President Jackson's Farewell Message
to the American People.
March 4, 1837.
In
his farewell speech, the President warns about the dangers of breaking
up the Union. He warns about the dangers of a Central Bank and paper money.
He says that all that is necessary for the defense of the U.S.
is a well armed militia and a well prepared Navy.... Make as many copies
of this speech as you can and distribute far and wide.
FELLOW-CITIZENS:
Being about to retire finally from
public life, I beg leave to offer you my grateful thanks for the many
proofs of kindness and confidence which I have received at your hands.
It has been my fortune in the discharge of public duties, civil and military,
frequently to have found myself in difficult and trying situations, where
prompt decision and energetic action were necessary, and where the interest
of the country required that high responsibilities should be fearlessly
encountered; and it is with the deepest emotions of gratitude that I acknowledge
the continued and unbroken confidence with which you have sustained me
in every trial. My public life has been a long one, and I can not hope
that it has at all times been free from errors; but I have the consolation
of knowing that if mistakes have been committed they have not seriously
injured the country I so anxiously endeavored to serve, and at the moment
when I surrender my last public trust I leave this great people prosperous
and happy, in the full enjoyment of liberty and peace, and honored and
respected by every nation of the world.
If my humble efforts have in any degree
contributed to preserve to you these blessings, I have been more than
rewarded by the honors you have heaped upon me, and, above all, by the
generous confidence with which you have supported me in every peril, and
with which you have continued to animate and cheer my path to the closing
hour of my political life. The time has now come when advanced age and
a broken frame warn me to retire from public concerns, but the recollection
of the many favors you have bestowed upon me is engraven upon my heart,
and I have felt that I could not part from your service without making
this public acknowledgment of the gratitude I owe you. And if I use the
occasion to offer to you the counsels of age and experience, you will,
I trust, receive them with the same indulgent kindness which you have
so often extended to me, and will at least see in them an earnest desire
to perpetuate in this favored land the blessings of liberty and equal
law.
We have now lived almost fifty years
under the Constitution framed by the sages and patriots of the Revolution.
The conflicts in which the nations of Europe were engaged during a great
part of this period, the spirit in which they waged war against each other,
and our intimate commercial connections with every part of the civilized
world rendered it a time of much difficulty for the Government of the
United States. We have had our seasons of peace and of war, with all the
evils which precede or follow a state of hostility with powerful nations.
We encountered these trials with our Constitution yet in its infancy,
and under the disadvantages which a new and untried government must always
feel when it is called upon to put forth its whole strength without the
lights of experience to guide it or the weight of precedents to justify
its measures. But we have passed triumphantly through all these difficulties.
Our Constitution is no longer a doubtful experiment, and at the end of
nearly half a century we find that it has preserved unimpaired the liberties
of the people, secured the rights of property, and that our country has
improved and is flourishing beyond any former example in the history of
nations.
In our domestic concerns there is
everything to encourage us, and if you are true to yourselves nothing
can impede your march to the highest point of national prosperity. The
States which had so long been retarded in their improvement by the Indian
tribes residing in the midst of them are at length relieved from the evil,
and this unhappy race--the original dwellers in our land--are now placed
in a situation where we may well hope that they will share in the blessings
of civilization and be saved from that degradation and destruction to
which they were rapidly' hastening while they remained in the States;
and while the safety and comfort of our own citizens have been greatly
promoted by their removal, the philanthropist will rejoice that the remnant
of that ill-fated race has been at length placed beyond the reach of injury
or oppression, and that the paternal care of the General Government will
hereafter watch over them and protect them.
If we turn to our relations with foreign
powers, we find our condition equally gratifying. Actuated by the sincere
desire to do justice to every nation and to preserve the blessings of
peace, our intercourse with them has been conducted on the part of this
Government in the spirit of frankness; and I take pleasure in saying that
it has generally been met in a corresponding temper. Difficulties of old
standing have been surmounted by friendly discussion and the mutual desire
to be just, and the claims of our citizens, which had been long withheld,
have at length been acknowledged and adjusted and satisfactory arrangements
made for their final payment; and with a limited, and I trust a temporary,
exception, our relations with every foreign power are now of the most
friendly character, our commerce continually expanding, and our flag respected
in every quarter of the world.
These cheering and grateful prospects
and these multiplied favors we owe, under Providence, to the adoption
of the Federal Constitution. It is no longer a question whether this great
country can remain happily united and flourish under our present form
of government. Experience, the unerring test of all human undertakings,
has shown the wisdom and foresight of those who formed it, and has proved
that in the union of these States there is a sure foundation for the brightest
hopes of freedom and for the happiness of the people. At every hazard
and by every sacrifice this Union must be preserved.
