V X. . t
 
 SITY OF 
 LOS
 
 I-^A 
 
 fOth Congress, 
 2(f Session. 
 
 fDoc. No. 3.] 
 
 Ho. OF Reps. 
 
 Executive. 
 
 77 
 
 rKOU THS 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 TO BOTH BOUSES OF OOXTGBESS, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE SECOND SESSION 
 
 «? TBS 
 
 TWENTZETB CONGRESS. 
 
 DECKMBEUfi^ 1828. 
 Betd, and committed to the Committee of the Whole Hoiue on the state of the Union. 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 iruirrsD bt salib & aiATOV* 
 18S8.
 
 
 > • • -• " 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • • 
 
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 •• ••• • • ••• !•• • •
 
 [Doc. No. 2,] a 
 
 ^r< 
 
 
 mmn^ 
 
 ^iSil 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens of the Senate, 
 
 and of the house of representatives : 
 
 - If the enjoyment in pt'ofusion of the bounties of Providence forms a 
 suitable subject of mutual gratulatioii and grateful acknowledgment, we 
 arc admonished at this return of the season, when the Representatives of 
 the nation are assembled to deliberate upon their concerns, to offer up the 
 tribute of fervent and grateful hearts, for the never-failing mercies of Him 
 who ruleth over all. He has again favored us with healthful seasons and 
 abundant harvests. He has sustained us in peace with foreign countries, 
 and in tranquillity within our borders. He has preserved us in the quiet 
 and undisturbed possession of civil and religious liberty. He has crown- 
 ed the year witli his goodness, imposing on us no other conditioPiS than of 
 improving, for our own happiness, the blessings bestowed by liis hands ; 
 and in the fruition of all his favors, of devoting the faculties with which 
 we have been endowed by hini to his glory, and to our own temporal and 
 eternal welfare. 
 
 In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of the human 
 race, the changes which have occurred since the close of your last session 
 have generally tended to the preservation of peace, and to the cultivation 
 of harmony. Before your last separation, a war had unhappily been kin- 
 dled between the Empire of Russia, one of those with which our inter- 
 course has been no other than a constant excliangc of good offices, and 
 that of the Ottoman I'orte, a nation from whicli geographical distance, reli- 
 gious opinions, and maxims of government, on their part, little suited to 
 the formation of those bonds ot mutual benevolence which result from the 
 benefits of commerce, had ke|)t us in a state, jK-rhaps too niiicii prolonged, 
 of coldness and alienation. Tlie extensive, fertile, and jwpulous dominions 
 of the Sultan belong rather to the Asiatic, (ban tlie European division of the 
 human family. They enter but partially into the system of Eiu'ope : nor 
 have their wars with Russia and Austria, the European States upon which 
 they bordei-, for more than a ( entury jjast, distiiibed the pacific relations 
 of those States with the otlur Great Powers of Europe. Neither France, 
 nor Prussia, nor Great Britain has ever taken \n\vt in them ; nor is it to 
 be expected tliat lliey will at this time. The declaration of war by Rus- 
 sia has received the apj)r(>bati()ii or acquiescence of her allies, and wo may 
 indulge the hope that its progress and termination will be signalized by 
 the moderation and forbearance. uo.lcjiS^ Uijgm by the energy of tlie Empc- 
 
 »> ft) / ! t'^
 
 4 [Doc. No. 2.J 
 
 ror Nicholas; and that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral 
 agency in bchalt'of the suffering Greeks, as will secure to them ultimately 
 tlie triumph of humanity and of freedom. 
 
 The state of our particular relations witli France has scarcely varied 
 in the course of the present year. The commercial intercourse between 
 the two countries has continued to increase for the mutual benefit of both. 
 Tlje claims of indemnity to numbers of our fellow-citizens for depredations 
 upon their property, heretofore committed, during the Revolutionary Go- 
 vernments, remain unadjusted, and still form the subject of earnest repre- 
 sentation and remonstrance. Recent advices fi-om the Minister of the 
 United States at Paris encourage the expectation that the a^ipeal to the 
 justice of the French Government will ere long receive a favorable consi- 
 deration. 
 
 The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the decision of the 
 controversy with Great Britain, relating to the Northeastern Boundary of 
 the United States. By an agreement with the British Government, car- 
 rying into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent, 
 and the Convention of 29th September, 1827, his Majesty the King of 
 the Netherlands has, by common consent, been selected as the umpire be- 
 tween the parties. The proposal to him to accept the designation for the 
 performance of this friendly office will be made at an early day ; and the 
 United States, relying upon the justice of their cause, will cheerfully com- 
 mit the arbitrament of it to a Prince equally distinguished for the inde- 
 pendence of his spirit, his indefatigable assiduity to the duties of his sta- 
 tion, and his inflexible personal probity. 
 
 Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the serious 
 consideration of Congress, and the exercise of a conciliatory and forbear- 
 ing spirit in the policy of both Governments. The state of them has been 
 materially changed by the act of Congress passed at their last session, 
 in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports, and by acts 
 of more recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of the inter- 
 diction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain, and reciprocated 
 by tiie United States, has been, as was to be foreseen, only to substitute 
 different channels for an exchange of commodities indispensable to the 
 colonies, and profitable 1o a numerous class of our fellow-citizens. The 
 exports, the revenue, the navigation of the United States, have suffered 
 no diminution by our exclusion from direct access to the British Colonies. 
 The Colonies pay more dearly for the necessaries of life, which their Go- 
 vernment burdens with the charges of double voyages, freight, insurance, 
 and commission ; and the profits of our exports are somewhat impaired, 
 and more injuriously transferred from one portion of our citizens to ano- 
 ther. The resumption of this old and otherwise exploded system of co- 
 lonial exclusion, has not secured to the shipping interest of Great Britain 
 the relief which, at the expense of the distant colonies, and of the United 
 States, it was expected to afford. Other measures have been resorted to, 
 more pointedly bearing upon the navigation of the United States, and 
 which, unless modified by the construction given to the recent Acts of 
 Parliament, will he manifestly incompatible with the positive stipulations 
 of the commercial convention existing between the two countries. That 
 convention, however, may be terminated, with twelve month's notice, at 
 the option of either party. 
 
 A treaty of Amity, Navigation, and Commerce, between the United
 
 [Doc. No. 2.] 5 
 
 States and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and 
 Bohemia, has been prepared for signature by the Secretary of State, and 
 by the Baron de Lederer, intrusted with full powers of the Austrian Go- 
 vernment. Independently of the new and friendly relations which may 
 be thus commenced with one of the most eminent and powerful nations of 
 the earth, the occasion has been taken in it, as in other recent Treaties 
 concluded by the United States, to extend those principles of liberal inter- 
 course and of fair reciprocity whicii intertwine with the exchanges of 
 commerce the principles of justice, and the feelings of mutual benevo- 
 lence. This system, first proclaimed to the world in the first commercial 
 Treaty ever concluded by the United States, that of 6th February, 1778, 
 with France, has been invariably the cherished policy of our Union. It 
 is by treaties of commerce alone that it can be made ultimately to prevail 
 as the established system of all civilized nations. With this principle, 
 our fathers extended the hand of friendship to every nation of the globe, 
 and to this policy our country has ever since adhered — whatever of regu- 
 lation in our laws has ever been adopted unfavorable to the interest of any 
 foreign nation, has been essentially defensive and counteracting to similar 
 regulations of theirs operating against us. 
 
 Immediately after the close of the war of Independence, Commissioners 
 were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation, authorized to con- 
 clude treaties with every nation of Europe disposed to adopt them. Be- 
 fore the wars of the French revolution, such treaties had been consum- 
 mated with the United Netherlands, Sweden, and Prussia. During those 
 wars, treaties with Great Britain and Spain had been effected, and those 
 with Prussia and France renewed. In all these, some concessions to the 
 liberal principles of intercourse proposed by the United States had been 
 obtained ; but as, in all the negotiations, they came occasionally in colli- 
 sion with previous internal regulations, or exclusive and excluding com- 
 pacts of monopoly, with which the other parties had been trammelled, the 
 advances made in them towards the freedom of trade weie partial and 
 imperfect. Colonial establishments, chartered companies, and ship-build- 
 ing influence, pervaded and encumbered the legislation of all the great 
 commercial States; and the United States, in offering free trade and 
 equal privilege to all, were compelled to ac(iuiescc in many exceptions 
 with each of the parties to their treaties, acco'.jimodated to their existing 
 laws and anteiior engagements. 
 
 The colonial system, by which this whole hemisphere was bound, has 
 fallen into ruins. Totally abolished by revolutions, converting colonics into 
 independent nations, throughout the two American Continents, excepting a 
 portion of teriiloiy chiefly at the noithci'n extremity of our own, and con- 
 fined to the remnants of dominion retained by Great Britain over the in- 
 Huiai- Arc hipolago. geographically the appendages of our part of the globe, 
 Willi all the rest we \\',\\v free trade— even with the insular Colonics of all 
 the European nations, ex( ej)t Gieat Uritain. Her Government also had 
 manifested approaches to the ado|)tion of a free and liberal intercourse be- 
 tween her colonies and other nations, though, l)y a sudden and scarcely 
 exjilained revtilsifin. the spii-it of exclusion has been revived for operation 
 upon the Unitid States alone. 
 
 The conclusion of our last Treaty of Peace with Great Britain was 
 shortly afterwards followed by a Commercial Convention, placing the di- 
 rect intercourse between the two countries upon a footing of tnore equal
 
 6 [Doc. No. 2.] 
 
 rcciprority tlian liad ever before been admitted. Tbc same principle has 
 since been much fui-tlier extended by treaties with France, Sweden, Den- 
 marlv, the llansoatic Cities, Prussia in Europe, and with the Republics 
 of Colombia, and of Central America, in this hemisphere. The mutual 
 abcdition of discriminating diities and charges, upon the navigation and 
 commercial intei'couise between the parties, is tlic general maxim which 
 characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it will, at no dis- 
 tant period, be adopted by other nations, both of Europe and America ; and 
 to hoi)e. that, by its universal ])revalence, one of the fruitful sources of wars 
 of connnei'cial competition will be extinguished. 
 
