In President John Quincy Adams first State of the Union Address, he encouraged Congress to think big, to build great things, and accomplish "works important to the whole and to which neither the authority nor the resources of any one State can be adequate?". Adams, prefaced his requests within the limits of the limited powers of the Constitution, but make no mistake this was no call for "small government". President Adams wanted to accomplish "gigantic strides in the career of public improvement". He challenged Congress by pointing to two grand achievements completed by individual states like New York and Virginia.
Erie Canal
In 1825, New York State completed the Erie Canal linking Lake Erie and all the Great Lakes to he Hudson River, New York and the Atlantic ocean. The canal spanned 363 miles and took eight years to complete. It was the largest construction project ever attempted in the United States at the time and employed 9,000 workers. On October 26, 1825 the canal opened for operations and Governor Dewitt Clinton celebrated the first trip down the canal as cannons went off along the entire length. It was a monumental event in America helping to open up the west, and was completed without any federal funding. Governor Clinton wanted federal funding, but when President Madison vetoed the Bonus Act on his last day in office, he and the state were forced to complete the project on their own.University of Virginia
Just about 400 miles south, near Charlottesville, the University of Virginia opened its doors for the first time on March 7th, 1825. The university started with five professors and a few dozen students but quickly added two additional professors grew to more then 100 students. Just 8 years earlier, on October 6, 1817 the cornerstone was laid with Presidents and founding fathers James Monroe, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson all in attendance. In 1824, Marquis de Lafayette toasted Thomas Jefferson as "father" of the University and under Jefferson's guidance the University of Virginia became the first in the United States to allow specializations outside of Medicine, Law or Religion. The University offered studies in Astronomy, Architecture, Botany, Philosophy and Political Science. It was a grand achievement, and was also done without the aid and support of the federal government.Adams first State of the Union Address
While many proponents of limited government today celebrate these achievements, President John Quincy Adams seemed to be a bit ashamed that the federal government had no achievements equal to that of New York or Virginia to point to. In 1825, there was a "spirit of improvement upon the earth", and the United States was not partaking of it. President John Quincy Adams hoped to change that. In his first state of the Union address, he reprimanded Congress for not thinking big enough, and for squandering the trust of the American people to accomplish "those grand works that an individual state did not have the authority to undertake and to which the whole union would benefit". Adams' words were quite elegant and well laid out. First he recognized the limited power granted to Congress under the Constitution and reminded them not to extend beyond "the exercise of powers not granted to you by the people"."The Constitution under which you are assembled is a charter of limited powers. After full and solemn deliberation upon all or any of the objects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my own duty, I have recommended to your attention should you come to the conclusion that, however desirable in themselves, the enactment of laws for effecting them would transcend the powers committed to you by that venerable instrument which we are all bound to support, let no consideration induce you to assume the exercise of powers not granted to you by the people."
Second, he reminded Congress of the enumerated the powers they do have. These include the exclusive legislation over the District of Columbia, the power to tax, the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, the power to build roads, the power to declare war and raise an army. Adams reminded Congress, that they had significant power, and that power was to be used effectively to improve agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, the arts, education and the sciences. To not make use of these powers for the benefit of the people, "would be to hide in the earth the talent committed to our charge -- would be treachery to the most sacred of trusts."
"But if the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases what so ever over the District of Columbia; if the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; if the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of weights and measures, to establish post offices and post roads, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying these powers into execution -- if these powers and others enumerated in the Constitution may be effectually brought into action by laws promoting the improvement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, the cultivation and encouragement of the mechanic and of the elegant arts, the advancement of literature, and the progress of the sciences, ornamental and profound, to refrain from exercising them for the benefit of the people themselves would be to hide in the earth the talent committed to our charge -- would be treachery to the most sacred of trusts."President Adams continued by writing about the "spirit of improvement" that was all over this earth, not just in America but in Europe as well. Adams spoke of the superiority of American democracy and the power of liberty. He talked of the moral responsibility of the United States, "the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty". Adams wrote that it is our moral responsibility to work to improve the condition of mankind. Here Adams, argues against those who would call for limited government. He warned that while foreign nations make great strides in public works and improvements, the government of the United States can not slumber or "fold up our arms" and claim that we are "palsied by the will of our constituents". For to do so, would leave us in "perpetual inferiority". Adams then pointed to the the University of Virginia and the Erie Canal as great accomplishments done by individual states. With that, he reprimanded Congress and his own office for falling behind "our fellow servants" in the states.
"The spirit of improvement is abroad upon the earth. It stimulates the hearts and sharpens the faculties not of our fellow citizens alone, but of the nations of Europe and of their rulers. While dwelling with pleasing satisfaction upon the superior excellence of our political institutions, let us not be unmindful that liberty is power; that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth, and that the tenure of power by man is, in the moral purposes of his Creator, upon condition that it shall be exercised to ends of beneficence, to improve the condition of himself and his fellow men.
While foreign nations less blessed with that freedom which is power than ourselves are advancing with gigantic strides in the career of public improvement, were we to slumber in indolence or fold up our arms and proclaim to the world that we are palsied by the will of our constituents, would it not be to cast away the bounties of Providence and doom ourselves to perpetual inferiority? In the course of the year now drawing to its close we have beheld, under the auspices and at the expense of one State of this Union, a new university unfolding its portals to the sons of science and holding up the torch of human improvement to eyes that seek the light. We have seen under the persevering and enlightened enterprise of another State the waters of our Western lakes mingle with those of the ocean. If undertakings like these have been accomplished in the compass of a few years by the authority of single members of our Confederation, can we, the representative authorities of the whole Union, fall behind our fellow servants in the exercise of the trust committed to us for the benefit of our common sovereign by the accomplishment of works important to the whole and to which neither the authority nor the resources of any one State can be adequate?"
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). John Quincy Adams: First Annual Message. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29467 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). University of Virginia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Virginia [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
Monticello.org. (2018). Timeline of the Founding of the University of Virginia. [online] Available at: https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/timeline-founding-university-virginia [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
Schulman, M. (2018). 1825 Erie Canal Opened. [online] Historycentral.com. Available at: http://www.historycentral.com/Ant/Eirie.html [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
Wagner, D. (2018). 1815 James Madison - Public Works. [online] Stateoftheunionhistory.com. Available at: http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2015/07/1815-james-madison-public-works.html [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
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