bills, and it is often difficult to determine whether the particular clause
expires with the temporary act of which it is a part or continues in force.
It has also frequently happened that enactments and provisions of law have
been introduced into bills with the title or general subject of which they
have little or no connection or relation. In this mode of legislation so
many enactments have been heaped upon each other, and often with but little
consideration, that in many instances it is difficult to search out and
determine what is the law.
The Government of the United States is emphatically a government of written
laws. The statutes should therefore, as far as practicable, not only be
made accessible to all, but be expressed in language so plain and simple as
to be understood by all and arranged in such method as to give perspicuity
to every subject. Many of the States have revised their public acts with
great and manifest benefit, and I recommend that provision be made by law
for the appointment of a commission to revise the public statutes of the
United States, arranging them in order, supplying deficiencies, correcting
incongruities, simplifying their language, and reporting them to Congress
for its action.
An act of Congress approved 30th September, 1850, contained a provision for
the extension of the Capitol according to such plan as might be approved by
the President, and appropriated $100,000 to be expended under his direction
by such architect as he should appoint to execute the same. On examining
the various plans which had been submitted by different architects in
pursuance of an advertisement by a committee of the Senate no one was found
to be entirely satisfactory, and it was therefore deemed advisable to
combine and adopt the advantages of several.
The great object to be accomplished was to make such an addition as would
afford ample and convenient halls for the deliberations of the two Houses
of Congress, with sufficient accommodations for spectators and suitable
apartments for the committees and officers of the two branches of the
Legislature. It was also desirable not to mar the harmony and beauty of the
present structure, which, as a specimen of architecture, is so universally
admired. Keeping these objects in view, I concluded to make the addition by
wings, detached from the present building, yet connected with it by
corridors. This mode of enlargement will leave the present Capitol
uninjured and afford great advantages for ventilation and the admission of
light, and will enable the work to progress without interrupting the
deliberations of Congress. To carry this plan into effect I have appointed
an experienced and competent architect. The corner stone was laid on the
4th day of July last with suitable ceremonies, since which time the work
has advanced with commendable rapidity, and the foundations of both wings
are now nearly complete.
I again commend to your favorable regard the interests of the District of
Columbia, and deem it only necessary to remind you that although its
inhabitants have no voice in the choice of Representatives in Congress,
they are not the less entitled to a just and liberal consideration in your
legislation. My opinions on this subject were more fully expressed in my
last annual communication.
Other subjects were brought to the attention of Congress in my last annual
message, to which I would respectfully refer. But there was one of more
than ordinary interest, to which I again invite your special attention. I
allude to the recommendation for the appointment of a commission to settle
private claims against the United States. Justice to individuals, as well
as to the Government, imperatively demands that some more convenient and
expeditious mode than an appeal to Congress should be adopted.
It is deeply to be regretted that in several instances officers of the
Government, in attempting to execute the law for the return of fugitives
from labor, have been openly resisted and their efforts frustrated and
defeated by lawless and violent mobs; that in one case such resistance
resulted in the death of an estimable citizen, and in others serious injury
ensued to those officers and to individuals who were using their endeavors
to sustain the laws. Prosecutions have been instituted against the alleged
offenders so far as they could be identified, and are still pending. I have
regarded it as my duty in these cases to give all aid legally in my power
to the enforcement of the laws, and I shall continue to do so wherever and
whenever their execution may be resisted.
The act of Congress for the return of fugitives from labor is one required
and demanded by the express words of the Constitution. The Constitution
declares that--No person held to service or labor in one State, under the
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be
due. This constitutional provision is equally obligatory upon the
legislative, the executive, and judicial departments of the Government, and
upon every citizen of the United States.
Congress, however, must from necessity first act upon the subject by
prescribing the proceedings necessary to ascertain that the person is a
fugitive and the means to be used for his restoration to the claimant. This
was done by an act passed during the first term of President Washington,
which was amended by that enacted by the last Congress, and it now remains
for the executive and judicial departments to take care that these laws be
faithfully executed. This injunction of the Constitution is as peremptory
and as binding as any other; it stands exactly on the same foundation as
that clause which provides for the return of fugitives from justice, or
that which declares that no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be
passed, or that which provides for an equality of taxation according to the
census, or the clause declaring that all duties shall be uniform throughout
the United States, or the important provision that the trial of all crimes
shall be by jury. These several articles and clauses of the Constitution,
all resting on the same authority, must stand or fall together. Some
objections have been urged against the details of the act for the return of
fugitives from labor, but it is worthy of remark that the main opposition
is aimed against the Constitution itself, and proceeds from persons and
classes of persons many of whom declare their wish to see that Constitution
overturned. They avow their hostility to any law which shall give full and
practical effect to this requirement of the Constitution. Fortunately, the
number of these persons is comparatively small, and is believed to be daily
diminishing; but the issue which they present is one which involves the
supremacy and even the existence of the Constitution.
Cases have heretofore arisen in which individuals have denied the binding
authority of acts of Congress, and even States have proposed to nullify
such acts upon the ground that the Constitution was the supreme law of the
land, and that those acts of Congress were repugnant to that instrument;
but nullification is now aimed not so much against particular laws as being
inconsistent with the Constitution as against the Constitution itself, and
it is not to be disguised that a spirit exists, and has been actively at
work, to rend asunder this Union, which is our cherished inheritance from
our Revolutionary fathers.
In my last annual message I stated that I considered the series of measures
which had been adopted at the previous session in reference to the
agitation growing out of the Territorial and slavery questions as a final
settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting
subjects which they embraced, and I recommended adherence to the adjustment
established by those measures until time and experience should demonstrate
the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse. I
was not induced to make this recommendation because I thought those
measures perfect, for no human legislation can be perfect. Wide differences
and jarring opinions can only be reconciled by yielding something on all
sides, and this result had been reached after an angry conflict of many
months, in which one part of the country was arrayed against another, and
violent convulsion seemed to be imminent. Looking at the interests of the
whole country, I felt it to be my duty to seize upon this compromise as the
best that could be obtained amid conflicting interests and to insist upon
it as a final settlement, to be adhered to by all who value the peace and
welfare of the country. A year has now elapsed since that recommendation
was made. To that recommendation I still adhere, and I congratulate you and
the country upon the general acquiescence in these measures of peace which
has been exhibited in all parts of the Republic. And not only is there this
general acquiescence in these measures, but the spirit of conciliation
which has been manifested in regard to them in all parts of the country has
removed doubts and uncertainties in the minds of thousands of good men
concerning the durability of our popular institutions and given renewed
assurance that our liberty and our Union may subsist together for the
benefit of this and all succeeding generations.
***
State of the Union Address
Millard Fillmore
December 6, 1852
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The brief space which has elapsed since the close of your last session has
been marked by no extraordinary political event. The quadrennial election
of Chief Magistrate has passed off with less than the usual excitement.
However individuals and parties may have been disappointed in the result,
it is, nevertheless, a subject of national congratulation that the choice
has been effected by the independent suffrages of a free people,
undisturbed by those influences which in other countries have too often
affected the purity of popular elections.
Our grateful thanks are due to an all-merciful Providence, not only for
staying the pestilence which in different forms has desolated some of our
cities, but for crowning the labors of the husbandman with an abundant
harvest and the nation generally with the blessings of peace and
prosperity.
Within a few weeks the public mind has been deeply affected by the death of
Daniel Webster, filling at his decease the office of Secretary of State.
His associates in the executive government have sincerely sympathized with
his family and the public generally on this mournful occasion. His
commanding talents, his great political and professional eminence, his
well-tried patriotism, and his long and faithful services in the most
important public trusts have caused his death to be lamented throughout the
country and have earned for him a lasting place in our history. In the
course of the last summer considerable anxiety was caused for a short time
by an official intimation from the Government of Great Britain that orders
had been given for the protection of the fisheries upon the coasts of the
British provinces in North America against the alleged encroachments of the
fishing vessels of the United States and France. The shortness of this
notice and the season of the year seemed to make it a matter of urgent
importance. It was at first apprehended that an increased naval force had
been ordered to the fishing grounds to carry into effect the British
interpretation of those provisions in the convention of 1818 in reference
to the true intent of which the two Governments differ. It was soon
discovered that such was not the design of Great Britain, and satisfactory
explanations of the real objects of the measure have been given both here
and in London.
