Constitution of the United States." Entertaining the opinions alluded
to and having taken this oath, the Senate and the country will see that
I could not give my sanction to a measure of the character described
without surrendering all claim to the respect of honorable men, all
confidence on the part of the people, all self-respect, all regard for
moral and religious obligations, without an observance of which no
government can be prosperous and no people can be happy. It would be to
commit a crime which I would not willfully commit to gain any earthly
reward, and which would justly subject me to the ridicule and scorn of
all virtuous men.

I deem it entirely unnecessary at this time to enter upon the reasons
which have brought my mind to the convictions I feel and entertain on
this subject. They have been over and over again repeated. If some of
those who have preceded me in this high office have entertained and
avowed different opinions, I yield all confidence that their convictions
were sincere. I claim only to have the same measure meted out to myself.
Without going further into the argument, I will say that in looking to
the powers of this Government to collect, safely keep, and disburse the
public revenue, and incidentally to regulate the commerce and exchanges,
I have not been able to satisfy myself that the establishment by this
Government of a bank of discount in the ordinary acceptation of that
term was a necessary means or one demanded by propriety to execute those
powers. What can the local discounts of the bank have to do with the
collecting, safe-keeping, and disbursing of the revenue? So far as the
mere discounting of paper is concerned, it is quite immaterial to this
question whether the discount is obtained at a State bank or a United
States bank. They are both equally local, both beginning and both ending
in a local accommodation. What influence have local discounts granted by
any form of bank in the regulating of the currency and the exchanges?