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A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS
BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON
A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE
VOLUME X
1902
Prefatory Note
This volume closes the task, entered upon by me in April, 1895, of compiling all the official papers of the Presidents. Instead of finding it the labor of a year, as I supposed it would be when I undertook it, the work has occupied me closely for more than four years. A great portion of this time has been consumed in the preparation of the Index. The Index is mainly the work of my son, James D. Richardson, jr., who prepared it with such assistance as I could give him. He has given his entire time to it for three years. Every reference in it has been examined and compared with the text by myself. We have endeavored to make it full, accurate, and comprehensive, with numerous cross references. There will be found in this Index a large number of encyclopedic articles, which are intended, in part at least, to furnish the reader definitions of politico-historical words and phrases occurring in the papers of the Chief Magistrates, or to develop more fully questions or subjects to which only indirect reference is made or which are but briefly discussed by them. There will also be found short accounts of several hundred battles in which the armies of the United States have been engaged; also descriptions of all the States of the Union and of many foreign countries. We have striven earnestly to make these encyclopedic articles historically correct, and to this end have carefully compared them with the most eminent authorities. This feature was not within the scope of the work as contemplated when the resolution authorizing the compilation was passed, nor when the act was passed requiring the preparation of the Index; but with the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing I have inserted the articles, believing that they would be of interest. They contain facts and valuable information not always easily accessible, and it is hoped that they will serve to familiarize the young men of the country who read them with its history and its trials and make of them better citizens and more devoted lovers of our free institutions. There has been no effort or inclination on my part to give partisan bias or political coloring of any nature to these articles. On the other hand, I have sought only to furnish reliable historical data and well-authenticated definitions and to avoid even the appearance of an expression of my own opinion. It is proper to add that these articles have all been read and approved by Mr. A.R. Spofford, Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress, to whom I now make acknowledgment of my indebtedness.
In pursuance of the plan originally adopted certain papers were omitted from the earlier volumes of this work. Referring to these papers, the following statement occurs in the Prefatory Note to Volume I: "In executing the commission with which I have been charged I have sought to bring together in the several volumes of the series all Presidential proclamations, addresses, messages, and communications to Congress excepting those nominating persons to office and those which simply transmit treaties, and reports of heads of Departments which contain no recommendation from the Executive." In the Prefatory Note to Volume IX the statement was made that this course was a mistake, and "that the work to be exhaustive should comprise every message of the Presidents transmitting reports of heads of Departments and other communications, no matter how brief or unintelligible the papers were in themselves, and that to make them intelligible I should insert editorial footnotes explaining them. Having acted upon the other idea in making up Volume I and a portion of Volume II, quite a number of such brief papers were intentionally omitted. Being convinced that all the papers of the Executives should be inserted, the plan was modified accordingly, and the endeavor was thereafter made to publish all of them. In order, however, that the compilation maybe 'accurate and exhaustive,' I have gone back and collected all the papers—those which should have appeared in Volumes I and II as well as such as were unintentionally omitted from the succeeding volumes—excepting those simply making nominations, and shall publish them in an appendix in the last volume." These omitted papers, with editorial footnotes, have been inserted in the Appendix, and appear in the Index in alphabetical order, so that no serious inconvenience will result to the reader.
The compilation properly closed with President Cleveland's second Administration, March 4, 1897, but as the Spanish-American War excited great interest I determined, after conferring with the Joint Committee on Printing, to publish the official papers of President McKinley which relate exclusively to that war. These will be found in the Appendix.
I have been greatly assisted in the work of compilation by Mr. A.P. Marston, of the Proof Room of the Government Printing Office. Without his valuable assistance in searching for and obtaining the various papers and his painstaking care in the verification of data the work would not have been so complete. Mr. Charles T. Hendler, of the State Branch of the Government Printing Office, rendered timely aid in procuring proclamations from the archives of the State Department. To these gentlemen I make proper acknowledgments.
The work has met with public favor far beyond all expectations, and words of praise for it have come from all classes and callings. Those who possess it may be assured that they have in their libraries all the official utterances of the Presidents of the United States from 1789 to 1897 that could possibly be found after the most diligent search, and that these utterances are not to be found complete in any other publication.
I close by quoting from the Prefatory Note to Volume I: "If my work shall prove satisfactory to Congress and the country, I will feel compensated for my time and effort."
JAMES D. RICHARDSON.
JULY 4, 1899.
APPENDIX
Messages, Proclamations, Executive Orders, etc., Omitted from Volumes I to IX
SPECIAL MESSAGES, ETC.
SATURDAY, August 22, 1789.[1]
[Footnote 1: See message of August 21, 1789, Vol. I, p. 61.]
The President of the United States came into the Senate Chamber, attended by General Knox, and laid before the Senate the following state of facts, with the questions thereto annexed, for their advice and consent:
"To conciliate the powerful tribes of Indians in the southern district, amounting probably to 14,000 fighting men, and to attach them firmly to the United States, may be regarded as highly worthy of the serious attention of Government.
"The measure includes not only peace and security to the whole southern frontier, but is calculated to form a barrier against the colonies of a European power which in the mutations of policy may one day become the enemy of the United States. The fate of the Southern States, therefore, or the neighboring colonies may principally depend on the present measures of the Union toward the southern Indians.
"By the papers which have been laid before the Senate it will appear that in the latter end of the year 1785 and the beginning of 1786 treaties were formed by the United States with the Cherokees, the Chickesaws, and Choctaws. The report of the commissioners will show the reasons why a treaty was not formed at the same time with the Creeks.
"It will also appear by the papers that the States of North Carolina and Georgia protested against said treaties as infringing their legislative rights and being contrary to the Confederation. It will further appear by the said papers that the treaty with the Cherokees has been entirely violated by the disorderly white people on the frontiers of North Carolina.
"The opinion of the late Congress respecting the said violation will sufficiently appear by the proclamation which they caused to be issued on the 1st of September, 1788.
"By the public newspapers it appears that on the 16th of June last a truce was concluded with the Cherokees by Mr. John Steele on behalf of the State of North Carolina, in which it was stipulated that a treaty should be held as soon as possible and that in the meantime all hostilities should cease on either side.
"As the Cherokees reside principally within the territory claimed by North Carolina, and as that State is not a member of the present Union, it may be doubted whether any efficient measures in favor of the Cherokees could be immediately adopted by the General Government.
"The commissioners for negotiating with the southern Indians may be instructed to transmit a message to the Cherokees, stating to them as far as may be proper the difficulties arising from the local claims of North Carolina, and to assure them that the United States are not unmindful of the treaty at Hopewell, and as soon as the difficulties which are at present opposed to the measure shall be removed the Government will do full justice to the Cherokees.
"The distance of the Choctaws and Chickesaws from the frontier settlements seems to have prevented those tribes from being involved in similar difficulties with the Cherokees.
"The commissioners may be instructed to transmit messages to the said tribes containing assurances of the continuance of the friendship of the United States and that measures will soon be taken for extending a trade to them agreeably to the treaties of Hopewell. The commissioners may also be directed to report a plan for the execution of the said treaties respecting trade.
"But the case of the Creek Nation is of the highest importance and requires an immediate decision. The cause of the hostilities between Georgia and the Creeks is stated to be a difference in judgment concerning three treaties made between the said parties, to wit, at Augusta in 1783, at Galphinton in 1785, and at Shoulderbone in 1786. The State of Georgia asserts and the Creeks deny the validity of the said treaties.
"Hence arises the indispensable necessity of having all the circumstances respecting the said treaties critically investigated by commissioners of the United States, so that the further measures of Government may be formed on a full knowledge of the case.
"In order that the investigation may be conducted with the highest impartiality, it will be proper, in addition to the evidence of the documents in the public possession, that Georgia should be represented at this part of the proposed treaty with the Creek Nation.
