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Title: State of the Union Addresses of Martin van Buren

Author: Martin van Buren

Release Date: February, 2004  [EBook #5017]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on April 11, 2002]
[Date last updated: December 16, 2004]

Edition: 11

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OF ADDRESSES BY MARTIN VAN BUREN ***




This eBook was produced by James Linden.

The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***

Dates of addresses by Martin van Buren in this eBook:
  December 5, 1837
  December 3, 1838
  December 2, 1839
  December 5, 1840



***

State of the Union Address
Martin van Buren
December 5, 1837

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

We have reason to renew the expression of our devout gratitude to the Giver
of All Good for His benign protection. Our country presents on every side
the evidences of that continued favor under whose auspices it, has
gradually risen from a few feeble and dependent colonies to a prosperous
and powerful confederacy. We are blessed with domestic tranquillity and all
the elements of national prosperity. The pestilence which, invading for a
time some flourishing portions of the Union, interrupted the general
prevalence of unusual health has happily been limited in extent and
arrested in its fatal career. The industry and prudence of our citizens are
gradually relieving them from the pecuniary embarrassments under which
portions of them have labored; judicious legislation and the natural and
boundless resources of the country have afforded wise end timely aid to
private enterprise, and the activity always characteristic of our people
has already in a great degree resumed its usual and profitable channels.

The condition of our foreign relations has not materially changed since the
last annual message of my predecessor. We remain at peace with all nations,
and no efforts on my part consistent with the preservation of our rights
and the honor of the country shall be spared to maintain a position so
consonant to our institutions. We have faithfully sustained the foreign
policy with which the United States, under the guidance of their first
President, took their stand in the family of nations--that of regulating
their intercourse with other powers by the approved principles of private
life; asking and according equal rights and equal privileges; rendering and
demanding justice in all cases; advancing their own and discussing the
pretensions of others with candor, directness, and sincerity; appealing at
all times to reason, but never yielding to force nor seeking to acquire
anything for themselves by its exercise.

A rigid adherence to this policy has left this Government with scarcely a
claim upon its justice for injuries arising from acts committed by its
authority. The most imposing and perplexing of those of the United States
upon foreign governments for aggressions upon our citizens were disposed of
by my predecessor. Independently of the benefits conferred upon our
citizens by restoring to the mercantile community so many millions of which
they had been wrongfully divested, a great service was also rendered to his
country by the satisfactory adjustment of so many ancient and irritating
subjects of contention; and it reflects no ordinary credit on his
successful administration of public affairs that this great object was
accomplished without compromising on any occasion either the honor or the
peace of the nation.

With European powers no new subjects of difficulty have arisen, and those
which were under discussion, although not terminated, do not present a more
unfavorable aspect for the future preservation of that good understanding
which it has ever been our desire to cultivate.

Of pending questions the most important is that which exists with the
Government of Great Britain in respect to our northeastern boundary. It is
with unfeigned regret that the people of the United States must look back
upon the abortive efforts made by the Executive, for a period of more than
half a century, to determine what no nation should suffer long to remain in
dispute--the true line which divides its possessions from those of other
powers. The nature of the settlements on the borders of the United States
and of the neighboring territory was for a season such that this, perhaps,
was not indispensable to a faithful performance of the duties of the
Federal Government. Time has, however, changed this state of things, and
has brought about a condition of affairs in which the true interests of
both countries imperatively require that this question should be put at
rest. It is not to be disguised that, with full confidence, often
expressed, in the desire of the British Government to terminate it, we are
apparently as far from its adjustment as we were at the time of signing the
treaty of peace in 1783. The sole result of long-pending negotiations and a
perplexing arbitration appears to be a conviction on its part that a
conventional line must be adopted, from the impossibility of ascertaining
the true one according to the description contained in that treaty. Without
coinciding in this opinion, which is not thought to be well rounded, my
predecessor gave the strongest proof of the earnest desire of the United
States to terminate satisfactorily this dispute by proposing the
substitution of a conventional line if the consent of the States interested
in the question could be obtained. To this proposition no answer has as yet
been received. The attention of the British Government has, however, been
urgently invited to the subject, and its reply can not, I am confident, be
much longer delayed. The general relations between Great Britain and the
United States are of the most friendly character, and I am well satisfied
of the sincere disposition of that Government to maintain them upon their
present footing. This disposition has also, I am persuaded, become more
general with the people of England than at any previous period. It is
scarcely necessary to say to you how cordially it is reciprocated by the
Government and people of the United States. The conviction, which must be
common to all, of the injurious consequences that result from keeping open
this irritating question, and the certainty that its final settlement can
not be much longer deferred, will, I trust, lead to an early and
satisfactory adjustment. At your last session I laid before you the recent
communications between the two Governments and between this Government and
that of the State of Maine, in whose solicitude concerning a subject in
which she has so deep an interest every portion of the Union participates.

The feelings produced by a temporary interruption of those harmonious
relations between France and the United States which are due as well to the
recollections of former times as to a correct appreciation of existing
interests have been happily succeeded by a cordial disposition on both
sides to cultivate an active friendship in their future intercourse. The
opinion, undoubtedly correct, and steadily entertained by us, that the
commercial relations at present existing between the two countries are
susceptible of great and reciprocally beneficial improvements is obviously
gaining ground in France, and I am assured of the disposition of that
Government to favor the accomplishment of such an object. This disposition
shall be met in a proper spirit on our part. The few and comparatively
unimportant questions that remain to be adjusted between us can, I have no
doubt, be settled with entire satisfaction and without difficulty.

Between Russia and the United States sentiments of good will continue to be
mutually cherished. Our minister recently accredited to that Court has been
received with a frankness and cordiality and with evidences of respect for
his country which leave us no room to doubt the preservation in future of
those amicable and liberal relations which have so long and so
uninterruptedly existed between the two countries. On the few subjects
under discussion between us an early and just decision is confidently
anticipated.

A correspondence has been opened with the Government of Austria for the
establishment of diplomatic relations, in conformity with the wishes of
Congress as indicated by an appropriation act of the session of 1837, and
arrangements made for the purpose, which will be duly carried into effect.

With Austria and Prussia and with the States of the German Empire (now
composing with the latter the Commercial League) our political relations
are of the most friendly character, whilst our commercial intercourse is
gradually extending, with benefit to all who are engaged in it.

Civil war yet rages in Spain, producing intense suffering to its own
people, and to other nations inconvenience and regret. Our citizens who
have claims upon that country will be prejudiced for a time by the
condition of its treasury, the inevitable consequence of long-continued and
exhausting internal wars. The last installment of the interest of the debt
due under the convention with the Queen of Spain has not been paid and
similar failures may be expected to happen until a portion of the resources
of her Kingdom can be devoted to the extinguishment of its foreign debt.

Having received satisfactory evidence that discriminating tonnage duties
were charged upon the vessels of the United States in the ports of
Portugal, a proclamation was issued on the 11th day of October last, in
compliance with the act of May 25, 1832, declaring that fact, and the
duties on foreign tonnage which were levied upon Portuguese vessels in the
United States previously to the passage of that act are accordingly
revived.

The act of July 4, 1836, suspending the discriminating duties upon the
produce of Portugal imported into this country in Portuguese vessels, was
passed, upon the application of that Government through its representative
here, under the belief that no similar discrimination existed in Portugal
to the prejudice of the United States. I regret to state that such duties
are now exacted in that country upon the cargoes of American vessels, and
as the act referred to vests no discretion in the Executive, it is for
Congress to determine upon the expediency of further legislation on the
subject. Against these discriminations affecting the vessels of this
country and their cargoes seasonable remonstrance was made, and notice was
given to the Portuguese Government that unless they should be discontinued
the adoption of countervailing measures on the part of the United States
would become necessary; but the reply of that Government, received at the
Department of State through our charge d'affaires at Lisbon in the month of
September last, afforded no ground to hope for the abandonment of a system
so little in harmony with the treatment shown to the vessels of Portugal
and their cargoes in the ports of this country and so contrary to the
expectations we had a right to entertain.

With Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Naples, and Belgium a friendly intercourse
has been uninterruptedly maintained.

With the Government of the Ottoman Porte and its dependencies on the coast
of the Mediterranean peace and good will are carefully cultivated, and have
been fostered by such good offices as the relative distance and the
condition of those countries would permit.

Our commerce with Greece is carried on under the laws of the two
Governments, reciprocally beneficial to the navigating interests of both;
and I have reason to look forward to the adoption of other measures which
will be more extensively and permanently advantageous.

Copies of the treaties concluded with the Governments of Siam and Muscat
are transmitted for the information of Congress, the ratifications having
been received and the treaties made public since the close of the last
annual session. Already have we reason to congratulate ourselves on the
prospect of considerable commercial benefit; and we have, besides, received
from the Sultan of Muscat prompt evidence of his desire to cultivate the
most friendly feelings, by liberal acts toward one of our vessels, bestowed
in a manner so striking as to require on our part a grateful
acknowledgment.

Our commerce with the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico still labors under
heavy restrictions, the continuance of which is a subject of regret. The
only effect of an adherence to them will be to benefit the navigation of
other countries at the expense of both the United States and Spain.

The independent nations of this continent have ever since they emerged from
the colonial state experienced severe trials in their progress to the
permanent establishment of liberal political institutions. Their unsettled
condition not only interrupts their own advances to prosperity, but has
often seriously injured the other powers of the world. The claims of our
citizens upon Peru, Chili, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, the Governments
formed out of the Republics of Colombia and Mexico, are still pending,
although many of them have been presented for examination more than twenty
years. New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador have recently formed a
convention for the purpose of ascertaining and adjusting claims upon the
Republic of Colombia, from which it is earnestly hoped our citizens will
ere long receive full compensation for the injuries inflicted upon them and
for the delay in affording it.

An advantageous treaty of commerce has been concluded by the United States
with the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, which wants only the ratification of
that Government. The progress of a subsequent negotiation for the
settlement of claims upon Peru has been unfavorably affected by the war
between that power and Chili and the Argentine Republic, and the same event
is also likely to produce delays in the settlement of out demands on those
powers.

The aggravating circumstances connected with our claims upon Mexico and a
variety of events touching the honor and integrity of our Government led my
predecessor to make at the second session of the last Congress a special
recommendation of the course to be pursued to obtain a speedy and final
satisfaction of the injuries complained of by this Government and by our
citizens. He recommended a final demand of redress, with a contingent
authority to the Executive to make reprisals if that demand should be made
in vain. From the proceedings of Congress on that recommendation it
appeared that the opinion of both branches of the Legislature coincided
with that of the Executive, that any mode of redress known to the law of
nations might justifiably be used. It was obvious, too, that Congress
believed with the President that another demand should be made, in order to
give undeniable and satisfactory proof of our desire to avoid extremities
with a neighboring power, but that there was an indisposition to vest a
discretionary authority in the Executive to take redress should it
unfortunately be either denied or unreasonably delayed by the Mexican
Government.

So soon as the necessary documents were prepared, after entering upon the
duties of my office, a special messenger was sent to Mexico to make a final
demand of redress, with the documents required by the provisions of our
treaty. The demand was made on the 20th of July last. The reply, which
bears date the 29th of the same month, contains assurances of a desire on
the part of that Government to give a prompt and explicit answer respecting
each of the complaints, but that the examination of them would necessarily
be deliberate; that in this examination it would be guided by the
principles of public law and the obligation of treaties; that nothing
should be left undone that might lead to the most speedy and equitable
adjustment of our demands, and that its determination in respect to each
case should be communicated through the Mexican minister here.

