James Monroe
First Inaugural Address
Tuesday, March 4, 1817

I SHOULD be destitute of feeling if I was not deeply affected by the 
strong proof which my fellow-citizens have given me of their confidence 
in calling me to the high office whose functions I am about to assume. 
As the expression of their good opinion of my conduct in the public 
service, I derive from it a gratification which those who are conscious 
of having done all that they could to merit it can alone feel. My 
sensibility is increased by a just estimate of the importance of the 
trust and of the nature and extent of its duties, with the proper 
discharge of which the highest interests of a great and free people are 
intimately connected. Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on 
these duties without great anxiety for the result. From a just 
responsibility I will never shrink, calculating with confidence that in 
my best efforts to promote the public welfare my motives will always be 
duly appreciated and my conduct be viewed with that candor and 
indulgence which I have experienced in other stations.

In commencing the duties of the chief executive office it has been the 
practice of the distinguished men who have gone before me to explain 
the principles which would govern them in their respective 
Administrations. In following their venerated example my attention is 
naturally drawn to the great causes which have contributed in a 
principal degree to produce the present happy condition of the United 
States. They will best explain the nature of our duties and shed much 
light on the policy which ought to be pursued in future.

From the commencement of our Revolution to the present day almost forty 
years have elapsed, and from the establishment of this Constitution 
twenty-eight. Through this whole term the Government has been what may 
emphatically be called self-government. And what has been the effect? 
To whatever object we turn our attention, whether it relates to our 
foreign or domestic concerns, we find abundant cause to felicitate 
ourselves in the excellence of our institutions. During a period 
fraught with difficulties and marked by very extraordinary events the 
United States have flourished beyond example. Their citizens 
individually have been happy and the nation prosperous.

Under this Constitution our commerce has been wisely regulated with 
foreign nations and between the States; new States have been admitted 
into our Union; our territory has been enlarged by fair and honorable 
treaty, and with great advantage to the original States; the States, 
respectively protected by the National Government under a mild, 
parental system against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their 
separate spheres, by a wise partition of power, a just proportion of 
the sovereignty, have improved their police, extended their 
settlements, and attained a strength and maturity which are the best 
proofs of wholesome laws well administered. And if we look to the 
condition of individuals what a proud spectacle does it exhibit! On 
whom has oppression fallen in any quarter of our Union? Who has been 
deprived of any right of person or property? Who restrained from 
offering his vows in the mode which he prefers to the Divine Author of 
his being? It is well known that all these blessings have been enjoyed 
in their fullest extent; and I add with peculiar satisfaction that 
there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on 
anyone for the crime of high treason.

Some who might admit the competency of our Government to these 
beneficent duties might doubt it in trials which put to the test its 
strength and efficiency as a member of the great community of nations. 
Here too experience has afforded us the most satisfactory proof in its 
favor. Just as this Constitution was put into action several of the 
principal States of Europe had become much agitated and some of them 
seriously convulsed. Destructive wars ensued, which have of late only 
been terminated. In the course of these conflicts the United States 
received great injury from several of the parties. It was their 
interest to stand aloof from the contest, to demand justice from the 
party committing the injury, and to cultivate by a fair and honorable 
conduct the friendship of all. War became at length inevitable, and the 
result has shown that our Government is equal to that, the greatest of 
trials, under the most unfavorable circumstances. Of the virtue of the 
people and of the heroic exploits of the Army, the Navy, and the 
militia I need not speak.

Such, then, is the happy Government under which we live - a Government 
adequate to every purpose for which the social compact is formed; a 
Government elective in all its branches, under which every citizen may 
by his merit obtain the highest trust recognized by the Constitution; 
which contains within it no cause of discord, none to put at variance 
one portion of the community with another; a Government which protects 
every citizen in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to 
protect the nation against injustice from foreign powers.

Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to cherish 
our Union and to cling to the Government which supports it. Fortunate 
as we are in our political institutions, we have not been less so in 
other circumstances on which our prosperity and happiness essentially 
depend. Situated within the temperate zone, and extending through many 
degrees of latitude along the Atlantic, the United States enjoy all the 
varieties of climate, and every production incident to that portion of 
the globe. Penetrating internally to the Great Lakes and beyond the 
sources of the great rivers which communicate through our whole 
interior, no country was ever happier with respect to its domain. 
Blessed, too, with a fertile soil, our produce has always been very 
abundant, leaving, even in years the least favorable, a surplus for the 
wants of our fellow-men in other countries. Such is our peculiar 
felicity that there is not a part of our Union that is not particularly 
interested in preserving it. The great agricultural interest of the 
nation prospers under its protection. Local interests are not less 
fostered by it. Our fellow-citizens of the North engaged in navigation 
find great encouragement in being made the favored carriers of the vast 
productions of the other portions of the United States, while the 
inhabitants of these are amply recompensed, in their turn, by the 
nursery for seamen and naval force thus formed and reared up for the 
support of our common rights. Our manufactures find a generous 
encouragement by the policy which patronizes domestic industry, and the 
surplus of our produce a steady and profitable market by local wants in 
less-favored parts at home.

Such, then, being the highly favored condition of our country, it is 
the interest of every citizen to maintain it. What are the dangers 
which menace us? If any exist they ought to be ascertained and guarded 
against.

In explaining my sentiments on this subject it may be asked, What 
raised us to the present happy state? How did we accomplish the 
Revolution? How remedy the defects of the first instrument of our 
Union, by infusing into the National Government sufficient power for 
national purposes, without impairing the just rights of the States or 
affecting those of individuals? How sustain and pass with glory through 
the late war? The Government has been in the hands of the people. To 
the people, therefore, and to the faithful and able depositaries of 
their trust is the credit due. Had the people of the United States been 
educated in different principles, had they been less intelligent, less 
independent, or less virtuous, can it be believed that we should have 
maintained the same steady and consistent career or been blessed with 
the same success? While, then, the constituent body retains its present 
sound and healthful state everything will be safe. They will choose 
competent and faithful representatives for every department. It is only 
when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into 
a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. 
Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The 
people themselves become the willing instruments of their own 
debasement and ruin. Let us, then, look to the great cause, and 
endeavor to preserve it in full force. Let us by all wise and 
constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the 
best means of preserving our liberties.

Dangers from abroad are not less deserving of attention. Experiencing 
the fortune of other nations, the United States may be again involved 
in war, and it may in that event be the object of the adverse party to 
overset our Government, to break our Union, and demolish us as a 
nation. Our distance from Europe and the just, moderate, and pacific 
policy of our Government may form some security against these dangers, 
but they ought to be anticipated and guarded against. Many of our 
citizens are engaged in commerce and navigation, and all of them are in 
a certain degree dependent on their prosperous state. Many are engaged 
in the fisheries. These interests are exposed to invasion in the wars 
between other powers, and we should disregard the faithful admonition 
of experience if we did not expect it. We must support our rights or 
lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our liberties. A people who 
fail to do it can scarcely be said to hold a place among independent 
nations. National honor is national property of the highest value. The 
sentiment in the mind of every citizen is national strength. It ought 
therefore to be cherished.

To secure us against these dangers our coast and inland frontiers 
should be fortified, our Army and Navy, regulated upon just principles 
as to the force of each, be kept in perfect order, and our militia be 
placed on the best practicable footing. To put our extensive coast in 
such a state of defense as to secure our cities and interior from 
invasion will be attended with expense, but the work when finished will 
be permanent, and it is fair to presume that a single campaign of 
invasion by a naval force superior to our own, aided by a few thousand 
land troops, would expose us to greater expense, without taking into 
the estimate the loss of property and distress of our citizens, than 
would be sufficient for this great work. Our land and naval forces 
should be moderate, but adequate to the necessary purposes - the former 
to garrison and preserve our fortifications and to meet the first 
invasions of a foreign foe, and, while constituting the elements of a 
greater force, to preserve the science as well as all the necessary 
implements of war in a state to be brought into activity in the event 
of war; the latter, retained within the limits proper in a state of 
peace, might aid in maintaining the neutrality of the United States 
with dignity in the wars of other powers and in saving the property of 
their citizens from spoliation. In time of war, with the enlargement of 
which the great naval resources of the country render it susceptible, 
and which should be duly fostered in time of peace, it would contribute 
essentially, both as an auxiliary of defense and as a powerful engine 
of annoyance, to diminish the calamities of war and to bring the war to 
a speedy and honorable termination.

