rnment to that simple machine which the
Constitution created and of withdrawing from the States all other
influence than that of its universal beneficence in preserving peace,
affording an uniform currency, maintaining the inviolability of
contracts, diffusing intelligence, and discharging unfelt its other
superintending functions, I recommend that provision be made to dispose
of all stocks now held by it in corporations, whether created by the
General or State Governments, and placing the proceeds in the Treasury.
As a source of profit these stocks are of little or no value; as a means
of influence among the States they are adverse to the purity of our
institutions. The whole principle on which they are based is deemed by
many unconstitutional, and to persist in the policy which they indicate
is considered wholly inexpedient.

It is my duty to acquaint you with an arrangement made by the Bank of
the United States with a portion of the holders of the 3 per cent stock,
by which the Government will be deprived of the use of the public funds
longer than was anticipated. By this arrangement, which will be
particularly explained by the Secretary of the Treasury, a surrender of
the certificates of this stock may be postponed until October, 1833, and
thus the liability of the Government, after its ability to discharge the
debt, may be continued by the failure of the bank to perform its duties.

Such measures as are within the reach of the Secretary of the Treasury
have been taken to enable him to judge whether the public deposits in
that institution may be regarded as entirely safe; but as his limited
power may prove inadequate to this object, I recommend the subject to
the attention of Congress, under the firm belief that it is worthy of
their serious investigation. An inquiry into the transactions of the
institution, embracing the branches as well as the principal bank, seems
called for by the credit which is given throughout the country to many
serious charges impeaching its character, and which if true may justly
excite the apprehension that it is no longer a safe depository of the
money of the people.

Among the interests which merit the consideration of Congress after the
payment of the public debt, one of the most important, in my view, is
that of the public lands. Previous to the formation of our present
Constitution it was recommended by Congress that a portion of the waste
lands owned by the States should be ceded