Latest / State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836 / 009 - Andrew Jackson December 4 1832 part 2

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009 - Andrew Jackson December 4 1832 part 2 · State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836

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Speaker 1: Section nine of State of the Union Addresses eighteen twenty
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Speaker 1: nine to eighteen thirty six. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Andrew Jackson,
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Speaker 1: December fourth, eighteen thirty two, Part two. It is my
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Speaker 1: painful duty to state that in one quarter of the
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Speaker 1: United States, opposition to the revenue laws has arisen to
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Speaker 1: a height which threatens to thwart their execution, if not
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Speaker 1: to endanger the integrity of the Union. Whatever obstructions may
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Speaker 1: be thrown in the way of the judicial authorities of
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Speaker 1: the General Government, it is hoped they will be able
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Speaker 1: peaceably to overcome them by the prudence of their own
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Speaker 1: officers and the patriotism of the people. But should this
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Speaker 1: reasonable reliance on the moderation and good sense of all
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Speaker 1: portions of our fellow citizens be disappointed, it is believed
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Speaker 1: that the laws themselves are fully adequate to the suppression
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Speaker 1: of such attempts as may be immediately made. Should the
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Speaker 1: exigency arise rendering the execution of the existing laws impracticable
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Speaker 1: from any cause, whatever prompt notice of it will be
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Speaker 1: given to Congress with a suggestion of such views and
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Speaker 1: measures as may be deemed necessary to meet it in
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Speaker 1: conformity with principles heretofore explained, and with the hope of
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Speaker 1: reducing the General Government to that simple machine which the
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Speaker 1: Constitution created, and of withdrawing from the States all other
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Speaker 1: influence than that of its universal beneficence in preserving peace,
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Speaker 1: affording an uniform currency, maintaining the inviolability of contracts, diffusing intelligence,
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Speaker 1: and discharging unfelt its other superintending functions. I recommend that
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Speaker 1: provision be made to dispose of all stocks now held
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Speaker 1: by it in corporations, whether created by the General or
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Speaker 1: state governments, and placing the proceeds in the treasury as
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Speaker 1: a source of profit. These stocks are of little or
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Speaker 1: no value as a means of influence among the States.
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Speaker 1: They are adverse to the purity of our institutions. The
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Speaker 1: whole principle on which they are based is deemed by
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Speaker 1: many unconstitutional, and to persist in the policy which they
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Speaker 1: indicate is considered wholly inexpedient. It is my duty to
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Speaker 1: acquaint you with an arrangement made by the Bank of
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Speaker 1: the United States with a portion of the holders of
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Speaker 1: the three percent stock, by which the government will be
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Speaker 1: deprived of the use of the public funds longer than
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Speaker 1: was anticipated by this arrangement, which will be particularly explained
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Speaker 1: by the Secretary of the Treasury. A surrender of the
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Speaker 1: certificates of this stock may be postponed until October eighteen
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Speaker 1: thirty three, and thus may be continued. By the failure
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Speaker 1: of the Bank to perform its duties. Such measures as
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Speaker 1: are within the reach of the Secretary of the Treasury
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Speaker 1: have been taken to enable him to judge whether the
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Speaker 1: public deposits in that institution may be regarded as entirely safe.
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Speaker 1: But as his limited power may prove inadequate to this object,
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Speaker 1: I recommend the subject to the attention of Congress, under
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Speaker 1: the firm belief that it is worthy of their serious investigation.
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Speaker 1: An inquiry into the transactions of the institution, embracing the
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Speaker 1: branches as well as the principal bank, seems called for
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Speaker 1: by the credit which is given throughout the country to
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Speaker 1: many serious charges impeaching its character, and which, if true,
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Speaker 1: may justly excite the apprehension that it is no longer
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Speaker 1: a safe depository of the money of the people. Among
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Speaker 1: the interests which merit the consideration of Congress after the
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Speaker 1: payment of the public debt. One of the most important,
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Speaker 1: in my view, is that of the public lands. Previous
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Speaker 1: to the formation of our present Constitution, it was recommended
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Speaker 1: by Congress that a portion of the waste lands owned
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Speaker 1: by the States should be ceded to the United States
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Speaker 1: for the purposes of general harmony and as a fund
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Speaker 1: to meet the expenses of the war. The recommendation was adopted,
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Speaker 1: and at different periods of time, the states of Massachusetts,
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Speaker 1: New York, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia granted
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Speaker 1: their vacant soil for the uses for which they had
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Speaker 1: been asked. As the lands may now be considered as
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Speaker 1: relieved from this pledge, it is in the discretion of
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Speaker 1: Congress to dispose of them in such way as best
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Speaker 1: to conduce to the quiet, harmony and general interest of
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Speaker 1: the American people. In examining this, all local and sexual
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Speaker 1: feelings should be discarded, and the whole United States regarded
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Speaker 1: as one people interested alike in the prosperity of their
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Speaker 1: common country. It cannot be doubted that the speedy settlement
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Speaker 1: of these lands constitutes the true interest of the Republic.
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Speaker 1: The wealth and strength of a country are its population,
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Speaker 1: and the best part of that population are cultivators of
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Speaker 1: the soil. Independent farmers are everywhere the basis of society
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Speaker 1: and true friends of liberty. In addition to these considerations,
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Speaker 1: questions have already arisen, and may be expected hereafter to
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Speaker 1: grow out of the public lands, which involve the rights
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Speaker 1: of the new States and the powers of the general government.
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Speaker 1: And unless a liberal policy be now adopted, there is
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Speaker 1: danger that these questions may speedily assume and importance not
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Speaker 1: now generally anticipated, the influence of a great section interest,
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Speaker 1: when brought into full action, and will be found more
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Speaker 1: dangerous to the harmony and union of the States than
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Speaker 1: any other cause of discontent. And it is the part
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Speaker 1: of wisdom and sound policy to foresee its approaches, and endeavor,
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Speaker 1: if possible, to counteract them. Of the various schemes which
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Speaker 1: have been hitherto proposed in regard to the disposal of
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Speaker 1: the public lands, none has yet received the entire approbation
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Speaker 1: of the National legislature. Deeply impressed with the importance of
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Speaker 1: a speedy and satisfactory arrangement of the subject, I deem
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Speaker 1: it my duty on this occasion to urge it upon
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Speaker 1: your consideration and to the propositions which have been heretofore
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Speaker 1: suggested by others, to contribute those reflections which have occurred
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Speaker 1: to me, in the hope that they may assist you
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Speaker 1: in your future deliberations. It seems to me to be
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Speaker 1: our policy that the public lands shall cease, as soon
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Speaker 1: as practicable to be a source of revenue, and that
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Speaker 1: they be sold to settlers in limited parcels at a
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Speaker 1: price barely sufficient to reimburse to the United States the
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Speaker 1: expense of the present system and the cost arising under
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Speaker 1: our Indian compacts. The advantages of accurate surveys and undoubted
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Speaker 1: titles now secured to purchasers seem to forbid the abolition
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Speaker 1: of the present system, because none can be substituted which
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Speaker 1: will more perfectly accomplish these important ends. It is desirable, however,
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Speaker 1: that in convenient time, this machinery be withdrawn from the States,
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Speaker 1: and that the right of soil and the future disposition
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Speaker 1: of it be surrendered to the states, respectively, in which
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Speaker 1: it lies. The adventurous and hardy population of the West,
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Speaker 1: besides contributing their equal share of taxation under our impost system,
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Speaker 1: have in the progress of our government for the lands
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Speaker 1: they occupy, paid into the treasury a large for poor
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Speaker 1: of forty million dollars, and of the revenue received therefrom
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Speaker 1: but a small part has been expended among them. When
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Speaker 1: to the disadvantage of their situation. In this respect we
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Speaker 1: add the consideration that it is their labor alone which
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Speaker 1: gives real value to the lands, and that the proceeds
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Speaker 1: arising from their sale are distributed chiefly among states which
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Speaker 1: had not originally any claim to them, and which have
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Speaker 1: enjoyed the undivided emolument arising from the sale of their
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Speaker 1: own lands. It cannot be expected that the New States
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Speaker 1: will remain longer contented with the present policy after the
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Speaker 1: payment of the public debt. To avert the consequences which
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Speaker 1: may be apprehended from this cause to put an end
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Speaker 1: forever to all partial and interested legislation on the subject,
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Speaker 1: and to afford to every American citizen of enterprise the
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Speaker 1: opportunity of securing an independent freehold. It seems to me
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Speaker 1: therefore best to abandon the idea of raising a future
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Speaker 1: revenue out of the public lands. In former messages, I
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Speaker 1: have expressed my conviction that the Constitution does not warrant
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Speaker 1: the application of the funds of the General Government to
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Speaker 1: objects of internal improvement which are not national in their character,
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Speaker 1: and both as a means of doing justice to all interests,
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Speaker 1: and putting an end to a course of legislation calculated
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Speaker 1: to destroy the purity of the government, have urged the
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Speaker 1: necessity of reducing the whole subject to some fixed and
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Speaker 1: certain rule, as there never will occur a pery, perhaps
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Speaker 1: more propitious than the present, to the accomplishment of this object.
