President[ Andrew Jackson
Date[ December 5, 1836
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Addressing to you the last annual message I shall ever present to the
Congress of the United States, it is a source of the most heartfelt
satisfaction to be able to congratulate you on the high state of
prosperity which our beloved country has attained. With no causes at
home or abroad to lessen the confidence with which we look to the
future for continuing proofs of the capacity of our free institutions
to produce all the fruits of good government, the general condition of
our affairs may well excite our national pride.
I can not avoid congratulating you, and my country particularly, on the
success of the efforts made during my Administration by the Executive
and Legislature, in conformity with the sincere, constant, and earnest
desire of the people, to maintain peace and establish cordial relations
with all foreign powers. Our gratitude is due to the Supreme Ruler of
the Universe, and I invite you to unite with me in offering to Him
fervent supplications that His providential care may ever be extended
to those who follow us, enabling them to avoid the dangers and the
horrors of war consistently with a just and indispensable regard to the
rights and honor of our country. But although the present state of our
foreign affairs, standing, without important change, as they did when
you separated in July last, is flattering in the extreme, I regret to
say that many questions of an interesting character, at issue with
other powers, are yet unadjusted. Amongst the most prominent of these
is that of our north east boundary. With an undiminished confidence in
the sincere desire of His Britannic Majesty's Government to adjust that
question, I am not yet in possession of the precise grounds upon which
it proposes a satisfactory adjustment.
With France our diplomatic relations have been resumed, and under
circumstances which attest the disposition of both Governments to
preserve a mutually beneficial intercourse and foster those amicable
feelings which are so strongly required by the true interests of the
two countries. With Russia, Austria, Prussia, Naples, Sweden, and
Denmark the best understanding exists, and our commercial intercourse
is gradually expanding itself with them. It is encouraged in all these
countries, except Naples, by their mutually advantageous and liberal
treaty stipulations with us.
The claims of our citizens on Portugal are admitted to be just, but
provision for the payment of them has been unfortunately delayed by
frequent political changes in that Kingdom.
The blessings of peace have not been secured by Spain. Our connections
with that country are on the best footing, with the exception of the
burdens still imposed upon our commerce with her possessions out of
Europe.
The claims of American citizens for losses sustained at the bombardment
of Antwerp have been presented to the Governments of Holland and
Belgium, and will be pressed, in due season, to settlement.
With Brazil and all our neighbors of this continent we continue to
maintain relations of amity and concord, extending our commerce with
them as far as the resources of the people and the policy of their
Governments will permit. The just and long-standing claims of our
citizens upon some of them are yet sources of dissatisfaction and
complaint. No danger is apprehended, however, that they will not be
peacefully, although tardily, acknowledged and paid by all, unless the
irritating effect of her struggle with Texas should unfortunately make
our immediate neighbor, Mexico, an exception.
It is already known to you, by the correspondence between the two
Governments communicated at your last session, that our conduct in
relation to that struggle is regulated by the same principles that
governed us in the dispute between Spain and Mexico herself, and I
trust that it will be found on the most severe scrutiny that our acts
have strictly corresponded with our professions. That the inhabitants
of the United States should feel strong prepossessions for the one
party is not surprising. But this circumstance should of itself teach
us great caution, lest it lead us into the great error of suffering
public policy to be regulated by partially or prejudice; and there are
considerations connected with the possible result of this contest
between the two parties of so much delicacy and importance to the
United States that our character requires that we should neither
anticipate events nor attempt to control them.
The known desire of the Texans to become a part of our system, although
its gratification depends upon the reconcilement of various and
conflicting interests, necessarily a work of time and uncertain in
itself, is calculated to expose our conduct to misconstruction in the
eyes of the world. There are already those who, indifferent to
principle themselves and prone to suspect the want of it in others,
charge us with ambitious designs and insidious policy.
You will perceive by the accompanying documents that the extraordinary
mission from Mexico has been terminated on the sole ground that the
obligations of this Government to itself and to Mexico, under treaty
stipulations, have compelled me to trust a discretionary authority to a
high officer of our Army to advance into territory claimed as part of
Texas if necessary to protect our own or the neighboring frontier from
Indian depredation. In the opinion of the Mexican functionary who has
just left us, the honor of his country will be wounded by American
soldiers entering, with the most amicable avowed purposes, upon ground
from which the followers of his Government have been expelled, and over
which there is at present no certainty of a serious effort on its part
to re-establish its dominion. The departure of this minister was the
more singular as he was apprised that the sufficiency of the causes
assigned for the advance of our troops by the commanding general had
been seriously doubted by me, and there was every reason to suppose
that the troops of the United States, their commander having had time
to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the information upon which they
had been marched to Nacogdoches, would be either there in perfect
accordance with the principles admitted to be just in his conference
with the Secretary of State by the Mexican minister himself, or were
already withdrawn in consequence of the impressive warnings their
commanding officer had received from the Department of War. It is hoped
and believed that his Government will take a more dispassionate and
just view of this subject, and not be disposed to construe a measure of
justifiable precaution, made necessary by its known inability in
execution of the stipulations of our treaty to act upon the frontier,
into an encroachment upon its rights or a stain upon its honor.
In the mean time the ancient complaints of injustice made on behalf of
our citizens are disregarded, and new causes of dissatisfaction have
arisen, some of them of a character requiring prompt remonstrance and
ample and immediate redress. I trust, however, by tempering firmness
with courtesy and acting with great forbearance upon every incident
that has occurred or that may happen, to do and to obtain justice, and
thus avoid the necessity of again bringing this subject to the view of
Congress.
It is my duty to remind you that no provision has been made to execute
our treaty with Mexico for tracing the boundary line between the two
countries. What ever may be the prospect of Mexico's being soon able to
execute the treaty on its part, it is proper that we should be in
anticipation prepared at all times to perform our obligations, without
regard to the probable condition of those with whom we have contracted
them.
The result of the confidential inquiries made into the condition and
prospects of the newly declared Texan Government will be communicated
to you in the course of the session.
Commercial treaties promising great advantages to our enterprising
merchants and navigators have been formed with the distant Governments
of Muscat and Siam. The ratifications have been exchanged, but have not
reached the Department of State. Copes of the treaties will be
transmitted to you if received before, or published if arriving after,
the close of the present session of Congress.
Nothing has occurred to interrupt the good understanding that has long
existed with the Barbary Powers, nor to check the good will which is
gradually growing up from our intercourse with the dominions of the
Government of growing of the distinguished chief of the Ottoman Empire.
Information has been received at the Department of State that a treaty
with the Emperor of Morocco has just been negotiated, which, I hope,
will be received in time to be laid before the Senate previous to the
close of the session.
