CHAP. C X X X I. — An Act revising and amending the Laws relative to the Mints, Assay- offices, and Coinage o f the United States. B e it enacted by the Senate and Home o f Representatives o f the United States o f America in Congress assembled, That the mint o f the United States is hereby established as a bureau o f the Treasury Department, embracing in its- organization and under its control all mints for the manufacture o f coin, and all assay-offices for the stamping o f bars, which are now, or which may be hereafter, authorized by law. The chief officer o f the said bureau shall be denominated the director o f the mint, and shall be under the general direction of the Secretary o f the Treasury. He shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent o f the Senate, and shall hold his office for the term o f five years, unless sooner removed by the President, upon reasons to be communicated by him to the Senate. Sec. 2. That the director o f the mint shall have the general super vision of all mints and assay-offices, and shall make an annual report to the Secretary o f the Treasury of their operations, at the close of each fiscal year, and from time to time such additional reports, setting forth the operations and condition o f such institutions, as the Secretary o f the Treasury shall require, and shall lay before him the annual estimates for their support. And the Secretary o f the Treasury shall appoint the number of clerks, classified according to law, necessary to discharge the duties o f said bureau. Sec. 3. That the officers o f each mint shall be a superintendent, an assayer, a melter and refiner, and a coiner, and for the mint at Philadelphia, an engraver, all to be appointed by the President o f the United States, by'and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Sec. 4. That the superintendent o f each mint shall have the control thereof, the superintendence of the officers and persons employed therein, and the supervision o f the business thereof, subject to the approval o f the director of the mint, to whom he shall make reports at such times and according to such forms as the director o f the mint may prescribe, which shall exhibit, in detail, and under appropriate heads, the deposits of bullion, the amount o f gold, silver, and minor coinage, and the amount of un parted, standard, and refined bars issued, and such other statistics and information as may be required. The superintendent o f each mint shall also receive and safely keep, until legally withdrawn, all moneys or bul lion which shall be for the use or the expenses o f the mint. He shall receive all bullion brought to the mint for assay or coinage; shall be the keeper o f all bullion or coin in the mint, except while the same is. legally in the hands o f other officers ; and shall deliver all coins struck at the mint to the persons to whom they shall be legally payable. From the report of the assayer and the weight o f the bullion, he shall compute the value of each deposit, and also the amount o f the charges or deductions, if any, o f all which he shall give a detailed memorandum to the depositor; and he shall also give at the same time, under his hand, a certificate of the net amount of the deposit, to be paid in coins or bars o f the same-species o f bullion as that deposited, the correctness o f which certificate shall be verified by the assayer, who shall countersign the same; and in all cases o f transfer o f coin or bullion, he shall give and receive vouchers, stating the amount and character o f such coin or bullion, lie shall keep and render, quarter-yearly, to the director of the mint, for the purpose o f adjustment, according to such forms as may be prescribed by the Secretary o f the Treasury, regular and faithful accounts of his transactions with the other officers of the mint and the depositors; and shall also render to him a monthly statement of the ordinary expenses of the mint or assay-office under his charge. He shall also appoint all assistants, clerks, (one o f whom shall be designated “ chief clerk,” ) and workmen employed under his superintendence; but no person shall be appointed to employment in the offices o f the assayer, melter and refiner, coiner, or engraver, except on the recommendation and nomination in &*ces of assa>rer' writing of those officers, respectively; and he shall forthwith report to Appointments the director of the mint the names o f all persons appointed by him, the jyrectorP and a 10 duties to be performed, the rate of feompensation, the appropriation from proveOyViruT which compensation is to be made, and the grounds o f the appointment; and if the director of the mint shall disapprove the same, the appointment shall be vacated. Sec . 5 . That the assayer shall assay al metals and bullion, whenever Assayer’s du- such assays are required in the operations of the m int; he shall also ties, make assays o f coins or samples of bullion whenever required by the super intendent. Sec. 6. That the melter and refiner shall execute all the operations Melter and which are necessary in order to form ingots o f standard silver or gold, refiner, and alloys for minor coinage, suitable for the coiner, from the metals legally delivered to him for that purpose; and shall also execute all the operations which are necessary in order to form bars conformable in all respects to the law, from the gold and silver bullion delivered to him for that purpose. He shall keep a careful record of all transactions with the superintendent, noting the weight and character o f the bullion; and shall be responsible for all bullion delivered to him until the same is returned to the superintendent and the proper vouchers obtained. Sec. 7. That the coiner shall execute all the operations which are Coiner, necessary in order to form coins, conformable in all respects to the law, from the standard gold and silver ingots, and alloys for minor coinage, legally delivered to him for that purpose; and shall be responsible for all bullion delivered to him, until the same is returned to the superintendent and the proper vouchers obtained. Sec. 8. That the engraver shall prepare from the original dies already Engravei. authorized all the working-dies required for use in the coinage of the sev eral mints, and, when new coins or devices are authorized, shall, if required New coins or by the director o f the mint, prepare the devices, models, moulds, and devlces- matrices, or original dies, for the same; but the director o f the mint shall nevertheless have power, with the approval of the Secretary o f the Treasury, to engage temporarily for this purpose the services o f one or more artists distinguished in their respective departments of art, who shall be paid for such service from the contingent appropriation for the mint at Philadelphia. Sec. 9. That whenever any officer o f a mint or assay-office shall be If any officer a temporarily absent, on account o f sickness or any other cause, it shall be abseuti &c,s lawful for the superintendent, with the consent of said officer, to appoint some person attached to the mint to act in the place o f such officer during his absence ; but all such appointments shall be forthwith reported to the director of the mint for his approval; and in all cases whatsoever the principal shall be responsible for the acts of his representative. In case superintend- o f the temporary absence of the superintendent, the chief clerk shall act enti in his place ; and in case of the temporary absence o f the director o f the director, mint, the Secretary o f the Treasury may designate some one to act in his place. Sec . 10. That every officer, assistant, and clerk o f the mint shall, be- Oathofoffi- fore he enters upon the execution o f his office take an oath or affirmation before some judge o f the United States, or judge of the superior court, or pioyees. o f some court o f record of any State, faithfully and diligently to perform the duties thereof, in addition to other official oaths prescribed by la w ; which oaths, duly certified, shall be transmitted to the Secretary o f the Treasury ; and the superintendent o f each mint may require such oath or affirmation from any o f the employees o f the mint. Sec. 11. That the superintendent, the assayer, the melter and refiner, Bond of miper- and the coiner o f each mint, before entering upon the execution o f their respective offices, shall become bound to the United States, with one or more sureties, approved by the Secretary of’ the Treasury, in the sum of not less than ten nor more than fifty thousand dollars, with condition for the faithful, and diligent performance o f the duties o f his office. Similar bonds may be required o f the assistants and clerks, in such sums as the superintendent shall determine, with the approbation o f the director of the m int; but the same shall not be construed to relieve the superin tendent or other officers from liability to the United States for acts, omis sions, or negligence o f their subordinates or employees: Provided, That the Secretary o f the Treasury, may, at his discretion, increase the bonds o f the superintendent. Sec. 12. That there shall be allowed to the director of the mint an annual salary o f four thousand five hundred dollars, and actual necessary travelling expenses in visiting the different mints and assay-offices, for which vouchers shall be rendered, to the superintendents o f the mints at Philadelphia and San Francisco, each four thousand five hundred dollars ; to the assayers, meltera and refiners, and coiners o f said mints, each three thousand dollars; to the engraver o f the mint at Philadelphia, three thousand dollars; to the superintendent of the mint at Carson city, three thousand dollars; and to the assayer, to the melter and refiner, and to the coiner o f the mint at Carson city, each, two thousand five hundred dollars; to the assistants and clerks such annual salary shall be allowed as the director o f the mint may determine, with the approbation of the Secretary o f the Treasury; and to the workmen shall be allowed such wages, to be determined by the superintendent, as may be customary and reasonable according to their respective stations and occupations, and approved by the director o f the m int; and the salaries provided for in this section, and the wages of the workmen permanently engaged, shall be payable in monthly instalments. Sec . 13. That the standard for both gold and silver coins o f the United States shall be such that o f one thousand parts by weight nine hundred shall be of pure metal and one hundred o f a llo y ; and the alloy o f the silver coins shall be o f copper, and the alloy of the gold coins shall be of copper, or of copper and silver; but the silver shall in no case exceed one-tenth o f the whole alloy. Sec . 14. That the gold coins o f the United States shall be a one-dollar piece, which, at the standard weight o f twenty-five and eight-tenths grains, shall be the unit o f value; a quarter-eagle, or two-and-a-half dollar piece; a three-dollar piece; a half-eagle, or five-dollar piece; an eagle, or ten- dollar piece; and a double eagle, or twenty-dollar piece. And the standard weight o f the gold dollar shall be twenty-five and eight-tenths grains ; o f the quarter-eagle, or two-and-a-half dollar piece, sixty-four and a half grains; o f the three-dollar piece, seventy-seven and four-tenths grains ; o f the half-eagle, or five-dollar piece, one hundred and twenty- nine grains; of the eagle, or ten-dollar piece, two hundred and fifty-eight grains; o f the double-eagle, or twenty-dollar piece, five hundred and sixteen grains; which coins shall be a legal tender in all payments at their nominal value when not below the standard weight and limit of tolerance provided in this act for the single piece, and, when reduced in weight, below said standard and tolerance, shall be a legal tender at valuation in proportion to their actual weight; and any gold coin of the United States, if reduced in weight by natural abrasion not more than one-half of one per centum below the standard weight prescribed by law, after a circulation o f twenty years, as shown by its date o f coinage, and at a ratable proportion for any period less than twenty years, shall be received at their nominal value by the United States treasury and its offices, under such regulations as the Secretary o f the Treasury may pre scribe for the protection of the government against fraudulent abrasion or other practices ; and any gold coins in the treasury o f the United States reduced in weight below this limit o f abrasion shall be recoined. Sec . 15. That the silver coins o f the United States shall be a trade- dollar, a half-dollar, or fifty-cent piece, a quarter-dollar, or twenty-five- cent piece, a dime, or ten-cent piece; and the weight o f the trade-dollar shall be four hundred and twenty grains troy; the weight o f the half- dollar shall be twelve grams (grammes) and one-half o f a gram, (gramme;) the quarter-dollar and the dime shall be respectively, one-half and on- fifth o f the weight o f said half-dollar; and said coins shall be a legal tender at their nominal value for any amount not exceeding five dollars in any one payment. Sec . 16. That the minor coins o f the United States shall be a five-cent piece, a three-cent piece, and a one-cent piece, and the alloy for the five and three cent pieces shall be o f copper and nickel, to be composed o f three-fourths copper and one-fourth nickel, and the alloy o f the one-cent piece shall be ninety-five per centum o f copper and five per centum o f tin and zinc, in such proportions as shall be determined by the director o f the mint. The weight o f the piece o f five cents shall be seventy-seven and sixteen-liuudredths grains, troy ; o f the three-cent piece, thirty grains ; and o f the one-cent piece, forty-eight grains; which coins shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value, for any amount not exceeding twenty-five cents in any one payment. Sec . 