President Jackson January-May 1831
President Jackson June-December 1831
Jackson’s Message in December 1831
On 19 January 1831 Jackson from Washington
wrote this letter to the Marquis de Lafayette:
An extract from a letter of yours to General Bernard
received at the moment of his departure for Paris has
been shown to me, by which it appears that you are
interesting yourself in the satisfactory adjustment of
those claims which have so long been a subject of
discussion between the United States and France.
This evidence of the pure affection you cherish for both
countries will excite no surprise on the part of our people.
It accords so well with your whole career that its ultimate
annunciation will be received by them as only the
confirmation of anticipations arising from the confidence
universally entertained in your unalterable friendship.
I should however be wanting in duty and do injustice
to my own feelings were I to omit an acknowledgement
for this new evidence of your friendly concern.
Allow me, my dear sir, to thank you
and to solicit your perseverance.
The course you have adopted is worthy of
one who is regarded the champion of liberty
in one Hemisphere and its founder in another.
It must be acknowledged that the relations between
the two countries, although generally amicable and
liberal, have been of that unalloyed character which
the events of our Revolution were calculated to impart.
It would be equally unwise and unprofitable to
review subjects long since disposed of for the
purpose of tracing the causes of a result so unnatural
and so inconsistent with our mutual interests.
The attempt would probably show that in this case,
as in others, that there have been faults on both sides,
and we are led by the dictates of true wisdom,
as well as the suggestions of Christian charity, to look
to the future only, for what the past has failed to supply.
Those relations ought ever to have presented the
characteristics of a close and liberal friendship; and it would
be a waste of time to enlarge upon the cogency of the
reasons furnished by recent events for indelibly stamping
these characteristics upon them at the present moment.
No one has it in his power to aid more effectually in this
good work than you; and it is a cause of gratitude to the
supreme disposer of all good, that for this among other
great objects, you have been spared till the present
auspicious period in the history of the world.
Excuse me, Sir, for inviting you to a vigorous
prosecution of the work you have commenced under
such favorable auspices; and be assured of my
liberal and indefatigable cooperation.
The natural disposition of this people towards France is one
of warmth and kindness, and it requires only the discharge
of what all candid and just men must regard as a duty on his
part, to call that disposition into active and vivid cooperation.
They expect this from the present King: for the impression
that he takes a personal interest in the entire removal
of all causes of differences between the two countries,
has taken full possession of the public mind.
They view it as the natural consequence of the
estimate they have formed of his character, and
of the principles upon which his throne is founded.
Am I wrong in thinking that good acts could tend more to
consecrate those principles than one which would bring
justice, long delayed but immutable justice, to a people who
looking beyond the forms of the respective governments
feel the influence and the justness of that Sympathy which
belongs to institutions congenial with their own, to awaken.
May I ask the favor of you, and I know not where
I could find a more favorable channel, to express to the
King the high personal respect I entertain for him, and my
sincere and ardent wishes for his health, happiness and
prosperity, and allow me in conclusion to salute you with
the assurance of my respect and unalterable regard.1
On 2 February 1831 Senator Thomas Hart Benton made a 6-page speech
opposing renewal of the US Bank’s charter that began
First, Mr. President, I object to the renewal of the charter
of the Bank of the United States, because I look upon
the bank as an institution too great and powerful to
be tolerated in a government of free and equal laws.
Its power is that of a purse, a power more
potent than that of the sword; and this power
it possesses to a degree and extent that will
enable this bank to draw to itself too much of the
political power of this Union and too much of the
individual property of the citizens of these states.
The money power of the bank
is both direct and indirect.2
He also argued that gold and silver are the best currency because they suit working men.
He noted that the Bank was authorized to own property worth $55 million and
could
issue notes for $35 million more, and it kept public money that was $26 million per year.
The seven directors were not elected.
He complained that the Bank subjugated and colluded with the government,
facilitated public loans by substituting paper money, started and prolonged
unnecessary wars, and made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
He called it an “anti-republican monopoly” that compels reception of paper money,
discredits other banks, holds land receiving rents and retaining tenants,
establishes branches in the states without their consent, exempts stockholders
in bank failures, has foreign partners, and it is exempted from law when violating its charter.
Blair’s Globe reprinted his entire speech.
Malay thieves had seized the merchant ship Friendship at Quallah Battoo
and killed two American merchant sailors on Sumatra on 7 February 1831.
After many complaints from American merchants, eventually Jackson sent 260 marines
on the USS Potomac under Captain John Downes, and one year later
on February 6-9, 1832 they killed about 450 people and destroyed the town
of Quallah Batoo without even finding out who had committed the crime.
On February 17 Vice President Calhoun published in Duff Green’s Telegraph and
as a 52-page pamphlet his “Address to the People of the United States,”
which was
his
correspondence with Jackson on the Seminole War during the conquest of Spanish Florida.
Green and others assumed that Jackson had given his permission,
but Eaton had intentionally not shown it to the President.
Four days later the Globe castigated Calhoun’s publication as a wanton firebrand
that would cause mischief. Jackson felt that Calhoun had destroyed himself.
Calhoun on March 2 visited John Quincy Adams who lost his confidence in the nullifier.
Calhoun in February had persuaded the Congress to make Duff Green their printer
in December, and his Telegraph would get more than $70,000 a year in the next five years.
Jackson stopped patronizing the Telegraph in the spring of 1831.
President Jackson had pews in a Presbyterian church and an Episcopal church,
but in his efforts to support evangelizing of Indians he did not favor any sects.
In a letter William B. Conway on 4 April 1831 he wrote,
Sir, your letter of the 31st ultimo has just reached me;
and although I never answer political letters,
still the subject matter of yours requires a passing comment.
The first intimation I have received that the meeting in
this city in February last “to promote the establishment
of Sunday schools in the valley of the Mississippi was
sectarian,” is from your letter now before me.
I was induced to believe that it was a plan for disseminating
the Gospel by a union of all Christians in the valley of
the Mississippi, where it was considered from the late
settlement of the country the circulation of the Bible,
the education of the poor and an observance of the Sabbath
by children might be beneficial to their morals, and in
the end prove essentially serviceable to the indigent.
These were my understanding of the objects
of that meeting as the world Union imports.
I am no sectarian, though a lover of the Christian religion.
I do not believe that any who shall be so fortunate
as to be received to heaven,
through the atonement of our blessed Savior,
will be asked whether they belonged to the Presbyterian,
the Methodist, the Episcopalian, Baptist, or Roman Catholic.
All Christians are brethren, and all true Christians
know they are such because they love one another.
