William  Henry  Harrison  187a 
is  intangible  by  the  common  Government  or  the  individual  members 
composing  it.  To  attempt  it  finds  no  support  in  the  principles  of  our 
Constitution. 
It  should  be  our  constant  and  earnest  endeavor  mutually  to  cultivate  a 
spirit  of  concord  and  harmony  among  the  various  parts  of  our  Con- 
federacy. Experience  has  abundantly  taught  us  that  the  agitation  by 
citizens  of  one  part  of  the  Union  of  a  subject  not  confided  to  the  General 
Government,  but  exclusively  under  the  guardianship  of  the  local  authori- 
ties, is  productive  of  no  other  consequences  than  bitterness,  alienation, 
discord,  and  injury  to  the  very  cause  which  is  intended  to  be  advanced. 
Of  all  the  great  interests  which  appertain  to  our  country,  that  of  union — 
cordial,  confiding,  fraternal  union — ^is  by  far  the  most  important,  since 
it  is  the  only  true  and  sure  guaranty  of  all  others. 
In  consequence  of  the  embarrassed  state  of  business  and  the  currency, 
some  of  the  States  may  meet  with  difficulty  in  their  financial  concerns. 
However  deeply  we  may  regret  anjrthing  imprudent  or  excessive  in  the 
engagements  into  which  States  have  entered  for  ptirposes  of  their  own, 
it  does  not  become  us  to  disparage  the  State  governments,  nor  to  dis- 
courage them  from  making  proper  efforts  for  their  own  relief.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  our  duty  to  encourage  them  to  the  extent  of  our  con- 
stitutional authority  to  apply  their  best  means  and  cheerfully  to  make 
all  necessary  sacrifices  and  submit  to  all  necessary  burdens  to  fulfill 
their  engagements  and  maintain  their  credit,  for  the  character  and  credit 
of  the  several  States  form  a  part  of  the  character  and  credit  of  the  whole 
country.  The  resources  of  the  country  are  abundant,  the  enterprise  and 
activity  of  our  people  proverbial,  and  we  may  well  hope  that  wise  legis- 
lation and  prudent  administration  by  the  respective  governments,  each 
acting  within  its  own  sphere,  will  restore  former  prosperity. 
Unpleasant  and  even  dangerous  as  collisions  may  sometimes  be  between 
the  constituted  authorities  of  the  citizens  of  our  country  in  relation  to  the 
lines  which  separate  their  respective  jurisdictions,  the  results  can  be  of 
no  vital  injury  to  our  institutions  if  that  ardent  patriotism,  that  devoted 
attachment  to  liberty,  that  spirit  of  moderation  and  forbearance  for 
which  our  countrjonen  were  once  distinguished,  continue  to  be  cherished. 
If  this  continues  to  be  the  ruUng  passion  of  our  souls,  the  weaker  feel- 
ing of  the  mistaken  enthusiast  will  be  corrected,  the  Utopian  dreams  of 
the  scheming  poUtician  dissipated,  and  the  complicated  intrigues  of  the 
demagogue  rendered  harmless.  The  spirit  of  Uberty  is  the  sovereigr 
balm  for  every  injury  which  our  institutions  may  receive.  On  the  con- 
trary, no  care  that  can  be  used  in  the  construction  of  our  Government,  no 
division  of  powers,  no  distribution  of  checks  in  its  several  departments, 
will  prove  effectual  to  keep  us  a  free  people  if  this  spirit  is  suffered  to 
decay;  and  decay  it  will  without  constant  nurture.  To  the  neglect  of  this 
duty  the  best  historians  agree  in  attributing  the  ruin  of  all  the  republics 
with  whose  existence  and  fall  their  writings  have  made  us  acquainted.
1873  Messages  and  Papers  of  ike  Presidents 
The  same  causes  will  ever  produce  the  same  efiFects,  and  as  long  as  tlia 
love  of  power  is  a  dominant  passion  of  the  human  bosom,  and  as  long  as 
the  understandings  of  men  can  be  warped  and  their  affections  changed  by 
operations  upon  their  passions  and  prejudices,  so  long  will  the  liberties 
of  a  people  depend  on  their  own  constant  attention  to  its  preservation. 
The  danger  to  all  well-established  free  governments  arises  from  the 
unwillingness  of  the  people  to  believe  in  its  existence  or  from  the  influ- 
ence of  designing  men  diverting  their  attention  from  the  quarter  whence 
it  approaches  to  a  source  from  which  it  can  never  come.  This  is  the 
old  trick  of  those  who  would  usurp  the  government  of  their  country. 
In  the  name  of  democracy  they  speak,  warning  the  people  against  the 
influence  of  wealth  and  the  danger  of  aristocracy.  History,  ancient  and 
modem,  is  full  of  such  examples.  Caesar  became  the  master  of  the  Roman 
people  and  the  senate  under  the  pretense  of  supporting  the  democratic 
claims  of  the  former  against  the  aristocracy  of  the  latter;  Cromwell, 
in  the  character  of  protector  of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  became  the 
dictator  of  England,  and  Bolivar  possessed  himself  of  unlimited  power 
with  the  title  of  his  country's  liberator.  There  is,  on  the  contrary,  no 
instance  on  record  of  an  extensive  and  well-established  repuMic  being 
changed  into  an  aristocracy.  The  tendencies  of  all  such  governments 
in  their  decline  is  to  monarchy,  and  the  antagonist  principle  to  liberty 
there  is  the  spirit  of  faction — ^a  spirit  which  assumes  the  character  and  in 
times  of  great  excitement  imposes  itself  upon  the  people  as  the  genuine 
spirit  of  freedom,  and,  like  the  false  Christs  whose  coming  was  foretold 
by  the  Savior,  seeks  to,  and  were  it  possible  would,  impose  upon  the 
true  and  most  faithful  disciples  of  liberty.  It  is  in  periods  like  this  that 
it  behooves  the  people  to  be  most  watchful  of  those  to  whom  they  have 
intrusted  power.  And  although  there  is  at  times  much  difficulty  in 
distinguishing  the  false  from  the  true  spirit,  a  calm  and  dispassionate 
investigation  will  detect  the  counterfeit,  as  well  by  the  character  of  its 
operations  as  the  results  that  are  produced.  The  true  spirit  of  liberty, 
although  devoted,  persevering,  bold,  and  uncompromising  in  principle, 
that  secured  is  mild  and  tolerant  and  scrupulous  as  to  the  means  it 
employs,  whilst  the  spirit  of  party,  assuming  to  be  that  of  liberty,  is 
harsh,  vindictive,  and  intolerant,  and  totally  reckless  as  to  the  character 
of  the  allies  which  it  brings  to  the  aid  of  its  cause.  When  the  genuine 
spirit  of  liberty  animates  the  body  of  a  people  to  a  thorough  examination 
of  their  affairs,  it  leads  to  the  excision  of  every  excrescence  which  may 
have  fastened  itself  upon  any  of  the  departments  of  the  government,  and 
restores  the  system  to  its  pristine  health  and  beauty.  But  the  reign  of  an 
intolerant  spirit  of  party  amongst  a  free  people  seldom  fails  to  result  in  a 
dangerous  accession  to  the  executive  power  introduced  and  established 
amidst  unusual  professions  of  devotion  to  democracy. 
The  foregoing  remarks  relate  almost  exclusively  to  matters  connected 
with  our  domestic  concerns.     It  may  be  proper,  however,  that  I  should
William  Henry  Harrison  1874 
give  some  indicatfons  to  my  fellow-dtizens  of  my  proposed  course  of  con- 
duct in  the  managem.ent  of  our  foreign  relations.  I  assure  them,  there- 
fore, that  it  is  my  intention  to  use  every  means  in  my  power  to  preserve 
the  friendly  intercourse  which  now  so  hitppily  subsists  with  every  foreign 
nation,  and  that  although,  of  course,  not  well  informed  as  to  the  state  of 
pending  negotiations  with  any  of  them,  I  see  in  the  personal  characters 
of  the  sovereigns,  as  well  as  in  the  mutual  interests  of  our  own  and  of 
the  governments  with  which  our  relations  are  most  intimate,  a  pleasing 
guaranty  that  the  harmony  so  important  to  the  interests  of  their  subjects 
as  well  as  of  our  citizens  will  not  be  interrupted  by  the  aflvancement  of 
any  claim  or  pretension  upon  their  part  to  which  our  honor  would  not  per- 
mit us  to  yield.  Long  the  defender  of  my  country's  rights  in  the  field,  I 
trust  that  my  fellow-dtizens  will  not  see  in  my  earnest  desire  to  preserve 
peace  with  foreign  powers  any  indication  that  their  rights  will  ever  be 
sacrificed  or  the  honor  of  the  nation  tarnished  by  any  admission  on  the 
part  of  their  Chief  Magistrate  unworthy  of  their  former  glory.  In  our 
intercourse  with  our  aboriginal  ndghbors  the  same  liberality  and  justice 
which  marked  the  course  prescribed  to  me  by  two  of  my  illustrious 
predecessors  when  acting  under  their  direction  in  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  superintendent  and  commissioner  shall  be  strictly  observed.  I 
can  concdve  of  no  more  sublime  spectacle,  none  more  likely  to  pro- 
pitiate'an  impartial  and  common  Creator,  than  a  rigid  adherence  to  the 
prindples  of  justice  on  the  part  of  a  powerful  nation  in  its  transactions 
with  a  weaker  and  undvilized  people  whom  circumstances  have  placed 
at  its  disposal. 
Before  concluding,  fellow-dtizens,  I  must  say  something  to  you  on  the 
subject  of  the  parties  at  this  time  existing  in  our  country.  To  me  it 
appears  perfectly  clear  that  the  interest  of  that  coimtry  requires  that  the 
violence  of  the  spirit  by  which  those  parties  are  at  this  time  governed 
must  be  greatly  mitigated,  if  not  entirely  extinguished,  or  consequences 
will  ensue  which  are  appalling  to  be  thought  of. 
If  partie<5  in  a  republic  are  necessary  to  secure  a  degree  of  vigilance 
suffident  to  keep  the  public  functionaries  within  the  bounds  of  law  and 
duty,  at  that  point  thdr  usefulness  ends.  Beyond  that  they  become 
destructive  of  public  virtue,  the  parent  of  a  spirit  antagonist  to  that  of 
Uberty,  and  eventually  its  inevitable  conqueror.  We  have  examples 
of,  republics  where  the  love  of  country  and  of  liberty  at  one  time  were 
the  dominant  passions  of  the  whole  mass  of  dtizens,  and  yet,  with  the 
.  continuance  of  the  name  and  forms  of  free  government,  not  a  vestige  of 
these  quaUties  remaining  in  the  bosoms  of  any  one  of  its  citizens.  It 
was  the  beautiful  remark  of  a  distinguished  English  writer  that  **in 
the  Roman  senate  Octavius  had  a  party  and  Antony  a  party,  but. the 
Commonwealth  had  none."  Yet  the  senate  continued  to  meet  in  the 
temple  of  liberty  to  talk  of  the  sacredness  and  beauty  of  the  Common- 
wealth and  gaze  at  the  statues  of  the  elder  Brutus  and  of  the  Curtii  and
1875  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Dedi,  and  the  people  assembled  in  the  forum,  not,  as  in  the  days  of 
Camillus  and  the  Scipios,  to  cast  their  free  votes  for  annual  magistrates 
or  pass  upon  the  acts  of  the  senate,  but  to  receive  from  the  hands  of  the 
leaders  of  the  respective  parties  their  share  of  the  spoils  and  to  shout  for 
one  or  the  other,  as  those  collected  in  Gaul  or  Egypt  and  the  lesser  Asia 
would  furnish  the  larger  dividend.  The  spirit  of  Hberty  had  fled,  and, 
avoiding  the  abodes  of  civilized  man,  had  sought  protection  in  the  wilds 
of  Scjrthia  or  Scandinavia;  and  so  under  the  operation  of  the  same 
causey  and  influences  it  will  fly  from  our  Capitol  and  our  forums.  A 
calamity  so  a^ul,  not  only  to  our  country,  but  to  the  world,  must  be 
deprecated  by  every  patript  and  every  tendency  to  a  state  of  things  likely 
to  produce  it  immediately  checked.  Such  a  tendency  has  existed — does 
exist.  Always  the  friend  of  my  countrymen,  never  their  flatterer,  it 
becomes  my  duty  to  say  to  them  from  this  high  place  to  which  their 
partiality  has-  exalted  me  that  there  exists  in  the  land  a  spirit  hostile  to 
their  best  interests — ^hostile  to  liberty  itself.  It  is  a  spirit  contracted  in 
its  views,  selfish  in  its  objects.  It  looks  to  the  aggrandizement  of  a  few 
even  to  the  destruction  of  the  interests  of  the  whole.  The  entire  remedy 
is  with  the  people.  Something,  however,  may  be  effected  by  the  means 
which  they  have  placed  in  my  hands.  It  is  union  that  we  want,  not  of  a 
party  for  the  sake  of  that  party,  but  a  union  of  the  whole  coimtry  for  the 
sake  of  the  whole  country,  for  the  defense  of  its  interests  and  its  honor 
against  foreign  aggression,  for  the  defense  of  those  principles  for  which 
our  ancestors  so  gloriously  contended.  As  far  as  it  depends  upon  me  it 
shall  be  accomplished.  All  the  influence  that  I  possess  shall  be  exerted 
to  prevent  the  formation  at  least  of  an  Executive  party  in  the  halls 
of  the  legislative  body.  I  wish  for  the  support  of  no  member  of  that 
body  to  any  measure  of  mine  that  does  not  satisfy  his  judgment  and  his 
sense  of  duty  to  those  from  whom  he  holds  his  appointment,  nor  dny 
confidence  in  advance  from  the  people  but  that  asked  for  by  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, * '  to  give  firmness  and  effect  to  the  legal  administration  of  their 
affairs.'' 
I  deem  the  present  occasion  suflSciently  important  and  solemn  to  justify 
me  in  expressing  to  my  fellow-citizens  a  profound  reverence  for  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  a  thorough  conviction  that  sound  morals,  religious  lib- 
erty, and  a  just  sense  of  religious  responsibility  are  essentially  connected 
with  all  true  and  lasting  happiness;  and  to  that  good  Being  who  has 
blessed  us  by  the  gifts  of  civil  and  reUgious  freedom,  who  watched  over 
and  prospered  the  labors  of  our  fathers  and  has  hitherto  preserved  to  us 
institutions  far  exceeding  in  excellence  those  of  any  other  people,  let 
us  unite  in  fervently  commending  every  interest  of  our  beloved  country 
in  all  future  time. 
Fellow-dtizens,  being  fully  invested  with  that  high  pflB^c:e  to  which  the 
partiality  of  my  countrjrinen  has  called  me,  I  now  take  an  affectionate 
leave  of  you.     You  will  bear  '^ith  you  to  your  homes  the  remembrance  of
'  William  Henry  Harrison  1876 
the  pledge  I  have  this  day  given  to  discharge  all  the  high  duties  of  my 
exalted  station  according  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  and  I  shall  enter  upon 
their  performance  with  entire  confidence  in  the  support  of  a  just  and 
generous  people. 
March  4,  1841. 
SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States:  March  5,  1841. 
I  hereby  withdraw  all  nominations  made  to  the  Senate  on  or  before 
the  3d  instant  and  which  were  not  definitely  acted  on  at  the  close  of  its 
session  on  that  day.  ^  ^  HARRISON. 
PROCLAMATION. 
[Fnwn  statutes  at  I^arge  (little,  Brown  &  Co.)>  Vol.  XI,  p.  786.] 
By  thk  President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
a  proclamation. 
Whereas  sundry  important  and  weighty  matters,  principally  growing 
out  of  the  condition  of  the  revenue  and  finances  of  the  country,  appear 
to  me  to  call  for  the  consideration  of  Congress  at  an  earlier  day  than  its 
next  annual  session,  and  thus  form  an  extraordinary  occasion,  such  as 
renders  necessary,  in  my  judgment,  the  convention  of  the  two  Houses 
as  soon  as  may  be  practicable: 
I  do  therefore  by  this  my  proclamation  convene  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress  to  meet  in  the  Capitol,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the  last 
Monday,  being  the  31st  day,  of  May  next;  and  I  require  the  respective 
Senators  and  Representatives  then  and  there  to  assemble,  in  order  to 
receive  such  information  respecting  the  state  of  the  Union  as  may  be 
given  to  them  and  to  devise  and  adopt  such  measures  as  the  good  of 
the  country  may  seem  to  them,  in  the  exercise  of  their  wisdom  and  did% 
cretion,  to  require. 
In  testimony  whereof  I  have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to 
be  hereunto  aflBixed,  and  signed  the  same  with  my  hand, 
r  -1         Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  17th  day  of  March, 
A.  D.  1 84 1,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the 
sixty-fifth.  ^  jj   HARRISON. 
By  the  President: 
Daniel  Webster, 
Secretary  0/  State.
1877  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
DEATH  OF  PRESIDENT  HARRISON. 
PUBLIC  ANNOUNCEMENT. 
[From  the  DaUy  National  Intelligencer,  April  5, 1841.] 
Washington,  April  /,  184.1. 
An  all-wise  Providence  having  suddenly  removed  from  this  life  William 
Henry  Harrison,  late  President  of  the  United  States,  we  have  thought 
it  our  duty,  in  the  recess  of  Congress  and  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice- 
President  from  the  seat  of  Government,  to  make  this  afflicting  bereave- 
ment known  to  the  country  by  this  declaration  under  our  hands. 
He  died  at  the  President's  house,  in  this  city,  this  4th  day  of  April, 
A.  D.  1 84 1,  at  thirty  minutes  before  i  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  people  of  the  United  States,  overwhelmed,  like  ourselves,  by  an 
event  so  unexpected  and  so  melancholy,  will  derive  consolation  from 
knowing  that  his  death  was  calm  and  resigned,  as  his  life  has  been 
patriotic,  useful,  and  distinguished,  and  that  the  last  utterance  of  his  lips 
expressed  a  fervent  desire  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
preservation  of  its  true  principles.  In  death,  as  in  life,  the  happiness  of 
his  country  was  uppermost  in  his  thoughts. 
DANIEI.  WEBSTER, 
Secretary  of  State. 
THOMAS  EWING, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
JOHN  BELL, 
Secretary  of  War 
J.  J.  CRITTENDEN, 
Attorney'  GeneraL 
FRANCIS  GRANGER, 
Postmaster-GeneroL 
[The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  was  absent  from  the  city.] 
ANNOUNCEMENT  TO  THE  YICE-PRESIDfiNT, 
[Prom  the  Daily  National  Intelligencer,  April  5,  1841.] 
John  Tyi.br.  Washington.  April  4.  iS^r. 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
Sir:  It  has  become  our  most  painful  duty  to  inform  you  that  WilUam 
Henry  Harrison,  late  President  of  the  United  States,  has  departed  thi^ 
life. 
This  distressing  event  took  place  this  day  at  the  President's  mansion^ 
in  this  city,  at  thirty  minutes  before  i  in  the  morning.
William  Henry  Harrison  1878 
We  lose  no  time  in  dispatching:  the  chief  clerk  in  the  State  Department 
as  a  special  messenger  to  bear  you  these  melancholy  tidings. 
We  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  the  highest  regard,  3rour  obedient 
aervantSy 
DANIEL  WEBSTER, 
Secretary  of  State. 
THOMAS  EWING, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
JOHN  BELL, 
Secretary  of  War, 
JOHN  J.  CRITTENDEN, 
Attorney-  General. 
FRANCIS  GRANGER, 
Postmaster-General, 
ANNOUNCEMENT  TO  REPRESENTATIVES   OF   THE  UNITED   STATES 
ABROAD. 
[Piom  ofBdal  reoords  in  the  State  Department] 
Department  op  State, 
Washington,  April  4,  184.1, 
Sir:  .  It  has  become  my  most  painful  duty  to  amiounce  to  you  the 
decease  of  William  Hemy  Harrison,  late  President  of  the  United  States. 
This  afficting  event  took  place  this  day  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  in 
this  dty,  at  thirty  minutes  before  i  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 
,      DANI..  WEBSTER. 
ANNOUNCEMENT  TO  REPRESENTATIVES  OP  FOREIGN  GOVERNMENTS 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
[Prom  o£Bclal  reoords  in  the  State  Depftrtmeiit] 
Department  op  State, 
Washington,  April  5,  184.1. 
Sir:  It  is  my  great  misfortune  to  be  obliged  to  inform  you  of  an  event 
not  less  afflicting  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  than  distressing  to 
my  own  feelings  and  the  feelings  of  all  those  connected  with  the  Gov- 
ernment. 
The  President  departed  thio  life  yesterday  at  thirty  minutes  before  i 
o'clock  in  the  morning. 
You  are  respectfully  invited  to  attend  the  funeral  ceremonies,  which 
will  take  place  on  Wednesday  next,  and  with  the  partictilar  arrange- 
ments for  which  you  will  be  made  acquainted  in  due  time.
1879  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Not  doubting  your  sympathy  and  condolence  with  the  Government 
and  people  of  the  country  on  this  bereavement,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
sir,  with  high  consideration,  your  obedient  servant, 
DANL.  WEBSTER- 
ANNOUNCEMENT  TO  THE  ARMY. 
[Prom  official  record^  in  the  War  Department.] 
DEPARTMENT  OF  WAR, 
Washington^  April  5, 18^1. 
It  is  with  feelings  <rf  the  deepest  sorrow  that  the  Secretary  of  War 
announces  to  the  Army  the  death  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
William  Henry  Harrison  is  no  more.  His  long  and  faithful  services  in 
many  subordinate  but  important  stations,  his  recent  elevation-  to  the 
highest  in  honor  and  power,  and  the  brief  term  allotted  to  him  in  the 
enjoyment  of  it  are  circumstances  of  themselves  which  must  awaken 
the  liveliest  S5ntnpathy  in  every  bosom.  But  these  are  personal  con- 
siderations; the  dispensation  is  heaviest  and  most  afflicting  on  public 
grounds.  This  great  calamity  has  befallen  the  coimtry  at  a  period  of 
general  anxiety  for  its  present,  and  some  apprehension  for  its  future,  con- 
dition— at  a  time  when  it  is  most  desirable  that  all  its,  high  offices  should 
be  filled  and  all  its  high  trusts  administered  in  harmony,  wisdom,  and 
vigor.  The  generosity  of  character  of  the  deceased,  the  conspicuous 
honesty  of  his  principles  and  purposes,  together  with  the  skill  and  firm- 
ness with  which  he  maintained  them  in  all  situations,  had  won  for  him 
the  aCFection  and  confidence  of  his  countrymen;  but  at  the  moment  when 
by  their  voice  he  was  raised  to  a  station  in  the  discharge  of  the  powers 
and  duties  of  which  the  most  beneficent  results  might  justly  have  been 
anticipated  from  his  great  experience,  his  sound  judgment,  the  high 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  people,  and  his  unquestioned 
devotion  to  the  Constitution  and  to  the  Union,  it  has  pleased  an  all- wise 
but  mysterious  Providence  to  remove  him  suddenly  from  that  and  every 
other  earthly  employment. 
While  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Army  share  in  the  general  grief 
which  these  considerations  so  naturally  and  irresistibly  inspire,  they  will 
doubtless  be  penetrated  with  increased  sensibility  and  feel  a  deeper  con- 
cern in  testifying  in  the  manner  appropriate  to  them  the  full  measure  of 
a  nation's  gratitude  for  the  eminent  services  of  the  departed  patriot  and 
in  rendering  just  and  adequate  honors  to  his  memory  because  he  was 
himself  a  soldier,  and  an  approved  one,  receiving  his  earliest  lessons  in 
a  camp,  and,  when  in  riper  years  called  to  the  command  of  armies,  illus- 
trating the  profession  of  arms  by  his  personal  qualities  and  contributing 
largely  by  his  successes  to  the  stock  of  his  country's  glory. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  suddenness  of  the  emergency  has  made  it 
necessary  to  announce  this  sad  event  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President
William  Henry  Harrison  1880 
from  the  seat  of  Government;  but  the  greatest  confidence  is  felt  that  he 
will  cordially  approve  the  sentiments  expressed,  and  that  he  will  in  due 
time  give  directions  for  such  further  marks  of  respect  not  prescribed 
by  the  existing  regulations  of  the  Army  as  may  be  demanded  by  the 
^^^^*^^^'  JOHN  BELL,  Secretary  of  War. 
