John Adams 1799 State of the Union Address
3 December 1799
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
It is with peculiar satisfaction that I meet the 6th Congress of the
United States of America. Coming from all parts of the Union at this critical
and interesting period, the members must be fully possessed of the sentiments
and wishes of our constituents.
The flattering prospects of abundance from the labors of the people
by land and by sea; the prosperity of our extended commerce, notwithstanding
interruptions occasioned by the belligerent state of a great part of the
world; the return of health, industry, and trade to those cities which
have lately been afflicted with disease, and the various and inestimable
advantages, civil and religious, which, secured under our happy frame of
government, are continued to us unimpaired, demand of the whole American
people sincere thanks to a benevolent Deity for the merciful dispensations
of His providence.
But while these numerous blessings are recollected, it is a painful
duty to advert to the ungrateful return which has been made for them by
some of the people in certain counties of Pennsylvania, where, seduced
by the arts and misrepresentations of designing men, they have openly resisted
the law directing the valuation of houses and lands. Such defiance was
given to the civil authority as rendered hopeless all further attempts
by judicial process to enforce the execution of the law, and it became
necessary to direct a military force to be employed, consisting of some
companies of regular troops, volunteers, and militia, by whose zeal and
activity, in cooperation with the judicial power, order and submission
were restored and many of the offenders arrested. Of these, some have been
convicted of misdemeanors, and others, charged with various crimes, remain
to be tried.
To give due effect to the civil administration of Government and to
insure a just execution of the laws, a revision and amendment of the judiciary
system is indispensably necessary. In this extensive country it can not
but happen that numerous questions respecting the interpretation of the
laws and the rights and duties of officers and citizens must arise. On
the one hand, the laws should be executed; on the other, individuals should
be guarded from oppression. Neither of these objects is sufficiently assured
under the present organization of the judicial department. I therefore
earnestly recommend the subject to your serious consideration.
Persevering in the pacific and humane policy which had been invariably
professed and sincerely pursued by the Executive authority of the United
States, when indications were made on the part of the French Republic of
a disposition to accommodate the existing differences between the 2 countries,
I felt it to be my duty to prepare for meeting their advances by a nomination
of ministers upon certain conditions which the honor of our country dictated,
and which its moderation had given it a right to prescribe.
The assurances which were required of the French Government previous
to the departure of our envoys have been given through their minister of
foreign relations, and I have directed them to proceed on their mission
to Paris. They have full power to conclude a treaty, subject to the constitutional
advice and consent of the Senate. The characters of these gentlemen are
sure pledges to their country that nothing incompatible with its honor
or interest, nothing inconsistent with our obligations of good faith or
friendship to any other nation, will be stipulated.
It appearing probable from the information I received that our commercial
intercourse with some ports in the island of St. Domingo might safely be
renewed, I took such steps as seemed to me expedient to ascertain that
point. The result being satisfactory, I then, in conformity with the act
of Congress on the subject, directed the restraints and prohibitions of
that intercourse to be discontinued on terms which were made known by proclamation.
Since the renewal of this intercourse our citizens trading to those ports,
with their property, have been duly respected, and privateering from those
ports has ceased.
In examining the claims of British subjects by the commissioners at
Philadelphia, acting under the 6th article of the treaty of amity, commerce,
and navigation with Great Britain, a difference of opinion on points deemed
essential in the interpretation of that article has arisen between the
commissioners appointed by the United States and the other members of that
board, from which the former have thought it their duty to withdraw. It
is sincerely to be regretted that the execution of an article produced
by a mutual spirit of amity and justice should have been thus unavoidably
interrupted. It is, however, confidently expected that the same spirit
of amity and the same sense of justice in which it originated will lead
to satisfactory explanations.
In consequence of the obstacles to the progress of the commission in
Philadelphia, His Britannic Majesty has directed the commissioners appointed
by him under the 7th article of the treaty relating to the British captures
of American vessels to withdraw from the board sitting in London, but with
the express declaration of his determination to fulfill with punctuality
and good faith the engagements which His Majesty has contracted by his
treaty with the United States, and that they will be instructed to resume
their functions whenever the obstacles which impede the progress of the
commission at Philadelphia shall be removed. It being in like manner my
sincere determination, so far as the same depends on me, that with equal
punctuality and good faith the engagements contracted by the United States
in their treaties with His Britannic Majesty shall be fulfilled, I shall
immediately instruct our minister at London to endeavor to obtain the explanation
necessary to a just performance of those engagements on the part of the
United States. With such dispositions on both sides, I can not entertain
a doubt that all difficulties will soon be removed and that the 2 boards
will then proceed and bring the business committed to them respectively
to a satisfactory conclusion.
The act of Congress relative to the seat of the Government of the United
States requiring that on the 1st Monday of December next it should be transferred
from Philadelphia to the District chosen for its permanent seat, it is
proper for me to inform you that the commissioners appointed to provide
suitable buildings for the accommodation of Congress and of the President
and of the public offices of the Government have made a report of the state
of the buildings designed for those purposes in the city of Washington,
from which they conclude that the removal of the seat of Government to
that place at the time required will be practicable and the accommodation
satisfactory. Their report will be laid before you.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I shall direct the estimates of the appropriations necessary for the
service of the ensuing year, together with an account of the revenue and
expenditure, to be laid before you. During a period in which a great portion
of the civilized world has been involved in a war unusually calamitous
and destructive, it was not to be expected that the United States could
be exempted from extraordinary burthens. Although the period is not arrived
when the measures adopted to secure our country against foreign attacks
can be renounced, yet it is alike necessary for the honor of the Government
and the satisfaction of the community that an exact economy should be maintained.
I invite you, gentlemen, to investigate the different branches of the public
expenditure. The examination will lead to beneficial retrenchments or produce
a conviction of the wisdom of the measures to which the expenditure relates.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
At a period like the present, when momentous changes are occurring and
every hour is preparing new and great events in the political world, when
a spirit of war is prevalent in almost every nation with whose affairs
the interests of the United States have any connection, unsafe and precarious
would be our situation were we to neglect the means of maintaining our
just rights. The result of the mission to France is uncertain; but however
it may terminate, a steady perseverance in a system of national defense
commensurate with our resources and the situation of our country is an
obvious dictate of wisdom; for, remotely as we are placed from the belligerent
nations, and desirous as we are, by doing justice to all, to avoid offense
to any, nothing short of the power of repelling aggressions will secure
to our country a rational prospect of escaping the calamities of war or
national degradation. As to myself, it is my anxious desire so to execute
the trust reposed in me as to render the people of the United States prosperous
and happy. I rely with entire confidence on your cooperation in objects
equally your care, and that our mutual labors will serve to increase and
confirm union among our fellow citizens and an unshaken attachment to our
Government.
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