 Among the nations upon whose Governments many of our fellow-citi- 
 zens have had long pending claims of indemnity lor depredations upon 
 their property during a period when the rights of neutral commerce were 
 disregarded, was tliat of Denmark. They were, soon after the events oc- 
 curred, the subject of a special mission from tlie United States, at the close 
 of which, the assurance was given, by his Danish Majesty, that, at a pe- 
 riod of more tranquillity, and of less distress, they would be considered, 
 examined, and decided upon, in a spirit of determined purpose for the dis- 
 pensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing Congress that the 
 iulfilmcnt of this honorable promise is now in progress; that a small por- 
 tion of the claims has already been settled, to the satisfaction of the claim- 
 ants; and that we have reason to hope that the remainder will shortly be 
 placed in a train of equitable adjustment. This result has always been 
 confidently expected, from the character of personal integrity and of bene- 
 volence which the Sovereign of the Danish Dominions has, through every 
 vicissitude of fortune, maintained. 
 
 I'he general aspect of the affairs of our neighboring American nations 
 of the South, has been rather of approaching than of settled tranquillity. 
 Internal disturbances have been more frequent among them than their 
 common frieiids would have desired. Our intercourse with all has con- 
 tinued to be that of friendship, and of mutual good will. Treaties of Com- 
 merce and of Boundaries with the United Mexican States have been nego- 
 tiated, but, from various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a final 
 conclusion. Tiie civil war, which unfortunately still prevails in the Re- 
 publics of Central America, has been unpropitious to the cultivation of our 
 commercial relations with them; and the dissentions and revolutionary 
 changes in the Republics of Colombia and of Peru, have been seen with cor- 
 dial regret by us, who would gladly contribute to the happiness of both. 
 It is with great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed the recent 
 conclusion of a peace between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Bra- 
 zil ; and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity has been obtained 
 for some of the injuries which our- fellow-citizens had sustained in the lat- 
 ter of those countries. The rest are in a train of negotiation, which we 
 hope may terminate to mutual satisfaction, and that it may be succeeded by 
 a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation upon liberal principles, propitious 
 to a great and growing commerce, already important to the interests of 
 our countiy. 
 
 The condition and prospects of the revenue are more favorable than our 
 most sanguine expectations had anticipated. The balance in the Trea- 
 sury, on the first of January last, exclusive of the moneys received under 
 Vhe Convention of 13th November, 1826, with Great Britain, was five 
 millions eight hundred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and seventy-
 
 [Doc. No. 2.] T 
 
 two dollars, and eighty-three cents. The receipts into the Treasury from 
 the first of January to the 30th of September last, so far as they have been 
 ascertained to form the basis of an estimate, amount to eighteen millions 
 six hundred and tliirty-tlirec thousand five hundred and eighty dollars 
 and twenty-seven cents, which, with the receipts of the present quarter, 
 estimated at five millions four hundred and sixty-one thousand two hun- 
 dred and eighty-three dollars and forty cents, form an aggregate of re- 
 ceipts during the year of twenty-four millions and ninety-tour thousand 
 eight hundred and sixty-three dollars and sixty-seven cents. The ex- 
 penditures of the year may probably amount to twenty-five millions six 
 hundred and thirty-seven thousand one hundred and eleven dollars and 
 sixty-three cents ; and leave in the Treasury, on the first of January next, 
 the sum of five millions one hundred and twenty-five thousand six hundred 
 and thirty-eight dollars, fourteen cents. 
 
 The receipts of tlie present year have amounted to near two millions 
 more than was anticipated at tlie commencement of the last session ot 
 Congress. 
 
 The amount of duties secured on importations, from the first of January 
 to the 30th of September, was about twenty-two millions nine hundred and 
 ninety-seven thousand, and that of the estimated accruing revenue is five 
 millions; forming an aggregate for the year of near twenty-eight millions. 
 This is one million more than the estimate made last December for the ac- 
 cruing revenue of the present year, which, with allowances for drawbacks 
 and contingent deficiencies, was expected to produce an actual revenue ot 
 twenty-two millions three hundred thousand dollars. Had these only 
 been realized, the expenditures of the year would have been also propor- 
 tionally reduced. For, of these twenty-four millions received, upwards of 
 nine millions have been applied to the extinction of public debt bearing an 
 interest of six per cent, a year, and of course reducing the burden of in- 
 terest annually payable in future, by the amount of more than half a mil- 
 lion. Tlie payments on account of interest during the current year ex- 
 ceed three millions of dollars; presenting an aggregate of more than 
 twelve millions, applied during the year to the discharge of the public 
 debt, the whole of which remaining due on the first of January next will 
 amount oidy to fifty-eight millions three hundred and sixty-two thousand 
 one hundred and thirty-five dollars, seventy-eight cents. 
 