The necessity of watching with jealous
anxiety for the preservation of the Union was earnestly pressed upon his
fellow-citizens by the Father of his Country in his Farewell Address.
He has there told us that "while experience shall not have demonstrated
its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism
of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands;" and
he has cautioned us in the strongest terms against the formation of parties
on geographical discriminations, as one of the means which might disturb
our Union and to which designing men would be likely to resort.
The lessons contained in this invaluable
legacy of Washington to his countrymen should be cherished in the heart
of every citizen to the latest generation; and perhaps at no period of
time could they be more usefully remembered than at the present moment;
for when we look upon the scenes that are passing around us and dwell
upon the pages of his parting address, his paternal counsels would seem
to be not merely the offspring of wisdom and foresight, but the voice
of prophecy, foretelling events and warning us of the evil to come. Forty
years have passed since this imperishable document was given to his countrymen.
The Federal Constitution was then regarded by him as an experiment--and
he so speaks of it in his Address--but an experiment upon the success
of which the best hopes of his country depended; and we all know that
he was prepared to lay down his life, if necessary, to secure to it a
full and a fair trial. The trial has been made. It has succeeded beyond
the proudest hopes of those who framed it. Every quarter of this widely
extended nation has felt its blessings and shared in the general prosperity
produced by its adoption. But amid this general prosperity and splendid
success the dangers of which he warned us are becoming every day more
evident, and the signs of evil are sufficiently apparent to awaken the
deepest anxiety in the bosom of the patriot. We behold systematic efforts
publicly made to sow the seeds of discord between different parts of the
United States and to place party divisions directly upon geographical
distinctions; to excite the South against the North and the North against
the South, and to force into the controversy the most delicate and exciting
topics--topics upon which it is impossible that a large portion of the
Union can ever speak without strong emotion. Appeals, too, are constantly
made to sectional interests in order to influence the election of the
Chief Magistrate, as if it were desired that he should favor a particular
quarter of the country instead of fulfilling the duties of his station
with impartial justice to all; and the possible dissolution of the Union
has at length become an ordinary and familiar subject of discussion. Has
the warning voice of Washington been forgotten, or have designs already
been formed to sever the Union? Let it not be supposed that I impute to
all of those who have taken an active part in these unwise and unprofitable
discussions a want of patriotism or of public virtue. The honorable feeling
of State pride and local attachments finds a place in the bosoms of the
most enlightened and pure. But while such men are conscious of their own
integrity and honesty of purpose, they ought never to forget that the
citizens of other States are their political brethren, and that however
mistaken they may be in their views, the great body of them are equally
honest and upright with themselves. Mutual suspicions and reproaches may
in time create mutual hostility, and artful and designing men will always
be found who are ready to foment these fatal divisions and to inflame
the natural jealousies of different sections of the country. The history
of the world is full of such examples, and especially the history of republics.
What have you to gain by division
and dissension? Delude not yourselves with the belief that a breach once
made may be afterwards repaired. If the Union is once severed, the line
of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are
now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried
in fields of battle and determined by the sword. Neither should you deceive
yourselves with the hope that the first line of separation would be the
permanent one, and that nothing but harmony and concord would be found
in the new associations formed upon the dissolution of this Union. Local
interests would still be found there, and unchastened ambition. And if
the recollection of common dangers, in which the people of these United
States stood side by side against the common foe, the memory of victories
won by their united valor, the prosperity and happiness they have enjoyed
under the present Constitution, the proud name they bear as citizens of
this great Republic--if all these recollections and proofs of common interest
are not strong enough to bind us together as one people, what tie will
hold united the new divisions of empire when these bonds have been broken
and this Union dissevered ? The first line of separation would not last
for a single generation; new fragments would be torn off, new leaders
would spring up, and this great and glorious Republic would soon be broken
into a multitude of petty States, without commerce, without credit, jealous
of one another, armed for mutual aggression, loaded with taxes to pay
armies and leaders, seeking aid against each other from foreign powers,
insulted and trampled upon by the nations of Europe, until, harassed with
conflicts and humbled and debased in spirit, they would be ready to submit
to the absolute dominion of any military adventurer and to surrender their
liberty for the sake of repose. It is impossible to look on the consequences
that would inevitably follow the destruction of this Government and not
feel indignant when we hear cold calculations about the value of the Union
and have so constantly before us a line of conduct so well calculated
to weaken its ties.
