426
Messages and Papers of iJie Presidents
payment, proposed to the United States to cede lands to the amount of
their debts, and designated them in two different portions of their coun-
try.
These designations,
not
at
all
suiting
us, were declined.
Still
urged by their creditors, as well as by their own desire to be liberated from
debt, they at length proposed to make a cession which should be to our
convenience.
By a treaty signed at Pooshapuckanuck on the
i6th of
November, 1S05, they accordingly ceded all their lands south of a line to
be run from their and our lx)undary at the Omochita eastwardly to their
boundary with
the Creeks, on
the ridge between
the Tombigbee and
Alabama, as is more particularly described in the treaty, containing about
5,000,000 acre", as
is supposed, and uniting our possessions there from
Adams to Washington County.
The location contemplated in the instructions to the commissioners was
on the Mississippi.
That in the treaty being entirely different, I was at
that time disinclined to its ratification, and I have suffered it to lie unacted
on.
But progressive difficulties in our foreign relations have brought into
view considerations other than those which then prevailed.
It
is now,
perhaps, as interesting to obtain footing for a strong settlement of militia
along our southern frontier eastward of the Mississippi as on the west
of that river, and more so than higher up the river itself.
The consoli-
dation of the Mississippi Territory and the establishment of a barrier of
separation between
the
Indians and our Southern
neighbors are also
important objects; and the Choctaws and their creditors being still anx'
ious that the sale should be made,
I submitted the treaty to the Senate,
who have advised and consented to its ratification.
I therefore now lay
it before both Houces of Congress for the exercise of their constitutional
powers as to the means of fulfilling it.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
30,
1808.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
The posts of Detroit and Mackinac having been originally intended
by the Governments which established and held them as mere depots for
commerce with the Indians, ver>' small cessions of land around them were
obtained or asked from the native proprietors, and these posts depended
for protection on the strength of their garrisons.
The principles of our
Government leading us to the employment of such moderate garrisons
in time of peace as may merely take care of the post, and to a reliance
on the neighboring militia for its support in the first moments of war, I
have thought
it would be important to obtain from the Indians such a
cession in the neighborhood of these posts as might maintain a militia
proportioned to this object; and I have particularly contemplated, with
this view, the acquisition of the eastern moiety of the peninsula between
the lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, extending
it to the Connecticut
Thomas Jefferson
42 7
Reserve so soon as it could be effected with the perfect good will of the
natives.
By a treaty concluded at Detroit on the 17th of November last with
the Ottoways, Chippeways, Wyandots, and Pattawatimas so much
of
this country has been
obtained as extends from
about Saguina Bay
southwardly to the Miami of the I^akes, supposed to contain upward of
5,000,000 acres, with a prospect of obtaining for the present a breadth of
2 miles for a communication from the Miami to the Connecticut Reserve.
The Senate having advised and consented to the
ratification of this
treaty,
I now lay it before both Houses of Congress for the exercise of
their constitutional powers as to the means of
fulfilling it.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February 2,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Having received an
official communication
of certain orders
of
the
British Government against the maritime rights of neutrals, bearing date
the nth of November, 1807,
I transmit them to Congress, as a further
proof of the increasing dangers to our navigation and commerce, which
led to the provident measure of the act of the present session laying an
embargo on ovu: own vessels.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February 4,
1808.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In my message of January 20 I stated that some papers forwarded by
Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans, to the Secretary of State in 1803 had
not then been found
in the Office of State, and that a letter had been
addressed to the former chief
clerk, in the hope
that he might advise
where they should be sought
for.
By indications received from him
they are now found.
Among them are two letters from the Baron de
Carondelet to an officer serving under him at a separate post, in which
his views of a dismemberment
of our Union are expressed.
Extracts
of so much of these letters as are within the scope of the resolution of
the House are now communicated.
With these were found the
letters
written by Mr.
Clark
to the Secretary
of
State
in
1803.
A part
of
one only of these relates to
this subject, and
is extracted and inclosed
for the information of the House.
In no part of the papers communi-
cated by Mr. Clark, which are voluminous and in different languages,
nor in his
letters, have we found any intimation of the corrupt receipt
of money by any officer of the United States from any foreign agent.
As to the combinations with foreign agents for dismembering the Union,
these papers and letters offer nothing which was not probably known to
428
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
my
predecessors,
or which could
call anew
for inquiries, which they
iiad not thought necessary to institute, when the facts were recent and
could be better proved.
They probably believed
it best to let pass into
oblivion
transactions which, however
culpable, had commenced before
this Government
existed,
and
had
been
finally
extinguished by
the
treaty of 1795.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
9,
1808.
Fo the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate
to Congress, for
their information, a
letter from the
person acting
in
the absence of our consul at Naples, giving reason to
believe, on the affidavit of a Captain Sheffield, of the American schooner
Mary Ann,
that the Dey of Algiers has commenced war against the
United
States.
For
this no just cause has been given on our
part
within my knowledge.
We may daily expect more authentic and par-
ticular information on the sul)ject from Mr. Lear, who was residing as
our consul at Algiers.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
15,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate for the information of Congress a letter from the con.sul
of the United States at Malaga
to the Secretary of
State, covering one
from Mr. Lear, our consul at Algiers, which gives information that the
rupture threatened on the part of the Dey of Algiers has been amicably
settled, and the vessels seized by him are liberated.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
19,
180.8.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Uiiited States:
The States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia having by their
several
acts consented
that the road from Cumberland to the State of
Ohio, authorized by the act of Congress of the 29th of March,
1806,
should pass through those States, and the report of the commissioners,
communicated to Congress with my message of the 31st January, 1807,
having been duly considered, I have approved of the route therein pro-
posed for the said road as far as Brownsville, with a single deviation,
since located, which carries it through Unioutown.
