Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

In performing my duty at the opening of your present session it gives
me pleasure to congratulate you again upon the prosperous condition of
our beloved country. Divine Providence has favored us with general
health, with rich rewards in the fields of agriculture and in every
branch of labor, and with peace to cultivate and extend the various
resources which employ the virtue and enterprise of our citizens. Let
us trust that in surveying a scene so flattering to our free
institutions our joint deliberations to preserve them may be crowned
with success.

Our foreign relations continue, with but few exceptions, to maintain
the favorable aspect which they bore in my last annual message, and
promise to extend those advantages which the principles that regulate
our intercourse with other nations are so well calculated to secure.

The question of our North East boundary is still pending with Great
Britain, and the proposition made in accordance with the resolution of
the Senate for the establishment of a line according to the treaty of
1783 has not been accepted by that Government. Believing that every
disposition is felt on both sides to adjust this perplexing question to
the satisfaction of all the parties interested in it, the hope is yet
indulged that it may be effected on the basis of that proposition.

With the Governments of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Holland, Sweden, and
Denmark the best understanding exists. Commerce with all is fostered
and protected by reciprocal good will under the sanction of liberal
conventional or legal provisions.

In the midst of her internal difficulties the Queen of Spain has
ratified the convention for the payment of the claims of our citizens
arising since 1819. It is in the course of execution on her part, and a
copy of it is now laid before you for such legislation as may be found
necessary to enable those interested to derive the benefits of it.

Yielding to the force of circumstances and to the wise counsels of time
and experience, that power has finally resolved no longer to occupy the
unnatural position in which she stood to the new Governments
established in this hemisphere. I have the great satisfaction of
stating to you that in preparing the way for the restoration of harmony
between those who have sprung from the same ancestors, who are allied
by common interests, profess the same religion, and speak the same
language the United States have been actively instrumental. Our efforts
to effect this good work will be persevered in while they are deemed
useful to the parties and our entire disinterestedness continues to be
felt and understood. The act of Congress to countervail the
discriminating duties to the prejudice of our navigation levied in Cuba
and Puerto Rico has been transmitted to the minister of the United
States at Madrid, to be communicated to the Government of the Queen. No
intelligence of its receipt has yet reached the Department of State. If
the present condition of the country permits the Government to make a
careful and enlarged examination of the true interests of these
important portions of its dominions, no doubt is entertained that their
future intercourse with the United States will be placed upon a more
just and liberal basis.

The Florida archives have not yet been selected and delivered. Recent
orders have been sent to the agent of the United States at Havana to
return with all that he can obtain, so that they may be in Washington
before the session of the Supreme Court, to be used in the legal
questions there pending to which the Government is a party.

Internal tranquillity is happily restored to Portugal. The distracted
state of the country rendered unavoidable the postponement of a final
payment of the just claims of our citizens. Our diplomatic relations
will be soon resumed, and the long-subsisting friendship with that
power affords the strongest guaranty that the balance due will receive
prompt attention.

The first installment due under the convention of indemnity with the
King of the Two Sicilies has been duly received, and an offer has been
made to extinguish the whole by a prompt payment--an offer I did not
consider myself authorized to accept, as the indemnification provided
is the exclusive property of individual citizens of the United States.
The original adjustment of our claims and the anxiety displayed to
fulfill at once the stipulations made for the payment of them are
highly honorable to the Government of the Two Sicilies. When it is
recollected that they were the result of the injustice of an intrusive
power temporarily dominant in its territory, a repugnance to
acknowledge and to pay which would have been neither unnatural nor
unexpected, the circumstances can not fail to exalt its character for
justice and good faith in the eyes of all nations.

The treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and Belgium,
brought to your notice in my last annual message as sanctioned by the
Senate, but the ratifications of which had not been exchanged owing to
a delay in its reception at Brussels and a subsequent absence of the
Belgian minister of foreign affairs, has been, after mature
deliberation, finally disavowed by that Government as inconsistent with
the powers and instructions given to their minister who negotiated it.
This disavowal was entirely unexpected, as the liberal principles
embodied in the convention, and which form the ground-work of the
objections to it, were perfectly satisfactory to the Belgian
representative, and were supposed to be not only within the powers
granted, but expressly conformable to the instructions given to him. An
offer, not yet accepted, has been made by Belgium to renew negotiations
for a treaty less liberal in its provisions on questions of general
maritime law.

Our newly established relations with the Sublime Porte promise to be
useful to our commerce and satisfactory in every respect to this
Government. Our intercourse with the Barbary Powers continues without
important change, except that the present political state of Algiers
has induced me to terminate the residence there of a salaried consul
and to substitute an ordinary consulate, to remain so long as the place
continues in the possession of France. Our first treaty with one of
these powers, the Emperor of Morocco, was formed in 1786, and was
limited to fifty years. That period has almost expired. I shall take
measures to renew it with the greater satisfaction as its stipulations
are just and liberal and have been, with mutual fidelity and reciprocal
advantage, scrupulously fulfilled.

Intestine dissensions have too frequently occurred to mar the
prosperity, interrupt the commerce, and distract the governments of
most of the nations of this hemisphere which have separated themselves
from Spain. When a firm and permanent understanding with the parent
country shall have produced a formal acknowledgment of their
independence, and the idea of danger from that quarter can be no longer
entertained, the friends of freedom expect that those countries, so
favored by nature, will be distinguished for their love of justice and
their devotion to those peaceful arts the assiduous cultivation of
which confers honor upon nations and gives value to human life.

In the mean time I confidently hope that the apprehensions entertained
that some of the people of these luxuriant regions may be tempted, in a
moment of unworthy distrust of their own capacity for the enjoyment of
liberty, to commit the too common error of purchasing present repose by
bestowing on some favorite leaders the fatal gift of irresponsible
power will not be realized. With all these Governments and with that of
Brazil no unexpected changes in our relations have occurred during the
present year.

Frequent causes of just complaint have arisen upon the part of the
citizens of the United States, some times from the irregular action of
the constituted subordinate authorities of the maritime regions and
some times from the leaders or partisans of those in arms against the
established Governments. In all cases representations have been or will
be made, and as soon as their political affairs are in a settled
position it is expected that our friendly remonstrances will be
followed by adequate redress.

The Government of Mexico made known in December last the appointment of
commissioners and a surveyor on its part to run, in conjunction with
ours, the boundary line between its territories and the United States,
and excused the delay for the reasons anticipated--the prevalence of
civil war. The commissioners and surveyors not having met within the
time stipulated by the treaty, a new arrangement became necessary, and
our charge d'affaires was instructed in January, 1833 to negotiate in
Mexico an article additional to the pre-existing treaty. This
instruction was acknowledged, and no difficulty was apprehended in the
accomplishment of that object. By information just received that
additional article to the treaty will be obtained and transmitted to
this country as soon as it can receive the ratification of the Mexican
Congress.

The reunion of the three States of New Grenada, Venezuela, and Equador,
forming the Republic of Colombia, seems every day to become more
improbable. The commissioners of the two first are understood to be now
negotiating a just division of the obligations contracted by them when
united under one government. The civil war in Equador, it is believed,
has prevented even the appointment of a commissioner on its part.

