The representation of the people has been renewed for the 22nd 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 husband-man 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 rail roads 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 some times 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 ship building 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 ship yards 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 3,000,000 to 13,000,000; from 13 separate colonies to 24 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 [1831-09-30] upward of 30K tons of American and 15K tons of foreign shipping in the outward voyages, and in the inward nearly an equal amount of American and 20K 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 or 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 5th 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 [1831-01-10] 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 can not 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 engage 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 other over- rated 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 shewn 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 [1819-02-22] 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 can not bring myself to believe) the same decision (that can not 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 the 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 as 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 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 merchant-men 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 mean time, 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. Chili 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 of 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 mean time, 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 straight-forward, 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 $500K 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 half, if not two-third, 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 there after. The amount which will have been applied to the public debt from [1829-03-04] to [1832-01-01], 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 can not 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 [1829-12], 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 can not, 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 can not 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 the 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 18 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.
The representation of the people has been renewed for the 22nd 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 husband-man 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 rail roads 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 some times 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 because 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 ship building 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 ship yards 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 3,000,000 to 13,000,000; from 13 separate colonies to 24 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 [1831-09-30] upward of 30K tons of American and 15K tons of foreign shipping in the outward voyages, and in the inward nearly an equal amount of American and 20K 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 or 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 5th 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 [1831-01-10] 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 because 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 can not 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 engage 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 other over- rated 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 shewn 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 [1819-02-22] 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 can not bring myself to believe) the same decision (that can not 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 the 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 as 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 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 because 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 merchant-men 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 because 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 mean time, 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. Chili 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 because 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 of 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 mean time, 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 straight-forward, 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 because 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 $500K 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 half, if not two-third, 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 there after. The amount which will have been applied to the public debt from [1829-03-04] to [1832-01-01], 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 can not 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 [1829-12], 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 can not, 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 can not 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 the 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 18 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.
the representation of the people has been renewed for the 22nd 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 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 rail roads 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 some times 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 because 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 ship building and every commodity for gainful commerce and filled with a population active intelligent and fearless of danger these advantages are not neglected and an impulse has lately been given to commercial enterprise which fills our ship yards 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 to from 13 separate colonies to 24 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 upward of 30k tons of american and 15k tons of foreign shipping in the outward voyages and in the inward nearly an equal amount of american and 20k 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 or the 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 5th 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 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 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 because 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 can not 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 engage 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 other rated 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 shewn 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 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 can not bring myself to believe the same decision that can not 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 the 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 as 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 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 because 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 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 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 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 