GBimRAi.  Ordbrs,  No.  20. 
Hbadquartkrs  op  thb  Army, 
Adjutant-Genbrax*s  Officb, 
Washington,  April  7,  1841, 
The  death  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  having  been  officially 
announced  from  the  War  Department,  the  Major-General  Commanding 
in  Chief  communicates  to  the  Army  the  melancholy  intelligence  with 
feehngs  of  the  most  profound  sorrow.  The  long,  arduous,  and  faithful 
military  services  in  which  President  Harrison  has  been  engaged  since 
the  first  settlement  of  the  Western  country,  from  the  rank  of  a  subal- 
tern to  that  of  a  commander  in  chief,  are  too  well  known  to  require  a 
recital  of  them  here.  It  is  sufficient  to  point  to  the  fields  of  Tippecanoe, 
the  banks  of  the  Miami,  and  the  Thames,  in  Upper  Canada,  to  recall  to 
many  of  the  soldiers  of  the  present  Army  the  glorious  results  of  some 
of  his  achievements  against  the  foes  of  his  country,  both  savage  and 
civilized. 
The  Army  has  on  former  occasions  been  called  upon  to  mourn  the  loss 
of  distinguished  patriots  who  have  occupied  the  Presidential  chair,  but 
this  is  the  first  time  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  it  has  to 
lament  the  demise  of  a  President  while  in  the  actual  exercise  of  the  high 
functions  of  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  Union. 
The  members  of  the  Army,  in  common  with  their  fellow-citizens  of 
all  classes,  deeply  deplore  this  national  bereavement;  but  although  they 
have  lost  a  friend  ever  ready  to  protect  their  interests,  his  bright  exam- 
ple in  the  paths  of  honor  and  glory  still  remains  for  their  emulation. 
The  funeral  honors  directed  to  be  paid  by  the  troops  in  paragraph  523 
of  the  General  Regulations  will  be  duly  observed,  and  the  troops  at  the 
several  stations  will  be  paraded  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  when  this  order  will 
be  read,  after  which  all  labors  for  the  day  will  cease;  the  national  flag 
will  be  displayed  at  half-staff;  at  dawn  of  day  thirteen  guns  will  be 
fired,  besides  the  half -hour  guns  as  directed  by  the  Regulations,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  day  a  national  salute.  The  standards,  guidons,  and 
colors  of  the  several  regiments  will  be  put  in  mourning  for  the  period  of 
six  months,  and  the  officers  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  on 
the  left  arm  above  the  elbow  and  on  the  hilt  of  the  sword  for  the  same 
period. 
Byorder  of  Alexander  Macomb,  Major-General  Commanding  in  Chief  : 
R.  JONES,  Adjutant  General
i88i  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidenis 
ANNOUNCEMENT  TO  THE  NAVY. 
[Prom  offidal  records  in  the  Navy  Department.] 
General  Order. 
Navy  Department,  April  5,  rSfi. 
The  Department  announces  to  the  officers  of  the  Navy  and  Marine 
Corps  the  death  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  late  President  of  the  United 
States,  which  occurred  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, on  the  morning  of  the  4th  instant,  and  directs  that,  uniting  with 
their  fellow-citizens  in  the  manifestations  of  their  respect  for  the  exalted 
character  and  eminent  public  services  of  the  illustrious  deceased,  and  of 
their  sense  of  the  bereavement  the  country  has  sustained  by  this  afflict- 
ing dispensation  of  Providence,  they  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning 
for  six  months. 
The  Department  further  directs  that  funeral  honors  be  paid  him  at 
each  of  the  navy-yards  and  on  board  each  of  the  public  vessels  in  com- 
mission by  firing  twenty-six  minute  guns,  commencing  at  12  o'clock  m., 
on  the  day  after  the  receipt  of  this  order,  and  by  wearing  their  flags  at 
half-mast  for  one  week, .  j  j^  SIMMS, 
Acting  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
OFFICIAL  ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  THE  FUNERAL. 
[Prom  official  records  In  the  State  Department] 
Washington,  April  4,  1841. 
The  circumstances  in  which  we  are  placed  by  the  death  of  the  Presi- 
dent render  it  indispensable  for  us,  in  the  recess  of  Congress  and  in  the 
absence  of  the  Vice-President,  to  make  arrangements  for  the  funeral 
solemnities.  Having  consulted  with  the  family  and  personal  friends 
of  the  deceased,  we  have  concluded  that  the  funeral  be  solemnized  on 
Wednesday,  the  7th  instant,  at  12  o'clock.  The  religious  services  to  be 
performed  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  which 
church  the  deceased  most  usually  worshiped.  The  body  to  be  taken  from 
the  President's  house  to  the  Congress  Burying  Ground,  accompanied  by 
a  military  and  a  civic  procession,  and  deposited  in  the  receiving  tomb. 
The  military  arrangements  to  be  under  the  direction  of  Major-General 
Macomb,  the  General  Commanding  in  Chief  the  Army  of  the  United 
States,  and  Major-General  Walter  Jones,  of  the  militia  of  the  District  of 
Columbia. 
Commodore  Morris,  the  senior  captain  in  the  Navy  now  in  the  city, 
to  have  the  direction  of  the  naval  arrangements. 
The  marshal  of  the  District  to  have  the  direction  of  the  civic  proces- 
sion, assisted  by  the  mayors  of  Washington,  Georgetown,  and  Alexandria,
William  Henry  Harrison  1882 
the  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  such  other 
citizens  as  they  may  see  fit  to  call  to  their  aid. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  ex-President  of  the  United  States,  members  of 
Congress  now  in  the  city  or  its  neighborhood,  all  the  members  of  the 
diplomatic  body  resident  in  Washington,  and  all  officers  of  Government 
and  citizens  generally  are  invited  to  attend. 
And  it  is  respectfully  recommended  to  the  officers  of  Government  that 
they  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning. 
DANL.  WEBSTER, 
Secretary  of  State, 
T.  EWING, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
JNO.  BELL, 
Secretary  of  War. 
J.  J,  CRITTENDEN, 
Attom^-General. 
FR.  GRANGER, 
Postmaster-  General. 
[The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  was  absent  from  the  city.] 
(Prom  official  records  In  the  War  Department.] 
District  Ordkrs. 
Washington,  April  5, 1841. 
The  forgoing  notice  from  the  heads  of  the  Executive  Departments 
of  the  Government  informs  you  what  a  signal  calamity  has  befallen  us 
in  the  death  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  prominent 
part  assigned  you  in  those  fimeral  honors  which  may  bespeak  a  nation's 
respect  to  the  memory  of  a  departed  patriot  and  statesman,  whose  vir- 
tue and  talents  as  a  citizen  and  soldier  had  achieved  illustrious  services, 
and  whose  sudden  death  has  disappointed  the  expectation  of  still  more 
important  benefits  to  his  country. 
With  a  view  to  carry  into  eflFect  the  views  of  these  high  officers  of  Gov- 
ernment in  a  manner  befitting  the  occasion  and  honorable  to  the  militia 
corps  of  this  District,  I  request  the  general  and  field  officers,  the  general 
staff,  and  the  commandants  of  companies  to  assemble  at  my  house 
to-morrow,  Tuesday,  April  6,  precisely  at  10  o'clock,  to  report  the 
strength  and  equipment  of  the  several  corps  of  the  militia  and  to  receive 
final  instructions  for  parade  and  arrangement  in  the  miUtary  part  of  the 
funeral  procession. 
The  commandants  of  such  militia  corps  from  the  neighboring  States  as 
desire  to  unite  in  the  procession  are  respectfully  invited  to  report  to  me 
as  soon  as  practicable  their  intention,  with  a  view  to  arrange  them  in 
due  and  uniform  order  as  a  part  of  the  general  military  escort.
1883  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
The  detail  of  these  arrangements,  to  which  all  the  military  accessories, 
both  of  the  regulars  an^  militia,  are  expected  to  conform,  will  be  published 
in  due  time  for  the  information  of  all. 
For  the  present  it  is  deemed  suflSdent  to  say  that  the  whole  military 
part  of  the  procession,  including  the  regular  troops  of  every  arm  and 
denomination  and  all  the  militia  corps,  whether  of  this  District  or  of 
the  States,  will  be  consolidated  in  one  coltunn  of  escort,  whereof  Major- 
General  Macomb,  Commander  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  will  take 
the  general  command,  and  Brigadier-General  Roger  Jones,  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  will  act  as  adjutant-general 
and  officer  of  the  day.  WAI,TER  JONES, 
Maj,  Gen.^  Comdg,  the  Militia  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Adjutant-General's  Office, 
Washington,  April  6,  184.1. 
The  Major-General  Commanding  the  Army  of  the  United  States  and 
the  major-general  commanding  the  militia  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
having  been  charged  by  the  executive  ofl&cers  of  the  Government  with 
the  military  arrangements  for  the  funeral  honors  to  be  paid  to  the  patriot 
and  illustrious  citizen,  William  Henry  Harrison,  late  President  of  the 
United  States,  direct  the  following  order  of  arrangement: 
Order  op  the  Procession. 
FUNERAL  escort. 
(In  column  of  march. ) 
Infantry, 
Battalion  of  Baltimore  volunteers. 
Company  of  Annapolis  volunteers. 
Battalion  of  Washington  volunteers. 
Marines, 
United  States  Marine  Corps. 
Corps  of  commissioned  officers  of  the  Baltimore  volunteers,  headed  by  a 
major-general. 
Cavalry, 
Squadron  of  Georgetown  lyight  Dragoons. 
Artillery, 
Troop  of  United  States  light  artillery. 
Dismounted  officers  of  volunteer*,  Marine  Corps,  Navy,  and  Army  in  the 
order  named. 
Mounted  officers  of  volimttibrdi  Marine  Corps,  Navy,  and  Army  in  the 
6rd^  named. 
Major-General  Walter  Jonca^  commanding  the  militia. 
Aid9-de-<^nlp. 
Mlijor-General  Macomb,  Commanding  the  Army. 
Aids-d^-Camp.
William  Henry  Harrison  1884 
CIVIC  PROCESSION. 
United  States  marshal  for  the  District  of  Columbia  and  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court 
The  mayors  of  Washington,  Georgetown,  and  Alexandria. 
Clergy  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  elsewhere. 
Physicians  to  the  President 
Funeral  car  with  the  corpse. 
Pallbearers, — R.  Cutts,  esq.,  for  Maine;  Hon.  J.  B.  Moore,  fbr  New  Hampshire;  Hon. 
C.  Cushing,  Massachusetts;  M.  St  C.  Clarke,  esq.,  Rhode  Island;  W.  B.  Lloyd, 
esq.,  Connecticut;  Hon.  Hiland  Hall,  Vermont;  General  John  Granger,  New 
York;  Hon.  G.  C,  Washington,  New  Jersey;  M.  Willing,  esq.,  Pennsylvania; 
Hon.  A.  Naudain,  Delaware;  David  I^offman,  esq.,  Maryland;  Major  Camp,  Vir- 
ginia;  Hon.  E.  D.  White,  ^Jorth  Carolina;  John  Carter,  esq..  South  Carolina; 
General  D.  L.  Clinch,  Georgia;  Th.  Crittenden,  esq.,  Kentucky;  Colonel  Rogers, 
Tennessee;  Mr.  Graham,  Ohio;  M.  Durald,  esq.,  Louisiana;  General  Robert 
Hanna,  Indiana;  Anderson  Miller,  esq. ,  Mississippi;  D,  G.  Gamsey,  esq. ,  Illinois; 
Dr.  Perrine,  Alabcmia;  Major  Russell,  Missouri;  A.  W.  Lyon,  esq.,  Arkansas; 
General  Howard,  Michjgan;  Hon.  J.  D.  Doty,  Wisconsin;  Hon.  C.  Downing, 
Florida;  Hon.  W.  B.  Carter,  Iowa;  R.  Smith,  esq..  District  of  Columbi&. 
Family  and  relatives  of  the  late  President. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  and  heads  of  Departments. 
Bx-President  Adams. 
The  Chief  Justice  and  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  district  judges 
of  the  United  States. 
The  President  of  the  Senate  pro  tempore  and  Secretary. 
Senators  and  officers  of  the  Senate. 
Foreign  ministers  and  suites. 
United  States  and  Mexican  commissioners  for  the  adjustment  of  claims  under  the 
convention  with  Mexico. 
Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  officers. 
Governors  of  States  and  Territories  and  members  of  State  legislatures. 
Judges  of  the  circuit  and  criminal  courts  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  with  the 
members  of  the  bar  and  officers  of  the  courts. 
The  judges  of  the  several  States. 
The  Comptrollers  of  the  Treasury,  Auditors,  Treasurer,  Register,  Solicitor,  and 
Commissioners  of  Land  Office,  Pensions,  Indian  Affairs,  Patents,  and  Public 
Buildings. 
The  clerks,  etc.>  of  the  several  Departments,  preceded  by  their  respective  chief 
clerks,  and  all  other  civil  officers  of  the  Government. 
Officers  of  the  Revolution. 
Officers  and  soldiers  of  the  late  war  who  served  under  the  command  of  the 
late  President. 
Corporate  authorities  of  Washington. 
Corporate  authorities  of  Georgetown. 
Corporate  authorities  of  Alexandria. 
Such  societies  and  fraternities  as  may  wish  to  join  the  prpcession,  to  report  to  the 
marshal  of  the  District,  who  will  assign  them  their  respective  positions. 
Citizens  and  strangers. 
The  troops  designated  to  form  the  escort  will  assemble  in  the  avenue 
north  of  the  President's  house,  and  form  line  precisely  at  11  o'clock 
a.  m.  on  Wednesday,  the  7th  instant,  with  its  right  (Captain  Ringgold's 
troop  of  light  artillery)  resting  opposite  the  western  gate. 
The  procession  will  move  precisely  at  12  o'clpck  m.,  when  minute  gtms 
will  be  fired  by  detachments  of  artillery  stationed  near  St.  John's  church 
and  the  City  Hall,  and  by  the  Columbian  Artillery  at  the  Capitol.     At
1885  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
the  same  hour  the  bdls  of  the  several  churches  in  Washington,  George- 
town, and  Alexandria  will  be  tolled. 
At  sunrise  to-morrow,  the  7th  instant,  a  Federal  salute  will  be  fired 
from  the  military  stations  in  the  vicinity  of  Washington,  minute  guns 
between  the  hours  of  12  and  3,  and  a  national  salute  at  the  setting  of 
the  sun. 
The  usual  badge  of  mourning  will  be  worn  on  the  left  arm  and  on  the 
hilt  of  the  sword. 
The  Adjutant-GeAeral  of  the  Army  is  charged  with  the  military 
arrangements  of  the  day,  aided  by  the  Assistant  Adjutants-General  on 
duty  at  the  Headquarters  of  the  Army. 
The  United  States  marshal  of  the  District  has  the  direction  of  the  civic 
procession,  assisted  by  the  mayors  of  the  cities  of  the  District  and  the 
derk  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
By  order:  ROGER  JONES, 
Adjutant-General  United  States  Army. 
CERTIFICATE  OP  THE  DEATH  OP  PRESIDENT  HARRISON. 
[Piom  ofBdal  records,  written  on  parchment,  in  the  State  Department.] 
Washington,  Aprils,  A,  Z>.  1841. 
William  Henry  Harrison,  President  of  the  United  States,  departed  this 
life  at  the  President's  house,  in  this  city,  this  morning,  being  Sunday, 
the  4th  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1841,  at  thirty  minutes  before  i  o'clock  in  the 
morning;  we  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed  being  in  the  house, 
and  some  of  us  in  his  immediate  presence,  at  the  time  of  his  decease. 
W.  W.  SEATON,  DANL.  WEBSTER, 
Mayor  of  Washington,  Secretary  of  State, 
THOMAS  MILLER,  M.  D.,  THOMAS  EWING, 
Attending  Physician,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
ASHTON  ALEXANDER,  M.  D.,       JNO.  BELL, 
Consulting  Physician,  Secretary  of  War. 
WM.  HAWLEY,  J.  J.  CRITTENDEN, 
Rector  of  St.  fohti's  Church,  Attorney-General. 
A.  HUNTER,  FR.  GRANGER, 
Marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Postfnaster-  General. 
WM.  THOS.  CARROLL,  JOHN  CHAMBERS, 
Clerk  of  Supreme  Court  U.  S.  c.  S.  TODD, 
FLETCHER  WEBSTER,  DAVID  O.  COUPLAND, 
Chief  Clerk  in  the  State  Dept.  Of  the  Presidenfs  FamUy. 
Let  this  be  duly  recorded  and  placed  among  the  rolls. 
DANL.  WEBSTER, 
Secretary  of  State. 
Recorded  in  Domestic  Letter  Book  by — 
A.  T.  Mccormick.
William  Henry  Harrison  1886 
MtPORT  OP  THE  PHYSICIANS. 
[From  the  Daily  National  Intelligencer,  April  5, 184.x.] 
Hon.  D.  WUBSWR,  Washington,  April  4, 1841. 
Secretary  of  State, 
Dbar  Sir:  In  compliance  with  the  request  made  to  us  by  yourself 
and  the  other  gentlemen  of  the  Cabinet,  the  attending  and  consulting 
physicians  have  drawn  up  the  abstract  of  a  report  on  the  President's 
case,  which  I  herewith  transmit  to  you. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
THO.  MILLER, 
Attending  Physician, 
On  Saturday,  March  27,  1841,  President  Harrison,  after  several  days'  previous, 
indisposition,  was  seized  with  a  chiU  and  other  sjrmptoms  of  fever.  The  next  day 
pneumonia,  with  congestion  of  the  liver  and  derangement  •f  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
was  ascertained  to  exist.  The  age  and  debility  of  the  patient,  with  the  immediate 
prostration,  forbade  a  resort  to  general  blood  letting.  Topical  depletion,  blistering, 
and  appropriate  internal  remedies  subdued  in  a  great  measure  the  disease  of  the 
lungs  and  liver,  but  the  stomach  and  intestines  did  not  regain  a  healthy  condition. 
PinaUy,  on  the  3d  of  April,  at  3  o'clock  p.  m. ,  profuse  diarrhea  came  on,  under  which 
he  sank  at  thirty  minutes  to  i  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  4th. 
The  last  words  uttered  by  the  President,  as  heard  by  Dr.  Worthington,  were  these: 
*'  Sir,  I  wish  you  to  understand  the  true  principles  of  the  Government.  I  wish  them 
carried  out    I  aak  nothing  mofc"  THO.  MILLER,  M.  D., 
Attending  Physician, 
FRED.  MAY,  M.  D., 
N.  W.  WORTHINGTON,  M.  D., 
J.  C.  HALL,  M.  D., 
ASHTON  ALEXANDER,  M.  D., 
QmsuUing  Physicians. 
OATH  OP  OFFICE  ADMINISTERED  TO  PRESIDENT  JOHN  TYLER  IN 
THE  PRESENCE  OP  THE  CABINET.* 
[From  the  Dally  National  Intelligencer,  April  7, 1841.] 
I  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office  of  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  ability  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Apkii.  6.  1841.  JO^N  '^YI^ER. 
District  op  Colitmbia, 
City  and  County  of  Washington,  ss: 
I,  William  Cranch,  chief  judge  of  the  circnit  conrt  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
certify  that  the  above-named  John  Tyler  personally  appeared  before  me  this  day, 
and  although  he  deems  himself  qualified  to  periorm  the  duties  and  exercise  the 
*The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  was  absent  from  the  city.
i887  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
powers  and  office  of  President  on  the  death  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  late  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  without  any  other  oath  than  that  which  he  has  taken  as 
Vice-President,  yet  as  doubts  may  arise^  and  for  greater  caution,  took  and  subscribed 
the  foregoing  oath  before  me.  -^  CRANCH 
Aprii*  6,  1841. 
PROCLAMATION. 
To  THE  PEOPWC  of  THK  UNITED  STATES. 
▲  RECOMMENDATION. 
Washington,  April  /j,  184.1. 
When  a  Christian  people  feel  themselves  to  be  overtaken  by  a  great 
public  calamity,  it  becomes  them  to  humble  themselves  under  the  dis- 
pensation of  Divine  Providence,  to  recognize  His  righteous  government 
over  the  children  of  men,  to  acknowledge  His  goodness  in  time  past,  as 
well  as  their  own  unworthiness,  and  to  supplicate  His  merciful  protection 
for  the  future.  • 
The  death  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  late  President  of  the  United 
States,  so  soon  after  his  elevation  to  that  high  office,  is  a  bereavement 
peculiarly  calculated  to  be  regarded  as  a  heavy  affliction  and  to  impress 
all  minds  with  a  sense  of  the  uncertainty  of  human  things  and  of  the 
dependence  of  nations,  as  well  a^  individuals,  upon  our  Heavenly  Parent. 
I  have  thought,  therefore,  that  I  should  be  acting  in  conformity  with 
the  general  expectation  and  feelings  of  the  community  in  recommend- 
ing, as  I  now  do,  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  every  religious 
denomination  that,  according  to  their  several  modes  and  forms' of  worship, 
they  observe  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  by  such  religious  services  as 
may  be  suitable  on  the  occasion;  and  I  recommend  Friday,  the  14th  day 
of  May  next,  for  that  purpose,  to  the  end  that  on  that  day  we  may  all 
with  one  accord  join  in  humble  and  reverential  approach  to  Him  in 
whose  hands  we  are,  invoking  Him  to  inspire  us  with  a  proper  spirit 
and  temper  of  heart  and  mind  under  these  frowns  of  His  providence  and 
still  to  bestow  His  gracious  benedictions  upon  our  Government  and  our 
^^^^^^-  JOHN  TYLER. 
[For  **A  resolution  manifesting  the  sensibility  of  Congress  upon 
the  event  of  the  death  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  late  President  of 
the  United  States,* '  see  p.  1908.]
QUESTION. 
What  three  unsatisfactory  schemes  of  finance  have  been  tried 
by  the  United  States?    Page  1898. 
SUGGESTIONS. 
The  untimely  death  of  President  William  Henry  Harrison 
four  months  after  his  inauguration  prevented  the  making  of  much 
history  during  his  administration ;  but  his  able  inaugural  address 
is  an  excellent  summary  of  the  history  of  the  country  at  the  time. 
Pages  i860  to  1876. 
Read  Harrison's  Foreign  Policy.    Page  1873. 
NOTE. 
For  further  suggestions  on  Harrison's  administration,  see  Har- 
rison, William  Henry,  Encyclopedic  Index. 
By  reading  the  Foreign  Policy  of  each  President,  and  by  scan- 
ning the  messages  as  to  the  state  of  the  nation,  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  history  of  the  United  States  will  be  acquired  from  the 
most  authentic  sources ;  because,  as  has  been  said,  "Each  Presi- 
dent reviews  the  past,  depicts  the  present  and  forecasts  the  future 
of  the  nation." 
1887-A
John  Tyler 
April  4,  1841,  to  March  4,  184S 
SEE  ENC  I'CLOPEDIC  INDEX. 
The  Encyclopedic  Index  is  not  onh  an  index  to  the  other  volumes,  not  only  a  key  that 
unlocks  the  treasures  of  the  entire  publi  :ation,  but  it  is  in  itself  an  alphabeticaUy  arranged 
brief  history  or  story  of  the  great  contro  ling  events  constituting  the  History  of  the  United 
SUtes. 
Under  its  proper  alphabetical  classification  the  story  is  told  of  every  great  subject 
referred  to  by  any  of  the  Presidents  in  their  official  Messages,  and  at  the  end  of  each  article 
the  official  utterances  of  the  Presidents  themselves  are  cited  upon  the  subject,  so  that  you 
may  readily  turn  to  the  page  in  the  body  of  the  work  itself  for  this  original  information. 
