Annual Message to Congress, 15 December 1802
Annual Message to Congress
To the Senate and
House of Representatives
of the United States.
| When we assemble together, fellow-citizens, to consider the state of our beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn to those pleasing circumstances which mark the goodness of that being from whose favor they flow, and the large measure of thankfulness we owe for his bounty. another year has come around, and finds us still blessed with peace and friendship abroad, law, order and religion at home, good affection & harmony with our Indian neighbors, our burthens lightened, yet our income sufficient for the public wants, and the produce of the year great beyond example. these, fellow citizens, are the circumstances under which we meet: and we remark with special satisfaction those which, under the smiles of providence, result from the skill, industry & order of our citizens, managing their own affairs in their own way, & for their own use, unembarrassed by too much regulation, unoppressed by fiscal exactions. | |
| Discriminating duties. | On the restoration of peace in Europe, that portion of the general1 carrying trade, which had fallen to our share during the war, was abridged by the returning competition of the belligerent powers. this was to be expected and was just. but, in addition, we find, in some parts of Europe, monopolising discriminations, which, in the form of duties, tend effectually to prohibit the carrying thither our own produce in our own vessels. from existing amities, and a spirit of justice, it is hoped that friendly discussion will produce a fair & adequate reciprocity. but should false calculations of interest defeat our hope, it rests with the legislature to decide whether they will meet inequalities abroad with countervailing inequalities at home, or provide for the evil in any other way. |
| British Countervail. | It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British parliament anticipating2 this subject, so far as to authorise a mutual abolition of the duties and countervailing duties, permitted under the treaty of 1794. it shews on their part a spirit of justice and friendly accomodation, which it is our duty and our interest to cultivate with all nations. whether this would produce a due equality in the navigation between the two countries, is a subject for your consideration. |
| Seamen | Another circumstance which claims attention, as directly affecting the very source of our navigation, is the defect or the evasion of the law providing for the return of seamen, & particularly of those belonging to vessels sold abroad. numbers of them, discharged in foreign ports, have been thrown on the hands of our Consuls, who, to rescue them from the dangers into which their distresses might plunge them, & to save them to their country, have found it necessary in some cases, to return them at the public charge. |
| Louisiana. | The cession of the Spanish province of Louisiana to France, which took place in the course of the late war, will, if carried into effect, make a change in the aspect of our foreign relations, which will doubtless have just weight in any deliberations of the legislature connected with that subject. |
| Tripoli | There was reason, not long since, to apprehend that the warfare in which we were engaged with Tripoli might be taken up by some other of the Barbary powers. a reinforcement therefore was immediately ordered to the vessels already there. subsequent information however has removed these apprehensions for the present. to secure our commerce in that sea, with the smallest force competent, we have supposed it best to watch strictly the harbour of Tripoli. still however the shallowness of their coast, & the want of smaller vessels on our part, has permitted some cruisers to escape unobserved: and to one of these an American vessel unfortunately fell a prey. the Captain, one American seaman, & two others of colour, remain prisoners with them; unless exchanged under an agreement formerly made with the Bashaw, to whom, on the faith of that, some of his captive subjects had been restored. |
| Georgia. | The convention with the state of Georgia has been ratified by their legislature, and a repurchase from the Creeks has been consequently made, of a part of the Talassee3 county. in this purchase has been also comprehended a part of the lands within the fork of Oconee and Oakmulgee rivers. the particulars of the contract will be laid before Congress so soon as they shall be in a state for communication. |
| Missipi territy | In order to remove every ground of difference possible with our Indian neighbors, I have proceeded in the work of settling4 with them, and marking the boundaries between us. that with the Choctaw nation is fixed in one part, & will be through the whole within a short time. the country to which their title had been extinguished before the revolution is sufficient to recieve a very respectable population, which Congress will probably see the expediency of encouraging, so soon as the limits shall be declared. we are to view this position as an Outpost of the United States, surrounded by strong neighbors, and distant from it’s support. and how far that monopoly, which prevents population, should here be guarded against, & actual habitation made a condition of the continuance of title, will be for your consideration. a prompt settlement too of all existing rights & claims within this territory, presents itself as a preliminary operation. |
| Indiana. | In that part of the Indiana territory which includes Vincennes, the lines settled with the neighboring tribes fix the extinction of their title at a breadth of twenty four leagues from East to West, and about the same length, parallel with & including the Wabash. they have also ceded a tract of four miles square including the Salt-springs near the mouth of that river. |
| Finance. | In the department of finance, it is with pleasure I inform you that the reciepts of external duties, for the last twelvemonth, have exceeded those of any former year, & that the ratio of increase has been also greater than usual. this has enabled us to answer all the regular exigencies of government, to pay from the treasury, within one year, upwards of eight millions of dollars, principal & interest, of the public debt, exclusive of upwards of one million paid by the sale of bank stock, and making in the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and an half of principal, and to have now in the treasury four millions and an half of dollars, which are in a course of application to the further discharge of debt, and of current demands. Experience too, so far, authorises us to believe, if no extraordinary event supervenes, and the expences which will be actually incurred shall not be greater than were contemplated by Congress at their last session, that we shall not be disappointed in the expectations then formed. but nevertheless as the effect of peace on the amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more necessary to practise every useful economy, and to incur no expence which may be avoided without prejudice. |