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Speaker 1: I beg leave to press the subject again upon your attention.
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Speaker 1: Without some general and well defined principles ascertaining those objects
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Speaker 1: of internal improvement to which the means of the nation
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Speaker 1: may be constitutionally applied, it is obvious that the exercise
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Speaker 1: of the power can never be satisfactory. Besides the danger
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Speaker 1: to which it exposes Congress of making hasty appropriations to
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Speaker 1: works of the character of which they may be frequently ignorant,
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Speaker 1: it promotes a mischievous and corrupting influence upon elections by
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Speaker 1: holding out to the people the fallacious hope that the
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Speaker 1: success of a certain candidate will make navigable their neighboring
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Speaker 1: creek or river, bring commerce to their doors. And increase
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Speaker 1: the value of their property. It thus favors combinations to
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Speaker 1: squander the treasure of the country upon a multitude of
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Speaker 1: local objects, as fatal to just legislation as to the
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Speaker 1: purity of public men. If a system compatible with the
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Speaker 1: Constitution cannot be devised which is free from such tendencies,
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Speaker 1: we should recollect that that instrument provides within itself the
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Speaker 1: mode of its amendment, and that there is therefore no
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Speaker 1: excuse for the assumption of doubtful powers by the general government.
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Speaker 1: If those which are clearly granted shall be found incompetent
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Speaker 1: to the ends of its creation, it can at any
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Speaker 1: time apply for their enlargement, and there is no probability
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Speaker 1: that such an application, if founded on the public interest,
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Speaker 1: will ever be refused. If the propriety of the proposed
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Speaker 1: grant be not sufficiently apparent to command the assent of
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Speaker 1: three fourths of the states, the best possible reason why
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Speaker 1: the power should not be assumed on doubtful authority is afforded,
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Speaker 1: for if more than one court of the states are
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Speaker 1: unwilling to make the grant, its exercise will be productive
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Speaker 1: of discontents which will far overbalance any advantages that could
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Speaker 1: be derived from it. All must admit that there is
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Speaker 1: nothing so worthy of the constant solicitude of this government
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Speaker 1: as the harmony and union of the people. Being solemnly
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Speaker 1: impressed with the conviction that the extension of the power
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Speaker 1: to make internal improvements, beyond the limit I have suggested,
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Speaker 1: even if it be deemed constantitutional, is subversive of the
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Speaker 1: best interests of our country. I earnestly recommend to Congress
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Speaker 1: to refrain from its exercise in doubtful cases, except in
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Speaker 1: relation to improvements already begun, unless they shall first procure
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Speaker 1: from the States such an amendment of the Constitution as
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Speaker 1: will define its character and prescribe its bounds. If the
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Speaker 1: States feel themselves competent to these objects, why should this
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Speaker 1: government wish to assume the power. If they do not,
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Speaker 1: then they will not hesitate to make the grant. Both
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Speaker 1: governments are the governments of the people. Improvements must be
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Speaker 1: made with the money of the people, And if the
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Speaker 1: money can be collected and applied by those more simple
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Speaker 1: and economical political machines, the state governments, it will unquestionably
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Speaker 1: be safer and better for the people than to add
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Speaker 1: to the splendor the patronage and the power of the
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Speaker 1: general government. But if the people of the several states
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Speaker 1: think otherwise, they will amend the Constitution, and in their
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Speaker 1: decision all ought cheerfully to acquiesce for a detailed and
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Speaker 1: highly satisfact review of the operations of the War Department.
