,jfKoilum fiberritunt, Vroirittors. •
PRESIDENT'S, 'OSAGE.
Fellow- Citizen f of the -.Senate
and of Me House of R.epresentatives..
The ConstitUtion requires that the Presi
dent shall, from time to ; time, not only rec
ommend to the 'consideration of • Congress,
suc h measures as he may judge necessary and
ex pedient, but. also that be shall give infor
mative to them of the state of the Union.- To
,1 0 this frilly i+olves exposition of all mat
, ,t e rs in, the actual erudition of , the country,
q u mestic or foreign, which . essentially con- •
f
1 tern the general welfare. While performing
his constitutional duty in this respect, the
1 P r esiztent does not speak merely to express
personal conviction!, but as the executive
mini-ter of the l lgovernment, enabled by his
p o sition, acrd cr l lled upon by his, official obli
gations, to;scar with an impartial eye the .
i n terests of the, whole, and of every part of the
- ,
rnitPd States.
__ . • i
Of the condition of the domestic interests
of the Union, its agriculture, mines, manu
f-ctures, navigation, and commerce, it is only
! l, that the '`'necessaryto say the internal . prosperity
1 of the cpuntry, l its continuous and steady ad
rancement• in Wealth and population; and in
private 'as Well ;'a public well-being, attest the
wisdom ofour institutions, and the predonii- .
I nsnt t.pirit of intelligent patriotism, which,
aotwithstanding occasional ,irregularities of
opinion or action resulting from popular free
dom; has distinguished and characterized the
people of America.
1 1
interval
9 In the brief between the termina
-1 .
tion of thet last and the commencement of the
' I present session of Congress, the public mind. !
has been occupied with the care of seleating, 1
for anothe Constitutional term, the President.
and Vice president of the United States.
The deternamation of the persons, who are
(.
of right, or conting;intly,.to presideover the
`administration of the government, is,- under
-;our system ! ! committed to the States acrd the
people. NSTe appeal to them, by their voice
( pronounced ' in;
the forms of law; to .call
1 whomsoevr theye will to the high post of
Chief Nlagistrate. '
i And thus it is that as the Senators repre
sat the respective States of the Union, aifa
;the members of the House of Representatives
v.e several constituencies of each State, so
the President represents the aggregate pope-'
Ilatioo of the United Staies. - Their election of
him is the explicit and solemn act of the sole
safereign authority of the Union.
It is impossible to misapprehend the great
principles, )which, by their recent-political ac
rion, the people of the United States have
anctioned and announced.
i . They have asserted the constitutional equal
ty of each , and all of the,States of the Union
..s States; they have affirmed The constitu
, t.‘oul equality of each and all of the citizens
of the United States. a.s citizens, whatever
:teir religion, wherever their birth, or their
,ideate; they have I
maintained the invioia-
!it.y of the constitutional - rights of the dif. , rent sections of the Union ; and they have
inclaitned their devoted and unalterable it-,
tachment to the Union and to the Constitu
riot!, as of jetty of interest superior to all sub- .
-beets of local or sectional controversy, as the
..ieguaids of the rights of- all, as the spirit
sad the essence of the liberty, peace, 'and
greatness of the Republic. , •
In doing, this, they hav e ; at the same 'time,
emphatically condemned the idea of organiz
inz in :14. , e United States mere geographical
J'ar:j. , ; of marshalling in hostile array. to
ward, each other, the different parts of the .
, nntrr, North or South, East or Wait..
Stheuie, of this nature, fraught with incal
ft,:able mischief, and which the , considerate
142nse of the people has rejected, could have
ad countenance in'no part of 'the country,.
hal they not.been disguised by' suggestions
I,
I„tw.ibl e in appearance, acting upon - an excit
:-.; :::Ate a the public mind, induced by t aus'
-,....T in th eir ,
ttroporai character, and it is to
~.;, hop e d transient in their influence.
Perfect liberty of association for political
6 i..1‘.;1-, and the widest scope of discussion,
are th e received and ordinary conditions' of
g o ;erilrirent Alit country. Our institutions,
'smell in the ipirit of confidence in the,intelli'-,
etif. and integrity of the people, do not for : -
id citizens either individually 'or associated
yeti - 4r, to attack by writing, speech, or any
'her methods' sbort of phySical force, the
..unstitution and the :very' existence of the
4e%. Under the shelter of this great liber-
Ili . . and protected l'ol; the laws and usages of
' Itilk, g.to•erutnent r tla4 assail, associations have
1,,, ,1, 'peen farmed, in some of the States, of
: it , : • , idutils, who, pretending to seek' only' to
IT:;e n t the spread of the institution of slay- .
