A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS

VOLUME II

Prefatory Note

The first volume of this compilation was given to Congress and the public about May 1, 1896. I believe I am warranted in saying here that it met with much favor by all who examined it. The press of the country was unsparing in its praise. Congress, by a resolution passed on the 22d day of May, ordered the printing of 15,000 additional copies, of the entire publication.

I have inserted in this volume a steel engraving of the Treasury building; the succeeding volumes will contain engravings of other important public buildings.

The resolution authorizing this work required the publication of the annual, special, and veto messages, inaugural addresses, and proclamations of the Presidents. I have found in addition to these documents others which emanated from the Chief Magistrats, called Executive orders; they are in the nature of proclamations, and have like force and effect. I have therefore included in this, and will include in the succeeding volumes, all such Executive orders as may appear to have national importance or to possess more than ordinary interest.

If this volume meets the same degree of favor as the first, I shall be greatly gratified.

JAMES D. RICHARDSON.

JULY 4, 1896.

James Monroe

March 4, 1817, to March 4, 1825

James Monroe

James Monroe was born April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Va. He was the son of Spence Monroe and Elizabeth Jones, both natives of Virginia. When in his eighteenth year he enlisted as a private soldier in the Army to fight for independence; was in several battles, and was wounded in the engagement at Trenton; was promoted to the rank of captain of infantry. During 1777 and 1778 he acted as aid to Lord Stirling, and distinguished himself. He studied law under the direction of Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia, who in 1780 appointed him to visit the army in South Carolina on an important mission. In 1782 he was elected to the Virginia assembly by the county of King George, and was by that body chosen a member of the executive council. The next year he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and remained a member until 1786; while a member he married a Miss Kortright, of New York City. Retiring from Congress, he began the practice of law at Fredericksburg, Va., but was at once elected to the legislature. In 1788 was a delegate to the State convention assembled to consider the Federal Constitution. Was a Senator from Virginia from 1790 to 1794. In May, 1794, was appointed by Washington minister to France. He was recalled in 1796 and was again elected to the legislature. In 1799 was elected governor of Virginia. In 1802 was appointed by President Jefferson envoy extraordinary to France, and in 1803 was sent to London as the successor of Rufus King. In 1805 performed a diplomatic mission to Spain in relation to the boundary of Louisiana, returning to London the following year; returned to the United States in 1808. In 1811 was again elected governor of his State, but in the same year resigned that office to become Secretary of State under President Madison. After the capture of Washington, in 1814, he was appointed to the War Department, which position he held until 1815, without relinquishing the office of Secretary of State. He remained at the head of the Department of State until the close of Mr. Madison's term. Was elected President in 1816, and reelected in 1820, retiring March 4, 1825, to his residence in Loudoun County, Va. In 1829 was elected a member of the convention called to revise the constitution of the State, and was unanimously chosen to preside over its deliberations. He was forced by ill health to retire from office, and removed to New York to reside with his son-in-law, Mr. Samuel L. Gouverneur. He died July 4, 1831, and was buried in New York City, but in 1858 his remains were removed to Richmond, Va.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT.

The President of the Senate communicated the following letter from the President elect of the United States:

CITY OF WASHINGTON, March 1, 1817.

Hon. JOHN GAILLARD.
President of the Senate of the United States.

SIR: I beg leave through you to inform the honorable Senate of the United States that I propose to take the oath which the Constitution prescribes to the President of the United States before he enters on the execution of his office on Tuesday, the 4th instant, at 12 o'clock, in the Chamber of the House of Representatives.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

JAMES MONROE.

FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

I should be destitute of feeling if I was not deeply affected by the strong proof which my fellow-citizens have given me of their confidence in calling me to the high office whose functions I am about to assume. As the expression of their good opinion of my conduct in the public service, I derive from it a gratification which those who are conscious of having done all that they could to merit it can alone feel. My sensibility is increased by a just estimate of the importance of the trust and of the nature and extent of its duties, with the proper discharge of which the highest interests of a great and free people are intimately connected. Conscious of my own deficiency, I can not enter on these duties without great anxiety for the result. From a just responsibility I will never shrink, calculating with confidence that in my best efforts to promote the public welfare my motives will always be duly appreciated and my conduct be viewed with that candor and indulgence which I have experienced in other stations.

In commencing the duties of the chief executive office it has been the practice of the distinguished men who have gone before me to explain the principles which would govern them in their respective Administrations. In following their venerated example my attention is naturally drawn to the great causes which have contributed in a principal degree to produce the present happy condition of the United States. They will best explain the nature of our duties and shed much light on the policy which ought to be pursued in future.

From the commencement of our Revolution to the present day almost forty years have elapsed, and from the establishment of this Constitution twenty-eight. Through this whole term the Government has been what may emphatically be called self-government. And what has been the effect? To whatever object we turn our attention, whether it relates to our foreign or domestic concerns, we find abundant cause to felicitate ourselves in the excellence of our institutions. During a period fraught with difficulties and marked by very extraordinary events the United States have nourished beyond example. Their citizens individually have been happy and the nation prosperous.

Under this Constitution our commerce has been wisely regulated with foreign nations and between the States; new States have been admitted into our Union; our territory has been enlarged by fair and honorable treaty, and with great advantage to the original States; the States, respectively protected by the National Government under a mild, parental system against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a wise partition of power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improved their police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and maturity which are the best