President[ Franklin Pierce
Date[ December 5, 1853
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The interest with which the people of the Republic anticipate the
assembling of Congress and the fulfillment on that occasion of the duty
imposed upon a new President is one of the best evidences of their capacity
to realize the hopes of the founders of a political system at once complex
and symmetrical. While the different branches of the Government are to a
certain extent independent of each other, the duties of all alike have
direct reference to the source of power. Fortunately, under this system no
man is so high and none so humble in the scale of public station as to
escape from the scrutiny or to be exempt from the responsibility which all
official functions imply.
Upon the justice and intelligence of the masses, in a government thus
organized, is the sole reliance of the confederacy and the only security
for honest and earnest devotion to its interests against the usurpations
and encroachment of power on the one hand and the assaults of personal
ambition on the other.
The interest of which I have spoken is inseparable from an inquiring,
self-governing community, but stimulated, doubtless, at the present time by
the unsettled condition of our relations with several foreign powers, by
the new obligations resulting from a sudden extension of the field of
enterprise, by the spirit with which that field has been entered and the
amazing energy with which its resources for meeting the demands of humanity
have been developed.
Although disease, assuming at one time the characteristics of a widespread
and devastating pestilence, has left its sad traces upon some portions of
our country, we have still the most abundant cause for reverent
thankfulness to God for an accumulation of signal mercies showered upon us
as a nation. It is well that a consciousness of rapid advancement and
increasing strength be habitually associated with an abiding sense of
dependence upon Him who holds in His hands the destiny of men and of
nations.
Recognizing the wisdom of the broad principle of absolute religious
toleration proclaimed in our fundamental law, and rejoicing in the benign
influence which it has exerted upon our social and political condition, I
should shrink from a clear duty did I fail to express my deepest conviction
that we can place no secure reliance upon any apparent progress if it be
not sustained by national integrity, resting upon the great truths affirmed
and illustrated by divine revelation. In the midst of our sorrow for the
afflicted and suffering, it has been consoling to see how promptly disaster
made true neighbors of districts and cities separated widely from each
other, and cheering to watch the strength of that common bond of
brotherhood which unites all hearts, in all parts of this Union, when
danger threatens from abroad or calamity impends over us at home.
Our diplomatic relations with foreign powers have undergone no essential
change since the adjournment of the last Congress. With some of them
questions of a disturbing character are still pending, but there are good
reasons to believe that these may all be amicably adjusted. For some years
past Great Britain has so construed the first article of the convention of
the 20th of April, 1818, in regard to the fisheries on the northeastern
coast, as to exclude our citizens from some of the fishing grounds to which
they freely resorted for nearly a quarter of a century subsequent to the
date of that treaty. The United States have never acquiesced in this
construction, but have always claimed for their fishermen all the rights
which they had so long enjoyed without molestation. With a view to remove
all difficulties on the subject, to extend the rights of our fishermen
beyond the limits fixed by the convention of 1818, and to regulate trade
between the United States and the British North American Provinces, a
negotiation has been opened with a fair prospect of a favorable result. To
protect our fishermen in the enjoyment of their rights and prevent
collision between them and British fishermen, I deemed it expedient to
station a naval force in that quarter during the fishing season.
Embarrassing questions have also arisen between the two Governments in
regard to Central America. Great Britain has proposed to settle them by an
amicable arrangement, and our minister at London is instructed to enter
into negotiations on that subject. A commission for adjusting the claims of
our citizens against Great Britain and those of British subjects against
the United States, organized under the convention of the 8th of February
last, is now sitting in London for the transaction of business. It is in
many respects desirable that the boundary line between the United States
and the British Provinces in the northwest, as designated in the convention
of the 15th of June, 1846, and especially that part which separates the
Territory of Washington from the British possessions on the north, should
be traced and marked. I therefore present the subject to your notice.
With France our relations continue on the most friendly footing. The
extensive commerce between the United States and that country might, it is
conceived, be released from some unnecessary restrictions to the mutual
advantage of both parties. With a view to this object, some progress has
been made in negotiating a treaty of commerce and navigation.
Independently of our valuable trade with Spain, we have important political
relations with her growing out of our neighborhood to the islands of Cuba
and Porto Rico. I am happy to announce that since the last Congress no
attempts have been made by unauthorized expeditions within the United
States against either of those colonies. Should any movement be manifested
within our limits, all the means at my command will be vigorously exerted
to repress it. Several annoying occurrences have taken place at Havana, or
in the vicinity of the island of Cuba, between our citizens and the Spanish
authorities. Considering the proximity of that island to our shores, lying,
as it does, in the track of trade between some of our principal cities, and
the suspicious vigilance with which foreign intercourse, particularly that
with the United States, is there guarded, a repetition of such occurrences
may well be apprehended.
As no diplomatic intercourse is allowed between our consul at Havana and
the Captain-General of Cuba, ready explanations can not be made or prompt
redress afforded where injury has resulted. All complaint on the part of
our citizens under the present arrangement must be, in the first place,
presented to this Government and then referred to Spain. Spain again refers
it to her local authorities in Cuba for investigation, and postpones an
answer till she has heard from those authorities. To avoid these irritating
and vexatious delays, a proposition has been made to provide for a direct
appeal for redress to the Captain-General by our consul in behalf of our
injured fellow-citizens. Hitherto the Government of Spain has declined to
enter into any such arrangement. This course on her part is deeply
regretted, for without some arrangement of this kind the good understanding
between the two countries may be exposed to occasional interruption. Our
minister at Madrid is instructed to renew the proposition and to press it
again upon the consideration of Her Catholic Majesty's Government.
