Speech Transcript:

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

The pleasure I have in congratulating you upon your return to your
constitutional duties is much heightened by the satisfaction which
the condition of our beloved country at this period justly inspires.
The beneficent Author of All Good has granted to us during the
present year health, peace, and plenty, and numerous causes for joy
in the wonderful success which attends the progress of our free
institutions.

With a population unparalleled in its increase, and possessing a
character which combines the hardihood of enterprise with the
considerateness of wisdom, we see in every section of our happy
country a steady improvement in the means of social intercourse, and
correspondent effects upon the genius and laws of our extended
Republic.

The apparent exceptions to the harmony of the prospect are to be
referred rather to inevitable diversities in the various interests
which enter into the composition of so extensive a whole than any
want of attachment to the Union -- interests whose collisions serve
only in the end to foster the spirit of conciliation and patriotism
so essential to the preservation of that Union which I most devoutly
hope is destined to prove imperishable.

In the midst of these blessings we have recently witnessed changes in
the conditions of other nations which may in their consequences call
for the utmost vigilance, wisdom, and unanimity in our councils, and
the exercise of all the moderation and patriotism of our people.

The important modifications of their Government, effected with so
much courage and wisdom by the people of France, afford a happy
presage of their future course, and have naturally elicited from the
kindred feelings of this nation that spontaneous and universal burst
of applause in which you have participated. In congratulating you, my
fellow citizens, upon an event so auspicious to the dearest interests
of man- kind I do no more than respond to the voice of my country,
without transcending in the slightest degree that salutary maxim of
the illustrious Washington which enjoins an abstinence from all
interference with the internal affairs of other nations. From a
people exercising in the most unlimited degree the right of
self-government, and enjoying, as derived from this proud
characteristic, under the favor of Heaven, much of the happiness with
which they are blessed; a people who can point in triumph to their
free institutions and challenge comparison with the fruits they bear,
as well as with the moderation, intelligence, and energy with which
they are administered -- from such a people the deepest sympathy was
to be expected in a struggle for the sacred principles of liberty,
conducted in a spirit every way worthy of the cause, and crowned by a
heroic moderation which has disarmed revolution of its terrors. Not
withstanding the strong assurances which the man whom we so sincerely
love and justly admire has given to the world of the high character of
the present King of the French, and which if sustained to the end will
secure to him the proud appellation of Patriot King, it is not in his
success, but in that of the great principle which has borne him to
the throne -- the paramount authority of the public will -- that the
American people rejoice.

I am happy to inform you that the anticipations which were indulged
at the date of my last communication on the subject of our foreign
affairs have been fully realized in several important particulars.

An arrangement has been effected with Great Britain in relation to
the trade between the United States and her West India and North
American colonies which has settled a question that has for years
afforded matter for contention and almost uninterrupted discussion,
and has been the subject of no less than six negotiations, in a
manner which promises results highly favorable to the parties.

The abstract right of Great Britain to monopolize the trade with her
colonies or to exclude us from a participation therein has never been
denied by the United States. But we have contended, and with reason,
that if at any time Great Britain may desire the productions of this
country as necessary to her colonies they must be received upon
principles of just reciprocity, and, further, that it is making an
invidious and unfriendly distinction to open her colonial ports to
the vessels of other nations and close them against those of the
United States.

Antecedently to 1794 a portion of our productions was admitted into
the colonial islands of Great Britain by particular concessions,
limited to the term of one year, but renewed from year to year. In
the transportation of these productions, however, our vessels were
not allowed to engage, this being a privilege reserved to British
shipping, by which alone our produce could be taken to the islands
and theirs brought to us in return. From Newfoundland and her
continental possessions all our productions, as well as our vessels,
were excluded, with occasional relaxations, by which, in seasons of
distress, the former were admitted in British bottoms.

By the treaty of 1794 she offered to concede to us for a limited time
the right of carrying to her West India possessions in our vessels not
exceeding 70 tons burthen, and upon the same terms as British vessels,
any productions of the United States which British vessels might
import therefrom. But this privilege was coupled with conditions
which are supposed to have led to its rejection by the Senate; that
is, that American vessels should land their return cargoes in the
United States only, and, moreover, that they should during the
continuance of the privilege be precluded from carrying molasses,
sugar, coffee, cocoa, or cotton either from those islands or from the
United States to any other part of the world. Great Britain readily
consented to expunge this article from the treaty, and subsequent
attempts to arrange the terms of the trade either by treaty
stipulations or concerted legislation have failed, it has been
successively suspended and allowed according to the varying
legislation of the parties.

The following are the prominent points which have in later years
separated the two Governments: Besides a restriction whereby all
importations into her colonies in American vessels are confined to
our own products carried hence, a restriction to which it does not
appear that we have ever objected, a leading object on the part of
Great Britain has been to prevent us from becoming the carriers of
British West India commodities to any other country than our own. On
the part of the United States it has been contended, first, that the
subject should be regulated by treaty stipulation in preference to
separate legislation; second, that our productions, when imported
into the colonies in question, should not be subject to higher duties
than the productions of the mother country or of her other colonial
possessions, and, 3rd, that our vessels should be allowed to
participate in the circuitous trade between the United States and
different parts of the British dominions.

The first point, after having been for a long time strenuously
insisted upon by Great Britain, was given up by the act of Parliament
of [1825- 07], all vessels suffered to trade with the colonies being
permitted to clear from thence with any articles which British
vessels might export and proceed to any part of the world, Great
Britain and her dependencies alone excepted. On our part each of the
above points had in succession been explicitly abandoned in
negotiations preceding that of which the result is now announced.

This arrangement secures to the United States every advantage asked
by them, and which the state of the negotiation allowed us to insist
upon. The trade will be placed upon a footing decidedly more
favorable to this country than any on which it ever stood, and our
commerce and navigation will enjoy in the colonial ports of Great
Britain every privilege allowed to other nations.

