A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Edited by James D. Richardson
TH. JEFFERSON.
NOVEMBER 29, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now communicate an appendix to the information heretofore given on
the subject of Louisiana. You will be sensible, from the face of these
papers, as well as of those to which they are a sequel, that they
are not and could not be official, but are furnished by different
individuals as the result of the best inquiries they had been able
to make, and now given as received from them, only digested under
heads to prevent repetitions.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 5, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the act of hostility
mentioned in my message of the 4th of November to have been committed by
a cruiser of the Emperor of Morocco on a vessel of the United States has
been disavowed by the Emperor. All differences in consequence thereof
have been amicably adjusted, and the treaty of 1786 between this country
and that has been recognized and confirmed by the Emperor, each party
restoring to the other what had been detained or taken. I inclose the
Emperor's orders given on this occasion.
The conduct of our officers generally who have had a part in these
transactions has merited entire approbation.
The temperate and correct course pursued by our consul, Mr. Simpson, the
promptitude and energy of Commodore Preble, the efficacious cooperation
of Captains Rodgers and Campbell, of the returning squadron, the proper
decision of Captain Bainbridge that a vessel which had committed an open
hostility was of right to be detained for inquiry and consideration,
and the general zeal of the other officers and men are honorable facts
which I make known with pleasure. And to these I add what was indeed
transacted in another quarter--the gallant enterprise of Captain Rodgers
in destroying on the coast of Tripoli a corvette of that power of 22
guns.
I recommend to the consideration of Congress a just indemnification
for the interest acquired by the captors of the _Mishouda_ and
_Mirboha_, yielded by them for the public accommodation.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 5, 1803,
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In compliance with the desire of the Senate expressed in their
resolution of the 22d of November, on the impressment of seamen in
the service of the United States by the agents of foreign nations,
I now lay before the Senate a letter from the Secretary of State with
a specification of the cases of which information has been received.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 21, 1803.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
On the 11th of January last I laid before the Senate, for their
consideration and advice, a convention with Spain on the subject of
indemnities for spoliations on our commerce committed by her subjects
during the late war, which convention is still before the Seriate. As
this instrument did not embrace French seizures and condemnations of
our vessels in the ports of Spain, for which we deemed the latter power
responsible, our minister at that Court was instructed to press for
an additional article, comprehending that branch of wrongs. I now
communicate what has since passed on that subject. The Senate will judge
whether the prospect it offers will justify a longer suspension of
that portion of indemnities conceded by Spain should she now take no
advantage of the lapse of the period for ratification. As the settlement
of the boundaries of Louisiana will call for new negotiations on our
receiving possession of that Province, the claims not obtained by the
convention now before the Senate may be incorporated into those
discussions.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 31, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now lay before Congress the annual account of the fund established
for defraying the contingent charges of Government. No occasion having
arisen for making use of any part of it in the present year, the balance
of $18,560 unexpended at the end of the last year remains now in the
Treasury.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 16, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In execution of the act of the present session of Congress for taking
possession of Louisiana, as ceded to us by France, and for the temporary
government thereof, Governor Claiborne, of the Mississippi Territory,
and General Wilkinson were appointed commissioners to receive
possession. They proceeded with such regular troops as had been
assembled at Fort Adams from the nearest posts and with some militia of
the Mississippi Territory to New Orleans, To be prepared for anything
unexpected which might arise out of the transaction, a respectable
body of militia was ordered to be in readiness in the States of Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, and a part of those of Tennessee was moved
on to the Natchez. No occasion, however, arose for their sendees. Our
commissioners, on their arrival at New Orleans, found the Province
already delivered by the commissioners of Spain to that of France, who
delivered it over to them on the 20th day of December, as appears by
their declaratory act accompanying this. Governor Claiborne, being
duly invested with the powers heretofore exercised by the governor and
intendant of Louisiana, assumed the government on the same day, and for
the maintenance of law and order immediately issued the proclamation and
address now communicated.