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Speaker 1: I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary
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Speaker 1: of War. The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox
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Speaker 1: Indians necessarily led to the interposition of the government. A
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Speaker 1: portion of the troops under General Scott and Atkinson, and
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Speaker 1: of the militia of the State of Illinois were called
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Speaker 1: into the field. After a harassing warfare prolonged by the
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Speaker 1: nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence,
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Speaker 1: the Indians were entirely defeated and the disaffected band dispersed
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Speaker 1: or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops
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Speaker 1: engaged in the service, severe as is the lesson to
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Speaker 1: the Indians. It was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions,
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Speaker 1: and it is to be hoped that its impression will
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Speaker 1: be permanent and salutary. This campaign as evinced the efficient
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Speaker 1: organization of the army and its capacity for prompt and
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Speaker 1: active service. Its several departments have performed their functions with
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Speaker 1: energy and dispatch, and the general movement was satisfactory. Our
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Speaker 1: fellow citizens upon the frontiers were ready, as they always are,
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Speaker 1: in the tender of their services in the hour of danger.
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Speaker 1: But a more efficient organization of our malicious system is
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Speaker 1: essential to that security, which is one of the principal
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Speaker 1: objects of all governments. Neither our situation or our institutions
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Speaker 1: require or permit the maintenance of a large regular force.
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Speaker 1: History offers too many lessons of the fatal result of
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Speaker 1: such a measure not to warn us against its adoption. Here,
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Speaker 1: the expense which attends it, the obvious tendency to employ
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Speaker 1: it because it exists, and thus to engage in unnecessary wars,
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Speaker 1: and its ultimate danger to public liberty, will lead us,
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Speaker 1: I trust, to place our principle dependence for protection upon
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Speaker 1: the great body of the citizens of the republic. If
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Speaker 1: in asserting rights or in repelling wrongs, war should come
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Speaker 1: upon us, our regular force should be increased to an
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Speaker 1: extent proportional to the emergency. In our present small army
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Speaker 1: is a nucleus around which such force could be formed
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Speaker 1: and embodied. But for the purposes of defense under ordinary circumstances.
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Speaker 1: We must rely upon the electors of the country. Those
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Speaker 1: by whom and for whom the government was instituted and
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Speaker 1: is supported, will constitute its protection in the hour of danger,
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Speaker 1: as they do its check in the hour of safety.
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Speaker 1: But it is obvious that the malicious system is imperfect.
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Speaker 1: Much time is lost, much unnecessary expense incurred in, much
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Speaker 1: public property wasted under the present arrangement, Little useful knowledge
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Speaker 1: is gained by the musters and drills as now established.
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Speaker 1: And the whole subjet evidently requires a thorough examination. Whether
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Speaker 1: a plan of classification remedying these defects and providing for
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Speaker 1: a system of instruction might not be adopted is submitted
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Speaker 1: to the consideration of Congress. The Constitution has vested in
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Speaker 1: the general Government an independent authority upon the subject of
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Speaker 1: the militia, which renders its action essential to the establishment
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Speaker 1: or improvement of the system. And I recommend the matter
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Speaker 1: to your consideration, in the conviction that the state of
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Speaker 1: this important arm of the public defense requires your attention.
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Speaker 1: I am happy to inform you that the wise and
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Speaker 1: humane policy of transferring from the east and to the
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Speaker 1: western side of the Mississippi the remnants of our Aboriginal tribes,
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Speaker 1: with their own consent and upon just terms, has been
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Speaker 1: steadily pursued and is approaching I trust its consummation. By
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Speaker 1: reference to the report of the Secretary of War and
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Speaker 1: to the documents submitted with it, you will see the
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Speaker 1: progress which has been made since your last session in
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Speaker 1: the arrangement of the various matters connected with our Indian relations.