A true Christian loves all, immaterial to
what sect or church he may belong.3
In early April the Secretary of State Van Buren persuaded
War Secretary Eaton that they both should resign.
President Jackson wrote in this letter to Eaton on April 8:
Your letter of yesterday was received,
and I have carefully considered it.
When you conversed with me the other day on the subject
of your withdrawing from the Cabinet, I expressed to you a
sincere desire that you would well consider it; but however
reluctant I am to be deprived of your services, I cannot
consent to retain you contrary to your wishes and your
inclination to remain; particularly as I well know that in 1829
when I invited you to become a member of my cabinet, you
objected and expressed a great desire to be excused, and
only gave up your objections at my pressing solicitations.
An acquaintance with you of twenty years standing
assured me, that in your honesty, prudence, capacity
and judgment, I could safely confide.
I have not been disappointed.
With the performance of your duties, since you
have been with me, I am fully satisfied; and go
where you will; or be your destiny, what it may,
my best wishes will always attend you.
I will avail myself of the earliest opportunity
to obtain some qualified friend to succeed you;
and until then, I must solicit that the acceptance
of your resignation may be deferred.4
Jackson responded to Secretary of State Van Buren on April 12:
Your letter resigning the office of
Secretary of State was received last evening.
I could indeed wish that no circumstance had arisen
to interrupt the relations which have for two years
subsisted between us, and that they might have
continued through the period during which it may
be my lot to remain charged with the duties which
the partiality of my countrymen has imposed upon me.
But the reasons you present are so strong that,
with a proper regard for the considerations
which you urge, I cannot ask you on my
own account to remain in the cabinet.
I am aware of the difficulties you have had to
contend with, and of the benefits which have resulted
to the affairs of your Country from your continued zeal
in the arduous tasks to which you have been subjected.
To say that I deeply regret to lose you, is but
feebly to express my feelings on the occasion.
When called by my country to the station which
I occupy, it was not without a deep sense of its
arduous responsibilities and a strong distrust of
myself that I obeyed the call; but, cheered by the
consciousness that no other motive actuated me than
a desire to guard her interests and to place her upon the
firm ground of those great principles which, by the wisest
and purest of our patriots, have been deemed essential
to her prosperity, I ventured upon the trust assigned me.
I did this in the confident hope of finding support
of advisers able and true, who laying aside everything
but the desire to give new vigor to the vital principles
of our Union, would look with a single eye to the
best means of effecting this paramount object.
In you this hope has been realized to the utmost.
In the most difficult and trying moments of my
administration, I have always found you sincere, able
and efficient, anxious at all times to afford me every aid.
If however from circumstances in your judgment
sufficient to make it necessary, the official ties
subsisting between us must be severed, I can only
say that this necessity is deeply lamented by me.
I part with you only because you yourself have
requested me to do so, and have sustained that request
by reasons strong enough to command my assent.
I cannot, however, allow the separation to take
place without expressing the hope that this retirement
from public affairs is but temporary, and that if in any
other station the Government should have occasion
for services the value of which has been so sensibly
felt by me, your consent will not be wanting.
Of the state of things to which you advert,
I cannot but be fully aware.
I look upon it with sorrow and regret it more because one
of its first effects is to disturb the harmony of my cabinet.
It is, however, but an instance of one of the evils
to which free governments must ever be liable.
The only remedy for these evils as they arise, lies in the
intelligence and public spirit of our common constituents.
They will correct them; and in this
there is abundant consolation.
I cannot quit this subject without adding that with
the best opportunities for observing and judging,
I have seen in you no other desire than to move
quietly on in the path of your duties, and to
promote the harmonious conduct of public affairs.
If on this point, you have had to encounter detraction,
it is but another proof of the utter insufficiency of
innocence and worth to shield from such assaults.5
Eaton resigned on the 7th followed by Van Buren four days later.
Secretary of the Treasury Samuel Ingham resigned on April 19,
and the next day President Jackson wrote to him this response:
Late last evening I had the honor to receive
your letter of the 19th tendering your resignation
of Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.
When the resignations of the Secretary of State
and War were first tendered to me,
I deliberated well upon the reasons offered,
and all the circumstances with which the subject
was connected, and after mature consideration
concluded finally to accept their resignations.
But when this conclusion was come to, I found from
all the causes growing out of the circumstances
of the times, that when I accepted their
resignations, I must reorganize my Cabinet.
It had been invited by me to the stations each occupied,
it came together in great harmony and was a unit,
that under present circumstances with which I was
surrounded, I could not permit two to retire without
affording the malignant room to assail those who were
permitted to retire and whose patriotism were such that
they could not consistent with self respect and the quiet
and prosperity of the administration remain, that Justice
might be done to all—all coming into my cabinet in
harmony as a unit and all having my confidence,
I determined to accept the resignations, and reorganize my
Cabinet proper, however painful this act might be to myself.
I therefore felt it a duty I owed to you frankly
to make known the whole matter.
And while I accept the tender of your resignation,
it is with great pleasure I bear testimony to the ability
and untiring zeal with which you superintended the fiscal
concerns of the nation which has obtained for you my full
confidence in your integrity and talents, and in the discharge
of all the duties of your office over which I had control.
I have been fully satisfied, and in your retirement
you will carry with you my warmest wishes
for your prosperity and happiness.6
The Globe announced the resignations of Eaton and Van Buren on April 20.
Jackson forced the other cabinet officials to resign except for Postmaster General Barry.
Ingham and Branch resigned on the 19th, but Berrien not until June 15.
Jackson in May appointed Levy Woodbury to run the Navy
and Senator Edward Livingston of Louisiana to be Secretary of State.
Roger Taney was expert on law and became
Jackson’s closest advisor as Attorney General in July.
Lewis Cass became War Secretary.
Louis McLane was adept at finances and came up with a plan that Jackson liked
to reform the U. S. Bank and pay off the national debt by the end of the first term.
On 14 June 1831 President Jackson wrote this letter
to a Committee of Citizens from Charleston:
It would afford me much pleasure, could I
at the same time accept your invitation of the
5th instant, and that with which I was before
honored by the municipal authorities of Charleston.
A necessary attention to the duties of my office must
deprive me of the gratification I should have had in
paying under such circumstances a visit to the State
of which I feel a pride in calling myself a citizen by birth.
Could I accept your invitation, it would be with the
hope that all parties—all the men of talent, exalted
patriotism, and private worth, who have been divided
in the manner you describe, might be found united before
the altar of their country on the day set apart for the
solemn celebration of its independence—independence
which cannot exist without Union, and with it is eternal.
