SOCKDOLAGER -
A Tale of Davy Crockett
A "sockdolager" is a knock-down blow. This is a newspaper reporter's captivating
story of his unforgettable encounter with the old "Bear Hunter" from Tennessee.
From The Life of Colonel David Crockett,
by Edward S. Ellis
(Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CROCKETT was then the lion of Washington. I was a
great admirer of his character, and, having several friends who were intimate with him, I
found no difficulty in making his acquaintance. I was fascinated with him, and he seemed
to take a fancy to me.
I was one day in the lobby of the House of Representatives when a bill was taken
up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several
beautiful speeches had been made in its support -- rather, as I thought, because it afforded
the speakers a fine opportunity for display than from the necessity of convincing anybody,
for it seemed to me that everybody favored it. The Speaker was just about to put the
question when Crockett arose. Everybody expected, of course, that he was going to make
one of his characteristic speeches in support of the bill. He commenced:
"Mr. Speaker -- I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as
much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this
House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the
living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an
argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of
charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give
away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we
have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have
been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the
deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and
I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. This government can owe
no debts but for services rendered, and at a stipulated price. If it is a debt, how much is it?
Has it been audited, and the amount due ascertained? If it is a debt, this is not the place to
present it for payment, or to have its merits examined. If it is a debt, we owe more than we
can ever hope to pay, for we owe the widow of every soldier who fought in the War of
1812 precisely the same amount. There is a woman in my neighborhood, the widow of as
gallant a man as ever shouldered a musket. He fell in battle. She is as good in every
respect as this lady, and is as poor. She is earning her daily bread by her daily labor; but if
I were to introduce a bill to appropriate five or ten thousand dollars for her benefit, I
should be laughed at, and my bill would not get five votes in this House. There are
thousands of widows in the country just such as the one I have spoken of, but we never
hear of any of these large debts to them. Sir, this is no debt. The government did not owe
it to the deceased when he was alive; it could not contract it after he died. I do not wish to
be rude, but I must be plain. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot,
without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We
have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said
we have the right to give as much of our own money as we please. I am the poorest man
on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if
every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."
He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead
of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for
that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.
Like many other young men, and old ones, too, for that matter, who had not
thought upon the subject, I desired the passage of the bill, and felt outraged at its defeat. I
determined that I would persuade my friend Crockett to move a reconsideration the next
day.
Previous engagements preventing me from seeing Crockett that night, I went early
to his room the next morning and found him engaged in addressing and franking letters, a
large pile of which lay upon his table.
I broke in upon him rather abruptly, by asking him what devil had possessed him to
make that speech and defeat that bill yesterday. Without turning his head or looking up
from his work, he replied:
"You see that I am very busy now; take a seat and cool yourself. I will be through
in a few minutes, and then I will tell you all about it."
He continued his employment for about ten minutes, and when he had finished he
turned to me and said:
"Now, sir, I will answer your question. But thereby hangs a tale, and one of
considerable length, to which you will have to listen."
I listened, and this is the tale which I heard:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SEVERAL YEARS AGO I was one evening standing on the
steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was
attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped
into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. When we got there, I went to work, and I
never worked as hard in my life as I did there for several hours. But, in spite of all that
could be done, many houses were burned and many families made homeless, and, besides,
some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and
when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done
for them, and everybody else seemed to feel the same way.
The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We
put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done. I said
everybody felt as I did. That was not quite so; for, though they perhaps sympathized as
deeply with the sufferers as I did, there were a few of the members who did not think we
had the right to indulge our sympathy or excite our charity at the expense of anybody but
ourselves. They opposed the bill, and upon its passage demanded the yeas and nays. There
were not enough of them to sustain the call, but many of us wanted our names to appear
in favor of what we considered a praiseworthy measure, and we voted with them to
sustain it. So the yeas and nays were recorded, and my name appeared on the journals in
favor of the bill.
The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I
concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition
there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up, and I
thought it was best to let the boys know that I had not forgot them, and that going to
Congress had not made me too proud to go to see them.
