Monroe & a Bank Crisis in 1819
Monroe’s Annual Message December 1819
Missouri-Maine Compromise 1819-20
Monroe, Jackson & Florida 1818-21
Monroe’s Annual Message November 1820
On 12 January 1819 the former President Thomas Jefferson wrote
this letter to Nathaniel Macon about the current economic situation:
The problem you had wished to propose to
me was one which I could not have solved;
for I know nothing of the facts.
I read no newspaper now but Ritchie’s, and in
that chiefly the advertisements, for they contain
the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
I feel a much greater interest in knowing what passed two
or three thousand years ago, than in what is now passing.
I read nothing therefore but of the heroes of Troy,
of the wars of Lacedaemon & Athens, of Pompey
and Caesar and of Augustus too, the Bonaparte
and parricide scoundrel of that day.
I have had and still have such entire confidence in the
late and present Presidents, that I willingly put both
soul & body into their pockets. while such men as
yourself and your worthy colleagues of the legislature,
and such characters as compose the Executive
administration are watching for us all, I slumber without
fear and review in my dreams the visions of antiquity.
There is indeed one evil which awakens me at times,
because it jostles me at every turn.
It is that we have now no measure of value.
I am asked 18 Dollars for a yard of broadcloth,
which when we had Dollars, I used to get for 18/.
From this I can only understand that a Dollar
is now worth but 2 inches of broadcloth.
But broadcloth is no standard of measure or value.
I do not know therefore whereabouts I stand in the
scale of property, nor what to ask, or what to give for it.
I saw indeed the like machinery in action in the
years 80 & 81 and without dissatisfaction; because
in wearing out, it was working out our salvation.
But I see nothing in this renewal of the game of
‘Robin’s alive’ but a general demoralization of the nation,
a filching from industry its honest earnings, wherewith
to build up palaces, and raise gambling stock for
swindlers and shavers, who are to close too their
career of piracies by fraudulent bankruptcies.
My dependence for a remedy however, is in
the wisdom which grows with time and suffering.
Whether the succeeding generation is to be more virtuous
than their predecessors I cannot say; but I am sure they will
have more worldly wisdom, and enough, I hope, to know
that honesty is the 1st chapter in the book of wisdom.1
Jefferson on 18 January wrote this letter to President James Monroe:
You oblige me infinitely, dear Sir, by sending me
the Congressional documents in pamphlet form,
for as they come out by piece-meal in the newspapers
I never read them, and indeed I read no newspapers
now but Ritchie’s and in that chiefly the advertisements,
as being the only truths we can rely on in a newspaper.
But in a pamphlet, where we can go through
the whole subject when once taken up, and
seen in all its parts we avoid the risk of false
judgment which a partial view endangers.
On the subject of these communications I will venture a
suggestion which, should it have occurred to yourself or
to Mr. Adams as is probable, will only be a little labor lost.
I propose then that you select Mr. Adams’s 4 principal
letters on the Spanish subject, to wit, that which
establishes our right to the Rio Bravo which
was laid before the Congress of 1817-18.
His letters to Onís of July 23 & November 30
and to Erving of November 28 perhaps also that of
December 2 have them well translated into French,
and send English & French copies to all our
ministers at foreign courts and to our Consuls.
The paper on our right to the Rio Bravo, and
the letter to Erving of November 28 are the most
important, and are among the ablest compositions
I have ever seen, both as to logic and style.
A selection of these few in pamphlet form will be read
by everybody; but by nobody if buried among Onís’s
long-winded and tergiversating diatribes, and all the
documents; the volume of which alone will deter a
European reader from ever opening it: indeed it
would be worthwhile to have the two most important
of these published in the Leyden gazette, from which
it would go into the other leading gazettes of Europe.
It is of great consequence to us, & merits every
possible endeavor, to maintain in Europe
a correct opinion of our political morality.
These papers will place us erect with the world
in the important cases of our Western boundary,
of our military entrance into Florida, & of the
execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister.
On the two first subjects it is very natural for a European
to go wrong, and to give in to the charge of ambition, which
the English papers (read everywhere) endeavor to fix on us.
If the European mind is once set right on these points,
they will go with us in all the subsequent proceedings,
without further enquiry.
While on the subject of this correspondence,
I will presume also to suggest to Mr. Adams
the question whether he should not send back
Onís’s letters in which he has the impudence
to qualify you by the term ‘his Excellency’?
An American gentleman in Europe can rank
with the first nobility because we have no titles
which stick him at any particular place in their line.
So the President of the U. S. under that designation
ranks with Emperors and kings, but add Mr. Onís’s
courtesy of ‘his excellency,’ and he is then on a level
with Mr. Onís himself, with the Governors of provinces,
and even of every petty fort in Europe or the colonies.2
Shortly after becoming a state, the Illinois legislature on 6 February 1819 passed
the Apprentice Labor Act to regulate indenture contracts and control abuses.
On February 7 President James Monroe wrote this letter to James Madison:
A most afflicting event occurred yesterday,
the death of General Armistead Mason,
killed in a duel by his cousin Mr. J. M. McCarty.
They fought with muskets.
The distress is universal & deep, proceeding from regret
at the loss of the highly respected & meritorious individual,
& the terrible example it exhibits of party feuds.
The debate respecting the proceedings in
Florida is still depending, though it is probable
that it will be decided in a few days.
On this occurrence I can give you no information,
everything appertaining to it, not communicated
to you personally, being before the public.
On the receipt of General Jackson’s report of his
proceedings there, I had three great objects in view,
first, to secure the Constitution from any breach,
second, to deprive Spain and the allies
of any just cause of war, &
third, to turn it to the best account of the country.
By resolving to restore the posts & announcing it to
the minister of Spain, the two first were accomplished,
& there seemed to be little difficulty in deciding on whom
in strict justice the censure ought to fall, the Spanish
authorities or General Jackson, and as little as to the
effect of the one or other course on the public interest.
Had General Jackson been ordered to trial, I have no doubt,
that the interior of the country would have been much
agitated if not convulsed by appeals to sectional interests,
by imputations of subservience to the views of Ferdinand,
of hostility to the cause of the Colonies, &c, nor have I any,
that Spain, deriving confidence & courage, from
these divisions, would have found new cause to
persevere in her procrastinating & equivocating policy.
With respect to General Jackson’s conduct, I considered it
a question of merit or demerit in him & seeing sufficient
justification of him in the injuries received from the
criminal aggressors in Florida, & nothing to palliate
their conduct in any claims of Spain on us, there
seemed to be no reason for censuring him, and much
for giving just weight, & turning to the best account all
the circumstances which operated against them & her.
If a General in executing orders in a campaign against
an enemy should not make just discriminations in all
instances between enemies & others, I do not consider
him as committing a breach of the Constitution.
If the government sets the affair right
in other respects, there is no breach,
although he be not punished for his mistake.
There is some prospect of an accommodation
with Mr. Onís, and immediately, essentially on the
conditions offered some time since, and published.
Should it take place, I have no doubt that it will
be due principally to the late pressure in Florida.3
The US Supreme Court heard the case of Sturges v. Crowninshield
on 8 February 1819, and nine days later they decided 7-0 that New York’s
1811 insolvency law was unconstitutional because it violated the contracts clause;
yet Marshall allowed the state to modify the remedy that freed those imprisoned for debt.
The total debt on land had risen to $23 million by 1819,
and that year 85 of the 392 banks in the United States folded.
A financial panic swept across the U. S. as paper currency in state banks depreciated.
Prices fell as cotton dropped 50% during the year.
Bankruptcies multiplied while the Humane Society
kept jailed debtors from starving in Philadelphia.
Rich Robert Morris had financed the American Revolution,
but now he spent nearly two years in a debtors’ prison.
Soup kitchens fed thousands in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
New England’s state banks were more conservative and were not hit as hard,
though Boston was the city that suffered the most there.
Farmers managed better than city dwellers.
Many debtors fled to the west.
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Missouri
passed debtor-relief laws as did Vermont and Maryland.
Every western state passed laws restricting bank charters
and credit except Louisiana and Mississippi.
Jefferson wrote to John Adams in November that the
“paper bubble” had burst, and he struggled to save Monticello.
The Society for the Prevention of Pauperism estimated
that 15,000 people in New York City needed charity.
More than 2,000 shops sold liquor, increasing drunkenness,
and the Society tried to keep poor young girls from becoming prostitutes.
Youth gangs robbed and sold goods to pawnbrokers.
In 1819 and 1820 the US Treasury transferred federal deposits to state banks
that were in danger, but debtors would still owe the government $22 million in 1820.
The price of government land was lowered to $1.25 per acre to discourage speculation.
Some companies secured the 160-acre land warrants given to 18,000 veterans.
The Boston and Indiana Land Company owned a high of
29,000 acres and the American Land Company 8,000 acres.
In his 1820 pamphlet Thoughts on Political Economy Daniel Raymond urged
economists to consider the moral issues regarding labor in order to serve mankind,
and he advised the government to help the unemployed
and fund public works as did War Secretary Calhoun.
In 1819 Emma Willard presented to the New York
legislature her “Plan for Improving Female Education,”
and she founded Troy Female Seminary in the fall of 1821.
The Virginia Board of Public Works in December 1818 had recommended
the ideas of the civil engineer Loammi Baldwin Jr. from Boston.
Ex-presidents Jefferson and Madison worked on the Rockfish Gap Commission
that recommended the purposes of the University of Virginia
which was chartered in 1819 as Jefferson became the first rector.
The Methodist minister Jacob Gruber criticized slavery in Maryland and was charged
with inciting insurrection, and Roger Taney defended him in his trial in March 1819.
On March 3 the U. S. Congress offered a reward
of $50 for information about slave smuggling.
They authorized the President to deport “illegal slaves” to Africa.
In 1818 Maryland had passed a law taxing all banks
that the legislature had not chartered; but cashier James McCullough
of the Baltimore branch of the United States Bank refused
to pay the tax that Maryland tried to impose on that Bank.
Daniel Webster, William Pinckney, and William Wirt represented the U. S. Bank.
Webster argued that an unlimited tax is a “power to destroy.”
Dartmouth College had been founded in 1769 to educate youths from Indian tribes.
Gradually more local whites became students, and in 1816 the Republican legislature
of New Hampshire tried to change the charter and bring back
the college’s deposed president, allowing the new Republican Governor William Plumer
to appoint trustees and other positions in order to remove the Federalists.
Daniel Webster had graduated from Dartmouth,
and he defended the college at the U..S Supreme Court in March 1818.
He presented the point made by the Federalist Massachusetts Chief Justice
Isaac Parker
that people should know that their rights will be protected from the legislature.
Webster argued that otherwise the colleges would be subjected to party politics,
but instead the college charter should be protected as a contract.
U.S. Chief Justice Marshall held that the contract clause from the U.S.
