35^
Messages and Papers of tJie Presidents
instructed to inquire into and report the situation of the titles and occu*
pation of the lands, private and
public, in the neighboring settlements.
His report is now communicated, that the Legislature may judge how far
its interposition is necessary to quiet the legal titles, confirm the equitable,
to remove the past and prevent future intrusions which have neither
law nor justice for the basis.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
22, 1804.
To the Senate and Hoicse of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to Congress, for their information, a report of the sur-
veyor of the public buildings at Washington, stating what has been done
under the act of the
last session concerning the city of Washington on
^he Capitol and other pubUc buildings, and the highway between them.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
29,
1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Uiiited States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter stating certain
fraudulent practices for monopolizing lands in Louisiana, which may per-
haps require legislative provisions.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
20,
1804.
To the Senate and Ho2ise of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to Congress a letter received from Captain Bainbridge,
commander of the
Philadelphia
frigate, informing us
of the wreck of
that vessel on the coast of Tripoh, and that himself, his officers and men,
had
fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans.
This accident renders it
expedient to increase our force and enlarge our expenses
in the Medi-
terranean beyond what the last appropriation for the naval
service con-
templated.
I recommend, therefore, to the consideration of Congress such
an addition to that appropriation as they may think the exigency requires.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
22, 1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I
lay
before Congress the
last returns of the
militia of
the United
States.
Their incompleteness
is much to be regretted, and
its remedy
may at some future time be a subject worthy the attention of Congress.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson
357
PROCLAMATION.
{From Annals of Congress, Eighth Congress, second session, 1234.]
To all whom these presents shall come:
"Whereas by an act of Congress authority has been given to the Presi-
dent of the United States, whenever he shall deem it expedient, to erect
the shores, waters, and inlets of the bay and river of Mobile, and of the
other rivers, creeks, inlets, and bays emptying into the Gulf of Mexico
east of the said river Mobile and west thereof to the Pascagoula, inclu-
sive, into a separate district for the collection of duties on imports and
tonnage; and to establish such place within the same as he shall deem it
expedient to be the port of entry and delivery for such
district; and to
designate such other places within the same district, not exceeding two,
to be ports of delivery only:
Now know ye
that
I, Thomas
Jefferson,
President
of
the United
States,
do hereby decide that
all the above-mentioned shores, waters,
inlets,
creeks,
and
rivers
lying within
the boundaries
of the United
States shall constitute and form a separate
district, to be denominated
"the
district of Mobile;" and do also designate Fort Stoddert, within
the
district
aforesaid, to be the port
of entry and deUvery for the said
district.
Given under my hand this 20th day of May, 1804.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
NOVEMBKR
8,
1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
To a people, fellow-citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness and
prosperity of other nations;
to those who justly calculate that their own
well-being
is advanced by
that of the nations with which they have
intercourse, it will be a satisfaction to observ^e that the war which was
lighted up in Europe a little before our last meeting has not yet extended
its flames to other nations, nor been marked by the calamities which
sometimes stain the footsteps of war.
The irregularities,
too, on the
ocean, which generally harass the commerce of neutral nations, have, in
distant parts, disturbed ours less than on former occasions; but
in the
American seas they have been greater from peculiar causes, and even
within our harbors and jurisdiction infringements on the authority of
the laws have been committed which have called for serious attention.
35^
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
The friendly conduct of the Governments from whose officers and sub-
jects these acts have proceeded,
in other respects and in places more
under their observation and control, gives us confidence that our repre-
sentations on this subject will have been properly regarded.
While noticing the
irregularities committed on the ocean by others,
those on our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided for.
Complaints have been received that persons residing within the United
States have taken on themselves to arm merchant vessels and to force a
commerce into certain ports and countries in defiance of the laws of those
countries.
That individuals should undertake to wage private war, inde-
pendently of the authority of
their country, can not be permitted in a
well-ordered society.
Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws
and rights of other nations and to endanger the peace of our own is so
obvious that I doubt not you will adopt measures for restraining it effec-
tually in future.
Soon after the passage of the
act of the
last session authorizing the
establishment of a district and port of entry on the waters of the Mobile
we learnt that its object was misunderstood on the part of Spain,
Candid
explanations were immediately given and assurances that, reserving our
claims in that quarter as a subject of discussion and arrangement with
Spain, no act was meditated in the meantime inconsistent with the peace
and friendship existing between the two nations, and that conformably to
these intentions would be the execution of the law.
That Government
had, however, thought proper to suspend the ratification of the conven-
tion of
1802; but the explanations which would reach them soon after,
and still more the confirmation of them by the tenor of the instrument
establishing the port and district, may reasonably be expected to replace
them in the dispositions and views of the whole subject which originally
dictated the convention,
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the objections which had
been urged by that Government against the validity of our title to the
country of Louisiana have been withdrawn, its exact
limits, however,
remaining still to be settled between us; and to this is to be added that,
having prepared and delivered the stock created in execution of the con-
vention of Paris of April 30, 1803, in consideration of the cession of that
country, we have received from the Government of France an acknowl-
edgment, in due form, of the fulfillment of that stipulation.
With the nations of Europe in general our friendship and intercourse
are undisturbed, and from the Governments of the belligerent powers
especially we continue to receive those friendly manifestations which are
justly due to an honest neutrality and to such good offices consistent
with that as we have opportunities of rendering.
The activity and success of the small force employed in the Mediterra-
nean in the early part of the present year, the reenforcements sent into
that sea, and the energy of the officers having command in the several
Thomas Jefferson
359
vessels will, I trust, by the sufferings of war, reduce the barbarians of
Tripoli to the desire of peace on proper terms.
Great injury, however,
ensues to ourselves, as well as to others interested, from the distance to
which prizes must be brought for adjudication and from the impractica-
bility of bringing hither such as are not seaworthy.
The Bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized by our treaty,
their rejection has produced from him some expressions of discontent.
But to chose who expect us to calculate whether a compliance with unjust
demands will not cost us less than a war we must leave as a question of
calculation for them also whether to retire from unjust demands will not
cost them less than a war. We can do to each other very sensible injuries
by war, but the mutual advantages of peace make that the best interest
of both.
Peace and intercourse with the other powers on the same coast con-
tinue on the footing on which they are established by treaty.
In pursuance of the act providing for the temporary government of IvOui-
siana, the necessary officers for the Territory of Orleans were appointed in
due time to commence the exercise of their functions on the ist day of
October.
The
distance, however,
of some of them and
indispensable
previous arrangements may have retarded
its commencement in some
of its parts.
The form of government thus provided having been consid-
ered but as temporary, and open to such future improvements as further
information of the circumstances of our brethren there might suggest,
i1
will of course be subject to your consideration.
In the
district of Louisiana
it has been thought best
to adopt the
division into subordinate districts which had been established under its
former government.
These being five in number, a commanding officer
has been appointed to each, according to the provisions of the law, and so
soon as they can be at their stations that district will also be in its due
state of oi:ganization.
In the meantime their places are supplied by the
officers before commanding there.
And the functions of the governor
and judges of Indiana having commenced, the government, we presume,
is proceeding in its new form.
The lead mines in that district offer so
rich a supply of that metal as to merit attention.
The report now com-
municated will inform you of their state and of the necessity of imme-
diate inquiry into their occupation and titles.
With the Indian tribes established within our newly acquired limits,
I
have deemed
it necessary to open conferences for the purpose of estab-
lishing a good understanding and neighborly relations between us.
So
far as we have yet learned, we have reason to believe that their disposi-
tions are generally favorable and friendly; and with these dispositions on
their part, we have in our own hands means which can not fail us for pre-
serving their peace and friendship.
By pursuing an uniform course of
justice toward them, by aiding them in all the improvements which may
better their condition, and especially by establishing a commerce on terms
360
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
which shall be advantageous to them and only not losing to us, and so
regulated as that no incendiaries of our own or any other nation may be
permitted to disturb the natural
effects of our just and
friendly ofl&ces,
we may render ourselves so necessary to their comfort and prosperity
that the protection of our citizens from
their disorderly members will
become
their interest and their voluntary
care.
Instead, therefore, of
an augmentation of military force proportioned to our extension of fron-
tier, I propose a moderate enlargement of the capital employed in that
commerce as a more
effectual, economical, and humane instrument for
preserving peace and good neighborhood with them.
On this side the Mississippi an important relinquishment of native title
has been received from the Delawares.
That
tribe, desiring to extin-
guish in their people the
spirit
of hunting and to convert superfluous
lands into the means
of improving what they retain, has ceded
to us
all the country between the Wabash and Ohio south
of and including
the road from the rapids toward Vincennes, for which they are to receive
annuities in animals and implements for agriculture and in other neces-
saries.
This acquisition is important, not only for its extent and fertility,
but as fronting 300 miles on the Ohio, and near half that on the Wabash.
The produce of the settled country descending those rivers will no longer
pass in review of the Indian frontier but
in a small portion, and, with
the cession heretofore made by the Kaskaskias, nearly consolidates our
possessions north of the Ohio, in a very respectable breadth—from Lake
Erie to the Mississippi.
The Piankeshaws having some claim to the coun-
try ceded by the Delawares, it has been thought best to quiet that by fair
purchase also.
So soon as the treaties on this subject shall have received
their constitutional sanctions they shall be laid before both Houses.
The act of Congress of February 28, 1803, for building and employing
a number of gunboats, is now in a course of execution to the extent there
provided
for.
The
obstacle
to naval
enterprise which
vessels
of
this
construction offer for our seaport towns, their utility toward supporting
within our waters the authority of the laws, the promptness with which
they will be manned by the seamen and militia of the place in the moment
they are wanting, the
facility of
their assembling from
different
parts
of the coast to any point where they are required in greater force than
ordinary, the economy of their maintenance and preservation from decay
when not
in actual service, and the competence of our finances to this
defensive provision without any new burthen are considerations which
will have due weight with Congress in deciding on the expediency of
adding to their number from year to year, as experience shall test their
utility, until
all our important harbors, by these and auxiliary means,
shall be secured against insult and opposition to the laws.
No circumstance has arisen since your last session which calls for any
augmentation of our regular military force.
Should any improvement
occur in the militia system, that will be always seasonable.
TJionias Jefferson
361
Accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the last year, with esti-
mates for the ensuing one, will as usual be laid before you.
The state of our finances continues to fulfill our expectations.
Eleven
millions and a half of dollars, received in the course
of the year ending
the 30th of September last, have enabled us, after meeting all the ordi-
nary expenses of the year, to pay upward of $3,600,000 of the public
debt, exclusive of interest.
This payment, with those of the two preced-
ing years, has extinguished upward of twelve millions cf the principal
and a greater sum of interest within that period, and by a proportionate
aiminution of
interest renders already sensible the effect of the growing
sum yearly applicable to the discharge of the principal.
It
is also ascertained that the revenue accrued during the
last year
exceeds that of the preceding, and the probable receipts of the ensuing
year may safely be relied on as
suflScient, with the sum already in the
Treasury, to meet all the current demands of the year, to discharge up-
ward of three millions and a half of the engagements incurred under the
British and French conventions, and to advance in the further redemption
of the funded debt as rapidly as had been contemplated.
These, fellow-
citizens, are the principal matters which
I have thought it necessary at
this time to communicate for your consideration and
attention.
Some
others will be laid before you in the course of the session; but in the dis-
charge of the great duties confided to you by our country you will take
a broader view of the field of legislation.
Whether the great interests of
agriculture, manufactures, commerce, or navigation can within the pale
of your constitutional powers be aided in any of their relations; whether
laws are provided in
all cases where they are wanting; whether those
provided are exactly what they should be; whether any abuses take place
in their administration, or in that of the public revenues; whether the
organization of the public agents or of the public force is perfect in all
its parts;
in fine, whether anything can be done to advance the general
good, are questions within the Hmits of your functions which will neces-
sarily occupy your attention.
In these and all other matters which you
in your wisdom may propose for the good of our country you may count
with assurance on my hearty cooperation and faithful execution.
TH: JEFFERSON.
SPECIAL MBSSAGEa
November 15,
1804.
To the Senate of the United States:
I now lay before you a treaty, entered into on the i8th day of August
of the present year, between the United States on one part and the Dela-
ware Indians on the other, for the extinguishment of their title to a tract
of country between the Ohio and Wabash rivers.
362
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
And another of the 27th day of the same month, between the United
States and the Piaukeshaws, for a conjSrmation of the same by the latter,
together with a letter from Governor Harrison on the same subject; which
treaties are submitted for your advice and consent.
TH: JEFFERSON.
November
15,
1804.
To the House 0/ Representatives of the United States:
Agreeably to your resolution of the 9th instant, I now lay before you a
statement of the circumstances attending the destruction of the frigate
Philadelphia, with the names of the officers and tlie number of men em-
ployed on the occasion, to which I have to add that Lieutenant Decatur
was thereupon advanced
to
be
a
captain
in the Navy of
the United
States.
TH: JEFFERSON.
November
30,
1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Uiiited States:
I now lay before you copies of the treaties concluded with the Dela-
ware and Piankeshaw Indians for the extinguishment of their title to the
lands therein described, and I recommend to the consideration of Congress
the making provision by law for carrying them into execution.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December
13,
1804.
To the Senate of the United States:
I present for your advice a treaty entered into on behalf of the United
States with the Creek Indians for the extinguishment of their right in
certain lands in the forks of Oconee and Okmulgee
rivers, within the
State of Georgia.
For the purpose of enabling you to form a satisfac-
tory judgment on the subject,
it is accompanied with the instructions of
1802, April
12, to James Wilkinson, Benjamin Hawkins, and Andrew
Pickens, commissioners; those of 1803, May 5, to James Wilkinson, Ben-
jamin Hawkins, and Robert Anderson, commissioners, and those of 1804,
April 2, to Benjamin Hawkins, sole commissioner.
The negotiations for
obtaining the whole of the lands between the Oconee and Okmulgee have
now been continued through three successive seasons under the original
instructions and others supplementary to them given from time to time,
as circumstances required, and the unity of the negotiation has been pre-
served not only by the subject, but by continuing Colonel Hawkins always
one of the commissioners, and latterly the sole one.
The extent of the
cession to be obtained being uncertain, the limitation of price was what
should be thought reasonable accordijig to the usual rate of compensatioyi.
The commissioner has been induced to go beyond this limit probably by
Thomas Jefferson
363
the just attentions due to the strong interest which the State of Georgia
feels in making this particular acquisition, and by a despair of procuring
it on more reasonable terms from a tribe which is one of those most fixed
in the pohcy of holding fast their lands.
To this may be added that
if,
by an alteration in the first article, instead of giving them stock which
may be passed into other hands and render them the prey of speculators,
an annuity shall be paid them in this case, as has hitherto been practiced
in all similar cases, the price of these lands will become a pledge and
guaranty for our future peace with this important tribe, and eventually
an indemnity for the breach of
it.
On the whole, I rest with entire satisfaction on the wisdom and counsel
of those whose sanctions the Constitution has rendered necessary to the
final validity of this act.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Dkcbmber
31,
1804.
To the Senate and Hoiise of Representatives of the United States:
The inclosed
letter, written from Malta by Richard O'Brien, our late
consul at Algiers, giving some
details of transactions before Tripoh, is
communicated for the information of Congress.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December
31, 1804.
To the Senate of the United States:
Most of the Indians residing within our northern boundary on this
side of the Mississippi receiving from us annual aids in money and nec-
essaries,
it was a subject of complaint with the Sacs that they received
nothing and were connected with us by no
treaty.
As they owned the
country^ in the neighborhood of our settlements of Kaskaskia and St.
Louis, it was thought expedient to engage their friendship, and Governor
Harrison was accordingly instructed in June last to propose to them an
annuity of $500 or $600, stipulating
in
return an adequate cession of
territory and an exact
definition of boundaries.
The Sacs and Foxes
acting generally as one nation, and coming forward together, he found it
necessary to add an annuity for the latter tribe also, enlarging proportion-
ably the cession of territory, which was accordingly done by the treaty
now communicated, of November the 3d, with those two tribes.
This cession, giving us a perfect title to such a breadth of country on
the eastern side of the Mississippi, with a command of the Ouisconsin,
strengthens our means of retaining exclusive commerce with the Indians
on the western side of the Mississippi—a right indispensable to the poUcy
of governing those Indians by commerce rather than by arms.
The treaty is now submitted to the Senate for their advice and consent.
TH: JEFFERSON.
364
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
January
31,
1805.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with the desire of
the House of Representatives, ex-
pressed in their resohition of yesterday, I have to inform them that by
a
letter of the 30th of May last from the Secretary of War
to Samuel
Hammond, a member of the House,
it was proposed to him to accept a
connnission
of coionel-commandant for the
district of Louisiana when
the new government there should commence.
By a letter of the 30th of
June he signified a willingness
to accept, but
still more definitively by
one
of October
26,
a copy
of which
is therefore now communicated.
A commission had been made out
for him bearing date the
ist day of
October last, and forwarded before the receipt of his letter of October 26.
No later communication has been received from him, nor
is anything
later known of his movements.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
i, 1805.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
For some weeks past I have had reason to expect by every mail from
New Orleans information which would have fully met the views of the
House of Representatives, expressed in their resolution of December 31,
on the
subject of
a
post-road from the
city of Washington
to New
Orleans
; but this being not yet received,
I think it my duty without fur-
ther delay to communicate to the House the information I possess, how-
ever imperfect.
Isaac Briggs, one of the surveyors-general of the United States, being
about to return in July last to his station at Natchez, and apprised of the
anxiety existing to have a practicable road explored for forwarding the
mail to New Orleans without crossing the mountains, offered his serv-
ices voluntarily to return by the route contemplated, taking as he should
go such observations of longitude and latitude as would enable him to
delineate it exactly, and by
protraction to show of what shortenings
it
would admit.
The offer was accepted and he was furnished with an accu-
rate sextant for his observations.
The route proposed was from Wash-
ington by Fredericksburg,
Cartersville, Lower
Sauratown,
Salisbury,
Franklin Court-House in Georgia, Tuckabachee, Fort Stoddert, and the
mouth of Pearl River to New Orleans.*
It
is believed he followed this
route generally, deviating at times only for special purposes, and return-
ing again into
it.
His letters, herewith communicated, will shew
his
opinion to have been, after completing his journey, that the practicable
distance between Washington and New Orleans will be a little over 1,000
miles. He expected to forward his map and special report within one week
from the date of his last letter, but a letter of December 10, from another
person, informs me he had been unwell, but would forward them within a
TJiomas Jefferson
365
jt^eek from
that
time.
So soon as they shall be
received they shall be
communicated to the House of Representatives.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
5,
1805.
To the Senate and House of Represe^itatives of the United States:
The
Secretary
of
State has lately received a note from the Danish
charge d'affaires, claiming, in the name of his Government, restitution in
the case of the brig Henrich, communicated to Congress at a former ses-
sion, in which note were transmitted sundry documents chiefly relating to
the value and neutral character of the vessel, and to the question whether
the judicial proceedings were instituted and conducted without the concur-
rence of the captain of the Hejirich.