Next  to  the  possession  of  knowledge  is  the  ability  to  turn  at  will  to  where  knowledge 
is  to  be  found.
John  Tyler 
April  4,  1841,  to  March  4,  184S 
SEE  ENC  XLOPEDIC  INDEX. 
The  Encyclopedic  Index  is  not  onh  an  index  to  the  other  volumes,  not  onlv  a  key  that 
unlocks  the  treasures  of  the  entire  publi  :ation,  but  it  is  in  itself  an  alphabeticaUy  arranged 
brief  history  or  story  of  the  great  contro  ling  events  constituting  the  History  of  the  United 
SUtes. 
Under  its  proper  alphabetical  classification  the  story  is  told  of  every  great  subject 
refen^  to  by  any  of  the  Presidents  in  their  official  Messages,  and  at  the  end  of  each  article 
the  official  utterances  of  the  Presidents  themselves  are  cited  upon  the  subject,  so  that  you 
may  readily  turn  to  the  page  in  the  body  of  the  work  itself  for  this  original  information. 
Next  to  the  possession  of  knowledge  is  the  ability  to  turn  at  will  to  where  knowledge 
b  to  be  f  omuL
HOME  AT   SHERWOOD   FOREST.   GREEN'WAY.   VIRGINIA.  OF 
JOHN  TYLER 
With  reproduction  of  official  portrait,  by  Healy.  from  the  White  House  Collection
Letitia  Christian,  of  Virginia,  President 
Tyler's  first  wife,  was  extremely  delicate,  and 
lived  scarcely  two  years  after  his  inauguration. 
She  was  lovely  and  gentle,  highly  accomplished 
and  beautiful,  greatly  beloved  by  her  husband  and 
family,  but  seldom  seen  in  public.  Therefore  dur- 
ing his  administration  the  White  House  had 
several  mistresses.  The  duties  of  hostess  some- 
times devolved  upon  his  married  daughter,  but 
were  generally  assumed  by  his  daughter-in-law, 
Mrs.  Robert  Tyler,  to  whom  were  relegated  the 
duties  of  permanent  hostess  until,  in  1844,  the 
President  married  Miss  Julia  Gardiner.  The 
ceremony  took  place  at  the  Church  of  the  Ascen- 
sion in  New  York  City,  and  was  the  first 
instance  of  the  marriage  of  a  President,  which 
fact  excited  intense  interest  throughout  the 
United  States.  Mrs.  Julia  Tyler,  for  the  remain- 
ing eight  months  of  the  term,  filled  her  position 
creditably  and  gracefully.  She  died  in  1889, 
having  long  outlived  her  husband.
TYLER 
No  president  of  the  Republic  has  created  greater  extremes  of  opinion 
respecting  his  merits  than  John  Tyler;  and  perhaps  another  generation 
must  pass  before  his  administration  can  be  justly  or  impartially  weighed. 
He  came  of  an  old  English  family,  which  settled  in  Virginia,  in  the  early 
days  of  that  colony,  and  he  was  the  fifth  John  Tyler  in  the  line  of 
descent  in  his  section  of  the  State.  Some  have  traced  the  family  origin 
to  Watt  Tyler,  the  celebrated  English  agitator,  who  became  famous  by 
his  rebellion  near  the  close  of  the  14th  Century.  John  Tyler  seems  to 
have  foreseen  even  in  his  early  manhood  the  inevitable  clash  to  come 
between  the  slaveholding  and  non-slaveholding  States.  As  a  pro-slavery 
man  he  accepted  and  followed  the  lead  of  John  C.  Calhoun  in  the  nulli- 
fication branch  of  the  Democratic  party;  and  he  soon  became  a  power 
to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  politics  of  the  country.  His  prominence  was 
such  that  he  was  put  on  the  ticket  with  General  W.  H.  Harrison  in  1840, 
when  the  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler"  campaign  developed  into  one  of  the 
most  exciting  episodes  of  American  politics.  This  campaign  produced 
a  singular  combination,  the  Whigs,  the  "National  Republicans"  and  the 
"Democratic  Republicans,"  uniting  on  a  ticket  incongruous  in  its  candi- 
dates, but  claimed  with  frantic  enthusiasm,  to  represent  the  cherished 
views  of  both  the  North  and  the  South. 
Tyler  was  expected  to  uphold  and  conserve  the  tenets  of  the  State- 
rights  party,  and  to  see  that  the  Constitution  was  strictly  construed  in 
all  matters  affecting  the  institution  of  slavery.  1 
In  one  month  after  the  inauguration.  General  Harrison  died,  and 
Tyler  became  President.  Instead  of  reorganizing  the  Cabinet  on  lines 
of  his  own,  he  adopted  the  policy  of  retaining  the  existing  Cabinet, 
although  many,  and  possibly  all,  of  them  felt  more  or  less  distrust  of 
Mr.  Tyler's  fidelity  to  the  platform  on  which  the  party  had  come  into 
power.  The  truth  is,  that  the  combination  ticket  of  Harrison  and  Tyler 
was  the  usual  party  trick,  intended  to  unite  discordant  elements,  and 
having  the  sole  object  of  obtaining  votes  enough  to  insure  success. 
Slavery  agitation  had  already  then  become  exciting  if  not  violent  Har- 
rison was  recognized  as  an  anti-slavery  man,  while  Tyler  was  notoriously 
allied  in  sentiment  with  the  extreme  section  of  the  pro-slavery  party  of 
the  South.  His  nomination,  therefore,  in  1840,  dn  the  Whig  ticket,  was 
to  reap  the  fruits  of  disaffection  in  the  Democratic  party  rather  than  to 
make  sure  of  fealty  to  Whig  principles  or  to  reward  Mr.  Tyler  for  any 
services  rendered  to  that  party. 
.When  Tyler  vetoed  the  National  Bank  Bill  in  1841,  his  party  aban- 
doned him  with  curses  and  maledictions  accompanied  with  unpardonable 
vehemence  and  violence. 
i«87-C
In  all  other  respects  his  administration  proved  to  be  eminently  suc- 
cessful. A  bankruptcy  law,  admittedly  necessary  to  relieve  the  failures 
following  the  panic  of  1837,  was  passed,  and  a  tariff  law  looking  to 
both  revenue  and  protection  was  approved  in  1842.  Just  before  the 
expiration  of  his  term  in  1845,  Texas  was  admitted  into  the  Union  with 
the  mutual  consent  of  the  parties  in  interest,  and  on  the  true  principles 
of  peaceable  and  healthful  expansion,  under  which  the  inhabitants  of 
the  new  territory  became  at  once  clothed  with- every  constitutional  right, 
and  the  State  itself  took  its  place  as  an  equal  member  of  the  federal 
union.  The  Northeastern  boundary  question  which  had  long  threatened 
the  public  peace  was  honorably  and  satisfactorily  settled  during  his 
administration. 
President  Tyler's  critics  of  that  day  aspersed  his  name  with  immoder- 
ate abuse  and  seem  to  have  delighted  in  calumniating  his  character,  but 
in  the  clearer  light  of  subsequent  history,  it  is  admitted  that  much  of 
this  detraction  may  be  fairly  attributed  to  the  smarting  anguish  of  party 
disappointments,  stimulated  and  aggravated  by  the  fierce  and  unreason- 
able passions  which  disgraced  the  politics  of  that  period. 
It  is  now  perfectly  clear  that  the  advantages  of  the  independent 
treasury  system,  then  recently  adopted  under  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  are  far  better  for  both  government  and  people  than  any 
benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  fiscal  agencies  of  a  national  bank.  Time, 
indeed,  sets  all  things  even.  And  Tyler's  friends  may  now,  with  some 
justification,  claim  that  his  treason  to  party  proved  to  be  a  blessing  to 
his  country. 
When  the  great  war  of  the  Rebellion  began  in  1861,  he  came  as  a 
delegate  from  Virginia  to  a  "Peace  Convention"  at  Washington,  with 
the  vain  hope  of  averting  the  horrors  which  he  had  already  seen  in  the 
prophetic  visions  of  his  youth,  but  it  was  too  late. 
He  returned  home  from  his  fruitless  mission  to  join  the  fortunes  of 
his  State  just  then  being  hurried  on  with  frantic  zeal  into  a  war  more 
fruitless  stilL 
John  Tyler  was  not  without- faults,  but  he  was  better  than  many  who, 
with  shameless  contumely,  have  aspersed  his  name. 
He  disregarded  the  behests  of  his  party;  and  no  man  can  survive  this 
act  of  disobedience,  however  justified  he  may  be  in  the  eyes  of  God  or 
of  sensible  men.  The  more  ignorant  or  corrupt  his  party,  the  more 
swift  and  certain  in  his  ruin. 
1887- D
John  Tyler 
John  Tylkr,  second  son  of  Jndge  John  Tyler,  governor  of  Virginia 
from  1808  to  181 1,  and  Mary  Armistead,  was  bom  at  Gteenway,  Charles 
City  County,  Va.,  March  29,  1790.  He  was  graduated  at  William  and 
Mary  CpUege  in  1807.  At  college  he  showed  a  strong  interest  in  ancient 
history;  was  also  fond  of  poetry  and  music,  and  was  a  skillful  performer 
on  the  violin.  In  1809  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  had  already 
begun  to  obtain  a  good  practice  when  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature. 
Took  his  seat  in  that  body  in  December,  181 1.  Was  here  a  firm  sup- 
porter of  Mr.  Madison's  Administration;  and  the  war  with  Great  Britain, 
which  soon  followed,  afforded  him  an  opportunity  to  become  conspicu- 
ous as  a  forcible  and  persuasive  orator.  March  29,  1813,  he  married 
Letitia,  daughter  of  Robert  Christian,  and  tf.  few  weeks  afterwards  was 
called  into  the  field  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  militia  to  take  part 
in  the  defense  of  Richmond,  threatened  by  the  British.  This  military 
service  lasted  but  a  month.  He  was  reelected  to  the  legislature  annually; 
until,  in  November,  18 16,  he  was  chosen  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives.  Was  reelected  to  the  Fifteenth  and 
Sixteenth  Congresses.  In  182 1,  his  h^lth  being  seriously  impaired,  he 
declined  a  reelection  and  retired  to  private  life.  In  1823  he  was  again 
elected  tO  the  Virginia  legislature.  Here  he  was  a  friend  to  the  candi- 
dacy of  William  H.  Crawford  for  the  Presidency.  In  1824  he  was  a 
candidate  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  United  States  Senate,  but  was  defeated. 
He  opposed  in  1825  the  attempt  to  remove  William  and  Mary  College  to 
Richmond,  and  was  afterwards  made  successively  rector  and  chancellor 
of  the  college,  which  prospered  signally  under  his  management.  In 
December,  1825,  he  was  chosen  by  the  legislature  to  the  governorship 
of  Virginia,  and  in  the  following  year  was  reelected  by  a  unanimous 
vote.  In  December,  1826,  the  friends  of  Clay  and  Adams  combined 
with  the  Democrats  opposed  to  John  Randolph  and  elected  Mr.  Tyler  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  In  February,  1830,  after  taking  part  in  the 
Virginia  convention  for  revising  the  State  constitution,  he  returned  to 
his  seat  in  the  Senate,  and  found  himself  first  drawn  toward  Jackson  by 
the  veto  message  (May  27)  upon  the  MaysviUe  turnpike  bill;  supported 
Jackson  in  the  Presidential  election  of  1832,  but  broke  with  the  Admin- 
istration on  the  question  of  the  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the  United 
1888
1889  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
States  Bank,  and  voted  for  Mr.  Clay's  resolution  to  censure  the  Presi- 
dent. He  was  nominated  by  the  State-rights  Whigs  for  Vice-President 
ill  1835,  and  at  the  election  on  November  8,  1836,  received  47  electoral 
votes;  but  no  candidate  having  a  majority  of  electoral  votes,  the  Senate 
elected  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky.  The  legislature  of  Virginia 
having  instructed  the  Senators  from  that  State  to  vote  for  expunging  the 
resolutions  of  censure  upon  President  Jackson,  Mr.  Tyler  recused  to  obey 
the  instructions,  resigned  his  seat,  and  returned  home  February  29, 1836. 
On  January  10,  1838,  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  Virginia  Coloni- 
zation Society.  In  the  spring  of  1838  he  was  returned  to  the  Virginia 
legislature.  In  January,  1839,  he  was  a  candidate  for  reelection  to  the 
United  States  Senate;  the  result  was  a  deadlock,  and  the  question  was 
indefinitely  postponed  before  any  choice  had  been  made.  December  4, 
1839,  the  Whig  national  convention,  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  nominated  him 
for  Vice-President  on  the  ticket  with  William  Henry  Harrison,  and  at 
the  Section  on  November  10,  1840,  he  was  elected,  receiving  2  J4  elect- 
oral votes  to  48  for  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky.  By  the  death  of 
President  Harrison  April  4,  1841,  Mr.  Tyler  became  President  of  the 
United  States.  He  took  the  oath  of  office  on  April  6.  Among  the  more 
important  events  of  his  Administration  were  the  **Ashburton  treaty' 
with  Great  Britain,  the  termination  of  the  Indian  war  in  Florida,  the 
passage  of  the  resolutions  by  Congress  providing  for  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  and  the  treaty  with  China.  On  May  27,  1844,  ^^  was  nominated 
for  President  at  a  convention  in  Baltimore,  but  although  at  first  he 
accepted  the  nomination,  he  subsequently  withdrew  his  name.  On  June 
26,  1844,  Mr.  Tyler  married  Miss  Julia  Gardiner,  of  New  York,  his  first 
wife  having  died  September  9,  1842.  After  leaving  the  White  House 
he  took  up  his  residence  on  his  estate,  Sherwood  Forest,  near  Greenway, 
Va.,  on  the  bank  of  the  James  River.  Was  president  of  the  Peace  Con- 
vention held  at  Washington  February  4, 1 861 .  Afterwards,  as  a  delegate 
to  the  Virginia  State  convention,  he  advocated  the  passage  of  an  ordi- 
nance of  secession.  In  May,  1 861,  he  was  unanimously  elected  a  member 
of  the  provisional  congress  of  the  Confederate  States.  In  the  following 
autumn  he  was  elected  to  the  permanent  congress,  but  died  at  Richmond 
January  18,  1862,  before  taking  his  seat,  and  was  buried  in  Hollywood 
Cemetery,  in  that  dty. 
INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 
To  the  People  of  the  United  States.  Washington,  April  p,  1841. 
Fbi,ix)w-Citizens:  Before  my  arrival  at  the  seat  of  Government  the 
painful  communication  was  made  to  you  by  the  officers  presiding  over 
the  several  Departments  of  the  deeply  regretted  death  of  William  Henry 
Harrison,  late  President  of  the  United  States.     Upon  him  you  had
John  TyUf  1890 
conferred  your  suffrages  for  the  first  office  in  your  gift,  and  had  selected 
him  as  your  chosen  instrument  to  correct  and  reform  all  such  errors  and 
abuses  as  had  manifested  themselves  from  time  to  time  in  the  practical 
operation  of  the  Government.  While  standing  at  the  threshold  of  this 
great  work  he  has  by  the  dispensation  of  an  all-wise  Providence  been 
removed  from  amongst  us,  and  by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  the 
efforts  to  be  directed  to  the  accomplishing  of  this  vitally  important  task 
have  devolved  upon  myself.  This  same  occurrence  has  subjected  the 
wisdom  and  sufficiency  of  our  institutions  to  a  new  test.  For  the  first 
time  in  our  history  the  person  elected  to  the  Vice- Presidency  of  the  United 
States,  by  the  happening  of  a  contingency  provided  for  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, has  had  devolved  upon  him  the  Presidential  office.  The  spirit 
of  faction,  which  is  directly  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  a  lofty  patriotism, 
may  find  in  this  occasion  for  assaults  upon  my  Administration;  and 
in  succeeding,  under  circumstances  so  sudden  and  unexpected  and  to 
responsibilities  so  greatly  augmented,  to  the  administration  of  pubUc 
affairs  I  shall  place  in  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  people*  my 
only  sure  reliance.  My  earnest  prayer  shall  be  constantly  addressed  to 
the  all-wise  and  all-powerful  Being  who  made  me,  and  by  whose  dispen- 
sation I  am  called  to  the  high  office  of  President  of  this  Confederacy, 
understandingly  to  carry  out  the  principles  of  that  Constitution  which 
I  have  sworn  **to  protect,  preserve',  and  defend.** 
The  usual  opportunity  which  is  afforded  to  a  Chief  Magistrate  upon 
his  induction  to  office  of  presenting  to  his  countrymen  an  exposition  of 
the  policy  which  would  guide  his  Administration,  in  the  form  of  an 
inaugural  address,  not  having,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  which 
have  brought  me  to  the  discharge  of  the  high  duties  of  President  of  the 
United  States,  been  afforded  to  me,  a  brief  exposition  of  the  principles 
which  will  govern  me  in  the  general  course  of  my  administration  of 
pubUc  affairs  would  seem  to  be  due  as  well  to  myself  as  to  you. 
In  regard  to  foreign  nations,  the  groundwork  of  my  poHcy  will  be  jus- 
tice on  our  part  to  all,  submitting  to  injustice  from  none.  While  I  shall 
sedulously  cultivate  the  relations  of  peace  and  amity  with  one  and  all, 
it  will  be  my  most  imperative  duty  to  see  that  the  honor  of  the  coun- 
try shall  sustain  no  blemish.  With  a  view  to  this,  the  condition  of 
our  mihtary  defenses  will  become  a  matter  of  anxious  solicitude.  The 
Army,  which  has  in  other  days  covered  itself  with  renown,  and  the 
Navy,  not  inappropriately  termed  the  right  arm  of  the  public  defense, 
which  has  spread  a  light  of  glory  over  the  American  standard  in  all  the 
waters  of  the  earth,  should  be  rendered  replete  with  efficiency. 
In  view  of  the  fact,  well  avouched  by  history,  that  the  tendency  of  all 
human  institutions  is  to  concentrate  power  in  the  hands  of  a  single  man, 
and  that  their  ultimate  downfall  has  proceeded  from  this  cause,  I  deem  it 
of  the  most  essential  importance  that  a  complete  separation  should  take 
place  between  the  sword  and  the  purse.  No  matter  where  or  how  the 
public  moneys  shall  be  deposited,  so  long  as  the  President  can  exert 
the  power  of  appointing  and  removing  at  his  pleasure  the  agents  selected
1891  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
for  their  custody  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  is  in 
fact  the  treasurer.  A  permanent  and  radical  change  should  therefore  be 
decreed.  The  patronage  incident  to  the  Presidential  office,  already  great, 
is  constantly  increasing.  Such  increase  is  destined  to  keep  pace  with 
the  growth  of  our  population,  until,  without  a  figure  of  speech,  an  army 
of  officeholders  may  be  spread  over  the  land.  The  unrestrained  power 
exerted  by  a  selfishly  ambitious  man  in  order  either  to  -perpetuate  his 
authority  or  to  hand  it  over  to  some  favorite  as  his  successor  may  lead 
to  the  employment  of  all  the  means  within  ^s  control  to  accompHsh 
his  object.  The  right  to  remove  from  office,  while  subjected  to  no  just 
restraint,  is  inevitably  destined  to  produce  a  spirit  of  crouching  servility 
with  the  official  corps,  which,  in  order  to  uphold  the  hand  which  feeds 
them,  would  lead  to  direct  and  active  interference  in  the  elections,  both 
State  and  Federal,  thereby  subjecting  the  course  of  State  legislation  to 
the  dictation  of  the  chief  executive  officer  and  making  the  will  of  that 
officer  absolute  and  supreme.  I  will  at  a  proper  time  invoke  the  action 
of  Congress  upon  this  subject,  and  shall  readily  acquiesce  in  the  adoption 
of  all  proper  measures  which  are  calculated  to  arrest  .these  evils,  so  full  of 
danger  in  their  tendency.  I  will  remove  no  incumbent  from  office  who 
has  faithfully  and  honestly  acquitted  himself  of  the  duties  of  his  office, 
except  in  such  cases  where  such  officer  has  been  guilty  of  an  active  parti- 
sanship or  by  secret  means — the  less  manly,  and  therefore  the  more  objec- 
tionable— ^has  given  his  official  influence  to  the  purposes  of  party,  thereby 
bringing  the  patronage  of  the  Government  in  conflict  with  the  freedom 
of  elections.  Numerous  removals  may  become  necessary  under  this  rule. 
These  will  be  made  by  me  through  no  acerbity  of  feeling — I  have  had  no 
cause  to  cherish  or  indulge  unkind  feelings  toward  any — ^but  my  con- 
duct will  be  regulated  by  a  profound  sense  of  what  is  due  to  the  country 
and  its  institutions;  nor  shall  I  neglect  to  apply  the  same  unbending 
rule  to  those  of  my  own  appointment.  Freedom  of  opinion  will  be  toler- 
ated, the  full  enjoyment  of  the  right  of  suffrage  will  be  maintained  as 
the  birthright  of  every  American  citizen;  but  I  say  emphatically  to  the 
official  corps,  *  *  Thus  far  and  no  farther. '  *  I  have  dwelt  the  longer  upon 
this  subject  because  removals  from  office  are  Hkely  often  to  arise,  and  1 
would  have  my  countrymen  to  understand  the  principle  of  the  Executive 
action. 
In  all  pubUc  expenditures  the  most  rigid  economy  should  be  resorted 
to,  and,  as  one  of  its  results,  a  public  debt  in  time  of  peace  be  sedulously 
avoided.  A  wise  and  patriotic  constituency  will  never  object  to  the 
imposition  of  necessary  burdens  for  useful  ends,  and  true  wisdom  dic- 
tates the  resort  to  such  means  in  order  to  supply  deficiencies  in  the 
revenue,  rather  than  to  those  doubtful  expedients  which,  ultimating  in 
a  public  debt,  serve  to  embarrass  the  resources  of  the  country  and  to 
lessen  its  ability  to  meet  any  great  emergency  which  may  arise.  All 
sinecures  should  be  abolished.  The  appropriations  should  be  direct  and 
explicit,  so  as  to  leave  as  limited  a  share  of  discretion  to  the  disbursing 
agents  as  may  be  found  compatible  with  the  public  sennce.     A  strict
John  Tyler  1892 
responsibility  on  the  part  of  all  the  agents  of  the  Government  should  be 
maintained  and  peculation  or  defalcation  visited  with  immediate  expul- 
sion from  office  and  the  most  condign  punishment. 
The  pubhc  interest  also  demands  that  if  any  war  has  existed  between 
the  Government  and  the  currency  it  shall  cease.  Measures  of  a  financial 
character  now  having  the  sanction  of  legal  enactment  shall  be  faithfully 
enforced  until  repealed  by  the  legislative  authority.  But  I  owe  it  to 
myself  to  declare  that  I  regard  existing  enactments  as  unwise  and  impoli- 
tic and  in  a  high  degree  oppressive.  I  shall  promptly  give  my  sanction 
to  any  constitutional  measure  which,  originating  in  Congress,  shall  have 
for  its  object  the  restoration  of  a  sound  circulating  medium,  so  essentially 
necessary  to  give  confidence  in  all  the  transactions  of  life,  to  secure  to 
industry  its  just  and  adequate  rewards,  and  to  reestablish  the  public 
pro^rity.  In  deciding  upon  the  adaptation  of  any  such  meastu'e  to 
the  end  proposed,  as  well  as  its  conformity  to  the  Constitution,  I  shall 
resort  to  the  fathers  of  the  great  republican  school  for  advice  and  instruc- 
tion, to  be  drawn  from  their  sage  views  of  our  system  of  government  and 
the  light  of  their  ever-glorious  example. 
