State University Georgia Southwestern State University
Blaine Browne Christopher Howard
Valdosta State University Husson University
Robert Christman Ashley Jordan
Mohawk Valley Community College University of Arizona
Emily Cohen-Shikora Jeff Kibler
Washington University at St. Louis Nova Southeastern University
Paul Curran Cecile Lardon
Grand Valley State University University of Alaska Fairbanks
Robert O. Deaner Mindy Ma
Grand Valley State University Nova Southeastern University
Christopher Dickinson Hajime Otani
Appalachian State University Central Michigan University
Dana S. Dunn Mary K. Radeke
Moravian College Central Washington University
Mario Fific Theodore M. Singelis
Grand Valley State University California State University, Chico
Stephen Gabbard Lynda Villaneuva
Wright State University, Dayton University of Houston
Leslie A. Gill
Eastern New Mexico University
About the Authors
Paul C. Cozby is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton. Dr. Cozby was
an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside, and received his Ph.D. in psychology from the
University of Minnesota. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the
Association for Psychological Science, and he served as an officer of the Society for Computers in Psychol-
ogy and as Executive Officer of the Western Psychological Association. He is the author of Using Computers
in the Behavioral Sciences and co-editor with Daniel Perlman of Social Psychology.
Scott C. Bates is a Professor and Department Head of the Psychology Department at Utah State University
in Logan, Utah. He earned a B.S. in Psychology from Whitman College, an M.S. in Psychology from Western
Washington University, and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Colorado State University. His research inter-
ests and experiences are varied. He has conducted research in areas as wide-ranging as adolescent problem
behavior and problem-behavior prevention, teaching and learning in higher education, and the psychological
consequences of growing and tending plants in outer space.
We are always interested in receiving comments and suggestions from students and instructors. Please email
us at [email protected] or [email protected].
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
The hard-money feature is in full force. It took full effect at once in
the South and West, because there were no bank-notes in those
quarters of the Union of the receivable description: it took full effect
in New York and New England, because, having preserved specie
payments, specie was just as plenty in that quarter as paper money;
and all payments were either actually or virtually in hard money. It
was specie, or its equivalent. The hard-money clause then went into
operation at once, and who complained of it? The payers of the
revenue? No, not one of them. The merchants who pay the duties
have not complained; the farmers who buy the public lands have not
complained. On the contrary, they rejoice; for hard-money payments
keep off the speculator, with his bales of notes borrowed from
banks, and enable the farmer to get his land at a fair price. The
payers of the revenue then do not complain. How stands it with the
next most interested class—the receivers of money from the United
States? Are they dissatisfied at being paid in gold and silver? And do
they wish to go back to the depreciated paper—the shinplasters—the
compound of lampblack and rags—which they received a few years
ago? Put this inquiry to the meritorious laborer who is working in
stone, in wood, earth, and in iron for you at this moment. Ask him if
he is tired of hard-money payments, and wishes the independent
treasury system repealed, that he may get a chance to receive his
hard-earned wages in broken bank-notes again. Ask the soldier and
the mariner the same question. Ask the salaried officer and the
contractor the same question. Ask ourselves here if we wish it—we
who have seen ourselves paid in gold for years past, after having
been for thirty years without a sight of that metal. No, sir, no.
Neither the payers of money to the government, nor the receivers of
money from the government, object to the hard-money clause in the
sub-treasury act. How is it then with the body of the people—the
great mass of the productive and business classes? Do they object
to the clause? Not at all. They rejoice at it: for they receive, at
second-hand, all that comes from the government. No officer,
contractor, or laborer, eats the hard money which he receives from
the government, but pays it out for the supplies which support his
family: it all goes to the business and productive classes: and thus
the payments from the government circulate from hand to hand, and
go through the whole body of the people. Thus the whole body of
the productive classes receive the benefit of the whole amount of
the government hard-money payments. Who is it then that objects
to it? Broken banks, and their political confederates, are the
clamorers against it. Banks which wish to make their paper a public
currency: politicians who wish a national bank as a machine to rule
the country. These banks, and these politicians, are the sole
clamorers against the hard-money clause in the sub-treasury
system: they alone clamor for paper money. And how is it with the
other clause—the one which gives the custody of the public money
to the hands of our own officers, bound to fidelity by character, by
official position, by responsibility, by ample securityship—and makes
it felony in them to touch it for their own use? Here is a clear case of
contention between the banks and the government, or between the
clamorers for a national bank and the government. These banks
want the custody of the public money. They struggle and strive for it
as if it was their own. They fight for it: and if they get it, they will
use it as their own—as we all well know; and refuse to render back
when they choose to suspend. Thus, the whole struggle for the
repeal resolves itself into a contest between the government, and all
the productive and business classes on one side, and the federal
politicians, the rotten part of the local banks, and the advocates of a
national bank on the other.
