THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA THE COLLECTION OF NORTH CAROUNLANA ENDOWED BY JOHN SPRUNT HILL CLASS OF 1889 CB J13J1 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00032195295 This book must not be taken from the Library building. Form No. 471 The Principles of American Statesmanship The Theory, Development and Administration of Government in America as shown in the Writings of American Statesmen Edited by Francis Newton Thorpe, Ph.D., LL.D. Fellow, and Professor of American Constitutional History in the University of Pennsylvania, 1885-1898; Member of the American Historical Associa- tion, etc., etc.; Author of The Constitutional History of the United States, A Constitutional History of the American People, etc., etc. 9inlireto S^ackson New York The Tandy-Thomas Company The Union must be preserved and its laws duly executed, but by proper means. With calmness and firmness such as becomes those who are conscious of being right and are assured of the support of public opinion. We must perform our duties without expect- ing that there are those around us desiring to tempt us into the wrong. We must act as the instruments of the law, and if force is opposed to us, in that capacity then we shall repel it, with the certainty, even should we fall as individuals, that the friends of liberty and Union will still be strong enough to prostrate their enemies. — Andrew Jackson's letter to J. R. Poinsett, October 26, 1830. j^et. 63. The Statesmanship of ANDREW JACKSON as told in his Writings and Speeches Edited by Francis Newton Thorpe, Ph.D., LL.D. New York The Tandy-Thomas Company Copyright, igog, hy THE TANDY-THOMAS COMPANY CONTENTS PAGE Biographical Outline 7 Jackson's Cabinet lo Introduction ii LETTERS OF NULLIFICATION, 1830-1833: To Robert Oliver, October 26, 1830 . To Joel R. Poinsett, December 2, 1832 To Joel R. Poinsett, December 9, 1832 To Joel R. Poinsett, January 16, 1833 To Joel R. Poinsett, January 24, 1833 To Joel R. Poinsett, February 7, 1833 To Joel R. Poinsett, February 17, 1833 N' 17 18 21 32 25 27 STATE PAPERS, 1829-1837 : First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1829 . . -31 First Annual Message, December 8, 1829 . . • 35 Veto Message, May 27, 1830 66 Second Annual Message, December 6, 1830 . . 82 Message on Indian Affairs, February 22, 1 831 . -125 Third Annual Message, December 6,1831. . -133 Veto Message, Bank of the United States, July 10, 1832 . 154 Fourth Annual Message, December 4, 1832 . . -177 Message on the South Carolina Ordinance and Procla- mation of Governor Hamilton, January 1 6, 1833 . 200 Anti-Nullification Proclamation, December 10, 1832 . 232 <^ Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1833 . . -257 ^^ Removal of the Public Deposits — Paper Read to the . Cabinet, September 18, 1833 261 t 6 Contents STATE PAPERS, lZ2g-lSl^— Continued Fifth Annual Message, December 3, 1833 . . . 282 Veto Message — Public Lands, December 4, 1833 . . 305 Protest on the Expunging Resolution, April 15, 1834 . 325 Sixth Annual Message, December 1, 1834 . . .361 Seventh Annual Message, December 7, 1835 . . 399 Message on Affairs with France, January 15, 1836 . 443 Eighth Annual Message, December 5, 1836 . . -451 Message on Texas and Mexico, December 21, 1836 . 487 Farewell Address, March 4, 1837 . . . 493 BIBLIOGRAPHY 517 INDEX 52T Biographical Outline. 1767 — March 1 5. Born, Waxhaw Settlement, South Caro- Hna, of Irish parents. Death of his father. Taken prisoner, with his brother, by the British, and confined for a time at Camden. Death of his two brothers during the Revolu- tion. 1780 — (1781?). Death of his mother. 1 78 1 — 1784. Working as best he could, and some time at the saddler's trade. 1784 — . Law-student at Salisbury, N. C. 1788 — . Through Superior Court Judge John McNairy appointed Public Prose- cutor of the Western District of N. C. (Tennessee). 1791 — July or Aug. Married Rachel Donelson, widow of Lewis Robards, at Natchez, Miss. 1794 — January. Second marriage ceremony. 1796 — Jan.-Feb. Member of Tennessee Constitutional Convention ; said to have suggested the name of the State. Elected Member of Congress. 17^ — . Elected U. S. Senator to succeed Blount, expelled. Resigned, April, 1798. 1798 — . Elected Judge of Supreme Court, Tennessee. 1801 — . Elected Major-General of Militia. 1804 — . Resigned as judge. Devoted himself to business. 1806 — . Duel with Dickinson; seriously wounded. 7 8 Andrew Jackson 1813 — January. September. 1814 — May 31. 181 5 — January 8. March. 1818— . 1 82 1—. 1823—. 1824 — March. 1828—. 1829 — March i. November. 1830 — April 13. Enters mihtary service (volunteers) War of 1812. Duel with Benton. The Creek War. Appointed Major-General in U. S. Army. Battle of New Orleans. Fined $1,000 by Judge Hall ; refunded, principal and interest, by act of Congress, 1844. Carries the war into Florida. Case of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Sem- inole War. Governor of Florida. Declined mission to Mexico. Elected U. S. Senator from Tennessee. Talked of as a presidential candi- date. Nominated by several State Legislatures, beginning with Ten- nessee, July 20, 1823. The Harrisburg convention " stam- peded " for Jackson. Received 99 electoral votes; Adams, 84; Craw- ford, 41 ; Clay, 37. Adams elected by the House of Representatives. (February 9, 1825.) Author of the rumor of a " corrupt bargain " between Clay and Adams. Elected President. Jackson, electoral votes, 178; Adams, 83. Inaugurated President. Breaks with Calhoun. Slated by his " managers " to succeed himself as President. Jackson's toast at the Jefferson dinner : " Our Federal Union : It must be preserved ! " Biographical Outline 1830 — May. 1832 — July 10. Dec. 10. 1833 — March 4. Sept. 18. 1834 — March. 1835— Jan. 30- 1836 — Jan. 18. 1837 — March 4. March 7. 1837— 1845. 1845 — June 8. Maysville Road veto. Attacks the United States Bank in his first An- nual Message (1829) and in later Messages. Veto of the Bank. Re-elected President : Jackson, elect- oral votes, 219; Clay, 49; Floyd, 11 (S. C, Nullification ticket) ; Wirt, 7 (Vt., Anti-masonic). Anti-Nullification Proclamation. Inaugurated President. Removal of the Deposits. See " Paper read to the Cabinet." Censure of the President by the Sen- ate. This resolution was " ex- punged, by order of the Senate," January 16, 1837. Attempt to assassinate the President. Special Message on relations with France. Compare with Annual Messages, 1834, 1835, 1836. See also Messages of 1835, 1836, 1837 for information on relations with Texas, slavery, the public lands, foreign affairs. Jackson's political influence thrown in favor of Van Buren as his suc- cessor. Inauguration of Van Buren. Jackson leaves Washington for his home near Nashville, " The Her- mitage," Tennessee. Remains chief of the Democratic Party ; consulted freely and used as far as possible as a political asset by ambitious and designing politicians. Died at " The Hermitage." Jackson's Cabinet. Secretary of State — ' Martin Van Buren, New York, March 6, 1829. Edward Livingstone, Louisiana, May 24, 1831. Louis McLane, Delaware, May 29, 1833. John Forsyth, Georgia, June 27, 1834. Secretary of Treasury — Samuel D. Ingham, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1829. Louis McLane, Delaware, August 8, 1831. William J. Duane, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1833. Roger B. Taney, Maryland, September 23, 1833. Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire, June 27, 1834. Secretary of War — John H. Eaton, Tennessee, March 9, 1829. Lewis Cass, Michigan, August i, 1831. Secretary of Navy — John Branch, North Carolina, March 9, 1829. Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire, May 23, 1831. Mahlon Dickerson, New Jersey, June 30, 1834. Attorney-General — John M. Berrien, Georgia, March 9, 1829. Roger B, Taney, Maryland, July 20, 1831. Benjamin F. Butler, New York, November 15, 1833. Postmaster-General — William T. Barry, Kentucky, March 9, 1829. Amos Kendall, Kentucky, May i, 1835. Introduction. For nearly forty years Andrew Jackson was the most popular man in America; from the day when he won the great victory at New Orleans until his last utterances at " The Hermitage," the common people heard and followed him gladly : and for years after his death, his name was a name to be conjured with in American politics. He left the presidency as popular as he entered it, and having served two terms named his successor. Of no other President is this true. And though Van Buren's administration reaped the whirlwind, the mass of the American people did not for a moment blame Andrew Jackson as the cause of panic and disaster. The German historian of the United States, Von Hoist, writes of '*' The Reign of Andrew Jackson," and later historians and biographers have caught up the strain. Tyranny and despotism were easy words in Jackson's time : he often uses them when speaking of nullification, and the Whigs applied the terms to Jackson's administration. It is somewhat paradoxical that the idol of American Democracy should have been an autocrat. It is well known that the Federalist historians got the initiative and told their story largely to the conversion of posterity; the Democratic his- torians, until later years, have been relegated to second place. Doubtless the explanation lies in the course and the consequences of the long and finally terrible conflict between Confederacy and Nation : the supremacy of the Nation giv- ing character and standing to Federalist ideas which other- wise never had come to them. One result of the predominance of the Hamiltonian School, at least in American literature, has been the general hostility of historians and biographers to Andrew Jackson. Eulogies of Jackson are as plentiful as blackberries, but most of them were written by standing political candidates who sought by praising Jackson to be suffered to gather up some of the crumbs which fell from the White House table. 12 Andrew Jackson It was the zeal of Jackson's followers which weakened him and laid open his administration to the contempt and the attacks of his political enemies. But this body of pamphlet flattery long since vanished into the obscurity of collections ; only the resolute now glance at them; only the intrepidly enthusiastic read them. Over against this murky sky of excessive praise rise the yet murkier clouds of excessive condemnation of Jackson : the Whig judgment, the Abolitionist judgment, the Na- tional Republican judgment, the loud, angry, insistent anti-Jackson judgment, whether Webster's, or Clay's, or Cal- houn's, or John Quincy Adams's, or William Lloyd Garri- son's, or the judgment of the most obscure private in the anti-Jackson ranks. Perhaps the body of this condemnation is greater than that of indiscriminate praise : it is a notable collection in the several Historical Societies' libraries. Cer- tain it is that the line of cleavage in popular opinion as to Andrew Jackson ran deeper, sharper, and clearer than any like line as to any other American, He must have been a rare man who provoked this agita- tion, this praise, this condemnation. The times in which he lived must have been unsettled times ; a period of transition, as the historians are likely to say. One desires, amidst the tumult, to see and know Andrew Jackson : let the flatterers and the detractors cease their din. Jackson is equal to tell- ing his own story ; he is capable of action ; events can speak for themselves. One discovers that Jackson was a maker of history; his acts are public; his motives he discloses himself in the intimacy of private correspondence and the respon- sible utterances of official life. Undoubtedly nullification put Jackson to the supreme test as a statesman. The refusal to recharter the United States Bank was an administrative question ; nullification involved nationality : one was a matter of policy ; the other, of principle. The critical act of Jackson's presidency was his treatment of nullification. He clearly understood the issue : nullification, secession, civil war. It meant union or disunion. The most severe of Jackson's critics pause to praise him for his conduct toward the nullifiers. Tradition assigns him even more vigorous speech than was usual with him in his Introduction 1 3 comments on nullification and its leaders; his private cor- respondence at the time, a part of which is for the first time now published in this volume, lays bare his heart's desire : the salvation of his native state. South Carolina, from dis- grace; the preservation of the Union. This was his atti- tude ; no man was deceived ; what he said in private he was prepared to execute. He would, if necessary, march an army of 250,000 men into South Carolina to sustain the Constitution and the laws. There was nothing- of bluster and rodomontade in his utterances; in this tradition has done Jackson some injustice. His decision was braver, firmer, and more irrevocable than even the nullifiers under- stood. Jackson was fundamentally a man of action, but of action within the bounds of the law. His aggressiveness was the aggressiveness of the right : his letters to Poinsett disclose this. The figure of an angry Andrew Jackson itch- ing to hang the high-priest of nullification, Calhoun, is a caricature. Had the nullifiers in South Carolina, or in any other state, actually assembled under arms to obstruct the execution of the laws of the United States, and their as- sembling had been certified to President Jackson, by lawful evidence, he not only would have suppressed the insurrec- tion by force of arms, but also would have caused the arrest of the leaders, whoever they might be, and handing them over to the civil authorities would have brought them to trial for conspiracy and treason. Throughout the tense ex- citement of nullification Jackson never once hints at military dictatorship : he speaks ever of the supremacy of the Con- stitution and the laws. His famous Proclamation accords strictly with the spirit of his private correspondence on nullification. His vigor in combating nullification characterized the foreign and domestic policy of his entire administration. Later historians justly recognize the great value to the coun- try of Jackson's foreign policy. It was not a game of bluff, or a series of compromises, or a continuation of diplomatic delays : it was a clear definition, an insistent demand, an effective recognition of the rights of this country in the family of nations. Relations with France were delicate and shifty: Jackson made them strong and clear. There was the touch of Cromwell in his foreign policy, and the 14 Andrew Jackson Cromwellian touch unfailingly brings the recalcitrant to book. Like Washington, Jackson, having served eight years in the presidency, issued a Farewell Address to his country- men. Though less famed than Washington's it is no less patriotic, nor less beneficent in scope and purpose. Perhaps its chief value is its long defence and apology for his official career : it is the history of " The Reign of Andrew Jack- son," written at least by Jackson's authority. And true to his characteristics he most warmly defends those elements of his policy most bitterly assailed by his political enemies. Jackson's place in the order of American statesmen is with Webster, Calhoun, and Clay, each of whom he discom- fited in the long struggle for place, power, and popularity. No coalition they could form could break him down : he defied each and all of them and carried through much of his policy without their aid. Biographers and the host of monographists who love to browse on pamphlets and the bibliography of public men have not neglected to italicize Jackson's defects as writer or speaker, and only of late have discovered that his uniform practice was but a premature use of the reformed spelling. But of late years, and since the profound significance of the Civil War is better under- stood, Jackson's place among American statesmen is by gen- eral accord side by side with the foremost. He was an illiterate man, and his famous state papers, the " Anti-Nulli- fication Proclamation " and the " Paper on the Bank of the United States," were written, the one by his Secretary of State, the other, by his Attorney-General; yet his spelling was no worse than Monroe's, and like Monroe's steadily grew better as he grew older. His essential political creed — the preservation of the Union — was the essential creed of Washington and Lincoln. The seven letters on nullification are printed, verbatim et literatim et pimcttiatim, from the Jackson letters in the Poinsett Collection in the Library of the Pennsylvania His- torical Society, to whose courtesy and permission acknowl- edgments are due. These letters, it is believed, are now printed for the first time. Francis Newton Thorpe. The Statesmanship of Andrew Jackson. LETTERS ON NULLIFICATION 1830-1833 *' Abhorrence of debt, public and private, dislike of banks, and love of hard money — love of justice and love of country, were ruling passions with Jackson ; and of these he gave constant evidence in all the situations of his life. *'The character of his mind was that of judgment, with a rapid and almost intuitive perception, followed by an instant and decisive action. It was that which made him a General, and a President for the time in which he served. He had vigorous thoughts, but not the faculty of arranging them in a regular composi- tion, either written or spoken ; and in formal papers he usually gave his draft to an aid, a friend, or a secre- tary, to be written over — often to the loss of vigor. But the thoughts were his own vigorously expressed ; and without effort, writing with a rapid pen, and never blotting or altering; but, as Carlyle says of Cromwell, hitting the nail upon the head as he went. " He had a load to carry all his life; resulting from a temper which refused compromises and bargaining, and went for a clean victory or a clean defeat, in every case. Hence, every step he took was a contest ; and, it may be added, every contest was a victory. ** His election as President was a victory over politicians — as was every leading event of his ad- ministration." — Thomas H. Benton, Thirty Tears' View, Vol. II, pp. 737, 738. Letters on Nullification.* 1830-1833. Washington Octbr 26th 1830 Dear Sir, I had the honour this evening to receive your letter of the 25th instant with the enclosure, and agreable to your request herev^ith return it, with a tender of my thanks for this token of your friendship & regard. I had supposed that everyone acquainted with me knew that I was opposed to the nulifying doctrine, and that my toast at the Jefferson dinner was sufficient evidence of the fact. I am convinced there is not one member of Congress who are not convinced of this fact, for on all occasions I have been open & free upon this subject. The South Car- olineans, as a whole, are too patriotic to adopt such mad projects as the nulifyers of that state propose. That Mr. Van Buren should be suspected of such opin- ions are equally strange. I am Sir with great respect & regard your mo. obdt- servt- Andrew Jackson Robert Oliver Esqr * These letters by Andrew Jackson, now for the first time printed, are copied, literatim et punctuatim, from the originals in the Poinsett Collection in the Library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Phila- delphia. They aid in understanding the circumstances under which the famous Anti-Nullification Proclamation was issued. They reveal the man Jackson. In the more impassioned passages the Presi- dent's emotions are plainly hinted at, and unconsciously, in his hand- writing. As his feelings are the more profoundly stirred the script under his hand grows larger, heavier, more broken. Undoubtedly the supremacy of the Union has aligned Jackson with that great com- pany of its defenders of whom Lincoln is chief. Jackson's "The Union: It must and shall be preserved!" has passed into common American speech with Lincoln's "Government of the people, by the people and for the people." «7 1 8 Andrew Jackson December 2d 1832 My Dr Sir, Your two letters of No"^ 24 & 25th last have been received, and I hasten to acknowledge them. I fully concur with you in your views of nullification. It leads directly to civil war ad bloodshed and deserves he execration of every friend of our country. Should the civil power with your aid as a posse comitatus prove not strong enough to carry into effect the laws of the Union you have a right to call upn the Government for aid and the Executive will yield it as far as he has been vested with the power by the constitution ad the law^s, made in pursuance thereof. The prevailing measures spoken of in your last letter have been in some degree anticipated. Five thousand stand of muskets with corresponding equipments have been ordered to Castle Pinckney; and a sloop of war w^ith a smaller armed vessel the experiment will reach Carlston harbor in due time. The commanding officer of Castle Pinckney will be instructed by the Secretary of War to de- liver he arms and their equipment to your order, taking a receipt for them; and should the emergency arise he will furnish to your requisition such ordnance and ordnance stores as can be spared from the arsenals. The Union must be preserved, and its laws duly executed by proper means. With calmness and firmness such as be- comes those who are conscious of being right and are as- sured of the support of public opinion, We must perform our duties without expecting that there are those around us desiring to tempt us into the wrong. We must act as the instruments of the law and if force is opposed to us in that capacity then we shall repel it with the certainty, even should we fail as individuals, that the friends of liberty and union will still be strong enough to prostrate their enemies.* * Compare this paragraph with the closing paragraph of Lincoln's Second Inaugural: " With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work Letters on Nullification 19 Your union men should act in concert : their designation as unionists should teach them to be prepared for every emergency; and inspire them with the energy to over- come every impediment that may be thrown in the way of the laws of their constitution whose cause is now not only their cause but that of free institutions throughout the world. They should recollect that perpetuity is stamped upon the constitution by the blood of our Fathers, — by those who achieved as well as those who improved our system of free government. For this purpose was the principle of amendment inserted in the constitution which all have sworn to support, and in violation of which no state or states have the right to dissolve the Union. Nul- lification therefore means insurrection & war; and you also and all other peaceable citizens have a right to aid in the same patriotic object, when summoned by the violated laws of the land. Should an emergency occur for the arms before the order of the Secretary of War to the command- ing officer to deliver them to your order, show this to him & he will yield a compliance. I am great haste Yr mo obd^ servt J. R. Poinsett Esqr Andrew Jackson Decbr 9th, 1832, Washington My Dr Sir. Your letters were this moment reed, from the hands of Col. Drayton, read & duly considered, & in haste I reply. The true spirit of patriotism that they breath fills me with pleasure. If the Union party unite with you, heart & hand in the text you have laid down, you will not only preserve the Union, but save our native state, from that ruin and disgrace into which her treasonable we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among our- selves, and with all nations."— March 4, 1865. Lincoln, Complete Works, Vol. XI, pp. 46, 4J. — New York, The Tandy-Thomas Company. 20 Andrew Jackson leaders have attempted to plunge her. All the means in my power, I will employ to enable her own citizens, those faithful patriots, who cling to the Union, to put it down. The proclamation I have this day issued, & which I in- close you, will give you my views, of the treasonable con- duct of the convention & he Governors recommendation to the assembly — it is not merely rebellion, but the act of raising troops positive treason, and I am assured by all the members of Congress with whom I have conversed that I will be sanctioned by Congress. If so, I will meet it at the threshold, and have the leaders arrested and arraigned for treason. I am only waiting to be furnished with the acts of your Legislature to make a communication to Congress, ask the means necessary to carry my proclamation into com- pleat effect, and by an exemplary punishment of those leaders for treason so unprovoked, put down the rebellion, & strengthen our happy Government both at home and abroad. My former letter & communication from the Dept. of War, will have informed you of the arms and equip- ments having been laid in Deposit subject to your requisi- tion of the law, whenever called on as the posse comitatus &c &c The vain threats of resistance by those who have raised the standard of rebellion show their madness & folly. You may assure those patriots, who cling to their country, & this Union, which alone secures our liberty prosperity and happiness, that in forty days I can have within the limits of So Carolina fifty thousand men, and in forty days more another fifty thousand. How impotent the threat of resist- ance with only a population of 250,000 whites & nearly that double in blacks with our ships in the port, to aid in the execution of our laws ? The weakness, madness & folly of the leaders & the delusion of their followers in the at- tempt to destroy themselves & our Union has not its par- alel in the history of the world. The Union will be pre- Letters on Nullification 21 served. The safety of the republic, the supreme law, which will be promptly obeyed by me. I will be happy to hear from you often thro' Col. Mason or his son, if you think the postoffice unsafe. I am with sincere respect Yr mo. ohdt sevvt Mr. Poinsett Andrew Jackson (Private) Washington Jany i6th 1833 My Dr Sir, This day I have communicated to both houses of Congress the inclosed message, which has been referred to the committees on the Judiciary, who we have a right to believe will promptly report a bill giving all the powers asked for. I have read several letters from gentlemen in So Caro- lina, requesting to be furnished with the means of Defence. Mr. J. Graham, an old revolutionary patriot, a Mr. Harri- son and Col Levy — I have requested Genl Blair to inform Col Levy to apply to you & I request that you will make it known confidentially that when necessary, you are author- ized, & will furnish the necessary means of defence. Mr. Calhoun let of a little of his ire against me to day in the Senate, but was so agitated & confused that he made quite a failure, was replied to, with great dignity & firm- ness, by Major Forsythe — Calhoun finds himself between Scylla & Caribdes & was reckless — My great desire is that the Union men may put nullification & secession down in So Carolina, themselves, & save the character of the State, & add thereby to the stability of our Union. You can rely on every aid that I can give — only advise me of the action of the nullifyers, — The moment they are in hostile array in opposition to the execution of the laws, let it be certified to me, by the Atto for the District, or the judge, and I will forthwith order the leaders prosecuted, & arrested, if the marshall is resisted by 12,000 bayonets, I will have his posse 24,000 — but the moment there rebellious faction find 22 Andrew Jackson they are opposed by the good people of that state, with a resolution becoming free men and worthy the name of Americans and under the protection of the Union, they will yield to the power of the law, and return to their obedience. I write in great haste, late at night, and much fatigued, & indisposed by a bad cold, you will excuse this scratch, it is for your own eye — Write me often & give me the earliest intelligence of the first armed force that appears in the field to sustain the ordenance. The first act of treason commit- ted, unites to it, all those who have aided or abetted in the excitement to the act — we will strike at the head and demol- ish the monster nullification & secession, at the threshold by the power of the law I am very respectfully Joel R. Poinsett Esqr Yr mo. obdt. strvt. Andrew Jackson Washington January 24th- 1833 My dear Sir. I have reed yours of the i6th- 19th & 20th instant, that of the i6th late last night & hasten to reply by the return express which will leave here early tomorrow. My message to Congress, forwarded to you by the last express was referred to the committee in each house, on the judiciary — that of the Senate has reported a bill which you will receive from the Secretary of the Treasury by the con- veyance that will hand you this. You will see from a pe- rusal, that it contains, with the powers now possessed, every authority necessary to enable the executive to execute the revenue laws, and protect our citizens engaged in their sup- port, & to punish all who may attempt to resist their execu- tion by force. This bill has been made the order of the day for Monday next, and altho this delay has been submited to by the Senate, still I have no doubt but it will pass by a very large majority in both Houses. There will be some intemperate discussion on the bill & on Calhouns and Grundys resolutions. It was my duty to make known to Congress, being in Letters on Nullification 23 session, the state of the Union, I witheld to the last moment to give Congress time to act before the first of February — having done my duty in in this respect, should Congress fail to act on the bill, and I shall be informed of the illegal as- semblage of an armed force with intention to oppose the execution of the revenue laws, under the late ordinance of So Carolina, I stand prepared forthwith to issue my procla- mation warning them to disperse — should they fail to com- ply with the proclamation, I will forthwith call into the field such a force as will overaw resistance, put treason & rebel- lion down without blood, and arrest and hand over to the judiciary for trial and punishment, the leaders, exciters and promoters of this rebellion & treason. You need not fear the assemblage of a large force (at Charleston) — give me early information officially, of the assemblage of a force armed, to carry into effect the ordi- nance & laws, nullifying our revenue laws, and to prevent their execution, and in ten or fifteen days at farthest, I will have in Charleston from ten to fifteen thousand well organ- ized troops, well equiped for the field — and twenty thou- sand or thirty, more, in their interest, I have a tender of volunteers from every state in the Union — I can, if need be — which God forbear, march two hundred thousand men in forty days to quell any & every insurrection or rebellion that might arise to threaten our glorious confederacy & Union, upon which our liberty prosperity & happiness rests. I repeat to the union men again, fear not the Union ivill be preserved & treason & rebellion promptly put down, when & where it may shew its monster head. You may rest assured that the nullies of Carolina will receive no aid from any quarter. They have been encouraged by a few from Georgia and Virginia, but the united force of the yeomanry of the country and the tender of volunteers from every state has put this down. They will know I will execute the laws, and that the whole people will support me in it, and preserve the Union — even if the povernor of Virginia should have the folly to attempt to prevent the militia from 24 Andrew Jackson marching thro this state to put the faction in So Carolina down & place himself at the head of an armed force for such a wicked purpose. I would arrest him at the head of his troops, & hand him over to the civil authority for trial — The volunteers of his own state would enable me to do this. I repeat again, my pride and desire is, that the Union ever may arouse & sustain the majority of the constitution & the laws, and save my native state from that disgrace that the nullifyers have brought upon her — give me only intelli- gence of the open assemblage of an armed force any where in the state, under the ordinance & the laws to nullify & re- sist the revenue laws of the United States, and you may rest assured I wall act promptly and do my duty to God and my country, & relieve the good citizens of that despotism & tyranny under which the supporters of the Union now labour. On yesterday the tarifif bill would have passed house of representatives had it not been for a very insulting & irri- tating speech by Wilde of Georgia which has thrown the whole of Pennsylvania, New York & Ohio into a flame, I am told there is great excitement, no hopes now of its pass- ing this session — it is further believed that the speech was made for this purpose, at the instigation of the nullies, who wish no accommodation of the tariff. This w^ill unite the whole people against the nullifiers & instead of carrying the South with the nullies, will have the effect to arouse them against them when it it discovered their object is nothing but disunion. The House sat late & I have not heard from it since 7 o'clock — I must refer you to Mr. McLane for further information, as it is very late & my eyes grow dim — Keep me well advised, & constantly — The arms are placed subject to your requisition, and under your discre- tion. I keep no copy, nor have I time to correct this letter In haste very respectfully Your friend J. R. Poinsett Esqr Andrew Jackson Letters on Nullification 25 Washington City February 7th 1833 Dr Sir. Yours of the 27th and 28th ultimo, have been handed me by Mr. Smith, that of the 30th through Col Drayton has also been re'^d. Their contents being con- sidered I hasten to reply. The nullifiers in your State have placed themselves thus far in the wrong. They must be kept there, notwithstand- ing all their tyranny and blustering conduct, until some act of force is committed or there is an open assemblage of an armed force by orders of your Governor under the ordi- nance and Replevin laws to resist the execution of the laws of the United States, the Executive of the United States has no legal ad constitutional power to order the militia into the field to suppress it, and not then, until his procla- mation commanding he insurgents to disperse has been issued, But this you may rely on, will be promptly done by the president the moment he is advised by proper affidavits that such is the condition of your State. You should not therefore fear the result, if the movement anticipated from the upper country for the purpose of enforcing the odious and despotic zvrit in withernam should really be made. Keep me advised of the first actual assemblage of an armed force in the upper part of your State, or in any other part of it, or in any part of the adjoining states, and before it reaches you I shall interpose a force for your pro- tection and that of the city strong enough to overwhelm any effort to obstruct the execution of the laws. But bear in mind the fact that this step must be consequent upn the actual open assemblage of such a force or upon some overt act of its commission. In this case which I trust in God will not happen, I will act and with firmness, promptness and efficiency. I sincerely lament that there is a contingency so probable which menaces the safety of those who are acting with you to sustain the Union and laws of our happy country. But let what will happen remain at your post in the perform- ance of this the highest of all duties. Be firm in the support 26 Andrew Jackson of the Union ; it is the sheet anchor of our Hberty and prosperity, dissolve it and our fate will be that of unhappy Mexico. But it cannot be dissolved; the national voice from Maim to Loueseana with a unanimity and resolution never before exceeded declares that it shall be preserved and those who are assailing it under the guise of nullifica- tion and secession shall be consigned to contempt and in- famy. In resisting the tyrannic measures by which the ruling party in So Carolina have prepared to obstruct the laws of the Union you are thrown back upon the right of self- defence. Deprived of the protection guaranteed to you by your own constitution, violent resistance to the tyranny which thus oppresses you becomes a duty, and in the per- formance of it the constitution and the laws of the United States will be your shield. Do not doubt that the shield will be upheld with all the power which I am or may be authorized to use. As soon as I am notified that the hostile array which you anticipate has been made the positions recommended as proper to be occupied for defence will be taken. Of this fact let me be notified by an express who will bring the proper evidences of it. I have regretted that your convention did not, as such, memorealise Congress to extend to you the guarantee of the constitution, of a republican form of government, stat- ing the actual despotism which now controls the state. The action of Congress on the subject would have placed your situation before the whole Union and filled the heart of every true lover of his country and its liberties with indig- nation. I can order the regular troops to take any position which may be found necessary; but your own advice has been to " do nothing to irritate." When the crisis comes and I is- sue my proclamation, authority will be given to embody all volunteers enrolled for the support and execution of the laws, and the officers of the same of their own selection Letters on Nullification 27 will be sanctioned by the President, as has been usual upon the receipt of the muster rolls. It has just been mentioned to me that a bet has been taken by a man supposed to be in the secrets of the nulli- fiers that the convention will be called and the odious ordi- nance repealed. God grant that this may be true. Let not this hope, however, lessen your watchfulness or your exer- tions. My pride is to save the character of my native state by the patriotism of its own citizens. Firmness on your part will do this. The tariff will be reduced to the wants of the Govern- ment if not at this session of Congress certainly at the next. Referring you to Mr. Smith I close this hasty scrawl with my prayers for your happiness. J. R. Poinsett Esqr Andrew Jackson (Private) Washington February 17th, 1833. My dear Sir, I have just received your letter of the 9th instant. I never once thought, that the mission of Mr. Leigh, with his powers, would be attended with any bene- ficial result whatever. It has only served to place the leg- islature of Virginia in a disagreeable attitude, and has done more harm than it can good. Had Virginia passed resolu- tions disapproving as she has done, nullification, and ad- monishing the nullifiers to retrace their steps, this would have done much good, and instead of encouraging them in expecting her aid, would have caused them to have re- pealed their ordinance. The great body of the people of Virginia are firmly opposed to the course of the Legisla- ture in this respect, and will support the United States nobly, should the crisis come, which I trust the firmness of the Union men may yet prevent. The bill granting the powers asked will pass into a law. Mr. Webster replied to Mr. Calhoun yesterday, and, it is said, demolished him. It is believed by more than one, that 28 Andrew Jackson Mr. C. is in a state of dementation. — his speech was a per- fect faihire ; and I\Ir. Webster handled him as a child. I fear we have many nullifiers in Congress who dare not openly appear. The vote on the pending bill will unrobe them. I am delighted to learn that you will convene the union convention simultaneously with that of the nullifiers, or soon after. A bold and resolute stand will put them down, and you will thereby save the character of your state. When you recollect the noble cause you are defending, — that our previous Union is the stake, that the arm of the United States sustained by nineteen twentieth of the whole people is extended over you, — you cannot be otherwise than firm, resolute and inflexible. One resolution, — that you nail the United States colours to the mast, and will go down with the Union or live free, that you will to your last breath, resist the tyranny and oppression of their ordinance, test oath and unconstitutional proceedings, will restore to you peace and tranquillity, which a well adjusted tariff will confirm. Before the receipt of your letter Mr. Livingston had an interview with Mr. Bankhead on the subject of the conduct of the British Consul at Charleston. Mr. Blankhead has written & admonished him that his exequater will be re- voked on his first act of interference. This I assure you, will be done. I have only to request that you will give me the earliest intelligence that you can obtain of his having ordered a British squadron to the port of Charleston; and on an affidavit of the fact of one arriving there, his exe- quater will be revoked. Keep me constantly advised of all movements in South Carolina, — the marshalling troops to oppose the execution of the laws of the U. States, affirmed on affidavit, and I will forthwith use all my powers under the constitution and the laws to put them down. With great respect, Yr friend J. R. Poinsett Esqr Andrew Jackson Letters on Nullification 29 President Jackson was kept informed of the course of affairs in South Carolina by his correspondents, among whom was Augustus Fitch, who, in a letter written from Columbia, S. C, March i6, 1833, the day after the repeal of the Ordinance of Nullification, describes the conclusion of the matter. Many nullifiers had been brought to their senses by the President's stern purpose to enforce the revenue laws and Clay's compromise tariff bill. When the convention re- assembled, on the fifteenth of March, only four delegates voted against repeal because they thought that Clay's bill "did not fully abandon the principle of protection." Clay's attitude seems to have puzzled some of his followers at the South. McDufifie, who divided with Cal- houn the leadership of the nullification movement, spoke in the con- vention (so writes Fitch) "lovingly" of Clay as "our ally in the West whom we have recently gained," and thereupon congratulated the convention on the triumph of nullification through Clay's compromise bill. Governor Hamilton made a conciliatory speech, as did others, and the repeal of the ordinance was carried. On the back of Fitch's letter Jackson made this endorsement; "The Ordinance & all law under it repealed — so ends the wicked & disgraceful conduct of Calhoun McDufiie & their co nuUies. They will only be remembered, to be held up to scorn, by every one who loves freedom, our glorious constitution & government of laws. A J." (From the MS. Fitch letter, sometime in possession of the Editor.) II STATE PAPERS 1829— 1837 " Yes, autocrat as he was, Andrew Jackson loved the people, the common people, the sons and daugh- ters of toil, as truly as they loved him, and believed in them as they believed in him. He was in accord with his generation. He had a clear perception that the toiling millions are not a class in the community, but are the community. He knew and felt that govern- ment should exist only for the benefit of the gov- erned; that the strong are strong only as they may aid the weak ; that the rich are rightfully rich only that they may so combine and direct the labor of the poor as to make labor more profitable to the laborer. He did not comprehend these truths as they are dem- onstrated by Jefferson and Spencer, but he had an in- tuitive and instinctive perception of them. And in his most autocratic moments, he really thought that he was fighting the battle of the people and doing their will while baffling the purposes of their representa- tives. If he had been a man of knowledge as well as force, he would have taken the part of the people more effectually, and left to his successors an in- creased power of doing good, instead of better facili- ties for doing harm. He appears always to have meant well. But his ignorance of law, history, poli- tics, science, of every thing which he who governs a country ought to know was extreme. Mr. Trist re- members hearing a member of the General's family say, that General Jackson did not believe the world was round. His ignorance was as a wall round about him — high, impenetrable. He was imprisoned in his ignorance, and sometimes raged round his little, dim inclosure like a tiger in his den." — James Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson^ Vol. HI, pp. 698, 699. First Inaugural Address.* (March 4, 1829.) FcIIozi'-Cithcns: 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 con- federate relations, to manage their revenue, to command their forces, and, by communication to the Legislature, to watch over and promote their interests generally. And the principles of action by which I shall endeavor to accom- plish this circle of duties it is now proper for me briefly to explain. In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep stead- ily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the func- tions 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 * This address is general, vague and non-committal, and contains nothing of importance definitive of Jacksonian policy. The refer- ences to "reform" somewhat alarmed office-holders, but were not interpreted even by the Federalists as notice of the coming proscrip- tioa [Ed.] 31 32 Andrew Jackson in the adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibiHty 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 Con- stitution 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 prod- ucts 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. First Inaugural Address 33 Considering standing armies as dangerous to free gov- ernments 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 Gov- ernment 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 impen- etrable 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 lib- eral policy, and to give that humane and considerate atten- tion 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 par- ticularly 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 appoint- 34 Andrew Jackson ment 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, en- courages 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. First Annual Message.* (December 8, 1829.) Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representa- tives: 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 dis- charge 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 grat- ulation and devout thanks to a benign Providence, that we are at peace with all mankind, and that our country exhib- * Benton, Jackson's most able and ardent defender, remarks on this message: "That it was anxiously looked for, and did not disap- point the public expectation. It was strongly democratic, and con- tained many recommendations of a nature to simplify and purify the working of the Government, and to carry it back to the times of Mr. Jefferson — to promote its economy and efficiency, and to maintain the rights of the people, and of the States in its administration." Thirty Years' View, I., p. 121. "In a word, it was a message of the old republican school, in which President Jackson had been bred, and from which he never departed." Id., p. 124. Jackson's attack on the Bank of the United States, in this message, some seven years before the expiration of its charter, may be said to have astonished the country. Times were good, the people prospering, the currency sounder than ever before. The President here gave warn- ing of relentless war against the Bank ; his attitude was partisan or patri- otic as one interprets his policy and its effects on the country. [Ed.] 35 36 Andrew Jackson its the most cheering evidence of general welfare and pro- gressive 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 advanc- ing in knowledge, in freedom, and in social happiness. Our foreign relations, although in their general char- acter 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 Gov- ernment 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 impos- sible 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 his- tory of the two nations is calculated to inspire sentiments of First Annual Message 37 mutual respect and to carry conviction to the minds of both that it is their poHcy 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 cab- inet of Great Britain designs to pursue toward this country, I indulge the hope that it will be of a just and pacific char- acter ; 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 lib- erality which ought ever to characterize the acts of sov- ereign 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 parts is in a course of prepara- tion. 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 commis- sioners 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 deli- cate 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 uncom- promising 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 38 Andrew Jackson 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 pol- icy, our minister to that Court will be found instructed to cherish such a disposition and to aid in conducting it to use- ful 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 au- thorized 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 accept- ance in their full extent of the mutually beneficial pro- visions 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 com- merce committed under her authority — an appeal which the pacific and liberal course observed on oih- 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 First Annual Message 39 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 com- merce 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 ante- cedent 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 opin- ion, sufficiently desirable to insure to them our most zeal- ous attention. Our trade with Austria, although of secondary impor- tance, has been gradually increasing, and is now so extended as to deserve the fostering care of the Govern- ment. A negotiation, commenced and nearly completed with that power by the late Administration, has been con- summated 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 recog- nition 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 prac- ticable, prospective condition of the authority by which the representative in question was appointed. This in- formation being received, the application of the estab- 40 Andrew Jackson Hshed rule of our Government in like cases was no longer withheld. Considerable advances have been made during the pres- ent 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 claim- ants, been placed by the Government, together with the uni- formly 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 lib- erty 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 dis- sension rebuked, and perhaps forever stifled, in that Repub- lic by the love of independence. If it be true, as appear- ances strongly indicate, that the spirit of independence is the master spirit, and if a corresponding sentiment pre- vails in the other States, this devotion to liberty can not be without a proper effect upon the counsels of the mother First Annual Message 4^ 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 Gov- ernments 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 min- ister 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 nego- tiated and concluded in 1828, happily terminates all serious causes of difference with that power. Measures have been taken to place our commercial rela- tions with Peru upon a better footing than that upon which they have hitherto rested, and if met by a proper dispo- sition 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 per- mitted 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 coun- tries, 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 expe- dient to give to Mr. Poinsett the option either to return or not, as in his judgment the interest of his country might 42 Andrew Jackson require, and instructions to that end were prepared; but before they could be dispatched a communication was received from the Government of Mexico, through its charge d'affaires here, requesting the recall of our minister. This was promptly complied with, and a representative of a rank corresponding with that of the Mexican diplomatic agent near this Government was appointed. Our conduct toward that Republic has been uniformly of the most friendly character, and having thus removed the only alleged obstacle to harmonious intercourse, I can not but hope that an advantageous change will occur in our affairs. In justice to Mr. Poinsett it is proper to say that my immediate compliance with the application for his recall and the appointment of a successor are not to be ascribed to any evidence that the imputation of an improper inter- ference by him in the local politics of Mexico was well founded, nor to a want of confidence in his talents or integ- rity, and to add that the truth of that charge has never been affirmed by the federal Government of Mexico in its com- munications 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 con- sistently provided a mode of remedying its defects. To the people belongs the rights of electing their Chief Magistrate; it was never designed that their choice should in any case be defeated, either by the intervention of elec- toral colleges or by the agency confided, under certain con- tingencies, 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 conven- ience 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 First Annual Message 43 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 can- didate. 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 misrepre- sented. 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 insti- tutions. 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 44 Andrew Jackson 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 ap- pointed 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 bet- ter 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 secur- ing in the Cabinet and in diplomatic stations of the highest rank the best talents and political experience should, per- haps, 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 in- terests than as an instrument created solely for the service of the people. Corruption in some and in others a per- version of correct feelings and principles divert govern- ment from its legitimate ends and make it an engine for the support of the few at the expense of the many. The First Annual Message 45 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 experi- ence. 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 gen- eral extension of the law which limits appointments to four years. In a country where offices are created solely for the ben- efit 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 lim- itation would destroy the idea of property now so gen- erally connected with official station, and although indi- vidual distress may be sometimes produced, it would, by promoting that rotation which constitutes a leading prin- ciple 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 agri- culture, 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 4^ Andrew Jackson 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 in- terests of our agriculture, our commerce, and our manu- factures. 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. \\'hen 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 pa- triotic determination to promote the great interests of the whole. All attempts to connect them with the party con- flicts of the day are necessarily injurious, and should be discountenanced. Our action upon them should be under First Annual Message 47 the control of higher and purer motives. Legislation sub- jected to such influences can never be just, and wiW not long retain the sanction of a people w^hose 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 cal- culations 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 pro- ductions 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 compe- tition 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, not- withstanding 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 i, 1829, was $5,972,435.81. The receipts of the current year are esti- mated at $24,602,230 and the expenditures for the same 4^ Andrew Jackson time at $26,164,595, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the I St 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, redu- cing the whole debt of the Government on the ist of Jan- uary 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 ist 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 Treas- ury, 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 tariflf upon principles satisfac- tory to the people of the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave the Government without a considerable sur- plus 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 First Annual Message 49 connection with the difficulties which have heretofore at- tended appropriations for purposes of internal improve- ment, 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 bene- fit in a mode which will be satisfactory to all. That hither- to adopted has by many of our fellow-citizens been depre- cated 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 sev- eral States according to their ratio of representation, and should this measure not be found warranted by the Con- stitution 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 exer- cise 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 in- tended 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 bene- fit it is to be exercised, and not undermine the whole sys- tem by a resort to overstrained constructions. The scheme 5° Andrew Jackson 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 glo- rious 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 sys- tem can never fall. In the collection of the revenue the long credits au- thorized 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 prior- ity 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 pre- sented 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 demoral- izing tendency of a successful system of smuggling is so First Annual Message 5^ 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 unnec- essary infringement of individual liberty and embarrass- ment 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 prob- ably been rendered so by remissness in the agents charged with its collection. By proper exertions a great part, how- ever, may yet be recovered ; and whatever may be the por- tions respectively belonging to these two classes, it be- hooves 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 inad- equacy 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 su- pervisory 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 encum- bered as he is with numerous other duties, operates un- favorably 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 super- intendence and management of legal proceedings on the part of the United States, be transferred to the Attorney- 52 Andrew Jackson General, and that this officer be placed on the same footing in all respects as the heads of the other Departments, receiv- ing 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, v^ould hasten the col- lection of debts now in suit and hereafter save much to the Government. It might be further extended to the superin- tendence 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 sug- gest also an inquiry whether the provisions of the act of Congress authorizing the discharge of the persons of debt- ors to the Government from imprisonment may not, con- sistently with the public interest, be extended to the re- lease 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 ex- hausted can only serve to dispirit the debtor; or, where his resources are but partial, the want of power in the Gov- ernment 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 be- comes 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 re- public not to exert a grinding power over misfortune and poverty. Since the last session of Congress numerous frauds on First Annual Message 53 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 Govern- ment 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; on 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 pros- ecutions for fraud to two years. In this case all the evi- dences 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 alter- ation of the law as will give the injured party and the Government two years after the disclosure of the fraud or 54 Andrew Jackson after the accused is out of office to commence their prose- cution. 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 responsibiHty of pubHc 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 edu- cation 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 perpet- uate. The returns from the subordinate branches of this service exhibit a regularity and order highly creditable to its char- acter. 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 leg- islation 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 artil- lery, can not now be deemed a guide to the Executive in making the proper appointment. An explanatory act. des- ignating 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 First Annual Message 55 laws regulating the pay and emoluments of officers gen- erally 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 dur- ing 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 sym- pathies 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 5^ Andrew Jackson 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, how- ever, applications under the new regulation had been pre- ferred 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 dimi- nution 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. Pro- fessing 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 First Annual Message S7 the limits of Georgia and Alabama. These States, claim- ing 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 independ- ent government to establish itself there. Georgia became a member of the Confederacy which eventuated in our Fed- eral 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 volun- tary 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 In- dians within their borders than is possessed by Maine or New York. Would the people of Maine permit the Penob- scot 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 rem- nant 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 pro- tect them in the attempt? If the principle involved in the 5^ Andrew Jackson 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 destroy- ing 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 sub- mit 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 uncon- trolled 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 pre- serve for a while their once terrible names. Surrounded by 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 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 con- First Annual Message 59 sideration the propriety of setting apart an ample district west of the Mississippi, and without the hmits of any State or Territory now formed, to be guaranteed to the Indian tribes as long as they shall occupy it, each tribe hav- ing a distinct control over the portion designated for its use. There they may be secured in the enjoyment of gov- ernments 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 har- mony among them, to raise up an interesting common- wealth, 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 pos- sessions 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 w^hich 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 per- sons 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 pres- ent 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 meas- ures which since the termination of the last war have been in operation for its gradual enlargement were adopted, and 6o Andrew Jackson it should continue to be cherished as the offspring of our national experience. It will be seen, however, that not- withstanding the great solicitude which has been manifested for the perfect organization of this arm and the liberality of the appropriations which that solicitude has suggested, this object has in many important respects not been secured. In time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite to the protection of our commerce. Those not wanted for this object must lay in the harbors, where without proper covering they rapidly decay, and even under the best precautions for their preservation must soon become useless. Such is already the case with many of our finest vessels, which, though unfinished, will now require immense sums of money to be restored to the con- dition 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, fash- ioned 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 com- merce. 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 con- currence 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 communi- cation between them, it will be useless to incur at those depots the expense of similar machinery, especially that First Annual Message 6i 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 cur- ing the many defects in its organization. But little exceed- ing in number any of the regiments of infantry, that corps has, besides it lieuteant-colonel commandant, five brevet lieutenant-colonels, who receive the full pay and emolu- ments 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 train- ing 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 squad- rons 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 62 Andrew Jackson 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 in- equality 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 De- partment. Abuses have been reformed, increased expedi- tion in the transportation of the mail secured, and its rev- enue 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 wdiat 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 Govern- ment in the different States is certainly desirable, and exist- ing 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 effi- ciency in only fifteen members of the Union ; to three others the circuit courts, w'hich 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 con- sistently with the public welfare, is not to be doubted. Neither is it to be disguised that the organization of our ju- First Annual Message 63 dicial 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 Con- gress. The great and constant increase of business in the De- partment 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 experi- ence 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 de- partment — 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, dis- posed to revive the recommendation, but am not the less impressed with the importance of so organizing that De- partment that its Secretary may devote more of his time to our foreign relations. Clearly satisfied that the public 64 Andrew Jackson 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 re- sulting from precipitancy in a measure involving such im- portant 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 expe- diency of the law creating this bank are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens, and it must be ad- mitted by all that it has failed in the great end of establish- ing 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 na- tional one, founded upon credit of the Government and its revenues, might not be devised which would avoid all con- stitutional difficulties and at the same time secure all the advantages to the Government and country that were ex- pected to result from the present bank. I can not close this communication without bringing to your view the just claim of the representatives of Com- modore Decatur, his officers and crew, arising from the recapture of the frigate Philadelphia under the heavy bat- teries of Tripoli. Although sensible, as a general rule, of the impropriety of Executive interference under a Govern- ment 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 ex- ploit in its history to elevate our national character. Pub- lic gratitude, therefore, stamps her seal upon it, and the First Annual Message 65 meed should not be withheld which may hereafter operate as a stimulus to our gallant tars. I now recommend you, fellow-citizens, to the guidance of Almighty God, with a full reliance on His merciful provi- dence for the maintenance of our free institutions, and with an earnest supplication that whatever errors it rnay 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. Veto Messages.* (May 27, 1830.) To the House of Representatives, Gentlemen: I have maturely considered the bill proposing to authorize " a sub- scription 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 origi- nated, with my objections to its passage. Sincerely fr'.endly 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 be- tween 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 un- feigned 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 * In this veto message Jackson repeated the constitutional doc- trines of Madison and Monroe as laid down by them in their veto messages on internal improvements. (See Madison's Veto Message, March 3, 181 7; Monroe's Views on the Subject of Internal Improve- ments, May 4, 1822.) Jackson struck at notorious abuses in this message and curtailed if he did not put an end to them. "Taken together," remarks Benton, "the three vetoes, and the three messages sustaining them (for in no instance did the House in which they originated pass the bills, or either of them, in opposition to the vetoes) may be considered as embracing all the constitutional reasoning upon the question; and enough to be studied by any one who wishes to make himself master of the subject." Thirty Years' Vuw, I., p. 167. 66 Veto Messages 67 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 im- perfections of our nature, and with that intelligence and un- biased 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 desir- ous 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 di- versity of opinion concerning the powers of this Govern- ment over the subject of internal improvement, and the manner in which these powers, if conferred by the Consti- tution, ought to be exercised. The act which I am called upon to consider has, therefore, been passed with a knowl- edge 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 applica- tion 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 at- tended appropriations for purposes of internal improvement, 68 Andrew Jackson 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 diversi- fied 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 navi- gation 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 em- ployed 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 sev- eral States according to their ratio of representation, and should this measure not be found warranted by the Consti- tution 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 pre- sents itself in two points of view — the first as bearing upon the sovereignty of the States within whose limits their exe- cution is contemplated, if jurisdiction of the territory which they may occupy be claimed as necessary to their preserva- tion and use ; the second as asserting the simple right to ap- propriate 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 em- barrassments attending the other, arising from the practice of the Government. Although frequently and strenuously Veto Messages 69 attempted, the power to this extent has never been exer- cised by the Government in a single instance. It does not, in my opinion, possess it; and no bill, therefore, which ad- mits it can receive my official sanction. But in the other view of the power the question is dif- ferently 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 sym- metry and purity of the Government would doubtless have been better preserved if this restriction of the power of ap- propriation 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 en- larged 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 ex- amples 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 pur- chase of Louisiana and to the original appropriation for the construction of the Cumberland road, the latter act de- JO Andrew Jackson riving much weight from the acquiescence and approbation of three of the most powerful of the original members of the Confederacy, expressed through their respective legis- latures. 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 ex- position of the Constitution, it must, nevertheless, be ad- mitted 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, appropri- ating 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 prede- cessor, 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 character- ized 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, " set- ting 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 unconstitu- tionality, 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 Con- gress are those specified and provided for in the Constitu- tion, and superadding to these avowals his opinion that " a restriction of the power ' to provide for the common de- fense and general welfare ' to cases which are to be pro- Veto Messages 7^ vided 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 exe- cution." 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 jurisdic- tion and prescribing the mode by which the Federal Gov- ernment 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, ac- cording 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 appropria- tion 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 resi- due of his Administration. The views of the last Admin- istration 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 the 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 considera- 72 Andrew Jackson tion, thus giving an admonitory proof of the force of im- pUcation 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 pow- ers ; 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 indi- vidual differences should yield to a well-settled acqui- escence of the people and confederated authorities in par- ticular 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 opin- ion upon the particular circumstances which will warrant appropriations of money by Congress to aid works of in- ternal 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 Gov- ernment, 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 y 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 pas- sage, and by the respect which is due to a coordinate branch of the Government, but I am not able to view it in any Veto Messages 73 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 improvemets; 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 will- ing 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 car- ried 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 ap- propriating money for the construction of such works as are authorized by the States and are national in their char- acter, I do not wish to be understood as expressing an opin- ion that it is expedient at this time for the General Gov- ernment 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 com- mitted to my discretion, I shall state them frankly and / 74 Andrew Jackson 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 ap- pears that if no adverse and unforeseen contingency hap- pens in our foreign relations and no unusual diversion be made of the funds set apart for the payment of the na- tional debt, we may look with confidence to its entire ex- tinguishment in the short period of four years. The ex- tent 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 Depart- ment 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 expendi- tures for the support of Government, will exceed consider- ably the amount in the Treasury for the year 1830. Thus, whilst we are diminishing the revenue by a reduction of the duties on tea, coflfee, and cocoa the appropriations for in- ternal improvements are increasing beyond the available means of the Treasury. And if to this calculation be added the amounts contained in bills which are pending be- fore 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 post- poned and the means now pledged to that object applied to those enumerated in these bills. Without a well-regu- lated system of internal improvement this exhausting mode of appropriation is not likely to be avoided, and the plain conse(|uence must be either a continuance of the national debt or a resort to additional taxes. Veto Messages 'J^ Although many of the States, with a laudable zeal and under the influence of an enlightened policy, are success- fully applying their separate efforts to works of this char- acter, the desire to enlist the aid of the General Govern- ment 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 cir- cumstances more auspicious to its successful prosecution than those which now exist. But great as this object un- doubtedly is, it is not the only one which demands the fostering care of the Government. The preservation and success of the republican principle rests with us. To ele- vate 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 Provi- dence 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 ulti- mately contribute to make us independent of foreign na- tions 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 76 Andrew Jackson 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 appro- priations of the public funds ? Will not the people demand, as they have a right to do, such a prudent system of ex- penditure as will pay the debts of the Union and authorize the reduction of every tax to as low a point as the wise ob- servance of the necessity to protect that portion of our man- ufactures and labor whose prosperity is essential to our national safety and independence will allow ? When the na- tional 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 ap- plied 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 na- tional 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 Gov- ernment 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 Veto Messages "jj for the acquisition and the other for the maintenance of Hberty — 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 those can not be benefited by a legisla- tion 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 pri- vate speculation, and thus, by ministering to personal am.- bition and self-aggrandizement, tend to sap the foundations of public virtue and taint the administration of the Govern- ment 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 in- volved the expediency of embarking in a system of internal improvement without a previous amendment of the Con- stitution explaining and defining the precise powers of the Federal Government over it. Assuming the right to ap- propriate money to aid in the construction of national works to be warranted by the cotemporaneous and con- tinued exposition of the Constitution, its insufiiciency 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 difliculty and embarrassment. It is in regard to such works and the acquisition of additional territory that the practice ob- tained its first footing. In most, if not all, other disputed yS Andrew Jackson questions of appropriation the construction of the Constitu- tion 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, pain- ful, reflection to me. It has bearings that are well calcu- lated to exert a powerful influence upon our hitherto pros- perous system of government, and which, on some accounts, may even excite despondency in the breast of an Ameri- can 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 pro- moted; none certainly are so degenerate as to desire their success at the cost of that sacred instrument with the pres- ervation 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 expecta- tions 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 consti- tutional 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 inter- preting 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 Veto Messages 79 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 exer- cise with reference to the sovereignty of the States, should be made. Without it nothing extensively useful can be ef- fected. The right to exercise as much jurisdiction as is nec- essary to preserve the works and to raise funds by the col- lection of tolls to keep them in repair can not be dispensed with. The Cumberland road should be an instructive ad- monition of the consequences of acting without this right. Year after year contests are witnessed, growing out of ef- forts 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 Con- gress 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 appropria- tion 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 Con- stitution from being undermined by the exercise of doubt- ful 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 8o Andrew Jackson 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 applica- tion of the conceded powers of the General Government to the advancement of the common weal presents 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 in- ternal 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 op- position to individuals as well as communities whose claims upon my friendship and gratitude are of the strongest char- acter, 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 consid- erations, 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 tern- Veto Messages 8i perate but steady support. There is no necessary connec- tion between it and the system of appropriations. On the contrary, it appears to me that the supposition of their de- pendence upon each other is calculated to excite the preju- dices 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 as- sent 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 ex- periment. 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 in- dicate 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 spe- cious, 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 de- liberation and judgment. Second Annual Message.* (December 6, 1830.) Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representa- tives: 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 won- derful success which attends the progress of our free in- stitutions. With a population unparalleled in its increase, and pos- sessing a character which combines the hardihood of enter- prise, 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 w'hich 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 ♦ This message should be read in connection with the history of the period — especially that of ( i ) American trade and commerce, with Great Britain (West Indies), Turkey; (2) French spoliations; (3) internal improvements, whether by the United States or by local (State) government; (4) distribution of the surplus; (5) election of the Presi- dent and Vice-President by direct, popular vote; (6) removal of Indian tribes to reservations (Choctaws, Chickasaws) ; (7) Georgia and other States, and Indian lands within their borders; (8) public revenue; (0) making the attorney-general a cabinet officer; (10) recharter of the U. S. Bank. 8s Second Annual Message 83 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 wit- nessed 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, ef- fected 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 na- tion 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 de- gree that salutary maxim of the illustrious Washington which enjoins an abstinence from all interference with the internal affairs of other nations. From a people exercis- ing in the most unlimited degree the right of self-govern- ment, and enjoying, as derived from this proud characteris- tic, 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, intelli- gence, 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. 84 Andrew Jackson 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 sub- ject of no less than six negotiations, in a manner which promises results highly favorable to the parties. The abstract right of Great Britain to monopohze 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 neces- sary to her colonies they must be received upon principles of just reciprocity, and, further, that it is making an in- vidious 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 par- ticular 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 en- gage, 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 pos- sessions 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 there- Second Annual Message 85 from. 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 ex- punge this article from the treaty, and subsequent attempts to arrange the terms of the trade either by treaty stipula- tions or concerted legislation having failed, it has been suc- cessively 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 re- striction 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 Brit- ish West India commodities to any other country than our own. On the part of the United States it has been con- tended 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 ques- tion, should not be subject to higher duties than the produc- tions of the mother country or of her other colonial posses- sions, and, third, that our vessels should be allowed to par- ticipate 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 stren- uously 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 86 Andrew Jackson negotiations preceding that of which the result is now an- nounced. This arrangement secures to the United States every advantage asked by them, and which the state of the nego- tiation 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 arrange- ment there can be no doubt. Independently of the more obvious advantages of an open and direct intercourse, its es- tablishment 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 con- certed evasions in the mode of making the transhipments 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 respec- tive citizens and subjects to efforts of direct, open, and honorable competition only, and preserve them from the in- fluence 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 communi- cations 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 exe- cution 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 Second Annual Message 87 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 in- duced by considerations as honorable to both parties as I trust the result will prove beneficial. This desirable result was, it will be seen, greatly pro- moted 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 re- quired assurance on the part of Great Britain forthwith opened to her vessels before the arrangement could be car- ried into effect on her part, pursuing in this act of prospec- tive 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 di- rectly 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 de- sire 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 dis- charge. Although the result is itself the best commentary on the services rendered to his country by our minister at the 88 Andrew Jackson Court of St. James, it would be doing violence to my feel- ings 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 re- sulting 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 sup- posed 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 lim- itation 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 in- dependent of the treaty of Adrianople, and the former de- rives much value, not only from the increased security which under any circumstances it would give to the right in (|uestion, 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 Bospho- Second Annual Message 89 rus is confined to nations having treaties with the Porte. The most friendly feehngs 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 char- acter. Respect for that Empire and confidence in its friend- ship 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 sus- ceptible, 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 afifairs 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 offi- cially 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 se- cured to our citizens as an indemnity for spoliations upon 90 Andrew Jackson their commerce in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 181 1. 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 adjust- ment that the terms are in conformity with the previously ascertained views of the claimants themselves, thus remov- ing all pretense for a future agitation of the subject in any form. The negotiations in regard to such points in our for- eign 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 re- sults. Our country, by the blessing of God, is not in a sit- uation to invite aggression, and it will be our fault if she ever becomes go. Sincerely desirous to cultivate the most liberal and friendly relations with all; ever ready to fulfill our engagements with scrupulous fidelity; limiting our de- mands 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 sin- cere 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 be- tween ourselves and that Republic, and, finally, the arbitra- ment 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 en- Second Annual Message 9^ tire satisfaction. Although the prospect of a favorable termination was occasionally dimmed by counter preten- sions to which the United States could not assent, he yet had strong hopes of being able to arrive at a satisfactory settle- ment 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 re- mained unsatisfied, and their incontrovertible justice make an earnest prosecution of them by this Government an ur- gent duty. The illegality of the seizures and confiscations out of which they have arisen is not disputed, and what- ever distinctions may have heretofore been set up in regard to the liability of the existing Government it is quite clear that such considerations can not now be interposed. The commercial intercourse between the two countries is susceptible of highly advantageous improvements, but the sense of this injury has had, and must continue to have, a very unfavorable influence upon them. From its satisfac- tory adjustment not only a firm and cordial friendship, but a progressive development of all their relations may be ex- pected. 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 cor- responding frankness and liberality. The subjects of difference with Spain have been brought to the view of that Government by our minister there with 92 Andrew Jackson much force and propriety, and the strongest assurances have been received of their early and favorable considera- tion. The steps which remained to place the matter in con- troversy between Great Britain and the United States fairly before the arbitrator have all been taken in the same lib- eral and friendly spirit which characterized those before an- nounced. 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 de- cidedly 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 re- gard 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 conficlence. 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 indispo- sition on her part to enter into it, have produced the delay. There was reason to fear in the course of the last sum- mer 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 af- forded. 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 Second Annual Message 93 the dividing line shall have removed all ground of contro- versy. 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. Re- newed 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 commit- ted on our commerce by the national vessels of Portugal. They have been made the subject of immediate remon- strance and reclamation. I am not yet possessed of suffi- cient 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 ap- propriations 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 Ca- nal 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 com- pelled 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 ap- proval. 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 94 Andrew Jackson 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 estabHshment of ports of entry and dehvery upon our navigable rivers the sphere of those expenditures received a corresponding en- largement. 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 un- der which they are incurred are well calculated to lead to such a result unless their application is subjected to the clos- est scrutiny. The local advantages arising from the dis- bursement 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 im- providence 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 un- necessary 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 Second Annual Message 95 cheapens imports, and all who consume them are alike in- terested in whatever produces this effect. If they con- sume, they ought, as they now do, to pay; otherwise they do not pay. The consumer in the most inland State de- rives 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 them- selves a corresponding operation. From a bill making direct appropriations for such objects I should not have withheld my assent. The one now re- turned 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 ap- proval 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 calcu- lated for full investigation than those under which it was passed. In speaking of direct appropriations I mean not to in- clude 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 im- propriety 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-citi- zens, 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 ulti- mately change the character of this Government by consoli- 96 Andrew Jackson dating 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 sub- ordinate 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 op- pression. 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 con- stituents 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 in- vestments, because experience in other matters teaches us — and we are not at liberty to disregard its admonitions — that unless an entire stop be put to them it will soon be impossible to prevent their accumulation until they are spread over the whole country and made to embrace many of the private and appropriate concerns of individuals. The power which the General Government would acquire within the several States by becoming the principal stock- holder in corporations, controlling every canal and each 60 or 100 miles of every important road, and giving a propor- tionate 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 de- ceptive, and in many cases conducive to improvidence in the administration of the national funds. Appropriations will he 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 Second Annual Message 97 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 animadver- sion of the people. The bill authorizing a subscription to the Louisville and Portland Canal affords a striking illus- tration of the difficulty of withholding additional appropria- tions for the same object when the first erroneous step has been taken by instituting a partnership between the Gov- ernment and private companies. It proposes a third sub- scription on the part of the United States, when each pre- ceding 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 suc- cessful, 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 improve- ments 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 in- timated 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 98 Andrew Jackson appropriations even of that character should, with the ex- ception 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, in- tended 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 neces- sarily in the discharge of my official duties be governed by the dictates of my own judgment, I have no desire to con- ceal 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 neces- sity attended w'ith 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 gen- eral 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 satis- Second Annual Message 99 fied that the best interests of our common country imperi- ously require that the course which I have recommended in this regard should be adopted, I have, upon the most ma- ture 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 occa- sion 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 conten- tion, but little danger is to be apprehended from a precedent by which that authority denies to itself the exercise of pow- ers 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 mis- taken 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 loo Andrew Jackson 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 coun- try, but to the safety of the federal system, I can not avoid repeating my earnest hope that all good citizens w^ho take a proper interest in the success and harmony of our admir- able political institutions, and who are incapable of desir- ing 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 appropria- tions 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 Gov- ernment, 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 in- trusted with the management of its affairs to neutralize their effects as far as practicable by making the beneficial Second Annual Message loi 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 expend- itures 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, to- gether with that of others projected and partially surveyed, amounts to more than $96,000,000. That such improvements, on account of particular cir- cumstances, 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 equi- table 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 de- scription 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 influ- ence in these matters in past times have been more fortu- nate than myself in their observation of the course of pub- lic 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 char- acter of our people to expect the severe condemnation of I02 Andrew Jackson 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 dis- proportionately 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 dis- tribution of the surplus funds, which may at any time re- main 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 de- liberate 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 oppres- sive 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 de- pendence on the part of the State governments upon the Federal power. Of those who object to the ratio of rep- resentation 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 stand- ard which would be more expedient and sufficiently equi- Second Annual Message 103 table. 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 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 pro- duced 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 im- provident 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 ac- quiescence 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 cor- rective 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. I04 Andrew Jackson I do not doubt that those Avho come after us will be as much alive as we are to the obligation upon all the trustees of political power to exempt those for whom they act from all unnecessary burthens, and as sensible of the great truth that the resources of the nation beyond those required for immediate and necessary purposes of Government can no- where be so well deposited as in the pockets of the people. It may 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 char- acter 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 ff the prosperity of the respective States in which they are \ made, by giving new facilities to trade, and thereby aug- menting the wealth and comfort of their inhabitants, con- stitute the surest mode of conferring permanent and sub- stantial advantages upon the whole. The strength as well as the true glory of the Confederacy is founded on the pros- perity 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, morever, 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 re- jected with great unanimity. That the plan under consideration would derive impor- tant advantages from its certainty, and that the moneys set a]);irl fur these purposes would be more judiciously applied Second Annual Message 105 and economically expended under the direction of the State legislatures, in which every part of each State is immedi- ately 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 representa- tion in Congress consequently very limited, it is natural to expect that the appropriations made by the Federal Gov- ernment would be more likely to be expended in the vicin- ity 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 rep- resentatives, 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 ob- jection — its probable effect upon the dignity and independ- ence of State governments — it appears to me only necessary to state the case as it is, and as it would be if the meas- ure proposed were adopted, to show that the operation is most likely to be the very reverse of that which the objec- tion 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 Treas- ury 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 effi- ciency or respectability of the State governments. But all these are matters for discussion and dispassionate consideration. That the desired adjustment would be at- tended with difficulty affords no reason why it should not be attempted. The effective operation of such motives io6 Andrew Jackson 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 pros- pered. 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 meas- ures 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 sac- rifices 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 modera- tion, justice, and brotherly kindness, will constitute a ce- ment 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. Second Annual Message 107 If the intelligence and influence of the country, instead of laboring to foment sectional prejudices, to be made sub- servient to party warfare, were in good faith applied to the eradication of causes of local discontent, by the improve- ment 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 di- rection ? 