17. That no coins, either o f gold, silver, or minor coinage, shall hereafter be issued from the mint other than those o f the denominations, standards, and weights herein set forth. Sec . 18. That upon the coins o f the United States there shall be the following devices and legends: Upon one side there shall be an impres sion emblematic o f liberty, with an inscription o f the word “ Liberty ” and the year o f the coinage, and upon the reverse shall be the figure or representation o f an eagle, with the inscriptions “ United States o f Am erica• ” and “ E Pluribus Unuin,” and a designation o f the value of the coin ; but on the gold dollar and three-dollar piece, the dime, five, three, and one cent piece the figure o f the eagle shall be omitted; and on the reverse o f the silver trade-dollar, the weight and fineness of the coin shall be inscribed ; and the director o f the mint, with the approval o f the Secretary o f the Treasury, may cause the motto “ In God we trust ” to be inscribed upon such coins as shall admit o f such motto ; and any one o f the foregoing inscriptions may be on the rim o f the gold and silver coins. Sec . 19. That at the option o f the owner, gold or silver may be cast into bars of fine metal, or of standard fineness, or unparted, as he may prefer, with a stamp upon the same designating the weight and fineness, and with such devices impressed thereon as may be deemed expedient to prevent fraudulent imitation, and no such bars shall be issued o f a less weight than five ounces. Sec . 20. That any owner o f gold bullion may deposit the same at any mint, to be formed into coin or bars for his benefit; but it shall be lawful to refuse any deposit o f less value than one hundred dollars, or any bullion so base as to be unsuitable for the operations o f the m int; and when gold and silver are combined, if either metal be in such small proportion that it cannot be separated advantageously, no allowance shall be made to the depositor for its value. Sec . 21. That any owner of silver bullion may deposit the same at any mint, to be formed into bars, or into dollars of the weight o f four hundred and twenty grains, troy, designated in this act as trade-dollars, and no deposit o f silver for other coinage shall be received; but silver bullion contained in gold deposits, and separated therefrom, may be paid for in silver coin, at such valuation as may be, from time to time, established by the director of the mint. Sec . 22. That when bullion is deposited in any o f the mints, it shall be weighed by the superintendent, and, when practicable, in the presence o f the depositor, to whom a receipt shall be given, which shall state the description and weight o f the bullion ; but when the bullion is in such a state as to require melting, or the removal o f base metals, before its value can be ascertained, the weight, after such operation, shall be considered as the true weight o f the bullion deposited. The fitness o f the bullion to be received shall be determined by the assayer, and the mode of melting by the melter and refiner. Sec. 23. That from every parcel o f bullion deposited for coinage or bars, the superintendent shall deliver to the assayer a sufficient portion for the purpose o f being assayed, but all such bullion remaining from the operations o f the assay shall be returned to the superintendent by the assayer. Sec. 24. That the assayer shall report to the superintendent the quality or fineness o f the bullion assayed by him, and such information as will enable him to compute the amount o f the charges hereinafter provided for, to be made to the depositor. Sec. 25. That the charge for converting standard gold bullion into coin shall be one-fifth o f one per centum; and the charges for converting standard silver into trade-dollars, for melting and refining when bullion is below standard, for toughening when metals are contained in it which render it unfit for coinage, for copper used for alloy when the bullion is above standard, for separating the gold and silver when these metals exist together in the bulliou, and for the preparation o f bars, shall be fixed, from time to time, by the director, with the concurrence o f the Secretary of the Treasury, so as to equal but not exceed, in their judg ment, the actual average cost to each mint and assay-oifice o f the material, labor, wastage, and use o f machinery employed in each of the cases aforementioned. Sec . 26. That the assayer shall verify all calculations made by the superintendent o f the value o f deposits, and, if satisfied o f the correctness thereof, shall countersign the certificate required to be given by the super intendent to the depositor. Sec . 27. That in order to procure bullion for the silver coinage authorized by this act, the superintendents, with the approval of the director o f the mint, as to price, terms, and quantity, shall purchase such bullion with the bullion-fund. The gain arising from the coinage o f such silver bullion into coin o f a nominal value exceeding the cost thereof shall be credited to a special 'fund denominated the silver-profit fund. This fund shall be charged with the wastage incurred in the silver coinage, and with the expense o f distributing said coins as hereinafter provided. The balance to the credit o f this fund shall be from time to time, and at least twice a year, paid into the treasury o f the United States. Sec. 28. That silver coins other than the trade-dollar shall be paid out at the several mints, and at the assay-office in New York city, in exchange for gold coins at par, in sums not less than one hundred dollars ; and it shall be lawful, also, to transmit parcels o f the same, from time to time, to the assistant treasurers, depositaries, and other officers o f the United States, under general regulations proposed by the director o f the mint, and approved by the Secretary o f the Treasury; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the payment o f silver coins, at their nominal value, for silver parted from gold, as provided in this act, or for change less than one dollar in settlement for gold deposits : Provided, That, for two years after the passage of this act, silver coins shall be paid at the mint in Philadelphia and the assay-office in New York city for silver bullion purchased for coinage, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the director o f the mint, and approved by the Secretary o f the Treasury. Sec. 29. That for the purchase o f metal for the minor coinage authorized Purchase of by this act, a sum not exceeding fifty thousand dollars in lawful money o f metal . for the mi* the United States shall be transferred by the Secretary o f the Treasury to nor colnaSe > the credit o f the superintendent o f the mint at Philadelphia, at which to be carried on establishment only, until otherwise provided by law, such coinage shall be °"1 / at Ph!lallel- carried on. The superintendent, with the approval o f the director o f the p ia’ mint as to price, terms, and quantity, shall purchase the metal required for such coinage by public advertisement, and the lowest and best bid shall be accepted, the fineness o f the metals to be determined on the mint assay. The gain arising from the coinage of such metals into coin o f a Minor-coinage nominal value, exceeding the cost thereof, shall be credited to the special proflt fund' fund denominated the minor-coinage profit fund; and this fund shall be charged with the wastage incurred in such coinage, and with the cost o f distributing said coins as hereinafter provided. The balance remaining to Minor coins, the credit o f this fund, and any balance o f profits accrued from minor where deliver- coinage under former acts, shall be, from time to time, and at least twice a a e’ c’ ’ year, covered into the treasury o f the United States. Sec . 30. That the minor coins authorized by this, act may, at the dis- exchangeable cretion o f the director o f the mint, be delivered in any o f the principal for what; cities and towns o f the United States, at the cost o f the mint, for trans portation, and shall be exchangeable at par at the mint -in Philadelphia, at the discretion o f the superintendent, for any other coins o f copper, bronze, or copper-nickel heretofore authorized by law ; and it shall be lawful for the treasurer and the several assistant treasurers and depos itaries o f the United States to redeem, in lawful money, under such rules redeemable in as may be prescribed by the Secretary o f the Treasury, all copper, bronze, wllat suma- and copper-nickel coins authorized by law when presented in sums o f not less than twenty dollars ; and whenever, under this authority, these coins are presented for redemption in such quantity as to show the amount outstanding to be redundant, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized Sncb coinage and required to direct that such coinage shall cease until otherwise ordered 10 cease: wheu. by him. Sec . 31. That parcels o f bullion shall be, from time to time, trans- Melting and ferred by the superintendent to the melter and refiner; a careful record refining, o f these transfers, noting the weight and character o f the bullion, shall be kept, and vouchers shall be taken for the delivery o f the same, duly receipted by the melter and refiner, and the bullion thus placed in the hands o f the melter and refiner shall be subjected to the several processes Ingots for coin- which may be necessary to form it into ingots o f the legal standard, and aSe> o f a quality suitable for coinage. Sec. 32. That the ingots so prepared shall be assayed; and if they to be assayed prove to be within the limits allowed for deviation from the standard, the aml certificate assayer shall certify the fact to the superintendent, who shall thereupon glven’ receipt for the same, and transfer them to the coiner. Sec. 33. That no ingots shall be used for coinage which differ from _ not to be nsed, the legal standard more than the following proportions, namely: In gold f^| e^lff^ore ingots, one thousandth ; in silver ingots, three thousandths ; in minor- tilaa’ &0,’ coinage alloys, twenty-five thousandths, in the proportion o f nickel. Sec. 34. That the melter and refiner shall prepare all bars required Bars for pay- for the payment of deposits; but the fineness thereof shall be ascertained and stamped thereon by the assayer; and the melter and refiner shall &c. deliver such bars to the superintendent, who shall receipt for the same. Sec. 35. That the superintendent shall, from time to time, deliver to Ingots for com- the coiner ingots for the purpose o f coinage ; a careful record o f these ce 0in eerJ' transfers, noting the weight and character of the bullion, shall be kept, and vouchers shall be taken for the delivery o f the same, duly receipted by the coiner; and the ingots thus placed in the hands o f the coiner shall be subjected to the several processes necessary to make from them coins in all respects conformable to law. Sec. 36. That in adjusting the weights o f the gold coins, the following deviations shall not be exceeded in any single piece: In the double-eagle and the eagle, one-half o f a grain; in the half-eagle, the three-dollar picce, the quarter-eagle, and the one-dollar piece, one-fourth o f a grain. And in weighing a number o f pieces together, when delivered by the coiner to the superintendent, and by the superintendent to the depositor, the devia tion from the standard weight shall not exceed one-hundredth o f an ounce in five thousand dollars in double-eagles, eagles, half-eagles, or quarter- eagles, in one thousand three-dollar pieces, and in one thousand one-dol lar pieces. Sec. 37. That in adjusting the weight o f the silver coins the following deviations shall not be exceeded in any single piece': In the dollar, the half and quarter dollar, and in the dime, one and one-half grains; and in weighing large numbers of pieces together, when delivered by the coiner to the superintendent, and by the superintendent to the depositor, the de viations from the standard weight shall not exceed two-hundredths of an ounce in one thousand dollars, half-dollars, or quarter dollars, and one-hun dredth of an ounce in one thousand, dimes. Sec. 38. That in adjusting the weight o f the minor coins provided by this act, there shall be no'greater deviation allowed than three grains for the five-cent piece and two grains for the three and one cent pieces. Sec. 39. That the coiner shall, from time to time, as coins are prepared, deliver them to the superintendent, who shall receipt for the same, and who shall keep a careful record o f their kind, number, and actual weight; and in receiving coins it shall be the duty o f the superintendent to ascer tain, by the trial o f a number o f single pieces separately, whether the coins o f that delivery are within the legal limits o f the standard weight; and if his trials for this purpose shall not prove satisfactory, he shall cause all the coins of such delivery to be weighed separately, and such as are not o f legal weight shall be defaced and delivered to the melter and refiner as standard bullion, to be again formed into ingots and recoined; or the whole delivery may, if more convenient, be remelted. Sec. 40. That at every delivery o f coins made by the coiner to a super intendent, it shall be the duty o f such superintendent, in the presence o f the assayer, to take indiscriminately a certain number o f pieces o f each variety for the annual trial o f coins, the number for gold coins being not less than one piece for each one thousand pieces or any fractional part o f one thousand pieces delivered ; and for silver coins one piece for each two thousand pieces or any fractional part o f two thousand pieces delivered. The pieces so taken shall be carefully sealed up in an envelope, properly labelled, stating the date o f the delivery, the number and