Since that time an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary has
been accredited to this Government by that of the Mexican Republic. He
brought with him assurances of a sincere desire that the pending
differences between the two Governments should be terminated in a manner
satisfactory to both. He was received with reciprocal assurances, and a
hope was entertained that his mission would lead to a speedy, satisfactory,
and final adjustment of all existing subjects of complaint. A sincere
believer in the wisdom of the pacific policy by which the United States
have always been governed in their intercourse with foreign nations, it was
my particular desire, from the proximity of the Mexican Republic and
well-known occurrences on our frontier, to be instrumental in obviating all
existing difficulties with that Government and in restoring to the
intercourse between the two Republics that liberal and friendly character
by which they should always be distinguished. I regret, therefore, the more
deeply to have found in the recent communications of that Government so
little reason to hope that any future efforts of mine for the
accomplishment of those desirable objects would be successful.

Although the larger number--and many of them aggravated cases of personal
wrongs--have been now for years before the Mexican Government, and some of
the causes of national complaint, and those of the most offensive
character, admitted of immediate, simple, and satisfactory replies, it is
only within a few days past that any specific communication in answer to
our last demand, made five months ago, has been received from the Mexican
minister. By the report of the Secretary of State herewith presented and
the accompanying documents it will be seen that for not one of our public
complaints has satisfaction been given or offered, that but one of the
cases of personal wrong has been favorably considered, and that but four
cases of both descriptions out of all those formally presented and
earnestly pressed have as yet been decided upon by the Mexican Government.

Not perceiving in what manner any of the powers given to the Executive
alone could be further usefully employed in bringing this unfortunate
controversy to a satisfactory termination, the subject was by my
predecessor referred to Congress as one calling for its interposition. In
accordance with the clearly understood wishes of the Legislature, another
and formal demand for satisfaction has been made upon the Mexican
Government, with what success the documents now communicated will show. On
a careful and deliberate examination of their contents, and considering the
spirit manifested by the Mexican Government, it has become my painful duty
to return the subject as it now stands to Congress, to whom it belongs to
decide upon the time, the mode, and the measure of redress. Whatever may be
your decision, it shall be faithfully executed, confident that it will be
characterized by that moderation and justice which will, I trust, under all
circumstances govern the councils of our country.

The balance in the Treasury on the 1st January, 1837, was $45,968,523. The
receipts during the present year from all sources, including the amount of
Treasury notes issued, are estimated at $23,499,981, constituting an
aggregate of $69,468,504. Of this amount about $35,281,361 will have been
expended at the end of the year on appropriations made by Congress, and the
residue, amounting to $34,187,143, will be the nominal balance in the
Treasury on the 1st of January next; but of that sum only $1,085,498 is
considered as immediately available for and applicable to public purposes.
Those portions of it which will be for some time unavailable consist
chiefly of sums deposited with the States and due from the former deposit
banks. The details upon this subject will be found in the annual report of
the Secretary of the Treasury. The amount of Treasury notes which it will
be necessary to issue during the year on account of those funds being
unavailable will, it is supposed, not exceed four and a half millions. It
seemed proper, in the condition of the country, to have the estimates on
all subjects made as low as practicable without prejudice to any great
public measures. The Departments were therefore desired to prepare their
estimates accordingly, and I am happy to find that they have been able to
graduate them on so economical a scale. In the great and often unexpected
fluctuations to which the revenue is subjected it is not possible to
compute the receipts beforehand with great certainty, but should they not
differ essentially from present anticipations, and should the
appropriations not much exceed the estimates, no difficulty seems likely to
happen in defraying the current expenses with promptitude and fidelity.

Notwithstanding the great embarrassments which have recently occurred in
commercial affairs, and the liberal indulgence which in consequence of
these embarrassments has been extended to both the merchants and the banks,
it is gratifying to be able to anticipate that the Treasury notes which
have been issued during the present year will be redeemed and that the
resources of the Treasury, without any resort to loans or increased taxes,
will prove ample for defraying all charges imposed on it during 1838.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will afford you a more minute
exposition of all matters connected with the administration of the finances
during the current year--a period which for the amount of public moneys
disbursed and deposited with the States, as well as the financial
difficulties encountered and overcome, has few parallels in our history.

Your attention was at the last session invited to the necessity of
additional legislative provisions in respect to the collection,
safe-keeping, and transfer of the public money. No law having been then
matured, and not understanding the proceedings of Congress as intended to
be final, it becomes my duty again to bring the subject to your notice.

On that occasion three modes of performing this branch of the public
service were presented for consideration. These were, the creation of a
national bank; the revival, with modifications, of the deposit system
established by the act of the 23d of June, 1836, permitting the use of the
public moneys by the banks; and the discontinuance of the use of such
institutions for the purposes referred to, with suitable provisions for
their accomplishment through the agency of public officers. Considering the
opinions of both Houses of Congress on the first two propositions as
expressed in the negative, in which I entirely concur, it is unnecessary
for me again in to recur to them. In respect to the last, you have had an
opportunity since your adjournment not only to test still further the
expediency of the measure by the continued practical operation of such
parts of it as are now in force, but also to discover what should ever be
sought for and regarded with the utmost deference--the opinions and wishes
of the people.

The national will is the supreme law of the Republic, and on all subjects
within the limits of his constitutional powers should be faithfully obeyed
by the public servant. Since the measure in question was submitted to your
consideration most of you have enjoyed the advantage of personal
communication with your constituents. For one State only has an election
been held for the Federal Government; but the early day at which it took
place deprived the measure under consideration of much of the support it
might otherwise have derived from the result. Local elections for State
officers have, however, been held in several of the States, at which the
expediency of the plan proposed by the Executive has been more or less
discussed. You will, I am confident, yield to their results the respect due
to every expression of the public voice. Desiring, however, to arrive at
truth and a just view of the subject in all its bearings, you will at the
same time remember that questions of far deeper and more immediate local
interest than the fiscal plans of the National Treasury were involved in
those elections. Above all, we can not overlook the striking fact that
there were at the time in those States more than one hundred and sixty
millions of bank capital, of which large portions were subject to actual
forfeiture, other large portions upheld only by special and limited
legislative indulgences, and most of it, if not all, to a greater or less
extent dependent for a continuance of its corporate existence upon the will
of the State legislatures to be then chosen. Apprised of this circumstance,
you will judge whether it is not most probable that the peculiar condition
of that vast interest in these respects, the extent to which it has been
spread through all the ramifications of society, its direct connection with
the then pending elections, and the feelings it was calculated to infuse
into the canvass have exercised a far greater influence over the result
than any which could possibly have been produced by a conflict of opinion
in respect to a question in the administration of the General Government
more remote and far less important in its bearings upon that interest.

I have found no reason to change my own opinion as to the expediency of
adopting the system proposed, being perfectly satisfied that there will be
neither stability nor safety either in the fiscal affairs of the Government
or in the pecuniary transactions of individuals and corporations so long as
a connection exists between them which, like the past, offers such strong
inducements to make them the subjects of political agitation. Indeed, I am
more than ever convinced of the dangers to which the free and unbiased
exercise of political opinion--the only sure foundation and safeguard of
republican government--would be exposed by any further increase of the
already overgrown influence of corporate authorities. I can not, therefore,
consistently with my views of duty, advise a renewal of a connection which
circumstances have dissolved.

The discontinuance of the use of State banks for fiscal purposes ought not
to be regarded as a measure of hostility toward those institutions. Banks
properly established and conducted are highly useful to the business of the
country, and will doubtless continue to exist in the States so long as they
conform to their laws and are found to be safe and beneficial. How they
should be created, what privileges they should enjoy, under what
responsibilities they should act, and to what restrictions they should be
subject are questions which, as I observed on a previous occasion, belong
to the States to decide. Upon their rights or the exercise of them the
General Government can have no motive to encroach. Its duty toward them is
well performed when it refrains from legislating for their special benefit,
because such legislation would violate the spirit of the Constitution and
be unjust to other interests; when it takes no steps to impair their
usefulness, but so manages its own affairs as to make it the interest of
those institutions to strengthen and improve their condition for the
security and welfare of the community at large. They have no right to
insist on a connection with the Federal Government, nor on the use of the
public money for their own benefit. The object of the measure under
consideration is to avoid for the future a compulsory connection of this
kind. It proposes to place the General Government, in regard to the
essential points of the collection, safe-keeping, and transfer of the
public money, in a situation which shall relieve it from all dependence on
the will of irresponsible individuals or corporations; to withdraw those
moneys from the uses of private trade and confide them to agents
constitutionally selected and controlled by law; to abstain from improper
interference with the industry of the people and withhold inducements to
improvident dealings on the part of individuals; to give stability to the
concerns of the Treasury; to preserve the measures of the Government from
the unavoidable reproaches that flow from such a connection, and the banks
themselves from the injurious effects of a supposed participation in the
political conflicts of the day, from which they will otherwise find it
difficult to escape.

These are my views upon this important subject, formed after careful
reflection and with no desire but to arrive at what is most likely to
promote the public interest. They are now, as they were before, submitted
with unfeigned deference for the opinions of others. It was hardly to be
hoped that changes so important on a subject so interesting could be made
without producing a serious diversity of opinion; but so long as those
conflicting views are kept above the influence of individual or local
interests, so long as they pursue only the general good and are discussed
with moderation and candor, such diversity is a benefit, not an injury. If
a majority of Congress see the public welfare in a different light, and
more especially if they should be satisfied that the measure proposed would
not be acceptable to the people, I shall look to their wisdom to substitute
such as may be more conducive to the one and more satisfactory to the
other. In any event, they may confidently rely on my hearty cooperation to
the fullest extent to which my views of the Constitution and my sense of
duty will permit.

It is obviously important to this branch of the public service and to the
business and quiet of the country that the whole subject should in some way
be settled and regulated by law, and, if possible, at your present session.
Besides the plans above referred to, I am not aware that any one has been
suggested except that of keeping the public money in the State banks in
special deposit. This plan is to some extent in accordance with the
practice of the Government and with the present arrangements of the
Treasury Department, which, except, perhaps, during the operation of the
late deposit act, has always been allowed, even during the existence of a
national bank, to make a temporary use of the State banks in particular
places for the safe-keeping of portions of the revenue. This discretionary
power might be continued if Congress deem it desirable, whatever general
system be adopted. So long as the connection is voluntary we need, perhaps,
anticipate few of those difficulties and little of that dependence on the
banks which must attend every such connection when compulsory in its nature
and when so arranged as to make the banks a fixed part of the machinery of
government. It is undoubtedly in the power of Congress so to regulate and
guard it as to prevent the public money from being applied to the use or
intermingled with the affairs of individuals. Thus arranged, although it
would not give to the Government that entire control over its own funds
which I desire to secure to it by the plan I have proposed, it would, it
must be admitted, in a great degree accomplish one of the objects which has
recommended that plan to my judgment--the separation of the fiscal concerns
of the Government from those of individuals or corporations.

With these observations I recommend the whole matter to your dispassionate
reflection, confidently hoping that some conclusion may be reached by your
deliberations which on the one hand shall give safety and stability to the
fiscal operations of the Government, and be consistent, on the other, with
the genius of our institutions and with the interests and wishes of the
great mass of our constituents.