From thence the coiurse to the Ohio and the point within the legal
limits at which it shall strike that river is still to be decided.
In form-
ing this decision 1 shall pay material regard to the interests and wishes
of the populous parts of the State of Ohio and to a future and convenient
Thomas Jefferson
429
connection with tlie road which is to lead from the Indian boundary near
Cincinnati by Vincennes to the Mississippi at St. lyouis, under authority
of the act of the 2ist April, 1806.
In this way we may accomphsh a
continued and advantageous hue of communication from the seat of the
General Government to St. Louis, passing through several very interest-
ing points of the Western country.
I have thought
it advisable also to secure from obliteration the trace
of the road so far as
it has been approvea, which has been executed at
such considerable expense, by opening one-half of
its breadth through
its whole length.
The report of the commissioners, herewith transmitted, will give par-
ticular information of their proceedings under the act of the 29th March,
1806, since the date of my message of the 31st January,
1807, and will
enable Congress to adopt such further measures relative thereto as they
may deem proper under existing circumstances.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
25,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The dangers to our country arising from the contests of other nations
and the urgency of making preparation for whatever events might affect
our relations with them have been intimated in preceding messages to
Congress.
To secure ourselves by due precautions an augmentation of our
military force, as well regular as of volunteer militia, seems to be expe-
dient.
The precise extent of that augmentation can not as yet be satis-
factorily suggest :;d, but that no time may be
lost, and especially at a
season deemed favorable to the object, I submit to the wisdom of the
Legislature whether they will authorize a commencement of this precau-
tionary work by a present provision
for raising and organizing some
additional force, reserving to themselves to decide its ultimate extent on
such views of our situation as I may be enabled to present at a future
day of the session.
If an increase of force be now approved, I submit to their considera-
tion the outlines of a plan proposed in the inclosed letter from the Secre-
tary of War.
I recommend also to the attention of Congress the term at which the
act of April 18,
1806, concerning the militia, will expire, and the effect
of that expiration.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
26, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I inclose, for the information of Congress, letters recently received from
our ministers at Paris and London, communicating their representations
430
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
against the late decrees and orders of France and Great Britain, heretofore
transmitted to Congress.
These documents will contribute to the infor-
mation of Congress as to the dispositions of those powers and the probable
course of their proceedings toward neutrals, and will doubtless have their
due influence in adopting the measures of the Legislature to the actual
crisis.
Although nothing forbids the general matter of these letters from being
spoken of without reserve, yet as the publication of papers of this descrip-
tion would restrain injuriously the freedom of our foreign correspondence,
they are communicated so far confidentially and with a request that after
being read to the satisfactiou of both Houses they may be returned.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
i,
1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
In comphance with the resolution of the Senate of February 26, 1 now
lay before them such memorials and petitions for the district of
Detroit,
and such other information as is in my possession, in relation to the con-
duct of William Hull, governor of the Territory of Michigan, and Stanley
Griswold, es^., while acting as secretary of that Territory.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
2,
1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of November 30, 1807,
I now transmit a report of the Secretary of State on the subject of im-
pressments, as requested
in that resolution.
The great volume of the
documents and the time necessary for the investigation will explain
to
the Senate the causes of the delay which has intervened.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March 7,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In the city of New Orleans and adjacent to
it are sundry parcels of
ground, some of them with buildings and other improvements on them,
which it is my duty to present to the attention of the Legislature.
The
title to these grounds appears to have been retained in the former sov-
ereigns of the Province of Louisiana as public fiduciaries and for the
purposes of the Province.
Some of them were used for the residence of
the governor, for public offices, hospitals, barracks, magazines, fortifica-
tions, levees, etc., others for the townhouse, schools, markets, landings,
and other purposes of the city of New Orleans; some were held by reli-
gious corporations or persons, others seem to have been reserved for future
disposition.
To these must be added a parcel called the Batture, which
THE TRIAL FOR TREASON OF AARON BURR
In 1804, after killing Hamilton in a duel, Aaron Burr set on foot a scheme
of empire
in the
Mississippi
Valley and Mexico.
Those who encouraged,
aided
or
connived
in
the
scheme
included
senators, ex-senators, judges,
soldiers, scholars, rich men, young men, boatmen, field hands and laborers.
Andrew Jackson knew
of
and
encouraged
the plan.
Anthony Merry, the
British Minister, thought
it would disrupt the revolted colonies and promoted
it.
General Wilkinson, commander
of the army
of the United
States, was
false to the Government
first and to Burr later.
England failing to send the
desired armament and funds, Burr proposed to capture and loot the treasury
and stores at Washington, and
that plan having miscarried, he determined
to lead his forces down to New Orleans in river boats.
The United States
district attorney twice tried to arrest Burr but was foiled by a corrupt judge
and
disappearing
witnesses.
Jefferson
then
issued
his
proclamation
of
November 27, 1806 (page 392).
Ohio
militiamen confiscated
part of Burr's
equipment
lying
at
Marietta.
Jackson
betrayed
his
trust by
letting Bun-
descend
the
Mississippi.
Wilkinson, who had betrayed Burr, prepared to
resist any
assault
the
conspirators might make
on New
Orleans.
Burr,
alarmed for his safety, fled to the west bank of the Mississippi, and on Janu-
ary
17, 1807, surrendered himself.
Although the grand jury then acquitted
him, he dreaded further prosecution aad
fled
to Alabama, where he was
arrested.
The picture shows him on trial before Chief Justice Marshall in the Eagle
Tavern at Richmond, Va., where he was arraigned after his capture in Ala-
bama.
