Date: 1802-12-15
President: Thomas Jefferson

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 and 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, and order of our citizens,    managing their own affairs in their own way and for their own use, unembarrassed    by too much regulation, unoppressed by fiscal exactions.On the restoration of peace in Europe that portion of the general 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 monopolizing 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 hope that friendly discussion will produce a fair and 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.It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British Parliament anticipating    this subject so far as to authorize a mutual abolition of the duties and countervailing    duties permitted under the treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a spirit of    justice and friendly accommodation 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.Another circumstances which claims attention as directly affecting the very    source of our navigation in the defect or the evasion of the law providing for    the return of seamen, and particularly of those belonging to vessels sold abroad.    Numbers of them, discharged in foreign ports, have dangers into which their    distresses might plunge them and save them to their country, have found it necessary    in some cases to return them at the public charge.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.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 reenforcement, 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 harbor of Tripoli. Still, however, the    shallowness of their coast and 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, and two others of color 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.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    Talasscee country. 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.In order to remove every ground of difference possible with our Indian neighbors,    I have proceeded in the work of settling with them and marking the boundaries    between us. That with Choctaw Nation is fixed in one part and will be through    the whole within a short time. The country to which their title had been extinguished    before the Revolution is sufficient to receive a very respectful 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 its support;    and how far that monopoly which prevents population should here be guarded against    and actual habitation made a condition of the continuance of title will be for    your consideration. A prompt settlement, too, of all existing rights and claims    within this territory presents itself as a preliminary operation.In that part of the Indian Territory which includes Vicennes the lines settled    with neighboring tribes fix the extinction of their title at a breadth of 24    leagues from east to west and about the same length parallel with and including    the Wabash. They have also ceded a tract of four miles square, including the salt    springs near the mouth of that river.In the Department of Finance it is with pleasure I inform you that the receipts    of external duties for the last twelve months have exceeded those of any former    year, and 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 upward of $8,000,000, principal and interest, of    the public debt, exclusive of upward of one million paid by the sale of bank    stock, and making in the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and a half    of principal, and to have now in the Treasury $4,500,000, which are in a course    of application to the further discharge of debt and current demands. Experience,    too, so far, authorizes us to believe, if no extraordinary event supervenes,    and the expenses 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 practice every useful economy and to incur no expense which may be avoided    without prejudice.The collection of the internal taxes having been retarded, it will be some    time before the system is closed. It is not yet been thought necessary to employ    the agent authorized by an act of the last session for transacting business    in Europe relative to debts and 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 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 equivalent extinction of domestic debt. When    effects do salutary result from the plans you have already sanctioned; when    merely by avoiding false objects of expense we are able, without a direct tax,    without internal taxes, and without borrowing to make large and effectual payments    toward the discharge of public debt and 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    practiced by others under different circumstances. And whensoever we are destined    to meet events which shall call forth all the energies of our countryman, 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 meantime,    by payments of the principal of our debt, we are liberating annually portions    of the external taxes and forming from them a growing fund still further to    lessen the necessity of recurring to extraordinary resources.The usual account of receipts and expenditures for the last year, with an estimate    of the expenses of the ensuing one, will be laid before you by the Secretary    of Treasury.No change being deemed necessary in our military establishment, an estimate    of its expenses for the ensuing year on its present footing, as also sums to    be employed in fornications and other objects within that department, has been    prepared by the Secretary of War, and will make a part of the general estimates    which will be presented you.Considering that our regular troops are employed for local purposes, and that    the militia our general reliance for great and sudden emergencies, you will    doubtless think this institution worth of a review, and give those improvements    of which you find susceptible.Estimates for the Naval Department, prepared by the Secretary of the Navy,    for another year will in like manner be communicated with 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 eventually 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.Presuming it will be deemed expedient to expend annually a convenient sum toward    providing the naval defense which our situation may require. I can not 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 continues, a great portion of the moneys 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 and 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 possess, at heights far above the level    of the tide, if employed as is practiced 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 useful here, similar depositories for laying up    as well as for building and repairing vessel 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 be presented to you without    delay, and from this it will be seen that scarcely more than has been the cost    of one vessel is necessary to save the whole, and that the annual sum to be    employed toward its completion may be adapted to the views of the legislature    as to naval expenditure.To cultivate peace and maintain commerce and navigation in all their lawful    enterprises; to foster our fisheries as nurseries of navigation and for the    nurture of man, and protect the manufactures adapted to our circumstances;    to preserve the faith of the nation by an exact discharge of its debts and contracts,    expend the public money with same care and economy we would practice with our    own, and impose on our citizens no unnecessary burthens; to keep in all of safety&mdash;these,    fellow citizens, are the landmarks by which we are to guide ourselves in all    our proceedings. By continuing to make these the rule of our action we shall    endear to our countrymen the true principles of their Constitution and promote    an union of sentiment an 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. 