It was my hope that nothing would occur to make necessary on this occasion
any allusion to the late national bank. There are circumstances, however,
connected with the present state of its affairs that bear so directly on
the character of the Government and the welfare of the citizen that I
should not feel myself excused in neglecting to notice them. The charter
which terminated its banking privileges on the 4th of March, 1836,
continued its corporate power two years more for the sole purpose of
closing its affairs, with authority "to use the corporate name, style, and
capacity for the purpose of suits for a final settlement and liquidation of
the affairs and acts of the corporation, and for the sale and disposition
of their estate--real, personal, and mixed--but for no other purpose or in
any other manner whatsoever." Just before the banking privileges ceased,
its effects were transferred by the bank to a new State institution, then
recently incorporated, in trust, for the discharge of its debts and the
settlement of its affairs. With this trustee, by authority of Congress, an
adjustment was subsequently made of the large interest which the Government
had in the stock of the institution. The manner in which a trust
unexpectedly created upon the act granting the charter, and involving such
great public interests, has been executed would under any circumstances be
a fit subject of inquiry; but much more does it deserve your attention when
it embraces the redemption of obligations to which the authority and credit
of the United States have given value. The two years allowed are now nearly
at an end. It is well understood that the trustee has not redeemed and
canceled the outstanding notes of the bank, but has reissued and is
actually reissuing, since the 3d of March, 1836, the notes which have been
received by it to a vast amount. According to its own official statement,
so late as the 1st of October last, nineteen months after the banking
privileges given by the charter had expired, it had under its control
uncanceled notes of the late Bank of the United States to the amount of
$27,561,866, of which $6,175,861 were in actual circulation, $ 1,468,627 at
State bank agencies, and $3,002,390 in transitu, thus showing that upward
of ten millions and a half of the notes of the old bank were then still
kept outstanding.

The impropriety of this procedure is obvious, it being the duty of the
trustee to cancel and not to put forth the notes of an institution whose
concerns it had undertaken to wind up. If the trustee has a right to
reissue these notes now, I can see no reason why it may not continue to do
so after the expiration of the two years. As no one could have anticipated
a course so extraordinary, the prohibitory clause of the charter above
quoted was not accompanied by any penalty or other special provision for
enforcing it, nor have we any general law for the prevention of similar
acts in future.

But it is not in this view of the subject alone that your interposition is
required. The United States in settling with the trustee for their stock
have withdrawn their funds from their former direct liability to the
creditors of the old bank, yet notes of the institution continue to be sent
forth in its name, and apparently upon the authority of the United States.
The transactions connected with the employment of the bills of the old bank
are of vast extent, and should they result unfortunately the interests of
individuals may be deeply compromised. Without undertaking to decide how
far or in what form, if any, the trustee could be made liable for notes
which contain no obligation on its part, or the old bank for such as are
put in circulation after the expiration of its charter and without its
authority, or the Government for indemnity in case of loss, the question
still presses itself upon your consideration whether it is consistent with
duty and good faith on the part of the Government to witness this
proceeding without a single effort to arrest it.

The report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, which will be
laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury, will show how the affairs
of that office have been conducted for the past year. The disposition of
the public lands is one of the most important trusts confided to Congress.
The practicability of retaining the title and control of such extensive
domains in the General Government, and at the same time admitting the
Territories embracing them into the Federal Union as coequals with the
original States, was seriously doubted by many of our wisest statesmen. All
feared that they would become a source of discord, and many carried their
apprehensions so far as to see in them the seeds of a future dissolution of
the Confederacy. But happily our experience has already been sufficient to
quiet in a great degree all such apprehensions. The position at one time
assumed, that the admission of new States into the Union on the same
footing with the original States was incompatible with a right of soil in
the United States and operated as a surrender thereof, notwithstanding the
terms of the compacts by which their admission was designed to be
regulated, has been wisely abandoned. Whether in the new or the old States,
all now agree that the right of soil to the public lands remains in the
Federal Government, and that these lands constitute a common property, to
be disposed of for the common benefit of all the States, old and new.
Acquiescence in this just principle by the people of the new States has
naturally promoted a disposition to adopt the most liberal policy in the
sale of the public lands. A policy which should be limited to the mere
object of selling the lands for the greatest possible sum of money, without
regard to higher considerations, finds but few advocates. On the contrary,
it is generally conceded that whilst the mode of disposition adopted by the
Government should always be a prudent one, yet its leading object ought to
be the early settlement and cultivation of the lands sold, and that it
should discountenance, if it can not prevent, the accumulation of large
tracts in the same hands, which must necessarily retard the growth of the
new States or entail upon them a dependent tenantry and its attendant
evils.

A question embracing such important interests and so well calculated to
enlist the feelings of the people in every quarter of the Union has very
naturally given rise to numerous plans for the improvement of the existing
system. The distinctive features of the policy that has hitherto prevailed
are to dispose of the public lands at moderate prices, thus enabling a
greater number to enter into competition for their purchase and
accomplishing a double object--of promoting their rapid settlement by the
purchasers and at the same time increasing the receipts of the Treasury; to
sell for cash, thereby preventing the disturbing influence of a large mass
of private citizens indebted to the Government which they have a voice in
controlling; to bring them into market no faster than good lands are
supposed to be wanted for improvement, thereby preventing the accumulation
of large tracts in few hands; and to apply the proceeds of the sales to the
general purposes of the Government, thus diminishing the amount to be
raised from the people of the States by taxation and giving each State its
portion of the benefits to be derived from this common fund in a manner the
most quiet, and at the same time, perhaps, the most equitable, that can be
devised. These provisions, with occasional enactments in behalf of special
interests deemed entitled to the favor of the Government, have in their
execution produced results as beneficial upon the whole as could reasonably
be expected in a matter so vast, so complicated, and so exciting. Upward of
70,000,000, acres have been sold, the greater part of which is believed to
have been purchased for actual settlement. The population of the new States
and Territories created out of the public domain increased between 1800 and
1830 from less than 60,000 to upward of 2,300,000 souls, constituting at
the latter period about one-fifth of the whole people of the United States.
The increase since can not be accurately known, but the whole may now be
safely estimated at over three and a half millions of souls, composing nine
States, the representatives of which constitute above one-third of the
Senate and over one-sixth of the House of Representatives of the United
States.

Thus has been formed a body of free and independent landholders with a
rapidity unequaled in the history of mankind; and this great result has
been produced without leaving anything for future adjustment between the
Government and its citizens. The system under which so much has been
accomplished can not be intrinsically bad, and with occasional
modifications to correct abuses and adapt it to changes of circumstances
may, I think, be safely trusted for the future. There is in the management
of such extensive interests much virtue in stability; and although great
and obvious improvements should not be declined, changes should never be
made without the fullest examination and the clearest demonstration of
their practical utility. In the history of the past we have an assurance
that this safe rule of action will not be departed from in relation to the
public lands; nor is it believed that any necessity exists for interfering
with the fundamental principles of the system, or that the public mind,
even in the new States, is desirous of any radical alterations. On the
contrary, the general disposition appears to be to make such modifications
and additions only as will the more effectually carry out the original
policy of filling our new States and Territories with an industrious and
independent population.

The modification most perseveringly pressed upon Congress, which has
occupied so much of its time for years past, and will probably do so for a
long time to come, if not sooner satisfactorily adjusted, is a reduction in
the cost of such portions of the public lands as are ascertained to be
unsalable at the rate now established by law, and a graduation according to
their relative value of the prices at which they may hereafter be sold. It
is worthy of consideration whether justice may not be done to every
interest in this matter, and a vexed question set at rest, perhaps forever,
by a reasonable compromise of conflicting opinions. Hitherto, after being
offered at public sale, lands have been disposed of at one uniform price,
whatever difference there might be in their intrinsic value. The leading
considerations urged in favor of the measure referred to are that in almost
all the land districts, and particularly in those in which the lands have
been long surveyed and exposed to sale, there are still remaining numerous
and large tracts of every gradation of value, from the Government price
downward; that these lands will not be purchased at the Government price so
long as better can be conveniently obtained for the same amount; that there
are large tracts which even the improvements of the adjacent lands will
never raise to that price, and that the present uniform price, combined
with their irregular value, operates to prevent a desirable compactness of
settlements in the new States and to retard the full development of that
wise policy on which our land system is founded, to the injury not only of
the several States where the lands lie, but of the United States as a
whole.

The remedy proposed has been a reduction of the prices according to the
length of time the lands have been in market, without reference to any
other circumstances. The certainty that the efflux of time would not always
in such cases, and perhaps not even generally, furnish a true criterion of
value, and the probability that persons residing in the vicinity, as the
period for the reduction of prices approached, would postpone purchases
they would otherwise make, for the purpose of availing themselves of the
lower price, with other considerations of a similar character, have
hitherto been successfully urged to defeat the graduation upon time.

May not all reasonable desires upon this subject be satisfied without
encountering any of these objections? All will concede the abstract
principle that the price of the public lands should be proportioned to
their relative value, so far as can be accomplished without departing from
the rule heretofore observed requiring fixed prices in cases of private
entries. The difficulty of the subject seems to lie in the mode of
ascertaining what that value is. Would not the safest plan be that which
has been adopted by many of the States as the basis of taxation--an actual
valuation of lands and classification of them into different rates? Would
it not be practicable and expedient to cause the relative value of the
public lands in the old districts which have been for a certain length of
time in market to be appraised and classed into two or more rates below the
present minimum price by the officers now employed in this branch of the
public service or in any other mode deemed preferable, and to make those
prices permanent if upon the coming in of the report they shall prove
satisfactory to Congress? Could not all the objects of graduation be
accomplished in this way, and the objections which have hitherto been urged
against it avoided? It would seem to me that such a step, with a
restriction of the sales to limited quantities and for actual improvement,
would be free from all just exception.

By the full exposition of the value of the lands thus furnished and
extensively promulgated persons living at a distance would be informed of
their true condition and enabled to enter into competition with those
residing in the vicinity; the means of acquiring an independent home would
be brought within the reach of many who are unable to purchase at present
prices; the population of the new States would be made more compact, and
large tracts would be sold which would otherwise remain on hand. Not only
would the land be brought within the means of a larger number of
purchasers, but many persons possessed of greater means would be content to
settle on a larger quantity of the poorer lands rather than emigrate
farther west in pursuit of a smaller quantity of better lands. Such a
measure would also seem to be more consistent with the policy of the
existing laws--that of converting the public domain into cultivated farms
owned by their occupants. That policy is not best promoted by sending
emigration up the almost interminable streams of the West to occupy in
groups the best spots of land, leaving immense wastes behind them and
enlarging the frontier beyond the means of the Government to afford it
adequate protection, but in encouraging it to occupy with reasonable
denseness the territory over which it advances, and find its best defense
in the compact front which it presents to the Indian tribes. Many of you
will bring to the consideration of the subject the advantages of local
knowledge and greater experience, and all will be desirous of making an
early and final disposition of every disturbing question in regard to this
important interest. If these suggestions shall in any degree contribute to
the accomplishment of so important a result, it will afford me sincere
satisfaction.

In some sections of the country most of the public lands have been sold,
and the registers and receivers have very little to do. It is a subject
worthy of inquiry whether in many cases two or more districts may not be
consolidated and the number of persons employed in this business
considerably reduced. Indeed, the time will come when it will be the true
policy of the General Government, as to some of the States, to transfer to
them for a reasonable equivalent all the refuse and unsold lands and to
withdraw the machinery of the Federal land offices altogether. All who take
a comprehensive view of our federal system and believe that one of its
greatest excellencies consists in interfering as little as possible with
the internal concerns of the States look forward with great interest to
this result.