The
trial was
a
failure and
Burr was
acquitted.
Like
Benedict
Arnold he fled to England, and lived and died miserably.
See " Burr, Aaron,"
in the Encyclopedic Index.
Thomas Jefferson
431
requires more particular description.
It
is understood to have been a
shoal or elevation of the bottom of the river adjacent to the bank of the
suburbs of St. Mary, produced by the successive depositions of mud dur-
ing the annual inundations of the river, and covered with water only
during those inundations.
At all other seasons
it has been used by the
city immemorially
to furnish earth
for raising their streets and court-
yards, for mortar, and other necessary purposes, and as a landing or quay
for unlading
firewood, lumber, and
other
articles brought by water.
This having been lately claimed by a private iudividifal, the city opposed
the claim on a supposed legal
title in
itself; but
it has been adjudged
that the legal title was not in the city.
It is, however, alleged that that
title, originally in the former sovereigns, was never parted with by them,
but was retained in them for the uses of the city and Province, and con-
sequently has now passed over to the United States.
Until this question
can be decided under legislative authority, measures have been taken
according to law to prevent any change
in the
state of things and to
keep the grounds clear of intruders.
The settlement of
this
title, the
appropriation of the grounds and improvements formerly occupied
for
provincial purposes to the same or such other objects as may be better
suited to present circumstances, the confirmation of the uses in other
parcels to such bodies, corporate or private, as may of right or on other
reasonable considerations expect them, are matters now submitted to the
determination of the Legislature.
The papers and plans now transmitted will give them such information
on the subject as I possess, and being mostly originals,
I must request
that they may be communicated from the one
to the other House,
to
answer the purposes of both,
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
10,
1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
A purchase having lately been made from the Cherokee Indians of a
tract of land 6 miles square
at the mouth of the Chickamogga, on the
Tennessee, I now lay the treaty and papers relating to it before the Sen-
ate, with an explanation of the views which have led to it.
It was represented that there was within that tract a great abundance
of iron ore of excellent quality, with a stream and fall of water suitable
for iron works;
that the Cherokees were anxious to have works estab-
lished there, in the hope of having a better supply of those implements of
household and agriculture of which they have learned the use and neces-
sity, but on the condition that they should be under the authority and
control of the United States.
As such an establishment would occasion a considerable and certain
demand for corn and other provisions and necessaries, it seemed probable
43*
Messages and Papers of tJic Presidents
that
it would immediately draw around
it a close settlement of the Cher-
okees, would encourage them to enter on a regular
life of agriculture,
familiarize them with the practice and value of the
arts, attach them to
property, lead them of necessity and without delay to the establishment
of laws and government, and thus make a great and important advance
toward assimilating their condition to ours.
At the same time it offers
considerable accommodation to the Govennnent by enabling
it to obtain
more conveniently than
it now can
the necessary supplies of cast and
VvTOUght iron for all the Indians south of the Tennessee, and for those also
to whom St. Louis
is a convenient
depo.sit, and will benefit .such of our
own citizens likewise as .shall be within its reach.
Under these views the
purchase has been made, with the con.sent and desire of the great body
of the nation, although not without .some dissenting members, as must
be
tlie case will
all collections of men.
But
it
is represented that the
dissentients are
few, and under the
influence of one
or two
interested
individuals.
It
is by no means proposed that these works should
be.
conducted on account of the United States.
It is understood that there
are private individuals ready to erect them, subject to such reasonable
rent as may secure a reimbursement to the United States, and
to such
other conditions as
shall secure
to the
Indians
their rights and tran-
quillity.
The instrument is now submitted to the Senate, with a request of their
advice aud coutieut aa to its ratification.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
17,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I have heretofore communicated to Congress the decrees of the Gov-
ernment of France of November 21, 1806, and of Spain of February 19,
1807, with the orders of the British Government of January and Novem-
ber,
1807.
I new transmit a decree of the Emperor of France of December 17, 1807,
and a similar decree of the 3d of January last by His Catholic Majesty.
Although the decree
of France has not been received by
ofl&cial com-
munication,
3^et the different channels of promulgation through which
the public are possessed of
it, with the formal testimony furnished by
the Government of Spain in their decree, leave us without a doubt that
such a one has been issued.
These decrees and orders, taken together,
want little of amounting to a declaration that every neutral vessel fotmd
on the high seas, whatsoever be her cargo and whatsoever foreign port be
that of her departure or destination, shall be deemed lawful prize
; and
they prove more and more the expediency of retaining our vessels, our
seamen, and propert}^ within our own harbors until the dangers to which
they are exposed can be removed or lessened.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson
433
March i8,
1808,
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The scale on which the Military Academy at West Point was originally
established is become too limited to furnish the number of well-instructed
subjects in the different branches of artillery and engineering which the
public service calls for.
The want of such characters is already sensibly
felt, and will be increased with the enlargement of our plans of military
preparation.
The chief engineer, having been instructed to coiisider the
subject and to propose an augmentation which might render the estab-
lishment commensurate with the present circumstances of our country,
has made the report which I now transmit for the consideration of Con-
gress.
The idea suggested by him of removing the institution to this place
is also worthy of attention.
Besides the advantage of placing
it under
the immediate eye of the Government, it may render its benefits common
to the Naval Department, and will furnish opportunities of selecting on
better information the characters most qualified to fulfill the duties which
the public service may call for.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
22,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
At the opening of the present session I informed the Legislature that
the measures which had been
taken with
the Government
of
Great
Britain for the settlement of our neutral and national rights and of the
conditions of commercial intercourse with that nation had resulted in
articles of
a
treaty which could
not be acceded to on our part;
that
instructions had been consequently sent to our ministers there to resume
the negotiations, and to endeavor to obtain certain alterations, and that
this was interrupted by the transaction which took place between the
frigates Leopard and Chesapeake.