So I put a couple of shirts and a few twists of tobacco into my saddlebags, and put
out. I had been out about a week and had found things going very smoothly, when, riding
one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a
man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should
meet as he came to the fence. As he came up I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but,
as I thought, rather coldly, and was about turning his horse for another furrow when I said
to him: "Don't be in such a hurry, my friend; I want to have a little talk with you, and get
better acquainted."
He replied: "I am very busy, and have but little time to talk, but if it does not take
too long, I will listen to what you have to say."
I began: "Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and
--"
"'Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and
voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now,
but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.'
This was a sockdolager... I begged him to tell me what was the matter.
"Well, Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do not see
how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have
not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in honesty and
firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg
your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege
of the Constitution to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or
wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is
very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not
have said, that I believe you to be honest. But an understanding of the Constitution
different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything,
must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power
and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is."
"I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do
not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question."
"No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom
go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the
proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate
$20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true?"
"Certainly it is, and I thought that was the last vote which anybody in the world
would have found fault with."
"Well, Colonel, where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away
the public money in charity?"
Here was another sockdolager; for, when I began to think about it, I could not
remember a thing in the Constitution that authorized it. I found I must take another tack,
so I said:
"Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly
nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant
sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and
overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I
did."
"It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first
place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its
legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting
and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to
man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every
man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays
in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge
where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess
how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to
relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had
the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you
had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one,
you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor
stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may
believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You
will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and
favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel,
Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own
money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that
purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown,
neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a
dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they
had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would
have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who
could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The
Congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them
spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for
relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give. The
people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things.
To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything
beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution."
I have given you an imperfect account of what he said. Long before he was
through, I was convinced that I had done wrong. He wound up by saying:
"So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital
point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins
to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no
security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any
better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for
you."
I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go
talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could
not answer him, and the fact is, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:
"Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense
enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had
studied it full. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but
what you have said there at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the
fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have
put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me
and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be
shot."
He laughingly replied:
"Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon
one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your
acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the
district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will
not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and, perhaps, I
may exert some little influence in that way."
"If I don't," said I, "I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest
in what I say, I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a
gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay
for it."
"No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of
provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The
push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. This
is Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday,
and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you."
"Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your
name."
"My name is Bunce."
"Not Horatio Bunce?"
"Yes."
"Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me; but I
know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have
you for my friend. You must let me shake your hand before I go."
We shook hands and parted.
It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with
the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible
integrity, and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which
showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country
around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate
acquaintance. Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for
this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing
is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.
At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every
crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the
people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.
Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary
circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight, talking about
the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I
had got all my life before.
I have told you Mr. Bunce converted me politically. He came nearer converting me
religiously than I had ever been before. He did not make a very good Christian of me, as
you know; but he has wrought upon my mind a conviction of the truth of Christianity, and
upon my feelings a reverence for its purifying and elevating power such as I had never felt
before.
I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him -- no, that is not the
word -- I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or
three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian
lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by
storm.
But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue, and, to my
surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known
before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well
acquainted -- at least, they all knew me.
In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered around a
stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:
"Fellow citizens -- I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My
eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had
heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you
more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more
for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make
this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a
matter for your consideration only."
I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation as I have
told it to you, and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:
"And now, fellow citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the
speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments
by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.
"It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit of it.
And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you
so."
He came upon the stand and said:
"Fellow citizens -- It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of
Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am
satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today."
He went down, and there went up from the crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett
as his name never called forth before.
I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some
big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few
words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more
to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever
shall make, as a member of Congress.
"NOW, SIR," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday. I
have had several thousand copies of it printed and was directing them to my constituents
when you came in.
"There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I
proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men -- men
who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them for a dinner or a wine
party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made
beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased -
- a debt which could not be paid by money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000,
when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my
proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people.
But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them
sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."
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