Monroe’s 2nd Inaugural in 1821
President Monroe in 1821
Monroe’s Annual Message December 1821
President Monroe in 1822
Monroe’s Messages in December 1822
On 17 January 1821 Mexico allowed Moses Austin a grant
of 200,000 acres to settle 300 families in Texas.
On February 16 the United States Congress passed William H. Crawford’s Relief Act,
and by September 1822 the debts of western buyers would be cut in half.
In February the Congress approved the Treasury extending debt payments
and offering a 37.5% discount to debtors who paid promptly.
President Monroe in this short letter to Thomas Jefferson wrote on 17 February 1821:
The treaty with Spain has been ratified by her
government unconditionally, & the grants
annulled in the instrument of ratification.
It is before the Senate on the question
whether it shall be accepted, the time
stipulated for the ratification having expired.
It is presumed that little if any
opposition will be made to it.
There is also some hope that Missouri will be
admitted into the Union on a patriotic effort from
the Senators & other members from Pennsylvania.
Hope is also entertained that our commercial
difference with France will be adjusted.1
On February 26 the House of Representatives approved
a resolution admitting Missouri as a state.
The United States Senate agreed on February 28 to the second Missouri Compromise,
which Henry Clay managed to work out in committee
so that free blacks would not be prohibited in Missouri.
He was given credit for Missouri becoming the 24th state and the 12th that allowed slavery.
As Clay retired from Congress, he declared that Monroe now had
no influence on Congress in spite of his nearly unanimous re-election.
On March 3 the United States Supreme Court re-affirmed that federal courts
could overrule state courts in Cohens v. Virginia.
This is Monroe’s second inaugural address presented in Washington on 5 March 1821.
Fellow-Citizens:
I shall not attempt to describe the grateful emotions
which the new and very distinguished proof of the
confidence of my fellow-citizens, evinced by my
re-election to this high trust, has excited in my bosom.
The approbation which it announces of my conduct
in the preceding term affords me a consolation
which I shall profoundly feel through life.
The general accord with which it has been expressed adds
to the great and never-ceasing obligations which it imposes.
To merit the continuance of this good opinion,
and to carry it with me into my retirement
as the solace of advancing years will be the
object of my most zealous and unceasing efforts.
Having no pretensions to the high and commanding
claims of my predecessors, whose names are so much
more conspicuously identified with our Revolution, and
who contributed so preeminently to promote its success,
I consider myself rather as the instrument than the cause
of the Union which has prevailed in the late election.
In surmounting in favor of my humble pretensions,
the difficulties which so often produce division in like
occurrences, it is obvious that other powerful causes,
indicating the great strength and stability of our Union,
have essentially contributed to draw you together.
That these powerful causes exist, and that they are
permanent is my fixed opinion; that they may produce
a like accord in all questions touching, however
remotely the liberty, prosperity, and happiness of
our country will always be the object of my most
fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of All Good.
In a government which is founded by the people,
who possess exclusively the sovereignty, it seems proper
that the person who may be placed by their suffrages in
this high trust should declare on commencing its duties the
principles on which he intends to conduct the Administration.
If the person thus elected has served the preceding term,
an opportunity is afforded him to review its principal
occurrences and to give such further explanation respecting
them as in his judgment may be useful to his constituents.
The events of one year have influence on
those of another, and in like manner of a
preceding on the succeeding Administration.
The movements of a great nation
are connected in all their parts.
If errors have been committed they ought to be corrected;
if the policy is sound it ought to be supported.
It is by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject
that our fellow-citizens are enabled to judge correctly
of the past and to give a proper direction to the future.
Just before the commencement of the last term the
United States had concluded a war with a very powerful
nation on conditions equal and honorable to both parties.
The events of that war are too recent and
too deeply impressed on the memory of
all to require a development from me.
Our commerce had been in a great measure driven from
the sea; our Atlantic and inland frontiers were invaded
in almost every part; the waste of life along our coast
and on some parts of our inland frontiers, to the defense
of which our gallant and patriotic citizens were called,
was immense, in addition to which not less than
$120,000,000 were added at its end to the public debt.
As soon as the war had terminated, the nation,
admonished by its events, resolved to place itself
in a situation which should be better calculated
to prevent the recurrence of a like evil, and in
case it should recur, to mitigate its calamities.
With this view after reducing our land force to the
basis of a peace establishment, which has been further
modified since, provision was made for the construction
of fortifications at proper points through the whole
extent of our coast and such an augmentation of our
naval force as should be well adapted to both purposes.
The laws making this provision were passed in
1815 and 1816, and it has been since the constant
effort of the Executive to carry them into effect.
The advantage of these fortifications and of an
augmented naval force in the extent contemplated,
in a point of economy, has been fully illustrated by a
report of the Board of Engineers and Naval Commissioners
lately communicated to Congress, by which it appears that
in an invasion by 20,000 men, with a correspondent naval
force in a campaign of six months only, the whole expense
of the construction of the works would be defrayed by the
difference in the sum necessary to maintain the force which
would be adequate to our defense with the aid of those
works and that which would be incurred without them.
The reason of this difference is obvious.
If fortifications are judiciously placed on our great inlets,
as distant from our cities as circumstances will permit,
they will form the only points of attack, and the
enemy will be detained there by a small regular
force a sufficient time to enable our militia to collect
and repair to that on which the attack is made.
A force adequate to the enemy, collected at that single
point with suitable preparation for such others as
might be menaced, is all that would be requisite.
But if there were no fortifications, then the enemy
might go where he pleased, and changing his position
and sailing from place to place, our force must be called
out and spread in vast numbers along the whole coast
and on both sides of every bay and river as high up
in each as it might be navigable for ships of war.
By these fortifications supported by our Navy to which
they would afford like support, we should present to other
powers an armed front from St. Croix to the Sabine,
which would protect in the event of war our whole coast
and interior from invasion; and even in the wars of other
powers in which we were neutral, they would be found
eminently useful, as by keeping their public ships at a
distance from our cities, peace and order in them would be
preserved, and the Government be protected from insult.
It need scarcely be remarked that these measures have
not been resorted to in a spirit of hostility to other powers.
Such a disposition does not exist toward any power.
Peace and good will have been and will hereafter be
cultivated with all, and by the most faithful regard to justice.
They have been dictated by a love of peace,
of economy, and an earnest desire to save the
lives of our fellow-citizens from that destruction
and our country from that devastation which are
inseparable from war when it finds us unprepared for it.
It is believed, and experience has shown,
that such a preparation is the best expedient
that can be resorted to prevent war.
I add with much pleasure that considerable progress
has already been made in these measures of defense,
and that they will be completed in a few years,
considering the great extent and importance of the object,
if the plan be zealously and steadily persevered in.
The conduct of the Government in what
relates to foreign powers is always an object
of the highest importance to the nation.
Its agriculture, commerce, manufactures, fisheries,
revenue, in short its peace may all be affected by it.
Attention is therefore due to this subject.
At the period adverted to the powers of Europe after
having been engaged in long and destructive wars with
each other, had concluded a peace, which happily still exists.
Our peace with the power with whom we
had been engaged had also been concluded.
The war between Spain and the colonies in South America,
which had commenced many years before,
was then the only conflict that remained unsettled.
This being a contest between different parts of the same
community, in which other powers had not interfered,
was not affected by their accommodations.
This contest was considered at an early stage
by my predecessor a civil war in which the
parties were entitled to equal rights in our ports.
This decision, the first made by any power,
being formed on great consideration of the comparative
strength and resources of the parties, the length of time,
and successful opposition made by the colonies, and
of all other circumstances on which it ought to depend,
was in strict accord with the law of nations.
Congress has invariably acted on this principle,
having made no change in our relations with either party.
Our attitude has therefore been that of neutrality
between them, which has been maintained by
the Government with the strictest impartiality.
No aid has been afforded to either, nor has any privilege
been enjoyed by the one which has not been equally
open to the other party, and every exertion has been
made in its power to enforce the execution of the laws
prohibiting illegal equipment with equal rigor against both.
By this equality between the parties their public vessels
have been received in our ports on the same footing;
they have enjoyed an equal right to purchase and
export arms, munitions of war, and every other supply,
the exportation of all articles whatever being
permitted under laws which were passed
long before the commencement of the contest;
our citizens have traded equally with both,
and their commerce with each has been
alike protected by the Government.
Respecting the attitude which it may be proper
for the United States to maintain hereafter
between the parties, I have no hesitation in
stating it as my opinion that the neutrality
heretofore observed should still be adhered to.
From the change in the Government of Spain
and the negotiation now depending, invited
by the Cortes and accepted by the colonies,
it may be presumed, that their differences will
be settled on the terms proposed by the colonies.
Should the war be continued, the United States,
regarding its occurrences, will always have it
in their power to adopt such measures respecting
it as their honor and interest may require.
Shortly after the general peace a band of
adventurers took advantage of this conflict and
of the facility which it afforded to establish a system
of buccaneering in the neighboring seas, to the great
annoyance of the commerce of the United States,
and as was represented of that of other powers.
Of this spirit and of its injurious bearing on the
United States strong proofs were afforded by the
establishment at Amelia Island, and the purposes
to which it was made instrumental by this band in 1817,
and by the occurrences which took place in other parts
of Florida in 1818, the details of which in both instances
are too well known to require to be now recited.
I am satisfied had a less decisive course been adopted
that the worst consequences would have resulted from it.
We have seen that these checks, decisive as they were,
were not sufficient to crush that piratical spirit.
Many culprits brought within our limits
have been condemned to suffer death,
the punishment due to that atrocious crime.
The decisions of upright and enlightened tribunals
fall equally on all whose crimes subject them,
by a fair interpretation of the law to its censure.
It belongs to the Executive not to suffer the
executions under these decisions to transcend
the great purpose for which punishment is necessary.
The full benefit of example being secured, policy as well as
humanity equally forbids that they should be carried further.
I have acted on this principle, pardoning those who
appear to have been led astray by ignorance of the
criminality of the acts they had committed, and
suffering the law to take effect on those only in whose
favor no extenuating circumstances could be urged.
Great confidence is entertained that the late treaty
with Spain, which has been ratified by both the parties,
and the ratifications whereof have been exchanged,
has placed the relations of the two countries
on a basis of permanent friendship.
The provision made by it for such of our citizens
as have claims on Spain of the character described
will, it is presumed, be very satisfactory to them,
and the boundary which is established between the
territories of the parties westward of the Mississippi,
heretofore in dispute, has, it is thought, been
settled on conditions just and advantageous to both.
But to the acquisition of Florida too much
importance cannot be attached.
It secures to the United States a territory important
in itself, and whose importance is much increased by
its bearing on many of the highest interests of the Union.
It opens to several of the neighboring States a free passage
to the ocean, through the Province ceded by several rivers,
having their sources high up within their limits.
It secures us against all future annoyance
from powerful Indian tribes.
It gives us several excellent harbors in the
Gulf of Mexico for ships of war of the largest size.
It covers by its position in the Gulf the Mississippi and other
great waters within our extended limits, and thereby enables
the United States to afford complete protection to the vast
and very valuable productions of our whole Western
country, which find a market through those streams.
By a treaty with the British Government, bearing date
on the 20th of October 1818, the convention regulating
the commerce between the United States and Great Britain,
concluded on the 3rd of July 1815, which was about
expiring, was revived and continued for the term
of ten years from the time of its expiration.
By that treaty also the differences which had arisen
under the treaty of Ghent respecting the right claimed
by the United States for their citizens to take and
cure fish on the coast of His Britannic Majesty's
dominions in America with other differences on important
interests were adjusted to the satisfaction of both parties.
No agreement has yet been entered into respecting the
commerce between the United States and the British
dominions in the West Indies and on this continent.
The restraints imposed on that commerce by
Great Britain and reciprocated by the United States
on a principle of defense, continue still in force.
The negotiation with France for the regulation of the
commercial relations between the two countries, which
in the course of the last summer had been commenced
at Paris, has since been transferred to this city, and will
be pursued on the part of the United States in the spirit
of conciliation, and with an earnest desire that it may
terminate in an arrangement satisfactory to both parties.
Our relations with the Barbary Powers are preserved
in the same state and by the same means that
were employed when I came into this office.
As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a
squadron into the Mediterranean for the protection of our
commerce, and no period has intervened, a short term
excepted, when it was thought advisable to withdraw it.
The great interests which the United States have in the
Pacific in commerce and in the fisheries, have also
made it necessary to maintain a naval force there.
In disposing of this force in both instances the most
effectual measures in our power have been taken without
interfering with its other duties for the suppression of
the slave trade and of piracy in the neighboring seas.
