A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Edited by James D. Richardson
On the whole, I rest with entire satisfaction on the wisdom and counsel
of those whose sanctions the Constitution has rendered necessary to the
final validity of this act.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 31, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The inclosed letter, written from Malta by Richard O'Brien, our late
consul at Algiers, giving some details of transactions before Tripoli,
is communicated for the information of Congress.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 31, 1804.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
Most of the Indians residing within our northern boundary on this
side of the Mississippi receiving from us annual aids in money and
necessaries, it was a subject of complaint with the Sacs that they
received nothing and were connected with us by no treaty. As they owned
the country in the neighborhood of our settlements of Kaskaskia and St.
Louis, it was thought expedient to engage their friendship, and Governor
Harrison was accordingly instructed in June last to propose to them an
annuity of $500 or $600, stipulating in return an adequate cession of
territory and an exact definition of boundaries. The Sacs and Foxes
acting generally as one nation, and coming forward together, he found
it necessary to add an annuity for the latter tribe also, enlarging
proportionably the cession of territory, which was accordingly done by
the treaty now communicated, of November the 3d, with those two tribes.
This cession, giving us a perfect title to such a breadth of country on
the eastern side of the Mississippi, with a command of the Ouisconsin,
strengthens our means of retaining exclusive commerce with the Indians
on the western side of the Mississippi--a right indispensable to the
policy of governing those Indians by commerce rather than by arms.
The treaty is now submitted to the Senate for their advice and consent.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 31, 1805.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with the desire of the House of Representatives, expressed
in their resolution of yesterday, I have to inform them that by a letter
of the 30th of May last from the Secretary of War to Samuel Hammond, a
member of the House, it was proposed to him to accept a commission of
colonel-commandant for the district of Louisiana when the new government
there should commence. By a letter of the 30th of June he signified a
willingness to accept, but still more definitively by one of October 26,
a copy of which is therefore now communicated. A commission had been
made out for him bearing date the ist day of October last, and forwarded
before the receipt of his letter of October 26. No later communication
has been received from him, nor is anything later known of his
movements.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 1, 1805.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
For some weeks past I have had reason to expect by every mail from New
Orleans information which would have fully met the views of the House of
Representatives, expressed in their resolution of December 31, on the
subject of a post-road from the city of Washington to New Orleans; but
this being not yet received, I think it my duty without further delay to
communicate to the House the information I possess, however imperfect.
Isaac Briggs, one of the surveyors-general of the United States, being
about to return in July last to his station at Natchez, and apprised of
the anxiety existing to have a practicable road explored for forwarding
the mail to New Orleans without crossing the mountains, offered his
services voluntarily to return by the route contemplated, taking as
he should go such observations of longitude and latitude as would
enable him to delineate it exactly, and by protraction to show of what
shortenings it would admit, The offer was accepted and he was furnished
with an accurate sextant for his observations. The route proposed was
from Washington by Fredericksburg, Cartersville, Lower Sauratown,
Salisbury, Franklin Court-House in Georgia, Tuckabachee, Fort Stoddert,
and the mouth of Pearl River to New Orleans. It is believed he followed
this route generally, deviating at times only for special purposes, and
returning again into it. His letters, herewith communicated, will
shew his opinion to have been, after completing his journey, that the
practicable distance between Washington and New Orleans will be a little
over 1,000 miles. He expected to forward his map and special report
within one week from the date of his last letter, but a letter of
December 10, from another person, informs me he had been unwell, but
would forward them within a week from that time. So soon as they shall
be received they shall be communicated to the House of Representatives.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 5, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The Secretary of State has lately received a note from the Danish charge
d'affaires, claiming, _in the name of his Government_, restitution
in the case of the brig _Henrich_, communicated to Congress at a
former session, in which note were transmitted sundry documents chiefly
relating to the value and neutral character of the vessel, and to the
question whether the judicial proceedings were instituted and conducted
without the concurrence of the captain of the _Henrich_. As these
documents appear to form a necessary appendage to those already before
Congress, and throw additional light on the subject, I transmit copies
of them herewith.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 13, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In the message to Congress at the opening of the present session I
informed them that treaties had been entered into with the Delaware and
Piankeshaw Indians for the purchase of their right to certain lands on
the Ohio. I have since received another, entered into with the Sacs and
Foxes, for a portion of country on both sides of the river Mississippi.
