Title:  State of the Union Addresses of James Buchanan

Author:  James Buchanan

Release Date:  February, 2004 [EBook #5023] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 11, 2002] [Date last updated:  December 16, 2004]

Edition:  11

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

*** Start of the project gutenberg EBOOK of addresses by James Buchanan ***

This eBook was produced by James Linden.

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 to their consideration such measures” as I judge to be “necessary and expedient.”

But first and above all, our thanks are due to Almighty God for the numerous benefits which He has bestowed upon this people, and our united prayers ought to ascend to Him that He would continue to bless our great Republic in time to come as He has blessed it in time past.  Since the adjournment of the last Congress our constituents have enjoyed an unusual degree of health.  The earth has yielded her fruits abundantly and has bountifully rewarded the toil of the husbandman.  Our great staples have commanded high prices, and up till within a brief period our manufacturing, mineral, and mechanical occupations have largely partaken of the general prosperity.  We have possessed all the elements of material wealth in rich abundance, and yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, our country in its monetary interests is at the present moment in a deplorable condition.  In the midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the productions of agriculture and in all the elements of national wealth, we find our manufactures suspended, our public works retarded, our private enterprises of different kinds abandoned, and thousands of useful laborers thrown out of employment and reduced to want.  The revenue of the Government, which is chiefly derived from duties on imports from abroad, has been greatly reduced, whilst the appropriations made by Congress at its last session for the current fiscal year are very large in amount.

Under these circumstances a loan may be required before the close of your present session; but this, although deeply to be regretted, would prove to be only a slight misfortune when compared with the suffering and distress prevailing among the people.  With this the Government can not fail deeply to sympathize, though it may be without the power to extend relief.