You will perceive from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury that
the financial means of the country continue to keep pace with its
improvement in all other respects. The receipts into the Treasury
during the present year will amount to about $47,691,898; those from
customs being estimated at $22,523,151, those from lands at about
$24,000,000, and the residue from miscellaneous sources. The
expenditures for all objects during the year are estimated not to
exceed $32,000,000, which will leave a balance in the Treasury for
public purposes on the first day of January next of about $41,723,959.
This sum, with the exception of $5,000,000, will be transferred to
the several States in accordance with the provisions of the act
regulating the deposits of the public money.
The unexpended balances of appropriation on the first day of January
next are estimated at $14,636,062, exceeding by $9,636,062 the amount
which will be left in the deposit banks, subject to the draft of the
Treasurer of the United States, after the contemplated transfers to the
several States are made. If, therefore, the future receipts should not
be sufficient to meet these outstanding and future appropriations,
there may be soon a necessity to use a portion of the funds deposited
with the States.
The consequences apprehended when the deposit act of the last session
received a reluctant approval have been measurably realized. Though an
act merely for the deposit of the surplus moneys of the United States
in the State treasuries for safe-keeping until they may be wanted for
the service of the General Government, it has been extensively spoken
of as an act to give the money to the several States, and they have
been advised to use it as a gift, without regard to the means of
refunding it when called for. Such a suggestion has doubtless been made
without a proper attention to the various principles and interests
which are affected by it.
It is manifest that the law itself can not sanction such a suggestion,
and that as it now stands the States have no more authority to receive
and use these deposits without intending to return them than any
deposit bank or any individual temporarily charged with the
safe-keeping or application of the public money would now have for
converting the same to their private use without the consent and
against the will of the Government. But independently of the violation
of public faith and moral obligation which are involved in this
suggestion when examined in reference to the terms of the present
deposit act, it is believed that the considerations which should govern
the future legislation of Congress on this subject will be equally
conclusive against the adoption of any measure recognizing the
principles on which the suggestion has been made.
Considering the intimate connection of the subject with the financial
interests of the country and its great importance in whatever aspect it
can be viewed, I have bestowed upon it the most anxious reflection, and
feel it to be my duty to state to Congress such thoughts as have
occurred to me, to aid their deliberation in treating it in the manner
best calculated to conduce to the common good.
The experience of other nations admonished us to hasten the
extinguishment of the public debt; but it will be in vain that we have
congratulated each other upon the disappearance of this evil if we do
not guard against the equally great one of promoting the unnecessary
accumulation of public revenue. No political maxim is better
established than that which tells us that an improvident expenditure of
money is the parent of profligacy, and that no people can hope to
perpetuate their liberties who long acquiesce in a policy which taxes
them for objects not necessary to the legitimate and real wants of
their Government. Flattering as is the condition of our country at the
present period, because of its unexampled advance in all the steps of
social and political improvement, it can not be disguised that there is
a lurking danger already apparent in the neglect of this warning truth,
and that the time has arrived when the representatives of the people
should be employed in devising some more appropriate remedy than now
exists to avert it.
Under our present revenue system there is every probability that there
will continue to be a surplus beyond the wants of the Government, and
it has become our duty to decide whether such a result be consistent
with the true objects of our Government.
Should a surplus be permitted to accumulate beyond the appropriations,
it must be retained in the Treasury, as it now is, or distributed among
the people or the States.
To retain it in the Treasury unemployed in any way is impracticable; it
is, besides, against the genius of our free institutions to lock up in
vaults the treasure of the nation. To take from the people the right of
bearing arms and put their weapons of defense in the hands of a
standing army would be scarcely more dangerous to their liberties than
to permit the Government to accumulate immense amounts of treasure
beyond the supplies necessary to its legitimate wants. Such a treasure
would doubtless be employed at some time, as it has been in other
countries, when opportunity tempted ambition.
To collect it merely for distribution to the States would seem to be
highly impolitic, if not as dangerous as the proposition to retain it
in the Treasury.
The shortest reflection must satisfy everyone that to require the
people to pay taxes to the Government merely that they may be paid back
again is sporting with the substantial interests of the country, and no
system which produces such a result can be expected to receive the
public countenance. Nothing could be gained by it even if each
individual who contributed a portion of the tax could receive back
promptly the same portion. But it is apparent that no system of the
kind can ever be enforced which will not absorb a considerable portion
of the money to be distributed in salaries and commissions to the
agents employed in the process and in the various losses and
depreciations which arise from other causes, and the practical effect
of such an attempt must ever be to burden the people with taxes, not
for purposes beneficial to them, but to swell the profits of deposit
banks and support a band of useless public officers.
A distribution to the people is impracticable and unjust in other
respects. It would be taking one man's property and giving it to
another. Such would be the unavoidable result of a rule of equality
(and none other is spoken of or would be likely to be adopted), in as
much as there is no mode by which the amount of the individual
contributions of our citizens to the public revenue can be ascertained.
We know that they contribute unequally, and a rule, therefore, that
would distribute to them equally would be liable to all the objections
which apply to the principle of an equal division of property. To make
the General Government the instrument of carrying this odious principle
into effect would be at once to destroy the means of its usefulness and
change the character designed for it by the framers of the
Constitution.
But the more extended and injurious consequences likely to result from
a policy which would collect a surplus revenue from the purpose of
distributing it may be forcibly illustrated by an examination of the
effects already produced by the present deposit act. This act, although
certainly designed to secure the safe-keeping of the public revenue, is
not entirely free in its tendencies from any of the objections which
apply to this principle of distribution. The Government had without
necessity received from the people a large surplus, which, instead of
being employed as heretofore and returned to them by means of the
public expenditure, was deposited with sundry banks. The banks
proceeded to make loans upon this surplus, and thus converted it into
banking capital, and in this manner it has tended to multiply bank
charters and has had a great agency in producing a spirit of wild
speculation. The possession and use of the property out of which this
surplus was created belonged to the people, but the Government has
transferred its possession to incorporated banks, whose interest and
effort it is to make large profits out of its use. This process need
only be stated to show its injustice and bad policy.
And the same observations apply to the influence which is produced by
the steps necessary to collect as well as to distribute such a revenue.
About 3/5 of all the duties on imports are paid in the city of New
York, but it is obvious that the means to pay those duties are drawn
from every quarter of the Union. Every citizen in every State who
purchases and consumes an article which has paid a duty at that port
contributes to the accumulating mass. The surplus collected there must
therefore be made up of moneys or property withdrawn from other points
and other States. Thus the wealth and business of every region from
which these surplus funds proceed must be to some extent injured, while
that of the place where the funds are concentrated and are employed in
banking are proportionably extended. But both in making the transfer of
the funds which are first necessary to pay the duties and collect the
surplus and in making the re-transfer which becomes necessary when the
time arrives for the distribution of that surplus there is a
considerable period when the funds can not be brought into use, and it
is manifest that, besides the loss inevitable from such an operation,
its tendency is to produce fluctuations in the business of the country,
which are always productive of speculation and detrimental to the
interests of regular trade. Argument can scarcely be necessary to show
that a measure of this character ought not to receive further
legislative encouragement.
