Part 6
GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, I transmit herewith a report[8] from the Secretary of War.
ANDREW JACKSON.
[Footnote 8: Transmitting correspondence of June, 1825, relative to treaties with the Osage and Kansas Indians.]
_April 23, 1830_. _Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_.
GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith a report from the Department of War of the survey made of Sandy Bay, Massachusetts, in conformity to the act of 2d March, 1829.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 1, 1830_. _To the Senate of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: Finding from the inclosed letter from the Secretary of the Treasury that James C. Dickson, lately nominated to be receiver of public moneys at Mount Salus, Miss., is a defaulter, I beg leave to withdraw his nomination, and to nominate in his place Hiram G. Rennels.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 6, 1830_. _To the Senate of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: The accompanying propositions, in the form of a treaty, have been recently sent to me by special messenger from the Choctaw Nation of Indians, and since it was received a protest against it has been forwarded. Both evince a desire to cede to the United States all their country east of the Mississippi, and both are here submitted. These measures are the voluntary acts of the Indians themselves. The Government was not represented in the councils which adopted them, nor had it any previous intimation that such steps were in contemplation. The Indians convened of their own accord, settled and executed the propositions contained in the treaty presented to me, and agreed to be bound by them if within three months they should receive the approbation of the President and Senate. The other measure is equally their own.
It is certainly desirous, on various and very pressing accounts, as will appear from the accompanying documents, that some agreement should be concluded with the Indians by which an object so important as their removal beyond the territorial limits of the States may be effected. In settling the terms of such an agreement I am disposed to exercise the utmost liberality, and to concur in any which are consistent with the Constitution and not incompatible with the interests of the United States and their duties to the Indians. I can not, however, regard the terms proposed by the Choctaws to be in all respects of this character; but desirous of concluding an arrangement upon such as are, I have drawn up the accompanying amendments, which I propose to offer to the Choctaws if they meet the approbation of the Senate. The conditions which they offer are such as, in my judgment, will be most likely to be acceptable to both parties and are liable to the fewest objections. Not being tenacious, though, on the subject, I will most cheerfully adopt any modifications which on a frank interchange of opinions my constitutional advisers may suggest and which I shall be satisfied are reconcilable with my official duties.
With these views, I ask the opinion of the Senate upon the following questions:
Will the Senate advise the conclusion of a treaty with the Choctaw Nation according to the terms which they propose? Or will the Senate advise the conclusion of a treaty with that tribe as modified by the alterations suggested by me? If not, what further alteration or modification will the Senate propose?
I am fully aware that in thus resorting to the early practice of the Government, by asking the previous advice of the Senate in the discharge of this portion of my duties, I am departing from a long and for many years an unbroken usage in similar cases. But being satisfied that this resort is consistent with the provisions of the Constitution, that it is strongly recommended in this instance by considerations of expediency, and that the reasons which have led to the observance of a different practice, though very cogent in negotiations with foreign nations, do not apply with equal force to those made with Indian tribes, I flatter myself that it will not meet the disapprobation of the Senate. Among the reasons for a previous expression of the views of the Senate the following are stated as most prominent:
1. The Indians have requested that their propositions should be submitted to the Senate.
2. The opinion of the Senate in relation to the terms to be proposed will have a salutary effect in a future negotiation, if one should be deemed proper.
3. The Choctaw is one of the most numerous and powerful tribes within our borders, and as the conclusion of a treaty with them may have a controlling effect upon other tribes it is important that its terms should be well considered. Those now proposed by the Choctaws, though objectionable, it is believed are susceptible of modifications which will leave them conformable to the humane and liberal policy which the Government desires to observe toward the Indian tribes, and be at the same time acceptable to them. To be possessed of the views of the Senate on this important and delicate branch of our future negotiations would enable the President to act much more effectively in the exercise of his
## particular functions. There is also the best reason to believe that
measures in this respect emanating from the united counsel of the treaty-making power would be more satisfactory to the American people and to the Indians.