These treaties, having been advised and consented to by the Senate, have
accordingly been ratified, but as they involve conditions which require
legislative provision, they are now submitted to both branches for
consideration.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 20, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter of September 18
from Commodore Preble, giving a detailed account of the transactions of
the vessels under his command from July the 9th to the 10th of September
last past.
The energy and judgment displayed by this excellent officer through the
whole course of the service lately confided to him and the zeal and
valor of his officers and men in the several enterprises executed by
them can not fail to give high satisfaction to Congress and their
country, of whom they have deserved well.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 28, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now lay before Congress a statement of the militia of the United
States, according to the returns last received from the several States.
It will be perceived that some of these are not of recent dates, and
that from the States of Maryland, Delaware, and Tennessee no returns are
stated. As far as appears from our records, none were ever rendered from
either of these States.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 28, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now render to Congress the account of the fund established by the act
of May 1, 1802, for defraying the contingent charges of Government. No
occasion having arisen for making use of any part of the balance of
$18,560 unexpended on the 31st day of December, 1803, when the last
account was rendered by message, that balance has been carried to the
credit of the surplus fund.
TH. JEFFERSON.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Proceeding, fellow-citizens, to that qualification which the
Constitution requires before my entrance on the charge again conferred
on me, it is my duty to express the deep sense I entertain of this new
proof of confidence from my fellow-citizens at large, and the zeal with
which it inspires me so to conduct myself as may best satisfy their just
expectations.
On taking this station on a former occasion I declared the principles
on which I believed it my duty to administer the affairs of our
Commonwealth. My conscience tells me I have on every occasion acted
up to that declaration according to its obvious import and to the
understanding of every candid mind.
In the transaction of your foreign affairs we have endeavored to
cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those with
which we have the most important relations. We have clone them justice
on all occasions, favored where favor was lawful, and cherished mutual
interests and intercourse on fair and equal terms. We are firmly
convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with
individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found
inseparable from our moral duties, and history bears witness to the
fact that a just nation is trusted on its word when recourse is had
to armaments and wars to bridle others.
At home, fellow-citizens, you best know whether we have done well or
ill. The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establishments
and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our internal taxes. These,
covering our land with officers and opening our doors to their
intrusions, had already begun that process of domiciliary vexation which
once entered is scarcely to be restrained from reaching successively
every article of property and produce. If among these taxes some minor
ones fell which had not been inconvenient, it was because their amount
would not have paid the officers who collected them, and because, if
they had any merit, the State authorities might adopt them instead of
others less approved.
The remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign articles is paid
chiefly by those who can afford to add foreign luxuries to domestic
comforts, being collected on our seaboard and frontiers only, and,
incorporated with the transactions of our mercantile citizens, it may be
the pleasure and the pride of an American to ask, What farmer, what
mechanic, what laborer ever sees a taxgatherer of the United States?
These contributions enable us to support the current expenses of the
Government, to fulfill contracts with foreign nations, to extinguish the
native right of soil within our limits, to extend those limits, and to
apply such a surplus to our public debts as places at a short day their
final redemption, and that redemption once effected the revenue thereby
liberated may, by a just repartition of it among the States and a
corresponding amendment of the Constitution, be applied _in time
of peace_ to rivers, canals, roads, arts, manufactures, education,
and other great objects within each State. _In time of war_, if
injustice by ourselves or others must sometimes produce war, increased
as the same revenue will be by increased population and consumption, and
aided by other resources reserved for that crisis, it may meet within
the year all the expenses of the year without encroaching on the rights
of future generations by burthening them with the debts of the past. War
will then be but a suspension of useful works, and a return to a state
of peace a return to the progress of improvement.
I have said, fellow-citizens, that the income reserved had enabled us to
extend our limits, but that extension may possibly pay for itself before
we are called on, and in the meantime may keep down the accruing
interest; in all events, it will replace the advances we shall have
made. I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by
some from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory
would endanger its union. But who can limit the extent to which the
federative principle may operate effectively? The larger our association
the less will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view is it not
better that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by
our own brethren and children than by strangers of another family? With
which should we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly
intercourse?
In matters of religion I have considered that its free exercise is
placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the General
Government. I have therefore undertaken on no occasion to prescribe
the religious exercises suited to it, but have left them, as the
Constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of the
church or state authorities acknowledged by the several religious
societies.