I/I'y into the present or future inchoate States
4 tht.Union, are really inflamed with the de
!
to change the mastic institutions of ex.
ini n ,-.
~- s ates. - ' .
, . - ,,, triplish th , ir objects, they dedioate
' 1 -Leirl 't:lez tb the otiious task of depreciating
, t :'''' government organization which stands in
I' d , eir W ay, and of calumniating; with indis.
' l eni4lr ' at le'inventivc; hot only' the citizens of
I p arti calar - States, with - whose laws they fimi
' a ''';. but all otheri of avail. fellow-citizens
14. ''?;:lout the cou l n try, who d o not. partici.,
, 1 , -:€: •
with then; in, th eir assaults upon the
'" (ll ' . " :i tution, framed and adopted-by our fath
r, and claim' ing for the privileges it has se.
- '''''-' O ., and the blessings' it has conferred, the
1 %rly support . and grateful reverence of their
ckildieD. Th ,P a , .
ev see d: n o bj ect watch they
well know t 1 ' '
to h: — a te r one.
Th e); are perfectly aware that the change
14 the relative condition of the white attd
• ' a tir.race E ip' the sinveboiding Statee, which
)
, -
they would promote, is beyond i theirSlawful
atithority; that to them it is i, foreign ob
ject; 'that it cannot be effectedY any peace
ful instrumentality of- theirs; t it for them, .
and the States of which they a 'Citizens, the
only Path to its accomilishmen', , is through
burning cities and ravaged field - And slaugh
i
tered populations, and all there S must terri
ble in foreign, complicated with iivil and ser
vile vrar ; and'that the first steK. in the at
tenapi is the forcible disruption of a country
embracing in its broad bosom-a degree of lib
erty, and an amount of individual and public
prosperity, to which there is u‘arallel in
hiltorY, and substituting in its filace hostile
governments, driven at once and inevitably
into mutual devastation &fratric•Ral carnage,
transforming the now peaceful a :(1 felicitous
brothethood into a vast pernaan ' t camp of
armed men, like the:rival mona ies of Eu
rope and Asia.
Well knowing that such and sich only, are
the means and the consequences cif their plans
; .
and purposes, they endeavor to prepare the
people of the United States for civil war by
doing;evory thing in their powerlito deprive
the Conatitution and the laws o f moral au
thority, and to undermine the fa:bric of the
Union by, appeals to passion iil sectional
prejudices, by indoctrinating its
._ P j eople with
reciprocal hatred, and by educating them to
stand 'face to face as enemies, Father than
shoulder to shoulder as friends. 1. 1
It is by the agency of such un*arrantable
interference; foreign and domesti, that the
miedseof many, otherwise good c it iz e ns, have
been so inflamed into the passionate condem
nation of -the .domestic.institutions of the
Southern States, as at lengthsto pass insetel
bly Ito almost equally passionate hostility
.
towards their fellow-citizens of those States,
, and' thus finally . to fall into temporary fellow
; ship with the avowed and active enemies of
1 the COnstitution. Ardently attached to lib
•ty in the abstract, they do not stop to consid
er prarkically how the objecteihey would at
tain can be accamplshed: nor to reflect that.,
' even if;the evil were as great as tliey,deem it,
they have no remedy to apply, angt; that it
can be ;only aggravated by their violence and
Unconstitutional action.
A qUestion, which is one - of the
cult of all the problems of social
lxilitical economy and statesma
treat with unreasoning intempenn
and language. Extremes beget 'e t,
Violent attack from the North 6114 its inev
itable consequence in the growth 4 a, spirit
of angry defiance at the South. ens in.the
progress: of events we bad - reacheci l ;that con
summation, which the voice of theiople has
now so pointedly rebuked of thotattempt of
a pokion of the States, by a sectiOial organ
ization and movement, to usurp t,14, control of
the government of the United Stn' e s.
confidently believe that the great body
of those ;who inconsiderately tookl,tbis fatal
step, are 'sincerely attached to the Constitution
and the Union. They would, upett
_
delibera
tion,` shrink with unaffected horror=from any
conscious act of disunion Or civil ;war. But
they , have entered into a path, which leads
nowhere; Unless it be to civil war ind ,disun
ion, and which has no other pos4le outlet.
