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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10858 ***
+
+MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS:
+
+ANDREW JACKSON
+
+March 4, 1829, to March 4, 1833
+
+Edited by James D. Richardson
+
+
+
+
+ANDREW JACKSON
+
+
+Andrew Jackson was born in the Waxhaw Settlement, North or South
+Carolina, on the 15th of March, 1767. He was a son of Andrew Jackson, an
+Irishman, who emigrated to America in 1765 and died in 1767. The name of
+his mother was Elizabeth Hutchinson. There is little definite
+information about the schools that he attended. According to Parton, "He
+learned to read, to write, and cast accounts--little more." Having taken
+arms against the British in 1781, he was captured, and afterwards
+wounded by an officer because he refused to clean the officer's boots.
+About 1785 he began to study law at Salisbury, N.C. In 1788 removed to
+Nashville, Tenn., where he began to practice law. About 1791 he married
+Rachel Robards, originally Rachel Donelson, whose first husband was
+living and had taken preliminary measures to obtain a divorce, which was
+legally completed in 1793. The marriage ceremony was again performed in
+1794. He was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of
+Tennessee in 1796, and in the autumn of that year was elected
+Representative to Congress by the people of Tennessee, which State was
+then entitled to only one member. Supported Thomas Jefferson in the
+Presidential election of 1796. In 1797 became a Senator of the United
+States for the State of Tennessee. Resigned his seat in the Senate in
+1798; was a judge of the supreme court of Tennessee from 1798 till 1804.
+After war had been declared against Great Britain, General Jackson (who
+several years before had been appointed major-general of militia)
+offered his services and those of 2,500 volunteers in June, 1812. He was
+ordered to New Orleans, and led a body of 2,070 men in that direction;
+but at Natchez he received an order, dated February 6, 1813, by which
+his troops were dismissed from public service. In October, 1813, he took
+the field against the Creek Indians, whom he defeated at Talladega in
+November. By his services in this Creek war, which ended in 1814, he
+acquired great popularity, and in May, 1814, was appointed a
+major-general in the Regular Army; was soon afterwards ordered to the
+Gulf of Mexico, to oppose an expected invasion of the British. In
+November he seized Pensacola, which belonged to Spain, but was used by
+the British as a base of operations. About the 1st of December he moved
+his army to New Orleans, where he was successful in two engagements with
+the British, and afterwards gained his famous victory on January 8,
+1815. This was the last battle of the war, a treaty of peace having been
+signed on December 24, 1814. In 1817-18 he waged a successful war
+against the Seminoles in Florida, seized Pensacola, and executed
+Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two British subjects, accused of inciting the
+savages to hostile acts against the Americans. He was appointed governor
+of Florida in 1821. In 1823 was elected a Senator of the United States,
+and nominated as candidate for the Presidency by the legislature of
+Tennessee. His competitors were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and
+William H. Crawford. Jackson received 99 electoral votes, Adams 84,
+Crawford 41, and Clay 37. As no candidate had a majority, the election
+devolved on the House of Representatives, and it resulted in the choice
+of Mr. Adams. In 1828 Jackson was elected President, receiving 178
+electoral votes, while Adams received 83; was reelected in 1832,
+defeating Henry Clay. Retired to private life March 4, 1837. He died at
+the Hermitage on the 8th of June, 1845, and was buried there.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT.
+
+CITY OF WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1829._
+J.C. CALHOUN,
+_Vice-President of the United States_.
+
+Sir: Through you I beg leave to inform the Senate that on Wednesday, the
+4th instant, at 12 o'clock, I shall be ready to take the oath prescribed
+by the Constitution previously to entering on a discharge of my official
+duties, and at such place as the Senate may think proper to designate.
+
+I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
+
+Fellow-Citizens: About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been
+appointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of
+this customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude which their
+confidence inspires and to acknowledge the accountability which my
+situation enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces me
+that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have conferred, it
+admonishes me that the best return I can make is the zealous dedication
+of my humble abilities to their service and their good.
+
+As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will devolve on me for
+a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend
+their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue,
+to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to
+watch over and to promote their interests generally. And the principles
+of action by which I shall endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties
+it is now proper for me briefly to explain.
+
+In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the
+limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, trusting
+thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its
+authority. With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace
+and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the
+adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the
+forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility
+belonging to a gallant people.
+
+In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to the rights
+of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for
+those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the
+powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to
+the Confederacy.
+
+The management of the public revenue--that searching operation in all
+governments--is among the most delicate and important trusts in ours,
+and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share of my official
+solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be considered it would
+appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict and
+faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more anxiously both because it
+will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary
+duration of which is incompatible with real independence, and because it
+will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a
+profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to
+engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end
+are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress
+for the specific appropriation of public money and the prompt
+accountability of public officers.
+
+With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with a view
+to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, caution, and
+compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great
+interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally
+favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this rule should consist
+in the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may
+be found essential to our national independence.
+
+Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can
+be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of
+high importance.
+
+Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of
+peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor
+disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches
+that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The
+gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes
+our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our
+forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive
+improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our
+military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be
+excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their
+importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia,
+which in the present state of our intelligence and population must
+render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the
+good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it
+secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of
+conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as
+it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an
+impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we
+may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the
+means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just
+system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of
+the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power.
+
+It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian
+tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that
+humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which
+is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our
+people.
+
+The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of
+Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task
+of _reform_, which will require particularly the correction of those
+abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into
+conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those
+causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have
+placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands.
+
+In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall endeavor
+to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their
+respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the
+advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the
+public officers than on their numbers.
+
+A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me
+to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my
+illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow
+from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The
+same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the
+coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and
+support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the
+goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our
+national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various
+vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He
+will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care
+and gracious benediction.
+
+MARCH 4, 1829.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL MESSAGES.
+
+
+_March 6, 1829_.
+_the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: The Executive nominations made during the past session of
+Congress, and which remain unacted on by the Senate, I hereby withdraw
+from their consideration.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 6, 1829_.
+_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
+
+The treaty of commerce and navigation concluded at Washington on the 1st
+of May, 1828, between the United States and the King of Prussia, was
+laid before the Senate, who, by their resolution of the 14th of that
+month, advised and consented to its ratification by the President.
+
+By the sixteenth article of that treaty it was agreed that the exchange
+of ratifications should be made within nine months from its date.
+
+On the 15th day of February last, being fifteen days after the time
+stipulated for the exchange by the terms of the treaty, the chargé
+d'affaires of the King of Prussia informed the Secretary of State that
+he had received the Prussian ratification and was ready to exchange it
+for that of the United States. In reply he was informed of the intention
+of the President, my late predecessor, not to proceed to the exchange in
+consequence of the expiration of the time within which it was to be
+made.
+
+Under these circumstances I have thought it my duty, in order to avoid
+all future questions, to ask the advice and consent of the Senate to
+make the proposed exchange.
+
+I send you the original of the treaty, together with a printed copy of
+it.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 11, 1829_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: Brevet rank for ten years' faithful service has produced much
+confusion in the Army. For this reason the discretion vested in the
+President of the United States on this subject would not be exercised by
+any submission of those cases to the Senate but that it has been
+heretofore the practice to do so. They are accordingly submitted, with
+other nominations, to fill the offices respectively annexed to their
+names in the inclosed lists,[1] for the consideration of the Senate.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 1: Omitted.]
+
+
+
+
+PROCLAMATIONS.
+
+By the President of the United States of America.
+
+
+A PROCLAMATION.
+
+Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of
+January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of
+tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence
+being given to the President of the United States by the government of
+any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost
+are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels
+belonging wholly to citizens of the United States, or upon merchandise
+the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President
+is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the
+foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
+States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
+the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or
+manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said
+suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
+to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
+reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
+States, and merchandise, as aforesaid, therein laden, shall be
+continued, and no longer; and
+
+Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Imperial
+Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through the Baron de Lederer, his
+consul-general in the United States, that vessels wholly belonging to
+citizens of the United States are not, nor shall be, on their entering
+any Austrian port, from and after the 1st day of January last, subject
+to the payment of higher duties of tonnage than are levied on Austrian
+ships:
+
+Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
+America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
+imposing duties on the tonnage of ships arriving in the United States as
+imposed a discriminating duty between the vessels of the Empire of
+Austria and vessels of the United States are suspended and discontinued,
+the said suspension to take effect from the day above mentioned and to
+continue henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels
+of the United States shall be continued in the ports of the imperial
+dominions of Austria.
+
+(SEAL.)
+
+Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 11th day of May,
+A.D. 1829, and the fifty-second[2] of the Independence of the United
+States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+By the President:
+M. Van Buren,
+_Secretary of State_.
+
+[Footnote 2: Should be "third" instead of "second."]
+
+
+BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
+
+A PROCLAMATION.
+
+Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
+May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
+concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,' and to equalize
+the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that
+upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United
+States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating
+duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the
+said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United
+States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in
+the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the
+President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that
+the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
+United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as
+respects the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce,
+manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same
+from the said foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said
+suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
+to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
+reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
+States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no
+longer; and
+
+Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from His
+Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through an official
+communication of the Baron de Lederer, his consul-general in the United
+States, under date of the 29th of May, 1829, that no other or higher
+duties of tonnage and impost are imposed or levied since the 1st day of
+January last in the ports of Austria upon vessels wholly belonging to
+citizens of the United States and upon the produce, manufactures, or
+merchandise imported in the same from the United States and from any
+foreign country whatever than are levied on Austrian ships and their
+cargoes in the same ports under like circumstances:
+
+Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
+America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
+imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
+States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
+the vessels of Austria and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise
+imported into the United States in the same from the dominions of
+Austria and from any other foreign country whatever, the said suspension
+to take effect from the day above mentioned and to continue
+thenceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the
+United States and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported
+into the dominions of Austria in the same, as aforesaid, shall be
+continued on the part of the Government of His Imperial Majesty the
+Emperor of Austria.
+
+Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 3d day of June,
+A.D. 1829, and the fifty-third of the Independence of the United States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+By the President:
+M. VAN BUREN,
+_Secretary of State_.
+
+
+EXECUTIVE ORDER.
+
+In all applications by any invalid to obtain a pension in consequence of
+any disability incurred, no payment therefor shall commence until proof
+shall be filed in the Department and the decision of the Secretary had
+thereon; and no pension will be allowed to anyone while acting as an
+officer of the Army except in cases which have been heretofore adjudged.
+
+Approved, 8th April, 1829.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.
+
+_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+It affords me pleasure to tender my friendly greetings to you on the
+occasion of your assembling at the seat of Government to enter upon the
+important duties to which you have been called by the voice of our
+countrymen. The task devolves on me, under a provision of the
+Constitution, to present to you, as the Federal Legislature of
+twenty-four sovereign States and 12,000,000 happy people, a view of our
+affairs, and to propose such measures as in the discharge of my official
+functions have suggested themselves as necessary to promote the objects
+of our Union.
+
+In communicating with you for the first time it is to me a source of
+unfeigned satisfaction, calling for mutual gratulation and devout thanks
+to a benign Providence, that we are at peace with all mankind, and that
+our country exhibits the most cheering evidence of general welfare and
+progressive improvement. Turning our eyes to other nations, our great
+desire is to see our brethren of the human race secured in the blessings
+enjoyed by ourselves, and advancing in knowledge, in freedom, and in
+social happiness.
+
+Our foreign relations, although in their general character pacific and
+friendly, present subjects of difference between us and other powers of
+deep interest as well to the country at large as to many of our
+citizens. To effect an adjustment of these shall continue to be the
+object of my earnest endeavors, and notwithstanding the difficulties of
+the task, I do not allow myself to apprehend unfavorable results.
+Blessed as our country is with everything which constitutes national
+strength, she is fully adequate to the maintenance of all her interests.
+In discharging the responsible trust confided to the Executive in this
+respect it is my settled purpose to ask nothing that is not clearly
+right and to submit to nothing that is wrong; and I flatter myself that,
+supported by the other branches of the Government and by the
+intelligence and patriotism of the people, we shall be able, under the
+protection of Providence, to cause all our just rights to be respected.
+
+Of the unsettled matters between the United States and other powers, the
+most prominent are those which have for years been the subject of
+negotiation with England, France, and Spain. The late periods at which
+our ministers to those Governments left the United States render it
+impossible at this early day to inform you of what has been done on the
+subjects with which they have been respectively charged. Relying upon
+the justice of our views in relation to the points committed to
+negotiation and the reciprocal good feeling which characterizes our
+intercourse with those nations, we have the best reason to hope for a
+satisfactory adjustment of existing differences.
+
+With Great Britain, alike distinguished in peace and war, we may look
+forward to years of peaceful, honorable, and elevated competition.
+Everything in the condition and history of the two nations is calculated
+to inspire sentiments of mutual respect and to carry conviction to the
+minds of both that it is their policy to preserve the most cordial
+relations. Such are my own views, and it is not to be doubted that such
+are also the prevailing sentiments of our constituents. Although neither
+time nor opportunity has been afforded for a full development of the
+policy which the present cabinet of Great Britain designs to pursue
+toward this country, I indulge the hope that it will be of a just and
+pacific character; and if this anticipation be realized we may look with
+confidence to a speedy and acceptable adjustment of our affairs.
+
+Under the convention for regulating the reference to arbitration of the
+disputed points of boundary under the fifth article of the treaty of
+Ghent, the proceedings have hitherto been conducted in that spirit of
+candor and liberality which ought ever to characterize the acts of
+sovereign States seeking to adjust by the most unexceptionable means
+important and delicate subjects of contention. The first statements of
+the parties have been exchanged, and the final replication on our part
+is in a course of preparation. This subject has received the attention
+demanded by its great and peculiar importance to a patriotic member of
+this Confederacy.
+
+The exposition of our rights already made is such as, from the high
+reputation of the commissioners by whom it has been prepared, we had a
+right to expect. Our interests at the Court of the Sovereign who has
+evinced his friendly disposition by assuming the delicate task of
+arbitration have been committed to a citizen of the State of Maine,
+whose character, talents, and intimate acquaintance with the subject
+eminently qualify him for so responsible a trust. With full confidence
+in the justice of our cause and in the probity, intelligence, and
+uncompromising independence of the illustrious arbitrator, we can have
+nothing to apprehend from the result.
+
+From France, our ancient ally, we have a right to expect that justice
+which becomes the sovereign of a powerful, intelligent, and magnanimous
+people. The beneficial effects produced by the commercial convention of
+1822, limited as are its provisions, are too obvious not to make a
+salutary impression upon the minds of those who are charged with the
+administration of her Government. Should this result induce a
+disposition to embrace to their full extent the wholesome principles
+which constitute our commercial policy, our minister to that Court will
+be found instructed to cherish such a disposition and to aid in
+conducting it to useful practical conclusions. The claims of our
+citizens for depredations upon their property, long since committed
+under the authority, and in many instances by the express direction, of
+the then existing Government of France, remain unsatisfied, and must
+therefore continue to furnish a subject of unpleasant discussion and
+possible collision between the two Governments. I cherish, however, a
+lively hope, founded as well on the validity of those claims and the
+established policy of all enlightened governments as on the known
+integrity of the French Monarch, that the injurious delays of the past
+will find redress in the equity of the future. Our minister has been
+instructed to press these demands on the French Government with all the
+earnestness which is called for by their importance and irrefutable
+justice, and in a spirit that will evince the respect which is due to
+the feelings of those from whom the satisfaction is required.
+
+Our minister recently appointed to Spain has been authorized to assist
+in removing evils alike injurious to both countries, either by
+concluding a commercial convention upon liberal and reciprocal terms or
+by urging the acceptance in their full extent of the mutually beneficial
+provisions of our navigation acts. He has also been instructed to make a
+further appeal to the justice of Spain, in behalf of our citizens, for
+indemnity for spoliations upon our commerce committed under her
+authority--an appeal which the pacific and liberal course observed on
+our part and a due confidence in the honor of that Government authorize
+us to expect will not be made in vain.
+
+With other European powers our intercourse is on the most friendly
+footing. In Russia, placed by her territorial limits, extensive
+population, and great power high in the rank of nations, the United
+States have always found a steadfast friend. Although her recent
+invasion of Turkey awakened a lively sympathy for those who were exposed
+to the desolations of war, we can not but anticipate that the result
+will prove favorable to the cause of civilization and to the progress of
+human happiness. The treaty of peace between these powers having been
+ratified, we can not be insensible to the great benefit to be derived by
+the commerce of the United States from unlocking the navigation of the
+Black Sea, a free passage into which is secured to all merchant vessels
+bound to ports of Russia under a flag at peace with the Porte. This
+advantage, enjoyed upon conditions by most of the powers of Europe, has
+hitherto been withheld from us. During the past summer an antecedent but
+unsuccessful attempt to obtain it was renewed under circumstances which
+promised the most favorable results. Although these results have
+fortunately been thus in part attained, further facilities to the
+enjoyment of this new field for the enterprise of our citizens are, in
+my opinion, sufficiently desirable to insure to them our most zealous
+attention.
+
+Our trade with Austria, although of secondary importance, has been
+gradually increasing, and is now so extended as to deserve the fostering
+care of the Government. A negotiation, commenced and nearly completed
+with that power by the late Administration, has been consummated by a
+treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce, which will be laid before the
+Senate.
+
+During the recess of Congress our diplomatic relations with Portugal
+have been resumed. The peculiar state of things in that country caused a
+suspension of the recognition of the representative who presented
+himself until an opportunity was had to obtain from our official organ
+there information regarding the actual and, as far as practicable,
+prospective condition of the authority by which the representative in
+question was appointed. This information being received, the application
+of the established rule of our Government in like cases was no longer
+withheld.
+
+Considerable advances have been made during the present year in the
+adjustment of claims of our citizens upon Denmark for spoliations, but
+all that we have a right to demand from that Government in their behalf
+has not yet been conceded. From the liberal footing, however, upon which
+this subject has, with the approbation of the claimants, been placed by
+the Government, together with the uniformly just and friendly
+disposition which has been evinced by His Danish Majesty, there is a
+reasonable ground to hope that this single subject of difference will
+speedily be removed.
+
+Our relations with the Barbary Powers continue, as they have long been,
+of the most favorable character. The policy of keeping an adequate force
+in the Mediterranean, as security for the continuance of this
+tranquillity, will be persevered in, as well as a similar one for the
+protection of our commerce and fisheries in the Pacific.
+
+The southern Republics of our own hemisphere have not yet realized all
+the advantages for which they have been so long struggling. We trust,
+however, that the day is not distant when the restoration of peace and
+internal quiet, under permanent systems of government, securing the
+liberty and promoting the happiness of the citizens, will crown with
+complete success their long and arduous efforts in the cause of
+self-government, and enable us to salute them as friendly rivals in all
+that is truly great and glorious.
+
+The recent invasion of Mexico, and the effect thereby produced upon her
+domestic policy, must have a controlling influence upon the great
+question of South American emancipation. We have seen the fell spirit of
+civil dissension rebuked, and perhaps forever stifled, in that Republic
+by the love of independence. If it be true, as appearances strongly
+indicate, that the spirit of independence is the master spirit, and if a
+corresponding sentiment prevails in the other States, this devotion to
+liberty can not be without a proper effect upon the counsels of the
+mother country. The adoption by Spain of a pacific policy toward her
+former colonies--an event consoling to humanity, and a blessing to the
+world, in which she herself can not fail largely to participate--may be
+most reasonably expected.
+
+The claims of our citizens upon the South American Governments generally
+are in a train of settlement, while the principal part of those upon
+Brazil have been adjusted, and a decree in council ordering bonds to be
+issued by the minister of the treasury for their amount has received the
+sanction of His Imperial Majesty. This event, together with the exchange
+of the ratifications of the treaty negotiated and concluded in 1828,
+happily terminates all serious causes of difference with that power.
+
+Measures have been taken to place our commercial relations with Peru
+upon a better footing than that upon which they have hitherto rested,
+and if met by a proper disposition on the part of that Government
+important benefits may be secured to both countries.
+
+Deeply interested as we are in the prosperity of our sister Republics,
+and more particularly in that of our immediate neighbor, it would be
+most gratifying to me were I permitted to say that the treatment which
+we have received at her hands has been as universally friendly as the
+early and constant solicitude manifested by the United States for her
+success gave us a right to expect. But it becomes my duty to inform you
+that prejudices long indulged by a portion of the inhabitants of Mexico
+against the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the
+United States have had an unfortunate influence upon the affairs of the
+two countries, and have diminished that usefulness to his own which was
+justly to be expected from his talents and zeal. To this cause, in a
+great degree, is to be imputed the failure of several measures equally
+interesting to both parties, but particularly that of the Mexican
+Government to ratify a treaty negotiated and concluded in its own
+capital and under its own eye. Under these circumstances it appeared
+expedient to give to Mr. Poinsett the option either to return or not, as
+in his judgment the interest of his country might require, and
+instructions to that end were prepared; but before they could be
+dispatched a communication was received from the Government of Mexico,
+through its chargé d'affaires here, requesting the recall of our
+minister. This was promptly complied with, and a representative of a
+rank corresponding with that of the Mexican diplomatic agent near this
+Government was appointed. Our conduct toward that Republic has been
+uniformly of the most friendly character, and having thus removed the
+only alleged obstacle to harmonious intercourse, I can not but hope that
+an advantageous change will occur in our affairs.
+
+In justice to Mr. Poinsett it is proper to say that my immediate
+compliance with the application for his recall and the appointment of a
+successor are not to be ascribed to any evidence that the imputation of
+an improper interference by him in the local politics of Mexico was well
+founded, nor to a want of confidence in his talents or integrity, and to
+add that the truth of that charge has never been affirmed by the federal
+Government of Mexico in its communications with this.
+
+I consider it one of the most urgent of my duties to bring to your
+attention the propriety of amending that part of our Constitution which
+relates to the election of President and Vice-President. Our system of
+government was by its framers deemed an experiment, and they therefore
+consistently provided a mode of remedying its defects.
+
+To the people belongs the right of electing their Chief Magistrate; it
+was never designed that their choice should in any case be defeated,
+either by the intervention of electoral colleges or by the agency
+confided, under certain contingencies, to the House of Representatives.
+Experience proves that in proportion as agents to execute the will of
+the people are multiplied there is danger of their wishes being
+frustrated. Some may be unfaithful; all are liable to err. So far,
+therefore, as the people can with convenience speak, it is safer for
+them to express their own will.
+
+The number of aspirants to the Presidency and the diversity of the
+interests which may influence their claims leave little reason to expect
+a choice in the first instance, and in that event the election must
+devolve on the House of Representatives, where it is obvious the will of
+the people may not be always ascertained, or, if ascertained, may not be
+regarded. From the mode of voting by States the choice is to be made by
+24 votes, and it may often occur that one of these will be controlled by
+an individual Representative. Honors and offices are at the disposal of
+the successful candidate. Repeated ballotings may make it apparent that
+a single individual holds the cast in his hand. May he not be tempted to
+name his reward? But even without corruption, supposing the probity of
+the Representative to be proof against the powerful motives by which it
+may be assailed, the will of the people is still constantly liable to be
+misrepresented. One may err from ignorance of the wishes of his
+constituents; another from a conviction that it is his duty to be
+governed by his own judgment of the fitness of the candidates; finally,
+although all were inflexibly honest, all accurately informed of the
+wishes of their constituents, yet under the present mode of election a
+minority may often elect a President, and when this happens it may
+reasonably be expected that efforts will be made on the part of the
+majority to rectify this injurious operation of their institutions. But
+although no evil of this character should result from such a perversion
+of the first principle of our system--_that the majority is to
+govern_--it must be very certain that a President elected by a minority
+can not enjoy the confidence necessary to the successful discharge of
+his duties.
+
+In this as in all other matters of public concern policy requires that
+as few impediments as possible should exist to the free operation of the
+public will. Let us, then, endeavor so to amend our system that the
+office of Chief Magistrate may not be conferred upon any citizen but in
+pursuance of a fair expression of the will of the majority.
+
+I would therefore recommend such an amendment of the Constitution as may
+remove all intermediate agency in the election of the President and
+Vice-President. The mode may be so regulated as to preserve to each
+State its present relative weight in the election, and a failure in the
+first attempt may be provided for by confining the second to a choice
+between the two highest candidates. In connection with such an amendment
+it would seem advisable to limit the service of the Chief Magistrate to
+a single term of either four or six years. If, however, it should not be
+adopted, it is worthy of consideration whether a provision disqualifying
+for office the Representatives in Congress on whom such an election may
+have devolved would not be proper.
+
+While members of Congress can be constitutionally appointed to offices
+of trust and profit it will be the practice, even under the most
+conscientious adherence to duty, to select them for such stations as
+they are believed to be better qualified to fill than other citizens;
+but the purity of our Government would doubtless be promoted by their
+exclusion from all appointments in the gift of the President, in whose
+election they may have been officially concerned. The nature of the
+judicial office and the necessity of securing in the Cabinet and in
+diplomatic stations of the highest rank the best talents and political
+experience should, perhaps, except these from the exclusion.
+
+There are, perhaps, few men who can for any great length of time enjoy
+office and power without being more or less under the influence of
+feelings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of their public duties.
+Their integrity may be proof against improper considerations immediately
+addressed to themselves, but they are apt to acquire a habit of looking
+with indifference upon the public interests and of tolerating conduct
+from which an unpracticed man would revolt. Office is considered as a
+species of property, and government rather as a means of promoting
+individual interests than as an instrument created solely for the
+service of the people. Corruption in some and in others a perversion of
+correct feelings and principles divert government from its legitimate
+ends and make it an engine for the support of the few at the expense of
+the many. The duties of all public officers are, or at least admit of
+being made, so plain and simple that men of intelligence may readily
+qualify themselves for their performance; and I can not but believe that
+more is lost by the long continuance of men in office than is generally
+to be gained by their experience. I submit, therefore, to your
+consideration whether the efficiency of the Government would not be
+promoted and official industry and integrity better secured by a general
+extension of the law which limits appointments to four years.
+
+In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the
+people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than
+another. Offices were not established to give support to particular men
+at the public expense. No individual wrong is, therefore, done by
+removal, since neither appointment to nor continuance in office is
+matter of right. The incumbent became an officer with a view to public
+benefits, and when these require his removal they are not to be
+sacrificed to private interests. It is the people, and they alone, who
+have a right to complain when a bad officer is substituted for a good
+one. He who is removed has the same means of obtaining a living that are
+enjoyed by the millions who never held office. The proposed limitation
+would destroy the idea of property now so generally connected with
+official station, and although individual distress may be sometimes
+produced, it would, by promoting that rotation which constitutes a
+leading principle in the republican creed, give healthful action to the
+system.
+
+No very considerable change has occurred during the recess of Congress
+in the condition of either our agriculture, commerce, or manufactures.
+The operation of the tariff has not proved so injurious to the two
+former or as beneficial to the latter as was anticipated. Importations
+of foreign goods have not been sensibly diminished, while domestic
+competition, under an illusive excitement, has increased the production
+much beyond the demand for home consumption. The consequences have been
+low prices, temporary embarrassment, and partial loss. That such of our
+manufacturing establishments as are based upon capital and are prudently
+managed will survive the shock and be ultimately profitable there is no
+good reason to doubt.
+
+To regulate its conduct so as to promote equally the prosperity of these
+three cardinal interests is one of the most difficult tasks of
+Government; and it may be regretted that the complicated restrictions
+which now embarrass the intercourse of nations could not by common
+consent be abolished, and commerce allowed to flow in those channels to
+which individual enterprise, always its surest guide, might direct it.
+But we must ever expect selfish legislation in other nations, and are
+therefore compelled to adapt our own to their regulations in the manner
+best calculated to avoid serious injury and to harmonize the conflicting
+interests of our agriculture, our commerce, and our manufactures. Under
+these impressions I invite your attention to the existing tariff,
+believing that some of its provisions require modification.
+
+The general rule to be applied in graduating the duties upon articles of
+foreign growth or manufacture is that which will place our own in fair
+competition with those of other countries; and the inducements to
+advance even a step beyond this point are controlling in regard to those
+articles which are of primary necessity in time of war. When we reflect
+upon the difficulty and delicacy of this operation, it is important that
+it should never be attempted but with the utmost caution. Frequent
+legislation in regard to any branch of industry, affecting its value,
+and by which its capital may be transferred to new channels, must always
+be productive of hazardous speculation and loss.
+
+In deliberating, therefore, on these interesting subjects local feelings
+and prejudices should be merged in the patriotic determination to
+promote the great interests of the whole. All attempts to connect them
+with the party conflicts of the day are necessarily injurious, and
+should be discountenanced. Our action upon them should be under the
+control of higher and purer motives. Legislation subjected to such
+influences can never be just, and will not long retain the sanction of a
+people whose active patriotism is not bounded by sectional limits nor
+insensible to that spirit of concession and forbearance which gave life
+to our political compact and still sustains it. Discarding all
+calculations of political ascendency, the North, the South, the East,
+and the West should unite in diminishing any burthen of which either may
+justly complain.
+
+The agricultural interest of our country is so essentially connected
+with every other and so superior in importance to them all that it is
+scarcely necessary to invite to it your particular attention. It is
+principally as manufactures and commerce tend to increase the value of
+agricultural productions and to extend their application to the wants
+and comforts of society that they deserve the fostering care of
+Government.
+
+Looking forward to the period, not far distant, when a sinking fund will
+no longer be required, the duties on those articles of importation which
+can not come in competition with our own productions are the first that
+should engage the attention of Congress in the modification of the
+tariff. Of these, tea and coffee are the most prominent. They enter
+largely into the consumption of the country, and have become articles of
+necessity to all classes. A reduction, therefore, of the existing duties
+will be felt as a common benefit, but like all other legislation
+connected with commerce, to be efficacious and not injurious it should
+be gradual and certain.
+
+The public prosperity is evinced in the increased revenue arising from
+the sales of the public lands and in the steady maintenance of that
+produced by imposts and tonnage, notwithstanding the additional duties
+imposed by the act of 19th May, 1828, and the unusual importations in
+the early part of that year.
+
+The balance in the Treasury on January 1, 1829, was $5,972,435.81. The
+receipts of the current year are estimated at $24,602,230 and the
+expenditures for the same time at $26,164,595, leaving a balance in the
+Treasury on the 1st of January next of $4,410,070.81.
+
+There will have been paid on account of the public debt during the
+present year the sum of $12,405,005.80, reducing the whole debt of the
+Government on the 1st of January next to $48,565,406.50, including seven
+millions of 5 per cent stock subscribed to the Bank of the United
+States. The payment on account of public debt made on the 1st of July
+last was $8,715,462.87. It was apprehended that the sudden withdrawal of
+so large a sum from the banks in which it was deposited, at a time of
+unusual pressure in the money market, might cause much injury to the
+interests dependent on bank accommodations. But this evil was wholly
+averted by an early anticipation of it at the Treasury, aided by the
+judicious arrangements of the officers of the Bank of the United States.
+
+This state of the finances exhibits the resources of the nation in an
+aspect highly flattering to its industry and auspicious of the ability
+of Government in a very short time to extinguish the public debt. When
+this shall be done our population will be relieved from a considerable
+portion of its present burthens, and will find not only new motives to
+patriotic affection, but additional means for the display of individual
+enterprise. The fiscal power of the States will also be increased, and
+may be more extensively exerted in favor of education and other public
+objects, while ample means will remain in the Federal Government to
+promote the general weal in all the modes permitted to its authority.
+
+After the extinction of the public debt it is not probable that any
+adjustment of the tariff upon principles satisfactory to the people of
+the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave the Government
+without a considerable surplus in the Treasury beyond what may be
+required for its current service. As, then, the period approaches when
+the application of the revenue to the payment of debt will cease, the
+disposition of the surplus will present a subject for the serious
+deliberation of Congress; and it may be fortunate for the country that
+it is yet to be decided. Considered in connection with the difficulties
+which have heretofore attended appropriations for purposes of internal
+improvement, and with those which this experience tells us will
+certainly arise whenever power over such subjects may be exercised by
+the General Government, it is hoped that it may lead to the adoption of
+some plan which will reconcile the diversified interests of the States
+and strengthen the bonds which unite them. Every member of the Union, in
+peace and in war, will be benefited by the improvement of inland
+navigation and the construction of highways in the several States. Let
+us, then, endeavor to attain this benefit in a mode which will be
+satisfactory to all. That hitherto adopted has by many of our
+fellow-citizens been deprecated as an infraction of the Constitution,
+while by others it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has
+been employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils.
+
+To avoid these evils it appears to me that the most safe, just, and
+federal disposition which could be made of the surplus revenue would be
+its apportionment among the several States according to their ratio of
+representation, and should this measure not be found warranted by the
+Constitution that it would be expedient to propose to the States an
+amendment authorizing it. I regard an appeal to the source of power in
+cases of real doubt, and where its exercise is deemed indispensable to
+the general welfare, as among the most sacred of all our obligations.
+Upon this country more than any other has, in the providence of God,
+been cast the special guardianship of the great principle of adherence
+to written constitutions. If it fail here, all hope in regard to it will
+be extinguished. That this was intended to be a government of limited
+and specific, and not general, powers must be admitted by all, and it is
+our duty to preserve for it the character intended by its framers. If
+experience points out the necessity for an enlargement of these powers,
+let us apply for it to those for whose benefit it is to be exercised,
+and not undermine the whole system by a resort to overstrained
+constructions. The scheme has worked well. It has exceeded the hopes of
+those who devised it, and become an object of admiration to the world.
+We are responsible to our country and to the glorious cause of
+self-government for the preservation of so great a good. The great mass
+of legislation relating to our internal affairs was intended to be left
+where the Federal Convention found it--in the State governments. Nothing
+is clearer, in my view, than that we are chiefly indebted for the
+success of the Constitution under which we are now acting to the
+watchful and auxiliary operation of the State authorities. This is not
+the reflection of a day, but belongs to the most deeply rooted
+convictions of my mind. I can not, therefore, too strongly or too
+earnestly, for my own sense of its importance, warn you against all
+encroachments upon the legitimate sphere of State sovereignty. Sustained
+by its healthful and invigorating influence the federal system can never
+fall.
+
+In the collection of the revenue the long credits authorized on goods
+imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope are the chief cause of the
+losses at present sustained. If these were shortened to six, nine, and
+twelve months, and warehouses provided by Government sufficient to
+receive the goods offered in deposit for security and for debenture, and
+if the right of the United States to a priority of payment out of the
+estates of its insolvent debtors were more effectually secured, this
+evil would in a great measure be obviated. An authority to construct
+such houses is therefore, with the proposed alteration of the credits,
+recommended to your attention.
+
+It is worthy of notice that the laws for the collection and security of
+the revenue arising from imposts were chiefly framed when the rates of
+duties on imported goods presented much less temptation for illicit
+trade than at present exists. There is reason to believe that these laws
+are in some respects quite insufficient for the proper security of the
+revenue and the protection of the interests of those who are disposed to
+observe them. The injurious and demoralizing tendency of a successful
+system of smuggling is so obvious as not to require comment, and can not
+be too carefully guarded against. I therefore suggest to Congress the
+propriety of adopting efficient measures to prevent this evil, avoiding,
+however, as much as possible, every unnecessary infringement of
+individual liberty and embarrassment of fair and lawful business.
+
+On an examination of the records of the Treasury I have been forcibly
+struck with the large amount of public money which appears to be
+outstanding. Of the sum thus due from individuals to the Government a
+considerable portion is undoubtedly desperate, and in many instances has
+probably been rendered so by remissness in the agents charged with its
+collection. By proper exertions a great part, however, may yet be
+recovered; and whatever may be the portions respectively belonging to
+these two classes, it behooves the Government to ascertain the real
+state of the fact. This can be done only by the prompt adoption of
+judicious measures for the collection of such as may be made available.
+It is believed that a very large amount has been lost through the
+inadequacy of the means provided for the collection of debts due to the
+public, and that this inadequacy lies chiefly in the want of legal skill
+habitually and constantly employed in the direction of the agents
+engaged in the service. It must, I think, be admitted that the
+supervisory power over suits brought by the public, which is now vested
+in an _accounting_ officer of the Treasury, not selected with a view to
+his legal knowledge, and encumbered as he is with numerous other duties,
+operates unfavorably to the public interest.
+
+It is important that this branch of the public service should be
+subjected to the supervision of such professional skill as will give it
+efficiency. The expense attendant upon such a modification of the
+executive department would be justified by the soundest principles of
+economy. I would recommend, therefore, that the duties now assigned to
+the agent of the Treasury, so far as they relate to the superintendence
+and management of legal proceedings on the part of the United States, be
+transferred to the Attorney-General, and that this officer be placed on
+the same footing in all respects as the heads of the other Departments,
+receiving like compensation and having such subordinate officers
+provided for his Department as may be requisite for the discharge of
+these additional duties.
+
+The professional skill of the Attorney-General, employed in directing
+the conduct of marshals and district attorneys, would hasten the
+collection of debts now in suit and hereafter save much to the
+Government. It might be further extended to the superintendence of all
+criminal proceedings for offenses against the United States. In making
+this transfer great care should be taken, however, that the power
+necessary to the Treasury Department be not impaired, one of its
+greatest securities consisting in a control over all accounts until they
+are audited or reported for suit.
+
+In connection with the foregoing views I would suggest also an inquiry
+whether the provisions of the act of Congress authorizing the discharge
+of the persons of debtors to the Government from imprisonment may not,
+consistently with the public interest, be extended to the release of the
+debt where the conduct of the debtor is wholly exempt from the
+imputation of fraud. Some more liberal policy than that which now
+prevails in reference to this unfortunate class of citizens is certainly
+due to them, and would prove beneficial to the country. The continuance
+of the liability after the means to discharge it have been exhausted can
+only serve to dispirit the debtor; or, where his resources are but
+partial, the want of power in the Government to compromise and release
+the demand instigates to fraud as the only resource for securing a
+support to his family. He thus sinks into a state of apathy, and becomes
+a useless drone in society or a vicious member of it, if not a feeling
+witness of the rigor and inhumanity of his country. All experience
+proves that oppressive debt is the bane of enterprise, and it should be
+the care of a republic not to exert a grinding power over misfortune and
+poverty.
+
+Since the last session of Congress numerous frauds on the Treasury have
+been discovered, which I thought it my duty to bring under the
+cognizance of the United States court for this district by a criminal
+prosecution. It was my opinion and that of able counsel who were
+consulted that the cases came within the penalties of the act of the
+Seventeenth Congress approved 3d March, 1823, providing for the
+punishment of frauds committed on the Government of the United States.
+Either from some defect in the law or in its administration every
+effort, to bring the accused to trial under its provisions proved
+ineffectual, and the Government was driven to the necessity of resorting
+to the vague and inadequate provisions of the common law. It is
+therefore my duty to call your attention to the laws which have been
+passed for the protection of the Treasury. If, indeed, there be no
+provision by which those who may be unworthily intrusted with its
+guardianship can be punished for the most flagrant violation of duty,
+extending even to the most fraudulent appropriation of the public funds
+to their own use, it is time to remedy so dangerous an omission; or if
+the law has been perverted from its original purposes, and criminals
+deserving to be punished under its provisions have been rescued by legal
+subtleties, it ought to be made so plain by amendatory provisions as to
+baffle the arts of perversion and accomplish the ends of its original
+enactment.
+
+In one of the most flagrant cases the court decided that the prosecution
+was barred by the statute which limits prosecutions for fraud to two
+years. In this case all the evidences of the fraud, and, indeed, all
+knowledge that a fraud had been committed, were in possession of the
+party accused until after the two years had elapsed. Surely the statute
+ought not to run in favor of any man while he retains all the evidences
+of his crime in his own possession, and least of all in favor of a
+public officer who continues to defraud the Treasury and conceal the
+transaction for the brief term of two years. I would therefore recommend
+such an alteration of the law as will give the injured party and the
+Government two years after the disclosure of the fraud or after the
+accused is out of office to commence their prosecution.
+
+In connection with this subject I invite the attention of Congress to a
+general and minute inquiry into the condition of the Government, with a
+view to ascertain what offices can be dispensed with, what expenses
+retrenched, and what improvements may be made in the organization of its
+various parts to secure the proper responsibility of public agents and
+promote efficiency and justice in all its operations.
+
+The report of the Secretary of War will make you acquainted with the
+condition of our Army, fortifications, arsenals, and Indian affairs. The
+proper discipline of the Army, the training and equipment of the
+militia, the education bestowed at West Point, and the accumulation of
+the means of defense applicable to the naval force will tend to prolong
+the peace we now enjoy, and which every good citizen, more especially
+those who have felt the miseries of even a successful warfare, must
+ardently desire to perpetuate.
+
+The returns from the subordinate branches of this service exhibit a
+regularity and order highly creditable to its character. Both officers
+and soldiers seem imbued with a proper sense of duty, and conform to the
+restraints of exact discipline with that cheerfulness which becomes the
+profession of arms. There is need, however, of further legislation to
+obviate the inconveniences specified in the report under consideration,
+to some of which it is proper that I should call your particular
+attention.
+
+The act of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the
+military establishment, remaining unexecuted as it regards the command
+of one of the regiments of artillery, can not now be deemed a guide to
+the Executive in making the proper appointment. An explanatory act,
+designating the class of officers out of which this grade is to be
+filled--whether from the military list as existing prior to the act of
+1821 or from it as it has been fixed by that act--would remove this
+difficulty. It is also important that the laws regulating the pay and
+emoluments of officers generally should be more specific than they now
+are. Those, for example, in relation to the Paymaster and Surgeon
+General assign to them an annual salary of $2,500, but are silent as to
+allowances which in certain exigencies of the service may be deemed
+indispensable to the discharge of their duties. This circumstance has
+been the authority for extending to them various allowances at different
+times under former Administrations, but no uniform rule has been
+observed on the subject. Similar inconveniences exist in other cases, in
+which the construction put upon the laws by the public accountants may
+operate unequally, produce confusion, and expose officers to the odium
+of claiming what is not their due.
+
+I recommend to your fostering care, as one of our safest means of
+national defense, the Military Academy. This institution has already
+exercised the happiest influence upon the moral and intellectual
+character of our Army; and such of the graduates as from various causes
+may not pursue the profession of arms will be scarcely less useful as
+citizens. Their knowledge of the military art will be advantageously
+employed in the militia service, and in a measure secure to that class
+of troops the advantages which in this respect belong to standing
+armies.
+
+I would also suggest a review of the pension law, for the purpose of
+extending its benefits to every Revolutionary soldier who aided in
+establishing our liberties, and who is unable to maintain himself in
+comfort. These relics of the War of Independence have strong claims upon
+their country's gratitude and bounty. The law is defective in not
+embracing within its provisions all those who were during the last war
+disabled from supporting themselves by manual labor. Such an amendment
+would add but little to the amount of pensions, and is called for by the
+sympathies of the people as well as by considerations of sound policy.
+It will be perceived that a large addition to the list of pensioners has
+been occasioned by an order of the late Administration, departing
+materially from the rules which had previously prevailed. Considering it
+an act of legislation, I suspended its operation as soon as I was
+informed that it had commenced. Before this period, however,
+applications under the new regulation had been preferred to the number
+of 154, of which, on the 27th March, the date of its revocation, 87 were
+admitted. For the amount there was neither estimate nor appropriation;
+and besides this deficiency, the regular allowances, according to the
+rules which have heretofore governed the Department, exceed the estimate
+of its late Secretary by about $50,000, for which an appropriation is
+asked.
+
+Your particular attention is requested to that part of the report of the
+Secretary of War which relates to the money held in trust for the Seneca
+tribe of Indians. It will be perceived that without legislative aid the
+Executive can not obviate the embarrassments occasioned by the
+diminution of the dividends on that fund, which originally amounted to
+$100,000, and has recently been invested in United States 3 per cent
+stock.
+
+The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within the
+limits of some of our States have become objects of much interest and
+importance. It has long been the policy of Government to introduce among
+them the arts of civilization, in the hope of gradually reclaiming them
+from a wandering life. This policy has, however, been coupled with
+another wholly incompatible with its success. Professing a desire to
+civilize and settle them, we have at the same time lost no opportunity
+to purchase their lands and thrust them farther into the wilderness. By
+this means they have not only been kept in a wandering state, but been
+led to look upon us as unjust and indifferent to their fate. Thus,
+though lavish in its expenditures upon the subject, Government has
+constantly defeated its own policy, and the Indians in general, receding
+farther and farther to the west, have retained their savage habits. A
+portion, however, of the Southern tribes, having mingled much with the
+whites and made some progress in the arts of civilized life, have lately
+attempted to erect an independent government within the limits of
+Georgia and Alabama. These States, claiming to be the only sovereigns
+within their territories, extended their laws over the Indians, which
+induced the latter to call upon the United States for protection.
+
+Under these circumstances the question presented was whether the General
+Government had a right to sustain those people in their pretensions. The
+Constitution declares that "no new State shall be formed or erected
+within the jurisdiction of any other State" without the consent of its
+legislature. If the General Government is not permitted to tolerate the
+erection of a confederate State within the territory of one of the
+members of this Union against her consent, much less could it allow a
+foreign and independent government to establish itself there. Georgia
+became a member of the Confederacy which eventuated in our Federal Union
+as a sovereign State, always asserting her claim to certain limits,
+which, having been originally defined in her colonial charter and
+subsequently recognized in the treaty of peace, she has ever since
+continued to enjoy, except as they have been circumscribed by her own
+voluntary transfer of a portion of her territory to the United States in
+the articles of cession of 1802. Alabama was admitted into the Union on
+the same footing with the original States, with boundaries which were
+prescribed by Congress. There is no constitutional, conventional, or
+legal provision which allows them less power over the Indians within
+their borders than is possessed by Maine or New York. Would the people
+of Maine permit the Penobscot tribe to erect an independent government
+within their State? And unless they did would it not be the duty of the
+General Government to support them in resisting such a measure? Would
+the people of New York permit each remnant of the Six Nations within her
+borders to declare itself an independent people under the protection of
+the United States? Could the Indians establish a separate republic on
+each of their reservations in Ohio? And if they were so disposed would
+it be the duty of this Government to protect them in the attempt? If the
+principle involved in the obvious answer to these questions be
+abandoned, it will follow that the objects of this Government are
+reversed, and that it has become a part of its duty to aid in destroying
+the States which it was established to protect.
+
+Actuated by this view of the subject, I informed the Indians inhabiting
+parts of Georgia and Alabama that their attempt to establish an
+independent government would not be countenanced by the Executive of the
+United States, and advised them to emigrate beyond the Mississippi or
+submit to the laws of those States.
+
+Our conduct toward these people is deeply interesting to our national
+character. Their present condition, contrasted with what they once were,
+makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies. Our ancestors found them
+the uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions. By persuasion and
+force they have been made to retire from river to river and from
+mountain to mountain, until some of the tribes have become extinct and
+others have left but remnants to preserve for awhile their once terrible
+names. Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which
+by destroying the resources of the savage doom him to weakness and
+decay, the fate of the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is
+fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate
+surely awaits them if they remain within the limits of the States does
+not admit of a doubt. Humanity and national honor demand that every
+effort should be made to avert so great a calamity. It is too late to
+inquire whether it was just in the United States to include them and
+their territory within the bounds of new States, whose limits they could
+control. That step can not be retraced. A State can not be dismembered
+by Congress or restricted in the exercise of her constitutional power.
+But the people of those States and of every State, actuated by feelings
+of justice and a regard for our national honor, submit to you the
+interesting question whether something can not be done, consistently
+with the rights of the States, to preserve this much-injured race.
+
+As a means of effecting this end I suggest for your consideration the
+propriety of setting apart an ample district west of the Mississippi,
+and without the limits of any State or Territory now formed, to be
+guaranteed to the Indian tribes as long as they shall occupy it, each
+tribe having a distinct control over the portion designated for its use.
+There they may be secured in the enjoyment of governments of their own
+choice, subject to no other control from the United States than such as
+may be necessary to preserve peace on the frontier and between the
+several tribes. There the benevolent may endeavor to teach them the arts
+of civilization, and, by promoting union and harmony among them, to
+raise up an interesting commonwealth, destined to perpetuate the race
+and to attest the humanity and justice of this Government.
+
+This emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as unjust
+to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers and seek
+a home in a distant land. But they should be distinctly informed that if
+they remain within the limits of the States they must be subject to
+their laws. In return for their obedience as individuals they will
+without doubt be protected in the enjoyment of those possessions which
+they have improved by their industry. But it seems to me visionary to
+suppose that in this state of things claims can be allowed on tracts of
+country on which they have neither dwelt nor made improvements, merely
+because they have seen them from the mountain or passed them in the
+chase. Submitting to the laws of the States, and receiving, like other
+citizens, protection in their persons and property, they will ere long
+become merged in the mass of our population.
+
+The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy will make you
+acquainted with the condition and useful employment of that branch of
+our service during the present year. Constituting as it does the best
+standing security of this country against foreign aggression, it claims
+the especial attention of Government. In this spirit the measures which
+since the termination of the last war have been in operation for its
+gradual enlargement were adopted, and it should continue to be cherished
+as the offspring of our national experience. It will be seen, however,
+that notwithstanding the great solicitude which has been manifested for
+the perfect organization of this arm and the liberality of the
+appropriations which that solicitude has suggested, this object has in
+many important respects not been secured.
+
+In time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite
+to the protection of our commerce. Those not wanted for this object must
+lay in the harbors, where without proper covering they rapidly decay,
+and even under the best precautions for their preservation must soon
+become useless. Such is already the case with many of our finest
+vessels, which, though unfinished, will now require immense sums of
+money to be restored to the condition in which they were when committed
+to their proper element. On this subject there can be but little doubt
+that our best policy would be to discontinue the building of ships of
+the first and second class, and look rather to the possession of ample
+materials, prepared for the emergencies of war, than to the number of
+vessels which we can float in a season of peace, as the index of our
+naval power. Judicious deposits in navy-yards of timber and other
+materials, fashioned under the hands of skillful workmen and fitted for
+prompt application to their various purposes, would enable us at all
+times to construct vessels as fast as they can be manned, and save the
+heavy expense of repairs, except to such vessels as must be employed in
+guarding our commerce. The proper points for the establishment of these
+yards are indicated with so much force in the report of the Navy Board
+that in recommending it to your attention I deem it unnecessary to do
+more than express my hearty concurrence in their views. The yard in this
+District, being already furnished with most of the machinery necessary
+for shipbuilding, will be competent to the supply of the two selected by
+the Board as the best for the concentration of materials, and, from the
+facility and certainty of communication between them, it will be useless
+to incur at those depots the expense of similar machinery, especially
+that used in preparing the usual metallic and wooden furniture of
+vessels.
+
+Another improvement would be effected by dispensing altogether with the
+Navy Board as now constituted, and substituting in its stead bureaus
+similar to those already existing in the War Department. Each member of
+the Board, transferred to the head of a separate bureau charged with
+specific duties, would feel in its highest degree that wholesome
+responsibility which can not be divided without a far more than
+proportionate diminution of its force. Their valuable services would
+become still more so when separately appropriated to distinct portions
+of the great interests of the Navy, to the prosperity of which each
+would be impelled to devote himself by the strongest motives. Under such
+an arrangement every branch of this important service would assume a
+more simple and precise character, its efficiency would be increased,
+and scrupulous economy in the expenditure of public money promoted.
+
+I would also recommend that the Marine Corps be merged in the artillery
+or infantry, as the best mode of curing the many defects in its
+organization. But little exceeding in number any of the regiments of
+infantry, that corps has, besides its lieutenant-colonel commandant,
+five brevet lieutenant-colonels, who receive the full pay and emoluments
+of their brevet rank, without rendering proportionate service. Details
+for marine service could as well be made from the artillery or infantry,
+there being no peculiar training requisite for it.
+
+With these improvements, and such others as zealous watchfulness and
+mature consideration may suggest, there can be little doubt that under
+an energetic administration of its affairs the Navy may soon be made
+everything that the nation wishes it to be. Its efficiency in the
+suppression of piracy in the West India seas, and wherever its squadrons
+have been employed in securing the interests of the country, will appear
+from the report of the Secretary, to which I refer you for other
+interesting details. Among these I would bespeak the attention of
+Congress for the views presented in relation to the inequality between
+the Army and Navy as to the pay of officers. No such inequality should
+prevail between these brave defenders of their country, and where it
+does exist it is submitted to Congress whether it ought not to be
+rectified.
+
+The report of the Postmaster General is referred to as exhibiting a
+highly satisfactory administration of that Department. Abuses have been
+reformed, increased expedition in the transportation of the mail
+secured, and its revenue much improved. In a political point of view
+this Department is chiefly important as affording the means of diffusing
+knowledge. It is to the body politic what the veins and arteries are to
+the natural--conveying rapidly and regularly to the remotest parts of
+the system correct information of the operations of the Government, and
+bringing back to it the wishes and feelings of the people. Through its
+agency we have secured to ourselves the full enjoyment of the blessings
+of a free press.
+
+In this general survey of our affairs a subject of high importance
+presents itself in the present organization of the judiciary. An uniform
+operation of the Federal Government in the different States is certainly
+desirable, and existing as they do in the Union on the basis of perfect
+equality, each State has a right to expect that the benefits conferred
+on the citizens of others should be extended to hers. The judicial
+system of the United States exists in all its efficiency in only fifteen
+members of the Union; to three others the circuit courts, which
+constitute an important part of that system, have been imperfectly
+extended, and to the remaining six altogether denied. The effect has
+been to withhold from the inhabitants of the latter the advantages
+afforded (by the Supreme Court) to their fellow-citizens in other States
+in the whole extent of the criminal and much of the civil authority of
+the Federal judiciary. That this state of things ought to be remedied,
+if it can be done consistently with the public welfare, is not to be
+doubted. Neither is it to be disguised that the organization of our
+judicial system is at once a difficult and delicate task. To extend the
+circuit courts equally throughout the different parts of the Union, and
+at the same time to avoid such a multiplication of members as would
+encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, is the object desired. Perhaps
+it might be accomplished by dividing the circuit judges into two
+classes, and providing that the Supreme Court should be held by these
+classes alternately, the Chief Justice always presiding.
+
+If an extension of the circuit-court system to those States which do not
+now enjoy its benefits should be determined upon, it would of course be
+necessary to revise the present arrangement of the circuits; and even if
+that system should not be enlarged, such a revision is recommended.
+
+A provision for taking the census of the people of the United States
+will, to insure the completion of that work within a convenient time,
+claim the early attention of Congress.
+
+The great and constant increase of business in the Department of State
+forced itself at an early period upon the attention of the Executive.
+Thirteen years ago it was, in Mr. Madison's last message to Congress,
+made the subject of an earnest recommendation, which has been repeated
+by both of his successors; and my comparatively limited experience has
+satisfied me of its justness. It has arisen from many causes, not the
+least of which is the large addition that has been made to the family of
+independent nations and the proportionate extension of our foreign
+relations. The remedy proposed was the establishment of a home
+department--a measure which does not appear to have met the views of
+Congress on account of its supposed tendency to increase, gradually and
+imperceptibly, the already too strong bias of the federal system toward
+the exercise of authority not delegated to it. I am not, therefore,
+disposed to revive the recommendation, but am not the less impressed
+with the importance of so organizing that Department that its Secretary
+may devote more of his time to our foreign relations. Clearly satisfied
+that the public good would be promoted by some suitable provision on the
+subject, I respectfully invite your attention to it.
+
+The charter of the Bank of the United States expires in 1836, and its
+stockholders will most probably apply for a renewal of their privileges.
+In order to avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy in a measure
+involving such important principles and such deep pecuniary interests, I
+feel that I can not, in justice to the parties interested, too soon
+present it to the deliberate consideration of the Legislature and the
+people. Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the law
+creating this bank are well questioned by a large portion of our
+fellow-citizens, and it must be admitted by all that it has failed in
+the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency.
+
+Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed essential to
+the fiscal operations of the Government, I submit to the wisdom of the
+Legislature whether a national one, founded upon the credit of the
+Government and its revenues, might not be devised which would avoid all
+constitutional difficulties and at the same time secure all the
+advantages to the Government and country that were expected to result
+from the present bank.
+
+I can not close this communication without bringing to your view the
+just claim of the representatives of Commodore Decatur, his officers and
+crew, arising from the recapture of the frigate _Philadelphia_ under the
+heavy batteries of Tripoli. Although sensible, as a general rule, of the
+impropriety of Executive interference under a Government like ours,
+where every individual enjoys the right of directly petitioning
+Congress, yet, viewing this case as one of very peculiar character, I
+deem it my duty to recommend it to your favorable consideration. Besides
+the justice of this claim, as corresponding to those which have been
+since recognized and satisfied, it is the fruit of a deed of patriotic
+and chivalrous daring which infused life and confidence into our infant
+Navy and contributed as much as any exploit in its history to elevate
+our national character. Public gratitude, therefore, stamps her seal
+upon it, and the meed should not be withheld which may hereafter operate
+as a stimulus to our gallant tars.
+
+I now commend you, fellow-citizens, to the guidance of Almighty God,
+with a full reliance on His merciful providence for the maintenance of
+our free institutions, and with an earnest supplication that whatever
+errors it may be my lot to commit in discharging the arduous duties
+which have devolved on me will find a remedy in the harmony and wisdom
+of your counsels.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+December 8, 1829.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL MESSAGES.
+
+
+_December 14, 1829_.
+_The Vice-President of the United States and President of
+the Senate_:
+
+In pursuance of the resolution of the Senate of the 2d March, 1829,
+requesting the President of the United States to communicate to it
+"copies of the journal of the commissioners under the first article of
+the treaty of Ghent for the months of October and November, 1817, or so
+much thereof as in his opinion may be safely communicated, not including
+the agreement or evidence offered by the agents," I have the honor
+herewith to transmit a report from the Secretary of State, accompanying
+the document referred to in said resolution.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 14, 1829_.
+_The Vice-President of the United States and President of
+the Senate_:
+
+I transmit to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
+ratification of it, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the
+United States of America and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria,
+concluded and signed in this city on the 2d of August in the present
+year.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON
+
+
+_December 15, 1829_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+A deputation from the Passamaquoddy Indians resident within the limits
+of Maine have arrived in this city and presented a memorial soliciting
+the aid of the Government in providing them the means of support.
