Latest / State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836 / 013 - Andrew Jackson December 1 1834 part 2

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013 - Andrew Jackson December 1 1834 part 2 · State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836

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  Speaker 1: Section thirteen 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 the first, eighteen thirty four, Part two. In eighteen
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  Speaker 1: thirty four April, nearly three years after the signature of
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  Speaker 1: the treaty, the final action of the French Chambers upon
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  Speaker 1: the bill to carry the Treaty into effect was obtained
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  Speaker 1: and resulted in a refusal of the necessary appropriations. The
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  Speaker 1: avowed grounds upon which the bill was rejected or to
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  Speaker 1: be found in the published debates of that body, and
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  Speaker 1: no observations of mind can be necessary to satisfy Congress
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  Speaker 1: of their utter insufficiency. Although the gross amount of the
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  Speaker 1: claims of our citizens is probably greater than will be
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  Speaker 1: ultimately allowed by the Commissioners, sufficient is nevertheless shown to
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  Speaker 1: render it absolutely certain that the indemnity falls far short
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  Speaker 1: of the actual amount of our just claims, independently of
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  Speaker 1: the question of damages and interest. For the detention that
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  Speaker 1: the settlement involved a sacrifice in this respect was well
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  Speaker 1: known at the time, a sacrifice which was cheerfully acquiesced
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  Speaker 1: in by the different branches of the Federal government, whose
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  Speaker 1: action upon the treaty was required from a sincere desire
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  Speaker 1: to avoid further collision upon this old and disturbing subject,
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  Speaker 1: and in the confident expectation that the general relations between
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  Speaker 1: the two countries would be improved thereby. The refusal to
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  Speaker 1: vote the appropriation, the news of which was received from
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  Speaker 1: our Minister in Paris about May fifteenth, eighteen thirty four,
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  Speaker 1: might have been considered the final determination of the French
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  Speaker 1: government not to execute the stipulations of the treaty, and
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  Speaker 1: would have justified an immediate communication of the facts to
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  Speaker 1: Congress with a recommendation of such ultimate measures as the
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  Speaker 1: interest and honor of the United States might seem to require.
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  Speaker 1: But with the news of the refusal of the chambers
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  Speaker 1: to make the appropriation, were conveyed the regrets of the
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  Speaker 1: King and a declaration that a national vessel should be
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  Speaker 1: forthwith sent out with instructions to the French Minister to
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  Speaker 1: give the most ample explanations of the past and the
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  Speaker 1: strongest assurances for the future. After a long passage, the
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  Speaker 1: promised dispatch vessel arrived. The pledges given by the French
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  Speaker 1: Minister upon receipt of his instructions, were that as soon
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  Speaker 1: after the election of the new members as the Charter
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  Speaker 1: would permit, the legislative Chambers of France should be called
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  Speaker 1: together and the proposition for an appropriation laid before them,
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  Speaker 1: That all the constitutional powers of the King and his
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  Speaker 1: Cabinet should be exerted to accomplish the object, and that
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  Speaker 1: the result should be made known early enough to be
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  Speaker 1: communicated to Congress at the commencement of the present session.
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  Speaker 1: Relying upon these pledges, and not doubting that the acknowledged
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  Speaker 1: justice of our claims, the promised exertions of the King
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  Speaker 1: and his Cabinet, and above all that sacred regard for
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  Speaker 1: the national faith and honor for which the French character
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  Speaker 1: has been so distinguished would secure an early execution of
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  Speaker 1: the treaty in all its parts, I did not deem
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  Speaker 1: it necessary to call the attention of Congress to the
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  Speaker 1: subject at the last session. I regret to say that
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  Speaker 1: the pledges made through the Minister of France have not
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  Speaker 1: been redeemed. The new Chambers met on July thirty first,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty four, and although the subject of fulfilling treaties
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  Speaker 1: was alluded to in the Speech from the Throne, no
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  Speaker 1: attempt was made by the King or his cabinet to
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  Speaker 1: procure an appropriation to carry it into execution. The reasons
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  Speaker 1: given for this omission, although they might be considered sufficient
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  Speaker 1: in an ordinary case, are not consistent with the expectations
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  Speaker 1: founded upon the assurances given here, For there is no
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  Speaker 1: constitutional obstacle to entering into legislative business at the first
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  Speaker 1: meeting of the Chambers. This point, however, might have been overlooked,
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  Speaker 1: had not the Chambers, instead of being called to meet
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  Speaker 1: at so early a day that the result of their
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  Speaker 1: deliberations might be communicated to me before the meeting of Congress,
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  Speaker 1: been prorogued to December twenty ninth, eighteen thirty four, a
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  Speaker 1: period so late that their decision and can scarcely be
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  Speaker 1: made known to the present Congress prior to its dissolution.
