A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - James D. Richardson
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Under these circumstances a decision on the claim of the State of
Massachusetts has hitherto been suspended, and it need not be remarked
that the suspension has proceeded from a conviction that it would be
improper to give any sanction by its admission, or by the admission
of any part thereof, either to the construction of the Constitution
contended for by the then executive of that State or to its conduct
at that period toward the General Government and the Union.
In January, 1823, the Representatives in Congress from Massachusetts and
Maine suggested, by memorial, that the constitutional objection could
not apply to a portion of the claim, and requested that the accounting
officer of the Government might be instructed to audit and admit such
part as might be free from that objection. In all cases where claims
are presented for militia service it is the duty and the practice of
the accounting officer to submit them to the Department for instruction
as to the legality of the claim; that is, whether the service had been
rendered by order of the competent authority, or otherwise, under
circumstances to justify the claim against the United States, admitting
that the evidence in support of it should be satisfactory. To this
request there appeared to be no well-founded objection, under the
reservation as to the constitutional principle, and accordingly an order
was given to the accounting officers of the Treasury to proceed in
auditing the claim with that reservation.
In conformity with this arrangement, the executive of Massachusetts
appointed two citizens of that State commissioners to attend to the
settlement of its claim, and who, in execution of the trust reposed in
them, have presented to the accounting officer of the Treasury that
portion comprehending the services of the fifth division of the militia
of the State, which has been audited and reported for consideration,
subject to the objection above stated. I have examined this report, with
the documents presented by the commissioners, and am of opinion that
the services rendered by that division were spontaneous, patriotic, and
proper, necessary for self-defense, to repel in some instances actual
invasion and in others to meet by adequate preparation invasions that
were menaced. The commissioners of the State having intimated that other
portions of service stood on similar ground, the accounting officer has
been instructed, in auditing the whole, to do it in such manner as to
enable the Department to show distinctly under what circumstances each
portion of service was rendered, whether voluntary, called out by
invasion or the menace of invasion, or by public authority, and in such
case whether the militia rendering such service was placed under the
authority of the United States or retained under that of the State.
It affords me great pleasure to state that the present executive of
Massachusetts has disclaimed the principle which was maintained by the
former executive, and that in this disclaimer both branches of the
legislature have concurred. By this renunciation the State is placed on
the same ground in this respect with the other States, and this very
distressing anomaly in our system is removed. It is well known that the
great body of our fellow-citizens in Massachusetts are as firmly devoted
to our Union and to the free republican principles of our Government as
our fellow-citizens of the other States. Of this important truth their
conduct in every stage of our Revolutionary struggle and in many other
emergencies bears ample testimony; and I add with profound interest and
a thorough conviction that, although the difficulty adverted to in the
late war with their executive excited equal surprise and regret, it
was not believed to extend to them. There never was a moment when the
confidence of the Government in the great body of our fellow-citizens
of that State was impaired, nor is a doubt entertained that they were
at all times willing and ready to support their rights and repel an
invasion by the enemy.
The commissioners of Massachusetts have urged, in compliance with their
instructions, the payment of so much of their claim as applies to the
services rendered by the fifth division, which have been audited, and
I should have no hesitation in admitting it if I did not think, under
all the circumstances of the case, that the claim in all its parts was
cognizable by Congress alone. The period at which the constitutional
difficulty was raised by the executive of the State was in the highest
degree important, as was the tendency of the principle for which it
contended, and which was adhered to during the war. The public mind
throughout the Union was much excited by that occurrence, and great
solicitude was felt as to its consequences. The Executive of the United
States was bound to maintain, and did maintain, a just construction of
the Constitution, in doing which it is gratifying to recollect that the
most friendly feelings were cherished toward their brethren of that
State. The executive of the State was warned, in the correspondence
which then took place, of the light in which its conduct was viewed
and of the effect it would have, so far as related to the right of the
Executive of the United States, on any claim which might afterwards be
presented by the State to compensation for such services. Under these
circumstances the power of the Executive of the United States to settle
any portion of this claim seems to be precluded. It seems proper, also,
that this claim should be decided on full investigation before the
public, that the principle on which it is decided may be thoroughly
understood by our fellow-citizens of every State, which can be done by
Congress alone, who alone, also, possess the power to pass laws which
may be necessary to carry such decision into effect.