I propose at an early day to submit, in the proper form, the
appointment of a diplomatic agent to Venezuela, the importance of the
commerce of that country to the United States and the large claims of
our citizens upon the Government arising before and since the division
of Colombia rendering it, in my judgment, improper longer to delay this
step.

Our representatives to Central America, Peru, and Brazil are either at
or on their way to their respective posts.

From the Argentine Republic, from which a minister was expected to this
Government, nothing further has been heard. Occasion has been taken on
the departure of a new consul to Buenos Ayres to remind that Government
that its long delayed minister, whose appointment had been made known
to us, had not arrived.

It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform you that this pacific and
highly gratifying picture of our foreign relations does not include
those with France at this time. It is not possible that any Government
and people could be more sincerely desirous of conciliating a just and
friendly intercourse with another nation than are those of the United
States with their ancient ally and friend. This disposition is founded
as well on the most grateful and honorable recollections associated
with our struggle for independence as upon a well grounded conviction
that it is consonant with the true policy of both. The people of the
United States could not, therefore, see without the deepest regret even
a temporary interruption of the friendly relations between the two
countries--a regret which would, I am sure, be greatly aggravated if
there should turn out to be any reasonable ground for attributing such
a result to any act of omission or commission on our part. I derive,
therefore, the highest satisfaction from being able to assure you that
the whole course of this Government has been characterized by a spirit
so conciliatory and for bearing as to make it impossible that our
justice and moderation should be questioned, what ever may be the
consequences of a longer perseverance on the part of the French
Government in her omission to satisfy the conceded claims of our
citizens.

The history of the accumulated and unprovoked aggressions upon our
commerce committed by authority of the existing Governments of France
between the years 1800 and 1817 has been rendered too painfully
familiar to Americans to make its repetition either necessary or
desirable. It will be sufficient here to remark that there has for many
years been scarcely a single administration of the French Government by
whom the justice and legality of the claims of our citizens to
indemnity were not to a very considerable extent admitted, and yet near
a quarter of a century has been wasted in ineffectual negotiations to
secure it.

Deeply sensible of the injurious effects resulting from this state of
things upon the interests and character of both nations, I regarded it
as among my first duties to cause one more effort to be made to satisfy
France that a just and liberal settlement of our claims was as well due
to her own honor as to their incontestable validity. The negotiation
for this purpose was commenced with the late Government of France, and
was prosecuted with such success as to leave no reasonable ground to
doubt that a settlement of a character quite as liberal as that which
was subsequently made would have been effected had not the revolution
by which the negotiation was cut off taken place. The discussions were
resumed with the present Government, and the result showed that we were
not wrong in supposing that an event by which the two Governments were
made to approach each other so much nearer in their political
principles, and by which the motives for the most liberal and friendly
intercourse were so greatly multiplied, could exercise no other than a
salutary influence upon the negotiation.

After the most deliberate and thorough examination of the whole subject
a treaty between the two Governments was concluded and signed at Paris
on July 4th, 1831, by which it was stipulated that "the French
Government, in order to liberate itself from all the reclamations
preferred against it by citizens of the United States for unlawful
seizures, captures, sequestrations, confiscations, or destruction of
their vessels, cargoes, or other property, engages to pay a sum of
25,000,000 francs to the United States, who shall distribute it among
those entitled in the manner and according to the rules it shall
determine"; and it was also stipulated on the part of the French
Government that this 25,000,000 francs should be paid at Paris, in six
annual installments of 4,166,666 francs and 66 centimes each, into the
hands of such person or persons "as shall be authorized by the
Government of the United States to receive it", the first installment
to be paid "at the expiration of one year next following the exchange
of the ratifications of this convention and the others at successive
intervals of a year, one after another, 'til the whole shall be paid.
To the amount of each of the said installments shall be added interest
at 4% thereupon, as upon the other installments then remaining unpaid,
the said interest to be computed from the day of the exchange of the
present convention".

It was also stipulated on the part of the United States, for the
purpose of being completely liberated from all the reclamations
presented by France on behalf of its citizens, that the sum of
1,500,000 francs should be paid to the Government of France in six
annual installments, to be deducted out of the annual sums which France
had agreed to pay, interest thereupon being in like manner computed
from the day of the exchange of the ratifications. In addition to this
stipulation, important advantages were secured to France by the
following article, viz: The wines of France, from and after the
exchange of the ratifications of the present conventions, shall be
admitted to consumption in the States of the Union at duties which
shall not exceed the following rates by the gallon (such as it is used
at present for wines in the United States), to wit: six cents for red
wines in casks; ten cents for white wines in casks, and 22 cents for
wines of all sorts in bottles. The proportions existing between the
duties on French wines thus reduced and the general rates of the tariff
which went into operation January 1st, 1829, shall be maintained in
case the Government of the United States should think proper to
diminish those general rates in a new tariff.

In consideration of this stipulation, which shall be binding on the
United States for ten years, the French Government abandons the
reclamations which it had formed in relation to the 8th article of the
treaty of cession of Louisiana. It engages, moreover, to establish on
the long-staple cottons of the United States which after the exchange
of the ratifications of the present convention shall be brought
directly thence to France by the vessels of the United States or by
French vessels the same duties as on short-staple cotton. This treaty
was duly ratified in the manner prescribed by the constitutions of both
countries, and the ratification was exchanged at the city of Washington
on February 2d, 1832. On account of its commercial stipulations it was
in five days thereafter laid before the Congress of the United States,
which proceeded to enact such laws favorable to the commerce of France
as were necessary to carry it into full execution, and France has from
that period to the present been in the unrestricted enjoyment of the
valuable privileges that were thus secured to her.

The faith of the French nation having been thus solemnly pledged
through its constitutional organ for the liquidation and ultimate
payment of the long deferred claims of our citizens, as also for the
adjustment of other points of great and reciprocal benefits to both
countries, and the United States having, with a fidelity and
promptitude by which their conduct will, I trust, be always
characterized, done every thing that was necessary to carry the treaty
into full and fair effect on their part, counted with the most perfect
confidence on equal fidelity and promptitude on the part of the French
Government. In this reasonable expectation we have been, I regret to
inform you, wholly disappointed. No legislative provision has been made
by France for the execution of the treaty, either as it respects the
indemnity to be paid or the commercial benefits to be secured to the
United States, and the relations between the United States and that
power in consequence thereof are placed in a situation threatening to
interrupt the good understanding which has so long and so happily
existed between the two nations.

Not only has the French Government been thus wanting in the performance
of the stipulations it has so solemnly entered into with the United
States, but its omissions have been marked by circumstances which would
seem to leave us without satisfactory evidences that such performance
will certainly take place at a future period. Advice of the exchange of
ratifications reached Paris prior to April 8th, 1832. The French
Chambers were then sitting, and continued in session until April 21st,
1832, and although one installment of the indemnity was payable on
February 2d, 1833, one year after the exchange of ratifications, no
application was made to the Chambers for the required appropriation,
and in consequence of no appropriation having then been made the draft
of the United States Government for that installment was dishonored by
the minister of finance, and the United States thereby involved in much
controversy.

The next session of the Chambers commenced on November 19th, 1832, and
continued until April 25th, 1833. Not withstanding the omission to pay
the first installment had been made the subject of earnest remonstrance
on our part, the treaty with the United States and a bill making the
necessary appropriations to execute it were not laid before the Chamber
of Deputies until April 6th, 1833, nearly five months after its
meeting, and only nineteen days before the close of the session. The
bill was read and referred to a committee, but there was no further
action upon it.