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  Speaker 1: To avoid this delay, our Minister in Paris, and virtue
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  Speaker 1: of the assurance given by the French Minister in the
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  Speaker 1: United States, strongly urged the convocation of the Chambers at
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  Speaker 1: an earlier day, but without success. It is proper to remark, however,
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  Speaker 1: that this refusal has been accompanied with the most positive
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  Speaker 1: assurances on the part of the Executive Government of France
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  Speaker 1: of their intention to press the appropriation at the ensuing
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  Speaker 1: session of the Chambers. The executive branch of this government has,
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  Speaker 1: as matters stand exhausted all the authority upon the subject
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  Speaker 1: with which it is invested, in which it had any
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  Speaker 1: reason to believe could be beneficially employed. The idea of
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  Speaker 1: acquiescing in the refusal to execute the treaty will not,
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  Speaker 1: I am confident, be for a moment entertained by any
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  Speaker 1: branch of this government, and further negotiation upon the subject
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  Speaker 1: is equally out of the question. If it shall be
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  Speaker 1: the pleasure of Congress to await the further action of
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  Speaker 1: the French Chambers, no further consideration of the subject will
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  Speaker 1: at this session probably be required at your hands. But
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  Speaker 1: if from the original delay in asking for an appropriation,
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  Speaker 1: from the refusal of the Chambers to grant it when
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  Speaker 1: asked from the Omission to bring the subject before the
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  Speaker 1: Chambers at their last session, from the fact that, including
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  Speaker 1: that session, there have been five different occasions when the
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  Speaker 1: appropriation might have been made, and from the delay in
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  Speaker 1: convoking the Chambers until some weeks after the meeting of Congress,
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  Speaker 1: when it was well known that a communication of the
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  Speaker 1: whole subject to Congress at the last session was prevented
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  Speaker 1: by assurances that it should be disposed of before its
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  Speaker 1: present meeting. You should feel yourselves constrained to doubt whether
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  Speaker 1: it be the intention of the French govern in all
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  Speaker 1: its branches to carry the treaty into effect, and think
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  Speaker 1: that such measures, as the occasion may be deemed to
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  Speaker 1: call force, should be now adopted. The important question arises
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  Speaker 1: what those measures shall be. Our institutions are essentially pacific.
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  Speaker 1: Peace and friendly intercourse with all nations are as much
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  Speaker 1: the desire of our government as they are the interests
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  Speaker 1: of our people. But these objects are not to be
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  Speaker 1: permanently secured by surrendering the rights of our citizens, or
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  Speaker 1: permitting solemn treaties for their indemnity in cases of flagrant wrong,
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  Speaker 1: to be abrogated or set aside. It is undoubtedly in
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  Speaker 1: the power of Congress seriously to affect the agricultural and
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  Speaker 1: manufacturing interests of France by the passage of laws relating
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  Speaker 1: to her trade with the United States. Her products, manufactures,
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  Speaker 1: and tonnage may be subjected to heavy duty duties in
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  Speaker 1: our ports, or all commercial intercourse with her may be suspended.
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  Speaker 1: But there are powerful and to my mind conclusive objections
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  Speaker 1: to this mode of proceeding. We cannot embarrass or cut
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  Speaker 1: off the trade of France without at the same time,
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  Speaker 1: in some degree embarrassing or cutting off our own trade.
