A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, - Edited by James D. Richardson
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MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS:
ANDREW JACKSON
March 4, 1829, to March 4, 1833
Edited by James D. Richardson
ANDREW JACKSON
Andrew Jackson was born in the Waxhaw Settlement, North or South
Carolina, on the 15th of March, 1767. He was a son of Andrew Jackson, an
Irishman, who emigrated to America in 1765 and died in 1767. The name of
his mother was Elizabeth Hutchinson. There is little definite
information about the schools that he attended. According to Parton, "He
learned to read, to write, and cast accounts--little more." Having taken
arms against the British in 1781, he was captured, and afterwards
wounded by an officer because he refused to clean the officer's boots.
About 1785 he began to study law at Salisbury, N.C. In 1788 removed to
Nashville, Tenn., where he began to practice law. About 1791 he married
Rachel Robards, originally Rachel Donelson, whose first husband was
living and had taken preliminary measures to obtain a divorce, which was
legally completed in 1793. The marriage ceremony was again performed in
1794. He was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of
Tennessee in 1796, and in the autumn of that year was elected
Representative to Congress by the people of Tennessee, which State was
then entitled to only one member. Supported Thomas Jefferson in the
Presidential election of 1796. In 1797 became a Senator of the United
States for the State of Tennessee. Resigned his seat in the Senate in
1798; was a judge of the supreme court of Tennessee from 1798 till 1804.
After war had been declared against Great Britain, General Jackson (who
several years before had been appointed major-general of militia)
offered his services and those of 2,500 volunteers in June, 1812. He was
ordered to New Orleans, and led a body of 2,070 men in that direction;
but at Natchez he received an order, dated February 6, 1813, by which
his troops were dismissed from public service. In October, 1813, he took
the field against the Creek Indians, whom he defeated at Talladega in
November. By his services in this Creek war, which ended in 1814, he
acquired great popularity, and in May, 1814, was appointed a
major-general in the Regular Army; was soon afterwards ordered to the
Gulf of Mexico, to oppose an expected invasion of the British. In
November he seized Pensacola, which belonged to Spain, but was used by
the British as a base of operations. About the 1st of December he moved
his army to New Orleans, where he was successful in two engagements with
the British, and afterwards gained his famous victory on January 8,
1815. This was the last battle of the war, a treaty of peace having been
signed on December 24, 1814. In 1817-18 he waged a successful war
against the Seminoles in Florida, seized Pensacola, and executed
Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two British subjects, accused of inciting the
savages to hostile acts against the Americans. He was appointed governor
of Florida in 1821. In 1823 was elected a Senator of the United States,
and nominated as candidate for the Presidency by the legislature of
Tennessee. His competitors were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and
William H. Crawford. Jackson received 99 electoral votes, Adams 84,
Crawford 41, and Clay 37. As no candidate had a majority, the election
devolved on the House of Representatives, and it resulted in the choice
of Mr. Adams. In 1828 Jackson was elected President, receiving 178
electoral votes, while Adams received 83; was reelected in 1832,
defeating Henry Clay. Retired to private life March 4, 1837. He died at
the Hermitage on the 8th of June, 1845, and was buried there.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT.
CITY OF WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1829._
J.C. CALHOUN,
_Vice-President of the United States_.
Sir: Through you I beg leave to inform the Senate that on Wednesday, the
4th instant, at 12 o'clock, I shall be ready to take the oath prescribed
by the Constitution previously to entering on a discharge of my official
duties, and at such place as the Senate may think proper to designate.
I am, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,
ANDREW JACKSON.
FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Fellow-Citizens: About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been
appointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of
this customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude which their
confidence inspires and to acknowledge the accountability which my
situation enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces me
that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have conferred, it
admonishes me that the best return I can make is the zealous dedication
of my humble abilities to their service and their good.
As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will devolve on me for
a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend
their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue,
to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to
watch over and to promote their interests generally. And the principles
of action by which I shall endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties
it is now proper for me briefly to explain.
In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the
limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, trusting
thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its
authority. With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace
and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the
adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the
forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility
belonging to a gallant people.
In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to the rights
of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for
those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the
powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to
the Confederacy.
The management of the public revenue--that searching operation in all
governments--is among the most delicate and important trusts in ours,
and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share of my official
solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be considered it would
appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict and
faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more anxiously both because it
will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary
duration of which is incompatible with real independence, and because it
will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a
profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to
engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end
are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress
for the specific appropriation of public money and the prompt
accountability of public officers.
With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with a view
to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, caution, and
compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great
interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally
favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this rule should consist
in the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may
be found essential to our national independence.
Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can
be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of
high importance.
Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of
peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor
disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches
that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The
gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes
our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our
forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive
improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our
military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be
excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their
importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia,
which in the present state of our intelligence and population must
render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the
good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it
secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of
conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as
it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an
impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we
may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the
means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just
system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of
the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power.
It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian
tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that
humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which
is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our
people.
The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of
Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task
of _reform_, which will require particularly the correction of those
abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into
conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those
causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have
placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands.
In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall endeavor
to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their
respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the
advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the
public officers than on their numbers.
A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me
to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my
illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow
from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The
same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the
coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and
support of my fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the
goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our
national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various
vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He
will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care
and gracious benediction.
MARCH 4, 1829.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
_March 6, 1829_.
_the Senate of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: The Executive nominations made during the past session of
Congress, and which remain unacted on by the Senate, I hereby withdraw
from their consideration.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_March 6, 1829_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
The treaty of commerce and navigation concluded at Washington on the 1st
of May, 1828, between the United States and the King of Prussia, was
laid before the Senate, who, by their resolution of the 14th of that
month, advised and consented to its ratification by the President.
By the sixteenth article of that treaty it was agreed that the exchange
of ratifications should be made within nine months from its date.
On the 15th day of February last, being fifteen days after the time
stipulated for the exchange by the terms of the treaty, the charge
d'affaires of the King of Prussia informed the Secretary of State that
he had received the Prussian ratification and was ready to exchange it
for that of the United States. In reply he was informed of the intention
of the President, my late predecessor, not to proceed to the exchange in
consequence of the expiration of the time within which it was to be
made.
Under these circumstances I have thought it my duty, in order to avoid
all future questions, to ask the advice and consent of the Senate to
make the proposed exchange.
I send you the original of the treaty, together with a printed copy of
it.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_March 11, 1829_.
_To the Senate of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: Brevet rank for ten years' faithful service has produced much
confusion in the Army. For this reason the discretion vested in the
President of the United States on this subject would not be exercised by
any submission of those cases to the Senate but that it has been
heretofore the practice to do so. They are accordingly submitted, with
other nominations, to fill the offices respectively annexed to their
names in the inclosed lists,[1] for the consideration of the Senate.
ANDREW JACKSON.
[Footnote 1: Omitted.]
PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of
January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence
being given to the President of the United States by the government of
any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost
are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels
belonging wholly to citizens of the United States, or upon merchandise
the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President
is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the
foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or
manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and merchandise, as aforesaid, therein laden, shall be
continued, and no longer; and
Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Imperial
Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through the Baron de Lederer, his
consul-general in the United States, that vessels wholly belonging to
citizens of the United States are not, nor shall be, on their entering
any Austrian port, from and after the 1st day of January last, subject
to the payment of higher duties of tonnage than are levied on Austrian
ships:
Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
imposing duties on the tonnage of ships arriving in the United States as
imposed a discriminating duty between the vessels of the Empire of
Austria and vessels of the United States are suspended and discontinued,
the said suspension to take effect from the day above mentioned and to
continue henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels
of the United States shall be continued in the ports of the imperial
dominions of Austria.
(SEAL.)
Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 11th day of May,
A.D. 1829, and the fifty-second[2] of the Independence of the United
States.
ANDREW JACKSON.
By the President:
M. Van Buren,
_Secretary of State_.
[Footnote 2: Should be "third" instead of "second."]
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,' and to equalize
the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that
upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United
States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating
duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the
said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United
States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in
the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the
President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that
the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce,
manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same
from the said foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no
longer; and
Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from His
Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through an official
communication of the Baron de Lederer, his consul-general in the United
States, under date of the 29th of May, 1829, that no other or higher
duties of tonnage and impost are imposed or levied since the 1st day of
January last in the ports of Austria upon vessels wholly belonging to
citizens of the United States and upon the produce, manufactures, or
merchandise imported in the same from the United States and from any
foreign country whatever than are levied on Austrian ships and their
cargoes in the same ports under like circumstances:
Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of Austria and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise
imported into the United States in the same from the dominions of
Austria and from any other foreign country whatever, the said suspension
to take effect from the day above mentioned and to continue
thenceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the
United States and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported
into the dominions of Austria in the same, as aforesaid, shall be
continued on the part of the Government of His Imperial Majesty the
Emperor of Austria.
Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 3d day of June,
A.D. 1829, and the fifty-third of the Independence of the United States.
ANDREW JACKSON.
By the President:
M. VAN BUREN,
_Secretary of State_.
EXECUTIVE ORDER.
In all applications by any invalid to obtain a pension in consequence of
any disability incurred, no payment therefor shall commence until proof
shall be filed in the Department and the decision of the Secretary had
thereon; and no pension will be allowed to anyone while acting as an
officer of the Army except in cases which have been heretofore adjudged.
Approved, 8th April, 1829.
ANDREW JACKSON.