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 improve- ment 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 io8 Andrew Jackson of Congress and elsewhere that I should be wanting to my duty were I to withhold another expression of my deep so- licitude on the subject. Our system fortunately contem- plates a recurrence to first principles, differing in this re- spect 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 re- quire to be reminded of the duty they owe to themselves to remedy all essential defects in so vital a part of their sys- tem. While they are sensible that every evil attendant upon its operation is not necessarily indicative of a bad organi- zation, but may proceed from temporary causes, yet the ha- bitual 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 experi- ment 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 observa- •tion and scrutiny, and if they have passed from the stage of existence with an increased confidence in its general adapta- tion 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 rev- erence. A provision w'hich does not secure to the people a direct choice of their Chief Magistrate, but has a tendency to de- feat 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 ap- peared 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 Second Annual Message 109 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 be- comes when it occurs a source of embarrassment to the in- dividuals 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 in- terests, and to a corresponding multiplication of candidates for the Presidency, the tendency of the constitutional ref- erence to the House of Representatives is to devolve the election upon that body in almost every instance, and, what- ever choice may then be made among the candidates thus presented to them, to swell the influence of particular in- terests 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 Consti- tution to keep as separate as possible the action of the legis- lative and executive branches of the Government. To se- cure 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 abun- dantly demonstrates that every precaution in this respect is a valuable safeguard of liberty, and one which my reflec- tions 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 re- moving all intermediate agency in the choice of the Presi- dent, I recommended some restrictions upon the reeligi- bility of that officer and upon the tenure of offices gen- erally. The reason still exists, and I renew the recom- mendation with an increased confidence that its adoption will strengthen those checks by which the Constitu- tion designed to secure the independence of each depart- ment of the Government and promote the healthful and 1 1 o Andrew Jackson equitable administration of all the trusts which it has cre- ated. The agent most likely to contravene this design of the Constitution is the Chief Magistrate. In order, particu- larly, 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 pos- sessor will admit, I can not too earnestly invite your at- tention 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 con- summation. Two important tribes have accepted the pro- vision made for their removal at the last session of Con- gress, and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages. The consequence of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, to individual States, and to the In- dians themselves. The pecuniary advantages which it promises to the Government are the least of its recommen- dations. It puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the General and State Govern- ments 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 west- ern part of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power. Second Annual Message m 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 prog- ress of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection of the Govern- ment 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 exe- cution of the plan sanctioned by Congress at their last ses- sion 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 en- deavored to impress upon them my own solemn convictions of the duties and powers of the General Government in re- lation to the State authorities. For the justice of the laws passed by the States within the scope of their reserved pow- ers they are not responsible to this Government. As indi- viduals 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 deter- mined 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 subsist- 1 1 2 Andrew Jackson cnce 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 Ala- bama and Mississippi. Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country, and Philanthropy has been long busily em- ployed 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 fol- low 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 un- known 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 in- terests of the human race, is to be regretted. Philanthropy could not wish to see this continent restored to the con- dition 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 Re- public, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements w^hich art can de- vise 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 continua- tion 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 pro- pose to acquire the countries occupied by the red men of the South and West by a fair exchange, and, at the expense Second Annual Message 1 1 3 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 w^as 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 conditions ! If the offers made to the Indians were extended to them, they would be hailed with gratitude and joy. And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more afflicting to him to leave the graves of his fathers than it is to our brothers and children? Rightly considered, the policy of the General Government toward the red man is not only liberal, but generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of the States and mingle with their population. To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement. 114 Andrew Jackson In the consummation of a policy originating at an early period, and steadily pursued by every Administration with- in the present century — so just to the States and so gen- erous to the Indians — the Executive feels it has a right to expect the cooperation of Congress and of all good and dis- interested men. The States, moreover, have a right to de- mand 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 im- plied one of equal obligation. Why, in authorizing Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama to form constitutions and become separate States, did Con- gress 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 extin- guish 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 In- dians 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 rela- tions 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 Second Annual Message nS 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 op- pressed 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 pros- pective, with which they may be supposed to be threatened. Among the numerous causes of congratulation the condi- tion of our impost revenue deserves special mention, inas- much as it promises the means of extinguishing the public debt sooner than was anticipated, and furnishes a strong illustration of the practical effects of the present tariff upon our commercial interests. The object of the tariff is objected to by some as un- constitutional, and it is considered by almost all as defec- tive in many of its parts. The power to impose duties on imports originally be- longed 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 res- ervation 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 Gen- eral 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. ii6 Andrew Jackson In this conclusion I am confirmed as well by the opin- ions of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, who have each repeatedly recommended the exer- cise 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 insur- mountable. 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 con- flicting 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 quali- ties they do not possess and effects they can not produce. The effects of the present tariff are doubtless overrated, both in its evil and in its advantages. By one class of rea- soners 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 probabil- ity is that neither opinion approaches the truth, and that both are induced by that influence of interests and preju- dices to which I have referred. The decrease of prices ex- tends throughout the commercial world, embracing not only the raw material and the manufactured article, but provi- sions 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 Second Annual Message 117 of gold and silver, the general medium of exchange, has been greatly interrupted by civil convulsions in the coun- tries 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 ap- preciation 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 impor- tance alone ought to be protected. Of these the productions of our soil, our mines, and our workshops, essential to na- tional defense, occupy the first rank. Whatever other spe- cies 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 un- necessarily high ; it undertakes to protect interests too local and minute to justify a general exaction, and it also at- tempts 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, un- connected 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 de- serve protection would be saved from the prejudice excited against them when that protection forms part of a system iiB Andrew Jackson by which portions of the country feel or conceive them- selves to be oppressed. What is incalculably more impor- tant, 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 con- viction, but on combinations of small minorities en- tered 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 deli- cacy, on account of the extended interests it involves, as to require that it should be touched wath the utmost cau- tion, 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 satis- factorily to the great body of the people and for the gen- eral 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 ?' 3742.31 1, and the payment on account of public debt for the same period will have been $11,354,630, leaving a bal- Second Annual Message 119 ance in the Treasury on the ist of January, 1831, of $4,- 819,781. In connection with the condition of our finances, it af- fords me pleasure to remark that judicious and efficient ar- rangements have been made by the Treasury Department for securing the pecuniary responsibihty of the pubHc offi- cers 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 mer- chandise, 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 use- fully 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 re- port 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 af- fairs, all of which it will be perceived have been guarded with zealous attention and care. It is worthy of your con- sideration whether the armaments necessary for the fortifi- I20 Andrew Jackson cations 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 Cung-ress, 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 dur- ing 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 har- assing 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 ves- sels 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 w^ill 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 recom- mended to your serious attention. The report of the Postmaster-General in like manner ex- hibits 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 Depart- ment, considerable improvements within the present year Second Annual Message 121 have been made by an increase in the accommodation af- forded 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 pro- vided 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 cur- rent receipts for a few years past, necessarily incurred in the fulfillment of existing contracts and in the additional ex- penses between the periods of contracting to meet the de- mands created by the rapid growth and extension of our flourishing country, yet the satisfactory assurance is given that the future revenue of the Department will be sufficient to 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 occa- sion 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 re- sulted in the establishment of the office of Solicitor of the Treasury, and the earliest measures were taken to give ef- fect to the provisions of the law which authorized the ap- pointment 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 con- trary, I am convinced that the public interest would be greatly promoted by giving to that officer the general sup- erintendence 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 122 Andrew Jackson 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 De- partments to the Attorney-General are of frequent occur- rence, 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 ad- vantageously committed to the Attorney-General. But in- dependently of those considerations this office is now one of daily duty. It was originally organized and its compen- sation fixed with a view to occasional service, leaving to the incumbent time for the exercise of his profession in pri- vate 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 charg- ing him with the general superintendence of all its legal concerns. Under a strong conviction of the justness of these sugges- tions, I recommend it to Congress to make the necessary pro- visions 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 of- ficer 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 appro- bation 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 Dis- trict is certainly entitled to a much greater share of its con- sideration than it has yet received. There is want of Second Annual Message 123 uniformity in its laws, particularly in those of a penal char- acter, which increases the expense of their administration and subjects the people to all the inconveniences which re- sult from the operation of different codes in so small a ter- ritory. 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 author- izing 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 enjoy- ment of the principles of freedom, and there is none more important than that which cultivates a proper relation be- tween 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 op- eration, as one object of which I beg leave to recall your attention to the propriety of providing suitable compensa- tion 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 les- sen 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 dis- tinguishes 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 124 Andrew Jackson of the United States so modified in its principles and struc- ture 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 Depart- ment, based on the public and individual deposits, without power to make loans or purchase property, which shall re- mit the funds of the Government, and the expense of which may be paid, if thought advisable, by allowing its officers to sell bills of exchange to private individuals at a moderate premium. Not being a corporate body, having no stock- holders, debtors, or property, and but few officers, it would not be obnoxious to the constitutional objections which are urged against the present bank; and having no means to operate on the hopes, fears, or interests of large masses of the community, it would be shorn of the influence which makes that bank formidable. The States would be strength- ened 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 ca- pacities of such an institution might be enlarged by legisla- tive provisions. TJK'se suggestions are made not so much as a recommen- dation 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 apprehen- sions and discontent on the part of the States and the people. In conclusion, fellow-citizens, allow me to invoke in be- half of your deliberations that spirit of conciliation and dis- interestedness 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. Message on Indian Affairs.* (February 22, 183 1.) 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 : * This message is explicatory of the policy of the Government toward the Indian tribes. 125 26 Andrew Jackson It shall be lawful for the President to take such measures and to employ such military force as he may judge neces- sary to remove from lands belonging to or secured by treaty to any Indian tribe any citizen who shall make a settlement thereon. P)V 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 set- tlements 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 through- out 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 In- dian lands within it^ and these orders were executed. The reasons which dictated them shall be frankly communi- cated. 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 in- strument had not varied the powers of the Federal Govern- ment over Indian afifairs 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 178-2 the Journals of Congress will show that no Message on Indian Affairs 127 claim of such a character was countenanced by that body. In that year the appHcation 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 con- sideration 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 pro- hibit 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 rel- ative 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. 28 Andrew Jackson 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 Con- federation 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 gen- erally 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 w^hich 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 pol- Message on Indian Affairs 129 icy 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 au- thority of the State to enforce an obedience of its laws. Others were in a similar condition. The necessities, there- fore, and not the acknowledged principles, of the Govern- ment 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, deso- lating 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 indispens- able 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 inter- vention of a tribunal higher than that of the treaty-making power. To infer from the assent of the Government to this devia- tion from the practice which had before governed its in- tercourse 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 130 Andrew Jackson the Indians. The Indians thus situated can not be regarded in any other hght than as members of a foreign government or of that of the State within whose chartered Hmits they re- side. 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 pos- sessing 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, 18 14, 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 wiiich 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 Message on Indian Affairs 13^ within our limits, but when have these hostihties been pre- ceded 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 constitu- tional power of Congress? It must have been so, I appre- hend, 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 Govern- ment, 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 Govern- ment, they have been felt within all the States of the South without being understood to afifect their rights or prevent the exercise of their jurisdiction, whenever they were in a situation to assume and enforce it. Georgia, though mate- rially 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 sov- ereignty 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 ques- 132 Andrew Jackson tion the same respect which is conceded to the other States of the Union. Toward this race of people I entertain the kindest feel- ings, 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 author- ity can not fail to render their condition still more helpless and miserable. Such an effort ought, therefore, to be dis- countenanced by all who sincerely sympathize in the for- tunes 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 De- partment, and a letter from the governor of Georgia. Third Annual Message.* (December 6, 183 1.) Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representor lives: 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 stgite of the na- tion to its representatives. Generally these communications have been of the most gratifying nature, testifying an ad- vance 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 a few periods have they been more abundantly or exten- sively bestowed than at the present ; rarely, if ever, have we had greater reason to congratulate each other on the con- tinued 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 penetrat- * This message treats of (i) manufactures; (2) foreign aflFairs; (3) French spohation claims; (4) trade with the Orient; (5) South Ameri- can affairs; (6) Georgia and the Cherokee Indians; (7) public revenue; (8) government of the District of Columbia ; (9) the U. S. Bank. 133 134 Andrew Jackson ing 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 in- creased and whose routes are every year extended, the com- munication of public intelligence and private business is rendered frequent and safe ; the intercourse between distant cities, which it formerly required weeks to accomplish, is now effected in a few days ; and in the construction of rail- roads and the application of steam power we have a reason- able prospect that the extreme parts of our country will be so much approximated and those most isolated by the ob- stacles of nature rendered so accessible as to remove an ap- prehension sometimes entertained that the great extent of the Union would endanger its permanent existence. If from the satisfactory view of our agriculture, manu- factures, 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 ship- yards with new constructions, encourages all the arts and branches of industry connected with them, crowds the wharves of our cities with vessels, and covers the most dis- tant seas with our canvas. Let us be grateful for these blessings to the beneficent Being who has conferred them, and who suffers us to in- dulge a reasonable hope of their continuance and extension, while we neglect not the means by which they may be pre- served. 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 pres- Third Annual Message i35 ervation 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 prosper- ous 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 popula- tion 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 na- tions 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 inter- course 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, Hol- land, 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 in- fluence 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 ar- rangements 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 re- 36 Andrew Jackson lating 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 Septem- ber 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 be- tween 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 con- vention 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 differ- ence which have arisen in the settlement of the boundary line between the American and British dominions, as de- scribed 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 de- cision upon such points of difference ;" and the King of the Third Annual Message 137 Netherlands having by the late President and His Britannic Majesty been designated as such friendly sovereign, it be- came 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 contro- versy. On the loth 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 confi- dence that its wisdom will adopt such measures as will se- cure an amicable settlement of the controversy without in- fringing any constitutional right of the States immediately interested. It affords me satisfaction to inform you that suggestions made by my direction to the charge d'affaires of His Bri- tannic 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 un- friendly 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 Brit- 138 Andrew Jackson aiii 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 inter- course of the most amicable nature. In my message at the opening of the last session of Con- gress 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 Sen- ate for its approbation, and which, containing stipulations that require legislative acts, must have the concurrence of both Houses before it can be carried into eiifect. By it the French Government engage to pay a sum wdiich, 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 ac- cepted because the only alternatives were a rigorous ex- action 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 in- sisted on ; or a settlement by a mixed commission, to which the French negotiators were very averse, and which ex- perience 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 I'rench 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 Third Annual Message i39 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 associa- tions, ought to cherish the most friendly relations; an en- couragement 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 Govern- ment will exert all the powers with which they have in- vested it in support of their just claims upon foreign na- tions ; 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 hav- ing 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 Amer- ica was annoyed and frequently interrupted by her public and private armed ships. They captured many of our ves- sels 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 140 Andrew Jackson ^vas 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 independ- ence of the States of America never having been acknowl- edged 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 circum- stances, 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 Cath- olic 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 dis- patched a special messenger with instructions to our minis- ter 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 be- fore 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 argu- ment against us. The desires of the merchants, who were the principal sufferers, have therefore been acceded to, and Third Annual Message H^ a mission has been instituted for the special purpose of ob- taining for them a reparation already too long delayed. This measure having been resolved on, it was put in exe- cution without waiting for the meeting of Congress, be- cause 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 confi- dence 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 ad- journment 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 as- surances, 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 in- flicted and the losses sustained. In the performance there has been some, perhaps unavoidable delay; but I have the 142 Andrew Jackson fullest confidence that my earnest desire that this business may at once be closed, which our minister has been in- structed 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 oc- cupied by the war in which it was engaged, we have been assured that nothing could have been effected by his pres- ence. 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 Henseatic towns and Prus- sia and others now in negotiation will open that vast coun- try to the enterprising spirit of our merchants on the north Third Annual Message HS — a country abounding in all the materials for a mutually beneficial commerce, filled with enlightened and industrious inhabitants, holding an important place in the politics of Europe, and to which we owe so many valuable citizens. The ratification of the treaty with the Porte was sent to be exchanged by the gentleman appointed our charge d'affaires to that Court. Some difficulties occurred on his arrival, but at the date of his last official dispatch he supposed they had been obviated and that there was every prospect of the ex- change 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 con- ceding 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 mer- chantmen engaged in the pepper trade at a port in Sumatra, and the piratical perpetrators belonging to tribes in such a slate of society that the usual course of proceedings between civilized nations could not be pursued, I forthwith dis- patched a frigate with orders to require immediate satis- faction 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 communi- cation 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 un- decided at the date of our last dispatches. The unhappy civil commotions that have prevailed there were undoubt- edly the cause of the delay, but as the Government is now 144 Andrew Jackson said to be tranquillized we may hope soon to receive the ratification of the treaty and an arrangement for the de- marcation 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 pre- vailed in their internal affairs had been peaceably adjusted. Our treaty with this Republic continues to be faithfully ob- served, and promises a great and beneficial commerce be- tween the two countries — a commerce of the greatest im- portance if the magnificent project of a ship canal through the dominions of that State from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific 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 Co- lombia 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 il- legal seizures, and renewed assurances are given that the treaty between the two countries shall be faithfully ob- served. Chili and Peru seem to be still threatened with civil com- motions, and until they shall be settled disorders may nat- urally 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 abdica- Third Annual Message i45 tion 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 v^hich all foreigners seem to have par- ticipated. Instructions have been given to our minister there to press for indemnity due for losses occasioned by these ir- regularities, 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 dis- patch 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 com- plete 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 leg- islation as may bear on that important subject, while it affords to the country at large a source of high gratification 146 Andrew Jackson in the contemplation of our political and commercial con- nection with the rest of the world. At peace with all; having subjects of future difference with few, and those sus- ceptible of easy adjustment; extending our commerce grad- ually 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 ad- vantage to other nations and lay ourselves open to no in- jury. It may not be improper to add that to preserve this state of things and give confidence to the world in the in- tegrity 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 en- join on our merchants and navigators the strictest obedi- ence 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 Third Annual Message ^47 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 Govern- ment. 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 appro- priation 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 an- nounce that the Chickasaws and Choctaws had accepted the generous offer of the Government and agreed to re- move 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 civ- ilized 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 regis- tration of Cherokee Indians for emigration has been re- sumed, 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 remain- ing 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 Gov- ernment. During the present year the attention of the Government has been particularly directed to those tribes in the power- ful and growing State of Ohio, where considerable tracts of the finest lands were still occupied by the aboriginal pro- prietors. Treaties, either absolute or conditional, have been made extinguishing the whole Indian title to the res- ervations 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 148 Andrew Jackson is confidently believed that perseverance for a few years in the present policy of the Government will extinguish the In- dian title to all lands lying within the States composing our Federal Union, and remove beyond their limits every In- dian 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 In- dians. 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 con- tracts, 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 in- duce 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, embar- rassed by their internal regulations. Now subject to no control but the superintending agency of the General Gov- ernment, 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 ot trade, producing a cor- responding 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, congratu- Third Annual Message i49 late you upon their prosperous condition. The revenue re- ceived 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 enlarge- ment of the sinking fund except the two years following im- mediately thereafter. The amount which will have been ap- plied to the public debt from the 4th of March, 1829, to the ist 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 pres- ent vear; 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 re- demption or purchase, within the four years of my Admin- istration. We shall then exhibit the rare example of a great nation, abounding in all the means of happiness and secur- ity, 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 im- port duties which has been recommended in my former mes- sages. A modification of the tariff which shall produce a re- duction 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 ob- jects which demand the consideration of the present Con- gress. Justice to the interests of the merchant as well as 150 Andrew Jackson the manufacturer requires that material reductions in the import duties be prospective; and unless the present Con- gress 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 con- ciliation 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 un- fortunate 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 Sec- retary of the Treasury, and I take pleasure in recommend- ing 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 com- munity. While deliberating on this subject I would also recommend to your consideration the propriety of so modi- fying 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 per- son 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 discharg- ing his debt. Third Annual Message ^5^ The reports from the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments and from the Postmaster-General, which ac- company this message, present satisfactory views of the op- erations 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 opera- tion 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 Fed- eral 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 accord- ance 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 disquali- fication 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 expen- diture 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 con- dition 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 nec- essary that this people should be deprived of all the privi- leges of self-government. Independently of the difficulty of inducing the representatives of distant States to turn their 152 Andrew Jackson 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 Maryland, but such as existed in those States at the time of the cession to the United States. As Congress will not form a new code, and as the people of the District can not make one for them- selves, 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 recom- mend the extension to them of every political right which their interests require and which may be compatible with the Constitution. The extension of the judiciary system of the United States is deemed to be one of the duties of the Government. One-fourth of the States in the Union do not participate in the benefits of a circuit court. To the States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, ad- mitted 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 mat- ter not of concession, but of right. I trust that Congress will not adjourn leaving this anomaly in our system. luitertaining the opinions heretofore expressed in rela- Third Annual Message 153 tion to the Bank of the United States as at present organ- ized, I felt it my duty in my former messages frankly to dis- close 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 sup- erintends all governments to infuse into your deliberations at this important crisis of our history a spirit of mutual for- bearance and conciliation. In that spirit was our Union formed, and in that spirit must it be preserved. Veto Message — Bank of the United States.* (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. * The history of the Bank of the United States is largely the history of the United States during the first third of the nineteenth century. Sumner gives the best brief (though somewhat hostile) account of the Bank in his Andrew Jackson, Ch. XL, but the reader must turn to the friends of the Bank for their version of its affairs, and to the general historians of the period. (See Bibliography.) Jackson opposed the recharter — as stated in this veto message — because (i) the Bank was a monopoly, therefore harmful to the country, whatever bonus paid the Government; (2) one-fifth of its stockholders were foreigners; (3) banks could pay to the Bank of the United States in branch bank drafts, a privilege denied to individuals; (4) the States could tax the stock of the Bank owned by their citizens and thus drive the stock out of the country; (5) the few stockholders left in the country could control the Bank; (6) the Bank's charter was unconstitutional; (7) the Bank's business was exempt from taxation; (8) the Bank was said to be mismanaged; (9) a better fiscal agent could be devised; (10) the Bank favored the rich and discriminated against the poor. Senator White, of Tennessee, remarks Benton, "exalted the merit of the message above all the acts of General Jackson's life, and claimed for it a more enduring fame and deeper gratitude than for the greatest of his victories; . . . and such, in my opinion, will be the judgment of posterity, if furnished with the material to appreciate the circum- stances under which he acted when signing the message which was to decide the question of supremacy between the Bank and the Gov- ernment." Thirty Years' View, I., p. 265. 1 54 Veto Message ^55 A bank of the United States is in many respects con- venient for the Government and useful to the people. En- tertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the be- lief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the Constitution, sub- versive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to the lib- erties 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 re- gret 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 con- sequence, 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 origi- nal 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 do- nation 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 156 Andrew Jackson eight millions of the stock of this bank are held by foreign- ers. 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 opu- lent citizens the act secures no equivalent whatever. They arc 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 com- mand in market at least $42,000,000, subject to the pay- ment of the present bonus. The present value of the mo- nopoly, therefore, is $17,000,000, and this the act proposes to sell for three millions, payable in fifteen annual install- ments 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 errone- ous idea that the present stockholders have a prescriptive Veto Message ^57 right not only to the favor but to the bounty of Govern- ment. It appears that more than a fourth part of the stock is held by foreigners and the residue is held by a few hun- dred of our own citizens, chiefly of the richest class. For their benefit does this act exclude the whole American peo- ple 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 ag- gregate 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 insti- tution. 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 bear- ings 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 recharter- ing the present bank that the calling in its loans will pro- duce great embarrassment and distress. The time allowed to close its concerns is ample, and if it has been well man- aged 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 obvi- ously abused. But will there ever be a time when this rea- 15'^ Andrew Jackson son will be less powerful? To acknowledge its force is to admit that the bank ought to be perpetual, and as a conse- quence the present stockholders and those inheriting their rights as successors be established a privileged order, clothed both with great political power and enjoying immense pe- cuniary advantages from their connection with the Govern- ment. 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 qual- ification of the right of the bank to hold real estate, the lim- itation of its power to establish branches, and the power re- served 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 alle- viation. 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 ten- dered in liquidation or payment of any balance or balances due to said corporation or to such office of discount and de- posit 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 citi- zens. 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 mer- chant, mechanic, or other private citizen be in like circum- stances 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 Veto Message 159 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 mea- sure 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 re- port to the Secretary of the Treasury the names of all stock- holders 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 stockhold- ers 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, surren- ders, 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 i per cent, either on the capital or on the shares, and that may be as- sumed as the amount which all citizen or resident stock- holders 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 i 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 i6o Andrew Jackson operations and present condition of the Bank of the United States. By documents submitted to Congress at the present ses- sion it appears that on the ist of January, 1832, of the twenty-eight milHons 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 South- western 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 183 1, 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 Mid- dle 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 cur- rency, 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 prof- itable 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 con- dition of every Western State. The tendency of the plan of taxation which this act proposes will be to place the whole Veto Message i6i 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 lo 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 w^U 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 Amer- ican 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 stock- holders. From all voice in these elections the foreign stock- holders are excluded by the charter. In proportion, there- fore, 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 rep- resented in elections. It is constantly passing out of the country, and this act will accelerate its departure. The en- tire 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 them- selves from year to year, and without responsibility or con- trol manage the whole concerns of the bank during the ex- istence 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 irre- sponsible 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 1 62 Andrew Jackson 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 them- selves, 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 inter- pose to curtail its powers or prevent a renewal of its privi- leges, 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 cur- rency, 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 Ameri- can 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 Govern- ment 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 al- most to riots. To a bank exclusively of American stock- holders, possessing the powers and privileges granted by this act, subscriptions for $200,000,000 could be readily ob- Veto Message 163 tained. 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 con- stitutionality 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 re- garded 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 181 1, decided against it. One Congress, in 18 1 5, decided against a bank; another, in 18 16, decided in its favor. Prior to the present Congress, therefore, the precedents drawn from that source were equal. If we re- sort 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 i. There is nothing in prece- dent, 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 Exec- utive, 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 under- stood 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 be- fore them for judicial decision. The opinion of the judges has no more authority over Congress than the opinion of 164 Andrew Jackson Congress has over the judges, and on that point the Presi- dent is independent of both. The authority of the Supreme Court must not, therefore, be permitted to control the Con- gress or the Executive when acting in their legislative ca- pacities, 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 com- patible 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 ac- cordance with that provision of the Constitution which de- clares 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 " need- ful," " 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 Consti- tution;" " 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 de- gree of its necessity would be to pass the line which circum- scribes 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 Legis- lature to determine whether this or that particular power, Veto Message 165 privilege, or exemption is " necessary and proper " to en- able 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, there- fore, it is the exclusive province of Congress and the Pres- ident to decide whether the particular features of this act are necessary and proper in order to enable the bank to per- form conveniently and efficiently the public duties assigned to it as a fiscal agent, and therefore constitutional, or unnec- cessary 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 neces- sary 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 corpora- tion 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 in- creasing the capital thereof, and may also establish any other bank or banks in said District with capitals not ex- ceeding in the whole 6,000,000 if they shall deem it ex- pedient." 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 opin- ion two or more banks had been "necessary" to facilitate the execution of the powers delegated to them in the Constitu- tion. 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 1 66 Andrew Jackson another, and by all Congresses alike, and alike at every ses- sion. 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 at- tempt 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 whatso- ever " over the District of Columbia. Its constitutional power, therefore, to establish banks in the District of Co- lumbia and increase their capital at will is unlimited and uncontrollable by any other power than that which gave au- thority to the Constitution. Yet this act declares that Con- gress shall not increase the capital of existing banks, nor create other banks with capitals exceeding in the w^hole $6,- 000,000. The Constitution declares that Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation over this Dis- trict " in all cases zvhatsoever," and this act declares they shall not. Which is the supreme law of the land? This provision can not be " necessary " or " proper " or consti- tutional 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 monop- olies. It declares that " Congress shall have power to pro- mote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to Veto Message 167 their respective writings and discoveries." Out of this ex- press 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 con- sistent 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 priv- ileges 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 unconstitu- tional. 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 op- erations, 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 inde- pendence. The several States reserved the power at the formation of the Constitution to regulate and control titles and trans- fers 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 privi- 1 68 Andrew Jackson lege granted to aliens is not " necessary " to enable the banlc to perform its public duties, nor in any sense " proper," be- cause it is vitally subversive of the rights of the States. The Government of the United States have no constitu- tional 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 Govern- ment 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 re- quired of it by the Government. The capital of the present bank is $35,000,000 — at least twenty-four more than ex- perience has proved to be necessary to enable a bank to per- form 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 ofif, 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 " tieccssary " or " proper " to authorize the bank to locate branches where it pleases to perform the l)ubhc service, without consulting the Government, and con- trary 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 Govern- Veto Message 169 ment. By the same principle a branch bank can not consti- tutionally 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 Govern- ment and for other than public purposes, is not " neces- sary " to the due execution of the powers delegated to Con- gress. 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 mil- lions proposed by this act are not exacted for the privilege of giving " the necessary facilities for transferring the pub- lic funds from place to place within the United States or the Territories thereof, and for distributing the same in pay- ment of the public creditors without charging commission or claiming allowance on account of the difference of ex- change," as required by the act of incorporation, but for something more beneficial to the stockholders. The origi- nal act declares that it (the bonus) is granted " in consider- ation 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 priv- ileges continued by this act to the said corporation for fif- teen 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 exe- cuting the constitutional power " to coin money and regu- late 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 I/O Andrew Jackson 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 trans- ferred to a corporation. If the bank be established for that purpose, with a charter unalterable without its consent, Con- gress have parted with their power for a term of years, dur- ing 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. Bank- ing, 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 w^ould 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 re- lation to every other object within their jurisdiction, whether persons, property, business, or professions, it was secured Veto Message 171 in as ample a manner as it was before possessed. All per- sons, 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 taxa- tion. Every private business, whether carried on by an offi- cer 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 right- fully 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 per- form 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 establish- ing a bank at Philadelphia, employed a private banker to keep and transmit their funds, would it have deprived Penn- sylvania 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 ex- empted 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 1/2 Andrew Jackson 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 tax- ation. From this and like sources, from the persons, prop- erty, and business that are found residing, located, or car- ried 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 independ- ence. 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 cer- tain 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 pro- ceed in our legislation with the utmost caution. Though not directly, our own powers and the rights of the States Veto Message i73 may be indirectly legislated away in the use of means to execute substantive powers. We may not enact that Con- gress 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 bank- ing 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 extin- guished 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 enter- tain a doubt. Had the Executive been called upon to fur- nish 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 Consti- tution and sound policy. A general discussion will now take place, eliciting new light and settling important princi- ples; and a new Congress, elected in the midst of such dis- cussion, and furnishing an equal representation of the peo- ple according to the last census, will bear to the Capitol the verdict of public opinion, and, I doubt not, bring this impor- tant 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 stock- holders 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 un- 174 Andrew Jackson willingly 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 prin- cipal 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 mem- bers of the House of Representatives — to recommend a suspension of further action upon the bill and a prosecu- tion of the inquiry. As the charter had yet four years to run, and as a renewal now w^as not necessary to the success- ful 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 withdraw'n 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 Govern- ment 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 constitutional- ity is maintained on that ground. Neither upon the pro- priety 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 neces- saiy 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 unneces- sary, 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. Dis- tinctions in society will always exist under every just gov- ernment. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can Veto Message ^75 !iot be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoy- ment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior in- dustry, 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 in- justice 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 it 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 unnec- essary 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 sev- eral States. In thus attempting to make our General Gov- ernment strong we make it weak. Its true strength con- sists in leaving individuals and States as much as possible to y^ 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 diffi- culties 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 prin- ciples as are embodied in this act. Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal bene- fits, 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 sec- tion, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations 176 Andrew Jackson of our Union. It is time to pause in our career to review our principles, and if possible revive that devoted patriot- ism 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 monopo- lies 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 re- form 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 sur- round 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. Fourth Annual Message.* (December 4, 1832.) Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representa- tives: It gives me pleasure to congratulate you upon your return to the seat of Government for the purpose of dis- charging 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 hap- piness 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 * This message may most profitably be read in connection with the general history of the country at the time (see Bibliography). It re- views, (1) international affairs; (2) state of trade and commerce; (3) affairs with South America; (4) public finance; (5) extinction of the public debt; (6) domestic manufactures; (7) the tariff; (8) the Bank of the United States; (9) disposition of the public funds; (10) internal improvement; (11) Indian affairs; (12) the Federal judiciary; (13) powers of the Federal Government. 177 178 Andrew Jackson hold up to your view at the opening of your last session. The same friendly professions, the same desire to partici- pate 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 pro- ducing 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 posi- tion 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 succes- sors — 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 rela- tions have subsisted through the late revolutions of its Gov- ernment, and, from the events of the last, promise a per- Fourth Annual Message i79 manent duration. It has made an approximation in some of its political institutions to our own, and raised a mon- arch to the throne who preserves, it is said, a friendly rec- ollection 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 re- call of our minister, who had commenced them with some hopes of success. My great object was the settlement of questions wdiich, though now dormant, might hereafter be revived under circumstances that would endanger the good understanding which it is the interest of both parties to pre- serve inviolate, cemented as it is by a community of lan- guage, manners, and social habits, and by the high obliga- tions we owe to our British ancestors for many of our most valuable institutions and for that system of represen- tative 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 sov- ereign 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 i8o Andrew Jackson 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 obhgatory 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 acknowl- edged. 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, ad- ditional 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 con- fidently 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 arch- ives of Florida, which had been carried to The Havannah, has produced a royal order for their delivery, and that meas- ures 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 condi- tional reduction obtained by the minister of the United States at Madrid of the duties on tonnage levied on Ameri- can shipping in the ports of Spain. The condition of that reduction having been complied with on our part by the Fourth Annual Message i^i 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 pay- ment 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 Den- mark have been punctually made, and the amount is ready for distribution among the claimants as soon as the board, now sitting, shall have performed their functions. I regret that by the last advices from our charge d'affaires at Naples that Government had still delayed the satisfaction due to our citizens, but at that date the effect of the last instructions was not known. Dispatches from thence are hourly expected, and the result will be communicated to you without delay. With the rest of Europe our relations, political and com- mercial, 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 ex- pected 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 1 82 Andrew Jackson 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 continu- ance of friendship and the increase of a profitable com- mercial intercourse with Mexico, with Central America, and the States of the South I could accompany it with the as- surance that they all are blessed wnth that internal tran- quillity and foreign peace which their heroic devotion to the cause of their independence merits. In Mexico a sanguin- ary struggle is now carried on, which has caused some em- barrassment 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 in- tercourse so necessary to nations whose territories are con- tiguous. 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 pro- vided 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 \vhom 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, con- sider themselves as separately bound by the treaty which Fourth Annual Message 183 was made in their federal capacity. The minister accredited to the federation continues in that character near the Gov- ernment 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 min- ister 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 re- quired. 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 sub- ject of our affairs with Buenos Ayres, because the negotia- tion 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 es- tablished, 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 con- vention 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 ex- port, 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 184 Andrew Jackson contests carried on between it and Peru have made me de- fer 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 efifect 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 disturb- ances 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 ofiices when required, will be afforded to promote the domestic tranquillity and foreign peace of all nations with whom we have any inter- course. 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 suc- cess 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 Fourth Annual Message 185 appropriations made by Congress, but to provide for the payment of all the public debt which is at present redeem- able. 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 re- duced 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 re- demption 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 ist of January, 1834, and $4,735,296 not until the 2d of January, 1835. The com- missioners 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 1 86 Andrew Jackson the payment of the public debt. That this has been ac- comphshed without stinting the expenditures for all other proper objects will be seen by referring to the liberal pro- vision made during the same period for the support and in- crease of our means of maritime and military defense, for internal improvements of a national character, for the re- moval and preservation of the Indians, and, lastly, for the gallant veterans of the Revolution. The final removal of this great burthen from our re- sources 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 tc the consideration of Congress in the hope that the combined wisdom of the representatives of the peo- ple 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 in- terests of the community. Long and patient reflection has strengthened the opin- ions I have heretofore expressed to Congress on this sub- ject, 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 protec- tion afforded by existing laws to any branches of the na- tional industry should not exceed what may be necessary to counteract the regulations of foreign nations and to secure Fourth Annual Message 187 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 in- terest is greater than is indispensably requisite for these ob- jects, 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 do- mestic 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 jeal- ousy 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 legiti- mate purpose in the administration of the Government. Is it not enough that the high duties have been paid as long as 1 88 Andrew Jackson the money arising from them could be applied to the com- mon 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 manu- facture 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 por- tion 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 un- constitutional and unjust. Doubtless these effects are in a great degree exaggerated, and may be ascribed to a mistaken view of the considera- tions 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 de- termination 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 obstruc- tions 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 belicYed Fourth Annual Message 189 that the laws themselves are fully adequate to the suppres- sion 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 with- drawing from the States all other influence than that of its universal beneficence in preserving peace, affording an uni- form currency, maintaining the inviolability of contracts, diffusing intelligence, and discharging unfelt its other sup- erintending 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 in- stitutions. The whole principle on which they are based is deemed by many unconstitutional, and 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 particu- larly explained by the Secretary of the Treasury, a surren- der 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 re- garded 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 190 Andrew Jackson of their serious investigation. An inquiry into the transac- tions 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 im- peaching 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 Car- olina, and Georgia granted their vacant soil for the uses for which they had been asked. As the lands may now be con- sidered as relieved from this pledge, the object for which they were ceded having been accomplished, it is in the dis- cretion 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 Fourth Annual Message 191 may speedily assume an importance not now generally an- ticipated. 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 coun- teract them. Of the various schemes which have been hitherto pro- posed in regard to the disposal of the public lands, none has yet received the entire approbation of the National Legis- lature. 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 sug- gested 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 ex- pense 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 sub- stituted which will more perfectly accomplish these impor- tant 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, be- sides 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 192 Andrew Jackson 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 conse- quences 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 free- hold, 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 im- provement 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 ascer- taining 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 satis- factory. 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 hold- ing 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 propert}-. It thus favors combinations to squander the treasure of the country upon a multitude of Fourth Annual Message i93 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 rec- ollect 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 Govern- ment. 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 discon- tents 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 ex- tension of the power to make internal improvements beyond the limit I have suggested, even if it be deemed constitu- tional, is subversive of the best interests of our country, I earnestly recommend to Congress to refrain from its exer- cise 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 Gov- ernment 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 economi- cal political machines, the State governments, it will un- questionably be safer and better for the people than to add 194 Andrew Jackson to the splendor, the patronage, and the power of the Gen- eral 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 opera- tions of the War Department I refer you to the accompany- ing report of the Secretary of War. The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians neces- sarily led to the interposition of the Government. A por- tion 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 unpro- voked 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 satis- factory. Our fellow-citizens upon the frontiers were ready, as they always are, in the tender of their services in the hour of dan- ger. But a more efficient organization of our militia sys- tem 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 reg- ular force. History offers too many lessons of the fatal re- sult 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 un- necessary 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 Re- public. If in asserting rights or in repelling wrongs war Fourth Annual Message i95 should come upon us, our regular force should be increased to an extent proportioned to the emergency, and our pres- ent 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 elec- tors 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 arrange- ment. Little useful knowledge is gained by the musters and drills as now established, and the whole subject evi- dently 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 es- sential 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 pol- icy 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 per- 196 Andrew Jackson manent residence furnishes the only hope of their ultimate prosperity. With that portion of the Cherokees, however, Hving within the State of Georgia it has been found imprajcticable 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 lib- erality of the propositions, and very little respecting the ex- pediency of their immediate acceptance. They were, how- ever, 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 aug- mentation of the force in commission. In the gradual im- provement of its pecuniary concerns, in the constant prog- ress 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 Fourth Annual Message 197 efficiency. Various new suggestions, contained in the an- nexed report, as well as others heretofore submitted to Con- gress, 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-Gen- eral 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 se- cure 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 im- pressed 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 coun- try, I earnestly recommend them to your consideration at this time. I have heretofore pointed out defects in the law for pun- ishing official frauds, especially within the District of Co- lumbia. It has been found almost impossible to bring no- torious 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 im- perfect. Of the nine Western and Southwestern States three only enjoy the benefits of a circuit court, Ohio, Ken- tucky, and Tennessee are embraced in the general system, but Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have only district courts. If the existing system 198 Andrew Jackson 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 in- vited 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 start- ing in our career, and after a salutary experience about to fix upon a permanent basis the policy best calculated to pro- mote the happiness of the people and facilitate their prog- ress 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 insti- tutions are founded. That this Government may be so administered as to pre- serve 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 econ- omy as the characteristics of the reform which is yet to be Fourth Annual Message 199 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 oppres- sion, the free enterprise of our citizens, aided by the State sovereignties, will work out improvements and ameliora- tions 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 govern- ment so simple and economical as scarcely to be felt. That the Almighty Ruler of the Universe may so direct our de- liberations and overrule our acts as to make us instrumen- tal in securing a result so dear to mankind is my most ear- nest and sincere prayer. Message on the South Carolina Ordinance and Proclamation of Governor Hamilton.* (January i6, 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 en- danger 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 patri- otism of the people, I stated that should the emergency arise rendering the execution of the existing laws impracti- cable 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, pre- sent this emergency. Since the date of my last annual message I have had offi- ♦ This message developed more in detail the ideas on the general subject expressed in the President's annual message, December 4, 1832. "He knew," remarks Benton, "that there was a deep feeling of discontent in the South, founded in a conviction that the Federal Government was working disadvantageo«usly to that part of the Union in the vital points of the levy, and the expenditure of the Fed- eral revenue; and that it was upon this feeling that politicians operated to produce disaffection to the Union." Thirty Years' View, I., p. 308. This message should be read in connection with the letters given in the early part of this volume; the Ordinance of Nullification passed by the South Carolina legislature, November 24, 1832, reprinted by Benton (Id., pp. 297-298), and the Proclamation of the President of December lo, 1832; also, with the general history of the times. (See Bibliography.) Proclamation 201 cially transmitted to me by the governor of South Carohna, which I now communicate to Congress, a copy of the ordi- nance passed by the convention which assembled at Cohim- bia, in the State of South Carohna, in November last, de- claring 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 ist 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 hesi- tate 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 in- dulged 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 loth 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 leg- islature 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 sys- tem, 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 pro- duced any relaxation in the measures of opposition adopted 202 Andrew Jackson by the State of South CaroHna ; 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 con- vention or the legislature, and it will be perceived that the interval before the ist of February is too short to admit of the preliminary steps necessary for that purpose. It ap- pears, moreover, that the State authorities are actively or- ganizing 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 warn- ing," and in the city of Charleston, within a collection dis- trict, and a port of entry, a rendezvous has been opened for the purpose of enlisting men for the magazine and muni- cipal 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 dis- tinguished from menaces of unlawful resistance by irreg- ular bodies of people, who, acting under temporary delu- sion, 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 com- mitted when it is officially authorized and the means of en- forcing it fully provided. Under these circumstances there can be no doubt that it is the determination of the authorities of South Carolina Proclamation 203 fully to carry into effect their ordinance and laws after the I St of February. It therefore becomes my duty to bring the subject to the serious consideration of Congress, in or- der 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 re- move 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 atten- tion 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 particu- larly 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 No- vember to the collectors in that State, pointing out their respective duties and enjoining upon each a firm and vigi- lant 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 proceed- ing 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 204 Andrew Jackson 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 ap- prehension of the excesses to which the excitement pre- vailing 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 com- plied with by the people of the State, must effectually ren- der 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 com- modities, 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 im- ports," 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 obli- gations 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 au- thorities, 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 Proclamation 205 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 ist 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 legis- lature 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 ef- fect thereto, or the validity of the aforesaid acts of Con- gress 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 pur- pose; 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 other- wise provide and direct, enter on the execution of his office or be in any respect competent to discharge the duties there- 2o6 Andrew Jackson of 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 ordi- nance 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 v^^ill well and truly obey, exe- cute, and enforce this ordinance and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed to carry the same into opera- tion 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 deter- mined 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 employ- ment 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 ves- sels 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 them- selves 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 sep- arate 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 ;' Proclamation 207 determination to render inevitable a resort to those meas- ures of self-defense which the paramount duty of the Fed- eral 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 Caro- lina;" that " the die has been at last cast, and South Caro- lina 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 author- ized 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 im- posed 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 2o8 Andrew Jackson of pains and penalties compel obedience and punish dis- obedience to your own laws, are points too obvious to re- quire any discussion. In one word, you must survey the whole ground. You must look to and provide for all pos- sible 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, dis- regarding 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 in- fantry, riflemen, cavalry, field and heavy artillery, and that they be " armed and equipped from the public arsenals com- pletely for the field, and that appropriations be made for supplying all deficiencies in our munitions of war." In ad- dition to thesa 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 or- ganized and arranged in regiments and brigades, the offi- cers 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 ordi- nance, 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 pub- lished in the newspapers of the State. The acts to which it is deemed proper to invite the par- ticular attention of Congress are : Proclamation 209 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 pre- text 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 re- moving 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 judi- cial proceedings to enforce the payment of duties, and any- one 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 2IO Andrew Jackson 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 enforce- ment 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 mil- itary 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 volun- teers 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 i6 and 60, and for the purchase of arms, ordnance, and ammunition. It also de- clares that the power conferred on the governor shall be ap- plicable 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 legis- lature in pursuance thereof, and directs the time and manner of taking it by the officers of the State — civil, judiciary, and military. Proclamation 2 1 1 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 com- mander 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 incom- petent 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 com- monly 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 18 16, 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 man- ufactures 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 Caro- lina 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 212 Andrew Jackson 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 vio- lation 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 lav^^ of South Carolina are abso- lute, indefinite, and without limitation. They neither pre- scribe 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 collec- tion 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 announc- ing " the fixed and final determination of the State in rela- tion 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 in- terested in manufactures." In the opinion of the conven- tion, an equitable plan would be that " the whole list of pro- tected articles should be imported free of all duty, and that the revenue derived from import duties should be raised ex- clusively 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 Proclamation 2 1 3 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 sub- stantially 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 con- vention 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 im- portant 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 inten- tions 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 excite- ment 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 per- ceived 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 / 214 Andrew Jackson 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 ordi- nance 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 senti- ments 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 unpro- tected," 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, prop- erly understood, that no more revenue shall be raised than is necessary for the constitutional purposes of the Govern- ment, 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 Proclamation 2 1 5 suspended until the ist 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 sys- tem of long standing and affecting great interests in the community, is to be rescinded and abolished. If this be re- quired, 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 be- comes imperiously the duty of the Executive of the United States, acting with a proper regard to all the great inter- ests committed to his care, to treat those acts as absolute and unlimited. They are so as far as his agency is con- cerned. He can not either embrace or lead to the perform- ance of the conditions. He has already discharged the only part in his power by the recommendation in his annual mes- sage. The rest is with Congress and the people, and until they have acted his duty will require him to look to the ex- isting 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, un- avoidably, 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 iportion 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 revo- lutionary 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 Fed- eral 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 them- selves at will and without the consent of the other States from their most solemn obligations, and hazard the liberties 2i6 Andrew Jackson and happiness of the milHons composing this Union, can not be acknowledged. Such authority is beheved 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 Consti- tution 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, w'hen constitutionally pronounced, it becomes the duty no less of the public au- thorities 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 obliga- tions 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 tiltima 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 correla- Proclamation 2 1 7 tive right in the remainder to decide whether that dissolu- tion can be permitted consistently with the general happi- ness. In this view it is a right dependent upon the power to enforce it. Such a right, though it may be admitted to pre- exist and can not be wholly surrendered, is necessarily sub- jected to limitations in all free governments, and in com- pacts 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 acknowl- edged to create a sacred obligation ; and in compacts of civil government, involving the liberties and happiness of mill- ions 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 in- cident 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, re- spectively; 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 prin- ciple 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 21 8 Andrew Jackson of the Union. Nothing less than causes which would justify revolutionary remedy can absolve the people from this obli- gation, 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 fed- eral 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 depart- ment thereof. It will be freely conceded that by the prin- ciples 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 diifferent 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 com- pact by the measures of the Government can affect the obli- gations 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 prohib- Proclamation 2 1 9 ited 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 dis- obedience 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 su- preme 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 conse- quently supreme, until these remedies shall have been ef- fectually 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 govern- ment of unlimited powers," as has been sometimes pre- tended, 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 at- tempt 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 aris- ing under the Constitution and laws of the United States, but has endeavored to frustrate their proper action on her 220 Andrew Jackson citizens by drawing the cognizance of cases under the rev- enue 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 au- thority altered the import of that instrument and given im- mediate 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 intermedi- ate 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 au- thorities of the Union in this emergency, it can not be over- looked 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. Proclamation 2 2 1 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 hap- piness and renown, has not been changed. Taxation and representation, the great principle of the Am.erican Revolu- tion, 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 cor- responding 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 magis- trate 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 quar- ter 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 mul- tiplied blessings with which a kind Providence had favored them. 2 22 Andrew Jackson Independently of these considerations, it will not escape observation that South Carolina still claims to be a com- ponent part of the Union, to participate in the national councils and to share in the public benefits without con- tributing to the public burdens, thus asserting the dangerous anomaly of continuing in an association without acknowl- edging 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 execu- tion 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 Con- gress 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 neces- sary 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 Proclamation 223 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 regula- tions made by the act of 1799, and also the fines, penalties, and forfeitures for their enforcement, are particularly de- tailed 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 ist 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 popu- lar excitement in the State and the effect of the ordinance declaring the execution of the revenue laws unlawful a suf- ficient 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 pre- caution, and though the authority to give that direction is not questioned, it is nevertheless apparent that a similar pre- caution can not be observed in regard to the ports of George- town and Beaufort, each of which under the present laws 224 Andrew Jackson remains a port of entry and exposed to the obstructions meditated in that quarter. In considering the best means of avoiding or of prevent- ing 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 de- prive them of that custody is the process of replevin and that of capias in zvitJicrnam, 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 Govern- ment might have been content to look to them for maintain- ing 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 seiz- ures 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 Proclamation 225 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 tortu- ous; and that not until the seizure be finally judged wrong- ful 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 de- nied 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 al- ready adverted to, the judges whereof are not merely for- bidden 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 inquir- ing into the validity of the law and the right of the matter, become merely ministerial instruments in aid of the con- certed 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. 226 Andrew Jackson Against such a force as the sheriff may, and which by the replevin law of South CaroHna 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 resist- ance 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 ef- fected peaceably and by the ordinary means. It may prop- erly 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 Proclamation 227 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 equip- ment, 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 alto- gether 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 exe- cute 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 2 28 Andrew Jackson 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 im- practicable even through the ordinary judicial tribunals of the United States. There would certainly be fewer difficul- ties, and less opportunity of actual collision between the officers of the United States and of the State, and the col- lection 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 when- ever by any unlawful combination or obstruction in any State or in any port it should become impracticable faith- fully to collect the duties, the President of the United States should be authorized to alter and abolish such of the dis- tricts and ports of entry as should be necessary, and to es- tablish 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 de- tain all vessels and cargoes until the duties imposed by law should be properly secured or paid in cash, deducting in- terest; 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 at- tempt otherwise to take the property by a force too great to be overcome by the officers of the customs it should be law- ful to protect the possession of the officers by the employ- ment of the land and naval forces and militia, under pro- Proclamation 229 visions 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 obe- dience to the laws of the Union. It may therefore be desirable to revive, with some modifi- cations better adapted to the occasion, the sixth section of the act of the 3d March, 181 5, which expired on the 4th March, 181 7, by the limitation of that of 27th April, 18 16, 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 au- thorized 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 indi- viduals 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 author- ize 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 230 Andrew Jackson called for by the existing emergency than of the introduc- tion 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 be- lieved that no more will be necessary than a few modifica- tions 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 con- ferring authority upon the President to give it operation during the session of Congress, and without the ceremony of a proclamatioH, 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 mil- itary 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 main- tenance of well-regulated liberty. While a forbearing spirit may, and I trust will, be exer- cised toward the errors of our brethren in a particular quar- ter, 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 de- volved upon us the sacred obligation of jMeserving it by the Proclamation 231 same virtues which conducted them through the eventful scenes of the Revolution and ultimately crowned their strug- gle with the noblest model of civil institutions. They be- queathed 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 mo- ment 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 enlight- ened 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 deter- mined 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 meas- ures 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. Anti-Nullification Proclamation.* (December lo, 1832.) By Andrew Jackson, President of the United States. Whereas a convention assembled in the State of South Carohna 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 com- modities, and now having actual operation and effect within the United States, and more especially " two acts for the * This most famous of President Jackson's state papers was written by his Secretary of State, Edward Livingston, of Louisiana. Parton records {Life of Jackson, III., p. 466) that Jackson did not like the constitutional doctrines of the Proclamation, and Chief Justice Taney, who was Jackson's Attorney-General at the time, recorded nearly thirty years afterward that had he been in Washington when the Proclamation was issued he would have objected to some of its doctrines. {Tyler's Taney, 188.) The Proclamation is Madisonian rather than Jacksonian in temper. Jackson was not suspected of holding such constitutional doctrines as it expresses. Its great and ruling principle is forcibly expressed in the passage: "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, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsist- ent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed." This famous state paper was one of the three "sources of reference" which Lincoln called for and with which "he locked himself up in a room upstairs over a store across the street from the state house, and there, cut off from all communication and intrusion, he prepared the (first inaugural) address." Herndon's Life of Lincoln, III., p. 478. The Proclamation has become a great Jacksonian tradition, and sets Jackson apart among presidents of the United States. It should be read in its large meaning and application as interpreted by events. Jackson's personal attitude toward Nullification is revealed in his letters, here printed for the first time, in the first part of this volume. »3* Anti-Nullification Proclamation 233 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 in- tent 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 per- mitted or allowed for that purpose, and that any person attempting to take such appeal shall be punished as for con- tempt of court ; and, finally, the said ordinance declares that the people of South Carolina will maintain the said ordi- nance 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 tribu- nals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continu- ance 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 inde- pendent states may of right do ; and Whereas the said ordinance prescribes to the people of 2 34 Andrew Jackson 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 Constitu- tion, 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 de- struction, to maintain inviolate this state of national honor and prosperity, and to justify the confidence my fellow-citi- zens 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 here- after 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 Caro- lina and the nation of the views I entertain of this impor- tant question, as well as a distinct enunciation of the course which my sense of duty will require me to pursue. Anti-Nullification Proclamation 235 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 in- strument 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 un- controlled right to decide what laws deserve that character, is to give the power of resisting all laws ; for as by the the- ory there is no appeal, the reasons alleged by the State, good or bad, must prevail. If it should be said that public opin- ion 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 un- constitutional 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 illustra- tion 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 gov- ernment 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 236 Andrew Jackson 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, for- tunately, 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 dis- grace, instead of victory and honor, if the States who sup- posed 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 absurd- ity, 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 Anti-Nullification Proclamation 237 common interest with each other. Leagues were formed for common defense, and before the declaration of inde- pendence 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 Con- federation 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 con- ducting some certain domestic concerns and all foreign re- lations. 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 de- cisions. Congress made requisitions, but they were not complied with. The Government could not operate on in- dividuals. 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 ob- jects 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 238 Andrew Jackson wisdom of our country as to substitute for that Confedera- tion a form of government dependent for its existence on the local interest, the party spirit, of a State, or of a pre- vailing faction in a State ? Every man of plain, unsophisti- cated understanding who hears the question will give such an answer as will preserve the Union. Metaphysical sublety, in pursuit of an impracticable theory, could alone have de- vised 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 exist- ence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destruc- tive 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 in- tended 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 un- authorized 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 virtu- ally acknowledges that the law in question was passed under a power expressly given by the Constitution to lay and col- lect imposts; but its constitutionality is drawn in question from the motives of those who passed it. However ap- parent this purpose may be in the present case, nothing can be more dangerous than to admit the position that an un- constitutional 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 ascer- Anti-Nullification Proclamation 239 tained? 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 im- portance to the Constitution of our country ? Was our de- votion 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 statesman, 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 240 Andrew Jackson is free from this radical fault. Its language directly con- tradicts the imputation ; its spirit, its evident intent, contra- dicts 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 al- ways 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 exer- cise it by implication. Search the debates in all their con- ventions, examine the speeches of the most zealous opposers of Federal authority, look at the amendments that were pro- posed ; 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 in- terest, 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 Anti-Nullification Proclamation 241 must exist somewhere. The Constitution has given it to the representatives of all the people, checked by the represent- atives of the States and by the Executive power. The South Carolina construction gives it to the legislature or the con- vention 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 lan- guage not to be misunderstood. But if you were assembled in general convention, wdiich 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 de- liberations 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 ac- knowledge 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 pro- ceeds 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 pro- ceeds, but surely can not be urged against the laws levying the duty. These are the allegations contained in the ordinance. Ex- amine them seriously, my fellow-citizens; judge for your- selves. I appeal to you to determine whether they are so clear, so convincing, as to leave no doubt of their cor- rectness; and even if you should come to this conclusion, how far they justify the reckless, destructive course which 242 Andrew Jackson 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 absurd- ity 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 ex- cises ; 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 Con- stitution 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 not- withstanding; " in vain have the people of the several States solemnly sanctioned these provisions, made them their para- mount law, and individually sworn to support them when- ever they were called on to execute any office. Vain pro- visions! 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 knowl- edge 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 suf- fers 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 Anti-Nullification Proclamation 243 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 im- proper 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 impos- sible, 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 de- clared. This is the plain meaning of the ordinance in rela- tion to laws which it abrogates for alleged unconstitution- ality. 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 pro- vision 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 ap- peal. 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 244 Andrew Jackson 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 sov- ereign 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 repre- sented. 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 Presi- dent 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 repre- Anti-Nullification Proclamati sentatives of the United States, not repre^^^p^es of the particular State from which they come.^^H^are paid by the United States, not by the State; i^^Be they account- able to it for any act done in the per^^Hmce of their legis- lative functions; and however the^^H^in practice, as it is their duty to do, consult and ptj^^r the interests of their particular constituents when theijrcome 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 char- acter is the same. It is a Government in which all the people are represented, which operates directly on the people in- dividually, 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 de- ceive 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 246 Andrew Jackson compact that they can not. A compact is an agreement or binding obHgation. It may by its terms have a sanction or penalty for its breach, or it may not. If it contains no sanc- tion, it may be broken with no other consequence than moral guilt; if it have a sanction, then the breach incurs the desig- nated 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 con- trary, 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 ofifense, 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 of- fender, unless that right is modified, restrained, or resumed by the constitutional act. In our system, although it is modi- fied 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 exer- tions 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 Anti-Nullification Proclamation 247 secession. It rests, as we have seen, on the alleged undi- vided sovereignty of the States and on their having formed in this sovereign capacity a compact which is called the Con- stitution, 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 antici- pated. The States severally have not retained their entire sov- ereignty. 