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  Speaker 1: The injury of such a warfare must fall, though unequally,
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  Speaker 1: upon our own citizens, and could not but impair the
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  Speaker 1: means of the government and weaken that united sentiment in
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  Speaker 1: support of the rights and honor of the nation, which
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  Speaker 1: must now pervade every bosom. Nor is it impossible that
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  Speaker 1: such a course of legislation would introduce once more into
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  Speaker 1: our national councils those disturbing questions in relation to the
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  Speaker 1: tariff of duties which have been so recently put to rest. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: by every measure adopted by the Government of the United
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  Speaker 1: States with the view of injuring France, the clear reception
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  Speaker 1: of right, which will induce our own people and the
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  Speaker 1: rulers and people of all other nations, even of France herself,
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  Speaker 1: to pronounce our quaral just will be obscured, and the
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  Speaker 1: support rendered to us. In a final resort to more
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  Speaker 1: decisive measures will be more limited and equivocal. There is
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  Speaker 1: but one point of controversy, upon that the whole civilized
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  Speaker 1: world must pronounce France to be in the wrong. We
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  Speaker 1: insist that she shall pay us a sum of money
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  Speaker 1: which she has acknowledged to be due, and of the
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  Speaker 1: justice of this demand there can be but one opinion
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  Speaker 1: among mankind. True policy would seem to dictate that the
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  Speaker 1: question at issue should be kept thus disencumbered, and that
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  Speaker 1: not the slightest pretense should be given to France to
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  Speaker 1: persist in her refusal to make payment by any act
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  Speaker 1: on our part affecting the interests of her people. The
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  Speaker 1: question should be left as it is now, in such
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  Speaker 1: an attitude that when France fulfills her treaties to day populations,
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  Speaker 1: all controversy will be at an end. It is my
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  Speaker 1: conviction that the United States ought to insist on a
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  Speaker 1: prompt execution of the treaty, and, in case it be
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  Speaker 1: refused or longer delayed, take redress into their own hands.
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  Speaker 1: After the delay on the part of France of a
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  Speaker 1: quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by treaty,
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  Speaker 1: it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of
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  Speaker 1: a century is to be wasted in negotiating about the payment.
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  Speaker 1: The laws of nations provide a remedy for such occasions.
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  Speaker 1: It is a well settled principle of the International Code
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  Speaker 1: that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt which
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  Speaker 1: it refuses or neglects to pay, the aggrieved party may
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  Speaker 1: seize on the property belonging to the other its citizens
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  Speaker 1: or subjects sufficient to pay the debt without giving just
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  Speaker 1: cause of war. This remedy has been repeatedly resorted to,
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  Speaker 1: and recently by France herself toward Portugal, under circumstances unquestionable.
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  Speaker 1: The time at which resort should be had to this
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  Speaker 1: or any other mode of redress is a point to
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  Speaker 1: be decided by Congress. If an appropriation shall not be
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  Speaker 1: made by the French Chambers at their next session, it
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  Speaker 1: may justly be concluded that the Government of France has
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  Speaker 1: finally determined to disregard its own solemn undertaking and refuse
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  Speaker 1: to pay an acknowledged debt. In that event, every day's
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  Speaker 1: delay on our part will be a stained upon our
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  Speaker 1: national honor, as well as a denial of justice to
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  Speaker 1: our injured citizens. Prompt measures when the refusal of France
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  Speaker 1: shall be complete, will not only be most honorable and just,
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  Speaker 1: but will have the best effect upon our national character.
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  Speaker 1: Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her
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  Speaker 1: minister here, has delayed her final action so long that
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  Speaker 1: her decision will not probably be known in time to
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  Speaker 1: be communicated to this Congress, I recommend that a law
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  Speaker 1: be passed authorizing reprisals upon French property in case provision
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  Speaker 1: shall not be made for the payment of the debt
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  Speaker 1: of the approaching session of the French Chambers. Her pride
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  Speaker 1: and power are too well known to expect anything from
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  Speaker 1: her fears and preclude the necessity of a declaration that
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  Speaker 1: nothing partaking of the character of intimidation is intended by us.
