A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Part 26

Being solemnly impressed with the conviction that the extension of the power to make internal improvements beyond the limit I have suggested, even if it be deemed const.i.tutional, is subversive of the best interests of our country, I earnestly recommend to Congress to refrain from its exercise in doubtful cases, except in relation to improvements already begun, unless they shall first procure from the States such an amendment of the Const.i.tution as will define its character and prescribe its bounds. If the States feel themselves competent to these objects, why should this Government wish to a.s.sume the power? If they do not, then they will not hesitate to make the grant. Both Governments are the Governments of the people; improvements must be made with the money of the people, and if the money can be collected and applied by those more simple and economical political machines, the State governments, it will unquestionably be safer and better for the people than to add to the splendor, the patronage, and the power of the General Government. But if the people of the several States think otherwise they will amend the Const.i.tution, and in their decision all ought cheerfully to acquiesce.

For a detailed and highly satisfactory view of the operations of the War Department I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of War.

The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians necessarily led to the interposition of the Government. A portion of the troops, under Generals Scott and Atkinson, and of the militia of the State of Illinois were called into the field. After a hara.s.sing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that its impression will be permanent and salutary.

This campaign has evinced the efficient organization of the Army and its capacity for prompt and active service. Its several departments have performed their functions with energy and dispatch, and the general movement was satisfactory.

Our fellow-citizens upon the frontiers were ready, as they always are, in the tender of their services in the hour of danger. But a more efficient organization of our militia system is essential to that security which is one of the princ.i.p.al objects of all governments.

Neither our situation nor our inst.i.tutions require or permit the maintenance of a large regular force. History offers too many lessons of the fatal result of such a measure not to warn us against its adoption here. The expense which attends it, the obvious tendency to employ it because it exists and thus to engage in unnecessary wars, and its ultimate danger to public liberty will lead us, I trust, to place our princ.i.p.al dependence for protection upon the great body of the citizens of the Republic. If in a.s.serting rights or in repelling wrongs war should come upon us, our regular force should be increased to an extent proportioned to the emergency, and our present small Army is a nucleus around which such force could be formed and embodied. But for the purposes of defense under ordinary circ.u.mstances we must rely upon the electors of the country. Those by whom and for whom the Government was inst.i.tuted and is supported will const.i.tute its protection in the hour of danger as they do its check in the hour of safety.

But it is obvious that the militia system is imperfect. Much time is lost, much unnecessary expense incurred, and much public property wasted under the present arrangement. Little useful knowledge is gained by the musters and drills as now established, and the whole subject evidently requires a thorough examination. Whether a plan of cla.s.sification remedying these defects and providing for a system of instruction might not be adopted is submitted to the consideration of Congress. The Const.i.tution has vested in the General Government an independent authority upon the subject of the militia which renders its action essential to the establishment or improvement of the system, and I recommend the matter to your consideration in the conviction that the state of this important arm of the public defense requires your attention. I am happy to inform you that the wise and humane policy of transferring from the eastern to the western side of the Mississippi the remnants of our aboriginal tribes, with their own consent and upon just terms, has been steadily pursued, and is approaching, I trust, its consummation. By reference to the report of the Secretary of War and to the doc.u.ments submitted with it you will see the progress which has been made since your last session in the arrangement of the various matters connected with our Indian relations. With one exception every subject involving any question of conflicting jurisdiction or of peculiar difficulty has been happily disposed of, and the conviction evidently gains ground among the Indians that their removal to the country a.s.signed by the United States for their permanent residence furnishes the only hope of their ultimate prosperity.

With that portion of the Cherokees, however, living within the State of Georgia it has been found impracticable as yet to make a satisfactory adjustment. Such was my anxiety to remove all the grounds of complaint and to bring to a termination the difficulties in which they are involved that I directed the very liberal propositions to be made to them which accompany the doc.u.ments herewith submitted. They can not but have seen in these offers the evidence of the strongest disposition on the part of the Government to deal justly and liberally with them. An ample indemnity was offered for their present possessions, a liberal provision for their future support and improvement, and full security for their private and political rights. Whatever difference of opinion may have prevailed respecting the just claims of these people, there will probably be none respecting the liberality of the propositions, and very little respecting the expediency of their immediate acceptance.

They were, however, rejected, and thus the position of these Indians remains unchanged, as do the views communicated in my message to the Senate of February 22, 1831.

I refer you to the annual report of the Secretary of the Navy, which accompanies this message, for a detail of the operations of that branch of the service during the present year.

Besides the general remarks on some of the transactions of our Navy presented in the view which has been taken of our foreign relations, I seize this occasion to invite to your notice the increased protection which it has afforded to our commerce and citizens on distant seas without any augmentation of the force in commission. In the gradual improvement of its pecuniary concerns, in the constant progress in the collection of materials suitable for use during future emergencies, and in the construction of vessels and the buildings necessary to their preservation and repair, the present state of this branch of the service exhibits the fruits of that vigilance and care which are so indispensable to its efficiency. Various new suggestions, contained in the annexed report, as well as others heretofore submitted to Congress, are worthy of your attention, but none more so than that urging the renewal for another term of six years of the general appropriation for the gradual improvement of the Navy.

From the accompanying report of the Postmaster-General you will also perceive that that Department continues to extend its usefulness without impairing its resources or lessening the accommodations which it affords in the secure and rapid transportation of the mail.

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the views heretofore expressed in relation to the mode of choosing the President and Vice-President of the United States, and to those respecting the tenure of office generally. Still impressed with the justness of those views and with the belief that the modifications suggested on those subjects if adopted will contribute to the prosperity and harmony of the country, I earnestly recommend them to your consideration at this time.

