WASHINGTON, _December 5, 1836_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
Addressing to you the last annual message I shall ever present to the
Congress of the United States, it is a source of the most heartfelt
satisfaction to be able to congratulate you on the high state of
prosperity which our beloved country has attained. With no causes at
home or abroad to lessen the confidence with which we look to the future
for continuing proofs of the capacity of our free institutions to
produce all the fruits of good government, the general condition of our
affairs may well excite our national pride.
I can not avoid congratulating you, and my country particularly, on the
success of the efforts made during my Administration by the Executive
and Legislature, in conformity with the sincere, constant, and earnest
desire of the people, to maintain peace and establish cordial relations
with all foreign powers. Our gratitude is due to the Supreme Ruler of
the Universe, and I invite you to unite with me in offering to Him
fervent supplications that His providential care may ever be extended to
those who follow us, enabling them to avoid the dangers and the horrors
of war consistently with a just and indispensable regard to the rights
and honor of our country. But although the present state of our foreign
affairs, standing, without important change, as they did when you
separated in July last, is flattering in the extreme, I regret to say
that many questions of an interesting character, at issue with other
powers, are yet unadjusted. Amongst the most prominent of these is that
of our northeastern boundary. With an undiminished confidence in the
sincere desire of His Britannic Majesty's Government to adjust that
question, I am not yet in possession of the precise grounds upon which
it proposes a satisfactory adjustment.
With France our diplomatic relations have been resumed, and under
circumstances which attest the disposition of both Governments to
preserve a mutually beneficial intercourse and foster those amicable
feelings which are so strongly required by the true interests of the two
countries. With Russia, Austria, Prussia, Naples, Sweden, and Denmark
the best understanding exists, and our commercial intercourse is
gradually expanding itself with them. It is encouraged in all these
countries, except Naples, by their mutually advantageous and liberal
treaty stipulations with us.
The claims of our citizens on Portugal are admitted to be just, but
provision for the payment of them has been unfortunately delayed by
frequent political changes in that Kingdom.
The blessings of peace have not been secured by Spain. Our connections
with that country are on the best footing, with the exception of the
burdens still imposed upon our commerce with her possessions out of
Europe.
The claims of American citizens for losses sustained at the bombardment
of Antwerp have been presented to the Governments of Holland and
Belgium, and will be pressed, in due season, to settlement.
With Brazil and all our neighbors of this continent we continue to
maintain relations of amity and concord, extending our commerce with
them as far as the resources of the people and the policy of their
Governments will permit. The just and long-standing claims of our
citizens upon some of them are yet sources of dissatisfaction and
complaint. No danger is apprehended, however, that they will not be
peacefully, although tardily, acknowledged and paid by all, unless the
irritating effect of her struggle with Texas should unfortunately make
our immediate neighbor, Mexico, an exception.
It is already known to you, by the correspondence between the two
Governments communicated at your last session, that our conduct in
relation to that struggle is regulated by the same principles that
governed us in the dispute between Spain and Mexico herself, and I trust
that it will be found on the most severe scrutiny that our acts have
strictly corresponded with our professions. That the inhabitants of the
United States should feel strong prepossessions for the one party is
not surprising. But this circumstance should of itself teach us great
caution, lest it lead us into the great error of suffering public policy
to be regulated by partiality or prejudice; and there are considerations
connected with the possible result of this contest between the two
parties of so much delicacy and importance to the United States that our
character requires that we should neither anticipate events nor attempt
to control them. The known desire of the Texans to become a part of
our system, although its gratification depends upon the reconcilement
of various and conflicting interests, necessarily a work of time
and uncertain in itself, is calculated to expose our conduct to
misconstruction in the eyes of the world. There are already those who,
indifferent to principle themselves and prone to suspect the want of
it in others, charge us with ambitious designs and insidious policy.
You will perceive by the accompanying documents that the extraordinary
mission from Mexico has been terminated on the sole ground that the
obligations of this Government to itself and to Mexico, under treaty
stipulations, have compelled me to trust a discretionary authority to
a high officer of our Army to advance into territory claimed as part of
Texas if necessary to protect our own or the neighboring frontier from
Indian depredation. In the opinion of the Mexican functionary who has
just left us, the honor of his country will be wounded by American
soldiers entering, with the most amicable avowed purposes, upon ground
from which the followers of his Government have been expelled, and over
which there is at present no certainty of a serious effort on its part
being made to reestablish its dominion. The departure of this minister
was the more singular as he was apprised that the sufficiency of the
causes assigned for the advance of our troops by the commanding general
had been seriously doubted by me, and there was every reason to suppose
that the troops of the United States, their commander having had time to
ascertain the truth or falsehood of the information upon which they had
been marched to Nacogdoches, would be either there in perfect accordance
with the principles admitted to be just in his conference with the
Secretary of State by the Mexican minister himself, or were already
withdrawn in consequence of the impressive warnings their commanding
officer had received from the Department of War. It is hoped and
believed that his Government will take a more dispassionate and just
view of this subject, and not be disposed to construe a measure of
justifiable precaution, made necessary by its known inability in
execution of the stipulations of our treaty to act upon the frontier,
into an encroachment upon its rights or a stain upon its honor.
In the meantime the ancient complaints of injustice made on behalf of
our citizens are disregarded, and new causes of dissatisfaction have
arisen, some of them of a character requiring prompt remonstrance and
ample and immediate redress. I trust, however, by tempering firmness
with courtesy and acting with great forbearance upon every incident that
has occurred or that may happen, to do and to obtain justice, and thus
avoid the necessity of again bringing this subject to the view of
Congress.
It is my duty to remind you that no provision has been made to execute
our treaty with Mexico for tracing the boundary line between the two
countries. Whatever may be the prospect of Mexico's being soon able
to execute the treaty on its part, it is proper that we should be in
anticipation prepared at all times to perform our obligations, without
regard to the probable condition of those with whom we have contracted
them.
The result of the confidential inquiries made into the condition and
prospects of the newly declared Texan Government will be communicated
to you in the course of the session.
Commercial treaties promising great advantages to our enterprising
merchants and navigators have been formed with the distant Governments
of Muscat and Siam. The ratifications have been exchanged, but have
not reached the Department of State. Copies of the treaties will be
transmitted to you if received before, or published if arriving after,
the close of the present session of Congress.
Nothing has occurred to interrupt the good understanding that has long
existed with the Barbary Powers, nor to check the good will which is
gradually growing up from our intercourse with the dominions of the
Government of the distinguished chief of the Ottoman Empire.
Information has been received at the Department of State that a treaty
with the Emperor of Morocco has just been negotiated, which, I hope,
will be received in time to be laid before the Senate previous to the
close of the session.
