Speech Transcript:

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The auspicious circumstances under which you will commence the duties
of the present session will lighten the burdens inseparable from the
high trust committed to you. The fruits of the earth have been
unusually abundant, commerce has flourished, the revenue has exceeded
the most favorable anticipation, and peace and amity are preserved
with foreign nations on conditions just and honorable to our country.
For these inestimable blessings we can not but be grateful to that
Providence which watches over the destiny of nations.

As the term limited for the operation of the commercial convention
with Great Britain will expire early in the month of July next, and
it was deemed important that there should be no interval during which
that portion of our commerce which was provided for by that convention
should not be regulated, either by arrangement between the two
Governments or by the authority of Congress, the minister of the
United States at London was instructed early in the last summer to
invite the attention of the British Government to the subject, with a
view to that object. He was instructed to propose also that the
negotiation which it was wished to open might extend to the general
commerce of the two countries, and to every other interest and
unsettled difference between them in the hope that an arrangement
might be made on principles of reciprocal advantage which might
comprehend and provide in a satisfactory manner for all these high
concerns.

I have the satisfaction to state that the proposal was received by
the British Government in the spirit which prompted it, and that a
negotiation has been opened at London embracing all these objects. On
full consideration of the great extent and magnitude of the trust it
was thought proper to commit it to not less than two of our
distinguished citizens, and in consequence the envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris has been
associated with our envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
at London, to both of whom corresponding instructions have been
given, and they are now engaged in the discharge of its duties. It is
proper to add that to prevent any inconvenience resulting from the
delay incident to a negotiation on so many important subjects it was
agreed before entering on it that the existing convention should be
continued for a term not less than eight years.

Our relations with Spain remain nearly in the state in which they
were at the close of the last session. The convention of 1802,
providing for the adjustment of a certain portion of the claims of
our citizens for injuries sustained by spoliation, and so long
suspended by the Spanish Government, has at length been ratified by
it, but no arrangement has yet been made for the payment of another
portion of like claims, not less extensive or well founded, or for
other classes of claims, or for the settlement of boundaries. These
subjects have again been brought under consideration in both
countries, but no agreement has been entered into respecting them.

In the mean time events have occurred which clearly prove the ill
effect of the policy which that Government has so long pursued on the
friendly relations of the two countries, which it is presumed is at
least of as much importance to Spain as to the United States to
maintain. A state of things has existed in the Floridas the tendency
of which has been obvious to all who have paid the slightest
attention to the progress of affairs in that quarter. Throughout the
whole of those Provinces to which the Spanish title extends the
Government of Spain has scarcely been felt. Its authority has been
confined almost exclusively to the walls of Pensacola and St.
Augustine, within which only small garrisons have been maintained.
Adventurers from every country, fugitives from justice, and
absconding slaves have found an asylum there. Several tribes of
Indians, strong in the # of their warriors, remarkable for their
ferocity, and whose settlements extend to our limits, inhabit those
Provinces.

These different hordes of people, connected together, disregarding on
the one side the authority of Spain, and protected on the other by an
imaginary line which separates Florida from the United States, have
violated our laws prohibiting the introduction of slaves, have
practiced various frauds on our revenue, and committed every kind of
outrage on our peaceable citizens which their proximity to us enabled
them to perpetrate.

The invasion of Amelia Island last year by a small band of
adventurers, not exceeding 150 in number, who wrested it from the
inconsiderable Spanish force stationed there, and held it several
months, during which a single feeble effort only was made to recover
it, which failed, clearly proves how completely extinct the Spanish
authority had become, as the conduct of those adventurers while in
possession of the island as distinctly shows the pernicious purposes
for which their combination had been formed.

This country had, in fact, become the theater of every species of
lawless adventure. With little population of its own, the Spanish
authority almost extinct, and the colonial governments in a state of
revolution, having no pretension to it, and sufficiently employed in
their own concerns, it was in great measure derelict, and the object
of cupidity to every adventurer. A system of buccaneering was rapidly
organizing over it which menaced in its consequences the lawful
commerce of every nation, and particularly the United States, while
it presented a temptation to every people, on whose seduction its
success principally depended.

In regard to the United States, the pernicious effect of this
unlawful combination was not confined to the ocean; the Indian tribes
have constituted the effective force in Florida. With these tribes
these adventurers had formed at an early period a connection with a
view to avail themselves of that force to promote their own projects
of accumulation and aggrandizement. It is to the interference of some
of these adventurers, in misrepresenting the claims and titles of the
Indians to land and in practicing on their savage propensities, that
the Seminole war is principally to be traced. Men who thus connect
themselves with savage communities and stimulate them to war, which
is always attended on their part with acts of barbarity the most
shocking, deserve to be viewed in a worse light than the savages.
They would certainly have no claim to an immunity from the punishment
which, according to the rules of warfare practiced by the savages,
might justly be inflicted on the savages themselves.

If the embarrassments of Spain prevented her from making an indemnity
to our citizens for so long a time from her treasury for their losses
by spoliation and otherwise, it was always in her power to have
provided it by the cession of this territory. Of this her Government
has been repeatedly apprised, and the cession was the more to have
been anticipated as Spain must have known that in ceding it she would
likewise relieve herself from the important obligation secured by the
treaty of 1795 and all other compromitments respecting it. If the
United States, from consideration of these embarrassments, declined
pressing their claims in a spirit of hostility, the motive ought at
least to have been duly appreciated by the Government of Spain. It is
well known to her Government that other powers have made to the United
States an indemnity for like losses sustained by their citizens at the
same epoch.

There is nevertheless a limit beyond which this spirit of amity and
forbearance can in no instance be justified. If it was proper to rely
on amicable negotiation for an indemnity for losses, it would not have
been so to have permitted the inability of Spain to fulfill her
engagements and to sustain her authority in the Floridas to be
perverted by foreign adventurers and savages to purposes so
destructive to the lives of our fellow citizens and the highest
interests of the United States.

The right of self defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred,
and alike necessary to nations and to individuals, and whether the
attack be made by Spain herself or by those who abuse her power, its
obligation is not the less strong.

The invaders of Amelia Island had assumed a popular and respected
title under which they might approach and wound us. As their object
was distinctly seen, and the duty imposed on the Executive by an
existing law was profoundly felt, that mask was not permitted to
protect them. It was thought incumbent on the United States to
suppress the establishment, and it was accordingly done. The
combination in Florida for the unlawful purposes stated, the acts
perpetrated by that combination, and, above all, the incitement of
the Indians to massacre our fellow citizens of every age and of both
sexes, merited a like treatment and received it.

In pursuing these savages to an imaginary line in the woods it would
have been the height of folly to have suffered that line to protect
them. Had that been done the war could never cease. Even if the
territory had been exclusively that of Spain and her power complete
over it, we had a right by the law of nations to follow the enemy on
it and to subdue him there. But the territory belonged, in a certain
sense at least, to the savage enemy who inhabited it; the power of
Spain had ceased to exist over it, and protection was sought under
her title by those who had committed on our citizens hostilities
which she was bound by treaty to have prevented, but had not the
power to prevent. To have stopped at that line would have given new
encouragement to these savages and new vigor to the whole combination
existing there in the prosecution of all its pernicious purposes.

In suppressing the establishment at Amelia Island no unfriendliness
was manifested toward Spain, because the post was taken from a force
which had wrested it from her. The measure, it is true, was not
adopted in concert with the Spanish Government or those in authority
under it, because in transactions connected with the war in which
Spain and the colonies are engaged it was thought proper in doing
justice to the United States to maintain a strict impartiality toward
both the belligerent parties without consulting or acting in concert
with either. It gives me pleasure to state that the Governments of
Buenos Ayres and Venezuela, whose names were assumed, have explicitly
disclaimed all participation in those measures, and even the knowledge
of them until communicated by this Government, and have also expressed
their satisfaction that a course of proceedings had been suppressed
which if justly imputable to them would dishonor their cause.

