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MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS:

ANDREW JACKSON

March 4, 1829, to March 4, 1833

Edited by James D. Richardson




ANDREW JACKSON


Andrew Jackson was born in the Waxhaw Settlement, North or South
Carolina, on the 15th of March, 1767. He was a son of Andrew Jackson, an
Irishman, who emigrated to America in 1765 and died in 1767. The name of
his mother was Elizabeth Hutchinson. There is little definite
information about the schools that he attended. According to Parton, "He
learned to read, to write, and cast accounts--little more." Having taken
arms against the British in 1781, he was captured, and afterwards
wounded by an officer because he refused to clean the officer's boots.
About 1785 he began to study law at Salisbury, N.C. In 1788 removed to
Nashville, Tenn., where he began to practice law. About 1791 he married
Rachel Robards, originally Rachel Donelson, whose first husband was
living and had taken preliminary measures to obtain a divorce, which was
legally completed in 1793. The marriage ceremony was again performed in
1794. He was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of
Tennessee in 1796, and in the autumn of that year was elected
Representative to Congress by the people of Tennessee, which State was
then entitled to only one member. Supported Thomas Jefferson in the
Presidential election of 1796. In 1797 became a Senator of the United
States for the State of Tennessee. Resigned his seat in the Senate in
1798; was a judge of the supreme court of Tennessee from 1798 till 1804.
After war had been declared against Great Britain, General Jackson (who
several years before had been appointed major-general of militia)
offered his services and those of 2,500 volunteers in June, 1812. He was
ordered to New Orleans, and led a body of 2,070 men in that direction;
but at Natchez he received an order, dated February 6, 1813, by which
his troops were dismissed from public service. In October, 1813, he took
the field against the Creek Indians, whom he defeated at Talladega in
November. By his services in this Creek war, which ended in 1814, he
acquired great popularity, and in May, 1814, was appointed a
major-general in the Regular Army; was soon afterwards ordered to the
Gulf of Mexico, to oppose an expected invasion of the British. In
November he seized Pensacola, which belonged to Spain, but was used by
the British as a base of operations. About the 1st of December he moved
his army to New Orleans, where he was successful in two engagements with
the British, and afterwards gained his famous victory on January 8,
1815. This was the last battle of the war, a treaty of peace having been
signed on December 24, 1814. In 1817-18 he waged a successful war
against the Seminoles in Florida, seized Pensacola, and executed
Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two British subjects, accused of inciting the
savages to hostile acts against the Americans. He was appointed governor
of Florida in 1821. In 1823 was elected a Senator of the United States,
and nominated as candidate for the Presidency by the legislature of
Tennessee. His competitors were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and
William H. Crawford. Jackson received 99 electoral votes, Adams 84,
Crawford 41, and Clay 37. As no candidate had a majority, the election
devolved on the House of Representatives, and it resulted in the choice
of Mr. Adams. In 1828 Jackson was elected President, receiving 178
electoral votes, while Adams received 83; was reelected in 1832,
defeating Henry Clay. Retired to private life March 4, 1837. He died at
the Hermitage on the 8th of June, 1845, and was buried there.




LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT.

CITY OF WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1829._
J.C. CALHOUN,
_Vice-President of the United States_.

Sir: Through you I beg leave to inform the Senate that on Wednesday, the
4th instant, at 12 o'clock, I shall be ready to take the oath prescribed
by the Constitution previously to entering on a discharge of my official
duties, and at such place as the Senate may think proper to designate.

I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

ANDREW JACKSON.




FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

Fellow-Citizens: About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been
appointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of
this customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude which their
confidence inspires and to acknowledge the accountability which my
situation enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces me
that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have conferred, it
admonishes me that the best return I can make is the zealous dedication
of my humble abilities to their service and their good.

As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will devolve on me for
a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend
their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue,
to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to
watch over and to promote their interests generally. And the principles
of action by which I shall endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties
it is now proper for me briefly to explain.

In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the
limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, trusting
thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its
authority. With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace
and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the
adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the
forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility
belonging to a gallant people.

In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to the rights
of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for
those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the
powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to
the Confederacy.

The management of the public revenue--that searching operation in all
governments--is among the most delicate and important trusts in ours,
and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share of my official
solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be considered it would
appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict and
faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more anxiously both because it
will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary
duration of which is incompatible with real independence, and because it
will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a
profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to
engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end
are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress
for the specific appropriation of public money and the prompt
accountability of public officers.

With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with a view
to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, caution, and
compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great
interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally
favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this rule should consist
in the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may
be found essential to our national independence.

Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can
be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of
high importance.

Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of
peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor
disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches
that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The
gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes
our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our
forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive
improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our
military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be
excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their
importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia,
which in the present state of our intelligence and population must
render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the
good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it
secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of
conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as
it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an
impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we
may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the
means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just
system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of
the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power.

It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian
tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that
humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which
is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our
people.

The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of
Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task
of _reform_, which will require particularly the correction of those
abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into
conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those
causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have
placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands.

In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall endeavor
to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their
respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the
advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the
public officers than on their numbers.

A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me
to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my
illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow
from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The
same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the
coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and
support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the
goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our
national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various
vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He
will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care
and gracious benediction.

MARCH 4, 1829.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


_March 6, 1829_.
_the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: The Executive nominations made during the past session of
Congress, and which remain unacted on by the Senate, I hereby withdraw
from their consideration.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 6, 1829_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

The treaty of commerce and navigation concluded at Washington on the 1st
of May, 1828, between the United States and the King of Prussia, was
laid before the Senate, who, by their resolution of the 14th of that
month, advised and consented to its ratification by the President.

By the sixteenth article of that treaty it was agreed that the exchange
of ratifications should be made within nine months from its date.

On the 15th day of February last, being fifteen days after the time
stipulated for the exchange by the terms of the treaty, the chargé
d'affaires of the King of Prussia informed the Secretary of State that
he had received the Prussian ratification and was ready to exchange it
for that of the United States. In reply he was informed of the intention
of the President, my late predecessor, not to proceed to the exchange in
consequence of the expiration of the time within which it was to be
made.

Under these circumstances I have thought it my duty, in order to avoid
all future questions, to ask the advice and consent of the Senate to
make the proposed exchange.

I send you the original of the treaty, together with a printed copy of
it.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 11, 1829_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: Brevet rank for ten years' faithful service has produced much
confusion in the Army. For this reason the discretion vested in the
President of the United States on this subject would not be exercised by
any submission of those cases to the Senate but that it has been
heretofore the practice to do so. They are accordingly submitted, with
other nominations, to fill the offices respectively annexed to their
names in the inclosed lists,[1] for the consideration of the Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 1: Omitted.]




PROCLAMATIONS.

By the President of the United States of America.


A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of
January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence
being given to the President of the United States by the government of
any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost
are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels
belonging wholly to citizens of the United States, or upon merchandise
the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President
is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the
foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or
manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and merchandise, as aforesaid, therein laden, shall be
continued, and no longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Imperial
Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through the Baron de Lederer, his
consul-general in the United States, that vessels wholly belonging to
citizens of the United States are not, nor shall be, on their entering
any Austrian port, from and after the 1st day of January last, subject
to the payment of higher duties of tonnage than are levied on Austrian
ships:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
imposing duties on the tonnage of ships arriving in the United States as
imposed a discriminating duty between the vessels of the Empire of
Austria and vessels of the United States are suspended and discontinued,
the said suspension to take effect from the day above mentioned and to
continue henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels
of the United States shall be continued in the ports of the imperial
dominions of Austria.

(SEAL.)

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 11th day of May,
A.D. 1829, and the fifty-second[2] of the Independence of the United
States.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President:
M. Van Buren,
_Secretary of State_.

[Footnote 2: Should be "third" instead of "second."]


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,' and to equalize
the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that
upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United
States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating
duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the
said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United
States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in
the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the
President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that
the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce,
manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same
from the said foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no
longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from His
Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through an official
communication of the Baron de Lederer, his consul-general in the United
States, under date of the 29th of May, 1829, that no other or higher
duties of tonnage and impost are imposed or levied since the 1st day of
January last in the ports of Austria upon vessels wholly belonging to
citizens of the United States and upon the produce, manufactures, or
merchandise imported in the same from the United States and from any
foreign country whatever than are levied on Austrian ships and their
cargoes in the same ports under like circumstances:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of Austria and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise
imported into the United States in the same from the dominions of
Austria and from any other foreign country whatever, the said suspension
to take effect from the day above mentioned and to continue
thenceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the
United States and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported
into the dominions of Austria in the same, as aforesaid, shall be
continued on the part of the Government of His Imperial Majesty the
Emperor of Austria.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 3d day of June,
A.D. 1829, and the fifty-third of the Independence of the United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President:
M. VAN BUREN,
_Secretary of State_.


EXECUTIVE ORDER.

In all applications by any invalid to obtain a pension in consequence of
any disability incurred, no payment therefor shall commence until proof
shall be filed in the Department and the decision of the Secretary had
thereon; and no pension will be allowed to anyone while acting as an
officer of the Army except in cases which have been heretofore adjudged.

Approved, 8th April, 1829.

ANDREW JACKSON.


FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

It affords me pleasure to tender my friendly greetings to you on the
occasion of your assembling at the seat of Government to enter upon the
important duties to which you have been called by the voice of our
countrymen. The task devolves on me, under a provision of the
Constitution, to present to you, as the Federal Legislature of
twenty-four sovereign States and 12,000,000 happy people, a view of our
affairs, and to propose such measures as in the discharge of my official
functions have suggested themselves as necessary to promote the objects
of our Union.

In communicating with you for the first time it is to me a source of
unfeigned satisfaction, calling for mutual gratulation and devout thanks
to a benign Providence, that we are at peace with all mankind, and that
our country exhibits the most cheering evidence of general welfare and
progressive improvement. Turning our eyes to other nations, our great
desire is to see our brethren of the human race secured in the blessings
enjoyed by ourselves, and advancing in knowledge, in freedom, and in
social happiness.

Our foreign relations, although in their general character pacific and
friendly, present subjects of difference between us and other powers of
deep interest as well to the country at large as to many of our
citizens. To effect an adjustment of these shall continue to be the
object of my earnest endeavors, and notwithstanding the difficulties of
the task, I do not allow myself to apprehend unfavorable results.
Blessed as our country is with everything which constitutes national
strength, she is fully adequate to the maintenance of all her interests.
In discharging the responsible trust confided to the Executive in this
respect it is my settled purpose to ask nothing that is not clearly
right and to submit to nothing that is wrong; and I flatter myself that,
supported by the other branches of the Government and by the
intelligence and patriotism of the people, we shall be able, under the
protection of Providence, to cause all our just rights to be respected.

Of the unsettled matters between the United States and other powers, the
most prominent are those which have for years been the subject of
negotiation with England, France, and Spain. The late periods at which
our ministers to those Governments left the United States render it
impossible at this early day to inform you of what has been done on the
subjects with which they have been respectively charged. Relying upon
the justice of our views in relation to the points committed to
negotiation and the reciprocal good feeling which characterizes our
intercourse with those nations, we have the best reason to hope for a
satisfactory adjustment of existing differences.

With Great Britain, alike distinguished in peace and war, we may look
forward to years of peaceful, honorable, and elevated competition.
Everything in the condition and history of the two nations is calculated
to inspire sentiments of mutual respect and to carry conviction to the
minds of both that it is their policy to preserve the most cordial
relations. Such are my own views, and it is not to be doubted that such
are also the prevailing sentiments of our constituents. Although neither
time nor opportunity has been afforded for a full development of the
policy which the present cabinet of Great Britain designs to pursue
toward this country, I indulge the hope that it will be of a just and
pacific character; and if this anticipation be realized we may look with
confidence to a speedy and acceptable adjustment of our affairs.

Under the convention for regulating the reference to arbitration of the
disputed points of boundary under the fifth article of the treaty of
Ghent, the proceedings have hitherto been conducted in that spirit of
candor and liberality which ought ever to characterize the acts of
sovereign States seeking to adjust by the most unexceptionable means
important and delicate subjects of contention. The first statements of
the parties have been exchanged, and the final replication on our part
is in a course of preparation. This subject has received the attention
demanded by its great and peculiar importance to a patriotic member of
this Confederacy.

The exposition of our rights already made is such as, from the high
reputation of the commissioners by whom it has been prepared, we had a
right to expect. Our interests at the Court of the Sovereign who has
evinced his friendly disposition by assuming the delicate task of
arbitration have been committed to a citizen of the State of Maine,
whose character, talents, and intimate acquaintance with the subject
eminently qualify him for so responsible a trust. With full confidence
in the justice of our cause and in the probity, intelligence, and
uncompromising independence of the illustrious arbitrator, we can have
nothing to apprehend from the result.

From France, our ancient ally, we have a right to expect that justice
which becomes the sovereign of a powerful, intelligent, and magnanimous
people. The beneficial effects produced by the commercial convention of
1822, limited as are its provisions, are too obvious not to make a
salutary impression upon the minds of those who are charged with the
administration of her Government. Should this result induce a
disposition to embrace to their full extent the wholesome principles
which constitute our commercial policy, our minister to that Court will
be found instructed to cherish such a disposition and to aid in
conducting it to useful practical conclusions. The claims of our
citizens for depredations upon their property, long since committed
under the authority, and in many instances by the express direction, of
the then existing Government of France, remain unsatisfied, and must
therefore continue to furnish a subject of unpleasant discussion and
possible collision between the two Governments. I cherish, however, a
lively hope, founded as well on the validity of those claims and the
established policy of all enlightened governments as on the known
integrity of the French Monarch, that the injurious delays of the past
will find redress in the equity of the future. Our minister has been
instructed to press these demands on the French Government with all the
earnestness which is called for by their importance and irrefutable
justice, and in a spirit that will evince the respect which is due to
the feelings of those from whom the satisfaction is required.

Our minister recently appointed to Spain has been authorized to assist
in removing evils alike injurious to both countries, either by
concluding a commercial convention upon liberal and reciprocal terms or
by urging the acceptance in their full extent of the mutually beneficial
provisions of our navigation acts. He has also been instructed to make a
further appeal to the justice of Spain, in behalf of our citizens, for
indemnity for spoliations upon our commerce committed under her
authority--an appeal which the pacific and liberal course observed on
our part and a due confidence in the honor of that Government authorize
us to expect will not be made in vain.

With other European powers our intercourse is on the most friendly
footing. In Russia, placed by her territorial limits, extensive
population, and great power high in the rank of nations, the United
States have always found a steadfast friend. Although her recent
invasion of Turkey awakened a lively sympathy for those who were exposed
to the desolations of war, we can not but anticipate that the result
will prove favorable to the cause of civilization and to the progress of
human happiness. The treaty of peace between these powers having been
ratified, we can not be insensible to the great benefit to be derived by
the commerce of the United States from unlocking the navigation of the
Black Sea, a free passage into which is secured to all merchant vessels
bound to ports of Russia under a flag at peace with the Porte. This
advantage, enjoyed upon conditions by most of the powers of Europe, has
hitherto been withheld from us. During the past summer an antecedent but
unsuccessful attempt to obtain it was renewed under circumstances which
promised the most favorable results. Although these results have
fortunately been thus in part attained, further facilities to the
enjoyment of this new field for the enterprise of our citizens are, in
my opinion, sufficiently desirable to insure to them our most zealous
attention.

Our trade with Austria, although of secondary importance, has been
gradually increasing, and is now so extended as to deserve the fostering
care of the Government. A negotiation, commenced and nearly completed
with that power by the late Administration, has been consummated by a
treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce, which will be laid before the
Senate.

During the recess of Congress our diplomatic relations with Portugal
have been resumed. The peculiar state of things in that country caused a
suspension of the recognition of the representative who presented
himself until an opportunity was had to obtain from our official organ
there information regarding the actual and, as far as practicable,
prospective condition of the authority by which the representative in
question was appointed. This information being received, the application
of the established rule of our Government in like cases was no longer
withheld.

Considerable advances have been made during the present year in the
adjustment of claims of our citizens upon Denmark for spoliations, but
all that we have a right to demand from that Government in their behalf
has not yet been conceded. From the liberal footing, however, upon which
this subject has, with the approbation of the claimants, been placed by
the Government, together with the uniformly just and friendly
disposition which has been evinced by His Danish Majesty, there is a
reasonable ground to hope that this single subject of difference will
speedily be removed.

Our relations with the Barbary Powers continue, as they have long been,
of the most favorable character. The policy of keeping an adequate force
in the Mediterranean, as security for the continuance of this
tranquillity, will be persevered in, as well as a similar one for the
protection of our commerce and fisheries in the Pacific.

The southern Republics of our own hemisphere have not yet realized all
the advantages for which they have been so long struggling. We trust,
however, that the day is not distant when the restoration of peace and
internal quiet, under permanent systems of government, securing the
liberty and promoting the happiness of the citizens, will crown with
complete success their long and arduous efforts in the cause of
self-government, and enable us to salute them as friendly rivals in all
that is truly great and glorious.

The recent invasion of Mexico, and the effect thereby produced upon her
domestic policy, must have a controlling influence upon the great
question of South American emancipation. We have seen the fell spirit of
civil dissension rebuked, and perhaps forever stifled, in that Republic
by the love of independence. If it be true, as appearances strongly
indicate, that the spirit of independence is the master spirit, and if a
corresponding sentiment prevails in the other States, this devotion to
liberty can not be without a proper effect upon the counsels of the
mother country. The adoption by Spain of a pacific policy toward her
former colonies--an event consoling to humanity, and a blessing to the
world, in which she herself can not fail largely to participate--may be
most reasonably expected.

The claims of our citizens upon the South American Governments generally
are in a train of settlement, while the principal part of those upon
Brazil have been adjusted, and a decree in council ordering bonds to be
issued by the minister of the treasury for their amount has received the
sanction of His Imperial Majesty. This event, together with the exchange
of the ratifications of the treaty negotiated and concluded in 1828,
happily terminates all serious causes of difference with that power.

Measures have been taken to place our commercial relations with Peru
upon a better footing than that upon which they have hitherto rested,
and if met by a proper disposition on the part of that Government
important benefits may be secured to both countries.

Deeply interested as we are in the prosperity of our sister Republics,
and more particularly in that of our immediate neighbor, it would be
most gratifying to me were I permitted to say that the treatment which
we have received at her hands has been as universally friendly as the
early and constant solicitude manifested by the United States for her
success gave us a right to expect. But it becomes my duty to inform you
that prejudices long indulged by a portion of the inhabitants of Mexico
against the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the
United States have had an unfortunate influence upon the affairs of the
two countries, and have diminished that usefulness to his own which was
justly to be expected from his talents and zeal. To this cause, in a
great degree, is to be imputed the failure of several measures equally
interesting to both parties, but particularly that of the Mexican
Government to ratify a treaty negotiated and concluded in its own
capital and under its own eye. Under these circumstances it appeared
expedient to give to Mr. Poinsett the option either to return or not, as
in his judgment the interest of his country might require, and
instructions to that end were prepared; but before they could be
dispatched a communication was received from the Government of Mexico,
through its chargé d'affaires here, requesting the recall of our
minister. This was promptly complied with, and a representative of a
rank corresponding with that of the Mexican diplomatic agent near this
Government was appointed. Our conduct toward that Republic has been
uniformly of the most friendly character, and having thus removed the
only alleged obstacle to harmonious intercourse, I can not but hope that
an advantageous change will occur in our affairs.

In justice to Mr. Poinsett it is proper to say that my immediate
compliance with the application for his recall and the appointment of a
successor are not to be ascribed to any evidence that the imputation of
an improper interference by him in the local politics of Mexico was well
founded, nor to a want of confidence in his talents or integrity, and to
add that the truth of that charge has never been affirmed by the federal
Government of Mexico in its communications with this.

I consider it one of the most urgent of my duties to bring to your
attention the propriety of amending that part of our Constitution which
relates to the election of President and Vice-President. Our system of
government was by its framers deemed an experiment, and they therefore
consistently provided a mode of remedying its defects.

To the people belongs the right of electing their Chief Magistrate; it
was never designed that their choice should in any case be defeated,
either by the intervention of electoral colleges or by the agency
confided, under certain contingencies, to the House of Representatives.
Experience proves that in proportion as agents to execute the will of
the people are multiplied there is danger of their wishes being
frustrated. Some may be unfaithful; all are liable to err. So far,
therefore, as the people can with convenience speak, it is safer for
them to express their own will.

The number of aspirants to the Presidency and the diversity of the
interests which may influence their claims leave little reason to expect
a choice in the first instance, and in that event the election must
devolve on the House of Representatives, where it is obvious the will of
the people may not be always ascertained, or, if ascertained, may not be
regarded. From the mode of voting by States the choice is to be made by
24 votes, and it may often occur that one of these will be controlled by
an individual Representative. Honors and offices are at the disposal of
the successful candidate. Repeated ballotings may make it apparent that
a single individual holds the cast in his hand. May he not be tempted to
name his reward? But even without corruption, supposing the probity of
the Representative to be proof against the powerful motives by which it
may be assailed, the will of the people is still constantly liable to be
misrepresented. One may err from ignorance of the wishes of his
constituents; another from a conviction that it is his duty to be
governed by his own judgment of the fitness of the candidates; finally,
although all were inflexibly honest, all accurately informed of the
wishes of their constituents, yet under the present mode of election a
minority may often elect a President, and when this happens it may
reasonably be expected that efforts will be made on the part of the
majority to rectify this injurious operation of their institutions. But
although no evil of this character should result from such a perversion
of the first principle of our system--_that the majority is to
govern_--it must be very certain that a President elected by a minority
can not enjoy the confidence necessary to the successful discharge of
his duties.

In this as in all other matters of public concern policy requires that
as few impediments as possible should exist to the free operation of the
public will. Let us, then, endeavor so to amend our system that the
office of Chief Magistrate may not be conferred upon any citizen but in
pursuance of a fair expression of the will of the majority.

I would therefore recommend such an amendment of the Constitution as may
remove all intermediate agency in the election of the President and
Vice-President. The mode may be so regulated as to preserve to each
State its present relative weight in the election, and a failure in the
first attempt may be provided for by confining the second to a choice
between the two highest candidates. In connection with such an amendment
it would seem advisable to limit the service of the Chief Magistrate to
a single term of either four or six years. If, however, it should not be
adopted, it is worthy of consideration whether a provision disqualifying
for office the Representatives in Congress on whom such an election may
have devolved would not be proper.

While members of Congress can be constitutionally appointed to offices
of trust and profit it will be the practice, even under the most
conscientious adherence to duty, to select them for such stations as
they are believed to be better qualified to fill than other citizens;
but the purity of our Government would doubtless be promoted by their
exclusion from all appointments in the gift of the President, in whose
election they may have been officially concerned. The nature of the
judicial office and the necessity of securing in the Cabinet and in
diplomatic stations of the highest rank the best talents and political
experience should, perhaps, except these from the exclusion.

There are, perhaps, few men who can for any great length of time enjoy
office and power without being more or less under the influence of
feelings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of their public duties.
Their integrity may be proof against improper considerations immediately
addressed to themselves, but they are apt to acquire a habit of looking
with indifference upon the public interests and of tolerating conduct
from which an unpracticed man would revolt. Office is considered as a
species of property, and government rather as a means of promoting
individual interests than as an instrument created solely for the
service of the people. Corruption in some and in others a perversion of
correct feelings and principles divert government from its legitimate
ends and make it an engine for the support of the few at the expense of
the many. The duties of all public officers are, or at least admit of
being made, so plain and simple that men of intelligence may readily
qualify themselves for their performance; and I can not but believe that
more is lost by the long continuance of men in office than is generally
to be gained by their experience. I submit, therefore, to your
consideration whether the efficiency of the Government would not be
promoted and official industry and integrity better secured by a general
extension of the law which limits appointments to four years.

In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the
people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than
another. Offices were not established to give support to particular men
at the public expense. No individual wrong is, therefore, done by
removal, since neither appointment to nor continuance in office is
matter of right. The incumbent became an officer with a view to public
benefits, and when these require his removal they are not to be
sacrificed to private interests. It is the people, and they alone, who
have a right to complain when a bad officer is substituted for a good
one. He who is removed has the same means of obtaining a living that are
enjoyed by the millions who never held office. The proposed limitation
would destroy the idea of property now so generally connected with
official station, and although individual distress may be sometimes
produced, it would, by promoting that rotation which constitutes a
leading principle in the republican creed, give healthful action to the
system.

No very considerable change has occurred during the recess of Congress
in the condition of either our agriculture, commerce, or manufactures.
The operation of the tariff has not proved so injurious to the two
former or as beneficial to the latter as was anticipated. Importations
of foreign goods have not been sensibly diminished, while domestic
competition, under an illusive excitement, has increased the production
much beyond the demand for home consumption. The consequences have been
low prices, temporary embarrassment, and partial loss. That such of our
manufacturing establishments as are based upon capital and are prudently
managed will survive the shock and be ultimately profitable there is no
good reason to doubt.

To regulate its conduct so as to promote equally the prosperity of these
three cardinal interests is one of the most difficult tasks of
Government; and it may be regretted that the complicated restrictions
which now embarrass the intercourse of nations could not by common
consent be abolished, and commerce allowed to flow in those channels to
which individual enterprise, always its surest guide, might direct it.
But we must ever expect selfish legislation in other nations, and are
therefore compelled to adapt our own to their regulations in the manner
best calculated to avoid serious injury and to harmonize the conflicting
interests of our agriculture, our commerce, and our manufactures. Under
these impressions I invite your attention to the existing tariff,
believing that some of its provisions require modification.

The general rule to be applied in graduating the duties upon articles of
foreign growth or manufacture is that which will place our own in fair
competition with those of other countries; and the inducements to
advance even a step beyond this point are controlling in regard to those
articles which are of primary necessity in time of war. When we reflect
upon the difficulty and delicacy of this operation, it is important that
it should never be attempted but with the utmost caution. Frequent
legislation in regard to any branch of industry, affecting its value,
and by which its capital may be transferred to new channels, must always
be productive of hazardous speculation and loss.

In deliberating, therefore, on these interesting subjects local feelings
and prejudices should be merged in the patriotic determination to
promote the great interests of the whole. All attempts to connect them
with the party conflicts of the day are necessarily injurious, and
should be discountenanced. Our action upon them should be under the
control of higher and purer motives. Legislation subjected to such
influences can never be just, and will not long retain the sanction of a
people whose active patriotism is not bounded by sectional limits nor
insensible to that spirit of concession and forbearance which gave life
to our political compact and still sustains it. Discarding all
calculations of political ascendency, the North, the South, the East,
and the West should unite in diminishing any burthen of which either may
justly complain.

The agricultural interest of our country is so essentially connected
with every other and so superior in importance to them all that it is
scarcely necessary to invite to it your particular attention. It is
principally as manufactures and commerce tend to increase the value of
agricultural productions and to extend their application to the wants
and comforts of society that they deserve the fostering care of
Government.

Looking forward to the period, not far distant, when a sinking fund will
no longer be required, the duties on those articles of importation which
can not come in competition with our own productions are the first that
should engage the attention of Congress in the modification of the
tariff. Of these, tea and coffee are the most prominent. They enter
largely into the consumption of the country, and have become articles of
necessity to all classes. A reduction, therefore, of the existing duties
will be felt as a common benefit, but like all other legislation
connected with commerce, to be efficacious and not injurious it should
be gradual and certain.

The public prosperity is evinced in the increased revenue arising from
the sales of the public lands and in the steady maintenance of that
produced by imposts and tonnage, notwithstanding the additional duties
imposed by the act of 19th May, 1828, and the unusual importations in
the early part of that year.

The balance in the Treasury on January 1, 1829, was $5,972,435.81. The
receipts of the current year are estimated at $24,602,230 and the
expenditures for the same time at $26,164,595, leaving a balance in the
Treasury on the 1st of January next of $4,410,070.81.

There will have been paid on account of the public debt during the
present year the sum of $12,405,005.80, reducing the whole debt of the
Government on the 1st of January next to $48,565,406.50, including seven
millions of 5 per cent stock subscribed to the Bank of the United
States. The payment on account of public debt made on the 1st of July
last was $8,715,462.87. It was apprehended that the sudden withdrawal of
so large a sum from the banks in which it was deposited, at a time of
unusual pressure in the money market, might cause much injury to the
interests dependent on bank accommodations. But this evil was wholly
averted by an early anticipation of it at the Treasury, aided by the
judicious arrangements of the officers of the Bank of the United States.

This state of the finances exhibits the resources of the nation in an
aspect highly flattering to its industry and auspicious of the ability
of Government in a very short time to extinguish the public debt. When
this shall be done our population will be relieved from a considerable
portion of its present burthens, and will find not only new motives to
patriotic affection, but additional means for the display of individual
enterprise. The fiscal power of the States will also be increased, and
may be more extensively exerted in favor of education and other public
objects, while ample means will remain in the Federal Government to
promote the general weal in all the modes permitted to its authority.

After the extinction of the public debt it is not probable that any
adjustment of the tariff upon principles satisfactory to the people of
the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave the Government
without a considerable surplus in the Treasury beyond what may be
required for its current service. As, then, the period approaches when
the application of the revenue to the payment of debt will cease, the
disposition of the surplus will present a subject for the serious
deliberation of Congress; and it may be fortunate for the country that
it is yet to be decided. Considered in connection with the difficulties
which have heretofore attended appropriations for purposes of internal
improvement, and with those which this experience tells us will
certainly arise whenever power over such subjects may be exercised by
the General Government, it is hoped that it may lead to the adoption of
some plan which will reconcile the diversified interests of the States
and strengthen the bonds which unite them. Every member of the Union, in
peace and in war, will be benefited by the improvement of inland
navigation and the construction of highways in the several States. Let
us, then, endeavor to attain this benefit in a mode which will be
satisfactory to all. That hitherto adopted has by many of our
fellow-citizens been deprecated as an infraction of the Constitution,
while by others it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has
been employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils.

To avoid these evils it appears to me that the most safe, just, and
federal disposition which could be made of the surplus revenue would be
its apportionment among the several States according to their ratio of
representation, and should this measure not be found warranted by the
Constitution that it would be expedient to propose to the States an
amendment authorizing it. I regard an appeal to the source of power in
cases of real doubt, and where its exercise is deemed indispensable to
the general welfare, as among the most sacred of all our obligations.
Upon this country more than any other has, in the providence of God,
been cast the special guardianship of the great principle of adherence
to written constitutions. If it fail here, all hope in regard to it will
be extinguished. That this was intended to be a government of limited
and specific, and not general, powers must be admitted by all, and it is
our duty to preserve for it the character intended by its framers. If
experience points out the necessity for an enlargement of these powers,
let us apply for it to those for whose benefit it is to be exercised,
and not undermine the whole system by a resort to overstrained
constructions. The scheme has worked well. It has exceeded the hopes of
those who devised it, and become an object of admiration to the world.
We are responsible to our country and to the glorious cause of
self-government for the preservation of so great a good. The great mass
of legislation relating to our internal affairs was intended to be left
where the Federal Convention found it--in the State governments. Nothing
is clearer, in my view, than that we are chiefly indebted for the
success of the Constitution under which we are now acting to the
watchful and auxiliary operation of the State authorities. This is not
the reflection of a day, but belongs to the most deeply rooted
convictions of my mind. I can not, therefore, too strongly or too
earnestly, for my own sense of its importance, warn you against all
encroachments upon the legitimate sphere of State sovereignty. Sustained
by its healthful and invigorating influence the federal system can never
fall.

In the collection of the revenue the long credits authorized on goods
imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope are the chief cause of the
losses at present sustained. If these were shortened to six, nine, and
twelve months, and warehouses provided by Government sufficient to
receive the goods offered in deposit for security and for debenture, and
if the right of the United States to a priority of payment out of the
estates of its insolvent debtors were more effectually secured, this
evil would in a great measure be obviated. An authority to construct
such houses is therefore, with the proposed alteration of the credits,
recommended to your attention.

It is worthy of notice that the laws for the collection and security of
the revenue arising from imposts were chiefly framed when the rates of
duties on imported goods presented much less temptation for illicit
trade than at present exists. There is reason to believe that these laws
are in some respects quite insufficient for the proper security of the
revenue and the protection of the interests of those who are disposed to
observe them. The injurious and demoralizing tendency of a successful
system of smuggling is so obvious as not to require comment, and can not
be too carefully guarded against. I therefore suggest to Congress the
propriety of adopting efficient measures to prevent this evil, avoiding,
however, as much as possible, every unnecessary infringement of
individual liberty and embarrassment of fair and lawful business.

On an examination of the records of the Treasury I have been forcibly
struck with the large amount of public money which appears to be
outstanding. Of the sum thus due from individuals to the Government a
considerable portion is undoubtedly desperate, and in many instances has
probably been rendered so by remissness in the agents charged with its
collection. By proper exertions a great part, however, may yet be
recovered; and whatever may be the portions respectively belonging to
these two classes, it behooves the Government to ascertain the real
state of the fact. This can be done only by the prompt adoption of
judicious measures for the collection of such as may be made available.
It is believed that a very large amount has been lost through the
inadequacy of the means provided for the collection of debts due to the
public, and that this inadequacy lies chiefly in the want of legal skill
habitually and constantly employed in the direction of the agents
engaged in the service. It must, I think, be admitted that the
supervisory power over suits brought by the public, which is now vested
in an _accounting_ officer of the Treasury, not selected with a view to
his legal knowledge, and encumbered as he is with numerous other duties,
operates unfavorably to the public interest.

It is important that this branch of the public service should be
subjected to the supervision of such professional skill as will give it
efficiency. The expense attendant upon such a modification of the
executive department would be justified by the soundest principles of
economy. I would recommend, therefore, that the duties now assigned to
the agent of the Treasury, so far as they relate to the superintendence
and management of legal proceedings on the part of the United States, be
transferred to the Attorney-General, and that this officer be placed on
the same footing in all respects as the heads of the other Departments,
receiving like compensation and having such subordinate officers
provided for his Department as may be requisite for the discharge of
these additional duties.

The professional skill of the Attorney-General, employed in directing
the conduct of marshals and district attorneys, would hasten the
collection of debts now in suit and hereafter save much to the
Government. It might be further extended to the superintendence of all
criminal proceedings for offenses against the United States. In making
this transfer great care should be taken, however, that the power
necessary to the Treasury Department be not impaired, one of its
greatest securities consisting in a control over all accounts until they
are audited or reported for suit.

In connection with the foregoing views I would suggest also an inquiry
whether the provisions of the act of Congress authorizing the discharge
of the persons of debtors to the Government from imprisonment may not,
consistently with the public interest, be extended to the release of the
debt where the conduct of the debtor is wholly exempt from the
imputation of fraud. Some more liberal policy than that which now
prevails in reference to this unfortunate class of citizens is certainly
due to them, and would prove beneficial to the country. The continuance
of the liability after the means to discharge it have been exhausted can
only serve to dispirit the debtor; or, where his resources are but
partial, the want of power in the Government to compromise and release
the demand instigates to fraud as the only resource for securing a
support to his family. He thus sinks into a state of apathy, and becomes
a useless drone in society or a vicious member of it, if not a feeling
witness of the rigor and inhumanity of his country. All experience
proves that oppressive debt is the bane of enterprise, and it should be
the care of a republic not to exert a grinding power over misfortune and
poverty.

Since the last session of Congress numerous frauds on the Treasury have
been discovered, which I thought it my duty to bring under the
cognizance of the United States court for this district by a criminal
prosecution. It was my opinion and that of able counsel who were
consulted that the cases came within the penalties of the act of the
Seventeenth Congress approved 3d March, 1823, providing for the
punishment of frauds committed on the Government of the United States.
Either from some defect in the law or in its administration every
effort, to bring the accused to trial under its provisions proved
ineffectual, and the Government was driven to the necessity of resorting
to the vague and inadequate provisions of the common law. It is
therefore my duty to call your attention to the laws which have been
passed for the protection of the Treasury. If, indeed, there be no
provision by which those who may be unworthily intrusted with its
guardianship can be punished for the most flagrant violation of duty,
extending even to the most fraudulent appropriation of the public funds
to their own use, it is time to remedy so dangerous an omission; or if
the law has been perverted from its original purposes, and criminals
deserving to be punished under its provisions have been rescued by legal
subtleties, it ought to be made so plain by amendatory provisions as to
baffle the arts of perversion and accomplish the ends of its original
enactment.

In one of the most flagrant cases the court decided that the prosecution
was barred by the statute which limits prosecutions for fraud to two
years. In this case all the evidences of the fraud, and, indeed, all
knowledge that a fraud had been committed, were in possession of the
party accused until after the two years had elapsed. Surely the statute
ought not to run in favor of any man while he retains all the evidences
of his crime in his own possession, and least of all in favor of a
public officer who continues to defraud the Treasury and conceal the
transaction for the brief term of two years. I would therefore recommend
such an alteration of the law as will give the injured party and the
Government two years after the disclosure of the fraud or after the
accused is out of office to commence their prosecution.

In connection with this subject I invite the attention of Congress to a
general and minute inquiry into the condition of the Government, with a
view to ascertain what offices can be dispensed with, what expenses
retrenched, and what improvements may be made in the organization of its
various parts to secure the proper responsibility of public agents and
promote efficiency and justice in all its operations.

The report of the Secretary of War will make you acquainted with the
condition of our Army, fortifications, arsenals, and Indian affairs. The
proper discipline of the Army, the training and equipment of the
militia, the education bestowed at West Point, and the accumulation of
the means of defense applicable to the naval force will tend to prolong
the peace we now enjoy, and which every good citizen, more especially
those who have felt the miseries of even a successful warfare, must
ardently desire to perpetuate.

The returns from the subordinate branches of this service exhibit a
regularity and order highly creditable to its character. Both officers
and soldiers seem imbued with a proper sense of duty, and conform to the
restraints of exact discipline with that cheerfulness which becomes the
profession of arms. There is need, however, of further legislation to
obviate the inconveniences specified in the report under consideration,
to some of which it is proper that I should call your particular
attention.

The act of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the
military establishment, remaining unexecuted as it regards the command
of one of the regiments of artillery, can not now be deemed a guide to
the Executive in making the proper appointment. An explanatory act,
designating the class of officers out of which this grade is to be
filled--whether from the military list as existing prior to the act of
1821 or from it as it has been fixed by that act--would remove this
difficulty. It is also important that the laws regulating the pay and
emoluments of officers generally should be more specific than they now
are. Those, for example, in relation to the Paymaster and Surgeon
General assign to them an annual salary of $2,500, but are silent as to
allowances which in certain exigencies of the service may be deemed
indispensable to the discharge of their duties. This circumstance has
been the authority for extending to them various allowances at different
times under former Administrations, but no uniform rule has been
observed on the subject. Similar inconveniences exist in other cases, in
which the construction put upon the laws by the public accountants may
operate unequally, produce confusion, and expose officers to the odium
of claiming what is not their due.

I recommend to your fostering care, as one of our safest means of
national defense, the Military Academy. This institution has already
exercised the happiest influence upon the moral and intellectual
character of our Army; and such of the graduates as from various causes
may not pursue the profession of arms will be scarcely less useful as
citizens. Their knowledge of the military art will be advantageously
employed in the militia service, and in a measure secure to that class
of troops the advantages which in this respect belong to standing
armies.

I would also suggest a review of the pension law, for the purpose of
extending its benefits to every Revolutionary soldier who aided in
establishing our liberties, and who is unable to maintain himself in
comfort. These relics of the War of Independence have strong claims upon
their country's gratitude and bounty. The law is defective in not
embracing within its provisions all those who were during the last war
disabled from supporting themselves by manual labor. Such an amendment
would add but little to the amount of pensions, and is called for by the
sympathies of the people as well as by considerations of sound policy.
It will be perceived that a large addition to the list of pensioners has
been occasioned by an order of the late Administration, departing
materially from the rules which had previously prevailed. Considering it
an act of legislation, I suspended its operation as soon as I was
informed that it had commenced. Before this period, however,
applications under the new regulation had been preferred to the number
of 154, of which, on the 27th March, the date of its revocation, 87 were
admitted. For the amount there was neither estimate nor appropriation;
and besides this deficiency, the regular allowances, according to the
rules which have heretofore governed the Department, exceed the estimate
of its late Secretary by about $50,000, for which an appropriation is
asked.

Your particular attention is requested to that part of the report of the
Secretary of War which relates to the money held in trust for the Seneca
tribe of Indians. It will be perceived that without legislative aid the
Executive can not obviate the embarrassments occasioned by the
diminution of the dividends on that fund, which originally amounted to
$100,000, and has recently been invested in United States 3 per cent
stock.

The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within the
limits of some of our States have become objects of much interest and
importance. It has long been the policy of Government to introduce among
them the arts of civilization, in the hope of gradually reclaiming them
from a wandering life. This policy has, however, been coupled with
another wholly incompatible with its success. Professing a desire to
civilize and settle them, we have at the same time lost no opportunity
to purchase their lands and thrust them farther into the wilderness. By
this means they have not only been kept in a wandering state, but been
led to look upon us as unjust and indifferent to their fate. Thus,
though lavish in its expenditures upon the subject, Government has
constantly defeated its own policy, and the Indians in general, receding
farther and farther to the west, have retained their savage habits. A
portion, however, of the Southern tribes, having mingled much with the
whites and made some progress in the arts of civilized life, have lately
attempted to erect an independent government within the limits of
Georgia and Alabama. These States, claiming to be the only sovereigns
within their territories, extended their laws over the Indians, which
induced the latter to call upon the United States for protection.

Under these circumstances the question presented was whether the General
Government had a right to sustain those people in their pretensions. The
Constitution declares that "no new State shall be formed or erected
within the jurisdiction of any other State" without the consent of its
legislature. If the General Government is not permitted to tolerate the
erection of a confederate State within the territory of one of the
members of this Union against her consent, much less could it allow a
foreign and independent government to establish itself there. Georgia
became a member of the Confederacy which eventuated in our Federal Union
as a sovereign State, always asserting her claim to certain limits,
which, having been originally defined in her colonial charter and
subsequently recognized in the treaty of peace, she has ever since
continued to enjoy, except as they have been circumscribed by her own
voluntary transfer of a portion of her territory to the United States in
the articles of cession of 1802. Alabama was admitted into the Union on
the same footing with the original States, with boundaries which were
prescribed by Congress. There is no constitutional, conventional, or
legal provision which allows them less power over the Indians within
their borders than is possessed by Maine or New York. Would the people
of Maine permit the Penobscot tribe to erect an independent government
within their State? And unless they did would it not be the duty of the
General Government to support them in resisting such a measure? Would
the people of New York permit each remnant of the Six Nations within her
borders to declare itself an independent people under the protection of
the United States? Could the Indians establish a separate republic on
each of their reservations in Ohio? And if they were so disposed would
it be the duty of this Government to protect them in the attempt? If the
principle involved in the obvious answer to these questions be
abandoned, it will follow that the objects of this Government are
reversed, and that it has become a part of its duty to aid in destroying
the States which it was established to protect.

Actuated by this view of the subject, I informed the Indians inhabiting
parts of Georgia and Alabama that their attempt to establish an
independent government would not be countenanced by the Executive of the
United States, and advised them to emigrate beyond the Mississippi or
submit to the laws of those States.

Our conduct toward these people is deeply interesting to our national
character. Their present condition, contrasted with what they once were,
makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies. Our ancestors found them
the uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions. By persuasion and
force they have been made to retire from river to river and from
mountain to mountain, until some of the tribes have become extinct and
others have left but remnants to preserve for awhile their once terrible
names. Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which
by destroying the resources of the savage doom him to weakness and
decay, the fate of the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is
fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate
surely awaits them if they remain within the limits of the States does
not admit of a doubt. Humanity and national honor demand that every
effort should be made to avert so great a calamity. It is too late to
inquire whether it was just in the United States to include them and
their territory within the bounds of new States, whose limits they could
control. That step can not be retraced. A State can not be dismembered
by Congress or restricted in the exercise of her constitutional power.
But the people of those States and of every State, actuated by feelings
of justice and a regard for our national honor, submit to you the
interesting question whether something can not be done, consistently
with the rights of the States, to preserve this much-injured race.

As a means of effecting this end I suggest for your consideration the
propriety of setting apart an ample district west of the Mississippi,
and without the limits of any State or Territory now formed, to be
guaranteed to the Indian tribes as long as they shall occupy it, each
tribe having a distinct control over the portion designated for its use.
There they may be secured in the enjoyment of governments of their own
choice, subject to no other control from the United States than such as
may be necessary to preserve peace on the frontier and between the
several tribes. There the benevolent may endeavor to teach them the arts
of civilization, and, by promoting union and harmony among them, to
raise up an interesting commonwealth, destined to perpetuate the race
and to attest the humanity and justice of this Government.

This emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as unjust
to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers and seek
a home in a distant land. But they should be distinctly informed that if
they remain within the limits of the States they must be subject to
their laws. In return for their obedience as individuals they will
without doubt be protected in the enjoyment of those possessions which
they have improved by their industry. But it seems to me visionary to
suppose that in this state of things claims can be allowed on tracts of
country on which they have neither dwelt nor made improvements, merely
because they have seen them from the mountain or passed them in the
chase. Submitting to the laws of the States, and receiving, like other
citizens, protection in their persons and property, they will ere long
become merged in the mass of our population.

The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy will make you
acquainted with the condition and useful employment of that branch of
our service during the present year. Constituting as it does the best
standing security of this country against foreign aggression, it claims
the especial attention of Government. In this spirit the measures which
since the termination of the last war have been in operation for its
gradual enlargement were adopted, and it should continue to be cherished
as the offspring of our national experience. It will be seen, however,
that notwithstanding the great solicitude which has been manifested for
the perfect organization of this arm and the liberality of the
appropriations which that solicitude has suggested, this object has in
many important respects not been secured.

In time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite
to the protection of our commerce. Those not wanted for this object must
lay in the harbors, where without proper covering they rapidly decay,
and even under the best precautions for their preservation must soon
become useless. Such is already the case with many of our finest
vessels, which, though unfinished, will now require immense sums of
money to be restored to the condition in which they were when committed
to their proper element. On this subject there can be but little doubt
that our best policy would be to discontinue the building of ships of
the first and second class, and look rather to the possession of ample
materials, prepared for the emergencies of war, than to the number of
vessels which we can float in a season of peace, as the index of our
naval power. Judicious deposits in navy-yards of timber and other
materials, fashioned under the hands of skillful workmen and fitted for
prompt application to their various purposes, would enable us at all
times to construct vessels as fast as they can be manned, and save the
heavy expense of repairs, except to such vessels as must be employed in
guarding our commerce. The proper points for the establishment of these
yards are indicated with so much force in the report of the Navy Board
that in recommending it to your attention I deem it unnecessary to do
more than express my hearty concurrence in their views. The yard in this
District, being already furnished with most of the machinery necessary
for shipbuilding, will be competent to the supply of the two selected by
the Board as the best for the concentration of materials, and, from the
facility and certainty of communication between them, it will be useless
to incur at those depots the expense of similar machinery, especially
that used in preparing the usual metallic and wooden furniture of
vessels.

Another improvement would be effected by dispensing altogether with the
Navy Board as now constituted, and substituting in its stead bureaus
similar to those already existing in the War Department. Each member of
the Board, transferred to the head of a separate bureau charged with
specific duties, would feel in its highest degree that wholesome
responsibility which can not be divided without a far more than
proportionate diminution of its force. Their valuable services would
become still more so when separately appropriated to distinct portions
of the great interests of the Navy, to the prosperity of which each
would be impelled to devote himself by the strongest motives. Under such
an arrangement every branch of this important service would assume a
more simple and precise character, its efficiency would be increased,
and scrupulous economy in the expenditure of public money promoted.

I would also recommend that the Marine Corps be merged in the artillery
or infantry, as the best mode of curing the many defects in its
organization. But little exceeding in number any of the regiments of
infantry, that corps has, besides its lieutenant-colonel commandant,
five brevet lieutenant-colonels, who receive the full pay and emoluments
of their brevet rank, without rendering proportionate service. Details
for marine service could as well be made from the artillery or infantry,
there being no peculiar training requisite for it.

With these improvements, and such others as zealous watchfulness and
mature consideration may suggest, there can be little doubt that under
an energetic administration of its affairs the Navy may soon be made
everything that the nation wishes it to be. Its efficiency in the
suppression of piracy in the West India seas, and wherever its squadrons
have been employed in securing the interests of the country, will appear
from the report of the Secretary, to which I refer you for other
interesting details. Among these I would bespeak the attention of
Congress for the views presented in relation to the inequality between
the Army and Navy as to the pay of officers. No such inequality should
prevail between these brave defenders of their country, and where it
does exist it is submitted to Congress whether it ought not to be
rectified.

The report of the Postmaster General is referred to as exhibiting a
highly satisfactory administration of that Department. Abuses have been
reformed, increased expedition in the transportation of the mail
secured, and its revenue much improved. In a political point of view
this Department is chiefly important as affording the means of diffusing
knowledge. It is to the body politic what the veins and arteries are to
the natural--conveying rapidly and regularly to the remotest parts of
the system correct information of the operations of the Government, and
bringing back to it the wishes and feelings of the people. Through its
agency we have secured to ourselves the full enjoyment of the blessings
of a free press.

In this general survey of our affairs a subject of high importance
presents itself in the present organization of the judiciary. An uniform
operation of the Federal Government in the different States is certainly
desirable, and existing as they do in the Union on the basis of perfect
equality, each State has a right to expect that the benefits conferred
on the citizens of others should be extended to hers. The judicial
system of the United States exists in all its efficiency in only fifteen
members of the Union; to three others the circuit courts, which
constitute an important part of that system, have been imperfectly
extended, and to the remaining six altogether denied. The effect has
been to withhold from the inhabitants of the latter the advantages
afforded (by the Supreme Court) to their fellow-citizens in other States
in the whole extent of the criminal and much of the civil authority of
the Federal judiciary. That this state of things ought to be remedied,
if it can be done consistently with the public welfare, is not to be
doubted. Neither is it to be disguised that the organization of our
judicial system is at once a difficult and delicate task. To extend the
circuit courts equally throughout the different parts of the Union, and
at the same time to avoid such a multiplication of members as would
encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, is the object desired. Perhaps
it might be accomplished by dividing the circuit judges into two
classes, and providing that the Supreme Court should be held by these
classes alternately, the Chief Justice always presiding.

If an extension of the circuit-court system to those States which do not
now enjoy its benefits should be determined upon, it would of course be
necessary to revise the present arrangement of the circuits; and even if
that system should not be enlarged, such a revision is recommended.

A provision for taking the census of the people of the United States
will, to insure the completion of that work within a convenient time,
claim the early attention of Congress.

The great and constant increase of business in the Department of State
forced itself at an early period upon the attention of the Executive.
Thirteen years ago it was, in Mr. Madison's last message to Congress,
made the subject of an earnest recommendation, which has been repeated
by both of his successors; and my comparatively limited experience has
satisfied me of its justness. It has arisen from many causes, not the
least of which is the large addition that has been made to the family of
independent nations and the proportionate extension of our foreign
relations. The remedy proposed was the establishment of a home
department--a measure which does not appear to have met the views of
Congress on account of its supposed tendency to increase, gradually and
imperceptibly, the already too strong bias of the federal system toward
the exercise of authority not delegated to it. I am not, therefore,
disposed to revive the recommendation, but am not the less impressed
with the importance of so organizing that Department that its Secretary
may devote more of his time to our foreign relations. Clearly satisfied
that the public good would be promoted by some suitable provision on the
subject, I respectfully invite your attention to it.

The charter of the Bank of the United States expires in 1836, and its
stockholders will most probably apply for a renewal of their privileges.
In order to avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy in a measure
involving such important principles and such deep pecuniary interests, I
feel that I can not, in justice to the parties interested, too soon
present it to the deliberate consideration of the Legislature and the
people. Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the law
creating this bank are well questioned by a large portion of our
fellow-citizens, and it must be admitted by all that it has failed in
the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency.

Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed essential to
the fiscal operations of the Government, I submit to the wisdom of the
Legislature whether a national one, founded upon the credit of the
Government and its revenues, might not be devised which would avoid all
constitutional difficulties and at the same time secure all the
advantages to the Government and country that were expected to result
from the present bank.

I can not close this communication without bringing to your view the
just claim of the representatives of Commodore Decatur, his officers and
crew, arising from the recapture of the frigate _Philadelphia_ under the
heavy batteries of Tripoli. Although sensible, as a general rule, of the
impropriety of Executive interference under a Government like ours,
where every individual enjoys the right of directly petitioning
Congress, yet, viewing this case as one of very peculiar character, I
deem it my duty to recommend it to your favorable consideration. Besides
the justice of this claim, as corresponding to those which have been
since recognized and satisfied, it is the fruit of a deed of patriotic
and chivalrous daring which infused life and confidence into our infant
Navy and contributed as much as any exploit in its history to elevate
our national character. Public gratitude, therefore, stamps her seal
upon it, and the meed should not be withheld which may hereafter operate
as a stimulus to our gallant tars.

I now commend you, fellow-citizens, to the guidance of Almighty God,
with a full reliance on His merciful providence for the maintenance of
our free institutions, and with an earnest supplication that whatever
errors it may be my lot to commit in discharging the arduous duties
which have devolved on me will find a remedy in the harmony and wisdom
of your counsels.

ANDREW JACKSON.
December 8, 1829.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


_December 14, 1829_.
_The Vice-President of the United States and President of
the Senate_:

In pursuance of the resolution of the Senate of the 2d March, 1829,
requesting the President of the United States to communicate to it
"copies of the journal of the commissioners under the first article of
the treaty of Ghent for the months of October and November, 1817, or so
much thereof as in his opinion may be safely communicated, not including
the agreement or evidence offered by the agents," I have the honor
herewith to transmit a report from the Secretary of State, accompanying
the document referred to in said resolution.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 14, 1829_.
_The Vice-President of the United States and President of
the Senate_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
ratification of it, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the
United States of America and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria,
concluded and signed in this city on the 2d of August in the present
year.

ANDREW JACKSON


_December 15, 1829_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

A deputation from the Passamaquoddy Indians resident within the limits
of Maine have arrived in this city and presented a memorial soliciting
the aid of the Government in providing them the means of support.
Recollecting that this tribe when strong and numerous fought with us for
the liberty which we now enjoy, I could not refuse to present to the
consideration of Congress their supplication for a small portion of the
bark and timber of the country which once belonged to them.