"It is, however, to be observed, in any issue of the inquiry, that it would be highly embarrassing to Georgia to relinquish that part of the lands stated to have been ceded by the Creeks lying between the Ogeeche and Oconee rivers, that State having surveyed and divided the same among certain descriptions of its citizens, who settled and planted thereon until dispossessed by the Indians.
"In case, therefore, the issue of the investigation should be unfavorable to the claims of Georgia, the commissioners should be instructed to use their best endeavors to negotiate with the Creeks a solemn conveyance of the said lands to Georgia.
"By the report of the commissioners who were appointed under certain acts of the late Congress by South Carolina and Georgia it appears that they have agreed to meet the Creeks on the 15th of September ensuing. As it is with great difficulty the Indians are collected together at certain seasons of the year, it is important that the above occasion should be embraced if possible on the part of the present Government to form a treaty with the Creeks. As the proposed treaty is of great importance to the future tranquillity of the State of Georgia as well as of the United States, it has been thought proper that it should be conducted on the part of the General Government by Commissioners whose local situations may free them from the imputation of prejudice on this subject.
"As it is necessary that certain principles should be fixed previously to forming instructions for the commissioners, the following questions arising out of the foregoing communications are stated by the President of the United States and the advice of the Senate requested thereon:
"First. In the present state of affairs between North Carolina and the United States will it be proper to take any other measures for redressing the injuries of the Cherokees than the one herein suggested?
"Second. Shall the commissioners be instructed to pursue any other measures respecting the Chickesaws and Choctaws than those herein suggested?
"Third. If the commissioners shall adjudge that the Creek Nation was fully represented at the three treaties with Georgia, and that the cessions of land were obtained with the full understanding and free consent of the acknowledged proprietors, and that the said treaties ought to be considered as just and equitable, in this case shall the commissioners be instructed to insist on a formal renewal and confirmation thereof, and in case of a refusal shall they be instructed to inform the Creeks that the arms of the Union shall be employed to compel them to acknowledge the justice of the said cessions?
"Fourth. But if the commissioners shall adjudge that the said treaties were formed with an inadequate or unauthorized representation of the Creek Nation, or that the treaties were held under circumstances of constraint or unfairness of any sort, so that the United States could not with justice and dignity request or urge a confirmation thereof, in this case shall the commissioners, considering the importance of the Oconee lands to Georgia, be instructed to use their highest exertions to obtain a cession of said lands? If so, shall the commissioners be instructed, if they can not obtain the said cessions on better terms, to offer for the same and for the further great object of attaching the Creeks to the Government of the United States the following conditions:
"First. A compensation, in money or goods, to the amount of $——, the said amount to be stipulated to be paid by Georgia at the period which shall be fixed, or in failure thereof by the United States.
"Second. A secure port on the Altamaha or St. Marys rivers, or at any other place between the same as may be mutually agreed to by the commissioners and the Creeks.
"Third. Certain pecuniary considerations to some and honorary military distinctions to other influential chiefs on their taking oaths of allegiance to the United States.
"Fourth. A solemn guaranty by the United States to the Creeks of their remaining territory, and to maintain the same, if necessary, by a line of military posts.
"Fifth. But if all offers should fail to induce the Creeks to make the desired cessions to Georgia, shall the commissioners make it an ultimatum?
"Sixth. If the said cessions shall not be made an ultimatum, shall the commissioners proceed and make a treaty and include the disputed lands within the limits which shall be assigned to the Creeks? If not, shall a temporary boundary be marked making the Oconee the line, and the other parts of the treaty be concluded? In this case shall a secure port be stipulated and the pecuniary and honorary considerations granted? In other general objects shall the treaties formed at Hopewell with the Cherokees, Chickesaws, and Choctaws be the basis of a treaty with the Creeks?
"Seventh. Shall the sum of $20,000 appropriated to Indian expenses and treaties be wholly applied, if necessary, to a treaty with the Creeks? If not, what proportion?"
Whereupon the Senate proceeded to give their advice and consent.
The first question, viz, "In the present state of affairs between North Carolina and the United States will it be proper to take any other measures for redressing the injuries of the Cherokees than the one herein suggested?" was, at the request of the President of the United States, postponed.
The second question, viz, "Shall the commissioners be instructed to pursue any other measures respecting the Chickesaws and Choctaws than those herein suggested?" being put, was answered in the negative.
The consideration of the remaining questions was postponed till Monday next.
MONDAY, August 24.
The President of the United States being present in the Senate Chamber, attended by General Knox—
The Senate resumed the consideration of the state of facts, and questions thereto annexed, laid before them by the President of the United States on Saturday last; and the first question, viz, "In the present state of affairs between North Carolina and the United States will it be proper to take any other measures for redressing the injuries of the Cherokees than the one herein suggested?" being put, was answered in the negative.
The third question, viz, "If the commissioners shall adjudge that the Creek Nation was fully represented at the three treaties with Georgia, and that the cessions of land Were obtained with the full understanding and free consent of the acknowledged proprietors, and that the said treaties ought to be considered as just and equitable, in this case shall the commissioners be instructed to insist on a formal renewal and confirmation thereof, and in case of a refusal shall they be instructed to inform the Creeks that the arms of the Union shall be employed to compel them to acknowledge the justice of the said cessions?" was wholly answered in the affirmative.
The fourth question and its four subdivisions, "But if the commissioners shall adjudge that the said treaties were formed with an inadequate or unauthorized representation of the Creek Nation, or that the treaties were held under circumstances of constraint or unfairness of any sort, so that the United States could not with justice and dignity request or urge a confirmation thereof, in this case shall the commissioners, considering the importance of the Oconee lands to Georgia, be instructed to use their highest exertions to obtain a cession of said lands? If so, shall the commissioners be instructed, if they can not obtain the said cessions on better terms, to offer for the same and for the further great object of attaching the Creeks to the Government of the United States the following conditions: First. A compensation, in money or goods, to the amount of $——, the said amount to be stipulated to be paid by Georgia at the period which shall be fixed, or in failure thereof by the United States. Second. A secure port on the Altamaha or on St. Marys River, or at any other place between the same as may be mutually agreed to by the commissioners and the Creeks. Third. Certain pecuniary considerations to some and honorary military distinctions to other influential chiefs on their taking oaths of allegiance to the United States. Fourth. A solemn guaranty by the United States to the Creeks of their remaining territory, and to maintain the same, if necessary, by a line of military posts," was wholly answered in the affirmative. The blank to be filled at the discretion of the President of the United States.
The fifth question, viz, "But if all offers should fail to induce the Creeks to make the desired cessions to Georgia, shall the commissioners make it an ultimatum?" was answered in the negative.
The sixth question being divided, the first part, containing as follows, viz, "If the said cessions shall not be made an ultimatum, shall the commissioners proceed and make a treaty and include the disputed lands within the limits which shall be assigned to the Creeks?" was answered in the negative.
The remainder, viz: "If not, shall a temporary boundary be marked making the Oconee the line, and the other parts of the treaty be concluded?"
"In this case shall a secure port be stipulated and the pecuniary and honorary considerations granted?"
"Is other general objects shall the treaties formed at Hopewell with the Cherokees, Chickesaws, and Choctaws be the basis of a treaty with the Creeks?" were all answered in the affirmative.
On the seventh question, viz, "Shall the sum of $20,000 appropriated to Indian expenses and treaties be wholly applied, if necessary, to a treaty with the Creeks? If not, what proportion?" it was agreed to advise and consent to appropriate the whole sum, if necessary, at the discretion of the President of the United States.
The President of the United States withdrew from the Senate Chamber, and the Vice-President put the question of adjournment, to which the Senate agreed.
UNITED STATES, September 26, 1789.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Having yesterday received a letter written in this month by the governor of Rhode Island at the request and in behalf of the general assembly of that State, addressed to the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the eleven United States of America in Congress assembled, I take the earliest opportunity of laying a copy of it before you.
