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State of the Union Addresses of John Tyler

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This eBook was produced by James Linden.

The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***

Dates of addresses by John Tyler in this eBook:
December 7, 1841
December 6, 1842
December 1843
December 3, 1844



***

State of the Union Address
John Tyler
December 7, 1841

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

In coming together, fellow-citizens, to enter again upon the discharge of
the duties with which the people have charged us severally, we find great
occasion to rejoice in the general prosperity of the country. We are in the
enjoyment of all the blessings of civil and religious liberty, with
unexampled means of education, knowledge, and improvement. Through the year
which is now drawing to a close peace has been in our borders and plenty in
our habitations, and although disease has visited some few portions of the
land with distress and mortality, yet in general the health of the people
has been preserved, and we are all called upon by the highest obligations
of duty to renew our thanks and our devotion to our Heavenly Parent, who
has continued to vouchsafe to us the eminent blessings which surround us
and who has so signally crowned the year with His goodness. If we find
ourselves increasing beyond example in numbers, in strength, in wealth, in
knowledge, in everything which promotes human and social happiness, let us
ever remember our dependence for all these on the protection and merciful
dispensations of Divine Providence.

Since your last adjournment Alexander McLeod, a British subject who was
indicted for the murder of an American citizen, and whose case has been the
subject of a correspondence heretofore communicated to you, has been
acquitted by the verdict of an impartial and intelligent jury, and has
under the judgment of the court been regularly discharged.

Great Britain having made known to this Government that the expedition
which was fitted out from Canada for the destruction of the steamboat
Caroline in the winter of 1837, and which resulted in the destruction of
said boat and in the death of an American citizen, was undertaken by orders
emanating from the authorities of the British Government in Canada, and
demanding the discharge of McLeod upon the ground that if engaged in that
expedition he did but fulfill the orders of his Government, has thus been
answered in the only way in which she could be answered by a government the
powers of which are distributed among its several departments by the
fundamental law. Happily for the people of Great Britain, as well as those
of the United States, the only mode by which an individual arraigned for a
criminal offense before the courts of either can obtain his discharge is by
the independent action of the judiciary and by proceedings equally familiar
to the courts of both countries.

If in Great Britain a power exists in the Crown to cause to be entered a
nolle prosequi, which is not the case with the Executive power of the
United States upon a prosecution pending in a State court, yet there no
more than here can the chief executive power rescue a prisoner from custody
without an order of the proper tribunal directing his discharge. The
precise stage of the proceedings at which such order may be made is a
matter of municipal regulation exclusively, and not to be complained of by
any other government. In cases of this kind a government becomes
politically responsible only when its tribunals of last resort are shown to
have rendered unjust and injurious judgments in matters not doubtful. To
the establishment and elucidation of this principle no nation has lent its
authority more efficiently than Great Britain. Alexander McLeod, having his
option either to prosecute a writ of error from the decision of the supreme
court of New York, which had been rendered upon his application for a
discharge, to the Supreme Court of the United States, or to submit his case
to the decision of a jury, preferred the latter, deeming it the readiest
mode of obtaining his liberation; and the result has fully sustained the
wisdom of his choice. The manner in which the issue submitted was tried
will satisfy the English Government that the principles of justice will
never fail to govern the enlightened decision of an American tribunal. I
can not fail, however, to suggest to Congress the propriety, and in some
degree the necessity, of making such provisions by law, so far as they may
constitutionally do so, for the removal at their commencement and at the
option of the party of all such cases as may hereafter arise, and which may
involve the faithful observance and execution of our international
obligations, from the State to the Federal judiciary. This Government, by
our institutions, is charged with the maintenance of peace and the
preservation of amicable relations with the nations of the earth, and ought
to possess without question all the reasonable and proper means of
maintaining the one and preserving the other. While just confidence is felt
in the judiciary of the States, yet this Government ought to be competent
in itself for the fulfillment of the high duties which have been devolved
upon it under the organic law by the States themselves.