Sir, the independent treasury has been organized: I say,
organized! for the law creating it is fifty-two years old—has been
organized in obedience to the will of the people, regularly expressed
through their representatives after the question had been carried to
them, and a general election had intervened. The sub-treasury
system was proposed by President Van Buren in 1837, at the called
session: it was adopted in 1840, after the question had been carried
to the people, and the elections made to turn upon it. It was
established, and clearly established, by the will of the people. Have
the people condemned it? Have they expressed dissatisfaction? By
no means. The presidential election was no test of this question; nor
of any question. The election of General Harrison was effected by
the combination of all parties to pull down one party, without any
unity among the assailants on the question of measures. A candidate
was agreed upon by the opposition for whom all could vote.
Suppose a different selection had been made, and an eminent whig
candidate taken, and he had been beaten two to one (as would
probably have been the case): what then would have been the
argument? Why, that the sub-treasury, and every other measure of
the democracy, had been approved, two to one. The result of the
election admits of no inference against this system; and could not,
without imputing a heedless versatility to the people, which they do
not possess. Their representatives, in obedience to their will, and on
full three years' deliberation, established the system—established it
in July, 1840: is it possible that, within four months afterwards—in
the month of November following—the same people should
condemn their own work?
But the system is to be abolished; and we are to take our chance
for something, or nothing, in place of it. The abolition is to take
place incontinently—incessantly—upon the instant of the passage of
the bill! such is the spirit which pursues it! such the revengeful
feeling which burns against it! And the system is still to be going on
for a while after its death—for some days in the nearest parts, and
some weeks in the remotest parts of the Union. The receiver-general
in St. Louis will not know of his official death until ten days after he
shall have been killed here. In the mean time, supposing himself to
be alive, he is acting under the law; and all he does is without law,
and void. So of the rest. Not only must the system be abolished
before a substitute is presented, but before the knowledge of the
abolition can reach the officers who carry it on; and who must
continue to receive, and pay out public moneys for days and weeks
after their functions have ceased, and when all their acts have
become illegal and void.
Such is the spirit which pursues the measure—such the vengeance
against a measure which has taken the money of the people from
the moneyed corporations. It is the vengeance of the banking spirit
against its enemy—against a system which deprives soulless
corporations of their rich prey. Something must rise up in the place
of the abolished system until Congress provides a substitute; and
that something will be the nest of local banks which the Secretary of
the Treasury may choose to select. Among these local banks stands
that of the Bank of the United States. The repeal of the sub-treasury
has restored that institution to its capacity to become a depository of
the public moneys: and well, and largely has she prepared herself to
receive them. The Merchants' Bank in New Orleans, her agent there;
her branch in New York under the State law; and her branches and
agencies in the South and in the West: all these subordinates,
already prepared, enable her to take possession of the public
moneys in all parts of the Union. That she expected to do so we
learn from Mr. Biddle, who considered the attempted resumption in
January last as unwise, because, in showing the broken condition of
his bank, her claim to the deposits would become endangered. Mr.
Biddle shows that the deposits were to have been restored; that,
while in a state of suspension, his bank was as good as any. De
noche todas los gatos son pardos. So says the Spanish proverb. In
the dark, all the cats are grey—all of one color: the same of banks in
a state of suspension. And in this darkness and assimilation of
colors, the Bank of the United States has found her safety and
security—her equality with the rest, and her fair claim to recover the
keeping of the long-lost deposits. The attempt at resumption
exposed her emptiness, and her rottenness—showed her to be the
whited sepulchre, filled with dead men's bones. Liquidation was her
course—the only honest—the only justifiable course. Instead of that
she accepts new terms (just completed) from the Pennsylvania
legislatures—affects to continue to exist as a bank: and by treating
Mr. Biddle as the Jonas of the ship, when the whole crew were
Jonases, expects to save herself by throwing him overboard. That
bank is now, on the repeal of the sub-treasury, on a level with the
rest for the reception of the public moneys. She is legally in the
category of a public depository, under the act of 1836, the moment
she resumes: and when her notes are shaved in—a process now in
rapid movement—she may assert and enforce her right. She may
resume for a week, or a month, to get hold of the public moneys. By
the repeal, the public deposits, so far as law is concerned, are
restored to the Bank of the United States. When the Senate have
this night voted the repeal, they have also voted the restoration of
the deposits; and they will have done it wittingly and knowingly, with
their eyes open, and with a full perception of what they were doing.