Constitution protected corporate charters, and he prevailed 5-1 in
Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward on 2 February 1819.
This decision would strengthen the power of developing corporations.
The United States Supreme Court heard the case of Sturges v. Crowninshield
on February 8, and nine days later they decided 7-0 that New York’s 1811
insolvency law was unconstitutional because it violated the contracts clause.
Chief Justice John Marshall allowed the state to modify
the remedy that freed those imprisoned for debt.
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams negotiated with the Spanish envoy
Luis de Onís, and on 22 February 1819 the United States purchased Florida from Spain.
The U.S. Senate unanimously ratified the treaty,
but Spain delayed the final ratification until 22 February 1821.
On 6 March 1819 Chief Justice Marshall and the Supreme Court ruled 7-0 in
McCulloch v. Maryland that the state law violated the U.S. Constitution
and therefore was illegal, calling it “moral chaos.”
They declared the United States Bank “necessary and proper” because the Constitution
gave Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes;
to borrow money; to regulate commerce.” Marshall concluded,
The Court has bestowed on this subject
its most deliberate consideration.
The result is a conviction that the States have no power,
by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden,
or in any manner control, the operations of the
constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into
execution the powers vested in the general government.
This is, we think, the unavoidable consequence of
that supremacy which the Constitution has declared.4
On March 24 Monroe published his long
“Sketch of Instructions for Agents of South America—Notes for Department of State.”
Here are the first and last paragraphs and a few highlights:
In pursuing the policy which this government has long
since adopted, and to which it has heretofore steadily
adhered in the dispute between Spain and the Colonies,
care must be taken not only to observe toward the parties a
perfect impartiality, but to satisfy them that it is maintained.
This is at all times an important duty, but certain
considerations make it at this time peculiarly so….
As the Colonies are our neighbors, and we shall
of necessity have much intercourse with them,
especially if they become independent, which may
be presumed and at no distant period, it is highly
important that our relation be of a very amicable nature….
The policy heretofore pursued in this contest has been
explained by Acts of Congress; by the correspondence
between the Secretary of State & the Minister of Spain;
by the mission to Buenos Aires, & the messages to Congress
respecting it; and by the communications of our Ministers
to the governments of Great Britain, France, & Russia….
The best service which it was in our power to render
the Colonies, keeping our ports open & extending to
them all the advantages that are enjoyed by Spain,
was by the attitude assumed and by our communications
with other powers to promote on their part likewise
a strict neutrality in the war, so as to leave its fortune
to be decided altogether by the parties themselves….
By the course heretofore pursued by the
United States they have given to the colonies all the
advantages of a recognition without any of its evils….
The recognition by the United States would render to
the Colonies very little service, if any, in our own ports.
It could be useful only by promoting a like
measure in their favor by other powers….
It is important that a just view of our friendly disposition
& conduct towards the Colonies be fully impressed on
their councils, & for that purpose a detail of the material
facts above alluded to be communicated to them….
Satisfied that these piratical practices did essential injury
to the cause of the Colonies, and indulging a just sensibility
to the sufferings of our fellow citizens, as well as to the
character of the nation, Congress thought it proper at
the last session to pass an Act for their suppression.
A copy of this Act should be communicated
to the Colonial governments.
If the Colonial governments will recall all the
communications which were not issued by the
proper authorities & in a proper manner,
all piracy will be at an end.
They will cease to injure their friends
and to aid the cause of their enemies….
The government has a just claim to the
confidence of the Colonial governments
and expects it and a conduct founded on it.
A different course will not only be improper in itself, but
must prove injurious to the Colonies as well to ourselves.
More dangers await them than they are perhaps
aware of, or than are yet distinctly known to us.
We judge of them only by the well known temper of
other powers, and the presumption that the present calm,
so unusual & inconsistent with the fixed habits of
European governments, if not with the principles
on which they are founded will be temporary.
It is not probable that a suspicious and illiberal conduct
will divert us from a course adopted under the influence of
strong motives & on great consideration, but it is certain that
less effect may be expected from it, even in respect to the
Colonies themselves, than if their governments reciprocated
the friendly policy which we have pursued towards them.5
President Monroe with John C. Calhoun and others visited the South and the West
from the end of March 1819 and returned on August 8.
Calhoun appointed Major Stephen H. Long of the Corps of Topographical Engineers
to lead a scientific expedition that explored the Great Lakes and rivers by steamboat
from April that did not break up in Missouri until October 1820.
Maryland had an old law that did not allow Jews
to practice law or hold elective offices.
In January 1819 Judge Henry M. Brackenridge spoke in favor of a bill to repeal that,
and Maryland would give civil rights to Jews in 1825.
In May 1819 William Ellery Channing preached that Unitarianism is better
than the Trinity doctrine because it affirms the unity of God.
Like many liberal theologians he criticized the Calvinist doctrines of original sin,
human depravity, and a jealous God who damns many.
Instead he held that God is infinitely good, kind to all, and just.
He suggested that the best way to preach is to be a pure example by good works.
In the 1818 and 1819 elections the Democratic-Republicans increased their
advantage in the House of Representatives to 156-27
and in the Senate to 35-7 when they met in December 1819.
Secretary of the Treasury Crawford was a Jeffersonian, and he reduced federal spending
to cut down on speculation by nationalists.
Governor DeWitt Clinton chartered the Savings Bank of New York
that helped finance the Erie Canal.
Also in 1819 the United States Congress approved $10,000 to educate Indians,
and after three years there were 14 schools with more than 500 students.
William Underwood in Boston began the nation’s
first successful business selling canned food.
In June the first steamboat crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and in September
the Western Engineer steamboat went up the Missouri River to Council Bluffs.
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams had a salary of only $3,500 per year
while the British Foreign Secretary Castlereagh earned about $72,000.
The State Department’s budget of less than $125,000 a year was
only one-tenth that of the British Foreign Office.
In 1819 President Monroe persuaded Congress to raise Adams’ salary to $6,00
but with no funds for his family and entertaining guests for which he spent about $11,000.
President Monroe in a letter on 5 October 1819 to Thomas Jefferson apologized
for the weak economy, and he gave him this report regarding Spain and East Florida:
The late treaty with Spain was not ratified, at the
date of our last intelligence from Madrid, of July 31.
The king had not refused to ratify, but took time after
the Spanish manner to consider whether he would do it.
The sole pretext for delay is the understanding that
the late grants of lands in East Florida shall be annulled,
which being made to some of his household, has
thrown the palace into a commotion, which
has put it out of his power to do anything.
The report of the arrest of Onís is not true.
The British government has formally disavowed having
interfered in the business; France is decidedly in favor
of the ratification, as it is believed that Russia likewise is.
It seems probable, therefore, that, after the domestic tumult
subsides, a fear of consequences, if not a sense of right,
will induce the King, before the 6 months allowed for the
performance of that act, expire, to redeem his pledge.6
Monroe on November 24 in a letter to James Madison wrote,
We have yet no answer from Spain by the Hornet,
which was sent there in August last to state, that the
treaty would be received at any time before the
meeting of Congress, & have the same effect,
as if it had been ratified according to stipulation.
It is possible we may yet get
an answer to that communication.
Great Britain & France disapprove the conduct of
Spain, & the Russian minister here does so likewise.
I do not see how we can decline taking Florida,
if she does not ratify, confining ourselves to
the treaty, & giving her also its advantages.7
After the Panic of 1819 the War Department was investigated,
and Thomas L. McKenney in Washington’s Republican and Congressional Examiner
tried to defend Calhoun whose political chances were damaged
by the scandal over the 1818 Yellowstone expedition.
Col. Richard M. Johnson and his brother James received more than $100,000
for four steamboats, and three made it only to St. Louis.
A clerk’s brother-in-law got a $300,000 contract for supplying stone
for Fort Monroe which was dubbed “Castle Calhoun.”
Crawford’s friends in the House detailed how private contractors
sold overpriced services to the army, but many blamed Crawford
for the depression that devastated those in western states.
In 1819 the U. S. Congress granted the American Colonization Society $100,000,
and in January 1820 the first emigrants sailed for Liberia.
In the next 45 years about 13,000 free blacks would be transported to Africa.
On 7 December 1819 President Monroe sent
his third annual address to the US Congress:
The public buildings being advanced to a
stage to afford accommodation for Congress,
I offer you my sincere congratulations on the
recommencement of your duties in the Capitol.
In bringing you to view the incidents most deserving
attention which have occurred since your last session,
I regret to have to state that several of our principal cities
have suffered by sickness, that an unusual drought has
prevailed in the Middle and Western States, and that a
derangement has been felt in some of our moneyed
institutions which has proportionably affected their credit.
I am happy, however, to have it in my power to assure
you that the health of our cities is now completely restored;
that the produce of the year, though less abundant
than usual, will not only be amply sufficient for home
consumption, but afford a large surplus for the supply of
the wants of other nations, and that the derangement in the
circulating paper medium, by being left to those remedies
which its obvious causes suggested and the good sense
and virtue of our fellow citizens supplied, has diminished.
Having informed Congress, on the 27th of February last,
that a treaty of amity, settlement, and limits had been
concluded in this city between the United States and Spain,
and ratified by the competent authorities of the former,
full confidence was entertained that it would have been
ratified by His Catholic Majesty with equal promptitude
and a like earnest desire to terminate on the conditions
of that treaty the differences which had
so long existed between the two countries.
Every view which the subject admitted of
was thought to have justified this conclusion.
Great losses had been sustained by citizens of
the United States from Spanish cruisers more than
20 years before, which had not been redressed.
These losses had been acknowledged and provided
for by a treaty as far back as the year 1802, which,
although concluded at Madrid, was not then ratified
by the Government of Spain, nor since, until the
last year, when it was suspended by the late treaty,
a more satisfactory provision to both parties,
as was presumed, having been made for them.
Other differences had arisen in this long interval,
affecting their highest interests, which were
likewise provided for by this last treaty.
The treaty itself was formed on great consideration
and a thorough knowledge of all circumstances, the
subject matter of every article having been for years
under discussion and repeated references having
been made by the minister of Spain to his
Government on the points respecting which
the greatest difference of opinion prevailed.
It was formed by a minister duly authorized for the
purpose, who had represented his Government in the
United States and been employed in this long-protracted
negotiation several years, and who, it is not denied,
kept strictly within the letter of his instructions.
The faith of Spain was therefore pledged
under circumstances of peculiar force
and solemnity for its ratification.
On the part of the United States this treaty was evidently
acceded to in a spirit of conciliation and concession.
The indemnity for injuries and losses so long before
sustained, and now again acknowledged and provided for,
was to be paid by them without becoming a charge
on the treasury of Spain for territory ceded by Spain
other territory of great value, to which our claim was
believed to be well founded, was ceded by the United
States, and in a quarter more interesting to her.
