between the United States and Great Britain a hope had been entertained
that an article might have been agreed upon mutually satisfactory to both
countries, regulating upon principles of justice and reciprocity the
commercial intercourse between the United States and the British
possessions as well in the West Indies as upon the continent of North
America. The plenipotentiaries of the two Governments not having been able
to come to an agreement on this important interest, those of the United
States reserved for the consideration of this Government the proposals
which had been presented to them as the ultimate offer on the part of the
British Government, and which they were not authorized to accept. On their
transmission here they were examined with due deliberation, the result of
which was a new effort to meet the views of the British Government. The
minister of the United States was instructed to make a further proposal,
which has not been accepted. It was, however, declined in an amicable
manner. I recommend to the consideration of Congress whether further
prohibitory provisions in the laws relating to this intercourse may not be
expedient. It is seen with interest that although it has not been
practicable as yet to agree in any arrangement of this important branch of
their commerce, such is the disposition of the parties that each will view
any regulations which the other may make respecting it in the most friendly
light.
By the 5th article of the convention concluded on October 20th, 1818, it
was stipulated that the differences which have arisen between the two
Governments with respect to the true intent and meaning of the 5th article
of the treaty of Ghent, in relation to the carrying away by British
officers of slaves from the United States after the exchange of the
ratifications of the treaty of peace, should be referred to the decision of
some friendly sovereign or state to be named for that purpose. The minister
of the United States has been instructed to name to the British Government
a foreign sovereign, the common friend to both parties, for the decision of
this question. The answer of that Government to the proposal when received
will indicate the further measures to be pursued on the part of the United
States.
Although the pecuniary embarrassments which affected various parts of the
Union during the latter part of the preceding year have during the present
been considerably augmented, and still continue to exist, the receipts into
the Treasury to the 30th of September last have amounted to $19 millions.
After defraying the current expenses of the Government, including the
Interest and reimbursement of the public debt payable to that period,
amounting to $18.2 millions, there remained in the Treasury on that day
more than $2.5 millions, which, with the sums receivable during the
remainder of the year, will exceed the current demands upon the Treasury
for the same period.
The causes which have tended to diminish the public receipts could not fail
to have a corresponding effect upon the revenue which has accrued upon
imposts and tonnage during the three first quarters of the present year. It
is, however, ascertained that the duties which have been secured during
that period exceed $18 millions, and those of the whole year will probably
amount to $23 millions.
For the probable receipts of the next year I refer you to the statements
which will be transmitted from the Treasury, which will enable you to judge
whether further provision be necessary.
The great reduction in the price of the principal articles of domestic
growth which has occurred during the present year, and the consequent fall
in the price of labor, apparently so favorable to the success of domestic
manufactures, have not shielded them against other causes adverse to their
prosperity. The pecuniary embarrassments which have so deeply affected the
commercial interests of the nation have been no less adverse to our
manufacturing establishments in several sections of the Union.
The great reduction of the currency which the banks have been constrained
to make in order to continue specie payments, and the vitiated character of
it where such reductions have not been attempted, instead of placing within
the reach of these establishments the pecuniary aid necessary to avail
themselves of the advantages resulting from the reduction in the prices of
the raw materials and of labor, have compelled the banks to withdraw from
them a portion of the capital heretofore advanced to them. That aid which
has been refused by the banks has not been obtained from other sources,
owing to the loss of individual confidence from the frequent failures which
have recently occurred in some of our principal commercial cities.
An additional cause for the depression of these establishments may probably
be found in the pecuniary embarrassments which have recently affected those
countries with which our commerce has been principally prosecuted. Their
manufactures, for the want of a ready or profitable market at home, have
been shipped by the manufacturers to the United States, and in many
instances sold at a price below their current value at the place of
manufacture. Although this practice may from its nature be considered
temporary or contingent, it is not on that account less injurious in its
effects. Uniformity in the demand and price of an article is highly
desirable to the domestic manufacturer.
It is deemed of great importance to give encouragement to our domestic
manufacturers. In what manner the evils which have been adverted to may be
remedied, and how far it may be practicable in other respects to afford to
them further encouragement, paying due regard to the other great interests
of the nation, is submitted to the wisdom of Congress.