They have proceeded thus in that direction
ircconsequence of the successive stages of their
progress having consisted of a series of sec
ondary issues, e,ch .of which professedlio
be , confined within' constitute pal and
peaceful limits, but which attempi4 indirect
ly,What few men were willin to ;t
that is, to act aggressively against
stittitional rights of nearly one-?
v-one States. . •
. In the I , ng series °facts of indir
sion; the first was the sttenuons
citizens of the northern States,
and,out of it,, of the question of n
oip'ation an the southern States
The second step in this path ci ! evil coa
sisted of actsaof the -people of :tl i northern
States, and in several, instances of itheir gov
ernment,' aimed to facilitate, th : 'escape of
perbons held to service in the bout rn States,
s i f
and to prevent their extraditioi when re
claimed according to law and i 1 virtue - of 4
express provisions of the Consti ration. To
ptonote i this object, legislative I I nactments
and other means were adopted t , Make away
or defeat rights, which the Cons' tation sol
eranlY guarantied. In order to 1 ulify the
I t
then existing acts of Congress cori rning the
1 .!
eXtradiii9o of fugitives 'from :, ce, laws
were enacted in many States. forb4ding toed,
officers, hurter the seteiest permit' k to par
ticiPaie 'in any act. of .Gong • "whatever.
In this way that syStem of bar 'onions co
opdatjon between the authorities •f the Uni
ted States and of the , States, for .e mainte
nance of their / coramon instittr ions which
existed in the
. earl years of th! Republic,
was:destroyed; conflicts of juri .; tion cainei
to ne fr:equent,; and Congress mud itself
i i
_compelled, for the supOrt of the ti ! ' ti Intim,
and llfel'eindication of its pore f ; to author..
I • 1 m 1
ize the appointrnent of new of .1
-. s, charged
with the execution of its acts, as they and
d, t cc„.— o ft he g 1.,
~..e F...a
respectively, of foreign gore!) tits in a
state of ' m utua l hostility, rather, 4han fellow
magistrates of a common coup ; peacefully
subsisting under the pro.tecticia .' one well
-1 ' I,
constituted Union. Thus here, - so, egres
sion, was followed by reflections bnd the at
tacks upon the Constitution at. t '',6 point did
but serve to raise up new bassi for its de
(f
fenee and, security. • - 1 ,
The, third stage of this not'
.verarwie in cooneetion ,With t
- tioo ~.0 twitariah ioverstnento,!
pontrost i Susqlellanna Counta, fenn'a, parstran Putuibtr 11,185.11.
mission of new States into the Union: When
it was prOposed to admit the State of Maine,
by separation of territory from that of Mas
sachusetts, and the State of Missouri, formed of
a portion of the territory ceded by France to
the United States, representatives in Congress
objected to the admission of the latter, unless
with conditions suited to particular views of
public policy. The imposition of such a con
dition was succesfully resisted. But, at the
same period, the - question was presented of
imposing restrictions upon the residue of the
territory ceded by France. That question
was for the time, disposed - of by the adoption
of a geographical line of limitation.
In this connection it should not be forgot
ten that Fran'ce, of her osvp accord, resolved,
for considerations of the_ most far-sighted sa
gacity, to cede Louisiana to the United States,
the latter expressly engaged that, -" the- •in - -
habitants of the ceded territory shall be in
corporated in the Union of the United States,
and admitted as.soon as possible, according
to the principles of the. Federal Conititutiom
to the enjoyment of the rights, advantages;
and immunities of citizens of the United
Statei; and in the, mean time they shall be
maintained and protected in the• free enjoy
ment of their liberty, property, and the relig
ion which they profess"—that is to say, whilst
they remain in a territorial condition,. its in
habitants are maintained and protected in the
free enjoyment bf their liberty and property,
with a right then to pass into the condition
of States on-a forting of perfect equality with
the original States.
The enactment, which established the re
strictive geographical line, was' acquiesced
in rather than approved by the States of the
Union. It stood on the statute'book, however,
for a number of years; and the people of the'
respective States acquiesced in the re-enact
ment of the principle as applied to the State of
Texas; and it was proposed to acquiesce
it, its further application to the territory ac
quired by the United States from Mexico.
But this proposition was successfully resisted
by the representatives from the northern
States, who, regardless of the statute line,
insisted upon applying a restriction to the new .
territory generally, whether ;lying north or
south of it, thereSy repealin& it as a legisls
tire compromise, and, on the part of the North
persistently violating, the compact, if compact
there was.
most diffi-
Institution,
ship, they
,ee of tho't
Thereupon this enactment ceased to have
binding virtue in any sense, whether as re
spects the North or the' South; and an in effect
it was treated on the occasion of the admis
don of the State of California, and the organ
ization of the Territories of Xew Mexico, Utah, '
and Washington.