For several years Spain has been calling the attention of this Government
to a claim for losses by some of her subjects in the case of the schooner
Amistad. This claim is believed to rest on the obligations imposed by our
existing treaty with that country. Its justice was admitted in our
diplomatic correspondence with the Spanish Government as early as March,
1847, and one of my predecessors, in his annual message of that year,
recommended that provision should be made for its payment. In January last
it was again submitted to Congress by the Executive. It has received a
favorable consideration by committees of both branches, but as yet there
has been no final action upon it. I conceive that good faith requires its
prompt adjustment, and I present it to your early and favorable
consideration.
Martin Koszta, a Hungarian by birth, came to this country in 1850, and
declared his intention in due form of law to become a citizen of the United
States. After remaining here nearly two years he visited Turkey. While at
Smyrna he was forcibly seized, taken on board an Austrian brig of war then
lying in the harbor of that place, and there confined in irons, with the
avowed design to take him into the dominions of Austria. Our consul at
Smyrna and legation at Constantinople interposed for his release, but their
efforts were ineffectual. While thus in prison Commander Ingraham, with the
United States ship of war St. Louis, arrived at Smyrna, and after inquiring
into the circumstances of the case came to the conclusion that Koszta was
entitled to the protection of this Government, and took energetic and
prompt measures for his release. Under an arrangement between the agents of
the United States and of Austria, he was transferred to the custody of the
French consul-general at Smyrna, there to remain until he should be
disposed of by the mutual agreement of the consuls of the respective
Governments at that place. Pursuant to that agreement, he has been
released, and is now in the United States. The Emperor of Austria has made
the conduct of our officers who took part in this transaction a subject of
grave complaint. Regarding Koszta as still his subject, and claiming a
right to seize him within the limits of the Turkish Empire, he has demanded
of this Government its consent to the surrender of the prisoner, a
disavowal of the acts of its agents, and satisfaction for the alleged
outrage. After a careful consideration of the case I came to the conclusion
that Koszta was seized without legal authority at Smyrna; that he was
wrongfully detained on board of the Austrian brig of war; that at the time
of his seizure he was clothed with the nationality of the United States,
and that the acts of our officers, under the circumstances of the case,
were justifiable, and their conduct has been fully approved by me, and a
compliance with the several demands of the Emperor of Austria has been
declined.
For a more full account of this transaction and my views in regard to it I
refer to the correspondence between the charge d'affaires of Austria and
the Secretary of State, which is herewith transmitted. The principles and
policy therein maintained on the part of the United States will, whenever a
proper occasion occurs, be applied and enforced.
The condition of China at this time renders it probable that some important
changes will occur in that vast Empire which will lead to a more
unrestricted intercourse with it. The commissioner to that country who has
been recently appointed is instructed to avail himself of all occasions to
open and extend our commercial relations, not only with the Empire of
China, but with other Asiatic nations.
In 1852 an expedition was sent to Japan, under the command of Commodore
Perry, for the purpose of opening commercial intercourse with that Empire.
Intelligence has been received of his arrival there and of his having made
known to the Emperor of Japan the object of his visit. But it is not yet
ascertained how far the Emperor will be disposed to abandon his restrictive
policy and open that populous country to a commercial intercourse with the
United States.
It has been my earnest desire to maintain friendly intercourse with the
Governments upon this continent and to aid them in preserving good
understanding among themselves. With Mexico a dispute has arisen as to the
true boundary line between our Territory of New Mexico and the Mexican
State of Chihuahua. A former commissioner of the United States, employed in
running that line pursuant to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, made a
serious mistake in determining the initial point on the Rio Grande; but
inasmuch as his decision was clearly a departure from the directions for
tracing the boundary contained in that treaty, and was not concurred in by
the surveyor appointed on the part of the United States, whose concurrence
was necessary to give validity to that decision, this Government is not
concluded thereby; but that of Mexico takes a different view of the
subject.
There are also other questions of considerable magnitude pending between
the two Republics. Our minister in Mexico has ample instructions to adjust
them. Negotiations have been opened, but sufficient progress has not been
made therein to enable me to speak of the probable result. Impressed with
the importance of maintaining amicable relations with that Republic and of
yielding with liberality to all her just claims, it is reasonable to expect
that an arrangement mutually satisfactory to both countries may be
concluded and a lasting friendship between them confirmed and perpetuated.
Congress having provided for a full mission to the States of Central
America, a minister was sent thither in July last. As yet he has had time
to visit only one of these States (Nicaragua), where he was received in the
most friendly manner. It is hoped that his presence and good offices will
have a benign effect in composing the dissensions which prevail among them,
and in establishing still more intimate and friendly relations between them
respectively and between each of them and the United States.