because 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 mean time an important trade has been opened with mutual benefit from 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 chili 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 because 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 of 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 mean time 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 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 because 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 500k 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 half if not 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 and the expenditures for all objects other than the public debt will not exceed the payment on account of the principal and interest of the debt during the year will exceed 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 there after the amount which will have been applied to the public debt from to which is less than three years since the administration has been placed in my hands will exceed 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 can not 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 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 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 can not 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 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 can not 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 the government 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 18 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
representation people renewed 22nd time since constitution formed force near half century chief magistrates successively chosen made annual communications state nation representatives generally communications gratifying nature testifying advance improvements social securities political life frequently justly called grateful bounties providence periods abundantly extensively bestowed present rarely ever greater reason congratulate continued increasing prosperity beloved country agriculture first important occupation man compensated labors plentiful crops varied products extensive country manufactures established funds capitalist find profitable investment give employment subsistence numerous increasing body industrious dexterous mechanics laborer rewarded high wages construction works internal improvement extending unprecedented rapidity science steadily penetrating recesses nature disclosing secrets ingenuity free minds subjecting elements power man making new conquest auxiliary comfort mails whose speed regularly increased whose routes every year extended communication public intelligence private business rendered frequent safe intercourse distant cities formerly required weeks accomplish effected days construction rail roads application steam power reasonable prospect extreme parts country much approximated isolated obstacles nature rendered accessible remove apprehension times entertained great extent union would endanger permanent existence satisfactory view agriculture manufactures internal improvements turn state navigation trade foreign nations states shall scarcely find less gratulation beneficent providence provided exercise encouragement extensive coast indented capacious bays noble rivers inland seas country productive every material ship building every commodity gainful commerce filled population active intelligent fearless danger advantages neglected impulse lately given commercial enterprise fills ship yards new constructions encourages arts branches industry connected crowds wharves cities vessels covers distant seas canvas let us grateful blessings beneficent conferred suffers us indulge reasonable hope continuance extension neglect means may preserved may dare judge future designs manner past favors bestowed made national prosperity depend preservation liberties national force federal union individual happiness maintenance state rights wise institutions prosperous home respected abroad free united industrious obedient laws continue shall blessing heaven go happy career begun brought us short period political existence population 13 separate colonies 24 united states weakness strength rank scarcely marked scale nations high place respect last advantage one resulted great degree principles guided intercourse foreign powers since assumed equal station among hence annual account executive renders country manner branch duties fulfilled proves instructive salutary pacific wise policy government kept us state neutrality wars different periods since political existence carried powers policy gave activity extent commerce exposed proportion injuries belligerent nations hence arisen claims indemnity injuries england france spain holland sweden denmark naples lately portugal greater less degree infringed neutral rights demands reparation made upon continue cases leading influence nature relations powers made claims upon england unnecessary speak say state things prosecution denial gave rise succeeded arrangements productive mutual good feeling amicable relations two countries hoped interrupted one arrangements relating colonial trade communicated congress last session although short period force enable form accurate judgment operation every reason believe prove highly beneficial trade thereby authorized employed upward 30k tons american 15k tons foreign shipping outward voyages inward nearly equal amount american 20k foreign tonnage advantages resulted agricultural interests state trade canada territories states bordering lawrence lakes may prove equivalent loss sustained discrimination made favor trade northern colonies west indies transition state colonies independent nation many points found necessary settled us great britain among demarcation boundaries described sufficient precision treaty peace lines divide states territories united states british provinces definitively fixed however separates us provinces canada new brunswick north east still dispute came office found arrangements made settlement control commissioners appointed provisions treaty ghent unable agree convention made great britain immediate predecessor office advice consent senate agreed points difference arisen settlement boundary line american british dominions described 5th article treaty ghent shall referred therein provided friendly sovereign state shall invited investigate make decision upon points difference king netherlands late president britannic majesty designated friendly sovereign became duty carry good faith agreement made full effect end caused measures taken necessary full exposition case sovereign arbiter nominated minister plenipotentiary court distinguished citizen state interested question one agents previously employed settling controversy majesty king netherlands delivered plenipotentiaries united states great britain written opinion case referred papers relation subject communicated special message proper branch government perfect confidence wisdom adopt measures secure amicable settlement controversy without infringing constitutional right states immediately interested affords satisfaction inform suggestions made direction chargé britannic majesty government desired effect producing release certain american citizens imprisoned setting authority state maine place disputed territory actual jurisdiction britannic majesty assurances received desire local authorities avoid collision best hopes good understanding kept confirmed final disposition subject amicable relations subsist united states great britain increasing intercourse citizens rapid obliteration unfriendly