The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by James Buchanan in this eBook:
December 8, 1857
December 6, 1858
December 19, 1859
December 3, 1860
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State of the Union Address
James Buchanan
December 8, 1857
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
In obedience to the command of the Constitution, it has now become my duty"to give to Congress information of the state of the Union and recommend totheir consideration such measures" as I judge to be "necessary andexpedient."
But first and above all, our thanks are due to Almighty God for thenumerous benefits which He has bestowed upon this people, and our unitedprayers ought to ascend to Him that He would continue to bless our greatRepublic in time to come as He has blessed it in time past. Since theadjournment of the last Congress our constituents have enjoyed an unusualdegree of health. The earth has yielded her fruits abundantly and hasbountifully rewarded the toil of the husbandman. Our great staples havecommanded high prices, and up till within a brief period our manufacturing,mineral, and mechanical occupations have largely partaken of the generalprosperity. We have possessed all the elements of material wealth in richabundance, and yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, our country inits monetary interests is at the present moment in a deplorable condition.In the midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the productions of agricultureand in all the elements of national wealth, we find our manufacturessuspended, our public works retarded, our private enterprises of differentkinds abandoned, and thousands of useful laborers thrown out of employmentand reduced to want. The revenue of the Government, which is chieflyderived from duties on imports from abroad, has been greatly reduced,whilst the appropriations made by Congress at its last session for thecurrent fiscal year are very large in amount.
Under these circumstances a loan may be required before the close of yourpresent session; but this, although deeply to be regretted, would prove tobe only a slight misfortune when compared with the suffering and distressprevailing among the people. With this the Government can not fail deeplyto sympathize, though it may be without the power to extend relief.
It is our duty to inquire what has produced such unfortunate results andwhether their recurrence can be prevented. In all former revulsions theblame might have been fairly attributed to a variety of cooperating causes,but not so upon the present occasion. It is apparent that our existingmisfortunes have proceeded solely from our extravagant and vicious systemof paper currency and bank credits, exciting the people to wildspeculations and gambling in stocks. These revulsions must continue torecur at successive intervals so long as the amount of the paper currencyand bank loans and discounts of the country shall be left to the discretionof 1,400 irresponsible banking institutions, which from the very law oftheir nature will consult the interest of their stockholders rather thanthe public welfare.
The framers of the Constitution, when they gave to Congress the power "tocoin money and to regulate the value thereof" and prohibited the Statesfrom coining money, emitting bills of credit, or making anything but goldand silver coin a tender in payment of debts, su