the islands in the lakes and rivers of our northern boundary, and of
certain lands in the neighborhood of some of our military posts, on
which it may be expedient for the Legislature to make some provisions.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 16, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I now transmit a statement of the expenses incurred by the United States
in their transactions with the Barbary Powers, and a roll of the persons
having office or employment under the United States, as was proposed in
my messages of December 7 and 22. Neither is as perfect as could have
been wished, and the latter not so much so as further time and inquiry
may enable us to make it.
The great volume of these communications and the delay it would produce
to make out a second copy will, I trust, be deemed a sufficient reason
for sending one of them to the one House, and the other to the other,
with a request that they may be interchanged for mutual information
rather than to subject both to further delay.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 18, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
In a message of the 2d instant I inclosed a letter from the Secretary of
War on the subject of certain lands in the neighborhood of our military
posts on which it might be expedient for the Legislature to make some
provisions. A letter recently received from the governor of Indiana
presents some further views of the extent to which such provision may be
needed, I therefore now transmit it for the information of Congress.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 24, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I communicate to both Houses of Congress a report of the Secretary of
the Treasury on the subject of our marine hospitals, which appear to
require legislative attention.
As connected with the same subject, I also inclose information
respecting the situation of our seamen and boatmen frequenting the port
of New Orleans and suffering there from sickness and the want of
accommodation. There is good reason to believe their numbers greater
than stated in these papers. When we consider how great a proportion of
the territory of the United States must communicate with that port
singly, and how rapidly that territory is increasing its population and
productions, it may perhaps be thought reasonable to make hospital
provisions there of a different order from those at foreign ports
generally.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 25, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
No occasion having arisen since the last account rendered by my
predecessor of making use of any part of the moneys heretofore granted
to defray the contingent charges of the Government, I now transmit to
Congress an official statement thereof to the 31st day of December last,
when the whole unexpended balance, amounting to $20,911.80, was carried
to the credit of the surplus fund, as provided for by law, and this
account consequently becomes finally closed,
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 26, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
Some statements have been lately received of the causes decided or
depending in the courts of the Union in certain States, supplementary or
corrective of those from which was formed the general statement
accompanying my message at the opening of the session. I therefore
communicate them to Congress, with a report of the Secretary of State
noting their effect on the former statement and correcting certain
errors in it which arose partly from inexactitude in some of the returns
and partly in analyzing, adding, and transcribing them while hurried in
preparing the other voluminous papers accompanying that message.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 1, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I transmit for the information of Congress letters recently received
from our consuls at Gibraltar and Algiers, presenting the latest view of
the state of our affairs with the Barbary Powers. The sums due to the
Government of Algiers are now fully paid up, and of the gratuity which
had been promised to that of Tunis, and was in a course of preparation,
a small portion only remains still to be finished and delivered.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 9, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
The governor of New York has desired that, in addition to the
negotiations with certain Indians already authorized under the
superintendence of John Taylor, further negotiations should be held with
the Oneidas and other members of the Confederacy of the Six Nations for
the purchase of lands in and for the State of New York, which they are
willing to sell, as explained in the letter from the Secretary of War
herewith sent. I have therefore thought it better to name a commissioner
to superintend the negotiations specified with the Six Nations
generally, or with any of them.
I do accordingly nominate John Taylor, of New York, to be commissioner
for the United States, to hold a convention or conventions between the
State of New York and the Confederacy of the Six Nations of Indians, or
any of the nations composing it.