This cession was nevertheless received as the means
of indemnifying our citizens in a considerable sum,
the presumed amount of their losses.
Other considerations of great weight
urged the cession of this territory by Spain.
It was surrounded by the Territories of the United
States on every side except on that of the ocean.
Spain had lost her authority over it, and, falling into
the hands of adventurers connected with the savages,
it was made the means of unceasing annoyance and
injury to our Union in many of its most essential interests.
By this cession, then, Spain ceded a territory in reality
of no value to her and obtained concessions of the
highest importance by the settlement of long-standing
differences with the United States affecting their
respective claims and limits, and likewise relieved
herself from the obligation of a treaty relating to it which
she had failed to fulfill, and also from the responsibility
incident to the most flagrant and pernicious abuses
of her rights where she could not support her authority.
It being known that the treaty was formed under these
circumstances, not a doubt was entertained that His
Catholic Majesty would have ratified it without delay.
I regret to have to state that this reasonable expectation
has been disappointed; that the treaty was not ratified
within the time stipulated and has not since been ratified.
As it is important that the nature and character of this
unexpected occurrence should be distinctly understood,
I think it my duty to communicate to you all the facts
and circumstances in my possession relating to it.
Anxious to prevent all future disagreement with Spain by
giving the most prompt effect to the treaty which had been
thus concluded, and particularly by the establishment of a
Government in Florida which should preserve order there,
the minister of the United States who had been recently
appointed to His Catholic Majesty, and to whom the
ratification by his Government had been committed to
be exchanged for that of Spain, was instructed to transmit
the latter to the Department of State as soon as obtained,
by a public ship subjected to his order for the purpose.
Unexpected delay occurring in the ratification
by Spain, he requested to be informed of the cause.
It was stated in reply that the great importance of the
subject, and a desire to obtain explanations on certain
points which were not specified, had produced the delay,
and that an envoy would be dispatched to the United
States to obtain such explanations of this Government.
The minister of the United States offered to
give full explanation on any point on which it
might be desired, which proposal was declined.
Having communicated this result to the Department of
State in August last, he was instructed, notwithstanding
the disappointment and surprise which it produced, to
inform the Government of Spain that if the treaty should
be ratified and transmitted here at any time before
the meeting of Congress it would be received and have
the same effect as if it had been ratified in due time.
This order was executed, the authorized
communication was made to the Government
of Spain, and by its answer, which has just
been received, we are officially made acquainted
for the first time with the causes which have prevented
the ratification of the treaty by His Catholic Majesty.
It is alleged by the minister of Spain that his Government
had attempted to alter one of the principal articles of
the treaty by a declaration which the minister of the
United States had been ordered to present when he should
deliver the ratification by his Government in exchange for
that of Spain, and of which he gave notice, explanatory
of the sense in which that article was understood.
It is further alleged that this Government had
recently tolerated or protected an expedition from
the United States against the Province of Texas.
These two imputed acts are stated as the reasons
which have induced His Catholic Majesty to withhold
his ratification from the treaty, to obtain explanations
respecting which it is repeated that an envoy
would be forthwith dispatched to the United States.
How far these allegations will justify the conduct of
the Government of Spain will appear on a view of the
following facts and the evidence which supports them:
It will be seen by the documents transmitted herewith
that the declaration mentioned relates to a clause in
the 8th article concerning certain grants of land recently
made by His Catholic Majesty in Florida, which it was
understood had conveyed all the lands which until then
had been ungranted; it was the intention of the parties
to annul these latter grants, and that clause was
drawn for that express purpose and for none other.
The date of these grants was unknown, but it was
understood to be posterior to that inserted in the article;
indeed, it must be obvious to all that if that provision
in the treaty had not the effect of annulling
these grants, it would be altogether nugatory.
Immediately after the treaty was concluded and ratified
by this Government an intimation was received that these
grants were of anterior date to that fixed on by the treaty
and that they would not, of course, be affected by it.
The mere possibility of such a case, so inconsistent with
the intention of the parties and the meaning of the article,
induced this Government to demand an explanation
on the subject, which was immediately granted,
and which corresponds with this statement.
With respect to the other act alleged, that this
Government had tolerated or protected an expedition
against Texas, it is utterly without foundation.
Every discountenance has invariably been
given to any such attempt within the limits of the
United States, as is fully evinced by the acts of
the Government and the proceedings of the courts.
There being cause, however, to apprehend, in the
course of the last summer, that some adventurers
entertained views of the kind suggested, the attention
of the constituted authorities in that quarter was
immediately drawn to them, and it is known that
the project, whatever it might be, has utterly failed.
These facts will, it is presumed, satisfy every
impartial mind that the Government of Spain had
no justifiable cause for declining to ratify the treaty.
A treaty concluded in conformity with instructions
is obligatory in good faith in all its stipulations,
according to the true intent and meaning of the parties.
Each party is bound to ratify it.
If either could set it aside without the consent
of the other, there would be no longer any rules
applicable to such transactions between nations.
By this proceeding the Government of Spain has
rendered to the United States a new and very serious injury.
It has been stated that a minister would be sent
to ask certain explanations of this Government;
but if such were desired, why were they not
asked within the time limited for the ratification?
Is it contemplated to open a new negotiation
respecting any of the articles or conditions of the treaty?
If that were done, to what consequences might it not lead?
At what time and in what manner
would a new negotiation terminate?
By this proceeding Spain has formed a relation
between the two countries which will justify any
measures on the part of the United States which
a strong sense of injury and a proper regard for
the rights and interests of the nation may dictate.
In the course to be pursued these objects should
be constantly held in view and have their due weight.
Our national honor must be maintained, and a new
and a distinguished proof be afforded of that regard
for justice and moderation which has invariably
governed the councils of this free people.
It must be obvious to all that if the United States
had been desirous of making conquests, or had been
even willing to aggrandize themselves in that way,
they could have had no inducement to form this treaty.
They would have much cause for gratulation
at the course which has been pursued by Spain.
An ample field for ambition is open before them,
but such a career is not consistent with the principles
of their Government nor the interests of the nation.
From a full view of all circumstances, it is submitted
to the consideration of Congress whether it will not be
proper for the United States to carry the conditions of
the treaty into effect in the same manner as if it had
been ratified by Spain, claiming on their part all its
advantages and yielding to Spain those secured to her.
By pursuing this course we shall rest on the sacred
ground of right, sanctioned in the most solemn manner
by Spain herself by a treaty which she was bound to ratify,
for refusing to do which she must incur the censure
of other nations, even those most friendly to her,
while by confining ourselves within that limit we
cannot fail to obtain their well-merited approbation.
We must have peace on a frontier where we have
been so long disturbed; our citizens must be indemnified
for losses so long since sustained, and for which
indemnity has been so unjustly withheld from them.
Accomplishing these great objects,
we obtain all that is desirable.
But His Catholic Majesty has twice declared his
determination to send a minister to the United States
to ask explanations on certain points and to give
them respecting his delay to ratify the treaty.
Shall we act by taking the ceded territory and
proceeding to execute the other conditions of the
treaty before this minister arrives and is heard?
This is a case which forms a strong appeal to the
candor, the magnanimity, and the honor of this people.
Much is due to courtesy between nations.
By a short delay we shall lose nothing, for
resting on the ground of immutable truth and
justice, we cannot be diverted from our purpose.
It ought to be presumed that the explanations
which may be given to the minister of Spain will
be satisfactory, and produce the desired result.
In any event the delay for the purpose mentioned,
being a further manifestation of the sincere desire
to terminate in the most friendly manner all differences
with Spain, cannot fail to be duly appreciated
by His Catholic Majesty as well as by other powers.
It is submitted, therefore, whether it will not be proper
to make the law proposed for carrying the conditions
of the treaty into effect, should it be adopted, contingent;
to suspend its operation upon the responsibility
of the Executive in such manner as to afford an
opportunity for such friendly explanations as may
be desired during the present session of Congress.
I communicate to Congress a copy of the treaty and
of the instructions to the minister of the United States
at Madrid respecting it; of his correspondence with
the minister of Spain, and of such other documents
as may be necessary to give a full view of the subject.
In the course which the Spanish Government
have on this occasion thought proper to pursue
it is satisfactory to know that they have not been
countenanced by any other European power.
On the contrary, the opinion and wishes both of
France and Great Britain have not been withheld
either from the United States or from Spain, and
have been unequivocal in favor of the ratification.
There is also reason to believe that the sentiments
of the Imperial Government of Russia have
been the same, and that they have also
been made known to the cabinet of Madrid.
In the civil war existing between Spain and
the Spanish Provinces in this hemisphere the
greatest care has been taken to enforce the
laws intended to preserve an impartial neutrality.
Our ports have continued to be equally open to both
parties and on the same conditions, and our citizens
have been equally restrained from interfering
in favor of either to the prejudice of the other.
The progress of the war, however, has
operated manifestly in favor of the colonies.
Buenos Aires still maintains unshaken the independence
which it declared in 1816 and has enjoyed since 1810.
Like success has also lately attended Chile
and the Provinces north of the La Plata
bordering on it, and likewise Venezuela.
This contest has from its commencement
been very interesting to other powers and
to none more so than to the United States.
A virtuous people may and will confine themselves
within the limit of a strict neutrality; but it is not in
their power to behold a conflict so vitally important
to their neighbors without the sensibility and
sympathy which naturally belong to such a case.
It has been the steady purpose of this Government
to prevent that feeling leading to excess, and it is very
gratifying to have it in my power to state that so strong
has been the sense throughout the whole community of
what was due to the character and obligations of the nation
that very few examples of a contrary kind have occurred.
The distance of the colonies from the parent country
and the great extent of their population and resources
gave them advantages which it was anticipated at a
very early period would be difficult for Spain to surmount.
The steadiness, consistency, and success with which
they have pursued their object, as evinced more
particularly by the undisturbed sovereignty which Buenos
Aires has so long enjoyed, evidently give them a strong
claim to the favorable consideration of other nations.
These sentiments on the part of the United States
have not been withheld from other powers,
with whom it is desirable to act in concert.
Should it become manifest to the world that the
efforts of Spain to subdue these Provinces will be
fruitless, it may be presumed that the Spanish
Government itself will give up the contest.
In producing such a determination it cannot be doubted
that the opinion of friendly powers who have taken no
part in the controversy will have their merited influence.
It is of the highest importance to our national character
and indispensable to the morality of our citizens that
all violations of our neutrality should be prevented.
No door should be left open for the evasion
of our laws, no opportunity afforded to any
who may be disposed to take advantage of it to
compromit the interest or the honor of the nation.
It is submitted, therefore, to the consideration
of Congress whether it may not be advisable to
revise the laws with a view to this desirable result.
It is submitted also whether it may not be
proper to designate by law the several ports
or places along the coast at which only foreign
ships of war and privateers may be admitted.
The difficulty of sustaining the regulations of our commerce
and of other important interests from abuse without such
designation furnishes a strong motive for this measure.
At the time of the negotiation for the renewal of the
commercial convention between the United States and
Great Britain a hope had been entertained that an article
might have been agreed upon mutually satisfactory to
both countries, regulating upon principles of justice and
reciprocity the commercial intercourse between the
United States and the British possessions as well in
the West Indies as upon the continent of North America.
The plenipotentiaries of the two Governments not
having been able to come to an agreement on this
important interest, those of the United States reserved
for the consideration of this Government the proposals
which had been presented to them as the ultimate
offer on the part of the British Government,
and which they were not authorized to accept.
On their transmission here they were examined
with due deliberation, the result of which was a new
effort to meet the views of the British Government.
The minister of the United States was instructed to
make a further proposal, which has not been accepted.
It was, however, declined in an amicable manner.
I recommend to the consideration of Congress
whether further prohibitory provisions in the laws
relating to this intercourse may not be expedient.
It is seen with interest that although it has not been
practicable as yet to agree in any arrangement of this
important branch of their commerce, such is the disposition
of the parties that each will view any regulations which
the other may make respecting it in the most friendly light.
By the 5th article of the convention concluded on
1818-10-20, it was stipulated that the differences
which have arisen between the two Governments with
respect to the true intent and meaning of the 5th article
of the treaty of Ghent in relation to the carrying away
by British officers of slaves from the United States
after the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty
of peace, should be referred to the decision of some
friendly sovereign or state to be named for that purpose.
The minister of the United States has been
instructed to name to the British Government
a foreign sovereign, the common friend to
both parties for the decision of this question.
The answer of that Government to the proposal
when received will indicate the further measures
to be pursued on the part of the United States.
Although the pecuniary embarrassments which
affected various parts of the Union during the latter
part of the preceding year have during the present
been considerably augmented, and still continue
to exist, the receipts into the Treasury to the
30th of September last have amounted to $19M.
After defraying the current expenses of the Government,
including the interest and reimbursement of the public
debt payable to that period, amounting to $18.2M, there
remained in the Treasury on that day more than $2.5M,
which with the sums receivable during the
remainder of the year will exceed the current
demands upon the Treasury for the same period.
The causes which have tended to diminish the public
receipts could not fail to have a corresponding effect
upon the revenue which has accrued upon imposts an
tonnage during the three first quarters of the present year.
It is, however, ascertained that the duties which have
been secured during that period exceed $18M, and
those of the whole year will probably amount to $23M.
For the probable receipts of the next year
I refer you to the statements which will be
transmitted from the Treasury, which will enable
you to judge whether further provision be necessary.
The great reduction in the price of the principal
articles of domestic growth which has occurred during
the present year, and the consequent fall in the price
of labor, apparently so favorable to the success of
domestic manufactures, have not shielded them
against other causes adverse to their prosperity.
The pecuniary embarrassments which have so deeply
affected the commercial interests of the nation
have been no less adverse to our manufacturing
establishments in several sections of the Union.
The great reduction of the currency which the banks
have been constrained to make in order to continue specie
payments, and the vitiated character of it where such
reductions have not been attempted, instead of placing
within the reach of these establishments the pecuniary aid
necessary to avail themselves of the advantages resulting
from the reduction in the prices of the raw materials and
of labor, have compelled the banks to withdraw from
them a portion of the capital heretofore advanced to them.
That aid which has been refused by the banks has not been
obtained from other sources, owing to the loss of individual
confidence from the frequent failures which have recently
occurred in some of our principal commercial cities.
An additional cause for the depression of
these establishments may probably be found
in the pecuniary embarrassments which have
recently affected those countries with which
our commerce has been principally prosecuted.
Their manufactures, for the want of a ready or profitable
market at home, have been shipped by the manufacturers
to the United States, and in many instances sold at a price
below their current value at the place of manufacture.
Although this practice may from its nature be
considered temporary or contingent, it is not
on that account less injurious in its effects.
Uniformity in the demand and price of an article
is highly desirable to the domestic manufacturer.
It is deemed of great importance to give
encouragement to our domestic manufacturers.
In what manner the evils which have been adverted
to may be remedied, and how far it may be practicable
in other respects to afford to them further encouragement,
paying due regard to the other great interests of
the nation, is submitted to the wisdom of Congress.
The survey of the coast for the establishment
of fortifications is now nearly completed, and
considerable progress has been made in the collection
of materials for the construction of fortifications
in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Chesapeake Bay.
The works on the eastern bank of the Potomac
below Alexandria and on the Pea Patch in the
Delaware are much advanced, and it is expected
that the fortifications at the Narrows in the harbor
of New York will be completed the present year.
To derive all the advantages contemplated from these
fortifications it was necessary that they should be judiciously
posted and constructed with a view to permanence.
The progress hitherto has therefore been slow;
but as the difficulties in parts heretofore the least explored
and known are surmounted, it will in future be more rapid.
As soon as the survey of the coast is completed,
which it is expected will be done early in the next spring,
the engineers employed in it will proceed to examine
for like purposes the northern and northwestern frontiers.
The troops intended to occupy a station at the mouth
of the St. Peters on the Mississippi have established
themselves there, and those who were ordered
to the mouth of the Yellow Stone on the Missouri,
have ascended that river to the Council Bluff,
where they will remain until the next spring,
when they will proceed to the place of their destination.
I have the satisfaction to state that this measure has
been executed in amity with the Indian tribes, and
that it promises to produce in regard to them all
the advantages which were contemplated by it.
Much progress has likewise been made in the
construction of ships of war and in the collection
of timber and other materials for ship building.
It is not doubted that our Navy will soon be
augmented to the number and placed in all
respects on the footing provided for by law.
The Board, consisting of engineers and naval
officers, have not yet made their final report of
sites for two naval depots, as instructed according
to the resolutions of 1818-03-18 and 1818-04-20,
but they have examined the coast therein designated,
and their report is expected in the next month.
For the protection of our commerce in the
Mediterranean, along the southern Atlantic coast,
in the Pacific and Indian oceans, it has been
found necessary to maintain a strong naval force,
which it seems proper for the present to continue.
There is much reason to believe that if any
portion of the squadron heretofore stationed in the
Mediterranean should be withdrawn, our intercourse
with the powers bordering on that sea would be
much interrupted, if not altogether destroyed.
Such, too, has been the growth of a spirit of piracy
in the other quarters mentioned by adventurers from
every country, in abuse of the friendly flags which
they have assumed, that not to protect our commerce
there would be to abandon it as a prey to their rapacity.
Due attention has likewise been paid to the suppression of
the slave trade in compliance with a law of the last session.
Orders have been given to the commanders of all our
public ships to seize all vessels navigated under our
flag engaged in that trade, and to bring them in to be
proceeded against in the manner prescribed by the law.
It is hoped that these vigorous measures, supported
by like acts by other nations, will soon terminate
a commerce so disgraceful to the civilized world.
In the execution of the duty imposed by these acts,
and of a high trust connected with it, it is with deep
regret I have to state the loss which has been
sustained by the death of Commodore Perry.
His gallantry in a brilliant exploit in the late
war added to the renown of his country.
His death is deplored as a national misfortune.8
Monroe recognized “derangement” in their “moneyed institutions” which he
called a “depression” because it deeply affected commerce and manufacturing.
One week later Alabama was admitted as the 22nd state and the 11th slave state.
A Relief Party had gained a legislative majority in Kentucky in 1819
and passed reforms to help debtors, ending their imprisonment.
When the Missouri Territory had enough settlers to qualify for statehood,
an enabling act was introduced in the U. S. Congress so that voters there
could elect convention delegates to draft a state constitution.
On 18 December 1818 House Speaker Henry Clay of Kentucky
renewed Missouri’s petition to form a constitution to become a state.
That month the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery
met in Philadelphia and formed a committee to ask Congress
to prohibit slavery in all the territories and new states.
The value of a “prime field” slave had risen from about $450 in 1790 to about $950.
On 13 February 1819 New York Representative James Tallmadge proposed
an amendment that the importation of more slaves be prohibited and that
children of slaves born after Missouri was admitted become free at the age of 25.
Missouri had about 10,000 slaves, and Talmadge had suggested the gradual
emancipation of slaves in New York which had been adopted in 1817.
In 1819 the southern states had gained 17 seats in the House aided
by the rule counting three-fifths of slaves for representation.
Henry Clay of Kentucky defended slavery, arguing
that “white slaves” in the North were worse off.
He owned a dozen slaves then, and they would increase to about 50.
He freed several slaves eventually and had 33 at his death in 1852.
The House approved the Tallmadge amendment in two parts 87-76 and 82-78,
the latter with only two votes from the South;
but three senators from Illinois and Indiana helped the southern states defeat it 22-16.
Congress adjourned on March 3 but took up the Missouri
controversy again when they met in December.
Senator Jesse Thomas of Illinois had “indentured” workers and had voted for slavery,
but he proposed that after Missouri slavery be prohibited
from Louisiana Purchase states north of 36° 30′ latitude.
Massachusetts in 1819 had agreed to allow its district of Maine to become a state
if they were admitted by 4 March 1820.
On January 23 the House approved the admission of Maine as a free state.
President Monroe on 7 February 1820 sent this letter
on the Missouri issue to Thomas Jefferson:
I send you by this day’s mail, the documents of
greatest interest, which have been presented to
Congress during the present Session on our concerns
with Spain we have nothing new, & little reason to
expect a minister here from that country during the
Session, Mr. Vivas, said to have been appointed some
months ago, being under quarantine within a few
leagues of Madrid in consequence of passing on his
way thither through some town infected with disease.
The Missouri question absorbs by its importance
& the excitement it has produced every other,
& there is little prospect from present
appearances of its being soon settled.
The object of those, who brought it forward,
was undoubtedly to acquire power & the expedient
well adapted to the end, as it enlisted in their service,
the best feelings of all that portion of our union in which
slavery does not exist, & who are unacquainted
with the condition of their southern brethren.
The same men in some instances, who were parties to
the project in 1786 for closing the mouth of the Mississippi
for 25 years may be considered as the authors of this.
The dismemberment of the Union by the Allegheny
mountain was then believed to be their object;
and although a new arrangement of power is
more particularly sought on this occasion, yet it is
believed that the anticipation of even that result,
would not deter its authors from the pursuit of it.
I am satisfied that the bond of union is too
strong for them, and that the better their views
are understood throughout the whole union,
the more certain will be their defeat in every part.
It requires however great moderation,
firmness, & wisdom on the part of those
opposed to the restriction to secure a just result.
These great & good qualities will, I trust, not be wanting.
Your letters in favor of the gentlemen, mentioned
in them, were received with the best disposition
to promote your wishes, but it is impossible
for me to say what can be done in any instance.