The  institutions  under  which  we  live,  my  cotmtrymen,  secure  each 
person  in  the  perfect  enjo3rment  of  all  his  rights.  The  spectacle  is  exhib- 
ited to  the  world  of  a  government  deriving  its  powers  from  the  consent  of 
the  governed  and  having  imparted  to  it  only  so  much  power  as  is  neces- 
sary for  its  successful  operation.  Those  who  are  charged  with  its  admin- 
istration should  carefully  abstain  from  all  attempts  to  enlarge  the  range 
of  powers  thus  granted  to  the  several  departments  of  the  Government 
other  than  by  an  appeal  to  the  people  for  additional  grants,  lest  by  so 
doing  they  disturb  that  balance  which  the  patriots  and  statesmen  who 
framed  the  Constitution  designed  to  establish  between  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment and  the  States  composing  the  Union.  The  observance  of  these 
rules  is  enjoined  upon  us  by  that  feeling  of  reverence  and  affection  which 
finds  a  place  in  the  Jieart  of  every  patriot  for  the  preservation  of  union 
and  the  blessings  of  union — ^for  the  good  of  our  children  and  our  children's 
children  through  countless  generations.  An  opposite  course  could  not 
fail  to  generate  factions  intent  upon  the  gratification  of  their  selfish  ends, 
to  give  birth  to  local  and  sectional  jealousies,  and  to  ultimate  either  in 
breaking  asunder  the  bonds  of  union  or  in  building  up  a  central  system 
which  would  inevitably  end  in  a  bloody  scepter  and  an  iron  crown. 
In  conclusion  I  beg  you  to  be  assured  that  I  shall  exert  myself  to 
carry  the  foregoing  principles  into  practice  during  my  administration  of 
the  Government,  and,  confiding  in  the  protecting  care  of  an  everwatch- 
ful  and  overruling  Providence,  it  shall  be  my  first  and  highest  duty  to 
preserve  unimpaired  the  free  institutions  under  which  we  live  and  trans- 
mit them  to  those  who  shall  succeed  me  in  their  fuU  force  and  vigor. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
[For  proclamation  of  PresidentTyler  recommending,  in  consequence  of 
the  death  of  President  Harrison,  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  see  p.  1887.]
i6g3  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
SPECIAL  SESSION  MESSAGE. 
Washington,  June  /,  184.1, 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States. 
F^Li/DW-CiTiZKNS:  You  have  been  assembled  in  your  respective  halls 
of  legislation  under  a  proclamation  bearing  the  signature  of  the  illustri- 
ous citizen  who  was  so  lately  called  by  the  direct  suffrages  of  the  people 
to  the  discharge  of  the  important  functions  of  their  chief  executive  office. 
Upon  the  expiration  of  a  single  month  from  the  day  of  his  installation  he 
has  paid  the  great  debt  of  nature,  leaving  behind  him  a  name  associated 
with  the  recollection  of  numerous  benefits  conferred  upon  the  country 
during  a  long  life  of  patriotic  devotion. .  With  this  public  bereavement 
are  connected  other  considerations  which  will  not  escape  the  attention 
of  Congress.  The  preparations  necessary  for  his  removal  to  the  seat  of 
Government  in  view  of  a  residence  of  four  years  must  have  devolved 
upon  the  late  President  heavy  expenditures,  which,  if  permitted  to  bur- 
then the  limited  resources  of  his  private  fortune,  may  tend  seriously  to 
the  embarrassment  of  his  surviving  family;  and  it  is  therefore  respect- 
fully submitted  to  Congress  whether  the  ordinary  principles  of  justice 
would  not  dictate  the  propriety  of  its  legislative  interposition. .  By  the 
provisions  of  the  fundamental  law  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  high 
station  to  which  he  was  elected  have  devolved  upon  me,  and  in  the 
dispositions  of  the  representatives  of  the  States  and  of  the  people  will 
be  found,  to  a  great  extent,  a  solution  of  the  problem  to  which  our 
institutions  are  for  the  first  time  subjected. 
In  entering  upon  the  duties  of  this  office  I  did  not  feel  that  it  would  be 
becoming  in  me  to  disturb  what  had  been  ordered  by  my  lamented  prede- 
cessor. Whatever,  therefore,  may  have  been  my  epinion  originally  as 
to  the  propriety  of  convening  Congress  at  so  early  a  day  from  that  of  its 
late  adjournment,  I  found  a  new  and  controlling  inducement  not  to  inter- 
fere with  the  patriotic  desires  of  the  late  President  in  the  novelty  of  the 
situation  in  which  I  was  so  unexpectedly  placed.  My  first  wish  under 
such  circumstances  would  necessarily  have  been  to  have  called  to  my 
aid  in  the  administration  of  public  affairs  the  combined  wisdom  of  the 
two  Houses  of  Congress',  in  order  to  take  their  counsel  and  advice  as  to 
the  best  mode  of  extricating  the  Government  and  the  country  from  the 
embarrassments  weighing  heavily  on  both.  I  am,  then,  most  happy  in 
finding  myself  so  soon  after  my  accession  to  the  Presidency  surrounded 
by  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  States  and  people. 
No  important  changes  having  taken  place  in  our  foreign  relations  since 
the  last  session  of  Congress,  it  is  not  deemed  necessary  on  this  occasion 
to  go  into  a  detailed  statement  in  regard  to  them.  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  I  see  nothing  to  destroy  the  hope  of  being  able  to  preserve  peace.
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THE  FIRST  JAPANESE  TREATY. 
Japan's  ports  were  closed  to  foreigners  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  mariners  wrecked  on  her  shores 
got  short  shrift.  The  natives  refused  to  enter  into  commercial  relations  with 
any  save  their  fellows.  In  1832,  1845,  and  1849,  vessels  were  sent  to  establish 
commercial  relations  with  Japan,  but  without  avail.  Finally,  Commodore  M.  C. 
Perry,  bearing  instructions  prepared  by  Secretary  of  State  Daniel  Webster,  set 
sail  in  November,  1852,  with  a  respectable  naval  force,  prepared, to  secure  a 
treaty  by  persuasion,  if  possible,  by  force  if  necessary.  He  succeeded ;  two 
Japanese  ports  were  opened  to  our  trade. 
The  preceding  picture  shows  Perry,  attended  by  his  marines  and  sailors, 
forcing  an  audience  upon  the  authorities.  See  the  articles  entitled  "Japan"  and 
"Japan,  Treaties  with,"  in  the  Encyclopedic  Index  for  a  full  statement  of  the 
history  of  that  nation  and  of  our  relations  with  her.
John  Tyler  1894 
The  ratification  of  the  treaty  with  Portugal  has  been  duly  exchanged 
between  the  two  Governments.  This  Government  has  not  been  inatten- 
tive to  the  interests  of  those  of  our  citizens  who  have  claims  on  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Spain  founded  on  express  treaty  stipulations,  and  a  hope  is 
indulged  that  the  representations  which  have  been  made  to  that  Govern- 
ment on  this  subject  may  lead  ere  long  to  beneficial  results. 
A  correspondence  has  taken  place  between  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
the  minister  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  accredited  to  this  Government 
on  the  subject  of  Alexander  McLeod's  indictment  and  imprisonment, 
copies  of  which  are  herewith  communicated  to  Congress. 
In  addition  to  what  appears  from  these  papers,  it  may  be  proper  to 
state  that  Alexander  Mcl^eod  has  been  heard  by  the  supreme  court  of  the 
State  of  New  York  on  his  motion  to  be  discharged  from  imprisonment, 
and  that  the  decision  of  that  coini:  has  not  as  yet  been  pronoimced. 
The  Secretary  of  State  has  addressed  to  me  a  paper  upon  two  subjects 
interesting  to  the  commerce  of  the  coimtry,  which  will  receive  my  con- 
sideration, and  which  I  have  the  honor  to  communicate  to  Congress. 
So  far  as  it  depends  on  the  course  of  this  Government,  our  relations  of 
good  will  and  friendship  will  be  sedulously  cultivated  w^ith  all  nations. 
The  true  American  poHcy  will  be  found  to  consist  in  the  exercise  of  a 
spirit  of  justice,  to  be  manifested  in  the  discharge  of  all  our  international 
obligations  to  the  weakest  of  the  family  of  nations  as  well  as  to  the  most 
powerful.  Occasional  conflicts  of  opinion  may  arise,  but  when  the  dis- 
cussions incident  to  them  are  conducted  in  the  language  of  truth  and 
with  a  strict  regard  to  justice  the  scourge  of  war  will  for  the  most  part 
be  avoided.  The  time  ought  to  be  regarded  as  having  gone  by  when 
a  resort  to  arms  is  to  be  esteemed  as  the  only  proper  arbiter  of  national 
diCEerences. 
The  census  j*ecently  taken  shows  a  regularly  progressive  increase  in  our 
population.  Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  our  num- 
bers scarcely  equaled  3,000,000  souls;  they  already  exceed  17,000,000, 
and  will  continue  to  progress  in  a  ratio  which  duplicates  in  a  period  of 
about  twenty-three  years.  The  old  States  contain  a  territory  sufficient 
in  itself  to  maintain  a  population  of  additional  millions,  and  the  most 
populous  of  the  new  States  may  even  yet  be  regarded  as  but  partially 
settled,  while  of  the  new  lands  on  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Moimtains,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  immense  region  which  stretches  from  the  base  of  those 
mountains  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  about  770,000,000  acres, 
ceded  and  unceded,  still  remain  to  be  brought  into  market.  We  hold  out 
to  the  people  of  other  countries  an  invitation  to  come  and  settle  among 
us  as  members  of  our  rapidly  growing  family,  and  for  the  blessings  which 
we  offer  them  we  require  of  them  to  look  upon  our  country  as  their  coun- 
try and  to  unite  with  us  in  the  great  task  of  preserving  our  institutions 
and  thereby  perpetuating  our  liberties.     No  motive  exists  for  foreign 
conquest;  we  desire  but  to  reclaim  our  almost  illimitable  wildernesses 
6S
189s  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
and  to  introduce  into  their  depths  the  lights  of  civilization.  While  we 
shall  at  all  times  be  prepared  to  vindicate  the  national  honor,  our  most 
earnest  desire  will  be  to  maintain  an  unbroken  peace. 
In  presenting  the  foregoing  views  I  can  nOt  withhold  the  expression 
of  the  opinion  that  there  exists  nothing  in  the  extension  of  our  Empire 
over  our  acknowledged  possessions  to  excite  the  alarm  of  the  patriot  for 
the  safety  of  our  institutions.  The  federative  system,  leaving  to  eadi 
State  the  care  of  its  domestic  concerns  and  devolving  on  the  Federal 
Government  those  of  general  import,  admits  in  safety  of  the  greatest 
expansion;  but  at  the  same  time  I  dee^  it  proper  to  add  that  there  will 
be  found  to  exist  at  all  times  an  imperious  necessity  for  restraining  all 
the  functionaries  of  this  Government  within  the  range  of  their  respective 
powers,  thereby  preserving  a  just  balance  between  the  powers  granted  to 
this  Government  and  those  reserved  to  the  States  and  to  the  people. 
From  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  you  will  perceive 
that  the  fiscal  means,  present  and  accniing,  are  insujOGicient  to  supply 
the  wants  of  the  Government  for  the  current  year.  The  balance  in  the 
Treasury  on  the  4th  day  of  March  last  not  covered  by  outstanding  drafts, 
and  exclusive  of  trust  funds,  is  estimated  at  $860,000.  This  includes 
the  sum  of  $215,000  deposited  in  the  Mint  and  its  branches  to  procure 
metal  for  coining  and  in  process  of  coinage,  and  which  could  not  be 
withdrawn  without  inconvenience,  thus  leaving  subject  to  draft  in  the 
various  depositories  the  sum  of  $645,000.  By  virtue  of  two  several 
acts  of  Congress  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  authorized  to  issue 
on  and  after  the  4th  day  of  March  last  Treasury  notes  to  the  amount  of 
$5,413,000,  making  an  aggregate  available  fund  of  $6,058,000  on  hand. 
But  this  fund  was  chargeable,  with  outstanding  Treasury  notes  re- 
deemable in  the  current  year  and  interest  thereon,  to  the  estimated 
amount  of  $5,280,000.  There  is  also  thrown  upon  the  Treasury  the 
payment  of  a  large  amount  of  demands  accrued'  in  whole  or  in  part  in 
former  years,  which  will  exhaust  the  available  means  of  the  Treasury 
and  leave  the  accruing  revenue,  reduced  as  it  is  in  amount,  burthened 
with  debt  and  charged  with  the  current  expenses  of  the  Government. 
The  aggregate  amount  of  outstanding  appropriations  on  the  4th  day 
of  March  last  was  $33,429,616.50,  of  which  $24,210,000  will  be  re- 
quired during  the  current  year ;  and  there  will  also  be  required  for  the 
use  of  the  War  Department  additional  appropriations  to  the  amount  of 
$2,511,132.98,  the  special  objects  of  which  will  be  seen  by  reference 
to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  anticipated  means  of  the 
Treasury  are  greatly  inadequate  to  this  demand.  The  receipts  from 
customs  for  the  last  three  quarters  of  the  last  year  and  first  quarter 
of  the  present  year  amounted  to  $12,100,000;  the  receipts  for  lands  for 
the  sam^  time  to  $2,742,450,  shewing  an  average  revenue  from  both 
sources  of  $1,236,870  per  month. 
A  g;xadual  expansion  of  trade,  growing  out  of  a  restoration  of  confi- 
dence, together  with  a  reduction  in  the  expenses  of  collecting  and  punc- 
tuality on  the  part  of  collecting  officers,  may  cause  an  addition  to  the
John  Tyler  1896 
monthly  receipts  from  the  customs.  They  are  estimated  for  the  residue 
of  the  year  from  the  4th  of  March  at  $12,000,000.  The  receipts  from 
the  public  lands  for  the  same  time  are  estimated  at  $2,500,000,  and 
from  miscellaneous  sources  at  $170,000,  making  an  aggregate  of  avail- 
able fund  within  the  year  of  $15,315,000,  which  will  leave  a  probable 
deficit  of  $11,406,132.98.  To  meet  this  some  temporary  provision  is 
necessary  until  the  amount  can  be  absorbed  by  the  excess  of  revenues 
which  are  anticipated  to  accrue  at  no  distant  day. 
There  will  fall  due  within  the  next  three  months  Treasury  notes  of  the 
issues  of  1840,  including  interest,  about  $2,850,000.  There  is  charge- 
able in  the  same  period  for  arrearages  for  taking  the  Sixth  Census 
$294,000,  and  the  estimated  expenditures  for  the  current  service  are 
about  $8,100,000,  making  the  aggregate  demand  upon  the  Treasury 
prior  to  the  ist  of  September  next  about  $1 1,340,000. 
The  ways  and  means  in  the  Treasury  and  estimated  to  accrue  within 
the  above-named  period  consist  of  about  $694,000  of  fimds  available 
on  the  28th  ultimo,  an  unissued  balailce  of  Treasury  notes  authorized  by 
the  act  of  1841  amounting  to  $1,955,000,  and  estimated  receipts  from  all 
sotu-ces  of  $3,800,000,  making  an  aggregate  of  about  $6,450,000,  and  leav- 
ing a  probable  deficit  on  the  ist  of  September  next  of  $4,845,000. 
In  order  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  Government,  an  intelligent  con- 
stituency, in  view  of  their  best  interests,  will  without  hesitation  submit 
to  all  necessary  burthens.  But  it  is  nevertheless  important  so  to  impose 
them  as  to  avoid  defeating  the  just  expectations  of  the  country  growing 
out  of  preexisting  laws.  The  act  of  the  2d  of  March,  1833,  commonly 
called  the  * 'compromise  act/'shotild  not  be  altered  except  under  tu"gent 
necessities,  which  are  not  believed  at  this  time  to  exist.  One  year  only 
remains  to  complete  the  series  of  reductions  provided  for  by  that  law, 
at  which  time  provisions  made  by  the  same  law,  and  which  then  will 
be  brought  actively  in  aid  of  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  Union, 
will  not  fail  to  produce  the  most  beneficial  results.  Under  a  system  of 
discriminating  duties  imposed  for  pturposes  of  revenue,  in  unison  with 
the  provisions  of  existing  laws,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  oiu:  policy  will 
in  the  future  be  fixed  and  permanent,  so  as  to  avoid  those  constant 
fluctuations  which  defeat  the  very  objects  they  have  in  view.  We  shall 
thus  best  maintain  a  position  which,  while  it  will  enable  us  the  more 
readily  to  meet  the  advances  of  other  countries  calculated  to  promote 
our  trade  and  commerce,  will  at  the  same  time  leave  in  our  own  hands 
the  means  of  retaliating  with  greater  effect  unjust  regulations. 
In  intimate  connection  with  the  question  of  revenue  is  that  which 
makes  provision  for  a  suitable  fiscal  agent,  capable  of  adding  increased 
facilities  in  the  collection  and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenues,  ren- 
dering more  secure  their  custody,  and  consulting  a  true  economy  in  the 
great,  multiplied,  and  delicate  operations  of  the  Treasury  Department. 
Ujxm  such  an  agent  depends  in  an  eminent  degree  the  establishment  of 
a  currency  of  uniform  value,  which  is  of  so  great  imix)rtance  to  all  the 
essential  interests  of  society,  and  on  the  wisdom  to  b«  manifested  in  its
1897  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
creation  much  depends.  So  intimately  interwoven  are  its  operations, 
not  only  with  the  interests  of  individuals,  but  of  States,  that  it  may  be 
regarded  to  a  great  degree  as  controlling  both.  If  paper  be  used  as  the 
chief  medium  of  circulation,  and  the  power  be  vested  in  the  Government 
of  issuing  it  at  pleasure,  either  in  the  form  of  Treasury  drafts  or  any- 
other,  or  if  banks  be  used  as  the  public  depositories,  with  liberty  to 
regard  all  surpluses  from  day  to  day  as  so  much  added  to  their  active 
capital,  prices  are  exposed  to  constant  fluctuations  and  industry  to  severe 
suflEering.  In  the  one  case  political  considerations  directed  to  party  pur- 
poses may  control,  while  excessive  cupidity  may  prevail  in  the  other. 
The  public  is  thus  constantly  liable  to  imposition.  Expansions  and 
contractions  may  follow  each  other  in  rapid  succession — the  one  engen- 
dering a  reckless  spirit  of  adventure  and  speculation,  which  embraces 
States  as  well  as  individuals,  Jthe  other  causing  a  fall  in  prices  and 
accompHshing  an  entire  change  in  the  aspect  of  affairs.  Stocks  of  all 
sorts  rapidly  decline,  individuals  are  ruined,  and  States  embarrassed 
even  in  their  efforts  to  meet  with  punctuality  the  interest  on  their  debts. 
Such,  unhappily,  is  the  condition  of  things  now  existing  in  the  United 
States.  These  effects  may  readily  be  traced  to  the  causes  above  referred 
to.  The  public  revenues,  being  removed  from  the  then  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  under  an  order  of  a  late  President,  were  placed  in  selected 
State  banks,  which,  actuated  by  the  double  motive  of  condHating  the 
Government  and  augmenting  their  profits  to  the  greatest  possible  extent, 
enlarged  extravagantly  their  discounts,  thus  enabling  all  other  existing 
banks  to  do  the  same;  large  dividends  were  declared,  which,  stimulating 
the  cupidity  of  capitalists,  caused  a  rush  to  be  made  to  the  legislatures 
of  the  respective  States  for  similar  acts  of  incorporation,  which  by 
many  of  the  States,  under  a  temporary  infatuation,  were  readily  granted, 
and  thus  the  augmentation  of  the  circulating  medium,  consisting  almost 
exclusively  of  paper,  produced  a  most  fatal  delusion.  An  illustration 
derived  from  the  land  sales  of  the  period  alluded  to  will  serve  best  to 
show  the  effect  of  the  whole  system.  The  average  sales  of  the  public 
lands  for  a  period  of  ten  years  prior  to  1834  had  not  much  exceeded 
$2,000,000  per  annum.  In  1834  they  attained  in  round  numbers  to  the 
amount  of  $6,000,000;  in  the  succeeding  year  of  1835  they  reached 
$16,000,000,  and  the  next  year  of  1836  they  amounted  to  the  enor- 
mous sum  of  $25,000,000,  thus  crowding  into  the  short  space  of  three 
years  upward  of  twenty-three  years'  purchase  of  the  public  domain. 
So  apparent  had  become  the  necessity  of  arresting  this  course  of  things 
that  the  executive  department  assumed  the  highly  questionable  power  of 
discriminating  in  the  funds  to  be  used  in  payment  by  different  classes 
of  public  debtors — a  discrimination  which  was  doubtless  designed  to 
correct  this  most  ruinous  state  erf  things  by  the  exaction  of  specie  in  all 
payments  for  the  public  lands,  but  which  could  not  at  once  arrest  the 
tide  which  had  so  strongly  set  in.     Hence  the  demands  for  specie  became
John  Tyler  '   1898 
unceasing,  and  corresponding  prostration  rapidly  ensued  under  the 
necessities  created  with  the  banks  to  curtail  their  discounts  and  thereby 
to  reduce  their  circulation.  I  recur  to  these  things  with  no  disposi- 
tion to  censure  preexisting  Administrations  of  the  Government,  but 
simply  in  exemplification  of  the  truth  of  the  position  which  I  have 
assumed.  ^If,  then,  any  fiscal  agent  which  may  be  created  shall  be 
placed,  without  due  restrictions,  either  in  the  hands  of  the  administra- 
tors of  the  Government  or  those  of  private  individuals,  the  temptation 
to  abuse  will  prove  to  be  resistless.  Objects  of  political  aggrandize- 
ment may  seduce  the  first,  and  the  promptin^-3  of  a  boundless  cupidity 
will  assail  the  last.  Aided  by  the  experience  of  the  past,  it  will  be  the 
pleasure  of  Congress  so  to  guard  and  fortify  the  public  interests  in 
the  creation  of  any  new  agent  as  to  place  them,  so  far  as  human  wis- 
dom can  accomplish  it,  on  a  footing  of  perfect  security.  Within  a  few 
years  past  three  diCEerent  schemes  have  been  before  the  country.  The 
charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  expired  by  its  own  limitations 
in  1836.  An  effort  was  made  to  renew  it,  which  received  the  sanction 
of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  but  the  then  President  of  the  United 
States  exercised  his  veto  power  and  the  measure  was  defeated.  A  regard 
to  truth  requires  me  to  say  that  the  President  was  fully  sustained  i\» 
the  course  he  had  taken  by  the  popular  voice.  His  successor  to  the 
chair  of  state  unqualifiedly  pronounced  his  opposition  to  any  new  char- 
ter of  a  similar  institution,  and  not  only  the  popular  election  which 
brought  him  into  power,  but  the  elections  through  much  of  his  term, 
seemed  clearly  to  indicate  a  concurrence  with  him  in  sentiment  on  the 
part  of  the  people.  After  the  public  moneys  were  withdrawn  from 
the  United  States  Bank  they  were  placed  in  deposit  with  the  State  banks, 
and  the  result  of  that  policy  has  been  before  the  country.  To  say  noth- 
ing as  to  the  question  whether  that  experiment  was  made  under  pro- 
pitious or  adverse  circumstances,  it  may  safely  be  asserted  that  it  did 
receive  the  unqualified  condemnation  of  most  of  its  early  advocates,  and,  it 
is  believed,  was  also  condemned  by  the  popular  sentiment.  The  existing 
subtreasury  system  does  not  seem  to  stand  in  higher  favor  with  the  peo- 
ple, but  has  recently  been  condemned  in  a  manner  too  plainly  indicated 
to  admit  of  a  doubt.  Thus  in  the  short  period  of  eight  years  the  popU' 
lar  voice  may  be  regarded  as  having  successively  condemned  each  of  the 
three  schemes  of  finance  to  which  I  have  adverted.  As  to  the  first,  it 
was  introduced  at  a  time  (18 16)  when  the  State  banks,  then  compara- 
tively few  in  number,  had  been  forced  to  suspend  specie  payments  by 
reason  of  the  war  which  had  previously  prevailed  with  Great  Britain. 