This nomination, if advised and consented to by the Senate, will
comprehend and supersede that of February 1 of the same John Taylor so
far as it respected the Seneca Indians,
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 10, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
I now submit for the ratification of the Senate a treaty entered into
by the commissioners of the United States with the Choctaw Nation of
Indians, and I transmit therewith so much of the instructions to the
commissioners as related to the Choctaws, with the minutes of their
proceedings and the letter accompanying them.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 29, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
The Secretary of State, charged with the civil affairs of the several
Territories of the United States, has received from the marshal of
Columbia a statement of the condition, unavoidably distressing, of the
persons committed to his custody on civil or criminal process and the
urgency for some legislative provisions for their relief. There are
other important cases wherein the laws of the adjoining States under
which the Territory is placed, though adapted to the purposes of those
States, are insufficient for those of the Territory from the dissimilar
or defective organization of its authorities. The letter and statement
of the marshal and the disquieting state of the Territory generally are
now submitted to the wisdom and consideration of the Legislature.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 29, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
The commissioners who were appointed to carry into execution the sixth
article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the
United States and His Britannic Majesty having differed in opinion as to
the objects of that article and discontinued their proceedings, the
Executive of the United States took early measures, by instructions to
our minister at the British Court, to negotiate explanations of that
article. This mode of resolving the difficulty, however, proved
unacceptable to the British Government, which chose rather to avoid all
further discussion and expense under that article by fixing at a given
sum the amount for which the United States should be held responsible
under it. Mr. King was consequently authorized to meet this proposition,
and a settlement in this way has been effected by a convention entered
into with the British Government, and now communicated for your advice
and consent, together with the instructions and correspondence relating
to it. The greater part of these papers being originals, the return of
them is requested at the convenience of the Senate.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 30, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
The Secretary of War has prepared an estimate of expenditures for the
Army of the United States during the year 1802, conformably to the act
fixing the military peace establishment, which estimate, with his letter
accompanying and explaining it, I now transmit to both Houses of
Congress.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 31, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
According to the desire expressed in your resolution of the 23d instant,
I now transmit a report of the Secretary of State, with the letters it
refers to, shewing the proceedings which have taken place under the
resolution of Congress of the 16th of April, 1800. The term prescribed
for the execution of the resolution having elapsed before the person
appointed had sat out on the service, I did not deem it justifiable to
commence a course of expenditure after the expiration of the resolution
authorizing it. The correspondence which has taken place, having regard
to dates, will place this subject properly under the view of the House
of Representatives.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL, 8, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
In order to satisfy as far as it is in my power the desire expressed in
your resolution of the 6th instant, I now transmit you a letter from
John Read, agent for the United States before the board of commissioners
under the sixth article of the treaty with Great Britain, to the
Attorney-General, bearing date the 25th of April, 1801, in which he
gives a summary view of the proceedings of those commissioners and of
the principles established or insisted on by a majority of them.
Supposing it might be practicable for us to settle by negotiation with
Great Britain the principles which ought to govern the decisions under
the treaty, I caused instructions to be given to Mr. Read to analyze
the claims before the board of commissioners, to class them under the
principles on which they respectively depended, and to state the sum
depending on each principle or the amount of each description of debt.
The object of this was that we might know what principles were most
important for us to contend for and what others might be conceded
without much injury. He performed this duty, and gave in such a
statement during the last summer, but the chief clerk of the Secretary
of State's office being absent on account of sickness, and the only
person acquainted with the arrangement of the papers of the office, this
particular document can not at this time be found. Having, however,
been myself in possession of it a few days after its receipt, I then
transcribed from it for my own use the recapitulation of the amount of
each description of debt. A copy of this transcript I shall subjoin
hereto, with assurances that it is substantially correct, and with the
hope that it will give a view of the subject sufficiently precise to
fulfill the wishes of the Senate. To save them the delay of waiting till
a copy of the agent's letter could be made, I send the original, with
the request that it may be returned at the convenience of the Senate.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL 15, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
I now transmit the papers desired in your resolution of the 6th
instant. Those respecting the _Berceau_ will sufficiently explain
themselves. The officer charged with her repairs states in his letter,
received August 27, 1801, that he had been led by circumstances, which
he explains, to go considerably beyond his orders. In questions between
nations, who have no common umpire but reason, something must often be
yielded of mutual opinion to enable them to meet in a common point.
The allowance which had been proposed to the officers of that vessel
being represented as too small for their daily necessities, and still
more so as the means of paying before their departure debts contracted
with our citizens for subsistence, it was requested on their behalf that
the daily pay of each might be the measure of their allowance.
This being solicited and reimbursement assumed by the agent of their
nation, I deemed that the indulgence would have a propitious effect in
the moment of returning friendship. The sum of $870.83 was accordingly
furnished them for the five months of past captivity and a proportional
allowance authorized until their embarkation.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL 20, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
I transmit you a report from the Secretary of State, with the
information desired by the House of Representatives, of the 8th of
January, relative to certain spoliations and other proceedings therein
referred to.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL 26, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
In pursuance of the act entitled "An act supplemental to the act
entitled 'An act for an amicable settlement of limits with the State
of Georgia, and authorizing the establishment of a government in the
Mississippi Territory,'" James Madison, Secretary of State, Albert
Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Levi Lincoln, Attorney-General
of the United States, were appointed commissioners to settle by
compromise with the commissioners appointed by the State of Georgia the
claims and cession to which the said act has relation.