Every enlightened citizen must know that a separation,
could it be effected, would begin with civil discord,
and end in colonial dependence on a foreign power,
and obliteration from the list of nations.
But he should also see that high and sacred duties
which must and will at all hazards be performed,
present an insurmountable barrier to the success
of any plan of disorganization by whatever patriotic
name it may be decorated, or whatever high
feelings may be arrayed for its support.
The force of these evident truths, the effect they
must ultimately have upon the minds of those who
seem for a moment to have disregarded them, make me
cherish the belief I have expressed, that could I have been
present at your celebration, I should have found all parties
concurring to promote the object of your association.
You have distinctly expressed that object—
“to revive in its full force the benign spirit of
the Union, and to renew the mutual confidence
of each other’s good will and patriotism.”
Such endeavors calmly and firmly
persevered in cannot fail of success.
Such sentiments are appropriate to the celebration of
that high festival, which commemorates the simultaneous
declaration of Union and Independence—and when on the
return of that day, we annually renew the pledge that our
heroic fathers made of life, of fortune, and of sacred honor;
let us never forget that it was given to sustain us
as a United not less than an Independent people.
“Knowing as I do the private worth and public virtues of
distinguished citizens to whom declarations inconsistent with
an attachment to the Union have been ascribed, I cannot
but hope, that if accurately reported, they were the effect
of momentary excitement, not deliberate design; and that
such men can never have formed the project of pursuing
a course of redress through any other than constitutional
means; but if I am mistaken in this charitable hope, then in
the language of the Father of our country, I would conjure
them to estimate properly “the immense value of your
national Union to your collective and individual happiness;”
to cherish “a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment
to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as
of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity,
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety:
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion
that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly
frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate
any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble
the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”
“Your patriotic endeavors, gentlemen, to lessen the
violence of party dissension, cannot be forwarded more
effectually than by inculcating a reliance on the justice
of our National Councils, and pointing to the fast
approaching extinction of the public debt, as an event
which must necessarily produce modification in the revenue
system by which all interests under a spirit of mutual
accommodation and concession, will be probably protected.
“The grave subjects introduced in your letter of invitation
have drawn from me the frank exposition of opinions,
which I have neither interest nor inclination to conceal.
“Grateful for the kindness you have personally expressed,
I renew my expressions of regret that it is not
in my power to accept your kind invitation.7
Van Buren asked to be minister to England.
Jackson gave him a recess appointment, and he left for Europe.
When his nomination came up, the Senate was equally divided,
allowing Vice President Calhoun to break the tie by voting against him.
Jackson wanted Van Buren to replace Calhoun, and the President organized
the first
nominating convention of the Democratic Party in Baltimore from May 21 to 23 in 1832.
Democrats nominated Jackson by acclamation,
and Van Buren was nominated for Vice President with 208 of the 283 votes.
Duff Green at a meeting of Democrats in Washington had tried to get them
to re-nominate Calhoun for Vice President; but they rejected that and abandoned Green.
He and Calhoun blamed Van Buren rather than Jackson
whom they still supported for re-election.
Green also criticized Major Lewis and Amos Kendall in the “Kitchen Cabinet,” a term
that was coined in December by U. S. Bank President Nicholas Biddle who wrote that
those in the kitchen were predominating over the parlor with their advice for the President.
On 26 July 1831 Calhoun wrote his “Fort Hill Address” arguing again that the states
should have the right to nullify a federal law.
He warned that the Jacksonian idea of “majority rule” can subject the minority.
In response John Quincy Adams wrote in his Memoirs that
Calhoun disappointed him and that he expected only evil from him.
Edward Everett wrote to Clay asking if they should impeach Jackson.
Clay replied that he believed President Jackson was liable to impeachment but that
he was too popular to be removed. Jackson suffered from a worse illness in October.
Anti-Masons captured 150 of the 490 seats
in the Massachusetts General Assembly in 1831.
On September 26 the Anti-Masonic Party met in Baltimore and named the ex-Federalist
William Wirt of Maryland as their candidate for President
and Amos Ellmaker of Pennsylvania for Vice President.
The first nominating convention of a major U. S. party, the National Republicans,
was held December 12-16 with only 135 delegates at Baltimore.
They nominated Henry Clay of Kentucky for President
and John Sargeant of Pennsylvania for Vice President.
Clay claimed he was no longer a paid director and counselor for the bank,
but Biddle had just given him a loan of $5,000.
The National Republican Party, had the support of the business classes.
Both Wirt and Sargeant had acted as attorneys for the Cherokees,
and both these parties opposed the Indian removal.
The US Congress reconvened on December 5, and the next day the Senate approved
the July 4 treaty with France in which the French
agreed to pay their $5 million debt in six installments.
The United States imported the most merchandise from France
in 1831 and was second in exports to France.
Attorney General Roger Taney had suggested changes to the annual message related
to the Bank, and Jackson was startled that McLane’s
annual report had recommended rechartering the US Bank.
Jackson wrote to Van Buren in London that it was “an honest difference of opinion,”
but he was still free and uncommitted.
Jackson allowed his cabinet to speak honestly until he made a decision,
but then he expected them to stop opposing it or resign.
Several people especially Van Buren criticized McLane’s report.
McLane was angry at the Globe for not supporting him and tried
to get the editor Blair replaced, but Jackson would not let Blair resign.
His Congressional Globe would receive $241,000 by 1837 from the government
for printing the record of the debates in Congress.
During that period the Daily National Intelligencer got $345,000
and the United States Telegraph $301,000.
Calhoun used the Telegraph to defend slavery which
he wrote was “indispensable to republican government.”
On 6 December 1831 President Jackson sent this
Third Annual Message to the United States Congress:
The representation of the people has been renewed
for the twenty-second time since the Constitution
they formed has been in force.
For near half a century the Chief Magistrates
who have been successively chosen have
made their annual communications of the
state of the nation to its representatives.
Generally these communications have been of the
most gratifying nature, testifying an advance in all the
improvements of social and all the securities of political life.
But frequently and justly as you have been called on
to be grateful for the bounties of Providence, at few
periods have they been more abundantly or extensively
bestowed than at the present; rarely, if ever, have we
had greater reason to congratulate each other on the
continued and increasing prosperity of our beloved country.
Agriculture, the first and most important
occupation of man, has compensated the
labors of the husbandman with plentiful crops of
all the varied products of our extensive country.
