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■iou has fully satisfied me of die impro- j decide whether the measure referred to
non uas u Ll,-.11 nnlv he tolerated as a temnorarvex-
* the sheet anchor oi our
abroad,” were
priety of any such measure. “ f h*-‘ sup
port of the (State governments m all their
rights, as the most competent ux!ministra
tion of our domestic concerns, and the
#urcst bulwarks against anU-repubhcan
tendencies;” and “the preservation of the
general government, in its whole consti
tutional vigor,
peace at home and safety
described by Mr. Jefferson as among the
essential principles ot our government,
which ought always to shape its adminis
tration. The experience ot more .than
thirty years has attested the wisdom and
justice of these sentiments—and it be-
hooves those who are (.•ntrusted with the
management of public affairs, to beware
how they disregard the admonition.
They who can yet allow themselves to
hope that these great principles can be
maintained under the operation of any ol
the proposed systems ot distribution,
have looked upon the signs of the times in
n different light from my sell. It is my
firm conviction, that any system by which
a distribution is made among die (states,
of moneys collected by the federal gov
ernment, would introduce vices into the
legislation of both governments, produc-
«wo<»f the most injurious effects, us well
upon the best interests of the country', as
upon the perpetuity of our political insti
tutions. I sincerely hope, therefore, that
the good sense and patriotism of the A-
merican people will prevent the adoption
of any such plan. The depositc bill (re
cently' passed,) will remove any pretence
of a speedy necessity for such a step, and
give time \f provide against the recur
rence of a redundance of revenue. It
would, indeed, be a great misfortune, if
that law were regarded by t lie country as
pledging the future course of its legisla
tion to the policy to which you refer. The
circumstances under which it was passed,
were of an extraordinary character, and
cannot well again occur. To give a le
gislative organization to the liscal agency
for the collection and disbuisementof the
public revenue, which had been establish
ed through the treasury department by'
executive authority', as a subsiitutc, for
that of tl 10 bank of the United Slates,
was an object of the very highest import
ance. It. was the successful winding up
of one of the most arduous conflicts be-
Ween the well understood will of the
peojffe on the one side, and the moneyed
power of the nation acting in concert with
a formidable portion of its political power
on the other, that has ever taken place,
certainly that lias ever resulted in the tri
umph of the popular will in any country'.
To accomplish this by the assent of all
parties, to make all responsible for the fu
ture working of the system, by consulting
liberally' their opinions and wishes in i's
formation, and to put an end to those
fierce and incessant assaults upon the
management of the liscal affairs of the
government, by means of which every in
terest was disturbed, was a result which
could not be too ardently desired. The
president had for several sessions called
the attention of congress to this subject
without effect: and the opposition party in
congress, by availing itself of partial di
versities of opinion among the friends of
the administration, acquired the power to
prescribe conditions to its linal settlement.
That to which their demands were ulti
mately reduced, was a distribution of the
deposites of a portion of the public mon
ies among the States. After ineffectual
efforts in both houses, on the part of the
great mass of the supporters of the govern
ment in each, to separate that part of the
bill which provided for the regulation of
the deposite banks from the sections which
made a different disposition of thesurplus
revenue, the friends of the administration,
differing among themselves in regard to
details and construction, but with the same
general object in view, yielded their sup
port, by large majorities, to the bill iu the
modified form in which it came from the
house of representatives. The amend
ment of the house, although it did not
strip the bill ot all its dangerous tenden
cies, made an essential change in its char
acter in respect to the question of consti
tutionality'. In its previous form, it took
the money by appropriation out of the
treasury, and thereby necessarily raised
the question whether the use which was
proposed to be made of it, was amongst
the “expenditures” authorised by the
federal constitution. Bv the bill, as a-
mended, no money is drawn from the
treasury, but the State treasuries, like the
State banks, are, to a limited extent, made
places of deposite; of the constitutional
power to do which, with the consent of
the States, there can be no question. The
president, assuming, as lie was bound by
a proper respect for the institutions of the
country to do, that good faith would be
kept in the dealings which it authorised
between the federal and State govern
ments, gave his assent to the measure. I
would have given to the bill a similar di
rection, if it had become my duty to de
cide on the question of its passage or re
jection. It now re plains for public opin
ion, to the efficacy of which we all have
so much reason to look with confidence
and hope, to determine the character of
the ultimate results to be expected from it.