Such was thw , state of this question, when
the time arrived for the organization of the
Territoriei. of Kansas and Nebraska. In the
progress Of constitutional inquiry and reflec- ,
tion, it had • now at length come to be seen
clearly that Congress does not possess con
stitutional power to impose restrictions of
this character upon any present or future-
State of the Union. In a long series of de
cisions, on the fullest argument, and after
the most, deliberate consideration, the Su
preme Court of the United States had finally
determined this point, in every form under'
which the question could arise, whether as
affecting public or private rights, in ques
tions of the ptiblic domain, of religion, of
navigation, and! of servitude.
The several States of the Union are, by
force of the Constitution, co equal in domestic .
legislative power. Congress cannot change
a law of domestip relation in the State of
Maine; no more can it in the State of Mis"-
souri. Any statute which proposes to do
this'is a mereptility ; it takes away no right,
it confers none. If it remains on the staute
book unrepealed, it remains there only as a
monument of error, and a beacon of warning
to the legislator and the statmen. To re
peal_ it will-1)e only to remove imperfection
from the statutes, without affecting, either
in the sense of permission or of prOhibition,
the action of the States, or of their citizens.
I Still, when the nominal restriction of this
nature, already a dead letter in law, was in
terms repealed by the last Congress, in a
tremes.—
p directly,
1 the con-
of the
aggres
ligra tion, by
Congi ess
,ro eman-
clanse . of the act organizing the Territories
of Kansas ana l ' Nebraska, that repeal was
made the occasion of wide•Fpread and dan-
gerous agnation. l
It was alleged that the original enact
ment being a cempact of perpetual moral
obligation, its, repeal constituted an odious
breach of faith. I 10
An act of- Congress, while it remains un
repealed, more especially if it be constitution
ally valid in the; judgment, of those public
functionaries - whcise duty it is to pronounce
on that point, is Undoubtedly-binding on. the
conscience of each good citizen of the Be
-public. But in what sense can it be asserted
that the enactment in question was 'invested
with perpetuity and entitled to the respect
of a solemn compact! Between whom was
the compact t No distinct contending pbw
ere of the government, no' separate sections
of the Union, treating as such, entered into
treaty stipulation's on the subject. It was a
mere olause of as act of Congress; and like
any other controVerted matter, of legislation,
received its final , shape and was passed by
compromise of the conflicting opinions or
sentiments of the members of Congress. But if
it had moral authority over men's consciences,
to whom did this authority attach t Not to
those of the North, who had repeatedly re
fused to confirm ± it by extension, and who
had zealously atziien to establish other and
incompatible regulations upon the,sek)ect
o PP/ Watro•
the ad.
K WE ARE ALL EQUAL BEFORE GODAIID THE CONSTITUTION..”--James Buchanan,
And if, as it thus appears, Abe supposed
com
pact bad no obligatory fore!, as to the North,
of course it could not havehad any as to the
South, for All such compac4 . lnust be mutual
and of reciprocal obligation.
It has not unfreqaenq happened that
law-givers,
.with undue estimation of the value
of the law they give, or in ;View of imparting
to it peculiar strength, make it perpetual in
terms; but they cannot tins bind the can-
science, the, judgment,
.an . o tbe - will of thooe
who may succeed them, iOested with equal
authority. More careful investigation may
prove the law
,to be unsound in principle.
Experience may show it to be imperfect in
detail and impracticable iti execution. And
then both reason and right combine not
merely to justify, but to /Faire its repeal.
The Constitution, suprerie as it is over all
the departments of the
„goyernment, legisla
!,
tive, executive, and judicial, is open to amend
mentA
,3
by its very terms ; mid Congfess or t e
States may, in their discretien,propose am -
ments to it, solemn compact though it in truth
is between the sovereign States of the Union.
In the present instance, a political enactment
which had ceased to have legal power or
authority cf any kind, wait repealed._ The
position - assumed, that Congress had - tio
moral right - to enact such repeal, was strange
enough, and singularly so ip view of the fact
that the' argument catne'from those who
openly refused obedience to existing laws of
the land, 'having the same 'popular designa
tion and quality as compromise acts—nay
more, who unequivocally i disregarded and
condemned the most posi4e and obligatory
injunction of the Constitution• itself, and
sought, by every means W4in their reach, to
deprive a portion of theiyellow citizens of
the equal enjoyment of those rights and pri
vtlege.s guarantied alike toiall by the funda
mental compact of our Union.