Manufactures have been established in which the
funds of the capitalist find a profitable investment, and
which give employment and subsistence to a numerous and
increasing body of industrious and dexterous mechanics.
The laborer is rewarded by high wages in the
construction of works of internal improvement,
which are extending with unprecedented rapidity.
Science is steadily penetrating the recesses of nature
and disclosing her secrets, while the ingenuity of free
minds is subjecting the elements to the power of man
and making each new conquest auxiliary to his comfort.
By our mails, whose speed is regularly increased and
whose routes are every year extended, the communication
of public intelligence and private business is rendered
frequent and safe; the intercourse between distant cities,
which it formerly required weeks to accomplish, is now
effected in a few days; and in the construction of railroads
and the application of steam power we have a reasonable
prospect that the extreme parts of our country will be
so much approximated and those most isolated by the
obstacles of nature rendered so accessible as to remove
an apprehension sometimes entertained that the great
extent of the Union would endanger its permanent existence.
If from the satisfactory view of our agriculture,
manufactures, and internal improvements we turn
to the state of our navigation and trade
with foreign nations and between the States,
we shall scarcely find less cause for gratulation.
A beneficent Providence has provided for their exercise and
encouragement an extensive coast, indented by capacious
bays, noble rivers, inland seas; with a country productive
of every material for shipbuilding and every commodity
for gainful commerce, and filled with a population active,
intelligent, well-informed, and fearless of danger.
These advantages are not neglected, and an impulse
has lately been given to commercial enterprise, which
fills our shipyards with new constructions, encourages
all the arts and branches of industry connected with them,
crowds the wharves of our cities with vessels, and
covers the most distant seas with our canvas.
Let us be grateful for these blessings to the
beneficent Being who has conferred them,
and who suffers us to indulge a reasonable hope
of their continuance and extension, while we neglect
not the means by which they may be preserved.
If we may dare to judge of His future designs by the
manner in which His past favors have been bestowed.
He has made our national prosperity to depend on the
preservation of our liberties, our national force on our
Federal Union, and our individual happiness on the
maintenance of our State rights and wise institutions.
If we are prosperous at home and respected
abroad, it is because we are free, united,
industrious, and obedient to the laws.
While we continue so we shall by the blessing of Heaven
go on in the happy career we have begun, and which has
brought us in the short period of our political existence
from a population of three to thirteen millions; from
thirteen separate colonies to twenty-four united States;
from weakness to strength; from a rank scarcely marked
in the scale of nations to a high place in their respect.
This last advantage is one that has resulted in a
great degree from the principles which have guided our
intercourse with foreign powers since we have assumed
an equal station among them, and hence the annual
account which the Executive renders to the country
of the manner in which that branch of his duties
has been fulfilled proves instructive and salutary.
The pacific and wise policy of our Government kept
us in a state of neutrality during the wars that have at
different periods since our political existence been carried
on by other powers; but this policy, while it gave activity
and extent to our commerce, exposed it in the same
proportion to injuries from the belligerent nations.
Hence have arisen claims of indemnity for those injuries.
England, France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, Denmark,
Naples, and lately Portugal had all in a greater
or less degree infringed our neutral rights.
Demands for reparation were made upon all.
They have had in all, and continue to have in some
cases a leading influence on the nature of our relations
with the powers on whom they were made.
Of the claims upon England it is unnecessary to speak
further than to say that the state of things to which their
prosecution and denial gave rise has been succeeded
by arrangements productive of mutual good feeling
and amicable relations between the two countries,
which it is hoped will not be interrupted.
One of these arrangements is that relating to the
colonial trade which was communicated to Congress
at the last session; and although the short period
during which it has been in force will not enable me
to form an accurate judgment of its operation, there is
every reason to believe that it will prove highly beneficial.
The trade thereby authorized has employed to the 30th
September last upward of 30,000 tons of American
and 15,000 tons of foreign shipping in the outward
voyages, and in the inward nearly an equal amount
of American and 20,000 only of foreign tonnage.
Advantages, too, have resulted to our agricultural
interests from the state of the trade between Canada
and our Territories and States bordering on the
St. Lawrence and the Lakes which may prove
more than equivalent to the loss sustained by
the discrimination made to favor the trade of
the northern colonies with the West Indies.
After our transition from the state of colonies to
that of an independent nation many points were found
necessary to be settled between us and Great Britain.
Among them was the demarcation of boundaries not
described with sufficient precision in the treaty of peace.
Some of the lines that divide the States and
Territories of the United States from the
British Provinces have been definitively fixed.
That, however, which separates us from the
Provinces of Canada and New Brunswick to the
north and the east was still in dispute when
I came into office, but I found arrangements
made for its settlement over which I had no control.
The commissioners who had been appointed under the
provisions of the treaty of Ghent having been unable to
agree, a convention was made with Great Britain by my
immediate predecessor in office, with the advice and
consent of the Senate, by which it was agreed
“that the points of difference which have arisen in the
settlement of the boundary line between the American
and British dominions, as described in the fifth article of
the treaty of Ghent, shall be referred, as therein provided,
to some friendly sovereign or State, who shall be invited
to investigate and make a decision upon such points of
difference;” and the King of the Netherlands having by
the late President and His Britannic Majesty been designated
as such friendly sovereign, it became my duty to carry
with good faith the agreement so made into full effect.
To this end I caused all the measures to be taken which
were necessary to a full exposition of our case to the
sovereign arbiter, and nominated as minister plenipotentiary
to his Court a distinguished citizen of the State most
interested in the question, and who had been one of the
agents previously employed for settling the controversy.
On the 10th day of January last His Majesty the King
of the Netherlands delivered to the plenipotentiaries
of the United States and of Great Britain his
written opinion on the case referred to him.
The papers in relation to the subject will be communicated
by a special message to the proper branch of the
Government with the perfect confidence that its wisdom
will adopt such measures as will secure an amicable
settlement of the controversy without infringing any
constitutional right of the States immediately interested.
It affords me satisfaction to inform you that suggestions
made by my direction to the chargé d'affaires of His
Britannic Majesty to this Government have had their
desired effect in producing the release of certain American
citizens who were imprisoned for setting up the authority
of the State of Maine at a place in the disputed territory
under the actual jurisdiction of His Britannic Majesty.
From this and the assurances I have received of the desire
of the local authorities to avoid any cause of collision I have
the best hopes that a good understanding will be kept up
until it is confirmed by the final disposition of the subject.