denomination o f the pieces inclosed, and the amount o f the delivery from which they were taken. These sealed parcels containing the reserved pieces shall be de posited in a pyx, designated for the purpose at each mint, which shall be kept under the joint care of the superintendent and assayer, and be so secured that neither can have access to its contents without the presence o f the other, and the reserved pieces in their sealed envelopes from the coinage o f each mint shall be transmitted quarterly to the mint at Phila delphia. A record shall also be kept at the same time o f the number and denomination o f the pieces so taken for the annual trial o f coins, and of the number and denomination o f the pieces represented by them and so delivered, a copy o f which record shall be transmitted quarterly to the director o f the mint. Other pieces may, at any time, be taken for such tests as the director o f the mint shall prescribe. Sec. 41. That the coiner shall, from time to time, deliver to the super intendent the clippings and other portions o f bullion remaining after the process o f coining; and the superintendent shall receipt for the same and keep a careful record o f their weight and character. Sec. 42. That the superintendent shall debit the coiner with the Coiner to be amount in weight o f standard metal o f all the bullion placed in his hands, charged with Sind credit him with the amount in weight o f all the coins, clippings, and ^edited?d10 other bullion returned by him to the superintendent. Once at least in Accounts of every year, and at such time as the director o f the mint shall appoint, coiner and melter there shall be an accurate and full settlement of the accounts o f the coiner, funv^ettied'at’8 and the melter and refiner, at which time the said officers shall deliver up least once in each to the superintendent all the coins, clippings, and other bullion in their year- possession, respectively, accompanied by statements o f all the bullion de livered to them since the last annual settlement, and all the bullion returned by them during the same period, including the amount returned for the purpose o f settlement. Sec. 43. That when all the coins, clippings, and other bullion have Superintendent been delivered to the superintendent, it shall be his duty to examine the t0 examine the accounts and statements rendered by the coiner and the melter and therainerami° refiner, and the difference between the amount charged and credited to melter and re- each officer shall be allowed as necessary wastage, if the superintendent amount shall be satisfied that there has been a bona-fide waste of the precious allowable as neo- metals, and if the amount shall not exceed, in the case o f the melter and essary wastage refiner, one thousandth o f the whole amount of gold, and one and one-half thousandth of the whole amount o f silver delivered to him since the last annual settlement, and in the case o f the coiner, one thousandth o f the whole amount o f silver, and one-half thousandth o f the whole amount o f gold that has been delivered to him by the superintendent; and all copper used in the alloy o f gold and silver bullion shall be separately charged to the melter and refiner, and accounted for by him. Sec. 44. That it shall also be the duty o f the superintendent to forward Balance-sheet a correct statement o f his balance-sheet, at the close o f such settlement, to th /d te c to r'o f the director of the mint, who shall compare the total amount o f gold and the mint silver bullion and coin on hand with the total liabilities o f the mint. A t Expense ac- the same time a statement o f the ordinary expense account, and the mon- count, eys therein, shall also be made by the superintendent. Sec. 45. That when the coins or bars which are the equivalent to any Payment of deposit o f bullion are ready for delivery, they shall be paid to the depos- c°ins or bars to itor, or his order, by the superintendent; and the payments shall be made, i f demanded, in the order in which the bullion shall have been brought to the m int; but in cases where there is delay in manipulating a refractory deposit, or for any other unavoidable cause, the payment of subsequent deposits, the value o f which is known, shall not be delayed thereby; and in the denominations o f coin delivered, the superintendent shall comply with the wishes o f the depositor, except when impracticable or inconven ient to do so. Sec. 46. That unparted bullion may be exchanged at any of the mints Unparted bul- for fine bars, on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the be ex' director o f the mint, with the approval of the Secretary o f the Treasury; c anfa'e ’ and the fineness, weight, and value o f the bullion received and given in exchange shall in all cases be determined by the mint assay. The charge Charge for to the depositor for refining or parting shall not exceed that allowed and PartmS* deducted for the same operation in the exchange o f unrefined for refined bullion. Sec. 47. That for the purpose o f enabling the mints and the assay- Secretary of the office in New York to make returns to depositors with as little delay as Jtre&“r^^L e®5 possible, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to keep in bullion’ to make the said mints and assay-office, when the state o f the treasury will admit speedy returns to thereof, such an amount of public money, or bullion procured for the pur- i;o„°$ltor3 0 pose, as he shall judge convenient and necessary, out o f which those who bring bullion to the said mints and assay-office may be paid the value thereof, in coin or bars, as soon as practicable after the value has been ascertained ; and on payment thereof being made, the bullion so deposited shall become the property o f the United States; but the Secretary of the Treasury may at any time withdraw the fund, or any portion thereof. Sec. 48. That to secure a due conformity in the gold and silver coins to their respective standards of fineness and weight, the judge o f the dis trict court of the United States for the eastern district o f Pennsylvania, the comptroller o f the currency, the assayer o f the assay-office at New York, and such other persons as the President shall, from time to time, designate, shall meet as assay-commissioncrs, at the mint in Philadelphia, to examine and test, in the presence o f the director o f the mint, the line ness and weight o f the coins reserved by the several mints for this pur pose, on the second Wednesday in February, annually, and may continue their meetings by adjournment, if necessary; if a majority o f the commis sioners shall fail to attend at any time appointed for their meeting, the director o f the mint shall call a meeting of the commissioners at such other time as he may deem convenient; and if it shall appear by such examination and test that these coins do not differ from the standard fine ness and weight by a greater quantity than is allowed by law, the trial shall be considered and reported as satisfactory; but if any greater deviation from the legal standard or weight shall appear, this fact shall be certified to the President of the United States; and if, on a view of the circumstances o f the case, he shall so decide, the officer or officers implicated in the error shall be thenceforward disqualified from holding their respective offices. Sec. 49. That for the purpose o f securing a due conformity in weight o f the coins o f the United States to the provisions o f this act, the brass troy-pound weight procured by the minister o f the United States at Lon don, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, for the use o f the mint, and now in the custody o f the mint at Philadelphia, shall be the standard troy pound o f the mint o f the United States, conformably to which the coinage thereof shall be regulated. Sec. 50. That it shall be the duty o f the director o f the mint to procure for each mint and assay-office, to be kept safely thereat, a series o f stand ard weights corresponding to the aforesaid troy pound, consisting o f a one- pound weight and the requisite subdivisions and multiples thereof, from the hundredth part o f a grain to twenty-five pounds ; and the troy weights ordinarily employed in. the transactions o f such mints and assay-offices shall be regulated according to the above standards at'least once in every year, under the inspection o f the superintendent and assayer; and the accuracy of those used at the mint at Philadelphia shall be tested annually, in the presence o f the assay-commissioners, at the time o f the annual ex amination and test o f coins. Sec. 51. That the obverse working-dics at each mint shall, at the end o f each calendar year, be defaced and destroyed by the coiner in the pres ence o f the superintendent and assayer. Sec. 52. That dies o f a national character may be executed by the engraver, and national and other medals struck by the coiner o f the mint at Philadelphia, under such regulations as the superintendent, with the approval of the director o f the mint, may prescribe: Provided, That such work shall not interfere with the regular coinage operations, and that no private medal dies shall be prepared at said mint, or the machinery or apparatus thereof be used for that purpose. Sec. 53. That the moneys arising from all charges and deductions on and from gold and silver bullion and the manufacture o f medals, and from all other sources, except as hereinbefore provided, shall, from time to time, be covered into the treasury o f the United States, and no part of such deductions or medal charges, or profit on silver or minor coinage, shall be expended in salaries or wages ; but all expenditures of the mints and assay-offices, not herein otherwise provided for, shall be paid from Expenditures appropriations made by law on estimates furnished by the Secretary o f appropriation the Treasury. made) &0. ^ Sec. 54. That the officers o f the United States assay-office at New Officers o f as- Y ork shall be a superintendent, an assayer, and a melter and refiner, who say-office at No sv- shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent ap^^tment o f the Senate. The business o f said assay-office shall be in all respects Business of the similar to that o f the mints, except that bars only, and not coin, shall be assay-°ffice- manufactured therein; and no metals shall be purchased for minor coin age. All bullion intended by the depositor to be converted into coins of Bullion, the United States, and silver bullion purchased for coinage, when assayed, parted, and refined, and its net value certified, shall be transferred to the mint at Philadelphia, under such directions as shall be made by the Sec retary of the Treasury, at the expense of the contingent fund o f the mint, and shall be there coined, and the proceeds returned to the assay-office. And the Secretary o f the Treasury is hereby authorized to make the Adjustment of necessary arrangements for the adjustment o f the accounts upon such accounts, transfers between the respective offices. Sec. 55. That the duties o f the superintendent, assayer, and melter and Duties, &c., of refiner o f said office shall correspond to those o f superintendents, assayers, and melters and refiners o f mints; and all parts o f this act relating to say'-ofRce; mints and their officers, the duties and responsibilities of such officers, and others employed therein, the oath to be taken, and the bonds and sureties to be given by them, (as far as the same may be applicable,) shall extend to the assay-office at New York, and to its officers, assistants, clerks, work men, and others employed therein. Sec. 56. That there shall be allowed to the officers of the assay-office at New York city the following salaries per annum: To the superin tendent, four thousand five hundred dollars ; to the assayer, and to the melter and refiner, each, three thousand dollars; and the salaries o f assist ants and clerks, and wages to workmen, and their manner of appointment, shall be determined and regulated as herein directed in regard to mints. Sec. 57. That the business o f the branch-mint at Denver, while con ducted as an assay-office, and of the assay-office at Boise city, Idaho, and yer^Boise city6” all other assay-offices hereafter to be established, shall be confined to the and elsewhere, to receipt o f gold and silver bullion, for melting and assaying, to be returned t0 to depositors of the same, in bars, with the weight and fineness stamped thereon; and the officers o f assay-offices, when their services are neces sary, shall consist o f an assayer, who shall have charge thereof, and a melter, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent o f the Senate; and the assayer may employ as many clerks, Officers of such workmen, and laborers, under the direction o f the director of the mint, as t)i|jjTSa rie s3?nd may be provided for by law. The salaries o f said officers shall not exceed ’ the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars to the assayer and melter, one thousand eight hundred dollars each to the clerks, and the workmen and laborers shall receive such wages as are customary, according to their respective stations and occupations. Sec. 58. That each officer and clerk to be appointed at such assay- their oath and offices, before entering upon the execution of his office, shall take an oath ^°jgg2 ch> 128 or affirmation before some judge o£ the United States, or of the supreme vol. xii. p. 002. ’ court, as prescribed by the act o f July second, eighteen hundred and sixty- two, and each become bound to the United States o f America, with one or more sureties, to the satisfaction o f the director of the mint or o f one of the judges o f the supreme court o f the State or Territory in which the same may be located, and of the Secretary o f the Treasury, conditioned Assayera t0 u for the faithful performance o f the duties o f their offices; and the said disbursing assayers shall discharge the duties o f disbursing agents for the payment o f ageQts- the expenses o f their respective assay-offices ^EC' '^Ia* general direction o f the business o f assay-offices o f general direction the United States shall be under the control and regulation o f the director of the assay- o f the mint, subject to the approbation o f the Secretary o f the Treasury; offices, subject, an(j for that pUrp0ge it shall be the duty o f the said director to prescribe Regulations, such regulations and to require such returns, periodically and occasionally, returns, and and to establish such charges foy melting, parting, assaying, and stamping charges. bullion as shall appear to him to be necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the intention o f this act. Provisions re- Sec. 60. That all the provisions o f this act for the regulation o f the Utmg to the mint m;nts 0f the United States, and for the government o f the officers and offices.