December 6, 1830
Washington, DC
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
The pleasure I have in congratulating you upon your return to
your constitutional duties is much heightened by the satisfaction which
the condition of our beloved country at this period justly inspires. The
beneficent Author of All Good has granted to us during the present year
health, peace, and plenty, and numerous causes for joy in the wonderful
success which attends the progress of our free institutions.
With a population unparalleled in its increase, and possessing
a character which combines the hardihood of enterprise with the considerateness
of wisdom, we see in every section of our happy country a steady improvement
in the means of social intercourse, and correspondent effects upon the
genius and laws of our extended Republic.
The apparent exceptions to the harmony of the prospect are to
be referred rather to inevitable diversities in the various interests
which enter into the composition of so extensive a whole than 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 [1825-07], 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
$650K 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 dis-credit 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 1 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 $5M, 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 $96M.
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 1 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
1 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 1 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 1 term of service.
- Removal Nearly Complete
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.
- Removal Good for All
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 SW
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.
- Indian Fighter Friend to Indian
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.
- Generous Terms for Removal
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.
- Limits of Philanthropy
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?
- A Milder Annihilation
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.
- Emigration, not Removal
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.
- Ungrateful Indians
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.
- Our Homeland Now
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.
- States Implicit Landholders
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.
- Duty to Extinguish
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.
- Indians Must See True Condition
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 $300K 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 1, 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.
- War Department
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 PostMaster General in like manner exhibits
a satisfactory view of the important branch of the Government under his
charge. In addition to the benefits already secured by the operations
of the Post Office Department, considerable improvements within the present
year have been made by an increase in the accommodation afforded by stage
coaches, and in the frequency and celerity of the mail between some of
the most important points of the Union.
Under the late contracts improvements have been provided for
the southern section of the country, and at the same time an annual saving
made of upward of $72,000. 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 MD and VA 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.
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President Andrew Jackson
Second Annual Message to Congress
December 6, 1830 |