It is represented that from individuals who own the lands adjoining the
present small possession of this tribe purchases can be made
sufficiently extensive to secure the objects of the memorial in this
respect, as will appear from the papers herewith transmitted. Should
Congress deem it proper to make them, it will be necessary to provide
for their being held in trust for the use of the tribe during its
existence as such.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 16, 1829_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith to the House of Representatives a
report of the Secretary of War, accompanying copies of surveys[3] made
in pursuance of the acts of Congress passed the 30th of April, 1824, and
the 2d of March, 1829, and to request that the House cause them to be
laid before the Senate, as there are no duplicates prepared.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 3: Of Deep Creek, Virginia; Pasquotank River, North Carolina;
entrance of the river Teche, Louisiana; passes at mouth of the
Mississippi, Louisiana; water tract between Lake Pontchartrain and
Mobile Bay; Des Moines and Rock River rapids in the Mississippi; with a
view to the location of a railroad from Charleston to Hamburg, S.C.]


_December 22, 1829_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit two treaties--one concluded with the Winnebago tribe
of Indians at Prairie du Chien on the 1st of August, 1829, and the other
with the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawattamie tribes at the same place on
the 29th of July, 1829--which, with the documents explanatory thereof,
are submitted to the Senate for consideration whether they will advise
and consent to their ratification.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 29, 1829_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a treaty concluded with the Delaware tribe of
Indians on the 3d of August, 1829, which, with the documents explanatory
thereof, is submitted to the consideration of the Senate for their
advice and consent as to the ratification of the same.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 30, 1829_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith to the House the report and estimate of the survey
made in pursuance of the act of the 30th April, 1824, in order to
ascertain the practicability of connecting the waters of the Altamaha
and Tennessee rivers by a canal and railroad, and request, as there is
no duplicate of the same prepared, that the House will cause it to be
laid before the Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 4, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have been requested by the legislature of South Carolina, as will
appear from the documents accompanying this communication, to submit to
the consideration of Congress certain claims against the United States
for advances made by that State during the last war. It is conceded that
the redress sought for can only be obtained through the interposition of
Congress. The only agency allowed to me is to present such facts in
relation to the subject as are in the possession of the Executive, in
order that the whole may be fairly considered.

This duty I perform with great pleasure, being well satisfied that no
inducement will be wanting to secure to the claims of a member of the
Confederacy that has under all circumstances shewn an ardent devotion to
the cause of the country the most ample justice.

By a reference to the Department of War for information as to the nature
and extent of these claims it appears that they consist of--

First. Interest upon moneys advanced for the United States which have
been heretofore reimbursed.

Second. Certain advances which on a settlement of accounts between South
Carolina and the United States were disallowed or suspended by the
accounting officers of the Treasury.

In regard to the former, the rule hitherto adopted by Congress has been
to allow to the States interest only where they had paid it on money
borrowed, and had applied it to the use of the United States. The case
of South Carolina does not come strictly within this rule, because
instead of borrowing, as she alleges, for the use of the United States,
upon interest, she applied to the use of the United States funds for
which she was actually receiving an interest; and she is understood to
insist that the loss of interest in both cases being equal, and the
relief afforded equally meritorious, the same principle of remuneration
should be applied.

Acting upon an enlightened sense of national justice and gratitude, it
is confidently believed that Congress will be as mindful of this claim
as it has been of others put forward by the States that in periods of
extreme peril generously contributed to the service of the Union and
enabled the General Government to discharge its obligations. The grounds
upon which certain portions of it have been suspended or rejected will
appear from the communications of the Secretary of War and Third Auditor
herewith submitted.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 4, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a supplement to the treaty made with the Delaware
tribe on the 3d of October, 1818, which, with the accompanying papers,
is submitted to the Senate for their advice and consent as to the
ratification of the same.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 5, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

The subject of the inclosed memorial[4] having been adjudicated by the
courts of the country, and decided against the memorialists, it is
respectfully laid before Congress, the only power now to which they can
appeal for relief.

ANDREW JACKSON

[Footnote 4: Of certain purchasers of land in Louisiana from the
Government of Spain.]


_January 5, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit herewith a report[5] from the Secretary of the Treasury, giving
the information called for by a resolution of the Senate of the 24th
December, 1828.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 5: Transmitting statements of moneys appropriated and lands
granted to the several States for purposes of education and construction
of roads and canals, etc., since the adoption of the Constitution.]


WASHINGTON, _January 14, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of three Indian treaties, which have been
duly ratified:

1. A treaty with the nation of Winnebago Indians, concluded on the 1st
of August, 1829, at Prairie du Chien, in the Territory of Michigan,
between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre Menard, and Caleb At-water,
esq., commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs
and warriors on the part of the nation of Winnebago Indians.

2. A treaty with the united nations of Chippewa, Ottowa, and
Pottawatomie Indians, concluded on the 29th of July, 1829, at Prairie du
Chien, between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre Menard, and Caleb
Atwater, esq., commissioners on the part of the United States, and
certain chiefs and warriors of the said united nations on the part of
said nations.

3. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and the
band of Delaware Indians upon the Sandusky River, in the State of Ohio,
entered into on the 3d of August, 1829, at Little Sandusky, in the State
of Ohio, by John McElvain, commissioner on the part of the United
States, and certain chiefs on the part of said band of Delaware Indians.

I transmit also the estimates of appropriation necessary to carry them
into effect.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 19, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: The accompanying gold medal, commemorative of the delivery of
the Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia from the daggers of
assassins on the night of the 25th of September last, has been offered
for my acceptance by that Government. The respect which I entertain as
well for the character of the Liberator President as for the people and
Government over which he presides renders this mark of their regard most
gratifying to my feelings; but I am prevented from complying with their
wishes by the provision of our Constitution forbidding the acceptance of
presents from a foreign state by officers of the United States, and it
is therefore placed at the disposal of Congress.

The powerful influence in the affairs of his country which the
sacrifices and heroic deeds of General Bolivar have acquired for him
creates an anxiety as to his future course in which the friends of
liberal institutions throughout the world deeply participate. The
favorable estimate which I have formed of the nature of the services
rendered by him, and of his personal character, impresses me with the
strongest confidence that his conduct in the present condition of his
country will be such as may best promote her true interest and best
secure his own permanent fame.

I deem the present a suitable occasion to inform you that shortly after
my communication to Congress at the opening of the session dispatches
were received from Mr. Moore, the envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary of the United States to Colombia, stating that he had
succeeded in obtaining the assent of the council of ministers to the
allowance of the claims of our citizens upon that Government in the
cases of the brig _Josephine_ and her cargo and the schooner _Ranger_
and part of her cargo. An official copy of the convention subsequently
entered into between Mr. Moore and the secretary of foreign affairs,
providing for the final settlement of those claims, has just been
received at the Department of State. By an additional article of this
convention the claim in the case of the brig _Morris_ is suspended until
further information is obtained by the Colombian Government from the
Court at Carracas; and Mr. Moore anticipates its early and satisfactory
adjustment. The convention only waited the ratification of the Liberator
President, who was at the time absent from Bogota, to be binding upon
the Colombian Government. Although these claims are not, comparatively,
of a large amount, yet the prompt and equitable manner in which the
application of Mr. Moore in behalf of our injured citizens was met by
that Government entitles its conduct to our approbation, and promises
well for the future relations of the two countries.

It gives me pleasure to add an expression of my entire satisfaction with
the conduct of Mr. Moore since his arrival at Bogota. The judgment and
discretion evinced by him on occasions of much interest and delicacy,
the assiduity displayed in bringing so nearly to a conclusion within
five weeks after his arrival claims which had been pending for years,
and the promptitude and capacity with which he has entered upon other
and more important portions of his official duty are calculated to
inspire strong confidence in his future usefulness.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 20, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives._

GENTLEMEN: I respectfully submit to your consideration the accompanying
communication from the Secretary or the Treasury, showing that according
to the terms of an agreement between the United States and the United
Society of Christian Indians the latter have a claim to an annuity of
$400, commencing from the 1st of October, 1826, for which an
appropriation by law for this amount, as long as they are entitled to
receive it, will be proper.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I submit to Congress a communication from the Secretary of State,
together with the report of the Superintendent of the Patent Office, to
which it refers, showing the present condition of that office and
suggesting the necessity of further legislative provisions in regard to
it, and I recommend the subjects it embraces to the particular attention
of Congress.

It will be seen that there is an unexplained deficiency in the accounts
which have been rendered at the Treasury of the fees received at the
office, amounting to $4,290, and that precautions have been provided to
guard against similar delinquencies in future. Congress will decide on
their sufficiency and whether any legislative aid is necessary upon this
branch of the subject referred to in the report.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 26, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I find it necessary to recommend to Congress a revision of the laws
relating to the direct and contingent expenses of our intercourse with
foreign nations, and particularly of the act of May 1, 1810, entitled
"An act fixing the compensation of public ministers and of consuls
residing on the coast of Barbary, and for other purposes."

A letter from the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury to the Secretary of
State, herewith transmitted, which notices the difficulties incident to
the settlement of the accounts of certain diplomatic agents of the
United States, serves to show the necessity of this revision. This
branch of the Government is incessantly called upon to sanction
allowances which not unfrequently appear to have just and equitable
foundations in usage, but which are believed to be incompatible with the
provisions of the act of 1810. The letter from the Fifth Auditor
contains a description of several claims of this character which are
submitted to Congress as the only tribunal competent to afford the
relief to which the parties consider themselves entitled.

Among the most prominent questions of this description are the
following:

_I. Claims for outfits by ministers and charges d'affaires duly
appointed by the President and Senate_.

The act of 1790, regulating the expenditures for foreign intercourse,
provided "that, exclusive of an outfit, which shall in no case exceed
one year's full salary to the minister plenipotentiary or chargé
d'affaires to whom the same may be allowed, the President shall not
allow to any minister plenipotentiary a greater sum than at the rate of
$9,000 per annum as a compensation for all his personal services and
other expenses, nor a greater sum for the same than $4,500 per annum to
a chargé d'affaires." By this provision the maximum of allowance only
was fixed, leaving the question as to any outfit, either in whole or in
part, to the discretion of the President, to be decided according to
circumstances. Under it a variety of cases occurred, in which outfits
having been given to diplomatic agents on their first appointment,
afterwards, upon their being transferred to other courts or sent upon
special and distinct missions, full or half outfits were again allowed.

This act, it will be perceived, although it fixes the maximum of outfit,
is altogether silent as to the circumstances under which outfits might
be allowed; indeed, the authority to allow them at all is not expressly
conveyed, but only incidentally adverted to in limiting the amount. This
limitation continued to be the only restriction upon the Executive until
1810, the act of 1790 having been kept in force till that period by five
successive reenactments, in which it is either referred to by means of
its title or its terms are repeated verbatim. In 1810 an act passed
wherein the phraseology which had been in use for twenty years is
departed from. Fixing the same limits precisely to the _amount_ of
salaries and outfits to ministers and chargés as had been six times
fixed since 1790, it differs from preceding acts by formally conveying
an authority to allow an outfit to "a minister plenipotentiary or chargé
d'affaires _on going from the United States to any foreign country_;"
and, in addition to this specification of the circumstances under which
the outfit may be allowed, it contains one of the conditions which shall
be requisite to entitle a chargé or secretary to the compensation
therein provided.

Upon a view of all the circumstances connected with the subject I can
not permit myself to doubt that it was with reference to the practice of
multiplying outfits to the same person and in the intention of
prohibiting it in future that this act was passed.

It being, however, frequently deemed advantageous to transfer ministers
already abroad from one court to another, or to employ those who were
resident at a particular court upon special occasions elsewhere, it
seems to have been considered that it was not the intention of Congress
to restrain the Executive from so doing. It was further contended that
the President being left free to select for ministers citizens, whether
at home or abroad, a right on the part of such ministers to the usual
emoluments followed as a matter of course. This view was sustained by
the opinion of the law officer of the Government, and the act of 1810
was construed to leave the whole subject of salary and outfit where it
found it under the law of 1790; that is to say, completely at the
discretion of the President, without any other restriction than the
maximum already fixed by that law. This discretion has from time to time
been exercised by successive Presidents; but whilst I can not but
consider the restriction in this respect imposed by the act of 1810 as
inexpedient, I can not feel myself justified in adopting a construction
which defeats the only operation of which this part of it seems
susceptible; at least, not unless Congress, after having the subject
distinctly brought to their consideration, should virtually give their
assent to that construction. Whatever may be thought of the propriety of
giving an outfit to secretaries of legation or others who may be
considered as only temporarily charged with, the affairs intrusted to
them, I am impressed with the justice of such an allowance in the case
of a citizen who happens to be abroad when first appointed, and that of
a minister already in place, when the public interest requires his
transfer, and, from the breaking up of his establishment and other
circumstances connected with the change, he incurs expenses to which he
would not otherwise have been subjected.

_II. Claims for outfits and salaries by chargés d'affaires and
secretaries of legation who have not been appointed by the President by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate_.

By the second section of the act of 1810 it is provided--

    That to entitle any chargé d'affaires or secretary of any legation
    or embassy to any foreign country, or secretary of any minister
    plenipotentiary, to the compensation hereinbefore provided they
    shall respectively be appointed by the President of the United
    States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; but in the
    recess of the Senate the President is hereby authorized to make such
    appointments, which shall be submitted to the Senate at the next
    session thereafter for their advice and consent; and no compensation
    shall be allowed to any chargé d'affaires or any of the secretaries
    hereinbefore described who shall not be appointed as aforesaid.

Notwithstanding the explicit language of this act, claims for outfits
and salaries have been made--and allowed at the Treasury--by chargés
d'affaires and secretaries of legation who had not been appointed in the
manner specified. Among the accompanying documents will be found several
claims of this description, of which a detailed statement is given in
the letter of the Fifth Auditor. The case of Mr. William B. Lawrence,
late chargé d'affaires at London, is of a still more peculiar character,
in consequence of his having actually drawn his outfit and salary from
the bankers employed by the Government, and from the length of time he
officiated in that capacity. Mr. Lawrence's accounts were rendered to
the late Administration, but not settled. I have refused to sanction the
allowance claimed, because the law does not authorize it, but have
refrained from directing any proceedings to compel a reimbursement of
the money thus, in my judgment, illegally received until an opportunity
should be afforded to Congress to pass upon the equity of the claim.

Appropriations are annually and necessarily made "for the contingent
expenses of all the missions abroad" and "for the contingent expenses of
foreign intercourse," and the expenditure of these funds intrusted to
the discretion of the President. It is out of those appropriations that
allowances of this character have been claimed, and, it is presumed,
made. Deeming, however, that the discretion thus committed to the
Executive does not extend to the allowance of charges prohibited by
express law, I have felt it my duty to refer all existing claims to the
action of Congress, and to submit to their consideration whether any
alteration of the law in this respect is necessary.

_III. The allowance of a quarter's salary to ministers and chargés
d'affaires to defray their expenses home_.

This allowance has been uniformly made, but is without authority by law.
Resting in Executive discretion, it has, according to circumstances,
been extended to cases where the ministers died abroad, to defray the
return of his family, and was recently claimed in a case where the
minister had no family, on grounds of general equity. A charge of this
description can hardly be regarded as a contingent one, and if allowed
at all must be in lieu of salary. As such it is altogether arbitrary,
although it is not believed that the interests of the Treasury are, upon
the whole, much affected by the substitution. In some cases the
allowance is for a longer period than is occupied in the return of the
minister; in others, for one somewhat less; and it seems to do away all
inducement to unnecessary delay. The subject is, however, susceptible of
positive regulation by law, and it is, on many accounts, highly
expedient that it should be placed on that footing. I have therefore,
without directing any alteration in the existing practice, felt it my
duty to bring it to your notice.

_IV. Traveling and other expenses in following the court in cases where
its residence is not stationary_.

The only legations by which expenses of this description are incurred
and charged are those to Spain and the Netherlands, and to them they
have on several occasions been allowed. Among the documents herewith
communicated will be found, with other charges requiring legislative
interference, an account for traveling expenses, with a statement of the
grounds upon which their reimbursement is claimed. This account has been
suspended by the officer of the Treasury to whom its settlement belongs;
and as the question will be one of frequent recurrence, I have deemed
the occasion a fit one to submit the whole subject to the revision of
Congress. The justice of these charges for extraordinary expenses
unavoidably incurred has been admitted by former Administrations and the
claims allowed. My difficulty grows out of the language of the act of
1810, which expressly declares that the salary and outfit it authorizes
to the minister and chargé d'affaires shall be "a compensation for all
his personal services and expenses." The items which ordinarily form the
contingent expenses of a foreign mission are of a character distinct
from the _personal_ expenses of the minister. The difficulty of
regarding those now referred to in that light is obvious. There are
certainly strong considerations of equity in favor of a remuneration for
them at the two Courts where they are alone incurred, and if such should
be the opinion of Congress it is desirable that authority to make it
should be expressly conferred by law rather than continue to rest upon
doubtful construction.

_V. Charges of consuls for discharging diplomatic functions, without
appointment, during a temporary vacancy in the office of chargé
d'affaires._

It has sometimes happened that consuls of the United States, upon the
occurrence of vacancies at their places of residence in the diplomatic
offices of the United States by the death or retirement of our minister
or chargé d'affaires, have taken under their care the papers of such
missions and usefully discharged diplomatic functions in behalf of their
Government and fellow-citizens till the vacancies were regularly filled.
In some instances this is stated to have been done to the abandonment of
other pursuits and at a considerably increased expense of living. There
are existing claims of this description, which can not be finally
adjusted or allowed without the sanction of Congress. A particular
statement of them accompanies this communication.

The nature of this branch of the public service makes it necessary to
commit portions of the expenses incurred in it to Executive discretion;
but it is desirable that such portions should be as small as possible.
The purity and permanent success of our political institutions depend in
a great measure upon definite appropriations and a rigid adherence to
the enactments of the Legislature disposing of public money. My desire
is to have the subject placed upon a more simple and precise, but not
less liberal, footing than it stands on at present, so far as that may
be found practicable. An opinion that the salaries allowed by law to our
agents abroad are in many cases inadequate is very general, and it is
reasonable to suppose that this impression has not been without its
influence in the construction of the laws by which those salaries are
fixed. There are certainly motives which it is difficult to resist to an
increased expense on the part of some of our functionaries abroad
greatly beyond that which would be required at home.

Should Congress be of opinion that any alteration for the better can be
made, either in the rate of salaries now allowed or in the rank and
gradation of our diplomatic agents, or both, the present would be a fit
occasion for a revision of the whole subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith the annual report of the inspectors of
the penitentiary in the District of Columbia, and beg leave to recommend
the propriety of providing by law a reasonable compensation for the
service of those officers. The act of Congress under which they were
commissioned, though it imposes upon them important duties, in the
performance of which much time and labor are necessary, is silent as to
the compensation which they ought to receive.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_February 1, 1830_.


_February 5, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate a letter from the Secretary of War,
with the papers which accompany it, in answer to the resolution of the
Senate of the 2d February, requesting "so much of a report received from
the officer of the United States Army who had command of the detachment
for the protection of the caravan of traders to Santa Fe of New Mexico
during the last summer as may be proper to be made public and material
to be known, devising further means for the security of the inland trade
between Missouri and Mexico."

ANDREW JACKSON.


_February 12, 1830_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I forward to the House of Representatives, for the information and
decision of Congress, a communication to me from the Secretary of War on
the subject of the continuation of the Cumberland road.

There being but one plan of the surveys made produces the necessity of
making this communication to but one branch of the Legislature. When the
question shall be disposed of, I request that the map may be returned to
the Secretary of War.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_February 18, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th
instant, requesting information respecting the accounts of William B.
Lawrence as chargé d'affaires of the United States to Great Britain, I
have the honor to communicate a report of the Secretary of State,
furnishing the desired information.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_February 20, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: Having seen a report from the Treasury Department, just made
to me, that General John Campbell, lately nominated Indian agent, stands
recorded as a public defaulter on the books of the Treasury, and being
unapprised of this fact when he was nominated to the Senate, I beg leave
to withdraw this nomination.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 1, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: In compliance with your resolution of the 4th ultimo,
relating to the boundary line between the United States and the Cherokee
Nation of Indians, I have duly examined the same, and find that the
Executive has no power to alter or correct it.

I therefore return the papers, with a report from the Secretary of War
on the subject, for the further deliberation of Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 9, 1830_.
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:

I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter of the governor of
Virginia, transmitting two acts of the general assembly of that State,
respecting the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 9, 1830_.
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:

I submit to your consideration the memorials of Francis H. Nicoll and
John Conard, the latter marshal of the eastern district of Pennsylvania,
praying for the interposition and aid of Congress in the discharge of a
judgment recovered against him by the said Nicoll, alleging, as
defendant in the suit, that he was the mere organ of the United States,
and acted by and under the instructions of the Government.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 10, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 6th
instant, requesting me to "send a copy of the bond entered into and
executed by Israel T. Canfield as receiver of public moneys in the now
Crawfordsville district, Indiana, together with the names of his
securities, to the Senate," I herewith transmit a certified copy of the
official bond of Israel T. Canby, and a letter from the Secretary of the
Treasury, from which it appears that this is the officer referred to in
the resolution.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 15, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th
ultimo, calling for information respecting the report of the
commissioner for running and marking the line between the United States
and Florida under the treaty of 1795, I herewith communicate a report
from the Secretary of State, containing the desired information.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 18, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

GENTLEMEN: I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from
the War Department of a survey[6] authorized by the act of the 2d of
March, 1829.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 6: Of ship channel of Penobscot River from Whitehead to
Bangor, Me.]


_March 27, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a letter of
the Secretary of the Navy, accompanying the reports of Lieutenants
Tattnall and Gedney, who were detailed to make a survey of the Dry
Tortugas, and beg leave to call your attention to the importance of the
position to the United States as a naval station. I also respectfully
recommend that the appropriation necessary to make a scientific
examination of its capacities for defense may be granted.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 31, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: I respectfully submit to your consideration the accompanying
report from the War Department, exhibiting the state of the
fortifications at Pea Patch Island and the necessity of further
appropriations for the security of that site. The report specifies the
improvements deemed proper, and the estimate of their cost.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_April 2, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 22nd
ultimo, "requesting the President of the United States to communicate to
it any correspondence or information in possession of the Government,
and which, in his judgment, the public service will admit of being
communicated, touching intrusions, or alleged intrusions, on lands the
possession of which is claimed by the Cherokee tribe of Indians, the
number of intrusions, if any, and the reasons why they have not been
removed; and also any correspondence or information touching outrages
alleged to have been committed by Cherokee Indians on citizens of
Georgia occupying lands to which the Indian claim has not been
extinguished, or by citizens of Georgia on Cherokee Indians," I transmit
herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the information
required.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_April 6, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th
instant, requesting the President of the United States to transmit to
the Senate any record or other information in the Department of War or
before the President respecting the conviction of Wharton Rector of any
crime in Missouri before his departure for Arkansas, or touching his
fitness for the office to which he has been nominated, and any other
evidence in the Department relative to the fitness of Wharton Rector for
the office of Indian agent, I inclose herewith a report from the
Secretary of War.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_April 13, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith a report from the War Department, in
compliance with the resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo, calling
for information in relation to the expenses incident to the removal and
support of the Indians west of the Mississippi, etc.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_April 15, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: I submit to the Senate, in compliance with the request in
their resolution of the 12th instant, all the communications found in
the Department of State touching the character, conduct, and
qualifications of John Hamm, which appear or are supposed to have been
made while the said Hamm was an applicant for reappointment to the
office of marshal of the district of Ohio, in the year 1822.

As that individual has been recently nominated to the Senate to be
chargé d'affaires of the United States to the Government of Central
America, I take advantage of the occasion to request the Senate to
postpone a final decision on his nomination, upon the following grounds:
That information, though not official, has just been received at the
Department of State of a change having been lately effected in the
Government of Central America, which, if confirmed, may make a
correspondent change in the appointment necessary, or perhaps render it
altogether unnecessary that this Government, under present
circumstances, should send a diplomatic agent to that country at all.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_April 22, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from
the War Department of a survey[7] authorized by the act of 2d March,
1829.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 7: Of the harbor of St. Augustine, Fla.]


_April, 23, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 20th
instant, I transmit herewith a report[8] from the Secretary of War.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 8: Transmitting correspondence of June, 1825, relative to
treaties with the Osage and Kansas Indians.]


_April 23, 1830_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith a report from the Department of War of
the survey made of Sandy Bay, Massachusetts, in conformity to the act of
2d March, 1829.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 1, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: Finding from the inclosed letter from the Secretary of the
Treasury that James C. Dickson, lately nominated to be receiver of
public moneys at Mount Salus, Miss., is a defaulter, I beg leave to
withdraw his nomination, and to nominate in his place Hiram G. Rennels.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 6, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: The accompanying propositions, in the form of a treaty, have
been recently sent to me by special messenger from the Choctaw Nation of
Indians, and since it was received a protest against it has been
forwarded. Both evince a desire to cede to the United States all their
country east of the Mississippi, and both are here submitted. These
measures are the voluntary acts of the Indians themselves. The
Government was not represented in the councils which adopted them, nor
had it any previous intimation that such steps were in contemplation.
The Indians convened of their own accord, settled and executed the
propositions contained in the treaty presented to me, and agreed to be
bound by them if within three months they should receive the approbation
of the President and Senate. The other measure is equally their own.

It is certainly desirous, on various and very pressing accounts, as will
appear from the accompanying documents, that some agreement should be
concluded with the Indians by which an object so important as their
removal beyond the territorial limits of the States may be effected. In
settling the terms of such an agreement I am disposed to exercise the
utmost liberality, and to concur in any which are consistent with the
Constitution and not incompatible with the interests of the United
States and their duties to the Indians. I can not, however, regard the
terms proposed by the Choctaws to be in all respects of this character;
but desirous of concluding an arrangement upon such as are, I have drawn
up the accompanying amendments, which I propose to offer to the Choctaws
if they meet the approbation of the Senate. The conditions which they
offer are such as, in my judgment, will be most likely to be acceptable
to both parties and are liable to the fewest objections. Not being
tenacious, though, on the subject, I will most cheerfully adopt any
modifications which on a frank interchange of opinions my constitutional
advisers may suggest and which I shall be satisfied are reconcilable
with my official duties.

With these views, I ask the opinion of the Senate upon the following
questions:

Will the Senate advise the conclusion of a treaty with the Choctaw
Nation according to the terms which they propose? Or will the Senate
advise the conclusion of a treaty with that tribe as modified by the
alterations suggested by me? If not, what further alteration or
modification will the Senate propose?

I am fully aware that in thus resorting to the early practice of the
Government, by asking the previous advice of the Senate in the discharge
of this portion of my duties, I am departing from a long and for many
years an unbroken usage in similar cases. But being satisfied that this
resort is consistent with the provisions of the Constitution, that it is
strongly recommended in this instance by considerations of expediency,
and that the reasons which have led to the observance of a different
practice, though very cogent in negotiations with foreign nations, do
not apply with equal force to those made with Indian tribes, I flatter
myself that it will not meet the disapprobation of the Senate. Among the
reasons for a previous expression of the views of the Senate the
following are stated as most prominent:

1. The Indians have requested that their propositions should be
submitted to the Senate.

2. The opinion of the Senate in relation to the terms to be proposed
will have a salutary effect in a future negotiation, if one should be
deemed proper.

3. The Choctaw is one of the most numerous and powerful tribes within
our borders, and as the conclusion of a treaty with them may have a
controlling effect upon other tribes it is important that its terms
should be well considered. Those now proposed by the Choctaws, though
objectionable, it is believed are susceptible of modifications which
will leave them conformable to the humane and liberal policy which the
Government desires to observe toward the Indian tribes, and be at the
same time acceptable to them. To be possessed of the views of the Senate
on this important and delicate branch of our future negotiations would
enable the President to act much more effectively in the exercise of his
particular functions. There is also the best reason to believe that
measures in this respect emanating from the united counsel of the
treaty-making power would be more satisfactory to the American people
and to the Indians.

It will be seen that the pecuniary stipulations are large; and in
bringing this subject to the consideration of the Senate I may be
allowed to remark that the amount of money which may be secured to be
paid should, in my judgment, be viewed as of minor importance. If a fund
adequate to the object in view can be obtained from the lands which they
cede, all the purposes of the Government should be regarded as answered.
The great desideratum is the removal of the Indians and the settlement
of the perplexing question involved in their present location--a
question in which several of the States of this Union have the deepest
interest, and which, if left undecided much longer, may eventuate in
serious injury to the Indians.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 13, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: The inclosed documents will present to Congress the necessity
of some legislative provision by which to prevent the offenses to which
they refer. At present it appears there is no law existing for the
punishment of persons guilty of interrupting the public surveyors when
engaged in the performance of the trusts confided to them. I suggest,
therefore, for your consideration the propriety of adopting some
provision, with adequate penalties, to meet the case.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 13, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: I have the honor, in compliance with a resolution of your
House of the 10th ultimo, to transmit the inclosed documents, which
furnish all the information of the steps that have been taken and plans
procured for the erection of a radiating marine railway for the repair
of sloops of war at the navy-yard at Pensacola.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 14, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: I herewith transmit to Congress the report of the engineer
employed to survey the bar at the mouth of Sag Harbor, to ascertain the
best method of preventing the harbor being filled up with sand, and the
cost of the same, authorized by the act of the 2d of March, 1829.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 21, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: It having been represented to me that some of the members of
the Senate voted against the confirmation of the appointment of Major
M.M. Noah as surveyor of the port of New York through misapprehension,
and having received the accompanying letter and memorial from a number
of the most respectable merchants and citizens of that city, setting
forth his fitness for the office, I therefore renominate him to the
Senate as surveyor of the customs for the port of New York.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 25, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith, for the use of the House, the report of
a survey[9] made in compliance with the act of the 2d of March, 1829.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 9: Of the harbors of Stamford and Norwalk, Conn.]


WASHINGTON, _May 26, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: I think it my duty to inform you that I am daily expecting
the definitive answer of the British Government to a proposition which
has been submitted to it by this, upon the subject of the colonial
trade.

This communication has been delayed by a confident belief that the
answer referred to would have been received early enough to have
admitted of its submission to you in sufficient season for the final
action of Congress at its present session, and is now induced by an
apprehension that although the packet by which it was intended to be
sent is hourly expected, its arrival may, nevertheless, be delayed until
after your adjournment.

Should this branch of the negotiation committed to our minister be
successful, the present interdict would, nevertheless, be necessarily
continued until the next session of Congress, as the President has in no
event authority to remove it.

Although no decision had been made at the date of our last advices from
Mr. McLane, yet from the general character of the interviews between him
and those of His Majesty's ministers whose particular duty it was to
confer with him on the subject there is sufficient reason to expect a
favorable result to justify me in submitting to you the propriety of
providing for a decision in the recess.

This may be done by authorizing the President, in case an arrangement
can be effected upon such terms as Congress would approve, to carry the
same into effect on our part by proclamation, or, if it should be
thought advisable, to execute the views of Congress by like means in the
event of an unfavorable decision.

Any information in the possession of the Executive which you may deem
necessary to guide your deliberations, and which it may, under existing
circumstances, be proper to communicate, shall be promptly laid before
you, if required.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _May 27, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

It is gratifying to me to be able to communicate to the Senate before
the termination of its present session, for its advice and consent as to
the ratification of it, a convention just received at the Department of
State between the United States and His Majesty the King of Denmark,
which was negotiated on the part of the former by Mr. Henry Wheaton,
their chargé d'affaires at the Court of Denmark, and on that of the
latter by the Sieurs Henry Count de Schemmelman, his minister of foreign
affairs, and Paul Christian de Stemann, president of his chancery, and
concluded and signed by these plenipotentiaries at Copenhagen on the
28th of March of the present year.

The convention provides by compromise for the adjustment and payment of
indemnities to no inconsiderable amount, long sought from the Government
of Denmark by that of the United States, in behalf of their citizens who
had preferred claims for the same, relating to the seizure, detention,
and condemnation or confiscation of their vessels, cargoes, or property
by the public armed ships or by the tribunals of Denmark or in the
states subject to the Danish scepter; and there is every reason to
believe, as the Senate will infer from the correspondence which
accompanies this communication, that the proposed arrangement will prove
entirely satisfactory to them.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_May 28, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: For the reasons expressed in the inclosed note, I renominate
Wharton Rector to be agent for the Shawnee and Delaware Indians.

ANDREW JACKSON.


The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: The rejection of Colonel Rector by the Senate took place in the
absence of Mr. McLean and myself. We were both confined to our rooms by
illness. Had we been present his nomination would have been confirmed. I
believe that if he were again placed before the Senate his nomination
would be confirmed, and should therefore be pleased if he could be again
nominated.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
J. ROWAN.


_May 29, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: Having approved and signed a resolution, originating in the
House of Representatives, which provides "that the pay, subsistence,
emoluments, and allowances received by the officers of the Marine Corps
previous to the 1st of April, 1829, be, and the same is hereby, directed
to be continued to them from that date up to the 28th of February,
1831," it becomes my duty to call the attention of Congress to the fact
that the estimates for that branch of the public service submitted to
them at the commencement of the present session were made with reference
to the pay, subsistence, emoluments, and allowances provided for by law,
and excluding those which previously to the 1st of April, 1829, had been
made on the authority of the Department alone, and to suggest the
propriety of an appropriation to meet the increased expenditure.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit herewith a report[10] from the Secretary of the Treasury,
giving the information called for by a resolution of the Senate of the
3d of March, 1829.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 10: Transmitting statements of lands appropriated by Congress
for specific objects within the several States, etc.; disbursements made
within the several States and Territories from the commencement of the
Government to December 31, 1828; value of exports from the commencement
of the Government to September 30, 1828. ]


_May 30, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.

Gentlemen: I have approved and signed the bill entitled "An act making
appropriations for examinations and surveys, and also for certain works
of internal improvement," but as the phraseology of the section which
appropriates the sum of $8,000 for the road from Detroit to Chicago may
be construed to authorize the application of the appropriation for the
continuance of the road beyond the limits of the Territory of Michigan,
I desire to be understood as having approved this bill with the
understanding that the road authorized by this section is not to be
extended beyond the limits of the said Territory.

ANDREW JACKSON.




VETO MESSAGES.


_May 27, 1830_.
_To the House of Representatives_.

Gentlemen: I have maturely considered the bill proposing to authorize "a
subscription of stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington
Turnpike Road Company," and now return the same to the House of
Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its
passage.

Sincerely friendly to the improvement of our country by means of roads
and canals, I regret that any difference of opinion in the mode of
contributing to it should exist between us; and if in stating this
difference I go beyond what the occasion may be deemed to call for, I
hope to find an apology in the great importance of the subject, an
unfeigned respect for the high source from which this branch of it has
emanated, and an anxious wish to be correctly understood by my
constituents in the discharge of all my duties. Diversity of sentiment
among public functionaries actuated by the same general motives, on the
character and tendency of particular measures, is an incident common to
all Governments, and the more to be expected in one which, like ours,
owes its existence to the freedom of opinion, and must be upheld by the
same influence. Controlled as we thus are by a higher tribunal, before
which our respective acts will be canvassed with the indulgence due to
the imperfections of our nature, and with that intelligence and unbiased
judgment which are the true correctives of error, all that our
responsibility demands is that the public good should be the measure of
our views, dictating alike their frank expression and honest
maintenance.

In the message which was presented to Congress at the opening of its
present session I endeavored to exhibit briefly my views upon the
important and highly interesting subject to which our attention is now
to be directed. I was desirous of presenting to the representatives of
the several States in Congress assembled the inquiry whether some mode
could not be devised which would reconcile the diversity of opinion
concerning the powers of this Government over the subject of internal
improvement, and the manner in which these powers, if conferred by the
Constitution, ought to be exercised. The act which I am called upon to
consider has, therefore, been passed with a knowledge of my views on
this question, as these are expressed in the message referred to. In
that document the following suggestions will be found:

    After the extinction of the public debt it is not probable that any
    adjustment of the tariff upon principles satisfactory to the people
    of the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave the
    Government without a considerable surplus in the Treasury beyond
    what may be required for its current service. As, then, the period
    approaches when the application of the revenue to the payment of
    debt will cease, the disposition of the surplus will present a
    subject for the serious deliberation of Congress; and it may be
    fortunate for the country that it is yet to be decided. Considered
    in connection with the difficulties which have heretofore attended
    appropriations for purposes of internal improvement, and with those
    which this experience tells us will certainly arise whenever power
    over such subjects may be exercised by the General Government, it is
    hoped that it may lead to the adoption of some plan which will
    reconcile the diversified interests of the States and strengthen the
    bonds which unite them. Every member of the Union, in peace and in
    war, will be benefited by the improvement of inland navigation and
    the construction of highways in the several States. Let us, then,
    endeavor to attain this benefit in a mode which will be satisfactory
    to all. That hitherto adopted has by many of our fellow-citizens
    been deprecated as an infraction of the Constitution, while by
    others it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has been
    employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils.

And adverting to the constitutional power of Congress to make what I
considered a proper disposition of the surplus revenue, I subjoined the
following remarks:

    To avoid these evils it appears to me that the most safe, just, and
    federal disposition which could be made of the surplus revenue would
    be its apportionment among the several States according to their
    ratio of representation, and should this measure not be found
    warranted by the Constitution that it would be expedient to propose
    to the States an amendment authorizing it.

The constitutional power of the Federal Government to construct or
promote works of internal improvement presents itself in two points of
view--the first as bearing upon the sovereignty of the States within
whose limits their execution is contemplated, if jurisdiction of the
territory which they may occupy be claimed as necessary to their
preservation and use; the second as asserting the simple right to
appropriate money from the National Treasury in aid of such works when
undertaken by State authority, surrendering the claim of jurisdiction.
In the first view the question of power is an open one, and can be
decided without the embarrassments attending the other, arising from the
practice of the Government. Although frequently and strenuously
attempted, the power to this extent has never been exercised by the
Government in a single instance. It does not, in my opinion, possess it;
and no bill, therefore, which admits it can receive my official
sanction.

But in the other view of the power the question is differently situated.
The ground taken at an early period of the Government was "that whenever
money has been raised by the general authority and is to be applied to a
particular measure, a question arises whether the particular measure be
within the enumerated authorities vested in Congress. If it be, the
money requisite for it may be applied to it; if not, no such application
can be made." The document in which this principle was first advanced is
of deservedly high authority, and should be held in grateful remembrance
for its immediate agency in rescuing the country from much existing
abuse and for its conservative effect upon some of the most valuable
principles of the Constitution. The symmetry and purity of the
Government would doubtless have been better preserved if this
restriction of the power of appropriation could have been maintained
without weakening its ability to fulfill the general objects of its
institution, an effect so likely to attend its admission,
notwithstanding its apparent fitness, that every subsequent
Administration of the Government, embracing a period of thirty out of
the forty-two years of its existence, has adopted a more enlarged
construction of the power. It is not my purpose to detain you by a
minute recital of the acts which sustain this assertion, but it is
proper that I should notice some of the most prominent in order that the
reflections which they suggest to my mind may be better understood.

In the Administration of Mr. Jefferson we have two examples of the
exercise of the right of appropriation, which in the considerations that
led to their adoption and in their effects upon the public mind have had
a greater agency in marking the character of the power than any
subsequent events. I allude to the payment of $15,000,000 for the
purchase of Louisiana and to the original appropriation for the
construction of the Cumberland road, the latter act deriving much weight
from the acquiescence and approbation of three of the most powerful of
the original members of the Confederacy, expressed through their
respective legislatures. Although the circumstances of the latter case
may be such as to deprive so much of it as relates to the actual
construction of the road of the force of an obligatory exposition of the
Constitution, it must, nevertheless, be admitted that so far as the mere
appropriation of money is concerned they present the principle in its
most imposing aspect. No less than twenty-three different laws have been
passed, through all the forms of the Constitution, appropriating upward
of $2,500,000 out of the National Treasury in support of that
improvement, with the approbation of every President of the United
States, including my predecessor, since its commencement.

Independently of the sanction given to appropriations for the Cumberland
and other roads and objects under this power, the Administration of Mr.
Madison was characterized by an act which furnishes the strongest
evidence of his opinion of its extent. A bill was passed through both
Houses of Congress and presented for his approval, "setting apart and
pledging certain funds for constructing roads and canals and improving
the navigation of water courses, in order to facilitate, promote, and
give security to internal commerce among the several States and to
render more easy and less expensive the means and provisions for the
common defense." Regarding the bill as asserting a power in the Federal
Government to construct roads and canals within the limits of the States
in which they were made, he objected to its passage on the ground of its
unconstitutionality, declaring that the assent of the respective States
in the mode provided by the bill could not confer the power in question;
that the only cases in which the consent and cession of particular
States can extend the power of Congress are those specified and provided
for in the Constitution, and superadding to these avowals his opinion
that "a restriction of the power 'to provide for the common defense and
general welfare' to cases which are to be provided for by the
expenditure of money would still leave within the legislative power of
Congress all the great and most important measures of Government, money
being the ordinary and necessary means of carrying them into execution."
I have not been able to consider these declarations in any other point
of view than as a concession that the right of appropriation is not
limited by the power to carry into effect the measure for which the
money is asked, as was formerly contended.

The views of Mr. Monroe upon this subject were not left to inference.
During his Administration a bill was passed through both Houses of
Congress conferring the jurisdiction and prescribing the mode by which
the Federal Government should exercise it in the case of the Cumberland
road. He returned it with objections to its passage, and in assigning
them took occasion to say that in the early stages of the Government he
had inclined to the construction that it had no right to expend money
except in the performance of acts authorized by the other specific
grants of power, according to a strict construction of them, but that on
further reflection and observation his mind had undergone a change; that
his opinion then was "that Congress have an unlimited power to raise
money, and that in its appropriation they have a discretionary power,
restricted only by the duty to appropriate it to purposes of common
defense, and of general, not local, national, not State, benefit;" and
this was avowed to be the governing principle through the residue of his
Administration. The views of the last Administration are of such recent
date as to render a particular reference to them unnecessary. It is well
known that the appropriating power, to the utmost extent which had been
claimed for it, in relation to internal improvements was fully
recognized and exercised by it.

This brief reference to known facts will be sufficient to show the
difficulty, if not impracticability, of bringing back the operations of
the Government to the construction of the Constitution set up in 1798,
assuming that to be its true reading in relation to the power under
consideration, thus giving an admonitory proof of the force of
implication and the necessity of guarding the Constitution with
sleepless vigilance against the authority of precedents which have not
the sanction of its most plainly defined powers; for although it is the
duty of all to look to that sacred instrument instead of the statute
book, to repudiate at all times encroachments upon its spirit, which are
too apt to be effected by the conjuncture of peculiar and facilitating
circumstances, it is not less true that the public good and the nature
of our political institutions require that individual differences should
yield to a well-settled acquiescence of the people and confederated
authorities in particular constructions of the Constitution on doubtful
points. Not to concede this much to the spirit of our institutions would
impair their stability and defeat the objects of the Constitution
itself.

The bill before me does not call for a more definite opinion upon the
particular circumstances which will warrant appropriations of money by
Congress to aid works of internal improvement, for although the
extension of the power to apply money beyond that of carrying into
effect the object for which it is appropriated has, as we have seen,
been long claimed and exercised by the Federal Government, yet such
grants have always been professedly under the control of the general
principle that the works which might be thus aided should be "of a
general, not local, national, not State," character. A disregard of this
distinction would of necessity lead to the subversion of the federal
system. That even this is an unsafe one, arbitrary in its nature, and
liable, consequently, to great abuses, is too obvious to require the
confirmation of experience. It is, however, sufficiently definite and
imperative to my mind to forbid my approbation of any bill having the
character of the one under consideration. I have given to its provisions
all the reflection demanded by a just regard for the interests of those
of our fellow-citizens who have desired its passage, and by the respect
which is due to a coordinate branch of the Government, but I am not able
to view it in any other light than as a measure of purely local
character; or, if it can be considered national, that no further
distinction between the appropriate duties of the General and State
Governments need be attempted, for there can be no local interest that
may not with equal propriety be denominated national. It has no
connection with any established system of improvements; is exclusively
within the limits of a State, starting at a point on the Ohio River and
running out 60 miles to an interior town, and even as far as the State
is interested conferring partial instead of general advantages.

Considering the magnitude and importance of the power, and the
embarrassments to which, from the very nature of the thing, its exercise
must necessarily be subjected, the real friends of internal improvement
ought not to be willing to confide it to accident and chance. What is
properly _national_ in its character or otherwise is an inquiry which is
often extremely difficult of solution. The appropriations of one year
for an object which is considered national may be rendered nugatory by
the refusal of a succeeding Congress to continue the work on the ground
that it is local. No aid can be derived from the intervention of
corporations. The question regards the character of the work, not that
of those by whom it is to be accomplished. Notwithstanding the union of
the Government with the corporation by whose immediate agency any work
of internal improvement is carried on, the inquiry will still remain. Is
it national and conducive to the benefit of the whole, or local and
operating only to the advantage of a portion of the Union?

But although I might not feel it to be my official duty to interpose the
Executive veto to the passage of a bill appropriating money for the
construction of such works as are authorized by the States and are
national in their character, I do not wish to be understood as
expressing an opinion that it is expedient at this time for the General
Government to embark in a system of this kind; and anxious that my
constituents should be possessed of my views on this as well as on all
other subjects which they have committed to my discretion, I shall state
them frankly and briefly. Besides many minor considerations, there are
two prominent views of the subject which have made a deep impression
upon my mind, which, I think, are well entitled to your serious
attention, and will, I hope, be maturely weighed by the people.

From the official communication submitted to you it appears that if no
adverse and unforeseen contingency happens in our foreign relations and
no unusual diversion be made of the funds set apart for the payment of
the national debt we may look with confidence to its entire
extinguishment in the short period of four years. The extent to which
this pleasing anticipation is dependent upon the policy which may be
pursued in relation to measures of the character of the one now under
consideration must be obvious to all, and equally so that the events of
the present session are well calculated to awaken public solicitude upon
the subject. By the statement from the Treasury Department and those
from the clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives, herewith
submitted, it appears that the bills which have passed into laws, and
those which in all probability will pass before the adjournment of
Congress, anticipate appropriations which, with the ordinary
expenditures for the support of Government, will exceed considerably the
amount in the Treasury for the year 1830. Thus, whilst we are
diminishing the revenue by a reduction of the duties on tea, coffee, and
cocoa the appropriations for internal improvement are increasing beyond
the available means of the Treasury. And if to this calculation be added
the amounts contained in bills which are pending before the two Houses,
it may be safely affirmed that $10,000,000 would not make up the excess
over the Treasury receipts, unless the payment of the national debt be
postponed and the means now pledged to that object applied to those
enumerated in these bills. Without a well-regulated system of internal
improvement this exhausting mode of appropriation is not likely to be
avoided, and the plain consequence must be either a continuance of the
national debt or a resort to additional taxes.

Although many of the States, with a laudable zeal and under the
influence of an enlightened policy, are successfully applying their
separate efforts to works of this character, the desire to enlist the
aid of the General Government in the construction of such as from their
nature ought to devolve upon it, and to which the means of the
individual States are inadequate, is both rational and patriotic, and if
that desire is not gratified now it does not follow that it never will
be. The general intelligence and public spirit of the American people
furnish a sure guaranty that at the proper time this policy will be made
to prevail under circumstances more auspicious to its successful
prosecution than those which now exist. But great as this object
undoubtedly is, it is not the only one which demands the fostering care
of the Government. The preservation and success of the republican
principle rest with us. To elevate its character and extend its
influence rank among our most important duties, and the best means to
accomplish this desirable end are those which will rivet the attachment
of our citizens to the Government of their choice by the comparative
lightness of their public burthens and by the attraction which the
superior success of its operations will present to the admiration and
respect of the world. Through the favor of an overruling and indulgent
Providence our country is blessed with general prosperity and our
citizens exempted from the pressure of taxation, which other less
favored portions of the human family are obliged to bear; yet it is true
that many of the taxes collected from our citizens through the medium of
imposts have for a considerable period been onerous. In many particulars
these taxes have borne severely upon the laboring and less prosperous
classes of the community, being imposed on the necessaries of life, and
this, too, in cases where the burthen was not relieved by the
consciousness that it would ultimately contribute to make us independent
of foreign nations for articles of prime necessity by the encouragement
of their growth and manufacture at home. They have been cheerfully borne
because they were thought to be necessary to the support of Government
and the payment of the debts unavoidably incurred in the acquisition and
maintenance of our national rights and liberties. But have we a right to
calculate on the same cheerful acquiescence when it is known that the
necessity for their continuance would cease were it not for irregular,
improvident, and unequal appropriations of the public funds? Will not
the people demand, as they have a right to do, such a prudent system of
expenditure as will pay the debts of the Union and authorize the
reduction of every tax to as low a point as the wise observance of the
necessity to protect that portion of our manufactures and labor whose
prosperity is essential to our national safety and independence will
allow? When the national debt is paid, the duties upon those articles
which we do not raise may be repealed with safety, and still leave, I
trust, without oppression to any section of the country, an accumulating
surplus fund, which may be beneficially applied to some well-digested
system of improvement.

Under this view the question as to the manner in which the Federal
Government can or ought to embark in the construction of roads and
canals, and the extent to which it may impose burthens on the people for
these purposes, may be presented on its own merits, free of all disguise
and of every embarrassment, except such as may arise from the
Constitution itself. Assuming these suggestions to be correct, will not
our constituents require the observance of a course by which they can be
effected? Ought they not to require it? With the best disposition to
aid, as far as I can conscientiously, in furtherance of works of
internal improvement, my opinion is that the soundest views of national
policy at this time point to such a course. Besides the avoidance of an
evil influence upon the local concerns of the country, how solid is the
advantage which the Government will reap from it in the elevation of its
character! How gratifying the effect of presenting to the world the
sublime spectacle of a Republic of more than 12,000,000 happy people, in
the fifty-fourth year of her existence, after having passed through two
protracted wars--the one for the acquisition and the other for the
maintenance of liberty--free from debt and with all her immense
resources unfettered! What a salutary influence would not such an
exhibition exercise upon the cause of liberal principles and free
government throughout the world! Would we not ourselves find in its
effect an additional guaranty that our political institutions will be
transmitted to the most remote posterity without decay? A course of
policy destined to witness events like these can not be benefited by a
legislation which tolerates a scramble for appropriations that have no
relation to any general system of improvement, and whose good effects
must of necessity be very limited. In the best view of these
appropriations, the abuses to which they lead far exceed the good which
they are capable of promoting. They may be resorted to as artful
expedients to shift upon the Government the losses of unsuccessful
private speculation, and thus, by ministering to personal ambition and
self-aggrandizement, tend to sap the foundations of public virtue and
taint the administration of the Government with a demoralizing
influence.

In the other view of the subject, and the only remaining one which it is
my intention to present at this time, is involved the expediency of
embarking in a system of internal improvement without a previous
amendment of the Constitution explaining and defining the precise powers
of the Federal Government over it. Assuming the right to appropriate
money to aid in the construction of national works to be warranted by
the cotemporaneous and continued exposition of the Constitution, its
insufficiency for the successful prosecution of them must be admitted by
all candid minds. If we look to usage to define the extent of the right,
that will be found so variant and embracing so much that has been
overruled as to involve the whole subject in great uncertainty and to
render the execution of our respective duties in relation to it replete
with difficulty and embarrassment. It is in regard to such works and the
acquisition of additional territory that the practice obtained its first
footing. In most, if not all, other disputed questions of appropriation
the construction of the Constitution may be regarded as unsettled if the
right to apply money in the enumerated cases is placed on the ground of
usage.

This subject has been one of much, and, I may add, painful, reflection
to me. It has bearings that are well calculated to exert a powerful
influence upon our hitherto prosperous system of government, and which,
on some accounts, may even excite despondency in the breast of an
American citizen. I will not detain you with professions of zeal in the
cause of internal improvements. If to be their friend is a virtue which
deserves commendation, our country is blessed with an abundance of it,
for I do not suppose there is an intelligent citizen who does not wish
to see them flourish. But though all are their friends, but few, I
trust, are unmindful of the means by which they should be promoted; none
certainly are so degenerate as to desire their success at the cost of
that sacred instrument with the preservation of which is indissolubly
bound our country's hopes. If different impressions are entertained in
any quarter; if it is expected that the people of this country, reckless
of their constitutional obligations, will prefer their local interest to
the principles of the Union, such expectations will in the end be
disappointed; or if it be not so, then indeed has the world but little
to hope from the example of free government. When an honest observance
of constitutional compacts can not be obtained from communities like
ours, it need not be anticipated elsewhere, and the cause in which there
has been so much martyrdom, and from which so much was expected by the
friends of liberty, may be abandoned, and the degrading truth that man
is unfit for self-government admitted. And this will be the case if
_expediency_ be made a rule of construction in interpreting the
Constitution. Power in no government could desire a better shield for
the insidious advances which it is ever ready to make upon the checks
that are designed to restrain its action.

But I do not entertain such gloomy apprehensions. If it be the wish of
the people that the construction of roads and canals should be conducted
by the Federal Government, it is not only highly expedient, but
indispensably necessary, that a previous amendment of the Constitution,
delegating the necessary power and defining and restricting its exercise
with reference to the sovereignty of the States, should be made. Without
it nothing extensively useful can be effected. The right to exercise as
much jurisdiction as is necessary to preserve the works and to raise
funds by the collection of tolls to keep them in repair can not be
dispensed with. The Cumberland road should be an instructive admonition
of the consequences of acting without this right. Year after year
contests are witnessed, growing out of efforts to obtain the necessary
appropriations for completing and repairing this useful work. Whilst one
Congress may claim and exercise the power, a succeeding one may deny it;
and this fluctuation of opinion must be unavoidably fatal to any scheme
which from its extent would promote the interests and elevate the
character of the country. The experience of the past has shown that the
opinion of Congress is subject to such fluctuations.

If it be the desire of the people that the agency of the Federal
Government should be confined to the appropriation of money in aid of
such undertakings, in virtue of State authorities, then the occasion,
the manner, and the extent of the appropriations should be made the
subject of constitutional regulation. This is the more necessary in
order that they may be equitable among the several States, promote
harmony between different sections of the Union and their
representatives, preserve other parts of the Constitution from being
undermined by the exercise of doubtful powers or the too great extension
of those which are not so, and protect the whole subject against the
deleterious influence of combinations to carry by concert measures
which, considered by themselves, might meet but little countenance.