In the month of September a party of armed men from Upper Canada invaded
the territory of the United States and forcibly seized upon the person of
one Grogan, and under circumstances of great harshness hurriedly carried
him beyond the limits of the United States and delivered him np to the
authorities of Upper Canada. His immediate discharge was ordered by those
authorities upon the facts of the case being brought to their knowledge--a
course of procedure which was to have been expected from a nation with whom
we are at peace, and which was not more due to the rights of the United
States than to its own regard for justice. The correspondence which passed
between the Department of State and the British envoy, Mr. Fox, and with
the governor of Vermont, as soon as the facts had been made known to this
department, are herewith communicated.

I regret that it is not in my power to make known to you an equally
satisfactory conclusion in the case of the Caroline steamer, with the
circumstances connected with the destruction of which, in December, 1837,
by an armed force fitted out in the Province of Upper Canada, you are
already made acquainted. No such atonement as was due for the public wrong
done to the United States by this invasion of her territory, so wholly
irreconcilable with her rights as an independent power, has yet been made.
In the view taken by this Government the inquiry whether the vessel was in
the employment of those who were prosecuting an unauthorized war against
that Province or was engaged by the owner in the business of transporting
passengers to and from Navy Island in hopes of private gain, which was most
probably the case, in no degree alters the real question at issue between
the two Governments. This Government can never concede to any foreign
government the power, except in a case of the most urgent and extreme
necessity, of invading its territory, either to arrest the persons or
destroy the property of those who may have violated the municipal laws of
such foreign government or have disregarded their obligations arising under
the law of nations. The territory of the United States must be regarded as
sacredly secure against all such invasions until they shall voluntarily
acknowledge their inability to acquit themselves of their duties to others.
And in announcing this sentiment I do but affirm a principle which no
nation on earth would be more ready to vindicate at all hazards than the
people and Government of Great Britain. If upon a full investigation of all
the facts it shall appear that the owner of the Caroline was governed by a
hostile intent or had made common cause with those who were in the
occupancy of Navy Island, then so far as he is concerned there can be no
claim to indemnity for the destruction of his boat which this Government
would feel itself bound to prosecute, since he would have acted not only in
derogation of the rights of Great Britain, but in clear violation of the
laws of the United States; but that is a question which, however settled,
in no manner involves the higher consideration of the violation of
territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction. To recognize it as an admissible
practice that each Government in its turn, upon any sudden and unauthorized
outbreak which, on a frontier the extent of which renders it impossible for
either to have an efficient force on every mile of it, and which outbreak,
therefore, neither may be able to suppress in a day, may take vengeance
into its own hands, and without even a remonstrance, and in the absence of
any pressing or overruling necessity may invade the territory of the other,
would inevitably lead to results equally to be deplored by both. When
border collisions come to receive the sanction or to be made on the
authority of either Government general war must be the inevitable result.
While it is the ardent desire of the United States to cultivate the
relations of peace with all nations and to fulfill all the duties of good
neighborhood toward those who possess territories adjoining their own, that
very desire would lead them to deny the right of any foreign power to
invade their boundary with an armed force. The correspondence between the
two Governments on this subject will at a future day of your session be
submitted to your consideration; and in the meantime I can not but indulge
the hope that the British Government will see the propriety of renouncing
as a rule of future action the precedent which has been set in the affair
at Schlosser.