^ ° aSSa' 5, persons employed therein, and for the punishment o f all offences connected with the mints or coinage of the United States, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, in full force in relation to the assay-offices, as far as the same may be applicable thereto. Penalty for Sec. 61. That if any person or persons shall falsely make, forge, or &cn«fn*coin’or counterfei*;' or cause or procure to be falsely made, forged, or counter- barsjln^theTimil- feited, or willingly aid or assist in falsely making, forging, or counterfeit- itude, & c.; ing, any coin or bars in resemblance or similitude o f the gold or silver coins or bars, which have been, or hereafter may be, coined or stamped at the mints and assay-offices o f the United States, or in resemblance or similitude o f any foreign gold or silver coin which by law is, or hereafter may be made, current in the United States, or are in actual use and circu lation as money within the United States, or shall pass, utter, publish, or or knowingly se^> or attempt to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or bring into the United having in posses- States from any foreign place, or have in his possession, any such false, Itc"1 such^couif’ forged’ or 00unterfeited coin or bars, knowing the same to be false, forged, terfeited, &c., or counterfeited, every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of coin or bars; felony, and shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and by imprisonment and confinement at hard labor not exceeding ten years, according to the aggravation o f the offense, for counterfeit-' Sec. 62. That if, any person or persons shall falsely make, forge, or ing, &c., minor counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, forged, or counter- inc;nsuch false^' feited,or willingly aid or assist in falsely making, forging, or counterfeiting, coin; any coin in the resemblance or similitude o f any o f the minor coinage which has been, or hereafter may be, coined at the mints o f the United States; or shall pass, utter, publish, or sell, or bring into the United States from any foreign place, or have in his possession any such false, forged, or counterfeited coin, with intent to defraud any body politic or cor poration, or any person or persons whatsoever, every person so offending shall be deemed guilty o f felony, and shall, on conviction thereof, be pun ished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and by imprisonment and confinement at hard labor not exceeding three years, for fraudulently Sec. 63. That if any person shall fraudulently, by auy art, way, or impairing- &c'i means whatsoever, deface, mutilate, impair, diminish, falsify, scale, or rent coins'erCUr" l'ghten g°ld or silver coins which have been, or which shall hereafter be, coined at the mints o f the United States, or any foreign gold or silver coins which are by law made current, or are in actual use and circulation as money within the United States, every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall be imprisoned not exceed ing two years, and fined not exceeding two thousand dollars, for fraudulently Sec. 64. That if any o f the gold or silver coins which shall be struck ^r siive?coin^of* or c0' nei^ at any ^e mints °f the United States shall be debased, or the United made worse as to the proportion o f fine gold or fine silver therein con states; tained ; or shall be o f less weight or value than the same ought to be, pursuant to the several acts relative thereto ; or if any o f the weights used or defacing at any o f the mints or assay-offices o f the United States shall be defaced, weights, &c. increased, or diminished through the fault or connivance o f any o f the officers or persons who shall be employed at the said mints or assay- offices, with a fraudulent intent; and if any o f the said officers or persons shall embezzle any o f the metals which shall at any time be committed to Penalty for their charge for the purpose o f being coined, or any of the coins which ^a ^o r " ! ^ • shall be struck or coined at the said mints, or any medals, coins, or other or medals, &c. ’ moneys o f said mints or assay-offices at any time committed to their charge, or o f which they may have assumed the charge, every such officer or person who shall commit any or either o f the said offenses shall be deemed guilty o f felony, and shall be imprisoned at hard labor for a term not less than one year nor more than ten years, and shall be fined in a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars. Sec. 65. That this act shall take effect on the first day o f April, eigh- When act to teen hundred and seventy-three, when the offices o f the treasurer o f the talie effect- mints in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New Orleans shall be vacated, urer at^&cvva- and the assistant treasurer at New York shall cease to perform the duties cated. o f treasurer o f the assay-office. The other officers and employees o f the Other officers, mints and assay-offices now appointed shall continue to hold their respec- & «■> to continue tive offices, they having first given the necessary bonds, until further glve bonds’ &c- appointments may be required, the director o f the mint at Philadelphia being styled and acting as superintendent thereof. The duties o f the Superintend- treasurers shall devolve as herein provided upon the superintendents, and ents t0 act a$ said treasurers shall act only as assistant treasurers o f the United States : ^Treasurers to P r o v id e d , That the salaries .heretofore paid to the treasurers o f the mints act only as assist- at Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New Orleans, acting as assistant treas- ant treasurers. urers, shall hereafter be paid to them as “ assistant treasurers of the United States,” and that the salary o f the assistant treasurer at New York shall Salaries not not be diminished by the vacation of his office as treasurer o f the assay- diminished, office. Sec. 66. That the different mints and assay-offices authorized by this Names of the act shall be known as “ the mint o f the United States at Philadelphia,” Afferent mints “ the mint o f the United States at San Francisco,” “ the mint o f the aa assay"° ces' United States at Carson,” “ the mint of the United States at Denver,” “ the United States assay-office at New York,” andthe United States assay-office at Boise city, Idaho,” “ the United States assay-office at Charlotte, North Carolina; ” and all unexpended appropriations hereto- Unexpended fore authorized by law for the use of the mint o f the United States at appropriations. Philadelphia, the branch-mint o f the United States in California, the branch-mint o f the United States at Denver, the United States assay- office in New York, the United States assay-office at Charlotte, North Caroiina, and the United States assay-office at Boise city, Idaho, are hereby authorized to be transferred for the account and use o f the institu tions established and located respectively at the places designated by this act. Sec. 67. That this act shall be known as the “ Coinage act o f eighteen This act to be hundred and seventy-three; ” and all other acts and parts o f acts per- ^01^, as coinaSe taining to the mints, assay-offices, and coinage o f the United States in- a ’ °' consistent with the provisions o f this act are hereby repealed: Provided, Other acts, &c., That this act shall not be construed to affect any act done, right ac- “ c^-. crued, or penalty incurred, under former acts, but every such right is feet, &c. hereby saved; and all suits and prosecutions for acts already done in violation of any former act or acts of Congress relating to the subjects embraced in this act may be begun or proceeded with in like manner as if this act had not been passed; and all penal clauses and provisions in existing laws relating to the subjects embraced in this act shall be deemed applicable thereto: A nd provided further, That so much o f the P??1 first section o f “ An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses § i, 7 ’ c ' ’ o f the government for the year ending June thirty, eighteen hundred Vol. xvi. p. 296 and seventy-one, and for other purposes,” approved July fifteen, eighteen hundred and seventy, as provides that until after the completion and occupation o f the branch-mint building in San Francisco, it shall be law ful to exchange, at any mint or branch-mint o f the United States, urire-ined or imparted bullion, whenever, in the opinion o f the Secretary o f the Treasury, it can be done with advantage to the government, is hereby repealed. A p p r o v e d , February 12, 1873. Feb. 12, 1873. Source: https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/coinage-act-1873-1095?page=2

THE UNITED STATES of America and the Ta Tsing Empire , desiring to maintain firm, lasting and sincere friendship, have resolved to renew, in a manner clear and positive, by means of a treaty or general Convention of peace, amity and commerce, the rules which shall in future be mutually observed in the intercourse of their respective countries; for which most desirable object the President of the United States and the August Sovereign of the Ta Tsing Empire have named for their Plenipotentiaries to wit: the President of the United States of America , William B. Reed, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary' to China; and His Majesty the Emperor of China, Kweliang, a Member of the Privy Council and Superintendent of the Board of Punishments, and Hwashana, President of the Board of Civil Office, and Major-General of the Bordered Blue Banner division of the Chinese Bannermen, both of them being Imperial Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries: And the said Ministers, in virtue of the respective full powers they have received from their Governments, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I. There shall be, as there have always been, peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Ta Tsing Empire, and between their people, respectively. They shall not insult or oppress each other for any trifling cause, so as to produce an estrangement between them; and if any other nation should act unjustly or oppressively, the United States will exert their good offices, on being informed of the case, to bring about an amicable arrangement of the question, thus showing their friendly feelings. ARTICLE II. In order to perpetuate friendship, on the exchange of ratifications by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, and by His Majesty the Emperor of China, this treaty shall be kept and sacredly guarded in this way, viz: The original treaty, as ratified by the President of the United States, shall be deposited at Pekin , the capital of His Majesty the Emperor of China, in charge of the Privy council; and, as ratified by His Majesty the Emperor of China, shall be deposited at Washington , the capital of the United States, in charge of the Secretary of State. ARTICLE III. In order that the people of the two countries may know and obey the provisions of this treaty, the United States of America agree, immediately on the exchange of ratifications, to proclaim the same, and to publish it by proclamation in the gazettes where the laws of the United States of America are published by authority; and His Majesty the Emperor of China, on the exchange of ratifications, agrees immediately to direct the publication of the same at the capital and by the governors of all the provinces. ARTICLE IV. In order further to perpetuate friendship, the Minister or Commissioner or the highest diplomatic representative of the United States of America in China, shall at all times have the right to correspond on terms of perfect equality and confidence with the officers of the Privy Council at the capital, or with the Governors-General of the Two Kwangs , the provinces of Fuhkien and Chehkiang or of the Two Kiangs; and whenever he desires to have such correspondence with the Privy Council at the capital he shall have the right to send it through either of the said Governors- General or by the general post; and all such communications shall be sent under seal, which shall be most carefully respected. The Privy Council and Governors General, as the case may be, shall in all cases consider and acknowledge such communications promptly and respectfully. ARTICLE V. The Minister of the United States of America in China, whenever he has business, shall have the right to visit and sojourn at the capital of His Majesty the Emperor of China, and there confer with a member of the Privy Council, or any other high officer of equal rank deputed for that purpose, on matters of common interest and advantage. His visits shall not exceed one in each year, and he shall complete his business without unnecessary delay. He shall be allowed to go by land or come to the mouth of the Peiho , into which he shall not bring ships of war, and he shall