Considering the vast regions of this continent and the number of states
which would be made accessible by the free navigation of the river Amazon,
particular attention has been given to this subject. Brazil, through whose
territories it passes into the ocean, has hitherto persisted in a policy so
restricted in regard to the use of this river as to obstruct and nearly
exclude foreign commercial intercourse with the States which lie upon its
tributaries and upper branches. Our minister to that country is instructed
to obtain a relaxation of that policy and to use his efforts to induce the
Brazilian Government to open to common use, under proper safeguards, this
great natural highway for international trade. Several of the South
American States are deeply interested in this attempt to secure the free
navigation of the Amazon, and it is reasonable to expect their cooperation
in the measure. As the advantages of free commercial intercourse among
nations are better understood, more liberal views are generally entertained
as to the common rights of all to the free use of those means which nature
has provided for international communication. To these more liberal and
enlightened views it is hoped that Brazil will conform her policy and
remove all unnecessary restrictions upon the free use of a river which
traverses so many states and so large a part of the continent. I am happy
to inform you that the Republic of Paraguay and the Argentine Confederation
have yielded to the liberal policy still resisted by Brazil in regard to
the navigable rivers within their respective territories. Treaties
embracing this subject, among others, have been negotiated with these
Governments, which will be submitted to the Senate at the present session.
A new branch of commerce, important to the agricultural interests of the
United States, has within a few years past been opened with Peru.
Notwithstanding the inexhaustible deposits of guano upon the islands of
that country, considerable difficulties are experienced in obtaining the
requisite supply. Measures have been taken to remove these difficulties and
to secure a more abundant importation of the article. Unfortunately, there
has been a serious collision between our citizens who have resorted to the
Chincha Islands for it and the Peruvian authorities stationed there.
Redress for the outrages committed by the latter was promptly demanded by
our minister at Lima. This subject is now under consideration, and there is
reason to believe that Peru is disposed to offer adequate indemnity to the
aggrieved parties. We are thus not only at peace with all foreign
countries, but, in regard to political affairs, are exempt from any cause
of serious disquietude in our domestic relations.
The controversies which have agitated the country heretofore are passing
away with the causes which produced them and the passions which they had
awakened; or, if any trace of them remains, it may be reasonably hoped that
it will only be perceived in the zealous rivalry of all good citizens to
testify their respect for the rights of the States, their devotion to the
Union, and their common determination that each one of the States, its
institutions, its welfare, and its domestic peace, shall be held alike
secure under the sacred aegis of the Constitution. This new league of amity
and of mutual confidence and support into which the people of the Republic
have entered happily affords inducement and opportunity for the adoption of
a more comprehensive and unembarrassed line of policy and action as to the
great material interests of the country, whether regarded in themselves or
in connection with the powers of the civilized world.
The United States have continued gradually and steadily to expand through
acquisitions of territory, which, how much soever some of them may have
been questioned, are now universally seen and admitted to have been wise in
policy, just in character, and a great element in the advancement of our
country, and with it of the human race, in freedom, in prosperity, and in
happiness. The thirteen States have grown to be thirty-one, with relations
reaching to Europe on the one side and on the other to the distant realms
of Asia.
I am deeply sensible of the immense responsibility which the present
magnitude of the Republic and the diversity and multiplicity of its
interests devolves upon me, the alleviation of which so far as relates to
the immediate conduct of the public business, is, first, in my reliance on
the wisdom and patriotism of the two Houses of Congress, and, secondly, in
the directions afforded me by the principles of public polity affirmed by
our fathers of the epoch of 1798, sanctioned by long experience, and
consecrated anew by the overwhelming voice of the people of the United
States.
Recurring to these principles, which constitute the organic basis of union,
we perceive that vast as are the functions and the duties of the Federal
Government, vested in or intrusted to its three great departments--the
legislative, executive, and judicial--yet the substantive power, the
popular force, and the large capacities for social and material development
exist in the respective States, which, all being of themselves
well-constituted republics, as they preceded so they alone are capable of
maintaining and perpetuating the American Union. The Federal Government has
its appropriate line of action in the specific and limited powers conferred
on it by the Constitution, chiefly as to those things in which the States
have a common interest in their relations to one another and to foreign
governments, while the great mass of interests which belong to cultivated
men--the ordinary business of life, the springs of industry, all the
diversified personal and domestic affairs of society--rest securely upon
the general reserved powers of the people of the several States. There is
the effective democracy of the nation, and there the vital essence of its
being and its greatness.
Of the practical consequences which flow from the nature of the Federal
Government, the primary one is the duty of administering with integrity and
fidelity the high trust reposed in it by the Constitution, especially in
the application of the public funds as drawn by taxation from the people
and appropriated to specific objects by Congress.
Happily, I have no occasion to suggest any radical changes in the financial
policy of the Government. Ours is almost, if not absolutely, the solitary
power of Christendom having a surplus revenue drawn immediately from
imposts on commerce, and therefore measured by the spontaneous enterprise
and national prosperity of the country, with such indirect relation to
agriculture, manufactures, and the products of the earth and sea as to
violate no constitutional doctrine and yet vigorously promote the general
welfare. Neither as to the sources of the public treasure nor as to the
manner of keeping and managing it does any grave controversy now prevail,
there being a general acquiescence in the wisdom of the present system.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit in detail the
state of the public finances and the condition of the various branches of
the public service administered by that Department of the Government.
The revenue of the country, levied almost insensibly to the taxpayer, goes
on from year to year, increasing beyond either the interests or the
prospective wants of the Government.
At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1852, there remained in the
Treasury a balance of $14,632,136. The public revenue for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1853, amounted to $58,931,865 from customs and to
$2,405,708 from public lands and other miscellaneous sources, amounting
together to $61,337,574, while the public expenditures for the same period,
exclusive of payments on account of the public debt, amounted to
$43,554,262, leaving a balance of $32,425,447 of receipts above
expenditures.