That the subject is of the first importance,
all must admit; and I participate fully in
the apprehensions so extensively enter
tained and so freely expressed as to its ef
fects. But I do not despair: Often as
wc have seen our political horizon over-
cast with portentous clouds, and the safe
conduct oi public affairs beset by combi
nations which, to all appearance, could
not be overcome, we have never yet seen
the tun~ when those doubts and difficul
ties were not finally and satisfactorily
cleared away by the operation of this pow
erful corrector. Such, I doubt not, will
be the result now; and such, in the nature
of things, must it always be, as long as
the people are uncorrupted and our insti
tutions free. Prejudice, passion and sel
fishness, may rule the hour, and give a
direction to public questions, when the
controlling power rests in a single head,
or in a few individuals whose position ex
empts them from the injurious effects of
official errors; but-this can seldom happen,
when that power exists only, as is the
case with uS, in the great body of well in
formed and virtuous communities, who
are to bear the consequences, whether for
good or for evil, of public measures. It
n now for the majority of the people to
* shall onlv be tolerated as a temporary ex
pedient, forced upon the country by a con
junction of extraordinary circumstances,
and rendered less objectionable in conse
quence of its effect in removing beyond
the reach of party contention and factious
misrepresentations, disturbing questions in
relation to the public moneys, at a mo
ment when the public mind is, from other
causes, peculiarly liable to be unduly in
fluenced by sinister and unfounded im
putations; or, whether the distribution of
the public deposites shall be the parent
and forerunner of future distributions ol
the public revenue. That the decision of
this interesting question will be honestly
made, we all know, and I do not doubt
that it will also be wisely made. I hope
and believe, that the public voice will de
mand, that this species of legislation
shall terminate with the emergency that
produced it—that early and efficient steps
will be taken to prevent the recurrence of
a state of things calculated to furnish an
excuse for any measure of distribution,
by the adoption of the only natural, safe
and just remedy for an excess of revenue,
a reduction of the taxes, effectual in its
results,* equitable in its details, and wise
ly adapted to the circumstances of the
country—that we shall be content to con
tinue. the action of our complicated, but
admirable system of government, State
and federal, in the course that has con
ducted our country to its present palmy
state of prosperity and renown and
shall eschew in future those schemes of
improvement in their administration, with
which the country is from time to time in
undated, the results of which, to say the
best of them, arc extremely hazardous,
and which too often have quite as much in
view, the individual advantage of the
projector, as the good of the nation.
The next subject embraced in your in
quiries, is, the distribution of the proceed;
of the sides of the public lands, amongst
the States according to the federal popu
lation of each, for similar purposes.
My views in regard to several public
questions, and amongst them the proper
distribution of the public lands, were ask
ed by a portion of the citizens of my own
Slate shortly after my nomination for the
presidency. They were given in August
1835, and upon the latter subject express
ed in the following words: “In respect
to the public lands, I need only observe
that I regard the public domain as a trus
fund belonging to all the States, to he dis
posed of for their common benefit. Ample
authority is for that purpose conferred up
on Congress by an express provision of
the constitution. In making such disposi
tion, that body should, in my opinion, act
upon the principle, that the people of tli
United States have a greater interest in
an early settlement and substantial im
provement of the public lands, than in
the amount of revenue which may he de
rived from them. To accomplish this
object, the accumulation of large tracts in
few hands should be discountenanced,
and liberal facilities afforded to the acqui
sition of small portions by such of our
citizens, wherever residing, as arc in good
faith desirous of possessing them as homes
for themselves and families. The particu
lar measures by which these results arc
to be secured, is matter of detail to be
settled by Congress, in the exercise of a
sound discretion, aided by the lights of
experience and having reference to the
general interests of the country'. The
disposition of the public lands proposed
by' the bill to which President Jackson
refused Ins assent, was in my opinion,
highly objectionable. I therefore approv
ed of its rejection by' him at the time, and
all my subsequent reflection has confirmed
me in that opinion.” 1 have watched the
discussions which this subject has since
undergone, with all the attention which
its importance demands, and with an
earnest desire to arrive at conclusions in
regard to it which shall best answer the
requirements of justice, and promote the
interests of all the States, but have seen
no cause to doubt the correctness of these
views. I am of opinion that the avails of
the public lands will be more equitably
and faithfully applied “to the common
benefit of the United States,” by their
continued application to the general wants
of the Treasury, than by any other mode
that has yet been suggested; and that such
an appropriation is in every respect pre
ferable to the distribution thereof among
the States, in the manner your question
proposes. Entertaining these views, I
cannot give you any encouragement that
I will in the event of my election to the
Presidency favor that policy.
You next ask me, whether I will a pprove
bills making appropriations to improve
navigable rivers above ports of entrv.