By examining the practical operation of the ration for distribution
adopted in the deposit bill of the last session we shall discover other
features that appear equally objectionable. Let it be assumed, for the
sake of argument, that the surplus moneys to be deposited with the
States have been collected and belong to them in the ration of their
federal representative population--an assumption founded upon the fact
that any deficiencies in our future revenue from imposts and public
lands must be made up by direct taxes collected from the States in that
ration. It is proposed to distribute this surplus--say $30,000,000--not
according to the ration in which it has been collected and belongs to
the people of the States, but in that of their votes in the colleges of
electors of President and Vice President. The effect of a distribution
upon that ration is shown by the annexed table, marked A.
By an examination of that table it will be perceived that in the
distribution of a surplus of $30,000,000 upon that basis there is a
great departure from the principle which regards representation as the
true measure of taxation, and it will be found that the tendency of
that departure will be to increase whatever inequalities have been
supposed to attend the operation of our federal system in respect to
its bearings upon the different interests of the Union. In making the
basis of representation the basis of taxation the framers of the
Constitution intended to equalize the burdens which are necessary to
support the Government, and the adoption of that ratio, while it
accomplished this object, was also the means of adjusting other great
topics arising out of the conflicting views respecting the political
equality of the various members of the Confederacy. What ever,
therefore, disturbs the liberal spirit of the compromises which
established a rule of taxation so just and equitable, and which
experience has proved to be so well adapted to the genius and habits of
our people, should be received with the greatest caution and distrust.
A bare inspection in the annexed table of the differences produced by
the ration used in the deposit act compared with the results of a
distribution according to the ration of direct taxation must satisfy
every unprejudiced mind that the former ration contravenes the spirit
of the Constitution and produces a degree of injustice in the
operations of the Federal Government which would be fatal to the hope
of perpetuating it. By the ration of direct taxation, for example, the
State of Delaware in the collection of $30,000,000 of revenue would pay
into the Treasury $188,716, and in a distribution of $30,000,000 she
would receive back from the Government, according to the ration of the
deposit bill, the sum of $306,122; and similar results would follow the
comparison between the small and the large States throughout the Union,
thus realizing to the small States an advantage which would be
doubtless as unacceptable to them as a motive for incorporating the
principle in any system which would produce it as it would be
inconsistent with the rights and expectations of the large States.
It was certainly the intention of that provision of the Constitution
which declares that "all duties, imposts, and excises" shall "be
uniform throughout the United States" to make the burdens of taxation
fall equally upon the people in what ever State of the Union they may
reside. But what would be the value of such a uniform rule if the
moneys raised by it could be immediately returned by a different one
which will give to the people of some States much more and to those of
others much less than their fair proportions? Were the Federal
Government to exempt in express terms the imports, products, and
manufactures of some portions of the country from all duties while it
imposed heavy ones on others, the injustice could not be greater. It
would be easy to show how by the operation of such a principle the
large States of the Union would not only have to contribute their just
share toward the support of the Federal Government, but also have to
bear in some degree the taxes necessary to support the governments of
their smaller sisters; but it is deemed unnecessary to state the
details where the general principle is so obvious.
A system liable to such objections can never be supposed to have been
sanctioned by the framers of the Constitution when they conferred on
Congress the taxing power, and I feel persuaded that a mature
examination of the subject will satisfy everyone that there are
insurmountable difficulties in the operation of any plan which can be
devised of collecting revenue for the purpose of distributing it.
Congress is only authorized to levy taxes "to pay the debts and provide
for the common defense and general welfare of the United States". There
is no such provision as would authorize Congress to collect together
the property of the country, under the name of revenue, for the purpose
of dividing it equally or unequally among the States or the people.
Indeed, it is not probable that such an idea ever occurred to the
States when they adopted the Constitution. But however this may be, the
only safe rule for us in interpreting the powers granted to the Federal
Government is to regard the absence of express authority to touch a
subject so important and delicate as this as equivalent to a
prohibition.
Even if our powers were less doubtful in this respect as the
Constitution now stands, there are considerations afforded by recent
experience which would seem to make it our duty to avoid a resort to
such a system. All will admit that the simplicity and economy of the
State governments mainly depend on the fact that money has to be
supplied to support them by the same men, or their agents, who vote it
away in appropriations. Hence when there are extravagant and wasteful
appropriations there must be a corresponding increase of taxes, and the
people, becoming awakened, will necessarily scrutinize the character of
measures which thus increase their burdens. By the watchful eye of
self-interest the agents of the people in the State governments are
repressed and kept within the limits of a just economy.
But if the necessity of levying the taxes be taken from those who make
the appropriations and thrown upon a more distant and less responsible
set of public agents, who have power to approach the people by an
indirect and stealthy taxation, there is reason to fear that
prodigality will soon supersede those characteristics which have thus
far made us look with so much pride and confidence to the State
governments as the main-stay of our Union and liberties. The State
legislatures, instead of studying to restrict their State expenditures
to the smallest possible sum, will claim credit for their profusion,
and harass the General Government for increased supplies.
Practically there would soon be but one taxing power, and that vested
in a body of men far removed from the people, in which the farming and
mechanic interests would scarcely be represented. The States would
gradually lose their purity as well as their independence; they would
not dare to murmur at the proceedings of the General Government, lest
they should lose their supplies; all would be merged in a practical
consolidation, cemented by wide-spread corruption, which could only be
eradicated by one of those bloody revolutions which occasionally
over-throw the despotic systems of the Old World.
In all the other aspects in which I have been able to look at the
effect of such a principle of distribution upon the best interests of
the country I can see nothing to compensate for the disadvantages to
which I have adverted. If we consider the protective duties, which are
in a great degree the source of the surplus revenue, beneficial to one
section of the Union and prejudicial to another, there is no corrective
for the evil in such a plan of distribution. On the contrary, there is
reason to fear that all the complaints which have sprung from this
cause would be aggravated. Everyone must be sensible that a
distribution of the surplus must beget a disposition to cherish the
means which create it, and any system, therefore, into which it enters
must have a powerful tendency to increase rather than diminish the
tariff. If it were even admitted that the advantages of such a system
could be made equal to all the sections of the Union, the reasons
already so urgently calling for a reduction of the revenue would never
the less lose none of their force, for it will always be improbable
that an intelligent and virtuous community can consent to raise a
surplus for the mere purpose of dividing it, diminished as it must
inevitably be by the expenses of the various machinery necessary to the
process.