You will perceive from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury
that the financial means of the country continue to keep pace with its
improvement in all other respects. The receipts into the Treasury during
the present year will amount to about $47,691,898; those from customs
being estimated at $22,523,151, those from lands at about $24,000,000,
and the residue from miscellaneous sources. The expenditures for all
objects during the year are estimated not to exceed $32,000,000, which
will leave a balance in the Treasury for public purposes on the 1st day
of January next of about $41,723,959. This sum, with the exception of
$5,000,000, will be transferred to the several States in accordance with
the provisions of the act regulating the deposits of the public money.
The unexpended balances of appropriation on the 1st day of January next
are estimated at $14,636,062, exceeding by $9,636,062 the amount which
will be left in the deposit banks, subject to the draft of the Treasurer
of the United States, after the contemplated transfers to the several
States are made. If, therefore, the future receipts should not be
sufficient to meet these outstanding and future appropriations, there
may be soon a necessity to use a portion of the funds deposited with
the States.
The consequences apprehended when the deposit act of the last session
received a reluctant approval have been measurably realized. Though an
act merely for the deposit of the surplus moneys of the United States in
the State treasuries for safe-keeping until they may be wanted for the
service of the General Government, it has been extensively spoken of
as an act to give the money to the several States, and they have been
advised to use it as a gift, without regard to the means of refunding
it when called for. Such a suggestion has doubtless been made without
a due consideration of the obligations of the deposit act, and without
a proper attention to the various principles and interests which are
affected by it. It is manifest that the law itself can not sanction
such a suggestion, and that as it now stands the States have no more
authority to receive and use these deposits without intending to return
them than any deposit bank or any individual temporarily charged with
the safe-keeping or application of the public money would now have for
converting the same to their private use without the consent and against
the will of the Government. But independently of the violation of public
faith and moral obligation which are involved in this suggestion when
examined in reference to the terms of the present deposit act, it
is believed that the considerations which should govern the future
legislation of Congress on this subject will be equally conclusive
against the adoption of any measure recognizing the principles on
which the suggestion has been made.
Considering the intimate connection of the subject with the financial
interests of the country and its great importance in whatever aspect
it can be viewed, I have bestowed upon it the most anxious reflection,
and feel it to be my duty to state to Congress such thoughts as have
occurred to me, to aid their deliberation in treating it in the manner
best calculated to conduce to the common good.
The experience of other nations admonished us to hasten the
extinguishment of the public debt; but it will be in vain that we have
congratulated each other upon the disappearance of this evil if we do
not guard against the equally great one of promoting the unnecessary
accumulation of public revenue. No political maxim is better established
than that which tells us that an improvident expenditure of money is the
parent of profligacy, and that no people can hope to perpetuate their
liberties who long acquiesce in a policy which taxes them for objects
not necessary to the legitimate and real wants of their Government.
Flattering as is the condition of our country at the present period,
because of its unexampled advance in all the steps of social and
political improvement, it can not be disguised that there is a lurking
danger already apparent in the neglect of this warning truth, and that
the time has arrived when the representatives of the people should be
employed in devising some more appropriate remedy than now exists to
avert it.
Under our present revenue system there is every probability that there
will continue to be a surplus beyond the wants of the Government, and it
has become our duty to decide whether such a result be consistent with
the true objects of our Government.
Should a surplus be permitted to accumulate beyond the appropriations,
it must be retained in the Treasury, as it now is, or distributed among
the people or the States.
To retain it in the Treasury unemployed in any way is impracticable; it
is, besides, against the genius of our free institutions to lock up in
vaults the treasure of the nation. To take from the people the right of
bearing arms and put their weapons of defense in the hands of a standing
army would be scarcely more dangerous to their liberties than to permit
the Government to accumulate immense amounts of treasure beyond the
supplies necessary to its legitimate wants. Such a treasure would
doubtless be employed at some time, as it has been in other countries,
when opportunity tempted ambition.
To collect it merely for distribution to the States would seem to be
highly impolitic, if not as dangerous as the proposition to retain it
in the Treasury. The shortest reflection must satisfy everyone that to
require the people to pay taxes to the Government merely that they may
be paid back again is sporting with the substantial interests of the
country, and no system which produces such a result can be expected to
receive the public countenance. Nothing could be gained by it even if
each individual who contributed a portion of the tax could receive back
promptly the same portion. But it is apparent that no system of the kind
can ever be enforced which will not absorb a considerable portion of
the money to be distributed in salaries and commissions to the agents
employed in the process and in the various losses and depreciations
which arise from other causes, and the practical effect of such an
attempt must ever be to burden the people with taxes, not for purposes
beneficial to them, but to swell the profits of deposit banks and
support a band of useless public officers.
A distribution to the people is impracticable and unjust in other
respects. It would be taking one man's property and giving it to
another. Such would be the unavoidable result of a rule of equality
(and none other is spoken of or would be likely to be adopted), inasmuch
as there is no mode by which the amount of the individual contributions
of our citizens to the public revenue can be ascertained. We know
that they contribute _unequally_, and a rule, therefore, that would
distribute to them _equally_ would be liable to all the objections
which apply to the principle of an equal division of property. To make
the General Government the instrument of carrying this odious principle
into effect would be at once to destroy the means of its usefulness and
change the character designed for it by the framers of the Constitution.
But the more extended and injurious consequences likely to result
from a policy which would collect a surplus revenue for the purpose of
distributing it may be forcibly illustrated by an examination of the
effects already produced by the present deposit act. This act, although
certainly designed to secure the safe-keeping of the public revenue,
is not entirely free in its tendencies from any of the objections which
apply to this principle of distribution. The Government had without
necessity received from the people a large surplus, which, instead
of being employed as heretofore and returned to them by means of the
public expenditure, was deposited with sundry banks. The banks proceeded
to make loans upon this surplus, and thus converted it into banking
capital, and in this manner it has tended to multiply bank charters
and has had a great agency in producing a spirit of wild speculation.
The possession and use of the property out of which this surplus was
created belonged to the people, but the Government has transferred its
possession to incorporated banks, whose interest and effort it is to
make large profits out of its use. This process need only be stated
to show its injustice and bad policy.
And the same observations apply to the influence which is produced by
the steps necessary to collect as well as to distribute such a revenue.