 That the I'evenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of that received 
 in the one now exj)iring, there are indications which can scarcely prove 
 decejjtivc. In our country, an unifoiMu experience of forty years has 
 shown, that, whatever the tariff of duties upon articles imported from 
 abroad has been, the amount of iniporlations has always borne an average 
 value nearly appioaching to that of the exports, though occasionally dif- 
 fering in the balance, sometimes being more, and sometimes less. It is, 
 indeed, a general law of jnosperous commerce, that the real value of ex- 
 ports hhould, by a small, and only a small balance, exceed that of im- 
 jjorts, thiit balance being a j)ermanent addition to the wealth of the nation. 
 The extent of the prosj)erous commerce of the nation must be regulated by 
 the amount of its exports; and an important addition to tlie value of these 
 will (haw adei' it a (onesjionding increase of importations. It has hap- 
 pened, in the vicissitudes of the seasons, that the harvests of all Europe 
 have, in the late Sinnmer and Autiunn, fallen short of their usual average. 
 A relaxation of the interdict ujion the importation of grain and flour from
 
 8 [Doc. No. 2.] 
 
 abroad lias ensued ; a propitious market has been opened to the granaries 
 of our country ; and a new prospect of reward presented to the labors of 
 the husbandman, which, for several years, has been denied. This acces- 
 sion to the profits of agiiculture in the middle and western portions of eur 
 Union is accidental and tempoiary. It may continue only for a single 
 year. It may be, as has been often experienced in the revolutions of tinie, 
 but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We nn\y consider 
 it certain, that, for the approaching year, it has added an item of large 
 amount to the value of our exj)ort.s, and tliat it will produce a correspond- 
 ing increase of importations. It may, thei-efore, confidently be foreseen 
 that the revenue of 1829 will equal, and probably exceed, that of 1828, 
 and will afford the means of extinguishing ten millions more of the princi- 
 pal of the public debt. 
 
 This new clement of prospei'ity to that part of our agricultural industry 
 which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence, is of 
 the most cheering chaiacter to the feelings of patriotism. Proceeding 
 from a cause which humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of 
 scarcity in distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection, that this scar- 
 city is in no respect attributable to us. That it comes from the dispensa- 
 tion of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, and who pei'mits 
 evil itself only as an instrument of good. That, far from contributing to 
 this scarcity, our agency will be applied only to the alleviation of its se- 
 verity ; and that, in pouring forth, from the abundance of our own garners, 
 the supplies which will partially restore plenty to those who are in need, 
 we shall ourselves reduce our stores, and add to the price of our own 
 bread, so as in some degree to participate in the wants which it will be the 
 good fortune of our country to relieve. 
 
 The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing 
 nation, are so linked in union together, that no permanent cause of pros- 
 perity to one of them can operate without extending its influence to the 
 others. All these interests are alike under the protecting power of the 
 legislative authority ; and the duties of the representative bodies are to 
 conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the object of taxation is to 
 raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying the expenses of the 
 community, its operation should be adapted, as much as possible, to suit the 
 burden with equal hand upon all, in propoition with their ability of bearing 
 it without oppression. But the legislation of one nation is sometimes inten- 
 tionally made to bear heavily upon the interests of another. That legisla- 
 tion, adapted, as it is meant to be, to the special interests of its own people, 
 will often press most unecpially upon the several component interests of its 
 neighbors. Thus, the legislation of Great Britain, when, as has recent- 
 ly l)een avowed, adapted to the depression of a rival nation, will naturally 
 abound with regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil or 
 industry of the other, which come in competition with its own; and will 
 present encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw material of the 
 other State, which it cannot jiroduce itself, and which is essential for the 
 use of its manufactures, comjjetitors in the markets of the world with those 
 of its commercial rival. Such is the state of the commercial legislation of 
 Great Britain, as it bears upon our inteiests. It excludes, with interdict- 
 ing duties, all importation (excej)t in time of aj)proaching famine) of the 
 great staple productions of our Middle and Western States ; it pro- 
 scribes, with equal rigor, the bulkier lumber and live stock of the same
 