There is too much at stake to allow
pride or passion to influence your decision. Never for a moment believe
that the great body of the citizens of any State or States can deliberately
intend to do wrong. They may, under the influence of temporary excitement
or misguided opinions, commit mistakes; they may be misled for a time
by the suggestions of self-interest; but in a community so enlightened
and patriotic as the people of the United States argument will soon make
them sensible of their errors, and when convinced they will be ready to
repair them. If they have no higher or better motives to govern them,
they will at least perceive that their own interest requires them to be
just to others, as they hope to receive justice at their hands.
But in order to maintain the Union
unimpaired it is absolutely necessary that the laws passed by the constituted
authorities should be faithfully executed in every part of the country,
and that every good citizen should at all times stand ready to put down,
with the combined force of the nation, every attempt at unlawful resistance,
under whatever pretext it may be made or whatever shape it may assume.
Unconstitutional or oppressive laws may no doubt be passed by Congress,
either from erroneous views or the want of due consideration; if they
are within the reach of judicial authority, the remedy is easy and peaceful;
and if, from the character of the law, it is an abuse of power not within
the control of the judiciary, then free discussion and calm appeals to
reason and to the justice of the people will not fail to redress the wrong.
But until the law shall be declared void by the courts or repealed by
Congress no individual or combination of individuals can be justified
in forcibly resisting its execution. It is impossible that any government
can continue to exist upon any other principles. It would cease to be
a government and be unworthy of the name if it had not the power to enforce
the execution of its own laws within its own sphere of action.
It is true that cases may be imagined
disclosing such a settled purpose of usurpation and oppression on the
part of the Government as would justify an appeal to arms. These, however,
are extreme cases, which we have no reason to apprehend in a government
where the power is in the hands of a patriotic people. And no citizen
who loves his country would in any case whatever resort to forcible resistance
unless he clearly saw that the time had come when a freeman should prefer
death to submission; for if such a struggle is once begun, and the citizens
of one section of the country arrayed in arms against those of another
in doubtful conflict, let the battle result as it may, there will be an
end of the Union and with it an end to the hopes of freedom. The victory
of the injured would not secure to them the blessings of liberty; it would
avenge their wrongs, but they would themselves share in the common ruin.
But the Constitution can not be maintained
nor the Union preserved, in opposition to public feeling, by the mere
exertion of the coercive powers confided to the General Government. The
foundations must be laid in the affections of the people, in the security
it gives to life, liberty, character, and property in every quarter of
the country, and in the fraternal attachment which the citizens of the
several States bear to one another as members of one political family,
mutually contributing to promote the happiness of each other. Hence the
citizens of every State should studiously avoid everything calculated
to wound the sensibility or offend the just pride of the people of other
States, and they should frown upon any proceedings within their own borders
likely to disturb the tranquillity of their political brethren in other
portions of the Union. In a country so extensive as the United States,
and with pursuits so varied, the internal regulations of the several States
must frequently differ from one another in important particulars, and
this difference is unavoidably increased by the varying principles upon
which the American colonies were originally planted--principles which
had taken deep root in their social relations before the Revolution, and
therefore of necessity influencing their policy since they became free
and independent States. But each State has the unquestionable right to
regulate its own internal concerns according to its own pleasure, and
while it does not interfere with the rights of the people of other States
or the rights of the Union, every State must be the sole judge of the
measures proper to secure the safety of its citizens and promote their
happiness; and all efforts on the part of people of other States to cast
odium upon their institutions, and all measures calculated to disturb
their rights of property or to put in jeopardy their peace and internal
tranquillity, are in direct opposition to the spirit in which the Union
was formed, and must endanger its safety. Motives of philanthropy may
be assigned for this unwarrantable interference, and weak men may persuade
themselves for a moment that they are laboring in the cause of humanity
and asserting the rights of the human race; but everyone, upon sober reflection,
will see that nothing but mischief can come from these improper assaults
upon the feelings and rights of others. Rest assured that the men found
busy in this work of discord are not worthy of your confidence, and deserve
your strongest reprobation.
In the legislation of Congress also,
and in every measure of the General Government, justice to every portion
of the United States should be faithfully observed. No free government
can stand without virtue in the people and a lofty spirit of patriotism,
and if the sordid feelings of mere selfishness shall usurp the place which
ought to be filled by public spirit, the legislation of Congress will
soon be converted into a scramble for personal and sectional advantages.