The next session of the Chambers commenced on April 26th, 1833, and
continued until June 26th, 1833. A new bill was introduced on June
11th, 1833, but nothing important was done in relation to it during the
session.

In 1834 April, nearly three years after the signature of the treaty,
the final action of the French Chambers upon the bill to carry the
treaty into effect was obtained, and resulted in a refusal of the
necessary appropriations. The avowed grounds upon which the bill was
rejected are to be found in the published debates of that body, and no
observations of mine can be necessary to satisfy Congress of their
utter insufficiency. Although the gross amount of the claims of our
citizens is probably greater than will be ultimately allowed by the
commissioners, sufficient is, never the less, shown to render it
absolutely certain that the indemnity falls far short of the actual
amount of our just claims, independently of the question of damages and
interest for the detention. That the settlement involved a sacrifice in
this respect was well known at the time--a sacrifice which was
cheerfully acquiesced in by the different branches of the Federal
Government, whose action upon the treaty was required from a sincere
desire to avoid further collision upon this old and disturbing subject
and in the confident expectation that the general relations between the
two countries would be improved thereby.

The refusal to vote the appropriation, the news of which was received
from our minister in Paris about May 15th, 1834, might have been
considered the final determination of the French Government not to
execute the stipulations of the treaty, and would have justified an
immediate communication of the facts to Congress, with a recommendation
of such ultimate measures as the interest and honor of the United
States might seem to require. But with the news of the refusal of the
Chambers to make the appropriation were conveyed the regrets of the
King and a declaration that a national vessel should be forthwith sent
out with instructions to the French minister to give the most ample
explanations of the past and the strongest assurances for the future.
After a long passage the promised dispatch vessel arrived.

The pledges given by the French minister upon receipt of his
instructions were that as soon after the election of the new members as
the charter would permit the legislative Chambers of France should be
called together and the proposition for an appropriation laid before
them; that all the constitutional powers of the King and his cabinet
should be exerted to accomplish the object, and that the result should
be made known early enough to be communicated to Congress at the
commencement of the present session. Relying upon these pledges, and
not doubting that the acknowledged justice of our claims, the promised
exertions of the King and his cabinet, and, above all, that sacred
regard for the national faith and honor for which the French character
has been so distinguished would secure an early execution of the treaty
in all its parts, I did not deem it necessary to call the attention of
Congress to the subject at the last session.

I regret to say that the pledges made through the minister of France
have not been redeemed. The new Chambers met on July 31st, 1834, and
although the subject of fulfilling treaties was alluded to in the
speech from the throne, no attempt was made by the King or his cabinet
to procure an appropriation to carry it into execution. The reasons
given for this omission, although they might be considered sufficient
in an ordinary case, are not consistent with the expectations founded
upon the assurances given here, for there is no constitutional obstacle
to entering into legislative business at the first meeting of the
Chambers. This point, however, might have been over-looked had not the
Chambers, instead of being called to meet at so early a day that the
result of their deliberations might be communicated to me before the
meeting of Congress, been prorogued to December 29th, 1834--a period so
late that their decision can scarcely be made known to the present
Congress prior to its dissolution. To avoid this delay our minister in
Paris, in virtue of the assurance given by the French minister in the
United States, strongly urged the convocation of the Chambers at an
earlier day, but without success. It is proper to remark, however, that
this refusal has been accompanied with the most positive assurances on
the part of the executive government of France of their intention to
press the appropriation at the ensuing session of the Chambers.

The executive branch of this Government has, as matters stand,
exhausted all the authority upon the subject with which it is invested
and which it had any reason to believe could be beneficially employed.

The idea of acquiescing in the refusal to execute the treaty will not,
I am confident, be for a moment entertained by any branch of this
Government, and further negotiation upon the subject is equally out of
the question.

If it shall be the pleasure of Congress to await the further action of
the French Chambers, no further consideration of the subject will at
this session probably be required at your hands. But if from the
original delay in asking for an appropriation, from the refusal of the
Chambers to grant it when asked, from the omission to bring the subject
before the Chambers at their last session, from the fact that,
including that session, there have been five different occasions when
the appropriation might have been made, and from the delay in convoking
the Chambers until some weeks after the meeting of Congress, when it
was well known that a communication of the whole subject to Congress at
the last session was prevented by assurances that it should be disposed
of before its present meeting, you should feel yourselves constrained
to doubt whether it be the intention of the French Government, in all
its branches, to carry the treaty into effect, and think that such
measures as the occasion may be deemed to call for should be now
adopted, the important question arises what those measures shall be.

Our institutions are essentially pacific. Peace and friendly
intercourse with all nations are as much the desire of our Government
as they are the interest of our people. But these objects are not to be
permanently secured by surrendering the rights of our citizens or
permitting solemn treaties for their indemnity, in cases of flagrant
wrong, to be abrogated or set aside.

It is undoubtedly in the power of Congress seriously to affect the
agricultural and manufacturing interests of France by the passage of
laws relating to her trade with the United States. Her products,
manufactures, and tonnage may be subjected to heavy duties in our
ports, or all commercial intercourse with her may be suspended. But
there are powerful and to my mind conclusive objections to this mode of
proceeding.

We can not embarrass or cut off the trade of France without at the same
time in some degree embarrassing or cutting off our own trade. The
injury of such a warfare must fall, though unequally, upon our own
citizens, and could not but impair the means of the Government and
weaken that united sentiment in support of the rights and honor of the
nation which must now pervade every bosom. Nor is it impossible that
such a course of legislation would introduce once more into our
national councils those disturbing questions in relation to the tariff
of duties which have been so recently put to rest. Besides, by every
measure adopted by the Government of the United States with the view of
injuring France the clear perception of right which will induce our own
people and the rulers and people of all other nations, even of France
herself, to pronounce our quarrel just will be obscured and the support
rendered to us in a final resort to more decisive measures will be more
limited and equivocal.

There is but one point of controversy, and upon that the whole
civilized world must pronounce France to be in the wrong. We insist
that she shall pay us a sum of money which she has acknowledged to be
due, and of the justice of this demand there can be but one opinion
among mankind. True policy would seem to dictate that the question at
issue should be kept thus disencumbered and that not the slightest
pretense should be given to France to persist in her refusal to make
payment by any act on our part affecting the interests of her people.
The question should be left, as it is now, in such an attitude that
when France fulfills her treaty stipulations all controversy will be at
an end.

It is my conviction that the United States ought to insist on a prompt
execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused or longer delayed
take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the part of
France of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by
treaty, it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of a century is
to be wasted in negotiating about the payment. The laws of nations
provide a remedy for such occasions. It is a well-settled principle of
the international code that where one nation owes another a liquidated
debt which it refuses or neglects to pay the aggrieved party may seize
on the property belonging to the other, its citizens or subjects,
sufficient to pay the debt without giving just cause of war. This
remedy has been repeatedly resorted to, and recently by France herself
toward Portugal, under circumstances less unquestionable.