This fact of increasing surplus in the Treasury became the subject of
anxious consideration at a very early period of my Administration, and the
path of duty in regard to it seemed to me obvious and clear, namely: First,
to apply the surplus revenue to the discharge of the public debt so far as
it could judiciously be done, and, secondly, to devise means for the
gradual reduction of the revenue to the standard of the public exigencies.
Of these objects the first has been in the course of accomplishment in a
manner and to a degree highly satisfactory. The amount of the public debt
of all classes was on the 4th of March, 1853, $69,190,037, payments on
account of which have been made since that period to the amount of
$12,703,329, leaving unpaid and in continuous course of liquidation the sum
of $56,486,708. These payments, although made at the market price of the
respective classes of stocks, have been effected readily and to the general
advantage of the Treasury, and have at the same time proved of signal
utility in the relief they have incidentally afforded to the money market
and to the industrial and commercial pursuits of the country.
The second of the above-mentioned objects, that of the reduction of the
tariff, is of great importance, and the plan suggested by the Secretary of
the Treasury, which is to reduce the duties on certain articles and to add
to the free list many articles now taxed, and especially such as enter into
manufactures and are not largely, or at all, produced in the country, is
commended to your candid and careful consideration.
You will find in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, also,
abundant proof of the entire adequacy of the present fiscal system to meet
all the requirements of the public service, and that, while properly
administered, it operates to the advantage of the community in ordinary
business relations.
I respectfully ask your attention to sundry suggestions of improvements in
the settlement of accounts, especially as regards the large sums of
outstanding arrears due to the Government, and of other reforms in the
administrative action of his Department which are indicated by the
Secretary; as also to the progress made in the construction of marine
hospitals, custom-houses, and of a new mint in California and assay office
in the city of New York, heretofore provided for by Congress, and also to
the eminently successful progress of the Coast Survey and of the Light
House Board.
Among the objects meriting your attention will be important recommendations
from the Secretaries of War and Navy. I am fully satisfied that the Navy of
the United States is not in a condition of strength and efficiency
commensurate with the magnitude of our commercial and other interests, and
commend to your especial attention the suggestions on this subject made by
the Secretary of the Navy. I respectfully submit that the Army, which under
our system must always be regarded with the highest interest as a nucleus
around which the volunteer forces of the nation gather in the hour of
danger, requires augmentation, or modification, to adapt it to the present
extended limits and frontier relations of the country and the condition of
the Indian tribes in the interior of the continent, the necessity of which
will appear in the communications of the Secretaries of War and the
Interior.
In the administration of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1853, the gross expenditure was $7,982,756, and the gross
receipts during the same period $5,942,734, showing that the current
revenue failed to meet the current expenses of the Department by the sum of
$2,042,032. The causes which, under the present postal system and laws, led
inevitably to this result are fully explained by the report of the
Postmaster-General, one great cause being the enormous rates the Department
has been compelled to pay for mail service rendered by railroad companies.
The exhibit in the report of the Postmaster-General of the income and
expenditures by mail steamers will be found peculiarly interesting and of a
character to demand the immediate action of Congress.
Numerous and flagrant frauds upon the Pension Bureau have been brought to
light within the last year, and in some instances merited punishments
inflicted; but, unfortunately, in others guilty parties have escaped, not
through the want of sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction, but in
consequence of the provisions of limitation in the existing laws.
From the nature of these claims, the remoteness of the tribunals to pass
upon them, and the mode in which the proof is of necessity furnished,
temptations to crime have been greatly stimulated by the obvious
difficulties of detection. The defects in the law upon this subject are so
apparent and so fatal to the ends of justice that your early action
relating to it is most desirable.
During the last fiscal year 9,819,411 acres of the public lands have been
surveyed and 10,363,891 acres brought into market. Within the same period
the sales by public purchase and private entry amounted to 1,083,495 acres;
located under military bountys and warrants, 6,142,360 acres; located under
other certificates, 9,427 acres; ceded to the States as swamp lands,
16,684,253 acres; selected for railroad and other objects under acts of
Congress, 1,427,457 acres: total amount of lands disposed of within the
fiscal year, 25,346,992 acres, which is an increase in quantity sold and
located under land warrants and grants of 12,231, 818 acres over the fiscal
year immediately preceding. The quantity of land sold during the second and
third quarters of 1852 was 334,451 acres; the amount received therefor was
$623,687. The quantity sold the second and third quarters of the year 1853
was 1,609,919 acres, and the amount received therefor $2,226,876.
The whole number of land warrants issued under existing laws prior to the
30th of September last was 266,042, of which there were outstanding at that
date 66,947. The quantity of land required to satisfy these outstanding
warrants is 4,778,120 acres. Warrants have been issued to 30th of September
last under the act of 11th February, 1847, calling for 12,879,280 acres,
under acts of September 28, 1850, and March 22, 1852, calling for
12,505,360 acres, making a total of 25,384,640 acres.
It is believed that experience has verified the wisdom and justice of the
present system with regard to the public domain in most essential
particulars.
You will perceive from the report of the Secretary of the Interior that
opinions which have often been expressed in relation to the operation of
the land system as not being a source of revenue to the Federal Treasury
were erroneous. The net profits from the sale of the public lands to June
30, 1853, amounted to the sum of $53,289,465.
I recommend the extension of the land system over the Territories of Utah
and New Mexico, with such modifications as their peculiarities may
require.