+Recollecting that this tribe when strong and numerous fought with us for
+the liberty which we now enjoy, I could not refuse to present to the
+consideration of Congress their supplication for a small portion of the
+bark and timber of the country which once belonged to them.
+
+It is represented that from individuals who own the lands adjoining the
+present small possession of this tribe purchases can be made
+sufficiently extensive to secure the objects of the memorial in this
+respect, as will appear from the papers herewith transmitted. Should
+Congress deem it proper to make them, it will be necessary to provide
+for their being held in trust for the use of the tribe during its
+existence as such.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 16, 1829_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I have the honor to transmit herewith to the House of Representatives a
+report of the Secretary of War, accompanying copies of surveys[3] made
+in pursuance of the acts of Congress passed the 30th of April, 1824, and
+the 2d of March, 1829, and to request that the House cause them to be
+laid before the Senate, as there are no duplicates prepared.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 3: Of Deep Creek, Virginia; Pasquotank River, North Carolina;
+entrance of the river Teche, Louisiana; passes at mouth of the
+Mississippi, Louisiana; water tract between Lake Pontchartrain and
+Mobile Bay; Des Moines and Rock River rapids in the Mississippi; with a
+view to the location of a railroad from Charleston to Hamburg, S.C.]
+
+
+_December 22, 1829_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I herewith transmit two treaties--one concluded with the Winnebago tribe
+of Indians at Prairie du Chien on the 1st of August, 1829, and the other
+with the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawattamie tribes at the same place on
+the 29th of July, 1829--which, with the documents explanatory thereof,
+are submitted to the Senate for consideration whether they will advise
+and consent to their ratification.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 29, 1829_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith a treaty concluded with the Delaware tribe of
+Indians on the 3d of August, 1829, which, with the documents explanatory
+thereof, is submitted to the consideration of the Senate for their
+advice and consent as to the ratification of the same.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 30, 1829_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith to the House the report and estimate of the survey
+made in pursuance of the act of the 30th April, 1824, in order to
+ascertain the practicability of connecting the waters of the Altamaha
+and Tennessee rivers by a canal and railroad, and request, as there is
+no duplicate of the same prepared, that the House will cause it to be
+laid before the Senate.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 4, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I have been requested by the legislature of South Carolina, as will
+appear from the documents accompanying this communication, to submit to
+the consideration of Congress certain claims against the United States
+for advances made by that State during the last war. It is conceded that
+the redress sought for can only be obtained through the interposition of
+Congress. The only agency allowed to me is to present such facts in
+relation to the subject as are in the possession of the Executive, in
+order that the whole may be fairly considered.
+
+This duty I perform with great pleasure, being well satisfied that no
+inducement will be wanting to secure to the claims of a member of the
+Confederacy that has under all circumstances shewn an ardent devotion to
+the cause of the country the most ample justice.
+
+By a reference to the Department of War for information as to the nature
+and extent of these claims it appears that they consist of--
+
+First. Interest upon moneys advanced for the United States which have
+been heretofore reimbursed.
+
+Second. Certain advances which on a settlement of accounts between South
+Carolina and the United States were disallowed or suspended by the
+accounting officers of the Treasury.
+
+In regard to the former, the rule hitherto adopted by Congress has been
+to allow to the States interest only where they had paid it on money
+borrowed, and had applied it to the use of the United States. The case
+of South Carolina does not come strictly within this rule, because
+instead of borrowing, as she alleges, for the use of the United States,
+upon interest, she applied to the use of the United States funds for
+which she was actually receiving an interest; and she is understood to
+insist that the loss of interest in both cases being equal, and the
+relief afforded equally meritorious, the same principle of remuneration
+should be applied.
+
+Acting upon an enlightened sense of national justice and gratitude, it
+is confidently believed that Congress will be as mindful of this claim
+as it has been of others put forward by the States that in periods of
+extreme peril generously contributed to the service of the Union and
+enabled the General Government to discharge its obligations. The grounds
+upon which certain portions of it have been suspended or rejected will
+appear from the communications of the Secretary of War and Third Auditor
+herewith submitted.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 4, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith a supplement to the treaty made with the Delaware
+tribe on the 3d of October, 1818, which, with the accompanying papers,
+is submitted to the Senate for their advice and consent as to the
+ratification of the same.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 5, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+The subject of the inclosed memorial[4] having been adjudicated by the
+courts of the country, and decided against the memorialists, it is
+respectfully laid before Congress, the only power now to which they can
+appeal for relief.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON
+
+[Footnote 4: Of certain purchasers of land in Louisiana from the
+Government of Spain.]
+
+
+_January 5, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I submit herewith a report[5] from the Secretary of the Treasury, giving
+the information called for by a resolution of the Senate of the 24th
+December, 1828.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 5: Transmitting statements of moneys appropriated and lands
+granted to the several States for purposes of education and construction
+of roads and canals, etc., since the adoption of the Constitution.]
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 14, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+I transmit to Congress copies of three Indian treaties, which have been
+duly ratified:
+
+1. A treaty with the nation of Winnebago Indians, concluded on the 1st
+of August, 1829, at Prairie du Chien, in the Territory of Michigan,
+between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre Menard, and Caleb At-water,
+esq., commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs
+and warriors on the part of the nation of Winnebago Indians.
+
+2. A treaty with the united nations of Chippewa, Ottowa, and
+Pottawatomie Indians, concluded on the 29th of July, 1829, at Prairie du
+Chien, between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre Menard, and Caleb
+Atwater, esq., commissioners on the part of the United States, and
+certain chiefs and warriors of the said united nations on the part of
+said nations.
+
+3. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and the
+band of Delaware Indians upon the Sandusky River, in the State of Ohio,
+entered into on the 3d of August, 1829, at Little Sandusky, in the State
+of Ohio, by John McElvain, commissioner on the part of the United
+States, and certain chiefs on the part of said band of Delaware Indians.
+
+I transmit also the estimates of appropriation necessary to carry them
+into effect.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 19, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: The accompanying gold medal, commemorative of the delivery of
+the Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia from the daggers of
+assassins on the night of the 25th of September last, has been offered
+for my acceptance by that Government. The respect which I entertain as
+well for the character of the Liberator President as for the people and
+Government over which he presides renders this mark of their regard most
+gratifying to my feelings; but I am prevented from complying with their
+wishes by the provision of our Constitution forbidding the acceptance of
+presents from a foreign state by officers of the United States, and it
+is therefore placed at the disposal of Congress.
+
+The powerful influence in the affairs of his country which the
+sacrifices and heroic deeds of General Bolivar have acquired for him
+creates an anxiety as to his future course in which the friends of
+liberal institutions throughout the world deeply participate. The
+favorable estimate which I have formed of the nature of the services
+rendered by him, and of his personal character, impresses me with the
+strongest confidence that his conduct in the present condition of his
+country will be such as may best promote her true interest and best
+secure his own permanent fame.
+
+I deem the present a suitable occasion to inform you that shortly after
+my communication to Congress at the opening of the session dispatches
+were received from Mr. Moore, the envoy extraordinary and minister
+plenipotentiary of the United States to Colombia, stating that he had
+succeeded in obtaining the assent of the council of ministers to the
+allowance of the claims of our citizens upon that Government in the
+cases of the brig _Josephine_ and her cargo and the schooner _Ranger_
+and part of her cargo. An official copy of the convention subsequently
+entered into between Mr. Moore and the secretary of foreign affairs,
+providing for the final settlement of those claims, has just been
+received at the Department of State. By an additional article of this
+convention the claim in the case of the brig _Morris_ is suspended until
+further information is obtained by the Colombian Government from the
+Court at Carracas; and Mr. Moore anticipates its early and satisfactory
+adjustment. The convention only waited the ratification of the Liberator
+President, who was at the time absent from Bogota, to be binding upon
+the Colombian Government. Although these claims are not, comparatively,
+of a large amount, yet the prompt and equitable manner in which the
+application of Mr. Moore in behalf of our injured citizens was met by
+that Government entitles its conduct to our approbation, and promises
+well for the future relations of the two countries.
+
+It gives me pleasure to add an expression of my entire satisfaction with
+the conduct of Mr. Moore since his arrival at Bogota. The judgment and
+discretion evinced by him on occasions of much interest and delicacy,
+the assiduity displayed in bringing so nearly to a conclusion within
+five weeks after his arrival claims which had been pending for years,
+and the promptitude and capacity with which he has entered upon other
+and more important portions of his official duty are calculated to
+inspire strong confidence in his future usefulness.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 20, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives._
+
+GENTLEMEN: I respectfully submit to your consideration the accompanying
+communication from the Secretary or the Treasury, showing that according
+to the terms of an agreement between the United States and the United
+Society of Christian Indians the latter have a claim to an annuity of
+$400, commencing from the 1st of October, 1826, for which an
+appropriation by law for this amount, as long as they are entitled to
+receive it, will be proper.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+I submit to Congress a communication from the Secretary of State,
+together with the report of the Superintendent of the Patent Office, to
+which it refers, showing the present condition of that office and
+suggesting the necessity of further legislative provisions in regard to
+it, and I recommend the subjects it embraces to the particular attention
+of Congress.
+
+It will be seen that there is an unexplained deficiency in the accounts
+which have been rendered at the Treasury of the fees received at the
+office, amounting to $4,290, and that precautions have been provided to
+guard against similar delinquencies in future. Congress will decide on
+their sufficiency and whether any legislative aid is necessary upon this
+branch of the subject referred to in the report.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 26, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+I find it necessary to recommend to Congress a revision of the laws
+relating to the direct and contingent expenses of our intercourse with
+foreign nations, and particularly of the act of May 1, 1810, entitled
+"An act fixing the compensation of public ministers and of consuls
+residing on the coast of Barbary, and for other purposes."
+
+A letter from the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury to the Secretary of
+State, herewith transmitted, which notices the difficulties incident to
+the settlement of the accounts of certain diplomatic agents of the
+United States, serves to show the necessity of this revision. This
+branch of the Government is incessantly called upon to sanction
+allowances which not unfrequently appear to have just and equitable
+foundations in usage, but which are believed to be incompatible with the
+provisions of the act of 1810. The letter from the Fifth Auditor
+contains a description of several claims of this character which are
+submitted to Congress as the only tribunal competent to afford the
+relief to which the parties consider themselves entitled.
+
+Among the most prominent questions of this description are the
+following:
+
+_I. Claims for outfits by ministers and charges d'affaires duly
+appointed by the President and Senate_.
+
+The act of 1790, regulating the expenditures for foreign intercourse,
+provided "that, exclusive of an outfit, which shall in no case exceed
+one year's full salary to the minister plenipotentiary or chargé
+d'affaires to whom the same may be allowed, the President shall not
+allow to any minister plenipotentiary a greater sum than at the rate of
+$9,000 per annum as a compensation for all his personal services and
+other expenses, nor a greater sum for the same than $4,500 per annum to
+a chargé d'affaires." By this provision the maximum of allowance only
+was fixed, leaving the question as to any outfit, either in whole or in
+part, to the discretion of the President, to be decided according to
+circumstances. Under it a variety of cases occurred, in which outfits
+having been given to diplomatic agents on their first appointment,
+afterwards, upon their being transferred to other courts or sent upon
+special and distinct missions, full or half outfits were again allowed.
+
+This act, it will be perceived, although it fixes the maximum of outfit,
+is altogether silent as to the circumstances under which outfits might
+be allowed; indeed, the authority to allow them at all is not expressly
+conveyed, but only incidentally adverted to in limiting the amount. This
+limitation continued to be the only restriction upon the Executive until
+1810, the act of 1790 having been kept in force till that period by five
+successive reenactments, in which it is either referred to by means of
+its title or its terms are repeated verbatim. In 1810 an act passed
+wherein the phraseology which had been in use for twenty years is
+departed from. Fixing the same limits precisely to the _amount_ of
+salaries and outfits to ministers and chargés as had been six times
+fixed since 1790, it differs from preceding acts by formally conveying
+an authority to allow an outfit to "a minister plenipotentiary or chargé
+d'affaires _on going from the United States to any foreign country_;"
+and, in addition to this specification of the circumstances under which
+the outfit may be allowed, it contains one of the conditions which shall
+be requisite to entitle a chargé or secretary to the compensation
+therein provided.
+
+Upon a view of all the circumstances connected with the subject I can
+not permit myself to doubt that it was with reference to the practice of
+multiplying outfits to the same person and in the intention of
+prohibiting it in future that this act was passed.
+
+It being, however, frequently deemed advantageous to transfer ministers
+already abroad from one court to another, or to employ those who were
+resident at a particular court upon special occasions elsewhere, it
+seems to have been considered that it was not the intention of Congress
+to restrain the Executive from so doing. It was further contended that
+the President being left free to select for ministers citizens, whether
+at home or abroad, a right on the part of such ministers to the usual
+emoluments followed as a matter of course. This view was sustained by
+the opinion of the law officer of the Government, and the act of 1810
+was construed to leave the whole subject of salary and outfit where it
+found it under the law of 1790; that is to say, completely at the
+discretion of the President, without any other restriction than the
+maximum already fixed by that law. This discretion has from time to time
+been exercised by successive Presidents; but whilst I can not but
+consider the restriction in this respect imposed by the act of 1810 as
+inexpedient, I can not feel myself justified in adopting a construction
+which defeats the only operation of which this part of it seems
+susceptible; at least, not unless Congress, after having the subject
+distinctly brought to their consideration, should virtually give their
+assent to that construction. Whatever may be thought of the propriety of
+giving an outfit to secretaries of legation or others who may be
+considered as only temporarily charged with, the affairs intrusted to
+them, I am impressed with the justice of such an allowance in the case
+of a citizen who happens to be abroad when first appointed, and that of
+a minister already in place, when the public interest requires his
+transfer, and, from the breaking up of his establishment and other
+circumstances connected with the change, he incurs expenses to which he
+would not otherwise have been subjected.
+
+_II. Claims for outfits and salaries by chargés d'affaires and
+secretaries of legation who have not been appointed by the President by
+and with the advice and consent of the Senate_.
+
+By the second section of the act of 1810 it is provided--
+
+    That to entitle any chargé d'affaires or secretary of any legation
+    or embassy to any foreign country, or secretary of any minister
+    plenipotentiary, to the compensation hereinbefore provided they
+    shall respectively be appointed by the President of the United
+    States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; but in the
+    recess of the Senate the President is hereby authorized to make such
+    appointments, which shall be submitted to the Senate at the next
+    session thereafter for their advice and consent; and no compensation
+    shall be allowed to any chargé d'affaires or any of the secretaries
+    hereinbefore described who shall not be appointed as aforesaid.
+
+Notwithstanding the explicit language of this act, claims for outfits
+and salaries have been made--and allowed at the Treasury--by chargés
+d'affaires and secretaries of legation who had not been appointed in the
+manner specified. Among the accompanying documents will be found several
+claims of this description, of which a detailed statement is given in
+the letter of the Fifth Auditor. The case of Mr. William B. Lawrence,
+late chargé d'affaires at London, is of a still more peculiar character,
+in consequence of his having actually drawn his outfit and salary from
+the bankers employed by the Government, and from the length of time he
+officiated in that capacity. Mr. Lawrence's accounts were rendered to
+the late Administration, but not settled. I have refused to sanction the
+allowance claimed, because the law does not authorize it, but have
+refrained from directing any proceedings to compel a reimbursement of
+the money thus, in my judgment, illegally received until an opportunity
+should be afforded to Congress to pass upon the equity of the claim.
+
+Appropriations are annually and necessarily made "for the contingent
+expenses of all the missions abroad" and "for the contingent expenses of
+foreign intercourse," and the expenditure of these funds intrusted to
+the discretion of the President. It is out of those appropriations that
+allowances of this character have been claimed, and, it is presumed,
+made. Deeming, however, that the discretion thus committed to the
+Executive does not extend to the allowance of charges prohibited by
+express law, I have felt it my duty to refer all existing claims to the
+action of Congress, and to submit to their consideration whether any
+alteration of the law in this respect is necessary.
+
+_III. The allowance of a quarter's salary to ministers and chargés
+d'affaires to defray their expenses home_.
+
+This allowance has been uniformly made, but is without authority by law.
+Resting in Executive discretion, it has, according to circumstances,
+been extended to cases where the ministers died abroad, to defray the
+return of his family, and was recently claimed in a case where the
+minister had no family, on grounds of general equity. A charge of this
+description can hardly be regarded as a contingent one, and if allowed
+at all must be in lieu of salary. As such it is altogether arbitrary,
+although it is not believed that the interests of the Treasury are, upon
+the whole, much affected by the substitution. In some cases the
+allowance is for a longer period than is occupied in the return of the
+minister; in others, for one somewhat less; and it seems to do away all
+inducement to unnecessary delay. The subject is, however, susceptible of
+positive regulation by law, and it is, on many accounts, highly
+expedient that it should be placed on that footing. I have therefore,
+without directing any alteration in the existing practice, felt it my
+duty to bring it to your notice.
+
+_IV. Traveling and other expenses in following the court in cases where
+its residence is not stationary_.
+
+The only legations by which expenses of this description are incurred
+and charged are those to Spain and the Netherlands, and to them they
+have on several occasions been allowed. Among the documents herewith
+communicated will be found, with other charges requiring legislative
+interference, an account for traveling expenses, with a statement of the
+grounds upon which their reimbursement is claimed. This account has been
+suspended by the officer of the Treasury to whom its settlement belongs;
+and as the question will be one of frequent recurrence, I have deemed
+the occasion a fit one to submit the whole subject to the revision of
+Congress. The justice of these charges for extraordinary expenses
+unavoidably incurred has been admitted by former Administrations and the
+claims allowed. My difficulty grows out of the language of the act of
+1810, which expressly declares that the salary and outfit it authorizes
+to the minister and chargé d'affaires shall be "a compensation for all
+his personal services and expenses." The items which ordinarily form the
+contingent expenses of a foreign mission are of a character distinct
+from the _personal_ expenses of the minister. The difficulty of
+regarding those now referred to in that light is obvious. There are
+certainly strong considerations of equity in favor of a remuneration for
+them at the two Courts where they are alone incurred, and if such should
+be the opinion of Congress it is desirable that authority to make it
+should be expressly conferred by law rather than continue to rest upon
+doubtful construction.
+
+_V. Charges of consuls for discharging diplomatic functions, without
+appointment, during a temporary vacancy in the office of chargé
+d'affaires._
+
+It has sometimes happened that consuls of the United States, upon the
+occurrence of vacancies at their places of residence in the diplomatic
+offices of the United States by the death or retirement of our minister
+or chargé d'affaires, have taken under their care the papers of such
+missions and usefully discharged diplomatic functions in behalf of their
+Government and fellow-citizens till the vacancies were regularly filled.
+In some instances this is stated to have been done to the abandonment of
+other pursuits and at a considerably increased expense of living. There
+are existing claims of this description, which can not be finally
+adjusted or allowed without the sanction of Congress. A particular
+statement of them accompanies this communication.
+
+The nature of this branch of the public service makes it necessary to
+commit portions of the expenses incurred in it to Executive discretion;
+but it is desirable that such portions should be as small as possible.
+The purity and permanent success of our political institutions depend in
+a great measure upon definite appropriations and a rigid adherence to
+the enactments of the Legislature disposing of public money. My desire
+is to have the subject placed upon a more simple and precise, but not
+less liberal, footing than it stands on at present, so far as that may
+be found practicable. An opinion that the salaries allowed by law to our
+agents abroad are in many cases inadequate is very general, and it is
+reasonable to suppose that this impression has not been without its
+influence in the construction of the laws by which those salaries are
+fixed. There are certainly motives which it is difficult to resist to an
+increased expense on the part of some of our functionaries abroad
+greatly beyond that which would be required at home.
+
+Should Congress be of opinion that any alteration for the better can be
+made, either in the rate of salaries now allowed or in the rank and
+gradation of our diplomatic agents, or both, the present would be a fit
+occasion for a revision of the whole subject.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith the annual report of the inspectors of
+the penitentiary in the District of Columbia, and beg leave to recommend
+the propriety of providing by law a reasonable compensation for the
+service of those officers. The act of Congress under which they were
+commissioned, though it imposes upon them important duties, in the
+performance of which much time and labor are necessary, is silent as to
+the compensation which they ought to receive.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_February 1, 1830_.
+
+
+_February 5, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I herewith communicate to the Senate a letter from the Secretary of War,
+with the papers which accompany it, in answer to the resolution of the
+Senate of the 2d February, requesting "so much of a report received from
+the officer of the United States Army who had command of the detachment
+for the protection of the caravan of traders to Santa Fe of New Mexico
+during the last summer as may be proper to be made public and material
+to be known, devising further means for the security of the inland trade
+between Missouri and Mexico."
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_February 12, 1830_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I forward to the House of Representatives, for the information and
+decision of Congress, a communication to me from the Secretary of War on
+the subject of the continuation of the Cumberland road.
+
+There being but one plan of the surveys made produces the necessity of
+making this communication to but one branch of the Legislature. When the
+question shall be disposed of, I request that the map may be returned to
+the Secretary of War.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_February 18, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th
+instant, requesting information respecting the accounts of William B.
+Lawrence as chargé d'affaires of the United States to Great Britain, I
+have the honor to communicate a report of the Secretary of State,
+furnishing the desired information.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_February 20, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: Having seen a report from the Treasury Department, just made
+to me, that General John Campbell, lately nominated Indian agent, stands
+recorded as a public defaulter on the books of the Treasury, and being
+unapprised of this fact when he was nominated to the Senate, I beg leave
+to withdraw this nomination.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 1, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: In compliance with your resolution of the 4th ultimo,
+relating to the boundary line between the United States and the Cherokee
+Nation of Indians, I have duly examined the same, and find that the
+Executive has no power to alter or correct it.
+
+I therefore return the papers, with a report from the Secretary of War
+on the subject, for the further deliberation of Congress.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 9, 1830_.
+_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter of the governor of
+Virginia, transmitting two acts of the general assembly of that State,
+respecting the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 9, 1830_.
+_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I submit to your consideration the memorials of Francis H. Nicoll and
+John Conard, the latter marshal of the eastern district of Pennsylvania,
+praying for the interposition and aid of Congress in the discharge of a
+judgment recovered against him by the said Nicoll, alleging, as
+defendant in the suit, that he was the mere organ of the United States,
+and acted by and under the instructions of the Government.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 10, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 6th
+instant, requesting me to "send a copy of the bond entered into and
+executed by Israel T. Canfield as receiver of public moneys in the now
+Crawfordsville district, Indiana, together with the names of his
+securities, to the Senate," I herewith transmit a certified copy of the
+official bond of Israel T. Canby, and a letter from the Secretary of the
+Treasury, from which it appears that this is the officer referred to in
+the resolution.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 15, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+In pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th
+ultimo, calling for information respecting the report of the
+commissioner for running and marking the line between the United States
+and Florida under the treaty of 1795, I herewith communicate a report
+from the Secretary of State, containing the desired information.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 18, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+GENTLEMEN: I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from
+the War Department of a survey[6] authorized by the act of the 2d of
+March, 1829.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 6: Of ship channel of Penobscot River from Whitehead to
+Bangor, Me.]
+
+
+_March 27, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a letter of
+the Secretary of the Navy, accompanying the reports of Lieutenants
+Tattnall and Gedney, who were detailed to make a survey of the Dry
+Tortugas, and beg leave to call your attention to the importance of the
+position to the United States as a naval station. I also respectfully
+recommend that the appropriation necessary to make a scientific
+examination of its capacities for defense may be granted.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 31, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I respectfully submit to your consideration the accompanying
+report from the War Department, exhibiting the state of the
+fortifications at Pea Patch Island and the necessity of further
+appropriations for the security of that site. The report specifies the
+improvements deemed proper, and the estimate of their cost.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_April 2, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 22nd
+ultimo, "requesting the President of the United States to communicate to
+it any correspondence or information in possession of the Government,
+and which, in his judgment, the public service will admit of being
+communicated, touching intrusions, or alleged intrusions, on lands the
+possession of which is claimed by the Cherokee tribe of Indians, the
+number of intrusions, if any, and the reasons why they have not been
+removed; and also any correspondence or information touching outrages
+alleged to have been committed by Cherokee Indians on citizens of
+Georgia occupying lands to which the Indian claim has not been
+extinguished, or by citizens of Georgia on Cherokee Indians," I transmit
+herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the information
+required.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_April 6, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th
+instant, requesting the President of the United States to transmit to
+the Senate any record or other information in the Department of War or
+before the President respecting the conviction of Wharton Rector of any
+crime in Missouri before his departure for Arkansas, or touching his
+fitness for the office to which he has been nominated, and any other
+evidence in the Department relative to the fitness of Wharton Rector for
+the office of Indian agent, I inclose herewith a report from the
+Secretary of War.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_April 13, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith a report from the War Department, in
+compliance with the resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo, calling
+for information in relation to the expenses incident to the removal and
+support of the Indians west of the Mississippi, etc.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_April 15, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I submit to the Senate, in compliance with the request in
+their resolution of the 12th instant, all the communications found in
+the Department of State touching the character, conduct, and
+qualifications of John Hamm, which appear or are supposed to have been
+made while the said Hamm was an applicant for reappointment to the
+office of marshal of the district of Ohio, in the year 1822.
+
+As that individual has been recently nominated to the Senate to be
+chargé d'affaires of the United States to the Government of Central
+America, I take advantage of the occasion to request the Senate to
+postpone a final decision on his nomination, upon the following grounds:
+That information, though not official, has just been received at the
+Department of State of a change having been lately effected in the
+Government of Central America, which, if confirmed, may make a
+correspondent change in the appointment necessary, or perhaps render it
+altogether unnecessary that this Government, under present
+circumstances, should send a diplomatic agent to that country at all.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_April 22, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from
+the War Department of a survey[7] authorized by the act of 2d March,
+1829.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 7: Of the harbor of St. Augustine, Fla.]
+
+
+_April, 23, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 20th
+instant, I transmit herewith a report[8] from the Secretary of War.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 8: Transmitting correspondence of June, 1825, relative to
+treaties with the Osage and Kansas Indians.]
+
+
+_April 23, 1830_.
+_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith a report from the Department of War of
+the survey made of Sandy Bay, Massachusetts, in conformity to the act of
+2d March, 1829.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 1, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: Finding from the inclosed letter from the Secretary of the
+Treasury that James C. Dickson, lately nominated to be receiver of
+public moneys at Mount Salus, Miss., is a defaulter, I beg leave to
+withdraw his nomination, and to nominate in his place Hiram G. Rennels.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 6, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: The accompanying propositions, in the form of a treaty, have
+been recently sent to me by special messenger from the Choctaw Nation of
+Indians, and since it was received a protest against it has been
+forwarded. Both evince a desire to cede to the United States all their
+country east of the Mississippi, and both are here submitted. These
+measures are the voluntary acts of the Indians themselves. The
+Government was not represented in the councils which adopted them, nor
+had it any previous intimation that such steps were in contemplation.
+The Indians convened of their own accord, settled and executed the
+propositions contained in the treaty presented to me, and agreed to be
+bound by them if within three months they should receive the approbation
+of the President and Senate. The other measure is equally their own.
+
+It is certainly desirous, on various and very pressing accounts, as will
+appear from the accompanying documents, that some agreement should be
+concluded with the Indians by which an object so important as their
+removal beyond the territorial limits of the States may be effected. In
+settling the terms of such an agreement I am disposed to exercise the
+utmost liberality, and to concur in any which are consistent with the
+Constitution and not incompatible with the interests of the United
+States and their duties to the Indians. I can not, however, regard the
+terms proposed by the Choctaws to be in all respects of this character;
+but desirous of concluding an arrangement upon such as are, I have drawn
+up the accompanying amendments, which I propose to offer to the Choctaws
+if they meet the approbation of the Senate. The conditions which they
+offer are such as, in my judgment, will be most likely to be acceptable
+to both parties and are liable to the fewest objections. Not being
+tenacious, though, on the subject, I will most cheerfully adopt any
+modifications which on a frank interchange of opinions my constitutional
+advisers may suggest and which I shall be satisfied are reconcilable
+with my official duties.
+
+With these views, I ask the opinion of the Senate upon the following
+questions:
+
+Will the Senate advise the conclusion of a treaty with the Choctaw
+Nation according to the terms which they propose? Or will the Senate
+advise the conclusion of a treaty with that tribe as modified by the
+alterations suggested by me? If not, what further alteration or
+modification will the Senate propose?
+
+I am fully aware that in thus resorting to the early practice of the
+Government, by asking the previous advice of the Senate in the discharge
+of this portion of my duties, I am departing from a long and for many
+years an unbroken usage in similar cases. But being satisfied that this
+resort is consistent with the provisions of the Constitution, that it is
+strongly recommended in this instance by considerations of expediency,
+and that the reasons which have led to the observance of a different
+practice, though very cogent in negotiations with foreign nations, do
+not apply with equal force to those made with Indian tribes, I flatter
+myself that it will not meet the disapprobation of the Senate. Among the
+reasons for a previous expression of the views of the Senate the
+following are stated as most prominent:
+
+1. The Indians have requested that their propositions should be
+submitted to the Senate.
+
+2. The opinion of the Senate in relation to the terms to be proposed
+will have a salutary effect in a future negotiation, if one should be
+deemed proper.
+
+3. The Choctaw is one of the most numerous and powerful tribes within
+our borders, and as the conclusion of a treaty with them may have a
+controlling effect upon other tribes it is important that its terms
+should be well considered. Those now proposed by the Choctaws, though
+objectionable, it is believed are susceptible of modifications which
+will leave them conformable to the humane and liberal policy which the
+Government desires to observe toward the Indian tribes, and be at the
+same time acceptable to them. To be possessed of the views of the Senate
+on this important and delicate branch of our future negotiations would
+enable the President to act much more effectively in the exercise of his
+particular functions. There is also the best reason to believe that
+measures in this respect emanating from the united counsel of the
+treaty-making power would be more satisfactory to the American people
+and to the Indians.
+
+It will be seen that the pecuniary stipulations are large; and in
+bringing this subject to the consideration of the Senate I may be
+allowed to remark that the amount of money which may be secured to be
+paid should, in my judgment, be viewed as of minor importance. If a fund
+adequate to the object in view can be obtained from the lands which they
+cede, all the purposes of the Government should be regarded as answered.
+The great desideratum is the removal of the Indians and the settlement
+of the perplexing question involved in their present location--a
+question in which several of the States of this Union have the deepest
+interest, and which, if left undecided much longer, may eventuate in
+serious injury to the Indians.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 13, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: The inclosed documents will present to Congress the necessity
+of some legislative provision by which to prevent the offenses to which
+they refer. At present it appears there is no law existing for the
+punishment of persons guilty of interrupting the public surveyors when
+engaged in the performance of the trusts confided to them. I suggest,
+therefore, for your consideration the propriety of adopting some
+provision, with adequate penalties, to meet the case.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 13, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I have the honor, in compliance with a resolution of your
+House of the 10th ultimo, to transmit the inclosed documents, which
+furnish all the information of the steps that have been taken and plans
+procured for the erection of a radiating marine railway for the repair
+of sloops of war at the navy-yard at Pensacola.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 14, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I herewith transmit to Congress the report of the engineer
+employed to survey the bar at the mouth of Sag Harbor, to ascertain the
+best method of preventing the harbor being filled up with sand, and the
+cost of the same, authorized by the act of the 2d of March, 1829.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 21, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: It having been represented to me that some of the members of
+the Senate voted against the confirmation of the appointment of Major
+M.M. Noah as surveyor of the port of New York through misapprehension,
+and having received the accompanying letter and memorial from a number
+of the most respectable merchants and citizens of that city, setting
+forth his fitness for the office, I therefore renominate him to the
+Senate as surveyor of the customs for the port of New York.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 25, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith, for the use of the House, the report of
+a survey[9] made in compliance with the act of the 2d of March, 1829.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 9: Of the harbors of Stamford and Norwalk, Conn.]
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 26, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I think it my duty to inform you that I am daily expecting
+the definitive answer of the British Government to a proposition which
+has been submitted to it by this, upon the subject of the colonial
+trade.
+
+This communication has been delayed by a confident belief that the
+answer referred to would have been received early enough to have
+admitted of its submission to you in sufficient season for the final
+action of Congress at its present session, and is now induced by an
+apprehension that although the packet by which it was intended to be
+sent is hourly expected, its arrival may, nevertheless, be delayed until
+after your adjournment.
+
+Should this branch of the negotiation committed to our minister be
+successful, the present interdict would, nevertheless, be necessarily
+continued until the next session of Congress, as the President has in no
+event authority to remove it.
+
+Although no decision had been made at the date of our last advices from
+Mr. McLane, yet from the general character of the interviews between him
+and those of His Majesty's ministers whose particular duty it was to
+confer with him on the subject there is sufficient reason to expect a
+favorable result to justify me in submitting to you the propriety of
+providing for a decision in the recess.
+
+This may be done by authorizing the President, in case an arrangement
+can be effected upon such terms as Congress would approve, to carry the
+same into effect on our part by proclamation, or, if it should be
+thought advisable, to execute the views of Congress by like means in the
+event of an unfavorable decision.
+
+Any information in the possession of the Executive which you may deem
+necessary to guide your deliberations, and which it may, under existing
+circumstances, be proper to communicate, shall be promptly laid before
+you, if required.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 27, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+It is gratifying to me to be able to communicate to the Senate before
+the termination of its present session, for its advice and consent as to
+the ratification of it, a convention just received at the Department of
+State between the United States and His Majesty the King of Denmark,
+which was negotiated on the part of the former by Mr. Henry Wheaton,
+their chargé d'affaires at the Court of Denmark, and on that of the
+latter by the Sieurs Henry Count de Schemmelman, his minister of foreign
+affairs, and Paul Christian de Stemann, president of his chancery, and
+concluded and signed by these plenipotentiaries at Copenhagen on the
+28th of March of the present year.
+
+The convention provides by compromise for the adjustment and payment of
+indemnities to no inconsiderable amount, long sought from the Government
+of Denmark by that of the United States, in behalf of their citizens who
+had preferred claims for the same, relating to the seizure, detention,
+and condemnation or confiscation of their vessels, cargoes, or property
+by the public armed ships or by the tribunals of Denmark or in the
+states subject to the Danish scepter; and there is every reason to
+believe, as the Senate will infer from the correspondence which
+accompanies this communication, that the proposed arrangement will prove
+entirely satisfactory to them.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_May 28, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: For the reasons expressed in the inclosed note, I renominate
+Wharton Rector to be agent for the Shawnee and Delaware Indians.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+SIR: The rejection of Colonel Rector by the Senate took place in the
+absence of Mr. McLean and myself. We were both confined to our rooms by
+illness. Had we been present his nomination would have been confirmed. I
+believe that if he were again placed before the Senate his nomination
+would be confirmed, and should therefore be pleased if he could be again
+nominated.
+
+I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
+J. ROWAN.
+
+
+_May 29, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: Having approved and signed a resolution, originating in the
+House of Representatives, which provides "that the pay, subsistence,
+emoluments, and allowances received by the officers of the Marine Corps
+previous to the 1st of April, 1829, be, and the same is hereby, directed
+to be continued to them from that date up to the 28th of February,
+1831," it becomes my duty to call the attention of Congress to the fact
+that the estimates for that branch of the public service submitted to
+them at the commencement of the present session were made with reference
+to the pay, subsistence, emoluments, and allowances provided for by law,
+and excluding those which previously to the 1st of April, 1829, had been
+made on the authority of the Department alone, and to suggest the
+propriety of an appropriation to meet the increased expenditure.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I submit herewith a report[10] from the Secretary of the Treasury,
+giving the information called for by a resolution of the Senate of the
+3d of March, 1829.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 10: Transmitting statements of lands appropriated by Congress
+for specific objects within the several States, etc.; disbursements made
+within the several States and Territories from the commencement of the
+Government to December 31, 1828; value of exports from the commencement
+of the Government to September 30, 1828. ]
+
+
+_May 30, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
+
+Gentlemen: I have approved and signed the bill entitled "An act making
+appropriations for examinations and surveys, and also for certain works
+of internal improvement," but as the phraseology of the section which
+appropriates the sum of $8,000 for the road from Detroit to Chicago may
+be construed to authorize the application of the appropriation for the
+continuance of the road beyond the limits of the Territory of Michigan,
+I desire to be understood as having approved this bill with the
+understanding that the road authorized by this section is not to be
+extended beyond the limits of the said Territory.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+VETO MESSAGES.
+
+
+_May 27, 1830_.
+_To the House of Representatives_.
+
+Gentlemen: I have maturely considered the bill proposing to authorize "a
+subscription of stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington
+Turnpike Road Company," and now return the same to the House of
+Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its
+passage.
+
+Sincerely friendly to the improvement of our country by means of roads
+and canals, I regret that any difference of opinion in the mode of
+contributing to it should exist between us; and if in stating this
+difference I go beyond what the occasion may be deemed to call for, I
+hope to find an apology in the great importance of the subject, an
+unfeigned respect for the high source from which this branch of it has
+emanated, and an anxious wish to be correctly understood by my
+constituents in the discharge of all my duties. Diversity of sentiment
+among public functionaries actuated by the same general motives, on the
+character and tendency of particular measures, is an incident common to
+all Governments, and the more to be expected in one which, like ours,
+owes its existence to the freedom of opinion, and must be upheld by the
+same influence. Controlled as we thus are by a higher tribunal, before
+which our respective acts will be canvassed with the indulgence due to
+the imperfections of our nature, and with that intelligence and unbiased
+judgment which are the true correctives of error, all that our
+responsibility demands is that the public good should be the measure of
+our views, dictating alike their frank expression and honest
+maintenance.
+
+In the message which was presented to Congress at the opening of its
+present session I endeavored to exhibit briefly my views upon the
+important and highly interesting subject to which our attention is now
+to be directed. I was desirous of presenting to the representatives of
+the several States in Congress assembled the inquiry whether some mode
+could not be devised which would reconcile the diversity of opinion
+concerning the powers of this Government over the subject of internal
+improvement, and the manner in which these powers, if conferred by the
+Constitution, ought to be exercised. The act which I am called upon to
+consider has, therefore, been passed with a knowledge of my views on
+this question, as these are expressed in the message referred to. In
+that document the following suggestions will be found:
+
+    After the extinction of the public debt it is not probable that any
+    adjustment of the tariff upon principles satisfactory to the people
+    of the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave the
+    Government without a considerable surplus in the Treasury beyond
+    what may be required for its current service. As, then, the period
+    approaches when the application of the revenue to the payment of
+    debt will cease, the disposition of the surplus will present a
+    subject for the serious deliberation of Congress; and it may be
+    fortunate for the country that it is yet to be decided. Considered
+    in connection with the difficulties which have heretofore attended
+    appropriations for purposes of internal improvement, and with those
+    which this experience tells us will certainly arise whenever power
+    over such subjects may be exercised by the General Government, it is
+    hoped that it may lead to the adoption of some plan which will
+    reconcile the diversified interests of the States and strengthen the
+    bonds which unite them. Every member of the Union, in peace and in
+    war, will be benefited by the improvement of inland navigation and
+    the construction of highways in the several States. Let us, then,
+    endeavor to attain this benefit in a mode which will be satisfactory
+    to all. That hitherto adopted has by many of our fellow-citizens
+    been deprecated as an infraction of the Constitution, while by
+    others it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has been
+    employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils.
+
+And adverting to the constitutional power of Congress to make what I
+considered a proper disposition of the surplus revenue, I subjoined the
+following remarks:
+
+    To avoid these evils it appears to me that the most safe, just, and
+    federal disposition which could be made of the surplus revenue would
+    be its apportionment among the several States according to their
+    ratio of representation, and should this measure not be found
+    warranted by the Constitution that it would be expedient to propose
+    to the States an amendment authorizing it.
+
+The constitutional power of the Federal Government to construct or
+promote works of internal improvement presents itself in two points of
+view--the first as bearing upon the sovereignty of the States within
+whose limits their execution is contemplated, if jurisdiction of the
+territory which they may occupy be claimed as necessary to their
+preservation and use; the second as asserting the simple right to
+appropriate money from the National Treasury in aid of such works when
+undertaken by State authority, surrendering the claim of jurisdiction.
+In the first view the question of power is an open one, and can be
+decided without the embarrassments attending the other, arising from the
+practice of the Government. Although frequently and strenuously
+attempted, the power to this extent has never been exercised by the
+Government in a single instance. It does not, in my opinion, possess it;
+and no bill, therefore, which admits it can receive my official
+sanction.
+
+But in the other view of the power the question is differently situated.
+The ground taken at an early period of the Government was "that whenever
+money has been raised by the general authority and is to be applied to a
+particular measure, a question arises whether the particular measure be
+within the enumerated authorities vested in Congress. If it be, the
+money requisite for it may be applied to it; if not, no such application
+can be made." The document in which this principle was first advanced is
+of deservedly high authority, and should be held in grateful remembrance
+for its immediate agency in rescuing the country from much existing
+abuse and for its conservative effect upon some of the most valuable
+principles of the Constitution. The symmetry and purity of the
+Government would doubtless have been better preserved if this
+restriction of the power of appropriation could have been maintained
+without weakening its ability to fulfill the general objects of its
+institution, an effect so likely to attend its admission,
+notwithstanding its apparent fitness, that every subsequent
+Administration of the Government, embracing a period of thirty out of
+the forty-two years of its existence, has adopted a more enlarged
+construction of the power. It is not my purpose to detain you by a
+minute recital of the acts which sustain this assertion, but it is
+proper that I should notice some of the most prominent in order that the
+reflections which they suggest to my mind may be better understood.
+
+In the Administration of Mr. Jefferson we have two examples of the
+exercise of the right of appropriation, which in the considerations that
+led to their adoption and in their effects upon the public mind have had
+a greater agency in marking the character of the power than any
+subsequent events. I allude to the payment of $15,000,000 for the
+purchase of Louisiana and to the original appropriation for the
+construction of the Cumberland road, the latter act deriving much weight
+from the acquiescence and approbation of three of the most powerful of
+the original members of the Confederacy, expressed through their
+respective legislatures. Although the circumstances of the latter case
+may be such as to deprive so much of it as relates to the actual
+construction of the road of the force of an obligatory exposition of the
+Constitution, it must, nevertheless, be admitted that so far as the mere
+appropriation of money is concerned they present the principle in its
+most imposing aspect. No less than twenty-three different laws have been
+passed, through all the forms of the Constitution, appropriating upward
+of $2,500,000 out of the National Treasury in support of that
+improvement, with the approbation of every President of the United
+States, including my predecessor, since its commencement.
+
+Independently of the sanction given to appropriations for the Cumberland
+and other roads and objects under this power, the Administration of Mr.
+Madison was characterized by an act which furnishes the strongest
+evidence of his opinion of its extent. A bill was passed through both
+Houses of Congress and presented for his approval, "setting apart and
+pledging certain funds for constructing roads and canals and improving
+the navigation of water courses, in order to facilitate, promote, and
+give security to internal commerce among the several States and to
+render more easy and less expensive the means and provisions for the
+common defense." Regarding the bill as asserting a power in the Federal
+Government to construct roads and canals within the limits of the States
+in which they were made, he objected to its passage on the ground of its
+unconstitutionality, declaring that the assent of the respective States
+in the mode provided by the bill could not confer the power in question;
+that the only cases in which the consent and cession of particular
+States can extend the power of Congress are those specified and provided
+for in the Constitution, and superadding to these avowals his opinion
+that "a restriction of the power 'to provide for the common defense and
+general welfare' to cases which are to be provided for by the
+expenditure of money would still leave within the legislative power of
+Congress all the great and most important measures of Government, money
+being the ordinary and necessary means of carrying them into execution."
+I have not been able to consider these declarations in any other point
+of view than as a concession that the right of appropriation is not
+limited by the power to carry into effect the measure for which the
+money is asked, as was formerly contended.
+
+The views of Mr. Monroe upon this subject were not left to inference.
+During his Administration a bill was passed through both Houses of
+Congress conferring the jurisdiction and prescribing the mode by which
+the Federal Government should exercise it in the case of the Cumberland
+road. He returned it with objections to its passage, and in assigning
+them took occasion to say that in the early stages of the Government he
+had inclined to the construction that it had no right to expend money
+except in the performance of acts authorized by the other specific
+grants of power, according to a strict construction of them, but that on
+further reflection and observation his mind had undergone a change; that
+his opinion then was "that Congress have an unlimited power to raise
+money, and that in its appropriation they have a discretionary power,
+restricted only by the duty to appropriate it to purposes of common
+defense, and of general, not local, national, not State, benefit;" and
+this was avowed to be the governing principle through the residue of his
+Administration. The views of the last Administration are of such recent
+date as to render a particular reference to them unnecessary. It is well
+known that the appropriating power, to the utmost extent which had been
+claimed for it, in relation to internal improvements was fully
+recognized and exercised by it.
+
+This brief reference to known facts will be sufficient to show the
+difficulty, if not impracticability, of bringing back the operations of
+the Government to the construction of the Constitution set up in 1798,
+assuming that to be its true reading in relation to the power under
+consideration, thus giving an admonitory proof of the force of
+implication and the necessity of guarding the Constitution with
+sleepless vigilance against the authority of precedents which have not
+the sanction of its most plainly defined powers; for although it is the
+duty of all to look to that sacred instrument instead of the statute
+book, to repudiate at all times encroachments upon its spirit, which are
+too apt to be effected by the conjuncture of peculiar and facilitating
+circumstances, it is not less true that the public good and the nature
+of our political institutions require that individual differences should
+yield to a well-settled acquiescence of the people and confederated
+authorities in particular constructions of the Constitution on doubtful
+points. Not to concede this much to the spirit of our institutions would
+impair their stability and defeat the objects of the Constitution
+itself.
+
+The bill before me does not call for a more definite opinion upon the
+particular circumstances which will warrant appropriations of money by
+Congress to aid works of internal improvement, for although the
+extension of the power to apply money beyond that of carrying into
+effect the object for which it is appropriated has, as we have seen,
+been long claimed and exercised by the Federal Government, yet such
+grants have always been professedly under the control of the general
+principle that the works which might be thus aided should be "of a
+general, not local, national, not State," character. A disregard of this
+distinction would of necessity lead to the subversion of the federal
+system. That even this is an unsafe one, arbitrary in its nature, and
+liable, consequently, to great abuses, is too obvious to require the
+confirmation of experience. It is, however, sufficiently definite and
+imperative to my mind to forbid my approbation of any bill having the
+character of the one under consideration. I have given to its provisions
+all the reflection demanded by a just regard for the interests of those
+of our fellow-citizens who have desired its passage, and by the respect
+which is due to a coordinate branch of the Government, but I am not able
+to view it in any other light than as a measure of purely local
+character; or, if it can be considered national, that no further
+distinction between the appropriate duties of the General and State
+Governments need be attempted, for there can be no local interest that
+may not with equal propriety be denominated national. It has no
+connection with any established system of improvements; is exclusively
+within the limits of a State, starting at a point on the Ohio River and
+running out 60 miles to an interior town, and even as far as the State
+is interested conferring partial instead of general advantages.
+
+Considering the magnitude and importance of the power, and the
+embarrassments to which, from the very nature of the thing, its exercise
+must necessarily be subjected, the real friends of internal improvement
+ought not to be willing to confide it to accident and chance. What is
+properly _national_ in its character or otherwise is an inquiry which is
+often extremely difficult of solution. The appropriations of one year
+for an object which is considered national may be rendered nugatory by
+the refusal of a succeeding Congress to continue the work on the ground
+that it is local. No aid can be derived from the intervention of
+corporations. The question regards the character of the work, not that
+of those by whom it is to be accomplished. Notwithstanding the union of
+the Government with the corporation by whose immediate agency any work
+of internal improvement is carried on, the inquiry will still remain. Is
+it national and conducive to the benefit of the whole, or local and
+operating only to the advantage of a portion of the Union?
+
+But although I might not feel it to be my official duty to interpose the
+Executive veto to the passage of a bill appropriating money for the
+construction of such works as are authorized by the States and are
+national in their character, I do not wish to be understood as
+expressing an opinion that it is expedient at this time for the General
+Government to embark in a system of this kind; and anxious that my
+constituents should be possessed of my views on this as well as on all
+other subjects which they have committed to my discretion, I shall state
+them frankly and briefly. Besides many minor considerations, there are
+two prominent views of the subject which have made a deep impression
+upon my mind, which, I think, are well entitled to your serious
+attention, and will, I hope, be maturely weighed by the people.
+
+From the official communication submitted to you it appears that if no
+adverse and unforeseen contingency happens in our foreign relations and
+no unusual diversion be made of the funds set apart for the payment of
+the national debt we may look with confidence to its entire
+extinguishment in the short period of four years. The extent to which
+this pleasing anticipation is dependent upon the policy which may be
+pursued in relation to measures of the character of the one now under
+consideration must be obvious to all, and equally so that the events of
+the present session are well calculated to awaken public solicitude upon
+the subject. By the statement from the Treasury Department and those
+from the clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives, herewith
+submitted, it appears that the bills which have passed into laws, and
+those which in all probability will pass before the adjournment of
+Congress, anticipate appropriations which, with the ordinary
+expenditures for the support of Government, will exceed considerably the
+amount in the Treasury for the year 1830. Thus, whilst we are
+diminishing the revenue by a reduction of the duties on tea, coffee, and
+cocoa the appropriations for internal improvement are increasing beyond
+the available means of the Treasury. And if to this calculation be added
+the amounts contained in bills which are pending before the two Houses,
+it may be safely affirmed that $10,000,000 would not make up the excess
+over the Treasury receipts, unless the payment of the national debt be
+postponed and the means now pledged to that object applied to those
+enumerated in these bills. Without a well-regulated system of internal
+improvement this exhausting mode of appropriation is not likely to be
+avoided, and the plain consequence must be either a continuance of the
+national debt or a resort to additional taxes.
+
+Although many of the States, with a laudable zeal and under the
+influence of an enlightened policy, are successfully applying their
+separate efforts to works of this character, the desire to enlist the
+aid of the General Government in the construction of such as from their
+nature ought to devolve upon it, and to which the means of the
+individual States are inadequate, is both rational and patriotic, and if
+that desire is not gratified now it does not follow that it never will
+be. The general intelligence and public spirit of the American people
+furnish a sure guaranty that at the proper time this policy will be made
+to prevail under circumstances more auspicious to its successful
+prosecution than those which now exist. But great as this object
+undoubtedly is, it is not the only one which demands the fostering care
+of the Government. The preservation and success of the republican
+principle rest with us. To elevate its character and extend its
+influence rank among our most important duties, and the best means to
+accomplish this desirable end are those which will rivet the attachment
+of our citizens to the Government of their choice by the comparative
+lightness of their public burthens and by the attraction which the
+superior success of its operations will present to the admiration and
+respect of the world. Through the favor of an overruling and indulgent
+Providence our country is blessed with general prosperity and our
+citizens exempted from the pressure of taxation, which other less
+favored portions of the human family are obliged to bear; yet it is true
+that many of the taxes collected from our citizens through the medium of
+imposts have for a considerable period been onerous. In many particulars
+these taxes have borne severely upon the laboring and less prosperous
+classes of the community, being imposed on the necessaries of life, and
+this, too, in cases where the burthen was not relieved by the
+consciousness that it would ultimately contribute to make us independent
+of foreign nations for articles of prime necessity by the encouragement
+of their growth and manufacture at home. They have been cheerfully borne
+because they were thought to be necessary to the support of Government
+and the payment of the debts unavoidably incurred in the acquisition and
+maintenance of our national rights and liberties. But have we a right to
+calculate on the same cheerful acquiescence when it is known that the
+necessity for their continuance would cease were it not for irregular,
+improvident, and unequal appropriations of the public funds? Will not
+the people demand, as they have a right to do, such a prudent system of
+expenditure as will pay the debts of the Union and authorize the
+reduction of every tax to as low a point as the wise observance of the
+necessity to protect that portion of our manufactures and labor whose
+prosperity is essential to our national safety and independence will
+allow? When the national debt is paid, the duties upon those articles
+which we do not raise may be repealed with safety, and still leave, I
+trust, without oppression to any section of the country, an accumulating
+surplus fund, which may be beneficially applied to some well-digested
+system of improvement.
+
+Under this view the question as to the manner in which the Federal
+Government can or ought to embark in the construction of roads and
+canals, and the extent to which it may impose burthens on the people for
+these purposes, may be presented on its own merits, free of all disguise
+and of every embarrassment, except such as may arise from the
+Constitution itself. Assuming these suggestions to be correct, will not
+our constituents require the observance of a course by which they can be
+effected? Ought they not to require it? With the best disposition to
+aid, as far as I can conscientiously, in furtherance of works of
+internal improvement, my opinion is that the soundest views of national
+policy at this time point to such a course. Besides the avoidance of an
+evil influence upon the local concerns of the country, how solid is the
+advantage which the Government will reap from it in the elevation of its
+character! How gratifying the effect of presenting to the world the
+sublime spectacle of a Republic of more than 12,000,000 happy people, in
+the fifty-fourth year of her existence, after having passed through two
+protracted wars--the one for the acquisition and the other for the
+maintenance of liberty--free from debt and with all her immense
+resources unfettered! What a salutary influence would not such an
+exhibition exercise upon the cause of liberal principles and free
+government throughout the world! Would we not ourselves find in its
+effect an additional guaranty that our political institutions will be
+transmitted to the most remote posterity without decay? A course of
+policy destined to witness events like these can not be benefited by a
+legislation which tolerates a scramble for appropriations that have no
+relation to any general system of improvement, and whose good effects
+must of necessity be very limited. In the best view of these
+appropriations, the abuses to which they lead far exceed the good which
+they are capable of promoting. They may be resorted to as artful
+expedients to shift upon the Government the losses of unsuccessful
+private speculation, and thus, by ministering to personal ambition and
+self-aggrandizement, tend to sap the foundations of public virtue and
+taint the administration of the Government with a demoralizing
+influence.
+
+In the other view of the subject, and the only remaining one which it is
+my intention to present at this time, is involved the expediency of
+embarking in a system of internal improvement without a previous
+amendment of the Constitution explaining and defining the precise powers
+of the Federal Government over it. Assuming the right to appropriate
+money to aid in the construction of national works to be warranted by
+the cotemporaneous and continued exposition of the Constitution, its
+insufficiency for the successful prosecution of them must be admitted by
+all candid minds. If we look to usage to define the extent of the right,
+that will be found so variant and embracing so much that has been
+overruled as to involve the whole subject in great uncertainty and to
+render the execution of our respective duties in relation to it replete
+with difficulty and embarrassment. It is in regard to such works and the
+acquisition of additional territory that the practice obtained its first
+footing. In most, if not all, other disputed questions of appropriation
+the construction of the Constitution may be regarded as unsettled if the
+right to apply money in the enumerated cases is placed on the ground of
+usage.
+
+This subject has been one of much, and, I may add, painful, reflection
+to me. It has bearings that are well calculated to exert a powerful
+influence upon our hitherto prosperous system of government, and which,
+on some accounts, may even excite despondency in the breast of an
+American citizen. I will not detain you with professions of zeal in the
+cause of internal improvements. If to be their friend is a virtue which
+deserves commendation, our country is blessed with an abundance of it,
+for I do not suppose there is an intelligent citizen who does not wish
+to see them flourish. But though all are their friends, but few, I
+trust, are unmindful of the means by which they should be promoted; none
+certainly are so degenerate as to desire their success at the cost of
+that sacred instrument with the preservation of which is indissolubly
+bound our country's hopes. If different impressions are entertained in
+any quarter; if it is expected that the people of this country, reckless
+of their constitutional obligations, will prefer their local interest to
+the principles of the Union, such expectations will in the end be
+disappointed; or if it be not so, then indeed has the world but little
+to hope from the example of free government. When an honest observance
+of constitutional compacts can not be obtained from communities like
+ours, it need not be anticipated elsewhere, and the cause in which there
+has been so much martyrdom, and from which so much was expected by the
+friends of liberty, may be abandoned, and the degrading truth that man
+is unfit for self-government admitted. And this will be the case if
+_expediency_ be made a rule of construction in interpreting the
+Constitution. Power in no government could desire a better shield for
+the insidious advances which it is ever ready to make upon the checks
+that are designed to restrain its action.
+
+But I do not entertain such gloomy apprehensions. If it be the wish of
+the people that the construction of roads and canals should be conducted
+by the Federal Government, it is not only highly expedient, but
+indispensably necessary, that a previous amendment of the Constitution,
+delegating the necessary power and defining and restricting its exercise
+with reference to the sovereignty of the States, should be made. Without
+it nothing extensively useful can be effected. The right to exercise as
+much jurisdiction as is necessary to preserve the works and to raise
+funds by the collection of tolls to keep them in repair can not be
+dispensed with. The Cumberland road should be an instructive admonition
+of the consequences of acting without this right. Year after year
+contests are witnessed, growing out of efforts to obtain the necessary
+appropriations for completing and repairing this useful work. Whilst one
+Congress may claim and exercise the power, a succeeding one may deny it;
+and this fluctuation of opinion must be unavoidably fatal to any scheme
+which from its extent would promote the interests and elevate the
+character of the country. The experience of the past has shown that the
+opinion of Congress is subject to such fluctuations.
+
+If it be the desire of the people that the agency of the Federal
+Government should be confined to the appropriation of money in aid of
+such undertakings, in virtue of State authorities, then the occasion,
+the manner, and the extent of the appropriations should be made the
+subject of constitutional regulation. This is the more necessary in
+order that they may be equitable among the several States, promote
+harmony between different sections of the Union and their
+representatives, preserve other parts of the Constitution from being
+undermined by the exercise of doubtful powers or the too great extension
+of those which are not so, and protect the whole subject against the
+deleterious influence of combinations to carry by concert measures
+which, considered by themselves, might meet but little countenance.