The situation of the United States in regard to their
resources, the extent of their revenue, and the facility
with which it is raised affords a most gratifying spectacle.
The payment of nearly $67,000,000 of the public debt
with the great progress made in measures of defense and
in other improvements of various kinds since the late war,
are conclusive proofs of this extraordinary prosperity,
especially when it is recollected that these expenditures
have been defrayed without a burden on the people, the
direct tax and excise having been repealed soon after the
conclusion of the late war, and the revenue applied to these
great objects having been raised in a manner not to be felt.
Our great resources therefore remain untouched for any
purpose which may affect the vital interests of the nation.
For all such purposes they are inexhaustible.
They are more especially to be found in the virtue,
patriotism, and intelligence of our fellow-citizens,
and in the devotion with which they would yield up
by any just measure of taxation all their property
in support of the rights and honor of their country.
Under the present depression of prices affecting all the
productions of the country and every branch of industry,
proceeding from causes explained on a former occasion,
the revenue has considerably diminished, the effect
of which has been to compel Congress either to abandon
these great measures of defense or to resort to loans
or internal taxes to supply the deficiency.
On the presumption that this depression and
the deficiency in the revenue arising from it
would be temporary, loans were authorized
for the demands of the last and present year.
Anxious to relieve my fellow-citizens in 1817
from every burden which could be dispensed with,
and the state of the Treasury permitting it,
I recommended the repeal of the internal taxes,
knowing that such relief was then peculiarly
necessary in consequence of the great
exertions made in the late war.
I made that recommendation under a pledge that
should the public exigencies require a recurrence
to them at any time while I remained in this trust,
I would with equal promptitude perform the duty
which would then be alike incumbent on me.
By the experiment now making it will be seen
by the next session of Congress whether the
revenue shall have been so augmented as to
be adequate to all these necessary purposes.
Should the deficiency still continue, and especially
should it be probable that it would be permanent,
the course to be pursued appears to me to be obvious.
I am satisfied that under certain circumstances
loans may be resorted to with great advantage.
I am equally well satisfied as a general rule that the
demands of the current year especially in time of peace
should be provided for by the revenue of that year.
I have never dreaded, nor have I ever shunned
in any situation in which I have been placed making
appeals to the virtue and patriotism of my fellow-citizens,
well knowing that they could never be made in vain,
especially in times of great emergency
or for purposes of high national importance.
Independently of the exigency of the case, many
considerations of great weight urge a policy having in
view a provision of revenue to meet to a certain extent
the demands of the nation without relying altogether
on the precarious resource of foreign commerce.
I am satisfied that internal duties and excises with
corresponding imposts on foreign articles of the same kind,
would without imposing any serious burdens on the people,
enhance the price of produce, promote our manufactures,
and augment the revenue at the same time that
they made it more secure and permanent.
The care of the Indian tribes within our limits
has long been an essential part of our system,
but unfortunately, it has not been executed in a
manner to accomplish all the objects intended by it.
We have treated them as independent nations without
their having any substantial pretensions to that rank.
The distinction has flattered their pride,
retarded their improvement, and in many
instances paved the way to their destruction.
The progress of our settlements westward, supported
as they are by a dense population, has constantly
driven them back with almost the total sacrifice of
the lands which they have been compelled to abandon.
They have claims on the magnanimity and, I may add,
on the justice of this nation which we must all feel.
We should become their real benefactors;
we should perform the office of their Great Father,
the endearing title which they emphatically
give to the Chief Magistrate of our Union.
Their sovereignty over vast territories should cease
in lieu of which the right of soil should be secured to
each individual and his posterity in competent portions;
and for the territory thus ceded by each tribe
some reasonable equivalent should be granted,
to be vested in permanent funds for the support
of civil government over them and for the
education of their children, for their instruction
in the arts of husbandry, and to provide sustenance
for them until they could provide it for themselves.
My earnest hope is that Congress will digest some plan,
founded on these principles with such improvements
as their wisdom may suggest, and carry it
into effect as soon as it may be practicable.
Europe is again unsettled and
the prospect of war increasing.
Should the flame light up in any quarter,
how far it may extend it is impossible to foresee.
It is our peculiar felicity to be altogether unconnected with
the causes which produce this menacing aspect elsewhere.
With every power we are in perfect amity, and it is our
interest to remain so if it be practicable on just conditions.
I see no reasonable cause to apprehend
variance with any power, unless it proceed
from a violation of our maritime rights.
In these contests, should they occur, and to whatever
extent they may be carried, we shall be neutral;
but as a neutral power we have rights
which it is our duty to maintain.
For like injuries it will be incumbent on us to seek
redress in a spirit of amity in full confidence that,
injuring none, none would knowingly injure us.
For more imminent dangers we should be prepared,
and it should always be recollected that such preparation
adapted to the circumstances and sanctioned by the
judgment and wishes of our constituents cannot fail
to have a good effect in averting dangers of every kind.
We should recollect also that the season of
peace is best adapted to these preparations.
If we turn our attention, fellow-citizens, more immediately
to the internal concerns of our country, and more
especially to those on which its future welfare depends,
we have every reason to anticipate the happiest results.
It is now rather more than forty-four years
since we declared our independence,
and thirty-seven since it was acknowledged.
The talents and virtues which were displayed in that great
struggle were a sure presage of all that has since followed.
A people who were able to surmount in their
infant state such great perils would be more
competent as they rose into manhood to repel
any which they might meet in their progress.
Their physical strength would be more adequate
to foreign danger, and the practice of self-government,
aided by the light of experience, could not fail to
produce an effect equally salutary on all those
questions connected with the internal organization.
These favorable anticipations have been realized.
In our whole system, national and State, we have
shunned all the defects which unceasingly preyed
on the vitals and destroyed the ancient Republics.
In them there were distinct orders, a nobility and
a people, or the people governed in one assembly.
Thus in the one instance there was a perpetual conflict
between the orders in society for the ascendency,
in which the victory of either terminated in the
overthrow of the government and the ruin of the state;
in the other, in which the people governed in a body,
and whose dominions seldom exceeded the dimensions
of a county in one of our States, a tumultuous and
disorderly movement permitted only a transitory existence.
In this great nation there is but one order, that of the
people, whose power by a peculiarly happy improvement
of the representative principle is transferred from them
without impairing in the slightest degree their sovereignty,
to bodies of their own creation and to persons elected
by themselves in the full extent necessary for all the
purposes of free, enlightened and efficient government.
The whole system is elective, the complete
sovereignty being in the people, and every
officer in every department deriving his authority
from and being responsible to them for his conduct.
Our career has corresponded with this great outline.
Perfection in our organization could not have been expected
in the outset either in the National or State Governments
or in tracing the line between their respective powers.
But no serious conflict has arisen, nor any contest
but such as are managed by argument and by
a fair appeal to the good sense of the people,
and many of the defects which experience had clearly
demonstrated in both Governments have been remedied.
By steadily pursuing this course in this spirit there is
every reason to believe that our system will soon attain
the highest degree of perfection of which human institutions
are capable, and that the movement in all its branches
will exhibit such a degree of order and harmony as to
command the admiration and respect of the civilized world.
Our physical attainments have not been less eminent.
Twenty-five years ago the river Mississippi was shut up
and our Western brethren had no outlet for their commerce.
What has been the progress since that time?
The river has not only become the property of the
United States from its source to the ocean with all
its tributary streams (with the exception of the upper
part of the Red River only), but Louisiana with a fair
and liberal boundary on the western side and the
Floridas on the eastern have been ceded to us.
The United States now enjoy the complete
and uninterrupted sovereignty over the
whole territory from St. Croix to the Sabine.
New States, settled from among ourselves
in this and in other parts, have been admitted
into our Union in equal participation in the
national sovereignty with the original States.
Our population has augmented in an astonishing
degree and extended in every direction.
We now, fellow-citizens, comprise within our limits
the dimensions and faculties of a great power
under a Government possessing all the energies
of any government ever known to the Old World
with an utter incapacity to oppress the people.
Entering with these views the office which I have just
solemnly sworn to execute with fidelity and to the utmost
of my ability, I derive great satisfaction from a knowledge
that I shall be assisted in the several Departments
by the very enlightened and upright citizens from whom
I have received so much aid in the preceding term.
With full confidence in the continuance of that candor and
generous indulgence from my fellow-citizens at large which
I have heretofore experienced, and with a firm reliance on
the protection of Almighty God, I shall forthwith commence
the duties of the high trust to which you have called me.2
James Monroe asked for completion of his coastal defenses.
He noted they had paid down the national debt,
but now they were borrowing because of the depression.
He wanted support for civil governments and education of the Indian tribes.
Others believed that Indians should be treated as nations
so that they could cede away their land.
John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company had caused trading posts
to close down in 1821, and the next year the US Congress ended
the government factor system that regulated Indian trade.
Astor extended his operations in the West.
James Monroe on 31 March 1821 wrote this letter
to his friend, the former President James Madison:
Since I have been in this office many newspapers
have been sent to me from every part of the union,
unsought, which having neither time nor curiosity
to read, are in effect thrown away.
I should have stopped the practice,
but from delicacy to the Editors & expecting
also that they would subject me to no charge.
Lately I have been informed that the same practice took
place in your time, & had been tolerated till you retired,
when the editors sent you bills for the amount of
the subscription to their papers for the eight years,
making an enormous sum.
Be so kind as to inform me whether this was the fact,
as in case it was I may write to the Editors
(a few excepted, & very few) not to send them.
The law for executing the Florida treaty has
subjected me to great trouble & embarrassment.
The organizing a government in Florida & appointment
of officers there is in itself a serious duty.
I have as yet appointed the Governor only,
who is General Jackson.
The institution of a board of commissioners
for the settlement of claims on Spain
is attended with still greater difficulty.
In general the persons best qualified live in
the great towns, especially to the Eastward.
In those towns also the claimants live.
If I appoint a Commissioner in one only, and not in the
others, all the latter will complain; and it is impossible
to appoint them in all, the number not admitting of it.
I have therefore thought it best to avoid the great towns,
& propose to appoint Governor King of Maine,
Judge Green of Fredericksburg, & Judge White
of Knoxville Tennessee, two Lawyers & one Merchant.
They are all able & upright men
unconnected with the claims & claimants.
I may make some changes, the Commissioner
not having issued, & therefore wish you not to mention it.
From Europe we have nothing interesting since the
accounts lately published of the menaced movement
on Naples by Austria & perhaps Russia & Prussia,
though it is intimated, that the two latter will only
place armies of observation near the scene of action
to be governed by events; & also of the decision of
the British government, not to interfere in the contest.3
Monroe on May 19 wrote this longer letter
to report on various issues to James Madison:
Had I received your letter respecting Mr. Robert Taylor,
before the appointment of General Pegram to the
office of marshal was made, I would not have
hesitated to appoint Mr. Taylor.
But I knew nothing of his wish on the subject, & being
apprised by the person who sent forward the resignation
of General Moore, that an immediate appointment of his
successor would be necessary, as judge Tucker intended
to hold a court, as soon as the vacancy was filled,
& not before, I acted without the usual delay.
General Pegram occurred to me, as a person well
qualified to discharge the duties of the office, & whose
appointment promised to be satisfactory to the public.
I had not heard from him,
nor did I know that he would accept it.
I thought if he declined it, that I should have done
my duty in having offered it to him & gained time to
receive & weigh the applications & pretensions of others.
He accepted the office, as soon as he heard of his
appointment, though the commission being directed
to Petersburg did not immediately reach him.
The census had not been fully taken under General Moore,
which was another strong motive for dispatch.
His health & mind had been severely shocked,
as I heard, by disease, and on his own account,
as well as that of the public, I was glad that he withdrew.
It is said that he has suffered much from
that cause by the misconduct of his deputies.
I have at length made the arrangements and
appointments, that were enjoined on me by the
late law for carrying into effect the treaty with Spain.
Judge White of Tennessee, Governor King of Maine,
& Mr. Tazewell are the Commissioners
for the settlement of claims on Spain.
Dr. Watkins of Baltimore is secretary
& Joseph Forrest of this city Clerk of the board.
The territory from St. Mary’s to Cape Florida makes
one collection district for the revenue; from the cape to
Apalachicola a second; & thence to the Perdido the third.
At the last I have appointed Mr. Alexander Scott Collector,
Steuben Smith naval officer, who will
appoint John Martin Baker Inspector.
At St. Augustine Mr. Hackley is
appointed Surveyor and Inspector.
The salaries to these officers will be small, but I shall
endeavor to send them to their stations in a public vessel,
& to have them quartered in the public buildings.
The territory ceded, having been divided under Spain into
two provinces, & St Augustine being so very distant from
Pensacola & separated by a wilderness, it was thought
advisable to retain in some circumstances that form.