Regarding our public domain as chiefly valuable to provide homes for the
industrious and enterprising, I am not prepared to recommend any essential
change in the land system, except by modifications in favor of the actual
settler and an extension of the preemption principle in certain cases, for
reasons and on grounds which will be fully developed in the reports to be
laid before you.
Congress, representing the proprietors of the territorial domain and
charged especially with power to dispose of territory belonging to the
United States, has for a long course of years, beginning with the
Administration of Mr. Jefferson, exercised the power to construct roads
within the Territories, and there are so many and obvious distinctions
between this exercise of power and that of making roads within the States
that the former has never been considered subject to such objections as
apply to the latter; and such may now be considered the settled
construction of the power of the Federal Government upon the subject.
Numerous applications have been and no doubt will continue to be made for
grants of land in aid of the construction of railways. It is not believed
to be within the intent and meaning of the Constitution that the power to
dispose of the public domain should be used otherwise than might be
expected from a prudent proprietor and therefore that grants of land to aid
in the construction of roads should be restricted to cases where it would
be for the interest of a proprietor under like circumstances thus to
contribute to the construction of these works. For the practical operation
of such grants thus far in advancing the interests of the States in which
the works are located, and at the same time the substantial interests of
all the other States, by enhancing the value and promoting the rapid sale
of the public domain, I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the
Interior. A careful examination, however, will show that this experience is
the result of a just discrimination and will be far from affording
encouragement to a reckless or indiscriminate extension of the principle.
I commend to your favorable consideration the men of genius of our country
who by their inventions and discoveries in science and arts have
contributed largely to the improvements of the age without, in many
instances, securing for themselves anything like an adequate reward. For
many interesting details upon this subject I refer you to the appropriate
reports, and especially urge upon your early attention the apparently
slight, but really important, modifications of existing laws therein
suggested.
The liberal spirit which has so long marked the action of Congress in
relation to the District of Columbia will, I have no doubt, continue to be
manifested.
The erection of an asylum for the insane of the District of Columbia and of
the Army and Navy of the United States has been somewhat retarded by the
great demand for materials and labor during the past summer, but full
preparation for the reception of patients before the return of another
winter is anticipated; and there is the best reason to believe, from the
plan and contemplated arrangements which have been devised, with the large
experience furnished within the last few years in relation to the nature
and treatment of the disease, that it will prove an asylum indeed to this
most helpless and afflicted class of sufferers and stand as a noble
monument of wisdom and mercy. Under the acts of Congress of August 31,
1852, and of March 3, 1853, designed to secure for the cities of Washington
and Georgetown an abundant supply of good and wholesome water, it became my
duty to examine the report and plans of the engineer who had charge of the
surveys under the act first named. The best, if not the only, plan
calculated to secure permanently the object sought was that which
contemplates taking the water from the Great Falls of the Potomac, and
consequently I gave to it my approval.
For the progress and present condition of this important work and for its
demands so far as appropriations are concerned I refer you to the report of
the Secretary of War.
The present judicial system of the United States has now been in operation
for so long a period of time and has in its general theory and much of its
details become so familiar to the country and acquired so entirely the
public confidence that if modified in any respect it should only be in
those particulars which may adapt it to the increased extent, population,
and legal business of the United States. In this relation the organization
of the courts is now confessedly inadequate to the duties to be performed
by them, in consequence of which the States of Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa,
Texas, and California, and districts of other States, are in effect
excluded from the full benefits of the general system by the functions of
the circuit court being devolved on the district judges in all those States
or parts of States. The spirit of the Constitution and a due regard to
justice require that all the States of the Union should be placed on the
same footing in regard to the judicial tribunals. I therefore commend to
your consideration this important subject, which in my judgment demands the
speedy action of Congress. I will present to you, if deemed desirable, a
plan which I am prepared to recommend for the enlargement and modification
of the present judicial system.
The act of Congress establishing the Smithsonian Institution provided that
the President of the United States and other persons therein designated
should constitute an "establishment" by that name, and that the members
should hold stated and special meetings for the supervision of the affairs
of the Institution. The organization not having taken place, it seemed to
me proper that it should be effected without delay. This has been done; and
an occasion was thereby presented for inspecting the condition of the
Institution and appreciating its successful progress thus far and its high
promise of great and general usefulness.
I have omitted to ask your favorable consideration for the estimates of
works of a local character in twenty-seven of the thirty-one States,
amounting to $1,754,500, because, independently of the grounds which have
so often been urged against the application of the Federal revenue for
works of this character, inequality, with consequent injustice, is inherent
in the nature of the proposition, and because the plan has proved entirely
inadequate to the accomplishment of the objects sought.
The subject of internal improvements, claiming alike the interest and good
will of all, has, nevertheless, been the basis of much political discussion
and has stood as a deep-graven line of division between statesmen of
eminent ability and patriotism. The rule of strict construction of all
powers delegated by the States to the General Government has arrayed itself
from time to time against the rapid progress of expenditures from the
National Treasury on works of a local character within the States.
Memorable as an epoch in the history of this subject is the message of
President Jackson of the 27th of May, 1830, which met the system of
internal improvements in its comparative infancy; but so rapid had been its
growth that the projected appropriations in that year for works of this
character had risen to the alarming amount of more than $100,000,000
In that message the President admitted the difficulty of bringing back the
operations of the Government to the construction of the Constitution set up
in 1798, and marked it as an admonitory proof of the necessity of guarding
that instrument with sleepless vigilance against the authority of
precedents which had not the sanction of its most plainly defined powers.