When they voted down my proposition of yesterday—a vote in which
the whole opposition concurred, except the senator from Virginia
who sits nearest me (Mr. Archer)—when they voted down that
proposition to exclude the Bank of the United States from the list of
future deposit banks, they of course declared that she ought to
remain upon the list, with the full right to avail herself of her
privilege under the revived act of 1836. In voting down that
proposition, they voted up the prostrate bank of Mr. Biddle, and
accomplished the great object of the panic of 1833-'34—that of
censuring General Jackson, and of restoring the deposits. The act of
that great man—one of the most patriotic and noble of his life—the
act by which he saved forty millions of dollars to the American
people—is reversed. The stockholders and creditors of the institution
lose above forty millions, which the people otherwise would have
lost. They lose the whole stock, thirty-five millions—for it will not be
worth a straw to those who keep it: and the vote of the bank
refusing to show their list of debtors—suppressing, hiding and
concealing—the rotten list of debts—(in which it is mortifying to see
a Southern gentleman concurring)—is to enable the initiated jobbers
and gamblers to shove off their stock at some price on ignorant and
innocent purchasers. The stockholders lose the thirty-five millions
capital: they lose the twenty per centum advance upon that capital,
at which many of the later holders purchased it; and which is near
seven millions more: they lose the six millions surplus profits which
were reported on hand: but which, perhaps, was only a bank report:
and the holders of the notes lose the twenty to thirty per centum,
which is now the depreciation of the notes of the bank—soon to be
much more. These losses make some fifty millions of dollars. They
now fall on the stockholders, and note-holders: where would they
have fallen if the deposits had not been removed? They would have
fallen upon the public treasury—upon the people of the United
States: for the public is always the goose that is to be first plucked.
The public money would have been taken to sustain the bank: taxes
would have been laid to uphold her: the high tariff would have been
revived for her benefit. Whatever her condition required would have
been done by Congress. The bank, with all its crimes and debts—
with all its corruptions and plunderings—would have been saddled
upon the country—its charter renewed—and the people pillaged of
the more than forty millions of dollars which have been lost.
Congress would have been enslaved: and a new career of crime,
corruption, and plunder commenced. The heroic patriotism of
President Jackson saved us from this shame and loss: but we have
no Jackson to save us now; and millionary plunderers—devouring
harpies—foul birds, and voracious as foul—are again to seize the
prey which his brave and undaunted arm snatched from their
insatiate throats.
The deposits are restored, so far as the vote of the Senate goes;
and if not restored in fact, it will be because policy, and new
schemes forbid it. And what new scheme can we have? A
nondescript, hermaphrodite, Janus-faced fiscality? or a third edition
of General Hamilton's bank of 1791? or a bastard compound, the
unclean progeny of both? Which will it be? Hardly the first named. It
comes forth with the feeble and rickety symptoms which announce
an unripe conception, and an untimely death. Will it be the second?
It will be that, or worse. And where will the late flatterers—the
present revilers of Mr. Biddle—the authors equally of the bank that is
ruined, and of the one that is to be created: where will they find
better men to manage the next than they had to manage the last? I
remember the time when the vocabulary of praise was exhausted on
Mr. Biddle—when in this chamber, and out of it, the censer, heaped
with incense, was constantly kept burning under his nose: when to
hint reproach of him was to make, if not a thousand chivalrous
swords leap from their scabbards, at least to make a thousand
tongues, and ten thousand pens, start up to defend him. I
remember the time when a senator on this floor, and now on it (Mr.
Preston of South Carolina), declared in his place that the bare
annunciation of Mr. Biddle's name as Secretary of the Treasury,
would raise the value of the people's property one hundred millions
of dollars. My friend here on my right (pointing to Senator
Woodbury) was the Secretary of the Treasury; and the mere
transposition of names and places—the mere substitution of Biddle
for Woodbury—was to be worth one hundred millions of dollars to
the property of the country! What flattery could rise higher than
that? Yet this man, once so lauded—once so followed, flattered, and
courted—now lies condemned by all his former friends. They cannot
now denounce sufficiently the man who, for ten years past, they
could not praise enough: and, after this, what confidence are we to
have in their judgments? What confidence are we to place in their
new bank, and their new managers, after seeing such mistakes
about the former?
Let it not be said that this bank went to ruin since it became a
State institution. The State charter made no difference in its
character, or in its management: and Mr. Biddle declared it to be
stronger and safer without the United States for a partner than with
it. The mortal wounds were all given while it was a national
institution; and the late report of the stockholders shows not one
species of offence, the cotton speculations alone excepted, which
was not shown by Mr. Clayton's report of 1832; and being shown,
was then defended by the whole power of those who are now
cutting loose from the old bank, and clamoring for a new one. Not
an act now brought to light, save and except the cotton operation,
not even that for which Reuben M. Whitney was crushed to death,
and his name constituted the synonyme of perjury and infamy for
having told it; not an act now brought to light which was not shown
to exist ten years ago, and which was not then defended by the
whole federal party; so that the pretension that this institution did
well as a national bank, and ill as a State one, is as unfounded in
fact, as it is preposterous and absurd in idea. The bank was in the
high road to ruin—in the gulf of insolvency—in the slough of crime
and corruption—when the patriot Jackson signed the veto, and
ordered the removal of the deposits; and nothing but these two
great acts saved the people from the loss of the forty millions of
dollars which have now fallen upon the stockholders and the note
holders, and from the shame of seeing their government the slave
and instrument of the bank. Jackson saved the people from this loss,
and their government from this degradation; and for this he is now
pursued with the undying vengeance of those whose schemes of
plunder and ambition were balked by him.