The call on that Government for rep-
aration of this wrong produced, as Congress has been already informed,
the mission of a special minister to this country, and the occasion is now
arrived when the public interest permits and requires that the whole of
these proceedings should be made known to you.
I therefore now communicate the instructions given to our minister
resident at London and his communications with that Government on the
subject of the Chesapeake, with the correspondence which has taken place
here between the Secretary of State and Mr. Rose, the special minister
charged with the adjustment of that difference;
the instructions to our
ministers for the formation of a treaty;
their correspondence with the
British commissioners and with their own Government on that subject;
the treaty
itself and written declaration of the
British commissioners
accompanying
it, and the instructions given by us
for resuming the
434
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
negotiation, with the proceedings and correspondence subsequent thereto.
To these 1 have added a letter lately addressed to the Secretary of State
from one of our
late ministers, whicli, though not strictly written in an
official character, I think
it my duty to communicate, in order that his
views of the proposed treaty and of it? several articles may be fairly pre-
sented and understood.
Althougl^ I have heretofore and from time to time made such communi-
cations to Congress as to keep them possessed of a general and just view
of the proceedings and dispositions of the Govenmient of France toward
this country, yet
in our present
critical
situation, when we
find that
no conduct on our part, however impartial and friendly, has been suffi-
cient to insure from either belligerent a just respect for our rights,
I am
desirous that nothing shall be omitted on my part which may add to your
information on this subject or contribute to the correctness of the views
which should be formed.
The papers which for these reasons I now lay
before you embrace
all the communications,
official or verbal, from the
French Government respecting the general
relations between the two
countries which have been transmitted through our minister there, or
through an}^ other accredited channel, since the last session of Congress,
to which time all intormation of the same kind had from time to time
been given them.
Some of these papers have already been submitted to
Congress, but it is thought better to offer them again in order that the
chain of communications of which thej'' make a part may be presented
unbroken.
When, on the 26th of February,
I communicated to both Houses the
letter of General Armstrong to M. Champagny, I desired it might not be
published because of the tendency of that practice to restrain injuriously
the freedom of our foreign correspondence.
But perceiving that this cau-
tion, proceeding purely from a regard to the public good, has furnished
occasion for disseminating unfounded suspicions and insinuations, I am
induced to believe that the good which will now result from its publica-
tion, by confirming the confidence and union of our fellow-citizens, will
more than countervail the ordinary objection to such publications.
It
it my wish, therefore, that
it may be now published.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March 22, 1808.
To the Seriate and House or Representatives of the United States:
In a separate message of this date I have communicated to Congress
so much as may be made public of papers which give a full view of the
present state of our relations with the two contending powers, France
and England.
Everyone must be sensible that in the details of instruc-
tions for negotiating a treaty and in the correspondence and conferences
respecting it matters will occur which interest sometimes and sometimes
Thomas Jefferson
43 5
respect or other proper motives forbid to be made public.
To recon-
cile my duty in this particular with my desire of letting Congress know
everything which can give them a full understanding of the subjects on
which they are to act, I have suppressed in the documents of the other
message the parts which ought not to be made public and have given
them
in the supplementary and confidential papers herewith inclosed,
with such references as that they may be read in their original places as
if still standing in them; and when these confidential papers shall have
been read to the satisfaction of the House, I request their return, and that
their contents may not be made public.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
25,
1808.
To the Senate and House ofRepresentatives of the United States:
In proceeding to carry into execution the act for fortifying our forts
and harbors it is foimd that the sites most advantageous for their defense,
and sometimes the only sites competent to that defense, ar-^ in some cases
the property of minors incapable of giving a vahd consent to their aliena-
tion; in others belong to persons who may refuse altogether to alienate,
or demand a compensation far beyond the liberal justice allowable in such
cases.
From these causes the defense of our seaboard, so necessary to
be pressed duriag the present season, will in various parts be defeated
unless a remedy can be applied.
With a view to this I submit the case
to the consideration of
Congress, who, estimating
its importance and
reviewing the powers vested in them by the Consti*-ution, combined witli
the amendment providing that private property shall not be taken for
public use without just compensation, will decide on
the course most
proper to be pursued.
I am aware that as the consent of the legislature of the State to the
purchase of the
site may not
in some instances have been previously
obtained, exclusive legislation can not be exercised therein by Congress
until that consent is given.
But in the meantime
it will be held under
the same laws which protect the property of individuals and other prop-
erty of the United States in the same State, and the legislatures at their
next meetings will have opportunities of doing what will be so evidently
called for by the particular interest of their own State.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
25,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now lay before Congress a statement of the militia of the United
States according to the
latest returns received by the Department of
War.
From the State of Delaware alone no return has been made.
TH: JEFFERSON.
43^
Messages mid Papers of the Presidents
March
25, 1808.
Yo the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the surveyor of
the public buildings of the progress made on them during the last session,
of
their present
state, and of
that
of the funds appropriated
to them.
These have been much exceeded by the cost of the work done, a fact not
known to me till the close of the season.
The circumstances from which
it arose are stated iu the report of the surveyor.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
29,
1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
When the convention
of the 7th of January,
1806, was entered into
with the Chcrokecs for the purchase of certain lands,
it was beheved by
both parties that the eastern Umit, when nm
in the direction therein
prescribed, would have included all the waters of Elk River.
On pro-
ceeding to run that
line, however,
it was found to omit a considerable
extent of those waters, on which were already settled about 200 families.