The time at which resort should be had to this or any other mode of
redress is a point to be decided by Congress. If an appropriation shall
not be made by the French Chambers at their next session, it may justly
be concluded that the Government of France has finally determined to
disregard its own solemn undertaking and refuse to pay an acknowledged
debt. In that event every day's delay on our part will be a stain upon
our national honor, as well as a denial of justice to our injured
citizens. Prompt measures, when the refusal of France shall be
complete, will not only be most honorable and just, but will have the
best effect upon our national character.

Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her minister
here, has delayed her final action so long that her decision will not
probably be known in time to be communicated to this Congress, I
recommend that a law be passed authorizing reprisals upon French
property in case provision shall not be made for the payment of the
debt at the approaching session of the French Chambers. Her pride and
power are too well known to expect any thing from her fears and
preclude the necessity of a declaration that nothing partaking of the
character of intimidation is intended by us. She ought to look upon it
as the evidence only of an inflexible determination on the part of the
United States to insist on their rights.

That Government, by doing only what it has itself acknowledged to be
just, will be able to spare the United States the necessity of taking
redress into their own hands and save the property of French citizens
from that seizure and sequestration which American citizens so long
endured without retaliation or redress. If she should continue to
refuse that act of acknowledged justice and, in violation of the law of
nations, make reprisals on our part the occasion of hostilities against
the United States, she would but add violence to injustice, and could
not fail to expose herself to the just censure of civilized nations and
to the retributive judgments of Heaven.

Collision with France is the more to be regretted on account of the
position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal institutions,
but in maintaining our national rights and honor all governments are
alike to us. If by a collision with France in a case where she is
clearly in the wrong the march of liberal principles shall be impeded,
the responsibility for that result as well as every other will rest on
her own head.

Having submitted these considerations, it belongs to Congress to decide
whether after what has taken place it will still await the further
action of the French Chambers or now adopt such provisional measures as
it may deem necessary and best adapted to protect the rights and
maintain the honor of the country. What ever that decision may be, it
will be faithfully enforced by the Executive as far as he is authorized
so to do.

According to the estimate of the Treasury Department, the revenue
accruing from all sources during the present year will amount to
$20,624,717, which, with the balance remaining in the Treasury on
January 1st, 1834 of $11,702,905, produces an aggregate of $32,327,623.
The total expenditure during the year for all objects, including the
public debt, is estimated at $25,591,390, which will leave a balance in
the Treasury on January 1st, 1835 of $6,736,232. In this balance,
however, will be included about $1,150,000 of what was heretofore
reported by the Department as not effective.

Of former appropriations it is estimated that there will remain
unexpended at the close of the year $8,002,925, and that of this sum
there will not be required more than $5,141,964 to accomplish the
objects of all the current appropriations. Thus it appears that after
satisfying all those appropriations and after discharging the last item
of our public debt, which will be done on January 1st, 1835, there will
remain unexpended in the Treasury an effective balance of about
$440,000. That such should be the aspect of our finances is highly
flattering to the industry and enterprise of our population and
auspicious of the wealth and prosperity which await the future
cultivation of their growing resources. It is not deemed prudent,
however, to recommend any change for the present in our impost rates,
the effect of the gradual reduction now in progress in many of them not
being sufficiently tested to guide us in determining the precise amount
of revenue which they will produce.

Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no
complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign
powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most
favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy
which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and
secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.

Among these principles, from our past experience, it can not be doubted
that simplicity in the character of the Federal Government and a rigid
economy in its administration should be regarded as fundamental and
sacred. All must be sensible that the existence of the public debt, by
rendering taxation necessary for its extinguishment, has increased the
difficulties which are inseparable from every exercise of the taxing
power, and that it was in this respect a remote agent in producing
those disturbing questions which grew out of the discussions relating
to the tariff. If such has been the tendency of a debt incurred in the
acquisition and maintenance of our national rights and liberties, the
obligations of which all portions of the Union cheerfully acknowledged,
it must be obvious that what ever is calculated to increase the burdens
of Government without necessity must be fatal to all our hopes of
preserving its true character.

While we are felicitating ourselves, therefore, upon the extinguishment
of the national debt and the prosperous state of our finances, let us
not be tempted to depart from those sound maxims of public policy which
enjoin a just adaptation of the revenue to the expenditures that are
consistent with a rigid economy and an entire abstinence from all
topics of legislation that are not clearly within the constitutional
powers of the Government and suggested by the wants of the country.
Properly regarded under such a policy, every diminution of the public
burdens arising from taxation gives to individual enterprise increased
power and furnishes to all the members of our happy Confederacy new
motives for patriotic affection and support. But above all, its most
important effect will be found in its influence upon the character of
the Government by confining its action to those objects which will be
sure to secure to it the attachment and support of our fellow citizens.

Circumstances make it my duty to call the attention of Congress to the
Bank of the United States. Created for the convenience of the
Government, that institution has become the scourge of the people. Its
interference to postpone the payment of a portion of the national debt
that it might retain the public money appropriated for that purpose to
strengthen it in a political contest, the extraordinary extension and
contraction of its accommodations to the community, its corrupt and
partisan loans, its exclusion of the public directors from a knowledge
of its most important proceedings, the unlimited authority conferred on
the president to expend its funds in hiring writers and procuring the
execution of printing, and the use made of that authority, the
retention of the pension money and books after the selection of new
agents, the groundless claim to heavy damages in consequence of the
protest of the bill drawn on the French Government, have through
various channels been laid before Congress.

Immediately after the close of the last session the bank, through its
president, announced its ability and readiness to abandon the system of
unparalleled curtailment and the interruption of domestic exchanges
which it had practiced upon from August 1st, 1833 to June 30th, 1834,
and to extend its accommodations to the community. The grounds assumed
in this annunciation amounted to an acknowledgment that the
curtailment, in the extent to which it had been carried, was not
necessary to the safety of the bank, and had been persisted in merely
to induce Congress to grant the prayer of the bank in its memorial
relative to the removal of the deposits and to give it a new charter.
They were substantially a confession that all the real distresses which
individuals and the country had endured for the preceding six or eight
months had been needlessly produced by it, with the view of affecting
through the sufferings of the people the legislative action of
Congress.

It is subject of congratulation that Congress and the country had the
virtue and firmness to bear the infliction, that the energies of our
people soon found relief from this wanton tyranny in vast importations
of the precious metals from almost every part of the world, and that at
the close of this tremendous effort to control our Government the bank
found itself powerless and no longer able to loan out its surplus
means. The community had learned to manage its affairs without its
assistance, and trade had already found new auxiliaries, so that on
October 1st, 1834 the extraordinary spectacle was presented of a
national more than half of whose capital was either lying unproductive
in its vaults or in the hands of foreign bankers.

To the needless distresses brought on the country during the last
session of Congress has since been added the open seizure of the
dividends on the public stock to the amount of $170,041, under pretense
of paying damages, cost, and interest upon the protested French bill.
This sum constituted a portion of the estimated revenues for the year
1834, upon which the appropriations made by Congress were based. It
would as soon have been expected that our collectors would seize on the
customs or the receivers of our land offices on the moneys arising from
the sale of public lands under pretenses of claims against the United
States as that the bank would have retained the dividends. Indeed, if
the principle be established that any one who chooses to set up a claim
against the United States may without authority of law seize on the
public property or money wherever he can find it to pay such claim,
there will remain no assurance that our revenue will reach the Treasury
or that it will be applied after the appropriation to the purposes
designated in the law.

