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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of Andrew
+Jackson, by Andrew Jackson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: State of the Union Addresses of Andrew Jackson
+
+Author: Andrew Jackson
+
+Posting Date: November 21, 2014 [EBook #5016]
+Release Date: February, 2004
+First Posted: April 11, 2002
+Last Updated: December 16, 2004
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by James Linden.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+State of the Union Addresses of Andrew Jackson
+
+
+
+Dates of addresses by Andrew Jackson in this eBook:
+
+  December 8, 1829
+  December 6, 1830
+  December 6, 1831
+  December 4, 1832
+  December 3, 1833
+  December 1, 1834
+  December 7, 1835
+  December 5, 1836
+
+
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 8, 1829
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the 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
+country-men. The task devolves on me, under a provision of the
+Constitution, to present to you, as the Federal Legislature of 24
+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 man-kind,
+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 not with standing the difficulties
+of the task, I do not allow myself to apprehend unfavorable results.
+Blessed as our country is with every thing 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.
+Every thing 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 5th 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 sentiments 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 desolation 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 for ever stifled, in that
+Republic by the love of independence. If it be true, as appearances
+strongly indicate, 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 charge 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 the charges has never been affirmed by the
+federal Government of Mexico in its communications with us.
+
+I consider it one of the most urgent of my duties to bring to your
+attention the propriety of amending that part of the 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 a
+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 some times 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 ascendancy, 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 important. 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, not withstanding the additional duties
+imposed by the act of May 19th, 1828, and the unusual importations in
+the early part of that year.
+
+The balance in the Treasury on January 1st, 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 January 1st, 1830 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 January 1st, 1830 to $48,565,406.50, including $7 millions
+of the 5% stock subscribed to the Bank of the United States. The payment
+on account of public debt made on July 1st, 1829 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 when ever
+power over such subjects may be exercised by the Central 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 high ways 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
+under-mine the whole system by a resort to over-strained 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 6, 9, and 12
+months, and ware-houses 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 what ever 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 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 the 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
+17th Congress approved March 3d, 1823, providing for 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 causes 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 March 2d, 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 the 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 Pay Master 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 March 27, 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% 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 a while 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 over-taking 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 off-spring of our national experience. It will be
+seen, however, that not withstanding 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 work-men 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 ship
+building, 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 bureaux
+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
+every thing 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 Post Master 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
+stock holders 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 an 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 here
+after 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 what ever
+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.
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 6, 1830
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the 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 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 conditions 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 man-kind 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. Not withstanding 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
+have 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, 3rd, 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
+transshipments 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 any thing 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 limitations 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 mean time 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 thousand 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
+north-eastern 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 what
+ever 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 consequences 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
+non-arrival 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 mean time 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 for 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 51 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 what ever 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 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 impolite.
+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 for ever
+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 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 stock-holder 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 to 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, never the less, 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 of to appropriate money for improvements of a local character. I
+at the same time intimated me 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, never
+the less, 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 mean while 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 opinion 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 what ever liberal
+institutions may have to fear from the encroachments of Executive
+power, which has been every where 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, every
+where 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 mean time,
+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 millions, 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 millions.
+
+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 here after 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 ration of distribution; second, an
+apprehension that the existence of such a regulation would produce
+improvident and oppressive taxation to raise the funds for
+distribution; 3rd, 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 ration of representatives 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
+ration 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 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
+probably 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 surplus". 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. What ever the proper authority
+in the exercise of constitutional power shall at any time here after
+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
+no where be so well deposited as in the pockets of the people.
+
+It may some times 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, more over, 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 numbers 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 when ever 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 for ever
+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, how ever conscientious and praise
+worthy 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
+over-looked 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 country-men, 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 inconsistence with the general spirit of
+our institutions that I was indeed 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 some times 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, what ever 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
+safe-guard 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 re-eligibility 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 30 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 south west 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 fortifications of an unknown people, spread over the
+extensive regions of the West, we behold the memorials of a once
+powerful race, which was exterminated of has disappeared to make room
+for the existing savage tribes. Nor is there any thing 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 every
+thing, 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 conditions! 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 for ever 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, in as much 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 sure 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 over-rated, 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 work shops, essential to
+national defense, occupy the first rank. What ever 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 in 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 January 1st,
+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 sea men 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 harrassing in-roads 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 Post Master 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. Not with standing 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 flourishing country, yet the
+satisfactory assurance is given that the future revenue of the
+Department will be sufficient to meets 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 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, not with standing 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 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 structures 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 stock holders, 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 over-ruling 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.
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 6, 1831
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
+
+The representation of the people has been renewed for the 22nd 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 husband-man 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
+rail roads 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 some times
+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 ship building 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 ship yards 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 3,000,000 to 13,000,000; from 13
+separate colonies to 24 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 September
+30th, 1831 upward of 30 thousand tons of American and 15 thousand tons
+of foreign shipping in the outward voyages, and in the inward nearly an
+equal amount of American and 20 thousand 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 or 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 5th 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 January 10th, 1831 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 charge 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 other
+over-rated 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 February 22d, 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 the 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 as 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 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 charge 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 merchant-men 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 mean time, 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 of 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 mean time, 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 straight-forward, 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
+$500 thousand 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 half, if not two-third, 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 there after. The amount
+which will have been applied to the public debt from March 4th, 1829 to
+January 1st, 1832, 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 Post Master 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 ten miles square have different penal
+codes--not the present codes of Virginia and Maryland, 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 the 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 18 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.
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 4, 1832
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the 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. Not with
+standing 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 our 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 dispositions, 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 thousand 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 here-after
+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 North-East 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 to 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 June
+25th, 1832 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
+July 13th, 1832, 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 charge 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
+Grenada, 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,
+when ever 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 $2,000,000. The expenditures for all
+objects other than the public debt are estimated to amount during the
+year to about $16,500,000, 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 March 3d, 1833 there will be
+a considerable falling off in the revenue from customs in the year
+1833. It will never the less 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
+January 1st, 1833 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 January 1st, 1834
+and $4,735,296 not until January 2d, 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 reductions 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 principals
+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 a while 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, 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 counter-balanced by many evils, and whether it does not tend to
+beget in the minds of a large portion of our country-men 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 never the less 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. What ever 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 what ever, 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
+super-intending 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% 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 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, 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 cultivators of the soil. Independent farmers are every where 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 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 among 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 pub an end for ever 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 3/4 of the States, the best possible reason why
+the power should not be assumed on doubtful authority is afforded; for
+if more than one quarter of the States are unwilling to make the grant
+its exercise will be productive of discontents which will far
+over-balance 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 proportional 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. What ever 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 22d, 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 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 Post Master 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 9
+Western and South Western 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
+over-rule our acts as to make us instrumental in securing a result so
+dear to mankind is my most earnest and sincere prayer.
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 3, 1833
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
+
+On your assembling to perform the high trusts which the people of the
+United States have confided to you, of legislating for their common
+welfare, it gives me pleasure to congratulate you upon the happy
+condition of our beloved country. By the favor of Divine Providence
+health is again restored to us, peace reigns within our borders,
+abundance crowns the labors of our fields, commerce and domestic
+industry flourish and increase, and individual happiness rewards the
+private virtue and enterprise of our citizens.
+
+Our condition abroad is no less honorable than it is prosperous at
+home. Seeking nothing that is not right and determined to submit to
+nothing that is wrong, but desiring honest friendships and liberal
+intercourse with all nations, the United States have gained throughout
+the world the confidence and respect which are due to a policy so just
+and so congenial to the character of the American people and to the
+spirit of their institutions.
+
+In bringing to your notice the particular state of our foreign affairs,
+it affords me high gratification to inform you that they are in a
+condition which promises the continuance of friendship with all
+nations.
+
+With Great Britain the interesting question of our North East boundary
+remains still undecided. A negotiation, however, upon that subject has
+been renewed since the close of the last Congress, and a proposition
+has been submitted to the British Government with the view of
+establishing, in conformity with the resolution of the Senate, the line
+designated by the treaty of 1783. Though no definitive answer has been
+received, it may be daily looked for, and I entertain a hope that the
+overture may ultimately lead to a satisfactory adjustment of this
+important matter.
+
+I have the satisfaction to inform you that a negotiation which, by
+desire of the House of Representatives, was opened some years ago with
+the British Government, for the erection of light houses on the
+Bahamas, has been successful. Those works, when completed, together
+with those which the United States have constructed on the western side
+of the Gulf of Florida, will contribute essentially to the safety of
+navigation in that sea. This joint participation in establishments
+interesting to humanity and beneficial to commerce is worthy of two
+enlightened nations, and indicates feelings which can not fail to have
+a happy influence upon their political relations. It is gratifying to
+the friends of both to perceive that the intercourse between the two
+people is becoming daily more extensive, and that sentiments of mutual
+good will have grown up befitting their common origin and justifying
+the hope that by wise counsels on each side not only unsettled
+questions may be satisfactorily terminated, but new causes of
+misunderstanding prevented.
+
+Not withstanding that I continue to receive the most amicable
+assurances from the Government of France, and that in all other
+respects the most friendly relations exist between the United States
+and that Government, it is to be regretted that the stipulations of the
+convention concluded on July 4th, 1831 remain in some important parts
+unfulfilled.
+
+By the second article of that convention it was stipulated that the sum
+payable to the United States should be paid at Paris, in six annual
+installments, into the hands of such person or persons as should be
+authorized by the Government of the United States to receive it, and by
+the same article the first installment was payable on February 2d,
+1833. By the act of Congress of July 13th, 1832 it was made the duty of
+the Secretary of the Treasury to cause the several installments, with
+the interest thereon, to be received from the French Government and
+transferred to the United States in such manner as he may deem best;
+and by the same act of Congress the stipulations on the part of the
+United States in the convention were in all respects fulfilled. Not
+doubting that a treaty thus made and ratified by the two Governments,
+and faithfully executed by the United States, would be promptly
+complied with by the other party, and desiring to avoid the risk and
+expense of intermediate agencies, the Secretary of the Treasury deemed
+it advisable to receive and transfer the first installment by means of
+a draft upon the French minister of finance.
+
+A draft for this purpose was accordingly drawn in favor of the cashier
+of the Bank of the United States for the amount accruing to the United
+States out of the first installment, and the interest payable with it.
+This bill was not drawn at Washington until five days after the
+installment was payable at Paris, and was accompanied by a special
+authority from the President authorizing the cashier or his assigns to
+receive the amount. The mode thus adopted of receiving the installment
+was officially made known to the French Government by the American
+charge d'affaires at Paris, pursuant to instructions from the
+Department of State. The bill, however, though not presented for
+payment until March 23d, 1833, was not paid, and for the reason
+assigned by the French minister of finance that no appropriation had
+been made by the French Chambers. It is not known to me that up to that
+period any appropriation had been required of the Chambers, and
+although a communication was subsequently made to the Chambers by
+direction of the King, recommending that the necessary provision should
+be made for carrying the convention into effect, it was at an advanced
+period of the session, and the subject was finally postponed until the
+next meeting of the Chambers.
+
+Not withstanding it has been supposed by the French ministry that the
+financial stipulations of the treaty can not be carried into effect
+without an appropriation by the Chambers, it appears to me to be not
+only consistent with the character of France, but due to the character
+of both Governments, as well as to the rights of our citizens, to treat
+the convention, made and ratified in proper form, as pledging the good
+faith of the French Government for its execution, and as imposing upon
+each department an obligation to fulfill it; and I have received
+assurances through our charge d'affaires at Paris and the French
+minister plenipotentiary at Washington, and more recently through the
+minister of the United States at Paris, that the delay has not
+proceeded from any indisposition on the part of the King and his
+ministers to fulfill their treaty, and that measures will be presented
+at the next meeting of the Chambers, and with a reasonable hope of
+success, to obtain the necessary appropriation.
+
+It is necessary to state, however, that the documents, except certain
+lists of vessels captured, condemned, or burnt at sea, proper to
+facilitate the examination and liquidation of the reclamations
+comprised in the stipulations of the convention, and which by the 6th
+article France engaged to communicate to the United States by the
+intermediary of the legation, though repeatedly applied for by the
+American charge d'affaires under instructions from this Government,
+have not yet been communicated; and this delay, it is apprehended, will
+necessarily prevent the completion of the duties assigned to the
+commissioners within the time at present prescribed by law.
+
+The reasons for delaying to communicate these documents have not been
+explicitly stated, and this is the more to be regretted as it is not
+understood that the interposition of the Chambers is in any manner
+required for the delivery of those papers.
+
+Under these circumstances, in a case so important to the interests of
+our citizens and to the character of our country, and under
+disappointments so unexpected, I deemed it my duty, however I might
+respect the general assurances to which I have adverted, no longer to
+delay the appointment of a minister plenipotentiary to Paris, but to
+dispatch him in season to communicate the result of his application to
+the French Government at an early period of your session. I accordingly
+appointed a distinguished citizen for this purpose, who proceeded on
+his mission in August last and was presented to the King early in the
+month of October. He is particularly instructed as to all matters
+connected with the present posture of affairs, and I indulge the hope
+that with the representations he is instructed to make, and from the
+disposition manifested by the King and his ministers in their recent
+assurances to our minister at Paris, the subject will be early
+considered, and satisfactorily disposed of at the next meeting of the
+Chambers.
+
+As this subject involves important interests and has attracted a
+considerable share of the public attention, I have deemed it proper to
+make this explicit statement of its actual condition, and should I be
+disappointed in the hope now entertained the subject will be again
+brought to the notice of Congress in such manner as the occasion may
+require.
+
+The friendly relations which have always been maintained between the
+United States and Russia have been further extended and strengthened by
+the treaty of navigation and commerce concluded on December 6th, 1832,
+and sanctioned by the Senate before the close of its last session. The
+ratifications having been since exchanged, the liberal provisions of
+the treaty are now in full force, and under the encouragement which
+they have secured a flourishing and increasing commerce, yielding its
+benefits to the enterprise of both nations, affords to each the just
+recompense of wise measures, and adds new motives for that mutual
+friendship which the two countries have hitherto cherished toward each
+other.
+
+It affords me peculiar satisfaction to state that the Government of
+Spain has at length yielded to the justice of the claims which have
+been so long urged in behalf of our citizens, and has expressed a
+willingness to provide an indemnification as soon as the proper amount
+can be agreed upon. Upon this latter point it is probable an
+understanding had taken place between the minister of the United States
+and the Spanish Government before the decease of the late King of
+Spain; and, unless that event may have delayed its completion, there is
+reason to hope that it may be in my power to announce to you early in
+your present session the conclusion of a convention upon terms not less
+favorable than those entered into for similar objects with other
+nations. That act of justice would well accord with the character of
+Spain, and is due to the United States from their ancient friend. It
+could not fail to strengthen the sentiments of amity and good will
+between the two nations which it is so much the wish of the United
+States to cherish and so truly the interest of both to maintain.
+
+By the first section of an act of Congress passed on July 13th, 1832
+the tonnage duty on Spanish ships arriving from the ports of Spain
+previous to October 20th, 1817, being five cents per ton. That act was
+intended to give effect on our side to an arrangement made with the
+Spanish Government by which discriminating duties of tonnage were to be
+abolished in the ports of the United States and Spain on he vessels of
+the two nations. Pursuant to that arrangement, which was carried into
+effect on the part of Spain on May 20th, 1832, by a royal order dated
+April 29th, 1832, American vessels in the ports of Spain have paid five
+cents per ton, which rate of duty is also paid in those ports by
+Spanish ships; but as American vessels pay no tonnage duty in the ports
+of the United States, the duty of five cents payable in our ports by
+Spanish vessels under the act above mentioned is really a
+discriminating duty, operating to the disadvantage of Spain.
+
+Though no complaint has yet been made on the part of Spain, we are not
+the less bound by the obligations of good faith to remove the
+discrimination, and I recommend that the act be amended accordingly. As
+the royal order above alluded to includes the ports of the Balearic and
+Canary islands as well as those of Spain, it would seem that the
+provisions of the act of Congress should be equally extensive, and that
+for the repayments of such duties as may have been improperly received
+an addition should be made to the sum appropriated at the last session
+of Congress for refunding discriminating duties.
+
+As the arrangement referred to, however, did not embrace the islands of
+Cuba and Puerto Rico, discriminating duties to the prejudice of
+American shipping continue to be levied there. From the extent of the
+commerce carried on between the United States and those islands,
+particularly the former, this discrimination causes serious injury to
+one of those great national interests which it has been considered an
+essential part of our policy to cherish, and has given rise to
+complaints on the part of our merchants. Under instructions given to
+our minister at Madrid, earnest representations have been made by him
+to the Spanish Government upon this subject, and there is reason to
+expect, from the friendly disposition which is entertained toward this
+country, that a beneficial change will be produced.
+
+The disadvantage, however, to which our shipping is subjected by the
+operation of these discriminating duties requires that they be met by
+suitable countervailing duties during your present session, power being
+at the same time vested in the President to modify or discontinue them
+as the discriminating duties on American vessels or their cargoes may
+be modified or discontinued at those islands. Intimations have been
+given to the Spanish Government that the United States may be obliged
+to resort to such measures as are of necessary self-defense, and there
+is no reason to apprehend that it would be unfavorably received. The
+proposed proceeding if adopted would not be permitted, however, in any
+degree to induce a relaxation in the efforts of our minister to effect
+a repeal of this irregularity by friendly negotiation, and it might
+serve to give force to his representations by showing the dangers to
+which that valuable trade is exposed by the obstructions and burdens
+which a system of discriminating and countervailing duties necessarily
+produces.
+
+The selection and preparation of the Florida archives for the purpose
+of being delivered over to the United States, in conformity with the
+royal order as mentioned in my last annual message, though in progress,
+has not yet been completed. This delay has been produced partly by
+causes which were unavoidable, particularly the prevalence of the
+cholera at Havana; but measures have been taken which it is believed
+will expedite the delivery of those important records.
+
+Congress were informed at the opening of the last session that "owing,
+as was alleged, to embarrassments in the finances of Portugal,
+consequent upon the civil war in which that nation was engaged",
+payment had been made of only one installment of the amount which the
+Portuguese Government had stipulated to pay for indemnifying our
+citizens for property illegally captured in the blockade of Terceira.
+Since that time a postponement for two years, with interest, of the two
+remaining installments was requested by the Portuguese Government, and
+as a consideration it offered to stipulate that rice of the United
+States should be admitted into Portugal at the same duties as Brazilian
+rice. Being satisfied that no better arrangement could be made, my
+consent was given, and a royal order of the King of Portugal was
+accordingly issued on February 4th, 1833 for the reduction of the duty
+on rice of the United States. It would give me great pleasure if in
+speaking of that country, in whose prosperity the United States are so
+much interested, and with whom a long-subsisting, extensive, and
+mutually advantageous commercial intercourse has strengthened the
+relation of friendship, I could announce to you the restoration of its
+internal tranquillity.
+
+Subsequently to the commencement of the last session of Congress the
+final installment payable by Denmark under the convention of March
+28th, 1830 was received. The commissioners for examining the claims
+have since terminated their labors, and their awards have been paid at
+the Treasury as they have been called for. The justice rendered to our
+citizens by that Government is thus completed, and a pledge is thereby
+afforded for the maintenance of that friendly intercourse becoming the
+relations that the two nations mutually bear to each other.
+
+It is satisfactory to inform you that the Danish Government have
+recently issued an ordinance by which the commerce with the island of
+St. Croix is placed on a more liberal footing than heretofore. This
+change can not fail to prove beneficial to the trade between the United
+States and that colony, and the advantages likely to flow from it may
+lead to greater relaxations in the colonial systems of other nations.
+
+The ratifications of the convention with the King of the two Sicilies
+have been duly exchanged, and the commissioners appointed for examining
+the claims under it have entered upon the duties assigned to them by
+law. The friendship that the interests of the two nations require of
+them being now established, it may be hoped that each will enjoy the
+benefits which a liberal commerce should yield to both.
+
+A treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and Belgium
+was concluded during the last winter and received the sanction of the
+Senate, but the exchange of the ratifications has been hitherto
+delayed, in consequence, in the first instance, of some delay in the
+reception of the treaty at Brussels, and, subsequently, of the absence
+of the Belgian minister of foreign affairs at the important conferences
+in which his Government is engaged at London. That treaty does but
+embody those enlarged principles of friendly policy which it is
+sincerely hoped will always regulate the conduct of the two nations
+having such strong motives to maintain amicable relations toward each
+other and so sincerely desirous to cherish them.
+
+With all the other European powers with whom the United States have
+formed diplomatic relations and with the Sublime Porte the best
+understanding prevails. From all I continue to receive assurances of
+good will toward the United States--assurances which it gives me no
+less pleasure to reciprocate than to receive. With all, the engagements
+which have been entered into are fulfilled with good faith on both
+sides. Measures have also been taken to enlarge our friendly relations
+and extend our commercial intercourse with other States. The system we
+have pursued of aiming at no exclusive advantages, of dealing with all
+on terms of fair and equal reciprocity, and of adhering scrupulously to
+all our engagements is well calculated to give success to efforts
+intended to be mutually beneficial.
+
+The wars of which the southern part of this continent was so long the
+theater, and which were carried on either by the mother country against
+the States which had formerly been her colonies or by the States
+against each other, having terminated, and their civil dissensions
+having so far subsided as with few exceptions no longer to disturb the
+public tranquillity, it is earnestly hoped those States will be able to
+employ themselves without interruption in perfecting their
+institutions, cultivating the arts of peace, and promoting by wise
+councils and able exertions the public and private prosperity which
+their patriotic struggles so well entitle them to enjoy.
+
+With those States our relations have under-gone but little change
+during the present year. No reunion having yet taken place between the
+States which composed the Republic of Colombia, our charge d'affaires
+at Bogota has been accredited to the Government of New Grenada, and we
+have, therefore, no diplomatic relations with Venezuela and Equator,
+except as they may be included in those heretofore formed with the
+Colombian Republic.
+
+It is understood that representatives from the three states were about
+to assemble at Bogota to confer on the subject of their mutual
+interests, particularly that of their union, and if the result should
+render it necessary, measures will be taken on our part to preserve
+with each that friendship and those liberal commercial connections
+which it has been the constant desire of the United States to cultivate
+with their sister Republics of this hemisphere. Until the important
+question of reunion shall be settled, however, the different matters
+which have been under discussion between the United States and the
+Republic of Colombia, or either of the States which composed it, are
+not likely to be brought to a satisfactory issue.
+
+In consequence of the illness of the charge d'affaires appointed to
+Central America at the last session of Congress, he was prevented from
+proceeding on his mission until the month of October. It is hoped,
+however, that he is by this time at his post, and that the official
+intercourse, unfortunately so long interrupted, has been thus renewed
+on the part of the two nations so amicably and advantageously connected
+by engagements founded on the most enlarged principles of commercial
+reciprocity.
+
+It is gratifying to state that since my last annual message some of the
+most important claims of our fellow citizens upon the Government of
+Brazil have been satisfactorily adjusted, and a reliance is placed on
+the friendly dispositions manifested by it that justice will also be
+done in others. No new causes of complaint have arisen, and the trade
+between the two countries flourishes under the encouragement secured to
+it by the liberal provisions of the treaty.
+
+It is cause of regret that, owing, probably, to the civil dissensions
+which have occupied the attention of the Mexican Government, the time
+fixed by the treaty of limits with the United States for the meeting of
+the commissioners to define the boundaries between the two nations has
+been suffered to expire without the appointment of any commissioners on
+the part of that Government. While the true boundary remains in doubt
+by either party it is difficult to give effect to those measures which
+are necessary to the protection and quiet of our numerous citizens
+residing near that frontier. The subject is one of great solicitude to
+the United States, and will not fail to receive my earnest attention.
+
+The treaty concluded with Chili and approved by the Senate at its last
+session was also ratified by the Chilian Government, but with certain
+additional and explanatory articles of a nature to have required it to
+be again submitted to the Senate. The time limited for the exchange of
+the ratification, however, having since expired, the action of both
+Governments on the treaty will again become necessary.
+
+The negotiations commenced with the Argentine Republic relative to the
+outrages committed on our vessels engaged in the fisheries at the
+Falkland Islands by persons acting under the color of its authority, as
+well as the other matters in controversy between the two Governments,
+have been suspended by the departure of the charge d'affaires of the
+United States from Buenos Ayres. It is understood, however, that a
+minister was subsequently appointed by that Government to renew the
+negotiation in the United States, but though daily expected he has not
+yet arrived in this country.
+
+With Peru no treaty has yet been formed, and with Bolivia no diplomatic
+intercourse has yet been established. It will be my endeavor to
+encourage those sentiments of amity and that liberal commerce which
+belong to the relations in which all the independent States of this
+continent stand toward each other.
+
+I deem it proper to recommend to your notice the revision of our
+consular system. This has become an important branch of the public
+service, in as much as it is intimately connected with the preservation
+of our national character abroad, with the interest of our citizens in
+foreign countries, with the regulation and care of our commerce, and
+with the protection of our sea men. At the close of the last session of
+Congress I communicated a report from the Secretary of State upon the
+subject, to which I now refer, as containing information which may be
+useful in any inquiries that Congress may see fit to institute with a
+view to a salutary reform of the system.
+
+It gives me great pleasure to congratulate you upon the prosperous
+condition of the finances of the country, as will appear from the
+report which the Secretary of the Treasury will in due time lay before
+you. The receipts into the Treasury during the present year will amount
+to more than $32,000,000. The revenue derived from customs will, it is
+believed, be more than $28,000,000, and the public lands will yield
+about $3,0900,000. The expenditures within the year for all objects,
+including $2,572,240.99 on account of the public debt, will not amount
+to $25,000,000, and a large balance will remain in the Treasury after
+satisfying all the appropriations chargeable on the revenue for the
+present year.