The appointment of the governor extends of course
over the whole; but as he will probably reside at
Pensacola, a secretary is appointed for
St. Augustine and another for Pensacola.
Two judicial districts are also formed,
and one Judge appointed for each.
Mr. Fromentin to the one, and Mr. Duvall, formerly
member of Congress from Kentucky, for the other.
Judge Anderson’s son is appointed
district attorney for Pensacola.
Mr., (now Baron) de Neuville, has been negotiating
with Mr. Adams a commercial treaty without much
prospect from the beginning of concluding one.
The restrictive duties on both sides had cut up
the commerce between the two countries, which
on our part was making its way into France,
through England, Nice, Genoa &c, and had not Florida
been surrendered, would have been smuggled from
France into the United States through its ports.
There is reason to think that this resource
had been in part relied on in the early stages.
The great inequality of the duties imposed by France,
compared with those of the United States, was
as you know, the motive to our last law, which produced
that of France, which cut up the commerce between us.
He proposed a reduction of one third of the existing duties
on both sides, which would still preserve the inequality.
This was rejected.
He has been offered a reduction of the duties on
French wines & silks or an augmentation on silks
from China in lieu of the latter, simply for the
establishment of equality on ships on the principle of
our act of the 3rd of March 1815 which he has refused.
He has since been offered a regulation on another principle,
that of a nominal equality on both sides of one and half
percent for example, on the articles ad valorem, which
on a vessel of 250 tons if loaded with cotton would make
a duty of 450 dollars a regulation, notwithstanding its
nominal equality, which by the greater bulk & less value
of our articles, would operate decidedly in favor of France,
& he now has this proposition under consideration,
but with little expectation of his accepting it.
In short I do not think that there is much
if any, prospect of an agreement.
The reduction of the army is now completed.
It has been a painful duty, as it will dismiss many
good officers, who had relied on the profession
as a support & have no other resource at present.
The termination of the Neapolitan movement
has by its manner disgraced that country,
if it does not injure the cause in Spain & Portugal.
The foundation is weak; the people are ignorant,
depraved, & unequal to such a trial.4
On 23 May 1821 President Monroe sent a fairly long letter to General Jackson
and informed him he would be getting other letters from
the Secretaries of State and of War by a special messenger.
In the letter he advised Jackson:
In executing that portion of the trust relating to the
Floridas, I have gratified in a high degree my feelings
in committing the chief power to you, who have
rendered such important services, and have
such just claims to the gratitude of your country.
It must be agreeable to you for many considerations which
will occur to take possession of the Floridas and cause the
Spanish authorities and troops to be removed to Cuba.
It must be equally so to establish the government
of the United States and to administer it
in their behalf in those territories.
I have every reason to believe that the nation
generally have beheld with profound interest and
satisfaction your appointment, considering it a just
tribute of respect to your extraordinary services and
merit and having the fullest confidence that its duties
will be discharged with the utmost ability and integrity.
As the territory had been divided into two provinces
under Spain and still retained that form, notwithstanding
all that part of West Florida of the Perdido had been taken
from it, and more especially as Pensacola & St. Augustine
were separated at such a distance and by a wilderness,
it was thought advisable for the present to adapt the
arrangement in some of its parts to that circumstance.
In regard to your office both provinces
will form but one territory.
Your powers will be the same over the whole,
but as your residence will be fixed at one only,
and as I presume, at Pensacola, and the other
at St. Augustine, both equally under your control.
I have divided the territory with a view to revenue
into three districts, that portion which lies between
the St. Mary’s and Cape Florida into one, St. Augustine
being its port of entry and delivery; that between the cape
and the Appalachicola into another, St. Mary’s being its port,
and that lying between the Appalachicola and the
Perdido into a third, Pensacola being its port.
I have established two Judicial districts, one
Judge in each, Pensacola to be the residence
of one and St. Augustine of the other.
I have appointed Mr. Fromentin Judge
at the former and Mr. Duval at the latter.
Both of these gentlemen, I presume you are
acquainted with, the one having served in the
Senate from Louisiana, and the other in the
House of Representatives from Kentucky.
Mr. Walton of Georgia is Secretary at Pensacola, the
descendant and representative of the Member of Congress
of that name who voted for and signed the Declaration of
Independence; Mr. Worthington of Maryland is Secretary
of St. Augustine, a person who acted as political agent
of the United States some years at Buenos Aires & Chile….
I have full confidence that your appointment
will be immediately and most beneficially felt.
Smugglers & slave traders will hide their heads;
pirates will disappear and the
Seminoles cease to give us trouble.
So effectual will the impression be that
I think the recollection of your past services
will smooth your way as to the future.
Past experience shows that neither
of us are without enemies.
If you still have any, as may be presumed,
they will watch your movements, hoping to find
some inadvertent circumstance to turn against you.
Be therefore on your guard.
Your country indulges no such feeling.
From it you will find a liberal
confidence and a generous support.5
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams in his speech to Congress on 4 July 1821
warned that the United States was becoming a colonial power,
and he urged continuation of their neutrality policy
and respect for the independence of other nations.
President Monroe wrote two letters to Adams in July.
In the first one on July 12 Monroe counseled Adams and wrote,
that the Governor of East Florida had no authority to
make such a post, and had not attempted to make it,
as I understand to be the case; that the Floridas were
a wilderness over which no government existed beyond
the posts; that the whole territory had been ceded to,
and of right belonged to the United States, the treaty
making the cession being then daily expected to be ratified,
and the territory surrendered; that the whole proceeding
was for the purpose of smuggling, and to which it was
never anticipated or believed that the government of
France would have given the slightest countenance.
That nothing hostile to France was intended will be
shown by tracing the origin of the order, by which
it will be seen that it was issued to prevent a like
attempt from British vessels more than a year before,
and that we should have been guilty of gross partiality
in favor of the vessels of one country at the expense
of the other had it not been extended to both.
Our revenue laws against smuggling required it.6
The Missouri legislature accepted statehood on August 10.
On September 4 Russia’s Tsar Alexander I extended his territorial claims in Alaska
from 55° latitude south to 51°, and he prohibited foreign ships
from coming within 100 miles of that territory.
Monroe on September 6 wrote in this letter to his elderly friend Jefferson:
I undertake with great pleasure the trust you have
committed to me, as well from my earnest desire to relieve
you from every burden to which I may be in any degree
equal, as to evince my profound respect for the character
of General Kościuszko, to whose memory the Senate of
Cracow propose to erect a statue, as a testimonial of their
sense of his exalted merit—of the prospect of success it is
impossible for me to speak with any confidence at this time.
It was natural for the Senate of Cracow & for the
Polish nation to look to the United States for support
in such an undertaking from the known devotion of
our fellow citizens to the cause of liberty & his
important services to that cause in our country.
But the great demand which has been & is still made on
them in various ways in support of institutions & measures
on which their highest interests depend has been so
sensibly felt, that a like attempt in honor of the memory
of General Washington has recently failed in this state.
Nor has a statue yet been erected
to his memory by the nation.
I will move in the affair with all the caution which you
suggest, taking no step in it without having previously
communicated with the members of the administration,
availing myself informally of their council & aid.7
Thomas Jefferson wrote in this letter to Monroe on September 27:
The letter of Lewis shows that Baron is a most
unprincipled man, and the sentence of the court
shows him unworthy of any military trust.
There is no sympathy for him in the public at this time,
& if ever a true statement is laid before the public,
he will be consigned to general indignation.
We can readily understand how such a man got up
the application from members of the legislature.
I feel with great sensibility the kind expressions
of your friendship to me, and reciprocate
them with warmth & sincerity.
If there be a balm for the human soul,
it is in the affections of others.
Ours has stood the test of time, of youth & of age,
and I feel with fervor that your fame & fortune
interest me as strongly as my own.8
John Quincy Adams spent four years working on his long and comprehensive
Report of the Secretary of State Upon Weights and Measures for the Congress
on the French metric system which Jefferson and Madison had supported.
Yet neither house even discussed the system which
Adams hoped would be the standard for the whole world.
Hezekiah Niles in October 1821 published this
editorial supporting the liberal view for widening suffrage,
As a general principle then we hold it to be
equitable that every citizen who may be called
into military service of a state at the hazard of his life,
by privation or exposure in battle, or who is liable
to a poll or other taxes on his person or property,
should have the right of voting
for any office in the gift of the people;
and a vote in one district should have the weight
as a vote in another district, not as it is in Maryland, etc.,
where one vote in certain counties has twenty times
the influence of a like vote in other counties;
but this high privilege should be carefully
guarded that it may be rightly exercised.9
On 3 December 1821 President Monroe sent his fifth annual message to the Congress.
This is the entire text:
The progress of our affairs since the last session has
been such as may justly be claimed and expected under
a Government deriving all its powers from an enlightened
people, and under laws formed by their representatives,
on great consideration, for the sole purpose of promoting
the welfare and happiness of their constituents.
In the execution of those laws and of the powers vested
by the Constitution in the Executive, unremitted attention
has been paid to the great objects to which they extend.
In the concerns which are exclusively internal
there is good cause to be satisfied with the result.
The laws have had their due operation and effect.
In those relating to foreign powers, I am happy to
state that peace and amity are preserved with all by
a strict observance on both sides of the rights of each.
In matters touching our commercial intercourse, where
a difference of opinion has existed as to the conditions on
which it should be placed, each party has pursued its own
policy without giving just cause of offense to the other.
In this annual communication, especially when
it is addressed to a new Congress, the whole scope
of our political concerns naturally comes into view, that
errors, if such have been committed, may be corrected;
that defects which have become manifest may be remedied;
and, on the other hand, that measures which were
adopted on due deliberation, and which experience
has shown are just in themselves and essential to the
public welfare, should be persevered in and supported.
In performing this necessary and very important duty
I shall endeavor to place before you on its merits every
subject that is thought to be entitled to your particular
attention in as distinct and clear a light as I may be able.
By an act of 1815-03-03, so much of the several acts as
imposed higher duties on the tonnage of foreign vessels
and on the manufactures and productions of foreign nations
when imported into the United States in foreign vessels
than when imported in vessels of the United States were
repealed so far as respected the manufactures and
productions of the nation to which such vessels belonged, on
the condition that the repeal should take effect only in favor
of any foreign nation when the Executive should be satisfied
that such discriminating duties to the disadvantage of the
United States had likewise been repealed by such nation.
By this act a proposition was made to all nations
to place our commerce with each on a basis which
it was presumed would be acceptable to all.
Every nation was allowed to bring its manufactures
and productions into our ports and to take the
manufactures and productions of the United States
back to their ports in their own vessels on the same
conditions that they might be transported in vessels
of the United States, and in return it was required that
a like accommodation should be granted to the vessels
of the United States in the ports of other powers.
The articles to be admitted or prohibited on either
side formed no part of the proposed arrangement.
Each party would retain the right to admit
or prohibit such articles from the other
as it thought proper, and on its own conditions.
When the nature of the commerce between the
United States and every other country was taken
into view, it was thought that this proposition would
be considered fair and even liberal by every power.
The exports of the United States consist generally
of articles of the 1st necessity and of rude materials
in demand for foreign manufactories, of great bulk,
requiring for their transportation many vessels, the
return for which in the manufactures and productions
of any foreign country, even when disposed of there
to advantage may be brought in a single vessel.
This observation is the more especially applicable
to those countries from which manufactures alone
are imported, but it applies in great extent to the
European dominions of every European power and
in a certain extent to all the colonies of those powers.
By placing then the navigation precisely on the same
ground in the transportation of exports and imports
between the United States and other countries it was
presumed that all was offered which could be desired.
It seemed to be the only proposition which
could be devised which would retain even
the semblance of equality in our favor.
Many considerations of great weight
gave us a right to expect that this commerce
should be extended to the colonies as well as
to the European dominions of other powers.
With the latter especially with countries exclusively
manufacturing the advantage was manifestly on their side.
An indemnity for that loss was expected from a trade
with the colonies and with the greater reason as it
was known that the supplies which the colonies derived
from us were of the highest importance to them, their labor
being bestowed with so much greater profit in the culture
of other articles; and because likewise the articles of
which those supplies consisted, forming so large a
proportion of the exports of the United States, were
never admitted into any of the ports of Europe except
in cases of great emergency to avert a serious calamity.
When no article is admitted which is not required to supply
the wants of the party admitting it, and admitted then not
in favor of any particular country to the disadvantage of
others, but on conditions equally applicable to all, it seems
just that the articles thus admitted and invited should be
carried thither in the vessels of the country affording
such supply and that the reciprocity should be found
in a corresponding accommodation on the other side.
