all lands lying within the States composing our Federal Union, and remove beyond their limits every Indian who is not willing to submit to their laws. Thus will all conflicting claims to jurisdiction between the States and the Indian tribes be put to rest. It is pleasing to reflect that results so beneficial, not only to the States immediately concerned, but to the harmony of the Union, will have been accomplished by measures equally advantageous to the Indians. What the native savages become when surrounded by a dense population, and by mixing with the whites, may be seen in the miserable remnants of a few eastern tribes, deprived of political and civil rights, forbidden to make contracts and subjected to guardians, dragging out a wretched existence, without excitement, without hope, and alinost without thought.

But the removal of the Indians beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the States does not place them beyond the reach of philanthropic aid and Christian instruction. On the contrary, those whom philanthropy or religion may induce to live among them in their new abode, will be more free in the exercise of their benevolent functions, than if they had remained within the limits of the States, embarrassed by their internal regulations. Now, subject to no control but the superintending agency of the General Government, exercised with the sole view of preserving peace, they may proceed unmolested in the interesting experiment of gradu

ally advancing a community of American Indians from barbarism to the habits and enjoyments of civilized life.

Among the happiest effects of the improved relations of our republic, has been an increase of trade, producing a corresponding increase of revenue, beyond the most sanguine anticipations of the Treasury Department.

The state of the public finances will be fully shown by the Secretary of the Treasury, in the report which he will presently lay before you. I will here however congratulate you upon their prosperous condition. The revenue received in the present year will not fall short of twenty-seven millions seven hundred thousand dollars; and the expenditures for all objects other than the public debt, will not exceed fourteen millions seven hundred thousand. The payment on account of the principal and interest of the debt, during the year, will exceed sixteen millions and a half of dollars; a greater sum than has been applied to that object, out of the revenue, in any year since the enlargement of the sinking fund, except the two years following immediately thereafter. The amount which will have been applied to the public debt from the fourth of March, 1829, to the first of January next, which is less than three years since the administration has been placed in my hands, will exceed forty millions of dollars.

From the large importations of the present year, it may be safely estimated that the revenue which will be received into the Treasu

ry from that source during the next year, with the aid of that received from the public lands, will considerably exceed the aimount of the receipts of the present year; and it is believed that with the means which the Government will have at its disposal, from various sources, which will be fully stated by the proper Department, the whole of the public debt may be extinguished, either by redemption or purchase, within the four years of my administration. We shall then exhibit the rare example of a great nation, abounding in all the means of happiness and security, altogether free from Debt

The confidence with which the extinguishment of the public debt may be anticipated, presents an opportunity for carrying into effect more fully the policy in relation to import duties, which has been recommended in my former messages. A modification of the Tariff, which shall produce a reduction of our revenue to the wants of the Government, and an adjustment of the duties on imports with a view to equal justice in relation to all our national interests, and to the counteraction of fereign policy, so far as it may be injurious to those interests, is deemed to be one of the principal objects which demand the consideration of the present Congress. Justice to the interests of the merchant as well as the manufacturer, requires that material reductions in the import duties be prospective and unless the present Congress shall dispose of the subject, the proposed reductions cannot properly be made to take

effect at the period when the necessity for the revenue arising from present rates shall cease. It is therefore desirable, that arrangements be adopted at your present session, to relieve the people from unnecessary taxation, after the extinguishment of the public debt. In the exercise of that spirit of concession and conciliation which has distinguished the friends of our Union in all great emergencies, it is believed that this object may be effected without injury to any national interest.

In my annual message of December, 1829, I had the honor to recommend the adoption of a more liberal policy than that which then prevailed towards unfortunate debtors to the Government; and I deem it my duty again to invite your attention to this subject.

Actuated by similar views, Congress, at their last session, passed an act for the relief of certain insolvent debtors of the United States; but the provisions of that law have not been deemed such as were adequate to that relief to this unfortunate class of our fellow citizens, which may be safely extended to them. The points in which the law appears to be defective will be particularly communicated by the Secretary of the Treasury; and I take pleasure in recommending such an extension of its provisions as will unfetter the enterprise of a valuable portion of our citizens, and restore to them the means of usefulness to themselves and the community. While deliberating upon this subject, I would also recommend to your consideration,

the propriety of so modifying the laws for enforcing the payment of debts due either to the public or to individuals suing in the courts of the United States, as to restrict the imprisonment of the person to cases of fraudulent concealment of property. The perThe personal liberty of the citizen seems too sacred to be held, as in many cases it now is, at the will of a creditor to whom he is willing to surrender all the means he has of discharging his debt.

