Thomas Jefferson 1804 State of the Union Address
8 November 1804
The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
To a people, fellow citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness and
prosperity of other nations; to those who justly calculate that their own
well-being is advanced by that of the nations with which they have intercourse,
it will be a satisfaction to observe that the war which was lighted up
in Europe a little before our last meeting has not yet extended its flames
to other nations, nor been marked by the calamities which sometimes stain
the foot-steps of war. The irregularities, too, on the ocean, which generally
harass the commerce of neutral nations, have, in distant parts, disturbed
ours less than on former occasions; but in the American seas they have
been greater from peculiar causes, and even within our harbors and jurisdiction
infringements on the authority of the laws have been committed which have
called for serious attention. The friendly conduct of the Governments from
whose officers and subjects these acts have proceeded, in other respects
and in places more under their observation and control, gives us confidence
that our representations on this subject will have been properly regarded.
While noticing the irregularities committed on the ocean by others,
those on our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided for. Complaints
have been received that persons residing within the United States have
taken on themselves to arm merchant vessels and to force a commerce into
certain ports and countries in defiance of the laws of those countries.
That individuals should undertake to wage private war, independently of
the authority of their country, can not be permitted in a well-ordered
society. Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws and rights of other
nations and to endanger the peace of our own is so obvious that I doubt
not you will adopt measures for restraining it effectually in future.
Soon after the passage of the act of the last session authorizing the
establishment of a district and port of entry on the waters of the Mobile
we learnt that its object was misunderstood on the part of Spain. Candid
explanations were immediately given and assurances that, reserving our
claims in that quarter as a subject of discussion and arrangement with
Spain, no act was meditated in the mean time inconsistent with the peace
and friendship existing between the 2 nations, and that conformably to
these intentions would be the execution of the law. That Government had,
however, thought proper to suspend the ratification of the convention of
1802; but the explanations which would reach them soon after, and still
more the confirmation of them by the tenor of the instrument establishing
the port and district, may reasonably be expected to replace them in the
dispositions and views of the whole subject which originally dictated the
convention.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the objections which had
been urged by that Government against the validity of our title to the
country of Louisiana have been withdrawn, its exact limits, however, remaining
still to be settled between us; and to this is to be added that, having
prepared and delivered the stock created in execution of the convention
of Paris of 1803 April 30, in consideration of the cession of that country,
we have received from the Government of France an acknowledgment, in due
form, of the fulfillment of that stipulation.
With the nations of Europe in general our friendship and intercourse
are undisturbed, and from the Governments of the belligerent powers especially
we continue to receive those friendly manifestations which are justly due
to an honest neutrality and to such good offices consistent with that as
we have opportunities of rendering.
The activity and success of the small force employed in the Mediterranean
in the early part of the present year, the reenforcements sent into that
sea, and the energy of the officers having command in the several vessels
will, I trust, by the sufferings of war, reduce the barbarians of Tripoli
to the desire of peace on proper terms. Great injury, however, ensues to
ourselves, as well as to others interested, from the distance to which
prizes must be brought for adjudication and from the impracticability of
bringing hither such as are not sea worthy.
The Bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized by our treaty,
their rejection has produced from him some expressions of discontent, but
to those who expect us to calculate whether a compliance with unjust demands
will not cost us less than a war we must leave as a question of calculation
for them also whether to retire from unjust demands will not cost them
less than a war. We can do to each other very sensible injuries by war,
but the mutual advantages of peace make that the best interest of both.
Peace and intercourse with the other powers on the same coast continue
on the footing on which they are established by treaty.
In pursuance of the act providing for the temporary government of Louisiana,
the necessary officers for the Territory of Orleans were appointed in due
time to commence the exercise of their functions on the 1st day of October.
The distance, however, of some of them and indispensable previous arrangements
may have retarded its commencement in some of its parts. The form of government
thus provided having considered but as temporary, and open to such future
improvements as further information of the circumstances of our brethren
there might suggest, it will of course be subject to your consideration.
In the district of Louisiana it has been thought best to adopt the division
into subordinate districts which had been established under its former
government. These being 5 in number, a commanding officer has been appointed
to each, according to the provisions of the law, and so soon as they can
be at their stations that district will also be in its due state of organization.
In the mean time, their places are supplied by the officers before commanding
there, and the function of the governor and judges of Indiana having commenced,
the government, we presume, is proceeding in its new form. The lead mines
in that district offer so rich a supply of that metal as to merit attention.
The report now communicated will inform you of their state and of the necessity
of immediate inquiry into their occupation and titles.
