Monroe January-November 1823
Monroe’s Annual Message in December 1823
Monroe January-May 1824
United States Elections in 1824
Monroe’s Annual Message December 1824
The United States recognized Buenos Aires, Chile, and Mexico in January 1823,
Brazil on 26 May 1824, the Federation of Central America on 4 August 1824,
and eventually Peru on 2 May 1826.
On 29 January 1823 President Monroe from Washington
wrote this letter to his friend Thomas Jefferson:
I have long indulged a hope that I should be able to
retire from this office without the sale of any portion
of my property, but I begin now to despair of it.
The debts contracted in support of plantations, which
ought to have made a clear & handsome income, with
those incident to most of the trusts which I have held,
are such, as almost to deprive me of all hope of
retiring under such favorable circumstances.
To meet a part of these engagements, I am compelled
to raise a sum of money by loan in Philadelphia or
New York by the mortgage of land of double
the value on a fair estimate of the sum loaned.
I have requested some of the gentlemen in the
neighborhood through my nephew Lt. Monroe, to make
such valuation for me of my lands near you and to request
of you such sanction by certificate of their character &,
as you might be willing to give, of which it was my intention
to have apprised you sooner, but in truth, so unceasing
have been my engagements & interruptions, that I fear
he will have left the county before this letter reaches it.
If I can avoid the sale of any portion
of my property, I shall certainly do it.
My accommodation during the summer,
near this place, while in this office, was my
great object in building a house in Loudon.
The economy with which it might be built under the
direction of the manager there, who was acquainted
with the business & raised on the place abundant food
for the workmen, afforded an additional inducement.
In the original plan a separation from my friends in
Albemarle was not even contemplated, nor will it
be acquiesced in but from necessity, which will
not be ascertained for two years to come.
Should that be the result, it will form one
of the most painful occurrences of my life.
In the one county I shall leave those to whom
I have been long & affectionately attached, while
in the other I shall find myself an entire Stranger, &
at a period of life when new friends are rarely formed.
Wherever I may be, I beg you to be assured, that I shall
always recollect with the kindest & most grateful feelings
the relation which was formed between us in my youthful
days, & the many good offices which I have received
from you through the whole intervening time.1
Henry Clay argued unsuccessfully for Kentucky’s case in February 1823
before the US Supreme Court which ruled in Green v. Biddle
that a contract between two states is valid.
On 9 April 1823 President Monroe wrote
in a letter to his friend James Madison:
I expected before this to have had the pleasure of seeing
you on my way to Albemarle, but I have not been able to
leave the city as yet, though I expect to do it tomorrow
on a short visit to Loudon, and after returning here to
proceed on by your house to mine in that quarter.
The Secretary under the board instituted under the
convention with Great Britain relating to the 1st article of
the Treaty of Ghent will be appointed by the Board itself.
There are, as there always is,
many competitors for the office.
I have intimated to Mr. Adams a wish that Mr. Macon
may obtain the office, but as the British Commissioners will
also have a vote in the appointment, the result is uncertain.
He will nevertheless be brought into view with a
knowledge of my good wishes in his favor.
He was desirous of obtaining the office
of District Attorney in Florida.
There is now a vacancy in that of St Augustine.
Will he accept it, if he will,
I will place him there immediately.
Be so kind as to inform me as soon as convenient.
The probability of war between France & Spain daily
increases; indeed nothing can prevent it, but the fear
of the reigning family in France, of a renewal of the
disasters of the former revolution, which a decisive
attitude by England, might excite & raise to great
height, admonished as they are by other causes.
Mr. de Neuville has exhibited himself lately, in his
well known character for violence in the branch
of which he is a member, as did all of that party.
The King manifestly wants force of mind, and has put
at issue principles better suited to Russia than France.
I should not be surprised at any result in France,
especially should Spain make a manly resistance,
in case the French armies enter her territory.2
James Monroe wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson on April 14:
I received with great pleasure your favor of
the 29 of March with a copy of one which you
had sent to our friend Mr. Short, and should not
be surprised if the predictions contained in the latter,
should be verified by a rapid succession of events
proceeding from the movement of the French
government lately announced in the Speech of the King.
When it is recollected that he, his whole family, & all those
around him were 20 years in banishment & poverty &
restored, more by accident and the folly of a man then at
the head of affairs, than the gallantry or wisdom of all
Europe embodied against him, and when we also see that
the position of this King is unsettled & precarious, gaining
strength more by habit and time, taking off gallant spirits to
the grave than by any merit of his own; it is difficult to
express the feeling, which the declaration in his speech, that
any rights which the people enjoy are derived from him.
If the spirit of the revolution & of liberty is not extinct, in
France & throughout Europe the passage of the Pyrenees by
the French armies promises to be a signal for great events.
That Alexander will profit of the state of things, west and
south of him is probable; what Britain will do is uncertain.
The nation presses in one direction, the King in another.
If he can control, he will watch the movement, and
endeavor to give to Spain a constitution like that of England,
and to turn every occurrence to British account by neutral
commerce, acquisition of territory, & I should be surprised
however, if the nation which had been misruled by Pitt &
thrown onto the scale of despotism against human rights,
should get the ascendancy & direct the course in which
case, it would be on the side of the Cortes & of liberty.
Canning has more talents, & a better heart than his
predecessor, but yet I fear that he has not those
fixed principles which distinguished Fox among
modern English Statesmen, and cannot therefore
be thoroughly relied on for a persevering effort
against the crown and in support of the right cause.
Respecting Cuba the idea which you suggest had
occurred of a mutual guarantee of it to Spain by the
United States & Great Britain; but a difficulty occurred,
shall it be of a character to prevent the people of the
Island from following the example of Columbia,
Buenos Aires &c, and would Spain accept it if it did
not extend to that object, or would England unite in it?
The situation of Mexico is peculiar in our hemisphere.
When a nomination of ministers to the new governments
was made, Iturbide alone had sent a minister here.
To have nominated to the other governments
& not to Mexico, would have been so marked
a proceeding, that it would have been felt by
the holy alliance, as well as our neighbor.
By the nomination of General Jackson the compliment
was paid, & by his declining to accept the appointment,
as was anticipated, the object in not sending one there
is attained, as no other will be made for the present.3
On 2 June 1823 President Monroe in a letter to Thomas Jefferson
discussed foreign policy and the current situation:
I should have prolonged my stay there for that term,
but was compelled to return, to revise the instructions,
which had been prepared for our ministers, who were
just about to sail for Spain & So America & by other duties.
The moment is peculiarly critical, as respects the
present state of the world & our relations with the
acting parties in it in Europe & in this hemisphere,
& it would have been very gratifying to me, to have
had an opportunity of free communication with you
on all the interesting subjects connected with it.
The French armies have entered Spain, & thus the
Bourbon family have put at issue by an offensive
movement its own fortune, perhaps its existence,
for should the attack fail, they will have no claim on
the justice, if on the liberality of any portion of those,
even in France, at whose vital interests the blow was aimed.
What the precise organization of the revolutionary
force in Spain is, or whether any is formed in
France are facts with which we have little knowledge.
We cannot believe that the revolutionary spirit has
become extinct in the latter country after the astonishing
feats performed in favor of liberty by Frenchmen in latter
days, nor can we suppose that the governing power in
Spain would have risked so much or could have gone
so far, had it not relied on the support of the nation.
The British government is, I fear, playing rather into
the hands of France & of the holy alliance, so far at least,
as to promote the establishment of a house of peers
in Spain after its own model, than of affording to
Spain the aid which is so necessary to her independence,
and to all just principles at the present time.
The motive is obvious.
The court is, I have no doubt, in principle with the
holy alliance, and is therefore averse to aid Spain in
any manner, whereby to aid the cause of human rights.
How far it may be driven from its policy by
the sentiment of the nation is uncertain.
We saw that in the struggle of France, Great Britain
was the most decisive & active party against that cause.
I think that a change has since been wrought
by many causes, but can form no estimate of
the extent to which that change has gone.
Russia looks, as is presumed, with peculiar
anxiety to Constantinople, & so firmly is
despotism established there, that her Emperor
takes less interest, than the powers nearer at hand,
in what passes in the west & south of Europe.
Should the French armies be repulsed, and a party
in France declare in favor of young Bonaparte,
it is probable that Austria would at least be
paralyzed, if she did not take part with him.
That anything of a bolder stamp would be
now practicable, there is much cause to doubt.
Such is the state of Europe, & our relation
to it is pretty much the same, as it was in
the commencement of the French revolution.
Can we in any form take a bolder attitude in
regard to it in favor of liberty, than we then did?
Can we afford greater aid to that cause
by assuming any such attitude, than we
now do by the force of our example?
These are subjects on which I should
be glad to have your sentiments.
In regard to South America our relations are very friendly,
though the destiny of many of its parts is uncertain.
The presumption is that the whole country will settle down
under a republican system; but so great is the ignorance of
the people & so little the dependence to be placed on their
popular leaders and active the intrigues of foreign powers,
that we cannot pronounce with certainty on the result.
Our ministers are about to sail to Columbia,
Buenos Aires, & Chili; and now that the despotism,
lately established in Mexico has been overthrown,
a new appointment will soon be made to that section.
When the late nominations were made,
Mexico alone had sent a minister here—
To have nominated to the others & not to her,
would have announced to the holy alliance a
reason which would have been felt by it, since
in truth, it would be difficult to assign one, not
equally applicable to most, if not to all its members.
General Jackson declining, another appointment was
declined, for a reason which will readily occur to you.4
President Monroe sent this letter to Jefferson
from Washington on 30 June 1823:
The view which you have communicated of the condition,
relation, & disposition of Cuba & its inhabitants founded
on the information of Mr. Miralla, is very interesting.
It accords also in every particular with that
which has been taken here, aided by all the
light which we have been able to obtain, through
the most authentic channels from the Island.
The people consider Colombia too distant to
render a connection with it useful for the purposes
for which they will require a connection with another
community in case of the dismemberment from Spain;
that a connection with Mexico is liable in part to the
same objection; and that an incorporation with the
United States is in all respects the most desirable
event that can occur to them, being more contiguous,
more powerful, stable in a system of government which
they admire & in which they wish to participate and
likewise intimately connected with them in commerce.
To England, they would become a colony only.
They think that they cannot maintain their
independence themselves, for even if foreign
powers would not molest them, they fear, that
if separated from Spain, the superiority of the black
population would secure the government to them.
We have advised them to cling to Spain for the present,
& indeed as long as they can and to resist by force
any attempt to get possession of the Island by England,
intimating in case such an attempt should be made,
and they should then make known their preference
for us, that the subject would be laid before Congress,
who would decide on a full view of the State of things
at the time, on the part which it would be proper for
the United States to take, & which there was great
cause to believe would be favorable to their wishes.
This advice, has been given them, through
different organs in which they have confidence.
I have always concurred with you in sentiment,
that too much importance could not be attached to that
Island, and that we ought if possible to incorporate it into
our union, availing ourselves of the most favorable moment
for it, hoping also that one would arrive, when it might be
done without a rupture with Spain or any other power.
I consider Cape Florida, & Cuba, as forming the mouth
of the Mississippi, & other rivers, emptying into the
Gulf of Mexico within our limits as of the Gulf itself,
& in consequence that the acquisition of it to our union
was of the highest importance to our internal tranquility,
as well as to our prosperity and aggrandizement.
Mr. Gallatin has returned very much dissatisfied with
the conduct of the French government towards the United
States on many very important points on which he was
instructed & held communication with that government.
The demand of indemnity for spoliations on our commerce
made during the term of Bonaparte has entirely failed,
although such indemnity was made to some of the allied
powers: the French government drove our fishermen
from the strait of Belle Isle formed by New Foundland
& the Labrador coast, the right of fishing on which is
secured to us by treaties with England, & rightfully as is
believed without any previous notice to our government.
It has also declined ratifying one of the
separate articles in the late commercial treaty,
or to say whether it will, or will not ratify it.
In these concerns it has evaded in each instance the
question, setting up in regard to the claims one on its
part to a preference to other powers in a commerce
with Louisiana under the treaty by which that territory
was ceded to the United States or an indemnity for
withholding it and various other unfounded pretentions.
The question relating to the right of fishing in the
quarter mentioned, our right being, as is thought, fully
established, by argument, it has not met in that form;
and to the third one it has given no answer whatever.
A few days before Mr. Gallatin left France, he communicated
his sentiments freely to the minister of foreign affairs on
these points, as he also did on the conduct of France in
regard to South America & likewise in the invasion of Spain,
which he assured him, was in the opinion of the United
States & of their government, an unjustifiable measure.
The minister heard him attentively
but gave no answer on either point.
The British government has entered into a
formal arrangement with France by which she
agrees to remain neutral in the war with Spain.
Of the progress of the armies we have nothing new
except that Mina has thrown himself in the rear of the
French army, but whether in sufficient force to meet it in
battle or merely as a partisan movement is not known.
I have received a kind invitation from our neighbors to
meet them at Milton on the 4th of July for the celebration
of the anniversary of our independence there, which
I should be happy to do, as I have assured them,
if I was not detained here for the present by many
pressing duties, & also by the indisposition of my family.
You have, I presume, seen by the gazettes, that a
motion has been made in the British house of
commons to liberate the Slaves in the West Indies,
& been treated with respect by Mr. Canning.
The effect, should the measure be adopted,
on those in the southern States may be anticipated.
The government of St. Domingo has demanded
its recognition & complains that a formal
application for it has not been answered.
The subject was referred to me at the last Session
by a motion of Mr. Holmes of Maine, and on which
I sent a special message, adverting very concisely
to all the most important considerations involved in it,
in the expectation that it would be published, & in
the hope that the view therein taken, would conciliate
the several parts of the union towards each other
in regard to the delicate interest to which it related.
The Senate decided not to publish it, not knowing as
I presume, the views of the Executive on that point.5
By the end of August 1823 the French army had
restored King Fernando VII in Spain.
On August 16 the British Foreign Minister George Canning made an offer
to U.S. Ambassador Richard Rush that the two nations condemn any effort
by European powers to revive Spain’s dominion, and Adams received
the dispatches from London on October 9.
Monroe wrote to the ex-presidents Jefferson and Madison
for their views on the British proposal.
Monroe wrote this letter to Jefferson on October 17:
I transmit to your two dispatches, which were
received from Mr. Rush, while I was lately in Washington,
which involve interests of the highest importance.
They contain two letters from Mr. Canning,
suggesting designs of the holy alliance against
the Independence of South America, & proposing a
cooperation between Great Britain & the United States
in support of it against the members of that alliance.
The project aims in the first instance at a mere
expression of opinion somewhat in the abstract,
but which it is expected by Mr. Canning will have
a great political effect by defeating the combination.
By Mr. Rush’s answers, which are also enclosed,
you will see the light in which he views the subject,
& the extent to which he may have gone.
Many important considerations
are involved in this proposition.
1st shall we entangle ourselves at all in European
politics & wars on the side of any power against
others, presuming that a concert by agreement
of the kind proposed may lead to that result?
2nd If a case can exist in which a sound
maxim may & ought to be departed from,
is not the present instance precisely that case?
3rd Has not the epoch arrived when Great Britain
must take her stand, either on the side of the
monarchs of Europe or of the United States, & in
consequence, either in favor of Despotism or of
liberty, & may it not be presumed, that aware of that
necessity her government has seized on the present
occurrence as that which it deems the most suitable to
announce & mark the commencement of that career.
