US Presidency
1826

It was scarcely one short year after the close of the late war, and when the burden of its expenses and charges was weighing heaviest upon the country, that Congress, by the act of 1816 - 04 - 29, appropriated $ 1 million annually for eight years to the gradual increase of the Navy. At a subsequent period this annual appropriation was reduced to $ 0,500,000 for six years, of which the present year is the last. A yet more recent appropriation the last two years, for building 10 sloops of war, has nearly restored the original appropriation of 1816 of $ 1 million for every year. The result is before United States all. We have 12 line-of-battle ships, 20 frigates, and sloops of war in proportion, which, with a few months preparation, may present a line of floating fortifications along the whole range of our coast ready to meet any invader who might attempt to set foot upon our shores.