ereunto annexed. As this officer, after a careful
and laborious examination of the bill and a distinct expression of his
opinion on the points proposed to him still came to the conclusion
that the construction of the bill, should it become a law, would yet
be a subject of much perplexity and doubt (a view of the bill entirely
coincident with my own), and as I can not think it proper, in a matter
of such vital interest and of such constant application, to approve a
bill so liable to diversity of interpretations, and more especially as
I have not had time, amid the duties constantly pressing on me, to give
the subject that deliberate consideration which its importance demands,
I am constrained to retain the bill, without acting definitively
thereon; and to the end that my reasons for this step may be fully
understood I shall cause this paper, with the opinion of the
Attorney-General and the bill in question, to be deposited in the
Department of State.

ANDREW JACKSON.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_March 3, 1837_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: I have had the honor to receive the several questions proposed to
me by you on the bill which has just passed the two Houses of Congress,
entitled "An act designating and limiting the funds receivable for
the revenues of the United States," and which is now before you for
consideration. These questions may be arranged under three general
heads, and in that order I shall proceed to reply to them.

I. Will the proposed bill, if approved, repeal or alter the laws now in
force designating the currency required to be received in payment of the
public dues, for lands or otherwise?

Will it compel the Treasury officers to receive the notes of
specie-paying banks having the characteristics described in its first
and second sections?

In what respect does it differ from and how far will it change the joint
resolution of April 30, 1816?

_Answer_. In order to a correct reply to this question, and indeed to
any other question arising on this obscurely penned bill, we must first
obtain a general view of all its provisions.

The first section requires the Secretary of the Treasury to take
measures for collecting the public revenue, first, in the legal currency
of the United States (i.e., gold and silver), or, second, in the notes
of such specie-paying banks as shall from time to time conform to
certain conditions in regard to small bills, described in the section.
T