Under our free institutions the citizens of every quarter of our country
are capable of attaining a high degree of prosperity and happiness without
seeking to profit themselves at the expense of others; and every such
attempt must in the end fail to succeed, for the people in every part
of the United States are too enlightened not to understand their own rights
and interests and to detect and defeat every effort to gain undue advantages
over them; and when such designs are discovered it naturally provokes
resentments which can not always be easily allayed. Justice--full and
ample justice to every portion of the United States should be the ruling
principle of every freeman, and should guide the deliberations of every
public body, whether it be State or national.
It is well known that there have always
been those amongst us who wish to enlarge the powers of the General Government,
and experience would seem to indicate that there is a tendency on the
part of this Government to overstep the boundaries marked out for it by
the Constitution. Its legitimate authority is abundantly sufficient for
all the purposes for which it was created, and its powers being expressly
enumerated, there can be no justification for claiming anything beyond
them. Every attempt to exercise power beyond these limits should be promptly
and firmly opposed, for one evil example will lead to other measures still
more mischievous; and if the principle of constructive powers or supposed
advantages or temporary circumstances shall ever be permitted to justify
the assumption of a power not given by the Constitution, the General Government
will before long absorb all the powers of legislation, and you will have
in effect but one consolidated government. From the extent of our country,
its diversified interests, different pursuits, and different habits, it
is too obvious for argument that a single consolidated government would
be wholly inadequate to watch over and protect its interests; and every
friend of our free institutions should be always prepared to maintain
unimpaired and in full vigor the rights and sovereignty of the States
and to confine the action of the General Government strictly to the sphere
of its appropriate duties.
There is, perhaps, no one of the powers
conferred on the Federal Government so liable to abuse as the taxing power.
The most productive and convenient sources of revenue were necessarily
given to it, that it might be able to perform the important duties imposed
upon it; and the taxes which it lays upon commerce being concealed from
the real payer in the price of the article, they do not so readily attract
the attention of the people as smaller sums demanded from them directly
by the taxgatherer. But the tax imposed on goods enhances by so much the
price of the commodity to the consumer, and as many of these duties are
imposed on articles of necessity which are daily used by the great body
of the people, the money raised by these imposts is drawn from their pockets.
Congress has no right under the Constitution to take money from the people
unless it is required to execute some one of the specific powers intrusted
to the Government; and if they raise more than is necessary for such purposes,
it is an abuse of the power of taxation, and unjust and oppressive. It
may indeed happen that the revenue will sometimes exceed the amount anticipated
when the taxes were laid. When, however, this is ascertained, it is easy
to reduce them, and in such a case it is unquestionably the duty of the
Government to reduce them, for no circumstances can justify it in assuming
a power not given to it by the Constitution nor in taking away the money
of the people when it is not needed for the legitimate wants of the Government.
Plain as these principles appear to
be, you will yet find there is a constant effort to induce the General
Government to go beyond the limits of its taxing power and to impose unnecessary
burdens upon the people. Many powerful interests are continually at work
to procure heavy duties on commerce and to swell the revenue beyond the
real necessities of the public service, and the country has already felt
the injurious effects of their combined influence. They succeeded in obtaining
a tariff of duties bearing most oppressively on the agricultural and laboring
classes of society and producing a revenue that could not be usefully
employed within the range of the powers conferred upon Congress, and in
order to fasten upon the people this unjust and unequal system of taxation
extravagant schemes of internal improvement were got up in various quarters
to squander the money and to purchase support. Thus one unconstitutional
measure was intended to be upheld by another, and the abuse of the power
of taxation was to be maintained by usurping the power of expending the
money in internal improvements. You can not have forgotten the severe
and doubtful struggle through which we passed when the executive department
of the Government by its veto endeavored to arrest this prodigal scheme
of injustice and to bring back the legislation of Congress to the boundaries
prescribed by the Constitution. The good sense and practical judgment
of the people when the subject was brought before them sustained the course
of the Executive, and this plan of unconstitutional expenditures for the
purposes of corrupt influence is, I trust, finally overthrown.
The result of this decision has been
felt in the rapid extinguishment of the public debt and the large accumulation
of a surplus in the Treasury, notwithstanding the tariff was reduced and
is now very far below the amount originally contemplated by its advocates.