It will be seen that the pecuniary stipulations are large; and in bringing this subject to the consideration of the Senate I may be allowed to remark that the amount of money which may be secured to be paid should, in my judgment, be viewed as of minor importance. If a fund adequate to the object in view can be obtained from the lands which they cede, all the purposes of the Government should be regarded as answered. The great desideratum is the removal of the Indians and the settlement of the perplexing question involved in their present location--a question in which several of the States of this Union have the deepest interest, and which, if left undecided much longer, may eventuate in serious injury to the Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 13, 1830_. _To the House of Representatives_.
GENTLEMEN: The inclosed documents will present to Congress the necessity of some legislative provision by which to prevent the offenses to which they refer. At present it appears there is no law existing for the punishment of persons guilty of interrupting the public surveyors when engaged in the performance of the trusts confided to them. I suggest, therefore, for your consideration the propriety of adopting some provision, with adequate penalties, to meet the case.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 13, 1830_. _To the House of Representatives_.
GENTLEMEN: I have the honor, in compliance with a resolution of your House of the 10th ultimo, to transmit the inclosed documents, which furnish all the information of the steps that have been taken and plans procured for the erection of a radiating marine railway for the repair of sloops of war at the navy-yard at Pensacola.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 14, 1830_. _To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: I herewith transmit to Congress the report of the engineer employed to survey the bar at the mouth of Sag Harbor, to ascertain the best method of preventing the harbor being filled up with sand, and the cost of the same, authorized by the act of the 2d of March, 1829.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 21, 1830_. _To the Senate of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: It having been represented to me that some of the members of the Senate voted against the confirmation of the appointment of Major M.M. Noah as surveyor of the port of New York through misapprehension, and having received the accompanying letter and memorial from a number of the most respectable merchants and citizens of that city, setting forth his fitness for the office, I therefore renominate him to the Senate as surveyor of the customs for the port of New York.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 25, 1830_. _To the House of Representatives_.
GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith, for the use of the House, the report of a survey[9] made in compliance with the act of the 2d of March, 1829.
ANDREW JACKSON.
[Footnote 9: Of the harbors of Stamford and Norwalk, Conn.]
WASHINGTON, _May 26, 1830_. _To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: I think it my duty to inform you that I am daily expecting the definitive answer of the British Government to a proposition which has been submitted to it by this, upon the subject of the colonial trade.
This communication has been delayed by a confident belief that the answer referred to would have been received early enough to have admitted of its submission to you in sufficient season for the final
## action of Congress at its present session, and is now induced by an
apprehension that although the packet by which it was intended to be sent is hourly expected, its arrival may, nevertheless, be delayed until after your adjournment.
Should this branch of the negotiation committed to our minister be successful, the present interdict would, nevertheless, be necessarily continued until the next session of Congress, as the President has in no event authority to remove it.
Although no decision had been made at the date of our last advices from Mr. McLane, yet from the general character of the interviews between him and those of His Majesty's ministers whose particular duty it was to confer with him on the subject there is sufficient reason to expect a favorable result to justify me in submitting to you the propriety of providing for a decision in the recess.
This may be done by authorizing the President, in case an arrangement can be effected upon such terms as Congress would approve, to carry the same into effect on our part by proclamation, or, if it should be thought advisable, to execute the views of Congress by like means in the event of an unfavorable decision.
Any information in the possession of the Executive which you may deem necessary to guide your deliberations, and which it may, under existing circumstances, be proper to communicate, shall be promptly laid before you, if required.
ANDREW JACKSON.
WASHINGTON, _May 27, 1830_. _To the Senate of the United States_:
It is gratifying to me to be able to communicate to the Senate before the termination of its present session, for its advice and consent as to the ratification of it, a convention just received at the Department of State between the United States and His Majesty the King of Denmark, which was negotiated on the part of the former by Mr. Henry Wheaton, their chargé d'affaires at the Court of Denmark, and on that of the latter by the Sieurs Henry Count de Schemmelman, his minister of foreign affairs, and Paul Christian de Stemann, president of his chancery, and concluded and signed by these plenipotentiaries at Copenhagen on the 28th of March of the present year.