The unadjusted difference, however, between the two Governments as to the
interpretation of the first article of the convention of 1818 is still a
matter of importance. American fishing vessels, within nine or ten years,
have been excluded from waters to which they had free access for
twenty-five years after the negotiation of the treaty. In 1845 this
exclusion was relaxed so far as concerns the Bay of Fundy, but the just and
liberal intention of the home Government, in compliance with what we think
the true construction of the convention, to open all the other outer bays
to our fishermen was abandoned in consequence of the opposition of the
colonies. Notwithstanding this, the United States have, since the Bay of
Fundy was reopened to our fishermen in 1845, pursued the most liberal
course toward the colonial fishing interests. By the revenue law of 1846
the duties on colonial fish entering our ports were very greatly reduced,
and by the warehousing act it is allowed to be entered in bond without
payment of duty. In this way colonial fish has acquired the monopoly of the
export trade in our market and is entering to some extent into the home
consumption. These facts were among those which increased the sensibility
of our fishing interest at the movement in question. These circumstances
and the incidents above alluded to have led me to think the moment
favorable for a reconsideration of the entire subject of the fisheries on
the coasts of the British Provinces, with a view to place them upon a more
liberal footing of reciprocal privilege. A willingness to meet us in some
arrangement of this kind is understood to exist on the part of Great
Britain, with a desire on her part to include in one comprehensive
settlement as well this subject as the commercial intercourse between the
United States and the British Provinces. I have thought that, whatever
arrangements may be made on these two subjects, it is expedient that they
should be embraced in separate conventions. The illness and death of the
late Secretary of State prevented the commencement of the contemplated
negotiation. Pains have been taken to collect the information required for
the details of such an arrangement. The subject is attended with
considerable difficulty. If it is found practicable to come to an agreement
mutually acceptable to the two parties, conventions may be concluded in the
course of the present winter. The control of Congress over all the
provisions of such an arrangement affecting the revenue will of course be
reserved.
The affairs of Cuba formed a prominent topic in my last annual message.
They remain in an uneasy condition, and a feeling of alarm and irritation
on the part of the Cuban authorities appears to exist. This feeling has
interfered with the regular commercial intercourse between the United
States and the island and led to some acts of which we have a fight to
complain. But the Captain-General of Cuba is clothed with no power to treat
with foreign governments, nor is he in any degree under the control of the
Spanish minister at Washington. Any communication which he may hold with an
agent of a foreign power is informal and matter of courtesy. Anxious to put
an end to the existing inconveniences (which seemed to rest on a
misconception), I directed the newly appointed minister to Mexico to visit
Havana on his way to Vera Cruz. He was respectfully received by the
Captain-General, who conferred with him freely on the recent occurrences,
but no permanent arrangement was effected.
In the meantime the refusal of the Captain-Generalto allow passengers and
the mail to be landed in certain cases, for a reason which does not
furnish, in the opinion of this Government, even a good presumptive ground
for such prohibition, has been made the subject of a serious remonstrance
at Madrid, and I have no reason to doubt that due respect will be paid by
the Government of Her Catholic Majesty to the representations which our
minister has been instructed to make on the subject.
It is but justice to the Captain-General to add that his conduct toward the
steamers employed to carry the mails of the United States to Havana has,
with the exceptions above alluded to, been marked with kindness and
liberality, and indicates no general purpose of interfering with the
commercial correspondence and intercourse between the island and this
country.
Early in the present year official notes were received from the ministers
of France and England inviting the Government of the United States to
become a party with Great Britain and France to a tripartite convention, in
virtue of which the three powers should severally and collectively disclaim
now and for the future all intention to obtain possession of the island of
Cuba, and should bind themselves to discountenance all attempts to that
effect on the part of any power or individual whatever. This invitation has
been respectfully declined, for reasons which it would occupy too much
space in this communication to state in detail, but which led me to think
that the proposed measure would be of doubtful constitutionality,
impolitic, and unavailing. I have, however, in common with several of my
predecessors, directed the ministers of France and England to be assured
that the United States entertain no designs against Cuba, but that, on the
contrary, I should regard its incorporation into the Union at the present
time as fraught with serious peril.