prejudices former events naturally gave rise concurred present fit period renewing endeavors provide recurrence causes irritation event war great britain power would inevitably endanger peace animated sincerest desire avoid state things peacefully secure possible circumstances rights honor country given instructions minister lately sent court london evince desire met correspondent disposition doubt put end causes collision without advantage either tend estrange two nations every motive preserve peace intercourse amicable nature message opening last session congress expressed confident hope justice claims upon france urged perseverance signal ability minister would finally acknowledged hope realized treaty signed immediately laid senate approbation containing stipulations require legislative acts must concurrence houses carried effect french government engage pay sum quite equal may found due citizens yet believed circumstances deemed satisfactory interested offer gross sum instead satisfaction individual claim accepted alternatives rigorous exaction whole amount stated due claim might instances exaggerated design rated error therefore would ungracious unjust insisted settlement mixed commission french negotiators averse experience cases shewn dilatory often wholly inadequate end comparatively small sum stipulated part go extinction claims french citizens government reduction duties cotton wines agreed consideration renunciation important claim commercial privileges construction gave treaty cession louisiana treaty receive proper sanction source irritation stopped many years degree alienated two nations interest well remembrance early associations ought cherish friendly relations encouragement given perseverance demands justice new proof steadily pursued listened admonition offered powers may inclined evade never abandoned confidence inspired fellow citizens government exert powers invested support claims upon foreign nations time frank acknowledgment provision payment addressed equity although unsupported legal proof affords practical illustration submission divine rule others desire unto us sweden denmark made compensation irregularities committed vessels ports perfect satisfaction parties concerned renewed treaties commerce entered political commercial relations powers continue friendly footing spain differences settled treaty washington date subsequent period commerce states formerly colonies spain continent america annoyed frequently interrupted public private armed ships captured many vessels prosecuting lawful commerce sold cargoes one time demands restoration indemnity opposed allegation taken violation blockade ports states blockade declaratory inadequacy force maintain manifest allegation varied charge trade contraband war turn also found untenable minister sent instructions press reparation due injured fellow citizens transmitted answer demand captures declared legal justified independence states america never acknowledged spain right prohibit trade old colonial laws ground defense contradictory formerly alleged uniform practice established laws nations abandoned spain convention granted indemnity british subjects captures made time circumstances allegations complain however indulge hope reflection lead views feel confident catholic majesty shall convinced justice claims desire preserve friendly relations two countries earnest endeavor maintain induce accede demand therefore dispatched special messenger instructions minister bring case consideration end bring believe decision deemed unfriendly denial justice persisted matter may adjournment laid constitutional judges proper done negotiation redress injury fails conclusion treaty indemnity france seemed present favorable opportunity renew claims similar nature powers particularly case upon naples especially course former negotiations power failure induce france render us justice used argument us desires merchants principal sufferers therefore acceded mission instituted special purpose obtaining reparation already long delayed measure resolved put execution without waiting meeting congress state europe created apprehension events might rendered application ineffectual demands upon government two sicilies peculiar nature injuries founded denied atrocity perfidy injuries perpetrated attempted extenuated sole ground indemnity refused alleged illegality tenure monarch made seizures held crown defense always unfounded principle law nations universally abandoned even powers upon responsibility acts past rulers bore heavily unquestionably given sicilian majesty whose counsels receive impulse high sense honor regard justice said characterize feel fullest confidence talents citizen commissioned purpose place claims injured citizens light enable adjournment announce adjusted secured precise instructions effect bringing negotiation speedy issue given obeyed late blockade terceira portuguese fleet captured several vessels committed excesses reparation demanded point dispatching armed force prevent recurrence similar violence protect citizens prosecution lawful commerce official assurances relied made sailing ships unnecessary since period frequent promises made full indemnity shall given injuries inflicted losses sustained performance perhaps unavoidable delay fullest confidence earnest desire business may closed minister instructed strongly express soon gratified better ground hope evidence friendly disposition government shown actual reduction duty rice produce southern states authorizing anticipation important article export soon admitted footing produced favored nation powers europe fortunately discussions redress injuries empire russias political connection friendly commercial liberal kind enjoy advantages navigation trade given favored nation yet suited policy perhaps found convenient considerations give stability reciprocity privileges commercial treaty ill health minister last year charged making proposition arrangement permit remain petersburg attention government whole period since departure occupied war engaged assured nothing could effected presence minister soon nominated well effect important object keep relations amity good understanding received many assurances proofs imperial majesty emperor predecessor treaty austria opening us important trade hereditary dominions emperor value hitherto little known course sufficiently appreciated commerce finds entrance south germany means treaty formed hanseatic towns prussia others negotiation open vast country enterprising spirit merchants north country abounding materials mutually beneficial commerce filled enlightened industrious inhabitants holding important place politics europe owe many valuable citizens ratification treaty porte sent exchanged gentleman appointed chargé court difficulties occurred arrival date last official dispatch supposed obviated every prospect exchange speedily effected finishes connected view thought proper give political commercial relations europe every effort power continued strengthen extend treaties founded principles perfect reciprocity interest neither asking conceding exclusive advantage liberating far lies power activity industry fellow citizens shackles foreign restrictions may impose china east indies commerce continues usual extent increased facilities credit capital merchants afford substituting bills payments specie daring outrage committed seas plunder one engaged pepper trade port sumatra piratical perpetrators belonging tribes state society usual course proceedings civilized nations could pursued forthwith dispatched frigate orders require immediate satisfaction injury indemnity sufferers