MARCH, 1845.] Adjournment of the House. [28TH CONG. the presiding officer by them, and to that individ- | evidence than is afforded by your resolution, which ual courtesy for which this elevated body has has been this night adopted-a testimonial, gentleever been distinguished. men, that I shall long cherish as one of the most pleasing recollections of my life. Having terminated the business, I cannot close the session without giving expression to my most earnest and cordial wishes for the continued health, prosperity, and happiness of every individual member, and that each may meet the embraces of his family in the enjoyment of the same blessings. I now perform the last official act of the session, by adjourning the Senate sine die. man. It has been said that the power of legislation is the highest trust that man can confide to his fellowIf this be so, how strikingly must every member of this body be impressed with the increased magnitude of the trust, in view of the mighty questions upon which you have been called upon to act and to decide. There has, perhaps, been no period in the history of this Government, The Senate then (at half-past two o'clock at when so many questions of deep and pervading innight) adjourned sine die. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MONDAY, March 3. Mr. WELLER, from the committee to wait on the President of the United States, said they had discharged their duty, and that they had been instructed, by the President of the United States, to say that he had no further communication to make to Congress, and to express to the members of both Houses his ardent desire that they might reach their respective homes in safety. terest have agitated the public mind, and engaged the deliberations of the American Congress. On one extreme of our Union an empire has been admitted into this great confederacy; in another direction your laws have, so far as regards the action of this House, been extended beyond the Rocky Mountains, reaching to the shores of the Pacific; while Florida and Iowa, twin sisters, have been admitted into the Union on a footing of perfect equality with their sister States. Thus have you enlarged the area of freedom, and secured to its inhabitants the blessings of civil liberty and of free government. That these great and agitating questions should have been discussed and decided in the spirit of entire calmness and moderation, was scarcely to have been expected; and if, in the collisions of It was now ten minutes past two. Mr. WINTHROP moved that the House ad- discussion which heated debate is but too apt to journ sine die. The question having been taken, produce, "an occasional spark of excitement shall have been struck out," may not the hope be indulged "that, like that struck from the flint, it will The SPEAKER rose and addressed the House have been extinguished in the moment that gave it as follows: Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The period has arrived which, for this Congress, terminates our labors as the representatives of the people; and we are very soon to part, it may be to meet no more. And before I perform the last official duty of my station, allow me to return to you, gentlemen, my sincere thanks for the very kind expression of approbation of my conduct which your resolution, just adopted, conveys; and to say, that if, in the performance of a high public trust, you, with whom it has been my fortune and my pleasure to act, have seen any thing in my course, as the presiding officer of this House, to commend, to assure you that your approbation of my conduct, the highest reward that a faithful public servant can ever receive, affords to me a satisfaction equalled only by that I enjoy arising from a consciousness of having at all times faithfully, to the best of my poor abilities, performed every public duty that has ever devolved upon me. These duties, always important, always arduous and difficult, are often delicate in the extreme; and I have sometimes doubted whether the dignity and honor of the station, exalted as it is, more than compensates for the deep anxiety and care which its duties impose. "Its trappings all may see, but its anxieties and its trials must be endured to be understood." In their discharge I may, and doubtless have, often erred; but the generous confidence and support, the kind indulgence, which you have, under all circumstances, extended to me, afford the surest guarantee that my errors, whatever they may have been, have been errors of the head and not of the heart; and of this I desire no higher birth;" and that in this the hour of our separation, it will be remembered only to warn us against its recurrence in after time? life, and may you all return in safety to the circle May health and happiness attend you through of your friends, and to the bosom of your families. It remains for me to announce that this House stands adjourned sine die.* * Annual Appropriations of the Government. By virtue of the excellent act of July 4th, 1836, which required the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House to publish a list of the appropriations at the end of each session, the list in detail was now published, and presented an aggregate of $24,225,088, the whole of which should be examined by those who would make themselves acquainted with the financial working of the Government; but for a general view the recapitulation table which fol lows the detailed list is sufficient. The following is that table: The Inauguration of James K. Polk. EXTRA SESSION. THE INAUGURATION OF JAMES K. POLK. IN SENATE. TUESDAY, March 4, 1845. At 11 o'clock, A. M., the Hon. WILLIE P. MANGUM, President pro tem. of the Senate, called the Senate to order. The Senators then present were, from Maine.-Hon. George Evans and Hon. John Fairfield. New Hampshire.-Hon. Chas. G. Atherton and Hon. Levi Woodbury. Vermont.-Hon. Samuel S. Phelps and Hon. Wm. Upham. Massachusetts.-Hon. Daniel Webster. Rhode Island.-Hon. Albert C. Greene and Hon. Simmons. Connecticut.-Hon. Jabez W. Huntington and Hon. John M. Niles. New York.-Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson and Hon. John A. Dix. Pennsylvania.-Hon. James Buchanan and Hon. David Sturgeon. New Jersey.-Hon. Wm. D. Dayton and Hon. Maryland.-Hon. Reverdy Johnson. Virginia.-Hon. Wm. S. Archer. North Carolina.-Hon. Wm. H. Haywood and Hon. Willie P. Mangum. South Carolina.-Hon. Daniel E. Huger and Hon. Geo. McDuffie. Georgia.-Hon. John M. Berrien and Hon. Walter T. Colquitt. Alabama.-Hon. Arthur P. Bagby and Hon. Dixon H. Lewis. Louisiana.-Hon. Alexander Barrow and Hon. Henry Johnson. Mississippi.-Hon. Jesse Speight and Hon. Robert J. Walker. Arkansas.-Hon. Chester Ashley and Ambrose H. Sevier. Kentucky.-Hon. John J. Crittenden Hon. Jas. T. Morehead. Hon. and and Hon. Thos. H. Benton. Indiana.