William Hendricks' Political Circulars to His

William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constituents : Second Senatorial Term, 1831- 1837”

Edited by Frederick D. Hill””

Before the end of his first term in 1831 Senator William Hendricks’ nonpartisan stance was beginning to alienate persons in each of the emerging political parties. Some of his opponents in Indiana and elsewhere attempted for more than a year to prevent his reelection in 1830. The Adams-Clay faction condemned him for supporting senatorial confirma- tion of President Andrew Jackson’s appointments. Jackson- ians criticized him for not being a thorough going Jacksonian in legislative matters.l Indiana political parties, however, were loose coalitions for winning elections and controlling patronage rather than organizations of persons holding unique political views. Jack- sonianism consisted of loyalty to a person more than ad- herence to a program. One might easily prefer Jackson to John Quincy Adams or Henry Clay in the White House, yet

*An introduction to the political career of William Hendricks and a discussion of political circulars and their use by Hendricks and others were included in the first article in this three part series. See Frederick D. Hill [ed.], “William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constitu- ents: Congressional Period, 1816-1822,” Indiana Magazine of History, LXX (December, 1974), 296-344. The second article in the series was Frederick D. Hill, ed., “William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constituents : First Senatorial Term, 1825-1831,” Indiana Magazine of History, LXXI (June, 1975), 124-80. **Frederick D. Hill is professor of history at Indiana Central University, Indianapolis. Philip Sweetser to John Tipton, May 13, 1829, John Tipton Papers (Indiana Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis) ; editorials, Louisville Public Advertiser, February 6, August 23, 1828 ; editorial, Indianapolis Indiana Journal, December 3, 1831; communications, “By their fruits shall ye know them” and “Beware of Woolves in Sheeps Clothing” signed “Jefferson,” Indianapolis Indiana Democrat and State Gazette, May 20, June 10, 1830. 320 Indiana Magazine of History

be fully confident of Hendricks’ integrity and ability to represent Indiana in Washington-despite his friendship with Clay. Though hostile expressions aimed at Hendricks can be found in private correspondence and in the press, he was still a popular man in Indiana at the end of his first term. On December 18, 1830, the Indiana General Assembly elected William Hendricks to a second term as United States senator. On the first three ballots he led Congressman Ratliff Boon, the main challenger and an avowed Jacksonian, and others by increasing pluralities; on the fourth he received forty-four votes, two more than needed for election.2 During his second term Hendricks continued as leader of the internal improvement forces in the Senate. He was always chairman of the Standing Committee on Roads and Canals whether committee chairmen were being appointed by the presiding officer or elected by the senators. He also served four sessions on the Committee on Militia and one session each on the Committee on Manufactures and the Committee on Private Land Claims.3 He was in his seat for the opening of every se~sion;~he answered approximately ninty-five percent of the roll calls; and he voted with a majority of his colleagues almost seventy-five percent of the time.5 Exercis- ing his independent judgment, however, he dared to oppose both a majority of the senators and the president whenever he believed that a different policy would serve his constituents and the nation better.

2 Dorothy Riker and Gayle Thornbrough, comps., Indiana Election Returns, 181 6-1 851 (Indiana Histo.rica1 Collections, Vol. XL ; Indian- apolis, 1960), 128. 3 Senate Journal, 22 Cong., 1 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 211), 18 (De- cember 7, 1831); ibid., 22 Cong., 2 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 229), 21 (December 10, 1832) ; ibid., 23 Cong., 1 Sess. (US. Serial Set 237), 45 (December 16, 1833); ibid., 23 Cong., 2 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 265), 35 (December 11. 1834) : ibid.. 24 Conn.. 1 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 278). 40-42 (December 16, 17, 1835) ; ;bid., 24-dong., 2 Sess. (U.S. Serial Sei 296), 32, 34 (December 12, 14, 1836). 4Ibid., 22 Cong., 1 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 211), 4 (December 5, 1831); ibid., 22 Cong., 2 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 229), 4 (December 3, 1832) ; ibid., 23 Cong., 1 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 237), 4 (December 2, 1833); ibid., 23 Cong., 2 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 265), 4 (December 1, 1834); ibid., 24 Cong., 1 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 278), 4 (December 7, 1835); ibid., 24 Cong., 2 Sess. (US. Serial Set 296), 4 (December 5, 1836). These percentages were computed from roll call votes recorded in the Register of Debates, 22-24 Cong. (December 5, 1831-March 3, 1837) and the Congvessional Globe, 23-24 Cong. (December 2, 1833-March 3, 1837). Hendricks’ Circulars 321

As the end of his second term approached, Hendricks’ popularity waned. Politics was becoming increasingly parti- san, and for the first time he openly supported a presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, Jackson’s heir apparent. While he thus offended Indiana’s Whig supporters of William Henry Harrison, many Democrats remained skeptical of his sin- cerity; and when he tried to conduct a nonpartisan senatorial campaign, it was declared that his “noncommittal course, and his trimming between the political parties of this State, can no longer serve his purposes. He will be unmasked, and his false face rendered useless.”fi Also Hendricks’ more than two decades in high public office had aroused jealousy and personal animosity in various quarters. On December 8, 1836, shortly before senatorial balloting began, handbills alleging that he had defrauded his mother-in-law in a real estate trans- action, were distributed to members of the General Assembly on behalf of Jeremiah Sullivan,? who coveted Hendricks’ Senate seat. On the ninth senatorial ballot Oliver H. Smith was chosen to succeed Hendricks. Noah Noble had led on the first seven ballots while Hendricks ranked third on the first ballot and second on the third, fourth, and fifth. His largest vote, however, was only fifty, and seventy-four were needed to win.8 It is impossible to assess the relative effects of several factors on Hendricks’ defeat. Among the key factors were his support of Van Buren for the presidency when Harrison carried Indiana, his nonpartisan stance in the Senate, his alleged effort to be all things to all men in Indiana, and his rumored unfair business dealings with his mother-in-law. It appears, however, that he accepted this defeat that ended his career in public office with his usual equanimity. Having “been a favored citizen of the state a good while,” he said, he could not complain about the results of the election. He did, however, object to Sullivan’s handbill that he described as

6 Editorial, Vincennes Gazette, quoted in Bloomington Post, Septem- ber 30, 1836; Madison Republican Banner, October 19, 1836; editorial, Indianapolis Indiana Democrat, November 25, 1835 ; communication to [Terre Haute] Wabash Couriev, signed “A Wabash Citizen,” quoted in Indianapolis Indiana Democrat, November 30, 1836. William Hendricks “To the People of Indiana,” handbills dated November 22, December 21, 1837, William Hendricks Papers (Indiana Historical Society Library, Indianapolis). Riker and Thornbrough, Indiana Election Returns, 131. 322 Indiana Magazine of History

“calumnious, false & vile like its author~.”~When Hendricks left the Senate in 1837 and retired from public office, he had represented Indiana in Congress longer than any other man. He had sat in the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1822 and the Senate from 1825 to 1837. During these eighteen years in Washington, he gave careful attention to the needs and desires of those who had elected him. According to an anonymous writer, “He left no letter unanswered, no public office or document did he fail to visit or examine on request.”lo Despite shifting alignments in an era of growing political partisanship, Hendricks remained independent, although he supported Van Buren in 1836. Regardless of who occupied the White House or what faction controlled Congress, he con- sistently supported internal improvements built at federal expense; Indian removal to make more land available for settlement and prevent friction between Indians and whites; a liberal federal land policy; a stable monetary system regulated by a national bank; a protective tariff; confinement of slavery to states where it already existed; and a strong central government. Sometimes he supported incompatible programs in the hope that if his first choice failed to pass his second one would be enacted. He often settled for less than he and his constituents wanted because he believed that half a loaf was better than none. Admittedly on the national scene Hendricks did not make the impact of such contemporaries as Thomas Hart Benton, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, or Daniel Webster, and he antagonized various people. But Smith, his successor, doubtless described him accurately when he said, “He was not of the very first order of talents, but made all up by his plain, practical, good sense. He never attempted to speak upon subjects he did not understand.”ll As long as he was in Congress, Hendricks continued to inform his constituents about questions of public interest by means of annual political circulars. Public land policy, internal improvements, Indian affairs, and the tariff were perennial topics. Issues confronting the nation for the first

‘3 Hendricks to David G. Mitchell, December 22, 1836, William H. English Papers (Indiana Historical Society Library). 10 The Indiana Gazetteer or Topographical Dictionary of the State of Indiana (Indianapolis, 1849), 122. Oliver H. Smith, Early Indiana Trials and Sketches (Cincinnati, 1858), 86. Hendricks' Circulars 323

time during his last term were nullification, renewal of the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, and the treasury surplus. Diplomatic concerns included Texan independence and spoliation claims against France. In the mid-1830s land receipts were at their peak for the nation as a whole and for Indiana. Some Americans considered land sales an ideal source of revenue in place of taxes, but others wanted to support internal improvements, educa- tion, poor relief, and other public activities through land grants to state and local governments and public service institutions.'" Hendricks believed that Congress was exploiting the West by selling land to raise revenue instead of making it more readily available to settlers for building up the West or granting it to public agencies for social and economic improvement of the region. As long as he was in Washington, he worked to modify land laws for the benefit of actual settlers. He supported price reduction, price graduation, homesteading on land unsold for ten years, the right of preemption, cession of unsold public lands to states where located, and a minimum purchase of only forty acres.I3 Hendricks thought it strange that these proposals were described as wild schemes, with cession to states considered the wildest of them all, when nearly every western legislature was on record as favoring cession. Easterners, according to him, believed they had bought the West with their blood exclusively, but he contended that Westerners were also sons of the rev01ution.l~ In 1833 a new land policy was proposed under the leader- ship of Henry Clay. The five percent of net proceeds that had long been earmarked for internal improvements for the new states was increased to seventeen and one half percent, and for the next five years the remaining net proceeds were to be distributed among all states in proportion to their congressional representation and spent at each state's discretion. President Jackson, however, vetoed Clay's distribution bill.I5

12 See Malcolm J. Rohrbough, The Land Office Business: The Settle- ment and Administration of American Public Lands, 1789-1837 (New York, 1971) for full coverage of public land policy during this period. 13Senate Journal, 22 Cong., 1 Sess. (US. Serial Set 211), 103-104, 153 (January 30, February 27, 1832) ; ibid., 22 Cong., 2 Sess. (U.S. Serial Set 229), 151 (February 2, 1833) ; Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 1 Sess., 1160 (June 30, 1832). l4Zbid., 616, 1092 (March 22, June 18, 1832). 15 See below, pp. 341-42; James D. Richardson, ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (10 vols., Washington, 1896-1899), 111, 56-69. 324 Indiana Magazine of History

Hendricks’ apparent inconsistency in supporting such incompatible options as federally financed internal improvements, reduced land prices, and distribution of the proceeds of land sales was evidence of his political realism. He worked on behalf of his constituents for whatever seemed attainable at the time and patiently waited for an opportunity to achieve what he thought was better. From 1831 to 1835 appropriations for continued construction of the Cumberland Road caused little controversy in the Senate.16 Construction was proceeding both ways from Indianap~lis,~’and the appropriations, though seldom as large as Hendricks wanted, were almost routine. In 1835, however, Congress began to transfer eastern segments of the road to the states in which they were located, and interest in further construction in the West seemed to wane.lS The next year, in an attempt to get $860,000 for construction in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, Hendricks made one of his infrequent speeches.lg Though his address seems designed to answer specific attacks on the bill, he failed to convince the Senate; and the appropriation was only $550,000. Indiana received $250,000 instead of the $350,000 that Hendricks’ committee had recommended, but despite this he and Senator John Tipton were said to “have done themselvss [sic] credit, and reflected honor upon the state they represent . . . .,720 Two other transportation projects of immediate concern to the people of Indiana were clearing the rapids from the Wabash River below Vincennes and improving or replacing the Louisville and Portland Canal at the Falls of the Ohio.”l Despite Hendricks’ insistence that with the completion of the

See Philip D. Jordan, The NationaZ Road (Indianapolis, 1948) for a popular account of the construction of this famous road and life and work along it. 17 R. Carlyle Buley, The Old Northwest: Pioneer Period, 1815-1840 (2 vols., Indianapolis, 1950), I, 448. Jordan, The National Road, 170. 1e Register of Debates, 24 Cong., 1 Sess., 629-35 (February 26, 1836). 20 See below, p. 362; editorial, Indianapolis Indiana Democrat, April 27, 1836. 21 Hendricks had been unsuccessfully promoting a canal to bypass the Falls of the Ohio on the Indiana side of the river for more than a decade. For a survey of his long term efforts on behalf of such a canal see Frederick D. Hill, “William Hendricks : Indiana Politician and Western Advocate, 1812-1850” (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of His- tory, Indiana University, 1972), 42-46, 87-92, 163-64, 220-24. Hendricks’ Circulars 325

