money for works of internal improvement
which were so wisely arrested by the constitutional interposition of my
predecessor, and which, if they had not been so checked, would long
before this time have involved the finances of the General Government
in embarrassments far greater than those which are now experienced by
any of the States; of limiting all our expenditures to that simple,
unostentatious, and economical administration of public affairs which is
alone consistent with the character of our institutions; of collecting
annually from the customs, and the sales of public lands a revenue fully
adequate to defray all the expenses thus incurred; but under no pretense
whatsoever to impose taxes upon the people to a greater amount than was
actually necessary to the public service conducted upon the principles
I have stated.

In lieu of a national bank or a dependence upon banks of any
description for the management of our fiscal affairs, I recommended
the adoption of the system which is now in successful operation.
That system affords every requisite facility for the transaction of
the pecuniary concerns of the Government; will, it is confidently
anticipated, produce in other respects many of the benefits which have
been from time to time expected from the creation of a national bank,
but which have never been realized; avoid the manifold evils inseparable
from such an institution; diminish to a greater extent than could be
accomplished by any other measure of reform the patronage of the Federal
Government--a wise policy in all governments, but more especially so in
one like ours, which works well only in proportion as it is made to rely
for its support upon the unbiased and unadulterated opinions of its
constituents; do away forever all dependence on corporate bodies either
in the raising, collecting, safekeeping, or disbursing the public
revenues, and place the Government equally above the temptation of
fostering a dangerous and unconstitutional institution at home or the
necessity of adapting its policy to the views and interests of a still
more formidable money power abroad.

It is by adopting and carrying out these principles under circumstances
the most arduous and discouraging that the attempt has been made, thus
far successfully, to demonstrate to the people of the United States that
a national bank at all times, and a national debt except it be incurred
at a period when the honor and safety of the nation dema