About three-fifths of all the duties on imports are paid in the city
of New York, but it is obvious that the means to pay those duties are
drawn from every quarter of the Union. Every citizen in every State who
purchases and consumes an article which has paid a duty at that port
contributes to the accumulating mass. The surplus collected there must
therefore be made up of moneys or property withdrawn from other points
and other States. Thus the wealth and business of every region from
which these surplus funds proceed must be to some extent injured, while
that of the place where the funds are concentrated and are employed in
banking are proportionably extended. But both in making the transfer
of the funds which are first necessary to pay the duties and collect
the surplus and in making the retransfer which becomes necessary when
the time arrives for the distribution of that surplus there is a
considerable period when the funds can not be brought into use, and it
is manifest that, besides the loss inevitable from such an operation,
its tendency is to produce fluctuations in the business of the country,
which are always productive of speculation and detrimental to the
interests of regular trade. Argument can scarcely be necessary to
show that a measure of this character ought not to receive further
legislative encouragement.
By examining the practical operation of the ratio for distribution
adopted in the deposit bill of the last session we shall discover other
features that appear equally objectionable. Let it be assumed, for the
sake of argument, that the surplus moneys to be deposited with the
States have been collected and belong to them in the ratio of their
federal representative population--an assumption founded upon the fact
that any deficiencies in our future revenue from imposts and public
lands must be made up by direct taxes collected from the States in that
ratio. It is proposed to distribute this surplus--say $30,000,000--not
according to the ratio in which it has been collected and belongs to
the people of the States, but in that of their votes in the colleges of
electors of President and Vice-President. The effect of a distribution
upon that ratio is shown by the annexed table, marked A.
By an examination of that table it will be perceived that in the
distribution of a surplus of $30,000,000 upon that basis there is a
great departure from the principle which regards representation as the
true measure of taxation, and it will be found that the tendency of that
departure will be to increase whatever inequalities have been supposed
to attend the operation of our federal system in respect to its bearings
upon the different interests of the Union. In making the basis of
representation the basis of taxation the framers of the Constitution
intended to equalize the burdens which are necessary to support the
Government, and the adoption of that ratio, while it accomplished this
object, was also the means of adjusting other great topics arising out
of the conflicting views respecting the political equality of the
various members of the Confederacy. Whatever, therefore, disturbs the
liberal spirit of the compromises which established a rule of taxation
so just and equitable, and which experience has proved to be so well
adapted to the genius and habits of our people, should be received with
the greatest caution and distrust.
A bare inspection in the annexed table of the differences produced
by the ratio used in the deposit act compared with the results of a
distribution according to the ratio of direct taxation must satisfy
every unprejudiced mind that the former ratio contravenes the spirit of
the Constitution and produces a degree of injustice in the operations of
the Federal Government which would be fatal to the hope of perpetuating
it. By the ratio of direct taxation, for example, the State of Delaware
in the collection of $30,000,000 of revenue would pay into the Treasury
$188,716, and in a distribution of $30,000,000 she would receive back
from the Government, according to the ratio of the deposit bill, the
sum of $306,122; and similar results would follow the comparison between
the small and the large States throughout the Union, thus realizing to
the small States an advantage which would be doubtless as unacceptable
to them as a motive for incorporating the principle in any system
which would produce it as it would be inconsistent with the rights and
expectations of the large States. It was certainly the intention of that
provision of the Constitution which declares that "all duties, imposts,
and excises" shall "be uniform throughout the United States" to make the
burdens of taxation fall equally upon the people in whatever State of
the Union they may reside. But what would be the value of such a uniform
rule if the moneys raised by it could be immediately returned by a
different one which will give to the people of some States much more
and to those of others much less than their fair proportions? Were the
Federal Government to exempt in express terms the imports, products,
and manufactures of some portions of the country from all duties while
it imposed heavy ones on others, the injustice could not be greater. It
would be easy to show how by the operation of such a principle the large
States of the Union would not only have to contribute their just share
toward the support of the Federal Government, but also have to bear in
some degree the taxes necessary to support the governments of their
smaller sisters; but it is deemed unnecessary to state the details
where the general principle is so obvious.
A system liable to such objections can never be supposed to have
been sanctioned by the framers of the Constitution when they conferred
on Congress the taxing power, and I feel persuaded that a mature
examination of the subject will satisfy everyone that there are
insurmountable difficulties in the operation of any plan which can
be devised of collecting revenue for the purpose of distributing it.
Congress is only authorized to levy taxes "_to pay the debts and provide
for the common defense and general welfare of the United States_." There
is no such provision as would authorize Congress to collect together the
property of the country, under the name of revenue, for the purpose of
dividing it equally or unequally among the States or the people. Indeed,
it is not probable that such an idea ever occurred to the States when
they adopted the Constitution. But however this may be, the only safe
rule for us in interpreting the powers granted to the Federal Government
is to regard the absence of express authority to touch a subject so
important and delicate as this is as equivalent to a prohibition.
Even if our powers were less doubtful in this respect as the
Constitution now stands, there are considerations afforded by recent
experience which would seem to make it our duty to avoid a resort to
such a system.
All will admit that the simplicity and economy of the State governments
mainly depend on the fact that money has to be supplied to support them
by the same men, or their agents, who vote it away in appropriations.
Hence when there are extravagant and wasteful appropriations there must
be a corresponding increase of taxes, and the people, becoming awakened,
will necessarily scrutinize the character of measures which thus
increase their burdens. By the watchful eye of self-interest the agents
of the people in the State governments are repressed and kept within
the limits of a just economy. But if the necessity of levying the
taxes be taken from those who make the appropriations and thrown upon
a more distant and less responsible set of public agents, who have
power to approach the people by an indirect and stealthy taxation,
there is reason to fear that prodigality will soon supersede those
characteristics which have thus far made us look with so much pride and
confidence to the State governments as the mainstay of our Union and
liberties. The State legislatures, instead of studying to restrict their
State expenditures to the smallest possible sum, will claim credit
for their profusion, and harass the General Government for increased
supplies. Practically there would soon be but one taxing power, and
that vested in a body of men far removed from the people, in which the
farming and mechanic interests would scarcely be represented. The States
would gradually lose their purity as well as their independence; they
would not dare to murmur at the proceedings of the General Government,
lest they should lose their supplies; all would be merged in a practical
consolidation, cemented by widespread corruption, which could only
be eradicated by one of those bloody revolutions which occasionally
overthrow the despotic systems of the Old World. In all the other
aspects in which I have been able to look at the effect of such a
principle of distribution upon the best interests of the country I
can see nothing to compensate for the disadvantages to which I have
adverted. If we consider the protective duties, which are in a great
degree the source of the surplus revenue, beneficial to one section of
the Union and prejudicial to another, there is no corrective for the
evil in such a plan of distribution. On the contrary, there is reason to
fear that all the complaints which have sprung from this cause would be
aggravated. Everyone must be sensible that a distribution of the surplus
must beget a disposition to cherish the means which create it, and any
system, therefore, into which it enters must have a powerful tendency to
increase rather than diminish the tariff. If it were even admitted that
the advantages of such a system could be made equal to all the sections
of the Union, the reasons already so urgently calling for a reduction of
the revenue would nevertheless lose none of their force, for it will
always be improbable that an intelligent and virtuous community can
consent to raise a surplus for the mere purpose of dividing it,
diminished as it must inevitably be by the expenses of the various
machinery necessary to the process.