Wabash and Erie Canal the Wabash rapids would be the last obstacle to an interstate waterway from New York to New Orleans and despite the fact that the Wabash at this point was an interstate boundary, Jackson twice vetoed Wabash improvement bills.22 Then the Senate lost interest in the matter. The Louisville and Portland Canal, opened at the Falls of the Ohio in December, 1830, had cost about twice the construction estimates. As a result tolls were high, traffic and profits low, and operation and maintenance poor. In 1833 the Senate Committee on Roads and Canals recommended that the national government, which already owned one-third of the canal’s stock, should buy all privately owned stock and reduce the tolls to equal the cost of operation and maintenance. But the Senate did not act. A few years later the canal company asked Congress either to devote its share of the tolls to canal improvement or to relinquish the government’s divi- dends to the company. Hendricks’ committee recommended instead that the secretary of treasury buy enough stock to gain controlling interest or, if that were not possible, sell out. In the latter case Hendricks anticipated that Congress would build a competing canal from Jeffersonville to New Albany in Indiana.23 Again no action was taken. As the frontier moved westward and pockets of Indians were surrounded by whites who coveted their land, the maintenance of peace between the races became more difficult. The ongoing process of acquiring title to Indian lands east of the Mississippi and moving the Indians to the West was occasionally punctuated with violence. The outcome, however, of such uprisings as the Seminole War in Florida and the Black Hawk War in the Old Northwest was never in doubt. Hendricks was not an Indian hater, but because he considered them backward he believed separation to be the only answer

2zFor information concerning Jackson’s 1832 and 1834 vetoes of bills carrying appropriations for improvement of the Wabash River see Dorothy Riker and Gayle Thornbrough, eds., Messages and Papers Re- lating to the Administration of Noah Noble, Governor of Indiana, 1831- 1837 (Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XXXVIII; Indianapolis, 1958), 41; Nellie Armstrong Robertson and Dorothy Riker, eds., The John Tip- ton Papers (3 vols., Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XXIV-XXVI ; In- dianapolis, 1942), 111, 85-93. 23 Report from the Senate Committee on Roads and Canals in Madi- son Indiana Republican, February 7, 1833; Register of Debates, 24 Cong., 1 Sess., 1564-70 (May 25, 1836); see below, p. 363. 326 Indiana Magazine of History to the problem of Indian-white relations. He favored moving the Indians beyond the Mississippi River to areas that whites did not contemplate occupying; and during most of this period he was optimistic about the early completion of Indian removal from Indiana.24 Though the government’s Indian policy was generally supported by the people, the tariff had become a source of controversy between northern manufacturers and southern producers and exporters of raw materials. The “tariff of abominations,” enacted in 1828, had raised the rates to an unprecedented level, and prompted the South Carolina legislature to deny that Congress possessed the constitutional authority to levy a protective tariff.z5 In the winter of 1831 Congress gave its attention to the resulting clamor for tariff reform, but some of the rates in the tariff of 1832 were even higher. Before Congress reconvened in December, 1832, South Carolina declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 to be null, void, and unenforceable there after February 1, 1833, and announced that any effort forcibly to collect the tariff in that state would dissolve her bonds of loyalty and all connection with the Union.26 When the first efforts toward reconciliation failed, Con- gress enacted the Revenue Collection Bill, popularly known as the Force Bill. This measure, asserting the supremacy of the national government, authorized President Jackson to use all the powers of his office to prevent obstruction of the law by either civil or military action. Concurrently with the Force Bill, however, Congress developed the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which provided gradual reduction until July 1, 1842, by which time no rate would exceed twenty per~ent.~?

24 Hill, “William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constituents : First Senatorial Term, 1825-1831,” 169-70; see below, pp. 360-61, 362. TO review the government’s Indian policy as illustrated by the experience of a northern and a southern tribe see Bert Anson, The Miami Indians (Norman, 1970) and Arthur H. DeRosier, Jr., The Removal of the Choc- taw Indians (Knoxville, 1970). 25 Henry S. Commager, ed., Documents of American History (New York, 1963), 249-51. “lbid., 261-62. For a detailed analysis of these events see William W. Freehling, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836 (New York, 1966). 27 Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix 10-13 (March 2, 1833). This appendix has double pagination. Page numbers refer to the second set of pages. Hendricks’ Circulars 327

South Carolina accepted the new tariff but, as a matter of principle, nullified the Force Bi1L2*Hendricks opposed making concessions to South Carolina by reopening the tariff question when the tariff of 1832 was not yet in effect; and he supported the Force Bill and voted against the compromise tariff. According to him, South Carolina’s problem was not the tariff but “her overgrown and impoverishing black population” and soil depletion which caused the enterprising whites to flock to the more attractive West.z9 In the West the currency issue was doubtless of greater concern than the tariff. When the Second Bank of the United States exercised its regulatory powers over the country’s monetary system in the early thirties, the West suffered from a shortage of circulating medium as money was drained off through payments for land and for goods from the East. But if there were no regulation, Hendricks believed, the West would suffer from inflation, a consequence of wildcat banking. In his first annual message President Jackson questioned the constitutionality and expediency of the national bank. He urged Congress to begin planning for an alternative institution or at least extensive modification of the existing one when its charter expired in 1836. The bank, however, re-, quested and Congress enacted charter renewal in 1832. Jack- son, not having been consulted about revision of the charter and finding changes that he considered essential absent from the new one, vetoed it; and the Senate failed to override the veto. Then the president, by removing the government’s deposits from the Second Bank of the United States, virtually destroyed it before its current charter expired.?(’ Hendricks did not approve of the unregulated issue of paper money, nor was he committed to a hard money policy. He favored using whatever forms of circulating medium were necessary and convenient to achieve a prosperous economy; and it was on this basis that he supported renewal of the bank charter.31

28 Commager, Docisments of American History, 269-70. Z‘J Register of aebates, 22 Cong., 2 Sess., 688, 809 (February 20, March 1, 1833) ; see below, p. 332. 30 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 11, 462; Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 1 Sess., 1293-96 (July 13, 1832). See Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War (New York, 1967) for a thorough study of this struggle. 31 Register of Debates, 23 Cong., 1 Sess., 1805-11 (May 26, 1834). 328 Indiana Magazine of History

By the time the charter of the Second Bank of the United States expired in 1836, the national government was out of debt, and surplus revenues were piling up in the vaults of Jackson’s pet banks. This circumstance had been anticipated as early as 1832, and some had proposed reducing revenue by lowering the tariff. Instead of abolishing tariff protection, Hendricks favored reducing revenues by thoroughly revising the land system or reducing the surplus by distributing it among the states. The poor who had helped to build a com- fortable society in the East and then come west, he said, would like to duplicate those comforts in the West. In his opinion new revenue policies should be formulated with them in mind.32 A bill providing for the distribution of surplus revenue to the states in proportion to their representation in Congress was enacted in 1836. The states were to receive in 1837 any surplus over five million dollars that was in the treasury on January 1 of that year. Indiana’s share, which was technically a deposit, was $1,147,005.92; and the first quarterly installment was distributed before Hendricks left Washington in March.33 The Panic of 1837, which of course eliminated the surplus, also halted distribution after the third installment. While easterners thronged to the Old Northwest and the upper Mississippi Valley seeking new opportunities, large numbers of southern slaveholders, lured by fertile soil and a favorable climate for cotton culture, relocated in the Mexican province of Texas. When the Mexican government attempted to wipe out slavery, which was already illegal, and stem the tide of foreign immigration, these pioneers declared their independence early in 1836. Hendricks favored diplomatic recognition of Texas as soon as a stable civil government was in operation there; whether annexed or not, he said, Texas “will be closely allied to us, and especially to the Southern States . . . .,734 A more difficult problem in foreign affairs was collect- ing for damage done by the French to American shipping

32 Zbid., 22 Cong., 1 Sess., 614-16 (March 22, 1832). :u Ibid., 24 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix xix-xxi (June 23, 1836) ; see below, pp. 357-59, 367-68. 34 Register of Debates, 24 Cong., 1 Sess., 1928 (July 1, 1836) ; see below, pp. 370-71. Hendriclcs’ Circulars 329

during the Napoleonic Wars. In a treaty signed in 1831, the nations agreed to settle for twenty-five million francs or about five million dollars; but when the French legislature failed to appropriate funds for the first payment, which was due early in 1833, President Jackson recommended that reprisals be authorized by Congress. The Senate unanimously opposed Jackson’s stance, however, and Hendricks said it would be cheaper to drop the five million dollar claim than to fight a naval war with France. In 1836 France agreed to begin payment. 35 Hendricks concluded his last circular with a farewell that reflected mixed feelings of pride, humility, and gratitude. He wrote: A few days will terminate the present Session, and with it in all probability forever, the period of my public labors in the service of Indiana. It is not for me to say in what manner I have discharged the duties committed to my care. This however I might be permitted to say, and I hope I might say it without arrogance, that in every situation of public life to which I have been called, in no instance, has any consideration of personal interest, or ambition, been allowed to take the place of the interests of the State. However humble may have been the talents and qualifications brought into her service, they have been faithfully employed in giving impulse to her best interests. Others may serve her with more ability, but none with more devotion, zeal and fidelity . . . . I shall never cease to owe her a debt of gratitude, and one so large that I shall never be able to pay.3c

35 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 111, 106-107; Register of Debates, 23 Cong., 2 Sess., 215-16 (January 14, 1835); see below, pp. 353-54, 364-65. 3fi See below, pp. 373-74. Hendricks’ Circulars* Circular Relating to the 22nd Congress, 1st Session (1831-1832)’ WASHINGTON CITY, JUNE 20, 1832. SIR: The present Session has been one of great length, and as few will have failed to perceive, one also of much political discord and strife.2 The elements of our free institutions always in motion, have more than usually been employed in the work of party, and in the struggle for political power. That the spirit of liberty should always be on the watch- tower, is salutary and needful to the body politic, but the spirit of discord has for years past been gaining a fearful ascendancy, and forebodes much of evil to our free institutions. In the history of former Republics, this spirit has always been the harbinger of destruction: now, it has become dangerous to our best interests, and to the union of the States; and he is no patriot, no matter what name he may assume, or to what party he may belong, who would add fuel

* The editor has attempted to reproduce these circulars as closely as possible to the form in which they were originally published. Vagaries of spelling, capitalization, and paragraphing have been followed exactly as in the original text. In some instances stray marks or imperfections in the original have made it impossible to ascertain whether or not commas or periods are used, and in these cases the editor has made what seems to be the correct punctuation. Letters and words have been put in brackets in two cases: where the letters were omitted in the spelling of the word; and where the print was too faint or fragmented and therefore not legible. A [sic] has been used to indicate errors only if it was felt that confusion might result over whether the mistakes were editorial, authorial, or typographical. Otherwise incorrect and phonetic spellings have been retained as found. Obvious repetition of the same word in the text has been deleted. The spelling of Indian names has followed that in the original text. When names first appear in the text, identification of persons or places has been made in either brackets or footnotes. In cases where geographical locations, acts of Congress, or other types of poten- tially unclear references are made, bracketed information has been added to clarify the text. These circulars are printed in full from photocopies of the originals. This circular is reprinted from a broadside in the Broadside Col- lection (Indiana Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis). This session of Congress convened December 5, 1831, and adjourned July 16, 1832. This was the longest session during Hendricks’ eighteen years in Congress. The struggle in Congress to renew the charter of the Second Rank of the United States and President Andrew Jackson’s veto of the new charter provided the major issue in the presidential campaign that had already begun. For a detailed analysis of this contest that pitted Henry Clay against the incumbent Jackson see Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War (New York, 1967), 67-108. Hendricks’ Circulars 331

to the flame, and sow the seeds of disunion and civil war. It is not however my purpose in this letter, to attempt a lecture on our political affairs, but to detail, as I have been in the habit of doing on former occasions, the prominent Legislative business of the Session. A few subjects have occupied much of the time and attention of the present Session. These have been the Bank Charter, the apportionment of representatives among the several States under the late census, and the tariff. The latter has occupied more of the time of the Senate than any other, but as yet no tariff bill has been taken up in that body. On this subject the south is much agitated, and threaten nullification and disunion, if the protective principle of the tariff, be not repealed or modified3 They attribute all the evils, real and imaginary, which they either feel or fear, to its existence, and are worked up into a state of feverish excitement[.] A very lengthy debate took place in the Senate, on resolutions, declaring, that the duties on such articles as are not manufactured in this country, ought to be forthwith repealed; but no final vote was taken upon them. In the House of Representatives too this subject was taken up at an early period of the Session, and bills by various Committees, as well as one of the Secretary of the Treasury [Louis McLane] , were reported to the House. The protective principle of the tariff cannot be abandoned. To do this would be to consign to destruction the many millions of capital already invested under the guardian- ship of former laws, and to check for years to come, the current of prosperity, which the success of our domestic industry, is even now giving to the country. The measure of protection however which is necessary for the manufacturers, is that of which but few can be competent to judge. It is that on which the manufacturers themselves and their most zealous advocates are by no means agreed. Early in the Session the leading tariff men, were in favor of doing nothing more, than repeal the duties on unprotected articles. Subse- quently other grounds have been taken, and the committee on manufactures of the House, have recently reported a bill, materially modifying the tariff of 1828. This subject more

