A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Part 27

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _December 28, 1832_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have taken into consideration the resolution of the House requesting me to communicate to it, so far as in my opinion may be consistent with the public interest, "the correspondence between the Government of the United States and that of the Republic of Buenos Ayres which has resulted in the departure of the charge d'affaires of the United States from that Republic, together with the instructions given to the said charge d'affaires," and in answer to the said request state for the information of the House that although the charge d'affaires of the United States has found it necessary to return, yet the negotiation between the two countries for the arrangement of the differences between them are not considered as broken off, but are suspended only until the arrival of a minister, who, it is officially announced, will be sent to this country with powers to treat on the subject.

This fact, it is believed, will justify the opinion I have formed that it will not be consistent with the public interest to communicate the correspondence and instructions requested by the House so long as the negotiation shall be pending.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _January 2, 1833_.

_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State on the subject of the French ship _Pactole_, upon the cargo of which a discriminating duty seems to have been levied in 1827 by the collector at Pensacola, in contravention, as is alleged, with the convention of 1822 with France.

ANDREW JACKSON.

Washington, _January 6, 1833_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying report from the Secretary of State, recommending an appropriation to refund the amount of duties that have been collected in the ports of the United States on the tonnage of foreign vessels belonging to nations that have abolished in their ports discriminating duties on the vessels of the United States.

I also transmit herewith another report from the Secretary of State, stating the losses to which certain Swedish subjects allege they were exposed by the taking out of one of the ports of St. Bartholomew, in the year 1828, a vessel under the flag of the Republic of Buenos Ayres, by the commander of the United States ship _Erie_, and for the payment of which it is thought provision ought to be made by Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _January 7, 1833_.

_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives the report of the Secretary of State upon the subject of the duties on the cargo of the French ship _Pactole_, prepared in obedience to the resolution of that House of the 20th of December, 1832, which was referred to him.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_To the Senate_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting the President of the United States to communicate to the Senate a copy of the treaty concluded at Franklin, in the State of Tennessee, between the United States and the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, on the ---- day of August, 1830, together with a copy of the instructions, if any, to the commissioner who negotiated the treaty with said tribe of Indians, bearing date the 30th day of October, 1832, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the information required.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_January 8, 1833_.

WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1833_.

_The Speaker of the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 4th instant, requesting to be furnished with such information as the President may possess "in relation to the survey of the northern boundary of the State of Ohio under the provisions of the act of Congress pa.s.sed for that purpose on the 14th of July, 1832," I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War containing it.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _January 14, 1833_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the ratification of the same, treaties that have been concluded by commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United States with the following Indian tribes, viz: With the Kickapoos; with the Shawanoes and Delawares, late of Cape Gerardeau, together with stipulations with Delawares for certain private annuities; with the Pankeshaws and Peorias.

I also transmit the journal of the commissioners who negotiated these treaties.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _January 16, 1833_.

_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In my annual message at the commencement of your present session I adverted to the opposition to the revenue laws in a particular quarter of the United States, which threatened not merely to thwart their execution, but to endanger the integrity of the Union; and although I then expressed my reliance that it might be overcome by the prudence of the officers of the United States and the patriotism of the people, I stated that should the emergency arise rendering the execution of the existing laws impracticable from any cause whatever prompt notice should be given to Congress, with the suggestion of such views and measures as might be necessary to meet it.

Events which have occurred in the quarter then alluded to, or which have come to my knowledge subsequently, present this emergency.

Since the date of my last annual message I have had officially transmitted to me by the governor of South Carolina, which I now communicate to Congress, a copy of the ordinance pa.s.sed by the convention which a.s.sembled at Columbia, in the State of South Carolina, in November last, declaring certain acts of Congress therein mentioned within the limits of that State to be absolutely null and void, and making it the duty of the legislature to pa.s.s such laws as would be necessary to carry the same into effect from and after the 1st February next.

The consequences to which this extraordinary defiance of the just authority of the Government might too surely lead were clearly foreseen, and it was impossible for me to hesitate as to my own duty in such an emergency.

