thought it expedient to recommend to the States an amendment to the
Constitution for the purpose of vesting in the United States a power to
adopt and execute a system of internal improvement, it is also submitted to
your consideration whether it may not be expedient to authorize the
Executive to enter into an arrangement with the several States through
which the road passes to establish tolls, each within its limits, for the
purpose of defraying the expense of future repairs and of providing also by
suitable penalties for its protection against future injuries.
The act of Congress of May 7th, 1822, appropriated the sum of $22,700 for
the purpose of erecting two piers as a shelter for vessels from ice near
Cape Henlopen, Delaware Bay. To effect the object of the act the officers
of the Board of Engineers, with Commodore Bainbridge, were directed to
prepare plans and estimates of piers sufficient to answer the purpose
intended by the act. It appears by their report, which accompanies the
documents from the War Department, that the appropriation is not adequate
to the purpose intended; and as the piers would be of great service both to
the navigation of the Delaware Bay and the protection of vessels on the
adjacent parts of the coast, I submit for the consideration of Congress
whether additional and sufficient appropriations should not be made.
The Board of Engineers were also directed to examine and survey the
entrance of the harbor of the port of Presqu'isle, in Pennsylvania, in
order to make an estimate of the expense of removing the obstructions
to the entrance, with a plan of the best mode of effecting the same, under
the appropriation for that purpose by act of Congress passed 3rd of March
last. The report of the Board accompanies the papers from the War
Department, and is submitted for the consideration of Congress.
A strong hope has been long entertained, founded on the heroic struggle of
the Greeks, that they would succeed in their contest and resume their equal
station among the nations of the earth. It is believed that the whole
civilized world take a deep interest in their welfare. Although no power
has declared in their favor, yet none according to our information, has
taken part against them. Their cause and their name have protected them
from dangers which might ere this have overwhelmed any other people. The
ordinary calculations of interest and of acquisition with a view to
aggrandizement, which mingles so much in the transactions of nations, seem
to have had no effect in regard to them. From the facts which have come to
our knowledge there is good cause to believe that their enemy has lost
forever all dominion over them; that Greece will become again an
independent nation. That she may obtain that rank is the object of our most
ardent wishes.
It was stated at the commencement of the last session that a great effort
was then making in Spain and Portugal to improve the condition of the
people of those countries, and that it appeared to be conducted with
extraordinary moderation. It need scarcely be remarked that the result has
been so far very different from what was then anticipated. Of events in
that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much intercourse and from
which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested
spectators.
The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in
favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow men on that side of the
Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to
themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our
policy so to do.
It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent
injuries or make preparation for our defense. With the movements in this
hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes
which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers.
The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this
respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which
exists in their respective Governments; and to the defense of our own,
which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and
matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which
we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted.
We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing
between the United States and those powers to declare that we should
consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of
this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing
colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and
shall not interfere, but with the Governments who have declared their
independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great
consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any
interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any
other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than
as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United
States.
In the war between those new Governments and Spain we declared our
neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we have adhered,
and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur which, in the
judgment of the competent authorities of this Government, shall make a
corresponding change on the part of the United States indispensable to
their security.
The late events in Spain and Portugal shew that Europe is still unsettled.
Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced than that the
allied powers should have thought it proper, on any principle satisfactory
to themselves, to have interposed by force in the internal concerns of
Spain. To what extent such interposition may be carried, on the same
principle, is a question in which all independent powers whose governments
differ from theirs are interested, even those most remote, and surely none
more so than the United States.
Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the
wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless
remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of
any of its powers; to consider the government de facto as the legitimate
government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve
those relations by a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting in all
instances the just claims of every power, submitting to injuries from
none.
But in regard to those continents circumstances are eminently and
conspicuously different. It is impossible that the allied powers should
extend their political system to any portion of either continent without
endangering our peace and happiness; nor can anyone believe that our
southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own
accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such
interposition in any form with indifference. If we look to the comparative
strength and resources of Spain and those new Governments, and their
distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue
them. It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties
to themselves, in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course.