+
+That a constitutional adjustment of this power upon equitable principles
+is in the highest degree desirable can scarcely be doubted, nor can it
+fail to be promoted by every sincere friend to the success of our
+political institutions. In no government are appeals to the source of
+power in cases of real doubt more suitable than in ours. No good motive
+can be assigned for the exercise of power by the constituted
+authorities, while those for whose benefit it is to be exercised have
+not conferred it and may not be willing to confer it. It would seem to
+me that an honest application of the conceded powers of the General
+Government to the advancement of the common weal present a sufficient
+scope to satisfy a reasonable ambition. The difficulty and supposed
+impracticability of obtaining an amendment of the Constitution in this
+respect is, I firmly believe, in a great degree unfounded. The time has
+never yet been when the patriotism and intelligence of the American
+people were not fully equal to the greatest exigency, and it never will
+when the subject calling forth their interposition is plainly presented
+to them. To do so with the questions involved in this bill, and to urge
+them to an early, zealous, and full consideration of their deep
+importance, is, in my estimation, among the highest of our duties.
+
+A supposed connection between appropriations for internal improvement
+and the system of protecting duties, growing out of the anxieties of
+those more immediately interested in their success, has given rise to
+suggestions which it is proper I should notice on this occasion. My
+opinions on these subjects have never been concealed from those who had
+a right to know them. Those which I have entertained on the latter have
+frequently placed me in opposition to individuals as well as communities
+whose claims upon my friendship and gratitude are of the strongest
+character, but I trust there has been nothing in my public life which
+has exposed me to the suspicion of being thought capable of sacrificing
+my views of duty to private considerations, however strong they may have
+been or deep the regrets which they are capable of exciting.
+
+As long as the encouragement of domestic manufactures is directed to
+national ends it shall receive from me a temperate but steady support.
+There is no necessary connection between it and the system of
+appropriations. On the contrary, it appears to me that the supposition
+of their dependence upon each other is calculated to excite the
+prejudices of the public against both. The former is sustained on the
+grounds of its consistency with the letter and spirit of the
+Constitution, of its origin being traced to the assent of all the
+parties to the original compact, and of its having the support and
+approbation of a majority of the people, on which account it is at least
+entitled to a fair experiment. The suggestions to which I have alluded
+refer to a forced continuance of the national debt by means of large
+appropriations as a substitute for the security which the system derives
+from the principles on which it has hitherto been sustained. Such a
+course would certainly indicate either an unreasonable distrust of the
+people or a consciousness that the system does not possess sufficient
+soundness for its support if left to their voluntary choice and its own
+merits. Those who suppose that any policy thus founded can be long
+upheld in this country have looked upon its history with eyes very
+different from mine. This policy, like every other, must abide the will
+of the people, who will not be likely to allow any device, however
+specious, to conceal its character and tendency.
+
+In presenting these opinions I have spoken with the freedom and candor
+which I thought the occasion for their expression called for, and now
+respectfully return the bill which has been under consideration for your
+further deliberation and judgment.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 31, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+GENTLEMEN: I have considered the bill proposing "to authorize a
+subscription of stock in the Washington Turnpike Road Company," and now
+return the same to the Senate, in which it originated.
+
+I am unable to approve this bill, and would respectfully refer the
+Senate to my message to the House of Representatives on returning to
+that House the bill "to authorize a subscription of stock in the
+Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike Road Company" for a
+statement of my objections to the bill herewith returned. The message
+referred to bears date on the 27th instant, and a printed copy of the
+same is herewith transmitted,
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(NOTE.--For reasons for the pocket vetoes of "An act for making
+appropriations for building light-houses, light-boats, beacons, and
+monuments, placing buoys, and for improving harbors and directing
+surveys," and "An act to authorize a subscription for stock in the
+Louisville and Portland Canal Company," see Second Annual Message, dated
+December 6, 1830, p. 508.)
+
+
+
+
+PROCLAMATIONS.
+
+
+BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
+A PROCLAMATION.
+
+Whereas it has been represented that many uninformed or evil-disposed
+persons have taken possession of or made a settlement on the public
+lands of the United States within the district of lands subject to sale
+at Huntsville, in the State of Alabama, which have not been previously
+sold, ceded, or leased by the United States, or the claim to which lands
+by such persons has not been previously recognized and confirmed by the
+United States, which possession or settlement is, by the act of Congress
+passed on the 3d day of March, 1807, expressly prohibited; and
+
+Whereas the due execution of the said act of Congress, as well as the
+general interest, requires that such illegal practices should be
+promptly repressed:
+
+Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, have
+thought proper to issue this my proclamation, commanding and strictly
+enjoining all persons who have unlawfully taken possession of or made
+any settlement on, or who now unlawfully occupy, any of the public lands
+within the district of lands subject to sale at Huntsville, in the State
+of Alabama, as aforesaid, forthwith to remove therefrom; and I do hereby
+further command and enjoin the marshal, or officer acting as marshal, in
+that State, where such possession shall have been taken or settlement
+made, to remove, from and after the 1st day of September, 1830, all or
+any of the said unlawful occupants; and to effect the said service I do
+hereby authorize the employment of such military force as may become
+necessary in pursuance of the provisions of the act of Congress
+aforesaid, warning the offenders, moreover, that they will be prosecuted
+in all such other ways as the law directs.
+
+In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of
+America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my
+hand.
+
+(SEAL.)
+
+Done at the city of Washington, the 6th day of March, A.D. 1830, and of
+the Independence of the United States of America the fifty-fourth.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+By the President:
+M. VAN BUREN,
+_Secretary of State_.
+
+
+(From original in General Land Office.)
+
+BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+In pursuance of law, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States
+of America, do hereby declare and make known that public sales will be
+held at the under-mentioned land offices, in the State of Louisiana, at
+the periods designated, to wit:
+
+At the land office at New Orleans on the first Monday in November next,
+for the disposal of such of the public lands within the limits of the
+under-mentioned fractional townships as are not covered by private land
+claims, viz:
+
+Fractional townships 6, 7, and 9 south, of range 12 east; fractional
+townships 9 and 10 south, of range 13 east; fractional township 11
+south, of range 15 east; fractional township 12 south, of range 16 east;
+fractional township 12 south, of ranges 20 and 21 east; fractional
+township 13 south, of range 21 east.
+
+The above-described lands are adjacent to and binding on the Mississippi
+River.
+
+At the land office at Ouachita, on the third Monday in November next,
+for the disposal of the public lands within the limits of the
+undermentioned townships and fractional townships, viz:
+
+Fractional townships 3 and 4 north, of range 1 east; fractional
+townships 2 and 3 and townships 19 and 20 north, of range 2 east;
+fractional townships 2 and 3 and townships 7, 13, 14, 19, and 20 north,
+of range 3 east; fractional township 3 and townships 8, 9, 13, 14, and
+19 north, of range 4 east; township 9 north, of ranges 5 and 6 east;
+township 10 north, of range 7 east; townships 10, 11, and 12 north, of
+range 8 east; also township 8 north, of range 9 east, and townships 8
+and 9 north, of range 10 east, including the Lake St. John and part of
+Lake Concordia, near Natchez; township 21 and fractional township 22
+north, of range 12 east; fractional townships 21, 22, and 23, of range
+13 east, in the vicinity of Lake Providence; fractional township 4
+north, of range 1 west; fractional townships 5 and 6 north, of range 2
+west; fractional townships 5 and 6 and township 7 north, of range 3
+west.
+
+At the land office at St. Helena on the third Monday in November next,
+for the disposal of the public lands within the limits of the
+undermentioned townships and fractional townships, viz:
+
+Township 4 and fractional townships 5 and 7, of range 1 west; townships
+1 and 2 and fractional townships 3, 4, and 5, of range 2 west; townships
+1 and 2 and fractional township 3, of range 3 west; fractional townships
+1 and 2, of range 4 west; townships 4 and 5, of range 1 east; township
+4, of range 2 east; township 4 and fractional townships 7 and 8, of
+range 10 east; townships 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and fractional township 8, of
+range 11 east; townships 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and fractional township 8, of
+range 12 east; townships 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 and fractional townships 4
+and 9, of range 13 east; fractional townships 1, 2, 3, and 10, of range
+14 east; fractional township 10, of ranges 15, 16, and 17 east.
+
+The townships and fractional townships will be offered in the order in
+which they are above designated, beginning with the lowest number of
+section in each.
+
+The lands reserved by law for the use of schools or for other purposes
+are to be excluded from sale.
+
+Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 5th day of June,
+1830.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+By the President:
+GEORGE GRAHAM,
+_Commissioner of the General Land Office_.
+
+
+BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
+
+A PROCLAMATION.
+
+Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
+May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
+concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,' and to equalize
+the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that
+upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United
+States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating
+duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the
+said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United
+States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in
+the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the
+President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that
+the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
+United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as
+respects the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce,
+manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same
+from the said foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said
+suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
+to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
+reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
+States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no
+longer; and
+
+Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from His
+Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, through an official
+communication of F.A. Mensch, his consul in the United States, under
+date of the 15th of September, 1830, that no discriminating duties of
+tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the Grand
+Dukedom of Oldenburg upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the
+United States or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported
+in the same from the United States or from any other country:
+
+Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
+America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
+imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
+States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
+the vessels of the Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg and the produce,
+manufactures, and merchandise imported into the United States in the
+same from the Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg and from any other foreign
+country whatever, the said suspension to take effect from the day above
+mentioned and to continue thenceforward so long as the reciprocal
+exemption of the vessels of the United States and the produce,
+manufactures, and merchandise imported into the Grand Dukedom of
+Oldenburg in the same, as aforesaid, shall be continued on the part of
+the Government of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Oldenburg.
+
+Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 18th day of
+September, A.D. 1830, and the fifty-fifth of the Independence of the
+United States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+By the President:
+M. VAN BUREN, _Secretary of State_.
+
+
+BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
+
+A PROCLAMATION.
+
+Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States passed on the
+29th day of May, 1830, it is provided that whenever the President of the
+United States shall receive satisfactory evidence that the Government of
+Great Britain will open the ports in its colonial possessions in the
+West Indies, on the continent of South America, the Bahama Islands, the
+Caicos, and the Bermuda or Somer Islands to the vessels of the United
+States for an indefinite or for a limited term; that the vessels of the
+United States, and their cargoes, on entering the colonial ports
+aforesaid, shall not be subject to other or higher duties of tonnage or
+impost or charges of any other description than would be imposed on
+British vessels or their cargoes arriving in the said colonial
+possessions from the United States; that the vessels of the United
+States may import into the said colonial possessions from the United
+States any article or articles which could be imported in a British
+vessel into the said possessions from the United States; and that the
+vessels of the United States may export from the British colonies
+aforementioned, to any country whatever other than the dominions or
+possessions of Great Britain, any article or articles that can be
+exported therefrom in a British vessel to any country other than the
+British dominions or possessions as aforesaid, leaving the commercial
+intercourse of the United States with all other parts of the British
+dominions or possessions on a footing not less favorable to the United
+States than it now is--that then, and in such case, the President of the
+United States shall be authorized, at any time before the next session
+of Congress, to issue his proclamation declaring that he has received
+such evidence, and that thereupon, and from the date of such
+proclamation, the ports of the United States shall be opened
+indefinitely or for a term fixed, as the case may be, to British vessels
+coming from the said British colonial possessions, and their cargoes,
+subject to no other or higher duty of tonnage or impost or charge of any
+description whatever than would be levied on the vessels of the United
+States or their cargoes arriving from the said British possessions; and
+that it shall be lawful for the said British vessels to import into the
+United States and to export therefrom any article or articles which may
+be imported or exported in vessels of the United States; and that the
+act entitled "An act concerning navigation," passed on the 18th day of
+April, 1818, an act supplementary thereto, passed the 15th day of May,
+1820, and an act entitled "An act to regulate the commercial intercourse
+between the United States and certain British ports," passed on the 1st
+day of March, 1823, shall in such case be suspended or absolutely
+repealed, as the case may require; and
+
+Whereas by the said act it is further provided that whenever the ports
+of the United States shall have been opened under the authority thereby
+given, British vessels and their cargoes shall be admitted to an entry
+in the ports of the United States from the islands, provinces, or
+colonies of Great Britain on or near the North American continent and
+north or east of the United States; and
+
+Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by the President of the
+United States that whenever he shall give effect to the provisions of
+the act aforesaid the Government of Great Britain will open for an
+indefinite period the ports in its colonial possessions in the West
+Indies, on the continent of South America, the Bahama Islands, the
+Caicos, and the Bermuda or Somer Islands to the vessels of the United
+States, and their cargoes, upon the terms and according to the
+requisitions of the aforesaid act of Congress:
+
+Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
+America, do hereby declare and proclaim that such evidence has been
+received by me, and that by the operation of the act of Congress passed
+on the 29th day of May, 1830, the ports of the United States are from
+the date of this proclamation open to British vessels coming from the
+said British possessions, and their cargoes, upon the terms set forth in
+the said act. The act entitled "An act concerning navigation," passed on
+the 18th day of April, 1818, the act supplementary thereto, passed the
+15th day of May, 1820, and the act entitled "An act to regulate the
+commercial intercourse between the United States and certain British
+ports," passed the 1st day of March, 1823, are absolutely repealed, and
+British vessels and their cargoes are admitted to an entry in the ports
+of the United States from the islands, provinces, and colonies of Great
+Britain on or near the North American continent and north or east of the
+United States.
+
+Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 5th day of October,
+A.D. 1830, and the fifty-fifth of the Independence of the United States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+By the President:
+M. VAN BUREN,
+_Secretary of State_.
+
+
+
+
+EXECUTIVE ORDER.
+
+
+ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
+_Washington, June 12, 1830_.
+
+ORDER 29.
+
+The following general order has been received from the War Department.
+It is published for the information of all concerned:
+
+DEPARTMENT OF WAR,
+_Washington, June 12, 1830_.
+
+GENERAL ORDER.
+
+Congress at their last session passed an act repealing so much of the
+military law as imposes the penalty of death on those who "in time of
+peace" shall be found guilty of the crime of desertion. To give complete
+effect to the benevolent designs of said act, and that the Army may be
+correctly informed, it is hereby proclaimed that a free and full pardon
+is extended to those who at the date of this order stand in the
+character of deserters. All who are under arrest for this offense at the
+different posts and garrisons will be forthwith liberated, and return to
+their duty. Such as are roaming at large and those who are under
+sentence of death are discharged, and are not again to be permitted to
+enter the Army, nor at any time hereafter to be enlisted in the service
+of the country. It is desirable and highly important that the ranks of
+the Army should be composed of respectable, not degraded, materials.
+Those who can be so lost to the obligations of a soldier as to abandon a
+country which morally they are bound to defend, and which solemnly they
+have sworn to serve, are unworthy, and should be confided in no more. By
+order of the President of the United States:
+
+JOHN H. EATON,
+_Secretary of War_.
+
+Communicated by order of Alexander Macomb, Major-General Commanding the
+Army.
+
+R. JONES, _Adjutant-General._
+
+
+
+
+SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.
+
+_December 6, 1830_.
+_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+The pleasure I have in congratulating you upon your return to your
+constitutional duties is much heightened by the satisfaction which the
+condition of our beloved country at this period justly inspires. The
+beneficent Author of All Good has granted to us during the present year
+health, peace, and plenty, and numerous causes for joy in the wonderful
+success which attends the progress of our free institutions.
+
+With a population unparalleled in its increase, and possessing a
+character which combines the hardihood of enterprise with the
+considerateness of wisdom, we see in every section of our happy country
+a steady improvement in the means of social intercourse, and
+correspondent effects upon the genius and laws of our extended Republic.
+
+The apparent exceptions to the harmony of the prospect are to be
+referred rather to inevitable diversities in the various interests which
+enter into the composition of so extensive a whole than to any want of
+attachment to the Union--interests whose collisions serve only in the
+end to foster the spirit of conciliation and patriotism so essential to
+the preservation of that Union which I most devoutly hope is destined to
+prove imperishable.
+
+In the midst of these blessings we have recently witnessed changes in
+the condition of other nations which may in their consequences call for
+the utmost vigilance, wisdom, and unanimity in our councils, and the
+exercise of all the moderation and patriotism of our people.
+
+The important modifications of their Government, effected with so much
+courage and wisdom by the people of France, afford a happy presage of
+their future course, and have naturally elicited from the kindred
+feelings of this nation that spontaneous and universal burst of applause
+in which you have participated. In congratulating you, my
+fellow-citizens, upon an event so auspicious to the dearest interests of
+mankind I do no more than respond to the voice of my country, without
+transcending in the slightest degree that salutary maxim of the
+illustrious Washington which enjoins an abstinence from all interference
+with the internal affairs of other nations. From a people exercising in
+the most unlimited degree the right of self-government, and enjoying, as
+derived from this proud characteristic, under the favor of Heaven, much
+of the happiness with which they are blessed; a people who can point in
+triumph to their free institutions and challenge comparison with the
+fruits they bear, as well as with the moderation, intelligence, and
+energy with which they are administered--from such a people the deepest
+sympathy was to be expected in a struggle for the sacred principles of
+liberty, conducted in a spirit every way worthy of the cause, and
+crowned by a heroic moderation which has disarmed revolution of its
+terrors. Notwithstanding the strong assurances which the man whom we so
+sincerely love and justly admire has given to the world of the high
+character of the present King of the French, and which if sustained to
+the end will secure to him the proud appellation of Patriot King, it is
+not in his success, but in that of the great principle which has borne
+him to the throne--the paramount authority of the public will--that the
+American people rejoice.
+
+I am happy to inform you that the anticipations which were indulged at
+the date of my last communication on the subject of our foreign affairs
+have been fully realized in several important particulars.
+
+An arrangement has been effected with Great Britain in relation to the
+trade between the United States and her West India and North American
+colonies which has settled a question that has for years afforded matter
+for contention and almost uninterrupted discussion, and has been the
+subject of no less than six negotiations, in a manner which promises
+results highly favorable to the parties.
+
+The abstract right of Great Britain to monopolize the trade with her
+colonies or to exclude us from a participation therein has never been
+denied by the United States. But we have contended, and with reason,
+that if at any time Great Britain may desire the productions of this
+country as necessary to her colonies they must be received upon
+principles of just reciprocity, and, further, that it is making an
+invidious and unfriendly distinction to open her colonial ports to the
+vessels of other nations and close them against those of the United
+States.
+
+Antecedently to 1794 a portion of our productions was admitted into the
+colonial islands of Great Britain by particular concessions, limited to
+the term of one year, but renewed from year to year. In the
+transportation of these productions, however, our vessels were not
+allowed to engage, this being a privilege reserved to British shipping,
+by which alone our produce could be taken to the islands and theirs
+brought to us in return. From Newfoundland and her continental
+possessions all our productions, as well as our vessels, were excluded,
+with occasional relaxations, by which, in seasons of distress, the
+former were admitted in British bottoms.
+
+By the treaty of 1794 she offered to concede to us for a limited time
+the right of carrying to her West India possessions in our vessels not
+exceeding 70 tons burthen, and upon the same terms as British vessels,
+any productions of the United States which British vessels might import
+therefrom. But this privilege was coupled with conditions which are
+supposed to have led to its rejection by the Senate; that is, that
+American vessels should land their return cargoes in the United States
+only, and, moreover, that they should during the continuance of the
+privilege be precluded from carrying molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, or
+cotton either from those islands or from the United States to any other
+part of the world. Great Britain readily consented to expunge this
+article from the treaty, and subsequent attempts to arrange the terms of
+the trade either by treaty stipulations or concerted legislation having
+failed, it has been successively suspended and allowed according to the
+varying legislation of the parties.
+
+The following are the prominent points which have in later years
+separated the two Governments: Besides a restriction whereby all
+importations into her colonies in American vessels are confined to our
+own products carried hence, a restriction to which it does not appear
+that we have ever objected, a leading object on the part of Great
+Britain has been to prevent us from becoming the carriers of British
+West India commodities to any other country than our own. On the part of
+the United States it has been contended, first, that the subject should
+be regulated by treaty stipulation in preference to separate
+legislation; second, that our productions, when imported into the
+colonies in question, should not be subject to higher duties than the
+productions of the mother country or of her other colonial possessions,
+and, third, that our vessels should be allowed to participate in the
+circuitous trade between the United States and different parts of the
+British dominions.
+
+The first point, after having been for a long time strenuously insisted
+upon by Great Britain, was given up by the act of Parliament of July,
+1825, all vessels suffered to trade with the colonies being permitted to
+clear from thence with any articles which British vessels might export
+and proceed to any part of the world, Great Britain and her dependencies
+alone excepted. On our part each of the above points had in succession
+been explicitly abandoned in negotiations preceding that of which the
+result is now announced.
+
+This arrangement secures to the United States every advantage asked by
+them, and which the state of the negotiation allowed us to insist upon.
+The trade will be placed upon a footing decidedly more favorable to this
+country than any on which it ever stood, and our commerce and navigation
+will enjoy in the colonial ports of Great Britain every privilege
+allowed to other nations.
+
+That the prosperity of the country so far as it depends on this trade
+will be greatly promoted by the new arrangement there can be no doubt.
+Independently of the more obvious advantages of an open and direct
+intercourse, its establishment will be attended with other consequences
+of a higher value. That which has been carried on since the mutual
+interdict under all the expense and inconvenience unavoidably incident
+to it would have been insupportably onerous had it not been in a great
+degree lightened by concerted evasions in the mode of making the
+trans-shipments at what are called the neutral ports. These indirections
+are inconsistent with the dignity of nations that have so many motives
+not only to cherish feelings of mutual friendship, but to maintain such
+relations as will stimulate their respective citizens and subjects to
+efforts of direct, open, and honorable competition only, and preserve
+them from the influence of seductive and vitiating circumstances.
+
+When your preliminary interposition was asked at the close of the last
+session, a copy of the instructions under which Mr. McLane has acted,
+together with the communications which had at that time passed between
+him and the British Government, was laid before you. Although there has
+not been anything in the acts of the two Governments which requires
+secrecy, it was thought most proper in the then state of the negotiation
+to make that communication a confidential one. So soon, however, as the
+evidence of execution on the part of Great Britain is received the whole
+matter shall be laid before you, when it will be seen that the
+apprehension which appears to have suggested one of the provisions of
+the act passed at your last session, that the restoration of the trade
+in question might be connected with other subjects and was sought to be
+obtained at the sacrifice of the public interest in other particulars,
+was wholly unfounded, and that the change which has taken place in the
+views of the British Government has been induced by considerations as
+honorable to both parties as I trust the result will prove beneficial.
+
+This desirable result was, it will be seen, greatly promoted by the
+liberal and confiding provisions of the act of Congress of the last
+session, by which our ports were upon the reception and annunciation by
+the President of the required assurance on the part of Great Britain
+forthwith opened to her vessels before the arrangement could be carried
+into effect on her part, pursuing in this act of prospective legislation
+a similar course to that adopted by Great Britain in abolishing, by her
+act of Parliament in 1825, a restriction then existing and permitting
+our vessels to clear from the colonies on their return voyages for any
+foreign country whatever before British vessels had been relieved from
+the restriction imposed by our law of returning directly from the United
+States to the colonies, a restriction which she required and expected
+that we should abolish. Upon each occasion a limited and temporary
+advantage has been given to the opposite party, but an advantage of no
+importance in comparison with the restoration of mutual confidence and
+good feeling, and the ultimate establishment of the trade upon fair
+principles.
+
+It gives me unfeigned pleasure to assure you that this negotiation has
+been throughout characterized by the most frank and friendly spirit on
+the part of Great Britain, and concluded in a manner strongly indicative
+of a sincere desire to cultivate the best relations with the United
+States. To reciprocate this disposition to the fullest extent of my
+ability is a duty which I shall deem it a privilege to discharge.
+
+Although the result is itself the best commentary on the services
+rendered to his country by our minister at the Court of St. James, it
+would be doing violence to my feelings were I to dismiss the subject
+without expressing the very high sense I entertain of the talent and
+exertion which have been displayed by him on the occasion.
+
+The injury to the commerce of the United States resulting from the
+exclusion of our vessels from the Black Sea and the previous footing of
+mere sufferance upon which even the limited trade enjoyed by us with
+Turkey has hitherto been placed have for a long time been a source of
+much solicitude to this Government, and several endeavors have been made
+to obtain a better state of things. Sensible of the importance of the
+object, I felt it my duty to leave no proper means unemployed to acquire
+for our flag the same privileges that are enjoyed by the principal
+powers of Europe. Commissioners were consequently appointed to open a
+negotiation with the Sublime Porte. Not long after the member of the
+commission who went directly from the United States had sailed, the
+account of the treaty of Adrianople, by which one of the objects in view
+was supposed to be secured, reached this country. The Black Sea was
+understood to be opened to us. Under the supposition that this was the
+case, the additional facilities to be derived from the establishment of
+commercial regulations with the Porte were deemed of sufficient
+importance to require a prosecution of the negotiation as originally
+contemplated. It was therefore persevered in, and resulted in a treaty,
+which will be forthwith laid before the Senate.
+
+By its provisions a free passage is secured, without limitation of time,
+to the vessels of the United States to and from the Black Sea, including
+the navigation thereof, and our trade with Turkey is placed on the
+footing of the most favored nation. The latter is an arrangement wholly
+independent of the treaty of Adrianople, and the former derives much
+value, not only from the increased security which under any
+circumstances it would give to the right in question, but from the fact,
+ascertained in the course of the negotiation, that by the construction
+put upon that treaty by Turkey the article relating to the passage of
+the Bosphorus is confined to nations having treaties with the Porte. The
+most friendly feelings appear to be entertained by the Sultan, and an
+enlightened disposition is evinced by him to foster the intercourse
+between the two countries by the most liberal arrangements. This
+disposition it will be our duty and interest to cherish.
+
+Our relations with Russia are of the most stable character. Respect for
+that Empire and confidence in its friendship toward the United States
+have been so long entertained on our part and so carefully cherished by
+the present Emperor and his illustrious predecessor as to have become
+incorporated with the public sentiment of the United States. No means
+will be left unemployed on my part to promote these salutary feelings
+and those improvements of which the commercial intercourse between the
+two countries is susceptible, and which have derived increased
+importance from our treaty with the Sublime Porte.
+
+I sincerely regret to inform you that our minister lately commissioned
+to that Court, on whose distinguished talents and great experience in
+public affairs I place great reliance, has been compelled by extreme
+indisposition to exercise a privilege which, in consideration of the
+extent to which his constitution had been impaired in the public
+service, was committed to his discretion--of leaving temporarily his
+post for the advantage of a more genial climate.
+
+If, as it is to be hoped, the improvement of his health should be such
+as to justify him in doing so, he will repair to St. Petersburg and
+resume the discharge of his official duties. I have received the most
+satisfactory assurances that in the meantime the public interest in that
+quarter will be preserved from prejudice by the intercourse which he
+will continue through the secretary of legation with the Russian
+cabinet.
+
+You are apprised, although the fact has not yet been officially
+announced to the House of Representatives, that a treaty was in the
+month of March last concluded between the United States and Denmark, by
+which $650,000 are secured to our citizens as an indemnity for
+spoliations upon their commerce in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 1811.
+This treaty was sanctioned by the Senate at the close of its last
+session, and it now becomes the duty of Congress to pass the necessary
+laws for the organization of the board of commissioners to distribute
+the indemnity among the claimants. It is an agreeable circumstance in
+this adjustment that the terms are in conformity with the previously
+ascertained views of the claimants themselves, thus removing all
+pretense for a future agitation of the subject in any form.
+
+The negotiations in regard to such points in our foreign relations as
+remain to be adjusted have been actively prosecuted during the recess.
+Material advances have been made, which are of a character to promise
+favorable results. Our country, by the blessing of God, is not in a
+situation to invite aggression, and it will be our fault if she ever
+becomes so. Sincerely desirous to cultivate the most liberal and
+friendly relations with all; ever ready to fulfill our engagements with
+scrupulous fidelity; limiting our demands upon others to mere justice;
+holding ourselves ever ready to do unto them as we would wish to be done
+by, and avoiding even the appearance of undue partiality to any nation,
+it appears to me impossible that a simple and sincere application of our
+principles to our foreign relations can fail to place them ultimately
+upon the footing on which it is our wish they should rest.
+
+Of the points referred to, the most prominent are our claims upon France
+for spoliations upon our commerce; similar claims upon Spain, together
+with embarrassments in the commercial intercourse between the two
+countries which ought to be removed; the conclusion of the treaty of
+commerce and navigation with Mexico, which has been so long in suspense,
+as well as the final settlement of limits between ourselves and that
+Republic, and, finally, the arbitrament of the question between the
+United States and Great Britain in regard to the northeastern boundary.
+
+The negotiation with France has been conducted by our minister with zeal
+and ability, and in all respects to my entire satisfaction. Although the
+prospect of a favorable termination was occasionally dimmed by counter
+pretensions to which the United States could not assent, he yet had
+strong hopes of being able to arrive at a satisfactory settlement with
+the late Government. The negotiation has been renewed with the present
+authorities, and, sensible of the general and lively confidence of our
+citizens in the justice and magnanimity of regenerated France, I regret
+the more not to have it in my power yet to announce the result so
+confidently anticipated. No ground, however, inconsistent with this
+expectation has yet been taken, and I do not allow myself to doubt that
+justice will soon be done us. The amount of the claims, the length of
+time they have remained unsatisfied, and their incontrovertible justice
+make an earnest prosecution of them by this Government an urgent duty.
+The illegality of the seizures and confiscations out of which they have
+arisen is not disputed, and whatever distinctions may have heretofore
+been set up in regard to the liability of the existing Government it is
+quite clear that such considerations can not now be interposed.
+
+The commercial intercourse between the two countries is susceptible of
+highly advantageous improvements, but the sense of this injury has had,
+and must continue to have, a very unfavorable influence upon them. From
+its satisfactory adjustment not only a firm and cordial friendship, but
+a progressive development of all their relations, may be expected. It
+is, therefore, my earnest hope that this old and vexatious subject of
+difference may be speedily removed.
+
+I feel that my confidence in our appeal to the motives which should
+govern a just and magnanimous nation is alike warranted by the character
+of the French people and by the high voucher we possess for the enlarged
+views and pure integrity of the Monarch who now presides over their
+councils, and nothing shall be wanting on my part to meet any
+manifestation of the spirit we anticipate in one of corresponding
+frankness and liberality.
+
+The subjects of difference with Spain have been brought to the view of
+that Government by our minister there with much force and propriety, and
+the strongest assurances have been received of their early and favorable
+consideration.
+
+The steps which remained to place the matter in controversy between
+Great Britain and the United States fairly before the arbitrator have
+all been taken in the same liberal and friendly spirit which
+characterized those before announced. Recent events have doubtless
+served to delay the decision, but our minister at the Court of the
+distinguished arbitrator has been assured that it will be made within
+the time contemplated by the treaty.
+
+I am particularly gratified in being able to state that a decidedly
+favorable, and, as I hope, lasting, change has been effected in our
+relations with the neighboring Republic of Mexico. The unfortunate and
+unfounded suspicions in regard to our disposition which it became my
+painful duty to advert to on a former occasion have been, I believe,
+entirely removed, and the Government of Mexico has been made to
+understand the real character of the wishes and views of this in regard
+to that country. The consequence is the establishment of friendship and
+mutual confidence. Such are the assurances I have received, and I see no
+cause to doubt their sincerity.
+
+I had reason to expect the conclusion of a commercial treaty with Mexico
+in season for communication on the present occasion. Circumstances which
+are not explained, but which I am persuaded are not the result of an
+indisposition on her part to enter into it, have produced the delay.
+
+There was reason to fear in the course of the last summer that the
+harmony of our relations might be disturbed by the acts of certain
+claimants, under Mexican grants, of territory which had hitherto been
+under our jurisdiction. The cooperation of the representative of Mexico
+near this Government was asked on the occasion and was readily afforded.
+Instructions and advice have been given to the governor of Arkansas and
+the officers in command in the adjoining Mexican State by which it is
+hoped the quiet of that frontier will be preserved until a final
+settlement of the dividing line shall have removed all ground of
+controversy.
+
+The exchange of ratifications of the treaty concluded last year with
+Austria has not yet taken place. The delay has been occasioned by the
+nonarrival of the ratification of that Government within the time
+prescribed by the treaty. Renewed authority has been asked for by the
+representative of Austria, and in the meantime the rapidly increasing
+trade and navigation between the two countries have been placed upon the
+most liberal footing of our navigation acts.
+
+Several alleged depredations have been recently committed on our
+commerce by the national vessels of Portugal. They have been made the
+subject of immediate remonstrance and reclamation. I am not yet
+possessed of sufficient information to express a definitive opinion of
+their character, but expect soon to receive it. No proper means shall be
+omitted to obtain for our citizens all the redress to which they may
+appear to be entitled.
+
+Almost at the moment of the adjournment of your last session two
+bills--the one entitled "An act for making appropriations for building
+light-houses, light-boats, beacons, and monuments, placing buoys, and
+for improving harbors and directing surveys," and the other "An act to
+authorize a subscription for stock in the Louisville and Portland Canal
+Company"--were submitted for my approval. It was not possible within the
+time allowed me before the close of the session to give to these bills
+the consideration which was due to their character and importance, and I
+was compelled to retain them for that purpose. I now avail myself of
+this early opportunity to return them to the Houses in which they
+respectively originated with the reasons which, after mature
+deliberation, compel me to withhold my approval.
+
+The practice of defraying out of the Treasury of the United States the
+expenses incurred by the establishment and support of light-houses,
+beacons, buoys, and public piers within the bays, inlets, harbors, and
+ports of the United States, to render the navigation thereof safe and
+easy, is coeval with the adoption of the Constitution, and has been
+continued without interruption or dispute.
+
+As our foreign commerce increased and was extended into the interior of
+the country by the establishment of ports of entry and delivery upon our
+navigable rivers the sphere of those expenditures received a
+corresponding enlargement. Light-houses, beacons, buoys, public piers,
+and the removal of sand bars, sawyers, and other partial or temporary
+impediments in the navigable rivers and harbors which were embraced in
+the revenue districts from time to time established by law were
+authorized upon the same principle and the expense defrayed in the same
+manner. That these expenses have at times been extravagant and
+disproportionate is very probable. The circumstances under which they
+are incurred are well calculated to lead to such a result unless their
+application is subjected to the closest scrutiny. The local advantages
+arising from the disbursement of public money too frequently, it is to
+be feared, invite appropriations for objects of this character that are
+neither necessary nor useful.
+
+The number of light-house keepers is already very large, and the bill
+before me proposes to add to it fifty-one more of various descriptions.
+From representations upon the subject which are understood to be
+entitled to respect I am induced to believe that there has not only been
+great improvidence in the past expenditures of the Government upon these
+objects, but that the security of navigation has in some instances been
+diminished by the multiplication of light-houses and consequent change
+of lights upon the coast. It is in this as in other respects our duty to
+avoid all unnecessary expense, as well as every increase of patronage
+not called for by the public service. But in the discharge of that duty
+in this particular it must not be forgotten that in relation to our
+foreign commerce the burden and benefit of protecting and accommodating
+it necessarily go together, and must do so as long as the public revenue
+is drawn from the people through the custom-house. It is indisputable
+that whatever gives facility and security to navigation cheapens
+imports, and all who consume them are alike interested in whatever
+produces this effect. If they consume, they ought, as they now do, to
+pay; otherwise they do not pay. The consumer in the most inland State
+derives the same advantage from every necessary and prudent expenditure
+for the facility and security of our foreign commerce and navigation
+that he does who resides in a maritime State. Local expenditures have
+not of themselves a corresponding operation.
+
+From a bill making _direct_ appropriations for such objects I should not
+have withheld my assent. The one now returned does so in several
+particulars, but it also contains appropriations for surveys of a local
+character, which I can not approve. It gives me satisfaction to find
+that no serious inconvenience has arisen from withholding my approval
+from this bill; nor will it, I trust, be cause of regret that an
+opportunity will be thereby afforded for Congress to review its
+provisions under circumstances better calculated for full investigation
+than those under which it was passed.
+
+In speaking of direct appropriations I mean not to include a practice
+which has obtained to some extent, and to which I have in one instance,
+in a different capacity, given my assent--that of subscribing to the
+stock of private associations. Positive experience and a more thorough
+consideration of the subject have convinced me of the impropriety as
+well as inexpediency of such investments. All improvements effected by
+the funds of the nation for general use should be open to the enjoyment
+of all our fellow-citizens, exempt from the payment of tolls or any
+imposition of that character. The practice of thus mingling the concerns
+of the Government with those of the States or of individuals is
+inconsistent with the object of its institution and highly impolitic.
+The successful operation of the federal system can only be preserved by
+confining it to the few and simple, but yet important, objects for which
+it was designed.
+
+A different practice, if allowed to progress, would ultimately change
+the character of this Government by consolidating into one the General
+and State Governments, which were intended to be kept forever distinct.
+I can not perceive how bills authorizing such subscriptions can be
+otherwise regarded than as bills for revenue, and consequently subject
+to the rule in that respect prescribed by the Constitution. If the
+interest of the Government in private companies is subordinate to that
+of individuals, the management and control of a portion of the public
+funds is delegated to an authority unknown to the Constitution and
+beyond the supervision of our constituents; if superior, its officers
+and agents will be constantly exposed to imputations of favoritism and
+oppression. Direct prejudice to the public interest or an alienation of
+the affections and respect of portions of the people may, therefore, in
+addition to the general discredit resulting to the Government from
+embarking with its constituents in pecuniary stipulations, be looked for
+as the probable fruit of such associations. It is no answer to this
+objection to say that the extent of consequences like these can not be
+great from a limited and small number of investments, because experience
+in other matters teaches us--and we are not at liberty to disregard its
+admonitions--that unless an entire stop be put to them it will soon be
+impossible to prevent their accumulation until they are spread over the
+whole country and made to embrace many of the private and appropriate
+concerns of individuals.
+
+The power which the General Government would acquire within the several
+States by becoming the principal stockholder in corporations,
+controlling every canal and each 60 or 100 miles of every important
+road, and giving a proportionate vote in all their elections, is almost
+inconceivable, and in my view dangerous to the liberties of the people.
+
+This mode of aiding such works is also in its nature deceptive, and in
+many cases conducive to improvidence in the administration of the
+national funds. Appropriations will be obtained with much greater
+facility and granted with less security to the public interest when the
+measure is thus disguised than when definite and direct expenditures of
+money are asked for. The interests of the nation would doubtless be
+better served by avoiding all such indirect modes of aiding particular
+objects. In a government like ours more especially should all public
+acts be, as far as practicable, simple, undisguised, and intelligible,
+that they may become fit subjects for the approbation or animadversion
+of the people. The bill authorizing a subscription to the Louisville and
+Portland Canal affords a striking illustration of the difficulty of
+withholding additional appropriations for the same object when the first
+erroneous step has been taken by instituting a partnership between the
+Government and private companies. It proposes a third subscription on
+the part of the United States, when each preceding one was at the time
+regarded as the extent of the aid which Government was to render to that
+work; and the accompanying bill for light-houses, etc., contains an
+appropriation for a survey of the bed of the river, with a view to its
+improvement by removing the obstruction which the canal is designed to
+avoid. This improvement, if successful, would afford a free passage of
+the river and render the canal entirely useless. To such improvidence is
+the course of legislation subject in relation to internal improvements
+on local matters, even with the best intentions on the part of Congress.
+
+Although the motives which have influenced me in this matter may be
+already sufficiently stated, I am, nevertheless, induced by its
+importance to add a few observations of a general character.
+
+In my objections to the bills authorizing subscriptions to the Maysville
+and Rockville road companies I expressed my views fully in regard to the
+power of Congress to construct roads and canals within a State or to
+appropriate money for improvements of a local character. I at the same
+time intimated my belief that the right to make appropriations for such
+as were of a national character had been so generally acted upon and so
+long acquiesced in by the Federal and State Governments and the
+constituents of each as to justify its exercise on the ground of
+continued and uninterrupted usage, but that it was, nevertheless, highly
+expedient that appropriations even of that character should, with the
+exception made at the time, be deferred until the national debt is paid,
+and that in the meanwhile some general rule for the action of the
+Government in that respect ought to be established.
+
+These suggestions were not necessary to the decision of the question
+then before me, and were, I readily admit, intended to awake the
+attention and draw forth the opinions and observations of our
+constituents upon a subject of the highest importance to their
+interests, and one destined to exert a powerful influence upon the
+future operations of our political system. I know of no tribunal to
+which a public man in this country, in a case of doubt and difficulty,
+can appeal with greater advantage or more propriety than the judgment of
+the people; and although I must necessarily in the discharge of my
+official duties be governed by the dictates of my own judgment, I have
+no desire to conceal my anxious wish to conform as far as I can to the
+views of those for whom I act.
+
+All irregular expressions of public opinion are of necessity attended
+with some doubt as to their accuracy, but making full allowances on that
+account I can not, I think, deceive myself in believing that the acts
+referred to, as well as the suggestions which I allowed myself to make
+in relation to their bearing upon the future operations of the
+Government, have been approved by the great body of the people. That
+those whose immediate pecuniary interests are to be affected by proposed
+expenditures should shrink from the application of a rule which prefers
+their more general and remote interests to those which are personal and
+immediate is to be expected. But even such objections must from the
+nature of our population be but temporary in their duration, and if it
+were otherwise our course should be the same, for the time is yet, I
+hope, far distant when those intrusted with power to be exercised for
+the good of the whole will consider it either honest or wise to purchase
+local favors at the sacrifice of principle and general good.
+
+So understanding public sentiment, and thoroughly satisfied that the
+best interests of our common country imperiously require that the course
+which I have recommended in this regard should be adopted, I have, upon
+the most mature consideration, determined to pursue it.
+
+It is due to candor, as well as to my own feelings, that I should
+express the reluctance and anxiety which I must at all times experience
+in exercising the undoubted right of the Executive to withhold his
+assent from bills on other grounds than their constitutionality. That
+this right should not be exercised on slight occasions all will admit.
+It is only in matters of deep interest, when the principle involved may
+be justly regarded as next in importance to infractions of the
+Constitution itself, that such a step can be expected to meet with the
+approbation of the people. Such an occasion do I conscientiously believe
+the present to be. In the discharge of this delicate and highly
+responsible duty I am sustained by the reflection that the exercise of
+this power has been deemed consistent with the obligation of official
+duty by several of my predecessors, and by the persuasion, too, that
+whatever liberal institutions may have to fear from the encroachments of
+Executive power, which has been everywhere the cause of so much strife
+and bloody contention, but little danger is to be apprehended from a
+precedent by which that authority denies to itself the exercise of
+powers that bring in their train influence and patronage of great
+extent, and thus excludes the operation of personal interests,
+everywhere the bane of official trust. I derive, too, no small degree of
+satisfaction from the reflection that if I have mistaken the interests
+and wishes of the people the Constitution affords the means of soon
+redressing the error by selecting for the place their favor has bestowed
+upon me a citizen whose opinions may accord with their own. I trust, in
+the meantime, the interests of the nation will be saved from prejudice
+by a rigid application of that portion of the public funds which might
+otherwise be applied to different objects to that highest of all our
+obligations, the payment of the public debt, and an opportunity be
+afforded for the adoption of some better rule for the operations of the
+Government in this matter than any which has hitherto been acted upon.
+
+Profoundly impressed with the importance of the subject, not merely as
+relates to the general prosperity of the country, but to the safety of
+the federal system, I can not avoid repeating my earnest hope that all
+good citizens who take a proper interest in the success and harmony of
+our admirable political institutions, and who are incapable of desiring
+to convert an opposite state of things into means for the gratification
+of personal ambition, will, laying aside minor considerations and
+discarding local prejudices, unite their honest exertions to establish
+some fixed general principle which shall be calculated to effect the
+greatest extent of public good in regard to the subject of internal
+improvement, and afford the least ground for sectional discontent.
+
+The general grounds of my objection to local appropriations have been
+heretofore expressed, and I shall endeavor to avoid a repetition of what
+has been already urged--the importance of sustaining the State
+sovereignties as far as is consistent with the rightful action of the
+Federal Government, and of preserving the greatest attainable harmony
+between them. I will now only add an expression of my conviction--a
+conviction which every day's experience serves to confirm--that the
+political creed which inculcates the pursuit of those great objects as a
+paramount duty is the true faith, and one to which we are mainly
+indebted for the present success of the entire system, and to which we
+must alone look for its future stability.
+
+That there are diversities in the interests of the different States
+which compose this extensive Confederacy must be admitted. Those
+diversities arising from situation, climate, population, and pursuits
+are doubtless, as it is natural they should be, greatly exaggerated by
+jealousies and that spirit of rivalry so inseparable from neighboring
+communities. These circumstances make it the duty of those who are
+intrusted with the management of its affairs to neutralize their effects
+as far as practicable by making the beneficial operation of the Federal
+Government as equal and equitable among the several States as can be
+done consistently with the great ends of its institution.
+
+It is only necessary to refer to undoubted facts to see how far the past
+acts of the Government upon the subject under consideration have fallen
+short of this object. The expenditures heretofore made for internal
+improvements amount to upward of $5,000,000, and have been distributed
+in very unequal proportions amongst the States. The estimated expense of
+works of which surveys have been made, together with that of others
+projected and partially surveyed, amounts to more than $96,000,000.
+
+That such improvements, on account of particular circumstances, may be
+more advantageously and beneficially made in some States than in others
+is doubtless true, but that they are of a character which should prevent
+an equitable distribution of the funds amongst the several States is not
+to be conceded. The want of this equitable distribution can not fail to
+prove a prolific source of irritation among the States.
+
+We have it constantly before our eyes that professions of superior zeal
+in the cause of internal improvement and a disposition to lavish the
+public funds upon objects of this character are daily and earnestly put
+forth by aspirants to power as constituting the highest claims to the
+confidence of the people. Would it be strange, under such circumstances,
+and in times of great excitement, that grants of this description should
+find their motives in objects which may not accord with the public good?
+Those who have not had occasion to see and regret the indication of a
+sinister influence in these matters in past times have been more
+fortunate than myself in their observation of the course of public
+affairs. If to these evils be added the combinations and angry
+contentions to which such a course of things gives rise, with their
+baleful influences upon the legislation of Congress touching the leading
+and appropriate duties of the Federal Government, it was but doing
+justice to the character of our people to expect the severe condemnation
+of the past which the recent exhibitions of public sentiment has
+evinced.
+
+Nothing short of a radical change in the action of the Government upon
+the subject can, in my opinion, remedy the evil. If, as it would be
+natural to expect, the States which have been least favored in past
+appropriations should insist on being redressed in those hereafter to be
+made, at the expense of the States which have so largely and
+disproportionately participated, we have, as matters now stand, but
+little security that the attempt would do more than change the
+inequality from one quarter to another.
+
+Thus viewing the subject, I have heretofore felt it my duty to recommend
+the adoption of some plan for the distribution of the surplus funds,
+which may at any time remain in the Treasury after the national debt
+shall have been paid, among the States, in proportion to the number of
+their Representatives, to be applied by them to objects of internal
+improvement.
+
+Although this plan has met with favor in some portions of the Union, it
+has also elicited objections which merit deliberate consideration. A
+brief notice of these objections here will not, therefore, I trust, be
+regarded as out of place.
+
+They rest, as far as they have come to my knowledge, on the following
+grounds: First, an objection to the ratio of distribution; second, an
+apprehension that the existence of such a regulation would produce
+improvident and oppressive taxation to raise the funds for distribution;
+third, that the mode proposed would lead to the construction of works of
+a local nature, to the exclusion of such as are general and as would
+consequently be of a more useful character; and, last, that it would
+create a discreditable and injurious dependence on the part of the State
+governments upon the Federal power. Of those who object to the ratio of
+representation as the basis of distribution, some insist that the
+importations of the respective States would constitute one that would be
+more equitable; and others again, that the extent of their respective
+territories would furnish a standard which would be more expedient and
+sufficiently equitable. The ratio of representation presented itself to
+my mind, and it still does, as one of obvious equity, because of its
+being the ratio of contribution, whether the funds to be distributed be
+derived from the customs or from direct taxation. It does not follow,
+however, that its adoption is indispensable to the establishment of the
+system proposed. There may be considerations appertaining to the subject
+which would render a departure, to some extent, from the rule of
+contribution proper. Nor is it absolutely necessary that the basis of
+distribution be confined to one ground. It may, if in the judgment of
+those whose right it is to fix it be deemed politic and just to give
+it that character, have regard to several.
+
+In my first message I stated it to be my opinion that "it is not
+probable that any adjustment of the tariff upon principles satisfactory
+to the people of the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave
+the Government without a considerable surplus in the Treasury beyond
+what may be required for its current service." I have had no cause to
+change that opinion, but much to confirm it. Should these expectations
+be realized, a suitable fund would thus be produced for the plan under
+consideration to operate upon, and if there be no such fund its adoption
+will, in my opinion, work no injury to any interest; for I can not
+assent to the justness of the apprehension that the establishment of the
+proposed system would tend to the encouragement of improvident
+legislation of the character supposed. Whatever the proper authority in
+the exercise of constitutional power shall at any time hereafter decide
+to be for the general good will in that as in other respects deserve and
+receive the acquiescence and support of the whole country, and we have
+ample security that every abuse of power in that regard by agents of the
+people will receive a speedy and effectual corrective at their hands.
+The views which I take of the future, founded on the obvious and
+increasing improvement of all classes of our fellow-citizens in
+intelligence and in public and private virtue, leave me without much
+apprehension on that head.
+
+I do not doubt that those who come after us will be as much alive as we
+are to the obligation upon all the trustees of political power to exempt
+those for whom they act from all unnecessary burthens, and as sensible
+of the great truth that the resources of the nation beyond those
+required for immediate and necessary purposes of Government can nowhere
+be so well deposited as in the pockets of the people.
+
+It may sometimes happen that the interests of particular States would
+not be deemed to coincide with the general interest in relation to
+improvements within such States. But if the danger to be apprehended
+from this source is sufficient to require it, a discretion might be
+reserved to Congress to direct to such improvements of a general
+character as the States concerned might not be disposed to unite in, the
+application of the quotas of those States, under the restriction of
+confining to each State the expenditure of its appropriate quota. It
+may, however, be assumed as a safe general rule that such improvements
+as serve to increase the prosperity of the respective States in which
+they are made, by giving new facilities to trade, and thereby augmenting
+the wealth and comfort of their inhabitants, constitute the surest mode
+of conferring permanent and substantial advantages upon the whole. The
+strength as well as the true glory of the Confederacy is founded on the
+prosperity and power of the several independent sovereignties of which
+it is composed and the certainty with which they can be brought into
+successful active cooperation through the agency of the Federal
+Government.
+
+It is, moreover, within the knowledge of such as are at all conversant
+with public affairs that schemes of internal improvement have from time
+to time been proposed which, from their extent and seeming magnificence,
+were readily regarded as of national concernment, but which upon fuller
+consideration and further experience would now be rejected with great
+unanimity.
+
+That the plan under consideration would derive important advantages from
+its certainty, and that the moneys set apart for these purposes would be
+more judiciously applied and economically expended under the direction
+of the State legislatures, in which every part of each State is
+immediately represented, can not, I think, be doubted. In the new States
+particularly, where a comparatively small population is scattered over
+an extensive surface, and the representation in Congress consequently
+very limited, it is natural to expect that the appropriations made by
+the Federal Government would be more likely to be expended in the
+vicinity of those members through whose immediate agency they were
+obtained than if the funds were placed under the control of the
+legislature, in which every county of the State has its own
+representative. This supposition does not necessarily impugn the motives
+of such Congressional representatives, nor is it so intended. We are all
+sensible of the bias to which the strongest minds and purest hearts are,
+under such circumstances, liable. In respect to the last objection--its
+probable effect upon the dignity and independence of State
+governments--it appears to me only necessary to state the case as it is,
+and as it would be if the measure proposed were adopted, to show that
+the operation is most likely to be the very reverse of that which the
+objection supposes.
+
+In the one case the State would receive its quota of the national
+revenue for domestic use upon a fixed principle as a matter of right,
+and from a fund to the creation of which it had itself contributed its
+fair proportion. Surely there could be nothing derogatory in that. As
+matters now stand the States themselves, in their sovereign character,
+are not unfrequently petitioners at the bar of the Federal Legislature
+for such allowances out of the National Treasury as it may comport with
+their pleasure or sense of duty to bestow upon them. It can not require
+argument to prove which of the two courses is most compatible with the
+efficiency or respectability of the State governments.
+
+But all these are matters for discussion and dispassionate
+consideration. That the desired adjustment would be attended with
+difficulty affords no reason why it should not be attempted. The
+effective operation of such motives would have prevented the adoption of
+the Constitution under which we have so long lived and under the benign
+influence of which our beloved country has so signally prospered. The
+framers of that sacred instrument had greater difficulties to overcome,
+and they did overcome them. The patriotism of the people, directed by a
+deep conviction of the importance of the Union, produced mutual
+concession and reciprocal forbearance. Strict right was merged in a
+spirit of compromise, and the result has consecrated their disinterested
+devotion to the general weal. Unless the American people have
+degenerated, the same result can be again effected whenever experience
+points out the necessity of a resort to the same means to uphold the
+fabric which their fathers have reared. It is beyond the power of man to
+make a system of government like ours or any other operate with precise
+equality upon States situated like those which compose this Confederacy;
+nor is inequality always injustice. Every State can not expect to shape
+the measures of the General Government to suit its own particular
+interests. The causes which prevent it are seated in the nature of
+things, and can not be entirely counteracted by human means. Mutual
+forbearance becomes, therefore, a duty obligatory upon all, and we may,
+I am confident, count upon a cheerful compliance with this high
+injunction on the part of our constituents. It is not to be supposed
+that they will object to make such comparatively inconsiderable
+sacrifices for the preservation of rights and privileges which other
+less favored portions of the world have in vain waded through seas of
+blood to acquire.
+
+Our course is a safe one if it be but faithfully adhered to.
+Acquiescence in the constitutionally expressed will of the majority, and
+the exercise of that will in a spirit of moderation, justice, and
+brotherly kindness, will constitute a cement which would forever
+preserve our Union. Those who cherish and inculcate sentiments like
+these render a most essential service to their country, while those who
+seek to weaken their influence are, however conscientious and
+praiseworthy their intentions, in effect its worst enemies.
+
+If the intelligence and influence of the country, instead of laboring to
+foment sectional prejudices, to be made subservient to party warfare,
+were in good faith applied to the eradication of causes of local
+discontent, by the improvement of our institutions and by facilitating
+their adaptation to the condition of the times, this task would prove
+one of less difficulty. May we not hope that the obvious interests of
+our common country and the dictates of an enlightened patriotism will in
+the end lead the public mind in that direction?
+
+After all, the nature of the subject does not admit of a plan wholly
+free from objection. That which has for some time been in operation is,
+perhaps, the worst that could exist, and every advance that can be made
+in its improvement is a matter eminently worthy of your most deliberate
+attention.
+
+It is very possible that one better calculated to effect the objects in
+view may yet be devised. If so, it is to be hoped that those who
+disapprove the past and dissent from what is proposed for the future
+will feel it their duty to direct their attention to it, as they must be
+sensible that unless some fixed rule for the action of the Federal
+Government in this respect is established the course now attempted to be
+arrested will be again resorted to. Any mode which is calculated to give
+the greatest degree of effect and harmony to our legislation upon the
+subject, which shall best serve to keep the movements of the Federal
+Government within the sphere intended by those who modeled and those who
+adopted it, which shall lead to the extinguishment of the national debt
+in the shortest period and impose the lightest burthens upon our
+constituents, shall receive from me a cordial and firm support.
+
+Among the objects of great national concern I can not omit to press
+again upon your attention that part of the Constitution which regulates
+the election of President and Vice-President. The necessity for its
+amendment is made so clear to my mind by observation of its evils and by
+the many able discussions which they have elicited on the floor of
+Congress and elsewhere that I should be wanting to my duty were I to
+withhold another expression of my deep solicitude on the subject. Our
+system fortunately contemplates a recurrence to first principles,
+differing in this respect from all that have preceded it, and securing
+it, I trust, equally against the decay and the commotions which have
+marked the progress of other governments. Our fellow-citizens, too, who
+in proportion to their love of liberty keep a steady eye upon the means
+of sustaining it, do not require to be reminded of the duty they owe to
+themselves to remedy all essential defects in so vital a part of their
+system. While they are sensible that every evil attendant upon its
+operation is not necessarily indicative of a bad organization, but may
+proceed from temporary causes, yet the habitual presence, or even a
+single instance, of evils which can be clearly traced to an organic
+defect will not, I trust, be overlooked through a too scrupulous
+veneration for the work of their ancestors. The Constitution was an
+experiment committed to the virtue and intelligence of the great mass of
+our countrymen, in whose ranks the framers of it themselves were to
+perform the part of patriotic observation and scrutiny, and if they have
+passed from the stage of existence with an increased confidence in its
+general adaptation to our condition we should learn from authority so
+high the duty of fortifying the points in it which time proves to be
+exposed rather than be deterred from approaching them by the suggestions
+of fear or the dictates of misplaced reverence.
+
+A provision which does not secure to the people a direct choice of their
+Chief Magistrate, but has a tendency to defeat their will, presented to
+my mind such an inconsistency with the general spirit of our
+institutions that I was induced to suggest for your consideration the
+substitute which appeared to me at the same time the most likely to
+correct the evil and to meet the views of our constituents. The most
+mature reflection since has added strength to the belief that the best
+interests of our country require the speedy adoption of some plan
+calculated to effect this end. A contingency which sometimes places it
+in the power of a single member of the House of Representatives to
+decide an election of so high and solemn a character is unjust to the
+people, and becomes when it occurs a source of embarrassment to the
+individuals thus brought into power and a cause of distrust of the
+representative body. Liable as the Confederacy is, from its great
+extent, to parties founded upon sectional interests, and to a
+corresponding multiplication of candidates for the Presidency, the
+tendency of the constitutional reference to the House of Representatives
+is to devolve the election upon that body in almost every instance, and,
+whatever choice may then be made among the candidates thus presented to
+them, to swell the influence of particular interests to a degree
+inconsistent with the general good. The consequences of this feature of
+the Constitution appear far more threatening to the peace and integrity
+of the Union than any which I can conceive as likely to result from the
+simple legislative action of the Federal Government.