+
+The measures taken by the Secretary of the Treasury will probably
+enable to pay off in the course of the present year the residue of the
+exchanged 4.5% stock, redeemable on January 1st, 1834. It has therefore
+been included in the estimated expenditures of this year, and forms a
+part of the sum above stated to have been paid on account of the public
+debt. The payment of this stock will reduce the whole debt of the
+United States, funded and unfunded, to the sum of $4,760,082.08, and as
+provision has already been made for the 4.5% stocks above mentioned,
+and charged in the expenses of the present year, the sum last stated is
+all that now remains of the national debt; and the revenue of the
+coming year, together with the balance now in the Treasury, will be
+sufficient to discharge it, after meeting the current expenses of the
+Government. Under the power given to the commissioners of the sinking
+fund, it will, I have no doubt, be purchased on favorable terms within
+the year.
+
+From this view of the state of the finances and the public engagements
+yet to be fulfilled you will perceive that if Providence permits me to
+meet you at another session I shall have the high gratification of
+announcing to you that the national debt is extinguished. I can not
+refrain from expressing the pleasure I feel at the near approach of
+that desirable event. The short period of time within which the public
+debt will have been discharged is strong evidence of the abundant
+resources of the country and of the prudence and economy with which the
+Government has heretofore been administered. We have waged two wars
+since we became a nation, with one of the most powerful kingdoms in the
+world, both of them undertaken in defense of our dearest rights, been
+successfully prosecuted and honorably terminated; and many of those who
+partook in the first struggle as well as in the second will have lived
+to see the last item of the debt incurred in these necessary but
+expensive conflicts faithfully and honestly discharged. And we shall
+have the proud satisfaction of bequeathing to the public servants who
+follow us in the administration of the Government the rare blessing of
+a revenue sufficiently abundant, raised without injustice or oppression
+to our citizens, and unencumbered with any burdens but what they
+themselves shall think proper to impose upon it.
+
+The flourishing state of the finances ought not, however, to encourage
+us to indulge in a lavish expenditure of the public treasure. The
+receipts of the present year do not furnish the test by which we are to
+estimate the income of the next. The changes made in our revenue system
+by the acts of Congress of 1832 and 1833, and more especially by the
+former, have swelled the receipts of the present year far beyond the
+amount to be expected in future years upon the reduced tariff of
+duties. The shortened credits on revenue bonds and the cash duties on
+woolens which were introduced by the act of 1832, and took effect on
+March 4th, 1832, have brought large sums into the Treasury in 1833,
+which, according to the credits formerly given, would not have been
+payable until 1834, and would have formed a part of the income of that
+year. These causes would of themselves produce a great diminution of
+the receipts in the year 1834 as compared with the present one, and
+they will be still more diminished by the reduced rates of duties which
+take place on January 1st, 1834 on some of the most important and
+productive articles.
+
+Upon the best estimates that can be made the receipts of the next year,
+with the aid of the unappropriated amount now in the Treasury, will not
+be much more than sufficient to meet the expenses of the year and pay
+the small remnant of the national debt which yet remains unsatisfied. I
+can not, therefore, recommend to you any alteration in the present
+tariff of duties. The rate as now fixed by law on the various articles
+was adopted at the last session of Congress, as a matter of compromise,
+with unusual unanimity, and unless it is found to produce more than the
+necessities of the Government call for there would seem to be no reason
+at this time to justify a change.
+
+But while I forbear to recommend any further reduction of the duties
+beyond that already provided for by the existing laws, I must earnestly
+and respectfully press upon Congress the importance of abstaining from
+all appropriations which are not absolutely required for the public
+interest and authorized by the powers clearly delegated to the United
+States. We are beginning a new era in our Government. The national
+debt, which has so long been a burden on the Treasury, will be finally
+discharged in the course of the ensuing year. No more memory will
+afterwards be needed than what may be necessary to meet the ordinary
+expenses of the Government. Now, then, is the proper moment to fix our
+system of expenditure on firm and durable principles, and I can not too
+strongly urge the necessity of a rigid economy and an inflexible
+determination not to enlarge the income beyond the real necessities of
+the Government and not to increase the wants of the Government by
+unnecessary and profuse expenditures.
+
+If a contrary course should be pursued, it may happen that the revenue
+of 1834 will fall short of the demands upon it, and after reducing the
+tariff in order to lighten the burdens of the people, and providing for
+a still further reduction to take effect hereafter, it would be much to
+be deplored if at the end of another year we should find ourselves
+obliged to retrace our steps and impose additional taxes to meet
+unnecessary expenditures.
+
+It is my duty on this occasion to call your attention to the
+destruction of the public building occupied by the Treasury Department,
+which happened since the last adjournment of Congress. A thorough
+inquiry into the causes of this loss was directed and made at the time,
+the result of which will be duly communicated to you. I take pleasure,
+however, in stating here that by the laudable exertions of the officers
+of the Department and many of the citizens of the District but few
+papers were lost, and none that will materially affect the public
+interest.
+
+The public convenience requires that another building should be erected
+as soon as practicable, and in providing for it it will be advisable to
+enlarge in some manner the accommodations for the public officers of
+the several Departments, and to authorize the erection of suitable
+depositories for the safe-keeping of the public documents and records.
+
+Since the last adjournment of Congress the Secretary of the Treasury
+has directed the money of the United States to be deposited in certain
+State banks designated by him, and he will immediately lay before you
+his reasons for this direction. I concur with him entirely in the view
+he has taken on the subject, and some months before the removal I urged
+upon the Department the propriety of taking that step. The near
+approach of the day on which the charger will expire, as well as the
+conduct of the bank, appeared to me to call for this measure upon the
+high considerations of public interest and public duty. The extent of
+its misconduct, however, although known to be great, was not at that
+time fully developed by proof. It was not until late in the month of
+August that I received from the Government directors an official report
+establishing beyond question that this great and powerful institution
+had been actively engaged in attempting to influence the elections of
+the public officers by means of its money, and that, in violation of
+the express provisions of its charter, it had by a formal resolution
+placed its funds at the disposition of its president to be employed in
+sustaining the political power of the bank. A copy of this resolution
+is contained in the report of the Government directors before referred
+to, and how ever the object may be disguised by cautious language, no
+one can doubt that this money was in truth intended for electioneering
+purposes, and the particular uses to which it was proved to have been
+applied abundantly show that it was so understood. Not only was the
+evidence complete as to the past application of the money and power of
+the bank to electioneering purposes, but that the resolution of the
+board of directors authorized the same course to be pursued in future.
+
+It being thus established by unquestionable proof that the Bank of the
+United States was converted into a permanent electioneering engine, it
+appeared to me that the path of duty which the executive department of
+the Government ought to pursue was not doubtful. As by the terms of the
+bank charter no officer but the Secretary of the Treasury could remove
+the deposits, it seemed to me that this authority ought to be at once
+exerted to deprive that great corporation of the support and
+countenance of the Government in such an use of its and such an
+exertion of its power. In this point of the case the question is
+distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to
+govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or
+whether the money and power of a great corporation are to be secretly
+exerted to influence their judgment and control their decisions. It
+must now be determined whether the bank is to have its candidates for
+all offices in the country, from the highest to the lowest, or whether
+candidates on both sides of political questions shall be brought
+forward as heretofore and supported by the usual means.
+
+At this time the efforts of the bank to control public opinion, through
+the distresses of some and the fears of others, are equally apparent,
+and, if possible, more objectionable. By a curtailment of its
+accommodations more rapid than any emergency requires, and even while
+it retains specie to an almost unprecedented amount in its vaults, it
+is attempting to produce great embarrassment in one portion of the
+community, while through presses known to have been sustained by its
+money it attempts by unfounded alarms to create a panic in all.
+
+These are the means by which it seems to expect that it can force a
+restoration of the deposits, and as a necessary consequence extort from
+Congress a renewal of its charter. I am happy to know that through the
+good sense of our people the effort to get up a panic has hitherto
+failed, and that through the increased accommodations which the State
+banks have been enabled to afford, no public distress has followed the
+exertions of the bank, and it can not be doubted that the exercise of
+its power and the expenditure of its money, as well as its efforts to
+spread groundless alarm, will be met and rebuked as they deserve. In my
+own sphere of duty I should feel myself called on by the facts
+disclosed to order a scire facias against the bank, with a view to put
+an end to the chartered rights it has so palpably violated, were it not
+that the charter itself will expire as soon as a decision would
+probably be obtained from the court of last resort.
+
+I called the attention of Congress to this subject in my last annual
+message, and informed them that such measures as were within the reach
+of the Secretary of the Treasury had been taken to enable him to judge
+whether the public deposits in the Bank of the United States were
+entirely safe; but that as his single powers might be inadequate to the
+object, I recommended the subject to Congress as worthy of their
+serious investigation, declaring it as my opinion that an inquiry into
+the transactions of that institution, embracing the branches as well as
+the principal bank, was called for by the credit which was given
+throughout the country to many serious charges impeaching their
+character, and which, if true, might justly excite the apprehension
+that they were no longer a safe depository for the public money. The
+extent to which the examination thus recommended was gone into is
+spread upon your journals, and is too well known to require to be
+stated. Such as was made resulted in a report from a majority of the
+Committee of Ways and Means touching certain specified points only,
+concluding with a resolution that the Government deposits might safely
+be continued in the Bank of the United States. This resolution was
+adopted at the close of the session by the vote of a majority of the
+House of Representatives.
+
+Although I may not always be able to concur in the views of the public
+interest or the duties of its agents which may be taken by the other
+departments of the Government or either of its branches, I am, not
+withstanding, wholly incapable of receiving otherwise than with the
+most sincere respect all opinions or suggestions proceeding from such a
+source, and in respect to none am I more inclined to do so than to the
+House of Representatives. But it will be seen from the brief views at
+this time taken of the subject by myself, as well as the more ample
+ones presented by the Secretary of the Treasury, that the change in the
+deposits which has been ordered has been deemed to be called for by
+considerations which are not affected by the proceedings referred to,
+and which, if correctly viewed by that Department, rendered its act a
+matter of imperious duty.
+
+Coming as you do, for the most part, immediately from the people and
+the States by election, and possessing the fullest opportunity to know
+their sentiments, the present Congress will be sincerely solicitous to
+carry into full and fair effect the will of their constituents in
+regard to this institution. It will be for those in whose behalf we all
+act to decide whether the executive department of the Government, in
+the steps which it has taken on this subject, has been found in the
+line of its duty.
+
+The accompanying report of the Secretary of War, with the documents
+annexed to it, exhibits the operations of the War Department for the
+past year and the condition of the various subjects intrusted to its
+administration.
+
+It will be seen from them that the Army maintains the character it has
+heretofore acquired for efficiency and military knowledge. Nothing has
+occurred since your last session to require its services beyond the
+ordinary routine duties which upon the sea-board and the in-land
+frontier devolve upon it in a time of peace. The system so wisely
+adopted and so long pursued of constructing fortifications at exposed
+points and of preparing and collecting the supplies necessary for the
+military defense of the country, and thus providently furnishing in
+peace the means of defense in war, has been continued with the usual
+results. I recommend to your consideration the various subjects
+suggested in the report of the Secretary of War. Their adoption would
+promote the public service and meliorate the condition of the Army.
+
+Our relations with the various Indian tribes have been undisturbed
+since the termination of the difficulties growing out of the hostile
+aggressions of the Sac and Fox Indians. Several treaties have been
+formed for the relinquishment of territory to the United States and for
+the migration of the occupants of the region assigned for their
+residence West of the Mississippi. Should these treaties be ratified by
+the Senate, provision will have been made for the removal of almost all
+the tribes remaining E of that river and for the termination of many
+difficult and embarrassing questions arising out of their anomalous
+political condition.
+
+It is to be hoped that those portions of two of the Southern tribes,
+which in that event will present the only remaining difficulties, will
+realize the necessity of emigration, and will speedily resort to it. My
+original convictions upon this subject have been confirmed by the
+course of events for several years, and experience is every day adding
+to their strength. That those tribes can not exist surrounded by our
+settlements and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They
+have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the
+desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in
+their condition. Established in the midst of another and a superior
+race, and without appreciating the causes of their inferiority or
+seeking to control them, they must necessarily yield to the force of
+circumstances and ere long disappear.
+
+Such has been their fate heretofore, and if it is to be averted--and it
+is--it can only be done by a general removal beyond our boundary and by
+the reorganization of their political system upon principles adapted to
+the new relations in which they will be placed. The experiment which
+has been recently made has so far proved successful. The emigrants
+generally are represented to be prosperous and contented, the country
+suitable to their wants and habits, and the essential articles of
+subsistence easily procured. When the report of the commissioners now
+engaged in investigating the condition and prospects of these Indians
+and in devising a plan for their intercourse and government is
+received, I trust ample means of information will be in possession of
+the Government for adjusting all the unsettled questions connected with
+this interesting subject.
+
+The operations of the Navy during the year and its present condition
+are fully exhibited in the annual report from the Navy Department.
+
+Suggestions are made by the Secretary of various improvements, which
+deserve careful consideration, and most of which, if adopted, bid fair
+to promote the efficiency of this important branch of the public
+service. Among these are the new organization of the Navy Board, the
+revision of the pay to officers, and a change in the period of time or
+in the manner of making the annual appropriations, to which I beg leave
+to call your particular attention.
+
+The views which are presented on almost every portion of our naval
+concerns, and especially on the amount of force and the number of
+officers, and the general course of policy appropriate in the present
+state of our country for securing the great and useful purposes of
+naval protection in peace and due preparation for the contingencies of
+war, meet with my entire approbation.
+
+It will be perceived from the report referred to that the fiscal
+concerns of the establishment are in an excellent condition, and it is
+hoped that Congress may feel disposed to make promptly every suitable
+provision desired either for preserving or improving the system.
+
+The general Post Office Department has continued, upon the strength of
+its own resources, to facilitate the means of communication between the
+various portions of the Union with increased activity. The method,
+however, in which the accounts of the transportation of the mail have
+always been kept appears to have presented an imperfect view of its
+expenses. It has recently been discovered that from the earliest
+records of the Department the annual statements have been calculated to
+exhibit an amount considerably short of the actual expense incurred for
+that service. These illusory statements, together with the expense of
+carrying into effect the law of the last session of Congress
+establishing new mail routes, and a disposition on the part of the head
+of the Department to gratify the wishes of the public in the extension
+of mail facilities, have induced him to incur responsibilities for
+their improvement beyond what the current resources of the Department
+would sustain. As soon as he had discovered the imperfection of the
+method he caused an investigation to be made of its results and applied
+the proper remedy to correct the evil. It became necessary for him to
+withdraw some of the improvements which he had made to bring the
+expenses of the Department within its own resources. These expenses
+were incurred for the public good, and the public have enjoyed their
+benefit. They are now but partially suspended, and that where they may
+be discontinued with the least inconvenience to the country.
+
+The progressive increase in the income from postages has equaled the
+highest expectations, and it affords demonstrative evidence of the
+growing importance and great utility of this Department. The details
+are exhibited in the accompanying report of the Post Master General.
+
+The many distressing accidents which have of late occurred in that
+portion of our navigation carried on by the use of steam power deserve
+the immediate and unremitting attention of the constituted authorities
+of the country. The fact that the number of those fatal disasters is
+constantly increasing, not withstanding the great improvements which
+are every where made in the machinery employed and in the rapid
+advances which have made in that branch of science, shows very clearly
+that they are in a great degree the result of criminal negligence on
+the part of those by whom the vessels are navigated and to whose care
+and attention the lives and property of our citizens are so extensively
+intrusted.
+
+That these evils may be greatly lessened, if not substantially removed,
+by means of precautionary and penal legislation seems to be highly
+probably. So far, therefore, as the subject can be regarded as within
+the constitutional purview of Congress I earnestly recommend it to your
+prompt and serious consideration.
+
+I would also call your attention to the views I have heretofore
+expressed of the propriety of amending the Constitution in relation to
+the mode of electing the President and the Vice-President of the United
+States. Regarding it as all important to the future quiet and harmony
+of the people that every intermediate agency in the election of these
+officers should be removed and that their eligibility should be limited
+to one term of either four or six years, I can not too earnestly invite
+your consideration of the subject.
+
+Trusting that your deliberations on all the topics of general interest
+to which I have adverted, and such others as your more extensive
+knowledge of the wants of our beloved country may suggest, may be
+crowned with success, I tender you in conclusion the cooperation which
+it may be in my power to afford them.
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 1, 1834
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
+
+In performing my duty at the opening of your present session it gives
+me pleasure to congratulate you again upon the prosperous condition of
+our beloved country. Divine Providence has favored us with general
+health, with rich rewards in the fields of agriculture and in every
+branch of labor, and with peace to cultivate and extend the various
+resources which employ the virtue and enterprise of our citizens. Let
+us trust that in surveying a scene so flattering to our free
+institutions our joint deliberations to preserve them may be crowned
+with success.
+
+Our foreign relations continue, with but few exceptions, to maintain
+the favorable aspect which they bore in my last annual message, and
+promise to extend those advantages which the principles that regulate
+our intercourse with other nations are so well calculated to secure.
+
+The question of our North East boundary is still pending with Great
+Britain, and the proposition made in accordance with the resolution of
+the Senate for the establishment of a line according to the treaty of
+1783 has not been accepted by that Government. Believing that every
+disposition is felt on both sides to adjust this perplexing question to
+the satisfaction of all the parties interested in it, the hope is yet
+indulged that it may be effected on the basis of that proposition.
+
+With the Governments of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Holland, Sweden, and
+Denmark the best understanding exists. Commerce with all is fostered
+and protected by reciprocal good will under the sanction of liberal
+conventional or legal provisions.
+
+In the midst of her internal difficulties the Queen of Spain has
+ratified the convention for the payment of the claims of our citizens
+arising since 1819. It is in the course of execution on her part, and a
+copy of it is now laid before you for such legislation as may be found
+necessary to enable those interested to derive the benefits of it.
+
+Yielding to the force of circumstances and to the wise counsels of time
+and experience, that power has finally resolved no longer to occupy the
+unnatural position in which she stood to the new Governments
+established in this hemisphere. I have the great satisfaction of
+stating to you that in preparing the way for the restoration of harmony
+between those who have sprung from the same ancestors, who are allied
+by common interests, profess the same religion, and speak the same
+language the United States have been actively instrumental. Our efforts
+to effect this good work will be persevered in while they are deemed
+useful to the parties and our entire disinterestedness continues to be
+felt and understood. The act of Congress to countervail the
+discriminating duties to the prejudice of our navigation levied in Cuba
+and Puerto Rico has been transmitted to the minister of the United
+States at Madrid, to be communicated to the Government of the Queen. No
+intelligence of its receipt has yet reached the Department of State. If
+the present condition of the country permits the Government to make a
+careful and enlarged examination of the true interests of these
+important portions of its dominions, no doubt is entertained that their
+future intercourse with the United States will be placed upon a more
+just and liberal basis.
+
+The Florida archives have not yet been selected and delivered. Recent
+orders have been sent to the agent of the United States at Havana to
+return with all that he can obtain, so that they may be in Washington
+before the session of the Supreme Court, to be used in the legal
+questions there pending to which the Government is a party.
+
+Internal tranquillity is happily restored to Portugal. The distracted
+state of the country rendered unavoidable the postponement of a final
+payment of the just claims of our citizens. Our diplomatic relations
+will be soon resumed, and the long-subsisting friendship with that
+power affords the strongest guaranty that the balance due will receive
+prompt attention.
+
+The first installment due under the convention of indemnity with the
+King of the Two Sicilies has been duly received, and an offer has been
+made to extinguish the whole by a prompt payment--an offer I did not
+consider myself authorized to accept, as the indemnification provided
+is the exclusive property of individual citizens of the United States.
+The original adjustment of our claims and the anxiety displayed to
+fulfill at once the stipulations made for the payment of them are
+highly honorable to the Government of the Two Sicilies. When it is
+recollected that they were the result of the injustice of an intrusive
+power temporarily dominant in its territory, a repugnance to
+acknowledge and to pay which would have been neither unnatural nor
+unexpected, the circumstances can not fail to exalt its character for
+justice and good faith in the eyes of all nations.
+
+The treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and Belgium,
+brought to your notice in my last annual message as sanctioned by the
+Senate, but the ratifications of which had not been exchanged owing to
+a delay in its reception at Brussels and a subsequent absence of the
+Belgian minister of foreign affairs, has been, after mature
+deliberation, finally disavowed by that Government as inconsistent with
+the powers and instructions given to their minister who negotiated it.
+This disavowal was entirely unexpected, as the liberal principles
+embodied in the convention, and which form the ground-work of the
+objections to it, were perfectly satisfactory to the Belgian
+representative, and were supposed to be not only within the powers
+granted, but expressly conformable to the instructions given to him. An
+offer, not yet accepted, has been made by Belgium to renew negotiations
+for a treaty less liberal in its provisions on questions of general
+maritime law.
+
+Our newly established relations with the Sublime Porte promise to be
+useful to our commerce and satisfactory in every respect to this
+Government. Our intercourse with the Barbary Powers continues without
+important change, except that the present political state of Algiers
+has induced me to terminate the residence there of a salaried consul
+and to substitute an ordinary consulate, to remain so long as the place
+continues in the possession of France. Our first treaty with one of
+these powers, the Emperor of Morocco, was formed in 1786, and was
+limited to fifty years. That period has almost expired. I shall take
+measures to renew it with the greater satisfaction as its stipulations
+are just and liberal and have been, with mutual fidelity and reciprocal
+advantage, scrupulously fulfilled.
+
+Intestine dissensions have too frequently occurred to mar the
+prosperity, interrupt the commerce, and distract the governments of
+most of the nations of this hemisphere which have separated themselves
+from Spain. When a firm and permanent understanding with the parent
+country shall have produced a formal acknowledgment of their
+independence, and the idea of danger from that quarter can be no longer
+entertained, the friends of freedom expect that those countries, so
+favored by nature, will be distinguished for their love of justice and
+their devotion to those peaceful arts the assiduous cultivation of
+which confers honor upon nations and gives value to human life.
+
+In the mean time I confidently hope that the apprehensions entertained
+that some of the people of these luxuriant regions may be tempted, in a
+moment of unworthy distrust of their own capacity for the enjoyment of
+liberty, to commit the too common error of purchasing present repose by
+bestowing on some favorite leaders the fatal gift of irresponsible
+power will not be realized. With all these Governments and with that of
+Brazil no unexpected changes in our relations have occurred during the
+present year.
+
+Frequent causes of just complaint have arisen upon the part of the
+citizens of the United States, some times from the irregular action of
+the constituted subordinate authorities of the maritime regions and
+some times from the leaders or partisans of those in arms against the
+established Governments. In all cases representations have been or will
+be made, and as soon as their political affairs are in a settled
+position it is expected that our friendly remonstrances will be
+followed by adequate redress.
+
+The Government of Mexico made known in December last the appointment of
+commissioners and a surveyor on its part to run, in conjunction with
+ours, the boundary line between its territories and the United States,
+and excused the delay for the reasons anticipated--the prevalence of
+civil war. The commissioners and surveyors not having met within the
+time stipulated by the treaty, a new arrangement became necessary, and
+our charge d'affaires was instructed in January, 1833 to negotiate in
+Mexico an article additional to the pre-existing treaty. This
+instruction was acknowledged, and no difficulty was apprehended in the
+accomplishment of that object. By information just received that
+additional article to the treaty will be obtained and transmitted to
+this country as soon as it can receive the ratification of the Mexican
+Congress.
+
+The reunion of the three States of New Grenada, Venezuela, and Equador,
+forming the Republic of Colombia, seems every day to become more
+improbable. The commissioners of the two first are understood to be now
+negotiating a just division of the obligations contracted by them when
+united under one government. The civil war in Equador, it is believed,
+has prevented even the appointment of a commissioner on its part.
+
+I propose at an early day to submit, in the proper form, the
+appointment of a diplomatic agent to Venezuela, the importance of the
+commerce of that country to the United States and the large claims of
+our citizens upon the Government arising before and since the division
+of Colombia rendering it, in my judgment, improper longer to delay this
+step.
+
+Our representatives to Central America, Peru, and Brazil are either at
+or on their way to their respective posts.
+
+From the Argentine Republic, from which a minister was expected to this
+Government, nothing further has been heard. Occasion has been taken on
+the departure of a new consul to Buenos Ayres to remind that Government
+that its long delayed minister, whose appointment had been made known
+to us, had not arrived.
+
+It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform you that this pacific and
+highly gratifying picture of our foreign relations does not include
+those with France at this time. It is not possible that any Government
+and people could be more sincerely desirous of conciliating a just and
+friendly intercourse with another nation than are those of the United
+States with their ancient ally and friend. This disposition is founded
+as well on the most grateful and honorable recollections associated
+with our struggle for independence as upon a well grounded conviction
+that it is consonant with the true policy of both. The people of the
+United States could not, therefore, see without the deepest regret even
+a temporary interruption of the friendly relations between the two
+countries--a regret which would, I am sure, be greatly aggravated if
+there should turn out to be any reasonable ground for attributing such
+a result to any act of omission or commission on our part. I derive,
+therefore, the highest satisfaction from being able to assure you that
+the whole course of this Government has been characterized by a spirit
+so conciliatory and for bearing as to make it impossible that our
+justice and moderation should be questioned, what ever may be the
+consequences of a longer perseverance on the part of the French
+Government in her omission to satisfy the conceded claims of our
+citizens.
+
+The history of the accumulated and unprovoked aggressions upon our
+commerce committed by authority of the existing Governments of France
+between the years 1800 and 1817 has been rendered too painfully
+familiar to Americans to make its repetition either necessary or
+desirable. It will be sufficient here to remark that there has for many
+years been scarcely a single administration of the French Government by
+whom the justice and legality of the claims of our citizens to
+indemnity were not to a very considerable extent admitted, and yet near
+a quarter of a century has been wasted in ineffectual negotiations to
+secure it.