| Internl. taxes Reloans |
The collection of the internal taxes having been compleated in some of the states, the officers employed in it are of course out of commission. in others they will be so shortly. but in a few, where the arrangements for the direct tax had been retarded, it will still be some time before the system is closed. it has not yet been thought necessary to employ the agent authorised by an act of the last session, for transacting business in Europe relative to debts & loans. nor have we used the power, confided by the same act, of prolonging the foreign debt by reloans, and of redeeming, instead thereof, an equal sum of the Domestic debt. should however the difficulties of remittance on so large a scale, render it necessary at any time, the power shall be executed, and the money thus unemployed abroad shall, in conformity with that law, be faithfully applied here in an equivalent extinction of Domestic debt. When effects so salutary result from the plans you have already sanctioned, when, merely by avoiding false objects of expence, we are able, without a direct tax, without internal taxes, & without borrowing, to make large and effectual paiments towards the discharge of our public debt, & the emancipation of our posterity from that mortal canker, it is an encouragement, fellow citizens, of the highest order, to proceed as we have begun, in substituting economy for taxation, and in pursuing what is useful for a nation placed as we are, rather than what is practised by others under different circumstances. and whensoever we are destined to meet events which shall call forth all the energies of our countrymen, we have the firmest reliance on those energies, and the comfort of leaving for calls like these, the extraordinary resources of loans and internal taxes. in the mean time, by paiments of the5 principal of our debt, we are liberating, annually, portions of the external taxes, & forming from them a growing fund, still further to lessen the necessity of recurring to extraordinary resources. |
| Estimates | The usual account of reciepts and expenditures for the last year, with an estimate of the expences of the ensuing one, will be laid before you by the Secretary of the treasury. |
| War deptmt | No change being deemed necessary in our military establishment, an estimate of it’s expences for the ensuing year, on it’s present footing, as also of the sums to be employed in fortifications, and other objects within that department, has been prepared by the Secretary at war, and will make a part of the general estimates which will be presented you. |
| Militia. | Considering that our regular troops are employed for local purposes, and that the militia is our general reliance for great and sudden emergencies, you will doubtless think this institution worthy of a review, & give it those improvements of which you find it susceptible. |
| Naval estimates | Estimates for the naval department, prepared by the Secretary of the navy for another year, will in like manner be communicated with the general estimates. a small force in the Mediterranean will still be necessary to restrain the Tripoline cruisers: and the uncertain tenure of peace with some other of the Barbary powers, may eventually6 require that force to be augmented. the necessity of procuring some smaller vessels for that service, will raise the estimate: but the difference in their maintenance will soon make it a measure of economy. |
| Dry dock. | Presuming it will be deemed expedient to expend annually a convenient7 sum towards providing the naval defence which our situation may require, I cannot but recommend that the first appropriations for that purpose, may go to the saving what we already possess. no cares, no attentions, can preserve vessels from rapid decay, which lie in water, & exposed to the sun. these decays require great and constant repairs, and will consume, if continued, a great portion of the monies destined to naval purposes. to avoid this waste of our resources, it is proposed to add to our Navy yard here a Dock, within which our present vessels may be laid up dry, & under cover from the sun. under these circumstances experience proves that works of wood will remain scarcely at all affected by time. the great abundance of running water which this situation possesses, at heights far above the level of the tide, if employed as is practised for lock navigation, furnishes the means for raising and laying up our vessels, on a dry and sheltered bed. and should the measure be found useful8 here, similar depositories for laying up, as well as for building and repairing vessels, may hereafter be undertaken at other navy yards, offering the same means. the plans and estimates of the work, prepared by a person of skill and experience, will be9 presented to you,10 without delay, and from these will be seen that scarcely more than has been the cost11 of one vessel is necessary to save the whole;12 and that the annual sum to be employed towards it’s completion may be adapted to the views of the legislature as to Naval expenditure. |
| Conclusion | To cultivate peace, & maintain commerce & navigation in all their lawful enterprises; to foster our fisheries as nurseries of navigation & for the nurture of man, and protect the manufactures adapted to our circumstances; to preserve the faith of the nation by13 an exact discharge of it’s debts and contracts, expend the public money with the same care and economy we would practise with our own, & impose on our citizens no unnecessary burthens; to keep in all things within the pale of our constitutional powers, & cherish the federal union, as the only rock of safety; these, fellow citizens, are the landmarks by which we are to guide ourselves in all our proceedings. by continuing to make these our rule of action, we shall endear to our countrymen the true principles of their constitution, and promote an union of sentiment and of action, equally auspicious to their happiness and safety. on my part you may count on a cordial concurrence in every measure for the public good; and on all the information I possess which may enable you to discharge to advantage the high functions with which you are invested by your country. |
Th: Jefferson
Dec. 15. 1802.
MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 128:22071–3); entirely in TJ’s hand. MS (DNA: RG 46, LPPM, 7th Cong., 2d sess.); in Meriwether Lewis’s hand with emendations by TJ; signed and dated by TJ; lacks section headings; endorsed by Senate clerks. MS (DNA: RG 233, PM, 7th Cong., 2d sess.); in Lewis’s hand with emendations by TJ; signed and dated by TJ; lacks section headings. Enclosures: (1) Act of Parliament of Great Britain, 24 Mch., enabling the crown to cease or suspend until March 1803 the countervailing duties on American goods imported in American ships and the tonnage duties on American vessels (MS in DNA: RG 46, LPPM; in a clerk’s hand; endorsed). (2) Extracts of: William Eaton to the secretary of state, Tunis, 13 Dec. 1801, 3 Feb. 1802; James Simpson to the secretary of state, Tangier and Gibraltar, 8 Jan., 20 Feb., 19 Mch., 13 May, 5, 14, 17, 26 June, 3, 16 July (enclosing Simpson to Abd al-Rahman Ashash, governor of Tangier, 5 July), 27 July, 3, 12 Aug., 3 Sep.; Richard O’Brien to the secretary of state, Algiers, 1 Feb., 14 June; unidentified (Nicholas C. Nissen, Danish consul in Tripoli) to James Leander Cathcart, 12 Mch. to 30 Apr., 10 May; Cathcart to the secretary of state, Leghorn, 2, 4, 15 July; Andrew Morris to Cathcart, Tripoli, 22 July; Simpson to Mawlay Sulayman, Tetuan, 31 July; Sidi Mohammed ben Absalom Selawy to Simpson, Tangier, 6 Aug.; Simpson to Selawy, [Tangier, 1 Sep.]; Simpson to John Gavino, Tangier, 27 Sep. (Trs and PrCs in DNA: RG 233, PM, in various clerks’ hands, endorsed; Trs in DNA: RG 46, EPFR, in various clerks’ hands, endorsed; , Sec. of State Ser., 2:313–14, 378–80, 432–3, 438–9, 481–2; 3:49–51, 221–2, 278–9, 306–8, 319–20, 342–3, 369–71, 394–5, 398–9, 433, 452–3, 475, 542–5, 545n, 608; , 1:637–8; 2:148–9, 165, 176–8, 179, 185–7, 189–91, 204–6, 211, 221–2, 231, 264–6); portions printed as Documents Accompanying the Communication of the President of the United States, to Both Houses of Congress, Made the 15th day of December, 1802 (Washington, D.C., 1802; , No. 3280); other portions printed as No. II. Communications from Morocco. Accompanying the President’s Message, of 15th December, 1802 (Washington, D.C., 1802; , No. 3377). (3) Josiah Tattnall, Jr., governor of Georgia, to Madison, 18 June 1802, transmitting an act of 16 June to ratify and confirm the articles of agreement of 24 Apr. between the state of Georgia and commissioners of the United States; with a copy of the act with attestations by Tattnall and Horatio Marbury, secretary of the state (MS in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand, endorsed; PrC in DNA: RG 46, LPPM, endorsed, incomplete; , Sec. of State Ser., 3:321); printed as No. III. Ratification of the Agreement between the United States and Georgia. By the Legislature of the Latter. Accompanying the Message of the President of the United States (Washington, D.C., 1802; , No. 3378).