I herewith submit the correspondence which has recently taken place between
the American minister at the Court of St. James, Mr. Stevenson, and the
minister of foreign affairs of that Government on the right claimed by that
Government to visit and detain vessels sailing under the American flag and
engaged in prosecuting lawful commerce in the African seas. Our commercial
interests in that region have experienced considerable increase and have
become an object of much importance, and it is the duty of this Government
to protect them against all improper and vexatious interruption. However
desirous the United States may be for the suppression of the slave trade,
they can not consent to interpolations into the maritime code at the mere
will and pleasure of other governments. We deny the right of any such
interpolation to any one or all the nations of the earth without our
consent. We claim to have a voice in all amendments or alterations of that
code, and when we are given to understand, as in this instance, by a
foreign government that its treaties with other nations can not be executed
without the establishment and enforcement of new principles of maritime
police, to be applied without our consent, we must employ a language
neither of equivocal import or susceptible of misconstruction. American
citizens prosecuting a lawful commerce in the African seas under the flag
of their country are not responsible for the abuse or unlawful use of that
flag by others; nor can they rightfully on account of any such alleged
abuses be interrupted, molested, or detained while on the ocean, and if
thus molested and detained while pursuing honest voyages in the usual way
and violating no law themselves they are unquestionably entitled to
indemnity. This Government has manifested its repugnance to the slave trade
in a manner which can not be misunderstood. By its fundamental law it
prescribed limits in point of time to its continuance, and against its own
citizens who might so far forget the rights of humanity as to engage in
that wicked traffic it has long since by its municipal laws denounced the
most condign punishment. Many of the States composing this Union had made
appeals to the civilized world for its suppression long before the moral
sense of other nations had become shocked by the iniquities of the traffic.
Whether this Government should now enter into treaties containing mutual
stipulations upon this subject is a question for its mature deliberation.
Certain it is that if the right to detain American ships on the high seas
can be justified on the plea of a necessity for such detention arising out
of the existence of treaties between other nations, the same plea may, be
extended and enlarged by the new stipulations of new treaties to which the
United States may not be a party. This Government will not cease to urge
upon that of Great Britain full and ample remuneration for all losses,
whether arising from detention or otherwise, to which American citizens
have heretofore been or may hereafter be subjected by the exercise of
rights which this Government can not recognize as legitimate and proper.
Nor will I indulge a doubt but that the sense of justice of Great Britain
will constrain her to make retribution for any wrong or loss which any
American citizen engaged in the prosecution of lawful commerce may have
experienced at the hands of her cruisers or other public authorities. This
Government, at the same time, will relax no effort to prevent its citizens,
if there be any so disposed, from prosecuting a traffic so revolting to the
feelings of humanity. It seeks to do no more than to protect the fair and
honest trader from molestation and injury; but while the enterprising
mariner engaged in the pursuit of an honorable trade is entitled to its
protection, it will visit with condign punishment others of an opposite
character.

I invite your attention to existing laws for the suppression of the African
slave trade, and recommend all such alterations as may give to them greater
force and efficacy. That the American flag is grossly abused by the
abandoned and profligate of other nations is but too probable. Congress has
not long since had this subject under its consideration, and its importance
well justifies renewed and anxious attention.

I also communicate herewith the copy of a correspondence between Mr.
Stevenson and Lord Palmerston upon the subject, so interesting to several
of the Southern States, of the rice duties, which resulted honorably to the
justice of Great Britain and advantageously to the United States.

At the opening of the last annual session the President informed Congress
of the progress which had then been made in negotiating a convention
between this Government and that of England with a view to the final
settlement of the question of the boundary between the territorial limits
of the two countries. I regret to say that little further advancement of
the object has been accomplished since last year, but this is owing to
circumstances no way indicative of any abatement of the desire of both
parties to hasten the negotiation to its conclusion and to settle the
question in dispute as early as possible. In the course of the session it
is my hope to be able to announce some further degree of progress toward
the accomplishment of this highly desirable end.

The commission appointed by this Government for the exploration and survey
of the line of boundary separating the States of Maine and New Hampshire
from the conterminous British Provinces is, it is believed, about to close
its field labors and is expected soon to report the results of its
examinations to the Department of State. The report, when received, will be
laid before Congress.

The failure on the part of Spain to pay with punctuality the interest due
under the convention of 1834 for the settlement of claims between the two
countries has made it the duty of the Executive to call the particular
attention of that Government to the subject. A disposition has been
manifested by it, which is believed to be entirely sincere, to fulfill its
obligations in this respect so soon as its internal condition and the state
of its finances will permit. An arrangement is in progress from the result
of which it is trusted that those of our citizens who have claims under the
convention will at no distant day receive the stipulated payments.