Our Government exists under a written compact between sovereign States,
uniting for specific objects and with specific grants to their general
agent. If, then, in the progress of its administration there have been
departures from the terms and intent of the compact, it is and will ever be
proper to refer back to the fixed standard which our fathers left us and to
make a stern effort to conform our action to it. It would seem that the
fact of a principle having been resisted from the first by many of the
wisest and most patriotic men of the Republic, and a policy having provoked
constant strife without arriving at a conclusion which can be regarded as
satisfactory to its most earnest advocates, should suggest the inquiry
whether there may not be a plan likely to be crowned by happier results.
Without perceiving any sound distinction or intending to assert any
principle as opposed to improvements needed for the protection of internal
commerce which does not equally apply to improvements upon the seaboard for
the protection of foreign commerce, I submit to you whether it may not be
safely anticipated that if the policy were once settled against
appropriations by the General Government for local improvements for the
benefit of commerce, localities requiring expenditures would not, by modes
and means clearly legitimate and proper, raise the fund necessary for such
constructions as the safety or other interests of their commerce might
require.
If that can be regarded as a system which in the experience of mere than
thirty years has at no time so commanded the public judgment as to give it
the character of a settled policy; which, though it has produced some works
of conceded importance, has been attended with an expenditure quite
disproportionate to their value and has resulted in squandering large sums
upon objects which have answered no valuable purpose, the interests of all
the States require it to be abandoned unless hopes may be indulged for the
future which find no warrant in the past.
With an anxious desire for the completion of the works which are regarded
by all good citizens with sincere interest, I have deemed it my duty to ask
at your hands a deliberate reconsideration of the question, with a hope
that, animated by a desire to promote the permanent and substantial
interests of the country, your wisdom may prove equal to the task of
devising and maturing a plan which, applied to this subject, may promise
something better than constant strife, the suspension of the powers of
local enterprise, the exciting of vain hopes, and the disappointment of
cherished expectations.
In expending the appropriations made by the last Congress several cases
have arisen in relation to works for the improvement of harbors which
involve questions as to the right of soil and jurisdiction, and have
threatened conflict between the authority of the State and General
Governments. The right to construct a breakwater, jetty, or dam would seem
necessarily to carry with it the power to protect and preserve such
constructions. This can only be effectually done by having jurisdiction
over the soil. But no clause of the Constitution is found on which to rest
the claim of the United States to exercise jurisdiction over the soil of a
State except that conferred by the eighth section of the first article of
the Constitution. It is, then, submitted whether, in all cases where
constructions are to be erected by the General Government, the right of
soil should not first be obtained and legislative provision be made to
cover all such cases. For the progress made in the construction of roads
within the Territories, as provided for in the appropriations of the last
Congress, I refer you to the report of the Secretary of War.
There is one subject of a domestic nature which, from its intrinsic
importance and the many interesting questions of future policy which it
involves, can not fail to receive your early attention. I allude to the
means of communication by which different parts of the wide expanse of our
country are to be placed in closer connection for purposes both of defense
and commercial intercourse, and more especially such as appertain to the
communication of those great divisions of the Union which lie on the
opposite sides of the Rocky Mountains. That the Government has not been
unmindful of this heretofore is apparent from the aid it has afforded
through appropriations for mail facilities and other purposes. But the
general subject will now present itself under aspects more imposing and
more purely national by reason of the surveys ordered by Congress, and now
in the process of completion, for communication by railway across the
continent, and wholly within the limits of the United States.
The power to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and
maintain a navy, and to call forth the militia to execute the laws,
suppress insurrections, and repel invasions was conferred upon Congress as
means to provide for the common defense and to protect a territory and a
population now widespread and vastly multiplied. As incidental to and
indispensable for the exercise of this power, it must sometimes be
necessary to construct military roads and protect harbors of refuge. To
appropriations by Congress for such objects no sound objection can be
raised. Happily for our country, its peaceful policy and rapidly increasing
population impose upon us no urgent necessity for preparation, and leave
but few trackless deserts between assailable points and a patriotic people
ever ready and generally able to protect them. These necessary links the
enterprise and energy of our people are steadily and boldly struggling to
supply. All experience affirms that wherever private enterprise will avail
it is most wise for the General Government to leave to that and individual
watchfulness the location and execution of all means of communication.
The surveys before alluded to were designed to ascertain the most
practicable and economical route for a railroad from the river Mississippi
to the Pacific Ocean. Parties are now in the field making explorations,
where previous examinations had not supplied sufficient data and where
there was the best reason to hope the object sought might be found. The
means and time being both limited, it is not to be expected that all the
accurate knowledge desired will be obtained, but it is hoped that much and
important information will be added to the stock previously possessed, and
that partial, if not full, reports of the surveys ordered will be received
in time for transmission to the two Houses of Congress on or before the
first Monday in February next, as required by the act of appropriation. The
magnitude of the enterprise contemplated has aroused and will doubtless
continue to excite a very general interest throughout the country. In its
political, its commercial, and its military bearings it has varied, great,
and increasing claims to consideration. The heavy expense, the great delay,
and, at times, fatality attending travel by either of the Isthmus routes
have demonstrated the advantage which would result from interterritorial
communication by such safe and rapid means as a railroad would supply.