-Hon. Edward A. Hannegan. Michigan.-Hon. Lewis Cass and Hon. William Woodbridge. Tennessee.-Hon. Spencer Jarnagin.-47. Two absent, viz., Hon. Isaac C. Bates, of Massachusetts, and Hon. James A. Pearce, of Maryland. Three vacancies, viz., Virginia, Indiana, and Tennessee. There were also present the judges of the Supreme Court, in their robes; the members of the ex-cabinet, and the diplomatic corps. At half-past 11 o'clock, the Hon. GEORGE M. DALLAS, Vice President elect of the United States, was introduced by the Committee of Arrangements, and, being duly sworn by the PRESIDENT pro tem., took the chair as President of the Senate, pursuant to the Constitution of the United States, and addressed the Senate as follows: SENATORS: In directing the Vice President to preside at the deliberations of this body, the constitution of our country assigns to him a sphere and a duty alike eminent and grateful. Without any of the cares of real power; with none of the responsibilities of legislation, except in rare conjunctures, he is associated with the dignified delegates of republican sovereignties: he is posted by the entire American people in your confederated counfundamental principle of order, and partly, perhaps, cil, partly, it would seem, as an organ of freedom's as a mere symbol of that more popular and "more perfect union," on which depend the blessings of our peace, independence, and liberty. His mission, tranquil and unimposing, is yet noble in its origin and objects, and happy as well as proud in its relations to you. No one, gentlemen, can appreciate more highly, or recognize more deferentially, than does the incumbent of this chair, the powers, privileges, and rules or forms of the Senate of the United States. To maintain these, unimpaired and unrelaxed, he feels to be an official duty, second, in impressive obligation, only to his constitutional allegiance. To their exercise the republic owes incalculable good; and through them has been gradually achieved a wide-spread fame for wisdom, justice, moderation, and efficiency, unsurpassed by any assemblage of statesmen in former or present times. A calm and well-adjusted system of action in this chamber, carefully devised and steadily pursued by those who have preceded us in it, has indeed largely contributed to the undoubted success of our great political experiment. Instability, haste, procrastination, Inaugural Address of James K. Polk. discourtesy, and indecision, habitually discountenanced and banished, leave, in undisturbed supremacy here, the powers of enlightened reason, and the vigor of practical patriotism. Our country reaps thence solid and substantial advantages in her policy, institutions, prospects, and renown. The citizen whom it has pleased a people to elevate by their suffrages from the pursuits of private and domestic life, may best evince his grateful sense of the honor thus conferred, by devoting his faculties, moral and intellectual, resolutely to their service. This I shall do; yet with a diffidence unavoidable to one conscious that almost every step in his appointed path is to him new and untried, and sensible how dangerous a contrast must occur in the transfer of powers from practised to unpractised hands. In observing, however, upon this floor, a number of those experienced and skilful statesmen on whom the nation justly looks with pride and reliance, I am assured that there can be but little danger of public disadvantage from inadvertencies or mistakes, which their counsel may readily avert or rectify. And thus, gentlemen, while aiming, frankly and impartially, to exercise the functions of an unaccustomed station in the spirit of the constitution, for the enlarged and lasting purposes of a revered country, and with sincere good will towards all, I may cherish the encouraging hope of being able, with the assent of an indulgent Providence, at once to perform my duty and to attract your confidence. At forty minutes past 11 o'clock, the Hon. JAMES K. POLK, President elect of the United States, accompanied by the ex-President of the United States, the Hon. JOHN TYLER, was introduced by the Committee of Arrangements, and, having bowed to the assembled Senate, took his seat in front of the desk of the Secretary of the Senate. At five minutes before 12 o'clock, the Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, named the order of procession from the Senate Chamber to the platform at the east front of the Capitol, and the procession formed and proceeded accordingly, as follows: The Marshal of the District of Columbia; The Supreme Court of the United States; The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate; The Committee of Arrangements; The President elect, ex-President, the Vice President, and Secretary of the Senate; The Members of the Senate; The Diplomatic Corps; The Mayors of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, and the other persons before admitted on the floor of the Senate. On reaching the front of the portico, the President elect and Chief Justice took the seats provided for them; The ex-President, the Committee of Arrangements, and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, occupied a position several feet in the rear of the President elect. The Vice President, Secretary, and Members of the Senate, occupied parallel lines next in rear. The Diplomatic Corps occupied the next position; and the space immediately in their The PRESIDENT elect then read the following. INAUGURAL ADDRESS. FELLOW-CITIZENS: Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and most responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with gratitude for the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this distinguished consideration at an earlier period of life than any of my predecessors, I cannot disguise the diffidence with which I am about to enter on the discharge of my official duties. If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of President of the United States, even in the infancy of the republic, distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of that exalted station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much younger and less endowed, now that our domain extends from ocean to ocean, that our people have so greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and policy which should characterize the administration of our Government? Well may the boldest fear, and the wisest tremble, when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and, in human family. some degree, the hopes and happiness of the whole In assuming responsibilities so vast, I fervently invoke the aid of that Almighty Ruler of the universe, in whose hands are the destinies of nations and of men, to guard this heaven-favored land against the mischiefs which, without His guidance, might