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
It affords me pleasure to tender my friendly greetings to you on the
occasion of your assembling at the seat of Government to enter upon the
important duties to which you have been called by the voice of our
countrymen. The task devolves on me, under a provision of the
Constitution, to present to you, as the Federal Legislature of
twenty-four sovereign States and 12,000,000 happy people, a view of our
affairs, and to propose such measures as in the discharge of my official
functions have suggested themselves as necessary to promote the objects
of our Union.
In communicating with you for the first time it is to me a source of
unfeigned satisfaction, calling for mutual gratulation and devout thanks
to a benign Providence, that we are at peace with all mankind, and that
our country exhibits the most cheering evidence of general welfare and
progressive improvement. Turning our eyes to other nations, our great
desire is to see our brethren of the human race secured in the blessings
enjoyed by ourselves, and advancing in knowledge, in freedom, and in
social happiness.
Our foreign relations, although in their general character pacific and
friendly, present subjects of difference between us and other powers of
deep interest as well to the country at large as to many of our
citizens. To effect an adjustment of these shall continue to be the
object of my earnest endeavors, and notwithstanding the difficulties of
the task, I do not allow myself to apprehend unfavorable results.
Blessed as our country is with everything which constitutes national
strength, she is fully adequate to the maintenance of all her interests.
In discharging the responsible trust confided to the Executive in this
respect it is my settled purpose to ask nothing that is not clearly
right and to submit to nothing that is wrong; and I flatter myself that,
supported by the other branches of the Government and by the
intelligence and patriotism of the people, we shall be able, under the
protection of Providence, to cause all our just rights to be respected.
Of the unsettled matters between the United States and other powers, the
most prominent are those which have for years been the subject of
negotiation with England, France, and Spain. The late periods at which
our ministers to those Governments left the United States render it
impossible at this early day to inform you of what has been done on the
subjects with which they have been respectively charged. Relying upon
the justice of our views in relation to the points committed to
negotiation and the reciprocal good feeling which characterizes our
intercourse with those nations, we have the best reason to hope for a
satisfactory adjustment of existing differences.
With Great Britain, alike distinguished in peace and war, we may look
forward to years of peaceful, honorable, and elevated competition.
Everything in the condition and history of the two nations is calculated
to inspire sentiments of mutual respect and to carry conviction to the
minds of both that it is their policy to preserve the most cordial
relations. Such are my own views, and it is not to be doubted that such
are also the prevailing sentiments of our constituents. Although neither
time nor opportunity has been afforded for a full development of the
policy which the present cabinet of Great Britain designs to pursue
toward this country, I indulge the hope that it will be of a just and
pacific character; and if this anticipation be realized we may look with
confidence to a speedy and acceptable adjustment of our affairs.
Under the convention for regulating the reference to arbitration of the
disputed points of boundary under the fifth article of the treaty of
Ghent, the proceedings have hitherto been conducted in that spirit of
candor and liberality which ought ever to characterize the acts of
sovereign States seeking to adjust by the most unexceptionable means
important and delicate subjects of contention. The first statements of
the parties have been exchanged, and the final replication on our part
is in a course of preparation. This subject has received the attention
demanded by its great and peculiar importance to a patriotic member of
this Confederacy.
The exposition of our rights already made is such as, from the high
reputation of the commissioners by whom it has been prepared, we had a
right to expect. Our interests at the Court of the Sovereign who has
evinced his friendly disposition by assuming the delicate task of
arbitration have been committed to a citizen of the State of Maine,
whose character, talents, and intimate acquaintance with the subject
eminently qualify him for so responsible a trust. With full confidence
in the justice of our cause and in the probity, intelligence, and
uncompromising independence of the illustrious arbitrator, we can have
nothing to apprehend from the result.
From France, our ancient ally, we have a right to expect that justice
which becomes the sovereign of a powerful, intelligent, and magnanimous
people. The beneficial effects produced by the commercial convention of
1822, limited as are its provisions, are too obvious not to make a
salutary impression upon the minds of those who are charged with the
administration of her Government. Should this result induce a
disposition to embrace to their full extent the wholesome principles
which constitute our commercial policy, our minister to that Court will
be found instructed to cherish such a disposition and to aid in
conducting it to useful practical conclusions. The claims of our
citizens for depredations upon their property, long since committed
under the authority, and in many instances by the express direction, of
the then existing Government of France, remain unsatisfied, and must
therefore continue to furnish a subject of unpleasant discussion and
possible collision between the two Governments. I cherish, however, a
lively hope, founded as well on the validity of those claims and the
established policy of all enlightened governments as on the known
integrity of the French Monarch, that the injurious delays of the past
will find redress in the equity of the future. Our minister has been
instructed to press these demands on the French Government with all the
earnestness which is called for by their importance and irrefutable
justice, and in a spirit that will evince the respect which is due to
the feelings of those from whom the satisfaction is required.