Articles of agreement and cession have accordingly been entered into and
signed by the said commissioners of the United States and of Georgia,
which, as they leave a right to Congress to act upon them legislatively
at any time within six months after their date, I have thought it my
duty immediately to communicate to the Legislature.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL 27, 1802.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
The commissioners who were appointed to carry into execution the sixth
article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the
United States and Great Britain having differed in their construction
of that article, and separated in consequence of that difference, the
President of the United States took immediate measures for obtaining
conventional explanations of that article for the government of the
commissioners. Finding, however, great difficulties opposed to a
settlement in that way, he authorized our minister at the Court of
London to meet a proposition that the United States by the payment of a
fixed sum should discharge themselves from their responsibility for such
debts as can not be recovered from the individual debtors. A convention
has accordingly been signed, fixing the sum to be paid at £600,000 in
three equal and annual installments, which has been ratified by me with
the advice and consent of the Senate.
I now transmit copies thereof to both Houses of Congress, trusting that
in the free exercise of the authority which the Constitution has given
them on the subject of public expenditures they will deem it for the
public interest to appropriate the sums necessary for carrying this
convention into execution.
TH. JEFFERSON.
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.
DECEMBER 15, 1802
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
When we assemble together, fellow-citizens, to consider the state of our
beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn to those pleasing
circumstances which mark the goodness of that Being from whose favor
they flow and the large measure of thankfulness we owe for His bounty.
Another year has come around, and finds us still blessed with peace and
friendship abroad; law, order, and religion at home; good affection and
harmony with our Indian neighbors; our burthens lightened, yet our
income sufficient for the public wants, and the produce of the year
great beyond example. These, fellow-citizens, are the circumstances
under which we meet, and we remark with special satisfaction those which
under the smiles of Providence result from the skill, industry, and
order of our citizens, managing their own affairs in their own way and
for their own use, unembarrassed by too much regulation, unoppressed by
fiscal exactions.
On the restoration of peace in Europe that portion of the general
carrying trade which had fallen to our share during the war was abridged
by the returning competition of the belligerent powers. This was to
be expected, and was just. But in addition we find in some parts of
Europe monopolizing discriminations, which in the form of duties tend
effectually to prohibit the carrying thither our own produce in our own
vessels. From existing amities and a spirit of justice it is hoped that
friendly discussion will produce a fair and adequate reciprocity. But
should false calculations of interest defeat our hope, it rests with the
Legislature to decide whether they will meet inequalities abroad with
countervailing inequalities at home, or provide for the evil in any
other way.
It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British
Parliament anticipating this subject so far as to authorize a mutual
abolition of the duties and countervailing duties permitted under the
treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a spirit of justice and friendly
accommodation which it is our duty and our interest to cultivate with
all nations. Whether this would produce a due equality in the navigation
between the two countries is a subject for your consideration.
Another circumstance which claims attention as directly affecting the
very source of our navigation is the defect or the evasion of the law
providing for the return of seamen, and particularly of those belonging
to vessels sold abroad. Numbers of them, discharged in foreign ports,
have been thrown on the hands of our consuls, who, to rescue them from
the dangers into which their distresses might plunge them and save them
to their country, have found it necessary in some cases to return them
at the public charge.
The cession of the Spanish Province of Louisiana to France, which took
place in the course of the late war, will, if carried into effect, make
a change in the aspect of our foreign relations which will doubtless
have just weight in any deliberations of the Legislature connected with
that subject.
There was reason not long since to apprehend that the warfare in which
we were engaged with Tripoli might be taken up by some other of the
Barbary Powers. A reenforcement, therefore, was immediately ordered to
the vessels already there. Subsequent information, however, has removed
these apprehensions for the present. To secure our commerce in that sea
with the smallest force competent, we have supposed it best to watch
strictly the harbor of Tripoli. Still, however, the shallowness of their
coast and the want of smaller vessels on our part has permitted some
cruisers to escape unobserved, and to one of these an American vessel
unfortunately fell a prey. The captain, one American seaman, and two
others of color remain prisoners with them unless exchanged under an
agreement formerly made with the Bashaw, to whom, on the faith of that,
some of his captive subjects had been restored.