I am not aware that there is any ques
tion in reference to the subject of Internal
Improvements by the Federal Govern
ment, upon which my opinions have not
been fully expressed, in a letter written
by me in October, 1832, when a candi
date for the Vice Presidency, to the
Shocco Springs Committee of North Caro
lina, and in a letter from the Attorney
General of the United States to Mr. Gar
land of Mecklenburg, in 1835, in which
he was authorised to speak my sentiments
in the matter. These documents have
been frequently and extensively publish- approve, (if it become
ed. Upon referring to them, you will CVSC and save from depi
find that from the first action of President
Jackson upon this particular portion of
liis official duties, which happened while
I was a member of his Cabinet, until the
time when those letters wc written, there
has been co-operation in action and a
general correspondence of opinion between
him and myself upon the whole subject.
In the views expressed by him, upon the
particular question to which your inquiry
extends, in his annual message to Con
gress in December, 1834, I fully concur.
They were as follows:
“ 1 here is another class of appropria
tions for what may lie called, without im
propriety, internal improvements, which
have always been regarded as standing
upon different grounds from those to
which I have referred. I allude to such
as have for their object, the improvement
of our harbors, and the removal of partial
and temporary obstructions in our naviga
ble rivers, for the facility and security of
our foreign commerce. The grounds up
on which I distinguished appropriations
of this character from others, have already
been stated to Congress. 1 will only now
add, that at the first session of Congress
under the new Constitution, it was pro
dded by law, that all expenses which
hould accrue from and after the 15th day
of August, 17S9, in the necessary sup-
x>rt and maintenance and repairs ol all
ight-houses, beacons, buoys, and public
piers, erected, placed or sunk before the
jassage of the act, within any bay, inlet,
tarbor, or port of the United States, for
rendering the navigation thereof easy and
safe, should be del rayed out of the Trea
sury of the United States, and further,
that it should be the duty of the Secreta
ry of the Treasury to provide by con
tracts, with the approbation ol the Presi
dent, for rebuilding when necessary, and
keeping in good repair, the light-houses,
beacons, buoys, and public piers in the
several States, and for furnishing them
with supplies. Appropriations for similar
objects have been continued from that
time to the present without interruption
or dispute. As a natural consequence ©f
the increase and extension of our foreign
commerce, ports ot entry and deliver)'
have been multiplied and established, not
only upon our sea board, but in the inte
rior of the country, upon our lakes and
navigable rivers. The convenience and
safety of this commerce have led to the
gradual extension of these expenditures;
to the erection of liglit-houscs, the placing,
planting, and sinking of buoys, beacons,
and piers, and to the removal of partial
and temporary obstructions in our naviga
ble rivers, and in the harbors upon our
great lakes as well as on the sea-board.—
Although I have expressed to Congress
my apprehension that these expenditures
have sometimes been extravagant and dis
proportionate to the advantages to be de
rived from them, I have not felt it to be
my duty to refuse my assent to bills con
taming them, and have contented myself
to follow in this respect in the footsteps of
all my predecessors. Sensible, however,
from experience and observation, of the
great abuses to which the unrestricted ex
ercise of this authority by Congress was
exposed, I have prescribed a limitation
for the government of my own conduct
bv which expenditures of this charade:
are confined to places below the ports of
entry or delivery established by law. I
am very sensible that this restriction is
not as satisfactory as could be desired, and
that much embarrassment may be caused
to the Executive Department in its execu
tion, by appropriations for remote, and
not well understood objects. But as
neither my own reflections, nor the lights
which I may properly derive from other
sources, have supplied me with a better,
1 shall continue to apply my best exertions
to a faithful application of the rule upon
which it is founded. I sincerely regret
that I could not give my assent to the bill
entitled ‘An act to improve to the naviga
tion of Wabash river,’ hut I could not
have done so without receding from the
ground which I have, upon the fullest
consideration, taken upon this subject,
and of which Congress has been here
tofore apprised, and without throwing the
subject again open to abuses which no
good citizen, entertaining my opinion,
could desire.”
President Jackson lias no where giv
en us Ills views as to the particular pro
visions of the Federal Constitution, by
which he conceives expenditures of this
character to be authorized. Upon refer
ring to the early proceedings of the Gov
ernment, we find that General Hamilton,
while Secretary of the Treasury, con
tended, that they were warranted by the
authority given to Congress to regulate
commerce. Mr. Jefferson, on the other
hand, whilst he deprecated their liability
to extravagance and abuse, assumed that
they could be justified under the power
to maintain a navy. President Jackson
has left the question of constitutionality
in the state in which it was left by his
predecessors. But having had actual
proof of the tendency of these appropria
tions to the abuses which Mr. Jefferson
apprehended, he has endeavored to ap
ply to the subject a practical remedy.—
With this view, he refused his assent to
all appropriations above the ports of en
try or delivery—not that he held the mere
fact of the establishment of such ports by
congress decisive of the question of con
stitutionality, but because the constitution,
under the general discretion it confers in
regard to the approval or disapproval of
hills, gives him the right to do so, without
reference to the constitutional question,
and because he thought its exercise
would be highly conducive to the public
good. No one, I believe, contends that
the president ought, so far as it depended
upon him, to have arrested all appropria
tions of this character, nor could it with
any show of propriety be insisted that he
should have given his consent to the ex
tension of them to objects of a charac
ter altogether different from those which
have been promoted by grants from the
federal treasury since the commencement
of the federal government. That the rule
he adopted for the regulation of his con
duct in the matter, is free from objection,
is not contended. I am, however, satis
fied that it has been productive of much
good, and will, until a more satisfactory
one is suggested, give it my support.