+
+Deeply sensible of the injurious effects resulting from this state of
+things upon the interests and character of both nations, I regarded it
+as among my first duties to cause one more effort to be made to satisfy
+France that a just and liberal settlement of our claims was as well due
+to her own honor as to their incontestable validity. The negotiation
+for this purpose was commenced with the late Government of France, and
+was prosecuted with such success as to leave no reasonable ground to
+doubt that a settlement of a character quite as liberal as that which
+was subsequently made would have been effected had not the revolution
+by which the negotiation was cut off taken place. The discussions were
+resumed with the present Government, and the result showed that we were
+not wrong in supposing that an event by which the two Governments were
+made to approach each other so much nearer in their political
+principles, and by which the motives for the most liberal and friendly
+intercourse were so greatly multiplied, could exercise no other than a
+salutary influence upon the negotiation.
+
+After the most deliberate and thorough examination of the whole subject
+a treaty between the two Governments was concluded and signed at Paris
+on July 4th, 1831, by which it was stipulated that "the French
+Government, in order to liberate itself from all the reclamations
+preferred against it by citizens of the United States for unlawful
+seizures, captures, sequestrations, confiscations, or destruction of
+their vessels, cargoes, or other property, engages to pay a sum of
+25,000,000 francs to the United States, who shall distribute it among
+those entitled in the manner and according to the rules it shall
+determine"; and it was also stipulated on the part of the French
+Government that this 25,000,000 francs should be paid at Paris, in six
+annual installments of 4,166,666 francs and 66 centimes each, into the
+hands of such person or persons "as shall be authorized by the
+Government of the United States to receive it", the first installment
+to be paid "at the expiration of one year next following the exchange
+of the ratifications of this convention and the others at successive
+intervals of a year, one after another, 'til the whole shall be paid.
+To the amount of each of the said installments shall be added interest
+at 4% thereupon, as upon the other installments then remaining unpaid,
+the said interest to be computed from the day of the exchange of the
+present convention".
+
+It was also stipulated on the part of the United States, for the
+purpose of being completely liberated from all the reclamations
+presented by France on behalf of its citizens, that the sum of
+1,500,000 francs should be paid to the Government of France in six
+annual installments, to be deducted out of the annual sums which France
+had agreed to pay, interest thereupon being in like manner computed
+from the day of the exchange of the ratifications. In addition to this
+stipulation, important advantages were secured to France by the
+following article, viz: The wines of France, from and after the
+exchange of the ratifications of the present conventions, shall be
+admitted to consumption in the States of the Union at duties which
+shall not exceed the following rates by the gallon (such as it is used
+at present for wines in the United States), to wit: six cents for red
+wines in casks; ten cents for white wines in casks, and 22 cents for
+wines of all sorts in bottles. The proportions existing between the
+duties on French wines thus reduced and the general rates of the tariff
+which went into operation January 1st, 1829, shall be maintained in
+case the Government of the United States should think proper to
+diminish those general rates in a new tariff.
+
+In consideration of this stipulation, which shall be binding on the
+United States for ten years, the French Government abandons the
+reclamations which it had formed in relation to the 8th article of the
+treaty of cession of Louisiana. It engages, moreover, to establish on
+the long-staple cottons of the United States which after the exchange
+of the ratifications of the present convention shall be brought
+directly thence to France by the vessels of the United States or by
+French vessels the same duties as on short-staple cotton. This treaty
+was duly ratified in the manner prescribed by the constitutions of both
+countries, and the ratification was exchanged at the city of Washington
+on February 2d, 1832. On account of its commercial stipulations it was
+in five days thereafter laid before the Congress of the United States,
+which proceeded to enact such laws favorable to the commerce of France
+as were necessary to carry it into full execution, and France has from
+that period to the present been in the unrestricted enjoyment of the
+valuable privileges that were thus secured to her.
+
+The faith of the French nation having been thus solemnly pledged
+through its constitutional organ for the liquidation and ultimate
+payment of the long deferred claims of our citizens, as also for the
+adjustment of other points of great and reciprocal benefits to both
+countries, and the United States having, with a fidelity and
+promptitude by which their conduct will, I trust, be always
+characterized, done every thing that was necessary to carry the treaty
+into full and fair effect on their part, counted with the most perfect
+confidence on equal fidelity and promptitude on the part of the French
+Government. In this reasonable expectation we have been, I regret to
+inform you, wholly disappointed. No legislative provision has been made
+by France for the execution of the treaty, either as it respects the
+indemnity to be paid or the commercial benefits to be secured to the
+United States, and the relations between the United States and that
+power in consequence thereof are placed in a situation threatening to
+interrupt the good understanding which has so long and so happily
+existed between the two nations.
+
+Not only has the French Government been thus wanting in the performance
+of the stipulations it has so solemnly entered into with the United
+States, but its omissions have been marked by circumstances which would
+seem to leave us without satisfactory evidences that such performance
+will certainly take place at a future period. Advice of the exchange of
+ratifications reached Paris prior to April 8th, 1832. The French
+Chambers were then sitting, and continued in session until April 21st,
+1832, and although one installment of the indemnity was payable on
+February 2d, 1833, one year after the exchange of ratifications, no
+application was made to the Chambers for the required appropriation,
+and in consequence of no appropriation having then been made the draft
+of the United States Government for that installment was dishonored by
+the minister of finance, and the United States thereby involved in much
+controversy.
+
+The next session of the Chambers commenced on November 19th, 1832, and
+continued until April 25th, 1833. Not withstanding the omission to pay
+the first installment had been made the subject of earnest remonstrance
+on our part, the treaty with the United States and a bill making the
+necessary appropriations to execute it were not laid before the Chamber
+of Deputies until April 6th, 1833, nearly five months after its
+meeting, and only nineteen days before the close of the session. The
+bill was read and referred to a committee, but there was no further
+action upon it.
+
+The next session of the Chambers commenced on April 26th, 1833, and
+continued until June 26th, 1833. A new bill was introduced on June
+11th, 1833, but nothing important was done in relation to it during the
+session.
+
+In 1834 April, nearly three years after the signature of the treaty,
+the final action of the French Chambers upon the bill to carry the
+treaty into effect was obtained, and resulted in a refusal of the
+necessary appropriations. The avowed grounds upon which the bill was
+rejected are to be found in the published debates of that body, and no
+observations of mine can be necessary to satisfy Congress of their
+utter insufficiency. Although the gross amount of the claims of our
+citizens is probably greater than will be ultimately allowed by the
+commissioners, sufficient is, never the less, shown to render it
+absolutely certain that the indemnity falls far short of the actual
+amount of our just claims, independently of the question of damages and
+interest for the detention. That the settlement involved a sacrifice in
+this respect was well known at the time--a sacrifice which was
+cheerfully acquiesced in by the different branches of the Federal
+Government, whose action upon the treaty was required from a sincere
+desire to avoid further collision upon this old and disturbing subject
+and in the confident expectation that the general relations between the
+two countries would be improved thereby.
+
+The refusal to vote the appropriation, the news of which was received
+from our minister in Paris about May 15th, 1834, might have been
+considered the final determination of the French Government not to
+execute the stipulations of the treaty, and would have justified an
+immediate communication of the facts to Congress, with a recommendation
+of such ultimate measures as the interest and honor of the United
+States might seem to require. But with the news of the refusal of the
+Chambers to make the appropriation were conveyed the regrets of the
+King and a declaration that a national vessel should be forthwith sent
+out with instructions to the French minister to give the most ample
+explanations of the past and the strongest assurances for the future.
+After a long passage the promised dispatch vessel arrived.
+
+The pledges given by the French minister upon receipt of his
+instructions were that as soon after the election of the new members as
+the charter would permit the legislative Chambers of France should be
+called together and the proposition for an appropriation laid before
+them; that all the constitutional powers of the King and his cabinet
+should be exerted to accomplish the object, and that the result should
+be made known early enough to be communicated to Congress at the
+commencement of the present session. Relying upon these pledges, and
+not doubting that the acknowledged justice of our claims, the promised
+exertions of the King and his cabinet, and, above all, that sacred
+regard for the national faith and honor for which the French character
+has been so distinguished would secure an early execution of the treaty
+in all its parts, I did not deem it necessary to call the attention of
+Congress to the subject at the last session.
+
+I regret to say that the pledges made through the minister of France
+have not been redeemed. The new Chambers met on July 31st, 1834, and
+although the subject of fulfilling treaties was alluded to in the
+speech from the throne, no attempt was made by the King or his cabinet
+to procure an appropriation to carry it into execution. The reasons
+given for this omission, although they might be considered sufficient
+in an ordinary case, are not consistent with the expectations founded
+upon the assurances given here, for there is no constitutional obstacle
+to entering into legislative business at the first meeting of the
+Chambers. This point, however, might have been over-looked had not the
+Chambers, instead of being called to meet at so early a day that the
+result of their deliberations might be communicated to me before the
+meeting of Congress, been prorogued to December 29th, 1834--a period so
+late that their decision can scarcely be made known to the present
+Congress prior to its dissolution. To avoid this delay our minister in
+Paris, in virtue of the assurance given by the French minister in the
+United States, strongly urged the convocation of the Chambers at an
+earlier day, but without success. It is proper to remark, however, that
+this refusal has been accompanied with the most positive assurances on
+the part of the executive government of France of their intention to
+press the appropriation at the ensuing session of the Chambers.
+
+The executive branch of this Government has, as matters stand,
+exhausted all the authority upon the subject with which it is invested
+and which it had any reason to believe could be beneficially employed.
+
+The idea of acquiescing in the refusal to execute the treaty will not,
+I am confident, be for a moment entertained by any branch of this
+Government, and further negotiation upon the subject is equally out of
+the question.
+
+If it shall be the pleasure of Congress to await the further action of
+the French Chambers, no further consideration of the subject will at
+this session probably be required at your hands. But if from the
+original delay in asking for an appropriation, from the refusal of the
+Chambers to grant it when asked, from the omission to bring the subject
+before the Chambers at their last session, from the fact that,
+including that session, there have been five different occasions when
+the appropriation might have been made, and from the delay in convoking
+the Chambers until some weeks after the meeting of Congress, when it
+was well known that a communication of the whole subject to Congress at
+the last session was prevented by assurances that it should be disposed
+of before its present meeting, you should feel yourselves constrained
+to doubt whether it be the intention of the French Government, in all
+its branches, to carry the treaty into effect, and think that such
+measures as the occasion may be deemed to call for should be now
+adopted, the important question arises what those measures shall be.
+
+Our institutions are essentially pacific. Peace and friendly
+intercourse with all nations are as much the desire of our Government
+as they are the interest of our people. But these objects are not to be
+permanently secured by surrendering the rights of our citizens or
+permitting solemn treaties for their indemnity, in cases of flagrant
+wrong, to be abrogated or set aside.
+
+It is undoubtedly in the power of Congress seriously to affect the
+agricultural and manufacturing interests of France by the passage of
+laws relating to her trade with the United States. Her products,
+manufactures, and tonnage may be subjected to heavy duties in our
+ports, or all commercial intercourse with her may be suspended. But
+there are powerful and to my mind conclusive objections to this mode of
+proceeding.
+
+We can not embarrass or cut off the trade of France without at the same
+time in some degree embarrassing or cutting off our own trade. The
+injury of such a warfare must fall, though unequally, upon our own
+citizens, and could not but impair the means of the Government and
+weaken that united sentiment in support of the rights and honor of the
+nation which must now pervade every bosom. Nor is it impossible that
+such a course of legislation would introduce once more into our
+national councils those disturbing questions in relation to the tariff
+of duties which have been so recently put to rest. Besides, by every
+measure adopted by the Government of the United States with the view of
+injuring France the clear perception of right which will induce our own
+people and the rulers and people of all other nations, even of France
+herself, to pronounce our quarrel just will be obscured and the support
+rendered to us in a final resort to more decisive measures will be more
+limited and equivocal.
+
+There is but one point of controversy, and upon that the whole
+civilized world must pronounce France to be in the wrong. We insist
+that she shall pay us a sum of money which she has acknowledged to be
+due, and of the justice of this demand there can be but one opinion
+among mankind. True policy would seem to dictate that the question at
+issue should be kept thus disencumbered and that not the slightest
+pretense should be given to France to persist in her refusal to make
+payment by any act on our part affecting the interests of her people.
+The question should be left, as it is now, in such an attitude that
+when France fulfills her treaty stipulations all controversy will be at
+an end.
+
+It is my conviction that the United States ought to insist on a prompt
+execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused or longer delayed
+take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the part of
+France of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by
+treaty, it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of a century is
+to be wasted in negotiating about the payment. The laws of nations
+provide a remedy for such occasions. It is a well-settled principle of
+the international code that where one nation owes another a liquidated
+debt which it refuses or neglects to pay the aggrieved party may seize
+on the property belonging to the other, its citizens or subjects,
+sufficient to pay the debt without giving just cause of war. This
+remedy has been repeatedly resorted to, and recently by France herself
+toward Portugal, under circumstances less unquestionable.
+
+The time at which resort should be had to this or any other mode of
+redress is a point to be decided by Congress. If an appropriation shall
+not be made by the French Chambers at their next session, it may justly
+be concluded that the Government of France has finally determined to
+disregard its own solemn undertaking and refuse to pay an acknowledged
+debt. In that event every day's delay on our part will be a stain upon
+our national honor, as well as a denial of justice to our injured
+citizens. Prompt measures, when the refusal of France shall be
+complete, will not only be most honorable and just, but will have the
+best effect upon our national character.
+
+Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her minister
+here, has delayed her final action so long that her decision will not
+probably be known in time to be communicated to this Congress, I
+recommend that a law be passed authorizing reprisals upon French
+property in case provision shall not be made for the payment of the
+debt at the approaching session of the French Chambers. Her pride and
+power are too well known to expect any thing from her fears and
+preclude the necessity of a declaration that nothing partaking of the
+character of intimidation is intended by us. She ought to look upon it
+as the evidence only of an inflexible determination on the part of the
+United States to insist on their rights.
+
+That Government, by doing only what it has itself acknowledged to be
+just, will be able to spare the United States the necessity of taking
+redress into their own hands and save the property of French citizens
+from that seizure and sequestration which American citizens so long
+endured without retaliation or redress. If she should continue to
+refuse that act of acknowledged justice and, in violation of the law of
+nations, make reprisals on our part the occasion of hostilities against
+the United States, she would but add violence to injustice, and could
+not fail to expose herself to the just censure of civilized nations and
+to the retributive judgments of Heaven.
+
+Collision with France is the more to be regretted on account of the
+position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal institutions,
+but in maintaining our national rights and honor all governments are
+alike to us. If by a collision with France in a case where she is
+clearly in the wrong the march of liberal principles shall be impeded,
+the responsibility for that result as well as every other will rest on
+her own head.
+
+Having submitted these considerations, it belongs to Congress to decide
+whether after what has taken place it will still await the further
+action of the French Chambers or now adopt such provisional measures as
+it may deem necessary and best adapted to protect the rights and
+maintain the honor of the country. What ever that decision may be, it
+will be faithfully enforced by the Executive as far as he is authorized
+so to do.
+
+According to the estimate of the Treasury Department, the revenue
+accruing from all sources during the present year will amount to
+$20,624,717, which, with the balance remaining in the Treasury on
+January 1st, 1834 of $11,702,905, produces an aggregate of $32,327,623.
+The total expenditure during the year for all objects, including the
+public debt, is estimated at $25,591,390, which will leave a balance in
+the Treasury on January 1st, 1835 of $6,736,232. In this balance,
+however, will be included about $1,150,000 of what was heretofore
+reported by the Department as not effective.
+
+Of former appropriations it is estimated that there will remain
+unexpended at the close of the year $8,002,925, and that of this sum
+there will not be required more than $5,141,964 to accomplish the
+objects of all the current appropriations. Thus it appears that after
+satisfying all those appropriations and after discharging the last item
+of our public debt, which will be done on January 1st, 1835, there will
+remain unexpended in the Treasury an effective balance of about
+$440,000. That such should be the aspect of our finances is highly
+flattering to the industry and enterprise of our population and
+auspicious of the wealth and prosperity which await the future
+cultivation of their growing resources. It is not deemed prudent,
+however, to recommend any change for the present in our impost rates,
+the effect of the gradual reduction now in progress in many of them not
+being sufficiently tested to guide us in determining the precise amount
+of revenue which they will produce.
+
+Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no
+complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign
+powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most
+favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy
+which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and
+secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.
+
+Among these principles, from our past experience, it can not be doubted
+that simplicity in the character of the Federal Government and a rigid
+economy in its administration should be regarded as fundamental and
+sacred. All must be sensible that the existence of the public debt, by
+rendering taxation necessary for its extinguishment, has increased the
+difficulties which are inseparable from every exercise of the taxing
+power, and that it was in this respect a remote agent in producing
+those disturbing questions which grew out of the discussions relating
+to the tariff. If such has been the tendency of a debt incurred in the
+acquisition and maintenance of our national rights and liberties, the
+obligations of which all portions of the Union cheerfully acknowledged,
+it must be obvious that what ever is calculated to increase the burdens
+of Government without necessity must be fatal to all our hopes of
+preserving its true character.
+
+While we are felicitating ourselves, therefore, upon the extinguishment
+of the national debt and the prosperous state of our finances, let us
+not be tempted to depart from those sound maxims of public policy which
+enjoin a just adaptation of the revenue to the expenditures that are
+consistent with a rigid economy and an entire abstinence from all
+topics of legislation that are not clearly within the constitutional
+powers of the Government and suggested by the wants of the country.
+Properly regarded under such a policy, every diminution of the public
+burdens arising from taxation gives to individual enterprise increased
+power and furnishes to all the members of our happy Confederacy new
+motives for patriotic affection and support. But above all, its most
+important effect will be found in its influence upon the character of
+the Government by confining its action to those objects which will be
+sure to secure to it the attachment and support of our fellow citizens.
+
+Circumstances make it my duty to call the attention of Congress to the
+Bank of the United States. Created for the convenience of the
+Government, that institution has become the scourge of the people. Its
+interference to postpone the payment of a portion of the national debt
+that it might retain the public money appropriated for that purpose to
+strengthen it in a political contest, the extraordinary extension and
+contraction of its accommodations to the community, its corrupt and
+partisan loans, its exclusion of the public directors from a knowledge
+of its most important proceedings, the unlimited authority conferred on
+the president to expend its funds in hiring writers and procuring the
+execution of printing, and the use made of that authority, the
+retention of the pension money and books after the selection of new
+agents, the groundless claim to heavy damages in consequence of the
+protest of the bill drawn on the French Government, have through
+various channels been laid before Congress.
+
+Immediately after the close of the last session the bank, through its
+president, announced its ability and readiness to abandon the system of
+unparalleled curtailment and the interruption of domestic exchanges
+which it had practiced upon from August 1st, 1833 to June 30th, 1834,
+and to extend its accommodations to the community. The grounds assumed
+in this annunciation amounted to an acknowledgment that the
+curtailment, in the extent to which it had been carried, was not
+necessary to the safety of the bank, and had been persisted in merely
+to induce Congress to grant the prayer of the bank in its memorial
+relative to the removal of the deposits and to give it a new charter.
+They were substantially a confession that all the real distresses which
+individuals and the country had endured for the preceding six or eight
+months had been needlessly produced by it, with the view of affecting
+through the sufferings of the people the legislative action of
+Congress.
+
+It is subject of congratulation that Congress and the country had the
+virtue and firmness to bear the infliction, that the energies of our
+people soon found relief from this wanton tyranny in vast importations
+of the precious metals from almost every part of the world, and that at
+the close of this tremendous effort to control our Government the bank
+found itself powerless and no longer able to loan out its surplus
+means. The community had learned to manage its affairs without its
+assistance, and trade had already found new auxiliaries, so that on
+October 1st, 1834 the extraordinary spectacle was presented of a
+national more than half of whose capital was either lying unproductive
+in its vaults or in the hands of foreign bankers.
+
+To the needless distresses brought on the country during the last
+session of Congress has since been added the open seizure of the
+dividends on the public stock to the amount of $170,041, under pretense
+of paying damages, cost, and interest upon the protested French bill.
+This sum constituted a portion of the estimated revenues for the year
+1834, upon which the appropriations made by Congress were based. It
+would as soon have been expected that our collectors would seize on the
+customs or the receivers of our land offices on the moneys arising from
+the sale of public lands under pretenses of claims against the United
+States as that the bank would have retained the dividends. Indeed, if
+the principle be established that any one who chooses to set up a claim
+against the United States may without authority of law seize on the
+public property or money wherever he can find it to pay such claim,
+there will remain no assurance that our revenue will reach the Treasury
+or that it will be applied after the appropriation to the purposes
+designated in the law.
+
+The pay masters of our Army and the pursers of our Navy may under like
+pretenses apply to their own use moneys appropriated to set in motion
+the public force, and in time of war leave the country without defense.
+This measure resorted to by the bank is disorganizing and
+revolutionary, and if generally resorted to by private citizens in like
+cases would fill the land with anarchy and violence.
+
+It is a constitutional provision "that no money shall be drawn from the
+Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law". The
+palpable object of this provision is to prevent the expenditure of the
+public money for any purpose what so ever which shall not have been 1st
+approved by the representatives of the people and the States in
+Congress assembled. It vests the power of declaring for what purposes
+the public money shall be expended in the legislative department of the
+Government, to the exclusion of the executive and judicial, and it is
+not within the constitutional authority of either of those departments
+to pay it away without law or to sanction its payment.
+
+According to this plain constitutional provision, the claim of the bank
+can never be paid without an appropriation by act of Congress. But the
+bank has never asked for an appropriation. It attempts to defeat the
+provision of the Constitution and obtain payment without an act of
+Congress. Instead of awaiting an appropriation passed by both Houses
+and approved by the President, it makes an appropriation for itself and
+invites an appeal to the judiciary to sanction it. That the money had
+not technically been paid into the Treasury does not affect the
+principle intended to be established by the Constitution.
+
+The Executive and the judiciary have as little right to appropriate and
+expend the public money without authority of law before it is placed to
+the credit of the Treasury as to take it from the Treasury. In the
+annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and in his
+correspondence with the president of the bank, and the opinions of the
+Attorney General accompanying it, you will find a further examination
+of the claims of the bank and the course it has pursued.
+
+It seems due to the safety of the people funds remaining in that bank
+and to the honor of the American people that measures be taken to
+separate the Government entirely from an institution so mischievous to
+the public prosperity and so regardless of the Constitution and laws.
+By transferring the public deposits, by appointing other pension agents
+as far as it had the power, by ordering the discontinuance of the
+receipt of bank checks in the payment of the public dues after January
+1st, 1834, the Executive has exerted all its lawful authority to sever
+the connection between the Government and this faithless corporation.
+
+The high-handed career of this institution imposes upon the
+constitutional functionaries of this Government duties of the gravest
+and most imperative character--duties which they can not avoid and from
+which I trust there will be no inclination on the part of any of them
+to shrink. My own sense of them is most clear, as is also my readiness
+to discharge those which may rightfully fall on me. To continue any
+business relations with the Bank of the United States that may be
+avoided without a violation of the national faith after that
+institution has set at open defiance the conceded right of the
+Government to examine its affairs, after it has done all in its power
+to deride the public authority in other respects and to bring it into
+disrepute at home and abroad, after it has attempted to defeat the
+clearly expressed will of the people by turning against them the
+immense power intrusted to its hands and by involving a country
+otherwise peaceful, flourishing, and happy, in dissension,
+embarrassment, and distress, would make the nation itself a party to
+the degradation so sedulously prepared for its public agents and do
+much to destroy the confidence of man-kind in popular governments and
+to bring into contempt their authority and efficiency.
+
+In guarding against an evil of such magnitude consideration of
+temporary convenience should be thrown out of the question, and we
+should be influenced by such motives only as look to the honor and
+preservation of the republican system. Deeply and solemnly impressed
+with the justice of these views, I feel it to be my duty to recommend
+to you that a law be passed authorizing the sale of the public stock;
+that the provision of the charter requiring the receipt of notes of the
+bank in payment of public dues shall, in accordance with the power
+reserved to Congress in the 14th section of the charter, be suspended
+until the bank pays to the Treasury the dividends withheld, and that
+all laws connecting the Government or its officers with the bank,
+directly or indirectly, be repealed, and that the institution be left
+hereafter to its own resources and means.
+
+Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American
+people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow from a national bank
+far over-balance all its advantages. The bold effort the present bank
+has made to control the Government, the distresses it has wantonly
+produced, the violence of which it has been the occasion in one of our
+cities famed for its observance of law and order, are but premonitions
+of the fate which awaits the American people should they be deluded
+into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another
+like it. It is fervently hoped that thus admonished those who have
+heretofore favored the establishment of a substitute for the present
+bank will be induced to abandon it, as it is evidently better to incur
+any inconvenience that may be reasonably expected than to concentrate
+the whole moneyed power of the Republic in any form what so ever or
+under any restrictions.
+
+Happily it is already illustrated that the agency of such an
+institution is not necessary to the fiscal operations of the
+Government. The State banks are found fully adequate to the performance
+of all services which were required of the Bank of the United States,
+quite as promptly and with the same cheapness. They have maintained
+themselves and discharged all these duties while the Bank of the United
+States was still powerful and in the field as an open enemy, and it is
+not possible to conceive that they will find greater difficulties in
+their operations when that enemy shall cease to exist.