If we compare the present condition of our Union with its actual state at
the close of our Revolution, the history of the world furnishes no example
of a progress in improvement in all the important circumstances which
constitute the happiness of a nation which bears any resemblance to it. At
the first epoch our population did not exceed 3,000,000. By the last census
it amounted to about 10,000,000, and, what is more extraordinary, it is
almost altogether native, for the immigration from other countries has been
inconsiderable.
At the first epoch half the territory within our acknowledged limits was
uninhabited and a wilderness. Since then new territory has been acquired of
vast extent, comprising within it many rivers, particularly the
Mississippi, the navigation of which to the ocean was of the highest
importance to the original States. Over this territory our population has
expanded in every direction, and new States have been established almost
equal in number to those which formed the first bond of our Union. This
expansion of our population and accession of new States to our Union have
had the happiest effect on all its highest interests.
That it has eminently augmented our resources and added to our strength and
respectability as a power is admitted by all, but it is not in these
important circumstances only that this happy effect is felt. It is manifest
that by enlarging the basis of our system and increasing the number of
States the system itself has been greatly strengthened in both its
branches. Consolidation and disunion have thereby been rendered equally
impracticable.
Each Government, confiding in its own strength, has less to apprehend from
the other, and in consequence each, enjoying a greater freedom of action,
is rendered more efficient for all the purposes for which it was
instituted.
It is unnecessary to treat here of the vast improvement made in the system
itself by the adoption of this Constitution and of its happy effect in
elevating the character and in protecting the rights of the nation as well
as individuals. To what, then, do we owe these blessings? It is known to
all that we derive them from the excellence of our institutions. Ought we
not, then, to adopt every measure which may be necessary to perpetuate
them?
***
State of the Union Address
James Monroe
December 7, 1824
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
The view which I have now to present to you of our affairs, foreign and
domestic, realizes the most sanguine anticipations which have been
entertained of the public prosperity. If we look to the whole, our growth
as a nation continues to be rapid beyond example; if to the States which
compose it, the same gratifying spectacle is exhibited. Our expansion over
the vast territory within our limits has been great, without indicating any
decline in those sections from which the emigration has been most
conspicuous. We have daily gained strength by a native population in every
quarter--a population devoted to our happy system of government and
cherishing the bond of union with internal affection.
Experience has already shewn that the difference of climate and of
industry, proceeding from that cause, inseparable from such vast domains,
and which under other systems might have a repulsive tendency, can not fail
to produce with us under wise regulations the opposite effect. What one
portion wants the other may supply; and this will be most sensibly felt by
the parts most distant from each other, forming thereby a domestic market
and an active intercourse between the extremes and throughout every portion
of our Union.
Thus by a happy distribution of power between the National and State
Governments, Governments which rest exclusively on the sovereignty of the
people and are fully adequate to the great purposes for which they were
respectively instituted, causes which might otherwise lead to dismemberment
operate powerfully to draw us closer together.
In every other circumstance a correct view of the actual state of our Union
must be equally gratifying to our constituents. Our relations with foreign
powers are of a friendly character, although certain interesting
differences remain unsettled with some. Our revenue under the mild system
of impost and tonnage continues to be adequate to all the purposes of the
Government. Our agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and navigation
flourish. Our fortifications are advancing in the degree authorized by
existing appropriations to maturity, and due progress is made in the
augmentation of the Navy to the limit prescribed for it by law. For these
blessings we owe to Almighty God, from whom we derive them, and with
profound reverence, our most grateful and unceasing acknowledgments.
In adverting to our relations with foreign powers, which are always an
object of the highest importance, I have to remark that of the subjects
which have been brought into discussion with them during the present
Administration some have been satisfactorily terminated, others have been
suspended, to be resumed hereafter under circumstances more favorable to
success, and others are still in negotiation, with the hope that they may
be adjusted with mutual accommodation to the interests and to the
satisfaction of the respective parties. It has been the invariable object
of this Government to cherish the most friendly relations with every power,
and on principles and conditions which might make them permanent. A
systematic effort has been made to place our commerce with each power on a
footing of perfect reciprocity, to settle with each in a spirit of candor
and liberality all existing differences, and to anticipate and remove so
far as it might be practicable all causes of future variance.