As these documents appear to form
a necessary appendage to those already before Congress, and throw addi-
tional lighi on the subject, I transmit copies of them herewith.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
13,
1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In the message to Congress
at the opening of the present session
I
informed them
that treaties had been entered into with the Delaware
and Piankeshaw Indians for the purchase of their right to certain lands
on the Ohio.
I have since received another, entered into with the Sacs
and Foxes, for a
portion of country on both sides of the
river Missis-
sippi.
These treaties, having been advised and consented to by the Sen-
ate, have accordingly been ratified, but as they involve conditions which
require
legislative
provision, they are now submitted
to both branches
for consideration.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
20,
1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Uiited States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter of September
18 from Commodore Preble, giving a detailed account of the transactions
of the vessels under his command from July the 9th to the loth of Sep-
tember last past.
The energy and judgment displayed by this excellent officer through
the whole course of the service
lately confided
to him and the zeal and
valor of his officers and men in the several enterprises executed by them
can not fail to give high satisfaction to Congress and their country, of
whom they have deserved well.
Til: Tin^^FHRSON.
366
Messages and Papers of the Presideiits
February
28, 1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Ufiited States:
I now lay before Congress a statement of the
militia
of the United
States, according to the returns last received from the several States.
It
will be perceived that some of these are not of recent dates, and that from
the States of Maryland, Delaware, and Tennessee no returns are stated.
As far as appears from our records, none were ever rendered from either
of these States.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
28, 1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now render to Congress the account of the fund established by the
act of May
i, 1802, for defrajdng the contingent charges of Government.
No occasion having arisen for making use of any part of the balance of
118,560 unexpended on the 31st day of December,
1803, when the last
account was rendered by message, that balance has been carried to the
credit of the surplus fund.
TH: JEFFERSON.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Proceeding, fellow-citizens, to that quahfication which the Constitution
requires before my entrance on the charge again conferred on me,
it is
my duty to express the deep sense I entertain of this new proof of confi-
dence from my fellow-citizens at large, and the zeal with which it inspires
me so to conduct myself as may best satisfy their just expectations.
On taking this station on a former occasion
I
declared the principles
on which I believed it my duty to administei: the affairs of our Common-
wealth.
My conscience
tells me
I have on every occasion acted up to
that declaration according to its obvious import and to the understand-
ing of every candid mind.
In the transaction of your foreign affairs we have endeavored to culti-
vate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those with which we
have the most important relations.
We have done them justice on
all
occasions, favored where favor was lawful, and cherished mutual interests
and intercourse on fair and equal terms.
We are firmly convinced, and
we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our inter-
ests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral
duties, and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is trusted
on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others.
At home,
fellow-citizens, you best know whether we have done well
Thomas Jefferson
367
or ill.
The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establisliments
and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our internal taxes.
These, cov-
ering our land with officers and opening our doors to their intrusions, had
already begun that process of domiciliary vexation which once entered
is scarcely to be restrained from reaching successi^^ely every article of
property and produce.
If among these taxes some minor ones fell which
had not been inconvenient,
it was because their amount would not have
paid the officers who collected them, and because,
if they had any merit,
the State authorities might adopt them instead of others less approved.
The remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign articles
is paid
chiefly by those who can
afford
to add foreign luxuries
to domestic
comforts, being collected on our seaboard and frontiers only, and, incorpo-
rated with the transactions of our mercantile citizens, it may be the pleas'
ure and the pride of an American to ask. What farmer, what mechanic,
what laborer ever sees a taxgatherer of the United States?
These con-
tributions enable us to support the current expenses of the Government,
to fulfill contracts with foreign nations, to extinguish the native right of
soil within our limits, to extend those limits, and to apply such a surplus
to our public debts as places at a short day their final redemption, and
that redemption once
effected the revenue thereby liberated may, by a
just repartition of it among the States and a corresponding amendment of
the Constitution, be applied i7i time ofpeace to rivers, canals, roads, arts,
manufactures, education, and other great objects within each State.
In
time of war,
if injustice by ourselves or others must sometimes produce
war, increased as the same revenue will be by increased population and
consumption, and aided by other resources reserved for that crisis, it may
meet within the year all the expenses
of
the year without encroaching
on the rights of future generations by burthening them with the debts of
the past.
War will then be but a suspension of useful works, and a return
to a state of peace a return to the progress of improvement.
I have said, fellow-citizens, that the income reserved had enabled us to
extend our
limits, but that extension may possibly pay for itself
before
we
are
called on, and in the meantime may keep down the accruing
interest; in
all events, it will replace the advances we shall have made.
I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some
from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory wotdd
endanger its union.
But who can limit the extent to whch the federa-
tive principle may operate effectively?
The larger our association the
less will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view is
it not better
that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own
brethren and children than by strangers of another family?
With which
should we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly intercourse?
In matters of religion I have considered that its free exercise is placed
by the Constitution independent of the powers of the General Govern-
ment.
I have therefore undertaken on no occasion
to prescribe the
368
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
religious exercises suited to
it, but have
left them, as the Constitution
found them, under the direction and
discipline of
the church or state
authorities acknowledged by the several
religious
societies.
The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded with the
commiseration
their history inspires.
Endowed with the
faculties and
the rights of men, breathing an ardent love of liberty and independence,
and occupying a countr}' which left tnem no desire but to be undisturbed,
the stream of overflowing population from other regions directed
itself
on these shores; without power to divert or habits to contend against it,
they have been overwhelmed by the current or driven before
it; now
reduced within limits too narrow for the hunter's state, humanity enjoins
us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts;
to encourage them
to that industry which alone can enable them to maintain their place in
existence and to prepare them in time for that state of society which to
bodily comforts adds the improvement
of
the mind and
morals.
We
have therefore
liberally furnished them with
the implements of hus-
bandry and household use; we have placed among them instructors in
the arts of first necessity, and they are covered with the aegis of the law
against aggressors from among ourselves.
But the endeavors to enlighten them on the fate which awaits their
present course of
life, to induce them
to
exercise
their reason, follow
its
dictates, and change their pursuits with the change of circumstances
have powerful
obstacles to encounter; they are combated by the habits
of their bodies, prejudices of their minds, ignorance, pride, and the influ-
ence of interested and crafty individuals among them who feel themselves
something in the present order of things and fear to become nothing in
any other.
These persons inculcate a sanctimonious reverence for the
customs of
their
ancestors;
that whatsoever they
did
must
be done
through
all time;
that reason is a false guide, and to advance under its
counsel in their physical, moral, or political condition is perilous innova-
tion;
that their duty is to remain as their Creator made them, ignorance
being safety and knowledge full of danger;
in short, my friends, among
them
also
is seen the action and counteraction of good sense and of
bigotr>'; they too have their antiphilosophists who
find an
interest in
keeping things in their present state, who dread reformation, and exert
all
their faculties to maintain the ascendency of habit over the duty
of improving our reason and obeying its mandates.
In giving these outlines I do not mean, fellow-citizens, to arrogate to
mj^self the merit of the measures.
That is due, in the first place, to the
reflecting character of our citizens at large, who, by the weight of public
opinion, influence and strengthen the public measures.
It is due to the
sound discretion with which they select from among themselves those to
whom they confide the legislative duties.
It is due to the zeal and wis-
dom of the characters thus selected, who lay the foundations of public
happiness in wholesome laws, the execution of which alone remains for
Thomas Jefferson
369
others, and It is due to the able and faithful auxiliaries, whose patriotism
has associated them with me in the executive functions.
During this course of administration, and
in order to disturb
it, the
artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with whatsoever
its licentiousness could devise or dare.
These abuses of an institution so
important to freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as
they tend to lessen
its usefulness and to sap
its
safety.
They might,
indeed, have been corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved to
and provided by the laws of the several States against falsehood and defa-
mation, but public duties more urgent press on the time of public servants,
and the offenders have therefore been left to find their punishment in the
public indignation.
Nor was
it uninteresting to the world that an experiment should be
fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion, unaided by power,
is not sufficient for the propagation and protection of truth—whether a
government conducting
itself
in the true
spirit of
its constitution, with
zeal and purity, and doing no act which it would be unwilling the whole
world should witness, can be written down by falsehood and defamation.
The experiment
has
been
tried;
you
have witnessed
the scene;
our
fellow-citizens looked on, cool and collected; they saw the
latent source
from which these outrages proceeded; they gathered around their public
functionaries, and when the
Constitution called them
to
the
decision
by suffrage, they pronounced their verdict, honorable to those who had
served them and consolatory to the friend of man who believes that he
may be trusted with the control of his own affairs.
No inference
is here intended that the laws provided by the States
against
false and defamatory publications
should not be
enforced; he
who has time renders a service to public morals and public tranquillity
in, reforming these abuses by the salutary coercions of the law; but the
experiment is noted to prove
that, since truth and reason have main-
tained their ground against false opinions
in league with false facts, the
press, confined to truth, needs no other legal
restraint;
the public judg-
ment will correct false reasonings and opinions on a
full hearing of all
parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable
liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness.
If there be still
improprieties which this rule would not restrain,
its supplement must be
sought in the censorship of public opinion.
Contemplating the union of sentiment now manifested so generally as
auguring harmony and happiness to our future course,
I
offer to our
country sincere congratulations.
With those, too, not yet rallied to the
same point the disposition to do so
is gaining strength;
facts are pierc-
ing through the veil drawn over them, and our doubting brethren will at
length see that the mass of their fellow-citizens with whom they can not
yet resolve to act as to principles and measures, think as they think and
desire what they desire
;
that our wish as well as theirs is that the public
37°
Messages aiid Papers of the Presidejits
efforts may be directed honestly to the public good, that peace be culti-
vated, civil and religious liberty
unassailed, law and
order preserved,
equality of rights maintained, and that state of property, equal or unequal,
which results to every man from his own industry or that of his father's.
When satisfied of these views it is not in human nature that they should
not approve and support them.
In the meantime let us cherish them
with patient affection, let us do them justice, and more than justice, in
all competitions of
interest, and we need not doubt that truth, reason,
and their own interests will at length prevail, will gather them into the
fold
of
their country, and will complete that
entire
union
of opinion
which gives to a nation the blessing of harmony and the benefit of all its
Strength.
I sha^i now enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have again
called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those principles which they
have approved.
I
fear not that any motives
of
interest may lead me
astray;
I am sensible of no passion which could seduce me knowingly
from the path of
justice, but the weaknesses of human nature and the
limits of my own understanding will produce errors of judgment some-
times injurious to your interests.
I shall need, therefore,
all the indul-
gence which
I have heretofore experienced from my constituents; the
want of
it will certainly not lessen with increasing years.
I
shall need,
too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers,
as Israel of
old, from
their native land and planted them in a country
flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of
life; who has covered
our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom
and power, and to whose goodness
I ask you
to
join
in supplications
with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide
their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall
result in your good, and shall
secture to you the peace, friendship, and
approbation of all nations,
March
4,
1805.
FIFTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
DecembKR 3, 1805.
To the Senate and House of Represe7itatives of the United States:
At a moment when the nations of Europe are in commotion and arming
against each other, and when those with whom we have principal inter-
course are engaged in the general contest, and when the countenance of
some of them toward our peaceable country threatens that even that may
not be unaffected by what is passing on the general theater, a meeting of
the representatives of the nation in both Houses of Congress has become
Thomas Jefferson
371
more than usually desirable.
Coming from every section of our country,
they bring with them the sentiments and the information of the whole,
and will be enabled to give a direction to the public affairs which the will
and the wisdom of the whole will approve and support.
In taking a view of the
state of our country we in the
first place
notice the late afl&iction of two of our cities under the fatal fever which
in
latter times has occasionally visited our
shores.
Providence in His
goodness gave
it an early termination on this occasion and lessened the
number of victims which have usually fallen before it.
In the course of
the several visitations by this disease
it has appeared that
it
is strictly
local,
incident
to
cities and on the
tide waters
only,
incommunicable
in the country either by persons under the disease or by goods carried
from
diseased places;
that
its
access
is with the autumn and
it
dis-
appears with the early frosts.
These restrictions within narrow limits
of time and space give security even to our maritime cities during three-
fourths of the year, and to the country always.
Although from these
facts
it appears unnecessary, yet to satisfy the fears of foreign nations
and cautions on their part not to be complained of in a danger whose
limits are yet unknown to them I have strictly enjoined on the oflBcers at
the head of the customs to certify with exact truth for every vessel sail-
ing for a foreign port the
state
of health respecting this fever which
prevails at the place from which she
sails.
Under every motive from
character and duty to certify the truth, I have no doubt they have faith-
fully executed
this
injunction.
Much
real injury has, however, been
sustained from a propensity to identify with this endemic and to call by
the same name fevers of very different kinds, 'which have been known
at all times and in all countries, and never have been placed among those
deemed contagious.
As we advance in our knowledge of this disease,
as facts develop the source from which individuals receive it, the State
authorities charged with the care of the public health, and Congress with
that of the general commerce, will become able to regulate with effect
their respective functions in these departments.
The burthen of quaran-
tines is felt at home as well as abroad;
their efficacy merits examination.
Although the health laws of the States should be found to need no pres-
ent
revisal by Congress,
yet commerce claims that
their attention be
ever awake to them.
Since our last meeting the aspect of our foreign relations has consider-
ably changed.
Our coasts have been infested and our harbois watched
by private armed vessels, some of them without commissions, some with
illegal commissions,
others with
those
of
legal
form, but committing
piratical acts beyond the authority
of their commissions.
They have
captured in the very entrance of our harbors, as well as on the high seas,
not only the vessels of our friends coming to trade with us, but our own
also.
They have carried them off under pretense of legal adjudication,
but not daring to approach a court of justice, they have plundered and
372
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
sunk tliem by the way or in obscure places where no evidence could
arise against them, maltreated the crews, and abandoned them in boats
in the open sea or on desert shores without food
or covering.
These
enormities appearing to be unreached by any control of their soveieigns,
I found it necessary to equip a force
to cruise within our own
seas, to
arrest
all
vessels
of
these
descriptions found
hovering on our coasts
within the
limits of the Gulf Stream and
to bring the
offenders in for
trial as pirates.
The same system of hovering on our coasts and harbors under color of
seeking enemies has been
also carried on by public armed ships to the
great annoyance and oppression of our commerce.
New principles, too,
have been interpolated into the law of nations, founded neither in justice
nor the usage or acknowledgment of nations.
According to these a bel-
ligerent takes to itself a commerce with its own enemy which it denies to
a neutral on the ground of
its aiding that enemy in the war; but reason
revolts at such an inconsistency, and the neutral having equal right with
the belligerent to decide the question, the interests of our constituents and
che duty of maintaining the authority of reason, the only umpire between
just nations, impose on us the obligation of providing an
effectual and
determined opposition to a doctrine so injurious to the rights of peaceable
nations.
Indeed, the confidence we ought to have in the justice of others
still countenances the hope that a sounder view of those rights will of
itself induce from every belligerent a more correct observance of them.
With Spain our negotiations for a settlement of differences have not
had
a
satisfactory
issue.
Spoliations during a former war, for which
she had formally acknowledged herself responsible, have been refused to
be compensated but on conditions affecting other claims in no wise con-
nected with them.
Yet the same practices are renewed
in the present
war and are already of great amount.
On the Mobile, our commerce
passing through that river continues to be obstructed by arbitrary duties
and vexatious searches.
Propositions for adjusting amicably the bound-
aries of I^ouisiana have not been acceded to.
While, however, the right
is unsettled, we have avoided changing the state of things by taking
new posts or strengthening ourselves in the disputed territories, in the
hope that the other power would not by a contrary conduct oblige us
to
meet their example and endanger conflicts of authority the issue of which
may not be easily controlled.
But in this hope we have now reason to
lessen our confidence.
Inroads have been recently made into the Terri-
tories of Orleans and the Mississippi, our citizens have been seized and
their property plundered in the very parts of the former which had been
actually delivered up by Spain, and
this by the regular
officers and
soldiers
of
that Government.
I have therefore found
it necessary
at
length to give orders to our troops on that frontier to be in readiness to
protect our citizens, and
to repel by arms any similar aggressions
in
future.
Other details necessary for your full information of the state of
Thomas Jeffei'son
3 73
things between
this country and that
shall be the subject of another
communication.
In reviewing the.se
injuries from some of the belligerent powers the
moderation, the
firmness, and the wisdom of the lyCgislature will
all be
called into action.
We ought still to hope that time and a more correct
estimate of interest as well as of character will produce the
justice we
are bound to expect.
But should any nation deceive itself by false calcu-
lations, and disappoint that expectation, we must join in the unprofitable
contest of tr> ;'ng which party can do the other the most harm.
Some of
these injuries may perhaps admit a peaceable remedy.
Where that is com-
petent it is always the most desirable.
But some of them are of a nature
to be met by force only, and
all of them may lead to
it.
I can
not,
therefore, but recommend such preparations as circumstances
call
for.
The first object is to place our seaport towns out of the danger of insult.
Measures have been already taken for furnishing them with heavy can-
non for the service of such land batteries as may make a part of their
defense against armed vessels approaching them.
In aid of these it is
desirable we should
have a competent number of
gunboats, and
the
number, to be competent, must be considerable.
If immediately begun,
they may be in readiness for service at the opening of the next season.
Whether it will be necessary to augment our land forces will be decided
by occurrences probably in the course of your session.
In the meantime
you will consider whether it would not be. expedient for a state of peace
as well as of war so to organize or class the militia as would enable us
on any sudden emergency to call for the services of the younger portions,
unencumbered with
the
old and
those having
families.
Upward
of
300,000 able-bodied men between the ages of
18 and 26 years, which the
last census shews we may now count within our limits, will furnish a com-
petent number for offense
or defense in any point where they may be
wanted, and will give time for raising regular forces after the necessity
of them shall become certain; and the reducing to the early period of life
all its active service can not but be desirable to our younger citizens of
the present as well as future times, inasmuch as
it engages to them in
more advanced age a quiet and undisturbed repose in the bosom of their
families.
I can not, then, but earnestly recommend to your early considera-
tion the expediency of so modifying our militia system as, by a separation
of the more active part from that which is less so, we may draw from it
when necessary an efficient corps
fit for real and active service, and to
be called to it in regular rotation.
Considerable provision has been made under former authorities from
Congress of materials for the construction of ships of war of 74 guns.
These materials are on hand subject to the farther will of the Legislature.
An immediate prohibition of the exportation of arms and ammunition
is also submitted to your determination.
Turning from these unpleasant views of violence and wrong,
I con-
374
Messages and Papers of fhe Presidents
gratulate you on the liberation of our fellow-citizens who were stranded
on the coast of Tripoli and made prisoners of war.
In a government
bottomed on the will of all the life and liberty of every individual citizen
become interesting to all.