+
+It was a leading object with the framers of the Constitution to keep as
+separate as possible the action of the legislative and executive
+branches of the Government. To secure this object nothing is more
+essential than to preserve the former from all temptations of private
+interest, and therefore so to direct the patronage of the latter as not
+to permit such temptations to be offered. Experience abundantly
+demonstrates that every precaution in this respect is a valuable
+safeguard of liberty, and one which my reflections upon the tendencies
+of our system incline me to think should be made still stronger. It was
+for this reason that, in connection with an amendment of the
+Constitution removing all intermediate agency in the choice of the
+President, I recommended some restrictions upon the reeligibility of
+that officer and upon the tenure of offices generally. The reason still
+exists, and I renew the recommendation with an increased confidence that
+its adoption will strengthen those checks by which the Constitution
+designed to secure the independence of each department of the Government
+and promote the healthful and equitable administration of all the trusts
+which it has created. The agent most likely to contravene this design of
+the Constitution is the Chief Magistrate. In order, particularly, that
+his appointment may as far as possible be placed beyond the reach of any
+improper influences; in order that he may approach the solemn
+responsibilities of the highest office in the gift of a free people
+uncommitted to any other course than the strict line of constitutional
+duty, and that the securities for this independence may be rendered as
+strong as the nature of power and the weakness of its possessor will
+admit, I can not too earnestly invite your attention to the propriety of
+promoting such an amendment of the Constitution as will render him
+ineligible after one term of service.
+
+It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy
+of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation
+to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is
+approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted
+the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress,
+and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes
+also to seek the same obvious advantages.
+
+The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United
+States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves. The
+pecuniary advantages which it promises to the Government are the least
+of its recommendations. It puts an end to all possible danger of
+collision between the authorities of the General and State Governments
+on account of the Indians. It will place a dense and civilized
+population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few savage
+hunters. By opening the whole territory between Tennessee on the north
+and Louisiana on the south to the settlement of the whites it will
+incalculably strengthen the southwestern frontier and render the
+adjacent States strong enough to repel future invasions without remote
+aid. It will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the western part
+of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance
+rapidly in population, wealth, and power. It will separate the Indians
+from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the
+power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way
+and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of
+decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them
+gradually, under the protection of the Government and through the
+influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become
+an interesting, civilized, and Christian community. These consequences,
+some of them so certain and the rest so probable, make the complete
+execution of the plan sanctioned by Congress at their last session an
+object of much solicitude.
+
+Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly
+feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them
+from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people. I
+have endeavored to impress upon them my own solemn convictions of the
+duties and powers of the General Government in relation to the State
+authorities. For the justice of the laws passed by the States within the
+scope of their reserved powers they are not responsible to this
+Government. As individuals we may entertain and express our opinions of
+their acts, but as a Government we have as little right to control them
+as we have to prescribe laws for other nations.
+
+With a full understanding of the subject, the Choctaw and the Chickasaw
+tribes have with great unanimity determined to avail themselves of the
+liberal offers presented by the act of Congress, and have agreed to
+remove beyond the Mississippi River. Treaties have been made with them,
+which in due season will be submitted for consideration. In negotiating
+these treaties they were made to understand their true condition, and
+they have preferred maintaining their independence in the Western
+forests to submitting to the laws of the States in which they now
+reside. These treaties, being probably the last which will ever be made
+with them, are characterized by great liberality on the part of the
+Government. They give the Indians a liberal sum in consideration of
+their removal, and comfortable subsistence on their arrival at their new
+homes. If it be their real interest to maintain a separate existence,
+they will there be at liberty to do so without the inconveniences and
+vexations to which they would unavoidably have been subject in Alabama
+and Mississippi.
+
+Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country,
+and Philanthropy has been long busily employed in devising means to
+avert it, but its progress has never for a moment been arrested, and one
+by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from the earth. To follow
+to the tomb the last of his race and to tread on the graves of extinct
+nations excite melancholy reflections. But true philanthropy reconciles
+the mind to these vicissitudes as it does to the extinction of one
+generation to make room for another. In the monuments and fortresses of
+an unknown people, spread over the extensive regions of the West, we
+behold the memorials of a once powerful race, which was exterminated or
+has disappeared to make room for the existing savage tribes. Nor is
+there anything in this which, upon a comprehensive view of the general
+interests of the human race, is to be regretted. Philanthropy could not
+wish to see this continent restored to the condition in which it was
+found by our forefathers. What good man would prefer a country covered
+with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive
+Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished
+with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute,
+occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the
+blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion?
+
+The present policy of the Government is but a continuation of the same
+progressive change by a milder process. The tribes which occupied the
+countries now constituting the Eastern States were annihilated or have
+melted away to make room for the whites. The waves of population and
+civilization are rolling to the westward, and we now propose to acquire
+the countries occupied by the red men of the South and West by a fair
+exchange, and, at the expense of the United States, to send them to a
+land where their existence may be prolonged and perhaps made perpetual.
+Doubtless it will be painful to leave the graves of their fathers; but
+what do they more than our ancestors did or than our children are now
+doing? To better their condition in an unknown land our forefathers left
+all that was dear in earthly objects. Our children by thousands yearly
+leave the land of their birth to seek new homes in distant regions. Does
+Humanity weep at these painful separations from everything, animate and
+inanimate, with which the young heart has become entwined? Far from it.
+It is rather a source of joy that our country affords scope where our
+young population may range unconstrained in body or in mind, developing
+the power and faculties of man in their highest perfection. These remove
+hundreds and almost thousands of miles at their own expense, purchase
+the lands they occupy, and support themselves at their new homes from
+the moment of their arrival. Can it be cruel in this Government when, by
+events which it can not control, the Indian is made discontented in his
+ancient home to purchase his lands, to give him a new and extensive
+territory, to pay the expense of his removal, and support him a year in
+his new abode? How many thousands of our own people would gladly embrace
+the opportunity of removing to the West on such condition! If the offers
+made to the Indians were extended to them, they would be hailed with
+gratitude and joy.
+
+And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment
+to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more afflicting
+to him to leave the graves of his fathers than it is to our brothers and
+children? Rightly considered, the policy of the General Government
+toward the red man is not only liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to
+submit to the laws of the States and mingle with their population. To
+save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the
+General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the
+whole expense of his removal and settlement.
+
+In the consummation of a policy originating at an early period, and
+steadily pursued by every Administration within the present century--so
+just to the States and so generous to the Indians--the Executive feels
+it has a right to expect the cooperation of Congress and of all good and
+disinterested men. The States, moreover, have a right to demand it. It
+was substantially a part of the compact which made them members of our
+Confederacy. With Georgia there is an express contract; with the new
+States an implied one of equal obligation. Why, in authorizing Ohio,
+Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama to form
+constitutions and become separate States, did Congress include within
+their limits extensive tracts of Indian lands, and, in some instances,
+powerful Indian tribes? Was it not understood by both parties that the
+power of the States was to be coextensive with their limits, and that
+with all convenient dispatch the General Government should extinguish
+the Indian title and remove every obstruction to the complete
+jurisdiction of the State governments over the soil? Probably not one of
+those States would have accepted a separate existence--certainly it
+would never have been granted by Congress--had it been understood that
+they were to be confined forever to those small portions of their
+nominal territory the Indian title to which had at the time been
+extinguished.
+
+It is, therefore, a duty which this Government owes to the new States to
+extinguish as soon as possible the Indian title to all lands which
+Congress themselves have included within their limits. When this is done
+the duties of the General Government in relation to the States and the
+Indians within their limits are at an end. The Indians may leave the
+State or not, as they choose. The purchase of their lands does not alter
+in the least their personal relations with the State government. No act
+of the General Government has ever been deemed necessary to give the
+States jurisdiction over the persons of the Indians. That they possess
+by virtue of their sovereign power within their own limits in as full a
+manner before as after the purchase of the Indian lands; nor can this
+Government add to or diminish it.
+
+May we not hope, therefore, that all good citizens, and none more
+zealously than those who think the Indians oppressed by subjection to
+the laws of the States, will unite in attempting to open the eyes of
+those children of the forest to their true condition, and by a speedy
+removal to relieve them from all the evils, real or imaginary, present
+or prospective, with which they may be supposed to be threatened.
+
+Among the numerous causes of congratulation the condition of our impost
+revenue deserves special mention, inasmuch as it promises the means of
+extinguishing the public debt sooner than was anticipated, and furnishes
+a strong illustration of the practical effects of the present tariff
+upon our commercial interests.
+
+The object of the tariff is objected to by some as unconstitutional, and
+it is considered by almost all as defective in many of its parts.
+
+The power to impose duties on imports originally belonged to the several
+States. The right to adjust those duties with a view to the
+encouragement of domestic branches of industry is so completely
+incidental to that power that it is difficult to suppose the existence
+of the one without the other. The States have delegated their whole
+authority over imports to the General Government without limitation or
+restriction, saving the very inconsiderable reservation relating to
+their inspection laws. This authority having thus entirely passed from
+the States, the right to exercise it for the purpose of protection does
+not exist in them, and consequently if it be not possessed by the
+General Government it must be extinct. Our political system would thus
+present the anomaly of a people stripped of the right to foster their
+own industry and to counteract the most selfish and destructive policy
+which might be adopted by foreign nations. This surely can not be the
+case. This indispensable power thus surrendered by the States must be
+within the scope of the authority on the subject expressly delegated to
+Congress.
+
+In this conclusion I am confirmed as well by the opinions of Presidents
+Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, who have each repeatedly
+recommended the exercise of this right under the Constitution, as by the
+uniform practice of Congress, the continued acquiescence of the States,
+and the general understanding of the people.
+
+The difficulties of a more expedient adjustment of the present tariff,
+although great, are far from being insurmountable. Some are unwilling to
+improve any of its parts because they would destroy the whole; others
+fear to touch the objectionable parts lest those they approve should be
+jeoparded. I am persuaded that the advocates of these conflicting views
+do injustice to the American people and to their representatives. The
+general interest is the interest of each, and my confidence is entire
+that to insure the adoption of such modifications of the tariff as the
+general interest requires it is only necessary that that interest should
+be understood.
+
+It is an infirmity of our nature to mingle our interests and prejudices
+with the operation of our reasoning powers, and attribute to the objects
+of our likes and dislikes qualities they do not possess and effects they
+can not produce. The effects of the present tariff are doubtless
+overrated, both in its evils and in its advantages. By one class of
+reasoners the reduced price of cotton and other agricultural products is
+ascribed wholly to its influence, and by another the reduced price of
+manufactured articles. The probability is that neither opinion
+approaches the truth, and that both are induced by that influence of
+interests and prejudices to which I have referred. The decrease of
+prices extends throughout the commercial world, embracing not only the
+raw material and the manufactured article, but provisions and lands. The
+cause must therefore be deeper and more pervading than the tariff of the
+United States. It may in a measure be attributable to the increased
+value of the precious metals, produced by a diminution of the supply and
+an increase in the demand, while commerce has rapidly extended itself
+and population has augmented. The supply of gold and silver, the general
+medium of exchange, has been greatly interrupted by civil convulsions in
+the countries from which they are principally drawn. A part of the
+effect, too, is doubtless owing to an increase of operatives and
+improvements in machinery. But on the whole it is questionable whether
+the reduction in the price of lands, produce, and manufactures has been
+greater than the appreciation of the standard of value.
+
+While the chief object of duties should be revenue, they may be so
+adjusted as to encourage manufactures. In this adjustment, however, it
+is the duty of the Government to be guided by the general good. Objects
+of national importance alone ought to be protected. Of these the
+productions of our soil, our mines, and our workshops, essential to
+national defense, occupy the first rank. Whatever other species of
+domestic industry, having the importance to which I have referred, may
+be expected, after temporary protection, to compete with foreign labor
+on equal terms merit the same attention in a subordinate degree.
+
+The present tariff taxes some of the comforts of life unnecessarily
+high; it undertakes to protect interests too local and minute to justify
+a general exaction, and it also attempts to force some kinds of
+manufactures for which the country is not ripe. Much relief will be
+derived in some of these respects from the measures of your last
+session.
+
+The best as well as fairest mode of determining whether from any just
+considerations a particular interest ought to receive protection would
+be to submit the question singly for deliberation. If after due
+examination of its merits, unconnected with extraneous considerations--
+such as a desire to sustain a general system or to purchase support for
+a different interest--it should enlist in its favor a majority of the
+representatives of the people, there can be little danger of wrong or
+injury in adjusting the tariff with reference to its protective effect.
+If this obviously just principle were honestly adhered to, the branches
+of industry which deserve protection would be saved from the prejudice
+excited against them when that protection forms part of a system by
+which portions of the country feel or conceive themselves to be
+oppressed. What is incalculably more important, the vital principle of
+our system--that principle which requires acquiescence in the will of
+the majority--would be secure from the discredit and danger to which it
+is exposed by the acts of majorities founded not on identity of
+conviction, but on combinations of small minorities entered into for the
+purpose of mutual assistance in measures which, resting solely on their
+own merits, could never be carried.
+
+I am well aware that this is a subject of so much delicacy, on account
+of the extended interests it involves, as to require that it should be
+touched with the utmost caution, and that while an abandonment of the
+policy in which it originated--a policy coeval with our Government, and
+pursued through successive Administrations--is neither to be expected or
+desired, the people have a right to demand, and have demanded, that it
+be so modified as to correct abuses and obviate injustice.
+
+That our deliberations on this interesting subject should be
+uninfluenced by those partisan conflicts that are incident to free
+institutions is the fervent wish of my heart. To make this great
+question, which unhappily so much divides and excites the public mind,
+subservient to the short sighted views of faction must destroy all hope
+of settling it satisfactorily to the great body of the people and for
+the general interest. I can not, therefore, in taking leave of the
+subject, too earnestly for my own feelings or the common good warn you
+against the blighting consequences of such a course.
+
+According to the estimates at the Treasury Department, the receipts in
+the Treasury during the present year will amount to $24,161,018, which
+will exceed by about $300,000 the estimate presented in the last annual
+report of the Secretary of the Treasury. The total expenditure during
+the year, exclusive of public debt, is estimated at $13,742,311, and the
+payment on account of public debt for the same period will have been
+$11,354,630, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January,
+1831, of $4,819,781.
+
+In connection with the condition of our finances, it affords me pleasure
+to remark that judicious and efficient arrangements have been made by
+the Treasury Department for securing the pecuniary responsibility of the
+public officers and the more punctual payment of the public dues. The
+Revenue-Cutter Service has been organized and placed on a good footing,
+and aided by an increase of inspectors at exposed points, and
+regulations adopted under the act of May, 1830, for the inspection and
+appraisement of merchandise, has produced much improvement in the
+execution of the laws and more security against the commission of frauds
+upon the revenue. Abuses in the allowances for fishing bounties have
+also been corrected, and a material saving in that branch of the service
+thereby effected. In addition to these improvements the system of
+expenditure for sick seamen belonging to the merchant service has been
+revised, and being rendered uniform and economical the benefits of the
+fund applicable to this object have been usefully extended.
+
+The prosperity of our country is also further evinced by the increased
+revenue arising from the sale of public lands, as will appear from the
+report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the documents
+accompanying it, which are herewith transmitted. I beg leave to draw
+your attention to this report, and to the propriety of making early
+appropriations for the objects which it specifies.
+
+Your attention is again invited to the subjects connected with that
+portion of the public interests intrusted to the War Department. Some of
+them were referred to in my former message, and they are presented in
+detail in the report of the Secretary of War herewith submitted. I refer
+you also to the report of that officer for a knowledge of the state of
+the Army, fortifications, arsenals, and Indian affairs, all of which it
+will be perceived have been guarded with zealous attention and care. It
+is worthy of your consideration whether the armaments necessary for the
+fortifications on our maritime frontier which are now or shortly will be
+completed should not be in readiness sooner than the customary
+appropriations will enable the Department to provide them. This
+precaution seems to be due to the general system of fortification which
+has been sanctioned by Congress, and is recommended by that maxim of
+wisdom which tells us in peace to prepare for war.
+
+I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a highly
+satisfactory account of the manner in which the concerns of that
+Department have been conducted during the present year. Our position in
+relation to the most powerful nations of the earth, and the present
+condition of Europe, admonish us to cherish this arm of our national
+defense with peculiar care. Separated by wide seas from all those
+Governments whose power we might have reason to dread, we have nothing
+to apprehend from attempts at conquest. It is chiefly attacks upon our
+commerce and harassing inroads upon our coast against which we have to
+guard. A naval force adequate to the protection of our commerce, always
+afloat, with an accumulation of the means to give it a rapid extension
+in case of need, furnishes the power by which all such aggressions may
+be prevented or repelled. The attention of the Government has therefore
+been recently directed more to preserving the public vessels already
+built and providing materials to be placed in depot for future use than
+to increasing their number. With the aid of Congress, in a few years the
+Government will be prepared in case of emergency to put afloat a
+powerful navy of new ships almost as soon as old ones could be repaired.
+
+The modifications in this part of the service suggested in my last
+annual message, which are noticed more in detail in the report of the
+Secretary of the Navy, are again recommended to your serious attention.
+
+The report of the Postmaster-General in like manner exhibits a
+satisfactory view of the important branch of the Government under his
+charge. In addition to the benefits already secured by the operations of
+the Post-Office Department, considerable improvements within the present
+year have been made by an increase in the accommodation afforded by
+stage coaches, and in the frequency and celerity of the mail between
+some of the most important points of the Union.
+
+Under the late contracts improvements have been provided for the
+southern section of the country, and at the same time an annual saving
+made of upward of $72,000. Notwithstanding the excess of expenditure
+beyond the current receipts for a few years past, necessarily incurred
+in the fulfillment of existing contracts and in the additional expenses
+between the periods of contracting to meet the demands created by the
+rapid growth and extension of our nourishing country, yet the
+satisfactory assurance is given that the future revenue of the
+Department will be sufficient to meet its extensive engagements. The
+system recently introduced that subjects its receipts and disbursements
+to strict regulation has entirely fulfilled its designs. It gives full
+assurance of the punctual transmission, as well as the security of the
+funds of the Department. The efficiency and industry of its officers and
+the ability and energy of contractors justify an increased confidence in
+its continued prosperity.
+
+The attention of Congress was called on a former occasion to the
+necessity of such a modification in the office of Attorney-General of
+the United States as would render it more adequate to the wants of the
+public service. This resulted in the establishment of the office of
+Solicitor of the Treasury, and the earliest measures were taken to give
+effect to the provisions of the law which authorized the appointment of
+that officer and defined his duties. But it is not believed that this
+provision, however useful in itself, is calculated to supersede the
+necessity of extending the duties and powers of the Attorney-General's
+Office. On the contrary, I am convinced that the public interest would
+be greatly promoted by giving to that officer the general
+superintendence of the various law agents of the Government, and of all
+law proceedings, whether civil or criminal, in which the United States
+may be interested, allowing him at the same time such a compensation as
+would enable him to devote his undivided attention to the public
+business. I think such a provision is alike due to the public and to the
+officer.
+
+Occasions of reference from the different Executive Departments to the
+Attorney-General are of frequent occurrence, and the prompt decision of
+the questions so referred tends much to facilitate the dispatch of
+business in those Departments. The report of the Secretary of the
+Treasury hereto appended shows also a branch of the public service not
+specifically intrusted to any officer which might be advantageously
+committed to the Attorney-General. But independently of those
+considerations this office is now one of daily duty. It was originally
+organized and its compensation fixed with a view to occasional service,
+leaving to the incumbent time for the exercise of his profession in
+private practice. The state of things which warranted such an
+organization no longer exists. The frequent claims upon the services of
+this officer would render his absence from the seat of Government in
+professional attendance upon the courts injurious to the public service,
+and the interests of the Government could not fail to be promoted by
+charging him with the general superintendence of all its legal concerns.
+
+Under a strong conviction of the justness of these suggestions, I
+recommend it to Congress to make the necessary provisions for giving
+effect to them, and to place the Attorney-General in regard to
+compensation on the same footing with the heads of the several Executive
+Departments. To this officer might also be intrusted a cognizance of the
+cases of insolvency in public debtors, especially if the views which I
+submitted on this subject last year should meet the approbation of
+Congress--to which I again solicit your attention.
+
+Your attention is respectfully invited to the situation of the District
+of Columbia. Placed by the Constitution under the exclusive jurisdiction
+and control of Congress, this District is certainly entitled to a much
+greater share of its consideration than it has yet received. There is a
+want of uniformity in its laws, particularly in those of a penal
+character, which increases the expense of their administration and
+subjects the people to all the inconveniences which result from the
+operation of different codes in so small a territory. On different sides
+of the Potomac the same offense is punishable in unequal degrees, and
+the peculiarities of many of the early laws of Maryland and Virginia
+remain in force, notwithstanding their repugnance in some cases to the
+improvements which have superseded them in those States.
+
+Besides a remedy for these evils, which is loudly called for, it is
+respectfully submitted whether a provision authorizing the election of a
+delegate to represent the wants of the citizens of this District on the
+floor of Congress is not due to them and to the character of our
+Government. No portion of our citizens should be without a practical
+enjoyment of the principles of freedom, and there is none more important
+than that which cultivates a proper relation between the governors and
+the governed. Imperfect as this must be in this case, yet it is believed
+that it would be greatly improved by a representation in Congress with
+the same privileges that are allowed to the other Territories of the
+United States.
+
+The penitentiary is ready for the reception of convicts, and only awaits
+the necessary legislation to put it into operation, as one object of
+which I beg leave to recall your attention to the propriety of providing
+suitable compensation for the officers charged with its inspection.
+
+The importance of the principles involved in the inquiry whether it will
+be proper to recharter the Bank of the United States requires that I
+should again call the attention of Congress to the subject. Nothing has
+occurred to lessen in any degree the dangers which many of our citizens
+apprehend from that institution as at present organized. In the spirit
+of improvement and compromise which distinguishes our country and its
+institutions it becomes us to inquire whether it be not possible to
+secure the advantages afforded by the present bank through the agency of
+a Bank of the United States so modified in its principles and structure
+as to obviate constitutional and other objections.
+
+It is thought practicable to organize such a bank with the necessary
+officers as a branch of the Treasury Department, based on the public and
+individual deposits, without power to make loans or purchase property,
+which shall remit the funds of the Government, and the expense of which
+may be paid, if thought advisable, by allowing its officers to sell
+bills of exchange to private individuals at a moderate premium. Not
+being a corporate body, having no stockholders, debtors, or property,
+and but few officers, it would not be obnoxious to the constitutional
+objections which are urged against the present bank; and having no means
+to operate on the hopes, fears, or interests of large masses of the
+community, it would be shorn of the influence which makes that bank
+formidable. The States would be strengthened by having in their hands
+the means of furnishing the local paper currency through their own
+banks, while the Bank of the United States, though issuing no paper,
+would check the issues of the State banks by taking their notes in
+deposit and for exchange only so long as they continue to be redeemed
+with specie. In times of public emergency the capacities of such an
+institution might be enlarged by legislative provisions.
+
+These suggestions are made not so much as a recommendation as with a
+view of calling the attention of Congress to the possible modifications
+of a system which can not continue to exist in its present form without
+occasional collisions with the local authorities and perpetual
+apprehensions and discontent on the part of the States and the people.
+
+In conclusion, fellow-citizens, allow me to invoke in behalf of your
+deliberations that spirit of conciliation and disinterestedness which is
+the gift of patriotism. Under an overruling and merciful Providence the
+agency of this spirit has thus far been signalized in the prosperity and
+glory of our beloved country. May its influence be eternal.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL MESSAGES.
+
+
+_December 9, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_.
+
+Gentlemen: I transmit herewith a treaty concluded by commissioners duly
+authorized on the part of the United States with the Choctaw tribe of
+Indians, which, with explanatory documents, is submitted to the Senate
+for their advice and consent as to the ratification of the same.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _December 10, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States:_
+
+I transmit to the Senate printed copies of the convention between the
+United States and His Majesty the King of Denmark, concluded at
+Copenhagen on the 28th March, 1830, and ratified by and with the advice
+and consent of the Senate.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)
+
+
+Washington, _December 10, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States:_
+
+I submit for the consideration of the Senate a treaty of commerce and
+navigation, together with a separate and secret article, concluded at
+Constantinople on the 7th day of May last, and signed by Charles Rhind,
+James Biddle, and David Offley as commissioners on the part of the
+United States, and by Mahommed Hamed, reis effendi, on the part of the
+Sublime Porte.
+
+The French versions herewith transmitted, and accompanied by copies and
+English translations of the same, are transcripts of the original
+translations from the Turkish, signed by the commissioners of the United
+States and delivered to the Government of the Sublime Porte.
+
+The paper in Turkish is the original signed by the Turkish
+plenipotentiary and delivered by him to the American commissioners. Of
+this a translation into the English language, and believed to be
+correct, is like-wise transmitted.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _December 15, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives._
+
+Gentlemen: From information received at the Department of State it is
+ascertained that owing to unforeseen circumstances several of the
+marshals have been unable to complete the enumeration of the inhabitants
+of the United States within the time prescribed by the act of the 23d
+March, 1830, viz, by the 1st day of the present month.
+
+As the completion of the Fifth Census as respects several of the States
+of the Union will have been defeated unless Congress, to whom the case
+is submitted, shall by an act of the present session allow further time
+for making the returns in question, the expediency is suggested of
+allowing such an act to pass at as early a day as possible.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 20, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant,
+calling for copies of any letters or other communications which may have
+been received at the Department of War from the chiefs and headmen, or
+any of them, of the Choctaw tribe of Indians since the treaty entered
+into by the commissioners on the part of the United States with that
+tribe of Indians at Dancing Rabbit Creek, and also for information
+showing the number of Indians belonging to that tribe who have emigrated
+to the country west of the Mississippi, etc., I submit herewith a report
+from the Secretary of War, containing the information requested.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _December 20, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States:_
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 16th instant,
+calling for certain papers relative to the negotiation of the treaty
+between the United States and Turkey now before the Senate, I
+communicate the inclosed report of the Secretary of State, accompanied
+by the documents and containing the information requested.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 29, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States:_
+
+I submit to the consideration of the Senate two treaties--one of peace,
+the other of cession--concluded at Prairie du Chien on the 10th and 15th
+July, 1830, by commissioners duly authorized on the part of the United
+States and by deputations of the confederated tribes of Indians residing
+on the Upper Mississippi.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 30, 1830_.
+_To the Senate of the United States:_
+
+A vacancy having arisen in the office of brigadier in consequence of the
+removal of General John Nicks from the Territory of Arkansas to
+Cantonment Gibson, I nominated at your last session William Montgomery
+to be general of the second brigade of militia of said Territory. By
+this communication I desire to correct the Journal of the Senate and my
+message of the 22d of April, 1830, so as to exclude the idea that
+General Nicks was removed from office.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _December 31, 1830_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of a correspondence which lately
+passed between Major-General Von Scholten, His Danish Majesty's
+governor-general of his West India possessions and special minister to
+the United States, and Mr. Van Buren, Secretary of State, concerning the
+regulation of the commercial intercourse between those possessions and
+the United States, which comprehends the propositions that General Von
+Scholten made to this Government in behalf of his Sovereign upon that
+subject and the answers of the Secretary of State to the same, the last
+showing the grounds upon which this Government declined acceding to the
+overtures of the Danish envoy.
+
+This correspondence is now submitted to the two Houses of Congress in
+compliance with the wish and request of General Von Scholten himself,
+and under the full persuasion upon my part that it will receive all the
+attention and consideration to which the very friendly relations that
+have so long subsisted between the United States and the King of Denmark
+especially entitle it in the councils of this Union.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 3, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+Since my message of the 20th of December last, transmitting to the
+Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with information requested by
+the resolution of the Senate of the 14th December, in relation to the
+treaty concluded at Dancing Rabbit Creek with the Choctaw Indians, I
+have received the two letters which are herewith inclosed, containing
+further information on the subject.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _January 3, 1831_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+I communicate to Congress the papers relating to the recent arrangement
+with Great Britain with respect to the trade between her colonial
+possessions and the United States, to which reference was made in my
+message at the opening of the present session.
+
+It will appear from those documents that owing to the omission in the
+act of the 29th of May last of a clause expressly restricting
+importations into the British colonies in American vessels to the
+productions of the United States, to the amendment engrafted upon that
+act in the House Of Representatives, providing that when the trade with
+the West India colonies should be opened the commercial intercourse of
+the United States with all other parts of the British dominions or
+possessions should be left on a footing not less favorable to the United
+States than it now is, and to the act not specifying the terms upon
+which British vessels coming from the northern colonies should be
+admitted to entry into the ports of the United States, an apprehension
+was entertained by the Government of Great Britain that under the
+contemplated arrangement claims might be set up on our part inconsistent
+with the propositions submitted by our minister and with the terms to
+which she was willing to agree, and that this circumstance led to
+explanations between Mr. McLane and the Earl of Aberdeen respecting the
+intentions of Congress and the true construction to be given to the act
+referred to.
+
+To the interpretation given by them to that act I did not hesitate to
+agree. It was quite clear that in adopting the amendment referred to
+Congress could not have intended to preclude future alterations in the
+existing intercourse between the United States and other parts of the
+British dominions; and the supposition that the omission to restrict in
+terms the importations to the productions of the country to which the
+vessels respectively belong was intentional was precluded by the
+propositions previously made by this Government to that of Great
+Britain, and which were before Congress at the time of the passage of
+the act; by the principles which govern the maritime legislation of the
+two countries and by the provisions of the existing commercial treaty
+between them.
+
+Actuated by this view of the subject, and convinced that it was in
+accordance with the real intentions of Congress, I felt it my duty to
+give effect to the arrangement by issuing the required proclamation, of
+which a copy is likewise herewith communicated.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 5, 1831_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
+17th of December last, calling for information on the subject of
+internal improvement, I submit herewith a report from the Secretaries of
+War and Treasury, containing the information required.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 7, 1831_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying report
+from the Navy Department, upon the state of the accounts of the Navy in
+the office of the Fourth Auditor, and to suggest the necessity of
+correcting the evils complained of by early legislation.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _January 11, 1831_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit to Congress a report of the Secretary of State, with the
+report to him from the Patent Office which accompanied it, in relation
+to the concerns of that office, and recommend the whole subject to early
+and favorable consideration.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(The same message was sent to the Senate.)
+
+
+_January 15, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d ultimo,
+requesting to be informed of the quantity of live-oak timber in the
+United States, where it is, and what means are employed to preserve it,
+I present herewith a report of the Secretary of the Navy, containing the
+information required,
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 15, 1831_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I submit to the consideration of Congress the accompanying report and
+documents from the Navy Department, in relation to the capture of the
+Spanish slave vessel called _The Fenix_, and recommend that suitable
+legislative provision be made for the maintenance of the unfortunate
+captives pending the legislation which has grown out of the case.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 24, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the
+information requested by the resolution of the Senate of the 21st
+instant, in relation to "the state of the British establishments in the
+valley of the Columbia and the state of the fur trade as carried on by
+the citizens of the United States and the Hudsons Bay Company."
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_January 25, 1831_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the inclosed
+communication from the Secretary of the Navy, in relation to the pay and
+other allowances of the officers of the Marine Corps, and to recommend
+the adoption of the legislative provisions suggested in it.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, D.C., _January 26, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+In pursuance of the advice and consent of the Senate as expressed in
+their resolution of the 10th February, 1830, the treaty of commerce and
+navigation between the United States and Austria concluded in this city
+on the 27th of August, 1829, was duly ratified by this Government on the
+11th day of the same month of February; but the treaty itself containing
+a stipulation that the ratifications of the two parties to it should be
+exchanged within twelve months from the date of its signature, and that
+of the Austrian Government not having been received here till after the
+expiration of the time limited, I have not thought myself at liberty
+under these circumstances, without the additional advice and consent of
+the Senate, to authorize that ceremony on the part of this Government.
+Information having been received at the Department of State from the
+Austrian representative in the United States that he is prepared to
+proceed to the exchange of the ratifications of his Government for that
+of this, the question is therefore submitted to the Senate for their
+advice and consent upon the occasion.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_February 3, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I respectfully submit to the Senate, in answer to their legislative
+resolution of the 20th ultimo, in relation to the sales of land at the
+Crawfordsville land office in November last, reports from the Secretary
+of the Treasury and the Commissioner of the General Land Office.
+
+Concurring with the Secretary of the Treasury in the views he has taken
+of the treaties and act of Congress touching the subject, I can not
+discover that the President is invested with any power under the
+Constitution or laws to withhold a patent from a purchaser who has given
+a fair and valuable consideration for land, and thereby acquired a
+vested right to the same; nor do I perceive that the sole legislative
+resolution of the Senate can confer such a power, or suspend the right
+of the citizens to enter the lands that have been offered for sale in
+said district and remain unsold, so long as the law authorizing the same
+remains unrepealed.
+
+I beg leave, therefore, to present the subject to the reconsideration of
+the Senate.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _February 3, 1831_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Treasury
+Department, in compliance with the resolution of the House of
+Representatives of the 3d ultimo, calling for the correspondence in
+relation to locating a cession of lands made or intended to be made by
+the Pottawattamie tribe of Indians for the benefit of the State of
+Indiana, etc.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+I communicate to the House of Representatives, in compliance with their
+resolution of the 29th of January last, calling for information and
+papers respecting the seizure of American vessels by the naval forces of
+Portugal forming the blockade of the island of Terceira, a report from
+the Secretary of State, which, with the documents accompanying it,
+contains the information in his Department upon that subject, and avail
+myself of the occasion further to inform the House of Representatives
+that orders had before the introduction of the resolution referred to
+been given to fit out a ship of war for the more effectual protection of
+our commerce in that quarter.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_February 16, 1831_.
+
+
+Washington, _February 19, 1831._
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I present for the consideration of Congress a report from the Secretary
+of War, relative to a compromise of title of the island on which Fort
+Delaware has been constructed.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(The same message was sent to the Senate.)
+
+
+_February 22, 1831_.
+_To the Congress of the United States_:
+
+I transmit to Congress a letter from Mr. Rhind, stating the
+circumstances under which he received the four Arabian horses that were
+brought by him to the United States from Turkey. His letter will enable
+Congress to decide what ought to be done with them.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_February 22, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I have received your resolution of the 15th instant, requesting me "to
+inform the Senate whether the provisions of the act entitled 'An act to
+regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve
+peace on the frontiers,' passed the 30th of March, 1802, have been fully
+complied with on the part of the United States Government, and if they
+have not that he inform the Senate of the reasons that have induced the
+Government to decline the enforcement of said act," and I now reply to
+the same.
+
+According to my views of the act referred to, I am not aware of any
+omission to carry into effect its provisions in relation to trade and
+intercourse with the Indian tribes so far as their execution depended on
+the agency confided to the Executive.
+
+The numerous provisions of that act designed to secure to the Indians
+the peaceable possession of their lands may be reduced, substantially,
+to the following: That citizens of the United States are restrained
+under sufficient penalties from entering upon the lands for the purpose
+of hunting thereon, or of settling them, or of giving their horses and
+cattle the benefit of a range upon them, or of traveling through them
+without a written permission; and that the President of the United
+States is authorized to employ the military force of the country to
+secure the observance of these provisions. The authority to the
+President, however, is not imperative. The language is:
+
+    It shall be lawful for the President to take such measures and to
+    employ such military force as he may judge necessary to remove from
+    lands belonging to or secured by treaty to any Indian tribe any
+    citizen who shall make a settlement thereon.
+
+By the nineteenth section of this act it is provided that nothing in it
+"shall be construed to prevent any trade or intercourse with Indians
+living on lands surrounded by settlements of citizens of the United
+States and being within the ordinary jurisdiction of any of the
+individual States." This provision I have interpreted as being
+prospective in its operation and as applicable not only to Indian tribes
+which at the date of its passage were subject to the jurisdiction of any
+State, but to such also as should thereafter become so. To this
+construction of its meaning I have endeavored to conform, and have taken
+no step inconsistent with it. As soon, therefore, as the sovereign power
+of the State of Georgia was exercised by an extension of her laws
+throughout her limits, and I had received information of the same,
+orders were given to withdraw from the State the troops which had been
+detailed to prevent intrusion upon the Indian lands within it, and these
+orders were executed. The reasons which dictated them shall be frankly
+communicated.
+
+The principle recognized in the section last quoted was not for the
+first time then avowed. It is conformable to the uniform practice of the
+Government before the adoption of the Constitution, and amounts to a
+distinct recognition by Congress at that early day of the doctrine that
+that instrument had not varied the powers of the Federal Government over
+Indian affairs from what they were under the Articles of Confederation.
+It is not believed that there is a single instance in the legislation of
+the country in which the Indians have been regarded as possessing
+political rights independent of the control and authority of the States
+within the limits of which they resided. As early as the year 1782 the
+Journals of Congress will show that no claim of such a character was
+countenanced by that body. In that year the application of a tribe of
+Indians residing in South Carolina to have certain tracts of land which
+had been reserved for their use in that State secured to them free from
+intrusion, and without the right of alienating them even with their own
+consent, was brought to the consideration of Congress by a report from
+the Secretary of War. The resolution which was adopted on that occasion
+is as follows:
+
+    _Resolved_, That it be recommended to the legislature of South
+    Carolina to take such measures for the satisfaction and security of
+    said tribes as the said legislature in their wisdom may think fit.
+
+Here is no assertion of the right of Congress under the Articles of
+Confederation to interfere with the jurisdiction of the States over
+Indians within their limits, but rather a negation of it. They refused
+to interfere with the subject, and referred it under a general
+recommendation back to the State, to be disposed of as her wisdom might
+decide.
+
+If in addition to this act and the language of the Articles of
+Confederation anything further can be wanting to show the early views of
+the Government on the subject, it will be found in the proclamation
+issued by Congress in 1783. It contains this language:
+
+    The United States in Congress assembled have thought proper to issue
+    their proclamation, and they do hereby prohibit and forbid all
+    persons from making settlements on lands inhabited or claimed by
+    Indians without the limits or jurisdiction of any particular State.
+
+And again:
+
+    _Resolved_, That the preceding measures of Congress relative to
+    Indian affairs shall not be construed to affect the territorial
+    claims of any of the States or their legislative rights within their
+    respective limits.
+
+It was not then pretended that the General Government had the power in
+their relations with the Indians to control or oppose the internal
+polity of the individual States of this Union, and if such was the case
+under the Articles of Confederation the only question on the subject
+since must arise out of some more enlarged power or authority given to
+the General Government by the present Constitution. Does any such exist?
+
+Amongst the enumerated grants of the Constitution that which relates to
+this subject is expressed in these words: "Congress shall have power to
+regulate commerce with the Indian tribes." In the interpretation of this
+power we ought certainly to be guided by what had been the practice of
+the Government and the meaning which had been generally attached to the
+resolves of the old Congress if the words used to convey it do not
+clearly import a different one, as far as it affects the question of
+jurisdiction in the individual States. The States ought not to be
+divested of any part of their antecedent jurisdiction by implication or
+doubtful construction. Tested by this rule it seems to me to be
+unquestionable that the jurisdiction of the States is left untouched by
+this clause of the Constitution, and that it was designed to give to the
+General Government complete control over the trade and intercourse of
+those Indians only who were not within the limits of any State.
+
+From a view of the acts referred to and the uniform practice of the
+Government it is manifest that until recently it has never been
+maintained that the right of jurisdiction by a State over Indians within
+its territory was subordinate to the power of the Federal Government.
+That doctrine has not been enforced nor even asserted in any of the
+States of New England where tribes of Indians have resided, and where a
+few of them yet remain. These tribes have been left to the undisturbed
+control of the States in which they were found, in conformity with the
+view which has been taken of the opinions prevailing up to 1789 and the
+clear interpretation of the act of 1802. In the State of New York, where
+several tribes have resided, it has been the policy of the Government to
+avoid entering into quasi treaty engagements with them, barely
+appointing commissioners occasionally on the part of the United States
+to facilitate the objects of the State in its negotiations with them.
+The Southern States present an exception to this policy. As early as
+1784 the settlements within the limits of North Carolina were advanced
+farther to the west than the authority of the State to enforce an
+obedience of its laws. Others were in a similar condition. The
+necessities, therefore, and not the acknowledged principles, of the
+Government must have suggested the policy of treating with the Indians
+in that quarter as the only practicable mode of conciliating their good
+will. The United States at that period had just emerged from a
+protracted war for the achievement of their independence. At the moment
+of its conclusion many of these tribes, as powerful as they were
+ferocious in their mode of warfare, remained in arms, desolating our
+frontier settlements. Under these circumstances the first treaties, in
+1785 and 1790, with the Cherokees, were concluded by the Government of
+the United States, and were evidently sanctioned as measures of
+necessity adapted to the character of the Indians and indispensable to
+the peace and security of the western frontier. But they can not be
+understood as changing the political relations of the Indians to the
+States or to the Federal Government. To effect this would have required
+the operation of quite a different principle and the intervention of a
+tribunal higher than that of the treaty-making power.
+
+To infer from the assent of the Government to this deviation from the
+practice which had before governed its intercourse with the Indians, and
+the accidental forbearance of the States to assert their right of
+jurisdiction over them, that they had surrendered this portion of their
+sovereignty, and that its assumption now is usurpation, is conceding too
+much to the necessity which dictated those treaties, and doing violence
+to the principles of the Government and the rights of the States without
+benefiting in the least degree the Indians. The Indians thus situated
+can not be regarded in any other light than as members of a foreign
+government or of that of the State within whose chartered limits they
+reside. If in the former, the ordinary legislation of Congress in
+relation to them is not warranted by the Constitution, which was
+established for the benefit of our own, not of a foreign people. If in
+the latter, then, like other citizens or people resident within the
+limits of the States, they are subject to their jurisdiction and
+control. To maintain a contrary doctrine and to require the Executive to
+enforce it by the employment of a military force would be to place in
+his hands a power to make war upon the rights of the States and the
+liberties of the country--a power which should be placed in the hands of
+no individual.
+
+If, indeed, the Indians are to be regarded as people possessing rights
+which they can exercise independently of the States, much error has
+arisen in the intercourse of the Government with them. Why is it that
+they have been called upon to assist in our wars without the privilege
+of exercising their own discretion? If an independent people, they
+should as such be consulted and advised with; but they have not been. In
+an order which was issued to me from the War Department in September,
+1814, this language is employed:
+
+    All the friendly Indians should be organized and prepared to
+    cooperate with your other forces. There appears to be some
+    dissatisfaction among the Choctaws; their friendship and services
+    should be secured without delay. The friendly Indians must be fed
+    and paid, and _made to fight when_ and _where their services may be
+    required_.
+
+To an independent and foreign people this would seem to be assuming, I
+should suppose, rather too lofty a tone--one which the Government would
+not have assumed if they had considered them in that light. Again, by
+the Constitution the power of declaring war belongs exclusively to
+Congress. We have been often engaged in war with the Indian tribes
+within our limits, but when have these hostilities been preceded or
+accompanied by an act of Congress declaring war against the tribe which
+was the object of them? And was the prosecution of such hostilities an
+usurpation in each case by the Executive which conducted them of the
+constitutional power of Congress? It must have been so, I apprehend, if
+these tribes are to be considered as foreign and independent nations.
+
+The steps taken to prevent intrusion upon Indian lands had their origin
+with the commencement of our Government, and became the subject of
+special legislation in 1802, with the reservations which have been
+mentioned in favor of the jurisdiction of the States. With the exception
+of South Carolina, who has uniformly regulated the Indians within her
+limits without the aid of the General Government, they have been felt
+within all the States of the South without being understood to affect
+their rights or prevent the exercise of their jurisdiction, whenever
+they were in a situation to assume and enforce it. Georgia, though
+materially concerned, has on this principle forborne to spread her
+legislation farther than the settlements of her own white citizens,
+until she has recently perceived within her limits a people claiming to
+be capable of self-government, sitting in legislative council,
+organizing courts and administering justice. To disarm such an anomalous
+invasion of her sovereignty she has declared her determination to
+execute her own laws throughout her limits--a step which seems to have
+been anticipated by the proclamation of 1783, and which is perfectly
+consistent with the nineteenth section of the act of 1802. According to
+the language and reasoning of that section, the tribes to the South and
+the Southwest are not only "surrounded by settlements of the citizens of
+the United States," but are now also "within the ordinary jurisdiction
+of the individual States." They became so from the moment the laws of
+the State were extended over them, and the same result follows the
+similar determination of Alabama and Mississippi. These States have each
+a right to claim in behalf of their position now on this question the
+same respect which is conceded to the other States of the Union.
+
+Toward this race of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not
+sensible that the views which I have taken of their true interests are
+less favorable to them than those which oppose their emigration to the
+West. Years since I stated to them my belief that if the States chose to
+extend their laws over them it would not be in the power of the Federal
+Government to prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no
+alternative for them but that of their removal to the West or a quiet
+submission to the State laws. If they prefer to remove, the United
+States agree to defray their expenses, to supply them the means of
+transportation and a year's support after they reach their new homes--a
+provision too liberal and kind to deserve the stamp of injustice. Either
+course promises them peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate
+perseverance in the effort to maintain their possessions independent of
+the State authority can not fail to render their condition still more
+helpless and miserable. Such an effort ought, therefore, to be
+discountenanced by all who sincerely sympathize in the fortunes of this
+peculiar people, and especially by the political bodies of the Union, as
+calculated to disturb the harmony of the two Governments and to endanger
+the safety of the many blessings which they enable us to enjoy.
+
+As connected with the subject of this inquiry, I beg leave to refer to
+the accompanying letter from the Secretary of War, inclosing the orders
+which proceeded from that Department, and a letter from the governor of
+Georgia.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _February 26, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+The inclosed report[11] of the Secretary of War is herewith inclosed in
+answer to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday's date.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 11: Relative to the expenditure of appropriations for
+improving the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.]
+
+
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I present for the consideration of the Senate articles of agreement
+entered into and concluded by commissioners duly appointed on the part
+of the United States and the chiefs of the Menominee tribe of Indians at
+Green Bay. Various attempts were made to reconcile the conflicting
+interests of the New York Indians, but without success, as will appear
+by the report made by the Secretary of War. No stipulation in their
+favor could be introduced into the agreement without the consent of the
+Menominees, and that consent could not be obtained to any greater extent
+than the articles show.
+
+Congress only is competent now to adjust and arrange these differences
+and satisfy the demands of the New York Indians. The whole matter is
+respectfully submitted.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_February 28, 1831_.
+
+
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I submit to the consideration of the Senate of the United States
+articles of agreement and convention concluded this day between the
+United States, by a commissioner duly authorized, and the Seneca tribe
+of Indians resident in the State of Ohio.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_February 28, 1831_.
+
+
+_February 28, 1831_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+I lay before the House of Representatives a treaty recently concluded
+with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, that provision may be made for
+carrying the same into effect agreeably to the estimate heretofore
+presented by the Secretary of War to the Committee of Ways and Means. It
+is a printed copy as it passed the Senate, no amendment having been made
+except to strike out the preamble. I also communicate a letter from the
+Secretary of War on this subject.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 1, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the use of the Senate, printed copies of the
+treaties which have been lately ratified between the United States and
+the Choctaw Indians and between the United States and the confederated
+tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes.
+
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1831_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+I communicate to Congress a treaty of commerce and navigation between
+the United States and the Emperor of Austria, concluded in this city on
+the 28th March, 1830, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the
+10th of February last.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_March 2, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+John H. Clack, a master commandant in the Navy of the United States,
+having rank as such from the 24th April, 1828, was on the sentence of a
+court-martial, which was approved by me, ordered to be dismissed from
+the service. On a reexamination of the record of the trial I am
+satisfied that the proceeding was illegal in substance, and therefore
+that the sentence was void.
+
+To restore the party to the rights of which he was deprived by the
+enforcement of a sentence which was in law erroneous and void, I
+nominate the said John H. Clack to be a master commandant in the Navy of
+the United States, to take rank as such from the 24th April, 1828.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+PROCLAMATION.
+
+BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+A PROCLAMATION.
+
+Whereas information has been transmitted to the President of the United
+States by the governor of the Territory of Arkansas that certain persons
+pretending to act under the authority of the Mexican Government, and
+without any lawful right or power derived from that of the United
+States, have attempted to and do survey, for sale and settlement, a
+portion of the public lands in said Territory, and particularly in the
+counties of Lafayette, Sevier, and Miller, and have presumed to and do
+administer to the citizens residing in said counties the oath of
+allegiance to the said Mexican Government; and
+
+Whereas such acts and practices are contrary to the law of the land and
+the provisions of the act of Congress approved the 3d day of March, A.D.
+1807, and are offenses against the peace and public tranquillity of the
+said Territory and the inhabitants thereof:
+
+Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the
+United States, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me in and
+by the said act of Congress, do issue this my proclamation, commanding
+and strictly enjoining all persons who have unlawfully entered upon,
+taken possession of, or made any settlement on the public lands in the
+said counties of Lafayette, Sevier, or Miller, or who may be in the
+unlawful occupation or possession of the same, or any part thereof,
+forthwith to depart and remove therefrom; and I do hereby command and
+require the marshal of the said Territory of Arkansas, or other officer
+or officers acting as such marshal, from and after the 15th day of April
+next to remove or cause to be removed all persons who may then
+unlawfully be upon, in possession of, or who may unlawfully occupy any
+of the public lands in the said counties of Lafayette, Sevier, or
+Miller, or who may be surveying or attempting to survey the same without
+any authority therefor from the Government of the United States; and to
+execute and carry into effect this proclamation I do hereby authorize
+the employment of such military force as may be necessary pursuant to
+the act of Congress aforesaid, and warn all offenders in the premises
+that they will be prosecuted and punished in such other way and manner
+as may be consistent with the provisions and requisitions of the law in
+such case made and provided.
+
+Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of February, A.D. 1831,
+and of the Independence of the United States of America the fifty-fifth.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+By the President.
+
+
+
+
+EXECUTIVE ORDER.
+
+Washington, _August 6, 1831_.
+_Acting Secretary of War_.
+
+Sir: You will, after the receipt of this, report to the President for
+dismissal every clerk in your office who shall avail himself of the
+benefit of the insolvent debtors' act for debts contracted during my
+Administration.
+
+Very respectfully,
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(The same order was addressed to the Secretary of the Navy.)
+
+
+
+
+THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.
+
+_December 6, 1831_.
+_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+The representation of the people has been renewed for the twenty-second
+time since the Constitution they formed has been in force. For near half
+a century the Chief Magistrates who have been successively chosen have
+made their annual communications of the state of the nation to its
+representatives. Generally these communications have been of the most
+gratifying nature, testifying an advance in all the improvements of
+social and all the securities of political life. But frequently and
+justly as you have been called on to be grateful for the bounties of
+Providence, at few periods have they been more abundantly or extensively
+bestowed than at the present; rarely, if ever, have we had greater
+reason to congratulate each other on the continued and increasing
+prosperity of our beloved country.
+
+Agriculture, the first and most important occupation of man, has
+compensated the labors of the husbandman with plentiful crops of all the
+varied products of our extensive country. Manufactures have been
+established in which the funds of the capitalist find a profitable
+investment, and which give employment and subsistence to a numerous and
+increasing body of industrious and dexterous mechanics. The laborer is
+rewarded by high wages in the construction of works of internal
+improvement, which are extending with unprecedented rapidity. Science is
+steadily penetrating the recesses of nature and disclosing her secrets,
+while the ingenuity of free minds is subjecting the elements to the
+power of man and making each new conquest auxiliary to his comfort. By
+our mails, whose speed is regularly increased and whose routes are every
+year extended, the communication of public intelligence and private
+business is rendered frequent and safe; the intercourse between distant
+cities, which it formerly required weeks to accomplish, is now effected
+in a few days; and in the construction of railroads and the application
+of steam power we have a reasonable prospect that the extreme parts of
+our country will be so much approximated and those most isolated by the
+obstacles of nature rendered so accessible as to remove an apprehension
+sometimes entertained that the great extent of the Union would endanger
+its permanent existence.
+
+If from the satisfactory view of our agriculture, manufactures, and
+internal improvements we turn to the state of our navigation and trade
+with foreign nations and between the States, we shall scarcely find less
+cause for gratulation. A beneficent Providence has provided for their
+exercise and encouragement an extensive coast, indented by capacious
+bays, noble rivers, inland seas; with a country productive of every
+material for shipbuilding and every commodity for gainful commerce, and
+filled with a population active, intelligent, well-informed, and
+fearless of danger. These advantages are not neglected, and an impulse
+has lately been given to commercial enterprise, which fills our
+shipyards with new constructions, encourages all the arts and branches
+of industry connected with them, crowds the wharves of our cities with
+vessels, and covers the most distant seas with our canvas.
+
+Let us be grateful for these blessings to the beneficent Being who has
+conferred them, and who suffers us to indulge a reasonable hope of their
+continuance and extension, while we neglect not the means by which they
+may be preserved. If we may dare to judge of His future designs by the
+manner in which His past favors have been bestowed, He has made our
+national prosperity to depend on the preservation of our liberties, our
+national force on our Federal Union, and our individual happiness on the
+maintenance of our State rights and wise institutions. If we are
+prosperous at home and respected abroad, it is because we are free,
+united, industrious, and obedient to the laws. While we continue so we
+shall by the blessing of Heaven go on in the happy career we have begun,
+and which has brought us in the short period of our political existence
+from a population of three to thirteen millions; from thirteen separate
+colonies to twenty-four united States; from weakness to strength; from a
+rank scarcely marked in the scale of nations to a high place in their
+respect.
+
+This last advantage is one that has resulted in a great degree from the
+principles which have guided our intercourse with foreign powers since
+we have assumed an equal station among them, and hence the annual
+account which the Executive renders to the country of the manner in
+which that branch of his duties has been fulfilled proves instructive
+and salutary.
+
+The pacific and wise policy of our Government kept us in a state of
+neutrality during the wars that have at different periods since our
+political existence been carried on by other powers; but this policy,
+while it gave activity and extent to our commerce, exposed it in the
+same proportion to injuries from the belligerent nations. Hence have
+arisen claims of indemnity for those injuries. England, France, Spain,
+Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Naples, and lately Portugal had all in a
+greater or less degree infringed our neutral rights. Demands for
+reparation were made upon all. They have had in all, and continue to
+have in some, cases a leading influence on the nature of our relations
+with the powers on whom they were made.
+
+Of the claims upon England it is unnecessary to speak further than to
+say that the state of things to which their prosecution and denial gave
+rise has been succeeded by arrangements productive of mutual good
+feeling and amicable relations between the two countries, which it is
+hoped will not be interrupted. One of these arrangements is that
+relating to the colonial trade which was communicated to Congress at the
+last session; and although the short period during which it has been in
+force will not enable me to form an accurate judgment of its operation,
+there is every reason to believe that it will prove highly beneficial.
+The trade thereby authorized has employed to the 30th September last
+upward of 30,000 tons of American and 15,000 tons of foreign shipping in
+the outward voyages, and in the inward nearly an equal amount of
+American and 20,000 only of foreign tonnage. Advantages, too, have
+resulted to our agricultural interests from the state of the trade
+between Canada and our Territories and States bordering on the St.
+Lawrence and the Lakes which may prove more than equivalent to the loss
+sustained by the discrimination made to favor the trade of the northern
+colonies with the West Indies.
+
+After our transition from the state of colonies to that of an
+independent nation many points were found necessary to be settled
+between us and Great Britain. Among them was the demarcation of
+boundaries not described with sufficient precision in the treaty of
+peace. Some of the lines that divide the States and Territories of the
+United States from the British Provinces have been definitively fixed.
+That, however, which separates us from the Provinces of Canada and New
+Brunswick to the north and the east was still in dispute when I came
+into office, but I found arrangements made for its settlement over which
+I had no control. The commissioners who had been appointed under the
+provisions of the treaty of Ghent having been unable to agree, a
+convention was made with Great Britain by my immediate predecessor in
+office, with the advice and consent of the Senate, by which it was
+agreed "that the points of difference which have arisen in the
+settlement of the boundary line between the American and British
+dominions, as described in the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent,
+shall be referred, as therein provided, to some friendly sovereign or
+State, who shall be invited to investigate and make a decision upon such
+points of difference;" and the King of the Netherlands having by the
+late President and His Britannic Majesty been designated as such
+friendly sovereign, it became my duty to carry with good faith the
+agreement so made into full effect. To this end I caused all the
+measures to be taken which were necessary to a full exposition of our
+case to the sovereign arbiter, and nominated as minister plenipotentiary
+to his Court a distinguished citizen of the State most interested in the
+question, and who had been one of the agents previously employed for
+settling the controversy. On the 10th day of January last His Majesty
+the King of the Netherlands delivered to the plenipotentiaries of the
+United States and of Great Britain his written opinion on the case
+referred to him. The papers in relation to the subject will be
+communicated by a special message to the proper branch of the Government
+with the perfect confidence that its wisdom will adopt such measures as
+will secure an amicable settlement of the controversy without infringing
+any constitutional right of the States immediately interested.
+
+It affords me satisfaction to inform you that suggestions made by my
+direction to the chargé d'affaires of His Britannic Majesty to this
+Government have had their desired effect in producing the release of
+certain American citizens who were imprisoned for setting up the
+authority of the State of Maine at a place in the disputed territory
+under the actual jurisdiction of His Britannic Majesty. From this and
+the assurances I have received of the desire of the local authorities to
+avoid any cause of collision I have the best hopes that a good
+understanding will be kept up until it is confirmed by the final
+disposition of the subject.
+
+The amicable relations which now subsist between the United States and
+Great Britain, the increasing intercourse between their citizens, and
+the rapid obliteration of unfriendly prejudices to which former events
+naturally gave rise concurred to present this as a fit period for
+renewing our endeavors to provide against the recurrence of causes of
+irritation which in the event of war between Great Britain and any other
+power would inevitably endanger our peace. Animated by the sincerest
+desire to avoid such a state of things, and peacefully to secure under
+all possible circumstances the rights and honor of the country, I have
+given such instructions to the minister lately sent to the Court of
+London as will evince that desire, and if met by a correspondent
+disposition, which we can not doubt, will put an end to causes of
+collision which, without advantage to either, tend to estrange from each
+other two nations who have every motive to preserve not only peace, but
+an intercourse of the most amicable nature.