A modification of the existing laws in respect to the prices of the public
lands might also have a favorable influence on the legislation of Congress
in relation to another branch of the subject. Many who have not the ability
to buy at present prices settle on those lands with the hope of acquiring
from their cultivation the means of purchasing under preemption laws from
time to time passed by Congress. For this encroachment on the rights of the
United States they excuse themselves under the plea of their own
necessities; the fact that they dispossess nobody and only enter upon the
waste domain: that they give additional value to the public lands in their
vicinity, and their intention ultimately to pay the Government price. So
much weight has from time to time been attached to these considerations
that Congress have passed laws giving actual settlers on the public lands a
right of preemption to the tracts occupied by them at the minimum price.
These laws have in all instances been retrospective in their operation, but
in a few years after their passage crowds of new settlers have been found
on the public lands for similar reasons and under like expectations, who
have been indulged with the same privilege. This course of legislation
tends to impair public respect for the laws of the country. Either the laws
to prevent intrusion upon the public lands should be executed, or, if that
should be impracticable or inexpedient, they should be modified or
repealed. If the public lands are to be considered as open to be occupied
by any, they should by law be thrown open to all. That which is intended in
all instances to be legalized should at once be made legal, that those who
are disposed to conform to the laws may enjoy at least equal privileges
with those who are not. But it is not believed to be the disposition of
Congress to open the public lands to occupancy without regular entry and
payment of the Government price, as such a course must tend to worse evils
than the credit system, which it was found necessary to abolish.

It would seem, therefore, to be the part of wisdom and sound policy to
remove as far as practicable the causes which produce intrusions upon the
public lands, and then take efficient steps to prevent them in future.
Would any single measure be so effective in removing all plausible grounds
for these intrusions as the graduation of price already suggested? A short
period of industry and economy in any part of our country would enable the
poorest citizen to accumulate the means to buy him a home at the lower
prices, and leave him without apology for settling on lands not his own. If
he did not under such circumstances, he would enlist no sympathy in his
favor, and the laws would be readily executed without doing violence to
public opinion.

A large portion of our citizens have seated themselves on the public lands
without authority since the passage of the last preemption law, and now ask
the enactment of another to enable them to retain the lands occupied upon
payment of the minimum Government price. They ask that which has been
repeatedly granted before. If the future may be judged of by the past,
little harm can be done to the interests of the Treasury by yielding to
their request. Upon a critical examination it is found that the lands sold
at the public sales since the introduction of cash payments, in 1820, have
produced on an average the net revenue of only 6 cents an acre more than
the minimum Government price. There is no reason to suppose that future
sales will be more productive. The Government, therefore, has no adequate
pecuniary interest to induce it to drive these people from the lands they
occupy for the purpose of selling them to others.

Entertaining these views, I recommend the passage of a preemption law for
their benefit in connection with the preparatory steps toward the
graduation of the price of the public lands, and further and more effectual
provisions to prevent intrusions hereafter. Indulgence to those who have
settled on these lands with expectations that past legislation would be
made a rule for the future, and at the same time removing the most
plausible ground on which intrusions are excused and adopting more
efficient means to prevent them hereafter, appears to me the most judicious
disposition which can be made of this difficult subject. The limitations
and restrictions to guard against abuses in the execution of a preemption
law will necessarily attract the careful attention of Congress, but under
no circumstances is it considered expedient to authorize floating claims in
any shape. They have been heretofore, and doubtless would be hereafter,
most prolific sources of fraud and oppression, and instead of operating to
confer the favor of the Government on industrious settlers are often used
only to minister to a spirit of cupidity at the expense of the most
meritorious of that class.

The accompanying report of the Secretary of War will bring to your view the
state of the Army and all the various subjects confided to the
superintendence of that officer.

The principal part of the Army has been concentrated in Florida, with a
view and in the expectation of bringing the war in that Territory to a
speedy close. The necessity of stripping the posts on the maritime and
inland frontiers of their entire garrisons for the purpose of assembling in
the field an army of less than 4,000 men would seem to indicate the
necessity of increasing our regular forces; and the superior efficiency, as
well as greatly diminished expense of that description of troops, recommend
this measure as one of economy as well as of expediency. I refer to the
report for the reasons which have induced the Secretary of War to urge the
reorganization and enlargement of the staff of the Army, and of the
Ordnance Corps, in which I fully concur.

It is not, however, compatible with the interests of the people to maintain
in time of peace a regular force adequate to the defense of our extensive
frontiers. In periods of danger and alarm we must rely principally upon a
well-organized militia, and some general arrangement that will render this
description of force more efficient has long been a subject of anxious
solicitude. It was recommended to the First Congress by General Washington,
and has been since frequently brought to your notice, and recently its
importance strongly urged by my immediate predecessor. The provision in the
Constitution that renders it necessary to adopt a uniform system of
organization for the militia throughout the United States presents an
insurmountable obstacle to an efficient arrangement by the classification
heretofore proposed, and I invite your attention to the plan which will be
submitted by the Secretary of War, for the organization of volunteer corps
and the instruction of militia officers, as more simple and practicable, if
not equally advantageous, as a general arrangement of the whole militia of
the United States.

A moderate increase of the corps both of military and topographical
engineers has been more than once recommended by my predecessor, and my
conviction of the propriety, not to say necessity, of the measure, in order
to enable them to perform the various and important duties imposed upon
them, induces me to repeat the recommendation.

The Military Academy continues to answer all the purposes of its
establishment, and not only furnishes well-educated officers to the Army,
but serves to diffuse throughout the mass of our citizens individuals
possessed of military knowledge and the scientific attainments of civil and
military engineering. At present the cadet is bound, with consent of his
parents or guardians, to remain in service five years from the period of
his enlistment, unless sooner discharged, thus exacting only one year's
service in the Army after his education is completed. This does not appear
to me sufficient. Government ought to command for a longer period the
services of those who are educated at the public expense, and I recommend
that the time of enlistment be extended to seven years, and the terms of
the engagement strictly enforced.

The creation of a national foundry for cannon, to be common to the service
of the Army and Navy of the United States, has been heretofore recommended,
and appears to be required in order to place our ordnance on an equal
footing with that of other countries and to enable that branch of the
service to control the prices of those articles and graduate the supplies
to the wants of the Government, as well as to regulate their quality and
insure their uniformity. The same reasons induce me to recommend the
erection of a manufactory of gunpowder, to be under the direction of the
Ordnance Office. The establishment of a manufactory of small arms west of
the Alleghany Mountains, upon the plan proposed by the Secretary of War,
will contribute to extend throughout that country the improvements which
exist in establishments of a similar description in the Atlantic States,
and tend to a much more economical distribution of the armament required in
the western portion of our Union.

The system of removing the Indians west of the Mississippi, commenced by
Mr. Jefferson in 1804, has been steadily persevered in by every succeeding
President, and may be considered the settled policy of the country.
Unconnected at first with any well-defined system for their improvement,
the inducements held out to the Indians were confined to the greater
abundance of game to be found in the West; but when the beneficial effects
of their removal were made apparent a more philanthropic and enlightened
policy was adopted in purchasing their lands east of the Mississippi.
Liberal prices were given and provisions inserted in all the treaties with
them for the application of the funds they received in exchange to such
purposes as were best calculated to promote their present welfare and
advance their future civilization. These measures have been attended thus
far with the happiest results.

It will be seen by referring to the report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs that the most sanguine expectations of the friends and promoters of
this system have been realized. The Choctaws, Cherokees, and other tribes
that first emigrated beyond the Mississippi have for the most part
abandoned the hunter state and become cultivators of the soil. The
improvement in their condition has been rapid, and it is believed that they
are now fitted to enjoy the advantages of a simple form of government,
which has been submitted to them and received their sanction; and I can not
too strongly urge this subject upon the attention of Congress.

Stipulations have been made with all the Indian tribes to remove them
beyond the Mississippi, except with the bands of the Wyandots, the Six
Nations in New York, the Menomonees, Munsees, and Stockbridges in
Wisconsin, and Miamies in Indiana. With all but the Menomonees it is
expected that arrangements for their emigration will be completed the
present year. The resistance which has been opposed to their removal by
some of the tribes even after treaties had been made with them to that
effect has arisen from various causes, operating differently on each of
them. In most instances they have been instigated to resistance by persons
to whom the trade with them and the acquisition of their annuities were
important, and in some by the personal influence of interested chiefs.
These obstacles must be overcome, for the Government can not relinquish the
execution of this policy without sacrificing important interests and
abandoning the tribes remaining east of the Mississippi to certain
destruction.

The decrease in numbers of the tribes within the limits of the States and
Territories has been most rapid. If they be removed, they can be protected
from those associations and evil practices which exert so pernicious and
destructive an influence over their destinies. They can be induced to labor
and to acquire property, and its acquisition will inspire them with a
feeling of independence. Their minds can be cultivated, and they can be
taught the value of salutary and uniform laws and be made sensible of the
blessings of free government and capable of enjoying its advantages. In the
possession of property, knowledge, and a good government, free to give what
direction they please to their labor, and sharers in the legislation by
which their persons and the profits of their industry are to be protected
and secured, they will have an ever-present conviction of the importance of
union and peace among themselves and of the preservation of amicable
relations with us. The interests of the United States would also be greatly
promoted by freeing the relations between the General and State Governments
from what has proved a most embarrassing incumbrance by a satisfactory
adjustment of conflicting titles to lands caused by the occupation of the
Indians, and by causing the resources of the whole country to be developed
by the power of the State and General Governments and improved by the
enterprise of a white population.

Intimately connected with this subject is the obligation of the Government
to fulfill its treaty stipulations and to protect the Indians thus
assembled "at their new residences from all interruptions and disturbances
from any other tribes or nations of Indians or from any other person or
persons whatsoever," and the equally solemn obligation to guard from Indian
hostility its own border settlements, stretching along a line of more than
1,000 miles. To enable the Government to redeem this pledge to the Indians
and to afford adequate protection to its own citizens will require the
continual presence of a considerable regular force on the frontiers and the
establishment of a chain of permanent posts. Examinations of the country
are now making, with a view to decide on the most suitable points for the
erection of fortresses and other works of defense, the results of which
will be presented to you by the Secretary of War at an early day, together
with a plan for the effectual protection of the friendly Indians and the
permanent defense of the frontier States.

By the report of the Secretary of the Navy herewith communicated it appears
that unremitted exertions have been made at the different navy-yards to
carry into effect all authorized measures for the extension and employment
of our naval force. The launching and preparation of the ship of the line
Pennsylvania and the complete repairs of the ships of the line Ohio,
Delaware, and Columbus may be noticed as forming a respectable addition to
this important arm of our national defense. Our commerce and navigation
have received increased aid and protection during the present year. Our
squadrons in the Pacific and on the Brazilian station have been much
increased, and that in the Mediterranean, although small, is adequate to
the present wants of our commerce in that sea. Additions have been made to
our squadron on the West India station, where the large force under
Commodore Dallas has been most actively and efficiently employed in
protecting our commerce, in preventing the importation of slaves, and in
cooperating with the officers of the Army in carrying on the war in
Florida.

The satisfactory condition of our naval force abroad leaves at our disposal
the means of conveniently providing for a home squadron for the protection
of commerce upon our extensive coast. The amount of appropriations required
for such a squadron will be found in the general estimates for the naval
service for the year 1838.

The naval officers engaged upon our coast survey have rendered important
service to our navigation. The discovery of a new channel into the harbor
of New York, through which our largest ships may pass without danger, must
afford important commercial advantages to that harbor and add greatly to
its value as a naval station. The accurate survey of Georges Shoals, off
the coast of Massachusetts, lately completed, will render comparatively
safe a navigation hitherto considered dangerous.

