THE MAKING OF A NATION 78- 1850 Compromise, Part 2

THE MAKING OF A NATION #78- 1850 Compromise, Part 2
By Frank Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, September 02, 2004

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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During the first half of the eighteen-hundreds, the question of slavery in the United States remained a problem. The nation's leaders found no way to settle the issue. After the war with Mexico in eighteen-hundred-forty-nine, when the United States got California and New Mexico, the dispute over slavery became more threatening.

The north refused to permit slavery in these new territories. The south declared that it had a constitutional right to bring slaves into the new lands. The south was ready to secede¹ -- leave and break up the Union of States. Then, in eighteen-hundred-fifty, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky offered a compromise to save the nation from a split, and probably a war between the north and the south. He attacked the south's claim that it had the right to leave the Union. He said the Union of States was permanent, created for all future Americans. He warned that the war which would follow southern secession would be long and bloody².

VOICE TWO:

 
President Zachary Taylor
Extremists on both sides opposed Clay's compromise proposals. So did President Taylor. The president had hoped that Webster, Clay, and other Whig Party leaders would support his own limited plan of statehood for California. The president's feelings were hurt when none of the party leaders thought that his idea was important.

The president's chief adviser³, Senator Seward of New York, was also against Clay's proposals. Seward strongly opposed slavery and did not believe it was right to compromise on it. One week after Clay spoke⁴, Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi explained his position. He did not say much about Clay's proposed compromise. Davis was sure that no good would result from it, not even from stronger laws on the return of escaped slaves. He said these laws would not be enforced in states where people opposed slavery.

VOICE ONE:

Senator Davis said that what was needed was a change in the north's policy toward the south. He said the north must recognize the rights of southerners, especially the right to take slave property into territories of the United States. Davis said Congress had no right to destroy or limit this right. He admitted that the old Missouri compromise of eighteen-hundred-twenty had limited the right to take slaves into the territories. He said the eighteen-hundred-twenty compromise worked -- not because Congress passed it -- but because the states agreed to it.

Senator Davis said the north was responsible for the growing split, because the north was trying to get complete control of the south. He said if these efforts were not stopped, the north some day would be powerful enough to change the constitution and end slavery everywhere. Davis warned that the south would never accept this.

VOICE TWO:

Three weeks later, the Senate heard another southern leader, Senator John C. Calhoun. For years, Calhoun was the voice of the south. He now was sixty-eight years old and a sick man. He would die within a month. Calhoun had been too ill to hear Clay's speech. He spent the last week in February writing what he believed to be the true position of the south.

On Sunday, March third, it was announced that Calhoun would speak in the Senate the next day. Most understood that it would be his last speech. The Senate was crowded when Calhoun entered. One by one, friends came up to speak to him. The old man's long, gray hair fell to his shoulders. His face was thin and white. But his eyes were bright and his jaw⁵ firm. Calhoun was too weak to read his speech. He asked Senator Mason to read it for him.

VOICE ONE:

Calhoun said that for a long time he had believed that the dispute over slavery -- if not settled -- would end in disunion. Calhoun said it was clear now to everyone that the Union was breaking apart...that the ties that had held the north and south together were breaking, one by one.

 
John C. Calhoun
Three churches, once united across the nation, now were split between north and south. The two major political parties, he declared, were divided in the same way. Calhoun said the north was responsible for all this, because it had destroyed the political balance between the two parts of the country. As the population of the north had grown large, he noted⁶, that part of the country had seized political and economic control. The north had passed tariff⁷ bills that the south opposed. It had filled most of the offices in the federal government. It closed the new territories to southern slaveholders. And, said Calhoun, it had viciously attacked the southern institution of slavery.

VOICE TWO:

The situation was so bad, Calhoun said, that the south could not -- with honor and safety -- remain in the Union. "How can the Union be saved?" he asked. "Not by the compromise proposed by the senator from Kentucky. There is but one way. A full and final settlement, with justice, of all the questions disputed by the two sections. "The south asks for justice, simple justice, and less she ought not to take. She has no compromise to offer but the constitution, and no concession⁸ or surrender to make. She has already surrendered so much that she has little left to surrender."

Then Calhoun listed the things the north must do to satisfy the south. He said it must give the south an equal right in the new territories of the west. It must make people obey the laws on the return of runaway⁹ slaves. It must agree to an amendment¹⁰ to the constitution that would return political balance to north and south. And it must stop the attacks against slavery. If all these things were not done, Calhoun said, then it would be better to separate, to part in peace. But if the north refused a peaceful separation, then the south would be faced with the choice of surrender or fight. "The south will know what to do," said Calhoun.

VOICE ONE:

When calhoun finished his speech to the Senate, southern lawmakers crowded around the old man, congratulating him. But many of them could not agree with his extreme demands and the violence of his words. His appeal was too late. Most southerners believed that clay's proposals were a reasonable way to settle the difference and protect the union. Clay was worried that his compromise might be defeated by northern votes. Many in the north felt slavery was wrong. They opposed the compromise, because it might permit slavery in the New Mexico territory, and because it called for stronger laws on the return of slaves who had escaped to the north.

VOICE TWO:

Eight days before he first proposed the compromise, Clay visited Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. A friend of Webster's described the meeting in these words: "Mr. Clay came to Mr. Webster's house and had a long talk with him about the best way to settle the difficulties growing out of slavery and the new territories. I heard part of their conversation."

 
Senator Henry Clay
"Mr. Clay left after about an hour. Mr. Webster called me to his side and spoke to me of Mr. Clay in words of great kindness. He said he agreed generally with Mr. Clay, that he thought Mr. Clay's purpose was great and highly patriotic¹¹."

"He said Mr. Clay seemed to be very weak and had a very bad cough, that he was sure Mr. Clay wanted to do something for the good of his country during the little time he had left on Earth. Mr. webster said further that he thought Mr. Clay's plan was one that should be satisfactory to the north and to the reasonable men of the south. He said he believed that he could support all of it and would work for its approval in the Senate."

VOICE ONE:

Webster planned to speak in support of Clay's proposal. But he would wait until the best time for declaring it. He decided¹² to make it on March seventh, just three days after Calhoun's speech was read to the Senate. Webster was sixty-eight years old, as old as Calhoun. His voice was weaker now. But his words rang with the same strength as years earlier.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were lew rowland and jack¹³ moyles. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A NATION can be heard thursdays.

1 secede   

v.退出，脱离

参考例句：

• They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
• We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。

2 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

8 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

9 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

10 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

11 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。