In submitting this subject to the calm and enlightened judgment of
Congress, I do it with peculiar satisfaction, from a knowledge that you
are now placed, by the course of events, in a situation which will
enable you to adopt such measures as will not only comport with the
sound principles of our Government, but likewise be conducive to other
the highest interests of our Union. By the renunciation of the principle
maintained by the then executive of Massachusetts, as has been done by
its present executive and both branches of the legislature in the most
formal manner and in accord with the sentiments of the great body of the
people, the Constitution is restored in a very important feature (that
connected with the public defense) and in the most important branch
(that of the militia) to its native strength. It is very gratifying to
know that this renunciation has been produced by the regular, orderly,
and pacific operation of our republican system, whereby those who
were in the right at the moment of difficulty and who sustained the
Government with great firmness have daily gained strength until this
result was accomplished. The points on which you will have to decide
are, What is fairly due for the services which were actually rendered?
By what means shall we contribute most to cement the Union and give the
greatest support to our most excellent Constitution? In seeking each
object separately we are led to the same result. All that can be claimed
by our fellow-citizens of Massachusetts is that the constitutional
objection be waived, and that they be placed on the same footing with
their brethren in the other States; that regarding the services rendered
by the militia of other States, for which compensation has been made,
giving to the rule the most liberal construction, like compensation be
made for similar services rendered by the militia of that State.
I have been led to conclude on great consideration that the principles
of justice as well as a due regard for the great interests of our Union
require that this claim in the extent proposed should be acceded to.
Essential service was rendered in the late war by the militia of
Massachusetts, and with the most patriotic motives. It seems just,
therefore, that they should be compensated for such services in like
manner with the militia of the other States. The constitutional
difficulty did not originate with them, and has now been removed. It
comports with our system to look to the service rendered and to the
intention with which it was rendered, and to award the compensation
accordingly, especially as it may now be done without the sacrifice of
principle. The motive in this instance is the stronger because well
satisfied I am that by so doing we shall give the most effectual support
to our republican institutions. No latent cause of discontent will be
left behind. The great body of the people will be gratified, and even
those who now survive who were then in error can not fail to see with
interest and satisfaction this distressing occurrence thus happily
terminated. I therefore consider it my duty to recommend it to Congress
to make provision for the settlement of the claim of Massachusetts
for services rendered in the late war by the militia of the State,
in conformity with the rules which have governed in the settlement of
the claims for services rendered by the militia of the other States.
JAMES MONROE.
FEBRUARY 24, 1824.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, containing the
information called for by a resolution of the House of Representatives
of the United States, passed on the 4th instant, respecting any suit or
suits which have been or are now depending, in which the United States
are interested, for the recovery of the Pea Patch.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, _February 25, 1824_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In conformity with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
17th instant, I now transmit the report of the Secretary of the Navy,
accompanied by statements marked A and B, shewing "the amount of money
expended in conformity with the provisions of the act entitled 'An act
for the gradual increase of the Navy of the United States,' approved
April 29, 1816, and of the act to amend said act, approved 3d of March,
1821; also the number of vessels built or now on the stocks, with their
rates, the value of the timber purchased, or for which contracts
have been made, and whether sufficient timber has been purchased or
contracted for to build the vessels contemplated by the provisions of
said acts."
JAMES MONROE.
MARCH 3, 1824.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate a report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
containing copies of the contracts made by the Surveyor-General,
and called for by a resolution of the Senate bearing date the 24th
February, 1824.
JAMES MONROE.
MARCH 4, 1824.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which communicates
all the information in possession of the Department called for by a
resolution of the House requesting a copy of the report of the register
of the land office in the eastern district of Louisiana, bearing date
the 6th of January, 1821, together with all the information from the
said register to the Treasury Department.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, _March 4, 1824_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
1st March, 1823, requesting information of the number and position of
the permanent fortifications which have been and are now erecting for
the defense of the coasts, harbors, and frontiers of the United States,
with the classification and magnitude of each, with the amount expended
on each, showing the work done and to be done, the number of guns of
every caliber for each fortification, the total cost of a complete
armament for each, the force required to garrison each in time of peace
and of war, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War
containing the information required by the resolution.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, _March 8, 1824_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
On the 3d March, 1819, James Miller was first commissioned as governor
of the Territory of Arkansas for the term of three years from that date.
Before the expiration of that time, and in the winter of 1821-22, a
nomination of him for reappointment was intended, and believed by me
to have been made to the Senate, and to have received the confirmation
of that body.
By some accident, the cause of which is unknown, it appears that this
impression was erroneous, and in December, 1822, it was discovered that
Mr. Miller had not then been recommissioned, though in the confidence
that he had been he had continued to act in that capacity. He was then
renominated to the Senate, with the additional proposal that his
commission should take effect from 3d March, 1822, when his first
commission had expired.
The nomination was confirmed by the Senate so far as regarded the
appointment, but without concurrence in the retrospective effect
proposed to be given to the commission.