These difficulties, which have been encountered in a period of peace, would
be magnified and still further increased in time of war. But whilst the
embarrassments already encountered and others under new contingencies to be
anticipated may serve strikingly to exhibit the importance of such a work,
neither these nor all considerations combined can have an appreciable value
when weighed against the obligation strictly to adhere to the Constitution
and faithfully to execute the powers it confers.
Within this limit and to the extent of the interest of the Government
involved it would seem both expedient and proper if an economical and
practicable route shall be found to aid by all constitutional means in the
construction of a road which will unite by speedy transit the populations
of the Pacific and Atlantic States. To guard against misconception, it
should be remarked that although the power to construct or aid in the
construction of a road within the limits of a Territory is not embarrassed
by that question of jurisdiction which would arise within the limits of a
State, it is, nevertheless, held to be of doubtful power and more than
doubtful propriety, even within the limits of a Territory, for the General
Government to undertake to administer the affairs of a railroad, a canal,
or other similar construction, and therefore that its connection with a
work of this character should be incidental rather than primary. I will
only add at present that, fully appreciating the magnitude of the subject
and solicitous that the Atlantic and Pacific shores of the Republic may be
bound together by inseparable ties of common interest, as well as of common
fealty and attachment to the Union, I shall be disposed, so far as my own
action is concerned, to follow the lights of the Constitution as expounded
and illustrated by those whose opinions and expositions constitute the
standard of my political faith in regard to the powers of the Federal
Government. It is, I trust, not necessary to say that no grandeur of
enterprise and no present urgent inducement promising popular favor will
lead me to disregard those lights or to depart from that path which
experience has proved to be safe, and which is now radiant with the glow of
prosperity and legitimate constitutional progress. We can afford to wait,
but we can not afford to overlook the ark of our security.
It is no part of my purpose to give prominence to any subject which may
properly be regarded as set at rest by the deliberate judgment of the
people. But while the present is bright with promise and the future full of
demand and inducement for the exercise of active intelligence, the past can
never be without useful lessons of admonition and instruction. If its
dangers serve not as beacons, they will evidently fail to fulfill the
object of a wise design. When the grave shall have closed over all who are
now endeavoring to meet the obligations of duty, the year 1850 will be
recurred to as a period filled with anxious apprehension. A successful war
had just terminated. Peace brought with it a vast augmentation of
territory. Disturbing questions arose bearing upon the domestic
institutions of one portion of the Confederacy and involving the
constitutional rights of the States. But notwithstanding differences of
opinion and sentiment which then existed in relation to details and
specific provisions, the acquiescence of distinguished citizens, whose
devotion to the Union can never be doubted, has given renewed vigor to our
institutions and restored a sense of repose and security to the public mind
throughout the Confederacy. That this repose is to suffer no shock during
my official term, if I have power to avert it, those who placed me here may
be assured. The wisdom of men who knew what independence cost, who had put
all at stake upon the issue of the Revolutionary struggle, disposed of the
subject to which I refer in the only way consistent with the Union of these
States and with the march of power and prosperity which has made us what we
are. It is a significant fact that from the adoption of the Constitution
until the officers and soldiers of the Revolution had passed to their
graves, or, through the infirmities of age and wounds, had ceased to
participate actively in public affairs, there was not merely a quiet
acquiescence in, but a prompt vindication of, the constitutional rights of
the States. The reserved powers were scrupulously respected. No statesman
put forth the narrow views of casuists to justify interference and
agitation, but the spirit of the compact was regarded as sacred in the eye
of honor and indispensable for the great experiment of civil liberty,
which, environed by inherent difficulties, was yet borne forward in
apparent weakness by a power superior to all obstacles. There is no
condemnation which the voice of freedom will not pronounce upon us should
we prove faithless to this great trust. While men inhabiting different
parts of this vast continent can no more be expected to hold the same
opinions or entertain the same sentiments than every variety of climate or
soil can be expected to furnish the same agricultural products, they can
unite in a common object and sustain common principles essential to the
maintenance of that object. The gallant men of the South and the North
could stand together during the struggle of the Revolution; they could
stand together in the more trying period which succeeded the clangor of
arms. As their united valor was adequate to all the trials of the camp and
dangers of the field, so their united wisdom proved equal to the greater
task of founding upon a deep and broad basis institutions which it has been
our privilege to enjoy and will ever be our most sacred duty to sustain. It
is but the feeble expression of a faith strong and universal to say that
their sons, whose blood mingled so often upon the same field during the War
of 1812 and who have more recently borne in triumph the flag of the country
upon a foreign soil, will never permit alienation of feeling to weaken the
power of their united efforts nor internal dissensions to paralyze the
great arm of freedom, uplifted for the vindication of self-government.
I have thus briefly presented such suggestions as seem to me especially
worthy of your consideration. In providing for the present you can hardly
fail to avail yourselves of the light which the experience of the past
casts upon the future.
The growth of our population has now brought us, in the destined career of
our national history, to a point at which it well behooves us to expand our
vision over the vast prospective.
The successive decennial returns of the census since the adoption of the
Constitution have revealed a law of steady, progressive development, which
may be stated in general terms as a duplication every quarter century.