changes taken place connections independent states america since last communication congress ratification commercial treaty united republics mexico time deliberation congress still undecided date last dispatches unhappy civil commotions prevailed undoubtedly delay government said tranquillized may hope soon receive ratification treaty arrangement demarcation boundaries us mean time important trade opened mutual benefit louis state missouri caravans interior provinces mexico commerce protected progress indian countries troops united states permitted escort caravans beyond boundaries settled part mexican territory central america received assurances friendly kind gratifying application good offices remove supposed indisposition toward government neighboring state application immediately successfully complied gave us also pleasing intelligence differences prevailed internal affairs peaceably adjusted treaty republic continues faithfully observed promises great beneficial commerce two countries commerce greatest importance magnificent project ship canal dominions state atlantic pacific ocean serious contemplation shall executed great satisfaction communicating success attended exertions minister colombia procure considerable reduction duties flour republic indemnity also stipulated injuries received merchants illegal seizures renewed assurances given treaty two countries shall faithfully observed chili peru seem still threatened civil commotions shall settled disorders may naturally apprehended requiring constant presence naval force pacific ocean protect fisheries guard commerce disturbances took place empire brazil previously immediately consequent upon abdication late emperor necessarily suspended effectual application redress past injuries suffered citizens government others foreigners seem participated instructions given minister press indemnity due losses occasioned irregularities take care fellow citizens shall enjoy privileges stipulated favor treaty lately made two powers good intelligence prevails minister rio janeiro regency gives us best reason expect placed buenos ayres list south american powers respect nothing importance affecting us communicated occurrences lately taken place falkland islands name republic used cover show authority acts injurious commerce property liberty fellow citizens course present year one vessels engaged pursuit trade always enjoyed without molestation captured band acting pretend authority government buenos ayres therefore given orders dispatch armed vessel join squadron seas aid affording lawful protection trade shall necessary shall without delay send minister inquire nature circumstances also claim set government islands mean time submit case consideration congress end may clothe executive authority means may deem necessary providing force adequate complete protection fellow citizens fishing trading seas rapid sketch foreign relations hoped fellow citizens may use much legislation may bear important subject affords country large source high gratification contemplation political commercial connection rest world peace subjects future difference susceptible easy adjustment extending commerce gradually sides none liberal mutually beneficial means may blessing providence hope national prosperity derived intercourse foreign nations guided eternal principles justice reciprocal good binding well upon states individuals composed great satisfaction making statement affairs course national policy enables without indiscreet exposure governments usually concealed people none open course pursue guided single principle bear strongest light happily political combinations form alliances entangle us complicated interests consult subjecting done consideration citizens inspection world give advantage nations lay open injury may improper add preserve state things give confidence world integrity designs consular diplomatic agents strictly enjoined examine well every complaint preferred citizens urge proper earnestness well founded countenance none unreasonable unjust enjoin merchants navigators strictest obedience laws countries resort course conduct dealings may support character nation render us respected abroad connected subject must recommend revisal consular laws defects omissions discovered operation ought remedied supplied information subject directed report made secretary state shall hereafter submit consideration internal peace security confederated states next principal object general government time experience proved abode native indian within limits dangerous peace injurious accordance recommendation former session congress appropriation 500k made aid voluntary removal various tribes beyond limits states last session happiness announce chickasaws choctaws accepted generous offer government agreed remove beyond mississippi river whole state mississippi western part alabama freed indian occupancy opened civilized population treaties tribes course execution removal hoped completed course 1832 request authorities georgia registration cherokee indians emigration resumed confidently expected half tribe follow wise example westerly brethren prefer remaining present homes hereafter governed laws georgia citizens cease objects peculiar care part general government present year attention government particularly directed tribes powerful growing state ohio considerable tracts finest lands still occupied aboriginal proprietors treaties either absolute conditional made extinguishing whole indian title reservations state time distant hoped ohio longer embarrassed indian population measures extended indiana soon reason anticipate success confidently believed perseverance years present policy government extinguish indian title lands lying within states composing federal union remove beyond limits every indian willing submit laws thus conflicting claims jurisdiction states indian tribes put rest pleasing reflect results beneficial states immediately concerned harmony union accomplished measures equally advantageous indians native savages become surrounded dense population mixing whites may seen miserable remnants eastern tribes deprived political civil rights forbidden make contracts subjected guardians dragging wretched existence without excitement without hope almost without thought removal indians beyond limits jurisdiction states place beyond reach philanthropic aid christian instruction contrary philanthropy religion may induce live among new abode free exercise benevolent functions remained within limits states embarrassed internal regulations subject control superintending agency general government exercised sole view preserving peace may proceed unmolested interesting experiment gradually advancing community american indians barbarism habits enjoyments civilized life among happiest effects improved relations republic increase trade producing corresponding increase revenue beyond sanguine anticipations treasury department state public finances fully shown secretary treasury report presently lay however congratulate upon prosperous condition revenue received present year fall short expenditures objects public debt exceed payment account principal interest debt year exceed greater sum applied object revenue year since enlargement sinking fund except two years following immediately amount applied public debt less three years since administration placed hands exceed large importations present year may safely estimated revenue received treasury source next year aid received public lands considerably exceed amount receipts present year believed means government disposal various sources fully stated proper department