inform the authorities at that place in order that boats may be provided for him to go on his journey. He is not to take advantage of this stipulation to request visits to the capital on trivial occasions. Whenever be means to proceed to the capital, he shall communicate, in writing, his intention to the Board of Rites at the capital, and thereupon the said Board shall give the necessary directions to facilitate his journey and give him necessary protection and respect on his way. On his arrival at the capital he shall be furnished with a suitable residence prepared for him, and be shall defray his own expenses; and his entire suite shall not exceed twenty persons, exclusive of his Chinese attendants, none of whom shall be engaged in trade. ARTICLE VI. If at any time His Majesty the Emperor of China shall, by treaty voluntarily made, or for any other reason, permit the representative of any friendly nation to reside at his capital for a long or short time, then, without any further consultation or express permission, the representative of the United States in China shall have the same privilege. ARTICLE VII. The superior authorities of the United States and of China, in corresponding together, shall do so on terms of equality and in form of mutual communication. The Consuls and the local officers, civil and military, in corresponding together, shall likewise employ the style and form of mutual communications. When inferior officers of the one Government address superior officers of the other, they shall do so in the style and form of memorial . Private individuals, in addressing superior officers, shall employ the style of petition. In no case shall any terms or style be used or suffered which shall be offensive or disrespectful to either party. And it is agreed that no presents, under any pretext or form whatever, shall ever be demanded of the United States by China, or of China by the United States. ARTICLE VIII. In all future personal intercourse between the representative of the United States of America and the Governors-General or Governors, the interviews shall be had at the official residence of the said officers, or at their temporary residence, or at the residence of the representative of the United States of America, whichever may be agreed upon between them; nor shall they make any pretext for declining these interviews. Current matters shall be discussed by correspondence, so as not to give the trouble of a personal meeting. ARTICLE IX. Whenever national vessels of the United States of America, in cruising along the coast and among the ports opened for trade for the protection of the commerce of their country or for the advancement of science, shall arrive at or near any of the ports of China, commanders of said ships and the superior local authorities of Government, shall, if it be necessary, hold intercourse on terms of equality and courtesy, in token of the friendly relations of their respective nations; and the said vessel shall enjoy all suitable facilities on the part of the Chinese Government in procuring provisions or other supplies and making necessary repairs. And the United States of America agree that in case of the shipwreck of any American vessel, and its being pillaged by pirates, or in case any American vessel shall be pillaged or captured by pirates on the seas adjacent to the coast, without being shipwrecked, the national vessels of the United States shall pursue the said pirates, and if captured deliver them over for trial and punishment. ARTICLE X. The United States of America shall have the right to appoint Consuls and other Commercial Agents for the protection of trade, to reside at such places in the dominions of China as shall be agreed to be opened; who shall hold official intercourse and correspondence with the local officers of the Chinese Government, (a Consul or a Vice-Consul in charge taking rank with an Intendant if circuit or a Prefect) either personally or in writing, as occasions may require, on terms of equality and reciprocal respect. And the Consuls and local officers shall employ the style of mutual communication. If the officers of either nation are disrespectfully treated or aggrieved in any way by the other authorities, they have the right to make representation of the same to the superior officers of the respective Governments, who shall see that inquiry and strict justice shall be had in the premises. And the said Consuls and Agents shall carefully avoid all acts of offense to the officers and people of China. On the arrival of a Consul duly accredited at any port in China, it shall be the duty of the Minister of the United States to notify the same to the Governor-General of the province where such port is, who shall forthwith recognize the said Consul and grant him authority to act. ARTICLE XI. All citizens of the United States of America in China, peaceably attending to their affairs, being placed on a common footing of amity and good will with the subjects of China, shall receive and enjoy for themselves and everything appertaining to them, the protection of the local authorities of Government, who shall defend them from all insult or injury of any sort. If their dwellings or property be threatened or attacked by mobs, incendiaries, or other violent or lawless persons, the local officers, on requisition of the Consul, shall immediately despatch a military force to disperse the rioters, apprehend the guilty individuals, and punish them with the utmost rigor of the law. Subjects of China guilty of any criminal act toward citizens of the United States shall be punished by the Chinese authorities according to the laws of China; and citizens of the United States, either on shore or in any merchant vessel, who may insult, trouble or wound the persons or injure the property of Chinese, or commit any other improper act in China, shall be punished only by the Consul or other public functionary thereto authorized, according to the laws of the United States. Arrests in order to trial may be made by either the Chinese or the United States authorities. ARTICLE XII. Citizens of the United States, residing or sojourning at any of the ports open to foreign commerce, shall be permitted to rent houses and places of business, or hire sites on which they can themselves build houses or hospitals, churches and cemeteries. The parties interested can fix the rent by mutual and equitable agreement; the proprietors shall not demand an exorbitant price, nor shall the local authorities interfere, unless there be some objections offered on the part of the inhabitants respecting the place. The legal fees to the officers for applying their seal shall be paid. The citizens of the United States shall not unreasonably insist on particular spots, but each party shall conduct with justice and moderation. Any desecration of the cemeteries by natives of China shall be severely punished according to law. At the places where the ships of the United States anchor, or their citizens reside, the merchants, seamen or others, can freely pass and repass in the immediate neighborhood; but, in order to the preservation of the public peace, they shall not go into the country to the villages and marts to sell their goods unlawfully, in fraud of the revenue. ARTICLE XIII. If any vessel of the United States be wrecked or stranded on the coast of China, and be subjected to plunder or other damage, the proper officers of Government on receiving information of the fact, shall immediately adopt measures for its relief and security; the persons on board shall receive friendly treatment, and be enabled to repair at once to the nearest port, and shall enjoy all facilities for obtaining supplies of provisions and water. If the merchant vessels of the United States, while within the waters over which the Chinese Government exercises jurisdiction, be plundered by robbers or pirates, then the Chinese local authorities, civil and military, on receiving information thereof, shall arrest the said robbers or pirates, and punish them according to law, and shall cause all the property which can be recovered to be restored to the owners or placed in the hands of the consul. If, by reason of the extent of territory and numerous population of China, it shall in any case happen that the robbers cannot be apprehended, and the property only in part recovered, the Chinese Government shall not make indemnity for the goods lost; but if it shall be proved that the local authorities have been in collusion with the robbers, the same shall be communicated to the superior authorities for memorializing the throne, and these officers shall be severely punished, and their property be confiscated to repay the losses. ARTICLE XIV. The citizens of the United States are permitted to frequent the ports and cities of Canton and Chau-chau, or Swatow , in the province of Kwang-tung, Amoy , Fuh-chau , and Tai-wan , in the province of Fuh-kien, Ningpo in the province of Cheh-kiang, and Shanghai, in the province of Kiang-su, and any other port or place hereafter by treaty with other powers or with the United States opened to commerce, and to reside with their families and trade there, and to proceed at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise from any of these ports to any other of them. But said vessels shall not carry on a clandestine and fraudulent trade at other ports of China not declared to be legal, or along the coasts thereof; and any vessel under the American flag violating this provision, shall, with her cargo, be subject to confiscation to the Chinese Government; and any citizen of the United States who shall trade in any contraband article of merchandise shall be subject to be dealt with by the Chinese Government, without being entitled to any countenance or protection from that of the United States; and the United States will take measures to prevent their flag from being abused by the subjects of other nations as a cover for the violation of the laws of the empire. ARTICLE XV. At each of the ports open to commerce citizens of the United States shall be permitted to import from abroad, and sell, purchase and export all merchandise of which the importation or exportation is not prohibited by the laws of the empire. The tariff of duties to be paid by citizens of the United States, on the export and import of goods from and into China, shall be the same as was agreed upon at the Treaty of Wanghia , except so far as it may be modified by treaties with other nations; it being expressly agreed that citizens of the United States shall never pay higher duties than those paid by the most favored nation. ARTICLE XVI. Tonnage duties shall be paid on every merchant vessel belonging to the United States entering either of the open ports at the rate of four mace per ton of forty cubic feet, if she be over one hundred and fifty tons burden, and one mace per ton forty cubic feet, if she be of the burden of one hundred and fifty tons burden or under, according to the tonnage specified in the register, which, with her other papers, shall, on her arrival, be lodged with the Consul, who shall report the same to the commissioner of customs. And if any vessel, having paid tonnage duty at one port, shall go to any other port to complete the disposal of her cargo, or, being in ballast, to purchase an entire or fill up an incomplete cargo, the Consul shall report the same to the commissioner of customs, who shall note on the port clearance that the tonnage duties have been paid, and report the circumstances to the collectors at the other custom-houses; in which case, the said vessel shall only pay duty on her cargo, and not be charged with tonnage duty a second time. The collectors of customs at the open ports shall consult with the Consuls about the erection of beacons or lighthouses, and where buoys and light-ships should be placed. ARTICLE XVII. Citizens of the United States shall be allowed to engage pilots to take their vessels into port, and, when the lawful duties have all been paid, take them out of port. It shall be lawful for them to hire at pleasure servants, compradores , linguists, writers, laborers, seamen and persons for whatever necessary service, with passage or cargo boats, for a reasonable compensation, to be agreed upon by the parties or determined by the consul. ARTICLE XVIII. Whenever merchant vessels of the United States shall enter a port, the collector of customs shall, if he see fit, appoint custom-house officers to guard said vessels, who may live on board the ship or their own boats, at their convenience. The local authorities of the Chinese Government shall cause to be apprehended all mutineers or deserters from on board the vessels of the United States in China on being informed by the Consul, and will deliver them up to the Consuls or other officer for punishment. And if criminals, subjects of China, take refuge in the houses or on board the vessels of citizens of the United States, they shall not be harbored or concealed, but shall be delivered up to justice on due requisition by the Chinese local officers, addressed to those of the United States. The merchants, seamen and other citizens of the United States shall be under the superintendence of the appropriate officers of their Government. If individuals of either nation commit acts of violence or disorder, use arms to the injury of others, or create disturbances endangering life, the officers of the two Governments will exert themselves to enforce order and to maintain the public peace, by doing impartial justice in the premises. ARTICLE XIX. Whenever a merchant vessel belonging to the United States shall cast anchor in either of the said ports, th e supercargo , master, or consignee , s hall, within forty-eight hours, deposit the ship's papers in the hands of the Consul or person charged with his functions, who shall cause to be communicated to the superintendent of customs a true report of the name and tonnage of such