But it ought always to be held prominently in view that the safety of 
these States and of everything dear to a free people must depend in an 
eminent degree on the militia. Invasions may be made too formidable to 
be resisted by any land and naval force which it would comport either 
with the principles of our Government or the circumstances of the 
United States to maintain. In such cases recourse must be had to the 
great body of the people, and in a manner to produce the best effect. 
It is of the highest importance, therefore, that they be so organized 
and trained as to be prepared for any emergency. The arrangement should 
be such as to put at the command of the Government the ardent 
patriotism and youthful vigor of the country. If formed on equal and 
just principles, it can not be oppressive. It is the crisis which makes 
the pressure, and not the laws which provide a remedy for it. This 
arrangement should be formed, too, in time of peace, to be the better 
prepared for war. With such an organization of such a people the United 
States have nothing to dread from foreign invasion. At its approach an 
overwhelming force of gallant men might always be put in motion.

Other interests of high importance will claim attention, among which 
the improvement of our country by roads and canals, proceeding always 
with a constitutional sanction, holds a distinguished place. By thus 
facilitating the intercourse between the States we shall add much to 
the convenience and comfort of our fellow-citizens, much to the 
ornament of the country, and, what is of greater importance, we shall 
shorten distances, and, by making each part more accessible to and 
dependent on the other, we shall bind the Union more closely together. 
Nature has done so much for us by intersecting the country with so many 
great rivers, bays, and lakes, approaching from distant points so near 
to each other, that the inducement to complete the work seems to be 
peculiarly strong. A more interesting spectacle was perhaps never seen 
than is exhibited within the limits of the United States - a territory 
so vast and advantageously situated, containing objects so grand, so 
useful, so happily connected in all their parts!

Our manufacturers will likewise require the systematic and fostering 
care of the Government. Possessing as we do all the raw materials, the 
fruit of our own soil and industry, we ought not to depend in the 
degree we have done on supplies from other countries. While we are thus 
dependent the sudden event of war, unsought and unexpected, can not 
fail to plunge us into the most serious difficulties. It is important, 
too, that the capital which nourishes our manufacturers should be 
domestic, as its influence in that case instead of exhausting, as it 
may do in foreign hands, would be felt advantageously on agriculture 
and every other branch of industry. Equally important is it to provide 
at home a market for our raw materials, as by extending the competition 
it will enhance the price and protect the cultivator against the 
casualties incident to foreign markets.

With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly relations 
and to act with kindness and liberality in all our transactions. 
Equally proper is it to persevere in our efforts to extend to them the 
advantages of civilization.

The great amount of our revenue and the flourishing state of the 
Treasury are a full proof of the competency of the national resources 
for any emergency, as they are of the willingness of our 
fellow-citizens to bear the burdens which the public necessities 
require. The vast amount of vacant lands, the value of which daily 
augments, forms an additional resource of great extent and duration. 
These resources, besides accomplishing every other necessary purpose, 
put it completely in the power of the United States to discharge the 
national debt at an early period. Peace is the best time for 
improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our 
commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the 
revenue is most productive.

The Executive is charged officially in the Departments under it with 
the disbursement of the public money, and is responsible for the 
faithful application of it to the purposes for which it is raised. The 
Legislature is the watchful guardian over the public purse. It is its 
duty to see that the disbursement has been honestly made. To meet the 
requisite responsibility every facility should be afforded to the 
Executive to enable it to bring the public agents intrusted with the 
public money strictly and promptly to account. Nothing should be 
presumed against them; but if, with the requisite facilities, the 
public money is suffered to lie long and uselessly in their hands, they 
will not be the only defaulters, nor will the demoralizing effect be 
confined to them. It will evince a relaxation and want of tone in the 
Administration which will be felt by the whole community. I shall do 
all I can to secure economy and fidelity in this important branch of 
the Administration, and I doubt not that the Legislature will perform 
its duty with equal zeal. A thorough examination should be regularly 
made, and I will promote it.

It is particularly gratifying to me to enter on the discharge of these 
duties at a time when the United States are blessed with peace. It is a 
state most consistent with their prosperity and happiness. It will be 
my sincere desire to preserve it, so far as depends on the Executive, 
on just principles with all nations, claiming nothing unreasonable of 
any and rendering to each what is its due.

Equally gratifying is it to witness the increased harmony of opinion 
which pervades our Union. Discord does not belong to our system. Union 
is recommended as well by the free and benign principles of our 
Government, extending its blessings to every individual, as by the 
other eminent advantages attending it. The American people have 
encountered together great dangers and sustained severe trials with 
success. They constitute one great family with a common interest. 
Experience has enlightened us on some questions of essential importance 
to the country. The progress has been slow, dictated by a just 
reflection and a faithful regard to every interest connected with it. 
To promote this harmony in accord with the principles of our republican 
Government and in a manner to give them the most complete effect, and 
to advance in all other respects the best interests of our Union, will 
be the object of my constant and zealous exertions.

Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever 
was success so complete. If we look to the history of other nations, 
ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so 
gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy. In contemplating what we 
have still to perform, the heart of every citizen must expand with joy 
when he reflects how near our Government has approached to perfection; 
that in respect to it we have no essential improvement to make; that 
the great object is to preserve it in the essential principles and 
features which characterize it, and that is to be done by preserving 
the virtue and enlightening the minds of the people; and as a security 
against foreign dangers to adopt such arrangements as are indispensable 
to the support of our independence, our rights and liberties. If we 
persevere in the career in which we have advanced so far and in the 
path already traced, we can not fail, under the favor of a gracious 
Providence, to attain the high destiny which seems to await us.

In the Administrations of the illustrious men who have preceded me in 
this high station, with some of whom I have been connected by the 
closest ties from early life, examples are presented which will always 
be found highly instructive and useful to their successors. From these 
I shall endeavor to derive all the advantages which they may afford. Of 
my immediate predecessor, under whom so important a portion of this 
great and successful experiment has been made, I shall be pardoned for 
expressing my earnest wishes that he may long enjoy in his retirement 
the affections of a grateful country, the best reward of exalted 
talents and the most faithful and meritorious service. Relying on the 
aid to be derived from the other departments of the Government, I enter 
on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my 
fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be 
graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has 
already so conspicuously displayed in our favor.

James Monroe
Second Inaugural Address
Monday, March 5, 1821

Fellow-Citizens:

I SHALL not attempt to describe the grateful emotions which the new and 
very distinguished proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, 
evinced by my reelection to this high trust, has excited in my bosom. 
The approbation which it announces of my conduct in the preceding term 
affords me a consolation which I shall profoundly feel through life. 
The general accord with which it has been expressed adds to the great 
and never-ceasing obligations which it imposes. To merit the 
continuance of this good opinion, and to carry it with me into my 
retirement as the solace of advancing years, will be the object of my 
most zealous and unceasing efforts.

Having no pretensions to the high and commanding claims of my 
predecessors, whose names are so much more conspicuously identified 
with our Revolution, and who contributed so preeminently to promote its 
success, I consider myself rather as the instrument than the cause of 
the union which has prevailed in the late election. In surmounting, in 
favor of my humble pretensions, the difficulties which so often produce 
division in like occurrences, it is obvious that other powerful causes, 
indicating the great strength and stability of our Union, have 
essentially contributed to draw you together. That these powerful 
causes exist, and that they are permanent, is my fixed opinion; that 
they may produce a like accord in all questions touching, however 
remotely, the liberty, prosperity, and happiness of our country will 
always be the object of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author 
of All Good.

In a government which is founded by the people, who possess exclusively 
the sovereignty, it seems proper that the person who may be placed by 
their suffrages in this high trust should declare on commencing its 
duties the principles on which he intends to conduct the 
Administration. If the person thus elected has served the preceding 
term, an opportunity is afforded him to review its principal 
occurrences and to give such further explanation respecting them as in 
his judgment may be useful to his constituents. The events of one year 
have influence on those of another, and, in like manner, of a preceding 
on the succeeding Administration. The movements of a great nation are 
connected in all their parts. If errors have been committed they ought 
to be corrected; if the policy is sound it ought to be supported. It is 
by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject that our fellow-citizens 
are enabled to judge correctly of the past and to give a proper 
direction to the future.

Just before the commencement of the last term the United States had 
concluded a war with a very powerful nation on conditions equal and 
honorable to both parties. The events of that war are too recent and 
too deeply impressed on the memory of all to require a development from 
me. Our commerce had been in a great measure driven from the sea, our 
Atlantic and inland frontiers were invaded in almost every part; the 
waste of life along our coast and on some parts of our inland 
frontiers, to the defense of which our gallant and patriotic citizens 
were called, was immense, in addition to which not less than 
$120,000,000 were added at its end to the public debt.

As soon as the war had terminated, the nation, admonished by its 
events, resolved to place itself in a situation which should be better 
calculated to prevent the recurrence of a like evil, and, in case it 
should recur, to mitigate its calamities. With this view, after 
reducing our land force to the basis of a peace establishment, which 
has been further modified since, provision was made for the 
construction of fortifications at proper points through the whole 
extent of our coast and such an augmentation of our naval force as 
should be well adapted to both purposes. The laws making this provision 
were passed in 1815 and 1816, and it has been since the constant effort 
of the Executive to carry them into effect.