The Cherokees readily consented, for a moderate compensation, that the
line should be so run as to include all the waters of that river.
Our com-
missioners accordingly entered into an explanatory convention for that
purpose, which
I now lay before the Senate
for consideration whether
they will advise and consent to its ratification,
A letter from one of the
commissioners, now
also
inclosed, will more fully explain the circum-
stances which led to it.
Lieutenant Pike on his journey up the Missis.sippi in 1805-6, being at
the village of the Sioux, between the
rivers
St. Croix and St. Peters,
conceived that the position was favorable for a military and commercial
post for the United States whenever
it should be thought expedient to
advance in that quarter.
He therefore proposed to the chiefs a cession
of lands for that purpose.
Their desire of entering into connection with
the United States and of getting a trading house established there induced
a ready consent to the proposition, and they made, by articles of agree-
ment now inclosed, a voluntary donation to the United States of two
portions of
land, the one of 9 miles square at the mouth of the St.
Croix, the other from below the mouth of St. Peters up the Mississippi
to St. Anthonys Falls, extending 9 miles iu width on each side of the
Mississippi.
These portions of land are designated on the map now
inclosed.
Lieutenant Pike on his part made presents to the Indians to
some amoimt.
This convention, though dated the 23d of September,
1805, is but lately received, and although we have no immediate view
of establishing a trading post at that place,
I submit
it to the Senate
for the sanction of their advice and consent to its ratification, in order
to give to our title a full validity on the part of the United States, when
Thomas Jefferson
43 7
ever
it may be wanting, for the special purpose whicli constituted in
the mind of the donors the sole consideration and inducement to the
cession.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
30, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the U7iited States:
Since my message of the 22d instant
letters have been received from
our ministers at Paris and London, extracts from which, with a letter to
General Armstrong from the French minister of foreign relations, and a
letter from the British envoy residing here to the Secretary of State, I
now communicate to Congress.
They add to the materials for estimat-
ing the dispositions of those Governments toward this country.
The proceedings of both indicate designs of drawing us, if possible, into
the vortex
of
their contests; but every new information confirms the
prudence of guarding against these designs as
it does of adhering to the
precautionary system hitherto contemplated.
TH: JEFFERSON.
April
2, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Believing that the confidence and union of our fellow-citizens at the
present
crisis will be
still further confirmed by the publication of the
letter of Mr. Champagny to General Armstrong and that of Mr. Erskine
to the Secretary of State, communicated with my message of the 30th
ultimo, and therefore that it may be useful to except them from the con-
fidential character of the other documents accompanying that message,
I leave to the consideration of Congress the expediency of making them
public*
TH; JEFFERSON.
Aprii,
8, 1808.
To the Senate of the United States.'
Agreeably to the request of the Senate in
their resolution of yester-
day, I have examined my papers and find no letter from Matthew Nimmo
of the date of November 28,
1806, nor any other from him of any date
but that of January 23, 1807, now transmitted, with
all the papers in
my possession which accompanied
it.
Nor do
I
find any letter from
John Smith, of Ohio, bearing date at any time in the month of January,
1807.
Having delivered to the Attorney-General
all the papers respecting
the conspiracy of Aaron Burr which came to my hands during or before
his prosecution,
I might suppose the letters above requested had been
438
Afi'ssaj^'i-s and Papers of the Presidents
delivered to him; but I must add my belief that
I never received such
letters, and the ground of
it.
I am in
the habit of noting daily in the
list kept for that purpose the letters
I receive daily by the names of the
writers, and dates of
time, and place, and
this has been done with such
exactness that I do not recollect ever to have detected a single omission.
I have carefully examined
that
list from the ist of November, 1806, to
the
last
of June,
1807, and
I
find no note within
that period
of
the
receipt
of any letter from Matthew Ninuno but that now transmitted,
nor of any one of the date of January,
1807, from John Smith, of Ohio.
The
letters noted
as received from him within
that period are dated
at Washington, February 2,
2,
7, and
21, which
I have examined, and
find relating
to subjects entirely foreign
to the objects of the resolution
of the 7th instant; and others, dated at Cincinnati, March 27, April 6, 13,
and
17, which, not being now in my possession,
I presume have related
to Burr's conspiracy, and have been delivered
to the Attoniey-General.
I recollect nothing of their particular contents.
I must repeat, therefore,
my firm belief that the letters of Nimmo of November 28,
1806, and of
John Smith of January,
^ S07, never came to my hands, and that if such
were written (and Nimmo' s
letter expressly mentions
his of November
28), they have been intercej^ted or otherwise miscarried.
TH: JEFFERSON.
April
22,
1808.
ib the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to both Houses of Congress a letter from the envoy of His
Britannic Majesty at this place to the Secretary of State on the subject
of certain British claims to lauds in the Territory of Mississippi, relative
to which several acts have been heretofore passed by the Legislature.
TH: JEFFERSON.
PROCLAMATION.
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas information has been received that sundry persons are com-
bined or combining and confederating together on Lake Champlain and
the country thereto adjacent
for the purposes of forming insurrections
against the authority of the laws of the United States, for opposing the
same and obstructing their execution, and that such combinations are
Thornas Jefferson
439
too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceed-
ings or by the powers vested in the marshals by the laws of the United
States:
Now, therefore, to the end that the authority of the laws may be main-
tained, and that those concerned, directly or indirectly, in any insurrec-
tion or combination against the same may be duly warned,
I have issued
this my proclamation, hereby commanding such insurgents and all con-
cerned in such combination instantly and without delay to disperse and
retire peaceably to their respective abodes.