That the prosperity of the country so far as it depends on this trade
will be greatly promoted by the new arrangement there can be no doubt.
Independently of the more obvious advantages of an open and direct
intercourse, its establishment will be attended with other
consequences of a higher value. That which has been carried on since
the mutual interdict under all the expense and inconvenience
unavoidably incident to it would have been insupportably onerous had
it not been in a great degree lightened by concerted evasions in the
mode of making the transshipments at what are called the neutral
ports. These indirections are inconsistent with the dignity of
nations that have so many motives not only to cherish feelings of
mutual friendship, but to maintain such relations as will stimulate
their respective citizens and subjects to efforts of direct, open,
and honorable competition only, and preserve them from the influence
of seductive and vitiating circumstances.

When your preliminary interposition was asked at the close of the
last session, a copy of the instructions under which Mr. McLane has
acted, together with the communications which had at that time passed
between him and the British Government, was laid before you. Although
there has not been any thing in the acts of the two Governments which
requires secrecy, it was thought most proper in the then state of the
negotiation to make that communication a confidential one. So soon,
however, as the evidence of execution on the part of Great Britain is
received the whole matter shall be laid before you, when it will be
seen that the apprehension which appears to have suggested one of the
provisions of the act passed at your last session, that the
restoration of the trade in question might be connected with other
subjects and was sought to be obtained at the sacrifice of the public
interest in other particulars, was wholly unfounded, and that the
change which has taken place in the views of the British Government
has been induced by considerations as honorable to both parties as I
trust the result will prove beneficial.

This desirable result was, it will be seen, greatly promoted by the
liberal and confiding provisions of the act of Congress of the last
session, by which our ports were upon the reception and annunciation
by the President of the required assurance on the part of Great
Britain forthwith opened to her vessels before the arrangement could
be carried into effect on her part, pursuing in this act of
prospective legislation a similar course to that adopted by Great
Britain in abolishing, by her act of Parliament in 1825, a
restriction then existing and permitting our vessels to clear from
the colonies on their return voyages for any foreign country whatever
before British vessels had been relieved from the restriction imposed
by our law of returning directly from the United States to the
colonies, a restriction which she required and expected that we
should abolish. Upon each occasion a limited and temporary advantage
has been given to the opposite party, but an advantage of no
importance in comparison with the restoration of mutual confidence
and good feeling, and the ultimate establishment of the trade upon
fair principles.

It gives me unfeigned pleasure to assure you that this negotiation
has been throughout characterized by the most frank and friendly
spirit on the part of Great Britain, and concluded in a manner
strongly indicative of a sincere desire to cultivate the best
relations with the United States. To reciprocate this disposition to
the fullest extent of my ability is a duty which I shall deem it a
privilege to discharge.

Although the result is itself the best commentary on the services
rendered to his country by our minister at the Court of St. James, it
would be doing violence to my feelings were I to dismiss the subject
without expressing the very high sense I entertain of the talent and
exertion which have been displayed by him on the occasion.

The injury to the commerce of the United States resulting from the
exclusion of our vessels from the Black Sea and the previous footing
of mere sufferance upon which even the limited trade enjoyed by us
with Turkey has hitherto been placed have for a long time been a
source of much solicitude to this Government, and several endeavors
have been made to obtain a better state of things. Sensible of the
importance of the object, I felt it my duty to leave no proper means
unemployed to acquire for our flag the same privileges that are
enjoyed by the principal powers of Europe. Commissioners were
consequently appointed to open a negotiation with the Sublime Porte.
Not long after the member of the commission who went directly from
the United States had sailed, the account of the treaty of
Adrianople, by which one of the objects in view was supposed to be
secured, reached this country. The Black Sea was understood to be
opened to us. Under the supposition that this was the case, the
additional facilities to be derived from the establishment of
commercial regulations with the Porte were deemed of sufficient
importance to require a prosecution of the negotiation as originally
contemplated. It was therefore persevered in, and resulted in a
treaty, which will be forthwith laid before the Senate.

By its provisions a free passage is secured, without limitations of
time, to the vessels of the United States to and from the Black Sea,
including the navigation thereof, and our trade with Turkey is placed
on the footing of the most favored nation. The latter is an
arrangement wholly independent of the treaty of Adrianople, and the
former derives much value, not only from the increased security which
under any circumstances it would give to the right in question, but
from the fact, ascertained in the course of the negotiation, that by
the construction put upon that treaty by Turkey the article relating
to the passage of the Bosphorus is confined to nations having
treaties with the Porte. The most friendly feelings appear to be
entertained by the Sultan, and an enlightened disposition is evinced
by him to foster the intercourse between the two countries by the
most liberal arrangements. This disposition it will be our duty and
interest to cherish.

Our relations with Russia are of the most stable character. Respect
for that Empire and confidence in its friendship toward the United
States have been so long entertained on our part and so carefully
cherished by the present Emperor and his illustrious predecessor as
to have become incorporated with the public sentiment of the United
States. No means will be left unemployed on my part to promote these
salutary feelings and those improvements of which the commercial
intercourse between the two countries is susceptible, and which have
derived increased importance from our treaty with the Sublime Porte.

I sincerely regret to inform you that our minister lately
commissioned to that Court, on whose distinguished talents and great
experience in public affairs I place great reliance, has been
compelled by extreme indisposition to exercise a privilege which, in
consideration of the extent to which his constitution had been
impaired in the public service, was committed to his discretion -- of
leaving temporarily his post for the advantage of a more genial
climate.

If, as it is to be hoped, the improvement of his health should be
such as to justify him in doing so, he will repair to St. Petersburg
and resume the discharge of his official duties. I have received the
most satisfactory assurances that in the mean time the public
interest in that quarter will be preserved from prejudice by the
intercourse which he will continue through the secretary of legation
with the Russian cabinet.