The safest and simplest mode of obviating all the difficulties which
have been mentioned is to collect only revenue enough to meet the wants
of the Government, and let the people keep the balance of their property
in their own hands, to be used for their own profit. Each State will
then support its own government and contribute its due share toward the
support of the General Government. There would be no surplus to cramp
and lessen the resources of individual wealth and enterprise, and the
banks would be left to their ordinary means. Whatever agitations and
fluctuations might arise from our unfortunate paper system, they could
never be attributed, justly or unjustly, to the action of the Federal
Government. There would be some guaranty that the spirit of wild
speculation which seeks to convert the surplus revenue into banking
capital would be effectually checked, and that the scenes of
demoralization which are now so prevalent through the land would
disappear.
Without desiring to conceal that the experience and observation of the
last two years have operated a partial change in my views upon this
interesting subject, it is nevertheless regretted that the suggestions
made by me in my annual messages of 1829 and 1830 have been greatly
misunderstood. At that time the great struggle was begun against that
latitudinarian construction of the Constitution which authorizes the
unlimited appropriation of the revenues of the Union to internal
improvements within the States, tending to invest in the hands and place
under the control of the General Government all the principal roads and
canals of the country, in violation of State rights and in derogation
of State authority. At the same time the condition of the manufacturing
interest was such as to create an apprehension that the duties on
imports could not without extensive mischief be reduced in season to
prevent the accumulation of a considerable surplus after the payment
of the national debt. In view of the dangers of such a surplus, and in
preference to its application to internal improvements in derogation of
the rights and powers of the States, the suggestion of an amendment
of the Constitution to authorize its distribution was made. It was an
alternative for what were deemed greater evils--a temporary resort to
relieve an overburdened treasury until the Government could, without
a sudden and destructive revulsion in the business of the country,
gradually return to the just principle of raising no more revenue from
the people in taxes than is necessary for its economical support. Even
that alternative was not spoken of but in connection with an amendment
of the Constitution. No temporary inconvenience can justify the exercise
of a prohibited power or a power not granted by that instrument, and
it was from a conviction that the power to distribute even a temporary
surplus of revenue is of that character that it was suggested only in
connection with an appeal to the source of all legal power in the
General Government, the States which have established it. No such
appeal has been taken, and in my opinion a distribution of the surplus
revenue by Congress either to the States or the people is to be
considered as among the prohibitions of the Constitution. As already
intimated, my views have undergone a change so far as to be convinced
that no alteration of the Constitution in this respect is wise or
expedient. The influence of an accumulating surplus upon the legislation
of the General Government and the States, its effect upon the credit
system of the country, producing dangerous extensions and ruinous
contractions, fluctuations in the price of property, rash speculation,
idleness, extravagance, and a deterioration of morals, have taught us
the important lesson that any transient mischief which may attend the
reduction of our revenue to the wants of our Government is to be borne
in preference to an overflowing treasury.
I beg leave to call your attention to another subject intimately
associated with the preceding one--the currency of the country.
It is apparent from the whole context of the Constitution, as well as
the history of the times which gave birth to it, that it was the purpose
of the Convention to establish a currency consisting of the precious
metals. These, from their peculiar properties which rendered them the
standard of value in all other countries, were adopted in this as well
to establish its commercial standard in reference to foreign countries
by a permanent rule as to exclude the use of a mutable medium of
exchange, such as of certain agricultural commodities recognized by
the statutes of some States as a tender for debts, or the still more
pernicious expedient of a paper currency. The last, from the experience
of the evils of the issues of paper during the Revolution, had become so
justly obnoxious as not only to suggest the clause in the Constitution
forbidding the emission of bills of credit by the States, but also to
produce that vote in the Convention which negatived the proposition to
grant power to Congress to charter corporations--a proposition well
understood at the time as intended to authorize the establishment of a
national bank, which was to issue a currency of bank notes on a capital
to be created to some extent out of Government stocks. Although this
proposition was refused by a direct vote of the Convention, the object
was afterwards in effect obtained by its ingenious advocates through a
strained construction of the Constitution. The debts of the Revolution
were funded at prices which formed no equivalent compared with the
nominal amount of the stock, and under circumstances which exposed the
motives of some of those who participated in the passage of the act
to distrust.
The facts that the value of the stock was greatly enhanced by the
creation of the bank, that it was well understood that such would be
the case, and that some of the advocates of the measure were largely
benefited by it belong to the history of the times, and are well
calculated to diminish the respect which might otherwise have been
due to the action of the Congress which created the institution.
On the establishment of a national bank it became the interest of its
creditors that gold should be superseded by the paper of the bank as a
general currency. A value was soon attached to the gold coins which made
their exportation to foreign countries as a mercantile commodity more
profitable than their retention and use at home as money. It followed
as a matter of course, if not designed by those who established the
bank, that the bank became in effect a substitute for the Mint of the
United States.
Such was the origin of a national-bank currency, and such the beginning
of those difficulties which now appear in the excessive issues of the
banks incorporated by the various States.
Although it may not be possible by any legislative means within our
power to change at once the system which has thus been introduced, and
has received the acquiescence of all portions of the country, it is
certainly our duty to do all that is consistent with our constitutional
obligations in preventing the mischiefs which are threatened by its
undue extension. That the efforts of the fathers of our Government to
guard against it by a constitutional provision were founded on an
intimate knowledge of the subject has been frequently attested by the
bitter experience of the country. The same causes which led them to
refuse their sanction to a power authorizing the establishment of
incorporations for banking purposes now exist in a much stronger degree
to urge us to exert the utmost vigilance in calling into action the
means necessary to correct the evils resulting from the unfortunate
exercise of the power, and it is to be hoped that the opportunity for
effecting this great good will be improved before the country witnesses
new scenes of embarrassment and distress.
Variableness must ever be the characteristic of a currency of which the
precious metals are not the chief ingredient, or which can be expanded
or contracted without regard to the principles that regulate the value
of those metals as a standard in the general trade of the world. With us
bank issues constitute such a currency, and must ever do so until they
are made dependent on those just proportions of gold and silver as a
circulating medium which experience has proved to be necessary not only
in this but in all other commercial countries. Where those proportions
are not infused into the circulation and do not control it, it is
manifest that prices must vary according to the tide of bank issues,
and the value and stability of property must stand exposed to all the
uncertainty which attends the administration of institutions that are
constantly liable to the temptation of an interest distinct from that
of the community in which they are established.