My own impression is that we ought to meet the
proposal of the British government & to make it known,
that we would view an interference on the part of the
European powers and especially an attack on the Colonies
by them, as an attack on ourselves, presuming that
if they succeeded with them, they would extend it to us.
I am sensible however of the extent & difficulty
of the question, & shall be happy to have
yours & Mr. Madison’s opinions on it.
I do not wish to trouble either of you with small
objects, but the present one is vital, involving the
high interests for which we have so long & so
faithfully & harmoniously, contended together.
Be so kind as to enclose to him the dispatches
with an intimation of the motive.6
Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Monroe on October 24 urged acceptance
of what decades later in 1865 would be called the “Monroe Doctrine,” writing,
The question presented by the letters you
have sent me is the most momentous which
has ever been offered to my contemplation
since that of independence that made us a nation;
this sets our compass and points the course
which we are to steer through the ocean
of time opening on our view.
And never could we embark on it
under circumstances more auspicious.
Our first and fundamental maxim should be never to
entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe; our 2nd never
to suffer Europe to intermeddle in Cis-Atlantic affairs.
America, North & South, has a set of interests distinct
from those of Europe, and peculiarly her own.
She should therefore have a system of her own,
separate and apart from that of Europe.
While the last is laboring to become the domicile
of despotism, our endeavor should surely be
to make our hemisphere that of freedom.
One nation most of all could disturb us in this pursuit,
she now offers to lead, aid, and accompany us in it.
By acceding to her proposition, we detach her from
the band of despots, bring her mighty weight into
the scale of free government, and emancipate at
one stroke a whole continent, which might
otherwise linger long in doubt and difficulty.
Great Britain is the nation which can do us the
most harm of anyone or all on earth; and with
her on our side we need not fear the whole world.
With her then we should the most sedulously
nourish a cordial friendship; and nothing would
tend more to knit our affections than to be fighting
once more side by side in the same cause.
Not that I would purchase even her amity
at the price of taking part in her wars.
But the war in which the present proposition might engage
us, should that be its consequence is not her war but ours.
Its object is to introduce and to establish the American
system of ousting from our land all foreign nations,
of never permitting the powers of Europe to
intermeddle with the affairs of our nations.
It is to maintain our own principle, not to depart from it,
and if to facilitate this we can effect a division in the
body of the European powers and draw over to our side
it’s most powerful member, surely we should do it.
But I am clearly of Mr. Canning’s opinion,
that it will prevent war instead of provoking it.
With Great Britain withdrawn from their scale
and shifted into that of our two continents,
all Europe combined would not dare to risk war.
Nor is the occasion to be slighted, which this proposition
offers, of declaring our Protest against the atrocious
violations of the rights of nations by the interference
of any one in the internal affairs of another, so
flagitiously begun by Bonaparte and now continued
by the equally lawless alliance, calling itself Holy.
But we have first to ask ourselves a question.
Do we wish to acquire to our own Confederacy
anyone or more of the Spanish provinces?
I candidly confess that I have ever looked on
Cuba as the most interesting addition which
could ever be made to our system of states.
The control which, with Florida point this island
would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the
countries and the Isthmus bordering on it,
as well as all those whose waters flow into it,
would fill up the measure of our political well-being.
Yet as I am sensible that this can never be obtained,
even with her own consent but by war;
and as her independence, which is our second interest,
and especially her independence of England, can be
secured without it, I have no hesitation in abandoning my
first wish to future chances, and accepting its independence
with peace, and the friendship of England, rather than its
association at the expense of war and her enmity.
I could honestly therefore join in the declaration
proposed that we aim not at the acquisition of any of
those possessions, that we will not stand in the way
of any amicable arrangement between them and the
mother country: but that we will oppose with all our means,
the forcible interposition of any other power, either as
auxiliary, stipendiary, or under any other form or pretext,
and most especially their transfer to any power,
by conquest, cession, or acquisition in any other way.
I should think it therefore advisable that the Executive
should encourage the British government to a continuance
in the dispositions expressed in these letters by an
assurance of his concurrence with them, as far as his
authority goes, and that as it may lead to war, the
Declaration of which is vested in Congress, the case shall
be laid before them for consideration at their first meeting
under the reasonable aspect in which it is seen by himself.
I have been so long weaned from political subjects,
and have so long ceased to take any interest in them,
that I am sensible that I am not qualified to offer
opinions on them worthy of any attention.
But the question now proposed involves consequences
so lasting and effects so decisive of our future destinies,
as to rekindle all the interest I have heretofore felt on these
occasions, and to induce me to the hazard of opinions, which
will prove my wish only to contribute still my mite in what
may be useful to our country, and praying you to accept
them at only what they are worth, I add the assurance
of my constant and affectionate friendship and respect.7
Jefferson forwarded Monroe’s letter to Madison with “two most important letters”
which he wrote were Madison’s letter to Monroe on 23 October 1823
and Madison’s letter to Jefferson on 1 November 1823.
A letter on October 23 could not be found, though the letter on October 30
discusses the role of Mr. Canning.
This is Madison’s letter to Jefferson on November 1:
I return the letter of the President.
The correspondence from abroad has
gone back to him as you desired.
I have expressed to him my concurrence in the
policy of meeting the advances of the British
Government having an eye to the forms of
our Constitution in every step in the road to war.
With the British power & navy combined with our
own we have nothing to fear from the rest of the world:
and in the great struggle of the Epoch between
liberty and despotism, we owe it to ourselves
to sustain the former in this hemisphere at least.
I have even suggested an invitation to the British
Government to join in applying “small effort for so
much good” to the French invasion of Spain, & to make
Greece an object of some such favorable attention.
Why Mr. Canning & his colleagues did not sooner interpose
against the calamity which could not have escaped foresight
cannot be otherwise explained but by the different aspect of
the question when it related to liberty in Spain, and to the
extension of British Commerce to her former Colonies.8
Although both Jefferson and Madison encouraged Monroe to accept the British offer,
after discussing it with his cabinet the President agreed
with John Quincy Adams not to accept the joint action.
They informed the British of this and asked them to recognize the Latin American republics.
Canning in October persuaded the French ambassador Jules Polignac
to renounce the intention of annexing any Spanish colony in America,
though he did not announce this until March 1824.
An account of how President Monroe’s new foreign policy was developed
is described in “The Genesis of the Message of 1823;
Contemporaneous Correspondence on Its Reception and Effects”
which included Jefferson’s letter on October 24 and Madison’s letter to Monroe
on October 30 as well as several from and to
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and other letters.
After the British and Americans protested the Russians’ closing the Pacific coas
they claimed in 1821, Tsar Alexander withdrew the prohibition.
On 17 July 1823 Secretary of State Adams gave the Russian minister de Tuyll
a note warning not to colonize Oregon.
Adams in November drafted a response to de Tuyll
with a paragraph that Wirt advised Monroe to reject.
After he informed Adams that he accepted it reluctantly, Adams left it out
in his statement to Baron de Tuyll on November 27.
This is that controversial paragraph:
The principles of this form of Polity are:
1 that the Institution of Government, to be lawful,
must be pacific, that is founded upon the consent,
and by the agreement of those who are governed;
and 2 that each Nation is exclusively the judge
of the Government best suited to itself,
and that no Nation, can justly interfere by
force to impose a different Government upon it.
The first of these principles may be designated,
as the principle of Liberty—
the second as the principle of National Independence—
They are both Principles of Peace & of Good Will to Man.8
President Monroe declined to support the recent Greek independence
even though many in Congress including Daniel Webster urged him to do so.
On 25 May 1821 the Messenian Senate led by Petros Mavromichalis had sent a request
to the citizens of the United States of America for help and support for their liberty,
and in October 1823 Edward Everett in the
North American Review published his reply to their appeal.
In 1823 Charles Jared Ingersoll gave his
Discourse Concerning the Influence of America on the Mind
as the Annual Oration of the American Philosophical Society.
He said,
By the Constitution of the United States
it is the duty of government to promote
the progress of science and the useful arts.
Not one of the eleven new States has been admitted
into the Union without provision in its constitution
for schools, academies, colleges, and universities.9
He noted that the United States had more than a half million students in public schools,
10,000 physicians, and medical colleges in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio.
He concluded his address,
Let our intellectual motto be, that naught
is done while aught remains to be done,
and our study to prove to the world, that the best patronage
of religion, science, literature, and the arts, of whatever
the mind can achieve, is SELF-GOVERNMENT.10
On 2 December 1823 President Monroe in his seventh annual message to Congress
announced his policy toward Latin America and European involvement,
which after 1850 came to be known as the “Monroe Doctrine.”
His main points were that the United States considered North and South America
no longer subject to colonization by Europeans, that the U.S. would consider European
intervention there as “dangerous to our peace and safety,” and that the U.S.
would not interfere with European concerns or intervene in their wars.
To see Monroe’s long history on this in The Genesis of the Message of 1823;
Contemporaneous Correspondence on its Reception and Effects
go to The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1807-1816, p. 346-444.
This is his entire message to Congress:
Many important subjects will claim your attention during
the present session, of which I shall endeavor to give in
aid of your deliberations, a just idea in this communication.
I undertake this duty with diffidence from the vast extent
of the interests on which I have to treat and of their
great importance to every portion of our Union.
I enter on it with zeal from a thorough conviction that
there never was a period since the establishment of our
Revolution when, regarding the condition of the civilized
world and its bearing on us, there was greater necessity
for devotion in the public servants to their respective duties,
or for virtue, patriotism, and union in our constituents.
Meeting in you a new Congress, I deem it
proper to present this view of public affairs in
greater detail than might otherwise be necessary.
I do it however with peculiar satisfaction from
a knowledge that in this respect I shall comply more
fully with the sound principles of our Government.
The people being with us exclusively the sovereign,
it is indispensable that full information be laid before
them on all important subjects, to enable them to
exercise that high power with complete effect.
If kept in the dark, they must be incompetent to it.
We are all liable to error, and those who are engaged
in the management of public affairs are more subject
to excitement and to be led astray by their particular
interests and passions than the great body of our
constituents, who, living at home in the pursuit of
their ordinary avocations, are calm but deeply
interested spectators of events and of the
conduct of those who are parties to them.
To the people every department of the Government and
every individual in each are responsible, and the more full
their information the better they can judge of the wisdom of
the policy pursued and of the conduct of each in regard to it.
From their dispassionate judgment much aid may
always be obtained, while their approbation will form
the greatest incentive and most gratifying reward for
virtuous actions, and the dread of their censure the
best security against the abuse of their confidence.
Their interests in all vital questions are the same,
and the bond by sentiment as well as by
interest will be proportionably strengthened
as they are better informed of the real state of
public affairs, especially in difficult conjunctures.
It is by such knowledge that local prejudices and
jealousies are surmounted, and that a national policy
extending its fostering care and protection to all the great
interests of our Union is formed and steadily adhered to.
A precise knowledge of our relations with foreign
powers as respects our negotiations and transactions
with each is thought to be particularly necessary.
Equally necessary is it that we should for a just
estimate of our resources, revenue, and progress
in every kind of improvement connected with
the national prosperity and public defense.
It is by rendering justice to other nations
that we may expect it from them.
It is by our ability to resent injuries and
redress wrongs that we may avoid them.
The commissioners under the 5th article of the treaty
of Ghent, having disagreed in their opinions respecting
that portion of the boundary between the Territories of
the United States and of Great Britain the establishment
of which had been submitted to them, have made their
respective reports in compliance with that article, that the
same might be referred to the decision of a friendly power.
It being manifest, however, that it would be difficult,
if not impossible, for any power to perform that office
without great delay and much inconvenience to itself,
a proposal has been made by this Government,
and acceded to by that of Great Britain to endeavor
to establish that boundary by amicable negotiation.
It appearing from long experience that no satisfactory
arrangement could be formed of the commercial intercourse
between the United States and the British colonies in this
hemisphere by legislative acts while each party pursued
its own course without agreement or concert with the other,
a proposal has been made to the British Government to
regulate this commerce by treaty, as it has been to
arrange in like manner the just claim of the citizens of
the United States inhabiting the States and Territories
bordering on the lakes and rivers which empty into the
St. Lawrence to the navigation of that river to the ocean.
For these and other objects of high importance
to the interests of both parties a negotiation
has been opened with the British Government
which it is hoped will have a satisfactory result.
The commissioners under the 6th and 7th
articles of the treaty of Ghent having successfully
closed their labors in relation to the 6th, have
proceeded to the discharge of those relating to the 7th.
Their progress in the extensive survey required for the
performance of their duties justifies the presumption
that it will be completed in the ensuing year.
The negotiation which had been long depending with
the French Government on several important subjects,
and particularly for a just indemnity for losses sustained
in the late wars by the citizens of the United States
under unjustifiable seizures and confiscations of
their property has not as yet had the desired effect.
As this claim rests on the same principle with others
which have been admitted by the French Government,
it is not perceived on what just ground it can be rejected.
A minister will be immediately appointed to proceed to
France and resume the negotiation on this and other
subjects which may arise between the two nations.
At the proposal of the Russian Imperial Government,
made through the minister of the Emperor residing here,
a full power and instructions have been transmitted to the
minister of the United States at St. Petersburg to arrange
by amicable negotiation the respective rights and interests
of the two nations on the North West coast of this continent.
A similar proposal had been made by His Imperial
Majesty to the Government of Great Britain,
which has likewise been acceded to.
The Government of the United States has been desirous
by this friendly proceeding of manifesting the great
value which they have invariably attached to the
friendship of the Emperor and their solicitude to
cultivate the best understanding with his Government.
In the discussions to which this interest has given rise and
in the arrangements by which they may terminate the
occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a
principle in which the rights and interests of the United
States are involved, that the American continents, by the
free and independent condition which they have assumed
and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as
subjects for future colonization by any European powers.
Since the close of the last session of Congress
the commissioners and arbitrators for ascertaining
and determining the amount of indemnification
which may be due to citizens of the United States
under the decision of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor
of Russia, in conformity to the convention concluded
at St. Petersburg on 12 July 1822, have assembled in
this city and organized themselves as a board for the
performance of the duties assigned to them by that treaty.
The commission constituted under the 11th article of the
treaty of 22 February 1819 between the United States and
Spain is also in session here, and as the term of three years
limited by the treaty for the execution of the trust will expire
before the period of the next regular meeting of Congress,
the attention of the Legislature will be drawn to the
measures which may be necessary to accomplish
the objects for which the commission was instituted.
In compliance with a resolution of the House
of Representatives adopted at their last session,
instructions have been given to all the ministers of
the United States accredited to the powers of Europe
and America to propose the proscription of the African
slave trade by classing it under the denomination, and
inflicting on its perpetrators the punishment of piracy.
Should this proposal be acceded to, it is not
doubted that this odious and criminal practice
will be promptly and entirely suppressed.
It is earnestly hoped that it will be acceded to,
from the firm belief that it is the most effectual
expedient that can be adopted for the purpose.
At the commencement of the recent war between France
and Spain it was declared by the French Government
that it would grant no commissions to privateers,
and that neither the commerce of Spain herself nor
of neutral nations should be molested by the naval
force of France except in the breach of a lawful blockade.
This declaration, which appears to have been faithfully
carried into effect, concurring with principles proclaimed and
cherished by the United States from the first establishment
of their independence, suggested the hope that the time had
arrived when the proposal for adopting it as a permanent
and invariable rule in all future maritime wars might meet
the favorable consideration of the great European powers.
