the legislative power of Congress, last administration are of such all the great and most important recent date as to render a particumeasures of Government, money lar reference to them unnecessary. being the ordinary and necessary It is well known that the appromeans of carrying them into ex- priating power, to the utmost execution.' I have not been able tent which had been claimed for to consider these declarations in it in relation to internal improveany other point of view, than as ments, was fully recognised and a concession that the right of exercised by it. appropriation is not limited by the power to carry into effect the measure for which the money is asked, as was formerly contended. The views of Mr Monroe upon this subject were not left to inference. During his administration a bill was passed through both Houses of Congress, conferring the jurisdiction and prescribing the mode by which the Federal Government should exercise it, in the case of the Cumberland road. He returned it, with objections to its passage, and, in assigning them, took occasion to say, that, in the early stages of the Government, he had inclined to the construction that it had no right to expend money except in the performance of acts authorized by the other specific grants of power, according to a strict construction of them; but that, on further reflection and observation, his mind had undergone a change; that his opinion then was, 'that Congress have an unlimited power to raise money, and that, in its appropriation, they have a discretionary power, restricted only by the duty to appropriate it to purposes of common defence, and of general, not local-national, not State benefit;' and this was avowed to be the governing principle through the residue of his administration. The views of the This brief reference to known facts will be sufficient to show the difficulty, if not impracticability, of bringing back the operations of the Government to the construction of the Constitution set up in 1798, assuming that to be its true reading, in relation to the power under consideration: thus giving an admonitory proof of the force of implication, and the necessity of guarding the Constitution with sleepless vigilance, against the authority of precedents which have not the sanction of its most plainly defined powers. For, although it is the duty of all to look to that sacred instrument, instead of the statute book; to repudiate, at all times, encroachments upon its spirit, which are too apt to be effected by the conjuncture of peculiar and facilitating circumstances, it is not less true, that the public good and the nature of our political institutions require, that individual differences should yield to a well settled acquiescence of the people and confederated authorities, in particular constructions of the Constitution, on doubtful points. Not to concede this much to the spirit of our institutions, would impair their stability, and defeat the objects of the Constitution itself. The bill before me does not call for a more definite opinion within the limits of a State, starting at a point on the Ohio river, and running out sixty miles to an interior town; and even as far as the State is interested, conferring partial instead of general advantages. upon the particular circumstances national. It has no connexion which will warrant appropriations with any established system of of money by Congress, to aid improvements; is exclusively works of internal improvement: for although the extension of the power to apply money beyond that of carrying into effect the object for which it is appropriated, has, as we have seen, been long claimed and exercised by the Federal Government, yet such Considering the magnitude and grants have always been profess- importance of the power, and edly under the control of the the embarrassments to which, general principle, that the works froin the very nature of the thing, which might be thus aided, should its exercise must, necessarily, be be of a general, not local subjected, the real friends of innational, not State character.' ternal improvement ought not to be A disregard of this distinction willing to confide it to accident would of necessity lead to the and chance. What is properly subversion of the federal system. national in its character, or otherThat even this is an unsafe one, wise, is an inquiry which is often arbitrary in its nature, and liable, extremely difficult of solution. consequently, to great abuses, is The appropriations of one year, too obvious to require the con- for an object which is considered firmation of experience. It is, national, may be rendered nugahowever, sufficiently definite and tory, by the refusal of a succeedimperative to my mind, to forbid ing Congress to continue the work, my approbation of any bill having on the ground that it is local. the character of the one under No aid can be derived from the consideration. I have given to intervention of corporations. The its provisions all the reflection question regards the character of demanded by a just regard for the the work, not that of those by interests of those of our fellow- whom it is to be accomplished. citizens who have desired its pas- Notwithstanding the union of the sage, and by the respect which Government with the corporation, is due to a co-ordinate branch of by whose immediate agency any the Government; but I am not work of internal improvement is able to view it in any other light carried on, the inquiry will still than as a measure of purely local remain is it national, and concharacter; or, if it can be con- ducive to the benefit of the whole sidered national, that no further or local, and operating only distinction between the appropri- to the advantage of a portion of ate duties of the General and the Union? State Governments need be attempted for there can be no local interest that may not with equal propriety be denominated But, although I might not feel it to be my official duty to interpose the Executive veto to the passage of a bill, appropriating money for the construction of such which have passed into laws, and works as are authorized by the those which, in all probability, States, and are national in their will pass before the adjournment character, I do not wish to be of Congress, anticipate appropriunderstood as expressing an opin- ations which, with the ordinary ion, that it is expedient, at this expenditures for the support of time, for the General Government Government, will exceed conto embark in a system of this siderably the amount in the Treaskind; and, anxious that my con- ury for the year 1830. Thus, stituents should be possessed of while we are diminishing the my views on this, as well as on revenue by a reduction of the all other subjects which they have duties on tea, coffee, and cocoa, committed to my discretion, I shall the appropriations for internal state them frankly and briefly. improvement are increasing beBesides many minor considera- yond the available means of the tions, there are two prominent Treasury; and if to this calculaviews of the subject which have tion be added the amounts conmade a deep impression upon my tained in bills which are pending mind, which, I think, are well before the two Houses, it may be entitled to your serious attention, safely affirmed that ten millions and will, I hope, be maturely of dollars would not make up weighed by the people. the excess over the Treasury From the official communica- receipts, unless the payment of tion submitted to you, it appears, the national debt be postponed, that, if