of Representatives
as _ex parte_ and extrajudicial. I protest against it as subversive of
the common right of all citizens to be condemned only upon a fair and
impartial trial, according to law and evidence, before the country.
I protest against it as destructive of all the comity of intercourse
between the departments of this Government, and destined sooner or
later to lead to conflicts fatal to the peace of the country and the
integrity of the Constitution. I protest against it in the name of that
Constitution which is not only my own shield of protection and defense,
but that of every American citizen. I protest against it in the name of
the people, by whose will I stand where I do, by whose authority I
exercised the power which I am charged with having usurped, and to whom
I am responsible for a firm and faithful discharge according to my own
convictions of duty of the high stewardship confided to me by them.
I protest against it in the name of all regulated liberty and all
limited government as a proceeding tending to the utter destruction
of the checks and balances of the Constitution and the accumulating
in the hands of the House of Representatives, or a bare majority of
Congress for the time being, an uncontrolled and despotic power. And
I respectfully ask that this my protest may be entered upon the Journal
of the House of Representatives as a solemn and formal declaration for
all time to come against the injustice and unconstitutionality of such
a proceeding.

JOHN TYLER.

SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1842_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

We have continued reason to express our profound gratitude to the Great
Creator of All Things for numberless benefits conferred upon us as a
people. Blessed with genial seasons, the husbandman has his garners
filled with abundance, and the necessaries of life, not to speak of its
luxuries, abound in every direction. While in some other nations steady
and industrious labor can hardly find the means of subsistence, the
greatest evil which we have to encounter is a surplus of production
beyond the home demand, which seeks, and with difficulty finds, a
partial market in other regions. The health of the country, with partial
exceptions, has for the past year been well preserved, and under their
free and wise institutions the United States are rapidly advancing
toward the consummation of the high destiny which