Instructions have accordingly been given to our ministers
with France, Russia, and Great Britain to make those
proposals to their respective Governments, and when the
friends of humanity reflect on the essential amelioration
to the condition of the human race which would result
from the abolition of private war on the sea and on the
great facility by which it might be accomplished,
requiring only the consent of a few sovereigns, an
earnest hope is indulged that these overtures will meet
with an attention animated by the spirit in which they
were made, and that they will ultimately be successful.
The ministers who were appointed to the Republics
of Colombia and Buenos Aires during the last session of
Congress proceeded shortly afterwards to their destinations.
Of their arrival there official intelligence
has not yet been received.
The minister appointed to the
Republic of Chile will sail in a few days.
An early appointment will also be made to Mexico.
A minister has been received from Colombia, and the
other Governments have been informed that ministers or
diplomatic agents of inferior grade would be received from
each, accordingly as they might prefer the one or the other.
The minister appointed to Spain proceeded soon
after his appointment for Cadiz, the residence
of the Sovereign to whom he was accredited.
In approaching that port the frigate which conveyed him
was warned off by the commander of the French squadron
by which it was blockaded and not permitted to enter,
although apprised by the captain of the frigate of the
public character of the person whom he had on board, the
landing of whom was the sole object of his proposed entry.
This act, being considered an infringement of the
rights of ambassadors and of nations, will form a
just cause of complaint to the Government of France
against the officer by whom it was committed.
The actual condition of the public finances more than
realizes the favorable anticipations that were entertained
of it at the opening of the last session of Congress.
On the first of January there was a balance
in the Treasury of $4,237,427.55.
From that time to the 30th of September the
receipts amounted to upward of $16,100,000,
and the expenditures to $11,400,000.
During the 4th quarter of the year it is estimated
that the receipts will at least equal the expenditures,
and that there will remain in the Treasury on the
first day of January next a surplus of nearly $9,000,000.
On 1 January 1825 a large amount of the war debt and
a part of the Revolutionary debt become redeemable.
Additional portions of the former will continue to
become redeemable annually until the year 1835.
It is believed, however, that if the United States remain
at peace the whole of that debt may be redeemed by the
ordinary revenue of those years during that period under
the provision of the act of 3 March 1817, creating the sinking
fund, and in that case the only part of the debt that will
remain after the year 1835 will be the $7,000,000 of 5%
stock subscribed to the Bank of the United States, and the
3% Revolutionary debt, amounting to $13,296,099.06, both
of which are redeemable at the pleasure of the Government.
The state of the Army in its organization and discipline
has been gradually improving for several years
and has now attained a high degree of perfection.
The military disbursements have been
regularly made and the accounts regularly
and promptly rendered for settlement.
The supplies of various descriptions have been of
good quality and regularly issued at all of the posts.
A system of economy and accountability has
been introduced into every branch of the service
which admits of little additional improvement.
This desirable state has been attained by the act
reorganizing the staff of the Army passed on 14 April 1818.
The moneys appropriated for fortifications
have been regularly and economically applied,
and all the works advanced as rapidly
as the amount appropriated would admit.
Three important works will be completed in the course
of this year—that is, Fort Washington, Fort Delaware,
and the fort at the Rigolets in Louisiana.
The Board of Engineers and the Topographical Corps
have been in constant and active service in surveying the
coast and projecting the works necessary for its defense.
The Military Academy has attained a degree of
perfection in its discipline and instruction equal, as is
believed, to any institution of its kind in any country.
The money appropriated for the use of the Ordnance
Department has been regularly and economically applied.
The fabrication of arms at the national armories
and by contract with the Department has been
gradually improving in quality and cheapness.
It is believed that their quality is now
such as to admit of but little improvement.
The completion of the fortifications renders
it necessary that there should be a suitable
appropriation for the purpose of fabricating the
cannon and carriages necessary for those works.
Under the appropriation of $5,000 for exploring the
Western waters for the location of a site for a Western
armory, a commission was constituted consisting of
Colonel McRee, Colonel Lee, and Captain Talcott,
who have been engaged in exploring the country.
They have not yet reported the result of their labors,
but it is believed that they will be prepared to
do it at an early part of the session of Congress.
During the month of June last General Ashley and
his party, who were trading under a license from the
Government, were attacked by the Ricarees while
peaceably trading with the Indians at their request.
Several of the party were killed and wounded
and their property taken or destroyed.
Colonel Leavenworth, who commanded Fort Atkinson,
at the Council Bluffs, the most western post, apprehending
that the hostile spirit of the Ricarees would extend to other
tribes in that quarter, and that thereby the lives of the
traders on the Missouri and the peace of the frontier would
be endangered, took immediate measures to check the evil.
With a detachment of the regiment stationed at the
Bluffs he successfully attacked the Ricaree village,
and it is hoped that such an impression has been
made on them as well as on the other tribes on the
Missouri as will prevent a recurrence of future hostility.
The report of the Secretary of War, which is herewith
transmitted, will exhibit in greater detail the condition
of the Department in its various branches, and the
progress which has been made in its administration
during the first three quarters of the year.
I transmit a return of the militia of the several States
according to the last reports which have been made
by the proper officers in each to the Department of War.
By reference to this return it will be seen
that it is not complete, although great
exertions have been made to make it so.
As the defense and even the liberties of the country
must depend in times of imminent danger on the militia,
it is of the highest importance that it be well organized,
armed, and disciplined throughout the Union.
The report of the Secretary of War shows
the progress made during the three first quarters
of the present year by the application of the
fund appropriated for arming the militia.
Much difficulty is found in distributing the arms
according to the act of Congress providing for it
from the failure of the proper departments in
many of the States to make regular returns.
The act of 12 May 1820 provides that the system
of tactics and regulations of the various corps of
the Regular Army shall be extended to the militia.
This act has been very imperfectly executed from the want
of uniformity in the organization of the militia, proceeding
from the defects of the system itself, and especially in
its application to that main arm of the public defense.
It is thought that this important subject in all
its branches merits the attention of Congress.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy, which
is now communicated, furnishes an account of the
administration of that Department for the first three
quarters of the present year with the progress
made in augmenting the Navy, and the manner in
which the vessels in commission have been employed.
The usual force has been maintained in the
Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and along
the Atlantic coast, and has afforded the necessary
protection to our commerce in those seas.
In the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico our naval
force has been augmented by the addition of several
small vessels provided for by the "act authorizing an
additional naval force for the suppression of piracy,"
passed by Congress at their last session.
That armament has been eminently successful
in the accomplishment of its object.
The piracies by which our commerce in the
neighborhood of the island of Cuba had been
afflicted have been repressed and the confidence
of our merchants in a great measure restored.
The patriotic zeal and enterprise of Commodore
Porter, to whom the command of the expedition
was confided, has been fully seconded by
the officers and men under his command.
And in reflecting with high satisfaction on the honorable
manner in which they have sustained the reputation of their
country and its Navy, the sentiment is alloyed only by a
concern that in the fulfillment of that arduous service the
diseases incident to the season and to the climate in which
it was discharged have deprived the nation of many useful
lives, and among them of several officers of great promise.
In the month of August a very malignant fever
made its appearance at Thompsons Island, which
threatened the destruction of our station there.
Many perished, and the commanding
officer was severely attacked.
Uncertain as to his fate and knowing that most of
the medical officers had been rendered incapable of
discharging their duties, it was thought expedient to
send to that post an officer of rank and experience,
with several skilled surgeons, to ascertain the origin
of the fever and the probability of its recurrence
there in future seasons; to furnish every assistance
to those who were suffering, and, if practicable, to
avoid the necessity of abandoning so important a station.
Commodore Rodgers, with a promptitude which did him
honor, cheerfully accepted that trust, and has discharged
it in the manner anticipated from his skill and patriotism.
Before his arrival Commodore Porter with the
greater part of the squadron had removed from
the island and returned to the United States
in consequence of the prevailing sickness.
Much useful information has, however, been obtained
as to the state of the island and great relief afforded
to those who had been necessarily left there.
Although our expedition, cooperating with an invigorated
administration of the government of the island of Cuba,
and with the corresponding active exertions of a British
naval force in the same seas, have almost entirely
destroyed the unlicensed piracies from that island,
the success of our exertions has not been equally
effectual to suppress the same crime, under other
pretenses and colors in the neighboring island of Porto Rico.
They have been committed there under
the abusive issue of Spanish commissions.
At an early period of the present year remonstrances
were made to the governor of that island,
by an agent who was sent for the purpose,
against those outrages on the peaceful commerce
of the United States, of which many had occurred.
That officer, professing his own want of authority to
make satisfaction for our just complaints, answered
only by a reference of them to the Government of Spain.
The minister of the United States to that court was
specially instructed to urge the necessity of immediate
and effectual interposition of that Government,
directing restitution and indemnity for wrongs already
committed and interdicting the repetition of them.
The minister, as has been seen, was debarred access
to the Spanish Government, and in the meantime
several new cases of flagrant outrage have occurred,
and citizens of the United States in the island of
Porto Rico have suffered, and others been threatened
with assassination for asserting their unquestionable
rights even before the lawful tribunals of the country.
The usual orders have been given to all our public
ships to seize American vessels in the slave trade and
bring them in for adjudication, and I have the gratification
to state that not one so employed has been discovered,
and there is good reason to believe that our flag
is now seldom, if at all, disgraced by that traffic.
It is a source of great satisfaction that we
are always enabled to recur to the conduct
of our Navy with price and commendation.
As a means of national defense it enjoys the public
confidence, and is steadily assuming additional importance.
It is submitted whether a more efficient
and equally economical organization of it
might not in several respects be effected.
It is supposed that higher grades
than now exist by law would be useful.
They would afford well-merited rewards to those who have
long and faithfully served their country, present the best
incentives to good conduct, and the best means of insuring
a proper discipline; destroy the inequality in that respect
between military and naval services, and relieve our officers
from many inconveniences and mortifications which occur
when our vessels meet those of other nations, ours
being the only service in which such grades do not exist.
A report of the Postmaster-General,
which accompanies this communication,
will show the present state of the Post-Office Department
and its general operations for some years past.
There is established by law 88,600 miles of post roads,
on which the mail is now transported 85,700 miles,
and contracts have been made for its transportation
on all the established routes with one or 2 exceptions.
There are 5,240 post offices in the Union,
and as many post masters.
The gross amount of postage which accrued from
1 July 1822 to 1 July 1823 was $1,114,345.12.
During the same period the expenditures of the
Post-Office Department amounted to $1,169,885.51
and consisted of the following items, viz:
Compensation to post masters, $353,995.98; incidental
expenses, $30,866.37; transportation of the mail,
$784,600.08; payments into the Treasury, $423.08.
On the first of July last there was due to the Department
from post masters $135,245.28; from late post masters
and contractors, $256,749.31; making a total amount
of balances due to the Department of $391,994.59.
These balances embrace all delinquencies of
post masters and contractors which have taken
place since the organization of the Department.
There was due by the Department to contractors
on the first of July last $26,548.64.
The transportation of the mail within five years past
has been greatly extended, and the expenditures
of the Department proportionably increased.
Although the postage which has accrued within the
last three years has fallen short of the expenditures
$262,821.46, it appears that collections have
been made from the outstanding balances to
meet the principal part of the current demands.
It is estimated that not more than $250,000 of the above
balances can be collected, and that a considerable part of
this sum can only be realized by a resort to legal process.
Some improvements in the receipts for postage is expected.
A prompt attention to the collection of moneys received by
post masters, it is believed, will enable the Department
to continue its operations without aid from the Treasury,
unless the expenditures shall be increased
by the establishment of new mail routes.
A revision of some parts of the post office law
may be necessary; and it is submitted whether it
would not be proper to provide for the appointment
of post masters, where the compensation exceeds
a certain amount by nomination to the Senate, as other
officers of the General Government are appointed.
Having communicated my views to Congress at
the commencement of the last session respecting
the encouragement which ought to be given to our
manufactures and the principle on which it should be
founded, I have only to add that those views remain
unchanged, and that the present state of those countries
with which we have the most immediate political relations
and greatest commercial intercourse tends to confirm them.
Under this impression I recommend a review of the tariff
for the purpose of affording such additional protection
to those articles which we are prepared to manufacture,
or which are more immediately connected with
the defense and independence of the country.
The actual state of the public accounts furnishes
additional evidence of the efficiency of the present system
of accountability in relation to the public expenditure.
Of the moneys drawn from the Treasury since
4 March 1817, the sum remaining unaccounted
for on the 30th of September last is more than $1,500,000
less than on the 30th of September preceding; and during
the same period a reduction of nearly $1,000,000
has been made in the amount of the unsettled accounts
for moneys advanced previously to 4 March 1817.
It will be obvious that in proportion as the mass of
accounts of the latter description is diminished by
settlement the difficulty of settling the residue is
increased from the consideration that in many
instances it can be obtained only by legal process.
For more precise details on this subject I refer to
a report from the first Comptroller of the Treasury.
The sum which was appropriated at the last
session for the repairs of the Cumberland road
has been applied with good effect to that object.
A final report has not been received from the
agent who was appointed to superintend it.
As soon as it is received, it shall be
communicated to Congress.
Many patriotic and enlightened citizens who have
made the subject an object of particular investigation
have suggested an improvement of still greater importance.
They are of the opinion that the waters of the
Chesapeake and Ohio may be connected together
by one continued canal, and at an expense far short
of the value and importance of the object to be obtained.
If this could be accomplished, it is impossible to calculate
the beneficial consequences which would result from it.
A great portion of the produce of the very
fertile country through which it would pass
would find a market through that channel.
Troops might be moved with great facility in war with
cannon and every kind of munition, and in either direction.
Connecting the Atlantic with the Western
country in a line passing through the seat of
the National Government, it would contribute
essentially to strengthen the bond of union itself.
Believing as I do that Congress possess the right
to appropriate money for such a national object
(the jurisdiction remaining to the States through
which the canal would pass), I submit it to your
consideration whether it may not be advisable
to authorize by an adequate appropriation the
employment of a suitable number of the officers of the
Corps of Engineers to examine the unexplored ground
during the next season and to report their opinion thereon.
It will likewise be proper to extend their examination
to the several routes through which the waters of the
Ohio may be connected by canals with those of Lake Erie.
As the Cumberland road will require annual repairs,
and Congress have not thought it expedient to recommend
to the States an amendment to the Constitution for the
purpose of vesting in the United States a power to
adopt and execute a system of internal improvement,
it is also submitted to your consideration whether
it may not be expedient to authorize the Executive
to enter into an arrangement with the several States
through which the road passes to establish tolls,
each within its limits, for the purpose of defraying
the expense of future repairs and of providing also by
suitable penalties for its protection against future injuries.
The act of Congress of the 7th of May 1822
appropriated the sum of $22,700 for the purpose
of erecting two piers as a shelter for vessels
from ice near Cape Henlopen, Delaware Bay.
To effect the object of the act the officers of the
Board of Engineers, with Commodore Bainbridge,
were directed to prepare plans and estimates of piers
sufficient to answer the purpose intended by the act.
It appears by their report, which accompanies
the documents from the War Department, that the
appropriation is not adequate to the purpose intended;
and as the piers would be of great service both to
the navigation of the Delaware Bay and the protection
of vessels on the adjacent parts of the coast,
I submit for the consideration of Congress whether
additional and sufficient appropriations should not be made.
The Board of Engineers were also directed to examine
and survey the entrance of the harbor of the port of
Presque Isle in Pennsylvania in order to make an estimate
of the expense of removing the obstructions to the entrance,
with a plan of the best mode of effecting the same,
under the appropriation for that purpose
by act of Congress passed 3rd of March last.