Considerable additions have been made to the number of captains,
commanders, lieutenants, surgeons, and assistant surgeons in the Navy.
These additions were rendered necessary by the increased number of vessels
put in commission to answer the exigencies of our growing commerce.

Your attention is respectfully invited to the various suggestions of the
Secretary for the improvement of the naval service.

The report of the Postmaster-General exhibits the progress and condition of
the mail service. The operations of the Post-Office Department constitute
one of the most active elements of our national prosperity, and it is
gratifying to observe with what vigor they are conducted. The mail routes
of the United States cover an extent of about 142,877 miles, having been
increased about 37,103 miles within the last two years. The annual mail
transportation on these routes is about 36,228,962 miles, having been
increased about 10,359,476 miles within the same period. The number of
post-offices has also been increased from 10,770 to 12,099, very few of
which receive the mails less than once a week, and a large portion of them
daily. Contractors and postmasters in general are represented as attending
to their duties with most commendable zeal and fidelity. The revenue of the
Department within the year ending on the 30th of June last was
$4,137,056.59, and its liabilities accruing within the same time were
$3,380,847.75. The increase of revenue over that of the preceding year was
$708,166.41.

For many interesting details I refer you to the report of the
Postmaster-General, with the accompanying papers, Your particular attention
is invited to the necessity of providing a more safe and convenient
building for the accommodation of that Department.

I lay before Congress copies of reports submitted in pursuance of a call
made by me upon the heads of Departments for such suggestions as their
experience might enable them to make as to what further legislative
provisions may be advantageously adopted to secure the faithful application
of public moneys to the objects for which they are appropriated, to prevent
their misapplication or embezzlement by those intrusted with the
expenditure of them, and generally to increase the security of the
Government against losses in their disbursement. It is needless to dilate
on the importance of providing such new safeguards as are within the power
of legislation to promote these ends, and I have little to add to the
recommendations submitted in the accompanying papers.

By law the terms of service of our most important collecting and disbursing
officers in the civil departments are limited to four years, and when
reappointed their bonds are required to be renewed. The safety of the
public is much increased by this feature of the law, and there can be no
doubt that its application to all officers intrusted with the collection or
disbursement of the public money, whatever may be the tenure of their
offices, would be equally beneficial. I therefore recommend, in addition to
such of the suggestions presented by the heads of Departments as you may
think useful, a general provision that all officers of the Army or Navy, or
in the civil departments, intrusted with the receipt or payment of public
money, and whose term of service is either unlimited or for a longer time
than four years, be required to give new bonds, with good and sufficient
sureties, at the expiration of every such period.

A change in the period of terminating the fiscal year, from the 1st of
October to the 1st of April, has been frequently recommended, and appears
to be desirable.

The distressing casualties in steamboats which have so frequently happened
during the year seem to evince the necessity of attempting to prevent them
by means of severe provisions connected with their customhouse papers. This
subject was submitted to the attention of Congress by the Secretary of the
Treasury in his last annual report, and will be again noticed at the
present session, with additional details. It will doubtless receive that
early and careful consideration which its pressing importance appears to
require.

Your attention has heretofore been frequently called to the affairs of the
District of Columbia, and I should not again ask it did not their entire
dependence on Congress give them a constant claim upon its notice.
Separated by the Constitution from the rest of the Union, limited in
extent, and aided by no legislature of its own, it would seem to be a spot
where a wise and uniform system of local government might have been easily
adopted. This District has, however, unfortunately been left to linger
behind the rest of the Union. Its codes, civil and criminal, are not only
very defective, but full of obsolete or inconvenient provisions. Being
formed of portions of two States, discrepancies in the laws prevail in
different parts of the territory, small as it is; and although it was
selected as the seat of the General Government, the site of its public
edifices, the depository of its archives, and the residence of officers
intrusted with large amounts of public property and the management of
public business, yet it has never been subjected to or received that
special and comprehensive legislation which these circumstances peculiarly
demand. I am well aware of the various subjects of greater magnitude and
immediate interest that press themselves on the consideration of Congress,
but I believe there is not one that appeals more directly to its justice
than a liberal and even generous attention to the interests of the District
of Columbia and a thorough and careful revision of its local government. M.
VAN BUREN

***

State of the Union Address
Martin van Buren
December 3, 1838

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I congratulate you on the favorable circumstances in the condition of our
country under which you reassemble for the performance of your official
duties. Though the anticipations of an abundant harvest have not everywhere
been realized, yet on the whole the labors of the husbandman are rewarded
with a bountiful return; industry prospers in its various channels of
business and enterprise; general health again prevails through our vast
diversity of climate; nothing threatens from abroad the continuance of
external peace; nor has anything at home impaired the strength of those
fraternal and domestic ties which constitute the only guaranty to the
success and permanency of our happy Union, and which, formed in the hour of
peril, have hitherto been honorably sustained through every vicissitude in
our national affairs. These blessings, which evince the care and
beneficence of Providence, call for our devout and fervent gratitude.

We have not less reason to be grateful for other bounties bestowed by the
same munificent hand, and more exclusively our own.

The present year closes the first half century of our Federal institutions,
and our system, differing from all others in the acknowledged practical and
unlimited operation which it has for so long a period given to the
sovereignty of the people, has now been fully tested by experience.

The Constitution devised by our forefathers as the framework and bond of
that system, then untried, has become a settled form of government; not
only preserving and protecting the great principles upon which it was
rounded, but wonderfully promoting individual happiness and private
interests. Though subject to change and entire revocation whenever deemed
inadequate to all these purposes, yet such is the wisdom of its
construction and so stable has been the public sentiment that it remains
unaltered except in matters of detail comparatively unimportant. It has
proved amply sufficient for the various emergencies incident to our
condition as a nation. A formidable foreign war; agitating collisions
between domestic, and in some respects rival, sovereignties; temptations to
interfere in the intestine commotions of neighboring countries; the
dangerous influences that arise in periods of excessive prosperity, and the
antirepublican tendencies of associated wealth--these, with other trials
not less formidable, have all been encountered, and thus far successfully
resisted.

It was reserved for the American Union to test the advantages of a
government entirely dependent on the continual exercise of the popular
will, and our experience has shown that it is as beneficent in practice as
it is just in theory. Each successive change made in our local institutions
has contributed to extend the right of suffrage, has increased the direct
influence of the mass of the community, given greater freedom to individual
exertion, and restricted more and more the powers of Government; yet the
intelligence, prudence, and patriotism of the people have kept pace with
this augmented responsibility. In no country has education been so widely
diffused. Domestic peace has nowhere so largely reigned. The close bonds of
social intercourse have in no instance prevailed with such harmony over a
space so vast. All forms of religion have united for the first time to
diffuse charity and piety, because for the first time in the history of
nations all have been totally untrammeled and absolutely free. The deepest
recesses of the wilderness have been penetrated; yet instead of the
rudeness in the social condition consequent upon such adventures elsewhere,
numerous communities have sprung up, already unrivaled in prosperity,
general intelligence, internal tranquillity, and the wisdom of their
political institutions. Internal improvement, the fruit of individual
enterprise, fostered by the protection of the States, has added new links
to the Confederation and fresh rewards to provident industry. Doubtful
questions of domestic policy have been quietly settled by mutual
forbearance, and agriculture, commerce, and manufactures minister to each
other. Taxation and public debt, the burdens which bear so heavily upon all
other countries, have pressed with comparative lightness upon us. Without
one entangling alliance, our friendship is prized by every nation, and the
rights of our citizens are everywhere respected, because they are known to
be guarded by a united, sensitive, and watchful people.

To this practical operation of our institutions, so evident and successful,
we owe that increased attachment to them which is among the most cheering
exhibitions of popular sentiment and will prove their best security in time
to come against foreign or domestic assault.

This review of the results of our institutions for half a century, without
exciting a spirit of vain exultation, should serve to impress upon us the
great principles from which they have sprung--constant and direct
supervision by the people over every public measure, strict forbearance on
the part of the Government from exercising any doubtful or disputed powers,
and a cautious abstinence from all interference with concerns which
properly belong and are best left to State regulations and individual
enterprise.

Full information of the state of our foreign affairs having been recently
on different occasions submitted to Congress, I deem it necessary now to
bring to your notice only such events as have subsequently occurred or are
of such importance as to require particular attention.

The most amicable dispositions continue to be exhibited by all the nations
with whom the Government and citizens of the United States have an habitual
intercourse. At the date of my last annual message Mexico was the only
nation which could not be included in so gratifying a reference to our
foreign relations.

I am happy to be now able to inform you that an advance has been made
toward the adjustment of our differences with that Republic and the
restoration of the customary good feeling between the two nations. This
important change has been effected by conciliatory negotiations that have
resulted in the conclusion of a treaty between the two Governments, which,
when ratified, will refer to the arbitrament of a friendly power all the
subjects of controversy between us growing out of injuries to individuals.
There is at present also reason to believe that an equitable settlement of
all disputed points will be attained without further difficulty or
unnecessary delay, and thus authorize the free resumption of diplomatic
intercourse with our sister Republic.

With respect to the northeastern boundary of the United States, no official
correspondence between this Government and that of Great Britain has passed
since that communicated to Congress toward the close of their last session.
The offer to negotiate a convention for the appointment of a joint
commission of survey and exploration I am, however, assured will be met by
Her Majesty's Government in a conciliatory and friendly spirit, and
instructions to enable the British minister here to conclude such an
arrangement will be transmitted to him without needless delay. It is hoped
and expected that these instructions will be of a liberal character, and
that this negotiation, if successful, will prove to be an important step
toward the satisfactory and final adjustment of the controversy.

I had hoped that the respect for the laws and regard for the peace and
honor of their own country which have ever characterized the citizens of
the United States would have prevented any portion of them from using any
means to promote insurrection in the territory of a power with which we are
at peace, and with which the United States are desirous of maintaining the
most friendly relations. I regret deeply, however, to be obliged to inform
you that this has not been the case. Information has been given to me,
derived from official and other sources, that many citizens of the United
States have associated together to make hostile incursions from our
territory into Canada and to aid and abet insurrection there, in violation
of the obligations and laws of the United States and in open disregard of
their own duties as citizens. This information has been in part confirmed
by a hostile invasion actually made by citizens of the United States, in
conjunction with Canadians and others, and accompanied by a forcible
seizure of the property of our citizens and an application thereof to the
prosecution of military operations against the authorities and people of
Canada.

The results of these criminal assaults upon the peace and order of a
neighboring country have been, as was to be expected, fatally destructive
to the misguided or deluded persons engaged in them and highly injurious to
those in whose behalf they are professed to have been undertaken. The
authorities in Canada, from intelligence received of such intended
movements among our citizens, have felt themselves obliged to take
precautionary measures against them; have actually embodied the militia and
assumed an attitude to repel the invasion to which they believed the
colonies were exposed from the United States. A state of feeling on both
sides of the frontier has thus been produced which called for prompt and
vigorous interference. If an insurrection existed in Canada, the amicable
dispositions of the United States toward Great Britain, as well as their
duty to themselves, would lead them to maintain a strict neutrality and to
restrain their citizens from all violations of the laws which have been
passed for its enforcement. But this Government recognizes a still higher
obligation to repress all attempts on the part of its citizens to disturb
the peace of a country where order prevails or has been reestablished.
Depredations by our citizens upon nations at peace with the United States,
or combinations for committing them, have at all times been regarded by the
American Government and people with the greatest abhorrence. Military
incursions by our citizens into countries so situated, and the commission
of acts of violence on the members thereof, in order to effect a change in
their government, or under any pretext whatever, have from the commencement
of our Government been held equally criminal on the part of those engaged
in them, and as much deserving of punishment as would be the disturbance of
the public peace by the perpetration of similar acts within our own
territory.