The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded with the
commiseration their history inspires. Endowed with the faculties and the
rights of men, breathing an ardent love of liberty and independence, and
occupying a country which left them no desire but to be undisturbed, the
stream of overflowing population from other regions directed itself on
these shores; without power to divert or habits to contend against
it, they have been overwhelmed by the current or driven before it;
now reduced within limits too narrow for the hunter's state, humanity
enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts; to encourage
them to that industry which alone can enable them to maintain their
place in existence and to prepare them in time for that state of society
which to bodily comforts adds the improvement of the mind and morals. We
have therefore liberally furnished them with the implements of husbandry
and household use; we have placed among them instructors in the arts of
first necessity, and they are covered with the aegis of the law against
aggressors from among ourselves.
But the endeavors to enlighten them on the fate which awaits their
present course of life, to induce them to exercise their reason, follow
its dictates, and change their pursuits with the change of circumstances
have powerful obstacles to encounter; they are combated by the habits
of their bodies, prejudices of their minds, ignorance, pride, and the
influence of interested and crafty individuals among them who feel
themselves something in the present order of things and fear to become
nothing in any other. These persons inculcate a sanctimonious reverence
for the customs of their ancestors; that whatsoever they did must be
done through all time; that reason is a false guide, and to advance
under its counsel in their physical, moral, or political condition is
perilous innovation; that their duty is to remain as their Creator made
them, ignorance being safety and knowledge full of danger; in short,
my friends, among them also is seen the action and counteraction of
good sense and of bigotry; they too have their antiphilosophists who
find an interest in keeping things in their present state, who dread
reformation, and exert all their faculties to maintain the ascendency of
habit over the duty of improving our reason and obeying its mandates.
In giving these outlines I do not mean, fellow-citizens, to arrogate to
myself the merit of the measures. That is due, in the first place, to
the reflecting character of our citizens at large, who, by the weight of
public opinion, influence and strengthen the public measures. It is due
to the sound discretion with which they select from among themselves
those to whom they confide the legislative duties. It is due to the zeal
and wisdom of the characters thus selected, who lay the foundations of
public happiness in wholesome laws, the execution of which alone remains
for others, and it is due to the able and faithful auxiliaries, whose
patriotism has associated them with me in the executive functions.
During this course of administration, and in order to disturb it,
the artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with
whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of
an institution so important to freedom and science are deeply to be
regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness and to sap
its safety. They might, indeed, have been corrected by the wholesome
punishments reserved to and provided by the laws of the several States
against falsehood and defamation, but public duties more urgent press on
the time of public servants, and the offenders have therefore been left
to find their punishment in the public indignation.
Nor was it uninteresting to the world that an experiment should be
fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion, unaided by power,
is not sufficient for the propagation and protection of truth--whether
a government conducting itself in the true spirit of its constitution,
with zeal and purity, and doing no act which it would be unwilling
the whole world should witness, can be written down by falsehood and
defamation. The experiment has been tried: you have witnessed the scene;
our fellow-citizens looked on, cool and collected; they saw the latent
source from which these outrages proceeded; they gathered around their
public functionaries, and when the Constitution called them to the
decision by suffrage, they pronounced their verdict, honorable to those
who had served them and consolatory to the friend of man who believes
that he may be trusted with the control of his own affairs.
No inference is here intended that the laws provided by the States
against false and defamatory publications should not be enforced; he
who has time renders a service to public morals and public tranquillity
in reforming these abuses by the salutary coercions of the law; but
the experiment is noted to prove that, since truth and reason have
maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false
facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint;
the public judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions on a
full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn
between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing
licentiousness. If there be still improprieties which this rule would
not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public
opinion.
Contemplating the union of sentiment now manifested so generally as
auguring harmony and happiness to our future course, I offer to our
country sincere congratulations. With those, too, not yet rallied to
the same point the disposition to do so is gaining strength; facts are
piercing through the veil drawn over them, and our doubting brethren
will at length see that the mass of their fellow-citizens with whom they
can not yet resolve to act as to principles and measures, think as they
think and desire what they desire; that our wish as well as theirs is
that the public efforts may be directed honestly to the public good,
that peace be cultivated, civil and religious liberty unassailed, law
and order preserved, equality of rights maintained, and that state of
property, equal or unequal, which results to every man from his own
industry or that of his father's. When satisfied of these views it is
not in human nature that they should not approve and support them. In
the meantime let us cherish them with patient affection, let us do them
justice, and more than justice, in all competitions of interest, and we
need not doubt that truth, reason, and their own interests will at
length prevail, will gather them into the fold of their country, and
will complete that entire union of opinion which gives to a nation the
blessing of harmony and the benefit of all its strength.