Carried forward from the point already reached for only a short period of
time, as applicable to the existence of a nation, this law of progress, if
unchecked, will bring us to almost incredible results. A large allowance
for a diminished proportional effect of emigration would not very
materially reduce the estimate, while the increased average duration of
human life known to have already resulted from the scientific and hygienic
improvements of the past fifty years will tend to keep up through the next
fifty, or perhaps hundred, the same ratio of growth which has been thus
revealed in our past progress; and to the influence of these causes may be
added the influx of laboring masses from eastern Asia to the Pacific side
of our possessions, together with the probable accession of the populations
already existing in other parts of our hemisphere, which within the period
in question will feel with yearly increasing force the natural attraction
of so vast, powerful, and prosperous a confederation of self-governing
republics and will seek the privilege of being admitted within its safe and
happy bosom, transferring with themselves, by a peaceful and healthy
process of incorporation, spacious regions of virgin and exuberant soil,
which are destined to swarm with the fast growing and fast-spreading
millions of our race.
These considerations seem fully to justify the presumption that the law of
population above stated will continue to act with undiminished effect
through at least the next half century, and that thousands of persons who
have already arrived at maturity and are now exercising the rights of
freemen will close their eyes on the spectacle of more than 100,000,000 of
population embraced within the majestic proportions of the American Union.
It is not merely as an interesting topic of speculation that I present
these views for your consideration. They have important practical bearings
upon all the political duties we are called upon to perform. Heretofore our
system of government has worked on what may be termed a miniature scale in
comparison with the development which it must thus assume within a future
so near at hand as scarcely to be beyond the present of the existing
generation.
It is evident that a confederation so vast and so varied, both in numbers
and in territorial extent, in habits and in interests, could only be kept
in national cohesion by the strictest fidelity to the principles of the
Constitution as understood by those who have adhered to the most restricted
construction of the powers granted by the people and the States.
Interpreted and applied according to those principles, the great compact
adapts itself with healthy ease and freedom to an unlimited extension of
that benign system of federative self-government of which it is our
glorious and, I trust, immortal charter. Let us, then, with redoubled
vigilance, be on our guard against yielding to the temptation of the
exercise of doubtful powers, even under the pressure of the motives of
conceded temporary advantage and apparent temporary expediency. The minimum
of Federal government compatible with the maintenance of national unity and
efficient action in our relations with the rest of the world should afford
the rule and measure of construction of our powers under the general
clauses of the Constitution. A spirit of strict deference to the sovereign
rights and dignity of every State, rather than a disposition to subordinate
the States into a provincial relation to the central authority, should
characterize all our exercise of the respective powers temporarily vested
in us as a sacred trust from the generous confidence of our constituents.
In like manner, as a manifestly indispensable condition of the perpetuation
of the Union and of the realization of that magnificent national future
adverted to, does the duty become yearly stronger and clearer upon us, as
citizens of the several States, to cultivate a fraternal and affectionate
spirit, language, and conduct in regard to other States and in relation to
the varied interests, institutions, and habits of sentiment and opinion
which may respectively characterize them. Mutual forbearance, respect, and
noninterference in our personal action as citizens and an enlarged exercise
of the most liberal principles of comity in the public dealings of State
with State, whether in legislation or in the execution of laws, are the
means to perpetuate that confidence and fraternity the decay of which a
mere political union, on so vast a scale, could not long survive.
In still another point of view is an important practical duty suggested by
this consideration of the magnitude of dimensions to which our political
system, with its corresponding machinery of government, is so rapidly
expanding. With increased vigilance does it require us to cultivate the
cardinal virtues of public frugality and official integrity and purity.
Public affairs ought to be so conducted that a settled conviction shall
pervade the entire Union that nothing short of the highest tone and
standard of public morality marks every part of the administration and
legislation of the General Government. Thus will the federal system,
whatever expansion time and progress may give it, continue more and more
deeply rooted in the love and confidence of the people.
That wise economy which is as far removed from parsimony as from corrupt
and corrupting extravagance; that single regard for the public good which
will frown upon all attempts to approach the Treasury with insidious
projects of private interest cloaked under public pretexts; that sound
fiscal administration which, in the legislative department, guards against
the dangerous temptations incident to overflowing revenue, and, in the
executive, maintains an unsleeping watchfulness against the tendency of all
national expenditure to extravagance, while they are admitted elementary
political duties, may, I trust, be deemed as properly adverted to and urged
in view of the more impressive sense of that necessity which is directly
suggested by the considerations now presented.
Since the adjournment of Congress the Vice-President of the United States
has passed from the scenes of earth, without having entered upon the duties
of the station to which he had been called by the voice of his countrymen.
Having occupied almost continuously for more than thirty years a seat in
one or the other of the two Houses of Congress, and having by his singular
purity and wisdom secured unbounded confidence and universal respect, his
failing health was watched by the nation with painful solicitude. His loss
to the country, under all the circumstances, has been justly regarded as
irreparable.
In compliance with the act of Congress of March 2, 1853, the oath of office
was administered to him on the 24th of that month at Ariadne estate, near
Matanzas, in the island of Cuba; but his strength gradually declined, and
was hardly sufficient to enable him to return to his home in Alabama,
where, on the 18th day of April, in the most calm and peaceful way, his
long and eminently useful career was terminated. Entertaining unlimited
confidence in your intelligent and patriotic devotion to the public
interest, and being conscious of no motives on my part which are not
inseparable from the honor and advancement of my country, I hope it may be
my privilege to deserve and secure not only your cordial cooperation in
great public measures, but also those relations of mutual confidence and
regard which it is always so desirable to cultivate between members of
coordinate branches of the Government.
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