The pay masters of our Army and the pursers of our Navy may under like
pretenses apply to their own use moneys appropriated to set in motion
the public force, and in time of war leave the country without defense.
This measure resorted to by the bank is disorganizing and
revolutionary, and if generally resorted to by private citizens in like
cases would fill the land with anarchy and violence.

It is a constitutional provision "that no money shall be drawn from the
Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law". The
palpable object of this provision is to prevent the expenditure of the
public money for any purpose what so ever which shall not have been 1st
approved by the representatives of the people and the States in
Congress assembled. It vests the power of declaring for what purposes
the public money shall be expended in the legislative department of the
Government, to the exclusion of the executive and judicial, and it is
not within the constitutional authority of either of those departments
to pay it away without law or to sanction its payment.

According to this plain constitutional provision, the claim of the bank
can never be paid without an appropriation by act of Congress. But the
bank has never asked for an appropriation. It attempts to defeat the
provision of the Constitution and obtain payment without an act of
Congress. Instead of awaiting an appropriation passed by both Houses
and approved by the President, it makes an appropriation for itself and
invites an appeal to the judiciary to sanction it. That the money had
not technically been paid into the Treasury does not affect the
principle intended to be established by the Constitution.

The Executive and the judiciary have as little right to appropriate and
expend the public money without authority of law before it is placed to
the credit of the Treasury as to take it from the Treasury. In the
annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and in his
correspondence with the president of the bank, and the opinions of the
Attorney General accompanying it, you will find a further examination
of the claims of the bank and the course it has pursued.

It seems due to the safety of the people funds remaining in that bank
and to the honor of the American people that measures be taken to
separate the Government entirely from an institution so mischievous to
the public prosperity and so regardless of the Constitution and laws.
By transferring the public deposits, by appointing other pension agents
as far as it had the power, by ordering the discontinuance of the
receipt of bank checks in the payment of the public dues after January
1st, 1834, the Executive has exerted all its lawful authority to sever
the connection between the Government and this faithless corporation.

The high-handed career of this institution imposes upon the
constitutional functionaries of this Government duties of the gravest
and most imperative character--duties which they can not avoid and from
which I trust there will be no inclination on the part of any of them
to shrink. My own sense of them is most clear, as is also my readiness
to discharge those which may rightfully fall on me. To continue any
business relations with the Bank of the United States that may be
avoided without a violation of the national faith after that
institution has set at open defiance the conceded right of the
Government to examine its affairs, after it has done all in its power
to deride the public authority in other respects and to bring it into
disrepute at home and abroad, after it has attempted to defeat the
clearly expressed will of the people by turning against them the
immense power intrusted to its hands and by involving a country
otherwise peaceful, flourishing, and happy, in dissension,
embarrassment, and distress, would make the nation itself a party to
the degradation so sedulously prepared for its public agents and do
much to destroy the confidence of man-kind in popular governments and
to bring into contempt their authority and efficiency.

In guarding against an evil of such magnitude consideration of
temporary convenience should be thrown out of the question, and we
should be influenced by such motives only as look to the honor and
preservation of the republican system. Deeply and solemnly impressed
with the justice of these views, I feel it to be my duty to recommend
to you that a law be passed authorizing the sale of the public stock;
that the provision of the charter requiring the receipt of notes of the
bank in payment of public dues shall, in accordance with the power
reserved to Congress in the 14th section of the charter, be suspended
until the bank pays to the Treasury the dividends withheld, and that
all laws connecting the Government or its officers with the bank,
directly or indirectly, be repealed, and that the institution be left
hereafter to its own resources and means.

Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American
people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow from a national bank
far over-balance all its advantages. The bold effort the present bank
has made to control the Government, the distresses it has wantonly
produced, the violence of which it has been the occasion in one of our
cities famed for its observance of law and order, are but premonitions
of the fate which awaits the American people should they be deluded
into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another
like it. It is fervently hoped that thus admonished those who have
heretofore favored the establishment of a substitute for the present
bank will be induced to abandon it, as it is evidently better to incur
any inconvenience that may be reasonably expected than to concentrate
the whole moneyed power of the Republic in any form what so ever or
under any restrictions.

Happily it is already illustrated that the agency of such an
institution is not necessary to the fiscal operations of the
Government. The State banks are found fully adequate to the performance
of all services which were required of the Bank of the United States,
quite as promptly and with the same cheapness. They have maintained
themselves and discharged all these duties while the Bank of the United
States was still powerful and in the field as an open enemy, and it is
not possible to conceive that they will find greater difficulties in
their operations when that enemy shall cease to exist.

The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regulation of the
deposits in the State banks by law. Although the power now exercised by
the executive department in this behalf is only such as was uniformly
exerted through every Administration from the origin of the Government
up to the establishment of the present bank, yet it is one which is
susceptible of regulation by law, and therefore ought so to be
regulated. The power of Congress to direct in what places the Treasurer
shall keep the moneys in the Treasury and to impose restrictions upon
the Executive authority in relation to their custody and removal is
unlimited, and its exercise will rather be courted than discouraged by
those public officers and agents on whom rests the responsibility for
their safety. It is desirable that as little power as possible should
be left to the President or the Secretary of the Treasury over those
institutions, which, being thus freed from Executive influence, and
without a common head to direct their operations, would have neither
the temptation nor the ability to interfere in the political conflicts
of the country. Not deriving their charters from the national
authorities, they would never have those inducements to meddle in
general elections which have led the Bank of the United States to
agitate and convulse the country for upward of two years.

The progress of our gold coinage is creditable to the officers of the
Mint, and promises in a short period to furnish the country with a
sound and portable currency, which will much diminish the inconvenience
to travelers of the want of a general paper currency should the State
banks be incapable of furnishing it. Those institutions have already
shown themselves competent to purchase and furnish domestic exchange
for the convenience of trade at reasonable rates, and not a doubt is
entertained that in a short period all the wants of the country in bank
accommodations and exchange will be supplied as promptly and as cheaply
as they have heretofore been by the Bank of the United States. If the
several States shall be induced gradually to reform their banking
systems and prohibit the issue of all small notes, we shall in a few
years have a currency as sound and as little liable to fluctuations as
any other commercial country.

The report of the Secretary of War, together with the accompanying
documents from the several bureaux of that Department, will exhibit the
situation of the various objects committed to its administration.

No event has occurred since your last session rendering necessary any
movements of the Army, with the exception of the expedition of the
regiment of dragoons into the territory of the wandering and predatory
tribes inhabiting the western frontier and living adjacent to the
Mexican boundary. These tribes have been heretofore known to us
principally by their attacks upon our own citizens and upon other
Indians entitled to the protection of the United States. It became
necessary for the peace of the frontiers to check these habitual
inroads, and I am happy to inform you that the object has been effected
without the commission of any act of hostility. Colonel Dodge and the
troops under his command have acted with equal firmness and humanity,
and an arrangement has been made with those Indians which it is hoped
will assure their permanent pacific relations with the United States
and the other tribes of Indians upon that border. It is to be regretted
that the prevalence of sickness in that quarter has deprived the
country of a number of valuable lives, and particularly that General
Leavenworth, an officer well known, and esteemed for his gallant
services in the late war and for his subsequent good conduct, has
fallen a victim to his zeal and exertions in the discharge of his duty.