whole public debt may extinguished either redemption purchase within four years administration shall exhibit rare example great nation abounding means happiness security altogether free debt confidence extinguishment public debt may anticipated presents opportunity carrying effect fully policy relation import duties recommended former messages modification tariff shall produce reduction revenue wants government adjustment duties imports view equal justice relation national interests counteraction foreign policy far may injurious interests deemed one principal objects demand consideration present congress justice interests merchant well manufacturer requires material reductions import duties prospective unless present congress shall dispose subject proposed reductions properly made take effect period necessity revenue arising present rates shall cease therefore desirable arrangements adopted present session relieve people unnecessary taxation extinguishment public debt exercise spirit concession conciliation distinguished friends union great emergencies believed object may effected without injury national interest annual message honor recommend adoption liberal policy prevailed toward unfortunate debtors government deem duty invite attention subject actuated similar views congress last session passed act relief certain insolvent debtors united states provisions law deemed adequate relief unfortunate class fellow citizens may safely extended points law appears defective particularly communicated secretary treasury take pleasure recommending extension provisions unfetter enterprise valuable portion citizens restore means usefulness community deliberating subject would also recommend consideration propriety modifying laws enforcing payment debts due either public individuals suing courts united states restrict imprisonment person cases fraudulent concealment property personal liberty citizen seems sacred held many cases creditor willing surrender means discharging debt reports secretaries war navy departments postmaster general accompany message present satisfactory views operations departments respectively charge suggest improvements worthy invite serious attention congress certain defects omissions discovered operation laws respecting patents pointed accompanying report secretary state heretofore recommended amendments federal constitution giving election president people limiting service former single term important consider changes fundamental law accordance sense duty omit press upon consideration new congress views large well relation points disqualification members congress receive office president whose election official agency proposed substitute refer former messages system public accounts extremely complicated believed may much improved much present machinery considerable portion expenditure public money may dispensed greater facilities afforded liquidation claims upon government examination justice legality quite efficient present secured view general reform system recommend subject attention congress deem duty call attention condition district columbia doubtless wise framers constitution place people district jurisdiction general government accomplish objects view necessary people deprived privileges independently difficulty inducing representatives distant states turn attention projects laws highest interest constituents individually congress collectively well qualified legislate local concerns district consequently interests much neglected people almost afraid present grievances lest body represented feels little sympathy local relations attempt make laws harm good governed laws states whence severed two shores potomac within 10 miles square different penal codes present codes virginia maryland existed states time cession united states congress form new code people district make one virtually two governments allow least delegate congress local legislature make laws district subject approval rejection congress earnestly recommend extension every political right interests require may compatible constitution extension judiciary system united states deemed one duties government states union participate benefits circuit court states indiana illinois missouri alabama mississippi louisiana admitted union since present judicial system organized district court allowed sufficient circuit courts already existing 18 states ought abolished sufficient defect ought remedied states placed footing members union condition footing entered union may demand circuit courts matter concession right trust congress adjourn leaving anomaly system entertaining opinions heretofore expressed relation bank united states present organized felt duty former messages frankly disclose order attention legislature people seasonably directed important subject might considered finally disposed manner best calculated promote ends constitution subserve public interests thus conscientiously discharged constitutional duty deem proper occasion without particular reference views subject expressed leave present investigation enlightened people representatives conclusion permit invoke power superintends governments infuse deliberations important crisis history spirit mutual forbearance conciliation spirit union formed spirit must preserved
representation people renew 22nd time since constitution form force near half century chief magistrates successively choose make annual communication state nation representative generally communication gratify nature testify advance improvement social security political life frequently justly call grateful bounty providence period abundantly extensively bestow present rarely ever great reason congratulate continue increase prosperity beloved country agriculture first important occupation man compensate labor plentiful crop vary product extensive country manufacture establish fund capitalist find profitable investment give employment subsistence numerous increase body industrious dexterous mechanic laborer reward high wage construction work internal improvement extend unprecedented rapidity science steadily penetrate recess nature disclose secret ingenuity free mind subject element power man make new conquest auxiliary comfort mail whose speed regularly increase whose route every year extend communication public intelligence private business render frequent safe intercourse distant city formerly required week accomplish effect day construction rail road application steam power reasonable prospect extreme part country much approximate isolated obstacle nature render accessible remove apprehension time entertain great extent union would endanger permanent existence satisfactory view agriculture manufacture internal improvement turn state navigation trade foreign nation state shall scarcely find less gratulation beneficent providence provide exercise encouragement extensive coast indent capacious bay noble river inland seas country productive every material ship building every commodity gainful commerce fill population active intelligent fearless danger advantage neglect impulse lately give commercial enterprise fill ship yard new construction encourage art branch industry connect crowds wharf city vessel cover distant seas canvas let u grateful blessing beneficent confer suffers u indulge reasonable hope continuance extension neglect mean may preserve may dare judge future design manner past favor bestow make national prosperity depend preservation liberty national force federal union individual happiness maintenance state right wise institution prosperous home respect abroad free united industrious obedient law continue shall