Whether  if  the  United  States  Bank  charter,  which  expired  in  181 1,  had 
been  renewed  in  due  season  it  would  have  been  enabled  to  continue 
specie  payments  during  the  war  and  the  disastrous  period  to  the  com- 
merce of  the  country  which  immediately  succeeded  is,  to  say  the  least, 
problematical,  and  whether  the  United  States  Bank  of  1816  produced  a
1899  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
restoration  of  specie  pa3anents  or  the  same  was  accomplished  through 
the  instrumentality  of  other  means  was  a  matter  of  some  difficulty  at  that 
time  to  determine.  Certain  it  is  that  for  the  first  years  of  the  operation 
of  that  bank  its  course  was  as  disastrous  as  for  the  greater  part  of  its 
subsequent  career  it  became  eminently  successful.  As  to  the  second,  the 
experiment  was  tried  with  a  redundant  Treasury,  which  continued  to 
increase  until  it  seemed  to  be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  distribute  the  sur- 
plus revenue  among  the  States,  which,  operating  at  the  same  time  with 
the  specie  circular  and  the  causes  before  adverted  to,  caused  them  to 
suspend  specie  pa3anents  and  involved  the  country  in  the  greatest  embar- 
rassment. And  as  to  the  third,  if  carried  through  all  the  stages  of  its 
transmutation  from  paper  and  specie  to  nothing  but  the  precious  metals, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  insecurity  of  the  public  moneys,  its  injurious  effects 
have  been  anticipated  by  the  country  in  its  unqualified  condemnation. 
What  is  now  to  be  regarded  as  the  judgment  of  the  American  people  on 
this  whole  subject  I  have  no  accurate  means  of  determining  but  by  appeal- 
ing to  their  more  immediate  representatives.  The  late  contest,  which 
terminated  in  the  election  of  General  Harrison  to  the  Presidency,  was 
Jecided  on  principles  well  known  and  openly  declared,  and  while  the 
subtreasury  received  in  the  result  the  most  decided  condemnation,  yet  no 
other  scheme  of  finance  seemed  to  have  been  concurred  in.  To  you, 
then,  who  have  come  more  directly  from  the  body  of  our  common  con- 
stituents, I  submit  the  entire  question,  as  best  qualified  to  give  a  full 
exposition  of  their  wishes  and  opinions.  I  shall  be  ready  to  concur 
with  you  in  the  adoption  of  such  system  as  you  may  propose,  reserving 
to  myself  the  ultimate  power  of  rejecting  any  measure  which  may,  in 
my  view  of  it,  conflict  with  the  Constitution  or  otherwise  jeopardize  the 
prosperity  of  the  country — a  power  which  I  could  not  part  with  even 
if  I  would,  but  which  I  will  not  believe  any  act  of  yours  will  call  into 
requisition. 
I  can  not  avoid  recurring,  in  connection  with  this  subject,  to  the  neces- 
sity which  exists  for  adopting  some  suitable  measure  whereby  the  unlim- 
ited creation  of  banks  by  the  States  may  be  corrected  in  future.  Such 
result  can  be  most  readily  achieved  by  the  consent  of  the  States,  to  be 
expressed  in  the  form  of  a  compact  among  themselves,  which  they  can 
only  enter  into  with  the  consent  and  approbation  of  this  Government — a 
consent  which  might  in  the  present  emergency  of  the  public  demands 
justifiably  be  given  by  Congress  in  advance  of  any  action  by  the  States,  as 
an  inducement  to  such  action,  upon  terms  well  defined  by  the  act  of  tender. 
Such  a  measure,  addressing  itself  to  the  calm  reflection  of  the  States, 
would  find  in  the  experience  of  the  past  and  the  condition  of  the  present 
much  to  sustain  it;  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  doubted  whether  any  scheme 
of  finance  can  prove  for  any  length  of  time  successful  while  the  States 
shall  continue  in  the  unrestrained  exercise  of  the  power  of  creating 
banking  corporations.     This  power  can  only  be  limited  by  their  consent.
John  Tyler  1900 
With  the  adoption  of  a  financial  agency  of  a  satisfactory  character  the 
hftpe  may  be  indulged  that  the  country  may  once  more  return  to  a  state 
Df  prosperity.  Measures  auxiliary  thereto,  and  in  some  measure  insepa- 
rably connected  with  its  success,  will  doubtless  claim  the  attention  of 
Congress.  Among  such,  a  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands,  provided  such  distribution  does  not  force  upon  Congress 
the  necessity  of  imposing  upon  commerce  heavier  burthens  than  tho&^e 
contemplated  by  the  act  of  1833,  would  act  as  an  efficient  remedial  mea&« 
ure  by  being  brought  directly  in  aid  of  the  States.  As  one  sincerel> 
devoted  to  the  task  of  preserving  a  just  balance  in  our  system  of  Govern- 
ment by  the  maintenance  of  the  States  in  a  condition  the  most  free  and 
respectable  and  in  the  full  possession  of  all  their  power,  I  can  no  other- 
wise than  feel  desirous  for  their  emancipation  from  the  situation  to  which 
the  pressure  on  their  finances  now  subjects  them.  And  while  I  must 
repudiate,  as  a  measure  founded  in  error  and  wanting  constitutional 
sanction,  the  slightest  approach  to  an  assumption  by  this  Government  of 
the  debts  of  the  States,  yet  I  can  see  in  the  distribution  adverted  to  much 
to  recommend  it.  The  compacts  between  the  proprietor  States  and  this 
Government  expressly  guarantee  to  the  States  all  the  benefits  which  may 
arise  from  the  sales.  The  mode  by  which  this  is  to  be  effected  addresses 
itself  to  the  discretion  of  Congress  as  the  trustee  for  the  States,  and  its 
exercise  after  the  most  beneficial  manner  is  restrained  by  nothing  in  the 
grants  or  in  the  Constitution  so  long  as  Congress  shall  consult  that  equal- 
ity in  the  distribution  which  the  compacts  require.  In  the  present  con- 
dition of  some  of  the  States  the  question  of  distribution  may  be  regarded 
as  substantially  a  question  between  direct  and  indirect  taxation.  If  the 
distribution  be  not  made  in  some  form  or  other,  the  necessity  will  daily 
become  more  urgent  with  the  debtor  States  for  a  resort  to  an  oppressive 
system  of  direct  taxation,  or  their  credit,  and  necessarily  their  power  and 
influence,  will  be  greatly  diminished.  The  payment  of  taxes  after  the 
most  inconvenient  and  oppressive  mode  will  be  exacted  in  place  of  con- 
tributions for  the  most  part  voluntarily  made,  and  therefore  compara- 
tively unoppressive.  The  States  are  emphatically  the  constituents  of  this 
Government,  and  we  should  be  entirely  regardless  of  the  objects  held  in 
view  by  them  in  the  creation  of  this  Government  if  we  could  be  indiffer- 
ent to  their  good.  The  happy  effects  of  such  a  measure  upon  all  the 
States  would  immediately  be  manifested.  With  the  debtor  States  it 
would  effect  the  reUef  to  a  great  extent  of  the  citizens  from  a  heavy 
burthen  of  direct  taxation,  which  presses  with  severity  on  the  laboring 
classes,  and  eminently  assist  in  restoring  the  general  prosperity.  An 
immediate  advance  would  take  place  in  the  price  of  the  State  securities, 
and  the  attitude  of  the  States  would  become  once  more,  as  it  should  ever 
be,  lofty  and  erect.  With  States  laboring  under  no  extreme  pressure 
from  debt,  the  fund  which  they  would  derive  from  this  source  would 
enable  them  to  improve  their  condition  in  an  eminent  degree.     So  far
190 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
as  this  Government  is  concerned,  appropriations  to  domestic  objects 
approaching  in  amount  the  revenue  derived  from  the  land  sales  might 
be  abandoned,  and  thus  a  system  of  unequal,  and  therefore  unjust, 
legislation  would  be  substituted  by  one  dispensing  equality  to  all  the 
members  of  this  Confederacy.  Whether  such  distribution  should  be 
made  directly  to  the  States  in  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  or  in  the  form 
of  profits  by  virtue  of  the  operations  of  any  fiscal  agency  having  those 
proceeds  as  its  basis,  should  such  measure  be  contemplated  by  Congress, 
would  well  deserve  its  consideration.  Nor  would  such  disposition  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  in  any  manner  prevent  Congress  from  time 
to  time  from  passing  all  necessary  preemption  laws  for  the  benefit  of 
actual  settlers,  or  from  making  any  new  arrangement  as  to  the  price 
of  the  public  lands  which  might  in  future  be  esteemed  desirable. 
I  beg  leave  particularly  to  call  your  attention  to  the  accompanying 
rejwrt  from  the  Secretary  of  War.  Besides  the  present  state  of  the 
war  which  has  so  long  afflicted  the  Territory  of  Florida,  and  the  various 
other  matters  of  interest  therein  referred  to,  you  will  learn  from  it  that 
the  Secretary  has  instituted  an  inquiry  into  abuses,  which  promises  to 
develop  gross  enormities  in  connection  with  Indian  treaties  which  have 
been  negotiated,  as  well  as  in  the  expenditures  for  the  removal  and  sub- 
sistence of  the  Indians.  He  represents  also  other  irregularities  of  a 
serious  nature  that  have  grown  up  in  the  practice  of  the  Indian  Depart- 
ment, which  will  require  the  appropriation  of  upward  of  $200,000  to 
correct,  and  which  claim  the  immediate  attention  of  Congress. 
In  reflecting  on  the  proper  means  of  defending  the  country  we  can  not 
shut  our  eyes  to  the  consequences  which  the  introduction  and  use  of  the 
power  of  steam  upon  the  ocean  are  likely  to  produce  in  wars  between 
maritime  states.  We  can  not  yet  see  the  extent  to  which  this  power 
may  be  apphed  in  belligerent  operations,  connecting  itself  as  it  does  with 
recent  improvements  in  the  science  of  gunnery  and  projectiles;  but  we 
need  have  no  fear  of  being  left,  in  regard  to  these  things,  behind  the 
most  active  and  skillful  of  other  nations  if  the  genius  and  enterprise 
of  our  fellow-citizens  receive  proper  encouragement  and  direction  from' 
Government. 
True  wisdom  would  nevertheless  seem  to  dictate  the  necessity  of  placing 
in  perfect  condition  those  fortifications  which  are  designed  for  the  pro- 
tection of  our  principal  cities  and  roadsteads.  For  the  defense  of  our 
extended  maritime  coast  our  chief  reliance  should  be  placed  on  our  Navy, 
aided  by  those  inventions  which  are  destined  to  recommend  themselves 
to  public  adoption,  but  no  time  should  be  lost  in  placing  otu:  principal 
cities  on  the  seaboard  and  the  Lakes  in  a  state  of  entire  security  from  for- 
eign assault.  Separated  as  we  are  from  the  countries  of  the  Old  World, 
and  in  much  unaffected  by  their  policy,  we  are  happily  relieved  from  the 
necessity  of  maintaining  large  standing  armies  in  times  of  peace.  The 
policy  which  was  adopted  by  Mr.  Monroe  shortly  after  the  conclusion  of.
John  Tyler  1902 
the  late  war  with  Great  Britain  of  pftreserving  a  regularly  organized  stafE 
sufficient  for  the  command  of  a  large  n^litary  force  should  a  necessity 
for  one  arise  is  founded  as  well  in  economy  as  in  true  wisdom.  Provi- 
sion is  thus  made,  upon  filling  up  the  rank  and  file,  which  can  readily  be 
done  on  any  emergency,  for  the  introduction  of  a  system  of  discipline 
both  promptly  and  efficiently.  All  that  is  required  in  time  of  peace  is  to 
maintain  a  sufficient  number  of  men  to  guard  our  fortifications,  to  meet 
any  sudden  contingency,  and  to  encounter  the  first  shock  of  war.  Oui 
chief  reUance  must  be  placed  on  the  militia;  they  constitute  the  great  body 
of  national  guards,  and,  inspired  by  an  ardent  love  of  cotmtry,  will  be 
found  ready  at  all  times  and  at  all  seasons  to  repair  with  alacrity  to  its 
defense.  It  will  be  regarded  by  Congress,  I  doubt  not,  at  a  suitable  time 
as  one  of  its  highest  duties  to  attend  to  their  complete  organization  and 
discipline. 
The  state  of  the  navy  pension  fund  requires  the  immediate  attention  of 
Congress.  By  the  operation  of  the  act  of  the  3d  of  March,  1837,  entitled 
*  *  An  act  for  the  more  equitable  administration  of  the  navy  pension  fund, ' ' 
that  fund  has  been  exhausted.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  accompanying 
report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Pensions  that  there  will  be  required  for 
the  payment  of  navy  pensions  on  the  ist  of  July  next  $88, 706.06 J4,  and 
on  the  ist  of  January,  1842,  the  sum  of  $69,000.  In  addition  to  these 
sums,  about  $6,000  will  be  required  to  pay  arrears  of  pensions  which  will 
probably  be  allowed  between  the  ist  of  July  and  the  ist  of  January,  1842, 
making  in  the  whole  $163,706.06^^.  To  meet  these  payments  there 
is  within  the  control  of  the  Department  the  sum  of  $28,040,  leaving  a 
deficiency  of  $1 39, 666. 06 >^.  The  public  faith  requires  that  immediate 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  payment  of  these  sums. 
In  order  to  introduce  into  the  Navy  a  desirable  efficiency,  a  new  sys- 
tem of  accountability  may  be  found  to  be  indispensably  necessary.  To 
mature  a  plan  having  for  its  object  the  accomplishment  of  an  end  so 
important  and  to  meet  the  just  expectations  of  the  country  require  more 
time  than  has  yet  been  allowed  to  the  Secretary  at  the  head  of  the 
Department.  The  hope  is  indulged  that  by  the  time  of  yotu:  next  regu- 
lar session  measures  of  importance  in  connection  with  this  branch  of  the 
public  service  may  be  matured  for  your  consideration. 
Although  the  laws  regulating  the  Post-Office  Department  only  require 
from  the  officer  charged  with  its  direction  to  report  at  the  usual  annual 
session  of  Congress,  the  Postmaster-General  has  presented  to  me  some 
facts  connected  with  the  financial  condition  of  the  Department  which 
are  deemed  worthy  the  attention  of  Congress.  By  the  accompanying 
report  of  that  officer  it  appears  the  existing  liabilities  of  that  Depart- 
ment beyond  the  means  of  payment  at  its  command  can  not  be  less  than 
$500,000.  As  the  laws  organizing  that  branch  of  the  public  service 
confine  the  expenditure  to  its  own  revenues,  deficiencies  therein  can  not 
be  presented  under  the  usual  estimates  for  the  expenses  of  Government.
1903  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
It  must  therefore  be  left  to  Congress  to  determine  whether  the  moneys 
now  due  the  contractors  shall  be  paid  from  the  public  Treasury  or 
whether  that  Department  shall  continue  under  its  present  embarrass- 
ments. It  will  be  seen  by  the  report  of  the  Postmaster-General  that  the 
recent  lettings  of  contracts  in  several  of  the  States  have  been  made  at 
such  reduced  rates  of  compensation  as  to  encourage  the  belief  that  if 
the  Department  was  relieved  from  existing  diflSculties  its  future  opera- 
tions might  be  conducted  without  any  further  call  upon  the  general 
Treasury. 
The  power  of  appointing  to  office  is  one  of  a  character  the  most  deli- 
cate and  responsible.  The  appointing  power  is  evermore  exposed  to  be 
led  into  error.  With  anxious  solicitude  to  select  the  most  trustworthy 
for  official  station,  I  can  not  be  supposed  to  possess  a  personal  knowledge 
of  the  qualifications  of  every  applicant.  I  deem  it,  therefore,  proper  in 
this  most  public  manner  to  invite  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  a  just  scru- 
tiny into  the  character  and  pretensions  of  every  person  I  may  bring  to 
their  notice  in  the  regular  form  of  a  nomination  for  office.  Unless 
persons  every  way  trustworthy  are  employed  in  the  public  service,  cor- 
ruption and  irregularity  will  inevitably  follow.  I  shall  with  the  greatest 
cheerfulness  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  that  body,  and,  regarding  it  as 
wisely  constituted  to  aid  the  executive  department  in  the  performance 
of  this  delicate  duty,  I  shall  look  to  its  '* consent  and  advice"  as  given 
only  in  furtherance  of  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  I  shall  also 
at  the  earliest  proper  occasion  invite  the  attention  of  Congress  to  such 
measures  as  in  my  judgment  will  be  best  calculated  to  regulate  and  con- 
trol the  Executive  power  in  reference  to  this  vitally  important  subject. 
I  shall  also  at  the  proper  season  invite  your  attention  to  the  statutory 
enactments  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  which  may  require 
to  be  rendered  more  efficieiit  in  their  provisions.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  traffic  is  on  the  increase.  Whether  such  increase  is 
to  be  ascribed  to  the  abolition  of  slave  labor  in  the  British  possessions 
in  our  vicinity  and  an  attendant  diminution  in  the  supply  of  those  arti- 
cles which  enter  into  the  general  consumption  of  the  world,  thereby 
augmenting  the  demand  from  other  quarters,  and  thus  calling  for  addi- 
tional labor,  it  were  needless  to  inquire.  The  highest  considerations  of 
public  honor  as  well  as  the  strongest  promptings  of  humanity  require 
a  resort  to  the  most  vigorous  efforts  to  suppress  the  trade. 
In  conclusion  I  beg  to  invite  your  particular  attention  to  the  interests 
of  this  District ;  nor  do  I  doubt  but  that  in  a  liberal  spirit  of  legislation 
you  will  seek  to  advance  its  commercial  as  well  as  its  local  interests. 
Should  Congress  deem  it  to  be  its  duty  to  repeal  the  existing  subtreasury 
law,  the  necessity  of  providing  a  suitable  place  df  deposit  of  the  public 
moneys  which  may  be  required  within  the  District  must  be  apparent 
to  all. 
I  have  felt  it  due  to  the  country  to  present  the  foregoing  topics  to
John  Tyler  1904 
your  consideration  and  reflection.  Others  with  which  it  might  not  seem 
proper  to  trouble  you  at  an  extraordinary  session  will  be  laid  before 
you  at  a  future  day,  I  am  happy  in  committing  the  important  affair^  of 
the  country  into  your  hands.  The  tendency  of  public  sentiment,  I  am 
pleased  to  believe,  is  toward  the  adoption,  in  a  spirit  of  union  and  har- 
mony, of  such  measures  as  will  fortify  the  public  interests.  To  cherish 
such  a  tendency  of  public  opinion  is  the  task  of  an  elevated  patriotism. 
That  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  means  of  accomplishing  these  desir- 
able objects  should  exist  is  reasonably  to  be  expected.  Nor  can  all  be 
made  satisfied  with  any  system  of  measures;  but  I  flatter  myself  with 
the  hope  that  the  great  body  of  the  people  will  readily  unite  in  support 
of  those  whose  efforts  spring  from  a  disinterested  desire  to  promote  their 
happiness,  to  preserve  the  Federal  and  State  Governments  within  their 
respective  orbits;  to  cultivate  peace  with  all  the.  nations  of  the  earth  on 
just  and  honorable  grounds;  to  exact  obedience  to  the  laws;  to  intrench 
liberty  and  property  in  full  security;  and,  consulting  the  most  rigid 
economy,  to  aboUsh  all  useless  expenses.  JOHN  TYLER. 
SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 
City  of  Washington,  June  2, 184.1. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
exhibiting  certain  transfers  of  appropriations  that  have  been  made  in 
that  Department  in  pursuance  of  the  power  vested  in  the  President  of 
the  United  States  by  the  act  of  Congress  of  Jthe  3d  of  March,  1809,  enti- 
tled *'An  act  further  to  amend  the  several  acts  for  the  establishment 
and  regulation  of  the  Treasury,  War,  and  Navy  Departments/* 
JOHN  TYLER. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States:         Washington,  June  17.  1841. 
I  transmit  to  the  Senate  the  inclosed  communication*  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  in  answer  to  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  12th  instant. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
Washington,  June  17  ^  1841, 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  to  the  Senate  the  inclosed  communication  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  in  answer  to  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  12th  instant. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
*  Relating  to  the  commissioners  appointed  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  public  works  in 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  transmitting  copy  of  the  letter  of  instructions  issued  to  them.
L905  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Department  op  State,  June  15^  1^41, 
The  President. 
Sir:  In  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  12th  instant,  calling  for  "any 
orders  which  may  have  been  issued  to  the  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  in  relation 
to  political  offenses  in  elections, ' '  etc. ,  I  inclose  a  copy  of  the  circular  letter  addressed, 
under  the  direction  of  the  President,  by  this  Departn..?nt  to  the  heads  of  the  other 
Departments,  and  know  of  no  other  order  to  which  the  resolution  can  ,be  supposed 
to  have  reference. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  yoiu:  obedient  servant, 
DANIBL  WEBSTER. 
CiRcnu^R. 
Department  of  State,  March  20,  1841, 
Sir:  The  President  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  a  great  abuse  to  bring  the  patronage  of 
the  General  Government  into  conflict  with  the  freedom  of  elections,  and  that  this 
abuse  ought  to  be  corrected  wherever  it  may  have  been  permitted  to  exist,  and  to  be 
prevented  for  the  future. 
He  therefore  directs  that  information  be  given  to  all  officers  and  agents  in  your 
department  of  the  public  service  that  partisan  interference  in  popular  elections, 
whether  of  State  officers  or  officers  of  this  Government,  and  for  whomsoever  or 
against  whomsoever  it  may  be  exercised,  or  the  payment  of  any  contribution  or 
assessment  on  salaries,  or  official  compensation  for  party  or  election  purposes,  will 
be  regarded  by  him  as  cause  of  removal. 
It  is  not  intended  that  any  officer  shall  be  restrained  in  the  free  and  proper  expres- 
sion and  maintenance  of  his  opinions  respecting  public  men  or  public  measures,  or  in 
the  exercise  to  the  fullest  degree  of  the  constitutional  right  of  suffrage.  But  persons 
employed  under  the  Government  and  paid  for  their  services  out  of  the  public  Treas- 
ury are  not  expected  to  take  an  active  or  officious  part  in  attempts  to  influence  the 
minds  or  votes  of  others,  sucli  conduct  being  deemed  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  duties  of  public  agents  acting  under  it;  and  the  President  is 
resolved,  so  far  as  depends  upon  him,  that  while  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise 
by  the  people  shall  be  free  from  undue  influences  of  official  station  and  authority, 
opinion  shall  also  be  free  among  the  officers  and  agents  of  the  Government. 
The  President  wishes  it  further  to  be  announced  and  distinctly  understood  that 
from  all  collecting  and  disbursing  officers  promptitude  in  rendering  accounts  and 
entire  punctuality  in  paying  balances  will  be  rigorously  exacted.  In  his  opinion  it 
is  time  to  return  in  this  respect  to  the  early  practice  of  the  Government,  and  to  hold 
any  degree  of  delinquency  on  the  part  of  those  intrusted  with  the  public  money  just 
cause  of  immediate  removal.  He  deems  the  severe  observance  of  this  rule  to  be 
essential  to  the  public  service,  as  every  dollar  lost  to  the  Treasury  by  unfaithfulness 
in  office  creates  a  necessity  for  a  new  charge  upon  the  people. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 
DANIEL  WEBSTER. 
Washington,  D.  C.June  18,  1841. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  to  the  Senate  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
with  accompanying  documents,*  in  answer  to  their  resolution  of  the  12th 
instant. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
*  Correspondence  of  the  minister  in  England  with  the  officers  of  the  Mediterranean  Squadron, 
ki  consequence  of  which  the  squadron  left  that  station.  andthedisiMitches  of  Captain  Bolton  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  connected  with  that  movement.
John  Tyler  1906 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  StaUs:  WashikgTon,  June,  1841. 
I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  the  Senate  the  accompanying^  letter* 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  pursuance  of  its  resolution  of  the 
8th  instant,  ^^^^  TYLER. 