 [Doc. No. 2.] 9 
 
 portion, and also of the Northern and Eastern part of our Union. It re- 
 fuses even the rice of the South, unless aggravated with a charge of duty 
 upon the Northern carrier who brings it to them. But the cotton, in- 
 dispensable for their looms, they will receive almost duty free, to weave 
 it into a fabric for our own wear, to the destruction of our own manufac- 
 tures, which they are enabled thus to undersell. Is the self-protecting 
 energy of tliis nation so helpless that there exists, in the political insti- 
 tutions of our country, no power to counteract the bias of this foreign 
 legislation ? that the growers of grain must submit to this exclusion 
 from the foreign markets of tiieir produce; that the shippers must dis- 
 mantle their ships, the trade of the North stagnate at tbe wharves, and 
 the manufacturers starve at their looms, while the whole People shall pay 
 tribute to foreign industry, to be clad in a foreign garb ; that the Congress 
 of the Union are impotent to restore the balance in favor of native in- 
 dustry destroyed by the statutes of another realm ? More just and more 
 generous sentiments will, I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last 
 session of Congress shall be found, by experience, to bear oppressively 
 upon the interests of any one section of the Union, it ought to be, and I 
 cannot doubt will be, so modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice 
 of just complaint from any portion of their constituents, the Representa- 
 tives of the States and of the People will never turn away their ears. But, 
 so long as the duty of the foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the 
 domestic article — while the planter, and the merchant, and the shepherd, 
 and the husbandman, shall be found thriving in their occupations under 
 the duties imposed for the protection of domestic manufactures, they will 
 not repine at the prosperity shared with themselves by their fellow-citi- 
 zens of other professions, nor denounce, as violations of the Constitution, 
 the deliberate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs of foreign laws 
 the native industry of the Union. While the tariff of the last session of 
 Congress was a subject of legislative dclibera'tion, it was foretold by some 
 of its ojjposcrs that one of its necessary consequences would be to impair 
 the revenue. It is yet too soon to pronounce, with confidence, that this 
 prediction was erroneous. Tlie obstruction of one avenue of trade not unfre- 
 quenlly oj)ens an issue to another. The consequence of the tariff will be to 
 increase the exportation, and to diminish the importation of some specific 
 articles. But, by the general law of trade, the increase of exportation of 
 one article will be followed by an increased importation of others, the du- 
 ties upon which will supply the deficiencies which the diminished impor- 
 tation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon revenue can 
 seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the test of experience. 
 As yet, no symptoms of diiiiiiiulion are perceptible in the receij)ts of the 
 I'leasury. As yet, little addition of cost has even been experienced upon 
 the articles burthened with heavier duties by the last tariff. 'I'he domes- 
 tic manufacturer supi)lies the same or a kindred article at a diminished 
 price, and the consumer jiays the same ti'ibutc to the labor of his own 
 countryman, which he must other>vise have paid to foreign industry and 
 toil. 
 
 'I'he tariff of the last session was, in its details, not acceptable to the 
 great interests ofany |)ortioii (»f the Union; not even to the interest which 
 it was specially inleuded to subserve. Its object was to balance the bur- 
 dens upon native industry imposed by the oj)eratioti of foreign laws; but 
 not to aggravate the burdens of one section of the Union by the relief af-
 
 i [l^oc. No. 2.] 
 
 forilcil to anotlicr. To the great principle sanctioned by that act, one of 
 those upon which the Constitution itself was fonncd, I hope and trust the 
 authorities of the Union will adhere. IJut if any of the duties imposed by 
 the act only relieve tlie manufacturer by aggravating the burden of the 
 planter, let a careful revisal of its provisions, enlightened by the practical 
 cxpei'ience of its cftects, be directed to retain those w hich impart protec- 
 tion to native industry, and remove or supply the jjlacc of those which 
 only alleviate one great national interest by the depression of another. 
 
 The United States of America, and the People of every State of which 
 they are composed, are each of them Sovereign Powers. The legislative 
 authority of the whole is exercised by Congress, under authority granted 
 them in the common Constitution. The legislative power of each State 
 is exercised by assemblies deriving their authority from the Constitution 
 of the State. Each is sovereign within its own province. The distribu- 
 tion of power between them presupposes that these authorities will move 
 in harmony with each other. The members of the State and General 
 Governments are all under oath to support both, and allegiance is due to 
 the one and to the other. The case of a conflict between these two powers 
 has not been supposed ; nor has any provision been made for it in our 
 institutions; as a virtuous Nation of ancient times existed more than five 
 centuries without a law for the punishment of parricide. 
 
 More than once, however, in the progress of our history, have the People 
 and the Legislatures of one or more States, in moments of excitement, 
 been instigated to this conflict ; and the means of cflfecting this impulse 
 have been allegations that the acts of Congress to be resisted were uncon- 
 stitutional. The People of no one State have ever delegated to their 
 Legislature the power of pronouncing an act of Congress unconstitutional ; 
 but they have delegated to them powers, by the exercise of which the 
 execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be resisted. If 
 we suppose the case of such conflicting legislation sustained by the cor- 
 responding Executive and Judicial authorities, patriotism and philan. 
 thropy turn their eyes from the condition in which the parties would be 
 placed, and from that of the people of both, which must be its victims. 
 
 The Reports from the Secretary of War, and the various subordi- 
 nate offices of the resort of that Department, present an exposition of the 
 public administration of aff\\irs connected with them, through the course 
 of tlie current year. The present state of the Army, and the distribution 
 of the force of whicii it is composed, will be seen from the report of the 
 Major General. Several alterations in the disposal of the troops have 
 been found expedient in the course of the year; and the discipline of the 
 Army, though not entirely free from exception, has been generally good. 
 