By allowing each party to participate in the transportation
of such supplies on the payment of equal tonnage a
strong proof was afforded of an accommodating spirit.
To abandon to it the transportation of the whole
would be a sacrifice which ought not to be expected.
The demand in the present instance would be the more
unreasonable in consideration of the great inequality
existing in the trade with the parent country.
Such was the basis of our system as established
by the act of 1815 and such its true character.
In the year in which this act was passed a treaty was
concluded with Great Britain in strict conformity with
its principles in regard to her European dominions.
To her colonies, however, in the West Indies and
on this continent it was not extended, the British
Government claiming the exclusive supply of those
colonies, and from our own ports, and of the
productions of the colonies in return in her own vessels.
To this claim the United States could not assent, and in
consequence each party suspended the intercourse in the
vessels of the other by a prohibition which still exists.
The same conditions were offered
to France but not accepted.
Her Government has demanded other conditions more
favorable to her navigation, and which should also give
extraordinary encouragement to her manufactures
and productions in ports of the United States.
To these it was thought improper to accede,
and in consequence the restrictive regulations
which had been adopted on her part, being
countervailed on the part of the United States,
the direct commerce between the 2 countries in the
vessels of each party has been in great measure suspended.
It is much to be regretted that, although a negotiation
has been long pending, such is the diversity of views
entertained on the various points which have been
brought into discussion that there does not appear
to be any reasonable prospect of its early conclusion.
It is my duty to state, as a cause of very great regret,
that very serious differences have occurred in this
negotiation respecting the construction of the 8th article
of the treaty of 1803 by which Louisiana was ceded to
the United States, and likewise respecting the seizure
of the Apollo in 1820 for a violation of our revenue laws.
The claim of the Government of France has excited
not less surprise than concern, because there does not
appear to be a just foundation for it in either instance.
By the 8th article of the treaty referred to it is stipulated
that after the expiration of 12 years, during which time
it was provided by the 7th or preceding article that the
vessels of France and Spain should be admitted into
the ports of the ceded territory without paying higher
duties on merchandise or tonnage on the vessels
than such as were paid by citizens of the United States,
the ships of France should forever afterwards be placed
on the footing of the most favored nation.
By the obvious construction of this article it is
presumed that it was intended that no favor should be
granted to any power in those ports to which France should
not be forthwith entitled, nor should any accommodation
be allowed to another power on conditions to which
she would not also be entitled on the same conditions.
Under this construction no favor or accommodation
could be granted to any power to the prejudice of France.
By allowing the equivalent allowed by those
powers she would always stand in those ports
on the footing of the most favored nation.
But if this article should be so construed as
that France should enjoy of right and without paying
the equivalent, all the advantages of such conditions
as might be allowed to other powers in return
for important concessions made by them, then the
whole character of the stipulations would be changed.
She would not be placed on the footing of the most
favored nation, but on a footing held by no other nation.
She would enjoy all advantages allowed to them
in consideration of like advantages allowed to us,
free from every and any condition whatever.
As little cause has the Government of France to
complain of the seizure of the Apollo and the removal
of other vessels from the waters of the St. Mary’s.
It will not be denied that every nation has a right
to regulate its commercial system as it thinks fit and
to enforce the collection of its revenue, provided it
be done without an invasion of the rights of other powers.
The violation of its revenue laws is an offense which
all nations punish, the punishment of which gives
no just cause of complaint to the power to which the
offenders belong, provided it be extended to all equally.
In this case every circumstance which occurred
indicated a fixed purpose to violate our revenue laws.
Had the party intended to have pursued a fair trade
he would have entered the port of some other power,
landed his goods at the custom house according to law,
and re-shipped and sent them in the vessel of such power,
or of some other power which might lawfully bring them,
free from such duties to a port of the United States.
But the conduct of the party in
this case was altogether different.
He entered the river St. Mary’s, the boundary line
between the United States and Florida, and took
his position on the Spanish side, on which in the
whole extent of the river there was no town, no
port or custom house, and scarcely any settlement.
His purpose therefore was not to sell his goods to the
inhabitants of Florida, but to citizens of the United States
in exchange for their productions, which could not be
done without a direct and palpable breach of our laws.
It is known that a regular systematic plan had been
formed by certain persons for the violation of our
revenue system, which made it the more necessary
to check the proceeding in its commencement.
That the unsettled bank of a river so remote from
the Spanish garrisons and population could give no
protection to any party in such a practice is believed
to be in strict accord with the law of nations.
It would not have comported with a friendly
policy in Spain herself to have established a
custom house there, since it could have subserved
no other purpose than to elude our revenue law.
But the Government of Spain did not adopt that measure.
On the contrary, it is understood that the Captain-General
of Cuba, to whom an application to that effect was
made by these adventurers, had not acceded to it.
The condition of those Provinces for
many years before they were ceded to the
United States need not now be dwelt on.
Inhabited by different tribes of Indians and
an inroad for every kind of adventurer, the
jurisdiction of Spain may be said to have been
almost exclusively confined to her garrisons.
It certainly could not extend to places
where she had no authority.
The rules, therefore, applicable to settled countries
governed by laws could not be deemed so to the
deserts of Florida and to the occurrences there.
It merits attention also that the territory had been ceded
to the United States by a treaty the ratification of which
had not been refused, and which has since been performed.
Under any circumstances therefore Spain became
less responsible for such acts committed there,
and the United States more at liberty to exercise
authority to prevent so great a mischief.
The conduct of this Government has in every
instance been conciliatory and friendly to France.
The construction of our revenue law in its
application to the cases which have formed
the ground of such serious complaint on her
part and the order to the collector of St. Mary’s
in accord with it were given two years before these
cases occurred, and in reference to a breach which
was attempted by the subjects of another power.
The application, therefore, to the
cases in question was inevitable.
As soon as the treaty by which these Provinces were ceded
to the United States was ratified, and all danger of further
breach of our revenue laws ceased, an order was given for
the release of the vessel which had been seized and for the
dismission of the libel which had been instituted against her.
The principles of this system of reciprocity, founded on the
law of 1815-03-03, have been since carried into effect with
the Kingdoms of the Netherlands, Sweden, Prussia, and with
Hamburg, Lubeck, and Oldenburg, with a provision made
by subsequent laws in regard to the Netherlands, Prussia,
Hamburg, and Bremen that such produce and manufactures
as could only be, or most usually were, 1st shipped from the
ports of those countries, the same being imported in vessels
wholly belonging to their subjects, should be considered
and admitted as their own manufactures and productions.
The Government of Norway has by an ordinance
opened the ports of that part of the dominions of the
King of Sweden to the vessels of the United States
upon the payment of no other or higher duties than
are paid by Norwegian vessels, from whatever
place arriving and with whatever articles laden.
They have requested the reciprocal allowance for
the vessels of Norway in the ports of the United States.
As this privilege is not within the scope of the
act of 1815-03-03, and can only be granted by
Congress, and as it may involve the commercial
relations of the United States with other nations,
the subject is submitted to the wisdom of Congress.
I have presented thus fully to your view our commercial
relations with other powers, that, seeing them in detail
with each power, and knowing the basis on which they rest,
Congress may in its wisdom decide whether any change
ought to be made, and if any, in what respect.
If this basis is unjust or unreasonable, surely it ought to be
abandoned; but if it be just and reasonable, and any change
in it will make concessions subversive of equality and
tending in its consequences to sap the foundations of our
prosperity, then the reasons are equally strong for adhering
to the ground already taken, and supporting it by such
further regulations as may appear to be proper,
should any additional support be found necessary.
The question concerning the construction of the first
article of the treaty of Ghent has been by a joint act of
the representatives of the United States and of Great Britain
at the Court of St. Petersburg, submitted to the decision
of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia.
The result of that submission has not yet been received.
The commissioners under the 5th article of that treaty
not having been able to agree upon their decision,
their reports to the two Governments, according to the
provisions of the treaty may be expected at an early day.
With Spain the treaty of 1819-02-22,
has been partly carried into execution.
Possession of East and West Florida has been given to the
United States, but the officers charged with that service by
an order from His Catholic Majesty delivered by his minister
to the Secretary of State, and transmitted by a special agent
to the Captain-General of Cuba, to whom it was directed
and in whom the Government of those Provinces was
vested, have not only omitted in contravention of the
order of their Sovereign, the performance of the express
stipulation to deliver over the archives and documents
relating to the property and sovereignty of those Provinces,
all of which it was expected would have been delivered
either before or when the troops were withdrawn,
but defeated since every effort of the United States to
obtain them, especially those of the greatest importance.
This omission has given rise to several incidents of a
painful nature, the character of which will be fully disclosed
by the documents which will be hereafter communicated.
In every other circumstance of the law
of the 3rd of March last for carrying into
effect that treaty has been duly attended to.
For the execution of that part which preserved in force
for the Government of the inhabitants for the term
specified, all the civil, military, and judicial powers
exercised by the existing Government of those Provinces
an adequate # of officers, as was presumed, were
appointed, and ordered to their respective stations.
Both Provinces were formed into 1 Territory,
and a governor appointed for it; but in consideration
of the pre-existing division and of the distance and
difficulty of communication between Pensacola the
residence of the governor of West Florida, and St. Augustine
that of the governor of East Florida, at which places the
inconsiderable population of each Province was principally
collected; two secretaries were appointed, the one to
reside at Pensacola and the other at St. Augustine.
Due attention was likewise paid to the execution of
the laws of the United States relating to the revenue and
the slave trade, which were extended to these Provinces.
The whole Territory was divided into three collection
districts, that part lying between the river St. Mary’s
and Cape Florida forming one, that from the Cape
to the Apalachicola another, and that from the
Apalachicola to the Perdido the third.
To these districts the usual number of revenue officers
were appointed; and to secure the due operation of
these laws one judge and a district attorney were
appointed to reside at Pensacola, and likewise one
judge and a district attorney to reside at St. Augustine
with a specified boundary between them; and one
marshal for the whole with authority to appoint a deputy.
In carrying this law into effect, and especially that part
relating to the powers of the existing Government of those
Provinces, it was thought important in consideration of
the short term for which it was to operate and the radical
change which would be made at the approaching session
of Congress to avoid expense, to make no appointment
which should not be absolutely necessary to give effect
to those powers to withdraw none of our citizens from
their pursuits, whereby to subject the Government
to claims which could not be gratified and the parties
to losses which it would be painful to witness.
It has been seen with much concern that in the
performance of these duties a collision arose
between the governor of the Territory and
the judge appointed for the western district.
It was presumed that the law under which this
transitory Government was organized, and the
commissions which were granted to the officers
who were appointed to execute each branch of the system,
and to which the commissions were adapted, would
have been understood in the same sense by them
in which they were understood by the Executive.
Much allowance is due to officers employed in each branch
of this system, and the more so as there is good cause
to believe that each acted under the conviction that he
possessed the power which he undertook to exercise.
Of the officer holding the principal station, I think it
proper to observe that he accepted it with reluctance
in compliance with the invitation given him and from
a high sense of duty to his country, being willing to
contribute to the consummation of an event which
would insure complete protection to an important part of
our Union, which had suffered much from incursion and
invasion, and to the defense of which his very gallant and
patriotic services had been so signally and usefully devoted.
From the intrinsic difficulty of executing laws deriving
their origin from different sources, and so essentially
different in many important circumstances, the advantage,
and indeed the necessity of establishing as soon as
practicable a well-organized Government over that
Territory on the principles of our system is apparent.
This subject is therefore recommended
to the early consideration of Congress.
In compliance with an injunction of the law of the
3rd of March last, three commissioners have also been
appointed and a board organized for carrying into effect the
11th article of the treaty above recited, making provision for
the payment of such of our citizens as have well-founded
claims on Spain of the character specified by that treaty.
This board has entered on its duties
and made some progress therein.
The commissioner and surveyor of His Catholic Majesty,
provided for by the 4th article of the treaty, have not
yet arrived in the United States but are soon expected.
As soon as they do arrive, corresponding appointments
will be made and every facility be afforded
for the due execution of this service.
The Government of His Most Faithful Majesty since
the termination of the last session of Congress has been
removed from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon, where a revolution
similar to that which had occurred in the neighboring
Kingdom of Spain had in like manner been sanctioned by
the accepted and pledged faith of the reigning monarch.
The diplomatic intercourse between the United States
and the Portuguese dominions, interrupted by this
important event, has not yet been resumed,
but the change of internal administration having
already materially affected the commercial intercourse
of the United States with the Portuguese dominions,
the renewal of the public missions between the
two countries appears to be desirable at an early day.
It is understood that the colonies in South America
have had great success during the present year
in the struggle for their independence.