With the Indian tribes established within our newly acquired limits,
I have deemed it necessary to open conferences for the purpose of establishing
a good understanding and neighborly relations between us. So far as we
have yet learned, we have reason to believe that their dispositions are
generally favorable and friendly; and with these dispositions on their
part, we have in our own hands means which can not fail us for preserving
their peace and friendship. by pursuing an uniform course of justice toward
them, by aiding them in all the improvements which may better their condition,
and especially by establishing a commerce on terms which shall be advantageous
to them and only not losing to us, and so regulated as that no incendiaries
of our own or any other nation may be permitted to disturb the natural
effects of our just and friendly offices, we may render ourselves so necessary
to their comfort and prosperity that the protection of our citizens from
their disorderly members will become their interest and their voluntary
care. Instead, therefore, of an augmentation of military force proportioned
to our extension of frontier, I propose a moderate enlargement of the capital
employed in that commerce as a more effectual, economical, and humane instrument
for preserving peace and good neighborhood with them.
On this side of the Mississippi an important relinquishment of native
title has been received from the Delawares. That tribe, desiring to extinguish
in their people the spirit of hunting and to convert superfluous lands
into the means of improving what they retain, has ceded to us all the country
between the Wabash and Ohio south of and including the road from the rapids
toward Vincennes, for which they are to receive annuities in animals and
implements for agriculture and in other necessaries. This acquisition is
important, not only for its extent and fertility, but as fronting 300 miles
on the Ohio, and near half that on the Wabash. The produce of the settled
country descending those rivers will no longer pass in review of the Indian
frontier but in a small portion, and, with the cession heretofore made
by the Kaskaskias, nearly consolidates our possessions north of the Ohio,
in a very respectable breadth - from Lake Erie to the Mississippi. The
Piankeshaws having some claim to the country ceded by the Delawares, it
has been thought best to quiet that by fair purchase also. So soon as the
treaties on this subject shall have received their constitutional sanctions
they shall be laid before both houses.
The act of Congress of 1803 February 28, for building and employing
a number of gun boats, is now in a course of execution to the extent there
provided for. The obstacle to naval enterprise which vessels of this construction
offer for our sea port towns, their utility toward supporting within our
waters the authority of the laws, the promptness with which they will be
manned by the sea men and militia of the place in the moment they are wanting,
the facility of their assembling from different parts of the coast to any
point where they are required in greater force than ordinary, the economy
of their maintenance and preservation from decay when not in actual service,
and the competence of our finances to this defensive provision without
any new burthen are considerations which will have due weight with Congress
in deciding on the expediency of adding to their number from year to year,
as experience shall test their utility, until all our important harbors,
by these and auxiliary means, shall be secured against insult and opposition
to the laws.
No circumstance has arisen since your last session which calls for any
augmentation of our regular military force. Should any improvement occur
in the militia system, that will be always seasonable.
Accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the last year, with estimates
for the ensuing one, will as usual be laid before you.
The state of our finances continues to fulfill our expectations. $11.5M,
received in the course of the year ending the 30th of September last, have
enabled us, after meeting all the ordinary expenses of the year, to pay
upward of $3.6M of the public debt, exclusive of interest. This payment,
with those of the two preceding years, has extinguished up ward of $12M
of the principal and a greater sum of interest within that period, and
by a proportionate diminution of interest renders already sensible the
effect of the growing sum yearly applicable to the discharge of the principal.
It is also ascertained that the revenue accrued during the last year
exceeds that of the preceding, and the probably receipts of the ensuing
year may safely be relied on as sufficient, with the sum already in the
Treasury, to meet all the current demands of the year, to discharge upward
of $3.5M of the engagements incurred under the British and French conventions,
and to advance in the further redemption of the funded debt as rapidly
as had been contemplated.
These, fellow citizens, are the principal matters which I have thought
it necessary at this time to communicate for you consideration and attention.
Some others will be laid before you in the course of the session; but in
the discharge of the great duties confided to you by our country you will
take a broader view of the field of legislation.
Whether the great interests of agriculture, manufactures, commerce,
or navigation can within the pale of your constitutional powers be aided
in any of their relations; whether laws are provided in all cases where
they are wanting; whether those provided are exactly what they should be
whether any abuses take place in their administration, or in that of the
public revenues; whether the organization of the public agents or of the
public force is perfect in all its parts; in fine, whether anything can
be done to advance the general good, are questions within the limits of
your functions which will necessarily occupy your attention. In these and
all other matters which you in your wisdom may propose for the good of
our country you may count with assurance on my hearty cooperation and faithful
execution.
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