1829 Andrew Jackson - no more ships of war

During Andrew Jackson's two terms as President, he nearly tripled the Navy's budget as part of his vision to establish the Navy as the vital protector of American commerce.  Andrew Jackson oversaw the greatest peace time expansion of the Navy in the first half-century of our nation.  In 1831 alone, Jackson authorized, built or purchased eight ships-of-war, yet in 1829, Andrew Jackson wrote "In time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite to the protection of our commerce".  Taken out of context, these words may seem contradictory, but Jackson is not suggesting that we build less ships, rather he is suggesting that the money be spent on repairing existing ships of war and improving our ship-making process.   It was the first step in rebuilding our navy, and an effort to keep the promise that Jackson made during his inaugural address for a "gradual increase of our Navy".  It was also a full support of suggestions made by his Secretary of Navy, John Branch.

To better understand the words that Jackson wrote, we need review the annual report of his first Secretary of the Navy, John Branch.  As Secretary of the Navy, Branch promoted several reforms in the Navy including procedures to keep existing vessels in better repair and reducing the resources directed at the construction of new ships.    In Branch's annual report, he reported that many of the ships-of-war were "in a state of premature and rapid decay" and were being "laid up in ordinary" in local yards placed under general supervision of the yard commanders who had little time to devote to them.   Because of this, the vessels were being exposed to the elements season after season, leading to rapid and sudden destruction of the very ships-of-war that are national security depends on.   Secretary Branch reported that this was a huge waste of money and resources, "too glaring not to have been noticed, and too ruinously wasteful not to have been discontinued as soon as perceived".  Thus, Branch provided to the President a report from the Commissioners with suggested measures for "preventing the progress of an evil" which threatened all the efforts of the nation to establish an effective navy.   Secretary Branch went on to suggest that the right policy for the U.S. government to take now would be to discontinue the building of new ships-of-war, repair existing ships, build the necessary docks for their storage, and put the ship's commander in charge.  Doing so, would require an increased budget, but would end the rapid decay of the existing ships-of war and provide "a marine force which could be made to act promptly and efficiently for its defence".   This required a major shift in the current policies of the Navy.  Currently, the Navy's established regulations committed the commanders of each yards to rush any repairs and incur as little expense as possible before sending the ship back out to seas.  Because of this, our ships were often forced to stop in a foreign port to obtain requisite supplies and repairs.  It was not only a very inefficient and costly system, but hazardous during times of peace and extremely dangerous during times of war.


President Jackson heartily agreed with his Secretary of Navy and wrote that he "deem[ed] it unnecessary to do more than express my hearty concurrence in their views".   Yes, Jackson wrote "in time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite to the protection of our commerce", but only because he fully supported Branch's proposal to increase the Navy budget to stop the rapid decay of our current ships-of-war that were laying in the harbors without proper cover.  Jackson shared the view that "many of our finest vessels" now required "immense sums of money" to restore them back to when they were first committed.  Jackson also, agreed that "judicious deposits" of timber and other materials were needed in our navy yards to enable to not only do proper repairs, but also "construct vessels as fast as they can be manned".   Jackson had no intentions to scale back on the number of ships in the Navy, but rather he believed it was right to step back and prepare our Navy yards to not only better maintain our current vessels but improve the speed and decrease the cost of building new ones.   Jackson's words did not contradict his actions but instead described what he saw as the first step in the greatest expansion of the Navy during a time of peace to date.

Here is the full excerpt on the subject from Andrew Jackson's first State of the Union Address, 182

"In time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite to the protection of our commerce. Those not wanted for this object must lay in the harbors, where without proper covering they rapidly decay, and even under the best precautions for their preservation must soon become useless. Such is already the case with many of our finest vessels, which, though unfinished, will now require immense sums of money to be restored to the condition in which they were when committed to their proper element.
On this subject there can be but little doubt that our best policy would be to discontinue the building of ships of the first and second class, and look rather to the possession of ample materials, prepared for the emergencies of war, than to the number of vessels which we can float in a season of peace, as the index of our naval power. Judicious deposits in navy yards of timber and other materials, fashioned under the hands of skillful work-men and fitted for prompt application to their various purposes, would enable us at all times to construct vessels as fast as they can be manned, and save the heavy expense of repairs, except to such vessels as must be employed in guarding our commerce.
The proper points for the establishment of these yards are indicated with so much force in the report of the Navy Board that in recommending it to your attention I deem it unnecessary to do more than express my hearty concurrence in their views. The yard in this District, being already furnished with most of the machinery necessary for ship building, will be competent to the supply of the two selected by the Board as the best for the concentration of materials, and, from the facility and certainty of communication between them, it will be useless to incur at those depots the expense of similar machinery, especially that used in preparing the usual metallic and wooden furniture of vessels."

Shown in the picture above is the USS Pennsylvania launched in 1837.   This three-decked ship of the line of the United States Navy was the largest sailing warship ever built in the United States. 

Andrew Jackson followed up on this subject in his second State of the Union address, when he again urged Congress to make the modifications mentioned in his first Annual Address.

"I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a highly satisfactory account of the manner in which the concerns of that Department have been conducted during the present year. Our position in relation to the most powerful nations of the earth, and the present condition of Europe, admonish us to cherish this arm of our national defense with peculiar care. Separated by wide seas from all those Governments whose power we might have reason to dread, we have nothing to apprehend from attempts at conquest. It is chiefly attacks upon our commerce and harrassing in-roads upon our coast against which we have to guard. A naval force adequate to the protection of our commerce, always afloat, with an accumulation of the means to give it a rapid extension in case of need, furnishes the power by which all such aggressions may be prevented or repelled. The attention of the Government has therefore been recently directed more to preserving the public vessels already built and providing materials to be placed in depot for future use than to increasing their number. With the aid of Congress, in a few years the Government will be prepared in case of emergency to put afloat a powerful navy of new ships almost as soon as old ones could be repaired. 

The modifications in this part of the service suggested in my last annual message, which are noticed more in detail in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, are again recommended to your serious attention."

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). First Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/first-annual-message-3 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2018].

Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). SEcond Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/second-annual-message-3 [Accessed 26 Mar. 2019].

Avalon.law.yale.edu. (2018). The Avalon Project : First Inaugural Address of Andrew Jackson. [online] Available at: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jackson1.asp [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018].

En.wikipedia.org. (2018). John Branch. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Branch [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018].

History.navy.mil. (2018). Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy - 1829. [online] Available at: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/secnav-reports/annual-report-secretary-navy-1829.html [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018].

The National Interest. (2018). Selecting a Secretary of the Navy: The Andrew Jackson Way. [online] Available at: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/selecting-secretary-the-navy-the-andrew-jackson-way-19618 [Accessed 27 Nov. 2018].