The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE. |
 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I have the satisfaction on our present meeting of being able
to communicate to you the successful termination of the war
which had been commenced against the United States by
the Regency of Algiers. The squadron in advance on that
service, under Commodore Decatur, lost not a moment after
its arrival in the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of
the enemy then cruising in that sea, and succeeded in capturing
two of his ships, one of them the principal ship, commanded
by the Algerine admiral. The high character of the American
commander was brilliantly sustained on that occasion which
brought his own ship into close action with that of his adversary,
as was the accustomed gallantry of all the officers
and men actually engaged. Having prepared the way by
this demonstration of American skill and prowess, he hastened
to the port of Algiers, where peace was promptly yielded to
his victorious force. In the terms stipulated the rights and
honor of the United States were particularly consulted by a
perpetual relinquishment on the part of the Dey of all pretensions
to tribute from them. The impressions which have
thus been made, strengthened as they will have been by subsequent
transactions with the Regencies of Tunis and of
Tripoli by the appearance of the larger force which followed
under Commodore Bainbridge, the chief in command of the
expedition, and by the judicious precautionary arrangements
left by him in that quarter, afford a reasonable prospect of
future security for the valuable portion of our commerce
which passes within reach of the Barbary cruisers.
It is another source of satisfaction that the treaty of peace
with Great Britain has been succeeded by a convention on
the subject of commerce concluded by the plenipotentiaries
of the two countries. In this result a disposition is manifested
on the part of that nation corresponding with the
be improved into liberal arrangements on other subjects on
which the parties have mutual interests, or which might endanger
their future harmony. Congress will decide on the
expediency of promoting such a sequel by giving effect to the
measure of confining the American navigation to American
seamen—a measure which, at the same time that it might have
that conciliatory tendency, would have the further advantage
of increasing the independence of our navigation and the
resources for our maritime defence.
In conformity with the articles in the treaty of Ghent relating
to the Indians, as well as with a view to the tranquillity
of our western and northwestern frontiers, measures were
taken to establish an immediate peace with the several
tribes who had been engaged in hostilities against the United
States. Such of them as were invited to Detroit acceded
readily to a renewal of the former treaties of friendship.
Of the other tribes who were invited to a station on the
Mississippi the greater number have also accepted the peace
offered to them. The residue, consisting of the more distant
tribes or parts of tribes, remain to be brought over by further
explanations, or by such other means as may be adapted to
the dispositions they may finally disclose.
The Indian tribes within and bordering on the southern
frontier, whom a cruel war on their part had compelled us
to chastise into peace, have latterly shown a restlessness which
has called for preparatory measures for repressing it, and for
protecting the commissioners engaged in carrying the terms
of the peace into execution.
The execution of the act fixing the military peace establishment
has been attended with difficulties which even now
can only be overcome by legislative aid. The selection of
officers, the payment and discharge of the troops enlisted
for the war, the payment of the retained troops and their
reunion from detached and distant stations, the collection
and security of the public property in the Quartermaster,
medical assistance required in hospitals and garrisons rendered
a complete execution of the act impracticable on the 1st of
May, the period more immediately contemplated. As soon,
however, as circumstances would permit, and as far as it has
been practicable consistently with the public interests, the
reduction of the Army has been accomplished; but the appropriations
for its pay and for other branches of the military
service having proved inadequate, the earliest attention to
that subject will be necessary; and the expediency of continuing
upon the peace establishment the staff officers who
have hitherto been provisionally retained is also recommended
to the consideration of Congress.
In the performance of the Executive duty upon this occasion
there has not been wanting a just sensibility to the
merits of the American Army during the late war; but the
obvious policy and design in fixing an efficient military peace
establishment did not afford an opportunity to distinguish
the aged and infirm on account of their past services nor
the wounded and disabled on account of their present sufferings.
The extent of the reduction, indeed, unavoidably
involved the exclusion of many meritorious officers of every
rank from the service of their country; and so equal as well
as so numerous were the claims to attention that a decision
by the standard of comparative merit could seldom be attained.
Judged, however, in candor by a general standard of
positive merit, the Army register will, it is believed, do honor
to the establishment, while the case of those officers whose
names are not included in it devolves with the strongest
interest upon the legislative authority for such provision as
shall be deemed the best calculated to give support and solace
to the veteran and the invalid, to display the beneficence as
well as the justice of the Government, and to inspire a martial
zeal for the public service upon every future emergency.
