All my experience and reflection confirm the conviction I have so often expressed to Congress in favor of an amendment of the Constitution which will prevent in any event the election of the President and Vice-President of the United States devolving on the House of Representatives and the Senate, and I therefore beg leave again to solicit your attention to the subject. There were various other suggestions in my last annual message not acted upon, particularly that relating to the want of uniformity in the laws of the District of Columbia, that are deemed worthy of your favorable consideration.
Before concluding this paper I think it due to the various Executive Departments to bear testimony to their prosperous condition and to the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of the public business, and it is gratifying to me to believe that there is no just cause of complaint from any quarter at the manner in which they have fulfilled the objects of their creation.
Having now finished the observations deemed proper on this the last occasion I shall have of communicating with the two Houses of Congress at their meeting, I can not omit an expression of the gratitude which is due to the great body of my fellow-citizens, in whose partiality and indulgence I have found encouragement and support in the many difficult and trying scenes through which it has been my lot to pass during my public career. Though deeply sensible that my exertions have not been crowned with a success corresponding to the degree of favor bestowed upon me, I am sure that they will be considered as having been directed by an earnest desire to promote the good of my country, and I am consoled by the persuasion that whatever errors have been committed will find a corrective in the intelligence and patriotism of those who will succeed us. All that has occurred during my Administration is calculated to inspire me with increased confidence in the stability of our institutions; and should I be spared to enter upon that retirement which is so suitable to my age and infirm health and so much desired by me in other respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent Being to whose providence we are already so signally indebted for the continuance of His blessings on our beloved country.
ANDREW JACKSON.
A.—Statement of distribution of surplus revenue of $30,000,000 among the several States, agreeably to the number of electoral votes for President and according to the constitutional mode of direct taxation by representative population, and the difference arising from those two modes of distribution, as per census of 1830.
S Representative Elect- Share Share Difference Difference
t population oral according according in favor in favor
a vote to system to of direct of
t of direct electoral tax electoral
e taxation vote mode vote mode
ME 399,454 10 $999,371 $1,020,408 $21,037
NH 269,327 7 673,813 714,286 40,473
MA 610,408 14 1,527,144 1,428,571 $98,573
RI 97,192 4 243,159 408,163 165,004
CT 297,665 8 744,711 816,327 71,616
VT 280,652 7 702,147 714,286 12,139
NY 1,918,578 42 4,799,978 4,285,714 514,264
NJ 319,921 8 800,392 816,427 15,935
PA 1,348,072 30 3,372,662 3,061,225 311,437
DE 75,431 3 188,716 306,122 117,406
MD 405,842 10 1,015,352 1,020,408 5,056
VA 1,023,502 23 2,560 640 2,346,939 213,701
NC 639,747 15 1,600,546 1,530,612 69,934
SC 455,025 11 1,138,400 1,122,449 15,951
GA 429,811 11 1,075,319 1,122,449 47,130
AL 262,307 7 656,751 714,286 57,535
MS 110,357 4 276,096 408,163 132,067
LA 171,904 5 430,076 510,204 80,128
TN 625,263 15 1,564,309 1,530,612 33,697
KY 621,832 15 1,555,725 1,530,612 25,113
OH 937,901 21 2,346,479 2,142,858 203,621
IN 343,030 9 858,206 918,368 60,162
IL 157,146 5 393,154 510,204 117,050
MO 130,419 4 326,288 408,163 81,875
AR 28,557 3 71,445 306,122 234,677
MI 31,625 3 79,121 306,102 227,001
Total
11,991,168 294 30,000,000 30,000,000 1,486,291 1,486,291
[Transcriber's Note: State names abbreviated to reduce column width.]
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1836.
To the Senate and House of Representatives: