A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Part 16

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit to the consideration of the Senate of the United States articles of agreement and convention concluded this day between the United States, by a commissioner duly authorized, and the Seneca tribe of Indians resident in the State of Ohio.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_February 28, 1831_.

_February 28, 1831_.

_The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I lay before the House of Representatives a treaty recently concluded with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, that provision may be made for carrying the same into effect agreeably to the estimate heretofore presented by the Secretary of War to the Committee of Ways and Means. It is a printed copy as it pa.s.sed the Senate, no amendment having been made except to strike out the preamble. I also communicate a letter from the Secretary of War on this subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_March 1, 1831_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the use of the Senate, printed copies of the treaties which have been lately ratified between the United States and the Choctaw Indians and between the United States and the confederated tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes.

ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)

WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1831_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and the Emperor of Austria, concluded in this city on the 28th March, 1830, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the 10th of February last.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_March 2, 1831_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

John H. Clack, a master commandant in the Navy of the United States, having rank as such from the 24th April, 1828, was on the sentence of a court-martial, which was approved by me, ordered to be dismissed from the service. On a reexamination of the record of the trial I am satisfied that the proceeding was illegal in substance, and therefore that the sentence was void.

To restore the party to the rights of which he was deprived by the enforcement of a sentence which was in law erroneous and void, I nominate the said John H. Clack to be a master commandant in the Navy of the United States, to take rank as such from the 24th April, 1828.

ANDREW JACKSON.

PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas information has been transmitted to the President of the United States by the governor of the Territory of Arkansas that certain persons pretending to act under the authority of the Mexican Government, and without any lawful right or power derived from that of the United States, have attempted to and do survey, for sale and settlement, a portion of the public lands in said Territory, and particularly in the counties of Lafayette, Sevier, and Miller, and have presumed to and do administer to the citizens residing in said counties the oath of allegiance to the said Mexican Government; and

Whereas such acts and practices are contrary to the law of the land and the provisions of the act of Congress approved the 3d day of March, A.D.

1807, and are offenses against the peace and public tranquillity of the said Territory and the inhabitants thereof:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me in and by the said act of Congress, do issue this my proclamation, commanding and strictly enjoining all persons who have unlawfully entered upon, taken possession of, or made any settlement on the public lands in the said counties of Lafayette, Sevier, or Miller, or who may be in the unlawful occupation or possession of the same, or any part thereof, forthwith to depart and remove therefrom; and I do hereby command and require the marshal of the said Territory of Arkansas, or other officer or officers acting as such marshal, from and after the 15th day of April next to remove or cause to be removed all persons who may then unlawfully be upon, in possession of, or who may unlawfully occupy any of the public lands in the said counties of Lafayette, Sevier, or Miller, or who may be surveying or attempting to survey the same without any authority therefor from the Government of the United States; and to execute and carry into effect this proclamation I do hereby authorize the employment of such military force as may be necessary pursuant to the act of Congress aforesaid, and warn all offenders in the premises that they will be prosecuted and punished in such other way and manner as may be consistent with the provisions and requisitions of the law in such case made and provided.

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of February, A.D. 1831, and of the Independence of the United States of America the fifty-fifth.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

Washington, _August 6, 1831_.

_Acting Secretary of War_.

Sir: You will, after the receipt of this, report to the President for dismissal every clerk in your office who shall avail himself of the benefit of the insolvent debtors' act for debts contracted during my Administration.

Very respectfully, ANDREW JACKSON.

(The same order was addressed to the Secretary of the Navy.)

THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.

_December 6, 1831_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The representation of the people has been renewed for the twenty-second time since the Const.i.tution 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, n.o.ble 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 inst.i.tutions. 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 a.s.sumed 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.