Although the embarrassments arising from the want of an
uniform national currency have not been diminished since
derived in contemplating the revival of the public credit
and the efficiency of the public resources. The receipts into
the Treasury from the various branches of revenue during
the nine months ending on the 30th of September last have
been estimated at $12,500,000; the issues of Treasury notes
of every denomination during the same period amounted
to the sum of $14,000,000, and there was also obtained upon
loan during the same period a sum of $9,000,000, of which
the sum of $6,000,000 was subscribed in cash and the sum of
$3,000,000 in Treasury notes. With these means, added to the
sum of $1,500,000, being the balance of money in the Treasury
on the 1st day of January, there has been paid between the
1st of January and the 1st of October on account of the
appropriations of the preceding and of the present year
(exclusively of the amount of the Treasury notes subscribed
to the loan and of the amount redeemed in the payment of
duties and taxes) the aggregate sum of $33,500,000, leaving
a balance then in the Treasury estimated at the sum of
$3,000,000. Independent, however, of the arrearages due
for military services and supplies, it is presumed that a
further sum of $5,000,000, including the interest on the public
debt payable on the 1st of January next, will be demanded at
the Treasury to compete the expenditures of the present year,
and for which the existing ways and means will sufficiently
provide.
The national debt, as it was ascertained on the 1st of
October last, amounted in the whole to the sum of $120,000,000,
consisting of the unredeemed balance of the debt contracted
before the late war ($39,000,000), the amount of the
funded debt contracted in consequence of the war ($64,000,000),
and the amount of the unfunded and floating debt,
including the various issues of Treasury notes, $17,000,000,
which is in a gradual course of payment. There will probably
be some addition to the public debt upon the liquidation
of various claims which are depending, and a conciliatory
advantageously to an equitable arrangement of the militia
expenses incurred by the several States without the previous
sanction or authority of the Government of the United States;
but when it is considered that the new as well as the old
portion of the debt has been contracted in the assertion of
the national rights and independence, and when it is recollected
that the public expenditures, not being exclusively
bestowed upon subjects of a transient nature, will long be
visible in the number and equipments of the American Navy,
in the military works for the defense of our harbors and our
frontiers, and in the supplies of our arsenals and magazines
the amount will bear a gratifying comparison with the objects
which have been attained, as well as with the resources of
the country.
The arrangements of the finances with a view to the receipts
and expenditures of a permanent peace establishment
will necessarily enter into the deliberations of Congress
during the present session. It is true that the improved
condition of the public revenue will not only afford the means
of maintaining the faith of the Government with its creditors
inviolate, and of prosecuting successfully the measures of
the most liberal policy, but will also justify an immediate
alleviation of the burdens imposed by the necessities of the
war. It is, however, essential to every modification of the
finances that the benefits of an uniform national currency
should be restored to the community. The absence of the
precious metals will, it is believed, be a temporary evil, but
until they can again be rendered the general medium of exchange
it devolves on the wisdom of Congress to provide
a substitute which shall equally engage the confidence
and accommodate the wants of the citizens throughout the
Union. If the operation of the State banks can not produce
this result, the probable operation of a national bank will
merit consideration; and if neither of these expedients be
deemed effectual it may become necessary to ascertain the
required as an instrument of credit) shall be issued upon
motives of general policy as a common medium of circulation.
Notwithstanding the security for future repose which the
United States ought to find in their love of peace and their
constant respect for the rights of other nations, the character
of the times particularly inculcates the lesson that, whether
to prevent or repel danger, we ought not to be unprepared
for it. This consideration will sufficiently recommend to
Congress a liberal provision for the immediate extension and
gradual completion of the works of defense, both fixed and
floating, on our maritime frontier, and an adequate provision
for guarding our inland frontier against dangers to which
certain portions of it may continue to be exposed.
As an improvement in our military establishment, it will
deserve the consideration of Congress whether a corps of
invalids might not be so organized and employed as at once
to aid in the support of meritorious individuals excluded by
age or infirmities from the existing establishment, and to
procure to the public the benefit of their stationary services
and of their exemplary discipline. I recommend also an enlargement
of the Military Academy already established, and
the establishment of others in other sections of the Union;
and I can not press too much on the attention of Congress
such a classification and organization of the militia as will
most effectually render it the safeguard of a free state. If
experience has shewn in the recent splendid achievements of
militia the value of this resource for the public defense, it has
shewn also the importance of that skill in the use of arms
and that familiarity with the essential rules of discipline which
can not be expected from the regulations now in force. With
this subject is intimately connected the necessity of accommodating
the laws in every respect to the great object of enabling
the political authority of the Union to employ promptly
and effectually the physical power of the Union in the cases
designated by the Constitution.