The safest and simplest mode of obviating all the difficulties which
have been mentioned is to collect only revenue enough to meet the wants
of the Government, and let the people keep the balance of their
property in their own hands, to be used for their own profit. Each
State will then support its own government and contribute its due share
toward the support of the General Government. There would be no surplus
to cramp and lessen the resources of individual wealth and enterprise,
and the banks would be left to their ordinary means. Whatever
agitations and fluctuations might arise from our unfortunate paper
system, they could never be attributed, justly or unjustly, to the
action of the Federal Government. There would be some guaranty that the
spirit of wild speculation which seeks to convert the surplus revenue
into banking capital would be effectually checked, and that the scenes
of demoralization which are now so prevalent through the land would
disappear.
Without desiring to conceal that the experience and observation of the
last two years have operated a partial change in my views upon this
interesting subject, it is never the less regretted that the
suggestions made by me in my annual messages of 1829 and 1830 have been
greatly misunderstood. At that time the great struggle was begun
against that latitudinarian construction of the Constitution which
authorizes the unlimited appropriation of the revenues of the Union to
internal improvements within the States, tending to invest in the hands
and place under the control of the General Government all the principal
roads and canals of the country, in violation of State rights and in
derogation of State authority.
At the same time the condition of the manufacturing interest was such
as to create an apprehension that the duties on imports could not
without extensive mischief be reduced in season to prevent the
accumulation of a considerable surplus after the payment of the
national debt. In view of the dangers of such a surplus, and in
preference to its application to internal improvements in derogation of
the rights and powers of the States, the suggestion of an amendment of
the Constitution to authorize its distribution was made. It was an
alternative for what were deemed greater evils--a temporary resort to
relieve an over-burdened treasury until the Government could, without a
sudden and destructive revulsion in the business of the country,
gradually return to the just principle of raising no more revenue from
the people in taxes than is necessary for its economical support.
Even that alternative was not spoken of but in connection with an
amendment of the Constitution. No temporary inconvenience can justify
the exercise of a prohibited power not granted by that instrument, and
it was from a conviction that the power to distribute even a temporary
surplus of revenue is of that character that it was suggested only in
connection with an appeal to the source of all legal power in the
General Government, the States which have established it. No such
appeal has been taken, and in my opinion a distribution of the surplus
revenue by Congress either to the States or the people is to be
considered as among the prohibitions of the Constitution.
As already intimated, my views have undergone a change so far as to be
convinced that no alteration of the Constitution in this respect is
wise or expedient. The influence of an accumulating surplus upon the
credit system of the country, producing dangerous extensions and
ruinous contractions, fluctuations in the price of property, rash
speculation, idleness, extravagance, and a deterioration of morals,
have taught us the important lesson that any transient mischief which
may attend the reduction of our revenue to the wants of our Government
is to be borne in preference to an over-flowing treasury.
I beg leave to call your attention to another subject intimately
associated with the preceding one--the currency of the country.
It is apparent from the whole context of the Constitution, as well as
the history of the times which gave birth to it, that it was the
purpose of the Convention to establish a currency consisting of the
precious metals. These, from their peculiar properties which rendered
them the standard of value in all other countries, were adopted in this
as well to establish its commercial standard in reference to foreign
countries by a permanent rule as to exclude the use of a mutable medium
of exchange, such as of certain agricultural commodities recognized by
the statutes of some States as a tender for debts, or the still more
pernicious expedient of a paper currency.
The last, from the experience of the evils of the issues of paper
during the Revolution, had become so justly obnoxious as not only to
suggest the clause in the Constitution forbidding the emission of bills
of credit by the States, but also to produce that vote in the
Convention which negatived the proposition to grant power to Congress
to charter corporations--a proposition well understood at the time as
intended to authorize the establishment of a national bank, which was
to issue a currency of bank notes on a capital to be created to some
extent out of Government stocks. Although this proposition was refused
by a direct vote of the Convention, the object was afterwards in effect
obtained by its ingenious advocates through a strained construction of
the Constitution. The debts of the Revolution were funded at prices
which formed no equivalent compared with the nominal amount of the
stock, and under circumstances which exposed the motives of some of
those who participated in the passage of the act to distrust.
The facts that the value of the stock was greatly enhanced by the
creation of the bank, that it was well understood that such would be
the case, and that some of the advocates of the measure were largely
benefited by it belong to the history of the times, and are well
calculated to diminish the respect which might otherwise have been due
to the action of the Congress which created the institution.
On the establishment of a national bank it became the interest of its
creditors that gold should be superseded by the paper of the bank as a
general currency. A value was soon attached to the gold coins which
made their exportation to foreign countries as a mercantile commodity
more profitable than their retention and use at home as money. It
followed as a matter of course, if not designed by those who
established the bank, that the bank became in effect a substitute for
the Mint of the United States.
Such was the origin of a national bank currency, and such the beginning
of those difficulties which now appear in the excessive issues of the
banks incorporated by the various States.
Although it may not be possible by any legislative means within our
power to change at once the system which has thus been introduced, and
has received the acquiescence of all portions of the country, it is
certainly our duty to do all that is consistent with our constitutional
obligations in preventing the mischiefs which are threatened by its
undue extension. That the efforts of the fathers of our Government to
guard against it by a constitutional provision were founded on an
intimate knowledge of the subject has been frequently attested by the
bitter experience of the country. The same causes which led them to refuse
their sanction to a power authorizing the establishment of incorporations
for banking purposes now exist in a much stronger degree to urge us to
exert the utmost vigilance in calling into action the means necessary
to correct the evils resulting from the unfortunate exercise of the
power, and it is hoped that the opportunity for effecting this great
good will be improved before the country witnesses new scenes of
embarrassment and distress.
Variableness must ever be the characteristic of a currency of which the
precious metals are not the chief ingredient, or which can be expanded
or contracted without regard to the principles that regulate the value
of those metals as a standard in the general trade of the world. With
us bank issues constitute such a currency, and must ever do so until
they are made dependent on those just proportions of gold and silver as
a circulating medium which experience has proved to be necessary not
only in this but in all other commercial countries. Where those
proportions are not infused into the circulation and do not control it,
it is manifest that prices must vary according to the tide of bank
issues, and the value and stability of property must stand exposed to
all the uncertainty which attends the administration of institutions
that are constantly liable to the temptation of an interest distinct
from that of the community in which they are established.