The new Government of Colombia has extended its
territories and considerably augmented its strength,
and at Buenos Aires, where civil dissensions had
for some time before prevailed, greater harmony
and better order appear to have been established.
Equal success has attended their
efforts in the Provinces on the Pacific.
It has long been manifest that it would be impossible
for Spain to reduce these colonies by force,
and equally so that no conditions short of their
independence would be satisfactory to them.
It may therefore be presumed, and it is earnestly hoped,
that the Government of Spain, guided by enlightened
and liberal councils will find it to comport with
its interests and due to its magnanimity to
terminate this exhausting controversy on that basis.
To promote this result by friendly counsel with
the Government of Spain will be the object
of the Government of the United States.
In conducting the fiscal operations of the year it has
been found necessary to carry into full effect the act
of the last session of Congress authorizing a loan of $5M.
This sum has been raised at an average premium
of $5.59 per centum upon stock bearing an interest
at the rate of 5% per annum, redeemable at the
option of the Government after 1835-01-01.
There has been issued under the provisions of
this act $4,735,296.30 of 5% stock, and there has been
or will be redeemed during the year $3,197,030.71
of Louisiana 6% deferred stock and Mississippi stock.
There has therefore been an actual increase of the
public debt contracted during the year of $1,538,266.69.
The receipts into the Treasury from the first of January
to the 30th of September last have amounted to
$16,219,197.70, which with the balance of
$1,198,461.21 in the Treasury on the former day,
make the aggregate sum of $17,417,658.91.
The payments from the Treasury during the same period
have amounted to $15,655,288.47, leaving in the Treasury
on the last-mentioned day the sum of $1,762,370.44.
It is estimated that the receipts of the 4th quarter
of the year will exceed the demands which will be
made on the Treasury during the same period, and
that the amount in the Treasury on the 30th of September
last will be increased on the first day of January next.
At the close of the last session it was anticipated that
the progressive diminution of the public revenue in 1819
and 1820, which had been the result of the languid
state of our foreign commerce in those years, had in
the latter year reached its extreme point of depression.
It has however been ascertained that
that point was reached only at the termination
of the first quarter of the present year.
From that time until the 30th of September last the duties
secured have exceeded those of the corresponding quarters
of the last year $1.172M, while the amount of debentures
issued during the three first quarters of this year is $952,000
less than that of the same quarters of the last year.
There are just grounds to believe that the
improvement which has occurred in the revenue during
the last-mentioned period will not only be maintained,
but that it will progressively increase through the next
and several succeeding years, so as to realize the
results which were presented upon that subject
by the official reports of the Treasury at the
commencement of the last session of Congress.
Under the influence of the most unfavorable
circumstances the revenue for the next and
subsequent years to the year 1825 will exceed
the demands at present authorized by law.
It may fairly be presumed that under the
protection given to domestic manufactures by the
existing laws, we shall become at no distant period
a manufacturing country on an extensive scale.
Possessing as we do the raw materials in such vast amount
with a capacity to augment them to an indefinite extent;
raising within the country aliment of every kind to an
amount far exceeding the demand for home consumption,
even in the most unfavorable years, and to be obtained
always at a very moderate price; skilled also, as our
people are in the mechanic arts and in every improvement
calculated to lessen the demand for and the price of labor,
it is manifest that their success in every branch
of domestic industry may and will be carried
under the encouragement given by the present
duties to an extent to meet any demand which
under a fair competition may be made upon it.
A considerable increase of domestic manufactures
by diminishing the importation of foreign, will probably
tend to lessen the amount of the public revenue.
As however a large proportion of the revenue which is
derived from duties is raised from other articles than
manufactures, the demand for which will increase with
our population, it is believed that a fund will still be raised
from that source adequate to the greater part of the public
expenditures, especially as those expenditures, should we
continue to be blessed with peace, will be diminished by
the completion of the fortifications, dock yards, and other
public works by the augmentation of the Navy to the point
to which it is proposed to carry it, and by the payment of
the public debt including pensions for military services.
It cannot be doubted that the more complete our internal
resources and the less dependent we are on foreign powers
for every national as well as domestic purpose the
greater and more stable will be the public felicity.
By the increase of domestic manufactures will the
demand for the rude materials at home be increased,
and thus will the dependence of the several parts
of our Union on each other and the strength
of the Union itself be proportionably augmented.
In this process, which is very desirable and inevitable
under the existing duties, the resources which obviously
present themselves to supply a deficiency in the revenue,
should it occur, are the interests which may
derive the principal benefit from the change.
If domestic manufactures are raised by duties on foreign,
the deficiency in the fund necessary for public
purposes should be supplied by duties on the former.
At the last session it seemed doubtful whether the
revenue derived from the present sources would
be adequate to all the great purposes of our Union
including the construction of our fortifications, the
augmentation of the Navy, and the protection of our
commerce against the dangers to which it is exposed.
Had the deficiency been such as to subject us to the
necessity either to abandon those measures of defense
or to resort to the other means for adequate funds,
the course presented to the adoption of a virtuous
and enlightened people appeared to be a plain one.
It must be gratifying to all to know
that this necessity does not exist.
Nothing, however, in contemplation of
such important objects, which can be easily
provided for, should be left to hazard.
It is thought that the revenue may receive an
augmentation from the existing sources, and in a
manner to aid our manufactures, without hastening
prematurely the result which has been suggested.
It is believed that a moderate additional duty
on certain articles would have that effect
without being liable to any serious objection.
The examination of the whole coast for the
construction of permanent fortifications from
St. Croix to the Sabine with the exception of part
of the territory lately acquired will be completed in
the present year, as will be the survey of the Mississippi
under the resolution of the House of Representatives
from the mouth of the Ohio to the ocean and
likewise of the Ohio from Louisville to the Mississippi.
A progress corresponding with the sums appropriated
has also been made in the construction
of these fortifications at the ports designated.
As they will form a system of defense for the whole
maritime frontier, and in consequence for the interior,
and are to last for ages, the greatest care has been taken
to fix the position of each work and to form it on such a
scale as will be adequate to the purpose intended by it.
All the inlets and assailable parts of our Union
have been minutely examined, and positions
taken with a view to the best effect, observing
in every instance a just regard for economy.
Doubts however being entertained as to the propriety
of the position and extent of the work at Dauphine Island,
further progress in it was suspended soon after the
last session of Congress, and an order given to the
Board of Engineers and Naval Commissioners to
make a further and more minute examination of it
in both respects, and to report the result without delay.
Due progress has been made in the construction
of vessels of war according to the law providing
for the gradual augmentation of the Navy,
and to the extent of existing appropriations.
The vessels authorized by the act of 1820 have
all been completed and are now in actual service.
None of the larger ships have been or will be launched
for the present, the object being to protect all which
may not be required for immediate service from
decay by suitable buildings erected over them.
A squadron has been maintained, as heretofore
in the Mediterranean by means whereof peace
has been preserved with the Barbary Powers.
This squadron has been reduced the present
year to as small a force as is compatible with
the fulfillment of the object intended by it.
From past experience and the best information
respecting the views of those powers it is
distinctly understood that should our squadron be
withdrawn, they would soon recommence their
hostilities and depredations upon our commerce.
Their fortifications have lately been rebuilt,
and their maritime force increased.
It has also been found necessary to maintain
a naval force on the Pacific for the protection
of the very important interests of our citizens
engaged in commerce and the fisheries in that sea.
Vessels have likewise been employed in cruising
along the Atlantic coast in the Gulf of Mexico,
on the coast of Africa, and in the neighboring seas.
In the latter many piracies have been committed on our
commerce, and so extensive was becoming the range
of those unprincipled adventurers that there was cause
to apprehend without a timely and decisive effort to
suppress them, the worst consequences would ensue.
Fortunately a considerable check has been given
to that spirit by our cruisers, who have succeeded
in capturing and destroying several of their vessels.
Nevertheless, it is considered an object of
high importance to continue these cruises
until the practice is entirely suppressed.
Like success has attended our
efforts to suppress the slave trade.
Under the flag of the United States and the sanction
of their papers the trade may be considered as
entirely suppressed, and if any of our citizens are
engaged in it under the flags and papers of other
powers, it is only from a respect of those powers that
these offenders are not seized and brought home
to receive the punishment which the laws inflict.
If every other power should adopt the same policy
and pursue the same vigorous means for carrying
it into effect, the trade could no longer exist.
Deeply impressed with the blessings which we enjoy,
and of which we have such manifold proofs, my mind
is irresistibly drawn to that Almighty Being, the great
source from whence they proceed and to whom
our most grateful acknowledgments are due.10
In January 1822 the House of Representatives obtained documents from
the Treasury Department, and a year later the Washington Republican in an article
by “A.B.” accused public printers of suppressing unfavorable government documents.
A.B. was Illinois Senator Ninian Edwards, but the other Illinois Senator
Jesse B. Thomas used a government-paid excursion to campaign for William Crawford.
Edwards brought six charges against Secretary of the Treasury Crawford in the House.
Even Secretary of State J. Q. Adams was accused of getting $5,000 from the
Florida treaty with Spain to reimburse New England insurance companies.
Also in January the Nashville Gazette endorsed Andrew Jackson for the presidency,
and on July 20 the Tennessee Legislature nominated him as a favorite son.
On March 8 President Monroe sent the
“South American Affairs” report to the United States Congress:
In transmitting to the House of Representatives
the documents called for by the Resolution of that
House of the 30th January, I consider it my duty
to invite the attention of Congress to a very important
subject, and to communicate the sentiments of the
Executive on it, that should the Congress entertain
similar sentiments, there may be such cooperation
between the two departments of the Government
as their respective rights and duties may require.
The revolutionary movement in the Spanish Provinces
in this hemisphere attracted the attention and excited the
sympathy of our fellow citizens from its commencement.
This feeling was natural and honorable to them from
causes which need not be communicated to you.
It has been gratifying to all to see the general
acquiescence which has been manifested in the
policy which the constituted authorities have deemed
it proper to pursue in regard to this contest.
As soon as the movement assumed such a
steady and consistent form as to make the
success of the Provinces probable, the rights
to which they were entitled by the law of nations
as equal parties to a civil war were extended to them.
Each party was permitted to enter our ports with its public
and private ships and to take from them every article
which was the subject of commerce with other nations.
Our citizens also have carried on commerce with
both parties, and the Government has protected
it with each in articles not contraband of war.
Through the whole of this contest the United States
have remained neutral and have fulfilled with the utmost
impartiality all the obligations incident to that character.
This contest has now reached such a stage and been
attended with such decisive success on the part of the
provinces that it merits the most profound consideration
whether their right to the rank of independent nations
with all the advantages incident to it in their
intercourse with the United States is not complete.
Buenos Aires assumed that rank by a formal
declaration in 1816 and has enjoyed it since
1810 free from invasion by the parent country.
The Provinces composing the Republic of Colombia,
after having separately declared their independence, were
united by a fundamental law of the 17th of December 1819.
A strong Spanish force occupied at that time certain parts of
the territory within their limits and waged a destructive war.
That force has since been repeatedly defeated, and the
whole of it either made prisoners or destroyed or expelled
from the country with the exception of an inconsiderable
force only, which is blockaded in two fortresses.
The Provinces on the Pacific have
likewise been very successful.
Chile declared independence in 1818 and has since
enjoyed it undisturbed; and of late by the assistance of
Chile and Buenos Aires the revolution has extended to Peru.
Of the movement in Mexico our information is less authentic,
but it is nevertheless distinctly understood that the new
Government has declared its independence and that there
is now no opposition to it there nor a force to make any.
For the last three years the Government of Spain has not
sent a single corps of troops to any part of that country,
nor is there any reason to believe it will send any in future.
Thus it is manifest that all those Provinces are not only in
the full enjoyment of their independence, but considering
the state of the war and other circumstances, that there is
not the most remote prospect of their being deprived of it.
When the result of such a contest is manifestly settled,
the new governments have a claim to recognition
by other powers which ought not to be resisted.
Civil wars too often excite feelings
which the parties cannot control.
The opinion entertained by other powers as to the
result may assuage those feelings and promote an
accommodation between them useful and honorable to both.
The delay which has been observed in making a
decision on this important subject will, it is presumed,
have afforded an unequivocal proof to Spain, as it
must have done to other powers, of the high respect
entertained by the United States for her rights
and of their determination not to interfere with them.
The Provinces belonging to this hemisphere are our
neighbors and have successively, as each portion
of the country acquired its independence, pressed
their recognition by an appeal to facts not to be contested,
and which they thought gave them a just title to it.
To motives of interest this Government has invariably
disclaimed all pretension, having resolved to take no part
in the controversy or other measure in regard to it which
should not merit the sanction of the civilized world.