You are apprised, although the fact has not yet been officially
announced to the House of Representatives, that a treaty was in the
month of March last concluded between the United States, and Denmark,
by which $650K are secured to our citizens as an indemnity for
spoliations upon their commerce in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and
1811. This treaty was sanctioned by the Senate at the close of its
last session, and it now becomes the duty of Congress to pass the
necessary laws for the organization of the board of commissioners to
distribute the indemnity among the claimants. It is an agreeable
circumstance in this adjustment that the terms are in conformity with
the previously ascertained views of the claimants themselves, thus
removing all pretense for a future agitation of the subject in any
form.

The negotiations in regard to such points in our foreign relations as
remain to be adjusted have been actively prosecuted during the recess.
Material advances have been made, which are of a character to promise
favorable results. Our country, by the blessing of God, is not in a
situation to invite aggression, and it will be our fault if she ever
becomes so. Sincerely desirous to cultivate the most liberal and
friendly relations with all; ever ready to fulfill our engagements
with scrupulous fidelity; limiting our demands upon others to mere
justice; holding ourselves ever ready to do unto them as we would
wish to be done by, and avoiding even the appearance of undue
partiality to any nation, it appears to me impossible that a simple
and sincere application of our principles to our foreign relations
can fail to place them ultimately upon the footing on which it is our
wish they should rest.

Of the points referred to, the most prominent are our claims upon
France for spoliations upon our commerce; similar claims upon Spain,
together with embarrassments in the commercial intercourse between
the two countries which ought to be removed; the conclusion of the
treaty of commerce and navigation with Mexico, which has been so long
in suspense, as well as the final settlement of limits between
ourselves and that Republic, and, finally, the arbitrament of the
question between the United States and Great Britain in regard to the
north-eastern boundary.

The negotiation with France has been conducted by our minister with
zeal and ability, and in all respects to my entire satisfaction.
Although the prospect of a favorable termination was occasionally
dimmed by counter pretensions to which the United States could not
assent, he yet had strong hopes of being able to arrive at a
satisfactory settlement with the late Government. The negotiation has
been renewed with the present authorities, and, sensible of the
general and lively confidence of our citizens in the justice and
magnanimity of regenerated France, I regret the more not to have it
in my power yet to announce the result so confidently anticipated. No
ground, however, inconsistent with this expectation has yet been
taken, and I do not allow myself to doubt that justice will soon be
done us. The amount of the claims, the length of time they have
remained unsatisfied, and their incontrovertible justice make an
earnest prosecution of them by this Government an urgent duty. The
illegality of the seizures and confiscations out of which they have
arisen is not disputed, and what ever distinctions may have
heretofore been set up in regard to the liability of the existing
Government it is quite clear that such considerations can not now be
interposed.

The commercial intercourse between the two countries is susceptible
of highly advantageous improvements, but the sense of this injury has
had, and must continue to have, a very unfavorable influence upon
them. From its satisfactory adjustment not only a firm and cordial
friendship, but a progressive development of all their relations, may
be expected. It is, therefore, my earnest hope that this old and
vexatious subject of difference may be speedily removed.

I feel that my confidence in our appeal to the motives which should
govern a just and magnanimous nation is alike warranted by the
character of the French people and by the high voucher we possess for
the enlarged views and pure integrity of the Monarch who now presides
over their councils, and nothing shall be wanting on my part to meet
any manifestation of the spirit we anticipate in one of corresponding
frankness and liberality.

The subjects of difference with Spain have been brought to the view
of that Government by our minister there with much force and
propriety, and the strongest assurances have been received of their
early and favorable consideration.

The steps which remained to place the matter in controversy between
Great Britain and the United States fairly before the arbitrator have
all been taken in the same liberal and friendly spirit which
characterized those before announced. Recent events have doubtless
served to delay the decision, but our minister at the Court of the
distinguished arbitrator has been assured that it will be made within
the time contemplated by the treaty.

I am particularly gratified in being able to state that a decidedly
favorable, and, as I hope, lasting, change has been effected in our
relations with the neighboring Republic of Mexico. The unfortunate
and unfounded suspicions in regard to our disposition which it became
my painful duty to advert to on a former occasion have been, I
believe, entirely removed, and the Government of Mexico has been made
to understand the real character of the wishes and views of this in
regard to that country. The consequences is the establishment of
friendship and mutual confidence. Such are the assurances I have
received, and I see no cause to doubt their sincerity.

I had reason to expect the conclusion of a commercial treaty with
Mexico in season for communication on the present occasion.
Circumstances which are not explained, but which I am persuaded are
not the result of an indisposition on her part to enter into it, have
produced the delay.

There was reason to fear in the course of the last summer that the
harmony of our relations might be disturbed by the acts of certain
claimants, under Mexican grants, of territory which had hitherto been
under our jurisdiction. The cooperation of the representative of
Mexico near this Government was asked on the occasion and was readily
afforded. Instructions and advice have been given to the governor of
Arkansas and the officers in command in the adjoining Mexican State
by which it is hoped the quiet of that frontier will be preserved
until a final settlement of the dividing line shall have removed all
ground of controversy.

The exchange of ratifications of the treaty concluded last year with
Austria has not yet taken place. The delay has been occasioned by the
non-arrival of the ratification of that Government within the time
prescribed by the treaty. Renewed authority has been asked for by the
representative of Austria, and in the mean time the rapidly increasing
trade and navigation between the two countries have been placed upon
the most liberal footing of our navigation acts.

Several alleged depredations have been recently committed on our
commerce by the national vessels of Portugal. They have been made the
subject of immediate remonstrance and reclamation. I am not yet
possessed of sufficient information to express a definitive opinion
of their character, but expect soon to receive it. No proper means
shall be omitted to obtain for our citizens all the redress to which
they may appear to be entitled.

Almost at the moment of the adjournment of your last session two
bills -- the one entitled "An act for making appropriations for
building light houses, light boats, beacons, and monuments, placing
buoys, and for improving harbors and directing surveys", and the
other "An act to authorize a subscription for stock in the Louisville
and Portland Canal Company" -- were submitted for my approval. It was
not possible within the time allowed for me before the close of the
session to give to these bills the consideration which was due to
their character and importance, and I was compelled to retain them
for that purpose. I now avail myself of this early opportunity to
return them to the Houses in which they respectively originated with
the reasons which, after mature deliberation, compel me to withhold
my approval.

The practice of defraying out of the Treasury of the United States
the expenses incurred by the establishment and support of light
houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers within the bays, inlets,
harbors, and ports of the United States, to render the navigation
thereof safe and easy, is coeval with the adoption of the
Constitution, and has been continued without interruption or
dispute.

As our foreign commerce increased and was extended into the interior
of the country by the establishment of ports of entry and delivery
upon our navigable rivers the sphere of those expenditures received a
corresponding enlargement. Light houses, beacons, buoys, public piers,
and the removal of sand bars, sawyers, and other partial or temporary
impediments in the navigable rivers and harbors which were embraced
in the revenue districts from time to time established by law were
authorized upon the same principle and the expense defrayed in the
same manner. That these expenses have at times been extravagant and
disproportionate is very probable. The circumstances under which they
are incurred are well calculated to lead to such a result unless their
application is subjected to the closest scrutiny. The local advantages
arising from the disbursement of public money too frequently, it is to
be feared, invite appropriations for objects of this character that
are neither necessary nor useful.

The number of light house keepers is already very large, and the bill
before me proposes to add to it 51 more of various descriptions. From
representations upon the subject which are understood to be entitled
to respect I am induced to believe that there has not only been great
improvidence in the past expenditures of the Government upon these
objects, but that the security of navigation has in some instances
been diminished by the multiplication of light houses and consequent
change of lights upon the coast. It is in this as in other respects
our duty to avoid all unnecessary expense, as well as every increase
of patronage not called for by the public service.

But in the discharge of that duty in this particular it must not be
forgotten that in relation to our foreign commerce the burden and
benefit of protecting and accommodating it necessarily go together,
and must do so as long as the public revenue is drawn from the people
through the custom house. It is indisputable that whatever gives
facility and security to navigation cheapens imports and all who
consume them are alike interested in what ever produces this effect.
If they consume, they ought, as they now do, to pay; otherwise they
do not pay. The consumer in the most inland State derives the same
advantage from every necessary and prudent expenditure for the
facility and security of our foreign commerce and navigation that he
does who resides in a maritime State. Local expenditures have not of
themselves a corresponding operation.

From a bill making *direct* appropriations for such objects I should
not have withheld my assent. The one now returned does so in several
particulars, but it also contains appropriations for surveys of local
character, which I can not approve. It gives me satisfaction to find
that no serious inconvenience has arisen from withholding my approval
from this bill; nor will it, I trust, be cause of regret that an
opportunity will be thereby afforded for Congress to review its
provisions under circumstances better calculated for full
investigation than those under which it was passed.

In speaking of direct appropriations I mean not to include a practice
which has obtained to some extent, and to which I have in one
instance, in a different capacity, given my assent -- that of
subscribing to the stock of private associations. Positive experience
and a more thorough consideration of the subject have convinced me of
the impropriety as well as inexpediency of such investments. All
improvements effected by the funds of the nation for general use
should be open to the enjoyment of all our fellow citizens, exempt
from the payment of tolls or any imposition of that character. The
practice of thus mingling the concerns of the Government with those
of the States or of individuals is inconsistent with the object of
its institution and highly impolite. The successful operation of the
federal system can only be preserved by confining it to the few and
simple, but yet important, objects for which it was designed.

A different practice, if allowed to progress, would ultimately change
the character of this Government by consolidating into one the General
and State Governments, which were intended to be kept for ever
distinct. I can not perceive how bills authorizing such subscriptions
can be otherwise regarded than as bills for revenue, and consequently
subject to the rule in that respect prescribed by the Constitution.
If the interest of the Government in private companies is subordinate
to that of individuals, the management and control of a portion of the
public funds is delegated to an authority unknown to the Constitution
and beyond the supervision of our constituents; if superior, its
officers and agents will be constantly exposed to imputations of
favoritism and oppression. Direct prejudice the public interest or an
alienation of the affections and respect of portions of the people
may, therefore, in addition to the general dis-credit resulting to
the Government from embarking with its constituents in pecuniary
stipulations, be looked for as the probable fruit of such
associations. It is no answer to this objection to say that the
extent of consequences like these can not be great from a limited and
small number of investments, because experience in other matters
teaches us -- and we are not at liberty to disregard its admonitions
-- that unless an entire stop be put to them it will soon be
impossible to prevent their accumulation until they are spread over
the whole country and made to embrace many of the private and
appropriate concerns of individuals.

The power which the General Government would acquire within the
several States by becoming the principal stock-holder in
corporations, controlling every canal and each 60 or 100 miles of
every important road, and giving a proportionate vote in all their
elections, is almost inconceivable, and in my view dangerous to the
liberties of the people.

This mode of aiding such works is also in its nature deceptive, and
in many cases conducive to improvidence in the administration of the
national funds. Appropriations will be obtained with much greater
facility and granted with less security to the public interest when
the measure is thus disguised than when definite and direct
expenditures of money are asked for. The interests of the nation
would doubtless be better served by avoiding all such indirect modes
of aiding particular objects. In a government like ours more
especially should all public acts be, as far as practicable, simple,
undisguised, and intelligible, that they may become fit subjects for
the approbation to animadversion of the people.

The bill authorizing a subscription to the Louisville and Portland
Canal affords a striking illustration of the difficulty of
withholding additional appropriations for the same object when the
first erroneous step has been taken by instituting a partnership
between the Government and private companies. It proposes a third
subscription on the part of the United States, when each preceding
one was at the time regarded as the extent of the aid which
Government was to render to that work; and the accompanying bill for
light houses, etc., contains an appropriation for a survey of the bed
of the river, with a view to its improvement by removing the
obstruction which the canal is designed to avoid. This improvement,
if successful, would afford a free passage of the river and render
the canal entirely useless. To such improvidence is the course of
legislation subject in relation to internal improvements on local
matters, even with the best intentions on the part of Congress.