And
I do hereby further
require and command all oflScers having authority, civil or military, and
all other persons, civil or military, who shall be found within the vici-
nage of such insurrections or combinations to be aiding and assisting by
all the means in their power, by force of arms or otherwise, to quell and
subdue such insurrections or combinations, to seize upon all those therein
concerned who shall not instantly and without delay disperse and retire
to their respective abodes, and to deliver them over to the civil authority
of the place, to be proceeded against according to law.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the
seal of
the United
States
to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my
hand.
[seal.]
Given at the city of Washington, the 19th day of April, 1808,
and in the year of the Sovereignty and Independence of the
United States the thirty-second.
TH: JEFFERSON.
By the President
:
Jamks Madison,
Secretary of State.
EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
November
8,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
It would have been a source, fellow-citizens, of much gratification
if
our
last communications from Europe had enabled me to inform you
that the belligerent nations, w^hose disregard of neutral rights has been
so destructive
to our commerce, had become awakened
to the duty and
true policy of revoking their unrighteous edicts.
That no means might
be omitted
to produce
this salutary
effect,
I
lost no time in
availing
myself of the act authorizing a suspension, in whole or in part, of the sev-
eral embargo laws.
Our ministers at London and Paris were instructed
to explain to the respective Governments there our disposition to exer-
cise the authority in such manner as would withdraw the pretext on
440
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
which the aggreSvSlons were originally founded and open the way for a
renewal of that commercial intercourse which
it was alleged on all sides
had been reluctantly obstructed.
As each
of those Governments had
pledged its readiness to concur in renouncing a measure which reached
its adversary through the incontestable rights of neutrals only, and as
the measure had been assumed by each as a retaliation
for an asserted
acquiescence in the aggressions of the other,
it was reasonably expected
that the occasion would have l^een seized by both for evincing the sin-
cerity
of
their
professions, and for
restoring
to the commerce
of the
United States its legitimate freedom.
The instructions to our ministers
with respect to the different belligerents were necessarily modified with
a reference to their different circum.stances, and to the condition annexed
by law
to
the
Executive power
of
suspension,
requiring a decree of
security to our commerce which would not result from a
repeal of the
decrees of France.
Instead
of a pledge, therefore, of a suspension of
the embargo as to her in case of
.such a repeal,
it was presumed that a
sufficient inducement might be found in other considerations, and par-
ticularly in the change produced by a compliance with our just demands
by one belligerent and a
refusal by the other in the relations between
the other and the United States.
To Great Britain, whose power on the
ocean is so ascendant, it was deemed not inconsistent with that condition
to state explicitly that on her rescinding her orders
in
relation
to the
United States their trade would be opened v/ith her, and remain
.shut
to her enemy in case of his failure
to rescind his decrees
ahso.
From
France no answer has been received, nor any indication that the requi-
site change in her decrees is contemplated.
The favorable reception of
the proposition to Great Britain was the less to be doubted, as her orders
of council had not only been referred for their vindication to an acqui-
escence on the part of the United States no longer to be pretended, but
as the arrangement proposed,
whilst
it
resisted the illegal
decrees
of
France, involved, moreover, substantially the precise advantages profess-
edly aimed at by the British orders.
The arrangement has nevertheless
been rejected.
This candid and
liberal experiment ha\'ing thus failed, and no other
event hanng occurred on which a suspension
of the embargo by the
Executive was authorized, it necessarily remains in the extent originally
given to it.
We have the satisfaction, however, to reflect that in return
for the privations imposed by the measure, and which our fellow-citizens
in general have borne with patriotism,
it has had the important effects
of saving our mariners and our vast mercantile property, as well as of
affording time for prosecuting the defensive and provisional measure?
called
for by the occasion.
It has demonstrated to foreign nations the
moderation and firmness which govern our councils, and to our citizens
the necessity of uniting in support of the laws and the rights of their
country, and has thus long frustrated those usurpations and spoliations
Thomas Jefferson
441
which,
if resisted, involved war;
if submitted to, sacrificed a vital prin-
ciple of our national independence.
Under a continuance of the belligerent measures which, in defiance of
laws which consecrate the rights of neutrals, overspread the ocean with
danger,
it will rest with the wisdom of Congress to decide on the course
best adapted to such a state of things; and bringing with them, as they
do, from every part of the Union the sentiments of our constituents, my
confidence is strengthened that in forming this decision they will, with
an unerring regard to the essential rights and interests of the nation,
weigh and compare the painful alternatives out of which a choice is to
be made.
Nor should
I do justice to the virtues which on other occa-
sions have marked the character of our fellow-citizens if I did not cherish
an equal confidence that the alternative chosen, whatever it may be, will
be maintained with all the fortitude and patriotism which the crisis ought
to inspire.
The documents containing the correspondences on the subject
of the
foreign edicts against our commerce, with the instructions given to our
ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before you.
The communications made to Congress at their last session explained
the posture in which the close of the discussions relating to the attack by
a British ship of war on the frigate Chesapeake left a subject on which
the nation had manifested so honorable a sensibility.
Every view of what
had passed authorized a belief that immediate steps would be taken by
the British Government for redressing a wrong which the more
it was
investigated
appeared the more clearly to require what had not been
provided for in the special mission.
It is found that no steps have been
taken for the purpose.
On the contrary, it will be seen in the documents
laid before you
that the inadmissible preliminary which obstructed the
adjustment is still adhered to, and, moreover, that it is now brought into
connection with the distinct and irrelative case of the orders in council.
The instructions which had been given to our minister at London with
a view to facilitate,
if necessary, the reparation claimed by the United
States are included in the documents communicated.
Our relations with the other powers of Europe have undergone no
material changes since your last
session.