On this important acquisition, so favorable to the immediate interests
of our Western citizens, so auspicious to the peace and security of the
nation in general, which adds to our country territories so extensive
and fertile and to our citizens new brethren to partake of the blessings
of freedom and self-government, I offer to Congress and our country my
sincere congratulations,
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 24, 1804.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I communicate for your information a letter just received from Governor
Claiborne, which may throw light on the subject of the government of
Louisiana, under contemplation of the Legislature. The paper being
original, a return is asked.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 16, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
Information having been received some time ago that the public lands in
the neighborhood of Detroit required particular attention, the agent
appointed to transact business with the Indians in that quarter was
instructed to inquire into and report the situation of the titles
and occupation of the lands, private and public, in the neighboring
settlements. His report is now communicated, that the Legislature may
judge how far its interposition is necessary to quiet the legal titles,
confirm the equitable, to remove the past and prevent future intrusions
which have neither law nor justice for the basis.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 22, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I communicate to Congress, for their information, a report of the
surveyor of the public buildings at Washington, stating what has been
done under the act of the last session concerning the city of Washington
on the Capitol and other public buildings, and the highway between them.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 29, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter stating certain
fraudulent practices for monopolizing lands in Louisiana, which may
perhaps require legislative provisions.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 20, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I communicate to Congress a letter received from Captain Bainbridge,
commander of the _Philadelphia_ frigate, informing us of the wreck
of that vessel on the coast of Tripoli, and that himself, his officers
and men, had fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans. This accident
renders it expedient to increase our force and enlarge our expenses
in the Mediterranean beyond what the last appropriation for the naval
service contemplated. I recommend, therefore, to the consideration of
Congress such an addition to that appropriation as they may think the
exigency requires.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 22, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I lay before Congress the last returns of the militia of the United
States. Their incompleteness is much to be regretted, and its remedy
may at some future time be a subject worthy the attention of Congress.
TH. JEFFERSON.
PROCLAMATION.
[From Annals of Congress, Eighth Congress, second session, 1234.]
_To all whom these presents shall come_:
Whereas by an act of Congress authority has been given to the President
of the United States, whenever he shall deem it expedient, to erect the
shores, waters, and inlets of the bay and river of Mobile, and of the
other rivers, creeks, inlets, and bays emptying into the Gulf of Mexico
east of the said river Mobile and west thereof to the Pascagoula,
inclusive, into a separate district for the collection of duties on
imports and tonnage; and to establish such place within the same as he
shall deem it expedient to be the port of entry and delivery for such
district; and to designate such other places within the same district,
not exceeding two, to be ports of delivery only:
Now know ye that I, Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States,
do hereby decide that all the above-mentioned shores, waters, inlets,
creeks, and rivers lying within the boundaries of the United States
shall constitute and form a separate district, to be denominated "the
district of Mobile;" and do also designate Fort Stoddert, within the
district aforesaid, to be the port of entry and delivery for the said
district.
Given under my hand this 20th day of May, 1804.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
NOVEMBER 8, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
To a people, fellow-citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness and
prosperity of other nations; to those who justly calculate that their
own well-being is advanced by that of the nations with which they have
intercourse, it will be a satisfaction to observe that the war which
was lighted up in Europe a little before our last meeting has not yet
extended its flames to other nations, nor been marked by the calamities
which sometimes stain the footsteps of war. The irregularities, too, on
the ocean, which generally harass the commerce of neutral nations, have,
in distant parts, disturbed ours less than on former occasions; but in
the American seas they have been greater from peculiar causes, and even
within our harbors and jurisdiction infringements on the authority of
the laws have been committed which have called for serious attention.
The friendly conduct of the Governments from whose officers and subjects
these acts have proceeded, in other respects and in places more under
their observation and control, gives us confidence that our
representations on this subject will have been properly regarded.
While noticing the irregularities committed on the ocean by others,
those on our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided for.
Complaints have been received that persons residing within the United
States have taken on themselves to arm merchant vessels and to force a
commerce into certain ports and countries in defiance of the laws of
those countries. That individuals should undertake to wage private war,
independently of the authority of their country, can not be permitted in
a well-ordered society. Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws
and rights of other nations and to endanger the peace of our own is so
obvious that I doubt not you will adopt measures for restraining it
effectually in future.
Soon after the passage of the act of the last session authorizing the
establishment of a district and port of entry on the waters of the
Mobile we learnt that its object was misunderstood on the part of
Spain. Candid explanations were immediately given and assurances
that, reserving our claims in that quarter as a subject of discussion
and arrangement with Spain, no act was meditated in the meantime
inconsistent with the peace and friendship existing between the two
nations, and that conformably to these intentions would be the execution
of the law. That Government had, however, thought proper to suspend the
ratification of the convention of 1802; but the explanations which would
reach them soon after, and still more the confirmation of them by
the tenor of the instrument establishing the port and district, may
reasonably be expected to replace them in the dispositions and views
of the whole subject which originally dictated the convention.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the objections which had
been urged by that Government against the validity of our title to the
country of Louisiana have been withdrawn, its exact limits, however,
remaining still to be settled between us; and to this is to be added
that, having prepared and delivered the stock created in execution of
the convention of Paris of April 30, 1803, in consideration of the
cession of that country, we have received from the Government of France
an acknowledgment, in due form, of the fulfillment of that stipulation.