Wise and prudent was the conduct of those who refused to
recharter the second Bank of the United States. They profited by the
error of their friends who refused to recharter the first one. These
latter made no preparations for the event—did nothing to increase
the constitutional currency—and did not even act until the last
moment. The renewed charter was only refused a few days before
the expiration of the existing charter, and the federal government fell
back upon the State banks, which immediately sunk under its
weight. The men of 1832 acted very differently. They decided the
question of the renewal long before the expiration of the existing
charter. They revived the gold currency, which had been extinct for
thirty years. They increased the silver currency by repealing the act
of 1819 against the circulation of foreign silver. They branched the
mints. In a word, they raised the specie currency from twenty
millions to near one hundred millions of dollars; and thus supplied
the country with a constitutional currency to take the place of the
United States Bank notes. The supply was adequate, being nearly
ten times the average circulation of the national bank. That average
circulation was but eleven millions of dollars; the gold and silver was
near one hundred millions. The success of our measures was
complete. The country was happy and prosperous under it; but the
architects of mischief—the political, gambling, and rotten part of the
banks, headed by the Bank of the United States, and aided by a
political party—set to work to make panic and distress, to make
suspensions and revulsions, to destroy trade and business, to
degrade and poison the currency; to harass the country until it
would give them another national bank: and to charge all the
mischief they created upon the democratic administration. This has
been their conduct; and having succeeded in the last presidential
election, they now come forward to seize the spoils of victory in
creating another national bank, to devour the substance of the
people, and to rule the government of their country. Sir, the
suspension of 1837, on the part of the Bank of the United States and
its confederate banks and politicians, was a conspiracy and a revolt
against the government. The present suspension is a continuation of
the same revolt by the same parties. Many good banks are
overpowered by them, and forced into suspension; but with the
Bank of the United States, its affiliated banks, and its confederate
politicians, it is a revolt and a conspiracy against the government.
Sir, it is now nightfall. We are at the end of a long day when the
sun is more than fourteen hours above the horizon, and when a
suffocating heat oppresses and overpowers the Senate. My friends
have moved adjournments: they have been refused. I have been
compelled to speak now, or never, and from this commencement we
may see the conclusion. Discussion is to be stifled; measures are to
be driven through; and a mutilated Congress, hastily assembled,
imperfectly formed, and representing the census of 1830, not of
1840, is to manacle posterity with institutions which are as abhorent
to the constitution as they are dangerous to the liberties, the morals,
and the property of the people. A national bank is to be established,
not even a simple and strong bank like that of General Hamilton, but
some monstrous compound, born of hell and chaos, more odious,
dangerous, and terrible than any simple bank could be. Posterity is
to be manacled, and delivered up in chains to this deformed
monster; and by whom? By a rump Congress, representing an
expired census of the people, in the absence of members from
States which, if they had their members here, would still have but
the one-third part of their proper weight in the councils of the Union.
The census of 1840 gives many States, and Missouri among the rest,
three times their present relative weight; and no permanent
measure ought to be discussed until this new relative weight should
appear in Congress. Why take the census every ten years, if an
expiring representation at the end of the term may reach over, and
bind the increased numbers by laws which claim immunity from
repeal, and which are rushed through without debate? Am I to
submit to such work? No, never! I will war against the bank you may
establish, whether a simple or a compound monster; I will war
against it by every means known to the constitution and the laws. I
will vote for the repeal of its charter as General Harrison and others
voted for the repeal of the late bank charter in 1819. I will promote
quo warranto's and sci. fa.'s against it. I will oppose its friends and
support its enemies, and work at its destruction in every legal and
constitutional way. I will war upon it while I have breath; and if I
incur political extinction in the contest, I shall consider my political
life well sold—sold for a high price—when lost in such a cause.
But enough for the present. The question now before us is the
death of the sub-treasury. The discussion of the substitute is a fair
inquiry in this question. We have a right to see what is to follow, and
to compare it with what we have. But gentlemen withhold their
schemes, and we strike in the dark. My present purpose is to
vindicate the independent treasury system—to free it from a false
character—to show it to be what it is, nothing but the revival of the
two great acts of September the 1st and September the 2d, 1789,
for the collection, safe keeping, and disbursement of the public
moneys, under which this government went into operation; and
under which it operated safely and successfully until General
Hamilton overthrew it to substitute the bank and state system of Sir
Robert Walpole, which has been the curse of England, and towards
which we are now hurrying again with headlong steps and blindfold
eyes.
 CHAPTER LXVI.
THE BANKRUPT ACT: WHAT IT WAS: AND HOW
IT WAS PASSED.