You next ask, whether I will sign and
necessary to sc-
ircciation, the rev-
any such bank in the District of Colum
bia, as unnecessary and inexpedient, and
as liable to a great proportion of the a-
buses which have, in his opinion, been
practised by the existing bank.”
This declaration, with other uniform
repeated and published avowals of my
sentiments, in regard to a United States,
bank, would, 1 had supposed, be suffi
cient to save me from further interroga
tion on that subject; but as you have
thought proper to push the inquiry further,
and to that end, to place the matter be
fore me in a form studiously adapted to
present the question in its most favorable
contingent aspect, you will I am sure, be
neither surprised nor dissatisfied, it I
deem it due to myself as well as to the
subject, to give it more particular and en
larged consideration than I have hereto
fore felt it necessary or proper to do.
I am induced to embrace for this pur
pose the opportunity you have presented
to me the more readily, from a deep con
viction of the incalculable importance to
the people ol the United (States, that this
long agitated and distracting subject
should he finally settled, and from a hope
that what I have to say upon it may, from
the situation in which the partiality of my
fellow-citizens has placed me, contribute
in some degree to so desirable a result.
I greatly fear, that whilst there is in any
quarter reason to hope that a charter for
a new bank can in any condition of the
country be obtained from the federal gov
ernment, there will be neither order nor
stability in the pecuniary operations of
the country. If it can be ascertained
that a discredited currency and pecunia
ry embarrassments, will bring a charter,
what security have we that such a state
of tilings will not he produced? Is it do
ing violence to truth and justice, to attri
bute to expectations of this character, the
crusade which we have witnessed for the
last two years against the deposite banks,
against the efforts of the administration
to restore a specie currency, and against
all the fiscal arrangements of the treasu
ry? Will anv candid and well informed
man pretend that such things would have
been, if it had been considered as settled
that the bank of the United States is not
to be revived? I think not. The settle
ment of the deposite question, by the hill
of the last session, will, doubtless, cause
a suspension of this destructive career;
hut is there not reason to apprehend that
it will recommence with the lirst appear
ance of any tiling like a reasonable chance
for the re-establisliment of a national
bank? Every thing, therefore, which
may serve to arrest or prevent the agita
tion of this subject, if only for a season, is
of great value. In the published opinions
to which I have already referred, my op
position to the establishment of a United
States’ bank, in any of the States, is plac
ed on the want of constitutional power in
congress to establish one. Those who
concur in denying this power, neverthe
less differ among themselves in regard to
the particular views by w hich their re
spective opinions are sustained. Some
admit that congress has a right to create
such an institution, whenever its estab
lishment becomes necessary to the collec
tion, disbursement and preservation of
the revenue; but insist that no such ncec;
sity existed when the charter of the old
bank expired, or has arisen since. With
this class, the considerations to which you
allude would be essential; and might have
a controlling effect—lor such persons
make the power to establish a bank de
pendent upon them. My objection, on
the contrary, is, that the constitution does
not give congress power to erect corporations
\within the Stales. This was the main point
of Mr. Jefferson’s celebrated opinion a-
gainst the establishment of the first na
tional hank. It is an objection which no
thing short of an amendment of the con
stitution can remove. We know it to he
an historical fact, that the convention re
fused to confer that j lower on congress,
and I am opposed to its assumption by it
upon any pretence whatever. If its pos
session shall at any time become neces
sary, the only just way to obtain it, is, to
ask it at the hands of the people, in the
form prescribed by the constitution.—
Holding this opinion, and sworn to sup
port that instrument as it is, I could not
find in the circumstances to which you
refer, cither warrant or excuse for the ex
ercise of the authority in question; and I
am not only willing but desirous that the
people of the United States should be ful
ly informed of the precise ground I occu
py upon this subject. I desire more es
pecially that they should know it now,
when an opportunity, the best our form
of government affords, will soon be pre
sented, to express their opinion of its pro
priety. If they are in favor of a nation-
id bank, as a permanent branch of their ins-
tutions, or if they desire a chief magis
trate who will consider it his duty to
watch the course of events, and give or
withhold his assent to such an institution
according to the degree of necessity for
it, that may in his opinion arise from the
considerations to which your question re
fers, they will sec that my co-operation in
the promotion of cither of these views
cannot he expected. If, on the other
hand, with this seasonable, explicit, and
published avowal before them, a majority
of the people of the United States shall
nevertheless bestow upon me their suf-
agitated by it, and needs repose. The
fruits of this agitation have been bitter and
abundant Men of business require to be
put in a situation that they may adapt
their affairs to a state of things which
promises permanency. That character is
alone necessary to give success to the
present system. No rational plan for the
regulation of the fiscal affairs of the coun
try, can fail to succeed, if the mass of our
industrious and enterprising population,
w ithout regard to local, sectional or politi
c-til distinctions, are only sincerely desiri-
ous lor its success. Once satisfy them
that things are in this respect to remain
stable, and it is not in the nature of things
possible that they can refuse their aid and
support to that which concerns them so
nearlv, and upon which their prosperity,
private as well as public, is so essentially
dependent. If our correspondence shall
have the effect to contribute in any degree
to bring about a state ol things in which
we all have so deep an interest, and which
should he desired by all, I will rejoice
that it has taken place.