The survey of the coast for the establishment of fortifications is now
nearly completed, and considerable progress has been made in the collection
of materials for the construction of fortifications in the Gulf of Mexico
and in the Chesapeake Bay. The works on the eastern bank of the Potomac
below Alexandria and on the Pea Patch, in the Delaware, are much advanced,
and it is expected that the fortifications at the Narrows, in the harbor of
New York, will be completed the present year. To derive all the advantages
contemplated from these fortifications it was necessary that they should be
judiciously posted, and constructed with a view to permanence. The progress
hitherto has therefore been slow; but as the difficulties in parts
heretofore the least explored and known are surmounted, it will in future
be more rapid. As soon as the survey of the coast is completed, which it is
expected will be done early in the next spring, the engineers employed in
it will proceed to examine for like purposes the northern and northwestern
frontiers.
The troops intended to occupy a station at the mouth of the St. Peters, on
the Mississippi, have established themselves there, and those who were
ordered to the mouth of the Yellow Stone, on the Missouri, have ascended
that river to the Council Bluff, where they will remain until the next
spring, when they will proceed to the place of their destination. I have
the satisfaction to state that this measure has been executed in amity with
the Indian tribes, and that it promises to produce, in regard to them, all
the advantages which were contemplated by it.
Much progress has likewise been made in the construction of ships of war
and in the collection of timber and other materials for ship building. It
is not doubted that our Navy will soon be augmented to the number and
placed in all respects on the footing provided for by law.
The Board, consisting of engineers and naval officers, have not yet made
their final report of sites for two naval depots, as instructed according
to the resolutions of March 18th, 1818 and April 20th, 1818, but they
have examined the coast therein designated, and their report is expected
in the next month.
For the protection of our commerce in the Mediterranean, along the southern
Atlantic coast, in the Pacific and Indian oceans, it has been found
necessary to maintain a strong naval force, which it seems proper for the
present to continue. There is much reason to believe that if any portion of
the squadron heretofore stationed in the Mediterranean should be withdrawn
our intercourse with the powers bordering on that sea would be much
interrupted, if not altogether destroyed. Such, too, has been the growth of
a spirit of piracy in the other quarters mentioned, by adventurers from
every country, in abuse of the friendly flags which they have assumed, that
not to protect our commerce there would be to abandon it as a prey to
their rapacity.
Due attention has likewise been paid to the suppression of the slave trade,
in compliance with a law of the last session. Orders have been given to the
commanders of all our public ships to seize all vessels navigated under our
flag engaged in that trade, and to bring them in to be proceeded against in
the manner prescribed by the law. It is hoped that these vigorous measures,
supported by like acts by other nations, will soon terminate a commerce so
disgraceful to the civilized world.
In the execution of the duty imposed by these acts, and of a high trust
connected with it, it is with deep regret I have to state the loss which
has been sustained by the death of Commodore Perry. His gallantry in a
brilliant exploit in the late war added to the renown of his country. His
death is deplored as a national misfortune.
***
State of the Union Address
James Monroe
November 14, 1820
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
In communicating to you a just view of public affairs at the commencement
of your present labors, I do it with great satisfaction, because, taking
all circumstances into consideration which claim attention, I see much
cause to rejoice in the felicity of our situation. In making this remark I
do not wish to be understood to imply that an unvaried prosperity is to be
seen in every interest of this great community. In the progress of a nation
inhabiting a territory of such vast extent and great variety of climate,
every portion of which is engaged in foreign commerce and liable to be
affected in some degree by the changes which occur in the condition and
regulations of foreign countries, it would be strange if the produce of our
soil and the industry and enterprise of our fellow citizens received at all
times and in every quarter an uniform and equal encouragement. This would
be more than we would have a right to expect under circumstances the most
favorable.
Pressures on certain interests, it is admitted, have been felt; but
allowing to these their greatest extent, they detract but little from the
force of the remarks already made. In forming a just estimate of our
present situation it is proper to look at the whole in the outline as well
as in the detail. A free, virtuous, and enlightened people know well the
great principles and causes on which their happiness depends, and even
those who suffer most occasionally in their transitory concerns find great
relief under their sufferings from the blessings which they otherwise enjoy
and in the consoling and animating hope which they administer.
From whence do these pressures come? Not from a Government which is founded
by, administered for, and supported by the people. We trace them to the
peculiar character of the epoch in which we live, and to the extraordinary
occurrences which have signalized it. The convulsions with which several of
the powers of Europe have been shaken and the long and destructive wars in
which all were engaged, with their sudden transition to a state of peace,
presenting in the first instance unusual encouragement to our commerce and
withdrawing it in the second even within its wonted limit, could not fail
to be sensibly felt here. The station, too, which we had to support through
this long conflict, compelled as we were finally to become a party to it
with a principal power, and to make great exertions, suffer heavy losses,
and to contract considerable debts, disturbing the ordinary course of
affairs by augmenting to a vast amount the circulating medium, and thereby
elevating at one time the price of every article above a just standard and
depressing it at another below it, had likewise its due effect.