WASHINGT0N,^««^  22,  184.1. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  accompanying  correspondence  between 
myself  and  the  Hon.  J.  Buruet,  J.  C.  Wright,  and  others,  who  arrived 
some  days  ago  in  this  city  as  a  committee  on  behalf  of  the  people  of 
Cincinnati  for  the  purpose,  with  the  assent  of  the  family,  of  removing 
the  remains  of  the  late  President  of  the  United  States  to  North  Bend  for 
interment.  I  have  thought  it  to  be  my  duty  thus  to  apprise  Congress 
of  the  contemplated  proceedings.  TOHN  TYLER 
Washington  City,  June  i6y  1841. 
The  Prbsidbnt  op  th«  United  States. 
Dear  Sir:  The  undersigned  were  appointed  by  the  citizens  and  the  city  council 
of  Cincinnati  and  by  many  of  the  surviving  soldiers  of  the  late  war  to  apply  to  the 
widow  and  family  of  our  distinguished  fellow-citizen,  the  late  President  of  the  United 
States,  for  permission  to  remove  his  remains  from  the  city  of  Washington  to  the 
State  of  Ohio  for  interment.  They  have  made  the  application  directed,  and  have 
received  permission  to  perform  that  sacred  trust.  They  have  now  the  honor  of 
reporting  to  you  their  arrival  in  this  city,  and  of  asking  your  approbation  of  the 
measure  contemplated  and  your  cooperation  in  carrying  it  into  effect. 
We  are  fully  aware  of  the  high  estimate  you  placed  on  the  talents  and  virtues 
of  our  lamented  friend  and  fellow-citizen,  the  late  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Union, 
whose  friendship  and  confidence  you  possessed  many  years.  We  saw  the  tear  fall 
from  your  eye  and  mingle  with  the  tears  of  the  nation  when  the  inscrutable  wiU  of 
Heaven  removed  him  from  us. 
Knowing  these  things,  we  approach  you  with  confidence,  well  assured  that  you 
will  justly  appreciate  our  motive  for  undertaking  the  mournful  duty  we  have  been 
deputed  to  perform,  and  that  the  same  kind  feeling  which  has  marked  your  cotu^e 
through  life  will  prompt  you  on  this  occasion  to  afford  us  your  countenance,  and,  if 
necessary,  your  cooperation. 
If  it  meet  your  approbation,  the  committee  will  do  themselves  the  honor  of  wait- 
ing upon  you  at  the  President's  house  at  any  hour  you  may  please  to  designate. 
With  high  respect,  we  are,  voi^»-  friends  and  fellow-citizens, 
J.  BURNET. 
J.  C.  WRIGHT. 
[And  10  OTHERS.] 
Washington,  June  //,  1841, 
J.  Burnet,  J.  C.  Wright,  and  others  of  the  Committee. 
Genti^emen:  Your  letter  of  the  i6th  was  duly  handed  me,  and  I  lose  no  time  in 
responding  to  the  feelings  and  sentiments  which  you  have  expressed  for  yourselves 
and  those  you  represent,  and  which  you  have  correctly  ascribed  to  me  in  regard  to 
*  Relating  to  allowances  since  March  4i  1841.  of  claima  arisinr  under  the  invasion  of  East  Florida 
in  1812.
1907  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
the  lamented  death  of  the  late  President.  As  a  citizen  I  respected  him;  as  a  patriot  I 
honored  him;  as  a  friend  he  was  near  and  dear  to  me.  That  the  people  of  Cincin- 
nati should  desire  to  keep  watch  over  his  remains  by  entombing  them  near  their 
city  is  both  natural  and  becoming;  that  the  entire  West,  where  so  many  evidences 
of  his  public  usefulness  are  to  be  foimd,  should  unite  in  the  same  wish  was  to  have 
been  expected;  and  that  the  surviving  soldiers  of  his  many  battles,  led  on  by  him 
to  victory  and  to  glory,  should  sigh  to  perform  the  last  melancholy  duties  to  the 
remains  of  their  old  commander  is  fully  in  consonance  with  the  promptings  of  a 
noble  and  generous  S3mipathy.  I  could  not,  if  I  was  authorized  to  do  so,  oppose 
myself  to  their  wishes.  I  might  iind  something  to  urge  on  behalf  of  his  native 
State  in  my  knowledge  of  his  continued  attachment  to  her  through  the  whole  period 
of  his  useftd  life;  in  the  claims  of  his  relatives  there,  whose  desire  it  would  be  that 
the  mortal  remains  of  the  illustrious  son  shotdd  sleep  under  the  same  turf  with  those 
of  his  distinguished  father,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence; 
in  the  wish  of  the  citizens  of  his  native  coimty  to  claiih  all  that  is  now  left  of  him 
for  whom  they  so  lately  cast  their  almost  unanimous  suffrage;  to  say  nothing  of  my 
own  feelings,  allied  as  I  am  by  blood  to  many  of  his  near  relatives,  and  with  our 
names  so  closely  associated  in  much  connected  with  the  late  exciting  political  con- 
test. These  considerations  might  present  some  reasonable  ground  for  opposing  your 
wishes;  but  the  assent  which  has  been  given  by  his  respected  widow  and  nearest 
relatives  to' the  request  of  the  people  of  Cincinnati  admits  of  no  opposition  on  my 
part,  neither  in  my  individual  nor  official  character. 
I  shall  feel  it  to  be  my  duty,  however,  to  submit  our  correspondence  to  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  now  in  session,  but  anticipating  no  effort  from  that  quarter  to 
thwart  the  wishes  expressed  by  yourselves  in  consonance  with  those  of  the  widow 
and  nearest  relatives  of  the  late  President.  I  readily  promise  you  my  cooperation 
toward  enabling  you  to  fulfill  the  sacred  trust  which  brought  you  to  this  city. 
I  tender  to  each  of  you,  gentlemen,  my  cordial  salutations. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
[NoTK. — The  remains  of  the  late  President  of  the  United  States  were 
removed  from  Washington  to  North  Bend,  Ohio,  June  26,  1841.] 
To  the  SenaU  of  the  United  States:         Washington,  June  29.  1841. 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  14th  instant,  I 
have  the  honor  to  submit  the  accompanying  reports  from  the  Secretary 
of  State  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which  embrace  all  the  informa- 
tion possessed  by  the  executive  department  upon  that  subject.  * 
JOHN  TYLER. 
Washington,  June  30, 184,1. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
The  accompanying  memorial  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  a  bankrupt 
law,  signed  by  nearly  3,000  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
has  been  forwarded  to  me,  att^ded  by  a  request  that  I  would  submit  it 
to  the  consideration  of  Congress.  I  can  not  waive  a  compliance  with  8 
request  urged  upon  me  by  so  large  and  respectable  a  number  of  my 
fellow-dtizens.  That  a  bankrupt  law,  carefully  guarded  against  fraudu- 
lent practices  and  embracing  as  far  as  practicable  all  classes  of  society — 
the  failure  to  do  which  has  heretofore  constituted  a  prominent  objection 
*  Payment  or  aatumption  of  State  stocka  by  the  Oeaeral  Government
John  Tyler  1908 
to  the  measure — ^would  afford  extensive  relief  I  do  not  doubt.  '  The  dis- 
tress incident  to  the  derangements  of  some  years  past  has  visited  large 
numbers  of  our  fellow-dtizens  with  hopeless  insolvency,  whose  energies, 
both  mental  and  physical,  by  reason  of  the  load  of  debt  pressing  upon 
them,  are  lost  to  the  country.  Whether  Congress  shall  deem  it  proper 
to  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  this  subject  at  its  present  extraordi- 
nary session  it  will  doubtless  wisely  determine.  I  have  fulfilled  my  duty 
to  the  memorialists  in  submitting  their  petition  to  your  consideration. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
Washington,  July  /,  184.Z. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  have  the  honor  herewith  to  submit  to  the  Senate  the  copy  of  a  letter 
addressed  by  myself  to  Mrs.  Harrison  in  compliance  with  the  resolutions 
of  Congr^,  and  her  reply  thereto.  JOHN  TYLER 
[The  same  message  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives.] 
Mn;.  ANNA  Harrisoij.  Washington,  June  13. 1841. 
My  Dear  Madam:  The  accompanpng  resolutions,  adopted  by  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  wiU  convey  to  you  an  expression  of 
the  deep  sympathy  felt  by  the  representatives  of  the  States  and  of  the  people  in  the 
sad  bereavement  which  yourself  and  the  country  have  sustained  in  the  death  of 
your  illustrious  husband.  It  may  now  be  justly  considered  that  the  public  archives 
constitute  his  enduring  monument,  on  which  are  inscribed  in  characters  not  to  be 
effaced  the  proudest  evidences  of  public  gratitude  for  services  rendered  and  of  sorrow 
for  his  death.  A  great  and  united  people  shed  their  tears  over  the  bier  of  a  devoted 
patriot  and  distinguished  public  benefactor. 
In  conveying  to  you,  my  dear  madam,  the  profound  respect  of  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress  for  your  person  and  character,  and  their  sincere  condolence  on  the  late 
afflicting  dispensation  of  Providence,  permit  me  to  mingle  my  feelings  with  theirs 
and  tc  tender  you  my  fervent  wishes  for  your  health,  happiness,  and  long  life. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
A  R9SOI«UTION  manifesting  the  sensibility  of  Congress  upon  the  event  of  the  death  of  William 
Henry  Harrison,  late  President  of  the  United  States. 
The  melancholy  event  of  the  death  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  the  late  President 
of  the  United  States,  having  occurred  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  and  the  two 
Houses  sharing  in  the  general  grief  and  desiring  to  manifest  their  sensibility  upon 
the  occasion  of  that  public  bereavement:  Therefore, 
Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of*  the  United  States  0/ 
America  in  Congress  assembled^  That  the  chairs  of  the  President  of  the  Sen^tte  and 
of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  be  shrouded  in  black  during  the 
residue  of  the  session,  and  that  the  President  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate,  the  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  members  and  officers  of  both  Houses  wear 
the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days. 
Resolved^  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be  requested  to  transmit  a  copy 
of  these  resolutions  to  Mrs.  Harrison,  and  to  assure  her  of  the  profound  respect  of 
the  two  Houses  of  Congress  for  her  person  and  character,  and  of  their  sincere  con- 
dolence on  the  late  afflicting  dispensation  of  Providence.
1909  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
His  ExceUency  John  Tywr,  North  Bend,  >«^  ^^,  iS^i. 
President  United  States,  Washington  City,  D,  C 
Dbar  Sir:  I  have  received  with  sentiments  of  deep  emotion  the  resolutions  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  which  you  have  done  me  the  honor  of  for- 
warding, relative  to  the  decease  of  my  lamented  husband. 
I  can  not  sufficiently  express  the  thanks  I  owe  to  the  nation  and  its  assembled 
representatives  for  thek  condolence,  so  feelingly  expressed,  of  my  individual  calamity 
and  the  national  bereavement;  but,  mingling  my  tears  with  the  sighs  of  the  many 
patriots  of  the  land,  pray  to  Heaven  for  the  enduring  happiness  and  prosperity  of 
our  beloved  country.  ^^^^^  HARRISON. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States:  Washington,  Jrdy  3,  z8^i. 
In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  9th  instant  [ul- 
timo] ,  I  communicate  to  that  body  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State, 
conveying  copies  of  the  correspondence,*  which  contains  all  the  infor- 
mation called  for  by  said  re^lution.  TOHN  TYLER 
To  the  Senate  of  the  UniUd  States:  Washington.  JtUy  9,  1841. 
I  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  answer  to  the  reso- 
lution of  the  Senate  of  the  2d  instant,  calling  for  information  as  to  the 
progress  and  actual  condition  of  the  commissiont  under  the  convention 
with  the  Mexican  Republic.  TOHN  TYLER 
Washington,  Jtdy  14,  1841, 
To  the  Speaker  and  Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives: 
In  compUance  with  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
2ist  ultimo,  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  accompanying  communica- 
tion J  from  the  Secretary  of  State.  JOHN  TYLER 
To  the  House  of  RepresentaHves:  Washington,  July  16,  1841. 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  reply  to  their 
resolution  of  the  21st  ultimo,  a  report  §  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  with 
accompanying  papers.  ^^^^  TYLER. 
*  Relating  to  the  duties  levied  on  American  tobacco  imported  into  the  States  composing  the  Ger- 
man Commercial  and  Custom-House  Union. 
t  Appointed  under  the  convention  of  April  ii,  1839,  for  adjusting  the  claims  of  citisens  of  the 
United  States  upon  the  Republic  of  Mexico. 
}  Transmitting  correspondence  with  Great  Britain  relative  to  the  aeisure  of  American  vessels  by 
British  armed  cruisers  under  the  pretense  that  they  were  engaged  in  the  slave  trade;  also  corre- 
spondence with  N.  P.  Trist,  United  States  consul  at  Habana,  upon  the  subject  of  the  slave  tirade,  etc. 
I  Stating  that  there  is  no  correspondence  in  his  office  showing  that  any  American  dtisens  are 
British  prisoners  of  state  in  Van  Diemens  Land;  transmitting  correspondence  with  the  British 
minister  on  the  subject  of  the  detention  or  imprisonment  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  on 
account  of  occurrences  in  Canada,  instructions  issued  to  the  special  agent  appointed  to  inquin 
nto  such  detention  or  imprisonment,  aad  report  of  said  special  agent
John  Tyler  1910 
Washington, /«/)'  /p,  184.1^ 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
The  act  of  Congress  of  the  loth  of  March,  1838,  entitled  ''An  act  sup- 
plementary to  an  act  entitled  *An  act  in  addition  to  the  act  for  the  pun- 
ishment of  certain  crimes  against  the  United  States  and  to  repeal  the  acts 
therein  mentioned,'  approved  20th  of  April,  18 18,**  expired  by  its  own 
limitation  on  the  loth  of  March,  1840.  The  object  of  this  act  was  to 
make  further  provision  for  preventing  military  expeditions  or  enterpriser 
against  the  territory  or  dominions  of  any  prince  or  state^or  of  any  colony, 
district,  or  people  conterminous  with  the  United  States  and  with  whom 
they  are  at  peace,  contrary  to  the  act  of  April  20,  1818,  entitled  "An  act 
in  addition  to  the  act  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes  against  the 
United  Stateis  and  to  repeal  the  acts  therein  mentioned.*' 
The  act  of  Congress  of  March  10,  1838,  appears  to  have  had  a  very 
salutary  effect,  and  it  is  respectfully  recommended  to  Congress  that  it  be 
now  revived  or  its  provisions  be  reenacted.  JOHN  TYLER 
Washington,  July  27,  184.1, 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  to  Congress  a  communication  from  the  Secretary 
of  State,  on  the  subject  of  appropriations  required  for  outfits  and  salaries  of 
diplomatic  agents  of  the  United  States.  TOHN  TYLER 
Washington,  Augyist  2,  1841. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
On  the  i8th  of  February,  1832,  the  House  of  Representatives  adopted 
a  resolution  in  the  following  words: 
Resolved^  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be  authorized  to  employ  Horatio 
Greenough,  of  Massachusetts,  to'  execute  in  marble  a  full-length  pedestrian  statue  of 
Washington,  to  be  placed  in  the  center  of  the  Rotunda  of  the  Capitol;  the  head  to 
be  a  copy  of  Houdon's  Washington,  and  the  accessories  to  be  left  to  the  judgment 
of  the  artist. 
On  the  23d  of  the  same  month  the  Secretary  of  State,  by  direction  of 
the  President,  addressed  to  Mr.  Greenough  a  letter  of  instructions  for 
canning  into  effect  the  resolution  of  the  House. 
On  the  14th  of  July,  1832,  an  appropriation  of  the  sum  of  $5,000  was 
made  ''to  enable  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  contract  with  a 
skillful  artist  to  execute  in  marble  a  pedestrian  statue  of  George  Wash- 
ington, to  be  placed  in  the  center  of  the  Rotunda  of  the  Capitol,"  and 
several  appropriations  were  made  at  the  succeeding  sessions  in  further- 
ance of  the  same  object. 
Mr.  Greenough,  having  been  employed  upon  the  work  for  several  years 
at  Florence,  completed  it  some  months  ago.
TQii  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
By  a  resolution  of  Congress  of  the  27th  of  May,  1840,  it  was  directed 
''that  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  be  authorized  and  instructed  to  take 
measures  for  the  importation  and  erection  of  the  statue  of  Washington 
by  Greenough."  In  pursuance  of  this  authority  the  Navy  Department 
held  a  correspondence  with  Commodore  Hull,  commanding  on  the  Medi- 
terranean station,  who  entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  owners  or 
master  of  the  ship  Sea  for  the  transportation  of  the  statue  to  the  United 
States.  This  ship,  with  the  statue  on  board,  arrived  in  this  dty  on  the 
31st  ultimo,  and  now  lies  at  the  navy-yard. 
As  appropriations  have  become  necessary  for  the  payment  of  the  freight 
and  other  expenses,  I  communicate  to  Congress  such  papers  as  may 
enable  it  to  judge  of  the  amotmt  required.  JOHN  TYLER 
Hon.  John  Whitb.  ^^°^*  3.  1841. 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Sir:  I  herewith  transmit  a  communication*  received  from  the  Post- 
master-General, to  which  I  would  invite  the  attention  of  Congress. 
JOHN  TYLER, 
To  the  House  of  RepresentaHves:  August  3,  1841. 
I  herewith  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to 
whom  I  referred  the  resolution  of  the  House  caUing  for  a  communica- 
tion f  addressed  to  him  by  the  Ptench  minister. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
To  the  House  of  RepresentaHves:  Washington,  August  6,  1841. 
In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
1 6th  of  July,  1 84 1,  I  communicate  reports  %  from  the  several  Executive 
Departments,  containing  the  information  requested  by  said  resolution. 
JOHN  TYLER- 
Washington,  August  ^5,  1841. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  Senate,  in  pursuance  of  their  resolution 
of  the  22d  ultimo,  copies  of  the  several  reports  of  the  commissioners 
appointed  in  March  last  to  examine  into  certain  matters  connected  with 
the  public  buildings  in  this  dty  and  the  conduct  of  those  employed  in 
their  erection.  JOHN  TYLER. 
*  Aaking  for  a  further  appropriation  for  completing  the  new  General  Post-Office  boilditig. 
t  Relating  to  the  commerce  and  navigation  between  France  and  the  United  States. 
t  Transmitting  list  of  officen  deriving  their  appointments  from  the  nomination  of  tlie  President 
and  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate  who  were  removed  from  office  since  March  4i  1841.  and  also  those 
who  were  removed  from  March  4*  1829,  to  March  4*  x84i.
John  Tyler  1912 
Washington,  August  27, 1S4.1. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  bear- 
ing date  this  day,  with  the  accompanying  papers,  in  answer  to  the  reso- 
lution of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  i6th  ultimo,  relative  to 
removals  from  office,  etc.  ' 
These  statements  should  have  accompanied  those  from  the  other 
Departments  on  the  same  subject  transmitted  in  my  message  to  the 
House  on  the  7th  ultimo,*  but  which  have  been  delayed  for  reasons 
stated  in  the  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  above  referred  to. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
Washington,  D.  C,  September  7,  1841. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  submit  to  the  Senate,  for  its  consideration  and  constitutional  action, 
a  treaty  concluded  at  Oeyoowasha,  on  Minneesota  (or  St.  Peters)  River, 
in  the  Territory  of  Iowa,  on  the  31st  day  of  July  last,  between  James 
Duane  Doty,  commissioner  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
Seeseeahto,  Wofpato,  and  Wofpakoota  bands  of  the  Dakota  (or  Sioux) 
Nation  of  Indians. 
The  accompanying  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War  fully 
sets  forth  the  considerations  which  have  called  for  the  negotiation  of 
this  treaty,  and  which  have  induced  me  to  recommend  its  confirmation, 
with  such  exceptions  and  modifications  as  the  Senate  may  advise. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
Department  op  War,  August  j/,  1S4J. 
The  President  of  the  United  States. 
Sir:  I  transmit  herewith  a  treaty  concluded  with  certain  bands  of  the  Dahcota  Na- 
tion of  Indians,  commonly  caUed  Sioux,  which  has  been  received  at  this  Department 
from  His  Excellency  James  D.  Doty,  governor  of  Wisconsin,  who  was  appointed 
a  commissioner  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating 
the  treaty;  and  I  desire  to  submit  the  following  facts  and  opinions  inducing  me  to 
request  its  favorable  consideration: 
It  was  known  on  my  entering  upon  the  duties  of  the  Department  of  War  that  some 
provision  must  speedily  be  made  for  the  Winnebago  Indians,  in  the  Northwest.  By 
the  treaty  with  those  Indians  in  1837  it  was  provided  that  they  should  move  tempo- 
rarily upon  a  narrow  strip  of  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  called  the  neu- 
tral ground,  from  the  object  of  its  purchase  in  1830.  That  strip  of  country  is  only 
40  miles  in  width,  20  miles  of  it  having  been  purchased  from  the  Sac  and  Pox 
Indians  and  20  miles  from  the  Sioux,  the  object  of  the  purchase  having  been  to 
place  a  barrier  between  those  tribes,  which  had  been  for  many  years  at  war  and  par- 
ties of  which  were  continually  meeting  and  destroying  each  o^er  upon  or  adjacent 
to  the  country  purchased. 
When  the  delegation  of  Winnebago  chiefs  was  in  Washington  negotiating  a  sale 
of  all  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  in  1837,  a  permanent  location  for  those 
Indians  was  not  fixed  upon,  and  a  temporary  expedient  was  adopted,  and  acceded  to 
*  Not  found.    Evidently  refers  to  mestaffe  of  August  6.  1841.  on  preoedinir  paffe.
1913  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
by  the  Indians,  by  which  they  agreed,  within  eight  months  from  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty,  to  move  upon  and  occupy  a  portion  of  the  neutral  ground  until  they 
should  select  a  permanent  home. 
Owing  to  the  small  extent  of  country  thus  temporarily  assigned  to  the  Winneba- 
goes,  utterly  destitute  of  all  preparation  for  the  reception  of  them,  slenderly  sup- 
plied with  game,  and,  above  all,  the  circumstance  that  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians 
were  continually  at  war  with  the  Sioux,  the  object  or  the  purchase  having  utterly 
failed,  the  neutral  ground,  so  called,  proving  literally  the  fighting  ground  of  the 
hostile  tribes^-owing  to  all  these  circumstances  the  Winnebagoes  were  extremely 
reluctant  to  comply  with  the  treaty.  It  was  in  part  a  dictate  of  humanity  to  give 
them  more  time  for  removal  than  that  allotted  in  the  treaty,  in  the  hope  of  effecting 
their  permanent  removal  beyond  the  Missouri  or  elsewhere;  but  as  no  steps  were 
taken  to  select  their  future  home,  and  as  the  white  settlers  in  Wisconsin  were  fast 
crowding  upon  the  Indians,  overrunning  the  country,  as  usual,  in  search  of  town 
sites,  water  privileges,  and  farming  districts,  it  became  absolutely  necessary  to  make 
some  efforts  toward  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect.  Owing  to  the  excited  state  of 
the  Indians  and  the  apprehension  of  disturbance,  the  Eighth  Regiment  of  Infantry, 
in  1840,  more  than  two  years,  instead  of  eight  months,  after  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty,  was  ordered  upon  the  Winnebago  frontier,  the  greater  part  of  the  Fifth  R^- 
ment  being  already  there,  and  in  the  presence  of  that  force  the  Indians  were  required 
to  comply  with  the  treaty.  They  reluctantly  removed  from  the  banks  of  the  Wis- 
consin River  and  crossed  the  Mississippi,  but  did  not  go  to  that  portion  of  the 
neutral  groimd  agreed  upon,  which  commenced  20  miles  from  the  river,  but  instead 
of  it  they  spread  themselves  along  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  some  of  them  recross- 
ing  that  river  and  ascending  the  Chippewa  and  Black  rivers.  Only  a  small  portion 
of  the  tribe  has  yet  removed  to  the  portion  of  the  neutral  ground  assigned  to  them, 
and  it  is  perhaps  fortunate  that  local  attachments  have  not  been  formed,  since,  from 
the  position  of  the  country,  it  was  not  and  never  could  have  been  intended  as  their 
permanent  home. 