This argument against tlie repeal of the
statute line in question, WA accompanied by
Another ofcongenial character, and equally
with the former destitut4' of foundation in
reason and truth. It wa,i imputed that the
measure originated in the conception of ex
tending the limits of sla . re-labor beyord those
previously assigned to it, and that such was
its natural as well as its'it4ended effect; and
these baseless assumptionOiere made, in 'the,
northern States, the ground of unceasing as
sault upon constitutional, right.
The • repeal in, terms of a statute. %tibia
was already obsolete, and also null for un
constitutionality, could hate no influence to
obstruct or to promote the propagation of
conflicting views of political Or social institu
tion. When'the act orgatiaing the Territo
ries of Kansas and Nebraska vas passed, the
inherent effect upon that portion of the pub
lic domain thus, opened torlegal settlement,
was to admit settlers from all the States of the
Union alike, each with 'lris convictions of
public policy and priva interests, there to
found in their iliscreti n, subject to such Erni
/ tation as the Constit tion and 'acts , of Con
' greis might prescribe, new, States, hereafter
to be aduiitted into the 'Union. It was a free
ftelif, open alike to all,. whether the statute
line of assumed restictionj was repealed or
not. Tbat repeal did not 'Open to free com
petition of,tbe diverse opinions and domestic
institutions a field, which,' without such re
peal, would have been cluiied against them :
it . found that field of competition already
opened in fact and in !alt. All the repeal
did- was to relieve the statute 7 book of an
objectionable enactment, ,unconstitutional in
effect, and 'injurious in terms to a large por
tion of the States.•
Is it the fact, that, in all
t the unsettled re
°ions of the United States,lf emigration be
left free to act in this respe4t for itself, with
out legal prohibitions. on either side, slave
labor will spontaneously ge everywhere, in
preference to free labor it the feet, that
the peculiar domestic insAions of the
southern States possess relatively so much of
vigor, 'that, wheresoever an ;avenue is freely
open to all the world, they. Will penetrate to
the exclusion of those of the3orthern States?
it the 'fact, that the former enjoy, compar
ed with the latter, such irresiitibly superior
vitality, independent of climate, soil, and all
other accidental oireumstandes, as to be able
to produce the supposed result, in spite of the
assumed moral and naturaUobstacles to its
accomplishment, and of tbei tore numerous
population of the northern States?
The argument of those, Who advocate the
enactment of new laws of restriction, and con
demn the repeal of old one4in effect avers
that their particular views - Id government
have no self-extending of t• self-sustaining
power of their own, and v Sll go nowhere
unless forced by act of Congress. And if
Congress do but pause for r4moment in the
policy of stern coercion; if it venture to 'try
the experiment of leaving men to judge for
themselves whit institutions: will best suit
them ; if it be not attained rip to perpetual
legislative exertion on this point ; if Congivss
proceeds thus to act in the very spirit of lib
erty, it is at once charged. with - aiming to
extend slave labor into all the new Territo
ries of the United States. - •
Of course, these imputatiotui on the inten
tions of Congress in, this respent, conceived as
they were in prejudice, and ciisseminateti in
passion, are utterly destitute of any, justifica—
tion in the nature . of things, itral_contrary to
all the fundamental , rfoctrines end principles
.
of civil liberty and self-governineet.
While therefore, in, general,',rthe people of
the northern State have never, at any time,
arrogated for the federal wiverateeet the
power to interfere direot4 cirri 110 Antestic
•
condition of pepple in the' southern Stites,
but on the contrary have disavowed all
such intentions, and have shrunk from con-
spicuous affiliation with those few who pur
sue their fanatical objects avowedly through
the contemplated means of revolutionary
change of the government, and with accept
ance of the necessary consequences—a civil
and servile war—yet many citizens have
suffered themselves to' be drawn into one
evanescent political issuepf agitation after
another, appertaining to the same set of
opinions, and which subsided as rapidly-as
they arose when it came to be 'seen, as it
did, that they were incompatible ,with the
compacts of the ConstitntiOn and the exis
tence of the Union. Thus, when the acts of
some of the States. to nulify the existing ex
tradition law imposed upon Congress the duty
of passing a new one, the country was invited
by agitators to enter into party organization
for its repeal ; but the agitation speedily"
ceased by reason of,the impracticability of
its object. So, when the statute restriction
upon the -institutions of new States, by a
geogtaphicul line, had been repealed, the
country was urged to demand its restoration,
and that project also died almost with its
birth. Then followed the cry of alarm from
the north, against imputed southern encroach-
ments; which cry sprang in reality from the
spirit of revolutionary attack on the domestic
institutions of the south, and, after a troubled
existence of, a few months, has been rebuked
by the voice of a patriotic people.
