butaries and the vast lakes of the North and Northwest appear to me
to fall within the exercise of the power as justly and as clearly as the
ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a mistake to regard expenditures
judiciously made for these objects as expenditures for local purposes.
The position or sight of the work is necessarily local, but its utility
is general. A ship canal around the Falls of St. Mary of less than a
mile in length, though local in its construction, would yet be national
in its purpose and its benefits, as it would remove the only obstruction
to a navigation of more than 1,000 miles, affecting several States, as
well as our commercial relations with Canada. So, too, the breakwater at
the mouth of the Delaware is erected, not for the exclusive benefit of
the States bordering on the bay and river of that name, but for that
of the whole coastwise navigation of the United States and, to a
considerable extent, also of foreign commerce. If a ship be lost on the
bar at the entrance of a Southern port for want of sufficient depth of
water, it is very likely to be a Northern ship; and if a steamboat be
sunk in any part of the Mississippi on account of its channel not having
been properly cleared of obstructions, it may be a boat belonging to
either of eight or ten States. I may add, as somewhat remarkable, that
among all the thirty-one States there is none that is not to a greater
or less extent bounded on the ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico, or one of
the Great Lakes, or some navigable river.

In fulfilling our constitutional duties, fellow-citizens, on this
subject, as in carrying into effect all other powers conferred by the
Constitution, we should consider ourselves as deliberating and acting
for one and the same country, and bear constantly in mind that our
regard and our duty are due not to a particular part only, but to the
whole.

I therefore recommend that appropriations be made for completing such
works as have been already begun and for commencing such others as may
seem to the wisdom of Congress to be of public and general importance.

The difficulties and delays incident to the settlement of private claims
by Congress amount in many cases to a denial of justice. There is reason
to apprehend that many unfortunate creditors of the Government have
thereby been unavoidably ruined. Congress has so much business of a
public character that it is impossible it should give much attention to
mere private clai