Go. WASHINGTON.
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, In General Assembly, September Session, 1789.
To the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Eleven United States of America in Congress assembled:
The critical situation in which the people of this State are placed engage us to make these assurances on their behalf of their attachment and friendship to their sister States and of their disposition to cultivate mutual harmony and friendly intercourse. They know themselves to be a handful, comparatively viewed; and although they now stand, as it were, alone, they have not separated themselves or departed from the principles of that Confederation which was formed by the sister States in their struggle for freedom and in the hour of danger. They seek by this memorial to call to your remembrance the hazards which we have run, the hardships we have endured, the treasure we have spent, and the blood we have lost together in one common cause, and especially the object we had in view—the preservation of our liberty; wherein, ability considered, they may truly say they were equal in exertions with the foremost, the effects whereof, in great embarrassments and other distresses consequent thereon, we have since experienced with severity; which common sufferings and common danger we hope and trust yet form a bond of union and friendship not easily to be broken.
Our not having acceded to or adopted the new system of government formed and adopted by most of our sister States we doubt not have given uneasiness to them. That we have not seen our way clear to do it consistent with our idea of the principles upon which we all embarked together has also given pain to us. We have not doubted but we might thereby avoid present difficulties, but we have apprehended future mischief. The people of this State from its first settlement have been accustomed and strongly attached to a democratical form of government. They have viewed in the Constitution an approach, though perhaps but small, toward that form of government from which we have lately dissolved our connection at so much hazard and expense of life and treasure; they have seen with pleasure the administration thereof from the most important trust downward committed to men who have highly merited and in whom the people of the United States place unbounded confidence. Yet even in this circumstance, in itself so fortunate, they have apprehended danger by way of precedent. Can it be thought strange, then, that with these impressions they should wait to see the proposed system organized and in operation, to see what further checks and securities would be agreed to and established, by way of amendments, before they could adopt it as a constitution of government for themselves and their posterity? These amendments, we believe, have already afforded some relief and satisfaction to the minds of the people of this State, and we earnestly look for the time when they may with clearness and safety be again united with their sister States under a constitution and form of government so well poised as neither to need alteration or be liable thereto by a majority only of nine States out of thirteen—a circumstance which may possibly take place against the sense of a majority of the people of the United States. We are sensible of the extremes to which democratical government is sometimes liable, something of which we have lately experienced; but we esteem them temporary and partial evils compared with the loss of liberty and the rights of a free people. Neither do we apprehend they will be marked with severity by our sister States when it is considered that during the late trouble the whole United States, notwithstanding their joint wisdom and efforts, fell into the like misfortune; that from our extraordinary exertions this State was left in a situation nearly as embarrassing as that during the war; that in the measures which were adopted government unfortunately had not that aid and support from the moneyed interest which our sister States of New York and the Carolinas experienced under similar circumstances; and especially when it is considered that upon some abatement of that fermentation in the minds of the people which is so common in the collision of sentiments and of parties a disposition appears to provide a remedy for the difficulties we have labored under on that account. We are induced to hope that we shall not be altogether considered as foreigners having no particular affinity or connection with the United States, but that trade and commerce, upon which the prosperity of this State much depends, will be preserved as free and open between this and the United States as our different situations at present can possibly admit; earnestly desiring and proposing to adopt such commercial regulations on our part as shall not tend to defeat the collection of the revenue of the United States, but rather to act in conformity to or cooperate therewith, and desiring also to give the strongest assurances that we shall during our present situation use our utmost endeavors to be in preparation from time to time to answer our proportion of such part of the interest or principal of the foreign and domestic debt as the United States shall judge expedient to pay and discharge.
We feel ourselves attached by the strongest ties of friendship, kindred, and of interest with our sister States, and we can not without the greatest reluctance look to any other quarter for those advantages of commercial intercourse which we conceive to be more natural and reciprocal between them and us.
I am, at the request and in behalf of the general assembly, your most obedient, humble servant,
JOHN COLLINS, Governor.
His Excellency the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES, February 9, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Among the persons appointed during the last session to offices under the National Government there were some who declined serving. Their names and offices are specified in the first column of the foregoing list.[2] I supplied these vacancies, agreeably to the Constitution, by temporary appointments, which you will find mentioned in the second column of the list. These appointments will expire with your present session, and, indeed, ought not to endure longer than until others can be regularly made. For that purpose I now nominate to you the persons named in the third column of the list as being, in my opinion, qualified to fill the offices opposite to their names in the first.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 2: Omitted.]
UNITED STATES, December 14, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
Having informed Congress of the expedition which had been directed against certain Indians northwest of the Ohio, I embrace the earliest opportunity of laying before you the official communications which have been received upon that subject.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[The following was transmitted with the message of January 26, 1791 (see Vol. I, p. 95).]
[From Annals of Congress, Vol. II, 2116-2118.]
PARIS, June 20, 1790.
Mr. PRESIDENT:
The National Assembly has worn during three days mourning for Benjamin Franklin, your fellow-citizen, your friend, and one of the most useful of your cooperators in the establishment of American liberty. They charge me to communicate their resolution to the Congress of the United States. In consequence I have the honor to address to you, Mr. President, the extract from the proceedings of their session of the 11th which contains the deliberations.
The National Assembly have not been stopped in their decree by the consideration that Franklin was a stranger. Great men are the fathers of universal humanity; their loss ought to be felt as a common misfortune by all the tribes of the great human family; and it belongs without doubt to a nation still affected by all the sentiments which accompany the achievement of their liberty, and which owes its enfranchisement essentially to the progress of the public reason, to be the first to give the example of the filial gratitude of the people toward their true benefactors. Besides that, these ideas and this example are so proper to disseminate a happy emulation of patriotism, and thus to extend more and more the empire of reason and virtue, which could not fail promptly to determine a body devoted to the most important legislative combinations. Charged with assuring to the French the rights of men and citizens, it has believed without doubt that fruitful and great truths were likewise numbered among the rights of man.
The name of Benjamin Franklin will be immortal in the records of freedom and philosophy, but it is more particularly dear to a country where, conducted by the most sublime mission, this venerable man grew very soon to acquire an infinite number of friends and admirers as well by the simplicity and sweetness of his manners as by the purity of his principles, the extent of his knowledge, and the charms of his mind.
It will be remembered that every success which he obtained in his important negotiation was applauded and celebrated (so to express it) all over France as so many crowns conferred on genius and virtue.
Even then the sentiment of our rights existed in the bottom of our souls. It was easily perceived that it feelingly mingled in the interest which we took in America and in the public vows which we preferred for your liberty.
At last the hour of the French has arrived. We love to think that the citizens of the United States have not regarded with indifference our steps toward liberty. Twenty-six millions of men breaking their chains and seriously occupied in giving themselves a durable constitution are not unworthy the esteem of a generous people who have preceded them in that noble career.
We hope they will learn with interest the funeral homage which we have rendered the Nestor of America. May this solemn act of fraternal friendship serve more and more to bind the tie which ought to unite two free nations. May the common enjoyment of liberty shed itself over the whole globe and become an indissoluble chain of connection among all the people of the earth. For ought they not to perceive that they will march more steadfastly and more certainly to their true happiness in understanding and loving each other than in being jealous and fighting?
May the Congress of the United States and the National Assembly of France be the first to furnish this fine spectacle to the world! And may the individuals of the two nations connect themselves by a mutual affection worthy of the friendship which unites the two men at this day most illustrious by their exertions for liberty—Washington and Lafayette!
Permit me, Mr. President, to offer on this occasion my particular homage of esteem and admiration.
I have the honor to be, with respectful consideration, Mr. President, your most humble and most obedient servant,
SIEVS, President.
DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE 11TH OF JUNE, 1790.
The National Assembly decree that their members shall wear during three days mourning for Benjamin Franklin, to commence on Monday next; that the discourse pronounced on this occasion be printed, and that the president write to the American Congress in the name of the National Assembly.