The progress of an expansion, or rather a depreciation, of the currency
by excessive bank issues is always attended by a loss to the laboring
classes. This portion of the community have neither time nor
opportunity to watch the ebbs and flows of the money market. Engaged
from day to day in their useful toils, they do not perceive that
although their wages are nominally the same, or even somewhat higher,
they are greatly reduced in fact by the rapid increase of a spurious
currency, which, as it appears to make money abound, they are at first
inclined to consider a blessing.
It is not so with the speculator, by whom this operation is better
understood, and is made to contribute to his advantage. It is not until
the prices of the necessaries of life become so dear that the laboring
classes can not supply their wants out of their wages that the wages
rise and gradually reach a justly proportioned rate to that of the
products of their labor. When thus, by depreciation in consequence of
the quantity of paper in circulation, wages as well as prices become
exorbitant, it is soon found that the whole effect of the adulteration
is a tariff on our home industry for the benefit of the countries where
gold and silver circulate and maintain uniformity and moderation in
prices. It is then perceived that the enhancement of the price of land
and labor produces a corresponding increase in the price of products
until these products do not sustain a competition with similar ones in
other countries, and thus both manufactured and agricultural
productions cease to bear expectation from the country of the spurious
currency, because they can not be sold for cost.
This is the process by which specie is banished by the paper of the
banks. Their vaults are soon exhausted to pay for foreign commodities.
The next step is a stoppage of specie payment--a total degradation of
paper as a currency--unusual depression of prices, the ruin of debtors,
and the accumulation of property in the hands of creditors and cautious
capitalists.
It was in view of these evils, together with the dangerous power
wielded by the Bank of the United States and its repugnance to our
Constitution, that I was induced to exert the power conferred upon me
by the American people to prevent the continuance of that institution.
But although various dangers to our republican institutions have been
obviated by the failure of that bank to extort from the Government a
renewal of its charter, it is obvious that little has been accomplished
except a salutary change of public opinion toward restoring to the
country the sound currency provided for in the Constitution.
In the acts of several of the States prohibiting the circulation of
small notes and the auxiliary enactments of Congress at the last
session forbidding their reception or payment on public account, the
true policy of the country has been advanced and a larger portion of
the precious metals infused into our circulating medium. These measures
will probably be followed up in due time by the enactment of State laws
banishing from circulation bank notes of still higher denominations,
and the object may be materially promoted by further acts of Congress
forbidding the employment as fiscal agents of such banks as continue to
issue notes of low denominations and throw impediments in the way of
the circulation of gold and silver.
The effects of an extension of bank credits and over-issues of bank
paper have been strikingly illustrated in the sales of the public
lands. From the returns made by the various registers and receivers in
the early part of last summer it was perceived that the receipts
arising from the sales of the public lands were increasing to an
unprecedented amount. In effect, however, these receipts amounted to
nothing more than credits in bank. The banks lent out their notes to
speculators. They were paid to the receivers and immediately returned
to the banks, to be lent out again and again, being mere instruments to
transfer to speculators the most valuable public land and pay the
Government by a credit on the books of the banks.
Those credits on the books of some of the Western banks, usually called
deposits, were already greatly beyond their immediate means of payment,
and were rapidly increasing. Indeed, each speculation furnished means
for another; for no sooner had one individual or company paid in the
notes than they were immediately lent to another for a like purpose,
and the banks were extending their business and their issues so largely
as to alarm considerate men and render it doubtful whether these bank
credits, if permitted to accumulate, would ultimately be of the least
value to the Government. The spirit of expansion and speculation was
not confined to the deposit banks, but pervaded the whole multitude of
banks throughout the Union and was giving rise to new institutions to
aggravate the evil.
The safety of the public funds and the interest of the people generally
required that these operations should be checked; and it became the
duty of every branch of the General and State Governments to adopt all
legitimate and proper means to produce that salutary effect. Under this
view of my duty I directed the issuing of the order which will be laid
before you by the Secretary of the Treasury, requiring payment for the
public lands sold to be made in specie, with an exception until the
15th of the present month in favor of actual settlers.
This measure has produced many salutary consequences. It checked the
career of the Western banks and gave them additional strength in
anticipation of the pressure which has since pervaded our Eastern as
well as the European commercial cities. By preventing the extension of
the credit system it measurably cut off the means of speculation and
retarded its progress in monopolizing the most valuable of the public
lands. It has tended to save the new States from a non-resident
proprietorship, one of the greatest obstacles to the advancement of a
new country and the prosperity of an old one. It has tended to keep
open the public lands for entry by emigrants at Government prices
instead of their being compelled to purchase of speculators at double
or triple prices. And it is conveying into the interior large sums in
silver and gold, there to enter permanently into the currency of the
country and place it on a firmer foundation. It is confidently believed
that the country will find in the motives which induced that order and
the happy consequences which will have ensued much to commend and
nothing to condemn.
It remains for Congress if they approve the policy which dictated this
order to follow it up in its various bearings. Much good, in my
judgment, would be produced by prohibiting sales of the public lands
except to actual settlers at a reasonable reduction of price, and to
limit the quantity which shall be sold to them. Although it is believed
the General Government never ought to receive anything but the
constitutional currency in exchange for the public lands, that point
would be of less importance if the lands were sold for immediate
settlement and cultivation. Indeed, there is scarcely a mischief
arising out of our present land system, including the accumulating
surplus of revenues, which would not be remedied at once by a
restriction on land sales to actual settlers; and it promises other
advantages to the country in general and to the new States in
particular which can not fail to receive the most profound
consideration of Congress.
Experience continues to realize the expectations entertained as to the
capacity of the State banks to perform the duties of fiscal agents for
the Government at the time of the removal of the deposits. It was
alleged by the advocates of the Bank of the United States that the
State banks, what ever might be the regulations of the Treasury
Department, could not make the transfers required by the Government or
negotiate the domestic exchanges of the country. It is now well
ascertained that the real domestic exchanges performed through
discounts by the United States Bank and its 25 branches were at least
one third less than those of the deposit banks for an equal period of
time; and if a comparison be instituted between the amounts of service
rendered by these institutions on the broader basis which has been used
by the advocates of the United States Bank in estimating what they
consider the domestic exchanges transacted by it, the result will be
still more favorable to the deposit banks.
The whole amount of public money transferred by the Bank of the United
States in 1832 was $16,000,000. The amount transferred and actually
paid by the deposit banks in the year ending the first of October last
was $39,319,899; the amount transferred and paid between that period
and the 6th of November was $5,399,000, and the amount of transfer
warrants outstanding on that day was $14,450,000, making an aggregate
of $59,168,894. These enormous sums of money first mentioned have been
transferred with the greatest promptitude and regularity, and the rates
at which the exchanges have been negotiated previously to the passage
of the deposit act were generally below those charged by the Bank of
the United States. Independently of these services, which are far
greater than those rendered by the United States Bank and its 25
branches, a number of the deposit banks have, with a commendable zeal
to aid in the improvement of the currency, imported from abroad, at
their own expense, large sums of the precious metals for coinage and
circulation.