vessel, the number of her crew, and the nature of her cargo; which being done, he shall give a permit for her discharge. And the master, supercargo or consignee, if he proceed to discharge the cargo without such permit, shall incur a fine of five hundred dollars and the goods so discharged without permit shall be subject to forfeiture to the Chinese Government. But if a master of any vessel in port desire to discharge a part only of the cargo, it shall be lawful for him to do so, paying duty on such part only, and to proceed with the remainder to any other ports. Or, if the master so desire, he may, within forty-eight hours after the arrival of the vessel, but not later, decide to depart without breaking bulk; in which case he shall not be subject to pay tonnage or other duties or charges until on his arrival at another port, he shall proceed to discharge cargo, when he shall pay the duties on vessel and cargo, according to law. And the tonnage duties shall be held due after the expiration of the said forty-eight hours. In case of the absence of the Consul or person charged with his functions, the captain or supercargo of the vessel may have recourse to the Consul of a friendly power, or, if he please, directly to the Superintendent of Customs, who shall do all that is required to conduct the ship's business. ARTICLE XX. The Superintendent of Customs, in order to the collection of the proper duties, shall, on application made to him through the Consul, appoint suitable officers, who shall proceed in the presence of the captain, supercargo, or consignee, to make a just and fair examination of all goods, in the act of being discharged or importation, or laden for exportation. on board any merchant Vessel of the United States. And if disputes occur in regard to the value of goods subject to ad valorem duty, or in regard to the amount of tare , and the same cannot be satisfactory arranged by the parties, the question may, within twenty-four hours, and not afterwards, be referred to the said Consul to adjust with the Superintendent of Customs. ARTICLE XXIV. Where there are debts due by subjects of China to citizens of the United States, the latter may seek redress in law; and, on suitable representations being made to the local authorities, through the Consul, they will cause due examination in the premises, and take proper steps to compel satisfaction. And if citizens of the United States be indebted to subjects of China, the latter may seek redress by representation through the Consul, or by suit in the consular court; but neither Government will hold itself responsible for such debts. ARTICLE XXV. It shall be lawful for the officers or citizens of the United States to employ scholars and people of any part of China, without distinction of persons, to teach any of the languages of the empire, and to assist in literary labors; and the persons so employed shall not for that cause be subject to any injury on the part either of the Government or of individuals; and it shall in like manner be lawful for citizens of the United States to purchase all manner of books in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ARTICLE XXVIII. If citizens of the United States have special occasion to address any communication to the Chinese local officers of Government, they shall submit the same to their Consul or other officer, to determine if the language be proper and respectful, and the matter just and right, in which event he shall transmit the same to the appropriate authorities for their consideration and action in the premises. If subjects of China have occasion to address the Consul of the United States, they may address him directly at the same time they inform their own officers, representing the case for his consideration and action in the premises; and if controversies arise between citizens of the United States and subjects of China, which cannot be amicably settled otherwise, the same shall be examined and decided conformably to justice and equity by the public officers of the two nations, acting in conjunction. The extortion of illegal fees is expressly prohibited. Any peaceable persons are allowed to enter the court in order to interpret, lest injustice be done. ARTICLE XXIX. The principles of the Christian religion, as professed by the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, are recognized as teaching men to do good, and to do to others as they would have others do to them. Hereafter those who quietly profess and teach these doctrines shall not be harassed or persecuted on account of their faith. Any person, whether citizen of the United States or Chinese convert, who, according to these tenets, peaceably teach and practice the principles of Christianity, shall in no case be interfered with or molested. ARTICLE XXX. The contracting parties hereby agree that should at any time the [Chinese] Empire grant to any nation, or the merchants or citizens of any nation, any right, privilege or favor, connected either with navigation, commerce, political or other intercourse, which is not conferred by this treaty, such right, privilege and favor shall at once freely inure to the benefit of the United States, its public officers, merchants and citizens. The present treaty of peace, amity and commerce shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, within one year, or sooner, if possible, and by the August Sovereign of the [Chinese] Empire forthwith; and the ratifications shall be exchanged within one year from the date of the signatures thereof. In faith whereof, we, the respective Plenipotentiaries of the United the August Sovereign of the [Chinese] Empire forthwith; and the signed and sealed these presents. Done at Tien-tsin this eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and the independence of the United States of America the eighty-second, and in the eighth year of Hienfung, fifth month, and eighth day. [SEAL.] WILLIAM B. REED. [SEAL.] KWEILIANG. [SEAL.] HWASHANA. Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tien-Tsin_between_the_United_States_of_America_and_the_Empire_of_China

July 28, 1868 ADDITIONAL ARTICLES TO THE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE TA-TSING EMPIRE OF THE 18TH OF JUNE, 1858 Whereas since the conclusion of the treaty between the United States of America and the Ta Tsing Empire (China) of the 18th of June, 1858, circumstances have arisen showing the necessity of additional articles thereto, the President of the United States and the august sovereign of the Ta-Tsing Empire have named for their plenipotentiaries, to wit: the President of the United States of America, William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and his Majesty the Emperor of China, Anson Burlingame, accredited as his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, and Chih-Kang and Sun Chia-Ku, of the second Chinese rank, associated high envoys and ministers of his said Majesty, and the said plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full powers, found to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I His Majesty the Emperor of China, being of the opinion that, in making concessions to the citizens or subjects of foreign Powers of the privilege of residing on certain tracts of land, or resorting to certain waters of that empire for purposes of trade, he has by no means relinquished his right of eminent domain or dominion over the said land and water, hereby agrees that no such concession or grant shall be construed to give to any Power or party which may be at war with or hostile to the United States the right to attack the citizens of the United States or their property within the said lands or waters; and the United States from resisting an attack by any hostile Power or party upon their citizens or their property, It is further agreed that if any right or interest in any tract of land in China has been or shall hereafter be granted by the Government of China to the United States or their citizens for purposes of trade or commerce, that grant shall in no event be construed to divest the Chinese authorities of their right of jurisdiction over persons and property within said tract of land, except so far as that right may have been expressly relinquished by treaty. ARTICLE II The United States of America and his Majesty the Emperor of China, believing that the safety and prosperity of commerce will thereby best be promoted, agree that any privilege or immunity in respect to trade or navigation within the Chinese dominions which may not have been stipulated for by treaty, shall be subject to the discretion of the Chinese Government and may be regulated by it accordingly, but not in a manner or spirit incompatible with the the treaty stipulations of the parties. ARTICLE III The Emperor of China shall have the right to appoint consuls at ports of the United States, who shall enjoy the same privileges and immunities as those enjoyed by public law and treaty in the United States by the consuls of Great Britain and Russia, or either of them. ARTICLE IV The twenty-ninth article of the treaty of the 18th of June, 1858, having stipulated for the exemption of Christian citizens of the United States and Chinese converts from persecution in China on account of their faith, it is further agreed that citizens of the United States in China of every religious persuasion and Chinese subjects in the United States shall enjoy entire liberty of conscience and shall be exempt from all disability or persecution on account of their religious faith or worship in either country. Cemeteries for sepulture of the dead of whatever nativity or nationality shall be held in respect and free from disturbance or profanation. ARTICLE V The United States of America and the Emperor of China cordially recognize the inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance, and also the mutual advantage of the free migration and emigration of their citizens and subjects respectively from the one country to the other, for purposes of curiosity, of trade, or as permanent residents. The high contracting parties, therefore, join in reprobating any other than an entirely voluntary emigration for these purposes. They consequently agree to pass laws making it a penal offence for a citizen of the United States or Chinese subjects to take Chinese subjects either to the United States or to any other foreign country, or for a Chinese subject or citizen of the United States to take citizens of the United States to China or to any other foreign country, without their free and voluntary consent respectively. ARTICLE VI Citizens of the United States visiting or residing in China shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities or exemptions in respect to travel or residence as may there be enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation, and, reciprocally, Chinese subjects visiting or residing in the United States shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities and exemptions in respect to travel or residence as may there be enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the the most favored nation. But nothing herein contained shall be held to confer naturalization upon citizens of the United States in China, nor upon the subjects of China in the United States. ARTICLE VII Citizens of the United States shall enjoy all the privileges of the public educational institutions under the control of the government of China, and reciprocally, Chinese subjects shall enjoy all the privileges of the public educational institutions under the control of the government of the United States, which are enjoyed in the respective countries by the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation. The citizens of the United States may freely establish and maintain schools within the Empire of China at those places where foreigners are by treaty permitted to reside, and, reciprocally, Chinese subjects may enjoy the same privileges and immunities in the United States. ARTICLE VIII The United States, always disclaiming and discouraging all practices of unnecessary dictation and intervention by one nation in the affairs or domestic administration of another, do hereby freely disclaim and disavow any intention or right to intervene in the domestic administration of China in regard to the construction of railroads, telegraphs or other material internal improvements. On the other hand, his Majesty, the Emperor of China, reserves to himself the right to decide the time and manner and circumstances of introducing such improvements within his dominions. With this mutual understanding it is agreed by the contracting parties that if at any time hereafter his imperial Majesty shall determine to construct or cause to be constructed works of the character mentioned within the empire, and shall make application to the United States or any other Western Power for facilities to carry out that policy, the United States will, in that case, designate and authorize suitable engineers to be employed by the Chinese Government, and will recommend to other nations an equal compliance with such application, the Chinese Government in that case protecting such engineers in their persons and property, and paying them a reasonable compensation for their service. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed this treaty and thereto affixed the seals of their arms. Done at Washington the twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight. WILLIAM H. SEWARD [SEAL] ANSON BURLINGAME [SEAL] CHIH-KANG [ideographic signature]  SUN CHIA-KU Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Burlingame_Treaty