That a constitutional adjustment of this power upon equitable principles
is in the highest degree desirable can scarcely be doubted, nor can it
fail to be promoted by every sincere friend to the success of our
political institutions. In no government are appeals to the source of
power in cases of real doubt more suitable than in ours. No good motive
can be assigned for the exercise of power by the constituted
authorities, while those for whose benefit it is to be exercised have
not conferred it and may not be willing to confer it. It would seem to
me that an honest application of the conceded powers of the General
Government to the advancement of the common weal present a sufficient
scope to satisfy a reasonable ambition. The difficulty and supposed
impracticability of obtaining an amendment of the Constitution in this
respect is, I firmly believe, in a great degree unfounded. The time has
never yet been when the patriotism and intelligence of the American
people were not fully equal to the greatest exigency, and it never will
when the subject calling forth their interposition is plainly presented
to them. To do so with the questions involved in this bill, and to urge
them to an early, zealous, and full consideration of their deep
importance, is, in my estimation, among the highest of our duties.

A supposed connection between appropriations for internal improvement
and the system of protecting duties, growing out of the anxieties of
those more immediately interested in their success, has given rise to
suggestions which it is proper I should notice on this occasion. My
opinions on these subjects have never been concealed from those who had
a right to know them. Those which I have entertained on the latter have
frequently placed me in opposition to individuals as well as communities
whose claims upon my friendship and gratitude are of the strongest
character, but I trust there has been nothing in my public life which
has exposed me to the suspicion of being thought capable of sacrificing
my views of duty to private considerations, however strong they may have
been or deep the regrets which they are capable of exciting.

As long as the encouragement of domestic manufactures is directed to
national ends it shall receive from me a temperate but steady support.
There is no necessary connection between it and the system of
appropriations. On the contrary, it appears to me that the supposition
of their dependence upon each other is calculated to excite the
prejudices of the public against both. The former is sustained on the
grounds of its consistency with the letter and spirit of the
Constitution, of its origin being traced to the assent of all the
parties to the original compact, and of its having the support and
approbation of a majority of the people, on which account it is at least
entitled to a fair experiment. The suggestions to which I have alluded
refer to a forced continuance of the national debt by means of large
appropriations as a substitute for the security which the system derives
from the principles on which it has hitherto been sustained. Such a
course would certainly indicate either an unreasonable distrust of the
people or a consciousness that the system does not possess sufficient
soundness for its support if left to their voluntary choice and its own
merits. Those who suppose that any policy thus founded can be long
upheld in this country have looked upon its history with eyes very
different from mine. This policy, like every other, must abide the will
of the people, who will not be likely to allow any device, however
specious, to conceal its character and tendency.

In presenting these opinions I have spoken with the freedom and candor
which I thought the occasion for their expression called for, and now
respectfully return the bill which has been under consideration for your
further deliberation and judgment.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _May 31, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

GENTLEMEN: I have considered the bill proposing "to authorize a
subscription of stock in the Washington Turnpike Road Company," and now
return the same to the Senate, in which it originated.

I am unable to approve this bill, and would respectfully refer the
Senate to my message to the House of Representatives on returning to
that House the bill "to authorize a subscription of stock in the
Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike Road Company" for a
statement of my objections to the bill herewith returned. The message
referred to bears date on the 27th instant, and a printed copy of the
same is herewith transmitted,

ANDREW JACKSON.

(NOTE.--For reasons for the pocket vetoes of "An act for making
appropriations for building light-houses, light-boats, beacons, and
monuments, placing buoys, and for improving harbors and directing
surveys," and "An act to authorize a subscription for stock in the
Louisville and Portland Canal Company," see Second Annual Message, dated
December 6, 1830, p. 508.)




PROCLAMATIONS.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it has been represented that many uninformed or evil-disposed
persons have taken possession of or made a settlement on the public
lands of the United States within the district of lands subject to sale
at Huntsville, in the State of Alabama, which have not been previously
sold, ceded, or leased by the United States, or the claim to which lands
by such persons has not been previously recognized and confirmed by the
United States, which possession or settlement is, by the act of Congress
passed on the 3d day of March, 1807, expressly prohibited; and

Whereas the due execution of the said act of Congress, as well as the
general interest, requires that such illegal practices should be
promptly repressed:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, have
thought proper to issue this my proclamation, commanding and strictly
enjoining all persons who have unlawfully taken possession of or made
any settlement on, or who now unlawfully occupy, any of the public lands
within the district of lands subject to sale at Huntsville, in the State
of Alabama, as aforesaid, forthwith to remove therefrom; and I do hereby
further command and enjoin the marshal, or officer acting as marshal, in
that State, where such possession shall have been taken or settlement
made, to remove, from and after the 1st day of September, 1830, all or
any of the said unlawful occupants; and to effect the said service I do
hereby authorize the employment of such military force as may become
necessary in pursuance of the provisions of the act of Congress
aforesaid, warning the offenders, moreover, that they will be prosecuted
in all such other ways as the law directs.

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of
America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my
hand.

(SEAL.)

Done at the city of Washington, the 6th day of March, A.D. 1830, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the fifty-fourth.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President:
M. VAN BUREN,
_Secretary of State_.


(From original in General Land Office.)

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

In pursuance of law, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States
of America, do hereby declare and make known that public sales will be
held at the under-mentioned land offices, in the State of Louisiana, at
the periods designated, to wit:

At the land office at New Orleans on the first Monday in November next,
for the disposal of such of the public lands within the limits of the
under-mentioned fractional townships as are not covered by private land
claims, viz:

Fractional townships 6, 7, and 9 south, of range 12 east; fractional
townships 9 and 10 south, of range 13 east; fractional township 11
south, of range 15 east; fractional township 12 south, of range 16 east;
fractional township 12 south, of ranges 20 and 21 east; fractional
township 13 south, of range 21 east.

The above-described lands are adjacent to and binding on the Mississippi
River.

At the land office at Ouachita, on the third Monday in November next,
for the disposal of the public lands within the limits of the
undermentioned townships and fractional townships, viz:

Fractional townships 3 and 4 north, of range 1 east; fractional
townships 2 and 3 and townships 19 and 20 north, of range 2 east;
fractional townships 2 and 3 and townships 7, 13, 14, 19, and 20 north,
of range 3 east; fractional township 3 and townships 8, 9, 13, 14, and
19 north, of range 4 east; township 9 north, of ranges 5 and 6 east;
township 10 north, of range 7 east; townships 10, 11, and 12 north, of
range 8 east; also township 8 north, of range 9 east, and townships 8
and 9 north, of range 10 east, including the Lake St. John and part of
Lake Concordia, near Natchez; township 21 and fractional township 22
north, of range 12 east; fractional townships 21, 22, and 23, of range
13 east, in the vicinity of Lake Providence; fractional township 4
north, of range 1 west; fractional townships 5 and 6 north, of range 2
west; fractional townships 5 and 6 and township 7 north, of range 3
west.

At the land office at St. Helena on the third Monday in November next,
for the disposal of the public lands within the limits of the
undermentioned townships and fractional townships, viz:

Township 4 and fractional townships 5 and 7, of range 1 west; townships
1 and 2 and fractional townships 3, 4, and 5, of range 2 west; townships
1 and 2 and fractional township 3, of range 3 west; fractional townships
1 and 2, of range 4 west; townships 4 and 5, of range 1 east; township
4, of range 2 east; township 4 and fractional townships 7 and 8, of
range 10 east; townships 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and fractional township 8, of
range 11 east; townships 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and fractional township 8, of
range 12 east; townships 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 and fractional townships 4
and 9, of range 13 east; fractional townships 1, 2, 3, and 10, of range
14 east; fractional township 10, of ranges 15, 16, and 17 east.

The townships and fractional townships will be offered in the order in
which they are above designated, beginning with the lowest number of
section in each.

The lands reserved by law for the use of schools or for other purposes
are to be excluded from sale.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 5th day of June,
1830.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President:
GEORGE GRAHAM,
_Commissioner of the General Land Office_.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,' and to equalize
the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that
upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United
States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating
duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the
said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United
States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in
the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the
President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that
the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce,
manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same
from the said foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no
longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from His
Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, through an official
communication of F.A. Mensch, his consul in the United States, under
date of the 15th of September, 1830, that no discriminating duties of
tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the Grand
Dukedom of Oldenburg upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the
United States or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported
in the same from the United States or from any other country:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of the Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg and the produce,
manufactures, and merchandise imported into the United States in the
same from the Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg and from any other foreign
country whatever, the said suspension to take effect from the day above
mentioned and to continue thenceforward so long as the reciprocal
exemption of the vessels of the United States and the produce,
manufactures, and merchandise imported into the Grand Dukedom of
Oldenburg in the same, as aforesaid, shall be continued on the part of
the Government of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Oldenburg.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 18th day of
September, A.D. 1830, and the fifty-fifth of the Independence of the
United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President:
M. VAN BUREN, _Secretary of State_.


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States passed on the
29th day of May, 1830, it is provided that whenever the President of the
United States shall receive satisfactory evidence that the Government of
Great Britain will open the ports in its colonial possessions in the
West Indies, on the continent of South America, the Bahama Islands, the
Caicos, and the Bermuda or Somer Islands to the vessels of the United
States for an indefinite or for a limited term; that the vessels of the
United States, and their cargoes, on entering the colonial ports
aforesaid, shall not be subject to other or higher duties of tonnage or
impost or charges of any other description than would be imposed on
British vessels or their cargoes arriving in the said colonial
possessions from the United States; that the vessels of the United
States may import into the said colonial possessions from the United
States any article or articles which could be imported in a British
vessel into the said possessions from the United States; and that the
vessels of the United States may export from the British colonies
aforementioned, to any country whatever other than the dominions or
possessions of Great Britain, any article or articles that can be
exported therefrom in a British vessel to any country other than the
British dominions or possessions as aforesaid, leaving the commercial
intercourse of the United States with all other parts of the British
dominions or possessions on a footing not less favorable to the United
States than it now is--that then, and in such case, the President of the
United States shall be authorized, at any time before the next session
of Congress, to issue his proclamation declaring that he has received
such evidence, and that thereupon, and from the date of such
proclamation, the ports of the United States shall be opened
indefinitely or for a term fixed, as the case may be, to British vessels
coming from the said British colonial possessions, and their cargoes,
subject to no other or higher duty of tonnage or impost or charge of any
description whatever than would be levied on the vessels of the United
States or their cargoes arriving from the said British possessions; and
that it shall be lawful for the said British vessels to import into the
United States and to export therefrom any article or articles which may
be imported or exported in vessels of the United States; and that the
act entitled "An act concerning navigation," passed on the 18th day of
April, 1818, an act supplementary thereto, passed the 15th day of May,
1820, and an act entitled "An act to regulate the commercial intercourse
between the United States and certain British ports," passed on the 1st
day of March, 1823, shall in such case be suspended or absolutely
repealed, as the case may require; and

Whereas by the said act it is further provided that whenever the ports
of the United States shall have been opened under the authority thereby
given, British vessels and their cargoes shall be admitted to an entry
in the ports of the United States from the islands, provinces, or
colonies of Great Britain on or near the North American continent and
north or east of the United States; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by the President of the
United States that whenever he shall give effect to the provisions of
the act aforesaid the Government of Great Britain will open for an
indefinite period the ports in its colonial possessions in the West
Indies, on the continent of South America, the Bahama Islands, the
Caicos, and the Bermuda or Somer Islands to the vessels of the United
States, and their cargoes, upon the terms and according to the
requisitions of the aforesaid act of Congress:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that such evidence has been
received by me, and that by the operation of the act of Congress passed
on the 29th day of May, 1830, the ports of the United States are from
the date of this proclamation open to British vessels coming from the
said British possessions, and their cargoes, upon the terms set forth in
the said act. The act entitled "An act concerning navigation," passed on
the 18th day of April, 1818, the act supplementary thereto, passed the
15th day of May, 1820, and the act entitled "An act to regulate the
commercial intercourse between the United States and certain British
ports," passed the 1st day of March, 1823, are absolutely repealed, and
British vessels and their cargoes are admitted to an entry in the ports
of the United States from the islands, provinces, and colonies of Great
Britain on or near the North American continent and north or east of the
United States.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 5th day of October,
A.D. 1830, and the fifty-fifth of the Independence of the United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.
By the President:
M. VAN BUREN,
_Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDER.


ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, June 12, 1830_.

ORDER 29.

The following general order has been received from the War Department.
It is published for the information of all concerned:

DEPARTMENT OF WAR,
_Washington, June 12, 1830_.

GENERAL ORDER.

Congress at their last session passed an act repealing so much of the
military law as imposes the penalty of death on those who "in time of
peace" shall be found guilty of the crime of desertion. To give complete
effect to the benevolent designs of said act, and that the Army may be
correctly informed, it is hereby proclaimed that a free and full pardon
is extended to those who at the date of this order stand in the
character of deserters. All who are under arrest for this offense at the
different posts and garrisons will be forthwith liberated, and return to
their duty. Such as are roaming at large and those who are under
sentence of death are discharged, and are not again to be permitted to
enter the Army, nor at any time hereafter to be enlisted in the service
of the country. It is desirable and highly important that the ranks of
the Army should be composed of respectable, not degraded, materials.
Those who can be so lost to the obligations of a soldier as to abandon a
country which morally they are bound to defend, and which solemnly they
have sworn to serve, are unworthy, and should be confided in no more. By
order of the President of the United States:

JOHN H. EATON,
_Secretary of War_.

Communicated by order of Alexander Macomb, Major-General Commanding the
Army.

R. JONES, _Adjutant-General._




SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.

_December 6, 1830_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The pleasure I have in congratulating you upon your return to your
constitutional duties is much heightened by the satisfaction which the
condition of our beloved country at this period justly inspires. The
beneficent Author of All Good has granted to us during the present year
health, peace, and plenty, and numerous causes for joy in the wonderful
success which attends the progress of our free institutions.

With a population unparalleled in its increase, and possessing a
character which combines the hardihood of enterprise with the
considerateness of wisdom, we see in every section of our happy country
a steady improvement in the means of social intercourse, and
correspondent effects upon the genius and laws of our extended Republic.

The apparent exceptions to the harmony of the prospect are to be
referred rather to inevitable diversities in the various interests which
enter into the composition of so extensive a whole than to any want of
attachment to the Union--interests whose collisions serve only in the
end to foster the spirit of conciliation and patriotism so essential to
the preservation of that Union which I most devoutly hope is destined to
prove imperishable.

In the midst of these blessings we have recently witnessed changes in
the condition of other nations which may in their consequences call for
the utmost vigilance, wisdom, and unanimity in our councils, and the
exercise of all the moderation and patriotism of our people.

The important modifications of their Government, effected with so much
courage and wisdom by the people of France, afford a happy presage of
their future course, and have naturally elicited from the kindred
feelings of this nation that spontaneous and universal burst of applause
in which you have participated. In congratulating you, my
fellow-citizens, upon an event so auspicious to the dearest interests of
mankind I do no more than respond to the voice of my country, without
transcending in the slightest degree that salutary maxim of the
illustrious Washington which enjoins an abstinence from all interference
with the internal affairs of other nations. From a people exercising in
the most unlimited degree the right of self-government, and enjoying, as
derived from this proud characteristic, under the favor of Heaven, much
of the happiness with which they are blessed; a people who can point in
triumph to their free institutions and challenge comparison with the
fruits they bear, as well as with the moderation, intelligence, and
energy with which they are administered--from such a people the deepest
sympathy was to be expected in a struggle for the sacred principles of
liberty, conducted in a spirit every way worthy of the cause, and
crowned by a heroic moderation which has disarmed revolution of its
terrors. Notwithstanding the strong assurances which the man whom we so
sincerely love and justly admire has given to the world of the high
character of the present King of the French, and which if sustained to
the end will secure to him the proud appellation of Patriot King, it is
not in his success, but in that of the great principle which has borne
him to the throne--the paramount authority of the public will--that the
American people rejoice.

I am happy to inform you that the anticipations which were indulged at
the date of my last communication on the subject of our foreign affairs
have been fully realized in several important particulars.

An arrangement has been effected with Great Britain in relation to the
trade between the United States and her West India and North American
colonies which has settled a question that has for years afforded matter
for contention and almost uninterrupted discussion, and has been the
subject of no less than six negotiations, in a manner which promises
results highly favorable to the parties.

The abstract right of Great Britain to monopolize the trade with her
colonies or to exclude us from a participation therein has never been
denied by the United States. But we have contended, and with reason,
that if at any time Great Britain may desire the productions of this
country as necessary to her colonies they must be received upon
principles of just reciprocity, and, further, that it is making an
invidious and unfriendly distinction to open her colonial ports to the
vessels of other nations and close them against those of the United
States.

Antecedently to 1794 a portion of our productions was admitted into the
colonial islands of Great Britain by particular concessions, limited to
the term of one year, but renewed from year to year. In the
transportation of these productions, however, our vessels were not
allowed to engage, this being a privilege reserved to British shipping,
by which alone our produce could be taken to the islands and theirs
brought to us in return. From Newfoundland and her continental
possessions all our productions, as well as our vessels, were excluded,
with occasional relaxations, by which, in seasons of distress, the
former were admitted in British bottoms.

By the treaty of 1794 she offered to concede to us for a limited time
the right of carrying to her West India possessions in our vessels not
exceeding 70 tons burthen, and upon the same terms as British vessels,
any productions of the United States which British vessels might import
therefrom. But this privilege was coupled with conditions which are
supposed to have led to its rejection by the Senate; that is, that
American vessels should land their return cargoes in the United States
only, and, moreover, that they should during the continuance of the
privilege be precluded from carrying molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, or
cotton either from those islands or from the United States to any other
part of the world. Great Britain readily consented to expunge this
article from the treaty, and subsequent attempts to arrange the terms of
the trade either by treaty stipulations or concerted legislation having
failed, it has been successively suspended and allowed according to the
varying legislation of the parties.

The following are the prominent points which have in later years
separated the two Governments: Besides a restriction whereby all
importations into her colonies in American vessels are confined to our
own products carried hence, a restriction to which it does not appear
that we have ever objected, a leading object on the part of Great
Britain has been to prevent us from becoming the carriers of British
West India commodities to any other country than our own. On the part of
the United States it has been contended, first, that the subject should
be regulated by treaty stipulation in preference to separate
legislation; second, that our productions, when imported into the
colonies in question, should not be subject to higher duties than the
productions of the mother country or of her other colonial possessions,
and, third, that our vessels should be allowed to participate in the
circuitous trade between the United States and different parts of the
British dominions.

The first point, after having been for a long time strenuously insisted
upon by Great Britain, was given up by the act of Parliament of July,
1825, all vessels suffered to trade with the colonies being permitted to
clear from thence with any articles which British vessels might export
and proceed to any part of the world, Great Britain and her dependencies
alone excepted. On our part each of the above points had in succession
been explicitly abandoned in negotiations preceding that of which the
result is now announced.

This arrangement secures to the United States every advantage asked by
them, and which the state of the negotiation allowed us to insist upon.
The trade will be placed upon a footing decidedly more favorable to this
country than any on which it ever stood, and our commerce and navigation
will enjoy in the colonial ports of Great Britain every privilege
allowed to other nations.

That the prosperity of the country so far as it depends on this trade
will be greatly promoted by the new arrangement there can be no doubt.
Independently of the more obvious advantages of an open and direct
intercourse, its establishment will be attended with other consequences
of a higher value. That which has been carried on since the mutual
interdict under all the expense and inconvenience unavoidably incident
to it would have been insupportably onerous had it not been in a great
degree lightened by concerted evasions in the mode of making the
trans-shipments at what are called the neutral ports. These indirections
are inconsistent with the dignity of nations that have so many motives
not only to cherish feelings of mutual friendship, but to maintain such
relations as will stimulate their respective citizens and subjects to
efforts of direct, open, and honorable competition only, and preserve
them from the influence of seductive and vitiating circumstances.

When your preliminary interposition was asked at the close of the last
session, a copy of the instructions under which Mr. McLane has acted,
together with the communications which had at that time passed between
him and the British Government, was laid before you. Although there has
not been anything in the acts of the two Governments which requires
secrecy, it was thought most proper in the then state of the negotiation
to make that communication a confidential one. So soon, however, as the
evidence of execution on the part of Great Britain is received the whole
matter shall be laid before you, when it will be seen that the
apprehension which appears to have suggested one of the provisions of
the act passed at your last session, that the restoration of the trade
in question might be connected with other subjects and was sought to be
obtained at the sacrifice of the public interest in other particulars,
was wholly unfounded, and that the change which has taken place in the
views of the British Government has been induced by considerations as
honorable to both parties as I trust the result will prove beneficial.

This desirable result was, it will be seen, greatly promoted by the
liberal and confiding provisions of the act of Congress of the last
session, by which our ports were upon the reception and annunciation by
the President of the required assurance on the part of Great Britain
forthwith opened to her vessels before the arrangement could be carried
into effect on her part, pursuing in this act of prospective legislation
a similar course to that adopted by Great Britain in abolishing, by her
act of Parliament in 1825, a restriction then existing and permitting
our vessels to clear from the colonies on their return voyages for any
foreign country whatever before British vessels had been relieved from
the restriction imposed by our law of returning directly from the United
States to the colonies, a restriction which she required and expected
that we should abolish. Upon each occasion a limited and temporary
advantage has been given to the opposite party, but an advantage of no
importance in comparison with the restoration of mutual confidence and
good feeling, and the ultimate establishment of the trade upon fair
principles.

It gives me unfeigned pleasure to assure you that this negotiation has
been throughout characterized by the most frank and friendly spirit on
the part of Great Britain, and concluded in a manner strongly indicative
of a sincere desire to cultivate the best relations with the United
States. To reciprocate this disposition to the fullest extent of my
ability is a duty which I shall deem it a privilege to discharge.

Although the result is itself the best commentary on the services
rendered to his country by our minister at the Court of St. James, it
would be doing violence to my feelings were I to dismiss the subject
without expressing the very high sense I entertain of the talent and
exertion which have been displayed by him on the occasion.

The injury to the commerce of the United States resulting from the
exclusion of our vessels from the Black Sea and the previous footing of
mere sufferance upon which even the limited trade enjoyed by us with
Turkey has hitherto been placed have for a long time been a source of
much solicitude to this Government, and several endeavors have been made
to obtain a better state of things. Sensible of the importance of the
object, I felt it my duty to leave no proper means unemployed to acquire
for our flag the same privileges that are enjoyed by the principal
powers of Europe. Commissioners were consequently appointed to open a
negotiation with the Sublime Porte. Not long after the member of the
commission who went directly from the United States had sailed, the
account of the treaty of Adrianople, by which one of the objects in view
was supposed to be secured, reached this country. The Black Sea was
understood to be opened to us. Under the supposition that this was the
case, the additional facilities to be derived from the establishment of
commercial regulations with the Porte were deemed of sufficient
importance to require a prosecution of the negotiation as originally
contemplated. It was therefore persevered in, and resulted in a treaty,
which will be forthwith laid before the Senate.

By its provisions a free passage is secured, without limitation of time,
to the vessels of the United States to and from the Black Sea, including
the navigation thereof, and our trade with Turkey is placed on the
footing of the most favored nation. The latter is an arrangement wholly
independent of the treaty of Adrianople, and the former derives much
value, not only from the increased security which under any
circumstances it would give to the right in question, but from the fact,
ascertained in the course of the negotiation, that by the construction
put upon that treaty by Turkey the article relating to the passage of
the Bosphorus is confined to nations having treaties with the Porte. The
most friendly feelings appear to be entertained by the Sultan, and an
enlightened disposition is evinced by him to foster the intercourse
between the two countries by the most liberal arrangements. This
disposition it will be our duty and interest to cherish.

Our relations with Russia are of the most stable character. Respect for
that Empire and confidence in its friendship toward the United States
have been so long entertained on our part and so carefully cherished by
the present Emperor and his illustrious predecessor as to have become
incorporated with the public sentiment of the United States. No means
will be left unemployed on my part to promote these salutary feelings
and those improvements of which the commercial intercourse between the
two countries is susceptible, and which have derived increased
importance from our treaty with the Sublime Porte.

I sincerely regret to inform you that our minister lately commissioned
to that Court, on whose distinguished talents and great experience in
public affairs I place great reliance, has been compelled by extreme
indisposition to exercise a privilege which, in consideration of the
extent to which his constitution had been impaired in the public
service, was committed to his discretion--of leaving temporarily his
post for the advantage of a more genial climate.

If, as it is to be hoped, the improvement of his health should be such
as to justify him in doing so, he will repair to St. Petersburg and
resume the discharge of his official duties. I have received the most
satisfactory assurances that in the meantime the public interest in that
quarter will be preserved from prejudice by the intercourse which he
will continue through the secretary of legation with the Russian
cabinet.

You are apprised, although the fact has not yet been officially
announced to the House of Representatives, that a treaty was in the
month of March last concluded between the United States and Denmark, by
which $650,000 are secured to our citizens as an indemnity for
spoliations upon their commerce in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 1811.
This treaty was sanctioned by the Senate at the close of its last
session, and it now becomes the duty of Congress to pass the necessary
laws for the organization of the board of commissioners to distribute
the indemnity among the claimants. It is an agreeable circumstance in
this adjustment that the terms are in conformity with the previously
ascertained views of the claimants themselves, thus removing all
pretense for a future agitation of the subject in any form.

The negotiations in regard to such points in our foreign relations as
remain to be adjusted have been actively prosecuted during the recess.
Material advances have been made, which are of a character to promise
favorable results. Our country, by the blessing of God, is not in a
situation to invite aggression, and it will be our fault if she ever
becomes so. Sincerely desirous to cultivate the most liberal and
friendly relations with all; ever ready to fulfill our engagements with
scrupulous fidelity; limiting our demands upon others to mere justice;
holding ourselves ever ready to do unto them as we would wish to be done
by, and avoiding even the appearance of undue partiality to any nation,
it appears to me impossible that a simple and sincere application of our
principles to our foreign relations can fail to place them ultimately
upon the footing on which it is our wish they should rest.

Of the points referred to, the most prominent are our claims upon France
for spoliations upon our commerce; similar claims upon Spain, together
with embarrassments in the commercial intercourse between the two
countries which ought to be removed; the conclusion of the treaty of
commerce and navigation with Mexico, which has been so long in suspense,
as well as the final settlement of limits between ourselves and that
Republic, and, finally, the arbitrament of the question between the
United States and Great Britain in regard to the northeastern boundary.

The negotiation with France has been conducted by our minister with zeal
and ability, and in all respects to my entire satisfaction. Although the
prospect of a favorable termination was occasionally dimmed by counter
pretensions to which the United States could not assent, he yet had
strong hopes of being able to arrive at a satisfactory settlement with
the late Government. The negotiation has been renewed with the present
authorities, and, sensible of the general and lively confidence of our
citizens in the justice and magnanimity of regenerated France, I regret
the more not to have it in my power yet to announce the result so
confidently anticipated. No ground, however, inconsistent with this
expectation has yet been taken, and I do not allow myself to doubt that
justice will soon be done us. The amount of the claims, the length of
time they have remained unsatisfied, and their incontrovertible justice
make an earnest prosecution of them by this Government an urgent duty.
The illegality of the seizures and confiscations out of which they have
arisen is not disputed, and whatever distinctions may have heretofore
been set up in regard to the liability of the existing Government it is
quite clear that such considerations can not now be interposed.

The commercial intercourse between the two countries is susceptible of
highly advantageous improvements, but the sense of this injury has had,
and must continue to have, a very unfavorable influence upon them. From
its satisfactory adjustment not only a firm and cordial friendship, but
a progressive development of all their relations, may be expected. It
is, therefore, my earnest hope that this old and vexatious subject of
difference may be speedily removed.

I feel that my confidence in our appeal to the motives which should
govern a just and magnanimous nation is alike warranted by the character
of the French people and by the high voucher we possess for the enlarged
views and pure integrity of the Monarch who now presides over their
councils, and nothing shall be wanting on my part to meet any
manifestation of the spirit we anticipate in one of corresponding
frankness and liberality.

The subjects of difference with Spain have been brought to the view of
that Government by our minister there with much force and propriety, and
the strongest assurances have been received of their early and favorable
consideration.

The steps which remained to place the matter in controversy between
Great Britain and the United States fairly before the arbitrator have
all been taken in the same liberal and friendly spirit which
characterized those before announced. Recent events have doubtless
served to delay the decision, but our minister at the Court of the
distinguished arbitrator has been assured that it will be made within
the time contemplated by the treaty.

I am particularly gratified in being able to state that a decidedly
favorable, and, as I hope, lasting, change has been effected in our
relations with the neighboring Republic of Mexico. The unfortunate and
unfounded suspicions in regard to our disposition which it became my
painful duty to advert to on a former occasion have been, I believe,
entirely removed, and the Government of Mexico has been made to
understand the real character of the wishes and views of this in regard
to that country. The consequence is the establishment of friendship and
mutual confidence. Such are the assurances I have received, and I see no
cause to doubt their sincerity.

I had reason to expect the conclusion of a commercial treaty with Mexico
in season for communication on the present occasion. Circumstances which
are not explained, but which I am persuaded are not the result of an
indisposition on her part to enter into it, have produced the delay.

There was reason to fear in the course of the last summer that the
harmony of our relations might be disturbed by the acts of certain
claimants, under Mexican grants, of territory which had hitherto been
under our jurisdiction. The cooperation of the representative of Mexico
near this Government was asked on the occasion and was readily afforded.
Instructions and advice have been given to the governor of Arkansas and
the officers in command in the adjoining Mexican State by which it is
hoped the quiet of that frontier will be preserved until a final
settlement of the dividing line shall have removed all ground of
controversy.

The exchange of ratifications of the treaty concluded last year with
Austria has not yet taken place. The delay has been occasioned by the
nonarrival of the ratification of that Government within the time
prescribed by the treaty. Renewed authority has been asked for by the
representative of Austria, and in the meantime the rapidly increasing
trade and navigation between the two countries have been placed upon the
most liberal footing of our navigation acts.

Several alleged depredations have been recently committed on our
commerce by the national vessels of Portugal. They have been made the
subject of immediate remonstrance and reclamation. I am not yet
possessed of sufficient information to express a definitive opinion of
their character, but expect soon to receive it. No proper means shall be
omitted to obtain for our citizens all the redress to which they may
appear to be entitled.

Almost at the moment of the adjournment of your last session two
bills--the one entitled "An act for making appropriations for building
light-houses, light-boats, beacons, and monuments, placing buoys, and
for improving harbors and directing surveys," and the other "An act to
authorize a subscription for stock in the Louisville and Portland Canal
Company"--were submitted for my approval. It was not possible within the
time allowed me before the close of the session to give to these bills
the consideration which was due to their character and importance, and I
was compelled to retain them for that purpose. I now avail myself of
this early opportunity to return them to the Houses in which they
respectively originated with the reasons which, after mature
deliberation, compel me to withhold my approval.

The practice of defraying out of the Treasury of the United States the
expenses incurred by the establishment and support of light-houses,
beacons, buoys, and public piers within the bays, inlets, harbors, and
ports of the United States, to render the navigation thereof safe and
easy, is coeval with the adoption of the Constitution, and has been
continued without interruption or dispute.

As our foreign commerce increased and was extended into the interior of
the country by the establishment of ports of entry and delivery upon our
navigable rivers the sphere of those expenditures received a
corresponding enlargement. Light-houses, beacons, buoys, public piers,
and the removal of sand bars, sawyers, and other partial or temporary
impediments in the navigable rivers and harbors which were embraced in
the revenue districts from time to time established by law were
authorized upon the same principle and the expense defrayed in the same
manner. That these expenses have at times been extravagant and
disproportionate is very probable. The circumstances under which they
are incurred are well calculated to lead to such a result unless their
application is subjected to the closest scrutiny. The local advantages
arising from the disbursement of public money too frequently, it is to
be feared, invite appropriations for objects of this character that are
neither necessary nor useful.

The number of light-house keepers is already very large, and the bill
before me proposes to add to it fifty-one more of various descriptions.
From representations upon the subject which are understood to be
entitled to respect I am induced to believe that there has not only been
great improvidence in the past expenditures of the Government upon these
objects, but that the security of navigation has in some instances been
diminished by the multiplication of light-houses and consequent change
of lights upon the coast. It is in this as in other respects our duty to
avoid all unnecessary expense, as well as every increase of patronage
not called for by the public service. But in the discharge of that duty
in this particular it must not be forgotten that in relation to our
foreign commerce the burden and benefit of protecting and accommodating
it necessarily go together, and must do so as long as the public revenue
is drawn from the people through the custom-house. It is indisputable
that whatever gives facility and security to navigation cheapens
imports, and all who consume them are alike interested in whatever
produces this effect. If they consume, they ought, as they now do, to
pay; otherwise they do not pay. The consumer in the most inland State
derives the same advantage from every necessary and prudent expenditure
for the facility and security of our foreign commerce and navigation
that he does who resides in a maritime State. Local expenditures have
not of themselves a corresponding operation.

From a bill making _direct_ appropriations for such objects I should not
have withheld my assent. The one now returned does so in several
particulars, but it also contains appropriations for surveys of a local
character, which I can not approve. It gives me satisfaction to find
that no serious inconvenience has arisen from withholding my approval
from this bill; nor will it, I trust, be cause of regret that an
opportunity will be thereby afforded for Congress to review its
provisions under circumstances better calculated for full investigation
than those under which it was passed.

In speaking of direct appropriations I mean not to include a practice
which has obtained to some extent, and to which I have in one instance,
in a different capacity, given my assent--that of subscribing to the
stock of private associations. Positive experience and a more thorough
consideration of the subject have convinced me of the impropriety as
well as inexpediency of such investments. All improvements effected by
the funds of the nation for general use should be open to the enjoyment
of all our fellow-citizens, exempt from the payment of tolls or any
imposition of that character. The practice of thus mingling the concerns
of the Government with those of the States or of individuals is
inconsistent with the object of its institution and highly impolitic.
The successful operation of the federal system can only be preserved by
confining it to the few and simple, but yet important, objects for which
it was designed.

A different practice, if allowed to progress, would ultimately change
the character of this Government by consolidating into one the General
and State Governments, which were intended to be kept forever distinct.
I can not perceive how bills authorizing such subscriptions can be
otherwise regarded than as bills for revenue, and consequently subject
to the rule in that respect prescribed by the Constitution. If the
interest of the Government in private companies is subordinate to that
of individuals, the management and control of a portion of the public
funds is delegated to an authority unknown to the Constitution and
beyond the supervision of our constituents; if superior, its officers
and agents will be constantly exposed to imputations of favoritism and
oppression. Direct prejudice to the public interest or an alienation of
the affections and respect of portions of the people may, therefore, in
addition to the general discredit resulting to the Government from
embarking with its constituents in pecuniary stipulations, be looked for
as the probable fruit of such associations. It is no answer to this
objection to say that the extent of consequences like these can not be
great from a limited and small number of investments, because experience
in other matters teaches us--and we are not at liberty to disregard its
admonitions--that unless an entire stop be put to them it will soon be
impossible to prevent their accumulation until they are spread over the
whole country and made to embrace many of the private and appropriate
concerns of individuals.

The power which the General Government would acquire within the several
States by becoming the principal stockholder in corporations,
controlling every canal and each 60 or 100 miles of every important
road, and giving a proportionate vote in all their elections, is almost
inconceivable, and in my view dangerous to the liberties of the people.

This mode of aiding such works is also in its nature deceptive, and in
many cases conducive to improvidence in the administration of the
national funds. Appropriations will be obtained with much greater
facility and granted with less security to the public interest when the
measure is thus disguised than when definite and direct expenditures of
money are asked for. The interests of the nation would doubtless be
better served by avoiding all such indirect modes of aiding particular
objects. In a government like ours more especially should all public
acts be, as far as practicable, simple, undisguised, and intelligible,
that they may become fit subjects for the approbation or animadversion
of the people. The bill authorizing a subscription to the Louisville and
Portland Canal affords a striking illustration of the difficulty of
withholding additional appropriations for the same object when the first
erroneous step has been taken by instituting a partnership between the
Government and private companies. It proposes a third subscription on
the part of the United States, when each preceding one was at the time
regarded as the extent of the aid which Government was to render to that
work; and the accompanying bill for light-houses, etc., contains an
appropriation for a survey of the bed of the river, with a view to its
improvement by removing the obstruction which the canal is designed to
avoid. This improvement, if successful, would afford a free passage of
the river and render the canal entirely useless. To such improvidence is
the course of legislation subject in relation to internal improvements
on local matters, even with the best intentions on the part of Congress.

Although the motives which have influenced me in this matter may be
already sufficiently stated, I am, nevertheless, induced by its
importance to add a few observations of a general character.

In my objections to the bills authorizing subscriptions to the Maysville
and Rockville road companies I expressed my views fully in regard to the
power of Congress to construct roads and canals within a State or to
appropriate money for improvements of a local character. I at the same
time intimated my belief that the right to make appropriations for such
as were of a national character had been so generally acted upon and so
long acquiesced in by the Federal and State Governments and the
constituents of each as to justify its exercise on the ground of
continued and uninterrupted usage, but that it was, nevertheless, highly
expedient that appropriations even of that character should, with the
exception made at the time, be deferred until the national debt is paid,
and that in the meanwhile some general rule for the action of the
Government in that respect ought to be established.

These suggestions were not necessary to the decision of the question
then before me, and were, I readily admit, intended to awake the
attention and draw forth the opinions and observations of our
constituents upon a subject of the highest importance to their
interests, and one destined to exert a powerful influence upon the
future operations of our political system. I know of no tribunal to
which a public man in this country, in a case of doubt and difficulty,
can appeal with greater advantage or more propriety than the judgment of
the people; and although I must necessarily in the discharge of my
official duties be governed by the dictates of my own judgment, I have
no desire to conceal my anxious wish to conform as far as I can to the
views of those for whom I act.

All irregular expressions of public opinion are of necessity attended
with some doubt as to their accuracy, but making full allowances on that
account I can not, I think, deceive myself in believing that the acts
referred to, as well as the suggestions which I allowed myself to make
in relation to their bearing upon the future operations of the
Government, have been approved by the great body of the people. That
those whose immediate pecuniary interests are to be affected by proposed
expenditures should shrink from the application of a rule which prefers
their more general and remote interests to those which are personal and
immediate is to be expected. But even such objections must from the
nature of our population be but temporary in their duration, and if it
were otherwise our course should be the same, for the time is yet, I
hope, far distant when those intrusted with power to be exercised for
the good of the whole will consider it either honest or wise to purchase
local favors at the sacrifice of principle and general good.

So understanding public sentiment, and thoroughly satisfied that the
best interests of our common country imperiously require that the course
which I have recommended in this regard should be adopted, I have, upon
the most mature consideration, determined to pursue it.

It is due to candor, as well as to my own feelings, that I should
express the reluctance and anxiety which I must at all times experience
in exercising the undoubted right of the Executive to withhold his
assent from bills on other grounds than their constitutionality. That
this right should not be exercised on slight occasions all will admit.
It is only in matters of deep interest, when the principle involved may
be justly regarded as next in importance to infractions of the
Constitution itself, that such a step can be expected to meet with the
approbation of the people. Such an occasion do I conscientiously believe
the present to be. In the discharge of this delicate and highly
responsible duty I am sustained by the reflection that the exercise of
this power has been deemed consistent with the obligation of official
duty by several of my predecessors, and by the persuasion, too, that
whatever liberal institutions may have to fear from the encroachments of
Executive power, which has been everywhere the cause of so much strife
and bloody contention, but little danger is to be apprehended from a
precedent by which that authority denies to itself the exercise of
powers that bring in their train influence and patronage of great
extent, and thus excludes the operation of personal interests,
everywhere the bane of official trust. I derive, too, no small degree of
satisfaction from the reflection that if I have mistaken the interests
and wishes of the people the Constitution affords the means of soon
redressing the error by selecting for the place their favor has bestowed
upon me a citizen whose opinions may accord with their own. I trust, in
the meantime, the interests of the nation will be saved from prejudice
by a rigid application of that portion of the public funds which might
otherwise be applied to different objects to that highest of all our
obligations, the payment of the public debt, and an opportunity be
afforded for the adoption of some better rule for the operations of the
Government in this matter than any which has hitherto been acted upon.

Profoundly impressed with the importance of the subject, not merely as
relates to the general prosperity of the country, but to the safety of
the federal system, I can not avoid repeating my earnest hope that all
good citizens who take a proper interest in the success and harmony of
our admirable political institutions, and who are incapable of desiring
to convert an opposite state of things into means for the gratification
of personal ambition, will, laying aside minor considerations and
discarding local prejudices, unite their honest exertions to establish
some fixed general principle which shall be calculated to effect the
greatest extent of public good in regard to the subject of internal
improvement, and afford the least ground for sectional discontent.

The general grounds of my objection to local appropriations have been
heretofore expressed, and I shall endeavor to avoid a repetition of what
has been already urged--the importance of sustaining the State
sovereignties as far as is consistent with the rightful action of the
Federal Government, and of preserving the greatest attainable harmony
between them. I will now only add an expression of my conviction--a
conviction which every day's experience serves to confirm--that the
political creed which inculcates the pursuit of those great objects as a
paramount duty is the true faith, and one to which we are mainly
indebted for the present success of the entire system, and to which we
must alone look for its future stability.

That there are diversities in the interests of the different States
which compose this extensive Confederacy must be admitted. Those
diversities arising from situation, climate, population, and pursuits
are doubtless, as it is natural they should be, greatly exaggerated by
jealousies and that spirit of rivalry so inseparable from neighboring
communities. These circumstances make it the duty of those who are
intrusted with the management of its affairs to neutralize their effects
as far as practicable by making the beneficial operation of the Federal
Government as equal and equitable among the several States as can be
done consistently with the great ends of its institution.

It is only necessary to refer to undoubted facts to see how far the past
acts of the Government upon the subject under consideration have fallen
short of this object. The expenditures heretofore made for internal
improvements amount to upward of $5,000,000, and have been distributed
in very unequal proportions amongst the States. The estimated expense of
works of which surveys have been made, together with that of others
projected and partially surveyed, amounts to more than $96,000,000.

That such improvements, on account of particular circumstances, may be
more advantageously and beneficially made in some States than in others
is doubtless true, but that they are of a character which should prevent
an equitable distribution of the funds amongst the several States is not
to be conceded. The want of this equitable distribution can not fail to
prove a prolific source of irritation among the States.

We have it constantly before our eyes that professions of superior zeal
in the cause of internal improvement and a disposition to lavish the
public funds upon objects of this character are daily and earnestly put
forth by aspirants to power as constituting the highest claims to the
confidence of the people. Would it be strange, under such circumstances,
and in times of great excitement, that grants of this description should
find their motives in objects which may not accord with the public good?
Those who have not had occasion to see and regret the indication of a
sinister influence in these matters in past times have been more
fortunate than myself in their observation of the course of public
affairs. If to these evils be added the combinations and angry
contentions to which such a course of things gives rise, with their
baleful influences upon the legislation of Congress touching the leading
and appropriate duties of the Federal Government, it was but doing
justice to the character of our people to expect the severe condemnation
of the past which the recent exhibitions of public sentiment has
evinced.

Nothing short of a radical change in the action of the Government upon
the subject can, in my opinion, remedy the evil. If, as it would be
natural to expect, the States which have been least favored in past
appropriations should insist on being redressed in those hereafter to be
made, at the expense of the States which have so largely and
disproportionately participated, we have, as matters now stand, but
little security that the attempt would do more than change the
inequality from one quarter to another.

Thus viewing the subject, I have heretofore felt it my duty to recommend
the adoption of some plan for the distribution of the surplus funds,
which may at any time remain in the Treasury after the national debt
shall have been paid, among the States, in proportion to the number of
their Representatives, to be applied by them to objects of internal
improvement.

Although this plan has met with favor in some portions of the Union, it
has also elicited objections which merit deliberate consideration. A
brief notice of these objections here will not, therefore, I trust, be
regarded as out of place.

They rest, as far as they have come to my knowledge, on the following
grounds: First, an objection to the ratio of distribution; second, an
apprehension that the existence of such a regulation would produce
improvident and oppressive taxation to raise the funds for distribution;
third, that the mode proposed would lead to the construction of works of
a local nature, to the exclusion of such as are general and as would
consequently be of a more useful character; and, last, that it would
create a discreditable and injurious dependence on the part of the State
governments upon the Federal power. Of those who object to the ratio of
representation as the basis of distribution, some insist that the
importations of the respective States would constitute one that would be
more equitable; and others again, that the extent of their respective
territories would furnish a standard which would be more expedient and
sufficiently equitable. The ratio of representation presented itself to
my mind, and it still does, as one of obvious equity, because of its
being the ratio of contribution, whether the funds to be distributed be
derived from the customs or from direct taxation. It does not follow,
however, that its adoption is indispensable to the establishment of the
system proposed. There may be considerations appertaining to the subject
which would render a departure, to some extent, from the rule of
contribution proper. Nor is it absolutely necessary that the basis of
distribution be confined to one ground. It may, if in the judgment of
those whose right it is to fix it be deemed politic and just to give
it that character, have regard to several.

In my first message I stated it to be my opinion that "it is not
probable that any adjustment of the tariff upon principles satisfactory
to the people of the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave
the Government without a considerable surplus in the Treasury beyond
what may be required for its current service." I have had no cause to
change that opinion, but much to confirm it. Should these expectations
be realized, a suitable fund would thus be produced for the plan under
consideration to operate upon, and if there be no such fund its adoption
will, in my opinion, work no injury to any interest; for I can not
assent to the justness of the apprehension that the establishment of the
proposed system would tend to the encouragement of improvident
legislation of the character supposed. Whatever the proper authority in
the exercise of constitutional power shall at any time hereafter decide
to be for the general good will in that as in other respects deserve and
receive the acquiescence and support of the whole country, and we have
ample security that every abuse of power in that regard by agents of the
people will receive a speedy and effectual corrective at their hands.
The views which I take of the future, founded on the obvious and
increasing improvement of all classes of our fellow-citizens in
intelligence and in public and private virtue, leave me without much
apprehension on that head.

I do not doubt that those who come after us will be as much alive as we
are to the obligation upon all the trustees of political power to exempt
those for whom they act from all unnecessary burthens, and as sensible
of the great truth that the resources of the nation beyond those
required for immediate and necessary purposes of Government can nowhere
be so well deposited as in the pockets of the people.

It may sometimes happen that the interests of particular States would
not be deemed to coincide with the general interest in relation to
improvements within such States. But if the danger to be apprehended
from this source is sufficient to require it, a discretion might be
reserved to Congress to direct to such improvements of a general
character as the States concerned might not be disposed to unite in, the
application of the quotas of those States, under the restriction of
confining to each State the expenditure of its appropriate quota. It
may, however, be assumed as a safe general rule that such improvements
as serve to increase the prosperity of the respective States in which
they are made, by giving new facilities to trade, and thereby augmenting
the wealth and comfort of their inhabitants, constitute the surest mode
of conferring permanent and substantial advantages upon the whole. The
strength as well as the true glory of the Confederacy is founded on the
prosperity and power of the several independent sovereignties of which
it is composed and the certainty with which they can be brought into
successful active cooperation through the agency of the Federal
Government.

It is, moreover, within the knowledge of such as are at all conversant
with public affairs that schemes of internal improvement have from time
to time been proposed which, from their extent and seeming magnificence,
were readily regarded as of national concernment, but which upon fuller
consideration and further experience would now be rejected with great
unanimity.

That the plan under consideration would derive important advantages from
its certainty, and that the moneys set apart for these purposes would be
more judiciously applied and economically expended under the direction
of the State legislatures, in which every part of each State is
immediately represented, can not, I think, be doubted. In the new States
particularly, where a comparatively small population is scattered over
an extensive surface, and the representation in Congress consequently
very limited, it is natural to expect that the appropriations made by
the Federal Government would be more likely to be expended in the
vicinity of those members through whose immediate agency they were
obtained than if the funds were placed under the control of the
legislature, in which every county of the State has its own
representative. This supposition does not necessarily impugn the motives
of such Congressional representatives, nor is it so intended. We are all
sensible of the bias to which the strongest minds and purest hearts are,
under such circumstances, liable. In respect to the last objection--its
probable effect upon the dignity and independence of State
governments--it appears to me only necessary to state the case as it is,
and as it would be if the measure proposed were adopted, to show that
the operation is most likely to be the very reverse of that which the
objection supposes.

In the one case the State would receive its quota of the national
revenue for domestic use upon a fixed principle as a matter of right,
and from a fund to the creation of which it had itself contributed its
fair proportion. Surely there could be nothing derogatory in that. As
matters now stand the States themselves, in their sovereign character,
are not unfrequently petitioners at the bar of the Federal Legislature
for such allowances out of the National Treasury as it may comport with
their pleasure or sense of duty to bestow upon them. It can not require
argument to prove which of the two courses is most compatible with the
efficiency or respectability of the State governments.

But all these are matters for discussion and dispassionate
consideration. That the desired adjustment would be attended with
difficulty affords no reason why it should not be attempted. The
effective operation of such motives would have prevented the adoption of
the Constitution under which we have so long lived and under the benign
influence of which our beloved country has so signally prospered. The
framers of that sacred instrument had greater difficulties to overcome,
and they did overcome them. The patriotism of the people, directed by a
deep conviction of the importance of the Union, produced mutual
concession and reciprocal forbearance. Strict right was merged in a
spirit of compromise, and the result has consecrated their disinterested
devotion to the general weal. Unless the American people have
degenerated, the same result can be again effected whenever experience
points out the necessity of a resort to the same means to uphold the
fabric which their fathers have reared. It is beyond the power of man to
make a system of government like ours or any other operate with precise
equality upon States situated like those which compose this Confederacy;
nor is inequality always injustice. Every State can not expect to shape
the measures of the General Government to suit its own particular
interests. The causes which prevent it are seated in the nature of
things, and can not be entirely counteracted by human means. Mutual
forbearance becomes, therefore, a duty obligatory upon all, and we may,
I am confident, count upon a cheerful compliance with this high
injunction on the part of our constituents. It is not to be supposed
that they will object to make such comparatively inconsiderable
sacrifices for the preservation of rights and privileges which other
less favored portions of the world have in vain waded through seas of
blood to acquire.

Our course is a safe one if it be but faithfully adhered to.
Acquiescence in the constitutionally expressed will of the majority, and
the exercise of that will in a spirit of moderation, justice, and
brotherly kindness, will constitute a cement which would forever
preserve our Union. Those who cherish and inculcate sentiments like
these render a most essential service to their country, while those who
seek to weaken their influence are, however conscientious and
praiseworthy their intentions, in effect its worst enemies.

If the intelligence and influence of the country, instead of laboring to
foment sectional prejudices, to be made subservient to party warfare,
were in good faith applied to the eradication of causes of local
discontent, by the improvement of our institutions and by facilitating
their adaptation to the condition of the times, this task would prove
one of less difficulty. May we not hope that the obvious interests of
our common country and the dictates of an enlightened patriotism will in
the end lead the public mind in that direction?

After all, the nature of the subject does not admit of a plan wholly
free from objection. That which has for some time been in operation is,
perhaps, the worst that could exist, and every advance that can be made
in its improvement is a matter eminently worthy of your most deliberate
attention.

It is very possible that one better calculated to effect the objects in
view may yet be devised. If so, it is to be hoped that those who
disapprove the past and dissent from what is proposed for the future
will feel it their duty to direct their attention to it, as they must be
sensible that unless some fixed rule for the action of the Federal
Government in this respect is established the course now attempted to be
arrested will be again resorted to. Any mode which is calculated to give
the greatest degree of effect and harmony to our legislation upon the
subject, which shall best serve to keep the movements of the Federal
Government within the sphere intended by those who modeled and those who
adopted it, which shall lead to the extinguishment of the national debt
in the shortest period and impose the lightest burthens upon our
constituents, shall receive from me a cordial and firm support.

Among the objects of great national concern I can not omit to press
again upon your attention that part of the Constitution which regulates
the election of President and Vice-President. The necessity for its
amendment is made so clear to my mind by observation of its evils and by
the many able discussions which they have elicited on the floor of
Congress and elsewhere that I should be wanting to my duty were I to
withhold another expression of my deep solicitude on the subject. Our
system fortunately contemplates a recurrence to first principles,
differing in this respect from all that have preceded it, and securing
it, I trust, equally against the decay and the commotions which have
marked the progress of other governments. Our fellow-citizens, too, who
in proportion to their love of liberty keep a steady eye upon the means
of sustaining it, do not require to be reminded of the duty they owe to
themselves to remedy all essential defects in so vital a part of their
system. While they are sensible that every evil attendant upon its
operation is not necessarily indicative of a bad organization, but may
proceed from temporary causes, yet the habitual presence, or even a
single instance, of evils which can be clearly traced to an organic
defect will not, I trust, be overlooked through a too scrupulous
veneration for the work of their ancestors. The Constitution was an
experiment committed to the virtue and intelligence of the great mass of
our countrymen, in whose ranks the framers of it themselves were to
perform the part of patriotic observation and scrutiny, and if they have
passed from the stage of existence with an increased confidence in its
general adaptation to our condition we should learn from authority so
high the duty of fortifying the points in it which time proves to be
exposed rather than be deterred from approaching them by the suggestions
of fear or the dictates of misplaced reverence.

A provision which does not secure to the people a direct choice of their
Chief Magistrate, but has a tendency to defeat their will, presented to
my mind such an inconsistency with the general spirit of our
institutions that I was induced to suggest for your consideration the
substitute which appeared to me at the same time the most likely to
correct the evil and to meet the views of our constituents. The most
mature reflection since has added strength to the belief that the best
interests of our country require the speedy adoption of some plan
calculated to effect this end. A contingency which sometimes places it
in the power of a single member of the House of Representatives to
decide an election of so high and solemn a character is unjust to the
people, and becomes when it occurs a source of embarrassment to the
individuals thus brought into power and a cause of distrust of the
representative body. Liable as the Confederacy is, from its great
extent, to parties founded upon sectional interests, and to a
corresponding multiplication of candidates for the Presidency, the
tendency of the constitutional reference to the House of Representatives
is to devolve the election upon that body in almost every instance, and,
whatever choice may then be made among the candidates thus presented to
them, to swell the influence of particular interests to a degree
inconsistent with the general good. The consequences of this feature of
the Constitution appear far more threatening to the peace and integrity
of the Union than any which I can conceive as likely to result from the
simple legislative action of the Federal Government.