The ordinance had been pa.s.sed, however, without any certain knowledge of the recommendation which, from a view of the interests of the nation at large, the Executive had determined to submit to Congress, and a hope was indulged that by frankly explaining his sentiments and the nature of those duties which the crisis would devolve upon him the authorities of South Carolina might be induced to retrace their steps. In this hope I determined to issue my proclamation of the 10th of December last, a copy of which I now lay before Congress.

I regret to inform you that these reasonable expectations have not been realized, and that the several acts of the legislature of South Carolina which I now lay before you, and which have all and each of them finally pa.s.sed after a knowledge of the desire of the Administration to modify the laws complained of, are too well calculated both in their positive enactments and in the spirit of opposition which they obviously encourage wholly to obstruct the collection of the revenue within the limits of that State.

Up to this period neither the recommendation of the Executive in regard to our financial policy and impost system, nor the disposition manifested by Congress promptly to act upon that subject, nor the unequivocal expression of the public will in all parts of the Union appears to have produced any relaxation in the measures of opposition adopted by the State of South Carolina; nor is there any reason to hope that the ordinance and laws will be abandoned.

I have no knowledge that an attempt has been made, or that it is in contemplation, to rea.s.semble either the convention or the legislature, and it will be perceived that the interval before the 1st of February is too short to admit of the preliminary steps necessary for that purpose.

It appears, moreover, that the State authorities are actively organizing their military resources, and providing the means and giving the most solemn a.s.surances of protection and support to all who shall enlist in opposition to the revenue laws.

A recent proclamation of the present governor of South Carolina has openly defied the authority of the Executive of the Union, and general orders from the headquarters of the State announced his determination to accept the services of volunteers and his belief that should their country need their services they will be found at the post of honor and duty, ready to lay down their lives in her defense. Under these orders the forces referred to are directed to "hold themselves in readiness to take the field at a moment's warning," and in the city of Charleston, within a collection district, and a port of entry, a rendezvous has been opened for the purpose of enlisting men for the magazine and munic.i.p.al guard. Thus South Carolina presents herself in the att.i.tude of hostile preparation, and ready even for military violence if need be to enforce her laws for preventing the collection of the duties within her limits.

Proceedings thus announced and matured must be distinguished from menaces of unlawful resistance by irregular bodies of people, who, acting under temporary delusion, may be restrained by reflection and the influence of public opinion from the commission of actual outrage. In the present instance aggression may be regarded as committed when it is officially authorized and the means of enforcing it fully provided.

Under these circ.u.mstances there can be no doubt that it is the determination of the authorities of South Carolina fully to carry into effect their ordinance and laws after the 1st of February. It therefore becomes my duty to bring the subject to the serious consideration of Congress, in order that such measures as they in their wisdom may deem fit shall be seasonably provided, and that it may be thereby understood that while the Government is disposed to remove all just cause of complaint as far as may be practicable consistently with a proper regard to the interests of the community at large, it is nevertheless determined that the supremacy of the laws shall be maintained.

In making this communication it appears to me to be proper not only that I should lay before you the acts and proceedings of South Carolina, but that I should also fully acquaint you with those steps which I have already caused to be taken for the due collection of the revenue, and with my views of the subject generally, that the suggestions which the Const.i.tution requires me to make in regard to your future legislation may be better understood.

This subject having early attracted the anxious attention of the Executive, as soon as it was probable that the authorities of South Carolina seriously meditated resistance to the faithful execution of the revenue laws it was deemed advisable that the Secretary of the Treasury should particularly instruct the officers of the United States in that part of the Union as to the nature of the duties prescribed by the existing laws.

Instructions were accordingly issued on the 6th of November to the collectors in that State, pointing out their respective duties and enjoining upon each a firm and vigilant but discreet performance of them in the emergency then apprehended.

I herewith transmit copies of these instructions and of the letter addressed to the district attorney, requesting his cooperation. These instructions were dictated in the hope that as the opposition to the laws by the anomalous proceeding of nullification was represented to be of a pacific nature, to be pursued substantially according to the forms of the Const.i.tution and without resorting in any event to force or violence, the measures of its advocates would be taken in conformity with that profession, and on such supposition the means afforded by the existing laws would have been adequate to meet any emergency likely to arise.

It was, however, not possible altogether to suppress apprehension of the excesses to which the excitement prevailing in that quarter might lead, but it certainly was not foreseen that the meditated obstruction to the laws would so soon openly a.s.sume its present character.