The amicable relations which now subsist between the
United States and Great Britain, the increasing intercourse
between their citizens, and the rapid obliteration of
unfriendly prejudices to which former events naturally gave
rise concurred to present this as a fit period for renewing
our endeavors to provide against the recurrence of causes
of irritation which in the event of war between Great Britain
and any other power would inevitably endanger our peace.
Animated by the sincerest desire to avoid such a state
of things, and peacefully to secure under all possible
circumstances the rights and honor of the country,
I have given such instructions to the minister lately
sent to the Court of London as will evince that desire,
and if met by a correspondent disposition, which we cannot
doubt, will put an end to causes of collision which, without
advantage to either, tend to estrange from each other two
nations who have every motive to preserve not only peace,
but an intercourse of the most amicable nature.
In my message at the opening of the last session
of Congress I expressed a confident hope that the
justice of our claims upon France, urged as they
were with perseverance and signal ability by our
minister there, would finally be acknowledged.
This hope has been realized.
A treaty has been signed which will immediately
be laid before the Senate for its approbation,
and which, containing stipulations that require
legislative acts, must have the concurrence of
both Houses before it can be carried into effect.
By it the French Government engaged to pay a sum which,
if not quite equal to that which may be found due to our
citizens will yet, it is believed, under all circumstances,
be deemed satisfactory by those interested.
The offer of a gross sum instead of the satisfaction of each
individual claim was accepted because the only alternatives
were a rigorous exaction of the whole amount stated to
be due on each claim, which might in some instances be
exaggerated by design, in others overrated through error,
and which, therefore, it would have been both ungracious
and unjust to have insisted on; or a settlement by a mixed
commission, to which the French negotiators were very
averse, and which experience in other cases had shown
to be dilatory and often wholly inadequate to the end.
A comparatively small sum is stipulated on our part
to go to the extinction of all claims by French citizens
on our Government, and a reduction of duties on
our cotton and their wines has been agreed on as
a consideration for the renunciation of an important
claim for commercial privileges under the construction
they gave to the treaty for the cession of Louisiana.
Should this treaty receive the proper sanction,
a source of irritation will be stopped that has for
so many years in some degree alienated from each
other two nations who, from interest as well as the
remembrance of early associations, ought to cherish the
most friendly relations; an encouragement will be given
for perseverance in the demands of justice by this new
proof that if steadily pursued they will be listened to,
and admonition will be offered to those powers, if any,
which may be inclined to evade them that they will never
be abandoned; above all, a just confidence will be inspired
in our fellow-citizens that their Government will exert all
the powers with which they have invested it in support
of their just claims upon foreign nations; at the same time
that the frank acknowledgment and provision for the
payment of those which were addressed to our equity,
although unsupported by legal proof, affords a practical
illustration of our submission to the divine rule of doing
to others what we desire they should do unto us.
Sweden and Denmark having made compensation for
the irregularities committed by their vessels or in their ports
to the perfect satisfaction of the parties concerned, and
having renewed the treaties of commerce entered into
with them, our political and commercial relations with
those powers continue to be on the most friendly footing.
With Spain our differences up to the 22d of February,
1819, were settled by the treaty of Washington of that date,
but at a subsequent period our commerce with the
States formerly colonies of Spain on the continent
of America was annoyed and frequently interrupted
by her public and private armed ships.
They captured many of our vessels prosecuting a lawful
commerce and sold them and their cargoes, and at one
time to our demands for restoration and indemnity
opposed the allegation that they were taken in the
violation of a blockade of all the ports of those States.
This blockade was declaratory only, and the inadequacy of
the force to maintain it was so manifest that this allegation
was varied to a charge of trade in contraband of war.
This, in its turn, was also found untenable, and the
minister whom I sent with instructions to press for the
reparation that was due to our injured fellow-citizens has
transmitted an answer to his demand by which the
captures are declared to have been legal, and are justified
because the independence of the States of America never
having been acknowledged by Spain, she had a right to
prohibit trade with them under her old colonial laws.
This ground of defense was contradictory, not only to
those which had been formerly alleged, but to the uniform
practice and established laws of nations, and had been
abandoned by Spain herself in the convention which granted
indemnity to British subjects for captures made at the
same time, under the same circumstances, and for the
same allegations with those of which we complain.
I, however, indulge the hope that further reflection
will lead to other views, and feel confident that when
His Catholic Majesty shall be convinced of the justice
of the claims his desire to preserve friendly relations
between the two countries, which it is my earnest endeavor
to maintain, will induce him to accede to our demand.
I have therefore dispatched a special messenger with
instructions to our minister to bring the case once more
to his consideration, to the end that if (which I cannot
bring myself to believe) the same decision (that cannot
but be deemed an unfriendly denial of justice) should be
persisted in the matter may before your adjournment be
laid before you, the constitutional judges of what is proper
to be done when negotiation for redress of injury fails.
The conclusion of a treaty for indemnity with France
seemed to present a favorable opportunity to renew
our claims of a similar nature on other powers,
and particularly in the case of those upon Naples,
more especially as in the course of former negotiations
with that power our failure to induce France to
render us justice was used as an argument against us.
The desires of the merchants, who were the principal
sufferers, have therefore been acceded to, and a
mission has been instituted for the special purpose of
obtaining for them a reparation already too long delayed.
This measure having been resolved on, it was put in
execution without waiting for the meeting of Congress,
because the state of Europe created an apprehension of
events that might have rendered our application ineffectual.
Our demands upon the Government of
the Two Sicilies are of a peculiar nature.
The injuries on which they are founded are not denied,
nor are the atrocity and perfidy under which those
injuries were perpetrated attempted to be extenuated.
The sole ground on which indemnity has been refused
is the alleged illegality of the tenure by which the
monarch who made the seizures held his crown.
This defense, always unfounded in any principle of the law
of nations, now universally abandoned, even by those
powers upon whom the responsibility for acts of past rulers
bore the most heavily, will unquestionably be given up by
His Sicilian Majesty, whose counsels will receive an impulse
from that high sense of honor and regard to justice which
are said to characterize him; and I feel the fullest confidence
that the talents of the citizen commissioned for that purpose
will place before him the just claims of our injured citizens
in such a light as will enable me before your adjournment
to announce that they have been adjusted and secured.
Precise instructions to the effect of bringing the negotiation
to a speedy issue have been given and will be obeyed.
In the late blockade of Terceira some of the Portuguese
fleet captured several of our vessels and committed other
excesses, for which reparation was demanded,
and I was on the point of dispatching an armed force
to prevent any recurrence of a similar violence and
protect our citizens in the prosecution of their lawful
commerce when official assurances, on which I relied,
made the sailing of the ships unnecessary.