+
+The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regulation of the
+deposits in the State banks by law. Although the power now exercised by
+the executive department in this behalf is only such as was uniformly
+exerted through every Administration from the origin of the Government
+up to the establishment of the present bank, yet it is one which is
+susceptible of regulation by law, and therefore ought so to be
+regulated. The power of Congress to direct in what places the Treasurer
+shall keep the moneys in the Treasury and to impose restrictions upon
+the Executive authority in relation to their custody and removal is
+unlimited, and its exercise will rather be courted than discouraged by
+those public officers and agents on whom rests the responsibility for
+their safety. It is desirable that as little power as possible should
+be left to the President or the Secretary of the Treasury over those
+institutions, which, being thus freed from Executive influence, and
+without a common head to direct their operations, would have neither
+the temptation nor the ability to interfere in the political conflicts
+of the country. Not deriving their charters from the national
+authorities, they would never have those inducements to meddle in
+general elections which have led the Bank of the United States to
+agitate and convulse the country for upward of two years.
+
+The progress of our gold coinage is creditable to the officers of the
+Mint, and promises in a short period to furnish the country with a
+sound and portable currency, which will much diminish the inconvenience
+to travelers of the want of a general paper currency should the State
+banks be incapable of furnishing it. Those institutions have already
+shown themselves competent to purchase and furnish domestic exchange
+for the convenience of trade at reasonable rates, and not a doubt is
+entertained that in a short period all the wants of the country in bank
+accommodations and exchange will be supplied as promptly and as cheaply
+as they have heretofore been by the Bank of the United States. If the
+several States shall be induced gradually to reform their banking
+systems and prohibit the issue of all small notes, we shall in a few
+years have a currency as sound and as little liable to fluctuations as
+any other commercial country.
+
+The report of the Secretary of War, together with the accompanying
+documents from the several bureaux of that Department, will exhibit the
+situation of the various objects committed to its administration.
+
+No event has occurred since your last session rendering necessary any
+movements of the Army, with the exception of the expedition of the
+regiment of dragoons into the territory of the wandering and predatory
+tribes inhabiting the western frontier and living adjacent to the
+Mexican boundary. These tribes have been heretofore known to us
+principally by their attacks upon our own citizens and upon other
+Indians entitled to the protection of the United States. It became
+necessary for the peace of the frontiers to check these habitual
+inroads, and I am happy to inform you that the object has been effected
+without the commission of any act of hostility. Colonel Dodge and the
+troops under his command have acted with equal firmness and humanity,
+and an arrangement has been made with those Indians which it is hoped
+will assure their permanent pacific relations with the United States
+and the other tribes of Indians upon that border. It is to be regretted
+that the prevalence of sickness in that quarter has deprived the
+country of a number of valuable lives, and particularly that General
+Leavenworth, an officer well known, and esteemed for his gallant
+services in the late war and for his subsequent good conduct, has
+fallen a victim to his zeal and exertions in the discharge of his duty.
+
+The Army is in a high state of discipline. Its moral condition, so far
+as that is known here, is good, and the various branches of the public
+service are carefully attended to. It is amply sufficient under its
+present organization for providing the necessary garrisons for the
+seaboard and for the defense of the internal frontier, and also for
+preserving the elements of military knowledge and for keeping pace with
+those improvements which modern experience is continually making. And
+these objects appear to me to embrace all the legitimate purposes for
+which a permanent military force should be maintained in our country.
+The lessons of history teach us its danger and the tendency which
+exists to an increase. This can be best met and averted by a just
+caution on the part of the public itself, and of those who represent
+them in Congress.
+
+From the duties which devolve on the Engineer Department and upon the
+topographical engineers, a different organization seems to be demanded
+by the public interest, and I recommend the subject to your
+consideration.
+
+No important change has during this season taken place in the condition
+of the Indians. Arrangements are in progress for the removal of the
+Creeks, and will soon be for the removal of the Seminoles. I regret
+that the Cherokees east of the Mississippi have not yet determined as a
+community to remove. How long the personal causes which have heretofore
+retarded that ultimately inevitable measure will continue to operate I
+am unable to conjecture. It is certain, however, that delay will bring
+with it accumulated evils which will render their condition more and
+more unpleasant. The experience of every year adds to the conviction
+that emigration, and that alone, can preserve from destruction the
+remnant of the tribes yet living amongst us. The facility with which
+the necessaries of life are procured and the treaty stipulations
+providing aid for the emigrant Indians in their agricultural pursuits
+and in the important concern of education, and their removal from those
+causes which have heretofore depressed all and destroyed many of the
+tribes, can not fail to stimulate their exertions and to reward their
+industry.
+
+The two laws passed at the last session of Congress on the subject of
+Indian affairs have been carried into effect, and detailed instructions
+for their administration have been given. It will be seen by the
+estimates for the present session that a great reduction will take
+place in the expenditures of the Department in consequence of these
+laws, and there is reason to believe that their operation will be
+salutary and that the colonization of the Indians on the western
+frontier, together with a judicious system of administration, will
+still further reduce the expenses of this branch of the public service
+and at the same time promote its usefulness and efficiency.
+
+Circumstances have been recently developed showing the existence of
+extensive frauds under the various laws granting pensions and
+gratuities for Revolutionary services. It is impossible to estimate the
+amount which may have been thus fraudulently obtained from the National
+Treasury. I am satisfied, however, it has been such as to justify a
+re-examination of the system and the adoption of the necessary checks
+in its administration. All will agree that the services and sufferings
+of the remnant of our Revolutionary band should be fully compensated;
+but while this is done, every proper precaution should be taken to
+prevent the admission of fabricated and fraudulent claims.
+
+In the present mode of proceeding the attestations and certificates of
+the judicial officers of the various States from a considerable portion
+of the checks which are interposed against the commission of frauds.
+These, however, have been and may be fabricated, and in such a way as
+to elude detection at the examining offices. And independently of this
+practical difficulty, it is ascertained that these documents are often
+loosely granted; some times even blank certificates have been issued;
+some times prepared papers have been signed without inquiry, and in one
+instance, at least, the seal of the court has been within reach of a
+person most interested in its improper application. It is obvious that
+under such circumstances no severity of administration can check the
+abuse of the law. And information has from time to time been
+communicated to the Pension Office questioning or denying the right of
+persons placed upon the pension list to the bounty of the country.
+
+Such cautions are always attended to and examined, but a far more
+general investigation is called for, and I therefore recommend, in
+conformity with the suggestion of the Secretary of War, that an actual
+inspection should be made in each State into the circumstances and
+claims of every person now drawing a pension. The honest veteran has
+nothing to fear from such a scrutiny, while the fraudulent claimant
+will be detected and the public Treasury relieved to an amount, I have
+reason to believe, far greater than has heretofore been suspected. The
+details of such a plan could be so regulated as to interpose the
+necessary checks without any burdensome operation upon the pensioners.
+The object should be two-fold: To look into the original justice of the
+claims, so far as this can be done under a proper system of
+regulations, by an examination of the claimants themselves and by
+inquiring in the vicinity of their residence into their history and
+into the opinion entertained of their Revolutionary services. To
+ascertain in all cases whether the original claimant is living and this
+by actual personal inspection. This measure will, if adopted, be
+productive, I think, of the desired results, and I therefore recommend
+it to your consideration, with the further suggestion that all payments
+should be suspended 'til the necessary reports are received.
+
+It will be seen by a tabular statement annexed to the documents
+transmitted to Congress that the appropriations for objects connected
+with the War Department, made at the last session, for the service of
+the year 1834, excluding the permanent appropriation for the payment of
+military gratuities under the act of June 7th, 1832, the appropriation
+of $200,000 for arming and equipping the militia, and the appropriation
+of $10,000 for the civilization of the Indians, which are not annually
+renewed, amounted to the sum of $9,003,261, and that the estimates of
+appropriations necessary for the same branches of service for the year
+1835 amount to the sum of $5,778,964, making a difference in the
+appropriations of the current year over the estimates of the
+appropriations for the next of $3,224,297.
+
+The principal causes which have operated at this time to produce this
+great difference are shown in the reports and documents and in the
+detailed estimates. Some of these causes are accidental and temporary,
+while others are permanent, and, aided by a just course of
+administration, may continue to operate beneficially upon the public
+expenditures.
+
+A just economy, expending where the public service requires and
+withholding where it does not, is among the indispensable duties of the
+Government.
+
+I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy and
+to the documents with it for a full view of the operations of that
+important branch of our service during the present year. It will be
+seen that the wisdom and liberality with which Congress has provided
+for the gradual increase of our navy material have been seconded by a
+corresponding zeal and fidelity on the part of those to whom has been
+confided the execution of the laws on the subject, and that but a short
+period would be now required to put in commission a force large enough
+for any exigency into which the country may be thrown.
+
+When we reflect upon our position in relation to other nations, it must
+be apparent that in the event of conflicts with them we must look
+chiefly to our Navy for the protection of our national rights. The wide
+seas which separate us from other Governments must of necessity be the
+theater on which an enemy will aim to assail us, and unless we are
+prepared to meet him on this element we can not be said to possess the
+power requisite to repel or prevent aggressions. We can not, therefore,
+watch with too much attention this arm of our defense, or cherish with
+too much care the means by which it can possess the necessary
+efficiency and extension. To this end our policy has been heretofore
+wisely directed to the constant employment of a force sufficient to
+guard our commerce, and to the rapid accumulation of the materials
+which are necessary to repair our vessels and construct with ease such
+new ones as may be required in a state of war.
+
+In accordance with this policy, I recommend to your consideration the
+erection of the additional dry dock described by the Secretary of the
+Navy, and also the construction of the steam batteries to which he has
+referred, for the purpose of testing their efficacy as auxiliaries to
+the system of defense now in use.
+
+The report of the Post Master General herewith submitted exhibits the
+condition and prospects of that Department. From that document it
+appears that there was a deficit in the funds of the Department at the
+commencement of the present year beyond its available means of
+$315,599.98, which on the first of July last had been reduced to
+$268,092.74. It appears also that the revenues for the coming year will
+exceed the expenditures about $270,000, which, with the excess of
+revenue which will result from the operations of the current half year,
+may be expected, independently of any increase in the gross amount of
+postages, to supply the entire deficit before the end of 1835. But as
+this calculation is based on the gross amount of postages which had
+accrued within the period embraced by the times of striking the
+balances, it is obvious that without a progressive increase in the
+amount of postages the existing retrenchments must be persevered in
+through the year 1836 that the Department may accumulate a surplus fund
+sufficient to place it in a condition of perfect ease.
+
+It will be observed that the revenues of the Post Office Department,
+though they have increased, and their amount is above that of any
+former year, have yet fallen short of the estimates more than $100,000.
+This is attributed in a great degree to the increase of free letters
+growing out of the extension and abuse of the franking privilege. There
+has been a gradual increase in the number of executive offices to which
+it has been granted, and by an act passed in March, 1833, it was
+extended to members of Congress throughout the whole year. It is
+believed that a revision of the laws relative to the franking
+privilege, with some enactments to enforce more rigidly the
+restrictions under which it is granted, would operate beneficially to
+the country, by enabling the Department at an earlier period to restore
+the mail facilities that have been withdrawn, and to extend them more
+widely, as the growing settlements of the country may require.
+
+To a measure so important to the Government and so just to our
+constituents, who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves and are
+not willing to concede them to others, I earnestly recommend the
+serious attention of Congress.
+
+The importance of the Post Office Department and the magnitude to which
+it has grown, both in its revenues and in its operations, seem to
+demand its reorganization by law. The whole of its receipts and
+disbursements have hitherto been left entirely to Executive control and
+individual discretion. The principle is as sound in relation to this as
+to any other Department of the Government, that as little discretion
+should be confided to the executive officer who controls it as is
+compatible with its efficiency. It is therefore earnestly recommended
+that it be organized with an auditor and treasurer of its own,
+appointed by the President and Senate, who shall be branches of the
+Treasury Department.
+
+Your attention is again respectfully invited to the defect which exists
+in the judicial system of the United States. Nothing can be more
+desirable than the uniform operation of the Federal judiciary
+throughout the several States, all of which, standing on the same
+footing as members of the Union, have equal rights to the advantages
+and benefits resulting from its laws. This object is not attained by
+the judicial acts now in force, because they leave one quarter of the
+States without circuit courts.
+
+It is undoubtedly the duty of Congress to place all the States on the
+same footing in this respect, either by the creation of an additional
+number of associate judges or by an enlargement of the circuits
+assigned to those already appointed so as to include the new States.
+What ever may be the difficulty in a proper organization of the
+judicial system so as to secure its efficiency and uniformity in all
+parts of the Union and at the same time to avoid such an increase of
+judges as would encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, it should not
+be allowed to weigh against the great injustice which the present
+operation of the system produces.
+
+I trust that I may be also pardoned for renewing the recommendation I
+have so often submitted to your attention in regard to the mode of
+electing the President and Vice President of the United States. All the
+reflection I have been able to bestow upon the subject increases my
+conviction that the best interests of the country will be promoted by
+the adoption of some plan which will secure in all contingencies that
+important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the people.
+Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers be limited to a
+single period of either four or six years, I think our liberties would
+possess an additional safeguard.
+
+At your last session I called the attention of Congress to the
+destruction of the public building occupied by the Treasury Department.
+As the public interest requires that another building should be erected
+with as little delay as possible, it is hoped that the means will be
+seasonably provided and that they will be ample enough to authorize
+such an enlargement and improvement in the plan of the building as will
+more effectually accommodate the public officers and secure the public
+documents deposited in it from the casualties of fire.
+
+I have not been able to satisfy myself that the bill entitled "An act
+to improve the navigation of the Wabash River", which was sent to me at
+the close of your last session, ought to pass, and I have therefore
+withheld from it my approval and now return it to the Senate, the body
+in which it originated.
+
+There can be no question connected with the administration of public
+affairs more important or more difficult to be satisfactorily dealt
+with than that which relates to the rightful authority and proper
+action of the Federal Government upon the subject of internal
+improvements. To inherent embarrassments have been added others
+resulting from the course of our legislation concerning it.
+
+I have heretofore communicated freely with Congress upon this subject,
+and in adverting to it again I can not refrain from expressing my
+increased conviction of its extreme importance as well in regard to its
+bearing upon the maintenance of the Constitution and the prudent
+management of the public revenue as on account of its disturbing effect
+upon the harmony of the Union.
+
+We are in no danger from violations of the Constitution by which
+encroachments are made upon the personal rights of the citizen. The
+sentence of condemnation long since pronounced by the American people
+upon acts of that character will, I doubt not, continue to prove as
+salutary in its effects as it is irreversible in its nature.
+
+But against the dangers of unconstitutional acts which, instead of
+menacing the vengeance of offended authority, proffer local advantages
+and bring in their train the patronage of the Government, we are, I
+fear, not so safe. To suppose that because our Government has been
+instituted for the benefit of the people it must therefore have the
+power to do what ever may seem to conduce to the public good is an
+error into which even honest minds are too apt to fall. In yielding
+themselves to this fallacy they overlook the great considerations in
+which the Federal Constitution was founded. They forget that in
+consequence of the conceded diversities in the interest and condition
+of the different States it was foreseen at the period of its adoption
+that although a particular measure of the Government might be
+beneficial and proper in one State it might be the reverse in another;
+that it was for this reason the States would not consent to make a
+grant to the Federal Government of the general and usual powers of
+government, but of such only as were specifically enumerated, and the
+probable effects of which they could, as they thought, safely
+anticipate; and they forget also the paramount obligation upon all to
+abide by the compact then so solemnly and, as it was hoped, so firmly
+established.
+
+In addition to the dangers to the Constitution springing from the
+sources I have stated, there has been one which was perhaps greater
+than all. I allude to the materials which this subject has afforded for
+sinister appeals to selfish feelings, and the opinion heretofore so
+extensively entertained of its adaptation to the purposes of personal
+ambition. With such stimulus it is not surprising that the acts and
+pretensions of the Federal Government in this behalf should some times
+have been carried to an alarming extent. The questions which have
+arisen upon this subject have related--To the power of making internal
+improvements within the limits of a State, with the right of
+territorial jurisdiction, sufficient at least for their preservation
+and use. To the right of appropriating money in aid of such works when
+carried on by a State of by a company in virtue of State authority,
+surrendering the claim of jurisdiction; and To the propriety of
+appropriation for improvements of a particular class, viz, for light
+houses, beacons, buoys, public piers, and for the removal of sand bars,
+sawyers, and other temporary and partial impediments in our navigable
+rivers and harbors. The claims of power for the General Government upon
+each of these points certainly present matter of the deepest interest.
+The first is, however, of much the greatest importance, in as much as,
+in addition to the dangers of unequal and improvident expenditures of
+public moneys common to all, there is super-added to that the
+conflicting jurisdictions of the respective governments. Federal
+jurisdiction, at least to the extent I have stated, has been justly
+regarded by its advocates as necessarily appurtenant to the power in
+question, if that exists by the Constitution.
+
+That the most injurious conflicts would unavoidably arise between the
+respective jurisdictions of the State and Federal Governments in the
+absence of a constitutional provision marking out their respective
+boundaries can not be doubted. The local advantages to be obtained
+would induce the States to overlook in the beginning the dangers and
+difficulties to which they might ultimately be exposed. The powers
+exercised by the Federal Government would soon be regarded with
+jealousy by the State authorities, and originating as they must from
+implication or assumption, it would be impossible to affix to them
+certain and safe limits.
+
+Opportunities and temptations to the assumption of power incompatible
+with State sovereignty would be increased and those barriers which
+resist the tendency of our system toward consolidation greatly
+weakened. The officers and agents of the General Government might not
+always have the discretion to abstain from intermeddling with State
+concerns, and if they did they would not always escape the suspicion of
+having done so. Collisions and consequent irritations would spring up;
+that harmony which should ever exist between the General Government and
+each member of the Confederacy would be frequently interrupted; a
+spirit of contention would be engendered and the dangers of disunion
+greatly multiplied.
+
+Yet we know that not withstanding these grave objections this dangerous
+doctrine was at one time apparently proceeding to its final
+establishment with fearful rapidity. The desire to embark the Federal
+Government in works of internal improvement prevailed in the highest
+degree during the first session of the first Congress that I had the
+honor to meet in my present situation. When the bill authorizing a
+subscription on the part of the United States for stock in the
+Maysville and Lexington Turn Pike Company passed the two houses, there
+had been reported by the Committees of Internal Improvements bills
+containing appropriations for such objects, inclusive of those for the
+Cumberland road and for harbors and light houses, to the amount of
+$106,000,000. In this amount was included authority to the Secretary of
+the Treasury to subscribe for the stock of different companies to a
+great extent, and the residue was principally for the direct
+construction of roads by this Government. In addition to these
+projects, which had been presented to the two Houses under the sanction
+and recommendation of their respective Committees on Internal
+Improvements, there were then still pending before the committees, and
+in memorials to Congress presented but not referred, different projects
+for works of a similar character, the expense of which can not be
+estimated with certainty, but must have exceeded $100,000,000.
+
+Regarding the bill authorizing a subscription to the stock of the
+Maysville and Lexington Turn Pike Company as the entering wedge of a
+system which, however weak at first, might soon become strong enough to
+rive the bands of the Union asunder, and believing that if its passage
+was acquiesced in by the Executive and the people there would no longer
+be any limitation upon the authority of the General Government in
+respect to the appropriation of money for such objects, I deemed it an
+imperative duty to withhold from it the Executive approval.
+
+Although from the obviously local character of that work I might well
+have contented myself with a refusal to approve the bill upon that
+ground, yet sensible of the vital importance of the subject, and
+anxious that my views and opinions in regard to the whole matter should
+be fully understood by Congress and by my constituents, I felt it my
+duty to go further. I therefore embraced that early occasion to apprise
+Congress that in my opinion the Constitution did not confer upon it the
+power to authorize the construction of ordinary roads and canals within
+the limits of a State and to say, respectfully, that no bill admitting
+such a power could receive my official sanction. I did so in the
+confident expectation that the speedy settlement of the public mind
+upon the whole subject would be greatly facilitated by the difference
+between the two Houses and myself, and that the harmonious action of
+the several departments of the Federal Government in regard to it would
+be ultimately secured.
+
+So far, at least, as it regards this branch of the subject, my best
+hopes have been realized. Nearly four years have elapsed, and several
+sessions of Congress have intervened, and no attempt within my
+recollection has been made to induce Congress to exercise this power.
+The applications for the construction of roads and canals which were
+formerly multiplied upon your files are no longer presented, and we
+have good reason to infer that the current public sentiment has become
+so decided against the pretension as effectually to discourage its
+reassertion. So thinking, I derive the greatest satisfaction from the
+conviction that thus much at least has been secured upon this important
+and embarrassing subject.
+
+From attempts to appropriate the national funds to objects which are
+confessedly of a local character we can not, I trust, have anything
+further to apprehend. My views in regard to the expediency of making
+appropriations for works which are claimed to be of a national
+character and prosecuted under State authority--assuming that Congress
+have the right to do so--were stated in my annual message to Congress
+in 1830, and also in that containing my objections to the Maysville
+road bill.
+
+So thoroughly convinced am I that no such appropriations ought to be
+made by Congress until a suitable constitutional provision is made upon
+the subject, and so essential do I regard the point to the highest
+interests of our country, that I could not consider myself as
+discharging my duty to my constituents in giving the Executive sanction
+to any bill containing such an appropriation. If the people of the
+United States desire that the public Treasury shall be resorted to for
+the means to prosecute such works, they will concur in an amendment of
+the Constitution prescribing a rule by which the national character of
+the works is to be tested, and by which the greatest practicable
+equality of benefits may be secured to each member of the Confederacy.
+The effects of such a regulation would be most salutary in preventing
+unprofitable expenditures, in securing our legislation from the
+pernicious consequences of a scramble for the favors of Government, and
+in repressing the spirit of discontent which must inevitably arise from
+an unequal distribution of treasures which belong alike to all.
+
+There is another class of appropriations for what may be called,
+without impropriety, internal improvements, which have always been
+regarded as standing upon different grounds from those to which I have
+referred. I allude to such as have for their object the improvement of
+our harbors, the removal of partial and temporary obstructions in our
+navigable rivers, for the facility and security of our foreign
+commerce. The grounds upon which I distinguished appropriations of this
+character from others have already been stated to Congress. I will now
+only add that at the 1st session of Congress under the new Constitution
+it was provided by law that all expenses which should accrue from and
+after the 15th day of August, 1789, in the necessary support and
+maintenance and repairs of all light houses, beacons, buoys, and public
+piers erected, placed, or sunk before the passage of the act within any
+bay, inlet, harbor, or port of the United States, for rendering the
+navigation thereof easy and safe, should be defrayed out of the
+Treasury of the United States, and, further, that it should be the duty
+of the Secretary of the Treasury to provide by contracts, with the
+approbation of the President, for rebuilding when necessary and keeping
+in good repair the light houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers in
+the several States, and for furnishing them with supplies.
+
+Appropriations for similar objects have been continued from that time
+to the present without interruption or dispute. As a natural
+consequence of the increase and extension of our foreign commerce,
+ports of entry and delivery have been multiplied and established, not
+only upon our sea-board but in the interior of the country upon our
+lakes and navigable rivers. The convenience and safety of this commerce
+have led to the gradual extension of these expenditures; to the
+erection of light houses, the placing, planting, and sinking of buoys,
+beacons, and piers, and to the removal of partial and temporary
+obstructions in our navigable rivers and in the harbors upon our Great
+Lakes as well as on the sea-board.
+
+Although I have expressed to Congress my apprehension that these
+expenditures have some times been extravagant and disproportionate to
+the advantages to be derived from them, I have not felt it to be my
+duty to refuse my assent to bills containing them, and have contented
+myself to follow in this respect in the foot-steps of all my
+predecessors. Sensible, however, from experience and observation of the
+great abuses to which the unrestricted exercise of this authority by
+Congress was exposed, I have prescribed a limitation for the government
+of my own conduct by which expenditures of this character are confined
+to places below the ports of entry or delivery established by law. I am
+very sensible that this restriction is not as satisfactory as could be
+desired, and that much embarrassment may be caused to the executive
+department in its execution by appropriations for remote and not
+well-understood objects. But as neither my own reflections nor the
+lights which I may properly derive from other sources have supplied me
+with a better, I shall continue to apply my best exertions to a
+faithful application of the rule upon which it is founded.
+
+I sincerely regret that I could not give my assent to the bill
+entitled: "An act to improve the navigation of the Wabash River"; but I
+could not have done so without receding from the ground which I have,
+upon the fullest consideration, taken upon this subject, and of which
+Congress has been heretofore apprised, and without throwing the subject
+again open to abuses which no good citizen entertaining my opinions
+could desire.
+
+I rely upon the intelligence and candor of my fellow citizens, in whose
+liberal indulgence I have already so largely participated, for a
+correct appreciation on my motives in interposing as I have done on
+this and other occasions checks to a course of legislation which,
+without in the slightest degree calling in question the motives of
+others, I consider as sanctioning improper and unconstitutional
+expenditures of public treasure.
+
+I am not hostile to internal improvements, and wish to see them
+extended to every part of the country. But I am fully persuaded, if
+they are not commenced in a proper manner, confined to proper objects,
+and conducted under an authority generally conceded to be rightful,
+that a successful prosecution of them can not be reasonably expected.
+The attempt will meet with resistance where it might otherwise receive
+support, and instead of strengthening the bonds of our Confederacy it
+will only multiply and aggravate the causes of disunion.
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 7, 1835
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
+
+In the discharge of my official duty the again devolves upon me of
+communicating with a new Congress. The reflection that the
+representation of the Union has been recently renewed, and that the
+constitutional term of its service will expire with my own, heightens
+the solicitude with which I shall attempt to lay before it the state of
+our national concerns and the devout hope which I cherish that its
+labors to improve them may be crowned with success.