After  a  careful  examination  of  the  country  in  the  Northwest  the  importance  of 
providing  for  the  Winnebago  Indians,  though  immediate,  became  secondary  in  a 
more  national  and  wider  prospect  of  benefits  in  future  years  by  arrangements 
which  presented  themselves  to  my  mind  as  not  only  practicable,  but  of  easy  accom- 
plishment. 
A  glance  at  the  map  and  at  the  efforts  hitherto  made  in  emigration  will  show  an 
extensive  body  of  Indians  accumulated  upon  the  Southwestern  frontier,  and,  looking 
to  the  numbers  yet  to  be  emigrated  from  within  the  circle  of  territory  soon  to  become 
States  of  the  American  Union,  it  will  appear  upon  very  many  considerations  to  be 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  separate  the  Indians  and  to  interpose  a  barrier  between 
the  masses  which  are  destined  to  be  placed  upon  the  western  frontier,  instead  of 
accumulating  them  within  limits  enabling  them  to  unite  and  in  concert  spread 
desolation  over  the  States  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas  to,  perhaps,  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi. 
Entertaining  these  views,  it  was  determined  to  open  negotiations  with  the  Sioux 
Indians  north  and  northwest  of  the  purchase  of  1830,  the  neutral  grpund,  so  called, 
with  the  purpose  of  purchasing  sufficient  territory  beyond  the  reasonable  limits  of 
Iowa  to  provide  a  resting  place  for  the  Winnebagoes,  intending  to  treat  also  with 
the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians  and  with  the  Potawatamies  north  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
and  thus  enable  our  citizens  to  expand  west  of  the  Missouri  River  north  of  the  State. 
It  is  difficult  to  state  in  a  condensed  report  all  the  reasons  now  imperatively  urg- 
ing the  adoption  of  these  measures.  Besides  the  absolute  necessity  of  providing  a 
home  for  the  Winnebagoes,  the  citizens  of  Iowa  and  of  Missouri  are  crowding  upon 
the  territory  of  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians  and  already  producing  those  irritations 
which  in  former  times  have  led  to  bloody  wars.     It  is  not  to  be  for  a  moment
John  Tyler  1914 
concealed  that  our  enterprising  and  hardy  population  must  and  will  occupy  the  terri- 
tory adjacent  to  that  purchased  in  1837  from  the  Sacs  and  Poxes,  and  the  only  possible 
mode  of  its  being  done  in  peace  is  by  another  purchase  from  those  Indians.  But 
the  position  of  the  Potawatamies  .will  then  become  relatively  what  that  of  the  Sac 
and  Fox  Indians  now  is,  with  the  difference  that  access  to  their  country  by  the  Mis- 
souri Kjver  will  hasten  its  occupancy  by  our  people.  The  only  mode  of  guarding 
against  future  collision,  near  at  hand  if  not  provided  against,  is  by  emigrating  not 
only  the  Sac  and  Pox  Indians,  but  also  the  Potawatamies. 
Great  efforts  have  been  made  to  induce  those  Indians,  as  also  the  Winnebagoes, 
to  move  south  of  tne  Missouri,  but  without  effect,  their  opposition  to  it  being  appar- 
ently insurmountable,  the  Potawatamies  expressing  the  most  decided  aversion  to  it 
on  being  urged  to  join  other  bands  of  Potawatamies  on  the  Marais  de  Cygne,  declar- 
ing that  they  would  rather  at  once  go  to  California,  being  determined  not  to  unite 
with  those  bands,  but  to  maintain  an  independence  of  them.  By  the  purchase  from 
the  Sioux  no  doubt  is  entertained  that  their  prejudices  may  be  advantageously  accom- 
modated, for  among  the  objects  in  contemplation  before  adverted  to  it  is  to  my 
mind  of  primary  importance  so  to  dispose  of  those  Indians  as  to  enable  this  Govern- 
ment to  interpose  a  State  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  Indians  along  the 
Missouri  River,  and  thus,  by  dividing  the  Indians  on  the  frontier  and  separating 
the  divisions,  prevent  a  combination  and  concert  of  action  which  future  progress  in 
civilization  might  otherwise  enable  them  to  effect  in  the  prosecution  of  revenge  for 
real  or  imagined  grievances. 
Great  importance  is  attached  to  this  view  of  the  subject,  but  scarcely  less  to  the 
means  provided  by  the  treaty  for  inducing  the  remnants  of  other  Northern  tribes  to 
remove  to  a  climate  congenial  to  their  habits  and  disposition. 
From  the  earliest  efforts  at  emigration  certain  Northern  Indians  have  strenuously 
objected  to  a  removal  south  of  the  Missouri  on  account  of  the  climate;  and  where 
tribes  have  been  induced  to  dispose  of  all  right  to  live  east  of  the  Mississippi  within 
the  United  States,  many  individuals,  dreading  their  southern  destination,  have  wan- 
dered to  the  north  and  are  now  living  in  Canada,  annually  in  the  receipt  of  presents 
from  the  British  Government,  and  will  be  ready  without  doubt  to  side  with  that 
power  in  any  future  conflict  with  this  Government.  In  this  manner  considerable 
numbers  of  the  Delawares  and  Shawnees  and  other  Indians  have  dis^ppesired  from 
our  settlements — a  fact  of  great  importance,  and  which  I  apprehend  has  not  been 
heretofore  sufficiently  considered.  There  are  many  Potawatamies  and  Ottawas,  as 
also  Winnebagoes  and  Menomonees,  who  may  be  easily  induced  to  move  into  Can- 
ada by  seductive  bribes,  in  the  use  of  which  the  British  Government  has  alwa3rs 
displayed  a  remarkable  foresight. 
Of  the  Chippewas  and  Ottawas  now  in  the  northern  part  of  Michigan  it  is  believed 
there  are  over  5,000  under  treaty  obligations  to  remove  to  the  Southwest,  the  greater 
portion  of  whom  openly  declared  their  determination  to  cross  the  line  into  Canada 
and  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  British  Government  in  preference 
to  a  removal  to  that  country.  These  Indians  may  be  accommodated  by  the  arrange- 
ments in  contemplation,  not  only  to  their  own  satisfaction,  but  under  circumstances 
promising  the  greatest  permanent  advantages  to  the  United  States,  and  separating 
them  from  all  inducements  and  even  the  possibility  of  entering  the  British  service. 
I  am  not  without  hope,  also,  that  through  this  treaty  some  suitable  and  acceptable 
arrangement  may  be  made  with  the  New  York  Indians  by  which  they  may  be 
removed  with  safety  to  themselves  and  benefit  to  the  people  of  that  State.  The  very 
peculiar  situation  of  these  Indians  is  well  known;  that  while  they  are  under  treaty 
obligation  to  remove,  the  treaty  being  by  the  Constitution  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land  and  perfecting  in  this  instance  Uie  title  of  the  land  they  occupy  in  a  private 
land  company,  there  is  yet  every  reason  to  Sjrmpathize  with  them  and  the  highest 
moral  inducements  for  extending  every  possible  relief  to  them  within  the  legitimate
igiS  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
powers  of  the  Government.  I  have  been  assured  from  sources  entitled  to  my  fullest 
confidence  that  although  these  Indians  have  hitherto  expressed  the  most  decided 
aversion  to  a  removal  south  of  the  Missouri,  there  will  probably  be  no  difficulty  in 
persuading  them  to  occupy  a  more  northern  region  in  the  West.  I  have  every  rea- 
son for  believing  that  a  benevolent  interest  in  their  behalf  among  a  portion  of  oui 
own  people,  which,  it  is  supposed,  has  heretofore  presented  an  obstacle  to  their  emi- 
gration, will  be  exerted  to  effect  their  removal  if  a  portion  bf  the  Sioux  coimtry  can 
be  appropriated  to  them. 
It  will  be  perceived,  therefore,  that  a  multitude  of  objects  thus  rest  upon  the 
success  of  this  one  treaty,  now  submitted  for  examination  and  approbation. 
Of  the  Sioux  Indians  I  will  but  remark  that  they  occupy  an  immense  country 
spreading  from  the  Mississippi  north  of  the  neutral  groimd  west  and  northwest, 
crossing  the  Missouri  River  more  than  1,200  miles  above  the  city  of  St.  Louis.  They 
are  divided  into  bands,  which  have  various  names,  the  generic  name  for  the  whole 
being  the  Dahcota  Nation.  These  bands,  though  speaking  a  common  language,  are 
independent  in  their  occupancy  of  portions  of  country,  and  separate  treaties  may 
be  made  with  them.  Treaties  are  already  subsisting  with  some  of  the  bands  both 
on  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri.  The  treaty  now  submitted  is  believed  to  be  advan- 
tageous, and  from  its  provisions  contemplates  the  reduction  of  those  wandering 
Indians  from  their  nomadic  habits  to  those  of  an  agricultural  people. 
If  some  of  the  provisions  seem  not  such  as  might  be  desired,  it  will  be  recollected 
that  many  interests  have  to  be  accommodated  in  framing  an  Indian  treaty  which 
can  only  be  fully  known  to  the  commissioner,  who  derives  his  information  directly 
from  the  Indians  in  the  country  which  is  the  object  of  the  purchase. 
It  is  proper  to  add  that  I  had  instructed  the  commissioner  expressly  not  to  take 
into  consideration  what  are  called  traders'  claims,  in  the  hope  of  correcting  a  prac- 
tice which,  it  is  believed,  has  been  attended  with  mischievous  consequences ;  but  th« 
commissioner  has  by  a  letter  of  explanations  fully  satisfied  me  that  in  this  instance 
it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  accommodate  those  claims  as  an  indispensable  means 
of  obtaining  the  assent  of  the  Indians  to  the  treaty.  This  results,  doubtless,  from 
their  dependence  upon  the  traders  for  articles,  in  a  measure  necessaries,  which  are 
for  the  most  part  furnished  without  competition,  and  of  the  proper  value  of  which 
the  Indians  are  ignorant. 
To  compensate  in  some  degree  for  the  article  in  this  treaty  providing  for  the  pay- 
ment of  traders*  claims,  very  judicious  guards  are  introduced  into  the  treaty,  calcu- 
lated effectually  to  exclude  that  source  of  interest  adverse  to  the  Government  in  all 
future  time  within  the  purchase  under  this  treaty. 
There  are  other  articles  in  the  treaty  which  I  have  not  been  able  fully  to  realize 
as  judicious  or  necessary,  but  for  reasons  already  stated  they  deserve  respectful 
consideration. 
Notwithstanding  the  article  stipulating  that  a  rejection  of  any  of  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty  should  render  the  whole  null  and  void,  I  would  respectfully  recommend 
such  modified  acceptance  of  the  treaty  as  in  the  wisdom  of  the  Senate  may  seem 
just  and  proper,  conditioned  upon  the  assent  of  the  Indians  subaeouently  .0  be 
obtained,  the  Senate  making  provision  for  its  reference  back  to  the  Indians  if 
necessary. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  treaty  provides  for  a  power  of  regulation  in  the  Indian 
Territory  by  the  United  States  Government  under  circumstances  not  hitherto 
attempted,  presenting  an  opportunity  for  an  experiment  well  worthy  of  mature 
consideration. 
I  ought  not  to  dismiss  this  subject  without  adverting  to  one  other  important 
consideration  connected  with  the  integrity  of  our  Northwest  Indians  and  Territory. 
The  Sioux  treaty  will  effectually  withdraw  from  British  influence  all  those  who  are 
a  party  to  it  by  making  them  stipendiaries  of  the  United  States  and  by  operating
John  Tyler  1Q16 
s  change  in  their  vrandering  habits  and  establishing  them  at  known  and  fixed 
points  under  the  observation  of  Government  agents,  and  as  the  British  can  only  have 
access  to  that  region  by  the  way  of  Fond  du  Lac,  one  or  two  small  military  posts  in 
a  direction  west  and  south  from  that  point,  it  is  believed,  will  completely  control  all 
intercourse  with  the  Indians  in  that  section  of  oonntry. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant,  X^O,  BELL. 
Washington,  September  <?,  184.1. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  have  the  honor,  in  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of 
the  8th  June,  to  communicate  a  letter  *  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
and  the  correspondence  accompanying  it.  JOHN  TYLER. 
Washington,  September  /j,  1841. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  14th  July  last,  I 
communicate  to  the  Senate  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  accom- 
panied by  copies  of  the  correspondence  f  called  for  by  said  resolution. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
VETO  MESSAGEa 
Washington,  August  16^  184X. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
The  bill  entitled  **  An  act  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  the  Fiscal 
Bank  of  the  United  States,"  which  originated  in  the  Senate,  has  been 
considered  by  me  with  a  sincere  desire  to  conform  my  action  in  regard  to 
it  to  that  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress.  By  the  Constitution  it  is  made 
my  duty  either  to  approve  the  bill  by  signing  it  or  to  return  it  with  my 
objections  to  the  House  in  which  it  originated.  I  can  not  conscientiously 
give  it  my  approVal,  and  I  proceed  to  discharge  the  duty  required  of  me 
by  the  Constitution — to  give  my  reasons  for  disapproving. 
The  power  of  Congress  to  create  a  national  bank  to  operate  per  se  over 
the  Union  has  been  a  question  of  dispute  from  the  origin  of  the  Govern- 
ment. Men  most  justly  and  deservedly  esteemed  for  their  high  intellec- 
tual endowments,  their  virtue,  and  their  patriotism  have  in  regard  to  it 
entertained  different  and  conflicting  opinions ;  Congresses  have  differed  ; 
the  approval  of  one  President  has  been  followed  by  the  disapproval 
of  another ;  the  people  at  different  times  have  acquiesced  in  decisions 
both  for  and  against.     The  country  has  been  and  still  is  deeply  agitated 
*Relatiiifir  to  the  deposits  of  i>ublic  moneys  in  banks  by  disburainar  offices  and  asrents. 
t  Relating  to  the  origin,  progress,  and  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  November  aO.  X83S,  1 
Sardinia  and  the  United  States.
1917  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
by  this  unsettled  question.  It  will  suffice  for  me  to  say  that  my  own 
opinion  has  been  uniformly  proclaimed  to  be  against  the  exercise  of  any 
such  power  by  this  Government.  On  all  suitable  occasions  during  a 
period  of  twenty-five  years  the  opinion  thus  entertained  has  been  unre- 
servedly expressed.  I  declared  it  in  the  legislature  of  my  native  State; 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  it  has  been  openly 
vindicated  by  me;  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  in  the  presence  and  hearing 
of  many  who  are  at  this  time  members  of  that  body,  it  has  been  affirmed 
and  reaffirmed  in  speeches  and  reports  there  made  and  by  votes  there 
recorded;  in  popular  assemblies  I  have  unhesitatingly  announced  it,  and 
the  last  public  declaration  which  I  made — and  that  but  a  short  time  be- 
fore the  late  Presidential  election — I  referred  to  my  previously  expressed 
opinions  as  being  those  then  entertained  by  me.  With  a  full  knowledge 
of  the  opinions  thus  entertained  and  never  concealed,  I  was  elected  by 
the  people  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  By  the  occurrence  of 
a  contingency  provided  for  in  the  Constitution  and  arising  under  an 
impressive  dispensation  of  Providence  I  succeeded  to  the  Presidential 
office.  Before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  that  office  I  took  an  oath 
that  I  would  ''preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  '*  Entertaining  the  opinions  alluded  to  and  having  taken 
this  oath,  the  Senate  and  the  cotmtry  will  see  that  I  could  not  give  my 
sanction  to  a  measure  of  the  character  described  without  surrendering 
all  claim  to  the  respect  of  honorable  men,  all  confidence  on  the  part  of 
the  people,  all  self-respect,  all  r^ard  for  moral  and  religious  obligations, 
without  an  observance  of  which  no  government  can  be  prosperous  and 
no  people  can  be  happy.  It  would  be  to  commit  a  crime  which  I  would 
not  willfully  commit  to  gain  any  earthly  reward,  and  which  would  justly 
subject  me  to  the  ridicule  and  scorn  of  all  virtuous  men. 
I  deem  it  entirely  unnecessary  at  this  time  to  enter  upon  the  reasons 
which  have  brought  my  mind  to  the  convictions  I  feel  and  entertain 
on  this  subject.  They  have  been  over  and  over  again  repeated.  If 
some  of  those  who  have  preceded  me  in  this  high  office  have  entertained 
and  avowed  different  opinions,  I  yield  all  confidence  that  their  convic- 
tions were  sincere.  I  claim  only  to  have  the  same  measure  meted  out 
to  myself.  Without  going  further  into  the  argument,  I  will  say  that  in 
looking  to  the  powers  of  this  Government  to  collect,  safely  keep,  and  dis- 
burse the  public  revenue,  and  incidentally  to  regulate  the  commerce  and 
exchanges,  I  have  not  been  able  to  satisfy  myself  that  the  establishment 
by  this  Government  of  a  bank  of  discount  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 
of  that  term  was  a  necessary  means  or  one  demanded  by  propriety  to 
execute  those  powers.  What  can  the  local  discounts  of  the  bank  have 
to  do  with  the  collecting,  safe-keeping,  and  disbtmsing  of  the  revenue? 
So  far  as  the  mere  discotmting  of  paper  is  concerned,  it  is  quite  imma- 
terial to  this  question  whether  the  discount  is  obtained  at  a  State  bank 
or  a  United  States  bank.     They  are  both  equally  local,  both  beginning
John  Tyler  1918 
and  both  ending  in  a  local  accommodation.  What  influence  have  local 
discounts  granted  by  any  form  of  bank  in  the  regulating  of  the  currency 
and  the  exchanges?  Let  the  history  of  the  late  United  States  Bank 
aid  us  in  answering  this  inquiry. 
For  several  years  after  the  estabUshment  of  that  institution  it  dealt 
almost  exclusively  in  local  discounts,  and  during  that  period  the  country 
was  for  the  most  part  disappointed  in  the  consequences  anticipated 
from  its  incorporation.  A  uniform  currency  was  not  provided,  exchanges 
were  not  regulated,  and  little  or  nothing  was  added  to  the  general  cir- 
culation, and  in  1820  its  embarrassments  had  become  so  great  that  the 
directors  petitioned  Congress  to  repeal  that  article  of  the  charter  which 
maae  its  notes  receivable  ever3rwhere  in  payment  of  the  public  dues.  It 
had  up  to  that  period  dealt  to  but  a  very  small  extent  in  exchanges, 
either  foreign  or  domestic,  and  as  late  as  i823.its  operations  in  that  line 
amounted  to  a  little  more  than  $7,000,000  per  annum.  A  very  rapid  aug- 
mentation soon  after  occurred,  and  in  1833  its  dealings  in  the  exchanges 
amounted  to  upward  of  $ioq,ooo,ooo,  including  the  sales  of  its  own 
drafts;  and  all  these  immense  transactions  were  effected  without  the 
employment  of  extraordinary  means.  The  currency  of  the  country 
became  sound,  and  the  negotiations  in  the  exchanges  were  carried  on  at 
the  lowest  possible  rates.  The  circulation  was  increased  to  more  than 
$22,000,000  and  the  notes  of  the  bank  wer^  regarded  as  equal  to  specie 
all  over  the  country,  thus  showing  almost  conclusively  that  it  was  the 
capacity  to  deal  in  exchanges,  and  not  in  local  discounts,  which  fur- 
nished these  faciUties  and  advantages.  It  may  be  remarked,  too,  that 
notwithstanding  the  immense  transactions  of  the  bank  in  the  purchase 
of  exchange,  the  losses  sustained  were  merely  nominal,  while  in  the  Une 
of  discounts  the  suspended  debt  was  enormous  and  proved  most  disas- 
trous to  the  bank  and  the  country.  Its  power  of  local  discount  has  in 
fact  proved  to  be  a  fruitful. source  of  favoritism  and  corruption,  alike 
destructive  to  the  public  morals  and  to  the  general  weal. 
The  capital  invested  in  banks  of  discount  in  the  United  States,  created 
by  the  States,  at  this  time  exceeds  $350,000,000,  and  if  the  discounting 
of  local  paper  could  have  produced  any  beneficial  effects  the  United 
States  ought  to  possess  the  soundest  currency  in  the  world;  but  the 
reverse  is  lamentably  the  fact. 
Is  the  measure  now  under  consideration  of  the  objectionable  character 
to  which  I  have  alluded?  It  is  clearly  so  unless  by  the  sixteenth  funda- 
mental article  of  the  eleventh  section  it  is  made  otherwise.  That  article 
is  in  the  following  words: 
The  directors  of  the  said  corporation  shall  establish  one  competent  office  of  dis- 
count and  deposit  in  any  State  in  which  two  thousand  shares  shall  have  been  sub- 
scribed or  may  be  held,  whenever,  upon  application  of  the  legislating  of  such  State, 
Congress  may  by  law  require  the  same.  And  the  said  directors  may  also  establish 
one  or  more  competent  offices  of  discount  and  deposit  in  any  Territory  or  Dis- 
trict of  the  United  States,  and  in  any  State  with  the  assent  of  such  State,  and  when
1919  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
established  the  said  office  or  offices  shall  be  only  withdrawn  or  removed  by  the  said 
directors  prior  to  the  expiration  of  this  charter  with  the  previous  assent  of  Con- 
gress: Provided,  In  respect  to  any  State  which  shall  not,  at  the  first  session  of  the 
legislature  thereof  held  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  by  resolution  or  other  usual  legis^ 
lative  proceeding,  unconditionally  assent  or  dissent  to  the  establishment  of  such  office 
or  offices  within  it,  such  assent  of  the  said  State  shall  be  thereafter  presumed:  And 
provided,  nevertheless ^  That  whenever  it  shall  become  necessary  and  proper  for  car- 
r3nng  into  execution  any  of  the  powers  granted  by  the  Constitution  to  establish  an 
office  or  offices  in  ai^y  of  the  States  whatever,  and  the  establishment  thereof  shall  be 
directed  by  law,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  directors  to  establish  such  office  or 
offices  accordingly. 
It  will  be  seen  that  by  this  clause  the  directors  are  invested  with  the 
fullest  power  to  establish  a  branch  in  any  State  which  has  yielded  its 
assent;  and  having  once  established  such  branch,  it  shall  not  afterwardr 
be  withdrawn  except  by  order  of  Congress.  Such  assent  is  to  be  implied 
and  to  have  the  force  and  sanction  of  an  actually  expressed  assent,  "pro- 
vided, in  respect  to  any  State  which  shall  not,  at  the  first  session  of  the 
legislature  thereof  held  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  by  resolution  or  other 
usual  legislative  proceeding,  unconditionally  Sissent  or  dissent  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  such  office  or  offices  within  it,  such  assent  of  said  State  shall 
be  thereafter  presumed. ' '  The  assent  or  dissent  is  to  be  expressed  uncon- 
ditionally at  the  first  session  of  the  legislature,  by  some  formal  legislative 
act;  and  if  not  so  expressed  its  assent  is  to  be  implied,  and  the  directors 
are  thereupon  invested  with  power,  at  such  time  thereafter  as  they  may 
please,  to  establish  branches,  which  can  not  afterwards  be  withdrawn 
except  by  resolve  of  Congress.  No  matter  what  may  be  the  cause  which 
may  operate  with  the  legislature,  which  either  prevents  it  from  speak- 
ing or  addresses  itself  to  its  wisdom,  to  induce  delay,  its  assent  is  to 
be  implied.  This  iron  rule  is  to  give  way  to  no  circumstances;  it  is 
unbending  and  inflexible.  It  is  the  language  of  the  master  to  the  vas- 
sal; an  unconditional  answer  is  claimed  forthwith,  and  delay,  postpone- 
ment, or  incapacity  to  answer  produces  an  implied  assent  which  is  ever 
after  irrevocable.  Many  of  the  State  elections  have  aheady  taken  place 
without  any  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  people  that  such  a  question 
wa^  to  come  up.  The  representatives  may  desire  a  submission  of  the 
question  to  their  constituents  preparatory  to  final  action  upon  it,  but  this 
high  privilege  is  denied;  whatever  may  be  the  motives  and  views  enter- 
tained by  the  representatives  of  the  people  to  induce  delay,  their  assent  is 
to  be  presumed,  and  is  ever  afterwards  binding  unless  their  dissent  shall 
be  unconditionally  expressed  at  their  first  session  after  the  passage  of 
this  bill  into  a  law.  They  may  by  formal  resolution  declare  the  question 
of  assent  or  dissent  to  be  undecided  and  postponed,  and  yet,  in  opposition 
to  their  express  declaration  to  the  contrary,  their  assent  is  to  be  implied. 