Wherever territory is to be sold within a State,
the Senators oppose the appointment of the officers
entrusted with it, of persons from other States, an
opposition which is now extended even to Indian agencies.
The number of applicants too for every office is so great,
& the pressure from the quarter interested so earnest,
that it is difficult in any case to be resisted.9
Speaker Henry Clay gave a 4-hour speech in the House of Representatives
on 8 February 1820 arguing that the laws of economics and population would end slavery.
He believed that Missouri had the right of self-determination,
and he considered slavery a state issue.
On 10 February 1820 James Madison wrote this letter to President Monroe:
I have duly received your favor of the 5th
followed by a copy of the public documents;
for which I give you many thanks.
I should like to get a copy of the Journals of the Convention.
Are they to be purchased & where?
It appears to me, as it does to you, that a coupling
of Missouri with Maine in order to force the entrance
of the former through the door voluntarily opened for
the latter is, to say the least, a very doubtful policy.
Those who regard the claims of both as similar & equal,
and distrust the views of such as wish to disjoin them,
may be strongly tempted to resort to the expedient;
and it would perhaps be too much to say, that in
no possible case such a resort could be justified.
But it may at least be said, that a very peculiar
case only could supersede the general policy
of a direct and magnanimous course, appealing
to the justice and liberality of others, and
trusting to the influence of conciliatory example.
I find the idea is fast spreading that the zeal with which
the extension, so called, of slavery is opposed, has with the
coalesced leaders an object very different from the welfare
of the slaves or the check to their increase; and that the
real object is, as you intimate, to form a new State of
parties founded on local instead of political distinctions;
thereby dividing the republicans of the North from those
of the South, and making the former instrumental in giving
the opponents of both an ascendancy over the whole.
If this be the view of the subject at Washington,
it furnishes an additional reason for a
conciliatory proceeding in relation to Maine.
I have been truly astonished at some of the doctrines
& declarations to which the Missouri question has led;
and particularly so at the interpretations
of the terms “migration or importation &c.”
Judging from my own impressions, I should deem
it impossible that the memory of any one who was
a Member of the General Convention could favor
an opinion that the terms did not then exclusively
refer to migration & importation into the U. S.
Had they been understood in that Body in the sense
now put on them, it is easy to conceive the alienation
they would have there created in certain States.
And no one can decide better than yourself, the effect they
would have had on State Conventions, if such a meaning
had been avowed by the advocates of the Constitution.
If a suspicion had existed of such a construction,
it would at least have made a conspicuous figure
among the Amendments proposed to the Instrument.
I have observed as yet, in none of the views taken of
the ordinance of 1787 interdicting slavery North West of the
Ohio, an allusion to the circumstance, that when it passed,
the Congress had no authority to prohibit the importation
of slaves from abroad; that all the States had, and some
were in the full exercise of, the right to import them;
and consequently, that there was no mode in which
Congress could check the evil, but the indirect one of
narrowing the space open for the reception of slaves.
Had the federal authority then existed to prohibit directly
& totally the importation from abroad, can it be doubted
that it would have been exerted, and that a regulation
having merely the effect of preventing an interior dispersion
of slaves actually in the U. S. and creating a distinction
among the States in the degrees of their sovereignty,
would not have been adopted? or perhaps thought of?
No folly in the Spanish Government
can now create surprise.
I wish you happily through the thorny
circumstances it throws in your way.10
Monroe wrote to Thomas Jefferson again on the Missouri issue on February 19:
I forward to you by this day’s mail a copy
of the Journal of the Convention which formed
the Constitution of the United States.
By the act of Congress providing for the
distribution of them, one is allowed to you,
& likewise to Mr. Madison & to Mr. John Adams.
The Intelligencer will communicate to you
some account of the proceedings of Congress
on the Missouri question, & particularly of the late
votes taken on different propositions in the Senate.
It seems that a resolution was adopted on the 17th,
which establishes a line to commence from the
western boundary of Missouri in Latitude: 36° 30′
& run westward indefinitely, north of which slavery
should be prohibited, but permitted south of it.
Missouri & Arkansas, as is presumed,
to be admitted without restraint.
By the terms applied to the restriction “forever” it is
inferred that it is intended, that the restraint should apply
to territories after they become States, as well as before.
This will increase the difficulty incident to an
arrangement of this subject, otherwise sufficiently
great in any form in which it can be presented.
Many think that the right exists in
one instance & not in the other.
I have never known a question so menacing
to the tranquility and even the continuance
of our union as the present one.
All other subjects have given way
to it & appear to be almost forgotten.
As however there is a vast portion of intelligence
& virtue in the body of the people, & the bond of
union has heretofore proved sufficiently strong to
triumph over all attempts against it, I have great
confidence that this effort will not be less unavailing.11
On 2 March 1820 John Quincy Adams wrote in his Memoirs,
I have favored this Missouri Compromise, believing it to
be all that could be effected under the present Constitution,
and from extreme unwillingness to put the Union at hazard.
But perhaps it would have been a wiser as well as a
bolder course to have persisted in the restriction upon
Missouri, till it should have terminated in a convention
of the States to revise and amend the Constitution.
This would have produced a new Union of thirteen
or fourteen states unpolluted with slavery,
with a great and glorious object to effect, namely,
that of rallying to their standard the other States
by the universal emancipation of their slaves.
If the Union must be dissolved, slavery is
precisely the question upon which it ought to break.12
House Speaker Henry Clay’s skill and efforts at getting legislation passed
and this issue made him recognized as the Great Compromiser.
On March 2 the House voted 90-87 to remove the clause banning slavery.
They approved the compromise line in the Louisiana Purchase territory 134 to 42
with 37 southerners voting no.
Monroe signed the first part of the Missouri Compromise on March 6.
Maine’s constitution permitted all males to vote and attend school,
and in 1821 the legislature would ban mixed marriages.
In February 1820 the U. S. military refused to accept Negroes, and on February 6
the Mayflower of Liberia set sail from New York
bound for Sierra Leone with 86 free Negroes.
British abolitionists had founded that West African nation thirty years earlier.
On March 9 the U. S. Congress passed the Land Act which lowered the minimum price
for property from $2 an acre to $1.25 and limited tracts to 80 acres,
and settlers were not allowed credit.
This law reduced the debt on public lands from $16,794,795 in 1818
to $10,544,454 in September 1822.
On 22 April 1820 Jefferson wrote in a letter to Maine’s U. S. Senator John Holmes,
I thank you, dear sir, for the copy you
have been so kind to send me of the letter
to your constituents on the Missouri question.
It is a perfect justification to them.
I had for a long time ceased to read newspapers
or pay attention to public affairs, confident they
were in good hands, and content to be a passenger
in our bark to the shore from which I am not distant.
But this momentous question, like a fire bell
in the night, awakened and filled me with terror.
I considered it at once as the knell of the Union.
It is hushed, indeed, for the moment.
But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.
A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle,
moral and political, once conceived and held up
to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated;
and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper.
I can say with conscious truth, that there is no man on
earth who would sacrifice more than I would to relieve
us from this heavy reproach in any practicable way.
The cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed,
is a bagatelle which would not cost me a second thought,
if in that way a general emancipation and
expatriation could be effected; and gradually
and wit due sacrifices, I think it might be.
But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears,
and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go.
Justice is on one scale and self-preservation in the other.
Of one thing I am certain, that as the passage of slaves
from one State to another would not make a slave of a
single human being who would not be so without it,
so their diffusion over a greater surface would make
them individually happier, and proportionally facilitate
the accomplishment of their emancipation by dividing
the burden on a greater number of coadjutors.13
President Monroe on 9 May 1820 sent to the
United States Congress this message on Spain that began:
I communicate to Congress a correspondence which has
taken place between the Secretary of State and the envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Catholic
Majesty since the message of the 27th March last,
respecting treaty which was concluded between the
United States and Spain on the 22nd February 1819.14
The slave trade was illegal since 1808, and on 15 May 1820 the
Congress declared it piracy, permitting the death penalty for slave importers.
Monroe wrote in a letter to Thomas Jefferson on May 20:
I have received your letter of the 14 containing a
very interesting view of the late treaty with Spain,
and of the proceedings respecting it here.
If the occurrence involved in it nothing more,
than a question between the United States & Spain,
or between them & the Colonies, I should
entirely concur in your view of the subject.
I am satisfied, that we might regulate it in every
circumstance, as we thought just & without war.
That we might take Florida as an indemnity
and Texas for some trifle as an equivalent.
Spain must soon be expelled from this continent,
and with any new government which may be
formed in Mexico, it would be easy to arrange
the boundary in the wilderness, so as to include
as much territory on our side as we might desire.
No European power could prevent this, if so disposed.
But the difficulty does not proceed from these sources.
It is altogether internal, and of the most
distressing nature and dangerous tendency.
You were apprised by me on your return from Europe
of the true character of the negotiation, which took
place in 1785-6 with the minister of Spain, for shutting
up the mouth of the Mississippi, a knowledge of which
might have been derived in part from the secret
journal of Congress, which then came into your hands.
That was not a question with Spain in reality, but one among
ourselves in which her pretentions were brought forward
in aid of the policy of the party at the head of that project.
It was an effort to give such a shape to our union, as
would secure the dominion over it to its eastern section.
It was expected that dismemberment by the Allegheny
mountains would follow the occlusion of the river, if it was
not desired, though the latter was then & still is my opinion.
The union then consisted of eight navigating & commercial
States with five productive holding slaves; and had
the river been shut up, and dismemberment ensued,
the division would always have been the same.
At that time Boston ruled the four New England States,
and a popular orator in Faneuil hall ruled Boston.
Jay’s object was to make New York a New England State,
which he avowed on his return from Europe, to the
dissatisfaction of many in that State, whose prejudices
had been excited in the revolutionary war by
the contest between New York & those States
respecting interfering grants in Vermont.
It was foreseen by these persons, that if the
Mississippi should be opened, and new States be
established on its waters, the population would be
drawn thither, the number of productive States be
proportionably increased, & their hope of dominion,
on that contracted sectional scale be destroyed.
It was to prevent this that that project was formed.
Happily it failed, & since then, our career in an
opposite direction has been rapid & wonderful.
The river has been opened, & all the territory dependent
on it acquired; eight States have already been admitted
into the Union in that quarter; a 9th is on the point of
entering, & a 10th provided for, exclusive of Florida.
This march to greatness has been Seen with profound
regret by those in the policy suggested, but it has been
impelled by causes over which they have had no control.
Several attempts have been made to impede it,
among which the Hartford convention in the
late war and the proposition for restricting
Missouri are the most distinguished.
The latter measure contemplated an arrangement
on the distinction solely between slave-holding and
non-slave-holding states, presuming that on that
basis only, such a division might be formed, as would
destroy by perpetual excitement the usual effects
proceeding from difference in climate, the produce
of the soil, the pursuits & circumstances of the people,
& marshal the States differing in that circumstance,
in unceasing opposition & hostility with each other.