Compared with the original by us, president and secretaries of the National Assembly, at Paris, June 10, 1790.
SIEVS, President. GOUDAU, FLIX DE PARDIEU, DUMOUCHET, Secretaries.
UNITED STATES, February 18, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have received from the Secretary of State a report on the proceedings of the governor of the Northwestern Territory at Kaskaskia, Kahokia, and Prairie under the resolution of Congress of August 29, 1788, which, containing matter proper for your consideration, I lay the same before you.[3]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 3: Relating to land claimants in the Northwest Territory.]
UNITED STATES, February 22, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you a report of the Secretary of War, relative to the appointment of two brigadier-generals of militia in the territory of the United States south of the Ohio, and I nominate John Sevier to be brigadier-general of the militia of Washington district and James Robertson to be brigadier-general of the militia of Miro district, both within the said territory.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, December 28, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you, for your consideration, the copy of a letter[4] which I have received from the Attorney-General of the United States.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 4: Respecting the relation between district attorneys and the Attorney-General.]
UNITED STATES, January 2, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you an official statement of the expenditures to the end of the year 1791 from the sum of $10,000 granted to defray the contingent expenses of Government by an act passed on the 26th of March, 1790.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, November 7, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you copies of certain papers relative to the Spanish interference in the execution of the treaty entered into in the year 1790 between the United States and the Creek Nation of Indians, together with a letter from the Secretary of State to the President of the United States on the same subject.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, December 30, 1793.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I now transmit you a report by the Secretary of State of such laws, decrees, and ordinances,[5] or their substance, respecting commerce in the countries with which the United States have commercial intercourse as he has received and had not stated in his report of the 16th instant.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 5: Decree of the National Assembly of France of March 26, 1793, "exempting from all duties the subsistence and other objects of supply in the colonies relatively to the United States," and extract of an ordinance of Spain of June 9, 1793, "for regulating provisionally the commerce of Louisiana and the Floridas."]
UNITED STATES, December 30, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I communicate to you the translation of a letter[6] received from the representatives of Spain here in reply to that of the Secretary of State to them of the 21st instant, which had before been communicated to you.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 6: Relating to affairs with Indians on the southern frontier.]
UNITED STATES, December 31, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I now lay before you a letter from the Secretary of State, with his account of the expenditure of the moneys appropriated for our intercourse with foreign nations from the 1st of July, 1792, to the 1st of July, 1793, and other papers relating thereto.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, January 6, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I herewith transmit the copy of a letter from the Secretary of War, stating the circumstances which have hitherto prevented any explanation of the fourth article of the treaty with the Wabash Indians.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, January 7, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you an official statement of the expenditure to the end of the year 1793 from the sum of $10,000 granted to defray the contingent expenses of Government by an act passed on the 26th of March, 1790.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, January 15, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you, as being connected with the correspondence already in your possession between the Secretary of State and the minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic, the copy of a letter from that minister of the 25th of December, 1793, and a copy of the proceedings of the legislature of the State of South Carolina.[7]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 7: Relating to enlistments in South Carolina for the service of the French Republic.]
UNITED STATES, January 16, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit for your information certain intelligence[8] lately received from Europe, as it relates to the subject of my past communications.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 8: Respecting relations between the United States and France.]
UNITED STATES, January 22, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I forward to you extracts from the last advices from our minister in London[9], as being connected with communications already made.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 9: Relating to commercial restrictions.]
UNITED STATES, January 30, 1794.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you the copy of a letter from the governor of the State of North Carolina, together with two petitions,[10] to which it refers, and which I am requested by the legislature of that State and himself to transmit to Congress.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 10: Relating to lands ceded to the United States by North Carolina.]
UNITED STATES, March 12, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit to you the translation of two letters from the commissioners of His Catholic Majesty to the Secretary of State, and of their inclosures.[11]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 11: Relating to the declaration of war of March 23, 1793, against France by Spain and to expeditions of United States citizens against East Florida.]
UNITED STATES, March 25, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The two letters[12] which I now forward to Congress were written by a consul of the United States, and contain information which will probably be thought to require some pecuniary provision.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 12: Relating to the capture of American vessels by British ships of war.]
UNITED STATES, May 23, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you the copy of a letter from the minister plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty, in answer to a letter from the Secretary of State communicated to Congress yesterday, and also the copy of a letter from the Secretary which is referred to in the above-mentioned letter of the minister.[13]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 13: Relating to a speech of Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada, tending to an incitement of the Indians to hostilities against the United States, to complaints against alleged acts of violence by citizens of Vermont, etc.]
UNITED STATES, June 4, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before Congress the copy of a letter, with its inclosures, from the Secretary of State to the minister plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty, it being an answer to a letter from the minister to him bearing date the 22d ultimo and already communicated.[14]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 14: Relating to a speech of Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada, tending to an incitement of the Indians to hostilities against the United States; justifying the measures pursued by the United States to enforce their neutrality, and rebutting the accusation of partiality to France.]
UNITED STATES, December 3, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit to you an official statement of the expenditure to the 30th of September last from the sums heretofore granted to defray the contingent expenses of Government by acts passed the 26th day of March, 1790, and the 9th of June, 1794.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, December 11, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit to you, for consideration, a representation made to me by the Secretary of the Treasury on the subject of constituting an officer to be specially charged with the business of procuring certain public supplies.[15]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 15: For the Army and Navy.]
UNITED STATES, December 16, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit to Congress the copy of a letter from the Secretary of State, with his account, as adjusted with the Treasury Department, of the expenditure of moneys appropriated for our intercourse with foreign nations up to the 1st of July, 1794.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, December 30, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you, for your consideration, certain additional articles of the treaty with the Cherokees, stipulated the 28th of June last, together with the conferences which occasioned the formation of the said articles.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, January 12, 1795.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before Congress, for their consideration, the copy of a letter from the Secretary of War, accompanied by an extract from a memorandum of James Seagrove, agent of Indian affairs.[16]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 16: Relating to the justice of compensating owners of negroes taken by the Creek Indians from the conclusion of the Revolutionary War to 1790.]
[The following was transmitted with the message of January 4, 1796 (see Vol. I, pp. 189-190).]
[From American State Papers, Foreign Relations, Vol. I, pp. 527-528.]
PARIS, 30th Vendmiaire, Third Year of the French Republic, One and Indivisible (October 21, 1794).
The Representatives of the French People composing the Committee of Public Safety of the National Convention, charged by the law of the 7th Fructidor with the direction of foreign relations, to the Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.
CITIZENS REPRESENTATIVES: The connections which nature, reciprocal wants, and a happy concurrence of circumstances have formed between two free nations can not but be indissoluble. You have strengthened those sacred ties by the declarations which the minister plenipotentiary of the United States has made in your name to the National Convention and to the French people. They have been received with rapture by a nation who know how to appreciate every testimony which the United States have given to them of their affection. The colors of both nations, united in the center of the National Convention, will be an everlasting evidence of the part which the United States have taken in the success of the French Republic.
You were the first defenders of the rights of man in another hemisphere. Strengthened by your example and endowed with an invincible energy, the French people have vanquished that tyranny which during so many centuries of ignorance, superstition, and baseness had enchained a generous nation.
Soon did the people of the United States perceive that every victory of ours strengthened their independence and happiness. They were deeply affected at our momentary misfortunes, occasioned by treasons purchased by English gold. They have celebrated with rapture the successes of our brave armies.
None of these sympathetic emotions have escaped the sensibility of the French nation. They have all served to cement the most intimate and solid union that has ever existed between two nations.
The citizen Adet, who will reside near your Government in quality of minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic, is especially instructed to tighten these bands of fraternity and mutual benevolence. We hope that he may fulfill this principal object of his mission by a conduct worthy of the confidence of both nations and of the reputation which his patriotism and virtues have acquired him.