In authorizing Major-General Jackson to enter Florida in pursuit of
the Seminoles care was taken not to encroach on the rights of Spain.
I regret to have to add that in executing this order facts were
disclosed respecting the conduct of the officers of Spain in
authority there in encouraging the war, furnishing munitions of war
and other supplies to carry it on, and in other acts not less marked
which evinced their participation in the hostile purposes of that
combination and justified the confidence with which it inspired the
savages that by those officers they would be protected.

A conduct so incompatible with the friendly relations existing
between the two countries, particularly with the positive obligations
of the 5th article of the treaty of 1795, by which Spain was bound to
restrain, even by force, those savages from acts of hostility against
the United States, could not fail to excite surprise. The commanding
general was convinced that he should fail in his object, that he
should in effect accomplish nothing, if he did not deprive those
savages of the resource on which they had calculated and of the
protection on which they had relied in making the war. As all the
documents relating to this occurrence will be laid before Congress,
it is not necessary to enter into further detail respecting it.

Although the reasons which induced Major-General Jackson to take
these posts were duly appreciated, there was nevertheless no
hesitation in deciding on the course which it became the Government
to pursue. As there was reason to believe that the commanders of
these posts had violated their instructions, there was no disposition
to impute to their Government a conduct so unprovoked and hostile. An
order was in consequence issued to the general in command there to
deliver the posts - Pensacola unconditionally to any person duly
authorized to receive it, and St. Marks, which is in the heart of the
Indian country, on the arrival of a competent force to defend it
against those savages and their associates.

In entering Florida to suppress this combination no idea was
entertained of hostility to Spain, and however justifiable the
commanding general was, in consequence of the misconduct of the
Spanish officers, in entering St. Marks and Pensacola to terminate it
by proving to the savages and their associates that they should not be
protected even there, yet the amicable relations existing between the
United States and Spain could not be altered by that act alone. By
ordering the restitution of the posts those relations were preserved.
To a change of them the power of the Executive is deemed incompetent;
it is vested in Congress only.

By this measure, so promptly taken, due respect was shown to the
Government of Spain. The misconduct of her officers has not been
imputed to her. She was enabled to review with candor her relations
with the United States and her own situation, particularly in respect
to the territory in question, with the dangers inseparable from it,
and regarding the losses we have sustained for which indemnity has
been so long withheld, and the injuries we have suffered through that
territory, and her means of redress, she was likewise enabled to take
with honor the course best calculated to do justice to the United
States and to promote her own welfare.

Copies of the instructions to the commanding general, of his
correspondence with the Secretary of War, explaining his motives and
justifying his conduct, with a copy of the proceedings of the courts-
martial in the trial of Arbuthnot and Ambristie, and of the
correspondence between the Secretary of State and the minister
plenipotentiary of Spain near this Government, and of the minister
plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid with the Government of
Spain, will be laid before Congress.

The civil war which has so long prevailed between Spain and the
Provinces in South America still continues, without any prospect of
its speedy termination. The information respecting the condition of
those countries which has been collected by the commissioners
recently returned from thence will be laid before Congress in copies
of their reports, with such other information as has been received
from other agents of the United States.

It appears from these communications that the Government at Buenos
Ayres declared itself independent in 1816 July, having previously
exercised the power of an independent Government, though in the name
of the King of Spain, from the year 1810; that the Banda Oriental,
Entre Rios, and Paraguay, with the city of Santa Fee, all of which
are also independent, are unconnected with the present Government of
Buenos Ayres; that Chili has declared itself independent and is
closely connected with Buenos Ayres; that Venezuela has also declared
itself independent, and now maintains the conflict with various
success; and that the remaining parts of South America, except Monte
Video and such other portions of the eastern bank of the La Plata as
are held by Portugal, are still in the possession of Spain or in a
certain degree under her influence.

