Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 1 (of 16)

Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 1 (of 16)

The debates of Congress have been accruing for near seventy years, and fill more than an hundred volumes, and cannot be purchased for less than $500, nor advantageously used, on account of the quantity of superfluous matter which they contain. They are printed in full by Congress, and ought to be so, and a small distribution is made among the members; but this distribution cannot reach the community, and would be nearly useless if it did, from the quantity of obsolete, local and transient matter which overloads them. In the mean time, these debates contain the history of the working of our Government from its foundationpreserve and hand down to posterity the wisdom of agesshow what has been done, and how it was doneand shed light upon the study of all impending questions; for there is not a question of the day, and will not be while the Government continues, which will not be illustrated by something previously said in these debates. All works consisting of periodical accumulations require periodical abridgment, in which, being relieved of what is superfluous, the residuum becomes more valuable from the disencumbranceof easier use to the readerand more accessible to the community, from the diminution of price and quantity. Even the reports of the Supreme Court of the United States, though comparatively free from redundant or obsolete matter, have undergone abridgmentthree volumes reduced to oneand become more valuable from the reduction. The same may be done with these debates, and with a far greater license of reduction, from the very nature of popular debating. Some fifteen or sixteen octavo volumes, double columns, are expected to contain all that retains a surviving[Pg 6] interest in the (more than) one hundred volumes, now surcharged with the full debates. The abridgment will not be restricted to the speeches of the celebrated orators, but extend to those of the business men, and to the plainest speakerswho are often the members who give the most useful information. Full speeches are not expected to be given, there being none, after a short time, which do not contain much matter that has lost its interest. Many entire heads of reported proceedings and discussions would be omitted: asThe morning presentation of petitions, often the same for ten or twenty years, and presented in both Houses at the same time: discussion on private bills, which have no general interest: mere personalities: the endless repetition of yeas and nays, sometimes recorded an hundred times in contests about the same bill, when three or four sets would be sufficient to show the opinion of every member upon every material point: repetitions of speeches, for it is impossible that a member speaking for ten or twenty sessions on the same subject, (tariff, internal improvement, national bank, &c.) should not repeat the same thing over and over again. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 40499
Author: United States. Congress
Release Date: Aug 14, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Benton, Thomas Hart, 1782-1858