Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 1 (of 2)Curtis, George Ticknor
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Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 1 (of 2)
Curtis, George Ticknor
Buchanan, James, 1791-1868
A greater curse can scarcely be inflicted upon the people of any State,
than to have their land titles unsettled. What, then, must be the
condition of Tennessee, where there are many disputed land titles, when
we are informed, by undoubted authority, “that some of the important
causes now pending in their circuit courts are older than the
professional career of almost every man at the bar.” Instead of being
astonished at the complaints of the people of this circuit, I am
astonished at their forbearance. A judiciary, able and willing to compel
men to perform their contracts, and to decide their controversies, is
one of the greatest political blessings which any people can enjoy; and
it is one which the people of this country have a right to expect from
their Government. The present bill proposes to accomplish this object,
by creating a new circuit out of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee.
This circuit will afford sufficient employment for one justice of the
Supreme Court.
Without insisting further upon the propriety, nay, the necessity, of
organizing the circuit courts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, in such
a manner as to enable them to transact the business of the people, I
shall now proceed to consider the situation of the six new States,
Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, and Missouri. Their
grievances are of a different character. They do not so much complain of
the delay of justice, as that Congress has so long refused to extend to
them the circuit court system, as it exists in all the other States. As
they successively came into the Union, they were each provided with a
district court and a district judge, possessing circuit court powers.
The acts which introduced them into our political family declare that
they shall “be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the
original States, in all respects whatever.” I do not mean to contend
that by virtue of these acts we were bound immediately to extend to them
the circuit court system. Such has not been the practice of Congress, in
regard to other States in a similar situation. I contend, however, that
these acts do impose an obligation upon us to place them “on an equal
footing with the original States,” in regard to the judiciary, as soon
as their wants require it, and the circumstances of the country permit
it to be done. That time has, in my opinion, arrived. Louisiana has now
been nearly eighteen years a member of the Union, and is one of our most
commercial States; and yet, until this day, she has been without a
circuit court. It is more than thirteen years since Indiana was
admitted; and even our youngest sister, Missouri, will soon have been
nine years in the family. Why should not these six States be admitted to
the same judicial privileges which all the others now enjoy? Even if
there were no better reason, they have a right to demand it for the mere
sake of uniformity. I admit this is an argument dictated by State pride;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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