In the treaty, therefore, which has concluded
our warfare with that State an article for the ransom of our citizens has
been agreed to.
An operation by land by a small band of our country-
men and others, engaged for the occasion in conjunction with the troops
of the ex-Bashaw of that country, gallantly conducted by our late consul,
Eaton, and their successful enterprise on the city of Derne, contributed
doubtless to the impression which produced peace, and the conclusion of
this prevented opportunities of which the officers and men of our squad-
ron destined for Tripoli would have availed themselves to emulate the
acts of valor exhibited by their brethren in the attack of the last year.
Reflecting with high satisfaction on the distinguished bravery displayed
whenever occasions permitted in the late Mediterranean service, I think it
would be an useful encouragement as well as a just reward to make an
opening for some present promotion by enlarging our peace establishment
of captains and lieutenants.
With Tunis some misunderstandings have arisen not yet
sufficiently
explained, but friendly discussions with their ambassador recently arrived
and a mutual disposition to do whatever is just and reasonable can not
fail of dissipating these, so that we may consider our peace on that coast,
generally, to be on as sound a footing as
it has been
at any preceding
time.
Still, it will not be expedient to withdraw immediately the whole
of our force from that sea.
The law providing for a naval peace establishment fixes the number
of frigates which shall be kept in constant service in time
of peace, and
prescribes that they shall be manned by not more than two-thirds of
their complement of seamen and ordinary seamen.
Whether a frigate
may be trusted to two-thirds only of her proper complement of men must
depend on the nature of the service on which- she
is ordered;
that may
sometimes,
for her safety as well as to insure her object, require her
fullest complement.
In adverting to this subject Congress will perhaps
consider whether the best limitation on the Executive discretion in this
case would not be by the number of seamen which may be employed in
the whole service rather than by the number of the vessels.
Occasions
oftener arise for the employment of small than of large vessels, and
it
would lessen risk as well as expense to be authorized to employ them o'
preference.
The limitation suggested by the number of seamen would
admit a selection of vessels best adapted to the service.
Our Indian neighbors are advancing, many of them with spirit, and
others beginning to engage in the pursuits of agriculture and household
manufacture.
They are becoming sensible that the earth yields subsist-
ence with less labor and more certainty than the forest, and find it their
interest from time to time to dispose of parts of their surplus and waste
Thomas Jefferson
375
lands for the means of improving those they occupy and of subsisting
their families while they are preparing their farms.
Since your last ses-
sion the Northern tribes have sold to us the lands between the Connecticut
Reserve and the former Indian boundary and those on the Ohio from the
same boundary to the rapids and for a considerable depth inland.
The
Chickasaws and Cherokees have sold us the country between and adja-
tent
to the two
districts of Tennessee, and the Creeks the residue of
their lands in the fork of Ocmulgee up to the Ulcofauhatche.
The three
former purchases are important, inasmuch as they consolidate disjoined
parts of our settled country and render their intercourse secure
; and the
second particularly so,
as, with the small point on the river which we
expect is by this time ceded by the Piankeshaws,
it completes our pos-
session of the whole of both banks of the Ohio from its source to near its
mouth, and the navigation of that river is thereby rendered forever safe
to our citizens
settled and settling on
its extensive waters.
The pur-
chase from the Creeks, too, has been for some time particularly interesting
to the State of Georgia.
The several treaties which have been mentioned will be submitted to
both Houses of Congress for the exercise of their respective functions.
Deputations now on their way to the seat of Government from various
nations of Indians inhabiting the
Missouri and other parts beyond the
Mississippi come charged with assurances of their satisfaction with the
new relations in which they are placed with us, of their dispositions to
cultivate our peace and friendship, and their desire to enter into com-
mercial intercourse with us.
A state of our progress in exploring the
principal rivers of that country, and of the information respecting them
hitherto obtained, will be communicated so soon as we shall receive some
further relations which we have reason shortly to expect.
The receipts at the Treasury during the year ending on the 30th day of
September last have exceeded the sum of $13,000,000, which, with not
quite five millions in the Treasury at the beginning
of the
year, have
enabled us after meeting other demands to pay nearly two millions of the
debt contracted under the British treaty and convention, upward of four
millions of principal of the public
debt, and four
millions
of
interest.
These payments, with those which had been made in three years and a
half
preceding, have extinguished of the funded debt nearly eighteen
millions
of
principal.
Congress by
their
act
of November
10,
1803,
authorized us to borrow $1,750,000 toward meeting the claims of our
citizens assumed by the convention with France.
We have not, however,
made use of this authority, because the sum of four millions and a half,
which remained in the Treasury on the same 30th day of September last,
with the receipts which we may calculate on for the ensuing year, besides
paying the annual sum of $8,000,000 appropriated to the funded debt
and meeting all the current demands which may be expected, will ena-
ble
us to pay the whole sum of
$3,750,000 assumed by the French
376
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
convention and
still leave us a surplus of nearly $1,000,000 at our free
disposal.
Should you concur in the provisions of arms and armed vessels
recommended by the circumstances of the times, this surplus will furnish
the means of doing so.
On this first occasion of addressing Congress since, by the choice of my
constituents, I have entered on a second term of administration, I embrace
the opportunity to give this
pul)lic assurance that I will exert my best
endeavors to administer
faithfully the executive department, and will
zealously cooperate with you in every measure which may tend to secure
the liberty, property, and personal safety of our fellow-citizens, and to
consolidate the republican forms and principles of our Government.
In the course of your session you shall receive all the aid which I can
give for the dispatch of public business, and
all the information neces-
sary for your deliberations, of which the interests of our own country and
the confidence reposed in us by others will admit a communication.
TH: JEFFKRSON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
Dkcember
6,
1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The depredations' which had been committed on the commerce of the
Tlnited States during a preceding war by persons under
the authority
of Spain are sufiiciently known to all.
These made it a duty to require
from
that
Government indemnifications
for our
injured
citizens.
A
convention was accordingly entered
into between the minister of the
United States at Madrid and the minister of that Government for for-
eign affairs, by which it was agreed that spoliations committed by Span-
ish subjects and carried into ports of Spain should be paid
for by that
nation, and that those committed by French subjects and carried into
Spanish ports should remain for further discussion.
Before this conven-
tion was returned to Spain with our ratification the transfer of Louisiana
by France to the United States took place, an event as unexpected as dis-
agreeable to Spain.
From that moment she seemed to change her con-
duct and dispositions toward us.
It was
first manifested by her protest
against the right of France to alienate Louisiana to us, which, however,
was soon retracted and
the right confirmed.
Then high offense was
manifested at the act of Congress establishing a collection district on the
Mobile, although by an authentic declaration immediately made
it was
expressly confined to our acknowledged
limits; and she now refused
to
ratify the convention signed by her own minister under the eye of his
Sovereign unless we would consent to
alterations of
its terms which
Thomas Jefferson
377
would have affected our claims against her for the spoliations by French
subjects carried into Spanish ports.
To obtain justice as well as to restore friendship I thought a special
mission advisable, and
accordingly appointed James Monroe minister
extraordinary and plenipotentiary to repair to Madrid, and
in conjunc-
tion with our minister resident there to endeavor to procure a ratification
of the former convention and to come to an understanding with Spain
as to the boundaries of Louisiana.
It appeared at once that her policy
was to reserve herself for events, and in the meantime to keep our differ-
ences in an undetermined state.
This will be evident from the papers now
communicated to you.
After nearly fi^-e months of fruitless endeavor to
bring them to some definite and satisfactory result, our ministers ended
the conferences without having been able to obtain indemnity for spoUa-
tions of any description or any satisfaction as to the boundaries of
lyOui-
siana, other than a declaration that we had no rights eastward of the
Iberville, and that our line to the west was one which would have
left
us but a string of land on that bank of the river Mississippi.
Our injured
citizens were thus
left without any prospect
of
retribution from
the
wrongdoer, and as to boundary each party was to take its own course.
That which they have chosen to pursue will appear from the documents
now communicated.
They authorize the inference that it is their inten-
tion to advance on our possessions until they shall be repressed by an
opposing
force.
Considering
that Congress
alone
is
constitutionally
invested with the power of changing our condition from peace to war, I
have thought
it my duty to await their authority for using force in any
degree which could be avoided.
I have barely instructed the
officers
stationed in the neighborhood of the aggressions to protect our citizens
from violence, to patrol within the borders actually delivered to us, and
not to go out of them but when necessary to repel an inroad or to rescue
a
citizen* or his property; and the Spanish
officers remaining at New
Orleans are required to depart without further delay.
It ought to be
noted here that since the
late change in the state of
affairs in Europe
Spain has ordered her cruisers and courts to respect our treaty with her.
The conduct of France and the part she may take in the misunder-
standings between the United States and Spain are too important to be
unconsidered.
She was prompt and decided in her declarations that our
demands on Spain for French spoliations carried into Spanish ports were
included in the settlement between the United States and France.
She
took at once the ground that she had acquired no right from Spain, and
had meant to deHver us none eastward of the Iberville, her silence as
to the western boundary leaving us to infer her opinion might be against
vSpain in that quarter.
Whatever direction she might mean to give to
these differences,
it does not appear that she has contemplated their pro-
ceeding to actual rupture, or that
at the date of our last advices from
Paris her Government had any suspicion of the hostile attitude Spain had
378
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
taken here; on the contrary, we have reason to believe that she was dis-
posed to effect a settlement on a plan analogous to what our ministers
had proposed, and so comprehensive as to remove as far as possible the
grounds
of future
collision and controversy on
the eastern
as well as
western side of the Mississippi.
The present crisis in Europe
is favorable for pressing such a settle-
ment, and
not
a moment
should be
lost
in
availing
ourselves
of
it.
Should it pass unimproved, our situation would become much more diffi-
cult.
Formal war is not necessary—it is not probable it will follow; but
the protection of our citizens, the spirit and honor of our country require
that force should be interposed to a certain degree
It will probably con-
tribute to advance the object of peace.
But the course to be pursued will require the command of means which
it belongs to Congress exclusively to yield or to deny.
To them I com-
municate every fact
material for their information and the documents
necessary to enable them
to judge
for themselves.
To
their wisdom,
then, I look for the course I am to pursue, and will pursue with sincere
zeal that which they shall approve.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December
ii,
1805.
To the Senate of the United States:
I now lay before the Senate the several treaties and conventions follow-
ing, which have been entered into on the part of the United States since
their last session:
.
A treaty of peace and amity between the United States of America
and the Bashaw, Bey, and subjects of Tripoli, in Barbary.
2. A treaty between the United States and the Wyandot,
Ottawa,
Chippewa, Munsee, and Delaware, Shawnee, and Potawatamie nations
of Indians.
3. A treaty between the United States and the agents of the Connect-
icut Land Companies on one part and the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa,
Munsee, and Delaware, Shawnee, and Potawatamie nations of Indians.
4. A treaty between the United States and the Delawares, Potawata-
mies, Miamis, Eel-rivers, and Weeas.
5. A treaty between the United States and the Chickasaw Nation of
Indians.
6. A treaty between
the United States of America and the Cherokee
Indians.
7. A convention between the United States and the Creek Nation of
Indians; with the several documents necessary for their explanation.
The Senate having dissented to the ratification of the treaty with the
Creeks submitted to them at their last session, which gave a sum of
$200,000 for the country thereby conveyed,
it
is proper now to observe
Thomas Jefferson
379
that instead of that sum, which was equivalent to a perpetual annuity of
$12,000, the present purchase gives them an annuity of $12,000 for eight
years only and of $11,000
for ten years more, the payments of which
would be
effected by a present sum
of $130,000 placed at an annual
interest of 6 per cent.
If from this sum we deduct the reasonable value
of the road ceded through the whole length of their country from Ocmul-
gee toward New Orleans, a road of indispensable necessity to
us, the
present convention will be found to give little more than the half of the
sum which was formerly proposed to be given.
This difference is thought
sufl&cient to justify the presenting this subject a second time to the Senate.
On these several treaties I have to request that the Senate will advise
whether I shall ratify them or not.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Dkcember
23,
1805.
To the Senate and House ofRepresentatives of the United States:
The governor and presiding judge of the Territory of Michigan have
made a report to me of the state
of that Territory, several matters
in
which being within the reach of the legislative authority only, I lay the
report before Congress.
TH: JEFFERSON.
DeCEMBKR
31,
1805.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I now communicate to the House of Representatives all the informa-
tion which the executive offices furnish on the subject of their resolution
of the 23d instant respecting the States indebted to the United States.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
10,
1806.
• To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with the request of the Senate expressed in their reso-
lution of December 27, 1 now lay before them such documents and papers
(there being no other information in my possession) as
relate to com-
plaints by the Government of France against the commerce carried on by
the citizens of the United States to the French icland of
St. Domingo.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
13,
1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
According to the request of the Senate of December 30, 1 now lay before
them the correspondence of the naval commanders Barron and Rodgers
and of Mr. Eaton, late consul at Tunis, respecting the progress of the
380
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
war with Tripoli, antecedent to the treaty with the Bey and Regency of
TripoH, and respecting the negotiations for the same, and the commission,
and instructions of Mr. Eaton, with such other correspondence in posses-
sion of the ofl&ces as I suppose may be useful to the Senate in their delib'
erations upon the said treat}'.
The instructions which were given to Mr. Lear, the consul-general at
Algiers, respecting the negotiations for the said treaty accompanied the
treaty and the message concerning the same, and are now with them in
possession of the Senate.
So much of these papers has been extracted and communicated to the
House of Representatives as relates to the principles of the cooperation
between the United States and Ilamet Caramalli, which is the subject of
a joint message to both Houses of Congress bearing equal date with the
present, and as those now communicated to the Senate comprehend the
whole of that matter, I request that they may be considered as compris-
ing the documents stated
in that message as accompanying
it.
Being
mostly originals or sole copies, a return of them
is requested at the con-
venience of the Senate.
We have no letter from Mr. Lear respecting Tripoline affairs of later
date than that of July 5, which was transmitted to the Senate with the
treaty, nor, consequently, any
later information what steps have been
taken to carry into effect the stipulation for the delivery of the wife and
children of the brother of the reigning Bashaw" of Tripoli.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
13,
1806.
To the Senate and House ofRepresentaihes of the United States:
I lay before Congress the application of Hamet Caramalli, elder brother
of the reigning Bashaw of Tripoli, sohciting from the United States atten-
tion to his services and sufferings in the late war against that State; and
in order to possess them of the ground on which that application stands,
the facts shall be stated according to the views and information of the
Executive.
During the war with Tripoli it was suggested that Hamet Caramalli,
elder brother of the reigning Bashaw, and driven by him from his throne,
meditated the recovery of his inheritance, and that a concert in action
with us was desirable to him.
We considered that concerted operations
by those who have a common enemy were entirely justifiable, and might
produce effects favorable to both without binding either to guarantee the
objects of the other.
But the distance of the scene, the
difi&culties of
communication, and the uncertainty of our information inducing the less
confidence in the measure,
it was committed to our agents as one which
might be resorted to if it promised to promote our success.
Mr. Eaton, however (our late consul), on his return from the Medi-
Thomas Jefferson
3^1
terranean, possessing personal knowledge of the scene and having con-
fidence in the effect of a joint operation, we authorized Commodore Bar-
ron, then proceeding with his squadron, to enter into an understanding
with Hamet
if he should deem it useful; and as it was represented that
he would need some aids of arms and ammunition, and even of money,
he was authorized to furnish them to a moderate extent, according to the
prospect of utility to be expected from it.
In order to avail him of the
advantages of Mr. Eaton's knowledge of circumstances, an occasional
employment was provided for the latter as an agent for the Navy in that
sea.
Our expectation was that an intercourse should be kept up between
the ex-Bashaw and the commodore;
that while the former moved on by
land our squadron should proceed with equal pace, so as to arrive at their
destination together and to attack the common enemy by land and sea at
the same time.
The instructions of June 6 to Commodore Barron shew
that a cooperation only was intended, and by no means an union of our
object with the fortune ot
the ex-Bashaw, and the commodore's letters
of March 22 and May 19 prove that he had the most correct idea of our
intentions.
His verbal instructions, indeed, to Mr. Eaton and Captain
Hull,
if the expressions are accurately committed to writing by those
gentlemen, do not limit the extent of his cooperation as rigorously as he
probably intended; but
it
is certain from the ex-Bashaw's letter of Jan-
uary 3, written when he was proceeding to join Mr. Eaton, and in which
he says, "Your operations should be carried on by sea, mine by land,"
that he left the position in which he was with a proper idea of the nature
of the cooperation.
If Mr. Eaton's subsequent convention should appear
to bring forward other
objects, his letter of April 29 and May
i views
this convention but as provisional, the second
article, as he expressly
states, guarding
it against any
ill effect; and his letter of June 30 con-
firms this construction.
In the .event it was found that after placing the ex-Bashaw in posses-
sion
of Derne, one of the most important
cities and provinces of the
country, where he had resided himself as governor, he was totally unable
to command any resources or to bear any part in cooperation wdth us.
This hope was then at an end, and we certainly had never contemplated,
nor were we prepared, to land an army of our own, or to raise, pay, or
subsist an army of Arabs to march from Derne to Tripoli and to carry
on a land war at such a distance from our resources.
Our means and our
authority were merely naval, and that such were the expectations of
Hamet his letter of June 29 is an unequivocal acknowledgment.
While,
therefore, an impression from the capture of Derne might
still operate
at Tripoli, and an attack on that place from our squadron was daily ex-
pected, Colonel Lear thought
it the best moment to listen to overtures of
peace then made by Bashaw.
He did so, and while urging provisions
for the United States he paid
attention
also to the interests of Hamet,
but was able to effect nothing more than to engage the restitution of his
382
Afessao-rs and Papers of the Presidents
family, and even the persevering in this demand suspended for some time
the conclusion of the treaty.
In operations at such a distance
it becomes necessary to leave much
to the discretion of the agents employed, but events may still turn up
beyond the limits of that discretion.
Unable in .such a case to consult his
Government, a zealous citizen will act as he believes that would direct
him were
it apprised of the circumstances, and will take on himself the
responsibility.
In all these cases the purity and patriotism of the motives
should shield the agent from blame, and even secure a sanction where
the error
is not too injurious.
Should
it be thought by any that the
verbal instructions said to have been given by Commodore Barron
to
Mr. Eaton amount to a stipulation that the United States should place
Hamet
Caramalli on
the throne
of
Tripoli—a
stipulation so entirely
unauthorized,
so far beyond our
views, and
so onerous could not be
sanctioned by our Government—or should Hamet Caramalli, contrary to
the evidence of his letters of January 3 and Jurie 29, be thought to have
left the position which he now seems to regret, under a mistaken expec-
tation that we were at all events to place him on his throne, on an appeal
to the liberality of the nation something equivalent to the replacing him
in his former situation might be worthy its consideration.
A nation by
establishing a character of
liberality and magnanimity
gains in the friendship and respect of others more than the worth of mere
money.