His second commission, therefore, bears date on the 3d January, 1823,
and the interposition of the Legislature becomes necessary to legalize
his official acts in the interval between 3d March, 1822, and that time,
a subject which I recommend to the consideration of Congress.
JAMES MONROE.
MARCH 17, 1824.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
17th of February last, requesting "information whether any measures had
been taken for carrying into effect the resolution of Congress of June
17, 1777, directing a monument to be erected to the memory of David
Wooster, a brigadier-general in the Army of the United States, who fell
in defending the liberties of America and bravely repelling an inroad
of the British forces to Danbury, in Connecticut," I have caused the
necessary inquiries to be made, and find by the report of the Register
of the Treasury that no monument has been erected to the memory of that
patriotic and gallant officer, nor has any money been paid to the
executive of Connecticut on that account.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, _March 25, 1824_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of
the 25th of February, requesting information whether the title of the
United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen to certain
sections of land in Ohio has been purchased for the United States, and,
if so, to cause a copy of the contract and of the papers relating
thereto to be laid before the House, I transmit herewith all the
documents required.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, _March 25, 1824_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
Having seen with regret that occasional errors have been made in
nominations to the Senate, sometimes by the omission of a letter in
the name, proceeding from casualties in the Departments and in my own
office, it would be satisfactory to me if an arrangement could be made
whereby such errors might be corrected without the formality of a
special message. Where there is an accord as to the person there seems
to be no reason for resorting to a renomination for the correction of
such trivial errors. Any mode which the Senate may adopt will be
satisfactory to me.
JAMES MONROE.
MARCH 25, 1824.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
Having stated to Congress on the 7th of December last that Daniel D.
Tompkins, late governor of New York, was entitled to a larger sum than
that reported in his favor by the accounting officers of the Government,
and that in the execution of the law of the last session I had the
subject still under consideration, I now communicate to you the result.
On full consideration of the law by which this duty was enjoined on me
and of the report of the committee on the basis of which the law was
founded, I have thought that I was authorized to adopt the principles
laid down in that report in deciding on the sum which should be allowed
to him for his services. With this view and on a comparison of his
services with those which were rendered by other disbursing officers,
taking into consideration also his aid in obtaining loans, I had decided
to allow him 5 per cent for all sums borrowed and disbursed by him, and
of which decision I informed him. Mr. Tompkins has since stated to me
that this allowance will not indemnify him for his advances, loans,
expenditures, and losses in rendering those services, nor place him
on the footing of those who loaned money to the Government at that
interesting period. He has also expressed a desire that I would submit
the subject to the final decision of Congress, which I now do. In
adopting this measure I think proper to add that I concur fully in the
sentiments expressed by the committee in favor of the very patriotic and
valuable services which were rendered by Mr. Tompkins in the late war.
JAMES MONROE.
MARCH 28, 1824.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of War, together with a
report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, accompanied
by the necessary documents, communicating the information heretofore
requested by a resolution of the House in relation to the salt springs,
lead and copper mines, together with the probable value of each of them
and of the reservations attached to each, the extent to which they have
been worked, the advantages and proximity of each to navigable waters,
and the origin, nature, and extent of any claim made to them by
individuals or companies, which reports contain all the information
at present possessed on the subjects of the said resolution.
JAMES MONROE.
MARCH 30, 1824.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
14th instant, requesting information whether an advance of compensation
had been made to any of the commissioners who had been appointed for
the examination of titles and claims to land in Florida, and by what
authority such advance, if any, had been made, I transmit a report of
the Secretary of State, which contains the information desired.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, _March 30, 1824_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress certain papers enumerated in a report from the
Secretary of War, relating to the compact between the United States and
the State of Georgia entered into in 1802, whereby the latter ceded to
the former a portion of the territory then within its limits on the
conditions therein specified. By the fourth article of that compact
it was stipulated that the United States should at their own expense
extinguish for the use of Georgia the Indian title to all the lands
within the State as soon as it might be done _peaceably_ and on
_reasonable_ conditions. These papers show the measures adopted by the
Executive of the United States in fulfillment of the several conditions
of the compact from its date to the present time, and particularly the
negotiations and treaties with the Indian tribes for the extinguishment
of their title, with an estimate of the number of acres purchased and
sums paid for lands they acquired. They show also the state in which
this interesting concern now rests with the Cherokees, one of the tribes
within the State, and the inability of the Executive to make any further
movement with this tribe without the special sanction of Congress.