The progress of an expansion, or rather a depreciation, of the currency
by excessive bank issues is always attended by a loss to the laboring
classes. This portion of the community have neither time nor opportunity
to watch the ebbs and flows of the money market. Engaged from day to day
in their useful toils, they do not perceive that although their wages
are nominally the same, or even somewhat higher, they are greatly
reduced in fact by the rapid increase of a spurious currency, which, as
it appears to make money abound, they are at first inclined to consider
a blessing. It is not so with the speculator, by whom this operation
is better understood, and is made to contribute to his advantage. It is
not until the prices of the necessaries of life become so dear that the
laboring classes can not supply their wants out of their wages that the
wages rise and gradually reach a justly proportioned rate to that of the
products of their labor. When thus, by the depreciation in consequence
of the quantity of paper in circulation, wages as well as prices become
exorbitant, it is soon found that the whole effect of the adulteration
is a tariff on our home industry for the benefit of the countries where
gold and silver circulate and maintain uniformity and moderation in
prices. It is then perceived that the enhancement of the price of land
and labor produces a corresponding increase in the price of products
until these products do not sustain a competition with similar ones in
other countries, and thus both manufactured and agricultural productions
cease to bear exportation from the country of the spurious currency,
because they can not be sold for cost. This is the process by which
specie is banished by the paper of the banks. Their vaults are soon
exhausted to pay for foreign commodities. The next step is a stoppage
of specie payment--a total degradation of paper as a currency--unusual
depression of prices, the ruin of debtors, and the accumulation of
property in the hands of creditors and cautious capitalists.
It was in view of these evils, together with the dangerous power wielded
by the Bank of the United States and its repugnance to our Constitution,
that I was induced to exert the power conferred upon me by the American
people to prevent the continuance of that institution. But although
various dangers to our republican institutions have been obviated by
the failure of that bank to extort from the Government a renewal of
its charter, it is obvious that little has been accomplished except a
salutary change of public opinion toward restoring to the country the
sound currency provided for in the Constitution. In the acts of several
of the States prohibiting the circulation of small notes, and the
auxiliary enactments of Congress at the last session forbidding their
reception or payment on public account, the true policy of the country
has been advanced and a larger portion of the precious metals infused
into our circulating medium. These measures will probably be followed
up in due time by the enactment of State laws banishing from
circulation bank notes of still higher denominations, and the object
may be materially promoted by further acts of Congress forbidding the
employment as fiscal agents of such banks as continue to issue notes of
low denominations and throw impediments in the way of the circulation
of gold and silver.
The effects of an extension of bank credits and overissues of bank
paper have been strikingly illustrated in the sales of the public lands.
From the returns made by the various registers and receivers in the
early part of last summer it was perceived that the receipts arising
from the sales of the public lands were increasing to an unprecedented
amount. In effect, however, these receipts amounted to nothing more
than credits in bank. The banks lent out their notes to speculators.
They were paid to the receivers and immediately returned to the banks,
to be lent out again and again, being mere instruments to transfer to
speculators the most valuable public land and pay the Government by a
credit on the books of the banks. Those credits on the books of some of
the Western banks, usually called deposits, were already greatly beyond
their immediate means of payment, and were rapidly increasing. Indeed,
each speculation furnished means for another; for no sooner had one
individual or company paid in the notes than they were immediately
lent to another for a like purpose, and the banks were extending their
business and their issues so largely as to alarm considerate men and
render it doubtful whether these bank credits if permitted to accumulate
would ultimately be of the least value to the Government. The spirit of
expansion and speculation was not confined to the deposit banks, but
pervaded the whole multitude of banks throughout the Union and was
giving rise to new institutions to aggravate the evil.
The safety of the public funds and the interest of the people generally
required that these operations should be checked; and it became the duty
of every branch of the General and State Governments to adopt all
legitimate and proper means to produce that salutary effect. Under this
view of my duty I directed the issuing of the order which will be laid
before you by the Secretary of the Treasury, requiring payment for the
public lands sold to be made in specie, with an exception until the
15th of the present month in favor of actual settlers. This measure
has produced many salutary consequences. It checked the career of the
Western banks and gave them additional strength in anticipation of the
pressure which has since pervaded our Eastern as well as the European
commercial cities. By preventing the extension of the credit system it
measurably cut off the means of speculation and retarded its progress
in monopolizing the most valuable of the public lands. It has tended
to save the new States from a nonresident proprietorship, one of
the greatest obstacles to the advancement of a new country and the
prosperity of an old one. It has tended to keep open the public lands
for entry by emigrants at Government prices instead of their being
compelled to purchase of speculators at double or triple prices. And
it is conveying into the interior large sums in silver and gold, there
to enter permanently into the currency of the country and place it on a
firmer foundation. It is confidently believed that the country will find
in the motives which induced that order and the happy consequences which
will have ensued much to commend and nothing to condemn.
It remains for Congress if they approve the policy which dictated
this order to follow it up in its various bearings. Much good, in my
judgment, would be produced by prohibiting sales of the public lands
except to actual settlers at a reasonable reduction of price, and to
limit the quantity which shall be sold to them. Although it is believed
the General Government never ought to receive anything but the
constitutional currency in exchange for the public lands, that point
would be of less importance if the lands were sold for immediate
settlement and cultivation. Indeed, there is scarcely a mischief arising
out of our present land system, including the accumulating surplus of
revenues, which would not be remedied at once by a restriction on land
sales to actual settlers; and it promises other advantages to the
country in general and to the new States in particular which can
not fail to receive the most profound consideration of Congress.
Experience continues to realize the expectations entertained as to the
capacity of the State banks to perform the duties of fiscal agents for
the Government at the time of the removal of the deposits. It was
alleged by the advocates of the Bank of the United States that the State
banks, whatever might be the regulations of the Treasury Department,
could not make the transfers required by the Government or negotiate the
domestic exchanges of the country. It is now well ascertained that the
real domestic exchanges performed through discounts by the United States
Bank and its twenty-five branches were at least one-third less than
those of the deposit banks for an equal period of time; and if a
comparison be instituted between the amounts of service rendered by
these institutions on the broader basis which has been used by the
advocates of the United States Bank in estimating what they consider
the domestic exchanges transacted by it, the result will be still more
favorable to the deposit banks.
The whole amount of public money transferred by the Bank of the United
States in 1832 was $16,000,000. The amount transferred and actually
paid by the deposit banks in the year ending the 1st of October last
was $39,319,899; the amount transferred and paid between that period
and the 6th of November was $5,399,000, and the amount of transfer
warrants outstanding on that day was $14,450,000, making an aggregate
of $59,168,894. These enormous sums of money first mentioned have been
transferred with the greatest promptitude and regularity, and the rates
at which the exchanges have been negotiated previously to the passage of
the deposit act were generally below those charged by the Bank of the
United States. Independently of these services, which are far greater
than those rendered by the United States Bank and its twenty-five
branches, a number of the deposit banks have, with a commendable zeal
to aid in the improvement of the currency, imported from abroad, at
their own expense, large sums of the precious metals for coinage and
circulation.