It is manifest that the pressures of which we complain have proceeded in a
great measure from these causes. When, then, we take into view the
prosperous and happy condition of our country in all the great
circumstances which constitute the felicity of a nation--every individual
in the full enjoyment of all his rights, the Union blessed with plenty and
rapidly rising to greatness under a National Government which operates with
complete effect in every part without being felt in any except by the ample
protection which it affords, and under State governments which perform
their equal share, according to a wise distribution of power between them,
in promoting the public happiness--it is impossible to behold so
gratifying, so glorious a spectacle without being penetrated with the most
profound and grateful acknowledgments to the Supreme Author of All Good for
such manifold and inestimable blessings.
Deeply impressed with these sentiments, I can not regard the pressures to
which I have adverted otherwise than in the light of mild and instructive
admonitions, warning us of dangers to be shunned in future, teaching us
lessons of economy corresponding with the simplicity and purity of our
institutions and best adapted to their support, evincing the connection and
dependence which the various parts of our happy Union have on each other,
thereby augmenting daily our social incorporation and adding by its strong
ties new strength and vigor to the political; opening a wider range, and
with new encouragement, to the industry and enterprise of our fellow
citizens at home and abroad, and more especially by the multiplied proofs
which it has accumulated of the great perfection of our most excellent
system of Government, the powerful instrument in the hands of our
All-merciful Creator in securing to us these blessings.
Happy as our situation is, it does not exempt us from solicitude and care
for the future. On the contrary, as the blessings which we enjoy are great,
proportionably great should be our vigilance, zeal, and activity to
preserve them. Foreign wars may again expose us to new wrongs, which would
impose on us new duties for which we ought to be prepared. The state of
Europe is unsettled, and how long peace may be preserved is altogether
uncertain; in addition to which we have interests of our own to adjust
which will require particular attention. A correct view of our relations
with each power will enable you to form a just idea of existing
difficulties, and of the measures of precaution best adapted to them.
Respecting our relations with Spain nothing explicit can now be
communicated. On the adjournment of Congress in May last the minister
plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid was instructed to inform the
Government of Spain that if His Catholic Majesty should then ratify the
treaty this Government would accept the ratification so far as to submit to
the decision of the Senate the question whether such ratification should be
received in exchange for that of the United States heretofore given.
By letters from the minister of the United States to the Secretary of State
it appears that a communication in conformity with his instructions had
been made to the Government of Spain, and that the Cortes had the subject
under consideration. The result of the deliberations of that body, which is
daily expected, will be made known to Congress as soon as it is received.
The friendly sentiment which was expressed on the part of the United States
in the message of the 9th of May last is still entertained for Spain.
Among the causes of regret, however, which are inseparable from the delay
attending this transaction it is proper to state that satisfactory
information has been received that measures have been recently adopted by
designing persons to convert certain parts of the Province of East Florida
into depots for the reception of foreign goods, from whence to smuggle them
into the United States. By opening a port within the limits of Florida,
immediately on our boundary where there was no settlement, the object could
not be misunderstood. An early accommodation of differences will, it is
hoped, prevent all such fraudulent and pernicious practices, and place the
relations of the two countries on a very amicable and permanent basis.
The commercial relations between the United States and the British colonies
in the West Indies and on this continent have undergone no change, the
British Government still preferring to leave that commerce under the
restriction heretofore imposed on it on each side. It is satisfactory to
recollect that the restraints resorted to by the United States were
defensive only, intended to prevent a monopoly under British regulations in
favor of Great Britain, as it likewise is to know that the experiment is
advancing in a spirit of amity between the parties.
The question depending between the United States and Great Britain
respecting the construction of the first article of the treaty of Ghent has
been referred by both Governments to the decision of the Emperor of Russia,
who has accepted the umpirage.
An attempt has been made with the Government of France to regulate by
treaty the commerce between the two countries on the principle of
reciprocity and equality. By the last communication from the minister
plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, to whom full power had been
given, we learn that the negotiation has been commenced there; but serious
difficulties having occurred, the French Government had resolved to
transfer it to the United States, for which purpose the minister
plenipotentiary of France had been ordered to repair to this city, and
whose arrival might soon be expected. It is hoped that this important
interest may be arranged on just conditions and in a manner equally
satisfactory to both parties. It is submitted to Congress to decide, until
such arrangement is made, how far it may be proper, on the principle of the
act of the last session which augmented the tonnage duty on French vessels,
to adopt other measures for carrying more completely into effect the policy
of that act.