when we assemble together: Congress attempted to convene on Monday, 6 Dec., but the House of Representatives did not have a quorum until the next day and the Senate did not achieve a quorum until the 13th. Aaron Burr was not present, and the Senate failed in its first attempts to elect a president pro tem. On the 14th, the Senate elected Stephen R. Bradley to preside, and a joint committee, consisting of John Dawson, Thomas Lowndes, and John P. Van Ness from the House and Robert Wright and Theodore Foster from the Senate, called on TJ. He advised them that they would receive his message the next day (, 4:243–4, 248, 249; , 3:241–3; , 12:11). Meriwether Lewis delivered the signed copies of the message and the accompanying documents to the two chambers on 15 Dec. To convey his first annual message in December 1801, TJ had written cover letters to the presiding officers of the Senate and the House. He did not do that with the second annual message. Lewis’s simple declaration to the speaker of the House, Nathaniel Macon, is recorded in the journal: “I am directed by the President of the United States to hand you a communication, in writing, from the President to the two Houses of Congress” (, 4:249; , 3:244; Vol. 36:57).
discriminating duties: the section headings that TJ placed in the margin of the fair copy printed above, and which identified the sections of the message during the drafting process, do not appear in the message as the House and Senate received it.
Robert R. Livingston had reported that American shippers were subject to extra duties and fees in some parts of europe. France, which had not relaxed all of its wartime trade policies, charged higher import duties on goods such as tobacco and fish carried in American or other foreign ships. Foreign vessels also paid higher port duties. In the Batavian Republic, extra duties were charged on shipments from the United States (, Sec. of State Ser., 3:77–8, 367; 4:144–5; Livingston to TJ, 28 Oct., second letter). rests with the legislature to decide: Levi Lincoln suggested the language that concludes the paragraph on discriminating duties; see his remarks on the draft message, Document IX of the group of documents on the drafting of the message, printed at 18 Nov.
whether this would produce a due equality: see Gallatin’s remarks, Document III at 18 Nov. For the countervailing duties charged by Great Britain, see Vol. 36:67–8.
evasion of the law: according to a 1792 statute, when an American-owned ship was sold in a foreign country, the master of the vessel had to send the members of the crew back to the United States or give them means to return on their own, unless the sailors consented to be discharged in the foreign port or their contracts made them liable to it (, 1:256–7). Regarding American seamen stranded in foreign ports and thrown on the hands of U.S. consuls, see Gallatin to TJ, 17 Aug., and Notes on a Cabinet Meeting, 21 Oct.
will, if carried into effect: see Gallatin’s remarks, Document III at 18 Nov., for his suggestion of this language.
The merchant brig Franklin was the american vessel captured by Tripolitan corsairs. TJ did not know yet that the brig’s captain, Andrew Morris, and members of his crew were no longer prisoners in Tripoli (Joseph Yznardi, Sr., to TJ, 12 Aug.; Mustafa Baba, Dey of Algiers, to TJ, 17 Oct.). agreement formerly made with the bashaw: Captain Richard Dale released some captured merchants to Yusuf Qaramanli, the pasha and bey of Tripoli, in August 1801, and proposed a prisoner exchange. Tripoli had no American captives at the time, so Dale took a pledge for the future release of seven Americans (, 1:564, 584; , Sec. of State Ser., 3:456, 466n, 547n).
For the convention with the state of georgia, see Vol. 37:300–1, 343–5. TJ transmitted the particulars of the purchase to the Senate on 27 Dec.
Regarding the boundary with the choctaw nation, see Vol. 38:272–3, 299, 300n.
how far that monopoly: TJ may have incorporated some of Lincoln’s suggestions for this sentence (Document IX at 18 Nov.).
For the vincennes tract and the salt spring or saline on the Ohio River below the mouth of the wabash, see Vol. 38:139–40n, 169–70, 250–2, 572–3.
In the section on finance, TJ apparently revised the draft message in accordance with Gallatin’s remarks to say that the ratio of increase of revenue from customs duties was greater than usual rather than “greater than any former year.” For the figures cited by TJ, including the balance in the Treasury of $4,500,000, see Gallatin’s remarks and the statement of receipts and expenditures he gave TJ during the drafting process (Documents III and IV at 18 Nov.). TJ also modified his draft to use Gallatin’s suggested phrasing about expenses contemplated by congress the previous year (Document III).
act of the last session: the 29 Apr. statute for retirement of the public debt (see Document III at 18 Nov.).