Of this last agitation, one lamentable fea
ture was, that it was carried on at the irnme-
diate expense of the peace of the people
of Kansas. ' That was made the battle
field, not so much of opposing factions or
interests
. within itself, as of the Conflicting
patns of the whole people of the United
States. Revolutionary disoidei in Kansas
had its origin in projects of intervention, de
liberately arranged by certain °members of
that Congress, which enacted the law for the
organization of that Territory. And when
propagandist colonization of Ka l fasas had thus
been undertaken in one section of the Union,
for the sys_tematic promotion of its peculiar
views of policy, there ensued, as a matter of
course, a counteraction-with opposite views,
in other sections of the Union.
In consequence of these and other inci
dents, many acts of disorder it is undeniable,.
have been perpetrated in Kansas, to the occa
sional interruption, rather than the permanent.
suspension, of regular government. Aggres
sive and most reprehensible incursions into the
Territory were undertaken, both in the north
and the south, and entered it by way of loWa,
as well as on the eastern by way °Missouri ;
and there has existed within it a state of in
surrection against the constituted authorities
not without countenance from inconsiderate
persons in each of the great sections of the
Union. But the difficulties in that Territory
have been extravagantly eXaggerated for put.;
poses of political agitation elsewhere. The
number and gravity of the acts of violence have
been Magnified partly by the statements entire
ly untrue, and partly by reiterated accounts of
the same rumors or facts. Thus the territory
has seemingly been: filled with extreme vio-
lence, when the whole amount of such acts
has not been greater than what occasionally
passes before us in-single cities to the regret
of all good citizens, but without being re
garded as of general or permanent political
consequence.
Imputed irregularities in the elections bad
in Kansas, like occasional irregularities of the
same description in she. States, were beyond
the sphere of action'of the Executive. But
incidents of actual violence or of organized
obstruction , of law, pertinaciously . renewed
from time to time, have been met as they oc
cured, by such means as were available and
as the circumstances required, and nothing
of this character now remains to affect the
general peace of the Union. The attempt of
a' part of the inhabitants of the Territory to
erect a revolutionary government, though
sedulously encouraged and supplied with
pecuniary aid fromactive agents- of disorder
in some of the States, has completely failed.
Bodies of armed men, foreign to the Terntorv,
have been prevented from entering or i•corn
pelled to leave it. Predatory bands, engaged
in Acts of rapine, under oover of the existing
political disturbances, have been arrested: or
dispersed., And every well disposed person
is now enabled once more to devote himself
in peace to the pursuits of prosperous indus
try, foi the prosecution of which he undertook
to participate in the settlement of the Ter
ritory. - , •
it affords me unmingled satisfaction thus
to announce the peaceful 'condition of
things in Kansas, especially considering the
means to a-ILA it was necessary to have re
course for the attainment of the end, namely,
the, employment of a part of the military
force of the United States. The withdrawal
of that: force from its proper duty of defend
ing. the country against foreign foes or the
savages of the frontier, to eurploY it for the
suppression of domespo insurrection, is, when
the exigency occurs, a matter of the most
earliest solicitude. Oa this occasion-of im
perative necessity it has been done with the
best results, and my satisfaction in the attain
ment of such results by such means is greatly
enhanced by the' consideration, that through
the wisdomand energy , of the present Ex
ecutive of Kansas, and the prudence, firineeu
and vigilano of the military officers on duty
there, tranquility has been restored without
one drop of blood baying been shed in its
neecunplisbenet by tbe /mei of the United
The restoration of comparative tranquility
in that Territory furnishes the means of ob-
serving calmly, and appreciating 'at their just
value, the events which hap occurred there
and the. discussions of which the government
of the Territory has been the subject.
.We perceive that controversy
its future domestic institutions was inevitable
that no human prudence, no form of legisla
tion, no wisdom on the part of Congress,
could have prevented -this.
It is idle to suppose that the pirticular pro
visions of their organic law were the cause of
agitation. Tbose provisions were but the oc-
casion, or the pretext of an agiustion, which
was inherent ib the nature of things. Con-
gress legislated upon the subject iusuch terms
as were more consonant with:the principle of
popular sovereignty which underlies our gor
eminent. It could not have legislated other
wise without doing violence to another great
principle of our institutions, the impreicripti
,ble right - of equality of the several States.
We perceive, also, that sectional 'interests
''and party passions, have been thC great irn-
pediment to the salutary operation of the or-.
genic principles adopted, and the chief tliuse.
of the successive disturbances in Kansas.—
The assumption that, because in% the organi
zation of the Tern tones of Nebraska and Kan
sas, Congress abstafned from - imposing .