In the same manner have nearly all the predictions turned out in
respect to the effect of the removal of the deposits--a step
unquestionably necessary to prevent the evils which it was foreseen the
bank itself would endeavor to create in a final struggle to procure a
renewal of its charter. It may be thus, too, in some degree with the
further steps which may be taken to prevent the excessive issue of
other bank paper, but it is to be hoped that nothing will now deter the
Federal and State authorities from the firm and vigorous performance of
their duties to themselves and to the people in this respect.
In reducing the revenue to the wants of the Government your particular
attention is invited to those articles which constitute the necessaries
of life. The duty on salt was laid as a war tax, and was no doubt
continued to assist in providing for the payment of the war debt. There
is no article the release of which from taxation would be felt so
generally and so beneficially. To this may be added all kinds of fuel
and provisions. Justice and benevolence unite in favor of releasing the
poor of our cities from burdens which are not necessary to the support
of our Government and tend only to increase the wants of the destitute.
It will be seen by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury and the
accompanying documents that the Bank of the United States has made no
payment on account of the stock held by the Government in that
institution, although urged to pay any portion which might suit its
convenience, and that it has given no information when payment may be
expected. Nor, although repeatedly requested, has it furnished the
information in relation to its condition which Congress authorized the
Secretary to collect at their last session. Such measures as are within
the power of the Executive have been taken to ascertain the value of
the stock and procure the payment as early as possible.
The conduct and present condition of that bank and the great amount of
capital vested in it by the United States require your careful
attention. Its charter expired on the third day of March last, and it
has now no power but that given in the twenty-first section, "to use
the corporate name, style, and capacity for the purpose of suits for
the final settlement and liquidation of the affairs and accounts of the
corporation, and for the sale and disposition of their estate--real,
personal, and mixed--but not for any other purpose or in any other
manner what so ever, nor for a period exceeding two years after the
expiration of the said term of incorporation".
Before the expiration of the charter the stock-holders of the bank
obtained an act of incorporation from the legislature of Pennsylvania,
excluding only the United States. Instead of proceeding to wind up
their concerns and pay over to the United States the amount due on
account of the stock held by them, the president and directors of the
old bank appear to have transferred the books, papers, notes,
obligations, and most or all of its property to this new corporation,
which entered upon business as a continuation of the old concern.
Amongst other acts of questionable validity, the notes of the expired
corporation are known to have been used as its own and again put in
circulation. That the old bank had no right to issue or re-issue its
notes after the expiration of its charter can not be denied, and that
it could not confer any such right on its substitute any more than
exercise it itself is equally plain. In law and honesty the notes of
the bank in circulation at the expiration of its charter should have
been called in by public advertisement, paid up as presented, and,
together with those on hand, canceled and destroyed.
Their re-issue is sanctioned by no law and warranted by no necessity.
If the United States be responsible in their stock for the payment of
these notes, their re-issue by the new corporation for their own profit
is a fraud on the Government. If the United States is not responsible,
then there is no legal responsibility in any quarter, and it is a fraud
on the country. They are the redeemed notes of a dissolved partnership,
but, contrary to the wishes of the retiring partner and without his
consent, are again re-issued and circulated.
It is the high and peculiar duty of Congress to decide whether any
further legislation be necessary for the security of the large amount
of public property now held and in use by the new bank, and for
vindicating the rights of the Government and compelling a speedy and
honest settlement with all the creditors of the old bank, public and
private, or whether the subject shall be left to the power now
possessed by the Executive and judiciary. It remains to be seen whether
the persons who as managers of the old bank undertook to control the
Government, retained the public dividends, shut their doors upon a
committee of the House of Representatives, and filled the country with
panic to accomplish their own sinister objects may now as managers of a
new bank continue with impunity to flood the country with a spurious
currency, use the $7 millions of Government stock for their own profit,
and refuse to the United States all information as to the present
condition of their own property and the prospect of recovering it into
their own possession.
The lessons taught by the Bank of the United States can not well be
lost upon the American people. They will take care never again to place
so tremendous a power in irresponsible hands, and it will be fortunate
if they seriously consider the consequences which are likely to result
on a smaller scale from the facility with which corporate powers are
granted by their State governments.
It is believed that the law of the last session regulating the deposit
banks operates onerously and unjustly upon them in many respects, and
it is hoped that Congress, on proper representations, will adopt the
modifications which are necessary to prevent this consequence.
The report of the Secretary of War ad interim and the accompanying
documents, all which are herewith laid before you, will give you a full
view of the diversified and important operations of that Department
during the past year.
The military movements rendered necessary by the aggressions of the
hostile portions of the Seminole and Creek tribes of Indians, and by
other circumstances, have required the active employment of nearly our
whole regular force, including the Marine Corps, and of large bodies of
militia and volunteers. With all these events so far as they were known
at the seat of Government before the termination of your last session
you are already acquainted, and it is therefore only needful in this
place to lay before you a brief summary of what has since occurred.
The war with the Seminoles during the summer was on our part chiefly
confined to the protection of our frontier settlements from the
incursions of the enemy, and, as a necessary and important means for
the accomplishment of that end, to the maintenance of the posts
previously established. In the course of this duty several actions took
place, in which the bravery and discipline of both officers and men
were conspicuously displayed, and which I have deemed it proper to
notice in respect to the former by the granting of brevet rank for
gallant services in the field. But as the force of the Indians was not
so far weakened by these partial successes as to lead them to submit,
and as their savage inroads were frequently repeated, early measures
were taken for placing at the disposal of Governor Call, who as
commander in chief of the Territorial militia had been temporarily
invested with the command, an ample force for the purpose of resuming
offensive operations in the most efficient manner so soon as the season
should permit. Major General Jesup was also directed, on the conclusion
of his duties in the Creek country, to repair to Florida and assume the
command.
The result of the first movement made by the forces under the direction
of Governor Call in October last, as detailed in the accompanying
papers, excited much surprise and disappointment. A full explanation
has been required of the causes which led to the failure of that
movement, but has not yet been received. In the mean time, as it was
feared that the health of Governor Call, who was understood to have
suffered much from sickness, might not be adequate to the crisis, and
as Major General Jesup was known to have reached Florida, that officer
was directed to assume command, and to prosecute all needful operations
with the utmost promptitude and vigor. From the force at his disposal
and the dispositions he has made and is instructed to make, and from
the very efficient measures which it is since ascertained have been
taken by Governor Call, there is reason to hope that they will soon be
enabled to reduce the enemy to subjection. In the mean time, as you
will perceive from the report of the Secretary, there is urgent
necessity for further appropriations to suppress these hostilities.
Happily for the interests of humanity, the hostilities with the Creeks
were brought to a close soon after your adjournment, without that
effusion of blood which at one time was apprehended as inevitable. The
unconditional submission of the hostile party was followed by their
speedy removal to the country assigned them West of the Mississippi.
The inquiry as to alleged frauds in the purchase of the reservations of
these Indians and the causes of their hostilities, requested by the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the first of July last
July 1st, 1836 to be made by the President, is now going on through the
agency of commissioners appointed for that purpose. Their report may be
expected during your present session.
The difficulties apprehended in the Cherokee country have been
prevented, and the peace and safety of that region and its vicinity
effectually secured, by the timely measures taken by the War
Department, and still continued.
The discretionary authority given to General Gaines to cross the Sabine
and to occupy a position as far West as Nacogdoches, in case he should
deem such a step necessary to the protection of the frontier and to the
fulfillment of the stipulations contained in our treaty with Mexico,
and the movement subsequently made by that officer have been alluded to
in a former part of this message. At the date of the latest
intelligence from Nacogdoches our troops were yet at that station, but
the officer who has succeeded General Gaines has recently been advised
that from the facts known at the seat of Government there would seem to
be no adequate cause for any longer maintaining that position, and he
was accordingly instructed, in case the troops were not already
withdrawn under the discretionary powers before possessed by him, to
give the requisite orders for that purpose on the receipt of the
instructions, unless he shall then have in his possession such
information as shall satisfy him that the maintenance of the post is
essential to the protection of our frontiers and to the due execution
of our treaty stipulations, as previously explained to him.
Whilst the necessities existing during the present year for the service
of militia and volunteers have furnished new proofs of the patriotism
of our fellow citizens, they have also strongly illustrated the
importance of an increase in the rank and file of the Regular Army. The
views of this subject submitted by the Secretary of War in his report
meet my entire concurrence, and are earnestly commended to the
deliberate attention of Congress. In this connection it is also proper
to remind you that the defects in our present militia system are every
day rendered more apparent. The duty of making further provision by law
for organizing, arming, and disciplining this arm of defense has been
so repeatedly presented to Congress by myself and my predecessors that
I deem it sufficient on this occasion to refer to the last annual
message and to former Executive communications in which the subject has
been discussed.
It appears from the reports of the officers charged with mustering into
service the volunteers called for under the act of Congress of the last
session that more presented themselves at the place of rendezvous in
Tennessee than were sufficient to meet the requisition which had been
made by the Secretary of War upon the governor of that State. This was
occasioned by the omission of the governor to apportion the requisition
to the different regiments of militia so as to obtain the proper number
of troops and no more. It seems but just to the patriotic citizens who
repaired to the general rendezvous under circumstances authorizing them
to believe that their services were needed and would be accepted that
the expenses incurred by them while absent from their homes should be
paid by the Government. I accordingly recommend that a law to this
effect be passed by Congress, giving them a compensation which will
cover their expenses on the march to and from the place of rendezvous
and while there; in connection with which it will also be proper to
make provision for such other equitable claims growing out of the
service of the militia as may not be embraced in the existing laws.
On the unexpected breaking out of hostilities in Florida, Alabama, and
Georgia it became necessary in some cases to take the property of
individuals for public use. Provision should be made by law for
indemnifying the owners; and I would also respectfully suggest whether
some provision may not be made, consistently with the principles of our
Government, for the relief of the sufferers by Indian depredations or
by the operations of our own troops.
No time was lost after the making of the requisite appropriations in
resuming the great national work of completing the unfinished
fortifications on our sea-board and of placing them in a proper state
of defense. In consequence, however, of the very late day at which
those bills were passed, but little progress could be made during the
season which has just closed. A very large amount of the moneys granted
at your last session accordingly remains unexpended; but as the work
will be again resumed at the earliest moment in the coming spring, the
balance of the existing appropriations, and in several cases which will
be laid before you, with the proper estimates, further sums for the
like objects, may be usefully expended during the next year.
The recommendations of an increase in the Engineer Corps and for a
reorganization of the Topographical Corps, submitted to you in my last
annual message, derive additional strength from the great
embarrassments experienced during the present year in those branches of
the service, and under which they are now suffering. Several of the
most important surveys and constructions directed by recent laws have
been suspended in consequence of the want of adequate force in these
corps.
The like observations may be applied to the Ordnance Corps and to the
general staff, the operations of which as they are now organized must
either be frequently interrupted or performed by officers taken from
the line of the Army, to the great prejudice of the service.
For a general view of the condition of the Military Academy and of
other branches of the military service not already noticed, as well as
for further illustrations of those which have been mentioned, I refer
you to the accompanying documents, and among the various proposals
contained therein for legislative action I would particularly notice
the suggestion of the Secretary of War for the revision of the pay of
the Army as entitled to your favorable regard.
The national policy, founded alike in interest and in humanity, so long
and so steadily pursued by this Government for the removal of the
Indian tribes originally settled on this side of the Mississippi to the
W of that river, may be said to have been consummated by the conclusion
of the late treaty with the Cherokees. The measures taken in the
execution of that treaty and in relation to our Indian affairs
generally will fully appear by referring to the accompanying papers.
Without dwelling on the numerous and important topics embraced in them,
I again invite your attention to the importance of providing a
well-digested and comprehensive system for the protection, supervision,
and improvement of the various tribes now planted in the Indian
country.
The suggestions submitted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and
enforced by the Secretary, on this subject, and also in regard to the
establishment of additional military posts in the Indian country, are
entitled to your profound consideration. Both measures are necessary,
for the double purpose of protecting the Indians from intestine war,
and in other respects complying with our engagements with them, and of
securing our western frontier against incursions which otherwise will
assuredly be made on it. The best hopes of humanity in regard to the
aboriginal race, the welfare of our rapidly extending settlements, and
the honor of the United States are all deeply involved in the relations
existing between this Government and the emigrating tribes. I trust,
therefore, that the various matters submitted in the accompanying
documents in respect to those relations will receive your early and
mature deliberation, and that it may issue in the adoption of
legislative measures adapted to the circumstances and duties of the
present crisis.