It was a leading object with the framers of the Constitution to keep as
separate as possible the action of the legislative and executive
branches of the Government. To secure this object nothing is more
essential than to preserve the former from all temptations of private
interest, and therefore so to direct the patronage of the latter as not
to permit such temptations to be offered. Experience abundantly
demonstrates that every precaution in this respect is a valuable
safeguard of liberty, and one which my reflections upon the tendencies
of our system incline me to think should be made still stronger. It was
for this reason that, in connection with an amendment of the
Constitution removing all intermediate agency in the choice of the
President, I recommended some restrictions upon the reeligibility of
that officer and upon the tenure of offices generally. The reason still
exists, and I renew the recommendation with an increased confidence that
its adoption will strengthen those checks by which the Constitution
designed to secure the independence of each department of the Government
and promote the healthful and equitable administration of all the trusts
which it has created. The agent most likely to contravene this design of
the Constitution is the Chief Magistrate. In order, particularly, that
his appointment may as far as possible be placed beyond the reach of any
improper influences; in order that he may approach the solemn
responsibilities of the highest office in the gift of a free people
uncommitted to any other course than the strict line of constitutional
duty, and that the securities for this independence may be rendered as
strong as the nature of power and the weakness of its possessor will
admit, I can not too earnestly invite your attention to the propriety of
promoting such an amendment of the Constitution as will render him
ineligible after one term of service.

It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy
of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation
to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is
approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted
the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress,
and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes
also to seek the same obvious advantages.

The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United
States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves. The
pecuniary advantages which it promises to the Government are the least
of its recommendations. It puts an end to all possible danger of
collision between the authorities of the General and State Governments
on account of the Indians. It will place a dense and civilized
population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few savage
hunters. By opening the whole territory between Tennessee on the north
and Louisiana on the south to the settlement of the whites it will
incalculably strengthen the southwestern frontier and render the
adjacent States strong enough to repel future invasions without remote
aid. It will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the western part
of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance
rapidly in population, wealth, and power. It will separate the Indians
from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the
power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way
and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of
decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them
gradually, under the protection of the Government and through the
influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become
an interesting, civilized, and Christian community. These consequences,
some of them so certain and the rest so probable, make the complete
execution of the plan sanctioned by Congress at their last session an
object of much solicitude.

Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly
feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them
from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people. I
have endeavored to impress upon them my own solemn convictions of the
duties and powers of the General Government in relation to the State
authorities. For the justice of the laws passed by the States within the
scope of their reserved powers they are not responsible to this
Government. As individuals we may entertain and express our opinions of
their acts, but as a Government we have as little right to control them
as we have to prescribe laws for other nations.

With a full understanding of the subject, the Choctaw and the Chickasaw
tribes have with great unanimity determined to avail themselves of the
liberal offers presented by the act of Congress, and have agreed to
remove beyond the Mississippi River. Treaties have been made with them,
which in due season will be submitted for consideration. In negotiating
these treaties they were made to understand their true condition, and
they have preferred maintaining their independence in the Western
forests to submitting to the laws of the States in which they now
reside. These treaties, being probably the last which will ever be made
with them, are characterized by great liberality on the part of the
Government. They give the Indians a liberal sum in consideration of
their removal, and comfortable subsistence on their arrival at their new
homes. If it be their real interest to maintain a separate existence,
they will there be at liberty to do so without the inconveniences and
vexations to which they would unavoidably have been subject in Alabama
and Mississippi.

Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country,
and Philanthropy has been long busily employed in devising means to
avert it, but its progress has never for a moment been arrested, and one
by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from the earth. To follow
to the tomb the last of his race and to tread on the graves of extinct
nations excite melancholy reflections. But true philanthropy reconciles
the mind to these vicissitudes as it does to the extinction of one
generation to make room for another. In the monuments and fortresses of
an unknown people, spread over the extensive regions of the West, we
behold the memorials of a once powerful race, which was exterminated or
has disappeared to make room for the existing savage tribes. Nor is
there anything in this which, upon a comprehensive view of the general
interests of the human race, is to be regretted. Philanthropy could not
wish to see this continent restored to the condition in which it was
found by our forefathers. What good man would prefer a country covered
with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive
Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished
with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute,
occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the
blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion?

The present policy of the Government is but a continuation of the same
progressive change by a milder process. The tribes which occupied the
countries now constituting the Eastern States were annihilated or have
melted away to make room for the whites. The waves of population and
civilization are rolling to the westward, and we now propose to acquire
the countries occupied by the red men of the South and West by a fair
exchange, and, at the expense of the United States, to send them to a
land where their existence may be prolonged and perhaps made perpetual.
Doubtless it will be painful to leave the graves of their fathers; but
what do they more than our ancestors did or than our children are now
doing? To better their condition in an unknown land our forefathers left
all that was dear in earthly objects. Our children by thousands yearly
leave the land of their birth to seek new homes in distant regions. Does
Humanity weep at these painful separations from everything, animate and
inanimate, with which the young heart has become entwined? Far from it.
It is rather a source of joy that our country affords scope where our
young population may range unconstrained in body or in mind, developing
the power and faculties of man in their highest perfection. These remove
hundreds and almost thousands of miles at their own expense, purchase
the lands they occupy, and support themselves at their new homes from
the moment of their arrival. Can it be cruel in this Government when, by
events which it can not control, the Indian is made discontented in his
ancient home to purchase his lands, to give him a new and extensive
territory, to pay the expense of his removal, and support him a year in
his new abode? How many thousands of our own people would gladly embrace
the opportunity of removing to the West on such condition! If the offers
made to the Indians were extended to them, they would be hailed with
gratitude and joy.

And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment
to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more afflicting
to him to leave the graves of his fathers than it is to our brothers and
children? Rightly considered, the policy of the General Government
toward the red man is not only liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to
submit to the laws of the States and mingle with their population. To
save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the
General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the
whole expense of his removal and settlement.

In the consummation of a policy originating at an early period, and
steadily pursued by every Administration within the present century--so
just to the States and so generous to the Indians--the Executive feels
it has a right to expect the cooperation of Congress and of all good and
disinterested men. The States, moreover, have a right to demand it. It
was substantially a part of the compact which made them members of our
Confederacy. With Georgia there is an express contract; with the new
States an implied one of equal obligation. Why, in authorizing Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama to form
constitutions and become separate States, did Congress include within
their limits extensive tracts of Indian lands, and, in some instances,
powerful Indian tribes? Was it not understood by both parties that the
power of the States was to be coextensive with their limits, and that
with all convenient dispatch the General Government should extinguish
the Indian title and remove every obstruction to the complete
jurisdiction of the State governments over the soil? Probably not one of
those States would have accepted a separate existence--certainly it
would never have been granted by Congress--had it been understood that
they were to be confined forever to those small portions of their
nominal territory the Indian title to which had at the time been
extinguished.

It is, therefore, a duty which this Government owes to the new States to
extinguish as soon as possible the Indian title to all lands which
Congress themselves have included within their limits. When this is done
the duties of the General Government in relation to the States and the
Indians within their limits are at an end. The Indians may leave the
State or not, as they choose. The purchase of their lands does not alter
in the least their personal relations with the State government. No act
of the General Government has ever been deemed necessary to give the
States jurisdiction over the persons of the Indians. That they possess
by virtue of their sovereign power within their own limits in as full a
manner before as after the purchase of the Indian lands; nor can this
Government add to or diminish it.

May we not hope, therefore, that all good citizens, and none more
zealously than those who think the Indians oppressed by subjection to
the laws of the States, will unite in attempting to open the eyes of
those children of the forest to their true condition, and by a speedy
removal to relieve them from all the evils, real or imaginary, present
or prospective, with which they may be supposed to be threatened.

Among the numerous causes of congratulation the condition of our impost
revenue deserves special mention, inasmuch as it promises the means of
extinguishing the public debt sooner than was anticipated, and furnishes
a strong illustration of the practical effects of the present tariff
upon our commercial interests.

The object of the tariff is objected to by some as unconstitutional, and
it is considered by almost all as defective in many of its parts.

The power to impose duties on imports originally belonged to the several
States. The right to adjust those duties with a view to the
encouragement of domestic branches of industry is so completely
incidental to that power that it is difficult to suppose the existence
of the one without the other. The States have delegated their whole
authority over imports to the General Government without limitation or
restriction, saving the very inconsiderable reservation relating to
their inspection laws. This authority having thus entirely passed from
the States, the right to exercise it for the purpose of protection does
not exist in them, and consequently if it be not possessed by the
General Government it must be extinct. Our political system would thus
present the anomaly of a people stripped of the right to foster their
own industry and to counteract the most selfish and destructive policy
which might be adopted by foreign nations. This surely can not be the
case. This indispensable power thus surrendered by the States must be
within the scope of the authority on the subject expressly delegated to
Congress.

In this conclusion I am confirmed as well by the opinions of Presidents
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, who have each repeatedly
recommended the exercise of this right under the Constitution, as by the
uniform practice of Congress, the continued acquiescence of the States,
and the general understanding of the people.

The difficulties of a more expedient adjustment of the present tariff,
although great, are far from being insurmountable. Some are unwilling to
improve any of its parts because they would destroy the whole; others
fear to touch the objectionable parts lest those they approve should be
jeoparded. I am persuaded that the advocates of these conflicting views
do injustice to the American people and to their representatives. The
general interest is the interest of each, and my confidence is entire
that to insure the adoption of such modifications of the tariff as the
general interest requires it is only necessary that that interest should
be understood.

It is an infirmity of our nature to mingle our interests and prejudices
with the operation of our reasoning powers, and attribute to the objects
of our likes and dislikes qualities they do not possess and effects they
can not produce. The effects of the present tariff are doubtless
overrated, both in its evils and in its advantages. By one class of
reasoners the reduced price of cotton and other agricultural products is
ascribed wholly to its influence, and by another the reduced price of
manufactured articles. The probability is that neither opinion
approaches the truth, and that both are induced by that influence of
interests and prejudices to which I have referred. The decrease of
prices extends throughout the commercial world, embracing not only the
raw material and the manufactured article, but provisions and lands. The
cause must therefore be deeper and more pervading than the tariff of the
United States. It may in a measure be attributable to the increased
value of the precious metals, produced by a diminution of the supply and
an increase in the demand, while commerce has rapidly extended itself
and population has augmented. The supply of gold and silver, the general
medium of exchange, has been greatly interrupted by civil convulsions in
the countries from which they are principally drawn. A part of the
effect, too, is doubtless owing to an increase of operatives and
improvements in machinery. But on the whole it is questionable whether
the reduction in the price of lands, produce, and manufactures has been
greater than the appreciation of the standard of value.

While the chief object of duties should be revenue, they may be so
adjusted as to encourage manufactures. In this adjustment, however, it
is the duty of the Government to be guided by the general good. Objects
of national importance alone ought to be protected. Of these the
productions of our soil, our mines, and our workshops, essential to
national defense, occupy the first rank. Whatever other species of
domestic industry, having the importance to which I have referred, may
be expected, after temporary protection, to compete with foreign labor
on equal terms merit the same attention in a subordinate degree.

The present tariff taxes some of the comforts of life unnecessarily
high; it undertakes to protect interests too local and minute to justify
a general exaction, and it also attempts to force some kinds of
manufactures for which the country is not ripe. Much relief will be
derived in some of these respects from the measures of your last
session.

The best as well as fairest mode of determining whether from any just
considerations a particular interest ought to receive protection would
be to submit the question singly for deliberation. If after due
examination of its merits, unconnected with extraneous considerations--
such as a desire to sustain a general system or to purchase support for
a different interest--it should enlist in its favor a majority of the
representatives of the people, there can be little danger of wrong or
injury in adjusting the tariff with reference to its protective effect.
If this obviously just principle were honestly adhered to, the branches
of industry which deserve protection would be saved from the prejudice
excited against them when that protection forms part of a system by
which portions of the country feel or conceive themselves to be
oppressed. What is incalculably more important, the vital principle of
our system--that principle which requires acquiescence in the will of
the majority--would be secure from the discredit and danger to which it
is exposed by the acts of majorities founded not on identity of
conviction, but on combinations of small minorities entered into for the
purpose of mutual assistance in measures which, resting solely on their
own merits, could never be carried.

I am well aware that this is a subject of so much delicacy, on account
of the extended interests it involves, as to require that it should be
touched with the utmost caution, and that while an abandonment of the
policy in which it originated--a policy coeval with our Government, and
pursued through successive Administrations--is neither to be expected or
desired, the people have a right to demand, and have demanded, that it
be so modified as to correct abuses and obviate injustice.

That our deliberations on this interesting subject should be
uninfluenced by those partisan conflicts that are incident to free
institutions is the fervent wish of my heart. To make this great
question, which unhappily so much divides and excites the public mind,
subservient to the short sighted views of faction must destroy all hope
of settling it satisfactorily to the great body of the people and for
the general interest. I can not, therefore, in taking leave of the
subject, too earnestly for my own feelings or the common good warn you
against the blighting consequences of such a course.

According to the estimates at the Treasury Department, the receipts in
the Treasury during the present year will amount to $24,161,018, which
will exceed by about $300,000 the estimate presented in the last annual
report of the Secretary of the Treasury. The total expenditure during
the year, exclusive of public debt, is estimated at $13,742,311, and the
payment on account of public debt for the same period will have been
$11,354,630, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January,
1831, of $4,819,781.

In connection with the condition of our finances, it affords me pleasure
to remark that judicious and efficient arrangements have been made by
the Treasury Department for securing the pecuniary responsibility of the
public officers and the more punctual payment of the public dues. The
Revenue-Cutter Service has been organized and placed on a good footing,
and aided by an increase of inspectors at exposed points, and
regulations adopted under the act of May, 1830, for the inspection and
appraisement of merchandise, has produced much improvement in the
execution of the laws and more security against the commission of frauds
upon the revenue. Abuses in the allowances for fishing bounties have
also been corrected, and a material saving in that branch of the service
thereby effected. In addition to these improvements the system of
expenditure for sick seamen belonging to the merchant service has been
revised, and being rendered uniform and economical the benefits of the
fund applicable to this object have been usefully extended.

The prosperity of our country is also further evinced by the increased
revenue arising from the sale of public lands, as will appear from the
report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the documents
accompanying it, which are herewith transmitted. I beg leave to draw
your attention to this report, and to the propriety of making early
appropriations for the objects which it specifies.

Your attention is again invited to the subjects connected with that
portion of the public interests intrusted to the War Department. Some of
them were referred to in my former message, and they are presented in
detail in the report of the Secretary of War herewith submitted. I refer
you also to the report of that officer for a knowledge of the state of
the Army, fortifications, arsenals, and Indian affairs, all of which it
will be perceived have been guarded with zealous attention and care. It
is worthy of your consideration whether the armaments necessary for the
fortifications on our maritime frontier which are now or shortly will be
completed should not be in readiness sooner than the customary
appropriations will enable the Department to provide them. This
precaution seems to be due to the general system of fortification which
has been sanctioned by Congress, and is recommended by that maxim of
wisdom which tells us in peace to prepare for war.

I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a highly
satisfactory account of the manner in which the concerns of that
Department have been conducted during the present year. Our position in
relation to the most powerful nations of the earth, and the present
condition of Europe, admonish us to cherish this arm of our national
defense with peculiar care. Separated by wide seas from all those
Governments whose power we might have reason to dread, we have nothing
to apprehend from attempts at conquest. It is chiefly attacks upon our
commerce and harassing inroads upon our coast against which we have to
guard. A naval force adequate to the protection of our commerce, always
afloat, with an accumulation of the means to give it a rapid extension
in case of need, furnishes the power by which all such aggressions may
be prevented or repelled. The attention of the Government has therefore
been recently directed more to preserving the public vessels already
built and providing materials to be placed in depot for future use than
to increasing their number. With the aid of Congress, in a few years the
Government will be prepared in case of emergency to put afloat a
powerful navy of new ships almost as soon as old ones could be repaired.

The modifications in this part of the service suggested in my last
annual message, which are noticed more in detail in the report of the
Secretary of the Navy, are again recommended to your serious attention.

The report of the Postmaster-General in like manner exhibits a
satisfactory view of the important branch of the Government under his
charge. In addition to the benefits already secured by the operations of
the Post-Office Department, considerable improvements within the present
year have been made by an increase in the accommodation afforded by
stage coaches, and in the frequency and celerity of the mail between
some of the most important points of the Union.

Under the late contracts improvements have been provided for the
southern section of the country, and at the same time an annual saving
made of upward of $72,000. Notwithstanding the excess of expenditure
beyond the current receipts for a few years past, necessarily incurred
in the fulfillment of existing contracts and in the additional expenses
between the periods of contracting to meet the demands created by the
rapid growth and extension of our nourishing country, yet the
satisfactory assurance is given that the future revenue of the
Department will be sufficient to meet its extensive engagements. The
system recently introduced that subjects its receipts and disbursements
to strict regulation has entirely fulfilled its designs. It gives full
assurance of the punctual transmission, as well as the security of the
funds of the Department. The efficiency and industry of its officers and
the ability and energy of contractors justify an increased confidence in
its continued prosperity.

The attention of Congress was called on a former occasion to the
necessity of such a modification in the office of Attorney-General of
the United States as would render it more adequate to the wants of the
public service. This resulted in the establishment of the office of
Solicitor of the Treasury, and the earliest measures were taken to give
effect to the provisions of the law which authorized the appointment of
that officer and defined his duties. But it is not believed that this
provision, however useful in itself, is calculated to supersede the
necessity of extending the duties and powers of the Attorney-General's
Office. On the contrary, I am convinced that the public interest would
be greatly promoted by giving to that officer the general
superintendence of the various law agents of the Government, and of all
law proceedings, whether civil or criminal, in which the United States
may be interested, allowing him at the same time such a compensation as
would enable him to devote his undivided attention to the public
business. I think such a provision is alike due to the public and to the
officer.

Occasions of reference from the different Executive Departments to the
Attorney-General are of frequent occurrence, and the prompt decision of
the questions so referred tends much to facilitate the dispatch of
business in those Departments. The report of the Secretary of the
Treasury hereto appended shows also a branch of the public service not
specifically intrusted to any officer which might be advantageously
committed to the Attorney-General. But independently of those
considerations this office is now one of daily duty. It was originally
organized and its compensation fixed with a view to occasional service,
leaving to the incumbent time for the exercise of his profession in
private practice. The state of things which warranted such an
organization no longer exists. The frequent claims upon the services of
this officer would render his absence from the seat of Government in
professional attendance upon the courts injurious to the public service,
and the interests of the Government could not fail to be promoted by
charging him with the general superintendence of all its legal concerns.

Under a strong conviction of the justness of these suggestions, I
recommend it to Congress to make the necessary provisions for giving
effect to them, and to place the Attorney-General in regard to
compensation on the same footing with the heads of the several Executive
Departments. To this officer might also be intrusted a cognizance of the
cases of insolvency in public debtors, especially if the views which I
submitted on this subject last year should meet the approbation of
Congress--to which I again solicit your attention.

Your attention is respectfully invited to the situation of the District
of Columbia. Placed by the Constitution under the exclusive jurisdiction
and control of Congress, this District is certainly entitled to a much
greater share of its consideration than it has yet received. There is a
want of uniformity in its laws, particularly in those of a penal
character, which increases the expense of their administration and
subjects the people to all the inconveniences which result from the
operation of different codes in so small a territory. On different sides
of the Potomac the same offense is punishable in unequal degrees, and
the peculiarities of many of the early laws of Maryland and Virginia
remain in force, notwithstanding their repugnance in some cases to the
improvements which have superseded them in those States.

Besides a remedy for these evils, which is loudly called for, it is
respectfully submitted whether a provision authorizing the election of a
delegate to represent the wants of the citizens of this District on the
floor of Congress is not due to them and to the character of our
Government. No portion of our citizens should be without a practical
enjoyment of the principles of freedom, and there is none more important
than that which cultivates a proper relation between the governors and
the governed. Imperfect as this must be in this case, yet it is believed
that it would be greatly improved by a representation in Congress with
the same privileges that are allowed to the other Territories of the
United States.

The penitentiary is ready for the reception of convicts, and only awaits
the necessary legislation to put it into operation, as one object of
which I beg leave to recall your attention to the propriety of providing
suitable compensation for the officers charged with its inspection.

The importance of the principles involved in the inquiry whether it will
be proper to recharter the Bank of the United States requires that I
should again call the attention of Congress to the subject. Nothing has
occurred to lessen in any degree the dangers which many of our citizens
apprehend from that institution as at present organized. In the spirit
of improvement and compromise which distinguishes our country and its
institutions it becomes us to inquire whether it be not possible to
secure the advantages afforded by the present bank through the agency of
a Bank of the United States so modified in its principles and structure
as to obviate constitutional and other objections.

It is thought practicable to organize such a bank with the necessary
officers as a branch of the Treasury Department, based on the public and
individual deposits, without power to make loans or purchase property,
which shall remit the funds of the Government, and the expense of which
may be paid, if thought advisable, by allowing its officers to sell
bills of exchange to private individuals at a moderate premium. Not
being a corporate body, having no stockholders, debtors, or property,
and but few officers, it would not be obnoxious to the constitutional
objections which are urged against the present bank; and having no means
to operate on the hopes, fears, or interests of large masses of the
community, it would be shorn of the influence which makes that bank
formidable. The States would be strengthened by having in their hands
the means of furnishing the local paper currency through their own
banks, while the Bank of the United States, though issuing no paper,
would check the issues of the State banks by taking their notes in
deposit and for exchange only so long as they continue to be redeemed
with specie. In times of public emergency the capacities of such an
institution might be enlarged by legislative provisions.

These suggestions are made not so much as a recommendation as with a
view of calling the attention of Congress to the possible modifications
of a system which can not continue to exist in its present form without
occasional collisions with the local authorities and perpetual
apprehensions and discontent on the part of the States and the people.

In conclusion, fellow-citizens, allow me to invoke in behalf of your
deliberations that spirit of conciliation and disinterestedness which is
the gift of patriotism. Under an overruling and merciful Providence the
agency of this spirit has thus far been signalized in the prosperity and
glory of our beloved country. May its influence be eternal.

ANDREW JACKSON.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


_December 9, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.

Gentlemen: I transmit herewith a treaty concluded by commissioners duly
authorized on the part of the United States with the Choctaw tribe of
Indians, which, with explanatory documents, is submitted to the Senate
for their advice and consent as to the ratification of the same.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _December 10, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit to the Senate printed copies of the convention between the
United States and His Majesty the King of Denmark, concluded at
Copenhagen on the 28th March, 1830, and ratified by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)


Washington, _December 10, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_

I submit for the consideration of the Senate a treaty of commerce and
navigation, together with a separate and secret article, concluded at
Constantinople on the 7th day of May last, and signed by Charles Rhind,
James Biddle, and David Offley as commissioners on the part of the
United States, and by Mahommed Hamed, reis effendi, on the part of the
Sublime Porte.

The French versions herewith transmitted, and accompanied by copies and
English translations of the same, are transcripts of the original
translations from the Turkish, signed by the commissioners of the United
States and delivered to the Government of the Sublime Porte.

The paper in Turkish is the original signed by the Turkish
plenipotentiary and delivered by him to the American commissioners. Of
this a translation into the English language, and believed to be
correct, is like-wise transmitted.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _December 15, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives._

Gentlemen: From information received at the Department of State it is
ascertained that owing to unforeseen circumstances several of the
marshals have been unable to complete the enumeration of the inhabitants
of the United States within the time prescribed by the act of the 23d
March, 1830, viz, by the 1st day of the present month.

As the completion of the Fifth Census as respects several of the States
of the Union will have been defeated unless Congress, to whom the case
is submitted, shall by an act of the present session allow further time
for making the returns in question, the expediency is suggested of
allowing such an act to pass at as early a day as possible.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 20, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant,
calling for copies of any letters or other communications which may have
been received at the Department of War from the chiefs and headmen, or
any of them, of the Choctaw tribe of Indians since the treaty entered
into by the commissioners on the part of the United States with that
tribe of Indians at Dancing Rabbit Creek, and also for information
showing the number of Indians belonging to that tribe who have emigrated
to the country west of the Mississippi, etc., I submit herewith a report
from the Secretary of War, containing the information requested.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _December 20, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 16th instant,
calling for certain papers relative to the negotiation of the treaty
between the United States and Turkey now before the Senate, I
communicate the inclosed report of the Secretary of State, accompanied
by the documents and containing the information requested.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 29, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_

I submit to the consideration of the Senate two treaties--one of peace,
the other of cession--concluded at Prairie du Chien on the 10th and 15th
July, 1830, by commissioners duly authorized on the part of the United
States and by deputations of the confederated tribes of Indians residing
on the Upper Mississippi.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 30, 1830_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_

A vacancy having arisen in the office of brigadier in consequence of the
removal of General John Nicks from the Territory of Arkansas to
Cantonment Gibson, I nominated at your last session William Montgomery
to be general of the second brigade of militia of said Territory. By
this communication I desire to correct the Journal of the Senate and my
message of the 22d of April, 1830, so as to exclude the idea that
General Nicks was removed from office.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _December 31, 1830_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of a correspondence which lately
passed between Major-General Von Scholten, His Danish Majesty's
governor-general of his West India possessions and special minister to
the United States, and Mr. Van Buren, Secretary of State, concerning the
regulation of the commercial intercourse between those possessions and
the United States, which comprehends the propositions that General Von
Scholten made to this Government in behalf of his Sovereign upon that
subject and the answers of the Secretary of State to the same, the last
showing the grounds upon which this Government declined acceding to the
overtures of the Danish envoy.

This correspondence is now submitted to the two Houses of Congress in
compliance with the wish and request of General Von Scholten himself,
and under the full persuasion upon my part that it will receive all the
attention and consideration to which the very friendly relations that
have so long subsisted between the United States and the King of Denmark
especially entitle it in the councils of this Union.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 3, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

Since my message of the 20th of December last, transmitting to the
Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with information requested by
the resolution of the Senate of the 14th December, in relation to the
treaty concluded at Dancing Rabbit Creek with the Choctaw Indians, I
have received the two letters which are herewith inclosed, containing
further information on the subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _January 3, 1831_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress the papers relating to the recent arrangement
with Great Britain with respect to the trade between her colonial
possessions and the United States, to which reference was made in my
message at the opening of the present session.

It will appear from those documents that owing to the omission in the
act of the 29th of May last of a clause expressly restricting
importations into the British colonies in American vessels to the
productions of the United States, to the amendment engrafted upon that
act in the House Of Representatives, providing that when the trade with
the West India colonies should be opened the commercial intercourse of
the United States with all other parts of the British dominions or
possessions should be left on a footing not less favorable to the United
States than it now is, and to the act not specifying the terms upon
which British vessels coming from the northern colonies should be
admitted to entry into the ports of the United States, an apprehension
was entertained by the Government of Great Britain that under the
contemplated arrangement claims might be set up on our part inconsistent
with the propositions submitted by our minister and with the terms to
which she was willing to agree, and that this circumstance led to
explanations between Mr. McLane and the Earl of Aberdeen respecting the
intentions of Congress and the true construction to be given to the act
referred to.

To the interpretation given by them to that act I did not hesitate to
agree. It was quite clear that in adopting the amendment referred to
Congress could not have intended to preclude future alterations in the
existing intercourse between the United States and other parts of the
British dominions; and the supposition that the omission to restrict in
terms the importations to the productions of the country to which the
vessels respectively belong was intentional was precluded by the
propositions previously made by this Government to that of Great
Britain, and which were before Congress at the time of the passage of
the act; by the principles which govern the maritime legislation of the
two countries and by the provisions of the existing commercial treaty
between them.

Actuated by this view of the subject, and convinced that it was in
accordance with the real intentions of Congress, I felt it my duty to
give effect to the arrangement by issuing the required proclamation, of
which a copy is likewise herewith communicated.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 5, 1831_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
17th of December last, calling for information on the subject of
internal improvement, I submit herewith a report from the Secretaries of
War and Treasury, containing the information required.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 7, 1831_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying report
from the Navy Department, upon the state of the accounts of the Navy in
the office of the Fourth Auditor, and to suggest the necessity of
correcting the evils complained of by early legislation.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _January 11, 1831_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a report of the Secretary of State, with the
report to him from the Patent Office which accompanied it, in relation
to the concerns of that office, and recommend the whole subject to early
and favorable consideration.

ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same message was sent to the Senate.)


_January 15, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d ultimo,
requesting to be informed of the quantity of live-oak timber in the
United States, where it is, and what means are employed to preserve it,
I present herewith a report of the Secretary of the Navy, containing the
information required,

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 15, 1831_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I submit to the consideration of Congress the accompanying report and
documents from the Navy Department, in relation to the capture of the
Spanish slave vessel called _The Fenix_, and recommend that suitable
legislative provision be made for the maintenance of the unfortunate
captives pending the legislation which has grown out of the case.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 24, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the
information requested by the resolution of the Senate of the 21st
instant, in relation to "the state of the British establishments in the
valley of the Columbia and the state of the fur trade as carried on by
the citizens of the United States and the Hudsons Bay Company."

ANDREW JACKSON.


_January 25, 1831_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the inclosed
communication from the Secretary of the Navy, in relation to the pay and
other allowances of the officers of the Marine Corps, and to recommend
the adoption of the legislative provisions suggested in it.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, D.C., _January 26, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

In pursuance of the advice and consent of the Senate as expressed in
their resolution of the 10th February, 1830, the treaty of commerce and
navigation between the United States and Austria concluded in this city
on the 27th of August, 1829, was duly ratified by this Government on the
11th day of the same month of February; but the treaty itself containing
a stipulation that the ratifications of the two parties to it should be
exchanged within twelve months from the date of its signature, and that
of the Austrian Government not having been received here till after the
expiration of the time limited, I have not thought myself at liberty
under these circumstances, without the additional advice and consent of
the Senate, to authorize that ceremony on the part of this Government.
Information having been received at the Department of State from the
Austrian representative in the United States that he is prepared to
proceed to the exchange of the ratifications of his Government for that
of this, the question is therefore submitted to the Senate for their
advice and consent upon the occasion.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_February 3, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I respectfully submit to the Senate, in answer to their legislative
resolution of the 20th ultimo, in relation to the sales of land at the
Crawfordsville land office in November last, reports from the Secretary
of the Treasury and the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Concurring with the Secretary of the Treasury in the views he has taken
of the treaties and act of Congress touching the subject, I can not
discover that the President is invested with any power under the
Constitution or laws to withhold a patent from a purchaser who has given
a fair and valuable consideration for land, and thereby acquired a
vested right to the same; nor do I perceive that the sole legislative
resolution of the Senate can confer such a power, or suspend the right
of the citizens to enter the lands that have been offered for sale in
said district and remain unsold, so long as the law authorizing the same
remains unrepealed.

I beg leave, therefore, to present the subject to the reconsideration of
the Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _February 3, 1831_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Treasury
Department, in compliance with the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 3d ultimo, calling for the correspondence in
relation to locating a cession of lands made or intended to be made by
the Pottawattamie tribe of Indians for the benefit of the State of
Indiana, etc.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to the House of Representatives, in compliance with their
resolution of the 29th of January last, calling for information and
papers respecting the seizure of American vessels by the naval forces of
Portugal forming the blockade of the island of Terceira, a report from
the Secretary of State, which, with the documents accompanying it,
contains the information in his Department upon that subject, and avail
myself of the occasion further to inform the House of Representatives
that orders had before the introduction of the resolution referred to
been given to fit out a ship of war for the more effectual protection of
our commerce in that quarter.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_February 16, 1831_.


Washington, _February 19, 1831._
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I present for the consideration of Congress a report from the Secretary
of War, relative to a compromise of title of the island on which Fort
Delaware has been constructed.

ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same message was sent to the Senate.)


_February 22, 1831_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress a letter from Mr. Rhind, stating the
circumstances under which he received the four Arabian horses that were
brought by him to the United States from Turkey. His letter will enable
Congress to decide what ought to be done with them.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_February 22, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have received your resolution of the 15th instant, requesting me "to
inform the Senate whether the provisions of the act entitled 'An act to
regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve
peace on the frontiers,' passed the 30th of March, 1802, have been fully
complied with on the part of the United States Government, and if they
have not that he inform the Senate of the reasons that have induced the
Government to decline the enforcement of said act," and I now reply to
the same.

According to my views of the act referred to, I am not aware of any
omission to carry into effect its provisions in relation to trade and
intercourse with the Indian tribes so far as their execution depended on
the agency confided to the Executive.

The numerous provisions of that act designed to secure to the Indians
the peaceable possession of their lands may be reduced, substantially,
to the following: That citizens of the United States are restrained
under sufficient penalties from entering upon the lands for the purpose
of hunting thereon, or of settling them, or of giving their horses and
cattle the benefit of a range upon them, or of traveling through them
without a written permission; and that the President of the United
States is authorized to employ the military force of the country to
secure the observance of these provisions. The authority to the
President, however, is not imperative. The language is:

    It shall be lawful for the President to take such measures and to
    employ such military force as he may judge necessary to remove from
    lands belonging to or secured by treaty to any Indian tribe any
    citizen who shall make a settlement thereon.

By the nineteenth section of this act it is provided that nothing in it
"shall be construed to prevent any trade or intercourse with Indians
living on lands surrounded by settlements of citizens of the United
States and being within the ordinary jurisdiction of any of the
individual States." This provision I have interpreted as being
prospective in its operation and as applicable not only to Indian tribes
which at the date of its passage were subject to the jurisdiction of any
State, but to such also as should thereafter become so. To this
construction of its meaning I have endeavored to conform, and have taken
no step inconsistent with it. As soon, therefore, as the sovereign power
of the State of Georgia was exercised by an extension of her laws
throughout her limits, and I had received information of the same,
orders were given to withdraw from the State the troops which had been
detailed to prevent intrusion upon the Indian lands within it, and these
orders were executed. The reasons which dictated them shall be frankly
communicated.

The principle recognized in the section last quoted was not for the
first time then avowed. It is conformable to the uniform practice of the
Government before the adoption of the Constitution, and amounts to a
distinct recognition by Congress at that early day of the doctrine that
that instrument had not varied the powers of the Federal Government over
Indian affairs from what they were under the Articles of Confederation.
It is not believed that there is a single instance in the legislation of
the country in which the Indians have been regarded as possessing
political rights independent of the control and authority of the States
within the limits of which they resided. As early as the year 1782 the
Journals of Congress will show that no claim of such a character was
countenanced by that body. In that year the application of a tribe of
Indians residing in South Carolina to have certain tracts of land which
had been reserved for their use in that State secured to them free from
intrusion, and without the right of alienating them even with their own
consent, was brought to the consideration of Congress by a report from
the Secretary of War. The resolution which was adopted on that occasion
is as follows:

    _Resolved_, That it be recommended to the legislature of South
    Carolina to take such measures for the satisfaction and security of
    said tribes as the said legislature in their wisdom may think fit.

Here is no assertion of the right of Congress under the Articles of
Confederation to interfere with the jurisdiction of the States over
Indians within their limits, but rather a negation of it. They refused
to interfere with the subject, and referred it under a general
recommendation back to the State, to be disposed of as her wisdom might
decide.

If in addition to this act and the language of the Articles of
Confederation anything further can be wanting to show the early views of
the Government on the subject, it will be found in the proclamation
issued by Congress in 1783. It contains this language:

    The United States in Congress assembled have thought proper to issue
    their proclamation, and they do hereby prohibit and forbid all
    persons from making settlements on lands inhabited or claimed by
    Indians without the limits or jurisdiction of any particular State.

And again:

    _Resolved_, That the preceding measures of Congress relative to
    Indian affairs shall not be construed to affect the territorial
    claims of any of the States or their legislative rights within their
    respective limits.

It was not then pretended that the General Government had the power in
their relations with the Indians to control or oppose the internal
polity of the individual States of this Union, and if such was the case
under the Articles of Confederation the only question on the subject
since must arise out of some more enlarged power or authority given to
the General Government by the present Constitution. Does any such exist?

Amongst the enumerated grants of the Constitution that which relates to
this subject is expressed in these words: "Congress shall have power to
regulate commerce with the Indian tribes." In the interpretation of this
power we ought certainly to be guided by what had been the practice of
the Government and the meaning which had been generally attached to the
resolves of the old Congress if the words used to convey it do not
clearly import a different one, as far as it affects the question of
jurisdiction in the individual States. The States ought not to be
divested of any part of their antecedent jurisdiction by implication or
doubtful construction. Tested by this rule it seems to me to be
unquestionable that the jurisdiction of the States is left untouched by
this clause of the Constitution, and that it was designed to give to the
General Government complete control over the trade and intercourse of
those Indians only who were not within the limits of any State.

From a view of the acts referred to and the uniform practice of the
Government it is manifest that until recently it has never been
maintained that the right of jurisdiction by a State over Indians within
its territory was subordinate to the power of the Federal Government.
That doctrine has not been enforced nor even asserted in any of the
States of New England where tribes of Indians have resided, and where a
few of them yet remain. These tribes have been left to the undisturbed
control of the States in which they were found, in conformity with the
view which has been taken of the opinions prevailing up to 1789 and the
clear interpretation of the act of 1802. In the State of New York, where
several tribes have resided, it has been the policy of the Government to
avoid entering into quasi treaty engagements with them, barely
appointing commissioners occasionally on the part of the United States
to facilitate the objects of the State in its negotiations with them.
The Southern States present an exception to this policy. As early as
1784 the settlements within the limits of North Carolina were advanced
farther to the west than the authority of the State to enforce an
obedience of its laws. Others were in a similar condition. The
necessities, therefore, and not the acknowledged principles, of the
Government must have suggested the policy of treating with the Indians
in that quarter as the only practicable mode of conciliating their good
will. The United States at that period had just emerged from a
protracted war for the achievement of their independence. At the moment
of its conclusion many of these tribes, as powerful as they were
ferocious in their mode of warfare, remained in arms, desolating our
frontier settlements. Under these circumstances the first treaties, in
1785 and 1790, with the Cherokees, were concluded by the Government of
the United States, and were evidently sanctioned as measures of
necessity adapted to the character of the Indians and indispensable to
the peace and security of the western frontier. But they can not be
understood as changing the political relations of the Indians to the
States or to the Federal Government. To effect this would have required
the operation of quite a different principle and the intervention of a
tribunal higher than that of the treaty-making power.

To infer from the assent of the Government to this deviation from the
practice which had before governed its intercourse with the Indians, and
the accidental forbearance of the States to assert their right of
jurisdiction over them, that they had surrendered this portion of their
sovereignty, and that its assumption now is usurpation, is conceding too
much to the necessity which dictated those treaties, and doing violence
to the principles of the Government and the rights of the States without
benefiting in the least degree the Indians. The Indians thus situated
can not be regarded in any other light than as members of a foreign
government or of that of the State within whose chartered limits they
reside. If in the former, the ordinary legislation of Congress in
relation to them is not warranted by the Constitution, which was
established for the benefit of our own, not of a foreign people. If in
the latter, then, like other citizens or people resident within the
limits of the States, they are subject to their jurisdiction and
control. To maintain a contrary doctrine and to require the Executive to
enforce it by the employment of a military force would be to place in
his hands a power to make war upon the rights of the States and the
liberties of the country--a power which should be placed in the hands of
no individual.

If, indeed, the Indians are to be regarded as people possessing rights
which they can exercise independently of the States, much error has
arisen in the intercourse of the Government with them. Why is it that
they have been called upon to assist in our wars without the privilege
of exercising their own discretion? If an independent people, they
should as such be consulted and advised with; but they have not been. In
an order which was issued to me from the War Department in September,
1814, this language is employed:

    All the friendly Indians should be organized and prepared to
    cooperate with your other forces. There appears to be some
    dissatisfaction among the Choctaws; their friendship and services
    should be secured without delay. The friendly Indians must be fed
    and paid, and _made to fight when_ and _where their services may be
    required_.

To an independent and foreign people this would seem to be assuming, I
should suppose, rather too lofty a tone--one which the Government would
not have assumed if they had considered them in that light. Again, by
the Constitution the power of declaring war belongs exclusively to
Congress. We have been often engaged in war with the Indian tribes
within our limits, but when have these hostilities been preceded or
accompanied by an act of Congress declaring war against the tribe which
was the object of them? And was the prosecution of such hostilities an
usurpation in each case by the Executive which conducted them of the
constitutional power of Congress? It must have been so, I apprehend, if
these tribes are to be considered as foreign and independent nations.

The steps taken to prevent intrusion upon Indian lands had their origin
with the commencement of our Government, and became the subject of
special legislation in 1802, with the reservations which have been
mentioned in favor of the jurisdiction of the States. With the exception
of South Carolina, who has uniformly regulated the Indians within her
limits without the aid of the General Government, they have been felt
within all the States of the South without being understood to affect
their rights or prevent the exercise of their jurisdiction, whenever
they were in a situation to assume and enforce it. Georgia, though
materially concerned, has on this principle forborne to spread her
legislation farther than the settlements of her own white citizens,
until she has recently perceived within her limits a people claiming to
be capable of self-government, sitting in legislative council,
organizing courts and administering justice. To disarm such an anomalous
invasion of her sovereignty she has declared her determination to
execute her own laws throughout her limits--a step which seems to have
been anticipated by the proclamation of 1783, and which is perfectly
consistent with the nineteenth section of the act of 1802. According to
the language and reasoning of that section, the tribes to the South and
the Southwest are not only "surrounded by settlements of the citizens of
the United States," but are now also "within the ordinary jurisdiction
of the individual States." They became so from the moment the laws of
the State were extended over them, and the same result follows the
similar determination of Alabama and Mississippi. These States have each
a right to claim in behalf of their position now on this question the
same respect which is conceded to the other States of the Union.

Toward this race of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not
sensible that the views which I have taken of their true interests are
less favorable to them than those which oppose their emigration to the
West. Years since I stated to them my belief that if the States chose to
extend their laws over them it would not be in the power of the Federal
Government to prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no
alternative for them but that of their removal to the West or a quiet
submission to the State laws. If they prefer to remove, the United
States agree to defray their expenses, to supply them the means of
transportation and a year's support after they reach their new homes--a
provision too liberal and kind to deserve the stamp of injustice. Either
course promises them peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate
perseverance in the effort to maintain their possessions independent of
the State authority can not fail to render their condition still more
helpless and miserable. Such an effort ought, therefore, to be
discountenanced by all who sincerely sympathize in the fortunes of this
peculiar people, and especially by the political bodies of the Union, as
calculated to disturb the harmony of the two Governments and to endanger
the safety of the many blessings which they enable us to enjoy.

As connected with the subject of this inquiry, I beg leave to refer to
the accompanying letter from the Secretary of War, inclosing the orders
which proceeded from that Department, and a letter from the governor of
Georgia.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _February 26, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

The inclosed report[11] of the Secretary of War is herewith inclosed in
answer to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday's date.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 11: Relative to the expenditure of appropriations for
improving the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.]


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I present for the consideration of the Senate articles of agreement
entered into and concluded by commissioners duly appointed on the part
of the United States and the chiefs of the Menominee tribe of Indians at
Green Bay. Various attempts were made to reconcile the conflicting
interests of the New York Indians, but without success, as will appear
by the report made by the Secretary of War. No stipulation in their
favor could be introduced into the agreement without the consent of the
Menominees, and that consent could not be obtained to any greater extent
than the articles show.

Congress only is competent now to adjust and arrange these differences
and satisfy the demands of the New York Indians. The whole matter is
respectfully submitted.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_February 28, 1831_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit to the consideration of the Senate of the United States
articles of agreement and convention concluded this day between the
United States, by a commissioner duly authorized, and the Seneca tribe
of Indians resident in the State of Ohio.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_February 28, 1831_.


_February 28, 1831_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I lay before the House of Representatives a treaty recently concluded
with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, that provision may be made for
carrying the same into effect agreeably to the estimate heretofore
presented by the Secretary of War to the Committee of Ways and Means. It
is a printed copy as it passed the Senate, no amendment having been made
except to strike out the preamble. I also communicate a letter from the
Secretary of War on this subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 1, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the use of the Senate, printed copies of the
treaties which have been lately ratified between the United States and
the Choctaw Indians and between the United States and the confederated
tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes.


ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)


WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1831_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress a treaty of commerce and navigation between
the United States and the Emperor of Austria, concluded in this city on
the 28th March, 1830, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the
10th of February last.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_March 2, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

John H. Clack, a master commandant in the Navy of the United States,
having rank as such from the 24th April, 1828, was on the sentence of a
court-martial, which was approved by me, ordered to be dismissed from
the service. On a reexamination of the record of the trial I am
satisfied that the proceeding was illegal in substance, and therefore
that the sentence was void.

To restore the party to the rights of which he was deprived by the
enforcement of a sentence which was in law erroneous and void, I
nominate the said John H. Clack to be a master commandant in the Navy of
the United States, to take rank as such from the 24th April, 1828.

ANDREW JACKSON.




PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas information has been transmitted to the President of the United
States by the governor of the Territory of Arkansas that certain persons
pretending to act under the authority of the Mexican Government, and
without any lawful right or power derived from that of the United
States, have attempted to and do survey, for sale and settlement, a
portion of the public lands in said Territory, and particularly in the
counties of Lafayette, Sevier, and Miller, and have presumed to and do
administer to the citizens residing in said counties the oath of
allegiance to the said Mexican Government; and

Whereas such acts and practices are contrary to the law of the land and
the provisions of the act of Congress approved the 3d day of March, A.D.
1807, and are offenses against the peace and public tranquillity of the
said Territory and the inhabitants thereof:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the
United States, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me in and
by the said act of Congress, do issue this my proclamation, commanding
and strictly enjoining all persons who have unlawfully entered upon,
taken possession of, or made any settlement on the public lands in the
said counties of Lafayette, Sevier, or Miller, or who may be in the
unlawful occupation or possession of the same, or any part thereof,
forthwith to depart and remove therefrom; and I do hereby command and
require the marshal of the said Territory of Arkansas, or other officer
or officers acting as such marshal, from and after the 15th day of April
next to remove or cause to be removed all persons who may then
unlawfully be upon, in possession of, or who may unlawfully occupy any
of the public lands in the said counties of Lafayette, Sevier, or
Miller, or who may be surveying or attempting to survey the same without
any authority therefor from the Government of the United States; and to
execute and carry into effect this proclamation I do hereby authorize
the employment of such military force as may be necessary pursuant to
the act of Congress aforesaid, and warn all offenders in the premises
that they will be prosecuted and punished in such other way and manner
as may be consistent with the provisions and requisitions of the law in
such case made and provided.

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of February, A.D. 1831,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the fifty-fifth.

ANDREW JACKSON.
By the President.




EXECUTIVE ORDER.

Washington, _August 6, 1831_.
_Acting Secretary of War_.

Sir: You will, after the receipt of this, report to the President for
dismissal every clerk in your office who shall avail himself of the
benefit of the insolvent debtors' act for debts contracted during my
Administration.

Very respectfully,
ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same order was addressed to the Secretary of the Navy.)




THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.

_December 6, 1831_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The representation of the people has been renewed for the twenty-second
time since the Constitution they formed has been in force. For near half
a century the Chief Magistrates who have been successively chosen have
made their annual communications of the state of the nation to its
representatives. Generally these communications have been of the most
gratifying nature, testifying an advance in all the improvements of
social and all the securities of political life. But frequently and
justly as you have been called on to be grateful for the bounties of
Providence, at few periods have they been more abundantly or extensively
bestowed than at the present; rarely, if ever, have we had greater
reason to congratulate each other on the continued and increasing
prosperity of our beloved country.

Agriculture, the first and most important occupation of man, has
compensated the labors of the husbandman with plentiful crops of all the
varied products of our extensive country. Manufactures have been
established in which the funds of the capitalist find a profitable
investment, and which give employment and subsistence to a numerous and
increasing body of industrious and dexterous mechanics. The laborer is
rewarded by high wages in the construction of works of internal
improvement, which are extending with unprecedented rapidity. Science is
steadily penetrating the recesses of nature and disclosing her secrets,
while the ingenuity of free minds is subjecting the elements to the
power of man and making each new conquest auxiliary to his comfort. By
our mails, whose speed is regularly increased and whose routes are every
year extended, the communication of public intelligence and private
business is rendered frequent and safe; the intercourse between distant
cities, which it formerly required weeks to accomplish, is now effected
in a few days; and in the construction of railroads and the application
of steam power we have a reasonable prospect that the extreme parts of
our country will be so much approximated and those most isolated by the
obstacles of nature rendered so accessible as to remove an apprehension
sometimes entertained that the great extent of the Union would endanger
its permanent existence.

If from the satisfactory view of our agriculture, manufactures, and
internal improvements we turn to the state of our navigation and trade
with foreign nations and between the States, we shall scarcely find less
cause for gratulation. A beneficent Providence has provided for their
exercise and encouragement an extensive coast, indented by capacious
bays, noble rivers, inland seas; with a country productive of every
material for shipbuilding and every commodity for gainful commerce, and
filled with a population active, intelligent, well-informed, and
fearless of danger. These advantages are not neglected, and an impulse
has lately been given to commercial enterprise, which fills our
shipyards with new constructions, encourages all the arts and branches
of industry connected with them, crowds the wharves of our cities with
vessels, and covers the most distant seas with our canvas.

Let us be grateful for these blessings to the beneficent Being who has
conferred them, and who suffers us to indulge a reasonable hope of their
continuance and extension, while we neglect not the means by which they
may be preserved. If we may dare to judge of His future designs by the
manner in which His past favors have been bestowed, He has made our
national prosperity to depend on the preservation of our liberties, our
national force on our Federal Union, and our individual happiness on the
maintenance of our State rights and wise institutions. If we are
prosperous at home and respected abroad, it is because we are free,
united, industrious, and obedient to the laws. While we continue so we
shall by the blessing of Heaven go on in the happy career we have begun,
and which has brought us in the short period of our political existence
from a population of three to thirteen millions; from thirteen separate
colonies to twenty-four united States; from weakness to strength; from a
rank scarcely marked in the scale of nations to a high place in their
respect.

This last advantage is one that has resulted in a great degree from the
principles which have guided our intercourse with foreign powers since
we have assumed an equal station among them, and hence the annual
account which the Executive renders to the country of the manner in
which that branch of his duties has been fulfilled proves instructive
and salutary.

The pacific and wise policy of our Government kept us in a state of
neutrality during the wars that have at different periods since our
political existence been carried on by other powers; but this policy,
while it gave activity and extent to our commerce, exposed it in the
same proportion to injuries from the belligerent nations. Hence have
arisen claims of indemnity for those injuries. England, France, Spain,
Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Naples, and lately Portugal had all in a
greater or less degree infringed our neutral rights. Demands for
reparation were made upon all. They have had in all, and continue to
have in some, cases a leading influence on the nature of our relations
with the powers on whom they were made.

Of the claims upon England it is unnecessary to speak further than to
say that the state of things to which their prosecution and denial gave
rise has been succeeded by arrangements productive of mutual good
feeling and amicable relations between the two countries, which it is
hoped will not be interrupted. One of these arrangements is that
relating to the colonial trade which was communicated to Congress at the
last session; and although the short period during which it has been in
force will not enable me to form an accurate judgment of its operation,
there is every reason to believe that it will prove highly beneficial.
The trade thereby authorized has employed to the 30th September last
upward of 30,000 tons of American and 15,000 tons of foreign shipping in
the outward voyages, and in the inward nearly an equal amount of
American and 20,000 only of foreign tonnage. Advantages, too, have
resulted to our agricultural interests from the state of the trade
between Canada and our Territories and States bordering on the St.
Lawrence and the Lakes which may prove more than equivalent to the loss
sustained by the discrimination made to favor the trade of the northern
colonies with the West Indies.

After our transition from the state of colonies to that of an
independent nation many points were found necessary to be settled
between us and Great Britain. Among them was the demarcation of
boundaries not described with sufficient precision in the treaty of
peace. Some of the lines that divide the States and Territories of the
United States from the British Provinces have been definitively fixed.
That, however, which separates us from the Provinces of Canada and New
Brunswick to the north and the east was still in dispute when I came
into office, but I found arrangements made for its settlement over which
I had no control. The commissioners who had been appointed under the
provisions of the treaty of Ghent having been unable to agree, a
convention was made with Great Britain by my immediate predecessor in
office, with the advice and consent of the Senate, by which it was
agreed "that the points of difference which have arisen in the
settlement of the boundary line between the American and British
dominions, as described in the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent,
shall be referred, as therein provided, to some friendly sovereign or
State, who shall be invited to investigate and make a decision upon such
points of difference;" and the King of the Netherlands having by the
late President and His Britannic Majesty been designated as such
friendly sovereign, it became my duty to carry with good faith the
agreement so made into full effect. To this end I caused all the
measures to be taken which were necessary to a full exposition of our
case to the sovereign arbiter, and nominated as minister plenipotentiary
to his Court a distinguished citizen of the State most interested in the
question, and who had been one of the agents previously employed for
settling the controversy. On the 10th day of January last His Majesty
the King of the Netherlands delivered to the plenipotentiaries of the
United States and of Great Britain his written opinion on the case
referred to him. The papers in relation to the subject will be
communicated by a special message to the proper branch of the Government
with the perfect confidence that its wisdom will adopt such measures as
will secure an amicable settlement of the controversy without infringing
any constitutional right of the States immediately interested.

It affords me satisfaction to inform you that suggestions made by my
direction to the chargé d'affaires of His Britannic Majesty to this
Government have had their desired effect in producing the release of
certain American citizens who were imprisoned for setting up the
authority of the State of Maine at a place in the disputed territory
under the actual jurisdiction of His Britannic Majesty. From this and
the assurances I have received of the desire of the local authorities to
avoid any cause of collision I have the best hopes that a good
understanding will be kept up until it is confirmed by the final
disposition of the subject.

The amicable relations which now subsist between the United States and
Great Britain, the increasing intercourse between their citizens, and
the rapid obliteration of unfriendly prejudices to which former events
naturally gave rise concurred to present this as a fit period for
renewing our endeavors to provide against the recurrence of causes of
irritation which in the event of war between Great Britain and any other
power would inevitably endanger our peace. Animated by the sincerest
desire to avoid such a state of things, and peacefully to secure under
all possible circumstances the rights and honor of the country, I have
given such instructions to the minister lately sent to the Court of
London as will evince that desire, and if met by a correspondent
disposition, which we can not doubt, will put an end to causes of
collision which, without advantage to either, tend to estrange from each
other two nations who have every motive to preserve not only peace, but
an intercourse of the most amicable nature.