The advantage of these fortifications and of an augmented naval force 
in the extent contemplated, in a point of economy, has been fully 
illustrated by a report of the Board of Engineers and Naval 
Commissioners lately communicated to Congress, by which it appears that 
in an invasion by 20,000 men, with a correspondent naval force, in a 
campaign of six months only, the whole expense of the construction of 
the works would be defrayed by the difference in the sum necessary to 
maintain the force which would be adequate to our defense with the aid 
of those works and that which would be incurred without them. The 
reason of this difference is obvious. If fortifications are judiciously 
placed on our great inlets, as distant from our cities as circumstances 
will permit, they will form the only points of attack, and the enemy 
will be detained there by a small regular force a sufficient time to 
enable our militia to collect and repair to that on which the attack is 
made. A force adequate to the enemy, collected at that single point, 
with suitable preparation for such others as might be menaced, is all 
that would be requisite. But if there were no fortifications, then the 
enemy might go where he pleased, and, changing his position and sailing 
from place to place, our force must be called out and spread in vast 
numbers along the whole coast and on both sides of every bay and river 
as high up in each as it might be navigable for ships of war. By these 
fortifications, supported by our Navy, to which they would afford like 
support, we should present to other powers an armed front from St. 
Croix to the Sabine, which would protect in the event of war our whole 
coast and interior from invasion; and even in the wars of other powers, 
in which we were neutral, they would be found eminently useful, as, by 
keeping their public ships at a distance from our cities, peace and 
order in them would be preserved and the Government be protected from 
insult.

It need scarcely be remarked that these measures have not been resorted 
to in a spirit of hostility to other powers. Such a disposition does 
not exist toward any power. Peace and good will have been, and will 
hereafter be, cultivated with all, and by the most faithful regard to 
justice. They have been dictated by a love of peace, of economy, and an 
earnest desire to save the lives of our fellow-citizens from that 
destruction and our country from that devastation which are inseparable 
from war when it finds us unprepared for it. It is believed, and 
experience has shown, that such a preparation is the best expedient 
that can be resorted to prevent war. I add with much pleasure that 
considerable progress has already been made in these measures of 
defense, and that they will be completed in a few years, considering 
the great extent and importance of the object, if the plan be zealously 
and steadily persevered in.

The conduct of the Government in what relates to foreign powers is 
always an object of the highest importance to the nation. Its 
agriculture, commerce, manufactures, fisheries, revenue, in short, its 
peace, may all be affected by it. Attention is therefore due to this 
subject.

At the period adverted to the powers of Europe, after having been 
engaged in long and destructive wars with each other, had concluded a 
peace, which happily still exists. Our peace with the power with whom 
we had been engaged had also been concluded. The war between Spain and 
the colonies in South America, which had commenced many years before, 
was then the only conflict that remained unsettled. This being a 
contest between different parts of the same community, in which other 
powers had not interfered, was not affected by their accommodations.

This contest was considered at an early stage by my predecessor a civil 
war in which the parties were entitled to equal rights in our ports. 
This decision, the first made by any power, being formed on great 
consideration of the comparative strength and resources of the parties, 
the length of time, and successful opposition made by the colonies, and 
of all other circumstances on which it ought to depend, was in strict 
accord with the law of nations. Congress has invariably acted on this 
principle, having made no change in our relations with either party. 
Our attitude has therefore been that of neutrality between them, which 
has been maintained by the Government with the strictest impartiality. 
No aid has been afforded to either, nor has any privilege been enjoyed 
by the one which has not been equally open to the other party, and 
every exertion has been made in its power to enforce the execution of 
the laws prohibiting illegal equipments with equal rigor against both.

By this equality between the parties their public vessels have been 
received in our ports on the same footing; they have enjoyed an equal 
right to purchase and export arms, munitions of war, and every other 
supply, the exportation of all articles whatever being permitted under 
laws which were passed long before the commencement of the contest; our 
citizens have traded equally with both, and their commerce with each 
has been alike protected by the Government.