+
+In my message at the opening of the last session of Congress I expressed
+a confident hope that the justice of our claims upon France, urged as
+they were with perseverance and signal ability by our minister there,
+would finally be acknowledged. This hope has been realized. A treaty has
+been signed which will immediately be laid before the Senate for its
+approbation, and which, containing stipulations that require legislative
+acts, must have the concurrence of both Houses before it can be carried
+into effect. By it the French Government engage to pay a sum which, if
+not quite equal to that which may be found due to our citizens, will
+yet, it is believed, under all circumstances, be deemed satisfactory by
+those interested. The offer of a gross sum instead of the satisfaction
+of each individual claim was accepted because the only alternatives were
+a rigorous exaction of the whole amount stated to be due on each claim,
+which might in some instances be exaggerated by design, in others
+overrated through error, and which, therefore, it would have been both
+ungracious and unjust to have insisted on; or a settlement by a mixed
+commission, to which the French negotiators were very averse, and which
+experience in other cases had shewn to be dilatory and often wholly
+inadequate to the end. A comparatively small sum is stipulated on our
+part to go to the extinction of all claims by French citizens on our
+Government, and a reduction of duties on our cotton and their wines has
+been agreed on as a consideration for the renunciation of an important
+claim for commercial privileges under the construction they gave to the
+treaty for the cession of Louisiana.
+
+Should this treaty receive the proper sanction, a source of irritation
+will be stopped that has for so many years in some degree alienated from
+each other two nations who, from interest as well as the remembrance of
+early associations, ought to cherish the most friendly relations; an
+encouragement will be given for perseverance in the demands of justice
+by this new proof that if steadily pursued they will be listened to, and
+admonition will be offered to those powers, if any, which may be
+inclined to evade them that they will never be abandoned; above all, a
+just confidence will be inspired in our fellow-citizens that their
+Government will exert all the powers with which they have invested it in
+support of their just claims upon foreign nations; at the same time that
+the frank acknowledgment and provision for the payment of those which
+were addressed to our equity, although unsupported by legal proof,
+affords a practical illustration of our submission to the divine rule of
+doing to others what we desire they should do unto us.
+
+Sweden and Denmark having made compensation for the irregularities
+committed by their vessels or in their ports to the perfect satisfaction
+of the parties concerned, and having renewed the treaties of commerce
+entered into with them, our political and commercial relations with
+those powers continue to be on the most friendly footing.
+
+With Spain our differences up to the 22d of February, 1819, were settled
+by the treaty of Washington of that date, but at a subsequent period our
+commerce with the States formerly colonies of Spain on the continent of
+America was annoyed and frequently interrupted by her public and private
+armed ships. They captured many of our vessels prosecuting a lawful
+commerce and sold them and their cargoes, and at one time to our demands
+for restoration and indemnity opposed the allegation that they were
+taken in the violation of a blockade of all the ports of those States.
+This blockade was declaratory only, and the inadequacy of the force to
+maintain it was so manifest that this allegation was varied to a charge
+of trade in contraband of war. This, in its turn, was also found
+untenable, and the minister whom I sent with instructions to press for
+the reparation that was due to our injured fellow-citizens has
+transmitted an answer to his demand by which the captures are declared
+to have been legal, and are justified because the independence of the
+States of America never having been acknowledged by Spain she had a
+right to prohibit trade with them under her old colonial laws. This
+ground of defense was contradictory, not only to those which had been
+formerly alleged, but to the uniform practice and established laws of
+nations, and had been abandoned by Spain herself in the convention which
+granted indemnity to British subjects for captures made at the same
+time, under the same circumstances, and for the same allegations with
+those of which we complain.
+
+I, however, indulge the hope that further reflection will lead to other
+views, and feel confident that when His Catholic Majesty shall be
+convinced of the justice of the claims his desire to preserve friendly
+relations between the two countries, which it is my earnest endeavor to
+maintain, will induce him to accede to our demand. I have therefore
+dispatched a special messenger with instructions to our minister to
+bring the case once more to his consideration, to the end that if (which
+I can not bring myself to believe) the same decision (that can not but
+be deemed an unfriendly denial of justice) should be persisted in the
+matter may before your adjournment be laid before you, the
+constitutional judges of what is proper to be done when negotiation for
+redress of injury fails.
+
+The conclusion of a treaty for indemnity with France seemed to present a
+favorable opportunity to renew our claims of a similar nature on other
+powers, and particularly in the case of those upon Naples, more
+especially as in the course of former negotiations with that power our
+failure to induce France to render us justice was used as an argument
+against us. The desires of the merchants, who were the principal
+sufferers, have therefore been acceded to, and a mission has been
+instituted for the special purpose of obtaining for them a reparation
+already too long delayed. This measure having been resolved on, it was
+put in execution without waiting for the meeting of Congress, because
+the state of Europe created an apprehension of events that might have
+rendered our application ineffectual.
+
+Our demands upon the Government of the Two Sicilies are of a peculiar
+nature. The injuries on which they are founded are not denied, nor are
+the atrocity and perfidy under which those injuries were perpetrated
+attempted to be extenuated. The sole ground on which indemnity has been
+refused is the alleged illegality of the tenure by which the monarch who
+made the seizures held his crown. This defense, always unfounded in any
+principle of the law of nations, now universally abandoned, even by
+those powers upon whom the responsibility for acts of past rulers bore
+the most heavily, will unquestionably be given up by His Sicilian
+Majesty, whose counsels will receive an impulse from that high sense of
+honor and regard to justice which are said to characterize him; and I
+feel the fullest confidence that the talents of the citizen commissioned
+for that purpose will place before him the just claims of our injured
+citizens in such a light as will enable me before your adjournment to
+announce that they have been adjusted and secured. Precise instructions
+to the effect of bringing the negotiation to a speedy issue have been
+given, and will be obeyed.
+
+In the late blockade of Terceira some of the Portuguese fleet captured
+several of our vessels and committed other excesses, for which
+reparation was demanded, and I was on the point of dispatching an armed
+force to prevent any recurrence of a similar violence and protect our
+citizens in the prosecution of their lawful commerce when official
+assurances, on which I relied, made the sailing of the ships
+unnecessary. Since that period frequent promises have been made that
+full indemnity shall be given for the injuries inflicted and the losses
+sustained. In the performance there has been some, perhaps unavoidable,
+delay; but I have the fullest confidence that my earnest desire that
+this business may at once be closed, which our minister has been
+instructed strongly to express, will very soon be gratified. I have the
+better ground for this hope from the evidence of a friendly disposition
+which that Government has shown by an actual reduction in the duty on
+rice the produce of our Southern States, authorizing the anticipation
+that this important article of our export will soon be admitted on the
+same footing with that produced by the most favored nation.
+
+With the other powers of Europe we have fortunately had no cause of
+discussions for the redress of injuries. With the Empire of the Russias
+our political connection is of the most friendly and our commercial of
+the most liberal kind. We enjoy the advantages of navigation and trade
+given to the most favored nation, but it has not yet suited their
+policy, or perhaps has not been found convenient from other
+considerations, to give stability and reciprocity to those privileges by
+a commercial treaty. The ill health of the minister last year charged
+with making a proposition for that arrangement did not permit him to
+remain at St. Petersburg, and the attention of that Government during
+the whole of the period since his departure having been occupied by the
+war in which it was engaged, we have been assured that nothing could
+have been effected by his presence. A minister will soon be nominated,
+as well to effect this important object as to keep up the relations of
+amity and good understanding of which we have received so many
+assurances and proofs from His Imperial Majesty and the Emperor his
+predecessor.
+
+The treaty with Austria is opening to us an important trade with the
+hereditary dominions of the Emperor, the value of which has been
+hitherto little known, and of course not sufficiently appreciated. While
+our commerce finds an entrance into the south of Germany by means of
+this treaty, those we have formed with the Hanseatic towns and Prussia
+and others now in negotiation will open that vast country to the
+enterprising spirit of our merchants on the north--a country abounding
+in all the materials for a mutually beneficial commerce, filled with
+enlightened and industrious inhabitants, holding an important place in
+the politics of Europe, and to which we owe so many valuable citizens.
+The ratification of the treaty with the Porte was sent to be exchanged
+by the gentleman appointed our chargé d'affaires to that Court. Some
+difficulties occurred on his arrival, but at the date of his last
+official dispatch he supposed they had been obviated and that there was
+every prospect of the exchange being speedily effected.
+
+This finishes the connected view I have thought it proper to give of our
+political and commercial relations in Europe. Every effort in my power
+will be continued to strengthen and extend them by treaties founded on
+principles of the most perfect reciprocity of interest, neither asking
+nor conceding any exclusive advantage, but liberating as far as it lies
+in my power the activity and industry of our fellow-citizens from the
+shackles which foreign restrictions may impose.
+
+To China and the East Indies our commerce continues in its usual extent,
+and with increased facilities which the credit and capital of our
+merchants afford by substituting bills for payments in specie. A daring
+outrage having been committed in those seas by the plunder of one of our
+merchantmen engaged in the pepper trade at a port in Sumatra, and the
+piratical perpetrators belonging to tribes in such a state of society
+that the usual course of proceedings between civilized nations could not
+be pursued, I forthwith dispatched a frigate with orders to require
+immediate satisfaction for the injury and indemnity to the sufferers.
+
+Few changes have taken place in our connections with the independent
+States of America since my last communication to Congress. The
+ratification of a commercial treaty with the United Republics of Mexico
+has been for some time under deliberation in their Congress, but was
+still undecided at the date of our last dispatches. The unhappy civil
+commotions that have prevailed there were undoubtedly the cause of the
+delay, but as the Government is now said to be tranquillized we may hope
+soon to receive the ratification of the treaty and an arrangement for
+the demarcation of the boundaries between us. In the meantime, an
+important trade has been opened with mutual benefit from St. Louis, in
+the State of Missouri, by caravans to the interior Provinces of Mexico.
+This commerce is protected in its progress through the Indian countries
+by the troops of the United States, which have been permitted to escort
+the caravans beyond our boundaries to the settled part of the Mexican
+territory.
+
+From Central America I have received assurances of the most friendly
+kind and a gratifying application for our good offices to remove a
+supposed indisposition toward that Government in a neighboring State.
+This application was immediately and successfully complied with. They
+gave us also the pleasing intelligence that differences which had
+prevailed in their internal affairs had been peaceably adjusted. Our
+treaty with this Republic continues to be faithfully observed, and
+promises a great and beneficial commerce between the two countries--a
+commerce of the greatest importance if the magnificent project of a ship
+canal through the dominions of that State from the Atlantic to the
+Pacific Ocean, now in serious contemplation, shall be executed.
+
+I have great satisfaction in communicating the success which has
+attended the exertions of our minister in Colombia to procure a very
+considerable reduction in the duties on our flour in that Republic.
+Indemnity also has been stipulated for injuries received by our
+merchants from illegal seizures, and renewed assurances are given that
+the treaty between the two countries shall be faithfully observed.
+
+Chili and Peru seem to be still threatened with civil commotions, and
+until they shall be settled disorders may naturally be apprehended,
+requiring the constant presence of a naval force in the Pacific Ocean to
+protect our fisheries and guard our commerce.
+
+The disturbances that took place in the Empire of Brazil previously to
+and immediately consequent upon the abdication of the late Emperor
+necessarily suspended any effectual application for the redress of some
+past injuries suffered by our citizens from that Government, while they
+have been the cause of others, in which all foreigners seem to have
+participated. Instructions have been given to our minister there to
+press for indemnity due for losses occasioned by these irregularities,
+and to take care that our fellow-citizens shall enjoy all the privileges
+stipulated in their favor by the treaty lately made between the two
+powers, all which the good intelligence that prevails between our
+minister at Rio Janeiro and the Regency gives us the best reason to
+expect.
+
+I should have placed Buenos Ayres in the list of South American powers
+in respect to which nothing of importance affecting us was to be
+communicated but for occurrences which have lately taken place at the
+Falkland Islands, in which the name of that Republic has been used to
+cover with a show of authority acts injurious to our commerce and to the
+property and liberty of our fellow-citizens. In the course of the
+present year one of our vessels, engaged in the pursuit of a trade which
+we have always enjoyed without molestation, has been captured by a band
+acting, as they pretend, under the authority of the Government of Buenos
+Ayres. I have therefore given orders for the dispatch of an armed vessel
+to join our squadron in those seas and aid in affording all lawful
+protection to our trade which shall be necessary, and shall without
+delay send a minister to inquire into the nature of the circumstances
+and also of the claim, if any, that is set up by that Government to
+those islands. In the meantime, I submit the case to the consideration
+of Congress, to the end that they may clothe the Executive with such
+authority and means as they may deem necessary for providing a force
+adequate to the complete protection of our fellow-citizens fishing and
+trading in those seas.
+
+This rapid sketch of our foreign relations, it is hoped,
+fellow-citizens, may be of some use in so much of your legislation as
+may bear on that important subject, while it affords to the country at
+large a source of high gratification in the contemplation of our
+political and commercial connection with the rest of the world. At peace
+with all; having subjects of future difference with few, and those
+susceptible of easy adjustment; extending our commerce gradually on all
+sides and on none by any but the most liberal and mutually beneficial
+means, we may, by the blessing of Providence, hope for all that national
+prosperity which can be derived from an intercourse with foreign
+nations, guided by those eternal principles of justice and reciprocal
+good will which are binding as well upon States as the individuals of
+whom they are composed.
+
+I have great satisfaction in making this statement of our affairs,
+because the course of our national policy enables me to do it without
+any indiscreet exposure of what in other governments is usually
+concealed from the people. Having none but a straightforward, open
+course to pursue, guided by a single principle that will bear the
+strongest light, we have happily no political combinations to form, no
+alliances to entangle us, no complicated interests to consult, and in
+subjecting all we have done to the consideration of our citizens and to
+the inspection of the world we give no advantage to other nations and
+lay ourselves open to no injury.
+
+It may not be improper to add that to preserve this state of things and
+give confidence to the world in the integrity of our designs all our
+consular and diplomatic agents are strictly enjoined to examine well
+every cause of complaint preferred by our citizens, and while they urge
+with proper earnestness those that are well founded, to countenance none
+that are unreasonable or unjust, and to enjoin on our merchants and
+navigators the strictest obedience to the laws of the countries to which
+they resort, and a course of conduct in their dealings that may support
+the character of our nation and render us respected abroad.
+
+Connected with this subject, I must recommend a revisal of our consular
+laws. Defects and omissions have been discovered in their operation that
+ought to be remedied and supplied. For your further information on this
+subject I have directed a report to be made by the Secretary of State,
+which I shall hereafter submit to your consideration.
+
+The internal peace and security of our confederated States is the next
+principal object of the General Government. Time and experience have
+proved that the abode of the native Indian within their limits is
+dangerous to their peace and injurious to himself. In accordance with my
+recommendation at a former session of Congress, an appropriation of half
+a million of dollars was made to aid the voluntary removal of the
+various tribes beyond the limits of the States. At the last session I
+had the happiness to announce that the Chickasaws and Choctaws had
+accepted the generous offer of the Government and agreed to remove
+beyond the Mississippi River, by which the whole of the State of
+Mississippi and the western part of Alabama will be freed from Indian
+occupancy and opened to a civilized population. The treaties with these
+tribes are in a course of execution, and their removal, it is hoped,
+will be completed in the course of 1832.
+
+At the request of the authorities of Georgia the registration of
+Cherokee Indians for emigration has been resumed, and it is confidently
+expected that one-half, if not two-thirds, of that tribe will follow the
+wise example of their more westerly brethren. Those who prefer remaining
+at their present homes will hereafter be governed by the laws of
+Georgia, as all her citizens are, and cease to be the objects of
+peculiar care on the part of the General Government.
+
+During the present year the attention of the Government has been
+particularly directed to those tribes in the powerful and growing State
+of Ohio, where considerable tracts of the finest lands were still
+occupied by the aboriginal proprietors. Treaties, either absolute or
+conditional, have been made extinguishing the whole Indian title to the
+reservations in that State, and the time is not distant, it is hoped,
+when Ohio will be no longer embarrassed with the Indian population. The
+same measures will be extended to Indiana as soon as there is reason to
+anticipate success. It is confidently believed that perseverance for a
+few years in the present policy of the Government will extinguish the
+Indian title to all lands lying within the States composing our Federal
+Union, and remove beyond their limits every Indian who is not willing to
+submit to their laws. Thus will all conflicting claims to jurisdiction
+between the States and the Indian tribes be put to rest. It is pleasing
+to reflect that results so beneficial, not only to the States
+immediately concerned, but to the harmony of the Union, will have been
+accomplished by measures equally advantageous to the Indians. What the
+native savages become when surrounded by a dense population and by
+mixing with the whites may be seen in the miserable remnants of a few
+Eastern tribes, deprived of political and civil rights, forbidden to
+make contracts, and subjected to guardians, dragging out a wretched
+existence, without excitement, without hope, and almost without thought.
+
+But the removal of the Indians beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the
+States does not place them beyond the reach of philanthropic aid and
+Christian instruction. On the contrary, those whom philanthropy or
+religion may induce to live among them in their new abode will be more
+free in the exercise of their benevolent functions than if they had
+remained within the limits of the States, embarrassed by their internal
+regulations. Now subject to no control but the superintending agency of
+the General Government, exercised with the sole view of preserving
+peace, they may proceed unmolested in the interesting experiment of
+gradually advancing a community of American Indians from barbarism to
+the habits and enjoyments of civilized life.
+
+Among the happiest effects of the improved relations of our Republic has
+been an increase of trade, producing a corresponding increase of revenue
+beyond the most sanguine anticipations of the Treasury Department.
+
+The state of the public finances will be fully shown by the Secretary of
+the Treasury in the report which he will presently lay before you. I
+will here, however, congratulate you upon their prosperous condition.
+The revenue received in the present year will not fall short of
+$27,700,000, and the expenditures for all objects other than the public
+debt will not exceed $14,700,000. The payment on account of the
+principal and interest of the debt during the year will exceed
+$16,500,000, a greater sum than has been applied to that object out of
+the revenue in any year since the enlargement of the sinking fund except
+the two years following immediately thereafter. The amount which will
+have been applied to the public debt from the 4th of March, 1829, to the
+1st of January next, which is less than three years since the
+Administration has been placed in my hands, will exceed $40,000,000.
+
+From the large importations of the present year it may be safely
+estimated that the revenue which will be received into the Treasury from
+that source during the next year, with the aid of that received from the
+public lands, will considerably exceed the amount of the receipts of the
+present year; and it is believed that with the means which the
+Government will have at its disposal from various sources, which will be
+fully stated by the proper Department, the whole of the public debt may
+be extinguished, either by redemption or purchase, within the four years
+of my Administration. We shall then exhibit the rare example of a great
+nation, abounding in all the means of happiness and security, altogether
+free from debt.
+
+The confidence with which the extinguishment of the public debt may be
+anticipated presents an opportunity for carrying into effect more fully
+the policy in relation to import duties which has been recommended in my
+former messages. A modification of the tariff which shall produce a
+reduction of our revenue to the wants of the Government and an
+adjustment of the duties on imports with a view to equal justice in
+relation to all our national interests and to the counteraction of
+foreign policy so far as it may be injurious to those interests, is
+deemed to be one of the principal objects which demand the consideration
+of the present Congress. Justice to the interests of the merchant as
+well as the manufacturer requires that material reductions in the import
+duties be prospective; and unless the present Congress shall dispose of
+the subject the proposed reductions can not properly be made to take
+effect at the period when the necessity for the revenue arising from
+present rates shall cease. It is therefore desirable that arrangements
+be adopted at your present session to relieve the people from
+unnecessary taxation after the extinguishment of the public debt. In the
+exercise of that spirit of concession and conciliation which has
+distinguished the friends of our Union in all great emergencies, it is
+believed that this object may be effected without injury to any national
+interest.
+
+In my annual message of December, 1829, I had the honor to recommend the
+adoption of a more liberal policy than that which then prevailed toward
+unfortunate debtors to the Government, and I deem it my duty again to
+invite your attention to this subject.
+
+Actuated by similar views, Congress at their last session passed an act
+for the relief of certain insolvent debtors of the United States, but
+the provisions of that law have not been deemed such as were adequate to
+that relief to this unfortunate class of our fellow-citizens which may
+be safely extended to them. The points in which the law appears to be
+defective will be particularly communicated by the Secretary of the
+Treasury, and I take pleasure in recommending such an extension of its
+provisions as will unfetter the enterprise of a valuable portion of our
+citizens and restore to them the means of usefulness to themselves and
+the community. While deliberating on this subject I would also recommend
+to your consideration the propriety of so modifying the laws for
+enforcing the payment of debts due either to the public or to
+individuals suing in the courts of the United States as to restrict the
+imprisonment of the person to cases of fraudulent concealment of
+property. The personal liberty of the citizen seems too sacred to be
+held, as in many cases it now is, at the will of a creditor to whom he
+is willing to surrender all the means he has of discharging his debt.
+
+The reports from the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments and
+from the Postmaster-General, which accompany this message, present
+satisfactory views of the operations of the Departments respectively
+under their charge, and suggest improvements which are worthy of and to
+which I invite the serious attention of Congress. Certain defects and
+omissions having been discovered in the operation of the laws respecting
+patents, they are pointed out in the accompanying report from the
+Secretary of State.
+
+I have heretofore recommended amendments of the Federal Constitution
+giving the election of President and Vice-President to the people and
+limiting the service of the former to a single term. So important do I
+consider these changes in our fundamental law that I can not, in
+accordance with my sense of duty, omit to press them upon the
+consideration of a new Congress. For my views more at large, as well in
+relation to these points as to the disqualification of members of
+Congress to receive an office from a President in whose election they
+have had an official agency, which I proposed as a substitute, I refer
+you to my former messages.
+
+Our system of public accounts is extremely complicated, and it is
+believed may be much improved. Much of the present machinery and a
+considerable portion of the expenditure of public money may be dispensed
+with, while greater facilities can be afforded to the liquidation of
+claims upon the Government and an examination into their justice and
+legality quite as efficient as the present secured. With a view to a
+general reform in the system, I recommend the subject to the attention
+of Congress.
+
+I deem it my duty again to call your attention to the condition of the
+District of Columbia. It was doubtless wise in the framers of our
+Constitution to place the people of this District under the jurisdiction
+of the General Government, but to accomplish the objects they had in
+view it is not necessary that this people should be deprived of all the
+privileges of self-government. Independently of the difficulty of
+inducing the representatives of distant States to turn their attention
+to projects of laws which are not of the highest interest to their
+constituents, they are not individually, nor in Congress collectively,
+well qualified to legislate over the local concerns of this District.
+Consequently its interests are much neglected, and the people are almost
+afraid to present their grievances, lest a body in which they are not
+represented and which feels little sympathy in their local relations
+should in its attempt to make laws for them do more harm than good.
+Governed by the laws of the States whence they were severed, the two
+shores of the Potomac within the 10 miles square have different penal
+codes--not the present codes of Virginia and Mary land, but such as
+existed in those States at the time of the cession to the United States.
+As Congress will not form a new code, and as the people of the District
+can not make one for themselves, they are virtually under two
+governments. Is it not just to allow them at least a Delegate in
+Congress, if not a local legislature, to make laws for the District,
+subject to the approval or rejection of Congress? I earnestly recommend
+the extension to them of every political right which their interests
+require and which may be compatible with the Constitution.
+
+The extension of the judiciary system of the United States is deemed to
+be one of the duties of Government. One-fourth of the States in the
+Union do not participate in the benefits of a circuit court. To the
+States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and
+Louisiana, admitted into the Union since the present judicial system was
+organized, only a district court has been allowed. If this be
+sufficient, then the circuit courts already existing in eighteen States
+ought to be abolished; if it be not sufficient, the defect ought to be
+remedied, and these States placed on the same footing with the other
+members of the Union. It was on this condition and on this footing that
+they entered the Union, and they may demand circuit courts as a matter
+not of concession, but of right. I trust that Congress will not adjourn
+leaving this anomaly in our system.
+
+Entertaining the opinions heretofore expressed in relation to the Bank
+of the United States as at present organized, I felt it my duty in my
+former messages frankly to disclose them, in order that the attention of
+the Legislature and the people should be seasonably directed to that
+important subject, and that it might be considered and finally disposed
+of in a manner best calculated to promote the ends of the Constitution
+and subserve the public interests. Having thus conscientiously
+discharged a constitutional duty, I deem it proper on this occasion,
+without a more particular reference to the views of the subject then
+expressed, to leave it for the present to the investigation of an
+enlightened people and their representatives.
+
+In conclusion permit me to invoke that Power which superintends all
+governments to infuse into your deliberations at this important crisis
+of our history a spirit of mutual forbearance and conciliation. In that
+spirit was our Union formed, and in that spirit must it be preserved.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL MESSAGES.
+
+
+Washington, _December 6, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its
+ratification, a treaty between the United States and France, signed at
+Paris by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 4th of
+July, 1831.
+
+With the treaty are also transmitted the dispatch which accompanied it,
+and two others on the same subject received since.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 7, 1831_.
+_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
+
+In my public message to both Houses of Congress I communicated the state
+in which I had found the controverted claims of Great Britain and the
+United States in relation to our northern and eastern boundary, and the
+measures which since my coming into office I had pursued to bring it to
+a close, together with the fact that on the 10th day of January last the
+sovereign arbiter had delivered his opinion to the plenipotentiaries of
+the United States and Great Britain.
+
+I now transmit to you that opinion for your consideration, that you may
+determine whether you will advise submission to the opinion delivered by
+the sovereign arbiter and consent to its execution.
+
+That you may the better be enabled to judge of the obligation as well as
+the expediency of submitting to or rejecting the decision of the
+arbiter, I herewith transmit--
+
+1. A protest made by the minister plenipotentiary of the United States
+after receiving the opinion of the King of the Netherlands, on which
+paper it may be necessary to remark that I had always determined,
+whatever might have been the result of the examination by the sovereign
+arbiter, to have submitted the same to the Senate for their advice
+before I executed or rejected it. Therefore no instructions were given
+to the ministers to do any act that should commit the Government as to
+the course it might deem proper to pursue on a full consideration of all
+the circumstances of the case.
+
+2. The dispatches from our minister at The Hague accompanying the
+protest, as well as those previous and subsequent thereto, in relation
+to the subject of the submission.
+
+3. Communications between the Department of State and the governor of
+the State of Maine in relation to this subject.
+
+4. Correspondence between the chargé d'affaires of His Britannic Majesty
+and the Department of State in relation to the arrest of certain persons
+at Madawasca under the authority of the British Government at New
+Brunswick.
+
+It is proper to add that in addition to the evidence derived from Mr.
+Treble's dispatches of the inclination of the British Government to
+abide by the award, assurances to the same effect have been uniformly
+made to our minister at London, and that an official communication on
+that subject may very soon be expected.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington City, _December 7, 1831_.
+_To the Congress of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, two letters from
+the Secretary of State, accompanied by statements from that Department
+showing the progress which has been made in taking the Fifth Census of
+the inhabitants of the United States, and also by a printed copy of the
+revision of the statements heretofore transmitted to Congress of all
+former enumerations of the population of the United States and their
+Territories.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _December 13, 1831_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+The accompanying papers show the situation of extreme peril from which
+more than sixty of our fellow-citizens have been rescued by the courage
+and humanity of the master and crew of a Spanish brig. As no property
+was saved, there were no means of making pecuniary satisfaction for the
+risk and loss incurred in performing this humane and meritorious
+service. Believing, therefore, that the obligation devolved upon the
+nation, but having no funds at my disposal which I could think
+constitutionally applicable to the case, I have thought honor as well as
+justice required that the facts should be submitted to the consideration
+of Congress, in order that they might provide not only a just indemnity
+for the losses incurred, but some compensation adequate to the merits of
+the service.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 13, 1831_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith, in obedience to a resolution of the Senate of the
+8th December, 1831, all the information in the possession of the
+Executive relative to the capture, abduction, and imprisonment of
+American citizens by the provincial authorities of New Brunswick, and
+the measures which, in consequence thereof, have been adopted by the
+Executive of the United States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON CITY, _December 21, 1831_.
+_To the Congress of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, a report of the
+Secretary of State, respecting tonnage duties levied at Martinique and
+Guadaloupe on American vessels and on French vessels from those islands
+to the United States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON CITY, _December 21, 1831_.
+_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
+
+Since my message of the 7th instant, transmitting the award of the King
+of the Netherlands, I have received the official communication, then
+expected, of the determination of the British Government to abide by the
+award. This communication is now respectfully laid before you for the
+purpose of aiding your deliberations on the same subject.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 29, 1831_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
+19th instant, requesting the President of the United States to
+communicate to it "the correspondence between the governor of Georgia
+and any Department of this Government, in the years 1830 and 1831, in
+relation to the boundary line between the State of Georgia and the
+Territory of Florida," I transmit herewith a communication from the
+Secretary of State, with copies of the papers referred to. It is proper
+to add, as the resolutions on this subject from the governor and
+legislature of Georgia were received after the adjournment of the last
+Congress, and as that body, after having the same subject under
+consideration, had failed to authorize the President to take any steps
+in relation to it, that it was my intention to present it in due time to
+the attention of the present Congress by special message. This
+determination has been hastened by the call of the House for the
+information now communicated, and it only remains for me to await the
+action of Congress upon the subject.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 5, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I herewith lay before the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
+ratification of the same, a treaty between the United States and the
+principal chiefs and warriors of the mixed band of Seneca and Shawnee
+Indians living on the waters of the Great Miami and within the
+territorial limits of the county of Logan, in the State of Ohio, entered
+into on the 30th day of July, 1831; and also a treaty between the United
+States and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the band of Ottaway
+Indians residing within the State of Ohio, entered into on the 30th of
+August, 1831.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+I herewith transmit a report made by the Secretary of State on the
+subject of a commercial arrangement with the Republic of Colombia, which
+requires legislative action to carry it into effect.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 12, 1832_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I herewith lay before the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
+ratification of the same, a treaty made on the 8th of August last with
+the Shawnee Indians.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 18, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in answer to the
+resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, and accompanied by copies of
+the instructions and correspondence relative to the late treaty with
+France, called for by that resolution.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 20, 1832_.
+_To the Congress of the United States_:
+
+I respectfully invite the attention of Congress to the propriety of
+compromising the title of the islands on which Fort Delaware stands in
+the manner pointed out by the accompanying report from the War
+Department. This subject was presented to Congress during the last
+session, but for want of time, it is believed, did not receive its
+action.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a copy of a
+correspondence between the late minister of Great Britain and the late
+Secretary of State of the United States on the subject of a claim of
+Cyrenius Hall, a British subject and an inhabitant of Upper Canada, for
+the loss which he alleges to have sustained in consequence of the
+imputed seizure of a schooner (his property) by the collector of the
+customs at Venice, in Sandusky Bay, in the year 1821, and the subsequent
+neglect of that officer in relation to the said schooner, together with
+copies of the documents adduced in support of the claim, that such
+legislative provision may be made in behalf of the claimant as shall
+appear just and proper in the case.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 24, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
+20th instant, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War,
+containing all the information in possession of the Executive required
+by that resolution.
+
+For the reason assigned by the Secretary in his report I have to request
+that the abstracts of the Choctaw reservations may be returned to the
+War Department when the House shall no longer require them.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith reports from the Secretaries of the War and Navy
+Departments, containing the information required by the resolution of
+the House of the 5th instant, in regard to the expenditures on
+breakwaters since 1815.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 27, 1832_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 18th instant, I
+herewith transmit a report[12] of the Secretary of State, which,
+together with the letter of His Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires
+heretofore communicated, demanding the execution of the opinion
+delivered by the sovereign arbiter, contains all the information
+requested by the said resolution, omitting nothing that may enable the
+Senate to give the advice requested by my message of the 7th of December
+last, on the question of carrying into effect the opinion of the King of
+the Netherlands.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 12: Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United
+States.]
+
+
+WASHINGTON CITY, _January 27, 1832_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+Since the dismission of Lieutenant Hampton Westcott for participating as
+second in a duel in March, A.D. 1830, a more particular investigation of
+the circumstances has resulted in exonerating him from having instigated
+the fatal meeting, and the said Westcott, on a trial by a jury, has been
+acquitted of all legal guilt in the transaction.
+
+I therefore nominate the said Hampton Westcott to be a lieutenant in the
+Navy of the United States from the 17th of May, 1828, his former date,
+and to take rank next after Richard R. McMullin.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 3, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In addition to the documents relating to the settlement of the
+northeastern boundary of the United States now in possession of the
+Senate, I have just received certain proceedings and resolutions of the
+legislature of the State of Maine on the subject, which are herewith
+transmitted.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 6, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
+3d March, 1831, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State
+on the subject of the regulations of England, France, and the
+Netherlands respecting their fisheries.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON; _February 7, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+A convention having been entered into between the United States and the
+King of the French, it has been ratified with the advice and consent of
+the Senate; and my ratification having been exchanged in due form on the
+2d of February, 1832, by the Secretary of State and the envoy
+extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the King of the French, it
+is now communicated to you for consideration in your legislative
+capacity.
+
+You will observe that some important conditions can not be carried into
+execution but with the aid of the Legislature, and that the proper
+provisions for that purpose seem to be required without delay.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 7, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+A treaty of commerce and navigation having been entered into between the
+United States and the Sublime Porte, it has been ratified with the
+advice and consent of the Senate; and my ratification having been
+exchanged in due form on the 5th October, 1831, by our chargé d'affaires
+at Constantinople and that Government, it is now communicated to both
+Houses of Congress.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the information of the Senate, a report from
+the Department of War, showing the situation of the country at Green Bay
+ceded for the benefit of the New York Indians, and also the proceedings
+of the commissioner, who has lately had a meeting with them.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, made in compliance
+with a resolution of the Senate of March 2, 1831, requesting the
+President of the United States "to cause to be collected and reported to
+the Senate at the commencement of the next stated session of Congress
+the most authentic information which can be obtained of the number and
+names of the American citizens who have been killed or robbed while
+engaged in the fur trade or the inland trade to Mexico since the late
+war with Great Britain, the amount of the robberies committed, and at
+what places and by what tribes; also the number of persons who annually
+engage in the fur trade and inland trade to Mexico, the amount of
+capital employed, and the annual amount of the proceeds in furs, robes,
+peltries, money, etc.; also the disadvantages, if any, which these
+branches of trade labor under, and the means for their relief and
+protection."
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
+3d March, 1831, I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of War "of
+the survey of the Savannah and Tennessee rivers made in 1828."
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, containing the
+information and documents[13] called for by a resolution of the Senate
+of the 9th instant.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 13: Dispatch of Mr. Gallatin transmitting the convention of
+September 29, 1827, and report of an exploring survey from the Sebois
+River to the head waters of the Penobscot River, made in 1829.]
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 15, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+Being more and more convinced that the destiny of the Indians within the
+settled portion of the United States depends upon their entire and
+speedy migration to the country west of the Mississippi set apart for
+their permanent residence, I am anxious that all the arrangements
+necessary to the complete execution of the plan of removal and to the
+ultimate security and improvement of the Indians should be made without
+further delay. Those who have already removed and are removing are
+sufficiently numerous to engage the serious attention of the Government,
+and it is due not less to them than to the obligation which the nation
+has assumed that every reasonable step should be taken to fulfill the
+expectations that have been held out to them. Many of those who yet
+remain will no doubt within a short period become sensible that the
+course recommended is the only one which promises stability or
+improvement, and it is to be hoped that all of them will realize this
+truth and unite with their brethren beyond the Mississippi. Should they
+do so, there would then be no question of jurisdiction to prevent the
+Government from exercising such a general control over their affairs as
+may be essential to their interest and safety. Should any of them,
+however, repel the offer of removal, they are free to remain, but they
+must remain with such privileges and disabilities as the respective
+States within whose jurisdiction they live may prescribe.
+
+I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, which presents a
+general outline of the progress that has already been made in this work
+and of all that remains to be done. It will be perceived that much
+information is yet necessary for the faithful performance of the duties
+of the Government, without which it will be impossible to provide for
+the execution of some of the existing stipulations, or make those
+prudential arrangements upon which the final success of the whole
+movement, so far as relates to the Indians themselves, must depend.
+
+I recommend the subject to the attention of Congress in the hope that
+the suggestions in this report may be found useful and that provision
+may be made for the appointment of the commissioners therein referred to
+and for vesting them with such authority as may be necessary to the
+satisfactory performance of the important duties proposed to be
+intrusted to them.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 20, 1832_.
+_To the Senate._
+
+I nominate Charles Ellery to be a lieutenant in the Navy of the United
+States, to take rank as if appointed the 29th of April, 1826.
+
+In explanation of the above nomination the President submits to the
+Senate the following facts:
+
+Charles Ellery was originally appointed a lieutenant in the Navy the
+13th of January, 1825, and was dismissed from the service the 24th of
+November, 1830. The dismissal was in pursuance of the sentence of the
+same court-martial which tried Master Commandant Clack in September,
+1830; but it is thought no technical objections to the legality of the
+proceedings can be found so well sustained as they were in the case of
+Master Commandant Clack before the Senate at their last session, and it
+is supposed that Lieutenant Ellery has no claim for restoration to his
+former rank except on the ground of great severity in the sentence,
+founded on unfavorable impressions as to his conduct, which his prior
+and subsequent behavior, as manifested in the documents hereto annexed,
+prove to have been in some degree erroneous. The charges were
+intemperance and sleeping on his post. His departures from strict
+temperance were only in a few instances, and seem to have arisen from
+domestic calamity and never to have grown into a habit; and the only
+instance testified to in support of the other charge seems now at least
+doubtful, and if sustained at all to be imputable to the same cause.
+
+Under these views of the case, which a charitable consideration of the
+proceedings and of his character as fully developed in the annexed
+documents appears fully to justify, his punishment ought, in my opinion,
+to be mitigated. He is therefore nominated so as to restore him to the
+service, with loss of pay and rank for about the time elapsed since his
+last dismission.
+
+The proceedings of the court-martial and the testimonials referred to
+are inclosed, numbered from 1 to 10.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+UNITED STATES, _February 24, 1832_.
+_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
+
+I lay before you, for your consideration and advice, a treaty of limits
+between the United States of America and the Republic of Mexico,
+concluded at Mexico on the 12th day of January, 1828, and a
+supplementary article relating thereto, signed also at Mexico on the 5th
+day of April, 1831.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+UNITED STATES, _February 24, 1832_.
+_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
+
+I lay before you, for your consideration and advice, a treaty of amity
+and commerce between the United States of America and the Republic of
+Mexico, concluded at Mexico on the 5th day of April, in the year 1831.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 29, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 22d December,
+1831, calling for certain information in relation to the trade between
+the United States and the British American colonies, I transmit herewith
+a report from the Secretary of the Treasury.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 29, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution requesting the President of the United
+States to communicate to the Senate the considerations which in his
+opinion render it proper that the United States should be represented by
+a chargé d àffaires to the King of the Belgians at this time, I transmit
+herewith a report from the Secretary of State.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 1, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I submit to the consideration of Congress the accompanying report from
+the Secretary of State, showing the propriety of making some change by
+law in the duty on the red wines imported into the United States from
+Austria.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 1, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+Since my message yesterday in answer to the resolution of the Senate of
+the 22d December, 1831, calling for certain information in possession of
+the Executive relating to the trade between the United States and the
+British American colonies, I have received a report from the Secretary
+of State on the subject, which is also respectfully submitted to the
+Senate.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of February 9, 1832, I
+have received the accompanying report from the Commissioner of the
+General Land Office, "on the extent and amount of business of the
+surveyor-general's district for Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas, and
+the expediency of dividing the said district," which is respectfully
+submitted to the Senate.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 12, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
+7th instant, requesting the President of the United States to inform the
+House "whether any, and, if any, what, Indian tribes or nations who
+joined the enemy in the late war with Great Britain continue to receive
+annuities from the United States under treaties made prior to the war
+and not renewed since the peace," I transmit herewith a report from the
+Secretary of War.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 12, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the
+information called for by the resolution of the House of the 26th
+January last, in relation to the expenditures incurred by the execution
+of the act approved May 28, 1830, entitled "An act to provide for an
+exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the States or
+Territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi."
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 12, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War,
+containing the information called for by the resolution of the Senate of
+the 12th of January last, in relation to the employment of agents among
+the Indians since the passage of the "act to provide for an exchange of
+lands with the Indians residing within any of the States or Territories,
+and for their removal west of the Mississippi," approved 28th May, 1830.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 14, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I submit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate as to their
+advice and consent to the same, an agreement or convention lately made
+with a band of the Wyandot Indians residing within the limits of Ohio.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 16, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, containing the
+information called for by the House of Representatives of the 24th
+February last, in relation to the situation of the Government of the
+Republic of Colombia and the state of our diplomatic relations with it.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 26, 1832_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
+ratification of the same, a treaty concluded at this city on the 24th
+instant between the United States and the Creek tribe of Indians.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 29, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution requesting the "President to inform
+the Senate whether any, and, if any, what, communications have passed
+between the executive department of the United States and the executive
+or legislative department of the State of Maine relative to the
+northeastern boundary, and whether any proposition has been made by
+either that the boundary designated by the King of the Netherlands shall
+be established for a _consideration_ to be paid to Maine, and, if so,
+what consideration was proposed, so far as the same may not be
+inconsistent with the public interest," I transmit herewith a report
+from the Secretary of State.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 2, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 17th of the last
+month, requesting the President to obtain and communicate to it as soon
+as may be practicable information "whether possession has been taken of
+any part of the territory of the United States on the Pacific Ocean by
+the subjects of any foreign power, with any other information relative
+to the condition and character of the said territory," I transmit
+herewith reports from the Secretaries of the State and Navy Departments,
+from which it will appear that there is no satisfactory information on
+the subject now in possession of the Executive, and that none is likely
+to be obtained but at an expense which can not be incurred without the
+authority of Congress.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1832_.
+_To the Congress of the United States_:
+
+I transmit herewith to Congress a report from the Secretary of State,
+showing the circumstances under which refuge was given on board the
+United States ship _St. Louis_, Captain Sloat, to the vice-president of
+the Republic of Peru and to General Miller, and the expense thereby
+incurred by Captain Sloat, for the payment of which there is no fund
+applicable to the case.
+
+I recommend to Congress that provision be made for this and similar
+cases that may occur in future.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1832_.
+_To the Congress of the United States_:
+
+I submit herewith to the consideration of Congress a report from the
+Secretary of State, showing the necessity of providing additional
+accommodations for the Patent Office, and proposing the purchase of a
+suitable building, which has been offered to the Government for the
+purpose.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, made in
+compliance with the resolution of the Senate which requests the
+President to communicate to the Senate, if not incompatible with the
+public interest, that portion of the correspondence between Mr. McLane,
+while minister at London, and the Secretary of State, and also between
+our said minister and the British Government, respecting the colonial
+trade, which may not have been communicated with his message to Congress
+of the 3d January, 1831.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 6, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I nominate William P. Zantzinger, of Pennsylvania, to be a purser in the
+Navy of the United States.
+
+In submitting the above nomination it is deemed proper to give some
+detail of the peculiar circumstances of the case. Mr. Zantzinger was
+formerly a purser, and after a trial by a court-martial in January,
+1830, was dismissed from the naval service. The record is inclosed,
+marked A. In July, 1830, verbally, afterwards in writing early in 1831,
+he applied for restoration to his former situation and date on the
+assumed ground that the proceedings in his trial were illegal and void,
+and he fortified himself by the many numerous certificates and opinions
+herewith forwarded, marked B.
+
+These have been carefully examined, and though failing to convince me of
+the correctness of his position in respect to the nullity of those
+proceedings, I am satisfied that under all the circumstances of the case
+a mitigation of his sentence can be justified on both public and
+personal grounds.
+
+With the loss of his former date and of his pay since his dismission, I
+have therefore submitted his nomination to take effect like an original
+entry into the service, only from its confirmation by the Senate. There
+is now one vacancy in the corps of pursers.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 9, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution requesting the President to transmit
+to the Senate "Lord Aberdeen's letter in answer to Mr. Barbour's of the
+27th November, 1828, and also so much of a letter of the 22d April,
+1831, from Mr. McLane to Mr. Van Buren as relates to the proposed duty
+on cotton," I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State,
+communicating copies of the letters referred to.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 13, 1832_.
+_To the Congress of the United States_:
+
+Approving the suggestions expressed by the Secretary of State in regard
+to the propriety of exempting Portuguese vessels entering the ports of
+the United States from the payment of the duties on tonnage, in
+consequence of a like exemption being extended to those of the United
+States, I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, his
+letter on the subject.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 18, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report[14] from the Secretary of the Treasury,
+containing the information called for by the resolution of the Senate of
+the 3d instant.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 14: Relating to trade with the European possessions of Great
+Britain for the year ending September 30, 1831.]
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 19, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith printed copies of each of the treaties between the
+United States and the Indian tribes that have been ratified during the
+present session of Congress.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 20, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant,
+requesting the President "to communicate to the Senate all the
+instructions given by this Government to our ministers to Great Britain
+and all the correspondence of our ministers on the subject of the
+colonial and West India trade since the 3d of March, 1825, not
+heretofore communicated, so far as the public interest will, in his
+judgment, permit," I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
+State, containing the information required.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 23, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a report from
+the Secretary of State, suggesting the propriety of passing a law making
+it criminal within the limits of the United States to counterfeit the
+current coin of any foreign nation.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _April 23, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury,
+containing the information called for by the resolution of the 26th of
+March last, in which the President is requested to communicate to the
+Senate--
+
+First. The total amount of public lands belonging to the United States
+which remain unsold, whether the Indian title thereon has been
+extinguished or not, as far as that amount can be ascertained from
+surveys actually made or by estimate, and distinguishing the States and
+Territories respectively in which it is situated, and the quantity in
+each.
+
+Second. The amount on which, the Indian title has been extinguished and
+the sums paid for the extinction thereof, and the amount on which the
+Indian title remains to be extinguished.
+
+Third. The amount which has been granted by Congress from time to time
+in the several States and Territories, distinguishing between them and
+stating the purposes for which the grants were respectively made, and
+the amount of lands granted or money paid in satisfaction of Virginia
+land claims.
+
+Fourth. The amount which has been heretofore sold by the United States,
+distinguishing between the States and Territories in which it is
+situated.
+
+Fifth. The amount which has been paid to France, Spain, and Georgia for
+the public lands acquired from them respectively, including the amount
+which has been paid to purchasers from Georgia to quiet or in
+satisfaction of their claims, and the amount paid to the Indians to
+extinguish their title within the limits of Georgia.
+
+Sixth. The total expense of administering the public domain since the
+declaration of independence, including all charges for surveying, for
+land offices, and other disbursements, and exhibiting the net amount
+which has been realized in the Treasury from that source.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 1, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the use of the House, a printed copy of two
+treaties lately ratified between the United States of America and the
+United Mexican States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(The same message was sent to the Senate.)
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 2,1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 1st instant, in
+relation to the imprisonment[15] of Samuel G. Howe, I transmit herewith
+a report from the Secretary of State, by which it appears that no
+information on the subject has yet reached the Department of State but
+what is contained in the public newspapers.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+[Footnote 15: In Berlin, Prussia.]
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 18th instant, I
+transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of
+the several instructions under which the recent treaty of indemnity with
+Denmark was negotiated, and also of the other papers relating to the
+negotiation required by the resolution.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 27th of February
+last, requesting copies of the instructions and correspondence relating
+to the negotiation of the treaty with the Sublime Porte, together with
+those of the negotiations preceding the treaty from the year 1819, I
+transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with the papers
+required.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _June 11, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I renominate Samuel Gwin to be register of the land office at Clinton,
+in the State of Mississippi.
+
+In nominating Mr. Gwin to this office again it is proper to state to the
+Senate that I do so in compliance with the request of a number of the
+most respectable citizens of the State of Mississippi and with that of
+one of the Senators from the same State. The letters expressing this
+request are herewith respectfully inclosed for the consideration of the
+Senate. It will be perceived that they bear the fullest testimony to the
+fitness of Mr. Gwin for the office, and evince a strong desire that he
+should be continued in it.
+
+Under these circumstances, and possessing myself a personal knowledge of
+his integrity and fitness and of the claims which his faithful and
+patriotic services give him upon the Government, I deem it an act of
+justice to nominate him again, not doubting that the Senate will embrace
+with cheerfulness an opportunity, with fuller information, to reconsider
+their former vote upon his nomination.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _June 25, 1832_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I herewith transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State,
+on the subject of the abolition of discriminating duties on the tonnage
+of Spanish vessels. As it requires legislative enactment, I recommend it
+to the early attention of Congress.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)
+
+
+WASHINGTON CITY, _July 12, 1832_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_.
+
+SIR: In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives
+passed this day, requesting the President of the United States "to lay
+before the House copies of the instructions given to the commander of
+the frigate _Potomac_ previous to and since the departure of that ship
+from the island of Sumatra, and copies of such letters as may have been
+received from said commander after his arrival at Quallah Battoo, except
+such parts as may in his judgment require secrecy," I forward copies of
+the two letters of instructions to Captain Downes in relation to the
+piratical plunder and murder of our citizens at Quallah Battoo, on the
+coast of Sumatra, detailing his proceedings.
+
+The instructions, with the papers annexed, are all that have been given
+bearing on this subject, and although parts of them do not relate
+materially to the supposed object of the resolution, yet it has been
+deemed expedient to omit nothing contained in the originals.
+
+The letter and report from Captain Downes which are herewith furnished
+are all yet received from him bearing upon his proceedings at Quallah
+Battoo; but as further intelligence may hereafter be communicated by
+him, I send them for the information of the House, submitting, however,
+in justice to that officer, that their contents should not be published
+until he can enjoy a further opportunity of giving more full
+explanations of all the circumstances under which he conducted.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _July 14, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 17th of February
+last, requesting copies of the instructions and correspondence relative
+to the treaty with the Sublime Porte, together with those of the
+negotiations preceding that treaty, from the year 1829, I transmit
+herewith a supplemental report from the Secretary of State, with the
+papers accompanying the same.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+VETO MESSAGE.
+
+WASHINGTON, _July 10, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+The bill "to modify and continue" the act entitled "An act to
+incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States" was
+presented to me on the 4th July instant. Having considered it with that
+solemn regard to the principles of the Constitution which the day was
+calculated to inspire, and come to the conclusion that it ought not to
+become a law, I herewith return it to the Senate, in which it
+originated, with my objections.
+
+A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient for the
+Government and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and
+deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and privileges
+possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the Constitution,
+subversive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to the liberties
+of the people, I felt it my duty at an early period of my Administration
+to call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organizing an
+institution combining all its advantages and obviating these objections.
+I sincerely regret that in the act before me I can perceive none of
+those modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my
+opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, or with
+the Constitution of our country.
+
+The present corporate body, denominated the president, directors, and
+company of the Bank of the United States, will have existed at the time
+this act is intended to take effect twenty years. It enjoys an exclusive
+privilege of banking under the authority of the General Government, a
+monopoly of its favor and support, and, as a necessary consequence,
+almost a monopoly of the foreign and domestic exchange. The powers,
+privileges, and favors bestowed upon it in the original charter, by
+increasing the value of the stock far above its par value, operated as a
+gratuity of many millions to the stockholders.
+
+An apology may be found for the failure to guard against this result in
+the consideration that the effect of the original act of incorporation
+could not be certainly foreseen at the time of its passage. The act
+before me proposes another gratuity to the holders of the same stock,
+and in many cases to the same men, of at least seven millions more. This
+donation finds no apology in any uncertainty as to the effect of the
+act. On all hands it is conceded that its passage will increase at least
+20 or 30 per cent more the market price of the stock, subject to the
+payment of the annuity of $200,000 per year secured by the act, thus
+adding in a moment one-fourth to its par value. It is not our own
+citizens only who are to receive the bounty of our Government. More than
+eight millions of the stock of this bank are held by foreigners. By this
+act the American Republic proposes virtually to make them a present of
+some millions of dollars. For these gratuities to foreigners and to some
+of our own opulent citizens the act secures no equivalent whatever. They
+are the certain gains of the present stockholders under the operation of
+this act, after making full allowance for the payment of the bonus.
+
+Every monopoly and all exclusive privileges are granted at the expense
+of the public, which ought to receive a fair equivalent. The many
+millions which this act proposes to bestow on the stockholders of the
+existing bank must come directly or indirectly out of the earnings of
+the American people. It is due to them, therefore, if their Government
+sell monopolies and exclusive privileges, that they should at least
+exact for them as much as they are worth in open market. The value of
+the monopoly in this case may be correctly ascertained. The twenty-eight
+millions of stock would probably be at an advance of 50 per cent, and
+command in market at least $42,000,000, subject to the payment of the
+present bonus. The present value of the monopoly, therefore, is
+$17,000,000, and this the act proposes to sell for three millions,
+payable in fifteen annual installments of $200,000 each.
+
+It is not conceivable how the present stockholders can have any claim to
+the special favor of the Government. The present corporation has enjoyed
+its monopoly during the period stipulated in the original contract. If
+we must have such a corporation, why should not the Government sell out
+the whole stock and thus secure to the people the full market value of
+the privileges granted? Why should not Congress create and sell
+twenty-eight millions of stock, incorporating the purchasers with all
+the powers and privileges secured in this act and putting the premium
+upon the sales into the Treasury?
+
+But this act does not permit competition in the purchase of this
+monopoly. It seems to be predicated on the erroneous idea that the
+present stockholders have a prescriptive right not only to the favor but
+to the bounty of Government. It appears that more than a fourth part of
+the stock is held by foreigners and the residue is held by a few hundred
+of our own citizens, chiefly of the richest class. For their benefit
+does this act exclude the whole American people from competition in the
+purchase of this monopoly and dispose of it for many millions less than
+it is worth. This seems the less excusable because some of our citizens
+not now stockholders petitioned that the door of competition might be
+opened, and offered to take a charter on terms much more favorable to
+the Government and country.
+
+But this proposition, although made by men whose aggregate wealth is
+believed to be equal to all the private stock in the existing bank, has
+been set aside, and the bounty of our Government is proposed to be again
+bestowed on the few who have been fortunate enough to secure the stock
+and at this moment wield the power of the existing institution. I can
+not perceive the justice or policy of this course. If our Government
+must sell monopolies, it would seem to be its duty to take nothing less
+than their full value, and if gratuities must be made once in fifteen or
+twenty years let them not be bestowed on the subjects of a foreign
+government nor upon a designated and favored class of men in our own
+country. It is but justice and good policy, as far as the nature of the
+case will admit, to confine our favors to our own fellow citizens, and
+let each in his turn enjoy an opportunity to profit by our bounty. In
+the bearings of the act before me upon these points I find ample reasons
+why it should not become a law.
+
+It has been urged as an argument in favor of rechartering the present
+bank that the calling in its loans will produce great embarrassment and
+distress. The time allowed to close its concerns is ample, and if it has
+been well managed its pressure will be light, and heavy only in case its
+management has been bad. If, therefore, it shall produce distress, the
+fault will be its own, and it would furnish a reason against renewing a
+power which has been so obviously abused. But will there ever be a time
+when this reason will be less powerful? To acknowledge its force is to
+admit that the bank ought to be perpetual, and as a consequence the
+present stockholders and those inheriting their rights as successors be
+established a privileged order, clothed both with great political power
+and enjoying immense pecuniary advantages from their connection with the
+Government.
+
+The modifications of the existing charter proposed by this act are not
+such, in my view, as make it consistent with the rights of the States or
+the liberties of the people. The qualification of the right of the bank
+to hold real estate, the limitation of its power to establish branches,
+and the power reserved to Congress to forbid the circulation of small
+notes are restrictions comparatively of little value or importance. All
+the objectionable principles of the existing corporation, and most of
+its odious features, are retained without alleviation.
+
+The fourth section provides "that the notes or bills of the said
+corporation, although the same be, on the faces thereof, respectively
+made payable at one place only, shall nevertheless be received by the
+said corporation at the bank or at any of the offices of discount and
+deposit thereof if tendered in liquidation or payment of any balance or
+balances due to said corporation or to such office of discount and
+deposit from any other incorporated bank." This provision secures to the
+State banks a legal privilege in the Bank of the United States which is
+withheld from all private citizens. If a State bank in Philadelphia owe
+the Bank of the United States and have notes issued by the St. Louis
+branch, it can pay the debt with those notes, but if a merchant,
+mechanic, or other private citizen be in like circumstances he can not
+by law pay his debt with those notes, but must sell them at a discount
+or send them to St. Louis to be cashed. This boon conceded to the State
+banks, though not unjust in itself, is most odious because it does not
+measure out equal justice to the high and the low, the rich and the
+poor. To the extent of its practical effect it is a bond of union among
+the banking establishments of the nation, erecting them into an interest
+separate from that of the people, and its necessary tendency is to unite
+the Bank of the United States and the State banks in any measure which
+may be thought conducive to their common interest.
+
+The ninth section of the act recognizes principles of worse tendency
+than any provision of the present charter.
+
+It enacts that "the cashier of the bank shall annually report to the
+Secretary of the Treasury the names of all stockholders who are not
+resident citizens of the United States, and on the application of the
+treasurer of any State shall make out and transmit to such treasurer a
+list of stockholders residing in or citizens of such State, with the
+amount of stock owned by each." Although this provision, taken in
+connection with a decision of the Supreme Court, surrenders, by its
+silence, the right of the States to tax the banking institutions created
+by this corporation under the name of branches throughout the Union, it
+is evidently intended to be construed as a concession of their right to
+tax that portion of the stock which may be held by their own citizens
+and residents. In this light, if the act becomes a law, it will be
+understood by the States, who will probably proceed to levy a tax equal
+to that paid upon the stock of banks incorporated by themselves. In some
+States that tax is now 1 per cent, either on the capital or on the
+shares, and that may be assumed as the amount which all citizen or
+resident stockholders would be taxed under the operation of this act. As
+it is only the stock _held_ in the States and not that _employed_ within
+them which would be subject to taxation, and as the names of foreign
+stockholders are not to be reported to the treasurers of the States, it
+is obvious that the stock held by them will be exempt from this burden.
