Not Yours to Give

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Not Yours to Give - Text 

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The Root of Liberty Discussion - "Not Yours to Give"

The words of Colonel David Crockett;

Compiled by Edward S. Ellis

First Published in Harper's Magazine in 1867.  Originally titled "Davy Crockett's Electioneering Tour", it was published in the January 1867 edition of Harper's Magazine by Edward Ellis under the pen name "J. Bethune". In that article, Ellis himself had heard the story directly from Davy Crockett. When Ellis incorporated the story in a later edition of The Life of Colonel David Crockett, it was claimed that an unnamed Congressman had related this story to the author.

Fundamental Concepts

Misconceived philanthropy

The concept of misconceived philanthropy was discussed in our previous reading assignment “The Law”, by Frédéric Bastiat.  In this scheme government uses charity as an excuse to expropriate (plunder in Bastiat’s words) the citizens. Later in “The Law” Bastiat describes this process as “philanthropic despotism”.

In “Not Yours to Give,” Davey Crockett provides a first-person account of how he realized that Government has no authority to spend the citizens’ money on charity.  In his speech to congress he says:

“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.” 

…. “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 money of our own 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.” 

Limited, accountable government 

In Davey Crockett’s discussion with Horatio Bunce, Horatio tells Davey: 

“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 (this statement incorporates Bastiat’s concept of “That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen”). 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.”   

…“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.” 

“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.”

Informed electorate 

Horatio Bunce provides an example of a citizen who has studied and analyzed political activities of his representatives and the government in general.  This is described in the text of the article: 

“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.” 

The description of Horatio Bunce is an idealistic representation of an informed citizen but in the context of this article we see the necessity of these characteristics in the voting public. 

Leonard E. Read the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) has this to say as an epilog: 

“Holders of political office are but reflections of the dominant leadership--good or bad--among the electorate. 

Horatio Bunce is a striking example of responsible citizenship. Were his kind to multiply, we would see many new faces in public office; or, as in the case of Davy Crockett, a new Crockett. 

For either the new faces or the new Crocketts, we must look to the Horatio in ourselves!”

Study Question

Horatio Bunce makes the following statement: "Congress has no right to give charity".  Is this statement correct?  If not, then under which article of the Constitution does Congress receive the authority to give charity?