It having been stipulated by the 7th article of the convention of
navigation and commerce which was concluded on June 24th, 1822, between the
United States and France, that the said convention should continue in force
for two years from the first of October of that year, and for an indefinite
term afterwards, unless one of the parties should declare its intention to
renounce it, in which event it should cease to operate at the end of six
months from such declaration, and no such intention having been announced,
the convention having been found advantageous to both parties, it has since
remained, and still remains, in force.
At the time when that convention was concluded many interesting subjects
were left unsettled, and particularly our claim to indemnity for
spoliations which were committed on our commerce in the late wars. For
these interests and claims it was in the contemplation of the parties to
make provision at a subsequent day by a more comprehensive and definitive
treaty. The object has been duly attended to since by the Executive, but as
yet it has not been accomplished.
It is hoped that a favorable opportunity will present itself for opening a
negotiation which may embrace and arrange all existing differences and
every other concern in which they have a common interest upon the accession
of the present King of France, an event which has occurred since the close
of the last session of Congress.
With Great Britain our commercial intercourse rests on the same footing
that it did at the last session. By the convention of 1815, the commerce
between the United States and the British dominions in Europe and the East
Indies was arranged on a principle of reciprocity. That convention was
confirmed and continued in force, with slight exceptions, by a subsequent
treaty for the term of ten years from October 20th, 1818, the date of
the latter.
The trade with the British colonies in the West Indies has not as yet been
arranged, by treaty or otherwise, to our satisfaction. An approach to that
result has been made by legislative acts, whereby many serious impediments
which had been raised by the parties in defense of their respective claims
were removed. An earnest desire exists, and has been manifested on the part
of this Government, to place the commerce with the colonies, likewise, on a
footing of reciprocal advantage, and it is hoped that the British
Government, seeing the justice of the proposal and its importance to the
colonies, will ere long accede to it.
The commissioners who were appointed for the adjustment of the boundary
between the territories of the United States and those of Great Britain,
specified in the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent, having disagreed in
their decision, and both Governments having agreed to establish that
boundary by amicable negotiation between them, it is hoped that it may be
satisfactorily adjusted in that mode. The boundary specified by the 6th
article has been established by the decision of the commissioners. From the
progress made in that provided for by the 7th, according to a report
recently received, there is good cause to presume that it will be settled
in the course of the ensuing year.
It is a cause of serious regret that no arrangement has yet been finally
concluded between the two Governments to secure by joint cooperation the
suppression of the slave trade. It was the object of the British Government
in the early stages of the negotiation to adopt a plan for the suppression
which should include the concession of the mutual right of search by the
ships of war of each party of the vessels of the other for suspected
offenders. This was objected to by this Government on the principle that as
the right of search was a right of war of a belligerent toward a neutral
power it might have an ill effect to extend it by treaty, to an offense
which had been made comparatively mild, to a time of peace.
Anxious, however, for the suppression of this trade, it was thought
advisable, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives,
founded on an act of Congress, to propose to the British Government an
expedient which should be free from that objection and more effectual for
the object, by making it piratical. In that mode the enormity of the crime
would place the offenders out of the protection of their Government, and
involve no question of search or other question between the parties
touching their respective rights. It was believed, also, that it would
completely suppress the trade in the vessels of both parties, and by their
respective citizens and subjects in those of other powers, with whom it was
hoped that the odium which would thereby be attached to it would produce a
corresponding arrangement, and by means thereof its entire extirpation
forever.