The Army is in a high state of discipline. Its moral condition, so far
as that is known here, is good, and the various branches of the public
service are carefully attended to. It is amply sufficient under its
present organization for providing the necessary garrisons for the
seaboard and for the defense of the internal frontier, and also for
preserving the elements of military knowledge and for keeping pace with
those improvements which modern experience is continually making. And
these objects appear to me to embrace all the legitimate purposes for
which a permanent military force should be maintained in our country.
The lessons of history teach us its danger and the tendency which
exists to an increase. This can be best met and averted by a just
caution on the part of the public itself, and of those who represent
them in Congress.

From the duties which devolve on the Engineer Department and upon the
topographical engineers, a different organization seems to be demanded
by the public interest, and I recommend the subject to your
consideration.

No important change has during this season taken place in the condition
of the Indians. Arrangements are in progress for the removal of the
Creeks, and will soon be for the removal of the Seminoles. I regret
that the Cherokees east of the Mississippi have not yet determined as a
community to remove. How long the personal causes which have heretofore
retarded that ultimately inevitable measure will continue to operate I
am unable to conjecture. It is certain, however, that delay will bring
with it accumulated evils which will render their condition more and
more unpleasant. The experience of every year adds to the conviction
that emigration, and that alone, can preserve from destruction the
remnant of the tribes yet living amongst us. The facility with which
the necessaries of life are procured and the treaty stipulations
providing aid for the emigrant Indians in their agricultural pursuits
and in the important concern of education, and their removal from those
causes which have heretofore depressed all and destroyed many of the
tribes, can not fail to stimulate their exertions and to reward their
industry.

The two laws passed at the last session of Congress on the subject of
Indian affairs have been carried into effect, and detailed instructions
for their administration have been given. It will be seen by the
estimates for the present session that a great reduction will take
place in the expenditures of the Department in consequence of these
laws, and there is reason to believe that their operation will be
salutary and that the colonization of the Indians on the western
frontier, together with a judicious system of administration, will
still further reduce the expenses of this branch of the public service
and at the same time promote its usefulness and efficiency.

Circumstances have been recently developed showing the existence of
extensive frauds under the various laws granting pensions and
gratuities for Revolutionary services. It is impossible to estimate the
amount which may have been thus fraudulently obtained from the National
Treasury. I am satisfied, however, it has been such as to justify a
re-examination of the system and the adoption of the necessary checks
in its administration. All will agree that the services and sufferings
of the remnant of our Revolutionary band should be fully compensated;
but while this is done, every proper precaution should be taken to
prevent the admission of fabricated and fraudulent claims.

In the present mode of proceeding the attestations and certificates of
the judicial officers of the various States from a considerable portion
of the checks which are interposed against the commission of frauds.
These, however, have been and may be fabricated, and in such a way as
to elude detection at the examining offices. And independently of this
practical difficulty, it is ascertained that these documents are often
loosely granted; some times even blank certificates have been issued;
some times prepared papers have been signed without inquiry, and in one
instance, at least, the seal of the court has been within reach of a
person most interested in its improper application. It is obvious that
under such circumstances no severity of administration can check the
abuse of the law. And information has from time to time been
communicated to the Pension Office questioning or denying the right of
persons placed upon the pension list to the bounty of the country.

Such cautions are always attended to and examined, but a far more
general investigation is called for, and I therefore recommend, in
conformity with the suggestion of the Secretary of War, that an actual
inspection should be made in each State into the circumstances and
claims of every person now drawing a pension. The honest veteran has
nothing to fear from such a scrutiny, while the fraudulent claimant
will be detected and the public Treasury relieved to an amount, I have
reason to believe, far greater than has heretofore been suspected. The
details of such a plan could be so regulated as to interpose the
necessary checks without any burdensome operation upon the pensioners.
The object should be two-fold: To look into the original justice of the
claims, so far as this can be done under a proper system of
regulations, by an examination of the claimants themselves and by
inquiring in the vicinity of their residence into their history and
into the opinion entertained of their Revolutionary services. To
ascertain in all cases whether the original claimant is living and this
by actual personal inspection. This measure will, if adopted, be
productive, I think, of the desired results, and I therefore recommend
it to your consideration, with the further suggestion that all payments
should be suspended 'til the necessary reports are received.

It will be seen by a tabular statement annexed to the documents
transmitted to Congress that the appropriations for objects connected
with the War Department, made at the last session, for the service of
the year 1834, excluding the permanent appropriation for the payment of
military gratuities under the act of June 7th, 1832, the appropriation
of $200,000 for arming and equipping the militia, and the appropriation
of $10,000 for the civilization of the Indians, which are not annually
renewed, amounted to the sum of $9,003,261, and that the estimates of
appropriations necessary for the same branches of service for the year
1835 amount to the sum of $5,778,964, making a difference in the
appropriations of the current year over the estimates of the
appropriations for the next of $3,224,297.

The principal causes which have operated at this time to produce this
great difference are shown in the reports and documents and in the
detailed estimates. Some of these causes are accidental and temporary,
while others are permanent, and, aided by a just course of
administration, may continue to operate beneficially upon the public
expenditures.

A just economy, expending where the public service requires and
withholding where it does not, is among the indispensable duties of the
Government.

I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy and
to the documents with it for a full view of the operations of that
important branch of our service during the present year. It will be
seen that the wisdom and liberality with which Congress has provided
for the gradual increase of our navy material have been seconded by a
corresponding zeal and fidelity on the part of those to whom has been
confided the execution of the laws on the subject, and that but a short
period would be now required to put in commission a force large enough
for any exigency into which the country may be thrown.

When we reflect upon our position in relation to other nations, it must
be apparent that in the event of conflicts with them we must look
chiefly to our Navy for the protection of our national rights. The wide
seas which separate us from other Governments must of necessity be the
theater on which an enemy will aim to assail us, and unless we are
prepared to meet him on this element we can not be said to possess the
power requisite to repel or prevent aggressions. We can not, therefore,
watch with too much attention this arm of our defense, or cherish with
too much care the means by which it can possess the necessary
efficiency and extension. To this end our policy has been heretofore
wisely directed to the constant employment of a force sufficient to
guard our commerce, and to the rapid accumulation of the materials
which are necessary to repair our vessels and construct with ease such
new ones as may be required in a state of war.

In accordance with this policy, I recommend to your consideration the
erection of the additional dry dock described by the Secretary of the
Navy, and also the construction of the steam batteries to which he has
referred, for the purpose of testing their efficacy as auxiliaries to
the system of defense now in use.

The report of the Post Master General herewith submitted exhibits the
condition and prospects of that Department. From that document it
appears that there was a deficit in the funds of the Department at the
commencement of the present year beyond its available means of
$315,599.98, which on the first of July last had been reduced to
$268,092.74. It appears also that the revenues for the coming year will
exceed the expenditures about $270,000, which, with the excess of
revenue which will result from the operations of the current half year,
may be expected, independently of any increase in the gross amount of
postages, to supply the entire deficit before the end of 1835. But as
this calculation is based on the gross amount of postages which had
accrued within the period embraced by the times of striking the
balances, it is obvious that without a progressive increase in the
amount of postages the existing retrenchments must be persevered in
through the year 1836 that the Department may accumulate a surplus fund
sufficient to place it in a condition of perfect ease.