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 sov- ereign 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 Govern- ment 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 sov- ereign 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 sover- eignty, and sovereignty must reside with the power to pun- ish 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. Un- der 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 248 Andrew Jackson 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 form- ing 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 de- fined 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 exon- erate 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 titles 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 con- trary to engagements solemnly made. Everyone must see that the other States, in self-defense, must oppose it at all hazards. Anti-Nullification Proclamation 249 These are the alternatives that are presented by the con- vention — a repeal of all the acts for raising revenue, leaving the Government without the means of support, or an ac- quiescence 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 sub- mission of their grievances to a convention of all the States, which, he says, they " sincerely and anxiously seek and de- sire." Yet this obvious and constitutional mode of obtain- ing 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 Con- gress, 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 func- tionary 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 con- 250 Andrew Jackson sider 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 op- position 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 dis- organizing ordinance of the convention ; to exhort those who have refused to support it to persevere in their determina- tion 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 ad- monish you, as the First Magistrate of our common coun- try, 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 pater- nal 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 Anti-Nullification Proclamation 25 ^ led on to the brink of insurrection and treason on which you stand. First, a diminution of the value of your staple com- modity, 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 exag- gerated 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 disunioft 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 re- sisting all laws that were palpably unconstitutional and in- tolerably oppressive. It was added that the right to nullify a law rested on the same principle, but that it was a peace- able remedy. This character which was given to it made you receive with too much confidence the assertions that were made of the unconstitutionality of the law and its op- pressive effects. Mark, my fellow-citizens, that by the ad- mission of your leaders the unconstitutionality must be palpable, or it will not justify either resistance or nullifica- tion. What is the meaning of the word palpable in the sense in which it is here used ? That which is apparent to every- 252 Andrew Jackson one; 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 ap- proved and advocated the principle of protective duties an- swer 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 Revolu- tionary fathers, nor are you an oppressed people, contend- ing, as they repeat to you, against worse than colonial vas- salage. 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 mo- ment when you were madly urged on to the unfortunate course you have begim a change in public opinion had com- menced. 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 con- dition of the country imperiously demanded such a modifi- cation 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 tlie position you have now assumed and forward to the consequences it will produce. Something more is necessary. Contemplate the condition of that coun- Anti-Nullification Proclamation 253 try 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 cithcn, pro- tecting 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 two 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 exe- cuted. I have no discretionary power on the subject; my 254 Andrew Jackson duty is emphatically pronounced in the Constitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their execu- tion deceived you ; they could not have been deceived them- selves. 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 dread- ful 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 slav- ish doctrines, and they will point to our discord with the triumph of malignant joy. It is yet in your power to dis- appoint them. There is yet time to show that the descend- ants 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 sup- port 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 con- vention ; 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 Anti-Nullification Proclamation 255 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 Con- stitution 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 re- turn, and the stain upon its national character will be trans- ferred and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who caused the disorder. Fellow-citizens of the United States, the threat of unhal- lowed 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 continu- ance 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 enuncia- tion, 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 construc- tion 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 256 Andrew Jackson to us as one people shall be perpetuated. No one can doubt that the unanimity with which that decision will be ex- pressed will be such as to inspire new confidence in repub- lican 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 des- tinies to which we may reasonably aspire. In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. [seal.] Done at the city of Washington, this loth day of December, A. D. 1832, and of the Independ- ence of the United States the fifty-seventh. Andrew Jackson. By the President: Edw. Livingston, Secretary of State. Second Inaugural Address.* (March 4, 1833.) Fellow-Citizens: The will of the American people, ex- pressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for another term. For their approbation of my public con- duct through a period which has not been without its diffi- culties, and for this renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms adequate to the expression of my gratitude. It shall be displayed to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to ad- minister the Government as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness. So many events have occurred within the last four years which have necessarily called forth — sometimes under cir- cumstances the most delicate and painful — my views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued by the Gen- eral Government that I need on this occasion but allude to a few leading considerations connected with some of them. The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon after * "Jackson held," remarks his biographer, Sumner (Andrew Jack- son, p. 277), "that his reelection was a triumphant vindication of him in all the points in which he had been engaged in controversy with anybody, and a kind of charter to him, as representative, or rather tribune, of the people, to go on and govern on his own judgment over and against everybody, including Congress." And again: "Jackson's modes of action in his second term were those of personal government. He proceeded avowedly on his own initiative and responsibility, to experiment, as Napoleon did, with great public institutions and in- terests." {Id., p. 279.) The Second Inaugural Address has a strong personal tone: confident, aggressive, almost imperious: qualities characteristic of Jackson and his entire administration. aS7 258 Andrew Jackson the formation of our present Constitution, and very gen- erally pursued by successive Administrations, has been crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our character among the nations of the earth. To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from none has been during my Administration its governing maxim, and so happy have been its results that we are not only at peace with all the world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of minor importance, remaining unadjusted. In the domestic policy of this Government there are two objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and their representatives, and which have been and will con- tinue to be the subjects of my increasing solicitude. They are the preservation of the rights of the several States and the integrity of the Union. These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within its appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will constitutionally expressed. To this end it becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic submis- sion to the laws constitutionally enacted, and thereby pro- mote and strengthen a proper confidence in those institu- tions of the several States and of the United States which the people themselves have ordained for their own govern- ment. My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State govern- ments or the annihilation of their control over the local con- cerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the General Government en- croaches upon the rights of the States, in the same propor- tion docs it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation. Solemnly im- pressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional powers in ar- resting measures which may directly or indirectl)^ encroach Second Inaugural Address 259 upon the rights of the States or tend to consoHdate all po- litical power in the General Government. But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable, importance is the union of these States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preser- vation by a liberal support of the General Government in the exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely ad- monished to " accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and pros- perity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts." Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved ; without union they never can be main- tained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller num- ber, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; com- munication between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of their victo- rious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges. The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist. The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the atti- tude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country 26o Andrew Jackson from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate. Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, I shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just powers of the Constitution and to trans- mit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union, At the same time, it will be my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising by the General Government those powers only that are clearly delegated; to encourage simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the Government; to raise no more money from the people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will best promote the interests of all classes of the com- munity and of all portions of the Union. Constantly bear- ing in mind that in entering into society " individuals must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire so to discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit of liberal con- cession and compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow- citizens to those partial sacrifices which they must unavoid- ably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable Government and Union to the confidence and affections of the American people. Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people. Removal of the Public Deposits.* (Read to the Cabinet September i8, 1833.) Having carefully and anxiously considered all the facts and arguments which have been submitted to him relative to a removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the United States, the President deems it his duty to communi- cate in this manner to his Cabinet the final conclusions of his own mind and the reasons on which they are founded, in order to put them in durable form and to prevent mis- conceptions. The President's convictions of the dangerous tendencies of the Bank of the United States, since signally illustrated by its own acts, were so overpowering when he entered on the duties of Chief Magistrate that he felt it his duty, not- * This paper was prepared by Roger B. Taney, Jackson's Attorney- General {Tyler's Taney, p. 204), afterwards appointed by him Chief Justice of the United States. No other official act of Jackson's produced greater commotion and alarm. Friends of the Bank declared that the order would ruin the country. Read in connection with the history of the times, this order is seen to be a state paper of vast importance. With the execution of this order some writers begin the changes which culminated in the "Panic of 1837." Benton records that on reading this "paper" in the Globe, "I felt an emotion of the moral sublime at beholding such an instance of civic heroism. Here was a president, not bred up in the political pro- fession, taking a great step upon his own responsibility from which many of his advisers shrunk ; and magnanimously, in the act itself, re- leasing all from the peril that he encountered, and boldly taking the whole upon himself. I say peril ; for if the Bank should conquer, there was an end to the political prospects of every public man concurring in the removal. He beheved the act to be necessary; and believing that, he did the act — leaving the consequences to God and the country. I felt Miat a great blow had been struck, and that a great contest must come on, which could only be crowned with success by acting up to the spirit with which it had commenced." Thirty Years' View, I., p. 378. 261 2^2 Andrew Jackson withstanding the objections of the friends by whom he was surrounded, to avail himself of the first occasion to call the attention of Congress and the people to the question of its recharter. The opinions expressed in his annual message of December, 1829, were reiterated in those of December, 1830 and 1 83 1, and in that of 1830 he threw out for con- sideration some suggestions in relation to a substitute. At the session of 1831-32 an act was passed by a majority of both Houses of Congress rechartering the present bank, upon which the President felt it his duty to put his con- stitutional veto. In his message returning that act he re- peated and enlarged upon the principles and views briefly asserted in his annual message, declaring the bank to be, in his opinion, both inexpedient and unconstitutional, and an- nouncing to his countrymen very unequivocally his firm de- termination never to sanction by his approval the continu- ance of that institution or the establishment of any other upon similar principles. There are strong reasons for believing that the motive of the bank in asking for a recharter at that session of Con- gress was to make it a leading question in the election of a President of the United States the ensuing November, and all steps deemed necessary were taken to procure from the people a reversal of the President's decision. Although the charter was approaching its termination, and the bank was aware that it was the intention of the Government to use the public deposit as fast as it has ac- crued in the payment of the public debt, yet did it extend its loans from January, 1831, to May, 1832, from $42,402,- 304.24 to $70,428,070.72 being an increase of $28,025,- 766.48 in sixteen months. It is confidently believed that the leading object of this immense extension of its loans was to bring as large a portion of the people as possible under its power and influence, and it has been disclosed that some of the largest sums were granted on very unusual terms to the conductors of the public press. In some of these cases the motive was made manifest by the nominal or insufficient security taken for the loans, by the large Removal of the Public Deposits 263 amounts discounted, by the extraordinary time allowed for payment, and especially by the subsequent conduct of those receiving the accommodations. Having taken these preliminary steps to obtain control over public opinion, the bank came into Congress and asked a new charter. The object avowed by many of the advo- cates of the bank was to put the President to the test, that the country might know his final determination relative to the bank prior to the ensuing election. Many documents and articles were printed and circulated at the expense of the bank to bring the people to a favorable decision upon its pretensions. Those whom the bank appears to have made its debtors for the special occasion were warned of the ruin which awaited them should the President be sustained, and attempts were made to alarm the whole people by painting the depression in the price of property and produce and the general loss, inconvenience, and distress which it was rep- resented would immediately follow the reelection of the President in opposition to the bank. Can it now be said that the question of a recharter of the bank was not decided at the election which ensued? Had the veto been equivocal, or had it not covered the whole ground; if it had merely taken exceptions to the details of the bill or to the time of its passage; if it had not met the whole ground of constitutionality and expediency, then there might have been some plausibility for the allegation that the question was not decided by the people. It was to compel the President to take his stand that the question was brought forward at that particular time. He met the chal- lenge, willingly took the position into which his adversaries sought to force him, and frankly declared his unalterable opposition to the bank as being both unconstitutional and inexpedient. On that ground the case was argued to the people; and now that the people have sustained the Presi- dent, notwithstanding the array of influence and power which was brought to bear upon him, it is too late, he con- fidently thinks, to say that the question has not been de- cided. Whatever may be the opinions of others, the Pres- 264 Andrew Jackson ident considers his reelection as a decision of the people against the bank. In the concluding paragraph of his veto message he said: 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. He was sustained by a just people, and he desires to evince his gratitude by carrying into effect their decision so far as it depends upon him. Of all the substitutes for the present bank which have been suggested, none seems to have united any considerable portion of the public in its favor. Most of them are liable to the same constitutional objections for which the present bank has been condemned, and perhaps to all there are strong objections on the score of expediency. In ridding the country of an irresponsible power which has attempted to control the Government, care must be taken not to unite the same power with the executive branch. To give a Pres- ident the control over the currency and the power over in- dividuals now possessed by the Bank of the United States, even with the material difference that he is responsible to the people, would be as objectionable and as dangerous as to leave it as it is. Neither one nor the other is necessary, and therefore ought not to be resorted to. On the whole, the President considers it as conclusively settled that the charter of the Bank of the United States will not be renewed, and he has no reasonable ground to believe that any substitute will be established. Being bound to reg- ulate his course by the laws as they exist, and not to an- ticipate the interference of the legislative power for the purpose of framing new systems, it is proper for him season- ably to consider the means by which the services rendered by the Bank of the United States are to be performed after its charter shall expire. The existing laws declare that — Removal of the Public Deposits 265 The deposits of the money of the United States in places in which the said bank and branches thereof may be estab- Hshed shall be made in said bank or branches thereof unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall at any time otherwise order and direct, in which case the Secretary of the Treas- ury shall immediately lay before Congress, if in session, and, if not, immediately after the commencement of the next session, the reasons of such order or direction. The power of the Secretary of the Treasury over the deposits is unqualified. The provision that he shall report his reasons to Congress is no limitation. Had it not been inserted he would have been responsible to Congress had he made a removal for any other than good reasons, and his responsibility now ceases upon the rendition of sufficient ones to Congress. The only object of the provision is to make his reasons accessible to Congress and enable that body the more readily to judge of their soundness and pur- ity, and thereupon to make such further provision by law as the legislative power may think proper in relation to the deposit of the public money. Those reasons may be very diversified. It was asserted by the Secretary of the Treas- ury, without contradiction, as early as 1817, that he had power " to control the proceedings " of the Bank of the United States at any moment " by changing the deposits to the State banks " should it pursue an illiberal course toward those institutions ; that " the Secretary of the Treasury will always be disposed to support the credit of the State banks, and will invariably direct transfers from the deposits of the public money in aid of their legitimate exertions to main- tain their credit;" and he asserted a right to employ the State banks when the Bank of the United States should re- fuse to receive on deposit the notes of such State banks as the public interest required should be received in payment of the public dues. In several instances he did transfer the public deposits to State banks in the immediate vicinity of branches, for reasons connected only with the safety of those banks, the public convenience, and the interests of the Treasury. 266 Andrew Jackson If it was lawful for Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury at that time, to act on these principles, it will be difficult to discover any sound reason against the application of similar principles in still stronger cases. And it is a matter of surprise that a power which in the infancy of the bank was freely asserted as one of the ordinary and familiar duties of the Secretary of the Treasury should now be gravely questioned, and attempts made to excite and alarm the public mind as if some new and unheard-of power was about to be usurped by the executive branch of the Govern- ment. It is but a little more than two and a half years to the termination of the charter of the present bank. It is con- sidered as the decision of the country that it shall then cease to exist, and no man, the President believes, has reasonable ground for expectation that any other Bank of the United States will be created by Congress. To the Treasury Department is intrusted the safe-keep- ing and faithful application of the public moneys. A plan of collection different from the present must therefore be introduced and put in complete operation before the disso- lution of the present bank. When shall it be commenced? Shall no step be taken in this essential concern until the charter expires and the Treasury finds itself without an agent, its accounts in confusion, with no depository for its funds, and the whole business of the Government deranged, or shall it be delayed until six months, or a year, or two years before the expiration of the charter? It is obvious that any new system which may be substituted in the place of the Bank of the United States could not be suddenly car- ried into effect on the termination of its existence without serious inconvenience to the Government and the people. Its vast amount of notes are then to be redeemed and with- drawn from circulation and its immense debt collected. These operations must be gradual, otherwise much suffering and distress will be brought upon the community. It ought to be not a work of months only, but of years, and the President thinks it can not, with due attention to Removal of the Public Deposits 267 the interests of the people, be longer postponed. It is safer to begin it too soon than to delay it too long. It is for the wisdom of Congress to decide upon the best substitute to be adopted in the place of the Bank of the United States, and the President would have felt himself relieved from a heavy and painful responsibility if in the charter to the bank Congress had reserved to itself the power of directing at its pleasure the public money to be elsewhere deposited, and had not devolved that power ex- clusively on one of the Executive Departments. It is use- less now to inquire why this high and important power was surrendered by those who are peculiarly and appropriately the guardians of the public money. Perhaps it was an oversight. But as the President presumes that the charter to the bank is to be considered as a contract on the part of the Government, it is not now in the power of Congress to disregard its stipulations ; and by the terms of that contract the public money is to be deposited in the bank during the continuance of its charter unless the Secretary of the Treas- ury shall otherwise direct. Unless, therefore, the Secretary of the Treasury first acts. Congress have no power over the subject, for they can not add a new clause to the charter or strike one out of it without the consent of the bank, and consequently the public money must remain in that institu- tion to the last hour of its existence unless the Secretary of the Treasury shall remove it at an earlier day. The respon- sibility is thus thrown upon the executive branch of the Government of deciding how long before the expiration of the charter the public interest will require the deposits to be placed elsewhere ; and although according to the frame and principle of our Government this decision would seem more properly to belong to the legislative power, yet as the law has imposed it upon the executive department the duty ought to be faithfully and firmly met, and the decision made and executed upon the best lights that can be obtained and the best judgment that can be formed. It would ill become the executive branch of the Government to shrink from any duty which the law imposes on it, to fix upon others the 268 Andrew Jackson responsibility which justly belongs to itself. And while the President anxiously wishes to abstain from the exercise of doubtful powers and to avoid all interference with the rights and duties of others, he must yet with unshaken con- stancy discharge his own obligations, and can not allow himself to turn aside in order to avoid any responsibility which the high trust with which he has been honored re- quires him to encounter; and it being the duty of one of the Executive Departments to decide in the first instance, subject to the future action of the legislative power, whether the public deposits shall remain in the Bank of the United States until the end of its existence or be withdrawn some time before, the President has felt himself bound to examine the question carefully and deliberately in order to make up his judgment on the subject, and in his opinion the near approach of the termination of the charter and the public considerations heretofore mentioned are of them- selves amply sufficient to justify the removal of the deposits, without reference to the conduct of the bank or their safety in its keeping. But in the conduct of the bank may be found other rea- sons, very imperative in their character, and which require prompt action. Developments have been made from time to time of its faithlessness as a public agent, its misapplication of public funds, its interference in elections, its efforts by the machinery of committees to deprive the Government di- rectors of a full knowledge of its concerns, and, above all, its flagrant misconduct as recently and unexpectedly dis- closed in placing all the funds of the bank, including the money of the Government, at the disposition of the presi- dent of the bank as means of operating upon public opinion and procuring a new charter, without requiring him to ren- der a voucher for their disbursement. A brief recapitula- tion of the facts which justify these charges, and which have come to the knowledge of the public and the President, will, he thinks, remove every reasonable doubt as to the course which it is now the duty of the President to pursue. We have seen that in sixteen months ending in May, Removal of the Public Deposits 269 1832, the bank had extended its loans more than $28,- 000,000, although it knew the Government intended to ap- propriate most of its large deposit during that year in pay- ment of the public debt. It was in May, 1832, that its loans arrived at the maximum, and in the preceding March so sensible was the bank that it would not be able to pay over the public deposit when it would be required by the Gov- ernment that it commenced a secret negotiation, without the approbation or knowledge of the Government, with the agents for about $2,700,000 of the 3 per cent stocks held in Holland, with a view of inducing them not to come forward for payment for one or more years after notice should be given by the Treasury Department. This arrangement would have enabled the bank to keep and use during that time the public money set apart for the payment of these stocks. After this negotiation had commenced, the Secretary of the Treasury informed the bank that it was his intention to pay oflf one-half of the 3 percents on the ist of the succeed- ing July, which amounted to about $6,500,000. The presi- dent of the bank, although the committee of investigation was then looking into its affairs at Philadelphia, came im- mediately to Washington, and upon representing that the bank was desirous of accommodating the importing mer- chants at New York (which it failed to do) and undertak- ing to pay the interest itself, procured the consent of the Secretary, after consultation with the President, to postpone the payment until the succeeding ist of October. Conscious that at the end of that quarter the bank would not be able to pay over the deposits, and that further indul- gence was not to be expected of the Government, an agent was dispatched to England secretly to negotiate with the holders of the public debt in Europe and induce them by the offer of an equal or higher interest than that paid by the Government to hold back their claims for one year, during which the bank expected thus to retain the use of $5,000,000 of the public money, which the Government should set apart for the payment of that debt. The agent made an arrange- 270 Andrew Jackson ment on terms, in part, which were in direct violation of the charter of the bank, and when some incidents connected with this secret negotiation accidentally came to the knowl- edge of the public and the Government, then, and not be- fore, so much of it as was palpably in violation of the charter was disavowed. A modification of the rest was at- tempted with the view of getting the certificates without payment of the money, and thus absolving the Government from its liability to the holders. In this scheme the bank was partially successful, but to this day the certificates of a portion of these stocks have not been paid and the bank re- tains the use of the money. This effort to thwart the Government in the payment of the public debt that it might retain the public money to be used for their private interests, palliated by pretenses no- toriously unfounded and insincere, would have justified the instant withdrawal of the public deposits. The negotiation itself rendered doubtful the ability of the bank to meet the demands of the Treasury, and the misrepresentations by which it was attempted to be justified proved that no reli- ance could be placed upon its allegations. If the question of a removal of the deposits presented it- self to the Executive in the same attitude that it appeared before the House of Representatives at their last session, their resolution in relation to the safety of the deposits would be entitled to more weight, although the decision of the question of removal has been confided by law to another department of the Government. But the question now oc- curs attended by other circumstances and new disclosures of the most serious import. It is true that in the message of the President which produced this inquiry and resolution on the part of the House of Representatives it was his object to obtain the aid of that body in making a thorough exam- ination into the conduct and condition of the bank and its branches in order to enable the executive department to de- cide whether the public money was longer safe in its hands. The limited power of the Secretary of the Treasury over the subject disabled him from making the investigation as Removal of the Public Deposits 271 fully and satisfactorily as it could be done by a committee of the House of Representatives, and hence the President desired the assistance of Congress to obtain for the Treas- ury Department a full knowledge of all the facts which were necessary to guide his judgment. But it was not his pur- pose, as the language of his message will show, to ask the representatives of the people to assume a responsibility which did not belong to them and relieve the executive branch of the Government from the duty which the law had imposed upon it. It is due to the President that his object in that proceeding should be distinctly understood, and that he should acquit himself of all suspicion of seek- ing to escape from the performance of his own duties or of desiring to interpose another body between himself and the people in order to avoid a measure which he is called upon to meet. But although as an act of justice to himself he disclaims any design of soliciting the opinion of the House of Representatives in relation to his own duties in order to shelter himself from responsibility under the sanction of their counsel, yet he is at all times ready to listen to the sug- gestions of the representatives of the people, whether given voluntarily or upon solicitation, and to consider them with the profound respect to which all will admit that they are justly entitled. Whatever may be the consequences, how- ever, to himself, he must finally form his own judgment where the Constitution and the law make it his duty to de- cide, and must act accordingly ; and he is bound to suppose that such a course on his part will never be regarded by that elevated body as a mark of disrespect to itself, but that they will, on the contrary, esteem it the strongest evidence he can give of his fixed resolution conscientiously to dis- charge his duty to them and the country. A new state of things has, however, arisen since the close of the last session of Congress, and evidence has since been laid before the President which he is persuaded would have led the House of Representatives to a different conclusion if it had come to their knowledge. The fact that the bank controls, and in some cases substantially owns, and by its 2/2 Andrew Jackson money supports some of the leading presses of the country is now more clearly established. Editors to whom it loaned extravagant sums in 1831 and 1832, on unusual time and nominal security, have since turned out to be insolvent, and to others apparently in no better condition accommodations still more extravagant, on terms more unusual, and some without any security, have also been heedlessly granted. The allegation which has so often circulated through these channels that the Treasury was bankrupt and the bank was sustaining it, when for many years there has not been less, on an average, than six millions of public money in that institution, might be passed over as a harmless misrepre- sentation; but when it is attempted by substantial acts to impair the credit of the Government and tarnish the honor of the country, such charges require more serious attention. With six millions of public money in its vaults, after having had the use of from five to twelve millions for nine years without interest, it became the purchaser of a bill drawn by our Government on that of France for about $900,000, be- ing the first installment of the French indemnity. The pur- chase money was left in the use of the bank, being simply added to the Treasury deposit. The bank sold the bill in England, and the holder sent it to France for collection, and arrangements not having been made by the French Gov- ernment for its payment, it was taken up by the agents of the bank in Paris with the funds of the bank in their hands. Under these circumstances it has through its organs openly assailed the credit of the Government, and has actually made and persists in a demand of 15 per cent, or $158,842.77, as damages, when no damage, or none beyond some trifling expense, has in fact been sustained, and when the bank had in its own possession on deposit several millions of the pub- lic money which it was then using for its own profit. Is a fiscal agent of the Government which thus seeks to enrich itself at the expense of the public worthy of further trust? There are other important facts not in the contemplation of the House of Representatives or not known to the mem- bers at the time they voted for the resolution. Removal of the Public Deposits 273 Although the charter and the rules of the bank both de- clare that " not less than seven directors " shall be necessary to the transaction of business, yet the most important busi- ness, even that of granting discounts to any extent, is in- trusted to a committee of five members^ who do not report to the board. To cut off all means of communication with the Govern- ment in relation to its most important acts at the commence- ment of the present year, not one of the Government direc- tors was placed on any one committee; and although since, by an unusual remodeling of those bodies, some of those directors have been placed on some of the committees, they are yet entirely excluded from the committee of exchange, through which the greatest and most objectionable loans have been made. When the Government directors made an effort to bring back the business of the bank to the board in obedience to the charter and the existing regulations, the board not only overruled their attempt, but altered the rule so as to make it conform to the practice, in direct violation of one of the most important provisions of the charter which gave them existence. It has long been known that the president of the bank, by his single will, originates and executes many of the most important measures connected with the management and credit of the bank, and that the committee as well as the board of directors are left in entire ignorance of many acts done and correspondence carried on in their names, and ap- parently under their authority. The fact has been recently disclosed that an unlimited discretion has been and is now vested in the president of the bank to expend its funds in payment for preparing and circulating articles and pur- chasing pamphlets and newspapers, calculated by their con- tents to operate on elections and secure a renewal of its charter. It appears from the official report of the public di- rectors that on the 30th November, 1830, the president sub- mitted to the board an article published in the American Quarterly Review containing favorable notices of the bank, 2/4 Andrew Jackson and suggested the expediency of giving it a wider circu- lation at the expense of the bank; whereupon the board passed the following resolution, viz. : Resohed, That the president be authorized to take such measures in regard to the circulation of the contents of the said article, either in whole or in part, as he may deem most for the interest of the bank. By an entry in the minutes of the bank dated March ii, 1 83 1, it appears that the president had not only caused a large edition of that article to be issued, but had also, before the resolution of 30th November was adopted, procured to be printed and widely circulated numerous copies of the re- ports of General Smith and Mr. McDuffie in favor of the bank; and on that day he suggested the expediency of ex- tending his power to the printing of other articles which might subserve the purposes of the institution, whereupon the following resolution was adopted, viz. : Resolved, That the president is hereby authorized to cause to be prepared and circulated such documents and pa- pers as may communicate to the people information in re- gard to the nature and operations of the bank. The expenditures purporting to have been made under authority of these resolutions during the years 183 1 and 1832 were about 80,000. For a portion of these expendi- tures vouchers were rendered, from which it appears that they were incurred in the purchase of some hundred thou- sand copies of newspapers, reports and speeches made in Congress, reviews of the veto message and reviews of speeches against the bank, etc. For another large portion no vouchers whatever were rendered, but the various sums were paid on orders of the president of the bank, making reference to the resolution of the nth of March, 183 1. On ascertaining these facts and perceiving that expendi- tures of a similar character were still continued, the Gov- ernment directors a few weeks ago offered a resolution in Removal of the Public Deposits 275 the board calling for a specific account of these expendi- tures, showing the objects to which they had been applied and the persons to whom the money had been paid. This reasonable proposition was voted down. They also offered a resolution rescinding the resolutions of November, 1830, and March, 1831. This also was re- jected. Not content with thus refusing to recall the obnoxious power or even to require such an account of the expenditure as would show whether the money of the bank had in fact been applied to the objects contemplated by these resolu- tions, as obnoxious as they were, the board renewed the power already conferred, and even enjoined renewed at- tention to its exercise by adopting the following in lieu of the propositions submitted by the Government directors, viz. : Resolved, That the board have confidence in the wisdom and integrity of the president and in the propriety of the resolutions of 30th November, 1830, and nth March, 1831, and entertain a full conviction of the necessity of a renewed attention to the object of those resolutions, and that the president be authorized and requested to continue his exer- tions for the promotion of said object. Taken in connection with the nature of the expenditures heretofore made, as recently disclosed, which the board not only tolerate, but approve, this resolution puts the funds of the bank at the disposition of the president for the purpose of employing the whole press of the country in the service of the bank, to hire writers and newspapers, and to pay out such sums as he pleases to what person and for what serv- ices he pleases without the responsibility of rendering any specific account. The bank is thus converted into a vast electioneering engine, with means to embroil the country in deadly feuds, and, under cover of expenditures in them- selves improper, extend its corruption through all the ram- ifications of society. Some of the items for which accounts have been ren- 2/6 Andrew Jackson dered show the construction which has been given to the resolutions and the way in which the power it confers has been exerted. The money has not been expended merely in the publication and distribution of speeches, reports of committees, or articles written for the purpose of showing the constitutionality or usefulness of the bank, but publi- cations have been prepared and extensively circulated con- taining the grossest invectives against the officers of the Government, and the money which belongs to the stock- holders and to the public has been freely applied in efforts to degrade in public estimation those who were supposed to be instrumental in resisting the wishes of this grasping and dangerous institution. As the president of the bank has not been required to settle his accounts, no one but himself knows how much more than the sum already mentioned may have been squandered, and for which a credit may hereafter be claimed in his account under this most extraordinary res- olution. With these facts before us can we be surprised at the torrent of abuse incessantly poured out against all who are supposed to stand in the way of the cupidity or ambi- tion of the Bank of the United States? Can we be sur- prised at sudden and unexpected changes of opinion in favor of an institution which has millions to lavish and avows its determination not to spare its means when they are neces- sary to accomplish its purposes? The refusal to render an account of the manner in which a part of the money ex- pended has been applied gives just cause for the suspicion that it has been used for purposes which it is not deemed prudent to expose to the eyes of an intelligent and virtuous people. Those who act justly do not shun the light, nor do they refuse explanations when the propriety of their con- duct is brought into question. With these facts before him in an official report from the Government directors, the President would feel that he was not only responsible for all the abuses and corruptions the bank has committed or may commit, but almost an accom- plice in a conspiracy against that Government which he has sworn honestly to administer, if he did not take every step Removal of the Public Deposits 277 within his constitutional and legal power likely to be effi- cient in putting an end to these enormities. If it be possible within the scope of human affairs to find a reason for re- moving the Government deposits and leaving the bank to its own resource for the means of effecting its criminal de- signs, we have it here. Was it expected when the moneys of the United States were directed to be placed in that bank that they would be put under the control of one man em- powered to spend millions without rendering a voucher or specifying the object ? Can they be considered safe with the evidence before us that tens of thousands have been spent for highly improper, if not corrupt, purposes, and that the same motive may lead to the expenditure of hundreds of thousands, and even millions, more? And can we justify ourselves to the people by longer lending to it the money and power of the Government to be employed for such pur- poses ? It has been alleged by some as an objection to the removal of the deposits that the bank has the power, and in that event will have the disposition, to destroy the State banks employed by the Government, and bring distress upon the country. It has been the fortune of the President to en- counter dangers which were represented as equally alarm- ing, and he has seen them vanish before resolution and energy. Pictures equally appalling were paraded before him when this bank came to demand a new charter. But what was the result ? Has the country been ruined, or even distressed? Was it ever more prosperous than since that act? The President verily believes the bank has not the pow^r to produce the calamities its friends threaten. The funds of the Government will not be annihilated by being transferred. They will immediately be issued for the bene- fit of trade, and if the Bank of the United States curtails its loans the State banks, strengthened by the public de- posits, will extend theirs. What comes in through one bank will go out through others, and the equilibrium will be pre- served. Should the bank, for the mere purpose of produc- ing distress, press its debtors more heavily than some of 278 Andrew Jackson them can bear, the consequences will recoil upon itself, and in the attempts to embarrass the country it will only bring loss and ruin upon the holders of its own stock. But if the President believed the bank possessed all the power which has been attributed to it, his determination would only be rendered the more inflexible. If, indeed, this corporation now holds in its hands the happiness and prosperity of the American people, it is high time to take the alarm. If the despotism be already upon us and our only safety is in the mercy of the despot, recent developments in relation to his designs and the means he employs show how necessary it is to shake it off. The struggle can never come with less dis- tress to the people or under more favorable auspices than at the present moment. All doubt as to the willingness of the State banks to un- dertake the service of the Government to the same extent and on the same terms as it is now performed by the Bank of the United States is put to rest by the report of the agent recently employed to collect information, and from that willingness their own safety in the operation may be confi- dently inferred. Knowing their own resources better than they can be known by others, it is not to be supposed that they would be willing to place themselves in a situation which they can not occupy without danger of annihilation or embarrassment. The only consideration applies to the safety of the public funds if deposited in those institutions, and when it is seen that the directors of many of them are not only willing to pledge the character and capital of the corporations in giving success to this measure, but also their own property and reputation, we can not doubt that they at least believe the public deposits would be safe in their man- agement. The President thinks that these facts and circum- stances afford as strong a guaranty as can be had in human affairs for the safety of the public funds and the practica- bility of a new system of collection and disbursement through the agency of the State banks. From all these considerations the President thinks that the State banks ought immediately to be employed in the Removal of the Public Deposits 279 collection and disbursement of the public revenue, and the funds now in the Bank of the United States drawn out with all convenient dispatch. The safety of the public moneys if deposited in the State banks must be secured beyond all reasonable doubts ; but the extent and nature of the security, in addition to their capital, if any be deemed necessary, is a subject of detail to which the Treasury Department will un- doubtedly give its anxious attention. The banks to be em- ployed must remit the moneys of the Government without charge, as the Bank of the United States now does; must render all the services which that bank now performs ; must keep the Government advised of their situation by periodi- cal returns ; in fine, in any arrangement with the State banks the Government must not in any respect be placed on a worse footing than it now is. The President is happy to perceive by the report of the agent that the banks which he has consulted have, in general, consented to perform the service on these terms, and that those in New York have further agreed to make payments in London without other charge than the mere cost of the bills of exchange. It should also be enjoined upon any banks which may be employed that it will be expected of them to facilitate domestic exchanges for the benefit of internal commerce ; to grant all reasonable facilities to the payers of the revenue; to exercise the utmost liberality toward the other State banks, and do nothing uselessly to embarrass the Bank of the United States. As one of the most serious objections to the -Bank of the United States is the power which it concentrates, care must be taken in finding other agents for the service of the Treasury not to raise up another power equally formidable. Although it would probably be impossible to produce such a result by any organization of the State banks which could be devised, yet it is desirable to avoid even the appearance. To this end it would be expedient to assume no more power over them and interfere no more in their afifairs than might be absolutely necessary to the security of the public deposit and the faithful performance of their duties as agents of the 28o Andrew Jackson Treasury. Any interference by them in the poHtical con- tests of the country with a view to influence elections ought, in the opinion of the President, to be followed by an imme- diate discharge from the public service. It is the desire of the President that the controf of the banks and the currency shall, as far as possible, be entirely separated from the political power of the country as well as wrested from an institution which has already attempted to subject the Government to its will. In his opinion the action of the General Government on this subject ought not to extend beyond the grant in the Constitution, which only authorizes Congress " to coin money and regulate the value thereof;" all else belongs to the States and the people, and must be regulated by public opinion and the interests of trade. In conclusion, the President must be permitted to remark that he looks upon the pending question as of higher con- sideration than the mere transfer of a sum of money from one bank to another. Its decision may affect the character of our Government for ages to come. Should the bank be suffered longer to use the public moneys in the accomplish- ment of its purposes, with the proofs of its faithlessness and corruption before our eyes, the patriotic among our citizens will despair of success in struggling against its power, and we shall be responsible for entailing it upon our country for- ever. Viewing it as a question of transcendent importance, both in the principles and consequences it involves, the President could not, in justice to the responsibility which he owes to the country, refrain from pressing upon the Sec- retary of the Treasury his view of the considerations which impel to immediate action. Upon him has been devolved by the Constitution and the suffrages of the American peo- ple the duty of superintending the operation of the Execu- tive Departments of the Government and seeing that the laws are faithfully executed. In the performance of this high trust it is his undoubted right to express to those whom the laws and his own choice have made his associates in the administration of the Government his opinion of their Removal of the Public Deposits 281 duties under circumstances as they arise. It is this right which he now exercises. Far be it from him to expect or require that any member of the Cabinet should at his re- quest, order, or dictation do any act which he beHeves un- lawful or in his conscience condemns. From them and from his fellow-citizens in general he desires only that aid and support which their reason approves and their conscience sanctions. In the remarks he has made on this all-important question he trusts the Secretary of the Treasury will see only the frank and respectful declarations of the opinions which the President has formed on a measure of great national in- terest deeply affecting the character and usefulness of his Administration, and not a spirit of dictation, which the President would be as careful to avoid as ready to resist. Happy will he be if the facts now disclosed produce uni- formity of opinion and unity of action among the members of the Administration. The President again repeats that he begs his Cabinet to consider the proposed measure as his own, in the support of which he shall require no one of them to make a sacrifice of opinion or principle. Its responsibility has been assumed after the most mature deliberation and reflection as neces- sary to preserve the morals of the people, the freedom of the press, and the purity of the elective franchise, without which all will unite in saying that the blood and treasure expended by our forefathers in the establishment of our happy sys- tem of government will have been vain and fruitless. Un- der these convictions he feels that a measure so important to the American people can not be commenced too soon, and he therefore names the ist day of October next as a period proper for the change of the deposits, or sooner, provided the necessary arrangements with the State banks can be made. Fifth Annual Message.* (December 3, 1833.) Fellow-Citinens of the Senate and House of Representa- tives: On your assembling to perform the high trusts which the people of the United States have confided to you, of leg- islating for their common welfare, it gives me pleasure to congratulate you upon the happy condition of our beloved country. By the favor of Divine Providence health is again restored to us, peace reigns within our borders, abundance crowns the labors of our fields, commerce and domestic in- dustry flourish and increase, and individual happiness re- wards the private virtue and enterprise of our citizens. Our condition abroad is no less honorable than it is pros- perous at home. Seeking nothing that is not right and de- termined to submit to nothing that is wrong, but desiring honest friendships and liberal intercourse with all nations, the United States have gained throughout the world the confidence and respect which are due to a policy so just and so congenial to the character of the American people and to the spirit of their institutions. In bringing to your notice the particular state of our foreign affairs, it affords me high gratification to inform you that they are in a condition which promises the con- tinuance of friendship with all nations. With Great Britain the interesting question of our north- eastern boundary remains still undecided. A negotiation, however, upon that subject has been renewed since the close of the last Congress, and a proposition has been submitted to the British Government with the view of establishing, * The most important parts of this message are on (i) the pubHc revenues; (2) pubHc expenditures; (3) the removal of the deposits; (4) the Bank of the U. S. ; (5) Indian affairs. a8a Fifth Annual Message 283 in conformity with the resolution of the Senate, the hnc designated by the treaty of 1783. Though no definitive answer has been received, it may be daily looked for, and 1 entertain a hope that the overture may ultimately lead to a satisfactory adjustment of this important matter. I have the satisfaction to inform you that a negotiation which, by desire of the House of Representatives, was opened some years ago with the British Government, for the erection of light-houses on the Bahamas, has been success- ful. Those works, when completed, together with those which the United States have constructed on the western side of the Gulf of Florida, will contribute essentially to the safety of navigation in that sea. This joint participation in establishments interesting to humanity and beneficial to commerce is worthy of two enlightened nations, and indi- cates feelings which can not fail to have a happy influence upon their political relations. It is gratifying to the friends of both to perceive that the intercourse between the two people is becoming daily more extensive, and that senti- ments of mutual good will have grown up befitting their common origin and justifying the hope that by wise coun- sels on each side not only unsettled questions may be satis- factorily terminated, but new causes of misunderstanding prevented. Notwithstanding that I continue to receive the most ami- cable assurances from the Government of France, and that in all other respects the most friendly relations exist between the United States and that Government, it is to be regretted that the stipulations of the convention concluded on the 4th July, 1 83 1, remain in some important parts unfulfilled. By the second article of that convention it was stipulated that the sum payable to the United States should be paid at Paris, in six annual installments, into the hands of such per- son or persons as should be authorized by the Government of the United States to receive it, and by the same article the first installment was payable on the 2d day of February, 1833. By the act of Congress of the 13th July, 1832, it was made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to 284 Andrew Jackson cause the several installments, with the interest thereon, to be received from the French Government and transferred to the United States in such manner as he may deem best; and by the same act of Congress the stipulations on the part of the United States in the convention were in all re- spects fulfilled. Not doubting that a treaty thus made and ratified by the two Governments, and faithfully executed by the United States, would be promptly complied with by the other party, and desiring to avoid the risk and expense of intermediate agencies, the Secretary of the Treasury deemed it advisable to receive and transfer the first installment by means of a draft upon the French minister of finance. A draft for this purpose was accordingly drawn in favor of the cashier of the Bank of the United States for the amount accruing to the United States out of the first installment, and the interest payable with it. This bill was not drawn at Washington until five days after the installment was pay- able at Paris, and was accompanied by a special authority from the President authorizing the cashier or his assigns to receive the amount. The mode thus adopted of receiv- ing the installment was officially made known to the French Government by the American charge d'affaires at Paris, pursuant to instructions from the Department of State. The bill, however, though not presented for payment until the 23d day of March, was not paid, and for the reason as- signed by the French minister of finance that no appropria- tion had been made by the French Chambers. It is not known to me that up to that period any appropriation had been required of the Chambers, and although a communi- cation was subsequently made to the Chambers by direc- tion of the King, recommending that the necessary pro- vision should be made for carrying the convention into effect, it was at an advanced period of the session, and the subject was finally postponed until the next meeting of the Chambers. Notwithstanding it has been supposed by the French min- istry that the financial stipulations of the treaty can not be carried into effect without an appropriation by the Cham- Fifth Annual Message 285 bers, it appears to me to be not only consistent with the character of France, but due to the character of both Gov- ernments, as well as to the rights of our citizens, to treat the convention, made and ratified in proper form, as pledg- ing the good faith of the French Government for its exe- cution, and as imposing upon each department an obliga- tion to fulfill it ; and I have received assurances through our charge d'affaires at Paris and the French minister pleni- potentiary at Washington, and more recently through the minister of the United States at Paris, that the delay has not proceeded from any indisposition on the part of the King and his ministers to fulfill the treaty, and that meas- ures will be presented at the next meeting of the Chambers, and with a reasonable hope of success, to obtain the neces- sary appropriation. It is necessary to state, however, that the documents, ex- cept certain lists of vessels captured, condemned, or burnt at sea, proper to facilitate the examination and liquidation of the reclamations comprised in the stipulations of the con- vention, and which by the sixth article France engaged to communicate to the United States by the intermediary of the legation, though repeatedly applied for by the American charge d'affaires under instructions from this Government, have not yet been communicated ; and this delay, it is appre- hended, will necessarily prevent the completion of the duties assigned to the commissioners within the time at present prescribed by law. The reasons for delaying to communicate these docu- ments have not been explicitly stated, and this is the more to be regretted as it is not understood that the interposi- tion of the Chambers is in any manner required for the de- livery of those papers. Under these circumstances, in a case so important to the interests of our citizens and to the character of our country, and under disappointments so unexpected, I deemed it my duty, however I might respect the general assurances to which I have adverted, no longer to delay the appointment of a minister plenipotentiary to Paris, but to dispatch him 286 Andrew Jackson in season to communicate the result of his appHcation to the French Government at an early period of your session. I accordingly appointed a distinguished citizen for this pur- pose, who proceeded on his mission in August last and was presented to the King early in the month of October. He is particularly instructed as to all matters connected with the present posture of affairs, and I indulge the hope that with the representations he is instructed to make, and from the disposition manifested by the King and his ministers in their recent assurances to our minister at Paris, the sub- ject will be early considered, and satisfactorily disposed of at the next meeting of the Chambers. As this subject involves important interests and has at- tracted a considerable share of the public attention, I have deemed it proper to make this explicit statement of its actual condition, and should I be disappointed in the hope now entertained the subject will be again brought to the notice of Congress in such manner as the occasion may require. The friendly relations which have always been main- tained between the United States and Russia have been further extended and strengthened by the treaty of naviga- tion and commerce concluded on the 6th of December last, and sanctioned by the Senate before the close of its last ses- sion. The ratifications having been since exchanged, the liberal provisions of the treaty are now in full force, and under the encouragement which they have secured a flour- ishing and increasing commerce, yielding its benefits to the enterprise of both nations, affords to each the just recom- pense of wise measures, and adds new motives for that mutual friendship which the two countries have hitherto cherished toward each other. It affords me peculiar satisfaction to state that the Gov- ernment of Spain has at length yielded to the justice of the claims which have been so long urged in behalf of our citi- zens, and has expressed a willingness to provide an indemni- fication as soon as the proper amount can be agreed upon. Upon this latter point it is probable an understanding had taken place between the minister of the United States and Fifth Annual Message 287 the Spanish Government before the decease of the late King of Spain ; and, unless that event may have delayed its com- pletion, there is reason to hope that it may be in my power to announce to you early in your present session the con- clusion of a convention upon terms not less favorable than those entered into for similar objects with other nations. That act of justice would well accord with the character of Spain, and is due to the United States from their ancient friend. It could not fail to strengthen the sentiments of amity and good will between the two nations which it is so much the wish of the United States to cherish and so truly the interest of both to maintain. By the first section of an act of Congress passed on the 13th of July, 1832, the tonnage duty on Spanish ships ar- riving from the ports of Spain was limited to the duty pay- able on American vessels in the ports of Spain previous to the 20th of October, 1817, being 5 cents per ton. That act w^as intended to give effect on our side to an arrangement made with the Spanish Government by which discriminat- ing duties of tonnage were to be abolished in the ports of the United States and Spain on the vessels of the two na- tions. Pursuant to that arrangement, which was carried into effect on the part of Spain on the 20th of May, 1832, by a royal order dated the 29th of April, 1832, American vessels in the ports of Spain have paid 5 cents per ton, which rate of duty is also paid in those ports by Spanish ships; but as American vessels pay no tonnage duty in the ports of the United States, the duty of 5 cents payable in our ports by Spanish vessels under the act above mentioned is really a discriminating duty, operating to the disadvantage of Spain. Though no complaint has yet been made on the part of Spain, we are not the less bound by the obligations of good faith to remove the discrimination, and I recom- mend that the act be amended accordingly. As the royal order above alluded to includes the ports of the Balearic and Canary islands as v^ell as those of Spain, it would seem that the provisions of the act of Congress should be equally extensive, and that for the repayment of such duties as may 288 Andrew Jackson have been improperly received an addition should be made to the sum appropriated at the last session of Congress for refunding discriminating duties. As the arrangement referred to, however, did not em- brace the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, discriminating duties to the prejudice of American shipping continue to be levied there. From the extent of the commerce carried on between the United States and those islands, particularly the former, this discrimination causes serious injury to one of those great national interests which it has been consid- ered an essential part of our policy to cherish, and has given rise to complaints on the part of our merchants. Under in- structions given to our minister at Madrid, earnest repre- sentations have been made by him to the Spanish Govern- ment upon this subject, and there is reason to expect, from the friendly disposition which is entertained toward this country, that a beneficial change will be produced. The dis- advantage, however, to which our shipping is subjected by the operation of these discriminating duties requires that they be met by suitable countervailing duties during your present session, power being at the same time vested in the President to modify or discontinue them as the discriminat- ing duties on American vessels or their cargoes may be modified or discontinued at those islands. Intimations have been given to the Spanish Government that the United States may be obliged to resort to such measures as are of necessary self-defense, and there is no reason to apprehend that it would be unfavorably received. The proposed pro- ceeding if adopted would not be permitted, however, in any degree to induce a relaxation in the efforts of our minister to effect a repeal of this irregularity by friendly negotiation, and it might serve to give force to his representations by showing the dangers to which that valuable trade is exposed by the obstructions and burdens which a system of discrim- inating and countervailing duties necessarily produces. The selection and preparation of the Florida archives for the purpose of being delivered over to the United States, in conformity with the royal order as mentioned in my last Fifth Annual Message 289 annual message, though in progress, has not yet been com- pleted. This delay has been produced partly by causes which were unavoidable, particularly the prevalence of the cholera at Havana; but measures have been taken which it is be- lieved will expedite the delivery of those important records. Congress were informed at the opening of the last session that " owing, as was alleged, to embarrassments in the finances of Portugal, consequent upon the civil war in which that nation was engaged," payment had been made of only one installment of the amount which the Portuguese Gov- ernment had stipulated to pay for indemnifying our citizens for property illegally captured in the blockade of Terceira. Since that time a postponement for two years, with interest, of the two remaining installments was requested by the Portuguese Government, and as a consideration it offered to stipulate that rice of the United States should be admitted into Portugal at the same duties as Brazilian rice. Being satisfied that no better arrangement could be made, my con- sent w^as given, and a royal order of the King of Portugal was accordingly issued on the 4th of February last for the reduction of the duty on rice of the United States. It would give me great pleasure if in speaking of that country, in whose prosperity the United States are so much interested, and with whom a long-subsisting, extensive, and mutually advantageous commercial intercourse has strengthened the relations of friendship, I could announce to you the restora- tion of its internal tranquillity. Subsequently to the commencement of the last session of Congress the final installment payable by Denmark under the convention of the 28th day of March, 1830, was re- ceived. The commissioners for examining the claims have since terminated their labors, and their awards have been paid at the Treasury as they have been called for. The justice rendered to our citizens by that Government is thus completed, and a pledge is thereby afforded for the main- tenance of that friendly intercourse becoming the relations that the two nations mutually bear to each other. It is satisfactory to inform you that the Danish Govern- 290 Andrew Jackson ment have recently issued an ordinance by which the com- merce with the island of St. Croix is placed on a more liberal footing than heretofore. This change can not fail to prove beneficial to the trade between the United States and that colony, and the advantages likely to flow from it may lead to greater relaxations in the colonial systems of other nations. The ratifications of the convention with the King of the Two Sicilies have been duly exchanged, and the commis- sioners appointed for examining the claims under it have entered upon the duties assigned to them by law. The friendship that the interests of the two nations require of them being now established, it may be hoped that each will enjoy the benefits which a liberal commerce should yield to both. A treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and Belgium was concluded during the last winter and received the sanction of the Senate, but the exchange of the ratifications has been hitherto delayed, in conse- quence, in the first instance, of some delay in the reception of the treaty at Brussels, and, subsequently, of the absence of the Belgian minister of foreign affairs at the important conferences in which his Government is engaged at London. That treaty does but embody those enlarged principles of friendly policy which it is sincerely hoped will always regu- late the conduct of the two nations having such strong motives to maintain amicable relations toward each other and so sincerely desirous to cherish them. With all the other European powers with whom the United States have formed diplomatic relations and with the Sublime Porte the best understanding prevails. From all I continue to receive assurances of good will toward the United States — assurances which it gives me no less pleas- ure to reciprocate than to receive. With all, the engage- ments which have been entered into are fulfilled with good faith on both sides. Measures have also been taken to en- large our friendly relations and extend our commercial in- tercourse with other States. The system we have pursued Fifth Annual Message 291 of aiming at no exclusive advantages, of dealing with all on terms of fair and equal reciprocity, and of adhering scrupu- lously to all our engagements is well calculated to give suc- cess to efforts intended to be mutually beneficial. The wars of which the southern part of this continent was so long the theater, and which were carried on either by the mother country against the States which had for- merly been her colonies or by the States against each other, having terminated, and their civil dissensions having so far subsided as with few exceptions no longer to disturb the public tranquillity, it is earnestly hoped those States will be able to employ themselves without interruption in perfecting their institutions, cultivating the arts of peace,, and promot- ing by wise councils and able exertions the public and pri- vate prosperity which their patriotic struggles so well entitle them to enjoy. With those States our relations have undergone but little change during the present year. No reunion having yet taken place between the States which composed the Repub- lic of Colombia, our charge d'affaires at Bogota has been accredited to the Government of New Grenada, and we have, therefore, no diplomatic relations with Venezuela and Ecuador, except as they may be included in those heretofore formed with the Colombian Republic. It is understood that representatives from the three States were about to assemble at Bogota to confer on the subject of their mutual interests, particularly that of their union, and if the result should render it necessary, measures will be taken on our part to preserve with each that friendship and those liberal commercial connections which it has been the constant desire of the United States to cultivate with their sister Republics of this hemisphere. Until the impor- tant question of reunion shall be settled, however, the differ- ent matters which have been under discussion between the United States and the Republic of Colombia, or either of the States which composed it, are not likely to be brought to a satisfactory issue. In consequence of the illness of the charge d'affaires ap- 292 Andrew Jackson pointed to Central America at the last session of Congress, he was prevented from proceeding on his mission until the month of October. It is hoped, however, that he is by this time at his post, and that the official intercourse, unfortu- nately so long interrupted, has been thus renewed on the part of the two nations so amicably and advantageously con- nected by engagements founded on the most enlarged prin- ciples of commercial reciprocity. It is gratifying to state that since my last annual message some of the most important claims of our fellow-citizens upon the Government of Brazil have been satisfactorily ad- justed, and a reliance is placed on the friendly dispositions manifested by it that justice will also be done in others. No new causes of complaint have arisen, and the trade between the two countries flourishes under the encouragement se- cured to it by the liberal provisions of the treaty. It is cause of regret that, owing, probably, to the civil dissensions which have occupied the attention of the Mexi- can Government, the time fixed by the treaty of limits with the United States for the meeting of the commissioners to define the boundaries between the two nations has been suf- fered to expire without the appointment of any commis- sioners on the part of that Government, While the true boundary remains in doubt by either party it is difficult to give effect to those measures which are necessary to the protection and quiet of our numerous citizens residing near that frontier. The subject is one of great solicitude to the United States, and will not fail to receive my earnest at- tention. The treaty concluded with Chili and approved by the Senate at its last session was also ratified by the Chilian Government, but with certain additional and explanatory articles of a nature to have required it to be again submitted to the Senate, The time limited for the exchange of the ratifications, however, having since expired, the action of both Governments on the treaty will again become neces- sary. The negotiations commenced with the Argentine Repub- Fifth Annual Message 293 lie relative to the outrages committed on our vessels en- gaged in the fisheries at the Falkland Islands by persons acting under the color of its authority, as well as the other matters in controversy between the two Governments, have been suspended by the departure of the charge d'affaires of the United States from Buenos Ayres. It is understood, however, that a minister was subsequently appointed by that Government to renew the negotiation in the United States, but though daily expected he has not yet arrived in this country. With Peru no treaty has yet been formed, and with Bo- livia no diplomatic intercourse has yet been established. It will be my endeavor to encourage those sentiments of amity and that liberal commerce which belong to the relations in which all the independent States of this continent stand to- ward each other. I deem it proper to recommend to your notice the revision of our consular system. This has become an important branch of the public service, inasmuch as it is intimately connected with the preservation of our national character abroad, with the interest of our citizens in foreign coun- tries, w^ith the regulation and care of our commerce, and with the protection of our seamen. At the close of the last session of Congress I communicated a report from the Sec- retary of State upon the subject, to which I now refer, as containing information which may be useful in any inquiries that Congress may see fit to institute with a view to a salu- tary reform of the system. It gives me great pleasure to congratulate you upon the prosperous condition of the finances of the country, as will appear from the report which the Secretary of the Treasury will in due time lay before you. The receipts into the Treas- ury during the present year will amount to more than $32,- 000,000. The revenue derived from customs "will, it is believed, be more than $28,000,000, and the public lands will yield about $3,000,000. The expenditures within the year for all objects, including $2,572,240.99 on account of the public debt, will not amount to $25,000,000, and a large 294 Andrew Jackson balance will remain in the Treasury after satisfying all the appropriations chargeable on the revenue for the present year. The measures taken by the Secretary of the Treasury will probably enable him to pay off in the course of the present year the residue of the exchanged 4I per cent stock, redeem- able on the I St of January next. It has therefore been in- cluded in the estimated expenditures of this year, and forms a part of the sum above stated to have been paid on account of the public debt. The payment of this stock will reduce the whole debt of the United States, funded and unfunded, to the sum of $4,760,082.08, and as provision has already been made for the 4I percents above mentioned, and charged in the expenses of the present year, the sum last stated is all that now remains of the national debt; and the revenue of the coming year, together with the balance now in the Treasury, will be sufficient to discharge it, after meet- ing the current expenses of the Government. Under the power given to the commissioners of the sinking fund, it will, I have no doubt, be purchased on favorable terms with- in the year. From this view of the state of the finances and the public engagements yet to be fulfilled you will perceive that if Providence permits me to meet you at another session I shall have the high gratification of announcing to you that the national debt is extinguished, I can not refrain from expressing the pleasure I feel at the near approach of that desirable event. The short period of time within which the public debt will have been discharged is strong evidence of the abundant resources of the country and of the prudence and economy with which the Government has heretofore been administered. We have waged two wars since we be- came a nation, with one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world, both of them undertaken in defense of our dear- est rights, both successfully prosecuted and honorably ter- minated ; and many of those who partook in the first strug- gle as well as in the second will have lived to see the last item of the debt incurred in these necessary but expensive Fifth Annual Message 295 conflicts faithfully and honestly discharged. And we shall have the proud satisfaction of bequeathing to the public servants who follow us in the administration of the Govern- ment the rare blessing of a revenue sufficiently abundant, raised without injustice or oppression to our citizens, and unencumbered with any burdens but what they themselves shall think proper to impose upon it. The flourishing state of the finances ought not, however, to encourage us to indulge in a lavish expenditure of the public treasure. The receipts of the present year do not fur- nish the test by which we are to estimate the income of the next. The changes made in our revenue system by the acts of Congress of 1832 and 1833, and more especially by the former, have swelled the receipts of the present year far beyond the amount to be expected in future years upon the reduced tariff of duties. The shortened credits on revenue bonds and the cash duties on woolens which were introduced by the act of 1832, and took effect on the 4th of March last, have brought large sums into the Treasury in 1833, which, according to the credits formerly given, would not have been payable until 1834, and would have formed a part of the income of that year. These causes would of themselves produce a great diminution of the receipts in the year 1834 as compared with the present one, and they will be still more diminished by the reduced rates of duties which take place on the I St of January next on some of the most important and productive articles. Upon the best estimates that can be made the receipts of the next year, with the aid of the unappropriated amount now in the Treasury, will not be much more than sufficient to meet the expenses of the year and pay the small remnant of the national debt which yet remains unsatisfied. I can not, therefore, recommend to you any alteration in the present tariff of duties. The rate as now fixed by law on the various articles was adopted at the last session of Congress, as a matter of compromise, with unusual unanimity, and unless it is found to produce more than the necessities of the Government call for there would seem to be no reason at this time to justify a change. 296 Andrew Jackson But while I forbear to recommend any further reduction of the duties beyond that already provided for by the exist- ing laws, I must earnestly and respectfully press upon Con- gress the importance of abstaining from all appropriations which are not absolutely required for the public interest and authorized by the powers clearly delegated to the United States. We are beginning a new era in our Government. The national debt, which has so long been a burden on the Treasury, will be finally discharged in the course of the ensuing year. No more money will afterwards be needed than what may be necessary to meet the ordinary expenses of the Government. Now, then, is the proper moment to fix our system of expenditure on firm and durable principles, and I can not too strongly urge the necessity of a rigid economy and an inflexible determination not to enlarge the income beyond the real necessities of the Government and not to increase the wants of the Government by unnecessary and profuse expenditures. If a contrary course should be pursued, it may happen that the revenue of 1834 will fall short of the demands upon it, and after reducing the tariff in order to lighten the burdens of the people, and providing for a still further reduction to take effect hereafter, it would be much to be deplored if at the end of another year we should find ourselves obliged to retrace our steps and im- pose additional taxes to meet unnecessary expenditures. It is my duty on this occasion to call your attention to the destruction of the public building occupied by the Treas- ury Department, which happened since the last adjourn- ment of Congress. A thorough inquiry into the causes of this loss was directed and made at the time, the result of which will be duly communicated to you. I take pleasure, however, in stating here that by the laudable exertions of the officers of the Department and many of the citizens of the District but few papers were lost, and none that will materially affect the public interest. The public convenience requires that another building should be erected as soon as practicable, and in providing for it it will be advisable to enlarge in some manner the Fifth Annual Message 297 accommodations for the public officers of the several De- partments, and to authorize the erection of suitable deposi- tories for the safe-keeping of the public documents and records. Since the last adjournment of Congress the Secretary of the Treasury has directed the money of the United States to be deposited in certain State banks designated by him, and he will immediately lay before you his reasons for this direction. I concur with him entirely in the view he has taken of the subject, and some months before the removal I urged upon the Department the propriety of taking that step. The near approach of the day on which the charter will expire, as well as the conduct of the bank, appeared to me to call for this measure upon the high considerations of public interest and public duty. The extent of its miscon- duct, however, although known to be great, was not at that time fully developed by proof. It was not until late in the month of August that I received from the Government di- rectors an official report establishing beyond question that this great and powerful institution had been actively en- gaged in attempting to influence the elections of the pub- lic officers by means of its money, and that, in violation of the express provisions of its charter, it had by a formal resolution placed its funds at the disposition of its presi- dent to be employed in sustaining the political power of the bank. A copy of this resolution is contained in the report of the Government directors before referred to, and how- ever the object may be disguised by cautious language, no one can doubt that this money was in truth intended for electioneering purposes, and the particular uses to which it was proved to have been applied abundantly show .that it was so understood. Not only was the evidence complete as to the past application of the money and power of the bank to electioneering purposes, but that the resolution of the board of directors authorized the same course to be pur- sued in future. It being thus established by unquestionable proof that the Bank of the United States was converted into a permanent 298 Andrew Jackson electioneering engine, it appeared to me that the path of duty which the executive department of the Government ought to pursue was not doubtful. As by the terms of the bank charter no officer but the Secretary of the Treasury could remove the deposits, it seemed to me that this author- ity ought to be at once exerted to deprive that great cor- poration of the support and countenance of the Govern- ment in such an use of its funds and such an exertion of its power. In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great cor- poration are to be secretly exerted to influence their judg- ment and control their decisions. It must now be deter- mined whether the bank is to have its candidates for all offices in the country, from the highest to the lowest, or whether candidates on both sides of political questions shall be brought forward as heretofore and supported by the usual means. At this time the efforts of the bank to control public opinion, through the distresses of some and the fears of others, are equally apparent, and, if possible, more objec- tionable. By a curtailment of its accommodations more rapid than any emergency requires, and even while it re- tains specie to an almost unprecedented amount in its vaults, it is attempting to produce great embarrassment in one portion of the community, while through presses known to have been sustained by its money it attempts by unfounded alarms to create a panic in all. These are the means by which it seems to expect that it can force a restoration of the deposits, and as a necessary consequence extort from Congress a renewal of its char- ter. I am happy to know that through the good sense of our people the effort to get up a panic has hitherto failed, and that through the increased accommodations which the State banks have been enabled to afford, no public distress has followed the exertions of the bank, and it can not be doubted that the exercise of its power and the expenditure Fifth Annual Message 299 of its money, as well as its efforts to spread groundless alarm, will be met and rebuked as they deserve. In my own sphere of duty I should feel myself called on by the facts disclosed to order a scire facias against the bank, with a view to put an end to the chartered rights it has so pal- pably violated, were it not that the charter itself will ex- pire as soon as a decision would probably be obtained from the court of last resort. I called the attention of Congress to this subject in my last annual message, and informed them that such measures as were within the reach of the Secretary of the Treasury had been taken to enable him to judge whether the public deposits in the Bank of the United States were entirely safe ; but that as his single powers might be inadequate to the ob- ject, I recommended the subject to Congress as worthy of their serious investigation, declaring it as my opinion that an inquiry into the transactions of that institution, embrac- ing the branches as well as the principal bank, was called for by the credit which was given throughout the country to many serious charges impeaching their character, and which, if true, might justly excite the apprehension that they were no longer a safe depository for the public money. The ex- tent to which the examination thus recommended was gone into is spread upon your journals, and is too well known to require to be stated. Such as was made resulted in a report from a majority of the Committee of Ways and Means touching certain specified points only, concluding with a res- olution that the Government deposits might safely be con- tinued in the Bank of the United States. This resolution was adopted at the close of the session by the vote of a majority of the House of Representatives. Although I may not always be able to concur in the views of the public interest or the duties of its agents which may be taken by the other departments of the Government or either of its branches, I am, notwithstanding, wholly inca- pable of receiving otherwise than with the most sincere re- spect all opinions or suggestions proceeding from such a source, and in respect to none am I more inclined to do so 300 Andrew Jackson than to the House of Representatives. But it will be seen from the brief views at this time taken of the subject by myself, as well as the more ample ones presented by the Secretary of the Treasury, that the change in the de- posits which has been ordered has been deemed to be called for by considerations which are not affected by the pro- ceedings referred to, and which, if correctly view^ed by that Department, rendered its act a matter of imperious duty. Coming as you do, for the most part, immediately from the people and the States by election, and possessing the fullest opportunity to know their sentiments, the present Congress will be sincerely solicitous to carry into full and fair effect the will of their constituents in regard to this in- stitution. It wnll be for those in whose behalf we all act to decide whether the executive department of the Govern- ment, in the steps which it has taken on this subject, has been found in the line of its duty. The accompanying report of the Secretary of War, with the documents annexed to it, exhibits the operations of the War Department for the past year and the condition of the various subjects intrusted to its administration. It will be seen from them that the Army maintains the character it has heretofore acquired for efficiency and mili- tary knowledge. Nothing has occurred since your last ses- sion to require its services beyond the ordinary routine of duties which upon the seaboard and the inland frontier de- volve upon it in a time of peace. The system so wisely adopted and so long pursued of constructing fortifications at exposed points and of preparing and collecting the sup- plies necessary for the military defense of the country, and thus providently furnishing in peace the means of defense in war, has been continued with the usual results. I recom- mend to your consideration the various subjects suggested in the report of the Secretary of War. Their adoption would promote the public service and meliorate the condi- tion of the Army. Our relations with the various Indian tribes have been Fifth Annual Message 301 undisturbed since the termination of the difficulties growing out of the hostile aggressions of the Sac and Fox Indians. Several treaties have been formed for the relinquishment of territory to the United States and for the migration of the occupants of the region assigned for their residence west of the Mississippi. Should these treaties be ratified by the Senate, provision will have been made for the removal of almost all the tribes now remaining east of that river and for the termination of many difficult and embarrassing questions arising out of their anomalous political condition. It is to be hoped that those portions of two of the Southern tribes, which in that event will present the only remain- ing difficulties, will realize the necessity of emigration, and will speedily resort to it. My original convictions upon this subject have been confirmed by the course of events for sev- eral years, and experience is every day adding to their strength. That those tribes can not exist surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition. Es- tablished in the midst of another and a superior race, and without appreciating the causes of their inferiority or seek- ing to control them, they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere long disappear. Such has been their fate heretofore, and if it is to be averted — and it is — it can only be done by a general removal beyond our bound- ary and by the reorganization of their political system upon principles adapted to the new relations in which they will be placed. The experiment which has been recently made has so far proved successful. The emigrants generally are represented to be prosperous and contented, the country suit- able to their wants and habits, and the essential articles of subsistence easily procured. When the report of the com- missioners now engaged in investigating the condition and prospects of these Indians and in devising a plan for their intercourse and government is received, I trust ample means of information will be in possession of the Government for 3^2 Andrew Jackson adjusting all the unsettled questions connected with this in- teresting subject. The operations of the Navy during the year and its pres- ent condition are fully exhibited in the annual report from the Navy Department. Suggestions are made by the Secretary of various im- provements, which deserve careful consideration, and most of which, if adopted, bid fair to promote the efficiency of this important branch of the public service. Among these are the new organization of the Navy Board, the revision of the pay to officers, and a change in the period of time or in the manner of making the annual appropriations, to which I beg leave to call your particular attention. The views which are presented on almost every portion of our naval concerns, and especially on the amount of force and the number of officers, and the general course of policy appropriate in the present state of our country for securing the great and useful purposes of naval protection in peace and due preparation for the contingencies of war, meet with my entire approbation. It will be perceived from the report referred to that the fiscal concerns of the establishment are in an excellent con- dition, and it is hoped that Congress may feel disposed to make promptly every suitable provision desired either for preserving or improving the system. The general Post-Office Department has continued, upon the strength of its own resources, to facilitate the means of communication between the various portions of the Union with increased activity. The method, however, in which the accounts of the transportation of the mail have always been kept appears to have presented an imperfect view of its expenses. It has recently been discovered that from the earliest records of the Department the annual statements have been calculated to exhibit an amount considerably short of the actual expense incurred for that service. These illusory statements, together with the expense of carrying into effect the law of the last session of Congress establish- ing new mail routes, and a disposition on the part of the head Fifth Annual Message 303 of the Department to gratify the wishes of the pubhc in the extension of mail facihties, have induced him to incur responsibihties for their improvement beyond what the cur- rent resources of the Department would sustain. As soon as he had discovered the imperfection of the method he caused an investigation to be made of its results and applied the proper remedy to correct the evil. It became necessary for him to withdraw some of the improvements which he had made to bring the expenses of the Department within its own resources. These expenses were incurred for the public good, and the public have enjoyed their benefit. They are now but partially suspended, and that where they may be discontinued with the least inconvenience to the country. The progressive increase in the income from postages has equaled the highest expectations, and it affords demonstra- tive evidence of the growing importance and great utility of this Department. The details are exhibited in the accom- panying report of the Postmaster-General. The many distressing accidents which have of late oc- curred in that portion of our navigation carried on by the use of steam power deserve the immediate and unremitting attention of the constituted authorities of the country. The fact that the number of those fatal disasters is constantly increasing, notwithstanding the great improvements which are everywhere made in the machinery employed and in the rapid advances which have been made in that branch of sci- ence, shows very clearly that they are in a great degree the result of criminal negligence on the part of those by whom the vessels are navigated and to whose care and attention the lives and property of our citizens are so extensively in- trusted. That these evils may be greatly lessened, if not substan- tially removed, by means of precautionary and penal legis- lation seems to be highly probable. So far, therefore, as the subject can be regarded as within the constitutional pur- view of Congress I earnestly recommend it to your prompt and serious consideration. I would also call your attention to the views I have here- 3^4 Andrew Jackson tofore expressed of the propriety of amending the Consti- tution in relation to the mode of electing the President and the Vice-President of the United States. Regarding it as all important to the future quiet and harmony of the people that every intermediate agency in the election of these offi- cers should be removed and that their eligibility should be limited to one term of either four or six years, I can not too earnestly invite your consideration of the subject. Trusting that your deliberations on all the topics of gen- eral interest to which I have adverted, and such others as your more extensive knowledge of the wants of our beloved country may suggest, may be crowned with success, I tender you in conclusion the cooperation which it may be in my power to afford them. Veto Message — Public Lands.