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Speaker 1: With one exception, every subject involving any question of conflicting
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Speaker 1: jurisdiction or of peculiar difficulty, has been happily disposed of,
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Speaker 1: and the conviction evidently gains ground among the Indians that
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Speaker 1: their removal to the country assigned by the United States
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Speaker 1: for their permanent residence furnishes the only hope of their
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Speaker 1: ultimate prosperity. With that portion of the Cherokees, however, living
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Speaker 1: within the state of Georgia, it has been found impracticable
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Speaker 1: as yet to make a satisfactory adjustment. Such was my
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Speaker 1: anxiety to remove all the grounds of complaint and to
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Speaker 1: bring to a termination the difficulties in which they are involved,
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Speaker 1: that I directed the very liberal propositions to be made
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Speaker 1: to them, which accompany the documents herewith submitted. They cannot
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Speaker 1: but have seen in these offers the evidence of the
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Speaker 1: strongest disposition on the part of the government to deal
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Speaker 1: justly and liberally with them. An ample indemnity was offered
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Speaker 1: for their present possessions, a liberal provision for their future
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Speaker 1: support and improvement, and full security for their private and
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Speaker 1: political rights. Whatever difference of opinion may have prevailed respecting
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Speaker 1: the just claims of these people, there will probably be
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Speaker 1: none respecting the liberality of the propositions, and very little
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Speaker 1: respecting the expediency of their immediate acceptance. They were, however, rejected,
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Speaker 1: and thus the position of these Indians remains unchanged, as
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Speaker 1: do the views communicated in my message to the Senate
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Speaker 1: of February twenty second, eighteen thirty one. I refer you
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Speaker 1: to the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy
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Speaker 1: which accompanies this message for a detail of the operations
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Speaker 1: of that branch of the Service during the present year.
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Speaker 1: Besides the general remarks on some of the transactions of
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Speaker 1: our Navy presented in the view which has been taken
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Speaker 1: of our foreign relations. I seize this occasion to invite
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Speaker 1: to your notice the increased protection which it has afforded
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Speaker 1: to our commerce and citizens on distant seas, without any
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Speaker 1: augmentation of the force in commission, in the gradual improvement
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Speaker 1: of its pecuniary concerns, in the constant progress in the
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Speaker 1: collection of materials suitable for use during future emergencies, and
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Speaker 1: in the construction of vessels and the buildings necessary to
19:35
Speaker 1: their preservation and repair. The present state of this branch
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Speaker 1: of the service exhibits the fruits of that vigilance and
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Speaker 1: care which are so indispensable to its efficiency. Various new
19:47
Speaker 1: suggestions contained in the annexed report, as well as others
19:51
Speaker 1: heretofford to Congress, are worthy of your attention, but none
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Speaker 1: more so than that urging the renewal for another term
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Speaker 1: of six years of the j General Appropriation for the
20:02
Speaker 1: gradual improvement of the Navy. From the accompanying report of
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Speaker 1: the Postmaster General, you will also perceive that that department
20:11
Speaker 1: continues to extend its usefulness without impairing its resources or
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Speaker 1: lessening the accommodations which it affords in the secure and
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Speaker 1: rapid transportation of the male. I beg leave to call
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Speaker 1: the attention of Congress to the views heretofore expressed in
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Speaker 1: relation to the mode of choosing the President and Vice
20:30
Speaker 1: President of the United States, and to those respecting the
20:34
Speaker 1: tenure of office, generally still impressed with the justness of
20:38
Speaker 1: those views, and with the belief that the modifications suggested
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Speaker 1: on those subjects, if adopted, will contribute to the prosperity
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Speaker 1: and harmony of the country, I earnestly recommend them to
20:49
Speaker 1: your consideration. At this time. I have heretofore pointed out
20:55
Speaker 1: defects in the law for punishing official frauds. Especially within
20:59
Speaker 1: the District for Columbia, it has been found almost impossible
21:03
Speaker 1: to bring notorious culprits to punishment, and according to a
21:07
Speaker 1: decision of the Court for this district, a prosecution is
21:11
Speaker 1: barred by a lapse of two years after the fraud
21:14
Speaker 1: has been committed. It may happen again, as it has
21:17
Speaker 1: already happened, that during the whole two years, all the
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Speaker 1: evidences of the fraud may be in the possession of
21:23
Speaker 1: the culprit himself. However proper the limitation may be. In
21:27
Speaker 1: relation to private citizens, it would seem that it ought
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Speaker 1: not to commence running in favor of public officers until
21:35
Speaker 1: they go out of office. The judiciary system of the
21:40
Speaker 1: United States remains imperfect. Of the nine Western and Southwestern
21:45
Speaker 1: states three only enjoy the benefits of a circuit court. Ohio, Kentucky,
21:51
Speaker 1: and Tennessee are embraced in the general system, but Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi,
21:57
Speaker 1: and Louisiana have only district words. If the existing system
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Speaker 1: be a good one, why should it not be extended?