But whilst I so confidently entertain
and so readily promulgate these senti
ments in regard to the want of power to
establish in any of the States a national
hunk, I am at the same time equally desir
ous that it should be fully understood that
I am decidedly opposed to the creation ol
any such institution in the District of Co
lumbia. I do not believe that any nation
al hank, there or elsew here, is necessary
to secure either of the advantages to which
your question has reference. The princi
pal grounds relied upon by the advocates
lor a hank, to establish its utility and ne
cessity, as I understand them, are,
1st. That such an institution is necessa
ry for the transmission and sale keeping
of the public moneys:
2d. To secure a safe, cheap and con
venient system of domestic exchange; and
3d. To tnakc and preserve a sound cur
rency.
The limits of this letter w ill not admit
of a full discussion of these points, but I
cannot refrain from relerring to a few of
the facts which belong to them. I say
facts; for, after the many speculations anti
anticipations in regard to the currency,
the public revenue and the public pros
perity, with which the country has been
surfeited for the last two years, to which
thousands have trusted and by which
thousands have been deceived, I inav snv,
I think, without offence, that it would he
the surest, because the only safe course,
to regulate our opinions in future, some
what more than heretofore, by ascertained
facts. How, then, do the facts stand up
on the first point, viz: the necessity of the
hank as a place of safe keeping for the
public moneys, and as an agent for their
transmission to answ er the wants of the
government?
The official reports of the secretary of
the treasury show first, that the average
amount ol money annually transferred by
the Bank of the United States, from 1820
to 1S23, was from ten to fifteen millions
of dollars, and the amount transferred by
the deposite banks, from June 1835, to
April 183(5, or about ten months, over se
venteen millions of dollars. In both cases
the operation lias been without loss, fail
ure or expense. And it farther appears,
from the same source, that at no previous
period has the safety of the public mon
eys been more carefully or securely pro
vided for. An examination of the official
documents will, I am well satisfied, fully
sustain these positions. What founda
tion then was there lor the assumptions,
upon this part of the subject, which were
put forth with so much solemnity, and in
sisted upon with so much earnestness, in
the early discussions upon the subject of
the hank? If so much lias been done in
this respect, w hilst the substituted agen
cy has had to contend with the most pow
erful opposition that was ever made upon
any branch of the public service, w'hat
may wc not expect from it now, when it
has received the legislative sanction—and
if there he not. gross dereliction of faith
and duty—when it must also receive the
support of all parties?
In regard to domestic exchanges, the
follow ing facts are also established by the
same authentic source, viz: that the a-
mount of domestic exchanges performed
at the last returns by the deposite banks,
exceeded thirty-five millions of dollars,
and at no return for many months, has it
been less than twenty-five millions; which,
at an average of 30,000,000 at each re
turn, w'ould be in a year ISO,000,000, if
each bill of exchange run on an average
ol sixty days. On the contrary, the a-
mount of domestic exchanges performed
by the United States hank, did not for
many years exceed twenty millions, at any
one return, and seldom equalled it—being
quite one-third less than what is now done
by the deposite hanks. It further ap
pears, that these exchanges have, in many
cases, been effected at lower rates by the
deposite hanks, than by the United States
hank. Indeed, it cannot he doubted, that
even if there was not a single bank, State
or national, in the country, it would never
theless he quite easy to place its domes
tic exchanges upon an advantageous and
safe footing, so long as there is a sufficien
cy of solid capital to be employed in the
business. From the nature of the tiling
itself, and from the experience of Europe,
1st. In supplying bills that were cur
rent throughout the Union, and
2d. The salutary effects of its super
vision over the State banks in preventing
over issues and compelling them to keep
on hand larger supplies ol specie for the
redemption of their notes.