+
+You are assembled at a period of profound interest to the American
+patriot. The unexampled growth and prosperity of our country having
+given us a rank in the scale of nations which removes all apprehension
+of danger to our integrity and independence from external foes, the
+career of freedom is before us, with an earnest from the past that if
+true to ourselves there can be no formidable obstacle in the future to
+its peaceful and uninterrupted pursuit. Yet, in proportion to the
+disappearance of those apprehensions which attended our weakness, as
+once contrasted with the power of some of the States of the Old World,
+should we now be solicitous as to those which belong to the conviction
+that it is to our own conduct we must look for the preservation of
+those causes on which depend the excellence and the duration of our
+happy system of government.
+
+In the example of other systems founded on the will of the people we
+trace to internal dissension the influences which have so often blasted
+the hopes of the friends of freedom. The social elements, which were
+strong and successful when united against external danger, failed in
+the more difficult task of properly adjusting their own internal
+organization, and thus gave way the great principle of self-government.
+Let us trust that this admonition will never be forgotten by the
+Government or the people of the United States, and that the testimony
+which our experience thus far holds out to the great human family of
+the practicability and the blessings of free government will be
+confirmed in all time to come.
+
+We have but to look at the state of our agriculture, manufactures, and
+commerce and the unexampled increase of our population to feel the
+magnitude of the trust committed to us. Never in any former period of
+our history have we had greater reason than we now have to be thankful
+to Divine Providence for the blessings of health and general
+prosperity. Every branch of labor we see crowned with the most abundant
+rewards. In every element of national resources and wealth and of
+individual comfort we witness the most rapid and solid improvements.
+With no interruptions to this pleasing prospect at home which will not
+yield to the spirit of harmony and good will that so strikingly
+pervades the mass of the people in every quarter, amidst all the
+diversity of interest and pursuits to which they are attached, and with
+no cause of solicitude in regard to our external affairs which will
+not, it is hoped, disappear before the principles of simple justice and
+the forbearance that mark our intercourse with foreign powers, we have
+every reason to feel proud of our beloved country.
+
+The general state of our foreign relations has not materially changed
+since my last annual message.
+
+In the settlement of the question of the North Eastern boundary little
+progress has been made. Great Britain has declined acceding to the
+proposition of the United States, presented in accordance with the
+resolution of the Senate, unless certain preliminary conditions were
+admitted, which I deemed incompatible with a satisfactory and rightful
+adjustment of the controversy. Waiting for some distinct proposal from
+the Government of Great Britain, which has been invited, I can only
+repeat the expression of my confidence that, with the strong mutual
+disposition which I believe exists to make a just arrangement, this
+perplexing question can be settled with a due regard to the
+well-founded pretensions and pacific policy of all the parties to it.
+Events are frequently occurring on the North Eastern frontier of a
+character to impress upon all the necessity of a speedy and definitive
+termination of the dispute. This consideration, added to the desire
+common to both to relieve the liberal and friendly relations so happily
+existing between the two countries from all embarrassment, will no
+doubt have its just influence upon both.
+
+Our diplomatic intercourse with Portugal has been renewed, and it is
+expected that the claims of our citizens, partially paid, will be fully
+satisfied as soon as the condition of the Queen's Government will
+permit the proper attention to the subject of them. That Government
+has, I am happy to inform you, manifested a determination to act upon
+the liberal principles which have marked our commercial policy. The
+happiest effects upon the future trade between the United States and
+Portugal are anticipated from it, and the time is not thought to be
+remote when a system of perfect reciprocity will be established.
+
+The installments due under the convention with the King of the Two
+Sicilies have been paid with that scrupulous fidelity by which his
+whole conduct has been characterized, and the hope is indulged that the
+adjustment of the vexed question of our claims will be followed by a
+more extended and mutually beneficial intercourse between the two
+countries.
+
+The internal contest still continues in Spain. Distinguished as this
+struggle has unhappily been by incidents of the most sanguinary
+character, the obligations of the late treaty of indemnification with
+us have been, never the less, faithfully executed by the Spanish
+Government.
+
+No provision having been made at the last session of Congress for the
+ascertainment of the claims to be paid and the apportionment of the
+funds under the convention made with Spain, I invite your early
+attention to the subject. The public evidences of the debt have,
+according to the terms of the convention and in the forms prescribed by
+it, been placed in the possession of the United States, and the
+interest as it fell due has been regularly paid upon them. Our
+commercial intercourse with Cuba stands as regulated by the act of
+Congress. No recent information has been received as to the disposition
+of the Government of Madrid, and the lamented death of our recently
+appointed minister on his way to Spain, with the pressure of their
+affairs at home, renders it scarcely probable that any change is to be
+looked for during the coming year.
+
+Further portions of the Florida archives have been sent to the United
+States, although the death of one of the commissioners at a critical
+moment embarrassed the progress of the delivery of them. The higher
+officers of the local government have recently shown an anxious desire,
+in compliance with the orders from the parent Government, to facilitate
+the selection and delivery of all we have a right to claim.
+
+Negotiations have been opened at Madrid for the establishment of a
+lasting peace between Spain and such of the Spanish American
+Governments of this hemisphere as have availed themselves of the
+intimation given to all of them of the disposition of Spain to treat
+upon the basis of their entire independence. It is to be regretted that
+simultaneous appointments by all of ministers to negotiate with Spain
+had not been made. The negotiation itself would have been simplified,
+and this long-standing dispute, spreading over a large portion of the
+world, would have been brought to a more speedy conclusion.
+
+Our political and commercial relations with Austria, Prussia, Sweden,
+and Denmark stand on the usual favorable bases. One of the articles of
+our treaty with Russia in relation to the trade on the North-West coast
+of America having expired, instructions have been given to our minister
+at St. Petersburg to negotiate a renewal of it. The long and unbroken
+amity between the two Governments gives every reason for supposing the
+article will be renewed, if stronger motives do not exist to prevent it
+than with our view of the subject can be anticipated here. I ask your
+attention to the message of my predecessor at the opening of the second
+session of the 19th Congress, relative to our commercial intercourse
+with Holland, and to the documents connected with that subject,
+communicated to the House of Representatives on the 10th of January,
+1825, and 18th of January, 1827.
+
+Coinciding in the opinion of my predecessor that Holland is not, under
+the regulations of her present system, entitled to have her vessels and
+their cargoes received into the United States on the footing of
+American vessels and cargoes as regards duties of tonnage and impost, a
+respect for his reference of it to the Legislature has alone prevented
+me from acting on the subject. I should still have waited without
+comment for the action of Congress, but recently a claim has been made
+by Belgian subjects to admission into our ports for their ships and
+cargoes on the same footing as American, with the allegation we could
+not dispute that our vessels received in their ports the identical
+treatment shewn to them in the ports of Holland, upon whose vessels no
+discrimination is made in the ports of the United States.
+
+Given the same privileges the Belgians expected the same benefits--
+benefits that were, in fact, enjoyed when Belgium and Holland were
+united under one Government. Satisfied with the justice of their
+pretension to be placed on the same footing with Holland, I could not,
+never the less, without disregard to the principle of our laws, admit
+their claim to be treated as Americans, and at the same time a respect
+for Congress, to whom the subject had long since been referred, has
+prevented me from producing a just equality by taking from the vessels
+of Holland privileges conditionally granted by acts of Congress,
+although the condition upon which the grant was made has, in my
+judgment, failed since 1822. I recommend, therefore, a review of the
+act of 1824, and such modification of it as will produce an equality on
+such terms as Congress shall think best comports with our settled
+policy and the obligations of justice to two friendly powers.
+
+With the Sublime Porte and all the Governments on the coast of Barbary
+our relations continue to be friendly. The proper steps have been taken
+to renew our treaty with Morocco.
+
+The Argentine Republic has again promised to send within the current
+year a minister to the United States.
+
+A convention with Mexico for extending the time for the appointment of
+commissioners to run the boundary line has been concluded and will be
+submitted to the Senate. Recent events in that country have awakened
+the liveliest solicitude in the United States. Aware of the strong
+temptations existing and powerful inducements held out to the citizens
+of the United States to mingle in the dissensions of our immediate
+neighbors, instructions have been given to the district attorneys of
+the United States where indications warranted it to prosecute without
+respect to persons all who might attempt to violate the obligations of
+our neutrality, while at the same time it has been thought necessary to
+apprise the Government of Mexico that we should require the integrity
+of our territory to be scrupulously respected by both parties.
+
+From our diplomatic agents in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Central America,
+Venezuela, and New Granada constant assurances are received of the
+continued good understanding with the Governments to which they are
+severally accredited. With those Governments upon which our citizens
+have valid and accumulating claims, scarcely an advance toward a
+settlement of them is made, owing mainly to their distracted state or
+to the pressure of imperative domestic questions. Our patience has been
+and will probably be still further severely tried, but our fellow
+citizens whose interests are involved may confide in the determination
+of the Government to obtain for them eventually ample retribution.
+
+Unfortunately, many of the nations of this hemisphere are still
+self-tormented by domestic dissensions. Revolution succeeds revolution;
+injuries are committed upon foreigners engaged in lawful pursuits; much
+time elapses before a government sufficiently stable is erected to
+justify expectation of redress; ministers are sent and received, and
+before the discussions of past injuries are fairly begun fresh troubles
+arise; but too frequently new injuries are added to the old, to be
+discussed together with the existing government after it has proved its
+ability to sustain the assaults made upon it, or with its successor if
+overthrown. If this unhappy condition of things continues much longer,
+other nations will be under the painful necessity of deciding whether
+justice to their suffering citizens does not require a prompt redress
+of injuries by their own power, without waiting for the establishment
+of a government competent and enduring enough to discuss and to make
+satisfaction for them.
+
+Since the last session of Congress the validity of our claims upon
+France, as liquidated by the treaty of 1831, has been acknowledged by
+both branches of her legislature, and the money has been appropriated
+for their discharge; but the payment is, I regret to inform you, still
+withheld.
+
+A brief recapitulation of the most important incidents in this
+protracted controversy will shew how utterly untenable are the grounds
+upon which this course is attempted to be justified.
+
+On entering upon the duties of my station I found the United States an
+unsuccessful applicant to the justice of France for the satisfaction of
+claims the validity of which was never questionable, and has now been
+most solemnly admitted by France herself. The antiquity of these
+claims, their high justice, and the aggravating circumstances out of
+which they arose are too familiar to the American people to require
+description. It is sufficient to say that for a period of ten years and
+upward our commerce was, with but little interruption, the subject of
+constant aggression on the part of France--aggressions the ordinary
+features of which were condemnations of vessels and cargoes under
+arbitrary decrees, adopted in contravention as well of the laws of
+nations as of treaty stipulations, burnings on the high seas, and
+seizures and confiscations under special imperial rescripts in the
+ports of other nations occupied by the armies or under the control of
+France. Such it is now conceded is the character of the wrongs we
+suffered--wrongs in many cases so flagrant that even their authors
+never denied our right to reparation. Of the extent of these injuries
+some conception may be formed from the fact that after the burning of a
+large amount at sea and the necessary deterioration in other cases by
+long detention the American property so seized and sacrificed at forced
+sales, excluding what was adjudged to privateers before or without
+condemnation, brought into the French treasury upward of 24,000,000
+francs, besides large custom house duties.
+
+The subject had already been an affair of 20 years' uninterrupted
+negotiation, except for a short time when France was overwhelmed by the
+military power of united Europe. During this period, whilst other
+nations were extorting from her payment of their claims at the point of
+the bayonet, the United States intermitted their demand for justice out
+of respect to the oppressed condition of a gallant people to whom they
+felt under obligations for fraternal assistance in their own days of
+suffering and peril. The bad effects of these protracted and unavailing
+discussions, were obvious, and the line of duty was to my mind equally
+so.
+
+This was either to insist upon the adjustment of our claims within a
+reasonable period or to abandon them altogether. I could not doubt that
+by this course the interests and honor of both countries would be best
+consulted. Instructions were therefore given in this spirit to the
+minister who was sent out once more to demand reparation.
+
+Upon the meeting of Congress in December, 1829, I felt it my duty to
+speak of these claims and the delays of France in terms calculated to
+call the serious attention of both countries to the subject. The then
+French ministry took exception to the message on the ground of its
+containing a menace, under it was not agreeable to the French
+Government to negotiate. The American minister of his own accord
+refuted the construction which was attempted to be put upon the message
+and at the same time called to the recollection of the French ministry
+that the President's message was a communication addressed, not to
+foreign governments, but to the Congress of the United States, in which
+it was enjoined upon him by the Constitution to lay before that body
+information of the state of the Union, comprehending its foreign as
+well as its domestic relations, and that if in the discharge of this
+duty he felt it incumbent upon him to summon the attention of Congress
+in due time to what might be the possible consequences of existing
+difficulties with any foreign government, he might fairly be supposed
+to do so under a sense of his own Government, and not from any
+intention of holding a menace over a foreign power.
+
+The views taken by him received my approbation, the French Government
+was satisfied, and the negotiation was continued. It terminated in the
+treaty of July 4th, recognizing the justice of our claims in part and
+promising payment to the amount of 25,000,000 francs in six annual
+installments.
+
+The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged at Washington on the
+second of February, 1832, and in five days thereafter it was laid
+before Congress, who immediately passed the acts necessary on our part
+to secure to France the commercial advantages conceded to her in the
+compact. The treaty had previously been solemnly ratified by the King
+of the French in terms which are certainly not mere matters of form,
+and of which the translation is as follows: WE, approving the above
+convention in all and each of the dispositions which are contained in
+it, do declare, by ourselves as well as by our heirs and successors,
+that it is accepted, approved, ratified, and confirmed, and by these
+presents, signed by our hand, we do accept, approve, ratify, and
+confirm it; promising, on the faith and word of a king, to observe it
+and to cause it to be observed inviolably, without ever contravening it
+or suffering it to be contravened, directly or indirectly, for any
+cause or under any pretense whatsoever. Official information of the
+exchange of ratifications in the United States reached Paris whilst the
+Chambers were in session. The extraordinary and to us injurious delays
+of the French Government in their action upon the subject of its
+fulfillment have been heretofore stated to Congress, and I have no
+disposition to enlarge upon them here. It is sufficient to observe that
+the then pending session was allowed to expire without even an effort
+to obtain the necessary appropriations; that the two succeeding ones
+were also suffered to pass away without anything like a serious attempt
+to obtain a decision upon the subject, and that it was not until the
+fourth session, almost three years after the conclusion of the treaty
+and more than two years after the exchange of ratifications, that the
+bill for the execution of the treaty was pressed to a vote and
+rejected.
+
+In the mean time the Government of the United States, having full
+confidence that a treaty entered into and so solemnly ratified by the
+French King would be executed in good faith, and not doubting that
+provision would be made for the payment of the first installment which
+was to become due on the second day of February, 1833, negotiated a
+draft for the amount through the Bank of the United States. When this
+draft was presented by the holder with the credentials required by the
+treaty to authorize him to receive the money, the Government of France
+allowed it to be protested. In addition to the injury in the nonpayment
+of the money by France, conformably to her engagement, the United
+States were exposed to a heavy claim on the part of the bank under
+pretense of damages, in satisfaction of which that institution seized
+upon and still retains an equal amount of the public money.
+
+Congress was in session when the decision of the Chambers reached
+Washington, and an immediate communication of this apparently final
+decision of France not to fulfill the stipulation of the treaty was the
+course naturally to be expected from the President. The deep tone of
+dissatisfaction which pervaded the public mind and the correspondent
+excitement produced in Congress by only a general knowledge of the
+result rendered it more than probable that a resort to immediate
+measures of redress would be the consequence of calling the attention
+of that body to the subject. Sincerely desirous of preserving the
+pacific relations which had so long existed between the two countries,
+I was anxious to avoid this course if I could be satisfied that by so
+neither the interests nor the honor of my country would be
+compromitted. Without the fullest assurances on that point, I could not
+hope to acquit myself of the responsibility to be incurred in suffering
+Congress to adjourn without laying the subject before them. Those
+received by me were believed to be of that character.
+
+That the feelings produced in the United States by the news of the
+rejection of the appropriation would be such as I have described them
+to have been was foreseen by the French Government, and prompt measures
+were taken by it to prevent the consequence. The King in person
+expressed through our minister at Paris his profound regret at the
+decision of the Chambers, and promised to send forthwith a ship with
+dispatches to his minister here authorizing him to give such assurances
+as would satisfy the Government and people of the United States that
+the treaty would yet be faithfully executed by France.
+
+The national ship arrived, and the minister received his instructions.
+Claiming to act under the authority derived from them, he gave to this
+government in the name of his the most solemn assurances that as soon
+after the new elections as the charter would permit the French Chambers
+would be convened and the attempt to procure the necessary
+appropriations renewed; that all the constitutional powers of the King
+and his ministers should be put in requisition to accomplish the
+object, and he was understood, and so expressly informed by this
+Government at the time, to engage that the question should be pressed
+to a decision at a period sufficiently early to permit information of
+the result to be communicated to Congress at the commencement of their
+next session. Relying upon these assurances, I incurred the
+responsibility, great as I regarded it to be, of suffering Congress to
+separate without communicating with them upon the subject.
+
+The expectations justly founded upon the promises thus solemnly made to
+this Government by that of France were not realized. The French
+Chambers met on the thirty-first of July, 1834, soon after the
+election, and although our minister in Paris urged the French ministry
+to bring the subject before them, they declined doing so. He next
+insisted that the Chambers, of prorogued without acting on the subject,
+should be reassembled at a period so early that their action on the
+treaty might be known in Washington prior to the meeting of Congress.
+
+This reasonable request was not only declined, but the Chambers were
+prorogued to the 29th of December, a day so late that their decision,
+however urgently pressed, could not in all probability be obtained in
+time to reach Washington before the necessary adjournment of Congress
+by the Constitution. The reasons given by the ministry for refusing to
+convoke the Chambers at an earlier period were afterwards shewn not to
+be insuperable by their actual convocation on the first of December
+under a special call for domestic purposes, which fact, however, did
+not become known to this Government until after the commencement of the
+last session of Congress.
+
+Thus disappointed in our just expectations, it became my imperative
+duty to consult with Congress in regard to the expediency of a resort
+to retaliatory measures in case the stipulations of the treaty should
+not be speedily complied with, and to recommend such as in my judgment
+the occasion called for. To this end an unreserved communication of the
+case in all its aspects became indispensable. To have shrunk in making
+it from saying all that was necessary to its correct understanding, and
+that the truth would justify, for fear of giving offense to others,
+would have been unworthy of us. To have gone, on the other hand, a
+single step further for the purpose of wounding the pride of a
+Government and people with whom we had so many motives for cultivating
+relations of amity and reciprocal advantage would have been unwise and
+improper.
+
+Admonished by the past of the difficulty of making even the simplest
+statement of our wrongs without disturbing the sensibilities of those
+who had by their position become responsible for their redress, and
+earnestly desirous of preventing further obstacles from that source, I
+went out of my way to preclude a construction of the message by which
+the recommendation that was made to Congress might be regarded as a
+menace to France in not only disavowing such a design, but in declaring
+that her pride and her power were too well known to expect anything
+from her fears. The message did not reach Paris until more than a month
+after the Chambers had been in session, and such was the insensibility
+of the ministry to our rightful claims and just expectations that our
+minister had been informed that the matter when introduced would not be
+pressed as a cabinet measure.
+
+Although the message was not officially communicated to the French
+Government, and not withstanding the declaration to the contrary which
+it contained, the French ministry decided to consider the conditional
+recommendation of reprisals a menace and an insult which the honor of
+the nation made it incumbent on them to resent. The measures resorted
+to by them to evince their sense of the supposed indignity were the
+immediate recall of their minister at Washington, the offer of
+passports to the American minister at Paris, and a public notice to the
+legislative Chambers that all diplomatic intercourse with the United
+States had been suspended.
+
+Having in this manner vindicated the dignity of France, they next
+proceeded to illustrate her justice. To this end a bill was immediately
+introduced into the Chamber of Deputies proposing to make the
+appropriations necessary to carry into effect the treaty. As this bill
+subsequently passed into a law, the provisions of which now constitute
+the main subject of difficulty between the two nations, it becomes my
+duty, in order to place the subject before you in a clear light, to
+trace the history of its passage and to refer with some particularity
+to the proceedings and discussions in regard to it.
+
+The minister of finance in his opening speech alluded to the measures
+which had been adopted to resent the supposed indignity, and
+recommended the execution of the treaty as a measure required by the
+honor and justice of France. He as the organ of the ministry declared
+the message, so long as it had not received the sanction of Congress, a
+mere expression of the personal opinion of the President, for which
+neither the Government nor people of the United States were
+responsible, and that an engagement had been entered into for the
+fulfillment of which the honor of France was pledged. Entertaining
+these views, the single condition which the French ministry proposed to
+annex to the payment of the money was that it should not be made until
+it was ascertained that the Government of the United States had done
+nothing to injure the interests of France, or, in other words, that no
+steps had been authorized by Congress of a hostile character toward
+France.
+
+What the disposition of action of Congress might be was then unknown to
+the French cabinet; but on the 14th day of January the Senate resolved
+that it was at that time inexpedient to adopt any legislative measures
+in regard to the state of affairs between the United States and France,
+and no action on the subject had occurred in the House of
+Representatives. These facts were known in Paris prior to the 28th of
+March, 1835, when the committee to whom the bill of indemnification had
+been referred reported it to the Chamber of Deputies. That committee
+substantially re-echoed the sentiments of the ministry, declared that
+Congress had set aside the proposition of the President, and
+recommended the passage of the bill without any other restriction than
+that originally proposed. Thus was it known to the French ministry and
+Chambers that if the position assumed by them, and which had been so
+frequently and solemnly announced as the only one compatible with the
+honor of France, was maintained and the bill passed as originally
+proposed, the money would be paid and there would be an end of this
+unfortunate controversy.
+
+But this cheering prospect was soon destroyed by an amendment
+introduced into the bill at the moment of its passage, providing that
+the money should not be paid until the French Government had received
+satisfactory explanations of the President's message of the second
+December, 1834, and, what is still more extraordinary, the president of
+the council of ministers adopted this amendment and consented to its
+incorporation in the bill. In regard to a supposed insult which had
+been formally resented by the recall of their minister and the offer of
+passports to ours, they now for the first time proposed to ask
+explanations. Sentiments and propositions which they had declared could
+not justly be imputed to the Government or people of the United States
+are set up as obstacles to the performance of an act of conceded
+justice to that Government and people. They had declared that the honor
+of France required the fulfillment of the engagement into which the
+King had entered, unless Congress adopted the recommendations of the
+message. They ascertained that Congress did not adopt them, and yet
+that fulfillment is refused unless they first obtain from the President
+explanations of an opinion characterized by themselves as personal and
+inoperative.
+
+The conception that it was my intention to menace or insult the
+Government of France is as unfounded as the attempt to extort from the
+fears of that nation what her sense of justice may deny would be vain
+and ridiculous. But the Constitution of the United States imposes on
+the President the duty of laying before Congress the condition of the
+country in its foreign and domestic relations, and of recommending such
+measures as may in his opinion be required by its interests. From the
+performance of this duty he can not be deterred by the fear of wounding
+the sensibilities of the people or government of whom it may become
+necessary to speak; and the American people are incapable of submitting
+to an interference by any government on earth, however powerful, with
+the free performance of the domestic duties which the Constitution has
+imposed on their public functionaries.
+
+The discussions which intervene between the several departments of our
+Government being to ourselves, and for anything said in them our public
+servants are only responsible to their own constituents and to each
+other. If in the course of their consultations facts are erroneously
+stated or unjust deductions are made, they require no other inducement
+to correct them, however informed of their error, than their love of
+justice and what is due to their own character; but they can never
+submit to be interrogated upon the subject as a matter of right by a
+foreign power. When our discussions terminate in acts, our
+responsibility to foreign powers commences, not as individuals, but as
+a nation. The principle which calls in question the President for the
+language of his message would equally justify a foreign power in
+demanding explanations of the language used in the report of a
+committee or by a member in debate.
+
+This is not the first time that the Government of France has taken
+exception to the messages of American Presidents. President Washington
+and the first President Adams in the performance of their duties to the
+American people fell under the animadversions of the French Directory.
+The objection taken by the ministry of Charles X, and removed by the
+explanation made by our minister upon the spot, has already been
+adverted to. When it was understood that the ministry of the present
+King took exception to my message of last year, putting a construction
+upon it which was disavowed on its face, our late minister at Paris, in
+answer to the note which first announced a dissatisfaction with the
+language used in the message, made a communication to the French
+Government under date of the 29th of January, 1835, calculated to
+remove all impressions which an unreasonable susceptibility had
+created. He repeated and called the attention of the French Government
+to the disavowal contained in the message itself of any intention to
+intimidate by menace; he truly declared that it contained and was
+intended to contain no charge of ill faith against the King of the
+French, and properly distinguished between the right to complain in
+unexceptionable terms of the omission to execute an agreement and an
+accusation of bad motives in withholding such execution, and
+demonstrated that the necessary use of that right ought not to be
+considered as an offensive imputation.
+
+Although this communication was made without instructions and entirely
+on the minister's own responsibility, yet it was afterwards made the
+act of this Government by my full approbation, and that approbation was
+officially made known on the 25th of April, 1835, to the French
+Government. It, however, failed to have any effect. The law, after this
+friendly explanation, passed with the obnoxious amendment, supported by
+the King's ministers, and was finally approved by the King.
+
+The people of the United States are justly attached to a pacific system
+in their intercourse with foreign nations. It is proper, therefore,
+that they should know whether their Government has adhered to it. In
+the present instance it has been carried to the utmost extent that was
+consistent with a becoming self-respect. The note of the 29th of
+January, to which I have before alluded, was not the only one which our
+minister took upon himself the responsibility of presenting on the same
+subject and in the same spirit.