bless heaven go happy career begin bring u short period political existence population 13 separate colony 24 united state weakness strength rank scarcely mark scale nation high place respect last advantage one result great degree principle guide intercourse foreign power since assume equal station among hence annual account executive render country manner branch duty fulfil prof instructive salutary pacific wise policy government keep u state neutrality war different period since political existence carry power policy give activity extent commerce expose proportion injury belligerent nation hence arise claim indemnity injury england france spain holland sweden denmark naples lately portugal great less degree infringe neutral right demand reparation make upon continue case lead influence nature relation power make claim upon england unnecessary speak say state thing prosecution denial give rise succeed arrangement productive mutual good feeling amicable relation two country hop interrupted one arrangement relate colonial trade communicate congress last session although short period force enable form accurate judgment operation every reason believe prove highly beneficial trade thereby authorize employ upward 30k ton american 15k ton foreign ship outward voyage inward nearly equal amount american 20k foreign tonnage advantage result agricultural interest state trade canada territory state border lawrence lake may prove equivalent loss sustain discrimination make favor trade northern colony west indie transition state colony independent nation many point find necessary settle u great britain among demarcation boundary describe sufficient precision treaty peace line divide states territory unite state british province definitively fix however separate u provinces canada new brunswick north east still dispute come office find arrangement make settlement control commissioner appoint provision treaty ghent unable agree convention make great britain immediate predecessor office advice consent senate agree point difference arise settlement boundary line american british dominion describe 5th article treaty ghent shall refer therein provide friendly sovereign state shall invite investigate make decision upon point difference king netherlands late president britannic majesty designate friendly sovereign become duty carry good faith agreement make full effect end cause measure take necessary full exposition case sovereign arbiter nominate minister plenipotentiary court distinguish citizen state interested question one agents previously employ settle controversy majesty king netherlands delivered plenipotentiary unite state great britain write opinion case refer paper relation subject communicate special message proper branch government perfect confidence wisdom adopt measure secure amicable settlement controversy without infringe constitutional right state immediately interested affords satisfaction inform suggestion make direction chargé britannic majesty government desire effect produce release certain american citizen imprison set authority state maine place dispute territory actual jurisdiction britannic majesty assurance receive desire local authority avoid collision best hope good understanding kept confirm final disposition subject amicable relation subsist united state great britain increase intercourse citizen rapid obliteration unfriendly prejudice former event naturally give rise concurred present fit period renew endeavor provide recurrence cause irritation event war great britain power would inevitably endanger peace animate sincere desire avoid state thing peacefully secure possible circumstance right honor country give instruction minister lately send court london evince desire meet correspondent disposition doubt put end cause collision without advantage either tend estrange two nation every motive preserve peace intercourse amicable nature message open last session congress express confident hope justice claim upon france urge perseverance signal ability minister would finally acknowledge hope realize treaty sign immediately lay senate approbation contain stipulation require legislative act must concurrence house carry effect french government engage pay sum quite equal may find due citizen yet believe circumstance deem satisfactory interested offer gross sum instead satisfaction individual claim accept alternative rigorous exaction whole amount state due claim might instance exaggerate design rat error therefore would ungracious unjust insist settlement mixed commission french negotiator averse experience case shew dilatory often wholly inadequate end comparatively small sum stipulate part go extinction claim french citizen government reduction duty cotton wine agree consideration renunciation important claim commercial privilege construction give treaty cession louisiana treaty receive proper sanction source irritation stop many year degree alienate two nation interest well remembrance early association ought cherish friendly relation encouragement give perseverance demand justice new proof steadily pursue listened admonition offer power may incline evade never abandon confidence inspire fellow citizen government exert power invest support claim upon foreign nation time frank acknowledgment provision payment address equity although unsupported legal proof affords practical illustration submission divine rule others desire unto u sweden denmark make compensation irregularity commit vessel port perfect satisfaction party concern renew treaty commerce enter political commercial relation power continue friendly foot spain difference settle treaty washington date subsequent period commerce state formerly colony spain continent america annoy frequently interrupt public private arm ship capture many vessel prosecute lawful commerce sell cargo one time demand restoration indemnity oppose allegation take violation blockade port state blockade declaratory inadequacy force maintain manifest allegation vary charge trade contraband war turn also find untenable minister send instruction press reparation due injure fellow citizen transmit answer demand capture declare legal justified independence state america never acknowledge spain right prohibit trade old colonial law ground defense contradictory formerly allege uniform practice establish law nation abandon spain convention grant indemnity british subject capture make time circumstance allegation complain however indulge hope reflection lead view feel confident catholic majesty shall convince justice claim desire preserve friendly relation two country earnest endeavor maintain induce accede demand therefore dispatch special messenger instruction minister bring case consideration end bring believe decision deem unfriendly denial justice persist matter may adjournment laid constitutional judge proper do negotiation redress injury fail conclusion treaty indemnity france seem present favorable opportunity renew claim similar nature power particularly case upon naples especially course former negotiation power failure induce france render u justice use argument u desire merchant principal sufferer therefore accede mission institute special purpose obtain reparation already long delayed measure resolve put execution without wait meeting congress state europe create apprehension event might render application ineffectual demand upon government two sicily peculiar nature injury found denied atrocity perfidy injury perpetrate attempted extenuated sole ground indemnity refuse allege illegality tenure monarch make seizure hold crown defense always unfounded principle law nation universally abandon