Since that period frequent promises have been
made that full indemnity shall be given for the
injuries inflicted and the losses sustained.
In the performance there has been some, perhaps
unavoidable delay; but I have the fullest confidence
that my earnest desire that this business may at once
be closed, which our minister has been instructed
strongly to express, will very soon be gratified.
I have the better ground for this hope from the evidence
of a friendly disposition which that Government has shown
by an actual reduction in the duty on rice the produce of
our Southern States, authorizing the anticipation that this
important article of our export will soon be admitted on the
same footing with that produced by the most favored nation.
With the other powers of Europe we have fortunately
had no cause of discussions for the redress of injuries.
With the Empire of the Russias our political
connection is of the most friendly and our
commercial of the most liberal kind.
We enjoy the advantages of navigation and trade
given to the most favored nation, but it has not yet
suited their policy, or perhaps has not been found
convenient from other considerations, to give stability
and reciprocity to those privileges by a commercial treaty.
The ill health of the minister last year charged with
making a proposition for that arrangement did not permit
him to remain at St. Petersburg, and the attention of
that Government during the whole of the period since
his departure having been occupied by the war in
which it was engaged, we have been assured that
nothing could have been effected by his presence.
A minister will soon be nominated, as well to effect
this important object as to keep up the relations of
amity and good understanding of which we have
received so many assurances and proofs from
His Imperial Majesty and the Emperor his predecessor.
The treaty with Austria is opening to us an important
trade with the hereditary dominions of the Emperor,
the value of which has been hitherto little known,
and of course not sufficiently appreciated.
While our commerce finds an entrance into the south
of Germany by means of this treaty, those we have
formed with the Hanseatic towns and Prussia and others
now in negotiation will open that vast country to the
enterprising spirit of our merchants on the north—
a country abounding in all the materials for a mutually
beneficial commerce, filled with enlightened and industrious
inhabitants, holding an important place in the politics of
Europe, and to which we owe so many valuable citizens.
The ratification of the treaty with the Porte
was sent to be exchanged by the gentleman
appointed our chargé d’affaires to that Court.
Some difficulties occurred on his arrival,
but at the date of his last official dispatch he
supposed they had been obviated and that there was
every prospect of the exchange being speedily effected.
This finishes the connected view I have thought it proper
to give of our political and commercial relations in Europe.
Every effort in my power will be continued to strengthen and
extend them by treaties founded on principles of the most
perfect reciprocity of interest, neither asking nor conceding
any exclusive advantage, but liberating as far as it lies
in my power the activity and industry of our fellow-citizens
from the shackles which foreign restrictions may impose.
To China and the East Indies our commerce
continues in its usual extent, and with increased
facilities which the credit and capital of our merchants
afford by substituting bills for payments in specie.
A daring outrage having been committed in those seas
by the plunder of one of our merchantmen engaged
in the pepper trade at a port in Sumatra, and the
piratical perpetrators belonging to tribes in such a
state of society that the usual course of proceedings
between civilized nations could not be pursued,
I forthwith dispatched a frigate with orders
to require immediate satisfaction for the
injury and indemnity to the sufferers.
Few changes have taken place in our connections
with the independent States of America
since my last communication to Congress.
The ratification of a commercial treaty with the
United Republics of Mexico has been for some time
under deliberation in their Congress, but was still
undecided at the date of our last dispatches.
The unhappy civil commotions that have prevailed
there were undoubtedly the cause of the delay,
but as the Government is now said to be
tranquillized we may hope soon to receive
the ratification of the treaty and an arrangement
for the demarcation of the boundaries between us.
In the meantime, an important trade has been opened
with mutual benefit from St. Louis, in the State of Missouri,
by caravans to the interior Provinces of Mexico.
This commerce is protected in its progress through the
Indian countries by the troops of the United States, which
have been permitted to escort the caravans beyond our
boundaries to the settled part of the Mexican territory.
From Central America I have received assurances
of the most friendly kind and a gratifying application
for our good offices to remove a supposed indisposition
toward that Government in a neighboring State.
This application was immediately
and successfully complied with.
They gave us also the pleasing intelligence
that differences which had prevailed in their
internal affairs had been peaceably adjusted.
Our treaty with this Republic continues to be faithfully
observed, and promises a great and beneficial commerce
between the two countries—a commerce of the greatest
importance if the magnificent project of a ship canal through
the dominions of that State from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean, now in serious contemplation, shall be executed.
I have great satisfaction in communicating the
success which has attended the exertions of our
minister in Colombia to procure a very considerable
reduction in the duties on our flour in that Republic.
Indemnity also has been stipulated for injuries
received by our merchants from illegal seizures,
and renewed assurances are given that the treaty
between the two countries shall be faithfully observed.
Chile and Peru seem to be still threatened with
civil commotions, and until they shall be settled
disorders may naturally be apprehended, requiring the
constant presence of a naval force in the Pacific Ocean
to protect our fisheries and guard our commerce.
The disturbances that took place in the Empire of Brazil
previously to and immediately consequent upon the
abdication of the late Emperor necessarily suspended
any effectual application for the redress of some past
injuries suffered by our citizens from that Government,
while they have been the cause of others,
in which all foreigners seem to have participated.
Instructions have been given to our minister there to
press for indemnity due for losses occasioned by these
irregularities, and to take care that our fellow-citizens shall
enjoy all the privileges stipulated in their favor by the treaty
lately made between the two powers, all which the good
intelligence that prevails between our minister at Rio Janeiro
and the Regency gives us the best reason to expect.
I should have placed Buenos Ayres in the list of South
American powers in respect to which nothing of importance
affecting us was to be communicated but for occurrences
which have lately taken place at the Falkland Islands,
in which the name of that Republic has been used to cover
with a show of authority acts injurious to our commerce
and to the property and liberty of our fellow-citizens.
In the course of the present year one of our vessels,
engaged in the pursuit of a trade which we have
always enjoyed without molestation, has been
captured by a band acting, as they pretend, under
the authority of the Government of Buenos Ayres.
I have therefore given orders for the dispatch of an
armed vessel to join our squadron in those seas and aid
in affording all lawful protection to our trade which shall be
necessary, and shall without delay send a minister to inquire
into the nature of the circumstances and also of the claim,
if any, that is set up by that Government to those islands.
In the meantime, I submit the case to the consideration of
Congress, to the end that they may clothe the Executive
with such authority and means as they may deem necessary
for providing a force adequate to the complete protection
of our fellow-citizens fishing and trading in those seas.