The transactions in which it became
necessary or was usual to cany bank
notes from one State to another, were ve
ry limited in their amounts—large sums
being then, as they arc now, and ever will
he, transmitted through the medium of
bills of exchange. It w ill not even now,
I think, seriously he denied, that the in
crease of the gold coinage, and the facili
ties of getting that species of coin, to
gether with the large denomination ot
notes issued by the leading State hanks,
are abundantly sufficient lor those pur
poses, and that they can he quite as con
veniently employed in them.
As to the benefits alleged to have been
rendered by the hank ol the United
States, in cheeking excessive issues by the
State banks, and in compelling them to
maintain an adequate supply ot specie,
w hilst by no means disposed to under
value them, I yet think the same objects
can he accomplished, not only without the
agency of any such institution, hut to a
much greater and more useful extent with
out than with it—provided a proper poli
cy he pursued by the federal and State
governments—by the former, through the
mint and the treasury depar tment; by the
latter, by suppressing small bills, by dis-
couragingthe extension of the paper sys
tem, and by subjecting existing banks to
wholesome restraints and to a rigid super
vision.
That gold anil silver should constitute
a much greater proportion of the circula
ting medium of the country than they
now do, is a position which few are dis
posed to deny. How great the increase,
md how rapidly it ought to be effected—
are questions in regard to which a differ
ence of opinion may from time to time
arise amongst men having the same gen
eral object in view. No beneficial reform
In the affairs of the world was ever ac
complished, in w'hich similar diversities
of opinion were not found among its ad
vocates. But it is a consolation to know,
that embarrassments arising from that
source have been overcome, and may be
again. To protect the working classes
(w ho, generally speaking, have no control
over a paper currency, and derive noproi-
it from bank stock) against losses arising
from depreciation, by securing a metallic
currency sufficient at least for all minor
dealings—including the payment of labor,
the most important as well as the most
pressing use there is tor money, to furnish
a more substantial specie basis for that
part of the currency w hich consists ol
paper, and thereby save the whole com
munity front loss in consequence ot any
sudden withdrawal of confidence—should
be our first object, as it is our imperative
duty. Other countries are wiser than we
are in this respect. England prohibits
the circulation of all hank notes under
five pound, equal to about twenty-five
dollars; and France, all under five hun
dred francs, equal to about ninety dollars;
and there is scarcely a village, or even an
inn, in England in which you cannot,
d finances of the nation, and to frages fer the office Oi president, scentj- ' vvc oe assured mat the profits and
afford a sound, uniform currency to the
people of the United States,) a bill, (with
proper modifications andj restrictions,)
chartering a bank of the United States.
In the published letter of Mr. Butler to
Mr. Garland, which has already been
referred to, lie thus states my opinions
upon die subject of the bank: “Mr. Van
Buren’s opinions in regard to the bank of
the United States, were expressed in the
senate of the United States, in 1S2S; re
peated in his letter to the Shocco Springs
committee, w hilst a candidate for the
vice presidency, and have been so freely
uttered by him, that there cannot, I think,
be occasion to say much upon the subject.
But to close the door to cavil, I state, 1st.
That he holds that congress does not
C ossess the power to establish a national
ank in any of the States of the Union,
nor to establish, in such States, the branch
of any bank located in the District of Co
lumbia; and 2d. That he is, therefore, de
cidedly opposed to the establishment of
a national hank in any of the States; and
is also opposed to the establishment of
cism itself must cease to doubt, and ad
mit their will to be, that there shall not
be any bank of the United States, until
the people, in the exercise of their sove
reign authority, see fit to give to congress
the right to establish one.
It is because I cannot doubt that the
expression of the popular will, made un
der such circumstances, must have a
tendency to arrest further agitation of
this disturbing subject, for four years at
least, and most probably, from the great
moral influence which the often expressed
opinion of the majority of the people in
a republican government is entitled to,
for a much longer period, that I am thus
full and explicit upon the point to w'hich
you have called my attention. However
much we may differ upon the abstract
question involved in this controversy, no
reflecting man can doubt the heartfelt and
invigorating effects w'hich any tiling that
looks like a settlement of this question
must have upon all the business, as well
as political relations of the Country. The
public mind has Ken long and painfully.
necessities of trade would invite and ob
tain ample facilities for the business of
exchange from other sources, so long as
the commercial community with one ac
cord desire to see it successfully carried
on, and assist in good faith in effecting it.