+
+Finding that it was intended to make the payment of a just debt
+dependent on the performance of a condition which he knew could never
+be complied with, he thought it a duty to make another attempt to
+convince the French Government that whilst self-respect and regard to
+the dignity of other nations would always prevent us from using any
+language that ought to give offense, yet we could never admit a right
+in any foreign government to ask explanations of or to interfere in any
+manner in the communications which one branch of our public councils
+made with another; that in the present case no such language had been
+used, and that this had in a former note been fully and voluntarily
+state, before it was contemplated to make the explanation a condition;
+and that there might be no misapprehension he stated the terms used in
+that note, and he officially informed them that it had been approved by
+the President, and that therefore every explanation which could
+reasonably be asked or honorably given had been already made; that the
+contemplated measure had been anticipated by a voluntary and friendly
+declaration, and was therefore not only useless, but might be deemed
+offensive, and certainly would not be complied with if annexed as a
+condition.
+
+When this latter communication, to which I especially invite the
+attention of Congress, was laid before me, I entertained the hope that
+the means it was obviously intended to afford of an honorable and
+speedy adjustment of the difficulties between the two nations would
+have been accepted, and I therefore did not hesitate to give it my
+sanction and full approbation. This was due to the minister who had
+made himself responsible for the act, and it was published to the
+people of the United States and is now laid before their
+representatives to shew how far their Executive has gone in its
+endeavors to restore a good understanding between the two countries. It
+would have been at any time communicated to the Government of France
+had it been officially requested.
+
+The French Government having received all the explanation which honor
+and principle permitted, and which could in reason be asked, it was
+hoped it would no longer hesitate to pay the installments now due. The
+agent authorized to receive the money was instructed to inform the
+French minister of his readiness to do so. In reply to this notice he
+was told that the money could not then be paid, because the formalities
+required by the act of the Chambers had not been arranged.
+
+Not having received any official information of the intentions of the
+French Government, and anxious to bring, as far as practicable, this
+unpleasant affair to a close before the meeting of Congress, that you
+might have the whole subject before you, I caused our charge d'affaires
+at Paris to be instructed to ask for the final determination of the
+French Government, and in the event of their refusal to pay the
+installments now due, without further explanations to return to the
+United States.
+
+The result of this last application has not yet reached us, but is
+daily expected. That it may be favorable is my sincere wish. France
+having now, through all the branches of her Government, acknowledged
+the validity of our claims and the obligation of the treaty of 1831,
+and there really existing no adequate cause for further delay, will at
+length, it may be hoped, adopt the course which the interests of both
+nations, not less than the principles of justice, so imperiously
+require. The treaty being once executed on her part, little will remain
+to disturb the friendly relations of the two countries--nothing,
+indeed, which will not yield to the suggestions of a pacific and
+enlightened policy and to the influence of that mutual good will and of
+those generous recollections which we may confidently expect will then
+be revived in all their ancient force.
+
+In any event, however, the principle involved in the new aspect which
+has been given to the controversy is so vitally important to the
+independent administration of the Government that it can neither be
+surrendered nor compromitted without national degradation. I hope it is
+unnecessary for me to say that such a sacrifice will not be made
+through any agency of mine. The honor of my country shall never be
+stained by an apology from me for the statement of truth and the
+performance of duty; nor can I give any explanation of my official acts
+except such as is due to integrity and justice and consistent with the
+principles on which our institutions have been framed. This
+determination will, I am confident, be approved by my constituents. I
+have, indeed, studied their character to but little purpose if the sum
+of 25,000,000 francs will have the weight of a feather in the
+estimation of what appertains to their national independence, and if,
+unhappily, a different impression should at any time obtain in any
+quarter, they will, I am sure, rally round the Government of their
+choice with alacrity and unanimity, and silence for ever the degrading
+imputation.
+
+Having thus frankly presented to you the circumstances which since the
+last session of Congress have occurred in this interesting and
+important matter, with the views of the Executive in regard to them, it
+is at this time only necessary to add that when ever the advices now
+daily expected from our charge d'affaires shall have been received they
+will be made the subject of a special communication.
+
+The condition of the public finances was never more flattering than at
+the present period.
+
+Since my last annual communication all the remains of the public debt
+have been redeemed, or money has been placed in deposit for this
+purpose when ever the creditors choose to receive it. All the other
+pecuniary engagements of the Government have been honorably and
+promptly fulfilled, and there will be a balance in the Treasury at the
+close of the year of about $19,000,000. It is believed that after
+meeting all outstanding and unexpended appropriations there will remain
+near $11,000,000 to be applied to any new objects which Congress may
+designate or to the more rapid execution of the works already in
+progress. In aid of these objects, and to satisfy the current
+expenditures of the ensuing year, it is estimated that there will be
+received from various sources $20,000,000 more in 1836.
+
+Should Congress make new appropriations in conformity with the
+estimates which will be submitted from the proper Departments,
+amounting to about $24,000,000, still the available surplus at the
+close of the next year, after deducting all unexpended appropriations,
+will probably not be less than $6,000,000. This sum can, in my
+judgment, be now usefully applied to proposed improvements in our navy
+yards, and to new national works which are not enumerated in the
+present estimates or to the more rapid completion of those already
+begun. Either would be constitutional and useful, and would render
+unnecessary any attempt in our present peculiar condition to divide the
+surplus revenue or to reduce it any faster than will be effected by the
+existing laws.
+
+In any event, as the annual report from the Secretary of the Treasury
+will enter into details, shewing the probability of some decrease in
+the revenue during the next seven years and a very considerable
+deduction in 1842, it is not recommended that Congress should undertake
+to modify the present tariff so as to disturb the principles on which
+the compromise act was passed. Taxation on some of the articles of
+general consumption which are not in competition with our own
+productions may be no doubt so diminished as to lessen to some extent
+the source of this revenue, and the same object can also be assisted by
+more liberal provisions for the subjects of public defense, which in
+the present state of our prosperity and wealth may be expected to
+engage your attention.
+
+If, however, after satisfying all the demands which can arise from
+these sources the unexpended balance in the Treasury should still
+continue to increase, it would be better to bear with the evil until
+the great changes contemplated in our tariff laws have occurred and
+shall enable us to revise the system with that care and circumspection
+which are due to so delicate and important a subject.
+
+It is certainly our duty to diminish as far as we can the burdens of
+taxation and to regard all the restrictions which are imposed on the
+trade and navigation of our citizens as evils which we shall mitigate
+when ever we are not prevented by the adverse legislation and policy of
+foreign nations or those primary duties which the defense and
+independence of our country enjoin upon us. That we have accomplished
+much toward the relief of our citizens by the changes which have
+accompanied the payment of the public debt and the adoption of the
+present revenue laws is manifest from the fact that compared to 1833
+there is a diminution of near $25,000,000 in the last two years, and
+that our expenditures, independently of those for the public debt, have
+been reduced near $9,000,000 during the same period. Let us trust that
+by the continued observance of economy and by harmonizing the great
+interests of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce much more may be
+accomplished to diminish the burdens of government and to increase
+still further the enterprise and the patriotic affection of all classes
+of our citizens and all the members of our happy Confederacy. As the
+data which the Secretary of the Treasury will lay before you in regard
+to our financial resources are full and extended, and will afford a
+safe guide in your future calculations, I think it unnecessary to offer
+any further observations on that subject here.
+
+Among the evidences of the increasing prosperity of the country, not
+the least gratifying is that afforded by the receipts from the sales of
+the public lands, which amount in the present year to the unexpected
+sum of $11,000,000. This circumstance attests the rapidity with which
+agriculture, the first and most important occupation of man, advances
+and contributes to the wealth and power of our extended territory.
+Being still of the opinion that it is our best policy, as far as we can
+consistently with the obligations under which those lands were ceded to
+the United States, to promote their speedy settlement, I beg leave to
+call the attention of the present Congress to the suggestions I have
+offered respecting it in my former messages.
+
+The extraordinary receipts from the sales of the public lands invite
+you to consider what improvements the land system, and particularly the
+condition of the General Land Office, may require. At the time this
+institution was organized, near a quarter century ago, it would
+probably have been thought extravagant to anticipate for this period
+such an addition to its business as has been produced by the vast
+increase of those sales during the past and present years. It may also
+be observed that since the year 1812 the land offices and surveying
+districts have been greatly multiplied, and that numerous legislative
+enactments from year to year since that time have imposed a great
+amount of new and additional duties upon that office, while the want of
+a timely application of force commensurate with the care and labor
+required has caused the increasing embarrassment of accumulated arrears
+in the different branches of the establishment.
+
+These impediments to the expedition of much duty in the General Land
+Office induce me to submit to your judgment whether some modification
+of the laws relating to its organization, or an organization of a new
+character, be not called for at the present juncture, to enable the
+office to accomplish all the ends of its institution with a greater
+degree of facility and promptitude than experience has proved to be
+practicable under existing regulations. The variety of the concerns and
+the magnitude and complexity of the details occupying and dividing the
+attention of the Commissioner appear to render it difficult, if not
+impracticable, for that officer by any possible assiduity to bestow on
+all the multifarious subjects upon which he is called to act the ready
+and careful attention due to their respective importance, unless the
+Legislature shall assist him by a law providing, or enabling him to
+provide, for a more regular and economical distribution of labor, with
+the incident responsibility among those employed under his direction.
+The mere manual operation of affixing his signature to the vast number
+of documents issuing from his office subtracts so largely from the time
+and attention claimed by the weighty and complicated subjects daily
+accumulating in that branch of the public service as to indicate the
+strong necessity of revising the organic law of the establishment. It
+will be easy for Congress hereafter to proportion the expenditure on
+account of this branch of the service to its real wants by abolishing
+from time to time the offices which can be dispensed with.
+
+The extinction of the public debt having taken place, there is no
+longer any use for the offices of Commissioners of Loans and of the
+Sinking Fund. I recommend, therefore, that they be abolished, and that
+proper measures be taken for the transfer to the Treasury Department of
+any funds, books, and papers connected with the operations of those
+offices, and that the proper power be given to that Department for
+closing finally any portion of their business which may remain to be
+settled.
+
+It is also incumbent on Congress in guarding the pecuniary interests of
+the country to discontinue by such a law as was passed in 1812 the
+receipt of the bills of the Bank of the United States in payment of the
+public revenue, and to provide for the designation of an agent whose
+duty it shall be to take charge of the books and stock of the United
+States in that institution, and to close all connection with it after
+the 3d of March, 1833, when its charter expires. In making provision in
+regard to the disposition of this stock it will be essential to define
+clearly and strictly the duties and powers of the officer charged with
+that branch of the public service.
+
+It will be seen from the correspondence which the Secretary of the
+Treasury will lay before you that not withstanding the large amount of
+the stock which the United States hold in that institution no
+information has yet been communicated which will enable the Government
+to anticipate when it can receive any dividends or derive any benefit
+from it.
+
+Connected with the condition of the finances and the flourishing state
+of the country in all its branches of industry, it is pleasing to
+witness the advantages which have been already derived from the recent
+laws regulating the value of the gold coinage. These advantages will be
+more apparent in the course of the next year, when the branch mints
+authorized to be established in North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana
+shall have gone into operation. Aided, as it is hoped they will be, by
+further reforms in the banking systems of the States and by judicious
+regulations on the part of Congress in relation to the custody of the
+public moneys, it may be confidently anticipated that the use of gold
+and silver as circulating medium will become general in the ordinary
+transactions connected with the labor of the country.
+
+The great desideratum in modern times is an efficient check upon the
+power of banks, preventing that excessive issue of paper whence arise
+those fluctuations in the standard of value which render uncertain the
+rewards of labor. It was supposed by those who established the Bank of
+the United States that from the credit given to it by the custody of
+the public moneys and other privileges and the precautions taken to
+guard against the evils which the country had suffered in the
+bankruptcy of many of the State institutions of that period we should
+derive from that institution all the security and benefits of a sound
+currency and every good end that was attainable under the provision of
+the Constitution which authorizes Congress alone to coin money and
+regulate the value thereof. But it is scarcely necessary now to say
+that these anticipations have not been realized.
+
+After the extensive embarrassment and distress recently produced by the
+Bank of the United States, from which the country is now recovering,
+aggravated as they were by pretensions to power which defied the public
+authority, and which if acquiesced in by the people would have changed
+the whole character of our Government, every candid and intelligent
+individual must admit that for the attainment of the great advantages
+of a sound currency we must look to a course of legislation radically
+different from that which created such an institution.
+
+In considering the means of obtaining so important an end we must set
+aside all calculations of temporary convenience, and be influenced by
+those only which are in harmony with the true character and the
+permanent interests of the Republic. We must recur to first principles
+and see what it is that has prevented the legislation of Congress and
+the States on the subject of currency from satisfying the public
+expectation and realizing results corresponding to those which have
+attended the action of our system when truly consistent with the great
+principle of equality upon which it rests, and with that spirit of
+forbearance and mutual concession and generous patriotism which was
+originally, and must ever continue to be, the vital element of our
+Union.
+
+On this subject I am sure that I can not be mistaken in ascribing our
+want of success to the undue countenance which has been afforded to the
+spirit of monopoly. All the serious dangers which our system has yet
+encountered may be traced to the resort to implied powers and the use
+of corporations clothed with privileges, the effect of which is to
+advance the interests of the few at the expense of the many.
+
+We have felt but one class of these dangers exhibited in the contest
+waged by the Bank of the United States against the Government for the
+last four years. Happily they have been obviated for the present by the
+indignant resistance of the people, but we should recollect that the
+principle whence they sprung is an ever-active one, which will not fail
+to renew its efforts in the same and in other forms so long as there is
+a hope of success, founded either on the inattention of the people or
+the treachery of their representatives to the subtle progress of its
+influence.
+
+The bank is, in fact, but one of the fruits of a system at war with the
+genius of all our institutions--a system founded upon a political creed
+the fundamental principle of which is a distrust of the popular will as
+a safe regulator of political power, and whose great ultimate object
+and inevitable result, should it prevail, is the consolidation of all
+power in our system in one central government. Lavish public
+disbursements and corporations with exclusive privileges would be its
+substitutes for the original and as yet sound checks and balances of
+the Constitution--the means by whose silent and secret operation a
+control would be exercised by the few over the political conduct of the
+many by first acquiring that control over the labor and earnings of the
+great body of the people. Wherever this spirit has effected an alliance
+with political power, tyranny and despotism have been the fruit. If it
+is ever used for the ends of government, it has to be incessantly
+watched, or it corrupts the sources of the public virtue and agitates
+the country with questions unfavorable to the harmonious and steady
+pursuit of its true interests.
+
+We are now to see whether, in the present favorable condition of the
+country, we can not take an effectual stand against the spirit of
+monopoly, and practically prove in respect to the currency as well as
+other important interests that there is no necessity for so extensive a
+resort to it as that which has been heretofore practiced. The
+experience of another year has confirmed the utter fallacy of the idea
+that the Bank of the United States was necessary as a fiscal agent of
+the Government. Without its aid as such, indeed, in despite of all the
+embarrassment it was in its power to create, the revenue has been paid
+with punctuality by our citizens, the business of exchange, both
+foreign and domestic, has been conducted with convenience, and the
+circulating medium has been greatly improved.
+
+By the use of the State banks, which do not derive their charters from
+the General Government and are not controlled by its authority, it is
+ascertained that the moneys of the United States can be collected and
+disbursed without loss or inconvenience, and that all the wants of the
+community in relation to exchange and currency are supplied as well as
+they have ever been before. If under circumstances the most unfavorable
+to the steadiness of the money market it has been found that the
+considerations on which the Bank of the United States rested its claims
+to the public favor were imaginary and groundless, it can not be
+doubted that the experience of the future will be more decisive against
+them.
+
+It has been seen that without the agency of a great moneyed monopoly
+the revenue can be collected and conveniently and safely applied to all
+the purposes of the public expenditure. It is also ascertained that
+instead of being necessarily made to promote the evils of an unchecked
+paper system, the management of the revenue can be made auxiliary to
+the reform which the legislatures of several of the States have already
+commenced in regard to the suppression of small bills, and which has
+only to be fostered by proper regulations on the part of Congress to
+secure a practical return to the extent required for the security of
+the currency to the constitutional medium.
+
+Severed from the Government as political engines, and not susceptible
+of dangerous extension and combination, the State banks will not be
+tempted, nor will they have the power, which we have seen exercised, to
+divert the public funds from the legitimate purposes of the Government.
+The collection and custody of the revenue, being, on the contrary, a
+source of credit to them, will increase the security which the States
+provide for a faithful execution of their trusts by multiplying the
+scrutinies to which their operations and accounts will be subjected.
+Thus disposed, as well from interest as the obligations of their
+charters, it can not be doubted that such conditions as Congress may
+see fit to adopt respecting the deposits in these institutions, with a
+view to the gradual disuse, of the small bills will be cheerfully
+complied with, and that we shall soon gain in place of the Bank of the
+United States a practical reform in the whole paper system of the
+country. If by this policy we can ultimately witness the suppression of
+all bank bills below $20, it is apparent that gold and silver will take
+their place and become the principal circulating medium in the common
+business of the farmers and mechanics of the country. The attainment of
+such a result will form an era in the history of our country which will
+be dwelt upon with delight by every true friend of its liberty and
+independence. It will lighten the great tax which our paper system has
+so long collected from the earnings of labor, and do more to revive and
+perpetuate those habits of economy and simplicity which are so
+congenial to the character of republicans than all the legislation
+which has yet been attempted.
+
+To this subject I feel that I can not too earnestly invite the special
+attention of Congress, without the exercise of whose authority the
+opportunity to accomplish so much public good must pass unimproved.
+Deeply impressed with its vital importance, the Executive has taken all
+the steps within his constitutional power to guard the public revenue
+and defeat the expectation which the Bank of the United States indulged
+of renewing and perpetuating its monopoly on the ground of its
+necessity as a fiscal agent and as affording a sounder currency than
+could be obtained without such an institution.
+
+In the performance of this duty much responsibility was incurred which
+would have been gladly avoided if the stake which the public had in the
+question could have been otherwise preserved. Although clothed with the
+legal authority and supported by precedent, I was aware that there was
+in the act of the removal of the deposits a liability to excite that
+sensitiveness to Executive power which it is characteristic and the
+duty of free men to indulge; but I relied on this feeling also,
+directed by patriotism and intelligence, to vindicate the conduct which
+in the end would appear to have been called for by the interests of my
+country. The apprehensions natural to this feeling that there may have
+been a desire, through the instrumentality of that measure, to extend
+the Executive influence, or that it may have been prompted by motives
+not sufficiently free from ambition, were not over-looked. Under the
+operation of our institutions the public servant who is called on to
+take a step of high responsibility should feel in the freedom which
+gives rise to such apprehensions his highest security. When unfounded
+the attention which they arouse and the discussions they excite deprive
+those who indulge them of the power to do harm; when just they but
+hasten the certainty with which the great body of our citizens never
+fail to repel an attempt to procure the sanction to any exercise of
+power inconsistent with the jealous maintenance of their rights.
+
+Under such convictions, and entertaining no doubt that my
+constitutional obligations demanded the steps which were taken in
+reference to the removal of the deposits, it was impossible for me to
+be deterred from the path of duty by a fear that my motives could be
+misjudged or that political prejudices could defeat the just
+consideration of the merits of my conduct. The result has shewn how
+safe is this reliance upon the patriotic temper and enlightened
+discernment of the people. That measure has now been before them and
+has stood the test of all the severe analysis which its general
+importance, the interests it affected, and the apprehensions it excited
+were calculated to produce, and it now remains for Congress to consider
+what legislation has become necessary in consequence.
+
+I need only add to what I have on former occasions said on this subject
+generally that in the regulations which Congress may prescribe
+respecting the custody of the public moneys it is desirable that as
+little discretion as may be deemed consistent with their safe-keeping
+should be given to the executive agents. No one can be more deeply
+impressed than I am with the soundness of the doctrine which restrains
+and limits, by specific provisions, executive discretion, as far as it
+can be done consistently with the preservation of its constitutional
+character. In respect to the control over the public money this
+doctrine is peculiarly applicable, and is in harmony with the great
+principle which I felt I was sustaining in the controversy with the
+Bank of the United States, which has resulted in severing to some
+extent a dangerous connection between a moneyed and political power.
+The duty of the Legislature to define, by clear and positive
+enactments, the nature and extent of the action which it belongs to the
+Executive to superintend springs out of a policy analogous to that
+which enjoins upon all branches of the Federal Government an abstinence
+from the exercise of powers not clearly granted.
+
+In such a Government, possessing only limited and specific powers, the
+spirit of its general administration can not be wise or just when it
+opposes the reference of all doubtful points to the great source of
+authority, the States and the people, whose number and diversified
+relations securing them against the influences and excitements which
+may mislead their agents, make them the safest depository of power. In
+its application to the Executive, with reference to the legislative
+branch of the Government, the same rule of action should make the
+President ever anxious to avoid the exercise of any discretionary
+authority which can be regulated by Congress. The biases which may
+operate upon him will not be so likely to extend to the representatives
+of the people in that body.
+
+In my former messages to Congress I have repeatedly urged the propriety
+of lessening the discretionary authority lodged in the various
+Departments, but it has produced no effect as yet, except the
+discontinuance of extra allowances in the Army and Navy and the
+substitution of fixed salaries in the latter. It is believed that the
+same principles could be advantageously applied in all cases, and would
+promote the efficiency and economy of the public service, at the same
+time that greater satisfaction and more equal justice would be secured
+to the public officers generally.
+
+The accompanying report of the Secretary of War will put you in
+possession of the operations of the Department confided to his care in
+all its diversified relations during the past year.
+
+I am gratified in being able to inform you that no occurrence has
+required any movement of the military force, except such as is common
+to a state of peace. The services of the Army have been limited to
+their usual duties at the various garrisons upon the Atlantic and
+in-land frontier, with the exceptions states by the Secretary of War.
+Our small military establishment appears to be adequate to the purposes
+for which it is maintained, and it forms a nucleus around which any
+additional force may be collected should the public exigencies
+unfortunately require any increase of our military means.
+
+***
+
+State of the Union Address
+Andrew Jackson
+December 5, 1836
+
+Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
+
+Addressing to you the last annual message I shall ever present to the
+Congress of the United States, it is a source of the most heartfelt
+satisfaction to be able to congratulate you on the high state of
+prosperity which our beloved country has attained. With no causes at
+home or abroad to lessen the confidence with which we look to the
+future for continuing proofs of the capacity of our free institutions
+to produce all the fruits of good government, the general condition of
+our affairs may well excite our national pride.
+
+I can not avoid congratulating you, and my country particularly, on the
+success of the efforts made during my Administration by the Executive
+and Legislature, in conformity with the sincere, constant, and earnest
+desire of the people, to maintain peace and establish cordial relations
+with all foreign powers. Our gratitude is due to the Supreme Ruler of
+the Universe, and I invite you to unite with me in offering to Him
+fervent supplications that His providential care may ever be extended
+to those who follow us, enabling them to avoid the dangers and the
+horrors of war consistently with a just and indispensable regard to the
+rights and honor of our country. But although the present state of our
+foreign affairs, standing, without important change, as they did when
+you separated in July last, is flattering in the extreme, I regret to
+say that many questions of an interesting character, at issue with
+other powers, are yet unadjusted. Amongst the most prominent of these
+is that of our north east boundary. With an undiminished confidence in
+the sincere desire of His Britannic Majesty's Government to adjust that
+question, I am not yet in possession of the precise grounds upon which
+it proposes a satisfactory adjustment.
+
+With France our diplomatic relations have been resumed, and under
+circumstances which attest the disposition of both Governments to
+preserve a mutually beneficial intercourse and foster those amicable
+feelings which are so strongly required by the true interests of the
+two countries. With Russia, Austria, Prussia, Naples, Sweden, and
+Denmark the best understanding exists, and our commercial intercourse
+is gradually expanding itself with them. It is encouraged in all these
+countries, except Naples, by their mutually advantageous and liberal
+treaty stipulations with us.
+
+The claims of our citizens on Portugal are admitted to be just, but
+provision for the payment of them has been unfortunately delayed by
+frequent political changes in that Kingdom.
+
+The blessings of peace have not been secured by Spain. Our connections
+with that country are on the best footing, with the exception of the
+burdens still imposed upon our commerce with her possessions out of
+Europe.
+
+The claims of American citizens for losses sustained at the bombardment
+of Antwerp have been presented to the Governments of Holland and
+Belgium, and will be pressed, in due season, to settlement.
+
+With Brazil and all our neighbors of this continent we continue to
+maintain relations of amity and concord, extending our commerce with
+them as far as the resources of the people and the policy of their
+Governments will permit. The just and long-standing claims of our
+citizens upon some of them are yet sources of dissatisfaction and
+complaint. No danger is apprehended, however, that they will not be
+peacefully, although tardily, acknowledged and paid by all, unless the
+irritating effect of her struggle with Texas should unfortunately make
+our immediate neighbor, Mexico, an exception.
+
+It is already known to you, by the correspondence between the two
+Governments communicated at your last session, that our conduct in
+relation to that struggle is regulated by the same principles that
+governed us in the dispute between Spain and Mexico herself, and I
+trust that it will be found on the most severe scrutiny that our acts
+have strictly corresponded with our professions. That the inhabitants
+of the United States should feel strong prepossessions for the one
+party is not surprising. But this circumstance should of itself teach
+us great caution, lest it lead us into the great error of suffering
+public policy to be regulated by partially or prejudice; and there are
+considerations connected with the possible result of this contest
+between the two parties of so much delicacy and importance to the
+United States that our character requires that we should neither
+anticipate events nor attempt to control them.
+
+The known desire of the Texans to become a part of our system, although
+its gratification depends upon the reconcilement of various and
+conflicting interests, necessarily a work of time and uncertain in
+itself, is calculated to expose our conduct to misconstruction in the
+eyes of the world. There are already those who, indifferent to
+principle themselves and prone to suspect the want of it in others,
+charge us with ambitious designs and insidious policy.