 The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part of the 
 report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing system of our 
 relations with the Indian tribes. At the cstablislimcnt of the Federal 
 Government, under the present Constitution of the United States, the 
 principle was adopted of considering them as foreign and independent 
 Powers, and also as proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, con- 
 sidered as savages, whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influ- 
 ence in converting to Christianity, and in bringing within the pale of 
 civilization. 
 
 As independent Powers, we negotiated with them by treaties ; as pro- 
 prietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could prevail upon
 
 [Dec Nc. 2.] 11 
 
 them to sell ; as brethren of the human race, rude and ignorant, we en- 
 deavored to bring them to the knowledged of religion and of letters. The 
 ultimate design was to incorporate in our own institutions tliat portion of 
 them which could be converted to the state of civilization. In the prac- 
 tice of European States, before our Revolution, they had been considered 
 as children to be governed ; as tenants at discretion, to be dispossessed 
 as occasion might require; as hunters, to be indemnified by trifling con- 
 cessions for removal from the grounds from which their game was extir- 
 pated. In changing the system, it would seem as if a full contemplation 
 of the consequences of the change had not been taken. We have been 
 far more successful in the acquisition of their lands, than in imparting to 
 them the principles, or inspiring them with the spirit of civilization. But 
 in appropriating to ourselves their liunting grounds, we have brought 
 upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with subsistence ; and 
 wiien we have had the rare good fortune of teaching Uhem the arts of 
 civilization and tiie doctrines of Christianity, we have unexpectedly found 
 them forming, in the midst of ourselves, communities claiming to be inde- 
 pendent of ours, and rivals of sovereignty within the territories of tlie 
 members of our Union. This state of things requires that a remedy 
 should be provided. A remedy, which, while it shall do justice to those 
 unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the members of our Con- 
 federation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As the outline of a 
 project to that effect, the views presented in the Report of the Secretary of 
 War are recommended to the consideration of Congress. 
 
 The Report from the Engineer Department presents a comprehensive 
 view of the progress which lias been made in the great systems promotive 
 of the public interest, commenced and organized under the authority of 
 Congress, and the effects of which have already contributed to the securi- 
 ty, as they will hereafter largely contribute to the honor and dignity of 
 the nation. 
 
 The first of these great systems is that of fortifications, commenced im- 
 mediately after the close of our last war, under the salutary experience 
 wliicii the events of that war had impressed upon our countrymen of its 
 necessity. Introduced under the auspices of my immediate predecessor, 
 it lias been continued witli the persevering and liberal encouragement 
 of the Legislature ; and combined with corresponding exertions for the 
 gradual increase and improvement of the Navy, piepares for our ex- 
 tensive country a condition of defence adapted ^ to any critical emer- 
 gency which the varying course of events may bring fortli. Our 
 advances in these conceited systems have for the last ten years been 
 steady and progressive; and in a few years more will be so completed as 
 to leave no cause for apprehension that our sea cost will ever again offer 
 a tlieatic of hostile invasion. 
 
 The next of these cardinal measures of policy, is the preliminary to 
 great and lasting works of public improvement, in the surveys of roads, 
 examination for the course of canals, and labors for the removal of the 
 obstructions of rivers and harbors, first commenced by the Act of Con- 
 gress of 30lh of April. 1824. 
 
 The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the last and 
 preceding sessions of Congiess, for all these fortilirations, surveys, and 
 works of public ini|)rovemciit : the manner in whirh these funds have been 
 applied ; the amount expended upon the several works under construction, 
 and the further sums which may be necessary to complete them.
 
 12 [Doc. No. 2.] 
 
 In a second, tho works projected by the Board of Engineers, which 
 liave not been commenced, and the cstiniatc of their cost. 
 
 In a third, the report of tlie annual Board of Visiters at the Military 
 Aiaileniy at West Point. 
 
 For thirteen fortilications, erecting on various points of our Atlantic 
 from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the aggi'cgate coast, expenditure of the 
 year has fallen a little siiort of one million of dollars. 
 
 For the prepai'ation of five additional reports of reconnoissanccs and 
 surveys since the last session of Congress, for the civil constructions 
 npDu thirty-seven different public works commenced, eight others for which 
 specific appropriations have been made by acts of Congr-ess, and twenty 
 other incipient surveys under the authority given by the act of 30th 
 April, 1824, about one million more of dollars has been drawn from the 
 treasury. 
 
 To these two millions of dollars is to be added the appropriation of 
 250,000 dollars, to commence the erection of a Breakwater near the mouth 
 of the Delaware river; the subscriptions to the Delaware and Chesapeake, 
 the Louisville and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and the Chesapeake 
 and Ohio Canals; the large donations of lands to the States of Ohio, In- 
 diana, Illinois, and Alabama, for objects of improvements within those States, 
 and the sums appropriated for Light Houses, Buoys, and Piers, on the 
 coast; and a full view will be taken of the munificence of the Nation in the 
 application of its resources to the improvement of its own condition. 
 