Were this island comparatively destitute of inhabitants or occupied by a
kindred race, I should regard it, if voluntarily ceded by Spain, as a most
desirable acquisition. But under existing circumstances I should look upon
its incorporation into our Union as a very hazardous measure. It would
bring into the Confederacy a population of a different national stock,
speaking a different language, and not likely to harmonize with the other
members. It would probably affect in a prejudicial manner the industrial
interests of the South, and it might revive those conflicts of opinion
between the different sections of the country which lately shook the Union
to its center, and which have been so happily compromised.
The rejection by the Mexican Congress of the convention which had been
concluded between that Republic and the United States for the protection of
a transit way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and of the interests of
those citizens of the United States who had become proprietors of the
rights which Mexico had conferred on one of her own citizens in regard to
that transit has thrown a serious obstacle in the way of the attainment of
a very desirable national object. I am still willing to hope that the
differences on the subject which exist, or may hereafter arise, between the
Governments will be amicably adjusted. This subject, however, has already
engaged the attention of the Senate of the United States, and requires no
further comment in this communication.
The settlement of the question respecting the port of San Juan de Nicaragua
and of the controversy between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in
regard to their boundaries was considered indispensable to the commencement
of the ship canal between the two oceans, which was the subject of the
convention between the United States and Great Britain of the 19th of
April, 1850. Accordingly, a proposition for the same purposes, addressed to
the two Governments in that quarter and to the Mosquito Indians, was agreed
to in April last by the Secretary of State and the minister of Her
Britannic Majesty. Besides the wish to aid in reconciling the differences
of the two Republics, I engaged in the negotiation from a desire to place
the great work of a ship canal between the two oceans under one
jurisdiction and to establish the important port of San Juan de Nicaragua
under the government of a civilized power. The proposition in question was
assented to by Costs Rica and the Mosquito Indians. It has not proved
equally acceptable to Nicaragua, but it is to be hoped that the further
negotiations on the subject which are in train will be carried on in that
spirit of conciliation and compromise which ought always to prevail on such
occasions, and that they will lead to a satisfactory result.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the executive government of
Venezuela has acknowledged some claims of citizens of the United States
which have for many years past been urged by our charge d'affaires at
Caracas. It is hoped that the same sense of justice will actuate the
Congress of that Republic in providing the means for their payment.
The recent revolution in Buenos Ayres and the Confederated States having
opened the prospect of an improved state of things in that quarter, the
Governments of Great Britain and France determined to negotiate with the
chief of the new confederacy for the free access of their commerce to the
extensive countries watered by the tributaries of the La Plata; and they
gave a friendly notice of this purpose to the United States, that we might,
if we thought proper, pursue the same course. In compliance with this
invitation, our minister at Rio Janeiro and our charge d'affaires at
Buenos Ayres have been fully authorized to conclude treaties with the newly
organized confederation or the States composing it. The delays which have
taken place in the formation of the new government have as yet prevented
the execution of those instructions, but there is every reason to hope that
these vast countries will be eventually opened to our commerce.
A treaty of commerce has been concluded between the United States and the
Oriental Republic of Uruguay, which will be laid before the Senate. Should
this convention go into operation, it will open to the commercial
enterprise of our citizens a country of great extent and unsurpassed in
natural resources, but from which foreign nations have hitherto been almost
wholly excluded.
The correspondence of the late Secretary of State with the Peruvian charge
d'affaires relative to the Lobos Islands was communicated to Congress
toward the close of the last session. Since that time, on further
investigation of the subject, the doubts which had been entertained of the
title of Peru to those islands have been removed, and I have deemed it just
that the temporary wrong which had been unintentionally done her from want
of information should be repaired by an unreserved acknowledgment of her
sovereignty.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the course pursued by Peru has
been creditable to the liberality of her Government. Before it was known by
her that her title would be acknowledged at Washington, her minister of
foreign affairs had authorized our charge d'affaires at Lima to announce
to the American vessels which had gone to the Lobos for guano that the
Peruvian Government was willing to freight them on its own account. This
intention has been carried into effect by the Peruvian minister here by an
arrangement which is believed to be advantageous to the parties in
interest.