d in this act. Many of our rich men have not
been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought
us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify
their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section
against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a
fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union.
It is time to pause in our career to review our principles, and if
possible revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which
distinguished the sages of the Revolution and the fathers of our Union.
If we can not at once, in justice to interests vested under improvident
legislation, make our Government what it ought to be, we can at least
take a stand against all new grants of monopolies and exclusive
privileges, against any prostitution of our Government to the
advancement of the few at the expense of the many, and in favor of
compromise and gradual reform in our code of laws and system of
political economy.

I have now done my duty to my country. If sustained by my fellow
citizens, I shall be grateful and happy; if not, I shall find in the
motives which impel me ample grounds for contentment and peace. In the
difficulties which surround us and the dangers which threaten our
institutions there is cause for neither dismay nor alarm. For relief and
deliverance let us firmly rely on that kind Providence which I am sure
watches with peculiar care over the destinies of our Republic, and on
the intelligence and wisdom of our countrymen. Through _His_ abundant
goodness and _their_ patriotic devotion our liberty and Union will be
preserved.

ANDREW JACKSON.

FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

_December 4, 1832_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

It gives me pleasure to congratulate you upon your return to the seat of
Government for the purpose of discharging your duties to the people of
the United States. Although the pestilence which had traversed the Old
World has entered our limits and extended its ravages over much of our
land, it has pleased Almighty God to mitigate its severity and lessen
the number of its victims compared with those who have fallen in most
other countries over which it has spread its terrors. Notwithstanding
this visitation, our country presents on every side marks of prosperity
and happiness unequaled, perhaps, in any other portion of the world. If
we fully appreciate