vious, that the exercise of the power can never be satisfactory. Besides the danger to which it exposes congress of making hasty appropriations to works of the character of which they may be frequently ignorant, it promotes a mischievous and corrupting influence upon the elections, by holding out to the people the fallacious hope that the success of a certain candidate will make navigable their neighbouring creek or river, bring commerce to their doors, and increase the value of their property. It thus favours combinations to squander the treasure of the country upon a multitude of local objects, as fatal to just legislation as to the purity of public

men.

If a system compatible with the constitution cannot be devised, which is free from such tendencies, we should recollect that that instrument provides within itself the mode of its amendment; and that there is, therefore, no excuse for the assumption of doubtful powers by the general government. If those which are clearly granted shall be found incompetent to the ends of its creation, it can at any time apply for their enlargement; and there is no probability that such an application, if founded on the public interest, will ever be refused. If the pro priety of the proposed grant be not sufficiently apparent to command the assent of three fourths of the states, the best possible reason why the power should not be assumed on doubtful authority is afforded; for if more than one fourth of the states are unwilling to make the grant, its exercise will be productive of disoontents which will far overbalance any advantages that could be derived from it. All must admit, that there is nothing so worthy of the constant solicitude of this government as the harmony and union of the people.

Being solemnly impressed with the conviction, that the extension of the power to make internal improvements beyond the limit I have sug. gested, even if it be deemed constitu tional, is subversive of the best interests of our country, I earnestly recommend to congress to refrain from its exercise, in doubtful cases, except in relation to improvements already begun, unless they shall first procure from the states such an amendment of the constitution as will define its character, and prescribe its bounds. If the states feel themselves competent to these objects, why should this government wish to assume the power? If they do not, then they will not hesitate to make the grant. Both governments are the governments of the people: improvements must be made with the money of the people; and if the money can be collected and applied by those more simple and economical political machines, the state governments, it will unquestionably be safer and better for the people, than to add to the splendour, the patronage, and the power of the general government. But if the people of the several states think otherwise, they will amend the constitution, and in their decision all ought cheerfully to acquiesce.

For a detailed and highly satisfactory view of the operations of the war department, I refer you to the accompanying report of the secretary of war.

The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians necessarily led to the interposition of the government. A portion of the troops under Generals Scott and Atkinson, and of the militia of the state of Illinois, were called into the field. After a harassing wartare, prolonged by the nature of the country, and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected dispersed or de

stroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions; and it is to be hoped, that its impression will be permanent and salutary.

This campaign has evinced the efficient organization of the army, and its capacity for prompt and active service. Its several departments have performed their functions with energy and despatch, and the general movement was satisfactory. Our fellow citizens upon the fron. tiers were ready, as they always are, in the tender of their services in the hour of danger. But a more efficient organization of our militia system is essential to that security which is one of the principal objects of all governments. Neither our situation nor our institutions require or permit the maintenance of a large regular force. History offers too many lessons of the fatal result of such a measure not to warn us against its adoption here. The expense which attends it, the obvious tendency to employ it because it exists, and thus to engage in unnecessary wars, and its ultimate danger to public liberty, will lead us, I trust, to place our principal dependence for protection upon the great body of the citizens of the republic. If in asserting rights, or in repelling wrongs, war should come upon us, our regular force should be increas ed to an extent proportioned to the emergency; and our present small army is a necleus around which such force could be formed and embodied. But for the purposes of defence in ordinary circumstances, we must rely upon the electors of the country. Those by whom, and for whom, the government was instituted and is supported, will constitute its protection in the hour of

danger, as they do its check in the hour of safety.

But it is obvious that the militia system is imperfect. Much time is lost, much unnecessary expense incurred, and much public property wasted, under the present arrangement. Little useful knowledge is gained by the musters and drills, as now established, and the whole subject evidently requires a thorough examination. Whether a plan of classification, remedying these defects, and providing for a system of instruction, might not be adopted, is submitted to the consideration of congress. The constitution has vested in the general government an independent authority upon the subject of the militia, which renders its action essential to the establish. ment or improvement of the system. And I recommend the matter to your consideration, in the convic. tion, that the state of this important arm of the public defence requires your attention.