The important negotiations
with Spain which had been
alternately suspended and resumed neces-
sarily experience a pause under the extraordinary and interesting crisis
which distinguishes her internal situation.
With the Barbary Powers we continue in harmony, with the exception
of an unjustifiable proceeding of the Dey of Algiers toward our consul to
that Regency.
Its character and circumstances are now laid before you,
and will enable you to decide how
far
it may, either now or
hereafter,
call for any measures not within the limits of the Executive authority.
With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily main-
tained.
Some instances of individual wrong have, as at other times,
442
Messages and Papers of the Presidenis
taken place, but in no wise implicating the will of the nation.
Beyond
the Mississippi the loways, the Sacs, and the Alabamas have delivered up
for trial and punishment individuals from among themselves accused
of
murdering citizens of the United States.
On this side of the Mississippi
the Creeks are exerting themselves to arrest offenders of the same kind,
and the Choctaws have manifested their readiness and desire for amicable
and just arrangements respecting depredations committed by disorderly
persons of
their
tribe.
And, generally, from a conviction that \ve con-
sider them as a part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights
and
interests, the attachment
of the Indian
tribes
is gaining strength
daily—is extending from the nearer to the more remote, and will amply
requite us
for the
justice and friendship practiced toward them.
Hus-
bandry and household maiuifacture are advancing among them more rap-
idly with the Southern than Northern tribes, from circumstances of
soil
and climate, and one of the two great divisions of the Cherokee Nation
have now under consideration
to solicit
the
citizenship
of
the United
States, and to be identified with us in laws and government in such pro-
gressive maimer as we shall think
lx.'St.
In consequence of the appropriations of the last session of Congress
for the security of our seaport towns and harbors, such works of defense
have been erected as seemed to be called for by the situation of the sev-
eral places, their relative importance, and the scale of expense indicated
by the amount of the appropriation.
These works will chiefly be finished
in the course of the present season, except at New York and New Or-
leans, where most was to be done; and although a great proportion of the
last appropriation has been expended on the former place, yet some fur-
ther views will be submitted to Congress for rendering its security entirely
adequate against naval enterprise.
A view of what has been done at the
several places, and of what is proposed to be done, shall be communicated
as soon as the several reports are received.
Of the gunboats authorized by the act of December
last,
it has been
thought necessary to build only 103 in the present year.
These, with
those
before
possessed, are
sufficient for the harbors and waters most
exposed, and the
residue will require
little time for their construction
when
it shall be deemed necessary.
Under the act of the last session for raising an additional militar}^ force
so many officers were immediately appointed as were necessar>' for carrj--
ing on the business of recruiting, and in proportion as it advanced others
have been added.
We have reason to believe their success has been sat-
isfactory, although such returns have not yet been received as enable me
to present you a statement of the numbers engaged.
I have not thought it necessary in the course of the last season to call
for any general detachments of militia or of volunteers under the laws
passed for that purpose.
For the ensuing season, however, they will be
required to be in readiness should their service be wanted.
Some small
Thomas Jefferson
443
and
special detacliments have been necessary to maintain t^e laws of
embargo on that portion of our northern frontier which offered peculiar
facilities for evasion, but these were replaced as soon as it could be done
by bodies of new recruits.
By the aid of these and of the armed vessels
called into service in other quarters the spirit of disobedience and abuse,
which manifested
itself early and with sensible
effect while we were
unprepared to meet it, has been considerably repressed.
Considering the extraordinary character of the times in which we live,
our attention should unremittingly be fixed on the safety of our country.
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized
and armed
militia
is their best security.
It is therefore incumbent on
us
at every meeting to
revise the condition of the militia, and
to ask
ourselves if it is prepared to repel a powerful enemy at every point of our
territories exposed to invasion.
Some of the States have paid a laudable
attention to this object, but every degree of neglect is to be found among
others.
Congress alone hax-ing the power to produce an uniform state
of preparation in this great organ of defense, the interests which they so
deeply feel in their own and their country's security will present this as
among the most important objects of their deliberation.
Under the acts of March
1 1 and April 23 respecting arms, the
diffi-
culty of procuring them from abroad during the present situation and
dispositions of Europe induced us to direct our whole efforts to the means
of internal supply.
The public factories have therefore been enlarged,
additional machineries erected,
and, in
proportion as
artificers can be
found
or formed, their
effect,
already more than doubled, may be
in-
creased so as to keep pace with the yearly increase of the mihtia.
The
annual sums
appropriated by the latter act have been directed
to the
encouragement
of private
factories
of
arms, and
contracts have been
entered
into with individual undertakers to nearly the amotmt of the
first year's appropriation.
The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the injustice of
the belligerent powers, and the consequent losses and sacrifices of our
citizens are subjects of just concern.
The situation into which we have
thus been forced has impelled us to apply a portion of our industry and
capital to internal manufactures and improvements.
The extent of this
conversion
is daily increasing, and
little doubt remains that the estab-
lishments formed and forming will, under the auspices of cheaper mate-
rials and
subsistence, the freedom of labor from taxation with
us, and
of protecting duties and prohibitions, become permanent.
The com-
merce with
the
Indians, too, within our own
boundaries
is
likely
to
receive abundant aliment from the same internal source, and will sectu-e
to them peace and the progress of civilization, undisturbed by practices
hostile to both.
The accounts of the receipts and expenditures during the year ending
the 30th of September last being not yet made up, a correct statement
444
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
will hereafter be transmitted from the Treasury.
In the meantime
it
is ascertained
that
the receipts have amounted
to near $18,000,000,
which, with the eight niilHons and a half in the Treasury at the
Ixjgin-
ning of the year, have enabled
us, after meeting the current demands
and interest incurred, to pay $2,300,000 of the principal of our funded
debt, and
left us
in the Treasury on
that day near $14,000,000.
