Given under my hand the 1st day of May, 1816.
JAMES MADISON.
By the President:
JOSIAH MEIGS,
_Commissioner of the General Land Office_.
EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
DECEMBER 3, 1816.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
In reviewing the present state of our country, our attention can not be
withheld from the effect produced by peculiar seasons which have very
generally impaired the annual gifts of the earth and threatened scarcity
in particular districts. Such, however, is the variety of soils, of
climates, and of products within our extensive limits that the aggregate
resources for subsistence are more than sufficient for the aggregate
wants. And as far as an economy of consumption, more than usual, may be
necessary, our thankfulness is due to Providence for what is far more
than a compensation, in the remarkable health which has distinguished
the present year.
Amidst the advantages which have succeeded the peace of Europe, and that
of the United States with Great Britain, in a general invigoration of
industry among us and in the extension of our commerce, the value of
which is more and more disclosing itself to commercial nations, it is
to be regretted that a depression is experienced by particular branches
of our manufactures and by a portion of our navigation. As the first
proceeds in an essential degree from an excess of imported merchandise,
which carries a check in its own tendency, the cause in its present
extent can not be of very long duration.
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