3 Southerners who opposed the protective tariff had been disgruntled ever since enactment of the Tariff of 1828, which they labeled the “tariff of abominations.” 332 Indiana Magazine of History

than any other, has protracted the present Session, and when or how, it shall be finally disposed of, no one can teK4 I am one of those who believe, that the evils of which the southern States so loudly complain, cannot fairly be as- cribed to the tariff. It is probably true that if the workshops of England, instead of our own factories, supplied as heretofore our articles protected by the tariff, that a more extensive, and of course a more advantageous export trade, could be carried on by the planters of the south; for then their cotton would not only furnish the raw material out of which the cotton fabric is made, but would in exchange pay for a very large portion of all our importations. Formerly the agricultural productions of the grain growing states being excluded from the markets and exchanges of Europe, the whole trade was thrown into the hands of the south. Not so in this country. The agricultural productions of the grain growing States are necessary for the manufacturers, and are taken in exchange for their fabrics; hence a foreign trade is more valuable to the southern States than a domestic trade, and a domestic trade is more valuable to the middle and northern States than a foreign trade. But the evils of the south may be fairly traced to a very different cause; her overgrown and impoverishing black population.5 By the culture of the slave the value of the soil is diminished. Large districts of better lands are opened in the new States. To these the enterprising are rapidly hastening. A greater proportion of whites emigrate than of blacks, and the evils of a superincumbent black population are daily increasing. The prosperous financial condition of the country, has presented to the present Session, the difficulty of reducing the revenue. At the commencement of the last war, the debt of the Revolution had been reduced to $42,000,000[.] At the close of the last war [War of 18121, the national debt amounted to $158,000,000. To meet this debt, the tariff of 1816 was enacted, the whole revenues of the country pledged, and a sinking fund was created in 1817[.] From ten to

J The Tariff of 1832 lowered some rates but on the whole increased protection. See Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix xli-xlv (July 14, 1832). In 1830 the population of the twelve slave states, two slave territories, and the District of Columbia was almost six million, of whom nearly one-third were Negro slaves. See U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Wash- ington, 1960), 12-13. Hendricks’ Circulars 333

twelve millions, and sometimes more, have been annually paid, ever since, in discharge of the principal and interest of the debt. The receipts into the treasury for many years past, have averaged at about $24,000,000, but the last year they amounted to more than 28,000,000. The debt is reduced to $24,000,000, and its payment is certain within the ensuing year. After this debt shall have been paid, a revenue beyond $15,000,000 per annum cannot be needed, and even this amount will allow enlarged appropriations for internal improvements. In the prospects then of reducing the revenues one half, every interest is putting in its claims for relief; the planters of the south, the interests of commerce rnd [sic] navigation, and the landed interests of the new States. The subject of the Public Lands is one of increasing magnitude and perplexity. Many propositions have been made, but there is now little prospect of any thing being done during the present Session, save a provision authorizing the issuing of scrip for forfeited monies in cases not heretofore provided for by law; a provision extending the preemption law to settlers on lands not surveyed till after its expiration, and the 40 acre law as it is called which authorises to a certain extent, the sale of the Public Lands in 40 acre tracts.6 The reduction of the revenues of the country consequent on the final extinction of the National Debt is now near at hand, and it was thought reasonable, that in this jubilee, the land interests of the new States should participate. It was however a matter of equal regret and surprise, that so little inclination to favor this interest should be found to exist; and at a time when it was proposed to diminish the revenue $7,000,- 000 by repealing the duties on the luxuries of life, because the revenue was no longer needed; that there should be so much aversion, to diminishing the price of any portion of the public lands, no matter how long they might have been in market or how inferior their quality. Almost every thing else connected with the revenue, had been referred to the Com- mittee on manufactures, and this subject was also referred to that Committee. A report was made recognising the reason- ableness and justice of the claims of the new States to a larger dividend than the five per cent now received of the sales.

FA11 three of these bills became law. See Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix iv, xxxii[i], xlvii-xlviii (April 5, July 9, 14, 1832). 334 Indiana Magazine of History

This report was accompanied by a bill, proposing to give the new States ten per cent, in addition to that already given; and that the residue should be distributed among all the States agreeably to federal representative population. These regulations to last five years only. The whole subject was also referred to the committee on the public lands, from whom a report has also been received, proposing to give the new States 15 per cent additional to that already received on the sales; and to reduce the price of fresh lands to a minimum of one dollar per acre, and to fifty cents per acre for lands which shall have been five years or upwards in market. These two propositions are the principal ones now before the Senate, but it is not probable that either will be finally acted on, during the present se~sion.~ A bill to recharter the Bank of the United States for fifteen years, from and after the expiration of its present charter, modifying materially the provisions of the old charter, has passed the Senate.8 Among the difficult and perplexing questions of the present Session, may be mentioned, the apportionment of representatives among the several States, under the present census. It was much to be desired, that a bill should have passed on this subject, in time to have afforded the Legisla- tures of the states an opportunity of fixing congressional districts, during their recent Sessions. Accordingly, this subject was early taken up in the House of Representatives, but such has been the difficulties involved, and the delays consequent in both Houses, that the bill did not become a law, until very recently; and the States whose congressional elections take place within the present year, will necessarily have extra Sessions on this account during the summer. The members first elected under the present census, will take their seats in the next Congress in December; [sic] 1833. The ratio is fixed at 47,700, and the state of Indiana is entitled to seven members in the House of Representatives. The census of 1790 was the first census under the constitution, and the number of Representatives, originally 65, was increased to 105; for the second census, the number was increased to 141; for the third to 181; for the fourth to 213;

7 None of these changes was made at this time. fi The bill rechartering the Second Rank of the United States passed both houses of Congress but was vetoed by President Jackson. See James D. Richardson, ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the President (10 vols., Washington, 1896-1899), 11, 576-91. Hendricks’ Circulars 335

and for the fifth, the House of Representatives will be organized with 240. That body has increased from 65 to 240 members, while the ratio has been raised from 30,000 to 47,607) [47,700]. The census of 1790 gave [the United States] a population of 3,921,327. A census has been taken every ten years since, and resulted as follows: in 1800, 5,319,762; in 1810, 7,239,902; in 1820, 9,637,999; and in 1830, the census shewed a population of 12,716,602 souls-of these 1,982,822 are slaves. The increase of our population in the last ten years almost equals the whole amount in 1790. Another law, and perhaps a final one, has passed during the present Session for the relief of the surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolution. It is comprehensive and liberal, and will it is believed, embrace all, who have borne any considerable part, in the sufferings and the triumphs of that eventful war. It embraces those who served in the contin- ental line, state troops, volunteers, or militia, and gives full pay for life, according to rank, not exceeding in any case the pay of a captain in the line, to all who have served, at one or more terms, a period of two years; to commence the 4th day of March, 1831. And to those who have served less than two years, but over six months, a sum proportioned to the term they may have so served. The appropriations for the Cumberland road have long since passed the Senate[.] They were reported to the House in a separate bill, which proposed $110,000 to be expended in Ohio, $100,000 to be expended in Indiana, and $70,000 in Illinois. They have in the House of Representatives, been modified and incorporated with many other subjects of internal improvements, such as harbors, rivers and other roads. This is their present condition, and there can be no doubt of these appropriations becoming a law, having already passed both Houses, unless the whole bill in which they now are, shall be defeated.g A law has passed, establishing additional post routes in the United States. A considerable number of these have been established in Indiana, affording additional means of trans- porting the mails, especially in the newly settled portions of the State, heretofore not well supplied. This bill has been before Congress the two previous Sessions, but heretofore postponed, on account of the great weight, and consequent

9 This bill became law. See Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix xx-xxi (July 3, 1832). 336 Indiana Magazine of History

embarrassment it would impose on the Department. The old States have needed less the provisions of this bill, than the states west of the mountains, and of course those who needed it most was most careful not to embarrass the bill with any thing which threatened its defeat. Accordingly the members from the western States, generally voted against the proposition to exclude newspapers from postage, because it was believed by them, that the Department could not sustain this burden, and that with it, the bill could not become a law. At an early period of the Session, bills passed the Senate for an additional land office in the state of Indiana, and appropriating money to defray the expenses of a treaty with the Indians in our State; but neither of these bills have yet received the final action of the H0use.l" Our Indian affairs in the south, are almost entirely at rest. During the present Session a treaty has been negotiated at this place with the Creeks, who will soon be west of the Mississippi, and little doubt is entertained of a treaty with the Cherokees in the course of the present year. When this shall be done, the Indians will be out of the southern States, and the miserable remnant of the Seminoles who reside in Florida, have also evinced an anxiety to remove, and have made a treaty to that dffect [sic]. Treaties have also been ratified the present Session, with four bands in the State of Ohio.ll The question about the Supreme Court and the imprisoned missionaries, is one between the General Government and the state of Georgia, and the Indians have only been, as any thing else might have been, the proximate cause of the difficulty. In this case however, there is little to be feared for the Union. The decision of the Supreme Court has been certified to the Court in Georgia. It is declaratory of the law in the case, and mandatory to the Court of the State. When the Supreme Court shall convene again in January next, it will be for that tribunal, on the return of this process, to determine, whether it will issue any other process to the court of Georgia, and if so, what that process shall be.12

1" The land office bill did not become law, but there was an appropriation for extinguishing Indian title to additional lands in Indiana. See Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix xxxii (July 9, 1832). 11 Hendricks was unjustifiably optimistic about the early departure of the Indians from the area east of the Mississippi. l2 The Georgia legislature had extended state laws over the Cherokee and legalized encroachment on Indian lands. When New England missionaries to the Cherokee refused to leave the area, they were sentenced Hendricks' Circulars 337

Appropriations have been made, for the payment of such corps of militia, as have been called into service, during the recent troubles of the northwest, and an appropriation has also been made for the relief of such friendly Indians as may seek shelter and protection in the various agencies on the frontier.13 A law has also passed, authorizing the raising of 600 mounted rangers for the protection and tranquility of the exposed settlements. These will be organized as were the rangers of the last war. They will be formed into six companies of 100 men each, two of which companies are to be raised in Indiana. Other means efficient and ample will soon be employed for the chastisement of the hostile bands of the Upper Mis- sissippi. They will be driven west of that river and remote from the present scene of their cruelties. General [Winfield] Scott has been ordered to the seat of war, Chicago will be strongly garrisoned, and detachments of the army from the various military posts on the seaboard, and the Lakes will shortly be concentrated on the northwestern frontier. All cause of alarm in the out settlements, and especially those of our own State will wholly cease. The Session will probably close about the first of next month. With much respect, WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

Circular Relating to the 22nd Congress, 2nd Session

(1832-1833)l4

WASHINGTONCITY, MARCH2, 1833. The present Session has been one remarkable for the magnitude of the questions entertained by it. The tariff, the bill having reference to South Carolina affairs, and the bill to imprisonment at hard labor. The United States Supreme Court reversed their conviction, but Georgia ignored the decision, and President Jackson declined to enforce it. See Albert J. Beveridge, The Life of John Marshall (4 vols., Boston, 1944), IV, 547-51. 13This is a reference to the Black Hawk War, which broke out in northwestern Illinois in the spring of 1832. See William T. Hagan, The Sac and Fox Indians (Norman, 1958), 141-97. l4 This circular is reprinted from the Madison Indiana Republican, March 21, 1833 (Archives Division, Indiana State Library). This session of Congress convened December 3, 1832, and adjourned March 2, 1833. 338 Indiana Magazine of History

on the subject of the Public Lands, have been the absorbing topics, and on these subjects bills have passed both Houses. An attempt was made at the last Session of Congress to adjust and finally settle the tariff. A law then passed materially modifying it, and reducing the revenue much below the receipts under the law of 1828.15 This bill passed in the hope, that it would tranquilize the stormy elements of the Southern States and allay the dangerous excitement existing in that section if it did not give entire satisfaction as a final adjustment of the question. Such indeed was the opinion ex- pressed by Southern Members, a large majority of whom voted for the bill. Vain however has been the expectation; for the short interval between the last and present Session, has been actively employed, in sowing the seeds of disunion, and in producing the present distracted state of our common country. The present Session had scarcely commenced, when the ant [i] -tariff, party commenced a series of operations, which at an early period of it, produced a bill in the House of Representatives, on which that portion of the national Legisla- ture, have been chiefly employed ever since. The secretary of the Treasury had said in his annual report, that the revenue would admit, after the present year, of a further reduction of 6000,000; And this was the hinge on which has been hung all the anti-tariff movements of the Session[.] But this was a mere estimate, which might, or might not be correct; for the tariff of July 1832, has not yet gone into operation, and no one can tell with certainty what its effects upon the revenue will be. Nor was it proposed to pass any bill to go into operation before the next Session of Congress. Yet so much has this subject been disturbed, under all these circumstances, that it has literally occupied the House of Representatives all winter, to the exclusion of almost every thing else. This has become the great exciting interest of the country, and to it, aspiring and ambitious politicians look for elevation. One of its greatest evils is, the combinations it produces, and that it is viewed as the political ladder, to the Presidency of the United States. The history of this matter would be too long for a letter. It may be traced back to the embargo times of 1807, and up to the declaration of the late war with Great Britain. Then

See footnote 4 above. Hendricks’ Circulars 339

the people of the Northern States were seafaring men, ship builders and mariners, and the people of the South were planters, and to a limited extent manufacturers. The em- bargoes had crippled and rendered precarious the shipping interests of New England, and they were driven to the course of policy dictated by the South; a policy which kept them more on land, and less on water, and which shaped and im- posed the tariff system upon the people of the United States. Ships, commerce and free trade were not then so much the language of the South, as independence of England and manufactures at home.-The Northern and Middle States fell of necessity into these pursuits, and now millions, and perhaps hundreds of millions, are invested in manufacturing establishments, and endangered by a spirit of determined hostility against the tariff. The tariff will no doubt be further modified and reduced; for the public debt being paid, ten or twelve millions a year, of the revenue necessary heretofore can be dispensed with; but that which will still be necessary ought to be levied, with a view to the protection of our valuable manufactures. The protective principle cannot be yielded, without yielding much of the prosperity and independence of the country. The extraordinary proceedings of South Carolina, has more than any thing else, disturbed and embar[r]assed the present Session; and agitated the public mind throughout the United States. To these may be traced the solicitude about the tariff, & the passage of a bill through both Houses, which is not to take effect till the first of January, next, while a law of last Session exists on the same subject, which has not yet gone into operation.18 The people of South Carolina had met in Convention, and declared the revenue laws of the United States, null and void: declared void the revenue bonds and prohibited an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. Her ordinance re- quires all officers, civil and military, to take an oath to enforce its provisions, and obey the laws of the state in aid of it; requiring jurors also to be sworn to the same effect.-It