Of
these, $5,350,000 will be necessary to pay what will be due on the
ist
day of January next, which will complete the reimbursement of the 8 per
cent stock.
These payments, with those made in the six years and a
half preceding, will have extinguished $33,580,000 of the principal of the
funded debt, being the whole which could be paid
or purchased withiu
the limits of the law and of our contracts, and the amount of principal
thus discharged will have liberated the revenue from about $2,000,000
of interest and added that sum annually to the disposable surplus.
The
probable accumulation of the surpluses of revenue beyond what can be
applied
to the payment of the public debt whenever the freedom and
safety of our commerce shall be restored merits the consideration of Con-
gress.
Shall
it
lie unproductive in the public vaults?
Shall the reve-
nue be reduced?
Or shall
it not rather be appropriated to the improve-
ments of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great foundations of
prosperity and union under the powers which Congress may already pos-
sess or such amendment of the Constitution as may be approved by the
States?
While uncertain of the course of things, the time may be advan-
tageously employed
in obtaining the ixjwers necessary
for a system of
improvement, should that be thought best.
Availing myself of this the last occasion which will occur of address-
ing the two Houses of the Legislature at their meeting, I can not omit the
expression of my sincere gratitude for the repeated proofs of confidence
manifested to me b}' themselves and their predecessors since my
call
to
the administration and the many indulgences experienced at their hands.
The same grateful acknowledgments are due to my fellow-citizens gener-
ally, whose support has been my great encouragement under
all embar-
rassments.
In the transaction of their business I can not have escaped
error.
It is incident to our imperfect nature.
But I may say with truth
my errors have been of the understanding, not of intention, and
that
the advancement of their rights and interests has been the constant motive
for every measure.
On these considerations
I
solicit their indulgence
Looking forward with anxiety to their future destinies,
I trust that in
their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in their love of liberty,
obedience to law, and support of the public authorities I see a sure guar-
anty of the permanence of our Republic;
and, retiring from the charge
of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation of a firm persuasion that
Heaven has in store for oirr beloved country long ages to come of pros-
perity and happiness.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson
445
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
November
8, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The documents communicated with my public message of
this day
contain such portions of the correspondences therein referred to, of the
ministers
of the United States
at
Paris and London, as
relate to the
present state of affairs between those Governments and the United States,
and as may be made public.
I now communicate, confidentially, such
supplementary portions of the same correspondences as I deem improper
for publication, yet necessary to convey to Congress
full information on
a subject of their deliberations so interesting to our country.
TH: JEFFERSON.
NOVBMBKR
II, 1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
*******
The governor of the Mississippi Territory having thought it expedient
to
dissolve
the
general assembly
of
that
Territory, according
to
the
authority vested
in him by the ordinance of July 13,
1787, and having
declared it dissolved accordingly, some doubt was suggested whether that
declaration effected the dissolution of the legislative council.
On mature
consideration and advice I approved of the proceeding of the governor.
The house of representatives of the Territory, since chosen, have conse-
quently nominated ten persons out of whom a legislative council should
be appointed.
I do accordingly nominate and, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, shall appoint John Flood McGrew, Thomas
Calvit, James Lea, Alexander Montgomery, and Daniel Burnet, being five
of the said ten persons, to serve as a legislative council for the said Ter-
ritory, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed according
to law.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Dkce;mber
13, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now transmit
to both Houses of Congress a report of the commis-
sioners appointed under the
act of March
29, 1806, concerning a road
from Cumberland to Ohio, being a statement of the proceedings under
the said act since their last report communicated to Congress, in order
that Congress may be enabled to adopt such further measures as may be
proper under existing circumstances.
TH: JEFFERSON.
446
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
December
23,
1808.
To the Se7iate of the United States:
According to the request of the Senate in their resolution of Novem-
ber 14, that copies should be laid before them of all the orders and decrees
of the belligerent powers of Europe, passed since 1791, affecting the com-
mercial rights of the United States, I now transmit them a report of the
Secretary of State of such of them as have been attainable in the Depart-
ment of State and are supposed
to have entered
into
the views of the
Senate.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December
27,
1808.
To the Senate 0/ the United States:
According to the request expressed by the vSenate in their resolution
of November
14, I now transmit a report of the Secretary of the Treasury
and statement showing, as far as returns have been received from the
collectors, the number of vessels which have departed from the United
States with permission, and specifying the other particulars contemplated
by that resolution.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December
30,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
At the request of the governor, the senate, and house of representa-
tives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I communicate certain reso-
lutions entered into by the said senate and house of representatives, and
approved by the governor, on the 23d instant.
It can not but be encour-
aging to those whom the nation has placed in the direction of their affairs
to see that their fellow-citizens
will
press forward in support of
their
country in proportion as
it
is threatened by the disorganizing conflicts
of the other hemisphere.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December
30,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before the Legislature a
letter from Governor Claiborne on the
subject of a small
tribe of Alabama Indians on the western side of the
Mississippi,
consisting of about a dozen
families.
Like other
erratic
tribes in that country, it
is understood that they have hitherto moved
from place to place according to their convenience, without appropriat-
ing to themselves exclusively any particular
territory; but having now
become habituated to some of the occupations of civilized life, they wish
for a fixed residence.
I suppose
it will be the interest of the United
States to encourage the wandering tribes of that country to reduce them-
oo = mrPpere FO Se ee A, «= ¥ ~*~ f ’ ' ' ¢ . ‘ . ‘ . : ‘- i t ¥ * ¥ ; es “ : : ’ . : - ‘ Jet : ;