FROM THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

TO THE

TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS,

AT

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SECOND SESSION

OF THE

FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS,

WITH THE

REPORTS OF THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS,

AND

SELECTIONS FROM ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS.

EDITED BY

BEN: PERLEY POORE,

CLERK OF PRINTING RECORDS.

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

1870.

Prepared in accordance with the following provisions of "An act to expedite and regulate the printing of public documents, and for other purposes," approved June 25, 1864:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter, instead of furnishing manuscript copies of the documents usually accompanying their annual reports to each House of Congress, the heads of the several departments of government shall transmit them, on or before the first day of November in each year, to the Superintendent of Public Printing, who shall cause to be printed the usual number, and, in addition thereto, one thousand copies for the use of the Senate and two thousand copies for the use of the House of Representatives. And that it shall be the duty of the Joint Committee on Printing to appoint some competent person, who shall edit and select such portions of the documents so placed in their hands as shall, in the judgment of the committee, be desirable for popular distribution, and to prepare an alphabetical index to the same.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the heads of the several departments of government to furnish the Superintendent of Public Printing with copies of their respective reports on or before the third Monday in November in each year. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Superintendent of Public Printing to print the President's message, the reports of the heads of departments, and the abridgment of accompanying documents prepared under the direction of the Joint Committee on Public Printing, suitably bound; and that, in addition to the number now required by law, and unless otherwise ordered by either House of Congress, it shall be his duty to print ten thousand copies of the same for the use of the Senate, and twenty-five thousand copies for the use of the House, and to deliver the same to the proper officer of each House, respectively, on or before the third Wednesday in December following the assembling of Congress, or as soon thereafter as practicable.

MESSAGE

OF THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

In coming before you for the first time as Chief Magistrate of this great nation it is with gratitude to the Giver of all good for the many benefits we enjoy: we are blessed with peace at home, and are without entangling alliances abroad to forebode trouble; with a territory unsurpassed in fertility, of an area equal to the abundant support of five hundred millions of people, and abounding in every variety of useful mineral in quantity sufficient to supply the world for generations; with exuberant crops; with a variety of climate adapted to the production of every species of earth's riches, and suited to the habits, tastes, and requirements of every living thing; with a population of forty millions of free people, all speaking one language; with facilities for every mortal to acquire an education; with institutions closing to none the avenues to fame or any blessing of fortune that may be coveted; with freedom of the pulpit, the press, and the school; with a revenue flowing into the national treasury beyond the requirements of the government. Happily, harmony is being rapidly restored within our own borders. Manufactures hitherto unknown in our country are springing up in all sections, producing a degree of national independence unequaled by that of any other power.

These blessings and countless others are intrusted to your care and mine for safe-keeping for the brief period of our tenure of office. In a short time we must, each of us, return to the ranks of the people who have conferred upon us our honors, and account to them for our stewardship. I earnestly desire that neither you nor I may be condemned by a free and enlightened constituency, nor by our own consciences.

Emerging from a rebellion of gigantic magnitude, aided as it was by the sympathies and assistance of nations with which we were at peace, eleven States of the Union were, four years ago, left without legal State governments. A national debt had been contracted; American commerce was almost driven from the seas; the industry of one-half of the country had been taken from the control of the capitalist and placed