If;The Tariff of 1833 was a compromise that provided for gradual reduction until July 1, 1842, by which time no rate would exceed twenty percent. See Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix 10-11 (March 2, 1833). This appendix has double pagination. Page numbers refer to the second set of pages. For a recent analysis of this crisis see William W. Freehling, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Contro- versy in South Carolina, 1816-1856 (New York, 1966). 340 Indiana Magazine of History declares that all legislation on the part of Congress, authorizing the employment of force against that state or its citizens, will cause her to secede, and break off forever, her political connexion with the Union. The legislature had enacted, that if any officer of the United States, civil or military should attempt to enforce the laws of the United States, or resist the ordinance and Legislative acts of South Carolina, the Governor should be authorized, to call out such portion of her militia, as might be requisite to meet the emergency. In short, South Carolina was, and is, more like a military camp, than a peaceful state of the Union. Under these circumstances, the President in his Message of the 16th of January, informed Congress, that an emergency had arisen in the state of South Carolina, which rendered the execution of the laws of the United States, in that state, impracticable, and recommended such measures, as, in his opinion, were necessary to meet the case. This resulted in “A bill further to provide for the collection of duties on imports” which passed both Houses with great unanimity, and has become a law. This bill is what its title purports it to be, and has for its object, the due execution of the laws of the United States and the pre- vention of conflict with the constituted authorities or the citizens of the state. For this purpose, the President of the United States is authorized to remove the custom houses, to secure places within the harbors, either upon land or on board a vessel, and the custom house at Charleston, has some time since, under a previously existing authority, been removed to Castle Pinckney. A crisis had indeed arisen, and it would have been deli- cacy inconsistent with duty, to stand still, and see the revenue officers of the General Government, fall victims to the military power of South Carolina, already organized for that purpose. That state must abandon her position, or there must be consequences the most unpleasant. Her demand that the obnoxious revenue, [sic] laws of the United States shall be repealed, and the protective principle abolished, can never be complied with. Nor can she be recognised as the sole judge, of all the cases of difficulty, she may think proper to make with the United States. Her doctrine too that a majority in this government cannot be permitted to rule, is perhaps more inadmissible than any other. It is, in itself, anti-republican, and at war with the doctrines of all former periods of our Hendricks’ Circulars 341

history, and yet strange as it may appear, this doctrine is openly and boldly avowed, by the leaders of this new school. Notwithstanding these things, it is by no means probable that South Carolina will resist the execution of the United States’ laws unto blood. A consciousness of being in the wrong, will make the lion-hearted pause, even on the field of battle. And this is believed to be the feeling of the leaders of South Carolina. Already indeed have indications of a wish to retreat from her extraordinary position been shown, and the tariff bill recently passed, can be viewed in no other light, than as affording her an opportunity of withdrawing from her un- tenable ground. Her convention is soon to be assembled a second time, when her ordinance will probably be modified or repealed, and a returning sense of moderation, promises to the friends of Union and good order, an ascendency in the state.l7 The Public Lands, seem to be a never-ending source of trouble. For the last ten years, propositions have been made and renewed every Session, to reduce their price, and especially in the old Districts, where they have been long in market and remain unsold. Propositions too, to graduate the price according to quality, and to give advantages to actual settlers, have as often been made, and as often rejected. On this subject a preponderating power of the old States is against us, and the policy of giving to the new States a larger percentage upon the sales, and of dividing the residue of their proceeds among the several States, is the only thing practicable, either at present, or in prospect. Accordingly the bill which passed the Senate last year, has again passed both Houses. It gives to the new States twelve and an half per cent, upon the money received in each, in addition to the five per cent heretofore received, and divides the residue among all the States, old and new, agreeably to their Repre- sentative population; the whole to be applied by the Legisla- tures of the States, to such objects as they may think proper. The quantity of 500,000 acres of land for internal improvements, is also granted to such of the new S[t]ates, as have not heretofore received grants for such purposes, and to such as have received in such grants, a lesser quantity, that defi- ciency is made up. The bill expires by its own limitation in

l7 See the introduction, pp. 326-27. 342 Indiana Magazine of History

five years, when the old System of paying the money into the Treasury will revive, unless other provisions be created by law. The distribution plan to be commenced from and after the 21st December last.-In estimating this bill it ought to be borne in mind, that in contending for that which we prefer, but have no prospect of getting, we are losing every year large sums, which this bill would give us, and it is not an unreasonable calculation, that this bill, will in five years, be worth to the State of Indiana, a million of do11ars.18 Another preemption law has passed in favor of those who were prevented from making their entries, in consequence of the public surveys not having been made and returned, or where the land was not attached to any land district, or where the same has been reserved from sale in consequence of a disputed boundary between two States, or between a State and TerriCtlory; permitting all such, to enter their lands within one year, after the surveys are made, or the lands attached to a land district. A land office has been established for the sale of the lands recently purchased from the 1ndians.lO No law has passed during the present Session, establishing post roads, and of course the numerous applications on that subject must be deferred till the next Session. The treaties recently made with the Pottawattie Indians in Indiana, have been ratified, and appropriations to carry them into effect, have also been made. Other appropriations for the continuation of the Cumber- land road have been made, and of these $100,000 is to be applied within the limits of Indiana. Appropriations for the thorough repair of that road east of Ohio have also been made, and the road east of the river has been delivered up to the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia through which it passes for preservation and future repairs. Toll sufficient for that purpose only will be collected. So much of this road as is completed in the state of Ohio has in like manner been yielded to that State.

18 This bill was vetoed by President Jackson. See Richardson, Mes- sages and Papers of the Presidents, 111, 56-69. This office was established at La Porte, Indiana. See Register of Debates, 22 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix 21-22 (March 2, 1833). Page numbers refer to second set of pages. See footnote 16 above. Hendricks' Circulars 343

The Georgia question with the im-imprisonment [sic] of the Missionaries is finally settled.'O The Missionaries have dismissed their suit in the Supreme Court of the United States and been set at liberty. They were offered pardons after their conviction, and before they were imprisoned, on condition that they would not again violate the laws of that state. This course was originally accepted by all in like case offend- ing save the two, [Samuel A.] Worcester and [Elizur] Butler, who rejected it, went to prison, & appealed to the Supreme Court. The law of Georgia, under which they were imprisoned has since been repealed, they have dismissed their suit, and have been released from prison by the Governor of Georgia.- Thus has terminated this unpleasant affair; begun in rash- ness, continued in obstinacy, but ended in peace, and having produced no other effect than an unnecessary degree of excitement, which the times recently passed by were well calculated to foment and increase. Our relations with other governments are peaceful, and the State of Europe which for the last years has been threat- ening a general war on that continent, is more tranquil than heretofore. Poland incapable of further resistance, has settled down under the domination of Russia.21 The affairs of Belgium and Holland since the capitulation of Antwerp are pretty much at rest, and hostilities have ceased.22 The squadrons of our Navy are still stationed and employed in the Mediterranean, the West Indies and the Pacific. Our flag is respected abroad, our prosperity is unexampled at home, and while we continue to cherish and love our own government, our republication [sic] free institutions, and the union of the States, we are destined to a rank, highly elevated among the nations of the earth, and to become more and more conspicuous, as an example, favorable to the best interests of man- kind, and the liberties of the world. With much respect, WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

20 See footnote 12 above. 21 The Polish nation, reestablished following the Napoleonic Wars, was a Russian puppet state. The Poles had revolted in 1830, but, crushed by the Russian army the next year, they were deprived of nearly all of their autonomy. z2 Following the Napoleonic Wars the Congress of Vienna had united Belgium and Holland to form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Though Belgium had revolted in 1830 and been recognized by the great powers, hostilities dragged on because the Dutch refused to evacuate Antwerp. 344 Indiana Magazine of History

Circular Relating to the 23rd Congress, 1st Session ( 1833-1834)23

WASHINGTONCITY, JUNE28, 1834. SIR:-T~~history of the present Session may be given in a few words. It has been little else than a scene of political warfare and strife. Less Legislative business has been done than at any previous Session. The great exciting question has been the Bank and the dep~sites.'~On this single subject, by far the greater portion of the Session has been employed. It would be useless to enter into details of this matter. They would be endless. Every one must, in a greater or less degree, be familiar with the subject: one, which is believed to have agitated Congress, and the country more, than almost any other since the days of the revolution. The questions of the Tariff and Nullification, heretofore engrossing almost entirely public attention, have scarcely been spoken of, and that of the Public Lands has been wholly crowded out of view by it. The Land bill is among the unfinished business of the Session. The fiscal affairs of the country were, agreeably to the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury [Roger B. Taney] in December last, in a prosperous condition. The amount of public debt remaining unpaid, was, on the 1st of January last, less than $5,000,000. This is the remnant of the old debt of the revolution, and the debt created by the late war with England. Our chief source of revenue is the tariff, or in other words, duties collected by the custom houses on imported goods: and in modifying the tariff to the diminished wants of the country, the difficulty has been to know where to stop. The business of reduction has been an agreeable employment, and Congress has already gone too far in reducing the tariff, in passing a second law before a former one

23 This circular is reprinted from the Madison Republican and Banner, July 24, 1834 (Archives Division, Indiana State Library). This session of Congress convened December 2, 1833, and adjourned June 30, 1834. z4 President Jackson had vetoed a new charter for the Second Bank of the United States in 1832. During the remaining four years of the old charter Jackson, despite vigorous objections from the Senate, gradually removed federal deposits from the bank and placed the funds in selected state banks. In retaliation Nicholas Biddle, president of the bank. alleaedlv manipulated the monetarv svstem in an effort to force the governmeit to come to terms with hii. see Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War, 109-75. Hendricks’ Circulars 345

had gone into operation, and at a time when the effects of neither could be foreseen. This was the case last session, when a second tariff-reducing law was enacted, before the law of a previous Session had gone into pera at ion,^^ until it has become doubtful whether Congress will not be under the necessity of imposing additional tariff duties, in lieu of those recently taken off. These reductions were made to the mani- fest jeopardy of the manufacturers, and the manufacturing interests, have ever since, been in a depressed and sickly condition. Many establishments have already ceased their operations, and their proprietors will no doubt direct their capital into other channels, no longer willing to hazard every thing, in the doubtful experiment, whether the manufacturing interests can live under the tariff reducing law of 1833. The reduction of the revenue, and the possible necessity for its increase, has very much injured the prospect of internal improvements. The manufacturers, while protected by a sustaining tariff, were the close allies of internal improvements; for the tariff, while it protected their interests, fur- nished the means of making roads and canals, which were also necessary to that interest, in the transportation of their fabrics throughout the whole country. The effects of these causes have already been felt, and deeply felt, in the difficulties experienced in obtaining an appropriation for the Cumberland Road. Those interested in this road, must have observed difficulties, and the road will feel them in the fact, that midsummer must pass by, before the work of the present year can commence, owing to the late period of the Session at which the appropriation was made. It will feel them too, in the increased difficulty of future appropriations. The amounts this year appropriated to the progress of the work, are $200,000 to be expended in the State of Ohio, $150,000 in Indiana, and $100,000 in Illi- nois. Appropriations have also passed the House of Repre- sentatives for the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri and Red Rivers.26 A bill has passed the Senate, authorizing the selection of Wabash and Erie canal lands, in the valley of the Maumee

2s See footnotes 4 and 16 above. 26An appropriation of $50,000 was made for improvement of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri rivers; an additional $50,000 was provided for the Red River. See Register of Debates, 23 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 332-33 (June 28, 1834). 346 Indiana Magazine of History

River, in lieu of lands sold by the United States, which would otherwise have become the property of the canal, in virtue of the original grant of March 2d, 1827.-This bill authorizes the selection of about 80,000 acres for the use of the canal.27 A bill has also passed the Senate making an appropriation of $20,000, to improve the navigation of the Wabash River.28 The subject of Public Lands is one of increasing im- portance. The large sums those lands are now bringing into the Treasury, make them more than heretofore, a bone of contention. Those who would destroy the tariff, and grasp at every other source of revenue, are more zealous than ever, to retain their proceeds for the ordinary disbursements of Government. The old tariff States, wish the Federal Govern- ment to be sustained by the duties on imported goods, and the proceeds of the Public Lands distributed among all the States. Both these classes of politicians are opposed to any change of the Land system; opposed to reduction of price, to graduation, and to all advantages to actual settlers. The Representatives of the new States are not entirely agreed in this matter, nor have they power to control it if they were. With few exceptions we all go for the graduating principle, while some would carry that principle farther than others. We all go for reduction of the price, and for privileges and favors to actual settlers. In the details of these principles we might not all agree, but we have never yet been able to induce Congress to go with him who demanded least, and who would be willing to stop first. We all think too “That in convenient time, this machinery of Land Offices, &c. should be withdrawn from the states, and that the right of soil, and the future disposition of it, should be surrendered to the States respectively.”29-These principles embrace, it is believed, the whole land system of the President, as set forth in his various measures. Most of these principles I greatly