This rapid sketch of our foreign relations, it is hoped,
fellow-citizens, may be of some use in so much of your
legislation as may bear on that important subject,
while it affords to the country at large a source of
high gratification in the contemplation of our political
and commercial connection with the rest of the world.
At peace with all; having subjects of future difference
with few, and those susceptible of easy adjustment;
extending our commerce gradually on all sides and
on none by any but the most liberal and mutually
beneficial means, we may, by the blessing of
Providence, hope for all that national prosperity which
can be derived from an intercourse with foreign nations,
guided by those eternal principles of justice and
reciprocal good will which are binding as well upon
States as the individuals of whom they are composed.
I have great satisfaction in making this statement of
our affairs, because the course of our national policy
enables me to do it without any indiscreet exposure of what
in other governments is usually concealed from the people.
Having none but a straightforward, open course to pursue,
guided by a single principle that will bear the strongest light,
we have happily no political combinations to form,
no alliances to entangle us, no complicated
interests to consult, and in subjecting all we have
done to the consideration of our citizens and to the
inspection of the world we give no advantage to
other nations and lay ourselves open to no injury.
It may not be improper to add that to preserve this state
of things and give confidence to the world in the integrity
of our designs all our consular and diplomatic agents are
strictly enjoined to examine well every cause of complaint
preferred by our citizens, and while they urge with proper
earnestness those that are well founded, to countenance
none that are unreasonable or unjust, and to enjoin on
our merchants and navigators the strictest obedience to
the laws of the countries to which they resort, and a
course of conduct in their dealings that may support the
character of our nation and render us respected abroad.
Connected with this subject, I must
recommend a revisal of our consular laws.
Defects and omissions have been discovered in their
operation that ought to be remedied and supplied.
For your further information on this subject I have
directed a report to be made by the Secretary of State,
which I shall hereafter submit to your consideration.
The internal peace and security of our confederated States
is the next principal object of the General Government.
Time and experience have proved that the abode
of the native Indian within their limits is dangerous
to their peace and injurious to himself.
In accordance with my recommendation at a former
session of Congress, an appropriation of half a million
of dollars was made to aid the voluntary removal of
the various tribes beyond the limits of the States.
At the last session I had the happiness to announce that
the Chickasaws and Choctaws had accepted the generous
offer of the Government and agreed to remove beyond
the Mississippi River, by which the whole of the State of
Mississippi and the western part of Alabama will be freed
from Indian occupancy and opened to a civilized population.
The treaties with these tribes are in a course of execution,
and their removal, it is hoped, will be
completed in the course of 1832.
At the request of the authorities of Georgia the
registration of Cherokee Indians for emigration
has been resumed, and it is confidently expected
that one-half, if not two-thirds, of that tribe will
follow the wise example of their more westerly brethren.
Those who prefer remaining at their present homes
will hereafter be governed by the laws of Georgia,
as all her citizens are, and cease to be the objects of
peculiar care on the part of the General Government.
During the present year the attention of the Government
has been particularly directed to those tribes in the powerful
and growing State of Ohio, where considerable tracts of the
finest lands were still occupied by the aboriginal proprietors.
Treaties, either absolute or conditional, have been
made extinguishing the whole Indian title to the
reservations in that State, and the time is not distant,
it is hoped, when Ohio will be no longer
embarrassed with the Indian population.
The same measures will be extended to Indiana
as soon as there is reason to anticipate success.
It is confidently believed that perseverance for a
few years in the present policy of the Government will
extinguish the Indian title to all lands lying within the States
composing our Federal Union, and remove beyond their
limits every Indian who is not willing to submit to their laws.
Thus will all conflicting claims to jurisdiction between
the States and the Indian tribes be put to rest.
It is pleasing to reflect that results so beneficial,
not only to the States immediately concerned, but to
the harmony of the Union, will have been accomplished
by measures equally advantageous to the Indians.
What the native savages become when surrounded
by a dense population and by mixing with the whites
may be seen in the miserable remnants of a few
Eastern tribes, deprived of political and civil rights,
forbidden to make contracts, and subjected to guardians,
dragging out a wretched existence, without excitement,
without hope, and almost without thought.
But the removal of the Indians beyond the limits
and jurisdiction of the States does not place them beyond
the reach of philanthropic aid and Christian instruction.
On the contrary, those whom philanthropy or religion
may induce to live among them in their new abode
will be more free in the exercise of their benevolent
functions than if they had remained within the limits
of the States, embarrassed by their internal regulations.
Now subject to no control but the superintending agency
of the General Government, exercised with the sole
view of preserving peace, they may proceed unmolested
in the interesting experiment of gradually advancing
a community of American Indians from barbarism
to the habits and enjoyments of civilized life.
Among the happiest effects of the improved relations
of our Republic has been an increase of trade, producing
a corresponding increase of revenue beyond the most
sanguine anticipations of the Treasury Department.
The state of the public finances will be fully shown
by the Secretary of the Treasury in the report
which he will presently lay before you.
I will here, however, congratulate you
upon their prosperous condition.
The revenue received in the present year will not fall short
of $27,700,000, and the expenditures for all objects other
than the public debt will not exceed $14,700,000.
The payment on account of the principal and interest
of the debt during the year will exceed $16,500,000,
a greater sum than has been applied to that object
out of the revenue in any year since the enlargement
of the sinking fund except the two years
following immediately thereafter.
The amount which will have been applied to the public debt
from the 4th of March, 1829, to the 1st of January next,
which is less than three years since the Administration
has been placed in my hands, will exceed $40,000,000.
From the large importations of the present year it may be
safely estimated that the revenue which will be received into
the Treasury from that source during the next year, with the
aid of that received from the public lands, will considerably
exceed the amount of the receipts of the present year;
and it is believed that with the means which the Government
will have at its disposal from various sources, which will be
fully stated by the proper Department, the whole of the
public debt may be extinguished, either by redemption
or purchase, within the four years of my Administration.
We shall then exhibit the rare example of a great nation,
abounding in all the means of happiness and security,
altogether free from debt.
The confidence with which the extinguishment
of the public debt may be anticipated presents
an opportunity for carrying into effect more fully
the policy in relation to import duties which
has been recommended in my former messages.
A modification of the tariff which shall produce a reduction
of our revenue to the wants of the Government
and an adjustment of the duties on imports with a view
to equal justice in relation to all our national interests
and to the counteraction of foreign policy so far as
it may be injurious to those interests, is deemed
to be one of the principal objects which demand
the consideration of the present Congress.