To other claims a just sensibility has been always
felt and frankly acknowledged, but they in themselves
could never become an adequate cause of action.
It was incumbent on this Government to look to every
important fact and circumstance on which a sound
opinion could be formed, which has been done.
When we regard then the great length of time which
this was, has been prosecuted, the complete success
which has attended it in favor of the Provinces, the
present condition of the parties, and the utter inability
of Spain to produce any change in it; we are compelled
to conclude that its fate is settled, and that the
Provinces which have declared their independence
and are in the enjoyment of it ought to be recognized.
Of the views of the Spanish Government on this subject
no particular information has been recently received.
It may be presumed that the successful progress of the
revolution through such a long series of years, gaining
strength and extending annually in every direction, and
embracing by the late important events with little exception,
all the dominions of Spain south of the United States on
this Continent, placing thereby the complete sovereignty
over the whole in the hands of the people, will reconcile
the parent country to an accommodation with them
on the basis of their unqualified independence.
Nor has any authentic information been recently
received of other powers respecting it.
A sincere desire has been cherished to act in concert
with them in the proposed recognition, of which
several were some time past duly apprised;
but it was understood that they were not prepared for it.
The immense space between those powers,
even those which border on the Atlantic, and
these Provinces makes the movement an affair
of less interest and excitement to them than to us.
It is probable therefore that they have been less
attentive to its progress than we have been.
It may be presumed however, that the late
events will dispel all doubt of the result.
In proposing this measure it is not contemplated to
change thereby in the slightest manner our friendly
relations with either of the parties, but to observe
in all respects as heretofore, should the war be
continued, the most perfect neutrality between them.
Of this friendly disposition an assurance will be
given to the Government of Spain to whom it is
presumed it will be, as it ought to be, satisfactory.
The measure is proposed under a thorough conviction
that it is in strict accord with the law of nations;
that it is just and right as to the parties and that the
United States owe it to their station and character in the
world, as well as to their essential interests, to adopt it.
Should Congress concur in the view herein presented,
they will doubtless see the propriety of making the
necessary appropriations for carrying it into effect.11
President Monroe wrote to the U.S. Congress recommending the recognition
of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, Gran Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Mexico.
Those in the House of Representatives were convinced, and they supported a resolution
to recognize South American nations with 167 for and only 1 opposed,
and they appropriated $100,000 for those missions on May 4.
Yet Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia would agree in November
to support Spain’s efforts to regain its colonies.
Henry Clay and John Q. Adams agreed
on liberty everywhere and intervention nowhere.
When the French invaded Spain in April, rumors that Cuba or Puerto Rico might be
taken over by France or Britain persuaded Secretary of State Adams to write
on the 28th to the new US Minister to Spain Hugh Nelson warning that
the U.S. would object to Spain transferring “Cuba to any other power.”
Henry Clay acted as a commissioner to work out a settlement in a dispute
between Kentucky and Virginia in 1822, but it was rejected by the Virginia legislature.
Henry Clay persuaded the American Colonization Society to purchase land
in West Africa in December 1821 that became the nation of Liberia.
They chose Rev. Jehudi to lead the free blacks from America to found a colony,
and free Negroes in the United States began migrating there in 1822.
Most blacks and abolitionists working for emancipation
and education opposed colonization.
Monroe wrote in this letter to Thomas Jefferson on March 14:
You have I doubt not read the message respecting the
independent governments to the south of the United States.
There was danger in standing still or moving forward, of a
nature in both instances, which will readily occur to you.
I thought that it was the wisest policy to risk that,
which was incident to the latter course, as it
comported more with the liberal & magnanimous
spirit of our own country than the other.
I hope that you will concur in the opinion
that the time had arrived, beyond which
it ought not to have been longer delayed.12
President Monroe on March 26 sent a letter to the US Congress discussing
what areas of the coast need fortification especially for Dauphine Island.
On 4 May 1822 Monroe sent a veto message to the US House of Representatives
because he believed an act to preserve the Cumberland road
was not within the power of the Congress under the Constitution.
Then on that day he also completed his extremely long article
“Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements.”
Here are the first and third paragraphs and the last two paragraphs
rom this detailed history and analysis of the issue:
It may be presumed that the proposition relating to
internal improvements by roads and canals, which has
been several times before Congress, will be taken into
consideration again either for the purpose of recommending
to the States the adoption of an amendment to the
Constitution to vest the necessary power in the General
Government or to carry the system into effect on the
principle that the power has already been granted.
It seems to be the prevailing opinion that great
advantage would be derived from the exercise
of such a power by Congress.
Respecting the right there is much diversity of sentiment.
It is of the highest importance that
this question should be settled.
If the right exist, it ought forthwith to be exercised.
If it does not exist, surely those who are friends
to the power ought to unite in recommending
an amendment to the Constitution to obtain it.
I propose to examine this question….
To do justice to the subject it will be necessary
to mount to the source of power in these States and
to pursue this power in its gradations and distribution
among the several departments in which it is now vested.
The great division is between the State
governments and the General Government.
If there was a perfect accord in every instance as to
the precise extent of the powers granted to the General
Government, we should then know with equal certainty
what were the powers which remained to the State
governments, since it would follow that those which
were not granted to the one would remain to the other.
But it is on this point, and particularly respecting the
construction of these powers and their incidents, that a
difference of opinion exists, and hence it is necessary to
trace distinctly the origin of each government, the purposes
intended by it, and the means adopted to accomplish them.
By having the interior of both governments fully before us
we shall have all the means which can be afforded to enable
us to form a correct opinion of the endowments of each….
The distinguishing characteristic of this movement
is that although the connection which had existed
between the people of the several colonies before their
dismemberment from the parent country was not only
not dissolved but increased by that event, even before
the adoption of the Articles of Confederation; yet the
preservation and augmentation of that tie were the
result of a new creation and proceeded altogether from
the people of each colony, into whose hands the whole
power passed exclusively when wrested from the Crown.
To the same cause the greater change which has since
occurred by the adoption of the Constitution is to be traced.
The establishment of our institutions forms the
most important epoch that history has recorded.
They extend unexampled felicity to the whole body of our
fellow-citizens and are the admiration of other nations.
To preserve and hand them down in their utmost
purity to the remotest ages will require the
existence and practice of virtues and talents equal
to those which were displayed in acquiring them.
It is ardently hoped and confidently
believed that these will not be wanting.13
Monroe on May 10 wrote this letter to his friend James Madison:
I have had the pleasure to receive your letter of
the 6th, and entirely concur in the view which you
have taken of both the subjects on which it treats.
The uniform conduct of the government towards the
Spanish provinces has manifested a friendly interest
in their favor without taking a single step with which
the Spanish government had a right to complain,
from the commencement of their revolution,
to the recognition at the late Session.
I will avail myself of your suggestion to guard
against the imputation endeavored to be thrown
on our character by the Spanish minister.
The time had certainly arrived, when it became our duty
to recognize, provided it was intended, to maintain friendly
relations with them in future & not to suffer them under
a feeling of resentment towards us & the artful practices of
the European powers to become the dupes of their policy.
I was aware that the recognition was not without its
dangers, but as either course had its dangers, I thought it
best to expose ourselves after the accession of Mexico & of
Peru to such as were incident to a generous & liberal policy.
Your view of the Constitution as to the powers of the
Executive in the appointment of public ministers is in strict
accord with my own, and is, as I understand, supported
by numerous precedents under successive administrations.
A foreign mission is not an office in the sense
of the Constitution which authorizes the President
to fill vacancies in the recess of the Senate.
It is not an office created by law nor subject
to the rules applicable to such offices.
It exists only when an appointment is made
and terminates when it ceases, whether by
the recall, death, or resignation of the minister.
It exists in the contemplation of the Constitution
with every power and may be filled with any or
terminated with either, as circumstances may
require, according to the judgement of the Executive.
If an appointment can be made by the Executive in the
recess of the Senate to a court, at which we have been
represented, to fill a vacancy created by the death or
resignation of the minister; I am of opinion, that it may be
made to a court at which we have never been represented.
A different construction would embarrass the government
much in its movements & be productive of great mischief.
I will search for the precedents which you have mentioned,
as it is probable that I may have occasion for them.
I have never known such a state of things, as has
existed here during the late Session, nor have I personally
ever experienced so much embarrassment & mortification.
Where there is an open contest with a foreign enemy
or with an internal party in which you are supported
by just principles, the course is plain & you have
something to cheer & animate you to action.
But we are now blessed with peace, & the success
of the late war has overwhelmed the federal party,
so that there is no division of that kind to rally any
persons together in support of the administration.
The approaching election, though distant, is a circumstance,
that excites greatest interest in both houses, & whose
effect already sensibly felt, is still much to be dreaded.
There being three avowed candidates in the administration
is a circumstance which increases the embarrassment.
The friends of each endeavor to annoy the others,
as you have doubtless seen by the public prints.
In many cases the attacks are personal,
directed against the individual.
They have been felt principally in their operation
on public measures by their effect on the
system of public defense adopted in 1815-16.
Under the pretext of economy attempts have been made,
and in some instances with success to cut up that system
in many important parts, & in fact to reduce it to a nullity.
Thus we should lose all the advantages to be derived
from the lessons of the late war & get back to the
state in which we were before it, after having
expended large sums under their admonition.
They have been felt also & personally by me
in the measures adopted in execution of the
law of last year for the reduction of the army.
I appointed a board of General officers, as was done
by you in 1815, gave them the law & precedents
established in the former case with my opinion
that original vacancies were open to selections
from any grade, if indeed to be confined to the army.
They made their report, and
I confirmed it without any change.
The majority of the Senate rejected two nominations of
great importance, affecting the construction of the law,
& the principle on which it was executed, & compelling
me, if acquiesced in, to transfer Col. Bissell, from a
regiment of infantry to a regiment of artillery, filling by
him an original vacancy against the report of the board &
my own opinion of the comparative merit of the parties.
I withdrew the nominations, on which the Senate
had not acted, to explain my construction of the law;
preparing a message to which effect, I re-nominated them,
with the two (Towson & Gadsden) who had been rejected.
They were again rejected, the reasons for which
are contained in a report of the committee
at the head of which is Col. Williams of Tennessee.
I then nominated Col. Towson to the office of paymaster
general, which has been confirmed, but have kept open
the offices of adjutant general to which Col. Gadsden
had been nominated, & of Colonelcy to one of the new
regiments of artillery to which Col. Towson had been.
These places will remain open till next Session.
The reduction of the army gives great discontent
to a numerous host of disbanded officers,
notwithstanding every precaution to prevent it
by observing the strictest impartiality, as to the
merits of the parties, their circumstances &ca.
The door has been opened to the discontented, & many
unfounded reports from some of them made the ground of
charges on the administration, importing misconduct in the
reduction of the army, of which that of interpolation in some
part of General Scott’s book, containing rules & regulations
for its government has perhaps attracted your attention.
The fallacy of this charge has been completely refuted
in a correspondence between Doctor Floyd & General Scott,
& the evidence of its fallacy had been more than a
month before made known to the Chairman of the
Committee of the Senate without being regarded.
Under the experiences of the late war the staff of the army
is remarkably well organized, & its expense reduced, as it
appears to me, to the minimum for such an establishment,
as indeed is the expense of the naval establishment,
and of every branch of the administration; yet a different
opinion is attempted to be propagated throughout the union.
The object is to raise up a new party founded on the
assumed basis of economy and with unjust imputations
against all those who are friendly to the system of defense,
in train demolish the system, if in their power.
We have undoubtedly reached a new epoch in our
political career, which has been formed by the destruction
of the federal party, so far at least not to be felt in the
movement of the general government, & especially in
Congress; by the general peace, & the entire absence,
of all cause, as to public measures for great political
excitement; & in truth by the real prosperity of the union.
In such a state of things, it might have been presumed,
that the movement would have been tranquil, marked by
a common effort to promote the public good in every line
to which the powers of the general government extended.
It is my fixed opinion, that this will be the result after
some short interval, & that the restless & disturbed
state of the commonwealth, like the rolling of the waves
after a storm, though worse than the storm itself,
will subside & leave the ship in perfect security.
Public opinion will react on this body & keep it right.
Surely our government may get on &
prosper without the existence of parties.
I have always considered their existence
as the curse of the country, of which
we had sufficient proof, more especially in the late war.
Besides how keep them alive & in action?
The causes which exist in other countries do not here.
We have no distinct orders.
No allurement has been offered to the federalists
to calm them down into a state of tranquility.
None of them have been appointed to high offices,
& very few to the lowest.
Their misconduct in the late war & the
success of that war broke them as a party.
It has been charged on me to have reared them up,
& my trip to the Eastward more particularly
has been alleged as the cause.