A convention to this effect was concluded and signed in London on
March 13th, 1824, by plenipotentiaries duly authorized by both
Governments, to the ratification of which certain obstacles have arisen
which are not yet entirely removed. The difference between the parties
still remaining has been reduced to a point not of sufficient magnitude,
as is presumed, to be permitted to defeat an object so near to the heart
of both nations and so desirable to the friends of humanity throughout
the world. As objections, however, to the principle recommended by the
House of Representatives, or at least to the consequences inseparable
from it, and which are understood to apply to the law, have been raised,
which may deserve a reconsideration of the whole subject, I have thought
it proper to suspend the conclusion of a new convention until the
definitive sentiments of Congress may be ascertained. The documents
relating to the negotiation are with that intent submitted to your
consideration.
Our commerce with Sweden has been placed on a footing of perfect
reciprocity by treaty, and with Russia, the Netherlands, Prussia, the free
Hanseatic cities, the Dukedom of Oldenburg, and Sardinia by internal
regulations on each side, founded on mutual agreement between the
respective Governments.
The principles upon which the commercial policy of the United States is
founded are to be traced to an early period. They are essentially connected
with those upon which their independence was declared, and owe their origin
to the enlightened men who took the lead in our affairs at that important
epoch. They are developed in their first treaty of commerce with France of
February 6th, 1778, and by a formal commission which was instituted
Immediately after the conclusion of their Revolutionary struggle, for the
purpose of negotiating treaties of commerce with every European power. The
first treaty of the United States with Prussia, which was negotiated by
that commission, affords a signal illustration of those principles. The act
of Congress of March 3rd, 1815, adopted immediately after the return of a
general peace, was a new overture to foreign nations to establish our
commercial relations with them on the basis of free and equal reciprocity.
That principle has pervaded all the acts of Congress and all the
negotiations of the Executive on the subject.
A convention for the settlement of important questions in relation to the
North West coast of this continent and its adjoining seas was concluded and
signed at St. Petersburg on the 5th day of April last by the minister
plenipotentiary of the United States and plenipotentiaries of the Imperial
Government of Russia. It will immediately be laid before the Senate for the
exercise of the constitutional authority of that body with reference to its
ratification. It is proper to add that the manner in which this negotiation
was invited and conducted on the part of the Emperor has been very
satisfactory.
The great and extraordinary changes which have happened in the Governments
of Spain and Portugal within the last two years, without seriously
affecting the friendly relations which under all of them have been
maintained with those powers by the United States, have been obstacles to
the adjustment of the particular subjects of discussion which have arisen
with each. A resolution of the Senate adopted at their last session called
for information as to the effect produced upon our relations with Spain by
the recognition on the part of the United States of the independent South
American Governments. The papers containing that information are now
communicated to Congress.
A charge d'affaires has been received from the independent Government of
Brazil. That country, heretofore a colonial possession of Portugal, had
some years since been proclaimed by the Sovereign of Portugal himself an
independent Kingdom. Since his return to Lisbon a revolution in Brazil has
established a new Government there with an imperial title, at the head of
which is placed a prince, in whom the regency had been vested by the King
at the time of his departure. There is reason to expect that by amicable
negotiation the independence of Brazil will ere long be recognized by
Portugal herself.
With the remaining powers of Europe, with those on the coast of Barbary,
and with all the new South American States our relations are of a friendly
character. We have ministers plenipotentiary residing with the Republics of
Colombia and Chile, and have received ministers of the same rank from
Columbia, Guatemala, Buenos Ayres, and Mexico. Our commercial relations
with all those States are mutually beneficial and increasing. With the
Republic of Colombia a treaty of commerce has been formed, of which a copy
is received and the original daily expected. A negotiation for a like
treaty would have been commenced with Buenos Ayres had it not been
prevented by the indisposition and lamented decease of Mr. Rodney, our
minister there, and to whose memory the most respectful attention has been
shewn by the Government of that Republic. An advantageous alteration in our
treaty with Tunis has been obtained by our consular agent residing there,
the official document of which when received will be laid before the
Senate.
The attention of the Government has been drawn with great solicitude to
other subjects, and particularly to that relating to a state of maritime
war, involving the relative rights of neutral and belligerent in such wars.
Most of the difficulties which we have experienced and of the losses which
we have sustained since the establishment of our independence have
proceeded from the unsettled state of those rights and the extent to which
the belligerent claim has been carried against the neutral party.