I am happy to inform you, that the wise and humane policy of transferring from the eastern to the western side of the Mississippi, the remnants of our aboriginal tribes, with their own consent, and upon just terms, has been steadily pursued, and is approaching, I trust, its consummation. By reference to the report of the secretary of war, and to the documents submitted with it, you will see the progress which has been made since your last session, in the arrangement of the various matters connected with our Indian relations. With one exception, every subject involving any question of conflicting jurisdiction, or of peculiar difficulty, has been happily disposed of, and the conviction evidently gains ground among the Indians, that their removal to the country assigned by the United States for their permanent residence, fur.

after the fraud has been committed. It may happen again, as it has already happened, that during the whole two years, all the evidences of the fraud may be in the possession of the culprit himself. How ever proper the limitation may be in relation to private citizens, it would seem that it ought not to commence running in favour of public officers until they go out of office. The judiciary system of the United States remains imperfect. Of the nine western and south western states, three only enjoy the benfits of a circuit court. Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, are embraced in the general system; but Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, have only district courts. If the existing system be a good one, why should it not be extended? If it be a bad one, why is it suffered to exist? The new states were promised equal rights and privileges when they came into the Union, and such are the guaranties of the constitution. Nothing can be more obvious than the obligation of the general government to place all the states on the same footing, in relation to the administration of justice, and I trust this duty will be neglected no longer.

On many of the subjects to which your attention is invited in this communication, it is a source of gratification to reflect that the steps to be now adopted are uninfluenced by the embarrassments entailed upon the country by the wars through which it has passed. In regard to most of our great interests, we may consider ourselves as just starting in our career, and, after a salutary experience, about to fix upon a permanent basis the policy best calculated to promote the happiness of the people and facilitate their progress towards the most complete

enjoyment of civil liberty. On an occasion so interesting and important in our history, and of such anxious concern to the friends of freedom throughout the world, it is our imperious duty to lay aside all selfish and local considerations, and be guided by a lofty spirit of devotion to the great principles on which our institutions are founded.

That this government may be so administered as to preserve its efficiency in promoting and securing these general objects, should be the only aim of our ambition, and we cannot, therefore, too carefully examine its structure, in order that we may not mistake its powers, or assume those which the people have reserved to themselves, or have preferred to assign to other agents. We should bear constantly in mind the fact that the considerations which induced the framers of the constitution to withhold from the general government the power to regulate the great mass of the business and concerns of the people, have been fully justified by experi ence, and that it cannot now be doubted that the genius of all our institutions prescribes simplicity and economy as the characteristics of the reform which is yet to be effect. ed in the present and future execution of the functions bestowed upon us by the constitution.

Limited to a general superintending power to maintain peace at home and abroad, and to prescribe laws on a few subjects of general interest, not calculated to restrict human liberty, but to enforce human rights, this government will find its strength and its glory in the faithful discharge of these plain and simple duties. Relieved by its protecting shield from the fear of war and the apprehension of oppression, the free enterprise of our citizens, aided by the state sovereignties,

will work out improvements and ameliorations which cannot fail to demonstrate that the great truth, that the people can govern themselves, is not only realized in our example, but that it is done by a machinery in government so simple and economical as scarcely to be felt. That

the Almighty Ruler of the Universe may so direct our deliberations, and overrule our acts, as to make us instrumental in securing a result so dear to mankind, is my most earnest and sincere prayer. ANDREW JACKSON.

December 4th, 1832,

Washington, December 6th, 1832.

To the Senate of the United States:

I avail myself of this early opportunity to return to the senate, in which it originated, the bill entitled "an act providing for the final settlement of the claims of states for interest on advances to the United States made during the late war," with the reasons which induced me to withhold my approbation, in consequence of which, it has failed to become a law.

This bill was presented to me for my signature on the last day of your session, and when I was compelled to consider a variety of other bills of greater urgency to the public service. It obviously embraced a principle in the allowance of interest different from that which had been sanctioned by the practice of the accounting officers, or by the previous legislation of congress, in regard to advances by the states, and without any apparent grounds for the change.

Previously to giving my sanction to so great an extension of the practice of allowing interest upon accounts with the government, and which, in its consequences, and from analogy, might not only call for large payments from the treasury, but disturb the great mass of

individual accounts long since finally settled, I deemed it my duty to make a more thorough investigation of the subject than it was possible for me to do previously to the close of your last session. I adopted this course the more readily, from the consideration that as the bill contained no appropriation, the states which would have been entitled to claim its benefits, could not have received them without the fuller legislation of congress.

The principle which this bill authorizes, varies not only from the practice uniformly adopted by many of the accounting officers in the case of individual accounts, and in those of the states finally settled and closed previously to your last session, but also from that pursued under the act of your last session, for the adjustment and settlement of the claims of the state of South Caroli na. This last act prescribed no particular mode for the allowance of interest, which, therefore, in conformity with the directions of congress in previous cases, and with the uniform practice of the auditor by whom the account was settled, was computed on the sums expend. ed by the state of South Carolina for the use and benefit of the United States, and which had been repaid