This appeal
is now made by Hamet Caramalli to the United
States.
The ground he has taken being
different
not
only from our
views but from those expressed by himself on former occasions,
Mr.
Eaton was desired to state whether any verbal communications passed
from him to Hamet which had varied what we saw
in writing.
His
answer of December 5 is herewith transmitted, and has rendered it
still
more necessary that in presenting to the Legislature the application
of
Hamet I should present them at the same time an exact statement of the
views and proceedings of the Executive through
this whole business,
that they may clearly understand the ground on which we are placed.
It is accompanied by all the papers which bear any relation to the prin-
ciples of the cooperation, and which can inform their judgment in decid-
ing on the appHcation of Hamet Caramalli,
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
15,
1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now render to Congress an account of the grant of $20,000 for the
contingent charges of Government by an act making appropriations for
the support of Government for the year 1805.
Of that sum $i,987-So
have been necessarily applied to the support of the Territorial govern-
IM
-CESSMENT OF AMERICAN SEAMAN
The story of this outrage on our flag, which was of constant occurrence
until the War
of 1812 taught England that the
"gridiron banner" meant
something besides submission,
is told in the article entitled " Impressment
in
the
Encyclopedic
Index.
Note that the seaman is being forcibly taken
from an American man-of-war.
The
article
entitled "Chesapeake, The,"
tells
of a British
captain's insolence and the American Government's tame
submission to a gross outrage of this character.
Thomas Jefferson
3^3
ments of Michigan and Louisiana until an opportunity could occur of mak-
ing a specific appropriation for that purpose.
The balance of $18,012.50
remains in the Treasury,
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
17,
1806.
To ifu Senate and House of Represeyitatwes of the United States:
In my message to both Houses of Congress at the opening of their
present session I submitted to their attention, among other subjects, the
oppression of our commerce and navigation by the irregular practices of
armed vessels, public and private, and by the introduction of new prin-
ciples derogatory of the rights of neutrals and unacknowledged by the
usage of nations.
The memorials of several bodies of merchants of the United States are
now communicated, and will develop these principles and practices which
are producing
the most
ruinous
effects on our lawful commerce and
navigation.
The rights of a neutral to carry on commercial intercourse with every
part of the dominions of a belligerent permitted by the laws of the coun-
try (with the exception of blockaded ports and contraband of war) was
believed
to have been decided between Great Britain and the United
States by
the sentence
of
their commissioners mutually appointed
to
decide on that and other questions of difference between the two nations,
and by the actual payment
of the damages awarded by them against
Great Britain for the infractions of that right.
When, therefore, it was
perceived that the same principle was revived with others more novel and
extending the injury, instructions were given to the minister plenipoten-
tiary of the United States at the Court of London, and remonstrances
duly made by him on this subject, as will appear by documents trans-
mitted- herewith.
These were followed by a partial and temporary sus-
pension only, without any disavowal of the principle.
He has therefore
been instructed to urge this subject anew, to bring
it more fully to the
bar of reason, and to insist on rights too evident and too important to be
surrendered.
In the meantime the e\nl
is proceeding under adjudica-
tions fotmded on the principle which
is denied.
Under these circum-
stances the subject presents itself for the consideration of Congress.
On the impressment of our seamen our remonstrances have never been
intermitted.
A hope existed
at one moment of an arrangement which
might have been submitted to, but it soon passed away, and the practice,
though relaxed at times in the distant seas, has been constantly pursued
in those in our neighborhood.
The grounds on which the reclamations
on this subject have been urged will appear in an extract from instructions
to our minister at London now communicated.
TH: JEFFERSON.
384
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
January
17, 1806.
To the Senate and Ho7ise of Representatives of the United States:
The inclosed
letter from the minister plenipotentiary
of the United
States at the Court of L^ondon contains interesting information on the
subjects of my other message of this date.
It
is sent separately and
confidentially because its publication may discourage frank communica-
lions between our ministers generally and the Governments with which
they reside, and especially between the same ministers.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
24, 1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
A convention has been entered into between the United States and
the Cherokee Nation for the extinguishment of the rights of the lattei
and of some unsettled claims in the country north of the river Tennes
see, therein described.
This convention
is now laid before the Senate
for their advice and consent as to its ratification.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
27, 1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
According to the desire of the Senate expressed in their resolution of
the loth instant, I now communicate to them a report of the Secretary
of State, with its documents, stating certain new principles attempted to
be introduced on the subject of neutral rights, injurious to the rights
and interests of the United
States,
These, with my message to both
Houses of the 17th instant and the documents accompanying it, fulfill the
desires of the Senate as far as
it can be done by any information in my
possession which is authentic and not publicly known.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
29,
1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Having received from sundry merchants at Baltimore a memorial on
the same subject with those I communicated to Congress with my mes-
sage of the 17th instant, I now communicate this also as a proper sequel
to the former, and as making a part of the mass of evidence of the vio-
lations of our rights on the ocean,
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
3, 1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
A letter has been received from the governor of South Carolina cover-
ing an act of the legislature of that State ceding to the United States
Thomas Jefferson
385
various forts and fortifications and
sites for the erection of forts in that
State on the conditions therein expressed.
This
letter and the act
it
covered are now communicated to Congress.
I am not informed whether the positions ceded are the best which can
be taken for securing their respective objects.
No doubt is entertained
that the legislature deemed them such.
The river of Beaufort, particu-
larly, said to be accessible to ships of very large size and capable of yield-
ing them a protection which they can not find elsewhere but very far tc
the north, is from these circumstances so interesting to the Union in gen-
eral as to merit particular attention and inquiry as to the positions on it
best calculated for health as well as safety,
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
3, 1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In the course of the last year the following treaties and conventions
for the extinguishment of Indian
title to lands within our limits were
entered into on behalf of the United States:
A treaty between the United States and the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chip-
peway, Munsee and Delaware, Shawanee and Pottawatamy nations of
Indians.
A treaty between the United States and the agents of the Connecticut
Land Company on one part and the Wyandot and Ottawa, Chippeway,
Munsey and Delaware, Shawanee and Pottawatamy nations of Indians.
A treaty between the United States and the Deiavv^ares, Pottawatamies,
Miamis, Bel-rivers, and Weas.
A treaty between the United States and
the Chickasaw Nation of
Indians.
Two treaties between the United States and the Cherokee Indians.
A convention between the United States and
the Creek Nation
of
Indians.
The Senate having advised and consented to the
ratification of these
several treaties and conventions, I now lay them before both Houses of
Congress for the exercise of their constitutional powers as to the means
of fulfilhng them.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February 6, 1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Since the date of my message of January 17 a
letter of the 26th of
November has been received from the minister plenipotentiary of the
United States at London, covering one from the secretary for foreign
affairs of that Government, which, being on the subject of that message,
386
Afessao^cs a fid Papers of the Presidents
is now transmitted for the information of Congress.
Although nothing
forbids the substance of these letters from being communicated without
reserve, yet so many
ill
effects proceed from
the publications
of
cor-
respondences between
ministers remaining
still in office that
I can not
but recommend that these
letters be not permitted
to be formally pub-
lished.
TH; JEFFERSON.
February 19,
1806.
To the Senate and House 0/ Representatives of the United States:
In pursuance of a measure proposed to Congress by a message of Jan-
uary 18,
1803, and sanctioned by their approbation for carrying it into
execution, Captain Meriwether I^ewis, of the First Regiment of infantry,
was appointed, with a party of men, to explore the river Missouri from
its mouth to its source, and, crossing the highlands by the shortest port-
age, to seek the best water communication thence to the Pacific Ocean;
and Lieutenant Clarke was appointed second in command.
They were
to enter into conference with the Indian nations on
their route with a
view to the establishment
of commerce with them.
They entered the
Missouri May 14, 1804, and on the ist of November took up their winter
quarters near the Mandan towns, 1,609 miles above the mouth
of the
river, in latitude 47° 21' 47" north and longitude 99° 24' 45" west from
Greenwich.
On the 8th of April,
1805, they proceeded up the river in
pursuance of the objects prescribed to them.
A letter of the preceding
day, April 7th, from Captain Lewis is herewith communicated.
During
his stay among the Mandans he had been able to lay down the Missouri
according to courses and distances taken on his passage up
it, corrected
by frequent observations of longitude and latitude, and
to add
to the
actual survey of this portion of the river a general map of the country
between the Mississippi and Pacific from the thirty-fourth to the fifty-
fourth degree
of latitude.
These additions are from
information col-
lected from Indians with whom he had opportunities of communicating
during his journey and residence with them.
Copies of
this map are
now presented to both Houses of Congress.
With these I communicate
also a statistical view, procured and forwarded by him,
of the Indian
nations inhabiting the Territory of Louisiana and the countries adjacent
to
its northern and western borders,
of their commerce, and of other
interesting circumstances respecting them.
In order to render the statement as complete as may be of the Indians
inhabiting the country west of the Mississippi, I add Dr. Sibley's account
of those residing in and adjacent to the Territory of Orleans.
I communicate,
also, from the same person, an account of the Red
River, according to the best information he had been able to collect.
Having been disappointed, after considerable preparation, in the pur-
Thomas Jejferson
387
pose of sending an exploring party up that river in the summer of 1804,
it was thought best to employ the autumn
of
that year in procuring a
knowledge of an interesting branch of the river called the Washita.
This was undertaken under the direction of Mr. Dunbar, of Natchez,
a citizen of distinguished science, who had aided and continues
to aid
us with his disinterested and valuable services in the prosecution of these
enterprises.
He ascended the river to the remarkable hot springs near
it, in latitude 34° 31' 4.16", longitude 92° 50' 45" west from Greenwich,
taking its courses and distances, and correcting them by frequent celes-
tial observations.
Extracts from his observations and copies of his map
of the river from its mouth to the hot springs make part of the present
communications.
The examination of the Red River itself
is but now
commencing.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
5, 1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
According to the request of the Senate expressed in their resolution
of 3d instant,
I now transmit the extract of a letter from the Secretary
of State to the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, the
answer to that letter, and two letters from Henry Waddell, a citizen of
the United States, relative to the interference of the said minister in the
case of the ship New Jersey and to the principles alleged to
ha-^'-e been
laid down on that occasion.
There are in the office of the Department of State several printed doc-
uments in this case by the agent of those interested in the ship, which
are voluminous and in French.
If these be within the scope
of the
request of the Senate, the printed copies can be sent in immediately, but if
translations be necessary some considerable time will be requisite for their
execution.
On
this subject any further desire which the Senate shall
think proper to express shall be complied with.
TH: JEFFERSON.
March
7,
1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
According to the request of the Senate of yesterday, I now transmit the
five printed memorials of the agent for the ship New Jersey, in the one of
which marked B, at the ninth page, will be found the letter relative to
it from the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris to the
French minister of the treasury, supposed to be the one designated in
the resolution.
We have no information of this letter but through the
channel of the party interested in the
ship, nor any proof of
it more
authentic than that now communicated.
TH: JEFFERSON.
388
Messages and Papers 0/ the Presidents
March
19,
1806.
To the Senate and Hotise of Representatives of the United States:
It was reasonably expected
that while the
limits between the terri-
tories
of the United States and of Spain were unsettled
neither party
would have innovated on the existing state of their respective positions.
Some time
since, however, we learnt that the Spanish authorities were
advancing into the disputed country to occupy new posts and make new
settlements.
Unwilling to take any measures which might preclude a
peaceable accommodation of differences, the officers of the United States
were ordered to confine themselves within the country on this side of
the Sabine River which, by delivery of
its principal
post, Natchitoches,
was understood to have been
itself delivered up by Spain, and at the
same time to permit no adverse post to be taken nor armed men to remain
within
it.
In consequence of these orders the commanding
officer of
Natchitoches, learning that a party of Spanish troops had crossed the
Sabine River and were posting themselves on this side the Adais, sent a
detachment of his force to require them to withdraw to the other side of
the Sabine, which they accordingly did.
I have thought it proper to communicate to Congress the letter detail-
ing this incident, that they may fully understand the state of things in
that quarter and be enabled to make such provision for its security as,
in their wisdom, they shall deem sufficient.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Aprtl
II,
1806.
To the Senak and House of Represeniaiives of the United States:
I now lay before Congress a statement of the militia of the United
States according to the returns last received from the several States and
Territories.
It will be perceived that some of these are not of recent
dates, and that from the States of Maryland and Delaware no returns
are stated.
As far as appears from our records, none were ever rendered
from either of these States.
From the Territories of Orleans, Louisiana,
and Michigan complete returns have not yet been received.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Aprii,
14, 1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
During the blockade of Tripoli by the squadron of the United States a
small cruiser, under the flag of Tunis, with two prizes, all of trifling value,
attempted to enter TripoH; was turned back, warned, and, attempting
again to enter, was taken and detained as prize by the squadron.
Her res-
titution was claimed by the Bey of Tunis with a threat of war in terms so
serious that on withdrawing from the blockade of Tripoli the command-
Thomas Jefferson
389
ing officer of the squadron thought it his duty to repair to Tunis with his
squadron and to require a categorical declaration whether peace or war
was intended.
The Bey preferred explaining himself by an ambassador
to the United States, who on his arrival renewed the request that the
vessel and her prizes should be restored.
It was deemed proper to give
this proof of friendship to the Bey, and the ambassador was informed the
vessels would be restored.
Afterwards he made a requisition of naval
stores to be sent to the Bey, in order to secure a peace for the term of
three years, with a threat
of war
if refused.
It has been refused, and
the ambassador
is about to depart without receding from his threat or
demand.
Under these circumstances, and considering that the several provisions
of the act of March 25, 1804, will cease in consequence of the ratification
of the treaty of peace with Tripoli, now advised and consented to by the
Senate, I have thought
it my duty to communicate these facts, in order
that Congress may consider the expediency of continuing the same provi-
sions for a limited time or making others equivalent.
TH; JEFFERSON.
ApriIv
15,
1806.
To ihe SenaU and House of Representatives of the United States:
The Senate having advised and consented to the ratification of a treaty
concluded with the Piankeshaw Indians for extinguishing their claim to
the country between the Wabash and Kaskaskia cessions, it is now laid
before both Houses for the exercise of their constitutional powers as to
the means of fulfilling it on our part.
TH: JEFFERSON.
ApriIv
17, 1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The Senate having advised and consented to the ratification of a con-
vention between the United States and the Cherokee Indians, concluded
at Washington on the 7th day of January last, for the cession of their
right to the tract of country therein described, it is now laid before both
Houses of Congress for the exercise of their constitutional powers toward
the fulfillment thereof.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Aprii,
18,
1806.
To the Seriate of the Ujiited States:
In compliance with the request of the Senate of yesterday's date, I
now communicate the entire correspondence between the ambassador of
Tunis and the Secretary of State, from which the Senate will see that
the first application by the ambassador for restitution of the vessels taken
390
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
in
violation
of blockade having been
yielded
to,
the only remaining
cause of difference brought forward by him is the requisition of a present
of naval stores to secure a peace for three years, after which the
infer-
ence is obvious that a renewal of the presents is to be expected to renew
the prolongation of peace for another term.
But this demand has been
pressed in verbal conferences much more explicitly and pertinaciously
than appears in the written correspondence.
To save the delay of copy-
ing, Sf^me originals are inclosed, with a request that they be returned.
XH: JEFFERSON.
ApkiIv
19,
1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
I nominate James Monroe, now minister plenipotentiary^ of the United
States at the Court of London, and William Pinkney, of Maryland, to
be commissioners plenipotentiary and extraordinary for settling all mat-
ters of difference between the United States and the United Kingdoms
of Great Britain and Ireland relative to wrongs committed between the
parties on the high seas or other waters, and for establishing the princi-
ples of navigation and commerce between them.
James Houston, of Maryland, to be judge of the court of the United
States for the district of Maryland.
Willis W. Parker, of Virginia, to be collector of the district and in-
spector of the revenue for the port of South Quay.
TH: JEFFERSON.
PROCLAMATIONS.
[Prom Annals of Congress, Ninth Congress, second session, 685.]
By thb President op the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas satisfactory information has been received that Henry Whitby,
commanding a British armed vessel called the Leander, did on the 25th
day of the month of April last, within the waters and jurisdiction of the
United States, and near to the entrance of the harbor of New York, by
a cannon shot
fired from the said vessel Leander^ commit a murder on
the body of John Pierce, a citizen of the United States, then pursuing
his lawful vocation within the same waters and jurisdiction of the United
States and near to their shores; and that the said Henry Whitby can not
at this time be brought to justice by the ordinary process of law; and
Whereas it does further appear that both before and after the said day
llwmas Jefferson
sundry trespasses, wrongs, and unlawful inteiTuptions and vexations on
trading vessels coming to the United States, and within their waters and
vicinity, were committed by the said armed vessel the Lcandcr, her offi-
cers and people; by one other armed vessel called the Cambria^i, com-
manded by John Nairne, her officers and people; and by one other armed
vessel called the Driver, commanded by Slingsby Simpson, her
officers
and people; which vessels, being all of the same nation, were aiding and
assisting each other in the trespasses, interruptions, and vexations afore-
said:
Now, therefore, to the end that the said Henry Whitby may be brought
to justice and due punishment inflicted for the said murder,
I do hereby
especially enjoin and require
all
officers having authority, civil or mili-
tary, and all other persons within the limits or jurisdiction of the United
States, wheresoever the said Henry Whitby may be found, now or here-
after, to apprehend and secure the said Henry Whitby, and him safely
and diligently to deliver
to the
civil authority' of the place, to be pro-
ceeded against according to law.
And I do hereby further require that the said armed vessel the Lean-
der, with her officers and people, and the said armed vessels the Cambrian
and Driver, their officers and people, immediately and without any delay
depart from the harbors and waters
of the United States.
And
I do
forever interdict the entrance of
all other vessels which
shall be com-
manded by the said Henry Whitby, John Nairne, and Shngsby Simpson,
or either of them.
And
if the said vessels, or any of them, shall
fail
to depart as afore-
said, or shall reenter the harbors or waters aforesaid, I do in that case
forbid
all intercourse with the said armed vessels the Leander, the Cam-
brian, and the Driver, or with any of them, and the
officers and crews
thereof, and do prohibit all supplies and aid from being furnished them,
or any of them.
And I do declare and make known that if any person
from or within the jurisdictional limits of the United States shall afford
any aid to either
of the said armed vessels contrary to the prohibition
contained
in
this proclamation, either in repairing such vessel or in fur-
nishing her, her
officers or crew, with supplies
of any kind
or
in any
manner whatever;
or
if any pilot shall
assist
in navigating any of the
said armed vessels, unless
it be for the purpose of carrying them in the
first instance bej'ond the
limits and jurisdiction of the United States,
such person or persons shall on conviction suffer all the pains and pen-
alties by the laws provided for such offenses.