An analogy of political principles; the natural relations of commerce and industry; the efforts and immense sacrifices of both nations in the defense of liberty and equality; the blood which they have spilled together; their avowed hatred for despots; the moderation of their political views; the disinterestedness of their counsels, and especially the success of the vows which they have made, in presence of the Supreme Being, to be free or die, all combine to render indestructible the connections which they have formed.
Doubt it not, citizens, we shall finally destroy the combination of tyrants—you by the picture of prosperity which in your vast country has succeeded to a bloody struggle of eight years; we by that enthusiasm which glows in the breast of every Frenchman. Astonished nations, too long the dupes of perfidious kings, nobles, and priests, will eventually recover their rights, and the human race will owe to the American and French nations their regeneration and a lasting peace.
The members of the Committee of Public Safety,
J.S.B. DELMAS, MERLIN (OF DOUAI), ETC., ETC.
The minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the President of the United States.
Mr. PRESIDENT: I come to acquit myself of a duty very dear to my heart. I come to deposit in your hands and in the midst of a people justly renowned for their courage and their love of liberty the symbol of the triumphs and of the enfranchisement of my nation.
When she broke her chains; when she proclaimed the imprescriptible rights of man; when in a terrible war she sealed with her blood the covenant she had made with liberty, her own happiness was not alone the object of her glorious efforts; her views extended also to all free people. She saw their interest blended with her own, and doubly rejoiced in her victories, which in assuring to her the enjoyment of her rights became to them new guaranties of their independence.
These sentiments, which animated the French nation from the dawn of their revolution, have acquired new strength since the foundation of the Republic. France at that time, by the form of its Government, assimilated to, or rather identified with, free people, saw in them only friends and brothers. Long accustomed to regard the American people as her most faithful allies, she has sought to draw closer the ties already formed in the fields of America, under the auspices of victory, over the ruins of tyranny.
The National Convention, the organ of the will of the French nation, have more than once expressed their sentiments to the American people, but above all these burst forth on that august day when the minister of the United States presented to the National Representation the colors of his country. Desiring never to lose recollections as dear to Frenchmen as they must be to Americans, the Convention ordered that these colors should be placed in the hall of their sittings. They had experienced sensations too agreeable not to cause them to be partaken of by their allies, and decreed that to them the national colors should be presented.
Mr. President, I do not doubt their expectation will be fulfilled, and I am convinced that every citizen will receive with a pleasing emotion this flag, elsewhere the terror of the enemies of liberty, here the certain pledge of faithful friendship, especially when they recollect that it guides to combat men who have shared their toils and who were prepared for liberty by aiding them to acquire their own.
P.A. ADET.
Answer of the President of the United States.
UNITED STATES, January 1, 1796.
Born, sir, in a land of liberty; having early learned its value; having engaged in a perilous conflict to defend it; having, in a word, devoted the best years of my life to secure its permanent establishment in my own country, my anxious recollections, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes are irresistibly excited whensoever in any country I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom. But above all, the events of the French Revolution have produced the deepest solicitude as well as the highest admiration. To call your nation brave were to pronounce but common praise. Wonderful people! Ages to come will read with astonishment the history of your brilliant exploits! I rejoice that the period of your toils and of your immense sacrifices is approaching. I rejoice that the interesting revolutionary movements of so many years have issued in the formation of a constitution designed to give permanency to the great object for which you have contended. I rejoice that liberty, which you have so long embraced with enthusiasm—liberty, of which you have been the invincible defenders—now finds an asylum in the bosom of a regularly organized Government, a Government which, being formed to secure the happiness of the French people, corresponds with the ardent wishes of my heart, while it gratifies the pride of every citizen of the United States by its resemblance to their own. On these glorious events accept, sir, my sincere congratulations.
In delivering to you these sentiments I express not my own feelings only, but those of my fellow-citizens, in relation to the commencement, the progress, and the issue of the French Revolution, and they will cordially join with me in purest wishes to the Supreme Being that the citizens of our sister Republic, our magnanimous allies, may soon enjoy in peace that liberty which they have purchased at so great a price, and all the happiness which liberty can bestow.
I receive, sir, with lively sensibility the symbol of the triumphs and of the enfranchisement of your nation, the colors of France, which you have now presented to the United States. The transaction will be announced to Congress, and the colors will be deposited with those archives of the United States which are at once the evidences and the memorials of their freedom and independence. May these be perpetual, and may the friendship of the two Republics be commensurate with their existence.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, January 13, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I lay before you an official statement of the expenditure to the end of the year 1795 from the sums heretofore granted to defray the contingent expenses of the Government.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, February 29, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I send herewith the papers relating to the negotiation of the treaty with Spain, to which I referred in my message of the 26th instant.[17]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 17: See Vol. I, p. 192.]
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I send herewith a copy of the treaty of friendship, limits, and navigation between the United States and His Catholic Majesty, which has been ratified by me with your advice and consent. A copy of the treaty will be immediately communicated to the House of Representatives, it being necessary to make provision in the present session for carrying into execution the third and twenty-first articles, particularly the former, seeing that execution must commence before the next meeting of Congress.
Estimates of the moneys necessary to be provided for the purposes of this and several other treaties with foreign nations and the Indian tribes will be laid before you by the proper Department.
Go. WASHINGTON.
MARCH 29, 1796.
UNITED STATES, February 15, 1707.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I lay before you an official statement of the expenditure to the end of the year 1796 from the sums heretofore granted to defray the contingent charges of the Government.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, June 22, 1797.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Having sent the report and documents which accompany this message to the House of Representatives,[18] in compliance with their desire expressed in their resolution of the 10th of this month, I think it proper to send duplicates to the Senate for their information.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 18: See message of June 22, 1797, Vol. I, p. 247.]
UNITED STATES, May 4, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I now transmit to Congress copies of all the communications[19] from our envoys extraordinary received since their arrival in Paris, excepting those before presented by me to both Houses.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 19: Relating to affairs between the United States and France.]
UNITED STATES, May 29, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
An article explanatory of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States and His Britannic Majesty has been signed by the plenipotentiaries of the two powers, which I now submit to the Senate for their consideration.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, June 5, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I now transmit to both Houses the communications[20] from our envoys at Paris received since the last which have been presented by me to Congress.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 20: Relating to affairs between the United States and France.]
UNITED STATES, June 18, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I now transmit to Congress the dispatch No. 8 from our envoys extraordinary to the French Republic,[21] which was received at the Secretary of State's office on Thursday, the 14th day of this month.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 21: Inclosing correspondence with the French minister of foreign relations relative to affairs between the United States and France.]
DECEMBER 31, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
A report of the Secretary of War made to me on the 24th of this month, relative to the military establishment,[22] I think it my duty to transmit to Congress and recommend to their consideration.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 22: Reorganization of the Army.]
JANUARY 8, 1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In obedience to the law, I now lay before you my annual account of the application of the grant made by Congress for the contingent charges of Government from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, 1798.
JOHN ADAMS.
JANUARY 21, 1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
According to an intimation in my message of Friday last,[23] I now lay before Congress a report of the Secretary of State, containing his observations on some of the documents which attended it.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 23: See message of January 18, 1799, Vol. I, p.281.]
JANUARY 30, 1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I send you, for your consideration, a treaty with the Oneida Nation of Indians, made on the 1st day of June, 1798, at their village.
JOHN ADAMS.
JANUARY 31, 1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I have received a report from the Director of the Mint on the state of the business committed to his superintendence, and a statement of the coinage of the Mint of the United States for the year 1798, which it is proper to lay before Congress.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, December 13, 1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In conformity with your recommendation expressed in your resolution of March 6, 1798, I have entered into a friendly negotiation with the Bey and Government of Tunis on the subject[24] of the fourteenth article of the treaty of peace and friendship between the United States and that power. The result of that negotiation I now lay before the Senate for their consideration.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 24: Commerce.]
