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President[ James Madison

         Date[ December 5, 1815

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I have the satisfaction on our present meeting of being able to communicate

the successful termination of the war which had been commenced against the

United States by the Regency of Algiers. The squadron in advance on that

service, under Commodore Decatur, lost not a moment after its arrival in

the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of the enemy then cruising in

that sea, and succeeded in capturing two of his ships, one of them the

principal ship, commanded by the Algerine admiral. The high character of

the American commander was brilliantly sustained on the occasion which

brought his own ship into close action with that of his adversary, as was

the accustomed gallantry of all the officers and men actually engaged.

Having prepared the way by this demonstration of American skill and

prowess, he hastened to the port of Algiers, where peace was promptly

yielded to his victorious force.

In the terms stipulated the rights and honor of the United States were

particularly consulted by a perpetual relinquishment on the part of the Dey

of all pretensions to tribute from them. The impressions which have thus

been made, strengthened as they will have been by subsequent transactions

with the Regencies of Tunis and of Tripoli by the appearance of the larger

force which followed under Commodore Bainbridge, the chief in command of

the expedition, and by the judicious precautionary arrangements left by him

in that quarter, afford a reasonable prospect of future security for the

valuable portion of our commerce which passes within reach of the Barbary

cruisers.

It is another source of satisfaction that the treaty of peace with Great

Britain has been succeeded by a convention on the subject of commerce

concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two countries. In this result a

disposition is manifested on the part of that nation corresponding with the

disposition of the United States, which it may be hoped will be improved

into liberal arrangements on other subjects on which the parties have

mutual interests, or which might endanger their future harmony. Congress

will decide on the expediency of promoting such a sequel by giving effect

to the measure of confining the American navigation to American sea men--a

measure which, at the same time that it might have that conciliatory

tendency, would have the further advantage of increasing the independence

of our navigation and the resources for our maritime defense.

In conformity with the articles in the treaty of Ghent relating to the

Indians, as well as with a view to the tranquillity of our western and

northwestern frontiers, measures were taken to establish an immediate peace

with the several tribes who had been engaged in hostilities against the

United States. Such of them as were invited to Detroit acceded readily to a

renewal of the former treaties of friendship. Of the other tribes who were

invited to a station on the Mississippi the greater number have also

accepted the peace offered to them. The residue, consisting of the more

distant tribes or parts of tribes, remain to be brought over by further

explanations, or by such other means as may be adapted to the dispositions

they may finally disclose.

The Indian tribes within and bordering on the southern frontier, whom a

cruel war on their part had compelled us to chastise into peace, have

latterly shown a restlessness which has called for preparatory measures for

repressing it, and for protecting the commissioners engaged in carrying the

terms of the peace into execution.

The execution of the act for fixing the military peace establishment has

been attended with difficulties which even now can only be overcome by

legislative aid. The selection of officers, the payment and discharge of

the troops enlisted for the war, the payment of the retained troops and

their reunion from detached and distant stations, the collection and

security of the public property in the Quartermaster, Commissary, and

Ordnance departments, and the constant medical assistance required in

hospitals and garrisons rendered a complete execution of the act

impracticable on the 1st of May, the period more immediately contemplated.

As soon, however, as circumstances would permit, and as far as it has been

practicable consistently with the public interests, the reduction of the

Army has been accomplished; but the appropriations for its pay and for

other branches of the military service having proved inadequate, the

earliest attention to that subject will be necessary; and the expediency of

continuing upon the peace establishment the staff officers who have

hitherto been provisionally retained is also recommended to the

consideration of Congress.

In the performance of the Executive duty upon this occasion there has not

been wanting a just sensibility to the merits of the American Army during

the late war; but the obvious policy and design in fixing an efficient

military peace establishment did not afford an opportunity to distinguish

the aged and infirm on account of their past services nor the wounded and

disabled on account of their present sufferings.

The extent of the reduction, indeed, unavoidably involved the exclusion of

many meritorious officers of every rank from the service of their country;

and so equal as well as so numerous were the claims to attention that a

decision by the standard of comparative merit could seldom be attained.

Judged, however, in candor by a general standard of positive merit, the

Army Register will, it is believed, do honor to the establishment, while

the case of those officers whose names are not included in it devolves with

the strongest interest upon the legislative authority for such provisions

as shall be deemed the best calculated to give support and solace to the

veteran and the invalid, to display the beneficence as well as the justice

of the Government, and to inspire a martial zeal for the public service

upon every future emergency.