A treaty of commerce and navigation with Belgium was concluded and signed
at Washington on the 29th of March, 1840, and was duly sanctioned by the
Senate of the United States. The treaty was ratified by His Belgian
Majesty, but did not receive the approbation of the Belgian Chambers within
the time limited by its terms, and has therefore become void.

This occurrence assumes the graver aspect from the consideration that in
1833 a treaty negotiated between the two Governments and ratified on the
part of the United States failed to be ratified on the part of Belgium. The
representative of that Government at Washington informs the Department of
State that he has been instructed to give explanations of the causes which
occasioned delay in the approval of the late treaty by the legislature, and
to express the regret of the King at the occurrence.

The joint commission under the convention with Texas to ascertain the true
boundary between the two countries has concluded its labors, but the final
report of the commissioner of the United States has not been received. It
is understood, however, that the meridian line as traced by the commission
lies somewhat farther east than the position hitherto generally assigned to
it, and consequently includes in Texas some part of the territory which had
been considered as belonging to the States of Louisiana and Arkansas.

The United States can not but take a deep interest in whatever relates to
this young but growing Republic. Settled principally by emigrants from the
United States, we have the happiness to know that the great principles of
civil liberty are there destined to flourish under wise institutions and
wholesome laws, and that through its example another evidence is to be
afforded of the capacity of popular institutions to advance the prosperity,
happiness, and permanent glory of the human race. The great truth that
government was made for the people and not the people for government has
already been established in the practice and by the example of these United
States, and we can do no other than contemplate its further exemplification
by a sister republic with the deepest interest.

Our relations with the independent States of this hemisphere, formerly
under the dominion of Spain, have not undergone any material change within
the past year. The incessant sanguinary conflicts in or between those
countries are to be greatly deplored as necessarily tending to disable them
from performing their duty as members of the community of nations and
rising to the destiny which the position and natural resources of many of
them might lead them justly to anticipate, as constantly giving occasion
also, directly or indirectly, for complaints on the part of our citizens
who resort thither for purposes of commercial intercourse, and as retarding
reparation for wrongs already committed, some of which are by no means of
recent date.

The failure of the Congress of Ecuador to hold a session at the time
appointed for that purpose, in January last, will probably render abortive
a treaty of commerce with that Republic, which was signed at Quito on the
13th of June, 1839, and had been duly ratified on our part, but which
required the approbation of that body prior to its ratification by the
Ecuadorian Executive.

A convention which has been concluded with the Republic of Peru, providing
for the settlement of certain claims of citizens of the United States upon
the Government of that Republic, will be duly submitted to he Senate.

The claims of our citizens against the Brazilian Government originating
from captures and other causes are still unsatisfied. The United States
have, however, so uniformly shown a disposition to cultivate relations of
amity with that Empire that it is hoped the unequivocal tokens of the same
spirit toward us which an adjustment of the affairs referred to would
afford will be given without further avoidable delay.

The war with the Indian tribes on the peninsula of Florida has during the
last summer and fall been prosecuted with untiring activity and zeal. A
summer campaign was resolved upon as the best mode of bringing it to a
close. Our brave officers and men who have been engaged in that service
have suffered toils and privations and exhibited an energy which in any
other war would have won for them unfading laurels. In despite of the
sickness incident to the climate, they have penetrated the fastnesses of
the Indians, broken up their encampments, and harassed them unceasingly.
Numbers have been captured, and still greater numbers have surrendered and
have been transported to join their brethren on the lands elsewhere
allotted to them by the Government, and a strong hope is entertained that
under the conduct of the gallant officer at the head of the troops in
Florida that troublesome and expensive war is destined to a speedy
termination. With all the other Indian tribes we are enjoying the blessings
of peace. Our duty as well as our best interests prompts us to observe in
all our intercourse with them fidelity in fulfilling our engagements, the
practice of strict justice, as well as the constant exercise of acts of
benevolence and kindness. These are the great instruments of civilization,
and through the use of them alone can the untutored child of the forest be
induced to listen to its teachings.