By no country or persons have these invaluable principles of international
law--principles the strict observance of which is so indispensable to the
preservation of social order in the world--been more earnestly cherished or
sacredly respected than by those great and good men who first declared and
finally established the independence of our own country. They promulgated
and maintained them at an early and critical period in our history; they
were subsequently embodied in legislative enactments of a highly penal
character, the faithful enforcement of which has hitherto been, and will, I
trust, always continue to be, regarded as a duty inseparably associated
with the maintenance of our national honor. That the people of the United
States should feel an interest in the spread of political institutions as
free as they regard their own to be is natural, nor can a sincere
solicitude for the success of all those who are at any time in good faith
struggling for their acquisition be imputed to our citizens as a crime.
With the entire freedom of opinion and an undisguised expression thereof on
their part the Government has neither the right nor, I trust, the
disposition to interfere. But whether the interest or the honor of the
United States requires that they should be made a party to any such
struggle, and by inevitable consequence to the war which is waged in its
support, is a question which by our Constitution is wisely left to Congress
alone to decide. It is by the laws already made criminal in our citizens to
embarrass or anticipate that decision by unauthorized military operations
on their part. Offenses of this character, in addition to their criminality
as violations of the laws of our country, have a direct tendency to draw
down upon our own citizens at large the multiplied evils of a foreign war
and expose to injurious imputations the good faith and honor of the
country. As such they deserve to be put down with promptitude and decision.
I can not be mistaken, I am confident, in counting on the cordial and
general concurrence of our fellow-citizens in this sentiment. A copy of the
proclamation which I have felt it my duty to issue is herewith
communicated. I can not but hope that the good sense and patriotism, the
regard for the honor and reputation of their country, the respect for the
laws which they have themselves enacted for their own government, and the
love of order for which the mass of our people have been so long and so
justly distinguished will deter the comparatively few who are engaged in
them from a further prosecution of such desperate enterprises. In the
meantime the existing laws have been and will continue to be faithfully
executed, and every effort will be made to carry them out in their full
extent. Whether they are sufficient or not to meet the actual state of
things on the Canadian frontier it is for Congress to decide.

It will appear from the correspondence herewith submitted that the
Government of Russia declines a renewal of the fourth article of the
convention of April, 1824, between the United States and His Imperial
Majesty, by the third article of which it is agreed that "hereafter there
shall not be formed by the citizens of the United States or under the
authority of the said States any establishment upon the northwest coast of
America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of 54° 40' of
north latitude, and that in the same manner there shall be none formed by
Russian subjects or under the authority of Russia south of the same
parallel;" and by the fourth article, "that during a term of ten years,
counting from the signature of the present convention, the ships of both
powers, or which belong to their citizens or subjects, respectively, may
reciprocally frequent, without any hindrance whatever, the interior seas,
gulfs, harbors, and creeks upon the coast mentioned in the preceding
article, for the purpose of fishing and trading with the natives of the
country." The reasons assigned for declining to renew the provisions of
this article are, briefly, that the only use made by our citizens of the
privileges it secures to them has been to supply the Indians with
spirituous liquors, ammunition, and firearms; that this traffic has been
excluded from the Russian trade; and as the supplies furnished from the
United States are injurious to the Russian establishments on the northwest
coast and calculated to produce complaints between the two Governments, His
Imperial Majesty thinks it for the interest of both countries not to accede
to the proposition made by the American Government for the renewal of the
article last referred to.

The correspondence herewith communicated will show the grounds upon which
we contend that the citizens of the United States have, independent of the
provisions of the convention of 1824, a right to trade with the natives
upon the coast in question at unoccupied places, liable, however, it is
admitted, to be at any time extinguished by the creation of Russian
establishments at such points. This right is denied by the Russian
Government, which asserts that by the operation of the treaty of 1824 each
party agreed to waive the general right to land on the vacant coasts on the
respective sides of the degree of latitude referred to, and accepted in
lieu thereof the mutual privileges mentioned in the fourth article. The
capital and tonnage employed by our citizens in their trade with the
northwest coast of America will, perhaps, on adverting to the official
statements of the commerce and navigation of the United States for the last
few years, be deemed too inconsiderable in amount to attract much
attention; yet the subject may in other respects deserve the careful
consideration of Congress.

I regret to state that the blockade of the principal ports on the eastern
coast of Mexico, which, in consequence of differences between that Republic
and France, was instituted in May last, unfortunately still continues,
enforced by a competent French naval armament, and is necessarily
embarrassing to our own trade in the Gulf, in common with that of other
nations. Every disposition, however, is believed to exist on the part of
the French Government to render this measure as little onerous as
practicable to the interests of the citizens of the United States and to
those of neutral commerce, and it is to be hoped that an early settlement
of the difficulties between France and Mexico will soon reestablish the
harmonious relations formerly subsisting between them and again open the
ports of that Republic to the vessels of all friendly nations.

A convention for marking that part of the boundary between the United
States and the Republic of Texas which extends from the mouth of the Sabine
to the Red River was concluded and signed at this city on the 25th of April
last. It has since been ratified by both Governments, and seasonable
measures will be taken to carry it into effect on the part of the United
States.

The application of that Republic for admission into this Union, made in
August, 1837, and which was declined for reasons already made known to you,
has been formally withdrawn, as will appear from the accompanying copy of
the note of the minister plenipotentiary of Texas, which was presented to
the Secretary of State on the occasion of the exchange of the ratifications
of the convention above mentioned.

Copies of the convention with Texas, of a commercial treaty concluded with
the King of Greece, and of a similar treaty with the Peru-Bolivian
Confederation, the ratifications of which have been recently exchanged,
accompany this message, for the information of Congress and for such
legislative enactments as may be found necessary or expedient in relation
to either of them.

To watch over and foster the interests of a gradually increasing and widely
extended commerce, to guard the rights of American citizens whom business
or pleasure or other motives may tempt into distant climes, and at the same
time to cultivate those sentiments of mutual respect and good will which
experience has proved so beneficial in international intercourse, the
Government of the United States has deemed it expedient from time to time
to establish diplomatic connections with different foreign states, by the
appointment of representatives to reside within their respective
territories. I am gratified to be enabled to announce to you that since the
close of your last session these relations have been opened under the
happiest auspices with Austria and the Two Sicilies, that new nominations
have been made in the respective missions of Russia, Brazil, Belgium, and
Sweden and Norway in this country, and that a minister extraordinary has
been received, accredited to this Government, from the Argentine
Confederation.

An exposition of the fiscal affairs of the Government and of their
condition for the past year will be made to you by the Secretary of the
Treasury.

The available balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next is
estimated at $2,765,342. The receipts of the year from customs and lands
will probably amount to $20,615,598. These usual sources of revenue have
been increased by an issue of Treasury notes, of which less than
$8,000,000, including interest and principal, will be outstanding at the
end of the year, and by the sale of one of the bonds of the Bank of the
United States for $2,254,871. The aggregate of means from these and other
sources, with the balance on hand on the 1st of January last, has been
applied to the payment of appropriations by Congress. The whole expenditure
for the year on their account, including the redemption of more than eight
millions of Treasury notes, constitutes an aggregate of about $40,000,000,
and will still leave in the Treasury the balance before stated.

Nearly $8,000,000 of Treasury notes are to be paid during the coming year
in addition to the ordinary appropriations for the support of Government.
For both these purposes the resources of the Treasury will undoubtedly be
sufficient if the charges upon it are not increased beyond the annual
estimates. No excess, however, is likely to exist. Nor can the postponed
installment of the surplus revenue be deposited with the States nor any
considerable appropriations beyond the estimates be made without causing a
deficiency in the Treasury. The great caution, advisable at all times, of
limiting appropriations to the wants of the public service is rendered
necessary at present by the prospective and rapid reduction of the tariff,
while the vigilant jealousy evidently excited among the people by the
occurrences of the last few years assures us that they expect from their
representatives, and will sustain them in the exercise of, the most rigid
economy. Much can be effected by postponing appropriations not immediately
required for the ordinary public service or for any pressing emergency, and
much by reducing the expenditures where the entire and immediate
accomplishment of the objects in view is not indispensable.

When we call to mind the recent and extreme embarrassments produced by
excessive issues of bank paper, aggravated by the unforeseen withdrawal of
much foreign capital and the inevitable derangement arising from the
distribution of the surplus revenue among the States as required by
Congress, and consider the heavy expenses incurred by the removal of Indian
tribes, by the military operations in Florida, and on account of the
unusually large appropriations made at the last two annual sessions of
Congress for other objects, we have striking evidence in the present
efficient state of our finances of the abundant resources of the country to
fulfill all its obligations. Nor is it less gratifying to find that the
general business of the community, deeply affected as it has been, is
reviving with additional vigor, chastened by the lessons of the past and
animated by the hopes of the future. By the curtailment of paper issues, by
curbing the sanguine and adventurous spirit of speculation, and by the
honorable application of all available means to the fulfillment of
obligations, confidence has been restored both at home and abroad, and ease
and facility secured to all the operations of trade.

The agency of the Government in producing these results has been as
efficient as its powers and means permitted. By withholding from the States
the deposit of the fourth installment, and leaving several millions at long
credits with the banks, principally in one section of the country, and more
immediately beneficial to it, and at the same time aiding the banks and
commercial communities in other sections by postponing the payment of bonds
for duties to the amount of between four and five millions of dollars; by
an issue of Treasury notes as a means to enable the Government to meet the
consequences of their indulgences, but affording at the same time
facilities for remittance and exchange; and by steadily declining to employ
as general depositories of the public revenues, or receive the notes of,
all banks which refused to redeem them with specie--by these measures,
aided by the favorable action of some of the banks and by the support and
cooperation of a large portion of the community, we have witnessed an early
resumption of specie payments in our great commercial capital, promptly
followed in almost every part of the United States. This result has been
alike salutary to the true interests of agriculture, commerce, and
manufactures; to public morals, respect for the laws, and that confidence
between man and man which is so essential in all our social relations.

The contrast between the suspension of 1814 and that of 1837 is most
striking. The short duration of the latter, the prompt restoration of
business, the evident benefits resulting from an adherence by the
Government to the constitutional standard of value instead of sanctioning
the suspension by the receipt of irredeemable paper, and the advantages
derived from the large amount of specie introduced into the country
previous to 1837 afford a valuable illustration of the true policy of the
Government in such a crisis. Nor can the comparison fail to remove the
impression that a national bank is necessary in such emergencies. Not only
were specie payments resumed without its aid, but exchanges have also been
more rapidly restored than when it existed, thereby showing that private
capital, enterprise, and prudence are fully adequate to these ends. On all
these points experience seems to have confirmed the views heretofore
submitted to Congress. We have been saved the mortification of seeing the
distresses of the community for the third time seized on to fasten upon the
country so dangerous an institution, and we may also hope that the business
of individuals will hereafter be relieved from the injurious effects of a
continued agitation of that disturbing subject. The limited influence of a
national bank in averting derangement in the exchanges of the country or in
compelling the resumption of specie payments is now not less apparent than
its tendency to increase inordinate speculation by sudden expansions and
contractions; its disposition to create panic and embarrassment for the
promotion of its own designs; its interference with politics, and its far
greater power for evil than for good, either in regard to the local
institutions or the operations of Government itself. What was in these
respects but apprehension or opinion when a national bank was first
established now stands confirmed by humiliating experience. The scenes
through which we have passed conclusively prove how little our commerce,
agriculture, manufactures, or finances require such an institution, and
what dangers are attendant on its power--a power, I trust, never to be
conferred by the American people upon their Government, and still less upon
individuals not responsible to them for its unavoidable abuses.