22:05
Speaker 1: If it be a bad one, why is it suffered
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Speaker 1: to exist? The New States were promised equal rights and
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Speaker 1: privileges when they came into the Union, and such are
22:14
Speaker 1: the guarantees of the Constitution. Nothing can be more obvious
22:18
Speaker 1: than the obligation of the General Government to place all
22:22
Speaker 1: the states on the same footing in relation to the
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Speaker 1: administration of justice. And I trust this duty will be
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Speaker 1: neglected no longer on many of the subjects to which
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Speaker 1: your attention is invited in this communication. It is a
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Speaker 1: source of gratification to reflect that the steps to be
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Speaker 1: now adopted are uninfluenced by the embarrassments entailed upon the
22:44
Speaker 1: country by the wars through which it has passed. In
22:48
Speaker 1: regard to most of our great interests, we may consider
22:51
Speaker 1: ourselves as just starting in our career, and after a
22:55
Speaker 1: salutary experience, about to fix upon a permanent basis the
22:59
Speaker 1: policy less calculated to promote the happiness of the people
23:03
Speaker 1: and facilitate their progress towards the most complete enjoyment of
23:06
Speaker 1: civil liberty. On an occasion so interesting and important in
23:11
Speaker 1: our history, and of such anxious concern to the friends
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Speaker 1: of freedom throughout the world, it is our imperious duty
23:18
Speaker 1: to lay aside all selfish and local considerations and be
23:22
Speaker 1: guided by a lofty spirit of devotion to the great
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Speaker 1: principles on which our institutions are founded. That this government
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Speaker 1: may be so administered as to preserve its efficiency in
23:34
Speaker 1: promoting and securing these general objects should be the only
23:38
Speaker 1: aim of our ambition, and we cannot therefore to carefully
23:42
Speaker 1: examine its structure in order that we may not mistake
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Speaker 1: its powers or assume those which the people have reserved
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Speaker 1: to themselves or have preferred to assign to other agents.
23:54
Speaker 1: We should bear constantly in mind the fact that the
23:57
Speaker 1: considerations which induce the framers of the Common Constitution to
24:01
Speaker 1: withhold from the General Government the power to regulate the
24:04
Speaker 1: great mass of the business and concerns of the people
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Speaker 1: have been fully justified by experience, and that it cannot
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Speaker 1: now be doubted that the genius of all our institutions.
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Speaker 1: Prescribes simplicity and economy as the characteristics of the reform
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Speaker 1: which is yet to be affected in the present and
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Speaker 1: future execution of the functions bestowed upon us by the Constitution,
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Speaker 1: limited to a general superintending power to maintain peace at
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Speaker 1: home and abroad, and to prescribe laws on a few
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Speaker 1: subjects of general interest, not calculated to restrict human liberty,
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Speaker 1: but to enforce human rights. This government will find its
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Speaker 1: strength and its glory in the faithful discharge of these
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Speaker 1: plain and simple duties. Believed by its protecting shield from
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Speaker 1: the fear of war and the apprehension of oppression. The
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Speaker 1: free enterprise of our citizens, aided by the state sovereignties,
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Speaker 1: will work out improvements and ameliorations which cannot fail to
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Speaker 1: demonstrate that the great truth that the people can govern
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Speaker 1: themselves is not only realized in our example, but that
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Speaker 1: it is done by a machinery in government so simple
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Speaker 1: and economical as scarcely to be felt that the almighty
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Speaker 1: ruler of the universe may so direct our deliberations and
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Speaker 1: overrule our acts as to make us instrumental in securing
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Speaker 1: a result so dear to mankind is my most earnest
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Speaker 1: and sincere prayer. End of Section nine