The Secretary of State, on whom the acts of Congress have devolved the duty
of directing the proceedings for the taking of the sixth census or
enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, will report to the two
Houses the progress of that work. The enumeration of persons has been
completed, and exhibits a grand total of 17,069,453, making an increase
over the census of 1830 of 4,202,646 inhabitants, and showing a gain in a
ratio exceeding 32 1/2 per cent for the last ten years.

From the report of the Secretary of the Treasury you will be informed of
the condition of the finances. The balance in the Treasury on the 1st of
January last, as stated in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury
submitted to Congress at the extra session, was $987,345.03. The receipts
into the Treasury during the first three quarters of this year from all
sources amount to $23,467,072.52; the estimated receipts for the fourth
quarter amount to $6,943,095.25, amounting to $30,410,167.77, and making
with the balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last $31,397,512.80.
The expenditures for the first three quarters of this year amount to
$24,734,346.97. The expenditures for the fourth quarter as estimated will
amount to $7,290,723.73, thus making a total of $32,025,070.70, and leaving
a deficit to be provided for on the 1st of January next of about
$627,557.90.

Of the loan of $12,000,000 which was authorized by Congress at its late
session only $5,432,726.88 have been negotiated. The shortness of time
which it had to run has presented no inconsiderable impediment in the way
of its being taken by capitalists at home, while the same cause would have
operated with much greater force in the foreign market. For that reason the
foreign market has not been resorted to; and it is now submitted whether it
would not be advisable to amend the law by making what remains undisposed
of payable at a more distant day.

Should it be necessary, in any view that Congress may take of the subject,
to revise the existing tariff of duties, I beg leave to say that in the
performance of that most delicate operation moderate counsels would seem to
be the wisest. The Government under which it is our happiness to live owes
its existence to the spirit of compromise which prevailed among its
framers; jarring and discordant opinions could only have been reconciled by
that noble spirit of patriotism which prompted conciliation and resulted in
harmony. In the same spirit the compromise bill, as it is commonly called,
was adopted at the session of 1833. While the people of no portion of the
Union will ever hesitate to pay all necessary taxes for the support of
Government, yet an innate repugnance exists to the imposition of burthens
not really necessary for that object. In imposing duties, however, for the
purposes of revenue a right to discriminate as to the articles on which the
duty shall be laid, as well as the amount, necessarily and most properly
exists; otherwise the Government would be placed in the condition of having
to levy the same duties upon all articles, the productive as well as the
unproductive. The slightest duty upon some might have the effect of causing
their importation to cease, whereas others, entering extensively into the
consumption of the country, might bear the heaviest without any sensible
diminution in the amount imported. So also the Government may be justified
in so discriminating by reference to other considerations of domestic
policy connected with our manufactures. So long as the duties shall be laid
with distinct reference to the wants of the Treasury no well-rounded
objection can exist against them. It might be esteemed desirable that no
such augmentation of the taxes should take place as would have the effect
of annulling the land-proceeds distribution act of the last session, which
act is declared to be inoperative the moment the duties are increased
beyond 20 per cent, the maximum rate established by the compromise act.
Some of the provisions of the compromise act, which will go into effect on
the 30th day of June next, may, however, be found exceedingly inconvenient
in practice under any regulations that Congress may adopt. I refer more
particularly to that relating to the home valuation. A difference in value
of the same articles to some extent will necessarily exist at different
ports, but that is altogether insignificant when compared with the
conflicts in valuation which are likely to arise from the differences of
opinion among the numerous appraisers of merchandise. In many instances the
estimates of value must be conjectural, and thus as many different rates of
value may be established as there are appraisers. These differences in
valuation may also be increased by the inclination which, without the
slightest imputation on their honesty, may arise on the part of the
appraisers in favor of their respective ports of entry. I recommend this
whole subject to the consideration of Congress with a single additional
remark. Certainty and permanency in any system of governmental policy are
in all respects eminently desirable, but more particularly is this true in
all that affects trade and commerce, the operations of which depend much
more on the certainty of their returns and calculations which embrace
distant periods of time than on high bounties or duties, which are liable
to constant fluctuations.

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