 Of these great national undertakings, the Academy at West Point is 
 among the most important in itself, and the most comprehensive in its 
 consequences. In that institution, a part of the revenue of the Nation is 
 applied to defray the expenseof educating a competent portion of her youth, 
 chiefly to the knowledge and the duties of military life. It is the living 
 armory of the Nation. While the other works of improvement enumerated 
 in the reports now presented to the attention of Congress, are destined to 
 ameliorate the face of nature; to multiply the facilities of communicatioa 
 between the different parts of the Union ; to assist the labors, increase the 
 comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of individuals; the instruction acquir- 
 ed at West Point enlarges the dominion and expands the capacities of the 
 mind. 
 
 Its beneficial results are already experienced in the composition of the 
 Army, and their influence is felt in the intellectual progress of society. 
 The institution is susceptible still of great improvement from benefactions 
 proposed by several successive Boards of Visiters, to whose earnest and 
 rej)eated recommendations I cheerfully add my own. 
 
 With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy and the 
 Board of Commissioners, will be exhibited to the view of Congress the 
 execution of the laws relating to that department of the public service. 
 The repression of j)iracy in the West Indian and in the Grecian seas has 
 been effectually maintained, with scarcely any exception. During the war 
 between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil, frequent colli- 
 sions between the belligerent acts of power and the rights of neutral com- 
 merce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted, or impressed 
 seamen, and the property of honest commerce, seized with violence, and 
 even plundered under legal pretences, arc disorders nevei separable from 
 the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a portion of them, the corres- 
 pondence of our commanders on the eastern aspect of the South American 
 coast, and among the islands of Greece, discover how far we have been in-
 
 [Doc. No. 2.] 18 
 
 volved. In these, the honor of our country and the rights of our citizens 
 have been asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new squadrons in 
 the Mediterranean, and the blockade of the Dardanelles, indicate the dan- 
 ger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce, and the necessity of 
 keeping our naval force in those seas. To the suggestions repeated in the 
 report of the Secretary of the Navy, and tending to the permanent improve- 
 ment of this institution, I invite the favorable consideration of Congress. 
 
 A resolution of the House of Representatives, requesting that one of our 
 small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific Ocean and South Sea, to 
 examine tl»e coasts, islands, harbors, shoals, and reefs, in those seas, and 
 to ascertain tlieir true situation and description, has been put in a train of 
 execution. The vessel is nearly ready to depart ; the successful accom- 
 plishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated by suitable legisla- 
 tive provisions ; and particularly by an appropriation to defray its neces- 
 sary expense. The addition of a second, and, perhaps, a third vessel, with 
 a slight aggravation of the cost, would contribute much to the safety of the 
 citizens embarked on this undertaking, tlie results of which may be of the 
 deepest interest to our country. 
 
 "Witli the report of the Secretary of the Navy, will be submitted, in con- 
 formity to the Act of Congress of third March, 1827, for the gradual im- 
 provement of the Navy of the United States, statements of the expendi- 
 tures under that act, and of the measures taken for carrying the same 
 into effect. Every section of that statute contains a distinct provision, 
 looking to the great object of the whole, the gradual improvement of the 
 Navy. Under its salutary sanction, stores of ship-timber have been pro- 
 cured, and are in process of seasoning and preservation for the future uses 
 of the Navy. Arrangements have been made for the preservation of the 
 live-oak timber growing on the lands of the United States, and for its re- 
 production, to supply, at future and distant days, the waste of that most 
 valuable material for ship building, by the great consumption of it, yearly, 
 for the commercial, as well as for the military marine of our country. 
 The construction of the two Dry Docks at Cliarlestown and at Norfolk is 
 making satisfactory progress towards a durable establishment. The ex- 
 aminations and inquiries to ascertain the practicability and expediency of 
 a Marine Railway at Pensacola, though not yet accomplished, have been 
 postponed, but to be more effectually made.- The Navy Yards of the 
 United States have been examined, and plans fortlicir improvement, and 
 the preservation of the public proj)erty therein, at Portsmouth, Cliarles- 
 town, Philadelphia, Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are 
 to be added, have been ])rcpared, and received my saTiction; and no other 
 portion of my public duties has been performed with a more intimate con- 
 viction of its impoitancc to tlic future welfare aiul security of the Union. 
 
 With the report from the Postmaster General, is exhibited a compara- 
 tive view of the gradual increase of that establishment, from five to five 
 years, since 1792, till this time, in the number of Post Offices, which has 
 grown from loss than two hundred to nearly etght thousand : in the re- 
 venue yielded by them, which, from sixty-seven thousand dollars, has 
 swollen to upwards of a million and a half, and in the number of miles 
 of Post Roads, whit:h, from five thousand six huiulred and forty-two, have 
 multiplied to one hundred and fourteen thousand five hundred aiul thirty 
 six. While, ill the same jieiiod of time, the population of the Union has 
 about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these offices is nearly forty,
 
 14 [Doc. No. 2.] 
 
 and of the revenue, and of triivellcd miles, from twenty to twenty-five for 
 one. The increase of revenue, within tlie last five years, has been nearly 
 equal to the whole reveimc of the Department in 1812. 
 