I have heretofore pointed out defects in the law for punishing official frauds, especially within the District of Columbia. It has been found almost impossible to bring notorious culprits to punishment, and, according to a decision of the court for this District, a prosecution is barred by a lapse of two years after the fraud has been committed. It may happen again, as it has already happened, that during the whole two years all the evidences of the fraud may be in the possession of the culprit himself. However proper the limitation may be in relation to private citizens, it would seem that it ought not to commence running in favor of public officers until they go out of office.

The judiciary system of the United States remains imperfect. Of the nine Western and Southwestern States three only enjoy the benefits of a circuit court. Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are embraced in the general system, but Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have only district courts. If the existing system be a good one, why should it not be extended? If it be a bad one, why is it suffered to exist? The new States were promised equal rights and privileges when they came into the Union, and such are the guaranties of the Const.i.tution. Nothing can be more obvious than the obligation of the General Government to place all the States on the same footing in relation to the administration of justice, and I trust this duty will be neglected no longer.

On many of the subjects to which your attention is invited in this communication it is a source of gratification to reflect that the steps to be now adopted are uninfluenced by the embarra.s.sments entailed upon the country by the wars through which it has pa.s.sed. In regard to most of our great interests we may consider ourselves as just starting in our career, and after a salutary experience about to fix upon a permanent basis the policy best calculated to promote the happiness of the people and facilitate their progress toward the most complete enjoyment of civil liberty. On an occasion so interesting and important in our history, and of such anxious concern to the friends of freedom throughout the world, it is our imperious duty to lay aside all selfish and local considerations and be guided by a lofty spirit of devotion to the great principles on which our inst.i.tutions are founded.

That this Government may be so administered as to preserve its efficiency in promoting and securing these general objects should be the only aim of our ambition, and we can not, therefore, too carefully examine its structure, in order that we may not mistake its powers or a.s.sume those which the people have reserved to themselves or have preferred to a.s.sign to other agents. We should bear constantly in mind the fact that the considerations which induced the framers of the Const.i.tution to withhold from the General Government the power to regulate the great ma.s.s of the business and concerns of the people have been fully justified by experience, and that it can not now be doubted that the genius of all our inst.i.tutions prescribes simplicity and economy as the characteristics of the reform which is yet to be effected in the present and future execution of the functions bestowed upon us by the Const.i.tution.

Limited to a general superintending power to maintain peace at home and abroad, and to prescribe laws on a few subjects of general interest not calculated to restrict human liberty, but to enforce human rights, this Government will find its strength and its glory in the faithful discharge of these plain and simple duties. Relieved by its protecting shield from the fear of war and the apprehension of oppression, the free enterprise of our citizens, aided by the State sovereignties, will work out improvements and ameliorations which can not fail to demonstrate that the great truth that the people can govern themselves is not only realized in our example, but that it is done by a machinery in government so simple and economical as scarcely to be felt. That the Almighty Ruler of the Universe may so direct our deliberations and overrule our acts as to make us instrumental in securing a result so dear to mankind is my most earnest and sincere prayer.

ANDREW JACKSON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, _December 11, 1832_.

_The President of the Senate_:

I lay before the Senate, for its consideration and advice, a treaty of amity and commerce between the United States of America and the Republic of Chili, concluded at Santiago on the 16th day of May, 1832.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _December 12, 1832_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration and advice of the Senate as to their ratification, treaties that have been concluded by commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United States with the following tribes of Indians, viz: The Chickasaws, the Apalachicola band in Florida, the Sacs and Foxes, the Winnebagoes, the Potawatamies of Indiana and Michigan, the Potawatamies of the Wabash and Elkheart, and the Potawatamies of the Prairie.

I also transmit the report and journals of the commissioners.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1832_.

_The President of the Senate_:

A convention having been concluded at Naples on the 14th October, 1832, between the United States and the Government of the Two Sicilies, I now lay it before the Senate for its const.i.tutional action upon it.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1832_.

_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate requesting the President of the United States "to communicate to the Senate copies of the commission appointing Samuel Gwin register of the land office at Mount Salus, in the State of Mississippi, in the recess of the Senate in 1831, and of the commission appointing the said Gwin to the same office in the recess of the Senate in 1832, and also a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General of the United States in relation to said last-mentioned commission, and also the opinions, if any, of former Attorneys-General in similar cases, and copies of the commissions which may have issued in like cases, if any, under former Administrations," I transmit herewith the papers called for.

It may be proper to remark of the case of the navy agent, supposed to be a.n.a.logous to that of Mr. Gwin, that the commissions are not usually recorded. The one transmitted, however, is the form generally observed, varied to suit the circ.u.mstances of the case, and omitting or inserting the words "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," according to the time the appointment is made.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _December 21, 1832_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying communication from the Secretary of State, inclosing a correspondence between him and the artist employed to execute the statue of Washington which is to be placed in the Rotunda of the Capitol.

It appears from this correspondence that the present appropriation for the execution of this work is inadequate to the object, and I therefore feel it my duty before concluding the contract to ascertain whether the additional sum recommended as proper by the Secretary of State and the terms proposed by the artist will meet the approbation of Congress.

For this purpose the papers are respectfully submitted.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _December 27, 1832_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying reports--one from the engineer selected under the act of the 14th July last to take charge of the survey of the bridge across the Potomac which that act authorized the President to cause to be erected, and showing, after a careful survey, the propriety of applying a part of the sum appropriated to the repairing the old bridge; the other showing the considerations which, in the opinion of the same engineer and that of General Gratiot, should determine the choice between a superstructure of wood and of iron on the same foundation of granite.

Concurring in the reasons stated by these officers for the preference of the superstructure of wood, I have adopted it accordingly, and propose to take the measures necessary for the execution of the work.

Previously, however, to inviting contracts for this purpose I deem it advisable to submit the subject to Congress, in order that the necessary appropriations may be supplied.