The report of the Board accompanies the
papers from the War Department, and is
submitted for the consideration of Congress.
A strong hope has been long entertained,
founded on the heroic struggle of the Greeks,
that they would succeed in their contest and resume
their equal station among the nations of the earth.
It is believed that the whole civilized world
takes a deep interest in their welfare.
Although no power has declared in their favor, yet none
according to our information has taken part against them.
Their cause and their name have protected
them from dangers which might ere this
have overwhelmed any other people.
The ordinary calculations of interest and of
acquisition with a view to aggrandizement,
which mingles so much in the transactions of nations,
seem to have had no effect in regard to them.
From the facts which have come to our knowledge
there is good cause to believe that their enemy
has lost forever all dominion over them;
that Greece will become again an independent nation.
That she may obtain that rank is the
object of our most ardent wishes.
It was stated at the commencement of the
last session that a great effort was then making in
Spain and Portugal to improve the condition of the
people of those countries, and that it appeared
to be conducted with extraordinary moderation.
It need scarcely be remarked that the result has
been so far very different from what was then anticipated.
Of events in that quarter of the globe, with which we have
so much intercourse and from which we derive our origin,
we have always been anxious and interested spectators.
The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments
the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness
of their fellow men on that side of the Atlantic.
In the wars of the European powers in matters
relating to themselves we have never taken any part,
nor does it comport with our policy so to do.
It is only when our rights are invaded or
seriously menaced that we resent injuries
or make preparation for our defense.
With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity
more immediately connected, and by causes which must
be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers.
The political system of the allied powers is
essentially different in this respect from that of America.
This difference proceeds from that which exists in their
respective Governments; and to the defense of our own,
which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood
and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most
enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed
unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted.
We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable
relations existing between the United States and those
powers to declare that we should consider any attempt
on their part to extend their system to any portion of
this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.
With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European
power we have not interfered and shall not interfere,
but with the Governments who have declared their
independence and maintained it, and whose independence
we have, on great consideration and on just principles,
acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for
the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any
other manner their destiny, by any European power
in any other light than as the manifestation of an
unfriendly disposition toward the United States.
In the war between those new Governments and Spain
we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition,
and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to adhere,
provided no change shall occur which, in the judgment of
the competent authorities of this Government,
shall make a corresponding change on the part
of the United States indispensable to their security.
The late events in Spain and Portugal
show that Europe is still unsettled.
Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced
than that the allied powers should have thought it proper,
on any principle satisfactory to themselves, to have
interposed by force in the internal concerns of Spain.
To what extent such interposition may be carried
on the same principle is a question in which all
independent powers whose governments differ
from theirs are interested, even those most remote,
and surely none more so than the United States.
Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted
at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated
that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same,
which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any
of its powers; to consider the government de facto as the
legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly relations
with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm,
and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just claims
of every power, submitting to injuries from none.
But in regard to those continents circumstances
are eminently and conspicuously different.
It is impossible that the allied powers should
extend their political system to any portion of either
continent without endangering our peace and happiness;
nor can anyone believe that our southern brethren,
if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord.
It is equally impossible therefore that we should
behold such interposition in any form with indifference.
If we look to the comparative strength and
resources of Spain and those new Governments,
and their distance from each other, it must be
obvious that she can never subdue them.
It is still the true policy of the United States
to leave the parties to themselves in the hope
that other powers will pursue the same course.
If we compare the present condition of our Union with its
actual state at the close of our Revolution, the history of the
world furnishes no example of a progress in improvement
in all the important circumstances which constitute the
happiness of a nation which bears any resemblance to it.
At the first epoch our population did not exceed 3,000,000;
by the last census it amounted to about 10,000,000,
and what is more extraordinary, it is almost
altogether native, for the immigration
from other countries has been inconsiderable.
At the first epoch half the territory within our
acknowledged limits was uninhabited and a wilderness.
Since then new territory has been acquired of vast extent,
comprising within it many rivers, particularly the Mississippi,
the navigation of which to the ocean was of
the highest importance to the original States.
Over this territory our population has expanded
in every direction, and new States have been
established almost equal in number to those
which formed the first bond of our Union.
This expansion of our population and accession
of new States to our Union have had the
happiest effect on all its highest interests.
That it has eminently augmented our resources
and added to our strength and respectability as a
power is admitted by all, but it is not in these important
circumstances only that this happy effect is felt.
It is manifest that by enlarging the basis of our system
and increasing the number of States the system itself
has been greatly strengthened in both its branches.
Consolidation and disunion have thereby
been rendered equally impracticable.
Each Government, confiding in its own strength,
has less to apprehend from the other, and in consequence
each, enjoying a greater freedom of action, is rendered
more efficient for all the purposes for which it was instituted.
It is unnecessary to treat here of the vast improvement
made in the system itself by the adoption of this Constitution
and of its happy effect in elevating the character and in
protecting the rights of the nation as well as individuals.
To what then, do we owe these blessings?
It is known to all that we derive them
from the excellence of our institutions.
Ought we not then to adopt every measure
which may be necessary to perpetuate them?11
On 11 December 1823 James Monroe wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson:
Shortly after the receipt of yours of the 24th of October,
& while the subject treated in it was under consideration,
the Russian minister drew the attention of the government
to the same subject, though in a very different sense
from that in which it had been done by Mr. Canning.
Baron Tuyll announced in an official letter, and as was
understood by order of the Emperor, that having heard
that the republic of Colombia had appointed a minister
to Russia, he wished it to be distinctly understood that
he would not receive him, nor would he receive any
minister from any of the new governments de facto,
of which the new world had been recently the theatre.
On another occasion he observed that the Emperor had seen
with great satisfaction the declaration of this government,
when these new governments were recognized, that it
was the intention of the United States to remain neutral.
He gave this intimation for the purpose
of expressing the wish of his master,
that we would persevere in the same policy.
He communicated soon afterwards an extract of a letter
from his government in which the conduct of the allied
powers in regard to Naples, Spain, & Portugal was
reviewed, and their policy explained distinctly avowing
their determination to crush all revolutionary movements
& thereby to preserve order in the civilized world.
The terms “civilized world” were probably
intended to be applied to Europe only,
but admitted an application to this hemisphere also.
These communications were received as proofs of candor,
& a friendly disposition to the United States,
but were nevertheless answered in a manner
equally explicit, frank, & direct to each point.
In regard to neutrality it was observed, when that
sentiment was declared, that the other powers of
Europe had not taken side with Spain—that they
were then neutral—if they should change their
policy, the state of things on which our neutrality
was declared, being altered, we would not be bound
by that declaration, but might change our policy also.
Informal notes or rather a process verbal of what passed
in conference to such effect were exchanged between
Mr. Adams & the Russian minister with an understanding
however that they should be held confidential.
When the character of these communications of that from
Mr. Canning & that from the Russian minister is considered,
& the time when made, it leaves little doubt that some
project against the new governments is contemplated.
In what form is uncertain.
It is hoped that the sentiments expressed
in the message will give a check to it.
We certainly meet in full extent the proposition of
Mr. Canning & in the mode to give it the greatest effect.
If his government makes a similar declaration,
the proposal will, it may be pursued, be abandoned.
By taking a step here it is done in a manner
more conciliatory with & respectful to Russia
& the other powers, than if taken in England, and
as it is thought with more credit to our government.
Had we moved in the first instance in England, separated
as she is in part from those powers, our union with her
being masked might have produced irritation with them.
We know that Russia dreads a connection between
the United States & Great Britain or harmony in policy.
Moving on our own ground, the apprehension
that unless she retreats, that effect may be produced,
may be a motive with her for retreating.
Had we moved in England, it is probable, that it would
have been inferred that we acted under her influence,
& at her instigation, & thus have lost credit as well
with our southern neighbors, as with the allied powers.
There is some danger that the British government, when
it sees the part we have taken, may endeavor to throw the
whole burden on us, and profit in case of such interposition
of the allied powers of her neutrality at our expense.
But I think that this would be impossible after what
has passed on the subject; besides it does not
follow from what has been said, that we should
be bound to engage in the war in such event.
Of this intimations may be given, should it be necessary.
A messenger will depart for England with dispatches
for Mr. Rush in a few days; who will go on to
St. Petersburg with others to Mr. Middleton.
And considering the crisis, it has occurred that a special
mission of the first consideration from the country directed
to England in the first instance with power to attend any
congress that may be convened on the affairs of South
America or Mexico, might have the happiest effect.
You shall hear from me further on this subject.12
On 12 January 1824 President James Monroe sent this message
to the United States House of Representatives:
In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives
of December 24 requesting the President of the United
States to lay before the House such information as he
may possess and which may be disclosed without injury
to the public good, relative to the determination of any
sovereign, or combination of sovereigns, to assist Spain
in the subjugation of her late colonies on the American
continent, and whether any Government of Europe is
disposed or determined to oppose any aid or assistance
which such sovereign or combination of sovereigns may
afford to Spain for the subjugation of her late colonies
above mentioned, I have to state that I possess no
information on that subject not known to Congress which
can be disclosed without injury to the public good.13
Senator Daniel Webster introduced a resolution to support the Greek Revolution
which he defended on January 19.
The next day John Randolph of Roanoke argued against what he called a “moral crusade.”
President Monroe in a letter to James Madison on January 26 wrote:
I have been so much pressed by various
duties since the meeting of Congress that
I have scarcely had a moment for my friends.
The body increases and the number of new
members, has added its share to my burdens.
The only material fact, that has come to our
knowledge since my last to you, relating to the
views of the allied powers on South America
amounts to this, that the presumption that they
would make no attempt in favor of Spain for their
subjugation of the new governments has acquired strength.
Mr. Sheldon thinks that the attitude assumed by England,
and that which is anticipated on the part of the United
States will have a decisive effect in preventing it.
We have heard nothing respecting it from any other quarter.
I have conferred with General Jackson, respecting the
communications between the former Secretary of War
& him at the period to which your notes refer,
and am assured that he will afford me every detailed and
authentic information on the subject which you desire.
His feelings towards you are of
the most friendly character.14
Monroe wrote to Thomas Jefferson on March 27 about his diplomatic relations
with Robert Livingston and John Quincy Adams:
I receive Mr. Livingston’s question through you
with kindness and answer it without hesitation.
He may be assured I have not a spark
of unfriendly feeling towards him.
In all the earlier scenes of life
we thought and acted together.
We differed in opinion afterwards on a single point.
Each maintained his opinion,
as he had a right, and acted on it as he ought.
But why brood over a single difference,
and forget all our previous harmonies?
Difference of opinion was never with me
a motive of separation from a friend;
in the trying times of federalism I never left a friend.
Many left me, have since returned
and been received with open arms.
Mr. Livingston would now be received at Monticello
with as hearty a welcome as he would have been in 1800.
The case with Mr. Adams was much stronger.
Fortune had disjointed our first affections
and placed us in opposition in every point.
This separated us for a while, but on the first intimation
through a friend, we reembraced with cordiality,
recalled our ancient feelings and dispositions,
and everything was forgotten but our first sympathies.
I bear ill-will to no human being.15
On 30 March 1824 President Monroe sent this long message to the
United States Congress about his policy in relation to the Cherokee nation:
I transmit to Congress certain papers enumerated
in a report from the Secretary of War relating to the
compact between the United States and the State of
Georgia entered into in 1802, whereby the latter
ceded to the former a portion of the territory then
within its limits on the conditions therein specified.
By the fourth article of that compact it was stipulated
that the United States should at their own expense
extinguish for the use of Georgia the Indian title
to all the lands within the State as soon as it might
be done peaceably and on reasonable conditions.
These papers show the measures adopted by the
Executive of the United States in fulfillment of the
several conditions of the compact from its date to
the present time, and particularly the negotiations
and treaties with the Indian tribes for the extinguishment
of their title with an estimate of the number of acres
purchased and sums paid for lands they acquired.
They show also the state in which this interesting
concern now rests with the Cherokees, one of
the tribes within the State, and the inability of
the Executive to make any further movement with
this tribe without the special sanction of Congress.
I have full confidence that my predecessors
exerted their best endeavors to execute this
compact in all its parts of which, indeed, the sums
paid and the lands acquired during their respective terms
in fulfillment of its several stipulations are a full proof.
I have also been animated since I came into this
office with the same zeal from an anxious desire
to meet the wishes of the State, and in the hope
that by the establishment of these tribes beyond
the Mississippi their improvement in civilization,
their security and happiness would be promoted.
By the paper bearing date on the 30th of January last,
which was communicated to the chiefs of the Cherokee
Nation in this city, who came to protest against any
further appropriations of money for holding treaties with
them, the obligation imposed on the United States by the
compact with Georgia to extinguish the Indian title to the
right of soil within the State, and the incompatibility with
our system of their existence as a distinct community
within any State were pressed with the utmost earnestness.
It was proposed to them at the same time to procure
and convey to them territory beyond the Mississippi
in exchange for that which they hold within the limits
of Georgia, or to pay them for it its value in money.
To this proposal their answer, which bears date
11th of February following gives an unqualified refusal.
By this it is manifest that at the present time and
in their present temper they can be removed only
by force, to which, should it be deemed proper,
the power of the Executive is incompetent.
I have no hesitation however to declare it as
my opinion that the Indian title was not affected
in the slightest circumstance by the compact
with Georgia, and that there is no obligation on
the United States to remove the Indians by force.
The express stipulation of the compact that their title
should be extinguished at the expense of the United States
when it may be done peaceably and on reasonable
conditions is a full proof that it was the clear and
distinct understanding of both parties to it that the
Indians had a right to the territory, in the disposal
of which they were to be regarded as free agents.
An attempt to remove them by force
would, in my opinion, be unjust.
In the future measures to be adopted in regard to
the Indians within our limits, and in consequence
within the limits of any State, the United States
have duties to perform and a character to
sustain to which they ought not to be indifferent.
At an early period their improvement in the arts
of civilized life was made an object with the
Government, and that has since been persevered in.
This policy was dictated by motives of humanity
to the aborigines of the country, and under a firm
conviction that the right to adopt and pursue it was
equally applicable to all the tribes within our limits.
My impression is equally strong that it would
promote essentially the security and happiness of the
tribes within our limits if they could be prevailed on
to retire west and north of our States and Territories
on lands to be procured for them by the United States,
in exchange for those on which they now reside.
Surrounded as they are, and pressed as they will be,
on every side by the white population, it will be
difficult if not impossible for them with their kind
of government to sustain order among them.
Their interior will be exposed to frequent disturbance
to remedy which the interposition of the United States
will be indispensable, and thus their government
will gradually lose its authority until it is annihilated.
In this process the moral character of the tribes
will also be lost, since the change will be too
rapid to admit their improvement in civilization to
enable them to institute and sustain a government
founded on our principles, if such a change were
compatible either with the compact with Georgia
or with our general system, or to become members
of a State, should any State be willing to adopt
them in such numbers, regarding the good order,
peace, and tranquility of such State.
But all these evils may be avoided if these
tribes will consent to remove beyond the
limits of our present States and Territories.
Lands equally good and perhaps more fertile
may be procured for them in those quarters.
The relations between the United States
and such Indians would still be the same.
Considerations of humanity and benevolence,
which have now great weight, would operate
in that event with an augmented force, since we
should feel sensibly the obligation imposed on us
by the accommodation which they thereby afforded us.
Placed at ease, as the United States would then be,
the improvement of those tribes in civilization and
in all the arts and usages of civilized life would
become the part of a general system which might
be adopted on great consideration, and in which every
portion of our Union would then take an equal interest.