+Their annual profits will therefore be 1 per cent more than the citizen
+stockholders, and as the annual dividends of the bank may be safely
+estimated at 7 per cent, the stock will be worth 10 or 15 per cent more
+to foreigners than to citizens of the United States. To appreciate the
+effects which this state of things will produce, we must take a brief
+review of the operations and present condition of the Bank of the United
+States.
+
+By documents submitted to Congress at the present session it appears
+that on the 1st of January, 1832, of the twenty-eight millions of
+private stock in the corporation, $8,405,500 were held by foreigners,
+mostly of Great Britain. The amount of stock held in the nine Western
+and Southwestern States is $140,200, and in the four Southern States is
+$5,623,100, and in the Middle and Eastern States is about $13,522,000.
+The profits of the bank in 1831, as shown in a statement to Congress,
+were about $3,455,598; of this there accrued in the nine Western States
+about $1,640,048; in the four Southern States about $352,507, and in the
+Middle and Eastern States about $1,463,041. As little stock is held in
+the West, it is obvious that the debt of the people in that section to
+the bank is principally a debt to the Eastern and foreign stockholders;
+that the interest they pay upon it is carried into the Eastern States
+and into Europe, and that it is a burden upon their industry and a drain
+of their currency, which no country can bear without inconvenience and
+occasional distress. To meet this burden and equalize the exchange
+operations of the bank, the amount of specie drawn from those States
+through its branches within the last two years, as shown by its official
+reports, was about $6,000,000. More than half a million of this amount
+does not stop in the Eastern States, but passes on to Europe to pay the
+dividends of the foreign stockholders. In the principle of taxation
+recognized by this act the Western States find no adequate compensation
+for this perpetual burden on their industry and drain of their currency.
+The branch bank at Mobile made last year $95,140, yet under the
+provisions of this act the State of Alabama can raise no revenue from
+these profitable operations, because not a share of the stock is held by
+any of her citizens. Mississippi and Missouri are in the same condition
+in relation to the branches at Natchez and St. Louis, and such, in a
+greater or less degree, is the condition of every Western State. The
+tendency of the plan of taxation which this act proposes will be to
+place the whole United States in the same relation to foreign countries
+which the Western States now bear to the Eastern. When by a tax on
+resident stockholders the stock of this bank is made worth 10 or 15 per
+cent more to foreigners than to residents, most of it will inevitably
+leave the country.
+
+Thus will this provision in its practical effect deprive the Eastern as
+well as the Southern and Western States of the means of raising a
+revenue from the extension of business and great profits of this
+institution. It will make the American people debtors to aliens in
+nearly the whole amount due to this bank, and send across the Atlantic
+from two to five millions of specie every year to pay the bank
+dividends.
+
+In another of its bearings this provision is fraught with danger. Of the
+twenty-five directors of this bank five are chosen by the Government and
+twenty by the citizen stockholders. From all voice in these elections
+the foreign stockholders are excluded by the charter. In proportion,
+therefore, as the stock is transferred to foreign holders the extent of
+suffrage in the choice of directors is curtailed. Already is almost a
+third of the stock in foreign hands and not represented in elections. It
+is constantly passing out of the country, and this act will accelerate
+its departure. The entire control of the institution would necessarily
+fall into the hands of a few citizen stockholders, and the ease with
+which the object would be accomplished would be a temptation to
+designing men to secure that control in their own hands by monopolizing
+the remaining stock. There is danger that a president and directors
+would then be able to elect themselves from year to year, and without
+responsibility or control manage the whole concerns of the bank during
+the existence of its charter. It is easy to conceive that great evils to
+our country and its institutions might flow from such a concentration of
+power in the hands of a few men irresponsible to the people.
+
+Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that in its
+nature has so little to bind it to our country? The president of the
+bank has told us that most of the State banks exist by its forbearance.
+Should its influence become concentered, as it may under the operation
+of such an act as this, in the hands of a self-elected directory whose
+interests are identified with those of the foreign stockholders, will
+there not be cause to tremble for the purity of our elections in peace
+and for the independence of our country in war? Their power would be
+great whenever they might choose to exert it; but if this monopoly were
+regularly renewed every fifteen or twenty years on terms proposed by
+themselves, they might seldom in peace put forth their strength to
+influence elections or control the affairs of the nation. But if any
+private citizen or public functionary should interpose to curtail its
+powers or prevent a renewal of its privileges, it can not be doubted
+that he would be made to feel its influence.
+
+Should the stock of the bank principally pass into the hands of the
+subjects of a foreign country, and we should unfortunately become
+involved in a war with that country, what would be our condition? Of the
+course which would be pursued by a bank almost wholly owned by the
+subjects of a foreign power, and managed by those whose interests, if
+not affections, would run in the same direction there can be no doubt.
+All its operations within would be in aid of the hostile fleets and
+armies without. Controlling our currency, receiving our public moneys,
+and holding thousands of our citizens in dependence, it would be more
+formidable and dangerous than the naval and military power of the enemy.
+
+If we must have a bank with private stockholders, every consideration of
+sound policy and every impulse of American feeling admonishes that it
+should be _purely American_. Its stockholders should be composed
+exclusively of our own citizens, who at least ought to be friendly to
+our Government and willing to support it in times of difficulty and
+danger. So abundant is domestic capital that competition in subscribing
+for the stock of local banks has recently led almost to riots. To a bank
+exclusively of American stockholders, possessing the powers and
+privileges granted by this act, subscriptions for $200,000,000 could be
+readily obtained. Instead of sending abroad the stock of the bank in
+which the Government must deposit its funds and on which it must rely to
+sustain its credit in times of emergency, it would rather seem to be
+expedient to prohibit its sale to aliens under penalty of absolute
+forfeiture.
+
+It is maintained by the advocates of the bank that its constitutionality
+in all its features ought to be considered as settled by precedent and
+by the decision of the Supreme Court. To this conclusion I can not
+assent. Mere precedent is a dangerous source of authority, and should
+not be regarded as deciding questions of constitutional power except
+where the acquiescence of the people and the States can be considered as
+well settled. So far from this being the case on this subject, an
+argument against the bank might be based on precedent. One Congress, in
+1791, decided in favor of a bank; another, in 1811, decided against it.
+One Congress, in 1815, decided against a bank; another, in 1816, decided
+in its favor. Prior to the present Congress, therefore, the precedents
+drawn from that source were equal. If we resort to the States, the
+expressions of legislative, judicial, and executive opinions against the
+bank have been probably to those in its favor as 4 to 1. There is
+nothing in precedent, therefore, which, if its authority were admitted,
+ought to weigh in favor of the act before me.
+
+If the opinion of the Supreme Court covered the whole ground of this
+act, it ought not to control the coordinate authorities of this
+Government. The Congress, the Executive, and the Court must each for
+itself be guided by its own opinion of the Constitution. Each public
+officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears that he
+will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by
+others. It is as much the duty of the House of Representatives, of the
+Senate, and of the President to decide upon the constitutionality of any
+bill or resolution which may be presented to them for passage or
+approval as it is of the supreme judges when it may be brought before
+them for judicial decision. The opinion of the judges has no more
+authority over Congress than the opinion of Congress has over the
+judges, and on that point the President is independent of both. The
+authority of the Supreme Court must not, therefore, be permitted to
+control the Congress or the Executive when acting in their legislative
+capacities, but to have only such influence as the force of their
+reasoning may deserve.
+
+But in the case relied upon the Supreme Court have not decided that all
+the features of this corporation are compatible with the Constitution.
+It is true that the court have said that the law incorporating the bank
+is a constitutional exercise of power by Congress; but taking into view
+the whole opinion of the court and the reasoning by which they have come
+to that conclusion, I understand them to have decided that inasmuch as a
+bank is an appropriate means for carrying into effect the enumerated
+powers of the General Government, therefore the law incorporating it is
+in accordance with that provision of the Constitution which declares
+that Congress shall have power "to make all laws which shall be
+necessary and proper for carrying those powers into execution." Having
+satisfied themselves that the word "_necessary_" in the Constitution
+means "_needful," "requisite," "essential," "conducive to_," and that "a
+bank" is a convenient, a useful, and essential instrument in the
+prosecution of the Government's "fiscal operations," they conclude that
+to "use one must be within the discretion of Congress" and that "the act
+to incorporate the Bank of the United States is a law made in pursuance
+of the Constitution;" "but," say they, "_where the law is not prohibited
+and is really calculated to effect any of the objects intrusted to the
+Government, to undertake here to inquire into the degree of its
+necessity would be to pass the line which circumscribes the judicial
+department and to tread on legislative ground_."
+
+The principle here affirmed is that the "degree of its necessity,"
+involving all the details of a banking institution, is a question
+exclusively for legislative consideration. A bank is constitutional, but
+it is the province of the Legislature to determine whether this or that
+particular power, privilege, or exemption is "necessary and proper" to
+enable the bank to discharge its duties to the Government, and from
+their decision there is no appeal to the courts of justice. Under the
+decision of the Supreme Court, therefore, it is the exclusive province
+of Congress and the President to decide whether the particular features
+of this act are _necessary_ and _proper_ in order to enable the bank to
+perform conveniently and efficiently the public duties assigned to it as
+a fiscal agent, and therefore constitutional, or _unnecessary_ and
+_improper_, and therefore unconstitutional.
+
+Without commenting on the general principle affirmed by the Supreme
+Court, let us examine the details of this act in accordance with the
+rule of legislative action which they have laid down. It will be found
+that many of the powers and privileges conferred on it can not be
+supposed necessary for the purpose for which it is proposed to be
+created, and are not, therefore, means necessary to attain the end in
+view, and consequently not justified by the Constitution.
+
+The original act of incorporation, section 21, enacts "that no other
+bank shall be established by any future law of the United States during
+the continuance of the corporation hereby created, for which the faith
+of the United States is hereby pledged: _Provided_, Congress may renew
+existing charters for banks within the District of Columbia not
+increasing the capital thereof, and may also establish any other bank or
+banks in said District with capitals not exceeding in the whole
+$6,000,000 if they shall deem it expedient." This provision is continued
+in force by the act before me fifteen years from the 3d of March, 1836.
+
+If Congress possessed the power to establish one bank, they had power to
+establish more than one if in their opinion two or more banks had been
+"necessary" to facilitate the execution of the powers delegated to them
+in the Constitution. If they possessed the power to establish a second
+bank, it was a power derived from the Constitution to be exercised from
+time to time, and at any time when the interests of the country or the
+emergencies of the Government might make it expedient. It was possessed
+by one Congress as well as another, and by all Congresses alike, and
+alike at every session. But the Congress of 1816 have taken it away from
+their successors for twenty years, and the Congress of 1832 proposes to
+abolish it for fifteen years more. It can not be "_necessary_" or
+"_proper_" for Congress to barter away or divest themselves of any of
+the powers vested in them by the Constitution to be exercised for the
+public good. It is not "_necessary_" to the efficiency of the bank, nor
+is it "_proper_" in relation to themselves and their successors. They
+may _properly_ use the discretion vested in them, but they may not limit
+the discretion of their successors. This restriction on themselves and
+grant of a monopoly to the bank is therefore unconstitutional.
+
+In another point of view this provision is a palpable attempt to amend
+the Constitution by an act of legislation. The Constitution declares
+that "the Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation in
+all cases whatsoever" over the District of Columbia. Its constitutional
+power, therefore, to establish banks in the District of Columbia and
+increase their capital at will is unlimited and uncontrollable by any
+other power than that which gave authority to the Constitution. Yet this
+act declares that Congress shall _not_ increase the capital of existing
+banks, nor create other banks with capitals exceeding in the whole
+$6,000,000. The Constitution declares that Congress _shall_ have power
+to exercise exclusive legislation over this District "_in all cases
+whatsoever_," and this act declares they shall not. Which is the supreme
+law of the land? This provision can not be "_necessary_" or "_proper_"
+or _constitutional_ unless the absurdity be admitted that whenever it be
+"necessary and proper" in the opinion of Congress they have a right to
+barter away one portion of the powers vested in them by the Constitution
+as a means of executing the rest.
+
+On two subjects only does the Constitution recognize in Congress the
+power to grant exclusive privileges or monopolies. It declares that
+"Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful
+arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the
+exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Out of
+this express delegation of power have grown our laws of patents and
+copyrights. As the Constitution expressly delegates to Congress the
+power to grant exclusive privileges in these cases as the means of
+executing the substantive power "to promote the progress of science and
+useful arts," it is consistent with the fair rules of construction to
+conclude that such a power was not intended to be granted as a means of
+accomplishing any other end. On every other subject which comes within
+the scope of Congressional power there is an ever-living discretion in
+the use of proper means, which can not be restricted or abolished
+without an amendment of the Constitution. Every act of Congress,
+therefore, which attempts by grants of monopolies or sale of exclusive
+privileges for a limited time, or a time without limit, to restrict or
+extinguish its own discretion in the choice of means to execute its
+delegated powers is equivalent to a legislative amendment of the
+Constitution, and palpably unconstitutional.
+
+This act authorizes and encourages transfers of its stock to foreigners
+and grants them an exemption from all State and national taxation. So
+far from being "_necessary and proper_" that the bank should possess
+this power to make it a safe and efficient agent of the Government in
+its fiscal operations, it is calculated to convert the Bank of the
+United States into a foreign bank, to impoverish our people in time of
+peace, to disseminate a foreign influence through every section of the
+Republic, and in war to endanger our independence.
+
+The several States reserved the power at the formation of the
+Constitution to regulate and control titles and transfers of real
+property, and most, if not all, of them have laws disqualifying aliens
+from acquiring or holding lands within their limits. But this act, in
+disregard of the undoubted right of the States to prescribe such
+disqualifications, gives to aliens stockholders in this bank an interest
+and title, as members of the corporation, to all the real property it
+may acquire within any of the States of this Union. This privilege
+granted to aliens is not "_necessary_" to enable the bank to perform its
+public duties, nor in any sense "_proper_" because it is vitally
+subversive of the rights of the States.
+
+The Government of the United States have no constitutional power to
+purchase lands within the States except "for the erection of forts,
+magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings," and even
+for these objects only "by the consent of the legislature of the State
+in which the same shall be." By making themselves stockholders in the
+bank and granting to the corporation the power to purchase lands for
+other purposes they assume a power not granted in the Constitution and
+grant to others what they do not themselves possess. It is not
+_necessary_ to the receiving, safe-keeping, or transmission of the funds
+of the Government that the bank should possess this power, and it is not
+_proper_ that Congress should thus enlarge the powers delegated to them
+in the Constitution.
+
+The old Bank of the United States possessed a capital of only
+$11,000,000, which was found fully sufficient to enable it with dispatch
+and safety to perform all the functions required of it by the
+Government. The capital of the present bank is $35,000,000--at least
+twenty-four more than experience has proved to be _necessary_ to enable
+a bank to perform its public functions. The public debt which existed
+during the period of the old bank and on the establishment of the new
+has been nearly paid off, and our revenue will soon be reduced. This
+increase of capital is therefore not for public but for private
+purposes.
+
+The Government is the only "_proper_" judge where its agents should
+reside and keep their offices, because it best knows where their
+presence will be "_necessary_." It can not, therefore, be "_necessary_"
+or "_proper_" to authorize the bank to locate branches where it pleases
+to perform the public service, without consulting the Government, and
+contrary to its will. The principle laid down by the Supreme Court
+concedes that Congress can not establish a bank for purposes of private
+speculation and gain, but only as a means of executing the delegated
+powers of the General Government. By the same principle a branch bank
+can not constitutionally be established for other than public purposes.
+The power which this act gives to establish two branches in any State,
+without the injunction or request of the Government and for other than
+public purposes, is not "_necessary_" to the due _execution_ of the
+powers delegated to Congress.
+
+The bonus which is exacted from the bank is a confession upon the face
+of the act that the powers granted by it are greater than are
+"_necessary_" to its character of a fiscal agent. The Government does
+not tax its officers and agents for the privilege of serving it. The
+bonus of a million and a half required by the original charter and that
+of three millions proposed by this act are not exacted for the privilege
+of giving "the necessary facilities for transferring the public funds
+from place to place within the United States or the Territories thereof,
+and for distributing the same in payment of the public creditors without
+charging commission or claiming allowance on account of the difference
+of exchange," as required by the act of incorporation, but for something
+more beneficial to the stockholders. The original act declares that it
+(the bonus) is granted "in consideration of the exclusive privileges and
+benefits conferred by this act upon the said bank," and the act before
+me declares it to be "in consideration of the exclusive benefits and
+privileges continued by this act to the said corporation for fifteen
+years, as aforesaid." It is therefore for "exclusive privileges and
+benefits" conferred for their own use and emolument, and not for the
+advantage of the Government, that a bonus is exacted. These surplus
+powers for which the bank is required to pay can not surely be
+"_necessary_" to make it the fiscal agent of the Treasury. If they were,
+the exaction of a bonus for them would not be "_proper_."
+
+It is maintained by some that the bank is a means of executing the
+constitutional power "to coin money and regulate the value thereof."
+Congress have established a mint to coin money and passed laws to
+regulate the value thereof. The money so coined, with its value so
+regulated, and such foreign coins as Congress may adopt are the only
+currency known to the Constitution. But if they have other power to
+regulate the currency, it was conferred to be exercised by themselves,
+and not to be transferred to a corporation. If the bank be established
+for that purpose, with a charter unalterable without its consent,
+Congress have parted with their power for a term of years, during which
+the Constitution is a dead letter. It is neither necessary nor proper to
+transfer its legislative power to such a bank, and therefore
+unconstitutional.
+
+By its silence, considered in connection with the decision of the
+Supreme Court in the case of McCulloch against the State of Maryland,
+this act takes from the States the power to tax a portion of the banking
+business carried on within their limits, in subversion of one of the
+strongest barriers which secured them against Federal encroachments.
+Banking, like farming, manufacturing, or any other occupation or
+profession, is _a business_, the right to follow which is not originally
+derived from the laws. Every citizen and every company of citizens in
+all of our States possessed the right until the State legislatures
+deemed it good policy to prohibit private banking by law. If the
+prohibitory State laws were now repealed, every citizen would again
+possess the right. The State banks are a qualified restoration of the
+right which has been taken away by the laws against banking, guarded by
+such provisions and limitations as in the opinion of the State
+legislatures the public interest requires. These corporations, unless
+there be an exemption in their charter, are, like private bankers and
+banking companies, subject to State taxation. The manner in which these
+taxes shall be laid depends wholly on legislative discretion. It may be
+upon the bank, upon the stock, upon the profits, or in any other mode
+which the sovereign power shall will.
+
+Upon the formation of the Constitution the States guarded their taxing
+power with peculiar jealousy. They surrendered it only as it regards
+imports and exports. In relation to every other object within their
+jurisdiction, whether persons, property, business, or professions, it
+was secured in as ample a manner as it was before possessed. All
+persons, though United States officers, are liable to a poll tax by the
+States within which they reside. The lands of the United States are
+liable to the usual land tax, except in the new States, from whom
+agreements that they will not tax unsold lands are exacted when they are
+admitted into the Union. Horses, wagons, any beasts or vehicles, tools,
+or property belonging to private citizens, though employed in the
+service of the United States, are subject to State taxation. Every
+private business, whether carried on by an officer of the General
+Government or not, whether it be mixed with public concerns or not, even
+if it be carried on by the Government of the United States itself,
+separately or in partnership, falls within the scope of the taxing power
+of the State. Nothing comes more fully within it than banks and the
+business of banking, by whomsoever instituted and carried on. Over this
+whole subject-matter it is just as absolute, unlimited, and
+uncontrollable as if the Constitution had never been adopted, because in
+the formation of that instrument it was reserved without qualification.
+
+The principle is conceded that the States can not rightfully tax the
+operations of the General Government. They can not tax the money of the
+Government deposited in the State banks, nor the agency of those banks
+in remitting it; but will any man maintain that their mere selection to
+perform this public service for the General Government would exempt the
+State banks and their ordinary business from State taxation? Had the
+United States, instead of establishing a bank at Philadelphia, employed
+a private banker to keep and transmit their funds, would it have
+deprived Pennsylvania of the right to tax his bank and his usual banking
+operations? It will not be pretended. Upon what principle, then, are the
+banking establishments of the Bank of the United States and their usual
+banking operations to be exempted from taxation? It is not their public
+agency or the deposits of the Government which the States claim a right
+to tax, but their banks and their banking powers, instituted and
+exercised within State jurisdiction for their private emolument--those
+powers and privileges for which they pay a bonus, and which the States
+tax in their own banks. The exercise of these powers within a State, no
+matter by whom or under what authority, whether by private citizens in
+their original right, by corporate bodies created by the States, by
+foreigners or the agents of foreign governments located within their
+limits, forms a legitimate object of State taxation. From this and like
+sources, from the persons, property, and business that are found
+residing, located, or carried on under their jurisdiction, must the
+States, since the surrender of their right to raise a revenue from
+imports and exports, draw all the money necessary for the support of
+their governments and the maintenance of their independence. There is no
+more appropriate subject of taxation than banks, banking, and bank
+stocks, and none to which the States ought more pertinaciously to cling.
+
+It can not be _necessary_ to the character of the bank as a fiscal agent
+of the Government that its private business should be exempted from that
+taxation to which all the State banks are liable, nor can I conceive it
+"_proper_" that the substantive and most essential powers reserved by
+the States shall be thus attacked and annihilated as a means of
+executing the powers delegated to the General Government. It may be
+safely assumed that none of those sages who had an agency in forming or
+adopting our Constitution ever imagined that any portion of the taxing
+power of the States not prohibited to them nor delegated to Congress was
+to be swept away and annihilated as a means of executing certain powers
+delegated to Congress.
+
+If our power over means is so absolute that the Supreme Court will not
+call in question the constitutionality of an act of Congress the subject
+of which "is not prohibited, and is really calculated to effect any of
+the objects intrusted to the Government," although, as in the case
+before me, it takes away powers expressly granted to Congress and rights
+scrupulously reserved to the States, it becomes us to proceed in our
+legislation with the utmost caution. Though not directly, our own powers
+and the rights of the States may be indirectly legislated away in the
+use of means to execute substantive powers. We may not enact that
+Congress shall not have the power of exclusive legislation over the
+District of Columbia, but we may pledge the faith of the United States
+that as a means of executing other powers it shall not be exercised for
+twenty years or forever. We may not pass an act prohibiting the States
+to tax the banking business carried on within their limits, but we may,
+as a means of executing our powers over other objects, place that
+business in the hands of our agents and then declare it exempt from
+State taxation in their hands. Thus may our own powers and the rights of
+the States, which we can not directly curtail or invade, be frittered
+away and extinguished in the use of means employed by us to execute
+other powers. That a bank of the United States, competent to all the
+duties which may be required by the Government, might be so organized as
+not to infringe on our own delegated powers or the reserved rights of
+the States I do not entertain a doubt. Had the Executive been called
+upon to furnish the project of such an institution, the duty would have
+been cheerfully performed. In the absence of such a call it was
+obviously proper that he should confine himself to pointing out those
+prominent features in the act; presented which in his opinion make it
+incompatible with the Constitution and sound policy. A general
+discussion will now take place, eliciting new light and settling
+important principles; and a new Congress, elected in the midst of such
+discussion, and furnishing an equal representation of the people
+according to the last census, will bear to the Capitol the verdict of
+public opinion, and, I doubt not, bring this important question to a
+satisfactory result.
+
+Under such circumstances the bank comes forward and asks a renewal of
+its charter for a term of fifteen years upon conditions which not only
+operate as a gratuity to the stockholders of many millions of dollars,
+but will sanction any abuses and legalize any encroachments.
+
+Suspicions are entertained and charges are made of gross abuse and
+violation of its charter. An investigation unwillingly conceded and so
+restricted in time as necessarily to make it incomplete and
+unsatisfactory discloses enough to excite suspicion and alarm. In the
+practices of the principal bank partially unveiled, in the absence of
+important witnesses, and in numerous charges confidently made and as yet
+wholly uninvestigated there was enough to induce a majority of the
+committee of investigation--a committee which was selected from the most
+able and honorable members of the House of Representatives--to recommend
+a suspension of further action upon the bill and a prosecution of the
+inquiry. As the charter had yet four years to run, and as a renewal now
+was not necessary to the successful prosecution of its business, it was
+to have been expected that the bank itself, conscious of its purity and
+proud of its character, would have withdrawn its application for the
+present, and demanded the severest scrutiny into all its transactions.
+In their declining to do so there seems to be an additional reason why
+the functionaries of the Government should proceed with less haste and
+more caution in the renewal of their monopoly.
+
+The bank is professedly established as an agent of the executive branch
+of the Government, and its constitutionality is maintained on that
+ground. Neither upon the propriety of present action nor upon the
+provisions of this act was the Executive consulted. It has had no
+opportunity to say that it neither needs nor wants an agent clothed with
+such powers and favored by such exemptions. There is nothing in its
+legitimate functions which makes it necessary or proper. Whatever
+interest or influence, whether public or private, has given birth to
+this act, it can not be found either in the wishes or necessities of the
+executive department, by which present action is deemed premature, and
+the powers conferred upon its agent not only unnecessary, but dangerous
+to the Government and country.
+
+It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts
+of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will
+always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of
+education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In
+the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior
+industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to
+protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural
+and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles,
+gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the
+potent more powerful, the humble members of society--the farmers,
+mechanics, and laborers--who have neither the time nor the means of
+securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the
+injustice of their Government. There are no necessary evils in
+government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine
+itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its
+favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be
+an unqualified blessing. In the act before me there seems to be a wide
+and unnecessary departure from these just principles.
+
+Nor is our Government to be maintained or our Union preserved by
+invasions of the rights and powers of the several States. In thus
+attempting to make our General Government strong we make it weak. Its
+true strength consists in leaving individuals and States as much as
+possible to themselves--in making itself felt, not in its power, but in
+its beneficence; not in its control, but in its protection; not in
+binding the States more closely to the center, but leaving each to move
+unobstructed in its proper orbit.
+
+Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our
+Government now encounters and most of the dangers which impend over our
+Union have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of
+Government by our national legislation, and the adoption of such
+principles as are embodied in this act. Many of our rich men have not
+been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought
+us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify
+their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section
+against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a
+fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union.
+It is time to pause in our career to review our principles, and if
+possible revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which
+distinguished the sages of the Revolution and the fathers of our Union.
+If we can not at once, in justice to interests vested under improvident
+legislation, make our Government what it ought to be, we can at least
+take a stand against all new grants of monopolies and exclusive
+privileges, against any prostitution of our Government to the
+advancement of the few at the expense of the many, and in favor of
+compromise and gradual reform in our code of laws and system of
+political economy.
+
+I have now done my duty to my country. If sustained by my fellow
+citizens, I shall be grateful and happy; if not, I shall find in the
+motives which impel me ample grounds for contentment and peace. In the
+difficulties which surround us and the dangers which threaten our
+institutions there is cause for neither dismay nor alarm. For relief and
+deliverance let us firmly rely on that kind Providence which I am sure
+watches with peculiar care over the destinies of our Republic, and on
+the intelligence and wisdom of our countrymen. Through _His_ abundant
+goodness and _their_ patriotic devotion our liberty and Union will be
+preserved.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
+
+_December 4, 1832_.
+_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+It gives me pleasure to congratulate you upon your return to the seat of
+Government for the purpose of discharging your duties to the people of
+the United States. Although the pestilence which had traversed the Old
+World has entered our limits and extended its ravages over much of our
+land, it has pleased Almighty God to mitigate its severity and lessen
+the number of its victims compared with those who have fallen in most
+other countries over which it has spread its terrors. Notwithstanding
+this visitation, our country presents on every side marks of prosperity
+and happiness unequaled, perhaps, in any other portion of the world. If
+we fully appreciate our comparative condition, existing causes of
+discontent will appear unworthy of attention, and, with hearts of
+thankfulness to that divine Being who has filled our cup of prosperity,
+we shall feel our resolution strengthened to preserve and hand down to
+posterity that liberty and that union which we have received from our
+fathers, and which constitute the sources and the shield of all our
+blessings.
+
+The relations of our country continue to present the same picture of
+amicable intercourse that I had the satisfaction to hold up to your view
+at the opening of your last session. The same friendly professions, the
+same desire to participate in our flourishing commerce, the same
+disposition to refrain from injuries unintentionally offered, are, with
+few exceptions, evinced by all nations with whom we have any
+intercourse. This desirable state of things may be mainly ascribed to
+our undeviating practice of the rule which has long guided our national
+policy, to require no exclusive privileges in commerce and to grant
+none. It is daily producing its beneficial effect in the respect shown
+to our flag, the protection of our citizens and their property abroad,
+and in the increase of our navigation and the extension of our
+mercantile operations. The returns which have been made out since we
+last met will show an increase during the last preceding year of more
+than 80,000 tons in our shipping and of near $40,000,000 in the
+aggregate of our imports and exports.
+
+Nor have we less reason to felicitate ourselves on the position of our
+political than of our commercial concerns. They remain in the state in
+which they were when I last addressed you--a state of prosperity and
+peace, the effect of a wise attention to the parting advice of the
+revered Father of his Country on this subject, condensed into a maxim
+for the use of posterity by one of his most distinguished successors--to
+cultivate free commerce and honest friendship with all nations, but to
+make entangling alliances with none. A strict adherence to this policy
+has kept us aloof from the perplexing questions that now agitate the
+European world and have more than once deluged those countries with
+blood. Should those scenes unfortunately recur, the parties to the
+contest may count on a faithful performance of the duties incumbent on
+us as a neutral nation, and our own citizens may equally rely on the
+firm assertion of their neutral rights.
+
+With the nation that was our earliest friend and ally in the infancy of
+our political existence the most friendly relations have subsisted
+through the late revolutions of its Government, and, from the events of
+the last, promise a permanent duration. It has made an approximation in
+some of its political institutions to our own, and raised a monarch to
+the throne who preserves, it is said, a friendly recollection of the
+period during which he acquired among our citizens the high
+consideration that could then have been produced by his personal
+qualifications alone.
+
+Our commerce with that nation is gradually assuming a mutually
+beneficial character, and the adjustment of the claims of our citizens
+has removed the only obstacle there was to an intercourse not only
+lucrative, but productive of literary and scientific improvement.
+
+From Great Britain I have the satisfaction to inform you that I continue
+to receive assurances of the most amicable disposition, which have on my
+part on all proper occasions been promptly and sincerely reciprocated.
+The attention of that Government has latterly been so much engrossed by
+matters of a deeply interesting domestic character that we could not
+press upon it the renewal of negotiations which had been unfortunately
+broken off by the unexpected recall of our minister, who had commenced
+them with some hopes of success. My great object was the settlement of
+questions which, though now dormant, might hereafter be revived under
+circumstances that would endanger the good understanding which it is the
+interest of both parties to preserve inviolate, cemented as it is by a
+community of language, manners, and social habits, and by the high
+obligations we owe to our British ancestors for many of our most
+valuable institutions and for that system of representative government
+which has enabled us to preserve and improve them.
+
+The question of our northeastern boundary still remains unsettled. In my
+last annual message I explained to you the situation in which I found
+that business on my coming into office, and the measures I thought it my
+duty to pursue for asserting the rights of the United States before the
+sovereign who had been chosen by my predecessor to determine the
+question, and also the manner in which he had disposed of it. A special
+message to the Senate in their executive capacity afterwards brought
+before them the question whether they would advise a submission to the
+opinion of the sovereign arbiter. That body having considered the award
+as not obligatory and advised me to open a further negotiation, the
+proposition was immediately made to the British Government, but the
+circumstances to which I have alluded have hitherto prevented any answer
+being given to the overture. Early attention, however, has been promised
+to the subject, and every effort on my part will be made for a
+satisfactory settlement of this question, interesting to the Union
+generally, and particularly so to one of its members.
+
+The claims of our citizens on Spain are not yet acknowledged. On a
+closer investigation of them than appears to have heretofore taken place
+it was discovered that some of these demands, however strong they might
+be upon the equity of that Government, were not such as could be made
+the subject of national interference; and faithful to the principle of
+asking nothing but what was clearly right, additional instructions have
+been sent to modify our demands so as to embrace those only on which,
+according to the laws of nations, we had a strict right to insist. An
+inevitable delay in procuring the documents necessary for this review of
+the merits of these claims retarded this operation until an unfortunate
+malady which has afflicted His Catholic Majesty prevented an examination
+of them. Being now for the first time presented in an unexceptionable
+form, it is confidently hoped that the application will be successful.
+
+I have the satisfaction to inform you that the application I directed to
+be made for the delivery of a part of the archives of Florida, which had
+been carried to The Havannah, has produced a royal order for their
+delivery, and that measures have been taken to procure its execution.
+
+By the report of the Secretary of State communicated to you on the 25th
+June last you were informed of the conditional reduction obtained by the
+minister of the United States at Madrid of the duties on tonnage levied
+on American shipping in the ports of Spain. The condition of that
+reduction having been complied with on our part by the act passed the
+13th of July last, I have the satisfaction to inform you that our ships
+now pay no higher nor other duties in the continental ports of Spain
+than are levied on their national vessels.
+
+The demands against Portugal for illegal captures in the blockade of
+Terceira have been allowed to the full amount of the accounts presented
+by the claimants, and payment was promised to be made in three
+installments. The first of these has been paid; the second, although
+due, had not at the date of our last advices been received, owing, it
+was alleged, to embarrassments in the finances consequent on the civil
+war in which that nation is engaged.
+
+The payments stipulated by the convention with Denmark have been
+punctually made, and the amount is ready for distribution among the
+claimants as soon as the board, now sitting, shall have performed their
+functions.
+
+I regret that by the last advices from our chargé d'affaires at Naples
+that Government had still delayed the satisfaction due to our citizens,
+but at that date the effect of the last instructions was not known.
+Dispatches from thence are hourly expected, and the result will be
+communicated to you without delay.
+
+With the rest of Europe our relations, political and commercial, remain
+unchanged. Negotiations are going on to put on a permanent basis the
+liberal system of commerce now carried on between us and the Empire of
+Russia. The treaty concluded with Austria is executed by His Imperial
+Majesty with the most perfect good faith, and as we have no diplomatic
+agent at his Court he personally inquired into and corrected a
+proceeding of some of his subaltern officers to the injury of our consul
+in one of his ports.
+
+Our treaty with the Sublime Porte is producing its expected effects on
+our commerce. New markets are opening for our commodities and a more
+extensive range for the employment of our ships. A slight augmentation
+of the duties on our commerce, inconsistent with the spirit of the
+treaty, had been imposed, but on the representation of our charge
+d'affaires it has been promptly withdrawn, and we now enjoy the trade
+and navigation of the Black Sea and of all the ports belonging to the
+Turkish Empire and Asia on the most perfect equality with all foreign
+nations.
+
+I wish earnestly that in announcing to you the continuance of friendship
+and the increase of a profitable commercial intercourse with Mexico,
+with Central America, and the States of the South I could accompany it
+with the assurance that they all are blessed with that internal
+tranquillity and foreign peace which their heroic devotion to the cause
+of their independence merits. In Mexico a sanguinary struggle is now
+carried on, which has caused some embarrassment to our commerce, but
+both parties profess the most friendly disposition toward us. To the
+termination of this contest we look for the establishment of that secure
+intercourse so necessary to nations whose territories are contiguous.
+How important it will be to us we may calculate from the fact that even
+in this unfavorable state of things our maritime commerce has increased,
+and an internal trade by caravans from St. Louis to Santa Fe, under the
+protection of escorts furnished by the Government, is carried on to
+great advantage and is daily increasing. The agents provided for by the
+treaty, with this power to designate the boundaries which it
+established, have been named on our part, but one of the evils of the
+civil war now raging there has been that the appointment of those with
+whom they were to cooperate has not yet been announced to us.
+
+The Government of Central America has expelled from its territory the
+party which some time since disturbed its peace. Desirous of fostering a
+favorable disposition toward us, which has on more than one occasion
+been evinced by this interesting country, I made a second attempt in
+this year to establish a diplomatic intercourse with them; but the death
+of the distinguished citizen whom I had appointed for that purpose has
+retarded the execution of measures from which I hoped much advantage to
+our commerce. The union of the three States which formed the Republic of
+Colombia has been dissolved, but they all, it is believed, consider
+themselves as separately bound by the treaty which was made in their
+federal capacity. The minister accredited to the federation continues in
+that character near the Government of New Granada, and hopes were
+entertained that a new union would be formed between the separate
+States, at least for the purposes of foreign intercourse. Our minister
+has been instructed to use his good offices, whenever they shall be
+desired, to produce the reunion so much to be wished for, the domestic
+tranquillity of the parties, and the security and facility of foreign
+commerce.
+
+Some agitations naturally attendant on an infant reign have prevailed in
+the Empire of Brazil, which have had the usual effect upon commercial
+operations, and while they suspended the consideration of claims created
+on similar occasions, they have given rise to new complaints on the part
+of our citizens. A proper consideration for calamities and difficulties
+of this nature has made us less urgent and peremptory in our demands for
+justice than duty to our fellow-citizens would under other circumstances
+have required. But their claims are not neglected, and will on all
+proper occasions be urged, and it is hoped with effect.
+
+I refrain from making any communication on the subject of our affairs
+with Buenos Ayres, because the negotiation communicated to you in my
+last annual message was at the date of our last advices still pending
+and in a state that would render a publication of the details
+inexpedient.
+
+A treaty of amity and commerce has been formed with the Republic of
+Chili, which, if approved by the Senate, will be laid before you. That
+Government seems to be established, and at peace with its neighbors; and
+its ports being the resorts of our ships which are employed in the
+highly important trade of the fisheries, this commercial convention can
+not but be of great advantage to our fellow-citizens engaged in that
+perilous but profitable business.
+
+Our commerce with the neighboring State of Peru, owing to the onerous
+duties levied on our principal articles of export, has been on the
+decline, and all endeavors to procure an alteration have hitherto proved
+fruitless. With Bolivia we have yet no diplomatic intercourse, and the
+continual contests carried on between it and Peru have made me defer
+until a more favorable period the appointment of any agent for that
+purpose.
+
+An act of atrocious piracy having been committed on one of our trading
+ships by the inhabitants of a settlement on the west coast of Sumatra, a
+frigate was dispatched with orders to demand satisfaction for the injury
+if those who committed it should be found to be members of a regular
+government, capable of maintaining the usual relations with foreign
+nations; but if, as it was supposed and as they proved to be, they were
+a band of lawless pirates, to inflict such a chastisement as would deter
+them and others from like aggressions. This last was done, and the
+effect has been an increased respect for our flag in those distant seas
+and additional security for our commerce.
+
+In the view I have given of our connection with foreign powers allusions
+have been made to their domestic disturbances or foreign wars, to their
+revolutions or dissensions. It may be proper to observe that this is
+done solely in cases where those events affect our political relations
+with them, or to show their operation on our commerce. Further than this
+it is neither our policy nor our right to interfere. Our best wishes on
+all occasions, our good offices when required, will be afforded to
+promote the domestic tranquillity and foreign peace of all nations with
+whom we have any intercourse. Any intervention in their affairs further
+than this, even by the expression of an official opinion, is contrary to
+our principles of international policy, and will always be avoided.
+
+The report which the Secretary of the Treasury will in due time lay
+before you will exhibit the national finances in a highly prosperous
+state. Owing to the continued success of our commercial enterprise,
+which has enabled the merchants to fulfill their engagements with the
+Government, the receipts from customs during the year will exceed the
+estimate presented at the last session, and with the other means of the
+Treasury will prove fully adequate not only to meet the increased
+expenditures resulting from the large appropriations made by Congress,
+but to provide for the payment of all the public debt which is at
+present redeemable. It is now estimated that the customs will yield to
+the Treasury during the present year upward of $28,000,000. The public
+lands, however, have proved less productive than was anticipated, and
+according to present information will not much exceed two millions. The
+expenditures for all objects other than the public debt are estimated to
+amount during the year to about sixteen millions and a half, while a
+still larger sum, viz, $18,000,000, will have been applied to the
+principal and interest of the public debt.
+
+It is expected, however, that in consequence of the reduced rates of
+duty which will take effect after the 3d of March next there will be a
+considerable falling off in the revenue from customs in the year 1833.
+It will nevertheless be amply sufficient to provide for all the wants of
+the public service, estimated even upon a liberal scale, and for the
+redemption and purchase of the remainder of the public debt. On the 1st
+of January next the entire public debt of the United States, funded and
+unfunded, will be reduced to within a fraction of $7,000,000, of which
+$2,227,363 are not of right redeemable until the 1st of January, 1834,
+and $4,735,296 not until the 2d of January, 1835. The commissioners of
+the sinking funds, however, being invested with full authority to
+purchase the debt at the market price, and the means of the Treasury
+being ample, it may be hoped that the whole will be extinguished within
+the year 1833.
+
+I can not too cordially congratulate Congress and my fellow-citizens on
+the near approach of that memorable and happy event--the extinction of
+the public debt of this great and free nation. Faithful to the wise and
+patriotic policy marked out by the legislation of the country for this
+object, the present Administration has devoted to it all the means which
+a flourishing commerce has supplied and a prudent economy preserved for
+the public Treasury. Within the four years for which the people have
+confided the Executive power to my charge $58,000,000 will have been
+applied to the payment of the public debt. That this has been
+accomplished without stinting the expenditures for all other proper
+objects will be seen by referring to the liberal provision made during
+the same period for the support and increase of our means of maritime
+and military defense, for internal improvements of a national character,
+for the removal and preservation of the Indians, and, lastly, for the
+gallant veterans of the Revolution.
+
+The final removal of this great burthen from our resources affords the
+means of further provision for all the objects of general welfare and
+public defense which the Constitution authorizes, and presents the
+occasion for such further reduction in the revenue as may not be
+required for them. From the report of the Secretary of the Treasury it
+will be seen that after the present year such a reduction may be made to
+a considerable extent, and the subject is earnestly recommended to the
+consideration of Congress in the hope that the combined wisdom of the
+representatives of the people will devise such means of effecting that
+salutary object as may remove those burthens which shall be found to
+fall unequally upon any and as may promote all the great interests of
+the community.
+
+Long and patient reflection has strengthened the opinions I have
+heretofore expressed to Congress on this subject, and I deem it my duty
+on the present occasion again to urge them upon the attention of the
+Legislature. The soundest maxims of public policy and the principles
+upon which our republican institutions are founded recommend a proper
+adaptation of the revenue to the expenditure, and they also require that
+the expenditure shall be limited to what, by an economical
+administration, shall be consistent with the simplicity of the
+Government and necessary to an efficient public service. In effecting
+this adjustment it is due, in justice to the interests of the different
+States, and even to the preservation of the Union itself, that the
+protection afforded by existing laws to any branches of the national
+industry should not exceed what may be necessary to counteract the
+regulations of foreign nations and to secure a supply of those articles
+of manufacture essential to the national independence and safety in time
+of war. If upon investigation it shall be found, as it is believed it
+will be, that the legislative protection granted to any particular
+interest is greater than is indispensably requisite for these objects, I
+recommend that it be gradually diminished, and that as far as may be
+consistent with these objects the whole scheme of duties be reduced to
+the revenue standard as soon as a just regard to the faith of the
+Government and to the preservation of the large capital invested in
+establishments of domestic industry will permit.
+
+That manufactures adequate to the supply of our domestic consumption
+would in the abstract be beneficial to our country there is no reason to
+doubt, and to effect their establishment there is perhaps no American
+citizen who would not for awhile be willing to pay a higher price for
+them. But for this purpose it is presumed that a tariff of high duties,
+designed for perpetual protection, has entered into the minds of but few
+of our statesmen. The most they have anticipated is a temporary and,
+generally, incidental protection, which they maintain has the effect to
+reduce the price by domestic competition below that of the foreign
+article. Experience, however, our best guide on this as on other
+subjects, makes it doubtful whether the advantages of this system are
+not counterbalanced by many evils, and whether it does not tend to beget
+in the minds of a large portion of our countrymen a spirit of discontent
+and jealousy dangerous to the stability of the Union.
+
+What, then, shall be done? Large interests have grown up under the
+implied pledge of our national legislation, which it would seem a
+violation of public faith suddenly to abandon. Nothing could justify it
+but the public safety, which is the supreme law. But those who have
+vested their capital in manufacturing establishments can not expect that
+the people will continue permanently to pay high taxes for their
+benefit, when the money is not required for any legitimate purpose in
+the administration of the Government. Is it not enough that the high
+duties have been paid as long as the money arising from them could be
+applied to the common benefit in the extinguishment of the public debt?
+
+Those who take an enlarged view of the condition of our country must be
+satisfied that the policy of protection must be ultimately limited to
+those articles of domestic manufacture which are indispensable to our
+safety in time of war. Within this scope, on a reasonable scale, it is
+recommended by every consideration of patriotism and duty, which will
+doubtless always secure to it a liberal and efficient support. But
+beyond this object we have already seen the operation of the system
+productive of discontent. In some sections of the Republic its influence
+is deprecated as tending to concentrate wealth into a few hands, and as
+creating those germs of dependence and vice which in other countries
+have characterized the existence of monopolies and proved so destructive
+of liberty and the general good. A large portion of the people in one
+section of the Republic declares it not only inexpedient on these
+grounds, but as disturbing the equal relations of property by
+legislation, and therefore unconstitutional and unjust.
+
+Doubtless these effects are in a great degree exaggerated, and may be
+ascribed to a mistaken view of the considerations which led to the
+adoption of the tariff system; but they are nevertheless important in
+enabling us to review the subject with a more thorough knowledge of all
+its bearings upon the great interests of the Republic, and with a
+determination to dispose of it so that none can with justice complain.
+
+It is my painful duty to state that in one quarter of the United States
+opposition to the revenue laws has arisen to a height which threatens to
+thwart their execution, if not to endanger the integrity of the Union.
+Whatever obstructions may be thrown in the way of the judicial
+authorities of the General Government, it is hoped they will be able
+peaceably to overcome them by the prudence of their own officers and the
+patriotism of the people. But should this reasonable reliance on the
+moderation and good sense of all portions of our fellow-citizens be
+disappointed, it is believed that the laws themselves are fully adequate
+to the suppression of such attempts as may be immediately made. Should
+the exigency arise rendering the execution of the existing laws
+impracticable from any cause whatever, prompt notice of it will be given
+to Congress, with a suggestion of such views and measures as may be
+deemed necessary to meet it.
+
+In conformity with principles heretofore explained, and with the hope of
+reducing the General Government to that simple machine which the
+Constitution created and of withdrawing from the States all other
+influence than that of its universal beneficence in preserving peace,
+affording an uniform currency, maintaining the inviolability of
+contracts, diffusing intelligence, and discharging unfelt its other
+superintending functions, I recommend that provision be made to dispose
+of all stocks now held by it in corporations, whether created by the
+General or State Governments, and placing the proceeds in the Treasury.
+As a source of profit these stocks are of little or no value; as a means
+of influence among the States they are adverse to the purity of our
+institutions. The whole principle on which they are based is deemed by
+many unconstitutional, and to persist in the policy which they indicate
+is considered wholly inexpedient.
+
+It is my duty to acquaint you with an arrangement made by the Bank of
+the United States with a portion of the holders of the 3 per cent stock,
+by which the Government will be deprived of the use of the public funds
+longer than was anticipated. By this arrangement, which will be
+particularly explained by the Secretary of the Treasury, a surrender of
+the certificates of this stock may be postponed until October, 1833, and
+thus the liability of the Government, after its ability to discharge the
+debt, may be continued by the failure of the bank to perform its duties.
+
+Such measures as are within the reach of the Secretary of the Treasury
+have been taken to enable him to judge whether the public deposits in
+that institution may be regarded as entirely safe; but as his limited
+power may prove inadequate to this object, I recommend the subject to
+the attention of Congress, under the firm belief that it is worthy of
+their serious investigation. An inquiry into the transactions of the
+institution, embracing the branches as well as the principal bank, seems
+called for by the credit which is given throughout the country to many
+serious charges impeaching its character, and which if true may justly
+excite the apprehension that it is no longer a safe depository of the
+money of the people.
+
+Among the interests which merit the consideration of Congress after the
+payment of the public debt, one of the most important, in my view, is
+that of the public lands. Previous to the formation of our present
+Constitution it was recommended by Congress that a portion of the waste
+lands owned by the States should be ceded to the United States for the
+purposes of general harmony and as a fund to meet the expenses of the
+war. The recommendation was adopted, and at different periods of time
+the States of Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North and South
+Carolina, and Georgia granted their vacant soil for the uses for which
+they had been asked. As the lands may now be considered as relieved from
+this pledge, the object for which they were ceded having been
+accomplished, it is in the discretion of Congress to dispose of them in
+such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and general interest
+of the American people. In examining this question all local and
+sectional feelings should be discarded and the whole United States
+regarded as one people, interested alike in the prosperity of their
+common country.
+
+It can not be doubted that the speedy settlement of these lands
+constitutes the true interest of the Republic. The wealth and strength
+of a country are its population, and the best part of that population
+are the cultivators of the soil. Independent farmers are everywhere the
+basis of society and true friends of liberty.
+
+In addition to these considerations questions have already arisen, and
+may be expected hereafter to grow out of the public lands, which involve
+the rights of the new States and the powers of the General Government,
+and unless a liberal policy be now adopted there is danger that these
+questions may speedily assume an importance not now generally
+anticipated. The influence of a great sectional interest, when brought
+into full action, will be found more dangerous to the harmony and union
+of the States than any other cause of discontent, and it is the part of
+wisdom and sound policy to foresee its approaches and endeavor if
+possible to counteract them.
+
+Of the various schemes which have been hitherto proposed in regard to
+the disposal of the public lands, none has yet received the entire
+approbation of the National Legislature. Deeply impressed with the
+importance of a speedy and satisfactory arrangement of the subject, I
+deem it my duty on this occasion to urge it upon your consideration, and
+to the propositions which have been heretofore suggested by others to
+contribute those reflections which have occurred to me, in the hope that
+they may assist you in your future deliberations.
+
+It seems to me to be our true policy that the public lands shall cease
+as soon as practicable to be a source of revenue, and that they be sold
+to settlers in limited parcels at a price barely sufficient to reimburse
+to the United States the expense of the present system and the cost
+arising under our Indian compacts. The advantages of accurate surveys
+and undoubted titles now secured to purchasers seem to forbid the
+abolition of the present system, because none can be substituted which
+will more perfectly accomplish these important ends. It is desirable,
+however, that in convenient time this machinery be withdrawn from the
+States, and that the right of soil and the future disposition of it be
+surrendered to the States respectively in which it lies.
+
+The adventurous and hardy population of the West, besides contributing
+their equal share of taxation under our impost system, have in the
+progress of our Government, for the lands they occupy, paid into the
+Treasury a large proportion of $40,000,000, and of the revenue received
+therefrom but a small part has been expended amongst them. When to the
+disadvantage of their situation in this respect we add the consideration
+that it is their labor alone which gives real value to the lands, and
+that the proceeds arising from their sale are distributed chiefly among
+States which had not originally any claim to them, and which have
+enjoyed the undivided emolument arising from the sale of their own
+lands, it can not be expected that the new States will remain longer
+contented with the present policy after the payment of the public debt.
+To avert the consequences which may be apprehended from this cause, to
+put an end forever to all partial and interested legislation on the
+subject, and to afford to every American citizen of enterprise the
+opportunity of securing an independent freehold, it seems to me,
+therefore, best to abandon the idea of raising a future revenue out of
+the public lands.
+
+In former messages I have expressed my conviction that the Constitution
+does not warrant the application of the funds of the General Government
+to objects of internal improvement which are not national in their
+character, and, both as a means of doing justice to all interests and
+putting an end to a course of legislation calculated to destroy the
+purity of the Government, have urged the necessity of reducing the whole
+subject to some fixed and certain rule. As there never will occur a
+period, perhaps, more propitious than the present to the accomplishment
+of this object, I beg leave to press the subject again upon your
+attention.
+
+Without some general and well-defined principles ascertaining those
+objects of internal improvement to which the means of the nation may be
+constitutionally applied, it is obvious that the exercise of the power
+can never be satisfactory. Besides the danger to which it exposes
+Congress of making hasty appropriations to works of the character of
+which they may be frequently ignorant, it promotes a mischievous and
+corrupting influence upon elections by holding out to the people the
+fallacious hope that the success of a certain candidate will make
+navigable their neighboring creek or river, bring commerce to their
+doors, and increase the value of their property. It thus favors
+combinations to squander the treasure of the country upon a multitude of
+local objects, as fatal to just legislation as to the purity of public
+men.
+
+If a system compatible with the Constitution can not be devised which is
+free from such tendencies, we should recollect that that instrument
+provides within itself the mode of its amendment, and that there is,
+therefore, no excuse for the assumption of doubtful powers by the
+General Government. If those which are clearly granted shall be found
+incompetent to the ends of its creation, it can at any time apply for
+their enlargement; and there is no probability that such an application,
+if founded on the public interest, will ever be refused. If the
+propriety of the proposed grant be not sufficiently apparent to command
+the assent of three-fourths of the States, the best possible reason why
+the power should not be assumed on doubtful authority is afforded; for
+if more than one-fourth of the States are unwilling to make the grant
+its exercise will be productive of discontents which will far
+overbalance any advantages that could be derived from it. All must admit
+that there is nothing so worthy of the constant solicitude of this
+Government as the harmony and union of the people.
+
+Being solemnly impressed with the conviction that the extension of the
+power to make internal improvements beyond the limit I have suggested,
+even if it be deemed constitutional, is subversive of the best interests
+of our country, I earnestly recommend to Congress to refrain from its
+exercise in doubtful cases, except in relation to improvements already
+begun, unless they shall first procure from the States such an amendment
+of the Constitution as will define its character and prescribe its
+bounds. If the States feel themselves competent to these objects, why
+should this Government wish to assume the power? If they do not, then
+they will not hesitate to make the grant. Both Governments are the
+Governments of the people; improvements must be made with the money of
+the people, and if the money can be collected and applied by those more
+simple and economical political machines, the State governments, it will
+unquestionably be safer and better for the people than to add to the
+splendor, the patronage, and the power of the General Government. But if
+the people of the several States think otherwise they will amend the
+Constitution, and in their decision all ought cheerfully to acquiesce.
+
+For a detailed and highly satisfactory view of the operations of the War
+Department I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of
+War.
+
+The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians necessarily led to the
+interposition of the Government. A portion of the troops, under Generals
+Scott and Atkinson, and of the militia of the State of Illinois were
+called into the field. After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the
+nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence,
+the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed
+or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in
+the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered
+necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that
+its impression will be permanent and salutary.
+
+This campaign has evinced the efficient organization of the Army and its
+capacity for prompt and active service. Its several departments have
+performed their functions with energy and dispatch, and the general
+movement was satisfactory.
+
+Our fellow-citizens upon the frontiers were ready, as they always are,
+in the tender of their services in the hour of danger. But a more
+efficient organization of our militia system is essential to that
+security which is one of the principal objects of all governments.
+Neither our situation nor our institutions require or permit the
+maintenance of a large regular force. History offers too many lessons of
+the fatal result of such a measure not to warn us against its adoption
+here. The expense which attends it, the obvious tendency to employ it
+because it exists and thus to engage in unnecessary wars, and its
+ultimate danger to public liberty will lead us, I trust, to place our
+principal dependence for protection upon the great body of the citizens
+of the Republic. If in asserting rights or in repelling wrongs war
+should come upon us, our regular force should be increased to an extent
+proportioned to the emergency, and our present small Army is a nucleus
+around which such force could be formed and embodied. But for the
+purposes of defense under ordinary circumstances we must rely upon the
+electors of the country. Those by whom and for whom the Government was
+instituted and is supported will constitute its protection in the hour
+of danger as they do its check in the hour of safety.
+
+But it is obvious that the militia system is imperfect. Much time is
+lost, much unnecessary expense incurred, and much public property wasted
+under the present arrangement. Little useful knowledge is gained by the
+musters and drills as now established, and the whole subject evidently
+requires a thorough examination. Whether a plan of classification
+remedying these defects and providing for a system of instruction might
+not be adopted is submitted to the consideration of Congress. The
+Constitution has vested in the General Government an independent
+authority upon the subject of the militia which renders its action
+essential to the establishment or improvement of the system, and I
+recommend the matter to your consideration in the conviction that the
+state of this important arm of the public defense requires your
+attention. I am happy to inform you that the wise and humane policy of
+transferring from the eastern to the western side of the Mississippi the
+remnants of our aboriginal tribes, with their own consent and upon just
+terms, has been steadily pursued, and is approaching, I trust, its
+consummation. By reference to the report of the Secretary of War and to
+the documents submitted with it you will see the progress which has been
+made since your last session in the arrangement of the various matters
+connected with our Indian relations. With one exception every subject
+involving any question of conflicting jurisdiction or of peculiar
+difficulty has been happily disposed of, and the conviction evidently
+gains ground among the Indians that their removal to the country
+assigned by the United States for their permanent residence furnishes
+the only hope of their ultimate prosperity.
+
+With that portion of the Cherokees, however, living within the State of
+Georgia it has been found impracticable as yet to make a satisfactory
+adjustment. Such was my anxiety to remove all the grounds of complaint
+and to bring to a termination the difficulties in which they are
+involved that I directed the very liberal propositions to be made to
+them which accompany the documents herewith submitted. They can not but
+have seen in these offers the evidence of the strongest disposition on
+the part of the Government to deal justly and liberally with them. An
+ample indemnity was offered for their present possessions, a liberal
+provision for their future support and improvement, and full security
+for their private and political rights. Whatever difference of opinion
+may have prevailed respecting the just claims of these people, there
+will probably be none respecting the liberality of the propositions, and
+very little respecting the expediency of their immediate acceptance.
+They were, however, rejected, and thus the position of these Indians
+remains unchanged, as do the views communicated in my message to the
+Senate of February 22, 1831.