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  Speaker 1: She ought to look upon it as the evidence only
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  Speaker 1: of an inflexible determination on the part of the United
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  Speaker 1: States to insist on their rights. That government, by doing
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  Speaker 1: only what it has itself acknowledged to be just, will
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  Speaker 1: be able to spare the United States the necessity of
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  Speaker 1: taking redress into their own hands, and save the property
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  Speaker 1: of French citizens from that seizure. And see questration which
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  Speaker 1: American citizens so long endured without retaliation or redress if
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  Speaker 1: she should continue to refuse that act of acknowledged justice, and,
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  Speaker 1: in violation of the law of nations, make reprisals on
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  Speaker 1: our part the occasion of hostilities against the United States,
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  Speaker 1: she would but add violence to injustice, and could not
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  Speaker 1: fail to expose herself to the just censure of civilized
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  Speaker 1: nations and to the retributive judgments of Heaven. Collision with
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  Speaker 1: France is the more to be regretted on account of
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  Speaker 1: the position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal institutions,
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  Speaker 1: but in maintaining our national rights and honor. All governments
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  Speaker 1: are alike to us. If by a collision with France,
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  Speaker 1: in a case where she is clearly in the wrong,
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  Speaker 1: the march of liberal principles shall be impeded. The responsibility
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  Speaker 1: for that result, as well as every other, will rest
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  Speaker 1: on her own head. Having submitted these considerations, it belongs
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  Speaker 1: to Congress to decide whether, after what has taken place,
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  Speaker 1: it will still await the further action of the French chambers,
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  Speaker 1: or now adopts such provisional measures as it may deem
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  Speaker 1: necessary and best adapted to protect the rights and maintain
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  Speaker 1: the honor of the country. Whatever that decision may be,
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  Speaker 1: it will be faithfully enforced by the Executive as far
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  Speaker 1: as he is authorized so to do. According to the
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  Speaker 1: estimate of the Treasury Department, the revenue accruing from all
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  Speaker 1: sources during the present year will amount to twenty million,
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  Speaker 1: six hundred and twenty four thousand, seven hundred and seventeen dollars, which,
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  Speaker 1: with the balance remaining in the treasury on January first,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty four of eleven million, seven hundred two thousand,
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred and five dollars, produces an aggregate of thirty
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  Speaker 1: two million, three hundred and twenty seven thousand, six hundred
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  Speaker 1: and twenty three dollars. The total expenditure during the year
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  Speaker 1: for all objects, including the public debt, is estimated at
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  Speaker 1: twenty five million, five hundred and ninety one thousand, three
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  Speaker 1: hundred and ninety which will leave a balance in the
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  Speaker 1: treasury on January first, eighteen thirty five of six million,
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred and thirty six thousand, two hundred and thirty
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  Speaker 1: two dollars. In this balance, however, will be included about
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  Speaker 1: one million, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of what
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  Speaker 1: was heretofore reported by the Department as not effective of
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  Speaker 1: former appropriations. It is estimated that there will remain unexpended
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  Speaker 1: at the close of the year eight million, two thousand,
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred and twenty five dollars, and that of this
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  Speaker 1: sum there will not be required more than five million,
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and forty one thousand, nine hundred and sixty
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  Speaker 1: four dollars to accomplish the objects of all the current appropriations. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: it appears that after satisfying all those appropriations, and after
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  Speaker 1: discharging the last item of our public debt, which will
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  Speaker 1: be done on January first, eighteen thirty five, there will
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  Speaker 1: remain unexpended in the treasury and effective balance of about
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  Speaker 1: four hundred and forty thousand dollars. That such should be
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  Speaker 1: the aspect of our finances is highly flattering to the
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  Speaker 1: industry and enterprise of our population, and auspicious of the
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  Speaker 1: wealth and prosperity which await the future cultivation of their
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  Speaker 1: growing resources. It is not deemed prudent, however, to recommend
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  Speaker 1: any change for the present in our impost rates, the
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  Speaker 1: effect of the gradual reduction now in progress of many
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  Speaker 1: of them not being sufficiently tested to guide us in
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  Speaker 1: determining the precise amount of revenue which they will produce
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  Speaker 1: free from public debt, at peace with all the world,
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  Speaker 1: and with no complicated interest to consult in our intercourse
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  Speaker 1: with foreign powers. The present may be hailed as the
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  Speaker 1: epic in our history, the most favorable for the settlement
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  Speaker 1: of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be
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  Speaker 1: best calculated to give stability to our republic and secure
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  Speaker 1: the blessings of freedom to our citizens. Among these principles,
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  Speaker 1: from our past experience, it cannot be doubted that simplicity
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  Speaker 1: in the character of the federal government and a rigid
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  Speaker 1: economy in its administration, should be regarded as fundamental and sacred.