These views have steadily been pursued by the
Executive, and the moneys which have been placed
at its disposal have been so applied in the manner best
calculated, according to its judgment to produce this
desirable result, as will appear by the documents
which accompany the report of the Secretary of War.
I submit this subject to the consideration of
Congress under a high sense of its importance
and of the propriety of an early decision on it.
This compact gives a claim to the State which ought
to be executed in all its conditions with perfect good faith.
In doing this however it is the duty of the United States
to regard its strict import, and to make no sacrifice
of their interest not called for by the compact nor
contemplated by either of the parties when it was entered
into, nor to commit any breach of right or of humanity
in regard to the Indians repugnant to the judgment and
revolting to the feelings of the whole American people.
I submit the subject to your consideration in full confidence
that you will duly weigh the obligations of the compact
with Georgia, its import in all its parts, and the extent
to which the United States are bound to go under it.
I submit it with equal confidence that you will also weigh
the nature of the Indian title to the territory within the limits
of any State with the stipulations in the several treaties
with this tribe respecting territory held by it within the State
of Georgia, and decide whether any measure on the part
of Congress is called for at the present time, and what
such measure shall be if any is deemed expedient.16
In April 1824 Monroe sent this letter to Thomas Jefferson:
The claim of the State for the allowance of interest
on monies borrowed & applied to the payment of
the militia in the late war has been considered by
the administration in a full meeting at the instance
of the Senators & of Mr. Cabell, & the result has been,
that the allowance could not be made by the Executive,
the uniform decision in such cases having been against it.
The claim will be brought before Congress and either by
me or the members, as may be deemed most advisable.
If presented by me, as there are many States having
similar claims, it is thought that I should take it up on
general principles applicable to all, & it was urged in the
administration & apparently acquiesced in, that if a state
had money in hand, as was the case with Maryland &
paid it to the militia as called for, that the State is entitled
to interest in the principles of justice in equal degree, as
if she had borrowed the money & paid the interest on it.
It was urged that if there was anything peculiar in the
circumstances of the claim of Virginia more favorable
than of the other States, it might be urged with greater
advantage, if brought forward by the members than by me:
I shall make myself master of the subject
and take any course, safe & proper in itself,
which may be most agreeable to our members
& in accord with the views of the administration.
Should you have formed any opinion on this head,
it will give me pleasure to be made acquainted with it.
My solicitude is the greater from the reliance on this fund
in aid of our University on which the State, & indeed
our whole system of government so essentially depend.
You are acquainted with all the circumstances relating
to the compact with Georgia entered into in 1802
for the extinguishment of the Indian title to land
within the State on the condition specified.
During your term & that of Mr. Madison much land was
acquired, as there has been, since I hold this office.
I was also going on to press the object with much zeal,
& as I thought in harmony with the delegation from
the State looking to the claims of humanity as well as
of right on the part of the Indians, when on an earnest
remonstrance from a deputation of the Cherokee nation
here against further uprisings or appropriations of money
to obtain …, which was communicated to the members
from the State, they addressed to me a letter replete
with the most bitter reproaches expressed in the harshest
language against the conduct of the Executive in the
execution of that article of the compact from its date.
I take this however to myself for whom
it was, I presume, principally intended.
Being satisfied that Mr. Crawford knew nothing
of the measure, I communicated the papers
to him with an intimation, that if the members
asked to withdraw their paper, I would permit it.
He disapproved their conduct, intimated through one,
to the others, his wish that they would withdraw it.
They met & decided that they would not withdraw it,
nor communicate with him on the subject.
Finding it necessary to bring the wishes of the
state before Congress, I sent in this paper
with others with a message some few days since.
I will forward to you a copy of the message
& documents as soon as printed.
I send you a copy of the message & documents relating to
the Massachusetts claim for militia services in the late war.
On great consideration of the subject & communication with
the most enlightened of the republicans of that section,
I was satisfied that the measure, especially should it
be supported by the republicans to the south,
great aid to the republican party to the Executive
& in consequence to our system of government.17
President Monroe on April 30 sent this message to the United States Senate:
I transmit to the Senate for their constitutional advice
with regard to its ratification a convention for the
suppression of the African slave trade, signed at
London on the 13th ultimo by the minister of the United
States residing there on their part with the plenipotentiaries
of the British Government on the part of that nation together
with the correspondence relating thereto, a part of which
is included in a communication made to the House of
Representatives on the 19th ultimo, a printed copy
of which is among the documents herewith sent.
Motives of accommodation to the wishes of the
British Government render it desirable that the
Senate should act definitively upon this convention
as speedily as may be found convenient.18
On 21 May 1824 President James Monroe sent a special message
to the United States Senate on the slave trade convention made with Great Britain.
Here is the first portion of that message:
Apprehending from the delay in the decision that some
difficulty exists with the Senate respecting the ratification
of the convention lately concluded with the British
Government for the suppression of the slave trade by
making it piratical, I deem it proper to communicate for your
consideration such views as appear to me to merit attention.
Charged as the Executive is, and as I have long been,
with maintaining the political relations between the
United States and other nations, I consider it my duty,
in submitting for your advice and consent as to the
ratification any treaty or convention which has been agreed
on with another power, to explain when the occasion
requires it, all the reasons which induced the measure.
It is by such full and frank explanation only that the
Senate can be enabled to discharge the high trust
reposed in them with advantage to their country.
Having the instrument before them with the views
which guided the Executive in forming it, the Senate
will possess all the light necessary to a sound decision.
By an act of Congress of 15th May, 1820, the slave trade,
as described by that act, was made piratical, and all
such of our citizens as might be found engaged in that
trade were subjected on conviction thereof by the circuit
courts of the United States to capital punishment.
To communicate more distinctly the import
of that act, I refer to its fourth and fifth sections,
which are in the following words:
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen of the
United States, being of the crew or ship's company of any
foreign ship or vessel engaged in the slave trade, or any
person whatever, being of the crew or ship's company of
any ship or vessel owned in the whole or part or navigated
for or in behalf of any citizen or citizens of the United States,
shall land from any such ship or vessel, and on any foreign
shore seize any negro or mulatto not held to service or
labor by the laws of either of the States or Territories of
the United States with intent to make such negro or mulatto
a slave, or shall decoy or forcibly bring or carry or shall
receive such negro or mulatto on board any such ship
or vessel with intent as aforesaid, such citizen or person
shall be adjudged a pirate, and on conviction thereof
before the circuit court of the United States for the district
wherein he may be brought or found shall suffer death.
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen of the
United States, being of the crew or ship's company of any
foreign ship or vessel engaged in the slave trade or any
person whatever, being of the crew or ship's company of
any ship or vessel owned wholly or in part, or navigated for
or in behalf of any citizen or citizens of the United States,
shall forcibly confine or detain, or aid and abet in forcibly
confining or detaining, on board such ship or vessel any
negro or mulatto not held to service by the laws of either of
the States or Territories of the United States, with intent to
make such negro or mulatto a slave, or shall on board any
such ship or vessel offer or attempt to sell as a slave any
negro or mulatto not held to service as aforesaid, or shall on
the high seas or anywhere on tide water transfer or deliver
over to any other ship or vessel any negro or mulatto not
held to service as aforesaid, with intent to make such negro
or mulatto a slave, or shall land or deliver on shore from on
board any such ship or vessel any such negro or mulatto,
with intent to make sale of, or having previously sold such
negro or mulatto as a slave, such citizen or person shall be
adjudged a pirate, and on conviction thereof before the
circuit court of the United States for the district wherein
he may be brought or found shall suffer death.
And on the 28th February, 1823, the House
of Representatives by a majority of 131 to 9,
passed a resolution to the following effect:
Resolved, That the President of the United States be
requested to enter upon and prosecute from time to
time such negotiations with the several maritime powers
of Europe and America as he may deem expedient for
the effectual abolition of the African slave trade and
its ultimate denunciation as piracy under the law
of nations by the consent of the civilized world.
By the act of Congress above referred to,
whereby the most effectual means that could
be devised were adopted for the extirpation of the
slave trade, the wish of the United States was explicitly
declared, that all nations might concur in a similar policy.
It could only be by such concurrence that the great object
could be accomplished, and it was by negotiation and
treaty alone that such concurrence could be obtained,
commencing with one power and extending it to others.
The course therefore, which the Executive
who had concurred in the act,
had to pursue was distinctly marked out for it.
Had there however been any doubt respecting it,
the resolution of the House of Representatives,
the branch which might with strict propriety
express its opinion could not fail to have removed it.
By the tenth article of the treaty of peace between the
United States and Great Britain concluded at Ghent, it was
stipulated that both parties should use their best endeavors
to accomplish the abolition of the African slave trade.
This object has been accordingly pursued by both
Governments with great earnestness, by separate acts of
legislation, and by negotiation almost uninterrupted with
the purpose of establishing a concert between them in
some measure which might secure its accomplishment.
Great Britain in her negotiations with other powers
had concluded treaties with Spain, Portugal, and the
Netherlands, in which without constituting the crime
as piracy or classing it with crimes of that denomination,
the parties had conceded to the naval officers of each
other the right of search and capture of the vessels
of either that might be engaged in the slave trade,
and had instituted courts consisting of judges, subjects
of both parties for the trial of the vessels so captured.
In the negotiations with the United States
Great Britain had earnestly and repeatedly pressed
on them the adoption of similar provisions.
They had been resisted by the Executive on two grounds:
One, that the constitution of mixed tribunals was
incompatible with their Constitution; and the other,
that the concession of the right of search in time of
peace for an offense not piratical would be repugnant
to the feelings of the nation and of dangerous tendency.
The right of search is the right of war
of the belligerent toward the neutral.
To extend it in time of peace to any object whatever
might establish a precedent which might lead to others
with some powers, and which, even if confined to the
instance specified, might be subject to great abuse.
Animated by an ardent desire to suppress this trade,
the United States took stronger ground by making it by
the act above referred to, piratical, a measure more
adequate to the end and free from many of the objections
applicable to the plan which had been proposed to them.
It is this alternative which the Executive under the sanction
and injunctions above stated offered to the British
Government, and which that Government has accepted.
By making the crime piracy the right of search attaches
to the crime, and which when adopted by all nations
will be common to all; and that it will be so adopted
may fairly be presumed if steadily persevered
in by the parties to the present convention.
In the meantime and with a view to a fair experiment, the
obvious course seems to be to carry into effect with every
power such treaty as may be made with each in succession.
In presenting this alternative to the British Government
it was made an indispensable condition that the trade
should be made piratical by act of Parliament,
as it had been by an act of Congress.
This was provided for in the convention,
and has since been complied with.
In this respect therefore the
nations rest on the same ground.
Suitable provisions have also been adopted
to protect each party from the abuse of the
power granted to the public ships of the other.
Instead of subjecting the persons detected in the
slave trade to trial by the courts of the captors,
as would be the case if such trade was piracy by the
laws of nations, it is stipulated that until that event
they shall be tried by the courts of their own country only.
Hence there could be no motive for an abuse of
the right of search, since such abuse could not
fail to terminate to the injury of the captor.
Should this convention be adopted, there
is every reason to believe that it will be the
commencement of a system destined to
accomplish the entire abolition of the slave trade.
Great Britain, by making it her own confessedly adopted
at the suggestion of the United States, and being pledged
to propose and urge its adoption by other nations in
concert with the United States, will find it for her interest
to abandon the less-effective system of her previous
treaties with Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, and
to urge on those and other powers their accession to this.
The crime will then be universally proscribed
as piracy, and the traffic be suppressed forever.
Other considerations of high importance
urge the adoption of this convention.
We have at this moment pending with Great Britain
sundry other negotiations intimately connected
with the welfare and even the peace of our Union.
In one of them nearly a third part of the territory
of the State of Maine is in contestation.
In another the navigation of the St. Lawrence,
the admission of consuls into the British islands,
and a system of commercial intercourse between
the United States and all the British possessions
in this hemisphere are subjects of discussion.
In a third our territorial and other rights upon
the northwest coast are to be adjusted, while a
negotiation on the same interest is opened with Russia.
In a fourth all the most important controvertible points
of maritime law in time of war are brought under
consideration, and in the fifth the whole system of
South American concerns, connected with a general
recognition of South American independence,
may again from hour to hour become, as it has already
been, an object of concerted operations of the highest
interest to both nations and to the peace of the world.
It cannot be disguised that the rejection of this
convention cannot fail to have a very injurious
influence on the good understanding between
the two Governments on all these points.
That it would place the Executive Administration under
embarrassment and subject it, the Congress, and the
nation to the charge of insincerity respecting the great
result of the final suppression of the slave trade, and that
its first and indispensable consequence will be to constrain
the Executive to suspend all further negotiation with every
European and American power to which overtures have
been made in compliance with the resolution of the House
of Representatives of 28th February, 1823, must be obvious.
To invite all nations with the statute of piracy in our hands,
to adopt its principles as the law of nations and yet to
deny to all the common right of search for the pirate,
whom it would be impossible to detect without
entering and searching the vessel, would expose
us not simply to the charge of inconsistency.
It must be obvious that the restriction of
search for pirates to the African coast is
incompatible with the idea of such a crime.
It is not doubted also if the convention is adopted that
no example of the commission of that crime by the
citizens or subjects of either power will ever occur again.
It is believed therefore, that this right as applicable
to piracy would not only extirpate the trade,
but prove altogether innocent in its operation.
In further illustration of the views of Congress on
this subject, I transmit to the Senate extracts from
two resolutions of the House of Representatives, one
of the 9th February, 1821, the other of 12th April, 1822.
I transmit also a letter from the charge' d'affaires of the
British Government, which shows the deep interest which
that Government takes in the ratification of the treaty.19
On 2 August 1824 President Monroe from Washington
sent this letter to James Madison:
I intended soon after the adjournment of Congress to
have visited Albemarle & to have passed some time with
you, but there have been so many objects to attend to here,
of one kind or other, that it has been impossible for
me to execute a purpose, which I had much at heart.
A fortnight ago I took my family
to Loudon where they now are.
My return here was produced by the arrival of
General Clark with upwards of 20 chiefs from the
different tribes inhabiting the country between our
settlements & the Rocky mountain, & by the necessity
of having a consultation on some points relating to
the new governments to the south and also on the
convention lately concluded with Russia for the adjustment
of differences respecting the North West coast.
I shall remain a few days only, & then join my family.
Whether I shall be able to see you this summer is uncertain.
I do not think that Mrs. Monroe could go with
me and doubt whether I can go without her.
Her health is much impaired by many causes & more
particularly by our long service & the heavy burdens
and cares to which she has been subjected, and to
which the strength of her constitution has not been equal.
If the retirement to the country & change of air should
relieve her, and other circumstances should permit,
I will certainly see you and as soon as I may be able.
Mr. Salazar the minister from Colombia stated lately by
order of his government, that a French agent was expected
at Bogota having already arrived at the port with power
to treat with his government respecting its independence.
He observed, that his government had been advised
from an authentic source that the government of France
would acknowledge its independence on one condition,
the establishment of monarchy and leave the person
to be placed in that station to the people of Colombia—
that Bolivar would not be objected to, if preferred by them.
He asked, should the proposition be rejected,
and France become hostile in consequence
what part the United States would take in that event?
What aid might they expect from us?
The subject will of course be weighed
thoroughly in giving the answer.
The Executive has no right to compromit the
nation in any question of war, nor ought we
to presume that the people of Colombia will
hesitate as to the answer to be given to any
proposition which touches so vitally their liberties.