By a circular note addressed by the ministers of Spain to the allied
powers, with whom they are respectively accredited, it appears that
the allies have undertaken to mediate between Spain and the South
American Provinces, and that the manner and extent of their
interposition would be settled by a congress which was to have met at
Aix-la-Chapelle in September last. From the general policy and course
of proceeding observed by the allied powers in regard to this contest
it is inferred that they will confine their interposition to the
expression of their sentiments, abstaining from the application of
force. I state this impression that force will not be applied with
the greater satisfaction because it is a course more consistent with
justice and likewise authorizes a hope that the calamities of the war
will be confined to the parties only, and will be of shorter
duration.

From the view taken of this subject, founded on all the information
that we have been able to obtain, there is good cause to be satisfied
with the course heretofore pursued by the United States in regard to
this contest, and to conclude that it is proper to adhere to it,
especially in the present state of affairs.

I have great satisfaction in stating that our relations with France,
Russia, and other powers continue on the most friendly basis.

In our domestic concerns we have ample cause of satisfaction. The
receipts into the Treasury during the three first quarters of the
year have exceeded $17M.

After satisfying all the demands which have been made under existing
appropriations, including the final extinction of the old 6% stock
and the redemption of a moiety of the Louisiana debt, it is estimated
that there will remain in the Treasury on the 1st day of January next
more than $2M.

It is ascertained that the gross revenue which has accrued from the
customs during the same period amounts to $21M, and that the revenue
of the whole year may be estimated at not less than $26M. The sale of
the public lands during the year has also greatly exceeded, both in
quantity and price, that of any former year, and there is just reason
to expect a progressive improvement in that source of revenue.

It is gratifying to know that although the annual expenditure has
been increased by the act of the last session of Congress providing
for Revolutionary pensions to an amount about equal to the proceeds
of the internal duties which were then repealed, the revenue for the
ensuing year will be proportionally augmented, and that whilst the
public expenditure will probably remain stationary, each successive
year will add to the national resources by the ordinary increase of
our population and by the gradual development of our latent sources
of national prosperity.

The strict execution of the revenue laws, resulting principally from
the salutary provisions of the act of the 20th of April last amending
the several collection laws, has, it is presumed, secured to domestic
manufactures all the relief that can be derived from the duties which
have been imposed upon foreign merchandise for their protection. Under
the influence of this relief several branches of this important
national interest have assumed greater activity, and although it is
hoped that others will gradually revive and ultimately triumph over
every obstacle, yet the expediency of granting further protection is
submitted to your consideration.

The measures of defense authorized by existing laws have been pursued
with the zeal and activity due to so important an object, and with all
the dispatch practicable in so extensive and great an undertaking. The
survey of our maritime and inland frontiers has been continued, and at
the points where it was decided to erect fortifications the work has
been commenced, and in some instances considerable progress has been
made. In compliance with resolutions of the last session, the Board
of Commissioners were directed to examine in a particular manner the
parts of the coast therein designated and to report their opinion of
the most suitable sites for two naval depots. This work is in a train
of execution. The opinion of the Board on this subject, with a plan of
all the works necessary to a general system of defense so far as it
has been formed, will be laid before Congress in a report from the
proper department as soon as it can be prepared.

In conformity with the appropriations of the last session, treaties
have been formed with the Quapaw tribe of Indians, inhabiting the
country on the Arkansaw, and the Great and Little Osages north of the
White River; with the tribes in the State of Indiana; with the several
tribes within the State of Ohio and the Michigan Territory, and with
the Chickasaws, by which very extensive cessions of territory have
been made to the United States. Negotiations are now depending with
the tribes in the Illinois Territory and with the Choctaws, by which
it is expected that other extensive cessions will be made. I take
great interest in stating that the cessions already made, which are
considered so important to the United States, have been obtained on
conditions very satisfactory to the Indians.