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  Speaker 1: All must be sensible that the existence of the public debt,
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  Speaker 1: by rendering taxation necessary for its extinguishment, has increased the
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  Speaker 1: difficulties which are inseparable from every exercise of the taxing power,
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  Speaker 1: and that it was, in this respect a remote agent
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  Speaker 1: in producing those disturbing questions which grew out of the
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  Speaker 1: discussions relating to the tariff. If such has been the
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  Speaker 1: tendency of a debt incurred in the acquisition and maintenance
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  Speaker 1: of our national rights and liberties, the obligations of which
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  Speaker 1: all portions of the Union cheerfully acknowledged, it must be
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  Speaker 1: obvious that whatever is calculated to increase the burdens of
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  Speaker 1: government without necessity must be fatal to all our hopes
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  Speaker 1: of preserving its true character while we are felicitating ourselves. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: upon the extinguishment of the national debt and the prosperous
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  Speaker 1: state of our finances, let us not be tempted to
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  Speaker 1: depart from those sound maxims of public policy, which enjoin
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  Speaker 1: a just adaptation of the revenue to the expenditures that
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  Speaker 1: are consistent with a rigid economy, and an entire abstinence
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  Speaker 1: from all topics of legislation that are not clearly within
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  Speaker 1: the constitutional powers of the government and suggested by the
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  Speaker 1: wants of the country. Properly regarded under such a policy,
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  Speaker 1: every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives
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  Speaker 1: to individual enterprise increased power, and furnishes to all the
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  Speaker 1: members of our happy confederacy new motives for patriotic affection
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  Speaker 1: and support. But above all, its most important effect will
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  Speaker 1: be found in its influence upon the character of the government,
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  Speaker 1: by confining its action to those objects which will be
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  Speaker 1: sure to secure to it the attachment and support of
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  Speaker 1: our fellow citizens. Circumstances make it my duty to call
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  Speaker 1: the attention of Congress to the Bank of the United
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  Speaker 1: States for the convenience of the government. That institution has
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  Speaker 1: become the scourge of the people. Its interference to postpone
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  Speaker 1: the payment of a portion of the national debt that
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  Speaker 1: it might retain the public money appropriated for that purpose,
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  Speaker 1: to strengthen it in a political contest, the extraordinary extension
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  Speaker 1: and contraction of its accommodations to the community, its corrupt
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  Speaker 1: and partisan loans, Its exclusion of the public directors from
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  Speaker 1: a knowledge of its most important proceedings. The unlimited authority
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  Speaker 1: conferred on the President to expend its funds in hiring
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  Speaker 1: writers and procuring the execution of printing, and the use
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  Speaker 1: made of that authority, the retention of the pension money
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  Speaker 1: in books after the selection of new agents. The groundless
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: claim to heavy damages in consequence of the protest of
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  Speaker 1: the bill drawn on the French government, have through various channels,
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  Speaker 1: been laid before Congress. Immediately after the close of the
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  Speaker 1: last session, the Bank, through its President, announced its b
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  Speaker 1: ability and readiness to abandon the system of unparallel curtailment,
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  Speaker 1: and the interruption of domestic exchanges, which it had practiced
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  Speaker 1: upon from August first, eighteen thirty three to June thirty,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty four, and to extend its accommodations to the community.
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  Speaker 1: The grounds assumed in this annunciation amounted to an acknowledgment
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  Speaker 1: that the curtailment in the extent to which it had
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  Speaker 1: been carried was not necessary to the safety of the bank,
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  Speaker 1: and had been persisted in merely to induce Congress to
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  Speaker 1: grant the prayer of the Bank in its memorial relative
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  Speaker 1: to the removal of the deposits, and to give it
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  Speaker 1: a new charter. They were substantially a confession that all
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  Speaker 1: the real distresses which individuals and the country had endured
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  Speaker 1: for the preceding six or eight months, had been needlessly
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  Speaker 1: produced by it with the view of effecting, through the
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  Speaker 1: sufferings of the people, the legislative action of Congress. It
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  Speaker 1: is subject of congratulation that Congress and the country had
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  Speaker 1: the virtue and firmness to bear the infliction, that the
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  Speaker 1: energies of our people soon found relief from this wanton tyranny.