The Convention with Russia will, I presume,
be very satisfactory to the nation.
It consists of 6 articles.
By the 1st it is stipulated that the citizens & subjects of the
two parties shall not be disturbed in navigating the great
Pacific ocean, nor in landing on the coast at points which
are not already occupied for the purpose of commerce
with the natives under the following restrictions.
Article 2nd. That the citizens of the United States shall not
land at any point where there is a Russian establishment
without permission from the governor or commandant—
reciprocated as to Russians in our favor.
3rd. No establishment shall be formed by citizens of the US,
nor under their authority on the northwest coast of America,
nor in the adjacent Islands north of 54° 40’ north Latitude;
nor by Russians south of that latitude—
4th. For 10 years from the signature of the treaty
the vessels of the two powers & of their citizens
& subjects may reciprocally frequent without
impediment the interior seas, gulfs, harbors &
creeks on the coast to fish and trade with the natives.
5th. From this privilege of trade are excepted
spirituous liquors, arms, swords, powder,
& munitions of war of every kind.
Both powers agree to give effect to this provision,
it being stipulated that the vessels of neither shall
visit or detain the vessels of the other by the seizure
of merchandize or any measure of force which may be
engaged in this commerce; the high contracting powers,
reserving to themselves the right to fix and inflict
the penalties on any breaches of the article.
The 6th requires that the ratifications
be exchanged in 10 months from its signature.
By this convention the claim to the “mare clausum”
is given up; a very high northern latitude is established
for our boundary with Russia, and our trade with the
Indians placed for 10 years on a perfectly free footing;
& after that term left open for negotiation.
The British government had at our suggestion agreed
to treat in concert with us on both topics the navigation
& boundaries including the trade with the Indians,
but on seeing that passage in the message which
discountenanced the idea of further colonization
on this continent declined it on the presumption
that it would give offense to Russia, a reason
which was communicated by Mr. Bagot to the
Russian government & also to Mr. Middleton.
By entering into the negotiation with us singly and conceding
to us these points, especially that relating to navigation,
the Emperor has shown great respect for the United States.
England will of course have a similar stipulation in
favor of the free navigation of the Pacific, but we shall
have the credit of having taken the lead in this affair.
I think also that the event derives additional importance
from the consideration, that the treaty has been concluded
since the receipt at Petersburg, of the message at the
opening of the last session of Congress which expressed
sentiments in regard to our principles & hemisphere
adverse to those entertained by the holy alliance.20
Henry Clay was nominated as a presidential candidate by Missouri and Kentucky
in November 1822 and by Ohio in January 1823.
He went after New York and Virginia and labeled Pennsylvania the “keystone state.”
The House of Representatives elected him Speaker again on December 1,
and on 14 January 1824 he gave a speech explaining his “American system”
which included the government regulating commerce and constructing canals.
On February 10 the US Congress approved the General Survey Bill
authorizing $30,000 for surveys and canals.
President Monroe signed the bill after he got an opinion from Supreme Court Justice
William Johnson that funding internal improvements is constitutional.
Daniel Webster argued in Gibbons v. Ogden that the state of New York had no right
to charter a monopoly because the national government has the power to regulate
interstate commerce and so should be able to overrule conflicting legislation by states.
On March 2 the US Supreme Court led by John Marshall agreed 6-0.
Secretary of War John C. Calhoun began the Bureau of Indian Affairs on March 11.
On the 13th the Anglo-American Convention to suppress the slave trade was signed.
On March 22 at Fall Creek, Indiana a white jury convicted four men
of murdering
nine Indians, and they were the first whites executed in the U.S. for killing an Indian.
On March 31 Henry Clay, hoping to get votes from manufacturing states,
argued in favor of the first protective tariff bill that
increased the tax from 20% to more than 30%.
He noted that in the last 20 years the population had increased 120%
but that American exports only rose by 16%.
He argued that since the European wars had ended in 1815, they no longer needed
American trade and that caused an American trade deficit and unemployment.
He suggested that they could create a “home market”
to consume American manufactured goods.
He argued that American industry could also provide cheaper materials for the South
and that a protective tariff would stabilize the home market.
The American System with tariffs, internal improvements, and central banking
could protect industry and manufacturing from European competition
while allowing free trade and reciprocity in the western hemisphere.
Senator Daniel Webster opposed the bill, and on the first two days of April
he gave his famous speech on free trade.
The bill passed and became law on May 22.
From 1817 through 1833 tariffs would provide the federal government
with an average of 86% of its revenues.
The South opposed the tariffs, but the vote in 1824 showed that
the western states had voting power in helping to pass tariffs.
The United States and Russia settled their dispute
on April 17 making the border 54° 40’.
American ships were allowed within the 100-mile limit, which the Tsar had
previously excluded, and now they could even enter rivers that flow into the Pacific.
On May 24 President Monroe signed a bill that directed the US Army Corps of Engineers
to construct civil projects including harbors and dams.
As early as January 1822 William Duane’s Aurora
began suggesting Andrew Jackson for the presidency.
On July 20 the Tennessee General Assembly submitted Jackson
for election by the people of the U.S.
In June and July 1823 the Philadelphia Columbian Observer published
The Letters of Wyoming, and they were reprinted as a pamphlet in 1824.
The anonymous author was Jackson’s friend John H. Eaton, and they expressed
Jackson’s concern about the corruption and need for virtuous patriots.
On 1 October 1822 the Tennessee legislature elected Jackson to the U.S. Senate,
and on November 1 the Niles’ Weekly Register noted that the Tennessee General Assembly
was abandoning the caucus system used for nominating presidential candidates by the
Congress and replacing it with Felix Grundy’s proposal for the people in districts
choosing electors to vote for President and Vice President.
In October a convention in Philadelphia had resolved to support Jackson,
but at the Pennsylvania nominating convention in November 1823 New-Schoolers
promoting Calhoun managed to postpone the nomination for a year.
Jackson became friends with his rival Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri,
but his brother Jesse Benton, who had been humiliated in a duel with Jackson,
published in Nashville An Address on the Presidential Question which criticized Jackson.
Three of the five main candidates were in Monroe’s cabinet,
and the President remained neutral.
All five were in the dominant Republican party.
Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford was born in Virginia but lived mostly in Georgia,
and he was supported by Jefferson and Madison
as well as by Martin Van Buren of New York.
Crawford tried to get his friends in Congress to form a caucus
to give him the nomination of the only political party.
On 14 February 1824 only 68 of the 261 Congressmen showed up for the caucus,
and 64 voted to nominate Crawford;
but when the vote was announced, the packed gallery groaned.
War Secretary Calhoun of South Carolina favored strong defense and tariffs.
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was backed
by New England and most of New York.
House Speaker Henry Clay of Kentucky represented the West.
Calhoun, Adams, and Clay were economic nationalists.
In the fall of 1823 Crawford had suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed,
and he tried to keep it secret; but after that stroke
Jackson considered Crawford‘s continued campaign absurd.
General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee was called “Old Hickory,”
and supporters formed Hickory Clubs.
Those wanting an Adams-Jackson “People’s Ticket” said,
“John Quincy Adams who can write and Andrew Jackson who can fight.”
After a Harrisburg convention supported Jackson in April 1824,
Calhoun withdrew and agreed to be Vice President under Jackson.
Adams also accepted him as a running mate, and Calhoun was easily elected Vice President;
his salary of $1,000 would be less than he had earned as War Secretary.
On July 4 Jackson wrote that the national debt was a curse, and he promised
as President to pay it off in order to prevent the wealthy aristocrats from destroying liberty.
President Monroe had been unopposed in the 1820 election
when about 100,000 men voted;
but with more direct elections 365,833 votes were cast in 1824.
The four candidates for President received the following number of popular votes in all states,
including six where only the legislatures’ votes counted, and gave them (electors):
Jackson 151,271 (99), Adams 113,122 (84), Crawford 40,856 (41), and Clay 47,531 (37).
If three-fifths of slaves had not been counted toward representation,
Jackson would have gotten only 77 electors to Adams’ 83.
Crawford won Virginia and Georgia, and Clay won Kentucky and Ohio.
For the only time in U.S. history the 12th amendment went into effect
which had the House of Representatives with each state getting one vote
elect the President from the top three candidates in the electoral college vote.
Although Jackson had won in Maryland, Illinois, and Louisiana,
Adams persuaded their delegations to vote for him.
Animosity between Jackson and Crawford worked against Jackson,
though his followers would become the Democratic Party.
The nationalist Republicans would develop into the Whig Party.
Clay warned that electing General Jackson would stimulate
the “military spirit” and could have “pernicious results.”
He persuaded those in states he had won to vote for Adams
even though most Kentuckians preferred Jackson.
Thus on February 9 Adams won a majority with 13 states
to 7 for Jackson and 4 for Crawford.
After Adams appointed Clay the Secretary of State five days later,
Jackson and his followers accused them of corruption.
In that office Clay would earn $12,699 a year,
and he gave up his position with the United States Bank.
President Monroe sent to Congress his eighth
and last annual message on 7 December 1824.
This is the complete message which is extremely long:
The view which I have now to present to you
of our affairs, foreign and domestic, realizes
the most sanguine anticipations which have
been entertained of the public prosperity.
If we look to the whole, our growth as a nation continues
to be rapid beyond example; if to the States which
compose it, the same gratifying spectacle is exhibited.
Our expansion over the vast territory within
our limits has been great without indicating
any decline in those sections from which
the emigration has been most conspicuous.
We have daily gained strength by a native
population in every quarter—a population
devoted to our happy system of government and
cherishing the bond of union with internal affection.
Experience has already shown that the difference
of climate and of industry, proceeding from that cause,
inseparable from such vast domains, and which under other
systems might have a repulsive tendency, cannot fail to
produce with us under wise regulations the opposite effect.
What one portion wants the other may supply;
and this will be most sensibly felt by the parts most
distant from each other, forming thereby a domestic
market and an active intercourse between the
extremes and throughout every portion of our Union.
Thus by a happy distribution of power between
the National and State Governments, Governments
which rest exclusively on the sovereignty of the
people and are fully adequate to the great
purposes for which they were respectively instituted,
causes which might otherwise lead to dismemberment
operate powerfully to draw us closer together.
In every other circumstance a correct
view of the actual state of our Union must
be equally gratifying to our constituents.
Our relations with foreign powers are of a
friendly character, although certain interesting
differences remain unsettled with some.
Our revenue under the mild system of impost
and tonnage continues to be adequate
to all the purposes of the Government.
Our agriculture, commerce, manufactures,
and navigation flourish.
Our fortifications are advancing in the degree
authorized by existing appropriations to maturity,
and due progress is made in the augmentation
of the Navy to the limit prescribed for it by law.
For these blessings we owe to Almighty God,
from whom we derive them, and with profound reverence,
our most grateful and unceasing acknowledgments.
In adverting to our relations with foreign powers,
which are always an object of the highest importance,
I have to remark that of the subjects which have been
brought into discussion with them during the present
Administration some have been satisfactorily terminated,
others have been suspended, to be resumed hereafter
under circumstances more favorable to success, and
others are still in negotiation with the hope that they
may be adjusted with mutual accommodation to the
interests and to the satisfaction of the respective parties.
It has been the invariable object of this
Government to cherish the most friendly
relations with every power, and on principles
and conditions which might make them permanent.
A systematic effort has been made to place our commerce
with each power on a footing of perfect reciprocity,
to settle with each in a spirit of candor and liberality all
existing differences, and to anticipate and remove so far
as it might be practicable all causes of future variance.
It having been stipulated by the 7th article of the
convention of navigation and commerce which was
concluded on 1822-06-24 between the United States and
France, that the said convention should continue in force
for two years from the first of October of that year, and
for an indefinite term afterwards, unless one of the parties
should declare its intention to renounce it, in which event it
should cease to operate at the end of 6 months from such
declaration, and no such intention having been announced,
the convention having been found advantageous to both
parties, it has since remained and still remains in force.
At the time when that convention was concluded,
many interesting subjects were left unsettled,
and particularly our claim to indemnity for spoliations
which were committed on our commerce in the late wars.
For these interests and claims it was in the contemplation
of the parties to make provision at a subsequent
day by a more comprehensive and definitive treaty.
The object has been duly attended to since by
the Executive, but as yet it has not been accomplished.
It is hoped that a favorable opportunity will present itself
for opening a negotiation which may embrace and arrange
all existing differences and every other concern in which
they have a common interest upon the accession of the
present King of France, an event which has occurred
since the close of the last session of Congress.
With Great Britain our commercial intercourse
rests on the same footing that it did at the last session.
By the convention of 1815 the commerce between the
United States and the British dominions in Europe and the
East Indies was arranged on a principle of reciprocity.
That convention was confirmed and continued in force
with slight exceptions by a subsequent treaty for the
term of 10 years from 1818-10-20, the date of the latter.
The trade with the British colonies in the
West Indies has not as yet been arranged
by treaty or otherwise, to our satisfaction.
An approach to that result has been made by
legislative acts, whereby many serious impediments
which had been raised by the parties in defense
of their respective claims were removed.
An earnest desire exists and has been manifested
on the part of this Government to place the
commerce with the colonies likewise on a footing of
reciprocal advantage, and it is hoped that the British
Government, seeing the justice of the proposal and
its importance to the colonies will ere long accede to it.
The commissioners who were appointed for the
adjustment of the boundary between the territories of the
United States and those of Great Britain, specified in the
5th article of the treaty of Ghent, having disagreed in their
decision, and both Governments having agreed to establish
that boundary by amicable negotiation between them, it is
hoped that it may be satisfactorily adjusted in that mode.
The boundary specified by the 6th article has been
established by the decision of the commissioners.
From the progress made in that provided for by
the 7th according to a report recently received,
there is good cause to presume that it will be
settled in the course of the ensuing year.
It is a cause of serious regret that no
arrangement has yet been finally concluded
between the two Governments to secure by
joint cooperation the suppression of the slave trade.
It was the object of the British Government in the
early stages of the negotiation to adopt a plan for the
suppression which should include the concession of the
mutual right of search by the ships of war of each party
of the vessels of the other for suspected offenders.
This was objected to by this Government on the
principle that as the right of search was a right of war
of a belligerent toward a neutral power it might have
an ill effect to extend it by treaty to an offense which
had been made comparatively mild to a time of peace.
Anxious, however, for the suppression of this trade,
it was thought advisable in compliance with a resolution
of the House of Representatives, founded on an act
of Congress to propose to the British Government an
expedient which should be free from that objection
and more effectual for the object by making it piratical.
In that mode the enormity of the crime would place the
offenders out of the protection of their Government,
and involve no question of search or other question
between the parties touching their respective rights.
It was believed also that it would completely suppress the
trade in the vessels of both parties, and by their respective
citizens and subjects in those of other powers, with whom
it was hoped that the odium which would thereby be
attached to it would produce a corresponding arrangement,
and by means thereof its entire extirpation forever.
A convention to this effect was concluded and signed in
London on 1824-03-13 by plenipotentiaries duly authorized
by both Governments to the ratification of which certain
obstacles have arisen which are not yet entirely removed.
The difference between the parties still remaining has
been reduced to a point not of sufficient magnitude,
as is presumed to be permitted to defeat an object
so near to the heart of both nations and so desirable
to the friends of humanity throughout the world.
As objections however to the principle recommended
by the House of Representatives, or at least to the
consequences inseparable from it, and which are understood
to apply to the law have been raised, which may deserve
a reconsideration of the whole subject, I have thought it
proper to suspend the conclusion of a new convention until
the definitive sentiments of Congress may be ascertained.
