[January 1,

one quarter part

the following times, to wit: one quarter part on 1837], . . . or as soon thereafter as may be; on the first day of April, one quarter part on the first day of July, and one quarter part on the first day of October, all in the same year.

No. 95. Specie Circular

July 11, 1836

ONE effect of the speculative fever which began early in 1835 was an enormous increase in the sales of the public lands. By law, payments for lands could be made only in gold and silver, or in notes of specie paying banks; but a large part of the payments was in fact made in State bank notes, which in the West had largely driven specie out of circulation. The United States thus found that the public domain was being disposed of for a currency of doubtful or more than doubtful value. The subject of the coinage had been before Congress since 1834, and Jackson had declared himself in favor of gold and silver as the "true constitutional currency." April 23, 1836, Benton moved that thereafter "nothing but gold and silver coin ought to be received in payment for public lands." The motion was tabled, and the session ended without action. July 11, by direction of the President, the socalled specie circular was issued. An inquiry into the effect of the circular was moved by Benton Jan. 12, 1837, and a bill " 'designating and limiting the funds receivable for the revenues of the United States" passed the Senate Feb. 10, by a vote of 41 to 5, and the House March 1, without a division, but was vetoed by the President. By a joint resolution approved May 21, 1838, it was declared unlawful for the Secretary of the Treasury “to make or to continue in force, any general order, which shall create any difference between the different branches of revenue, as to the money or medium of payment, in which debts or dues, accruing to the United States, may be paid."

REFERENCES.

Text in Senate Doc. 2, 24th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 96. The reasons for the circular were discussed by Jackson in his annual message of Dec. 5, 1836. Wright's report of May 16, 1838, is Senate Doc. 445, 25th Cong., 2d Sess. Webster's speech of April 23, 1836, on Benton's motion, is in his Works (ed. 1857), IV., 238-246; for his speech of Dec. 21 on the circular, ib., IV., 265-291. See also Benton's Thirty Years' View, I., chaps. 146, 156. Jackson's statement of reasons for not signing the bill of 1837, with an accompanying opinion of the Attorney-General, is in Niles's Register, LII., 26, 27.

Circular to Receivers of Public Money, and to the Deposite Banks

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, July 11, 1836

IN consequence of complaints which have been made of frauds, speculations, and monopolies, in the purchase of the public lands, and the aid which is said to be given to effect these objects by excessive bank credits, and dangerous if not partial facilities through bank drafts and bank deposites, and the general evil influence likely to result to the public interests, and especially the safety of the great amount of money in the Treasury, and the sound condition of the currency of the country, from the further exchange of the national domain in this manner, the President of the United States has given directions, and you are hereby instructed, after the 15th day of August next, to receive in payment of the public lands nothing except what is directed by the existing laws, viz: gold and silver, and in the proper cases, Virginia land scrip; provided that till the 15th of December next, the same indulgences heretofore extended as to the kind of money received, may be continued for any quantity of land not exceeding 320 acres to each purchaser who is an actual settler or bona fide resident in the State where the sales are made.

In order to ensure the faithful execution of these instructions, all receivers are strictly prohibited from accepting for land sold, any draft, certificate, or other evidence of money, or deposite, though for specie, unless signed by the Treasurer of the United States, in conformity to the act of April 24, 1820.

The principal objects of the President in adopting this measure being to repress alleged frauds, and to withhold any countenance or facilities in the power of the Government from the monopoly of the public lands in the hands of speculators and capitalists, to the injury of the actual settlers in the new States, and of emigrants in search of new homes, as well as to discourage the ruinous extension of bank issues, and bank credits, by which those results are generally supposed to be promoted, your utmost vigilance is required, and relied on, to carry this order into complete execution.

LEVI WOODBURY, Secretary of the Treasury.

No. 96. Treaty with Great Britain

August 9, 1842

THE determination of the northeastern boundary of the United States, first defined by the treaty of 1783, had been the subject of frequent diplomatic correspondence and international agreements. So much of the boundary as had to do with the St. Croix River and its source had been fixed by commissioners under the treaty of 1794, but the claims to the "highlands" were still unsettled. In 1831 the award of the king of the Netherlands, under the convention of 1827, had been rejected by both Great Britain and the United States. "In 1838-9 the territory between New Brunswick and Maine, claimed by both parties, became the scene of a small border war. Maine raised an armed posse, erected forts along the line which she claimed as the true one, and the legislature placed $800,000 at the governor's disposal for the defence of the State; an act of Congress, March 3, 1839, authorized the President to resist any attempt of Great Britain to enforce exclusive jurisdiction over the disputed territory, and armed conflict was only averted by the mediation of Gen. Scott, who arranged a truce and a joint occupation by both parties" (Johnston). In addition to the question of boundary, differences had also arisen between the two countries over the attempted participation of Americans in the Canadian rebellion of 1837, and in regard to the suppression of the slave trade. Early in 1842 Lord Ashburton was sent to the United States as special envoy, and Aug. 9 the treaty usually known by his name was concluded. October 13 ratifications were exchanged at London, and Nov. 10 the treaty was proclaimed. By act of March 3, 1843, provision was made for carrying the treaty into effect.