But, rely upon it, the design to collect an extravagant revenue and to
burden you with taxes beyond the economical wants of the Government is
not yet abandoned. The various interests which have combined together
to impose a heavy tariff and to produce an overflowing Treasury are too
strong and have too much at stake to surrender the contest. The corporations
and wealthy individuals who are engaged in large manufacturing establishments
desire a high tariff to increase their gains. Designing politicians will
support it to conciliate their favor and to obtain the means of profuse
expenditure for the purpose of purchasing influence in other quarters;
and since the people have decided that the Federal Government can not
be permitted to employ its income in internal improvements, efforts will
be made to seduce and mislead the citizens of the several States by holding
out to them the deceitful prospect of benefits to be derived from a surplus
revenue collected by the General Government and annually divided among
the States; and if, encouraged by these fallacious hopes, the States should
disregard the principles of economy which ought to characterize every
republican government, and should indulge in lavish expenditures exceeding
their resources, they will before long find themselves oppressed with
debts which they are unable to pay, and the temptation will become irresistible
to support a high tariff in order to obtain a surplus for distribution.
Do not allow yourselves, my fellow-citizens, to be misled on this subject.
The Federal Government can not collect a surplus for such purposes without
violating the principles of the Constitution and assuming powers which
have not been granted. It is, moreover, a system of injustice, and if
persisted in will inevitably lead to corruption, and must end in ruin.
The surplus revenue will be drawn from the pockets of the people--from
the farmer, the mechanic, and the laboring classes of society; but who
will receive it when distributed among the States, where it is to be disposed
of by leading State politicians, who have friends to favor and political
partisans to gratify ? It will certainly not be returned to those who
paid it and who have most need of it and are honestly entitled to it.
There is but one safe rule, and that is to confine the General Government
rigidly within the sphere of its appropriate duties. It has no power to
raise a revenue or impose taxes except for the purposes enumerated in
the Constitution, and if its income is found to exceed these wants it
should be forthwith reduced and the burden of the people so far lightened.
In reviewing the conflicts which have
taken place between different interests in the United States and the policy
pursued since the adoption of our present form of Government, we find
nothing that has produced such deep-seated evil as the course of legislation
in relation to the currency. The Constitution of the United States unquestionably
intended to secure to the people a circulating medium of gold and silver.
But the establishment of a national bank by Congress, with the privilege
of issuing paper money receivable in the payment of the public dues, and
the unfortunate course of legislation in the several States upon the same
subject, drove from general circulation the constitutional currency and
substituted one of paper in its place.
It was not easy for men engaged in
the ordinary pursuits of business, whose attention had not been particularly
drawn to the subject, to foresee all the consequences of a currency exclusively
of paper, and we ought not on that account to be surprised at the facility
with which laws were obtained to carry into effect the paper system. Honest
and even enlightened men are sometimes misled by the specious and plausible
statements of the designing. But experience has now proved the mischiefs
and dangers of a paper currency, and it rests with you to determine whether
the proper remedy shall be applied.
The paper system being founded on
public confidence and having of itself no intrinsic value, it is liable
to great and sudden fluctuations, thereby rendering property insecure
and the wages of labor unsteady and uncertain. The corporations which
create the paper money can not be relied upon to keep the circulating
medium uniform in amount. In times of prosperity, when confidence is high,
they are tempted by the prospect of gain or by the influence of those
who hope to profit by it to extend their issues of paper beyond the bounds
of discretion and the reasonable demands of business; and when these issues
have been pushed on from day to day, until public confidence is at length
shaken, then a reaction takes place, and they immediately withdraw the
credits they have given, suddenly curtail their issues, and produce an
unexpected and ruinous contraction of the circulating medium, which is
felt by the whole community. The banks by this means save themselves,
and the mischievous consequences of their imprudence or cupidity are visited
upon the public. Nor does the evil stop here. These ebbs and flows in
the currency and these indiscreet extensions of credit naturally engender
a spirit of speculation injurious to the habits and character of the people.