_re
straints upon them to which certain other Ter
ritories had'been subject, therefore disorders
occiin ed in the latter Territory, is emphati
cally contradicted by the fact that acne have
occurred in the former. Those disorders
were not the consequence, in Kansas, or the,
freedom of self gorerntuent conceded to that
Territory by Congress, but of unjust, interfer
enceon tisi part of persons not inbabitautspf.
the Territory. Such interference, wherever
it has exhibited itself by acts of insurrection-:
ary character, or of obstruction to processes
of law, have been repelled or' suppressed, by,
all the means which the. Constitution and the
laws place in the bands of the Executive.
lii those parts of the United States where, by
' reason of the inflamed state of the s publimind,
false rumors and misrepresentations bate the
greatest currency, it Las been assumed that it
was the duty-of the Executive not only , to
stippress insurrectionary movements in Kan
sas, but also to see to' theLreg,ularity of local
elections. It needs little argument to show
that the President has no such power. All
government in the United States'rests substan
tially upon popular election. The freedom
of electioiis is liableto be impaired by the in
trusion' of unlawful votes, or the exclusion of
lawful ones; by improper influences, by: vi.>•,
lence or by fraud. But the people - of the
ITnited Statesfare themselves the all-Sufficient
guardians of their own rights, and to suppose
that they vvill mot remedy, ii due season, any
such incidenti of civil freedom, is to suppose
them to havetceased to be capable of self-gov
ernment. The President of the United - States
has not power to interpose in elections, to see
tetheir freedom, to canvass their votes, or to
pats upon their legality in the Territories any
more than in the States.. If be had such
power the government might be republican
in form, but it would be a monarchy in fact,
and if be bad undertaLen to exercise it in the
• ,
case of Kansas, he would have been jUstly
subject to the charge of usurpation, and of
violation of the deareit rights of , the people of
the United States.
Unwise . !aws, equally with irregularities at
elections, are, in periods of great excitement, .
- the'Occasienal incidents of even' the freot and
best political institution& But all experience
demonstrates that •in a country like ours,
where right of self-constitutipn exists in the
completest form, the attempt to remedy un
wise legislation by resort to revolution, is to
tklly out of place"; inasmuch as existing - legal
institutions afford more prompt a nd efficacious
means for the redress'of wrong.
I confidently trust that noW,..when the
peaceful condition of Kansas • affords oppor
tunity for calm reflection and wise legisla•
tion, either the legislative assembly .of, the
Territory, or Congress, will see thal•no act
shall,remain on statute book violative of
the provisions of the Constitution, or subver
sive of the great objeas for whiCh that was
ordained and established, and will take all
other necessary steps to assure to itsinbabl.
tants the enjoyment, without obstruction of
abridgement, of all the constitutional rights,
privileges and immunities of citizens of the
United States, as contemplated by the organic
laws of the Territory.
Fuli information in relation to recent
events in this Territory will be found in the
documents communicated herewith from the
Department of State and War. ' -
I refer to the Report of the Secretary of
the Treasiy for particular informatinn Con
cerning the financial Condition of the gov
ernment, and the various branches of the pub
lic service connected with the Treasury pi-
pertinent. •
During the last fiscal year the reeeipte from
customs were, for the first time, mote than .
sixty-four million dollars, and from, all Sources,
seventy-47re million nine hundred and eigh
teen thousand one hundred and fort]-one dol
len; the balanoeon band up to die
lit of July,-1440, made the total resources of
the year to amount to nbietylso million
eight hundred and ilfty . thonsand one hundred
and seventeen dollars. The expenditures, in
eluding three million of dollars in execution
of the tleaty with Mexico, and excluding
sums, paid on account of the pubjte debt,
.:
amounted to 'aiety million one hundred and
seventy-two thousand four hundred iutd - mm
ddlarn• • and Wieling the latter , to
liohunt 13, Sumitti. 51
two million nine hundred and forty-eight
thousand seven hundred and nine-WO dol-
lan, the payrient on this account basing
amounted. to twelve milnon- seven baud-red
and seventy-six thousand three hundred and
ninety dollars. - •
On the 4th of Mardi, 1853, the tumult of
the public debt is;rui.aixty,-nine Million one
hundred and twenty-nine thousand nine
hundred and thirty-seven dello& There
was a subsequent increase• of two million
seen hundred and fifty thousand • dollars for
the debt - of Texas—making a total of seventy
one million eight hundred and seventy-nine
thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven del-.
tars. Of.this the sum of forty-five million
five hundred and twenty-five thousand three
hundred and nineteen dollars, including pre
mium, has been discharged, reducing. the
d'ht, to thirty . Million seven brindrel and',
thirty seven thousand one hundred and
twenty-nine dollars; all of which might be
paid within a year withouiembarmsing the
public service, but being not yet_ due, sand
only redeemable at the option of the holder,
cannot be pressed to payment by the gotten.