But in what mode?
Both parties met me embodied together,
& I received them with civility & kindness.
Their addresses were republican, & my answers, as
strongly marked, as were any of the acts of my public life.
If therefore the existence of that party might be considered,
as conducive to the public welfare,
its destruction cannot be charged on me.
It was owing to a much higher cause.
The attention shown to me was adopted
by it as a propitiating circumstance,
which I did not invite nor expect or wish.
I took that trip to draw the public attention to the great
object of public defense, and so far as I had a personal
object to improve my health, which had suffered much by
the fatigues to which I had been exposed in the late war.
Although I have thought that it was consistent with the
principles of our government & would promote the
general welfare, to draw the people more closely together,
& to leave the federal leaders without support;
yet I have known that that object without regarding
other considerations of a more personal character
would be defeated, if the person in this station went
in advance of his own party: that he must rest
exclusively on it, declining on his part persecution only,
& extending to any of the opposite one, any portion of
confidence by appointing them even to the lowest offices,
when invited by his republican fellow citizens.
On this principle I have invariably acted,
so that the charge of amalgamation is not correctly
levelled at me; nor if a merit, do I claim the credit
of it to a greater extent than is above stated.
Parties have now calmed down, or rather have disappeared
from this great theatre, and we are about to make the
experiment, whether there is sufficient virtue in the people
to support our free republican system of government.14
The United States recognized Colombia on June 17.
On 19 June 1822 an envoy from Gran Colombia that included
Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama, arrived in Washington,
and President Monroe affirmed their independence.
Denmark Vesey had bought his freedom in 1799 and organized a revolt
in Charleston, South Carolina, but it was discovered and suppressed in June 1822.
Denmark and 34 others were hanged, and 43 were sold or transported.
In the fall Stephen F. Austin established the first American settlement
along the
San Antonio River in Texas on 200,000 acres he inherited from his father Moses.
California became a part of free Mexico on November 29,
and on December 12 the US formally recognized the
revolutionary government of Mexico led by Augustin de Iturbide.
On 3 December 1822 President Monroe sent his sixth annual message to Congress.
This is the complete text:
Many causes unite to make your present meeting
peculiarly interesting to our constituents.
The operation of our laws on the various subjects to
which they apply, with the amendments which they
occasionally require, imposes annually an important
duty on the representatives of a free people.
Our system has happily advanced to such
maturity that I am not aware that your
cares in that respect will be augmented.
Other causes exist which are highly interesting
to the whole civilized world and to no portion of it
more so in certain views, than to the United States.
Of these causes and of their bearing on the interests
of our Union I shall communicate the sentiments
which I have formed with that freedom
which a sense of duty dictates.
It is proper however to invite your attention in the
first instance to those concerns respecting which
legislative provision is thought to be particularly urgent.
On the 24th of June last a convention of
navigation and commerce was concluded in
this city between the United States and France
by ministers duly authorized for the purpose.
The sanction of the Executive having been given to this
convention under a conviction that, taking all its stipulations
into view, it rested essentially on a basis of reciprocal and
equal advantage, I deemed it my duty in compliance with
the authority vested in the Executive by the second section
of the act of the last session of the 6th of May concerning
navigation to suspend by proclamation until the end of the
next session of Congress the operation of the act entitled
"An act to impose a new tonnage duty on French ships
and vessels, and for other purposes," and to suspend
likewise all other duties on French vessels or the goods
imported in them which exceeded the duties on American
vessels and on similar goods imported in them.
I shall submit this convention forthwith to the
Senate for its advice and consent as to the ratification.
Since your last session the prohibition which had been
imposed on the commerce between the United States
and the British colonies in the West Indies and
on this continent has likewise been removed.
Satisfactory evidence having been adduced that the
ports of those colonies had been opened to the
vessels of the United States by an act of the British
Parliament bearing date on the 24th of June last,
on the conditions specified therein, I deemed it proper,
in compliance with the provision of the first section
of the act of the last session above recited, to declare,
by proclamation bearing date on the 24th of August last,
that the ports of the United States should thenceforward
and until the end of the next session of Congress be
opened to the vessels of Great Britain employed in that
trade under the limitation specified in that proclamation.
A doubt was entertained whether the act of Congress
applied to the British colonies on this continent as well as
to those in the West Indies, but as the act of Parliament
opened the intercourse equally with both, and it was the
manifest intention of Congress, as well as the obvious
policy of the United States, that the provisions of the
act of Parliament should be met in equal extent on
the part of the United States, and as also the act of
Congress was supposed to vest in the President
some discretion in the execution of it, I thought
it advisable to give it a corresponding construction.
Should the constitutional sanction of the Senate
be given to the ratification of the convention with
France, legislative provisions will be necessary to
carry it fully into effect, as it likewise will be to continue
in force on such conditions as may be deemed just
and proper, the intercourse which has been opened
between the United States and the British colonies.
Every light in the possession of the Executive will
in due time be communicated on both subjects.
Resting essentially on a basis of reciprocal and equal
advantage, it has been the object of the Executive in
transactions with other powers to meet the propositions
of each with a liberal spirit, believing that thereby the
interest of our country would be most effectually promoted.
This course has been systematically pursued in the
late occurrences with France and Great Britain
and in strict accord with the views of the Legislature.
A confident hope is entertained that by the arrangement
thus commenced with each all differences respecting
navigation and commerce with the dominions in
question will be adjusted, and a solid foundation
be laid for an active and permanent intercourse
which will prove equally advantageous to both parties.
The decision of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of
Russia on the question submitted to him by the United States
and Great Britain, concerning the construction of the
first article of the treaty of Ghent, has been received.
A convention has since been concluded between the
parties under the mediation of His Imperial Majesty,
to prescribe the mode by which that article shall
be carried into effect in conformity with that decision.
I shall submit this convention to the Senate for
its advice and consent as to the ratification,
and if obtained, shall immediately bring the
subject before Congress for such provisions
as may require the interposition of the Legislature.
In compliance with an act of the last session
a Territorial Government has been established
in Florida on the principles of our system.
By this act the inhabitants are secured in the full
enjoyment of their rights and liberties, and to
admission into the Union with equal participation
in the Government with the original States on the
conditions heretofore prescribed to other Territories.
By a clause in the 9th article of the treaty with Spain,
by which that Territory was ceded to the United States,
it is stipulated that satisfaction shall be made for the injuries,
if any, which by process of law shall be established to have
been suffered by the Spanish officers and individual Spanish
inhabitants by the late operations of our troops in Florida.
No provision having yet been made to carry that stipulation
into effect, it is submitted to the consideration of Congress
whether it will not be proper to vest the competent
power in the district court at Pensacola, or in some
tribunal to be specially organized for the purpose.
The fiscal operations of the year have been
more successful than had been anticipated at the
commencement of the last session of Congress.
The receipts into the Treasury during the three first
quarters of the year have exceeded the sum of $14.745M.
The payments made at the Treasury during the
same period have exceeded $12.279M, leaving
the Treasury on the 30th day of September last
including $1,168,592.24 which were in the Treasury
on the first day of January last, a sum exceeding $4.128M.
Besides discharging all demands for the current
service of the year, including the interest and
reimbursement of the public debt, the 6% stock
of 1796, amounting to $80,000, has been redeemed.
It is estimated that, after defraying the current
expenses of the present quarter and redeeming
the $2M of 6% stock of 1820, there will remain in
the Treasury on the first of January next nearly $3M.
It is estimated that the gross amount of duties which
have been secured from the first of January to the 30th
of September last has exceeded $19.5M, and the amount
for the whole year will probably not fall short of $23M.
Of the actual force in service under the present military
establishment, the posts at which it is stationed, and the
condition of each post, a report from the Secretary of War
which is now communicated will give a distinct idea.
By like reports the state of the Academy at
West Point will be seen, as will be the progress
which has been made on the fortifications along
the coast and at the national armories and arsenals.
The position of the Red River and that at the Sault of
St. Marie are the only new posts that have been taken.
These posts with those already occupied in the interior are
thought to be well adapted to the protection of our frontiers.
All the force not placed in the garrisons along the
coast and in the ordnance depots, and indispensably
necessary there, is placed on the frontiers.
The organization of the several corps composing
the Army is such as to admit its expansion to a
great extent in case of emergency, the officers
carrying with them all the light which they possess
to the new corps to which they might be appointed.
With the organization of the staff
there is equal cause to be satisfied.
By the concentration of every branch with its chief in this
city in the presence of the Department, and with a grade in
the chief military station to keep alive and cherish a military
spirit, the greatest promptitude in the execution of orders
with the greatest economy and efficiency are secured.
The same view is taken of the Military Academy.
Good order is preserved in it, and the youth
are well instructed in every science connected
with the great objects of the institution.
They are also well trained and disciplined
in the practical parts of the profession.
It has been always found difficult to control
the ardor inseparable from that early age in
such manner as to give it a proper direction.
The rights of manhood are too often claimed prematurely,
in pressing which too far the respect which is due to age and
the obedience necessary to a course of study and instruction
in every such institution are sometimes lost sight of.
The great object to be accomplished is the
restraint of that ardor by such wise regulations
and Government as by directing all the energies
of the youthful mind to the attainment of useful
knowledge will keep it within a just subordination
and at the same time elevate it to the highest purposes.
This object seems to be essentially obtained in this
institution and with great advantage to the Union.
The Military Academy forms the basis in regard
to science on which the military establishment rests.
It furnishes annually after due examination and on
the report of the academic staff, many well-informed
youths to fill the vacancies which occur in the several
corps of the Army, while others who retire to private
life carry with them such attainments as under the
right reserved to the several States to appoint the
officers and to train the militia will enable them by
affording a wider field for selection to promote the
great object of the power vested in Congress of providing
for the organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia.
Thus by the mutual and harmonious cooperation
of the two governments in the execution of a power
divided between them, an object always to be
cherished, the attainment of a great result, on which
our liberties may depend cannot fail to be secured.
I have to add that in proportion as our regular force
is small should the instruction and discipline of the
militia, the great resource on which we rely, be pushed
to the utmost extent that circumstances will admit.
A report from the Secretary of the Navy will communicate
the progress which has been made in the construction of
vessels of war with other interesting details respecting
the actual state of the affairs of that Department.
It has been found necessary for the protection of our
commerce to maintain the usual squadrons on the
Mediterranean, the Pacific, and along the Atlantic coast,
extending the cruises of the latter into the West Indies,
where piracy, organized into a system, has preyed
on the commerce of every country trading thither.
A cruise has also been maintained on the coast of Africa,
when the season would permit, for the suppression
of the slave trade, and orders have been given
to the commanders of all our public ships to seize
our own vessels, should they find any engaging
in that trade, and to bring them in for adjudication.
In the West Indies piracy is of recent date,
which may explain the cause why other
powers have not combined against it.
By the documents communicated it will be
seen that the efforts of the United States to
suppress it have had a very salutary effect.
The benevolent provision of the act under which the
protection has been extended alike to the commerce of
other nations cannot fail to be duly appreciated by them.
In compliance with the act of the last session entitled
"An act to abolish the United States trading establishments,"
agents were immediately appointed and instructed under
the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to close
the business of the trading houses among the Indian tribes
and to settle the accounts of the factors and sub-factors
engaged in that trade, and to execute in all other respects
the injunction of that act in the mode prescribed therein.
A final report of their proceedings shall be
communicated to Congress as soon as it is received.
It is with great regret I have to state that a serious
malady has deprived us of many valuable citizens of
Pensacola and checked the progress of some of those
arrangements which are important to the Territory.
This effect has been sensibly felt in respect to the Indians
who inhabit that Territory, consisting of the remnants
of the several tribes who occupy the middle ground
between St. Augustine and Pensacola with
extensive claims but undefined boundaries.
Although peace is preserved with those Indians,
yet their position and claims tend essentially
to interrupt the intercourse between the
eastern and western parts of the Territory,
on which our inhabitants are principally settled.
It is essential to the growth and prosperity of the
Territory, as well as to the interests of the Union,
that those Indians should be removed by special
compact with them to some other position or
concentration within narrower limits where they are.
With the limited means in the power of the Executive,
instructions were given to the governor to accomplish
this object so far as it might be practicable, which
was prevented by the distressing malady referred to.
To carry it fully into effect in either mode
additional funds will be necessary to the provision
of which the powers of Congress are competent.
With a view to such provision as may be deemed proper,
the subject is submitted to your consideration, and
in the interim further proceedings are suspended.
It appearing that so much of the act entitled
"An act regulating the staff of the Army," which
passed on 1818-04-14, as relates to the commissariat
will expire in April next, and the practical operation of that
department having evinced its great utility, the propriety
of its renewal is submitted to your consideration.