In the same manner have nearly all the predictions turned out in respect
to the effect of the removal of the deposits--a step unquestionably
necessary to prevent the evils which it was foreseen the bank itself
would endeavor to create in a final struggle to procure a renewal of
its charter. It may be thus, too, in some degree with the further steps
which may be taken to prevent the excessive issue of other bank paper,
but it is to be hoped that nothing will now deter the Federal and State
authorities from the firm and vigorous performance of their duties to
themselves and to the people in this respect.
In reducing the revenue to the wants of the Government your particular
attention is invited to those articles which constitute the necessaries
of life. The duty on salt was laid as a war tax, and was no doubt
continued to assist in providing for the payment of the war debt.
There is no article the release of which from taxation would be felt so
generally and so beneficially. To this may be added all kinds of fuel
and provisions. Justice and benevolence unite in favor of releasing the
poor of our cities from burdens which are not necessary to the support
of our Government and tend only to increase the wants of the destitute.
It will be seen by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury
and the accompanying documents that the Bank of the United States has
made no payment on account of the stock held by the Government in that
institution, although urged to pay any portion which might suit its
convenience, and that it has given no information when payment may be
expected. Nor, although repeatedly requested, has it furnished the
information in relation to its condition which Congress authorized the
Secretary to collect at their last session. Such measures as are within
the power of the Executive have been taken to ascertain the value of
the stock and procure the payment as early as possible.
The conduct and present condition of that bank and the great amount
of capital vested in it by the United States require your careful
attention. Its charter expired on the 3d day of March last, and it has
now no power but that given in the twenty-first section, "to use the
corporate name, style, and capacity for the purpose of suits for the
final settlement and liquidation of the affairs and accounts of the
corporation, and for the sale and disposition of their estate--real,
personal, and mixed--but not for any other purpose or in any other
manner whatsoever, nor for a period exceeding two years after the
expiration of the said term of incorporation." Before the expiration
of the charter the stockholders of the bank obtained an act of
incorporation from the legislature of Pennsylvania, excluding only the
United States. Instead of proceeding to wind up their concerns and pay
over to the United States the amount due on account of the stock held
by them, the president and directors of the old bank appear to have
transferred the books, papers, notes, obligations, and most or all of
its property to this new corporation, which entered upon business as
a continuation of the old concern. Amongst other acts of questionable
validity, the notes of the expired corporation are known to have been
used as its own and again put in circulation. That the old bank had no
right to issue or reissue its notes after the expiration of its charter
can not be denied, and that it could not confer any such right on its
substitute any more than exercise it itself is equally plain. In law and
honesty the notes of the bank in circulation at the expiration of its
charter should have been called in by public advertisement, paid up as
presented, and, together with those on hand, canceled and destroyed.
Their reissue is sanctioned by no law and warranted by no necessity.
If the United States be responsible in their stock for the payment of
these notes, their reissue by the new corporation for their own profit
is a fraud on the Government. If the United States is not responsible,
then there is no legal responsibility in any quarter, and it is a fraud
on the country. They are the redeemed notes of a dissolved partnership,
but, contrary to the wishes of the retiring partner and without his
consent, are again reissued and circulated.
It is the high and peculiar duty of Congress to decide whether any
further legislation be necessary for the security of the large amount of
public property now held and in use by the new bank, and for vindicating
the rights of the Government and compelling a speedy and honest
settlement with all the creditors of the old bank, public and private,
or whether the subject shall be left to the power now possessed by the
Executive and judiciary. It remains to be seen whether the persons
who as managers of the old bank undertook to control the Government,
retained the public dividends, shut their doors upon a committee of
the House of Representatives, and filled the country with panic to
accomplish their own sinister objects may now as managers of a new bank
continue with impunity to flood the country with a spurious currency,
use the seven millions of Government stock for their own profit, and
refuse to the United States all information as to the present condition
of their own property and the prospect of recovering it into their
own possession.
The lessons taught by the Bank of the United States can not well be lost
upon the American people. They will take care never again to place so
tremendous a power in irresponsible hands, and it will be fortunate if
they seriously consider the consequences which are likely to result on a
smaller scale from the facility with which corporate powers are granted
by their State governments.
It is believed that the law of the last session regulating the deposit
banks operates onerously and unjustly upon them in many respects, and
it is hoped that Congress, on proper representations, will adopt the
modifications which are necessary to prevent this consequence.
The report of the Secretary of War _ad interim_ and the accompanying
documents, all which are herewith laid before you, will give you a full
view of the diversified and important operations of that Department
during the past year.
The military movements rendered necessary by the aggressions of the
hostile portions of the Seminole and Creek tribes of Indians, and by
other circumstances, have required the active employment of nearly our
whole regular force, including the Marine Corps, and of large bodies of
militia and volunteers. With all these events so far as they were known
at the seat of Government before the termination of your last session
you are already acquainted, and it is therefore only needful in this
place to lay before you a brief summary of what has since occurred.
The war with the Seminoles during the summer was on our part chiefly
confined to the protection of our frontier settlements from the
incursions of the enemy, and, as a necessary and important means for the
accomplishment of that end, to the maintenance of the posts previously
established. In the course of this duty several actions took place,
in which the bravery and discipline of both officers and men were
conspicuously displayed, and which I have deemed it proper to notice
in respect to the former by the granting of brevet rank for gallant
services in the field. But as the force of the Indians was not so far
weakened by these partial successes as to lead them to submit, and
as their savage inroads were frequently repeated, early measures were
taken for placing at the disposal of Governor Call, who as commander in
chief of the Territorial militia had been temporarily invested with the
command, an ample force for the purpose of resuming offensive operations
in the most efficient manner so soon as the season should permit.
Major-General Jesup was also directed, on the conclusion of his duties
in the Creek country, to repair to Florida and assume the command.
The result of the first movement made by the forces under the direction
of Governor Call in October last, as detailed in the accompanying
papers, excited much surprise and disappointment. A full explanation has
been required of the causes which led to the failure of that movement,
but has not yet been received. In the meantime, as it was feared that
the health of Governor Call, who was understood to have suffered much
from sickness, might not be adequate to the crisis, and as Major-General
Jesup was known to have reached Florida, that officer was directed to
assume the command, and to prosecute all needful operations with the
utmost promptitude and vigor. From the force at his disposal and the
dispositions he has made and is instructed to make, and from the very
efficient measures which it is since ascertained have been taken by
Governor Call, there is reason to hope that they will soon be enabled to
reduce the enemy to subjection. In the meantime, as you will perceive
from the report of the Secretary, there is urgent necessity for further
appropriations to suppress these hostilities.