And
I do hereby enjoin
and require all persons bearing office, civil or military, v/ithin the United
States, and all others citizens or inhabitants thereof, or being within the
same, with vigilance and promptitude to exert their respective authorities
and to be aiding and assisting to the carrying this proclamation and
every part thereof into full effect.
392
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
afl&xed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand.
p
Given at the city of Washington, the 3d day of May, A. D.
1806, and of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United
States the thirtieth,
aH: JEFFKRSON.
By the President:
James Madison,
Secretary of State.
[From Annals of Congress, Ninth Congress, second session, 686.]
By the President of the United States of America.
A proclamation.
Whereas information has been received that sundry persons, citizens
of the United States or residents within the same,
are conspiring and
confederating together to begin and set on foot, provide, and prepare the
means for a mihtary expedition or enterprise against the dominions of
Spain;
that for this purpose they are fitting out and arming vessels in
the western waters of the United
States,
collecting provisions,
arms,
military stores, and means;
are deceiving and seducing honest and well-
meaning citizens, under various pretenses, to engage in their criminal
enterprises;
are
organizing,
officering, and arming themselves for the
same, contrary to the laws in such cases made and provided:
I have therefore thought proper to issue this my proclamation, warn-
ing and enjoining
all faithful citizens who have been led without due
knowledge or consideration to participate in the said unlawful enterprises
to withdraw from the same without delay, and commanding all persons
whatsoever engaged or concerned in the same to cease all further pro-
ceedings therein, as they will answer the contrary at their peril and incur
prosecution with
all the rigors of the law.
And
I hereby enjoin and
require all officers, civil and military, of the United States, or of any of
the States or Territories, and especially all governors and other executive
authorities, all judges, justices, and other officers of the peace, all military
officers of the Army or Navy of the United States, or officers of the militia,
to be vigilant, each within his respective department and according to
his functions, in searching out and bringing to condign punishment all
persons engaged or concerned in such enterprise, in seizing and detaining,
subject to the disposition of the law, all vessels, arms, mihtary stores, or
other means provided or providing for the same, and, in general, in pre-
venting the carrying on such expedition or enterprise by all lawful means
within their power; and I require all good and faithful citizens and others
within the United States to be aiding and assisting herein, and especially
in the discovery, apprehension, and bringing to justice of all such offend-
Thomas Jefferson
393
ers, in preventing the execution of their unlawful designs, and in giving
information against them to the proper authorities.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United States to
be affixed to these presents, and have signed the same with my
hand.
[seal.]
Given at the city of Washington on the 27th day of Novem-
ber, 1806, and in the year of the Sovereignty of the United
States the thirty-first.
TH: JEFFERSON.
By the President:
James Madison,
Secretary of State.
SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December
2, 1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States ofAmerica
in Congress assembled:
It would have given me, fellow-citizens, great satisfaction to announce
in the moment of your meeting that the
difficulties in our foreign rela-
tions existing at the time of your last separation had been amicably and
justly terminated.
I
lost no time in taking those measures which were
most likely to bring them to such a termination—by special missions
charged with such powers and instructions
as in the event of failure
could leave no imputation on either our moderation or forbearance.
The
delays which have since taken place in our negotiations with the British
Government appear to have proceeded from causes which do not forbid
the expectation that during the course of the session I may be enabled
to lay before you their
final
issue.
What will be that of the negotia
tions for setthng our differences with Spain nothing which had taken
place at the date of the last dispatches enables us to pronounce.
On the
western side of the
Mississippi she advanced in considerable force, and
took post at the settlement of Bayou Pierre, on the Red River.
This
village was originally settled by France, was held by her as long as she
held I^ouisiana, and was delivered to Spain only as a part of I^ouisiana.
Being small, insulated, and distant, it was not observed at the moment of
redelivery to France and the United States that she continued a guard
of half a dozen men which had been stationed there. A proposition, how-
ever, having been lately made by our commander in chief to assume the
Sabine River as a temporary line of separation between the troops of
the two nations until the issue of our negotiations shall be known, this
has been referred by the Spanish commandant to his superior, and in the
meantime he has withdrawn his force to the western side of the Sabine
394
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
River.
The
correspondence
on
this subject now communicated
will
exhibit more particularly the present state of things in that quarter.
The nature of that country requires indispensably that an unusual
proportion
of the
force employed there should be cavalry or mounted
infantry.
In order,
therefore, that the commanding
officer might be
enabled to act with effect, I had authorized him to call on the governors
of Orleans and
Mississippi
for a corps of 500 volunteer cavalry.
The
temporary arrangement he has proposed may perhaps render this unnec-
essary; but
I inform you with great pleasure of the promptitude with
which the inhabitants of those Territories have tendered their services in
defense of their country.
It has done honor to themselves, entitled them
to the confidence of their fellow-citizens in every part of the Union, and
must strengthen the general determination to protect them efhcaciously
luider all circumstances which may occur.
Having received information that in another part of the United States
a great number of private individuals were combining together, arming
and organizing themselves contrary to law, to carry on a military expedi-
tion against the territories of Spain, I thought
it necessary, by procla-
mation as well as by special orders, to take measures for preventing and
suppressing this enterprise, for seizing the vessels, arms, and other means
provided for it, and for arresting and bringing to justice its authors and
abettors.
It was due to that good faith which ought ever to be the rule
of action in public as well as in private transactions,
it was due to good
order and regular government, that while the public force was acting
strictly on the defensive and merely to protect our citizens from aggres-
sion
the
criminal attempts
of
private
individuals
to decide
for
their
country the question of peace or war by commencing active and unau-
thorized hostilities should be promptly and efficaciously suppressed.
Whether it will be necessary to enlarge our regular force will depend
on the result of our negotiations with Spain; but as it is uncertain wher
that result will be known, the provisional measures requisite for that,
and to meet any pressure intervening in that quarter, will be a subject
for your early consideration.
The possession of both banks of the
Mississippi reducing to a single
point the defense of that
river,
its waters, and the country adjacent,
it
becomes highly necessary
to provide
for
that
point a more adequate
security.
vSome position above
its mouth, commanding the passage of
the river, should be rendered sufficiently strong to cover the armed ves-
sels which may be stationed there for defense, and in conjunction with
them to present an insuperable obstacle to any force attempting to pass.
The approaches to the city of New Orleans from the eastern quarter
also will require to be examined and more effectually guarded.
For the
internal support of the country the encouragement of a strong settlement
on the western side of the Mississippi, within reach of New Orleans, will
be worthy the consideration of the Legislature.
Thomas Jefferso7i
395
The gunboats authorized by an act of the last session are so advanced
that they will be ready for service in the ensuing spring.
Circumstances
permitted us to allow the time necessary for their more solid construc-
tion.
As a much larger number will
still be wanting
to place our sea-
port towns and waters in that state of defense to which we are competent
and they entitled, a similar appropriation for a further provision for them
is recommended for the ensuing year.
A further appropriation will also be necessary
for
repairing
fortifi-
cations already established and the erection of such other works as may
have real effect in obstructing the approach of an enemy to our seaport
towns, or their remaining before them.
In a country whose constitution is derived from the will of the people,
directly expressed by their free suffrages; where the principal executive
functionaries and those of the legislature are renewed by them at short
periods; where under the character of jurors they exercise in person the
greatest portion of the judiciary powers; where the laws are consequently
so formed and administered as to bear with equal weight and favor on
all, restraining no man in the pursuits of honest industry and securing to
everyone the property which that acquires,
it would not be supposed
that any safeguards could be needed against insurrection or enterprise
on the public peace or authority.
The ^aws, however, aware that these
should not be trusted to moral restraints only, have wisely provided pun-
ishment for these crimes when committed.
But would it not be salutary
to give also the means of preventing their commission?
Where an enter-
prise is meditated by private individuals against a foreign nation in amity
with the United States, powers of prevention to a certain extent are given
by the laws.
Would they not be as reasonable and useful where the
enterprise preparing
is against the United States?
While adverting to
this branch of law it is proper to observe that in enterprises meditated
against foreign nations the ordinary process of binding to the observance
of the peace and good behavior, could it be extended to acts to be done
out of the jurisdiction of the United States, would be effectual in some
cases where the offender is able to keep out of sight every indication of
his purpose which could draw on him the exercise of the powers now
given by law.
The States on the coast of Barbary seem generally disposed at present
to respect our peace and friendship; with Tunis alone som-e uncertainty
remains.
Persuaded that
it is our interest to maintain our peace with
them on equal terms or not at all, I propose to send in due time a reen=
forcement into the Mediterranean unless previous information shall shew
it to be unnecessary.
We continue to receive proofs of the growing attachment of our Indian
neighbors and of their disposition to place
all their interests under the
patronage of the United States.
These dispositions are inspired by their
confidence in our justice and in the sincere concern we
feel
for their
396
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
welfare; and as long as we discharge these higli and honorable functions
with the integrity and good faith which alone can
entitle us
to their
continuance we may expect to reap the just reward in their peace and
friendship.
The expedition of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke for exploring the river
Missouri and the best communication from that to the Pacific Ocean has
Iiad all the success which could have been expected.
They have traced
the Missouri nearly to its source, descended the Columbia to the Pacific
Ocean, ascertained with accuracy the geography of that interesting com-
munication
across our continent, learnt the character of the country,
of its connnerce and inhabitants; and it is but justice to say that Messrs.
Lewis and Clarke and their brave companions have by this arduous serv-
ice deserved well of their country.
The attempt to explore the Red River, under the direction of Mr. Free-
man, though conducted with a zeal and prudence meriting entire appro-
bation, has not been equally successful.
After proceeding up
it about
600 miles, nearly as far as the French settlements had extended while the
country was in their possession, our geographers were obliged to return
without completing their work.
Very useful additions have also been made to our knowledge of the
Mississippi by Lieutenant Pike, who has ascended
it to
its source, and
whose journal and map, giving the details of his journey, will shortly be
ready for communication to both Houses of Congress.
Those of M«ssrs.
Lewis,
Clarke, and Freeman will require further time
to be digested
and prepared.
These important surveys, in addition to those before pos-
sessed, furnish materials for commencing an accurate map of the Missis-
sippi and
its western waters.
Some principal
rivers, however, remain
still to be explored, toward which the authorization of Congress by mod-
erate appropriations will be requisite.
I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach
of the period at
which you may interpose your authority constitutionally to withdraw
the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those
violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the
unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputa-
tion, and the best interests of our country have long been eager to pro-
scribe.
Although no law you may pass can take prohibitory effect till
the first day of the year 1808, yet the intervening period is not too long
to prevent by timely notice expeditions which can not be completed
before that day.
The receipts at the Treasury during the year ending on the 30th day
of September last have amoimted to near $15,000,000, which have enabled
us, after meeting the current demands, to pay $2, 700,000 of the American
claims in part of the price of Louisiana ; to pay of the funded debt upward
of three millions of principal and nearly four of interest, and, in addition,
to reimburse in the course of the present month near two millions oi Sj4
ASVHOUNd VNVISINOT AHL CANV NOILIGHdXY NAVI) ANV SIMAT AHL-AYMAAOSSIG GNV ASVHOUNd AG NOISNVdXY
EXPANSION BY DISCOVERY AND PURCHASE
Two
events
of
Jefferson's time outrank
in importance any
other
two.
The
first of these was the purchase from France of Louisiana Territory, for
an account of which see the
article
entitled "Louisiana Purchase,"
in the
Encyclopedic Index.
The second was the exploration of the northwest from the
headwaters of the Missouri to the Columbia River in Oregon by the Lewis and
Clark expedition, as a result of which we secured the States of Washington,
Oregon and Idaho.
See " Lewis and Clark Expedition " in the Encyclopedic
Index.
Thomas Jefferson
397
per cent stock.
These payments and reimbursements of the funded debt,
with those which had been made in the four years and a half preceding,
will at the close of the present year have extinguished upward of twenty-
three milUons of principal.
The duties composing the Mediterranean fund will cease by law at the
end of the present session.
Considering, however, that they are levied
chiefly on luxuries and that we have an impost on
salt, a necessary of
life, the
free use
of which otherwise
is so important, I recommend to
your consideration the suppression of the duties on salt and the continua-
tion of the Mediterranean fund instead thereof for a short time, after
which
that
also will become unnecessary for any purpose now within
contemplation.
When both of these branches of revenue shall in this way be relin-
quished there will
still ere long be an accumulation of moneys in the
Treasury beyond the installments of public debt which we are permitted
by contract to pay.
They can not then, without a modification assented
to by the public creditors, be appHed to the extinguishment of this debt
and the complete
liberation of our revenues, the most desirable of
all
objects.
Nor, if our peace continues, will they be wanting for any other
existing purpose.
The question therefore now comes forward. To what
other objects shall these surpluses be appropriated, and the whole surplus
of impost, after the entire discharge of the public debt, and dturing those
intervals when the purposes of war shall not call for them?
Shall we
suppress the impost and give that advantage to foreign over domestic
manufactures?
On a few articles of more general and necessary use the
suppression in due season will doubtless be right, but the great mass of
the articles on which impost
is paid are foreign luxuries, purchased by
those only who are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them.
Their patriotism would certainly prefer
its continuance and application
to the great purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals, and
such other objects of public improvement as it may be thought proper to
add to the constitutional enumeration of Federal powers.
By these opera-
tions new channels of communication will be opened between the States,
the lines of separation will disappear, their interests will be identified,
and their union cemented by new and indissoluble
ties.
Education
is
here placed among the articles of public care, not that it would be pro-
posed to take
its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enter-
prise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal,
but a public institution can alone supply those sciences which though
rarely called for are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of
which contribute to the improvement of the country and some of them
to its preservation.
The subject
is now proposed for the consideration
of Congress, because if approved by the time the State legislatinres shaU
have deliberated on this extension of the Federal trusts, and the laws
shall be passed and other arrangements made for their execution, the
398
Messages and Papers of tJie Presidents
necessary funds will be on hand and without employment.
I suppose
an amendment to the Constitution, by consent of the States, necessary,
because the objects now recommended are not among those enumerated
in the
Constitution, and
to which
it permits the public moneys to be
applied.
The present consideration of a national establishment
for education
particularly is rendered proper b}^ this circumstance also, that if Congress,
approving the proposition, shall yet think it more eligible to found it on
a donation of lands, they have
it now in their power to endow it with
those which will be among the earliest to produce the necessar>^ income.
This foundation would have the advantage of being independent of war,
which may suspend other improvements by requiring for its own purposes
the resources destined for them.
This, fellow-citizens, is the state of the public interests at the present
moment and according to the information now possessed.
But such is
the situation of the nations of Europe and such, too, the predicament in
which we stand with some of them that we can not rely with certainty on
the present aspect of our affairs, that may change from moment to mo-
ment during the course of your session or after you shall have separated.
Our duty is, therefore, to act upon things as they are and to make a rea-
sonable provision for whatever they may be.
Were armies to be raised
whenever a speck of war is visible in our horizon, we never should have
been without them.
Our resources would have been exhausted on dan-
gers which have never happened, instead of being reserved for what
is
really to take place. A steady, perhaps a quickened, pace in preparations
for the defense of our seaport towns and waters; an early settlement of
the most exposed and vulnerable parts of our country-;
a militia so organ-
ized that its effective portions can be called to any point in the Union, or
volunteers instead of them to serve a sufficient time, are means which
may always be ready, yet never preying on our resources until actually
called into use.
They will maintain the public
interests while a more
permanent force shall be in course of preparation.
But much will depend
on the promptitude with which these means can be brought into activity.
If war be forced upon us, in spite of our long and vain appeals to the jus-
tice of nations, rapid and vigorous movements in
its outset will go far
toward securing us in its course and issue, and toward throwing its bur-
thens on those who render necessary the resort from reason to force.
The re:.::.lt of our negotiations, or such incidents in their course as may
enable us to infer their probable issue; such further movements also on
our western
frontiers as may shew whether war
is to be pressed there
while negotiation is protracted elsewhere, shall be communicated to you
from time to time as they become known
to me, with whatever other
information I possess or may receive, which may aid your deliberations
on the great national interests committed to your charge.
TH: JEFI'HRSON.
Thomas Jefferson
399
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
December
3,
1806.
T( the Sc7iate ayid House of Representatives of the Uyiited States:
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the negotiation depending
between the United States and the Government of Great Britain is pro-
ceeding
in a
spirit of friendship and accommodation which promises a
result of mutual advantage.
Delays, indeed, have taken place, occasioned
by the long illness and subsequent death of the British minister charged
with that duty.
But the commJssioners appointed by that Government
to resume the negotiation have shewn every disposition to hasten
its
progress.
It
is, however, a work of
time, as many arrangements are
necessary to place our future harmony on stable grounds.
In the mean-
time we find by the communications of our plenipotentiaries that a tem-
porary suspension
of
the
act
of
the
last
session
prohibiting
certain
importations would, as a mark of candid disposition on our part and of
confidence in the temper and views with which they have been met, have
a happy effect on its course.
A step so friendly will afford further evi-
dence that
all our proceedings have flowed from views of justice and
concihation, and that we give them willingly that form which may best
meet corresponding dispositions.
Add to
this that the same motives which produced the postponement
of the act till the 15th of November last are in favor of
its further sus-
pension, and as we have reason 1:0 hope that it may soon yield to arrange-
ments of mutual consent and convenience, justice seems to require that the
same measure may be dealt out to the few cases which may fall within
its short course as to all others preceding and following
it.
I can not,
therefore, but recommend the suspension of this act for a reasonable time,
on considerations of justice, amity, and the public interests.
TH; JEFFERSON.
December 15,
1806.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress a report of the surveyor of the public buildings,
stating the progress made on them during the
last season and what is
proposed for the ensuing one.
I took every msasure within my power for carrying into effect the
request of the House of Representatives of the 17th of April last to cause
the south wing of the Capitol to be prepared for their accommodation
by the commencement of the present session.
With great regret I found
it was not to be accomplished.
The quantity of freestone necessary,
with the
size and quality of many of the blocks, was represented as
400
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
beyond what could be obtained from the quarries by any exertions which
could be commanded.
The other parts of the work, which might
all
have been completed in time, were
necessarily retarded by the
insuffi-
cient progress of the stonework.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January 5,
1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to each House of Congress a copy of the laws of the Terri-
tory of Michigan passed by the governor and judges of the Territory
during the year 1805,
TH; JEFFERSON.
January
22.
1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Agreeably to the request of the House of Representatives communi-
cated in their resolution of the i6th instant, I proceed to state, under \\u
reserve therein expressed, information received touching an illegal combi-
nation of private individuals against the peace and safety of the Union,
and a military expedition planned by them against the territories of a
power in amity with the United States, with the measures
I have pur-
sued for suppressing the same.
I had for some time been in the constant expectation of receiving such
further information as would have enabled me to lay before the Legisla-
ture the termination as well as the beginning and progress of this scene
of depravity so far as it has been acted on the Ohio and its waters.
From
this the state of safety of the lower country might have been estimated
on probable grounds, and the delay was indulged the rather because no
circumstance had yet made
it necessary to call in the aid of the
legisla-
tive functions.