no adverse and unforeseen and the means now pledged to contingency happens in our foreign that object applied to those enurelations, and no unusual diversion merated in these bills. Without be made of the funds set apart a well-regulated system of interfor the payment of the national nal improvement, this exhausting debt, we may look with confi- mode of appropriation is not likely dence to its entire extinguishment to be avoided, and the plain consein the short period of four years. quence must be, either a continuThe extent to which this pleasing ance of the national debt, or a anticipation is dependent upon resort to additional taxes. the policy which may be pursued in relation to measures of the character of the one now under consideration, must be obvious to all, and equally so, that the events of the present session are well calculated to awaken public solicitude upon the subject. By the statement from the Treasury Department, and those from the Clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives, herewith submitted, it appears that the bills Although many of the States, with a laudable zeal, and under the influence of an enlightened policy, are successfully applying their separate efforts to works of this character, the desire to enlist the aid of the General Government in the construction of such as from their nature ought to devolve upon it, and to which the means of the individual States are inadequate, is both rational and patriotic; and, if that desire is not gratified now, it does not follow that it never will be. The general intelligence and public spirit of the American people furnish a sure guarantee, that, at the proper time, this policy will be made to prevail under circumstances more auspicious to its successful prosecution than those which now exist. But, great as this object undoubtedly is, it is not the only one which demands the fostering care of the Government. The preservation and success of the Republican principle rest with us. To elevate its character, and extend its influence, rank among our most important duties; and the best means to accomplish this desirable end, are those which will rivet the attachment of our citizens to the government of their choice, by the comparative lightness of their public burthens, and by the attraction which the superior success of its operations will present to the admiration and respect of the world. Through the favor of an overruling and indulgent Providence, our country is blessed with general prosperity, and our citizens exempted from the pressure of taxation, which other less favored portions of the human family, are obliged to bear; yet, it is true, that many of the taxes collected from our citizens,through the medium of imposts, have, for a considerable period, been onerous. In many particulars, these taxes have borne severely upon the laboring and less prosperous classes of the community, being imposed on the necessaries of life, and this, too, in cases where the burthen was not relieved by the consciousness, that it would ul timately contribute to make us independent of foreign nations, for articles of prime necessity, by the encouragement of their growth and manufacture at home. They have been cheerfully borne, because they were thought to be necessary to the support of Government, and the payment of the debts unavoidably incurred in the acquisition and maintenance of our national rights and liberties. But have we a right to calculate on the same cheerful acquiescence, when it is known that the necessity for their continuance would cease, were it not for irregular, improvident, and unequal appropriations of the public funds? Will not the people demand, as they have a right to do, such a prudent system of expenditure as will pay the debts of the Union, and authorize the reduction of every tax to as low a point as the wise observance of the necessity to protect that portion of our manufactures and labor, whose prosperity is essential to our national safety and independence, will allow? When the National debt is paid, the duties upon those articles which we do not raise may be repealed with safety, and still leave, I trust, without oppression to any section of the country, an accumulating surplus fund, which may be beneficially applied to some well digested system of improvement. Under this view, the question, as to the manner in which the Federal Government can, or ought to embark in the construction of roads and canals, and the extent to which it may impose burthens on the people for these purposes, may be presented on have no relation to any general its own merits, free of all disguise, system of improvement, and and of every embarrassment, whose good effects must of necesexcept such as may arise from the sity be very limited. In the best Constitution itself. Assuming view of these appropriations, the these suggestions to be correct, abuses to which they lead far will not our constituents require exceed the good which they are the observance of a course by capable of promoting. They may which they can be effected? be resorted to as artful expedients Ought they not to require it? to shift upon the Government With the best disposition to aid, the losses of unsuccessful private as far as I can conscientiously, in speculation, and thus, by minisfurtherance of works of internal tering to personal ambition and improvement, my opinion is, that self-aggrandizement, tend to sap the soundest views of national the foundations of public virtue, policy at this time, point to such and taint the administration of the a course. Besides the avoidance Government with a demoralizing of an evil influence upon the influence. local concerns of the country, In the other view of the subject, how solid is the advantage which and the only remaining one which the Government will reap from it it is my intention to present at this in the elevation of its character! time, is involved the expediency How gratifying the effect of pre- of embarking in a system of intersenting to the world the sublime nal improvement without a prespectacle of a republic, of more vious amendment of the Consututhan twelve millions of happy tion, explaining and defining the people, in the fiftyfourth year of precise powers of the Federal her existence-after having pass- Government over it. Assuming ed through two protracted wars, the right to appropriate money to the one for the acquisition, and aid in the construction of national the other for the maintenance of works, to be warranted by the liberty-free from debt, and with cotemporaneous and continued all her immense resources unfet- exposition of the Constitution, its tered! What a salutary influence insufficiency for the successful would not such an exhibition ex- prosecution of them must be adercise upon the cause of liberal mitted by all candid minds. If principles and free government we look to usage to define the throughout the world! Would extent of the right, that will be we not ourselves find, in its effect, found so varient, and embracing an additional guarantee, that our so much that has been overruled, political institutions will be trans- as to involve the whole subject in mitted to the most remote pos- great uncertainty, and to render terity without decay? A course the execution of our respective of policy destined to witness events duties in relation to it, replete like these cannot be benefited by with difficulty and embarrassment. a legislation, which tolerates a It is in regard to such works, and scramble for appropriations that the acquisition of additional terri |