Lastly, the currency.—The proportion
of our whole circulating medium that was
composed of the notes of the bank of the
United States, during the existence of
that institution, was much smaller than
w'as generally supposed. The circula
tion of the United States bank, as I am
informed, ranged for some years before it
expired, at about twenty millions, often
below that amount, w'hich was not over
one-fourth of the paper circulation of the
United States. Some think it has been
less than one-fifth. The great mass of
the business of the country, was there
fore even then carried on, so far as money
was employed in it, by means of the notes
of State banks and specie. The benefi
cial effects that were claimed to he ren
dered by that institution in respect to the
currency, consisted^-
without the slightest inconvenience,
change a five or ten pound note, and even
those of a higher denomination, into gold
and silver; and in France there are like
facilities.
Our situation has for a long time past
been widely different; a fact easily to be
accounted lor, when we reflect upon the
past course of the federal government.—
The constitution gave to congress express
power “to coin money and regulate the
value thereof, and of foreign coin,” and
it as expressly prohibits the exercise of a
similar power by the States. It was to
the federal government, therefore, and to
that only, that the framers of the constitu
tion looked for whatever of a domestic
metallic currency the interests of the peo
ple of the United States, and the security
of property within the same, should lie
found to require; and as they also refused
to congress the power to create corpora
tions, and expressly prohibited the States
from emitting bills of credit, and from
making any thing hut gold and silver coin
a tender in payment of debts, it is equal
ly obvious that they intended as a gener
al rule that the currency of the country
should be a metallic and not a paper cur
rency. Whether they also designed to
divest the States of their antecedent right
to incorporate banks, it would now lie
more curious than useful to inquire.—
That matter, so far as it relates to the
mere question of power, must be regard
ed as settled in favor of the continued au
thority of the States. Assuming that
this w'as contemplated by the framers of
the federal constitution, it is then most
evident that their hopes of a sound cur
rency must have been based upon their
expectation that the respective govern
ments w'ould faithfully discharge their pe
culiar duties, and as faithfully confine
themselves to their respective spheres:
that the federal government would exert
all its constitutional powers, not only by
creating and diffusing a metallic currency,
hut by protecting it against a paper circu
lation of the same nominal value whilst
the States supplied such emissions of pa
per as might be actually demanded by
j the necessities of commerce, and not at
variance either in denomination or a-
mount with the existence of an adequate
specie currency. Had such a policy
been pursued, there is the best reason for
believing that a just projiortion between
paper and specie might have been pre
served, aud a sound currency uniformly
maintained. But instead of pursuing this
course, the Federal Government at an
early period, authorised the issuing of
paper money, and with the intermission
of a very few years, continued to do so
until the expiration ot the charter of the
late United States’ Bank; and as if anxi
ous to contribute their share to this inroad
upon the policy of the Federal Constitu
tion, the State Governments have not: on
ly created swarms of hanking institutions,
but until recently, most of those institu
tions were authorised to issue notes of as
low a denomination as a single dollar.—
The consequences of this departure from
the wise policy of the framers of the Con
stitution, and from the appropriate func
tions of the Federal and State Govern
ments, have Ken extensively injurious.—-
We have seen them iu the almost total ex
elusion of gold and to a great extent ol sip
ver also, from the circulation of thccoun
try; iu the enormous issues* of p a ’
which have Ken made whenever bu$j!
ness Was Inviting and public confidence
strong; the contractions which have fo|
lowed an adverse state of things, and the
mischiefs which these fluctuations li av .
occasioned; in the frequent depreciation
and in numerous instances, the utt ’
worthlessness of hank paper, in the ten,/
tations held out tot the crime of fo r , r( A.
and the general prevalence of that crime-
in the injurious collisions which have oc
curred between the State banks and the
bank established by Federal authority
and above all, in the daring attempt oj
the latter, first to control the public wj||
through the medium of elections, and af.
ter this effort had Ken rebuked by
intelligence and virtue of the people, t„
extort a reversal of that decision by a reck
less warfare on the business of tlie conn.
try-
It is time, high time, that we should re
turn to the constitutional policy; and the
first step in the way of reform, is, that the
Federal Government confine itself to the
creation of coin, and that the States afford
it a fair chance for circulation. Can anv
one assign even a plausible reason why
the United States cannot maintain as sta
ble a currency as cither France or Great
Bitairi? None, I imagine, other than that
it has not Ken the policy of the Govern
ment that it should K so. In all material
respects, so far as I can judge, wc are in
an equally favorable, if not a superior con
dition. Whilst Ixith those countries must
rely on importations from abroad lor o„ld
for their mints, wc derive three-fourths of
a million annually from our mines, and are
besides nearer the great supplies of it in
South America. Nothing, therefore, but a
faithful prosecution by the General Go
vernment and the States, of the policy of
the present Administration in regard to a
specie circulation, is necessary to place us
on a footing of equality in this respect with
other nations. Such a result once accom
plished, it will require no laboured argu
ment to prove that more will have been
done for the perinament interests and im
provement of the currency, than was ever
accomplished by the Bank of the United
States, or than ever could, in the nature
of things, be accomplished by such an in
stitution. Wc may find iu what has alrea
dy been done, tlie greatest encourage
ment to a vigorous prosecution of this poli
cy.