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  Speaker 1: In vast importations of the precious metals from almost every
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  Speaker 1: part of the world and that at the close of
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  Speaker 1: this tremendous effort to control our government, the bank found
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  Speaker 1: itself powerless and no longer able to loan out its
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  Speaker 1: surplus means. The community had learned to manage its affairs
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  Speaker 1: without its assistance, and trade had already found new auxiliaries,
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  Speaker 1: so that on October first, eighteen thirty four, the extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: spectacle was presented of a national more than half of
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  Speaker 1: whose capital was either lying unproductive in its vaults or
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: in the hands of foreign bankers. Two the needless distresses
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: brought on the country during the last session of Congress
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: has since been added the open seizure of the dividends
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: on the public stock to the amount of one hundred
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and seventy thousand, forty one dollars under pretense of paying damages,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: cost and interest upon the protested French Bill. This sum
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: constituted a portion of the estimated revenues for the year
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty four, upon which the appropriations made by Congress
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: were based. It would as soon have been expected that
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: our collectors would seize on the customs or the receivers
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: of our land offices, on the monies arising from the
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: sale of public lands under pretenses of claims against the
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: United States, as that the Bank would have retained the dividends. Indeed,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: if the principle be established that anyone who chooses to
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: set up a claim against the United States may, without
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: authority of law, seize on the public property or money
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: wherever he can find it to pay such claim, there
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: will remain no assurance that our revenue will reach the treasury,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: or that it will be applied after the appropriation to
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the purposes designated in the law. The pay masters of
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: our army and the pursers of our navy may, under
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: like pretenses, apply to their own use moneyes appropriated to
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: set in motion the public force, and in time of war,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: leave the country without defense. This measure resorted to by
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the Bank is disorganizing and revolutionary, and if generally resorted
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: to by private citizens in like cases, would fill the
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: land with anarchy and violence. It is a constitutional provision
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: that no money shall be drawn from the treasury but
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: in consequence of appropriations made by law. The palpable object
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: of this provision is to prevent the expenditure of the
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: public money for any purpose whatsoever, which shall not have
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: been first approved by the representatives of the people and
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the States in Congress assembled invests the power of declaring
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: for what purposes the public money shall be expended in
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the legislative department of the government, to the exclusion of
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the executive and judicial, and it is not within the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: constitutional authority of either of those departments to pay it
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: away without law or to sanction its payment. According to
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: this plain constitutional provision, the claim of the bank can
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: never be paid without an appropriation by Act of Congress,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: but the bank is never asked for an appropriation. It
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: attempts to defeat the provision of the Constitution and obtain
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: payment without an Act of Congress. Instead of awaiting an
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: appropriation passed by both houses and approved by the President,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: it makes an appropriation for itself and invites an appeal
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to the judiciary to sanction it. That the money had
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: not technically been paid into the treasury does not affect
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the principle intended to be established by the Constitution. The
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: executive and the judiciary have as little right to appropriate
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and expend the public money without authority of law before
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: it is placed to the credit of the treasury as
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: to take it from the treasury. In the Annual Report
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: of the Secretary of the Treasury, and in his correspond
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: with the President of the Bank, and the opinions of
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the Attorney General accompanying it, you will find a further
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: examination of the claims of the Bank and the course
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: it has pursued. It seems, due to the safety of
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the people funds remaining in that bank, into the honor
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: of the American people, that measures be taken to separate
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the government entirely from an institution so mischievous to the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: public prosperity, and so regardless of the Constitution and laws,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: by transferring the public deposits, by appointing other pension agents
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: as far as it has the power, by ordering the
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: discontinuance of the receipt of bank checks and the payment
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: of the public dues. After January first, eighteen thirty four,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the Executive has exerted all its lawful authority to sever
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the connection between the government and this faithless corporation. The
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: high handed career of this institution imposes upon the constitutional
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: functionaries of this government duties of the grave is the
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: most imperative character, duties which they cannot avoid, and from
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: which I trust there will be no inclination. Are in
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: the part of any of them to shrink my own
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: sense of them is most clear, as is also my
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: readiness to discharge those which may rightfully fall on me,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: to continue any business relations with the Bank of the
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: United States that may be avoided without a violation of
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: the national faith, after that institution has set at open
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: defiance the conceded right of the government to examine its affairs,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: after it has done all in its power to derive