For Lincoln’s concern that the reference to false objects of expense might have political consequences, see Document IX at 18 Nov.
will be laid before you by the secretary of the treasury: the House of Representatives adjourned for the day after TJ’s message was read on the 15th. The following day, the House received Gallatin’s report on appropriations for 1803 and of receipts and expenditures from October 1801 through September 1802. The statements were dated 10 Dec. and signed by Joseph Nourse, the register of the Treasury (MS in DNA: RG 233, RCSH, 7th Cong., 2d sess.; in a clerk’s hand, with report on appropriations for 1803 signed by Gallatin; lacks estimates for appropriations, p. 9–64 of the printed report). The House referred Gallatin’s report to the Committee of Ways and Means (, 4:252). William Duane printed the papers as a Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Accompanying a Report and Estimates of Appropriation for the Service of the Year 1803; also an Account of the Receipts and Expenditures at the Treasury of the United States, for One Year Preceding the First Day of October, 1802 (Washington, D.C., 1802; , No. 3314).
prepared by the secretary at war: in Gallatin’s report, the War Department estimates incorporated $619,767.60 for expenses of the army; $109,696.88 for fortifications, arsenals, magazines, and armories; and $73,500 for Indian affairs. The estimates for the naval department totaled $900,000, plus $198,797.46 to cover deficiencies in previous appropriations. The estimates were based on an expectation that six frigates and one schooner would be in active service and seven frigates would be laid up in ordinary. An amount of $114,425 was included for completion of contracts for six 74-gun ships (Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, 6, 55).
Dearborn prompted TJ to suggest that dry docks might be built at other navy yards; see Document VI at 18 Nov.
person of skill and experience: Benjamin Latrobe.
high functions with which you are invested: the Senate, after the message and accompanying papers were read on the 15th, ordered the printing of 500 copies of the message and 100 copies of the documents “for the use of the Senate” (, 3:246). The House of Representatives heard the message read and then referred it to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. On 17 Dec., the House passed a set of eight resolutions that assigned portions of the message to different committees. The question of Britain’s countervailing duties went to the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures, while matters relating to finances went to the Committee of Ways and Means. Six topics were given to select committees created for the purpose: one committee to consider Indian relations “and the establishment of a new settlement”; another for navy yards and docks; one for “the return of American seamen discharged in foreign ports”; one for the war with Tripoli and relations with other Barbary Coast states; one for “the Militia Institution of the United States”; and one for “so much of the President’s message as relates to the fostering of the fisheries” (, 4:252–3).
Duane printed the text of the message, without the supplementary documents, in pamphlet form for the House (Message from the President of the United States, to Both Houses of Congress. 15th December 1802 [Washington, D.C., 1802]; , No. 3350). He also published a broadside version on a single sheet (DLC: Broadside Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division). The broadside is headed “To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States,” without any reference to the conveyance of the document to Congress, and the date of 15 Dec. may have been added after the body of the text was set in type. Those features may indicate that Duane set the message in type before the 15th—that TJ gave him early access to its contents, just as the president had allowed Samuel Harrison Smith to prepare the 1801 annual message for publication before Congress received it (Vol. 36:53–4). One of Duane’s printings was likely the version of the message that was available to TJ on the 16th (see TJ to James Garrard, 16 Dec.). Smith’s National Intelligencer published the message on the 17th.
1. Word interlined by TJ in MS in RG 46. Word lacking in MS in RG 233.
2. Word interlined by TJ in place of “on” in MS in RG 46.
3. MS: “Talasssee,” which Lewis rendered as “Talasscee” in the copies for the House and Senate.
4. Word interlined in place of “agreeing.”
5. Word interlined by TJ in MS in RG 233.
6. Word interlined.
7. Word written over an illegibly erased word (also in MS in RG 46 and MS in RG 233).
8. Preceding four words interlined in place of “expedient succeed.”
9. Preceding two words interlined in place of “are now.”
10. TJ originally ended the paragraph here, then continued by interlineation.
11. TJ first wrote “and from these it will be seen that less than the cost” before reworking the passage to read as above.
12. TJ originally ended the interlineation here, then added the remainder of the sentence as an insertion in the margin. Remainder of sentence interlined by Lewis in MS in RG 46 and MS in RG 233.
13. TJ first wrote “preserve the public faith by” before reworking the passage to read as above.