Happily for the interests of humanity, the hostilities with the Creeks
were brought to a close soon after your adjournment, without that
effusion of blood which at one time was apprehended as inevitable.
The unconditional submission of the hostile party was followed by their
speedy removal to the country assigned them west of the Mississippi.
The inquiry as to alleged frauds in the purchase of the reservations
of these Indians and the causes of their hostilities, requested by the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 1st of July last
to be made by the President, is now going on through the agency of
commissioners appointed for that purpose. Their report may be expected
during your present session.
The difficulties apprehended in the Cherokee country have been
prevented, and the peace and safety of that region and its vicinity
effectually secured, by the timely measures taken by the War Department,
and still continued.
The discretionary authority given to General Gaines to cross the Sabine
and to occupy a position as far west as Nacogdoches, in case he should
deem such a step necessary to the protection of the frontier and to the
fulfillment of the stipulations contained in our treaty with Mexico, and
the movement subsequently made by that officer have been alluded to in a
former part of this message. At the date of the latest intelligence from
Nacogdoches our troops were yet at that station, but the officer who has
succeeded General Gaines has recently been advised that from the facts
known at the seat of Government there would seem to be no adequate
cause for any longer maintaining that position, and he was accordingly
instructed, in case the troops were not already withdrawn under the
discretionary powers before possessed by him, to give the requisite
orders for that purpose on the receipt of the instructions, unless he
shall then have in his possession such information as shall satisfy him
that the maintenance of the post is essential to the protection of our
frontiers and to the due execution of our treaty stipulations, as
previously explained to him.
Whilst the necessities existing during the present year for the service
of militia and volunteers have furnished new proofs of the patriotism of
our fellow-citizens, they have also strongly illustrated the importance
of an increase in the rank and file of the Regular Army. The views
of this subject submitted by the Secretary of War in his report meet
my entire concurrence, and are earnestly commended to the deliberate
attention of Congress. In this connection it is also proper to remind
you that the defects in our present militia system are every day
rendered more apparent. The duty of making further provision by law
for organizing, arming, and disciplining this arm of defense has been
so repeatedly presented to Congress by myself and my predecessors that
I deem it sufficient on this occasion to refer to the last annual
message and to former Executive communications in which the subject
has been discussed.
It appears from the reports of the officers charged with mustering into
service the volunteers called for under the act of Congress of the last
session that more presented themselves at the place of rendezvous in
Tennessee than were sufficient to meet the requisition which had been
made by the Secretary of War upon the governor of that State. This was
occasioned by the omission of the governor to apportion the requisition
to the different regiments of militia so as to obtain the proper number
of troops and no more. It seems but just to the patriotic citizens who
repaired to the general rendezvous under circumstances authorizing them
to believe that their services were needed and would be accepted that
the expenses incurred by them while absent from their homes should be
paid by the Government. I accordingly recommend that a law to this
effect be passed by Congress, giving them a compensation which will
cover their expenses on the march to and from the place of rendezvous
and while there; in connection with which it will also be proper to make
provision for such other equitable claims growing out of the service of
the militia as may not be embraced in the existing laws.
On the unexpected breaking out of hostilities in Florida, Alabama,
and Georgia it became necessary in some cases to take the property
of individuals for public use. Provision should be made by law for
indemnifying the owners; and I would also respectfully suggest whether
some provision may not be made, consistently with the principles of our
Government, for the relief of the sufferers by Indian depredations or
by the operations of our own troops.
No time was lost after the making of the requisite appropriations
in resuming the great national work of completing the unfinished
fortifications on our seaboard and of placing them in a proper state of
defense. In consequence, however, of the very late day at which those
bills were passed, but little progress could be made during the season
which has just closed. A very large amount of the moneys granted at your
last session accordingly remains unexpended; but as the work will be
again resumed at the earliest moment in the coming spring, the balance
of the existing appropriations, and in several cases which will be
laid before you, with the proper estimates, further sums for the like
objects, may be usefully expended during the next year.
The recommendations of an increase in the Engineer Corps and for a
reorganization of the Topographical Corps, submitted to you in my last
annual message, derive additional strength from the great embarrassments
experienced during the present year in those branches of the service,
and under which they are now suffering. Several of the most important
surveys and constructions directed by recent laws have been suspended
in consequence of the want of adequate force in these corps.
The like observations may be applied to the Ordnance Corps and to the
general staff, the operations of which as they are now organized must
either be frequently interrupted or performed by officers taken from
the line of the Army, to the great prejudice of the service.
For a general view of the condition of the Military Academy and of other
branches of the military service not already noticed, as well as for
fuller illustrations of those which have been mentioned, I refer you to
the accompanying documents, and among the various proposals contained
therein for legislative action I would particularly notice the
suggestion of the Secretary of War for the revision of the pay of the
Army as entitled to your favorable regard.
The national policy, founded alike in interest and in humanity, so long
and so steadily pursued by this Government for the removal of the Indian
tribes originally settled on this side of the Mississippi to the west of
that river, may be said to have been consummated by the conclusion of
the late treaty with the Cherokees. The measures taken in the execution
of that treaty and in relation to our Indian affairs generally will
fully appear by referring to the accompanying papers. Without dwelling
on the numerous and important topics embraced in them, I again invite
your attention to the importance of providing a well-digested and
comprehensive system for the protection, supervision, and improvement of
the various tribes now planted in the Indian country. The suggestions
submitted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and enforced by the
Secretary, on this subject, and also in regard to the establishment of
additional military posts in the Indian country, are entitled to your
profound consideration. Both measures are necessary, for the double
purpose of protecting the Indians from intestine war, and in other
respects complying with our engagements to them, and of securing our
western frontier against incursions which otherwise will assuredly be
made on it. The best hopes of humanity in regard to the aboriginal race,
the welfare of our rapidly extending settlements, and the honor of the
United States are all deeply involved in the relations existing between
this Government and the emigrating tribes. I trust, therefore, that the
various matters submitted in the accompanying documents in respect to
those relations will receive your early and mature deliberation, and
that it may issue in the adoption of legislative measures adapted to
the circumstances and duties of the present crisis.
