Date: 1804-11-08
President: Thomas Jefferson

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:  To a people, fellow-citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness and prosperity   of other nations: to those who justly calculate that their own well-being is   advanced by that of the nations with which they have intercourse, it will be   a satisfaction to observe that the war which was lighted up Europe a little   before our last meeting has not yet extended its flames to other nations, nor   been marked by the calamities which sometimes stain the footsteps of war. The   irregularities, too on the ocean, which generally harass the commerce of neutral   nations, have in distant parts, disturbed ours less than on former occasions;   but in the American seas they have been greater from peculiar causes, and even   within our harbors and jurisdiction infringements on the authority of the laws   have been committed which have called for serious attention The friendly conduct   of the Governments from whose officers and subjects these acts have proceeded,   in other respects and in places more under their observation and control, gives   us confidence that our representations on this subject will have been completely   regarded.While noticing the irregularities committed on the ocean by others, those on   our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided for. Complaints have   been received that persons residing within the United States have taken on themselves   to arm merchant vessels and to force a commerce into certain ports and countries   in defiance of the laws of those countries in defiance of the laws of those   countries. That individuals should undertake to wage private war, independently   of the authority of their country, can not be permitted in a well-ordered society.   Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws and rights of other nations and   to endanger the peace of our own is so oblivious that I doubt not you will adopt   measures for restraining it effectually in future.Soon after the passage of the act of the last session authorizing the establishment   of a district and a port of entry on the waters of the Mobile we learnt that   its object was misunderstood on the part of Spain. Candid explanations were   immediately given and assurances that, reserving our claims in that quarter   as a subject of discussion and arrangement with Spain, no act was mediated in   the meantime inconsistent with peace and friendship existing between the two   nations, and that conformably to these intentions would be the execution of   the law. That Government had, however, thought proper to suspend the ratification   of the convention of 1802; but the explanations which would reach them soon   after, and still more the confirmation of them by the tenor of the instrument   establishing the port and district, may reasonably be expected to replace them   in the dispositions and views of the whole subject which originally dictated   the convention.I have the satisfaction to inform you that the objections which had been urged   by that Government against the validity of our title to the country of Louisana   have been withdrawn, its exact limits, however, remaining still to be settled   between us; and to this is to be added that having prepared and delivered the   stock created in execution of the convention of Paris of April 30, 1803. In   consideration of the cession of that country, we have received from the Government   of France an acknowledgment in due form, of the fulfillment of that stipulation.With the nations of Europe in general our friendship and intercourse are undisturbed,   and from the Governments of the belligerent powers especially we continue to   receive those friendly manifestations which are justly due to an honest neutrality   and to such good offices consistent with that as we have opportunities of rendering.The activity and success of the small force employed in the Mediterranean in   the early part of the present year, the reenforcements sent into that sea, and   the energy of the officers having command in the several vessels will, I trust,   by the sufferings of war, reduce the barbarians of Tripoli to the desire of   peace on proper terms. Great injury, however, ensues to ourselves, as well as   to others interested, from the distance to which prizes must be brought for   adjudication and from the impracticability of bringing hither such as are not   seaworthy.The Bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized by our treaty, their   rejection has produced from him some expressions of discontent. But to those   who expect us to calculate whether a compliance with unjust demands will not   cost us less than a war we must leave as a question of calculation for them   also whether to retire from unjust demands will not cost them less than a war.   We can do to each other very sensible injuries by war, but mutual advantages   of peace make that the best interest of both.Peace and intercourse with other powers on the same coast continue on the footing   on which they are established by treaty.In pursuance of the act providing for the temporary government of Louisana,   the necessary officers for the Territory of Orleans were appointed in due time   to commence the exercise of their functions on the 1st. day of October. The   distance, however, of some of them and indispensable previous arrangements may   have retarded its commencement in some of its parts. The form of government   thus provided having been considered but as temporary, and open to such future   improvements as further information of the circumstances of our brethren there   might suggest, it will of course be subject to your consideration.In the District of Louisana it has been thought best to adopt the division   into subordinate districts which had been established under its former government.   