To what account this project, had it succeeded to the
extent contemplated, might have been turned, I cannot say.
Certain however it is, that since 1786 I have
not seen so violent & persevering a struggle,
and on the part of some of the leaders in the
project for a purpose so unmasked & dangerous.
They did not hesitate to avow that it was a contest for
power only, disclaiming the pretext of liberty, humanity &c.
It was also manifest, that they were willing to risk the
Union on the measure, if indeed as in that relating to the
Mississippi, dismemberment was not the principal object.
You know how this affair terminated, as I presume
you likewise do, that complete success was prevented
by the patriotic devotion of several members in the
non-slave-holding states, who preferred the sacrifice
of themselves at home to a violation of the obvious
principles of the Constitution, & the risk of the union.
I am satisfied that the arrangement made was
most auspicious for the Union, since had the
conflict been pursued, there is reason to believe
that the worst consequences would have followed.
The excitement would have been kept up,
during which it seemed probable, that the
slave-holding states would have lost ground daily.
By putting a stop to the proceeding, time has
been given for the passions to subside, & for calm
discussion & reflection, which have never failed
to produce their proper effect in our country.
Such too was the nature of the controversy, that it seemed
to be hazardous for either party to gain a complete triumph.
I never doubted the right of Congress to make
such a regulation in territories, though I did not
expect that it would ever have been exercised.
From this view it is evident, that the further acquisition
of territory to the west & South involves difficulties
of an internal nature, which menace the union itself.
We ought therefore to be cautious in making the attempt.
Having secured the Mississippi and all its waters with a
slight exception only, and erected states there, ought we
not to be satisfied so far at least, as to take no step in that
direction, which is not approved by all the members or at
least a majority of those who accomplished our revolution?
I could go into further details had I time.
I have thought that these might
afford you some satisfaction.
When we meet in Albemarle,
we will communicate further on the subject.15
President Monroe wrote letters to the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
on June 26 and 30, July 24, and August 3.
That last letter concluded with this sentence:
I have been assured that the principle relied on above,
that the government was not responsible for more than
I have stated, was decided in the commencement
of our government under the administration of
General Washington in the cases litigated at
that time between France & other powers.16
On July 19 a convention in St. Louis adopted a pro-slavery constitution
for the state of Missouri with a clause preventing free Negroes from settling there,
but it did not get to the U.S. Congress until November.
That month Monroe in his annual address explained that the depression was caused
by long and destructive wars in Europe that had ended,
and he expected it would not be permanent.
He advised being economical, frugal, and industrious.
Senator Rufus King of New York opposed extending slavery in new states.
Hezekiah Niles published his speeches on the Missouri bill in December 1819,
and in 1820 in Niles’ Register he urged southerners to modernize their economy
so that it would not depend on slavery.
On 23 August 1820 President Monroe wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson:
I return you the extract which you were so kind as to
give me the perusal of with an assurance of my thorough
conviction that it cannot fail to have a good effect.
The sentiments expressed in favor of an American interest
& policy, extended in the first instance to the preservation
of order along our coast & in our seas are sound and will
in all probability ripen into a system at no distant period.
The destiny however of this western world depends on
the continued prosperity & success of this portion of it.
If the European has more wisdom & energy, than
the African or Asiatic, I am satisfied that the citizens
of this Republic have in like proportion more & for
the same causes, than the inhabitants of any other
portion of this hemisphere, not excepting those
or their descendants who emigrated from other
countries, than that from which we took our origin.
The only danger attending a close
connection with Portugal or rather Brazil
is that which I suggested to you yesterday.
Our Union at this time against pirates would be represented
by some as a union against the Colonies, since unfortunately
all the piracies, if not connived at by them, as I verily
believe they are not, proceed from that quarter.
Portugal would of course turn it to her account
in that way, using it as an instrument to prop
her up against a revolutionary movement,
which must overwhelm her with the others.
The project of such a Union will produce, as I presume,
a good effect with the present government of Brazil,
but it can never take effect with any but the
revolutionary governments of South America.17
President Monroe wrote this letter to Madison on 16 November 1820:
You will receive by this mail a copy of the message in
which I have endeavored, to place our institutions in a just
light, comparatively with those of Europe, without looking
at the latter or even glancing at them by any remark.
The state of our finances is, I presume,
more favorable than was generally supposed.
It seems probable that it will improve in future,
the quantity of goods which flowed in immediately
after the peace, having been in a great measure
exhausted, new supplies will be called for.
The contest for the chair and the result indicate
a disposition to revive the Missouri question
in the temper displayed in the last Session.
The clause in the constitution of that State,
authorizing an inhibition of free negroes from
emigrating into it is understood to be that
which will more particularly be laid hold of.
Unfavorable presages are formed of the result.
It is undoubtedly much to be regretted that the
State furnished any pretext for such a proceeding.
It is urged by some favorable to the immediate admission
of the State into the Union, that as the Constitution repealed
all parts of State constitutions repugnant to it then in force,
so it will nullify any part of the constitution of a new State,
which may be admitted, it being necessary, that the
incorporation should be complete in every article & clause,
& the same, as to the new as well as to the original States,
& not a compact or treaty between separate communities,
as it would otherwise be: that Congress in its legislative
character can make no compact, which would deprive the
Supreme Court of its right to declare such article in the
constitution of the new State void: that if however it had
such right, a declaration by Congress disapproving that
clause & protesting against it, would deprive it of such
sanction & leave it subject to the decision of the court.
Mr. Correa has sailed without giving the names of
the judges whom he denounced, as having disgraced
their commissions in a letter to the Secretary of State,
before his visit last summer to Virginia, or of the
officers, as having served on board Artigan privateers.
His tone having altered on his visit here after his return
from Virginia, it was inferred that he had made those
denunciations and demanded the institution of a board
to liquidate claims against the United States for prizes
made by Artigan privateers without a due knowledge
of the subject, & that the change was imputable to
the light which he derived from his friends in that visit.
Apprehending however that his application, had
been made known to the Minister of Spain & might
be the ground of a similar demand by way of set off
against our claims, Mr. Adams wrote & requested to
be furnished with the names of the Judges & officers
denounced by him, making at the same time a protestation
against his claim of indemnity, as being contrary to
sound principles & to the usage of civilized nations.18
The 1820 census found there were 9,638,453 people in the United States
including 1,538,038 slaves, but Indians were not counted.
The population of the ten southern states was 4,298,199
including 1,496,189 slaves and 116,915 free Negroes.
More than 19,000 slaves lived north of the Mason-Dixon line
with New York having over 10,000.
Some 72% of Americans worked in agriculture,
and about 90% of the Negroes were slaves.
Missouri had a population of 66,586 with about 10,000 slaves.
The population of New York City was 123,706 followed by Philadelphia with 63,802,
Baltimore 62,738, Boston 43,298, New Orleans 27,176, and Charleston 24,780.
Only 5% of the people in the U. S. lived in towns with populations over 8,000.
Henry Clay resigned as Speaker of the House of Representatives on October 28,
and the House had 22 ballots before John W. Taylor of New York was elected Speaker.
Clay’s salary of $6,000 was twice that of other Congressmen.
He had borrowed $20,000 from John Jacob Astor
and agreed to pay it with interest by August 1822.
He became the chief counsel for the United States Bank in Ohio and Kentucky
and rebuilt his successful law practice in Lexington.
On December 22 Daniel Webster gave an oration commemorating the bicentennial
of Plymouth Rock in which he declared they must put an end to odious
and abominable
slavery, and he urged his listeners to pledge themselves “to extirpate and destroy it.”
Also in 1820 New York and New Hampshire
became the first states to fund public libraries.
Lutheran churches formed a General Synod.
White property owners began electing the mayor of Washington DC.
The territorial government of Arkansas made a treaty that gave much western land
to the Cherokees, and whites who intruded were expelled.
In the fall President Monroe was re-elected by the Electoral College
with all but one vote which went to his independent adversary John Quincy Adams.
Vice President Tompkins was also re-elected, and the cabinet stayed the same.
In the U.S. Senate the Democratic-Republicans increased their seats to 38
while the Federalists were reduced from 9 to 5.
In the House of Representatives the Republicans lost 5 seats and still had 155,
and the Federalists gained 6 seats to give them 32.
After the Panic of 1819 the War Department was investigated,
but Thomas L. McKenney in Washington’s Republican and Congressional Examiner
tried to defend Calhoun whose political chances were damaged by the scandal over
the 1818 expedition that failed to establish a fort on the mouth of the Yellowstone River.
Col. Richard M. Johnson and his brother James received more than $100,000
for four steamboats, and three made it only to St. Louis.
A clerk’s brother-in-law got a $300,000 contract for supplying stone
for Fort Monroe which was dubbed “Castle Calhoun.”
Crawford’s friends in the House detailed how private contractors
sold overpriced services to the army, and many blamed Crawford
for the depression that devastated those in western states.
While the United States Congress was decreasing the army,
General Andrew Jackson complained and wanted it increased tenfold.
In December 1817 President Monroe had ordered Jackson to lead a campaign
against the Seminoles and Creeks in Georgia.
On 15 March 1818 Jackson exceeded his orders by taking over Pensacola in Florida.
Cherokees in treaties with the United States on 8 July 1817 sold land in
Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina, and on 27 February 1819
they again sold land in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina.
John Jacob Astor had reduced prices in 1818,
and he sent traders to sell whiskey in Indian villages.
Andrew Jackson criticized Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton for
accepting much money from Astor and then getting the Senate to reduce
War Department spending that used the factory system to provide supplies
for Indians because it competed with Astor’s American Fur Company.
Astor loaned Monroe $5,000, and then the President rescinded his order that
prohibited foreigners from participating in the fur trade.
President Monroe in a letter to Richard Rush on 7 March 1819 wrote,
Much has been said to impress a belief that a breach of
the Constitution has been committed by General Jackson
in taking the Spanish posts in East Florida,
but as I presume without any color of reason.
Orders had not been given to take them,
and as soon as the General’s report announcing it
was received, an order was given to restore them;
thus all breach was completely avoided.
The right to make war was not only assumed
by the Executive, but explicitly disclaimed.
A breach could be committed by
a usurpation of that right only.
The general transcended his orders,
but that was no breach of the Constitution.
He chastised all those in secret as well as open
hostility against us; but as soon as the orders
of the government reached him & those
under him, a prompt obedience followed.
Whether he deserved punishment or not depended
on the conduct of the Spanish authorities in the
province, and I had no hesitation in saying,
as soon as made acquainted with it, that they had
richly merited the treatment they had received.
Satisfied I am that had I censured him, & in consequence
exculpated them, that the cession lately made could not
have been obtained, & that a much more successful
attack would have been made on the Executive for that
measure than it has experienced for approving his conduct.