The reports from the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, and from the Postmaster General, which accompany this message, present satisfactory views of the operations of the Departments respectively under their charge; and suggest improvements which are worthy of, and to which I invite the serious attention of Congress. Certain defects and omissions having been discovered in the operation of the laws respecting Patents, they are pointed out in the accompanying report from the Secretary of State. I have heretofore recommended amendments of the Federal Constitution giving the election of President and Vice President to the people, and limiting the service of the former to a single

So important do I consider these changes in our fundamental law, that I cannot, in accordance with my sense of duty, omit to press them upon the consideration of a new Congress. For my views more at large, as well in relation to these points as to the disqualification of members of Congress to receive an office from a President in whose

election they have had an official agency, which I proposed as a substitute, I refer you to my former messages.

Our system of public accounts is extremely complicated, and it is believed, may be much improved. Much of the present machinery, and a considerable portion of the expenditure of public money may be dispensed with, while greater facilities can be afforded to the liquidation of claims upon the Government, and an examination into their justice and legality, quite as efficient as the present, secured. With a view to a general reform in the system, I recommend the subject to the attention of Congress.

I deem it my duty again to call your attention to the condition of the District of Columbia. It was doubtless wise in the framers of our Constitution, to place the people of this District under the jurisdiction of the General Government; but, to accomplish the objects they had in view, it is not necessary that this people should be deprived of all the privileges of self-government. Independently of the difficulty of inducing the Representatives of distant States to turn their attention to projects of laws which are not of the highest interest to their constituents, they are not individually, nor in Congress collectively, well qualified to legislate over the local concerns of this District. Consequently, its interest are much neglected, and the people are almost afraid to present their grievances, lest a body, in which they are not represented, and which feels little sympathy in their

local relations, should, in its attempt to make laws for them, do more harm than good. Governed by the laws of the States whence they were severed, the two shores of the Potomac within the ten miles square have different penal codes: not the present codes of Virginia and Maryland, but such as existed in those States at the time of the cession to the United States. As Congress will not form a new code, and as the people of the District cannot make one for themselves, they are virtually under two Governments. Is it not just to allow them at least a delegate in Congress, if not a local Legislature to make laws for the District, subject to the approval or rejection of Congress? I earnestly recommend the extension to them of every political right which their interests require, and which may be compatible with the Constitution.

The extension of the Judiciary system of the United States is deemed to be one of the duties of Government. One fourth of the States in the Union do not participate in the benefits of a Circuit Court. To the States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, admitted into the Union since the present Judicial system was organized, only a District Court has been allowed. If this be sufficient, then the Circuit Courts, already existing in eighteen States, ought to be abolished: if it be not sufficient, the defect ought

to be remedied, and these States placed on the same footing with the other members of the Union. It was on this condition, and on this footing, that they entered the Union; and they may demand Circuit Courts as a matter, not of concession, but of right. I trust that Congress will not adjourn, leaving this anomaly in our sys tem.

Entertaining the opinions heretofore expressed in relation to the Bank of the United States, as at present organized, I felt it my duty, in my former messages, frankly to disclose them, in order that the attention of the legisla→ ture and the people should be seasonably directed to that important subject, and that it might be considered and finally disposed of in a manner best calculated to promote the ends of the Constitution and subserve the public interests. Having thus conscientiously discharged a constitutional duty, I deem it proper, on this occasion, without a more particular reference to the views of the subject then expressed, to leave it for the present to the investigation of an enlightened people and their representatives.

In conclusion, permit me to invoke that Power which superintends all Governments, to infuse into your deliberations, at this important crisis of our history, a spirit of mutual forbearance and conciliation. In that spirit was our Union formed, and in that spirit must it be preserved.

ANDREW JACKSON.

To the Senate.

THE bill to modify and continue' the act entitled 'an act to incorporate the subscribers to the bank of the United States,' was presented to me on the 4th of July instant. Having considered it with that solemn regard to the principles of the constitution which the day was calculated to inspire, and come to the conclusion that it ought not to become a law, I herewith return it to the senate in which it originated, with my objections.

A bank of the United States is, in many respects, convenient for the government and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorised by the constitution, subversive of the rights of the states, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty, at an early period of my administration, to call the attention of congress to the practicability of organizing an institution combining all its advantages and obviating these objections. I sincerely regret that, in the act before me, I can perceive none of those modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, or with the constitution of our country.

The present corporate body, denominated the president, directors and company of the bank of the United States, will have existed, at the time this act is intended to take effect, twenty years. It enjoys an exclusive privilege of banking under the authority of the general government, a monopoly of its favor and support, and, as a necessary consequence, almost a monopoly of the foreign and domestic exchange. powers, privileges and favors bestowed upon it, in the original charter, by increasing the value of the stock far above its par value, operated as a gratuity of many millions to the stockholders.

The

An apology may be found for the failure to guard against this result, in the consideration that the effect of the original act of incorporation could not be certainly foreseen at the time of its passage. The act before me proposes another gratuity to the holders of the same stock, and, in many cases to the same men, of at least seven millions more. This donation finds no apology in any uncertainty as to the effect of the act. On all hands it is conceded that its passage will increase at least twenty or thirty per cent. more, the market price of the stock, subject to the payment of the annuity of $200,000 per year, secured by the act; thus adding, in a mo