The signal services which have been rendered by our Navy
and the capacities it has developed for successful co-operation
in the national defense will give to that portion of the public
force its full value in the eyes of Congress, at an epoch which
calls for the constant vigilance of all governments. To preserve
the ships now in a sound state, to complete those already
contemplated, to provide amply the imperishable materials
for prompt augmentations, and to improve the existing
arrangements into more advantageous establishments for the
construction, the repairs, and the security of vessels of war
is dictated by the soundest policy.
In adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue
the influence of the tariff on manufactures will necessarily
present itself for consideration. However wise the theory may
be which leaves to the sagacity and interest of individuals
the application of their industry and resources, there are in
this as in other cases exceptions to the general rule. Besides
the condition which the theory itself implies of a reciprocal
adoption by other nations, experience teaches that so many
circumstances must concur in introducing and maturing
manufacturing establishments, especially of the more complicated
kinds, that a country may remain long without them,
although sufficiently advanced and in some respects even
peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with success. Under
circumstances giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing
industry it has made among us a progress and exhibited an
efficiency which justify the belief that with a protection not
more than is due to the enterprising citizens whose interests
are now at stake it will become at an early day not only safe
against occasional competitions from abroad, but a source
of domestic wealth and even of external commerce. In
selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public
patronage a preference is obviously claimed by such as will
relieve the United States from a dependence on foreign supplies
ever subject to casual failures, for articles necessary for
the public defense or connected with the primary wants of
particular manufactures where the materials for them are
extensively drawn from our agriculture, and consequently impart
and insure to that great fund of national prosperity
and independence an encouragement which can not fail to
be rewarded.
Among the means of advancing the public interest the
occasion is a proper one for recalling the attention of Congress
to the great importance of establishing throughout our country
(the roads and canals) which can best be executed under
the national authority. No objects within the circle of
political economy so richly repay the expense bestowed on
them; there are none the utility of which is more universally
ascertained and acknowledged; none that do more honor to
the governments whose wise and enlarged patriotism duly
appreciates them. Nor is there any country which presents
a field where nature invites more the art of man to complete
her own work for his accommodation and benefit. These
considerations are strengthened, moreover, by the political
effect of these facilities for intercommunication in bringing
and binding more closely together the various parts of our
extended confederacy. Whilst the States individually, with
a laudable enterprise and emulation, avail themselves of their
local advantages by new roads, by navigable canals, and by
improving the streams susceptible of navigation, the General
Government is the more urged to similar undertakings, requiring
a national jurisdiction and national means, by the
prospect of thus systematically completing so inestimable a
work; and it is a happy reflection that any defect of constitutional
authority which may be encountered can be supplied
in a mode which the Constitution itself has providently
pointed out.
The present is a favorable season also for bringing again
into view the establishment of a national seminary of learning
within the District of Columbia, and with means drawn from
the property therein, subject to the authority of the General
Congress as a monument of their solicitude for the advancement
of knowledge, without which the blessings of liberty can
not be fully enjoyed or long preserved; as a model instructive
in the formation of other seminaries; as a nursery of enlightened
preceptors, and as a central resort of youth and
genius from every part of their country, diffusing on their
return examples of those national feelings, those liberal
sentiments, and those congenial manners which contribute
cement to our Union and strength to the great political fabric
of which that is the foundation.
In closing this communication I ought not to repress a
sensibility, in which you will unite, to the happy lot of our
country and to the goodness of a superintending Providence,
to which we are indebted for it. Whilst other portions of
mankind are laboring under the distresses of war or struggling
with adversity in other forms, the United States are in the
tranquil enjoyment of prosperous and honorable peace. In
reviewing the scenes through which it has been attained we
can rejoice in the proofs given that our political institutions,
founded in human rights and framed for their preservation,
are equal to the severest trials of war as well as adapted to
the ordinary periods of repose. As fruits of this experience
and of the reputation acquired by the American arms on the
land and on the water, the nation finds itself possessed of a
growing respect abroad and of a just confidence in itself,
which are among the best pledges for its peaceful career.
Under other aspects of our country the strongest features of
its flourishing condition are seen in a population rapidly
increasing on a territory as productive as it is extensive; in
a general industry and fertile ingenuity which find their
ample rewards, and in an affluent revenue which admits a
reduction of the public burdens without withdrawing the
means of sustaining the public credit, of gradually discharging
the public debt, of providing for the necessary defensive
and precautionary establishments, and of patronizing in every
wealth and individual comfort of our citizens.
It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere
in that justice and good will toward other nations which
invite a return of these sentiments toward the United States;
to cherish institutions which guarantee their safety and their
liberties, civil and religious; and to combine with a liberal
system of foreign commerce an improvement of the national
advantages and a protection and extension of the independent
resources of our highly favored and happy country.
In all measures having such objects my faithful co-operation
will be afforded.
| The writings of James Madison, | |