Respecting the attitude which it may be proper for the United States to 
maintain hereafter between the parties, I have no hesitation in stating 
it as my opinion that the neutrality heretofore observed should still 
be adhered to. From the change in the Government of Spain and the 
negotiation now depending, invited by the Cortes and accepted by the 
colonies, it may be presumed, that their differences will be settled on 
the terms proposed by the colonies. Should the war be continued, the 
United States, regarding its occurrences, will always have it in their 
power to adopt such measures respecting it as their honor and interest 
may require.

Shortly after the general peace a band of adventurers took advantage of 
this conflict and of the facility which it afforded to establish a 
system of buccaneering in the neighboring seas, to the great annoyance 
of the commerce of the United States, and, as was represented, of that 
of other powers. Of this spirit and of its injurious bearing on the 
United States strong proofs were afforded by the establishment at 
Amelia Island, and the purposes to which it was made instrumental by 
this band in 1817, and by the occurrences which took place in other 
parts of Florida in 1818, the details of which in both instances are 
too well known to require to be now recited. I am satisfied had a less 
decisive course been adopted that the worst consequences would have 
resulted from it. We have seen that these checks, decisive as they 
were, were not sufficient to crush that piratical spirit. Many culprits 
brought within our limits have been condemned to suffer death, the 
punishment due to that atrocious crime. The decisions of upright and 
enlightened tribunals fall equally on all whose crimes subject them, by 
a fair interpretation of the law, to its censure. It belongs to the 
Executive not to suffer the executions under these decisions to 
transcend the great purpose for which punishment is necessary. The full 
benefit of example being secured, policy as well as humanity equally 
forbids that they should be carried further. I have acted on this 
principle, pardoning those who appear to have been led astray by 
ignorance of the criminality of the acts they had committed, and 
suffering the law to take effect on those only in whose favor no 
extenuating circumstances could be urged.

Great confidence is entertained that the late treaty with Spain, which 
has been ratified by both the parties, and the ratifications whereof 
have been exchanged, has placed the relations of the two countries on a 
basis of permanent friendship. The provision made by it for such of our 
citizens as have claims on Spain of the character described will, it is 
presumed, be very satisfactory to them, and the boundary which is 
established between the territories of the parties westward of the 
Mississippi, heretofore in dispute, has, it is thought, been settled on 
conditions just and advantageous to both. But to the acquisition of 
Florida too much importance can not be attached. It secures to the 
United States a territory important in itself, and whose importance is 
much increased by its bearing on many of the highest interests of the 
Union. It opens to several of the neighboring States a free passage to 
the ocean, through the Province ceded, by several rivers, having their 
sources high up within their limits. It secures us against all future 
annoyance from powerful Indian tribes. It gives us several excellent 
harbors in the Gulf of Mexico for ships of war of the largest size. It 
covers by its position in the Gulf the Mississippi and other great 
waters within our extended limits, and thereby enables the United 
States to afford complete protection to the vast and very valuable 
productions of our whole Western country, which find a market through 
those streams.

By a treaty with the British Government, bearing date on the 20th of 
October, 1818, the convention regulating the commerce between the 
United States and Great Britain, concluded on the 3d of July, 1815, 
which was about expiring, was revived and continued for the term of ten 
years from the time of its expiration. By that treaty, also, the 
differences which had arisen under the treaty of Ghent respecting the 
right claimed by the United States for their citizens to take and cure 
fish on the coast of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America, with 
other differences on important interests, were adjusted to the 
satisfaction of both parties. No agreement has yet been entered into 
respecting the commerce between the United States and the British 
dominions in the West Indies and on this continent. The restraints 
imposed on that commerce by Great Britain, and reciprocated by the 
United States on a principle of defense, continue still in force.

The negotiation with France for the regulation of the commercial 
relations between the two countries, which in the course of the last 
summer had been commenced at Paris, has since been transferred to this 
city, and will be pursued on the part of the United States in the 
spirit of conciliation, and with an earnest desire that it may 
terminate in an arrangement satisfactory to both parties.

Our relations with the Barbary Powers are preserved in the same state 
and by the same means that were employed when I came into this office. 
As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a squadron into the 
Mediterranean for the protection of our commerce, and no period has 
intervened, a short term excepted, when it was thought advisable to 
withdraw it. The great interests which the United States have in the 
Pacific, in commerce and in the fisheries, have also made it necessary 
to maintain a naval force there. In disposing of this force in both 
instances the most effectual measures in our power have been taken, 
without interfering with its other duties, for the suppression of the 
slave trade and of piracy in the neighboring seas.