The convention provides by compromise for the adjustment and payment of indemnities to no inconsiderable amount, long sought from the Government of Denmark by that of the United States, in behalf of their citizens who had preferred claims for the same, relating to the seizure, detention, and condemnation or confiscation of their vessels, cargoes, or property by the public armed ships or by the tribunals of Denmark or in the states subject to the Danish scepter; and there is every reason to believe, as the Senate will infer from the correspondence which accompanies this communication, that the proposed arrangement will prove entirely satisfactory to them.
ANDREW JACKSON.
_May 28, 1830_. _To the Senate of the United States_.
GENTLEMEN: For the reasons expressed in the inclosed note, I renominate Wharton Rector to be agent for the Shawnee and Delaware Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: The rejection of Colonel Rector by the Senate took place in the absence of Mr. McLean and myself. We were both confined to our rooms by illness. Had we been present his nomination would have been confirmed. I believe that if he were again placed before the Senate his nomination would be confirmed, and should therefore be pleased if he could be again nominated.
I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, J. ROWAN.
_May 29, 1830_. _To the House of Representatives_.
GENTLEMEN: Having approved and signed a resolution, originating in the House of Representatives, which provides "that the pay, subsistence, emoluments, and allowances received by the officers of the Marine Corps previous to the 1st of April, 1829, be, and the same is hereby, directed to be continued to them from that date up to the 28th of February, 1831," it becomes my duty to call the attention of Congress to the fact that the estimates for that branch of the public service submitted to them at the commencement of the present session were made with reference to the pay, subsistence, emoluments, and allowances provided for by law, and excluding those which previously to the 1st of April, 1829, had been made on the authority of the Department alone, and to suggest the propriety of an appropriation to meet the increased expenditure.
ANDREW JACKSON.
WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1830_. _To the Senate of the United States_:
I submit herewith a report[10] from the Secretary of the Treasury, giving the information called for by a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of March, 1829.
ANDREW JACKSON.
[Footnote 10: Transmitting statements of lands appropriated by Congress for specific objects within the several States, etc.; disbursements made within the several States and Territories from the commencement of the Government to December 31, 1828; value of exports from the commencement of the Government to September 30, 1828. ]
_May 30, 1830_. _To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_.
Gentlemen: I have approved and signed the bill entitled "An act making appropriations for examinations and surveys, and also for certain works of internal improvement," but as the phraseology of the section which appropriates the sum of $8,000 for the road from Detroit to Chicago may be construed to authorize the application of the appropriation for the continuance of the road beyond the limits of the Territory of Michigan, I desire to be understood as having approved this bill with the understanding that the road authorized by this section is not to be extended beyond the limits of the said Territory.
ANDREW JACKSON.
VETO MESSAGES.
_May 27, 1830_. _To the House of Representatives_.
Gentlemen: I have maturely considered the bill proposing to authorize "a subscription of stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company," and now return the same to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its passage.
Sincerely friendly to the improvement of our country by means of roads and canals, I regret that any difference of opinion in the mode of contributing to it should exist between us; and if in stating this difference I go beyond what the occasion may be deemed to call for, I hope to find an apology in the great importance of the subject, an unfeigned respect for the high source from which this branch of it has emanated, and an anxious wish to be correctly understood by my constituents in the discharge of all my duties. Diversity of sentiment among public functionaries actuated by the same general motives, on the character and tendency of particular measures, is an incident common to all Governments, and the more to be expected in one which, like ours, owes its existence to the freedom of opinion, and must be upheld by the same influence. Controlled as we thus are by a higher tribunal, before which our respective acts will be canvassed with the indulgence due to the imperfections of our nature, and with that intelligence and unbiased judgment which are the true correctives of error, all that our responsibility demands is that the public good should be the measure of our views, dictating alike their frank expression and honest maintenance.