Information now recently communicated has brought us
nearly to the period contemplated.
The mass of what I have received in
the course of these transactions is voluminous, but little has been given
under the sanction of an oath so as to constitute formal and legal
evi-
dence.
It is chiefly in the form of letters, often contain?'ng such a mix-
ture of rumors, conjectures, and suspicions as renders it difficult to
sift
out the real facts and unadvisable to hazard more than general outlines,
strengthened by concurrent information or the particular credibility of the
relator.
In this state of the evidence, delivered sometimes, too, under
the restriction of private confidence, neither safety nor justice will permit
the exposing names, except that of the principal actor, whose guilt is
placed beyond question.
Some time in the latter part of September I received intimations that
designs were in agitation in the Western country unlawful and unfriendly
to the peace of the Union, and that the prime mover in these was Aaron
Thomas Jefferson
401
Btnrr, heretofore distinguished by the favor of his country.
The grounds
of these intimations being inconclusive, the objects uncertain, and the
fideHty of that country known to be firm, the only measure taken was to
urge the informants to use their best endeavors to get further insight into
the designs and proceedings of the suspected persons and to communicate
them to me.
It was not till the
latter part
of October that the objects of the con-
spiracy began to be perceived, but still so blended and involved in mystery
that nothing distinct could be singled out for pursuit.
In this state of
uncertainty as to the crime contemplated, the acts done, and the legal
course to be pursued, I thought it best to send to the scene where these
things were principally in transaction a person in whose integrity, under-
standing, and discretion entire confidence could be reposed, with instruc-
tions to investigate the plots going on, to enter into conference (for which
he had sufficient credentials) with the governors and all other officers, civil
and military, and with their aid to do on the spot whatever should be
necessary to discover the designs of the conspirators, arrest their means,
bring their persons to punishment, and to call out the force of the coun-
try to suppress any unlawful enterprise in which it should be found they
were engaged.
By this time it was known that many boats were under
preparation, stores of provisions
collecting, and an unusual number of
auspicious characters
in motion on
the Ohio and
its waters.
Besides
dispatching the confidential agent to that quarter, orders were at the same
time sent to the governors of the Orleans and Mississippi Territories and
to the commanders of the land and naval forces there to be on their guard
against surprise and in constant readiness
to resist any enterprise which
might be attempted on the vessels, posts, or other
objects under their
care; and on the 8th of November instructions were forwarded to Gen-
eral Wilkinson to hasten an accommodation with the Spanish command-
ant on .the Sabine, and as soon as that was effected to fall back with his
principal force to the hither bank of
the Mississippi for the defense of
the interesting
points
on
that
river.
By a letter received from that
officer on the 25th of November, but dated October 21, we learnt that a
confidential agent of Aaron Burr had been deputed to him with commu-
nications, partly written in cipher and partly oral, explaining his designs,
exaggerating his resources, and making such offers of emolument and
command to engage him and the army in his unlawful enterprise as he
had flattered himself would be successful.
The General, with the honor
of a soldier and fidelity of a good citizen, immediately dispatched a trusty
officer tome with information of what had passed, proceeding to establish
such an understanding with the Spanish commandant on the Sabine as
permitted him to withdraw his force across the Mississippi and to enter
on measures for opposing the projected enterprise.
The General's letter, which came to hand on the 25th of November, as
has been mentioned, and some other information received a few days
402
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
earlier, when brought together developed Burr's general
designs,
dif-
ferent parts of which only had been revealed
to
different
inforniauts.
It appeared that he contemplated two distinct objects, which might be
carried on either jointly or separately, and either the one or the other
first, as circumstances should direct.
One of these was the severance of
the Union of these States by the Alleghany Mountains;
the other an
attack on Mexico.
A third object was provided, merely ostensible, to
wit, the settlement of a pretended purchase of a tract of country on the
Washita claimed by a Baron
Bastrop.
This was
to serve as the pre-
text for
all his preparations, an allurement for such followers as really
wished to acquire settlements in that country and a cover under which
to retreat in the event of a final discomfiture of both branches of his real
design.
He found at once that the attachment of the Western country to the
present Union was not to be shaken;
that
its dissolution could not be
effected with the consent of
its inhabitants, and that his resources were
inadequate as yet to effect it by force.
He took his course then at once,
determined
to
seize on New Orleans, plunder the bank there, possess
himself of the military and naval
stores, and proceed on his expedition
to Mexico, and to this object
all his means and preparations were now
directed.
He collected from all the quarters where himself or his agents
possessed influence all the ardent, restless, desperate, and disaffected per-
sons who were ready for any enterprise analogous
to their characters.
He seduced good and well-meaning citizens, some by assurances that he
possessed the confidence of the Government and was acting under
its
secret patronage, a pretense which procured some credit from the state
of our differences with Spain, and others by offers of land in Bastrop's
claim on the Washita.
This was the state of my information of his proceedings about the last
of November, at which time, therefore,
it was first possible to take spe-
cific measures to meet them.
The proclamation of November 27, two
days
after the
receipt
of General Wilkinson's
information, was now
issued.
Orders were dispatched to every interesting point on the Ohio
and Mississippi from Pittsburg to New Orleans for the employment of
such force either of the regulars or of the militia and of such proceedings
also of the civil authorities as might enable them to seize on all the boats
and stores provided for the enterprise, to arrest the persons concerned,
and to suppress effectually the further progress of the enterprise. A little
before the receipt of these orders in the State of Ohio our confidential
agent, who had been diligently employed in investigating the conspiracy,
had acquired sufficient information to open himself to the governor of
that State and apply for the immediate exertion of the authority and
power of the State to crush the combination.
Governor Tiffin and the
legislature, with a promptitude, an energy, and patriotic zeal which enti-
tle them to a distinguished place in the affection of their
sister States,
Thomas Jefferson
403
effected the seizure of
all the boats, provisions, and other preparations
within their reach, and thus gave a first blow, materially disabling the
enterprise in its outset.
In Kentucky a premature attempt to bring Burr to
justice without
sufiicient evidence for his conviction had produced a popular impression
in his favor and a general disbelief of his guilt.
This gave him an unfor-
tunate opportunity
of hastening his equipments.
The arrival
of the
proclamation and orders and the application and information of our con-
fidential agent at length awakened the authorities of that State to the
truth, and then produced the same promptitude and energy of which the
neighboring State had set the example.
Under an act of their legisla-
ture of December 23 militia was instantly ordered to different important
points, and measures taken for doing whatever could yet be done.
Some
boats (accounts vary from five to double or treble that number) and per-
sons (differently estimated from 100 to 300) had in the meantime passed
the Falls of Ohio to rendezvous at the mouth of Cumberland with others
expected down that river.
Not apprised
till very late that any boats were building on Cumber-
land, the effect of the proclamation had been trusted to for some time in
the State of Tennessee; but on the 19th of December similar communi-
cations and instructions with those to the neighboring States were dis-
patched by express to the governor and a general officer of the western
division of the State, and on the 23d of December our confidential agent
left Frankfort for Nashville to put into activity the means of that State
also.
But by information received yesterday I learn that on the 22d of
December Mr. Burr descended the Cumberland with two boats merely of
accommodation, carrying with him from that State no quota toward his
unlawful enterprise.
Whether after the arrival of the proclamation, of the
orders, or of our agent any exertion which could be made by that State
or the ©rders of the governor of Kentucky for calling out the militia at
the mouth of Cumberland would be in time to arrest these boats and those
from the Falls of Ohio is still doubtful.
On the whole, the fugitives from the Ohio, with their associates from
Cumberland or any -other place in that quarter, can not threaten serious
danger to the city of New Orleans.
By the same express of December 19 orders were sent to the govern-
ors of Orleans and
Mississippi, supplementary to those which had been
given on the 25th of November, to hold the militia of their Territories in
readiness to cooperate for their defense with the regular troops and armed
vessels then under command of General Wilkinson.
Great alarm, indeed,
was excited at New Orleans by the exaggerated accounts of Mr. Burr,
disseminated through his emissaries, of the armies and navies he was to
assemble there.
General Wilkinson had arrived there himself on the
24th of November, and had immediately put into activity the resources
of the place for the purpose of its defense, and on the loth of December
404
Messao-es and Papers of the Presidents
he was joined by his troops from the Sabine.
Great zeal was shewn by
the inhabitants generally, the merchants of the place readily agreeing to
the most laudable exertions and sacrifices for manning the armed vessels
with their seamen, and the other citizens manifesting unequivocal fidelity
to the Union and a spirit of determined resistance to their expected as-
sailants.
Surmises have been hazarded that this enterprise is to receive aid from
certain foreign powers; but these surmises are without proof or proba-
bility.
The wisdom of the measures sanctioned by Congress at
its last
session has placed us in the paths of peace and justice with the only
powers with whom we had any differences, and nothing has happened
since which makes it either their interest or ours to pursue another course.
No change of measures has taken place on our part; none ought to take
place at this time.
With the one, friendly arrangement was then pro-
posed, and the law deemed necessary on the failure of that was suspended
to give time for a fair trial of the issue.
With the same power friendly
arrangement
is now proceeding under good expectations, and the same
law deemed necessary on failure of that is still suspended, to give time
for a fair trial of the issue.
With the other, negotiation was in like man-
ner then
preferred, and provisional measures only taken to meet the
event of rupture.
With the same power negotiation
is
still preferred,
and provisional measures only are necessary to meet the event of rupture.
While, therefore, we do not deflect in the slightest degree from the course
we then assumed and are still pursuing with mutual consent to restore a
good understanding, we are not to impute to them practices as irreconcil-
able to interest as to good faith, and changing necessarily the relations of
peace and justice between us to those of war.
These surmises are there-
fore to
be imputed to the vauntings of
the author of this enterprise
to multiply his partisans by magnifying the belief of his prospects and
support.
By letters from General Wilkinson of the 14th and i8th of December,
which came to hand two days after the date of the resolution of the House
of Representatives—that is to say, on the morning of the i8th instant
I received the important aflSdavit a copy of which I now communicate,
with extracts of so much of the letters as comes within the scope of the
resolution.
By these it will be seen that of three of the principal emis-
saries of
Mr. Burr whom the General had caused to be apprehended,
one had been liberated by habeas corpus, and two others, being those
particularly employed in the endeavor to corrupt the general and army
of the United States, have been embarked by him for ports in the AtlaU'
tic
States, probably on the consideration that an
impartial
trial could
not be expected during the present agitations of New Orleans, and that
that city was not as yet a safe place of confinement.
As soon as these
persons shall
arrive they will be delivered to the custody of the law
and left to such course of trial, both as to place and process, as its func-
Thomas Jefferson
405
tionarles may direct.
The presence of the highest
judicial authorities,
to be assembled at this place within a few days, the means of pursuing a
sounder course of proceedings here than elsewhere, and the aid of the
Executive means, should the judges have occasion to use them, render it
equally desirable for the criminals as for the public that, being already
removed from the place where they were first apprehended, the first reg-
ular arrest should take place here, and the course of proceedings receive
here its proper direction.
TH: JEFFERSON,
January
26, 1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I received from General Wilkinson on the 23d instant
his
affidavu
charging Samuel Swartwout,
Peter V.
Ogden, and James Alexander
with the crimes described in the afiidavit a copy of which
is now com-
municated to both Houses of Congi'ess.
It was announced to me at the same time that Swartwout and Bollman,
two of the persons apprehended by him, were arrived in this city in cus-
tody each of a military ofiicer.
I immediately delivered to the attorney
of the United States in this district the evidence received against them,
with instructions to lay the same before the judges and apply for their
process to bring the accused to justice, and put into his hands orders to
the ofiicers having them in custody to deliver them to the marshal on
his application.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
27,
1807.
To the Senate and Hotise of Representatives of the United States:
I now render
to Congress
the account
of the fund established
for
defraying the contingent expenses
of Government for the year
1806.
No occasion having arisen for making use of any part of the balance of
$18,012.50, unexpended on the 31st day of December, 1805, that balance
remains in the Treasury.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
28,
1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
By the letters of Captain Bissel, who commands at Fort Massac, and
of Mr. Murrell, to General Jackson, of Tennessee, copies of which are
now communicated to Congress,
it will be seen that Aaron Burr passed
Fort Massac on the 31st December with about ten boats, navigated by
about six hands each, without any military appearance, and that three
boats with ammunition were said to have been arrested by the militia at
Louisville.
4o6
Messages a^id Papers of the Presidents
As the guards of militia posted on various points of the Ohio will be
able to prevent any further aids passing through that channel, should any
be attempted, we may now esthnate with
tolerable certainty the means
derived from the Ohio and its waters toward the accomplishment of the
purposes of Mr. Burr.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
31,
1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In execution of the act of the last session of Congress entitled "An
act to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in
the State
of Mar^dand,
to
the
State of Ohio,"
I appointed Thomas
Moore, of Maryland; Joseph Kerr, of Ohio, and Eli Williams, of Mary-
land, commissioners to lay out the said road, and to perform the other
duties assigned to them by the act.
The progress which they made in
the execution of the work during the
last season will appear in their
report now communicated
to
Congress.
On the
receipt
of
it
I took
measures
to obtain consent for making the road of the States of Penn-
sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, through which the commissioners pro-
posed to lay it out.
I have received acts of the legislatures of Maryland
and Virginia giving the consent desired
;
that of Pennsylvania has the
subject
still under consideration,
as
is supposed.
Until
I
receive
full
consent to
a
free
choice
of route through
the whole
distance
I have
thought it safest neither to accept nor reject finally the partial report of
the commissioners.
Some matters suggested in the report belong exclu-
sively to the IvCgislature.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
6,
1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress the laws for the government of Louisiana, passed
by the governor and judges of the Indiana Territory at
their session at
Vincennes begun on the ist of October, 1804.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
6, 1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The Government of France having examined into the claim of M. de
Beaumarchais against the United States, and considering it as just and
legal, has instructed
its minister here to make representations on the
subject to the Government of the United States.
I now lay his memoir
thereon before the Legislature, the only authority competent to a final
decision on the same.
TH: JEFFERSON.
Thomas Jefferson
407
February
10, 1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter from Cowles
Mead, secretary of the Mississippi Territory, to the Secretary of War, by
which
it will be seen that Mr. Burr had reached that neighborhood on
the 13th of January,
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
10,
1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In
compliance with
the
request
of the House
of
Representatives
expressed in their resolution of the 5th instant, I proceed
to give such
information as is possessed of the effect of gunboats in the protection and
defense of harbors, of the numbers thought necessary, and of the proposed
distribution of them among the ports and harbors of the United States.
Under present circumstances, and governed by the
intentions of the
Legislature as manifested by their annual appropriations of money
for
the purposes of defense,
it has been concluded to combine,
first, land
batteries furnished with heavy cannon and mortars, and established on all
the points around the place favorable for preventing vessels from lying
before
it;
second, movable artillery, which may be carried, as occasion
may require, to points unprovided with fixed batteries;
third, floating
batteries, and
fourth,
gunboats which may oppose an enemy
at
his
entrance and cooperate with the batteries for his expulsion.
On
this subject professional men were consulted as
far as we had
opportunity.
General Wilkinson and tne late General Gates gave their
opinions in writing in favor of the system, as will be seen by their
let-
ters now communicated.
The higher officers of the Navy gave the same
opinion^ in separate conferences, as their presence at the seat of Govern-
ment offered occasions of consulting them, and no difference of judgment
appeared on the subject.
Those of Commodore Barron and Captain
Tingey, now here, are recently furnished in writing, and transmitted
herewith to the Legislature.
The efficacy of gunboats for the defense of harbors and of other smooth
and inclosed waters may be estimated in part from that of galleys for-
merly much used but
less powerful, more costly in
their construction
and maintenance, and requiring more men.
But the gunboat
itself
is
believed to be in use with every modem maritime nation for the purposes
of
defense.
In the
Mediterranean, on which are several small powers
whose system, like ours,
is peace and defense, few harbors are v/ithout
this article of protection.
Our own experience there of the effect of gun-
boats for harbor service is recent.
Algiers is particulary known to have
owed to a great provision of these vessels the safety of its city since the
epoch of their construction.
Before that it had been repeatedly insulted
4o8
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
\
and injured.
The efTect of gunboats at present in the neighborhood of
Gibraltar is well known, and how nuich the}'- were used both in the attack
and defense of that place di
ing a former war.
The extensive resort to
them by the two greatest nr^val powers in the world on an enterprise of
invasion not long since in prospect shews their confidence in their efficacy
for the purposes for which they are suited.
By the northern powers of
Europe, whose vSeas are particularly adapted to them, they are still more
used.
The remarkable action between the Russian flotilla of gunboats
and galleys and a Turkish
fleet of ships of the line and frigates in the
Liman Sea in 1788 will be readily recollected.
The
latter, commanded
by their most celebrated admiral, were completely defeated, and several
of their ships of the line destroyed.
From the opinions given as to the number of gunboats necessary for
some of the principal seaports, and from a view of
all the towns and
ports from Orleans to Maine, inclusive, entitled to protection in propor-
tion to
their situation and circumstances,
it
is concluded that to give
them a due measure of protection in times of war about 200 gunboats
will be requisite.
According to first ideas the following would be their general distribu-
tion, liable to be varied on more mature examination and as circumstances
shall vary;
that is to say:
To the Mississippi and its neighboring waters, 40 gunboats.
To Savannah and Charleston, and the harbors on each side from St.
Marys to Currituck, 25.
To the Chesapeake and its waters, 20.
To Delaware Bay and River,
15.
To New York, the Sound, and waters as far as Cape Cod, 50.
To Boston and the harbors north of Cape Cod, 50.
The flotillas assigned to these several stations might each be under
the care of a particular commandant, and the vessels composing them
would in ordinary be distributed among the harbors within the station
in proportion to their importance.
Of these boats a proper proportion would be of the larger size, such as
those heretofore built, capable of navigating any seas and of reenforcing
occasionally the strength of even the most distant ports when menaced
with danger.
The residue would be confined to their own or the neigh-
boring harbors, would be smaller, less frmiished for accommodation, and
consequently less costly.
Of the number supposed necessary, 73 are built
or building, and the 127 still to be provided would cost from $500,000 to
$600,000.
Having regard to the convenience of the Treasury as well as
to the resources for building,
it has been thought that the one-half of
these might be built
in the present year and the other half the next.
With the I^egislature, however, it will
rest to stop where we are, or
at
any further point, when they shall be of opinion that the number pro-
vided shall be suflScient for the object.
Thomas Jefferson
409
At times when Europe as well as the United States shall be
at peace
it would not be proposed that more than six or eight of these vessels
should be kept
afloat.
When Europe
is
in war,
treble that number
might be necessary, to be distributed among those particular harbors
which foreign vessels of war are in the habit of frequenting for the pur-
pose of preserving order therein.
But they would be manned in ordinary,
with only their complement for navigation, relying on the seamen and
militia of the port
if called into action on any sudden emergency.