It will be observed that the revenues of the Post Office Department,
though they have increased, and their amount is above that of any
former year, have yet fallen short of the estimates more than $100,000.
This is attributed in a great degree to the increase of free letters
growing out of the extension and abuse of the franking privilege. There
has been a gradual increase in the number of executive offices to which
it has been granted, and by an act passed in March, 1833, it was
extended to members of Congress throughout the whole year. It is
believed that a revision of the laws relative to the franking
privilege, with some enactments to enforce more rigidly the
restrictions under which it is granted, would operate beneficially to
the country, by enabling the Department at an earlier period to restore
the mail facilities that have been withdrawn, and to extend them more
widely, as the growing settlements of the country may require.

To a measure so important to the Government and so just to our
constituents, who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves and are
not willing to concede them to others, I earnestly recommend the
serious attention of Congress.

The importance of the Post Office Department and the magnitude to which
it has grown, both in its revenues and in its operations, seem to
demand its reorganization by law. The whole of its receipts and
disbursements have hitherto been left entirely to Executive control and
individual discretion. The principle is as sound in relation to this as
to any other Department of the Government, that as little discretion
should be confided to the executive officer who controls it as is
compatible with its efficiency. It is therefore earnestly recommended
that it be organized with an auditor and treasurer of its own,
appointed by the President and Senate, who shall be branches of the
Treasury Department.

Your attention is again respectfully invited to the defect which exists
in the judicial system of the United States. Nothing can be more
desirable than the uniform operation of the Federal judiciary
throughout the several States, all of which, standing on the same
footing as members of the Union, have equal rights to the advantages
and benefits resulting from its laws. This object is not attained by
the judicial acts now in force, because they leave one quarter of the
States without circuit courts.

It is undoubtedly the duty of Congress to place all the States on the
same footing in this respect, either by the creation of an additional
number of associate judges or by an enlargement of the circuits
assigned to those already appointed so as to include the new States.
What ever may be the difficulty in a proper organization of the
judicial system so as to secure its efficiency and uniformity in all
parts of the Union and at the same time to avoid such an increase of
judges as would encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, it should not
be allowed to weigh against the great injustice which the present
operation of the system produces.

I trust that I may be also pardoned for renewing the recommendation I
have so often submitted to your attention in regard to the mode of
electing the President and Vice President of the United States. All the
reflection I have been able to bestow upon the subject increases my
conviction that the best interests of the country will be promoted by
the adoption of some plan which will secure in all contingencies that
important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the people.
Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers be limited to a
single period of either four or six years, I think our liberties would
possess an additional safeguard.

At your last session I called the attention of Congress to the
destruction of the public building occupied by the Treasury Department.
As the public interest requires that another building should be erected
with as little delay as possible, it is hoped that the means will be
seasonably provided and that they will be ample enough to authorize
such an enlargement and improvement in the plan of the building as will
more effectually accommodate the public officers and secure the public
documents deposited in it from the casualties of fire.

I have not been able to satisfy myself that the bill entitled "An act
to improve the navigation of the Wabash River", which was sent to me at
the close of your last session, ought to pass, and I have therefore
withheld from it my approval and now return it to the Senate, the body
in which it originated.

There can be no question connected with the administration of public
affairs more important or more difficult to be satisfactorily dealt
with than that which relates to the rightful authority and proper
action of the Federal Government upon the subject of internal
improvements. To inherent embarrassments have been added others
resulting from the course of our legislation concerning it.

I have heretofore communicated freely with Congress upon this subject,
and in adverting to it again I can not refrain from expressing my
increased conviction of its extreme importance as well in regard to its
bearing upon the maintenance of the Constitution and the prudent
management of the public revenue as on account of its disturbing effect
upon the harmony of the Union.

We are in no danger from violations of the Constitution by which
encroachments are made upon the personal rights of the citizen. The
sentence of condemnation long since pronounced by the American people
upon acts of that character will, I doubt not, continue to prove as
salutary in its effects as it is irreversible in its nature.

But against the dangers of unconstitutional acts which, instead of
menacing the vengeance of offended authority, proffer local advantages
and bring in their train the patronage of the Government, we are, I
fear, not so safe. To suppose that because our Government has been
instituted for the benefit of the people it must therefore have the
power to do what ever may seem to conduce to the public good is an
error into which even honest minds are too apt to fall. In yielding
themselves to this fallacy they overlook the great considerations in
which the Federal Constitution was founded. They forget that in
consequence of the conceded diversities in the interest and condition
of the different States it was foreseen at the period of its adoption
that although a particular measure of the Government might be
beneficial and proper in one State it might be the reverse in another;
that it was for this reason the States would not consent to make a
grant to the Federal Government of the general and usual powers of
government, but of such only as were specifically enumerated, and the
probable effects of which they could, as they thought, safely
anticipate; and they forget also the paramount obligation upon all to
abide by the compact then so solemnly and, as it was hoped, so firmly
established.

In addition to the dangers to the Constitution springing from the
sources I have stated, there has been one which was perhaps greater
than all. I allude to the materials which this subject has afforded for
sinister appeals to selfish feelings, and the opinion heretofore so
extensively entertained of its adaptation to the purposes of personal
ambition. With such stimulus it is not surprising that the acts and
pretensions of the Federal Government in this behalf should some times
have been carried to an alarming extent. The questions which have
arisen upon this subject have related--To the power of making internal
improvements within the limits of a State, with the right of
territorial jurisdiction, sufficient at least for their preservation
and use. To the right of appropriating money in aid of such works when
carried on by a State of by a company in virtue of State authority,
surrendering the claim of jurisdiction; and To the propriety of
appropriation for improvements of a particular class, viz, for light
houses, beacons, buoys, public piers, and for the removal of sand bars,
sawyers, and other temporary and partial impediments in our navigable
rivers and harbors. The claims of power for the General Government upon
each of these points certainly present matter of the deepest interest.
The first is, however, of much the greatest importance, in as much as,
in addition to the dangers of unequal and improvident expenditures of
public moneys common to all, there is super-added to that the
conflicting jurisdictions of the respective governments. Federal
jurisdiction, at least to the extent I have stated, has been justly
regarded by its advocates as necessarily appurtenant to the power in
question, if that exists by the Constitution.

That the most injurious conflicts would unavoidably arise between the
respective jurisdictions of the State and Federal Governments in the
absence of a constitutional provision marking out their respective
boundaries can not be doubted. The local advantages to be obtained
would induce the States to overlook in the beginning the dangers and
difficulties to which they might ultimately be exposed. The powers
exercised by the Federal Government would soon be regarded with
jealousy by the State authorities, and originating as they must from
implication or assumption, it would be impossible to affix to them
certain and safe limits.

Opportunities and temptations to the assumption of power incompatible
with State sovereignty would be increased and those barriers which
resist the tendency of our system toward consolidation greatly
weakened. The officers and agents of the General Government might not
always have the discretion to abstain from intermeddling with State
concerns, and if they did they would not always escape the suspicion of
having done so. Collisions and consequent irritations would spring up;
that harmony which should ever exist between the General Government and
each member of the Confederacy would be frequently interrupted; a
spirit of contention would be engendered and the dangers of disunion
greatly multiplied.