+
+You will perceive by the accompanying documents that the extraordinary
+mission from Mexico has been terminated on the sole ground that the
+obligations of this Government to itself and to Mexico, under treaty
+stipulations, have compelled me to trust a discretionary authority to a
+high officer of our Army to advance into territory claimed as part of
+Texas if necessary to protect our own or the neighboring frontier from
+Indian depredation. In the opinion of the Mexican functionary who has
+just left us, the honor of his country will be wounded by American
+soldiers entering, with the most amicable avowed purposes, upon ground
+from which the followers of his Government have been expelled, and over
+which there is at present no certainty of a serious effort on its part
+to re-establish its dominion. The departure of this minister was the
+more singular as he was apprised that the sufficiency of the causes
+assigned for the advance of our troops by the commanding general had
+been seriously doubted by me, and there was every reason to suppose
+that the troops of the United States, their commander having had time
+to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the information upon which they
+had been marched to Nacogdoches, would be either there in perfect
+accordance with the principles admitted to be just in his conference
+with the Secretary of State by the Mexican minister himself, or were
+already withdrawn in consequence of the impressive warnings their
+commanding officer had received from the Department of War. It is hoped
+and believed that his Government will take a more dispassionate and
+just view of this subject, and not be disposed to construe a measure of
+justifiable precaution, made necessary by its known inability in
+execution of the stipulations of our treaty to act upon the frontier,
+into an encroachment upon its rights or a stain upon its honor.
+
+In the mean time the ancient complaints of injustice made on behalf of
+our citizens are disregarded, and new causes of dissatisfaction have
+arisen, some of them of a character requiring prompt remonstrance and
+ample and immediate redress. I trust, however, by tempering firmness
+with courtesy and acting with great forbearance upon every incident
+that has occurred or that may happen, to do and to obtain justice, and
+thus avoid the necessity of again bringing this subject to the view of
+Congress.
+
+It is my duty to remind you that no provision has been made to execute
+our treaty with Mexico for tracing the boundary line between the two
+countries. What ever may be the prospect of Mexico's being soon able to
+execute the treaty on its part, it is proper that we should be in
+anticipation prepared at all times to perform our obligations, without
+regard to the probable condition of those with whom we have contracted
+them.
+
+The result of the confidential inquiries made into the condition and
+prospects of the newly declared Texan Government will be communicated
+to you in the course of the session.
+
+Commercial treaties promising great advantages to our enterprising
+merchants and navigators have been formed with the distant Governments
+of Muscat and Siam. The ratifications have been exchanged, but have not
+reached the Department of State. Copes of the treaties will be
+transmitted to you if received before, or published if arriving after,
+the close of the present session of Congress.
+
+Nothing has occurred to interrupt the good understanding that has long
+existed with the Barbary Powers, nor to check the good will which is
+gradually growing up from our intercourse with the dominions of the
+Government of growing of the distinguished chief of the Ottoman Empire.
+
+Information has been received at the Department of State that a treaty
+with the Emperor of Morocco has just been negotiated, which, I hope,
+will be received in time to be laid before the Senate previous to the
+close of the session.
+
+You will perceive from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury that
+the financial means of the country continue to keep pace with its
+improvement in all other respects. The receipts into the Treasury
+during the present year will amount to about $47,691,898; those from
+customs being estimated at $22,523,151, those from lands at about
+$24,000,000, and the residue from miscellaneous sources. The
+expenditures for all objects during the year are estimated not to
+exceed $32,000,000, which will leave a balance in the Treasury for
+public purposes on the first day of January next of about $41,723,959.
+This sum, with the exception of $5,000,000, will be transferred to
+the several States in accordance with the provisions of the act
+regulating the deposits of the public money.
+
+The unexpended balances of appropriation on the first day of January
+next are estimated at $14,636,062, exceeding by $9,636,062 the amount
+which will be left in the deposit banks, subject to the draft of the
+Treasurer of the United States, after the contemplated transfers to the
+several States are made. If, therefore, the future receipts should not
+be sufficient to meet these outstanding and future appropriations,
+there may be soon a necessity to use a portion of the funds deposited
+with the States.
+
+The consequences apprehended when the deposit act of the last session
+received a reluctant approval have been measurably realized. Though an
+act merely for the deposit of the surplus moneys of the United States
+in the State treasuries for safe-keeping until they may be wanted for
+the service of the General Government, it has been extensively spoken
+of as an act to give the money to the several States, and they have
+been advised to use it as a gift, without regard to the means of
+refunding it when called for. Such a suggestion has doubtless been made
+without a proper attention to the various principles and interests
+which are affected by it.
+
+It is manifest that the law itself can not sanction such a suggestion,
+and that as it now stands the States have no more authority to receive
+and use these deposits without intending to return them than any
+deposit bank or any individual temporarily charged with the
+safe-keeping or application of the public money would now have for
+converting the same to their private use without the consent and
+against the will of the Government. But independently of the violation
+of public faith and moral obligation which are involved in this
+suggestion when examined in reference to the terms of the present
+deposit act, it is believed that the considerations which should govern
+the future legislation of Congress on this subject will be equally
+conclusive against the adoption of any measure recognizing the
+principles on which the suggestion has been made.
+
+Considering the intimate connection of the subject with the financial
+interests of the country and its great importance in whatever aspect it
+can be viewed, I have bestowed upon it the most anxious reflection, and
+feel it to be my duty to state to Congress such thoughts as have
+occurred to me, to aid their deliberation in treating it in the manner
+best calculated to conduce to the common good.
+
+The experience of other nations admonished us to hasten the
+extinguishment of the public debt; but it will be in vain that we have
+congratulated each other upon the disappearance of this evil if we do
+not guard against the equally great one of promoting the unnecessary
+accumulation of public revenue. No political maxim is better
+established than that which tells us that an improvident expenditure of
+money is the parent of profligacy, and that no people can hope to
+perpetuate their liberties who long acquiesce in a policy which taxes
+them for objects not necessary to the legitimate and real wants of
+their Government. Flattering as is the condition of our country at the
+present period, because of its unexampled advance in all the steps of
+social and political improvement, it can not be disguised that there is
+a lurking danger already apparent in the neglect of this warning truth,
+and that the time has arrived when the representatives of the people
+should be employed in devising some more appropriate remedy than now
+exists to avert it.
+
+Under our present revenue system there is every probability that there
+will continue to be a surplus beyond the wants of the Government, and
+it has become our duty to decide whether such a result be consistent
+with the true objects of our Government.
+
+Should a surplus be permitted to accumulate beyond the appropriations,
+it must be retained in the Treasury, as it now is, or distributed among
+the people or the States.
+
+To retain it in the Treasury unemployed in any way is impracticable; it
+is, besides, against the genius of our free institutions to lock up in
+vaults the treasure of the nation. To take from the people the right of
+bearing arms and put their weapons of defense in the hands of a
+standing army would be scarcely more dangerous to their liberties than
+to permit the Government to accumulate immense amounts of treasure
+beyond the supplies necessary to its legitimate wants. Such a treasure
+would doubtless be employed at some time, as it has been in other
+countries, when opportunity tempted ambition.
+
+To collect it merely for distribution to the States would seem to be
+highly impolitic, if not as dangerous as the proposition to retain it
+in the Treasury.
+
+The shortest reflection must satisfy everyone that to require the
+people to pay taxes to the Government merely that they may be paid back
+again is sporting with the substantial interests of the country, and no
+system which produces such a result can be expected to receive the
+public countenance. Nothing could be gained by it even if each
+individual who contributed a portion of the tax could receive back
+promptly the same portion. But it is apparent that no system of the
+kind can ever be enforced which will not absorb a considerable portion
+of the money to be distributed in salaries and commissions to the
+agents employed in the process and in the various losses and
+depreciations which arise from other causes, and the practical effect
+of such an attempt must ever be to burden the people with taxes, not
+for purposes beneficial to them, but to swell the profits of deposit
+banks and support a band of useless public officers.
+
+A distribution to the people is impracticable and unjust in other
+respects. It would be taking one man's property and giving it to
+another. Such would be the unavoidable result of a rule of equality
+(and none other is spoken of or would be likely to be adopted), in as
+much as there is no mode by which the amount of the individual
+contributions of our citizens to the public revenue can be ascertained.
+We know that they contribute unequally, and a rule, therefore, that
+would distribute to them equally would be liable to all the objections
+which apply to the principle of an equal division of property. To make
+the General Government the instrument of carrying this odious principle
+into effect would be at once to destroy the means of its usefulness and
+change the character designed for it by the framers of the
+Constitution.
+
+But the more extended and injurious consequences likely to result from
+a policy which would collect a surplus revenue from the purpose of
+distributing it may be forcibly illustrated by an examination of the
+effects already produced by the present deposit act. This act, although
+certainly designed to secure the safe-keeping of the public revenue, is
+not entirely free in its tendencies from any of the objections which
+apply to this principle of distribution. The Government had without
+necessity received from the people a large surplus, which, instead of
+being employed as heretofore and returned to them by means of the
+public expenditure, was deposited with sundry banks. The banks
+proceeded to make loans upon this surplus, and thus converted it into
+banking capital, and in this manner it has tended to multiply bank
+charters and has had a great agency in producing a spirit of wild
+speculation. The possession and use of the property out of which this
+surplus was created belonged to the people, but the Government has
+transferred its possession to incorporated banks, whose interest and
+effort it is to make large profits out of its use. This process need
+only be stated to show its injustice and bad policy.
+
+And the same observations apply to the influence which is produced by
+the steps necessary to collect as well as to distribute such a revenue.
+About 3/5 of all the duties on imports are paid in the city of New
+York, but it is obvious that the means to pay those duties are drawn
+from every quarter of the Union. Every citizen in every State who
+purchases and consumes an article which has paid a duty at that port
+contributes to the accumulating mass. The surplus collected there must
+therefore be made up of moneys or property withdrawn from other points
+and other States. Thus the wealth and business of every region from
+which these surplus funds proceed must be to some extent injured, while
+that of the place where the funds are concentrated and are employed in
+banking are proportionably extended. But both in making the transfer of
+the funds which are first necessary to pay the duties and collect the
+surplus and in making the re-transfer which becomes necessary when the
+time arrives for the distribution of that surplus there is a
+considerable period when the funds can not be brought into use, and it
+is manifest that, besides the loss inevitable from such an operation,
+its tendency is to produce fluctuations in the business of the country,
+which are always productive of speculation and detrimental to the
+interests of regular trade. Argument can scarcely be necessary to show
+that a measure of this character ought not to receive further
+legislative encouragement.
+
+By examining the practical operation of the ration for distribution
+adopted in the deposit bill of the last session we shall discover other
+features that appear equally objectionable. Let it be assumed, for the
+sake of argument, that the surplus moneys to be deposited with the
+States have been collected and belong to them in the ration of their
+federal representative population--an assumption founded upon the fact
+that any deficiencies in our future revenue from imposts and public
+lands must be made up by direct taxes collected from the States in that
+ration. It is proposed to distribute this surplus--say $30,000,000--not
+according to the ration in which it has been collected and belongs to
+the people of the States, but in that of their votes in the colleges of
+electors of President and Vice President. The effect of a distribution
+upon that ration is shown by the annexed table, marked A.
+
+By an examination of that table it will be perceived that in the
+distribution of a surplus of $30,000,000 upon that basis there is a
+great departure from the principle which regards representation as the
+true measure of taxation, and it will be found that the tendency of
+that departure will be to increase whatever inequalities have been
+supposed to attend the operation of our federal system in respect to
+its bearings upon the different interests of the Union. In making the
+basis of representation the basis of taxation the framers of the
+Constitution intended to equalize the burdens which are necessary to
+support the Government, and the adoption of that ratio, while it
+accomplished this object, was also the means of adjusting other great
+topics arising out of the conflicting views respecting the political
+equality of the various members of the Confederacy. What ever,
+therefore, disturbs the liberal spirit of the compromises which
+established a rule of taxation so just and equitable, and which
+experience has proved to be so well adapted to the genius and habits of
+our people, should be received with the greatest caution and distrust.
+
+A bare inspection in the annexed table of the differences produced by
+the ration used in the deposit act compared with the results of a
+distribution according to the ration of direct taxation must satisfy
+every unprejudiced mind that the former ration contravenes the spirit
+of the Constitution and produces a degree of injustice in the
+operations of the Federal Government which would be fatal to the hope
+of perpetuating it. By the ration of direct taxation, for example, the
+State of Delaware in the collection of $30,000,000 of revenue would pay
+into the Treasury $188,716, and in a distribution of $30,000,000 she
+would receive back from the Government, according to the ration of the
+deposit bill, the sum of $306,122; and similar results would follow the
+comparison between the small and the large States throughout the Union,
+thus realizing to the small States an advantage which would be
+doubtless as unacceptable to them as a motive for incorporating the
+principle in any system which would produce it as it would be
+inconsistent with the rights and expectations of the large States.
+
+It was certainly the intention of that provision of the Constitution
+which declares that "all duties, imposts, and excises" shall "be
+uniform throughout the United States" to make the burdens of taxation
+fall equally upon the people in what ever State of the Union they may
+reside. But what would be the value of such a uniform rule if the
+moneys raised by it could be immediately returned by a different one
+which will give to the people of some States much more and to those of
+others much less than their fair proportions? Were the Federal
+Government to exempt in express terms the imports, products, and
+manufactures of some portions of the country from all duties while it
+imposed heavy ones on others, the injustice could not be greater. It
+would be easy to show how by the operation of such a principle the
+large States of the Union would not only have to contribute their just
+share toward the support of the Federal Government, but also have to
+bear in some degree the taxes necessary to support the governments of
+their smaller sisters; but it is deemed unnecessary to state the
+details where the general principle is so obvious.
+
+A system liable to such objections can never be supposed to have been
+sanctioned by the framers of the Constitution when they conferred on
+Congress the taxing power, and I feel persuaded that a mature
+examination of the subject will satisfy everyone that there are
+insurmountable difficulties in the operation of any plan which can be
+devised of collecting revenue for the purpose of distributing it.
+Congress is only authorized to levy taxes "to pay the debts and provide
+for the common defense and general welfare of the United States". There
+is no such provision as would authorize Congress to collect together
+the property of the country, under the name of revenue, for the purpose
+of dividing it equally or unequally among the States or the people.
+Indeed, it is not probable that such an idea ever occurred to the
+States when they adopted the Constitution. But however this may be, the
+only safe rule for us in interpreting the powers granted to the Federal
+Government is to regard the absence of express authority to touch a
+subject so important and delicate as this as equivalent to a
+prohibition.
+
+Even if our powers were less doubtful in this respect as the
+Constitution now stands, there are considerations afforded by recent
+experience which would seem to make it our duty to avoid a resort to
+such a system. All will admit that the simplicity and economy of the
+State governments mainly depend on the fact that money has to be
+supplied to support them by the same men, or their agents, who vote it
+away in appropriations. Hence when there are extravagant and wasteful
+appropriations there must be a corresponding increase of taxes, and the
+people, becoming awakened, will necessarily scrutinize the character of
+measures which thus increase their burdens. By the watchful eye of
+self-interest the agents of the people in the State governments are
+repressed and kept within the limits of a just economy.
+
+But if the necessity of levying the taxes be taken from those who make
+the appropriations and thrown upon a more distant and less responsible
+set of public agents, who have power to approach the people by an
+indirect and stealthy taxation, there is reason to fear that
+prodigality will soon supersede those characteristics which have thus
+far made us look with so much pride and confidence to the State
+governments as the main-stay of our Union and liberties. The State
+legislatures, instead of studying to restrict their State expenditures
+to the smallest possible sum, will claim credit for their profusion,
+and harass the General Government for increased supplies.
+
+Practically there would soon be but one taxing power, and that vested
+in a body of men far removed from the people, in which the farming and
+mechanic interests would scarcely be represented. The States would
+gradually lose their purity as well as their independence; they would
+not dare to murmur at the proceedings of the General Government, lest
+they should lose their supplies; all would be merged in a practical
+consolidation, cemented by wide-spread corruption, which could only be
+eradicated by one of those bloody revolutions which occasionally
+over-throw the despotic systems of the Old World.
+
+In all the other aspects in which I have been able to look at the
+effect of such a principle of distribution upon the best interests of
+the country I can see nothing to compensate for the disadvantages to
+which I have adverted. If we consider the protective duties, which are
+in a great degree the source of the surplus revenue, beneficial to one
+section of the Union and prejudicial to another, there is no corrective
+for the evil in such a plan of distribution. On the contrary, there is
+reason to fear that all the complaints which have sprung from this
+cause would be aggravated. Everyone must be sensible that a
+distribution of the surplus must beget a disposition to cherish the
+means which create it, and any system, therefore, into which it enters
+must have a powerful tendency to increase rather than diminish the
+tariff. If it were even admitted that the advantages of such a system
+could be made equal to all the sections of the Union, the reasons
+already so urgently calling for a reduction of the revenue would never
+the less lose none of their force, for it will always be improbable
+that an intelligent and virtuous community can consent to raise a
+surplus for the mere purpose of dividing it, diminished as it must
+inevitably be by the expenses of the various machinery necessary to the
+process.
+
+The safest and simplest mode of obviating all the difficulties which
+have been mentioned is to collect only revenue enough to meet the wants
+of the Government, and let the people keep the balance of their
+property in their own hands, to be used for their own profit. Each
+State will then support its own government and contribute its due share
+toward the support of the General Government. There would be no surplus
+to cramp and lessen the resources of individual wealth and enterprise,
+and the banks would be left to their ordinary means. Whatever
+agitations and fluctuations might arise from our unfortunate paper
+system, they could never be attributed, justly or unjustly, to the
+action of the Federal Government. There would be some guaranty that the
+spirit of wild speculation which seeks to convert the surplus revenue
+into banking capital would be effectually checked, and that the scenes
+of demoralization which are now so prevalent through the land would
+disappear.
+
+Without desiring to conceal that the experience and observation of the
+last two years have operated a partial change in my views upon this
+interesting subject, it is never the less regretted that the
+suggestions made by me in my annual messages of 1829 and 1830 have been
+greatly misunderstood. At that time the great struggle was begun
+against that latitudinarian construction of the Constitution which
+authorizes the unlimited appropriation of the revenues of the Union to
+internal improvements within the States, tending to invest in the hands
+and place under the control of the General Government all the principal
+roads and canals of the country, in violation of State rights and in
+derogation of State authority.
+
+At the same time the condition of the manufacturing interest was such
+as to create an apprehension that the duties on imports could not
+without extensive mischief be reduced in season to prevent the
+accumulation of a considerable surplus after the payment of the
+national debt. In view of the dangers of such a surplus, and in
+preference to its application to internal improvements in derogation of
+the rights and powers of the States, the suggestion of an amendment of
+the Constitution to authorize its distribution was made. It was an
+alternative for what were deemed greater evils--a temporary resort to
+relieve an over-burdened treasury until the Government could, without a
+sudden and destructive revulsion in the business of the country,
+gradually return to the just principle of raising no more revenue from
+the people in taxes than is necessary for its economical support.
+
+Even that alternative was not spoken of but in connection with an
+amendment of the Constitution. No temporary inconvenience can justify
+the exercise of a prohibited power not granted by that instrument, and
+it was from a conviction that the power to distribute even a temporary
+surplus of revenue is of that character that it was suggested only in
+connection with an appeal to the source of all legal power in the
+General Government, the States which have established it. No such
+appeal has been taken, and in my opinion a distribution of the surplus
+revenue by Congress either to the States or the people is to be
+considered as among the prohibitions of the Constitution.
+
+As already intimated, my views have undergone a change so far as to be
+convinced that no alteration of the Constitution in this respect is
+wise or expedient. The influence of an accumulating surplus upon the
+credit system of the country, producing dangerous extensions and
+ruinous contractions, fluctuations in the price of property, rash
+speculation, idleness, extravagance, and a deterioration of morals,
+have taught us the important lesson that any transient mischief which
+may attend the reduction of our revenue to the wants of our Government
+is to be borne in preference to an over-flowing treasury.
+
+I beg leave to call your attention to another subject intimately
+associated with the preceding one--the currency of the country.
+
+It is apparent from the whole context of the Constitution, as well as
+the history of the times which gave birth to it, that it was the
+purpose of the Convention to establish a currency consisting of the
+precious metals. These, from their peculiar properties which rendered
+them the standard of value in all other countries, were adopted in this
+as well to establish its commercial standard in reference to foreign
+countries by a permanent rule as to exclude the use of a mutable medium
+of exchange, such as of certain agricultural commodities recognized by
+the statutes of some States as a tender for debts, or the still more
+pernicious expedient of a paper currency.
+
+The last, from the experience of the evils of the issues of paper
+during the Revolution, had become so justly obnoxious as not only to
+suggest the clause in the Constitution forbidding the emission of bills
+of credit by the States, but also to produce that vote in the
+Convention which negatived the proposition to grant power to Congress
+to charter corporations--a proposition well understood at the time as
+intended to authorize the establishment of a national bank, which was
+to issue a currency of bank notes on a capital to be created to some
+extent out of Government stocks. Although this proposition was refused
+by a direct vote of the Convention, the object was afterwards in effect
+obtained by its ingenious advocates through a strained construction of
+the Constitution. The debts of the Revolution were funded at prices
+which formed no equivalent compared with the nominal amount of the
+stock, and under circumstances which exposed the motives of some of
+those who participated in the passage of the act to distrust.
+
+The facts that the value of the stock was greatly enhanced by the
+creation of the bank, that it was well understood that such would be
+the case, and that some of the advocates of the measure were largely
+benefited by it belong to the history of the times, and are well
+calculated to diminish the respect which might otherwise have been due
+to the action of the Congress which created the institution.
+
+On the establishment of a national bank it became the interest of its
+creditors that gold should be superseded by the paper of the bank as a
+general currency. A value was soon attached to the gold coins which
+made their exportation to foreign countries as a mercantile commodity
+more profitable than their retention and use at home as money. It
+followed as a matter of course, if not designed by those who
+established the bank, that the bank became in effect a substitute for
+the Mint of the United States.
+
+Such was the origin of a national bank currency, and such the beginning
+of those difficulties which now appear in the excessive issues of the
+banks incorporated by the various States.
+
+Although it may not be possible by any legislative means within our
+power to change at once the system which has thus been introduced, and
+has received the acquiescence of all portions of the country, it is
+certainly our duty to do all that is consistent with our constitutional
+obligations in preventing the mischiefs which are threatened by its
+undue extension. That the efforts of the fathers of our Government to
+guard against it by a constitutional provision were founded on an
+intimate knowledge of the subject has been frequently attested by the
+bitter experience of the country. The same causes which led them to refuse
+their sanction to a power authorizing the establishment of incorporations
+for banking purposes now exist in a much stronger degree to urge us to
+exert the utmost vigilance in calling into action the means necessary
+to correct the evils resulting from the unfortunate exercise of the
+power, and it is hoped that the opportunity for effecting this great
+good will be improved before the country witnesses new scenes of
+embarrassment and distress.
+
+Variableness must ever be the characteristic of a currency of which the
+precious metals are not the chief ingredient, or which can be expanded
+or contracted without regard to the principles that regulate the value
+of those metals as a standard in the general trade of the world. With
+us bank issues constitute such a currency, and must ever do so until
+they are made dependent on those just proportions of gold and silver as
+a circulating medium which experience has proved to be necessary not
+only in this but in all other commercial countries. Where those
+proportions are not infused into the circulation and do not control it,
+it is manifest that prices must vary according to the tide of bank
+issues, and the value and stability of property must stand exposed to
+all the uncertainty which attends the administration of institutions
+that are constantly liable to the temptation of an interest distinct
+from that of the community in which they are established.
+
+The progress of an expansion, or rather a depreciation, of the currency
+by excessive bank issues is always attended by a loss to the laboring
+classes. This portion of the community have neither time nor
+opportunity to watch the ebbs and flows of the money market. Engaged
+from day to day in their useful toils, they do not perceive that
+although their wages are nominally the same, or even somewhat higher,
+they are greatly reduced in fact by the rapid increase of a spurious
+currency, which, as it appears to make money abound, they are at first
+inclined to consider a blessing.
+
+It is not so with the speculator, by whom this operation is better
+understood, and is made to contribute to his advantage. It is not until
+the prices of the necessaries of life become so dear that the laboring
+classes can not supply their wants out of their wages that the wages
+rise and gradually reach a justly proportioned rate to that of the
+products of their labor. When thus, by depreciation in consequence of
+the quantity of paper in circulation, wages as well as prices become
+exorbitant, it is soon found that the whole effect of the adulteration
+is a tariff on our home industry for the benefit of the countries where
+gold and silver circulate and maintain uniformity and moderation in
+prices. It is then perceived that the enhancement of the price of land
+and labor produces a corresponding increase in the price of products
+until these products do not sustain a competition with similar ones in
+other countries, and thus both manufactured and agricultural
+productions cease to bear expectation from the country of the spurious
+currency, because they can not be sold for cost.
+
+This is the process by which specie is banished by the paper of the
+banks. Their vaults are soon exhausted to pay for foreign commodities.
+The next step is a stoppage of specie payment--a total degradation of
+paper as a currency--unusual depression of prices, the ruin of debtors,
+and the accumulation of property in the hands of creditors and cautious
+capitalists.
+
+It was in view of these evils, together with the dangerous power
+wielded by the Bank of the United States and its repugnance to our
+Constitution, that I was induced to exert the power conferred upon me
+by the American people to prevent the continuance of that institution.
+But although various dangers to our republican institutions have been
+obviated by the failure of that bank to extort from the Government a
+renewal of its charter, it is obvious that little has been accomplished
+except a salutary change of public opinion toward restoring to the
+country the sound currency provided for in the Constitution.