+
+I refer you to the annual report of the Secretary of the Navy, which
+accompanies this message, for a detail of the operations of that branch
+of the service during the present year.
+
+Besides the general remarks on some of the transactions of our Navy
+presented in the view which has been taken of our foreign relations, I
+seize this occasion to invite to your notice the increased protection
+which it has afforded to our commerce and citizens on distant seas
+without any augmentation of the force in commission. In the gradual
+improvement of its pecuniary concerns, in the constant progress in the
+collection of materials suitable for use during future emergencies, and
+in the construction of vessels and the buildings necessary to their
+preservation and repair, the present state of this branch of the service
+exhibits the fruits of that vigilance and care which are so
+indispensable to its efficiency. Various new suggestions, contained in
+the annexed report, as well as others heretofore submitted to Congress,
+are worthy of your attention, but none more so than that urging the
+renewal for another term of six years of the general appropriation for
+the gradual improvement of the Navy.
+
+From the accompanying report of the Postmaster-General you will also
+perceive that that Department continues to extend its usefulness without
+impairing its resources or lessening the accommodations which it affords
+in the secure and rapid transportation of the mail.
+
+I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the views heretofore
+expressed in relation to the mode of choosing the President and
+Vice-President of the United States, and to those respecting the tenure
+of office generally. Still impressed with the justness of those views
+and with the belief that the modifications suggested on those subjects
+if adopted will contribute to the prosperity and harmony of the country,
+I earnestly recommend them to your consideration at this time.
+
+I have heretofore pointed out defects in the law for punishing official
+frauds, especially within the District of Columbia. It has been found
+almost impossible to bring notorious culprits to punishment, and,
+according to a decision of the court for this District, a prosecution is
+barred by a lapse of two years after the fraud has been committed. It
+may happen again, as it has already happened, that during the whole two
+years all the evidences of the fraud may be in the possession of the
+culprit himself. However proper the limitation may be in relation to
+private citizens, it would seem that it ought not to commence running in
+favor of public officers until they go out of office.
+
+The judiciary system of the United States remains imperfect. Of the nine
+Western and Southwestern States three only enjoy the benefits of a
+circuit court. Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are embraced in the general
+system, but Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and
+Louisiana have only district courts. If the existing system be a good
+one, why should it not be extended? If it be a bad one, why is it
+suffered to exist? The new States were promised equal rights and
+privileges when they came into the Union, and such are the guaranties of
+the Constitution. Nothing can be more obvious than the obligation of the
+General Government to place all the States on the same footing in
+relation to the administration of justice, and I trust this duty will be
+neglected no longer.
+
+On many of the subjects to which your attention is invited in this
+communication it is a source of gratification to reflect that the steps
+to be now adopted are uninfluenced by the embarrassments entailed upon
+the country by the wars through which it has passed. In regard to most
+of our great interests we may consider ourselves as just starting in our
+career, and after a salutary experience about to fix upon a permanent
+basis the policy best calculated to promote the happiness of the people
+and facilitate their progress toward the most complete enjoyment of
+civil liberty. On an occasion so interesting and important in our
+history, and of such anxious concern to the friends of freedom
+throughout the world, it is our imperious duty to lay aside all selfish
+and local considerations and be guided by a lofty spirit of devotion to
+the great principles on which our institutions are founded.
+
+That this Government may be so administered as to preserve its
+efficiency in promoting and securing these general objects should be the
+only aim of our ambition, and we can not, therefore, too carefully
+examine its structure, in order that we may not mistake its powers or
+assume those which the people have reserved to themselves or have
+preferred to assign to other agents. We should bear constantly in mind
+the fact that the considerations which induced the framers of the
+Constitution to withhold from the General Government the power to
+regulate the great mass of the business and concerns of the people have
+been fully justified by experience, and that it can not now be doubted
+that the genius of all our institutions prescribes simplicity and
+economy as the characteristics of the reform which is yet to be effected
+in the present and future execution of the functions bestowed upon us by
+the Constitution.
+
+Limited to a general superintending power to maintain peace at home and
+abroad, and to prescribe laws on a few subjects of general interest not
+calculated to restrict human liberty, but to enforce human rights, this
+Government will find its strength and its glory in the faithful
+discharge of these plain and simple duties. Relieved by its protecting
+shield from the fear of war and the apprehension of oppression, the free
+enterprise of our citizens, aided by the State sovereignties, will work
+out improvements and ameliorations which can not fail to demonstrate
+that the great truth that the people can govern themselves is not only
+realized in our example, but that it is done by a machinery in
+government so simple and economical as scarcely to be felt. That the
+Almighty Ruler of the Universe may so direct our deliberations and
+overrule our acts as to make us instrumental in securing a result so
+dear to mankind is my most earnest and sincere prayer.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL MESSAGES.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 11, 1832_.
+_The President of the Senate_:
+
+I lay before the Senate, for its consideration and advice, a treaty of
+amity and commerce between the United States of America and the Republic
+of Chili, concluded at Santiago on the 16th day of May, 1832.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 12, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the consideration and advice of the Senate as
+to their ratification, treaties that have been concluded by
+commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United States with the
+following tribes of Indians, viz: The Chickasaws, the Apalachicola band
+in Florida, the Sacs and Foxes, the Winnebagoes, the Potawatamies of
+Indiana and Michigan, the Potawatamies of the Wabash and Elkheart, and
+the Potawatamies of the Prairie.
+
+I also transmit the report and journals of the commissioners.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1832_.
+_The President of the Senate_:
+
+A convention having been concluded at Naples on the 14th October, 1832,
+between the United States and the Government of the Two Sicilies, I now
+lay it before the Senate for its constitutional action upon it.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1832_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate requesting the President
+of the United States "to communicate to the Senate copies of the
+commission appointing Samuel Gwin register of the land office at Mount
+Salus, in the State of Mississippi, in the recess of the Senate in 1831,
+and of the commission appointing the said Gwin to the same office in the
+recess of the Senate in 1832, and also a copy of the opinion of the
+Attorney-General of the United States in relation to said last-mentioned
+commission, and also the opinions, if any, of former Attorneys-General
+in similar cases, and copies of the commissions which may have issued in
+like cases, if any, under former Administrations," I transmit herewith
+the papers called for.
+
+It may be proper to remark of the case of the navy agent, supposed to be
+analogous to that of Mr. Gwin, that the commissions are not usually
+recorded. The one transmitted, however, is the form generally observed,
+varied to suit the circumstances of the case, and omitting or inserting
+the words "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," according
+to the time the appointment is made.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 21, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying
+communication from the Secretary of State, inclosing a correspondence
+between him and the artist employed to execute the statue of Washington
+which is to be placed in the Rotunda of the Capitol.
+
+It appears from this correspondence that the present appropriation for
+the execution of this work is inadequate to the object, and I therefore
+feel it my duty before concluding the contract to ascertain whether the
+additional sum recommended as proper by the Secretary of State and the
+terms proposed by the artist will meet the approbation of Congress.
+
+For this purpose the papers are respectfully submitted.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 27, 1832_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying
+reports--one from the engineer selected under the act of the 14th July
+last to take charge of the survey of the bridge across the Potomac which
+that act authorized the President to cause to be erected, and showing,
+after a careful survey, the propriety of applying a part of the sum
+appropriated to the repairing the old bridge; the other showing the
+considerations which, in the opinion of the same engineer and that of
+General Gratiot, should determine the choice between a superstructure of
+wood and of iron on the same foundation of granite.
+
+Concurring in the reasons stated by these officers for the preference of
+the superstructure of wood, I have adopted it accordingly, and propose
+to take the measures necessary for the execution of the work.
+Previously, however, to inviting contracts for this purpose I deem it
+advisable to submit the subject to Congress, in order that the necessary
+appropriations may be supplied.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 28, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I have taken into consideration the resolution of the House requesting
+me to communicate to it, so far as in my opinion may be consistent with
+the public interest, "the correspondence between the Government of the
+United States and that of the Republic of Buenos Ayres which has
+resulted in the departure of the chargé d'affaires of the United States
+from that Republic, together with the instructions given to the said
+chargé d'affaires," and in answer to the said request state for the
+information of the House that although the chargé d'affaires of the
+United States has found it necessary to return, yet the negotiation
+between the two countries for the arrangement of the differences between
+them are not considered as broken off, but are suspended only until the
+arrival of a minister, who, it is officially announced, will be sent to
+this country with powers to treat on the subject.
+
+This fact, it is believed, will justify the opinion I have formed that
+it will not be consistent with the public interest to communicate the
+correspondence and instructions requested by the House so long as the
+negotiation shall be pending.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 2, 1833_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State on the subject
+of the French ship _Pactole_, upon the cargo of which a discriminating
+duty seems to have been levied in 1827 by the collector at Pensacola, in
+contravention, as is alleged, with the convention of 1822 with France.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+Washington, _January 6, 1833_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying report
+from the Secretary of State, recommending an appropriation to refund the
+amount of duties that have been collected in the ports of the United
+States on the tonnage of foreign vessels belonging to nations that have
+abolished in their ports discriminating duties on the vessels of the
+United States.
+
+I also transmit herewith another report from the Secretary of State,
+stating the losses to which certain Swedish subjects allege they were
+exposed by the taking out of one of the ports of St. Bartholomew, in the
+year 1828, a vessel under the flag of the Republic of Buenos Ayres, by
+the commander of the United States ship _Erie_, and for the payment of
+which it is thought provision ought to be made by Congress.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 7, 1833_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit to the House of Representatives the report of the Secretary
+of State upon the subject of the duties on the cargo of the French ship
+_Pactole_, prepared in obedience to the resolution of that House of the
+20th of December, 1832, which was referred to him.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo,
+requesting the President of the United States to communicate to the
+Senate a copy of the treaty concluded at Franklin, in the State of
+Tennessee, between the United States and the Chickasaw tribe of Indians,
+on the ---- day of August, 1830, together with a copy of the
+instructions, if any, to the commissioner who negotiated the treaty with
+said tribe of Indians, bearing date the 30th day of October, 1832, I
+transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the
+information required.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_January 8, 1833_.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1833_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 4th instant,
+requesting to be furnished with such information as the President may
+possess "in relation to the survey of the northern boundary of the State
+of Ohio under the provisions of the act of Congress passed for that
+purpose on the 14th of July, 1832," I transmit herewith a report from
+the Secretary of War containing it.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 14, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to
+the ratification of the same, treaties that have been concluded by
+commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United States with the
+following Indian tribes, viz: With the Kickapoos; with the Shawanoes and
+Delawares, late of Cape Gerardeau, together with stipulations with
+Delawares for certain private annuities; with the Pankeshaws and
+Peorias.
+
+I also transmit the journal of the commissioners who negotiated these
+treaties.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 16, 1833_.
+_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+In my annual message at the commencement of your present session I
+adverted to the opposition to the revenue laws in a particular quarter
+of the United States, which threatened not merely to thwart their
+execution, but to endanger the integrity of the Union; and although I
+then expressed my reliance that it might be overcome by the prudence of
+the officers of the United States and the patriotism of the people, I
+stated that should the emergency arise rendering the execution of the
+existing laws impracticable from any cause whatever prompt notice should
+be given to Congress, with the suggestion of such views and measures as
+might be necessary to meet it.
+
+Events which have occurred in the quarter then alluded to, or which have
+come to my knowledge subsequently, present this emergency.
+
+Since the date of my last annual message I have had officially
+transmitted to me by the governor of South Carolina, which I now
+communicate to Congress, a copy of the ordinance passed by the
+convention which assembled at Columbia, in the State of South Carolina,
+in November last, declaring certain acts of Congress therein mentioned
+within the limits of that State to be absolutely null and void, and
+making it the duty of the legislature to pass such laws as would be
+necessary to carry the same into effect from and after the 1st February
+next.
+
+The consequences to which this extraordinary defiance of the just
+authority of the Government might too surely lead were clearly foreseen,
+and it was impossible for me to hesitate as to my own duty in such an
+emergency.
+
+The ordinance had been passed, however, without any certain knowledge of
+the recommendation which, from a view of the interests of the nation at
+large, the Executive had determined to submit to Congress, and a hope
+was indulged that by frankly explaining his sentiments and the nature of
+those duties which the crisis would devolve upon him the authorities of
+South Carolina might be induced to retrace their steps. In this hope I
+determined to issue my proclamation of the 10th of December last, a copy
+of which I now lay before Congress.
+
+I regret to inform you that these reasonable expectations have not been
+realized, and that the several acts of the legislature of South Carolina
+which I now lay before you, and which have all and each of them finally
+passed after a knowledge of the desire of the Administration to modify
+the laws complained of, are too well calculated both in their positive
+enactments and in the spirit of opposition which they obviously
+encourage wholly to obstruct the collection of the revenue within the
+limits of that State.
+
+Up to this period neither the recommendation of the Executive in regard
+to our financial policy and impost system, nor the disposition
+manifested by Congress promptly to act upon that subject, nor the
+unequivocal expression of the public will in all parts of the Union
+appears to have produced any relaxation in the measures of opposition
+adopted by the State of South Carolina; nor is there any reason to hope
+that the ordinance and laws will be abandoned.
+
+I have no knowledge that an attempt has been made, or that it is in
+contemplation, to reassemble either the convention or the legislature,
+and it will be perceived that the interval before the 1st of February is
+too short to admit of the preliminary steps necessary for that purpose.
+It appears, moreover, that the State authorities are actively organizing
+their military resources, and providing the means and giving the most
+solemn assurances of protection and support to all who shall enlist in
+opposition to the revenue laws.
+
+A recent proclamation of the present governor of South Carolina has
+openly defied the authority of the Executive of the Union, and general
+orders from the headquarters of the State announced his determination to
+accept the services of volunteers and his belief that should their
+country need their services they will be found at the post of honor and
+duty, ready to lay down their lives in her defense. Under these orders
+the forces referred to are directed to "hold themselves in readiness to
+take the field at a moment's warning," and in the city of Charleston,
+within a collection district, and a port of entry, a rendezvous has been
+opened for the purpose of enlisting men for the magazine and municipal
+guard. Thus South Carolina presents herself in the attitude of hostile
+preparation, and ready even for military violence if need be to enforce
+her laws for preventing the collection of the duties within her limits.
+
+Proceedings thus announced and matured must be distinguished from
+menaces of unlawful resistance by irregular bodies of people, who,
+acting under temporary delusion, may be restrained by reflection and the
+influence of public opinion from the commission of actual outrage. In
+the present instance aggression may be regarded as committed when it is
+officially authorized and the means of enforcing it fully provided.
+
+Under these circumstances there can be no doubt that it is the
+determination of the authorities of South Carolina fully to carry into
+effect their ordinance and laws after the 1st of February. It therefore
+becomes my duty to bring the subject to the serious consideration of
+Congress, in order that such measures as they in their wisdom may deem
+fit shall be seasonably provided, and that it may be thereby understood
+that while the Government is disposed to remove all just cause of
+complaint as far as may be practicable consistently with a proper regard
+to the interests of the community at large, it is nevertheless
+determined that the supremacy of the laws shall be maintained.
+
+In making this communication it appears to me to be proper not only that
+I should lay before you the acts and proceedings of South Carolina, but
+that I should also fully acquaint you with those steps which I have
+already caused to be taken for the due collection of the revenue, and
+with my views of the subject generally, that the suggestions which the
+Constitution requires me to make in regard to your future legislation
+may be better understood.
+
+This subject having early attracted the anxious attention of the
+Executive, as soon as it was probable that the authorities of South
+Carolina seriously meditated resistance to the faithful execution of the
+revenue laws it was deemed advisable that the Secretary of the Treasury
+should particularly instruct the officers of the United States in that
+part of the Union as to the nature of the duties prescribed by the
+existing laws.
+
+Instructions were accordingly issued on the 6th of November to the
+collectors in that State, pointing out their respective duties and
+enjoining upon each a firm and vigilant but discreet performance of them
+in the emergency then apprehended.
+
+I herewith transmit copies of these instructions and of the letter
+addressed to the district attorney, requesting his cooperation. These
+instructions were dictated in the hope that as the opposition to the
+laws by the anomalous proceeding of nullification was represented to be
+of a pacific nature, to be pursued substantially according to the forms
+of the Constitution and without resorting in any event to force or
+violence, the measures of its advocates would be taken in conformity
+with that profession, and on such supposition the means afforded by the
+existing laws would have been adequate to meet any emergency likely to
+arise.
+
+It was, however, not possible altogether to suppress apprehension of the
+excesses to which the excitement prevailing in that quarter might lead,
+but it certainly was not foreseen that the meditated obstruction to the
+laws would so soon openly assume its present character.
+
+Subsequently to the date of those instructions, however, the ordinance
+of the convention was passed, which, if complied with by the people of
+the State, must effectually render inoperative the present revenue laws
+within her limits.
+
+That ordinance declares and ordains--
+
+    That the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the
+    United States purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and
+    imposts on the importation of foreign commodities, and now having
+    operation and effect within the United States, and more especially
+    "An act in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on
+    imports," approved on the 19th of May, 1828, and also an act
+    entitled "An act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties
+    on imports," approved on the 14th July, 1832, are unauthorized by
+    the Constitution of the United States, and violate the true intent
+    and meaning thereof, and are null and void and no law, nor binding
+    upon the State of South Carolina, its officers and citizens; and all
+    promises, contracts, and obligations made or entered into, or to be
+    made or entered into, with purpose to secure the duties imposed by
+    the said acts, and all judicial proceedings which shall be hereafter
+    had in affirmance thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and
+    void.
+
+It also ordains--
+
+    That it shall not be lawful for any of the constituted authorities,
+    whether of the State of South Carolina or of the United States, to
+    enforce the payment of duties imposed by the said acts within the
+    limits of the State, but that it shall be the duty of the
+    legislature to adopt such measures and pass such acts as may be
+    necessary to give full effect to this ordinance and to prevent the
+    enforcement and arrest the operation of the said acts and parts of
+    acts of the Congress of the United States within the limits of the
+    State from and after the 1st of February next; and it shall be the
+    duty of all other constituted authorities and of all other persons
+    residing or being within the limits of the State, and they are
+    hereby required and enjoined, to obey and give effect to this
+    ordinance and such acts and measures of the legislature as may be
+    passed or adopted in obedience thereto.
+
+It further ordains--
+
+    That in no case of law or equity decided in the courts of the State
+    wherein shall be drawn in question the authority of this ordinance,
+    or the validity of such act or acts of the legislature as may be
+    passed for the purpose of giving effect thereto, or the validity of
+    the aforesaid acts of Congress imposing duties, shall any appeal be
+    taken or allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor
+    shall any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that
+    purpose; and the person or persons attempting to take such appeal
+    may be dealt with as for a contempt of court.
+
+It likewise ordains--
+
+    That all persons holding any office of honor, profit, or trust,
+    civil or military, under the State shall, within such time and in
+    such manner as the legislature shall prescribe, take an oath well
+    and truly to obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance and such act
+    or acts of the legislature as may be passed in pursuance thereof,
+    according to the true intent and meaning of the same; and on the
+    neglect or omission of any such person or persons so to do his or
+    their office or offices shall be forthwith vacated, and shall be
+    filled up as if such person or persons were dead or had resigned.
+    And no person hereafter elected to any office of honor, profit, or
+    trust, civil or military, shall, until the legislature shall
+    otherwise provide and direct, enter on the execution of his office
+    or be in any respect competent to discharge the duties thereof until
+    he shall in like manner have taken a similar oath; and no juror
+    shall be empaneled in any of the courts of the State in any cause in
+    which shall be in question this ordinance or any act of the
+    legislature passed in pursuance thereof, unless he shall first, in
+    addition to the usual oath, have taken an oath that he will well and
+    truly obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance and such act or acts
+    of the legislature as may be passed to carry the same into operation
+    and effect, according to the true intent and meaning thereof.
+
+The ordinance concludes:
+
+    And we, the people of South Carolina, to the end that it may be
+    fully understood by the Government of the United States and the
+    people of the co-States that we are determined to maintain this
+    ordinance and declaration at every hazard, do further declare that
+    we will not submit to the application of force on the part of the
+    Federal Government to reduce this State to obedience, but that we
+    will consider the passage by Congress of any act authorizing the
+    employment of a military or naval force against the State of South
+    Carolina, her constituted authorities or citizens, or any act
+    abolishing or closing the ports of this State, or any of them, or
+    otherwise obstructing the free ingress and egress of vessels to and
+    from the said ports, or any other act on the part of the Federal
+    Government to coerce the State, shut up her ports, destroy or harass
+    her commerce, or to enforce the acts hereby declared to be null and
+    void, otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as
+    inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Carolina in the
+    Union; and that the people of this State will thenceforth hold
+    themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or
+    preserve their political connection with the people of the other
+    States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government
+    and to do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent
+    states may of right do.
+
+This solemn denunciation of the laws and authority of the United States
+has been followed up by a series of acts on the part of the authorities
+of that State which manifest a determination to render inevitable a
+resort to those measures of self-defense which the paramount duty of the
+Federal Government requires, but upon the adoption of which that State
+will proceed to execute the purpose it has avowed in this ordinance of
+withdrawing from the Union.
+
+On the 27th of November the legislature assembled at Columbia, and on
+their meeting the governor laid before them the ordinance of the
+convention. In his message on that occasion he acquaints them that "this
+ordinance has thus become a part of the fundamental law of South
+Carolina;" that "the die has been at last cast, and South Carolina has
+at length appealed to her ulterior sovereignty as a member of this
+Confederacy and has planted herself on her reserved rights. The rightful
+exercise of this power is not a question which we shall any longer
+argue. It is sufficient that she has willed it, and that the act is
+done; nor is its strict compatibility with our constitutional obligation
+to all laws passed by the General Government within the authorized
+grants of power to be drawn in question when this interposition is
+exerted in a case in which the compact has been palpably, deliberately,
+and dangerously violated. That it brings up a conjuncture of deep and
+momentous interest is neither to be concealed nor denied. This crisis
+presents a class of duties which is referable to yourselves. You have
+been commanded by the people in their highest sovereignty to take care
+that within the limits of this State their will shall be obeyed." "The
+measure of legislation," he says, "which you have to employ at this
+crisis is the precise amount of such enactments as may be necessary to
+render it utterly impossible to collect within our limits the duties
+imposed by the protective tariffs thus nullified."
+
+He proceeds:
+
+    That you should arm every citizen with a civil process by which he
+    may claim, if he pleases, a restitution of his goods seized under
+    the existing imposts on his giving security to abide the issue of a
+    suit at law, and at the same time define what shall constitute
+    treason against the State, and by a bill of pains and penalties
+    compel obedience and punish disobedience to your own laws, are
+    points too obvious to require any discussion. In one word, you must
+    survey the whole ground. You must look to and provide for all
+    possible contingencies. In your own limits your own courts of
+    judicature must not only be supreme, but you must look to the
+    ultimate issue of any conflict of jurisdiction and power between
+    them and the courts of the United States.
+
+The governor also asks for power to grant clearances, in violation of
+the laws of the Union; and to prepare for the alternative which must
+happen unless the United States shall passively surrender their
+authority, and the Executive, disregarding his oath, refrain from
+executing the laws of the Union, he recommends a thorough revision of
+the militia system, and that the governor "be authorized to accept for
+the defense of Charleston and its dependencies the services of 2,000
+volunteers, either by companies or files," and that they be formed into
+a legionary brigade consisting of infantry, riflemen, cavalry, field and
+heavy artillery, and that they be "armed and equipped from the public
+arsenals completely for the field, and that appropriations be made for
+supplying all deficiencies in our munitions of war." In addition to
+these volunteer drafts, he recommends that the governor be authorized
+"to accept the services of 10,000 volunteers from the other divisions of
+the State, to be organized and arranged in regiments and brigades, the
+officers to be selected by the commander in chief, and that this whole
+force be called _the State guard_."
+
+A request has been regularly made of the secretary of state of South
+Carolina for authentic copies of the acts which have been passed for the
+purpose of enforcing the ordinance, but up to the date of the latest
+advices that request had not been complied with, and on the present
+occasion, therefore, reference can only be made to those acts as
+published in the newspapers of the State.
+
+The acts to which it is deemed proper to invite the particular attention
+of Congress are:
+
+First. "An act to carry into effect, in part, an ordinance to nullify
+certain acts of the Congress of the United States purporting to be laws
+laying duties on the importation of foreign commodities," passed in
+convention of this State, at Columbia, on the 24th November, 1832.
+
+This act provides that any goods seized or detained under pretense of
+securing the duties, or for the nonpayment of duties, or under any
+process, order, or decree, or other pretext contrary to the intent and
+meaning of the ordinance may be recovered by the owner or consignee by
+"an act of replevin;" that in case of refusing to deliver them, or
+removing them so that the replevin can not be executed, the sheriff may
+seize the personal estate of the offender to double the amount of the
+goods, and if any attempt shall be made to retake or seize them it is
+the duty of the sheriff to recapture them; and that any person who shall
+disobey the process or remove the goods, or anyone who shall attempt to
+retake or seize the goods under pretense of securing the duties, or for
+nonpayment of duties, or under any process or decree contrary to the
+intent of the ordinance, shall be fined and imprisoned, besides being
+liable for any other offense involved in the act.
+
+It also provides that any person arrested or imprisoned on any judgment
+or decree obtained in any Federal court for duties shall be entitled to
+the benefit secured by the habeas corpus act of the State in cases of
+unlawful arrest, and may maintain an action for damages, and that if any
+estate shall be sold under such judgment or decree the sale shall be
+held illegal. It also provides that any jailer who receives a person
+committed on any process or other judicial proceedings to enforce the
+payment of duties, and anyone who hires his house as a jail to receive
+such persons, shall be fined and imprisoned. And, finally, it provides
+that persons paying duties may recover them back with interest.
+
+The next is called "An act to provide for the security and protection of
+the people of the State of South Carolina."
+
+This act provides that if the Government of the United States or any
+officer thereof shall, by the employment of naval or military force,
+attempt to coerce the State of South Carolina into submission to the
+acts of Congress declared by the ordinance null and void, or to resist
+the enforcement of the ordinance or of the laws passed in pursuance
+thereof, or in case of any armed or forcible resistance thereto, the
+governor is authorized to resist the same and to order into service the
+whole or so much of the military force of the State as he may deem
+necessary; and that in case of any overt act of coercion or intention to
+commit the same, manifested by an unusual assemblage of naval or
+military forces in or near the State, or the occurrence of any
+circumstances indicating that armed force is about to be employed
+against the State or in resistance to its laws, the governor is
+authorized to accept the services of such volunteers and call into
+service such portions of the militia as may be required to meet the
+emergency.
+
+The act also provides for accepting the service of the volunteers and
+organizing the militia, embracing all free white males between the ages
+of 16 and 60, and for the purchase of arms, ordnance, and ammunition. It
+also declares that the power conferred on the governor shall be
+applicable to all cases of insurrection or invasion, or imminent danger
+thereof, and to cases where the laws of the State shall be opposed and
+the execution thereof forcibly resisted by combinations too powerful to
+be suppressed by the power vested in the sheriffs and other civil
+officers, and declares it to be the duty of the governor in every such
+case to call forth such portions of the militia and volunteers as may be
+necessary promptly to suppress such combinations and cause the laws of
+the State to be executed.
+
+No. 9 is "An act concerning the oath required by the ordinance passed in
+convention at Columbia on the 24th of November, 1832."
+
+This act prescribes the form of the oath, which is, to obey and execute
+the ordinance and all acts passed by the legislature in pursuance
+thereof, and directs the time and manner of taking it by the officers of
+the State--civil, judiciary, and military.
+
+It is believed that other acts have been passed embracing provisions for
+enforcing the ordinance, but I have not yet been able to procure them.
+
+I transmit, however, a copy of Governor Hamilton's message to the
+legislature of South Carolina; of Governor Hayne's inaugural address to
+the same body, as also of his proclamation, and a general order of the
+governor and commander in chief, dated the 20th of December, giving
+public notice that the services of volunteers will be accepted under the
+act already referred to.
+
+If these measures can not be defeated and overcome by the power
+conferred by the Constitution on the Federal Government, the
+Constitution must be considered as incompetent to its own defense, the
+supremacy of the laws is at an end, and the rights and liberties of the
+citizens can no longer receive protection from the Government of the
+Union. They not only abrogate the acts of Congress commonly called the
+tariff acts of 1828 and 1832, but they prostrate and sweep away at once
+and without exception every act and every part of every act imposing any
+amount whatever of duty on any foreign merchandise, and virtually every
+existing act which has ever been passed authorizing the collection of
+the revenue, including the act of 1816, and also the collection law of
+1799, the constitutionality of which has never been questioned. It is
+not only those duties which are charged to have been imposed for the
+protection of manufactures that are thereby repealed, but all others,
+though laid for the purpose of revenue merely, and upon articles in no
+degree suspected of being objects of protection. The whole revenue
+system of the United States in South Carolina is obstructed and
+overthrown, and the Government is absolutely prohibited from collecting
+any part of the public revenue within the limits of that State.
+Henceforth, not only the citizens of South Carolina and of the United
+States, but the subjects of foreign states may import any description or
+quantity of merchandise into the ports of South Carolina without the
+payment of any duty whatsoever. That State is thus relieved from the
+payment of any part of the public burthens, and duties and imposts are
+not only rendered not uniform throughout the United States, but a direct
+and ruinous preference is given to the ports of that State over those of
+all the other States of the Union, in manifest violation of the positive
+provisions of the Constitution.
+
+In point of duration, also, those aggressions upon the authority of
+Congress which by the ordinance are made part of the fundamental law of
+South Carolina are absolute, indefinite, and without limitation. They
+neither prescribe the period when they shall cease nor indicate any
+conditions upon which those who have thus undertaken to arrest the
+operation of the laws are to retrace their steps and rescind their
+measures. They offer to the United States no alternative but
+unconditional submission. If the scope of the ordinance is to be
+received as the scale of concession, their demands can be satisfied only
+by a repeal of the whole system of revenue laws and by abstaining from
+the collection of any duties and imposts whatsoever.
+
+It is true that in the address to the people of the United States by the
+convention of South Carolina, after announcing "the fixed and final
+determination of the State in relation to the protecting system," they
+say "that it remains for us to submit a plan of taxation in which we
+would be willing to acquiesce in a liberal spirit of concession,
+provided we are met in due time and in a becoming spirit by the States
+interested in manufactures." In the opinion of the convention, an
+equitable plan would be that "the whole list of protected articles
+should be imported free of all duty, and that the revenue derived from
+import duties should be raised exclusively from the unprotected
+articles, or that whenever a duty is imposed upon protected articles
+imported an excise duty of the same rate shall be imposed upon all
+similar articles manufactured in the United States."
+
+The address proceeds to state, however, that "they are willing to make a
+large offering to preserve the Union, and, with a distinct declaration
+that it is a concession on our part, we will consent that the same rate
+of duty may be imposed upon the protected articles that shall be imposed
+upon the unprotected, provided that no more revenue be raised than is
+necessary to meet the demands of the Government for constitutional
+purposes, and provided also that a duty substantially uniform be imposed
+upon all foreign imports."
+
+It is also true that in his message to the legislature, when urging the
+necessity of providing "means of securing their safety by ample
+resources for repelling force by force," the governor of South Carolina
+observes that he "can not but think that on a calm and dispassionate
+review by Congress and the functionaries of the General Government of
+the true merits of this controversy the arbitration by a call of a
+convention of all the States, which we sincerely and anxiously seek and
+desire, will be accorded to us."
+
+From the diversity of terms indicated in these two important documents,
+taken in connection with the progress of recent events in that quarter,
+there is too much reason to apprehend, without in any manner doubting
+the intentions of those public functionaries, that neither the terms
+proposed in the address of the convention nor those alluded to in the
+message of the governor would appease the excitement which has led to
+the present excesses. It is obvious, however, that should the latter be
+insisted on they present an alternative which the General Government of
+itself can by no possibility grant, since by an express provision of the
+Constitution Congress can call a convention for the purpose of proposing
+amendments only "on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of
+the States." And it is not perceived that the terms presented in the
+address are more practicable than those referred to in the message.
+
+It will not escape attention that the conditions on which it is said in
+the address of the convention they "would be willing to acquiesce" form
+no part of the ordinance. While this ordinance bears all the solemnity
+of a fundamental law, is to be authoritative upon all within the limits
+of South Carolina, and is absolute and unconditional in its terms, the
+address conveys only the sentiments of the convention, in no binding or
+practical form; one is the act of the State, the other only the
+expression of the opinions of the members of the convention. To limit
+the effect of that solemn act by any terms or conditions whatever, they
+should have been embodied in it, and made of import no less
+authoritative than the act itself. By the positive enactments of the
+ordinance the execution of the laws of the Union is absolutely
+prohibited, and the address offers no other prospect of their being
+again restored, even in the modified form proposed, than what depends
+upon the improbable contingency that amid changing events and increasing
+excitement the sentiments of the present members of the convention and
+of their successors will remain the same.
+
+It is to be regretted, however, that these conditions, even if they had
+been offered in the same binding form, are so undefined, depend upon so
+many contingencies, and are so directly opposed to the known opinions
+and interests of the great body of the American people as to be almost
+hopeless of attainment. The majority of the States and of the people
+will certainly not consent that the protecting duties shall be wholly
+abrogated, never to be reenacted at any future time or in any possible
+contingency. As little practicable is it to provide that "the same rate
+of duty shall be imposed upon the protected articles that shall be
+imposed upon the unprotected," which, moreover, would be severely
+oppressive to the poor, and in time of war would add greatly to its
+rigors. And though there can be no objection to the principle, properly
+understood, that no more revenue shall be raised than is necessary for
+the constitutional purposes of the Government, which principle has been
+already recommended by the Executive as the true basis of taxation, yet
+it is very certain that South Carolina alone can not be permitted to
+decide what these constitutional purposes are.
+
+The period which constitutes the due time in which the terms proposed in
+the address are to be accepted would seem to present scarcely less
+difficulty than the terms themselves. Though the revenue laws are
+already declared to be void in South Carolina, as well as the bonds
+taken under them and the judicial proceedings for carrying them into
+effect, yet as the full action and operation of the ordinance are to be
+suspended until the 1st of February the interval may be assumed as the
+time within which it is expected that the most complicated portion of
+the national legislation, a system of long standing and affecting great
+interests in the community, is to be rescinded and abolished. If this be
+required, it is clear that a compliance is impossible.
+
+In the uncertainty, then, that exists as to the duration of the
+ordinance and of the enactments for enforcing it, it becomes imperiously
+the duty of the Executive of the United States, acting with a proper
+regard to all the great interests committed to his care, to treat those
+acts as absolute and unlimited. They are so as far as his agency is
+concerned. He can not either embrace or lead to the performance of the
+conditions. He has already discharged the only part in his power by the
+recommendation in his annual message. The rest is with Congress and the
+people, and until they have acted his duty will require him to look to
+the existing state of things and act under them according to his high
+obligations.
+
+By these various proceedings, therefore, the State of South Carolina has
+forced the General Government, unavoidably, to decide the new and
+dangerous alternative of permitting a State to obstruct the execution of
+the laws within its limits or seeing it attempt to execute a threat of
+withdrawing from the Union. That portion of the people at present
+exercising the authority of the State solemnly assert their right to do
+either and as solemnly announce their determination to do one or the
+other.
+
+In my opinion, both purposes are to be regarded as revolutionary in
+their character and tendency, and subversive of the supremacy of the
+laws and of the integrity of the Union. The result of each is the same,
+since a State in which, by an usurpation of power, the constitutional
+authority of the Federal Government is openly defied and set aside wants
+only the form to be independent of the Union.
+
+The right of the people of a single State to absolve themselves at will
+and without the consent of the other States from their most solemn
+obligations, and hazard the liberties and happiness of the millions
+composing this Union, can not be acknowledged. Such authority is
+believed to be utterly repugnant both to the principles upon which the
+General Government is constituted and to the objects which it is
+expressly formed to attain.
+
+Against all acts which may be alleged to transcend the constitutional
+power of the Government, or which may be inconvenient or oppressive in
+their operation, the Constitution itself has prescribed the modes of
+redress. It is the acknowledged attribute of free institutions that
+under them the empire of reason and law is substituted for the power of
+the sword. To no other source can appeals for supposed wrongs be made
+consistently with the obligations of South Carolina; to no other can
+such appeals be made with safety at any time; and to their decisions,
+when constitutionally pronounced, it becomes the duty no less of the
+public authorities than of the people in every case to yield a patriotic
+submission.
+
+That a State or any other great portion of the people, suffering under
+long and intolerable oppression and having tried all constitutional
+remedies without the hope of redress, may have a natural right, when
+their happiness can be no otherwise secured, and when they can do so
+without greater injury to others, to absolve themselves from their
+obligations to the Government and appeal to the last resort, needs not
+on the present occasion be denied.
+
+The existence of this right, however, must depend upon the causes which
+may justify its exercise. It is the _ultima ratio_, which presupposes
+that the proper appeals to all other means of redress have been made in
+good faith, and which can never be rightfully resorted to unless it be
+unavoidable. It is not the right of the State, but of the individual,
+and of all the individuals in the State. It is the right of mankind
+generally to secure by all means in their power the blessings of liberty
+and happiness; but when for these purposes any body of men have
+voluntarily associated themselves under a particular form of government,
+no portion of them can dissolve the association without acknowledging
+the correlative right in the remainder to decide whether that
+dissolution can be permitted consistently with the general happiness. In
+this view it is a right dependent upon the power to enforce it. Such a
+right, though it may be admitted to preexist and can not be wholly
+surrendered, is necessarily subjected to limitations in all free
+governments, and in compacts of all kinds freely and voluntarily entered
+into, and in which the interest and welfare of the individual become
+identified with those of the community of which he is a member. In
+compacts between individuals, however deeply they may affect their
+relations, these principles are acknowledged to create a sacred
+obligation; and in compacts of civil government, involving the liberties
+and happiness of millions of mankind, the obligation can not be less.
+
+Without adverting to the particular theories to which the federal
+compact has given rise, both as to its formation and the parties to it,
+and without inquiring whether it be merely federal or social or
+national, it is sufficient that it must be admitted to be a compact and
+to possess the obligations incident to a compact; to be "a compact by
+which power is created on the one hand and obedience exacted on the
+other; a compact freely, voluntarily, and solemnly entered into by the
+several States and ratified by the people thereof, respectively; a
+compact by which the several States and the people thereof,
+respectively, have bound themselves to each other and to the Federal
+Government, and by which the Federal Government is bound to the several
+States and to every citizen of the United States." To this compact, in
+whatever mode it may have been done, the people of South Carolina have
+freely and voluntarily given their assent, and to the whole and every
+part of it they are, upon every principle of good faith, inviolably
+bound. Under this obligation they are bound and should be required to
+contribute their portion of the public expense, and to submit to all
+laws made by the common consent, in pursuance of the Constitution, for
+the common defense and general welfare, until they can be changed in the
+mode which the compact has provided for the attainment of those great
+ends of the Government and of the Union. Nothing less than causes which
+would justify revolutionary remedy can absolve the people from this
+obligation, and for nothing less can the Government permit it to be done
+without violating its own obligations, by which, under the compact, it
+is bound to the other States and to every citizen of the United States.
+
+These deductions plainly flow from the nature of the federal compact,
+which is one of limitations, not only upon the powers originally
+possessed by the parties thereto, but also upon those conferred on the
+Government and every department thereof. It will be freely conceded that
+by the principles of our system all power is vested in the people, but
+to be exercised in the mode and subject to the checks which the people
+themselves have prescribed. These checks are undoubtedly only different
+modifications of the same great popular principle which lies at the
+foundation of the whole, but are not on that account to be less regarded
+or less obligatory.
+
+Upon the power of Congress, the veto of the Executive and the authority
+of the judiciary, which is to extend to all cases in law and equity
+arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States made in
+pursuance thereof, are the obvious checks, and the sound action of
+public opinion, with the ultimate power of amendment, are the salutary
+and only limitation upon the powers of the whole.
+
+However it may be alleged that a violation of the compact by the
+measures of the Government can affect the obligations of the parties, it
+can not even be pretended that such violation can be predicated of those
+measures until all the constitutional remedies shall have been fully
+tried. If the Federal Government exercise powers not warranted by the
+Constitution, and immediately affecting individuals, it will scarcely be
+denied that the proper remedy is a recourse to the judiciary. Such
+undoubtedly is the remedy for those who deem the acts of Congress laying
+duties and imposts, and providing for their collection, to be
+unconstitutional. The whole operation of such laws is upon the
+individuals importing the merchandise. A State is absolutely prohibited
+from laying imposts or duties on imports or exports without the consent
+of Congress, and can not become a party under these laws without
+importing in her own name or wrongfully interposing her authority
+against them. By thus interposing, however, she can not rightfully
+obstruct the operation of the laws upon individuals. For their
+disobedience to or violation of the laws the ordinary remedies through
+the judicial tribunals would remain. And in a case where an individual
+should be prosecuted for any offense against the laws, he could not set
+up in justification of his act a law of the State, which, being
+unconstitutional, would therefore be regarded as null and void. The law
+of a State can not authorize the commission of a crime against the
+United States or any other act which, according to the supreme law of
+the Union, would be otherwise unlawful; and it is equally clear that if
+there be any case in which a State, as such, is affected by the law
+beyond the scope of judicial power, the remedy consists in appeals to
+the people, either to effect a change in the representation or to
+procure relief by an amendment of the Constitution. But the measures of
+the Government are to be recognized as valid, and consequently supreme,
+until these remedies shall have been effectually tried, and any attempt
+to subvert those measures or to render the laws subordinate to State
+authority, and afterwards to resort to constitutional redress, is worse
+than evasive. It would not be a proper resistance to "_a government of
+unlimited powers_," as has been sometimes pretended, but unlawful
+opposition to the very limitations on which the harmonious action of the
+Government and all its parts absolutely depends. South Carolina has
+appealed to none of these remedies, but in effect has defied them all.
+While threatening to separate from the Union if any attempt be made to
+enforce the revenue laws otherwise than through the civil tribunals of
+the country, she has not only not appealed in her own name to those
+tribunals which the Constitution has provided for all cases in law or
+equity arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, but
+has endeavored to frustrate their proper action on her citizens by
+drawing the cognizance of cases under the revenue laws to her own
+tribunals, specially prepared and fitted for the purpose of enforcing
+the acts passed by the State to obstruct those laws, and both the judges
+and jurors of which will be bound by the import of oaths previously
+taken to treat the Constitution and laws of the United States in this
+respect as a nullity. Nor has the State made the proper appeal to public
+opinion and to the remedy of amendment; for without waiting to learn
+whether the other States will consent to a convention, or if they do
+will construe or amend the Constitution to suit her views, she has of
+her own authority altered the import of that instrument and given
+immediate effect to the change. In fine, she has set her own will and
+authority above the laws, has made herself arbiter in her own cause, and
+has passed at once over all intermediate steps to measures of avowed
+resistance, which, unless they be submitted to, can be enforced only by
+the sword.
+
+In deciding upon the course which a high sense of duty to all the people
+of the United States imposes upon the authorities of the Union in this
+emergency, it can not be overlooked that there is no sufficient cause
+for the acts of South Carolina, or for her thus placing in jeopardy the
+happiness of so many millions of people. Misrule and oppression, to
+warrant the disruption of the free institutions of the Union of these
+States, should be great and lasting, defying all other remedy. For
+causes of minor character the Government could not submit to such a
+catastrophe without a violation of its most sacred obligations to the
+other States of the Union who have submitted their destiny to its hands.
+
+There is in the present instance no such cause, either in the degree of
+misrule or oppression complained of or in the hopelessness of redress by
+constitutional means. The long sanction they have received from the
+proper authorities and from the people, not less than the unexampled
+growth and increasing prosperity of so many millions of freemen, attest
+that no such oppression as would justify, or even palliate, such a
+resort can be justly imputed either to the present policy or past
+measures of the Federal Government.
+
+The same mode of collecting duties, and for the same general objects,
+which began with the foundation of the Government, and which has
+conducted the country through its subsequent steps to its present
+enviable condition of happiness and renown, has not been changed.
+Taxation and representation, the great principle of the American
+Revolution, have continually gone hand in hand, and at all times and in
+every instance no tax of any kind has been imposed without their
+participation, and, in some instances which have been complained of,
+with the express assent of a part of the representatives of South
+Carolina in the councils of the Government. Up to the present period no
+revenue has been raised beyond the necessary wants of the country and
+the authorized expenditures of the Government; and as soon as the
+burthen of the public debt is removed those charged with the
+administration have promptly recommended a corresponding reduction of
+revenue.
+
+That this system thus pursued has resulted in no such oppression upon
+South Carolina needs no other proof than the solemn and official
+declaration of the late chief magistrate of that State in his address to
+the legislature. In that he says that--
+
+    The occurrences of the past year, in connection with our domestic
+    concerns, are to be reviewed with a sentiment of fervent gratitude
+    to the Great Disposer of Human Events; that tributes of grateful
+    acknowledgment are due for the various and multiplied blessings He
+    has been pleased to bestow on our people; that abundant harvests in
+    every quarter of the State have crowned the exertions of
+    agricultural labor; that health almost beyond former precedent has
+    blessed our homes, and that there is not less reason for
+    thankfulness in surveying our social condition.
+
+It would indeed be difficult to imagine oppression where in the social
+condition of a people there was equal cause of thankfulness as for
+abundant harvests and varied and multiplied blessings with which a kind
+Providence had favored them.
+
+Independently of these considerations, it will not escape observation
+that South Carolina still claims to be a component part of the Union, to
+participate in the national councils and to share in the public benefits
+without contributing to the public burdens, thus asserting the dangerous
+anomaly of continuing in an association without acknowledging any other
+obligation to its laws than what depends upon her own will.
+
+In this posture of affairs the duty of the Government seems to be plain.
+It inculcates a recognition of that State as a member of the Union and
+subject to its authority, a vindication of the just power of the
+Constitution, the preservation of the integrity of the Union, and the
+execution of the laws by all constitutional means.
+
+The Constitution, which his oath of office obliges him to support,
+declares that the Executive "_shall take care that the laws be
+faithfully executed_" and in providing that he shall from time to time
+give to Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to
+their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
+expedient, imposes the additional obligation of recommending to Congress
+such more efficient provision for executing the laws as may from time to
+time be found requisite.
+
+The same instrument confers on Congress the power not merely to lay and
+collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and
+provide for the common defense and general welfare, but "to make all
+laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into effect the
+foregoing powers and all other powers vested by the Constitution in the
+Government of the United States or in any department or officer
+thereof," and also to provide for calling forth the militia for
+executing the laws of the Union. In all cases similar to the present the
+duties of the Government become the measure of its powers, and whenever
+it fails to exercise a power necessary and proper to the discharge of
+the duty prescribed by the Constitution it violates the public trusts
+not less than it would in transcending its proper limits. To refrain,
+therefore, from the high and solemn duties thus enjoined, however
+painful the performance may be, and thereby tacitly permit the rightful
+authority of the Government to be contemned and its laws obstructed by a
+single State, would neither comport with its own safety nor the rights
+of the great body of the American people.
+
+It being thus shown to be the duty of the Executive to execute the laws
+by all constitutional means, it remains to consider the extent of those
+already at his disposal and what it may be proper further to provide.
+
+In the instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury to the collectors
+in South Carolina the provisions and regulations made by the act of
+1799, and also the fines, penalties, and forfeitures for their
+enforcement, are particularly detailed and explained. It may be well
+apprehended, however, that these provisions may prove inadequate to meet
+such an open, powerful, organized opposition as is to be commenced after
+the 1st of February next.
+
+Subsequently to the date of these instructions and to the passage of the
+ordinance, information has been received from sources entitled to be
+relied on that owing to the popular excitement in the State and the
+effect of the ordinance declaring the execution of the revenue laws
+unlawful a sufficient number of persons in whom confidence might be
+placed could not be induced to accept the office of inspector to oppose
+with any probability of success the force which will no doubt be used
+when an attempt is made to remove vessels and their cargoes from the
+custody of the officers of the customs, and, indeed, that it would be
+impracticable for the collector, with the aid of any number of
+inspectors whom he may be authorized to employ, to preserve the custody
+against such an attempt.
+
+The removal of the custom-house from Charleston to Castle Pinckney was
+deemed a measure of necessary precaution, and though the authority to
+give that direction is not questioned, it is nevertheless apparent that
+a similar precaution can not be observed in regard to the ports of
+Georgetown and Beaufort, each of which under the present laws remains a
+port of entry and exposed to the obstructions meditated in that quarter.
+
+In considering the best means of avoiding or of preventing the
+apprehended obstruction to the collection of the revenue, and the
+consequences which may ensue, it would appear to be proper and necessary
+to enable the officers of the customs to preserve the custody of vessels
+and their cargoes, which by the existing laws they are required to take,
+until the duties to which they are liable shall be paid or secured. The
+mode by which it is contemplated to deprive them of that custody is the
+process of replevin and that of _capias in withernam_, in the nature of
+a distress from the State tribunals organized by the ordinance.
+
+Against the proceeding in the nature of a distress it is not perceived
+that the collector can interpose any resistance whatever, and against
+the process of replevin authorized by the law of the State he, having no
+common-law power, can only oppose such inspectors as he is by statute
+authorized and may find it practicable to employ, and these, from the
+information already adverted to, are shown to be wholly inadequate,
+
+The respect which that process deserves must therefore be considered.
+
+If the authorities of South Carolina had not obstructed the legitimate
+action of the courts of the United States, or if they had permitted the
+State tribunals to administer the law according to their oath under the
+Constitution and the regulations of the laws of the Union, the General
+Government might have been content to look to them for maintaining the
+custody and to encounter the other inconveniences arising out of the
+recent proceedings. Even in that case, however, the process of replevin
+from the courts of the State would be irregular and unauthorized. It has
+been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that the courts
+of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction of all seizures made on
+land or water for a breach of the laws of the United States, and any
+intervention of a State authority which, by taking the thing seized out
+of the hands of the United States officer, might obstruct the exercise
+of this jurisdiction is unlawful; that in such case the court of the
+United States having cognizance of the seizure may enforce a redelivery
+of the thing by attachment or other summary process; that the question
+under such a seizure whether a forfeiture has been actually incurred
+belongs exclusively to the courts of the United States, and it depends
+on the final decree whether the seizure is to be deemed rightful or
+tortuous; and that not until the seizure be finally judged wrongful and
+without probable cause by the courts of the United States can the party
+proceed at common law for damages in the State courts.
+
+But by making it "unlawful for any of the constituted authorities,
+whether of the United States or of the State, to enforce the laws for
+the payment of duties, and declaring that all judicial proceedings which
+shall be hereafter had in affirmance of the contracts made with purpose
+to secure the duties imposed by the said acts are and shall be held
+utterly null and void," she has in effect abrogated the judicial
+tribunals within her limits in this respect, has virtually denied the
+United States access to the courts established by their own laws, and
+declared it unlawful for the judges to discharge those duties which they
+are sworn to perform. In lieu of these she has substituted those State
+tribunals already adverted to, the judges whereof are not merely
+forbidden to allow an appeal or permit a copy of their record, but are
+previously sworn to disregard the laws of the Union and enforce those
+only of South Carolina, and thus deprived of the function essential to
+the judicial character of inquiring into the validity of the law and the
+right of the matter, become merely ministerial instruments in aid of the
+concerted obstruction of the laws of the Union.
+
+Neither the process nor authority of these tribunals thus constituted
+can be respected consistently with the supremacy of the laws or the
+rights and security of the citizen. If they be submitted to, the
+protection due from the Government to its officers and citizens is
+withheld, and there is at once an end not only to the laws, but to the
+Union itself.
+
+Against such a force as the sheriff may, and which by the replevin law
+of South Carolina it is his duty to exercise, it can not be expected
+that a collector can retain his custody with the aid of the inspectors.
+In such case, it is true, it would be competent to institute suits in
+the United States courts against those engaged in the unlawful
+proceeding, or the property might be seized for a violation of the
+revenue laws, and, being libeled in the proper courts, an order might be
+made for its redelivery, which would be committed to the marshal for
+execution. But in that case the fourth section of the act, in broad and
+unqualified terms, makes it the duty of the sheriff "to prevent such
+recapture or seizure, or to redeliver the goods, as the case may be,"
+"even under any process, order, or decrees, or other pretext contrary to
+the true intent and meaning of the ordinance aforesaid." It is thus made
+the duty of the sheriff to oppose the process of the courts of the
+United States, and for that purpose, if need be, to employ the whole
+power of the county. And the act expressly reserves to him all power
+which, independently of its provisions, he could have used. In this
+reservation it obviously contemplates a resort to other means than those
+particularly mentioned.
+
+It is not to be disguised that the power which it is thus enjoined upon
+the sheriff to employ is nothing less than the _posse comitatus_ in all
+the rigor of the ancient common law. This power, though it may be used
+against unlawful resistance to judicial process, is in its character
+forcible, and analogous to that conferred upon the marshals by the act
+of 1795. It is, in fact, the embodying of the whole mass of the
+population, under the command of a single individual, to accomplish by
+their forcible aid what could not be effected peaceably and by the
+ordinary means. It may properly be said to be a relic of those ages in
+which the laws could be defended rather by physical than moral force,
+and in its origin was conferred upon the sheriffs of England to enable
+them to defend their county against any of the King's enemies when they
+came into the land, as well as for the purpose of executing process. In
+early and less civilized times it was intended to include "the aid and
+attendance of all knights and others who were bound to have harness." It
+includes the right of going with arms and military equipment, and
+embraces larger classes and greater masses of population than can be
+compelled by the laws of most of the States to perform militia duty. If
+the principles of the common law are recognized in South Carolina (and
+from this act it would seem they are), the power of summoning the _posse
+comitatus_ will compel, under the penalty of fine and imprisonment,
+every man over the age of 15, and able to travel, to turn out at the
+call of the sheriff, and with such weapons as may be necessary; and it
+may justify beating, and even killing, such as may resist. The use of
+the _posse comitatus_ is therefore a direct application of force, and
+can not be otherwise regarded than as the employment of the whole
+militia force of the county, and in an equally efficient form under a
+different name. No proceeding which resorts to this power to the extent
+contemplated by the act can be properly denominated peaceable.
+
+The act of South Carolina, however, does not rely altogether upon this
+forcible remedy. For even attempting to resist or disobey, though by the
+aid only of the ordinary officers of the customs, the process of
+replevin, the collector and all concerned are subjected to a further
+proceeding in the nature of a distress of their personal effects, and
+are, moreover, made guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to be punished
+by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 and to
+imprisonment not exceeding two years and not less than six months; and
+for even attempting to execute the order of the court for retaking the
+property the marshal and all assisting would be guilty of a misdemeanor
+and liable to a fine of not less than $3,000 nor more than $10,000 and
+to imprisonment not exceeding two years nor less than one: and in case
+the goods should be retaken under such process it is made the absolute
+duty of the sheriff to retake them.
+
+It is not to be supposed that in the face of these penalties, aided by
+the powerful force of the county, which would doubtless be brought to
+sustain the State officers, either that the collector would retain the
+custody in the first instance or that the marshal could summon
+sufficient aid to retake the property pursuant to the order or other
+process of the court.
+
+It is, moreover, obvious that in this conflict between the powers of the
+officers of the United States and of the State (unless the latter be
+passively submitted to) the destruction to which the property of the
+officers of the customs would be exposed, the commission of actual
+violence, and the loss of lives would be scarcely avoidable.
+
+Under these circumstances and the provisions of the acts of South
+Carolina the execution of the laws is rendered impracticable even
+through the ordinary judicial tribunals of the United States. There
+would certainly be fewer difficulties, and less opportunity of actual
+collision between the officers of the United States and of the State,
+and the collection of the revenue would be more effectually secured--if,
+indeed, it can be done in any other way--by placing the custom-house
+beyond the immediate power of the county.
+
+For this purpose it might be proper to provide that whenever by any
+unlawful combination or obstruction in any State or in any port it
+should become impracticable faithfully to collect the duties, the
+President of the United States should be authorized to alter and abolish
+such of the districts and ports of entry as should be necessary, and to
+establish the custom-house at some secure place within some port or
+harbor of such State; and in such cases it should be the duty of the
+collector to reside at such place, and to detain all vessels and cargoes
+until the duties imposed by law should be properly secured or paid in
+cash, deducting interest; that in such cases it should be unlawful to
+take the vessel and cargo from the custody of the proper officer of the
+customs unless by process from the ordinary judicial tribunals of the
+United States, and that in case of an attempt otherwise to take the
+property by a force too great to be overcome by the officers of the
+customs it should be lawful to protect the possession of the officers by
+the employment of the land and naval forces and militia, under
+provisions similar to those authorized by the eleventh section of the
+act of the 9th of January, 1809.
+
+This provision, however, would not shield the officers and citizens of
+the United States, acting under the laws, from suits and prosecutions in
+the tribunals of the State which might thereafter be brought against
+them, nor would it protect their property from the proceeding by
+distress, and it may well be apprehended that it would be insufficient
+to insure a proper respect to the process of the constitutional
+tribunals in prosecutions for offenses against the United States and to
+protect the authorities of the United States, whether judicial or
+ministerial, in the performance of their duties. It would, moreover, be
+inadequate to extend the protection due from the Government to that
+portion of the people of South Carolina against outrage and oppression
+of any kind who may manifest their attachment and yield obedience to the
+laws of the Union.
+
+It may therefore be desirable to revive, with some modifications better
+adapted to the occasion, the sixth section of the act of the 3d March,
+1815, which expired on the 4th March, 1817, by the limitation of that of
+27th April, 1816, and to provide that in any case where suit shall be
+brought against any individual in the courts of the State for any act
+done under the laws of the United States he should be authorized to
+remove the said cause by petition into the circuit court of the United
+States without any copy of the record, and that the court should proceed
+to hear and determine the same as if it had been originally instituted
+therein; and that in all cases of injuries to the persons or property of
+individuals for disobedience to the ordinance and laws of South Carolina
+in pursuance thereof redress may be sought in the courts of the United
+States. It may be expedient also, by modifying the resolution of the 3d
+March, 1791, to authorize the marshals to make the necessary provision
+for the safe-keeping of prisoners committed under the authority of the
+United States.