REFERENCES. Text in U. S. Stat. at Large, VIII., 572-577. The diplomatic correspondence, including that with Maine and New Hampshire, is in House Exec. Doc. 2, 27th Cong., 3d Sess.; also Cong. Globe, 4-21. The treaty was adversely criticised in Congress in 1846, in the discussions over the treaty of Washington; Webster's speech of April 6 and 7 gives a full account of the negotiations. The speech is in the Cong. Globe, 29th Cong., 1st Sess., and also Webster's Works (ed. 1857), V., 78-147. Calhoun's speech on the treaty is in his Works (ed. 1854), IV., 212-237. Contrasted English views may be seen in the Quarterly Rev., LXXI., 560-595, and Westm. Rev., XXXIX., 83-107. See also Wharton's Intern. Law Digest (ed. 1887), II., 175-183; Senate Doc., 500, 27th Cong., 2d Sess. The act of March 3, 1843, to carry the treaty into effect is in U. S. Stat. at Large, V., 623.

*

ARTICLE I.

It is hereby agreed and declared that the line of boundary shall be as follows: Beginning at the monument at the source of

the river St. Croix as designated and agreed to by the commis sioners under the fifth article of the treaty of 1794, between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain; thence, north, following the exploring line run and marked by the surveyors of the two Governments in the years 1817 and 1818, under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, to its intersection with the river St. John, and to the middle of the channel thereof; thence, up the middle of the main channel of the said river St. John, to the mouth of the river St. Francis; thence, up the middle of the channel of the said river St. Francis, and of the lakes through which it flows, to the outlet of the Lake Pohenagamook; thence, southwesterly, in a straight line, to a point on the northwest branch of the river St. John, which point shall be ten miles distant from the main branch of the St. John, in a straight line, and in the nearest direction—but if the said point shall be found to be less than seven miles from the nearest point of the summit or crest of the highlands that divide those rivers which empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the river St. John, then the said point shall be made to recede down the said northwest branch of the river St. John, to a point seven miles in a straight line from the said summit or crest; thence, in a straight line, in a course about south, eight degrees west, to the point where the parallel of latitude of 46° 25′ north intersects the southwest branch of the St. John's; thence, southerly, by the said branch, to the source thereof in the highlands at the Metjarmette portage; thence, down along the said highlands which divide the waters which empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the head of Hall's stream; thence, down the middle of said stream, till the line thus run intersects the old line of boundary surveyed and marked by Valentine and Collins, previously to the year 1774, as the 45th degree of north latitude, and which has been known and understood to be the line of actual division between the States of New York and Vermont on one side, and the British province of Canada on the other; and from said point of intersection, west, along the said dividing line, as heretofore known and understood, to the Iroquois or St. Lawrence river.

ARTICLE IL

It is moreover agreed, that, from the place where the joint commissioners terminated their labors under the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent, to wit: at a point in the Neebish channel, near Muddy Lake, the line shall run into and along the ship channel between St. Joseph and St. Tammany islands, to the division of the channel at or near the head of St. Joseph's island; thence, turning eastwardly and northwardly around the lower end of St. George's or Sugar isiand, and following the middle of the channel which divides St. George's from St. Joseph's island; thence up the east Neebish channel, nearest to St. George's island, through the middle of Lake George; thence, west of Jonas' island, into St. Mary's river, to a point in the middle of that river, about one mile above St. George's or Sugar island, so as to appropriate and assign the said island to the United States; thence, adopting the line traced on the maps by the commissioners, through the river St. Mary and Lake Superior, to a point north of Ile Royale, in said lake, one hundred yards to the north and east of Ile Chapeau, which last-mentioned island lies near the northeastern point of Ile Royale, where the line marked by the commissioners terminates; and from the last-mentioned point, southwesterly, through the middle of the sound between Ile Royale and the northwestern main land, to the mouth of Pigeon river, and up the said river, to and through the north and south Fowl Lakes, to the lakes of the height of land between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods; thence, along the water communication to Lake Saisaginaga, and through that lake; thence, to and through Cypress Lake, Lac du Bois Blanc, Lac la Croix, Little Vermilion Lake, and Lake Namecan, and through the several smaller lakes, straits, or streams, connecting the lakes here mentioned, to that point in Lac la Pluie, or Rainy Lake, at the Chaudière Falls, from which the commissioners traced the line to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods; thence, along the said line, to the said most northwestern point, being in latitude 49° 23′ 55′′ north, and in longitude 95° 14′ 38′′ west from the observatory at Greenwich; thence, according to existing treaties, due south to its intersection with the 49th parallel of