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the public authority in other respects, and to bring it
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: into disreputed home and abroad, after it has attempted to
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: defeat the clearly expressed will of the people by turning
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: against them the immense power entrusted to his hands, and
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: by involving a country otherwise peaceful, flourishing, and happy in dissension, embarrassment,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: and distress, would make the nation itself a party to
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the degradation so sedulously prepared for its public agents, and
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: do much to destroy the confidence of mankind in popular governments,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and to bring into contempt their authority and deficiency in
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: guarding against an evil of such magnitude. Consideration of temporary
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: convenience should be thrown out of the question, and we
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: should be influenced by such motives only as look to
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: the honor and preservation of the Republican system. Deeply and
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: solemnly impressed with the justice of these views, I feel
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: it to be my duty to recommend to you that
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: a law be passed authorizing the sale of the public stock,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: that the provision of the Charter requiring this receipt of
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: notes of the Bank and payment of public dues, shall,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: in accordance with the power reserved to Congress in the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: fourteenth section of the Charter, be suspended until the Bank
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: pays to the Treasury the dividends withheld. And that all
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: laws connecting the government or its officers with the Bank
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: directly or indirectly be repealed, and that the institution should
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: be left hereafter to its own resources and means. Events
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: the American people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: from a national bank far over balance all its advantages.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: The bold effort the present bank has made to control
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: the government, the distresses it has wantonly produced. The violence
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: of which it has been the occasion in one of
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: our cities famed for its observance of law and order,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: are but premonitions of the fate which awaits the American
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: institution or the establishment of another like it. It is
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: fervently hoped that thus admonished, those who have heretofore favored
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the establishment of a substitute for the present bank will
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: be induced to abandon it, as it is evidently better
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: to incur any inconvenience that may be reasonably expected than
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: to concentrate the whole money power of the Republic in
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: any form whatsoever, or under any restrictions. Happily, it is
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: already illustrated that the agency of such an institution is
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: not necessary to the fiscal operations of the government. The
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: state banks are found fully adequate to the performance of
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: all services which were required of the Bank of the
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: United States, quite as promptly and with the same cheapness.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: They have maintained themselves and discharged all these duties while
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the Bank of the United States was still powerful and
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: in the field as an open enemy. And it is
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: not possible to conceive that they will find greater difficulties
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: in their operations when that enemy shall cease to exist.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regulation
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: of the deposits in the state banks by law. Although
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: the power now exercised by the Executive Department in this
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: behalf is only such as was uniformly exerted through every
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: administration from the origin of the government up to the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: establishment of the present bank, yet it is one which
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: is susceptible of regulation by law, and therefore ought so
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to be regulated. The power of Congress to direct in
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: what places the Treasurer shall keep the monies in the treasury,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: and to impose restrictions upon the executive authority in relation
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: to their custody and removal, is unlimited, and its exercise
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: will rather be courted than discouraged by those public officers
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: and agents on whom rests the responsibility for their safety.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: It is desirable that as little power as possible should
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: be left to the President or the Secretary of the
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Treasury over those institutions, which, being thus freed from executive
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: influence and without a common head to direct their operations,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: would have neither the temptation nor the ability to interfere
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: in the political conflicts of the country. Not deriving their
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: charters from the national authorities, they would never have those
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: inducements to meddle in general elections which have led the
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Bank of the United States to agitate and convulse the
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: country for upward of two years. The progress of our
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: gold coin is creditable to the officers of the Mint
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: and promises in a short period to furnish the country
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: with a sound and portable currency, which will much diminish
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the inconvenience to travelers of the want of a general
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: paper currency. Should the state banks be incapable of furnishing it,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: those institutions have already shown themselves competent to purchase and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: furnish domestic exchange for the convenience of trade at reasonable rates,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: And not a doubt is entertained that in a short
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: period all the wants of the country in bank accommodations
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: in exchange will be supplied as promptly and as cheaply
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: as they have heretofore been by the Bank of the
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: United States. If the several States shall be induced gradually
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to reform their banking systems and prohibit the issue of
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: all small notes, we shall in a few years have
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: a currency as sound and as little liable to fluctuations
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: as any other commercial country in of Section thirteen