Yet we know that not withstanding these grave objections this dangerous
doctrine was at one time apparently proceeding to its final
establishment with fearful rapidity. The desire to embark the Federal
Government in works of internal improvement prevailed in the highest
degree during the first session of the first Congress that I had the
honor to meet in my present situation. When the bill authorizing a
subscription on the part of the United States for stock in the
Maysville and Lexington Turn Pike Company passed the two houses, there
had been reported by the Committees of Internal Improvements bills
containing appropriations for such objects, inclusive of those for the
Cumberland road and for harbors and light houses, to the amount of
$106,000,000. In this amount was included authority to the Secretary of
the Treasury to subscribe for the stock of different companies to a
great extent, and the residue was principally for the direct
construction of roads by this Government. In addition to these
projects, which had been presented to the two Houses under the sanction
and recommendation of their respective Committees on Internal
Improvements, there were then still pending before the committees, and
in memorials to Congress presented but not referred, different projects
for works of a similar character, the expense of which can not be
estimated with certainty, but must have exceeded $100,000,000.

Regarding the bill authorizing a subscription to the stock of the
Maysville and Lexington Turn Pike Company as the entering wedge of a
system which, however weak at first, might soon become strong enough to
rive the bands of the Union asunder, and believing that if its passage
was acquiesced in by the Executive and the people there would no longer
be any limitation upon the authority of the General Government in
respect to the appropriation of money for such objects, I deemed it an
imperative duty to withhold from it the Executive approval.

Although from the obviously local character of that work I might well
have contented myself with a refusal to approve the bill upon that
ground, yet sensible of the vital importance of the subject, and
anxious that my views and opinions in regard to the whole matter should
be fully understood by Congress and by my constituents, I felt it my
duty to go further. I therefore embraced that early occasion to apprise
Congress that in my opinion the Constitution did not confer upon it the
power to authorize the construction of ordinary roads and canals within
the limits of a State and to say, respectfully, that no bill admitting
such a power could receive my official sanction. I did so in the
confident expectation that the speedy settlement of the public mind
upon the whole subject would be greatly facilitated by the difference
between the two Houses and myself, and that the harmonious action of
the several departments of the Federal Government in regard to it would
be ultimately secured.

So far, at least, as it regards this branch of the subject, my best
hopes have been realized. Nearly four years have elapsed, and several
sessions of Congress have intervened, and no attempt within my
recollection has been made to induce Congress to exercise this power.
The applications for the construction of roads and canals which were
formerly multiplied upon your files are no longer presented, and we
have good reason to infer that the current public sentiment has become
so decided against the pretension as effectually to discourage its
reassertion. So thinking, I derive the greatest satisfaction from the
conviction that thus much at least has been secured upon this important
and embarrassing subject.

From attempts to appropriate the national funds to objects which are
confessedly of a local character we can not, I trust, have anything
further to apprehend. My views in regard to the expediency of making
appropriations for works which are claimed to be of a national
character and prosecuted under State authority--assuming that Congress
have the right to do so--were stated in my annual message to Congress
in 1830, and also in that containing my objections to the Maysville
road bill.

So thoroughly convinced am I that no such appropriations ought to be
made by Congress until a suitable constitutional provision is made upon
the subject, and so essential do I regard the point to the highest
interests of our country, that I could not consider myself as
discharging my duty to my constituents in giving the Executive sanction
to any bill containing such an appropriation. If the people of the
United States desire that the public Treasury shall be resorted to for
the means to prosecute such works, they will concur in an amendment of
the Constitution prescribing a rule by which the national character of
the works is to be tested, and by which the greatest practicable
equality of benefits may be secured to each member of the Confederacy.
The effects of such a regulation would be most salutary in preventing
unprofitable expenditures, in securing our legislation from the
pernicious consequences of a scramble for the favors of Government, and
in repressing the spirit of discontent which must inevitably arise from
an unequal distribution of treasures which belong alike to all.

There is another class of appropriations for what may be called,
without impropriety, internal improvements, which have always been
regarded as standing upon different grounds from those to which I have
referred. I allude to such as have for their object the improvement of
our harbors, the removal of partial and temporary obstructions in our
navigable rivers, for the facility and security of our foreign
commerce. The grounds upon which I distinguished appropriations of this
character from others have already been stated to Congress. I will now
only add that at the 1st session of Congress under the new Constitution
it was provided by law that all expenses which should accrue from and
after the 15th day of August, 1789, in the necessary support and
maintenance and repairs of all light houses, beacons, buoys, and public
piers erected, placed, or sunk before the passage of the act within any
bay, inlet, harbor, or port of the United States, for rendering the
navigation thereof easy and safe, should be defrayed out of the
Treasury of the United States, and, further, that it should be the duty
of the Secretary of the Treasury to provide by contracts, with the
approbation of the President, for rebuilding when necessary and keeping
in good repair the light houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers in
the several States, and for furnishing them with supplies.

Appropriations for similar objects have been continued from that time
to the present without interruption or dispute. As a natural
consequence of the increase and extension of our foreign commerce,
ports of entry and delivery have been multiplied and established, not
only upon our sea-board but in the interior of the country upon our
lakes and navigable rivers. The convenience and safety of this commerce
have led to the gradual extension of these expenditures; to the
erection of light houses, the placing, planting, and sinking of buoys,
beacons, and piers, and to the removal of partial and temporary
obstructions in our navigable rivers and in the harbors upon our Great
Lakes as well as on the sea-board.

Although I have expressed to Congress my apprehension that these
expenditures have some times been extravagant and disproportionate to
the advantages to be derived from them, I have not felt it to be my
duty to refuse my assent to bills containing them, and have contented
myself to follow in this respect in the foot-steps of all my
predecessors. Sensible, however, from experience and observation of the
great abuses to which the unrestricted exercise of this authority by
Congress was exposed, I have prescribed a limitation for the government
of my own conduct by which expenditures of this character are confined
to places below the ports of entry or delivery established by law. I am
very sensible that this restriction is not as satisfactory as could be
desired, and that much embarrassment may be caused to the executive
department in its execution by appropriations for remote and not
well-understood objects. But as neither my own reflections nor the
lights which I may properly derive from other sources have supplied me
with a better, I shall continue to apply my best exertions to a
faithful application of the rule upon which it is founded.

I sincerely regret that I could not give my assent to the bill
entitled: "An act to improve the navigation of the Wabash River"; but I
could not have done so without receding from the ground which I have,
upon the fullest consideration, taken upon this subject, and of which
Congress has been heretofore apprised, and without throwing the subject
again open to abuses which no good citizen entertaining my opinions
could desire.

I rely upon the intelligence and candor of my fellow citizens, in whose
liberal indulgence I have already so largely participated, for a
correct appreciation on my motives in interposing as I have done on
this and other occasions checks to a course of legislation which,
without in the slightest degree calling in question the motives of
others, I consider as sanctioning improper and unconstitutional
expenditures of public treasure.

I am not hostile to internal improvements, and wish to see them
extended to every part of the country. But I am fully persuaded, if
they are not commenced in a proper manner, confined to proper objects,
and conducted under an authority generally conceded to be rightful,
that a successful prosecution of them can not be reasonably expected.
The attempt will meet with resistance where it might otherwise receive
support, and instead of strengthening the bonds of our Confederacy it
will only multiply and aggravate the causes of disunion.