Justice to the interests of the merchant as well as the
manufacturer requires that material reductions in the
import duties be prospective; and unless the present
Congress shall dispose of the subject the proposed
reductions cannot properly be made to take effect
at the period when the necessity for the revenue
arising from present rates shall cease.
It is therefore desirable that arrangements be adopted at
your present session to relieve the people from unnecessary
taxation after the extinguishment of the public debt.
In the exercise of that spirit of concession and conciliation
which has distinguished the friends of our Union
in all great emergencies, it is believed that this object
may be effected without injury to any national interest.
In my annual message of December, 1829,
I had the honor to recommend the adoption of a more
liberal policy than that which then prevailed toward
unfortunate debtors to the Government, and I deem it
my duty again to invite your attention to this subject.
Actuated by similar views, Congress at their last session
passed an act for the relief of certain insolvent debtors
of the United States, but the provisions of that law
have not been deemed such as were adequate to
that relief to this unfortunate class of our fellow-citizens
which may be safely extended to them.
The points in which the law appears to be defective will be
particularly communicated by the Secretary of the Treasury,
and I take pleasure in recommending such an extension
of its provisions as will unfetter the enterprise of a
valuable portion of our citizens and restore to them the
means of usefulness to themselves and the community.
While deliberating on this subject I would also recommend
to your consideration the propriety of so modifying the laws
for enforcing the payment of debts due either to the public
or to individuals suing in the courts of the United States
as to restrict the imprisonment of the person
to cases of fraudulent concealment of property.
The personal liberty of the citizen seems too sacred
to be held, as in many cases it now is, at the will
of a creditor to whom he is willing to surrender
all the means he has of discharging his debt.
The reports from the Secretaries of the War and
Navy Departments and from the Postmaster-General,
which accompany this message, present satisfactory views
of the operations of the Departments respectively under
their charge, and suggest improvements which are worthy
of and to which I invite the serious attention of Congress.
Certain defects and omissions having been discovered in the
operation of the laws respecting patents, they are pointed
out in the accompanying report from the Secretary of State.
I have heretofore recommended amendments
of the Federal Constitution giving the election of
President and Vice-President to the people and
limiting the service of the former to a single term.
So important do I consider these changes in our
fundamental law that I cannot, in accordance
with my sense of duty, omit to press them
upon the consideration of a new Congress.
For my views more at large, as well in relation to these
points as to the disqualification of members of Congress
to receive an office from a President in whose election
they have had an official agency, which I proposed
as a substitute, I refer you to my former messages.
Our system of public accounts is extremely complicated,
and it is believed may be much improved.
Much of the present machinery and a considerable portion
of the expenditure of public money may be dispensed with,
while greater facilities can be afforded to the liquidation of
claims upon the Government and an examination into their
justice and legality quite as efficient as the present secured.
With a view to a general reform in the system,
I recommend the subject to the attention of Congress.
I deem it my duty again to call your attention
to the condition of the District of Columbia.
It was doubtless wise in the framers of our Constitution
to place the people of this District under the jurisdiction
of the General Government, but to accomplish the objects
they had in view it is not necessary that this people
should be deprived of all the privileges of self-government.
Independently of the difficulty of inducing the
representatives of distant States to turn their
attention to projects of laws which are not of the highest
interest to their constituents, they are not individually,
nor in Congress collectively, well qualified to legislate
over the local concerns of this District.
Consequently its interests are much neglected,
and the people are almost afraid to present their grievances,
lest a body in which they are not represented and which
feels little sympathy in their local relations should in its
attempt to make laws for them do more harm than good.
Governed by the laws of the States whence they were
severed, the two shores of the Potomac within the 10 miles
square have different penal codes—not the present codes
of Virginia and Maryland, but such as existed in those
States at the time of the cession to the United States.
As Congress will not form a new code, and as the people
of the District cannot make one for themselves,
they are virtually under two governments.
Is it not just to allow them at least a Delegate in Congress,
if not a local legislature, to make laws for the District,
subject to the approval or rejection of Congress?
I earnestly recommend the extension to them of
every political right which their interests require
and which may be compatible with the Constitution.
The extension of the judiciary system of the United States
is deemed to be one of the duties of Government.
One-fourth of the States in the Union do not
participate in the benefits of a circuit court.
To the States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama,
Mississippi, and Louisiana, admitted into the Union
since the present judicial system was organized,
only a district court has been allowed.
If this be sufficient, then the circuit courts already existing in
eighteen States ought to be abolished; if it be not sufficient,
the defect ought to be remedied, and these States placed
on the same footing with the other members of the Union.
It was on this condition and on this footing that they
entered the Union, and they may demand circuit courts
as a matter not of concession, but of right.
I trust that Congress will not adjourn
leaving this anomaly in our system.
Entertaining the opinions heretofore expressed in relation
to the Bank of the United States as at present organized,
I felt it my duty in my former messages frankly to disclose
them, in order that the attention of the Legislature and the
people should be seasonably directed to that important
subject, and that it might be considered and finally
disposed of in a manner best calculated to promote the
ends of the Constitution and subserve the public interests.
Having thus conscientiously discharged a constitutional duty,
I deem it proper on this occasion, without a more particular
reference to the views of the subject then expressed,
to leave it for the present to the investigation of
an enlightened people and their representatives.
In conclusion permit me to invoke that Power
which superintends all governments to infuse into your
deliberations at this important crisis of our history
a spirit of mutual forbearance and conciliation.
In that spirit was our Union formed,
and in that spirit must it be preserved.8
Notes
1. Correspondence of Andrew Jackson Volume IV 1829-1832
ed. John Spencer Bassett, p. 224-226.
2. The Annals of America, Volume 5, p. 430-431.
3. Correspondence of Andrew Jackson Volume IV 1829-1832 p. 256.
4. Ibid., p. 258.
5. Ibid., p. 262-263.
6. Ibid., p. 268.
7. Life of Andrew Jackson by James Parton, Volume 3, p. 370-371.
8. Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908, Volume II,
ed. James D. Richardson, p. 544-558.
Andrew Jackson to 1812
Andrew Jackson & Wars 1813-15
Andrew Jackson & Indian Wars 1816-20
Andrew Jackson 1821-24
Andrew Jackson 1825-28
President Jackson in 1829
President Jackson & Indians 1829-36
President Jackson in 1830
President Jackson in 1831
Jackson’s Veto & Banks in 1832
President Jackson in 1833
President Jackson in 1834
President Jackson in 1835
President Jackson in 1836
Andrew Jackson 1837-45
Andrew Jackson Summary & Evaluation
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