+
+In the acts of several of the States prohibiting the circulation of
+small notes and the auxiliary enactments of Congress at the last
+session forbidding their reception or payment on public account, the
+true policy of the country has been advanced and a larger portion of
+the precious metals infused into our circulating medium. These measures
+will probably be followed up in due time by the enactment of State laws
+banishing from circulation bank notes of still higher denominations,
+and the object may be materially promoted by further acts of Congress
+forbidding the employment as fiscal agents of such banks as continue to
+issue notes of low denominations and throw impediments in the way of
+the circulation of gold and silver.
+
+The effects of an extension of bank credits and over-issues of bank
+paper have been strikingly illustrated in the sales of the public
+lands. From the returns made by the various registers and receivers in
+the early part of last summer it was perceived that the receipts
+arising from the sales of the public lands were increasing to an
+unprecedented amount. In effect, however, these receipts amounted to
+nothing more than credits in bank. The banks lent out their notes to
+speculators. They were paid to the receivers and immediately returned
+to the banks, to be lent out again and again, being mere instruments to
+transfer to speculators the most valuable public land and pay the
+Government by a credit on the books of the banks.
+
+Those credits on the books of some of the Western banks, usually called
+deposits, were already greatly beyond their immediate means of payment,
+and were rapidly increasing. Indeed, each speculation furnished means
+for another; for no sooner had one individual or company paid in the
+notes than they were immediately lent to another for a like purpose,
+and the banks were extending their business and their issues so largely
+as to alarm considerate men and render it doubtful whether these bank
+credits, if permitted to accumulate, would ultimately be of the least
+value to the Government. The spirit of expansion and speculation was
+not confined to the deposit banks, but pervaded the whole multitude of
+banks throughout the Union and was giving rise to new institutions to
+aggravate the evil.
+
+The safety of the public funds and the interest of the people generally
+required that these operations should be checked; and it became the
+duty of every branch of the General and State Governments to adopt all
+legitimate and proper means to produce that salutary effect. Under this
+view of my duty I directed the issuing of the order which will be laid
+before you by the Secretary of the Treasury, requiring payment for the
+public lands sold to be made in specie, with an exception until the
+15th of the present month in favor of actual settlers.
+
+This measure has produced many salutary consequences. It checked the
+career of the Western banks and gave them additional strength in
+anticipation of the pressure which has since pervaded our Eastern as
+well as the European commercial cities. By preventing the extension of
+the credit system it measurably cut off the means of speculation and
+retarded its progress in monopolizing the most valuable of the public
+lands. It has tended to save the new States from a non-resident
+proprietorship, one of the greatest obstacles to the advancement of a
+new country and the prosperity of an old one. It has tended to keep
+open the public lands for entry by emigrants at Government prices
+instead of their being compelled to purchase of speculators at double
+or triple prices. And it is conveying into the interior large sums in
+silver and gold, there to enter permanently into the currency of the
+country and place it on a firmer foundation. It is confidently believed
+that the country will find in the motives which induced that order and
+the happy consequences which will have ensued much to commend and
+nothing to condemn.
+
+It remains for Congress if they approve the policy which dictated this
+order to follow it up in its various bearings. Much good, in my
+judgment, would be produced by prohibiting sales of the public lands
+except to actual settlers at a reasonable reduction of price, and to
+limit the quantity which shall be sold to them. Although it is believed
+the General Government never ought to receive anything but the
+constitutional currency in exchange for the public lands, that point
+would be of less importance if the lands were sold for immediate
+settlement and cultivation. Indeed, there is scarcely a mischief
+arising out of our present land system, including the accumulating
+surplus of revenues, which would not be remedied at once by a
+restriction on land sales to actual settlers; and it promises other
+advantages to the country in general and to the new States in
+particular which can not fail to receive the most profound
+consideration of Congress.
+
+Experience continues to realize the expectations entertained as to the
+capacity of the State banks to perform the duties of fiscal agents for
+the Government at the time of the removal of the deposits. It was
+alleged by the advocates of the Bank of the United States that the
+State banks, what ever might be the regulations of the Treasury
+Department, could not make the transfers required by the Government or
+negotiate the domestic exchanges of the country. It is now well
+ascertained that the real domestic exchanges performed through
+discounts by the United States Bank and its 25 branches were at least
+one third less than those of the deposit banks for an equal period of
+time; and if a comparison be instituted between the amounts of service
+rendered by these institutions on the broader basis which has been used
+by the advocates of the United States Bank in estimating what they
+consider the domestic exchanges transacted by it, the result will be
+still more favorable to the deposit banks.
+
+The whole amount of public money transferred by the Bank of the United
+States in 1832 was $16,000,000. The amount transferred and actually
+paid by the deposit banks in the year ending the first of October last
+was $39,319,899; the amount transferred and paid between that period
+and the 6th of November was $5,399,000, and the amount of transfer
+warrants outstanding on that day was $14,450,000, making an aggregate
+of $59,168,894. These enormous sums of money first mentioned have been
+transferred with the greatest promptitude and regularity, and the rates
+at which the exchanges have been negotiated previously to the passage
+of the deposit act were generally below those charged by the Bank of
+the United States. Independently of these services, which are far
+greater than those rendered by the United States Bank and its 25
+branches, a number of the deposit banks have, with a commendable zeal
+to aid in the improvement of the currency, imported from abroad, at
+their own expense, large sums of the precious metals for coinage and
+circulation.
+
+In the same manner have nearly all the predictions turned out in
+respect to the effect of the removal of the deposits--a step
+unquestionably necessary to prevent the evils which it was foreseen the
+bank itself would endeavor to create in a final struggle to procure a
+renewal of its charter. It may be thus, too, in some degree with the
+further steps which may be taken to prevent the excessive issue of
+other bank paper, but it is to be hoped that nothing will now deter the
+Federal and State authorities from the firm and vigorous performance of
+their duties to themselves and to the people in this respect.
+
+In reducing the revenue to the wants of the Government your particular
+attention is invited to those articles which constitute the necessaries
+of life. The duty on salt was laid as a war tax, and was no doubt
+continued to assist in providing for the payment of the war debt. There
+is no article the release of which from taxation would be felt so
+generally and so beneficially. To this may be added all kinds of fuel
+and provisions. Justice and benevolence unite in favor of releasing the
+poor of our cities from burdens which are not necessary to the support
+of our Government and tend only to increase the wants of the destitute.
+
+It will be seen by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury and the
+accompanying documents that the Bank of the United States has made no
+payment on account of the stock held by the Government in that
+institution, although urged to pay any portion which might suit its
+convenience, and that it has given no information when payment may be
+expected. Nor, although repeatedly requested, has it furnished the
+information in relation to its condition which Congress authorized the
+Secretary to collect at their last session. Such measures as are within
+the power of the Executive have been taken to ascertain the value of
+the stock and procure the payment as early as possible.
+
+The conduct and present condition of that bank and the great amount of
+capital vested in it by the United States require your careful
+attention. Its charter expired on the third day of March last, and it
+has now no power but that given in the twenty-first section, "to use
+the corporate name, style, and capacity for the purpose of suits for
+the final settlement and liquidation of the affairs and accounts of the
+corporation, and for the sale and disposition of their estate--real,
+personal, and mixed--but not for any other purpose or in any other
+manner what so ever, nor for a period exceeding two years after the
+expiration of the said term of incorporation".
+
+Before the expiration of the charter the stock-holders of the bank
+obtained an act of incorporation from the legislature of Pennsylvania,
+excluding only the United States. Instead of proceeding to wind up
+their concerns and pay over to the United States the amount due on
+account of the stock held by them, the president and directors of the
+old bank appear to have transferred the books, papers, notes,
+obligations, and most or all of its property to this new corporation,
+which entered upon business as a continuation of the old concern.
+
+Amongst other acts of questionable validity, the notes of the expired
+corporation are known to have been used as its own and again put in
+circulation. That the old bank had no right to issue or re-issue its
+notes after the expiration of its charter can not be denied, and that
+it could not confer any such right on its substitute any more than
+exercise it itself is equally plain. In law and honesty the notes of
+the bank in circulation at the expiration of its charter should have
+been called in by public advertisement, paid up as presented, and,
+together with those on hand, canceled and destroyed.
+
+Their re-issue is sanctioned by no law and warranted by no necessity.
+If the United States be responsible in their stock for the payment of
+these notes, their re-issue by the new corporation for their own profit
+is a fraud on the Government. If the United States is not responsible,
+then there is no legal responsibility in any quarter, and it is a fraud
+on the country. They are the redeemed notes of a dissolved partnership,
+but, contrary to the wishes of the retiring partner and without his
+consent, are again re-issued and circulated.
+
+It is the high and peculiar duty of Congress to decide whether any
+further legislation be necessary for the security of the large amount
+of public property now held and in use by the new bank, and for
+vindicating the rights of the Government and compelling a speedy and
+honest settlement with all the creditors of the old bank, public and
+private, or whether the subject shall be left to the power now
+possessed by the Executive and judiciary. It remains to be seen whether
+the persons who as managers of the old bank undertook to control the
+Government, retained the public dividends, shut their doors upon a
+committee of the House of Representatives, and filled the country with
+panic to accomplish their own sinister objects may now as managers of a
+new bank continue with impunity to flood the country with a spurious
+currency, use the $7 millions of Government stock for their own profit,
+and refuse to the United States all information as to the present
+condition of their own property and the prospect of recovering it into
+their own possession.
+
+The lessons taught by the Bank of the United States can not well be
+lost upon the American people. They will take care never again to place
+so tremendous a power in irresponsible hands, and it will be fortunate
+if they seriously consider the consequences which are likely to result
+on a smaller scale from the facility with which corporate powers are
+granted by their State governments.
+
+It is believed that the law of the last session regulating the deposit
+banks operates onerously and unjustly upon them in many respects, and
+it is hoped that Congress, on proper representations, will adopt the
+modifications which are necessary to prevent this consequence.
+
+The report of the Secretary of War ad interim and the accompanying
+documents, all which are herewith laid before you, will give you a full
+view of the diversified and important operations of that Department
+during the past year.
+
+The military movements rendered necessary by the aggressions of the
+hostile portions of the Seminole and Creek tribes of Indians, and by
+other circumstances, have required the active employment of nearly our
+whole regular force, including the Marine Corps, and of large bodies of
+militia and volunteers. With all these events so far as they were known
+at the seat of Government before the termination of your last session
+you are already acquainted, and it is therefore only needful in this
+place to lay before you a brief summary of what has since occurred.
+
+The war with the Seminoles during the summer was on our part chiefly
+confined to the protection of our frontier settlements from the
+incursions of the enemy, and, as a necessary and important means for
+the accomplishment of that end, to the maintenance of the posts
+previously established. In the course of this duty several actions took
+place, in which the bravery and discipline of both officers and men
+were conspicuously displayed, and which I have deemed it proper to
+notice in respect to the former by the granting of brevet rank for
+gallant services in the field. But as the force of the Indians was not
+so far weakened by these partial successes as to lead them to submit,
+and as their savage inroads were frequently repeated, early measures
+were taken for placing at the disposal of Governor Call, who as
+commander in chief of the Territorial militia had been temporarily
+invested with the command, an ample force for the purpose of resuming
+offensive operations in the most efficient manner so soon as the season
+should permit. Major General Jesup was also directed, on the conclusion
+of his duties in the Creek country, to repair to Florida and assume the
+command.
+
+The result of the first movement made by the forces under the direction
+of Governor Call in October last, as detailed in the accompanying
+papers, excited much surprise and disappointment. A full explanation
+has been required of the causes which led to the failure of that
+movement, but has not yet been received. In the mean time, as it was
+feared that the health of Governor Call, who was understood to have
+suffered much from sickness, might not be adequate to the crisis, and
+as Major General Jesup was known to have reached Florida, that officer
+was directed to assume command, and to prosecute all needful operations
+with the utmost promptitude and vigor. From the force at his disposal
+and the dispositions he has made and is instructed to make, and from
+the very efficient measures which it is since ascertained have been
+taken by Governor Call, there is reason to hope that they will soon be
+enabled to reduce the enemy to subjection. In the mean time, as you
+will perceive from the report of the Secretary, there is urgent
+necessity for further appropriations to suppress these hostilities.
+
+Happily for the interests of humanity, the hostilities with the Creeks
+were brought to a close soon after your adjournment, without that
+effusion of blood which at one time was apprehended as inevitable. The
+unconditional submission of the hostile party was followed by their
+speedy removal to the country assigned them West of the Mississippi.
+The inquiry as to alleged frauds in the purchase of the reservations of
+these Indians and the causes of their hostilities, requested by the
+resolution of the House of Representatives of the first of July last
+July 1st, 1836 to be made by the President, is now going on through the
+agency of commissioners appointed for that purpose. Their report may be
+expected during your present session.
+
+The difficulties apprehended in the Cherokee country have been
+prevented, and the peace and safety of that region and its vicinity
+effectually secured, by the timely measures taken by the War
+Department, and still continued.
+
+The discretionary authority given to General Gaines to cross the Sabine
+and to occupy a position as far West as Nacogdoches, in case he should
+deem such a step necessary to the protection of the frontier and to the
+fulfillment of the stipulations contained in our treaty with Mexico,
+and the movement subsequently made by that officer have been alluded to
+in a former part of this message. At the date of the latest
+intelligence from Nacogdoches our troops were yet at that station, but
+the officer who has succeeded General Gaines has recently been advised
+that from the facts known at the seat of Government there would seem to
+be no adequate cause for any longer maintaining that position, and he
+was accordingly instructed, in case the troops were not already
+withdrawn under the discretionary powers before possessed by him, to
+give the requisite orders for that purpose on the receipt of the
+instructions, unless he shall then have in his possession such
+information as shall satisfy him that the maintenance of the post is
+essential to the protection of our frontiers and to the due execution
+of our treaty stipulations, as previously explained to him.
+
+Whilst the necessities existing during the present year for the service
+of militia and volunteers have furnished new proofs of the patriotism
+of our fellow citizens, they have also strongly illustrated the
+importance of an increase in the rank and file of the Regular Army. The
+views of this subject submitted by the Secretary of War in his report
+meet my entire concurrence, and are earnestly commended to the
+deliberate attention of Congress. In this connection it is also proper
+to remind you that the defects in our present militia system are every
+day rendered more apparent. The duty of making further provision by law
+for organizing, arming, and disciplining this arm of defense has been
+so repeatedly presented to Congress by myself and my predecessors that
+I deem it sufficient on this occasion to refer to the last annual
+message and to former Executive communications in which the subject has
+been discussed.
+
+It appears from the reports of the officers charged with mustering into
+service the volunteers called for under the act of Congress of the last
+session that more presented themselves at the place of rendezvous in
+Tennessee than were sufficient to meet the requisition which had been
+made by the Secretary of War upon the governor of that State. This was
+occasioned by the omission of the governor to apportion the requisition
+to the different regiments of militia so as to obtain the proper number
+of troops and no more. It seems but just to the patriotic citizens who
+repaired to the general rendezvous under circumstances authorizing them
+to believe that their services were needed and would be accepted that
+the expenses incurred by them while absent from their homes should be
+paid by the Government. I accordingly recommend that a law to this
+effect be passed by Congress, giving them a compensation which will
+cover their expenses on the march to and from the place of rendezvous
+and while there; in connection with which it will also be proper to
+make provision for such other equitable claims growing out of the
+service of the militia as may not be embraced in the existing laws.
+
+On the unexpected breaking out of hostilities in Florida, Alabama, and
+Georgia it became necessary in some cases to take the property of
+individuals for public use. Provision should be made by law for
+indemnifying the owners; and I would also respectfully suggest whether
+some provision may not be made, consistently with the principles of our
+Government, for the relief of the sufferers by Indian depredations or
+by the operations of our own troops.
+
+No time was lost after the making of the requisite appropriations in
+resuming the great national work of completing the unfinished
+fortifications on our sea-board and of placing them in a proper state
+of defense. In consequence, however, of the very late day at which
+those bills were passed, but little progress could be made during the
+season which has just closed. A very large amount of the moneys granted
+at your last session accordingly remains unexpended; but as the work
+will be again resumed at the earliest moment in the coming spring, the
+balance of the existing appropriations, and in several cases which will
+be laid before you, with the proper estimates, further sums for the
+like objects, may be usefully expended during the next year.
+
+The recommendations of an increase in the Engineer Corps and for a
+reorganization of the Topographical Corps, submitted to you in my last
+annual message, derive additional strength from the great
+embarrassments experienced during the present year in those branches of
+the service, and under which they are now suffering. Several of the
+most important surveys and constructions directed by recent laws have
+been suspended in consequence of the want of adequate force in these
+corps.
+
+The like observations may be applied to the Ordnance Corps and to the
+general staff, the operations of which as they are now organized must
+either be frequently interrupted or performed by officers taken from
+the line of the Army, to the great prejudice of the service.
+
+For a general view of the condition of the Military Academy and of
+other branches of the military service not already noticed, as well as
+for further illustrations of those which have been mentioned, I refer
+you to the accompanying documents, and among the various proposals
+contained therein for legislative action I would particularly notice
+the suggestion of the Secretary of War for the revision of the pay of
+the Army as entitled to your favorable regard.
+
+The national policy, founded alike in interest and in humanity, so long
+and so steadily pursued by this Government for the removal of the
+Indian tribes originally settled on this side of the Mississippi to the
+W of that river, may be said to have been consummated by the conclusion
+of the late treaty with the Cherokees. The measures taken in the
+execution of that treaty and in relation to our Indian affairs
+generally will fully appear by referring to the accompanying papers.
+Without dwelling on the numerous and important topics embraced in them,
+I again invite your attention to the importance of providing a
+well-digested and comprehensive system for the protection, supervision,
+and improvement of the various tribes now planted in the Indian
+country.
+
+The suggestions submitted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and
+enforced by the Secretary, on this subject, and also in regard to the
+establishment of additional military posts in the Indian country, are
+entitled to your profound consideration. Both measures are necessary,
+for the double purpose of protecting the Indians from intestine war,
+and in other respects complying with our engagements with them, and of
+securing our western frontier against incursions which otherwise will
+assuredly be made on it. The best hopes of humanity in regard to the
+aboriginal race, the welfare of our rapidly extending settlements, and
+the honor of the United States are all deeply involved in the relations
+existing between this Government and the emigrating tribes. I trust,
+therefore, that the various matters submitted in the accompanying
+documents in respect to those relations will receive your early and
+mature deliberation, and that it may issue in the adoption of
+legislative measures adapted to the circumstances and duties of the
+present crisis.
+
+You are referred to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a
+satisfactory view of the operations of the Department under his charge
+during the present year. In the construction of vessels at the
+different navy yards and in the employment of our ships and squadrons
+at sea that branch of the service has been actively and usefully
+employed. While the situation of our commercial interests in the West
+Indies required a greater number than usual of armed vessels to be kept
+on that station, it is gratifying to perceive that the protection due
+to our commerce in other quarters of the world has not proved
+insufficient. Every effort has been made to facilitate the equipment of
+the exploring expedition authorized by the act of the last session, but
+all the preparation necessary to enable it to sail has not yet been
+completed. No means will be spared by the Government to fit out the
+expedition on a scale corresponding with the liberal appropriations for
+the purpose and with the elevated character of the objects which are to
+be effected by it.
+
+I beg leave to renew the recommendation made in my last annual message
+respecting the enlistment of boys in our naval service, and to urge
+upon your attention the necessity of further appropriations to increase
+the number of ships afloat and to enlarge generally the capacity and
+force of the Navy. The increase of our commerce and our position in
+regard to the other powers of the world will always make it our policy
+and interest to cherish the great naval resources of our country.
+
+The report of the Post Master General presents a gratifying picture of
+the condition of the Post Office Department. Its revenues for the year
+ending the 30th June last were $3,398,455.19, showing an increase of
+revenue over that of the preceding year of $404,878.53, or more than
+13%. The expenditures for the same year were $2,755,623.76, exhibiting
+a surplus of $642,831.43. The Department has been redeemed from
+embarrassment and debt, has accumulated a surplus exceeding half a
+million dollars, has largely extended and is preparing still further to
+extend the mail service, and recommends a reduction of postages equal
+to about 20%. It is practicing upon the great principle which should
+control every branch of our Government of rendering to the public the
+greatest good possible with the least possible taxation to the people.
+
+The scale of postages suggested by the Post Master General recommends
+itself, not only by the reduction it proposes, but by the simplicity of
+its arrangement, its conformity with the Federal currency, and the
+improvement it will introduce into the accounts of the Department and
+its agents.
+
+Your particular attention is invited to the subject of mail contracts
+with railroad companies. The present laws providing for the making of
+contracts are based upon the presumption that competition among bidders
+will secure the service at a fair price; but on most of the railroad
+lines there is no competition in that kind of transportation, and
+advertising is therefore useless. No contract can now be made with them
+except such as shall be negotiated before the time of offering or
+afterwards, and the power of the Post Master General to pay them high
+prices is practically without limitation. It would be a relief to him
+and no doubt would conduce to the public interest to prescribe by law
+some equitable basis upon which such contracts shall rest, and restrict
+him by a fixed rule of allowance. Under a liberal act of that sort he
+would undoubtedly be able to secure the services of most of the
+railroad companies, and the interest of the Department would be thus
+advanced.
+
+The correspondence between the people of the United States and the
+European nations, and particularly with the British Islands, has become
+very extensive, and requires the interposition of Congress to give it
+security. No obstacle is perceived to an interchange of mails between
+New York and Liverpool or other foreign ports, as proposed by the Post
+Master General. On the contrary, it promises, by the security it will
+afford, to facilitate commercial transactions and give rise to an
+enlarged intercourse among the people of different nations, which can
+not but have a happy effect. Through the city of New York most of the
+correspondence between the Canadas and Europe is now carried on, and
+urgent representations have been received from the head of the
+provincial post office asking the interposition of the United States to
+guard it from the accidents and losses to which it is now subjected.
+Some legislation appears to be called for as well by our own interest
+as by comity to the adjoining British provinces.
+
+The expediency of providing a fire-proof building for the important
+books and papers of the Post Office Department is worthy of
+consideration. In the present condition of our Treasury it is neither
+necessary nor wise to leave essential public interests exposed to so
+much danger when they can so readily be made secure. There are weighty
+considerations in the location of a new building for that Department in
+favor of placing it near the other executive buildings.
+
+The important subjects of a survey of the coast and the manufacture of
+a standard of weights and measures for the different custom houses have
+been in progress for some years under the general direction of the
+Executive and the immediate superintendence of a gentleman possessing
+high scientific attainments. At the last session of Congress the making
+of a set of weights and measures for each State in the Union was added
+to the others by a joint resolution.
+
+The care and correspondence as to all these subjects have been devolved
+on the Treasury Department during the last year. A special report from
+the Secretary of the Treasury will soon be communicated to Congress,
+which will show what has been accomplished as to the whole, the number
+and compensation of the persons now employed in these duties, and the
+progress expected to be made during the ensuing year, with a copy of
+the various correspondence deemed necessary to throw light on the
+subjects which seem to require additional legislation.
+
+Claims have been made for retrospective allowances in behalf of the
+superintendent and some of his assistants, which I did not feel
+justified in granting. Other claims have been made for large increases
+in compensation, which, under the circumstances of the several cases, I
+declined making without the express sanction of Congress. In order to
+obtain that sanction the subject was at the last session, on my
+suggestion and by request of the immediate superintendent, submitted by
+the Treasury Department to the Committee on Commerce of the House of
+Representatives. But no legislative action having taken place, the
+early attention of Congress is now invited to the enactment of some
+express and detailed provisions in relation to the various claims made
+for the past, and to the compensation and allowances deemed proper for
+the future.
+
+It is further respectfully recommended that, such being the
+inconvenience of attention to these duties by the Chief Magistrate, and
+such the great pressure of business on the Treasury Department, the
+general supervision of the coast survey and the completion of the
+weights and measures, if the works are kept united, should be devolved
+on a board of officers organized specially for that purpose, or on the
+Navy Board attached to the Navy Department.
+
+All my experience and reflection confirm the conviction I have so often
+expressed to Congress in favor of an amendment of the Constitution
+which will prevent in any event the election of the President and Vice
+President of the United States devolving on the House of
+Representatives and the Senate, and I therefore beg leave again to
+solicit your attention to the subject. There were various other
+suggestions in my last annual message not acted upon, particularly that
+relating to the want of uniformity in the laws of the District of
+Columbia, that are deemed worthy of your favorable consideration.
+
+Before concluding this paper I think it due to the various Executive
+Departments to bear testimony to their prosperous condition and to the
+ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been
+my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of
+the public business, and it is gratifying to me to believe that there
+is no just cause of complaint from any quarter at the manner in which
+they have fulfilled the objects of their creation.
+
+Having now finished the observations deemed proper on this the last
+occasion I shall have of communicating with the two Houses of Congress
+at their meeting, I can not omit an expression of the gratitude which
+is due to the great body of my fellow citizens, in whose partiality and
+indulgence I have found encouragement and support in the many difficult
+and trying scenes through which it has been my lot to pass during my
+public career. Though deeply sensible that my exertions have not been
+crowned with a success corresponding to the degree of favor bestowed
+upon me, I am sure that they will be considered as having been directed
+by an earnest desire to promote the good of my country, and I am
+consoled by the persuasion that what ever errors have been committed
+will find a corrective in the intelligence and patriotism of those who
+will succeed us. All that has occurred during my Administration is
+calculated to inspire me with increased confidence in the stability of
+our institutions; and should I be spared to enter upon that retirement
+which is so suitable to my age and infirm health and so much desired by
+me in other respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent Being
+to whose providence we are already so signally indebted for the
+continuance of His blessings on our beloved country.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of Andrew
+Jackson, by Andrew Jackson
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