UNITED STATES, January 8, 1800.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
A report made to me on the 1st day of this month by the Director of the Mint, through the office of the Secretary of State, with the documents attending it, I transmit to both Houses of Congress for their consideration.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, January 20, 1800.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In obedience to law, I transmit to Congress my annual account of the contingent fund.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, February 7, 1800.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In consequence of your request to me conveyed in your resolution of the 4th of this month, I directed the Secretary of State to lay before me copies of the papers intended.[25] These copies, together with his report, I now transmit to the House of Representatives, for the consideration of the members.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 25: Relating to the surrender by the United States to Great Britain of Thomas Nash, charged with murder and piracy on the British frigate Hermione.]
UNITED STATES, February 17, 1800.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I now lay before you the instructions given to our minister at the Court of Berlin, with the correspondence, respecting the negotiation of the treaty with Prussia, according to your request of the 12th of this month.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, April 17, 1800.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In conformity with your request, I transmit you a return from the War Office of those officers who have been appointed under the act entitled "An act to augment the Army of the United States, and for other purposes," designating such officers who have accepted their appointments and those who have declined accepting, resigned their commissions, died, etc.
A report from the Secretary of War, which accompanied this return, as it contains observations which may throw some light upon the subject, I transmit with it.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, December 22, 1800.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In conformity with your request in your resolution of the 19th of this month, I transmit you the instructions given to our late envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the French Republic.
It is my request to the Senate that these instructions may be considered in strict confidence and returned to me as soon as the Senate shall have made all the use of them they may judge necessary.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, January 16, 1801.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I now transmit to both Houses of Congress, in conformity to law, my annual account of the application of grants for the contingent charges of Government for the year 1800.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, February 20, 1801.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
The inclosed report[26] to me, made by the Acting Secretary of War on the 14th of this month, appears to be so well founded in all respects that I recommend it to the consideration of Congress.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 26: Relating to the inconveniences arising from the want of a competent general staff of the Army.]
UNITED STATES, February 20, 1801.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I request of the Senate that the letter and journal of our late envoys to France and the copy of their instructions and other documents relative to that negotiation may be returned to me or to the Office of State.
JOHN ADAMS.
UNITED STATES, February 27, 1801.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I transmit you a report of the Secretary of State, with sundry documents, relative to the subject of your resolution of the 24th instant.[27]
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 27: Relating to depredations on American commerce by British ships of war; lists of captured American vessels, etc.]
UNITED STATES, February 27, 1801.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I transmit to you, in conformity with your request of the 17th instant, two reports, one from the Acting Secretary of War, the other from the Secretary of the Treasury, of the 26th,[28] with details of the expenditure of the moneys appropriated by the acts of the 20th [4th] of May and 6th of July, 1798, and of the 10th of May, 1800.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Footnote 28: Estimates of the necessary expenditures for the purchase and fabrication of arms and cannon and establishment of foundries and armories, 1798-1801, and statement of appropriations for above purposes and of warrants drawn on same to December 31, 1800.]
JANUARY 12, 1802.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
According to the request in your resolution of the 8th instant, I now lay before you a letter from the Secretary of State, containing an estimate of the expenses necessary for carrying into effect the convention between the United States of America and the French Republic.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 8, 1802.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In compliance with your resolution of the 2d instant, I have to inform you that early in the preceding summer I took measures for carrying into effect the act passed on the 19th of February, 1799, and that of the 13th of May, 1800, mentioned in your resolution. The objects of these acts were understood to be to purchase from the Indians south of the Ohio some portions of land peculiarly interesting to the Union or to particular States and the establishment of certain roads to facilitate communication with our distant settlements. Commissioners were accordingly appointed to treat with the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks. As these nations are known to be very jealous on the subject of their lands, the commissioners were instructed, as will be seen by the inclosed extract, to enlarge, restrain, or even to suppress propositions as appearances should indicate to be expedient. Their first meeting was with the Cherokees. The extract from the speech of our commissioners and the answers of the Cherokee chiefs will show the caution of the former and the temper of the latter, and that though our overtures to them were moderate and respectful of their rights, their determination was to yield no accommodation.
The commissioners proceeded then to the Chickasaws, who discovered at first considerable alarm and anxiety lest land should be asked of them. A just regard for this very friendly nation, whose attachment to us has been invariable, forbade the pressure of anything disagreeable on them, and they yielded with alacrity the road through their country which was asked and was essential to our communication with the Mississippi Territory.
The conferences with the Choctaws are probably ended, but as yet we are not informed of their result. Those with the Creeks are not expected to be held till the ensuing spring.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 17, 1802.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before both Houses of Congress, for their information, the report from the Director of the Mint, now inclosed.
TH: JEFFERSON.
MARCH 25, 1802.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The act fixing the military peace establishment of the United States rendering it necessary that the officers retained in service should in most cases be transferred into regiments different from those to which their commissions attach them, new commissions are deemed necessary for them, as well as for those entitled to promotion and for the ensigns newly nominated. The inclosed report from the Secretary of War exhibits the transfers, promotions, and new appointments proposed in conformity with the law, and I accordingly nominate the several persons named in the report for commissions according to its tenor.
TH: JEFFERSON.
APRIL 3, 1802.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
According to the request expressed in your resolution of yesterday, I now transmit to the Senate the proceedings of the court-martial lately held for the trial of Captain Cornelius Lyman, asking the favor of their return at the convenience of the Senate, as they are the originals.
TH: JEFFERSON.
APRIL 17, 1802.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I now transmit you a report of the Secretary of State, with the document accompanying it, on the subject of your resolution of the 12th instant, concerning the seventh article[29] of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 29: Relating to claims of American citizens against Great Britain and of British subjects against the United States for illegal captures of vessels, etc.]
APRIL 20, 1802.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The object of the inclosed letter from the Director of the Mint at Philadelphia being within legislative competence only, I transmit it to both Houses of Congress.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 11, 1803.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit you a report received from the Director of the Mint on the subject of that institution.
TH: JEFFERSON.
MARCH 1, 1803.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
According to the request stated in your resolution of December 20, I communicated to you such returns of the militia of the different States as had then been received.[30] Since that date returns have been received from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, which are now transmitted to you.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 30: See message of January 5, 1803, Vol. I, p. 350.]
DECEMBER 7, 1803.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Since the last communication made to Congress of the laws of the Indiana Territory I have received those of which a copy is now inclosed for the information of both Houses.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 13, 1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The Director of the Mint having made to me his report of the transactions of the Mint for the year 1803, I now lay the same before you for your information.
TH: JEFFERSON.
MARCH 7, 1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to Congress an extract of a letter from Governor Claiborne to the Secretary of State, with one which it covered, for their information as to the present state of the subject to which they relate.[31]
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 31: Importation of slaves into Louisiana.]
MARCH 15, 1804.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
Agreeably to the request of the Senate and House of Representatives, delivered me by their Joint Committee of Enrolled Bills, I now return the enrolled bill entitled "An act for the relief of the captors of the Moorish armed ships Meshouda and Mirboha" to the House of Representatives, in which it originated.
TH: JEFFERSON
[The same message was sent to the Senate.]
DECEMBER 6, 1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a report of the Surveyor of the Public Buildings at Washington on the subject of those buildings and the application of the moneys appropriated for them.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 25, 1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, the report of the Director of the Mint of the operations of that institution during the last year.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 31, 1805.
To the Senate of the United States:
According to the desire expressed in your resolution of the 28th instant, I now communicate a report of the Secretary of State, with documents, relative to complaints[32] against arming the merchant ships and vessels of the United States and the conduct of the captains and crews of such as have been armed.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 32: By Great Britain and France.]