Although the motives which have influenced me in this matter may be
already sufficiently stated, I am, never the less, induced by its
importance to add a few observations of a general character.

In my objections to the bills authorizing subscriptions to the
Maysville and Rockville road companies I expressed my views fully in
regard to the power of Congress to construct roads and canals within
a State of to appropriate money for improvements of a local
character. I at the same time intimated me belief that the right to
make appropriations for such as were of a national character had been
so generally acted upon and so long acquiesced in by the Federal and
State Governments and the constituents of each as to justify its
exercise on the ground of continued and uninterrupted usage, but that
it was, never the less, highly expedient that appropriations even of
that character should, with the exception made at the time, be
deferred until the national debt is paid, and that in the mean while
some general rule for the action of the Government in that respect
ought to be established.

These suggestions were not necessary to the decision of the question
then before me, and were, I readily admit, intended to awake the
attention and draw forth the opinion and observations of our
constituents upon a subject of the highest importance to their
interests, and 1 destined to exert a powerful influence upon the
future operations of our political system. I know of no tribunal to
which a public man in this country, in a case of doubt and
difficulty, can appeal with greater advantage or more propriety than
the judgment of the people; and although I must necessarily in the
discharge of my official duties be governed by the dictates of my own
judgment, I have no desire to conceal my anxious wish to conform as
far as I can to the views of those for whom I act.

All irregular expressions of public opinion are of necessity attended
with some doubt as to their accuracy, but making full allowances on
that account I can not, I think, deceive myself in believing that the
acts referred to, as well as the suggestions which I allowed myself to
make in relation to their bearing upon the future operations of the
Government, have been approved by the great body of the people. That
those whose immediate pecuniary interests are to be affected by
proposed expenditures should shrink from the application of a rule
which prefers their more general and remote interests to those which
are personal and immediate is to be expected. But even such
objections must from the nature of our population be but temporary in
their duration, and if it were otherwise our course should be the
same, for the time is yet, I hope, far distant when those intrusted
with power to be exercised for the good of the whole will consider it
either honest or wise to purchase local favors at the sacrifice of
principle and general good.

So understanding public sentiment, and thoroughly satisfied that the
best interests of our common country imperiously require that the
course which I have recommended in this regard should be adopted, I
have, upon the most mature consideration, determined to pursue it.

It is due to candor, as well as to my own feelings, that I should
express the reluctance and anxiety which I must at all times
experience in exercising the undoubted right of the Executive to
withhold his assent from bills on other grounds than their
constitutionality. That this right should not be exercised on slight
occasions all will admit. It is only in matters of deep interest,
when the principle involved may be justly regarded as next in
importance to infractions of the Constitution itself, that such a
step can be expected to meet with the approbation of the people. Such
an occasion do I conscientiously believe the present to be.

In the discharge of this delicate and highly responsible duty I am
sustained by the reflection that the exercise of this power has been
deemed consistent with the obligation of official duty by several of
my predecessors, and by the persuasion, too, that what ever liberal
institutions may have to fear from the encroachments of Executive
power, which has been every where the cause of so much strife and
bloody contention, but little danger is to be apprehended from a
precedent by which that authority denies to itself the exercise of
powers that bring in their train influence and patronage of great
extent, and thus excludes the operation of personal interests, every
where the bane of official trust.

I derive, too, no small degree of satisfaction from the reflection
that if I have mistaken the interests and wishes of the people the
Constitution affords the means of soon redressing the error by
selecting for the place their favor has bestowed upon me a citizen
whose opinions may accord with their own. I trust, in the mean time,
the interests of the nation will be saved from prejudice by a rigid
application of that portion of the public funds which might otherwise
be applied to different objects to that highest of all our
obligations, the payment of the public debt, and an opportunity be
afforded for the adoption of some better rule for the operations of
the Government in this matter than any which has hitherto been acted
upon.

Profoundly impressed with the importance of the subject, not merely
as relates to the general prosperity of the country, but to the
safety of the federal system, I can not avoid repeating my earnest
hope that all good citizens who take a proper interest in the success
and harmony of our admirable political institutions, and who are
incapable of desiring to convert an opposite state of things into
means for the gratification of personal ambition, will, laying aside
minor considerations and discarding local prejudices, unite their
honest exertions to establish some fixed general principle which
shall be calculated to effect the greatest extent of public good in
regard to the subject of internal improvement, and afford the least
ground for sectional discontent.

The general grounds of my objection to local appropriations have been
heretofore expressed, and I shall endeavor to avoid a repetition of
what has been already urged -- the importance of sustaining the State
sovereignties as far as is consistent with the rightful action of the
Federal Government, and of preserving the greatest attainable harmony
between them. I will now only add an expression of my conviction -- a
conviction which every day's experience serves to confirm -- that the
political creed which inculcates the pursuit of those great objects as
a paramount duty is the true faith, and one to which we are mainly
indebted for the present success of the entire system, and to which
we must alone look for its future stability.

That there are diversities in the interests of the different States
which compose this extensive Confederacy must be admitted. Those
diversities arising from situation, climate, population, and pursuits
are doubtless, as it is natural they should be, greatly exaggerated by
jealousies and that spirit of rivalry so inseparable from neighboring
communities. These circumstances make it the duty of those who are
intrusted with the management of its affairs to neutralize their
effects as far as practicable by making the beneficial operation of
the Federal Government as equal and equitable among the several
States as can be done consistently with the great ends of its
institution.