I have full confidence that my predecessors exerted their best endeavors
to execute this compact in all its parts, of which, indeed, the sums
paid and the lands acquired during their respective terms in fulfillment
of its several stipulations are a full proof. I have also been animated
since I came into this office with the same zeal, from an anxious
desire to meet the wishes of the State, and in the hope that by the
establishment of these tribes beyond the Mississippi their improvement
in civilization, their security and happiness would be promoted. By the
paper bearing date on the 30th of January last, which was communicated
to the chiefs of the Cherokee Nation in this city, who came to protest
against any further appropriations of money for holding treaties with
them, the obligation imposed on the United States by the compact with
Georgia to extinguish the Indian title to the right of soil within the
State, and the incompatibility with our system of their existence as
a distinct community within any State, were pressed with the utmost
earnestness. It was proposed to them at the same time to procure and
convey to them territory beyond the Mississippi in exchange for that
which they hold within the limits of Georgia, or to pay them for it its
value in money. To this proposal their answer, which bears date 11th of
February following, gives an unqualified refusal. By this it is manifest
that at the present time and in their present temper they can be removed
only by force, to which, should it be deemed proper, the power of the
Executive is incompetent.
I have no hesitation, however, to declare it as my opinion that the
Indian title was not affected in the slightest circumstance by the
compact with Georgia, and that there is no obligation on the United
States to remove the Indians by force. The express stipulation of the
compact that their title should be extinguished at the expense of the
United States when it may be done _peaceably_ and on _reasonable_
conditions is a full proof that it was the clear and distinct
understanding of both parties to it that the Indians had a right to
the territory, in the disposal of which they were to be regarded as
free agents. An attempt to remove them by force would, in my opinion,
be unjust. In the future measures to be adopted in regard to the Indians
within our limits, and, in consequence, within the limits of any State,
the United States have duties to perform and a character to sustain
to which they ought not to be indifferent. At an early period their
improvement in the arts of civilized life was made an object with the
Government, and that has since been persevered in. This policy was
dictated by motives of humanity to the aborigines of the country, and
under a firm conviction that the right to adopt and pursue it was
equally applicable to all the tribes within our limits.
My impression is equally strong that it would promote essentially the
security and happiness of the tribes within our limits if they could be
prevailed on to retire west and north of our States and Territories on
lands to be procured for them by the United States, in exchange for
those on which they now reside. Surrounded as they are, and pressed
as they will be, on every side by the white population, it will be
difficult if not impossible for them, with their kind of government, to
sustain order among them. Their interior will be exposed to frequent
disturbances, to remedy which the interposition of the United States
will be indispensable, and thus their government will gradually lose its
authority until it is annihilated. In this process the moral character
of the tribes will also be lost, since the change will be too rapid to
admit their improvement in civilization to enable them to institute and
sustain a government founded on our principles, if such a change were
compatible either with the compact with Georgia or with our general
system, or to become members of a State, should any State be willing
to adopt them in such numbers, regarding the good order, peace, and
tranquillity of such State. But all these evils may be avoided if these
tribes will consent to remove beyond the limits of our present States
and Territories. Lands equally good, and perhaps more fertile, may be
procured for them in those quarters. The relations between the United
States and such Indians would still be the same.
Considerations of humanity and benevolence, which have now great weight,
would operate in that event with an augmented force, since we should
feel sensibly the obligation imposed on us by the accommodation which
they thereby afforded us. Placed at ease, as the United States would
then be, the improvement of those tribes in civilization and in all
the arts and usages of civilized life would become the part of a general
system which might be adopted on great consideration, and in which every
portion of our Union would then take an equal interest. These views have
steadily been pursued by the Executive, and the moneys which have
been placed at its disposal have been so applied in the manner best
calculated, according to its judgment, to produce this desirable result,
as will appear by the documents which accompany the report of the
Secretary of War.
I submit this subject to the consideration of Congress under a high
sense of its importance and of the propriety of an early decision on it.
This compact gives a claim to the State which ought to be executed in
all its conditions with perfect good faith. In doing this, however, it
is the duty of the United States to regard its strict import, and to
make no sacrifice of their interest not called for by the compact nor
contemplated by either of the parties when it was entered into, nor
to commit any breach of right or of humanity in regard to the Indians
repugnant to the judgment and revolting to the feelings of the whole
American people. I submit the subject to your consideration, in full
confidence that you will duly weigh the obligations of the compact with
Georgia, its import in all its parts, and the extent to which the United
States are bound to go under it. I submit it with equal confidence that
you will also weigh the nature of the Indian title to the territory
within the limits of any State, with the stipulations in the several
treaties with this tribe respecting territory held by it within the
State of Georgia, and decide whether any measure on the part of Congress
is called for at the present time, and what such measure shall be if any
is deemed expedient.