My conviction of the necessity of further legislative provisions for the
safe-keeping and disbursement of the public moneys and my opinion in regard
to the measures best adapted to the accomplishment of those objects have
been already submitted to you. These have been strengthened by recent
events, and in the full conviction that time and experience must still
further demonstrate their propriety I feel it my duty, with respectful
deference to the conflicting views of others, again to invite your
attention to them.

With the exception of limited sums deposited in the few banks still
employed under the act of 1836, the amounts received for duties, and, with
very inconsiderable exceptions, those accruing from lands also, have since
the general suspension of specie payments by the deposit banks been kept
and disbursed by the Treasurer under his general legal powers, subject to
the superintendence of the Secretary of the Treasury. The propriety of
defining more specifically and of regulating by law the exercise of this
wide scope of Executive discretion has been already submitted to Congress.

A change in the office of collector at one of our principal ports has
brought to light a defalcation of the gravest character, the particulars of
which will be laid before you in a special report from the Secretary of the
Treasury. By his report and the accompanying documents it will be seen that
the weekly returns of the defaulting officer apparently exhibited
throughout a faithful administration of the affairs intrusted to his
management. It, however, now appears that he commenced abstracting the
public moneys shortly after his appointment and continued to do so,
progressively increasing the amount, for the term of more than seven years,
embracing a portion of the period during which the public moneys were
deposited in the Bank of the United States, the whole of that of the State
bank deposit system, and concluding only on his retirement from office,
after that system had substantially failed in consequence of the suspension
of specie payments.

The way in which this defalcation was so long concealed and the steps taken
to indemnify the United States, as far as practicable, against loss will
also be presented to you. The case is one which imperatively claims the
attention of Congress and furnishes the strongest motive for the
establishment of a more severe and secure system for the safe-keeping and
disbursement of the public moneys than any that has heretofore existed.

It seems proper, at all events, that by an early enactment similar to that
of other countries the application of public money by an officer of
Government to private uses should be made a felony and visited with severe
and ignominious punishment. This is already in effect the law in respect to
the Mint, and has been productive of the most salutary results. Whatever
system is adopted, such an enactment would be wise as an independent
measure, since much of the public moneys must in their collection and
ultimate disbursement pass twice through the hands of public officers, in
whatever manner they are intermediately kept. The Government, it must be
admitted, has been from its commencement comparatively fortunate in this
respect. But the appointing power can not always be well advised in its
selections, and the experience of every country has shown that public
officers are not at all times proof against temptation. It is a duty,
therefore, which the Government owes, as well to the interests committed to
its care as to the officers themselves, to provide every guard against
transgressions of this character that is consistent with reason and
humanity. Congress can not be too jealous of the conduct of those who are
intrusted with the public money, and I shall at all times be disposed to
encourage a watchful discharge of this duty.

If a more direct cooperation on the part of Congress in the supervision of
the conduct of the officers intrusted with the custody and application of
the public money is deemed desirable, it will give me pleasure to assist in
the establishment of any judicious and constitutional plan by which that
object may be accomplished. You will in your wisdom determine upon the
propriety of adopting such a plan and upon the measures necessary to its
effectual execution. When the late Bank of the United States was
incorporated and made the depository of the public moneys, a right was
reserved to Congress to inspect at its pleasure, by a committee of that
body, the books and the proceedings of the bank. In one of the States,
whose banking institutions are supposed to rank amongst the first in point
of stability, they are subjected to constant examination by commissioners
appointed for that purpose, and much of the success of its banking system
is attributed to this watchful supervision.

The same course has also, in view of its beneficial operation, been adopted
by an adjoining State, favorably known for the care it has always bestowed
upon whatever relates to its financial concerns. I submit to your
consideration whether a committee of Congress might not be profitably
employed in inspecting, at such intervals as might be deemed proper, the
affairs and accounts of officers intrusted with the custody of the public
moneys. The frequent performance of this duty might be made obligatory on
the committee in respect to those officers who have large sums in their
possession, and left discretionary in respect to others. They might report
to the Executive such defalcations as were found to exist, with a view to a
prompt removal from office unless the default was satisfactorily accounted
for, and report also to Congress, at the commencement of each session, the
result of their examinations and proceedings. It does appear to me that
with a subjection of this class of public officers to the general
supervision of the Executive, to examinations by a committee of Congress at
periods of which they should have no previous notice, and to prosecution
and punishment as for felony for every breach of trust, the safe-keeping of
the public moneys might under the system proposed be placed on a surer
foundation than it has ever occupied since the establishment of the
Government.

The Secretary of the Treasury will lay before you additional information
containing new details on this interesting subject. To these I ask your
early attention. That it should have given rise to great diversity of
opinion can not be a subject of surprise. After the collection and custody
of the public moneys had been for so many years connected with and made
subsidiary to the advancement of private interests, a return to the simple
self-denying ordinances of the Constitution could not but be difficult. But
time and free discussion, eliciting the sentiments of the people, and aided
by that conciliatory spirit which has ever characterized their course on
great emergencies, were relied upon for a satisfactory settlement of the
question. Already has this anticipation, on one important point at
least--the impropriety of diverting public money to private purposes--been
fully realized. There is no reason to suppose that legislation upon that
branch of the subject would now be embarrassed by a difference of opinion,
or fail to receive the cordial support of a large majority of our
constituents.

The connection which formerly existed between the Government and banks was
in reality injurious to both, as well as to the general interests of the
community at large. It aggravated the disasters of trade and the
derangements of commercial intercourse, and administered new excitements
and additional means to wild and reckless speculations, the disappointment
of which threw the country into convulsions of panic, and all but produced
violence and bloodshed. The imprudent expansion of bank credits, which was
the natural result of the command of the revenues of the State, furnished
the resources for unbounded license in every species of adventure, seduced
industry from its regular and salutary occupations by the hope of abundance
without labor, and deranged the social state by tempting all trades and
professions into the vortex of speculation on remote contingencies.

The same wide-spreading influence impeded also the resources of the
Government, curtailed its useful operations, embarrassed the fulfillment of
its obligations, and seriously interfered with the execution of the laws.
Large appropriations and oppressive taxes are the natural consequences of
such a connection, since they increase the profits of those who are allowed
to use the public funds, and make it their interest that money should be
accumulated and expenditures multiplied. It is thus that a concentrated
money power is tempted to become an active agent in political affairs; and
all past experience has shown on which side that influence will be arrayed.
We deceive ourselves if we suppose that, it will ever be found asserting
and supporting the rights of the community at large in opposition to the
claims of the few.

In a government whose distinguishing characteristic should be a diffusion
and equalization of its benefits and burdens the advantage of individuals
will be augmented at the expense of the community at large. Nor is it the
nature of combinations for the acquisition of legislative influence to
confine their interference to the single object for which they were
originally formed. The temptation to extend it to other matters is, on the
contrary, not unfrequently too strong to be resisted. The rightful
influence in the direction of public affairs of the mass of the people is
therefore in no slight danger of being sensibly and injuriously affected by
giving to a comparatively small but very efficient class a direct and
exclusive personal interest in so important a portion of the legislation of
Congress as that which relates to the custody of the public moneys. If laws
acting upon private interests can not always be avoided, they should be
confined within the narrowest limits, and left wherever possible to the
legislatures of the States. When not thus restricted they lead to
combinations of powerful associations, foster an influence necessarily
selfish, and turn the fair course of legislation to sinister ends rather
than to objects that advance public liberty and promote the general good.

The whole subject now rests with you, and I can not but express a hope that
some definite measure will be adopted at the present session.

It will not, I am sure, be deemed out of place for me here to remark that
the declaration of my views in opposition to the policy of employing banks
as depositories of the Government funds can not justly be construed as
indicative of hostility, official or personal, to those institutions; or to
repeat in this form and in connection with this subject opinions which I
have uniformly entertained and on all proper occasions expressed. Though
always opposed to their creation in the form of exclusive privileges, and,
as a State magistrate, aiming by appropriate legislation to secure the
community against the consequences of their occasional mismanagement, I
have yet ever wished to see them protected in the exercise of rights
conferred by law, and have never doubted their utility when properly
managed in promoting the interests of trade, and through that channel the
other interests of the community. To the General Government they present
themselves merely as State institutions, having no necessary connection
with its legislation or its administration. Like other State
establishments, they may be used or not in conducting the affairs of the
Government, as public policy and the general interests of the Union may
seem to require. The only safe or proper principle upon which their
intercourse with the Government can be regulated is that which regulates
their intercourse with the private citizen--the conferring of mutual
benefits. When the Government can accomplish a financial operation better
with the aid of the banks than without it, it should be at liberty to seek
that aid as it would the services of a private banker or other capitalist
or agent, giving the preference to those who will serve it on the best
terms. Nor can there ever exist an interest in the officers of the General
Government, as such, inducing them to embarrass or annoy the State banks
any more than to incur the hostility of any other class of State
institutions or of private citizens. It is not in the nature of things that
hostility to these institutions can spring from this source, or any
opposition to their course of business, except when they themselves depart
from the objects of their creation and attempt to usurp powers not
conferred upon them or to subvert the standard of value established by the
Constitution. While opposition to their regular operations can not exist in
this quarter, resistance to any attempt to make the Government dependent
upon them for the successful administration of public affairs is a matter
of duty, as I trust it ever will be of inclination, no matter from what
motive or consideration the attempt may originate.

It is no more than just to the banks to say that in the late emergency most
of them firmly resisted the strongest temptations to extend their paper
issues when apparently sustained in a suspension of specie payments by
public opinion, even though in some cases invited by legislative
enactments. To this honorable course, aided by the resistance of the
General Government, acting in obedience to the Constitution and laws of the
United States, to the introduction of an irredeemable paper medium, may be
attributed in a great degree the speedy restoration of our currency to a
sound state and the business of the country to its wonted prosperity.

The banks have but to continue in the same safe course and be content in
their appropriate sphere to avoid all interference from the General
Government and to derive from it all the protection and benefits which it
bestows on other State establishments, on the people of the States, and on
the States themselves. In this, their true position, they can not but
secure the confidence and good will of the people and the Government, which
they can only lose when, leaping from their legitimate sphere, they attempt
to control the legislation of the country and pervert the operations of the
Government to their own purposes.

Our experience under the act, passed at the last session, to grant
preemption rights to settlers on the public lands has as yet been too
limited to enable us to pronounce with safety upon the efficacy of its
provisions to carry out the wise and liberal policy of the Government in
that respect. There is, however, the best reason to anticipate favorable
results from its operation. The recommendations formerly submitted to you
in respect to a graduation of the price of the public lands remain to be
finally acted upon. Having found no reason to change the views then
expressed, your attention to them is again respectfully requested.

Every proper exertion has been made and will be continued to carry out the
wishes of Congress in relation to the tobacco trade, as indicated in the
several resolutions of the House of Representatives and the legislation of
the two branches. A favorable impression has, I trust, been made in the
different foreign countries to which particular attention has been
directed; and although we can not hope for an early change in their policy,
as in many of them a convenient and large revenue is derived from
monopolies in the fabrication and sale of this article, yet, as these
monopolies are really injurious to the people where they are established,
and the revenue derived from them may be less injuriously and with equal
facility obtained from another and a liberal system of administration, we
can not doubt that our efforts will be eventually crowned with, success if
persisted in with temperate firmness and sustained by prudent legislation.