In my message at the opening of the last session of Congress I expressed
a confident hope that the justice of our claims upon France, urged as
they were with perseverance and signal ability by our minister there,
would finally be acknowledged. This hope has been realized. A treaty has
been signed which will immediately be laid before the Senate for its
approbation, and which, containing stipulations that require legislative
acts, must have the concurrence of both Houses before it can be carried
into effect. By it the French Government engage to pay a sum which, if
not quite equal to that which may be found due to our citizens, will
yet, it is believed, under all circumstances, be deemed satisfactory by
those interested. The offer of a gross sum instead of the satisfaction
of each individual claim was accepted because the only alternatives were
a rigorous exaction of the whole amount stated to be due on each claim,
which might in some instances be exaggerated by design, in others
overrated through error, and which, therefore, it would have been both
ungracious and unjust to have insisted on; or a settlement by a mixed
commission, to which the French negotiators were very averse, and which
experience in other cases had shewn to be dilatory and often wholly
inadequate to the end. A comparatively small sum is stipulated on our
part to go to the extinction of all claims by French citizens on our
Government, and a reduction of duties on our cotton and their wines has
been agreed on as a consideration for the renunciation of an important
claim for commercial privileges under the construction they gave to the
treaty for the cession of Louisiana.

Should this treaty receive the proper sanction, a source of irritation
will be stopped that has for so many years in some degree alienated from
each other two nations who, from interest as well as the remembrance of
early associations, ought to cherish the most friendly relations; an
encouragement will be given for perseverance in the demands of justice
by this new proof that if steadily pursued they will be listened to, and
admonition will be offered to those powers, if any, which may be
inclined to evade them that they will never be abandoned; above all, a
just confidence will be inspired in our fellow-citizens that their
Government will exert all the powers with which they have invested it in
support of their just claims upon foreign nations; at the same time that
the frank acknowledgment and provision for the payment of those which
were addressed to our equity, although unsupported by legal proof,
affords a practical illustration of our submission to the divine rule of
doing to others what we desire they should do unto us.

Sweden and Denmark having made compensation for the irregularities
committed by their vessels or in their ports to the perfect satisfaction
of the parties concerned, and having renewed the treaties of commerce
entered into with them, our political and commercial relations with
those powers continue to be on the most friendly footing.

With Spain our differences up to the 22d of February, 1819, were settled
by the treaty of Washington of that date, but at a subsequent period our
commerce with the States formerly colonies of Spain on the continent of
America was annoyed and frequently interrupted by her public and private
armed ships. They captured many of our vessels prosecuting a lawful
commerce and sold them and their cargoes, and at one time to our demands
for restoration and indemnity opposed the allegation that they were
taken in the violation of a blockade of all the ports of those States.
This blockade was declaratory only, and the inadequacy of the force to
maintain it was so manifest that this allegation was varied to a charge
of trade in contraband of war. This, in its turn, was also found
untenable, and the minister whom I sent with instructions to press for
the reparation that was due to our injured fellow-citizens has
transmitted an answer to his demand by which the captures are declared
to have been legal, and are justified because the independence of the
States of America never having been acknowledged by Spain she had a
right to prohibit trade with them under her old colonial laws. This
ground of defense was contradictory, not only to those which had been
formerly alleged, but to the uniform practice and established laws of
nations, and had been abandoned by Spain herself in the convention which
granted indemnity to British subjects for captures made at the same
time, under the same circumstances, and for the same allegations with
those of which we complain.

I, however, indulge the hope that further reflection will lead to other
views, and feel confident that when His Catholic Majesty shall be
convinced of the justice of the claims his desire to preserve friendly
relations between the two countries, which it is my earnest endeavor to
maintain, will induce him to accede to our demand. I have therefore
dispatched a special messenger with instructions to our minister to
bring the case once more to his consideration, to the end that if (which
I can not bring myself to believe) the same decision (that can not but
be deemed an unfriendly denial of justice) should be persisted in the
matter may before your adjournment be laid before you, the
constitutional judges of what is proper to be done when negotiation for
redress of injury fails.

The conclusion of a treaty for indemnity with France seemed to present a
favorable opportunity to renew our claims of a similar nature on other
powers, and particularly in the case of those upon Naples, more
especially as in the course of former negotiations with that power our
failure to induce France to render us justice was used as an argument
against us. The desires of the merchants, who were the principal
sufferers, have therefore been acceded to, and a mission has been
instituted for the special purpose of obtaining for them a reparation
already too long delayed. This measure having been resolved on, it was
put in execution without waiting for the meeting of Congress, because
the state of Europe created an apprehension of events that might have
rendered our application ineffectual.

Our demands upon the Government of the Two Sicilies are of a peculiar
nature. The injuries on which they are founded are not denied, nor are
the atrocity and perfidy under which those injuries were perpetrated
attempted to be extenuated. The sole ground on which indemnity has been
refused is the alleged illegality of the tenure by which the monarch who
made the seizures held his crown. This defense, always unfounded in any
principle of the law of nations, now universally abandoned, even by
those powers upon whom the responsibility for acts of past rulers bore
the most heavily, will unquestionably be given up by His Sicilian
Majesty, whose counsels will receive an impulse from that high sense of
honor and regard to justice which are said to characterize him; and I
feel the fullest confidence that the talents of the citizen commissioned
for that purpose will place before him the just claims of our injured
citizens in such a light as will enable me before your adjournment to
announce that they have been adjusted and secured. Precise instructions
to the effect of bringing the negotiation to a speedy issue have been
given, and will be obeyed.

In the late blockade of Terceira some of the Portuguese fleet captured
several of our vessels and committed other excesses, for which
reparation was demanded, and I was on the point of dispatching an armed
force to prevent any recurrence of a similar violence and protect our
citizens in the prosecution of their lawful commerce when official
assurances, on which I relied, made the sailing of the ships
unnecessary. Since that period frequent promises have been made that
full indemnity shall be given for the injuries inflicted and the losses
sustained. In the performance there has been some, perhaps unavoidable,
delay; but I have the fullest confidence that my earnest desire that
this business may at once be closed, which our minister has been
instructed strongly to express, will very soon be gratified. I have the
better ground for this hope from the evidence of a friendly disposition
which that Government has shown by an actual reduction in the duty on
rice the produce of our Southern States, authorizing the anticipation
that this important article of our export will soon be admitted on the
same footing with that produced by the most favored nation.

With the other powers of Europe we have fortunately had no cause of
discussions for the redress of injuries. With the Empire of the Russias
our political connection is of the most friendly and our commercial of
the most liberal kind. We enjoy the advantages of navigation and trade
given to the most favored nation, but it has not yet suited their
policy, or perhaps has not been found convenient from other
considerations, to give stability and reciprocity to those privileges by
a commercial treaty. The ill health of the minister last year charged
with making a proposition for that arrangement did not permit him to
remain at St. Petersburg, and the attention of that Government during
the whole of the period since his departure having been occupied by the
war in which it was engaged, we have been assured that nothing could
have been effected by his presence. A minister will soon be nominated,
as well to effect this important object as to keep up the relations of
amity and good understanding of which we have received so many
assurances and proofs from His Imperial Majesty and the Emperor his
predecessor.

The treaty with Austria is opening to us an important trade with the
hereditary dominions of the Emperor, the value of which has been
hitherto little known, and of course not sufficiently appreciated. While
our commerce finds an entrance into the south of Germany by means of
this treaty, those we have formed with the Hanseatic towns and Prussia
and others now in negotiation will open that vast country to the
enterprising spirit of our merchants on the north--a country abounding
in all the materials for a mutually beneficial commerce, filled with
enlightened and industrious inhabitants, holding an important place in
the politics of Europe, and to which we owe so many valuable citizens.
The ratification of the treaty with the Porte was sent to be exchanged
by the gentleman appointed our chargé d'affaires to that Court. Some
difficulties occurred on his arrival, but at the date of his last
official dispatch he supposed they had been obviated and that there was
every prospect of the exchange being speedily effected.

This finishes the connected view I have thought it proper to give of our
political and commercial relations in Europe. Every effort in my power
will be continued to strengthen and extend them by treaties founded on
principles of the most perfect reciprocity of interest, neither asking
nor conceding any exclusive advantage, but liberating as far as it lies
in my power the activity and industry of our fellow-citizens from the
shackles which foreign restrictions may impose.

To China and the East Indies our commerce continues in its usual extent,
and with increased facilities which the credit and capital of our
merchants afford by substituting bills for payments in specie. A daring
outrage having been committed in those seas by the plunder of one of our
merchantmen engaged in the pepper trade at a port in Sumatra, and the
piratical perpetrators belonging to tribes in such a state of society
that the usual course of proceedings between civilized nations could not
be pursued, I forthwith dispatched a frigate with orders to require
immediate satisfaction for the injury and indemnity to the sufferers.

Few changes have taken place in our connections with the independent
States of America since my last communication to Congress. The
ratification of a commercial treaty with the United Republics of Mexico
has been for some time under deliberation in their Congress, but was
still undecided at the date of our last dispatches. The unhappy civil
commotions that have prevailed there were undoubtedly the cause of the
delay, but as the Government is now said to be tranquillized we may hope
soon to receive the ratification of the treaty and an arrangement for
the demarcation of the boundaries between us. In the meantime, an
important trade has been opened with mutual benefit from St. Louis, in
the State of Missouri, by caravans to the interior Provinces of Mexico.
This commerce is protected in its progress through the Indian countries
by the troops of the United States, which have been permitted to escort
the caravans beyond our boundaries to the settled part of the Mexican
territory.

From Central America I have received assurances of the most friendly
kind and a gratifying application for our good offices to remove a
supposed indisposition toward that Government in a neighboring State.
This application was immediately and successfully complied with. They
gave us also the pleasing intelligence that differences which had
prevailed in their internal affairs had been peaceably adjusted. Our
treaty with this Republic continues to be faithfully observed, and
promises a great and beneficial commerce between the two countries--a
commerce of the greatest importance if the magnificent project of a ship
canal through the dominions of that State from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean, now in serious contemplation, shall be executed.

I have great satisfaction in communicating the success which has
attended the exertions of our minister in Colombia to procure a very
considerable reduction in the duties on our flour in that Republic.
Indemnity also has been stipulated for injuries received by our
merchants from illegal seizures, and renewed assurances are given that
the treaty between the two countries shall be faithfully observed.

Chili and Peru seem to be still threatened with civil commotions, and
until they shall be settled disorders may naturally be apprehended,
requiring the constant presence of a naval force in the Pacific Ocean to
protect our fisheries and guard our commerce.

The disturbances that took place in the Empire of Brazil previously to
and immediately consequent upon the abdication of the late Emperor
necessarily suspended any effectual application for the redress of some
past injuries suffered by our citizens from that Government, while they
have been the cause of others, in which all foreigners seem to have
participated. Instructions have been given to our minister there to
press for indemnity due for losses occasioned by these irregularities,
and to take care that our fellow-citizens shall enjoy all the privileges
stipulated in their favor by the treaty lately made between the two
powers, all which the good intelligence that prevails between our
minister at Rio Janeiro and the Regency gives us the best reason to
expect.

I should have placed Buenos Ayres in the list of South American powers
in respect to which nothing of importance affecting us was to be
communicated but for occurrences which have lately taken place at the
Falkland Islands, in which the name of that Republic has been used to
cover with a show of authority acts injurious to our commerce and to the
property and liberty of our fellow-citizens. In the course of the
present year one of our vessels, engaged in the pursuit of a trade which
we have always enjoyed without molestation, has been captured by a band
acting, as they pretend, under the authority of the Government of Buenos
Ayres. I have therefore given orders for the dispatch of an armed vessel
to join our squadron in those seas and aid in affording all lawful
protection to our trade which shall be necessary, and shall without
delay send a minister to inquire into the nature of the circumstances
and also of the claim, if any, that is set up by that Government to
those islands. In the meantime, I submit the case to the consideration
of Congress, to the end that they may clothe the Executive with such
authority and means as they may deem necessary for providing a force
adequate to the complete protection of our fellow-citizens fishing and
trading in those seas.

This rapid sketch of our foreign relations, it is hoped,
fellow-citizens, may be of some use in so much of your legislation as
may bear on that important subject, while it affords to the country at
large a source of high gratification in the contemplation of our
political and commercial connection with the rest of the world. At peace
with all; having subjects of future difference with few, and those
susceptible of easy adjustment; extending our commerce gradually on all
sides and on none by any but the most liberal and mutually beneficial
means, we may, by the blessing of Providence, hope for all that national
prosperity which can be derived from an intercourse with foreign
nations, guided by those eternal principles of justice and reciprocal
good will which are binding as well upon States as the individuals of
whom they are composed.

I have great satisfaction in making this statement of our affairs,
because the course of our national policy enables me to do it without
any indiscreet exposure of what in other governments is usually
concealed from the people. Having none but a straightforward, open
course to pursue, guided by a single principle that will bear the
strongest light, we have happily no political combinations to form, no
alliances to entangle us, no complicated interests to consult, and in
subjecting all we have done to the consideration of our citizens and to
the inspection of the world we give no advantage to other nations and
lay ourselves open to no injury.

It may not be improper to add that to preserve this state of things and
give confidence to the world in the integrity of our designs all our
consular and diplomatic agents are strictly enjoined to examine well
every cause of complaint preferred by our citizens, and while they urge
with proper earnestness those that are well founded, to countenance none
that are unreasonable or unjust, and to enjoin on our merchants and
navigators the strictest obedience to the laws of the countries to which
they resort, and a course of conduct in their dealings that may support
the character of our nation and render us respected abroad.

Connected with this subject, I must recommend a revisal of our consular
laws. Defects and omissions have been discovered in their operation that
ought to be remedied and supplied. For your further information on this
subject I have directed a report to be made by the Secretary of State,
which I shall hereafter submit to your consideration.

The internal peace and security of our confederated States is the next
principal object of the General Government. Time and experience have
proved that the abode of the native Indian within their limits is
dangerous to their peace and injurious to himself. In accordance with my
recommendation at a former session of Congress, an appropriation of half
a million of dollars was made to aid the voluntary removal of the
various tribes beyond the limits of the States. At the last session I
had the happiness to announce that the Chickasaws and Choctaws had
accepted the generous offer of the Government and agreed to remove
beyond the Mississippi River, by which the whole of the State of
Mississippi and the western part of Alabama will be freed from Indian
occupancy and opened to a civilized population. The treaties with these
tribes are in a course of execution, and their removal, it is hoped,
will be completed in the course of 1832.

At the request of the authorities of Georgia the registration of
Cherokee Indians for emigration has been resumed, and it is confidently
expected that one-half, if not two-thirds, of that tribe will follow the
wise example of their more westerly brethren. Those who prefer remaining
at their present homes will hereafter be governed by the laws of
Georgia, as all her citizens are, and cease to be the objects of
peculiar care on the part of the General Government.

During the present year the attention of the Government has been
particularly directed to those tribes in the powerful and growing State
of Ohio, where considerable tracts of the finest lands were still
occupied by the aboriginal proprietors. Treaties, either absolute or
conditional, have been made extinguishing the whole Indian title to the
reservations in that State, and the time is not distant, it is hoped,
when Ohio will be no longer embarrassed with the Indian population. The
same measures will be extended to Indiana as soon as there is reason to
anticipate success. It is confidently believed that perseverance for a
few years in the present policy of the Government will extinguish the
Indian title to all lands lying within the States composing our Federal
Union, and remove beyond their limits every Indian who is not willing to
submit to their laws. Thus will all conflicting claims to jurisdiction
between the States and the Indian tribes be put to rest. It is pleasing
to reflect that results so beneficial, not only to the States
immediately concerned, but to the harmony of the Union, will have been
accomplished by measures equally advantageous to the Indians. What the
native savages become when surrounded by a dense population and by
mixing with the whites may be seen in the miserable remnants of a few
Eastern tribes, deprived of political and civil rights, forbidden to
make contracts, and subjected to guardians, dragging out a wretched
existence, without excitement, without hope, and almost without thought.

But the removal of the Indians beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the
States does not place them beyond the reach of philanthropic aid and
Christian instruction. On the contrary, those whom philanthropy or
religion may induce to live among them in their new abode will be more
free in the exercise of their benevolent functions than if they had
remained within the limits of the States, embarrassed by their internal
regulations. Now subject to no control but the superintending agency of
the General Government, exercised with the sole view of preserving
peace, they may proceed unmolested in the interesting experiment of
gradually advancing a community of American Indians from barbarism to
the habits and enjoyments of civilized life.

Among the happiest effects of the improved relations of our Republic has
been an increase of trade, producing a corresponding increase of revenue
beyond the most sanguine anticipations of the Treasury Department.

The state of the public finances will be fully shown by the Secretary of
the Treasury in the report which he will presently lay before you. I
will here, however, congratulate you upon their prosperous condition.
The revenue received in the present year will not fall short of
$27,700,000, and the expenditures for all objects other than the public
debt will not exceed $14,700,000. The payment on account of the
principal and interest of the debt during the year will exceed
$16,500,000, a greater sum than has been applied to that object out of
the revenue in any year since the enlargement of the sinking fund except
the two years following immediately thereafter. The amount which will
have been applied to the public debt from the 4th of March, 1829, to the
1st of January next, which is less than three years since the
Administration has been placed in my hands, will exceed $40,000,000.

From the large importations of the present year it may be safely
estimated that the revenue which will be received into the Treasury from
that source during the next year, with the aid of that received from the
public lands, will considerably exceed the amount of the receipts of the
present year; and it is believed that with the means which the
Government will have at its disposal from various sources, which will be
fully stated by the proper Department, the whole of the public debt may
be extinguished, either by redemption or purchase, within the four years
of my Administration. We shall then exhibit the rare example of a great
nation, abounding in all the means of happiness and security, altogether
free from debt.

The confidence with which the extinguishment of the public debt may be
anticipated presents an opportunity for carrying into effect more fully
the policy in relation to import duties which has been recommended in my
former messages. A modification of the tariff which shall produce a
reduction of our revenue to the wants of the Government and an
adjustment of the duties on imports with a view to equal justice in
relation to all our national interests and to the counteraction of
foreign policy so far as it may be injurious to those interests, is
deemed to be one of the principal objects which demand the consideration
of the present Congress. Justice to the interests of the merchant as
well as the manufacturer requires that material reductions in the import
duties be prospective; and unless the present Congress shall dispose of
the subject the proposed reductions can not properly be made to take
effect at the period when the necessity for the revenue arising from
present rates shall cease. It is therefore desirable that arrangements
be adopted at your present session to relieve the people from
unnecessary taxation after the extinguishment of the public debt. In the
exercise of that spirit of concession and conciliation which has
distinguished the friends of our Union in all great emergencies, it is
believed that this object may be effected without injury to any national
interest.

In my annual message of December, 1829, I had the honor to recommend the
adoption of a more liberal policy than that which then prevailed toward
unfortunate debtors to the Government, and I deem it my duty again to
invite your attention to this subject.

Actuated by similar views, Congress at their last session passed an act
for the relief of certain insolvent debtors of the United States, but
the provisions of that law have not been deemed such as were adequate to
that relief to this unfortunate class of our fellow-citizens which may
be safely extended to them. The points in which the law appears to be
defective will be particularly communicated by the Secretary of the
Treasury, and I take pleasure in recommending such an extension of its
provisions as will unfetter the enterprise of a valuable portion of our
citizens and restore to them the means of usefulness to themselves and
the community. While deliberating on this subject I would also recommend
to your consideration the propriety of so modifying the laws for
enforcing the payment of debts due either to the public or to
individuals suing in the courts of the United States as to restrict the
imprisonment of the person to cases of fraudulent concealment of
property. The personal liberty of the citizen seems too sacred to be
held, as in many cases it now is, at the will of a creditor to whom he
is willing to surrender all the means he has of discharging his debt.

The reports from the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments and
from the Postmaster-General, which accompany this message, present
satisfactory views of the operations of the Departments respectively
under their charge, and suggest improvements which are worthy of and to
which I invite the serious attention of Congress. Certain defects and
omissions having been discovered in the operation of the laws respecting
patents, they are pointed out in the accompanying report from the
Secretary of State.

I have heretofore recommended amendments of the Federal Constitution
giving the election of President and Vice-President to the people and
limiting the service of the former to a single term. So important do I
consider these changes in our fundamental law that I can not, in
accordance with my sense of duty, omit to press them upon the
consideration of a new Congress. For my views more at large, as well in
relation to these points as to the disqualification of members of
Congress to receive an office from a President in whose election they
have had an official agency, which I proposed as a substitute, I refer
you to my former messages.

Our system of public accounts is extremely complicated, and it is
believed may be much improved. Much of the present machinery and a
considerable portion of the expenditure of public money may be dispensed
with, while greater facilities can be afforded to the liquidation of
claims upon the Government and an examination into their justice and
legality quite as efficient as the present secured. With a view to a
general reform in the system, I recommend the subject to the attention
of Congress.

I deem it my duty again to call your attention to the condition of the
District of Columbia. It was doubtless wise in the framers of our
Constitution to place the people of this District under the jurisdiction
of the General Government, but to accomplish the objects they had in
view it is not necessary that this people should be deprived of all the
privileges of self-government. Independently of the difficulty of
inducing the representatives of distant States to turn their attention
to projects of laws which are not of the highest interest to their
constituents, they are not individually, nor in Congress collectively,
well qualified to legislate over the local concerns of this District.
Consequently its interests are much neglected, and the people are almost
afraid to present their grievances, lest a body in which they are not
represented and which feels little sympathy in their local relations
should in its attempt to make laws for them do more harm than good.
Governed by the laws of the States whence they were severed, the two
shores of the Potomac within the 10 miles square have different penal
codes--not the present codes of Virginia and Mary land, but such as
existed in those States at the time of the cession to the United States.
As Congress will not form a new code, and as the people of the District
can not make one for themselves, they are virtually under two
governments. Is it not just to allow them at least a Delegate in
Congress, if not a local legislature, to make laws for the District,
subject to the approval or rejection of Congress? I earnestly recommend
the extension to them of every political right which their interests
require and which may be compatible with the Constitution.

The extension of the judiciary system of the United States is deemed to
be one of the duties of Government. One-fourth of the States in the
Union do not participate in the benefits of a circuit court. To the
States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Louisiana, admitted into the Union since the present judicial system was
organized, only a district court has been allowed. If this be
sufficient, then the circuit courts already existing in eighteen States
ought to be abolished; if it be not sufficient, the defect ought to be
remedied, and these States placed on the same footing with the other
members of the Union. It was on this condition and on this footing that
they entered the Union, and they may demand circuit courts as a matter
not of concession, but of right. I trust that Congress will not adjourn
leaving this anomaly in our system.

Entertaining the opinions heretofore expressed in relation to the Bank
of the United States as at present organized, I felt it my duty in my
former messages frankly to disclose them, in order that the attention of
the Legislature and the people should be seasonably directed to that
important subject, and that it might be considered and finally disposed
of in a manner best calculated to promote the ends of the Constitution
and subserve the public interests. Having thus conscientiously
discharged a constitutional duty, I deem it proper on this occasion,
without a more particular reference to the views of the subject then
expressed, to leave it for the present to the investigation of an
enlightened people and their representatives.

In conclusion permit me to invoke that Power which superintends all
governments to infuse into your deliberations at this important crisis
of our history a spirit of mutual forbearance and conciliation. In that
spirit was our Union formed, and in that spirit must it be preserved.

ANDREW JACKSON.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


Washington, _December 6, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its
ratification, a treaty between the United States and France, signed at
Paris by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 4th of
July, 1831.

With the treaty are also transmitted the dispatch which accompanied it,
and two others on the same subject received since.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 7, 1831_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

In my public message to both Houses of Congress I communicated the state
in which I had found the controverted claims of Great Britain and the
United States in relation to our northern and eastern boundary, and the
measures which since my coming into office I had pursued to bring it to
a close, together with the fact that on the 10th day of January last the
sovereign arbiter had delivered his opinion to the plenipotentiaries of
the United States and Great Britain.

I now transmit to you that opinion for your consideration, that you may
determine whether you will advise submission to the opinion delivered by
the sovereign arbiter and consent to its execution.

That you may the better be enabled to judge of the obligation as well as
the expediency of submitting to or rejecting the decision of the
arbiter, I herewith transmit--

1. A protest made by the minister plenipotentiary of the United States
after receiving the opinion of the King of the Netherlands, on which
paper it may be necessary to remark that I had always determined,
whatever might have been the result of the examination by the sovereign
arbiter, to have submitted the same to the Senate for their advice
before I executed or rejected it. Therefore no instructions were given
to the ministers to do any act that should commit the Government as to
the course it might deem proper to pursue on a full consideration of all
the circumstances of the case.

2. The dispatches from our minister at The Hague accompanying the
protest, as well as those previous and subsequent thereto, in relation
to the subject of the submission.

3. Communications between the Department of State and the governor of
the State of Maine in relation to this subject.

4. Correspondence between the chargé d'affaires of His Britannic Majesty
and the Department of State in relation to the arrest of certain persons
at Madawasca under the authority of the British Government at New
Brunswick.

It is proper to add that in addition to the evidence derived from Mr.
Treble's dispatches of the inclination of the British Government to
abide by the award, assurances to the same effect have been uniformly
made to our minister at London, and that an official communication on
that subject may very soon be expected.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington City, _December 7, 1831_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, two letters from
the Secretary of State, accompanied by statements from that Department
showing the progress which has been made in taking the Fifth Census of
the inhabitants of the United States, and also by a printed copy of the
revision of the statements heretofore transmitted to Congress of all
former enumerations of the population of the United States and their
Territories.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _December 13, 1831_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

The accompanying papers show the situation of extreme peril from which
more than sixty of our fellow-citizens have been rescued by the courage
and humanity of the master and crew of a Spanish brig. As no property
was saved, there were no means of making pecuniary satisfaction for the
risk and loss incurred in performing this humane and meritorious
service. Believing, therefore, that the obligation devolved upon the
nation, but having no funds at my disposal which I could think
constitutionally applicable to the case, I have thought honor as well as
justice required that the facts should be submitted to the consideration
of Congress, in order that they might provide not only a just indemnity
for the losses incurred, but some compensation adequate to the merits of
the service.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 13, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in obedience to a resolution of the Senate of the
8th December, 1831, all the information in the possession of the
Executive relative to the capture, abduction, and imprisonment of
American citizens by the provincial authorities of New Brunswick, and
the measures which, in consequence thereof, have been adopted by the
Executive of the United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON CITY, _December 21, 1831_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, a report of the
Secretary of State, respecting tonnage duties levied at Martinique and
Guadaloupe on American vessels and on French vessels from those islands
to the United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON CITY, _December 21, 1831_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

Since my message of the 7th instant, transmitting the award of the King
of the Netherlands, I have received the official communication, then
expected, of the determination of the British Government to abide by the
award. This communication is now respectfully laid before you for the
purpose of aiding your deliberations on the same subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 29, 1831_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
19th instant, requesting the President of the United States to
communicate to it "the correspondence between the governor of Georgia
and any Department of this Government, in the years 1830 and 1831, in
relation to the boundary line between the State of Georgia and the
Territory of Florida," I transmit herewith a communication from the
Secretary of State, with copies of the papers referred to. It is proper
to add, as the resolutions on this subject from the governor and
legislature of Georgia were received after the adjournment of the last
Congress, and as that body, after having the same subject under
consideration, had failed to authorize the President to take any steps
in relation to it, that it was my intention to present it in due time to
the attention of the present Congress by special message. This
determination has been hastened by the call of the House for the
information now communicated, and it only remains for me to await the
action of Congress upon the subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 5, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
ratification of the same, a treaty between the United States and the
principal chiefs and warriors of the mixed band of Seneca and Shawnee
Indians living on the waters of the Great Miami and within the
territorial limits of the county of Logan, in the State of Ohio, entered
into on the 30th day of July, 1831; and also a treaty between the United
States and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the band of Ottaway
Indians residing within the State of Ohio, entered into on the 30th of
August, 1831.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a report made by the Secretary of State on the
subject of a commercial arrangement with the Republic of Colombia, which
requires legislative action to carry it into effect.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 12, 1832_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
ratification of the same, a treaty made on the 8th of August last with
the Shawnee Indians.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 18, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in answer to the
resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, and accompanied by copies of
the instructions and correspondence relative to the late treaty with
France, called for by that resolution.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 20, 1832_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:

I respectfully invite the attention of Congress to the propriety of
compromising the title of the islands on which Fort Delaware stands in
the manner pointed out by the accompanying report from the War
Department. This subject was presented to Congress during the last
session, but for want of time, it is believed, did not receive its
action.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a copy of a
correspondence between the late minister of Great Britain and the late
Secretary of State of the United States on the subject of a claim of
Cyrenius Hall, a British subject and an inhabitant of Upper Canada, for
the loss which he alleges to have sustained in consequence of the
imputed seizure of a schooner (his property) by the collector of the
customs at Venice, in Sandusky Bay, in the year 1821, and the subsequent
neglect of that officer in relation to the said schooner, together with
copies of the documents adduced in support of the claim, that such
legislative provision may be made in behalf of the claimant as shall
appear just and proper in the case.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 24, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
20th instant, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War,
containing all the information in possession of the Executive required
by that resolution.

For the reason assigned by the Secretary in his report I have to request
that the abstracts of the Choctaw reservations may be returned to the
War Department when the House shall no longer require them.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith reports from the Secretaries of the War and Navy
Departments, containing the information required by the resolution of
the House of the 5th instant, in regard to the expenditures on
breakwaters since 1815.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 27, 1832_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 18th instant, I
herewith transmit a report[12] of the Secretary of State, which,
together with the letter of His Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires
heretofore communicated, demanding the execution of the opinion
delivered by the sovereign arbiter, contains all the information
requested by the said resolution, omitting nothing that may enable the
Senate to give the advice requested by my message of the 7th of December
last, on the question of carrying into effect the opinion of the King of
the Netherlands.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 12: Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United
States.]


WASHINGTON CITY, _January 27, 1832_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

Since the dismission of Lieutenant Hampton Westcott for participating as
second in a duel in March, A.D. 1830, a more particular investigation of
the circumstances has resulted in exonerating him from having instigated
the fatal meeting, and the said Westcott, on a trial by a jury, has been
acquitted of all legal guilt in the transaction.

I therefore nominate the said Hampton Westcott to be a lieutenant in the
Navy of the United States from the 17th of May, 1828, his former date,
and to take rank next after Richard R. McMullin.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 3, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In addition to the documents relating to the settlement of the
northeastern boundary of the United States now in possession of the
Senate, I have just received certain proceedings and resolutions of the
legislature of the State of Maine on the subject, which are herewith
transmitted.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 6, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
3d March, 1831, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State
on the subject of the regulations of England, France, and the
Netherlands respecting their fisheries.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON; _February 7, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

A convention having been entered into between the United States and the
King of the French, it has been ratified with the advice and consent of
the Senate; and my ratification having been exchanged in due form on the
2d of February, 1832, by the Secretary of State and the envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the King of the French, it
is now communicated to you for consideration in your legislative
capacity.

You will observe that some important conditions can not be carried into
execution but with the aid of the Legislature, and that the proper
provisions for that purpose seem to be required without delay.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 7, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

A treaty of commerce and navigation having been entered into between the
United States and the Sublime Porte, it has been ratified with the
advice and consent of the Senate; and my ratification having been
exchanged in due form on the 5th October, 1831, by our chargé d'affaires
at Constantinople and that Government, it is now communicated to both
Houses of Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of the Senate, a report from
the Department of War, showing the situation of the country at Green Bay
ceded for the benefit of the New York Indians, and also the proceedings
of the commissioner, who has lately had a meeting with them.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, made in compliance
with a resolution of the Senate of March 2, 1831, requesting the
President of the United States "to cause to be collected and reported to
the Senate at the commencement of the next stated session of Congress
the most authentic information which can be obtained of the number and
names of the American citizens who have been killed or robbed while
engaged in the fur trade or the inland trade to Mexico since the late
war with Great Britain, the amount of the robberies committed, and at
what places and by what tribes; also the number of persons who annually
engage in the fur trade and inland trade to Mexico, the amount of
capital employed, and the annual amount of the proceeds in furs, robes,
peltries, money, etc.; also the disadvantages, if any, which these
branches of trade labor under, and the means for their relief and
protection."

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
3d March, 1831, I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of War "of
the survey of the Savannah and Tennessee rivers made in 1828."

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, containing the
information and documents[13] called for by a resolution of the Senate
of the 9th instant.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 13: Dispatch of Mr. Gallatin transmitting the convention of
September 29, 1827, and report of an exploring survey from the Sebois
River to the head waters of the Penobscot River, made in 1829.]


WASHINGTON, _February 15, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Being more and more convinced that the destiny of the Indians within the
settled portion of the United States depends upon their entire and
speedy migration to the country west of the Mississippi set apart for
their permanent residence, I am anxious that all the arrangements
necessary to the complete execution of the plan of removal and to the
ultimate security and improvement of the Indians should be made without
further delay. Those who have already removed and are removing are
sufficiently numerous to engage the serious attention of the Government,
and it is due not less to them than to the obligation which the nation
has assumed that every reasonable step should be taken to fulfill the
expectations that have been held out to them. Many of those who yet
remain will no doubt within a short period become sensible that the
course recommended is the only one which promises stability or
improvement, and it is to be hoped that all of them will realize this
truth and unite with their brethren beyond the Mississippi. Should they
do so, there would then be no question of jurisdiction to prevent the
Government from exercising such a general control over their affairs as
may be essential to their interest and safety. Should any of them,
however, repel the offer of removal, they are free to remain, but they
must remain with such privileges and disabilities as the respective
States within whose jurisdiction they live may prescribe.

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, which presents a
general outline of the progress that has already been made in this work
and of all that remains to be done. It will be perceived that much
information is yet necessary for the faithful performance of the duties
of the Government, without which it will be impossible to provide for
the execution of some of the existing stipulations, or make those
prudential arrangements upon which the final success of the whole
movement, so far as relates to the Indians themselves, must depend.

I recommend the subject to the attention of Congress in the hope that
the suggestions in this report may be found useful and that provision
may be made for the appointment of the commissioners therein referred to
and for vesting them with such authority as may be necessary to the
satisfactory performance of the important duties proposed to be
intrusted to them.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 20, 1832_.
_To the Senate._

I nominate Charles Ellery to be a lieutenant in the Navy of the United
States, to take rank as if appointed the 29th of April, 1826.

In explanation of the above nomination the President submits to the
Senate the following facts:

Charles Ellery was originally appointed a lieutenant in the Navy the
13th of January, 1825, and was dismissed from the service the 24th of
November, 1830. The dismissal was in pursuance of the sentence of the
same court-martial which tried Master Commandant Clack in September,
1830; but it is thought no technical objections to the legality of the
proceedings can be found so well sustained as they were in the case of
Master Commandant Clack before the Senate at their last session, and it
is supposed that Lieutenant Ellery has no claim for restoration to his
former rank except on the ground of great severity in the sentence,
founded on unfavorable impressions as to his conduct, which his prior
and subsequent behavior, as manifested in the documents hereto annexed,
prove to have been in some degree erroneous. The charges were
intemperance and sleeping on his post. His departures from strict
temperance were only in a few instances, and seem to have arisen from
domestic calamity and never to have grown into a habit; and the only
instance testified to in support of the other charge seems now at least
doubtful, and if sustained at all to be imputable to the same cause.

Under these views of the case, which a charitable consideration of the
proceedings and of his character as fully developed in the annexed
documents appears fully to justify, his punishment ought, in my opinion,
to be mitigated. He is therefore nominated so as to restore him to the
service, with loss of pay and rank for about the time elapsed since his
last dismission.

The proceedings of the court-martial and the testimonials referred to
are inclosed, numbered from 1 to 10.

ANDREW JACKSON.


UNITED STATES, _February 24, 1832_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

I lay before you, for your consideration and advice, a treaty of limits
between the United States of America and the Republic of Mexico,
concluded at Mexico on the 12th day of January, 1828, and a
supplementary article relating thereto, signed also at Mexico on the 5th
day of April, 1831.

ANDREW JACKSON.


UNITED STATES, _February 24, 1832_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

I lay before you, for your consideration and advice, a treaty of amity
and commerce between the United States of America and the Republic of
Mexico, concluded at Mexico on the 5th day of April, in the year 1831.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 29, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 22d December,
1831, calling for certain information in relation to the trade between
the United States and the British American colonies, I transmit herewith
a report from the Secretary of the Treasury.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 29, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution requesting the President of the United
States to communicate to the Senate the considerations which in his
opinion render it proper that the United States should be represented by
a chargé d àffaires to the King of the Belgians at this time, I transmit
herewith a report from the Secretary of State.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 1, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I submit to the consideration of Congress the accompanying report from
the Secretary of State, showing the propriety of making some change by
law in the duty on the red wines imported into the United States from
Austria.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 1, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

Since my message yesterday in answer to the resolution of the Senate of
the 22d December, 1831, calling for certain information in possession of
the Executive relating to the trade between the United States and the
British American colonies, I have received a report from the Secretary
of State on the subject, which is also respectfully submitted to the
Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of February 9, 1832, I
have received the accompanying report from the Commissioner of the
General Land Office, "on the extent and amount of business of the
surveyor-general's district for Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas, and
the expediency of dividing the said district," which is respectfully
submitted to the Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 12, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
7th instant, requesting the President of the United States to inform the
House "whether any, and, if any, what, Indian tribes or nations who
joined the enemy in the late war with Great Britain continue to receive
annuities from the United States under treaties made prior to the war
and not renewed since the peace," I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of War.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 12, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the
information called for by the resolution of the House of the 26th
January last, in relation to the expenditures incurred by the execution
of the act approved May 28, 1830, entitled "An act to provide for an
exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the States or
Territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi."

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 12, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War,
containing the information called for by the resolution of the Senate of
the 12th of January last, in relation to the employment of agents among
the Indians since the passage of the "act to provide for an exchange of
lands with the Indians residing within any of the States or Territories,
and for their removal west of the Mississippi," approved 28th May, 1830.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 14, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I submit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate as to their
advice and consent to the same, an agreement or convention lately made
with a band of the Wyandot Indians residing within the limits of Ohio.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 16, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, containing the
information called for by the House of Representatives of the 24th
February last, in relation to the situation of the Government of the
Republic of Colombia and the state of our diplomatic relations with it.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 26, 1832_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
ratification of the same, a treaty concluded at this city on the 24th
instant between the United States and the Creek tribe of Indians.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 29, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution requesting the "President to inform
the Senate whether any, and, if any, what, communications have passed
between the executive department of the United States and the executive
or legislative department of the State of Maine relative to the
northeastern boundary, and whether any proposition has been made by
either that the boundary designated by the King of the Netherlands shall
be established for a _consideration_ to be paid to Maine, and, if so,
what consideration was proposed, so far as the same may not be
inconsistent with the public interest," I transmit herewith a report
from the Secretary of State.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 2, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 17th of the last
month, requesting the President to obtain and communicate to it as soon
as may be practicable information "whether possession has been taken of
any part of the territory of the United States on the Pacific Ocean by
the subjects of any foreign power, with any other information relative
to the condition and character of the said territory," I transmit
herewith reports from the Secretaries of the State and Navy Departments,
from which it will appear that there is no satisfactory information on
the subject now in possession of the Executive, and that none is likely
to be obtained but at an expense which can not be incurred without the
authority of Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1832_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to Congress a report from the Secretary of State,
showing the circumstances under which refuge was given on board the
United States ship _St. Louis_, Captain Sloat, to the vice-president of
the Republic of Peru and to General Miller, and the expense thereby
incurred by Captain Sloat, for the payment of which there is no fund
applicable to the case.

I recommend to Congress that provision be made for this and similar
cases that may occur in future.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1832_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:

I submit herewith to the consideration of Congress a report from the
Secretary of State, showing the necessity of providing additional
accommodations for the Patent Office, and proposing the purchase of a
suitable building, which has been offered to the Government for the
purpose.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, made in
compliance with the resolution of the Senate which requests the
President to communicate to the Senate, if not incompatible with the
public interest, that portion of the correspondence between Mr. McLane,
while minister at London, and the Secretary of State, and also between
our said minister and the British Government, respecting the colonial
trade, which may not have been communicated with his message to Congress
of the 3d January, 1831.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 6, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I nominate William P. Zantzinger, of Pennsylvania, to be a purser in the
Navy of the United States.

In submitting the above nomination it is deemed proper to give some
detail of the peculiar circumstances of the case. Mr. Zantzinger was
formerly a purser, and after a trial by a court-martial in January,
1830, was dismissed from the naval service. The record is inclosed,
marked A. In July, 1830, verbally, afterwards in writing early in 1831,
he applied for restoration to his former situation and date on the
assumed ground that the proceedings in his trial were illegal and void,
and he fortified himself by the many numerous certificates and opinions
herewith forwarded, marked B.

These have been carefully examined, and though failing to convince me of
the correctness of his position in respect to the nullity of those
proceedings, I am satisfied that under all the circumstances of the case
a mitigation of his sentence can be justified on both public and
personal grounds.

With the loss of his former date and of his pay since his dismission, I
have therefore submitted his nomination to take effect like an original
entry into the service, only from its confirmation by the Senate. There
is now one vacancy in the corps of pursers.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 9, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution requesting the President to transmit
to the Senate "Lord Aberdeen's letter in answer to Mr. Barbour's of the
27th November, 1828, and also so much of a letter of the 22d April,
1831, from Mr. McLane to Mr. Van Buren as relates to the proposed duty
on cotton," I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State,
communicating copies of the letters referred to.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 13, 1832_.
_To the Congress of the United States_:

Approving the suggestions expressed by the Secretary of State in regard
to the propriety of exempting Portuguese vessels entering the ports of
the United States from the payment of the duties on tonnage, in
consequence of a like exemption being extended to those of the United
States, I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, his
letter on the subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 18, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report[14] from the Secretary of the Treasury,
containing the information called for by the resolution of the Senate of
the 3d instant.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 14: Relating to trade with the European possessions of Great
Britain for the year ending September 30, 1831.]


WASHINGTON, _April 19, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith printed copies of each of the treaties between the
United States and the Indian tribes that have been ratified during the
present session of Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 20, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant,
requesting the President "to communicate to the Senate all the
instructions given by this Government to our ministers to Great Britain
and all the correspondence of our ministers on the subject of the
colonial and West India trade since the 3d of March, 1825, not
heretofore communicated, so far as the public interest will, in his
judgment, permit," I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
State, containing the information required.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 23, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a report from
the Secretary of State, suggesting the propriety of passing a law making
it criminal within the limits of the United States to counterfeit the
current coin of any foreign nation.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _April 23, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury,
containing the information called for by the resolution of the 26th of
March last, in which the President is requested to communicate to the
Senate--

First. The total amount of public lands belonging to the United States
which remain unsold, whether the Indian title thereon has been
extinguished or not, as far as that amount can be ascertained from
surveys actually made or by estimate, and distinguishing the States and
Territories respectively in which it is situated, and the quantity in
each.

Second. The amount on which, the Indian title has been extinguished and
the sums paid for the extinction thereof, and the amount on which the
Indian title remains to be extinguished.

Third. The amount which has been granted by Congress from time to time
in the several States and Territories, distinguishing between them and
stating the purposes for which the grants were respectively made, and
the amount of lands granted or money paid in satisfaction of Virginia
land claims.

Fourth. The amount which has been heretofore sold by the United States,
distinguishing between the States and Territories in which it is
situated.

Fifth. The amount which has been paid to France, Spain, and Georgia for
the public lands acquired from them respectively, including the amount
which has been paid to purchasers from Georgia to quiet or in
satisfaction of their claims, and the amount paid to the Indians to
extinguish their title within the limits of Georgia.

Sixth. The total expense of administering the public domain since the
declaration of independence, including all charges for surveying, for
land offices, and other disbursements, and exhibiting the net amount
which has been realized in the Treasury from that source.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _May 1, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the use of the House, a printed copy of two
treaties lately ratified between the United States of America and the
United Mexican States.

ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same message was sent to the Senate.)


WASHINGTON, _May 2,1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 1st instant, in
relation to the imprisonment[15] of Samuel G. Howe, I transmit herewith
a report from the Secretary of State, by which it appears that no
information on the subject has yet reached the Department of State but
what is contained in the public newspapers.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 15: In Berlin, Prussia.]


WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 18th instant, I
transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of
the several instructions under which the recent treaty of indemnity with
Denmark was negotiated, and also of the other papers relating to the
negotiation required by the resolution.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 27th of February
last, requesting copies of the instructions and correspondence relating
to the negotiation of the treaty with the Sublime Porte, together with
those of the negotiations preceding the treaty from the year 1819, I
transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with the papers
required.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _June 11, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I renominate Samuel Gwin to be register of the land office at Clinton,
in the State of Mississippi.

In nominating Mr. Gwin to this office again it is proper to state to the
Senate that I do so in compliance with the request of a number of the
most respectable citizens of the State of Mississippi and with that of
one of the Senators from the same State. The letters expressing this
request are herewith respectfully inclosed for the consideration of the
Senate. It will be perceived that they bear the fullest testimony to the
fitness of Mr. Gwin for the office, and evince a strong desire that he
should be continued in it.

Under these circumstances, and possessing myself a personal knowledge of
his integrity and fitness and of the claims which his faithful and
patriotic services give him upon the Government, I deem it an act of
justice to nominate him again, not doubting that the Senate will embrace
with cheerfulness an opportunity, with fuller information, to reconsider
their former vote upon his nomination.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _June 25, 1832_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State,
on the subject of the abolition of discriminating duties on the tonnage
of Spanish vessels. As it requires legislative enactment, I recommend it
to the early attention of Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)


WASHINGTON CITY, _July 12, 1832_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_.

SIR: In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives
passed this day, requesting the President of the United States "to lay
before the House copies of the instructions given to the commander of
the frigate _Potomac_ previous to and since the departure of that ship
from the island of Sumatra, and copies of such letters as may have been
received from said commander after his arrival at Quallah Battoo, except
such parts as may in his judgment require secrecy," I forward copies of
the two letters of instructions to Captain Downes in relation to the
piratical plunder and murder of our citizens at Quallah Battoo, on the
coast of Sumatra, detailing his proceedings.

The instructions, with the papers annexed, are all that have been given
bearing on this subject, and although parts of them do not relate
materially to the supposed object of the resolution, yet it has been
deemed expedient to omit nothing contained in the originals.

The letter and report from Captain Downes which are herewith furnished
are all yet received from him bearing upon his proceedings at Quallah
Battoo; but as further intelligence may hereafter be communicated by
him, I send them for the information of the House, submitting, however,
in justice to that officer, that their contents should not be published
until he can enjoy a further opportunity of giving more full
explanations of all the circumstances under which he conducted.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _July 14, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 17th of February
last, requesting copies of the instructions and correspondence relative
to the treaty with the Sublime Porte, together with those of the
negotiations preceding that treaty, from the year 1829, I transmit
herewith a supplemental report from the Secretary of State, with the
papers accompanying the same.

ANDREW JACKSON.




VETO MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, _July 10, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

The bill "to modify and continue" the act entitled "An act to
incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States" was
presented to me on the 4th July instant. Having considered it with that
solemn regard to the principles of the Constitution which the day was
calculated to inspire, and come to the conclusion that it ought not to
become a law, I herewith return it to the Senate, in which it
originated, with my objections.

A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient for the
Government and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and
deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and privileges
possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the Constitution,
subversive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to the liberties
of the people, I felt it my duty at an early period of my Administration
to call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organizing an
institution combining all its advantages and obviating these objections.
I sincerely regret that in the act before me I can perceive none of
those modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my
opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, or with
the Constitution of our country.

The present corporate body, denominated the president, directors, and
company of the Bank of the United States, will have existed at the time
this act is intended to take effect twenty years. It enjoys an exclusive
privilege of banking under the authority of the General Government, a
monopoly of its favor and support, and, as a necessary consequence,
almost a monopoly of the foreign and domestic exchange. The powers,
privileges, and favors bestowed upon it in the original charter, by
increasing the value of the stock far above its par value, operated as a
gratuity of many millions to the stockholders.

An apology may be found for the failure to guard against this result in
the consideration that the effect of the original act of incorporation
could not be certainly foreseen at the time of its passage. The act
before me proposes another gratuity to the holders of the same stock,
and in many cases to the same men, of at least seven millions more. This
donation finds no apology in any uncertainty as to the effect of the
act. On all hands it is conceded that its passage will increase at least
20 or 30 per cent more the market price of the stock, subject to the
payment of the annuity of $200,000 per year secured by the act, thus
adding in a moment one-fourth to its par value. It is not our own
citizens only who are to receive the bounty of our Government. More than
eight millions of the stock of this bank are held by foreigners. By this
act the American Republic proposes virtually to make them a present of
some millions of dollars. For these gratuities to foreigners and to some
of our own opulent citizens the act secures no equivalent whatever. They
are the certain gains of the present stockholders under the operation of
this act, after making full allowance for the payment of the bonus.

Every monopoly and all exclusive privileges are granted at the expense
of the public, which ought to receive a fair equivalent. The many
millions which this act proposes to bestow on the stockholders of the
existing bank must come directly or indirectly out of the earnings of
the American people. It is due to them, therefore, if their Government
sell monopolies and exclusive privileges, that they should at least
exact for them as much as they are worth in open market. The value of
the monopoly in this case may be correctly ascertained. The twenty-eight
millions of stock would probably be at an advance of 50 per cent, and
command in market at least $42,000,000, subject to the payment of the
present bonus. The present value of the monopoly, therefore, is
$17,000,000, and this the act proposes to sell for three millions,
payable in fifteen annual installments of $200,000 each.

It is not conceivable how the present stockholders can have any claim to
the special favor of the Government. The present corporation has enjoyed
its monopoly during the period stipulated in the original contract. If
we must have such a corporation, why should not the Government sell out
the whole stock and thus secure to the people the full market value of
the privileges granted? Why should not Congress create and sell
twenty-eight millions of stock, incorporating the purchasers with all
the powers and privileges secured in this act and putting the premium
upon the sales into the Treasury?

But this act does not permit competition in the purchase of this
monopoly. It seems to be predicated on the erroneous idea that the
present stockholders have a prescriptive right not only to the favor but
to the bounty of Government. It appears that more than a fourth part of
the stock is held by foreigners and the residue is held by a few hundred
of our own citizens, chiefly of the richest class. For their benefit
does this act exclude the whole American people from competition in the
purchase of this monopoly and dispose of it for many millions less than
it is worth. This seems the less excusable because some of our citizens
not now stockholders petitioned that the door of competition might be
opened, and offered to take a charter on terms much more favorable to
the Government and country.

But this proposition, although made by men whose aggregate wealth is
believed to be equal to all the private stock in the existing bank, has
been set aside, and the bounty of our Government is proposed to be again
bestowed on the few who have been fortunate enough to secure the stock
and at this moment wield the power of the existing institution. I can
not perceive the justice or policy of this course. If our Government
must sell monopolies, it would seem to be its duty to take nothing less
than their full value, and if gratuities must be made once in fifteen or
twenty years let them not be bestowed on the subjects of a foreign
government nor upon a designated and favored class of men in our own
country. It is but justice and good policy, as far as the nature of the
case will admit, to confine our favors to our own fellow citizens, and
let each in his turn enjoy an opportunity to profit by our bounty. In
the bearings of the act before me upon these points I find ample reasons
why it should not become a law.

It has been urged as an argument in favor of rechartering the present
bank that the calling in its loans will produce great embarrassment and
distress. The time allowed to close its concerns is ample, and if it has
been well managed its pressure will be light, and heavy only in case its
management has been bad. If, therefore, it shall produce distress, the
fault will be its own, and it would furnish a reason against renewing a
power which has been so obviously abused. But will there ever be a time
when this reason will be less powerful? To acknowledge its force is to
admit that the bank ought to be perpetual, and as a consequence the
present stockholders and those inheriting their rights as successors be
established a privileged order, clothed both with great political power
and enjoying immense pecuniary advantages from their connection with the
Government.

The modifications of the existing charter proposed by this act are not
such, in my view, as make it consistent with the rights of the States or
the liberties of the people. The qualification of the right of the bank
to hold real estate, the limitation of its power to establish branches,
and the power reserved to Congress to forbid the circulation of small
notes are restrictions comparatively of little value or importance. All
the objectionable principles of the existing corporation, and most of
its odious features, are retained without alleviation.

The fourth section provides "that the notes or bills of the said
corporation, although the same be, on the faces thereof, respectively
made payable at one place only, shall nevertheless be received by the
said corporation at the bank or at any of the offices of discount and
deposit thereof if tendered in liquidation or payment of any balance or
balances due to said corporation or to such office of discount and
deposit from any other incorporated bank." This provision secures to the
State banks a legal privilege in the Bank of the United States which is
withheld from all private citizens. If a State bank in Philadelphia owe
the Bank of the United States and have notes issued by the St. Louis
branch, it can pay the debt with those notes, but if a merchant,
mechanic, or other private citizen be in like circumstances he can not
by law pay his debt with those notes, but must sell them at a discount
or send them to St. Louis to be cashed. This boon conceded to the State
banks, though not unjust in itself, is most odious because it does not
measure out equal justice to the high and the low, the rich and the
poor. To the extent of its practical effect it is a bond of union among
the banking establishments of the nation, erecting them into an interest
separate from that of the people, and its necessary tendency is to unite
the Bank of the United States and the State banks in any measure which
may be thought conducive to their common interest.

The ninth section of the act recognizes principles of worse tendency
than any provision of the present charter.

It enacts that "the cashier of the bank shall annually report to the
Secretary of the Treasury the names of all stockholders who are not
resident citizens of the United States, and on the application of the
treasurer of any State shall make out and transmit to such treasurer a
list of stockholders residing in or citizens of such State, with the
amount of stock owned by each." Although this provision, taken in
connection with a decision of the Supreme Court, surrenders, by its
silence, the right of the States to tax the banking institutions created
by this corporation under the name of branches throughout the Union, it
is evidently intended to be construed as a concession of their right to
tax that portion of the stock which may be held by their own citizens
and residents. In this light, if the act becomes a law, it will be
understood by the States, who will probably proceed to levy a tax equal
to that paid upon the stock of banks incorporated by themselves. In some
States that tax is now 1 per cent, either on the capital or on the
shares, and that may be assumed as the amount which all citizen or
resident stockholders would be taxed under the operation of this act. As
it is only the stock _held_ in the States and not that _employed_ within
them which would be subject to taxation, and as the names of foreign
stockholders are not to be reported to the treasurers of the States, it
is obvious that the stock held by them will be exempt from this burden.
Their annual profits will therefore be 1 per cent more than the citizen
stockholders, and as the annual dividends of the bank may be safely
estimated at 7 per cent, the stock will be worth 10 or 15 per cent more
to foreigners than to citizens of the United States. To appreciate the
effects which this state of things will produce, we must take a brief
review of the operations and present condition of the Bank of the United
States.