It is only necessary to refer to undoubted facts to see how far the
past acts of the Government upon the subject under consideration have
fallen short of this object. The expenditures heretofore made for
internal improvements amount to upward of $5M, and have been
distributed in very unequal proportions amongst the States. The
estimated expense of works of which surveys have been made, together
with that of others projected and partially surveyed, amounts to more
than $96M.

That such improvements, on account of particular circumstances, may
be more advantageously and beneficially made in some States than in
others is doubtless true, but that they are of a character which
should prevent an equitable distribution of the funds amongst the
several States is not to be conceded. The want of this equitable
distribution can not fail to prove a prolific source of irritation
among the States.

We have it constantly before our eyes that professions of superior
zeal in the cause of internal improvement and a disposition to lavish
the public funds upon objects of this character are daily and
earnestly put forth by aspirants to power as constituting the highest
claims to the confidence of the people. Would it be strange, under
such circumstances, and in times of great excitement, that grants of
this description should find their motives in objects which may not
accord with the public good? Those who have not had occasion to see
and regret the indication of a sinister influence in these matters in
past times have been more fortunate than myself in their observation
of the course of public affairs. If to these evils be added the
combinations and angry contentions to which such a course of things
gives rise, with their baleful influences upon the legislation of
Congress touching the leading and appropriate duties of the Federal
Government, it was but doing justice to the character of our people
to expect the severe condemnation of the past which the recent
exhibitions of public sentiment has evinced.

Nothing short of a radical change in the action of the Government
upon the subject can, in my opinion, remedy the evil. If, as it would
be natural to expect, the States which have been least favored in past
appropriations should insist on being redressed in those here after to
be made, at the expense of the States which have so largely and
disproportionately participated, we have, as matters now stand, but
little security that the attempt would do more than change the
inequality from one quarter to another.

Thus viewing the subject, I have heretofore felt it my duty to
recommend the adoption of some plan for the distribution of the
surplus funds, which may at any time remain in the Treasury after the
national debt shall have been paid, among the States, in proportion to
the number of their Representatives, to be applied by them to objects
of internal improvement.

Although this plan has met with favor in some portions of the Union,
it has also elicited objections which merit deliberate consideration.
A brief notice of these objections here will not, therefore, I trust,
be regarded as out of place.

They rest, as far as they have come to my knowledge, on the following
grounds: first, an objection to the ration of distribution; second, an
apprehension that the existence of such a regulation would produce
improvident and oppressive taxation to raise the funds for
distribution; 3rd, that the mode proposed would lead to the
construction of works of a local nature, to the exclusion of such as
are general and as would consequently be of a more useful character;
and, last, that it would create a discreditable and injurious
dependence on the part of the State governments upon the Federal
power.

Of those who object to the ration of representatives as the basis of
distribution, some insist that the importations of the respective
States would constitute one that would be more equitable; and others
again, that the extent of their respective territories would furnish
a standard which would be more expedient and sufficiently equitable.
The ration of representation presented itself to my mind, and it
still does, as one of obvious equity, because of its being the ratio
of contribution, whether the funds to be distributed be derived from
the customs or from direct taxation. It does not follow, however,
that its adoption is indispensable to the establishment of the system
proposed. There may be considerations appertaining to the subject
which would render a departure, to some extent, from the rule of
contribution proper. Nor is it absolutely necessary that the basis of
distribution be confined to 1 ground. It may, if in the judgment of
those whose right it is to fix it it be deemed politic and just to
give it that character, have regard to several.

In my first message I stated it to be my opinion that "it is not
probably that any adjustment of the tariff upon principles
satisfactory to the people of the Union will until a remote period,
if ever, leave the Government without a considerable surplus in the
Treasury beyond what may be required for its current surplus". I have
had no cause to change that opinion, but much to confirm it. Should
these expectations be realized, a suitable fund would thus be
produced for the plan under consideration to operate upon, and if
there be no such fund its adoption will, in my opinion, work no
injury to any interest; for I can not assent to the justness of the
apprehension that the establishment of the proposed system would tend
to the encouragement of improvident legislation of the character
supposed. What ever the proper authority in the exercise of
constitutional power shall at any time here after decide to be for
the general good will in that as in other respects deserve and
receive the acquiescence and support of the whole country, and we
have ample security that every abuse of power in that regard by
agents of the people will receive a speedy and effectual corrective
at their hands. The views which I take of the future, founded on the
obvious and increasing improvement of all classes of our fellow
citizens in intelligence and in public and private virtue, leave me
without much apprehension on that head.

I do not doubt that those who come after us will be as much alive as
we are to the obligation upon all the trustees of political power to
exempt those for whom they act from all unnecessary burthens, and as
sensible of the great truth that the resources of the nation beyond
those required for immediate and necessary purposes of Government can
no where be so well deposited as in the pockets of the people.

It may some times happen that the interests of particular States
would not be deemed to coincide with the general interest in relation
to improvements within such States. But if the danger to be
apprehended from this source is sufficient to require it, a
discretion might be reserved to Congress to direct to such
improvements of a general character as the States concerned might not
be disposed to unite in, the application of the quotas of those
States, under the restriction of confining to each State the
expenditure of its appropriate quota. It may, however, be assumed as
a safe general rule that such improvements as serve to increase the
prosperity of the respective States in which they are made, by giving
new facilities to trade, and thereby augmenting the wealth and comfort
of their inhabitants, constitute the surest mode of conferring
permanent and substantial advantages upon the whole. The strength as
well as the true glory of the Confederacy is founded on the
prosperity and power of the several independent sovereignties of
which it is composed and the certainty with which they can be brought
into successful active cooperation through the agency of the Federal
Government.

It is, more over, within the knowledge of such as are at all
conversant with public affairs that schemes of internal improvement
have from time to time been proposed which, from their extent and
seeming magnificence, were readily regarded as of national
concernment, but which upon fuller consideration and further
experience would now be rejected with great unanimity.