* (December 4, 1833.) To the Senate of the United States: At the close of the last session of Congress I received from that body a bill en- titled " An act to appropriate for a limited time the proceeds of the sales of the public lands of the United States and for granting lands to certain States." The brief period then remaining before the rising of Congress and the extreme pressure of official duties unavoidable on such occasions did not leave me sufficient time for that full consideration of the subject which v^as due to its great importance. Subse- quent consideration and reflection have, however, confirmed the objections to the bill which presented themselves to my mind upon its first perusal, and have satisfied me that it ought not to become a law. I felt myself, therefore, con- strained to withhold from it my approval, and now return it to the Senate, in which it originated, with the reasons on which my dissent is founded. I am fully sensible of the importance, as it respects both the harmony and union of the States, of making, as soon as circumstances will allow of it, a proper and final disposition of the whole subject of the public lands, and any measure for that object providing for the reimbursement to the United States of those expenses with which they are justly chargeable that may be consistent with my views of the Constitution, sound policy, and the rights of the respective States will readily receive my cooperation. This bill, how- ever, is not of that character. The arrangement it contem- plates is not permanent, but limited to five years only, and in its terms appears to anticipate alterations within that * A pocket veto. The message can be best understood when read in connection with the history of the pubhc lands. (See Bibhography.) 30s 3°^ Andrew Jackson time, at the discretion of Congress ; and it furnishes no ade- quate security against those continued agitations of the sub- ject which it should be the principal object of any measure for the disposition of the public lands to avert. Neither the merits of the bill under consideration nor the validity of the objections which I have felt it to be my duty to make to its passage can be correctly appreciated without a full understanding of the manner in which the public lands upon which it is intended to operate were acquired and the conditions upon which they are now held by the United States. I will therefore precede the statement of those objections by a brief but distinct exposition of these points. The waste lands within the United States constituted one of the early obstacles to the organization of any government for the protection of their common interests. In October, 1777, while Congress were framing the Articles of Confed- eration, a proposition was made to amend them to the fol- lowing effect, viz. : That the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such States as claim to the Missis- sippi or South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the bound- ary so ascertained into separate and independent States from time to time as the numbers and circumstances of the people thereof may require. It was, however, rejected, Maryland only voting for it, and so difficult did the subject appear that the patriots of that body agreed to waive it in the Articles of Confedera- tion and leave it for future settlement. On the submission of the Articles to the several State leg- islatures for ratification the most formidable objection was found to be in this subject of the waste lands. Maryland, Rhode Island, and New Jersey instructed their delegates in Congress to move amendments to them providing that the waste or Crown lands should be considered the common Veto Message — Public Lands 3^7 property of the United States, but they were rejected. All the States except Maryland acceded to the Articles, not- withstanding some of them did so with the reservation that their claim to those lands as common property was not thereby abandoned. On the sole ground that no declaration to that effect was contained in the Articles, Maryland withheld her assent, and in May, 1779, embodied her objections in the form of in- structions to her delegates, which were entered upon the Journals of Congress. The following extracts are from that document, viz. : Is it possible that those States who are ambitiously grasp- ing at territories to which in our judgment they have not the least shadow of exclusive right will use with greater moderation the increase of wealth and power derived from those territories when acquired than what they have dis- played in their endeavors to acquire them ? * * * We are convinced policy and justice require that a coun- try unsettled at the commencement of this war, claimed by the British Crown and ceded to it by the treaty of Paris, if wrested from the common enemy by the blood and treasure of the thirteen States, should be considered as a common property, subject to be parceled out by Congress into free, convenient, and independent governments, in such manner and at such times as the wisdom of that assembly shall here- after direct. * * * Virginia proceeded to open a land office for the sale of her Western lands, which produced such excitement as to induce Congress, in October, 1779, to interpose and ear- nestly recommend to " the said State and all States simi- larly circumstanced to forbear settling or issuing warrants for such unappropriated lands, or granting the same, during the continuance of the present war." In March, 1780, the legislature of New York passed an act tendering a cession to the United States of the claims of that State to the Western territory, preceded by a pre- amble to the following effect, viz. : 3o8 Andrew Jackson Whereas nothing under Divine Providence can more ef- fectually contribute to the tranquillity and safety of the United States of America than a federal alliance on such liberal principles as will give satisfaction to its respective members; and whereas the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union recommended by the honorable Congress of the United States of America have not proved acceptable to all the States, it having been conceived that a portion of the waste and uncultivated territory within the limits or claims of certain States ought to be appropriated as a com- mon fund for the expenses of the war, and the people of the State of New York being on all occasions disposed to mani- fest their regard for their sister States and their earnest desire to promote the general interest and security, and more especially to accelerate the federal alliance, by remov- ing as far as it depends upon them the before-mentioned impediment to its final accomplishment. * * * This act of New York, the instructions of Maryland, and a remonstrance of Virginia were referred to a committee of Congress, who reported a preamble and resolutions thereon, which were adopted on the 6th September, 1780; so much of which as is necessary to elucidate the subject is to the following effect, viz. : That it appears advisable to press upon those States which can remove the embarrassments respecting the Western country a liberal surrender of a portion of their territorial claims, since they can not be preserved entire without en- dangering the stability of the General Confederacy; to re- mind them how indispensably necessary it is to establish the Federal Union on a fixed and permanent basis and on prin- ciples acceptable to all its respective members ; how essen- tial to public credit and confidence, to the support of our Army, to the vigor of our counsels and success of our meas- ures, to our tranquillity at home, our reputation abroad, to our very existence as a free, sovereign, and independent people; that they are fully persuaded the wisdom of the several legislatures will lead them to a full and impartial consideration of a subject so interesting to the United States, and so necessary to the happy establishment of the Veto Message — Public Lands 309 Federal Union; that they are confirmed in these expecta- tions by a review of the before-mentioned act of the legis- lature of New York, submitted to their consideration. ♦ ♦ ♦ Resolved, That copies of the several papers referred to the committee be transmitted, with a copy of the report, to the legislatures of the several States, and that it be earnestly recommended to those States who have claims to the West- ern country to pass such laws and give their delegates in Congress such powers as may effectually remove the only obstacle to a final ratification of the Articles of Confedera- tion, and that the legislature of Maryland be earnestly re- quested to authorize their delegates in Congress to sub- scribe the said Articles. Following up this policy. Congress proceeded, on the loth October, 1780, to pass a resolution pledging the United States to the several States as to the manner in which any lands that might be ceded by them should be disposed of, the material parts of which are as follows, viz. : Resolved, That the unappropriated lands which may be ceded or relinquished to the United States by any particu- lar State pursuant to the recommendation of Congress of the 6th day of September last shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, which shall become members of the Federal Union and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence as the other States ; * * * that the said lands shall be granted or settled at such times and under such regulations as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled, or nine or more of them. In February, 1781, the legislature of Maryland passed an act authorizing their delegates in Congress to sign the Ar- ticles of Confederation. The following are extracts from the preamble and body of the act, viz. : Whereas it hath been said that the common enemy is en- couraged by this State not acceding to the Confederation to 3IO Andrew Jackson hope that the union of the sister States may be dissolved, and therefore prosecutes the war in expectation of an event so disgraceful to America, and our friends and illustrious ally are impressed with an idea that the common cause would be promoted by our formally acceding to the Con- federation. * * * The act of which this is the preamble authorizes the del- egates of that State to sign the Articles, and proceeds to declare " that by acceding to the said Confederation this State doth not relinquish, nor intend to relinquish, any right or interest she hath with the other united or confederated States to the back country," etc. On the 1st of March, 1781, the delegates of Maryland signed the Articles of Confederation, and the Federal Union under that compact was complete. The conflicting claims to the Western lands, however, were not disposed of, and continued to give great trouble to Congress. Repeated and urgent calls were made by Congress upon the States claim- ing them to make liberal cessions to the United States, and it was not until long after the present Constitution was formed that the grants were completed. The deed of cession from New York was executed on the 1st of March, 1781, the day the Articles of Confedera- tion were ratified, and it was accepted by Congress on the 29th October, 1782. One of the conditions of this cession thus tendered and accepted was that the lands ceded to the United States " shall be and inure for the use and benefit of such of the United States as shall become members of the federal alliance of the said States, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever." The Virginia deed of cession was executed and accepted on the 1st day of March, 1784. One of the conditions of this cession is as follows, viz. : That all the lands within the territory as ceded to the United States, and not reserved for or appropriated to any of the before-mentioned purposes or disposed of in bounties Veto Message — Public Lands 3 1 1 to the officers and soldiers of the American Army, shall be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become or shall become mem- bers of the confederation or federal alliance of the said States, Virginia inclusive, according to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever. Within the years 1785, 1786, and 1787 Massachusetts, Connecticut, and South Carohna ceded their claims upon similar conditions. The Federal Government went into op- eration under the existing Constitution on the 4th of March, 1789. The following is the only provision of that Consti- tution which has a direct bearing on the subject of the pub- lic lands, viz. : The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States, and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular State. Thus the Constitution left all the compacts before made in full force, and the rights of all parties remained the same under the new Government as they were under the Confed- eration. The deed of cession of North Carolina was executed in December, 1789, and accepted by an act of Congress ap- proved April 2, 1790. The third condition of this cession was in the following words, viz. : That all the lands intended to be ceded by virtue of this act to the United States of America, and not appropriated as before mentioned, shall be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of the United States of America, North Carolina inclusive, according to their respective and usual proportions of the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose ivhatever. 3^2 Andrew Jackson The cession of Georgia was completed on the i6th June, 1802, and in its leading condition is precisely like that of Virginia and North Carolina. This grant completed the title of the United States to all those lands generally called public lands lying within the original limits of the Confed- eracy. Those which have been acquired by the purchase of Louisiana and Florida, having been paid for out of the common treasure of the United States, are as much the property of the General Government, to be disposed of for the common benefit, as those ceded by the several States. By the facts here collected from the early history of our Republic it appears that the subject of the public lands en- tered into the elements of its institutions. It was only upon the condition that those lands should be considered as com- mon property, to be disposed of for the benefit of the United States, that some of the States agreed to come into a " per- petual union." The States claiming those lands acceded to those views and transferred their claims to the United States upon certain specific conditions, and on those condi- tions the grants were accepted. These solemn compacts, invited by Congress in a resolution declaring the purposes to which the proceeds of these lands should be applied, orig- inating before the Constitution and forming the basis on which it was made, bound the United States to a particular course of policy in relation to them by ties as strong as can be invented to secure the faith of nations. As early as May, 1785, Congress, in execution of these compacts, passed an ordinance providing for the sales of lands in the Western territory and directing the proceeds to be paid into the Treasury of the United States. With the same object other ordinances were adopted prior to the or- ganization of the present Government. In further execution of these compacts the Congress of the United States under the present Constitution, as early as the 4th of August, 1790, in "An act making pro- vision for the debt of the United States," enacted as fol- lows, viz. : Veto Message — Public Lands 313 That the proceeds of sales which shall be made of lands in the Western territory now belonging or that may here- after belong to the United States shall be and are hereby appropriated toward sinking or discharging the debts for the payment whereof the United States now are or by vir- tue of this act may be holden, and shall be applied solely to that use until the said debt shall be fully satisfied. To secure to the Government of the United States forever the power to execute these compacts in good faith the Con- gress of the Confederation, as early as July 13, 1787, in an ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, prescribed to the people inhabiting the Western territory certain condi- tions which were declared to be " articles of compact be- tween the original States and the people and States in the said territory," wdiich should " forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent." In one of these articles it is declared that — The legislatures of those districts, or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regula- tions Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. This condition has been exacted from the people of all the new territories, and to put its obligation beyond dispute each new State carved out of the public domain has been re- quired explicitly to recognize it as one of the conditions of admission into the Union. Some of them have declared through their conventions in separate acts that their people " forever disclaim all right and title to the waste and unap- propriated lands lying within this State, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States." With such care have the United States reserved to them- selves, in all their acts down to this day, in legislating for the Territories and admitting States into the Union, the un- shackled power to execute in good faith the compacts of SH Andrew Jackson cession made with the original States. From these facts and proceedings it plainly and certainly results — 1. That one of the fundamental principles on which the Confederation of the United States was originally based was that the waste lands of the West within their limits should be the common property of the United States. 2. That those lands were ceded to the United States by the States which claimed them, and the cessions were ac- cepted on the express condition that they should be disposed of for the common benefit of the States, according to their respective proportions in the general charge and expendi- ture, and for no other purpose whatsoever. 3. That in execution of these solemn compacts the Con- gress of the United States did, under the Confederation, proceed to sell these lands and put the avails into the com- mon Treasury, and under the new Constitution did repeat- edly pledge them for the payment of the public debt of the United States, by which pledge each State was expected to profit in proportion to the general charge to be made upon it for that object. These are the first principles of this whole subject, which I think can not be contested by anyone who examines the proceedings of the Revolutionary Congress, the cessions of the several States, and the acts of Congress under the new Constitution. Keeping them deeply impressed upon the mind, let us proceed to examine how far the objects of the cessions have been completed, and see whether those compacts are not still obligatory upon the United States. The debt for which these lands were pledged by Congress may be considered as paid, and they are consequently re- leased from that lien. But that pledge formed no part of the compacts with the States, or of the conditions upon which the cessions were made. It was a contract between new parties — between the United States and their creditors. Upon payment of the debt the compacts remain in full force, and the obligation of the United States to dispose of the lands for the common benefit is neither destroyed nor im- paired. As they can not now be executed in that mode, the Veto Message — Public Lands 315 only legitimate question which can arise is, In what other way are these lands to be hereafter disposed of for the common benefit of the several States, " according to their respective and usual proportion in the general charge and expenditure "f The cessions of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia in express terms, and all the rest impliedly, not only provide thus specifically the proportion according to which each State shall profit by the proceeds of the land sales, but they proceed to declare that they shall be " faith- fully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever" This is the fundamental law of the land at this moment, growing out of compacts which are older than the Constitution, and formed the cor- ner stone on which the Union itself was erected. In the practice of the Government the proceeds of the public lands have not been set apart as a separate fund for the payment of the public debt, but have been and are now paid into the Treasury, where they constitute a part of the aggregate of revenue upon which the Government draws as well for its current expenditures as for payment of the pub- lic debt. In this manner they have heretofore and do now lessen the general charge upon the people of the several States in the exact proportions stipulated in the compacts. These general charges have been composed not only of the public debt and the usual expenditures attending the civil and military administrations of the Government, but of the amounts paid to the States with which these com- pacts were formed, the amounts paid the Indians for their right of possession, the amounts paid for the purchase of Louisiana and Florida, and the amounts paid surveyors, registers, receivers, clerks, etc., employed in preparing for market and selling the Western domain. From the origin of the land system down to the 30th September, 1832, the amount expended for all these pur- poses has been about $49,701,280, and the amount received from the sales, deducting payments on account of roads, etc., about $38,386,624. The revenue arising from the pub- lic lands, therefore, has not been sufficient to meet the gen- 3^^ Andrew Jackson eral charges on the Treasury which have grown out of them by about $11,314,656. Yet in having been appHed to les- sen those charges the conditions of the compacts have been thus far fulfilled, and each State has profited according to its usual proportion in the general charge and expenditure. The annual proceeds of land sales have increased and the charges have diminished, so that at a reduced price those lands would now defray all current charges growing out of them and save the Treasury from further advances on their account. Their original intent and object, therefore, w^ould be accomplished as fully as it has hitherto been by reducing the price and hereafter, as heretofore, bringing the proceeds into the Treasury. Indeed, as this is the only mode in which the objects of the original compact can be attained, it may be considered for all practical purposes that it is one of their requirements. The bill before me begins with an entire subversion of every one of the compacts by which the United States be- came possessed of their Western domain, and treats the sub- ject as if they never had existence and as if the United States were the original and unconditional owners of all the public lands. The first section directs — That from and after the 31st day of December, 1832, there shall be allowed and paid to each of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana, over and above what each of the said States is entitled to by the terms of the compacts entered into be- tween them respectively upon their admission into the Union and the United States, the sum of 12^ per cent upon the net amount of the sales of the public lands which subsequent to the day aforesaid shall be made within the several limits of the said States, which said sum of I2| per cent shall be ap- plied to some object or objects of internal improvement or education within the said States under the direction of their several legislatures. This I2| per cent is to be taken out of the net proceeds of the land sales before any apportionment is made, and the Veto Message — Public Lands 317 same seven States which are first to receive this proportion are also to receive their due proportion of the residue ac- cording to the ratio of general distribution. Now, waiving all considerations of equity or policy in regard to this provision, what more need be said to demon- strate its objectionable character than that it is in direct and undisguised violation of the pledge given by Congress to the States before a single cession was made, that it abro- gates the condition upon which some of the States came into the Union, and that it sets at naught the terms of ces- sion spread upon the face of every grant under which the title to that portion of the public land is held by the Federal Government ? In the apportionment of the remaining seven-eighths of the proceeds this bill, in a manner equally undisguised, vio- lates the conditions upon which the United States acquired title to the ceded lands. Abandoning altogether the ratio of distribution according to the general charge and expendi- tune provided by the compacts, it adopts that of the Federal representative population. Virginia and other States which ceded their lands upon the express condition that they should receive a benefit from their sales in proportion to their part of the general charge are by the bill allowed only a portion of seven-eighths of their proceeds, and that not in the pro- portion of general charge and expenditure, but in the ratio of their Federal representative population. The Constitution of the United States did not delegate to Congress the power to abrogate these compacts. On the contrary, by declaring that nothing in it " shall be so con- strued as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular State," it virtually provides that these com- pacts and the rights they secure shall remain untouched by the legislative power, which shall only make all " needful rules and regulations " for carrying them into effect. All beyond this would seem to be an assumption of undelegated power. These ancient compacts are invaluable monuments of an age of virtue, patriotism, and disinterestedness. They ex- 3i8 Andrew Jackson hibit the price that great States which had won liberty were wilHng to pay for that union without which they plainly saw it could not be preserved. It was not for territory or state power that our Revolutionary fathers took up arms; it was for individual liberty and the right of self-govern- ment. The expulsion from the continent of British armies and British power was to them a barren conquest if through the collisions of the redeemed States the individual rights for which they fought should become the prey of petty military tyrannies established at home. To avert such con- sequences and throw around liberty the shield of union, States whose relative strength at the time gave them a preponderating power magnanimously sacrificed domains which would have made them the rivals of empires, only stipulating that they should be disposed of for the com- mon benefit of themselves and the other confederated States. This enlightened policy produced union and has secured liberty. It has made our waste lands to swarm with a busy people and added many powerful States to our Confedera- tion. As well for the fruits which these noble works of our ancestors have produced as for the devotedness in which they originated, we should hesitate before we demolish them. But there are other principles asserted in the bill which would have impelled me to withhold my signature had I not seen in it a violation of the compacts by which the United States acquired title to a large portion of the pub- lic lands. It reasserts the principle contained in the bill authorizing a subscription to the stock of the Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike Road Com- pany, from which I was compelled to withhold my consent for reasons contained in my message of the 27th May, 1830, to the House of Representatives. The leading principle then asserted was that Congress possesses no constitutional power to appropriate any part of the moneys of the United States for objects of a local char- acter within the States. That principle I can not be mis- taken in supposing has received the unequivocal sanction of Veto Message — Public Lands 319 the American people, and all subsequent reflection has but satisfied me more thoroughly that the interests of our peo- ple and the purity of our Government, if not its existence, depend on its observance. The public lands are the common property of the United States, and the moneys arising from their sales are a part of the public revenue. This bill pro- poses to raise from and appropriate a portion of this public revenue to certain States, providing expressly that it shall " be applied to objects of internal improvement or education zvithin those States," and then proceeds to appropriate the balance to all the States, v^ith the declaration that it shall be applied " to such purposes as the legislatures of the said respective States shall deem proper." The former appropri- ation is expressly for internal improvements or education, without qualification as to the kind of improvements, and therefore in express violation of the principle maintained in my objections to the turnpike-road bill above referred to. The latter appropriation is more broad, and gives the money to be applied to any local purpose whatsoever. It will not be denied that under the provisions of the bill a portion of the money might have been applied to making the very road to which the bill of 1830 had reference, and must of course come within the scope of the same principle. If the money of the United States can not be applied to local purposes through its ozvn agents, as little can it be permitted to be thus expended through the agency of the State governments. It has been supposed that with all the reductions in our revenue which could be speedily effected by Congress with- out injury to the substantial interests of the country there might be for some years to come a surplus of moneys in the Treasury, and that there was in principle no objection to re- turning them to the people by whom they were paid. As the literal accomplishment of such an object is obviously impracticable, it was thought admissible, as the nearest ap- proximation to it, to hand them over to the State govern- ments, the more immediate representatives of the people, to be by them applied to the benefit of those to whom they properly belonged. The principle and the object were to re- 320 Andrew Jackson turn to the people an unavoidable surplus of revenue which might have been paid by them under a system which could not at once be abandoned, but even this recourse, which at one time seemed to be almost the only alternative to save the General Government from grasping unlimited power over internal improvements, was suggested with doubts of its constitutionality. But this bill assumes a new principle. Its object is not to return to the people an unavoidable surplus of revenue paid in by them, but to create a surplus for distribution among the States. It seizes the entire proceeds of one source of revenue and sets them apart as a surplus, making it necessary to raise the moneys for supporting the Gov- ernment and meeting the general charges from other sources. It even throws the entire land system upon the customs for its support, and makes the public lands a per- petual charge upon the Treasury. It does not return to the people moneys accidentally or unavoidably paid by them to the Government, by which they are not wanted, but com- pels the people to pay moneys into the Treasury for the mere purpose of creating a surplus for distribution to their State governments. If this principle be once admitted, it is not difficult to perceive to what consequences it may lead. Already this bill, by throwing the land system on the rev- enues from imports for support, virtually distributes among the States a part of those revenues. The proportion may be increased from time to time, without any departure from the principle now asserted, until the State governments shall derive all the funds necessary for their support from the Treasury of the United States, or, if a sufficient supply should be obtained by some States and not by others, the deficient States might complain; and to put an end to all further difficulty Congress, without assuming any new principle, need go but one step further and put the salaries of all the State governors, judges, and other officers, with a sufficient sum for other expenses, in their general appro- priation bill. It appears to me that a more direct road to consolidation Veto Message — Public Lands 321 can not be devised. Money is power, and in that Govern- ment which pays all the public officers of the States will all political power be substantially concentrated. The State governments, if governments they might be called, would lose all their independence and dignity ; the economy which now distinguishes them would be converted into a profu- sion, limited only by the extent of the supply. Being the dependents of the General Government, and looking to its Treasury as the source of all their emoluments, the State officers, under whatever names they might pass and by whatever forms their duties might be prescribed, would in effect be the mere stipendiaries and instruments of the central power. I am quite sure that the intelligent people of our several States will be satisfied on a little reflection that it is neither wise nor safe to release the members of their local legisla- tures from the responsibility of levying the taxes necessary to support their State governments and vest it in Congress, over most of whose members they have no control. They will not think it expedient that Congress shall be the tax- gatherer and paymaster of all their State governments, thus amalgamating all their officers into one mass of common interest and common feeling. It is too obvious that such a course would subvert our well-balanced system of gov- ernment, and ultimately deprive us of all the blessings now derived from our happy Union. However willing I might be that any unavoidable sur- plus in the Treasury should be returned to the people through their State governments, I can not assent to the principle that a surplus may be created for the purpose of distribution. Viewing this bill as in effect assuming the right not only to create a surplus for that purpose, but to divide the contents of the Treasury among the States with- out limitation, from whatever source they may be derived, and asserting the power to raise and appropriate money for the support of every State government and institution, as well as for making every local improvement, however triv- ial, I can not give it my assent. 322 Andrew Jackson It is difficult to perceive what advantages would accrue to the old States or the new from the system of distribu- tion which this bill proposes if it were otherwise unobjec- tionable. It requires no argument to prove that if $3,000,000 a year, or any other sum, shall be taken out of the Treasury by this bill for distribution it must be replaced by the same sum collected from the people through some other means. The old States will receive annually a sum of money from the Treasury, but they will pay in a larger sum, together with the expenses of collection and distribution. It is only their proportion of seven-eighths of the proceeds of land sales which they are to receive, but they must pay their due proportion of the whole. Disguise it as we may, the bill proposes to them a dead loss in the ratio of eight to seven, in addition to expenses and other incidental losses. This assertion is not the less true because it may not at first be palpable. Their receipts will be in large sums, but their payments in small ones. The governments of the States will receive seven dollars, for which the people of the States will pay eight. The large sums received will be palpable to the senses; the small sums paid it requires thought to identify. But a little consideration will satisfy the people that the effect is the same as if seven hundred dollars were given them from the public Treasury, for which they were at the same time required to pay in taxes, direct or indirect, eight hundred. I deceive myself greatly if the new States would find their interests promoted by such a system as this bill pro- poses. Their true policy consists in the rapid settling and improvement of the waste lands within their limits. As a means of hastening those events, they have long been look- ing to a reduction in the price of public lands upon the final payment of the national debt. The effect of the proposed system would be to prevent that reduction. It is true the bill reserves to Congress the power to reduce the price, but the effect of its details as now arranged would probably be forever to prevent its exercise. With the just men who inhabit the new States it is a suf- Veto Message — Public Lands 323 ficient reason to reject this system that it is in violation of the fundamental laws of the Republic and its Constitution. But if it were a mere question of interest or expediency they would still reject it. They would not sell their bright prospect of increasing wealth and growing power at such a price. They would not place a sum of money to be paid into their treasuries in competition with the settlement of their waste lands and the increase of their population. They would not consider a small or a large annual sum to be paid to their governments and immediately expended as an equivalent for that enduring wealth which is composed of flocks and herds and cultivated farms. No temptation will allure them from that object of abiding interest, the settle- ment of their waste lands, and the increase of a hardy race of free citizens, their glory in peace and their defense in war. On the whole, I adhere to the opinion, expressed by me in my annual message of 1832, that it is our true policy that the public lands shall cease as soon as practicable to be a source of revenue, except for the payment of those gen- eral charges which grow out of the acquisition of the lands, their survey and sale. Although these expenses have not been met by the proceeds of sales heretofore, it is quite certain they will be hereafter, even after a considerable re- duction in the price. By meeting in the Treasury so much of the general charge as arises from that source they will hereafter, as they have been heretofore, be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, according to the compacts of cession. I do not doubt that it is the real in- terest of each and all the States in the Union, and particu- larly of the new States, that the price of these lands shall be reduced and graduated, and that after they have been of- fered for a certain number of years the refuse remaining unsold shall be abandoned to the States and the machinery of our land system entirely withdrawn. It can not be sup- posed the compacts intended that the United States should retain forever a title to lands within the States which are of no value, and no doubt is entertained that the general in- 3^4 Andrew Jackson terest would be best promoted by surrendering sucH lands to the States. This plan for disposing of the public lands impairs no principle, violates no compact, and deranges no system. Al- ready has the price of those lands been reduced from $2 per acre to $1.25, and upon the will of Congress it depends whether there shall be a further reduction. While the bur- dens of the East are diminishing by the reduction of the duties upon imports, it seems but equal justice that the chief burden of the West should be lightened in an equal degree at least. It would be just to the old States and the new, conciliate every interest, disarm the subject of all its dan- gers, and add another guaranty to the perpetuity of our happy Union. Sensible, however, of the difficulties which surround this important subject, I can only add to my regrets at finding myself again compelled to disagree with the legislative power the sincere declaration that any plan which shall promise a final and satisfactory disposition of the question and be compatible with the Constitution and public faith shall have my hearty concurrence. ANDREW JACKSON. Protest on the Expunging Resolution.* (April 15, 1834.) To the Senate of the United States: It appears by the published Journal of the Senate that on the 26th of De- cember last a resolution was offered by a member of the Senate, which after a protracted debate was on the 28th day of March last modified by the mover and passed by the votes of twenty-six Senators out of forty-six who were present and voted, in the following words, viz. : Resolved, That the President, in the late Executive pro- ceedings in relation to the public revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitu- tion and laws, but in derogation of both. Having had the honor, through the voluntary suffrages of the American people, to fill the office of President of the United States during the period which may be presumed to have been referred to in this resolution, it is sufficiently evi- dent that the censure it inflicts was intended for myself. Without notice, unheard and untried, I thus find myself charged on the records of the Senate, and in a form hitherto * The Senate refused to allow this Protest to be entered on its jour- nal. The condemnation of the President for his proceedings "in re- lation to the public revenue" forms one of the exciting incidents of "the reign of Andrew Jackson." In that contest between the Senate and the Executive — and it fills many chapters of books on the "Jack- son era" — the Executive triumphed. The issue lay deeper than the question of a mere executive act ; it involved the functions and powers of the Executive under the Constitution. Benton, who was Jackson's Colossus on the floor of the Senate, has related in detail, in his Thirty Years' View, the justification of the President. We must turn to the speeches of Webster and Clay for the defense of th« Senate. 325 326 Andrew Jackson unknown in our history, with the high crime of violating the laws and Constitution of my country. It can seldom be necessary for any department of the Government, when assailed in conversation or debate or by the strictures of the press or of popular assemblies, to step out of its ordinary path for the purpose of vindicating its conduct or of pointing out any irregularity or injustice in the manner of the attack; but when the Chief Executive Magistrate is, by one of the most important branches of the Government in its official capacity, in a public manner, and by its recorded sentence, but without precedent, competent authority, or just cause, declared guilty of a breach of the laws and Constitution, it is due to his station, to public opinion, and to a proper self-respect that the officer thus de- nounced should promptly expose the wrong which has been done. In the present case, moreover, there is even a stronger necessity for such a vindication. By an express provision of the Constitution, before the President of the United States can enter on the execution of his office he is required to take an oath or affirmation in the following words: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully exe- cute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Con- stitution of the United States. The duty of defending so far as in him lies the integrity of the Constitution would indeed have resulted from the very nature of his office, but by thus expressing it in the official oath or affirmation, which in this respect differs from that of any other functionary, the founders of our Republic have attested their sense of its importance and have given to it a peculiar solemnity and force. Bound to the per- formance of this duty by the oath I have taken, by the strongest obligations of gratitude to the American people, and by the ties which unite my every earthly interest wnth the welfare and glory of my country, and perfectly con- The Expunging Resolution 3^7 vinced that the discussion and passage of the above-men- tioned resolution were not only unauthorized by the Con- stitution, but in many respects repugnant to its provisions and subversive of the rights secured by it to other coordi- nate departments, I deem it an imperative duty to maintain the supremacy of that sacred instrument and the immuni- ties of the department intrusted to my care by all means consistent with my own lawful powers, with the rights of others, and with the genius of our civil institutions. To this end I have caused this my solemn protest against the aforesaid proceedings to be placed on the files of the execu- tive department and to be transmitted to the Senate. It is alike due to the subject, the Senate, and the people that the views which I have taken of the proceedings re- ferred to, and which compel me to regard them in the light that has been mentioned, should be exhibited at length, and with the freedom and firmness which are required by an oc- casion so unprecedented and peculiar. Under the Constitution of the United States the powers and functions of the various departments of the Federal Government and their responsibilities for violation or neg- lect of duty are clearly defined or result by necessary in- ference. The legislative power is, subject to the qualified negative of the President, vested in the Congress of the United States, composed of the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives; the executive power is vested exclusively in the President, except that in the conclusion of treaties and in certain appointments to office he is to act with the advice and consent of the Senate; the judicial power is vested ex- clusively in the Supreme and other courts of the United States, except in cases of impeachment, for which purpose the accusatory power is vested in the House of Represen- tatives and that of hearing and determining in the Senate. But although for the special purposes which have been mentioned there is an occasional intermixture of the powers of the different departments, yet with these exceptions each of the three great departments is independent of the others in its sphere of action, and when it deviates from that sphere 328 Andrew Jackson is not responsible to the others further than it is expressly made so in the Constitution. In every other respect each of them is the coequal of the other two, and all are the serv- ants of the American people, without power or right to con- trol or censure each other in the service of their common superior, save only in the manner and to the degree which that superior has prescribed. The responsibilities of the President are numerous and weighty. He is liable to impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, and on due conviction to removal from office and perpetual disqualification; and notwithstanding such conviction, he may also be indicted and punished according to law. He is also liable to the private action of any party who may have been injured by his illegal mandates or in- structions in the same manner and to the same extent as the humblest functionary. In addition to the responsibilities which may thus be enforced by impeachment, criminal pros- ecution, or suit at law, he is also accountable at the bar of public opinion for every act of his Administration. Subject only to the restraints of truth and justice, the free people of the United States have the undoubted right, as individuals or collectively, orally or in writing, at such times and in such language and form as they may think proper, to discuss his official conduct and to express and promulgate their opinions concerning it. Indirectly also his conduct may come under review in either branch of the Legislature, or in the Senate when acting in its executive capacity, and so far as the executive or legislative proceedings of these bodies may require it, it may be exercised by them. These are be- lieved to be the proper and only modes in which the Presi- dent of the United States is to be held accountable for his official conduct. Tested by these principles, the resolution of the Senate is wholly unauthorized by the Constitution, and in deroga- tion of its entire spirit. It assumes that a single branch of the legislative department may for the purposes of a public censure, and without any view to legislation or impeach- ment, take up, consider, and decide upon the official acts of The Expunging Resolution 329 the Executive. But in no part of the Constitution is the President subjected to any such responsibility, and in no part of that instrument is any such power conferred on either branch of the Legislature. The justice of these conclusions will be illustrated and confirmed by a brief analysis of the powers of the Senate and a comparison of their recent proceedings with those powers. The high functions assigned by the Constitution to the Senate are in their nature either legislative, executive, or judicial. It is only in the exercise of its judicial powers, when sitting as a court for the trial of impeachments, that the Senate is expressly authorized and necessarily required to consider and decide upon the conduct of the President or any other public officer. Indirectly, however, as has al- ready been suggested, it may frequently be called on to per- form that office. Cases may occur in the course of its legislative or executive proceedings in which it may be in- dispensable to the proper exercise of its powers that it should inquire into and decide upon the conduct of the President or other public officers, and in every such case its constitutional right to do so is cheerfully conceded. But to authorize the Senate to enter on such a task in its legislative or executive capacity the inquiry must actually grow out of and tend to some legislative or executive action, and the decision, when expressed, must take the form of some appropriate legisla- tive or executive act. The resolution in question was introduced, discussed, and passed not as a joint but as a separate resolution. It asserts no legislative power, proposes no legislative action, and neither possesses the form nor any of the attributes of a legislative measure. It does not appear to have been en- tertained or passed with any view or expectation of its issuing in a law or joint resolution, or in the repeal of any law or joint resolution, or in any other legislative action. Whilst wanting both the form and substance of a legisla- tive measure, it is equally manifest that the resolution was 3JO Andrew Jackson not justified by any of the executive powers conferred on the Senate. These powers relate exclusively to the con- sideration of treaties and nominations to office, and they are exercised in secret session and with closed doors. This res- olution does not apply to any treaty or nomination, and was passed in a public session. Nor does this proceeding in any way belong to that class of incidental resolutions which relate to the officers of the Senate, to their Chamber and other appurtenances, or to subjects of order and other matters of the like nature, in all which either House may lawfully proceed without any co- operation with the other or with the President. On the contrary, the whole phraseology and sense of the resolution seem to be judicial. Its essence, true character, and only practical effect are to be found in the conduct which it charges upon the President and in the judgment which it pronounces on that conduct. The resolution, there- fore, though discussed and adopted by the Senate in its leg- islative capacity, is in its office and in all its characteristics essentially judicial. That the Senate possesses a high judicial power and that instances may occur in which the President of the United States will be amenable to it is undeniable; but under the provisions of the Constitution it would seem to be equally plain that neither the President nor any other officer can be rightfully subjected to the operation of the judicial power of the Senate except in the cases and under the forms pre- scribed by the Constitution. The Constitution declares that " the President, Vice- President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors;" that the House of Representatives " shall have the sole power of impeachment ;" that the Senate " shall have the sole power to try all impeachments ;" that " when sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation;" that " when the President of the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall preside ;" that " no person shall be con- The Expunging Resolution 33^ victed without the concurrence of two-thirds of the mem- bers present," and that " judgment shall not extend further than to removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States." The resolution above quoted charges, in substance, that in certain proceedings relating to the public revenue the Pres- ident has usurped authority and power not conferred upon him by the Constitution and laws, and that in doing so he violated both. Any such act constitutes a high crime — one of the highest, indeed, which the President can commit — a crime which justly exposes him to impeachment by the House of Representatives, and, upon due conviction, to removal from office and to the complete and immutable disfranchisement prescribed by the Constitution. The reso- lution, then, was in substance an impeachment of the Pres- ident, and in its passage amounts to a declaration by a majority of the Senate that he is guilty of an impeachable offense. As such it is spread upon the journals of the Sen- ate, published to the nation and to the world, made part of our enduring archives, and incorporated in the history of the age. The punishment of removal from office and future disqualification does not, it is true, follow this decision, nor would it have followed the like decision if the regular forms of proceeding had been pursued, because the requisite num- ber did not concur in the result. But the moral influence of a solemn declaration by a majority of the Senate that the accused is guilty of the offense charged upon him has been as effectually secured as if the like declaration had been made upon an impeachment expressed in the same terms. Indeed, a greater practical effect has been gained, because the votes given for the resolution, though not sufficient to authorize a judgment of guilty on an impeachment, were numerous enough to carry that resolution. That the resolution does not expressly allege that the as- sumption of power and authority which it condemns was intentional and corrupt is no answer to the preceding view of its character and effect. The act thus condemned nee- 332 Andrew Jackson essarily implies volition and design in the individual to whom it is imputed, and, being unlawful in its character, the legal conclusion is that it was prompted by improper motives and committed with an unlawful intent. The charge is not of a mistake in the exercise of supposed pow- ers, but of the assumption of powers not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both, and noth- ing is suggested to excuse or palliate the turpitude of the act. In the absence of any such excuse or palliation there is only room for one inference, and that is that the intent was unlawful and corrupt. Besides, the resolution not only con- tains no mitigating suggestions, but, on the contrary, it holds up the act complained of as justly obnoxious to cen- sure and reprobation, and thus as distinctly stamps it with impurity of motive as if the strongest epithets had been used. The President of the United States, therefore, has been by a majority of his constitutional triers accused and found guilty of an impeachable offense, but in no part of this proceeding have the directions of the Constitution been ob- served. The impeachment, instead of being preferred and prose- cuted by the House of Representatives, originated in the Senate, and was prosecuted without the aid or concurrence of the other House. The oath or affirmation prescribed by the Constitution was not taken by the Senators, the Chief Justice did not preside, no notice of the charge was given to the accused, and no opportunity afforded him to respond to the accusation, to meet his accusers face to face, to cross- examine the witnesses, to procure counteracting testimony, or to be heard in his defense. The safeguards and formali- ties which the Constitution has connected with the power of impeachment were doubtless supposed by the framers of that instrument to be essential to the protection of the pub- lic servant, to the attainment of justice, and to the order, impartiality, and dignity of the procedure. These safe- guards and formalities were not only practically disregarded in the commencement and conduct of these proceedings, but The Expunging Resolution 333 in their result I find myself convicted by less than two-thirds of the members present of an impeachable offense. In vain may it be alleged in defense of this proceeding that the form of the resolution is not that of an impeach- ment or of a judgment thereupon, that the punishment pre- scribed in the Constitution does not follow its adoption, or that in this case no impeachment is to be expected from the House of Representatives. It is because it did not assume the form of an impeachment that it is the more palpably re- pugnant to the Constitution, for it is through that form only that the President is judicially responsible to the Sen- ate; and though neither removal from office nor future dis- qualification ensues, yet it is not to be presumed that the framers of the Constitution considered either or both of those results as constituting the whole of the punishment they prescribed. The judgment of guilty by the highest tri- bunal in the Union, the stigma it would inflict on the offen- der, his family, and fame, and the perpetual record on the Journal, handing down to future generations the story of his disgrace, were doubtless regarded by them as the bitter- est portions, if not the very essence, of that punishment. So far, therefore, as some of its most material parts are concerned, the passage, recording, and promulgation of the resolution are an attempt to bring them on the President in a manner unauthorized by the Constitution. To shield him and other officers who are liable to impeachment from con- sequences so momentous, except when really merited by official delinquencies, the Constitution has most carefully guarded the whole process of impeachment. A majority of the House of Representatives must think the officer guilty before he can be charged. Two-thirds of the Senate must pronounce him guilty or he is deemed to be innocent. Forty- six Senators appear by the Journal to have been present when the vote on the resolution was taken. If after all the solemnities of an impeachment thirty of those Senators had voted that the President was guilty, yet would he have been acquitted; but by the mode of proceeding adopted in the present case a lasting record of conviction has been entered 334 Andrew Jackson up by the votes of twenty-six Senators without an impeach- ment or trial, whilst the Constitution expressly declares that to the entry of such a judgment an accusation by the House of Representatives, a trial by the Senate, and a concurrence of two-thirds in the vote of guilty shall be indispensable prerequisites. Whether or not an impeachment was to be expected from the House of Representatives was a point on which the Sen- ate had no constitutional right to speculate, and in respect to which, even had it possessed the spirit of prophecy, its anticipations would have furnished no just ground for this procedure. Admitting that there was reason to believe that a violation of the Constitution and laws had been actually committed by the President, still it was the duty of the Sen- ate, as his sole constitutional judges, to wait for an impeach- ment until the other House should think proper to prefer it. The members of the Senate could have no right to in- fer that no impeachment was intended. On the contrary, every legal and rational presumption on their part ought to have been that if there was good reason to believe him guilty of an impeachable offense the House of Representa- tives would perform its constitutional duty by arraigning the offender before the justice of his country. The contrary presumption would involve an implication derogatory to the integrity and honor of the representatives of the people. But suppose the suspicion thus implied were actually en- tertained and for good cause, how can it justify the assump- tion by the Senate of powers not conferred by the Consti- tution ? It is only necessary to look at the condition in which the Senate and the President have been placed by this proceed- ing to perceive its utter incompatibility with the provisions and the spirit of the Constitution and with the plainest dic- tates of humanity and justice. If the House of Representatives shall be of opinion that there is just ground for the censure pronounced upon the President, then will it be the solemn duty of that House to prefer the proper accusation and to cause him to be brought The Expunging Resolution 33 S to trial by the constitutional tribunal. But in what condi- tion would he find that tribunal? A majority of its mem- bers have already considered the case, and have not only formed but expressed a deliberate judgment upon its merits. It is the policy of our benign systems of jurisprudence to secure in all criminal proceedings, and even in the most trivial litigations, a fair, unprejudiced, and impartial trial, and surely it can not be less important that such a trial should be secured to the highest officer of the Government. The Constitution makes the House of Representatives the exclusive judges, in the first instance, of the question whether the President has committed an impeachable of- fense. A majority of the Senate, whose interference with this preliminary question has for the best of all reasons been studiously excluded, anticipate the action of the House of Representatives, assume not only the function which be- longs exclusively to that body, but convert themselves into accusers, witnesses, counsel, and judges, and prejudge the whole case, thus presenting the appalling spectacle in a free State of judges going through a labored preparation for an impartial hearing and decision by a previous ex parte investigation and sentence against the supposed offender. There is no more settled axiom in that Government w^hence we derived the model of this part of our Constitu- tion than that " the lords can not impeach any to themselves, nor join in the accusation, because they are judges." Inde- pendently of the general reasons on which this rule is founded, its propriety and importance are greatly increased by the nature of the impeaching power. The power of ar- raigning the high officers of government before a tribunal whose sentence may expel them from their seats and brand them as infamous is eminently a popular remedy — a remedy designed to be employed for the protection of private right and public liberty against the abuses of injustice and the encroachments of arbitrary power. But the framers of the Constitution were also undoubtedly aware that this formi- dable instrument had been and might be abused, and tliat from its very nature an impeachment for high crimes and 33^ Andrew Jackson misdemeanors, whatever might be its result, would in most cases be accompanied by so much of dishonor and reproach, solicitude and suffering, as to make the power of preferring it one of the highest solemnity and importance. It was due to both these considerations that the impeaching power should be lodged in the hands of those who from the mode of their election and the tenure of their offices would most accurately express the popular will and at the same time be most directly and speedily amenable to the people. The theory of these wise and benignant intentions is in the pres- ent case effectually defeated by the proceedings of the Sen- ate. The members of that body represent not the people, but the States ; and though they are undoubtedly responsible to the States, yet from their extended term of service the effect of that responsibility during the whole period of that term must very much depend upon their own impressions of its obligatory force. When a body thus constituted expresses beforehand its opinion in a particular case, and thus indi- rectly invites a prosecution, it not only assumes a power intended for wise reasons to be confined to others, but it shields the latter from that exclusive and personal responsi- bility under which it was intended to be exercised, and re- verses the whole scheme of this part of the Constitution. Such would be some of the objections to this procedure, even if it were admitted that there is just ground for im- puting to the President the offenses charged in the resolu- tion. But if, on the other hand, the House of Represent- atives shall be of opinion that there is no reason for charging them upon him, and shall therefore deem it improper to prefer an impeachment, then will the violation of privilege as it respects that House, of justice as it regards the Presi- dent, and of the Constitution as it relates to both be only the more conspicuous and impressive. The constitutional mode of procedure on an impeachment has not only been wholly disregarded, but some of the first principles of natural right and enlightened jurisprudence have been violated in the very form of the resolution. It carefully abstains from averring in which of " the late pro- The Expunging Resolution 337 ceedings in relation to the public revenue the President has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws." It carefully abstains from specifying what laws or what parts of the Constitution have been violated. Why was not the certainty of the offense — " the nature and cause of the accusation " — set out in the manner required in the Constitution before even the hum- blest individual, for the smallest crime, can be exposed to condemnation ? Such a specification was due to the accused that he might direct his defense to the real points of attack, to the people that they might clearly understand in what particulars their institutions had been violated, and to the truth and certainty of our public annals. As the record now stands, whilst the resolution plainly charges upon the Presi- dent at least one act of usurpation in " the late Executive proceedings in relation to the public revenue," and is so framed that those Senators who believed that one such act, and only one, had been committed could assent to it, its lan- guage is yet broad enough to include several such acts, and so it may have been regarded by some of those who voted for it. But though the accusation is thus comprehensive in the censures it implies, there is no such certainty of time, place, or circumstance as to exhibit the particular conclusion of fact or law which induced any one Senator to vote for it ; and it may well have happened that whilst one Senator be- lieved that some particular act embraced in the resolution was an arbitrary and unconstitutional assumption of power, others of the majority may have deemed that very act both constitutional and expedient, or, if not expedient, yet still within the pale of the Constitution ; and thus a majority of the Senators may have been enabled to concur in a vague and undefined accusation that the President, in the course of " the late Executive proceedings in relation to the public revenue," had violated the Constitution and laws, whilst if a separate vote had been taken in respect to each particular act included within the general terms the accusers of the President might on any such vote have been found in the minority. 33^ Andrew Jackson Still further to exemplify this feature of the proceeding, it is important to be remarked that the resolution as orig- inally offered to the Senate specified with adequate precision certain acts of the President which it denounced as a viola- tion of the Constitution and laws, and that it was not until the very close of the debate, and when perhaps it was ap- prehended that a majority might not sustain the specific accusation contained in it, that the resolution was so modi- fied as to assume its present form. A more striking illustra- tion of the soundness and necessity of the rules which forbid vague and indefinite generalities and require a reasonable certainty in all judicial allegations, and a more glaring in- stance of the violation of those rules, has seldom been ex- hibited. In this view of the resolution it must certainly be regarded not as a vindication of any particular provision of the law or the Constitution, but simply as an official rebuke or con- demnatory sentence, too general and indefinite to be easily repelled, but yet sufficiently precise to bring into discredit the conduct and motives of the Executive. But whatever it may have been intended to accomplish, it is obvious that the vague, general, and abstract form of the resolution is in perfect keeping with those other departures from first prin- ciples and settled improvements in jurisprudence so properly the boast of free countries in modern times. And it is not too much to say of the whole of these proceedings that if they shall be approved and sustained by an intelligent peo- ple, then will that great contest with arbitrary power which had established in statutes, in bills of rights, in sacred char- ters, and in constitutions of government the right of every citizen to a notice before trial, to a hearing before convic- tion, and to an impartial tribunal for deciding on the charge have been waged in vain. If the resolution had been left in its original form it is not to be presumed that it could ever have received the as- sent of a majority of the Senate, for the acts therein speci- fied as violations of the Constitution and laws were clearly within the limits of the Executive authority. They are the The Expunging Resolution 339 " dismissing the late Secretary of the Treasury because he would not, contrary to his sense of his own duty, remove the money of the United States in deposit with the Bank of the United States and its branches in conformity with the President's opinion, and appointing his successor to effect such removal, which has been done." But as no other speci- fication has been substituted, and as these were the " Ex- ecutive proceedings in relation to the public revenue " prin- cipally referred to in the course of the discussion, they will doubtless be generally regarded as the acts intended to be denounced as *' an assumption of authority and power not conferred by the Constitution or laws, but in derogation of both." It is therefore due to the occasion that a condensed summary of the views of the Executive in respect to them should be here exhibited. By the Constitution " the executive power is vested in a President of the United States." Among the duties im- posed upon him, and which he is sworn to perform, is that of " taking care that the laws be faithfully executed." Be- ing thus made responsible for the entire action of the execu- tive department, it was but reasonable that the power of appointing, overseeing, and controlling those who execute the laws — a power in its nature executive — should remain in his hands. It is therefore not only his right, but the Con- stitution makes it his duty, to " nominate and, by and w^ith the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint " all " officers of the United States whose appointments are not in the Con- stitution otherwise provided for," with a proviso that the appointment of inferior officers may be vested in the Presi- dent alone, in the courts of justice, or in the heads of De- partments. The executive power vested in the Senate is neither that of " nominating " nor " appointing." It is merely a check upon the Executive power of appointment. If individuals are proposed for appointment by the President by them deemed incompetent or unworthy, they may withhold their consent and the appointment can not be made. They check the action of the Executive, but can not in relation to those 34° Andrew Jackson very subjects act themselves nor direct him. Selections are still made by the President, and the negative given to the Senate, without diminishing his responsibility, furnishes an additional guaranty to the country that the subordinate exec- utive as v^'ell as the judicial offices shall be filled with worthy and competent men. The whole executive power being vested in the President, who is responsible for its exercise, it is a necessary conse- quence that he should have a right to employ agents of his own choice to aid him in the performance of his duties, and to discharge them when he is no longer willing to be respon- sible for their acts. In strict accordance with this principle, the power of removal, which, like that of appointment, is an original executive power, is left unchecked by the Constitu- tion in relation to all executive officers, for whose conduct the President is responsible, while it is taken from him in relation to judicial officers, for whose acts he is not respon- sible. In the Government from which many of the funda- mental principles of our system are derived the head of the executive department originally had power to appoint and remove at will all officers, executive and judicial. It was to take the judges out of this general power of removal, and thus make them independent of the Executive, that the ten- ure of their offices was changed to good behavior. Nor is it conceivable why they are placed in our Constitution upon a tenure different from that of all other officers appointed by the Executive unless it be for the same purpose. But if there were any just ground for doubt on the face of the Constitution whether all executive officers are remov- able at the will of the President, it is obviated by the cotem- poraneous construction of the instrument and the uniform practice under it. The power of removal was a topic of solemn debate in the Congress of 1789 while organizing the administrative de- partments of the Government, and it was finally decided that the President derived from the Constitution the power of removal so far as it regards that department for whose acts he is responsible. Although the debate covered the The Expunging Resolution 341 whole ground, embracing the Treasury as well as all the other Executive Departments, it arose on a motion to strike out of the bill to establish a Department of Foreign Affairs, since called the Department of State, a clause declaring the Secretary " to be removable from office by the President of the United States." After that motion had been decided in the negative it was perceived that these words did not con- vey the sense of the House of Representatives in relation to the true source of the power of removal. With the avowed object of preventing any future inference that this power was exercised by the President in virtue of a grant from Congress, when in fact that body considered it as derived from the Constitution, the words which had been the sub- ject of debate were struck out, and in lieu thereof a clause was inserted in a provision concerning the chief clerk of the Department, which declared that " whenever the said prin- cipal officer shall be removed from office by the President of the United States, or in any other case of vacancy," the chief clerk should during such vacancy have charge of the pa- pers of the office. This change having been made for the express purpose of declaring the sense of Congress that the President derived the power of removal from the Constitu- tion, the act as it passed has always been considered as a full expression of the sense of the Legislature on this im- portant part of the American Constitution. Here, then, we have the concurrent authority of Presi- dent Washington, of the Senate, and the House of Repre- sentatives, numbers of whom had taken an active part in the convention which framed the Constitution and in the State conventions which adopted it, that the President de- rived an unqualified power of removal from that instrument itself, which is " beyond the reach of legislative authority." Upon this principle the Government has now been steadily administered for about forty-five years, during which there have been numerous removals made by the President or by his direction, embracing every grade of executive officers from the heads of Departments to the messengers of bu- reaus. 342 Andrew Jackson The Treasury Department in the discussions of 1789 was considered on the same footing as the other Executive De- partments, and in the act estabhshing it were incorporated the precise words indicative of the sense of Congress that the President derives his power to remove the Secretary from the Constitution, which appear in the act estabhshing the Department of Foreign Affairs. An Assistant Secre- tary of the Treasury was created, and it was provided that he should take charge of the books and papers of the De- partment " whenever the Secretary shall be removed from office by the President of the United States." The Secretary of the Treasury being appointed by the President, and being considered as constitutionally removable by him, it appears never to have occurred to anyone in the Congress of 1789, or since until very recently, that he was other than an exec- utive officer, the mere instrument of the Chief Magistrate in the execution of the laws, subject, like all other heads of Departments, to his supervision and control. No such idea as an officer of the Congress can be found in the Constitu- tion or appears to have suggested itself to those who organ- ized the Government. There are officers of each House the appointment of which is authorized by the Constitution, but all officers referred to in that instrument as coming within the appointing power of the President, whether established thereby or created by law, are " officers of the United States." No joint power of appointment is given to the two Houses of Congress, nor is there any accountability to them as one body ; but as soon as any office is created by law, of whatever name or character, the appointment of the person or persons to fill it devolves by the Constitution upon the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, unless it be an inferior office, and the appointment be vested by the law itself " in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of Departments." But at the time of the organization of the Treasury De- partment an incident occurred which distinctly evinces the unanimous concurrence of the First Congress in the prin- ciple that the Treasury Department is wholly executive in The Expunging Resolution 343 its character and responsibilities. A motion was made to strike out the provision of the bill making it the duty of the Secretary " to digest and report plans for the improvement and management of the revenue and for the support of pub- lic credit," on the ground that it would give the executive department of the Government too much influence and power in Congress. The motion was not opposed on the ground that the Secretary was the officer of Congress and responsible to that body, which would have been conclusive if admitted, but on other ground, which conceded his exec- utive cliaracter throughout. The whole discussion evinces an unanimous concurrence in the principle that the Secre- tary of the Treasury is wholly an executive officer, and the struggle of the minority was to restrict his power as such. From that time down to the present the Secretary of the Treasury, the Treasurer, Register, Comptrollers, Auditors, and clerks who fill the offices of that Department have in the practice of the Government been considered and treated as on the same footing with corresponding grades of officers in all the other Executive Departments. The custody of the public property, under such regula- tions as may be prescribed by legislative authority, has al- ways been considered an appropriate function of the exec- utive department in this and all other Governments. In accordance with this principle, every species of property be- longing to the United States (excepting that which is in the use of the several coordinate departments of the Govern- ment as means to aid them in performing their appropriate functions) is in charge of officers appointed by the Presi- dent, whether it be lands, or buildings, or merchandise, or provisions, or clothing, or arms and munitions of war. The superintendents and keepers of the whole are appoint- ed by the President, responsible to him, and removable at his will. Public money is but a species of public property. It can not be raised by taxation or customs, nor brought into the Treasury in any other way except by law ; but whenever or howsoever obtained, its custody always has been and always 344 Andrew Jackson must be, unless the Constitution be changed, intrusted to the executive department. No officer can be created by Con- gress for the purpose of taking charge of it whose appoint- ment would not by the Constitution at once devolve on the President and who would not be responsible to him for the faithful performance of his duties. The legislative power may undoubtedly bind him and the President by any laws they may think proper to enact ; they may prescribe in what place particular portions of the public property shall be kept and for what reason it shall be removed, as they may direct that supplies for the Army or Navy shall be kept in particu- lar stores, and it will be the duty of the President to see that the law is faithfully executed; yet will the custody remain in the executive department of the Government. Were the Congress to assume, with or without a legislative act, the power of appointing officers, independently of the President, to take the charge and custody of the public property con- tained in the military and naval arsenals, magazines, and storehouses, it is believed that such an act would be regarded by all as a palpable usurpation of executive power, sub- versive of the form as well as the fundamental principles of our Government. But where is the difference in principle whether the public property be in the form of arms, muni- tions of war, and supplies or in gold and silver or bank notes? None can be perceived; none is believed to exist. Congress can not, therefore, take out of the hands of the executive department the custody of the public property or money without an assumption of executive power and a sub- version of the first principles of the Constitution. The Congress of the United States have never passed an act imperatively directing that the public moneys shall be kept in any particular place or places. From the origin of the Government to the year 1816 the statute book was wholly silent on the subject. In 1789 a Treasurer was cre- ated, subordinate to the Secretary of the Treasury, and through him to the President. He was required to give bond safely to keep and faithfully to disburse the public moneys, without any direction as to the manner or places in The Expunging Resolution 345 which they should be kept. By reference to the practice of the Government it is found that from its first organization the Secretary of the Treasury, acting under the supervision of the President, designated the places in which the public moneys should be kept, and especially directed all transfers from place to place. This practice was continued, with the silent acquiescence of Congress, from 1789 down to 18 16, and although many banks were selected and discharged, and although a portion of the moneys were first placed in the State banks, and then in the former Bank of the United States, and upon the dissolution of that were again trans- ferred to the State banks, no legislation was thought neces- sary by Congress, and all the operations were originated and perfected by Executive authority. The Secretary of the Treasury, responsible to the President, and with his appro- bation, made contracts and arrangements in relation to the whole subject-matter, which was thus entirely committed to the direction of the President under his responsibilities to the American people and to those who were authorized to impeach and punish him for any breach of this important trust. The act of 18 16 establishing the Bank of the United States directed the deposits of public money to be made in that bank and its branches in places in which the said bank and branches thereof may be established, " unless the Secretary of the Treasury should otherwise order and direct," in which event he was required to give his reasons to Congress. This was but a continuation of his preexisting power as the head of an Executive Department to direct where the deposits should be made, with the superadded obligation of giving his reasons to Congress for making them elsewhere than in the Bank of the United States and its branches. It is not to be considered that this provision in any degree altered the relation between the Secretary of the Treasury and the President as the responsible head of the executive depart- ment, or released the latter from his constitutional obliga- tion to " take care that the laws be faithfully executed." On the contrary, it increased his responsibilities by adding 34^ Andrew Jackson another to the long Hst of laws which it was his duty to carry into effect. It would be an extraordinary result if because the person charged by law with a public duty is one of his Secretaries it were less the duty of the President to see that law faith- fully executed than other laws enjoining duties upon subor- dinate officers or private citizens. If there be any differ- ence, it would seem that the obligation is the stronger in relation to the former, because the neglect is in his presence and the remedy at hand. It can not be doubted that it was the legal duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to order and direct the deposits of the public money to be made elsewhere than in the Bank of the United States whenever sufficient reasons, existed for making the change. If in such a case he neglected or re- fused to act, he would neglect or refuse to execute the law. What would be the sworn duty of the President ? Could he say that the Constitution did not bind him to see the law faithfully executed because it was one of his Secretaries and not himself upon whom the service was specially imposed? Might he not be asked whether there was any such limita- tion to his obligations prescribed in the Constitution? Whether he is not equally bound to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, whether they impose duties on the highest officer of State or the lowest subordinate in any of the Departments ? Might he not be told that it was for the sole purpose of causing all executive officers, from the high- est to the lowest, faithfully to perform the services required of them by law that the people of the United States have made him their Chief Magistrate and the Constitution has clothed him with the entire executive power of this Govern- ment ? The principles implied in these questions appear too plain to need elucidation. But here also we have a cotemporaneous construction of the act which shows that it was not understood as in any way changing the relations between the President and Sec- retary of the Treasury, or as placing the latter out of Exec- utive control even in relation to the deposits of the public The Expunging Resolution 347 money. Nor on that point are we left to any equivocal testi- mony. The documents of the Treasury Department show that the Secretary of the Treasury did apply to the President and obtained his approbation and sanction to the original transfer of the public deposits to the present Bank of the United States, and did carry the measure into effect in obe- dience to his decision. They also show that transfers of the public deposits from the branches of the Bank of the United States to State banks at Chillicothe, Cincinnati, and Louis- ville, in 1819, were made with the approbation of the Presi- dent and by his authority. They show that upon all impor- tant questions appertaining to his Department, whether they related to the public deposits or other matters, it was the constant practice of the Secretary of the Treasury to obtain for his acts the approval and sanction of the President. These acts and the principles on which they were founded were known to all the departments of the Government, to Congress and the country, and until very recently appear never to have been called in question. Thus was it settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the Government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States ; that as incident to that power the right of appointing and remov- ing those officers who are to aid him in the execution of the laws, wnth such restrictions only as the Constitution pre- scribes, is vested in the President ; that the Secretary of the Treasury is one of those officers; that the custody of the public property and money is an Executive function which, in relation to the money, has always been exercised through the Secretary of the Treasury and his subordinates ; that in the performance of these duties he is subject to the super- vision and control of the President, and in all important measures having relation to them consults the Chief Magis- trate and obtains his approval and sanction; that the law establishing the bank did not, as it could not, change the relation between the President and the Secretary — did not release the former from his obligation to see the law faith- fully executed nor the latter from the President's supervision 34^ Andrew Jackson and control; that afterwards and before the Secretary did in fact consult and obtain the sanction of the President to transfers and removals of the public deposits, and that all departments of the Government, and the nation itself, ap- proved or acquiesced in these acts and principles as in strict conformity with our Constitution and laws. During the last year the approaching termination, accord- ing to the provisions of its charter and the solemn decision of the American people, of the Bank of the United States made it expedient, and its exposed abuses and corruptions made it, in my opinion, the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, to place the moneys of the United States in other depositories. The Secretary did not concur in that opinion, and declined giving the necessary order and direction. So glaring were the abuses and corruptions of the bank, so evi- dent its fixed purpose to persevere in them, and so palpable its design by its money and power to control the Govern- ment and change its character, that I deemed it the imper- ative duty of the Executive authority, by the exertion of every power confided to it by the Constitution and law^s, to check its career and lessen its ability to do mischief, even in the painful alternative of dismissing the head of one of the Departments. At the time the removal was made other causes sufficient to justify it existed, but if they had not the Secretary would have been dismissed for this cause only. His place I supplied by one whose opinions were well known to me, and whose frank expression of them in an- other situation and generous sacrifices of interest and feeling when unexpectedly called to the station he now occupies ought forever to have shielded his motives from suspicion and his character from reproach. In accordance with the views long before expressed by him he proceeded, with my sanction, to make arrangements for depositing the moneys of the United States in other safe institutions. The resolution of the Senate as originally framed and as passed, if it refers to these acts, presupposes a right in that body to interfere with this exercise of Executive power. If the principle be once admitted, it is not difficult to perceive The Expunging Resolution 349 where it may end. If by a mere denunciation like this reso- lution the President should ever be induced to act in a mat- ter of official duty contrary to the honest convictions of his own mind in compliance with the wishes of the Senate, the constitutional independence of the executive department would be as effectually destroyed and its power as effectually transferred to the Senate as if that end had been accom- plished by an amendment of the Constitution. But if the Senate have a right to interfere with the Executive powers, they have also the right to make that interference effective, and if the assertion of the power implied in the resolution be silently acquiesced in we may reasonably apprehend that it will be followed at some future day by an attempt at actual enforcement. The Senate may refuse, except on the condition that he will surrender his opinions to theirs and obey their will, to perform their own constitutional func- tions, to pass the necessary laws, to sanction appropriations proposed by the House of Representatives, and to confirm proper nominations made by the President. It has already been maintained (and it is not conceivable that the resolu- tion of the Senate can be based on any other principle) that the Secretary of the Treasury is the officer of Congress and independent of the President; that the President has no right to control him, and consequently none to remove him. With the same propriety and on similar grounds may the Secretary of State, the Secretaries of War and the Navy, and the Postmaster-General each in succession be declared independent of the President, the subordinates of Congress, and removable only with the concurrence of the Senate. Followed to its consequences, this principle will be found effectually to destroy one coordinate department of the Gov- ernment, to concentrate in the hands of the Senate the whole executive power, and to leave the President as powerless as he would be useless — the shadow of authority after the sub- stance had departed. The time and the occasion which have called forth the resolution of the Senate seem to impose upon me an addi- tional obligation not to pass it over in silence. Nearly forty- i5o Andrew Jackson five years had the President exercised, without a question as to his rightful authority, those powers for the recent as- sumption of which he is now denounced. The vicissitudes of peace and war had attended our Government; violent parties, watchful to take advantage of any seeming usurpa- tion on the part of the Executive, had distracted our coun- cils; frequent removals, or forced resignations in every sense tantamount to removals, had been made of the Secretary and other officers of the Treasury, and yet in no one instance is it known that any man, whether patriot or partisan, had raised his voice against it as a violation of the Constitution. The expediency and justice of such changes in reference to public officers of all grades have frequently been the topic of discussion, but the constitutional right of the President to appoint, control, and remove the head of the Treasury as well as all other Departments seems to have been universally conceded. And what is the occasion upon which other prin- ciples have been first officially asserted? The Bank of the United States, a great moneyed monopoly, had attempted to obtain a renewal of its charter by controlling the elections of the people and the action of the Government. The use of its corporate funds and power in that attempt w'as fully disclosed, and it was made known to the President that the corporation was putting in train the same course of meas- ures, with the view of making another vigorous effort, through an interference in the elections of the people, to control public opinion and force the Government to yield to its demands. This, with its corruption of the press, its viola- tion of its charter, its exclusion of the Government directors from its proceedings, its neglect of duty and arrogant pre- tensions, made it, in the opinion of the President, incompat- ible with the public interest and the safety of our institutions that it should be longer employed as the fiscal agent of the Treasury. A Secretary of the Treasury appointed in the recess of the Senate, who had not been confirmed by that body, and whom the President might or might not at his pleasure nominate to them, refused to do w^hat his superior in the executive department considered the most imperative The Expunging Resolution 35 ^ of his duties, and became in fact, however innocent his motives, the protector of the bank. And on this occasion it is discovered for the first time that those who framed the Constitution misunderstood it; that the First Congress and all its successors have been under a delusion ; that the prac- tice of near forty-five years is but a continued usurpation ; that the Secretary of the Treasury is not responsible to the President, and that to remove him is a violation of the Con- stitution and laws for which the President deserves to stand forever dishonored on the journals of the Senate. There are also some other circumstances connected with the discussion and passage of the resolution to which I feel it to be not only my right, but my duty, to refer. It appears by the Journal of the Senate that among the twenty-six Sen- ators who voted for the resolution on its final passage, and who had supported it in debate in its original form, were one of the Senators from the State of Maine, the two Sen- ators from New Jersey, and one of the Senators from Ohio. It also appears by the same Journal and by the files of the Senate that the legislatures of these States had severally expressed their opinions in respect to the Executive proceed- ings drawn in question before the Senate. The two branches of the legislature of the State of Maine on the 25th of January, 1834, passed a preamble and series of resolutions in the following words : Whereas at an early period after the election of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency, in accordance with the senti- ments which he had uniformly expressed, the attention of Congress was called to the constitutionality and expediency of the renewal of the charter of the United States Bank; and Whereas the bank has transcended its chartered limits in the management of its business transactions, and has aban- doned the object of its creation by engaging in political con- troversies, by wielding its power and influence to embarrass the Administration of the General Government, and by bringing insolvency and distress upon the commercial com- munity; and 352 Andrew Jackson Whereas the pubhc security from such an institution con- sists less in its present pecuniary capacity to discharge its Habihties than in the fidehty with which the trusts reposed in it have been executed ; and Whereas the abuse and misapphcation of the powers con- ferred have destroyed the confidence of the pubHc in the officers of the bank and demonstrated that such powers en- danger the stabihty of repubhcan institutions : Therefore, Resolved, That in the removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the United States, as well as in the manner of their removal, we recognize in the Administration an ad- herence to constitutional rights and the performance of a public duty. Resolved, That this legislature entertain the same opinion as heretofore expressed by preceding legislatures of this State, that the Bank of the United States ought not to be rechartered. Resolved, That the Senators of this State in the Congress of the United States be instructed and the Representatives be requested to oppose the restoration of the deposits and the renewal of the charter of the United States Bank. On the nth of January, 1834, the house of assembly and council composing the legislature of the State of New Jersey passed a preamble and a series of resolutions in the follow- ing words : Whereas the present crisis in our public affairs calls for a decided expression of the voice of the people of this State ; and Whereas we consider it the undoubted right of the legis- latures of the several States to instruct those who represent their interests in the councils of the nation in all matters which intimately concern the public weal and may affect the happiness or well-being of the people : Therefore, I. Be it resolved by the council and general assembly of this State, That while we acknowledge with feelings of de- vout gratitude our obligations to the Great Ruler of Na- tions for His mercies to us as a people that we have been preserved alike from foreign war, from the evils of internal commotions, and the machinations of designing and ambi- The Expunging Resolution 353 tious men who would prostrate the fair fabric of our Union, that we ought nevertheless to humble ourselves in His pres- ence and implore His aid for the perpetuation of our repub- lican institutions and for a continuance of that unexampled prosperity which our country has hitherto enjoyed. 2. Resolved, That we have undiminished confidence in the integrity and firmness of the venerable patriot who now holds the distinguished post of Chief Magistrate of this na- tion, and whose purity of purpose and elevated motives have so often received the unqualified approbation of a large ma- jority of his fellow-citizens. 3. Resolved, That we view with agitation and alarm the existence of a great moneyed incorporation which threatens to embarrass the operations of the Government and by means of its unbounded influence upon the currency of the country to scatter distress and ruin throughout the community, and that we therefore solemnly believe the present Bank of the United States ought not to be rechartered. 4. Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed and our members of the House of Representatives be re- quested to sustain, by their votes and influence, the course adopted by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Taney, in relation to the Bank of the United States and the deposits of the Government moneys, believing as we do the course of the Secretary to have been constitutional, and that the public good required its adoption. 