The documents relating to the negotiation are
with that intent submitted to your consideration.
Our commerce with Sweden has been placed on
a footing of perfect reciprocity by treaty, and with
Russia, the Netherlands, Prussia, the free Hanseatic cities,
the Dukedom of Oldenburg, and Sardinia by internal
regulations on each side, founded on mutual
agreement between the respective Governments.
The principles upon which the commercial policy of the
United States is founded are to be traced to an early period.
They are essentially connected with those upon
which their independence was declared and owe
their origin to the enlightened men who took
the lead in our affairs at that important epoch.
They are developed in their first treaty of commerce with
France of 1778-02-06, and by a formal commission which
was instituted immediately after the conclusion of their
Revolutionary struggle for the purpose of negotiating
treaties of commerce with every European power.
The first treaty of the United States with Prussia,
which was negotiated by that commission
affords a signal illustration of those principles.
The act of Congress of 1815-03-03, adopted immediately
after the return of a general peace, was a new overture
to foreign nations to establish our commercial relations
with them on the basis of free and equal reciprocity.
That principle has pervaded all the acts of Congress
and all the negotiations of the Executive on the subject.
A convention for the settlement of important questions
in relation to the North West coast of this continent
and its adjoining seas was concluded and signed at
St. Petersburg on the 5th day of April last by the
minister plenipotentiary of the United States and
plenipotentiaries of the Imperial Government of Russia.
It will immediately be laid before the Senate
for the exercise of the constitutional authority
of that body with reference to its ratification.
It is proper to add that the manner in which this
negotiation was invited and conducted on the
part of the Emperor has been very satisfactory.
The great and extraordinary changes which have
happened in the Governments of Spain and Portugal
within the last two years, without seriously affecting
the friendly relations which under all of them have
been maintained with those powers by the United States,
have been obstacles to the adjustment of the particular
subjects of discussion which have arisen with each.
A resolution of the Senate adopted at their
last session called for information as to the
effect produced upon our relations with Spain
by the recognition on the part of the United States
of the independent South American Governments.
The papers containing that information
are now communicated to Congress.
A charge' d'affaires has been received
from the independent Government of Brazil.
That country, heretofore a colonial possession of
Portugal, had some years since been proclaimed by the
Sovereign of Portugal himself an independent Kingdom.
Since his return to Lisbon a revolution in
Brazil has established a new Government
there with an imperial title, at the head of which
is placed a prince, in whom the regency had been
vested by the King at the time of his departure.
There is reason to expect that by amicable
negotiation the independence of Brazil will
ere long be recognized by Portugal herself.
With the remaining powers of Europe, with those
on the coast of Barbary, and with all the new South
American States our relations are of a friendly character.
We have ministers plenipotentiary residing with the
Republics of Colombia and Chile, and have received
ministers of the same rank from Columbia, Guatemala,
Buenos Aires, and Mexico. Our commercial relations with
all those States are mutually beneficial and increasing.
With the Republic of Colombia a treaty of
commerce has been formed, of which a copy
is received and the original daily expected.
A negotiation for a like treaty would have been
commenced with Buenos Aires had it not been
prevented by the indisposition and lamented
decease of Mr. Rodney, our minister there,
and to whose memory the most respectful attention
has been shown by the Government of that Republic.
An advantageous alteration in our treaty with
Tunis has been obtained by our consular agent
residing there, the official document of which
when received will be laid before the Senate.
The attention of the Government has been drawn
with great solicitude to other subjects, and particularly
to that relating to a state of maritime war, involving the
relative rights of neutral and belligerent in such wars.
Most of the difficulties which we have experienced and of
the losses which we have sustained since the establishment
of our independence have proceeded from the unsettled
state of those rights and the extent to which the belligerent
claim has been carried against the neutral party.
It is impossible to look back on the occurrences of
the late wars in Europe, and to behold the disregard
which was paid to our rights as a neutral power, and the
waste which was made of our commerce by the parties to
those wars by various acts of their respective Governments,
and under the pretext by each that the other had
set the example without great mortification and a
fixed purpose never to submit to the like in future.
An attempt to remove those causes of possible variance
by friendly negotiation and on just principles which
should be applicable to all parties could, it was presumed,
be viewed by none other than as a proof of an earnest
desire to preserve those relations with every power.
In the late war between France and Spain a crisis
occurred in which it seemed probable that all controvertible
principles involved in such wars might be brought into
discussion and settled to the satisfaction of all parties.
Propositions having this object in view have
been made to the Governments of Great Britain,
France, Russia, and of other powers, which have been
received in a friendly manner by all, but as yet no treaty
has been formed with either for its accomplishment.
The policy will, it is presumed, be persevered in,
and in the hope that it may be successful.
It will always be recollected that with one
of the parties to those wars and from whom we
received those injuries, we sought redress by war.
From the other by whose then reigning Government
our vessels were seized in port as well as at sea
and their cargoes confiscated, indemnity has
been expected, but has not yet been rendered.
It was under the influence of the latter that our vessels
were likewise seized by the Governments of Spain,
Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Naples, and from whom
indemnity has been claimed and is still expected with
the exception of Spain by whom it has been rendered.
With both parties we had abundant cause of war,
but we had no alternative but to resist that which was
most powerful at sea and pressed us nearest at home.
With this all differences were settled by a treaty
founded on conditions fair and honorable to both, and
which has been so far executed with perfect good faith.
It has been earnestly hoped that the other would of
its own accord and from a sentiment of justice and
conciliation make to our citizens the indemnity to
which they are entitled, and thereby remove from
our relations any just cause of discontent on our side.
It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury during
the current year exclusive of loans will exceed $18.5M,
which with the sum remaining in the Treasury at the
end of the last year amounting to $9,463,922.81 will
after discharging the current disbursements of the year,
the interest on the public debt, and upward of
$11,633,011.52 of the principal leave a balance of more
than $3M in the Treasury on the first day of January next.
A larger amount of the debt contracted during the late
war bearing an interest of 6% becoming redeemable
in the course of the ensuing year than could be discharged
by the ordinary revenue, the act of the 26th of May
authorized a loan of $5M at 4.5% to meet the same.
By this arrangement an annual saving
will accrue to the public of $75,000.
Under the act of the 24th of May last a loan of $5M was
authorized in order to meet the awards under the Florida
treaty which was negotiated at par with the Bank of the
United States at 4.5%, the limit of interest fixed by the act.
By this provision the claims of our citizens who had
sustained so great a loss by spoliations and from whom
indemnity had been so long withheld were promptly paid.
For these advances the public will be amply repaid
at no distant day by the sale of the lands in Florida.
Of the great advantages resulting from the
acquisition of the Territory in other respects
too high an estimate cannot be formed.
It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury during
the year 1825 will be sufficient to meet the disbursements
of the year including the sum of $10M which is annually
appropriated by the act of constituting the sinking fund to
the payment of the principal and interest of the public debt.
The whole amount of the public debt on the first of
January next may be estimated at $86M inclusive of $2.5M
of the loan authorized by the act of the 26th of May last.
In this estimate is included a stock of $7M, issued for
the purchase of that amount of the capital stock of
the Bank of the United States, and which as the stock
of the bank still held by the Government will at least
be fully equal to its reimbursement, ought not to be
considered as constituting a part of the public debt.
Estimating then the whole amount of the public debt at
$79M and regarding the annual receipts and expenditures of
the Government, a well-founded hope may be entertained
that, should no unexpected event occur, the whole of the
public debt may be discharged in the course of 10 years,
and the Government be left at liberty thereafter to apply
such portion of the revenue as may not be necessary
for current expenses to such other objects as may
be most conducive to the public security and welfare.
That the sums applicable to these objects will be
very considerable may be fairly concluded when
it is recollected that a large amount of the public
revenue has been applied since the late war
to the construction of the public buildings in this city;
to the erection of fortifications along the coast
and of arsenals in different parts of the Union;
to the augmentation of the Navy; to the extinguishment
of the Indian title to large tracts of fertile territory;
to the acquisition of Florida; to pensions to Revolutionary
officers and soldiers, and to invalids of the late war.
On many of these objects the expense will annually be
diminished and cease at no distant period on most of them.
On the 1817-01-01, the public debt amounted to
$123,491,965.16 and notwithstanding the large
sums which have been applied to these objects,
it has been reduced since that period $37,446,961.78.
The last portion of the public debt will be redeemable
on 1835-01-01, and while there is the best reason to
believe that the resources of the Government will be
continually adequate to such portions of it as may
become due in the interval, it is recommended to
Congress to seize every opportunity which may present
itself to reduce the rate of interest on every part thereof.
The high state of the public credit and the great abundance
of money are at this time very favorable to such a result.
It must be very gratifying to our fellow citizens
to witness this flourishing state of the public
finances when it is recollected that no burden
whatever has been imposed upon them.
The military establishment in all its branches in the
performance of the various duties assigned to each,
justifies the favorable view which was presented
of the efficiency of its organization at the last session.
All the appropriations have been regularly applied
to the objects intended by Congress, and so far as
the disbursements have been made the accounts
have been rendered and settled without loss to the public.
The condition of the Army itself, as relates to the officers
and men in science and discipline is highly respectable.
The Military Academy on which the Army essentially rests,
and to which it is much indebted for this state of
improvement has attained in comparison with any other
institution of a like kind a high degree of perfection.
Experience however has shown that the
dispersed condition of the corps of artillery
is unfavorable to the discipline of that
important branch of the military establishment.
To remedy this inconvenience eleven companies have been
assembled at the fortification erected at Old Point Comfort
as a school for artillery instruction with intention, as they
shall be perfected in the various duties of that service
to order them to other posts and to supply their places
with other companies for instruction in like manner.
In this mode a complete knowledge of the
science and duties of this arm will be extended
throughout the whole corps of artillery.
But to carry this object fully into effect will
require the aid of Congress to obtain which
the subject is now submitted to your consideration.
Of the progress which has been made in the
construction of fortifications for the permanent
defense of our maritime frontier according to the
plan decided on and to the extent of the existing
appropriations, the report of the Secretary of War which
is herewith communicated will give a detailed account.
Their final completion cannot fail to give great additional
security to that frontier and to diminish proportionably
the expense of defending it in the event of war.
The provisions in several acts of Congress of
the last session for the improvement of the navigation
of the Mississippi and the Ohio, of the harbor of
Presque Isle on Lake Erie, and the repair of the
Plymouth beach are in a course of regular execution;
and there is reason to believe that the appropriation
in each instance will be adequate to the object.
To carry these improvements fully into effect
the superintendence of them has been
assigned to officers of the Corps of Engineers.
Under the act of 30th April last authorizing the President
to cause a survey to be made with the necessary plans
and estimates of such roads and canals as he might deem
of national importance in a commercial or military point
of view or for the transportation of the mail, a board
has been instituted consisting of two distinguished officers
of the Corps of Engineers and a distinguished civil engineer,
with assistants who have been actively employed
in carrying into effect the object of the act.
They have carefully examined the route between
the Potomac and the Ohio rivers; between the
latter and Lake Erie; between the Alleghany and
the Susquehannah; and the routes between the
Delaware and the Raritan, Barnstable and Buzzards Bay,
and between Boston Harbor and Narraganset Bay.
Such portion of the Corps of Topographical Engineers,
as could be spared from the survey of the coast,
has been employed in surveying the very
important route between the Potomac and the Ohio.
Considerable progress has been made in it, but the
survey cannot be completed until the next season.
It is gratifying to add from the view already taken,
that there is good cause to believe that this
great national object may be fully accomplished.
It is contemplated to commence early in the next season
the execution of the other branch of the act—that which
relates to roads—and with the survey of a route from
this city through the Southern States to New Orleans,
the importance of which cannot be too highly estimated.
All the officers of both the corps of engineers who could
be spared from other services have been employed
in exploring and surveying the routes for canals.
To digest a plan for both objects for the great purposes
specified will require a thorough knowledge of every
part of our Union and of the relation of each part to the
others and of all to the seat of the General Government.
For such a digest it will be necessary that
the information be full, minute, and precise.
With a view to these important objects I submit to the
consideration of the Congress the propriety of enlarging
both the corps of engineers—the military and topographical.
It need scarcely be remarked that the more extensively
these corps are engaged in the improvement of their
country, in the execution of the powers of Congress, and
in aid of the States in such improvements as lie beyond
that limit, when such aid is desired, the happier the effect
will be in many views of which the subject is perceptible.
By profiting of their science the works will always be well
executed, and by giving to the officers such employment our
Union will derive all the advantage in peace, as well as in
war, from their talents and services which they can afford.
In this mode also the military will be incorporated
with the civil and unfounded and injurious distinctions
and prejudices of every kind be done away.
To the corps themselves this service cannot
fail to be equally useful, since by the knowledge
they would thus acquire, they would be eminently
better qualified in the event of war for the great
purposes for which they were instituted.
Our relations with the Indian tribes within our limits
have not been materially changed during the year.
The hostile disposition evinced by certain tribes
on the Missouri during the last year still continues
and has extended in some degree to those
on the Upper Mississippi and the Upper Lakes.
Several parties of our citizens have been
plundered and murdered by those tribes.
In order to establish relations of friendship with them
Congress at the last session made an appropriation for
treaties with them and for the employment of a suitable
military escort to accompany and attend the commissioners
at the places appointed for the negotiations.
This object has not been effected.
The season was too far advanced when the
appropriation was made and the distance too
great to permit it, but measures have been taken,
and all the preparations will be completed to
accomplish it at an early period in the next season.
Believing that the hostility of the tribes, particularly
on the Upper Mississippi and the Lakes, is in no small
degree owing to the wars which are carried on between the
tribes residing in that quarter, measures have been taken
to bring about a general peace among them, which, if
successful, will not only tend to the security of our citizens,
but be of great advantage to the Indians themselves.
With the exception of the tribes referred to,
our relations with all the others are on the same
friendly footing, and it affords me great satisfaction
to add that they are making steady advances in
civilization and the improvement of their condition.
Many of the tribes have already made
great progress in the arts of civilized life.
This desirable result has been brought about
by the humane and persevering policy of the
Government and particularly by means of the
appropriation for the civilization of the Indians.
There have been established under the provisions
of this act 32 schools containing 916 scholars who
are well instructed in several branches of literature,
and likewise in agriculture and the ordinary arts of life.
Under the appropriation to authorize treaties
with the Creeks and Quaupaw Indians commissioners
have been appointed and negotiations are
now pending, but the result is not yet known.
For more full information respecting the principle
which has been adopted for carrying into effect
the act of Congress authorizing surveys with plans
and estimates for canals and roads, and on every
other branch of duty incident to the Department
of War, I refer you to the report of the Secretary.
The squadron in the Mediterranean has been maintained
in the extent which was proposed in the report of the
Secretary of the Navy of the last year and has afforded
to our commerce the necessary protection in that sea.
Apprehending however that the unfriendly relations which
have existed between Algiers and some of the powers
of Europe might be extended to us, it has been
thought expedient to augment the force there, and
in consequence the North Carolina, a ship of the line,
has been prepared and will sail in a few days to join it.
The force employed in the Gulf of Mexico
and in the neighboring seas for the suppression
of piracy has likewise been preserved essentially
in the state in which it was during the last year.
A persevering effort has been made for the
accomplishment of that object, and much protection
has thereby been afforded to our commerce,
but still the practice is far from being suppressed.