That the plan under consideration would derive important advantages
from its certainty, and that the moneys set apart for these purposes
would be more judiciously applied and economically expended under the
direction of the State legislatures, in which every part of each State
is immediately represented, can not, I think, be doubted. In the new
States particularly, where a comparatively small population is
scattered over an extensive surface, and the representation in
Congress consequently very limited, it is natural to expect that the
appropriations made by the Federal Government would be more likely to
be expended in the vicinity of those numbers through whose immediate
agency they were obtained than if the funds were placed under the
control of the legislature, in which every county of the State has
its own representative. This supposition does not necessarily impugn
the motives of such Congressional representatives, nor is it so
intended. We are all sensible of the bias to which the strongest
minds and purest hearts are, under such circumstances, liable. In
respect to the last objection -- its probable effect upon the dignity
and independence of State governments -- it appears to me only
necessary to state the case as it is, and as it would be if the
measure proposed were adopted, to show that the operation is most
likely to be the very reverse of that which the objection supposes.

In the one case the State would receive its quota of the national
revenue for domestic use upon a fixed principle as a matter of right,
and from a fund to the creation of which it had itself contributed its
fair proportion. Surely there could be nothing derogatory in that. As
matters now stand the States themselves, in their sovereign
character, are not unfrequently petitioners at the bar of the Federal
Legislature for such allowances out of the National Treasury as it may
comport with their pleasure or sense of duty to bestow upon them. It
can not require argument to prove which of the two courses is most
compatible with the efficiency or respectability of the State
governments.

But all these are matters for discussion and dispassionate
consideration. That the desired adjustment would be attended with
difficulty affords no reason why it should not be attempted. The
effective operation of such motives would have prevented the adoption
of the Constitution under which we have so long lived and under the
benign influence of which our beloved country has so signally
prospered. The framers of that sacred instrument had greater
difficulties to overcome, and they did overcome them. The patriotism
of the people, directed by a deep conviction of the importance of the
Union, produced mutual concession and reciprocal forbearance. Strict
right was merged in a spirit of compromise, and the result has
consecrated their disinterested devotion to the general weal. Unless
the American people have degenerated, the same result can be again
effected when ever experience points out the necessity of a resort to
the same means to uphold the fabric which their fathers have reared.

It is beyond the power of man to make a system of government like
ours or any other operate with precise equality upon States situated
like those which compose this Confederacy; nor is inequality always
injustice. Every State can not expect to shape the measures of the
General Government to suit its own particular interests. The causes
which prevent it are seated in the nature of things, and can not be
entirely counteracted by human means. Mutual forbearance becomes,
therefore, a duty obligatory upon all, and we may, I am confident,
count upon a cheerful compliance with this high injunction on the
part of our constituents. It is not to be supposed that they will
object to make such comparatively inconsiderable sacrifices for the
preservation of rights and privileges which other less favored
portions of the world have in vain waded through seas of blood to
acquire.

Our course is a safe one if it be but faithfully adhered to.
Acquiescence in the constitutionally expressed will of the majority,
and the exercise of that will in a spirit of moderation, justice, and
brotherly kindness, will constitute a cement which would for ever
preserve our Union. Those who cherish and inculcate sentiments like
these render a most essential service to their country, while those
who seek to weaken their influence are, how ever conscientious and
praise worthy their intentions, in effect its worst enemies.

If the intelligence and influence of the country, instead of laboring
to foment sectional prejudices, to be made subservient to party
warfare, were in good faith applied to the eradication of causes of
local discontent, by the improvement of our institutions and by
facilitating their adaptation to the condition of the times, this
task would prove 1 of less difficulty. May we not hope that the
obvious interests of our common country and the dictates of an
enlightened patriotism will in the end lead the public mind in that
direction?

After all, the nature of the subject does not admit of a plan wholly
free from objection. That which has for some time been in operation
is, perhaps, the worst that could exist, and every advance that can
be made in its improvement is a matter eminently worthy of your most
deliberate attention.

It is very possible that one better calculated to effect the objects
in view may yet be devised. If so, it is to be hoped that those who
disapprove the past and dissent from what is proposed for the future
will feel it their duty to direct their attention to it, as they must
be sensible that unless some fixed rule for the action of the Federal
Government in this respect is established the course now attempted to
be arrested will be again resorted to. Any mode which is calculated to
give the greatest degree of effect and harmony to our legislation upon
the subject, which shall best serve to keep the movements of the
Federal Government within the sphere intended by those who modeled
and those who adopted it, which shall lead to the extinguishment of
the national debt in the shortest period and impose the lightest
burthens upon our constituents, shall receive from me a cordial and
firm support.

Among the objects of great national concern I can not omit to press
again upon your attention that part of the Constitution which
regulates the election of President and Vice-President. The necessity
for its amendment is made so clear to my mind by observation of its
evils and by the many able discussions which they have elicited on
the floor of Congress and elsewhere that I should be wanting to my
duty were I to withhold another expression of my deep solicitude on
the subject. Our system fortunately contemplates a recurrence to
first principles, differing in this respect from all that have
preceded it, and securing it, I trust, equally against the decay and
the commotions which have marked the progress of other governments.

Our fellow citizens, too, who in proportion to their love of liberty
keep a steady eye upon the means of sustaining it, do not require to
be reminded of the duty they owe to themselves to remedy all
essential defects in so vital a part of their system. While they are
sensible that every evil attendant upon its operation is not
necessarily indicative of a bad organization, but may proceed from
temporary causes, yet the habitual presence, or even a single
instance, of evils which can be clearly traced to an organic defect
will not, I trust, be over-looked through a too scrupulous veneration
for the work of their ancestors.

The Constitution was an experiment committed to the virtue and
intelligence of the great mass of our country-men, in whose ranks the
framers of it themselves were to perform the part of patriotic
observation and scrutiny, and if they have passed from the stage of
existence with an increased confidence in its general adaptation to
our condition we should learn from authority so high the duty of
fortifying the points in it which time proves to be exposed rather
than be deterred from approaching them by the suggestions of fear or
the dictates of misplaced reverence.