27 This bill, which became law, also provided that alternate sections, granted along the portion of the Wabash and Erie Canal that lay in Ohio, would be given to that state. See Register of Debates, 23 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 338-39 (June 30, 1834). “This bill received a pocket veto from President Jackson. See Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 111, 118-23. 2o Since 1827 Hendricks had been demanding the cession of all public lands to the states in which they were located. See Register of Debates, 19 Cong., 2 Sess., 49-50 (January 9, 1827); Hill, “William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constituents : First Senatorial Term, 1825-1831,” Indiana Magazine of History, LXXI (June, 1975), 148-49, 153-56, 160, 165-66. Hendricks' Circulars 347

prefer to the Land bill of Mr. Clay, but when no hope of succeeding in any of them remained, I did on former occasions, as I probably would again, vote for that bill.30 In doing so I have never preferred it to other propositions on the subject of the Public Lands, but in doing so, I have preferred it to the system as it is, and as it has been with slight alterations almost thirty years. By the present system, the monies paid into the Land Offices, go into the Treasury of the U. States. By the bill all will be paid over to the States; giving also the new States a preference over the old States, in this distribution of 17% p. ct. of the receipts into their own Land Offices, being 12% p. ct. in addition to that they already receive.31 Now if we do not adopt some such regulation as this, the Land system remains as it is, and we get no part of the money. I say remains as it is, for every effort to change it for many years past, has been unavailing.-But if we pass the bill the system in other respects, remains as it is, and the States get the money. The bill appropriates for five years, from and after the 31st December, 1832. The nett proceeds of the Sales of the Public Lands. One year of the term had expired on the 31st of December, 1833. The amount received that year is known, and the dividend of each State is a matter of easy calculation. The nett proceeds is about four per cent. less than the aggregate receipts. The aggregate receipts for the year 1833, are $4,939,519 53, of which sum $694,319 81 was received in the State of Indiana. 17% per cent. of the nett proceeds of this latter sum is $116,645 70; the amount, to which Indiana would be entitled, as a primary dividend.-Deduct 17% per cent. from the nett proceeds of the aggregate receipts, and $3,912,- 099 49 is left to be divided among the 24 States of the Union, according to their respective federal representative population, of which sum, Indiana would be entitled to $114,102 - go[.] These two sums amount to $230,748 60, the amount to which the State would be entitled of the monies, which

3" Henry Clay's distribution bill, passed at the previous session of Congress, had been vetoed. See the introduction, p. 323. 31 New states, created from the public domain, already benefited from five percent of the net proceeds from land sales within their respective boundaries. Congress had promised to spend two-fifths of such proceeds to build a road or roads to such states; three-fifths of the net proceeds were appropriated by Congress to the respective states to be spent under the direction of their legislatures for building roads and canals within their borders. 348 Indiana Magazine of History have actually been received during the last year. Now on the supposition that the present year, and the three subsequent years, will be as productive as the past year; and the probability is that they will be more so, the dividend to which Indiana would be entitled, under the five years existence of the Bill, would be $1,153,743. In addition to this, the Bill also gives to the State of Indiana, 115,272 acres of land, which at the minimum price would be worth $144,090 00; making the whole amount, to which the State would be entitled by the Bill, agreeably to the last years receipts, the sum of $1,297,833 00. I make no error in estimating the nett proceeds; having the office calculations before me; and the Bill now before the Senate, whatever may have been the provisions of previous Bills, authorizes a dividend of the nett proceeds. I have been thus particular in stating the provisions of this Land Bill, and the advantages offered by it to the State, whose interests are entrusted in part to my care, knowing that a difference of opinion exists among the most honest, and intelligent of our citizens, in relation to it, and believing that the subject is not generally well understood. It is my firm belief, that whoever lives to the 31st December, 1837, should this Bill not become a law, will see the Land System as it now is, and the monies paid into the Treasury of the Union, instead of the Treasuries of the 24 States. The 31st of December, 1837, is the period when the Bill would expire by its own limitations. The fear that the passage of this Bill would diminish the prospect of reducing the price, is not well founded. The Bill itself expressly excludes such conclusion. The Bill however, is left among the unfinished business of the Session. Another preemption law has passed, providing, “that every Settler or occupant of Public Lands, prior to the passage of this Act, who is now in possession, and cultivated any part thereof, in the year 1833, shall be entitled to all the benefits and privileges provided by the Act of May 29, 1830,” -which Act is revised, and continued in force two years.32 Bills have been presented, and pressed upon the attention of the Senate, authorizing the Territories of Michigan and Arkansas, to form for themselves Constitutions and State Governments, and for the formation of the Territory of

32 Register of Dehates, 23 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 321 (June 19, 1834). Hendricks' Circulars 349

Wisconsin; but no laws on these subjects have been passed. The population of Michigan proper is stated at about $55,000 [sic],and that of Arkansas, between 40 and 50,000. The Bill to attach the Territory of the United States, west of the Mis- sissippi River, and north of the State of Missouri, to the Territory of Michigan, will probably become a law? The Nation has been recently called, in the death of General Lafayette, to mourn the loss of another, and almost the last of the distinguished Generals of the Revolution. He died at Paris on the 20th of May, and was esteemed in his own country, as well as this, as a disinterested patriot, and a friend of personal and political liberty. He bore a conspicuous part in the American Revolution, in which he had the rank of Major General; was the friend and companion of Washing- ton, and has been, ever since, the steadfast friend of American Liberty, and the free institutions of our country. He has also been the devoted and steadfast friend of rational and constitutional liberty in France; alike opposed to the despotism of the Bourbons, and the more horrible anarchies of the French Revolution. At the head of the National Guards, he arrested for a time, the sanguinary measures, which led Louis the XVI. to the scaffold, and established the bloody ascendancy of Robespierre.-He was opposed to the unlimited power, and to the Government of Napoleon, and during the period of his splender aud [sic] triumph, had very much retired from public life. Subsequent to this period, and since the restoration of the Bourbons, he has been a prominent actor in the scenes of his own country; and in the Revolution of 1830; in the memoriable [sic] three days in Paris, which deposed Charles the X., and elevated the Duke of Orleans to the Throne,?' he bore a conspicuous part. He was at that eventful period, put again at the head of the National Guards, though surrounded by the most distinguished Marshals of Napoleon. In 1825 he visited the United States on invitation of the President, and at the request of Congress. He was em- phatically the Nations guest, and his presence brought in review, in more vivid colors, the scene of the Revolution, than all our Monuments, our Trophies, and our History could have done. He was honored by the American people in life. He is

33 This bill became law. See ibid., Appendix 332 (June 28, 1834). 34 Known as King Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans reigned from 1830 to 1848. 350 Indiana Magazine of History

no less honored in death. His death has been communicated to Congress, by a special Message of the President, and resolutions have been passed by both Houses, as grateful testimonials of National respect. It has also been announced in General orders to the Army and Navy, and appropriate tributes of respect, are to be paid to his Memory, at every Military and Naval Post, and Depot in the United States, and wheresoever the American Flag shall be found connected with our Navy throughout the world. The Session will close on the 30th of the present month. With much respect, your Ob’t. Serv’t., WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

Circular Relating to the 23rd Congress, 2nd Session (1834-1835)35

WASHINGTONCITY, MARCH4, 1835. The session having drawn to a close, I hasten, before leaving this place, to communicate, as has been my practice ever since I have first been honored with a seat in Congress, to the People of the State, the leading topics and features of the session. In these communications it has not been my object to enforce my own opinions, either in reference to the measures of the present administration of the General Govern- ment, or the Presidential election to come, but to confine myself, chiefly, to the legislative proceedings of Congress, and the condition of the various interests of the country, at home and abroad. It has been my object to speak of facts, rather than to give opinions, and although it is impracticable to address such letter to every individual, even of my own ac- quaintance, in the State, yet it is intended to be considered as addressed to every citizen, and shall, if possible, be put and placed in every neighborhood and within the reach and view of every citizen of the State. Confining myself however to these objects, and from them it is not my purpose to depart, this letter must necessarily be less interesting than some which I have heretofore on similar occasions written, because the session has been less

35 This circular is reprinted from the Madison Republican and Banner, April 2, 1835 (Archives Division, Indiana State Library). This session of Congress convened December 1, 1834, and adjourned March 3, 1835. Hendricks’ Circulars 351

fruitful of incidents than almost any previous one of which I have been a member. The political excitements heretofore numerous, and producing legislative discussions and enact- ments of so much interest, has not so much abounded, as on former occasions. The session has indeed been one compara- tively of undisturbed calm and tranquillity. Few subjects and few occasions have occurred to produce even animated debate. Among these may be mentioned the subject of Executive patronage, on which a lengthy report was made in the Senate; and the subject of our relations with France, which is every day becoming more and more interesting. The subject of Executive patronage”6 was referred to a select Committee of the Senate, which made a lengthy report, the object of which was to compare the number of appointments reposing on Executive power at the present time, or in the year 1833, with the number thus dependant at a former period; and to compare also the expenditure of recent years, with that of former ones. This comparison and this view of that sensitive subject, naturally tinctured the report, and the measures proposed by the Committee, strongly with the spirit of party; and by this Committee measures have been intro- duced, which in former years, have been repudiated and opposed by the party which now sustain them. Such were the bills which passed the Senate, but which did not receive the sanction of the House, on the subject of appointments to office, and of regulating the deposites of the public moneys.37 Another measure proposed by this Committee was, an amendment of the Constitution, for a limited period, to operate till January 1843, so as to permit a distribution of the surplus revenue, which before that time is expected to ac- cumulate in the Treasury. This surplus revenue is expected to accrue on account of the final extinguishment of the national debt, and will be made up of that annual surplus, over and above the current expenditures, which has her [el tofore been applied to the payment of the debt. This surplus, to a considerable extent, say nine millions a year, it is believed by

36 Rotation in office, called the “spoils system” by the party not in the White House, had been elevated to a democratic political principle by the Jacksonians. At best it prevented a party from remaining en- trenched in the executive department after losing a presidential election ; at worst it was a device for rewarding faithful supporters of the successful presidential candidate. 37 See footnote 24 above. 352 Indiana Magazine of History

the Committee, will be accumulating till the expiration of the tariff compromise bill of 1833, which will not expire till the year 1843, and those who deny the constitutional power of distributing the surplus revenue among the States, require this amendment of the Constitution for that purpose. The measure, however, has very little prospect of success, for those who assert the existing power under the Constitution as it is, and those who would not thus tamper with that sacred instrument for any such temporary purpose, will not be found voting for such amendment; and these it is believed make a large majority of both houses. There are, however, in this report, some curious and startling facts. The number of those dependant in a greater or less degree on the Treasury of the United States, are stated to exceed one hundred thousand; almost double the number so dependent ten years ago. And the current expenditures of the Government are stated to have been in 1833 much greater than the current expenditures in 1825. This report, and the measures by way of remedy proposed, have produced animated discussions, but do not promise to be productive of any practical result. The subject will probably be exhausted in ministering food to party appetite. Should the revenue in coming years be found greatly to exceed the wants of the Government, the tariff will, or ought to be, so modified as to protect the manufactures of the country, and let articles not manufactured in the country come in duty free; thus diminishing to the amount necessary for the current expenditures. But in €his regulation it is to be hoped that some permanent beneficial arrangement will be made for the internal improv [elment of the country, in its roads, rivers, and canals. And it is reasonable too to hope, though there does not appear much foundation for such hope, that under such circumstances, when we have more revenue than we know what to do with, and when the difficulty is not, how we shall raise revenue, but how we shall diminish it, we shall obtain for the new States some favorable regulation on the subject of the lands. To an unbiassed reader of the Constitution, one unlearned in the various constructions of that instrument, it would certainly appear strange, that, with an overflowing Treasury, and one difficult to diminish there should be hesitation, or difficulty, with any class of politicians, on the subject of in- Hendricks’ Circulars 353 ternal improvements, which all admit the value of, and which the States, however destitute of means, are prosecuting with energy and zeal. For the same reason, the superabundance of our revenue, it would seem at first view strange, that so much disinclination should be felt, by the Representatives of the old States, to the wishes of the new States, on the subject of the public lands. But this can be accounted for, by the consideration, that the reduction of the price in the new States, diminishes the value of land in the old States, and that every inducement to actual settlers in the new States, draws proportionally the population, and diminishes the prosperity of the old States; and there appears to be as little prospect of reduction of price, as any other measure proposed in relation to the public lands. The graduating principle, though unquestionably reasonable and just, and especially so in districts which have been long in market, is considered but the proposition in another form, to reduce the price, and has no prospect of success. The bill proposing a distribution of the proceeds of the public lands for five years from and after the 31st of December, 1832, has not been acted on by either house during the session. The proceeds of the public lands during the last year are much greater than ever before. Our relations with France is a vexed and dangerous subject. The history of this matter is perhaps generally understood.-It is however, short, and may be stated in a few words. By treaty with that Government, on the 4th of July, 1831, France became bound to pay to this Government, for the benefit of citizens of the U. States, 25,000,000, of f [r]ancs, or $5,000,000, on account of spoliations on Ameri- can commerce [.I 3R This sum, the Legislative Dapartment [sic] of that Government has thus far refused to appropriate and pay. In consequence of this, the President of the United States, in his last annual message, alluded to the subject in strong terms of reprobation, and recommending the passage of law, authorizing reprisals upon the commerce of France, in the event of the Chamber of Deputies adjourning their present session, without appropriating money to pay this debt. The message of the President having arrived at Paris before the Legislative body had determined the question of payment, a great sensation seems to have been produced by it. The