The view which has been taken of the probable
productiveness of the lead mines, connected with the
importance of the material to the public defense, makes it
expedient that they should be managed with peculiar care.
It is therefore suggested whether it will not comport with
the public interest to provide by law for the appointment
of an agent skilled in mineralogy to superintend
them under the direction of the proper department.
It is understood that the Cumberland road, which was
constructed at great expense, has already suffered from the
want of that regular superintendence and of those repairs
which are indispensable to the preservation of such a work.
This road is of incalculable advantage in facilitating the
intercourse between the Western and the Atlantic States.
Through the whole country from the northern extremity of
Lake Erie to the Mississippi, and from all the waters which
empty into each, finds and easy and direct communication
to the seat of Government and thence to the Atlantic.
The facility which it affords to all military and
commercial operations, and also to those of the
Post Office Department cannot be estimated too highly.
This great work is likewise an ornament
and an honor to the nation.
Believing that a competent power to adopt and execute
a system of internal improvement has not been granted
to Congress, but that such a power, confined to great
national purposes and with proper limitations, would be
productive of eminent advantage to our Union, I have
thought it advisable that an amendment of the Constitution
to that effect should be recommended to the several States.
A bill which assumed the right to adopt and execute
such a system having been presented for my signature
at the last session, I was compelled from the view
which I had taken of the powers of the General
Government to negative it, on which occasion I thought it
proper to communicate the sentiments which I had formed,
on mature consideration on the whole subject.
To that communication in all the views in which the
great interest to which it relates may be supposed
to merit your attention, I have now to refer.
Should Congress however deem it improper to
recommend such an amendment, they have according
to my judgment the right to keep the road in repair
by providing for the superintendence of it and
appropriating the money necessary for repairs.
Surely if they had the right to appropriate
money to make the road they have a right to
appropriate it to preserve the road from ruin.
From the exercise of this power
no danger is to be apprehended.
Under our happy system the people are
the sole and exclusive fountain of power.
Each Government originates from them, and to them alone,
each to its proper constituents, are they respectively and
solely responsible for the faithful discharge of their duties
within their constitutional limits; and that the people will
confine their public agents of every station to the strict line
of their constitutional duties there is no cause of doubt.
Having however communicated my sentiments to
Congress at the last session fully in the document
to which I have referred, respecting the right of
appropriation as distinct from the right of jurisdiction
and sovereignty over the territory in question,
I deem it improper to enlarge on the subject here.
From the best information I have been able to obtain
it appears that our manufactures, though depressed
immediately after the peace, have considerably increased,
and are still increasing under the encouragement given
them by the tariff of 1816 and by subsequent laws.
Satisfied I am, whatever may be the abstract doctrine
in favor of unrestricted commerce, provided all nations
would concur in it, and it was not liable to be interrupted
by war, which has never occurred and cannot be expected,
that there are other strong reasons applicable to our
situation and relations with other countries which impose on
us the obligation to cherish and sustain our manufactures.
Satisfied, however, I likewise am that the interest of
every part of our Union, even of those most benefitted
by manufactures, requires that this subject should be
touched with the greatest caution, and a critical knowledge
of the effect to be produced by the slightest change.
On full consideration of the subject in all its relations
I am persuaded that a further augmentation may now be
made of the duties on certain foreign articles in favor of
our own and without affecting injuriously any other interest.
For more precise details I refer you to the communications
which were made to Congress during the last session.
So great was the amount of accounts for moneys
advanced during the late war, in addition to others of
a previous date which in the regular operations of the
Government necessarily remained unsettled, that it
required a considerable length of time for their adjustment.
By a report from the first Comptroller of the Treasury
it appears that on 1817-03-04, the accounts then
unsettled amounted to $103,068,876.41, of which on
1922-09-30, $93,175,396.56 had been settled, leaving
on that day a balance unsettled of $9,893,479.85.
That there have been drawn from the Treasury in paying
the public debt and sustaining the Government in all its
operations and disbursements, since 1817-03-04,
$157,199,380.96, the accounts for which have been settled
to the amount of $137,501,451.12, leaving a balance
unsettled of $19,697,929.84 for precise details respecting
each of these balances I refer to the report of the
Comptroller and the documents which accompany it.
From this view it appears that our commercial
differences with France and Great Britain have been
placed in a train of amicable arrangement on conditions
fair and honorable in both instances to each party;
that our finances are in a very productive state,
our revenue being at present fully competent to all the
demands upon it; that our military force is well organized
in all its branches and capable of rendering the most
important service in case of emergency that its number
will admit of; that due progress has been made under
existing appropriations in the construction of fortifications
and in the operations of the Ordnance Department;
that due progress has in like manner been made in the
construction of ships of war; that our Navy is in the best
condition, felt and respected in every sea in which it is
employed for the protection of our commerce; that our
manufactures have augmented in amount and improved in
quality; that great progress has been made in the settlement
of accounts and in the recovery of the balances due
by individuals, and that the utmost economy is secured
and observed in every Department of the Administration.
Other objects will likewise claim your attention, because
from the station which the United States hold as a member
of the great community of nations they have rights to
maintain, duties to perform, and dangers to encounter.
A strong hope was entertained that peace would ere this
have been concluded between Spain and the independent
governments south of the United States in this hemisphere.
Long experience having evinced the competency of those
governments to maintain the independence which they
had declared, it was presumed that the considerations
which induced their recognition by the United States
would have had equal weight with other powers,
and that Spain herself, yielding to those magnanimous
feelings of which her history furnishes so many examples,
would have terminated on that basis a controversy
so unavailing and at the same time so destructive.
We still cherish the hope that
this result will not long be postponed.
Sustaining our neutral position and allowing to
each party while the war continues equal rights,
it is incumbent on the United States to claim
of each with equal rigor the faithful observance
of our rights according to the well-known law of nations.
From each therefore a like cooperation is expected in the
suppression of the piratical practice which has grown out of
this war and of blockades of extensive coasts on both seas,
which, considering the small force employed to sustain
them, have not the slightest foundation to rest on.
Europe is still unsettled, and although the war long
menaced between Russia and Turkey has not broken out,
there is no certainty that the differences between
those powers will be amicably adjusted.
It is impossible to look to the oppressions
of the country respecting which those
differences arose without being deeply affected.
The mention of Greece fills the mind with the most
exalted sentiments and arouses in our bosoms the
best feelings of which our nature is susceptible.
Superior skill and refinement in the arts, heroic gallantry
in action, disinterested patriotism, enthusiastic zeal
and devotion in favor of public and personal liberty
are associated with our recollections of ancient Greece.
That such a country should have been overwhelmed
and so long hidden, as it were, from the world under
a gloomy despotism has been a cause of unceasing
and deep regret to generous minds for ages past.
It was natural, therefore, that the reappearance of
those people in their original character, contending
in favor of their liberties, should produce that great
excitement and sympathy in their favor which have
been so signally displayed throughout the United States.
A strong hope is entertained that these people
will recover their independence and resume
their equal station among the nations of the earth.
A great effort has been made in Spain and Portugal
to improve the condition of the people, and it must
be very consoling to all benevolent minds to see the
extraordinary moderation with which it has been conducted.
That it may promote the happiness of both nations is the
ardent wish of this whole people to the expression of which
we confine ourselves; for whatever may be the feelings
or sentiments which every individual under our Government
has a right to indulge and express, it is nevertheless a
sacred maxim, equally with the Government and people,
that the destiny of every independent nation in what
relates to such improvements of right belongs
and ought to be left exclusively to themselves.
Whether we reason from the late wars or from
those menacing symptoms which now appear in Europe,
it is manifest that if a convulsion should take place in
any of those countries it will proceed from causes which
have no existence and are utterly unknown in these States,
in which there is but one order, that of the people,
to whom the sovereignty exclusively belongs.
Should war break out in any of those countries
who can foretell the extent to which it may be
carried or the desolation which it may spread?
Exempt as we are from these causes, our internal
tranquility is secure; and distant as we are from
the troubled scene, and faithful to first principles
in regard to other powers, we might reasonably
presume that we should not be molested by them.
This, however, ought not to be calculated on as certain.
Unprovoked injuries are often inflicted and even
the peculiar felicity of our situation might with
some be a cause for excitement and aggression.
The history of the late wars in Europe furnishes a
complete demonstration that no system of conduct,
however correct in principle, can protect neutral powers
from injury from any party; that a defenseless position and
distinguished love of peace are the surest invitations to war,
and that there is no way to avoid it other than by being
always prepared and willing for just cause to meet it.
If there be a people on earth whose more especial
duty it is to be at all times prepared to defend the
rights with which they are blessed, and to surpass
all others in sustaining the necessary burdens, and
in submitting to sacrifices to make such preparations,
it is undoubtedly the people of these States.
When we see that a civil war of the most frightful
character rages from the Adriatic to the Black Sea;
that strong symptoms of war appear in other parts,
proceeding from causes which, should it break out,
may become general and be of long duration; that
the war still continues between Spain and the independent
governments, her late Provinces in this hemisphere;
that it is likewise menaced between Portugal and Brazil,
in consequence of the attempt of the latter to dismember
itself from the former, and that a system of piracy of great
extent is maintained in the neighboring seas, which will
require equal vigilance and decision to suppress it, the
reasons for sustaining the attitude which we now hold
and for pushing forward all our measures of defense
with the utmost vigor appear to me to acquire new force.
The United States owe to the world a great example,
and by means thereof to the cause of
liberty and humanity a generous support.
They have so far succeeded to the satisfaction
of the virtuous and enlightened of every country.
There is no reason to doubt that their whole movement
will be regulated by a sacred regard to principle,
all our institutions being founded on that basis.
The ability to support our own cause under
any trial to which it may be exposed is the
great point on which the public solicitude rests.
It has been often charged against free governments
that they have neither the foresight nor the virtue
to provide at the proper season for great emergencies;
that their course is improvident and expensive;
that war will always find them unprepared,
and whatever may be its calamities,
that its terrible warnings will be disregarded
and forgotten as soon as peace returns.
I have full confidence that this charge
so far as relates to the United States will
be shown to be utterly destitute of truth.15
On 7 December 1822 President Monroe sent this special message to the US Senate:
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate
of the 8th of May last, requesting “information relative
to the copper mines on the southern shore of Lake
Superior, their number, value, and position, the names
of the Indian tribes who claim them, the practicability
of extinguishing their titles, and the probable advantages
which may result to the Republic from the acquisition
and working these mines,” I hereby transmit a report
from the Secretary of War, which comprises
information desired in the resolution referred to.16
On December 9 Monroe sent to the US Senate these two special messages:
Recent information of the multiple outrages and
depredations which have been committed on our
seamen and commerce by the pirates in the West Indies
and Gulf of Mexico, exemplified by the death of a very
meritorious officer, seems to call for some prompt
and decisive measures on the part of the Government.
All the public vessels adapted to that service which
can be spared from other indispensable duties are
already employed in it; but from knowledge which
has been acquired of the places from whence these
outlaws issue and to which they escape from danger,
it appears that it will require a particular kind of force
capable of pursuing them into the shallow waters
to which they retire, effectually to suppress them.
I submit to the consideration of the Senate the propriety
of organizing such force for that important object.17
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the
22nd of February last, “requesting the President of the
United States to cause to be collected and communicated
to the Senate at the commencement of the next session
of Congress the best information which he may be able
to obtain relative to certain Christian Indians and the lands
intended for their benefit on the Muskingum in the State
of Ohio, granted under an act of Congress of June 1, 1796
to the Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the
Gospel among the Heathen, showing as correctly as
possible the advance or decline of said Indians in numbers,
morals, and intellectual endowments; whether the
lands have inured to their sole benefit, and if not, to
whom in whole or in part have such benefits accrued.”
I transmit a report from the Secretary of War
with the accompanying documents.18
Notes
1. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 5 1807-1816, ed. Stanislaus Murray Hamilton,
p
. 163-174.
2. Ibid., p. 163-174.
3. Ibid., p. 174-176.
4. Ibid., p. 176-179
5. Ibid., p. 181-183, 185.
6. Ibid., p. 186-187.
7. Ibid., p. 192.
8. Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 27 September 1821 (Online).
9. Niles’ Weekly Register October 1821.
10. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908
ed. James D. Richardson, Volume 2, p. 98-109.
11. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1807-1816, p. 207-211.
12. Ibid., p. 213-214.
13. Ibid., p. 216, 217-218, 283-284.
14. Ibid., p. 284-291.
15. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908,
Volume 2, p. 185-195.
16. Ibid., p. 195-196.
17. Ibid., p. 196.
18. Ibid.