It has been seen in Mr. Tyler's message that, as a measure of his
own administration, he would not have convened Congress in
extraordinary session; but this having been done by his predecessor,
he would not revoke his act. It was known that the call had been
made at the urgent instance of Mr. Clay. That ardent statesman had
so long seen his favorite measures baffled by a majority opposition
to them in one House or the other, and by the twelve years
presidency of General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren, that he was
naturally now impatient to avail himself of the advantage of having
all the branches of the government in their favor. He did so without
delay. Mr. Tyler had delivered his message recommending the
measures which he deemed proper for the consideration of
Congress: Mr. Clay did the same—that is to say, recommend his list
of measures to Congress also, not in the shape of a message, but in
the form of a resolve, submitted to the Senate; and which has been
given. A bankrupt act was not in his programme, nor in the
President's message; and it was well known, and that by evidence
less equivocal than its designed exclusion from his list of measures,
that Mr. Clay was opposed to such a bill. But parties were so nearly
balanced in the Senate, a deduction of two or three from the one
side and added to the other would operate the life or death of most
important measures, in the event that a few members should make
the passage of a favorite measure the indispensable condition of
their vote for some others which could not be carried without it. This
was the case with the bank bill, and the distribution bill. A bank was
the leading measure of Mr. Clay's policy—the corner stone of his
legislative edifice. It was number two in his list: it was number one
in his affections and in his parliamentary movement. He obtained a
select committee on the second day of the session, to take into
consideration the part of the President's message which related to
the currency and the fiscal agent for the management of the
finances; but before that select committee could report a bill, Mr.
Henderson, of Mississippi, taking the shortest road to get at his
object, asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill to establish a
system of bankruptcy. This measure, then, which had no place in the
President's message, or in Mr. Clay's schedule, and to which he was
averse, took precedence on the calendar of the vital measure for
which the extra session was chiefly called; and Mr. Henderson being
determinedly supported by his colleague, Mr. Walker, and a few
other resolute senators with whom the bankrupt act was an
overruling consideration, he was enabled to keep it ahead, and
coerce support from as many averse to it as would turn the scale in
its favor. It passed the Senate, July 24th, by a close vote, 26 to 23.
The yeas were:

"Messrs. Barrow, Bates, Berrien, Choate, Clay of Kentucky,

Clayton, Dixon, Evans, Henderson, Huntington, Kerr, Merrick,
Miller, Morehead, Mouton, Phelps, Porter, Simmons, Smith of
Indiana, Southard, Tallmadge, Walker, White, Williams,
Woodbridge, Young.
"Nays—Messrs. Allen, Archer, Bayard, Benton, Buchanan,
Calhoun, Clay of Alabama, Cuthbert, Fulton, Graham, King, Linn,
McRoberts, Nicholson, Pierce, Prentiss, Rives, Sevier, Smith of
Connecticut, Sturgeon, Tappan, Woodbury, Wright."

The distribution bill was a leading measure in Mr. Clay's policy: it

ranked next after the national bank. He had also taken it into his
own care, and had introduced a bill on leave for the purpose at an
early day. A similar bill was also introduced in the House of
Representatives. There was no willing majority for the bankrupt bill
in either House; but the bank bill and the land bill were made to
pass it. The ardent friends of the bankrupt bill embargoed both the
others until their favorite measure was secure. They were able to
defeat the other two, and determined to do so if they did not get
their own measure; and they did get it—presenting the spectacle of
a bill, which had no majority in either House, forcing its own
passage, and controlling the fate of two others—all of them
measures of great national concern.
The bankrupt bill had passed the Senate ahead of the bank bill,
and also of the distribution bill, and went to the House of
Representatives, where the majority was against it. It seemed
doomed in that House. The same bill had originated in that body;
but lay upon the table without consideration. The President, beset
by a mass of debtors who had repaired to Washington to promote
the passage of the bill, sent in a special message in its favor; but
without effect. The House bill slept on the table: the Senate bill
arrived there, and was soon put to rest upon the same table. Mr.
Underwood, of Kentucky, a friend of Mr. Clay, had moved to lay it on
the table; and the motion prevailed by a good majority—110 to 97.
Information of this vote instantly flew to the Senate. One of the
senators, intent upon the passage of the bill, left his seat and went
down to the House; and when he returned he informed the writer of
this View that the bill would pass—that it would be taken off the
table, and put through immediately: and such was the fact. The next
day the bill was taken up and passed—the meagre majority of only
six for it. The way in which this was done was made known to the
writer of this View by the senator who went down to attend to the
case when the bill was laid on the table: it was simply to let the
friends of the bank and distribution bills know that these measures
would be defeated if the bankrupt bill was not passed—that there
were enough determined on that point to make sure: and, for the
security of the bankrupt bill, it was required to be passed first.
The bill had passed the House with an amendment, postponing
the commencement of its operation from November to February;
and this amendment required to be communicated to the Senate for
its concurrence—which was immediately done. This amendment was
a salvo to the consciences of members for their forced votes: it was
intended to give Congress an opportunity of repealing the act before
it took effect; but the friends of the bill were willing to take it that
way—confident that they could baffle the repeal for some months,
and until those most interested, had obtained the relief they wanted.