38 These damages had occurred during the Napoleonic Wars. 354 Indiana Magazine of History

French Minister has been recalled from this country, and pass ports have been tendered to our Minister, Mr. [Edward] Livingston. Thus stands the case by our last advices from Europe; and if the French Chambers persevere in their re- fusal to camply [sic] with the sol[e]mn obligations of treaty, war will in all probability grow out of the case. The Senate, as early as January, unanimously determined not to legis- late on the subject at the present session, and the House of Representatives at a late period, have come to a similar con- clus [i] on. Both nations are strongly interested in the preservation of peace. A large and prosperous commerce exists between them, which would be interrupted, and, for a while destroyed, by a state of war. The amount in controversy, would be as dust in the ballance, compared with the expenses of a war to either nation. Both Governments are powerful on the ocean; France much the largest fleet, but the United States the most naval efficiency and power. Nothing but the strong appetite of the French people for war, and their in- justice towards us on the present occasion, can lead to that catastrophe. We have a large squadron in the Mediterranean, which might be endangered by a sudden determination on hostilities on their part. It would be exposed to the power of their whole naval force. A war with France would be a war upon the ocean, and there exclusively, and the navy alone could participate in it. In such a war the ardor and chivalry of the army, and the youth of our country, could not be gratified, and there is less danger of appetite for war in our own country, than if the conflict were to be carried on both by land and sea. It would especially do us in the interior much evil, and could not do us any good; would destroy to a great extent the coast- ing trade, and impose upon us the additional cost of trans- porting much of our produce to the eastern Atlantic cities over the mountains or by way of the lakes, instead of a water communication by New Orleans and around the coast. A few general subjects which occupied the session to a late hour, crowded out much business which had matured, and which would have required but a short portion of time; and in this way more unfinished business than usual has been left on the files of the session. Of this may be named the bill organizing the post Office Department; the bill reorganizing the Circuit Courts of the United States, which reduced the Hendricks’ Circulars 355 number of Circuits in the old States from seven to six, and formed two new Circuits in the valley of the Mississippi, one to consist of the States of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and the other to consist of the States of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana;3gthe bill to regulate the deposites of the public money in the State banks; the Wabash improvement bill;4o the bill authorizing several rail road companies in the State of In- diana, to locate their roads through the public lands, granting fifty feet on each side of said roads, in addition to the width thereof, with the privilege of taking timber and other materials necessary in the construction of their works, off the public lands; and the fixing the northern bound [a]ries of the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.41 These bills having passed the Senate, could not be reached in the House, chiefly owing to the last days of the session having been spent in deliberating upon the subject of our ralations [sic] with France. Other bills important to the State of Indiana, were not reached upon the orders, or acted on by either house. Among these may be mentioned the bill to establish post roads, and the appropriation for a harbor at the mouth of Trail Creek [at Michigan City]. In this latter case a survey had been ordered and executed, but the

3!) The federal judiciary had not been restructured to provide circuit courts for all of the new states. In Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana the decision of the federal district judge was final in most cases. Five times President Jackson recommended reorgani- zation of the judiciary to provide circuit courts for the six western states. In 1832 he had suggested that if district courts were adequate, circuits courts should be abolished: otherwise. he said. their iurisdiction should be extended to all states. See Richardson, Messhges an2 Papers of the Presidents, 11, 461, 558, 605; 111, 117, 177. UJ See the intuoduction, pp. 324-25. 41 The Ordinance of 1787 had suggested the possibility of creating from the Northwest Territory two tiers of states separated by an east- west line through the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Ohio, wanting to control the mouth of the Maumee River, provided in its Constitution of 1803 that, if necessary, her northern boundary would follow a line running from the southern tip of Lake Michigan in a northeasterly direction in order to strike Lake Erie at the north side of Maumee Bay. Indiana and Illinois, realizing that the 1787 line would give them no Lake Michigan shoreline, requested and received from Congress northern boundaries that lay north of the southern tip of the lake by ten and approximately sixty miles respectively. When Michigan petitioned for statehood in 1834, her boundary with Ohio was described as the east- west line passing through the southern tip of Lake Michigan. The controversy that ensued raised questions about the entire line, dividing the upper and lower tiers, from Lake Erie to the Mississippi River. See Eugene H. Roseboom and Francis P. Weisenburger, A History of Ohio (New York, 1934), 161-62; Annals of Congress, 14 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 1841-44 (April 19, 1816); ibid., 15 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2544-47 (April 18, 1818). 356 Indiana Magazine of History

officer entrusted with that service had not accompanied his report with an estimate of the cost, and these documents not being prepared at the Department till a late period of the session, the proposition was in this way thrown upon the back ground. The bill to establish the Territory of Wisconsin remains also on the list of unfinished business. The bill fixing the northern boundaries of the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, did not propose any new boundary for Indiana, but proposed to sanction the survey and desig- nation of that boundary, made under authority of an act of Congress. The northern boundary of the State is fixed and settled, as permanently as the laws of Congress, and the Constitution of the State can establish it; and no further legislation is necessary, except to declare that the line thus run, shall be deemed and taken, as the boundary prescribed by the law of Congress and the constitution of the State. A law has passed making further appropriation for the continuation of the Cumberland road in the States of Ohio and Indiana, and for the final repair of that road east of the Ohio river. That portion of it is to be surrendered to the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and all expenditure upon it, and all care over it, on the part of the Federal Government will henceforward and forever cease. The road east of the Ohio river has been a greater obstacle than every thing else, in getting appropriations for the road further west, but this obstacle is now removed. A law has also passed making an appropriation for topographical examinations and surveys. This puts $25,000 at the disposal of the President of the United States. With the means afforded by this appropriation, the Secretary of war [Lewis Cass] is directed, by a resolution of the Senate, to cause to be made the survey of a road from the Maumee bay, through the northern tier of counties in Indiana to some point on the Mississippi river, between Rock Island and Quincy. And with the same means, Engineers will probably be detailed by the War Department, to survey several other roads in the State of Indiana. With lasting gratitude, and profound respect for the People of the State, I remain their obedient servant, WILLIAM HENDRICKS. Hendricks’ Circulars 357

Circular Relating to the 24th Congress, 1st Session (1835-1836)42 WASHINGTONCITY, June 30, 1836. ANOTHERSession of strange and peculiar character is drawing near to a close, and as heretofore has been my custom, I purpose on the present occasion, to give to the People of the State, a brief outline of the business transacted by it, and pending before it. It has been a Session of great interest, novel in its character and incidents and calculated to produce a strong and exciting action upon the body politic throughout the United States. The Surplus Revenue, strange as it may appear, has been the most difficult question of the Session. The surplus on hand, was admitted, by a report of the Secretary of the Treasury [Levi Woodbury], of the 9th of June last, to be upwards of thirty-three millions. This in the vaults of the Deposite Banks, was withdraw [n] from circulation, or its circulation in all respects, subjected to the discretion of those institutions.-Various plans have been proposed for getting rid of it: such as Distribution among the States; building Fortifications on the sea board, and ships of war; and the Land Bill. These several schemes have had their advocates, but, until a late period of the Session, the probability was, that the whole surplus would be expended, in building fortifications, and ships of war, and in arming them. The friends of the Land Bill were not however opposed to a gradual increase of the Navy and fortifications, nor to appropriations much enlarged for these objects; but they contended for a distribution of the proceeds of land sales, leaving the revenue from all other sources, for the current expenditures of the Government. I voted for the Land bill; think the distribution it pro- poses, the best that we in the new States can ever hope to get, and believe that unless we get this, we get nothing else valuable to us on that subject.-Reduction of price, and graduation, have been unsuccessfully tried for ten or fifteen years. I have heretofore in letters like this, given my views in this matter, and entered into calculations to show the amount which this bill, in five years, would divide to the State of

4r This circular is reprinted from the Madison Republican Banner, July 13, 1836 (Archives Division, Indiana State Library). This session of Congress convened December 7, 1835, and adjourned July 4, 1836. 358 Indiana Magazine of History

Indiana.43 Such however has been the great increase of land sales of late, and especially within the last year, that all my calculations have been left far on the back ground. The receipts from the Public Lands during the past year exceeded fifteen millions, and there is good reasons to believe that during the present year, they will exceed twenty millions.44 The dividend to which Indiana would be entitled of the sum on hand, the 27th January last, is, agreeably to a report of the committee on Public lands, $917,213 and this is little more than two-fifths of the sum which would have been distributed by the bill. This is in my opinion better for us, than building ships to rot in our docks and harbours, before we shall ever find use for them, for we have at present more than are ever employed at the same time. It is better too than building useless fortifications, which must be abandoned in a great measure to dilapidation after they are built; for unless we greatly increase our Army, we shall not have men enough to garrison them. It is believed by many, whose opinions are entitled to great respect, that the amount which would be distributed by the Land Bill, in five years, would be upwards of $50,- 000,000, and that the surplus for distribution by the other mode, will be somewhere between thirty and forty millions. The Land Bill had long been before the House of Representa- tives, having passed the Senate, and no action upon it promising a favourable result having been had, other dis- positions of the surplus were proposed. The propositions to deposite in the State Treasuries, the surplus which shall be on hand on the first of January next, leaving five millions in the Treasury of the United States, has been adopted by large majorities of both Houses and received the sanction of the President. From thirty-five to forty millions will in all probability be deposited in the State Treasuries under that law. But the distribution of the same sum by the Land Bill, would have been better for the new States by ten per cent., because by it, they would have received ten per cent. of the monies received from the sales, before any general division would have taken place. By the other bill no such advantage is given to the new States. This

41 See above, pp. 346-48. 44 In 1836 land sales totalled nearly twenty-five million dollars. See Vernon Carstensen, ed., The Public Lands (Madison, 1963), 253. Hendricks’ Circulars 359

however can be better illustrated by figures than in any other way. On the 27th of January last, agreeably to a report of the Committee on the Public Lands of the Senate, there were for distribution as proposed by the Land Bill, $20,571,125. - 75[.] The dividend of Indiana out of this sum, is $917,213, agreeably to the Land Bill. Agreeably to the other bill it is ten per cent. less. But the Land Bill does not terminate on the first of January next, as the other bill does. It distributes the proceeds of the Land sales till the 31st of December, 1837, ten or fifteen millions in all probability after the other bill will cease to operate on the receipts into the Treasury. In addition to this, the Land Bill contained an appropriation of 115,000 acres of land in favour of the State of Indiana, which if judiciously selected in the new lands, not yet brought into market, would have been worth from three to $500,000. Tak- ing then these three items, the difference in the amounts distributed under the two bills; the ten per. cent., and the 115,000 acres of land, and it is a calculation perfectly safe, that the difference to Indiana between these two bills, would exceed one million of dollars. The time however will soon come, in which this whole matter will be told in dollars and cents at the Treasury. On the first of January next it will be known how much will be deposited in the Treasuries under the law just passed, and on the 31st December, 1837, it will be known how much has been received from the land sales in five previous years. Besides the distributions under the Land Bill were final payments to the States.-By the other bill the money deposited in the State Treasuries are liable to be recalled whenever the Secretary of the Treasury shall determine that such recall is necessary for the Government. Such recall however, is by no means probable. The law which has just passed is worth to the State, probably more than a million of dollars. I voted for both bills; think the provisions of either better in all respects, than the former condition of things, and have given my reasons for prefering the Land Bill. Had both bills passed, the land proceeds would have first been distributed, because the Land Bill designates a particular fund, and makes a final disposition of it. In that event, the other bill would have merely regulated the deposites of the current revenue, for the time being, in the local Banks. A law has passed, fixing the boundaries of Michigan, and admitting her as a State into the Union, on condition 360 Indiana Magazine of History

that she call a Convention and modify her constitution as the law prescribe^.^^ This fixes the boundary between Michigan and Ohio, so as to include within the State of Ohio, the North Cape of the Maumee Bay, and, of course, the eastern outlet of the Wabash and Erie Canal, its points of union with the Lake. It recognises also the Northern boundary of Indiana, as fixed and established by our constitution, and puts to rest the pretension of Michigan to a portoin [sic] of our territory in the North. Michigan will then, on compliance with the re- quirements of the law, be entitled to seats for her Senators and Representative, in the next Session of Congress. A law has also passed for the admission of Arkansas, as a State of the Union.46 The Seminole war in Florida has not yet been brought to a close. It has probably been more disastrous, considering the number of Indians engaged, and the force apposed [sic] to them, than any Indian war, in which the country has ever been engaged. The Seminoles are a small tribe of Indians, surrounded by the Gulf and Atlantic coasts on the South and East, and by Georgia and Alabama on the North. They in- habit the swamps and hammocks, and inaccessible fastnesses of the country, and have kept in check and eluded the pursuit of armies, which in the open field could have consumed them in an hour.-They are yet unsubdued, having laid the country waste from the point of Florida and St. Augustine to Talla- hassee. They were bound by treaty to emigrate West of the Mississippi, but instead of fulfilling the obligations of treaty, they have taken up the hatchet; have committed many murders and will probably be nearly exterminated before they submit. A portion of the Creeks of Alabama and Georgia, en- couraged no doubt by the successes of the Seminoles, have also become hostile; have massacred all within their reach; broken up and laid waste a large district of country, and attempted to some extent, a union and a concert with the Seminoles. A fearful retribution however awaits them, unless prevented by speedy and entire submission. They have no inaccessible country in which to hide themselves. These things will hasten the removal of all the Southern Indians, to the districts of country prepared for them, West of the Mississippi