+
+Provisions less than these, consisting as they do for the most part
+rather of a revival of the policy of former acts called for by the
+existing emergency than of the introduction of any unusual or rigorous
+enactments, would not cause the laws of the Union to be properly
+respected or enforced. It is believed these would prove adequate unless
+the military forces of the State of South Carolina authorized by the
+late act of the legislature should be actually embodied and called out
+in aid of their proceedings and of the provisions of the ordinance
+generally. Even in that case, however, it is believed that no more will
+be necessary than a few modifications of its terms to adapt the act of
+1795 to the present emergency, as by that act the provisions of the law
+of 1792 were accommodated to the crisis then existing, and by conferring
+authority upon the President to give it operation during the session of
+Congress, and without the ceremony of a proclamation, whenever it shall
+be officially made known to him by the authority of any State, or by the
+courts of the United States, that within the limits of such State the
+laws of the United States will be openly opposed and their execution
+obstructed by the actual employment of military force, or by any
+unlawful means whatsoever too great to be otherwise overcome.
+
+In closing this communication, I should do injustice to my own feelings
+not to express my confident reliance upon the disposition of each
+department of the Government to perform its duty and to cooperate in all
+measures necessary in the present emergency.
+
+The crisis undoubtedly invokes the fidelity of the patriot and the
+sagacity of the statesman, not more in removing such portion of the
+public burden as may be necessary than in preserving the good order of
+society and in the maintenance of well-regulated liberty.
+
+While a forbearing spirit may, and I trust will, be exercised toward the
+errors of our brethren in a particular quarter, duty to the rest of the
+Union demands that open and organized resistance to the laws should not
+be executed with impunity.
+
+The rich inheritance bequeathed by our fathers has devolved upon us the
+sacred obligation of preserving it by the same virtues which conducted
+them through the eventful scenes of the Revolution and ultimately
+crowned their struggle with the noblest model of civil institutions.
+They bequeathed to us a Government of laws and a Federal Union founded
+upon the great principle of popular representation. After a successful
+experiment of forty-four years, at a moment when the Government and the
+Union are the objects of the hopes of the friends of civil liberty
+throughout the world, and in the midst of public and individual
+prosperity unexampled in history, we are called to decide whether these
+laws possess any force and that Union the means of self-preservation.
+The decision of this question by an enlightened and patriotic people can
+not be doubtful. For myself, fellow-citizens, devoutly relying upon that
+kind Providence which has hitherto watched over our destinies, and
+actuated by a profound reverence for those institutions I have so much
+cause to love, and for the American people, whose partiality honored me
+with their highest trust, I have determined to spare no effort to
+discharge the duty which in this conjuncture is devolved upon me. That a
+similar spirit will actuate the representatives of the American people
+is not to be questioned; and I fervently pray that the Great Ruler of
+Nations may so guide your deliberations and our joint measures as that
+they may prove salutary examples not only to the present but to future
+times, and solemnly proclaim that the Constitution and the laws are
+supreme and the _Union indissoluble_.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 16, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In conformity with a resolution of the Senate of the 31st December last,
+I herewith transmit copies of the instructions under which the late
+treaty of indemnity with Naples was negotiated, and of all the
+correspondence relative thereto.
+
+It will appear evident from a perusal of some of those documents that
+they are written by the agents of the United States to their own
+Government with a freedom, as far as relates to the officers of that of
+Naples, which was never intended for the public eye, and as they might,
+if printed, accidentally find their way abroad and thereby embarrass our
+ministers in their future operations in foreign countries, I
+respectfully recommend that in the printing, if deemed necessary, such a
+discrimination be made as to avoid that inconvenience, preferring this
+course to withholding from the Senate any part of the correspondence.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 17, 1833_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+In conformity with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
+11th December last, I herewith transmit "such portions as have not
+heretofore been communicated of the instructions given to our ministers
+in France on the subject of claims for spoliations since September,
+1800, and of the correspondence of said ministers with the French
+Government and with the Secretary of State of the United States on the
+same subject."
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 22, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+Having received on yesterday certified copies of the acts passed by the
+State of South Carolina to carry into effect her ordinance of
+nullification, which were referred to in my message of the 16th instant
+to Congress, I now transmit them.
+
+As but one copy of these acts was sent to me, I am prevented from
+communicating them by a joint message to the two Houses of Congress.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1833_.
+_The President of the Senate_:
+
+A treaty of peace, friendship, and amity between the United States and
+the King of the Belgians having this day been concluded by the
+plenipotentiaries of the respective countries, I herewith transmit it to
+the Senate for its consideration.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit to the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of
+State, with a list of appointments made by the Executive since the 13th
+of April, 1826, from members of Congress during their term of service
+and for twelve months thereafter, pursuant to the resolution of the said
+House of the 26th of December, 1832, which I referred to him, and which
+appointments are recorded in his office. I send likewise a list of
+similar appointments, also furnished by the Secretary of State and of
+record in his office, from the 3d of March, 1825, to the 13th of April,
+1826.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_January 23, 1833_.
+
+
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I send herewith a convention concluded on the 14th day of October last
+between the United States and His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies.
+This treaty has been ratified by me agreeably to the Constitution, and
+the ratification will be dispatched to Naples without delay, when there
+is no doubt it will be ratified by His Sicilian Majesty.
+
+The early communication of this treaty is deemed proper because it will
+be necessary to provide for the execution of the first article in order
+that our fellow-citizens may with as little delay as possible obtain the
+compensation stipulated for by this convention.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_January 24, 1833_.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 25, 1833_.
+_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, the report of the
+officer to whom was intrusted the inspection of the works for the
+improvement of the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _January 29, 1833_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the
+Postmaster-General, which I request may be considered as forming a part
+of my message of the 23d instant, in answer to the resolution calling
+for a list of all appointments made by the Executive since the 13th
+April, 1826, from the members of Congress during their term of service
+and for twelve months thereafter, etc.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 7, 1833_.
+_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from the
+Secretary of State, on the subject of our diplomatic intercourse with
+foreign nations.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with the resolution of the Senate requesting the President
+of the United States to lay before it "copies of the orders which have
+been given to the commanding officers of the military forces assembled
+in and near to the city of Charleston, S.C., and also copies of the
+orders which have been given to the commander of the naval forces
+assembled in the harbor of Charleston, particularly such orders, if any
+such have been given, to resist the constituted authorities of the State
+of South Carolina within the limits of said State," I transmit herewith
+papers, numbered from 1 to 17, inclusive, embracing the orders which
+have been given to the commanding officers of the land and naval forces
+assembled in and near the city of Charleston and within the limits of
+the State of South Carolina, and which relate to the military operations
+in that quarter. No order has at any time been given in any manner
+inconsistent therewith. There is a part, however, of the letter of the
+Secretary of War dated December 3, 1832, omitted, which, being
+conditional in its character, and not relating to the operation of the
+troops, it is deemed improper in the present state of the service to
+communicate.
+
+No order has been at any time given "to resist" the constituted
+authorities of the State of South Carolina within the chartered limits
+of said State.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to
+the ratification of the same, a treaty recently concluded between the
+commissioners for adjusting all differences with the Indians west of the
+Mississippi and the mixed band of Shawnese and Senecas who emigrated
+from Ohio. I transmit also the journal of their proceedings.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 15, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to
+the ratification of the same, articles of agreement supplemental to the
+treaty of February 8, 1831, between the commissioner on the part of the
+United States and the Menominee tribe of Indians, with the assent of the
+New York Indians.
+
+I transmit also the journal of proceedings.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 19, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+The renomination of Samuel Gwin to be register of the land office at
+Mount Salus, in the State of Mississippi, having been on the 16th of
+July last laid upon the table of the Senate, with a resolution declaring
+that it was not the intention of the Senate to take any proceeding in
+regard to it during that session, a vacancy in the office was found
+existing in the recess, which the public service required to be filled,
+and which was filled by the appointment of Samuel Gwin. I therefore
+nominate the said Gwin to the same office.
+
+In addition to the papers which were transmitted with his nomination at
+the last session, I have received others from the most respectable
+sources in the State of Mississippi, bearing the fullest testimony to
+his fitness for the office in question. Of this character are the two
+now inclosed, signed by members of the convention recently assembled to
+revise the constitution of the State, and also by many members of its
+present legislature. They also show that the appointment of Mr. Gwin
+would be acceptable to the great body of the people interested in the
+office.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 22, 1833_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the House, a letter from
+General Lafayette to the Secretary of State, with the petition which
+came inclosed in it of the Countess d'Ambrugeac and Madame de la Gorée,
+granddaughter of Marshal Count Rochambeau, and original documents in
+support thereof, praying compensation for services rendered by the Count
+to the United States during the Revolutionary war, together with
+translations of the same; and I transmit with the same view the petition
+of Messrs. De Fontenille de Jeaumont and De Rossignol Grandmont, praying
+compensation for services rendered by them to the United States in the
+French army, and during the same war, with original papers in support
+thereof, all received through the same channel, together with
+translations of the same.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 22, 1833_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I transmit to the Senate, for its advice and consent as to the
+ratification of the same, a treaty of commerce and navigation between
+the United States and Russia, concluded and signed at St. Petersburg on
+the 18th of December, 1832, by the plenipotentiaries of the two parties,
+with an additional article to the same, concluded and signed on the same
+day, together with an extract from the dispatch of the minister of the
+United States at St. Petersburg to the Secretary of State, communicating
+the said treaty and additional article.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _February 26, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate as to the
+ratification of the same, a treaty concluded with the Ottawa Indians
+residing on the Miami of Lake Erie on the 18th instant by the
+commissioners on the part of the United States,
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, a report from
+the Secretary of State, in relation to the consular establishment of the
+United States.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1833_.
+_To the Senate_:
+
+I have made several nominations to offices located within the limits of
+the State of Mississippi which have not received the approbation of the
+Senate. Inferring that these nominations have been rejected in pursuance
+of a resolution adopted by the Senate on the 3d of February, 1831, "that
+it is inexpedient to appoint a citizen of one State to an office which
+may be vacated or become vacant in any other State of the Union within
+which such citizen does not reside, without some evident necessity for
+such appointment," and regarding that resolution, in effect, as an
+unconstitutional restraint upon the authority of the President in
+relation to appointments to office, I think it proper to inform the
+Senate that I shall feel it my duty to abstain from any further attempt
+to fill the offices in question.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_The President of the Senate_:
+
+In compliance with a resolution of the Senate passed the 1st instant,
+requesting "that the President inform the Senate, if not incompatible
+with the public interest, what negotiation has been had since the last
+session of Congress with Great Britain in relation to the northeastern
+boundary of the United States, and the progress and result thereof; also
+whether any arrangement, stipulation, or agreement has at any time been
+made between the Executive of the United States and the government of
+the State of Maine, or by commissioners or agents on the part of the
+United States and that State, having reference to any proposed transfer
+or relinquishment of their right of jurisdiction and territory belonging
+to that State, together with all documents, correspondence, and
+communications in relation thereto," I inform the Senate that overtures
+for opening a negotiation for the settlement of the boundary between the
+United States and the British provinces have been made to the Government
+of Great Britain since the last session, but that no definitive answer
+has yet been received to these propositions, and that a conditional
+arrangement has been made between commissioners appointed by me and
+others named by the governor of Maine, with the authority of its
+legislature, which can not take effect without the sanction of Congress
+and of the legislature aforesaid, and which will be communicated to them
+as soon as the contingency in which alone it was intended to operate
+shall happen. In the meantime it is not deemed compatible with the
+public interest that it should be communicated.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+_March 2, 1833_.
+
+
+
+
+VETO MESSAGES.[16]
+
+[Footnote 16: Pocket vetoes.]
+
+
+WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1832_.
+_To the Senate of the United States_:
+
+I avail myself of this early opportunity to return to the Senate, in
+which it originated, the bill entitled "An act providing for the final
+settlement of the claims of States for interest on advances to the
+United States made during the last war," with the reasons which induced
+me to withhold my approbation, in consequence of which it has failed to
+become a law.
+
+This bill was presented to me for my signature on the last day of your
+session, and when I was compelled to consider a variety of other bills
+of greater urgency to the public service. It obviously embraced a
+principle in the allowance of interest different from that which had
+been sanctioned by the practice of the accounting officers or by the
+previous legislation of Congress in regard to the advances by the
+States, and without any apparent grounds for the change.
+
+Previously to giving my sanction to so great an extension of the
+practice of allowing interest upon accounts with the Government, and
+which in its consequences and from analogy might not only call for large
+payments from the Treasury, but disturb the great mass of individual
+accounts long since finally settled, I deemed it my duty to make a more
+thorough investigation of the subject than it was possible for me to do
+previously to the close of your last session. I adopted this course the
+more readily from the consideration that as the bill contained no
+appropriation the States which would have been entitled to claim its
+benefits could not have received them without the fuller legislation of
+Congress.
+
+The principle which this bill authorizes varies not only from the
+practice uniformly adopted by many of the accounting officers in the
+case of individual accounts and in those of the States finally settled
+and closed previously to your last session, but also from that pursued
+under the act of your last session for the adjustment and settlement of
+the claims of the State of South Carolina. This last act prescribed no
+particular mode for the allowance of interest, which, therefore, in
+conformity with the directions of Congress in previous cases and with
+the uniform practice of the Auditor by whom the account was settled, was
+computed on the sums expended by the State of South Carolina for the use
+and benefit of the United States, and which had been repaid to the
+State; and the payments made by the United States were deducted from the
+principal sums, exclusive of the interest, thereby stopping future
+interest on so much of the principal as had been reimbursed by the
+payment.
+
+I deem it proper, moreover, to observe that both under the act of the
+5th of August, 1790, and that of the 12th of February, 1793, authorizing
+the settlement of the accounts between the United States and the
+individual States arising out of the war of the Revolution, the interest
+on those accounts was computed in conformity with the practice already
+adverted to, and from which the bill now returned is a departure.
+
+With these reasons and considerations I return the bill to the Senate.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+_December 6, 1832_.
+_To the House of Representatives_:
+
+In addition to the general views I have heretofore expressed to Congress
+on the subject of internal improvement, it is my duty to advert to it
+again in stating my objections to the bill entitled "An act for the
+improvement of certain harbors and the navigation of certain rivers,"
+which was not received a sufficient time before the close of the last
+session to enable me to examine it before the adjournment.
+
+Having maturely considered that bill within the time allowed me by the
+Constitution, and being convinced that some of its provisions conflict
+with the rule adopted for my guide on this subject of legislation, I
+have been compelled to withhold from it my signature, and it has
+therefore failed to become a law.
+
+To facilitate as far as I can the intelligent action of Congress upon
+the subjects embraced in this bill, I transmit herewith a report from
+the Engineer Department, distinguishing, as far as the information
+within its possession would enable it, between those appropriations
+which do and those which do not conflict with the rules by which my
+conduct in this respect has hitherto been governed. By that report it
+will be seen that there is a class of appropriations in the bill for the
+improvement of streams that are not navigable, that are not channels of
+commerce, and that do not pertain to the harbors or ports of entry
+designated by law, or have any ascertained connection with the usual
+establishments for the security of commerce, external or internal.
+
+It is obvious that such appropriations involve the sanction of a
+principle that concedes to the General Government an unlimited power
+over the subject of internal improvements, and that I could not,
+therefore, approve a bill containing them without receding from the
+positions taken in my veto of the Maysville road bill, and afterwards in
+my annual message of December 6, 1830.
+
+It is to be regretted that the rules by which the classification of the
+improvements in this bill has been made by the Engineer Department are
+not more definite and certain, and that embarrassments may not always be
+avoided by the observance of them, but as neither my own reflection nor
+the lights derived from other sources have furnished me with a better
+guide, I shall continue to apply my best exertions to their application
+and enforcement. In thus employing my best faculties to exercise the
+power with which I am invested to avoid evils and to effect the greatest
+attainable good for our common country I feel that I may trust to your
+cordial cooperation, and the experience of the past leaves me no room to
+doubt the liberal indulgence and favorable consideration of those for
+whom we act.
+
+The grounds upon which I have given my assent to appropriations for the
+construction of light-houses, beacons, buoys, public piers, and the
+removal of sand bars, sawyers, and other temporary or partial
+impediments in our navigable rivers and harbors, and with which many of
+the provisions of this bill correspond, have been so fully stated that I
+trust a repetition of them is unnecessary. Had there been incorporated
+in the bill no provisions for works of a different description,
+depending on principles which extend the power of making appropriations
+to every object which the discretion of the Government may select, and
+losing sight of the distinctions between national and local character
+which I had stated would be my future guide on the subject, I should
+have cheerfully signed the bill.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+
+
+
+PROCLAMATION.
+
+BY ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Whereas a convention assembled in the State of South Carolina have
+passed an ordinance by which they declare "that the several acts and
+parts of acts of the Congress of the United States purporting to be laws
+for the imposing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign
+commodities, and now having actual operation and effect within the
+United States, and more especially" two acts for the same purposes
+passed on the 29th of May, 1828, and on the 14th of July, 1832, "are
+unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States, and violate the
+true meaning and intent thereof, and are null and void and no law," nor
+binding on the citizens of that State or its officers; and by the said
+ordinance it is further declared to be unlawful for any of the
+constituted authorities of the State or of the United States to enforce
+the payment of the duties imposed by the said acts within the same
+State, and that it is the duty of the legislature to pass such laws as
+may be necessary to give full effect to the said ordinance; and
+
+Whereas by the said ordinance it is further ordained that in no case of
+law or equity decided in the courts of said State wherein shall be drawn
+in question the validity of the said ordinance, or of the acts of the
+legislature that may be passed to give it effect, or of the said laws of
+the United States, no appeal shall be allowed to the Supreme Court of
+the United States, nor shall any copy of the record be permitted or
+allowed for that purpose, and that any person attempting to take such
+appeal shall be punished as for contempt of court; and, finally, the
+said ordinance declares that the people of South Carolina will maintain
+the said ordinance at every hazard, and that they will consider the
+passage of any act by Congress abolishing or closing the ports of the
+said State or otherwise obstructing the free ingress or egress of
+vessels to and from the said ports, or any other act of the Federal
+Government to coerce the State, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her
+commerce, or to enforce the said acts otherwise than through the civil
+tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of
+South Carolina in the Union, and that the people of the said State will
+thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to
+maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the
+other States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate
+government and do all other acts and things which sovereign and
+independent states may of right do; and
+
+Whereas the said ordinance prescribes to the people of South Carolina a
+course of conduct in direct violation of their duty as citizens of the
+United States, contrary to the laws of their country, subversive of its
+Constitution, and having for its object the destruction of the
+Union--that Union which, coeval with our political existence, led our
+fathers, without any other ties to unite them than those of patriotism
+and a common cause, through a sanguinary struggle to a glorious
+independence; that sacred Union, hitherto inviolate, which, perfected by
+our happy Constitution, has brought us, by the favor of Heaven, to a
+state of prosperity at home and high consideration abroad rarely, if
+ever, equaled in the history of nations:
+
+To preserve this bond of our political existence from destruction, to
+maintain inviolate this state of national honor and prosperity, and to
+justify the confidence my fellow-citizens have reposed in me, I, Andrew
+Jackson, President of the United States, have thought proper to issue
+this my proclamation, stating my views of the Constitution and laws
+applicable to the measures adopted by the convention of South Carolina
+and to the reasons they have put forth to sustain them, declaring the
+course which duty will require me to pursue, and, appealing to the
+understanding and patriotism of the people, warn them of the
+consequences that must inevitably result from an observance of the
+dictates of the convention.
+
+Strict duty would require of me nothing more than the exercise of those
+powers with which I am now or may hereafter be invested for preserving
+the peace of the Union and for the execution of the laws; but the
+imposing aspect which opposition has assumed in this case, by clothing
+itself with State authority, and the deep interest which the people of
+the United States must all feel in preventing a resort to stronger
+measures while there is a hope that anything will be yielded to
+reasoning and remonstrance, perhaps demand, and will certainly justify,
+a full exposition to South Carolina and the nation of the views I
+entertain of this important question, as well as a distinct enunciation
+of the course which my sense of duty will require me to pursue.
+
+The ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of resisting
+acts which are plainly unconstitutional and too oppressive to be
+endured, but on the strange position that any one State may not only
+declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit its execution; that they
+may do this consistently with the Constitution; that the true
+construction of that instrument permits a State to retain its place in
+the Union and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those it may
+choose to consider as constitutional. It is true, they add, that to
+justify this abrogation of a law it must be palpably contrary to the
+Constitution; but it is evident that to give the right of resisting laws
+of that description, coupled with the uncontrolled right to decide what
+laws deserve that character, is to give the power of resisting all laws;
+for as by the theory there is no appeal, the reasons alleged by the
+State, good or bad, must prevail. If it should be said that public
+opinion is a sufficient check against the abuse of this power, it may be
+asked why it is not deemed a sufficient guard against the passage of an
+unconstitutional act by Congress? There is, however, a restraint in this
+last case which makes the assumed power of a State more indefensible,
+and which does not exist in the other. There are two appeals from an
+unconstitutional act passed by Congress--one to the judiciary, the other
+to the people and the States. There is no appeal from the State decision
+in theory, and the practical illustration shows that the courts are
+closed against an application to review it, both judges and jurors being
+sworn to decide in its favor. But reasoning on this subject is
+superfluous when our social compact, in express terms, declares that the
+laws of the United States, its Constitution, and treaties made under it
+are the supreme law of the land, and, for greater caution, adds "that
+the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
+constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." And
+it may be asserted without fear of refutation that no federative
+government could exist without a similar provision. Look for a moment to
+the consequence. If South Carolina considers the revenue laws
+unconstitutional and has a right to prevent their execution in the port
+of Charleston, there would be a clear constitutional objection to their
+collection in every other port; and no revenue could be collected
+anywhere, for all imposts must be equal. It is no answer to repeat that
+an unconstitutional law is no law so long as the question of its
+legality is to be decided by the State itself, for every law operating
+injuriously upon any local interest will be perhaps thought, and
+certainly represented, as unconstitutional, and, as has been shown,
+there is no appeal.
+
+If this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would
+have been dissolved in its infancy. The excise law in Pennsylvania, the
+embargo and nonintercourse law in the Eastern States, the carriage tax
+in Virginia, were all deemed unconstitutional, and were more unequal in
+their operation than any of the laws now complained of; but,
+fortunately, none of those States discovered that they had the right now
+claimed by South Carolina. The war into which we were forced to support
+the dignity of the nation and the rights of our citizens might have
+ended in defeat and disgrace, instead of victory and honor, if the
+States who supposed it a ruinous and unconstitutional measure had
+thought they possessed the right of nullifying the act by which it was
+declared and denying supplies for its prosecution. Hardly and unequally
+as those measures bore upon several members of the Union, to the
+legislatures of none did this efficient and peaceable remedy, as it is
+called, suggest itself. The discovery of this important feature in our
+Constitution was reserved to the present day. To the statesmen of South
+Carolina belongs the invention, and upon the citizens of that State will
+unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice.
+
+If the doctrine of a State veto upon the laws of the Union carries with
+it internal evidence of its impracticable absurdity, our constitutional
+history will also afford abundant proof that it would have been
+repudiated with indignation had it been proposed to form a feature in
+our Government.
+
+In our colonial state, although dependent on another power, we very
+early considered ourselves as connected by common interest with each
+other. Leagues were formed for common defense, and before the
+declaration of independence we were known in our aggregate character as
+_the United Colonies of America_. That decisive and important step was
+taken jointly. We declared ourselves a nation by a joint, not by several
+acts, and when the terms of our Confederation were reduced to form it
+was in that of a solemn league of several States, by which they agreed
+that they would collectively form one nation for the purpose of
+conducting some certain domestic concerns and all foreign relations. In
+the instrument forming that Union is found an article which declares
+that "every State shall abide by the determinations of Congress on all
+questions which by that Confederation should be submitted to them."
+
+Under the Confederation, then, no State could legally annul a decision
+of the Congress or refuse to submit to its execution; but no provision
+was made to enforce these decisions. Congress made requisitions, but
+they were not complied with. The Government could not operate on
+individuals. They had no judiciary, no means of collecting revenue.
+
+But the defects of the Confederation need not be detailed. Under its
+operation we could scarcely be called a nation. We had neither
+prosperity at home nor consideration abroad. This state of things could
+not be endured, and our present happy Constitution was formed, but
+formed in vain if this fatal doctrine prevails. It was formed for
+important objects that are announced in the preamble, made in the name
+and by the authority of the people of the United States, whose delegates
+framed and whose conventions approved it. The most important among these
+objects--that which is placed first in rank, on which all the others
+rest--is "_to form a more perfect union_." Now, is it possible that even
+if there were no express provision giving supremacy to the Constitution
+and laws of the United States over those of the States, can it be
+conceived that an instrument made for the purpose of "_forming a more
+perfect union_" than that of the Confederation could be so constructed
+by the assembled wisdom of our country as to substitute for that
+Confederation a form of government dependent for its existence on the
+local interest, the party spirit, of a State, or of a prevailing faction
+in a State? Every man of plain, unsophisticated understanding who hears
+the question will give such an answer as will preserve the Union.
+Metaphysical subtlety, in pursuit of an impracticable theory, could
+alone have devised one that is calculated to destroy it.
+
+I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed
+by one State, _incompatible with the existence of the Union,
+contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorised
+by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was
+founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed_.
+
+After this general view of the leading principle, we must examine the
+particular application of it which is made in the ordinance.
+
+The preamble rests its justification on these grounds: It assumes as a
+fact that the obnoxious laws, although they purport to be laws for
+raising revenue, were in reality intended for the protection of
+manufactures, which purpose it asserts to be unconstitutional; that the
+operation of these laws is unequal; that the amount raised by them is
+greater than is required by the wants of the Government; and, finally,
+that the proceeds are to be applied to objects unauthorized by the
+Constitution. These are the only causes alleged to justify an open
+opposition to the laws of the country and a threat of seceding from the
+Union if any attempt should be made to enforce them. The first virtually
+acknowledges that the law in question was passed under a power expressly
+given by the Constitution to lay and collect imposts; but its
+constitutionality is drawn in question from the _motives_ of those who
+passed it. However apparent this purpose may be in the present case,
+nothing can be more dangerous than to admit the position that an
+unconstitutional purpose entertained by the members who assent to a law
+enacted under a constitutional power shall make that law void. For how
+is that purpose to be ascertained? Who is to make the scrutiny? How
+often may bad purposes be falsely imputed, in how many cases are they
+concealed by false professions, in how many is no declaration of motive
+made? Admit this doctrine, and you give to the States an uncontrolled
+right to decide, and every law may be annulled under this pretext. If,
+therefore, the absurd and dangerous doctrine should be admitted that a
+State may annul an unconstitutional law, or one that it deems such, it
+will not apply to the present case.
+
+The next objection is that the laws in question operate unequally. This
+objection may be made with truth to every law that has been or can be
+passed. The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that
+would operate with perfect equality. If the unequal operation of a law
+makes it unconstitutional, and if all laws of that description may be
+abrogated by any State for that cause, then, indeed, is the Federal
+Constitution unworthy of the slightest effort for its preservation. We
+have hitherto relied on it as the perpetual bond of our Union; we have
+received it as the work of the assembled wisdom of the nation; we have
+trusted to it as to the sheet anchor of our safety in the stormy times
+of conflict with a foreign or domestic foe; we have looked to it with
+sacred awe as the palladium of our liberties, and with all the
+solemnities of religion have pledged to each other our lives and
+fortunes here and our hopes of happiness hereafter in its defense and
+support. Were we mistaken, my countrymen, in attaching this importance
+to the Constitution of our country? Was our devotion paid to the
+wretched, inefficient, clumsy contrivance which this new doctrine would
+make it? Did we pledge ourselves to the support of an airy nothing--a
+bubble that must be blown away by the first breath of disaffection? Was
+this self-destroying, visionary theory the work of the profound
+statesmen, the exalted patriots, to whom the task of constitutional
+reform was intrusted? Did the name of Washington sanction, did the
+States deliberately ratify, such an anomaly in the history of
+fundamental legislation? No; we were not mistaken. The letter of this
+great instrument is free from this radical fault. Its language directly
+contradicts the imputation; its spirit, its evident intent, contradicts
+it. No; we did not err. Our Constitution does not contain the absurdity
+of giving power to make laws and another to resist them. The sages whose
+memory will always be reverenced have given us a practical and, as they
+hoped, a permanent constitutional compact. The Father of his Country did
+not affix his revered name to so palpable an absurdity. Nor did the
+States, when they severally ratified it, do so under the impression that
+a veto on the laws of the United States was reserved to them or that
+they could exercise it by implication. Search the debates in all their
+conventions, examine the speeches of the most zealous opposers of
+Federal authority, look at the amendments that were proposed; they are
+all silent--not a syllable uttered, not a vote given, not a motion made
+to correct the explicit supremacy given to the laws of the Union over
+those of the States, or to show that implication, as is now contended,
+could defeat it. No; we have not erred. The Constitution is still the
+object of our reverence, the bond of our Union, our defense in danger,
+the source of our prosperity in peace. It shall descend, as we have
+received it, uncorrupted by sophistical construction, to our posterity;
+and the sacrifices of local interest, of State prejudices, of personal
+animosities, that were made to bring it into existence, will again be
+patriotically offered for its support.
+
+The two remaining objections made by the ordinance to these laws are
+that the sums intended to be raised by them are greater than are
+required and that the proceeds will be unconstitutionally employed.
+
+The Constitution has given, expressly, to Congress the right of raising
+revenue and of determining the sum the public exigencies will require.
+The States have no control over the exercise of this right other than
+that which results from the power of changing the representatives who
+abuse it, and thus procure redress. Congress may undoubtedly abuse this
+discretionary power; but the same may be said of others with which they
+are vested. Yet the discretion must exist somewhere. The Constitution
+has given it to the representatives of all the people, checked by the
+representatives of the States and by the Executive power. The South
+Carolina construction gives it to the legislature or the convention of a
+single State, where neither the people of the different States, nor the
+States in their separate capacity, nor the Chief Magistrate elected by
+the people have any representation. Which is the most discreet
+disposition of the power? I do not ask you, fellow-citizens, which is
+the constitutional disposition; that instrument speaks a language not to
+be misunderstood. But if you were assembled in general convention, which
+would you think the safest depository of this discretionary power in the
+last resort? Would you add a clause giving it to each of the States, or
+would you sanction the wise provisions already made by your
+Constitution? If this should be the result of your deliberations when
+providing for the future, are you, can you, be ready to risk all that we
+hold dear, to establish, for a temporary and a local purpose, that which
+you must acknowledge to be destructive, and even absurd, as a general
+provision? Carry out the consequences of this right vested in the
+different States, and you must perceive that the crisis your conduct
+presents at this day would recur whenever any law of the United States
+displeased any of the States, and that we should soon cease to be a
+nation.
+
+The ordinance, with the same knowledge of the future that characterizes
+a former objection, tells you that the proceeds of the tax will be
+unconstitutionally applied. If this could be ascertained with certainty,
+the objection would with more propriety be reserved for the law so
+applying the proceeds, but surely can not be urged against the laws
+levying the duty.
+
+These are the allegations contained in the ordinance. Examine them
+seriously, my fellow-citizens; judge for yourselves. I appeal to you to
+determine whether they are so clear, so convincing, as to leave no doubt
+of their correctness; and even if you should come to this conclusion,
+how far they justify the reckless, destructive course which you are
+directed to pursue. Review these objections and the conclusions drawn
+from them once more. What are they? Every law, then, for raising
+revenue, according to the South Carolina ordinance, may be rightfully
+annulled, unless it be so framed as no law ever will or can be framed.
+Congress have a right to pass laws for raising revenue and each State
+have a right to oppose their execution--two rights directly opposed to
+each other; and yet is this absurdity supposed to be contained in an
+instrument drawn for the express purpose of avoiding collisions between
+the States and the General Government by an assembly of the most
+enlightened statesmen and purest patriots ever embodied for a similar
+purpose.
+
+In vain have these sages declared that Congress shall have power to lay
+and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; in vain have they
+provided that they shall have power to pass laws which shall be
+necessary and proper to carry those powers into execution, that those
+laws and that Constitution shall be the "supreme law of the land, and
+that the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
+constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding;" in
+vain have the people of the several States solemnly sanctioned these
+provisions, made them their paramount law, and individually sworn to
+support them whenever they were called on to execute any office. Vain
+provisions! ineffectual restrictions! vile profanation of oaths!
+miserable mockery of legislation! if a bare majority of the voters in
+any one State may, on a real or supposed knowledge of the intent with
+which a law has been passed, declare themselves free from its operation;
+say, here it gives too little; there, too much, and operates unequally;
+here it suffers articles to be free that ought to be taxed; there it
+taxes those that ought to be free; in this case the proceeds are
+intended to be applied to purposes which we do not approve; in that, the
+amount raised is more than is wanted. Congress, it is true, are invested
+by the Constitution with the right of deciding these questions according
+to their sound discretion. Congress is composed of the representatives
+of all the States and of all the people of all the States. But _we_,
+part of the people of one State, to whom the Constitution has given no
+power on the subject, from whom it has expressly taken it away; _we_,
+who have solemnly agreed that this Constitution shall be our law; _we_,
+most of whom have sworn to support it--_we_ now abrogate this law and
+swear, and force others to swear, that it shall not be obeyed; and we do
+this not because Congress have no right to pass such laws--this we do
+not allege--but because they have passed them with improper views. They
+are unconstitutional from the motives of those who passed them, which we
+can never with certainty know; from their unequal operation, although it
+is impossible, from the nature of things, that they should be equal; and
+from the disposition which we presume may be made of their proceeds,
+although that disposition has not been declared. This is the plain
+meaning of the ordinance in relation to laws which it abrogates for
+alleged unconstitutionality. But it does not stop there. It repeals in
+express terms an important part of the Constitution itself and of laws
+passed to give it effect, which have never been alleged to be
+unconstitutional.
+
+The Constitution declares that the judicial powers of the United States
+extend to cases arising under the laws of the United States, and that
+such laws, the Constitution, and treaties shall be paramount to the
+State constitutions and laws. The judiciary act prescribes the mode by
+which the case may be brought before a court of the United States by
+appeal when a State tribunal shall decide against this provision of the
+Constitution. The ordinance declares there shall be no appeal--makes the
+State law paramount to the Constitution and laws of the United States,
+forces judges and jurors to swear that they will disregard their
+provisions, and even makes it penal in a suitor to attempt relief by
+appeal. It further declares that it shall not be lawful for the
+authorities of the United States or of that State to enforce the payment
+of duties imposed by the revenue laws within its limits.
+
+Here is a law of the United States, not even pretended to be
+unconstitutional, repealed by the authority of a small majority of the
+voters of a single State. Here is a provision of the Constitution which
+is solemnly abrogated by the same authority.
+
+On such expositions and reasonings the ordinance grounds not only an
+assertion of the right to annul the laws of which it complains, but to
+enforce it by a threat of seceding from the Union if any attempt is made
+to execute them.
+
+This right to secede is deduced from the nature of the Constitution,
+which, they say, is a compact between sovereign States who have
+preserved their whole sovereignty and therefore are subject to no
+superior; that because they made the compact they can break it when in
+their opinion it has been departed from by the other States. Fallacious
+as this course of reasoning is, it enlists State pride and finds
+advocates in the honest prejudices of those who have not studied the
+nature of our Government sufficiently to see the radical error on which
+it rests.
+
+The people of the United States formed the Constitution, acting through
+the State legislatures in making the compact, to meet and discuss its
+provisions, and acting in separate conventions when they ratified those
+provisions; but the terms used in its construction show it to be a
+Government in which the people of all the States, collectively, are
+represented. We are _one people_ in the choice of President and
+Vice-President. Here the States have no other agency than to direct the
+mode in which the votes shall be given. The candidates having the
+majority of all the votes are chosen. The electors of a majority of
+States may have given their votes for one candidate, and yet another may
+be chosen. The people, then, and not the States, are represented in the
+executive branch.
+
+In the House of Representatives there is this difference, that the
+people of one State do not, as in the case of President and
+Vice-President, all vote for the same officers. The people of all the
+States do not vote for all the members, each State electing only its own
+representatives. But this creates no material distinction. When chosen,
+they are all representatives of the United States, not representatives
+of the particular State from which they come. They are paid by the
+United States, not by the State; nor are they accountable to it for any
+act done in the performance of their legislative functions; and however
+they may in practice, as it is their duty to do, consult and prefer the
+interests of their particular constituents when they come in conflict
+with any other partial or local interest, yet it is their first and
+highest duty, as representatives of the United States, to promote the
+general good.
+
+The Constitution of the United States, then, forms a _government_, not a
+league; and whether it be formed by compact between the States or in any
+other manner, its character is the same. It is a Government in which all
+the people are represented, which operates directly on the people
+individually, not upon the States; they retained all the power they did
+not grant. But each State, having expressly parted with so many powers
+as to constitute, jointly with the other States, a single nation, can
+not, from that period, possess any right to secede, because such
+secession does not break a league, but destroys the unity of a nation;
+and any injury to that unity is not only a breach which would result
+from the contravention of a compact, but it is an offense against the
+whole Union. To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union
+is to say that the United States are not a nation, because it would be a
+solecism to contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its
+connection with the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without
+committing any offense. Secession, like any other revolutionary act, may
+be morally justified by the extremity of oppression, but to call it a
+constitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms, and can only
+be done through gross error or to deceive those who are willing to
+assert a right, but would pause before they made a revolution or incur
+the penalties consequent on a failure.
+
+Because the Union was formed by a compact, it is said the parties to
+that compact may, when they feel themselves aggrieved, depart from it;
+but it is precisely because it is a compact that they can not. A compact
+is an agreement or binding obligation. It may by its terms have a
+sanction or penalty for its breach, or it may not. If it contains no
+sanction, it may be broken with no other consequence than moral guilt;
+if it have a sanction, then the breach incurs the designated or implied
+penalty. A league between independent nations generally has no sanction
+other than a moral one; or if it should contain a penalty, as there is
+no common superior it can not be enforced. A government, on the
+contrary, always has a sanction, express or implied; and in our case it
+is both necessarily implied and expressly given. An attempt, by force of
+arms, to destroy a government is an offense, by whatever means the
+constitutional compact may have been formed; and such government has the
+right by the law of self-defense to pass acts for punishing the
+offender, unless that right is modified, restrained, or resumed by the
+constitutional act. In our system, although it is modified in the case
+of treason, yet authority is expressly given to pass all laws necessary
+to carry its powers into effect, and under this grant provision has been
+made for punishing acts which obstruct the due administration of the
+laws.
+
+It would seem superfluous to add anything to show the nature of that
+union which connects us, but as erroneous opinions on this subject are
+the foundation of doctrines the most destructive to our peace, I must
+give some further development to my views on this subject. No one,
+fellow-citizens, has a higher reverence for the reserved rights of the
+States than the Magistrate who now addresses you. No one would make
+greater personal sacrifices or official exertions to defend them from
+violation; but equal care must be taken to prevent, on their part, an
+improper interference with or resumption of the rights they have vested
+in the nation. The line has not been so distinctly drawn as to avoid
+doubts in some cases of the exercise of power. Men of the best
+intentions and soundest views may differ in their construction of some
+parts of the Constitution; but there are others on which dispassionate
+reflection can leave no doubt. Of this nature appears to be the assumed
+right of secession. It rests, as we have seen, on the alleged undivided
+sovereignty of the States and on their having formed in this sovereign
+capacity a compact which is called the Constitution, from which, because
+they made it, they have the right to secede. Both of these positions are
+erroneous, and some of the arguments to prove them so have been
+anticipated.
+
+The States severally have not retained their entire sovereignty. It has
+been shown that in becoming parts of a nation, not members of a league,
+they surrendered many of their essential parts of sovereignty. The right
+to make treaties, declare war, levy taxes, exercise exclusive judicial
+and legislative powers, were all of them functions of sovereign power.
+The States, then, for all these important purposes were no longer
+sovereign. The allegiance of their citizens was transferred, in the
+first instance, to the Government of the United States; they became
+American citizens and owed obedience to the Constitution of the United
+States and to laws made in conformity with the powers it vested in
+Congress. This last position has not been and can not be denied. How,
+then, can that State be said to be sovereign and independent whose
+citizens owe obedience to laws not made by it and whose magistrates are
+sworn to disregard those laws when they come in conflict with those
+passed by another? What shows conclusively that the States can not be
+said to have reserved an undivided sovereignty is that they expressly
+ceded the right to punish treason--not treason against their separate
+power, but treason against the United States. Treason is an offense
+against _sovereignty_, and sovereignty must reside with the power to
+punish it. But the reserved rights of the States are not less sacred
+because they have, for their common interest, made the General
+Government the depository of these powers. The unity of our political
+character (as has been shown for another purpose) commenced with its
+very existence. Under the royal Government we had no separate character;
+our opposition to its oppressions began as _united colonies_. We were
+the _United States_ under the Confederation, and the name was
+perpetuated and the Union rendered more perfect by the Federal
+Constitution. In none of these stages did we consider ourselves in any
+other light than as forming one nation. Treaties and alliances were made
+in the name of all. Troops were raised for the joint defense. How, then,
+with all these proofs that under all changes of our position we had, for
+designated purposes and with defined powers, created national
+governments, how is it that the most perfect of those several modes of
+union should now be considered as a mere league that may be dissolved at
+pleasure? It is from an abuse of terms. Compact is used as synonymous
+with league, although the true term is not employed, because it would at
+once show the fallacy of the reasoning. It would not do to say that our
+Constitution was only a league, but it is labored to prove it a compact
+(which in one sense it is) and then to argue that as a league is a
+compact every compact between nations must of course be a league, and
+that from such an engagement every sovereign power has a right to
+recede. But it has been shown that in this sense the States are not
+sovereign, and that even if they were, and the national Constitution had
+been formed by compact, there would be no right in any one State to
+exonerate itself from its obligations.
+
+So obvious are the reasons which forbid this secession that it is
+necessary only to allude to them. The Union was formed for the benefit
+of all. It was produced by mutual sacrifices of interests and opinions.
+Can those sacrifices be recalled? Can the States who magnanimously
+surrendered their title to the territories of the West recall the grant?
+Will the inhabitants of the inland States agree to pay the duties that
+may be imposed without their assent by those on the Atlantic or the Gulf
+for their own benefit? Shall there be a free port in one State and
+onerous duties in another? No one believes that any right exists in a
+single State to involve all the others in these and countless other
+evils contrary to engagements solemnly made. Everyone must see that the
+other States, in self-defense, must oppose it at all hazards.
+
+These are the alternatives that are presented by the convention--a
+repeal of all the acts for raising revenue, leaving the Government
+without the means of support, or an acquiescence in the dissolution of
+our Union by the secession of one of its members. When the first was
+proposed, it was known that it could not be listened to for a moment. It
+was known, if force was applied to oppose the execution of the laws,
+that it must be repelled by force; that Congress could not, without
+involving itself in disgrace and the country in ruin, accede to the
+proposition; and yet if this is not done in a given day, or if any
+attempt is made to execute the laws, the State is by the ordinance
+declared to be out of the Union. The majority of a convention assembled
+for the purpose have dictated these terms, or rather this rejection of
+all terms, in the name of the people of South Carolina. It is true that
+the governor of the State speaks of the submission of their grievances
+to a convention of all the States, which, he says, they "sincerely and
+anxiously seek and desire." Yet this obvious and constitutional mode of
+obtaining the sense of the other States on the construction of the
+federal compact, and amending it if necessary, has never been attempted
+by those who have urged the State on to this destructive measure. The
+State might have proposed the call for a general convention to the other
+States, and Congress, if a sufficient number of them concurred, must
+have called it. But the first magistrate of South Carolina, when he
+expressed a hope that "on a review by Congress and the functionaries of
+the General Government of the merits of the controversy" such a
+convention will be accorded to them, must have known that neither
+Congress nor any functionary of the General Government has authority to
+call such a convention unless it be demanded by two-thirds of the
+States. This suggestion, then, is another instance of the reckless
+inattention to the provisions of the Constitution with which this crisis
+has been madly hurried on, or of the attempt to persuade the people that
+a constitutional remedy had been sought and refused. If the legislature
+of South Carolina "anxiously desire" a general convention to consider
+their complaints, why have they not made application for it in the way
+the Constitution points out? The assertion that they "earnestly seek" it
+is completely negatived by the omission.
+
+This, then, is the position in which we stand: A small majority of the
+citizens of one State in the Union have elected delegates to a State
+convention; that convention has ordained that all the revenue laws of
+the United States must be repealed, or that they are no longer a member
+of the Union. The governor of that State has recommended to the
+legislature the raising of an army to carry the secession into effect,
+and that he may be empowered to give clearances to vessels in the name
+of the State. No act of violent opposition to the laws has yet been
+committed, but such a state of things is hourly apprehended. And it is
+the intent of this instrument to _proclaim_, not only that the duty
+imposed on me by the Constitution "to take care that the laws be
+faithfully executed" shall be performed to the extent of the powers
+already vested in me by law, or of such others as the wisdom of Congress
+shall devise and intrust to me for that purpose, but to warn the
+citizens of South Carolina who have been deluded into an opposition to
+the laws of the danger they will incur by obedience to the illegal and
+disorganizing ordinance of the convention; to exhort those who have
+refused to support it to persevere in their determination to uphold the
+Constitution and laws of their country; and to point out to all the
+perilous situation into which the good people of that State have been
+led, and that the course they are urged to pursue is one of ruin and
+disgrace to the very State whose rights they affect to support.
+
+Fellow-citizens of _my_ native State, let me not only admonish you, as
+the First Magistrate of our common country, not to incur the penalty of
+its laws, but use the influence that a father would over his children
+whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal language, with
+that paternal feeling, let me tell you, my countrymen, that you are
+deluded by men who are either deceived themselves or wish to deceive
+you. Mark under what pretenses you have been led on to the brink of
+insurrection and treason on which you stand. First, a diminution of the
+value of your staple commodity, lowered by overproduction in other
+quarters, and the consequent diminution in the value of your lands were
+the sole effect of the tariff laws. The effect of those laws was
+confessedly injurious, but the evil was greatly exaggerated by the
+unfounded theory you were taught to believe--that its burthens were in
+proportion to your exports, not to your consumption of imported
+articles. Your pride was roused by the assertion that a submission to
+those laws was a state of vassalage and that resistance to them was
+equal in patriotic merit to the opposition our fathers offered to the
+oppressive laws of Great Britain. You were told that this opposition
+might be peaceably, might be constitutionally, made; that you might
+enjoy all the advantages of the Union and bear none of its burthens.
+Eloquent appeals to your passions, to your State pride, to your native
+courage, to your sense of real injury, were used to prepare you for the
+period when the mask which concealed the hideous features of _disunion_
+should be taken off. It fell, and you were made to look with complacency
+on objects which not long since you would have regarded with horror.
+Look back to the arts which have brought you to this state; look forward
+to the consequences to which it must inevitably lead! Look back to what
+was first told you as an inducement to enter into this dangerous course.
+The great political truth was repeated to you that you had the
+revolutionary right of resisting all laws that were palpably
+unconstitutional and intolerably oppressive. It was added that the right
+to nullify a law rested on the same principle, but that it was a
+peaceable remedy. This character which was given to it made you receive
+with too much confidence the assertions that were made of the
+unconstitutionally of the law and its oppressive effects. Mark, my
+fellow-citizens, that by the admission of your leaders the
+unconstitutionality must be _palpable_, or it will not justify either
+resistance or nullification. What is the meaning of the word _palpable_
+in the sense in which it is here used? That which is apparent to
+everyone; that which no man of ordinary intellect will fail to perceive.
+Is the unconstitutionality of these laws of that description? Let those
+among your leaders who once approved and advocated the principle of
+protective duties answer the question; and let them choose whether they
+will be considered as incapable then of perceiving that which must have
+been apparent to every man of common understanding, or as imposing upon
+your confidence and endeavoring to mislead you now. In either case they
+are unsafe guides in the perilous path they urge you to tread. Ponder
+well on this circumstance, and you will know how to appreciate the
+exaggerated language they address to you. They are not champions of
+liberty, emulating the fame of our Revolutionary fathers, nor are you an
+oppressed people, contending, as they repeat to you, against worse than
+colonial vassalage. You are free members of a flourishing and happy
+Union. There is no settled design to oppress you. You have indeed felt
+the unequal operation of laws which may have been unwisely, not
+unconstitutionally, passed; but that inequality must necessarily be
+removed. At the very moment when you were madly urged on to the
+unfortunate course you have begun a change in public opinion had
+commenced. The nearly approaching payment of the public debt and the
+consequent necessity of a diminution of duties had already produced a
+considerable reduction, and that, too, on some articles of general
+consumption in your State. The importance of this change was underrated,
+and you were authoritatively told that no further alleviation of your
+burthens was to be expected at the very time when the condition of the
+country imperiously demanded such a modification of the duties as should
+reduce them to a just and equitable scale. But, as if apprehensive of
+the effect of this change in allaying your discontents, you were
+precipitated into the fearful state in which you now find yourselves.
+
+I have urged you to look back to the means that were used to hurry you
+on to the position you have now assumed and forward to the consequences
+it will produce. Something more is necessary. Contemplate the condition
+of that country of which you still form an important part. Consider its
+Government, uniting in one bond of common interest and general
+protection so many different States, giving to all their inhabitants the
+proud title of _American citizen_, protecting their commerce, securing
+their literature and their arts, facilitating their intercommunication,
+defending their frontiers, and making their name respected in the
+remotest parts of the earth. Consider the extent of its territory, its
+increasing and happy population, its advance in arts which render life
+agreeable, and the sciences which elevate the mind. See education
+spreading the lights of religion, morality, and general information into
+every cottage in this wide extent of our Territories and States. Behold
+it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a refuge and
+support. Look on this picture of happiness and honor and say, _We too
+are citizens of America_. Carolina is one of these proud States; her
+arms have defended, her best blood has cemented, this happy Union. And
+then add, if you can, without horror and remorse, This happy Union we
+will dissolve; this picture of peace and prosperity we will deface; this
+free intercourse we will interrupt; these fertile fields we will deluge
+with blood; the protection of that glorious flag we renounce; the very
+name of Americans we discard. And for what, mistaken men? For what do
+you throw away these inestimable blessings? For what would you exchange
+your share in the advantages and honor of the Union? For the dream of a
+separate independence--a dream interrupted by bloody conflicts with your
+neighbors and a vile dependence on a foreign power. If your leaders
+could succeed in establishing a separation, what would be your
+situation? Are you united at home? Are you free from the apprehension of
+civil discord, with all its fearful consequences? Do our neighboring
+republics, every day suffering some new revolution or contending with
+some new insurrection, do they excite your envy? But the dictates of a
+high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you can not succeed. The
+laws of the United States must be executed. I have no discretionary
+power on the subject; my duty is emphatically pronounced in the
+Constitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their
+execution deceived you; they could not have been deceived themselves.
+They know that a forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution
+of the laws, and they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their
+object is disunion. But be not deceived by names. Disunion by armed
+force is _treason_. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you are,
+on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful consequences;
+on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours may fall the punishment. On
+your unhappy State will inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict
+you force upon the Government of your country. It can not accede to the
+mad project of disunion, of which you would be the first victims. Its
+First Magistrate can not, if he would, avoid the performance of his
+duty. The consequence must be fearful for you, distressing to your
+fellow-citizens here and to the friends of good government throughout
+the world. Its enemies have beheld our prosperity with a vexation they
+could not conceal; it was a standing refutation of their slavish
+doctrines, and they will point to our discord with the triumph of
+malignant joy. It is yet in your power to disappoint them. There is yet
+time to show that the descendants of the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the
+Rutledges, and of the thousand other names which adorn the pages of your
+Revolutionary history will not abandon that Union to support which so
+many of them fought and bled and died. I adjure you, as you honor their
+memory, as you love the cause of freedom, to which they dedicated their
+lives, as you prize the peace of your country, the lives of its best
+citizens, and your own fair fame, to retrace your steps. Snatch from the
+archives of your State the disorganizing edict of its convention; bid
+its members to reassemble and promulgate the decided expressions of your
+will to remain in the path which alone can conduct you to safety,
+prosperity, and honor. Tell them that compared to disunion all other
+evils are light, because that brings with it an accumulation of all.
+Declare that you will never take the field unless the star-spangled
+banner of your country shall float over you; that you will not be
+stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and scorned while you live, as the
+authors of the first attack on the Constitution of your country. Its
+destroyers you can not be. You may disturb its peace, you may interrupt
+the course of its prosperity, you may cloud its reputation for
+stability; but its tranquillity will be restored, its prosperity will
+return, and the stain upon its national character will be transferred
+and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who caused the
+disorder.
+
+Fellow-citizens of the United States, the threat of unhallowed disunion,
+the names of those once respected by whom it is uttered, the array of
+military force to support it, denote the approach of a crisis in our
+affairs on which the continuance of our unexampled prosperity, our
+political existence, and perhaps that of all free governments may
+depend. The conjuncture demanded a free, a full, and explicit
+enunciation, not only of my intentions, but of my principles of action;
+and as the claim was asserted of a right by a State to annul the laws of
+the Union, and even to secede from it at pleasure, a frank exposition of
+my opinions in relation to the origin and form of our Government and the
+construction I give to the instrument by which it was created seemed to
+be proper. Having the fullest confidence in the justness of the legal
+and constitutional opinion of my duties which has been expressed, I rely
+with equal confidence on your undivided support in my determination to
+execute the laws, to preserve the Union by all constitutional means, to
+arrest, if possible, by moderate and firm measures the necessity of a
+recourse to force; and if it be the will of Heaven that the recurrence
+of its primeval curse on man for the shedding of a brother's blood
+should fall upon our land, that it be not called down by any offensive
+act on the part of the United States.
+
+Fellow-citizens, the momentous case is before you. On your undivided
+support of your Government depends the decision of the great question it
+involves--whether your sacred Union will be preserved and the blessing
+it secures to us as one people shall be perpetuated. No one can doubt
+that the unanimity with which that decision will be expressed will be
+such as to inspire new confidence in republican institutions, and that
+the prudence, the wisdom, and the courage which it will bring to their
+defense will transmit them unimpaired and invigorated to our children.
+
+May the Great Ruler of Nations grant that the signal blessings with
+which He has favored ours may not, by the madness of party or personal
+ambition, be disregarded and lost; and may His wise providence bring
+those who have produced this crisis to see the folly before they feel
+the misery of civil strife, and inspire a returning veneration for that
+Union which, if we may dare to penetrate His designs, He has chosen as
+the only means of attaining the high destinies to which we may
+reasonably aspire.
+
+(SEAL.)
+
+In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
+hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. Done at the city
+of Washington, this 10th day of December, A.D. 1832, and of the
+Independence of the United States the fifty-seventh.
+
+ANDREW JACKSON.
+
+By the President:
+EDW. LIVINGSTON,
+_Secretary of State_.
+
+
+
+
+ERRATA.
+
+(The following papers were found too late for insertion in Vol. I.)
+
+
+LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT.
+
+(From Annals of Congress, Fourth Congress, second session, 1544.)
+
+The Vice-President laid before the Senate the following communication:
+
+_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
+
+In consequence of the declaration made yesterday in the Chamber of the
+House of Representatives of the election of a President and
+Vice-President of the United States, the record of which has just now
+been read from your journal by your secretary, I have judged it proper
+to give notice that on the 4th of March next, at 12 o'clock, I propose
+to attend again in the Chamber of the House of Representatives, in order
+to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to
+be taken by the President, to be administered by the Chief Justice or
+such other judge of the Supreme Court of the United States as can most
+conveniently attend, and, in case none of those judges can attend, by
+the judge of the district of Pennsylvania, before such Senators and
+Representatives of the United States as may find it convenient to honor
+the transaction with their presence.
+
+(JOHN ADAMS.)
+
+FEBRUARY 9, 1797.
+
+
+PROCLAMATION.
+
+(From Annals of Congress, Fifth Congress, Vol. I, 620.)
+
+UNITED STATES, _July 16, 1798_.
+
+_The President of the United States to_ -----, _Senator for the State
+of_ ----;
+
+Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the session of
+the Senate for executive business should be continued, and that the
+members thereof should convene on Tuesday, the 17th day of July instant,
+you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in Philadelphia, on
+that day, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to receive and
+deliberate on such communications as shall be made to you on my part.
+
+JOHN ADAMS.
+
+
+PROCLAMATION.
+
+(From Miscellaneous Letters, Department of State, vol. 24.)
+
+BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+In pursuance of the act of Congress passed on the 16th July, 1798,
+entitled "An act for erecting a light-house at Gayhead, on Marthas
+Vineyard, and for other purposes," and an act which passed the
+legislature of Massachusetts on the 22d February, 1799, entitled "An act
+to cede to the United States a tract of land at Gayhead for a
+lighthouse," the following tract of land, situate at Gayhead, on the
+western part of Marthas Vineyard, in Dukes County, State of
+Massachusetts, is designated as the land ceded to the United States by
+the aforesaid act of the legislature of Massachusetts for the purpose of
+erecting a lighthouse, to wit: Beginning at a stake and heap of stones
+(1 rod from the edge of the cliff of said head), thence east 11 degrees
+south 18 rods to a stake and heap of stones; thence south 11 degrees
+west 18 rods to a stake and heap of stones; thence west 11 degrees north
+18 rods to a stake and heap of stones; thence north 11 degrees east to
+the first-mentioned bound, containing 2 acres and 4 rods.
+
+(SEAL.)
+
+In witness whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of
+America to be hereto affixed, and signed the same with my hand, at
+Philadelphia, on the 1st day of July, 1799, and in the twenty-third year
+of the Independence of the said States.
+
+JOHN ADAMS.
+
+By the President:
+TIMOTHY PICKERING,
+_Secretary of State_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Messages and Papers of the Presidents:
+Andrew Jackson, by Edited by James D. Richardson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10858 ***