These being five in number, a commanding officer has been appointed to each,   according to the provisions of the law, and so soon as they can be at their   stations that district will also be in its due state of organization. In the   meantime their places are supplied by the officers commanding there. And the   functions of the governor and judges of Indiana having commenced, the government,   we presume is preceding in its new form. The lead mines in that district offer   so rich a supply of that metal as to merit attention. The report now communicated   will inform you of their state and of the necessity of immediate inquiry into   their occupation and titles.With the Indian tribes established within our newly acquired limits, I have   deemed it necessary to open conferences for the purpose of establishing a good   understanding and neighborly relations between us. So far as we have yet learned,   we have reason to believe that their dispositions on their part, we have in   our own hands means which can not fail us for preserving their peace and friendship.   By pursuing an uniform course of justice toward them, by aiding them in all   the improvements which may better their condition, and especially by establishing   a commerce on terms which shall be advantageous to them and only not losing   to us, and so regulated as that no incendiaries of our own or any other nation   may be permitted to disturb the natural effects of our just and friendly offices,   we may render ourselves so necessary to their comfort and prosperity that the   protection of our citizens from their disorderly members will become their interest   and their voluntary care. Instead, therefore, of an augmentation of military   force proportioned to our extension of frontier, I propose a moderate enlargement   of the capital employed in that commerce as a more effectual, economical, and   humane instrument for preserving peace and good neighborhood with them.On this side of the Mississippi an important relinquishment of native title   has been received from the Delawares. That tribe, desiring to extinguish in   their people the spirit of hunting and to convert superfluous lands into the   means of improving what they retain, has ceded to us all the country between   Wabash and Ohio south of and including the road from the rapids toward Vincennes,   for which they are to receive annuities in animals and implements for agriculture   and in other necessaries. This acquisition is important, not only for its extent   and fertility, but as fronting 300 miles on the Ohio, and near half that on   the Wabash. The produce of the settled country descending those rivers will   no longer pass in review of the Indian frontier but in a small portion, and,   with the cession heretofore made by the Kaskaskias, nearly consolidates our   possessions north of the Ohio, in a very respectful breadth-from Lake Erie to   the Mississippi. The Piankeshaws having some claim to the country ceded by the   Delawares, it has been thought best to keep quiet that by fair purchase also.   So soon as the treaties on this subject shall have received their constitutional   sanctions they shall be laid before both Houses.The act of Congress of February 28, 1803, for building and employing a number   of gunboats, is now in a course of execution to the extent there provided for.   The obstacle to naval enterprise which vessels of this construction offer for   our seaport towns, their utility toward supporting within our waters the authority   of the laws, the promptness with which they will be manned by the seamen and   militia of the place in the moment they are wanting, the facility of their assembling   from different parts of the coast to any point where they are required in greater   force than ordinary, the economy of their maintenance and preservation from   decay when not in actual service, and the competence of our finances to this   defensive provision without any new burthen are considerations which will have   due weight with Congress in deciding on the expediency of adding to their number   from year to year, as experience shall test their utility, until all our important   harbors, by these and auxiliary means, shall be secured against insult and opposition   to the laws.No circumstances has arisen since your last session which calls for any augmentation   of our regular military force. Should any improvement occur in militia system,   that will be always seasonable.Accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the last year, with estimates   for the ensuing one, will as usual be laid before you.The state of our finances continues to fulfill our expectations. Eleven millions   and a half of dollars, received in the course of the year ending the 30th of   September last, have enabled us, us, after meeting all the ordinary expenses   of the year, to pay upward of $3,600,000 of the public debt, exclusive of interest.   This payment, with those of the two preceding years, has extinguished upward   of twelve millions of the principle and a greater sum of interest within that   period, and by a proportionate diminution of interest renders already sensible   the effect of the growing sum yearly applicable to the discharge of the principle.It is also ascertained that the revenue accrued during the last year exceeds   that of the preceding, and the probable receipts of the ensuing year may safely   be relied on as sufficient, with the sum already in the Treasury, to meet all   the current demands of the year, to discharge upwards of three millions and   a half of the engagements incurred under the British and French conventions   , and to advance in the further redemption of the funded debt as rapidly as   had been contemplated. These, fellow-citizens, are the principle matters which   I have thought it necessary at this time to communicate for your consideration   and attention. Some others will be laid before you in the course of the session;   but in the discharge of the great duties confided to you by our country you   will take a broader view of the field of legislation. Whether the great interests   of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, or navigation can within the pale of   your constitutional powers be aided in any of their relations; whether laws   are provided in all cases where they are wanting; whether those provided are   exactly what they should be; whether any abuses take place in their administration,   or in that of the public revenues; whether the organization of the public agents   or of the public force is perfect in all its parts; in fine, whether anything   can be done to advance the general good, are questions within the limits of   your functions which will necessarily occupy your attention. In these and all   other matters which you in your wisdom may propose for the good of our country   you may count with assurance on my hearty cooperation and faithful execution.