FEBRUARY 23, 1805.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In further compliance with the desire of the House of Representatives, expressed in their resolution of December 31, I now transmit the report and map of Isaac Briggs referred to in my message of the 1st instant,[33] and received by the last post from New Orleans.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 33: See Vol. I, pp. 376-377.]
DECEMBER 6, 1805.
The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE.
SIR: In order to give to Congress the details necessary for their full information of the state of things between Spain and the United States, I send them the communication and documents now inclosed. Although stated to be confidential, that term is not meant to be extended to all the documents, the greater part of which are proper for the public eye. It is applied only to the message itself and to the letters from our own and foreign ministers, which if disclosed might throw additional difficulties in the way of accommodation. These alone, therefore, are delivered to the Legislature in confidence that they will be kept secret.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[The same message was addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.]
DECEMBER 10, 1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The inclosed documents,[34] relating to my message of the 6th instant, not being ready at that date, I thought it better not to detain the message, but to communicate these papers afterwards, as supplementary to those then sent. They are not of a nature to be deemed confidential.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 34: Relating to depredations on American commerce by Spanish privateers, etc.]
DECEMBER 27, 1805.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress a report of the Surveyor of the Public Buildings, stating the progress made on them during the last season and what may be expected to be accomplished in the ensuing one.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 15, 1806.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, the report of the Director of the Mint of the operations of that institution during the last year.
TH: JEFFERSON
JANUARY 24, 1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
According to the request of your resolution of yesterday, I again communicate the letter of the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at London to the secretary of that Government for foreign affairs dated October 18, 1805, with a postscript of October 25, but still in confidence that the matter of it shall not be made public.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 4, 1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
I now transmit the letters desired by the resolution of the Senate of January 20 so far as they exist in the offices, to wit:
Extract of a letter from the Department of State to Mr. Eaton, May 20, 1801.
The letter from Mr. Cathcart to Mr. Eaton dated Leghorn, June 15, 1801, is not in the offices, but the substance of it is supposed to be recited in those of Mr. Cathcart to the Secretary of State of August 15, 1802, and July 2, 1801, extracts of both of which are transmitted.
The letter of Mr. Eaton of September 5, 1801, supposed to be that intended by the Senate, as it answers their description. There is no letter of his of September 15.
Extract of a letter from William Eaton to the Secretary of State, December 13, 1801.
Extract from Captain Murray's letter of August 18, 1802.
Extract of a letter from Mr. Cathcart to the Secretary of State, August 25, 1802.
Extract of a letter from Mr. Morris to the Secretary of the Navy, March 30, 1803.
The letter from the Swedish admiral to Hamet Bashaw designated in the resolution of the Senate is not in possession of the Executive.
The extracts above mentioned give the whole matter contained in the respective letters relating to Hamet B. Caramalli. The parts omitted are on subjects entirely foreign to what concerns him.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 4, 1806.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
Sundry letters relative to Hamet Caramalli, in addition to the documents which accompanied my message of January 13,[35] having been sent to the Senate on their particular request, the same are now transmitted to the House of Representatives also, as the same subject is before them.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 35: See Vol. I, pp. 392-394.]
FEBRUARY 7, 1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate, a treaty entered into on behalf of the United States with the Piankeshaw Indians, whereby our possessions on the north bank of the Ohio are entirely consolidated; and I ask the advice and consent of the Senate as to its ratification.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 18, 1806.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I now communicate to the House of Representatives the information desired by their resolutions of January 24, relative to the fortifications erected at the several ports and harbors of the United States and their Territories and to the Navy and navy-yards of the United States.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 18, 1806.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
On the 13th instant I approved and signed the act entitled "An act making provision for defraying any extraordinary expenses attending the intercourse between the United States and foreign nations," which originated in the House of Representatives, and I shall in due season deposit it among the rolls in the office of the Secretary of State.
TH: JEFFERSON.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to Congress a letter recently received from the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at London, stating some circumstances which bear relation to the subject of my messages of January 17.[36] This paper being original and to be communicated to both Houses, the return of it is requested.
TH: JEFFERSON.
MARCH 24, 1806.
[Footnote 36: See Vol. I, pp. 395-396.]
DECEMBER 15, 1806.
To the Senate of the United States:
I lay before Congress a report of the Surveyor of the Public Buildings, stating the progress made on them during the last season and what is proposed for the ensuing one.
TH: JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 23, 1806.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I now lay before you accounts of the sums which have been expended by the United States on the Capitol, the President's house, the public offices, the navy-yard, and the marine barracks, respectively, and the amount expended on other objects of public expense within the city of Washington, as requested by your resolution of the 15th instant.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 5, 1807.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives communicated in their resolution of the 26th of December, I now lay before them a report of the Secretary of the Navy on the state of the frigates, supplementary to his former report of January 28 of the last year, communicated to the House of Representatives.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 27, 1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, the report of the Director of the Mint of the operations of that establishment during the last year.
TH: JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 11, 1807.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to both Houses of Congress the laws adopted by the government and judges of the Territory of Michigan from the 1st day of July, 1806, to the 1st day of the present year.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 8, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, the report of the Director of the Mint of the operation of that establishment during the last year.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 30, 1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
The Senate having advised and consented to the ratification of the treaty with the Ottaways, Chippeways, Wyandots, and Pottawattamies concluded at Detroit on the 17th day of November last, and also to the treaty concluded with the Choctaws at Pooshapukanuck on the 16th of November, 1805, I now lay them before both Houses of Congress for the exercise of their constitutional powers as to the means of fulfilling them.
TH: JEFFERSON.
MARCH 30, 1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
I now transmit to the Senate the information requested in their resolutions of the 28th instant,[37] from the Secretaries of the Treasury and War.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 37: Relating to paying United States troops in the Territory of Michigan in bills issued by the Bank of Detroit after Congress had rejected the law of that Territory for establishing said bank, etc.]
MARCH 31, 1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
The confidential papers[38] desired by the resolution of yesterday are now again sent to the Senate.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 38: Concerning the relations of the United States with England and France.]
APRIL 1, 1808.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In answer to the inquiries of the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 30th of March, relative to certain dates,[39] I transmit a report of the Secretary of State to me on that subject.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 39: Of certain letters from the French ministry to the United States minister at Paris, and the date of the receipt of said letters by said minister.]
NOVEMBER 30, 1808.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
According to the request of the House of Representatives expressed in their resolution of the 25th instant, I now lay before them a copy of my proclamation of the 19th of April last.[40]
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Footnote 40: See Vol. I, pp. 450-451.]
DECEMBER 1, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to Congress a report from the Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the progress made on them during the last season, of their present state, and the expenditures incurred and of those that may be requisite for their further prosecution.
TH: JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 23, 1808.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
According to the request of the House of Representatives in their resolution of November 11 that copies should be laid before them of all acts, decrees, orders, and proclamations affecting the commercial rights of neutral nations issued or enacted by Great Britain and France or any other belligerent power since the year 1791, and also of an act placing the commerce of America in English ports upon the footing of the most favored nation, I now transmit them a report of the Secretary of State of such of them as have been attainable in the Department of State and are supposed to have entered into the views of the House of Representatives.
TH: JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 5, 1809.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, the report of the Director of the Mint of the operations of that establishment during the last year.
TH: JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 4, 1809.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now transmit a report of the Secretary of the Navy, containing statements[41] from that Department referred to in my message of the 29th ultimo.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 41: Showing the condition of the Navy and the application of appropriations made for the Navy and Marine Corps.]
DECEMBER 16, 1809.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the progress made on them during the last season and of other explanations relative thereto.
JAMES MADISON.
JANUARY 5, 1810.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
The Director of the Mint having made to me his report of the operations of the Mint for the year 1809, I lay the same before you for your information.
JAMES MADISON.
JANUARY 12, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to the House of Representatives the report[42] of the Secretary of State on the subject of their resolution of the 3d instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 42: Transmitting translations of a ukase of Russia relating to neutral commerce and regulations of Denmark for vessels commissioned as privateers.]