even power upon responsibility act past ruler bore heavily unquestionably give sicilian majesty whose counsel receive impulse high sense honor regard justice say characterize feel full confidence talent citizen commission purpose place claim injure citizen light enable adjournment announce adjust secure precise instruction effect bring negotiation speedy issue give obey late blockade terceira portuguese fleet capture several vessel commit excess reparation demand point dispatching arm force prevent recurrence similar violence protect citizen prosecution lawful commerce official assurance rely make sail ship unnecessary since period frequent promise make full indemnity shall give injury inflict loss sustain performance perhaps unavoidable delay full confidence earnest desire business may close minister instruct strongly express soon gratify good ground hope evidence friendly disposition government show actual reduction duty rice produce southern state authorize anticipation important article export soon admit footing produce favored nation power europe fortunately discussion redress injury empire russias political connection friendly commercial liberal kind enjoy advantage navigation trade give favored nation yet suit policy perhaps find convenient consideration give stability reciprocity privilege commercial treaty ill health minister last year charge make proposition arrangement permit remain petersburg attention government whole period since departure occupy war engage assured nothing could effect presence minister soon nominate well effect important object keep relation amity good understanding receive many assurance proof imperial majesty emperor predecessor treaty austria open u important trade hereditary dominion emperor value hitherto little known course sufficiently appreciate commerce find entrance south germany mean treaty form hanseatic town prussia others negotiation open vast country enterprising spirit merchant north country abound material mutually beneficial commerce fill enlighten industrious inhabitant hold important place politics europe owe many valuable citizen ratification treaty porte send exchange gentleman appoint chargé court difficulty occur arrival date last official dispatch suppose obviate every prospect exchange speedily effect finish connect view think proper give political commercial relation europe every effort power continue strengthen extend treaty found principle perfect reciprocity interest neither ask concede exclusive advantage liberate far lie power activity industry fellow citizen shackle foreign restriction may impose china east indie commerce continue usual extent increase facility credit capital merchant afford substitute bill payment specie dare outrage commit seas plunder one engage pepper trade port sumatra piratical perpetrator belong tribes state society usual course proceeding civilize nation could pursue forthwith dispatched frigate order require immediate satisfaction injury indemnity sufferer change take place connection independent state america since last communication congress ratification commercial treaty united republic mexico time deliberation congress still undecided date last dispatch unhappy civil commotion prevail undoubtedly delay government say tranquillize may hope soon receive ratification treaty arrangement demarcation boundary u mean time important trade open mutual benefit louis state missouri caravan interior province mexico commerce protect progress indian country troop united state permit escort caravan beyond boundary settle part mexican territory central america receive assurance friendly kind gratify application good office remove suppose indisposition toward government neighbor state application immediately successfully comply give u also please intelligence difference prevail internal affair peaceably adjust treaty republic continue faithfully observed promise great beneficial commerce two country commerce great importance magnificent project ship canal dominion state atlantic pacific ocean serious contemplation shall execute great satisfaction communicate success attend exertion minister colombia procure considerable reduction duty flour republic indemnity also stipulate injury receive merchant illegal seizure renew assurance give treaty two country shall faithfully observe chili peru seem still threaten civil commotion shall settle disorder may naturally apprehend require constant presence naval force pacific ocean protect fishery guard commerce disturbance take place empire brazil previously immediately consequent upon abdication late emperor necessarily suspend effectual application redress past injury suffer citizen government others foreigner seem participated instruction give minister press indemnity due loss occasion irregularity take care fellow citizen shall enjoy privilege stipulate favor treaty lately make two power good intelligence prevail minister rio janeiro regency give u best reason expect place buenos ayres list south american power respect nothing importance affect u communicated occurrence lately take place falkland island name republic use cover show authority act injurious commerce property liberty fellow citizen course present year one vessel engage pursuit trade always enjoy without molestation capture band act pretend authority government buenos ayres therefore give order dispatch arm vessel join squadron sea aid afford lawful protection trade shall necessary shall without delay send minister inquire nature circumstance also claim set government island mean time submit case consideration congress end may clothe executive authority mean may deem necessary provide force adequate complete protection fellow citizen fish trading sea rapid sketch foreign relation hop fellow citizen may use much legislation may bear important subject affords country large source high gratification contemplation political commercial connection rest world peace subject future difference susceptible easy adjustment extend commerce gradually side none liberal mutually beneficial mean may bless providence hope national prosperity derive intercourse foreign nation guide eternal principle justice reciprocal good binding well upon state individual compose great satisfaction make statement affair course national policy enables without indiscreet exposure government usually concealed people none open course pursue guide single principle bear strong light happily political combination form alliance entangle u complicated interest consult subject do consideration citizen inspection world give advantage nation lay open injury may improper add preserve state thing give confidence world integrity design consular diplomatic agent strictly enjoin examine well every complaint prefer citizen urge proper earnestness well found countenance none unreasonable unjust enjoin merchant navigator strictest obedience law country resort course conduct dealing may support character nation render u respect abroad connect subject must recommend revisal consular law defect omission discover operation ought remedied supplied information subject direct report make secretary state shall hereafter submit consideration internal peace security confederate state next principal object general government time experience prove abode native indian within limit dangerous peace injurious accordance recommendation former session congress appropriation 500k make aid voluntary removal various tribes beyond limit state last session happiness announce chickasaw choctaw accept generous offer government agree remove beyond mississippi river whole state mississippi western part alabama freed indian