The act referred to, which imposed new tonnage on French vessels, having
been in force from and after the first day of July, it has happened that
several vessels of that nation which had been dispatched from France before
its existence was known have entered the ports of the United States, and
been subject to its operation, without that previous notice which the
general spirit of our laws gives to individuals in similar cases. The
object of that law having been merely to countervail the inequalities which
existed to the disadvantage of the United States in their commercial
intercourse with France, it is submitted also to the consideration of
Congress whether, in the spirit of amity and conciliation which it is no
less the inclination than the policy of the United States to preserve in
their intercourse with other powers, it may not be proper to extend relief
to the individuals interested in those cases by exempting from the
operation of the law all those vessels which have entered our ports without
having had the means of previously knowing the existence of the additional
duty.
The contest between Spain and the colonies, according to the most authentic
information, is maintained by the latter with improved success. The
unfortunate divisions which were known to exist some time since at Buenos
Ayres it is understood still prevail. In no part of South America has Spain
made any impression on the colonies, while in many parts, and particularly
in Venezuela and New Grenada, the colonies have gained strength and
acquired reputation, both for the management of the war in which they have
been successful and for the order of the internal administration.
The late change in the Government of Spain, by the reestablishment of the
constitution of 1812, is an event which promises to be favorable to the
revolution. Under the authority of the Cortes the Congress of Angostura was
invited to open a negotiation for the settlement of differences between the
parties, to which it was replied that they would willingly open the
negotiation provided the acknowledgment of their independence was made its
basis, but not otherwise.
No facts are known to this Government to warrant the belief that any of the
powers of Europe will take part in the contest, whence it may be inferred,
considering all circumstances which must have weight in producing the
result, that an adjustment will finally take place on the basis proposed by
the colonies. To promote that result by friendly counsels with other
powers, including Spain herself, has been the uniform policy of this
Government.
In looking to the internal concerns of our country you will, I am
persuaded, derive much satisfaction from a view of the several objects to
which, in the discharge of your official duties, your attention will be
drawn. Among these none holds a more important place than the public
revenue, from the direct operation of the power by which it is raised on
the people, and by its influence in giving effect to every other power of
the Government. The revenue depends on the resources of the country, and
the facility by which the amount required is raised is a strong proof of
the extent of the resources and of the efficiency of the Government.
A few prominent facts will place this great interest in a just light before
you. On September 30th, 1815, the funded and floating debt of the United
States was estimated at $119,635,558. If to this sum be added the amount
of 5% stock subscribed to the Bank of the United States, the amount of
Mississippi stock and of the stock which was issued subsequently to that
date, and as afterwards liquidated, to $158,713,049.
On September 30th, 1820, it amounted to $91,993,883, having been reduced
in that interval by payments $66,879,165. During this term the expenses
of the Government of the United States were likewise defrayed in every
branch of the civil, military, and naval establishments; the public
edifices in this city have been rebuilt with considerable additions;
extensive fortifications have been commenced, and are in a train of
execution; permanent arsenals and magazines have been erected in various
parts of the Union; our Navy has been considerably augmented, and the
ordnance, munitions of war, and stores of the Army and Navy, which were
much exhausted during the war, have been replenished.
By the discharge of so large a proportion of the public debt and the
execution of such extensive and important operations in so short a time a
just estimate may be formed of the great extent of our national resources.
The demonstration is the more complete and gratifying when it is
recollected that the direct tax and excise were repealed soon after the
termination of the late war, and that the revenue applied to these purposes
has been derived almost wholly from other sources.
The receipts into the Treasury from every source to the 30th of September
last have amounted to $16,794,107.66, whilst the public expenditures to the
same period amounted to $16,871,534.72, leaving in the Treasury on that day
a sum estimated at $1.95 millions. For the probable receipts of the
following year I refer you to the statement which will be transmitted from
the Treasury.
The sum of $3 millions authorized to be raised by loan by an act of the
last session of Congress has been obtained upon terms advantageous to the
Government, indicating not only an increased confidence in the faith of the
nation, but the existence of a large amount of capital seeking that mode of
investment at a rate of interest not exceeding 5% per annum.
It is proper to add that there is now due to the Treasury for the sale of
public lands $22,996,545. In bringing this subject to view I consider it my
duty to submit to Congress whether it may not be advisable to extend to the
purchasers of these lands, in consideration of the unfavorable change which
has occurred since the sales, a reasonable indulgence. It is known that the
purchases were made when the price of every article had risen to its
greatest height, and the installments are becoming due at a period of great
depression. It is presumed that some plan may be devised by the wisdom of
Congress, compatible with the public interest, which would afford great
relief to these purchasers.