A provision which does not secure to the people a direct choice of
their Chief Magistrate, but has a tendency to defeat their will,
presented to my mind such an inconsistence with the general spirit of
our institutions that I was indeed to suggest for your consideration
the substitute which appeared to me at the same time the most likely
to correct the evil and to meet the views of our constituents. The
most mature reflection since has added strength to the belief that
the best interests of our country require the speedy adoption of some
plan calculated to effect this end. A contingency which some times
places it in the power of a single member of the House of
Representatives to decide an election of so high and solemn a
character is unjust to the people, and becomes when it occurs a
source of embarrassment to the individuals thus brought into power
and a cause of distrust of the representative body.

Liable as the Confederacy is, from its great extent, to parties
founded upon sectional interests, and to a corresponding
multiplication of candidates for the Presidency, the tendency of the
constitutional reference to the House of Representatives is to
devolve the election upon that body in almost every instance, and,
what ever choice may then be made among the candidates thus presented
to them, to swell the influence of particular interests to a degree
inconsistent with the general good. The consequences of this feature
of the Constitution appear far more threatening to the peace and
integrity of the Union than any which I can conceive as likely to
result from the simple legislative action of the Federal Government.

It was a leading object with the framers of the Constitution to keep
as separate as possible the action of the legislative and executive
branches of the Government. To secure this object nothing is more
essential than to preserve the former from all temptations of private
interest, and therefore so to direct the patronage of the latter as
not to permit such temptations to be offered. Experience abundantly
demonstrates that every precaution in this respect is a valuable
safe-guard of liberty, and 1 which my reflections upon the tendencies
of our system incline me to think should be made still stronger.

It was for this reason that, in connection with an amendment of the
Constitution removing all intermediate agency in the choice of the
President, I recommended some restrictions upon the re-eligibility of
that officer and upon the tenure of offices generally. The reason
still exists, and I renew the recommendation with an increased
confidence that its adoption will strengthen those checks by which
the Constitution designed to secure the independence of each
department of the Government and promote the healthful and equitable
administration of all the trusts which it has created.

The agent most likely to contravene this design of the Constitution
is the Chief Magistrate. In order, particularly, that his appointment
may as far as possible be placed beyond the reach of any improper
influences; in order that he may approach the solemn responsibilities
of the highest office in the gift of a free people uncommitted to any
other course than the strict line of constitutional duty, and that
the securities for this independence may be rendered as strong as the
nature of power and the weakness of its possessor will admit, I can
not too earnestly invite your attention to the propriety of promoting
such an amendment of the Constitution as will render him ineligible
after 1 term of service.

It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent
policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly 30 years, in
relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements
is approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have
accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of
Congress, and it is believed that their example will induce the
remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages.

The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United
States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves. The
pecuniary advantages which it promises to the Government are the
least of its recommendations. It puts an end to all possible danger
of collision between the authorities of the General and State
Governments on account of the Indians. It will place a dense and
civilized population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few
savage hunters. By opening the whole territory between Tennessee on
the north and Louisiana on the south to the settlement of the whites
it will incalculably strengthen the SW frontier and render the
adjacent States strong enough to repel future invasions without
remote aid. It will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the
western part of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States
to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power. It will separate
the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free
them from the power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in
their own way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the
progress of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps
cause them gradually, under the protection of the Government and
through the influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage
habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community.
These consequences, some of them so certain and the rest so probable,
make the complete execution of the plan sanctioned by Congress at
their last session an object of much solicitude.

Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more
friendly feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to
reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy,
prosperous people. I have endeavored to impress upon them my own
solemn convictions of the duties and powers of the General Government
in relation to the State authorities. For the justice of the laws
passed by the States within the scope of their reserved powers they
are not responsible to this Government. As individuals we may
entertain and express our opinions of their acts, but as a Government
we have as little right to control them as we have to prescribe laws
for other nations.

With a full understanding of the subject, the Choctaw and the
Chickasaw tribes have with great unanimity determined to avail
themselves of the liberal offers presented by the act of Congress,
and have agreed to remove beyond the Mississippi River. Treaties have
been made with them, which in due season will be submitted for
consideration. In negotiating these treaties they were made to
understand their true condition, and they have preferred maintaining
their independence in the Western forests to submitting to the laws
of the States in which they now reside. These treaties, being
probably the last which will ever be made with them, are
characterized by great liberality on the part of the Government. They
give the Indians a liberal sum in consideration of their removal, and
comfortable subsistence on their arrival at their new homes. If it be
their real interest to maintain a separate existence, they will there
be at liberty to do so without the inconveniences and vexations to
which they would unavoidably have been subject in Alabama and
Mississippi.

Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this
country, and Philanthropy has been long busily employed in devising
means to avert it, but its progress has never for a moment been
arrested, and one by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from
the earth. To follow to the tomb the last of his race and to tread on
the graves of extinct nations excite melancholy reflections. But true
philanthropy reconciles the mind to these vicissitudes as it does to
the extinction of one generation to make room for another. In the
monuments and fortifications of an unknown people, spread over the
extensive regions of the West, we behold the memorials of a once
powerful race, which was exterminated of has disappeared to make room
for the existing savage tribes. Nor is there any thing in this which,
upon a comprehensive view of the general interests of the human race,
is to be regretted. Philanthropy could not wish to see this continent
restored to the condition in which it was found by our forefathers.
What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged
by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with
cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the
improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by
more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings
of liberty, civilization, and religion?

The present policy of the Government is but a continuation of the
same progressive change by a milder process. The tribes which
occupied the countries now constituting the Eastern States were
annihilated or have melted away to make room for the whites. The
waves of population and civilization are rolling to the westward, and
we now propose to acquire the countries occupied by the red men of the
South and West by a fair exchange, and, at the expense of the United
States,