arise from an unwise public policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence of this assembled multitude of my countrymen, to take upon myself the solemn obligation, "to the best of my ability, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the administrative policy of the Government, is not only in accordance with the examples set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting the occasion. The constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be di rected. It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly granted or clearly implied in its terms. The Government of the United States is one of delegated and limited powers; and it is by a strict adherence to the clearly granted powers, and by abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied powers, Inaugural Address of James K. Polk. that we have the only sure guarantee against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions between the federal and State authorities, which have occasionally so much disturbed the harmony of our system, and even threatened the perpetuity of our glorious Union. rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the constitution, as a shield against such oppression. That the blessings of liberty which our constitution secures may be enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the legislature. It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It arrests for the time invites reconsideration, and transfers questions at issue between the legislative and the Executive departments to the tribunal of the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When judiciously and properly exercised, the constitution itself may be saved from infraction, and the rights of all preserved and protected. "To the States respectively, or to the people," have been reserved "the powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibit-hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional legislation; ed by it to the States." Each State is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete sovereignty. While the General Government should abstain from the exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be equally careful that, in the maintenance of their rights, they do not overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the most distinguished of my predecessors attached deserved importance to "the support of the State Governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for domestic concerns, and the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies;" and to the "preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home, and safety abroad." To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive management of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields a few general enumerated powers. It does not force reform on the States. It leaves individuals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, entirely free to improve their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their mental and physical powers. It is a common protector of each and all the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation, consistent with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our country, which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of power. The inestimable value of our federal Union is felt and acknowledged by all. By this system of united and confederated States, our people are permitted, collectively and individually, to seek their own happiness in their own way; and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since the Union was formed, the number of the States has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as members of the confederacy within the last week. Our population has increased from three to twenty millions. New communities and States are seeking protection under its ægis, and multitudes from the Old World are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its benign sway, peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man's true interests, in developing his faculties and pow. ers, and the capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments. Genius is free to announce its inventions and discoveries; and the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives, not incompatible with the rights of a fellow-being. distinctions of birth or rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No union exists between church and State; and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds. All This most admirable and wisest system of wellregulated self-government among men, ever devised by human minds, has been tested by its successful operation for more than half a century; These are some of the blessings secured to our and, if preserved from the usurpations of the happy land by our federal Union. To perpetuate Federal Government on the one hand, and the ex- them, it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who ercise by the States of powers not reserved to them shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, and free hands, under the protection of this gloriendure for ages to come, and dispense the blessings ous Union? No treason to mankind since the of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. organization of society, would be equal in atrocity To effect objects so dear to every patriot, I shall to that of him who would lift his hand to destroy devote myself with anxious solicitude. It will be it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of my desire to guard against that most fruitful source human wisdom, which protects himself and his felof danger to the harmonious action of our system, low-man. He would stop the progress of free govwhich consists in substituting the mere discretion ernment, and involve his country either in anarchy and caprice of the Executive, or of majorities in or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of the legislative department of the Government, for liberty which warms and animates the hearts of powers which have been withheld from the federal happy millions, and invites all the nations of the Government by the constitution. By the theory earth to imitate our example. If he say that error of our Government, majorities rule; but this right and wrong are committed in the administration of is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right the Government, let him remember that nothing to be exercised in subordination to the constitution, human can be perfect; and that under no other and in conformity to it. One great object of the system of Government revealed by Heaven, or deconstitution was to restrain majorities from oppress-vised by man, has reason been allowed so free and ing minorities, or encroaching upon their just broad a scope to