I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have again
called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those principles which
they have approved. I fear not that any motives of interest may lead me
astray; I am sensible of no passion which could seduce me knowingly from
the path of justice, but the weaknesses of human nature and the limits
of my own understanding will produce errors of judgment sometimes
injurious to your interests. I shall need, therefore, all the indulgence
which I have heretofore experienced from my constituents; the want of
it will certainly not lessen with increasing years. I shall need, too,
the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as
Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country
flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered
our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and
power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with
me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their
councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall
result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship,
and approbation of all nations.
MARCH 4, 1805.
FIFTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
DECEMBER 3, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
At a moment when the nations of Europe are in commotion and arming
against each other, and when those with whom we have principal
intercourse are engaged in the general contest, and when the countenance
of some of them toward our peaceable country threatens that even that
may not be unaffected by what is passing on the general theater, a
meeting of the representatives of the nation in both Houses of Congress
has become more than usually desirable. Coming from every section of our
country, they bring with them the sentiments and the information of the
whole, and will be enabled to give a direction to the public affairs
which the will and the wisdom of the whole will approve and support.
In taking a view of the state of our country we in the first place
notice the late affliction of two of our cities under the fatal fever
which in latter times has occasionally visited our shores. Providence in
His goodness gave it an early termination on this occasion and lessened
the number of victims which have usually fallen before it. In the course
of the several visitations by this disease it has appeared that it
is strictly local, incident to cities and on the tide waters only,
incommunicable in the country either by persons under the disease or by
goods carried from diseased places; that its access is with the autumn
and it disappears with the early frosts. These restrictions within
narrow limits of time and space give security even to our maritime
cities during three-fourths of the year, and to the country always.
Although from these facts it appears unnecessary, yet to satisfy the
fears of foreign nations and cautions on their part not to be complained
of in a danger whose limits are yet unknown to them I have strictly
enjoined on the officers at the head of the customs to certify with
exact truth for every vessel sailing for a foreign port the state of
health respecting this fever which prevails at the place from which she
sails. Under every motive from character and duty to certify the truth,
I have no doubt they have faithfully executed this injunction. Much real
injury has, however, been sustained from a propensity to identify with
this endemic and to call by the same name fevers of very different
kinds, which have been known at all times and in all countries, and
never have been placed among those deemed contagious. As we advance in
our knowledge of this disease, as facts develop the source from which
individuals receive it, the State authorities charged with the care of
the public health, and Congress with that of the general commerce, will
become able to regulate with effect their respective functions in these
departments. The burthen of quarantines is felt at home as well as
abroad; their efficacy merits examination. Although the health laws of
the States should be found to need no present revisal by Congress, yet
commerce claims that their attention be ever awake to them.
Since our last meeting the aspect of our foreign relations has
considerably changed. Our coasts have been infested and our harbors
watched by private armed vessels, some of them without commissions,
some with illegal commissions, others with those of legal form, but
committing piratical acts beyond the authority of their commissions.
They have captured in the very entrance of our harbors, as well as
on the high seas, not only the vessels of our friends coming to trade
with us, but our own also. They have carried them off under pretense of
legal adjudication, but not daring to approach a court of justice, they
have plundered and sunk them by the way or in obscure places where no
evidence could arise against them, maltreated the crews, and abandoned
them in boats in the open sea or on desert shores without food or
covering. These enormities appearing to be unreached by any control of
their sovereigns, I found it necessary to equip a force to cruise within
our own seas, to arrest all vessels of these descriptions found hovering
on our coasts within the limits of the Gulf Stream and to bring the
offenders in for trial as pirates.
The same system of hovering on our coasts and harbors under color of
seeking enemies has been also carried on by public armed ships to the
great annoyance and oppression of our commerce. New principles, too,
have been interpolated into the law of nations, founded neither in
justice nor the usage or acknowledgment of nations. According to these
a belligerent takes to itself a commerce with its own enemy which it
denies to a neutral on the ground of its aiding that enemy in the war;
but reason revolts at such an inconsistency, and the neutral having
equal right with the belligerent to decide the question, the interests
of our constituents and the duty of maintaining the authority of reason,
the only umpire between just nations, impose on us the obligation of
providing an effectual and determined opposition to a doctrine so
injurious to the rights of peaceable nations. Indeed, the confidence
we ought to have in the justice of others still countenances the hope
that a sounder view of those rights will of itself induce from every
belligerent a more correct observance of them.