A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 3, part 2: Martin Van Buren

All the stores which could possibly be spared were now placed in a depot at the junction of the south branch, and the commissioner proceeded with the boats thus lightened toward...

The discontinuance of the use of State banks for fiscal purposes ought not to be regarded as a measure of hostility toward those institutions. Banks properly established and con...

Unfortunately, too, the evils of the system are not limited to the banks. It stimulates a general rashness of enterprise and aggravates the fluctuations of commerce and the curr...

Whilst the obligations of the Federal Government to do all in its power to effect a settlement of this boundary are fully recognized on its part, it has in the event of its bein...

I have heretofore assigned to Congress my reasons for believing that the establishment of an independent National Treasury, as contemplated by the Constitution, is necessary to...

The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and disaster supposed to lurk in our political condition was the institution of domestic slavery. Our forefat...

I herewith transmit to the Senate of the United States a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by a copy of the correspondence requested by their resolution of the 5th...

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the last session, I transmit a report made to me by the architect of the public buildings, with the accompanyi...

It may indeed be questioned whether it is not for the interest of the banks themselves that the Government should not receive their paper. They would be conducted with more caut...

The State of Maine had a right to arrest the depredations complained of. It belonged to her to judge of the exigency of the occasion calling for her interference, and it is pres...

Great anxiety has been manifested by the citizens of Indiana and made known by their representatives in both Houses of Congress that a cession of the Miami land should be procur...

The next restriction or limitation with which this negotiation is to be clogged is an admission that the Restigouche and St. John are not Atlantic rivers, because one flows into...

The case of the Seminoles constitutes at present the only exception to the successful efforts of the Government to remove the Indians to the homes assigned them west of the Miss...

Sir Charles acknowledged with much satisfaction the Secretary's assurance that if the President possessed the same power as His Majesty's Government over the question of boundar...

With the great American Empire of Brazil our relations continue unchanged, as does our friendly intercourse with the other Governments of South America--the Argentine Republic a...

Prior to the act of the 5th of July, 1838, last quoted, the assistant quartermasters were selected from the several regiments of the line to perform duty in the Quartermaster's...

After describing his defenses, he says: "By to-morrow noon a force of 100 men would make good our position against 500. _Retreating, therefore, is out of the question_. We shall...

In a country so commercial as ours banks in some form will probably always exist, but this serves only to render it the more incumbent on us, notwithstanding the discouragements...

The Secretary then proceeded to state further and insuperable objections to an acquiescence by the United States in the opinions supposed to have been pronounced by the arbiter...

The undersigned, His Britannic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, regrets that a letter received from His Majesty's lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick...

The circumstances attending this outrage as given in Mr. Greely's letter are not sufficient, in the view of the President, to warrant the interference of the Government at prese...

This apprehension arises partly from the circumstance that the largest proportion of the charges upon the Treasury, including the payment of pensions and the redemption of Treas...

The President of the United States, finding that different rules prevail at different places as well in respect to the hours of labor by persons employed on the public works und...

The passage from the award of the arbiter quoted by the undersigned in his note of the 28th April, 1835, to Sir Charles Vaughan, and the true meaning of which Mr. Fox supposes t...

It is, however, insisted by the advocates for the execution of the treaty that it was the intention of the Senate by their resolution of the 2d of March, 1839, to waive so much...

SIR: The territory of the United States having been violated by a party of armed men from the Canada shore, and apprehensions being entertained from the highly excited feelings...

By no country or persons have these invaluable principles of international law--principles the strict observance of which is so indispensable to the preservation of social order...

It was so impossible that such a state of things could long continue that the prospect of revulsion was present to the minds of considerate men before it actually came. None, ho...

The best clew to guide the two Governments in their future proceedings may perhaps be obtained by an examination of the causes of past failure; and the most prominent amongst th...

I feel fully warranted in saying that Maine does not intend by this expression of her determination to run the line in a certain contingency to waive in the least degree her wel...

SIR: The resolution of the Senate of the 12th instant, "that the President of the United States be requested to communicate to the Senate, if in his judgment compatible with the...

SIR: I have the honor to submit for your consideration, and, if it meets your approbation, for transmission to the Senate, a treaty concluded on the 18th December last with the...

The undersigned, therefore, can not discover in the facts and circumstances of the case any just principles upon which Sir Howard Douglas could predicate his protest. He has, ho...

Governor Call was subsequently appointed to conduct a summer campaign, and at the close of it was replaced by General Jesup. These events and changes took place under the Admini...

The circumstances under which these recent attempts to enforce jurisdiction have been made show that in the most favorable aspect in which they can be regarded they were wholly...

I transmit, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 11th instant, reports from the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and War, with the documents ref...

But in the present altered condition of the country--the national debt paid off at a season of universal peace and unexampled prosperity, with an overburthened Treasury, and whe...

It would seem, therefore, to be the part of wisdom and sound policy to remove as far as practicable the causes which produce intrusions upon the public lands, and then take effi...

Of pending questions the most important is that which exists with the Government of Great Britain in respect to our northeastern boundary. It is with unfeigned regret that the p...

The connection which formerly existed between the Government and banks was in reality injurious to both, as well as to the general interests of the community at large. It aggrav...

The available balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next is estimated at $1,500,000. This sum, with the expected receipts from all sources during the next year, will, it...

Of the recent events which have called the attention of the State of Maine to the question of the northeastern boundary, and which have been brought by it to the notice of the P...

I lay before you a communication from the Secretary of War, which is accompanied by one from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, suggesting the propriety of setting apart a trac...

It will be seen from these documents that a high officer of the government of the State of New York has been sent by his excellency the governor for the express purpose of regai...

The attention of the Federal Government has, of course, in the first instance been directed to efforts to settle the treaty line. A historical outline of the measures which have...

Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, Columbia County, N.Y., December 5, 1782. He was the eldest son of Abraham Van Buren, a small farmer, and of Mary Hoes (originally spelle...

On the 2d of November the weather became clear, and the necessary astronomical observations were immediately commenced at Parks Hill. From this elevated point the first station...