We have already seen its effects in the wild spirit of speculation in
the public lands and various kinds of stock which within the last year
or two seized upon such a multitude of our citizens and threatened to
pervade all classes of society and to withdraw their attention from the
sober pursuits of honest industry. It is not by encouraging this spirit
that we shall best preserve public virtue and promote the true interests
of our country; but if your currency continues as exclusively paper as
it now is, it will foster this eager desire to amass wealth without labor;
it will multiply the number of dependents on bank accommodations and bank
favors; the temptation to obtain money at any sacrifice will become stronger
and stronger, and inevitably lead to corruption, which will find its way
into your public councils and destroy at no distant day the purity of
your Government. Some of the evils which arise from this system of paper
press with peculiar hardship upon the class of society least able to bear
it. A portion of this currency frequently becomes depreciated or worthless,
and all of it is easily counterfeited in such a manner as to require peculiar
skill and much experience to distinguish the counterfeit from the genuine
note. These frauds are most generally perpetrated in the smaller notes,
which are used in the daily transactions of ordinary business, and the
losses occasioned by them are commonly thrown upon the laboring classes
of society, whose situation and pursuits put it out of their power to
guard themselves from these impositions, and whose daily wages are necessary
for their subsistence. It is the duty of every government so to regulate
its currency as to protect this numerous class, as far as practicable,
from the impositions of avarice and fraud. It is more especially the duty
of the United States, where the Government is emphatically the Government
of the people, and where this respectable portion of our citizens are
so proudly distinguished from the laboring classes of all other nations
by their independent spirit, their love of liberty, their intelligence,
and their high tone of moral character. Their industry in peace is the
source of our wealth and their bravery in war has covered us with glory;
and the Government of the United States will but ill discharge its duties
if it leaves them a prey to such dishonest impositions. Yet it is evident
that their interests can not be effectually protected unless silver and
gold are restored to circulation.
These views alone of the paper currency
are sufficient to call for immediate reform; but there is another consideration
which should still more strongly press it upon your attention.
Recent events have proved that the
paper-money system of this country may be used as an engine to undermine
your free institutions, and that those who desire to engross all power
in the hands of the few and to govern by corruption or force are aware
of its power and prepared to employ it. Your banks now furnish your only
circulating medium, and money is plenty or scarce according to the quantity
of notes issued by them. While they have capitals not greatly disproportioned
to each other, they are competitors in business, and no one of them can
exercise dominion over the rest; and although in the present state of
the currency these banks may and do operate injuriously upon the habits
of business, the pecuniary concerns, and the moral tone of society, yet,
from their number and dispersed situation, they can not combine for the
purposes of political influence, and whatever may be the dispositions
of some of them their power of mischief must necessarily be confined to
a narrow space and felt only in their immediate neighborhoods.
But when the charter for the Bank
of the United States was obtained from Congress it perfected the schemes
of the paper system and gave to its advocates the position they have struggled
to obtain from the commencement of the Federal Government to the present
hour. The immense capital and peculiar privileges bestowed upon it enabled
it to exercise despotic sway over the other banks in every part of the
country. From its superior strength it could seriously injure, if not
destroy, the business of any one of them which might incur its resentment;
and it openly claimed for itself the power of regulating the currency
throughout the United States. In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly
possessed) the power to make money plenty or scarce at its pleasure, at
any time and in any quarter of the Union, by controlling the issues of
other banks and permitting an expansion or compelling a general contraction
of the circulating medium, according to its own will. The other banking
institutions were sensible of its strength, and they soon generally became
its obedient instruments, ready at all times to execute its mandates;
and with the banks necessarily went also that numerous class of persons
in our commercial cities who depend altogether on bank credits for their
solvency and means of business, and who are therefore obliged, for their
own safety, to propitiate the favor of the money power by distinguished
zeal and devotion in its service. The result of the ill-advised legislation
which established this great monopoly was to concentrate the whole moneyed
power of the Union, with its boundless means of corruption and its numerous
dependents, under the direction and command of one acknowledged head,
thus organizing this particular interest as one body and securing to it
unity and concert of action throughout the United States, and enabling
it to bring forward upon any occasion its entire and undivided strength
to support or defeat any measure of the Government. In the hands of this
formidable power, thus perfectly organized, was also placed unlimited
dominion over the amount of the circulating medium, giving it the power
to regulate the value of property and the fruits of labor in every quarter
of the Union, and to bestow prosperity or bring ruin upon any city or
section of the country as might best comport with its own interest or
policy.
We are not left to conjecture how
the moneyed power, thus organized and with such a weapon in its hands,
would be likely to use it. The distress and alarm which pervaded and agitated
the whole country when the Bank of the United States waged war upon the
people in order to compel them to submit to its demands can not yet be
forgotten. The ruthless and unsparing temper with which whole cities and
communities were oppressed, individuals impoverished and ruined, and a
scene of cheerful prosperity suddenly changed into one of gloom and despondency
ought to be indelibly impressed on the memory of the people of the United
States. If such was its power in a time of peace, what would it not have
been in a season of war, with an enemy at your doors? No nation but the
freemen of the United States could have come out victorious from such
a contest; yet, if you had not conquered, the Government would have passed
from the hands of the many to the hands of the few, and this organized
money power from its secret conclave would have dictated the choice of
your highest officers and compelled you to make peace or war, as best
suited their own wishes. The forms of your Government might for a time
have remained, but its living spirit would have departed from it.