45 See footnote 41 above. 40 The admission of Michigan and Arkansas maintained the Senate’s balance between free states and slave states with thirteen of each. Hendricks’ Circulars 361

river. The Cherokees have recently ceded the residue of their country, and will remove. Whatever fate may await them beyond the Mississippi, it is obvious and certain, that, surrounded as they are by the whites, and refusing to adopt the pursuits of civilized life, the rem [n] ants of those tribes cannot exist where they are. A portion of the Army, under the command of General [Edmund P.] Gaines, is employed on our Southern border, with a view of keeping our Territory inviolate, and of pro- tecting the frontiers of Arkansas and Louisiana from the Indians, in the event of their being engaged in the war between Texas and Mexico. This army of observation is upon the Sabine, and its presence has no doubt preserved peace within our limits.47 The Indians do not appear to have engaged to any considerable extent in the Texian [sic] war, though that war, has raged with exterminating fury between the belligerents. That war, it is believed, is now at an end. The Army of Texas has recently achieved a splendid, and in the opinion of many, a decisive victory over the Armies of The power of Mexico is, at this time entirely ex- tinct in Texas, her Armies are dispersed or annihilated; and Santa Anna, her civil as well as military chief is a prisoner of war. This must be gratifying to the friends of civil and religious liberty every where; and whatever may be the moral and political complexion of Texas hereafter, much will have been gained by the achievement of her independence. The population of these United States must preponderate there, and their institutions will be assimilated to those of our Government. The Army of the United States was organized at the close of the late war with England to consist of ten thousand men. It was reduced by the act of 1821 to six thousand, and since that date it has been considerably increased. In 1832, a batallion of Mounted Riflemen was added, which, in 1833, was changed to a regiment of At the present Session another regiment of Dragoons has been authorized by law; and it is in contemplation to increase the rank and

47 The Sabine River forms much of the boundary between Louisiana and Texas. 4* See the introduction, p. 328. 49 Dragoons were trained to fight on horseback. Mounted riflemen were infantry whose horses were used primarily for transportation. 362 Indiana Magazine of History

file of the Artillery and Infantry. Various causes have com- bined to produce this increase of our military force at the present time; such as the war in Florida; the rising of the Creeks; the strong detachment necessary to be kept up on the Sabine, and our extensive frontier from Mackinaw to Texas. This frontier is rendered doubly important by the location of the many tribes of Indians on the frontiers of Missouri and Arkansas, and indeed, upon the whole line. This location of the Indians, and our existing treaties with them, by which we guarantee them peace among themselves, and protection against the wandering tribes further West, has created the necessity for Dragoon service; but it will greatly increase our power and control over them. It will enable our troops to find them embodied, and in a plain smooth country, remote from impenetrable forest and fastnesses, such as have enabled them thus far to injure and elude our troops in Florida. But little prospect exists of removing the Miami Indians from our State, in any short period of time. The Pottawat- tamies will, no doubt, soon be gone; but the Miamies own large and desirable reservations on the Upper Wabash, con- tiguous to the canal.5o These have become valuable, of which the Indians seem well advised, and the treaty of 1834, by which they agreed to sell a part of their possessions, contained provisions objected to by the President, and has never been submitted for ratification. Two unsuccessful efforts have been made to have it modified, and so the matter rests. Believing that time would increase rather than diminish the difficulty of treating with them, I have, with others of the [Indiana congressional] Delegation, been anxious for the ratification of that treaty. The bill making appropriations for the construction of the Cumberland road in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, has at length become a law. The sum for the road in Ohio is $200,000; that for Indiana, $250,000; and for Illi- nois, $100,000. More difficulty and delay than usual heretofore have been experienced in this matter; and it is much to be regretted that so much of the working season will have passed by, before operations upon it can be commenced.

50 A Potawatomi removal was made two years later; the Miami remained almost a decade. See Irving McKee, The Trail of Death: Lettem of Benjamin Marie Petit (Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. XIV, No. 1; Indianapolis, 1941); Bert Anson, The Miami Indians (Norman, 1970), 190-233. Hendricks’ Circulars 363

A bill appropriating $50,000 for the improvement of the Wabash river passed the Senate, at an early period of the Session, but has not yet been acted on by the House.51 An appropriation of $25,000 for a harbor at Michigan city, has passed both Houses, and an additional appropriation for a lighthouse at that place, has also been made.52 The Louisville and Portland Canal bill has passed the Senate, and is before the House.’? It authorizes the purchase of the private stock at sixteen per cent. above par, provided so much of it can be procu[r]ed as to give the Government the control of the Canal. The object is to make the Canal free except such tolls as shall be necessary to keep it in a state of preservation and repair. The obligation of the Government to improve the navigation of the Ohio river at the Falls, and to remove the obstructions there, seems to be fully admitted, and should the Louisville and Portland Canal Company refuse to sell their stock, and carry into effect the objects of the bill, the People of the West will have almost a guarantee that Congress will not hesitate hereafter to appropriate money for the purpose of making a free canal on the other side of the river. There a much better canal can be made than the Louisville and Portland Canal. One that would unite Jeffersonville and New Albany, would be a perfect work, and be more valuable for its water power than perhaps any other establishment in the United States. No such appropriation, however, can be expected, until the Stockholders of the Louisville and Portland Canal shall have refused a liberal proposition from Congress in relation to that work. Without such proposition, it would be ungenerous, if not unjust, for Congress to render that work valueless, by making a free canal on the other side of the river. The Territory of Wisconsin has recently been formed; a Governor and Judges appointed, and a Territorial Govern- ment will soon be established there. It embraces all our territory from Lake Michigan West, and from the Northern boundaries of Illinois and Missouri, to the British line. It includes the Mississippi river from its source to the mouth of the Des Moines. A Territory, large, and some of it fertile, and

5’ This bill did not become law. 5’ The bill that became law provided $20,000 to construct this harbor “according to the plan reported to the War Department.” See Register of Debates, 24 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix xlvii-xlviii (July 4, 1836). ,73 This bill did not become law. See the introduction, pp. 324-25. 364 Indiana Magazine of History

which must at no very distant day, include two or more States. A bill establishing many additional Post Routes has become a law. This will create, and increase, mail accommoda- tions in various quarters, and especially in the northern parts of our State. The question of Slavery has agitated considerably the present Session, and there is great danger that it has not yet been put to rest. The Abolitionists of the North are actuated by a zeal no doubt misguided, for with the question of Slavery, except in the District of Columbia, this Government has nothing whatever to do. Slavery in the States is a question exclusively belonging to themselves. The expediency of abolishing it here was, however, the chief question, and the petitioners have no right to complain of any thing, unless it be the disinclination to receive their petitions, and the re- jection of the prayer of their petitions without consideration, or the ordinary reference to a c~mmittee.~~Slavery, it must be admitted, is a dangerous and deep-rooted evil in our political system; but it is one for which there seems to be no remedy, and the less the subject is agitated here and elsewhere, the better it is for the peace and welfare of the Union. The present Congress met at a period when the Foreign Relations of the country were lowering and portentous. When the country was on the very verge of a French war, which no one seemed to have realized or expected, and of which the danger was not discovered until it was exhibited by the Message at the opening of the Session.55 The extraordinary demand for explanations on the part of the French Govern- ment, as a preliminary condition of her fulfillment of the solemn obligations of a treaty, and the indignant tone, and universal determination of the American People, that no humiliating explanation should be given, seemed at one time to leave little hope of a peaceful termination of our difficulties with France. And we are perhaps more indebted to the condition of Europe; the menacing attitude and the mammoth power of Russia for the pacific disposition of France, than

,X Petitions asking for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia became so numerous and so controversial that they interfered with the legislative activities of Congress, especially the House of Repre- sentatives. The House, therefore, adopted a policy of referring all such petitions to a select committee without debate. See Registel. of Debates, 24 Cong., 1 Sess., 2498-99 (February 8, 1836). See the introduction, pp. 328-29. Hendricks' Circulars 365

to any other cause. France, England, and Spain, seem to be viewing with anxious solicitude, the present almost irresist- able power of Russia, and looking with much distrust and jealousy at her naval armament on the Black sea. The South of Europe seems to have determined on checking the progress of Russia southward, and on confining the Emperor Nicholas more to his original limits. A war cloud has been gathering over Europe, and it would have been bad policy to have permitted the resources of France, to be crippled or exhausted, by a causeless and fruitless war with this country at a time when she is in danger of a war with Russia. This is no doubt the secret of the mediation of England which was offered and accepted; whose maritime and commercial interests, would otherwise have been much better consulted by war between France and the United States. Whatever the true motive or reason of the conduct of France may have been, she has taken as sufficient explanation, the Message of the President at the commencement of the present Session, and so has terminated all apprehension of a French war. Our intercourse with all the civilized nations of the earth, are of the most friendly character. We have ambassadors and other diplomatic agents wherever the interests of the country require. Our commerce has of late been greatly extended. It floats upon every ocean and sea, wheresoever the enterprise and cupidity of man has tempted him to go, and Squadrons of our Navy for the protection of this commerce, are cruising in the Mediterranean, the West Indies, and the Pacific Ocean. The Session, which has been much too long, will terminate on Monday next, the 4th of July. With great respect, WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

Circular Relating to the 24th Congress, 2nd Session (183X837)"

WASHINGTON,FEB. 14, 1837. THEpresent session so far, has been one not of uncommon interest. The great mass of unfinished business, at the close of the last session, was entered upon at the commencement of

BB This circular is reprinted from the Indianapolis Indiana Democrat, March 8, 1837 (Archives Division, Indiana State Library). This session of Congress convened December 5, 1836, and adjourned March 3, 1837. 366 Indiana Magazine of History

the present session, with a more than ordinary spirit of industry, promising results favorable to public and private interests. Party spirit and violence, had to a certain extent, spent their force in the presidential election, and the public mind as it seemed to require a season of rest, so it appears to have settled down into a spirit and condition of repose. The presidential election resulted in a choice of one of the candidates, not as had been predicted by many, and wished by some.57 Had that election come into the House of Representa- tives, as in 1825 the excitement would have been kept up, and the scenes of that epoch, ominous as they were, to the peace and welfare of the country, might have been acted over again.58 The nation would at all events have been excited, if not convulsed, by the movements of master spirits in high places acting prominent parts in the great political drama. The election for Vice President, did not however result in the choice of any one of the candidates in the colleges of electors. Of the two hundred and ninety four electoral votes given, one hundred and forty eight were necessary to a choice, and Colonel [Richard M.] Johnson of Kentucky had one hundred and forty-seven: precisely one half of the whole number; the other half of the votes were divided among three other candidates. This election under the Constitution of the United States, devolved upon the senate; and Col. Johnson was elected by a very large vote of that These elections being ever [sic] there is now little to excite. Every man seems to be repa[i]ring to his own tent, and a calm has taken place of a furious tempest, and a long political storm. The just sentiment of testing the coming administration by its acts and its merits, seems generally to prevail; and the number of those who have raised in advance, the standard of opposition, before any thing had been done to oppose, is in-

57 Martin Van Buren, the Democrat candidate, had defeated William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate. 58 In the presidential election of 1824 Andrew Jackson received a plurality but not a majority of the electoral votes. Early the next year the House of Representatives, fulfilling its constitutional responsibility, precipitated bitter controversy by choosing John Quincy Adams, the second place candidate, over Jackson. 51’ Though Harrison and Francis Granger had carried Indiana, Hendricks and John Tipton, the other Indiana senator, both voted for Johnson, Van Buren’s running mate. See Dorothy Riker and Gayle Thornbrough, comps., Indiana Election Returns, 181 6-1851 (Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XL; Indianapolis, 1960), 21-28; Register of Debates, 24 Cong., 2 Sess., 738-39 (February 8, 1837). Hendricks’ Circulars 367

considerable and small. If the measures of the administration of Mr. [Martin] Van Buren shall be good and salutary, and promote the best interests of the country, let him have the right hand of fellowship, and the fair support of the honest and the good of all parties.fio If otherwise, let the country be sustained, and his administration rebuked and opposed. The session has been a short one, and but little new business originated. It has chiefly been employed in legis- lating upon the unfinished business of last session. The Treasury Circular requiring the payment of specie for public lands, will in all probability, before the close of the present session, be superceded by law. A bill to that effect has already passed the Senate. The object of this bill is, gradually to throw the influence of the treasury, into the scale of specie circulation, in place of small bank notes, by excluding such from being received in the land offices and custom-houses. It provides for the receipt of all solvent bank paper of the country which shall be accredited as specie by the deposit banks. No notes are to be received, or accredited by the deposite banks of less denomination than five dollars. After July 1839, and until July, 1841 none of a less denomination than ten dollars; and after that, none are to be received 9f a less denomination than twenty dollars. Nor is any bank to receive of the public deposites, which shall refuse to com- ply with these regulations. Thus will this matter hereafter be regulated by law, and be taken, in a great measure, out of the control of the Treasury Department. This bill has been adopted by a very large vote of the Senate, and cannot fail to remove the fiscal pressure from the country, as far as that pressure has been produced, or kept in existence by the operation of the Specie Circular.61 The amount of Surplus Revenue in the Treasury, and subjected to the law of last session, was, on the first of Janu- ary last, $37,468,859. 97. Of this amount Indiana has received, and is entitled to receive, $1,147,005 92. One fourth of this sum has already been paid over to the State, and the

