Part 14

But I do not entertain such gloomy apprehensions. If it be the wish of the people that the construction of roads and canals should be conducted by the Federal Government, it is not only highly expedient, but indispensably necessary, that a previous amendment of the Constitution, delegating the necessary power and defining and restricting its exercise with reference to the sovereignty of the States, should be made. Without it nothing extensively useful can be effected. The right to exercise as much jurisdiction as is necessary to preserve the works and to raise funds by the collection of tolls to keep them in repair can not be dispensed with. The Cumberland road should be an instructive admonition of the consequences of acting without this right. Year after year contests are witnessed, growing out of efforts to obtain the necessary appropriations for completing and repairing this useful work. Whilst one Congress may claim and exercise the power, a succeeding one may deny it; and this fluctuation of opinion must be unavoidably fatal to any scheme which from its extent would promote the interests and elevate the character of the country. The experience of the past has shown that the opinion of Congress is subject to such fluctuations.

If it be the desire of the people that the agency of the Federal Government should be confined to the appropriation of money in aid of such undertakings, in virtue of State authorities, then the occasion, the manner, and the extent of the appropriations should be made the subject of constitutional regulation. This is the more necessary in order that they may be equitable among the several States, promote harmony between different sections of the Union and their representatives, preserve other parts of the Constitution from being undermined by the exercise of doubtful powers or the too great extension of those which are not so, and protect the whole subject against the deleterious influence of combinations to carry by concert measures which, considered by themselves, might meet but little countenance.

That a constitutional adjustment of this power upon equitable principles is in the highest degree desirable can scarcely be doubted, nor can it fail to be promoted by every sincere friend to the success of our political institutions. In no government are appeals to the source of power in cases of real doubt more suitable than in ours. No good motive can be assigned for the exercise of power by the constituted authorities, while those for whose benefit it is to be exercised have not conferred it and may not be willing to confer it. It would seem to me that an honest application of the conceded powers of the General Government to the advancement of the common weal present a sufficient scope to satisfy a reasonable ambition. The difficulty and supposed impracticability of obtaining an amendment of the Constitution in this respect is, I firmly believe, in a great degree unfounded. The time has never yet been when the patriotism and intelligence of the American people were not fully equal to the greatest exigency, and it never will when the subject calling forth their interposition is plainly presented to them. To do so with the questions involved in this bill, and to urge them to an early, zealous, and full consideration of their deep importance, is, in my estimation, among the highest of our duties.

A supposed connection between appropriations for internal improvement and the system of protecting duties, growing out of the anxieties of those more immediately interested in their success, has given rise to suggestions which it is proper I should notice on this occasion. My opinions on these subjects have never been concealed from those who had a right to know them. Those which I have entertained on the latter have frequently placed me in opposition to individuals as well as communities whose claims upon my friendship and gratitude are of the strongest character, but I trust there has been nothing in my public life which has exposed me to the suspicion of being thought capable of sacrificing my views of duty to private considerations, however strong they may have been or deep the regrets which they are capable of exciting.

As long as the encouragement of domestic manufactures is directed to national ends it shall receive from me a temperate but steady support. There is no necessary connection between it and the system of appropriations. On the contrary, it appears to me that the supposition of their dependence upon each other is calculated to excite the prejudices of the public against both. The former is sustained on the grounds of its consistency with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, of its origin being traced to the assent of all the parties to the original compact, and of its having the support and approbation of a majority of the people, on which account it is at least entitled to a fair experiment. The suggestions to which I have alluded refer to a forced continuance of the national debt by means of large appropriations as a substitute for the security which the system derives from the principles on which it has hitherto been sustained. Such a course would certainly indicate either an unreasonable distrust of the people or a consciousness that the system does not possess sufficient soundness for its support if left to their voluntary choice and its own merits. Those who suppose that any policy thus founded can be long upheld in this country have looked upon its history with eyes very different from mine. This policy, like every other, must abide the will of the people, who will not be likely to allow any device, however specious, to conceal its character and tendency.

In presenting these opinions I have spoken with the freedom and candor which I thought the occasion for their expression called for, and now respectfully return the bill which has been under consideration for your further deliberation and judgment.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, May 31, 1830. To the Senate of the United States.

GENTLEMEN: I have considered the bill proposing "to authorize a subscription of stock in the Washington Turnpike Road Company," and now return the same to the Senate, in which it originated.

I am unable to approve this bill, and would respectfully refer the Senate to my message to the House of Representatives on returning to that House the bill "to authorize a subscription of stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike Road Company" for a statement of my objections to the bill herewith returned. The message referred to bears date on the 27th instant, and a printed copy of the same is herewith transmitted,

ANDREW JACKSON.

(NOTE.--For reasons for the pocket vetoes of "An act for making appropriations for building light-houses, light-boats, beacons, and monuments, placing buoys, and for improving harbors and directing surveys," and "An act to authorize a subscription for stock in the Louisville and Portland Canal Company," see Second Annual Message, dated December 6, 1830, p. 508.)

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it has been represented that many uninformed or evil-disposed persons have taken possession of or made a settlement on the public lands of the United States within the district of lands subject to sale at Huntsville, in the State of Alabama, which have not been previously sold, ceded, or leased by the United States, or the claim to which lands by such persons has not been previously recognized and confirmed by the United States, which possession or settlement is, by the act of Congress passed on the 3d day of March, 1807, expressly prohibited; and

Whereas the due execution of the said act of Congress, as well as the general interest, requires that such illegal practices should be promptly repressed:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, have thought proper to issue this my proclamation, commanding and strictly enjoining all persons who have unlawfully taken possession of or made any settlement on, or who now unlawfully occupy, any of the public lands within the district of lands subject to sale at Huntsville, in the State of Alabama, as aforesaid, forthwith to remove therefrom; and I do hereby further command and enjoin the marshal, or officer acting as marshal, in that State, where such possession shall have been taken or settlement made, to remove, from and after the 1st day of September, 1830, all or any of the said unlawful occupants; and to effect the said service I do hereby authorize the employment of such military force as may become necessary in pursuance of the provisions of the act of Congress aforesaid, warning the offenders, moreover, that they will be prosecuted in all such other ways as the law directs.

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand.

(SEAL.)

Done at the city of Washington, the 6th day of March, A.D. 1830, and of the Independence of the United States of America the fifty-fourth.

ANDREW JACKSON.

By the President: M. VAN BUREN, Secretary of State.

(From original in General Land Office.)

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

In pursuance of law, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and make known that public sales will be held at the under-mentioned land offices, in the State of Louisiana, at the periods designated, to wit:

At the land office at New Orleans on the first Monday in November next, for the disposal of such of the public lands within the limits of the under-mentioned fractional townships as are not covered by private land claims, viz:

Fractional townships 6, 7, and 9 south, of range 12 east; fractional townships 9 and 10 south, of range 13 east; fractional township 11 south, of range 15 east; fractional township 12 south, of range 16 east; fractional township 12 south, of ranges 20 and 21 east; fractional township 13 south, of range 21 east.

The above-described lands are adjacent to and binding on the Mississippi River.