In the message which was presented to Congress at the opening of its present session I endeavored to exhibit briefly my views upon the important and highly interesting subject to which our attention is now to be directed. I was desirous of presenting to the representatives of the several States in Congress assembled the inquiry whether some mode could not be devised which would reconcile the diversity of opinion concerning the powers of this Government over the subject of internal improvement, and the manner in which these powers, if conferred by the Constitution, ought to be exercised. The act which I am called upon to consider has, therefore, been passed with a knowledge of my views on this question, as these are expressed in the message referred to. In that document the following suggestions will be found:
After the extinction of the public debt it is not probable that any adjustment of the tariff upon principles satisfactory to the people of the Union will until a remote period, if ever, leave the Government without a considerable surplus in the Treasury beyond what may be required for its current service. As, then, the period approaches when the application of the revenue to the payment of debt will cease, the disposition of the surplus will present a subject for the serious deliberation of Congress; and it may be fortunate for the country that it is yet to be decided. Considered in connection with the difficulties which have heretofore attended appropriations for purposes of internal improvement, and with those which this experience tells us will certainly arise whenever power over such subjects may be exercised by the General Government, it is hoped that it may lead to the adoption of some plan which will reconcile the diversified interests of the States and strengthen the bonds which unite them. Every member of the Union, in peace and in war, will be benefited by the improvement of inland navigation and the construction of highways in the several States. Let us, then, endeavor to attain this benefit in a mode which will be satisfactory to all. That hitherto adopted has by many of our fellow-citizens been deprecated as an infraction of the Constitution, while by others it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has been employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils.
And adverting to the constitutional power of Congress to make what I considered a proper disposition of the surplus revenue, I subjoined the following remarks:
To avoid these evils it appears to me that the most safe, just, and federal disposition which could be made of the surplus revenue would be its apportionment among the several States according to their ratio of representation, and should this measure not be found warranted by the Constitution that it would be expedient to propose to the States an amendment authorizing it.
The constitutional power of the Federal Government to construct or promote works of internal improvement presents itself in two points of view--the first as bearing upon the sovereignty of the States within whose limits their execution is contemplated, if jurisdiction of the territory which they may occupy be claimed as necessary to their preservation and use; the second as asserting the simple right to appropriate money from the National Treasury in aid of such works when undertaken by State authority, surrendering the claim of jurisdiction. In the first view the question of power is an open one, and can be decided without the embarrassments attending the other, arising from the practice of the Government. Although frequently and strenuously attempted, the power to this extent has never been exercised by the Government in a single instance. It does not, in my opinion, possess it; and no bill, therefore, which admits it can receive my official sanction.
But in the other view of the power the question is differently situated. The ground taken at an early period of the Government was "that whenever money has been raised by the general authority and is to be applied to a
## particular measure, a question arises whether the particular measure be
within the enumerated authorities vested in Congress. If it be, the money requisite for it may be applied to it; if not, no such application can be made." The document in which this principle was first advanced is of deservedly high authority, and should be held in grateful remembrance for its immediate agency in rescuing the country from much existing abuse and for its conservative effect upon some of the most valuable principles of the Constitution. The symmetry and purity of the Government would doubtless have been better preserved if this restriction of the power of appropriation could have been maintained without weakening its ability to fulfill the general objects of its institution, an effect so likely to attend its admission, notwithstanding its apparent fitness, that every subsequent Administration of the Government, embracing a period of thirty out of the forty-two years of its existence, has adopted a more enlarged construction of the power. It is not my purpose to detain you by a minute recital of the acts which sustain this assertion, but it is proper that I should notice some of the most prominent in order that the reflections which they suggest to my mind may be better understood.
In the Administration of Mr. Jefferson we have two examples of the exercise of the right of appropriation, which in the considerations that led to their adoption and in their effects upon the public mind have had a greater agency in marking the character of the power than any subsequent events. I allude to the payment of $15,000,000 for the purchase of Louisiana and to the original appropriation for the construction of the Cumberland road, the latter act deriving much weight from the acquiescence and approbation of three of the most powerful of the original members of the Confederacy, expressed through their respective legislatures. Although the circumstances of the latter case may be such as to deprive so much of it as relates to the actual construction of the road of the force of an obligatory exposition of the Constitution, it must, nevertheless, be admitted that so far as the mere appropriation of money is concerned they present the principle in its most imposing aspect. No less than twenty-three different laws have been passed, through all the forms of the Constitution, appropriating upward of $2,500,000 out of the National Treasury in support of that improvement, with the approbation of every President of the United States, including my predecessor, since its commencement.