With the nations of Europe in general our friendship and intercourse
are undisturbed, and from the Governments of the belligerent powers
especially we continue to receive those friendly manifestations which
are justly due to an honest neutrality and to such good offices
consistent with that as we have opportunities of rendering.
The activity and success of the small force employed in the
Mediterranean in the early part of the present year, the reenforcements
sent into that sea, and the energy of the officers having command in
the several vessels will, I trust, by the sufferings of war, reduce the
barbarians of Tripoli to the desire of peace on proper terms. Great
injury, however, ensues to ourselves, as well as to others interested,
from the distance to which prizes must be brought for adjudication and
from the impracticability of bringing hither such as are not seaworthy.
The Bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized by our treaty,
their rejection has produced from him some expressions of discontent.
But to those who expect us to calculate whether a compliance with unjust
demands will not cost us less than a war we must leave as a question of
calculation for them also whether to retire from unjust demands will
not cost them less than a war. We can do to each other very sensible
injuries by war, but the mutual advantages of peace make that the best
interest of both.
Peace and intercourse with the other powers on the same coast continue
on the footing on which they are established by treaty.
In pursuance of the act providing for the temporary government of
Louisiana, the necessary officers for the Territory of Orleans were
appointed in due time to commence the exercise of their functions on
the 1st day of October. The distance, however, of some of them and
indispensable previous arrangements may have retarded its commencement
in some of its parts. The form of government thus provided having been
considered but as temporary, and open to such future improvements as
further information of the circumstances of our brethren there might
suggest, it will of course be subject to your consideration.
In the district of Louisiana it has been thought best to adopt the
division into subordinate districts which had been established under its
former government. These being five in number, a commanding officer has
been appointed to each, according to the provisions of the law, and so
soon as they can be at their stations that district will also be in its
due state of organization. In the meantime their places are supplied by
the officers before commanding there. And the functions of the governor
and judges of Indiana having commenced, the government, we presume, is
proceeding in its new form. The lead mines in that district offer so
rich a supply of that metal as to merit attention. The report now
communicated will inform you of their state and of the necessity of
immediate inquiry into their occupation and titles.
With the Indian tribes established within our newly acquired limits,
I have deemed it necessary to open conferences for the purpose of
establishing a good understanding and neighborly relations between us.
So far as we have yet learned, we have reason to believe that their
dispositions are generally favorable and friendly; and with these
dispositions on their part, we have in our own hands means which can
not fail us for preserving their peace and friendship. By pursuing
an uniform course of justice toward them, by aiding them in all the
improvements which may better their condition, and especially by
establishing a commerce on terms which shall be advantageous to them and
only not losing to us, and so regulated as that no incendiaries of our
own or any other nation may be permitted to disturb the natural effects
of our just and friendly offices, we may render ourselves so necessary
to their comfort and prosperity that the protection of our citizens
from their disorderly members will become their interest and their
voluntary care. Instead, therefore, of an augmentation of military
force proportioned to our extension of frontier, I propose a moderate
enlargement of the capital employed in that commerce as a more
effectual, economical, and humane instrument for preserving peace and
good neighborhood with them.
On this side the Mississippi an important relinquishment of native title
has been received from the Delawares. That tribe, desiring to extinguish
in their people the spirit of hunting and to convert superfluous lands
into the means of improving what they retain, has ceded to us all the
country between the Wabash and Ohio south of and including the road from
the rapids toward Vincennes, for which they are to receive annuities in
animals and implements for agriculture and in other necessaries. This
acquisition is important, not only for its extent and fertility, but as
fronting 300 miles on the Ohio, and near half that on the Wabash. The
produce of the settled country descending those rivers will no longer
pass in review of the Indian frontier but in a small portion, and, with
the cession heretofore made by the Kaskaskias, nearly consolidates our
possessions north of the Ohio, in a very respectable breadth--from
Lake Erie to the Mississippi. The Piankeshaws having some claim to the
country ceded by the Delawares, it has been thought best to quiet that
by fair purchase also. So soon as the treaties on this subject shall
have received their constitutional sanctions they shall be laid before
both Houses.
The act of Congress of February 28, 1803, for building and employing
a number of gunboats, is now in a course of execution to the extent
there provided for. The obstacle to naval enterprise which vessels of
this construction offer for our seaport towns, their utility toward
supporting within our waters the authority of the laws, the promptness
with which they will be manned by the seamen and militia of the place
in the moment they are wanting, the facility of their assembling from
different parts of the coast to any point where they are required in
greater force than ordinary, the economy of their maintenance and
preservation from decay when not in actual service, and the competence
of our finances to this defensive provision without any new burthen are
considerations which will have due weight with Congress in deciding
on the expediency of adding to their number from year to year, as
experience shall test their utility, until all our important harbors,
by these and auxiliary means, shall be secured against insult and
opposition to the laws.