6” Hendricks made similar remarks about support for the new presidential administration when Andrew Jackson succeeded John Quincy Adams in 1829. See Hill, “William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constituents : First Senatorial Term, 1825-1831,” 158-59. GIThis bill received a pocket veto from President Jackson. See Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 111, 282-83. 368 Indiana Magazine of History

residue is payable in three equal instalments, on the first of April, July, and October next. The amount declared to be in the Treasury on the first of January last, and subject to the disposition prescribed by the law, would have been increased between eight and nine millions, had the payment of the United States Bank stock been made into the Treasury previous to that day. This however was not done, and that sum, with other accumulations, will remain for the action of another law, similar to that of last session, which will, or ought to pass before the close of the present session.62 The Specie Circular being superseded, the banks will discount more liberally, and their paper will be received into the Land Offices. These with our quota of the surplus paid over, will, whether for good or for evil, enlarge the circulating medium in our State, and with it our fiscal prosperity, greatly beyond what it has ever been before.63 In both Houses, bills have been reported to modify the tariff, to the revenue necessary for the current expenses of the Government, but there is no probability that any law will pass on that subject at the present Session. It would in the opinion of many, be a violation of good faith to disturb the compromise arrangement of 1833, which will not expire till 1842. Besides, no one can tell what amount of revenue will then be necessary for the Government-what new expenditures; what change of policy; what wars the country may be engaged in. Already have we been subjected to the expenditure of millions, which at the date of that compromise, no one could have foreseen, as at all probable. These have been occasioned by various causes; the miserable Seminole war which still lingers; and the consequent increase of the Army; a corresponding increase of Naval expenditures, induced by the troubles apparent with France not long since, and the unprecedented expansion of our commerce in every direction. These have required a proportionate enlargement of our Naval equipments, and our squadrons and ships are cruising on almost every ocean and sea on the face of the globe. The tariff then will not probably be touched at present, and the bills referred to, may be considered as feelers of public sentiment, rather than movements promising immediate legislation.'j*

w Congress did not enact a second distribution law. 63 See footnote 61 above. 04 The tariff was not altered. Hendricks’ Circulars 369

The Public Lands, as heretofore, have been a very fruitful source of legislative effort, and have occupied a large portion of the time of the Senate, for the last three or four weeks. The President in his message at the commencement of the session, had recommended the limitation of the sales to actual settlers, and the subject was referred of course to the Committee on the Public Lands. The Committee reported a bill in conformity to the message, with the principle of pre-emption in favor of early occupants. The subject is one on which a greater variety of opinion exists than almost any other. The bill was amended, and finally passed the Senate, but its fate in the House is doubtful.65 It is limited to the year 1840. The land receipts of the year 1836, are about $26,000,000. Of this sum, Indiana has paid $4,061,510 19. The condition of Texas, her history, civil and military, and her great exertions to secure her own liberty and independence, are well calculated to excite our warmest sym- pathies, and to enlist for her, the best wishes of the friends of civil and religious liberty every where.66 It is unjust towards the brave men, who are fighting her battles, and giving her a rank and a name among the Republics of the earth, to call them a band of adventurers, contending with Mexico, merely for the rich domains of that fertile and de- lightful region. They no doubt went to Mexico to better their condition in life; and for the same purpose did the Pilgrims go to New England. The laws of Mexico invited them to the country, and as early as 1820 gave them large grants of land on condition of settlement and cultivation. These laws of colonization, were enacted with a special view of attracting the bold and energetic citizens of the United States to Texas, for the double purpose of settling the country, and defending it against the numerous and warlike tribes of Indians who infested it. For the last fifteen years a large majority of its inhabitants have been emigrants from the United States; schooled in our free institutions, they carried with them a love of liberty and law, and were inclined to resist a despotism which governed only by the sword. The Constitution of Mexico, which were a confederation of States, faintly re- sembling our own, was overthrown by a commanding General.

65 This bill did not become law. See the introduction, p. 828. 370 Indiana Magazine of History

The Congress of the Confederation was dissolved by a military order, and by the same process was another convened; and a Government of central power established under the auspices of a successful military chief. The inquietudes and remonstrances of Texian liberty, were menaced and met by the arm of Mexican power, and a war of extermination waged upon the people. No friend of personal rights and free Gov- ernments, can read the history of their wrongs, without pronouncing their cause to be just, and their Declaration of Independence based as firmly on the rights of man, as was that of our own Revolution. The bloody and exterminating cruelties of the Mexican armies at the Alamo and Goliad, were gloriously and decisively reversed at the battle of San Jacinto, where the whole Mexican army was annihilated, and Santa Anna, her President and General, taken prisoner. A Constitution and Government similar to that of the United States, is in existence in Texas, and profiting by our example, she is advancing in the organization of her civil departments, with a rapidity unknown to our first years of self government. -With Santa Anna she has made a treaty acknowledging her independence of Mexico. The ratification of this, however, depends on his getting possession again of his authority at home, whether [sic] he has recently gone from this place. He was kindly received by President Jackson, by whose order he has been taken to Vera Cruz in a Government vessel. Our own late bickerings with Mexico, little to be feared as they are, will no doubt be entirely at an end, as soon as he shall have regained his authority. The question of the annexation of Texas as a State of this Union, is one, which will no doubt be presented and pressed at no distant day. It is one about which there are discordant opinions here, and every where. Whatever may be thought of this question, there is probably but one opinion on the subject of her independence.-Her independence of Mexico, every friend to civil and religious liberty must de- voutedly wish. Our Government will no doubt ere long ac- knowledge her independen~e,~~and whether annexed to this Union or not, she will be closely allied to us, and especially

67 Diplomatic recognition of Texas, where slavery was a prominent institution, had been delayed because of the possible effect on the election of 1836. Recognition was extended, however, on March 3, 1837, President Jackson’s last day in office. See Glyndon G. Van Deusen, The Jacksonian Era, 1828-1848 (New York, 1963), 109-10. Hendricks’ Circulars 371

to the Southern States, in affinities and interests, and in the genius and forms of her Government. The Government of Mexico is now, and has generally been since her independence of Spain, a wretched military despotism.-Revolutions only change its form; its spirit and genius remain the same, and the change produced by Santa Anna, in 1834, from confederation, to consolidation, tho’ much to be complained of on the part of the States, which were thus deprived of self government, was one li[t]tle felt or understood by the Spanish and Mexican population. In Texas alone the sword of liberty was drawn, for there the rights of the States, under a confederation, were prized and understood. Our foreign relations are in a condition of prosperity and peace. With the exception of Mexico, our intercourse with all the nations of the earth, is on a footing or [sic] perfect harmony and good will. Seldom has peace been more general on the earth, than at the present time. A civil war it is true prevails in Spain, and the affairs of Portugal are not entirely at rest. The recent expedition too of the French, has retired from Algiers in disaster and disgrace. But with a few such exceptions as these, a profound peace exists throughout the civilized world; the sword has returned to its scabbard, and men to the arts of peace. Another appropriation for the Cumberland Road in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois will, no doubt pass before the close of the present Session, and with such conditions as shall cause the expenditures hereaft[e]r in Indiana to be made along the line of the road, and not confined to one particular point, as was the case during the last year. Owing to that circumstance, a large amount of the appropriation of last year remains unexpended. To this balance, $100,000 will probably be added for our State, and the work it is hoped and believed will progress rapidly during the present year.68 The States of Arkansas and Michigan, have, at the present Session been admitted into the Union. The history of Michigan in connexion with her assumption of State character, is one of entire She had formed her Con-

6* The Cumberland Road appropriation contained the provisions here described. See Register of Debates, 24 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix 31 (March 3, 1837). This appendix has double pagination. Page numbers refer to the second set of pages. r;n See footnote 41 above. 372 Indiana Magazine of History

stitution, including within her boundaries a portion of the Territory of Indiana along our whole northern line; and a portion of Territory claimed by the State of Ohio, between our eastern boundary and the Maumee Bay, upon Lake Erie. With these boundaries she presented herself at the last Session, and demanded admission as a State of the Union. This was refused her, and a law passed, requiring her so to modify her Constitution in the article of boundary, as to exclude the disputed Territory. On this subject she has held within the last six months two conventions, the latter of which modified her boundaries as proposed by the law of last Session, and with boundaries thus modified, she has been admitted into the Union. The number of States is now twenty-six; eight of which have been admitted during the short period of my services in Congres; In 1816 Indiana was admitted into the Union. I had then the honor of being her first Representative. Since the admission of Indian [a], Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri, and now at the present Session, Arkansas and Michigan, have in suc- cession assumed the rank of Independent States. The Union has been greatly strengthened and extended within that short period. It now reaches from the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of Mexico. The Florida’s have been added by treaty, and our boundaries enlarged beyond the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. No epoch of our history is better calculated to portray the future enlargement, and grandeur, and destiny of this great Republic, than the last twenty years. The picture is one of dazzling national glory; and is only dimmed and obscured by our own discords and the prospects of disunion.-Twenty years ago, the Land Sales had for the past years, averaged less than $1,000,000 a year.-Last year they exceeded $26,000,000. In 1820 the population of the United States was 9,637,999 souls. In 1830 it amounted to 12,866,020, and at the present time it no doubt exceeds 15,000,000.-1n the course of a few ensuing years, three other new States must be formed and received into the Union. One on the Gulf of Mexico including the present Territory of Florida, and two on the Upper Mississippi, in the Territory of Wis- ~onsin.~O

Florida was admitted to the Union in 1845; Iowa and Wisconsin were admitted in 1846 and 1848 respectively. Hendricks’ Circulars 373

Nothing mars our view of unrivaled future prosperity, and of our march to it, so much as the condition of slavery in the Southern States, and the feeling and spirit of abolition which prevails in the North. This is the rock on which the vessel of the Union is likely to split. The condition of slavery in the Southern States, it is admitted by all, cannot always remain as it is. The free population of the South are continually draining in a greater or less degree to the North[.] This process is materially affecting that condition in the South. It is giving slavery more power, or rather the slave population greater comparative numbers than before. In addition to this, slaves are continually crowding further to the South. Slavery has long since been wholly abolished in New York and Pennsylvania, and all the States further North. There is little of it even now in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, will soon cease to de [sic] slaveholding States. -The slave population will be crowded into the States further South, where their numbers and physical power cannot fail to endanger the peace and safety of the whites. This is a gloomy picture, but in the ordinary course of events, it is sure to be realized. Still the non-slaveholding States have nothing to do with slavery in the Southern States. This is a matter of State regulation altogether. If the Union had not been formed, could the people north of the Potomac have interferred with slavery in the South? Surely not. The Union was formed without giving the Federal Government any power over the subject slave [except] in the District of Columbia.-Wisdom and patriotism itself, then, would say let this matter alone. Let the Southern States treat this delicate and dangerous subject in their own way. Let not the States and the people of the North hasten the evil day. Texas, whether annexed to the Union or not, is a great slave market for the South. It will induce the current of slave population there, and may divert and possibly prevent the disasters of a too great accumulation of slaves in the States furthest South. This may diffuse the slave population so as to diminish at all events the danger to be apprehended from it. A few days will terminate the present Session, and with it in all probability forever, the period of my public labors in the service of Indiana. It is not for me to say in what manner I have discharged the duties committed to my care. This however I might be permitted to say, and I hope I might 374 Indiana Magazine of History

say it without arrogance, that in every situation of public life to which I have been called, in no instance, has any consideration of personal interest, or ambition, been allowed to take place of the interests of the State. However humble may have been the talents and qualifications brought into her service, they have been faithfully employed in giving impulse to her best interests. Others may serve her with more ability, but none with more devotion, zeal and fidelity, than the humble indivi [d] ual, who owes [so much] to her partial- ity ond [sic] kindnes[s], and who now closes a public life, unsought, and unlooked for in its commencement, of twenty- one years.”-Whatever may have been the ardor and intensity of my zeal and industry in her service, and of my devotion to her interests; whatever may have been the buffetings of political life and the fiery ordeal through which I have passed, conscious I am, that I shall never cease to owe her a debt of gratitude, and one so large that I shall never be able to pay. Neither prosperity nor adversity can ever eradicate these things from my mind, or separate me in heart and affection from the people of the State. I have seen many days of her prosperity: in which she has grown and flourished like “a green bay tree.” I have seen many of her important interests rising into existence. Some of them in infancy have been especially committed to my care; some of these have since gained colossal size and strength, and now march forward with irresistible power, overcoming by their own energies every thing that comes in their way.-Such is the Wabash and Erie Canal, and the Cumberland Road. These were the first important public works commenced in our State and they are still, and ever will be, the main arteries in our system of internal improvement. Whilst I shall live to behold the waters of the Mississippi united with those of the Northern Lakes thro’ the Wabash and Erie Canal, I shall not cease to look back with pride and pleasure to the part it was my lot fo [sic] bear in giving impulse to that first and most magnifi- cent of our works of internal navigati~n.~~ With great respect. WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

71 Hendricks had been congressman from Indiana, 1816-1822; governor of Indiana, 1822-1825; and senator from Indiana, 1825-1837. 72 Hendricks had been the prime mover in obtaining federal authori- zation and support for the canal. See Hill, “William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constituents : First Senatorial Term, 1825-1831,” 129- 30.