It
would be only when the United States should themselves be at war that
the whole number would be brought into active service, and would be
ready in the first moments of the war to cooperate with the other means
for covering at once the line of our seaports.
At all times those unem-
ployed would be withdrawn into places not exposed to sudden enterprise,
hauled up under sheds from the sun and weather, and kept in preserva-
tion with little expense for repairs or maintenance.
It must be superfluous to observe that this species of naval armament
is proposed merely for defensive operation;
that
it can have but
little
effect toward protecting our commerce in the open
seas, even on our
own coast; and still less can it become an excitement to engage in offen-
sive maritime war, toward which it would furnish no means.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
ii, 1807.
To the Senate and House ofRepresentatives 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 two of the States no returns have ever been received.
TH: JEFFERSON.
February
19,
1807.
To the Senate and House oj Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to Congress a letter from our ministers plenipotentiary at
London, informing us that they have agreed with the British commission-
ers to conclude a treaty on
all the points which had formed the object
of their negotiation, and on terms which they trusted we would approve.
Also a letter from our minister plenipotentiary at Paris covering one to
him from the minister of marine of that Government assuring him that
the imperial decree lately passed was not to affect our commerce, which
would
still be governed by the rules of the treaty established between
the two countries.
Also a letter from Cowles Mead, secretary of the Mississippi Territory,
acting as governor, informing us that Aaron Burr had surrendered himself
to the civil authority of that Territory.
TH: JEFFERSON.
4IO
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
PROCLAMATIONS.
By Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of
America.
A TROCIvAMATlON,
During- the wars which for some time have unhappily prevailed among
the powers of Europe the United States of America, firm in their prin-
ciples of peace, have endeavored, by justice, by a regular discharge of all
their national and
social
duties, and by every friendly office their situa-
tion has admitted, to maintain with all the belligerents their accustomed
relations of friendship, hospitality, and commercial intercourse.
Taking
no part in the questions which animate these powers against each other,
nor permitting themselves to entertain a wish but for the restoration of
general peace, they have observed with good faith the neutrality they
assumed, and they believe that no instance of a departure from its duties
can be justly imputed to them by any nation.
A free use of their har-
bors and waters, the means of
refitting and of refreshment, of succor to
their sick and
suffering, have at
all times and on equal principles been
extended
to
all, and
this, too, amidst a constant recurrence of
acts of
insubordination to the laws, of violence to the persons, and of trespasses
on the property of our citizens committed by officers of one of the bellig-
erent
parties received among us.
In truth, these abuses of the laws of
hospitality have, with few exceptions, become habitual to the commanders
of the British armed vessels hovering on our coasts and frequenting our
harbors.
They have been the subject of repeated representations to their
Government.
Assurances have been given that proper orders should
restrain them within the
limits of the rights and of the respect due to
a friendly nation; but those orders and assurances have been without
effect—no instance of punishment for past wrongs has taken place.
At
length a deed transcending all we have hitherto seen or suffered brings
the public sensibility to a
serious
crisis and our forbearance to a nec-
essary pause.
A
frigate
of the United
States,
trusting
to a
state of
peace, and leaving her harbor on a distant service, has been surprised
and attacked by a British vessel of superior force—one of a squadron then
lying in our waters and covering the transaction—and has been disabled
from
service, with the
loss
of a number of men killed and wounded.
This enormity was not only without provocation or justifiable cause, but
was committed with the avowed purpose of taking by force from a ship
of war of the United States a part of her crew; and that no circumstance
might be wanting to mark
its character,
it had been previously ascer-
tained that the seamen demanded were native
citizens of the United
States.
Having effected her purpose, she returned to anchor with her
Thomas Jeffe^'son
4"
squadron within our jurisdiction.
Hospitality under such circumstances
ceases to
be a duty, and
a continuance of
it with such uncontrolled
abuses would tend only, by multiplying injuries and irritations, to bring
on a rupture between the two nations.
This extreme resort
is equally
opposed to the interests of both, as it is to assurances of the most friendly
dispositions on the part of the British Government, in the midst of which
this outrage has been committed.
In this light the subject can not but
present itself to that Government and strengthen the motives to an hon-
orable reparation of the wrong which has been done, and to that effectual
control of its naval commanders which alone can justify the Government
of the United States in the exercise of those hospitalities it is now con-
strained to discontinue.
In consideration of these circumstances and of the right of every nation
to regulate its own
police, to provide for
its peace and for the safety of
its citizens, and consequently to refuse the admission of armed vessels
into its harbors or waters, either in such numbers or of such descriptions
as are inconsistent with these or with the maintenance of the authority
of
the
laws,
I have thought
proper,
in pursuance
of
the
authorities
specially given by law, to issue
this my proclamation, hereby requiring
all armed vessels bearing commissions under the Government of Great
Britain now within the harbors or waters of the United States immedi-
ately and without any delay to depart from the same, and interdicting
the entrance of
all the said harbors and waters to the said armed vessels
and to all others bearing commissions under the authority of the British
Government.
And
if the said vessels, or any of them, shall
fail to depart as afore-
said,
or
if they or any others so interdicted
shall
hereafter enter the
harbors or waters aforesaid,
I do in that case forbid all intercourse with
them, or any of them, their officers or crews, and do prohibit all supplies
and aid from being furnished to them, or any of them.
And
I do declare and make known that if any person from or within
the jurisdictional
limits of the United States shall afford any aid to any
such vessel contrary to the prohibition contained in
this proclamation,
either in repairing any such vessel or in furnishing her, her officers or
crew, with supplies of any kind or in any manner whatsoever;
or if any
pilot shall assist in navigating any of the said armed vessels, unless it bt;
for the purpose of carrying them in the
first instance beyond the limits
and jurisdiction
of the United States, or unless
it be in the case of a
vessel forced by distress or charged with public dispatches, as hereinafter
provided
for, such person or persons
shall on conviction suffer all the
pains and penalties by the laws provided for such offenses.
And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office, civil or
military, within
or under the authority of the United
States, and
all
others citizens or inhabitants thereof, or being within the same, with
vigilance and promptitude to exert their respective authorities and to
412
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
be aiding and assisting to the carrying this proclamation and every part
thereof into full effect.
Provided, nevertheless, that if any such vessel shall be forced into the
harbors or waters of the United States by distress, by the dangers of the
sea, or by the pursuit of an enemy, or shall enter them charged with dis-
patches or business from their Government, or shall be a pubUc packet
for the conveyance of
letters and dispatches,
the commanding
officer,
immediately reporting his vessel
to the collector of the district, stating
the object or causes of entering the said harbors or waters, and conform-
ing himself to the regulations in that case prescribed under the authority
of the laws, shall be allowed the benefit of such regulations respecting
repairs, supplies, stay, intercourse, and departure as shall be permitted
under the same authority.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed to these presents, and signed the same.
J.
-,
Given at the city of Washington, the 2d day of July, A. D.
1807, and of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United
States the thirty-first.
TH: JEFFERSON.
By the President:
James Madison,
Secretary of State.
[From Annals of Congress, Tenth Congress, first session, vol. i, 9.]
By the President op the United States of America.
A proclamation.
Whereas great and weighty matters claiming the consideration of the
Congress of the United States form an extraordinary occasion for conven-
ing them, I do by these presents appoint Monday, the 26th day of October
next, for their meeting at the city of Washington, hereby requiring the
respective Senators and Representatives then and there to assemble in
Congress, in order to receive such communications as may then be made
to them, and to consult and determine on such measures as in their wis-
dom may be deemed meet for the welfare of the United States.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand.
Done at the city of Washington, the 30th day of July, A. D.
L ^
^'J
1807, and in the thirty-second year of the Independence of
the United States.
TH: JEFFERSON.
By the President
:
James Madison,
Secretary of State.
Thoftias Jefferson
4^3
[iProm the National Intelligencer, October 19, 1807.]
By the Preside;nt
oi^ the United States of America.
a proclamation.
Whereas information has been received that a number of individuals
who have deserted from the Army of the United States and sought shel-
ter without the jurisdiction thereof have become sensible of their offense
and are desirous of returning to their duty, a full pardon is hereby pro-
claimed to each and all of such individuals as shall within four months
from the date hereof surrender themselves to the commanding ofl&cer of
any military post within the United States or the Territories thereof.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
afl&xed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand,
r-
-,
Done at the city of Washington, the 15th day of October,
'
A. D.
1807, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the thirty-second.
TH: JE;FFBRS0N.
By the President:
James Madison,
Secretary of State
t
SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
October 27, 1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Circumstances,
fellow-citizens, which seriously threatened the peace
of our country have made it a duty to convene you at an earlier period
than usual.
The love of peace so much cherished in the bosoms of our
citizens, which has so long guided the proceedings of their public coun-
cils and induced forbearance under so many wrongs, may not insure our
continuance in the quiet pursuits of industry.
The many injuries and
depredations committed on our commerce and navigation upon the high
seas for years past, the successive innovations on those principles of pub-
lic law which have been established by the reason and usage of nations
as the rule of their intercourse and the umpire and security of their rights
and peace, and all the circumstances which induced the extraordinary
mission to London are already known to you.
The instructions given
to our ministers were framed in the sincerest spirit of amity and modera-
tion.
They accordingly proceeded, in conformity therewith, to propose
arrangements which might embrace and settle all the points in difference
between
us, which might bring us to a mutual understanding on our
neutral and national rights and provide for a commercial intercourse on
414
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
conditions of some equality.
After long and fruitless endeavors to effect
the purposes of
their mission and
to obtain arrangements within the
iimits of
their
instructions,
they concluded
to sign
such
as could
be
obtained and to send them for consideration, candidly declaring
to the
other negotiators at the same time that they were acting against
their
instructions, and that their Government, therefore, could not be pledged
for ratification.
Some of the articles proposed might have been admitted
on a principle of compromise, but others were too highly disadvantageous,
and no suiTicient provision was made against the principal source of the
irritations and collisions which were constantly endangering the peace
of the two nations.
The question, therefore, whether a treaty should be
accepted in that form could have admitted but of one decision, even had
no declarations of the other party impaired our confidence in
it.
Still
anxious not to close the door against friendly adjustment, new modifica-
tions were framed and further concessions authorized than could before
have been
supposed
necessary; and our ministers were
instructed
to
resume their negotiations on these grounds.
On this new reference to
amicable discussion we were reposing in confidence, when on the
2 2d
day of June last by a formal order from a British admiral the frigate Ches-
apeake, leaving her port
for
a distant
service, was attacked by one
of
those vessels which had been lying in our harbors under the indulgences
of hospitality, was disabled from proceeding, had several of her crew
killed and four taken away.
On this outrage no commentaries are neces-
sar3^
Its character has been pronounced by the indignant voice of our
citizens v/ith an emphasis and unanimity never exceeded.
I immediately,
by proclamation, interdicted our harbors and waters to all British armed
vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and uncertain how far hostilities
were intended, and the town of Norfolk, indeed, being threatened with
immediate attack,
a
sufficient
force was ordered for the protection
of
that place, and such other preparations commenced and pursued as the
prospect rendered proper.
An armed vessel of the United States was
dispatched with instructions to our ministers at lyondon to call on that
Government for the satisfaction and security required by the outrage.
A very short interval ought now to bring the answer, which shall be
communicated to you as soon as received; then also, or as soon after as
the public interests
shall be found
to admit, the unratified treaty and
proceedings relative to it shall be made known to you.
The aggression thus begun has been continued on the part of the
British commanders by remaining within our waters in defiance of the
authority of the country, by habitual violations of its jurisdiction, and at
length by putting to death one of the persons whom they had forcibly
taken from on board the Chesapeake.
These aggravations necessarily
lead to the policy either of never admitting an armed vessel into our har-
bors or of maintaining
in every harbor such an armed force
as may
constrain obedience to the laws and protect the lives and property of our
a po) ey Cheinas Merle a pededtent af She tes Y Vin sera ’ ONG ——_, Ao Syockamati ow Burng the Wous whuk gor some ferme, fave anbippedg forced bee simeng Che fowers of Sorofen he United States of damerecm Porte em Chet fironcep Gs ef peace Race endencores by pushes by a negetar ouseharse of ale hus Palen’ force’ tet cong Prentty gece his Sila abet far rapele lo mach r : daw welh. ate the betligursinls Char eocuslainr tetalions ep frond 5 ¢ heh Aesth tally foommcsccal trteycorrte  FtBirg 20 fart tn lhe ott tons thu inom ale Chote Aas! ag acwsl cach othe, Bee fics ., Chem thos te tatrtacn & week but gor the ihloralion 4 ewena’ fence Chey fave atterved ihr gor? forth lhe heatrati ty Mey Aft todas? f Hey helccer Phat Bio tad fakce of & He fr as Coeie Srout 5 otuders Cam be futtl, trprtia lo Chem ty iy Kalean 6 pres Po tegtpetl fede of Shas Marbours tteatiss lhe Penns of ¢ . e ra, Punt of dwecour to har Leck o fe fever hints, AL wee Cries Sk cea! prrmeples beon be lenbere f 280% cs Go BBP 4 Cans frat lecurremee of acts of inka key 2eniteon Co he Caen ? JEFFERSON'S NEUTRALITY PROCLAMATION DURING EVROPEAN WARS.
kelers of spat hes, the Comm and ny Of fcced. Cnr te ately: Ne. her bong fic “for b Che tottdeCos af the aethncl, Slatena Che 7 biyest. ay Crates of extacny tke Sxed Harbers oy foatepy im? “en forin ony foster ls Che Wegn Cateous tre Chat Cade jrederebee fret Che Qat kay ly G tho Lxwy, Shale, ee actoted Cho Gihe. seb of Sock ugula hiras deebfpectn j Mfpens, dufp heed, Stig tn ler © Cece welepcr date As vhace 0 fertmefey tenet the Mame Cuthe- / a lebanon whereof Ofhaue aude Che Sta? 7A Che Copco Slates lo be uffreo lo Chew jredends A Seghned She Sa hee Corn at Che ab of Washing aw Oe 2% ay of Sih, tn the Sper of aur arel 19 07 ag the Foucre ghey a (hd char lance of he ~ of a, fohetect Slahes the Os. , toy fhe fle ficou t | | ; Moers Caeiy off GORE Aare CALE _| LAST PAGE OP JEFFERSON'S NEUTRALITY PROCLAMATION, BEARING SIGNATURE OF JAMES MONROE AS SECRETARY OF STATE.
Thomas Jefferson
4^5
citizens against their armed guests; but the expense of such a standing
torce and its inconsistence with our principles dispense with those cour-
tesies which would necessarily call
for
it, and leave us equally free to
exclude the navy, as we are the army, of a foreign power from entering
our limits.
To former \'iolations of maritime rights another is now added of very
extensive effect.
The Government
of
that nation has issued an order
interdicting all trade by neutrals between ports not in amity with them;
and being now
at war with nearly
every nation on
ihe Atlantic and
Mediterranean seas, our vessels are required to sacrifice
their cargoes at
\hx. first port they touch or to return home without the benefit
of going
to any other market.
Under this new law of the ocean our trade on the
Mediterranean has been swept away by seizures and condemnations, and
that in other seas is threatened with the same fate.
Our differences with Spain remain
still unsettled, no measure having
been taken on her part since my last communications to Congress to bring
them to a close.
But under a state of things which may favor recon-
sideration they have been recently pressed, and an expectation is enter-
tained
that they may now soon be brought to an
issue of some
sort.
With their subjects oc our borders no new collisions have taken place
nor seem immediately to be apprehended.
To our former grounds of
complaint has been added a very serious one, as you
will
see by the
decree a copy of which
is now commimicated.
Whether this decree,
which professes to be conformable to that of the French Government of
November
21,
1806, heretofore communicated to Congress, will also be
conformed to that in
its construction and application in relation to the
United States had not been ascertained at the date of our last communi-
cations.
These, however, gave reason to expect such a conformity.
With
the other nations
of Europe our harmony has been uninter-
rupted, and commerce and friendly intercourse have been maintained on
their usual footing.
Our peace with the several states on the coast of Barbary appears as
firm as at any former period and
as likely to continue as that of any
other nation.
Among our Indian neighbors in the northwestern quarter some fermen-
tation was observed soon after the late occiu-rences, threatening the con-
tinuance of oiur peace.
Messages were said to be interchanged and tokens
to be passing, which usually denote a state of restlessness among them,
and the character of the agitators pointed to the sources of excitement.
Measiures were
immediately taken
for providing against that danger;
instructions were given to require explanations, and, with assurances of
our continued friendship, to admonish the tribes to remain quiet at home,
taking no part in quarrels not belonging to them.
As far as we are yet
informed, the tribes in our vicinity, who are most advanced in the pur-
suits of industry, are sincerely disposed to adhere to their friendship with
4i6
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
us and to their peace with
all others, while those more remote do not
present appearances sufl&ciently quiet to justify the intermission of mili-
tary precaution on our part.
The great tribes on our southwestern quarter, much advanced beyond
(he others in agriculture and household arts, appear tranquil and identi-
fying their views with ours in proportion to their advancement.
With
the whole of these people, in every quarter, I shall continue to inculcate
peace and friendship with all their neighbors and perseverance in those
occupations and pursuits which will best promote their own well-being.
The appropriations of the last session for the defense of our seaport
towns and harbors were made under expectation that a continuance of
our peace would permit us to proceed in that work according to our con-
venience.
It has been thought
better to apply the sums then given
toward the defense of New York, Charleston, and New Orleans chiefly,
as most open and most likely first to need protection, and to leave places
less immediately in danger to the provisions of the present session.
The gunboats,
too, already provided
have on a
like principle been
chiefly
assigned
to New
York, New
Orleans, and
the
Chesapeake.
Whether our movable
force on the water,
so material in
aid
of the
defensive works on the land, should be augmented in this or any other
form is left to the wisdom of the Legislature.
For the purpose of man-
ning these vessels in sudden attacks on our harbors
it
is a matter for
consideration whether the seamen of the United States may not justly
be formed into a special militia, to be called on for tours of duty in de-
fense of the harbors where they shall happen to be, the ordinary militia
of the place furnishing that portion which may consist of landsmen.
The moment our peace was threatened I deemed
it indispensable to
secure a greater provision of those articles of military stores with which
our magazines were not sufficiently furnished.
To have awaited a pre-
vious and special sanction by law would have lost occasions which might
not be
retrieved.
I did not
hesitate,
therefore,
to authorize engage-
ments for such supplements to our existing stock as would render it
adequate to the emergencies threatening us, and
I trust that the I^egis-
lature, feeling the same anxiety for the safety of our country, so mate-
rially advanced by this precaution, will approve, when done, what they
would have seen so important to be done if then assembled.
Expenses,
also unprovided for, arose out of the necessity of calling all our gunboats
into actual service for the defense of our harbors;
of
all which accounts
will be laid before you.
Whether a regular army is to be raised, and to what extent, must de-
pend on the information so shortly expected.