No circumstance has arisen since your last session which calls for any
augmentation of our regular military force. Should any improvement occur
in the militia system, that will be always seasonable.
Accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the last year, with
estimates for the ensuing one, will as usual be laid before you.
The state of our finances continues to fulfill our expectations. Eleven
millions and a half of dollars, received in the course of the year
ending the 30th of September last, have enabled us, after meeting all
the ordinary expenses of the year, to pay upward of $3,600,000 of the
public debt, exclusive of interest. This payment, with those of the
two preceding years, has extinguished upward of twelve millions of the
principal and a greater sum of interest within that period, and by a
proportionate diminution of interest renders already sensible the effect
of the growing sum yearly applicable to the discharge of the principal.
It is also ascertained that the revenue accrued during the last year
exceeds that of the preceding, and the probable receipts of the ensuing
year may safely be relied on as sufficient, with the sum already in the
Treasury, to meet all the current demands of the year, to discharge
upward of three millions and a half of the engagements incurred under
the British and French conventions, and to advance in the further
redemption of the funded debt as rapidly as had been contemplated.
These, fellow-citizens, are the principal matters which I have thought
it necessary at this time to communicate for your consideration and
attention. Some others will be laid before you in the course of the
session; but in the discharge of the great duties confided to you by
our country you will take a broader view of the field of legislation.
Whether the great interests of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, or
navigation can within the pale of your constitutional powers be aided
in any of their relations; whether laws are provided in all cases where
they are wanting; whether those provided are exactly what they should
be; whether any abuses take place in their administration, or in that of
the public revenues; whether the organization of the public agents or of
the public force is perfect in all its parts; in fine, whether anything
can be done to advance the general good, are questions within the limits
of your functions which will necessarily occupy your attention. In these
and all other matters which you in your wisdom may propose for the good
of our country you may count with assurance on my hearty cooperation and
faithful execution.
TH. JEFFERSON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
November 15, 1804.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I now lay before you a treaty, entered into on the 18th day of August of
the present year, between the United States on one part and the Delaware
Indians on the other, for the extinguishment of their title to a tract
of country between the Ohio and Wabash rivers.
And another of the 27th day of the same month, between the United States
and the Piankeshaws, for a confirmation of the same by the latter,
together with a letter from Governor Harrison on the same subject; which
treaties are submitted for your advice and consent.
TH. JEFFERSON.
NOVEMBER 15, 1804.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
Agreeably to your resolution of the 9th instant, I now lay before you a
statement of the circumstances attending the destruction of the frigate
_Philadelphia_, with the names of the officers and the number of men
employed on the occasion, to which I have to add that Lieutenant Decatur
was thereupon advanced to be a captain in the Navy of the United States.
TH. JEFFERSON.
NOVEMBER 30, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now lay before you copies of the treaties concluded with the Delaware
and Piankeshaw Indians for the extinguishment of their title to the
lands therein described, and I recommend to the consideration of
Congress the making provision by law for carrying them into execution.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 13. 1804.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I present for your advice a treaty entered into on behalf of the United
States with the Creek Indians for the extinguishment of their right in
certain lands in the forks of Oconee and Okmulgee rivers, within the
State of Georgia. For the purpose of enabling you to form a satisfactory
judgment on the subject, it is accompanied with the instructions of
1802, April 12, to James Wilkinson, Benjamin Hawkins, and Andrew
Pickens, commissioners; those of 1803, May 5, to James Wilkinson,
Benjamin Hawkins, and Robert Anderson, commissioners, and those of 1804,
April 2, to Benjamin Hawkins, sole commissioner. The negotiations for
obtaining the whole of the lands between the Oconee and Okmulgee have
now been continued through three successive seasons under the original
instructions and others supplementary to them given from time to time,
as circumstances required, and the unity of the negotiation has been
preserved not only by the subject, but by continuing Colonel Hawkins
always one of the commissioners, and latterly the sole one. The extent
of the cession to be obtained being uncertain, the limitation of price
was what should be thought _reasonable according to the usual rate of
compensation_. The commissioner has been induced to go beyond this
limit probably by the just attentions due to the strong interest which
the State of Georgia feels in making this particular acquisition, and by
a despair of procuring it on more reasonable terms from a tribe which
is one of those most fixed in the policy of holding fast their lands.
To this may be added that if, by an alteration in the first article,
instead of giving them stock which may be passed into other hands and
render them the prey of speculators, an annuity shall be paid them in
this case, as has hitherto been practiced in all similar cases, the
price of these lands will become a pledge and guaranty for our future
peace with this important tribe, and eventually an indemnity for the
breach of it.