In throwing the blame on the Spanish authorities
we placed it where ought to be, and united
the great mass of our fellow citizens against Spain.
By the pressure on Spain we have obtained a
territory equally necessary to her peace & our own
& have also given some support to the Colonies.
Had we taken the other course & subjected
the General to censure, what would not these
pretended friends of the patriots have said,
these exciters of local feelings
& interests for selfish purposes?
And what might not have been the effect?
Our affairs are, I think, in a very
prosperous state at home and abroad.
With due attention they may be preserved in that state.
My best efforts while I remain in office
will be directed to that object.19
Andrew Jackson read newspapers to keep informed on
what was happening in American politics, and he blamed the Panic of 1819
on the revelation of the U.S. Bank’s frauds.
Crawford and other cabinet officers used their positions to advance their political prospects.
Jackson accused Treasury Secretary Crawford of corruption,
and he hated him for reducing military spending.
Treasury and War had become the most corrupt departments,
though kickbacks flourished in all departments.
Jackson complained that veterans were given
paper money worth less, and he opposed banks.
Jackson also criticized Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton for accepting much money
from John Jacob Astor and then getting the Senate to reduce War Department spending
that used the factory system to provide supplies for Indians
because it competed with Astor’s American Fur Company.
On 9 May 1820 President Monroe sent a message to the U. S. Congress
regarding the delays made by Spain toward ratifying their treaty.
On May 23 Monroe sent a copy of that message to General Andrew Jackson
with a letter in which he described the difficulties
currently in foreign affairs and domestic affairs.
He concluded with this paragraph:
Such being the state of affairs, I leave it
entirely to yourself to decide whether to
remain in the service or to retire at this time.
I well know that whatever you may be,
you will always be ready to obey the
call of your country in any extremity.
But whether your being in service may not have a
tendency to prevent such extremity, and have a happy
effect on other important interests of our country, especially
in preserving order along our frontiers, is to be decided.
Whatever your decision may be, be assured that my entire
confidence & affectionate regards will always attend you.20
President Monroe asked Jackson to govern the newly acquired territory of Florida
which he did from 10 March 1821 until the end of the year.
Tennessee Senator John Eaton and other friends eager for land speculation had urged
Jackson to accept, and he did so to secure the frontier
and influence migration despite his wife Rachel’s opposition.
Jackson agreed to govern Florida until the territory
was organized with a salary of $5,000 plus expenses.
Monroe also appointed two judges, two district attorneys,
two secretaries, three collectors, and a marshal.
On 23 May 1821 President Monroe in a long letter to General Jackson described
his general responsibilities for Florida and then instructed him on various details
and named the people he was appointing for the government.
Here is what he wrote about the duties enjoined on him by law:
The territory ceded was to be taken possession of & the
Spanish officers & soldiers were to be transferred to Cuba.
A temporary government was to be organized over the
Floridas for the protection of the inhabitants in the free
enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion for
which purposes the military, civil, and religious powers,
heretofore exercised by the authorities of Spain
should be vested in proper officers of the United States,
and exercised in such manner as should be designated.
The laws of the United States relating to revenue
and slave trade were declared to be in force in
the said territories, and it was enjoined on me to
establish such districts for the collection of the
revenue, and to appoint such officers, whose
commissions should expire at the next session of Congress,
to enforce the said laws as might be deemed expedient.
The establishment of the boundary between the
United States and Spain, westward of the Mississippi
was another object, and the institution of a Board of
Commissioners to consist of three persons for the
settlement of the claims of such of our citizens as
had been plundered at sea and elsewhere, was a third.
As incident to the last was the distribution of 5 millions
of dollars, should the claims amount to that sum,
by a proportionate reduction of each, so as to render
to everyone justice, giving him his due and no more,
and in so doing, sustain the character of the
government & nation for integrity and impartiality.21
Although Jackson retired from the army on 1 June 1821,
he continued to give orders to troops.
The Spanish Governor Col. José Callava delayed turning over
official papers to the Marshal Forbes in Havana.
Callava knew no English, and Jackson could not speak Spanish.
Finally on 17 July 1821 Jackson entered Pensacola for the formal transfer of power.
Monroe’s senior appointees had not arrived, and that allowed Jackson to rely on his staff.
He had much authority but could not impose or collect new taxes,
though he persuaded the town council to do so.
He set up a Board of Health and ordered hospitals repaired.
During this period Jackson’s mood was influenced by his poor health.
His religious wife Rachel demanded that the Sabbath not be profaned,
and her husband
imposed a fine of $200 for violations of his decree against sabbath-breakers.
Monroe appointed the ex-Jesuit Eligius Fromentin the federal judge of West Florida,
and he conspired with Callava and John Innerarity who represented the merchant
Forbes and Company which refused to enact the will affecting Mercedes Vidal
who was defended by Pensacola Mayor Henry M. Brackenridge.
Callava’s clerk Lt. Sousa refused to turn over the papers,
and Jackson had him and Callava arrested.
Callava was brought at night before Jackson who refused to let him protest
and demanded he hand over the papers.
The next day Jackson had them taken from Callava’s house, and Fromentin appealed
to Jackson who believed in equality and would not let men
of high standing trample on the rights of the weak.
Secretary of State Adams once again supported Jackson.
Callava was released and went to Washington where the
National Intelligencer published his version of the story.
The treaty had given Callava immunity as a foreign agent,
but Jackson responded by ordering the Spanish officers out of the country.
President Monroe sent his fourth message to Congress on 14 November 1820:
In communicating to you a just view of public affairs
at the commencement of your present labors, I do it
with great satisfaction, because taking all circumstances
into consideration which claim attention, I see
much cause to rejoice in the felicity of our situation.
In making this remark I do not wish to be understood
to imply that an unvaried prosperity is to be
seen in every interest of this great community.
In the progress of a nation inhabiting a territory of such
vast extent and great variety of climate, every portion
of which is engaged in foreign commerce and liable to
be affected in some degree by the changes which occur
in the condition and regulations of foreign countries, it would
be strange if the produce of our soil and the industry and
enterprise of our fellow citizens received at all times and
in every quarter an uniform and equal encouragement.
This would be more than we would have a right to
expect under circumstances the most favorable.
Pressures on certain interests, it is admitted, have been
felt; but allowing to these their greatest extent, they detract
but little from the force of the remarks already made.
In forming a just estimate of our present
situation it is proper to look at the whole
in the outline as well as in the detail.
A free, virtuous, and enlightened people know
well the great principles and causes on which
their happiness depends, and even those who
suffer most occasionally in their transitory concerns
find great relief under their sufferings from the
blessings which they otherwise enjoy and in the
consoling and animating hope which they administer.
From whence do these pressures come?
Not from a Government which is founded by,
administered for, and supported by the people.
We trace them to the peculiar character of the
epoch in which we live, and to the extraordinary
occurrences which have signalized it.
The convulsions with which several of the powers of
Europe have been shaken and the long and destructive
wars in which all were engaged, with their sudden
transition to a state of peace, presenting in the
1st instance unusual encouragement to our commerce
and withdrawing it in the second even within its
wonted limit, could not fail to be sensibly felt here.
The station too, which we had to support through this long
conflict, compelled as we were finally to become a party to
it with a principal power, and to make great exertions, suffer
heavy losses, and to contract considerable debts, disturbing
the ordinary course of affairs by augmenting to a vast
amount the circulating medium, and thereby elevating at
one time the price of every article above a just standard and
depressing it at another below it, had likewise its due effect.
It is manifest that the pressures of which we complain
have proceeded in a great measure from these causes.
When, then, we take into view the prosperous and happy
condition of our country in all the great circumstances which
constitute the felicity of a nation—every individual in the full
enjoyment of all his rights, the Union blessed with plenty
and rapidly rising to greatness under a National Government
which operates with complete effect in every part without
being felt in any except by the ample protection which it
affords, and under State governments which perform their
equal share, according to a wise distribution of power
between them in promoting the public happiness—it is
impossible to behold so gratifying, so glorious a spectacle
without being penetrated with the most profound and
grateful acknowledgments to the Supreme Author of
All Good for such manifold and inestimable blessings.
Deeply impressed with these sentiments, I cannot regard
the pressures to which I have adverted otherwise than in
the light of mild and instructive admonitions, warning us
of dangers to be shunned in future, teaching us lessons of
economy corresponding with the simplicity and purity of our
institutions and best adapted to their support, evincing the
connection and dependence which the various parts of our
happy Union have on each other, thereby augmenting daily
our social incorporation and adding by its strong ties new
strength and vigor to the political; opening a wider range,
and with new encouragement, to the industry and enterprise
of our fellow citizens at home and abroad, and more
especially by the multiplied proofs which it has accumulated
of the great perfection of our most excellent system of
Government, the powerful instrument in the hands of
our All-merciful Creator in securing to us these blessings.
Happy as our situation is, it does not exempt
us from solicitude and care for the future.
On the contrary, as the blessings which we
enjoy are great, proportionably great should be
our vigilance, zeal, and activity to preserve them.
Foreign wars may again expose us to new wrongs,
which would impose on us new duties for
which we ought to be prepared.
The state of Europe is unsettled, and how long
peace may be preserved is altogether uncertain;
in addition to which we have interests of our own
to adjust which will require particular attention.
A correct view of our relations with each power will
enable you to form a just idea of existing difficulties,
and of the measures of precaution best adapted to them.
Respecting our relations with Spain
nothing explicit can now be communicated.
On the adjournment of Congress in May last the minister
plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid was
instructed to inform the Government of Spain that
if His Catholic Majesty should then ratify the treaty,
this Government would accept the ratification so far
as to submit to the decision of the Senate the question
whether such ratification should be received in
exchange for that of the United States heretofore given.
By letters from the minister of the United States
to the Secretary of State it appears that a
communication in conformity with his instructions
had been made to the Government of Spain, and
that the Cortes had the subject under consideration.
The result of the deliberations of that body,
which is daily expected, will be made known
to Congress as soon as it is received.
The friendly sentiment which was expressed
on the part of the United States in the message
of the 9th of May last is still entertained for Spain.
Among the causes of regret, however, which are
inseparable from the delay attending this transaction
it is proper to state that satisfactory information has been
received that measures have been recently adopted by
designing persons to convert certain parts of the Province of
East Florida into depots for the reception of foreign goods,
from whence to smuggle them into the United States.
By opening a port within the limits of Florida,
immediately on our boundary where there was no
settlement, the object could not be misunderstood.
An early accommodation of differences will,
it is hoped, prevent all such fraudulent and
pernicious practices, and place the relations of the
two countries on a very amicable and permanent basis.
The commercial relations between the United States
and the British colonies in the West Indies and on
this continent have undergone no change, the British
Government still preferring to leave that commerce under
the restriction heretofore imposed on it on each side.
