portion of our navigation carried on by the use of steam power deserve
the immediate and unremitting attention of the constituted authorities
of the country. The fact that the number of those fatal disasters is
constantly increasing, not withstanding the great improvements which
are every where made in the machinery employed and in the rapid
advances which have made in that branch of science, shows very clearly
that they are in a great degree the result of criminal negligence on
the part of those by whom the vessels are navigated and to whose care
and attention the lives and property of our citizens are so extensively
intrusted.
That these evils may be greatly lessened, if not substantially removed,
by means of precautionary and penal legislation seems to be highly
probably. So far, therefore, as the subject can be regarded as within
the constitutional purview of Congress I earnestly recommend it to your
prompt and serious consideration.
I would also call your attention to the views I have heretofore
expressed of the propriety of amending the Constitution in relation to
the mode of electing the President and the Vice-President of the United
States. Regarding it as all important to the future quiet and harmony
of the people that every intermediate agency in the election of these
officers should be removed and that their eligibility should be limited
to one term of either four or six years, I can not too earnestly invite
your consideration of the subject.
Trusting that your deliberations on all the topics of general interest
to which I have adverted, and such others as your more extensive
knowledge of the wants of our beloved country may suggest, may be
crowned with success, I tender you in conclusion the cooperation which
it may be in my power to afford them.
***
State of the Union Address
Andrew Jackson
December 1, 1834
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.