The situation of the United States in regard to their resources, the 
extent of their revenue, and the facility with which it is raised 
affords a most gratifying spectacle. The payment of nearly $67,000,000 
of the public debt, with the great progress made in measures of defense 
and in other improvements of various kinds since the late war, are 
conclusive proofs of this extraordinary prosperity, especially when it 
is recollected that these expenditures have been defrayed without a 
burthen on the people, the direct tax and excise having been repealed 
soon after the conclusion of the late war, and the revenue applied to 
these great objects having been raised in a manner not to be felt. Our 
great resources therefore remain untouched for any purpose which may 
affect the vital interests of the nation. For all such purposes they 
are inexhaustible. They are more especially to be found in the virtue, 
patriotism, and intelligence of our fellow-citizens, and in the 
devotion with which they would yield up by any just measure of taxation 
all their property in support of the rights and honor of their country.

Under the present depression of prices, affecting all the productions 
of the country and every branch of industry, proceeding from causes 
explained on a former occasion, the revenue has considerably 
diminished, the effect of which has been to compel Congress either to 
abandon these great measures of defense or to resort to loans or 
internal taxes to supply the deficiency. On the presumption that this 
depression and the deficiency in the revenue arising from it would be 
temporary, loans were authorized for the demands of the last and 
present year. Anxious to relieve my fellow-citizens in 1817 from every 
burthen which could be dispensed with, and the state of the Treasury 
permitting it, I recommended the repeal of the internal taxes, knowing 
that such relief was then peculiarly necessary in consequence of the 
great exertions made in the late war. I made that recommendation under 
a pledge that should the public exigencies require a recurrence to them 
at any time while I remained in this trust, I would with equal 
promptitude perform the duty which would then be alike incumbent on me. 
By the experiment now making it will be seen by the next session of 
Congress whether the revenue shall have been so augmented as to be 
adequate to all these necessary purposes. Should the deficiency still 
continue, and especially should it be probable that it would be 
permanent, the course to be pursued appears to me to be obvious. I am 
satisfied that under certain circumstances loans may be resorted to 
with great advantage. I am equally well satisfied, as a general rule, 
that the demands of the current year, especially in time of peace, 
should be provided for by the revenue of that year.

I have never dreaded, nor have I ever shunned, in any situation in 
which I have been placed making appeals to the virtue and patriotism of 
my fellow-citizens, well knowing that they could never be made in vain, 
especially in times of great emergency or for purposes of high national 
importance. Independently of the exigency of the case, many 
considerations of great weight urge a policy having in view a provision 
of revenue to meet to a certain extent the demands of the nation, 
without relying altogether on the precarious resource of foreign 
commerce. I am satisfied that internal duties and excises, with 
corresponding imposts on foreign articles of the same kind, would, 
without imposing any serious burdens on the people, enhance the price 
of produce, promote our manufactures, and augment the revenue, at the 
same time that they made it more secure and permanent.

The care of the Indian tribes within our limits has long been an 
essential part of our system, but, unfortunately, it has not been 
executed in a manner to accomplish all the objects intended by it. We 
have treated them as independent nations, without their having any 
substantial pretensions to that rank. The distinction has flattered 
their pride, retarded their improvement, and in many instances paved 
the way to their destruction. The progress of our settlements westward, 
supported as they are by a dense population, has constantly driven them 
back, with almost the total sacrifice of the lands which they have been 
compelled to abandon. They have claims on the magnanimity and, I may 
add, on the justice of this nation which we must all feel. We should 
become their real benefactors; we should perform the office of their 
Great Father, the endearing title which they emphatically give to the 
Chief Magistrate of our Union. Their sovereignty over vast territories 
should cease, in lieu of which the right of soil should be secured to 
each individual and his posterity in competent portions; and for the 
territory thus ceded by each tribe some reasonable equivalent should be 
granted, to be vested in permanent funds for the support of civil 
government over them and for the education of their children, for their 
instruction in the arts of husbandry, and to provide sustenance for 
them until they could provide it for themselves. My earnest hope is 
that Congress will digest some plan, founded on these principles, with 
such improvements as their wisdom may suggest, and carry it into effect 
as soon as it may be practicable.