At the time that this amendment was coming up to the Senate
that body was engaged on the distribution bill, the debate on the
bank veto message having been postponed by the friends of the
bank to make way for it. August the 18th had been fixed for that day
—12 o'clock the hour. The day and the hour, had come; and with
them an immense crowd, and an excited expectation. For it was
known that Mr. Clay was to speak—and to speak according to his
feelings—which were known to be highly excited against Mr. Tyler. In
the midst of this expectation and crowd, and to the disappointment
of every body, Mr. Berrien rose and said that—"Under a sense of
duty, he was induced to move that the consideration of the executive
veto message on the fiscal bank bill be postponed until to-morrow,
12 o'clock."—Mr. Calhoun objected to this postponement. "The day,
he said, had been fixed by the friends of the bank bill. The
President's message containing his objections to it had now been in
possession of the Senate, and on the tables of members for two
days. Surely there had been sufficient time to reflect upon it: yet
now it was proposed still longer to defer action upon it. He asked the
senator from Georgia, who had made the motion, to assign some
reason for the proposed delay." The request of Mr. Calhoun for a
reason, was entirely parliamentary and proper; and in fact should
have been anticipated by giving the reason with the motion—as it
was not deferential to the Senate to ask it to do a thing without a
reason, especially when the thing to be done was contrary to an
expressed resolve of the Senate, and took members by surprise who
came prepared to attend to the appointed business, and not
prepared to attend to another subject. Mr. Berrien declined to give a
reason, and said that—"When the senator from South Carolina
expressed his personal conviction that time enough had been
allowed for reflection on the message, he expressed what would no
doubt regulate his personal conduct; but when he himself stated
that, under a sense of duty, he had asked for further time, he had
stated his own conviction in regard to the course which ought to be
pursued. Senators would decide for themselves which opinion was to
prevail."—Mr. Calhoun rejoined in a way to show his belief that there
was a secret and sinister cause for this reserve, so novel and
extraordinary in legislative proceedings. He said—"Were the motives
such as could not be publicly looked at? were they founded on
movements external to that chamber? It was certainly due to the
Senate that a reason should be given. It was quite novel to refuse it.
Some reason was always given for a postponement. He had never
known it to be otherwise."—Mr. Berrien remained unmoved by this
cogent appeal, and rejoined—"The senator from South Carolina was
at liberty to suggest whatever he might think proper; but that he
should not conclude him (Mr. Berrien), as having made a motion
here for reasons which he could not disclose."—Mr. Calhoun then
said that, "this was a very extraordinary motion, the votes of
senators upon it ought to be recorded: he would therefore move for
the yeas and nays,"—which were ordered, and stood thus: Yeas:
Messrs. Archer, Barrow, Bates, Bayard, Berrien, Choate, Clay of
Kentucky, Clayton (Thomas of Delaware), Dixon, Evans, Graham,
Henderson, Huntingdon, Kerr, Mangum, Merrick, Miller, Morehead,
Phelps, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Rives, Simmons, Smith of Indiana,
Southard, Tallmadge, White, and Woodbridge, 29—the supporters of
the bank all voting for the postponement, their numbers swelled a
little beyond their actual strength by the votes of Mr. Rives, and a
few other whigs. The nays were: Messrs. Allen, Benton, Buchanan,
Calhoun, Clay of Alabama, Cuthbert, Fulton, King, Linn, McRoberts,
Mouton, A. O. P. Nicholson, Pierce, Sevier, Sturgeon, Tappan, Walker,
Williams, Woodbury, Wright, and Young—21. It was now apparent
that the postponement of the bank question was a concerted
measure of the whig party—that Mr. Berrien was its organ in making
the motion—and that the reason for it was a party secret which he
was not at liberty to disclose. Events, however, were in progress to
make the disclosure.
 The distribution bill was next in order, and during its consideration
Mr. White, of Indiana, made a remark which attracted the attention
of Mr. Benton. Deprecating further debate, as a useless waste of
time, Mr. White wished discussion to cease, and the vote be taken
—"as he hoped, as well as believed, that the bill would pass, and not
alone, but be accompanied by other measures." This remark from
Mr. White gave Mr. Benton something to go upon; and he
immediately let out what was on his mind.
He thanked the senator from Indiana for his avowal; it was a
confirmation of what he well knew before—that measures, at this
extraordinary session, were not passed or rejected upon their merits,
but made to depend one upon another, and the whole upon a third!
It was all bargain and sale. All was conglomerated into one mass,
and must go together or fall together. This was the decree out of
doors. When the sun dips below the horizon, a private Congress is
held, the fate of the measure is decided; a bundle are tied together;
and while one goes ahead as a bait, another is held back as a rod.
