chasing tracts of country from the Indians, for opening
roads to the remote settlements, and for accelerating the increase of
civilization as much as possible. New States have, however, been formed
in the course of time, in the midst of those wilds which were formerly
ceded by the inhabitants of the shores of the Atlantic. Congress has
gone on to sell, for the profit of the nation at large, the uncultivated
lands which those new States contained. But the latter at length
asserted that, as they were now fully constituted, they ought to enjoy
the exclusive right of converting the produce of these sales to their
own use. As their remonstrances became more and more threatening,
Congress thought fit to deprive the Union of a portion of the privileges
which it had hitherto enjoyed; and at the end of 1832 it passed a law
by which the greatest part of the revenue derived from the sale of
lands was made over to the new western republics, although the lands
themselves were not ceded to them. *y

[Footnote x: The first act of session was made by the State of New York
in 1780; Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South and North Carolina,
followed this example at different times, and lastly, the act of cession
of Georgia was made as recently as 1802.]

[Footnote y: It is true that the President refused his assent to this
law; but he completely adopted it in principle. (See Message of December
8, 1833.)]

The slightest observation in the United States enables one to appreciate
the advantages which the country derives from the bank. These advantages
are of several kinds, but one of them is peculiarly striking to the
stranger. The banknotes of the United States are taken upon the borders
of the desert for the same value as at Philadelphia, where the bank
conducts its operations. *z

[Footnote z: The present Bank of the United States was established in
1816, with a capital of $35,000,000; its charter expires in 1836. Last
year Congress passed a law to renew it, but the President put his veto
upon the bill. The struggle is still going on with great violence on
either side, and the speedy fall of the bank may easily be foreseen. [It
was soon afterwards extinguished by General Jackson.]]

The Bank of the United States is nevertheless the object of great
animosity. Its directors have proclaimed their hostility to the
President: and they are accused, not without some show of probability,
of having abused their influence to thwart his