5. Resolved, That the governor be requested to forward a copy of the above resolutions to each of our Senators and Representatives from this State to the Congress of the United States. On the 2ist day of February last the legislature of the same State reiterated the opinions and instructions before given by joint resolutions in the following words: Resolved by the council and general assembly of the State of New Jersey, That they do adhere to the resolutions passed by them on the nth day of January last, relative to the President of the United States, the Bank of the United States, and the course of Mr. Taney in removing the Gov- ernment deposits. 354 Andrew Jackson Resolved, That the legislature of New Jersey have not seen any reason to depart from such resolutions since the passage thereof, and it is their wish that they should receive from our Senators and Representatives of this State in the Congress of the United States that attention and obedience which are due to the opinion of a sovereign State openly expressed in its legislative capacity. On the 2d of January, 1834, the senate and house of rep- resentatives composing the legislature of Ohio passed a pre- amble and resolutions in the following words : Whereas there is reason to believe that the Bank of the United States will attempt to obtain a renewal of its charter at the present session of Congress; and Whereas it is abundantly evident that said bank has exer- cised powers derogatory to the spirit of our free institutions and dangerous to the liberties of these United States ; and Whereas there is just reason to doubt the constitutional power of Congress to grant acts of incorporation for bank- ing purposes out of the District of Columbia ; and Whereas we believe the proper disposal of the public lands to be of the utmost importance to the people of these United States, and that honor and good faith require their equitable distribution : Therefore, Resolved by the general assembly of the State of Ohio, That we consider the removal of the public deposits from the Bank of the United States as required by the best inter- ests of our country, and that a proper sense of public duty imperiously demanded that that institution should be no longer used as a depository of the public funds. Resolved also, That we view with decided disapprobation the renewed attempts in Congress to secure the passage of the bill providing for the disposal of the public domain upon the principles proposed by Mr. Clay, inasmuch as we believe that such a law would be unequal in its operations and un- just in its results. Resolved also. That we heartily approve of the principles set forth in the late veto message upon that subject; and Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be instructed and our Representatives requested to use their influence to The Expunging Resolution 355 prevent the rechartering of the Bank of the United States, to sustain the Administration in its removal of the pubHc deposits, and to oppose the passage of a land bill containing the principles adopted in the act upon that subject passed at the last session of Congress. Resolved, That the governor be requested to transmit copies of the foregoing preamble and resolutions to each of our Senators and Representatives. It is thus seen that four Senators have declared by their votes that the President, in the late Executive proceedings in relation to the revenue, had been guilty of the impeach- able offense of "assuming upon himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in deroga- tion of both," whilst the legislatures of their respective States had deliberately approved those very proceedings as consistent with the Constitution and demanded by the public good. If these four votes had been given in accordance with the sentiments of the legislatures, as above expressed, there would have been but twenty-two votes out of forty-six for censuring the President, and the unprecedented record of his conviction could not have been placed upon the Journal of the Senate. In thus referring to the resolutions and instructions of the State legislatures I disclaim and repudiate all authority or design to interfere with the responsibility due from members of the Senate to their own consciences, their constituents, and their country. The facts now stated belong to the his- tory of these proceedings, and are important to the just de- velopment of the principles and interests involved in them as well as to the proper vindication of the executive depart- ment, and with that view, and that view only, are they here made the topic of remark. The dangerous tendency of the doctrine which denies to the President the power of supervising, directing, and con- trolling the Secretary of the Treasury in like manner with the other executive officers would soon be manifest in prac- tice were the doctrine to be established. The President is the direct representative of the American people, but the Sec- 35^ Andrew Jackson retaries are not. If the Secretary of the Treasury be inde- pendent of the President in the execution of the laws, then is there no direct responsibihty to the people in that impor- tant branch of this Government to which is committed the care of the national finances. And it is in the power of the Bank of the United States, or any other corporation, body of men, or individuals, if a Secretary shall be found to ac- cord with them in opinion or can be induced in practice to promote their views, to control through him the whole ac- tion of the Government (so far as it is exercised by his Department) in defiance of the Chief Magistrate elected by the people and responsible to them. But the evil tendency of the particular doctrine adverted to, though sufficiently serious, would be as nothing in com- parison with the pernicious consequences which would in- evitably flow from the approbation and allowance by the people and the practice by the Senate of the unconstitutional power of arraigning and censuring the official conduct of the Executive in the manner recently pursued. Such proceed- ings are eminently calculated to unsettle the foundations of the Government, to disturb the harmonious action of its dif- ferent departments, and to break down the checks and bal- ances by which the wisdom of its framers sought to insure its stability and usefulness. The honest differences of opinion which occasionally exist between the Senate and the President in regard to matters in which both are obliged to participate are sufficiently em- barrassing; but if the course recently adopted by the Senate shall hereafter be frequently pursued, it is not only obvious that the harmony of the relations between the President and the Senate will be destroyed, but that other and graver ef- fects will ultimately ensue. If the censurers of the Senate be submitted to by the President, the confidence of the peo- ple in his ability and virtue and the character and usefulness of his Administration will soon be at an end, and the real power of the Government will fall into the hands of a body holding their offices for long terms, not elected by the people and not to them directly responsible. If, on the other hand, The Expunging Resolution 357 the illegal censures of the Senate should be resisted by the President, collisions and angry controversies might ensue, discreditable in their progress and in the end compelling the people to adopt the conclusion either that their Chief Magis- trate was unworthy of their respect or that the Senate was chargeable with calumny and injustice. Either of these re- sults would impair public confidence in the perfection of the system and lead to serious alterations of its framework or to the practical abandonment of some of its provisions. The influence of such proceedings on the other depart- ments of the Government, and more especially on the States, could not fail to be extensively pernicious. When the judges in the last resort of official misconduct themselves overleap the bounds of their authority as prescribed by the Constitu- tion, what general disregard of its provisions might not their example be expected to produce? And who does not per- ceive that such contempt of the Federal Constitution by one of its most important departments would hold out the strongest temptations to resistance on the part of the State sovereignties whenever they shall suppose their just rights to have been invaded? Thus all the independent depart- ments of the Government, and the States which compose our confederated Union, instead of attending to their ap- propriate duties and leaving those who may offend to be reclaimed or punished in the manner pointed out in the Con- stitution, would fall to mutual crimination and recrimination and give to the people confusion and anarchy instead of order and law, until at length some form of aristocratic power would be established on the ruins of the Constitution or the States be broken into separate communities. Far be it from me to charge or to insinuate that the pres- ent Senate of the United States intend in the most distant way to encourage such a result. It is not of their motives or designs, but only of the tendency of their acts, that it is my duty to speak. It is, if possible, to make Senators them- selves sensible of the danger which lurks under the precedent set in their resolution, and at any rate to perform my duty as the responsible head of one of the coequal departments 35^ Andrew Jackson of the Government, that I have been compelled to point out the consequences to which the discussion and passage of the resolution may lead if the tendency of the measure be not checked in its inception. It is due to the high trust with which I have been charged, to those who may be called to succeed me in it, to the representatives of the people whose constitutional prerogative has been unlawfully assumed, to the people and to the States, and to the Constitution they have established that I should not permit its provisions to be broken down by such an attack on the executive depart- ment without at least some effort " to preserve, protect, and defend " them. With this view, and for the reasons which have been stated, I do hereby solemnly protest against the aforementioned proceedings of the Senate as unauthorized by the Constitution, contrary to its spirit and to several of its express provisions, subversive of that distribution of the powers of government which it has ordained and established, destructive of the checks and safeguards by which those powers were intended on the one hand to be controlled and on the other to be protected, and calculated by their immedi- ate and collateral effects, by their character and tendency, to concentrate in the hands of a body not directly ame- nable to the people a degree of influence and power danger- ous to their liberties and fatal to the Constitution of their choice. The resolution of the Senate contains an imputation upon my private as well as upon my public character, and as it must stand forever on their journals, I can not close this substitute for that defense which I have not been allowed to present in the ordinary form without remarking that I have lived in vain if it be necessary to enter into a formal vindication of my character and purposes from such an im- putation. In vain do I bear upon my person enduring memorials of that contest in which American liberty was purchased ; in vain have I since periled property, fame, and life in defense of the rights and privileges so dearly bought; in vain am I now, without a personal aspiration or the hope of individual advantage, encountering responsibilities and The Expunging Resolution 359 dangers from which by mere inactivity in relation to a single point I might have been exempt, if any serious doubts can be entertained as to the purity of my purposes and motives. If I had been ambitious, I should have sought an alliance with that powerful institution which even now aspires to no divided empire. If I had been venal, I should have sold myself to its designs. Had I preferred personal comfort and official ease to the performance of my arduous duty, I should have ceased to molest it. In the history of conquerors and usurpers, never in the fire of youth nor in the vigor of man- hood could I find an attraction to lure me from the path of duty, and now I shall scarcely find an inducement to com- mence their career of ambition when gray hairs and a de- caying frame, instead of inviting to toil and battle, call me to the contemplation of other worlds, where conquerors cease to be honored and usurpers expiate their crimes. The only ambition I can feel is to acquit myself to Him to whom I must soon render an account of my stewardship, to serve my fellow-men, and live respected and honored in the his- tory of my country. No ; the ambition which leads me on is an anxious desire and a fixed determination to return to the people unimpaired the sacred trust they have confided to my charge ; to heal the wounds of the Constitution and preserve it from further violation; to persuade my countrymen, so far as I may, that it is not in a splendid government sup- ported by powerful monopolies and aristocratical establish- ments that they will find happiness or their liberties protec- tion, but in a plain system, void of pomp, protecting all and granting favors to none, dispensing its blessings, like the dews of Heaven, unseen and unfelt save in the freshness and beauty they contribute to produce. It is such a government that the genius of our people requires; such an one only under which our States may remain for ages to come united, prosperous, and free. If the Almighty Being who has hith- erto sustained and protected me will but vouchsafe to make my feeble powers instrumental to such a result, I shall an- ticipate with pleasure the place to be assigned me in the his- tory of my country, and die contented with the belief that I 360 Andrew Jackson have contributed in some small degree to increase the value and prolong the duration of American liberty. To the end that the resolution of the Senate may not be hereafter drawn into precedent with the authority of silent acquiescence on the part of the executive department, and to the end also that my motives and views in the Executive proceedings denounced in that resolution may be known to my fellow-citizens, to the world, and to all posterity, I re- spectfully request that this message and protest may be en- tered at length on the journals of the Senate. Sixth Annual Message.* (December i, 1834.) Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representa- tives: In performing my duty at the opening of your present session it gives me pleasure to congratulate you again upon the prosperous condition of our beloved country. Divine Providence has favored us with general health, with rich rewards in the fields of agriculture and in every branch of labor, and with peace to cultivate and extend the various resources which employ the virtue and enterprise of our citizens. Let us trust that in surveying a scene so flattering to our free institutions our joint deliberations to preserve them may be crowned with success. Our foreign relations continue, with but few exceptions, to maintain the favorable aspect which they bore in my last annual message, and promise to extend those advantages which the principles that regulate our intercourse with other nations are so well calculated to secure. The question of the northeastern boundary is still pend- ing with Great Britain, and the proposition made in accord- ance with the resolution of the Senate for the establishment of a line according to the treaty of 1783 has not been ac- cepted by that Government. Believing that every disposi- tion is felt on both sides to adjust this perplexing question to the satisfaction of all the parties interested in it, the hope is yet indulged that it may be effected on the basis of that proposition. With the Governments of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Hol- * The matters of chief historical interest discussed in this message are, (i) foreign affairs; (2) French spohations; (3) the Bank of the U. S. ; (4) internal improvements. 361 362 Andrew Jackson land, Sweden, and Denmark the best understanding exists. Commerce with all is fostered and protected by reciprocal good will under the sanction of liberal conventional or legal provisions. In the midst of her internal difficulties the Queen of Spain has ratified the convention for the payment of the claims of our citizens arising since 1819. It is in the course of execution on her part, and a copy of it is now laid before you for such legislation as may be found necessary to en- able those interested to derive the benefits of it. Yielding to the force of circumstances and to the wise counsels of time and experience, that power has finally re- solved no longer to occupy the unnatural position in which she stood to the new Governments established in this hemi- sphere. I have the great satisfaction of stating to you that in preparing the way for the restoration of harmony between those who have sprung from the same ancestors, who are allied by common interests, profess the same religion, and speak the same language the United States have been ac- tively instrumental. Our efforts to effect this good work will be persevered in while they are deemed useful to the parties and our entire disinterestedness continues to be felt and understood. The act of Congress to countervail the discriminating duties to the prejudice of our navigation levied in Cuba and Puerto Rico has been transmitted to the minister of the United States at Madrid, to be communi- cated to the Government of the Queen. No intelligence of its receipt has yet reached the Department of State. If the present condition of the country permits the Government to make a careful and enlarged examination of the true in- terests of these important portions of its dominions, no doubt is entertained that their future intercourse with the United States will be placed upon a more just and liberal basis. The Florida archives have not yet been selected and de- livered. Recent orders have been sent to the agent of the United States at Havana to return with all that he can ob- tain, so that they may be in Washington before the session Sixth Annual Message 363 of the Supreme Court, to be used in the legal questions there pending to which the Government is a party. Internal tranquillity is happily restored to Portugal. The distracted state of the country rendered unavoidable the postponement of a final payment of the just claims of our citizens. Our diplomatic relations v^ill be soon resumed, and the long-subsisting friendship with that power affords the strongest guaranty that the balance due will receive prompt attention. The first installment due under the convention of indem- nity with the King of the Two Sicilies has been duly re- ceived, and an offer has been made to extinguish the whole by a prompt payment — an offer I did not consider myself authorized to accept, as the indemnification provided is the exclusive property of individual citizens of the United States. The original adjustment of our claims and the anxiety displayed to fulfill at once the stipulations made for the payment of them are highly honorable to the Govern- ment of the Two Sicilies. When it is recollected that they were the result of the injustice of an intrusive power tem- porarily dominant in its territory, a repugnance to acknowl- edge and to pay which would have been neither unnatural nor unexpected, the circumstances can not fail to exalt its character for justice and good faith in the eyes of all na- tions. The treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and Belgium, brought to your notice in my last an- nual message as sanctioned by the Senate, but the ratifica- tions of which had not been exchanged owing to a delay in its reception at Brussels and a subsequent absence of the Bel- gian minister of foreign affairs, has been, after mature deliberation, finally disavowed by that Government as incon- sistent with the powers and instructions given to their min- ister who negotiated it. This disavowal was entirely unex- pected, as the liberal principles embodied in the convention, and which form the groundwork of the objections to it, were perfectly satisfactory to the Belgian representative, and were supposed to be not only within the powers 3^4 Andrew Jackson granted, but expressly conformable to the instructions given to him. An offer, not yet accepted, has been made by Bel- gium to renew negotiations for a treaty less liberal in its provisions on questions of general maritime law. Our newly established relations with the Sublime Porte promise to be useful to our commerce and satisfactory in every respect to this Government. Our intercourse with the Barbary Powers continues without important change, except that the present political state of Algiers has in- duced me to terminate the residence there of a salaried con- sul and to substitute an ordinary consulate, to remain so long as the place continues in the possession of France. Our first treaty with one of these powers, the Emperor of Mo- rocco, was formed in 1786, and was limited to fifty years. That period has almost expired. I shall take measures to renew it with the greater satisfaction as its stipulations are just and liberal and have been, with mutual fidelity and re- ciprocal advantage, scrupulously fulfilled. Intestine dissensions have too frequently occurred to mar the prosperity, interrupt the commerce, and distract the governments of most of the nations of this hemisphere which have separated themselves from Spain. When a firm and permanent understanding wnth the parent country shall have produced a formal acknowledgment of their independ- ence, and the idea of danger from that quarter can be no longer entertained, the friends of freedom expect that those countries, so favored by nature, wnll be distinguished for their love of justice and their devotion to those peaceful arts the assiduous cultivation of which confers honor upon nations and gives value to human life. In the meantime I confidently hope that the apprehensions entertained that some of the people of these luxuriant regions may be tempted, in a moment of unworthy distrust of their own capacity for the enjoyment of liberty, to commit the too common error of purchasing present repose by bestowing on some favorite leaders the fatal gift of irresponsible power will not be realized. With all these Governments and with that of Brazil no unexpected changes in our relations have Sixth Annual Message 3^5 occurred during the present year. Frequent causes of just complaint have arisen upon the part of the citizens of the United States, sometimes from the irregular action of the constituted subordinate authorities of the maritime regions and sometimes from the leaders of partisans of those in arms against the established Governments. In all cases representations have been or will be made, and as soon as their political affairs are in a settled position it is expected that our friendly remonstrances will be followed by ade- quate redress. The Government of Mexico made known in December last the appointment of commissioners and a surveyor on its part to run, in conjunction with ours, the boundary line be- tween its territories and the United States, and excused the delay for the reasons anticipated — the prevalence of civil war. The commissioners and surveyors not having met within the time stipulated by the treaty, a new arrangement became necessary, and our charge d'affaires was instructed in January last to negotiate in Mexico an article additional to the preexisting treaty. This instruction was acknowl- edged, and no difficulty was apprehended in the accomplish- ment of that object. By information just received that additional article to the treaty will be obtained and trans- mitted to this country as soon as it can receive the ratification of the Mexican Congress. The reunion of the three States of New Granada, Ven- ezuela, and Equador, forming the Republic of Colombia, seems every day to become more improbable. The commis- sioners of the two first are understood to be now negotiat- ing a just division of the obligations contracted by them when united under one government. The civil war in Equa- dor, it is believed, has prevented even the appointment of a commissioner on its part. I propose at an early date to submit, in the proper form, the appointment of a diplomatic agent to Venezuela, the im- portance of the commerce of that country to the United States and the large claims of our citizens upon the Gov- ernment arising before and since the division of Colombia 3^6 Andrew Jackson rendering it, in my judgment, improper longer to delay this step. Our representatives to Central America, Peru, and Bra- zil are either at or on their way to their respective posts. From the Argentine Republic, from which a minister was expected to this Government, nothing further has been heard. Occasion has been taken on the departure of a new consul to Buenos Ayres to remind that Government that its long-delayed minister, whose appointment had been made known to us, had not arrived. It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform you that this pacific and highly gratifying picture of our foreign rela- tions does not include those with France at this time. It is not possible that any Government and people could be more sincerely desirous of conciliating a just and friendly inter- course with another nation than are those of the United States with their ancient ally and friend. This disposition is founded as well on the most grateful and honorable rec- ollections associated with our struggle for independence as upon a well-grounded conviction that it is consonant with the true policy of both. The people of the United States could not, therefore, see without the deepest regret even a temporary interruption of the friendly relations between the two countries — a regret which would, I am sure, be greatly aggravated if there should turn out to be any reasonable ground for attributing such a result to any act of omission or commission on our part. I derive, therefore, the highest satisfaction from being able to assure you that the whole course of this Government has been characterized by a spirit so conciliatory and forbearing as to make it impossible that our justice and moderation should be questioned, whatever may be the consequences of a longer perseverance on the part of the French Government in her omission to satisfy the conceded claims of our citizens. The history of the accumulated and unprovoked aggres- sions upon our commerce committed by authority of the existing Governments of France between the years 1800 and 181 7 has been rendered too painfully familiar to Ameri- Sixth Annual Message 3^7 cans to make its repetition either necessary or desirable. It will be sufficient here to remark that there has for many years been scarcely a single administration of the French Government by whom the justice and legality of the claims of our citizens to indemnity were not to a very considerable extent admitted, and yet near a quarter of a century has been wasted in ineffectual negotiations to secure it. Deeply sensible of the injurious effects resulting from this state of things upon the interests and character of both nations, I regarded it as among my first duties to cause one more effort to be made to satisfy France that a just and liberal settlement of our claims was as well due to her own honor as to their incontestable validity. The negotiation for this purpose was commenced with the late Government of France, and was prosecuted with such success as to leave no reasonable ground to doubt that a settlement of a charac- ter quite as liberal as that which was subsequently made would have been effected had not the revolution by which the negotiation was cut off taken place. The discussions were resumed with the present Government, and the result showed that we were not wrong in supposing that an event by which the two Governments were made to approach each other so much nearer in their political principles, and by which the motives for the most liberal and friendly in- tercourse were so greatly multiplied, could exercise no other than a salutary influence upon the negotiation. After the most deliberate and thorough examination of the whole subject a treaty between the two Governments was con- cluded and signed at Paris on the 4th of July, 1831, by which it was stipulated that " the French Government, in order to liberate itself from all the reclamations preferred against it by citizens of the United States for unlawful seizures, captures, sequestrations, confiscations, or destruc- tion of their vessels, cargoes, or other property, engages to pay a sum of 25,000,000 francs to the United States, who shall distribute it among those entitled in the manner and according to the rules it shall determine;" and it was also stipulated on the part of the French Government that this 3^8 Andrew Jackson 25,000,000 francs should " be paid at Paris, in six annual installments of 4,166,666 francs and 66 centimes each, into the hands of such person or persons as shall be authorized by the Government of the United States to receive it," the first installment to be paid " at the expiration of one year next following the exchange of the ratifications of this convention and the others at successive intervals of a year, one after another, till the whole shall be paid. To the amount of each of the said installments shall be added in- terest at 4 per cent thereupon, as upon the other installments then remaining unpaid, the said interest to be computed from the day of the exchange of the present convention." It was also stipulated on the part of the United States, for the purpose of being completely liberated from all the rec- lamations presented by France on behalf of its citizens, that the sum of 1,500,000 francs should be paid to the Govern- ment of France in six annual installments, to be deducted out of the annual sums which France had agreed to pay, interest thereupon being in like manner computed from the day of the exchange of the ratifications. In addition to this stipulation, important advantages were secured to France by the following article, viz. : The wines of France, from and after the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention, shall be admitted to consumption in the States of the Union at duties which shall not exceed the following rates by the gallon (such as it is used at present for wines in the United States), to wit: 6 cents for red wines in casks; 10 cents for white wines in casks, and 22 cents for wines of all sorts in bottles. The proportions existing between the duties on French wines thus reduced and the general rates of the tariff which went into operation the ist January, 1829, shall be maintained in case the Government of the United States should think proper to diminish those general rates in a new tariff. In consideration of this stipulation, which shall be binding on the United States for ten years, the French Government abandons the reclamations which it had formed in relation to the eighth article of the treaty of cession of Louisiana. Sixth Annual Message 3^9 It engages, moreover, to establish on the long-staple cottons of the United States which after the exchange of the ratifi- cations of the present convention shall be brought directly thence to France by the vessels of the United States or by French vessels the same duties as on short-staple cottons. This treaty was duly ratified in the manner prescribed by the constitutions of both countries, and the ratification was exchanged at the city of Washington on the 2d of Febru- ary, 1832. On account of its commercial stipulations it was in five days thereafter laid before the Congress of the United States, which proceeded to enact such laws favor- able to the commerce of France as were necessary to carry it into full execution, and France has from that period to the present been in the unrestricted enjoyment of the valu- able privileges that were thus secured to her. The faith of the French nation having been thus solemnly pledged through its constitutional organ for the liquidation and ulti- mate payment of the long-deferred claims of our citizens, as also for the adjustment of other points of great and re- ciprocal benefits to both countries, and the United States having, with a fidelity and promptitude by which their con- duct will, I trust, be always characterized, done everything that was necessary to carry the treaty into full and fair ef- fect on their part, counted with the most perfect confidence on equal fidelity and promptitude on the part of the French Government. In this reasonable expectation we have been, I regret to inform you, wholly disappointed. No legislative provision has been made by France for the execution of the treaty, either as it respects the indemnity to be paid or the commercial benefits to be secured to the United States, and the relations between the United States and that power in consequence thereof are placed in a situation threatening to interrupt the good understanding which has so long and so happily existed between the two nations. Not only has the French Government been thus wanting in the performance of the stipulations it has so solemnly en- tered into with the United States, but its omissions have 37° Andrew Jackson been marked by circumstances which would seem to leave us without satisfactory evidences that such performance will certainly take place at a future period. Advice of the ex- change of ratifications reached Paris prior to the 8th April, 1832. The French Chambers were then sitting, and con- tinued in session until the 21st of that month, and although one installment of the indemnity was payable on the 2d of February, 1833, one year after the exchange of ratifica- tions, no application was made to the Chambers for the re- quired appropriation, and in consequence of no appropria- tion having then been made the draft of the United States Government for that installment was dishonored by the minister of finance, and the United States thereby involved in much controversy. The next session of the Chambers commenced on the 19th November, 1832, and continued until the 25th April, 1833. Notwithstanding the omission to pay the first installment had been made the subject of earnest remonstrance on our part, the treaty with the United States and a bill making the necessary appropria- tions to execute it were not laid before the Chamber of Deputies until the 6th of April, nearly five months after its meeting, and only nineteen days before the close of the session. The bill was read and referred to a committee, but there was no further action upon it. The next session of the Chambers commenced on the 26th of April, 1833, and continued until the 26th of June following. A new bill was introduced on the nth of June, but nothing important was done in relation to it during the session. In the month of April, 1834, nearly three years after the signature of the treaty, the final action of the French Chambers upon the bill to carry the treaty into efifect was obtained, and resulted in a refusal of the necessary appropriations. The avowed grounds upon which the bill was rejected are to be found in the published debates of that body, and no observations of mine can be necessary to satisfy Congress of their utter in- sufficiency. Although the gross amount of the claims of our citizens is probably greater than will be ultimately al- lowed by the commissioners, sufficient is, nevertheless, Sixth Annual Message 37 ^ shown to render it absolutely certain that the indemnity falls far short of the actual amount of our just claims, inde- pendently of the question of damages and interest for the detention. That the settlement involved a sacrifice in this respect was well known at the time — a sacrifice which was cheerfully acquiesced in by the different branches of the Federal Government, whose action upon the treaty was re- quired from a sincere desire to avoid further collision upon this old and disturbing subject and in the confident ex- pectation that the general relations between the two coun- tries would be improved thereby. The refusal to vote the appropriation, the news of which was received from our minister in Paris about the 15th day of May last, might have been considered the final de- termination of the French Government not to execute the stipulations of the treaty, and would have justified an im- mediate communication of the facts to Congress, with a recommendation of such ultimate measures as the interest and honor of the United States might seem to require. But with the news of the refusal of the Chambers to make the appropriation were conveyed the regrets of the King and a declaration that a national vessel should be forthwith sent out with instructions to the French minister to give the most ample explanations of the past and the strongest as- surances for the future. After a long passage the promised dispatch vessel arrived. The pledges given by the French minister upon receipt of his instructions were that as soon after the election of the new members as the charter would permit the legislative Chambers of France should be called together and the proposition for an appropriation laid be- fore them ; that all the constitutional powers of the King and his cabinet should be exerted to accomplish the object, and that the result should be made known early enough to be communicated to Congress at the commencement of the present session. Relying upon these pledges, and not doubt- ing that the acknowledged justice of our claims, the prom- ised exertions of the King and his cabinet, and, above all, that sacred regard for the national faith and honor for 372 Andrew Jackson which the French character has been so distinguished would secure an early execution of the treaty in all its parts, I did not deem it necessary to call the attention of Congress to the subject at the last session. I regret to say that the pledges made through the min- ister of France have not been redeemed. The new Cham- bers met on the 31st July last, and although the subject of fulfilling treaties was alluded to in the speech from the throne, no attempt was made by the King or his cabinet to procure an appropriation to carry it into execution. The reasons given for this omission, although they might be con- sidered sufficient in an ordinary case, are not consistent with the expectations founded upon the assurances given here, for there is no constitutional obstacle to entering into leg- islative business at the first meeting of the Chambers. This point, however, might have been overlooked had not the Chambers, instead of being called to meet at so early a day that the result of their deliberations might be communi- cated to me before the meeting of Congress, been prorogued to the 29th of the present month — a period so late that their decision can scarcely be made known to the present Con- gress prior to its dissolution. To avoid this delay our min- ister in Paris, in virtue of the assurance given by the French minister in the United States, strongly urged the convoca- tion of the Chambers at an earlier day, but without success. It is proper to remark, however, that this refusal has been accompanied with the most positive assurances on the part of the executive government of France of their intention to press the appropriation at the ensuing session of the Cham- bers, The executive branch of this Government has, as matters stand, exhausted all the authority upon the subject with which it is invested and which it had any reason to believe could be beneficially employed. The idea of acquiescing in the refusal to execute the treaty will not, I am confident, be for a moment entertained by any branch of this Government, and further negotiation upon the subject is equally out of the question. Sixth Annual Message 373 If it shall be the pleasure of Congress to await the further action of the French Chambers, no further consideration of the subject will at this session probably be required at your hands. But if from the original delay in asking for an ap- propriation, from the refusal of the Chambers to grant it when asked, from the omission to bring the subject before the Chambers at their last session, from the fact that, in- cluding that session, there have been five different occasions when the appropriation might have been made, and from the delay in convoking the Chambers until some weeks after the meeting of Congress, when it was well known that a communication of the whole subject to Congress at the last session was prevented by assurances that it should be disposed of before its present meeting, you should feel your- selves constrained to doubt whether it be the intention of the French Government, in all its branches, to carry the treaty into effect, and think that such measures as the oc- casion may be deemed to call for should be now adopted, the important question arises what those measures shall be. Our institutions are essentially pacific. Peace and friendly intercourse with all nations are as much the desire of our Government as they are the interest of our people. But these objects are not to be permanently secured by sur- rendering the rights of our citizens or permitting solemn treaties for their indemnity, in cases of flagrant wrong, to be abrogated or set aside. It is undoubtedly in the power of Congress seriously to affect the agricultural and manufacturing interests of France by the passage of laws relating to her trade with the United States. Her products, manufactures, and tonnage may be subjected to heavy duties in our ports, or all commercial intercourse with her may be suspended. But there are pow- erful and to my mind conclusive objections to this mode of proceeding. We can not embarrass or cut off the trade of France without at the same time in some degree embar- rassing or cutting off our own trade. The injury of such a warfare must fall, though unequally, upon our own citizens, and could not but impair the means of the Government and 374 Andrew Jackson weaken that united sentiment in support of the rights and honor of the nation which must now pervade every bosom. Nor is it impossible that such a course of legislation would introduce once more into our national councils those dis- turbing questions in relation to the tariff of duties which have been so recently put to rest. Besides, by every meas- ure adopted by the Government of the United States with the view of injuring France the clear perception of right which will induce our own people and the rulers and people of all other nations, even of France herself, to pronounce our quarrel just will be obscured and the support rendered to us in a final resort to more decisive measures will be more limited and equivocal. There is but one point in the con- troversy, and upon that the whole civilized world must pro- nounce France to be in the wrong. We insist that she shall pay us a sum of money which she has acknowledged to be due, and of the justice of this demand there can be but one opinion among mankind. True policy would seem to dictate that the question at issue should be kept thus dis- encumbered and that not the slightest pretense should be given to France to persist in her refusal to make payment by any act on our part affecting the interests of her people. The question should be left, as it is now, in such an atti- tude that when France fulfills her treaty stipulations all controversy will be at an end. It is my conviction that the United States ought to in- sist on a prompt execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused or longer delayed take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the part of France of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by treaty, it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of a century is to be wasted in negotiating about the payment. The laws of nations pro- vide a remedy for such occasions. It is a well-settled prin- ciple of the international code that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt which it refuses or neglects to pay the aggrieved party may seize on the property belonging to the other, its citizens or subjects, sufficient to pay the debt without giving just cause of war. This remedy has Sixth Annual Message 375 been repeatedly resorted to, and recently by France her- self toward Portugal, under circumstances less unquestion- able. The time at which resort should be had to this or any other mode of redress is a point to be decided by Congress. If an appropriation shall not be made by the French Cham- bers at their next session, it may justly be concluded that the Government of France has finally determined to disre- gard its own solemn undertaking and refuse to pay an ac- knowledged debt. In that event every day's delay on our part will be a stain upon our national honor, as well as a denial of justice to our injured citizens. Prompt measures, when the refusal of France shall be complete, will not only be most honorable and just, but will have the best effect upon our national character. Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her minister here, has delayed her final action so long that her decision will not probably be known in time to be com- municated to this Congress, I recommend that a law be passed authorizing reprisals upon French property in case provision shall not be made for the payment of the debt at the approaching session of the French Chambers. Such a measure ought not to be considered by France as a menace. Her pride and power are too well known to expect any- thing from her fears and preclude the necessity of a declara- tion that nothing partaking of the character of intimidation is intended by us. She ought to look upon it as the evi- dence only of an inflexible determination on the part of the United States to insist on their rights. That Government, by doing only what it has itself acknowledged to be just, will be able to spare the United States the necessity of taking redress into their own hands and save the property of French citizens from that seizure and sequestration which American citizens so long endured without retaliation or redress. If she should continue to refuse that act of ac- knowledged justice and, in violation of the law of nations, make reprisals on our part the occasion of hostilities against the United States, she would but add violence to injustice, 37^ Andrew Jackson and could not fail to expose herself to the just censure of civilized nations and to the retributive judgments of Heaven. Collision with France is the more to be regretted on ac- count of the position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal institutions, but in maintaining our national rights and honor all governments are alike to us. If by a collision with France in a case where she is clearly in the wrong the march of liberal principles shall be impeded, the re- sponsibility for that result as well as every other will rest on her own head. Having submitted these considerations, it belongs to Congress to decide whether after what has taken place it will still await the further action of the French Chambers or now adopt such provisional measures as it may deem necessary and best adapted to protect the rights and main- tain the honor of the country. Whatever that decision may be, it will be faithfully enforced by the Executive as far as he is authorized so to do. According to the estimate of the Treasury Department, the revenue accruing from all sources during the present year will amount to $20,624,717, which, with the balance remaining in the Treasury on the ist of January last of $11,702,905, produces an aggregate of $32,327,623. The total expenditure during the year for all objects, including the public debt, is estimated at $25,591,390, which will leave a balance in the Treasury on the ist of January, 1835, of $6,736,232. In this balance, however, will be included about $1,150,000 of what was heretofore reported by the Department as not effective. Of former appropriations it is estimated that there will remain unexpended at the close of the year $8,002,925, and that of this sum there will not be required more than $5,- 141,964 to accomplish the objects of all the current appro- priations. Thus it appears that after satisfying all those appropriations and after discharging the last item of our public debt, which will be done on the ist of January next, there will remain unexpended in the Treasury an effective Sixth Annual Message 377 balance of about $440,000. That such should be the aspect of our finances is highly flattering to the industry and enter- prise of our population and auspicious of the wealth and prosperity which await the future cultivation of their grow- ing resources. It is not deemed prudent, however, to rec- ommend any change for the present in our impost rates, the effect of the gradual reduction now in progress in many of them not being sufficiently tested to guide us in deter- mining the precise amount of revenue which they will pro- duce. Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best cal- culated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens. Among these principles, from our past experience, it can not be doubted that simplicity in the character of the Fed- eral Government and a rigid economy in its administra- tion should be regarded as fundamental and sacred. All must be sensible that the existence of the public debt, by rendering taxation necessary for its extinguishment, has increased the difficulties which are inseparable from every exercise of the taxing power, and that it was in this respect a remote agent in producing those disturbing questions which grew out of the discussions relating to the tariff. If such has been the tendency of a debt incurred in the ac- quisition and maintenance of our national rights and lib- erties, the obligations of which all portions of the Union cheerfully acknowledged, it must be obvious that whatever is calculated to increase the burdens of Government without necessity must be fatal to all our hopes of preserving its true character. While we are felicitating ourselves, there- fore, upon the extinguishment of the national debt and the prosperous state of our finances, let us not be tempted to depart from those sound maxims of public policy which en- join a just adaptation of the revenue to the expenditures 37^ Andrew Jackson that are consistent with a rigid economy and an entire ab- stinence from all topics of legislation that are not clearly within the constitutional powers of the Government and suggested by the wants of the country. Properly regarded under such a policy, every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives to individual enterprise in- creased power and furnishes to all the members of our happy Confederacy new motives for patriotic affection and support. But above all, its most important effect will be found in its influence upon the character of the Government by confining its action to those objects which will be sure to secure to it the attachment and support of our fellow- citizens. Circumstances make it my duty to call the attention of Congress to the Bank of the United States. Created for the convenience of the Government, that institution has become the scourge of the people. Its interference to postpone the payment of a portion of the national debt that it might re- tain the public money appropriated for that purpose to strengthen it in a political contest, the extraordinary exten- sion and contraction of its accommodations to the commu- nity, its corrupt and partisan loans, its exclusion of the public directors from a knowledge of its most important proceedings, the unlimited authority conferred on the presi- dent to expend its funds in hiring writers and procuring the execution of printing, and the use made of that author- ity, the retention of the pension money and books after the selection of new agents, the groundless claim to heavy dam- ages in consequence of the protest of the bill drawn on the French Government, have through various channels been laid before Congress. Immediately after the close of the last session the bank, through its president, announced its ability and readiness to abandon the system of unparalleled curtailment and the interruption of domestic exchanges which it had practiced upon from the ist of August, 1833, to the 30th of June, 1834, and to extend its accommodations to the community. The grounds assumed in this annuncia- tion amounted to an acknowledgment that the curtailment, Sixth Annual Message 379 in the extent to which it had been carried, was not neces- sary to the safety of the bank, and had been persisted in merely to induce Congress to grant the prayer of the bank in its memorial relative to the removal of the deposits and to give it a new charter. They were substantially a con- fession that all the real distresses which individuals and the country had endured for the preceding six or eight months had been needlessly produced by it, with the view of affecting through the sufferings of the people the legislative action of Congress. It is a subject of congratulation that Congress and the country had the virtue and firmness to bear the infliction, that the energies of our people soon found relief from this wanton tyranny in vast importations of the precious metals from almost every part of the world, and that at the close of this tremendous effort to control our Government the bank found itself powerless and lio longer able to loan out its surplus means. The community had learned to manage its affairs without its assistance, and trade had already found new auxiliaries, so that on the ist of October last the extraordinary spectacle was presented of a national bank more than one-half of whose capital was either lying unproductive in its vaults or in the hands of foreign bankers. To the needless distresses brought on the country during the last session of Congress has since been added the open seizure of the dividends on the public stock to the amount of $170,041, under pretense of paying damages, cost, and interest upon the protested French bill. This sum consti- tuted a portion of the estimated revenues for the year 1834, upon which the appropriations made by Congress were based. It would as soon have been expected that our collec- tors would seize on the customs or the receivers of our land offices on the moneys arising from the sale of public lands under pretenses of claims against the United States as that the bank would have retained the dividends. Indeed, if the principle be established that anyone who chooses to set up a claim against the United States may without authority of law seize on the public property or money wherever he 3^0 Andrew Jackson can find it to pay such claim, there will remain no assurance that our revenue will reach the Treasury or that it will be applied after the appropriation to the purposes designated in the law. The paymasters of our Army and the pursers of our Navy may under like pretenses apply to their own use moneys appropriated to set in motion the public force, and in time of war leave the country without defense. This measure resorted to by the bank is disorganizing and rev- olutionary, and if generally resorted to by private citizens in like cases would fill the land with anarchy and violence. It is a constitutional provision " that no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropri- ations made by law." The palpable object of this provision is to prevent the expenditure of the public money for any purpose whatsoever which shall not have been first approved by the representatives of the people and the States in Con- gress assembled. It vests the power of declaring for what purposes the public money shall be expended in the legis- lative department of the Government, to the exclusion of the executive and judicial, and it is not within the consti- tutional authority of either of those departments to pay it away without law or to sanction its payment. According to this plain constitutional provision, the claim of the bank can never be paid without an appropriation by act of Con- gress. But the bank has never asked for an appropriation. It attempts to defeat the provision of the Constitution and obtain payment without an act of Congress. Instead of awaiting an appropriation passed by both Houses and ap- proved by the President, it makes an appropriation for it- self and invites an appeal to the judiciary to sanction it. That the money had not technically been paid into the Treasury does not aflfect the principle intended to be estab- lished by the Constitution. The Executive and the judiciary have as little right to appropriate and expend the public money without authority of law before it is placed to the credit of the Treasury as to take it from the Treasury. In the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and in his correspondence with the president of the bank, and the Sixth Annual Message 381 opinions of the Attorney-General accompanying it, you will find a further examination of the claims of the bank and the course it has pursued. It seems due to the safety of the public funds remaining in that bank and to the honor of the American people that measures be taken to separate the Government entirely from an institution so mischievous to the public prosperity and so regardless of the Constitution and laws. By transfer- ring the public deposits, by appointing other pension agents as far as it had the power, by ordering the discontinuance of the receipt of bank checks in the payment of the public dues after the ist day of January, the Executive has exerted all its lawful authority to sever the connection between the Government and this faithless corporation. The high-handed career of this institution imposes upon the constitutional functionaries of this Government duties of the gravest and most imperative character — duties which they can not avoid and from which I trust there will be no inclination on the part of any of them to shrink. My own sense of them is most clear, as is also my readiness to dis- charge those which may rightfully fall on me. To continue any business relations with the Bank of the United States that may be avoided without a violation of the national faith after that institution has set at open defiance the conceded right of the Government to examine its affairs, after it has done all in its power to deride the public authority in other respects and to bring it into disrepute at home and abroad, after it has attempted to defeat the clearly expressed will of the people by turning against them the immense power in- trusted to its hands and by involving a country otherwise peaceful, flourishing, and happy, in dissension, embarrass- ment, and distress, would make the nation itself a party to the degradation so sedulously prepared for its public agents and do much to destroy the confidence of mankind in popu- lar governments and to bring into contempt their authority and efficiency. In guarding against an evil of such magni- tude considerations of temporary convenience should be thrown out of the question, and we should be influenced by 3^2 Andrew Jackson such motives only as look to the honor and preservation of the republican system. Deeply and solemnly impressed with the justice of these views, I feel it to be my duty to recom- mend to you that a law be passed authorizing the sale of the public stock ; that the provision of the charter requiring the receipt of notes of the bank in payment of public dues shall, in accordance with the power reserved to Congress in the fourteenth section of the charter, be suspended until the bank pays to the Treasury the dividends withheld, and that all laws connecting the Government or its officers with the bank, directly or indirectly, be repealed, and that the institution be left hereafter to its own resources and means. Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow from a national bank far overbalance all its advantages. The bold effort the present bank has made to control the Government, the distresses it has wantonly produced, the violence of which it has been the occasion in one of our cities famed for its observance of law and order, are but premonitions of the fate which awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it. It is fervently hoped that thus admonished those who have heretofore favored the establishment of a substitute for the present bank will be induced to abandon it, as it is evidently better to incur any inconvenience that may be reasonably expected than to con- centrate the whole moneyed power of the Republic in any form whatsoever or under any restrictions. Happily it is already illustrated that the agency of such an institution is not necessary to the fiscal operations of the Government. The State banks are found fully adequate to the performance of all services which were required of the Bank of the United States, quite as promptly and with the same cheapness. They have maintained themselves and dis- charged all these duties while the Bank of the United States was still powerful and in the field as an open enemy, and it is not possible to conceive that they will find greater difficul- ties in their operations when that enemy shall cease to exist. sixth Annual Message 3^3 The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regu- lation of the deposits in the State banks by law. Although the power now exercised by the executive department in this behalf is only such as was uniformly exerted through every Administration from the origin of the Government up to the establishment of the present bank, yet it is one which is susceptible of regulation by law, and therefore ought so to be regulated. The power of Congress to direct in what places the Treasurer shall keep the moneys in the Treasury and to impose restrictions upon the Executive authority in relation to their custody and removal is unlimited, and its exercise will rather be courted than discouraged by those public officers and agents on whom rests the responsibility for their safety. It is desirable that as little power as pos- sible should be left to the President or the Secretary of the Treasury over those institutions, which, being thus freed from Executive influence, and without a common head to direct their operations, would have neither the temptation nor the ability to interfere in the political conflicts of the country. Not deriving their charters from the national au- thorities, they would never have those inducements to med- dle in general elections which have led the Bank of the United States to agitate and convulse the country for up- ward of two years. The progress of our gold coinage is creditable to the offi- cers of the Mint, and promises in a short period to furnish the country with a sound and portable currency, which will much diminish the inconvenience to travelers of the want of a general paper currency should the State banks be incapable of furnishing it. Those institutions have already shown themselves competent to purchase and furnish domestic ex- change for the convenience of trade at reasonable rates, and not a doubt is entertained that in a short period all the wants of the country in bank accommodations and exchange will be supplied as promptly and as cheaply as they have hereto- fore been by the Bank of the United States. If the several States shall be induced gradually to reform their banking systems and prohibit the issue of all small notes, we shall in 3^4 Andrew Jackson a few years have a currency as sound and as little liable to fluctuations as any other commercial country. The report of the Secretary of War, together with the accompanying documents from the several bureaus of that Department, will exhibit the situation of the various objects committed to its administration. No event has occurred since your last session rendering necessary any movements of the Army, with the exception of the expedition of the regiment of dragoons into the terri- tory of the wandering and predatory tribes inhabiting the western frontier and living adjacent to the Mexican bound- ary. These tribes have been heretofore known to us prin- cipally by their attacks upon our own citizens and upon other Indians entitled to the protection of the United States. It became necessary for the peace of the frontiers to check these habitual inroads, and I am happy to inform you that the object has been effected without the commission of any act of hostility. Colonel Dodge and the troops under his command have acted with equal firmness and humanity, and an arrangement has been made with those Indians which it is hoped will assure their permanent pacific relations with the United States and the other tribes of Indians upon that border. It is to be regretted that the prevalence of sickness in that quarter has deprived the country of a number of valuable lives, and particularly that General Leavenworth, an officer well known, and esteemed for his gallant services in the late war and for his subsequent good conduct, has fallen a victim to his zeal and exertions in the discharge of his duty. The Army is in a high state of discipline. Its moral con- dition, so far as that is known here, is good, and the various branches of the public service are carefully attended to. It is amply sufficient under the present organization for pro- viding the necessary garrisons for the seaboard and for the defense of the internal frontier, and also for preserving the elements of military knowledge and for keeping pace with those impovements which modern experience is continually making. And these objects appear to me to embrace all the Sixth Annual Message 3^5 legitimate purposes for which a permanent mihtary force should be maintained in our country. The lessons of history teach us its danger and the tendency which exists to an in- crease. This can be best met and averted by a just caution on the part of the public itself, and of those who represent them in Congress. From the duties which devolve on the Engineer Depart- ment and upon the topographical engineers, a different or- ganization seems to be demanded by the public interest, and I recommend the subject to your consideration. No important change has during this season taken place in the condition of the Indians. Arrangements are in progress for the removal of the Creeks, and will soon be for the removal of the Seminoles. I regret that the Cherokees east of the Mississippi have not yet determined as a com- munity to remove. How long the personal causes which have heretofore retarded that ultimately inevitable measure will continue to operate I am unable to conjecture. It is certain, however, that delay will bring with it accumulated evils which will render their condition more and more un- pleasant. The experience of every year adds to the convic- tion that emigration, and that alone, can preserve from destruction the remnant of the tribes yet living amongst us. The facility with which the necessaries of life are procured and the treaty stipulations providing aid for the emigrant Indians in their agricultural pursuits and in the important concern of education, and their removal from those causes which have heretofore depressed all and destroyed many of the tribes, can not fail to stimulate their exertions and to reward their industry. The two laws passed at the last session of Congress on the subject of Indian affairs have been carried into effect, and detailed instructions for their administration have been given. It will be seen by the estimates for the present ses- sion that a great reduction will take place in the expenditures of the Department in consequence of these laws, and there is reason to believe that their operation will be salutary and that the colonization of the Indians on the western frontier, 3^6 Andrew Jackson together with a judicious system of administration, will still further reduce the expenses of this branch of the public service and at the same time promote its usefulness and efficiency. Circumstances have been recently developed showing the existence of extensive frauds under the various laws grant- ing pensions and gratuities for Revolutionary services. It is impossible to estimate the amount which may have been thus fraudulently obtained from the National Treasury. I am satisfied, however, it has been such as to justify a re- examination of the system and the adoption of the necessary checks in its administration. All will agree that the services and sufferings of the remnant of our Revolutionary band should be fully compensated ; but while this is done, every proper precaution should be taken to prevent the admission of fabricated and fraudulent claims. In the present mode of proceeding the attestations and certificates of the judicial officers of the various States form a considerable portion of the checks which are interposed against the commission of frauds. These, however, have been and may be fabricated, and in such a way as to elude detection at the examining offices. And independently of this practical difficulty, it is ascertained that these documents are often loosely granted ; sometimes even blank certificates have been issued; some- times prepared papers have been signed without inquiry, and in one instance, at least, the seal of the court has been within reach of a person most interested in its improper application. It is obvious that under such circumstances no severity of administration can check the abuse of the law. And infor- mation has from time to time been communicated to the Pension Office questioning or denying the right of persons placed upon the pension list to the bounty of the country. Such cautions are always attended to and examined, but a far more general investigation is called for, and I therefore recommend, in conformity with the suggestion of the Secre- tary of War, that an actual inspection should be made in each State into the circumstances and claims of every person now drawing a pension. The honest veteran has nothing to Sixth Annual Message 3^7 fear from such a scrutiny, while the fraudulent claimant will be detected and the public Treasury relieved to an amount, I have reason to believe, far greater than has heretofore been suspected. The details of such a plan could be so regulated as to interpose the necessary checks without any burdensome operation upon the pensioners. The object should be two- fold : 1. To look into the original justice of the claims, so far as this can be done under a proper system of regulations, by an examination of the claimants themselves and by inquiring in the vicinity of their residence into their history and into the opinion entertained of their Revolutionary services. 2. To ascertain in all cases whether the original claimant is living, and this by actual personal inspection. This measure will, if adopted, be productive, I think, of the desired results, and I therefore recommend it to your consideration, with the further suggestion that all payments should be suspended till the necessary reports are received. It will be seen by a tabular statement annexed to the docu- ments transmitted to Congress that the appropriations for objects connected with the War Department, made at the last session, for the service of the year 1834, excluding the permanent appropriation for the payment of military gratu- ities under the act of June 7, 1832, the appropriation of $200,000 for arming and equipping the militia, and the ap- propriation of $10,000 for the civilization of the Indians, which are not annually renewed, amounted to the sum of $9,003,261, and that the estimates of appropriations neces- sary for the same branches of service for the year 1835 amount to the sum of $5,778,964, making a difference in the appropriations of the current year over the estimates of the appropriations for the next of $3,224,297. The principal causes which have operated at this time to produce this great difference are shown in the reports and documents and in the detailed estimates. Some of these causes are accidental and temporary, while others are per- manent, and, aided by a just course of administration, may continue to operate beneficially upon the public expenditures. 3^8 Andrew Jackson A just economy, expending where the pubHc service re- quires and withholding where it does not, is among the in- dispensable duties of the Government. I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy and to the documents with it for a full view of the operations of that important branch of our service dur- ing the present year. It will be seen that the wisdom and liberality with which Congress has provided for the gradual increase of our navy material have been seconded by a cor- responding zeal and fidelity on the part of those to whom has been confided the execution of the laws on the subject, and that but a short period would be now required to put in commission a force large enough for any exigency into which the country may be thrown. When we reflect upon our position in relation to other nations, it must be apparent that in the event of conflicts with them we must look chiefly to our Navy for the protec- tion of our national rights. The wide seas which separate us from other Governments must of necessity be the theater on which an enemy will aim to assail us, and unless we are prepared to meet him on this element we can not be said to possess the power requisite to repel or prevent aggressions. We can not, therefore, watch with too much attention this arm of our defense, or cherish with too much care the means by which it can possess the necessary efficiency and exten- sion. To this end our policy has been heretofore wisely directed to the constant employment of a force sufficient to guard our commerce, and to the rapid accumulation of the materials which are necessary to repair our vessels and con- struct with ease such new ones as may be required in a state of war. In accordance with this policy, I recommend to your con- sideration the erection of the additional dry dock described by the Secretary of the Navy, and also the construction of the steam batteries to which he has referred, for the purpose of testing their efficacy as auxiliaries to the system of de- fense now in use. The report of the Postmaster-General herewith submitted Sixth Annual Message 3^9 exhibits the condition and prospects of that Department. From that document it appears that there was a deficit in the funds of the Department at the commencement of the pres- ent year beyond its available means of $315,599.98, which on the ist July last had been reduced to $268,092.74. It appears also that the revenues for the coming year will ex- ceed the expenditures about $270,000, which, with the excess of revenue which will result from the operations of the cur- rent half year, may be expected, independently of any in- crease in the gross amount of postages, to supply the entire deficit before the end of 1835. But as this calculation is based on the gross amount of postages which had accrued within the period embraced by the times of striking the bal- ances, it is obvious that without a progressive increase in the amount of postages the existing retrenchments must be persevered in through the year 1836 that the Department may accumulate a surplus fund sufficient to place it in a con- dition of perfect ease. It will be observed that the revenues of the Post-Office Department, though they have increased, and their amount is above that of any former year, have yet fallen short of the estimates more than $100,000. This is attributed in a great degree to the increase of free letters growing out of the extension and abuse of the franking privilege. There has been a gradual increase in the number of executive offices to which it has been granted, and by an act passed in March, 1833, it was extended to members of Congress throughout the whole year. It is believed that a revision of the laws relative to the franking privilege, with some enactments to enforce more rigidly the restrictions under which it is granted, would operate beneficially to the country, by en- abling the Department at an earlier period to restore the mail facilities that have been withdrawn, and to extend them more widely, as the growing settlements of the country may require. To a measure so important to the Government and so just to our constituents, who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves and are not willing to concede them to 39° Andrew Jackson others, I earnestly recommend the serious attention of Congress. The importance of the Post-Office Department and the magnitude to which it has grown, both in its revenues and in its operations, seem to demand its reorganization by law. The whole of its receipts and disbursements have hitherto been left entirely to Executive control and individual dis- cretion. The principle is as sound in relation to this as to any other Department of the Government, that as little dis- cretion should be confided to the executive officer who con- trols it as is compatible with its efficiency. It is therefore earnestly recommended that it be organized with an auditor and treasurer of its own, appointed by the President and Senate, who shall be branches of the Treasury Department. Your attention is again respectfully invited to the defect which exists in the judicial system of the United States. Nothing can be more desirable than the uniform operation of the Federal judiciary throughout the several States, all of which, standing on the same footing as members of the Union, have equal rights to the advantages and benefits re- sulting from its laws. This object is not attained by the judicial acts now in force, because they leave one-fourth of the States without circuit courts. It is undoubtedly the duty of Congress to place all the States on the same footing in this respect, either by the creation of an additional number of associate judges or by an enlargement of the circuits assigned to those already ap- pointed so as to include the new States. Whatever may be the difficulty in a proper organization of the judicial system so as to secure its efficiency and uniformity in all parts of the Union and at the same time to avoid such an increase of judges as would encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, it should not be allowed to weigh against the great injustice which the present operation of the system produces. I trust that I may be also pardoned for renewing the recommendation I have so often submitted to your attention in regard to the mode of electing the President and Vice- President of the United States. All the reflection I have Sixth Annual Message 39 ^ been able to bestow upon the subject increases my convic- tion that the best interests of the country will be promoted by the adoption of some plan which will secure in all con- tingencies that important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the people. Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers be limited to a single period of either four or six years, I think our liberties would possess an addi- tional safeguard. At your last session I called the attention of Congress to the destruction of the public building occupied by the Treas- ury Department. As the public interest requires that another building should be erected with as little delay as possible, it is hoped that the means will be seasonably provided and that they will be ample enough to authorize such an enlargement and improvement in the plan of the building as will more effectually accommodate the public officers and secure the public documents deposited in it from the casualties of fire. I have not been able to satisfy myself that the bill entitled " An act to improve the navigation of the Wabash River," which was sent to me at the close of your last session, ought to pass, and I have therefore withheld from it my approval and now return it to the Senate, the body in which it orig- inated. There can be no question connected with the administra- tion of public affairs more important or more difficult to be satisfactorily dealt with than that which relates to the right- ful authority and proper action of the Federal Government upon the subject of internal improvements. To inherent embarrassments have been added others resulting from the course of our legislation concerning it. I have heretofore communicated freely with Congress upon this subject, and in adverting to it again I can not refrain from expressing my increased conviction of its ex- treme importance as well in regard to its bearing upon the maintenance of the Constitution and the prudent manage- ment of the public revenue as on account of its disturbing effect upon the harmony of the Union. We are in no danger from violations of the Constitution 392 Andrew Jackson by which encroachments are made upon the personal rights of the citizen. The sentence of condemnation long since pronounced by the American people upon acts of that char- acter will, I doubt not, continue to prove as salutary in its effects as it is irreversible in its nature. But against the dangers of unconstitutional acts which, instead of menacing the vengeance of offended authority, proffer local advan- tages and bring in their train the patronage of the Govern- ment, we are, I fear, not so safe. To suppose that because our Government has been instituted for the benefit of the people it must therefore have the power to do whatever may seem to conduce to the public good is an error into which even honest minds are too apt to fall.. In yielding them- selves to this fallacy they overlook the great considerations in which the Federal Constitution was founded. They for- get that in consequence of the conceded diversities in the interest and condition of the different States it was foreseen at the period of its adoption that although a particular meas- ure of the Government might be beneficial and proper in one State it might be the reverse in another ; that it was for this reason the States would not consent to make a grant to the Federal Government of the general and usual powers of government, but of such only as were specifically enumer- ated, and the probable effects of which they could, as they thought, safely anticipate; and they forget also the para- mount obligation upon all to abide by the compact then so solemnly and, as it was hoped, so firmly established. In addition to the dangers to the Constitution springing from the sources I have stated, there has been one which was per- haps greater than all. I allude to the materials which this subject has afforded for sinister appeals to selfish feelings, and the opinion heretofore so extensively entertained of its adaptation to the purposes of personal ambition. With such stimulants it is not surprising that the acts and pretensions of the Federal Government in this behalf should sometimes have been carried to an alarming extent. The questions which have arisen upon this subject have related — First. To the power of making internal improvements Sixth Annual Message 393 within the Hmits of a State, with the right of territorial jurisdiction, sufficient at least for their preservation and use. Second. To the right of appropriating money in aid of such works when carried on by a State or by a company in virtue of State authority, surrendering the claim of juris- diction ; and Third. To the propriety of appropriation for improve- ments of a particular class, viz., for light-houses, beacons, buoys, public piers, and for the removal of sand bars, saw- yers, and other temporary and partial impediments in our navigable rivers and harbors. The claims of power for the General Government upon each of these points certainly present matter of the deepest interest. The first is, however, of much the greatest im- portance, inasmuch as, in addition to the dangers of unequal and improvident expenditures of public moneys common to all, there is superadded to that the conflicting jurisdictions of the respective governments. Federal jurisdiction, at least to the extent I have stated, has been justly regarded by its advocates as necessarily appurtenant to the power in ques- tion, if that exists by the Constitution. That the most in- jurious conflicts would unavoidably arise between the re- spective jurisdictions of the State and Federal Governments in the absence of a constitutional provision marking out their respective boundaries can not be doubted. The local advan- tages to be obtained would induce the States to overlook in the beginning the dangers and difficulties to which they might ultimately be exposed. The powers exercised by the Federal Government would soon be regarded with jealousy by the State authorities, and originating as they must from implication or assumption, it would be impossible to affix to them certain and safe limits. Opportunities and tempta- tions to the assumption of power incompatible with State sovereignty would be increased and those barriers which resist the tendency of our system toward consolidation greatly weakened. The officers and agents of the General Government might not always have the discretion to abstain from intermeddling with State concerns, and if they did 394 'Andrew Jackson they would not always escape the suspicion of having done so. Collisions and consequent irritations would spring up ; that harmony which should ever exist between the General Government and each member of the Confederacy would be frequently interrupted; a spirit of contention would be en- gendered and the dangers of disunion greatly multiplied. Yet we all know that notwithstanding these grave objec- tions this dangerous doctrine was at one time apparently proceeding to its final establishment with fearful rapidity. The desire to embark the Federal Government in works of internal improvement prevailed in the highest degree during the first session of the first Congress that I had the honor to meet in my present situation. When the bill authorizing a subscription on the part of the United States for stock in the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Company passed the two Houses, there had been reported by the Committees of Inter- nal Improvements bills containing appropriations for such objects, inclusive of those for the Cumberland road and for harbors and light-houses, to the amount of $106,000,000. In this amount was included authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to subscribe for the stock of different com- panies to a great extent, and the residue was principally for the direct construction of roads by this Government. In addition to these projects, which had been presented to the two Houses under the sanction and recommendation of their respective Committees on Internal Improvements, there were then still pending before the committees, and in me- morials to Congress presented but not referred, different projects for works of a similar character, the expense of which can not be estimated with certainty, but must have exceeded $ 1 00,000,000. Regarding the bill authorizing a subscription to the stock of the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Company as the entering wedge of a system which, however weak at first, might soon become strong enough to rive the bands of the Union asunder, and believing that if its passage was ac- quiesced in by the Executive and the people there would no longer be any limitation upon the authority of the General Sixth Annual Message 395 Government in respect to the appropriation of money for such objects, I deemed it an imperative duty to withhold from it the Executive approval. Although from the ob- viously local character of that v^'ork I might well have con- tented myself with a refusal to approve the bill upon that ground, yet sensible of the vital importance of the subject, and anxious that my views and opinions in regard to the whole matter should be fully understood by Congress and by my constituents, I felt it my duty to go further. I there- fore embraced that early occasion to apprise Congress that in my opinion the Constitution did not confer upon it the power to authorize the construction of ordinary roads and canals within the limits of a State and to say, respectfully, that no bill admitting such a power could receive my official sanction. I did so in the confident expectation that the speedy settlement of the public mind upon the whole subject would be greatly facilitated by the difference between the two Houses and myself, and that the harmonious action of the several departments of the Federal Government in re- gard to it would be ultimately secured. So far, at least, as it regards this branch of the subject, my best hopes have been realized. Nearly four years have elapsed, and several sessions of Congress have intervened, and no attempt within my recollection has been made to induce Congress to exercise this power. The applications for the construction of roads and canals which were for- merly multiplied upon your files are no longer presented, and we have good reason to infer that the current of public sentiment has become so decided against the pretension as effectually to discourage its reassertion. So thinking, I de- rive the greatest satisfaction from the conviction that thus much at least has been secured upon this important and em- barrassing subject. From attempts to appropriate the national funds to objects which are confessedly of a local character we can not, I trust, have anything further to apprehend. My views in regard to the expediency of making appropriations for works which are claimed to be of a national character and 39^ Andrew Jackson prosecuted under State authority — assuming that Congress have the right to do so — were stated in my annual message to Congress in 1830, and also in that containing my objec- tions to the Maysville road bill. So thoroughly convinced am I that no such appropriations ought to be made by Congress until a suitable constitutional provision is made upon the subject, and so essential do I regard the point to the highest interests of our country, that I could not consider myself as discharging my duty to my constituents in giving the Executive sanction to any bill con- taining such an appropriation. If the people of the United States desire that the public Treasury shall be resorted to for the means to prosecute such works, they will concur in an amendment of the Constitution prescribing a rule by which the national character of the works is to be tested, and by which the greatest practicable equality of benefits may be secured to each member of the Confederacy. The effects of such a regulation would be most salutary in pre- venting unprofitable expenditures, in securing our legisla- tion from the pernicious consequences of a scramble for the favors of Government, and in repressing the spirit of dis- content which must inevitably arise from an unequal dis- tribution of treasures which belong alike to all. There is another class of appropriations for what may be called, without impropriety, internal improvements, which have always been regarded as standing upon different grounds from those to which I have referred. I allude to such as have for their object the improvement of our har- bors, the removal of partial and temporary obstructions in our navigable rivers, for the facility and security of our foreign commerce. The grounds upon which I distinguished appropriations of this character from others have already been stated to Congress. I will now only add that at the first session of Congress under the new Constitution it was provided by law that all expenses which should accrue from and after the 15th day of August, 1789, in the necessary support and maintenance and repairs of all light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers erected, placed, or sunk be- Sixth Annual Message 397 fore the passage of the act within any bay, inlet, harbor, or port of the United States, for rendering the navigation thereof easy and safe, should be defrayed out of the Treas- ury of the United States, and, further, that it should be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to provide by con- tracts, with the approbation of the President, for rebuilding when necessary and keeping in good repair the light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers in the several States, and for furnishing them with supplies. Appropriations for sim- ilar objects have been continued from that time to the present without interruption or dispute. As a natural con- sequence of the increase and extension of our foreign commerce, ports of entry and delivery have been multiplied and established, not only upon our seaboard, but in the in- terior of the country upon our lakes and navigable rivers. The convenience and safety of this commerce have led to the gradual extension of these expenditures ; to the erection of light-houses, the placing, planting, and sinking of buoys, beacons, and piers, and to the removal of partial and tem- porary obstructions in our navigable rivers and in the har- bors upon our Great Lakes as well as on the seaboard. Al- though I have expressed to Congress my apprehension that these expenditures have sometimes been extravagant and disproportionate to the advantages to be derived from them, I have not felt it to be my duty to refuse my assent to bills containing them, and have contented myself to follow in this respect in the footsteps of all my predecessors. Sensible, however, from experience and observation of the great abuses to which the unrestricted exercise of this authority by Congress was exposed, I have prescribed a limitation for the government of my own conduct by which expenditures of this character are confined to places below the ports of entry or delivery established by law. I am very sensible that this restriction is not as satisfactory as could be desired, and that much embarrassment may be caused to the executive department in its execution by appropriations for remote and not well-understood objects. But as neither my own reflections nor the lights which I may properly derive from 39^ Andrew Jackson other sources have supplied me with a better, I shall continue to apply my best exertions to a faithful application of the rule upon which it is founded. I sincerely regret that I could not give my assent to the bill entitled " An act to improve the navigation of the Wabash River ; " but I could not have done so without receding from the ground which I have, upon the fullest consideration, taken upon this sub- ject, and of which Congress has been heretofore apprised, and without throwing the subject again open to abuses which no good citizen entertaining my opinions could desire, I rely upon the intelligence and candor of my fellow-citi- zens, in whose liberal indulgence I have already so largely participated, for a correct appreciation of my motives in interposing as I have done on this and other occasions checks to a course of legislation which, without in the slight- est degree calling in question the motives of others, I con- sider as sanctioning improper and unconstitutional expendi- tures of public treasure. I am not hostile to internal improvements, and wish to see them extended to every part of the country. But I am fully persuaded, if they are not commenced in a proper man- ner, confined to proper objects, and conducted under an authority generally conceded to be rightful, that a successful prosecution of them can not be reasonably expected. The attempt will meet with resistance where it might otherwise receive support, and instead of strengthening the bonds of our Confederacy it will only multiply and aggravate the causes of disunion. Seventh Annual Message.