Mr. Linn, of Missouri, still more frank than his colleague,
stigmatized the motive for postponement, and the means that were
put in practice to pass momentous bills which could not pass on
their own merits; and spoke out without disguise:

"These artifices grow out of the system adopted for carrying

through measures that never could be carried through other
than by trick and art. The majority which by force, not by
argument, have to carry their measures, must meet in secret—
concoct their measures in conclave—and then hold every
member of the party bound to support what is thus agreed
upon—a master spirit leading all the while. There had been
enough of falsehood, misrepresentation and delusion. The
presidential election had contained enough of it, without adding
to the mass at this session. The country was awake to these
impositions, and required only to be informed of the movements
of the wire-workers to know how to appreciate their measures.
And the people should be informed. As far as it was possible for
 him and his friends to lay that information before the country, it
should be done. Every man in the community must be told how
this bank bill, which was intended to rule the country with a
moneyed despotism for years to come, had been passed—how
a national debt was entailed upon the country—how this
bankrupt bill was forced through, as he (Mr. Linn) now
understood it was, by a majority of five votes, in the other end
of the Capitol, many of its whig opponents dodging behind the
columns; and how this land distribution bill was now in the
course of being passed, and the tricks resorted to to effect its
passage. It was all part and parcel of the same system which
was concocted in Harrisburg, wrought with such blind zeal at
the presidential election, and perfected by being compressed
into a congressional caucus, at an extraordinary called, but
uncalled-for, session."

The distribution bill had been under debate for an hour, and Mr.
King, of Alabama, was on the floor speaking to it, when the clerk of
the House of Representatives appeared at the door of the Senate
Chamber with the bankrupt bill, and the amendments made by the
House—and asking the concurrence of the Senate. Still standing on
his feet, but dropping the line of his argument, Mr. King exclaimed:

"That, sir, is the bill. There it is sir. That is the bill which is to
hurry this land distribution bill to its final passage, without either
amendments or debate. Did not the senator know that
yesterday, when the bankrupt bill was laid on the table by a
decided vote in the other House, the distribution bill could not,
by any possibility then existing, be passed in this House? But
now the case was altered. A reconsideration of the vote of
yesterday had taken place in the other House, and the bankrupt
bill was now returned to the Senate for concurrence; after
which it would want but the signature of the Executive to
become a law. But how had this change been so suddenly
brought about? How, but by putting on the screws? Gentlemen
whose States cried aloud for the relief of a bankrupt law, were
 told they could not have it unless they would pay the price—
they must pass the distribution bill, or they should have no
bankrupt bill. One part of the bargain was already fulfilled: the
bankrupt bill was passed. The other part of the bargain is now
to be consummated: the distribution bill can pass now without
further delay. He (Mr. King) had had the honor of a seat in this
chamber for many years, but never during that time had he
seen legislation so openly and shamefully disgraced by a system
of bargain and sale. This extra session of Congress would be
long remembered for the open and undisguised extent to which
this system had been carried."

Incontinently the distribution bill was laid upon the table, and the
bankrupt bill was taken up. This was done upon the motion of Mr.
Walker, who gave his reasons, thus:

"He rose not to prolong the debate on the distribution bill, but
to ask that it might be laid on the table, that the bill to establish
a general bankrupt law, which had just been received from the
House, might be taken up, and the amendment, which was
unimportant, might be concurred in by the Senate. He
expressed his ardent joy at the passage of this bill by this
House, which was so imperiously demanded as a measure of
great relief to a suffering community, which he desired should
not be held in suspense another night; but that they should
immediately take up the amendments, and act on them. For this
purpose he moved to lay the distribution bill on the table."

Mr. Linn asked for the yeas and nays, that it might be seen how
senators voted in this rigadoon legislation, in which movements were
so rapid, so complicated, and so perfectly performed. They were
ordered, and stood: Yeas—Messrs. Archer, Barrow, Bates, Bayard,
Berrien, Choate, Clay of Kentucky, Dixon, Evans, Henderson,
Huntington, Kerr, Mangum, Merrick, Miller, Morehead, Phelps, Porter,
Preston, Simmons, Smith of Indiana, Southard, Tallmadge, Walker,
White, and Woodbridge—26. Nays—Messrs. Allen, Benton,
Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay of Alabama, Clayton, Cuthbert, Fulton,
Graham, King, Linn, McRoberts, Mouton, Pierce, Sevier, Sturgeon,
Tappan, Williams, Woodbury, Wright, and Young—21. So that the
whole body of the friends to the distribution bill, voted to lay it down
to take up the bankrupt bill, as they had just voted to lay down the
bank bill to take up the distribution. The three measures thus
travelled in company, but bankrupt in the lead—for the reason, as
one of its supporters told Mr. Benton, that they were afraid it would
not get through at all if the other measures got through before it.