- On examining the eapenditures of the last
five years, it will be'seen that the wrerage;de
ducting payments on - aceouniof the pub%)
debt and ten milliona paid by treaty to . Mer-.
leo, has been but about forty-eight .miliion
dollars. It is believed that under •u acme
kat administration of the goveTment, the
average expenditure Or the ensuing fire yes;
will not exceed that stun, unless suer:m.l4in*.
17 occasion for its increase should -occur.-.
The acts grunting bounty lauds will Emil:toe
been exeiuted,while. the extension of our bon
ties settlements will Ouse a continued de
mend 'ler lands and augmented receipts, prob.'
ably, from that sour Ce.— These considerations:.
will justify a redaction of the revenue from - •
-custonn,so as not' to exCeed. forty-eight , or:
fifty, million dollars,. 1 614 the exigency
for such reduction is imperative,. and again
urge it upon the consideration otpongress..
The amount:of reductiou t . as well an,,thit
manner of effecting it, are qtfestions allied ,
and general interest . ; it being essential to in:
dustrial enterprise and the public prdeperity, -
as well as the dictate of obvious jasticei,tlud. -
the burden of taxation - be made to_ roil as -
equally as possible upon all classes, and all
sections and interests of the country. • •
I-have hiretofore recomnrended to your
consideration the revisi on. of the revenue laws,
prepared under the direction - of the Sectreteq
of the Treasury, wi r , also legislation upon
some special , quostiont affecting-the husked
of that department,,Oere especially the emtet
meta of a law to- furnish the abstraction of
official books or papers, from the files of 'the
government, and requiring all such books and
papers and all other public property to be
turned over by the out-going officer to bin
successor ; of a law requiring disbursing cwt.
cers to deposit al. public money in the vaults
of the treasury or in other legal depositories,
where the same are conveniently , accessible;
acid a law to extend existing penal provisions -
to all persons who may become possessed of '
!public money by deposits or otherrise, aid .
who shall refuse or neglect, on due demand,
to pay the'satee into the treasury, - I invite
your attention anew to each of these objects, -
The army during the past year luta'been so
constantly employed against hostile Judie*
in various quarters, that it' can scarcely be
said, with propriety of language, to have been
peace establishment: Its duties-hare been
mtisfactorily performed, and we have reason
to expect, as a result of the year's operations,
greater security to the balmier= inhabitanth
than has been hi thirto. enjo,yed. Extensive
combinations among the hostile Indiana of
the Territories of Waslungton and. Oregon at.
"the same time, threatened the devastation of
the-newly-formed settlements of that remote
portion of the country.. From recent infer
matiou, we are permitted - b) hope-that the
energetic and succoinfill operations conducted
there will prevent such combinations in fu-
ture, and secure to . those. Territories an op" , '
portunity to make steady progress in the de‘
velopment of their agricultural' and mineral
Legislation has been recomntendedhy me
on previous occasions to Curt : defects in the,
existing organisation, and to increaser tits et .
ficiency of the army, and further oloservetion
Ill's served to confirm Me In 'the vigils then -
expressed and to enforce on -my ' mind' the
conviction that such measures are not only
proper but necessary. -
I have, in addition,to invite the attention
of - Congress to a change of policy .in the die.
tributiou of troops,iaod to the necessity-et
providing a more rapid increase of *Hinny
armament. For details of these and other
subjects relating to the army, I . refiii to the
report of the Secretary of War.' ' ' ~-,'
The condition of the
. •navy ia not well
satisfactory, but exhibits the moststatify4
evidences of increased Vigor.' As . iti a - co ur=
partitively small, it is main impotent that it
should be as uoMplete as possible in all-the ; - -
elementsof strength ; that it 'should be iiill-,
tient in the character. of its offloani f in the
seal and discipline of its Inn; in the isliU
bility orits ordiunine, and in the capacity of:: :.
its ships. ' In all these vaiieliti (patio the '
navy luta Made emit program within the lask - -.
few yam. The execution of the - leir'of Gm, '
grass, of Fehruary 2801, IBA 4 to
the eillOiennyof, the zavy,'' . luss hetilA*44
...:
by the most advantageous Winks % -The. law
for promoting discipline *wen th e. et** •
1 found convenient and, aiibitso. ,-.-...4. ,2 -,`;-:. - - .
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