The distress and sufferings inflicted
on the people by the bank are some of the fruits of that system of policy
which is continually striving to enlarge the authority of the Federal
Government beyond the limits fixed by the Constitution. The powers enumerated
in that instrument do not confer on Congress the right to establish such
a corporation as the Bank of the United States, and the evil consequences
which followed may warn us of the danger of departing from the true rule
of construction and of permitting temporary circumstances or the hope
of better promoting the public welfare to influence in any degree our
decisions upon the extent of the authority of the General Government.
Let us abide by the Constitution as it is written, or amend it in the
constitutional mode if it is found to be defective.
The severe lessons of experience will,
I doubt not, be sufficient to prevent Congress from again chartering such
a monopoly, even if the Constitution did not present an insuperable objection
to it. But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance
by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price
if you wish to secure the blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be
watchful in your States as well as in the Federal Government. The power
which the moneyed interest can exercise, when concentrated under a single
head and with our present system of currency, was sufficiently demonstrated
in the struggle made by the Bank of the United States. Defeated in the
General Government, tho same class of intriguers and politicians will
now resort to the States and endeavor to obtain there the same organization
which they failed to perpetuate in the Union; and with specious and deceitful
plans of public advantages and State interests and State pride they will
endeavor to establish in the different States one moneyed institution
with overgrown capital and exclusive privileges sufficient to enable it
to control the operations of the other banks. Such an institution will
be pregnant with the same evils produced by the Bank of the United States,
although its sphere of action is more confined, and in the State in which
it is chartered the money power will be able to embody its whole strength
and to move together with undivided force to accomplish any object it
may wish to attain. You have already had abundant evidence of its power
to inflict injury upon the agricultural, mechanical, and laboring classes
of society, and over those whose engagements in trade or speculation render
them dependent on bank facilities the dominion of the State monopoly will
be absolute and their obedience unlimited. With such a bank and a paper
currency the money power would in a few years govern the State and control
its measures, and if a sufficient number of States can be induced to create
such establishments the time will soon come when it will again take the
field against the United States and succeed in perfecting and perpetuating
its organization by a charter from Congress.
It is one of the serious evils of
our present system of banking that it enables one class of society--and
that by no means a numerous one--by its control over the currency, to
act injuriously upon the interests of all the others and to exercise more
than its just proportion of influence in political affairs. The agricultural,
the mechanical, and the laboring classes have little or no share in the
direction of the great moneyed corporations, and from their habits and
the nature of their pursuits they are incapable of forming extensive combinations
to act together with united force. Such concert of action may sometimes
be produced in a single city or in a small district of country by means
of personal communications with each other, but they have no regular or
active correspondence with those who are engaged in similar pursuits in
distant places; they have but little patronage to give to the press, and
exercise but a small share of influence over it; they have no crowd of
dependents about them who hope to grow rich without labor by their countenance
and favor, and who are therefore always ready to execute their wishes.
The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer all know that their
success depends upon their own industry and economy, and that they must
not expect to become suddenly rich by the fruits of their toil. Yet these
classes of society form the great body of the people of the United States;
they are the bone and sinew of the country--men who love liberty and desire
nothing but equal rights and equal laws, and who, moreover, hold the great
mass of our national wealth, although it is distributed in moderate amounts
among the millions of freemen who possess it. But with overwhelming numbers
and wealth on their side they are in constant danger of losing their fair
influence in the Government, and with difficulty maintain their just rights
against the incessant efforts daily made to encroach upon them. The mischief
springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper
currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations
with exclusive privileges which they have succeeded in obtaining in the
different States, and which are employed altogether for their benefit;
and unless you become more watchful in your States and check this spirit
of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find
that the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered
away, and the control over your dearest interests has passed into the
hands of these corporations.
The paper-money system and its natural
associations--monopoly and exclusive privileges--have already struck their
roots too deep in the soil, and it will require all your efforts to check
its further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by the
abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls
of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and
will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants.