The bankrupt bill having thus superseded the distribution bill, as
itself had superseded the bank bill, Mr. Walker moved a concurrence
in the amendment. Mr. Buchanan intimated to Mr. Walker that he
was taken in—that the postponement was to enable Congress to
repeal the bill before it took effect; and, speaking in this sense, said:

"From the tone of the letters he had received from politicians

differing with him, he should advise his friend from Mississippi
[Mr. Walker], not to be quite so soft as, in his eagerness to pass
this bill, to agree to this amendment, postponing the time for it
to take effect to February, as it would be repealed before its
operation commenced; although it was now made a price of the
passage of the distribution bill. He felt not a particle of doubt
but there would be a violent attempt to repeal it next session."

Mr. Walker did not defend the amendment, but took it rather than,
by a non-concurrence, to send the bill back to the House, where its
friends could not trust it again. He said—"When his friend from
Pennsylvania spoke of his being 'soft,' he did not know whether he
referred to his head or his heart; but he could assure him he was not
soft enough to run the chance of defeating the bill by sending it
back to the House."—Mr. Calhoun did not concur with his friend from
Pennsylvania, that there would be any effort to repeal this bill. It
would be exceedingly popular at its first "go off," and if this bill
passed, he hoped that none of his friends would attempt to repeal it.
It would, if permitted to work, produce its legitimate effects; and
was enough to destroy any administration. He saw that this was a
doomed administration. It would not only destroy them, but blow
them "sky high."
This was the only instance in which Mr. Calhoun was known to
express a willingness that a bad measure should stand because it
would be the destruction of its authors; and on this occasion it was
merely the ebullition of an excited feeling, as proved when the
question of repeal came on at the next session—in which he
cordially gave his assistance. The amendment was concurred in
without a division, the adversaries of the bill being for the
postponement in good faith, and its friends agreeing to it for fear of
something worse. There had been an agreement that the three
measures were to pass, and upon that agreement the bank bill was
allowed to go down to the House before the bankrupt bill was out of
it; but the laying that bill on the table raised an alarm, and the
friends of the bankrupt required the others to be stopped until their
cherished measure was finished: and that was one of the reasons for
postponing the debate on the bank veto message which could not
be disclosed to the Senate. The amendment of the House being
agreed to, there was no further vote to be taken on the bill; but a
motion was made to suppress it by laying it on the table. That
motion brought out a clean vote for and against the bill—23 to 26.
The next day it received the approval of the President, and became
a law.
The act was not a bankrupt law, but practically an insolvent law
for the abolition of debts at the will of the debtor. It applied to all
persons in debt—allowed them to commence their proceedings in
the district of their own residence, no matter how lately removed to
it—allowed constructive notice to creditors in newspapers—declared
the abolition of the debt where effects were surrendered and fraud
not proved. It broke down the line between the jurisdiction of the
federal courts and the State courts in the whole department of
debtors and creditors; and bringing all local debts and dealings into
the federal courts, at the will of the debtor, to be settled by a federal
jurisdiction, with every advantage on the side of the debtor. It took
away from the State courts the trials between debtor and creditor in
the same State—a thing which under the constitution can only be
done between citizens of different States. Jurisdiction over
bankruptcies did not include the mass of debtors, but only that class
known to legislative and judicial proceedings as bankrupts. To go
beyond, and take in all debtors who could not pay their debts, and
bring them into the federal courts, was to break down the line
between federal and State jurisdictions, and subject all persons—all
neighbors—to have their dealings settled in the federal courts. It
violated the principle of all bankrupt systems—that of a proceeding
on the part of the creditors for their own benefit—and made it
entirely a proceeding for the benefit of the debtor, at his own will. It
was framed upon the model of the English insolvent debtor's act of
George the Fourth; and after closely paraphrasing eighteen
provisions out of that act, most flagrantly departed from its remedy
in the conclusion, in substituting a release from the debt instead of a
release from imprisonment. In that feature, and in applying to all
debts, and in giving the initiative to the debtor, and subjecting the
whole proceeding to be carried on at his will, it ceased to be a
bankrupt act, and became an insolvent act; but with a remedy which
no insolvent act, or bankrupt system, had ever contained before—
that of a total abolition of the debt by the act of the debtor alone,
unless the creditor could prove fraud; which the sort of trial allowed
would render impossible, even where it actually existed. It was the
same bill which had been introduced at the previous session, and
supported by Mr. Webster in an argument which confounded
insolvency with bankruptcy, and assumed every failure to pay a debt
to be a bankruptcy. The pressure for the passing of the act was
immense. The long disorders of the currency, with the expansions,
contractions, suspensions, and breaking of banks had filled the
country with men of ruined fortunes, who looked to the extinction of
their debts by law as the only means of getting rid of their
incumbrances, and commencing business anew. This unfortunate
class was estimated by the most moderate observers at an hundred
thousand men. They had become a power in the State. Their
numbers and zeal gave them weight: their common interest gave
them unity: the stake at issue gave them energy. They worked in a
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