Although the embarrassments arising from the want of an uniform national

currency have not been diminished since the adjournment of Congress, great

satisfaction has been derived in contemplating the revival of the public

credit and the efficiency of the public resources. The receipts into the

Treasury from the various branches of revenue during the nine months ending

on the 30th of September last have been estimated at $12.5 millions; the

issues of Treasury notes of every denomination during the same period

amounted to the sum of $14 millions, and there was also obtained upon loan

during the same period a sum of $9 millions, of which the sum of $6

millions was subscribed in cash and the sum of $3 millions in Treasury

notes.

With these means, added to the sum of $1.5 millions, being the balance of

money in the Treasury on the 1st day of January, there has been paid

between the 1st of January and the 1st of October on account of the

appropriations of the preceding and of the present year (exclusively of

the amount of the Treasury notes subscribed to the loan and of the amount

redeemed in the payment of duties and taxes) the aggregate sum of $33.5

millions, leaving a balance then in the Treasury estimated at the sum of

$3 millions. Independent, however of the arrearages due for military

services and supplies, it is presumed that a further sum of $5 millions,

including the interest on the public debt payable on the 1st of January

next, will be demanded at the Treasury to complete the expenditures of

the present year, and for which the existing ways and means will

sufficiently provide.

The national debt, as it was ascertained on the 1st of October last,

amounted in the whole to the sum of $120 millions, consisting of the

unredeemed balance of the debt contracted before the late war ($39

millions), the amount of the funded debt contracted in consequence of the

war ($64 millions), and the amount of the unfunded and floating debt,

including the various issues of Treasury notes, $17 millions, which is in

gradual course of payment.

There will probably be some addition to the public debt upon the

liquidation of various claims which are depending, and a conciliatory

disposition on the part of Congress may lead honorably and advantageously

to an equitable arrangement of the militia expenses incurred by the several

States without the previous sanction or authority of the Government of the

United States; but when it is considered that the new as well as the old

portion of the debt has been contracted in the assertion of the national

rights and independence, and when it is recollected that the public

expenditures, not being exclusively bestowed upon subjects of a transient

nature, will long be visible in the number and equipments of the American

Navy, in the military works for the defense of our harbors and our

frontiers, and in the supplies of our arsenals and magazines the amount

will bear a gratifying comparison with the objects which have been

attained, as well as with the resources of the country.

The arrangements of the finances with a view to the receipts and

expenditures of a permanent peace establishment will necessarily enter into

the deliberations of Congress during the present session. It is true that

the improved condition of the public revenue will not only afford the means

of maintaining the faith of the Government with its creditors inviolate,

and of prosecuting successfully the measures of the most liberal policy,

but will also justify an immediate alleviation of the burdens imposed by

the necessities of the war.

It is, however, essential to every modification of the finances that the

benefits of an uniform national currency should be restored to the

community. The absence of the precious metals will, it is believed, be a

temporary evil, but until they can again be rendered the general medium of

exchange it devolves on the wisdom of Congress to provide a substitute

which shall equally engage the confidence and accommodate the wants of the

citizens throughout the Union. If the operation of the State banks can not

produce this result, the probable operation of a national bank will merit

consideration; and if neither of these expedients be deemed effectual it

may become necessary to ascertain the terms upon which the notes of the

Government (no longer required as an instrument of credit) shall be issued

upon motives of general policy as a common medium of circulation.

Notwithstanding the security for future repose which the United States

ought to find in their love of peace and their constant respect for the

rights of other nations, the character of the times particularly inculcates

the lesson that, whether to prevent or repel danger, we ought not to be

unprepared for it. This consideration will sufficiently recommend to

Congress a liberal provision for the immediate extension and gradual

completion of the works of defense, both fixed and floating, on our

maritime frontier, and an adequate provision for guarding our inland

frontier against dangers to which certain portions of it may continue to be

exposed.

As an improvement in our military establishment, it will deserve the

consideration of Congress whether a corps of invalids might not be so

organized and employed as at once to aid in the support of meritorious

individuals excluded by age or infirmities from the existing establishment,

and to procure to the public the benefit of their stationary services and

of their exemplary discipline.

I recommend also an enlargement of the Military Academy already

established, and the establishment of others in other sections of the

Union; and I can not press too much on the attention of Congress such a

classification and organization of the militia as will most effectually

render it the safeguard of a free state. If experience has shewn in the

recent splendid achievements of militia the value of this resource for the

public defense, it has shewn also the importance of that skill in the use

of arms and that familiarity with the essential rules of discipline which

can not be expected from the regulations now in force.

With this subject is intimately connected the necessity of accommodating

the laws in every respect to the great object of enabling the political

authority of the Union to employ promptly and effectually the physical

power of the Union in the cases designated by the Constitution.