You are referred to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a
satisfactory view of the operations of the Department under his charge
during the present year. In the construction of vessels at the
different navy yards and in the employment of our ships and squadrons
at sea that branch of the service has been actively and usefully
employed. While the situation of our commercial interests in the West
Indies required a greater number than usual of armed vessels to be kept
on that station, it is gratifying to perceive that the protection due
to our commerce in other quarters of the world has not proved
insufficient. Every effort has been made to facilitate the equipment of
the exploring expedition authorized by the act of the last session, but
all the preparation necessary to enable it to sail has not yet been
completed. No means will be spared by the Government to fit out the
expedition on a scale corresponding with the liberal appropriations for
the purpose and with the elevated character of the objects which are to
be effected by it.
I beg leave to renew the recommendation made in my last annual message
respecting the enlistment of boys in our naval service, and to urge
upon your attention the necessity of further appropriations to increase
the number of ships afloat and to enlarge generally the capacity and
force of the Navy. The increase of our commerce and our position in
regard to the other powers of the world will always make it our policy
and interest to cherish the great naval resources of our country.
The report of the Post Master General presents a gratifying picture of
the condition of the Post Office Department. Its revenues for the year
ending the 30th June last were $3,398,455.19, showing an increase of
revenue over that of the preceding year of $404,878.53, or more than
13%. The expenditures for the same year were $2,755,623.76, exhibiting
a surplus of $642,831.43. The Department has been redeemed from
embarrassment and debt, has accumulated a surplus exceeding half a
million dollars, has largely extended and is preparing still further to
extend the mail service, and recommends a reduction of postages equal
to about 20%. It is practicing upon the great principle which should
control every branch of our Government of rendering to the public the
greatest good possible with the least possible taxation to the people.
The scale of postages suggested by the Post Master General recommends
itself, not only by the reduction it proposes, but by the simplicity of
its arrangement, its conformity with the Federal currency, and the
improvement it will introduce into the accounts of the Department and
its agents.
Your particular attention is invited to the subject of mail contracts
with railroad companies. The present laws providing for the making of
contracts are based upon the presumption that competition among bidders
will secure the service at a fair price; but on most of the railroad
lines there is no competition in that kind of transportation, and
advertising is therefore useless. No contract can now be made with them
except such as shall be negotiated before the time of offering or
afterwards, and the power of the Post Master General to pay them high
prices is practically without limitation. It would be a relief to him
and no doubt would conduce to the public interest to prescribe by law
some equitable basis upon which such contracts shall rest, and restrict
him by a fixed rule of allowance. Under a liberal act of that sort he
would undoubtedly be able to secure the services of most of the
railroad companies, and the interest of the Department would be thus
advanced.
The correspondence between the people of the United States and the
European nations, and particularly with the British Islands, has become
very extensive, and requires the interposition of Congress to give it
security. No obstacle is perceived to an interchange of mails between
New York and Liverpool or other foreign ports, as proposed by the Post
Master General. On the contrary, it promises, by the security it will
afford, to facilitate commercial transactions and give rise to an
enlarged intercourse among the people of different nations, which can
not but have a happy effect. Through the city of New York most of the
correspondence between the Canadas and Europe is now carried on, and
urgent representations have been received from the head of the
provincial post office asking the interposition of the United States to
guard it from the accidents and losses to which it is now subjected.
Some legislation appears to be called for as well by our own interest
as by comity to the adjoining British provinces.
The expediency of providing a fire-proof building for the important
books and papers of the Post Office Department is worthy of
consideration. In the present condition of our Treasury it is neither
necessary nor wise to leave essential public interests exposed to so
much danger when they can so readily be made secure. There are weighty
considerations in the location of a new building for that Department in
favor of placing it near the other executive buildings.
The important subjects of a survey of the coast and the manufacture of
a standard of weights and measures for the different custom houses have
been in progress for some years under the general direction of the
Executive and the immediate superintendence of a gentleman possessing
high scientific attainments. At the last session of Congress the making
of a set of weights and measures for each State in the Union was added
to the others by a joint resolution.
The care and correspondence as to all these subjects have been devolved
on the Treasury Department during the last year. A special report from
the Secretary of the Treasury will soon be communicated to Congress,
which will show what has been accomplished as to the whole, the number
and compensation of the persons now employed in these duties, and the
progress expected to be made during the ensuing year, with a copy of
the various correspondence deemed necessary to throw light on the
subjects which seem to require additional legislation.
Claims have been made for retrospective allowances in behalf of the
superintendent and some of his assistants, which I did not feel
justified in granting. Other claims have been made for large increases
in compensation, which, under the circumstances of the several cases, I
declined making without the express sanction of Congress. In order to
obtain that sanction the subject was at the last session, on my
suggestion and by request of the immediate superintendent, submitted by
the Treasury Department to the Committee on Commerce of the House of
Representatives. But no legislative action having taken place, the
early attention of Congress is now invited to the enactment of some
express and detailed provisions in relation to the various claims made
for the past, and to the compensation and allowances deemed proper for
the future.
It is further respectfully recommended that, such being the
inconvenience of attention to these duties by the Chief Magistrate, and
such the great pressure of business on the Treasury Department, the
general supervision of the coast survey and the completion of the
weights and measures, if the works are kept united, should be devolved
on a board of officers organized specially for that purpose, or on the
Navy Board attached to the Navy Department.
All my experience and reflection confirm the conviction I have so often
expressed to Congress in favor of an amendment of the Constitution
which will prevent in any event the election of the President and Vice
President of the United States devolving on the House of
Representatives and the Senate, and I therefore beg leave again to
solicit your attention to the subject. There were various other
suggestions in my last annual message not acted upon, particularly that
relating to the want of uniformity in the laws of the District of
Columbia, that are deemed worthy of your favorable consideration.
Before concluding this paper I think it due to the various Executive
Departments to bear testimony to their prosperous condition and to the
ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been
my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of
the public business, and it is gratifying to me to believe that there
is no just cause of complaint from any quarter at the manner in which
they have fulfilled the objects of their creation.
Having now finished the observations deemed proper on this the last
occasion I shall have of communicating with the two Houses of Congress
at their meeting, I can not omit an expression of the gratitude which
is due to the great body of my fellow citizens, in whose partiality and
indulgence I have found encouragement and support in the many difficult
and trying scenes through which it has been my lot to pass during my
public career. Though deeply sensible that my exertions have not been
crowned with a success corresponding to the degree of favor bestowed
upon me, I am sure that they will be considered as having been directed
by an earnest desire to promote the good of my country, and I am
consoled by the persuasion that what ever errors have been committed
will find a corrective in the intelligence and patriotism of those who
will succeed us. All that has occurred during my Administration is
calculated to inspire me with increased confidence in the stability of
our institutions; and should I be spared to enter upon that retirement
which is so suitable to my age and infirm health and so much desired by
me in other respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent Being
to whose providence we are already so signally indebted for the
continuance of His blessings on our beloved country.
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