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.