occupancy open civilized population treaty tribes course execution removal hop complete course 1832 request authority georgia registration cherokee indians emigration resume confidently expect half tribe follow wise example westerly brother prefer remain present home hereafter govern law georgia citizen cease object peculiar care part general government present year attention government particularly direct tribe powerful grow state ohio considerable tract fine land still occupy aboriginal proprietor treaty either absolute conditional make extinguish whole indian title reservation state time distant hop ohio longer embarrassed indian population measure extend indiana soon reason anticipate success confidently believe perseverance year present policy government extinguish indian title land lie within state compose federal union remove beyond limit every indian willing submit law thus conflict claim jurisdiction state indian tribe put rest please reflect result beneficial state immediately concern harmony union accomplish measure equally advantageous indian native savage become surrounded dense population mix white may see miserable remnant eastern tribe deprive political civil right forbidden make contract subject guardian drag wretched existence without excitement without hope almost without thought removal indians beyond limit jurisdiction state place beyond reach philanthropic aid christian instruction contrary philanthropy religion may induce live among new abode free exercise benevolent function remain within limit state embarrass internal regulation subject control superintend agency general government exercise sole view preserve peace may proceed unmolested interesting experiment gradually advance community american indian barbarism habit enjoyment civilized life among happy effect improve relation republic increase trade produce correspond increase revenue beyond sanguine anticipation treasury department state public finance fully show secretary treasury report presently lay however congratulate upon prosperous condition revenue receive present year fall short expenditures object public debt exceed payment account principal interest debt year exceed great sum apply object revenue year since enlargement sinking fund except two year follow immediately amount apply public debt less three year since administration place hand exceed large importation present year may safely estimate revenue receive treasury source next year aid receive public land considerably exceed amount receipt present year believe mean government disposal various source fully state proper department whole public debt may extinguish either redemption purchase within four year administration shall exhibit rare example great nation abound mean happiness security altogether free debt confidence extinguishment public debt may anticipate present opportunity carry effect fully policy relation import duty recommend former message modification tariff shall produce reduction revenue want government adjustment duty import view equal justice relation national interest counteraction foreign policy far may injurious interest deem one principal object demand consideration present congress justice interest merchant well manufacturer require material reduction import duty prospective unless present congress shall dispose subject propose reduction properly make take effect period necessity revenue arise present rate shall cease therefore desirable arrangement adopt present session relieve people unnecessary taxation extinguishment public debt exercise spirit concession conciliation distinguish friend union great emergency believe object may effect without injury national interest annual message honor recommend adoption liberal policy prevail toward unfortunate debtor government deem duty invite attention subject actuate similar view congress last session pass act relief certain insolvent debtor united state provision law deem adequate relief unfortunate class fellow citizen may safely extend point law appear defective particularly communicate secretary treasury take pleasure recommend extension provision unfetter enterprise valuable portion citizen restore mean usefulness community deliberate subject would also recommend consideration propriety modify law enforce payment debt due either public individual sue court united state restrict imprisonment person case fraudulent concealment property personal liberty citizen seem sacred hold many case creditor willing surrender mean discharge debt report secretary war navy department postmaster general accompany message present satisfactory view operation department respectively charge suggest improvement worthy invite serious attention congress certain defect omission discover operation law respect patent point accompany report secretary state heretofore recommend amendment federal constitution give election president people limit service former single term important consider change fundamental law accordance sense duty omit press upon consideration new congress view large well relation point disqualification member congress receive office president whose election official agency propose substitute refer former message system public account extremely complicate believe may much improve much present machinery considerable portion expenditure public money may dispense great facility afford liquidation claim upon government examination justice legality quite efficient present secure view general reform system recommend subject attention congress deem duty call attention condition district columbia doubtless wise framer constitution place people district jurisdiction general government accomplish object view necessary people deprive privilege independently difficulty induce representative distant state turn attention project law high interest constituent individually congress collectively well qualified legislate local concern district consequently interest much neglect people almost afraid present grievance l body represent feels little sympathy local relation attempt make law harm good govern law state whence sever two shore potomac within 10 mile square different penal code present code virginia maryland exist state time cession unite state congress form new code people district make one virtually two government allow least delegate congress local legislature make law district subject approval rejection congress earnestly recommend extension every political right interest require may compatible constitution extension judiciary system united state deem one duty government state union participate benefit circuit court state indiana illinois missouri alabama mississippi louisiana admit union since present judicial system organize district court allow sufficient circuit court already exist 18 state ought abolish sufficient defect ought remedied state place foot member union condition foot enter union may demand circuit court matter concession right trust congress adjourn leave anomaly system entertain opinion heretofore express relation bank united state present organize felt duty former message frankly disclose order attention legislature people seasonably direct important subject might consider finally disposed manner best calculated promote end constitution subserve public interest thus conscientiously discharge constitutional duty deem proper occasion without particular reference view subject express leave present investigation enlighten people representative conclusion permit invoke power superintend government infuse deliberation important crisis history spirit mutual forbearance conciliation spirit union form spirit must preserve