It is satisfactory to recollect that the restraints resorted
to by the United States were defensive only, intended to
prevent a monopoly under British regulations in favor of
Great Britain, as it likewise is to know that the experiment
is advancing in a spirit of amity between the parties.
The question depending between the United States
and Great Britain respecting the construction of
the first article of the treaty of Ghent has been
referred by both Governments to the decision of the
Emperor of Russia, who has accepted the umpirage.
An attempt has been made with the Government of
France to regulate by treaty the commerce between the
two countries on the principle of reciprocity and equality.
By the last communication from the minister plenipotentiary
of the United States at Paris, to whom full power had
been given, we learn that the negotiation has been
commenced there; but serious difficulties having occurred,
the French Government had resolved to transfer it to the
United States, for which purpose the minister plenipotentiary
of France had been ordered to repair to this city,
and whose arrival might soon be expected.
It is hoped that this important interest may
be arranged on just conditions and in a
manner equally satisfactory to both parties.
It is submitted to Congress to decide, until such
arrangement is made, how far it may be proper,
on the principle of the act of the last session which
augmented the tonnage duty on French vessels,
to adopt other measures for carrying more
completely into effect the policy of that act.
The act referred to, which imposed new tonnage on
French vessels, having been in force from and after
the first day of July, it has happened that several vessels
of that nation which had been dispatched from France
before its existence was known have entered the ports
of the United States, and been subject to its operation,
without that previous notice which the general spirit
of our laws gives to individuals in similar cases.
The object of that law having been merely to countervail
the inequalities which existed to the disadvantage of the
United States in their commercial intercourse with France,
it is submitted also to the consideration of Congress
whether, in the spirit of amity and conciliation which
it is no less the inclination than the policy of the United
States to preserve in their intercourse with other powers,
it may not be proper to extend relief to the individuals
interested in those cases by exempting from the
operation of the law all those vessels which have
entered our ports without having had the means of
previously knowing the existence of the additional duty.
The contest between Spain and the colonies,
according to the most authentic information,
is maintained by the latter with improved success.
The unfortunate divisions which were known to exist some
time since at Buenos Ayres it is understood still prevail.
In no part of South America has Spain made any
impression on the colonies, while in many parts, and
particularly in Venezuela and New Grenada, the colonies
have gained strength and acquired reputation, both for
the management of the war in which they have been
successful and for the order of the internal administration.
The late change in the Government of Spain by the
reestablishment of the constitution of 1812, is an event
which promises to be favorable to the revolution.
Under the authority of the Cortes the Congress
of Angostura was invited to open a negotiation for
the settlement of differences between the parties,
to which it was replied that they would willingly open
the negotiation provided the acknowledgment of their
independence was made its basis, but not otherwise.
No facts are known to this Government to warrant
the belief that any of the powers of Europe will
take part in the contest, whence it may be inferred,
considering all circumstances which must have weight
in producing the result, that an adjustment will finally
take place on the basis proposed by the colonies.
To promote that result by friendly counsels
with other powers, including Spain herself,
has been the uniform policy of this Government.
In looking to the internal concerns of our country
you will, I am persuaded, derive much satisfaction from
a view of the several objects to which in the discharge
of your official duties, your attention will be drawn.
Among these none holds a more important place than
the public revenue, from the direct operation of the power
by which it is raised on the people, and by its influence
in giving effect to every other power of the Government.
The revenue depends on the resources of the country,
and the facility by which the amount required is
raised is a strong proof of the extent of the resources
and of the efficiency of the Government.
A few prominent facts will place this
great interest in a just light before you.
On the 30th of September 1815 the funded and floating
debt of the United States was estimated at $119,635,558.
If to this sum be added the amount of 5% stock subscribed
to the Bank of the United States, the amount of Mississippi
stock and of the stock which was issued subsequently to
that date, and as afterwards liquidated, to $158,713,049.
On the 30th of September it amounted to
$91,993,883, having been reduced in that
interval by payments to $66,879,165.
During this term the expenses of the Government of the
United States were likewise defrayed in every branch of the
civil, military, and naval establishments; the public edifices
in this city have been rebuilt with considerable additions;
extensive fortifications have been commenced, and are in a
train of execution; permanent arsenals and magazines have
been erected in various parts of the Union; our Navy has
been considerably augmented, and the ordnance, munitions
of war, and stores of the Army and Navy, which were
much exhausted during the war, have been replenished.
By the discharge of so large a proportion of the public
debt and the execution of such extensive and important
operations in so short a time a just estimate may be
formed of the great extent of our national resources.
The demonstration is the more complete and gratifying
when it is recollected that the direct tax and excise were
repealed soon after the termination of the late war,
and that the revenue applied to these purposes
has been derived almost wholly from other sources.
The receipts into the Treasury from every source to the
30th of September last have amounted to $16,794,107.66,
while the public expenditures to the same period
amounted to $16,871,534.72, leaving in the Treasury
on that day a sum estimated at $1,950,000 for the
probable receipts of the following year, I refer you to the
statement which will be transmitted from the Treasury.
The sum of $3,000,000 authorized to be raised
by loan by an act of the last session of Congress
has been obtained upon terms advantageous to the
Government, indicating not only an increased confidence
in the faith of the nation, but the existence of a large
amount of capital seeking that mode of investment
at a rate of interest not exceeding 5% per annum.
It is proper to add that there is now due to the
Treasury for the sale of public lands $22,996,545.
In bringing this subject to view I consider it my
duty to submit to Congress whether it may not be
advisable to extend to the purchasers of these lands,
in consideration of the unfavorable change which has
occurred since the sales, a reasonable indulgence.
It is known that the purchases were made
when the price of every article had risen to its
greatest height, and the installments are
becoming due at a period of great depression.
It is presumed that some plan may be devised by the
wisdom of Congress, compatible with the public interest,
which would afford great relief to these purchasers.
Considerable progress has been made during the
present season in examining the coast and its various
bays and other inlets in the collection of materials,
and in the construction of fortifications for the
defense of the Union at several of the positions
at which it has been decided to erect such works.
At Mobile Point and Dauphin Island, and at the Rigolets,
leading to Lake Pontchartrain, materials to a considerable
amount have been collected, and all the necessary
preparations made for the commencement of the works.
At Old Point Comfort, at the mouth of the James River,
and at the Rip-Rap on the opposite shore in the
Chesapeake Bay, materials to a vast amount
have been collected; and at the Old Point some
progress has been made in the construction of
the fortification, which is on a very extensive scale.
The work at Fort Washington on this river will be
completed early in the next spring, and that on the Pea
Patch in the Delaware in the course of the next season.
Fort Diamond at the Narrows in the harbor
of New York will be finished this year.
The works at Boston, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk,
Charleston, and Niagara have been in part repaired,
and the coast of North Carolina, extending south to
Cape Fear, has been examined, as have likewise
other parts of the coast eastward of Boston.
Great exertions have been made to push forward these
works with the utmost dispatch possible; but when their
extent is considered with the important purposes for which
they are intended—the defense of the whole coast, and
in consequence of the whole interior—and that they are to
last for ages, it will be manifest that a well-digested plan,
founded on military principles, connecting the whole
together, combining security with economy, could not
be prepared without repeated examinations of the
most exposed and difficult parts, and that it would
also take considerable time to collect the materials
at the several points where they would be required.
From all the light that has been shed on this subject
I am satisfied that every favorable anticipation which
has been formed of this great undertaking will be verified,
and that when completed it will afford very great if not
complete protection to our Atlantic frontier in the event
of another war—protection sufficient to counterbalance
in a single campaign with an enemy powerful at sea
the expense of all these works, without taking into the
estimate the saving of the lives of so many of our citizens,
the protection of our towns and other property,
or the tendency of such works to prevent war.
Our military positions have been maintained
at Belle Point on the Arkansas, at Council Bluffs
on the Missouri, at St. Peters on the Mississippi,
and at Green Bay on the upper Lakes.
Commodious barracks have already been
erected at most of these posts with such
works as were necessary for their defense.
Progress has also been made in opening
communications between them and in raising
supplies at each for the support of the troops
by their own labor, particularly those most remote.
With the Indians peace has been preserved and
a progress made in carrying into effect the act
of Congress making an appropriation for their
civilization with the prospect of favorable results.
As connected equally with both these objects, our trade with
those tribes is thought to merit the attention of Congress.
In their original state game is their sustenance and
war their occupation, and if they find no employment
from civilized powers they destroy each other.
Left to themselves their extirpation is inevitable.
By a judicious regulation of our trade with them
we supply their wants, administer to their comforts,
and gradually, as the game retires, draw them to us.
By maintaining posts far in the interior we acquire
a more thorough and direct control over them,
without which it is confidently believed that a complete
change in their manners can never be accomplished.
By such posts, aided by a proper regulation of our trade
with them and a judicious civil administration over them, to
be provided for by law, we shall, it is presumed, be enabled
not only to protect our own settlements from their savage
incursions and preserve peace among the several tribes,
but accomplish also the great purpose of their civilization.
Considerable progress has also been made in the
construction of ships of war, some of which have
been launched in the course of the present year.
Our peace with the powers on the coast of Barbary
has been preserved, but we owe it altogether to
the presence of our squadron in the Mediterranean.
It has been found equally necessary to employ some
of our vessels for the protection of our commerce in
the Indian Sea, the Pacific, and along the Atlantic coast.
The interests which we have depending in those quarters,
which have been much improved of late, are of great
extent and of high importance to the nation as well
as to the parties concerned, and would undoubtedly
suffer if such protection was not extended to them.
In execution of the law of the last session for the
suppression of the slave trade some of our public
ships have also been employed on the coast of Africa,
where several captures have already been made
of vessels engaged in that disgraceful traffic.22
Notes
1. Thomas Jefferson Writings, p. 1415-16.
2. Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 18 January 1819 (Online).
3. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1817-1823 ed. Stanislaus Murray Hamilton,
p. 87-89.
4. The Annals of America, Volume 4, p. 539.
5. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1817-1823,
p. 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 100, 101-102.
6. Ibid., p. 103-104.
7. Ibid., p. 105.
8. Ibid., p. 106-113.
9. Ibid., p. 113-114.
10. James Madison Writings, p. 771-772.
11. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1817-1823, p. 115-116.
12. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams ed. Charles Francis Adams, Vol. V, p. 12
quoted in John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy
by Samuel Flagg Bemis, p. 419.
13. Thomas Jefferson Writings, p. 1433-1434.
14. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908,
Volume 2, p. 70.
15. The Political Writings of James Monroe ed. James P. Lucier, p. 519-521.
16. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1817-1823, p. 150.
17. Ibid., p. 151-152.
18. Ibid., p. 159-161.
19. Ibid., p. 90-92.
20. Ibid., p. 129-130.
21. Ibid., p. 180-181.
22. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908
ed. James D. Richardson, Volume 2, p. 73-80.