It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the means of guarding
and perpetuating your free institutions. In your hands is rightfully placed
the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority
is ultimately responsible. It is always in your power to see that the
wishes of the people are carried into faithful execution, and their will,
when once made known, must sooner or later be obeyed; and while the people
remain, as I trust they ever will, uncorrupted and incorruptible, and
continue watchful and jealous of their rights, the Government is safe,
and the cause of freedom will continue to triumph over all its enemies.
But it will require steady and persevering
exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs
of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses
which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support. So
many interests are united to resist all reform on this subject that you
must not hope the conflict will be a short one nor success easy. My humble
efforts have not been spared during my administration of the Government
to restore the constitutional currency of gold and silver, and something,
I trust, has been done toward the accomplishment of this most desirable
object; but enough yet remains to require all your energy and perseverance.
The power, however, is in your hands, and the remedy must and will be
applied if you determine upon it.
While I am
thus endeavoring to press upon your attention the principles which I deem
of vital importance in the domestic concerns of the country, I ought not
to pass over without notice the important considerations which should
govern your policy toward foreign powers. It is unquestionably our true
interest to cultivate the most friendly understanding with every nation
and to avoid by every honorable means the calamities of war, and we shall
best attain this object by frankness and sincerity in our foreign intercourse,
by the prompt and faithful execution of treaties, and by justice and impartiality
in our conduct to all. But no nation, however desirous of peace, can hope
to escape occasional collisions with other powers, and the soundest dictates
of policy require that we should place ourselves in a condition to assert
our rights if a resort to force should ever become necessary. Our local
situation, our long line of seacoast, indented by numerous bays, with
deep rivers opening into the interior, as well as our extended and still
increasing commerce, point to the Navy as our natural means of defense.
It will in the end be found to be the cheapest and most effectual, and
now is the time, in a season of peace and with an overflowing revenue,
that we can year after year add to its strength without increasing the
burdens of the people. It is your true policy, for your Navy will not
only protect your rich and flourishing commerce in distant seas, but will
enable you to reach and annoy the enemy and will give to defense its greatest
efficiency by meeting danger at a distance from home. It is impossible
by any line of fortifications to guard every point from attack against
a hostile force advancing from the ocean and selecting its object, but
they are indispensable to protect cities from bombardment, dockyards and
naval arsenals from destruction, to give shelter to merchant vessels in
time of war and to single ships or weaker squadrons when pressed by superior
force. Fortifications of this description can not be too soon completed
and armed and placed in a condition of the most perfect preparation. The
abundant means we now possess can not be applied in any manner more useful
to the country, and when this is done and our naval force sufficiently
strengthened and our militia armed we need not fear that any nation will
wantonly insult us or needlessly provoke hostilities. We shall more certainly
preserve peace when it is well understood that we are prepared for War.
In presenting to you, my fellow-citizens,
these parting counsels, I have brought before you the leading principles
upon which I endeavored to administer the Government in the high office
with which you twice honored me. Knowing that the path of freedom is continually
beset by enemies who often assume the disguise of friends, I have devoted
the last hours of my public life to warn you of the dangers. The progress
of the United States under our free and happy institutions has surpassed
the most sanguine hopes of the founders of the Republic. Our growth has
been rapid beyond all former example in numbers, in wealth, in knowledge,
and all the useful arts which contribute to the comforts and convenience
of man, and from the earliest ages of history to the present day there
never have been thirteen millions of people associated in one political
body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these
United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad;
your strength and power are well known throughout the civilized world,
as well as the high and gallant bearing of your sons. It is from within,
among yourselves--from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition
and inordinate thirst for power--that factions will be formed and liberty
endangered. It is against such designs, whatever disguise the actors may
assume, that you have especially to guard yourselves. You have the highest
of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered on this
favored land blessings without number, and has chosen you as the guardians
of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the human race. May He who
holds in His hands the destinies of nations make you worthy of the favors
He has bestowed and enable you, with pure hearts and pure hands and sleepless
vigilance, to guard and defend to the end of time the great charge He
has committed to your keeping.
My own race is nearly run; advanced
age and failing health warn me that before long I must pass beyond the
reach of human events and cease to feel the vicissitudes of human affairs.
I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of liberty and that
He has given me a heart to love my country with the affection of a son.
And filled with gratitude for your constant and unwavering kindness, I
bid you a last and affectionate farewell.
Andrew Jackson
This message is a financial
history of the U.S. since the time of President Jackson. Everything he
warned about has come to pass . . . it is a MIRACLE that the Union has
survived due to the diabolical actions of the enemy within!!
Back to Main Menu
|