* (December 7, 1835.) Fclloiv-Citizcns of the Senate and House of Represent- atives: In the discharge of my official duty the task again devolves upon me of communicating with a new Congress. The reflection that the representation of the Union has been recently renewed, and that the constitutional term of its service will expire with my own, heightens the solicitude with which I shall attempt to lay before it the state of our national concerns and the devout hope which I cherish that its labors to improve them may be crowned with success. You are assembled at a period of profound interest to the American patriot. The unexampled growth and prosperity of our country having given us a rank in the scale of na- tions which removes all apprehension of danger to our in- tegrity and independence from external foes, the career of freedom is before us, with an earnest from the past that if true to ourselves there can be no formidable obstacle in the future to its peaceful and uninterrupted pursuit. Yet, in proportion to the disappearance of those apprehensions which attended our weakness, as once contrasted with the power of some of the States of the Old World, should we now be solicitous as to those which belong to the conviction that it is to our own conduct we must look for the preserva- * In connection with the history of the period, this message should be read in its declarations concerning, (i) the northeastern boundary; (2) the Spanish claims; (3) foreign relations (notably Holland, Bel- gium, Turkey, Mexico and the South American governments); (4) French spoliations; (5) final extinction of the public debt; (6) the Bank of the U. S. ; (7) removal of Indian tribes to reservations; (8) internal improvements; (9) circulation through the mails of "incen- diary publications intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection." This message is specially interesting in its disclosure of the Govern- ment's attitude toward the rising anti-slavery movement. [Ed.] 399 400 Andrew Jackson tion of those causes on which depend the excellence and the duration of our happy system of government. In the example of other systems founded on the will of the people we trace to internal dissension the influences which have so often blasted the hopes of the friends of free- dom. The social elements, which were strong and successful when united against external danger, failed in the more diffi- cult task of properly adjusting their own internal organiza- tion, and thus gave way the great principle of self-govern- ment. Let us trust that this admonition will never be forgotten by the Government or the people of the United States, and that the testimony which our experience thus far holds out to the great human family of the practicability and the blessings of free government will be confirmed in all time to come. We have but to look at the state of our agriculture, manu- factures, and commerce and the unexampled increase of our population to feel the magnitude of the trust committed to us. Never in any former period of our history have we had greater reason than we now have to be thankful to Divine Providence for the blessings of health and general pros- perity. Every branch of labor we see crowned with the most abundant rewards. In every element of national re- sources and wealth and of individual comfort we witness the most rapid and solid improvements. With no interrup- tions to this pleasing prospect at home which will not yield to the spirit of harmony and good will that so strikingly per- vades the mass of the people in every quarter, amidst all the diversity of interest and pursuits to which they are attached, and with no cause of solicitude in regard to our external affairs which will not, it is hoped, disappear before the prin- ciples of simple justice and the forbearance that mark our intercourse with foreign powers, we have every reason to feel proud of our beloved country. The general state of our foreign relations has not ma- terially changed since my last annual message. In the settlement of the question of the northeastern boundary little progress has been made. Great Britain has Seventh Annual Message ^oi declined acceding to the proposition of the United States, presented in accordance with the resolution of the Senate, unless certain preliminary conditions were admitted, which I deemed incompatible with a satisfactory and rightful ad- justment of the controversy. Waiting for some distinct pro- posal from the Government of Great Britain, which has been invited, I can only repeat the expression of my confidence that, with the strong mutual disposition which I believe ex- ists to make a just arrangement, this perplexing question can be settled with a due regard to the well-founded pre- tensions and pacific policy of all the parties to it. Events are frequently occurring on the northeastern frontier of a character to impress upon all the necessity of a speedy and definitive termination of the dispute. This consideration, added to the desire common to both to relieve the liberal and friendly relations so happily existing between the two coun- tries from all embarrassment, will no doubt have its just influence upon both. Our diplomatic intercourse with Portugal has been re- newed, and it is expected that the claims of our citizens, partially paid, will be fully satisfied as soon as the condition of the Queen's Government will permit the proper attention to the subject of them. That Government has, I am happy to inform you, manifested a determination to act upon the liberal principles which have marked our commercial policy. The happiest effects upon the future trade between the United States and Portugal are anticipated from it, and the time is not thought to be remote when a system of perfect reciprocity will be established. The installments due under the convention with the King of the Two Sicilies have been paid with that scrupulous fidelity by which his whole conduct has been characterized, and the hope is indulged that the adjustment of the vexed question of our claims will be followed by a more extended and mutually beneficial intercourse between the two coun- tries. The internal contest still continues in Spain. Distin- guished as this struggle has unhappily been by incidents of 402 Andrew Jackson the most sanguinary character, the obligations of the late treaty of indemnification with us have been, nevertheless, faithfully executed by the Spanish Government. No provision having been made at the last session of Con- gress for the ascertainment of the claims to be paid and the apportionment of the funds under the convention made with Spain, I invite your early attention to the subject. The pub- lic evidences of the debt have, according to the terms of the convention and in the forms prescribed by it, been placed in the possession of the United States, and the interest as it fell due has been regularly paid upon them. Our commercial intercourse with Cuba stands as regulated by the act of Con- gress. No recent information has been received as to the disposition of the Government of Madrid on this subject, and the lamented death of our recently appointed minister on his way to Spain, with the pressure of their affairs at home, renders it scarcely probable that any change is to be looked for during the coming year. Further portions of the Florida archives have been sent to the United States, al- though the death of one of the commissioners at a critical moment embarrassed the progress of the delivery of them. The higher officers of the local government have recently shewn an anxious desire, in compliance with the orders from the parent Government, to facilitate the selection and de- livery of all we have a right to claim. Negotiations have been opened at Madrid for the estab- lishment of a lasting peace between Spain and such of the Spanish American Governments of this hemisphere as have availed themselves of the intimation given to all of them of the disposition of Spain to treat upon the basis of their en- tire independence. It is to be regretted that simultaneous appointments by all of the ministers to negotiate with Spain had not been made. The negotiation itself would have been simplified, and this long-standing dispute, spreading over a large portion of the world, would have been brought to a more speedy conclusion. Our political and commercial relations with Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Denmark stand on the usual favorable Seventh Annual Message 4^3 bases. One of the articles of our treaty with Russia in re- lation to the trade on the northwest coast of America having expired, instructions have been given to our minister at St. Petersburg to negotiate a renewal of it. The long and un- broken amity between the two Governments gives every reason for supposing the article will be renewed, if stronger motives do not exist to prevent it than with our view of the subject can be anticipated here. I ask your attention to the message of my predecessor at the opening of the second session of the Nineteenth Con- gress, relative to our commercial intercourse with Holland, and to the documents connected with that subject, communi- cated to the House of Representatives on the loth of Jan- uary, 1825, and i8th of January, 1827. Coinciding in the opinion of my predecessor that Holland is not, under the regulations of her present system, entitled to have her ves- sels and their cargoes received into the United States on the footing of American vessels and cargoes as regards duties of tonnage and impost, a respect for his reference of it to the Legislature has alone prevented me from acting on the subject. I should still have waited without comment for the action of Congress, but recently a claim has been made by Belgian subjects to admission into our ports for their ships and cargoes on the same footing as American, with the allegation we could not dispute that our vessels received in their ports the identical treatment shewn to them in the ports of Holland, upon whose vessels no discrimination is made in the ports of the United States. Giving the same privileges the Belgians expected the same benefits — benefits that were, in fact, enjoyed when Belgium and Holland were united under one Government. Satisfied with the justice of their pretension to be placed on the same footing with Hol- land, I could not, nevertheless, without disregard to the principle of our laws, admit their claim to be treated as Americans, and at the same time a respect for Congress, to whom the subject had long since been referred, has pre- vented me from producing a just equality by taking from the vessels of Holland privileges conditionally granted by 4^4 Andrew Jackson acts of Congress, although the condition upon which the grant was made has, in my judgment, failed since 1822. I recommend, therefore, a review of the act of 1824, and such a modification of it as will produce an equality on such terms as Congress shall think best comports with our settled policy and the obligations of justice to two friendly powers. With the Sublime Porte and all the Governments on the coast of Barbary our relations continue to be friendly. The proper steps have been taken to renew our treaty with Mo- rocco. The Argentine Republic has again promised to send with- in the current year a minister to the United States. A convention with Mexico for extending the time for the appointment of commissioners to run the boundary line has been concluded and will be submitted to the Senate. Recent events in that country have awakened the liveliest solicitude in the United States. Aware of the strong temptations ex- isting and powerful inducements held out to the citizens of the United States to mingle in the dissensions of our im- mediate neighbors, instructions have been given to the dis- trict attorneys of the United States where indications war- ranted it to prosecute without respect to persons all who might attempt to violate the obligations of our neutrality, while at the same time it has been thought necessary to apprise the Government of Mexico that we should require the integrity of our territory to be scrupulously respected by both parties. From our diplomatic agents in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Cen- tral America, Venezuela, and New Granada constant assur- ances are received of the continued good understanding with the Governments to which they are severally accredited. With those Governments upon which our citizens have valid and accumulating claims, scarcely an advance toward a set- tlement of them is made, owing mainly to their distracted state or to the pressure of imperative domestic questions. Our patience has been and will probably be still further se- verely tried, but our fellow-citizens whose interests are in- Seventh Annual Message 4^5 volved may confide in the determination of the Government to obtain for them eventually ample retribution. Unfortunately, many of the nations of this hemisphere are still self-tormented by domestic dissensions. Revolution succeeds revolution; injuries are committed upon foreigners engaged in lawful pursuits; much time elapses before a gov- ernment sufficiently stable is erected to justify expectation of redress; ministers are sent and received, and before the discussions of past injuries are fairly begun fresh troubles arise; but too frequently new injuries are added to the old, to be discussed together with the existing government after it has proved its ability to sustain the assaults made upon it, or with its successor if overthrown. If this unhappy condi- tion of things continues much longer, other nations will be under the painful necessity of deciding whether justice to their suffering citizens does not require a prompt redress of injuries by their own power, without waiting for the estab- lishment of a government competent and enduring enough to discuss and to make satisfaction for them. Since the last session of Congress the validity of our claims upon France, as liquidated by the treaty of 1831, has been acknowledged by both branches of her legislature, and the money has been appropriated for their discharge ; but the payment is, I regret to inform you, still withheld. A brief recapitulation of the most important incidents in this protracted controversy will shew how utterly untenable are the grounds upon which this course is attempted to be justified. On entering upon the duties of my station I found the United States an unsuccessful applicant to the justice of France for the satisfaction of claims the validity of which was never questionable, and has now been most solemnly admitted by France herself. The antiquity of these claims, their high justice, and the aggravating circumstances out of which they arose are too familiar to the American people to require description. It is sufficient to say that for a period of ten years and upward our commerce was, with but little interruption, the subject of constant aggressions on the part 4o6 Andrew Jackson of France — aggressions the ordinary features of which were condemnations of vessels and cargoes under arbitrary de- crees, adopted in contravention as well of the laws of na- tions as of treaty stipulations, burnings on the high seas, and seizures and confiscations under special imperial re- scripts in the ports of other nations occupied by the armies or under the control of France. Such it is now conceded is the character of the wrongs we suffered — wrongs in many cases so flagrant that even their authors never denied our right to reparation. Of the extent of these injuries some conception may be formed from the fact that after the burn- ing of a large amount at sea and the necessary deterioration in other cases by long detention the American property so seized and sacrificed at forced sales, excluding what was adjudged to privateers before or without condemnation, brought into the French treasury upward of 24,000,000 francs, besides large custom-house duties. The subject had already been an affair of twenty years' uninterrupted negotiation, except for a short time when France was overwhelmed by the military power of united Europe. During this period, whilst other nations were ex- torting from her payment of their claims at the point of the bayonet, the United States intermitted their demand for jus- tice out of respect to the oppressed condition of a gallant people to whom they felt under obligations for fraternal assistance in their own days of suffering and of peril. The bad effects of these protracted and unavailing discussions, as well upon our relations with France as upon our national character, were obvious, and the line of duty was to my mind equally so. This was either to insist upon the adjust- ment of our claims within a reasonable period or to aban- don them altogether. I could not doubt that by this course the interests and honor of both countries would be best con- sulted. Instructions were therefore given in this spirit to the minister who was sent out once more to demand repara- tion. Upon the meeting of Congress in December, 1829, I felt it my duty to speak of these claims and the delays of France in terms calculated to call the serious attention of Seventh Annual Message 4^7 both countries to the subject. The then French ministry took exception to the message on the ground of its contain- ing a menace, under which it was not agreeable to the French Government to negotiate. The American minister of his own accord refuted the construction which was at- tempted to be put upon the message and at the same time called to the recollection of the French ministry that the President's message was a communication addressed, not to foreign governments, but to the Congress of the United States, in which it was enjoined upon him by the Constitu- tion to lay before that body information of the state of the Union, comprehending its foreign as well as its domestic relations, and that if in the discharge of this duty he felt it incumbent upon him to summon the attention of Congress in due time to what might be the possible consequences of existing difficulties with any foreign government, he might fairly be supposed to do so under a sense of what was due from him in a frank communication with another branch of his own Government, and not from any intention of holding a menace over a foreign power. The views taken by him received my approbation, the French Government was satisfied, and the negotiation w^as continued. It ter- minated in the treaty of July 4, 1831, recognizing the jus- tice of our claims in part and promising payment to the amount of 25,000,000 francs in six annual installments. The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged at Wash- ington on the 2d of February, 1832, and in five days there- after it was laid before Congress, who immediately passed the acts necessary on our part to secure to France the com- mercial advantages conceded to her in the compact. The treaty had previously been solemnly ratified by the King of the French in terms which are certainly not mere matters of form, and of which the translation is as follows : We, approving the above convention in all and each of the dispositions which are contained in it, do declare, by our- selves as well as by our heirs and successors, that it is ac- cepted, approved, ratified, and confirmed, and by these pres- 4o8 Andrew Jackson ents, signed by our hand, we do accept, approve, ratify, and confirm it; promising, on the faith and word of a king, to observe it and to cause it to be observed inviolably, without ever contravening it or suffering it to be contravened, di- rectly or indirectly, for any cause or under any pretense whatsoever. Official information of the exchange of ratifications in the United States reached Paris whilst the Chambers were in session. The extraordinary and to us injurious delays of the French Government in their action upon the subject of its fulfillment have been heretofore stated to Congress, and I have no disposition to enlarge upon them here. It is sufficient to observe that the then pending session was al- lowed to expire* without even an effort to obtain the neces- sary appropriations ; that the two succeeding ones were also suffered to pass away without anything like a serious at- tempt to obtain a decision upon the subject, and that it was not until the fourth session, almost three years after the conclusion of the treaty and more than two years after the exchange of ratifications, that the bill for the execution of the treaty was pressed to a vote and rejected. In the meantime the Government of the United States, having full confidence that a treaty entered into and so sol- emnly ratified by the French King would be executed in good faith, and not doubting that provision would be made for the payment of the first installment which was to be- come due on the 2d day of February, 1833, negotiated a draft for the amount through the Bank of the United States. When this draft was presented by the holder with the cre- denials required by the treaty to authorize him to receive the money, the Government of France allowed it to be pro- tested. In addition to the injury in the nonpayment of the money by France, conformably to her engagement, the United States were exposed to a heavy claim on the part of the bank under pretense of damages, in satisfaction of which that institution seized upon and still retains an equal amount of the public money. Congress was in session when the decision of the Chambers reached Washington, and an Seventh Annual Message 4^9 immediate communication of this apparently final decision of France not to fulfill the stipulations of the treaty was the course naturally to be expected from the President. The deep tone of dissatisfaction which pervaded the public mind and the correspondent excitement produced in Con- gress by only a general knowledge of the result rendered it more than probable that a resort to immediate measures of redress would be the consequence of calling the attention of that body to the subject. Sincerely desirous of preserving the pacific relations which had so long existed between the two countries, I was anxious to avoid this course if I could be satisfied that by doing so neither the interests nor the honor of my country would be compromitted. Without the fullest assurances upon that point, I could not hope to ac- quit myself of the responsibility to be incurred in suffering Congress to adjourn without laying the subject before them. Those received by me were believed to be of that character. That the feelings produced in the United States by the news of the rejection of the appropriation would be such as I have described them to have been was foreseen by the French Government, and prompt measures were taken by it to prevent the consequences. The King in person expressed through our minister at Paris his profound regret at the decision of the Chambers, and promised to send forthwith a national ship with dispatches to his minister here author- izing him to give such assurances as would satisfy the Gov- ernment and people of the United States that the treaty would yet be faithfully executed by France. The national ship arrived, and the minister received his instructions. Claiming to act under the authority derived from them, he gave to this Government in the name of his the most solemn assurances that as soon after the new elections as the charter would permit the French Chambers would be convened and the attempt to procure the necessary appro- priations renewed ; that all the constitutional powers of the King and his ministers should be put in requisition to ac- complish the object, and he was understood, and so ex- pressly informed by this Government at the time, to engage 4IO Andrew Jackson that the question should be pressed to a decision at a period sufficiently early to permit information of the result to be communicated to Congress at the commencement of their next session. Relying upon these assurances, I incurred the responsibility, great as I regarded it to be, of suffering Congress to separate without communicating with them upon the subject. The expectations justly founded upon the promises thus solemnly made to this Government by that of France were not realized. The French Chambers met on the 31st of July, 1834, soon after the election, and although our minister in Paris urged the French ministry to bring the subject before them, they declined doing so. He next insisted that the Chambers, if prorogued without acting on the subject, should be reassembled at a period so early that their action on the treaty might be known in Washington prior to the meeting of Congress. This reasonable request was not only declined, but the Chambers were prorogued to the 29th of December, a day so late that their decision, however ur- gently pressed, could not in all probability be obtained in time to reach Washington before the necessary adjournment of Congress by the Constitution. The reasons given by the ministry for refusing to convoke the Chambers at an earlier period were afterwards shewn not to be insuperable by their actual convocation on the ist of December under a special call for domestic purposes, which fact, however, did not become known to this Government until after the com- mencement of the last session of Congress. Thus disappointed in our just expectations, it became my imperative duty to consult with Congress in regard to the expediency of a resort to retaliatory measures in case the stipulations of the treaty should not be speedily complied with, and to recommend such as in my judgment the occa- sion called for. To this end an unreserved communication of the case in all its aspects became indispensable. To have shrunk in making it from saying all that was necessary to its correct understanding, and that the truth would justify, for fear of giving offense to others, would have been un- Seventh Annual Message 4^1 worthy of us. To have gone, on the other hand, a single step further for the purpose of wounding the pride of a Government and people with whom we had so many motives for cultivating relations of amity and reciprocal advantage would have been unwise and improper. Admonished by the past of the difficulty of making even the simplest statement of our wrongs without disturbing the sensibilities of those who had by their position become responsible for their re- dress, and earnestly desirous of preventing further ob- stacles from that source, I went out of my way to preclude a construction of the message by which the recommenda- tion that was made to Congress might be regarded as a menace to France in not only disavowing such a design, but in declaring that her pride and her power were too well known to expect anything from her fears. The message did not reach Paris until more than a month after the Cham- bers had been in session, and such was the insensibility of the ministry to our rightful claims and just expectations that our minister had been informed that the matter when introduced would not be pressed as a cabinet measure. Although the message was not officially communicated to the French Government, and notwithstanding the declara- tion to the contrary which it contained, the French ministry decided to consider the conditional recommendation of re- prisals a menace and an insult which the honor of the na- tion made it incumbent on them to resent. The measures resorted to by them to evince their sense of the supposed in- dignity were the immediate recall of their minister at Wash- ington, the offer of passports to the American minister at Paris, and a public notice to the legislative Chambers that all diplomatic intercourse with the United States had been suspended. Having in this manner vindicated the dignity of France, they next proceeded to illustrate her justice. To this end a bill was immediately introduced into the Chamber of Deputies proposing to make the appropriations neces- sary to carry into effect the treaty. As this bill subsequently passed into a law, the provisions of which now constitute the main subject of difficulty between the two nations, it 412 Andrew Jackson becomes my duty, in order to place the subject before you in a clear light, to trace the history of its passage and to refer with some particularity to the proceedings and dis- cussions in regard to it. The minister of finance in his opening speech alluded to the measures which had been adopted to resent the supposed indignity, and recommended the execution of the treaty as a measure required by the honor and justice of France. He as the organ of the ministry declared the message, so long as it had not received the sanction of Congress, a mere expression of the personal opinion of the President, for which neither the Government nor people of the United States were responsible, and that an engagement had been entered into for the fulfillment of which the honor of France was pledged. Entertaining these views, the single condi- tion which the French ministry proposed to annex to the payment of the money was that it should not be made until it was ascertained that the Government of the United States had done nothing to injure the interests of France, or, in other words, that no steps had been authorized by Congress of a hostile character toward France. What the disposition or action of Congress might be was then unknown to the French cabinet; but on the 14th of January the Senate resolved that it was at that time inex- pedient to adopt any legislative measures in regard to the state of affairs between the United States and France, and no action on the subject had occurred in the House of Rep- resentatives. These facts were known in Paris prior to the 28th of March, 1835, when the committee to whom the bill of indemnification had been referred reported it to the Chamber of Deputies. That committee substantially re- echoed the sentiments of the ministry, declared that Con- gress had set aside the proposition of the President, and recommended the passage of the bill without any other re- striction than that originally proposed. Thus was it known to the French ministry and Chambers that if the position assumed by them, and which had been so frequently and sol- emnly announced as the only one compatible with the honor Seventh Annual Message 4^3 of France, was maintained and the bill passed as originally proposed, the money would be paid and there would be an end of this unfortunate controversy. But this cheering prospect was soon destroyed by an amendment introduced into the bill at the moment of its passage, providing that the money should not be paid until the French Government had received satisfactory explana- tions of the President's message of the 2d December, 1834, and, what is still more extraordinary, the president of the council of ministers adopted this amendment and consented to its incorporation in the bill. In regard to a supposed in- sult which had been formally resented by the recall of their minister and the offer of passports to ours, they now for the first time proposed to ask explanations. Sentiments and propositions which they had declared could not justly be im- puted to the Government or people of the United States are set up as obstacles to the performance of an act of con- ceded justice to that Government and people. They had declared that the honor of France required the fulfillment of the engagement into which the King had entered, unless Congress adopted the recommendations of the message. They ascertained that Congress did not adopt them, and yet that fulfillment is refused unless they first obtain from the President explanations of an opinion characterized by themselves as personal and inoperative. The conception that it was my intention to menace or in- sult the Government of France is as unfounded as the at- tempt to extort from the fears of that nation what her sense of justice may deny would be vain and ridiculous. But the Constitution of the United States imposes on the President the duty of laying before Congress the condition of the country in its foreign and domestic relations, and of recommending such measures as may in his opinion be re- quired by its interests. From the performance of this duty he cannot be deterred by the fear of wounding the sensi- bilities of the people or government of whom it may become necessary to speak; and the American people are incapable of submitting to an interference by any government on 4H Andrew Jackson earth, however powerful, with the free performance of the domestic duties which the Constitution has imposed on their pubHc functionaries. The discussions which intervene between the several departments of our Government belong to ourselves, and for anything said in them our public serv- ants are only responsible to their own constituents and to each other. If in the course of their consultations facts are erroneously stated or unjust deductions are made, they re- quire no other inducement to correct them, however in- formed of their error^ than their love of justice and what is due to their own character ; but they can never submit to be interrogated upon the subject as a matter of right by a foreign power. When our discussions terminate in acts, our responsibility to foreign powers commences, not as in- dividuals, but as a nation. The principle which calls in question the President for the language of his message would equally justify a foreign power in demanding ex- planation of the language used in the report of a committee or by a member in debate. This is not the first time that the Government of France has taken exception to the messages of American Presidents. President Washington and the first President Adams in the performance of their duties to the American people fell un- der the animadversions of the French Directory. The ob- jection taken by the ministry of Charles X, and removed by the explanations made by our minister upon the spot, has already been adverted to. When it was understood that the ministry of the present King took exception to my mes- sage of last year, putting a construction upon it which was disavowed on its face, our late minister at Paris, in answer to the note which first announced a dissatisfaction with the language used in the message, made a communication to the French Government under date of the 29th of January, 1835, calculated to remove all impressions which an unrea- sonable susceptibility had created. He repeated and called the attention of the French Government to the disavowal contained in the message itself of any intention to intimi- date by menace; he truly declared that it contained and Seventh Annual Message 4^5 was intended to contain no charge of ill faith against the King of the French, and properly distinguished between the right to complain in unexceptionable terms of the omission to execute an agreement and an accusation of bad motives in withholding such execution, and demonstrated that the necessary use of that right ought not to be considered as an offensive imputation. Although this communication was made without instructions and entirely on the minister's own responsibility, yet it was afterwards made the act of this Government by my full approbation, and that approba- tion was officially made known on the 25th of April, 1835, to the French Government. It, however, failed to have any effect. The law, after this friendly explanation, passed with the obnoxious amendment, supported by the King's minis- ters, and was finally approved by the King. The people of the United States are justly attached to a pacific system in their intercourse with foreign nations. It is proper, therefore, that they should know whether their Government has adhered to it. In the present instance it has been carried to the utmost extent that was consistent with a becoming self-respect. The note of the 29th of Jan- uary, to which I have before alluded, was not the only one which our minister took upon himself the responsibility of presenting on the same subject and in the same spirit. Find- ing that it was intended to make the payment of a just debt dependent on the performance of a condition which he knew could never be complied with, he thought it a duty to make another attempt to convince the French Government that whilst self-respect and regard to the dignity of other na- tions would always prevent us from using any language that ought to give offense, yet we could never admit a right in any foreign government to ask explanations of or to inter- fere in any manner in the communications which one branch of our public councils made with another ; that in the pres- ent case no such language had been used, and that this had in a former note been fully and voluntarily stated, before it was contemplated to make the explanation a condition ; and that there might be no misapprehension he stated the terms 4^6 Andrew Jackson used in that note, and he officially informed them that it had been approved by the President, and that therefore every explanation which could reasonably be asked or hon- orably given had been already made ; that the contemplated measure had been anticipated by a voluntary and friendly declaration, and vv^as therefore not only useless, but might be deemed offensive, and certainly would not be complied with if annexed as a condition. When this latter communication, to which I especially invite the attention of Congress, was laid before me, I en- tertained the hope that the means it was obviously intended to afford of an honorable and speedy adjustment of the diffi- culties between the two nations would have been accepted, and I therefore did not hesitate to give it my sanction and full approbation. This was due to the minister who had made himself responsible for the act, and it was published to the people of the United States and is now laid before their representatives to shew how far their Executive has gone in its endeavors to restore a good understanding be- tween the two countries. It would have been at any time communicated to the Government of France had it been of- ficially requested. The French Government having received all the expla- nation which honor and principle permitted, and which could in reason be asked, it was hoped it would no longer hesitate to pay the installments now due. The agent au- thorized to receive the money was instructed to inform the French minister of his readiness to do so. In reply to this notice he was told that the money could not then be paid, because the formalities required by the act of the Chambers had not been arranged. Not having received any official information of the inten- tions of the French Government, and anxious to bring, as far as practicable, this unpleasant affair to a close before the meeting of Congress, that you might have the whole subject before you, I caused our charge d'affaires at Paris to be instructed to ask for the final determination of the French Government, and in the event of their refusal to pay Seventh Annual Message 4^7 the installments now due, without further explanations to return to the United States, The result of this last application has not yet reached us, but is daily expected. That it may be favorable is my sin- cere wish. France having now, through all the branches of her Government, acknowledged the validity of our claims and the obligation of the treaty of 1831, and there really ex- isting no adequate cause for further delay, will at length, it may be hoped, adopt the course which the interests of both nations, not less than the principles of justice, so im- periously require. The treaty being once executed on her part, little will remain to disturb the friendly relations of the two countries — nothing, indeed, which will not yield to the suggestions of a pacific and enlightened policy and to the influence of that mutual good will and of those generous recollections which we may confidently expect will then be revived in all their ancient force. In any event, however, the principle involved in the new aspect which has been given to the controversy is so vitally important to the in- dependent administration of the Government that it can neither be surrendered nor compromitted without national degradation. I hope it is unnecessary for me to say that such a sacrifice will not be made through any agency of mine. The honor of my country shall never be stained by an apology from me for the statement of truth and the per- formance of duty; nor can I give any explanation of my official acts except such as is due to integrity and justice and consistent with the principles on which our institutions have been framed. This determination will, I am confident, be approved by my constituents. I have, indeed, studied their character to but little purpose if the sum of 25,000,000 francs will have the weight of a feather in the estimation of what appertains to their national independence, and if, unhappily, a different impression should at any time obtain in any quarter, they will, I am sure, rally round the Gov- ernment of their choice with alacrity and unanimity, and silence forever the degrading imputation. Having thus frankly presented to you the circumstances 41 8 Andrew Jackson which since the last session of Congress have occurred in this interesting and important matter, with the views of the Executive in regard to them, it is at this time only neces- sary to add that whenever the advices now daily expected from our charge d'affaires shall have been received they will be made the subject of a special communication. The condition of the public finances was never more flat- tering than at the present period. Since my last annual communication all the remains of the public debt have been redeemed, or money has been placed in deposit for this purpose whenever the creditors choose to receive it. All the other pecuniary engagements of the Government have been honorably and promptly ful- filled, and there will be a balance in the Treasury at the close of the present year of about $19,000,000. It is be- lieved that after meeting all outstanding and unexpended appropriations there will remain near eleven millions to be applied to any new objects which Congress may designate or to the more rapid execution of the works already in progress. In aid of these objects, and to satisfy the cur- rent expenditures of the ensuing year, it is estimated that there will be received from various sources twenty millions more in 1836. Should Congress make new appropriations in conformity with the estimates which will be submitted from the proper Departments, amounting to about twenty-four millions, still the available surplus at the close of the next year, after de- ducting all unexpended appropriations, will probably not be less than six millions. This sum can, in my judgment, be now usefully applied to proposed improvements in our navy-yards, and to new national works which are not enu- merated in the present estimates or to the more rapid com- pletion of those already begun. Either would be consti- tutional and useful, and would render unnecessary any attempt in our present peculiar condition to divide the sur- plus revenue or to reduce it any faster than will be effected by the existing laws. In any event, as the annual report from the Secretary of the Treasury will enter into details, Seventh Annual Message 4^9 shewing the probabiUty of some decrease in the revenue during the next seven years and a very considerable de- duction in 1842, it is not recommended that Congress should undertake to modify the present tariff so as to disturb the principles on which the compromise act was passed. Tax- ation on some of the articles of general consumption which are not in competition with our own productions may be no doubt so diminished as to lessen to some extent the source of this revenue, and the same object can also be assisted by more liberal provisions for the subjects of pub- lic defense, which in the present state of our prosperity and wealth may be expected to engage your attention. If, how- ever, after satisfying all the demands which can arise from these sources the unexpended balance in the Treasury should still continue to increase, it would be better to bear with the evil until the great changes contemplated in our tariff laws have occurred and shall enable us to revise the sys- tem with that care and circumspection which are due to so delicate and important a subject. It is certainly our duty to diminish as far as we can the burdens of taxation and to regard all the restrictions which are imposed on the trade and navigation of our citizens as evils which we shall mitigate whenever we are not pre- vented by the adverse legislation and policy of foreign na- tions or those primary duties which the defense and in- dependence of our country enjoin upon us. That we have accomplished much toward the relief of our citizens by the changes which have accompanied the payment of the public debt and the adoption of the present revenue laws is mani- fest from the fact that compared with 1833 there is a dim- inution of near twenty-five millions in the last two years, and that our expenditures, independently of those for the public debt, have been reduced near nine millions during the same period. Let us trust that by the continued observ- ance of economy and by harmonizing the great interests of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce much more may be accomplished to diminish the burdens of government and to increase still further the enterprise and the patriotic 420 Andrew Jackson affection of all classes of our citizens and all the members of our happy Confederacy. As the data which the Sec- retary of the Treasury will lay before you in regard to our financial resources are full and extended, and will afford a safe guide in your future calculations, I think it unneces- sary to offer any further observations on that subject here. Among the evidences of the increasing prosperity of the country, not the least gratifying is that afforded by the re- ceipts from the sales of the public lands, which amount in the present year to the unexpected sum of $11,000,000. This circumstance attests the rapidity with which agricul- ture, the first and most important occupation of man, ad- vances and contributes to the wealth and power of our extended territory. Being still of the opinion that it is our best policy, as far as we can consistently with the ob- ligations under which those lands w^ere ceded to the United States, to promote their speedy settlement, I beg leave to call the attention of the present Congress to the suggestions I have offered respecting it in my former messages. The extraordinary receipts from the sales of the public lands invite you to consider what improvements the land system, and particularly the condition of the General Land Office, may require. At the time this institution was or- ganized, near a quarter of a century ago, it would prob- ably have been thought extravagant to anticipate for this period such an addition to its business as has been produced by the vast increase of those sales during the past and pres- ent years. It may also be observed that since the year 1812 the land offices and surveying districts have been greatly multiplied, and that numerous legislative enactments from year to year since that time have imposed a great amount of new and additional duties upon that office, while the want of a timely application of force commensurate with the, care and labor required has caused the increasing embar- rassment of accumulated arrears in the different branches of the establishment. These impediments to the expedition of much duty in the General Land Office induce me to submit to your judg- Seventh Annual Message 421 ment whether some modification of the laws relating to its organization, or an organization of a new character, be not called for at the present juncture, to enable the office to accomplish all the ends of its institution with a greater de- gree of facility and promptitude than experience has proved to be practicable under existing regulations. The variety of the concerns and the magnitude and complexity of the details occupying and dividing the attention of the Commis- sioner appear to render it difficult, if not impracticable, for that officer by any possible assiduity to bestow on all the multifarious subjects upon which he is called to act the ready and careful attention due to their respective impor- tance, unless the Legislature shall assist him by a law pro- viding, or enabling him to provide, for a more regular and economical distribution of labor, with the incident responsi- bility among those employed under his direction. The mere manual operation of affixing his signature to the vast num- ber of documents issuing from his office subtracts so largely from the time and attention claimed by the weighty and complicated subjects daily accumulating in that branch of the public service as to indicate the strong necessity of re- vising the organic law of the establishment. It will be easy for Congress hereafter to proportion the expenditure on account of this branch of the service to its real wants by abolishing from time to time the offices which can be dis- pensed with. The extinction of the public debt having taken place, there is no longer any use for the offices of Commissioners of Loans and of the Sinking Fund. I recommend, there- fore, that they be abolished, and that proper measures be taken for the transfer to the Treasury Department of any funds, books, and papers connected with the operations of those offices, and that the proper power be given to that Department for closing finally any portion of their busi- ness which may remain to be settled. It is also incumbent on Congress in guarding the pecuni- ary interests of the country to discontinue by such a law as was passed in 1812 the receipt of the bills of the Bank of 422 Andrew Jackson the United States in payment of the pubHc revenue, and to provide for the designation of an agent whose duty it shall be to take charge of the books and stock of the United States in that institution, and to close all connection with it after the 3d of March, 1836, when its charter expires. In making provision in regard to the disposition of this stock it will be essential to define clearly and strictly the duties and powers of the ofiicer charged with that branch of the public service. It will be seen from the correspondence which the Sec- retary of the Treasury will lay before you that notwith- standing the large amount of the stock which the United States hold in that institution no information has yet been communicated which will enable the Government to antici- pate when it can receive any dividends or derive any bene- fit from it. Connected with the condition of the finances and the flourishing state of the country in all its branches of indus- try, it is pleasing to witness the advantages which have been already derived from the recent laws regulating the value of the gold coinage. These advantages will be more ap- parent in the course of the next year, when the branch mints authorized to be established in North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana shall have gone into operation. Aided, as it is hoped they will be, by further reforms in the banking systems of the States and by judicious regulations on the part of Congress in relation to the custody of the public moneys, it may be confidently anticipated that the use of gold and silver as a circulating medium will become general in the ordinary transactions connected with the labor of the country. The great desideratum in modern times is an ef- ficient check upon the power of banks, preventing that ex- cessive issue of paper whence arise those fluctuations in the standard of value which render uncertain the rewards of labor. It was supposed by those who established the Bank of the United States that from the credit given to it by the custody of the public moneys and other privileges and the precautions taken to guard against the evils which the Seventh Annual Message 423 country had suffered in the bankruptcy of many of the State institutions of that period we should derive from that institution all the security and benefits of a sound currency and every good end that was attainable under that provi- sion of the Constitution which authorizes Congress alone to coin money and regulate the value thereof. But it is scarcely necessary now to say that these anticipations have not been realized. After the extensive embarrassment and distress recently produced by the Bank of the United States, from which the country is now recovering, aggravated as they were by pretensions to power which defied the public authority, and which if acquiesced in by the people would have changed the whole character of our Government, every candid and intelligent individual must admit that for the attainment of the great advantages of a sound currency we must look to a course of legislation radically different from that which created such an institution. In considering the means of obtaining so important an end we must set aside all calculations of temporary con- venience, and be influenced by those only which are in harmony with the true character and the permanent inter- ests of the Republic. We must recur to first principles and see what it is that has prevented the legislation of Con- gress and the States on the subject of currency from satis- fying the public expectation and realizing results corre- sponding to those which have attended the action of our system when truly consistent with the great principle of equality upon which it rests, and with that spirit of for- bearance and mutual concession and generous patriotism which was originally, and must ever continue to be, the vital element of our Union. On this subject I am sure that I can not be mistaken in ascribing our want of success to the undue countenance which has been afforded to the spirit of monopoly. All the serious dangers which our system has yet encountered may be traced to the resort to implied powers and the use of corporations clothed with privileges, the effect of which 424 Andrew Jackson is to advance the interests of the few at the expense of the many. We have felt but one class of these dangers exhibited in the contest waged by the Bank of the United States against the Government for the last four years. Happily they have been obviated for the present by the indignant resistance of the people, but we should recol- lect that the principle whence they sprung is an ever-active one, which will not fail to renew its efforts in the same and in other forms so long as there is a hope of success, founded either on the inattention of the people or the treachery of their representatives to the subtle progress of its influence. The bank is, in fact, but one of the fruits of a system at war with the genius of all our institutions — a system founded upon a political creed the fundamental principle of which is a distrust of the popular will as a safe regulator of political power, and whose great ultimate object and inevitable result, should it prevail, is the con- solidation of all power in our system in one central gov- ernment. Lavish public disbursements and corporations with exclusive privileges would be its substitutes for the original and as yet sound checks and balances of the Con- stitution — the means by whose silent and secret operation a control would be exercised by the few over the political conduct of the many by first acquiring that control over the labor and earnings of the great body of the people. Wherever this spirit has effected an alliance with political power, tyranny and despotism have been the fruit. If it is ever used for the ends of government, it has to be inces- santly watched, or it corrupts the sources of the public virtue and agitates the country with questions unfavorable to the harmonious and steady pursuit of its true interests. We are now to see whether, in the present favorable con- dition of the country, we can not take an effectual stand against this spirit of monopoly, and practically prove in respect to the currency as well as other important interests that there is no necessity for so extensive a resort to it as that which has been heretofore practiced. The experi- ence of another year has confirmed the utter fallacy of the Seventh Annual Message 4^5 idea that the Bank of the United States was necessary as a fiscal agent of the Government. Without its aid as such, indeed, in despite of all the embarrassment it was in its power to create, the revenue has been paid with punctuality by our citizens, the business of exchange, both foreign and domestic, has been conducted with convenience, and the circulating medium has been greatly improved. By the use of the State banks, which do not derive their charters from the General Government and are not controlled by its au- thority, it is ascertained that the moneys of the United States can be collected and disbursed without loss or incon- venience, and that all the wants of the community in rela- tion to exchange and currency are supplied as well as they have ever been before. If under circumstances the most unfavorable to the steadiness of the money market it has been found that the considerations on which the Bank of the United States rested its claims to the public favor were imaginary and groundless, it can not be doubted that the experience of the future will be more decisive against them. It has been seen that without the agency of a great moneyed monopoly the revenue can be collected and con- veniently and safely applied to all the purposes of the pub- lic expenditure. It is also ascertained that instead of being necessarily made to promote the evils of an unchecked paper system, the management of the revenue can be made aux- iliary to the reform which the legislatures of several of the States have already commenced in regard to the suppres- sion of small bills, and which has only to be fostered by proper regulations on the part of Congress to secure a prac- tical return to the extent required for the security of the currency to the constitutional medium. Severed from the Government as political engines, and not susceptible of dan- gerous extension and combination, the State banks will not be tempted, nor will they have the power, which we have seen exercised, to divert the public funds from the legiti- mate purposes of the Government. The collection and cus- tody of the revenue, being, on the contrary, a source of 4^6 Andrew Jackson credit to them, will increase the security which the States provide for a faithful execution of their trusts by multiply- ing the scrutinies to which their operations and accounts will be subjected. Thus disposed, as well from interest as the obligations of their charters, it can not be doubted that such conditions as Congress may see fit to adopt re- specting the deposits in these institutions, with a view to the gradual disuse, of the small bills will be cheerfully com- plied with, and that we shall soon gain in place of the Bank of the United States a practical reform in the whole paper system of the country. If by this policy we can ultimately witness the suppression of all bank bills below $20, it is apparent that gold and silver will take their place and be- come the principal circulating medium in the common busi- ness of the farmers and mechanics of the country. The attainment of such a result will form an era in the history of our country which will be dwelt upon with delight by every true friend of its liberty and independence. It will lighten the great tax which our paper system has so long collected from the earnings of labor, and do more to revive and perpetuate those habits of economy and simplicity which are so congenial to the character of republicans than all the legislation which has yet been attempted. To this subject I feel that I can not too earnestly invite the special attention of Congress, without the exercise of whose authority the opportunity to accomplish so much public good must pass unimproved. Deeply impressed with its vital importance, the Executive has taken all the steps within his constitutional power to guard the public revenue and defeat the expectation which the Bank of the United States indulged of renewing and perpetuating its monopoly on the ground of its necessity as a fiscal agent and as afford- ing a sounder currency than could be obtained without such an institution. In the performance of this duty much responsibility was incurred which would have been gladly avoided if the stake which the public had in the question could have been otherwise preserved. Although clothed with the legal authority and supported by precedent, I was Seventh Annual Message 427 aware that there was in the act of the removal of the de- posits a Habihty to excite that sensitiveness to Executive power which it is the characteristic and the duty of freemen to indulge; but I relied on this feeling also, directed by patriotism and intelligence, to vindicate the conduct which in the end would appear to have been called for. by the best interests of my country. . The apprehensions natural to this feeding that there may have been a desire, through the instrumentality of that measure, to extend the Execu- tive influence, or that it may have been prompted by motives not sufficiently free from ambition, were not overlooked. Under the operation of our institutions the public servant who is called on to take a step of high responsibility should feel in the freedom which gives rise to such apprehensions his highest security. When unfounded the attention which they arouse and the discussions they excite deprive those who indulge them of the power to do harm; when just they but hasten the certainty with which the great body of our citizens never fail to repel an attempt to procure their sanction to any exercise of power inconsistent with the jealous maintenance of their rights. Under such convic- tions, and entertaining no doubt that my constitutional obli- gations demanded the steps which were taken in reference to the removal of the deposits, it was impossible for me to be deterred from the path of duty by a fear that my motives could be misjudged or that political prejudices could defeat the just consideration of the merits of my conduct. The result has shewn how safe is this reliance upon the pa- triotic temper and enlightened discernment of the people. That measure has now been before them and has stood the test of all the severe analysis which its general importance, the interests it affected, and the apprehensions it excited were calculated to produce, and it now remains for Con- gress to consider what legislation has become necessary in consequence. I need only add to what I have on former occasions said on this subject generally that in the regulations which Con- gress may prescribe respecting the custody of the public 428 Andrew Jackson moneys it is desirable that as little discretion as may be deemed consistent with their safe-keeping should be given to the executive agents. No one can be more deeply im- pressed than I am with the soundness of the doctrine which restrains and limits, by specific provisions, executive dis- cretion, as far as it can be done consistently with the pres- ervation of its constitutional character. In respect to the control over the public money this doctrine is peculiarly applicable, and is in harmony with the great principle which I felt I was sustaining in the controversy with the Bank of the United States, which has resulted in severing to some extent a dangerous connection between a moneyed and po- litical power. The duty of the Legislature to define, by clear and positive enactments, the nature and extent of the action which it belongs to the Executive to superintend springs out of a policy analogous to that which enjoins upon all the branches of the Federal Government an absti- nence from the exercise of powers not clearly granted. In such a Government, possessing only limited and spe- cific powers, the spirit of its general administration can not be wise or just when it opposes the reference of all doubt- ful points to the great source of authority, the States and the people, whose number and diversified relations, secur- ing them against the influences and excitements which may mislead their agents, make them the safest depository of power. In its application to the Executive, with reference to the legislative branch of the Government, the same rule of action should make the President ever anxious to avoid the exercise of any discretionary authority which can be regu- lated by Congress. The biases which may operate upon him will not be so likely to extend to the representatives of the people in that body. In my former messages to Congress I have repeatedly urged the propriety of lessening the discretionary authority lodged in the various Departments, but it has produced no effect as yet, except the discontinuance of extra allowances in the Army and Navy and the substitution of fixed salaries in the latter. It is believed that the same principles could Seventh Annual Message 429 be advantageously applied in all cases, and would promote the efficiency and economy of the public service, at the same time that greater satisfaction and more equal justice would be secured to the public officers generally. The accompanying report of the Secretary of War will put you in possession of the operations of the Department confided to his care in all its diversified relations during the past year. I am gratified in being able to inform you that no occur- rence has required any movement of the military force, except such as is common to a state of peace. The services of the Army have been limited to their usual duties at the various garrisons upon the Atlantic and inland frontier, with the exceptions stated by the Secretary of War. Our small military establishment appears to be adequate to the purposes for which it is maintained, and it forms a nucleus around which any additional force may be collected should the public exigencies unfortunately require any increase of our military means. The various acts of Congress which have been recently passed in relation to the Army have improved its condition, and have rendered its organization more useful and effi- cient. It is at all times in a state for prompt and vigorous action, and it contains within itself the power of extension to any useful limit, while at the same time it preserves that knowledge, both theoretical and practical, which education and experience alone can give, and which, if not acquired and preserved in time of peace, must be sought under great disadvantages in time of war. The duties of the Engineer Corps press heavily upon that branch of the service, and the public interest requires an addition to its strength. The nature of the works in which the officers are engaged renders necessary professional knowledge and experience, and there is no economy in com- mitting to them more duties than they can perform or in assigning these to other persons temporarily employed, and too often of necessity without all the qualifications which such service demands. I recommend this subject to your 43° Andrew Jackson attention, and also the proposition submitted at the last ses- sion of Congress and now renewed, for a reorganization of the Topographical Corps. This reorganization can be ef- fected without any addition to the present expenditure and with much advantage to the public service. The branch of duties which devolves upon. these officers is at all times in- teresting to the community, and the information furnished by them is useful in peace and war. Much loss and inconvenience have been experienced in consequence of the failure of the bill containing the ordinary appropriations for fortifications which passed one branch of the National Legislature at the last session, but was lost in the other. This failure was the more regretted not only be- cause it necessarily interrupted and delayed the progress of a system of national defense, projected immediately after the last war and since steadily pursued, but also because it contained a contingent appropriation, inserted in accordance with the views of the Executive, in aid of this important object and other branches of the national defense, some por- tions of which might have been most usefully applied during the past season. I invite your early attention to that part of the report of the Secretary of War which relates to this subject, and recommend an appropriation sufficiently liberal to accelerate the armament of the fortifications agreeably to the proposition submitted by him, and to place our whole Atlantic seaboard in a complete state of defense. A just regard to the permanent interests of the country evidently requires this measure, but there are also other reasons which at the present juncture give it peculiar force and make it my duty to call to the subject your special consideration. The present system of military education has been in oper- ation sufficiently long to test its usefulness, and it has given to the Army a valuable body of officers. It is not alone in the improvement, discipline, and operation of the troops that these officers are employed. They are also extensively en- gaged in the administrative and fiscal concerns of the various matters confided to the War Department ; in the execution of the staff duties usually appertaining to military organiza- Seventh Annual Message 43 ^ tion; in the removal of the Indians and in the disbursement of the various expenditures growing out of our Indian rela- tions ; in the formation of roads and in the improvement of harbors and rivers; in the construction of fortifications, in the fabrication of much of the materiel required for the pub- lic defense, and in the preservation, distribution, and ac- countability of the whole, and in other miscellaneous duties not admitting of classification. These diversified functions embrace very heavy expendi- tures of public money, and require fidelity, science, and busi- ness habits in their execution, and a system which shall secure these qualifications is demanded by the public inter- est. That this object has been in a great measure obtained by the Military Academy is shewn by the state of the service and by tljie prompt accountability which has generally fol- lowed the necessary advances. Like all other political sys- tems, the present mode of military education no doubt has its imperfections, both of principle and practice ; but I trust these can be improved by rigid inspections and by legislative scrutiny without destroying the institution itself. Occurrences to which we as well as all other nations are liable, both in our internal and external relations, point to the necessity of an efficient organization of the militia. I am again induced by the importance of the subject to bring it to your attention. To suppress domestic violence and to repel foreign invasion, should these calamities overtake us, we must rely in the first instance upon the great body of the community whose will has instituted and whose power must support the Government. A large standing military force is not consonant to the spirit of our institutions nor to the feelings of our countrymen, and the lessons of former days and those also of our own times shew the danger as well as the enormous expense of these permanent and extensive mil- itary organizations. That just medium which avoids an in- adequate preparation on one hand and the danger and ex- pense of a large force on the other is what our constituents have a right to expect from their Government. This object can be attained only by the maintenance of a small military 43 2 Andrew Jackson force and by such an organization of the physical strength of the country as may bring this power into operation when- ever its services are required. A classification of the popu- lation offers the most obvious means of effecting this or- ganization. Such a division may be made as will be just to all by transferring each at a proper period of life from one class to another and by calling first for the services of that class, whether for instruction or action, which from age is qualified for the duty and may be called to perform it with least injury to themselves or to the public. Should the dan- ger ever become so imminent as to require additional force, the other classes in succession would be ready for the call. And if in addition to this organization voluntary associa- tions were encouraged and inducements held out for their formation, our militia would be in a state of efficient service. Now, when we are at peace, is the proper time to digest and establish a practicable system. The object is certainly worth the experiment and w^orth the expense. No one appreciating the blessings of a republican government can object to his share of the burden which such a plan may impose. Indeed, a moderate portion of the national funds could scarcely be better applied than in carrying into effect and continuing such an arrangement, and in giving the necessary elemen- tary instruction. We are happily at peace with all the world. A sincere desire to continue so and a fixed determination to give no just cause of offense to other nations furnish, un- fortunately, no certain grounds of expectation that this re- lation will be uninterrupted. With this determination to give no offense is associated a resolution, equally decided, tamely to submit to none. The armor and the attitude of defense afford the best security against those collisions which the ambition, or interest, or some other passion of nations not more justifiable is liable to produce. In many countries it is considered unsafe to put arms into the hands of the people and to instruct them in the elements of military knowledge. That fear can have no place here w^hen it is recollected that the people are the sovereign power. Our Government was instituted and is supported by the ballot Seventh Annual Message 433 box, not by the musket. Whatever changes await it, still greater changes must be made in our social institutions be- fore our poHtical system can yield to physical force. In every aspect, therefore, in which I can view the subject I am impressed with the importance of a prompt and efficient organization of the militia. The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet re- main within the settled portions of the United States to the country west of the Mississippi River approaches its con- summation. It was adopted on the most mature considera- tion of the condition of this race, and ought to be persisted in till the object is accomplished, and prosecuted with as much vigor as a just regard to their circumstances will per- mit, and as fast as their consent can be obtained. All pre- ceding experiments for the improvement of the Indians have failed. It seems now to be an established fact that they can not live in contact with a civilized community and prosper. Ages of fruitless endeavors have at length brought us to a knowledge of this principle of intercommunication with them. The past we can not recall, but the future we can provide for. Independently of the treaty stipulations into which we have entered with the various tribes for the usu- fructuary rights they have ceded to us, no one can doubt the moral duty of the Government of the United States to pro- tect and if possible to preserve and perpetuate the scattered remnants of this race which are left within our borders. In the discharge of this duty an extensive region in the West has been assigned for their permanent residence. It has been divided into districts and allotted among them. Many have already removed and others are preparing to go, and with the exception of two small bands living in Ohio and Indiana, not exceeding 1,500 persons, and of the Cherokees, all the tribes on the east side of the Mississippi, and extending from Lake Michigan to Florida, have entered into engagements which will lead to their transplantation. The plan for their removal and reestablishment is founded upon the knowledge we have gained of their character and habits, and has been dictated by a spirit of enlarged liber- 434 Andrew Jackson ality. A territory exceeding in extent that relinquished has been granted to each tribe. Of its climate, fertility, and capacity to support an Indian population the representations are highly favorable. To these districts the Indians are re- moved at the expense of the United States, and with certain supplies of clothing, arms, ammunition, and other indis- pensable articles; they are also furnished gratuitously with provisions for the period of a year after their arrival at their new homes. In that time, from the nature of the country and of the products raised by them, they can subsist them- selves by agricultural labor, if they choose to resort to that mode of life; if they do not they are upon the skirts of the great prairies, where countless herds of buffalo roam, and a short time suffices to adapt their own habits to the changes which a change of the animals destined for their food may require. Ample arrangements have also been made for the support of schools; in some instances council houses and churches are to be erected, dwellings constructed for the chiefs, and mills for common use. Funds have been set apart for the maintenance of the poor; the most necessary mechanical arts have been introduced, and blacksmiths, gunsmiths, wheelwrights, millwrights, etc., are supported among them. Steel and iron, and sometimes salt, are pur- chased for them, and plows and other farming utensils, do- mestic animals, looms, spinning wheels, cards, etc., are presented to them. And besides these beneficial arrange- ments, annuities are in all cases paid, amounting in some instances to more than $30 for each individual of the tribe, and in all cases sufficiently great, if justly divided and prudently expended, to enable them, in addition to their own exertions, to live comfortably. And as a stimulus for exertion, it is now provided by law that " in all cases of the appointment of interpreters or other persons employed for the benefit of the Indians a preference shall be given to persons of Indian descent, if such can be found who are properly qualified for the discharge of the duties." Such are the arrangements for the physical comfort and for the moral improvement of the Indians. The necessary Seventh Annual Message 435 measures for their political advancement and for their sepa- ration from our citizens have not been neglected. The pledge of the United States has been given by Congress that the country destined for the residence of this people shall be forever " secured and guaranteed to them." A country w^est of Missouri and Arkansas has been assigned to them, into which the white settlements are not to be pushed. No political communities can be formed in that extensive region, except those which are established by the Indians themselves or by the United States for them and with their concurrence. A barrier has thus been raised for their protection against the encroachment of our citi- zens, and guarding the Indians as far as possible from those evils which have brought them to their present condition. Summary authority has been given by law to destroy all ardent spirits found in their country, without waiting the doubtful result and slow process of a legal seizure. I con- sider the absolute and unconditional interdiction of this article among these people as the first and great step in their melioration. Halfway measures will answer no purpose. These can not successfully contend against the cupidity of the seller and the overpowering appetite of the buyer. And the destructive effects of the traffic are marked in every page of the history of our Indian intercourse. Some general legislation seems necessary for the regula- tion of the relations which will exist in this new state of things between the Government and people of the United States and these transplanted Indian tribes, and for the establishment among the latter, and with their own consent, of some principles of intercommunication which their juxta- position will call for; that moral may be substituted for physical force, the authority of a few and simple laws for the tomahawk, and that an end may be put to those bloody wars whose prosecution seems to have made part of their social system. After the further details of this arrangement are com- pleted, with a very general supervision over them, they ought to be left to the progress of events. These, I indulge 43^ Andrew Jackson the hope, will secure their prosperity and improvement, and a large portion of the moral debt we owe them will then be paid. The report from the Secretary of the Naxy, shewing the condition of that branch of the public service, is recom- mended to your special attention. It appears from it that our naval force at present in commission, with all the ac- tivity which can be given to it, is inadequate to the protec- tion of our rapidly increasing commerce. This considera- tion and the more general one which regards this arm of the national defense as our best security against foreign aggressions strongly urge the continuance of the measures which promote its gradual enlargement and a speedy in- crease of the force which has been heretofore employed abroad and at home. You will perceive from the estimates which appear in the report of the Secretary of the Navy that the expenditures necessary to this increase of its force, though of considerable amount, are small compared with the benefits which they will secure to the country. As a means of strengthening this national arm I also recommend to your particular attention the propriety of the suggestion which attracted the consideration of Congress at its last session, respecting the enlistment of boys at a suitable age in the service. In this manner a nursery of skillful and able-bodied seamen can be established, which will be of the greatest importance. Next to the capacity to put afloat and arm the requisite number of ships is the pos- session of the means to man them efficiently, and nothing seems better calculated to aid this object than the measure proposed. As an auxiliary to the advantages derived from our extensive commercial marine, it would furnish us with a resource ample enough for all the exigencies which can be anticipated. Considering the state of our resources, it can not be doubted that whatever provision the liberality and wisdom of Congress may now adopt with a view to the perfect organization of this branch of our service will meet the approbation of all classes of our citizens. By the report of the Postmaster-General it appears that Seventh Annual Message 437 the revenue of the Department during the year ending on the 30th day of June last exceeded its accruing responsibihties $236,206, and that the surplus of the present fiscal year is estimated at $476,227. It further appears that the debt of the Department on the ist day of July last, including the amount due to contractors for the quarter then just expired, was about $1,064,381, exceeding the available means about $23,700; and that on the ist instant about $597,077 of this debt had been paid — $409,991 out of postages accruing before July and $187,086 out of postages accruing since. In these payments are included $67,000 of the old debt due to banks. After making these payments the Department had $73,000 in bank on the ist instant. The pleasing as- surance is given that the Department is entirely free from embarrassment, and that by collection of outstanding bal- ances and using the current surplus the remaining portion of the bank debt and most of the other debt v^ill probably be paid in April next, leaving thereafter a heavy amount to be applied in extending the mail facilities of the country. Reserving a considerable sum for the improvement of exist- ing mail routes, it is stated that the Department v^ill be able to sustain with perfect convenience an annual charge of $300,000 for the support of new routes, to commence as soon as they can be established and put in operation. The measures adopted by the Postmaster-General to bring the means of the Department into action and to effect a speedy extinguishment of its debt, as well as to produce an efficient administration of its affairs, will be found de- tailed at length in his able and luminous report. Aided by a reorganization on the principles suggested and such salutary provisions in the laws regulating its administra- tive duties as the wisdom of Congress may devise or ap- prove, that important Department will soon attain a degree of usefulness proportioned to the increase of our population and the extension of our settlements. Particular attention is solicited to that portion of the report of the Postmaster-General which relates to the car- riage of the mails of the United States upon railroads con- 43^ Andrew Jackson structed by private corporations under the authority of the several States. The rehance which the General Govern- ment can place on those roads as a means of carrying on its operations and the principles on which the use of them is to be obtained can not too soon be considered and set- tled. Already does the spirit of monopoly begin to exhibit its natural propensities in attempts to exact from the public, for services which it supposes can not be obtained on other terms, the most extravagant compensation. If these claims be persisted in, the question may arise whether a combina- tion of citizens, acting under charters of incorporation from the States, can, by a direct refusal or the demand of an exorbitant price, exclude the United States from the use of the established channels of communication between the dif- ferent sections of the country, and whether the United States can not, without transcending their constitutional powers, secure to the Post-Office Department the use of those roads by an act of Congress which shall provide within itself some equitable mode of adjusting the amount of compensation. To obviate, if possible, the necessity of considering this question, it is suggested whether it be not expedient to fix by law the amounts which shall be offered to railroad companies for the conveyance of the mails, graduated according to their average weight, to be ascer- tained and declared by the Postmaster-General. It is prob- able that a liberal proposition of that sort would be accepted. In connection with these provisions in relation to the Post-Office Department, I must also invite your attention to the painful excitement produced in the South by attempts to circulate through the mails inflammatory appeals ad- dressed to the passions of the slaves, in prints and in various sorts of publications, calculated to stimulate them to insur- rection and to produce all the horrors of a servile war. There is doubtless no respectable portion of our country- men who can be so far misled as to feel any other sentiment than that of indignant regret at conduct so destructive of the harmony and peace of the country, and so repugnant to the principles of our national compact and to the dictates Seventh Annual Message 439 of humanity and religion. Our happiness and prosperity essentially depend upon peace within our borders, and peace depends upon the maintenance in good faith of those com- promises of the Constitution upon which the Union is founded. It is fortunate for the country that the good sense, the generous feeling, and the deep-rooted attachment of the people of the nonslaveholding States to the Union and to their fellow-citizens of the same blood in the South have given so strong and impressive a tone to the sentiments entertained against the proceedings of the misguided per- sons who have engaged in these unconstitutional and wicked attempts, and especially against the emissaries from foreign parts who have dared to interfere in this matter, as to au- thorize the hope that those attempts will no longer be per- sisted in. But if these expressions of the public will shall not be sufficient to effect so desirable a result, not a doubt can be entertained that the nonslaveholding States, so far from countenancing the slightest interference with the con- stitutional rights of the South, will be prompt to exercise their authority in suppressing so far as in them lies what- ever is calculated to produce this evil. In leaving the care of other branches of this interesting subject to the State authorities, to whom they properly belong, it is nevertheless proper for Congress to take such measures as will prevent the Post-Office Department, which was designed to foster an amicable intercourse and corre- spondence between all the members of the Confederacy, from being used as an instrument of an opposite character. The General Government, to which the great trust is con- fided of preserving inviolate the relations created among the States by the Constitution, is especially bound to avoid in its own action anything that may disturb them. I would therefore call the special attention of Congress to the sub- ject, and respectfully suggest the propriety of passing such a law as will prohibit, under severe penalties, the circulation in the Southern States, through the mail, of incendiary publications intended to instigate the slaves to insurrection. I felt it to be my duty in the first message which I com- 44° Andrew Jackson municated to Congress to urge upon its attention the propriety of amending that part of the Constitution which provides for the election of the President and Vice-Presi- dent of the United States. The leading object which I had in view was the adoption of some new provisions which would secure to the people the performance of this high duty without any intermediate agency. In my annual com- munications since I have enforced the same views, from a sincere conviction that the best interests of the country would be promoted by their adoption. If the subject were an ordinary one, I should have regarded the failure of Con- gress to act upon it as an indication of their judgment that the disadvantages which belong to the present system were not so great as those wdiich would result from any attainable substitute that had been submitted to their consideration. Recollecting, however, that propositions to introduce a new feature in our fundamental laws can not be too patiently examined, and ought not to be received with favor until the great body of the people are thoroughly impressed with their necessity and value as a remedy for real evils, I feel that in renewing the recommendation I have heretofore made on this subject I am not transcending the bounds of a just deference to the sense of Congress or to the disposi- tion of the people. However much we may differ in the choice of the measures which should guide the administra- tion of the Government, there can be but little doubt in the minds of those who are really friendly to the republican features of our system that one of its most important se- curities consists in the separation of the legislative and executive powers at the same time that each is held respon- sible to the great source of authority, which is acknowl- edged to be supreme, in the will of the people constitution- ally expressed. My reflection and experience satisfy me that the framers of the Constitution, although they were anxious to mark this feature as a settled and fixed princi- ple in the structure of the Government, did not adopt all the precautions that were necessary to secure its practical observance, and that we can not be said to have carried into Seventh Annual Message 44 1 complete effect their intentions until the evils which arise from this organic defect are remedied. Considering the great extent of our Confederacy, the rapid increase of its population, and the diversity of their interests and pursuits, it can not be disguised that the con- tingency by which one branch of the Legislature is to form itself into an electoral college can not become one of ordi- nary occurrence without producing incalculable mischief. What was intended as the medicine of the Constitution' in extreme cases can not be frequently used without changing its character and sooner or later producing incurable dis- order. Every election by the House of Representatives is calcu- lated to lessen the force of that security which is derived from the distinct and separate character of the legislative and executive functions, and while it exposes each to temp- tations adverse to their efficiency as organs of the Constitu- tion and laws, its tendency will be to unite both in resisting the will of the people, and thus give a direction to the Gov- ernment antirepublican and dangerous. All history tells us that a free people should be watchful of delegated power, and should never acquiesce in a practice which will dimin- ish their control over it. This obligation, so universal in its application to all the principles of a republic, is peculiarly so in ours, where the formation of parties founded on sec- tional interests is so much fostered by the extent of our territory. These interests, represented by candidates for the Presidency, are constantly prone, in the zeal of party and selfish objects, to generate influences unmindful of the general good and forgetful of the restraints which the great body of the people would enforce if they were in no con- tingency to lose the right of expressing their will. The experience of our country from the formation of the Gov- ernment to the present day demonstrates that the people can not too soon adopt some stronger safeguard for their right to elect the highest officers known to the Constitution than is contained in that sacred instrument as it now stands. It is my duty to call the particular attention of Congress 442 Andrew Jackson to the present condition of the District of Columbia. From whatever cause the great depression has arisen which now exists in the pecuniary concerns of this District, it is proper that its situation should be fully understood and such relief or remedies provided as are consistent with the powers of Congress. I earnestly recommend the extension of every political right to the citizens of this District which their true interests require, and which does not conflict with the provisions of the Constitution. It is believed that the laws for the government of the District require revisal and amendment, and that much good may be done by modify- ing the penal code so as to give uniformity to its provisions. Your attention is also invited to the defects which exist in the judicial system of the United States. As at present organized the States of the Union derive unequal advan- tages from the Federal judiciary, which have been so often pointed out that I deem it unnecessary to repeat them here. It is hoped that the present Congress will extend to all the States that equality in respect to the benefits of the laws of the Union which can only be secured by the uniformity and efficiency of the judicial system. With these observations on the topics of general interest which are deemed worthy of your consideration, I leave them to your care, trusting that the legislative measures they call for will be met as the wants and the best interests of our beloved country demand. Message on Affairs with France.* (January 15, 1836.) To the Senate and House of Representatives, Gentle- men: In my message at the opening of your session I in- formed you that our charge d'affaires at Paris had been instructed to ask for the final determination of the French Government in relation to the payment of the indemnifica- tion secured by the treaty of the 4th of July, 1831, and that when advices of the result should be received it would be made the subject of a special communication. In execution of this design I now transmit to you the papers numbered from i to 13, inclusive, containing among other things the correspondence on this subject between our charge d'affaires and the French minister of foreign affairs, from which it will be seen that France requires as a condition precedent to the execution of a treaty uncondi- tionally ratified and to the payment of a debt acknowledged by all the branches of her Government to be due that certain explanations shall be made of which she dictates the terms. These terms are such as that Government has already been officially informed can not be complied with, and if per- sisted in they must be considered as a deliberate refusal on the part of France to fulfill engagements binding by the laws of nations and held sacred by the whole civilized world. The nature of the act which France requires from this Gov- ernment is clearly set forth in the letter of the French min- ister marked No. 4. We will pay the money, says he, when " the Government of the United States is ready on its part to declare to us, by addressing its claim to us officially in writing, that it regrets the misunderstanding which has * This message ranks among the most notable American State papers on foreign relations. [Ed.] 443 444 Andrew Jackson arisen between the two countries; that this misunderstand- ing is founded on a mistake; that it never entered its inten- tion to call in question the good faith of the French Govern- ment nor to take a menacing attitude toward France." And he adds : " // the Government of the United States does not give this assurance we shall be obliged to think that this misunderstanding is not the result of an error." In the letter marked No. 6 the French minister also remarks that " the Government of the United States knows that upon itself depends henceforward the execution of the treaty of Jidy 4, 1831." Obliged by the precise language thus used by the French minister to view it as a peremptory refusal to execute the treaty except on terms incompatible with the honor and independence of the United States, and persuaded that on considering the correspondence now submitted to you you can regard it in no other light, it becomes my duty to call your attention to such measures as the exigency of the case demands if the claim of interfering in the communications between the different branches of our Government shall be persisted in. This pretension is rendered the more un- reasonable by the fact that the substance of the required explanation has been repeatedly and voluntarily given be- fore it was insisted on as a condition — a condition the more humiliating because it is demanded as the equivalent of a pecuniary consideration. Does France desire only a dec- laration that we had no intention to obtain our rights by an address to her fears rather than to her justice? She has already had it, frankly and explicitly given by our minister accredited to her Government, his act ratified by me, and my confirmation of it officially communicated by him in his letter to the French minister of foreign affairs of the 25th of April, 1835, and repeated by my published approval of that letter after the passage of the bill of indemnification. Does France want a degrading, servile repetition of this act, in terms which she shall dictate and which will involve an acknowledgment of her assumed right to interfere in our domestic councils? She will never obtain it. The spirit Message on Affairs with France 445 of the American people, the dignity of the Legislature, and the firm resolve of their executive government forbid it. As the answer of the French minister to our charge d'affaires at Paris contains an allusion to a letter addressed by him to the representative of France at this place, it now becomes proper to lay before you the correspondence had between that functionary and the Secretary of State rela- tive to that letter, and to accompany the same with such explanations as will enable you to understand the course of the Executive in regard to it. Recurring to the histor- ical statement made at the commencement of your session, of the origin and progress of our difficulties with France, it will be recollected that on the return of our minister to the United States I caused my official approval of the explana- tions he had given to the French minister of foreign affairs to be made public. As the French Government had noticed the message without its being officially communicated, it was not doubted that if they were disposed to pay the money due to us they would notice any public explanation of the Government of the United States in the same way. But, contrary to these well-founded expectations, the French ministry did not take this fair opportunity to relieve them- selves from their unfortunate position and to do justice to the United States. Whilst, however, the Government of the United States was awaiting the movements of the French Government in perfect confidence that the difficulty was at an end, the Sec- retary of State received a call from the French charge d'affaires in Washington, who desired to read to him a let- ter he had received from the French minister of foreign affairs. He was asked whether he was instructed or di- rected to make any official communication, and replied that he was only authorized to read the letter and furnish a copy if requested. The substance of its contents, it is presumed, may be gathered from Nos. 4 and 6, herewith transmitted. It was an attempt to make known to the Government of the United States privately in what manner it could make ex- planations, apparently voluntary, but really dictated by 44^ Andrew Jackson France, acceptable to her, and thus obtain payment of the 25,000,000 francs. No exception was taken to this mode of communication, which is often used to prepare the way for official intercourse, but the suggestions made in it were in their substance wholly inadmissible. Not being in the shape of an official communication to this Government, it did not admit of reply or official notice, nor could it safely be made the basis of any action by the Executive or the Legislature, and the Secretary of State did not think proper to ask a copy, because he could have no use for it. Copies of papers marked Nos. 9, 10, and 11 shew an attempt on the part of the French charge d'affaires to place a copy of this letter among the archives of this Government, which for obvious reasons was not allowed to be done ; but the assurance before given was repeated, that any official com- munication which he might be authorized to make in the accustomed form would receive a prompt and just consid- eration. The indiscretion of this attempt was made more manifest by the subsequent avowal of the French charge d'affaires that the object was to bring this letter before Congress and the American people. If foreign agents, on a subject of disagreement between their government and this, wish to prefer an appeal to the American people, they will hereafter, it is hoped, better appreciate their own rights and the respect due to others than to attempt to use the Execu- tive as the passive organ of their communications. It is due to the character of our institutions that the diplomatic intercourse of this Government should be con- ducted with the utmost directness and simplicity, and that in all cases of importance the communications received or made by the Executive should assume the accustomed official form. It is only by insisting on this form that foreign powers can be held to full responsibility, that their com- munications can be officially replied to, or that the advice or interference of the Legislature can with propriety be invited by the President. This course is also best calai- lated, on the one hand, to shield that officer from unjust suspicions, and on the other to subject this portion of his Message on Affairs with France 447 acts to public scrutiny, and, if occasion shall require it, to constitutional animadversion. It was the more necessary to adhere to these principles in the instance in question inas- much as, in addition to other important interests, it very intimately concerned the national honor — a matter in my judgment much too sacred to be made the subject of private and unofficial negotiation. It will be perceived that this letter of the French min- ister of foreign affairs was read to the Secretary of State on the I ith of September last. This was the first authentic indication of the specific views of the French Government received by the Government of the United States after the passage of the bill of indemnification. Inasmuch as the letter had been written before the official notice of my ap- proval of Mr. Livingston's last explanation and remon- strance could have reached Paris, just ground of hope was left, as has been before stated, that the French Government, on receiving that information in the same manner as the alleged offensive message had reached them, would desist from their extraordinary demand and pay the money at once. To give them an opportunity to do so, and, at all events, to elicit their final determination and the ground they intended to occupy, the instructions were given to our charge d'affaires which were adverted to at the commence- ment of the present session of Congress. The result, as you have seen, is a demand of an official written expression of regrets and a direct explanation addressed to France with a distinct intimation that this is a sine qua non. Mr. Barton having, in pursuance of his instructions, re- turned to the United States and the charge d'affaires of France having been recalled, all diplomatic intercourse be- tween the two countries is suspended, a state of things origi- nating in an unreasonable susceptibility on the part of the French Government and rendered necessary on our part by their refusal to perform engagements contained in a treaty from the faithful performance of which by us they are to this day enjoying many important commercial advantages. It is time that this unequal position of affairs should 44^ Andrew Jackson cease, and that legislative action should be brought to sus- tain Executive exertion in such measures as the case re- quires. While France persists in her refusal to comply with the terms of a treaty the object of which was, by re- moving all causes of mutual complaint, to renew ancient feelings of friendship and to unite the two nations in the bonds of amity and of a mutually beneficial commerce, she can not justly complain if we adopt such peaceful remedies as the law of nations and the circumstances of the case may authorize and demand. Of the nature of these remedies I have heretofore had occasion to speak, and, in reference to a particular contingency, to express my conviction that reprisals would be best adapted to the emergency then con- templated. Since that period France, by all the depart- ments of her Government, has acknowledged the validity of our claims and the obligations of the treaty, and has appropriated the moneys which are necessary to its execu- tion; and though payment is withheld on grounds vitally important to our existence as an independent nation, it is not to be believed that she can have determined permanently to retain a position so utterly indefensible. In the altered state of the questions in controversy, and under all existing circumstances, it appears to me that until such a determina- tion shall have become evident it will be proper and suffi- cient to retaliate her present refusal to comply with her engagements by prohibiting the introduction of French products and the entry of French vessels into our ports. Between this and the interdiction of all commercial inter- course, or other remedies, you, as the representatives of the people, must determine. I recommend the former in the present posture of our affairs as being the least injurious to our commerce, and as attended with the least difficulty of returning to the usual state of friendly intercourse if the Government of France shall render us the justice that is due, and also as a proper preliminary step to stronger meas- ures should their adoption be rendered necessary by subse- quent events. The return of our charge d'affaires is attended with pub- Message on Affairs with France 449 lie notices of naval preparations on the part of France destined for our seas. Of the cause and intent of these armaments I have no authentic information, nor any other means of judging except such as are common to yourselves and to the public ; but whatever may be their object, we are not at liberty to regard them as unconnected with the meas- ures which hostile movements on the part of France may compel us to pursue. They at least deserve to be met by adequate preparation on our part, and I therefore strongly urge large and speedy appropriations for the increase of the Navy and the completion of our coast defenses. If this array of military force be really designed to affect the action of the Government and people of the United States on the questions now pending between the two na- tions, then indeed would it be dishonorable to pause a mo- ment on the alternative which such a state of things would present to us. Come what may, the explanation which France demands can never be accorded, and no armament, however powerful and imposing, at a distance or on our coast, will, I trust, deter us from discharging the high duties which we owe to our constituents, our national character, and to the world. The House of Representatives at the close of the last session of Congress unanimously resolved that the treaty of the 4th of July, 183 1, should be maintained and its exe- cution insisted on by the United States. It is due to the welfare of the human race not less than to our own interests and honor that this resolution should at all hazards be ad- hered to. If after so signal an example as that given by the American people during their long-protracted difficulties with France of forbearance under accumulated wrongs and of generous confidence in her ultimate return to justice she shall now be permitted to withhold from us the tardy and imperfect indemnification which after years of remon- strance and discussion had at length been solemnly agreed on by the treaty of 1831 and to set at naught the obligations it imposes, the United States will not be the only sufferers. The efforts of humanity and religion to substitute the ap- 45° Andrew Jackson peals of justice and the arbitrament of reason for the coer- cive measures usually resorted to by injured nations will receive little encouragement from such an issue. By the selection and enforcement of such lawful and expedient measures as may be necessary to prevent a result so inju- rious to ourselves and so fatal to the hopes of the philan- thropist we shall therefore not only preserve the pecuniary interests of our citizens, the independence of our Govern- ment, and the honor of our country, but do much, it may be hoped, to vindicate the faith of treaties and to promote the general interests of peace, civilization, and improvement. Eighth Annual Message.* (December 5, 1836.) Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representa- tives: Addressing to you the last annual message I shall ever present to the Congress of the United States, it is a source of the most heartfelt satisfaction to be able to con- gratulate you on the high state of prosperity which our beloved country has attained. With no causes at home or abroad to lessen the confidence with which we look to the future for continuing proofs of the capacity of our free institutions to produce all the fruits of good government, the general condition of our affairs may well excite our national pride, I can not avoid congratulating you, and my country particularly, on the success of the efforts made during my Administration by the Executive and Legislature, in con- formity with the sincere, constant, and earnest desire of the people, to maintain peace and establish cordial relations with all foreign powers. Our gratitude is due to the Su- preme Ruler of the Universe, and I invite you to unite with me in offering to Him fervent supplications that His provi- dential care may ever be extended to those who follow us, enabling them to avoid the dangers and the horrors of war consistently with a just and indispensable regard to the rights and honor of our country. But although the present state of our foreign affairs, standing without important * President Jackson's last annual message. Its most important declarations concern, (i) French spoliations and relations with France; (2) relations with Mexico and the Texas question; (3) distribution of the $30,000,000 surplus; (4) the currency; (5) the Bank of the United States; (6) State banks; (7) the Seminole Indians, the Creeks, the Cher- okees; (8) election of president and vice-president. 45 » 452 Andrew Jackson change, as they did when you separated in July last, is flat- tering in the extreme, I regret to say that many questions of an interesting character, at issue with other powers, are yet unadjusted. Amongst the most prominent of these is that of our northeastern boundary. With an undiminished confidence in the sincere desire of His Britannic Majesty's Government to adjust that question, I am not yet in posses- sion of the precise grounds upon which it proposes a satis- factory adjustment. With France our diplomatic relations have been resumed, and under circumstances which attest the disposition of both Governments to preserve a mutually beneficial intercourse and foster those amicable feelings which are so strongly required by the true interests of the two countries. With Russia, Austria, Prussia, Naples, Sweden, and Denmark the best understanding exists, and our commercial inter- course is gradually expanding itself with them. It is en- couraged in all these countries, except Naples, by their mutually advantageous and liberal treaty stipulations with us. The claims of our citizens on Portugal are admitted to be just, but provision for the payment of them has been unfortunately delayed by frequent political changes in that Kingdom. The blessings of peace have not been secured by Spain. Our connections with that country are on the best footing, with the exception of the burdens still imposed upon our commerce with her possessions out of Europe. The claims of American citizens for losses sustained at the bombardment of Antwerp have been presented to the Governments of Holland and Belgium, and will be pressed, in due season, to settlement. With Brazil and all our neighbors of this continent we continue to maintain relations of amity and concord, ex- tending our commerce with them as far as the resources of the people and the policy of their Governments will permit. The just and long-standing claims of our citizens upon some of them are yet sources of dissatisfaction and com- Eighth Annual Message 453 plaint. No danger is apprehended, however, that they will not be peacefully, although tardily, acknowledged and paid by all, unless the irritating effect of her struggle with Texas should unfortunately make our immediate neighbor, Mexico, an exception. It is already known to you, by the correspondence be- tween the two Governments communicated at your last ses- sion, that our conduct in relation to that struggle is regu- lated by the same principles that governed us in the dispute between Spain and Mexico herself, and I trust that it will be found on the most severe scrutiny that our acts have strictly corresponded with our professions. That the in- habitants of the United States should feel strong prepos- sessions for the one party is not surprising. But this cir- cumstance should of itself teach us great caution, lest it lead us into the great error of suffering public policy to be regulated by partiality or prejudice; and there are consid- erations connected with the possible result of this contest between the two parties of so much delicacy and impor- tance to the United States that our character requires that we should neither anticipate events nor attempt to control them. The known desire of the Texans to become a part of our system, although its gratification depends upon the reconcilement of various and conflicting interests, neces- sarily a work of time and uncertain in itself, is calculated to expose our conduct to misconstruction in the eyes of the world. There are already those who, indifferent to principle themselves and prone to suspect the want of it in others, charge us with ambitious designs and insidious policy. You will perceive by the accompanying documents that the extraordinary mission from Mexico has been termi- nated on the sole ground that the obligations of this Gov- ernment to itself and to Mexico, under treaty stipulations, have compelled me to trust a discretionary authority to a high officer of our Army to advance into territory claimed as part of Texas if necessary to protect our own or the neigh- boring frontier from Indian depredation. In the opinion of the Mexican functionary who has just left us, the honor 454 Andrew Jackson of his country will be wounded by American soldiers enter- ing, with the most amicable avowed purposes, upon ground from which the followers of his Government have been expelled, and over which there is at present no certainty of a serious effort on its part being made to reestablish its dominion. The departure of this minister was the more singular as he was apprised that the sufficiency of the causes assigned for the advance of our troops by the commanding general had been seriously doubted by me, and there was every reason to suppose that the troops of the United States, their commander having had time to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the information upon which they had been marched to Nacogdoches, would be either there in perfect accordance with the principles admitted to be just in his conference with the Secretary of State by the Mexican min- ister himself, or were already withdrawn in consequence of the impressive warnings their commanding officer had received from the Department of War. It is hoped and believed that his Government will take a more dispassionate and just view of this subject, and not be disposed to con- strue a measure of justifiable precaution, made necessary by its known inability in execution of the stipulations of our treaty to act upon the frontier, into an encroachment upon its rights or a stain upon its honor. In the meantime the ancient complaints of injustice made on behalf of our citizens are disregarded, and new causes of dissatisfaction have arisen, some of them of a character requiring prompt remonstrance and ample and immediate redress. I trust, however, by tempering firmness with courtesy and acting with great forbearance upon every inci- dent that has occurred or that may happen, to do and to obtain justice, and thus avoid the necessity of again bring- ing this subject to the view of Congress. It is my duty to remind you that no provision has been made to execute our treaty with Mexico for tracing the boundary line between the two countries. Whatever may be the prospect of Mexico's being soon able to execute the treaty on its part, it is proper that we should be in anticipa- Eighth Annual Message 455 tion prepared at all times to perform our obligations, with- out regard to the probable condition of those with whom we have contracted them. The result of the confidential inquiries made into the condition and prospects of the newly declared Texan Gov- ernment will be communicated to you in the course of the session. Commercial treaties promising great advantages to our enterprising merchants and navigators have been formed with the distant Governments of Muscat and Siam. The ratifications have been exchanged, but have not reached the Department of State. Copies of the treaties will be trans- mitted to you if received before, or published if arriving after, the close of the present session of Congress. Nothing has occurred to interrupt the good understand- ing that has long existed with the Barbary Powers, nor to check the good will which is gradually growing up from our intercourse with the dominions of the Government of the distinguished chief of the Ottoman Empire. Information has been received at the Department of State that a treaty with the Emperor of Morocco has just been negotiated, which, I hope, will be received in time to be laid before the Senate previous to the close of the session. You will perceive from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury that the financial means of the country continue to keep pace with its improvement in all other respects. The receipts into the Treasury during the present year will amount to about $47,691,898; those from customs being estimated at $22,523,151, those from lands at about $24,000,000, and the residue from miscellaneous sources. The expenditures for all objects during the year are esti- mated not to exceed $32,000,000, which will leave a balance in the Treasury for public purposes on the ist day of January next of about $41,723,959. This sum, with the exception of $5,000,000, will be transferred to the several States in accordance with the provisions of the act regu- lating the deposits of the public money. The unexpended balances of appropriation on the ist 45^ Andrew Jackson day of January next are estimated at $14,636,062, ex- ceeding by $9,636,062 the amount which will be left in the deposit banks, subject to the draft of the Treasurer of the United States, after the contemplated transfers to the sev- eral States are made. If, therefore, the future receipts should not be sufficient to meet these outstanding and future appropriations, there may be soon a necessity to use a portion of the funds deposited with the States. The consequences apprehended when the deposit act of the last session received a reluctant approval have been measurably realized. Though an act merely for the deposit of the surplus moneys of the United States in the State treasuries for safe-keeping until they may be wanted for the service of the General Government, it has been extensively spoken of as an act to give the money to the several States, and they have been advised to use it as a gift, without re- gard to the means of refunding it when called for. Such a suggestion has doubtless been made without a due consid- eration of the obligations of the deposit act, and without a proper attention to the various principles and interests which are affected by it. It is manifest that the law itself can not sanction such a suggestion, and that as it now stands the States have no more authority to receive and use these deposits without intending to return them than any deposit bank or any individual temporarily charged with the safe- keeping or application of the public money would now have for converting the same to their private use without the consent and against the will of the Government. But inde- pendently of the violation of public faith and moral obliga- tion which are involved in this suggestion when examined in reference to the terms of the present deposit act, it is believed that the considerations which should govern the future legislation of Congress on this subject will be equally conclusive against the adoption of any measure recognizing the principles on which the suggestion has been made. Considering the intimate connection of the subject with the financial interests of the country and its great impor- tance in whatever aspect it can be viewed, I have bestowed Eighth Annual Message 457 upon it the most anxious reflection, and feel it to be my duty to state to Congress such thoughts as have occurred to me, to aid their dehberation in treating it in the manner best calculated to conduce to the common good. The experience of other nations admonished us to hasten the extinguishment of the public debt; but it will be in vain that we have congratulated each other upon the disappear- ance of this evil if we do not guard against the equally great one of promoting the unnecessary accumulation of public revenue. No political maxim is better established than that which tells us that an improvident expenditure of money is the parent of profligacy, and that no people can hope to perpetuate their liberties who long acquiesce in a policy which taxes them for objects not necessary to the legitimate and real wants of their Government. Flatter- ing as is the condition of our country at the present period, because of its unexampled advance in all the steps of social and political improvement, it can not be disguised that there is a lurking danger already apparent in the neglect of this warning truth, and that the time has arrived when the rep- resentatives of the people should be employed in devising some more appropriate remedy than now exists to avert it. Under our present revenue system there is every proba- bility that there will continue to be a surplus beyond the wants of the Government, and it has become our duty to decide whether such a result be consistent with the true objects of our Government. Should a surplus be permitted i-o accumulate beyond the appropriations, it must be retained in the Treasury, as it now is, or distributed among the people or the States. To retain it in the Treasury unemployed in any way is impracticable; it is, besides, against the genius of our free institutions to lock up in vaults the treasure of the nation. To take from the people the right of bearing arms and put their weapons of defense in the hands of a standing army would be scarcely more dangerous to their liberties than to permit the Government to accumulate immense amounts of treasure beyond the supplies necessary to its legitimate 45 8 Andrew Jackson wants. Such a treasure would doubtless be employed at some time, as it has been in other countries, when oppor- tunity tempted ambition. To collect it merely for distribution to the States would seem to be highly impolitic, if not as dangerous as the proposition to retain it in the Treasury. The shortest re- flection must satisfy everyone that to require the people to pay taxes to the Government merely that they may be paid back again is sporting with the substantial interests of the country, and no system which produces such a result can be expected to receive the public countenance. Nothing could be gained by it even if each individual who contrib- uted a portion of the tax could receive back promptly the same portion. But it is apparent that no system of the kind can ever be enforced which will not absorb a consid- erable portion of the money to be distributed in salaries and commissions to the agents employed in the process and in the various losses and depreciations which arise from other causes^ and the practical effect of such an attempt must ever be to burden the people with taxes, not for pur- poses beneficial to them, but to swell the profits of deposit banks and support a band of useless public officers. A distribution to the people is impracticable and unjust in other respects. It would be taking one man's property and giving it to another. Such would be the unavoidable result of a rule of equality (and none other is spoken of or would be likely to be adopted), inasmuch as there is no mode by which the amount of the individual contributions of our citizens to the public revenue can be ascertained. We know that they contribute unequally, and a rule, there- fore, that would distribute to them equally would be liable to all the objections which apply to the principle of an equal division of property. To make the General Government the instrument of carrying this odious principle into effect would be at once to destroy the means of its usefulness and change the character designed for it by the framers of the Constitution. But the more extended and injurious consequences likely Eighth Annual Message 459 to result from a policy which would collect a surplus reve- nue for the purpose of distributing it may be forcibly illus- trated by an examination of the effects already produced by the present deposit act. This act, although certainly designed to secure the safe-keeping of the public revenue, is not entirely free in its tendencies from any of the objections which apply to this principle of distribution. The Govern- ment had without necessity received from the people a large surplus, which, instead of being employed as heretofore and returned to them by means of the public expenditure, was deposited with sundry banks. The banks proceeded to make loans upon this surplus, and thus converted it into banking capital, and in this manner it has tended to multiply bank charters and has had a great agency in producing a spirit of wild speculation. The possession and use of the property out of which this surplus was created belonged to the people, but the Government has transferred its posses- sion to incorporated banks, whose interest and effort it is to make large profits out of its use. This process need only be stated to show its injustice and bad policy. And the same observations apply to the influence which is produced by the steps necessary to collect as well as to distribute such a revenue. About three-fifths of all the duties on imports are paid in the city of New York, but it is obvious that the means to pay those duties are drawn from every quarter of the Union. Every citizen in every State who purchases and consumes an article which has paid a duty at that port contributes to the accumulating mass. The surplus collected there must therefore be made up of moneys or property withdrawn from other points and other States. Thus the wealth and business of every region from which these surplus funds proceed must be to some extent injured, while that of the place where the funds are concentrated and are employed in banking are propor- tionably extended. But both in making the transfer of the funds which are first necessary to pay the duties and col- lect the surplus and in making the retransfer which be- comes necessary w^hen the time arrives for the distribution 4^0 Andrew Jackson of that surplus there is a considerable period when the funds can not be brought into use, and it is manifest that, besides the loss inevitable from such an operation, its tendency is to produce fluctuations in the business of the country, which are always productive of speculation and detrimental to the interests of regular trade. Argument can scarcely be neces- sary to show that a measure of this character ought not to receive further legislative encouragement. By examining the practical operation of the ratio for dis- tribution adopted in the deposit bill of the last session we shall discover other features that appear equally objection- able. Let it be assumed, for the sake of argument, that the surplus moneys to be deposited with the States have been collected and belong to them in the ratio of their federal representative population — an assumption founded upon the fact that any deficiencies in our future revenue from imposts and public lands must be made up by direct taxes collected from the States in that ratio. It is proposed to distribute this surplus — say $30,000,000 — not according to the ratio in which it has been collected and belongs to the people of the States, but in that of their votes in the col- leges of electors of President and Vice-President. The effect of a distribution upon that ratio is shown by the annexed table, marked A. By an examination of that table it will be perceived that in the distribution of a surplus of $30,000,000 upon that basis there is a great departure from the principle which regards representation as the true measure of taxation, and it will be found that the tendency of that departure will be to increase whatever inequalities have been supposed to at- tend the operation of our federal system in respect to its bearings upon the different interests of the Union. In mak- ing the basis of representation the basis of taxation the framers of the Constitution intended to equalize the bur- dens which are necessary to support the Government, and the adoption of that ratio, while it accomplished this object, was also the means of adjusting other great topics arising out of the conflicting views respecting the political equality Eighth Annual Message 4^1 of the various members of the Confederacy. Whatever, therefore, disturbs the liberal spirit of the compromises which established a rule of taxation so just and equitable, and which experience has proved to be so well adapted to the genius and habits of our people, should be received with the greatest caution and distrust. A bare inspection in the annexed table of the differences produced by the ratio used in the deposit act compared with the results of a distribution according to the ratio of direct taxation must satisfy every unprejudiced mind that the former ratio contravenes the spirit of the Constitution and produces a degree of injustice in the operations of the Fed- eral Government which would be fatal to the hope of per- petuating it. By the ratio of direct taxation, for example, the State of Delaware in the collection of $30,000,000 of revenue would pay into the Treasury $188,716, and in a distribution of $30,000,000 she would receive back from the Government, according to the ratio of the deposit bill, the sum of $306,122; and similar results would follow the comparison between the small and the large States through- out the Union, thus realizing to the small States an advan- tage which would be doubtless as unacceptable to them as a motive for incorporating the principle in any system which would produce it as it would be inconsistent with the rights and expectations of the large States. It was certainly the intention of that provision of the Constitution which de- clares that " all duties, imposts, and excises " shall " be uni- form throughout the United States " to make the burdens of taxation fall equally upon the people in whatever State of the Union they may reside. But what would be the value of such a uniform rule if the moneys raised by it could be immediately returned by a different one which will give to the people of some States much more and to those of others much less than their fair proportions? Were the Federal Government to exempt in express terms the imports, products, and manufactures of some portions of the country from all duties while it imposed heavy ones on others, the injustice could not be greater. It would be 4^2 Andrew Jackson easy to show how by the operation of such a principle the large States of the Union would not only have to con- tribute their just share toward the support of the Federal Government, but also have to bear in some degree the taxes necessary to support the governments of their smaller sis- ters ; but it is deemed unnecessary to state the details where the general principle is so obvious. A system liable to such objections can never be supposed to have been sanctioned by the framers of the Constitution when they conferred on Congress the taxing power, and I feel persuaded that a mature examination of the subject will satisfy everyone that there are insurmountable diffi- culties in the operation of any plan which can be devised of collecting revenue for the purpose of distributing it. Con- gress is only authorized to levy taxes " to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States." There is no such provision as would authorize Congress to collect together the property of the country, under the name of revenue, for the purpose of dividing it equally or unequally among the States or the people. Indeed, it is not probable that such an idea ever occurred to the States when they adopted the Constitution. But however this may be, the only safe rule for us in inter- preting the powers granted to the Federal Government is to regard the absence of express authority to touch a sub- ject so important and delicate as this is as equivalent to a prohibition. Even if our powers were less doubtful in this respect as the Constitution now stands, there are considerations afforded by recent experience which would seem to make it our duty to avoid a resort to such a system. All will admit that the simplicity and economy of the State governments mainly depend on the fact that money has to be supplied to support them by the same men, or their agents, who vote it away in appropriations. Hence when there are extravagant and wasteful appropriations there must be a corresponding increase of taxes, and the people, becoming awakened, will necessarily scrutinize the charac- Eighth Annual Message 4^3 ter of measures which thus increase their burdens. By the watchful eye of self-interest the agents of the people in the State governments are repressed and kept within the limits of a just economy. But if the necessity of levying the taxes be taken from those who make the appropriations and thrown upon a more distant and less responsible set of pub- lic agents, who have power to approach the people by an indirect and stealthy taxation, there is reason to fear that prodigality will soon supersede those characteristics which have thus far made us look with so much pride and con- fidence to the State governments as the mainstay of our Union and liberties. The State legislatures, instead of studying to restrict their State expenditures to the smallest possible sum, will claim credit for their profusion, and harass the General Government for increased supplies. Practically there would soon be but one taxing power, and that vested in a body of men far removed from the people, in which the farming and mechanic interests would scarcely be represented. The States would gradually lose their pur- ity as well as their independence; they would not dare to murmur at the proceedings of the General Government, lest they should lose their supplies; all would be merged in a practical consolidation, cemented by widespread corruption, which could only be eradicated by one of those bloody revo- lutions which occasionally overthrow the despotic systems of the Old World. In all the other aspects in which I have been able to look at the effect of such a principle of dis- tribution upon the best interests of the country I can see nothing to compensate for the disadvantages to which I have adverted. If we consider the protective duties, which are in a great degree the source of the surplus revenue, beneficial to one section of the Union and prejudicial to another, there is no corrective for the evil in such a plan of distribution. On the contrary, there is reason to fear that all the complaints which have sprung from this cause would be aggravated. Everyone must be sensible that a distribution of the surplus must beget a disposition to cher- ish the means which create it, and any system, therefore, 4^4 Andrew Jackson into which it enters must have a powerful tendency to in- crease rather than diminish the tariff. If it were even admitted that the advantages of such a system could be made equal to all the sections of the Union, the reasons already so urgently calling for a reduction of the revenue would nevertheless lose none of their force, for it will al- ways be improbable that an intelligent and virtuous com- munity can consent to raise a surplus for the mere purpose of dividing it, diminished as it must inevitably be by the expenses of the various machinery necessary to the process. The safest and simplest mode of obviating all the diffi- culties which have been mentioned is to collect only reve- nue enough to meet the wants of the Government, and let the people keep the balance of their property in their own hands, to be used for their own profit. Each State will then support its own government and contribute its due share toward the support of the General Government. There would be no surplus to cramp and lessen the resources of individual wealth and enterprise, and the banks would be left to their ordinary means. Whatever agitations and fluc- tuations might arise from our unfortunate paper system, they could never be attributed, justly or unjustly, to the action of the Federal Government. There would be some guaranty that the spirit of wild speculation which seeks to convert the surplus revenue into banking capital would be effectually checked, and that the scenes of demoralization which are now so prevalent through the land would disappear. Without desiring to conceal that the experience and ob- servation of the last two years have operated a partial change in my views upon this interesting subject, it is nevertheless regretted that the suggestions made by me in my annual messages of 1829 and 1830 have been greatly misunderstood. At that time the great struggle was begim against that latitudinarian construction of the Constitution which authorizes the unlimited appropriation of the reve- nues of the Union to internal improvements within the States, tending to invest in the hands and place under the Eighth Annual Message 4^5 control of the General Government all the principal roads and canals of the country, in violation of State rights and in derogation of State authority. At the same time the con- dition of the manufacturing interest was such as to create an apprehension that the duties on imports could not without extensive mischief be reduced in season to prevent the accumulation of a considerable surplus after the payment of the national debt. In view of the dangers of such a surplus, and in preference to its application to internal im- provements in derogation of the rights and powers of the States, the suggestion of an amendment of the Constitution to authorize its distribution was made. It was an alter- native for what were deemed greater evils — a temporary resort to relieve an overburdened treasury until the Govern- ment could, without a sudden and destructive revulsion in the business of the country, gradually return to the just principle of raising no more revenue from the people in taxes than is necessary for its economical support. Even that alternative was not spoken of but in connection with an amendment of the Constitution. No temporary incon- venience can justify the exercise of a prohibited power or a power not granted by that instrument, and it was from a conviction that the power to distribute even a temporary surplus of revenue is of that character that it was suggested only in connection with an appeal to the source of all legal power in the General Government, the States which have established it. No such appeal has been taken, and in my opinion a distribution of the surplus revenue by Congress either to the States or the people is to be considered as among the prohibitions of the Constitution. As already intimated, my views have undergone a change so far as to be convinced that no alteration of the Constitution in this respect is wise or expedient. The influence of an accumulating surplus upon the legislation of the General Government and the States, its effect upon the credit sys- tem of the country, producing dangerous extensions and ruinous contractions, fluctuations in the price of property, rash speculation, idleness, extravagance, and a deterioration 4^6 Andrew Jackson of morals, have taught us the important lesson that any transient mischief which may attend the reduction of our revenue to the wants of our Government is to be borne in preference to an overflowing treasury. I beg leave to call your attention to another subject in- timately associated with the preceding one — the currency of the country. It is apparent from the whole context of the Constitu- tion, as well as the history of the times which gave birth to it, that it was the purpose of the Convention to establish a currency consisting of the precious metals. These, from their peculiar properties which rendered them the standard of value in all other countries, were adopted in this as well to establish its commercial standard in reference to foreign countries by a permanent rule as to exclude the use of a mutable medium of exchange, such as of certain agricul- tural commodities recognized by the statutes of some States as a tender for debts, or the still more pernicious expedient of a paper currency. The last, from the experience of the evils of the issues of paper during the Revolution, had be- come so justly obnoxious as not only to suggest the clause in the Constitution forbidding the emission of bills of credit by the States, but also to produce that vote in the Convention which negatived the proposition to grant power to Congress to charter corporations — a proposition well understood at the time as intended to authorize the estab- lishment of a national bank, which was to issue a currency of bank notes on a capital to be created to some extent out of Government stocks. Although this proposition was re- fused by a direct vote of the Convention, the object was afterwards in effect obtained by its ingenious advocates through a strained construction of the Constitution. The debts of the Revolution were funded at prices which formed no equivalent compared with the nominal amount of the stock, and under circumstances which exposed the motives of some of those who participated in the passage of the act to distrust. The facts that the value of the stock was greatly en- Eighth Annual Message 4^7 hanced by the creation of the bank, that it was well under- stood that such would be the case, and that some of the advocates of the measure were largely benefited by it belong to the history of the times, and are well calculated to dimin- ish the respect which might otherwise have been due to the action of the Congress which created the institution. On the establishment of a national bank it became the interest of its creditors that gold should be superseded by the paper of the bank as a general currency. A value was soon attached to the gold coins which made their exporta- tion to foreign countries as a mercantile commodity more profitable than their retention and use at home as money. It followed as a matter of course, if not designed by those who established the bank, that the bank became in effect a substitute for the Mint of the United States. Such was the origin of a national-bank currency, and such the beginning of those difficulties which now appear in the excessive issues of the banks incorporated by the various States. Although it may not be possible by any legislative means within our power to change at once the system which has thus been introduced, and has received the acquiescence of all portions of the country, it is certainly our duty to do all that is consistent with our constitutional obligations in pre- venting the mischiefs which are threatened by its undue extension. That the efforts of the fathers of our Govern- ment to guard against it by a constitutional provision were founded on an intimate knowledge of the subject has been frequently attested by the bitter experience of the country. The same causes which led them to refuse their sanction to a power authorizing the establishment of incorporations for banking purposes now exist in a much stronger degree to urge us to exeirt the utmost vigilance in calling into action the means necessary to correct the evils resulting from the unfortunate exercise of the power, and it is to be hoped that the opportunity for effecting this great good will be improved before the country witnesses new scenes of embarrassment and distress. 4^^ Andrew Jackson Variableness must ever be the characteristic of a cur- rency of which the precious metals are not the chief in- gredient, or which can be expanded or contracted without regard to the principles that regulate the value of those metals as a standard in the general trade of the world. With us bank issues constitute such a currency, and must ever do so until they are made dependent on those just pro- portions of gold and silver as a circulating medium which experience has proved to be necessary not only in this but in all other commercial countries. Where those proportions are not infused into the circulation and do not control it, it is manifest that prices must vary according to the tide of bank issues, and the value and stability of property must stand exposed to all the uncertainty which attends the ad- ministration of institutions that are constantly liable to the temptation of an interest distinct from that of the com- munity in which they are established. The progress of an expansion, or rather a depreciation, of the currency by excessive bank issues is always attended by a loss to the laboring classes. This portion of the com- munity have neither time nor opportunity to watch the ebbs and flows of the money market. Engaged from day to day in their useful toils, they do not perceive that although their wages are nominally the same, or even somewhat higher, they are greatly reduced in fact by the rapid in- crease of a spurious currency, which, as it appears to make money abound, they are at first inclined to consider a bless- ing. It is not so with the speculator, by whom this opera- tion is better understood, and is made to contribute to his advantage. It is not until the prices of the necessaries of life become so dear that the laboring classes can not supply their wants out of their wages that the wages rise, and gradually reach a justly proportioned rate to that of the products of their labor. When thus, by the depreciation in consequence of the quantity of paper in circulation, wages as well as prices become exorbitant, it is soon found that the whole effect of the adulteration is a tariff on our home industry for the benefit of the countries where gold and Eighth Annual Message 4^9 silver circulate and maintain uniformity and moderation in prices. It is then perceived that the enhancement of the price of land and labor produces a corresponding increase in the price of products until these products do not sustain a competition with similar ones in other countries, and thus both manufactured and agricultural productions cease to bear exportation from the country of the spurious currency, because they can not be sold for cost. This is the process by which specie is banished by the paper of the banks. Their vaults are soon exhausted to pay for foreign com- modities. The next step is a stoppage of specie payment — a total degradation of paper as a currency — unusual depres- sion of prices, the ruin of debtors, and the accumulation of property in the hands of creditors and cautious capitalists. It was in view of these evils, together with the dangerous power wielded by the Bank of the United States and its repugnance to our Constitution, that I was induced to exert the power conferred upon me by the American people to prevent the continuance of that institution. But although various dangers to our republican institutions have been obviated by the failure of that bank to extort from the Gov- ernment a renewal of its charter, it is obvious that little has been accomplished except a salutary change of public opinion toward restoring to the country the sound cur- rency provided for in the Constitution. In the acts of several of the States prohibiting the circulation of small notes, and the auxiliary enactments of Congress at the last session forbidding their reception or payment on public account, the true policy of the country has been advanced and a larger portion of the precious metals infused into our circulating medium. These measures will probably be followed up in due time by the enactment of State laws banishing from circulation bank notes of still higher de- nominations, and the object may be materially promoted by further acts of Congress forbidding the employment as fiscal agents of such banks as continue to issue notes of low denominations and throw impediments in the way of the circulation of gold and silver. 47° Andrew Jackson The effects of an extension of bank credits and overissues of bank paper have been strikingly illustrated in the sales of the public lands. From the returns made by the various registers and receivers in the early part of last summer it was perceived that the receipts arising from the sales of the public lands were increasing to an unprecedented amount. In effect, however, these receipts amounted to nothing more than credits in bank. The banks lent out their notes to speculators. They were paid to the receivers and imme- diately returned to the banks, to be lent out again and again, being mere instruments to transfer to speculators the most valuable public land and pay the Government by a credit on the books of the banks. Those credits on the books of some of the Western banks, usually called deposits, were already greatly beyond their immediate means of payment, and were rapidly increasing. Indeed, each speculation furnished means for another; for no sooner had one indi- vidual or company paid in the notes than they were imme- diately lent to another for a like purpose, and the banks were extending their business and their issues so largely as to alarm considerate men and render it doubtful whether these bank credits if permitted to accumulate would ulti- mately be of the least value to the Government. The spirit of expansion and speculation was not confined to the deposit banks, but pervaded the whole multitude of banks through- out the Union and was giving rise to new institutions to aggravate the evil. The safety of the public funds and the interest of the people generally required that these operations should be checked; and it became the duty of every branch of the General and State Governments to adopt all legitimate and proper means to produce that salutary effect. Under this view of my duty I directed the issuing of the order which will be laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury, requiring payment for the public lands sold to be made in specie, with an exception until the 1 5th of the present month in favor of actual settlers. This measure has produced many salutary consequences. It checked the career of the Eighth Annual Message 47^ Western banks and gave them additional strength in antici- pation of the pressure which has since pervaded our Eastern as well as the European commercial cities. By preventing the extension of the credit system it measurably cut off the means of speculation and retarded its progress in monopo- lizing the most valuable of the public lands. It has tended to save the new States from a nonresident proprietorship, one of the greatest obstacles to the advancement of a new country and the prosperity of an old one. It has tended to keep open the public lands for entry by emigrants at Gov- ernment prices instead of their being compelled to purchase of speculators at double or triple prices. And it is convey- ing into the interior large sums in silver and gold, there to enter permanently into the currency of the country and place it on a firmer foundation. It is confidently believed that the country will find in the motives which induced that order and the happy consequences which will have ensued much to commend and nothing to condemn. It remains for Congress if they approve the policy which dictated this order to follow it up in its various bearings. Much good, in my judgment, would be produced by pro- hibiting sales of the public lands except to actual settlers at a reasonable reduction of price, and to limit the quantity which shall be sold to them. Although it is believed the General Government never ought to receive anything but the constitutional currency in exchange for the public lands, that point would be of less importance if the lands were sold for immediate settlement and cultivation. Indeed, there is scarcely a mischief arising out of our present land system, including the accumulating surplus of revenues, which would not be remedied at once by a restriction on land sales to actual settlers ; and it promises other advantages to the country in general and to the new States in particular which can not fail to receive the most profound considera- tion of Congress. Experience continues to realize the expectations enter- tained as to the capacity of the State banks to perform the duties of fiscal agents for the Government at the time of the 47^ Andrew Jackson removal of the deposits. It was alleged by the advocates of the Bank of the United States that the State banks, what- ever might be the regulations of the Treasury Department, could not make the transfers required by the Government or negotiate the domestic exchanges of the country. It is now well ascertained that the real domestic exchanges per- formed through discounts by the United States Bank and its twenty-five branches were at least one-third less than those of the deposit banks for an equal period of time ; and if a comparison be instituted between the amounts of serv- ice rendered by these institutions on the broader basis which has been used by the advocates of the United States Bank in estimating what they consider the domestic exchanges transacted by it, the result will be still more favorable to the deposit banks. The whole amount of public money transferred by the Bank of the United States in 1832 was $16,000,000. The amount transferred and actually paid by the deposit banks in the year ending the ist of October last was $39,319,899; the amount transferred and paid between that period and the 6th of November was $5,399,000, and the amount of transfer warrants outstanding on that day was $14,450,000, making an aggregate of $59,168,894. These enormous sums of money first mentioned have been transferred with the greatest promptitude and regularity, and the rates at which the exchanges have been negotiated previously to the passage of the deposit act were generally below those charged by the Bank of the United States. Independently of these services, which are far greater than those ren- dered by the United States Bank and its twenty-five branches, a number of the deposit banks have, with a com- mendable zeal to aid in the improvement of the currency, imported from abroad, at their own expense, large sums of the precious metals for coinage and circulation. In the same manner have nearly all the predictions turned out in respect to the effect of the removal of the deposits — a step unquestionably necessary to prevent the evils which it was foreseen the bank itself would endeavor to create in a Eighth Annual Message 473 final struggle to procure a renewal of its charter. It may be thus, too, in some degree with the further steps which may be taken to prevent the excessive issue of other bank paper, but it is to be hoped that nothing will now deter the Fed- eral and State authorities from the firm and vigorous per- formance of their duties to themselves and to the people in this respect. In reducing the revenue to the wants of the Government your particular attention is invited to those articles which constitute the necessaries of life. The duty on salt was laid as a war tax, and was no doubt continued to assist in providing for the payment of the war debt. There is no article the release of which from taxation would be felt so generally and so beneficially. To this may be added all kinds of fuel and provisions. Justice and benevolence unite in favor of releasing the poor of our cities from bur- dens which are not necessary to the support of our Gov- ernment and tend only to increase the wants of the destitute. It will be seen by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury and the accompanying documents that the Bank of the United States has made no payment on account of the stock held by the Government in that institution, al- though urged to pay any portion which might suit its con- venience, and that it has given no information when pay- ment may be expected. Nor, although repeatedly requested, has it furnished the information in relation to its condition which Congress authorized the Secretary to collect at their last session. Such measures as are within the power of the Executive have been taken to ascertain the value of the stock and procure the payment as early as possible. The conduct and present condition of that bank and the great amount of capital vested in it by the United States require your careful attention. Its charter expired on the 3d day of March last, and it has now no power but that given in the twenty-first section, " to use the corporate name, style, and capacity for the purpose of suits for the final settlement and liquidation of the affairs and accounts of the corporation, and for the sale and disposition of their 474 Andrew Jackson estate — real, personal, and mixed — but not for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever, nor for a period exceeding two years after the expiration of the said term of incorporation." Before the expiration of the char- ter the stockholders of the bank obtained an act of incor- poration from the legislature of Pennsylvania, excluding only the United States. Instead of proceeding to wind up their concerns and pay over to the United States the amount due on account of the stock held by them, the president and directors of the old bank appear to have transferred the books, papers, notes, obligations, and most or all of its property to this new corporation, which entered upon busi- ness as a continuation of the old concern. Amongst other acts of questionable validity, the notes of the expired cor- poration are known to have been used as its own and again put in circulation. That the old bank had no right to issue or reissue its notes after the expiration of its charter can not be denied, and that it could not confer any such right on its substitute any more than exercise it itself is equally plain. In law and honesty the notes of the bank in circula- tion at the expiration of its charter should have been called in by public advertisement, paid up as presented, and, to- gether with those on hand, cancelled and destroyed. Their reissue is sanctioned by no law and warranted by no neces- sity. If the United States be responsible in their stock for the payment of these notes, their reissue by the new cor- poration for their own profit is a fraud on the Government. If the United States is not responsible, then there is no legal responsibility in any quarter, and it is a fraud on the country. They are the redeemed notes of a dissolved part- nership, but, contrary to the wishes of the retiring partner and without his consent, are again reissued and circulated. It is the high and peculiar duty of Congress to decide whether any further legislation be necessary for the se- curity of the large amount of public property now held and in use by the new bank, and for vindicating the rights of the Government and compelling a speedy and honest set- tlement with all the creditors of the old bank, public and Eighth Annual Message 475 private, or whether the subject shall be left to the power now possessed by the Executive and judiciary. It remains to be seen whether the persons who as managers of the old bank undertook to control the Government, retained the public dividends, shut their doors upon a committee of the House of Representatives, and filled the country with panic to accomplish their own sinister objects may now as man- agers of a new bank continue with impunity to flood the country with a spurious currency, use the seven millions of Government stock for their own profit, and refuse to the United States all information as to the present condition of their own property and the prospect of recovering it into their own possession. The lessons taught by the Bank of the United States can not well be lost upon the American people. They will take care never again to place so tremendous a power in irresponsible hands, and it will be fortunate if they seriously consider the consequences which are likely to result on a smaller scale from the facility with which corporate powers are granted by their State governments. It is believed that the law of the last session regulating the deposit banks operates onerously and unjustly upon them in many respects, and it is hoped that Congress, on proper representations, will adopt the modifications which are necessary to prevent this consequence. The report of the Secretary of War ad interim and the accompanying documents, all which are herewith laid be- fore you, will give you a full view of the diversified and important operations of that Department during the past year. The military movements rendered necessary by the ag- gressions of the hostile portions of the Seminole and Creek tribes of Indians, and by other circumstances, have required the active employment of nearly our whole regular force, including the Marine Corps, and of large bodies of militia and volunteers. With all these events so far as they were known at the seat of Government before the termination of your last session you are already acquainted, and it is there- 47^ Andrew Jackson fore only needful in this place to lay before you a brief summary of what has since occurred. The war with the Seminoles during the summer was on our part chiefly confined to the protection of our frontier settlements from the incursions of the enemy, and, as a necessary and important means for the accomplishment of that end, to the maintenance of the posts previously estab- lished. In the course of this duty several actions took place, in which the bravery and discipline of both officers and men were conspicuously displayed, and which I have deemed it proper to notice in respect to the former by the granting of brevet rank for gallant services in the field. But as the force of the Indians was not so far weakened by these par- tial successes as to lead them to submit, and as their savage inroads were frequently repeated, early measures were taken for placing at the disposal of Governor Call, who as com- mander in chief of the Territorial militia had been tempo- rarily invested with the command, an ample force for the purpose of resuming offensive operations in the most effi- cient manner so soon as the season should permit. Major- General Jesup was also directed, on the conclusion of his duties in the Creek country, to repair to Florida and assume the command. The result of the first movement made by the forces under the direction of Governor Call in October last, as detailed in the accompanying papers, excited much surprise and disappointment. A full explanation has been required of the causes which led to the failure of that movement, but has not yet been received. In the meantime, as it was feared that the health of Governor Call, who was under- stood to have suffered much from sickness, might not be adequate to the crisis, and as Major-General Jesup was known to have reached Florida, that officer was directed to assume the command, and to prosecute all needful opera- tions with the utmost promptitude and vigor. From the force at his disposal and the dispositions he has made and is instructed to make, and from the very efficient measures which it is since ascertained have been taken by Govesrnor Eighth Annual Message 477 Call, there is reason to hope that they will soon be enabled to reduce the enemy to subjection. In the meantime, as you will perceive from the report of the Secretary, there is urgent necessity for further appropriations to suppress these hostilities. Happily for the interests of humanity, the hostilities with the Creeks were brought to a close soon after your ad- journment, without that effusion of blood which at one time was apprehended as inevitable. The unconditional submission of the hostile party was followed by their speedy removal to the country assigned them west of the Missis- sippi. The inquiry as to alleged frauds in the purchase of the reservations of these Indians and the causes of their hostilities, requested by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the ist of July last to be made by the President, is now going on through the agency of com- missioners appointed for that purpose. Their report may be expected during your present session. The difficulties apprehended in the Cherokee country have been prevented, and the peace and safety of that re- gion and its vicinity effectually secured, by the timely meas- ures taken by the War Department, and still continued. The discretionary authority given to General Gaines to cross the Sabine and to occupy a position as far west as Nacogdoches, in case he should deem such a step necessary to the protection of the frontier and to the fulfillment of the stipulations contained in our treaty with Mexico, and the movement subsequently made by that officer have been alluded to in a former part of this message. At the date of the latest intelligence from Nacogdoches our troops were yet at that station, but the officer who has succeeded General Gaines has recently been advised that from the facts known at the seat of Government there would seem to be no ade- quate cause for any longer maintaining that position, and he was accordingly Instructed, in case the troops were not already withdrawn under the discretionary powers before possessed by him, to give the requisite orders for that pur- pose on the receipt of the instructions, unless he shall then 47^ Andrew Jackson have in his possession such information as shall satisfy him that the maintenance of the post is essential to the protection of our frontiers and to the due execution of our treaty stipulations, as previously explained to him. Whilst the necessities existing during the present year for the service of militia and volunteers have furnished new proofs of the patriotism of our fellow-citizens, they have also strongly illustrated the importance of an increase in the rank and file of the Regular Army. The views of this subject submitted by the Secretary of War in his report meet my entire concurrence, and are earnestly commended to the deliberate attention of Congress. In this connection it is also proper to remind you that the defects in our present militia system are every day rendered more apparent. The duty of making further provision by law for organizing, arming, and disciplining this arm of defense has been so repeatedly presented to Congress by myself and my prede- cessors that I deem it sufficient on this occasion to refer to the last annual message and to former Executive communi- cations in which the subject has been discussed. It appears from the reports of the officers charged with mustering into service the volunteers called for under the act of Congress of the last session that more presented, themselves at the place of rendezvous in Tennessee than were sufficient to meet the requisition which had been made by the Secretary of War upon the governor of that State. This was occasioned by the omission of the governor to apportion the requisition to the different regiments of militia so as to obtain the proper number of troops and no more. It seems but just to the patriotic citizens who re- paired to the general rendezvous under circumstances au- thorizing them to believe that their services were needed and would be accepted that the expenses incurred by them while absent from their homes should be paid by the Government. I accordingly recommend that a law to this effect be passed by Congress, giving them a compensation which will cover their expenses on the march to and from the place of ren- dezvous and while there; in connection with which it will Eighth Annual Message 479 also be proper to make provision for such other equitable claims growing out of the service of the militia as may not be embraced in the existing laws. On the unexpected breaking out of hostilities in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia it became necessary in some cases to take the property of individuals for public use. Pro- vision should be made by law for indemnifying the owners ; and I would also respectfully suggest whether some pro- vision may not be made, consistently with the principles of our Government, for the relief of the sufferers by Indian depredations or by the operations of our own troops. No time was lost after the making of the requisite appro- priations in resuming the great national work of completing the unfinished fortifications on our seaboard and of placing them in a proper state of defense. In consequence, however, of the very late day at which those bills were passed, but lit- tle progress could be made during the season which has just closed. A very large amount of the moneys granted at your last session accordingly remains unexpended; but as the work will be again resumed at the earliest moment in the coming spring, the balance of the existing appropria- tions, and in several cases which will be laid before you, with the proper estimates, further sums for the like objects, may be usefully expended during the next year. The recommendations of an increase in the Engineer Corps and for a reorganization of the Topographical Corps, submitted to you in my last annual message, derive addi- tional strength from the great embarrassments experienced during the present year in those branches of the service, and under which they are now suffering. Several of the most important surveys and constructions directed by recent laws have been suspended in consequence of the want of adequate force in these corps. The like observations may be applied to the Ordnance Corps and to the general staff, the operations of which as they are now organized must either be frequently inter- rupted or performed by officers taken from the line of the Army, to the great prejudice of the service. 4^0 Andrew Jackson For a general view of the condition of the MiHtary Acad- emy and of other branches of the mihtary service not al- ready noticed, as well as for fuller illustrations of those which have been mentioned, I refer you to the accompany- ing documents, and among the various proposals contained therein for legislative action I would particularly notice the suggestion of the Secretary of War for the revision of the pay of the Army as entitled to your favorable regard. The national policy, founded alike in interest and in hu- manity, so long and so steadily pursued by this Government for the removal of the Indian tribes originally settled on this side of the Mississippi to the west of that river, may be said to have been consummated by the conclusion of the late treaty with the Cherokees. The measures taken in the execution of that treaty and in relation to our Indian affairs generally will fully appear by referring to the accompany- ing papers. Without dwelling on the numerous and impor- tant topics embraced in them, I again invite your attention to the importance of providing a well-digested and compre- hensive system for the protection, supervision, and im- provement of the various tribes now planted in the Indian country. The suggestions submitted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and enforced by the Secretary, on this subject, and also in regard to the establishment of addi- tional military posts in the Indian country, are entitled to your profound consideration. Both measures are neces- sary, for the double purpose of protecting the Indians from intestine war, and in other respects complying with our engagements to them, and of securing our western frontier against incursions which otherwise will assuredly be made on it. The best hopes of humanity in regard to the aborig- inal race, the welfare of our rapidly extending settlements, and the honor of the United States are all deeply involved in the relations existing between this Government and the emigrating tribes. I trust, therefore, that the various mat- ters submitted in the accompanying documents in respect to those relations will receive your early and mature delibera- tion, and that it may issue in the adoption of legislative Eighth Annual Message 481 measures adapted to the circumstances and duties of the present crisis. You are referred to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a satisfactory view of the operations of the De- partment under his charge during the present year. In the construction of vessels at the different navy-yards and in the employment of our ships and squadrons at sea that branch of the service has been actively and usefully em- ployed. While the situation of our commercial interests in the West Indies required a greater number than usual of armed vessels to be kept on that station, it is gratifying to perceive that the protection due to our commerce in other quarters of the world has not proved insufficient. Every effort has been made to facilitate the equipment of the ex- ploring expedition authorized by the act of the last session, but all the preparation necessary to enable it to sail has not yet been completed. No means will be spared by the Gov- ernment to fit out the expedition on a scale corresponding with the liberal appropriations for the purpose and with the elevated character of the objects which are to be ef- fected by it. I beg leave to renew the recommendation made in my last annual message respecting the enlistment of boys in our naval service, and to urge upon your attention the necessity of further appropriations to increase the number of ships afloat and to enlarge generally the capacity and force of the Navy. The increase of our commerce and our position in re- gard to the other powers of the world will always make it our policy and interest to cherish the great naval resources of our country. The report of the Postmaster-General presents a grati- fying picture of the condition of the Post-Office Depart- ment. Its revenues for the year ending the 30th June last were $3,398,455.19, showing an increase of revenue over that of the preceding year of $404,878.53, or more than 13 per cent. The expenditures for the same year were $2,755,623.76, exhibiting a surplus of $642,831.43. The Department has been redeemed from embarrassment and 4^2 Andrew Jackson debt, has accumulated a surplus exceeding half a million of dollars, has largely extended and is preparing still fur- ther to extend the mail service, and recommends a reduc- tion of postages equal to about 20 per cent. It is practicing upon the great principle which should control every branch of our Government of rendering to the public the greatest good possible with the least possible taxation to the people. The scale of postages suggested by the Postmaster-Gen- eral recommends itself, not only by the reduction it pro- poses, but by the simplicity of its arrangement, its con- formity with the Federal currency, and the improvement it will introduce into the accounts of the Department and its agents. Your particular attention is invited to the subject of mail contracts with railroad companies. The present laws pro- viding for the making of contracts are based upon the pre- sumption that competition among bidders will secure the service at a fair price; but on most of the railroad lines there is no competition in that kind of transportation, and advertising is therefore useless. No contract can now be made with them except such as shall be negotiated before the time of offering or afterwards, and the power of the Postmaster-General to pay them high prices is practically without limitation. It would be a relief to him and no doubt would conduce to the public interest to prescribe by law some equitable basis upon which such contracts shall rest, and restrict him by a fixed rule of allowance. Under a liberal act of that sort he would undoubtedly be able to secure the services of most of the railroad companies, and the interest of the Department would be thus advanced. The correspondence between the people of the United States and the European nations, and particularly with the British islands, has become very extensive, and requires the interposition of Congress to give it security. No obstacle is perceived to an interchange of mails between New York and Liverpool or other foreign ports, as proposed by the Postmaster-General. On the contrary, it promises, by the security it will afford, to facilitate commercial transactions Eighth Annual Message 4^3 and give rise to an enlarged intercourse among the people of different nations, which can not but have a happy effect. Through the city of New York most of the correspondence between the Canadas and Europe is now carried on, and urgent representations have been received from the head of the provincial post-office asking the interposition of the United States to guard it from the accidents and losses to which it is now subjected. Some legislation appears to be called for as well by our own interest as by comity to the adjoining British provinces. The expediency of providing a fireproof building for the important books and papers of the Post-Office Depart- ment is worthy of consideration. In the present condition of our Treasury it is neither necessary nor wise to leave essential public interests exposed to so much danger when they can so readily be made secure. There are weighty considerations in the location of a new building for that Department in favor of placing it near the other executive buildings. The important subjects of a survey of the coast and the manufacture of a standard of weights and measures for the different customhouses have been in progress for some years under the general direction of the Executive and the imme- diate superintendence of a gentleman possessing high scien- tific attainments. At the last session of Congress the mak- ing of a set of weights and measures for each State in the Union was added to the others by a joint resolution. The care and correspondence as to all these subjects have been devolved on the Treasury Department during the last year. A special report from the Secretary of the Treasury will soon be communicated to Congress, which will show what has been accomplished as to the whole, the number and compensation of the persons now employed in these duties, and the progress expected to be made during the ensuing year, with a copy of the various correspondence deemed necessary to throw light on the subjects which seem to require additional legislation. Claims have been made for retrospective allowances in behalf of the superintendent 4^4 Andrew Jackson and some of his assistants, which I did not feel justified in granting. Other claims have been made for large in- creases in compensation, which, under all the circumstances of the several cases, I declined making without the express sanction of Congress. In order to obtain that sanction the subject was at the last session, on my suggestion and by request of the immediate superintendent, submitted by the Treasury Department to the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives. But no legislative action having taken place, the early attention of Congress is now invited to the enactment of some express and detailed pro- visions in relation to the various claims made for the past, and to the compensation and allowances deemed proper for the future. It is further respectfully recommended that, such being the inconvenience of attention to these duties by the Chief Magistrate, and such the great pressure of business on the Treasury Department, the general supervision of the coast survey and the completion of the weights and measures, if the works are kept united, should be devolved on a board of officers organized specially for that purpose, or on the Navy Board attached to the Navy Department. All my experience and reflection confirm the conviction I have so often expressed to Congress in favor of an amendment to the Constitution which will prevent in any event the election of the President and Vice-President of the United States devolving on the House of Representa- tives and the Senate, and I therefore beg leave again to solicit your attention to the subject. There were various other suggestions in my last annual message not acted upon, particularly that relating to the want of uniformity in the laws of the District of Columbia, that are deemed worthy of your favorable consideration. Before concluding this paper I think it due to the various Executive Departments to bear testimony to their pros- perous condition and to the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of the public Eighth Annual Message 4^5 business, and it is gratifying to me to believe that there is no just cause of complaint from any quarter at the manner in which they have fulfilled the objects of their creation. Having now finished the observations deemed proper on this the last occasion I shall have of communicating with the two Houses of Congress at their meeting, I can not omit an expression of the gratitude which is due to the great body of my fellow-citizens, in whose partiality and indulgence I have found encouragement and support in the many difficult and trying scenes through which it has been my lot to pass during my public career. Though deeply sensible that my exertions have not been crowned with a success corresponding to the degree of favor bestowed upon me, I am sure that they will be considered as having been directed by an earnest desire to promote the good of my country, and I am consoled by the persuasion that whatever errors have been committed will find a corrective in the intelligence and patriotism of those who will succeed us. All that has occurred during my Administration is calculated to inspire me with increased confidence in the stability of our institutions ; and should I be spared to enter upon that retirement which is so suitable to my age and infirm health and so much desired by me in other respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent Being to whose providence we are already so signally indebted for the continuance of His blessings on our beloved country. 486 Andrew Jackson A. — Statement of distribution of surplus revenue of $jo, 000,000 among the several States, agreeably to the number of electoral votes for Presi- dent and according to the constitutional mode of direct taxation by representative population, and the difference arising from those two modes of distribution, as per census of 1830: Statk. Representa- tive population. Elec- toral vote. Share ac- cording to system of direct taxa- tion. Share ac- cording to electoral vote. DifFerence in favor of direct-tax mode. Difference in favor of electoral- vote mode. 399,454 269,327 610,408 97,192 297,665 280,652 1,918,578 319,921 1,348,072 75,431 405,842 1,023,502 639,747 455,025 429,811 262,507 110,357 171,904 625,263 621,832 937,901 343,030 157,146 130,419 28,557 31,625 10 7 14 4 8 7 42 8 30 3 10 23 15 II II 7 4 5 15 15 21 9 5 4 3 3 $999,371 673,813 1,527,144 243,159 744,7" 702,147 4,799,978 800,392 3,372,662 188,716 1,015,352 2,560,640 1,600,546 1,138,400 1,075,319 656,751 276,096 430,076 1,564,309 1,555,725 2,346,479 858,206 393,154 326,288 71,445 79,121 $1,020,408 714,286 1,428,571 408,163 816,327 714,286 4,285,714 816,427 3,061,225 306,122 1,020,408 2,346,939 1,530,612 1,122,449 1,122,449 714,286 408,163 510,204 1,530,612 1,530,612 2,142,858 918,368 510,204 408,163 306,122 306,102 $21,037 40,473 New Hampshire. . . $98,573 165,004 71,616 12,139 514,264 New Jersey Pennsylvania 15,935 3",437 117,406 5,056 213,701 69,934 15,951 47,130 57,535 132,067 80,128 Mississippi 33,697 25,113 203,621 Ohio 60,162 Illinois ... 117,050 81,875 234,677 227,001 Total 11,991,168 294 30,000,000 30,000,000 1,486,291 1,486,291 Message on Texas and Mexico.* (December 21, 1836.) To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: During the last session information was given to Congress by the Executive that measures had been taken to ascertain "the poHtical, mihtary, and civil condi- tion of Texas." I now submit for your consideration ex- tracts from the report of the agent who had been appointed to collect it relative to the condition of that country. No steps have been taken by the Executive toward the acknowledgment of the independence of Texas, and the whole subject would have been left without further re- mark on the information now given to Congress were it not that the two Houses at their last session, acting sepa- rately, passed resolutions " that the independence of Texas ought to be acknowledged by the United States whenever satisfactory information should be received that it had in successful operation a civil government capable of perform- ing the duties and fulfilling the obligations of an inde- pendent power." This mark of interest in the question of the independence of Texas and indication of the views of Congress make it proper that I should somewhat in detail present the considerations that have governed the Execu- tive in continuing to occupy the ground previously taken in the contest between Mexico and Texas. The acknowledgment of a new state as independent and entitled to a place in the family of nations is at all times an act of great delicacy and responsibility, but more especially so when such state has forcibly separated itself from another of which it had formed an integral part and which still * Interesting in relation to subsequent developments culminating in the "re-annexation of Texas." 487 4^8 Andrew Jackson claims dominion over it. A premature recognition under these circumstances, if not looked upon as justifiable cause of war, is always liable to be regarded as a proof of an unfriendly spirit to one of the contending parties. All questions relative to the government of foreign nations, whether of the Old or the New World, have been treated by the United States as questions of fact only, and our predecessors have cautiously abstained from deciding upon them until the clearest evidence was in their possession to enable them not only to decide correctly, but to shield their decisions from every unworthy imputation. In all the con- tests that have arisen out of the revolutions of France, out of the disputes relating to the crowns of Portugal and Spain, out of the revolutionary movements of those King- doms, out of the separation of the American possessions of both from the European Governments, and out of the nu- merous and constantly occurring struggles for dominion in Spanish America, so wisely consistent with our just prin- ciples has been the action of our Government that we have under the most critical circumstances avoided all censure and encountered no other evil than that produced by a tran- sient estrangement of good will in those against whom we have been by force of evidence compelled to decide. It has thus been made known to the world that the uni- form policy and practice of the United States is to avoid all interference in disputes which merely relate to the in- ternal government of other nations, and eventually to recog- nize the authority of the prevailing party, without refer- ence to our particular interests and views or to the merits of the original controversy. Public opinion here is so firmly established and well understood in favor of this pol- icy that no serious disagreement has ever arisen among our- selves in relation to it, although brought under review in a variety of forms and at periods when the minds of the peo- ple were greatly excited by the agitation of topics purely domestic in their character. Nor has any deliberate in- quiry ever been instituted in Congress or in any of our legislative bodies as to whom belonged the power of origi,- Message on Texas and Mexico 4^9 nally recognizing a new State — a power the exercise of which is equivalent under some circumstances to a declara- tion of war ; a power nowhere expressly delegated, and only granted in the Constitution as it is necessarily involved in some of the great powers given to Congress, in that given to the President and Senate to form treaties with foreign powers and to appoint ambassadors and other public min- isters, and in that conferred upon the President to receive ministers from foreign nations. In the preamble to the resolution of the House of Rep- resentatives it is distinctly intimated that the expediency of recognizing the independence of Texas should be left to the decision of Congress. In this view, on the ground of expediency, I am disposed to concur, and do not, therefore, consider it necessary to express any opinion as to the strict constitutional right of the Executive, either apart from or in conjunction with the Senate, over the subject. It is to be presumed that on no future occasion will a dispute arise, as none has heretofore occurred, between the Executive and Legislature in the exercise of the power of recogni- tion. It will always be considered consistent with the spirit of the Constitution, and most safe, that it should be exer- cised, when probably leading to war, with a previous under- standing with that body by whom war can alone be declared, and by whom all the provisions for sustaining its perils must be furnished. Its submission to Congress, which rep- resents in one of its branches the States of this Union and in the other the people of the United States, where there may be reasonable ground to apprehend so grave a conse- quence, would certainly afford the fullest satisfaction to our own country and a perfect guaranty to all other nations of the justice and prudence of the measures which might be adopted. In making these suggestions it is not my purpose to re- lieve myself from the responsibility of expressing my own opinions of the course the interests of our country pre- scribe and its honor permits us to follow. It is scarcely to be imagined that a question of this char- 49^ Andrew Jackson acter could be presented in relation to which It would be more difficult for the United States to avoid exciting the suspicion and jealousy of other powers, and maintain their established character for fair and impartial dealing. But on this, as on every trying occasion, safety is to be found in a rigid adherence to principle. In the contest between Spain and her revolted colonies we stood aloof and waited, not only until the ability of the new States to protect themselves was fully established, but until the danger of their being again subjugated had en- tirely passed away. Then, and not till then, were they rec- ognized. Such was our course in regard to Mexico her- self. The same policy was observed in all the disputes growing out of the separation into distinct governments of those Spanish American States who began or carried on the contest with the parent country united under one form of government. We acknowledged the separate independence of New Granada, of Venezuela, and of Ecuador only after their independent existence was no longer a subject of dis- pute or was actually acquiesced in by those with whom they had been previously united. It is true that, with re- gard to Texas, the civil authority of Mexico has been expelled, its invading army defeated, the chief of the Re- public himself captured, and all present power to control the newly organized Government of Texas annihilated within its confines. But, on the other hand, there is, in appearance at least, an immense disparity of physical force on the side of Mexico. The Mexican Republic under another execu- tive is rallying its forces under a new leader and menacing a fresh invasion to recover its lost dominion. Upon the issue of this threatened invasion the independ- ence of Texas may be considered as suspended, and were there nothing peculiar in the relative situation of the United States and Texas our acknowledgment of its independence at such a crisis could scarcely be regarded as consistent with that prudent reserve with which we have heretofore held ourselves bound to treat all similar questions. But there are circumstances in the relations of the two coun- Message on Texas and Mexico 49 ^ tries which require us to act on this occasion with even more than our wonted caution, Texas was once claimed as a part of our property, and there are those among our citizens who, always reluctant to abandon that claim, can not but regard with solicitude the prospect of the reunion of the territory to this country. A large proportion of its civilized inhabitants are emigrants from the United States, speak the same language with ourselves, cherish the same principles, political and religious, and are bound to many of our citizens by ties of friendship and kindred blood ; and, more than all, it is known that the people of that country have instituted the same form of government with our own, and have since the close of your last session openly resolved, on the acknowledgment by us of their independence, to seek admission into the Union as one of the Federal States. This last circumstance is a matter of peculiar delicacy, and forces upon us considerations of the gravest character. The title of Texas to the territory she claims is identified with her independence. She asks us to acknowledge that title to the territory, with an avowed design to treat imme- diately of its transfer to the Untied States. It becomes us to beware of a too early movement, as it might subject us, however unjustly, to the imputation of seeking to establish the claim of our neighbors to a territory with a view to its subsequent acquisition by ourselves. Prudence, therefore, seems to dictate that we should still stand aloof and main- tain our present attitude, if not until Mexico itself or one of the great foreign powers shall recognize the independ- ence of the new Government, at least until the lapse of time or the course of events shall have proved beyond cavil or dispute the ability of the people of that country to maintain their separate sovereignty and to uphold the Government constituted by them. Neither of the contending parties can justly complain of this course. By pursuing it we are but carrying out the long-established policy of our Govern- ment — a policy which has secured to us respect and influ- ence abroad and inspired confidence at home. Having thus discharged my duty, by presenting with 492 Andrew Jackson simplicity and directness the views which after much re- flection I have been led to take of this important subject, I have only to add the expression of my confidence that if Congress shall dififer with me upon it their judgment will be the result of dispassionate, prudent, and wise delibera- tion, with the assurance that during the short time I shall continue connected with the Government I shall promptly and cordially unite with you in such measures as may be deemed best fitted to increase the prosperity and perpetuate the peace of our favored country. Farewell Address.* (March 4, 1837.) Fellow-Citizens: Being about to retire finally from pub- lic life, I beg leave to offer you my grateful thanks for the many proofs of kindness and confidence which I have re- ceived at your hands. It has been my fortune in the dis- charge of public duties, civil and military, frequently to have found myself in difficult and trying situations, where prompt decision and energetic action were necessary, and where the interest of the country required that high re- sponsibilities should be fearlessly encountered; and it is with the deepest emotions of gratitude that I acknowledge the continued and unbroken confidence with which you have sustained me in every trial. My public life has been a long one, and I can not hope that it has at all times been free from errors; but I have the consolation of knowing that ■ if mistakes have been committed they have not seriously injured the country I so anxiously endeavored to serve, and at the moment when I surrender my last public trust I leave this great people prosperous and happy, in the full enjoy- ment of liberty and peace, and honored and respected by every nation of the world. * "Following the example of Washington," remarks Benton, "General Jackson issued a farewell address to the people of the United States, at his retiring from the presidency; and, like that of Washing- ton, it was principally devoted to the danger of disunion, as a possi- bility, and as an event of future contingency; General Jackson had to confront it as a present, actual, subsisting danger." Thirty Years' View, I., p. 732. "Exaltation was the temper in which he left oflSce. He was satisfied and triumphant. Not another president in the whole list ever went out of office in a satisfied frame of mind, much less with a feeling of having completed a certain career in triumph." Sumner's Andrew Jackson, p. 385. 493 494 Andrew Jackson If my humble efforts have in any degree contributed to preserve to you these blessings, I have been more than re- warded by the honors you have heaped upon me, and, above all, by the generous confidence with which you have supported me in every peril, and with which you have con- tinued to animate and cheer my path to the closing hour of my political life. The time has now come when advanced age and a broken frame warn me to retire from public con- cerns, but the recollection of the many favors you have bestowed upon me is engraven upon my heart, and I have felt that I could not part from your service without making this public acknowledgment of the gratitude I owe you. And if I use the occasion to offer to you the counsels of age and experience, you will, I trust, receive them with the same indulgent kindness which you have so often extended to me, and will at least see in them an earnest desire to perpetuate in this favored land the blessings of liberty and equal law. We have now lived almost fifty years under the Consti- tution framed by the sages and patriots of the Revolution. The conflicts in which the nations* of Europe were engaged during a great part of this period, the spirit in which they waged war against each other, and our intimate commer- cial connections with every part of the civilized world rendered it a time of much difficulty for the Government of the United States. We have had our seasons of peace and of war, with all the evils which precede or follow a state of hostility with powerful nations. We encountered these trials with our Constitution yet in its infancy, and under the disadvantages which a new and untried government must always feel when it is called upon to put forth its whole strength without the lights of experience to guide it or the weight of precedents to justify its measures. But we have passed triumphantly through all these difficulties. Our Constitution is no longer a doubtful experiment, and at the end of nearly half a century we find that it has pre- served unimpaired the liberties of the people, secured the rights of property, and that our country has improved and Farewell Address 495 is flourishing beyond any former example in the history of nations. In our domestic concerns there is everything to encourage us, and if you are true to yourselves nothing can impede your march to the highest point of national prosperity. The States which had so long been retarded in their im- provement by the Indian tribes residing in the midst of them are at length relieved from the evil, and this unhappy race — the original dwellers in our land — are now placed in a situation where we may well hope that they will share in the blessings of civilization and be saved from that degrada- tion and destruction to which they were rapidly hastening while they remained in the States; and while the safety and comfort of our own citizens have been greatly promoted by their removal, the philanthropist will rejoice that the rem- nant of that ill-fated race has been at length placed beyond the reach of injury or oppression, and that the paternal care of the General Government will hereafter watch over them and protect them. If we turn to our relations with foreign powers, we find our condition equally gratifying. Actuated by the sincere desire to do justice to every nation and to preserve the blessings of peace, our intercourse with them has been con- ducted on the part of this Government in the spirit of frank- ness ; and I take pleasure in saying that it has generally been met in a corresponding temper. Difificulties of old stand- ing have been surmounted by friendly discussion and the mutual desire to be just, and the claims of our citizens, which had been long withheld, have at length been acknowl- edged and adjusted and satisfactory arrangements made for their final payment; and with a limited, and I trust a temporary, exception, our relations with every foreign power are now of the most friendly character, our com- merce continually expanding, and our flag respected in every quarter of the world. These cheering and grateful prospects and these mul- tiplied favors we owe, under Providence, to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It is no longer a question 49^ Andrew Jackson whether this great country can remain happily united and flourish under our present form of government. Experi- ence, the unerring test of all human undertakings, has shown the wisdom and foresight of those who formed it, and has proved that in the union of these States there is a sure foundation for the brightest hopes of freedom and for the happiness of the people. At every hazard and by every sacrifice this Union must be preserved. The necessity of watching with jealous anxiety for the preservation of the Union was earnestly pressed upon his fellow-citizens by the Father of his Country in his Fare- well Address. He has there told us that " while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands ; " and he has cautioned us in the strongest terms against the formation of parties on geographical discriminations, as one of the means which might disturb our Union and to which de- signing men would be likely to resort. The lessons contained in this invaluable legacy of Wash- ington to his countrymen should be cherished in the heart of every citizen to the latest generation ; and perhaps at no period of time could they be more usefully remembered than at the present moment; for when we look upon the scenes that are passing around us and dwell upon the pages of his parting address, his paternal counsels would seem to be not merely the offspring of wisdom and foresight, but the voice of prophecy, foretelling events and warning us of the evil to come. Forty years have passed since this imperishable document was given to his countrymen. The Federal Con- stitution was then regarded by him as an experiment — and he so speaks of it in his Address — but an experiment upon the success of which the best hopes of his country depended ; and we all know that he was prepared to lay down his life, if necessary, to secure to it a full and a fair trial. The trial has been made. It has succeeded beyond the proudest hopes of those who framed it. Every quarter of this widely extended nation has felt its blessings and shared in the Farewell Address 497 general prosperity produced by its adoption. But amid tliis general prosperity and splendid success the dangers of which he warned us are becoming every day more evident, and the signs of evil are sufficiently apparent to awaken the deepest anxiety in the bosom of the patriot. We behold systematic efforts publicly made to sow the seeds of discord between different parts of the United States and to place party divisions directly upon geographical distinctions; to excite the South against the North and the North against the South, and to force into the controversy the most deli- cate and exciting topics — topics upon which it is impossible that a large portion of the Union can ever speak without strong emotion. Appeals, too, are constantly made to sec- tional interests in ord^r to influence the election of the Chief Magistrate, as if it were desired that he should favor a par- ticular quarter of the country instead of fulfilling the duties of his station with impartial justice to all ; and the possible dissolution of the Union has at length become an ordinary and familiar subject of discussion. Has the warning voice of Washington been forgotten, or have designs already been formed to sever the Union? Let it not be supposed that I impute to all of those who have taken an active part in these unwise and unprofitable discussions a want of patriotism or of public virtue. The honorable feeling of State pride and local attachments finds a place in the bosoms of the most enlightened and pure. But while such men are conscious of their own integrity and honesty of purpose, theyought never to forget that the citizens of other States are their political brethren, and that however mistaken they may be in their views, the great body of them are equally honest and upright with themselves. Mutual suspicions and reproaches may in time create mutual hostility, and art- ful and designing men will always be found who are ready to foment these fatal divisions and to inflame the natural jealousies of different sections of the country. The history of the world is full of such examples, and especially the history of republics. What have you to gain by division and dissension ? De- 49^ Andrew Jackson lude not yourselves with the behef that a breach once made may be afterwards repaired. If the Union is once severed, the hne of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and deter- mined by the sword. Neither should you deceive your- selves with the hope that the first line of separation would be the permanent one, and that nothing but harmony and concord would be found in the new associations formed upon the dissolution of this Union. Local interests would still be found there, and unchastened ambition. And if the recollection of common dangers, in which the people of these United States stood side by side against the common foe, the memory of victories won by their united valor, the prosperity and happiness they have enjoyed under the pres- ent Constitution, the proud name they bear as citizens of this great Republic — if all these recollections and proofs of common interest are not strong enough to bind us together as one people, what tie will hold united the new divisions of empire when these bonds have been broken and this Union dissevered? The first line of separation would not last for a single generation; new fragments would be torn off, new leaders would spring up, and this great and glorious Republic would soon be broken into a multitude of petty States, without commerce, without credit, jealous of one another, armed for mutual aggression, loaded with taxes to pay armies and leaders, seeking aid against each other from foreign powers, insulted and trampled upon by the nations of Europe, until, harassed with conflicts and humbled and debased in spirit, they would be ready to submit to the abso- lute dominion of any military adventurer and to surrender their liberty for the sake of repose. It is impossible to look on the consequences that would inevitably follow the de- struction of this Government and not feel indignant when we hear cold calculations about the value of the Union and have so constantly before us a line of conduct so well calcu- lated to weaken its ties. There is too much at stake to allow pride or passion to Farewell Address 499 influence your decision. Never for a moment believe that the great body of the citizens of any State or States can dehberately intend to do wrong. They may, under the in- fluence of temporary excitement or misguided opinions, commit mistakes; they may be misled for a time by the suggestions of self-interest ; but in a community so enlight- ened and patriotic as the people of the United States argu- ment will soon make them sensible of their errors, and when convinced they will be ready to repair them. If they have no higher or better motives to govern them, they will at least perceive that their own interest requires them to be just to others, as they hope to receive justice at their hands. But in order to maintain the Union unimpaired it is ab- solutely necessary that the laws passed by the constituted authorities should be faithfully executed in every part of the country, and that every good citizen should at all times stand ready to put down, with the combined force of the nation, every attempt at unlawful resistance, under what- ever pretext it may be made or whatever shape it may as- sume. Unconstitutional or oppressive laws may no doubt be passed by Congress, either from erroneous views or the want of due consideration; if they are within the reach of judicial authority, the remedy is easy and peaceful ; and if, from the character of the law, it is an abuse of power not within the control of the judiciary, then free discussion and calm appeals to reason and to the justice of the people will not fail to redress the wrong. But until the law shall be declared void by the courts or repealed by Congress no in- dividual or combination of individuals can be justified in forcibly resisting its execution. It is impossible that any government can continue to exist upon any other principles. It would cease to be a government and be unworthy of the name if it had not the power to enforce the execution of its own laws within its own sphere of action. It is true that cases may be imagined disclosing such a settled purpose of usurpation and oppression on the part of the Government as would justify an appeal to arms. These, however, are extreme cases, which we have no 500 Andrew Jackson reason to apprehend in a government where the power is in the hands of a patriotic people. And no citizen who loves his country would in any case whatever resort to forcible resistance unless he clearly saw that the time had come when a freeman should prefer death to submission; for if such a struggle is once begun, and the citizens of one section of the country arrayed in arms against those of another in doubtful conflict, let the battle result as it may, there will be an end of the Union and with it an end to the hopes of freedom. The victory of the injured would not secure to them the blessings of liberty ; it would avenge their wrongs, but they would themselves share in the common ruin. But the Constitution can not be maintained nor the Union preserved, in opposition to public feeling, by the mere exer- tion of the coercive powers confided to the General Govern- ment. The foundations must be laid in the affections of the people, in the security it gives to life, liberty, character, and property in every quarter of the country, and in the fraternal attachment which the citizens of the several States bear to one another as members of one political family, mutually contributing to promote the happiness of each other. Hence the citizens of every State should studiously avoid everything calculated to wound the sensibility or of- fend the just pride of the people of other States, and they should frown upon any proceedings within their own bor- ders likely to disturb the tranquillity of their political breth- ren in other portions of the Union. In a country so exten- sive as the United States, and with pursuits so varied, the internal regulations of the several States must frequently differ from one another in important particulars, and this difference is unavoidably increased by the varying prin- ciples upon which the American Colonies were originally planted — principles which had taken deep root in their social relations before the Revolution, and therefore of necessity influencing their policy since they became free and inde- pendent States. But each State has the unquestionable right to regulate its own internal concerns according to its own pleasure, and while it does not interfere with the rights Farewell Address 5°' of the people of other States or the rights of the Union, every State must be the sole judge of the measures proper to secure the safety of its citizens and promote their happi- ness; and all efforts on the part of people of other States to cast odium upon their institutions, and all measures cal- culated to disturb their rights of property or to put in jeop- ardy their peace and internal tranquillity, are in direct oppo- sition to the spirit in which the Union was formed, and must endanger its safety. Motives of philanthropy may be assigned for this unwarrantable interference, and weak men may persuade themselves for a moment that they are labor- ing in the cause of humanity and asserting the rights of the human race; but everyone, upon sober reflection, will see that nothing but mischief can come from these improper assaults upon the feelings and rights of others. Rest as- sured that the men found busy in this work of discord are not worthy of your confidence, and deserve your strongest reprobation. In the legislation of Congress also, and in every measure of the General Government, justice to every portion of the United States should be faithfully observed. No free gov- ernment can stand without virtue in the people and a lofty spirit of patriotism, and if the sordid feelings of mere selfishness shall usurp the place which ought to be filled by public spirit, the legislation of Congress will soon be con- verted into a scramble for personal and sectional advan- tages. Under our free institutions the citizens of every quarter of our country are capable of attaining a high de- gree of prosperity and happiness without seeking to profit themselves at the expense of others ; and every such attempt must in the end fail to succeed, for the people in every part of the United States are too enlightened not to understand their own rights and interests and to detect and defeat every effort to gain undue advantages over them ; and when such designs are discovered it naturally provokes resentments which can not always be easily allayed. Justice — full and ample justice — to every portion of the United States should be the ruling principle of every freeman, and should guide 5^2 Andrew Jackson the deliberations of every public body, whether it be State or national. It is well known that there have always been those amongst us who wish to enlarge the powers of the General Government, and experience would seem to indicate that there is a tendency on the part of this Government to over- step the boundaries marked out for it by the Constitution. Its legitimate authority is abundantly sufficient for all the purposes for which it was created, and its powers being expressly enumerated, there can be no justification for claiming anything beyond them. Every attempt to exer- cise power beyond these limits should be promptly and firmly opposed, for one evil example will lead to other measures still more mischievous; and if the principle of constructive powers or supposed advantages or temporary circumstances shall ever be permitted to justify the assump- tion of a power not given by the Constitution, the General Government will before long absorb all the powers of legis- lation, and you will have in effect but one consolidated government. From the extent of our country, its diversi- fied interests, different pursuits, and different habits, it is too obvious for argument that a single consolidated govern- ment would be wholly inadequate to watch over and protect its interests ; and every friend of our free institutions should be always prepared to maintain unimpaired and in full vigor the rights and sovereignty of the States and to confine the action of the General Government strictly to the sphere of its appropriate duties. There is, perhaps, no one of the powers conferred on the Federal Government so liable to abuse as the taxing power. The most productive and convenient sources of revenue were necessarily given to it, that it might be able to perform the important duties imposed upon it ; and the taxes which it lays upon commerce being concealed from the real payer in the price of the article, they do not so readily attract the attention of the people as smaller sums demanded from them directly by the taxgatherer. But the tax imposed on goods enhances by so much the price of the commodity to Farewell Address 5^3 the consumer, and as many of these duties are imposed on articles of necessity which are daily used by the great body of the people, the money raised by these imposts is drawn from their pockets. Congress has no right under the Con- stitution to take money from the people unless it is required to execute some one of the specific powers intrusted to the Government; and if they raise more than is necessary for such purposes, it is an abuse of the power of taxation, and unjust and oppressive. It may indeed happen that the reve- nue will sometimes exceed the amount anticipated when the taxes were laid. When, however, this ascertained, it is easy to reduce them, and in such a case it is unquestionably the duty of the Government to reduce them, for no circum- stances can justify it in assuming a power not given to it by the Constitution nor in taking away the money of the people when it is not needed for the legitimate wants of the Government. Plain as these principles appear to be, you will yet find there is a constant effort to induce the General Government to go beyond the limits of its taxing power and to impose unnecessary burdens upon the people. Many powerful in- terests are continually at work to procure heavy duties on commerce and to swell the revenue beyond the real necessi- ties of the public service, and the country has already felt the injurious effects of their combined influence. They succeeded in obtaining a tariff of duties bearing most op- pressively on the agricultural and laboring classes of society and producing a revenue that could not be usefully em- ployed within the range of the powers conferred upon Con- gress, and in order to fasten upon the people this unjust and unequal system of taxation extravagant schemes of internal improvement were got up in various quarters to squander the money and to purchase support. Thus one unconstitutional measure was intended to be upheld by another, and the abuse of the power of taxation was to be maintained by usurping the power of expending the money in internal improvements. You can not have for- gotten the severe and doubtful struggle through which 5°4 Andrew Jackson we passed when the executive department of the Gov- ernment by its veto, endeavored to arrest this prodigal scheme of injustice and to bring back the legislation of Congress to the boundaries prescribed by the Constitu- tion. The good sense and practical judgment of the people when the subject was brought before them sus- tained the course of the Executive, and this plan of uncon- stitutional expenditures for the purposes of corrupt influ- ence is, I trust, finally overthrown. The result of this decision has been felt in the rapid ex- tinguishment of the public debt and the large accumulation of a surplus in the Treasury, notwithstanding the tariff was reduced and is now very far below the amount origi- nally contemplated by its advocates. But, rely upon it, the design to collect an extravagant revenue and to burden you with taxes beyond the economical wants of the Government is not yet abandoned. The various interests which have combined together to impose a heavy tariff and to produce an overflowing Treasury are too strong and have too much at stake to surrender the contest. The corporations and wealthy individuals who are engaged in large manufactur- ing establishments desire a high tariff to increase their gains. Designing politicians will support it to conciliate their favor and to obtain the means of profuse expenditure for the pur- pose of purchasing influence in other quarters; and since the people have decided that the Federal Government can not be permitted to employ its income in internal improve- ments, efforts will be made to seduce and mislead the citi- zens of the several States by holding out to them the deceit- ful prospect of benefits to be derived from a surplus revenue collected by the General Government and annually divided among the States; and if, encouraged by these falla- cious hopes, the States should disregard the principles of economy which ought to characterize every republican gov- ernment, and should indulge in lavish expenditures exceed- ing their resources, they will before long find themselves oppressed with debts which they are unable to pay, and the temptation will become irresistible to support a high tariff Farewell Address 5^5 in order to obtain a surplus for distribution. Do not allow yourselves, my fellow-citizens, to be inisled on this subject. The Federal Government can not collect a surplus for such purposes without violating the principles of the Constitu- tion and assuming powers which have not been granted. It is, moreover, a system of injustice, and if persisted in will inevitably lead to corruption, and must end in ruin. The surplus revenue will be drawn from the pockets of the people — from the farmer, the mechanic, and the laboring classes of society; but who will receive it when distributed among the States, where it is to be disposed of by leading State politicians, who have friends to favor and political partisans to gratify? It will certainly not be returned to those who paid it and who have most need of it and are honestly entitled to it. There is but one safe rule, and that is to confine the General Government rigidly within the sphere of its appropriate duties. It has no power to raise a revenue or impose taxes except for the purposes enumer- ated in the Constitution, and if its income is found to ex- ceed these wants it should be forthwith reduced and the burden of the people so far lightened. In reviewing the conflicts which have taken place between different interests in the United States and the policy pur- sued since the adoption of our present form of Government, we find nothing that has produced such deep-seated evil as the course of legislation in relation to the currency. The Constitution of the United States unquestionably intended to secure to the people a circulating medium of gold and silver. But the establishment of a national bank by Con- gress, with the privilege of issuing paper money receivable in the payment of the public dues, and the unfortunate course of legislation in the several States upon the same subject, drove from general circulation the constitutional currency and substituted one of paper in its place. It was not easy for men engaged in the ordinary pursuits of business, whose attention had not been particularly drawn to the subject, to foresee all the consequences of a currency exclusively of paper, and we ought not on that 5°^ Andrew Jackson account to be surprised at the facility with which laws were obtained to carry into effect the paper system. Honest and even enlightened men are sometimes misled by the specious and plausible statements of the designing. But experience has now proved the mischiefs and dangers of a paper cur- rency, and it rests with you to determine whether the proper remedy shall be applied. The paper system being founded on public confidence and having of itself no intrinsic value, it is liable to great and sudden fluctuations, thereby rendering property insecure and the wages of labor unsteady and uncertain. The cor- porations which create the paper money can not be relied upon to keep the circulating medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when confidence is high, they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the influence of those who hope to profit by it to extend their issues of paper beyond the bounds of discretion and the reasonable demands of business; and when these issues have been pushed on from day to day, until public confidence is at length shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immediately withdraw the credits they have given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an unexpected and ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is felt by the whole community. The banks by this means save themselves, and the mischiev- ous consequences of their imprudence or cupidity are visited upon the public. Nor does the evil stop here. These ebbs and flows in the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit naturally engender a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits and character of the people. We have already seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in the public lands and various kinds of stock which within the last year or two seized upon such a multitude of our citizens and threatened to pervade all classes of society and to withdraw their attention from the sober pursuits of honest industry. It is not by encouraging this spirit that we shall best pre- serve public virtue and promote the true interests of our country; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as it now is, it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth Farewell Address S^7 without labor ; it will multiply the number of dependents on bank accommodations and bank favors; the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will become stronger and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way into your public councils and destroy at no distant day the purity of your Government. Some of the evils which arise from this system of paper press with peculiar hardship upon the class of society least able to bear it. A portion of this currency frequently becomes depreciated or worthless, and all of it is easily counterfeited in such a manner as to require peculiar skill and much experience to distinguish the counterfeit from the genuine note. These frauds are most generally perpetrated in the smaller notes, which are used in the daily transactions of ordinary busi- ness, and the losses occasioned by them are commonly thrown upon the laboring classes of society, whose situa- tion and pursuits put it out of their power to guard them- selves from these impositions, and whose daily wages are necessary for their subsistence. It is the duty of every gov- ernment so to regulate its currency as to protect this nu- merous class, as far as practicable, from the impositions of avarice and fraud. It is more especially the duty of the United States, where the Government is emphatically the Government of the people, and where this respectable por- tion of our citizens are so proudly distinguished from the laboring classes of all other nations by their independent spirit, their love of liberty, their intelligence, and their high tone of moral character. Their industry in peace is the source of our wealth and their bravery in war has covered us with glory; and the Government of the United States will but ill discharge its duties if it leaves them a prey to such dishonest impositions. Yet it is evident that their interests can not be effectually protected unless silver and gold are restored to circulation. These views alone of the paper currency are sufficient to call for immediate reform; but there is another considera- tion which should still more strongly press it upon your attention. 