In recommending to Congress the adoption of the necessary provisions at
this session for taking the next census or enumeration of the inhabitants
of the United States, the suggestion presents itself whether the scope of
the measure might not be usefully extended by causing it to embrace
authentic statistical returns of the great interests specially intrusted to
or necessarily affected by the legislation of Congress.

The accompanying report of the Secretary of War presents a satisfactory
account of the state of the Army and of the several branches of the public
service confided to the superintendence of that officer.

The law increasing and organizing the military establishment of the United
States has been nearly carried into effect, and the Army has been
extensively and usefully employed during the past season.

I would again call to your notice the subjects connected with and essential
to the military defenses of the country which were submitted to you at the
last session, but which were not acted upon, as is supposed, for want of
time. The most important of them is the organization of the militia on the
maritime and inland frontiers. This measure is deemed important, as it is
believed that it will furnish an effective volunteer force in aid of the
Regular Army, and may form the basis of a general system of organization
for the entire militia of the United States. The erection of a national
foundry and gunpowder manufactory, and one for making small arms, the
latter to be situated at some point west of the Allegany Mountains, all
appear to be of sufficient importance to be again urged upon your
attention.

The plan proposed by the Secretary of War for the distribution of the
forces of the United States in time of peace is well calculated to promote
regularity and economy in the fiscal administration of the service, to
preserve the discipline of the troops, and to render them available for the
maintenance of the peace and tranquillity of the Country. With this view,
likewise, I recommend the adoption of the plan presented by that officer
for the defense of the western frontier. The preservation of the lives and
property of our fellow-citizens who are settled upon that border country,
as well as the existence of the Indian population, which might be tempted
by our want of preparation to rush on their own destruction and attack the
white settlements, all seem to require that this subject should be acted
upon without delay, and the War Department authorized to place that country
in a state of complete defense against any assault from the numerous and
warlike tribes which are congregated on that border.

It affords me sincere pleasure to be able to apprise you of the entire
removal of the Cherokee Nation of Indians to their new homes west of the
Mississippi. The measures authorized by Congress at its last session, with
a view to the long-standing controversy with them, have had the happiest
effects. By an agreement concluded with them by the commanding general in
that country, who has performed the duties assigned to him on the occasion
with commendable energy and humanity, their removal has been principally
under the conduct of their own chiefs, and they have emigrated without any
apparent reluctance.

The successful accomplishment of this important object, the removal also of
the entire Creek Nation with the exception of a small number of fugitives
amongst the Seminoles in Florida, the progress already made toward a speedy
completion of the removal of the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, the
Pottawatamies, the Ottawas, and the Chippewas, with the extensive purchases
of Indian lands during the present year, have rendered the speedy and
successful result of the long-established policy of the Government upon the
subject of Indian affairs entirely certain. The occasion is therefore
deemed a proper one to place this policy in such a point of view as will
exonerate the Government of the United States from the undeserved reproach
which has been cast upon it through several successive Administrations.
That a mixed occupancy of the same territory by the white and red man is
incompatible with the safety or happiness of either is a position in
respect to which there has long since ceased to be room for a difference of
opinion. Reason and experience have alike demonstrated its
impracticability. The bitter fruits of every attempt heretofore to overcome
the barriers interposed by nature have only been destruction, both physical
and moral, to the Indian, dangerous conflicts of authority between the
Federal and State Governments, and detriment to the individual prosperity
of the citizen as well as to the general improvement of the country. The
remedial policy, the principles of which were settled more than thirty
years ago under the Administration of Mr. Jefferson, consists in an
extinction, for a fair consideration, of the title to all the lands still
occupied by the Indians within the States and Territories of the United
States; their removal to a country west of the Mississippi much more
extensive and better adapted to their condition than that on which they
then resided; the guarantee to them by the United States of their exclusive
possession of that country forever, exempt from all intrusions by white
men, with ample provisions for their security against external violence and
internal dissensions, and the extension to them of suitable facilities for
their advancement in civilization. This has not been the policy of
particular Administrations only, but of each in succession since the first
attempt to carry it out under that of Mr. Monroe. All have labored for its
accomplishment, only with different degrees of success. The manner of its
execution has, it is true, from time to time given rise to conflicts of
opinion and unjust imputations; but in respect to the wisdom and necessity
of the policy itself there has not from the beginning existed a doubt in
the mind of any calm, judicious, disinterested friend of the Indian race
accustomed to reflection and enlightened by experience.

Occupying the double character of contractor on its own account and
guardian for the parties contracted with, it was hardly to be expected that
the dealings of the Federal Government with the Indian tribes would escape
misrepresentation. That there occurred ill the early settlement of this
country, as in all others where the civilized race has succeeded to the
possessions of the savage, instances of oppression and fraud on the part of
the former there is too much reason to believe. No such offenses can,
however, be justly charged upon this Government since it became free to
pursue its own course. Its dealings with the Indian tribes have been just
and friendly throughout; its efforts for their civilization constant, and
directed by the best feelings of humanity; its watchfulness in protecting
them from individual frauds unremitting; its forbearance under the keenest
provocations, the deepest injuries, and the most flagrant outrages may
challenge at least a comparison with any nation, ancient or modern, in
similar circumstances; and if in future times a powerful, civilized, and
happy nation of Indians shall be found to exist within the limits of this
northern continent it will be owing to the consummation of that policy
which has been so unjustly assailed. Only a very brief reference to facts
in confirmation of this assertion can in this form be given, and you are
therefore necessarily referred to the report of the Secretary of War for
further details. To the Cherokees, whose case has perhaps excited the
greatest share of attention and sympathy, the United States have granted in
fee, with a perpetual guaranty of exclusive and peaceable possession,
13,554,135 acres of land on the west side of the Mississippi, eligibly
situated, in a healthy climate, and in all respects better suited to their
condition than the country they have left, in exchange for only 9,492, 160
acres on the east side of the same river. The United States have in
addition stipulated to pay them $5,600,000 for their interest in and
improvements on the lands thus relinquished, and $1,160,000 for subsistence
and other beneficial purposes, thereby putting it in their power to become
one of the most wealthy and independent separate communities of the same
extent in the world.

By the treaties made and ratified with the Miamies, the Chippewas, the
Sioux, the Sacs and Foxes, and the Winnebagoes during the last year the
Indian title to 18,458,000 acres has been extinguished. These purchases
have been much more extensive than those of any previous year, and have,
with other Indian expenses, borne very heavily upon the Treasury. They
leave, however, but a small quantity of unbought Indian lands within the
States and Territories, and the Legislature and Executive were equally
sensible of the propriety of a final and more speedy extinction of Indian
titles within those limits. The treaties, which were with a single
exception made in pursuance of previous appropriations for defraying the
expenses, have subsequently been ratified by the Senate, and received the
sanction of Congress by the appropriations necessary to carry them into
effect. Of the terms upon which these important negotiations were concluded
I can speak from direct knowledge, and I feel no difficulty in affirming
that the interest of the Indians in the extensive territory embraced by
them is to be paid for at its fair value, and that no more favorable terms
have been granted to the United States than would have been reasonably
expected in a negotiation with civilized men fully capable of appreciating
and protecting their own rights. For the Indian title to 116,349,897 acres
acquired since the 4th of March, 1829, the United States have paid
$72,560,056 in permanent annuities, lands, reservations for Indians,
expenses of removal and subsistence, merchandise, mechanical and
agricultural establishments and implements. When the heavy expenses
incurred by the United States and the circumstance that so large a portion
of the entire territory will be forever unsalable are considered, and this
price is compared with that for which the United States sell their own
lands, no one can doubt that justice has been done to the Indians in these
purchases also. Certain it is that the transactions of the Federal
Government with the Indians have been uniformly characterized by a sincere
and paramount desire to promote their welfare; and it must be a source of
the highest gratification to every friend to justice and humanity to learn
that not withstanding the obstructions from time to time thrown in its way
and the difficulties which have arisen from the peculiar and impracticable
nature of the Indian character, the wise, humane, and undeviating policy of
the Government in this the most difficult of all our relations, foreign or
domestic, has at length been justified to the world in its near approach to
a happy and certain consummation.

The condition of the tribes which occupy the country set apart for them in
the West is highly prosperous, and encourages the hope of their early
civilization. They have for the most part abandoned the hunter state and
turned their attention to agricultural pursuits. All those who have been
established for any length of time in that fertile region maintain
themselves by their own industry. There are among them traders of no
inconsiderable capital, and planters exporting cotton to some extent, but
the greater number are small agriculturists, living in comfort upon the
produce of their farms. The recent emigrants, although they have in some
instances removed reluctantly, have readily acquiesced in their unavoidable
destiny. They have found at once a recompense for past sufferings and an
incentive to industrious habits in the abundance and comforts around them.
There is reason to believe that all these tribes are friendly in their
feelings toward the United States; and it is to be hoped that the
acquisition of individual wealth, the pursuits of agriculture, and habits
of industry will gradually subdue their warlike propensities and incline
them to maintain peace among themselves. To effect this desirable object
the attention of Congress is solicited to the measures recommended by the
Secretary of War for their future government and protection, as well from
each other as from the hostility of the warlike tribes around them and the
intrusions of the whites. The policy of the Government has given them a
permanent home and guaranteed to them its peaceful and undisturbed
possession. It only remains to give them a government and laws which will
encourage industry and secure to them the rewards of their exertions. The
importance of some form of government can not be too much insisted upon.
The earliest effects will be to diminish the causes and occasions for
hostilities among the tribes, to inspire an interest in the observance of
laws to which they will have themselves assented, and to multiply the
securities of property and the motives for self-improvement. Intimately
connected with this subject is the establishment of the military defenses
recommended by the Secretary of War, which have been already referred to.
Without them the Government will be powerless to redeem its pledge of
protection to the emigrating Indians against the numerous warlike tribes
that surround them and to provide for the safety of the frontier settlers
of the bordering States.

The case of the Seminoles constitutes at present the only exception to the
successful efforts of the Government to remove the Indians to the homes
assigned them west of the Mississippi. Four hundred of this tribe emigrated
in 1836 and 1,500 in 1837 and 1838, leaving in the country, it is supposed,
about 2,000 Indians. The continued treacherous conduct of these people; the
savage and unprovoked murders they have lately committed, butchering whole
families of the settlers of the Territory without distinction of age or
sex, and making their way into the very center and heart of the country, so
that no part of it is free from their ravages; their frequent attacks on
the light-houses along that dangerous coast, and the barbarity with which
they have murdered the passengers and crews of such vessels as have been
wrecked upon the reefs and keys which border the Gulf, leave the Government
no alternative but to continue the military operations against them until
they are totally expelled from Florida. There are other motives which would
urge the Government to pursue this course toward the Seminoles. The United
States have fulfilled in good faith all their treaty stipulations with the
Indian tribes, and have in every other instance insisted upon a like
performance of their obligations. To relax from this salutary rule because
the Seminoles have maintained themselves so long in the territory they had
relinquished, and in defiance of their frequent and solemn engagements
still continue to wage a ruthless war against the United States, would not
only evince a want of constancy on our part, but be of evil example in our
intercourse with other tribes. Experience has shown that but little is to
be gained by the march of armies through a country so intersected with
inaccessible swamps and marshes, and which, from the fatal character of the
climate, must be abandoned at the end of the winter. I recommend,
therefore, to your attention the plan submitted by the Secretary of War in
the accompanying report, for the permanent occupation of the portion of the
Territory freed from the Indians and the more effici