You are referred to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a
satisfactory view of the operations of the Department under his charge
during the present year. In the construction of vessels at the different
navy-yards and in the employment of our ships and squadrons at sea that
branch of the service has been actively and usefully employed. While
the situation of our commercial interests in the West Indies required a
greater number than usual of armed vessels to be kept on that station,
it is gratifying to perceive that the protection due to our commerce in
other quarters of the world has not proved insufficient. Every effort
has been made to facilitate the equipment of the exploring expedition
authorized by the act of the last session, but all the preparation
necessary to enable it to sail has not yet been completed. No means
will be spared by the Government to fit out the expedition on a scale
corresponding with the liberal appropriations for the purpose and with
the elevated character of the objects which are to be effected by it.
I beg leave to renew the recommendation made in my last annual message
respecting the enlistment of boys in our naval service, and to urge upon
your attention the necessity of further appropriations to increase the
number of ships afloat and to enlarge generally the capacity and force
of the Navy. The increase of our commerce and our position in regard
to the other powers of the world will always make it our policy and
interest to cherish the great naval resources of our country.
The report of the Postmaster-General presents a gratifying picture of
the condition of the Post-Office Department. Its revenues for the year
ending the 30th June last were $3,398,455.19, showing an increase of
revenue over that of the preceding year of $404,878.53, or more than
13 per cent. The expenditures for the same year were $2,755,623.76,
exhibiting a surplus of $642,831.43. The Department has been redeemed
from embarrassment and debt, has accumulated a surplus exceeding half a
million of dollars, has largely extended and is preparing still further
to extend the mail service, and recommends a reduction of postages equal
to about 20 per cent. It is practicing upon the great principle which
should control every branch of our Government of rendering to the
public the greatest good possible with the least possible taxation
to the people.
The scale of postages suggested by the Postmaster-General recommends
itself, not only by the reduction it proposes, but by the simplicity
of its arrangement, its conformity with the Federal currency, and the
improvement it will introduce into the accounts of the Department and
its agents.
Your particular attention is invited to the subject of mail contracts
with railroad companies. The present laws providing for the making of
contracts are based upon the presumption that competition among bidders
will secure the service at a fair price; but on most of the railroad
lines there is no competition in that kind of transportation, and
advertising is therefore useless. No contract can now be made with
them except such as shall be negotiated before the time of offering or
afterwards, and the power of the Postmaster-General to pay them high
prices is practically without limitation. It would be a relief to him
and no doubt would conduce to the public interest to prescribe by law
some equitable basis upon which such contracts shall rest, and restrict
him by a fixed rule of allowance. Under a liberal act of that sort he
would undoubtedly be able to secure the services of most of the railroad
companies, and the interest of the Department would be thus advanced.
The correspondence between the people of the United States and the
European nations, and particularly with the British Islands, has become
very extensive, and requires the interposition of Congress to give it
security. No obstacle is perceived to an interchange of mails between
New York and Liverpool or other foreign ports, as proposed by the
Postmaster-General. On the contrary, it promises, by the security it
will afford, to facilitate commercial transactions and give rise to an
enlarged intercourse among the people of different nations, which can
not but have a happy effect. Through the city of New York most of
the correspondence between the Canadas and Europe is now carried on,
and urgent representations have been received from the head of the
provincial post-office asking the interposition of the United States
to guard it from the accidents and losses to which it is now subjected.
Some legislation appears to be called for as well by our own interest
as by comity to the adjoining British provinces.
The expediency of providing a fireproof building for the important books
and papers of the Post-Office Department is worthy of consideration. In
the present condition of our Treasury it is neither necessary nor wise
to leave essential public interests exposed to so much danger when they
can so readily be made secure. There are weighty considerations in the
location of a new building for that Department in favor of placing it
near the other executive buildings.
The important subjects of a survey of the coast and the manufacture of
a standard of weights and measures for the different custom-houses have
been in progress for some years under the general direction of the
Executive and the immediate superintendence of a gentleman possessing
high scientific attainments. At the last session of Congress the making
of a set of weights and measures for each State in the Union was added
to the others by a joint resolution.
The care and correspondence as to all these subjects have been devolved
on the Treasury Department during the last year. A special report from
the Secretary of the Treasury will soon be communicated to Congress,
which will show what has been accomplished as to the whole, the number
and compensation of the persons now employed in these duties, and the
progress expected to be made during the ensuing year, with a copy of the
various correspondence deemed necessary to throw light on the subjects
which seem to require additional legislation. Claims have been made for
retrospective allowances in behalf of the superintendent and some of
his assistants, which I did not feel justified in granting. Other
claims have been made for large increases in compensation, which, under
all the circumstances of the several cases, I declined making without
the express sanction of Congress. In order to obtain that sanction
the subject was at the last session, on my suggestion and by request
of the immediate superintendent, submitted by the Treasury Department
to the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives. But no
legislative action having taken place, the early attention of Congress
is now invited to the enactment of some express and detailed provisions
in relation to the various claims made for the past, and to the
compensation and allowances deemed proper for the future.
It is further respectfully recommended that, such being the
inconvenience of attention to these duties by the Chief Magistrate,
and such the great pressure of business on the Treasury Department,
the general supervision of the coast survey and the completion of the
weights and measures, if the works are kept united, should be devolved
on a board of officers organized specially for that purpose, or on the
Navy Board attached to the Navy Department.
All my experience and reflection confirm the conviction I have so
often expressed to Congress in favor of an amendment of the Constitution
which will prevent in any event the election of the President and
Vice-President of the United States devolving on the House of
Representatives and the Senate, and I therefore beg leave again to
solicit your attention to the subject. There were various other
suggestions in my last annual message not acted upon, particularly
that relating to the want of uniformity in the laws of the District
of Columbia, that are deemed worthy of your favorable consideration.
Before concluding this paper I think it due to the various Executive
Departments to bear testimony to their prosperous condition and to the
ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been
my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of
the public business, and it is gratifying to me to believe that there
is no just cause of complaint from any quarter at the manner in which
they have fulfilled the objects of their creation.
Having now finished the observations deemed proper on this the last
occasion I shall have of communicating with the two Houses of Congress
at their meeting, I can not omit an expression of the gratitude which
is due to the great body of my fellow-citizens, in whose partiality and
indulgence I have found encouragement and support in the many difficult
and trying scenes through which it has been my lot to pass during my
public career. Though deeply sensible that my exertions have not been
crowned with a success corresponding to the degree of favor bestowed
upon me, I am sure that they will be considered as having been
directed by an earnest desire to promote the good of my country, and I
am consoled by the persuasion that whatever errors have been committed
will find a corrective in the intelligence and patriotism of those who
will succeed us. All that has occurred during my Administration is
calculated to inspire me with increased confidence in the stability of
our institutions; and should I be spared to enter upon that retirement
which is so suitable to my age and infirm health and so much desired
by me in other respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent
Being to whose providence we are already so signally indebted for the
continuance of His blessings on our beloved country.