The signal services which have been rendered by our Navy and the capacities

it has developed for successful cooperation in the national defense will

give to that portion of the public force its full value in the eyes of

Congress, at an epoch which calls for the constant vigilance of all

governments. To preserve the ships now in a sound state, to complete those

already contemplated, to provide amply the imperishable materials for

prompt augmentations, and to improve the existing arrangements into more

advantageous establishments for the construction, the repairs, and the

security of vessels of war is dictated by the soundest policy.

In adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue the influence

of the tariff on manufactures will necessarily present itself for

consideration. However wise the theory may be which leaves to the sagacity

and interest of individuals the application of their industry and

resources, there are in this as in other cases exceptions to the general

rule. Besides the condition which the theory itself implies of reciprocal

adoption by other nations, experience teaches that so many circumstances

must concur in introducing and maturing manufacturing establishments,

especially of the more complicated kinds, that a country may remain long

without them, although sufficiently advanced and in some respects even

peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with success. Under circumstances

giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing industry it has made among us a

progress and exhibited an efficiency which justify the belief that with a

protection not more than is due to the enterprising citizens whose

interests are now at stake it will become at an early day not only safe

against occasional competitions from abroad, but a source of domestic

wealth and even of external commerce.

In selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public patronage

a preference is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States

from a dependence on foreign supplies, ever subject to casual failures, for

articles necessary for the public defense or connected with the primary

wants of individuals. It will be an additional recommendation of particular

manufactures where the materials for them are extensively drawn from our

agriculture, and consequently impart and insure to that great fund of

national prosperity and independence an encouragement which can not fail to

be rewarded.

Among the means of advancing the public interest the occasion is a proper

one for recalling the attention of Congress to the great importance of

establishing throughout our country the roads and canals which can best be

executed under the national authority. No objects within the circle of

political economy so richly repay the expense bestowed on them; there are

none the utility of which is more universally ascertained and acknowledged;

none that do more honor to the governments whose wise and enlarged

patriotism duly appreciates them. Nor is there any country which presents a

field where nature invites more the art of man to complete her own work for

his accommodation and benefit.

These considerations are strengthened, moreover, by the political effect of

these facilities for intercommunication in bringing and binding more

closely together the various parts of our extended confederacy. Whilst the

States individually, with a laudable enterprise and emulation, avail

themselves of their local advantages by new roads, by navigable canals, and

by improving the streams susceptible of navigation, the General Government

is the more urged to similar undertakings, requiring a national

jurisdiction and national means, by the prospect of thus systematically

completing so inestimable a work; and it is a happy reflection that any

defect of constitutional authority which may be encountered can be supplied

in a mode which the Constitution itself has providently pointed out.

The present is a favorable season also for bringing again into view the

establishment of a national seminary of learning within the District of

Columbia, and with means drawn from the property therein, subject to the

authority of the General Government. Such an institution claims the

patronage of Congress as a monument of their solicitude for the advancement

of knowledge, without which the blessings of liberty can not be fully

enjoyed or long preserved; as a model instructive in the formation of other

seminaries; as a nursery of enlightened preceptors, and as a central resort

of youth and genius from every part of their country, diffusing on their

return examples of those national feelings, those liberal sentiments, and

those congenial manners which contribute cement to our Union and strength

to the great political fabric of which that is the foundation.

In closing this communication I ought not to repress a sensibility, in

which you will unite, to the happy lot of our country and to the goodness

of a superintending Providence, to which we are indebted for it. Whilst

other portions of mankind are laboring under the distresses of war or

struggling with adversity in other forms, the United States are in the

tranquil enjoyment of prosperous and honorable peace. In reviewing the

scenes through which it has been attained we can rejoice in the proofs

given that our political institutions, founded in human rights and framed

for their preservation, are equal to the severest trials of war, as well

adapted to the ordinary periods of repose.

As fruits of this experience and of the reputation acquired by the American

arms on the land and on the water, the nation finds itself possessed of a

growing respect abroad and of a just confidence in itself, which are among

the best pledges for its peaceful career. Under other aspects of our

country the strongest features of its flourishing condition are seen in a

population rapidly increasing on a territory as productive as it is

extensive; in a general industry and fertile ingenuity which find their

ample rewards, and in an affluent revenue which admits a reduction of the

public burdens without withdrawing the means of sustaining the public

credit, of gradually discharging the public debt, of providing for the

necessary defensive and precautionary establishments, and of patronizing in

every authorized mode undertakings conducive to the aggregate wealth and

individual comfort of our citizens.

It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere in that

justice and good will toward other nations which invite a return of these

sentiments toward the United States; to cherish institutions which

guarantee their safety and their liberties, civil and religious; and to

combine with a liberal system of foreign commerce an improvement of the

national advantages and a protection and extension of the independent

resources of our highly favored and happy country.

In all measures having such objects my faithful cooperation will be

afforded.

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