By documents submitted to Congress at the present session it appears
that on the 1st of January, 1832, of the twenty-eight millions of
private stock in the corporation, $8,405,500 were held by foreigners,
mostly of Great Britain. The amount of stock held in the nine Western
and Southwestern States is $140,200, and in the four Southern States is
$5,623,100, and in the Middle and Eastern States is about $13,522,000.
The profits of the bank in 1831, as shown in a statement to Congress,
were about $3,455,598; of this there accrued in the nine Western States
about $1,640,048; in the four Southern States about $352,507, and in the
Middle and Eastern States about $1,463,041. As little stock is held in
the West, it is obvious that the debt of the people in that section to
the bank is principally a debt to the Eastern and foreign stockholders;
that the interest they pay upon it is carried into the Eastern States
and into Europe, and that it is a burden upon their industry and a drain
of their currency, which no country can bear without inconvenience and
occasional distress. To meet this burden and equalize the exchange
operations of the bank, the amount of specie drawn from those States
through its branches within the last two years, as shown by its official
reports, was about $6,000,000. More than half a million of this amount
does not stop in the Eastern States, but passes on to Europe to pay the
dividends of the foreign stockholders. In the principle of taxation
recognized by this act the Western States find no adequate compensation
for this perpetual burden on their industry and drain of their currency.
The branch bank at Mobile made last year $95,140, yet under the
provisions of this act the State of Alabama can raise no revenue from
these profitable operations, because not a share of the stock is held by
any of her citizens. Mississippi and Missouri are in the same condition
in relation to the branches at Natchez and St. Louis, and such, in a
greater or less degree, is the condition of every Western State. The
tendency of the plan of taxation which this act proposes will be to
place the whole United States in the same relation to foreign countries
which the Western States now bear to the Eastern. When by a tax on
resident stockholders the stock of this bank is made worth 10 or 15 per
cent more to foreigners than to residents, most of it will inevitably
leave the country.

Thus will this provision in its practical effect deprive the Eastern as
well as the Southern and Western States of the means of raising a
revenue from the extension of business and great profits of this
institution. It will make the American people debtors to aliens in
nearly the whole amount due to this bank, and send across the Atlantic
from two to five millions of specie every year to pay the bank
dividends.

In another of its bearings this provision is fraught with danger. Of the
twenty-five directors of this bank five are chosen by the Government and
twenty by the citizen stockholders. From all voice in these elections
the foreign stockholders are excluded by the charter. In proportion,
therefore, as the stock is transferred to foreign holders the extent of
suffrage in the choice of directors is curtailed. Already is almost a
third of the stock in foreign hands and not represented in elections. It
is constantly passing out of the country, and this act will accelerate
its departure. The entire control of the institution would necessarily
fall into the hands of a few citizen stockholders, and the ease with
which the object would be accomplished would be a temptation to
designing men to secure that control in their own hands by monopolizing
the remaining stock. There is danger that a president and directors
would then be able to elect themselves from year to year, and without
responsibility or control manage the whole concerns of the bank during
the existence of its charter. It is easy to conceive that great evils to
our country and its institutions might flow from such a concentration of
power in the hands of a few men irresponsible to the people.

Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that in its
nature has so little to bind it to our country? The president of the
bank has told us that most of the State banks exist by its forbearance.
Should its influence become concentered, as it may under the operation
of such an act as this, in the hands of a self-elected directory whose
interests are identified with those of the foreign stockholders, will
there not be cause to tremble for the purity of our elections in peace
and for the independence of our country in war? Their power would be
great whenever they might choose to exert it; but if this monopoly were
regularly renewed every fifteen or twenty years on terms proposed by
themselves, they might seldom in peace put forth their strength to
influence elections or control the affairs of the nation. But if any
private citizen or public functionary should interpose to curtail its
powers or prevent a renewal of its privileges, it can not be doubted
that he would be made to feel its influence.

Should the stock of the bank principally pass into the hands of the
subjects of a foreign country, and we should unfortunately become
involved in a war with that country, what would be our condition? Of the
course which would be pursued by a bank almost wholly owned by the
subjects of a foreign power, and managed by those whose interests, if
not affections, would run in the same direction there can be no doubt.
All its operations within would be in aid of the hostile fleets and
armies without. Controlling our currency, receiving our public moneys,
and holding thousands of our citizens in dependence, it would be more
formidable and dangerous than the naval and military power of the enemy.

If we must have a bank with private stockholders, every consideration of
sound policy and every impulse of American feeling admonishes that it
should be _purely American_. Its stockholders should be composed
exclusively of our own citizens, who at least ought to be friendly to
our Government and willing to support it in times of difficulty and
danger. So abundant is domestic capital that competition in subscribing
for the stock of local banks has recently led almost to riots. To a bank
exclusively of American stockholders, possessing the powers and
privileges granted by this act, subscriptions for $200,000,000 could be
readily obtained. Instead of sending abroad the stock of the bank in
which the Government must deposit its funds and on which it must rely to
sustain its credit in times of emergency, it would rather seem to be
expedient to prohibit its sale to aliens under penalty of absolute
forfeiture.

It is maintained by the advocates of the bank that its constitutionality
in all its features ought to be considered as settled by precedent and
by the decision of the Supreme Court. To this conclusion I can not
assent. Mere precedent is a dangerous source of authority, and should
not be regarded as deciding questions of constitutional power except
where the acquiescence of the people and the States can be considered as
well settled. So far from this being the case on this subject, an
argument against the bank might be based on precedent. One Congress, in
1791, decided in favor of a bank; another, in 1811, decided against it.
One Congress, in 1815, decided against a bank; another, in 1816, decided
in its favor. Prior to the present Congress, therefore, the precedents
drawn from that source were equal. If we resort to the States, the
expressions of legislative, judicial, and executive opinions against the
bank have been probably to those in its favor as 4 to 1. There is
nothing in precedent, therefore, which, if its authority were admitted,
ought to weigh in favor of the act before me.

If the opinion of the Supreme Court covered the whole ground of this
act, it ought not to control the coordinate authorities of this
Government. The Congress, the Executive, and the Court must each for
itself be guided by its own opinion of the Constitution. Each public
officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears that he
will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by
others. It is as much the duty of the House of Representatives, of the
Senate, and of the President to decide upon the constitutionality of any
bill or resolution which may be presented to them for passage or
approval as it is of the supreme judges when it may be brought before
them for judicial decision. The opinion of the judges has no more
authority over Congress than the opinion of Congress has over the
judges, and on that point the President is independent of both. The
authority of the Supreme Court must not, therefore, be permitted to
control the Congress or the Executive when acting in their legislative
capacities, but to have only such influence as the force of their
reasoning may deserve.

But in the case relied upon the Supreme Court have not decided that all
the features of this corporation are compatible with the Constitution.
It is true that the court have said that the law incorporating the bank
is a constitutional exercise of power by Congress; but taking into view
the whole opinion of the court and the reasoning by which they have come
to that conclusion, I understand them to have decided that inasmuch as a
bank is an appropriate means for carrying into effect the enumerated
powers of the General Government, therefore the law incorporating it is
in accordance with that provision of the Constitution which declares
that Congress shall have power "to make all laws which shall be
necessary and proper for carrying those powers into execution." Having
satisfied themselves that the word "_necessary_" in the Constitution
means "_needful," "requisite," "essential," "conducive to_," and that "a
bank" is a convenient, a useful, and essential instrument in the
prosecution of the Government's "fiscal operations," they conclude that
to "use one must be within the discretion of Congress" and that "the act
to incorporate the Bank of the United States is a law made in pursuance
of the Constitution;" "but," say they, "_where the law is not prohibited
and is really calculated to effect any of the objects intrusted to the
Government, to undertake here to inquire into the degree of its
necessity would be to pass the line which circumscribes the judicial
department and to tread on legislative ground_."

The principle here affirmed is that the "degree of its necessity,"
involving all the details of a banking institution, is a question
exclusively for legislative consideration. A bank is constitutional, but
it is the province of the Legislature to determine whether this or that
particular power, privilege, or exemption is "necessary and proper" to
enable the bank to discharge its duties to the Government, and from
their decision there is no appeal to the courts of justice. Under the
decision of the Supreme Court, therefore, it is the exclusive province
of Congress and the President to decide whether the particular features
of this act are _necessary_ and _proper_ in order to enable the bank to
perform conveniently and efficiently the public duties assigned to it as
a fiscal agent, and therefore constitutional, or _unnecessary_ and
_improper_, and therefore unconstitutional.

Without commenting on the general principle affirmed by the Supreme
Court, let us examine the details of this act in accordance with the
rule of legislative action which they have laid down. It will be found
that many of the powers and privileges conferred on it can not be
supposed necessary for the purpose for which it is proposed to be
created, and are not, therefore, means necessary to attain the end in
view, and consequently not justified by the Constitution.

The original act of incorporation, section 21, enacts "that no other
bank shall be established by any future law of the United States during
the continuance of the corporation hereby created, for which the faith
of the United States is hereby pledged: _Provided_, Congress may renew
existing charters for banks within the District of Columbia not
increasing the capital thereof, and may also establish any other bank or
banks in said District with capitals not exceeding in the whole
$6,000,000 if they shall deem it expedient." This provision is continued
in force by the act before me fifteen years from the 3d of March, 1836.

If Congress possessed the power to establish one bank, they had power to
establish more than one if in their opinion two or more banks had been
"necessary" to facilitate the execution of the powers delegated to them
in the Constitution. If they possessed the power to establish a second
bank, it was a power derived from the Constitution to be exercised from
time to time, and at any time when the interests of the country or the
emergencies of the Government might make it expedient. It was possessed
by one Congress as well as another, and by all Congresses alike, and
alike at every session. But the Congress of 1816 have taken it away from
their successors for twenty years, and the Congress of 1832 proposes to
abolish it for fifteen years more. It can not be "_necessary_" or
"_proper_" for Congress to barter away or divest themselves of any of
the powers vested in them by the Constitution to be exercised for the
public good. It is not "_necessary_" to the efficiency of the bank, nor
is it "_proper_" in relation to themselves and their successors. They
may _properly_ use the discretion vested in them, but they may not limit
the discretion of their successors. This restriction on themselves and
grant of a monopoly to the bank is therefore unconstitutional.

In another point of view this provision is a palpable attempt to amend
the Constitution by an act of legislation. The Constitution declares
that "the Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation in
all cases whatsoever" over the District of Columbia. Its constitutional
power, therefore, to establish banks in the District of Columbia and
increase their capital at will is unlimited and uncontrollable by any
other power than that which gave authority to the Constitution. Yet this
act declares that Congress shall _not_ increase the capital of existing
banks, nor create other banks with capitals exceeding in the whole
$6,000,000. The Constitution declares that Congress _shall_ have power
to exercise exclusive legislation over this District "_in all cases
whatsoever_," and this act declares they shall not. Which is the supreme
law of the land? This provision can not be "_necessary_" or "_proper_"
or _constitutional_ unless the absurdity be admitted that whenever it be
"necessary and proper" in the opinion of Congress they have a right to
barter away one portion of the powers vested in them by the Constitution
as a means of executing the rest.

On two subjects only does the Constitution recognize in Congress the
power to grant exclusive privileges or monopolies. It declares that
"Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful
arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the
exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Out of
this express delegation of power have grown our laws of patents and
copyrights. As the Constitution expressly delegates to Congress the
power to grant exclusive privileges in these cases as the means of
executing the substantive power "to promote the progress of science and
useful arts," it is consistent with the fair rules of construction to
conclude that such a power was not intended to be granted as a means of
accomplishing any other end. On every other subject which comes within
the scope of Congressional power there is an ever-living discretion in
the use of proper means, which can not be restricted or abolished
without an amendment of the Constitution. Every act of Congress,
therefore, which attempts by grants of monopolies or sale of exclusive
privileges for a limited time, or a time without limit, to restrict or
extinguish its own discretion in the choice of means to execute its
delegated powers is equivalent to a legislative amendment of the
Constitution, and palpably unconstitutional.

This act authorizes and encourages transfers of its stock to foreigners
and grants them an exemption from all State and national taxation. So
far from being "_necessary and proper_" that the bank should possess
this power to make it a safe and efficient agent of the Government in
its fiscal operations, it is calculated to convert the Bank of the
United States into a foreign bank, to impoverish our people in time of
peace, to disseminate a foreign influence through every section of the
Republic, and in war to endanger our independence.

The several States reserved the power at the formation of the
Constitution to regulate and control titles and transfers of real
property, and most, if not all, of them have laws disqualifying aliens
from acquiring or holding lands within their limits. But this act, in
disregard of the undoubted right of the States to prescribe such
disqualifications, gives to aliens stockholders in this bank an interest
and title, as members of the corporation, to all the real property it
may acquire within any of the States of this Union. This privilege
granted to aliens is not "_necessary_" to enable the bank to perform its
public duties, nor in any sense "_proper_" because it is vitally
subversive of the rights of the States.

The Government of the United States have no constitutional power to
purchase lands within the States except "for the erection of forts,
magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings," and even
for these objects only "by the consent of the legislature of the State
in which the same shall be." By making themselves stockholders in the
bank and granting to the corporation the power to purchase lands for
other purposes they assume a power not granted in the Constitution and
grant to others what they do not themselves possess. It is not
_necessary_ to the receiving, safe-keeping, or transmission of the funds
of the Government that the bank should possess this power, and it is not
_proper_ that Congress should thus enlarge the powers delegated to them
in the Constitution.

The old Bank of the United States possessed a capital of only
$11,000,000, which was found fully sufficient to enable it with dispatch
and safety to perform all the functions required of it by the
Government. The capital of the present bank is $35,000,000--at least
twenty-four more than experience has proved to be _necessary_ to enable
a bank to perform its public functions. The public debt which existed
during the period of the old bank and on the establishment of the new
has been nearly paid off, and our revenue will soon be reduced. This
increase of capital is therefore not for public but for private
purposes.

The Government is the only "_proper_" judge where its agents should
reside and keep their offices, because it best knows where their
presence will be "_necessary_." It can not, therefore, be "_necessary_"
or "_proper_" to authorize the bank to locate branches where it pleases
to perform the public service, without consulting the Government, and
contrary to its will. The principle laid down by the Supreme Court
concedes that Congress can not establish a bank for purposes of private
speculation and gain, but only as a means of executing the delegated
powers of the General Government. By the same principle a branch bank
can not constitutionally be established for other than public purposes.
The power which this act gives to establish two branches in any State,
without the injunction or request of the Government and for other than
public purposes, is not "_necessary_" to the due _execution_ of the
powers delegated to Congress.

The bonus which is exacted from the bank is a confession upon the face
of the act that the powers granted by it are greater than are
"_necessary_" to its character of a fiscal agent. The Government does
not tax its officers and agents for the privilege of serving it. The
bonus of a million and a half required by the original charter and that
of three millions proposed by this act are not exacted for the privilege
of giving "the necessary facilities for transferring the public funds
from place to place within the United States or the Territories thereof,
and for distributing the same in payment of the public creditors without
charging commission or claiming allowance on account of the difference
of exchange," as required by the act of incorporation, but for something
more beneficial to the stockholders. The original act declares that it
(the bonus) is granted "in consideration of the exclusive privileges and
benefits conferred by this act upon the said bank," and the act before
me declares it to be "in consideration of the exclusive benefits and
privileges continued by this act to the said corporation for fifteen
years, as aforesaid." It is therefore for "exclusive privileges and
benefits" conferred for their own use and emolument, and not for the
advantage of the Government, that a bonus is exacted. These surplus
powers for which the bank is required to pay can not surely be
"_necessary_" to make it the fiscal agent of the Treasury. If they were,
the exaction of a bonus for them would not be "_proper_."

It is maintained by some that the bank is a means of executing the
constitutional power "to coin money and regulate the value thereof."
Congress have established a mint to coin money and passed laws to
regulate the value thereof. The money so coined, with its value so
regulated, and such foreign coins as Congress may adopt are the only
currency known to the Constitution. But if they have other power to
regulate the currency, it was conferred to be exercised by themselves,
and not to be transferred to a corporation. If the bank be established
for that purpose, with a charter unalterable without its consent,
Congress have parted with their power for a term of years, during which
the Constitution is a dead letter. It is neither necessary nor proper to
transfer its legislative power to such a bank, and therefore
unconstitutional.

By its silence, considered in connection with the decision of the
Supreme Court in the case of McCulloch against the State of Maryland,
this act takes from the States the power to tax a portion of the banking
business carried on within their limits, in subversion of one of the
strongest barriers which secured them against Federal encroachments.
Banking, like farming, manufacturing, or any other occupation or
profession, is _a business_, the right to follow which is not originally
derived from the laws. Every citizen and every company of citizens in
all of our States possessed the right until the State legislatures
deemed it good policy to prohibit private banking by law. If the
prohibitory State laws were now repealed, every citizen would again
possess the right. The State banks are a qualified restoration of the
right which has been taken away by the laws against banking, guarded by
such provisions and limitations as in the opinion of the State
legislatures the public interest requires. These corporations, unless
there be an exemption in their charter, are, like private bankers and
banking companies, subject to State taxation. The manner in which these
taxes shall be laid depends wholly on legislative discretion. It may be
upon the bank, upon the stock, upon the profits, or in any other mode
which the sovereign power shall will.

Upon the formation of the Constitution the States guarded their taxing
power with peculiar jealousy. They surrendered it only as it regards
imports and exports. In relation to every other object within their
jurisdiction, whether persons, property, business, or professions, it
was secured in as ample a manner as it was before possessed. All
persons, though United States officers, are liable to a poll tax by the
States within which they reside. The lands of the United States are
liable to the usual land tax, except in the new States, from whom
agreements that they will not tax unsold lands are exacted when they are
admitted into the Union. Horses, wagons, any beasts or vehicles, tools,
or property belonging to private citizens, though employed in the
service of the United States, are subject to State taxation. Every
private business, whether carried on by an officer of the General
Government or not, whether it be mixed with public concerns or not, even
if it be carried on by the Government of the United States itself,
separately or in partnership, falls within the scope of the taxing power
of the State. Nothing comes more fully within it than banks and the
business of banking, by whomsoever instituted and carried on. Over this
whole subject-matter it is just as absolute, unlimited, and
uncontrollable as if the Constitution had never been adopted, because in
the formation of that instrument it was reserved without qualification.

The principle is conceded that the States can not rightfully tax the
operations of the General Government. They can not tax the money of the
Government deposited in the State banks, nor the agency of those banks
in remitting it; but will any man maintain that their mere selection to
perform this public service for the General Government would exempt the
State banks and their ordinary business from State taxation? Had the
United States, instead of establishing a bank at Philadelphia, employed
a private banker to keep and transmit their funds, would it have
deprived Pennsylvania of the right to tax his bank and his usual banking
operations? It will not be pretended. Upon what principle, then, are the
banking establishments of the Bank of the United States and their usual
banking operations to be exempted from taxation? It is not their public
agency or the deposits of the Government which the States claim a right
to tax, but their banks and their banking powers, instituted and
exercised within State jurisdiction for their private emolument--those
powers and privileges for which they pay a bonus, and which the States
tax in their own banks. The exercise of these powers within a State, no
matter by whom or under what authority, whether by private citizens in
their original right, by corporate bodies created by the States, by
foreigners or the agents of foreign governments located within their
limits, forms a legitimate object of State taxation. From this and like
sources, from the persons, property, and business that are found
residing, located, or carried on under their jurisdiction, must the
States, since the surrender of their right to raise a revenue from
imports and exports, draw all the money necessary for the support of
their governments and the maintenance of their independence. There is no
more appropriate subject of taxation than banks, banking, and bank
stocks, and none to which the States ought more pertinaciously to cling.

It can not be _necessary_ to the character of the bank as a fiscal agent
of the Government that its private business should be exempted from that
taxation to which all the State banks are liable, nor can I conceive it
"_proper_" that the substantive and most essential powers reserved by
the States shall be thus attacked and annihilated as a means of
executing the powers delegated to the General Government. It may be
safely assumed that none of those sages who had an agency in forming or
adopting our Constitution ever imagined that any portion of the taxing
power of the States not prohibited to them nor delegated to Congress was
to be swept away and annihilated as a means of executing certain powers
delegated to Congress.

If our power over means is so absolute that the Supreme Court will not
call in question the constitutionality of an act of Congress the subject
of which "is not prohibited, and is really calculated to effect any of
the objects intrusted to the Government," although, as in the case
before me, it takes away powers expressly granted to Congress and rights
scrupulously reserved to the States, it becomes us to proceed in our
legislation with the utmost caution. Though not directly, our own powers
and the rights of the States may be indirectly legislated away in the
use of means to execute substantive powers. We may not enact that
Congress shall not have the power of exclusive legislation over the
District of Columbia, but we may pledge the faith of the United States
that as a means of executing other powers it shall not be exercised for
twenty years or forever. We may not pass an act prohibiting the States
to tax the banking business carried on within their limits, but we may,
as a means of executing our powers over other objects, place that
business in the hands of our agents and then declare it exempt from
State taxation in their hands. Thus may our own powers and the rights of
the States, which we can not directly curtail or invade, be frittered
away and extinguished in the use of means employed by us to execute
other powers. That a bank of the United States, competent to all the
duties which may be required by the Government, might be so organized as
not to infringe on our own delegated powers or the reserved rights of
the States I do not entertain a doubt. Had the Executive been called
upon to furnish the project of such an institution, the duty would have
been cheerfully performed. In the absence of such a call it was
obviously proper that he should confine himself to pointing out those
prominent features in the act; presented which in his opinion make it
incompatible with the Constitution and sound policy. A general
discussion will now take place, eliciting new light and settling
important principles; and a new Congress, elected in the midst of such
discussion, and furnishing an equal representation of the people
according to the last census, will bear to the Capitol the verdict of
public opinion, and, I doubt not, bring this important question to a
satisfactory result.

Under such circumstances the bank comes forward and asks a renewal of
its charter for a term of fifteen years upon conditions which not only
operate as a gratuity to the stockholders of many millions of dollars,
but will sanction any abuses and legalize any encroachments.

Suspicions are entertained and charges are made of gross abuse and
violation of its charter. An investigation unwillingly conceded and so
restricted in time as necessarily to make it incomplete and
unsatisfactory discloses enough to excite suspicion and alarm. In the
practices of the principal bank partially unveiled, in the absence of
important witnesses, and in numerous charges confidently made and as yet
wholly uninvestigated there was enough to induce a majority of the
committee of investigation--a committee which was selected from the most
able and honorable members of the House of Representatives--to recommend
a suspension of further action upon the bill and a prosecution of the
inquiry. As the charter had yet four years to run, and as a renewal now
was not necessary to the successful prosecution of its business, it was
to have been expected that the bank itself, conscious of its purity and
proud of its character, would have withdrawn its application for the
present, and demanded the severest scrutiny into all its transactions.
In their declining to do so there seems to be an additional reason why
the functionaries of the Government should proceed with less haste and
more caution in the renewal of their monopoly.

The bank is professedly established as an agent of the executive branch
of the Government, and its constitutionality is maintained on that
ground. Neither upon the propriety of present action nor upon the
provisions of this act was the Executive consulted. It has had no
opportunity to say that it neither needs nor wants an agent clothed with
such powers and favored by such exemptions. There is nothing in its
legitimate functions which makes it necessary or proper. Whatever
interest or influence, whether public or private, has given birth to
this act, it can not be found either in the wishes or necessities of the
executive department, by which present action is deemed premature, and
the powers conferred upon its agent not only unnecessary, but dangerous
to the Government and country.

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts
of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will
always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of
education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In
the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior
industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to
protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural
and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles,
gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the
potent more powerful, the humble members of society--the farmers,
mechanics, and laborers--who have neither the time nor the means of
securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the
injustice of their Government. There are no necessary evils in
government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine
itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its
favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be
an unqualified blessing. In the act before me there seems to be a wide
and unnecessary departure from these just principles.

Nor is our Government to be maintained or our Union preserved by
invasions of the rights and powers of the several States. In thus
attempting to make our General Government strong we make it weak. Its
true strength consists in leaving individuals and States as much as
possible to themselves--in making itself felt, not in its power, but in
its beneficence; not in its control, but in its protection; not in
binding the States more closely to the center, but leaving each to move
unobstructed in its proper orbit.

Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our
Government now encounters and most of the dangers which impend over our
Union have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of
Government by our national legislation, and the adoption of such
principles as are embodied in this act. Many of our rich men have not
been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought
us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify
their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section
against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a
fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union.
It is time to pause in our career to review our principles, and if
possible revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which
distinguished the sages of the Revolution and the fathers of our Union.
If we can not at once, in justice to interests vested under improvident
legislation, make our Government what it ought to be, we can at least
take a stand against all new grants of monopolies and exclusive
privileges, against any prostitution of our Government to the
advancement of the few at the expense of the many, and in favor of
compromise and gradual reform in our code of laws and system of
political economy.

I have now done my duty to my country. If sustained by my fellow
citizens, I shall be grateful and happy; if not, I shall find in the
motives which impel me ample grounds for contentment and peace. In the
difficulties which surround us and the dangers which threaten our
institutions there is cause for neither dismay nor alarm. For relief and
deliverance let us firmly rely on that kind Providence which I am sure
watches with peculiar care over the destinies of our Republic, and on
the intelligence and wisdom of our countrymen. Through _His_ abundant
goodness and _their_ patriotic devotion our liberty and Union will be
preserved.

ANDREW JACKSON.




FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

_December 4, 1832_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

It gives me pleasure to congratulate you upon your return to the seat of
Government for the purpose of discharging your duties to the people of
the United States. Although the pestilence which had traversed the Old
World has entered our limits and extended its ravages over much of our
land, it has pleased Almighty God to mitigate its severity and lessen
the number of its victims compared with those who have fallen in most
other countries over which it has spread its terrors. Notwithstanding
this visitation, our country presents on every side marks of prosperity
and happiness unequaled, perhaps, in any other portion of the world. If
we fully appreciate our comparative condition, existing causes of
discontent will appear unworthy of attention, and, with hearts of
thankfulness to that divine Being who has filled our cup of prosperity,
we shall feel our resolution strengthened to preserve and hand down to
posterity that liberty and that union which we have received from our
fathers, and which constitute the sources and the shield of all our
blessings.

The relations of our country continue to present the same picture of
amicable intercourse that I had the satisfaction to hold up to your view
at the opening of your last session. The same friendly professions, the
same desire to participate in our flourishing commerce, the same
disposition to refrain from injuries unintentionally offered, are, with
few exceptions, evinced by all nations with whom we have any
intercourse. This desirable state of things may be mainly ascribed to
our undeviating practice of the rule which has long guided our national
policy, to require no exclusive privileges in commerce and to grant
none. It is daily producing its beneficial effect in the respect shown
to our flag, the protection of our citizens and their property abroad,
and in the increase of our navigation and the extension of our
mercantile operations. The returns which have been made out since we
last met will show an increase during the last preceding year of more
than 80,000 tons in our shipping and of near $40,000,000 in the
aggregate of our imports and exports.

Nor have we less reason to felicitate ourselves on the position of our
political than of our commercial concerns. They remain in the state in
which they were when I last addressed you--a state of prosperity and
peace, the effect of a wise attention to the parting advice of the
revered Father of his Country on this subject, condensed into a maxim
for the use of posterity by one of his most distinguished successors--to
cultivate free commerce and honest friendship with all nations, but to
make entangling alliances with none. A strict adherence to this policy
has kept us aloof from the perplexing questions that now agitate the
European world and have more than once deluged those countries with
blood. Should those scenes unfortunately recur, the parties to the
contest may count on a faithful performance of the duties incumbent on
us as a neutral nation, and our own citizens may equally rely on the
firm assertion of their neutral rights.

With the nation that was our earliest friend and ally in the infancy of
our political existence the most friendly relations have subsisted
through the late revolutions of its Government, and, from the events of
the last, promise a permanent duration. It has made an approximation in
some of its political institutions to our own, and raised a monarch to
the throne who preserves, it is said, a friendly recollection of the
period during which he acquired among our citizens the high
consideration that could then have been produced by his personal
qualifications alone.

Our commerce with that nation is gradually assuming a mutually
beneficial character, and the adjustment of the claims of our citizens
has removed the only obstacle there was to an intercourse not only
lucrative, but productive of literary and scientific improvement.

From Great Britain I have the satisfaction to inform you that I continue
to receive assurances of the most amicable disposition, which have on my
part on all proper occasions been promptly and sincerely reciprocated.
The attention of that Government has latterly been so much engrossed by
matters of a deeply interesting domestic character that we could not
press upon it the renewal of negotiations which had been unfortunately
broken off by the unexpected recall of our minister, who had commenced
them with some hopes of success. My great object was the settlement of
questions which, though now dormant, might hereafter be revived under
circumstances that would endanger the good understanding which it is the
interest of both parties to preserve inviolate, cemented as it is by a
community of language, manners, and social habits, and by the high
obligations we owe to our British ancestors for many of our most
valuable institutions and for that system of representative government
which has enabled us to preserve and improve them.

The question of our northeastern boundary still remains unsettled. In my
last annual message I explained to you the situation in which I found
that business on my coming into office, and the measures I thought it my
duty to pursue for asserting the rights of the United States before the
sovereign who had been chosen by my predecessor to determine the
question, and also the manner in which he had disposed of it. A special
message to the Senate in their executive capacity afterwards brought
before them the question whether they would advise a submission to the
opinion of the sovereign arbiter. That body having considered the award
as not obligatory and advised me to open a further negotiation, the
proposition was immediately made to the British Government, but the
circumstances to which I have alluded have hitherto prevented any answer
being given to the overture. Early attention, however, has been promised
to the subject, and every effort on my part will be made for a
satisfactory settlement of this question, interesting to the Union
generally, and particularly so to one of its members.

The claims of our citizens on Spain are not yet acknowledged. On a
closer investigation of them than appears to have heretofore taken place
it was discovered that some of these demands, however strong they might
be upon the equity of that Government, were not such as could be made
the subject of national interference; and faithful to the principle of
asking nothing but what was clearly right, additional instructions have
been sent to modify our demands so as to embrace those only on which,
according to the laws of nations, we had a strict right to insist. An
inevitable delay in procuring the documents necessary for this review of
the merits of these claims retarded this operation until an unfortunate
malady which has afflicted His Catholic Majesty prevented an examination
of them. Being now for the first time presented in an unexceptionable
form, it is confidently hoped that the application will be successful.

I have the satisfaction to inform you that the application I directed to
be made for the delivery of a part of the archives of Florida, which had
been carried to The Havannah, has produced a royal order for their
delivery, and that measures have been taken to procure its execution.

By the report of the Secretary of State communicated to you on the 25th
June last you were informed of the conditional reduction obtained by the
minister of the United States at Madrid of the duties on tonnage levied
on American shipping in the ports of Spain. The condition of that
reduction having been complied with on our part by the act passed the
13th of July last, I have the satisfaction to inform you that our ships
now pay no higher nor other duties in the continental ports of Spain
than are levied on their national vessels.

The demands against Portugal for illegal captures in the blockade of
Terceira have been allowed to the full amount of the accounts presented
by the claimants, and payment was promised to be made in three
installments. The first of these has been paid; the second, although
due, had not at the date of our last advices been received, owing, it
was alleged, to embarrassments in the finances consequent on the civil
war in which that nation is engaged.

The payments stipulated by the convention with Denmark have been
punctually made, and the amount is ready for distribution among the
claimants as soon as the board, now sitting, shall have performed their
functions.

I regret that by the last advices from our chargé d'affaires at Naples
that Government had still delayed the satisfaction due to our citizens,
but at that date the effect of the last instructions was not known.
Dispatches from thence are hourly expected, and the result will be
communicated to you without delay.

With the rest of Europe our relations, political and commercial, remain
unchanged. Negotiations are going on to put on a permanent basis the
liberal system of commerce now carried on between us and the Empire of
Russia. The treaty concluded with Austria is executed by His Imperial
Majesty with the most perfect good faith, and as we have no diplomatic
agent at his Court he personally inquired into and corrected a
proceeding of some of his subaltern officers to the injury of our consul
in one of his ports.

Our treaty with the Sublime Porte is producing its expected effects on
our commerce. New markets are opening for our commodities and a more
extensive range for the employment of our ships. A slight augmentation
of the duties on our commerce, inconsistent with the spirit of the
treaty, had been imposed, but on the representation of our charge
d'affaires it has been promptly withdrawn, and we now enjoy the trade
and navigation of the Black Sea and of all the ports belonging to the
Turkish Empire and Asia on the most perfect equality with all foreign
nations.

I wish earnestly that in announcing to you the continuance of friendship
and the increase of a profitable commercial intercourse with Mexico,
with Central America, and the States of the South I could accompany it
with the assurance that they all are blessed with that internal
tranquillity and foreign peace which their heroic devotion to the cause
of their independence merits. In Mexico a sanguinary struggle is now
carried on, which has caused some embarrassment to our commerce, but
both parties profess the most friendly disposition toward us. To the
termination of this contest we look for the establishment of that secure
intercourse so necessary to nations whose territories are contiguous.
How important it will be to us we may calculate from the fact that even
in this unfavorable state of things our maritime commerce has increased,
and an internal trade by caravans from St. Louis to Santa Fe, under the
protection of escorts furnished by the Government, is carried on to
great advantage and is daily increasing. The agents provided for by the
treaty, with this power to designate the boundaries which it
established, have been named on our part, but one of the evils of the
civil war now raging there has been that the appointment of those with
whom they were to cooperate has not yet been announced to us.

The Government of Central America has expelled from its territory the
party which some time since disturbed its peace. Desirous of fostering a
favorable disposition toward us, which has on more than one occasion
been evinced by this interesting country, I made a second attempt in
this year to establish a diplomatic intercourse with them; but the death
of the distinguished citizen whom I had appointed for that purpose has
retarded the execution of measures from which I hoped much advantage to
our commerce. The union of the three States which formed the Republic of
Colombia has been dissolved, but they all, it is believed, consider
themselves as separately bound by the treaty which was made in their
federal capacity. The minister accredited to the federation continues in
that character near the Government of New Granada, and hopes were
entertained that a new union would be formed between the separate
States, at least for the purposes of foreign intercourse. Our minister
has been instructed to use his good offices, whenever they shall be
desired, to produce the reunion so much to be wished for, the domestic
tranquillity of the parties, and the security and facility of foreign
commerce.

Some agitations naturally attendant on an infant reign have prevailed in
the Empire of Brazil, which have had the usual effect upon commercial
operations, and while they suspended the consideration of claims created
on similar occasions, they have given rise to new complaints on the part
of our citizens. A proper consideration for calamities and difficulties
of this nature has made us less urgent and peremptory in our demands for
justice than duty to our fellow-citizens would under other circumstances
have required. But their claims are not neglected, and will on all
proper occasions be urged, and it is hoped with effect.

I refrain from making any communication on the subject of our affairs
with Buenos Ayres, because the negotiation communicated to you in my
last annual message was at the date of our last advices still pending
and in a state that would render a publication of the details
inexpedient.

A treaty of amity and commerce has been formed with the Republic of
Chili, which, if approved by the Senate, will be laid before you. That
Government seems to be established, and at peace with its neighbors; and
its ports being the resorts of our ships which are employed in the
highly important trade of the fisheries, this commercial convention can
not but be of great advantage to our fellow-citizens engaged in that
perilous but profitable business.

Our commerce with the neighboring State of Peru, owing to the onerous
duties levied on our principal articles of export, has been on the
decline, and all endeavors to procure an alteration have hitherto proved
fruitless. With Bolivia we have yet no diplomatic intercourse, and the
continual contests carried on between it and Peru have made me defer
until a more favorable period the appointment of any agent for that
purpose.

An act of atrocious piracy having been committed on one of our trading
ships by the inhabitants of a settlement on the west coast of Sumatra, a
frigate was dispatched with orders to demand satisfaction for the injury
if those who committed it should be found to be members of a regular
government, capable of maintaining the usual relations with foreign
nations; but if, as it was supposed and as they proved to be, they were
a band of lawless pirates, to inflict such a chastisement as would deter
them and others from like aggressions. This last was done, and the
effect has been an increased respect for our flag in those distant seas
and additional security for our commerce.

In the view I have given of our connection with foreign powers allusions
have been made to their domestic disturbances or foreign wars, to their
revolutions or dissensions. It may be proper to observe that this is
done solely in cases where those events affect our political relations
with them, or to show their operation on our commerce. Further than this
it is neither our policy nor our right to interfere. Our best wishes on
all occasions, our good offices when required, will be afforded to
promote the domestic tranquillity and foreign peace of all nations with
whom we have any intercourse. Any intervention in their affairs further
than this, even by the expression of an official opinion, is contrary to
our principles of international policy, and will always be avoided.

The report which the Secretary of the Treasury will in due time lay
before you will exhibit the national finances in a highly prosperous
state. Owing to the continued success of our commercial enterprise,
which has enabled the merchants to fulfill their engagements with the
Government, the receipts from customs during the year will exceed the
estimate presented at the last session, and with the other means of the
Treasury will prove fully adequate not only to meet the increased
expenditures resulting from the large appropriations made by Congress,
but to provide for the payment of all the public debt which is at
present redeemable. It is now estimated that the customs will yield to
the Treasury during the present year upward of $28,000,000. The public
lands, however, have proved less productive than was anticipated, and
according to present information will not much exceed two millions. The
expenditures for all objects other than the public debt are estimated to
amount during the year to about sixteen millions and a half, while a
still larger sum, viz, $18,000,000, will have been applied to the
principal and interest of the public debt.

It is expected, however, that in consequence of the reduced rates of
duty which will take effect after the 3d of March next there will be a
considerable falling off in the revenue from customs in the year 1833.
It will nevertheless be amply sufficient to provide for all the wants of
the public service, estimated even upon a liberal scale, and for the
redemption and purchase of the remainder of the public debt. On the 1st
of January next the entire public debt of the United States, funded and
unfunded, will be reduced to within a fraction of $7,000,000, of which
$2,227,363 are not of right redeemable until the 1st of January, 1834,
and $4,735,296 not until the 2d of January, 1835. The commissioners of
the sinking funds, however, being invested with full authority to
purchase the debt at the market price, and the means of the Treasury
being ample, it may be hoped that the whole will be extinguished within
the year 1833.

I can not too cordially congratulate Congress and my fellow-citizens on
the near approach of that memorable and happy event--the extinction of
the public debt of this great and free nation. Faithful to the wise and
patriotic policy marked out by the legislation of the country for this
object, the present Administration has devoted to it all the means which
a flourishing commerce has supplied and a prudent economy preserved for
the public Treasury. Within the four years for which the people have
confided the Executive power to my charge $58,000,000 will have been
applied to the payment of the public debt. That this has been
accomplished without stinting the expenditures for all other proper
objects will be seen by referring to the liberal provision made during
the same period for the support and increase of our means of maritime
and military defense, for internal improvements of a national character,
for the removal and preservation of the Indians, and, lastly, for the
gallant veterans of the Revolution.

The final removal of this great burthen from our resources affords the
means of further provision for all the objects of general welfare and
public defense which the Constitution authorizes, and presents the
occasion for such further reduction in the revenue as may not be
required for them. From the report of the Secretary of the Treasury it
will be seen that after the present year such a reduction may be made to
a considerable extent, and the subject is earnestly recommended to the
consideration of Congress in the hope that the combined wisdom of the
representatives of the people will devise such means of effecting that
salutary object as may remove those burthens which shall be found to
fall unequally upon any and as may promote all the great interests of
the community.

Long and patient reflection has strengthened the opinions I have
heretofore expressed to Congress on this subject, and I deem it my duty
on the present occasion again to urge them upon the attention of the
Legislature. The soundest maxims of public policy and the principles
upon which our republican institutions are founded recommend a proper
adaptation of the revenue to the expenditure, and they also require that
the expenditure shall be limited to what, by an economical
administration, shall be consistent with the simplicity of the
Government and necessary to an efficient public service. In effecting
this adjustment it is due, in justice to the interests of the different
States, and even to the preservation of the Union itself, that the
protection afforded by existing laws to any branches of the national
industry should not exceed what may be necessary to counteract the
regulations of foreign nations and to secure a supply of those articles
of manufacture essential to the national independence and safety in time
of war. If upon investigation it shall be found, as it is believed it
will be, that the legislative protection granted to any particular
interest is greater than is indispensably requisite for these objects, I
recommend that it be gradually diminished, and that as far as may be
consistent with these objects the whole scheme of duties be reduced to
the revenue standard as soon as a just regard to the faith of the
Government and to the preservation of the large capital invested in
establishments of domestic industry will permit.

That manufactures adequate to the supply of our domestic consumption
would in the abstract be beneficial to our country there is no reason to
doubt, and to effect their establishment there is perhaps no American
citizen who would not for awhile be willing to pay a higher price for
them. But for this purpose it is presumed that a tariff of high duties,
designed for perpetual protection, has entered into the minds of but few
of our statesmen. The most they have anticipated is a temporary and,
generally, incidental protection, which they maintain has the effect to
reduce the price by domestic competition below that of the foreign
article. Experience, however, our best guide on this as on other
subjects, makes it doubtful whether the advantages of this system are
not counterbalanced by many evils, and whether it does not tend to beget
in the minds of a large portion of our countrymen a spirit of discontent
and jealousy dangerous to the stability of the Union.

What, then, shall be done? Large interests have grown up under the
implied pledge of our national legislation, which it would seem a
violation of public faith suddenly to abandon. Nothing could justify it
but the public safety, which is the supreme law. But those who have
vested their capital in manufacturing establishments can not expect that
the people will continue permanently to pay high taxes for their
benefit, when the money is not required for any legitimate purpose in
the administration of the Government. Is it not enough that the high
duties have been paid as long as the money arising from them could be
applied to the common benefit in the extinguishment of the public debt?

Those who take an enlarged view of the condition of our country must be
satisfied that the policy of protection must be ultimately limited to
those articles of domestic manufacture which are indispensable to our
safety in time of war. Within this scope, on a reasonable scale, it is
recommended by every consideration of patriotism and duty, which will
doubtless always secure to it a liberal and efficient support. But
beyond this object we have already seen the operation of the system
productive of discontent. In some sections of the Republic its influence
is deprecated as tending to concentrate wealth into a few hands, and as
creating those germs of dependence and vice which in other countries
have characterized the existence of monopolies and proved so destructive
of liberty and the general good. A large portion of the people in one
section of the Republic declares it not only inexpedient on these
grounds, but as disturbing the equal relations of property by
legislation, and therefore unconstitutional and unjust.

Doubtless these effects are in a great degree exaggerated, and may be
ascribed to a mistaken view of the considerations which led to the
adoption of the tariff system; but they are nevertheless important in
enabling us to review the subject with a more thorough knowledge of all
its bearings upon the great interests of the Republic, and with a
determination to dispose of it so that none can with justice complain.

It is my painful duty to state that in one quarter of the United States
opposition to the revenue laws has arisen to a height which threatens to
thwart their execution, if not to endanger the integrity of the Union.
Whatever obstructions may be thrown in the way of the judicial
authorities of the General Government, it is hoped they will be able
peaceably to overcome them by the prudence of their own officers and the
patriotism of the people. But should this reasonable reliance on the
moderation and good sense of all portions of our fellow-citizens be
disappointed, it is believed that the laws themselves are fully adequate
to the suppression of such attempts as may be immediately made. Should
the exigency arise rendering the execution of the existing laws
impracticable from any cause whatever, prompt notice of it will be given
to Congress, with a suggestion of such views and measures as may be
deemed necessary to meet it.

In conformity with principles heretofore explained, and with the hope of
reducing the General Government to that simple machine which the
Constitution created and of withdrawing from the States all other
influence than that of its universal beneficence in preserving peace,
affording an uniform currency, maintaining the inviolability of
contracts, diffusing intelligence, and discharging unfelt its other
superintending functions, I recommend that provision be made to dispose
of all stocks now held by it in corporations, whether created by the
General or State Governments, and placing the proceeds in the Treasury.
As a source of profit these stocks are of little or no value; as a means
of influence among the States they are adverse to the purity of our
institutions. The whole principle on which they are based is deemed by
many unconstitutional, and to persist in the policy which they indicate
is considered wholly inexpedient.

It is my duty to acquaint you with an arrangement made by the Bank of
the United States with a portion of the holders of the 3 per cent stock,
by which the Government will be deprived of the use of the public funds
longer than was anticipated. By this arrangement, which will be
particularly explained by the Secretary of the Treasury, a surrender of
the certificates of this stock may be postponed until October, 1833, and
thus the liability of the Government, after its ability to discharge the
debt, may be continued by the failure of the bank to perform its duties.

Such measures as are within the reach of the Secretary of the Treasury
have been taken to enable him to judge whether the public deposits in
that institution may be regarded as entirely safe; but as his limited
power may prove inadequate to this object, I recommend the subject to
the attention of Congress, under the firm belief that it is worthy of
their serious investigation. An inquiry into the transactions of the
institution, embracing the branches as well as the principal bank, seems
called for by the credit which is given throughout the country to many
serious charges impeaching its character, and which if true may justly
excite the apprehension that it is no longer a safe depository of the
money of the people.

Among the interests which merit the consideration of Congress after the
payment of the public debt, one of the most important, in my view, is
that of the public lands. Previous to the formation of our present
Constitution it was recommended by Congress that a portion of the waste
lands owned by the States should be ceded to the United States for the
purposes of general harmony and as a fund to meet the expenses of the
war. The recommendation was adopted, and at different periods of time
the States of Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North and South
Carolina, and Georgia granted their vacant soil for the uses for which
they had been asked. As the lands may now be considered as relieved from
this pledge, the object for which they were ceded having been
accomplished, it is in the discretion of Congress to dispose of them in
such way as best to conduce to the quiet, harmony, and general interest
of the American people. In examining this question all local and
sectional feelings should be discarded and the whole United States
regarded as one people, interested alike in the prosperity of their
common country.

It can not be doubted that the speedy settlement of these lands
constitutes the true interest of the Republic. The wealth and strength
of a country are its population, and the best part of that population
are the cultivators of the soil. Independent farmers are everywhere the
basis of society and true friends of liberty.

In addition to these considerations questions have already arisen, and
may be expected hereafter to grow out of the public lands, which involve
the rights of the new States and the powers of the General Government,
and unless a liberal policy be now adopted there is danger that these
questions may speedily assume an importance not now generally
anticipated. The influence of a great sectional interest, when brought
into full action, will be found more dangerous to the harmony and union
of the States than any other cause of discontent, and it is the part of
wisdom and sound policy to foresee its approaches and endeavor if
possible to counteract them.

Of the various schemes which have been hitherto proposed in regard to
the disposal of the public lands, none has yet received the entire
approbation of the National Legislature. Deeply impressed with the
importance of a speedy and satisfactory arrangement of the subject, I
deem it my duty on this occasion to urge it upon your consideration, and
to the propositions which have been heretofore suggested by others to
contribute those reflections which have occurred to me, in the hope that
they may assist you in your future deliberations.

It seems to me to be our true policy that the public lands shall cease
as soon as practicable to be a source of revenue, and that they be sold
to settlers in limited parcels at a price barely sufficient to reimburse
to the United States the expense of the present system and the cost
arising under our Indian compacts. The advantages of accurate surveys
and undoubted titles now secured to purchasers seem to forbid the
abolition of the present system, because none can be substituted which
will more perfectly accomplish these important ends. It is desirable,
however, that in convenient time this machinery be withdrawn from the
States, and that the right of soil and the future disposition of it be
surrendered to the States respectively in which it lies.

The adventurous and hardy population of the West, besides contributing
their equal share of taxation under our impost system, have in the
progress of our Government, for the lands they occupy, paid into the
Treasury a large proportion of $40,000,000, and of the revenue received
therefrom but a small part has been expended amongst them. When to the
disadvantage of their situation in this respect we add the consideration
that it is their labor alone which gives real value to the lands, and
that the proceeds arising from their sale are distributed chiefly among
States which had not originally any claim to them, and which have
enjoyed the undivided emolument arising from the sale of their own
lands, it can not be expected that the new States will remain longer
contented with the present policy after the payment of the public debt.
To avert the consequences which may be apprehended from this cause, to
put an end forever to all partial and interested legislation on the
subject, and to afford to every American citizen of enterprise the
opportunity of securing an independent freehold, it seems to me,
therefore, best to abandon the idea of raising a future revenue out of
the public lands.

In former messages I have expressed my conviction that the Constitution
does not warrant the application of the funds of the General Government
to objects of internal improvement which are not national in their
character, and, both as a means of doing justice to all interests and
putting an end to a course of legislation calculated to destroy the
purity of the Government, have urged the necessity of reducing the whole
subject to some fixed and certain rule. As there never will occur a
period, perhaps, more propitious than the present to the accomplishment
of this object, I beg leave to press the subject again upon your
attention.

Without some general and well-defined principles ascertaining those
objects of internal improvement to which the means of the nation may be
constitutionally applied, it is obvious that the exercise of the power
can never be satisfactory. Besides the danger to which it exposes
Congress of making hasty appropriations to works of the character of
which they may be frequently ignorant, it promotes a mischievous and
corrupting influence upon elections by holding out to the people the
fallacious hope that the success of a certain candidate will make
navigable their neighboring creek or river, bring commerce to their
doors, and increase the value of their property. It thus favors
combinations to squander the treasure of the country upon a multitude of
local objects, as fatal to just legislation as to the purity of public
men.

If a system compatible with the Constitution can not be devised which is
free from such tendencies, we should recollect that that instrument
provides within itself the mode of its amendment, and that there is,
therefore, no excuse for the assumption of doubtful powers by the
General Government. If those which are clearly granted shall be found
incompetent to the ends of its creation, it can at any time apply for
their enlargement; and there is no probability that such an application,
if founded on the public interest, will ever be refused. If the
propriety of the proposed grant be not sufficiently apparent to command
the assent of three-fourths of the States, the best possible reason why
the power should not be assumed on doubtful authority is afforded; for
if more than one-fourth of the States are unwilling to make the grant
its exercise will be productive of discontents which will far
overbalance any advantages that could be derived from it. All must admit
that there is nothing so worthy of the constant solicitude of this
Government as the harmony and union of the people.

Being solemnly impressed with the conviction that the extension of the
power to make internal improvements beyond the limit I have suggested,
even if it be deemed constitutional, is subversive of the best interests
of our country, I earnestly recommend to Congress to refrain from its
exercise in doubtful cases, except in relation to improvements already
begun, unless they shall first procure from the States such an amendment
of the Constitution as will define its character and prescribe its
bounds. If the States feel themselves competent to these objects, why
should this Government wish to assume the power? If they do not, then
they will not hesitate to make the grant. Both Governments are the
Governments of the people; improvements must be made with the money of
the people, and if the money can be collected and applied by those more
simple and economical political machines, the State governments, it will
unquestionably be safer and better for the people than to add to the
splendor, the patronage, and the power of the General Government. But if
the people of the several States think otherwise they will amend the
Constitution, and in their decision all ought cheerfully to acquiesce.

For a detailed and highly satisfactory view of the operations of the War
Department I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of
War.

The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians necessarily led to the
interposition of the Government. A portion of the troops, under Generals
Scott and Atkinson, and of the militia of the State of Illinois were
called into the field. After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the
nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence,
the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed
or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in
the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered
necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that
its impression will be permanent and salutary.

This campaign has evinced the efficient organization of the Army and its
capacity for prompt and active service. Its several departments have
performed their functions with energy and dispatch, and the general
movement was satisfactory.

Our fellow-citizens upon the frontiers were ready, as they always are,
in the tender of their services in the hour of danger. But a more
efficient organization of our militia system is essential to that
security which is one of the principal objects of all governments.
Neither our situation nor our institutions require or permit the
maintenance of a large regular force. History offers too many lessons of
the fatal result of such a measure not to warn us against its adoption
here. The expense which attends it, the obvious tendency to employ it
because it exists and thus to engage in unnecessary wars, and its
ultimate danger to public liberty will lead us, I trust, to place our
principal dependence for protection upon the great body of the citizens
of the Republic. If in asserting rights or in repelling wrongs war
should come upon us, our regular force should be increased to an extent
proportioned to the emergency, and our present small Army is a nucleus
around which such force could be formed and embodied. But for the
purposes of defense under ordinary circumstances we must rely upon the
electors of the country. Those by whom and for whom the Government was
instituted and is supported will constitute its protection in the hour
of danger as they do its check in the hour of safety.

But it is obvious that the militia system is imperfect. Much time is
lost, much unnecessary expense incurred, and much public property wasted
under the present arrangement. Little useful knowledge is gained by the
musters and drills as now established, and the whole subject evidently
requires a thorough examination. Whether a plan of classification
remedying these defects and providing for a system of instruction might
not be adopted is submitted to the consideration of Congress. The
Constitution has vested in the General Government an independent
authority upon the subject of the militia which renders its action
essential to the establishment or improvement of the system, and I
recommend the matter to your consideration in the conviction that the
state of this important arm of the public defense requires your
attention. I am happy to inform you that the wise and humane policy of
transferring from the eastern to the western side of the Mississippi the
remnants of our aboriginal tribes, with their own consent and upon just
terms, has been steadily pursued, and is approaching, I trust, its
consummation. By reference to the report of the Secretary of War and to
the documents submitted with it you will see the progress which has been
made since your last session in the arrangement of the various matters
connected with our Indian relations. With one exception every subject
involving any question of conflicting jurisdiction or of peculiar
difficulty has been happily disposed of, and the conviction evidently
gains ground among the Indians that their removal to the country
assigned by the United States for their permanent residence furnishes
the only hope of their ultimate prosperity.

With that portion of the Cherokees, however, living within the State of
Georgia it has been found impracticable as yet to make a satisfactory
adjustment. Such was my anxiety to remove all the grounds of complaint
and to bring to a termination the difficulties in which they are
involved that I directed the very liberal propositions to be made to
them which accompany the documents herewith submitted. They can not but
have seen in these offers the evidence of the strongest disposition on
the part of the Government to deal justly and liberally with them. An
ample indemnity was offered for their present possessions, a liberal
provision for their future support and improvement, and full security
for their private and political rights. Whatever difference of opinion
may have prevailed respecting the just claims of these people, there
will probably be none respecting the liberality of the propositions, and
very little respecting the expediency of their immediate acceptance.
They were, however, rejected, and thus the position of these Indians
remains unchanged, as do the views communicated in my message to the
Senate of February 22, 1831.

I refer you to the annual report of the Secretary of the Navy, which
accompanies this message, for a detail of the operations of that branch
of the service during the present year.