The convention with the State of Georgia has been ratified by their
legislature, and a repurchase from the Creeks has been consequently made
of a part of the Talasscee country. In this purchase has been also
comprehended a part of the lands within the fork of Oconee and Oakmulgee
rivers. The particulars of the contract will be laid before Congress so
soon as they shall be in a state for communication.
In order to remove every ground of difference possible with our Indian
neighbors, I have proceeded in the work of settling with them and
marking the boundaries between us. That with the Choctaw Nation is fixed
in one part and will be through the whole within a short time. The
country to which their title had been extinguished before the Revolution
is sufficient to receive a very respectable population, which Congress
will probably see the expediency of encouraging so soon as the limits
shall be declared. We are to view this position as an outpost of the
United States, surrounded by strong neighbors and distant from its
support; and how far that monopoly which prevents population should
here be guarded against and actual habitation made a condition of
the continuance of title will be for your consideration. A prompt
settlement, too, of all existing rights and claims within this territory
presents itself as a preliminary operation.
In that part of the Indiana Territory which includes Vincennes the lines
settled with the neighboring tribes fix the extinction of their title
at a breadth of 24 leagues from east to west and about the same length
parallel with and including the Wabash. They have also ceded a tract of
4 miles square, including the salt springs near the mouth of that river.
In the Department of Finance it is with pleasure I inform you that the
receipts of external duties for the last twelve months have exceeded
those of any former year, and that the ratio of increase has been also
greater than usual. This has enabled us to answer all the regular
exigencies of Government, to pay from the Treasury within one year
upward of $8,000,000, principal and interest, of the public debt,
exclusive of upward of one million paid by the sale of bank stock, and
making in the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and a half of
principal, and to have now in the Treasury $4,500,000, which are in a
course of application to the further discharge of debt and current
demands. Experience, too, so far, authorizes us to believe, if no
extraordinary event supervenes, and the expenses which will be actually
incurred shall not be greater than were contemplated by Congress
at their last session, that we shall not be disappointed in the
expectations then formed. But nevertheless, as the effect of peace
on the amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more
necessary to practice every useful economy and to incur no expense which
may be avoided without prejudice.
The collection of the internal taxes having been completed in some of
the States, the officers employed in it are of course out of commission.
In others they will be so shortly. But in a few, where the arrangements
for the direct tax had been retarded, it will be some time before the
system is closed. It has not yet been thought necessary to employ the
agent authorized by an act of the last session for transacting business
in Europe relative to debts and loans. Nor have we used the power
confided by the same act of prolonging the foreign debt by reloans, and
of redeeming instead thereof an equal sum of the domestic debt. Should,
however, the difficulties of remittance on so large a scale render it
necessary at any time, the power shall be executed and the money thus
unemployed abroad shall, in conformity with that law, be faithfully
applied here in an equivalent extinction of domestic debt. When effects
so salutary result from the plans you have already sanctioned; when
merely by avoiding false objects of expense we are able, without a
direct tax, without internal taxes, and without borrowing to make large
and effectual payments toward the discharge of our public debt and
the emancipation of our posterity from that mortal canker, it is an
encouragement, fellow-citizens, of the highest order to proceed as we
have begun in substituting economy for taxation, and in pursuing what is
useful for a nation placed as we are, rather than what is practiced by
others under different circumstances. And whensoever we are destined to
meet events which shall call forth all the energies of our countrymen,
we have the firmest reliance on those energies and the comfort of
leaving for calls like these the extraordinary resources of loans and
internal taxes. In the meantime, by payments of the principal of our
debt, we are liberating annually portions of the external taxes and
forming from them a growing fund still further to lessen the necessity
of recurring to extraordinary resources.
The usual account of receipts and expenditures for the last year, with
an estimate of the expenses of the ensuing one, will be laid before you
by the Secretary of the Treasury.
No change being deemed necessary in our military establishment, an
estimate of its expenses for the ensuing year on its present footing,
as also of the sums to be employed in fortifications and other objects
within that department, has been prepared by the Secretary of War, and
will make a part of the general estimates which will be presented you.