JANUARY 12, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to the House of Representatives the report[43] of the Secretary of State on the subject of their resolution of the 6th of December last.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 43: Relating to seizures, captures, and condemnations of ships and merchandise of citizens of the United States under authority of Denmark, Great Britain, and France.]
JANUARY 22, 1810.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now transmit to Congress an account of the contingent expenses of the Government for the year 1809.
JAMES MADISON.
FEBRUARY 1, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before the House a report[44] of the Secretary of the Treasury, conformably to their resolution of 18th January, 1810.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 44: Transmitting copies of instructions issued relative to foreign armed ships within the waters of the United States.]
FEBRUARY 1, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before the House a report[45] of the Secretary of War, conformably to their resolution of January 22.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 45: Relating to the military force and its disposition in 1810.]
FEBRUARY 9, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House a report[46] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 22d of January.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 46: Relating to the free navigation of the Mobile River to its confluence with the ocean.]
FEBRUARY 17, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit reports[47] of the Secretaries of State and of the Treasury, complying with their resolution of the 5th instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 47: Transmitting communications relative to certain orders and decrees of France and Great Britain violating the lawful commerce and neutral rights of the United States, etc.]
FEBRUARY 17, 1810.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit a report[48] of the Secretary of the Treasury, complying with their resolution of the 12th instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 48: Transmitting statement showing value and amount of duties which accrued in consequence of the duty of 2-1/2 per cent laid on all goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the United States paying a duty ad valorem from July 1, 1804, to December 31, 1808, and statement showing amount of duties which accrued on merchandise imported into the United States from Mediterranean ports for years ending September 30, 1805, 1806, 1807, and 1808.]
FEBRUARY 22, 1810.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[49] of the Secretary of the Treasury, complying with their resolution of the 16th instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 49: Transmitting copy of instructions to collectors under the act to interdict commercial intercourse with Great Britain and France.]
MARCH 14, 1810.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit a report[50] of the Secretary of War, complying with their resolution of the 22d January last.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 50: Relating to the treaty with the Great and Little Osage Indians.]
MARCH 20, 1810.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress a return of the militia of the United States as received by the Department of War from the several States and Territories.
JAMES MADISON.
MARCH 30, 1810.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[51] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 22d instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 51: Relating to the capture of Danish vessels by United States war ships.]
APRIL 4, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House a report[52] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 26th of March.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 52: Relating to the impressment of American seamen by British ships of war.]
APRIL 27, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House a report[53] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 23d instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 53: Transmitting list of United States consuls and commercial agents, etc.]
MAY 1, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House a report[54] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 30th of April.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 54: Relating to affairs between the United States and France.]
DECEMBER 28, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before the House a report[55] from the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 21st instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 55: Transmitting a decree of the Emperor of France of July 15, 1810, and correspondence relative to affairs between the United States and France.]
DECEMBER 31, 1810.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before the House of Representatives a supplemental report[56] of the Secretary of State, containing information received since the date of my late message on the subject of their resolution of the 21st instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 56: Relating to affairs between the United States and France.]
JANUARY 7, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, the report of the Director of the Mint of the operation of that establishment during the last year.
JAMES MADISON.
JANUARY 12, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.
I transmit to Congress copies of a letter from the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at London to the Secretary of State, and of another from the same to the British secretary for foreign affairs.[57]
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 57: Relating to affairs between the United States and Great Britain.]
JANUARY 14, 1811.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House of Representatives reports of the superintendent of the city[58] and of the Surveyor of the Public Buildings on the subject of their resolution of the 28th of December last.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 58: Washington.]
JANUARY 14, 1811.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House of Representatives copies of the documents[59] referred to in their resolution of the 4th instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 59: Proclamation of November 2, 1810 (see Vol. I, pp. 481-482), and circular letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to the collectors of the customs in pursuance of said proclamation.]
JANUARY 14, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to Congress an account of the contingent expenses of the Government for the year 1810.
JAMES MADISON.
JANUARY 14, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to Congress a report from the Surveyor of the Public Buildings relative to the progress and present state of them.
JAMES MADISON.
JANUARY 25, 1811.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[60] from the Secretary of the Treasury on the subject of their resolution of the 21st instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 60: Stating that there are no documents in his Department showing the amount of property of citizens or subjects of Great Britain or France confiscated under the acts of March 1, 1809, and May 1, 1810; that inquiry of the several district attorneys for such information has been made, and that the result will be communicated as soon as received; that an account of the goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the United States during the last three quarters of 1809 will be immediately prepared, but that such account for the year 1810 can not be prepared during the present session.]
JANUARY 25, 1811.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report of the superintendent of the city,[61] stating the expenditures under the act of April 28, 1810, for the better accommodation of the General Post-Office and Patent Office, and for other purposes.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 61: Washington.]
JANUARY 31, 1811.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report[62] of the Secretary of War, complying with their resolution of the 21st instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 62: Transmitting a general return of the Army.]
FEBRUARY 4, 1811.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[63] of the Secretary of the Treasury, complying with their resolution of December 20, 1810.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 63: Transmitting correspondence relative to the execution of the act to provide for surveying the coasts of the United States.]
FEBRUARY 5, 1811.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[64] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 1st instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 64: Transmitting copies of the latest census of the Territory of Orleans and of the latest militia returns of said Territory.]
FEBRUARY 7, 1811.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[65] of the Secretary of the Treasury, complying with their resolution of the 21st January last.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 65: Transmitting a statement of importations in American and foreign vessels from April 1 to December 31, 1809.]
FEBRUARY 11, 1811.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[66] of the Secretary of the Treasury, complying with their resolution of the 7th instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 66: Transmitting account of George W. Erving relative to awards under the seventh article of the treaty with Great Britain of November 19, 1794.]
FEBRUARY 19, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress a return of the militia of the United States as received by the Department of War from the several States and Territories.
JAMES MADISON.
FEBRUARY 19, 1811.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report[67] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 18th instant.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 67: Relating to affairs between the United States and Great Britain.]
FEBRUARY 25, 1811.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House of Representatives reports from the superintendent of the city[68] and the Surveyor of the Public Buildings, complying with their resolution of the 14th of January.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 68: Washington.]
FEBRUARY 28, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit and recommend to the attention of Congress a report of the Secretary of State relative to deficiencies in the returns of the census.
JAMES MADISON.
NOVEMBER 7, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now lay before Congress two letters[69] to the Department of State—one from the present plenipotentiary of France, the other from his predecessor—which were not included among the documents accompanying my message of the 5th instant,[70] the translation of them being not then completed.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 69: Relating to affairs between the United States and France.]
[Footnote 70: See Third Annual Message, Vol. I, pp. 491-493.]
NOVEMBER 13, 1811.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress the result of the census lately taken of the inhabitants of the United States, with a letter from the Secretary of State relative thereto.
JAMES MADISON.
JANUARY 7, 1812.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress, for their information, a report of the Director of the Mint.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, January 15, 1812.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report[71] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 29th of November.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 71: Relating to the impressment of American seamen by foreign powers.]
JANUARY 16, 1812.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a report[72] of the Secretary of State, complying with their resolution of the 18th of November.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 72: Relating to the commercial regulations of France applying to the trade of the United States.]
WASHINGTON, January 22, 1812.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress a letter from the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain to the Secretary of State, with the answer of the latter.[73]
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 73: Relating to the agency of the British Government in the hostile measures of the Indian tribes toward the United States.]
WASHINGTON, January 22, 1812.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
At the request of the legislature of New Jersey, I communicate to Congress copies of its resolutions[74] transmitted by the governor of that State.
JAMES MADISON.
[Footnote 74: Expressing confidence in the wisdom and integrity of the President and Congress and pledging the support of New Jersey should the United States determine to resist by force the lawless aggressions by Great Britain.] |
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