combat error. Has the sword of Inaugural Address of James K. Polk. penditure of the public money, which may be compatible with the public interests. despots proved to be a safer or surer instrument of reform in Government, than enlightened reason? Does he expect to find among the ruins of this A national debt has become almost an institution Union a happier abode for our swarming millions of European monarchies. It is viewed in some of than they now have under it? Every lover of his them as an essential prop to existing Governments. country must shudder at the thought of the possi- Melancholy is the condition of that people whose bility of its dissolution, and will be ready to Government can be sustained only by a system adopt the patriotic sentiment, "Our federal Union which periodically transfers large amounts from the -it must be preserved." To preserve it, the com- labors of the many to the coffers of the few. Such promises which alone enabled our fathers to a system is incompatible with the ends for which form a common constitution for the government our republican Government was instituted. Under and protection of so many States and distinct com. a wise policy, the debts contracted in our revolumunities, of such diversified habits, interests, and tion, and during the war of 1812, have been happily domestic institutions, must he sacredly and relig- extinguished. By a judicious application of the iously observed. Any attempt to disturb or destroy revenues not required for other necessary purposes, these compromises, being terms of the compact of it is not doubted that the debt which has grown Union, can lead to none other than the most ruin-out of the circumstances of the last few years may ous and disastrous consequences. It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country, misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations, whose object is the destruction of domestic institutions existing in other sections-institutions which existed at the adoption of the constitution, and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that if it were possible for them to be successful in attaining their object, the dissolution of the Union, and the consequent destruction of our happy form of Government, must speedily follow. I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation, there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our people, a devotion to the Union of the States, which will shield and protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion, the compromises of the constitution must not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies and heart-burnings must be discountenanced; and all should remember that they are members of the same political family, having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to the Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor monopolies, or the peculiar interests of sections or classes, must operate to the prejudice of the interests of their fellow-citizens, and should be avoided. If the compromises of the constitution be preserved,-if sectional jealousies and heart-burnings be discountenanced,-if our laws be just, and the Government be practically administered strictly within the limits of power prescribed to it,-we may discard all apprehensions for the safety of the Union. be speedily paid off. I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the credit of the general Government of the Union, and that of many of the States. Happy would it be for the indebted States if they were freed from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously contracted. Although the Government of the Union is neither in a legal nor a moral sense bound for the debts of the States, and it would be a violation of our compact of Union to assume them, yet we cannot but feel a deep interest in seeing all the States meet their public liabilities, and pay off their just debts, at the earliest practicable period. That they will do so, as soon as it can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on their citizens, there is no reason to doubt. The sound, moral, and honorable feeling of the people of the indebted States, cannot be questioned; and we are happy to perceive a settled disposition on their part, as their ability returns, after a season of unexampled pecuniary embarrassment, to pay off all just demands, and to acquiesce in any reasonable measures to accomplish that object. One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the practical administration of the Government, consists in the adjustment of our revenue laws, and the levy of the taxes necessary for the support of Government. In the general proposition, that no more money shall be collected than the necessities of an economical administration shall require, all parties seem to acquiesce. Nor does there seem to be any material difference of opinion as to the absence of right in the Government to tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, or one occupation, for the mere profit of With these views of the nature, character, and ob- another. "Justice and sound policy forbid the jects of the Government, and the value of the Union, federal Government to foster one branch of indusI shall steadily oppose the creation of those insti- try to the detriment of another, or to cherish the tutions and systems which, in their nature, tend to interests of one portion to the injury of another pervert it from its legitimate purposes, and make it portion of our common country." I have herethe instrument of sections, classes, and individuals. tofore declared to my fellow-citizens that, in We need no national banks, or other extraneous in-judgment, it is the duty of the Government to exstitutions, planted around the Government to control tend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by or strengthen it in opposition to the will of its its revenue laws, and all other means within its authors. Experience has taught us how unneces- power, fair and just protection to all the great insary they are as auxiliaries of the public authorities, terests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture, how impotent for good, and how powerful for mis- manufactures, the mechanic arts, commerce, and chief. navigation." I have also declared my opinion to be "in favor of a tariff for revenue," and that, "in adjusting the details of such a tariff, I have sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as would produce the amount of revenue needed, and, at the same time, afford reasonable incidental pro Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal Government; and I shall regard it to be my duty to recommend to Congress, and, as far as the Executive is concerned, to enforce by all the means within my power, the strictest economy in the ex my |