From every view which has been taken of the
subject it is thought that it will be necessary rather
to augment than to diminish our force in that quarter.
There is reason to believe that the piracies now
complained of are committed by bands of robbers
who inhabit the land and who by preserving good
intelligence with the towns and seizing favorable
opportunities, rush forth and fall on unprotected
merchant vessels of which they make an easy prey.
The pillage thus taken they carry to their lurking places,
and dispose of afterwards at prices tending
to seduce the neighboring population.
This combination is understood to be of great extent
and is the more to be deprecated because the crime of
piracy is often attended with the murder of the crews;
these robbers, knowing if any survived their lurking places,
would be exposed and they be caught and punished.
That this atrocious practice should be carried
to such extent is cause of equal surprise and regret.
It is presumed that it must be attributed to the relaxed
and feeble state of the local governments, since it is
not doubted from the high character of the governor
of Cuba, who is well known and much respected here,
that if he had the power, he would promptly suppress it.
Whether those robbers should be pursued on the land,
the local authorities be made responsible for these
atrocities, or any other measure be resorted to suppress
them, is submitted to the consideration of Congress.
In execution of the laws for the suppression of the
slave trade a vessel has been occasionally sent from
that squadron to the coast of Africa with orders to return
thence by the usual track of the slave ships and to seize
any of our vessels which might be engaged in that trade.
None have been found, and it is believed
that none are thus employed.
It is well known however that
the trade still exists under other flags.
The health of our squadron while at
Thompsons Island has been much better
during the present than it was the last season.
Some improvements have been made,
and others are contemplated there which,
it is believed, will have a very salutary effect.
On the Pacific our commerce has much increased,
and on that coast, as well as on that sea,
the United States have many important
interests which require attention and protection.
It is thought that all the considerations which
suggested the expediency of placing a squadron
on that sea operate with augmented force for
maintaining it there, at least in equal extent.
For detailed information respecting the state
of our maritime force on each sea the improvement
necessary to be made on either in the organization
of the naval establishment generally, and of the laws
for its better government I refer you to the report of the
Secretary of the Navy which is herewith communicated.
The revenue of the Post Office Department has
received a considerable augmentation in the present year.
The current receipts will exceed the expenditures,
although the transportation of the mail
within the year has been much increased.
A report of the Postmaster General, which is transmitted,
will furnish in detail the necessary information respecting
the administration and present state of this Department.
In conformity with a resolution of Congress of the
last session an invitation was given to General Lafayette
to visit the United States with an assurance that a ship
of war should attend at any port of France which he
might designate, to receive and convey him across the
Atlantic, whenever it might be convenient for him to sail.
He declined the offer of the public ship from
motives of delicacy but assured me that he
had long intended and would certainly visit
our Union in the course of the present year.
In August last he arrived at New York, where he was
received with the warmth of affection and gratitude to which
his very important and disinterested services and sacrifices
in our Revolutionary struggle so eminently entitled him.
A corresponding sentiment has since been manifested
in his favor throughout every portion of our Union,
and affectionate invitations have been
given him to extend his visits to them.
To these he has yielded all the accommodation in his power.
At every designated point of rendezvous the whole
population of the neighboring country has been assembled
to greet him, among whom it has excited in a peculiar
manner the sensibility of all to behold the surviving
members of our Revolutionary contest, civil and military,
who had shared with him in the toils and dangers
of the war, many of them in a decrepit state.
A more interesting spectacle, it is believed,
was never witnessed, because none could
be founded on purer principles, none proceed
from higher or more disinterested motives.
That the feelings of those, who had fought
and bled with him in a common cause,
should have been much excited was natural.
There are however circumstances
attending these interviews which pervaded
the whole community and touched the breasts
of every age, even the youngest among us.
There was not an individual present who had not
some relative who had not partaken in those scenes,
nor an infant who had not heard the relation of them.
But the circumstance which was most sensibly felt, and
which his presence brought forcibly to the recollection of all,
was the great cause in which we were engaged and the
blessings which we have derived from our success in it.
The struggle was for independence and liberty,
public and personal, and in this we succeeded.
The meeting with one who had borne so distinguished
a part in that great struggle and from such lofty
and disinterested motives, could not fail to affect
profoundly every individual and of every age.
It is natural that we should all take a deep
interest in his future welfare, as we do.
His high claims on our Union are felt, and the sentiment
universal that they should be met in a generous spirit.
Under these impressions I invite your attention
to the subject with a view that, regarding his
very important services, losses, and sacrifices,
a provision may be made and tendered to him
which shall correspond with the sentiments and
be worthy the character of the American people.
In turning our attention to the condition of the
civilized world in which the United States have
always taken a deep interest, it is gratifying to
see how large a portion of it is blessed with peace.
The only wars which now exist within that limit
are those between Turkey and Greece in Europe,
and between Spain and the new Governments,
our neighbors in this hemisphere.
In both these wars the cause of independence,
of liberty and humanity, continues to prevail.
The success of Greece, when the relative population
of the contending parties is considered, commands
our admiration and applause, and that it has had
a similar effect with the neighboring powers is obvious.
The feeling of the whole civilized world
is excited in a high degree in their favor.
May we not hope that these sentiments,
winning on the hearts of their respective Governments,
may lead to a more decisive result; that they may
produce an accord among them to replace Greece
on the ground which she formerly held, and to which
her heroic exertions at this day so eminently entitle her?
With respect to the contest to which our neighbors are a
party, it is evident that Spain as a power is scarcely felt in it.
These new States had completely achieved
their independence before it was acknowledged
by the United States, and they have since
maintained it with little foreign pressure.
The disturbances which have appeared in certain portions
of that vast territory have proceeded from internal causes,
which had their origin in their former Governments
and have not yet been thoroughly removed.
It is manifest that these causes are daily
losing their effect, and that these new States
are settling down under Governments elective and
representative in every branch similar to our own.
In this course we ardently wish them to persevere
under a firm conviction that it will promote their happiness.
In this their career however we have not interfered,
believing that every people have a right to
institute for themselves the government
which in their judgment may suit them best.
Our example is before them, of the good effect
of which, being our neighbors, they are competent judges,
and to their judgment we leave it in the expectation
that other powers will pursue the same policy.
The deep interest which we take in their independence,
which we have acknowledged, and in their enjoyment
of all the rights incident thereto, especially in the very
important one of instituting their own Governments
has been declared and is known to the world.
Separated as we are from Europe by the great Atlantic
Ocean, we can have no concern in the wars of the European
Governments nor in the causes which produce them.
The balance of power between them into whichever
scale it may turn in its various vibrations cannot affect us.
It is the interest of the United States to preserve
the most friendly relations with every power
and on conditions fair, equal, and applicable to all.
But in regard to our neighbors our situation is different.
It is impossible for the European Governments to interfere
in their concerns, especially in those alluded to which are
vital without affecting us; indeed the motive which might
induce such interference in the present state of the
war between the parties, if a war it may be called,
would appear to be equally applicable to us.
It is gratifying to know that some of the powers
with whom we enjoy a very friendly intercourse,
and to whom these views have been communicated,
have appeared to acquiesce in them.
The augmentation of our population with the
expansion of our Union and increased number
of States have produced effects in certain branches
of our system which merit the attention of Congress.
Some of our arrangements and particularly
the judiciary establishment were made
with a view to the original 13 States only.
Since then the United States have acquired a vast extent
of territory; eleven new States have been admitted into the
Union, and Territories have been laid off for three others,
which will likewise be admitted at no distant day.
An organization of the Supreme Court which assigns the
judges any portion of the duties which belong to the inferior,
requiring their passage over so vast a space under
any distribution of the States that may now be made,
if not impracticable in the execution, must render
it impossible for them to discharge the duties
of either branch with advantage to the Union.
The duties of the Supreme Court would be
of great importance if its decisions were
confined to the ordinary limits of other tribunals;
but when it is considered that this court decides,
and in the last resort on all the great questions
which arise under our Constitution, involving
those between the United States individually,
between the States and the United States,
and between the latter and foreign powers;
too high an estimate of their importance cannot be formed.
The great interests of the nation seem to require
that the judges of the Supreme Court should be
exempted from every other duty than those
which are incident to that high trust.
The organization of the inferior courts
would of course be adapted to circumstances.
It is presumed that such a one might be formed as would
secure an able and faithful discharge of their duties
and without any material augmentation of expense.
The condition of the aborigines within our limits,
and especially those who are within the limits of any
of the States merits likewise particular attention.
Experience has shown that unless the tribes
be civilized they can never be incorporated
into our system in any form whatever.
It has likewise shown that in the regular
augmentation of our population with the extension
of our settlements their situation will become
deplorable, if their extinction is not menaced.
Some well-digested plan which will rescue
them from such calamities is due to their rights,
to the rights of humanity and to the honor of the nation.
Their civilization is indispensable to their safety,
and this can be accomplished only by degrees.
The process must commence with the infant state,
through whom some effect may be wrought on the parental.
Difficulties of the most serious character present
themselves to the attainment of this very desirable
result on the territory on which they now reside.
To remove them from it by force, even with a view
to their own security and happiness, would be
revolting to humanity and utterly unjustifiable.
Between the limits of our present States and Territories
and the Rocky Mountains and Mexico there is
a vast territory to which they might be invited
with inducements which might be successful.
It is thought if that territory should be divided
into districts by previous agreement with the
tribes now residing there and civil governments
be established in each with schools for every branch
of instruction in literature and the arts of civilized life,
that all the tribes now within our limits
might gradually be drawn there.
The execution of this plan would necessarily be attended
with expense, and that not inconsiderable, but it is doubted
whether any other can be devised which would be
less liable to that objection or more likely to succeed.
In looking to the interests which the United States
have on the Pacific Ocean and on the western coast of this
continent, the propriety of establishing a military post
at the mouth of the Columbia River or at some other
point in that quarter within our acknowledged limits,
is submitted to the consideration of Congress.
Our commerce and fisheries on that sea and along
the coast have much increased and are increasing.
It is thought that a military post, to which
our ships of war might resort, would afford
protection to every interest and have a tendency
to conciliate the tribes to the North West,
with whom our trade is extensive.
It is thought also that by the establishment of such
a post the intercourse between our Western States
and Territories and the Pacific and our trade with
the tribes residing in the interior on each side of the
Rocky Mountains would be essentially promoted.
To carry this object into effect the appropriation of an
adequate sum to authorize the employment of a frigate
with an officer of the Corps of Engineers to explore the
mouth of the Columbia River and the coast contiguous
thereto to enable the Executive to make such establishment
at the most suitable point, is recommended to Congress.
It is thought that attention is also
due to the improvement of this city.
The communication between the public
buildings and in various other parts and the
grounds around those buildings require it.
It is presumed also that the completion of
the canal from the Tiber to the Eastern Branch
would have a very salutary effect.
Great exertions have been made and expenses incurred
by the citizens in improvements of various kinds;
but those which are suggested belong exclusively
to the Government, or are of a nature to
require expenditures beyond their resources.
The public lots which are still for sale would, it is not
doubted, be more than adequate for these purposes.
From the view above presented it is manifest
that the situation of the United States is in
the highest degree prosperous and happy.
There is no object which as a people we can desire
which we do not possess or which is not within our reach.
Blessed with governments the happiest which the world
ever knew with no distinct orders in society or divided
interests in any portion of the vast territory over which their
dominion extends, we have every motive to cling together
which can animate a virtuous and enlightened people.
The great object is to preserve these blessings,
and to hand them down to the latest posterity.
Our experience ought to satisfy us that
our progress under the most correct and
provident policy will not be exempt from danger.
Our institutions form an important
epoch in the history of the civilized world.
On their preservation and in their utmost
purity everything will depend.
Extending as our interests do to every part of the inhabited
globe and to every sea to which our citizens are carried by
their industry and enterprise, to which they are invited by
the wants of others, and have a right to go, we must either
protect them in the enjoyment of their rights or abandon
them in certain events to waste and desolation.
Our attitude is highly interesting as relates to other
powers, and particularly to our southern neighbors.
We have duties to perform with respect
to all to which we must be faithful.
To every kind of danger we should pay the most vigilant
and unceasing attention, remove the cause where it may
be practicable and be prepared to meet it when inevitable.
Against foreign danger the policy of the
Government seems to be already settled.
The events of the late war admonished us to make our
maritime frontier impregnable by a well-digested chain
of fortifications, and to give efficient protection to our
commerce by augmenting our Navy to a certain extent,
which has been steadily pursued, and which it is incumbent
upon us to complete as soon as circumstances will permit.
In the event of war it is on the maritime
frontier that we shall be assailed.
It is in that quarter therefore,
that we should be prepared to meet the attack.
It is there that our whole force will be called
into action to prevent the destruction of our
towns and the desolation and pillage of the interior.
To give full effect to this policy great
improvements will be indispensable.
Access to those works by every practicable
communication should be made easy and in every direction.
The intercourse between every part of our Union
should also be promoted and facilitated by the exercise
of those powers which may comport with a faithful
regard to the great principles of our Constitution.
With respect to internal causes, those great principles
point out with equal certainty the policy to be pursued.
Resting on the people as our Governments do,
State and National with well-defined powers,
it is of the highest importance that they severally
keep within the limits prescribed to them.
Fulfilling that sacred duty, it is of equal importance
that the movement between them be harmonious and
in case of any disagreement, should any such occur,
a calm appeal be made to the people,
and that their voice be heard and promptly obeyed.
Both Governments being instituted for the common good,
we cannot fail to prosper while those who
made them are attentive to the conduct of
their representatives and control their measures.
In the pursuit of these great objects let a generous
spirit and national views and feelings be indulged,
and let every part recollect that by cherishing that spirit
and improving the condition of the others in what relates
to their welfare the general interest will not only be
promoted, but the local advantage be reciprocated by all.
I cannot conclude this communication, the last of the kind
which I shall have to make, without recollecting with great
sensibility and heart-felt gratitude the many instances of
the public confidence and the generous support which
I have received from my fellow citizens in the
various trusts with which I have been honored.
Having commenced my service in early youth,
and continued it since with few and short intervals,
I have witnessed the great difficulties to which
our Union has been surmounted.
From the present prosperous and happy state
I derive a gratification which I cannot express.
That these blessings may be preserved and perpetuated
will be the object of my fervent and unceasing
prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.21
Monroe in this last annual address to Congress on December 7, noted that
during his presidency he had reduced the national debt by $39.7 million.
He also discussed what could be done to resolve the conflicts with the native tribes.
Notes
1. James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 29 January 1823 (Online).
2. To James Madison from James Monroe, 9 April 1823 (Online).
3. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1807-1816, ed. Stanislaus Murray Hamilton,
p
. 304-307.
4. Ibid., p. 308-311.
5. Ibid., p. 311-317.
6. Ibid., p. 323-325.
7. Ibid., p. 391-393.
8. The Presidency of James Monroe by Noble E. Cunningham, p. 158.
9. The American Literary Revolution 1783-1837 by Robert Spiller, p. 240.
10. Ibid., p. 283.
11. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 6 1807-1816, p. 325-342.
12. Ibid., p. 343-345.
13. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908
ed. James D. Richardson, Volume 2, p. 221.
14. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 7 1824-1831, ed. Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, p. 2-3.
15. From James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 27 March 1824 (Online).
16. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 7 1824-1831, p. 14-17.
17. Ibid., p. 19-21.
18. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908, Volume 2,
p. 241.
19. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 7 1824-1831, p. 22-27.
20. Ibid., p. 30-33.
21. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908 Volume 2,
p. 248-264.