Besides the general remarks on some of the transactions of our Navy
presented in the view which has been taken of our foreign relations, I
seize this occasion to invite to your notice the increased protection
which it has afforded to our commerce and citizens on distant seas
without any augmentation of the force in commission. In the gradual
improvement of its pecuniary concerns, in the constant progress in the
collection of materials suitable for use during future emergencies, and
in the construction of vessels and the buildings necessary to their
preservation and repair, the present state of this branch of the service
exhibits the fruits of that vigilance and care which are so
indispensable to its efficiency. Various new suggestions, contained in
the annexed report, as well as others heretofore submitted to Congress,
are worthy of your attention, but none more so than that urging the
renewal for another term of six years of the general appropriation for
the gradual improvement of the Navy.

From the accompanying report of the Postmaster-General you will also
perceive that that Department continues to extend its usefulness without
impairing its resources or lessening the accommodations which it affords
in the secure and rapid transportation of the mail.

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the views heretofore
expressed in relation to the mode of choosing the President and
Vice-President of the United States, and to those respecting the tenure
of office generally. Still impressed with the justness of those views
and with the belief that the modifications suggested on those subjects
if adopted will contribute to the prosperity and harmony of the country,
I earnestly recommend them to your consideration at this time.

I have heretofore pointed out defects in the law for punishing official
frauds, especially within the District of Columbia. It has been found
almost impossible to bring notorious culprits to punishment, and,
according to a decision of the court for this District, a prosecution is
barred by a lapse of two years after the fraud has been committed. It
may happen again, as it has already happened, that during the whole two
years all the evidences of the fraud may be in the possession of the
culprit himself. However proper the limitation may be in relation to
private citizens, it would seem that it ought not to commence running in
favor of public officers until they go out of office.

The judiciary system of the United States remains imperfect. Of the nine
Western and Southwestern States three only enjoy the benefits of a
circuit court. Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are embraced in the general
system, but Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Louisiana have only district courts. If the existing system be a good
one, why should it not be extended? If it be a bad one, why is it
suffered to exist? The new States were promised equal rights and
privileges when they came into the Union, and such are the guaranties of
the Constitution. Nothing can be more obvious than the obligation of the
General Government to place all the States on the same footing in
relation to the administration of justice, and I trust this duty will be
neglected no longer.

On many of the subjects to which your attention is invited in this
communication it is a source of gratification to reflect that the steps
to be now adopted are uninfluenced by the embarrassments entailed upon
the country by the wars through which it has passed. In regard to most
of our great interests we may consider ourselves as just starting in our
career, and after a salutary experience about to fix upon a permanent
basis the policy best calculated to promote the happiness of the people
and facilitate their progress toward the most complete enjoyment of
civil liberty. On an occasion so interesting and important in our
history, and of such anxious concern to the friends of freedom
throughout the world, it is our imperious duty to lay aside all selfish
and local considerations and be guided by a lofty spirit of devotion to
the great principles on which our institutions are founded.

That this Government may be so administered as to preserve its
efficiency in promoting and securing these general objects should be the
only aim of our ambition, and we can not, therefore, too carefully
examine its structure, in order that we may not mistake its powers or
assume those which the people have reserved to themselves or have
preferred to assign to other agents. We should bear constantly in mind
the fact that the considerations which induced the framers of the
Constitution to withhold from the General Government the power to
regulate the great mass of the business and concerns of the people have
been fully justified by experience, and that it can not now be doubted
that the genius of all our institutions prescribes simplicity and
economy as the characteristics of the reform which is yet to be effected
in the present and future execution of the functions bestowed upon us by
the Constitution.

Limited to a general superintending power to maintain peace at home and
abroad, and to prescribe laws on a few subjects of general interest not
calculated to restrict human liberty, but to enforce human rights, this
Government will find its strength and its glory in the faithful
discharge of these plain and simple duties. Relieved by its protecting
shield from the fear of war and the apprehension of oppression, the free
enterprise of our citizens, aided by the State sovereignties, will work
out improvements and ameliorations which can not fail to demonstrate
that the great truth that the people can govern themselves is not only
realized in our example, but that it is done by a machinery in
government so simple and economical as scarcely to be felt. That the
Almighty Ruler of the Universe may so direct our deliberations and
overrule our acts as to make us instrumental in securing a result so
dear to mankind is my most earnest and sincere prayer.

ANDREW JACKSON.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, _December 11, 1832_.
_The President of the Senate_:

I lay before the Senate, for its consideration and advice, a treaty of
amity and commerce between the United States of America and the Republic
of Chili, concluded at Santiago on the 16th day of May, 1832.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 12, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration and advice of the Senate as
to their ratification, treaties that have been concluded by
commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United States with the
following tribes of Indians, viz: The Chickasaws, the Apalachicola band
in Florida, the Sacs and Foxes, the Winnebagoes, the Potawatamies of
Indiana and Michigan, the Potawatamies of the Wabash and Elkheart, and
the Potawatamies of the Prairie.

I also transmit the report and journals of the commissioners.

ANDREW JACKSON.



WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1832_.
_The President of the Senate_:

A convention having been concluded at Naples on the 14th October, 1832,
between the United States and the Government of the Two Sicilies, I now
lay it before the Senate for its constitutional action upon it.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1832_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate requesting the President
of the United States "to communicate to the Senate copies of the
commission appointing Samuel Gwin register of the land office at Mount
Salus, in the State of Mississippi, in the recess of the Senate in 1831,
and of the commission appointing the said Gwin to the same office in the
recess of the Senate in 1832, and also a copy of the opinion of the
Attorney-General of the United States in relation to said last-mentioned
commission, and also the opinions, if any, of former Attorneys-General
in similar cases, and copies of the commissions which may have issued in
like cases, if any, under former Administrations," I transmit herewith
the papers called for.

It may be proper to remark of the case of the navy agent, supposed to be
analogous to that of Mr. Gwin, that the commissions are not usually
recorded. The one transmitted, however, is the form generally observed,
varied to suit the circumstances of the case, and omitting or inserting
the words "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," according
to the time the appointment is made.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 21, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying
communication from the Secretary of State, inclosing a correspondence
between him and the artist employed to execute the statue of Washington
which is to be placed in the Rotunda of the Capitol.

It appears from this correspondence that the present appropriation for
the execution of this work is inadequate to the object, and I therefore
feel it my duty before concluding the contract to ascertain whether the
additional sum recommended as proper by the Secretary of State and the
terms proposed by the artist will meet the approbation of Congress.

For this purpose the papers are respectfully submitted.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 27, 1832_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying
reports--one from the engineer selected under the act of the 14th July
last to take charge of the survey of the bridge across the Potomac which
that act authorized the President to cause to be erected, and showing,
after a careful survey, the propriety of applying a part of the sum
appropriated to the repairing the old bridge; the other showing the
considerations which, in the opinion of the same engineer and that of
General Gratiot, should determine the choice between a superstructure of
wood and of iron on the same foundation of granite.

Concurring in the reasons stated by these officers for the preference of
the superstructure of wood, I have adopted it accordingly, and propose
to take the measures necessary for the execution of the work.
Previously, however, to inviting contracts for this purpose I deem it
advisable to submit the subject to Congress, in order that the necessary
appropriations may be supplied.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _December 28, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I have taken into consideration the resolution of the House requesting
me to communicate to it, so far as in my opinion may be consistent with
the public interest, "the correspondence between the Government of the
United States and that of the Republic of Buenos Ayres which has
resulted in the departure of the chargé d'affaires of the United States
from that Republic, together with the instructions given to the said
chargé d'affaires," and in answer to the said request state for the
information of the House that although the chargé d'affaires of the
United States has found it necessary to return, yet the negotiation
between the two countries for the arrangement of the differences between
them are not considered as broken off, but are suspended only until the
arrival of a minister, who, it is officially announced, will be sent to
this country with powers to treat on the subject.

This fact, it is believed, will justify the opinion I have formed that
it will not be consistent with the public interest to communicate the
correspondence and instructions requested by the House so long as the
negotiation shall be pending.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 2, 1833_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State on the subject
of the French ship _Pactole_, upon the cargo of which a discriminating
duty seems to have been levied in 1827 by the collector at Pensacola, in
contravention, as is alleged, with the convention of 1822 with France.

ANDREW JACKSON.


Washington, _January 6, 1833_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying report
from the Secretary of State, recommending an appropriation to refund the
amount of duties that have been collected in the ports of the United
States on the tonnage of foreign vessels belonging to nations that have
abolished in their ports discriminating duties on the vessels of the
United States.

I also transmit herewith another report from the Secretary of State,
stating the losses to which certain Swedish subjects allege they were
exposed by the taking out of one of the ports of St. Bartholomew, in the
year 1828, a vessel under the flag of the Republic of Buenos Ayres, by
the commander of the United States ship _Erie_, and for the payment of
which it is thought provision ought to be made by Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 7, 1833_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives the report of the Secretary
of State upon the subject of the duties on the cargo of the French ship
_Pactole_, prepared in obedience to the resolution of that House of the
20th of December, 1832, which was referred to him.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo,
requesting the President of the United States to communicate to the
Senate a copy of the treaty concluded at Franklin, in the State of
Tennessee, between the United States and the Chickasaw tribe of Indians,
on the ---- day of August, 1830, together with a copy of the
instructions, if any, to the commissioner who negotiated the treaty with
said tribe of Indians, bearing date the 30th day of October, 1832, I
transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the
information required.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_January 8, 1833_.


WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1833_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 4th instant,
requesting to be furnished with such information as the President may
possess "in relation to the survey of the northern boundary of the State
of Ohio under the provisions of the act of Congress passed for that
purpose on the 14th of July, 1832," I transmit herewith a report from
the Secretary of War containing it.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 14, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to
the ratification of the same, treaties that have been concluded by
commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United States with the
following Indian tribes, viz: With the Kickapoos; with the Shawanoes and
Delawares, late of Cape Gerardeau, together with stipulations with
Delawares for certain private annuities; with the Pankeshaws and
Peorias.

I also transmit the journal of the commissioners who negotiated these
treaties.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 16, 1833_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In my annual message at the commencement of your present session I
adverted to the opposition to the revenue laws in a particular quarter
of the United States, which threatened not merely to thwart their
execution, but to endanger the integrity of the Union; and although I
then expressed my reliance that it might be overcome by the prudence of
the officers of the United States and the patriotism of the people, I
stated that should the emergency arise rendering the execution of the
existing laws impracticable from any cause whatever prompt notice should
be given to Congress, with the suggestion of such views and measures as
might be necessary to meet it.

Events which have occurred in the quarter then alluded to, or which have
come to my knowledge subsequently, present this emergency.

Since the date of my last annual message I have had officially
transmitted to me by the governor of South Carolina, which I now
communicate to Congress, a copy of the ordinance passed by the
convention which assembled at Columbia, in the State of South Carolina,
in November last, declaring certain acts of Congress therein mentioned
within the limits of that State to be absolutely null and void, and
making it the duty of the legislature to pass such laws as would be
necessary to carry the same into effect from and after the 1st February
next.

The consequences to which this extraordinary defiance of the just
authority of the Government might too surely lead were clearly foreseen,
and it was impossible for me to hesitate as to my own duty in such an
emergency.

The ordinance had been passed, however, without any certain knowledge of
the recommendation which, from a view of the interests of the nation at
large, the Executive had determined to submit to Congress, and a hope
was indulged that by frankly explaining his sentiments and the nature of
those duties which the crisis would devolve upon him the authorities of
South Carolina might be induced to retrace their steps. In this hope I
determined to issue my proclamation of the 10th of December last, a copy
of which I now lay before Congress.

I regret to inform you that these reasonable expectations have not been
realized, and that the several acts of the legislature of South Carolina
which I now lay before you, and which have all and each of them finally
passed after a knowledge of the desire of the Administration to modify
the laws complained of, are too well calculated both in their positive
enactments and in the spirit of opposition which they obviously
encourage wholly to obstruct the collection of the revenue within the
limits of that State.

Up to this period neither the recommendation of the Executive in regard
to our financial policy and impost system, nor the disposition
manifested by Congress promptly to act upon that subject, nor the
unequivocal expression of the public will in all parts of the Union
appears to have produced any relaxation in the measures of opposition
adopted by the State of South Carolina; nor is there any reason to hope
that the ordinance and laws will be abandoned.

I have no knowledge that an attempt has been made, or that it is in
contemplation, to reassemble either the convention or the legislature,
and it will be perceived that the interval before the 1st of February is
too short to admit of the preliminary steps necessary for that purpose.
It appears, moreover, that the State authorities are actively organizing
their military resources, and providing the means and giving the most
solemn assurances of protection and support to all who shall enlist in
opposition to the revenue laws.

A recent proclamation of the present governor of South Carolina has
openly defied the authority of the Executive of the Union, and general
orders from the headquarters of the State announced his determination to
accept the services of volunteers and his belief that should their
country need their services they will be found at the post of honor and
duty, ready to lay down their lives in her defense. Under these orders
the forces referred to are directed to "hold themselves in readiness to
take the field at a moment's warning," and in the city of Charleston,
within a collection district, and a port of entry, a rendezvous has been
opened for the purpose of enlisting men for the magazine and municipal
guard. Thus South Carolina presents herself in the attitude of hostile
preparation, and ready even for military violence if need be to enforce
her laws for preventing the collection of the duties within her limits.

Proceedings thus announced and matured must be distinguished from
menaces of unlawful resistance by irregular bodies of people, who,
acting under temporary delusion, may be restrained by reflection and the
influence of public opinion from the commission of actual outrage. In
the present instance aggression may be regarded as committed when it is
officially authorized and the means of enforcing it fully provided.

Under these circumstances there can be no doubt that it is the
determination of the authorities of South Carolina fully to carry into
effect their ordinance and laws after the 1st of February. It therefore
becomes my duty to bring the subject to the serious consideration of
Congress, in order that such measures as they in their wisdom may deem
fit shall be seasonably provided, and that it may be thereby understood
that while the Government is disposed to remove all just cause of
complaint as far as may be practicable consistently with a proper regard
to the interests of the community at large, it is nevertheless
determined that the supremacy of the laws shall be maintained.

In making this communication it appears to me to be proper not only that
I should lay before you the acts and proceedings of South Carolina, but
that I should also fully acquaint you with those steps which I have
already caused to be taken for the due collection of the revenue, and
with my views of the subject generally, that the suggestions which the
Constitution requires me to make in regard to your future legislation
may be better understood.

This subject having early attracted the anxious attention of the
Executive, as soon as it was probable that the authorities of South
Carolina seriously meditated resistance to the faithful execution of the
revenue laws it was deemed advisable that the Secretary of the Treasury
should particularly instruct the officers of the United States in that
part of the Union as to the nature of the duties prescribed by the
existing laws.

Instructions were accordingly issued on the 6th of November to the
collectors in that State, pointing out their respective duties and
enjoining upon each a firm and vigilant but discreet performance of them
in the emergency then apprehended.

I herewith transmit copies of these instructions and of the letter
addressed to the district attorney, requesting his cooperation. These
instructions were dictated in the hope that as the opposition to the
laws by the anomalous proceeding of nullification was represented to be
of a pacific nature, to be pursued substantially according to the forms
of the Constitution and without resorting in any event to force or
violence, the measures of its advocates would be taken in conformity
with that profession, and on such supposition the means afforded by the
existing laws would have been adequate to meet any emergency likely to
arise.

It was, however, not possible altogether to suppress apprehension of the
excesses to which the excitement prevailing in that quarter might lead,
but it certainly was not foreseen that the meditated obstruction to the
laws would so soon openly assume its present character.

Subsequently to the date of those instructions, however, the ordinance
of the convention was passed, which, if complied with by the people of
the State, must effectually render inoperative the present revenue laws
within her limits.

That ordinance declares and ordains--

    That the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the
    United States purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and
    imposts on the importation of foreign commodities, and now having
    operation and effect within the United States, and more especially
    "An act in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on
    imports," approved on the 19th of May, 1828, and also an act
    entitled "An act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties
    on imports," approved on the 14th July, 1832, are unauthorized by
    the Constitution of the United States, and violate the true intent
    and meaning thereof, and are null and void and no law, nor binding
    upon the State of South Carolina, its officers and citizens; and all
    promises, contracts, and obligations made or entered into, or to be
    made or entered into, with purpose to secure the duties imposed by
    the said acts, and all judicial proceedings which shall be hereafter
    had in affirmance thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and
    void.

It also ordains--

    That it shall not be lawful for any of the constituted authorities,
    whether of the State of South Carolina or of the United States, to
    enforce the payment of duties imposed by the said acts within the
    limits of the State, but that it shall be the duty of the
    legislature to adopt such measures and pass such acts as may be
    necessary to give full effect to this ordinance and to prevent the
    enforcement and arrest the operation of the said acts and parts of
    acts of the Congress of the United States within the limits of the
    State from and after the 1st of February next; and it shall be the
    duty of all other constituted authorities and of all other persons
    residing or being within the limits of the State, and they are
    hereby required and enjoined, to obey and give effect to this
    ordinance and such acts and measures of the legislature as may be
    passed or adopted in obedience thereto.

It further ordains--

    That in no case of law or equity decided in the courts of the State
    wherein shall be drawn in question the authority of this ordinance,
    or the validity of such act or acts of the legislature as may be
    passed for the purpose of giving effect thereto, or the validity of
    the aforesaid acts of Congress imposing duties, shall any appeal be
    taken or allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor
    shall any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that
    purpose; and the person or persons attempting to take such appeal
    may be dealt with as for a contempt of court.

It likewise ordains--

    That all persons holding any office of honor, profit, or trust,
    civil or military, under the State shall, within such time and in
    such manner as the legislature shall prescribe, take an oath well
    and truly to obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance and such act
    or acts of the legislature as may be passed in pursuance thereof,
    according to the true intent and meaning of the same; and on the
    neglect or omission of any such person or persons so to do his or
    their office or offices shall be forthwith vacated, and shall be
    filled up as if such person or persons were dead or had resigned.
    And no person hereafter elected to any office of honor, profit, or
    trust, civil or military, shall, until the legislature shall
    otherwise provide and direct, enter on the execution of his office
    or be in any respect competent to discharge the duties thereof until
    he shall in like manner have taken a similar oath; and no juror
    shall be empaneled in any of the courts of the State in any cause in
    which shall be in question this ordinance or any act of the
    legislature passed in pursuance thereof, unless he shall first, in
    addition to the usual oath, have taken an oath that he will well and
    truly obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance and such act or acts
    of the legislature as may be passed to carry the same into operation
    and effect, according to the true intent and meaning thereof.

The ordinance concludes:

    And we, the people of South Carolina, to the end that it may be
    fully understood by the Government of the United States and the
    people of the co-States that we are determined to maintain this
    ordinance and declaration at every hazard, do further declare that
    we will not submit to the application of force on the part of the
    Federal Government to reduce this State to obedience, but that we
    will consider the passage by Congress of any act authorizing the
    employment of a military or naval force against the State of South
    Carolina, her constituted authorities or citizens, or any act
    abolishing or closing the ports of this State, or any of them, or
    otherwise obstructing the free ingress and egress of vessels to and
    from the said ports, or any other act on the part of the Federal
    Government to coerce the State, shut up her ports, destroy or harass
    her commerce, or to enforce the acts hereby declared to be null and
    void, otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as
    inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Carolina in the
    Union; and that the people of this State will thenceforth hold
    themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or
    preserve their political connection with the people of the other
    States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government
    and to do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent
    states may of right do.

This solemn denunciation of the laws and authority of the United States
has been followed up by a series of acts on the part of the authorities
of that State which manifest a determination to render inevitable a
resort to those measures of self-defense which the paramount duty of the
Federal Government requires, but upon the adoption of which that State
will proceed to execute the purpose it has avowed in this ordinance of
withdrawing from the Union.

On the 27th of November the legislature assembled at Columbia, and on
their meeting the governor laid before them the ordinance of the
convention. In his message on that occasion he acquaints them that "this
ordinance has thus become a part of the fundamental law of South
Carolina;" that "the die has been at last cast, and South Carolina has
at length appealed to her ulterior sovereignty as a member of this
Confederacy and has planted herself on her reserved rights. The rightful
exercise of this power is not a question which we shall any longer
argue. It is sufficient that she has willed it, and that the act is
done; nor is its strict compatibility with our constitutional obligation
to all laws passed by the General Government within the authorized
grants of power to be drawn in question when this interposition is
exerted in a case in which the compact has been palpably, deliberately,
and dangerously violated. That it brings up a conjuncture of deep and
momentous interest is neither to be concealed nor denied. This crisis
presents a class of duties which is referable to yourselves. You have
been commanded by the people in their highest sovereignty to take care
that within the limits of this State their will shall be obeyed." "The
measure of legislation," he says, "which you have to employ at this
crisis is the precise amount of such enactments as may be necessary to
render it utterly impossible to collect within our limits the duties
imposed by the protective tariffs thus nullified."

He proceeds:

    That you should arm every citizen with a civil process by which he
    may claim, if he pleases, a restitution of his goods seized under
    the existing imposts on his giving security to abide the issue of a
    suit at law, and at the same time define what shall constitute
    treason against the State, and by a bill of pains and penalties
    compel obedience and punish disobedience to your own laws, are
    points too obvious to require any discussion. In one word, you must
    survey the whole ground. You must look to and provide for all
    possible contingencies. In your own limits your own courts of
    judicature must not only be supreme, but you must look to the
    ultimate issue of any conflict of jurisdiction and power between
    them and the courts of the United States.

The governor also asks for power to grant clearances, in violation of
the laws of the Union; and to prepare for the alternative which must
happen unless the United States shall passively surrender their
authority, and the Executive, disregarding his oath, refrain from
executing the laws of the Union, he recommends a thorough revision of
the militia system, and that the governor "be authorized to accept for
the defense of Charleston and its dependencies the services of 2,000
volunteers, either by companies or files," and that they be formed into
a legionary brigade consisting of infantry, riflemen, cavalry, field and
heavy artillery, and that they be "armed and equipped from the public
arsenals completely for the field, and that appropriations be made for
supplying all deficiencies in our munitions of war." In addition to
these volunteer drafts, he recommends that the governor be authorized
"to accept the services of 10,000 volunteers from the other divisions of
the State, to be organized and arranged in regiments and brigades, the
officers to be selected by the commander in chief, and that this whole
force be called _the State guard_."

A request has been regularly made of the secretary of state of South
Carolina for authentic copies of the acts which have been passed for the
purpose of enforcing the ordinance, but up to the date of the latest
advices that request had not been complied with, and on the present
occasion, therefore, reference can only be made to those acts as
published in the newspapers of the State.

The acts to which it is deemed proper to invite the particular attention
of Congress are:

First. "An act to carry into effect, in part, an ordinance to nullify
certain acts of the Congress of the United States purporting to be laws
laying duties on the importation of foreign commodities," passed in
convention of this State, at Columbia, on the 24th November, 1832.

This act provides that any goods seized or detained under pretense of
securing the duties, or for the nonpayment of duties, or under any
process, order, or decree, or other pretext contrary to the intent and
meaning of the ordinance may be recovered by the owner or consignee by
"an act of replevin;" that in case of refusing to deliver them, or
removing them so that the replevin can not be executed, the sheriff may
seize the personal estate of the offender to double the amount of the
goods, and if any attempt shall be made to retake or seize them it is
the duty of the sheriff to recapture them; and that any person who shall
disobey the process or remove the goods, or anyone who shall attempt to
retake or seize the goods under pretense of securing the duties, or for
nonpayment of duties, or under any process or decree contrary to the
intent of the ordinance, shall be fined and imprisoned, besides being
liable for any other offense involved in the act.

It also provides that any person arrested or imprisoned on any judgment
or decree obtained in any Federal court for duties shall be entitled to
the benefit secured by the habeas corpus act of the State in cases of
unlawful arrest, and may maintain an action for damages, and that if any
estate shall be sold under such judgment or decree the sale shall be
held illegal. It also provides that any jailer who receives a person
committed on any process or other judicial proceedings to enforce the
payment of duties, and anyone who hires his house as a jail to receive
such persons, shall be fined and imprisoned. And, finally, it provides
that persons paying duties may recover them back with interest.

The next is called "An act to provide for the security and protection of
the people of the State of South Carolina."

This act provides that if the Government of the United States or any
officer thereof shall, by the employment of naval or military force,
attempt to coerce the State of South Carolina into submission to the
acts of Congress declared by the ordinance null and void, or to resist
the enforcement of the ordinance or of the laws passed in pursuance
thereof, or in case of any armed or forcible resistance thereto, the
governor is authorized to resist the same and to order into service the
whole or so much of the military force of the State as he may deem
necessary; and that in case of any overt act of coercion or intention to
commit the same, manifested by an unusual assemblage of naval or
military forces in or near the State, or the occurrence of any
circumstances indicating that armed force is about to be employed
against the State or in resistance to its laws, the governor is
authorized to accept the services of such volunteers and call into
service such portions of the militia as may be required to meet the
emergency.

The act also provides for accepting the service of the volunteers and
organizing the militia, embracing all free white males between the ages
of 16 and 60, and for the purchase of arms, ordnance, and ammunition. It
also declares that the power conferred on the governor shall be
applicable to all cases of insurrection or invasion, or imminent danger
thereof, and to cases where the laws of the State shall be opposed and
the execution thereof forcibly resisted by combinations too powerful to
be suppressed by the power vested in the sheriffs and other civil
officers, and declares it to be the duty of the governor in every such
case to call forth such portions of the militia and volunteers as may be
necessary promptly to suppress such combinations and cause the laws of
the State to be executed.

No. 9 is "An act concerning the oath required by the ordinance passed in
convention at Columbia on the 24th of November, 1832."

This act prescribes the form of the oath, which is, to obey and execute
the ordinance and all acts passed by the legislature in pursuance
thereof, and directs the time and manner of taking it by the officers of
the State--civil, judiciary, and military.

It is believed that other acts have been passed embracing provisions for
enforcing the ordinance, but I have not yet been able to procure them.

I transmit, however, a copy of Governor Hamilton's message to the
legislature of South Carolina; of Governor Hayne's inaugural address to
the same body, as also of his proclamation, and a general order of the
governor and commander in chief, dated the 20th of December, giving
public notice that the services of volunteers will be accepted under the
act already referred to.

If these measures can not be defeated and overcome by the power
conferred by the Constitution on the Federal Government, the
Constitution must be considered as incompetent to its own defense, the
supremacy of the laws is at an end, and the rights and liberties of the
citizens can no longer receive protection from the Government of the
Union. They not only abrogate the acts of Congress commonly called the
tariff acts of 1828 and 1832, but they prostrate and sweep away at once
and without exception every act and every part of every act imposing any
amount whatever of duty on any foreign merchandise, and virtually every
existing act which has ever been passed authorizing the collection of
the revenue, including the act of 1816, and also the collection law of
1799, the constitutionality of which has never been questioned. It is
not only those duties which are charged to have been imposed for the
protection of manufactures that are thereby repealed, but all others,
though laid for the purpose of revenue merely, and upon articles in no
degree suspected of being objects of protection. The whole revenue
system of the United States in South Carolina is obstructed and
overthrown, and the Government is absolutely prohibited from collecting
any part of the public revenue within the limits of that State.
Henceforth, not only the citizens of South Carolina and of the United
States, but the subjects of foreign states may import any description or
quantity of merchandise into the ports of South Carolina without the
payment of any duty whatsoever. That State is thus relieved from the
payment of any part of the public burthens, and duties and imposts are
not only rendered not uniform throughout the United States, but a direct
and ruinous preference is given to the ports of that State over those of
all the other States of the Union, in manifest violation of the positive
provisions of the Constitution.

In point of duration, also, those aggressions upon the authority of
Congress which by the ordinance are made part of the fundamental law of
South Carolina are absolute, indefinite, and without limitation. They
neither prescribe the period when they shall cease nor indicate any
conditions upon which those who have thus undertaken to arrest the
operation of the laws are to retrace their steps and rescind their
measures. They offer to the United States no alternative but
unconditional submission. If the scope of the ordinance is to be
received as the scale of concession, their demands can be satisfied only
by a repeal of the whole system of revenue laws and by abstaining from
the collection of any duties and imposts whatsoever.

It is true that in the address to the people of the United States by the
convention of South Carolina, after announcing "the fixed and final
determination of the State in relation to the protecting system," they
say "that it remains for us to submit a plan of taxation in which we
would be willing to acquiesce in a liberal spirit of concession,
provided we are met in due time and in a becoming spirit by the States
interested in manufactures." In the opinion of the convention, an
equitable plan would be that "the whole list of protected articles
should be imported free of all duty, and that the revenue derived from
import duties should be raised exclusively from the unprotected
articles, or that whenever a duty is imposed upon protected articles
imported an excise duty of the same rate shall be imposed upon all
similar articles manufactured in the United States."

The address proceeds to state, however, that "they are willing to make a
large offering to preserve the Union, and, with a distinct declaration
that it is a concession on our part, we will consent that the same rate
of duty may be imposed upon the protected articles that shall be imposed
upon the unprotected, provided that no more revenue be raised than is
necessary to meet the demands of the Government for constitutional
purposes, and provided also that a duty substantially uniform be imposed
upon all foreign imports."

It is also true that in his message to the legislature, when urging the
necessity of providing "means of securing their safety by ample
resources for repelling force by force," the governor of South Carolina
observes that he "can not but think that on a calm and dispassionate
review by Congress and the functionaries of the General Government of
the true merits of this controversy the arbitration by a call of a
convention of all the States, which we sincerely and anxiously seek and
desire, will be accorded to us."

From the diversity of terms indicated in these two important documents,
taken in connection with the progress of recent events in that quarter,
there is too much reason to apprehend, without in any manner doubting
the intentions of those public functionaries, that neither the terms
proposed in the address of the convention nor those alluded to in the
message of the governor would appease the excitement which has led to
the present excesses. It is obvious, however, that should the latter be
insisted on they present an alternative which the General Government of
itself can by no possibility grant, since by an express provision of the
Constitution Congress can call a convention for the purpose of proposing
amendments only "on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of
the States." And it is not perceived that the terms presented in the
address are more practicable than those referred to in the message.

It will not escape attention that the conditions on which it is said in
the address of the convention they "would be willing to acquiesce" form
no part of the ordinance. While this ordinance bears all the solemnity
of a fundamental law, is to be authoritative upon all within the limits
of South Carolina, and is absolute and unconditional in its terms, the
address conveys only the sentiments of the convention, in no binding or
practical form; one is the act of the State, the other only the
expression of the opinions of the members of the convention. To limit
the effect of that solemn act by any terms or conditions whatever, they
should have been embodied in it, and made of import no less
authoritative than the act itself. By the positive enactments of the
ordinance the execution of the laws of the Union is absolutely
prohibited, and the address offers no other prospect of their being
again restored, even in the modified form proposed, than what depends
upon the improbable contingency that amid changing events and increasing
excitement the sentiments of the present members of the convention and
of their successors will remain the same.

It is to be regretted, however, that these conditions, even if they had
been offered in the same binding form, are so undefined, depend upon so
many contingencies, and are so directly opposed to the known opinions
and interests of the great body of the American people as to be almost
hopeless of attainment. The majority of the States and of the people
will certainly not consent that the protecting duties shall be wholly
abrogated, never to be reenacted at any future time or in any possible
contingency. As little practicable is it to provide that "the same rate
of duty shall be imposed upon the protected articles that shall be
imposed upon the unprotected," which, moreover, would be severely
oppressive to the poor, and in time of war would add greatly to its
rigors. And though there can be no objection to the principle, properly
understood, that no more revenue shall be raised than is necessary for
the constitutional purposes of the Government, which principle has been
already recommended by the Executive as the true basis of taxation, yet
it is very certain that South Carolina alone can not be permitted to
decide what these constitutional purposes are.

The period which constitutes the due time in which the terms proposed in
the address are to be accepted would seem to present scarcely less
difficulty than the terms themselves. Though the revenue laws are
already declared to be void in South Carolina, as well as the bonds
taken under them and the judicial proceedings for carrying them into
effect, yet as the full action and operation of the ordinance are to be
suspended until the 1st of February the interval may be assumed as the
time within which it is expected that the most complicated portion of
the national legislation, a system of long standing and affecting great
interests in the community, is to be rescinded and abolished. If this be
required, it is clear that a compliance is impossible.

In the uncertainty, then, that exists as to the duration of the
ordinance and of the enactments for enforcing it, it becomes imperiously
the duty of the Executive of the United States, acting with a proper
regard to all the great interests committed to his care, to treat those
acts as absolute and unlimited. They are so as far as his agency is
concerned. He can not either embrace or lead to the performance of the
conditions. He has already discharged the only part in his power by the
recommendation in his annual message. The rest is with Congress and the
people, and until they have acted his duty will require him to look to
the existing state of things and act under them according to his high
obligations.

By these various proceedings, therefore, the State of South Carolina has
forced the General Government, unavoidably, to decide the new and
dangerous alternative of permitting a State to obstruct the execution of
the laws within its limits or seeing it attempt to execute a threat of
withdrawing from the Union. That portion of the people at present
exercising the authority of the State solemnly assert their right to do
either and as solemnly announce their determination to do one or the
other.

In my opinion, both purposes are to be regarded as revolutionary in
their character and tendency, and subversive of the supremacy of the
laws and of the integrity of the Union. The result of each is the same,
since a State in which, by an usurpation of power, the constitutional
authority of the Federal Government is openly defied and set aside wants
only the form to be independent of the Union.

The right of the people of a single State to absolve themselves at will
and without the consent of the other States from their most solemn
obligations, and hazard the liberties and happiness of the millions
composing this Union, can not be acknowledged. Such authority is
believed to be utterly repugnant both to the principles upon which the
General Government is constituted and to the objects which it is
expressly formed to attain.

Against all acts which may be alleged to transcend the constitutional
power of the Government, or which may be inconvenient or oppressive in
their operation, the Constitution itself has prescribed the modes of
redress. It is the acknowledged attribute of free institutions that
under them the empire of reason and law is substituted for the power of
the sword. To no other source can appeals for supposed wrongs be made
consistently with the obligations of South Carolina; to no other can
such appeals be made with safety at any time; and to their decisions,
when constitutionally pronounced, it becomes the duty no less of the
public authorities than of the people in every case to yield a patriotic
submission.

That a State or any other great portion of the people, suffering under
long and intolerable oppression and having tried all constitutional
remedies without the hope of redress, may have a natural right, when
their happiness can be no otherwise secured, and when they can do so
without greater injury to others, to absolve themselves from their
obligations to the Government and appeal to the last resort, needs not
on the present occasion be denied.

The existence of this right, however, must depend upon the causes which
may justify its exercise. It is the _ultima ratio_, which presupposes
that the proper appeals to all other means of redress have been made in
good faith, and which can never be rightfully resorted to unless it be
unavoidable. It is not the right of the State, but of the individual,
and of all the individuals in the State. It is the right of mankind
generally to secure by all means in their power the blessings of liberty
and happiness; but when for these purposes any body of men have
voluntarily associated themselves under a particular form of government,
no portion of them can dissolve the association without acknowledging
the correlative right in the remainder to decide whether that
dissolution can be permitted consistently with the general happiness. In
this view it is a right dependent upon the power to enforce it. Such a
right, though it may be admitted to preexist and can not be wholly
surrendered, is necessarily subjected to limitations in all free
governments, and in compacts of all kinds freely and voluntarily entered
into, and in which the interest and welfare of the individual become
identified with those of the community of which he is a member. In
compacts between individuals, however deeply they may affect their
relations, these principles are acknowledged to create a sacred
obligation; and in compacts of civil government, involving the liberties
and happiness of millions of mankind, the obligation can not be less.

Without adverting to the particular theories to which the federal
compact has given rise, both as to its formation and the parties to it,
and without inquiring whether it be merely federal or social or
national, it is sufficient that it must be admitted to be a compact and
to possess the obligations incident to a compact; to be "a compact by
which power is created on the one hand and obedience exacted on the
other; a compact freely, voluntarily, and solemnly entered into by the
several States and ratified by the people thereof, respectively; a
compact by which the several States and the people thereof,
respectively, have bound themselves to each other and to the Federal
Government, and by which the Federal Government is bound to the several
States and to every citizen of the United States." To this compact, in
whatever mode it may have been done, the people of South Carolina have
freely and voluntarily given their assent, and to the whole and every
part of it they are, upon every principle of good faith, inviolably
bound. Under this obligation they are bound and should be required to
contribute their portion of the public expense, and to submit to all
laws made by the common consent, in pursuance of the Constitution, for
the common defense and general welfare, until they can be changed in the
mode which the compact has provided for the attainment of those great
ends of the Government and of the Union. Nothing less than causes which
would justify revolutionary remedy can absolve the people from this
obligation, and for nothing less can the Government permit it to be done
without violating its own obligations, by which, under the compact, it
is bound to the other States and to every citizen of the United States.

These deductions plainly flow from the nature of the federal compact,
which is one of limitations, not only upon the powers originally
possessed by the parties thereto, but also upon those conferred on the
Government and every department thereof. It will be freely conceded that
by the principles of our system all power is vested in the people, but
to be exercised in the mode and subject to the checks which the people
themselves have prescribed. These checks are undoubtedly only different
modifications of the same great popular principle which lies at the
foundation of the whole, but are not on that account to be less regarded
or less obligatory.

Upon the power of Congress, the veto of the Executive and the authority
of the judiciary, which is to extend to all cases in law and equity
arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States made in
pursuance thereof, are the obvious checks, and the sound action of
public opinion, with the ultimate power of amendment, are the salutary
and only limitation upon the powers of the whole.

However it may be alleged that a violation of the compact by the
measures of the Government can affect the obligations of the parties, it
can not even be pretended that such violation can be predicated of those
measures until all the constitutional remedies shall have been fully
tried. If the Federal Government exercise powers not warranted by the
Constitution, and immediately affecting individuals, it will scarcely be
denied that the proper remedy is a recourse to the judiciary. Such
undoubtedly is the remedy for those who deem the acts of Congress laying
duties and imposts, and providing for their collection, to be
unconstitutional. The whole operation of such laws is upon the
individuals importing the merchandise. A State is absolutely prohibited
from laying imposts or duties on imports or exports without the consent
of Congress, and can not become a party under these laws without
importing in her own name or wrongfully interposing her authority
against them. By thus interposing, however, she can not rightfully
obstruct the operation of the laws upon individuals. For their
disobedience to or violation of the laws the ordinary remedies through
the judicial tribunals would remain. And in a case where an individual
should be prosecuted for any offense against the laws, he could not set
up in justification of his act a law of the State, which, being
unconstitutional, would therefore be regarded as null and void. The law
of a State can not authorize the commission of a crime against the
United States or any other act which, according to the supreme law of
the Union, would be otherwise unlawful; and it is equally clear that if
there be any case in which a State, as such, is affected by the law
beyond the scope of judicial power, the remedy consists in appeals to
the people, either to effect a change in the representation or to
procure relief by an amendment of the Constitution. But the measures of
the Government are to be recognized as valid, and consequently supreme,
until these remedies shall have been effectually tried, and any attempt
to subvert those measures or to render the laws subordinate to State
authority, and afterwards to resort to constitutional redress, is worse
than evasive. It would not be a proper resistance to "_a government of
unlimited powers_," as has been sometimes pretended, but unlawful
opposition to the very limitations on which the harmonious action of the
Government and all its parts absolutely depends. South Carolina has
appealed to none of these remedies, but in effect has defied them all.
While threatening to separate from the Union if any attempt be made to
enforce the revenue laws otherwise than through the civil tribunals of
the country, she has not only not appealed in her own name to those
tribunals which the Constitution has provided for all cases in law or
equity arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, but
has endeavored to frustrate their proper action on her citizens by
drawing the cognizance of cases under the revenue laws to her own
tribunals, specially prepared and fitted for the purpose of enforcing
the acts passed by the State to obstruct those laws, and both the judges
and jurors of which will be bound by the import of oaths previously
taken to treat the Constitution and laws of the United States in this
respect as a nullity. Nor has the State made the proper appeal to public
opinion and to the remedy of amendment; for without waiting to learn
whether the other States will consent to a convention, or if they do
will construe or amend the Constitution to suit her views, she has of
her own authority altered the import of that instrument and given
immediate effect to the change. In fine, she has set her own will and
authority above the laws, has made herself arbiter in her own cause, and
has passed at once over all intermediate steps to measures of avowed
resistance, which, unless they be submitted to, can be enforced only by
the sword.

In deciding upon the course which a high sense of duty to all the people
of the United States imposes upon the authorities of the Union in this
emergency, it can not be overlooked that there is no sufficient cause
for the acts of South Carolina, or for her thus placing in jeopardy the
happiness of so many millions of people. Misrule and oppression, to
warrant the disruption of the free institutions of the Union of these
States, should be great and lasting, defying all other remedy. For
causes of minor character the Government could not submit to such a
catastrophe without a violation of its most sacred obligations to the
other States of the Union who have submitted their destiny to its hands.

There is in the present instance no such cause, either in the degree of
misrule or oppression complained of or in the hopelessness of redress by
constitutional means. The long sanction they have received from the
proper authorities and from the people, not less than the unexampled
growth and increasing prosperity of so many millions of freemen, attest
that no such oppression as would justify, or even palliate, such a
resort can be justly imputed either to the present policy or past
measures of the Federal Government.

The same mode of collecting duties, and for the same general objects,
which began with the foundation of the Government, and which has
conducted the country through its subsequent steps to its present
enviable condition of happiness and renown, has not been changed.
Taxation and representation, the great principle of the American
Revolution, have continually gone hand in hand, and at all times and in
every instance no tax of any kind has been imposed without their
participation, and, in some instances which have been complained of,
with the express assent of a part of the representatives of South
Carolina in the councils of the Government. Up to the present period no
revenue has been raised beyond the necessary wants of the country and
the authorized expenditures of the Government; and as soon as the
burthen of the public debt is removed those charged with the
administration have promptly recommended a corresponding reduction of
revenue.

That this system thus pursued has resulted in no such oppression upon
South Carolina needs no other proof than the solemn and official
declaration of the late chief magistrate of that State in his address to
the legislature. In that he says that--

    The occurrences of the past year, in connection with our domestic
    concerns, are to be reviewed with a sentiment of fervent gratitude
    to the Great Disposer of Human Events; that tributes of grateful
    acknowledgment are due for the various and multiplied blessings He
    has been pleased to bestow on our people; that abundant harvests in
    every quarter of the State have crowned the exertions of
    agricultural labor; that health almost beyond former precedent has
    blessed our homes, and that there is not less reason for
    thankfulness in surveying our social condition.

It would indeed be difficult to imagine oppression where in the social
condition of a people there was equal cause of thankfulness as for
abundant harvests and varied and multiplied blessings with which a kind
Providence had favored them.

Independently of these considerations, it will not escape observation
that South Carolina still claims to be a component part of the Union, to
participate in the national councils and to share in the public benefits
without contributing to the public burdens, thus asserting the dangerous
anomaly of continuing in an association without acknowledging any other
obligation to its laws than what depends upon her own will.

In this posture of affairs the duty of the Government seems to be plain.
It inculcates a recognition of that State as a member of the Union and
subject to its authority, a vindication of the just power of the
Constitution, the preservation of the integrity of the Union, and the
execution of the laws by all constitutional means.

The Constitution, which his oath of office obliges him to support,
declares that the Executive "_shall take care that the laws be
faithfully executed_" and in providing that he shall from time to time
give to Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to
their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient, imposes the additional obligation of recommending to Congress
such more efficient provision for executing the laws as may from time to
time be found requisite.

The same instrument confers on Congress the power not merely to lay and
collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and
provide for the common defense and general welfare, but "to make all
laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into effect the
foregoing powers and all other powers vested by the Constitution in the
Government of the United States or in any department or officer
thereof," and also to provide for calling forth the militia for
executing the laws of the Union. In all cases similar to the present the
duties of the Government become the measure of its powers, and whenever
it fails to exercise a power necessary and proper to the discharge of
the duty prescribed by the Constitution it violates the public trusts
not less than it would in transcending its proper limits. To refrain,
therefore, from the high and solemn duties thus enjoined, however
painful the performance may be, and thereby tacitly permit the rightful
authority of the Government to be contemned and its laws obstructed by a
single State, would neither comport with its own safety nor the rights
of the great body of the American people.

It being thus shown to be the duty of the Executive to execute the laws
by all constitutional means, it remains to consider the extent of those
already at his disposal and what it may be proper further to provide.

In the instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury to the collectors
in South Carolina the provisions and regulations made by the act of
1799, and also the fines, penalties, and forfeitures for their
enforcement, are particularly detailed and explained. It may be well
apprehended, however, that these provisions may prove inadequate to meet
such an open, powerful, organized opposition as is to be commenced after
the 1st of February next.

Subsequently to the date of these instructions and to the passage of the
ordinance, information has been received from sources entitled to be
relied on that owing to the popular excitement in the State and the
effect of the ordinance declaring the execution of the revenue laws
unlawful a sufficient number of persons in whom confidence might be
placed could not be induced to accept the office of inspector to oppose
with any probability of success the force which will no doubt be used
when an attempt is made to remove vessels and their cargoes from the
custody of the officers of the customs, and, indeed, that it would be
impracticable for the collector, with the aid of any number of
inspectors whom he may be authorized to employ, to preserve the custody
against such an attempt.

The removal of the custom-house from Charleston to Castle Pinckney was
deemed a measure of necessary precaution, and though the authority to
give that direction is not questioned, it is nevertheless apparent that
a similar precaution can not be observed in regard to the ports of
Georgetown and Beaufort, each of which under the present laws remains a
port of entry and exposed to the obstructions meditated in that quarter.

In considering the best means of avoiding or of preventing the
apprehended obstruction to the collection of the revenue, and the
consequences which may ensue, it would appear to be proper and necessary
to enable the officers of the customs to preserve the custody of vessels
and their cargoes, which by the existing laws they are required to take,
until the duties to which they are liable shall be paid or secured. The
mode by which it is contemplated to deprive them of that custody is the
process of replevin and that of _capias in withernam_, in the nature of
a distress from the State tribunals organized by the ordinance.

Against the proceeding in the nature of a distress it is not perceived
that the collector can interpose any resistance whatever, and against
the process of replevin authorized by the law of the State he, having no
common-law power, can only oppose such inspectors as he is by statute
authorized and may find it practicable to employ, and these, from the
information already adverted to, are shown to be wholly inadequate,

The respect which that process deserves must therefore be considered.

If the authorities of South Carolina had not obstructed the legitimate
action of the courts of the United States, or if they had permitted the
State tribunals to administer the law according to their oath under the
Constitution and the regulations of the laws of the Union, the General
Government might have been content to look to them for maintaining the
custody and to encounter the other inconveniences arising out of the
recent proceedings. Even in that case, however, the process of replevin
from the courts of the State would be irregular and unauthorized. It has
been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that the courts
of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction of all seizures made on
land or water for a breach of the laws of the United States, and any
intervention of a State authority which, by taking the thing seized out
of the hands of the United States officer, might obstruct the exercise
of this jurisdiction is unlawful; that in such case the court of the
United States having cognizance of the seizure may enforce a redelivery
of the thing by attachment or other summary process; that the question
under such a seizure whether a forfeiture has been actually incurred
belongs exclusively to the courts of the United States, and it depends
on the final decree whether the seizure is to be deemed rightful or
tortuous; and that not until the seizure be finally judged wrongful and
without probable cause by the courts of the United States can the party
proceed at common law for damages in the State courts.

But by making it "unlawful for any of the constituted authorities,
whether of the United States or of the State, to enforce the laws for
the payment of duties, and declaring that all judicial proceedings which
shall be hereafter had in affirmance of the contracts made with purpose
to secure the duties imposed by the said acts are and shall be held
utterly null and void," she has in effect abrogated the judicial
tribunals within her limits in this respect, has virtually denied the
United States access to the courts established by their own laws, and
declared it unlawful for the judges to discharge those duties which they
are sworn to perform. In lieu of these she has substituted those State
tribunals already adverted to, the judges whereof are not merely
forbidden to allow an appeal or permit a copy of their record, but are
previously sworn to disregard the laws of the Union and enforce those
only of South Carolina, and thus deprived of the function essential to
the judicial character of inquiring into the validity of the law and the
right of the matter, become merely ministerial instruments in aid of the
concerted obstruction of the laws of the Union.

Neither the process nor authority of these tribunals thus constituted
can be respected consistently with the supremacy of the laws or the
rights and security of the citizen. If they be submitted to, the
protection due from the Government to its officers and citizens is
withheld, and there is at once an end not only to the laws, but to the
Union itself.

Against such a force as the sheriff may, and which by the replevin law
of South Carolina it is his duty to exercise, it can not be expected
that a collector can retain his custody with the aid of the inspectors.
In such case, it is true, it would be competent to institute suits in
the United States courts against those engaged in the unlawful
proceeding, or the property might be seized for a violation of the
revenue laws, and, being libeled in the proper courts, an order might be
made for its redelivery, which would be committed to the marshal for
execution. But in that case the fourth section of the act, in broad and
unqualified terms, makes it the duty of the sheriff "to prevent such
recapture or seizure, or to redeliver the goods, as the case may be,"
"even under any process, order, or decrees, or other pretext contrary to
the true intent and meaning of the ordinance aforesaid." It is thus made
the duty of the sheriff to oppose the process of the courts of the
United States, and for that purpose, if need be, to employ the whole
power of the county. And the act expressly reserves to him all power
which, independently of its provisions, he could have used. In this
reservation it obviously contemplates a resort to other means than those
particularly mentioned.

It is not to be disguised that the power which it is thus enjoined upon
the sheriff to employ is nothing less than the _posse comitatus_ in all
the rigor of the ancient common law. This power, though it may be used
against unlawful resistance to judicial process, is in its character
forcible, and analogous to that conferred upon the marshals by the act
of 1795. It is, in fact, the embodying of the whole mass of the
population, under the command of a single individual, to accomplish by
their forcible aid what could not be effected peaceably and by the
ordinary means. It may properly be said to be a relic of those ages in
which the laws could be defended rather by physical than moral force,
and in its origin was conferred upon the sheriffs of England to enable
them to defend their county against any of the King's enemies when they
came into the land, as well as for the purpose of executing process. In
early and less civilized times it was intended to include "the aid and
attendance of all knights and others who were bound to have harness." It
includes the right of going with arms and military equipment, and
embraces larger classes and greater masses of population than can be
compelled by the laws of most of the States to perform militia duty. If
the principles of the common law are recognized in South Carolina (and
from this act it would seem they are), the power of summoning the _posse
comitatus_ will compel, under the penalty of fine and imprisonment,
every man over the age of 15, and able to travel, to turn out at the
call of the sheriff, and with such weapons as may be necessary; and it
may justify beating, and even killing, such as may resist. The use of
the _posse comitatus_ is therefore a direct application of force, and
can not be otherwise regarded than as the employment of the whole
militia force of the county, and in an equally efficient form under a
different name. No proceeding which resorts to this power to the extent
contemplated by the act can be properly denominated peaceable.

The act of South Carolina, however, does not rely altogether upon this
forcible remedy. For even attempting to resist or disobey, though by the
aid only of the ordinary officers of the customs, the process of
replevin, the collector and all concerned are subjected to a further
proceeding in the nature of a distress of their personal effects, and
are, moreover, made guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to be punished
by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 and to
imprisonment not exceeding two years and not less than six months; and
for even attempting to execute the order of the court for retaking the
property the marshal and all assisting would be guilty of a misdemeanor
and liable to a fine of not less than $3,000 nor more than $10,000 and
to imprisonment not exceeding two years nor less than one: and in case
the goods should be retaken under such process it is made the absolute
duty of the sheriff to retake them.

It is not to be supposed that in the face of these penalties, aided by
the powerful force of the county, which would doubtless be brought to
sustain the State officers, either that the collector would retain the
custody in the first instance or that the marshal could summon
sufficient aid to retake the property pursuant to the order or other
process of the court.

It is, moreover, obvious that in this conflict between the powers of the
officers of the United States and of the State (unless the latter be
passively submitted to) the destruction to which the property of the
officers of the customs would be exposed, the commission of actual
violence, and the loss of lives would be scarcely avoidable.

Under these circumstances and the provisions of the acts of South
Carolina the execution of the laws is rendered impracticable even
through the ordinary judicial tribunals of the United States. There
would certainly be fewer difficulties, and less opportunity of actual
collision between the officers of the United States and of the State,
and the collection of the revenue would be more effectually secured--if,
indeed, it can be done in any other way--by placing the custom-house
beyond the immediate power of the county.

For this purpose it might be proper to provide that whenever by any
unlawful combination or obstruction in any State or in any port it
should become impracticable faithfully to collect the duties, the
President of the United States should be authorized to alter and abolish
such of the districts and ports of entry as should be necessary, and to
establish the custom-house at some secure place within some port or
harbor of such State; and in such cases it should be the duty of the
collector to reside at such place, and to detain all vessels and cargoes
until the duties imposed by law should be properly secured or paid in
cash, deducting interest; that in such cases it should be unlawful to
take the vessel and cargo from the custody of the proper officer of the
customs unless by process from the ordinary judicial tribunals of the
United States, and that in case of an attempt otherwise to take the
property by a force too great to be overcome by the officers of the
customs it should be lawful to protect the possession of the officers by
the employment of the land and naval forces and militia, under
provisions similar to those authorized by the eleventh section of the
act of the 9th of January, 1809.

This provision, however, would not shield the officers and citizens of
the United States, acting under the laws, from suits and prosecutions in
the tribunals of the State which might thereafter be brought against
them, nor would it protect their property from the proceeding by
distress, and it may well be apprehended that it would be insufficient
to insure a proper respect to the process of the constitutional
tribunals in prosecutions for offenses against the United States and to
protect the authorities of the United States, whether judicial or
ministerial, in the performance of their duties. It would, moreover, be
inadequate to extend the protection due from the Government to that
portion of the people of South Carolina against outrage and oppression
of any kind who may manifest their attachment and yield obedience to the
laws of the Union.

It may therefore be desirable to revive, with some modifications better
adapted to the occasion, the sixth section of the act of the 3d March,
1815, which expired on the 4th March, 1817, by the limitation of that of
27th April, 1816, and to provide that in any case where suit shall be
brought against any individual in the courts of the State for any act
done under the laws of the United States he should be authorized to
remove the said cause by petition into the circuit court of the United
States without any copy of the record, and that the court should proceed
to hear and determine the same as if it had been originally instituted
therein; and that in all cases of injuries to the persons or property of
individuals for disobedience to the ordinance and laws of South Carolina
in pursuance thereof redress may be sought in the courts of the United
States. It may be expedient also, by modifying the resolution of the 3d
March, 1791, to authorize the marshals to make the necessary provision
for the safe-keeping of prisoners committed under the authority of the
United States.