5o8 Andrew Jackson Recent events have proved that the paper-money system of this country may be used as an engine to undermine your free institutions, and that those who desire to engross all power in the hands of the few and to govern by corruption or force are aware of its power and prepared to employ it. Your banks now furnish your only circulating medium, and money is plenty or scarce according to the quantity of notes issued by them. While they have capitals not greatly dis- proportioned to each other, they are competitors in business, and no one of them can exercise dominion over the rest; and although in the present state of the currency these banks may and do operate injuriously upon the habits of business, the pecuniary concerns, and the moral tone of society, yet, from their number and dispersed situation, they can not combine for the purposes of political influence, and what- ever may be the dispositions of some of them their power of mischief must necessarily be confined to a narrow space and felt only in their immediate neighborhoods. But when the charter for the Bank of the United States was obtained from Congress it perfected the schemes of the paper system and gave to its advocates the position they have struggled to obtain from the commencement of the Federal Government to the present hour. The immense capital and peculiar privileges bestowed upon it enabled it to exercise despotic sway over the other banks in every part of the country. From its superior strength it could seri- ously injure, if not destroy, the business of any one of them which might incur its resentment; and it openly claimed for itself the power of regulating the currency throughout the United States. In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly possessed) the power to make money plenty or scarce at its pleasure, at any time and in any quar- ter of the Union, by controlling the issues of other banks and permitting an expansion or compelling a general contrac- tion of the circulating medium, according to its own will. The other banking institutions were sensible of its strength, and they soon generally became its obedient instruments, ready at all times to execute its mandates; and with the Farewell Address 509 banks necessarily went also that numerous class of persons in our commercial cities who depend altogether on bank credits for their solvency and means of business, and who are therefore obliged, for their own safety, to propitiate the favor of the money power by distinguished zeal and devo- tion in its service. The result of the ill-advised legislation which established this great monopoly was to concentrate the whole moneyed power of the Union, with its boundless means of corruption and its numerous dependents, under the direction and command of one acknowledged head, thus organizing this particular interest as one body and securing to it unity and concert of action throughout the United States, and enabling it to bring forward upon any occasion its entire and undivided strength to support or defeat any measure of the Government. In the hands of this formi- dable power, thus perfectly organized, was also placed un- limited dominion over the amount of the circulating medium, giving it the power to regulate the value of prop- erty and the fruits of labor in every quarter of the Union, and to bestow prosperity or bring ruin upon any city or section of the country as might best comport with its own interest or policy. We are not left to conjecture how the moneyed power, thus organized and with such a weapon in its hands, would be likely to use it. The distress and alarm which pervaded and agitated the whole country when the Bank of the United States waged war upon the people in order to com- pel them to submit to its demands can not yet be forgotten. The ruthless and unsparing temper with which whole cities and communities were oppressed, individuals impoverished and ruined, and a scene of cheerful prosperity suddenly changed into one of gloom and despondency ought to be indelibly impressed on the memory of the people of the United States. If such was its power in a time of peace, what would it not have been in a season of war, with an enemy at your doors? No nation but the freemen of the United States could have come out victorious from such a contest; yet, if you had not conquered, the Government 5^^ Andrew Jackson would have passed from the hands of the many to the hands of the few, and this organized money power from its secret conclave would have dictated the choice of your highest officers and compelled you to make peace or war. as best suited their own wishes. The forms of your Government might for a time have remained, but its living spirit would have departed from it. The distress and sufferings inflicted on the people by the bank are some of the fruits of that system of policy which is continually striving to enlarge the authority of the Fed- eral Government beyond the limits fixed by the Constitu- tion. The powers enumerated in that instrument do not confer on Congress the right to establish such a corporation as the Bank of the United States, and the evil consequences which followed may warn us of the danger of departing from the true rule of construction and of permitting tem- porary circumstances or the hope of better promoting the public welfare to influence in any degree our decisions upon the extent of the authority of the General Government. Let us abide by the Constitution as it is written, or amend it in the constitutional mode if it is found to be defective. The severe lessons of experience will, I doubt not, be sufficient to prevent Congress from again chartering such a monopoly, even if the Constitution did not present an in- superable objection to it. But you must remember, my fel- low-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to se- cure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be watch- ful in your States as well as in the Federal Government. The power which the moneyed interest can exercise, when concentrated under a single head and with our present sys- tem of currency, was sufficiently demonstrated in the strug- gle made by the Bank of the United States. Defeated in the General Government, the same class of intriguers and politicians will now resort to the States and endeavor to obtain there the same organization which they failed to per- petuate in the Union; and with specious and deceitful plans of public advantages and State interests and State pride Farewell Address 5^^ they will endeavor to establish in the different States one moneyed institution with overgrown capital and exclusive privileges sufficient to enable it to control the operations of the other banks. Such an institution will be pregnant with the same evils produced by the Bank of the United States, although its sphere of action is more confined, and in the State in which it is chartered the money power will be able to embody its whole strength and to move together with undivided force to accomplish any object it may wish to attain. You have already had abundant evidence of^ its power to inflict injury upon the agricultural, mechanical, and laboring classes of society, and over those whose en- gagements in trade or speculation render them dependent on bank facilities the dominion of the State monopoly will be absolute and their obedience unlimited. With such a bank and a paper currency the money power would in a few years govern the State and control its measures, and if a suffi- cient number of States can be induced to create such estab- lishments the time will soon come when it will again take the field against the United States and succeed in perfect- ing and perpetuating its organization by a charter from Congress. It is one of the serious evils of our present system of banking that it enables one class of society — and that by no means a numerous one — by its control over the currency, to act injuriously upon the interests of all the others and to exercise more than its just proportion of influence in politi- cal affairs. The agricultural, the mechanical, and the labor- ing classes have little or no share in the direction of the great moneyed corporations, and from their habits and the nature of their pursuits they are incapable of forming ex- tensive combinations to act together with united force. Such concert of action may sometimes be produced in a single city or in a small district of country by means of per- sonal communications with each other, but they have no regular or active correspondence with those who are en- gaged in similar pursuits in distant places ; they have but little patronage to give to the press, and exercise but a small 512 Andrew Jackson share of influence over it ; they have no crowd of dependents about them who hope to grow rich without labor by their countenance and favor, and who are therefore always ready to execute their wishes. The planter, the farmer, the me- chanic, and the laborer all know that their success depends upon their own industry and economy, and that they must not expect to become suddenly rich by the fruits of their toil. Yet these classes of society form the great body of the people of the United States ; they are the bone and sinew of the country — men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws, and who, moreover, hold the great mass of our national wealth, although it is distributed in moderate amounts among the millions of freemen who possess it. But with overwhelming numbers and wealth on their side they are in constant danger of losing their fair influence in the Government, and with difficulty maintain their just rights against the incessant efforts daily made to encroach upon them. The mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of cor- porations with exclusive privileges which they have suc- ceeded in obtaining in the different States, and which are employed altogether for their benefit; and unless you be- come more watchful in your States and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered away, and the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these cor- porations. The paper-money system and its natural associations — monopoly and exclusive privileges — have already struck their roots too deep in the soil, and it will require all your efforts to check its further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants. It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the Farewell Address 5^3 means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions. In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority is ulti- mately responsible. It is always in your power to see that the wishes of the people are carried into faithful execution, and their will, when once made known, must sooner or later be obeyed ; and while the people remain, as I trust they ever will, uncorrupted and incorruptible, and continue watchful and jealous of their rights, the Government is safe, and the cause of freedom will continue to triumph over all its enemies. But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support. So many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that you must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy. My humble efforts have not been spared during my administration of the Gov- ernment to restore the constitutional currency of gold and silver, and something, I trust, has been done toward the accomplishment of this most desirable object; but enough yet remains to require all your energy and perseverance. The power, however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and wall be applied if you determine upon it. While I am thus endeavoring to press upon your atten- tion the principles which I deem of vital importance in the domestic concerns of the country, I ought not to pass over without notice the important considerations which should govern your policy toward foreign powers. It is unques- tionably our true interest to cultivate the most friendly understanding with every nation and to avoid by every honorable means the calamities of war, and we shall best attain this object by frankness and sincerity in our foreign intercourse, by the prompt and faithful execution of treaties, and by justice and impartiality in our conduct to all. But no nation, however desirous of peace, can hope to es- cape occasional collisions with other powers, and the sound- 5H Andrew Jackson est dictates of policy require that we should place ourselves in a condition to assert our rights if a resort to force should ever become necessary. Our local situation, our long line of seacoast, indented by numerous bays, with deep rivers opening into the interior, as well as our extended and still increasing commerce, point to the Navy as our natural means of defense. It will in the end be found to be the cheapest and most effectual, and now is the time, in a season of peace and with an overflowing revenue, that we can year after year add to its strength without increasing the burdens of the people. It is your true policy, for your Navy will not only protect your rich and flourishing commerce in dis- tant seas, but will enable you to reach and annoy the enemy and will give to defense its greatest efficiency by meeting danger at a distance from home. It is impossible by any line of fortifications to guard every point from attack against a hostile force advancing from the ocean and select- ing its object, but they are indispensable to protect cities from bombardment, dockyards and naval arsenals from de- struction, to give shelter to merchant vessels in time of war and to single ships or weaker squadrons when pressed by superior force. Fortifications of this description can not be too soon completed and armed and placed in a condition of the most perfect preparation. The abundant means we now possess can not be applied in any manner more useful to the country, and when this is done and our naval force sufficiently strengthened and our militia armed we need not fear that any nation will wantonly insult us or needlessly provoke hostilities. We shall more certainly preserve peace when it is well understood that we are prepared for war. In presenting to you, my fellow-citizens, these parting counsels, I have brought before you the leading principles upon which I endeavored to administer the Government in the high office with which you twice honored me. Know- ing that the path of freedom is continually beset by enemies who often assume the disguise of friends, I have devoted the last hours of my public life to warn you of the dangers. The progress of the United States under our free and happy Farewell Address 5^5 institutions has surpassed the most sanguine hopes of the founders of the Repubhc. Our growth has been rapid be- yond all former example in numbers, in wealth, in knowl- edge, and all the useful arts which contribute to the com- forts and convenience of man, and from the earliest ages of history to the present day there never have been thirteen millions of people associated in one political body who en- joyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States, You have no longer any cause to fear dan- ger from abroad ; your strength and power are well known throughout the civilized world, as well as the high and gal- lant bearing of your sons. It is from within, among your- selves — from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power — that factions will be formed and liberty endangered. It is against such de- signs, whatever disguise the actors may assume, that you have especially to g^iard yourselves. You have the highest of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered on this favored land blessings without number, and has chosen you as the guardians of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the human race. May He who holds in His hands the destinies of nations make you worthy of the favors He has bestowed and enable you, with pure hearts and pure hands and sleepless vigilance, to guard and defend to the end of time the great charge He has committed to your keeping. My own race is nearly run; advanced age and failing health warn me that before long I must pass beyond the reach of human events and cease to feel the vicissitudes of human affairs. I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of liberty and that He has given me a heart to love my country with the affection of a son. And filled with gratitude for your constant and unwavering kindness, I bid you a last and affectionate farewell. Bibliography. I. Documentary. There is no complete collection of Jackson's writings ; his State Papers form part of Volumes II and III of Richard- son's Messages and Papers of the Presidents. There are about fifty Jackson letters in the Library of the Pennsyl- vania Historical Society, Philadelphia; a larger number in the Library of Congress. The Congressional Debates, 1825-1837; Benton's Abridgment of Debates in Congress, and the Documents (House and Senate, XlXth-XXVth Congresses, see Mc- Kee's Indexes), contain the official speech and comment bearing directly on Jackson's administrations. Benton is careful to include all that is essentially defensive of Jackson. The great decisions of the Supreme Court during Jackson's administrations are reported by Peters, i 828-1 842. Of a documentary nature is much of the writings (speeches) of Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Benton, during the Jackson period ; Benton's Thirty Years' Viezu contains excerpts from lesser men who attacked or defended Jackson. II. Biographical. William Graham Sumner's Andrew Jackson, in the American Statesman Series, is an admirable biography and contains an ample bibliography of writings down to 1822; James Parton's Life of Jackson, 3 Vols., with bibliog- raphy; Joseph M. Rogers's Thomas H. Benton, in the American Crisis Biographies, and the same author's The True Henry Clay, contain much about Jackson. See also the biographical list for Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and Monroe of the present series. No public man of his time was more viciously attacked or more ardently defended than Jackson. III. Historical. For the general history of the country during Jackson's public career see Schouler's History of the United States, S17 5i8 Andrew Jackson III and IV; Von Holst's Constitutional History of the United States, 1828-1846; McMasters's History of the People of the United States, V and VI ; Thorpe's Consti- tutional History of the United States, II ; Thorpe's Con- stitutional History of the American People, I, 61, 137, 232, 233; R. T, Stevenson's The Growth of the Nation, 1809- 1837, chapters x-xiv; Thorpe's Civil War: the National View, chapters i, ii, iii; Alexander Johnston's critical papers on American history during the Jackson period, in Lalor's Cyclopccdia; and the bibhography for Jackson in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, VII, 348-349. Of special value is William McDonald's Jacksonian Democracy. For the history of the political issues of the time, see the bibliography already given in the volumes of the present series devoted to Monroe, Clay, Webster, and Calhoun: e. g., Tariff, Nullification, the Bank, etc. George Tucker's History of the United States, IV, chapter xxvi; R. McK. Ormsby's Whig Party, chapters xvii, xviii; H. A. Wise's Seven Decades; Martin Van Buren's Inquiry into Political Parties; Amos Kendall's Autobiography; Josiah Quincy's Figures of the Past; W. L. Royall's Andrew Jackson and the Bonk ; Samuel Ty- ler's Memoir of Roger B. Taney ; A. S. Bolles's Financial History of the United States, II ; Joseph Story's Com- mentaries, Sees. 1374-1399; J. A. Hamilton's Reminis- cences, chapters vi-viii ; D. F. Houston's Critical Study of Nullification {Harvard Historical Studies, III) ; A. H. Stephens's Constitutional Viezv of the War Betzveen the States; J. D. Goss's History of Tariff Administration {Co- lumbia College Studies, I) ; F. W. Taussig's History of the Tariff; Taussig's State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff; Goddard's Bank of the United States; W. M. Gouge's Short History of Money and Banking; Hildreth's Banks, Banking, and Paper Currency; E. G. Bourne's Surplus Revenue of 18 ^y; W. G. Sumner's American Currency; E. R. Johnson's River and Harbor Bills {Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. II, 782) ; E. C. Mason's Veto Power; S. Sato's Land Question {J. H. U. Studies, IV, Nos. 7-9) ; Van Santvoord's Chief Justices; Sargent's Public Men and Events; J. L. Bishop's Bibliography 5 ^ 9 History of American Manufactures; G. T. Curtis's James Buchanan; C. F.Dunbar's Laivs Relating to Finance; John Quincy Adams's Memoirs; Hugh McCullough's Men and Measures of Half a Century; S. G. Goodrich's Recollections of a Lifetime; A. M. McLaughlin's Lezvis Cass; Seba Smith's Letters of Major Jack Downing; E. M, Shephard's Martin Van Buren ; A. D. Morse's Politi- cal Influence of Andreiv Jackson (Political Science Quar- terly, I, 153-162) ; J. B. Hammond's History of Political Parties in the State of Nezv York, 1 789-1840, 2 Vols.; Greeley's American Conflict, I. For an extended bibliography of the Jackson period see Selected Bibliography and Guide, Part HI, by Francis N. Thorpe, Barrie & Sons, Philadelphia, 1908. Index Abolition. See Slavery. Adams, John, French criticisms, 414. Adrianople, Treaty of, 88. Agriculture, unaffected by tariff, 45 ; in relation to commerce and man- ufacture, 47 ; effects of tariff" on agricultural products, 116; condi- tions, 133 ; advantageous effects of Canadian trade on, 136; pros- perity in South Carolina, 221 ; general prosperous conditions, 282, 361, 400; power of Congress over French agricultural interests, 373 ; treaty stipulations provid- ing aid for Indians, 385 ; policies for general benefit, 419 ; effects of excessive tariff upon, 503. Alabama, attempt of Indians to maintain independent government in. 57-58 ; removal of Indians, no, 112, 147; Indian affairs, 114, 131; district courts, 152, 197; banking in, 160; payment on pub- lic lands, 316; indemnification for confiscated property, 479 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribu- tion of surplus revenue, 486. Algiers, removal of U. S. salaried consul, 364. Aliens, disqualifications of, 167. Amendment to Constitution. See Constitution. American Quarterly Reviezv, arti- cle on United States Bank, zyj,- 274. Annuities paid to Indians, 434. Anti-nullification proclamation. See Nullification. , Anti-slavery movement. See Slav- ery. Antwerp, bombardment of, spolia- tion claims, 452. Appointment, powers of, under the Constitution, 339, 340 ; president's powers of, 342 ; by president for protection of public property, 343 ; by president, of officer in custody of public money, 344. Sec also Removal. Appropriation, for pensions, 56 ; right of, 69-71 ; for external im- provements, increase in, 74 ; pro- posed constitutional amendment, y7, 79 ; connection with tariff, 80 ; effect on public debt, 81 ; and manufacture, 81 ; direct, 95 ; for internal improvements, 95, 97, 98, 393-396, 464-465 ; objection to lo- cal, 100 ; need for Congress to ab- stain from unnecessary, 296 ; powers of Congress, 318; for in- ternal improvements, from pro- ceeds of public lands, 319; dispo- sition of revenue for, 376 ; by act of Congress, necessary for pay- ment of claims of Bank of the United States, 380 ; by Congress, estimated (7th annual message) 418; for fortifications, failure to pass bill, 430 ; for navy, recom- mended to prepare for French hostility, 449 ; in relation to taxa- tion, 462-463 ; for fortifications on seaboard, 479. Arbitration for South Carolina dif- ficulties, 213. Arbitration of boundary claims. See Boundaries. Archives of Florida taken by Spain, 180, 362, 402. Argentine Republic, U. S. claims in, 292-293 ; expected representation in U. S., 366 ; minister to U. S., 404. Arkansas, Mexican boundary dis- pute, 92 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Armored vessels. See Vessels. Army, condition of, 54-55, 119, 300, 384; organization of, 194; discon- tinuance of extra allowances, 428 ; services, 429 ; duties, 430- 431; need for enlargement, 478; revision of pay suggested, 480. Arsenals, care of, 119; equipment of troops in public, in South Car- olina, 208. Arrest, provisions for, in South Carolina, 209. Articles of Confederation, Indian aft'airs under, 127-128; defects of government under, 2^7 ; defini- S»i 522 Index tion of the Union under, 237 ; amendment as to land grants, 306 ; Maryland witholds consent to, 307 ; not acceptable to States, 308; resolutions of Congress on ratification of, 309 ; signed by Maryland, 310. Artillery, marine corps to be merged in, 61. Asia, commerce with, 182. Atkinson, Gen., leads troops against Indians, 194. Attorney-General, duties and stand- ing of, 51-52; a cabinet officer, 82; extension of duties, 121-122; opinions on claims of Bank of the United States cited, 381. Austria, relations with U. S., 39, 361, 402, 452; treaty with U. S., 93, 181 ; commerce with, 142. Bahamas, erection of light-houses on, 283. Balearic islands, duties on Ameri- can vessels in ports, 287. Bank of the United States, refusal to recharter, 12; paper on, 14; nullification speeches, 21 ; tariff bill speech in House, 24 ; Jack- son's attack on, _ 35; govern- ment debt, 48 ; expiration of char- ter, 64, 508-510; question of re- charter of, 82, 123-124,262; in re- lation to State banks, 124; Jack- son's 3d annual message, 133; veto of bill to recharter, 154-176; 4th annual message, 177; surren- der of stock certificates, 189; im- peachments on character, 190; re- moval of public deposits, 261, 265, 348, 381 ; asks for new charter, 263 ; substitutes for, 264 ; to be abolished, 266 ; need for Congress to plan substitute, 267 ; violation of charter, 270 ; support of press, 272 ; administration, 273, 277, 278 ; State banks as substitutes for, 278, 383 ; expenditures, 274, 275, 276, 277 ; 5th annual message, 282 ; French payments, 284 ; attempt to influence elections, 297-298, 350 ; influence on press, 298 ; with- drawal of charter, 299 ; dismissal of Secretary of Treasury, 339 ; placing of public moneys in, 345 ; sanction of president for transfer of public deposits from, 347 ; res- olutions of Maine on removal of public deposits from, 351-352; resolutions of New Jersey, 352- 354; resolutions of Ohio, 354- 355 ; results of administrative power independent of president, 356; Jackson's 6th annual mes- sage, 361 ; postponement of pay- ment of national debt, 378 ; re- duced finances, 379 ; retains divi- dends, 379-380; recommendation for suspension of charter, 382 ; 7th annual message, 399 ; debt of government to, owing to non-pay- ment of French claims, 408 ; re- ceipt of bills in payment of pub- lic revenue should be discontin- ued by Congress, 421-422; antici- pated benefits on establishment, 422-425 ; attitude of the executive against, 426-427 ; 8th annual mes- sage, 451 ; evil effects, 469 ; advo- cates express distrust of State banks, 472 ; failure to make pay- ment on account of stock held by government, 473 ; expiration of charter, 473-474 ; probable at- tempts to re-establish itself, 511. Banks and banking, payments on public debt, 48 ; proposition for establishment of national bank, 64, 466-467 ; control should not be subject to political power, 280; reform of banking systems, 383- 422 ; efl'ects of disposition of sur- plus revenue in banks, 459 ; ex- cessive issues of banks, 467, 468; legislation as to discontinuance of small notes, 469 ; inflated cred- its in books of western banks, 470-471 ; extension of credits in relation to sales of public lands, 470-471 ; legislation as to deposit banks, 475 ; effects of Bank of the United States and paper currency on, 508-510. See also, Bank of the United States ; State banks. Barbary Powers, relations with U. S., 40, 364, 404, 455. Barton, , U. S. minister to France, recalled to U. S., 447. Beaufort (S. C), port of entry, 223. jium, treaty between U. S. and, 290, 363-364 ; U. S. relations with, 399, 403-404 ; spoliation claims, 452. Benton, T. H., "Thirty years' view" cited, 16, 35, 66, 154, 200, 261, 325, 493. Bills of credit, emission by States forbidden, 466. Blair, Gen., 21. Black Sea, free navigation, 39 ; American vessels excluded from, 88; navigation of, 182. Bogota (South America), confer- ence at, 291. Bolivia, conditions, 183-184, 293. Boundaries, treaty of ^hent, 37 ; question of northeastern bound- Inde: 523 ary between England and U. S., 90, 136, 178-179, 282-283, 361, 399, 400-401, 452; between U.S. and Mexico, 90, 92, 144, 182, 292, 36s, 404, 454- Bounties, fishing. See Fishing bounties. Brazil, relations with U. S., 41, 144-145, 292, 364, 404, 452; con- ditions in, 183; U. S., representa- tion in, 366. Buenos Ayres, U. S. relations with, 14s, 183, 366. Buildings, officers in charge of, ap- pointed by president, 343. Calhoun, John C, Jackson's atti- tude toward, 13, 14 ; relations with Jackson, 21 ; resolutions, 22 ; speeches on nullification, 27-28 ; nullification leadership, 29. Call, Gov., war with the Seminoles, 476. Canada, commerce with, 136. Canals, appropriations for, 70 ; gov- ernment's responsibilities, 76, 79 ; Congress in relation to construc- tion of, 97 ; prospects of, in Cen- tral America, 144; applications for construction by government not presented, 395 ; government control through appropriations for, 465. See also, Louisville and Portland Canal. Canary Islands, duties on American vessels in ports, 287. Caravans, internal trade by means of, 182. Castle Pinckney, removal of Cus- tom-house from Charleston to, 223. Census, Jackson's ist annual mes- sage, 63 ; of 1830, distribution of surplus revenue (tabular statis- tics), 486. Central America, relations with, 144, 182, 292, 404; conditions in, 182; U. S., representation in, 366. Certificates unpaid by Bank of United States, 270. Charleston (S. C), plans for forti- fication of, 18, 23 ; conduct of British consul at, 28 ; prepara- tions for military defense, 202 ; defense of, 208 ; removal of cus- toms-house to Castle Pinckney, 22^ ; results of prevention of rev- enue laws, 235-236. Charters, renewal of bank, 165. See also, Bank of the United States. Cherokee Indians, 58 ; treaties with, 129, 480; in Georgia, 133, 147, 196; complications in delay in removal of, 385 ; unprepared to remove to western reservations, 433; 8th annual message, 451; peace maintained, 477. Chickasaw Indians, removal to res- ervations, 82, III, 112, 147. Chili, conditions in, 144, 183; U. S. treaty with, 292 ; U. S. relations with, 404. Chillicothe, transfer of public de- posits to state banks, 347. China, commerce with, 143. Choctaw Indians, 58 ; removal to western reservations, 82, iii, 147; condition of, 130. Cholera, at Havana, 289. Cincinnati (O.), transfer of public deposits to state banks, 347. Circuit courts, extension of, 62-63 5 lack of sufficient number, 152, 197 ; of U. S., in relation to State courts, 229 ; defect of judicial system through insufficiency of, 390. See also. Courts. Clay, Henry, and Jackson, 14 ; com- promise tariff bill, 29 ; speech in defense of Senate for its condem- nation of Jackson, 325 ; principles as to deposit of public lands dis- approved by Ohio, 354. Clearances, Governor of South Carolina asks for power to grant, 208. Cocoa, forbidden cargo to American vessels, 85 ; reduction of duty on, 74. Coffee, duty on, 47, 74 ; forbidden cargo for American vessels, 85. Colombia, Republic of, changes in, 182 ; U. S., relations with, 291 ; tariff concessions, 144; probable reunion of New Granada, Ven- ezuela and Ecuador, 365. Colonial trade, English. See Eng- land. Columbia (S. C), Ordinance of Nullification passed, 200-201 ; leg- islature assemble at 207 ; con- vention of November (1832), 209, 210. Commerce with France, 37-38, 138- 139; with Spain, 38; with Aus- tria, 39, 93 ; effect of opening of Black Sea, 39 ; protection of Pacific, 40 ; with Peru, 41 ; condi- tions of, 45-46, 136, 177; protec- tion by warships, 60 ; at time of 2d annual message, 82 ; with England, 84-85 ; Danish indem- nity for spoliations upon U. S., 89-90; with Mexico, 90, 144; for- eign, 93, 134, 142-145, 362; in- ternal improvements attendant ,?^^ 524 Index on, 94-95 ; impetus to, by internal improvements, 104; effects of tar- iff on, 115; protection of, 119, 141; with the Indians, 125-126; with the Orient, 133, 182; pros- perity, 178, 282, 400, 452, 495; with Russia, 181 ; treaty with Russia, 286 ; 403 ; effects of treaty with Turkey in, 181 ; with Turkey, 364 ; effects of strug- gle in Mexico, 182; effect of South American conditions on, 183 ; beneficial effects in fi- nances, 184; navy inadequate to protection of, 196, 396, 436; of South Carolina to be free from federal government's interven- tion, 2g6, 233 ; tariff on, declared unconstitutional, 232 ; internal, in relation to banking, 279 ; treaties with Muscat and Siam, 455 ; with Cuba and Puerto Rico, 288 ; U. S. and Belgium, 290 ; with Island of St. Croix, 290 ; relation of consular service to, 293 ; treaty between Belgium and U. S., 363- 364 ; between U. S. and Ven- ezuela, importance of, 365 ; French aggressions upon Ameri- can, 366 ; tariff negotiations between U. S. and France, 368, 369 ; improvements in harbors, etc., entailed by increase in, 397 ; U. S. with Portugal, 401 ; with Cuba, 402 ; with Holland and Bel- gium, 403-404 ; policies for gen- eral benefit, 419 ; interdiction of French as retaliatory measure, 448 ; with West Indies, protec- tion by armored vessels, 481. See also, Spoliation claims ; Tar- iff. Commissioner of General Land Of- fice, report of, cited, 119. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, measures for protection of Indi- ans, 480. Commissioners of Loans, offices not needed after extinction of public debt, 421. Committee of Ways and Means, safety of public deposits, 299. See also. Deposits, Public. Companies. See Corporations. Congress, knowledge of Jackson's nullification views, 17; sanction for nullification proclamation, 20 ; should prevent smuggling, 51 ; legislation on imprisonment for debt, 52 ; legislation on punish- ment for fraud, 53 ; act to reduce and fix military establishment, 54 ; opens ports to British ves- sels, 87 ; and internal improve- ments, 97, 105, 192, 393-396; and Indian affairs, 114, 126-128, 130, 385; support of navy, 119; atti- tude toward District of Columbia, 122, 166, 173; power to establish banks, 165, 166, 168; exclusive right to declare war, 130-131 ; powers of, in relation to monopo- lies, 167; in relation to currency, 169-170; large appropriations re- sulting in increased expenditure, 184-185 ; notification as to viola- tion of revenue laws, 189; atti- tude toward South Carolina's op- position, 201 ; tariff legislation annulled by South Carolina, 204 ; South Carolina's aggressions on, 212; tariff legislation, 218; tariff legislation in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 362, 402 ; power toward proposing amendments, 213 ; leg- islative powers, 222 ; and nullifi- cation proclamation, 232, 235, 242, 243 ; relations to States, Ar- ticles of Confederation, 237 ; powers, 242, 243, 327 ; powers to raise revenue, 240, 241 ; limitation of power in calling conventions, 249 ; attitude toward repeal of revenue laws, 249 ; man- agement of Bank of the United States, 265, 267 ; relations with Bank of the United States, 421- 422, 473, 474-475, 510; legislation as to French payments, 283-284, 286 ; legislation as to duties on tonnage of Spanish ships, 287, 288 ; legislation as to revenue system, 295 ; should abstain from unnecessary appropriations, 296 ; on safety of public deposits, 299 ; provisions for public deposits, 344, 383, 426-428 ; instructions as to removal of public deposits, 352-355 ; and disposal of public lands, 307, 311, 312, 354; reduc- tion in price of public lands, 322 ; resolutions as to ratification of Articles of Confederation, 308- 309 ; urges States to cede to gov- ernment, 310 ; violation of origi- nal pledge as to State land pay- ments, 317; appropriation of U. S. moneys, 318; reductions in revenue by, causing surplus in Treasury, 319; local taxation should not be vested in, 321 ; powers of removal, 340, 34', 342; powers of appointment, 342, 344 ; relations to executive, 343 ; ap- propriations, 380, 387 ; and French spoliation claims, 373- 375. 376. 406-411. 413. 414; ex- ception to president's messages. Index S^S 414-415; provisions for increase of navy, 388 ; establishment of circuit courts, 390 ; without pow- er to construct roads within State limits under Constitution, 395 ; acts improving condition of army, 429 ; legislation for secur- ing use of railroads to Post Office department, 438 ; suppression of anti-slavery feeling, 439 ; con- stitutional amendment urged, 440, 442, 469 ; acknowledgment of in- dependence of Texas, 487, 489 ; not empowered to establish Bank of the United States, 510; Jour- nals: Maryland's objection to Articles of Confederation, 307 ; validity of legislation, 499 ; legis- lation as to compensation for vol- unteers, 478; of 1789, status of Secretary of Treasury, 342 ; dis- tribution of surplus revenue, see Revenue, Surplus. Connecticut, cessions of public lands, 311; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Constitution, amendment proposed with regard to appropriations, 77, 79, 80 ; amendment as to internal improvements, 193, 194; amend- ment proposed with regard to presidential elections, 42-44, 49, 107-110, 151, 304, 440, 484; amendment as to pension law, 55 ; amendment for disposition of surplus revenue, 68, 213, 465 ; provisions as to confederacies, 57 ; as to disposal of public lands, 311, 3^7; attitude of government toward internal improvements, 391-394; appropriations for in- ternal improvements, 396 ; Bank of the United States, 510; cus- tody of public money, 343, 344 ; provisions as to currency, 280, 469, 505 ; accumulation and dis- tribution of revenue, 241-244, 320; revenue laws, 238; right of delegates to Congress to raise revenue, 240 ; proposed legisla- tion for distribution of proceeds from public lands opposed to, 323 ; president charged with viola- tion of, 325, 326. 332, 334, 338, 356, 358 ; president's responsibilities under, 328-329 ; impeachment un- der, 332-337 ; powers of president, 339, 347; of Senate, 329, 330; power to recognize new State, 489 ; powers of appointment, 339- 340, 341, 342, 344; powers of re- moval, 351 ; definition of powers, 327, 330 ; powers overstepped by government, 502 ; value of, 239, 496, 500 ; violated by nullification act, 235, 244; U. S. government under, 245 ; position of States un- der, 247, 248 ; equality of taxa- tion, 461. Consular system, revision recom- mended, 146, 293 ; appointment of consul to Buenos Ayres, 364, 366. Contraband of war, Spanish accu- sations of American trade in, 140. Convention of 1783, monetary pro- visions, 466. Convention of states, request for, by South Carolina, 250. Copyright, growth of laws, 167. Corporations, connection with in- ternal improvements, 73 ; govern- ment as stockholder in, 96, 97, 189 ; evil effects on financial con- ditions, 423-424 ; carriage of U. S. mails on railroads constructed by, 438 ; power of Congress to grant charters to, forbidden, 466 ; desire of high tariff by, 504 ; power over agricultural laboring and mechanical classes, 511. Corruption, possibilities of, in pres- idential elections, 43-44. See also, Elections. Cotton, forbidden cargo to Ameri- can vessels, 85 ; reductions on, 116, 138; French tariff on Ameri- can, 369. Courts of law, of U. S., in rela- tion to revenue laws, 226 ; of South Carolina, as opposed to U. S., 208; of U. S., jurisdiction, 224 ; judgment as to seizures, 225 ; redress for sufferers through disobedience to nullifi- cation ordinances, 229 ; powers under the Constitution, _ 327. See also, Circuit courts ; District courts ; State courts. Crawford, — Secretary of Treas- ury, 266. Credit system, prevention of ex- tension, 471. Creek Indians, 58 ; arrangements for removal, 385 ; condition (8th annual message), 451 ; war with, 475-477- Cuba, duties on American vessels in ports, 288, 362 ; regulation of U. S. commerce, 402. Cumberland road, construction of, 69-70 ; legislation on, 71 ; com- plication, in connection with, 79 ; appropriation for, 394. Currency. See Banks and Bank- ing ; Money. Customs. See Tariff. 526 Index Debt of Post Office department, pay- ment, 437- Debt, Public, reduction of, 48; so- cial and moral effects, 52 ; pay- ment, 74, Td, 98, 102, 107, 115, 118, 149, 177, 185, 190, 293, 294, 296, 376, 399. 418, 419, 504; pub- lic funds as payment, 99 ; effect of appropriation on, 81 ; state of, 168; relation to tariff, 188, 377; relation to revenue, 221, 465 ; public deposit to be asked for, 262 ; in relation to Bank of the United States, 269, 270 ; proceeds of public lands to go to pay- ment of, 313, 315; reduction in price of public lands on payment of, 2,22 ; postponement of payment through interference of the Bank of the United States, 378 ; need of Sinking Fund and Commis- sioners of Loans offices abolished by extinction of, 421. Debtors, Attorney-General's duties toward, 122; lenient policy to- ward, 150. Decatur, Commodore, recapture of Philadelphia, 64. Defense. See Fortifications. Delaware, taxation in relation to revenue, 461 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of sur- plus revenue, 486. Denmark, relations with U. S., 40, 139, 289-290, 362, 402, 452; in- demnity claims, 89-90, 135, 181. Deposits, Public, in state banks, 279, 383, 455-456; removal from Bank of United States, ztt, 282, 298, 299, 300, 345. 346, 381, 427, 472 ; not removed from Bank of United States by Secretary of Treasury, 339 ; president's sanc- tion for transfer from Bank of United States, 347, 348 ; arrange- ments to place them in safe insti- tutions by newly appointed Secre- tary of Treasury, 348 ; resolu- tions of Maine on removal from Bank of United States, 351-352; resolutions of New Jersey, 352- 354; resolutions of Ohio, 354- 355 ; legislation on transfer of, 455-456, 458, 459- 460, 461. Despotism in South Carolina, 2(). District courts, distribution of, 152; in relation to circuit courts, 197. See also, Circuit courts ; Courts of law. District of Columbia, government, 133; conditions, 151-152, 165; powers of Congress over, 166, 173; lack of attention from Con- gress, 122-123; laws for punish- ment of fraud, 197; pecuniary de- pression, 442 ; need of uniformity in laws, 484. Documents of French spoliation claims, 285. Dodge, Col., in action against the Indians, 384. Drayton, Col., 19, 25. Duty. See Tariff. East, The, financial conditions eased by reductions in tariff, 324. East Indies, commerce with, 143. Eastern States, embargo and non- intercourse law, 236. Ecuador, relations with U. S., 291 ; reunion with New Granada and Venezuela, 365 ; acknowledgment of independence by U. S., 490. Education, Indian, plans for, 434. Elections, reform, 33 ; of president and vice-president by direct popu- lar vote, 42-44, 82, 107-110, 151, 197. 304, 390-391, 440, 441, 451. 484 ; popular, basis of U. S. gov- ernment, 244 ; electoral vote for president (tabular statistics), 486 ; government's voice in State, 96 ; interference of Bank of the Uni- ted States in, 268, 297-298, 383 ; franchise in relation to bank con- trol, 281. Embargo and non-intercourse law in Eastern States, 236. Emigration of Indians, 59 ; public lands open to, 471. See also, Indians. Engineer Corps, enlargement to cor- respond with increasing duties, 429-430, 479 ; change in organiza- tion advised, 385. England, relations with U. S., 36- 37. 137-138, 179-180; commerce with, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 92 ; trade between colonies and U. S., 136; indemnity claims, 135 ; northeast- ern boundary question, 90, 136- 137, 269, 282-283, 361, 399, 400- 401, 452 ; negotiations for light- houses in Bahamas, 2S3. Excise law in Pennsylvania, 236. Executive Department, custody of public money, 344 ; Senate as- sumes right to interfere with, ex- ecutive power, 349. 350. Expenditures. See Finances. Expunging resolution, protest on the, 325-360. Farewell Address, Jackson's, 14, 493-515. Falkland Islands, hostilities from Buenos Ayres at, 145, 293. Federalist historians, place of, 11. Index 527 Finances conditions of, 48, 148-149, 177, 184, 293-295, 376-378, 41S- 428, 455-475 ; conditions with abolishment of Bank of the Uni- ted States, 266 ; public funds for public debt, 99 ; for internal im- provements, loi ; receipts in Treasury, 118-119; disposition of public funds, 177; protection of public moneys against Bank of the United States, 281 ; public revenue and expenditure, 282. See also, Bank of the United States ; Banks and banking ; Debt, Public ; Money ; Treasury. Fisheries, protection of Pacific, 40, 144; abuses in allowances for fishing bounties, 119; treaty with Chili, 183; Falkland Islands, 293. Fitch, Augustus, letter, 29. Florida archives captured by Spain, 180, 288-289, 362, 402 ; purchase of, 312, 315 ; war with Seminoles, 475-476 ; indemnification for con- fiscated property, 479. Flour, reduction in duties on, 144. Foreign Affairs Department. See State Department. Foreign relations, Jackson's foreign policy, 13 ; should receive more attention, 63 ; condition, Jackson's 1st annual message, 36-42; 2d an- nual message, 83-93 ! Srd annual message, 133-146; 4th annual message, 178-184; 5th annual message, 282-293 ; 6th annual message, 361-376; 7th annual message, 399-404 ; 8th annual message. 451-452; cordiality (farewell address), 495 ; policy (farewell address), 513. Foreign stockholders in Bank of the United States, 154, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 167. Forsythe, Maj., speaks in Senate, 21. Fortifications. Secretary of War's report cited, 119; provisions for, 186; at exposed points, 300; fail- ure to pass bill for appropriations for, 430 ; on seaboard, appropria- tions for, 479 ; increase needed, 514- Fox Indians, aggressions, 194, 301. France, Jackson's relations with, 13; relations with U. S., 36-38, 283, 366-376, 451; expressions of friendship, 83 ; spoliation claims, 82, 90-91, 133. 135. 138, 284-286, 361, 367-369. 372-375. 399. 405, 451 ; Bank of the United States purchaser of bill drawn on, 272 ; U. S. minister plenipotentiary to, 286 ; possibility of hostile rela- tions with, 375-376; seizure of public stock to meet payments on spoliation claims, 379 ; U. S. shows consideration toward, in not pressing claims, 406 ; negotia- tions with Congress concerning spoliation claims, 407-409, 410; legislation as to spoliation claims, 412, 413; recall of minister from Washington and other hostilities in French attitude, 411; criticism of president's message, 414-416; message on affairs with, 443-450 ; diplomatic relations resumed, 452 ; possession of Algiers affects American relations, 364 ; Ameri- can tariff on wines of, 368 ; tarifiE on American cotton, 369. Franking privilege, question of re- vision of laws relating to, 389. Fraud, on the Treasury, 53 ; law for punishment of, 197 ; in pen- sion claims, 386-387. Frontier warfare. See Indians. Fuel, duty on, 473. Funds, Public. See Finances. Gaines, Gen., occupation of Nacog- doches, 477. General Land Office. See Land Of- fice, General. Georgetown (S. C), port of en- try, 223. Georgia, encouragement to nullifi- cation, 23 ; attempt of Indians to maintain independent govern- ment in, 57-58; Indian lands in, 82, 114; jurisdiction over Indian lands, 126; Indian affairs, 131, 133. 195 ; letter from governor cited, 132; removal of Cherokee Indians, 147; land grants, 190, 312; profits from cession of land, 315; establishment of branch mints, 422 ; indemnification for confiscated property, 479 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribu- tion of surplus revenue, 486. Germany, commerce with, 142. Ghent, Treaty of, 37, 136. Gold (money), value of legislation regulating, 422 ; circulating me- dium for currency, 426, 468, 505, 513 ; superseded by paper for gen- eral currency, 467 ; increased cir- culation by measure requiring specie payments for public lands, 471. See also, Precious metals. Government, aid to prevent nullifi- cation, 18; four years limit to of- fice holding, 45 ; as stockholder in corporations, 95, 97; relations with Bank of the United States, 154-176, 273, 276; banking rela- 528 Index lions, 279 ; systematization of ex- penditures, 296 ; cession of pub- lic lands, 168, 307, 310, 314; pow- ers involved in questions of public lands, 190; control of internal improvements, 192-193; federal, in relation to State, loo-ioi, 106, 215-220, 258-260; in relation to Indian affairs, 125-132; powers of, 177; obligations of South Carolina to, 222 ; power over pub- lic moneys to be clearly defined, 428. Governor's powers in South Caro- lina, 210. Graham, J., revolutionary patriot, 21. Great Lakes, commerce, 136; im- provements in harbors, 397. Grundy, , resolutions, 22. Gulf of Florida, lighthouses, 283. Habeas Corpus act in South Caro- lina, 209. Hamilton, Gov., nullification speech, 29 ; message to South Carolina legislature, 211. Harbors, proposed bill for improve- ment, 93, 94 ; appropriations for, 394, 396 ; improvements defrayed by Congress, 396-397, 43 1- Harrison, , 21. Havana, cholera at, 289 ; orders to the agent of the U. S. at, in re- gard to Florida archives, 362. Hayne, Gov., inaugural address, 211. Herndon, William H., " Life of Lincoln " cited, 232. Highways, construction of, 49, 68. Holland, indemnity claims, 135, 452 ; Bank of United States nego- tiations with, 269 ; U. S. relations •with, 361, 399, 403. House of Representatives, connec- tion with presidential election, 43-44, 244-245, 441 ; veto message to, 66-81; obligations of, 163; committee of investigation in re- lation to Bank of United States legislation, 174; on safety of de- posits, 270-2^2, 299 ; accusatory power vested in, in cases of im- peachment, 327, 330, 331, 333, 335 ; practical impeachment of Pres. Jackson originated in Sen- ate instead of, 332 ; proceedings in case of charges against presi- dent, 334, 336 ; authority for president's power of removal, 341 ; negotiation for lighthouses in Bahamas, 283 ; Jackson's mes- sage to (1830), cited, 318; legis- lative power under the Constitu- tion, 327 ; insist on execution of French treaty of 1831, 449; reso- lution on inquiry as to Indian af- fairs, 477 ; Committee on Com- merce, questions of salaries re- ferred to, 484 ; resolution on ac- knowledgment of the independ- ence of Texas, 489. Illinois district court, 152, 197 ; In- dian occupancy, 114; militia fight Indians, 194; payment on public lands, 316; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Impeachment, powers of, under the Constitution, 330, 333-336 ; accu- satory power vested in House of Representatives, 327 ; Senate in relation to, 329, 332 ; rules for, 331- Importation. See Commerce ; Tar- iff. Imprisonment for debt, 52; for dis- obeying nullification ordinance, 209. .. Inaugural Address, Jackson's first, 31-34; second, 257-260. Indemnity, to Indians, 111-112; proposed, for sufferers in Indian hostilities, 479 ; for infringement of rights by foreign nations, 135 ; claims from Brazil, 145. See also, Spoliation claims. Indiana district courts, 152, 197; Indian occupancy, 114; Indians unprepared to remove to western reser\'ations, 433 ; payment on public lands, 316; tabular statis- tics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Indians, treatment of, 33 ; condi- tions, 56, 119, 125-132, 177, 282, 385 ; attempts at independence, 57-58; removal to reservations, 59, 82, 110-113, 115, 147-148, 186, 19s, 301, 385-386, 399, 433, 495; removal of, duties of army, 431 ; removal at expense of govern- ment, 434 ; in South Carolina, 127; compacts as to public lands, 191 ; relations with, 300-301 ; pay- ments for titles to land, 315 ; hostilities witb, 194, 384 ; ap- propriation for civilization of, 387 ; protective policies to- ward, 435 ; protection from de- predations in Texas, 453-454 *, proposed relief to sufferers from depredations by, 479 ; plans for improvement in western reserva- tions, 480. See also, Cherokee Indians ; Chickasaw Indians ; Choctaw Indians; Creek In- Index 529 dians ; Seminole Indians ; Sen- eca Indians. Infantry, Marine corps to be merged in, 6i. Inland navigation. See Navigation, Inland. Internal affairs, legislation of, 50. Internal improvements, appropria- tions for, 49, 320, 393-398 ; by national and state government, 82; effect on commerce, 104; ac- tion of federal government to- ward, 391-392 ; expenditures for, loi ; extension of, 133; in rela- tion to government's funds, 192- 193; improvident legislation, 97; in relation to excessive tariff, 503; ist inaugural address, 32-33 ; 4th annual message, 177; 6th an- nual message, 361 ; 7th annual message, 399 ; Jackson's veto message, 66-81 ; powers of Con- gress in relation to, 97 ; necessity of established attitude toward, 100 ; surplus revenue, 102 ; legis- lation, 107 ; proceeds from public lands as appropriations for, 319; unconstitutional powers of gov- ernment in appropriation of pub- lic revenue for, 464-465 ; people's decision that they shall not be fi- nanced by government, 504. Jackson, Andrew, popularity, 11; condemnation, 12; creed, preser- vation of the Union, 14 ; charac- ter, 16; emotions displayed in writings, 17; responsibility of president toward Indians, 125 ; personal attitude toward nullifi- cation, 232 ; support from Maine, in removal of public deposits, 351 ; support from New Jersey, 352-354 ; support from Ohio, 354 ; defense of personal character against arraignment by Senate, 358-360. Jefferson , Thomas, internal improve- ments in his administration, 69 ; on tariff, cited, 116. Jesup, Gen., operations against the Seminoles, 476. Judicial system of U. S., 62-63 ; Federal (4th annual message), 177; imperfection, 197; extension of, 152. See also. Circuit courts; Courts of law ; District courts. Kentucky, circuit courts in, 197 ; tabular statistics for proposed dis- tribution of surplus revenue, 486. Labor, prosperity, 133 ; effects of excessive bank issues, 468 ; price. in relation to price of products, 469 ; effects of excessive tariff, 503 ; of paper currency, 506. Land Office, General, required im- provements, 420-421. Lands, Public, sales of, 47, 119; sale to settlers, 191, 420, 471 ; sale in relation to extension of bank credits, 470 ; revenue from, 149. 293, 315, 316, 319, 460; price, 117, 185, 322, 324, 469; govern- ment's right of purchase, 168; taxation, 171 ; disposition of, 190, 314, 315; decrease of value in South Carolina, 251 ; grants from Congress, 305, 306 ; veto message, 305-324 ; waste lands to be used for common benefit of U. S., 309 ; cession of State claims, 311, 312; U. S. title to, 312; legislation as to State payments, 316-317; Con- gress oversteps authority in dis- posal of, 317-318; made a per- petual charge upon the Treasury by proposed legislation, 320 ; pro- portion of proceeds from sale of, to go to State, 322 ; should cease to be source of revenue, 323 ; of- ficers in charge of, appointed by president, 343 ; Ohio legislation on, 354-355; receipts in Treasury from, 455 ; payment to be made in specie, 470 ; open to emigra- tion, 471 ; speculations due to paper currency, 506 ; Indian title to, 114, 125; Indian titles to, ex- tinguished, 147-148; intrusion upon Indian lands, 131. Law, Patent. See Patents. Law of copyright. See Copyright. Leavenworth, Gen., death, 384. Legislation on nullification, 27 ; on tariff, 46-47, 218, 225-227 ; in South Carolina, with regard to tariff, 209, 229-230 ; of internal affairs, 50 ; punishment for fraud, 53. 197 _; on military affairs, 54; on pensions, 55-56 ; for appropri- ations for Cumberland Road, 70 ; on commerce, 85 ; presidential disapproval, 93 ; improvidence in relation to internal improvements, 97 ; for internal improvements, 105, 396; as to Indian lands, 114; on Indian affairs, 125, 385 ; re- forms in, necessary for District of Columbia, 123 ; recommenda- tion for revision of consular laws, 146 ; on coinage and cur- rency, 169-170, 422, 428, 469; on banking, 170, 475; as to petition- ing State and circuit courts, 229 ; in relation to Bank of the United States, 262, 351-355. 474-475; for 530 Index deposit of public money, 345, 455-456, 458, 459. 460; as to French claims, 283-284, 370-372, 375 ; as to duties on tonnage of Spanish ships, 287 ; as to revenue system, 295 ; as to public lands, 305-312; northwest ordinance (1787), 313; as to payment on State cessions of public land, 316; on president's powers of re- moval, 341 ; as to duties of Sec- retary of Treasury, 343 ; as to custody of public property, 344 ; revision of laws relating to frank- ing privilege, 389 ; for navigation improvements, 396-398 ; as to duties on Dutch and Belgian ship- ping, 403-404 ; in relation to Post Office, 438, 439, 483 ; revision of laws for District of Columbia, 442 ; proposed, as to compensa- tion for volunteers, 478 ; pro- posed in relation to General Land Office, 421. Leigh, mission of, 2T. Levy, Col., 21. Lighthouses, building of, 93, 94 ; for Bahamas and Gulf of Florida, 283 ; appropriations for, 393, 394 ; improvements defrayed by gov- ernment, 396-397. Lincoln, Abraham, Gettysburg ad- dress cited, 17; 2d inaugural ad- dress cited, 18. _ Liquor traffic, prohibited with Indi- ans, 435. Livingston, Edward, Anti-nullifi- cation proclamation, 232. Loans, extended by Bank of the United States, 262, 269 ; of State banks to be extended, 277 ; cor- rupt, of Bank of the United States, 378. See also Banks and banking. Louisiana, purchase of, 69, 312, 315 ; commercial provisions connected with session of, 139; district courts, 152, 197; payment on pub- lic lands, 316; abandonment of French claims with regard to treaty of cession, 368 ; establish- ment of branch mints, 422 ; tabu- lar statistics for proposed distri- bution of surplus revenue, 486. Louisville (Ky.), transfer of pub- lic deposits to State banks, 347. Louisville and Portland Canal Com- pany, subscription for stock in, 93. 97- McCulloch, McDuffie, - 29. Machinery for ship building, 60 ; ef- -, vs. Maryland, 170. nullification leader, fects of improvements on prices, 117. McLane, , U. S. relations with England, 86. Madison, James, message to Con- gress cited, 63 ; veto message cited, 66 ; internal improvements in his administration, 70 ; on tar- iff, cited, 116. Mails, U. S. See Post Office. Maine, connection with Northeast- ern boundary dispute, 137; sena- tor from, supports resolutions against president, 351 ; resolu- tions on removal of public depos- its from Bank of The United States, 351-352; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of sur- plus revenue, 486. Manufactures, conditions of, 45-46, 133; effects of tariff, 46; encour- agement of domestic, 80-81 ; low prices result of tariff, 116; domes- tic, 177; encouragement of do- mestic, 187; assertion that rev- enue laws are intended for pro- tection of, 238 ; power of Con- gress over French manufacturing interests, 373 ; prosperity, 7th an- nual message, 400 ; policies for general benefit, 419 ; result of dis- crimination as to tariff, 461 ; dan- ger in reduction of tariff, 465. Marine corps, disposition of, 61 ; ac- tive in operations against Semi- noles and Creeks, 475. Marine law, treaty between U. S. and Belgium, 364. Maryland, outgrown laws in, 123; District of Columbia partly sub- ject to laws of, 152; case of Mc- Culloch against, 170; in relation to Articles of Confederation, 306- 310; tabular statistics for pro- posed distribution of surplus rev- enue, 486. Mason, Col., 21. Massachusetts, land grants to gov- ernment, 190, 311; tabular statis- tics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike Road Com- pany, veto message, 66-8t ; sub- scription to, 97, 318, 319, 394; ex- ecutive approval withheld. 395. Mechanical arts, taught to Indians, 434- , , Mediterranean Sea, policy of keep- ing U. S. force in, 40. Merchandise, regulations for, 119; officers in charge of, appointed by president, 343- Merchants, indemnity for foreign Index 531 spoliation, i40-:4i ; of New York, United States Banks' af- fairs, 269. See also Spoliation claims. Messages to Congress, Jackson's ist annual, 34-65; 2d annual, 82-124; 3d annual, 133-153; 4th annual, 177-199; 5th annual, 282-304; 6th annual, 360-398 ; 7th annual, 399- 442; 8th annual, 451-486; veto — Maysville Turnpike road, 66-81 ; veto — public lands, 305-324 ; af- fairs with France, 443-450 ; on Texas and Mexico, 487-492 ; cita- tions, 21, 22; explanation of mes- sage of 1834 demanded by France, 413; French criticisms, 414, 415. Metals, precious, as basis for cur- rency, 469. See also Gold (mon- ey) ; Silver (money). Mexico, relations with U. S., 40-42 ; 143-144, 182, 365, 399, .451 ; treaty of commerce and navigation, 90 ; boundary dispute, 92-93, 292,454; question of territorial integrity, 404 ; struggle with Texas, 453- 454; U. S. troops in, 477-478; message on Texas and, 487-492 ; U. S. neutrality, 490. Michigan, tabular statistics for pro- posed distribution of surplus rev- enue, 486. Military Academy. Sec West Point. Military defense in South Carolina, 2J0, 213, 230, 250. Military education, satisfactory re- sults of system, 430. See also West Point Military Academy. Military posts, establishment in In- dian country, 480. Military supplies, officers in charge of, appointed by president, 343. Militia, importance in defense, 33 ; necessity for maintaining, 54 ; in- sufficient organization, 194-195, 431-432, 478; of Illinois, against Indians, 194; South Carolina to be revised, 208, 210; appropria- tion for arms and equipment, 387. Mint of the United States, work on gold coinage, 383 ; establishment of branches in Georgia, North Carolina and Louisiana, 422 ; na- tional bank, a substitute for, 467. See also Banks and banking; Money. Mississippi, Indian affairs, no, 114, 131. 147 ; district courts, 152, 197 ; banking, 160; payment on public lands, 316; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Missouri, Indian occupancy, 114; district courts, 152, 197 ; banking. 160; payment on public lands, 316; tabular statistics for pro- posed distribution of surplus rev- enue, 486. Mobile (Ala.) branch bank, 160. Molasses, forbidden cargo to Amer- ican vessels, 85. Money, Bank of the United States and state banks, 124; constitu- tional provisions for currency, 170, 466; presidential power over, 264; control should not be sub- ject to political power, 280 ; cus- tody of public, to be entrusted to executive department, 343 ; gold coinage sufficient to supply need of general paper currency, 383 ; plans for sound currency, 423- 424 ; president's 8th annual mes- sage, 451 ; currency system in re- lation to sales of public lands, 470-471. See also Banks and banking ; Deposits, Public ; Gold (money); Paper money; Silver (money). Monopoly, militates against system of sound currency, 423-424 ; re- sult of paper money system, 512, 513- Monroe, James, veto message cited, 66 ; action as to Cumberland Road bill, 71 ; on tariff, cited, 116. Morocco, treaty with, 364, 455. Muscat, commercial treaty with, 455- Nacogdoches (Mex.), U. S. troops in, 454, 477- . Naples, indemnity claims, 135, 140, 181 ; commercial intercourse with U. S., 452. - Natchez (Miss.), branch bank, 160. National bank, proposition for es- tablishment, 64. See also Bank of the United States ; Banks and banking. Navigation, of Black Sea, 39, 182; improvement of inland, 49, 68, 70 ; in colonial parts of (jreat Britain, 84-87 ; Mexican treaty, 90 ; with Austria, 93 ; protection of, by government, 93 ; improve- ment, 94, 134, 431 ; prosperous condition, 178; treaty with Rus- sia, 286 ; Spanish and American tonnage duties, 287 ; duties in Cuba and Puerto Rico on Ameri- can, 362 ; improvement of Wa- bash River, 391, 398; appropria- tions for improvements in, 393 ; appropriations for improvements as distinguished from appropria- tions for other internal improve- ments, 396 ; improvements de- 532 Index frayed by government, 396-397. See also Commerce ; Steam navigation. Navy, need for support, 54 ; condi- tion, 59-61, 119-120, 196-197, 302, 481 ; establishment of navy-yards, 60 ; application of surplus reven- ue to improvements in navy-yards, 418; protects Pacific fisheries and commerce, 144; provisions for in- crease, 388, 449, 481, 514; erec- tion of dry dock and construction of steam batteries, 388 ; discon- tinuance of extra allowances and substitution of fixed salaries, 428 ; inadequate to protection of com- merce, 436. Navy, Secretary of. See Secretary of Navy. Navy-board, substitution of bu- reaus, 61 ; responsibilities, 484. Netherlands, King of, settlement of Northeastern boundary, 137. Neutral ports, transhipments at, 86. Neutral rights, infringements, 135; observation of, 178. See also Commerce ; Navigation. New England, Indians in, 128. New Granada, relations with U. S., 183, 291, 404; reunion with Vene- zuela and Ecuador, 365 ; ac- knowledgment of independence by U. S., 490. New Hampshire, tabular statistics for proposed distribution of sur- plus revenue, 486. New Jersey, legislation on land grants, 306 ; resolution on remov- al of public deposits from Bank of the United States, 352-354; senators from, support resolutions against president, 351 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribu- tion of surplus revenue, 486. New York (City), Bank of the United States' negotiations, 269 ; payment of New York banks in London, 279 ; import duties, 459. New York (State), attitude toward tariff, 24; Indians in, 128; land grants to government, 190 ; legis- lation on land claims, 307, 308 ; cessions of public lands, 310; tab- ular statistics for proposed dis- tribution of surplus revenue, 486. Newfoundland, restrictions in U. S. commerce with, 84. Non-intercourse law in eastern States, embargo and, 236. North Carolina, Indian settlements in, 129; land grants to govern- ment, 190, 311 ; profits from ces- sion of land, 315 ; establishment of branch mints, 422 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribu- tion of surplus revenue, 486. North, The, growth of sectional feeling, 497. Northeastern boundary, arbitration, 90, 282-283, 361, 399, 400-401, 452 ; referred to the King of the Netherlands, 136-137; special message to Senate, 179-180. Northwest ordinance. See Ordi- nance of 1787. Nullification, attitude of Jackson, 12-13; letters on, 16-29; Ordi- nance of, 22, 27, 29, 200 ; Jack- son's message on Ordinance of, 200-231 ; Anti-nullification procla- mation, 14, 17, 232-256. Ohio, attitude toward tariff, 24 ; In- dians in, 114, 147, 433; circuit courts in, 197 ; payments on pub- lic lands, 316; senators from, sup- port resolutions against president, 351 ; resolutions on removal of public deposits from Bank of the United States, 354-355 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribu- tion of surplus revenue, 486. Oliver, Robert, letter on nullifica- tion to, 17. Ordinance of Nullification. See Nullification. Ordinance of 1787 passed by the Congress of the Confederation, 313. Ordnance corps, re-organization recommended, 479. See also Army. Oriental commerce. See Commerce. Pacific commerce. See Commerce. Pacific fisheries. See Fisheries. Panic of 1837, connection with act for removal of public deposits, 261. Paper money in state banks, 124; need for check of excessive issue, 422, 473 ; reform in system of currency, 426, 466, 468, 469, 506- 513 ; suppression of bank bills be- low $20.00, 426 ; in relation to public revenue, 464 ; supersedes gold as general currency, 467, 505 ; over issues in relation to sales of public land, 470. See also Banks and banking ; Money. Paris, minister plenipotentiary dis- patched to, 285-286. Parton, James, " Life of Jackson," cited, 30, 232. Patents, laws concerning, 151, 167. Penal laws, unsatisfactory, in Dis- trict of Columbia, 123. Penitentiary, completion of, 123. Index 533 Pennsylvania, attitude toward tariflF, 24 ; excise law, 236 ; act of incor- poration for Bank of the United States, 474 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Pennsylvania Historical Society, Poinsett collection, 17. Pensions, proposed revision of laws, 55 ; retention of, by Bank of the United States, 37S ; agents ap- pointed away from Bank of the United States, 381 ; exposures of frauds, 386. Peru, U. S. commercial relations with, 41, 183 ; disturbed condi- tions, 144; South American rela- tions, 293 ; U. S. cordial relations with, 404 ; U. S. representation in, 366. Philadelphia (frigate), recapture, 64. Pinckney, Castle, fortified, 18. Piracy, suppression of, 61 ; on American trading ships off Su- matra, 143, 184. Poinsett, Joel R., Jackson's letters to, 13 ; collection of letter on nullification, 17; in Mexico, 41- 42. Poll tax, application of, 171. Popular vote. See Election. Population, U. S. (1829), 35; in- crease, 82 ; increase affects sup- ply and demand, 116; of South Carolina, 20. Ports of entry and delivery, increase in, 397. See also Tariff. Portugal, U. S. relations, 39, 93, 363, 401 ; capture of American vessels, 141 ; spoliation claims, 135, 181, 289, 452; French rela- tions with, cited, 375. Post Office, conditions of depart- ment, 62, 302, 388-390, 481-482; mail improvements, 121, 134; es- tablishment of new mail routes, 302, 437 ; income from postage, 303 ; provision of auditor and treasurer urged, 390 ; circulation of anti-slavery opinions through mails, 399, 438, 439 ; finances, 437 ; use of railroads constructed by private corporations, 438 ; mail contracts with railroad compa- nies, 482 ; interchange of mails between New York and foreign ports, 482-483 ; establishment of fire-proof building, 483. Postmaster-General, report cited, 62, 119, 151, 197, 303, 349- 436, 438, 481. Precious metals, increased value, 116-117; importation, to re-estab- lish finances, 379. President, election by popular vote, 42-44, 82, 107-110, 151, 197, 244, 304, 390-391. 440, 441. 451. 484; electoral votes (tabular statistics), 486; obligations and powers, 163, 325-327, 339, 340, 347; au- thorized to circulate information as to Bank of the United States, 274, 27s ; liabilities to punishment, 328 ; powers of Senate in relation to action of, 329, 330 ; rules for impeachment, 330, 331 ; resolu- tions of Senate against, 331, 333- 336, 355-358; charges against, 337, 338; powers of appointment, 342-344; powers of removal, 341, 349 ; authority as to public depos- its, 345, 347, 348. President's Proclamation of Dec. 10, 1832, 200. Press, influence of Bank of the United States upon, 272, 27s, 281, 298, 350. Prices reduced, 116-117; variation in relation to bank issues, 468, 469. Prisoners, proposed legislation for safe-guarding, 229. Property, Public, custody of, func- tion of executive department, 343. Protection. See Tariff. Protest on expunging resolution, 325-360. Prussia, U. S. relations, 142, 361, 402, 452. Public debt. See Debt. Public. Public deposits. See Deposits, Pub- lic. Public lands. See Lands, Public. Public revenue. See Revenue, Pub- lic. Puerto Rico, duties levied against U. S. navigation, 288, 362. Railroads, construction, 134; car- riage of U. S. mails, 438, 482. Real estate. State control over, 167. Removal, powers of, under the Con- stitution, 340, 341 ; of Secretary of Treasury, 348. Replevin, act of, 209, 224, 226, 227. Representation, basis for distribu- tion of surplus revenue, 102, 103 ; popular, basis of government, 244- 245- Reprisals upon French property, proposed legislation for, 375. Reservations. See Indians ; Lands. Resolution, Expunging, protest on the, 325-360. Revenue, disposition of surplus, 49, 82, 92, 344, 345, 451, 458-459; distribution of surplus, among several States, 321, 486, 504-505; 534 Index surplus, to be returned to people, 319-320; disposition of surplus, for internal improvement, 67-68, 94; loss from long credits, 119; in relation to tariff and taxation, 74, 103, 185, 293, 296, 377, 462, 463-464, 465, 503 ; in relation to public lands, 119, 191, 315, 316, 319! 323, 471 ; from Post Office department, 121, 389, 437, 481 ; application of, to payment of debt, 48, 504 ; in relation to Bank of the United States, 422, 425 ; Senate's resolutions on president's power over, 325, 331, 337; cus- tody by State banks, 425-426 ; adaptation to expenditure, 186; increase, 47, 148-149; protection of, 50-51 ; reform advocated, 32 ; general conditions, 82, 133, 282, 418 ; limitations and decrease, 214, 319, 376, 419, 457, 464, 473; means to insure its collection, 228 ; right of Congress to raise, 240, 241. See also Finance. Revenue cutter service, organiza- tion, 119. Revenue laws, new bill on, 22-24, 26-27 ; determination of president to enforce, 29 ; opposition to, 188-189, 200; hostility in South Carolina, 202, 203, 211, 212, 214, 226 ; 250 ; over-ruled by Nullifica- tion ordinance, 242-244, 249 ; con- stitutionality, 235, 236, 238; changes made by Congress, 295 ; duties of Secretary of Treasury, 343; benefit to public, 419; dis- position of surplus revenue, 459- 461. Revolution, pension claims from, 386 ; issues of paper money dur- ing, 466. Rhode Island, legislation on land grants, 306 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Rice, duties on, 142, 289. Rivers, improvement, duties of army, 431- Road-building, appropriations for, 70, 394, 465 ; government's re- sponsibilities, 76, 79 ; applications for construction of roads by government not presented, 395 ; Congress in relation to, 97, 395 ; appropriation from proceeds of public lands, 319; duties of army, 431- Rockville Road Company, subscrip- tion to, 97. Russia, relations with U. S., 38, 89, 142, 286, 361, 452; U. S. com- merce with, 181 ; renewal of treaty with U. S. in relation to trade on northwest coast of America, 403. Sac Indians, hostilities, 194, 301. St. Croix, commerce with island of, 290. St. Lawrence River, commerce on, 136. St. Louis (Mo.), branch bank, 160. Salaries, fixed, for Navy Depart- ment, 428. See also Wages. Salt, duty on, 473. Scott, Gen., leads troops against In- dians, 194. Seamen, expenditure for sick, 119. Secession, Jackson's attitude to- ward, 21 ; State right to, 244, 245 ; unconstitutionality, 247, 248. See also Nullification. Secretary of Navy, report cited, 59, 120, 151, 196, 302, 349, 388, 436, 481. Secretary of South Carolina, copies of Ordinance of Nullification from, 208. Secretary of State, report cited, 151, 180, 293, 349, 445, 447 ; presi- dent's power of removal, 341. Secretary of Treasury, report cited, 184, 186, 293, 380, 418, 420, 422, 455. 473. 483 ; in relation to Bank of the United States, 159, 189, 265, 281, 297-300; instructions to collectors, 203, 223 ; to receive French payments, 283-284 ; ac- tion toward payment of public debt, 294 ; in relation to presi- dent, 338, 342, 349-351, 355; sta- tus, 343 ; position of treasurer subordinate to, 344 ; disposition of public moneys, 345-348 ; order as to payment for public lands, 470. Secretary of War, report cited, 54, 56, 119, 151, 194, 195. 300, 384, 429, 430, 475, 478 ; letter cited, 132; president's power of remov- al, 349 ; investigation of pension claims, 386, 387 ; revision of Army pay suggested, 480. Seminole Indians, arrangements for removal of, 385 ; Jackson's 8th annual message, 451 ; war with, 475-476. Senate rejects British commercial concessions, 85 ; treaty with Tur- key submitted to, 88 ; sanction to Danish treaty, 90; obligations of, 163; message on northeastern boundary, 179-180; resolutions on northeastern boundary, 361, 401; message to (1831), cited, 196; sanction for treaty with Russia, Index 535 286 ; ratification of treaty for re- moval of Indians, 301 ; resolutions against president, 325, 328-330, 337,338, 348, 349. 355; legislative power under the constitution, 327, 329 ; powers and rules of im- peachment, 330, 332-336 ; powers in relation to appointments, 339, 340, 342 ; authority for president's power of removal, 341 ; dangers in arraignment of president by, 356-358 ; act to improve naviga- tion of Wabash River returned to, 391 ; Journal, in relation to resolutions against president, 351 ; president's protest placed upon Journal, 360. Seneca Indians, money for, 56. Settlers on public lands, 191. See also Lands, Public. Sheriff, powers. 226 ; duties in re- lation to tariff, 227. Shipbuilding in navy-yards, 60. Shipping. See Commerce ; Naviga- tion. Ships of war. See Navy. Siam, commercial treaty with, 455. Sicily, claims for indemnity from, 141, 363, 401 ; U. S. relations with, 290. Silver (money) circulating medium for currency, 426, 468, 471, 505, 513. See also Precious metals. Sinking fund not needed after ex- tinction of public debt, 421. Slavery, judgment of Jackson by abolitionists, 12 ; circulation through mails of anti-slavery opinions, 399, 438, 439- . Smuggling, needed protection from, 50-51. South, Indian affairs in, 131 ; ex- citement due to circulation of anti-slavery opinions through the mails, 438, 439 ; growth of sec- tional feeling, 497. South America, relations with U. S., 40-41. 133. 291, 364-366, 399. 404-405, 452; affairs, 177, 183- 184. South Carolina, Jackson's attitude toward, 13; nullification, 17, 28, 232 ; weakness in defense, 20 ; fortification, 25-27 ; Indian af- fairs, 127, 131 ; land grants to government, 190, 311; message on Ordinance [of Nullification] and Proclamation of Gov. Hamil- ton, 200-231 ; convention at Co- lumbia, 201 ; organizes military resources, 202, 210; Nullification ordinance before legislature, 207 ; courts as opposed to U. S. courts, 208 ; obligations to Union, 222 ; collectors of tariff in, 223 ; pro- visional withdrawal from the Union, 233 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. See also Nullifica- tion, Ordinance of. Spain, relation with U. S., 36-38, 139-140, 180, 452; spoliation claims, 90-92, 135, 286, 287, 399, 401-402; duties on American ves- sels, 288 ; ratification of claims for payment of U. S. citizens, 362 ; U. S. neutrality, 490. Spanish America, Spanish relations with, 402 ; U. S. neutrality, 490. See also South America. Speculation, extension of bank cred- its, 470 ; in public lands due to paper currency, 506. Spoliation claims, on France, 133, 138, 284-286, 361, 367-369, 372- 375. 399. 405-409. 412-416, 443- 447, 451 ; foreign, 140, 181 ; on Sicily, 141, 363, 401 ; on Spain, 180, 286-287, 362, 399, 402; on Portugal, 289, 363, 401 ; on Brazil, 292. Stage coaches, improvements in, 121. State banks, privileges accorded, in Bank of the United States, 158; and banking laws, 170; support of credit by Secretary of Treasury, 265 ; destruction by Bank of the United States, 277 ; as substitute for Bank of the United States, 278, 279, 297, 345. 347. 382, 42s, 426, 455-456, 471-472; resources prevent financial distress, 298 ; president urges regulation by Congress of deposits in, 383 ; in relation to branch mints, 422 ; evils from bankruptcy, 423 ; 8th annual message, 451 ; excessive issues, 467. See also Banks and banking. State control of Indian affairs, 126- 132; of real estate, 167; of inter- nal improvements, 192-193 ; of railroads with relation to U. S. mails, 438. State courts, damages for seizures, 225 ; relation to circuit courts of U. S., 229 ; of South Carolina, 233- State Department to be supple- mented with home department, 63 ; legislation in regard to presi- dent's power of removal, 341, 342. See also Secretary of State. State government should control in- ternal affairs, 50 ; relation to fed- eral government, 106 ; jurisdic- tion over Indians, 114-115; right 53^ Ind ex to tax banking institutions, 159; source of payment for officers, 321 ; support from U. S. treasury, 320, 321 ; effects of irresponsible taxation, 463. State legislature, and internal im- provements, 105 ; should levy tax- ation for support of state gov- ernment, 321. States rights, 32, 100, 198; involved in question of public lands, 190, 192; as declared by South Caro- lina, 205-206 ; and obligations to the Union, 215-220; as exempli- fied in Nullification proclamation, 235 ; as to raising revenue, 241 ; under the constitution, 246, 247 ; preservation, 258-260. See also Secession. State taxation. See Taxation. State veto of Union laws, 236, 238- 239- Steam, use of, 134. Steam navigation, disasters, 303. Stocks and stock holding. Bank of the United States, 154-163, 167, 169, 422, 474 ; opposition to gov- ernment as stockholder in corpor- ations, 189 ; negotiations of Sec- retary of State, 294 ; proposed na- tional bank, 466-467. Subscriptions toward revenue for internal improvements, 95 ; to Louisville and Portland canal, 97 ; to Maysville and Rockville Road companies, 97. Sugar, forbidden cargo to Ameri- can vessels, 85. Sumatra, piracy committed on American ships at, 184. Sumner, Chas., " Andrew Jackson " cited, 154, 257, 493- . Supreme court and circuit courts, 63; decisions, 159, 165; decision on Bank of the United States, 163, 164; decisions on banking, 168, 170, 172; Ordinance of Nul- lification, 205 ; decision as to jurisdiction of courts, 224; veto of appeal to South Carolina, 233 ; judicial power under the Consti- tution, 327 ; Florida archives to be used in legal questions pending in, 363. See also Courts of law. Surplus revenue. See Revenue. Surveys, delay owing to insufficient Engineer Corps, 479 ; of the coast, 483, 484. Sweden, relations with, 139, 362, 402, 452; indemnity claims, 135. Taney, Roger B., Secretary of Treas- ury, supported by New Jersey in removal of public deposits, 353 ; Chief-Justice, comments on Anti- nullification proclamation, 232 ; attorney-general, 261. Tariff, agitation over bill, 24 ; Clay's compromise, 29 ; effects of, 45, 48, lis; duties upon foreign arti- cles, 46; adjustment, 47, 116,117- 118. 149, 187; connection with public debt, 76 ; connection with appropriations, 80 ; relation to surplus revenue, 103 ; objected to as unconstitutional, 115; reduc- tions, 27, 138, 142, 144, 295, 296, 324; conditions, 177; duties on tonnage, 1 80-1 Si ; revenue from, 1 84, 185, 293 ; in South Carolina, 201, 207, 209, 211-213, 22^-226, 251; regulations, 224, 228; offi- cers of the customs, 227 ; in for- eign goods, declared unconstitu- tional, 232 ; duties on Spanish and American shipping, 287, 288 ; on rice, 289 ; land system made dependent upon by proposed leg- islation, 320 ; public money, can- not be raised by, 343 ; in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 362 ; on French wines, 368; discrimination against France, 373-374; effects of public debt upon, 377 ; on Dutch and Belgian vessels and cargoes, 403- 404 ; modifications not recom- mended, 419; receipts in Treas- ury from customs, 455 ; payment of import duties in New York City, 459 ; anticipated deficiency in revenue from, 460 ; uni- formity under Constitution, 461 ; in relation to surplus revenue, 463-465 ; standardizing of weights and measures for Custom Houses, 483 ; excessive, 503. See also Revenue ; Taxation. Taxation, additional, 74 ; heaviness of, 75 ; for internal improvements, 102, 103; reduction in, 150, 419; in relation to banking, 154, 159, 160, 167, 170; State, 171-173, 460 ; Western population's con- tribution, 191 ; limitation, 214, 221 ; inequality, 239 ; local, should not be vested in national, 321 ; in relation to proceeds of public lands, 322 ; public money cannot be raised by, 343 ; for extinction of public debt, 377; in relation to disposition of surplus revenue, 458, 461, 486; constitutional pur- poses, 462 ; irresponsible levying power, 463 ; liability of govern- ment to disabuse power of, 502- 503. See also Poll tax. Tea, duty on, 47, 74. Tennessee, circuit courts in, 197; Ind ex 537 volunteers for army, 478 ; tabular statistics for proposed distribu- tion of surplus revenue, 4S6. Terceira, blockade of, 141, 181, 289. Texas, question of Mexico and (8th annual message), 451 ; and Mex- ico, message to Congress, 487- 492 ; Mexican struggle with, 453 ; new government, 455. Timber in navy-yards, 60. Tolls, exemptions from, in profiting by internal improvements, 95. Topographical Corps, reorganiza- tion, 430, 479. Trade. See Commerce. Trade, Illicit. See Smuggling. Treasurer, position created in 1789, subordinate to Secretary of Treasury, 344. Treasury balance in, 47-48, I49. 319, 321, 418, 455-457; debts to, 51; frauds against, 53, 386; in- crease of amount in, 74 ; to de- fray expenses for navigation pro- tection, 93; receipts in, 118, 293- 295 ; payment of public dues, 119 ; relations with Bank of the Unit- ed States, 124, 269, 270-272, 382; proceeds from government stock in corporations to go to, 189; payment of commissioners on Danish claims, 289 ; destruction of public building occupied by, 296; new building for, 297, 391; resources at time of Jackson's 6th annual message, 376 ; relation with Post Office, 390 ; improve- ments for navigation, harbors, etc., defrayed by, 397 ; Commis- sioners of Loans and Sinking Fund, 421; duties, 483-484; safe- ty of public moneys, 279 ; plans for collection of public funds, 266, 267 ; proceeds from public lands, 312, 314-316; public lands per- petual charge of, 320 ; president's power of removal, 341, 342; pub- lic money brought into only by law, 343 ; status, 342. 343 ; pay- ments of State officers by, 321 ; appropriation by Congress neces- sary for withdrawal of funds, 380 ; powers of Congress over de- posits in, 383. Treasury, Solicitor of, establishment of position recommended, 121. Treaties, powers of president, 327, 489 ; encouragement of foreign commerce, 452 ; need of prompt execution, 513; with Indians, 11 1, 129, 147, 301, 385; with Chero- kees, 480 ; with Mexico, on navi- gation and commerce, go, 143- 144; Mexican t.oundary, 182, 292, 365 ; protection of Mexican fron- tier, 453, 454, 477-478; with Chili, 183, 292; with Republic of Co- lombia, 182-183; with Morocco, 364, 455 ; with Muscat and Siam, 455 ; with Turkey, 181 ; with Bel- gium, 290, 363-364 ; with Austria, 93, 142, 181 ; Danish, on com- merce spoliations, 89-90 ; with France, 283-285, 367-372, 374. 405, 407-412, 417, 443, 444, 447, 449; for cession of Louisiana (French claims), 368; with Russia, 286, 403; Ghent, 136; Washington, 139; of 1783, with regard to northeastern boundary, 361. Tripoli, U. S. hostilities with, 64. Turkey, sympathy of U. S., 39 ; commerce with, 82. 88-89, 182; treaty with, 181 ; relations with, 143, 290. 364, 399, 404, 455. Turnpike Road Bill. See Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexing- ton Turnpike Road Company. Tyler, John, " Taney," cited, 232. U. S. courts. See Courts of law. Van Buren, Martin, successor to Jackson, 11 ; nullification views, 17- Venezuela, U. S. relations with, 291, 404 ; reunion with New Granada and Ecuador, 365 ; acknowledg- ment of independence by U. S., 490. Vermont, tabular statistics for pro- posed distribution of surplus rev- enue, 486. Vessels, British, to be used for com- merce with British colonies. 84 ; commercial restrictions on Amer- ican, 85 ; American ports open to British, 87 ; American, in Black Sea, 88 ; American, captured by Spain, 139; South Carolina, not to be disturbed by federal govern- ment, 206 ; captured American, 285, 367 ; duties on American and Spanish, 287 ; depredations on American, engaged in Falkland Island fisheries, 293 ; duties on Dutch and Belgian, 403-404 ; American, French hostilities upon, 406 ; French prohibited, 448; construction by navy, 481; armored, at West Indies, 481. Veto messages. See Messages. Veto. State. See State veto. Virginia, and nullification, 23, 27 ; outgrown laws in, 123; legisla- tion of Di'-trict of Columbia, 152; cession 01 put/i'- '"nds, igo, 307, 310-31 1, 315, 317; . nonstrance 538 Index (Articles of Confederation), log • carnage tax, 236; tabular statis- tics tor proposed distribution of surplus revenue, 486. Volunteer troops for South Caro- lina, 208, 210, 211. Von Hoist, on "The Reign of An- drew Jackson," II. gation, 391, 398. irrU.f-°^^^'''r' '^^' variation in relation to bank issues, 46S • effects of paper currency 'upon ,, 506. ^-^^ also Labor. War Department, order to Co- operations of, 194; appropria- tions for, 387; relations ya'^rmy amon'.'^K'4^°= peace maintained i»r ?"^ Cherokees. 477 mcm^'^o" ^'■°''''^'*^ ^y g^^e'-n- Washington, Geo,, on tariff, cited 116 French criticisms. 414- fare W I'- ^dd'-E'ss cited, 496 ^' W K fP^"i|h differences, 139 Webster, Daniel, and Jackson i. • reply to Calhoun, .7 ; speech fn defense of Senate for its con demnation of Jackson, 325 "' Weights and measures, standardiz- ing for custom-house use, 483, ^enue'^ol"^"''°" *° P^b'"'^ rev- ,, enue 191, 324. wik S^'/'^.^y- ^'' ^^otnnierce rrmor./' ^^',^5, 136; need of armored vessels for protection of commerce, 481 West Point Military Academy, 54 55, 431, 480. '' ^^' .'07'- " n"^'' ^'^P,°^^' '^y Virginia. 307. New York claims, 307 cles of r^T'f T '■"^^^•°" ^° Art': cies ot Confederation, 309 ; con- flicting claims trouble Congress. ^^^«.^ °''^'"3"" for sales of Z,^ ' ^'-- proceeds of sales to go to payment of public dek. 31, ; waste, common property of U S cle1-i:= Pt^'"^"*% t°. surveyors.' clerks etc. employed in selling Whit c '''•''' L^"ds, Public. White, Senator, cited, 154 Win/; ~r' ?P^^^'' '" House, 24. Wines, reduction of duties on, 138- from France, tariff, 368. ^ ' Woolen goods, cash duties on. 295 A i n \ 1 1