Europe is again unsettled and the prospect of war increasing. Should 
the flame light up in any quarter, how far it may extend it is 
impossible to foresee. It is our peculiar felicity to be altogether 
unconnected with the causes which produce this menacing aspect 
elsewhere. With every power we are in perfect amity, and it is our 
interest to remain so if it be practicable on just conditions. I see no 
reasonable cause to apprehend variance with any power, unless it 
proceed from a violation of our maritime rights. In these contests, 
should they occur, and to whatever extent they may be carried, we shall 
be neutral; but as a neutral power we have rights which it is our duty 
to maintain. For like injuries it will be incumbent on us to seek 
redress in a spirit of amity, in full confidence that, injuring none, 
none would knowingly injure us. For more imminent dangers we should be 
prepared, and it should always be recollected that such preparation 
adapted to the circumstances and sanctioned by the judgment and wishes 
of our constituents can not fail to have a good effect in averting 
dangers of every kind. We should recollect also that the season of 
peace is best adapted to these preparations.

If we turn our attention, fellow-citizens, more immediately to the 
internal concerns of our country, and more especially to those on which 
its future welfare depends, we have every reason to anticipate the 
happiest results. It is now rather more than forty-four years since we 
declared our independence, and thirty-seven since it was acknowledged. 
The talents and virtues which were displayed in that great struggle 
were a sure presage of all that has since followed. A people who were 
able to surmount in their infant state such great perils would be more 
competent as they rose into manhood to repel any which they might meet 
in their progress. Their physical strength would be more adequate to 
foreign danger, and the practice of self-government, aided by the light 
of experience, could not fail to produce an effect equally salutary on 
all those questions connected with the internal organization. These 
favorable anticipations have been realized.

In our whole system, national and State, we have shunned all the 
defects which unceasingly preyed on the vitals and destroyed the 
ancient Republics. In them there were distinct orders, a nobility and a 
people, or the people governed in one assembly. Thus, in the one 
instance there was a perpetual conflict between the orders in society 
for the ascendency, in which the victory of either terminated in the 
overthrow of the government and the ruin of the state; in the other, in 
which the people governed in a body, and whose dominions seldom 
exceeded the dimensions of a county in one of our States, a tumultuous 
and disorderly movement permitted only a transitory existence. In this 
great nation there is but one order, that of the people, whose power, 
by a peculiarly happy improvement of the representative principle, is 
transferred from them, without impairing in the slightest degree their 
sovereignty, to bodies of their own creation, and to persons elected by 
themselves, in the full extent necessary for all the purposes of free, 
enlightened and efficient government. The whole system is elective, the 
complete sovereignty being in the people, and every officer in every 
department deriving his authority from and being responsible to them 
for his conduct.

Our career has corresponded with this great outline. Perfection in our 
organization could not have been expected in the outset either in the 
National or State Governments or in tracing the line between their 
respective powers. But no serious conflict has arisen, nor any contest 
but such as are managed by argument and by a fair appeal to the good 
sense of the people, and many of the defects which experience had 
clearly demonstrated in both Governments have been remedied. By 
steadily pursuing this course in this spirit there is every reason to 
believe that our system will soon attain the highest degree of 
perfection of which human institutions are capable, and that the 
movement in all its branches will exhibit such a degree of order and 
harmony as to command the admiration and respect of the civilized world.

Our physical attainments have not been less eminent. Twenty-five years 
ago the river Mississippi was shut up and our Western brethren had no 
outlet for their commerce. What has been the progress since that time? 
The river has not only become the property of the United States from 
its source to the ocean, with all its tributary streams (with the 
exception of the upper part of the Red River only), but Louisiana, with 
a fair and liberal boundary on the western side and the Floridas on the 
eastern, have been ceded to us. The United States now enjoy the 
complete and uninterrupted sovereignty over the whole territory from 
St. Croix to the Sabine. New States, settled from among ourselves in 
this and in other parts, have been admitted into our Union in equal 
participation in the national sovereignty with the original States. Our 
population has augmented in an astonishing degree and extended in every 
direction. We now, fellow-citizens, comprise within our limits the 
dimensions and faculties of a great power under a Government possessing 
all the energies of any government ever known to the Old World, with an 
utter incapacity to oppress the people.

Entering with these views the office which I have just solemnly sworn 
to execute with fidelity and to the utmost of my ability, I derive 
great satisfaction from a knowledge that I shall be assisted in the 
several Departments by the very enlightened and upright citizens from 
whom I have received so much aid in the preceding term. With full 
confidence in the continuance of that candor and generous indulgence 
from my fellow-citizens at large which I have heretofore experienced, 
and with a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God, I shall 
forthwith commence the duties of the high trust to which you have 
called me.