With a view to the security of our inland frontiers, it has been
thought expedient to establish strong posts at the mouth of Yellow
Stone River and at the Mandan village on the Missouri, and at the
mouth of St. Peters on the Mississippi, at no great distance from our
northern boundaries. It can hardly be presumed while such posts are
maintained in the rear of the Indian tribes that they will venture to
attack our peaceable inhabitants. A strong hope is entertained that
this measure will likewise be productive of much good to the tribes
themselves, especially in promoting the great object of their
civilization.

Experience has clearly demonstrated that independent savage
communities can not long exist within the limits of a civilized
population. The progress of the latter has almost invariably
terminated in the extinction of the former, especially of the tribes
belonging to our portion of this hemisphere, among whom loftiness of
sentiment and gallantry in action have been conspicuous. To civilize
them, and even to prevent their extinction, it seems to be
indispensable that their independence as communities should cease,
and that the control of the United States over them should be
complete and undisputed. The hunter state will then be more easily
abandoned, and recourse will be had to the acquisition and culture of
land and to other pursuits tending to dissolve the ties which connect
them together as a savage community and to give a new character to
every individual. I present this subject to the consideration of
Congress on the presumption that it may be found expedient and
practicable to adopt some benevolent provisions, having these objects
in view, relative to the tribes within our settlements.

It has been necessary during the present year to maintain, a strong
naval force in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf of Mexico, and to
send some public ships along the southern coast and to the Pacific
Ocean. By these means amicable relations with the Barbary Powers have
been preserved, our commerce has been protected, and our rights
respected. The augmentation of our Navy is advancing with a steady
progress toward the limit contemplated by law.

I communicate with great satisfaction the accession of another State
(Illinois) to our Union, because I perceive from the proof afforded
by the additions already made the regular progress and sure
consummation of a policy of which history affords no example, and of
which the good effect can not be too highly estimated. By extending
our Government on the principles of our Constitution over the vast
territory within our limits, on the Lakes and the Mississippi and its
numerous streams, new life and vigor are infused into every part of
our system. By increasing the number of the States the confidence of
the State governments in their own security is increased and their
jealousy of the National Government proportionally diminished.

The impracticability of one consolidated Government for this great
and growing nation will be more apparent and will be universally
admitted. Incapable of exercising local authority except for general
purposes, the General Government will no longer be dreaded. In those
cases of a local nature and for all the great purposes for which it
was instituted its authority will be cherished. Each Government will
acquire new force and a greater freedom of action within its proper
sphere.

Other inestimable advantages will follow. Our produce will be
augmented to an incalculable amount in articles of the greatest value
for domestic use and foreign commerce. Our navigation will in like
degree be increased, and as the shipping of the Atlantic States will
be employed in the transportation of the vast produce of the Western
country, even those parts of the United States which are most remote
from each other will be further bound together by the strongest ties
which mutual interest can create.

The situation of this District, it is thought, requires the attention
of Congress. By the Constitution the power of legislation is
exclusively vested in the Congress of the United States. In the
exercise of this power, in which the people have no participation,
Congress legislate in all cases directly on the local concerns of the
District. As this is a departure, for a special purpose, from the
general principles of our system, it may merit consideration whether
an arrangement better adapted to the principles of our Government and
to the particular interests of the people may not be devised which
will neither infringe the Constitution nor affect the object which
the provision in question was intended to secure. The growing
population, already considerable, and the increasing business of the
District, which it is believed already interferes with the
deliberations of Congress on great national concerns, furnish
additional motives for recommending this subject to your
consideration.

When we view the great blessings with which our country has been
favored, those which we now enjoy, and the means which we possess of
handing them down unimpaired to our latest posterity, our attention
is irresistibly drawn to the source from whence they flow. Let us,
then, unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgments for these
blessings to the Divine Author of All Good.