In the meantime I have
called on the States for quotas of militia, to be in readiness for present
defense, and have, moreover, encouraged the acceptance of volunteers;
and I am happy to inform you that these have offered themselves with
great alacrity in every part of the Union.
They are ordered to be organ-
Thomas Jefferson
^\^
bed and ready
at a moment's warning to proceed on any service to
which they may be called, and every preparation within the Executive
powers has been made to insure us the benefit of early exertions.
I informed Congress at their last session of the enterprises against the
public peace which were believed to be in preparation by Aaron Burr
and. his associates, of the measures taken to defeat them and to bring the
offenders to justice.
Their enterprises were happily defeated by the patri-
otic exertions of the militia whenever called into action, by the fidelity of
the Army, and energy of the commander in chief in promptly arranging
the difficulties presenting themselves on the Sabine, repairing to meet
those arising on the Mississippi, and dissipating before their explosion
plots engendering there.
I shall think it my duty to lay before you the
proceedings and the evidence pubhcly exhibited on the arraignment of
the principal offenders before the circuit court of Virginia.
You will be
enabled to judge whether the defect was in the testimony, in the law, or
in the administration of the law; and wherever
it shall be found, the
Legislature alone can apply or originate the remedy.
The framers of our
Constitution certainly supposed they had guarded as well their Govern-
ment against destruction by treason as their citizens against oppression
under pretense of
it, and
if these ends are not attained
it is of impor-
tance to inquire by what means more effectual they may be secured.
The accounts of the receipts of revenue during the year ending on
the 30th day of September last being not yet made up, a correct state-
ment will be hereafter transmitted from the Treasury.
In the meantime,
it
is ascertained that the receipts have amounted to near $16,000,000,
which, with the five millions and a half in the Treasury at the beginning
of the year, have enabled us, after meeting the current demands and
interest incurred, to pay more than four millions of the principal of our
funded debt.
These payments, with those of the preceding five and a
half years, have extinguished of the funded debt $25,500,000, being the
whole which could be paid or purchased within the limits of the law and
of our contracts, and have left us in the Treasury $8,500,000.
A portion
of this sum may be considered as a commencement of accumulation of
the surpluses of revenue which, after paying the installments of debt
as they shall become payable,
will remain without any
specific object.
It may partly, indeed, be applied toward completing the defense of the
exposed points of our country, on such a scale as shall be adapted to our
principles and circumstances.
This object
is doubtless among the first
entitled to attention in such a state of our finances, and
it is one which,
whether we have peace or war, will provide security where
it
is due.
Whether what shall remain of
this, with the future surpluses, may be
usefully
applied
to purposes aheady
authorized or more
usefully
to
others requiring new
authorities,
or how otherwise they shall be dis-
posed of, are questions calling for the notice of Congress, unless, indeed,
they shall be superseded by a change in our public relations now awaiting
4i8
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
the determination of
others.
Whatever be
that determination,
it
is
a
g^reat
consolation
that
it
will become known
at
a moment when the
supreme council of the nation is assembled at its post, and ready to give
the aids of
its wisdom and authority to whatever course the good of our
country shall then call us to pursue.
Matters of minor importance will be the subjects of future commu-
nications, and nothing shall be wanting on my part which may give
information or dispatch to the proceedings of the I^egislature in the ex-
ercise of their high duties, and at a moment so interesting to the public
welfare.
TH: JEFFERSON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
NoVieMBBR
II,
1807.
To the Senate ofthe United States:
Some time had elapsed after the receipt of the late treaty between the
United States and Tripoli before the circumstance drew particular atten-
tion
that, although by the third
article the wife and children of
the
ex-Bashaw were to be restored to him, this did not appear either to have
been done or demanded;
still,
it was constantly expected that explana-
tions on the subject would be received.
None, however, having arrived
w^hen Mr. Davis went as consul to Tripoli, he was instructed to demand
the execution of the article.
He did so, but was answered by the exhi-
bition of a declaration, signed by our negotiator the day after the sig-
nature of the treaty, allowing four years for the restoration of the family.
This declaration and the letter of Mr. Davis stating what passed on the
occasion are now communicated to the Senate.
On the receipt of
this
letter I caused the correspondence of Mr. Lear to be
diligently reex-
amined in order to ascertain whether there might have been a commu-
nication of this paper made and overlooked or forgotten.
None such,
however, is found.
There appears only in a journalized account of the
transaction by Mr. Lear, under date of June 3, a passage intimating that
he should be disposed to give time rather than
suffer the business to
be broken
off and our countrymen
left in slavery; and again, that on
the return of the person who passed between himself and the Bashaw,
and information that the Bashaw would require time
for the delivery
of the family, he consented, and went ashore to consummate the treaty.
This was done the next day, and being forwarded to us as ultimately
signed, and found to contain no allowance of time nor any intimation that
there was any stipulation but what was in the public treaty, it was sup-
posed that the Bashaw had, in fine, abandoned the proposition, and the
instructions before mentioned were consequently given
to Mr. Davis.
Thomas Jefferson
419
An extract of so mucli of Mr. Lear's communication as relates to tWs
circumstance is now transmitted to the Senate, the whole of the papers
having been laid before them on a former occasion. How it has happened
that the declaration of June 5 has never before come
to our knowledge
can not with certainty be said, but whether there has been a miscarriage
of
it or a failure of the ordinary attention and correctness of that ofiicer
in making his communications, I have thought
it due to the Senate as
well as to myself to explain to them the circumstances which have with-
held from their knowledge, as they did from my own, a modification
which, had
it been placed in the public treaty, would have been relieved
from the objections which candor and good faith can not but
feel in its
present form.
As the restoration of the family has probably been effected, a just regard
to the character of the United States will require that I make to the
Bashaw a candid statement of
facts, and that the sacrifices of his right
to the peace and friendship of the two countries, by yielding finally to the
demand of Mr.
Davis, be met by proper acknowledgments and repara-
tion on our part,
TH: JEFFERSON,
NOVKMBER
19,
1807.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
According
to
the
request expressed in your resolution of the
i8th
instant,
I now transmit a copy of my proclamation interdicting our har-
bors and waters to British armed vessels and forbidding intercourse with
them, referred to in my message of the 27th of October last.
TH: JEFFERSON.
November
23,
1807.
To the 'Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Agreeably to the assurance given in my message at the opening of the
present session of Congress, I now lay before you a copy of the proceed-
ings and of the evidence exhibited on the arraignment of Aaron Burr
and others before the circuit court of the United States held in Virginia
in the course of the present year, in as authentic form as their several
parts have admitted,
TH: JEFFERSON.
November
23,
1807.
To the Senate of the Uyiited States:
Some circumstance, which can not now be
ascertained,
induced a
belief that an act had passed at the last session of Congress for establish-
ing a surveyor and inspector of revenue for the port of Stonington, in
Connecticut, and commissions were signed appointing Jonathan Palmer,
420
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
of Connecticut , to those offices.
The error was discovered at the Treasury,
and the commissions were retained; but not having been notified to me, I
renewed the nomination in my message of the 9th instant to the Senate.
In order to correct the error, I have canceled the temporary commissions,
and now revoke the nomination which
I made of
the
said Jonathan
Palmer to the Senate.
TH: JEFFERSON.
DkCEMBER
2, 1807.
To the Senate of the United States:
In comphance with the request made in the resolution of the Senate of
November 30, I must inform them that when the prosecutions against
Aaron Burr and his associates were instituted I delivered to the Attorney-
General all the evidence on the subject, formal and informal, which I
had received, to be used by those employed in the prosecutions.
On the
receipt of the resolution of the Senate I referred it to the Attorney-Gen-
eral, with a request that he would enable me to comply with it by putting
into my hands such of the papers as might give information relative to
the conduct of John Smith, a Senator from the State of Ohio, as an
alleged associate of Aaron Bmr, and having this moment received from
him the affidavit of Elias Glover, with an assurance that it
is the only
paper in his possession which is within the term of the request of the
Senate, I now transmit it for their use.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December
7, 1807.
To the Senate and House ofRepresentatives of the United States:
Having recently received from our
late minister plenipotentiary at
the Court of I<ondon a duplicate of dispatches, the original of which has
been sent by the Revenge schooner, not yet arrived, I hasten to lay them
before both Houses of Congress,
They contain the whole of what has
passed between the two Governments on the subject of the outrage com-
mitted by the British ship Leopard on the frigate Chesapeake.
Congress
will learn from these papers the present state of the discussion on that
transaction, and that
it
is to be transferred to this place by the mission
of a special minister.
While this information will have its proper effect on their deliberations
and proceedings respecting the relations between the two countries, they
will be sensible that, the negotiation being still depending,
it
is proper
for me to request that the communications may be considered as confi-
dential.
TH: JEFFERSON.
TJio7nas Jefferson
421
December
18,
1807.
To the Senate and House of Represe^itatives of the Ufiited States:
The
communications now made, shewing the
great and
increasing
dangers with which our vessels, our seamen, and merchandise are threat-
ened on the high
seas and elsewhere from the
belligerent powers
of
Europe, and
it being of the greatest importance to keep in safety these
essential resources,
I deem
it my duty to recommend the subject to the
consideration of Congress, who will doubtless perceive all the advantages
which may be expected from an inhibition of the departure of our vessels
from the ports of the United States.
Their wisdom will also see the necessity of making every preparation
for whatever events may grow out of the present crisis.
TH: JEFFERSON.
December 30,
1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to Congress the inclosed
letters from Governor Hull,
respecting the
Indians in the vicinity of
Detroit residing within our
Hues.
They contain information of the state of things in that quarter
which will properly enter into their view in estimating the means to be
provided for the defense of our country generally.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January 8,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now render
to Congress
the account of the fund established
for
defraying the contingent expenses of Government
for the year
1807.
Of the sum of $18,012.50, which remained unexpended at the close of
the year 1806, $8,731. 11 have been placed in the hands of the Attorney-
General of the United States, to enable him to defray sundry expenses
incident to the prosecution of Aaron Burr and his accomplices for trea-
sons and misdemeanors alleged
to have been committed by them, and
the unexpended balance of $9,275.39 is n^w carried according to law to
the credit of the surplus fund.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January 15, 1808.
To the Senate 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, very small cessions of land around them
were obtained or asked from the native proprietors, and these posts de-
pended for protection on the strength of their garrisons.
The principles
42 2
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
of cur Government leading us to the employment of such moderate gar-
risons
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 particularl}^ contemplated,
with this view, the acquisition of the eastern moiety of the peninsula
between lakes Michigan and Huron, comprehending the waters of the
latter and of Detroit River, so soon as
it could be effected \vith the per-
fect good will of the natives.
Governor Hull was therefore appointed a
commissioner to treat with them on this subject, but was instructed to
confine his propositions for the present to so much of the
tract before
described as lay south
of
Saguina Bay and round
to the Connecticut
Reserve, so as to consolidate the new with the present settled country.
The result has been an acquisition of so much only of what would have
been acceptable as extends from the neighborhood of Saguina Bay to the
Miami of the Lakes, with a prospect of soon obtaining a breadth of 2 miles
for a communication from the Miami to the Connecticut Reserve.
The
treaty for
this purpose entered
into with
the Ottoways, Chippeways,
Wyandots, and Pottawattamies at Detroit on the 17th of November last
is now transmitted to the Senate, and I ask their advice and consent as to
its ratification.
I communicate herewith such papers as bear any material relation to
the subject.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
15,
1808.
To the Senate of the United States.'
Although
it
is deemed very desirable that the United States should
obtain from the native proprietors the whole left bank of the Mississippi
to a certain breadth, yet to obliterate from the Indian mind an impres-
sion deeply made in
it that we are constantly forming designs on their
lands
I have thought
it best where urged by no peculiar necessity
to
leave to themselves and to the pressure of their own convenience only
to come forward with offers of sale to the United States.
The Choctaws, being indebted to certain mercantile characters beyond
what could be discharged by the ordinary proceeds of their huntings,
and pressed for payment by those creditors, proposed at length to the
United States to cede lands to the amount of their debts, and designated
them in two
different portions
of
their country.
These designations
not
at
all suiting us, their proposals were declined for that reason, and
with an intimation that
if their own convenience should ever dispose
them to cede their lands on the Mississippi we should be willing to pur-
chase.
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
Thomas Jefferson
423
should be to our convenience.
James Robertson, of Tennessee, and Silas
Dinsmore were thereupon appointed commissioners to treat with them on
that subject, with instructions to purchase only on the
Mississippi.
On
meeting their chiefs, however, it was found that such was the attachment
of the nation to their lands on the Mississippi that
their chiefs could
not undertake to cede them; but they offered
all their lands south of a
line to be run from their and our boundary at the Omochita ';astwardly
to their boundary with the Creeks, on the ridge between the Tombigbee
and Alabama, which would unite our possessions there from Natchez to
Tombigbee.
A treaty to this effect was accordingly signed at Pooshape-
kanuk on the i6th of November, 1805; but this being against express
instructions, and not according with the object then in view, I was disin-
chned to its ratification, and therefore did not at the last session of Con-
gress lay it before the Senate for their advice, but have suffered it to He
unacted on.
Progressive difficulties, however, in our foreign relations have brought
into view considerations other than those which then prevailed.
It
is
now, perhaps, become as interesting to obtain footing for a strong settle-
ment of
militia along our southern frontier eastward of the
IVIississippi
as on the west of that
river, and more so than higher up the river itself.
The consolidation of the Mississippi Territory and the establishing a bar-
rier of separation between the Indians and our Southern neighbors are also
important objects.
The cession is supposed to contain about 5,000,000
acres, of which the greater part
is said to be
fit for cultivation, and no
inconsiderable proportion of the first quality, on the various waters it in-
cludes; and the Choctaws and their creditors are still anxious for the sale.
I therefore now transmit the treaty for the consideration of the Senate,
and I ask their advice and consent as to its ratification.
I communicate
at the same time such papers as bear any material relation to the subject,
together with a map on which is sketched the northern limit of the ces-
sion, rather to give a general idea than with any pretension to exactness,
which our present knowledge of the country would not warrant.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
20,
1808.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
Some days previous to your resolutions of the 13th instant a court of
inquiry had been instituted at the request of General Wilkinson, charged
to make the inquiry into his conduct which the
first resolution
desires,
and had commenced their proceedings.
To the judge-advocate of that
court the papers and information on that subject transmitted to me by
the House of Representatives have been delivered, to be used according
to the rules and powers of that court.
The request of a communication of any information which may have
424
Afrssaors aud Papers of the Presidents
been received
at any time since the establishment
of the present Gov.
erument touching combinations with
foreign agents for dismembering
the Union or the corrupt receipt of money by any oflBcer of the United
States from the agents of foreign governments can be comphed with but
in a partial degree.
It is well understood that in the first or second year of the Presidency
of General Washington information was given to him relating to certaic
combinations with the agents of a foreign government for the dismember-
ment of the Union, which combinations had taken place before the estab-
lishment of the present Federal Government.
This information, however,
is believed never to have been deposited in any public office, or
left in
that of the President's secretary-, these having been duly examined, but
to have been considered as personally confidential, and therefore retained
among his private papers.
A communication from the governor of Vir-
ginia to President Washington
is found in the
oflBce of the President's
secretary-
, which, although not
strictly within the terms of the request
of the House of Representatives,
is communicated, inasmuch as it may
throw some
light on the subjects of the correspondence of
that time
between certain foreign agents and citizens of the United States.
In the first or second year of the Administration of President Adams
Andrew EUicott, then employed in designating, in conjunction with the
Spanish authorities, the boundaries between the territories of the United
States and Spain, under the treaty with that nation, communicated to
the Executive of the United States papers and information respecting
the subjects of the present inquiry, which were deposited in the Office of
State.
Copies of these are now transmitted to the House of Represent-
atives, except of a single letter and a reference from the said Andrew
Ellicott, which, being expressly desired to be kept
secret,
is therefore
not communicated, but
its contents can be obtained from himself
in a
more legal form, and directions have been given to summon him
to ap-
pear as a witness before the court of inquiry.
A paper on "The Commerce of Louisiana," bearing date the i8th of
April,
1798,
is found
in
the Office of
State,
supposed
to have
been
communicated by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans, then a subject of
Spain, and now of the House of Representatives of the United States,
stating" certain commercial transactions of General Wilkinson
in New
Orleans.
An extract from this is now communicated, because it contains
facts whicli may have some bearing on the questions relating to him.
The destruction of the War Office by fire in the close of 1800 involved
all iniormatiou it contained at that date.
The papers already described therefore
constitute the whole
of
the
information on the subjects deposited in the public
offices during the
preceding Administrations, as far as has yet been found; but it can not
be affirmed that there may be no other, because, the papers of the office
being filed for the most part alphabetically, unless aided by the sugges-
Thomas Jefferson
425
tion of any particular name whicli may have given such information, noth-
ing short of a careful examination of the papers in the ofl&ces generally
could authorize such an affirmation.
About a twelvemonth after
I came to the administration of the Gov-
ernment Mr. Clark gave some verbal information to myself, as well as
to the Secretary of State, relating to the same combinations for the dis-
memberment
of
the Union.
He was hstened
to
freely, and he then
delivered the letter of Governor Gayoso, addressed to himself, of which a
copy is now communicated.
After his return to New Orleans he for-
warded to the Secretary of State other papers, with a request that after
perusal they should be burnt.
This,
however, was not done, and he
was so informed by the Secretary of State, and that they would be held
subject
to
his orders.
These papers have not yet been found in the
office.
A letter, therefore, has been addressed to the former chief clerk,
who may perhaps
give information
respecting them.
As
far
as our
memories enable us to say, they related only to the combinations before
spoken of, and not at
all to the corrupt receipt of money by any officer
of the United States; consequently they respected what was considered
as a dead matter, known to the preceding Administrations, and offering
nothing new to call for investigations, which those nearest the dates of
the transactions had not thought proper to institute.
In the course of the communications made to me on the subject of the
conspiracy
of Aaron Burr
I sometimes received
letters, some
of them
anonymous, some under names true or
false, expressing suspicions and
insinuations against General Wilkinson; but one only of them, and that
anonymous, specified any particular fact, and that fact was one of those
which had been already communicated to a former Administration.
No other information within the purview of the request of the House
is known to have been received by any department
of the Government
from, the establishment of the present Federal Government.
That which
has been recently communicated to the House of Representatives, and by
them to me,
is the first direct testimony ever made known to me charg-
ing General Wilkinson with the corrupt receipt of money, and the House
of Representatives may be assured that the duties which this information
devolves on me shall be exercised with rigorous
impartiality.
Should
any want of power in the court
to compel the rendering of testimony
obstruct that full and impartial inquiry which alone can establish guilt or
innocence and satisfy justice, the legislative authority only will be com-
petent to the remedy.
TH: JEFFERSON.
January
30,
1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The Choctaws, being indebted to their merchants beyond what could
be discharged by the ordinary proceeds of their huntings, and pressed for