In the years 1S2C, 1S27, and 1828, the
gold coinage amounted to onlv $154,655,
annually. Since that period it has been as
follows: In 1 $20, 8295,717: in 1830,
$643,105;in 1831, $798,435, in 1833, $978,
-350; in 1S34, $2,954,270; in 1S-3-3, $2,l8ti,
175; and for the first six months of 183G,
$1,006, 5/5; and in the remaining six
months of the present year, it is expected to
he much larger—there having been coined
in the month of June alone, over 1,000,000
ol dollars. The next year, our means
to coin will he greatly increased by the
completion of three new branch mints.—
And under what circumstances has this
exiraonlinniy and regular increase of the
gold coinage been accomplished? In the
midst of an incessant and unprecedented*
ly violent sruggle on the part of the Bank
ol the I nited States, lor a re-charter;
that institution and its advocates correctly
regarding the free circulation of even
piece ol gold coin as an argument against
the alleged necessity of a national bank
I do not now aikido to wliat has been rloiu
with any view to crimination; but tin; argument
requires us to deal with facts as we find*them.
It is well known, that in addition to the diffi
culties tnat arose from the immense means of
the Bank lo obstruct the circulation of the gdii
coin by collecting and hoarding it, tlie question
whether we should have a gold currency or not,
became involved in the fierce political conten
tion of the day, and all the efforts of a well
organized and powerful parly were applitd ©
enforce tlie negative of the question.
If, under adverse circumstances- like- these,
so much has been done, what may we not *c-
complish in the new state of things now opening
to the country. When all hopes of the estai*
lislimcnt of a National Bank twe given up, the
principal obstructions to the circulation of thr
gold coins will cease to operate—the leadiaf
motive for discrediting this species of currency
will have been done away—politicians will an
longer find an inducement to engage in suck
efforts; nor will the people allow a matter *
which their welfare is so vitally concemedmh
any longer mingled up with party strife. The
slightest reflection must convince them that they
have no interest in tin party conflicts of the
day, which can justify so suicidal a course.—
The passage of the Deposite Bill will also*
regarded by the people as a pledge from d
parties to give to the existing system, whichri-
cludes the idea of a National Bank, a fair trial.
The country moreover desires repose, and w
may reasonably hope that the whole communi
ty will be disposed to encourage rather than to
discourage a specie currency. This object will
also, as before observed, begreatly promoted by
the new stimulus winch it will receive trom tl*
recent legislation ol Congress. Three additions!
mints have been established, and the President
is authorised by the deposite bill to keep thr*
amply supplied with bullion, and tlie Secretary
of the Treasury is empowered to require an hi-
crease of specie in any deposite bank, and »
restricted from employing as an a^ent ford*
Government any State bank which issues bW*
under the denomination of five dollars. By
another general law, the notes of such banki
are prohibited trom being received for debt*
due to the United States of any description; a 1 "!
it has also been provided by law, that no note
shall hereafter be offered in payment by tl*
United States or Post Office Department of l
less denomination than ten dollars, and
the 3d day of March next of a less det^-WiOV
lion than twenty dollars, nor anv note, of ai'X
denomination, which is urn payable aad P n! '*
oil demand in gold audsilver at Uu/ placc when
issued, and which should not lie equivalent 10
specie at the place where offered, and converti
ble upon the spot into gold or silver, at- the
of the holder, and without loss or delay to hisfc
Nor have tl»e States lagged behind in their
efforts to improve the currescy by infusing into
it a greater poition of the precious metals-—
Already is the issuing of bills under the denomi
nation of five dollars prohibited by the States of
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia.
Tennessee, Louisiana, North Caroliua,Indiana.
Kentucky, Maine, New York, New Jerwy a»l
Alabama—and of one and two dollars by Con
necticut. That this policy will become geaeril
and gradually extended, cannot be doubled.—
To what precise extent it may be carried with
advantage to the country, will be decided by
time, experience aud judicious observation*—
Evasions, of it may-for a season lake place, and
some slight inconveniences arise fpom fb-
change, but they will Ixith be temporary. T* 58
Union Committee of the City of New York,
confessedly combining some of the best busintJi
talents of our great commercial emporium, w*