Provisions less than these, consisting as they do for the most part
rather of a revival of the policy of former acts called for by the
existing emergency than of the introduction of any unusual or rigorous
enactments, would not cause the laws of the Union to be properly
respected or enforced. It is believed these would prove adequate unless
the military forces of the State of South Carolina authorized by the
late act of the legislature should be actually embodied and called out
in aid of their proceedings and of the provisions of the ordinance
generally. Even in that case, however, it is believed that no more will
be necessary than a few modifications of its terms to adapt the act of
1795 to the present emergency, as by that act the provisions of the law
of 1792 were accommodated to the crisis then existing, and by conferring
authority upon the President to give it operation during the session of
Congress, and without the ceremony of a proclamation, whenever it shall
be officially made known to him by the authority of any State, or by the
courts of the United States, that within the limits of such State the
laws of the United States will be openly opposed and their execution
obstructed by the actual employment of military force, or by any
unlawful means whatsoever too great to be otherwise overcome.

In closing this communication, I should do injustice to my own feelings
not to express my confident reliance upon the disposition of each
department of the Government to perform its duty and to cooperate in all
measures necessary in the present emergency.

The crisis undoubtedly invokes the fidelity of the patriot and the
sagacity of the statesman, not more in removing such portion of the
public burden as may be necessary than in preserving the good order of
society and in the maintenance of well-regulated liberty.

While a forbearing spirit may, and I trust will, be exercised toward the
errors of our brethren in a particular quarter, duty to the rest of the
Union demands that open and organized resistance to the laws should not
be executed with impunity.

The rich inheritance bequeathed by our fathers has devolved upon us the
sacred obligation of preserving it by the same virtues which conducted
them through the eventful scenes of the Revolution and ultimately
crowned their struggle with the noblest model of civil institutions.
They bequeathed to us a Government of laws and a Federal Union founded
upon the great principle of popular representation. After a successful
experiment of forty-four years, at a moment when the Government and the
Union are the objects of the hopes of the friends of civil liberty
throughout the world, and in the midst of public and individual
prosperity unexampled in history, we are called to decide whether these
laws possess any force and that Union the means of self-preservation.
The decision of this question by an enlightened and patriotic people can
not be doubtful. For myself, fellow-citizens, devoutly relying upon that
kind Providence which has hitherto watched over our destinies, and
actuated by a profound reverence for those institutions I have so much
cause to love, and for the American people, whose partiality honored me
with their highest trust, I have determined to spare no effort to
discharge the duty which in this conjuncture is devolved upon me. That a
similar spirit will actuate the representatives of the American people
is not to be questioned; and I fervently pray that the Great Ruler of
Nations may so guide your deliberations and our joint measures as that
they may prove salutary examples not only to the present but to future
times, and solemnly proclaim that the Constitution and the laws are
supreme and the _Union indissoluble_.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 16, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

In conformity with a resolution of the Senate of the 31st December last,
I herewith transmit copies of the instructions under which the late
treaty of indemnity with Naples was negotiated, and of all the
correspondence relative thereto.

It will appear evident from a perusal of some of those documents that
they are written by the agents of the United States to their own
Government with a freedom, as far as relates to the officers of that of
Naples, which was never intended for the public eye, and as they might,
if printed, accidentally find their way abroad and thereby embarrass our
ministers in their future operations in foreign countries, I
respectfully recommend that in the printing, if deemed necessary, such a
discrimination be made as to avoid that inconvenience, preferring this
course to withholding from the Senate any part of the correspondence.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 17, 1833_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

In conformity with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
11th December last, I herewith transmit "such portions as have not
heretofore been communicated of the instructions given to our ministers
in France on the subject of claims for spoliations since September,
1800, and of the correspondence of said ministers with the French
Government and with the Secretary of State of the United States on the
same subject."

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 22, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

Having received on yesterday certified copies of the acts passed by the
State of South Carolina to carry into effect her ordinance of
nullification, which were referred to in my message of the 16th instant
to Congress, I now transmit them.

As but one copy of these acts was sent to me, I am prevented from
communicating them by a joint message to the two Houses of Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1833_.
_The President of the Senate_:

A treaty of peace, friendship, and amity between the United States and
the King of the Belgians having this day been concluded by the
plenipotentiaries of the respective countries, I herewith transmit it to
the Senate for its consideration.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of
State, with a list of appointments made by the Executive since the 13th
of April, 1826, from members of Congress during their term of service
and for twelve months thereafter, pursuant to the resolution of the said
House of the 26th of December, 1832, which I referred to him, and which
appointments are recorded in his office. I send likewise a list of
similar appointments, also furnished by the Secretary of State and of
record in his office, from the 3d of March, 1825, to the 13th of April,
1826.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_January 23, 1833_.


_To the House of Representatives_:

I send herewith a convention concluded on the 14th day of October last
between the United States and His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies.
This treaty has been ratified by me agreeably to the Constitution, and
the ratification will be dispatched to Naples without delay, when there
is no doubt it will be ratified by His Sicilian Majesty.

The early communication of this treaty is deemed proper because it will
be necessary to provide for the execution of the first article in order
that our fellow-citizens may with as little delay as possible obtain the
compensation stipulated for by this convention.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_January 24, 1833_.


WASHINGTON, _January 25, 1833_.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, the report of the
officer to whom was intrusted the inspection of the works for the
improvement of the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _January 29, 1833_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the
Postmaster-General, which I request may be considered as forming a part
of my message of the 23d instant, in answer to the resolution calling
for a list of all appointments made by the Executive since the 13th
April, 1826, from the members of Congress during their term of service
and for twelve months thereafter, etc.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 7, 1833_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit, for the consideration of Congress, a report from the
Secretary of State, on the subject of our diplomatic intercourse with
foreign nations.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate requesting the President
of the United States to lay before it "copies of the orders which have
been given to the commanding officers of the military forces assembled
in and near to the city of Charleston, S.C., and also copies of the
orders which have been given to the commander of the naval forces
assembled in the harbor of Charleston, particularly such orders, if any
such have been given, to resist the constituted authorities of the State
of South Carolina within the limits of said State," I transmit herewith
papers, numbered from 1 to 17, inclusive, embracing the orders which
have been given to the commanding officers of the land and naval forces
assembled in and near the city of Charleston and within the limits of
the State of South Carolina, and which relate to the military operations
in that quarter. No order has at any time been given in any manner
inconsistent therewith. There is a part, however, of the letter of the
Secretary of War dated December 3, 1832, omitted, which, being
conditional in its character, and not relating to the operation of the
troops, it is deemed improper in the present state of the service to
communicate.

No order has been at any time given "to resist" the constituted
authorities of the State of South Carolina within the chartered limits
of said State.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to
the ratification of the same, a treaty recently concluded between the
commissioners for adjusting all differences with the Indians west of the
Mississippi and the mixed band of Shawnese and Senecas who emigrated
from Ohio. I transmit also the journal of their proceedings.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 15, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to
the ratification of the same, articles of agreement supplemental to the
treaty of February 8, 1831, between the commissioner on the part of the
United States and the Menominee tribe of Indians, with the assent of the
New York Indians.

I transmit also the journal of proceedings.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 19, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

The renomination of Samuel Gwin to be register of the land office at
Mount Salus, in the State of Mississippi, having been on the 16th of
July last laid upon the table of the Senate, with a resolution declaring
that it was not the intention of the Senate to take any proceeding in
regard to it during that session, a vacancy in the office was found
existing in the recess, which the public service required to be filled,
and which was filled by the appointment of Samuel Gwin. I therefore
nominate the said Gwin to the same office.

In addition to the papers which were transmitted with his nomination at
the last session, I have received others from the most respectable
sources in the State of Mississippi, bearing the fullest testimony to
his fitness for the office in question. Of this character are the two
now inclosed, signed by members of the convention recently assembled to
revise the constitution of the State, and also by many members of its
present legislature. They also show that the appointment of Mr. Gwin
would be acceptable to the great body of the people interested in the
office.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 22, 1833_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the House, a letter from
General Lafayette to the Secretary of State, with the petition which
came inclosed in it of the Countess d'Ambrugeac and Madame de la Gorée,
granddaughter of Marshal Count Rochambeau, and original documents in
support thereof, praying compensation for services rendered by the Count
to the United States during the Revolutionary war, together with
translations of the same; and I transmit with the same view the petition
of Messrs. De Fontenille de Jeaumont and De Rossignol Grandmont, praying
compensation for services rendered by them to the United States in the
French army, and during the same war, with original papers in support
thereof, all received through the same channel, together with
translations of the same.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 22, 1833_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its advice and consent as to the
ratification of the same, a treaty of commerce and navigation between
the United States and Russia, concluded and signed at St. Petersburg on
the 18th of December, 1832, by the plenipotentiaries of the two parties,
with an additional article to the same, concluded and signed on the same
day, together with an extract from the dispatch of the minister of the
United States at St. Petersburg to the Secretary of State, communicating
the said treaty and additional article.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _February 26, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate as to the
ratification of the same, a treaty concluded with the Ottawa Indians
residing on the Miami of Lake Erie on the 18th instant by the
commissioners on the part of the United States,

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, a report from
the Secretary of State, in relation to the consular establishment of the
United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.


WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1833_.
_To the Senate_:

I have made several nominations to offices located within the limits of
the State of Mississippi which have not received the approbation of the
Senate. Inferring that these nominations have been rejected in pursuance
of a resolution adopted by the Senate on the 3d of February, 1831, "that
it is inexpedient to appoint a citizen of one State to an office which
may be vacated or become vacant in any other State of the Union within
which such citizen does not reside, without some evident necessity for
such appointment," and regarding that resolution, in effect, as an
unconstitutional restraint upon the authority of the President in
relation to appointments to office, I think it proper to inform the
Senate that I shall feel it my duty to abstain from any further attempt
to fill the offices in question.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_The President of the Senate_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate passed the 1st instant,
requesting "that the President inform the Senate, if not incompatible
with the public interest, what negotiation has been had since the last
session of Congress with Great Britain in relation to the northeastern
boundary of the United States, and the progress and result thereof; also
whether any arrangement, stipulation, or agreement has at any time been
made between the Executive of the United States and the government of
the State of Maine, or by commissioners or agents on the part of the
United States and that State, having reference to any proposed transfer
or relinquishment of their right of jurisdiction and territory belonging
to that State, together with all documents, correspondence, and
communications in relation thereto," I inform the Senate that overtures
for opening a negotiation for the settlement of the boundary between the
United States and the British provinces have been made to the Government
of Great Britain since the last session, but that no definitive answer
has yet been received to these propositions, and that a conditional
arrangement has been made between commissioners appointed by me and
others named by the governor of Maine, with the authority of its
legislature, which can not take effect without the sanction of Congress
and of the legislature aforesaid, and which will be communicated to them
as soon as the contingency in which alone it was intended to operate
shall happen. In the meantime it is not deemed compatible with the
public interest that it should be communicated.

ANDREW JACKSON.
_March 2, 1833_.




VETO MESSAGES.[16]

[Footnote 16: Pocket vetoes.]


WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1832_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I avail myself of this early opportunity to return to the Senate, in
which it originated, the bill entitled "An act providing for the final
settlement of the claims of States for interest on advances to the
United States made during the last war," with the reasons which induced
me to withhold my approbation, in consequence of which it has failed to
become a law.

This bill was presented to me for my signature on the last day of your
session, and when I was compelled to consider a variety of other bills
of greater urgency to the public service. It obviously embraced a
principle in the allowance of interest different from that which had
been sanctioned by the practice of the accounting officers or by the
previous legislation of Congress in regard to the advances by the
States, and without any apparent grounds for the change.

Previously to giving my sanction to so great an extension of the
practice of allowing interest upon accounts with the Government, and
which in its consequences and from analogy might not only call for large
payments from the Treasury, but disturb the great mass of individual
accounts long since finally settled, I deemed it my duty to make a more
thorough investigation of the subject than it was possible for me to do
previously to the close of your last session. I adopted this course the
more readily from the consideration that as the bill contained no
appropriation the States which would have been entitled to claim its
benefits could not have received them without the fuller legislation of
Congress.

The principle which this bill authorizes varies not only from the
practice uniformly adopted by many of the accounting officers in the
case of individual accounts and in those of the States finally settled
and closed previously to your last session, but also from that pursued
under the act of your last session for the adjustment and settlement of
the claims of the State of South Carolina. This last act prescribed no
particular mode for the allowance of interest, which, therefore, in
conformity with the directions of Congress in previous cases and with
the uniform practice of the Auditor by whom the account was settled, was
computed on the sums expended by the State of South Carolina for the use
and benefit of the United States, and which had been repaid to the
State; and the payments made by the United States were deducted from the
principal sums, exclusive of the interest, thereby stopping future
interest on so much of the principal as had been reimbursed by the
payment.

I deem it proper, moreover, to observe that both under the act of the
5th of August, 1790, and that of the 12th of February, 1793, authorizing
the settlement of the accounts between the United States and the
individual States arising out of the war of the Revolution, the interest
on those accounts was computed in conformity with the practice already
adverted to, and from which the bill now returned is a departure.

With these reasons and considerations I return the bill to the Senate.

ANDREW JACKSON.


_December 6, 1832_.
_To the House of Representatives_:

In addition to the general views I have heretofore expressed to Congress
on the subject of internal improvement, it is my duty to advert to it
again in stating my objections to the bill entitled "An act for the
improvement of certain harbors and the navigation of certain rivers,"
which was not received a sufficient time before the close of the last
session to enable me to examine it before the adjournment.

Having maturely considered that bill within the time allowed me by the
Constitution, and being convinced that some of its provisions conflict
with the rule adopted for my guide on this subject of legislation, I
have been compelled to withhold from it my signature, and it has
therefore failed to become a law.

To facilitate as far as I can the intelligent action of Congress upon
the subjects embraced in this bill, I transmit herewith a report from
the Engineer Department, distinguishing, as far as the information
within its possession would enable it, between those appropriations
which do and those which do not conflict with the rules by which my
conduct in this respect has hitherto been governed. By that report it
will be seen that there is a class of appropriations in the bill for the
improvement of streams that are not navigable, that are not channels of
commerce, and that do not pertain to the harbors or ports of entry
designated by law, or have any ascertained connection with the usual
establishments for the security of commerce, external or internal.

It is obvious that such appropriations involve the sanction of a
principle that concedes to the General Government an unlimited power
over the subject of internal improvements, and that I could not,
therefore, approve a bill containing them without receding from the
positions taken in my veto of the Maysville road bill, and afterwards in
my annual message of December 6, 1830.

It is to be regretted that the rules by which the classification of the
improvements in this bill has been made by the Engineer Department are
not more definite and certain, and that embarrassments may not always be
avoided by the observance of them, but as neither my own reflection nor
the lights derived from other sources have furnished me with a better
guide, I shall continue to apply my best exertions to their application
and enforcement. In thus employing my best faculties to exercise the
power with which I am invested to avoid evils and to effect the greatest
attainable good for our common country I feel that I may trust to your
cordial cooperation, and the experience of the past leaves me no room to
doubt the liberal indulgence and favorable consideration of those for
whom we act.

The grounds upon which I have given my assent to appropriations for the
construction of light-houses, beacons, buoys, public piers, and the
removal of sand bars, sawyers, and other temporary or partial
impediments in our navigable rivers and harbors, and with which many of
the provisions of this bill correspond, have been so fully stated that I
trust a repetition of them is unnecessary. Had there been incorporated
in the bill no provisions for works of a different description,
depending on principles which extend the power of making appropriations
to every object which the discretion of the Government may select, and
losing sight of the distinctions between national and local character
which I had stated would be my future guide on the subject, I should
have cheerfully signed the bill.

ANDREW JACKSON.




PROCLAMATION.

BY ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Whereas a convention assembled in the State of South Carolina have
passed an ordinance by which they declare "that the several acts and
parts of acts of the Congress of the United States purporting to be laws
for the imposing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign
commodities, and now having actual operation and effect within the
United States, and more especially" two acts for the same purposes
passed on the 29th of May, 1828, and on the 14th of July, 1832, "are
unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States, and violate the
true meaning and intent thereof, and are null and void and no law," nor
binding on the citizens of that State or its officers; and by the said
ordinance it is further declared to be unlawful for any of the
constituted authorities of the State or of the United States to enforce
the payment of the duties imposed by the said acts within the same
State, and that it is the duty of the legislature to pass such laws as
may be necessary to give full effect to the said ordinance; and

Whereas by the said ordinance it is further ordained that in no case of
law or equity decided in the courts of said State wherein shall be drawn
in question the validity of the said ordinance, or of the acts of the
legislature that may be passed to give it effect, or of the said laws of
the United States, no appeal shall be allowed to the Supreme Court of
the United States, nor shall any copy of the record be permitted or
allowed for that purpose, and that any person attempting to take such
appeal shall be punished as for contempt of court; and, finally, the
said ordinance declares that the people of South Carolina will maintain
the said ordinance at every hazard, and that they will consider the
passage of any act by Congress abolishing or closing the ports of the
said State or otherwise obstructing the free ingress or egress of
vessels to and from the said ports, or any other act of the Federal
Government to coerce the State, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her
commerce, or to enforce the said acts otherwise than through the civil
tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of
South Carolina in the Union, and that the people of the said State will
thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to
maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the
other States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate
government and do all other acts and things which sovereign and
independent states may of right do; and

Whereas the said ordinance prescribes to the people of South Carolina a
course of conduct in direct violation of their duty as citizens of the
United States, contrary to the laws of their country, subversive of its
Constitution, and having for its object the destruction of the
Union--that Union which, coeval with our political existence, led our
fathers, without any other ties to unite them than those of patriotism
and a common cause, through a sanguinary struggle to a glorious
independence; that sacred Union, hitherto inviolate, which, perfected by
our happy Constitution, has brought us, by the favor of Heaven, to a
state of prosperity at home and high consideration abroad rarely, if
ever, equaled in the history of nations:

To preserve this bond of our political existence from destruction, to
maintain inviolate this state of national honor and prosperity, and to
justify the confidence my fellow-citizens have reposed in me, I, Andrew
Jackson, President of the United States, have thought proper to issue
this my proclamation, stating my views of the Constitution and laws
applicable to the measures adopted by the convention of South Carolina
and to the reasons they have put forth to sustain them, declaring the
course which duty will require me to pursue, and, appealing to the
understanding and patriotism of the people, warn them of the
consequences that must inevitably result from an observance of the
dictates of the convention.

Strict duty would require of me nothing more than the exercise of those
powers with which I am now or may hereafter be invested for preserving
the peace of the Union and for the execution of the laws; but the
imposing aspect which opposition has assumed in this case, by clothing
itself with State authority, and the deep interest which the people of
the United States must all feel in preventing a resort to stronger
measures while there is a hope that anything will be yielded to
reasoning and remonstrance, perhaps demand, and will certainly justify,
a full exposition to South Carolina and the nation of the views I
entertain of this important question, as well as a distinct enunciation
of the course which my sense of duty will require me to pursue.

The ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of resisting
acts which are plainly unconstitutional and too oppressive to be
endured, but on the strange position that any one State may not only
declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit its execution; that they
may do this consistently with the Constitution; that the true
construction of that instrument permits a State to retain its place in
the Union and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those it may
choose to consider as constitutional. It is true, they add, that to
justify this abrogation of a law it must be palpably contrary to the
Constitution; but it is evident that to give the right of resisting laws
of that description, coupled with the uncontrolled right to decide what
laws deserve that character, is to give the power of resisting all laws;
for as by the theory there is no appeal, the reasons alleged by the
State, good or bad, must prevail. If it should be said that public
opinion is a sufficient check against the abuse of this power, it may be
asked why it is not deemed a sufficient guard against the passage of an
unconstitutional act by Congress? There is, however, a restraint in this
last case which makes the assumed power of a State more indefensible,
and which does not exist in the other. There are two appeals from an
unconstitutional act passed by Congress--one to the judiciary, the other
to the people and the States. There is no appeal from the State decision
in theory, and the practical illustration shows that the courts are
closed against an application to review it, both judges and jurors being
sworn to decide in its favor. But reasoning on this subject is
superfluous when our social compact, in express terms, declares that the
laws of the United States, its Constitution, and treaties made under it
are the supreme law of the land, and, for greater caution, adds "that
the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." And
it may be asserted without fear of refutation that no federative
government could exist without a similar provision. Look for a moment to
the consequence. If South Carolina considers the revenue laws
unconstitutional and has a right to prevent their execution in the port
of Charleston, there would be a clear constitutional objection to their
collection in every other port; and no revenue could be collected
anywhere, for all imposts must be equal. It is no answer to repeat that
an unconstitutional law is no law so long as the question of its
legality is to be decided by the State itself, for every law operating
injuriously upon any local interest will be perhaps thought, and
certainly represented, as unconstitutional, and, as has been shown,
there is no appeal.

If this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union would
have been dissolved in its infancy. The excise law in Pennsylvania, the
embargo and nonintercourse law in the Eastern States, the carriage tax
in Virginia, were all deemed unconstitutional, and were more unequal in
their operation than any of the laws now complained of; but,
fortunately, none of those States discovered that they had the right now
claimed by South Carolina. The war into which we were forced to support
the dignity of the nation and the rights of our citizens might have
ended in defeat and disgrace, instead of victory and honor, if the
States who supposed it a ruinous and unconstitutional measure had
thought they possessed the right of nullifying the act by which it was
declared and denying supplies for its prosecution. Hardly and unequally
as those measures bore upon several members of the Union, to the
legislatures of none did this efficient and peaceable remedy, as it is
called, suggest itself. The discovery of this important feature in our
Constitution was reserved to the present day. To the statesmen of South
Carolina belongs the invention, and upon the citizens of that State will
unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice.

If the doctrine of a State veto upon the laws of the Union carries with
it internal evidence of its impracticable absurdity, our constitutional
history will also afford abundant proof that it would have been
repudiated with indignation had it been proposed to form a feature in
our Government.

In our colonial state, although dependent on another power, we very
early considered ourselves as connected by common interest with each
other. Leagues were formed for common defense, and before the
declaration of independence we were known in our aggregate character as
_the United Colonies of America_. That decisive and important step was
taken jointly. We declared ourselves a nation by a joint, not by several
acts, and when the terms of our Confederation were reduced to form it
was in that of a solemn league of several States, by which they agreed
that they would collectively form one nation for the purpose of
conducting some certain domestic concerns and all foreign relations. In
the instrument forming that Union is found an article which declares
that "every State shall abide by the determinations of Congress on all
questions which by that Confederation should be submitted to them."

Under the Confederation, then, no State could legally annul a decision
of the Congress or refuse to submit to its execution; but no provision
was made to enforce these decisions. Congress made requisitions, but
they were not complied with. The Government could not operate on
individuals. They had no judiciary, no means of collecting revenue.

But the defects of the Confederation need not be detailed. Under its
operation we could scarcely be called a nation. We had neither
prosperity at home nor consideration abroad. This state of things could
not be endured, and our present happy Constitution was formed, but
formed in vain if this fatal doctrine prevails. It was formed for
important objects that are announced in the preamble, made in the name
and by the authority of the people of the United States, whose delegates
framed and whose conventions approved it. The most important among these
objects--that which is placed first in rank, on which all the others
rest--is "_to form a more perfect union_." Now, is it possible that even
if there were no express provision giving supremacy to the Constitution
and laws of the United States over those of the States, can it be
conceived that an instrument made for the purpose of "_forming a more
perfect union_" than that of the Confederation could be so constructed
by the assembled wisdom of our country as to substitute for that
Confederation a form of government dependent for its existence on the
local interest, the party spirit, of a State, or of a prevailing faction
in a State? Every man of plain, unsophisticated understanding who hears
the question will give such an answer as will preserve the Union.
Metaphysical subtlety, in pursuit of an impracticable theory, could
alone have devised one that is calculated to destroy it.

I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed
by one State, _incompatible with the existence of the Union,
contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorised
by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was
founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed_.

After this general view of the leading principle, we must examine the
particular application of it which is made in the ordinance.

The preamble rests its justification on these grounds: It assumes as a
fact that the obnoxious laws, although they purport to be laws for
raising revenue, were in reality intended for the protection of
manufactures, which purpose it asserts to be unconstitutional; that the
operation of these laws is unequal; that the amount raised by them is
greater than is required by the wants of the Government; and, finally,
that the proceeds are to be applied to objects unauthorized by the
Constitution. These are the only causes alleged to justify an open
opposition to the laws of the country and a threat of seceding from the
Union if any attempt should be made to enforce them. The first virtually
acknowledges that the law in question was passed under a power expressly
given by the Constitution to lay and collect imposts; but its
constitutionality is drawn in question from the _motives_ of those who
passed it. However apparent this purpose may be in the present case,
nothing can be more dangerous than to admit the position that an
unconstitutional purpose entertained by the members who assent to a law
enacted under a constitutional power shall make that law void. For how
is that purpose to be ascertained? Who is to make the scrutiny? How
often may bad purposes be falsely imputed, in how many cases are they
concealed by false professions, in how many is no declaration of motive
made? Admit this doctrine, and you give to the States an uncontrolled
right to decide, and every law may be annulled under this pretext. If,
therefore, the absurd and dangerous doctrine should be admitted that a
State may annul an unconstitutional law, or one that it deems such, it
will not apply to the present case.

The next objection is that the laws in question operate unequally. This
objection may be made with truth to every law that has been or can be
passed. The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that
would operate with perfect equality. If the unequal operation of a law
makes it unconstitutional, and if all laws of that description may be
abrogated by any State for that cause, then, indeed, is the Federal
Constitution unworthy of the slightest effort for its preservation. We
have hitherto relied on it as the perpetual bond of our Union; we have
received it as the work of the assembled wisdom of the nation; we have
trusted to it as to the sheet anchor of our safety in the stormy times
of conflict with a foreign or domestic foe; we have looked to it with
sacred awe as the palladium of our liberties, and with all the
solemnities of religion have pledged to each other our lives and
fortunes here and our hopes of happiness hereafter in its defense and
support. Were we mistaken, my countrymen, in attaching this importance
to the Constitution of our country? Was our devotion paid to the
wretched, inefficient, clumsy contrivance which this new doctrine would
make it? Did we pledge ourselves to the support of an airy nothing--a
bubble that must be blown away by the first breath of disaffection? Was
this self-destroying, visionary theory the work of the profound
statesmen, the exalted patriots, to whom the task of constitutional
reform was intrusted? Did the name of Washington sanction, did the
States deliberately ratify, such an anomaly in the history of
fundamental legislation? No; we were not mistaken. The letter of this
great instrument is free from this radical fault. Its language directly
contradicts the imputation; its spirit, its evident intent, contradicts
it. No; we did not err. Our Constitution does not contain the absurdity
of giving power to make laws and another to resist them. The sages whose
memory will always be reverenced have given us a practical and, as they
hoped, a permanent constitutional compact. The Father of his Country did
not affix his revered name to so palpable an absurdity. Nor did the
States, when they severally ratified it, do so under the impression that
a veto on the laws of the United States was reserved to them or that
they could exercise it by implication. Search the debates in all their
conventions, examine the speeches of the most zealous opposers of
Federal authority, look at the amendments that were proposed; they are
all silent--not a syllable uttered, not a vote given, not a motion made
to correct the explicit supremacy given to the laws of the Union over
those of the States, or to show that implication, as is now contended,
could defeat it. No; we have not erred. The Constitution is still the
object of our reverence, the bond of our Union, our defense in danger,
the source of our prosperity in peace. It shall descend, as we have
received it, uncorrupted by sophistical construction, to our posterity;
and the sacrifices of local interest, of State prejudices, of personal
animosities, that were made to bring it into existence, will again be
patriotically offered for its support.

The two remaining objections made by the ordinance to these laws are
that the sums intended to be raised by them are greater than are
required and that the proceeds will be unconstitutionally employed.

The Constitution has given, expressly, to Congress the right of raising
revenue and of determining the sum the public exigencies will require.
The States have no control over the exercise of this right other than
that which results from the power of changing the representatives who
abuse it, and thus procure redress. Congress may undoubtedly abuse this
discretionary power; but the same may be said of others with which they
are vested. Yet the discretion must exist somewhere. The Constitution
has given it to the representatives of all the people, checked by the
representatives of the States and by the Executive power. The South
Carolina construction gives it to the legislature or the convention of a
single State, where neither the people of the different States, nor the
States in their separate capacity, nor the Chief Magistrate elected by
the people have any representation. Which is the most discreet
disposition of the power? I do not ask you, fellow-citizens, which is
the constitutional disposition; that instrument speaks a language not to
be misunderstood. But if you were assembled in general convention, which
would you think the safest depository of this discretionary power in the
last resort? Would you add a clause giving it to each of the States, or
would you sanction the wise provisions already made by your
Constitution? If this should be the result of your deliberations when
providing for the future, are you, can you, be ready to risk all that we
hold dear, to establish, for a temporary and a local purpose, that which
you must acknowledge to be destructive, and even absurd, as a general
provision? Carry out the consequences of this right vested in the
different States, and you must perceive that the crisis your conduct
presents at this day would recur whenever any law of the United States
displeased any of the States, and that we should soon cease to be a
nation.

The ordinance, with the same knowledge of the future that characterizes
a former objection, tells you that the proceeds of the tax will be
unconstitutionally applied. If this could be ascertained with certainty,
the objection would with more propriety be reserved for the law so
applying the proceeds, but surely can not be urged against the laws
levying the duty.

These are the allegations contained in the ordinance. Examine them
seriously, my fellow-citizens; judge for yourselves. I appeal to you to
determine whether they are so clear, so convincing, as to leave no doubt
of their correctness; and even if you should come to this conclusion,
how far they justify the reckless, destructive course which you are
directed to pursue. Review these objections and the conclusions drawn
from them once more. What are they? Every law, then, for raising
revenue, according to the South Carolina ordinance, may be rightfully
annulled, unless it be so framed as no law ever will or can be framed.
Congress have a right to pass laws for raising revenue and each State
have a right to oppose their execution--two rights directly opposed to
each other; and yet is this absurdity supposed to be contained in an
instrument drawn for the express purpose of avoiding collisions between
the States and the General Government by an assembly of the most
enlightened statesmen and purest patriots ever embodied for a similar
purpose.

In vain have these sages declared that Congress shall have power to lay
and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; in vain have they
provided that they shall have power to pass laws which shall be
necessary and proper to carry those powers into execution, that those
laws and that Constitution shall be the "supreme law of the land, and
that the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding;" in
vain have the people of the several States solemnly sanctioned these
provisions, made them their paramount law, and individually sworn to
support them whenever they were called on to execute any office. Vain
provisions! ineffectual restrictions! vile profanation of oaths!
miserable mockery of legislation! if a bare majority of the voters in
any one State may, on a real or supposed knowledge of the intent with
which a law has been passed, declare themselves free from its operation;
say, here it gives too little; there, too much, and operates unequally;
here it suffers articles to be free that ought to be taxed; there it
taxes those that ought to be free; in this case the proceeds are
intended to be applied to purposes which we do not approve; in that, the
amount raised is more than is wanted. Congress, it is true, are invested
by the Constitution with the right of deciding these questions according
to their sound discretion. Congress is composed of the representatives
of all the States and of all the people of all the States. But _we_,
part of the people of one State, to whom the Constitution has given no
power on the subject, from whom it has expressly taken it away; _we_,
who have solemnly agreed that this Constitution shall be our law; _we_,
most of whom have sworn to support it--_we_ now abrogate this law and
swear, and force others to swear, that it shall not be obeyed; and we do
this not because Congress have no right to pass such laws--this we do
not allege--but because they have passed them with improper views. They
are unconstitutional from the motives of those who passed them, which we
can never with certainty know; from their unequal operation, although it
is impossible, from the nature of things, that they should be equal; and
from the disposition which we presume may be made of their proceeds,
although that disposition has not been declared. This is the plain
meaning of the ordinance in relation to laws which it abrogates for
alleged unconstitutionality. But it does not stop there. It repeals in
express terms an important part of the Constitution itself and of laws
passed to give it effect, which have never been alleged to be
unconstitutional.

The Constitution declares that the judicial powers of the United States
extend to cases arising under the laws of the United States, and that
such laws, the Constitution, and treaties shall be paramount to the
State constitutions and laws. The judiciary act prescribes the mode by
which the case may be brought before a court of the United States by
appeal when a State tribunal shall decide against this provision of the
Constitution. The ordinance declares there shall be no appeal--makes the
State law paramount to the Constitution and laws of the United States,
forces judges and jurors to swear that they will disregard their
provisions, and even makes it penal in a suitor to attempt relief by
appeal. It further declares that it shall not be lawful for the
authorities of the United States or of that State to enforce the payment
of duties imposed by the revenue laws within its limits.

Here is a law of the United States, not even pretended to be
unconstitutional, repealed by the authority of a small majority of the
voters of a single State. Here is a provision of the Constitution which
is solemnly abrogated by the same authority.

On such expositions and reasonings the ordinance grounds not only an
assertion of the right to annul the laws of which it complains, but to
enforce it by a threat of seceding from the Union if any attempt is made
to execute them.

This right to secede is deduced from the nature of the Constitution,
which, they say, is a compact between sovereign States who have
preserved their whole sovereignty and therefore are subject to no
superior; that because they made the compact they can break it when in
their opinion it has been departed from by the other States. Fallacious
as this course of reasoning is, it enlists State pride and finds
advocates in the honest prejudices of those who have not studied the
nature of our Government sufficiently to see the radical error on which
it rests.

The people of the United States formed the Constitution, acting through
the State legislatures in making the compact, to meet and discuss its
provisions, and acting in separate conventions when they ratified those
provisions; but the terms used in its construction show it to be a
Government in which the people of all the States, collectively, are
represented. We are _one people_ in the choice of President and
Vice-President. Here the States have no other agency than to direct the
mode in which the votes shall be given. The candidates having the
majority of all the votes are chosen. The electors of a majority of
States may have given their votes for one candidate, and yet another may
be chosen. The people, then, and not the States, are represented in the
executive branch.

In the House of Representatives there is this difference, that the
people of one State do not, as in the case of President and
Vice-President, all vote for the same officers. The people of all the
States do not vote for all the members, each State electing only its own
representatives. But this creates no material distinction. When chosen,
they are all representatives of the United States, not representatives
of the particular State from which they come. They are paid by the
United States, not by the State; nor are they accountable to it for any
act done in the performance of their legislative functions; and however
they may in practice, as it is their duty to do, consult and prefer the
interests of their particular constituents when they come in conflict
with any other partial or local interest, yet it is their first and
highest duty, as representatives of the United States, to promote the
general good.

The Constitution of the United States, then, forms a _government_, not a
league; and whether it be formed by compact between the States or in any
other manner, its character is the same. It is a Government in which all
the people are represented, which operates directly on the people
individually, not upon the States; they retained all the power they did
not grant. But each State, having expressly parted with so many powers
as to constitute, jointly with the other States, a single nation, can
not, from that period, possess any right to secede, because such
secession does not break a league, but destroys the unity of a nation;
and any injury to that unity is not only a breach which would result
from the contravention of a compact, but it is an offense against the
whole Union. To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union
is to say that the United States are not a nation, because it would be a
solecism to contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its
connection with the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without
committing any offense. Secession, like any other revolutionary act, may
be morally justified by the extremity of oppression, but to call it a
constitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms, and can only
be done through gross error or to deceive those who are willing to
assert a right, but would pause before they made a revolution or incur
the penalties consequent on a failure.

Because the Union was formed by a compact, it is said the parties to
that compact may, when they feel themselves aggrieved, depart from it;
but it is precisely because it is a compact that they can not. A compact
is an agreement or binding obligation. It may by its terms have a
sanction or penalty for its breach, or it may not. If it contains no
sanction, it may be broken with no other consequence than moral guilt;
if it have a sanction, then the breach incurs the designated or implied
penalty. A league between independent nations generally has no sanction
other than a moral one; or if it should contain a penalty, as there is
no common superior it can not be enforced. A government, on the
contrary, always has a sanction, express or implied; and in our case it
is both necessarily implied and expressly given. An attempt, by force of
arms, to destroy a government is an offense, by whatever means the
constitutional compact may have been formed; and such government has the
right by the law of self-defense to pass acts for punishing the
offender, unless that right is modified, restrained, or resumed by the
constitutional act. In our system, although it is modified in the case
of treason, yet authority is expressly given to pass all laws necessary
to carry its powers into effect, and under this grant provision has been
made for punishing acts which obstruct the due administration of the
laws.

It would seem superfluous to add anything to show the nature of that
union which connects us, but as erroneous opinions on this subject are
the foundation of doctrines the most destructive to our peace, I must
give some further development to my views on this subject. No one,
fellow-citizens, has a higher reverence for the reserved rights of the
States than the Magistrate who now addresses you. No one would make
greater personal sacrifices or official exertions to defend them from
violation; but equal care must be taken to prevent, on their part, an
improper interference with or resumption of the rights they have vested
in the nation. The line has not been so distinctly drawn as to avoid
doubts in some cases of the exercise of power. Men of the best
intentions and soundest views may differ in their construction of some
parts of the Constitution; but there are others on which dispassionate
reflection can leave no doubt. Of this nature appears to be the assumed
right of secession. It rests, as we have seen, on the alleged undivided
sovereignty of the States and on their having formed in this sovereign
capacity a compact which is called the Constitution, from which, because
they made it, they have the right to secede. Both of these positions are
erroneous, and some of the arguments to prove them so have been
anticipated.

The States severally have not retained their entire sovereignty. It has
been shown that in becoming parts of a nation, not members of a league,
they surrendered many of their essential parts of sovereignty. The right
to make treaties, declare war, levy taxes, exercise exclusive judicial
and legislative powers, were all of them functions of sovereign power.
The States, then, for all these important purposes were no longer
sovereign. The allegiance of their citizens was transferred, in the
first instance, to the Government of the United States; they became
American citizens and owed obedience to the Constitution of the United
States and to laws made in conformity with the powers it vested in
Congress. This last position has not been and can not be denied. How,
then, can that State be said to be sovereign and independent whose
citizens owe obedience to laws not made by it and whose magistrates are
sworn to disregard those laws when they come in conflict with those
passed by another? What shows conclusively that the States can not be
said to have reserved an undivided sovereignty is that they expressly
ceded the right to punish treason--not treason against their separate
power, but treason against the United States. Treason is an offense
against _sovereignty_, and sovereignty must reside with the power to
punish it. But the reserved rights of the States are not less sacred
because they have, for their common interest, made the General
Government the depository of these powers. The unity of our political
character (as has been shown for another purpose) commenced with its
very existence. Under the royal Government we had no separate character;
our opposition to its oppressions began as _united colonies_. We were
the _United States_ under the Confederation, and the name was
perpetuated and the Union rendered more perfect by the Federal
Constitution. In none of these stages did we consider ourselves in any
other light than as forming one nation. Treaties and alliances were made
in the name of all. Troops were raised for the joint defense. How, then,
with all these proofs that under all changes of our position we had, for
designated purposes and with defined powers, created national
governments, how is it that the most perfect of those several modes of
union should now be considered as a mere league that may be dissolved at
pleasure? It is from an abuse of terms. Compact is used as synonymous
with league, although the true term is not employed, because it would at
once show the fallacy of the reasoning. It would not do to say that our
Constitution was only a league, but it is labored to prove it a compact
(which in one sense it is) and then to argue that as a league is a
compact every compact between nations must of course be a league, and
that from such an engagement every sovereign power has a right to
recede. But it has been shown that in this sense the States are not
sovereign, and that even if they were, and the national Constitution had
been formed by compact, there would be no right in any one State to
exonerate itself from its obligations.

So obvious are the reasons which forbid this secession that it is
necessary only to allude to them. The Union was formed for the benefit
of all. It was produced by mutual sacrifices of interests and opinions.
Can those sacrifices be recalled? Can the States who magnanimously
surrendered their title to the territories of the West recall the grant?
Will the inhabitants of the inland States agree to pay the duties that
may be imposed without their assent by those on the Atlantic or the Gulf
for their own benefit? Shall there be a free port in one State and
onerous duties in another? No one believes that any right exists in a
single State to involve all the others in these and countless other
evils contrary to engagements solemnly made. Everyone must see that the
other States, in self-defense, must oppose it at all hazards.

These are the alternatives that are presented by the convention--a
repeal of all the acts for raising revenue, leaving the Government
without the means of support, or an acquiescence in the dissolution of
our Union by the secession of one of its members. When the first was
proposed, it was known that it could not be listened to for a moment. It
was known, if force was applied to oppose the execution of the laws,
that it must be repelled by force; that Congress could not, without
involving itself in disgrace and the country in ruin, accede to the
proposition; and yet if this is not done in a given day, or if any
attempt is made to execute the laws, the State is by the ordinance
declared to be out of the Union. The majority of a convention assembled
for the purpose have dictated these terms, or rather this rejection of
all terms, in the name of the people of South Carolina. It is true that
the governor of the State speaks of the submission of their grievances
to a convention of all the States, which, he says, they "sincerely and
anxiously seek and desire." Yet this obvious and constitutional mode of
obtaining the sense of the other States on the construction of the
federal compact, and amending it if necessary, has never been attempted
by those who have urged the State on to this destructive measure. The
State might have proposed the call for a general convention to the other
States, and Congress, if a sufficient number of them concurred, must
have called it. But the first magistrate of South Carolina, when he
expressed a hope that "on a review by Congress and the functionaries of
the General Government of the merits of the controversy" such a
convention will be accorded to them, must have known that neither
Congress nor any functionary of the General Government has authority to
call such a convention unless it be demanded by two-thirds of the
States. This suggestion, then, is another instance of the reckless
inattention to the provisions of the Constitution with which this crisis
has been madly hurried on, or of the attempt to persuade the people that
a constitutional remedy had been sought and refused. If the legislature
of South Carolina "anxiously desire" a general convention to consider
their complaints, why have they not made application for it in the way
the Constitution points out? The assertion that they "earnestly seek" it
is completely negatived by the omission.

This, then, is the position in which we stand: A small majority of the
citizens of one State in the Union have elected delegates to a State
convention; that convention has ordained that all the revenue laws of
the United States must be repealed, or that they are no longer a member
of the Union. The governor of that State has recommended to the
legislature the raising of an army to carry the secession into effect,
and that he may be empowered to give clearances to vessels in the name
of the State. No act of violent opposition to the laws has yet been
committed, but such a state of things is hourly apprehended. And it is
the intent of this instrument to _proclaim_, not only that the duty
imposed on me by the Constitution "to take care that the laws be
faithfully executed" shall be performed to the extent of the powers
already vested in me by law, or of such others as the wisdom of Congress
shall devise and intrust to me for that purpose, but to warn the
citizens of South Carolina who have been deluded into an opposition to
the laws of the danger they will incur by obedience to the illegal and
disorganizing ordinance of the convention; to exhort those who have
refused to support it to persevere in their determination to uphold the
Constitution and laws of their country; and to point out to all the
perilous situation into which the good people of that State have been
led, and that the course they are urged to pursue is one of ruin and
disgrace to the very State whose rights they affect to support.

Fellow-citizens of _my_ native State, let me not only admonish you, as
the First Magistrate of our common country, not to incur the penalty of
its laws, but use the influence that a father would over his children
whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal language, with
that paternal feeling, let me tell you, my countrymen, that you are
deluded by men who are either deceived themselves or wish to deceive
you. Mark under what pretenses you have been led on to the brink of
insurrection and treason on which you stand. First, a diminution of the
value of your staple commodity, lowered by overproduction in other
quarters, and the consequent diminution in the value of your lands were
the sole effect of the tariff laws. The effect of those laws was
confessedly injurious, but the evil was greatly exaggerated by the
unfounded theory you were taught to believe--that its burthens were in
proportion to your exports, not to your consumption of imported
articles. Your pride was roused by the assertion that a submission to
those laws was a state of vassalage and that resistance to them was
equal in patriotic merit to the opposition our fathers offered to the
oppressive laws of Great Britain. You were told that this opposition
might be peaceably, might be constitutionally, made; that you might
enjoy all the advantages of the Union and bear none of its burthens.
Eloquent appeals to your passions, to your State pride, to your native
courage, to your sense of real injury, were used to prepare you for the
period when the mask which concealed the hideous features of _disunion_
should be taken off. It fell, and you were made to look with complacency
on objects which not long since you would have regarded with horror.
Look back to the arts which have brought you to this state; look forward
to the consequences to which it must inevitably lead! Look back to what
was first told you as an inducement to enter into this dangerous course.
The great political truth was repeated to you that you had the
revolutionary right of resisting all laws that were palpably
unconstitutional and intolerably oppressive. It was added that the right
to nullify a law rested on the same principle, but that it was a
peaceable remedy. This character which was given to it made you receive
with too much confidence the assertions that were made of the
unconstitutionally of the law and its oppressive effects. Mark, my
fellow-citizens, that by the admission of your leaders the
unconstitutionality must be _palpable_, or it will not justify either
resistance or nullification. What is the meaning of the word _palpable_
in the sense in which it is here used? That which is apparent to
everyone; that which no man of ordinary intellect will fail to perceive.
Is the unconstitutionality of these laws of that description? Let those
among your leaders who once approved and advocated the principle of
protective duties answer the question; and let them choose whether they
will be considered as incapable then of perceiving that which must have
been apparent to every man of common understanding, or as imposing upon
your confidence and endeavoring to mislead you now. In either case they
are unsafe guides in the perilous path they urge you to tread. Ponder
well on this circumstance, and you will know how to appreciate the
exaggerated language they address to you. They are not champions of
liberty, emulating the fame of our Revolutionary fathers, nor are you an
oppressed people, contending, as they repeat to you, against worse than
colonial vassalage. You are free members of a flourishing and happy
Union. There is no settled design to oppress you. You have indeed felt
the unequal operation of laws which may have been unwisely, not
unconstitutionally, passed; but that inequality must necessarily be
removed. At the very moment when you were madly urged on to the
unfortunate course you have begun a change in public opinion had
commenced. The nearly approaching payment of the public debt and the
consequent necessity of a diminution of duties had already produced a
considerable reduction, and that, too, on some articles of general
consumption in your State. The importance of this change was underrated,
and you were authoritatively told that no further alleviation of your
burthens was to be expected at the very time when the condition of the
country imperiously demanded such a modification of the duties as should
reduce them to a just and equitable scale. But, as if apprehensive of
the effect of this change in allaying your discontents, you were
precipitated into the fearful state in which you now find yourselves.

I have urged you to look back to the means that were used to hurry you
on to the position you have now assumed and forward to the consequences
it will produce. Something more is necessary. Contemplate the condition
of that country of which you still form an important part. Consider its
Government, uniting in one bond of common interest and general
protection so many different States, giving to all their inhabitants the
proud title of _American citizen_, protecting their commerce, securing
their literature and their arts, facilitating their intercommunication,
defending their frontiers, and making their name respected in the
remotest parts of the earth. Consider the extent of its territory, its
increasing and happy population, its advance in arts which render life
agreeable, and the sciences which elevate the mind. See education
spreading the lights of religion, morality, and general information into
every cottage in this wide extent of our Territories and States. Behold
it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a refuge and
support. Look on this picture of happiness and honor and say, _We too
are citizens of America_. Carolina is one of these proud States; her
arms have defended, her best blood has cemented, this happy Union. And
then add, if you can, without horror and remorse, This happy Union we
will dissolve; this picture of peace and prosperity we will deface; this
free intercourse we will interrupt; these fertile fields we will deluge
with blood; the protection of that glorious flag we renounce; the very
name of Americans we discard. And for what, mistaken men? For what do
you throw away these inestimable blessings? For what would you exchange
your share in the advantages and honor of the Union? For the dream of a
separate independence--a dream interrupted by bloody conflicts with your
neighbors and a vile dependence on a foreign power. If your leaders
could succeed in establishing a separation, what would be your
situation? Are you united at home? Are you free from the apprehension of
civil discord, with all its fearful consequences? Do our neighboring
republics, every day suffering some new revolution or contending with
some new insurrection, do they excite your envy? But the dictates of a
high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you can not succeed. The
laws of the United States must be executed. I have no discretionary
power on the subject; my duty is emphatically pronounced in the
Constitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their
execution deceived you; they could not have been deceived themselves.
They know that a forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution
of the laws, and they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their
object is disunion. But be not deceived by names. Disunion by armed
force is _treason_. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you are,
on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful consequences;
on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours may fall the punishment. On
your unhappy State will inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict
you force upon the Government of your country. It can not accede to the
mad project of disunion, of which you would be the first victims. Its
First Magistrate can not, if he would, avoid the performance of his
duty. The consequence must be fearful for you, distressing to your
fellow-citizens here and to the friends of good government throughout
the world. Its enemies have beheld our prosperity with a vexation they
could not conceal; it was a standing refutation of their slavish
doctrines, and they will point to our discord with the triumph of
malignant joy. It is yet in your power to disappoint them. There is yet
time to show that the descendants of the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the
Rutledges, and of the thousand other names which adorn the pages of your
Revolutionary history will not abandon that Union to support which so
many of them fought and bled and died. I adjure you, as you honor their
memory, as you love the cause of freedom, to which they dedicated their
lives, as you prize the peace of your country, the lives of its best
citizens, and your own fair fame, to retrace your steps. Snatch from the
archives of your State the disorganizing edict of its convention; bid
its members to reassemble and promulgate the decided expressions of your
will to remain in the path which alone can conduct you to safety,
prosperity, and honor. Tell them that compared to disunion all other
evils are light, because that brings with it an accumulation of all.
Declare that you will never take the field unless the star-spangled
banner of your country shall float over you; that you will not be
stigmatized when dead, and dishonored and scorned while you live, as the
authors of the first attack on the Constitution of your country. Its
destroyers you can not be. You may disturb its peace, you may interrupt
the course of its prosperity, you may cloud its reputation for
stability; but its tranquillity will be restored, its prosperity will
return, and the stain upon its national character will be transferred
and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who caused the
disorder.

Fellow-citizens of the United States, the threat of unhallowed disunion,
the names of those once respected by whom it is uttered, the array of
military force to support it, denote the approach of a crisis in our
affairs on which the continuance of our unexampled prosperity, our
political existence, and perhaps that of all free governments may
depend. The conjuncture demanded a free, a full, and explicit
enunciation, not only of my intentions, but of my principles of action;
and as the claim was asserted of a right by a State to annul the laws of
the Union, and even to secede from it at pleasure, a frank exposition of
my opinions in relation to the origin and form of our Government and the
construction I give to the instrument by which it was created seemed to
be proper. Having the fullest confidence in the justness of the legal
and constitutional opinion of my duties which has been expressed, I rely
with equal confidence on your undivided support in my determination to
execute the laws, to preserve the Union by all constitutional means, to
arrest, if possible, by moderate and firm measures the necessity of a
recourse to force; and if it be the will of Heaven that the recurrence
of its primeval curse on man for the shedding of a brother's blood
should fall upon our land, that it be not called down by any offensive
act on the part of the United States.

Fellow-citizens, the momentous case is before you. On your undivided
support of your Government depends the decision of the great question it
involves--whether your sacred Union will be preserved and the blessing
it secures to us as one people shall be perpetuated. No one can doubt
that the unanimity with which that decision will be expressed will be
such as to inspire new confidence in republican institutions, and that
the prudence, the wisdom, and the courage which it will bring to their
defense will transmit them unimpaired and invigorated to our children.

May the Great Ruler of Nations grant that the signal blessings with
which He has favored ours may not, by the madness of party or personal
ambition, be disregarded and lost; and may His wise providence bring
those who have produced this crisis to see the folly before they feel
the misery of civil strife, and inspire a returning veneration for that
Union which, if we may dare to penetrate His designs, He has chosen as
the only means of attaining the high destinies to which we may
reasonably aspire.

(SEAL.)

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. Done at the city
of Washington, this 10th day of December, A.D. 1832, and of the
Independence of the United States the fifty-seventh.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President:
EDW. LIVINGSTON,
_Secretary of State_.




ERRATA.

(The following papers were found too late for insertion in Vol. I.)


LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT.

(From Annals of Congress, Fourth Congress, second session, 1544.)

The Vice-President laid before the Senate the following communication:

_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

In consequence of the declaration made yesterday in the Chamber of the
House of Representatives of the election of a President and
Vice-President of the United States, the record of which has just now
been read from your journal by your secretary, I have judged it proper
to give notice that on the 4th of March next, at 12 o'clock, I propose
to attend again in the Chamber of the House of Representatives, in order
to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to
be taken by the President, to be administered by the Chief Justice or
such other judge of the Supreme Court of the United States as can most
conveniently attend, and, in case none of those judges can attend, by
the judge of the district of Pennsylvania, before such Senators and
Representatives of the United States as may find it convenient to honor
the transaction with their presence.

(JOHN ADAMS.)

FEBRUARY 9, 1797.


PROCLAMATION.

(From Annals of Congress, Fifth Congress, Vol. I, 620.)

UNITED STATES, _July 16, 1798_.

_The President of the United States to_ -----, _Senator for the State
of_ ----;

Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the session of
the Senate for executive business should be continued, and that the
members thereof should convene on Tuesday, the 17th day of July instant,
you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in Philadelphia, on
that day, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to receive and
deliberate on such communications as shall be made to you on my part.

JOHN ADAMS.


PROCLAMATION.

(From Miscellaneous Letters, Department of State, vol. 24.)

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

In pursuance of the act of Congress passed on the 16th July, 1798,
entitled "An act for erecting a light-house at Gayhead, on Marthas
Vineyard, and for other purposes," and an act which passed the
legislature of Massachusetts on the 22d February, 1799, entitled "An act
to cede to the United States a tract of land at Gayhead for a
lighthouse," the following tract of land, situate at Gayhead, on the
western part of Marthas Vineyard, in Dukes County, State of
Massachusetts, is designated as the land ceded to the United States by
the aforesaid act of the legislature of Massachusetts for the purpose of
erecting a lighthouse, to wit: Beginning at a stake and heap of stones
(1 rod from the edge of the cliff of said head), thence east 11 degrees
south 18 rods to a stake and heap of stones; thence south 11 degrees
west 18 rods to a stake and heap of stones; thence west 11 degrees north
18 rods to a stake and heap of stones; thence north 11 degrees east to
the first-mentioned bound, containing 2 acres and 4 rods.

(SEAL.)

In witness whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of
America to be hereto affixed, and signed the same with my hand, at
Philadelphia, on the 1st day of July, 1799, and in the twenty-third year
of the Independence of the said States.

JOHN ADAMS.

By the President:
TIMOTHY PICKERING,
_Secretary of State_.