Cases  innumerable  might  be  dted  to  manifest  the  irrationality  of  such  an 
inference.  I^et  one  or  two  in  addition  suffice.  The  popular  branch  of 
the  legislature  may  express  its  dissent  by  an  unanimous  vote,  and  its 
resolution  may  be  defeated  by  a  tie  vote  of  the  senate,  and  yet  the  assent
John  Tyler  1920 
18  to  be  implied.  Both  branches  of  the  legislature  may  concur  in  a  reso- 
lution of  decided  dissent,  and  yet  the  governor  may  exert  the  veto  power 
conferred  on  him  by  the  State  constitution,  and  their  legislative  action 
be  defeated,  and  yet  the  assent  of  the  legislative  authority  is  implied,  and 
the  directors  of  this  contemplated  institution  are  authorized  to  establish 
a  branch  or  branches  in  such  State  whenever  they  may  find  it  conducive 
to  the  interest  of  the  stockholders  to  do  so;  and  having  once  established 
it  they  can  under  no  circumstances  withdraw  it  except  by  act  of  Con- 
gress. The  State  may  afterwards  protest  against  such  unjust  inference, 
but  its  authority  is  gone.  Its  assent  is  implied  by  its  failure  or  inability 
to  act  at  its  first  session,  and  its  voice  can  never  afterwards  be  heard. 
To  inferences  so  violent  and,  as  they  seem  to  me,  irrational  I  can  not 
yield  my  consent  No  court  of  justice  would  or  could  sanction  them 
without  reversing  all  that  is  established  in  judicial  proceeding  by  intro- 
ducing presumptions  at  variance  with  fact  and  inferences  at  the  expense 
of  reason.  A  State  in  a  condition  of  duress  would  be  presumed  to  speak 
as  an  individual  manacled  and  in  prison  might  be  presumed  to  be  in 
the  enjoyment  of  freedom.  Far  better  to  say  to  the  States  boldly  and 
frankly.  Congress  wills  and  submission  is  demanded. 
It  may  be  said  that  tlie  directors  may  not  establish  branches  undei 
such  circumstances;  but  this  is  a  question  of  power,  and  this  bill  invests 
them  with  full  authority  to  do  so.  If  the  legislature  of  New  York  or 
Pennsylvania  or  any  other  State  should  be  found  to  be  in  such  condition 
as  I  have  supposed,  could  there  be  any  security  furnished  against  such  a 
step  on  the  part  of  the  directors?  Nay,  is  it  not  fairly  to  be  presumed 
that  this  proviso  was  introduced  for  the  sole  purpose  of  meeting  the  con- 
tingency referred  to?  Why  else  should  it  have  been  introduced?  And 
I  submit  to  the  Senate  whether  it  can  be  believed  that  any  State  would 
be  likely  to  sit  quietly  down  under  such  a  state  of  things.  In  a  great 
measure  of  public  interest  their  patriotism  may  be  successfully  appealed 
to,  but  to  infer  their  assent  from  circumstances  at  war  with  such  inference 
I  can  not  but  regard  as  calculated  to  excite  a  feeling  at  fatal  enmity  with 
the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  country.  I  must  therefore  regard  this 
clause  as  asserting  the  power  to  be  in  Congress  to  establish  ofl&ces  of 
discount  in  a  State  not  only  without  its  assent,  but  against  its  dissent,  and 
BO  regarding  it  I  can  not  sanction  it.  On  general  principles  the  right  in 
Congress  to  prescribe  terms  to  any  State  implies  a  superiority  of  power 
and  control,  deprives  the  transaction  of  all  pretense  to  compact  between 
them,  and  terminates,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  total  abrogation  of  freedom 
of  action  on  the  part  erf  the  States.  But,  further,  the  State  may  express, 
after  the  most  solemn  form  of  legislation,  its  dissent,  which  may  from 
time  to  time  thef eaf ter  be  repeated  in  full  view  of  its  own  interest,  which 
can  never  be  separated  from  the  wise  and  beneficent  operation  of  this 
Government,  and  yet  Congress  may  by  virtue  of  the  last  proviso  overrule 
its  law,  and  upon  grounds  which  to  such  State  will  appear  to  rest  on  a
1 92 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
constructive  necessity  and  propriety  and  notliing  more.  I  regard  the  bill 
as  asserting  for  Congress  the  right  to  incorporate  a  United  States  bank 
with  power  and  right  to  establish  oflSces  of  discount  and  deposit  in  the 
several  States  of  this  Union  with  or  without  their  consent — a  principle  to 
which  I  have  always  heretofore  been  opposed  and  which  can  never  obtain 
my  sanction;  and  waiving  all  other  considerations  growing  out  of  its 
other  provisions,  I  return  it  to  the  House  in  which  it  originated  with 
these  my  objections  to  its  approval.  JOHN  TYLER. 
Washington,  September  p,  184,1. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
It  is  with  extreme  regret  that  I  feel  myself  constrained  by  the  duty 
faithfully  to  execute  the  oflSce  of  President  of  the  United  States  and  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  to  ''preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States'*  to  return  to  the  House  in  which  it  originated  the 
bill  "to  provide  for  the  better  collection,  safe-keeping,  and  disbursement 
of  the  public  revenue  by  means  of  a  corporation  to  be  styled  the  Fiscal 
Corporation  of  the  United  States,"  with  my  written  objections. 
In  my  message  sent  to  the  Senate  on  the  i6th  day  of  August  last, 
returning  the  bill  ' '  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  the  Fiscal  Bank  of 
the  United  States,"  I  distinctly  declared  that  my  own  opinion  had  been 
uniformly  proclaimed  to  be  against  the  exercise  "of  the  power  of  Con- 
gress to  create  a  national  bank  to  operate /^rj^  over  the  Union,"  and, 
entertaining  that  opinion,  my  main  objection  to  that  bill  was  based  upon 
the  highest  moral  and  religious  obligations  of  conscience  and  the  Consti- 
tution. I  readily  admit  that  whilst  the  qualified  veto  with  which  the 
Chief  Magistrate  is  invested  should  be  regarded  and  was  intended  by 
the  wise  men  who  made  it  a  part  of  the  Constitution  as  a  great  conserva- 
tive principle  of  our  system,  without  the  exercise  of  which  on  important 
occasions  a  mere  representative  majority  might  urge  the  Government  in 
its  legislation  beyond  the  limits  fixed  by  its  framers  or  might  exert  its 
just  powers  too  hastily  or  oppressively,  yet  it  is  a  power  which  ought  to 
be  most  cautiously  exerted,  and  perhaps  never  except  in  a  case  eminently 
involving  the  public  interest  or  one  in  which  the  oath  of  the  President, 
acting  under  his  convictions,  both  mental  and  moral,  imperiously  requires 
its  exercise.  In  such  a  case  he  has  no  alternative.  He  must  either  exert 
the  negative  power  intrusted  to  him  by  the  Constitution  chiefly  for  its 
own  preservation,  protection,  and  defense  or  commit  an  act  of  gross 
moral  turpitude.  Mere  regard  to  the  will  of  a  majority  must  not  in  a 
constitutional  republic  like  ours  control  this  sacred  and  solemn  duty 
of  a  sworn  oflScer.  The  Constitution  itself  I  regard  and  cherish  as  the 
embodied  and  written  will  of  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States.  It 
is  their  fixed  and  fundamental  law,  which  they  unanim6usly  prescribe  to 
the  public  functionaries,  their  mere  trustees  and  servants.     This  their
Johfu  Tyler  \^2i 
will  and  the  law  which  they  have  given  us  as  the  rule  of  our  action  have 
no  guard,  no  guaranty  of  preservation,  protection,  and  defense,  but  the 
oaths  which  it  prescribes  to  the  public  officers,  the  sanctity  with  which 
they  shall  religiously  observe  those  oaths,  and  the  patriotism  with 
which  the  people  shall  shield  it  by  their  own  sovereign  will,  which  has 
made  the  Constitution  supreme.  It  must  be  exerted  against  the  will  of 
a  mere  representative  majority  or  not  at  all.  It  is  alone  in  pursuance 
of  that  will  that  any  measure  can  reach  the  President,  and  to  say  that 
because  a  majority  in  Congress  have  passed  a  bill  he  should  therefore 
sanction  it  is  to  abrogate  the  power  altogether  and  to  render  its  insertion 
in  the  Constitution  a  work  of  absolute  supererogation.  The  duty  is  to 
guard  the  fundamental  will  of  the  people  themselves  from  (in  this  case, 
I  admit,  unintentional)  change  or  infraction  by  a  majority  in  Congress; 
and  in  that  light  alone  do  I  regard  the  constitutional  duty  which  I  now 
most  reluctantly  discharge.  Is  this  bill  now  presented  for  my  approval 
or  disapproval  such  a  bill  as  I  have  already  declared  could  not  receive 
my  sanction?  Is  it  such  a  bill  as  calls  for  the  exercise  of  the  negative 
power  under  the  Constitution?  Does  it  violate  the  Constitution  by  cre- 
ating a  national  bank  to  operate /^r  se  over  the  Union?  Its  title,  in  the 
first  place,  describes  its  general  character.  It  is  *'an  act  to  provide  for 
the  better  collection,  safe-keeping,  and  disbursement  of  the  public  reve- 
nue by  means  of  a  corporation  to  be  styled  the  Fisai^l  Corporation  of  the 
United  States, '  *  In  style,  then,  it  is  plainly  national  in  its  character.  Its 
powers,  functions,  and  duties  are  those  which  pertain  to  the  collecting, 
keeping,  and  disbursing  the  public  revenue.  The  means  by  which  these 
are  to  be  exerted  is  a  corporation  to  be  styled  the  Fiscal  Corporation  of 
the  United  States.  It  is  a  corporation  created  by  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  in  its  character  of  a  national  legislature  for  the  whole 
Union,  to  perform  ih&  fiscal  purposes,  meet  ih^  fiscal  wants  and  exigen- 
cies, supply  the  fiscal  uses,  and*  exert  thit  fiscal  agencies  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States.  Such  is  its  own  description  of  itself.  Do  its  pro- 
visions contradict  its  title?  They  do  not.  It  is  true  that  by  its  first 
section  it  provides  that  it  shall  be  estabUshed  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia; but  the  amount  of  its  capital,  the  manner  in  which  its  stock  is  to  be 
subscribed  for  and  held,  the  persons  and  bodies,  corporate  and  politic, 
by  whom  its  stock  may  be  held,  the  appointment  of  its  directors  and 
their  powers  and  duties,  its  fundamental  articles,  especially  that  to  estab- 
lish agencies  in  any  part  of  the  Union,  the  corporate  powers  and  busi- 
ness of  such  agencies,  the  prohibition  of  Congress  to  establish  any  other 
corporation  with  similar  powers  for  twenty  years,  with  express  reserva- 
tion in  the  same  clause  to  modify  or  create  any  bank  for  the  District  of 
Columbia,  so  that  the  aggregate  capital  shall  not  exceed  five  millions, 
without  enumerating  other  features  which  are  equally  distinctive  and 
characteristic,  clearly  show  that  it  can  not  be  regarded  as  other  than  a 
bank  of  the  United  States,  with  powers  seemingly  more  limited  than
1923  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
have  heretofore  been  granted  to  such  an  institution.  It  operates /^r5« 
over  the  Union  by  virtue  of  the  unaided  and,  in  my  view,  assumed  author- 
ity of  Congress  as  a  national  legislature,  as  distinguishable  from  a  bank 
created  by  Congress  for  the  District  of  Colunibia  as  the  local  legislature 
of  the  District.  Every  United  States  bank  heretofore  created  has  had 
power  to  deal  in  bills  of  exchange  as  well  as  local  discounts.  Both 
were  trading  privileges  conferred,  and  both  were  exercised  by  virtue  of 
the  aforesaid  power  of  Congress  over  the  whole  Union.  The  question 
of  power  remains  unchanged  without  reference  to  the  extent  of  privilege 
granted.  If  this  proposed  corporation  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  local  bank 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  invested  by  Congress  with  general  powers 
to  operate  over  the  Union,  it  is  obnoxious  to  still  stronger  objections.  It 
assumes  that  Congress  may  invest  a  local  institution  with  general  or 
national  powers.  With  the  same  propriety  that  it  may  do  this  in  regard 
to  a  bank  of  the  District  of  Colunibia  it  may  as  to  a  State  bank.  Yet 
who  can  indulge  the  idea  that  this  Government  can  rightfully,  by  mak- 
ing a  State  bank  its  fiscal  agent,  invest  it  with  the  absolute  and  unquali- 
fied powers  conferred  by  this  bill?  When  I  come  to  look  at  the  details 
of  the  bill,  they  do  not  recommend  it  strongly  to  my  adoption.  A  brief 
notice  of  some  of  its  provisions  will  suflSce. 
First.  It  may  justify  substantially  a  system  of  discounts  of  the  most 
objectionable  character.  It  is  to  deal*  in  bills  of  exchange  drawn  in 
one  State  and  payable  in  another  without  any  restraint.  The  bill  of 
exchange  may  have  an  unUmited  time  to  run,  and  its  renewabiUty  is 
nowhere  guarded  against.  It  may,  in  fact,  assume  the  most  objection- 
able form  of  accommodation  paper.  It  is  not  required  to  rest  on  any 
actual,  real,  or  substantial  exchange  basis.  A  drawer  in  one  place  becomes 
the  accepter  in  another,  and  so  in  turn  the  accepter  may  become  the 
drawer  upon  a  mutual  understanding.  It  may  at  the  same  time  indulge 
in  mere  local  discounts  under  the  name  of  bills  of  exchange.  A  bill 
drawn  at  Philadelphia  on  Camden,  N.  J. ,  at  New  York  on  a  border  town 
in  New  Jersey,  at  Cincinnati  on  Newport,  in  Kentucky,  not  to  multiply 
other  examples,  might,  for  anything  in  this  bill  to  restrain  it,  become 
a  mere  matter  of  local  accommodation.  Cities  thus  relatively  situated 
would  possess  advantages  over  cities  otherwise  situated  of  so  decided  a 
character  as  most  justly  to  excite  dissatisfaction. 
Second.  There  is  no  limit  prescribed  to  the  premium  in  the  purchase 
of  bills  of  exchange,  thereby  correcting  none  of  the  evils  under  which 
the  community  now  labors,  and  operating  most  injuriously  upon  the 
agricultural  States,  in  which  the  irregularities  in  the  rates  of  exchange 
are  most  severely  felt.  Nor  are  these  the  only  consequences.  A  resump- 
tion of  specie  payments  by  the  banks  of  those  States  would  be  liable  to 
indefinite  postponement;  for  as  the  operation  of  the  agencies  of  the 
interior  would  chiefly  consist  in  selling  bills  of  exchange,  and  the  pur- 
chases could  only  be  made  in  specie  or  the  notes  of  banks  paying  specie,
John  Tyler  1924 
the  State  banks  would  either  have  to  continue  with  their  doors  closed  or 
exist  at  the  mercy  of  this  national  monopoly  of  brokerage.  Nor  can  it 
be  passed  over  without  remark  that  whilst  the  District  of  Columbia  is 
made  the  seat  of  the  principal  bank,  its  citizens  are  excluded  from  all 
participation  in  any  benefit  it  might  afford  by  a  positive  prohibition  on 
the  bank  from  all  discounting  witkin  the  District. 
These  are  some  of  the  objections  which  prominently  exist  against  the 
details  of  the  bill.  Others  might  be  urged  of  much  force,  but  it  would 
be  unprofitable  to  dwell  upon  them.  Suffice  it  to  add  that  this  charter 
is  designed  to  continue  for  twenty  years  without  a  competitor;  that  the 
defects  to  which  I  have  alluded,  being  founded  on  the  fundamental  law 
of  the  corporation,  are  irrevocable,  and  that  if  the  objections  be  well 
founded  it  would  be  overhazardous  to  pass  the  bill  into  a  law. 
In  conclusion  I  take  leave  most  respectfully  to  say  that  I  have  felt 
the  most  anxious  solicitude  to  meet  the  wishes  of  Congress  in  the  adop- 
tion of  a  fiscal  agent  which,  avoiding  all  constitutional  objections,  should 
harmonize  conflicting  opinions.  Actuated  by  this  feeUng,  I  have  been 
ready  to  yield  much  in  a  spirit  of  conciliation  to  the  opinions  of  others; 
and  it  is  with  great  pain  that  I  now  feel  compelled  to  differ  from  Con- 
gress a  second  time  in  the  same  session.  At  the  commencement  of 
this  session,  inclined  from  choice  to  defer  to  the  legislative  will,  I  sub- 
mitted to  Congress  the  propriety  of  adopting  a  fiscal  agent  which,  with- 
out violating  the  Constitution,  would  separate  the  public  money  from 
the  Executive  control  and  perform  the  operations  of  the  Treasury  with- 
out being  burdensome  to  the  people  or  inconvenient  or  expensive  to 
the  Government.  It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  this  department  of  the 
Government  can  not  upon  constitutional  and  other  grounds  concur  with 
the  legislative  department  in  this  last  measure  proposed  to  attain  these 
desirable  objects.  Owing  to  the  brief  space  between  the  period  of  the 
death  of  my  lamented  predecessor  and  my  own  installation  into  office,  I 
was,  in  fact,  not  left  time  to  prepare  and  submit  a  definitive  recommen- 
dation of  my  own  in  my  regular  message,  and  since  my  mind  has  been 
wholly  occupied  in  a  most  anxious  attempt  to  conform  my  action  to  the 
legislative  will.  In  this  communication  I  am  confined  by  the  Constitu- 
tion to  my  objections  simply  to  this  bill,  but  the  period  of  the  regular 
session  will  soon  arrive,  when  it  will  be  my  duty,  under  another  clause 
of  the  Constitution,  "to  give  to  Congress  information  of  the  state  of 
the  Union  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such  measures  as"  I 
*^ shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient."  And  I  most  respectfully  sub- 
mit, in  a  spirit  of  harmony,  whether  the  present  differences  of  opinion, 
should  be  pressed  further  at  this  time,  and  whether  the  peculiarity  of 
my  situation  does  not  entitle  me  to  a  postponement  of  this  subject  to  a 
more  puspidous  period  for  deliberation.  The  two  Houses  of  Congrej^ 
have  distinguished  themselves  at  this  extraordinary  session  by  the  per- 
formance of  an  immense  mass  of  labor  at  a  season  very  unfavorable
1925  Messages  and  Papers  0/  the  Presidents 
both  to  health  and  action,  and  have  passed  many  laws  which  I  trust 
will  prove  highly  beneficial  to  the  interests  of  the  country  and  fully 
answer  its  just  expectations.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune  and  pleasure 
to  concur  with  them  in  all  measures  except  this.  And  why  should  our 
difference  on  this  alone  be  pushed  to  extremes?  It  is  my  anxious  desire 
that  it  should  not  be.  I  too  have  been  burdened  with  extraordinary 
labors  of  late,  and  I  sincerely  desire  time  for  deep  and  dehberate  reflec- 
tion on  this  the  greatest  difficulty  of  my  Administration./  May  we  not 
now  pause  until  a  more  favorable  time,  when,  with  the  most  anxious 
hope  that  the  Executive  and  Congress  may  cordi^ly  unite,  some  meas- 
ure of  finance  may  be  deliberately  adopted  promotive  of  the  good  of  our 
common  country? 
I  will  take  this  occasion  to  declare  that  the  conclusions  to  which  I 
have  brought  myself  are  those  of  a  settled  conviction,  founded,  in  my 
opinion,  on  a  just  view  of  the  Constitution;  that  in  arriving  at  it  I  have 
been  actuated  by  no  other  motive  or  desire  than  to  uphold  the  institu- 
tions of  the  country  as  they  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  hands  of  our 
godlike  ancestors,  and  that  I  shall  esteem  my  efforts  to  sustain  them, 
even  though  I  perish,  more  honorable  than  to  win  the  applause  of  men 
by  a  sacrifice  of  my  duty  and  my  conscience. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
PROCLAMATION. 
[Prom  Statutes  at  Large  (I4ttle,  Brown  &  Ca),  VoL  XT,  p.  786.] 
By  the  Prksidknt  op  the  United  States  op  America. 
A  proclamation. 
Whereas  it  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  that  sundry  secret  lodges,  clubs,  or  associations  exist 
on  the  northern  frontier;  that  the  members  of  these  lodges  are  bound 
together  by  secret,  oaths;  that  they  have  collected  firearms  and  other 
military  materials  and  secreted  them  in  sundry  places;  and  that  it  is 
their  purpose  to  violate  the  laws  of  their  country  by  making  military 
and  lawless  incursions,  when  opportunity  shall  oflPer,  into  the  territories 
of  a  power  with  which  the  United  Spates  are  at  peace;  and 
Whereas  it  is  known  that  traveling  agitators,  from  both  sides  of  the 
Une,  visit  these  lodges  and  harangue  the  members  in  secret  meeting, 
stimulating  them  to  illegal  acts;  and 
Whereas  the  same  persons  are  known  to  levy  contributions  on  the 
ignorant  and  credulous  for  their  own  benefit,  thus  supporting  and  enrich- 
ing themselves  by  the  basest  means  ;  and 
Whereas  the  unlawful  intentions  of  the  members  of  these  lodges  have
John  Tyler  1926 
already  been  manifested  in  an  attempt  to  destroy  the  lives  and  property 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Chippewa,  in  Canada,  and  the  public  property  of 
the  British  Government  there  being  : 
Now,  therefore,  I,  John  Tyler,  President  of  the  United  States,  do  issue 
this  my  proclamation,  admonishing  all  such  .evil-minded  persons  of  the 
condign  punishment  which  is  certain  to  overtake  them ;  assuring  them 
that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  will  be  rigorously  executed  against 
their  illegal  acts,  and  that  if  in  any  lawless  incursion  into  Canada  they 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  British  authorities  they  will  not  be  reclaimed 
as  American  citizens  nor  any  interference  made  by  this  Government  in 
their  behalf.  And  I  exhort  all  well-meaning  but  deluded  persons  who 
may  have  joined  these  lodges  immediately  to  abandon  them  and  to  have 
nothing  more  to  do  with  their  secret  meetings  or  unlawful  oaths,  as 
they  would  avoid  aerious  consequences  to  themselves*  And  I  expect 
the  intelligent  and  well-disposed  members  of  the  community  to  frown 
on  all  these  unlawful  combinations  and  illegal  proceedings,  and  to  assist 
the  Government  in  maintaining  the  peace  of  the  country  against  the 
mischievous  consequences  of  the  acts  of  these  violators  of  the  law. 
Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  25th  day  of  Sep- 
r       1     tember,  A.  D.  1841,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  the  sixty-sixth. 
JOHN  TYLER. 
By  the  President: 
Daniel  Webster, 
Secretary  of  State. 
EXECUTIVE  ORDER. 
General  Orders. 
War  Department, 
Adjutant-General's  Office, 
Washington^  July  5,  184,1, 
Brevet  Majo.'-General  Winfield  Scott  having  been  appointed  by  the 
President,  by  and  with  the  consent  and  advice  of  the  Senate,  the  Major^ 
General  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  he  is  directed  to  assume  the 
command  and  enter  upon  his  duties  accordingly. 
By  command  of  the  President  of  the  United  States: 
R.  JONES, 
Adjutant'  General