 The expenditures of the Department, during the year which ended on 
 the first of July last, have exceeded the receipts by a sum of about twen- 
 ty-five thousand dollars. The excess has been occasioned by the increase 
 of mail conveyances and facilities, to the extent of near eight hundred 
 thousand miles. It has been supplied by collections from the Postmasters 
 of the arrearages of preceding years. While the correct principle seems 
 to be, that the income levied by the Department should defray all its ex- 
 penses, it has never been the policy of this Government to raise from this 
 establishment any revenue to be applied to any other purposes. The sug- 
 gestion of the Postmaster General, that the insurance of the safe trans- 
 mission of moneys by the mail might be assumed by the Department, for 
 a moderate and competent remuneration, will deserve the consideration 
 of Congress. 
 
 A report from the Commissioner of the Public Buildings in this City 
 exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the current year. 
 It will be seen that the humane and benevolent intentions of Congress in- 
 providing, by the Act of £Oth May, 1826, for the erection of a Peniten- 
 tiary in this District, have been accomplished. The authority of further 
 legislation is now required for the removal to this tenement of the offend- 
 ei's against the laws, sentenced to atone by personal confinement for their 
 crimes, and to provide a code for their employment and government w hile 
 thus confined. 
 
 The Commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d March, 
 1327, to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to in- 
 demnification under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, and for the 
 distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the Government of 
 Great Britain under the Convention of ISth November, 1826, closed their 
 labors on the 30th of August last, by awarding to the claimants the sura of 
 one million one hundred and ninety-seven thousand four hundred and 
 twenty-two dollars and eighteen cents ; leaving a balance of seven thou- 
 sand five hundred and thirty-seven dollars and eighty-two cents, Avhich 
 was distributed rateably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had 
 been made, according to the directions of the act. 
 
 The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of the 
 General Land Office, present the actual condition of that common pro- 
 perty of the Union. The amount paid into the Treasury from the pro- 
 ceeds of lands, during the year 1827, and the first half of 1828, falls lit- 
 tle short of two millions of dollars. The propriety of further extending 
 the time for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by 
 the purchasers of the public lands, limited, by the act of 21st March last, 
 to the fourth of July next, w ill claim the consideration of Congress, to 
 whose vigilance and careful attention, the regulation, disposal, and pre- 
 servation of this great national inheritance has, by the People of the 
 United States, been entrusted. 
 
 Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present Con- 
 gress has already been invited, and which may occupy their further and 
 deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking the fifth 
 census or enumeration of the inhabitants ot the United States. The Con- 
 stitution of tlie United States requires that this enumeration should be
 
 [Doc. No. i^.] 15 
 
 made within every term of ten years, and the date from which the last 
 enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August of the year 1820. 
 The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were enacted 
 at the Session of Congress immediately preceding the operation. But 
 considerable inconveniencies were experienced from the delay of legislation 
 to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding enumerations, 
 directed that the census should be taken by the Marshals of the several 
 districts and Territories of the Union, under instructions from the Secretary 
 of State. The preparation and transmission to the Marshals of those instruc- 
 tions, required more time than was then allowed between the passage of the 
 law and the day when the enumeration was to commence. Tlie term of six 
 mon ths, limited for the returns of the Marshals, w as also found even then 
 to« short ; and must be more so now, when an additional population of at 
 least three millions must be presented upon the returns. As they are to 
 be made at the short session of Congress, it would, as well as from other 
 considerations, be more convenient to commence the enumeration from an 
 earlier period of the year than the first of August. The most favorable 
 season would be the Spring. On a review of the former enumerations, it 
 will be found that the plan for taking every census has contained many im- 
 provements upon that of its predecessor. The last is still susceptible of much 
 improvement. The third census was the first at which any account was 
 taken of the manufactures of the country. It was repeated at the last enu- 
 meration, but the returns in both cases were necessarily very imperfect. 
 They must always be so, resting of course only upon the communications 
 voluntarily made by individuals interested in some of the manufacturing 
 establishments. Yet they contained much valuable information, and may, 
 by some supplementary provision of the law, be rendered more effective. 
 The columns of age, commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confin- 
 ed to a few periods, all under the number of 45 years. Important know- 
 ledge would be obtained by extending these columns, in intervals of ten 
 years, to the utmost boundaries of human life. The labor of taking them 
 would be a trifling addition to that already prescribed ; and the result 
 would exhibit comparative tables of longevity highly interesting to the 
 country. I deem it my duty further to observe, that much of the imper- 
 fections in the returns of tiie last, and perhaps of preceding enumerations 
 proceeded from the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the 
 Marshals and their assistants in taking them. 
 
 In closing this communication, it only remains for me to assure tha 
 Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of measures re- 
 commended by me heretofore, and yet to be acted on by thom ; and of the 
 cordial concurrence on my part in every constitutional provision which 
 may receive their sanction during the Session, tending to the general wel- 
 
 JOUN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Wasuunoton, Decembers, lb28. 
 
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