October 22, 1928 This campaign now draws near a close. The platforms of the two parties defining principles and offering solutions of various national problems have been presented and are being earnestly considered by our people. After four months' debate it is not the Republican Party which finds reason for abandonment of any of the principles it has laid down, or of the views it has expressed for solution of the problems before the country. The principles to which it adheres are rooted deeply in the foundations of our national life. The solutions which it proposes are based on experience with government and on a consciousness that it may have the responsibility for placing those solutions in action. In my acceptance speech I endeavored to outline the spirit and ideals by which I would be guided in carrying that platform into administration. Tonight, I will not deal with the multitude of issues which have been already well canvassed. I intend rather to discuss some of those more fundamental principles and ideals upon which I believe the Government of the United States should be conducted.  The Republican Party has ever been a party of progress. I do not need to review its seventy years of constructive history. It has always reflected the spirit of the American people. Never has it done more for the advancement of fundamental progress than during the past seven and a half years since we took over the Government amidst the ruin left by war. It detracts nothing from the character and energy of the American people, it minimizes in no degree the quality of their accomplishments to say that the policies of the Republican Party have played a large part in recuperation from the war and the building of the magnificent progress which shows upon every hand today. I say with emphasis that without the wise policies which the Republican Party has brought into action during this period, no such progress would have been possible. The first responsibility of the Republican Administration was to renew the march of progress from its collapse by the war. That task involved the restoration of confidence in the future and the liberation and stimulation of the constructive energies of our people. It discharged that task. There is not a person within the sound of my voice that does not know the profound progress which our country has made in this period. Every man and woman knows that American comfort, hope and confidence for the future are immeasurably higher this day than they were seven and one-half years ago. It is not my purpose to enter upon a detailed recital of the great constructive measures of the past seven and a half years by which this has been brought about. It is sufficient to remind you of the restoration of employment to the millions who walked your streets in idleness; to remind you of the creation of the budget system; the reduction of six billions of national debt which gave the powerful impulse of that vast sum returned to industry and commerce; the four sequent reductions of taxes and thereby the lift to the living of every family; the enactment of adequate protective tariff and immigration laws which have safeguarded our workers and farmers from floods of goods and labor from foreign countries; the creation of credit facilities and many other aids to agriculture; the building up of foreign trade; the care of veterans; the development of aviation, of radio, of our inland waterways, of our highways; the expansion of scientific research, of welfare activities, the making of safer highways, safer mines, better homes; the spread of outdoor recreation; the improvement in public health and the care of children; and a score of other progressive actions. Nor do I need to remind you that Government today deals with an economic and social system vastly more intricate and delicately adjusted than ever before. That system now must be kept in perfect tune if we would maintain uninterrupted employment and the high standards of living of our people. The Government has come to touch this delicate web at a thousand points. Yearly the relations of Government to national prosperity become more and more intimate. Only through keen vision and helpful cooperation by the Government has stability in business and stability in employment been maintained during this past seven and a half years. There always are some localities, some industries and some individuals who do not share the prevailing prosperity. The task of government is to lessen these inequalities. Never has there been a period when the Federal Government has given such aid and impulse to the progress of our people, not alone to economic progress but to the development of those agencies which make for moral and spiritual progress. But in addition to this great record of contributions of the Republican Party to progress, there has been a further fundamental contribution—a contribution underlying and sustaining all the others—and that is the resistance of the Republican Party to every attempt to inject the Government into business in competition with its citizens.  After the war, when the Republican Party assumed administration of the country, we were faced with the problem of determination of the very nature of our national life. During 150 years we have builded up a form of self-government and a social system which is peculiarly our own. It differs essentially from all others in the world. It is the American system. It is just as definite and positive a political and social system as has ever been developed on earth. It is founded upon a particular conception of self-government; in which decentralized local responsibility is the very base. Further than this, it is founded upon the conception that only through ordered liberty, freedom and equal opportunity to the individual will his initiative and enterprise spur on the march of progress. And in our insistence upon equality of opportunity has our system advanced beyond all the world. During the war we necessarily turned to the Government to solve every difficult economic problem. The Government having absorbed every energy of our people for war, there was no other solution. For the preservation of the State, the Federal Government became a centralized despotism which undertook unprecedented responsibilities, assumed autocratic powers, and took over the business of citizens. To a large degree we regimented our whole people temporarily into a socialistic state. However justified in time of war, if continued in peace time it would destroy not only our American system but with it our progress and freedom as well. When the war closed, the most vital of all issues both in our own country and throughout the world was whether Governments should continue their wartime ownership and operation of many instrumentalities of production and distribution. We were challenged with a peace-time choice between the American system of rugged individualism and a European philosophy of diametrically opposed doctrines—doctrines of paternalism and state socialism. The acceptance of these ideas would have meant the destruction of self-government through centralization of government. It would have meant the undermining of the individual initiative and enterprise through which our people have grown to unparalleled greatness. The Republican Party from the beginning resolutely turned its face away from these ideas and these war practices. A Republican Congress cooperated with the Democratic administration to demobilize many of our war activities. At that time the two parties were accord upon that point. When the Republican Party came into full power, it went at once resolutely back to our fundamental conception of the state and the rights and responsibilities of the individual. Thereby it restored confidence and hope in the American people, it freed and stimulated enterprise, it restored the Government to its position as an umpire instead of a player in the economic game. For these reasons the American people have gone forward in progress while the rest of the world has halted, and some countries have even gone backwards. If anyone will study the causes of retarded recuperation in Europe, he will find much of it due to the stifling of private initiative on one hand, and overloading of the Government with business on the other. There has been revived in this campaign, however, a series of proposals which, if adopted, would be a long step toward the abandonment of our American system and a surrender to the destructive operation of governmental conduct of commercial business. Because the country is faced with difficulty and doubt over certain national problems—that is, prohibition, farm relief and electrical power—our opponents propose that we must thrust government a long way into the businesses which give rise to these problems. In effect, they abandon the tenets of their own party and turn to state socialism as a solution for the difficulties presented by all three. It is proposed that we shall change from prohibition to the state purchase and sale of liquor. If their agricultural relief program means anything, it means that the Government shall directly or indirectly buy and sell and fix prices of agricultural products. And we are to go into the hydroelectric-power business. In other words, we are confronted with a huge program of government in business. There is, therefore, submitted to the American people a question of fundamental principle. That is: shall we depart from the principles of our American political and economic system, upon which we have advanced beyond all the rest of the world, in order to adopt methods based on principles destructive of its very foundations? And I wish to emphasize the seriousness of these proposals. I wish to make my position clear; for this goes to the very roots of American life and progress. I should like to state to you the effect that this projection of government in business would have upon our system of self-government and our economic system. That effect would reach to the daily life of every man and woman. It would impair the very basis of liberty and freedom not only for those left outside the fold of expanded bureaucracy but for those embraced within it. Let us first see the effect upon self-government. When the Federal Government undertakes to go into commercial business, it must at once set up the organization and administration of that business, and it immediately finds itself in a labyrinth, every alley of which leads to the destruction of self-government. Commercial business requires a concentration of responsibility. Self-government requires decentralization and many checks and balances to safeguard liberty. Our Government to succeed in business would need become in effect a despotism. There at once begins the destruction of self-government. The first problem of the government about to adventure in commercial business is to determine a method of administration. It must secure leadership and direction. Shall this leadership be chosen by political agencies or shall we make it elective? The hard practical fact is that leadership in business must come through the sheer rise in ability and character. That rise can only take place in the free atmosphere of competition. Competition is closed by bureaucracy. Political agencies are feeble channels through which to select able leaders to conduct commercial business. Government, in order to avoid the possible incompetence, corruption and tyranny of too great authority in individuals entrusted with commercial business, inevitably turns to boards and commissions. To make sure that there are checks and balances, each member of such boards and commissions must have equal authority. Each has his separate responsibility to the public, and at once we have the conflict of ideas and the lack of decision which would ruin any commercial business. It has contributed greatly to the demoralization of our shipping business. Moreover, these commissions must be representative of different sections and different political parties, so that at once we have an entire blight upon coordinated action within their ranks which destroys any possibility of effective administration. Moreover, our legislative bodies cannot in fact delegate their full authority to commissions or to individuals for the conduct of matters vital to the American people; for if we would preserve government by the people we must preserve the authority of our legislators in the activities of our government. Thus every time the Federal Government goes into a commercial business, 531 Senators and Congressmen become the actual board of directors of that business. Every time a state government goes into business, one or two hundred state senators and legislators become the actual directors of that business. Even if they were supermen and if there were no politics in the United States, no body of such numbers could competently direct commercial activities; for that requires initiative, instant decision. and action. It took Congress six years of constant discussion to even decide what the method of administration of Muscle Shoals should be. When the Federal Government undertakes to go into business, the state governments are at once deprived of control and taxation of that business; when a state government undertakes to go into business, it at once deprives the municipalities of taxation and control of that business. Municipalities, being local and close to the people, can, at times, succeed in business where Federal and State Governments must fail. We have trouble enough with log rolling in legislative bodies today. It originates naturally from desires of citizens to advance their particular section or to secure some necessary service. It would be multiplied a thousandfold were the Federal and state governments in these businesses. The effect upon our economic progress would be even worse. Business progressiveness is dependent on competition. New methods and new ideas are the outgrowth of the spirit of adventure, of individual initiative and of individual enterprise. Without adventure there is no progress. No government administration can rightly take chances with taxpayers' money. There is no better example of the practical incompetence of government to conduct business than the history of our railways. During the war, the government found it necessary to operate the railways. That operation continued until after the war. In the year before being freed from Government operation, they were not able to meet the demands for transportation. Eight years later we find them under private enterprise transporting 15 per cent more goods and meeting every demand for service. Rates have been reduced by 15 per cent and net earnings increased from less than 1 per cent on their valuation to about 5 per cent. Wages of employees have improved by 13 per cent. The wages of railway employees are today 121 per cent above pre-war, while the wages of Government employees are today only 65 per cent above pre-war. That should be a sufficient commentary upon the efficiency of Government operation. Let us now examine this question from the point of view of the person who may get a Government job and is admitted into the new bureaucracy. Upon that subject let me quote from a speech of that great leader of labor, Samuel Gompers, delivered in Montreal in 1920, a few years before his death. He said: "I believe there is no man to whom I would take second position in my loyalty to the Republic of the United States, and yet I would not give it more power over the individual citizenship of our country.  "It is a question of whether it shall be Government ownership or private ownership under control.  If I were in the minority of one in this convention, I would want to cast my vote so that the men of labor shall not willingly enslave themselves to Government authority in their industrial effort for freedom.  "Let the future tell the story of who is right or who is wrong; who has stood for freedom and who has been willing to submit their fate industrially to the Government." I would amplify Mr. Gompers' statement. The great body of Government employees which would be created by the proposals of our opponents would either comprise a political machine at the disposal of the party in power, or alternatively, to prevent this, the Government by stringent civil-service rules must debar its employees from their full political rights as free men. It must limit them in the liberty to bargain for their own wages, for no Government employee can strike against his Government and thus against the whole people. It makes a legislative body with all its political currents their final employer and master. Their bargaining does not rest upon economic need or economic strength but on political potence. But what of those who are outside the bureaucracy? What is the effect upon their lives? The area of enterprise and opportunity for them to strive and rise is at once limited. The Government in commercial business does not tolerate amongst its customers the freedom of competitive reprisals to which private business is subject. Bureaucracy does not tolerate the spirit of independence; it spreads the spirit of submission into our daily life and penetrates the temper of our people not with the habit of powerful resistance to wrong but with the habit of timid acceptance of irresistible might. Bureaucracy is ever desirous of spreading its influence and its power. You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time making it the master of the people's souls and thoughts. Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nations' press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die. It is a false liberalism that interprets itself into the Government operation of commercial business. Every step of bureaucratizing of the business of our country poisons the very roots of liberalism—that is, political equality, free speech, free assembly, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is the road not to more liberty, but to less liberty. Liberalism should be found not striving to spread bureaucracy but striving to set bounds to it. True liberalism seeks all legitimate freedom first in the confident belief that without such freedom the pursuit of all other blessings and benefits is vain. That belief is the foundation of all American progress, political as well as economic. Liberalism is a force truly of the spirit, a force proceeding from the deep realization that economic freedom cannot be sacrificed if political freedom is to be preserved, Even if governmental conduct of business could give us more efficiency instead of less efficiency, the fundamental objection to it would remain unaltered and unabated. It would destroy political equality. It would increase rather than decrease abuse and corruption. It would stifle initiative and invention. It would undermine the development of leadership. It would cramp and cripple the mental and spiritual energies of our people. It would extinguish equality and opportunity. It would dry up the spirit of liberty and progress. For these reasons primarily it must be resisted. For a hundred and fifty years liberalism has found its true spirit in the American system, not in the European systems. I do not wish to be misunderstood in this statement. I am defining a general policy. It does not mean that our government is to part with one iota of its national resources without complete protection to the public interest. I have already stated that where the government is engaged in public works for purposes of flood control, of navigation, of irrigation, of scientific research or national defense, or in pioneering a new art, it will at times necessarily produce power or commodities as a by-product. But they must be a by-product of the major purpose, not the major purpose itself. Nor do I wish to be misinterpreted as believing that the United States is free-for-all and devil-take-the-hind-most. The very essence of equality of opportunity and of American individualism is that there shall be no domination by any group or combination in this Republic, whether it be business or political. On the contrary, it demands economic justice as well as political and social justice. It is no system of laissez faire. I feel deeply on this subject because during the war I had some practical experience with governmental operation and control. I have witnessed not only at home but abroad the many failures of government in business. I have seen its tyrannies, its injustices, its destructions of self-government, its undermining of the very instincts which carry our people forward to progress. I have witnessed the lack of advance, the lowered standards of living, the depressed spirits of people working under such a system. My objection is based not upon theory or upon a failure to recognize wrong or abuse, but I know the adoption of such methods would strike at the very roots of American life and would destroy the very basis of American progress. Our people have the right to know whether we can continue to solve our great problems without abandonment of our American system. I know we can. We have demonstrated that our system is responsive enough to meet any new and intricate development in our economic and business life. We have demonstrated that we can meet any economic problem and still maintain our democracy as master in its own house and that we can at the same time preserve equality of opportunity and individual freedom. In the last fifty years we have discovered that mass production will produce articles for us at half the cost they required previously. We have seen the resultant growth of large units of production and distribution. This is big business. Many businesses must be bigger for our tools are bigger, our country is bigger. We now build a single dynamo of a hundred thousand horsepower. Even fifteen years ago that would have been a big business all by itself. Yet today advance in production requires that we set ten of these units together in a row. The American people from bitter experience have a rightful fear that great business units might be used to dominate our industrial life and by illegal and unethical practices destroy equality of opportunity. Years ago the Republican Administration established the principle that such evils could be corrected by regulation. It developed methods by which abuses could be prevented while the full value of industrial progress could be retained for the public. It insisted upon the principle that when great public utilities were clothed with the security of partial monopoly, whether it be railways, power plants, telephones or what not, then there must be the fullest and most complete control of rates, services, and finances by government or local agencies. It declared that these businesses must be conducted with glass pockets. As to our great manufacturing and distributing industries, the Republican Party insisted up on the enactment of laws that not only would maintain competition but would destroy conspiracies to destroy the smaller units or dominate and limit the equality of opportunity amongst our people. One of the great problems of government is to determine to what extent the Government shall regulate and control commerce and industry and how much it shall leave it alone. No system is perfect. We have had many abuses in the private conduct of business. That every good citizen resents. It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business. Nor am I setting up the contention that our institutions are perfect. No human ideal is ever perfectly attained, since humanity itself is not perfect. The wisdom of our forefathers in their conception that progress can only be attained as the sum of the accomplishment of free individuals has been re-enforced by all of the great leaders of the country since that day. Jackson, Lincoln, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Wilson, and Coolidge have stood unalterably for these principles. And what have been the results of our American system? Our country has become the land of opportunity to those born without inheritance, not merely because of the wealth of its resources and industry but because of this freedom of initiative and enterprise. Russia has natural resources equal to ours. Her people are equally industrious, but she has not had the blessings of 150 years of our form of government and of our social system. By adherence to the principles of decentralized self-government, ordered liberty, equal opportunity and freedom to the individual, our American experiment in human welfare has yielded a degree of well-being unparalleled in all the world. It has come nearer to the abolition of poverty, to the abolition of fear of want, than humanity has ever reached before. Progress of the past seven years is the proof of it. This alone furnishes the answer to our opponents who ask us to introduce destructive elements into the system by which this has been accomplished. Let us see what this system has done for us in our recent years of difficult and trying reconstruction and let us then solemnly ask ourselves if we now wish to abandon it. As a nation we came out of the war with great losses. We made no profits from it. The apparent increases in wages were at that time fictitious. We were poorer as a nation when we emerged from the war. Yet during these last eight years, we have recovered from these losses and increased our national income by over one-third even if we discount the inflation of the dollar. That there has been a wide diffusion of our gain in wealth and income is marked by a hundred proofs. I know of no better test of the improved conditions of the average family than the combined increase in assets of life and industrial insurance, building and loan associations, and savings deposits. These are the savings banks of the average man. These agencies alone have in seven years increased by nearly 100 per cent to the gigantic sum of over 50 billions of dollars, or nearly one-sixth of our whole national wealth. We have increased in home ownership, we have expanded the investments of the average man. In addition t o these evidences of larger savings, our people are steadily increasing their spending for higher standards of living. Today there are almost 9 automobiles for each 10 families, where seven and a half years ago only enough automobiles were running to average less than 4 for each 10 families. The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage. Our people have more to eat, better things to wear, and better homes. We have even gained in elbow room, for the increase of residential floor space is over 25 per cent with less than 10 per cent increase in our number of people. Wages have increased, the cost of living has decreased. The job to every man and woman has been made more secure. We have in this short period decreased the fear of poverty, the fear of unemployment, the fear of old age; and these are fears that are the greatest calamities of human kind. All this progress means far more than greater creature comforts. It finds a thousand interpretations into a greater and fuller life. A score of new helps save the drudgery of the home. In seven years we have added 70 per cent to the electric power at the elbow of our workers and further promoted them from carriers of burdens to directors of machines. We have steadily reduced the sweat in human labor. Our hours of labor are lessened; our leisure has increased. We have expanded our parks and playgrounds. We have nearly doubled our attendance at games. We pour into outdoor recreation in every direction. The visitors at our national parks have trebled and we have so increased the number of sportsmen fishing in our streams and lakes that the longer time between bites is becoming a political issue. In these seven and one-half years the radio has brought music and laughter, education and political discussion to almost every fireside. Springing from our prosperity with its greater freedom, its vast endowment of scientific research and the greater resources with which to care for public health, we have according to our insurance actuaries during this short period since the war lengthened the average span of life by nearly eight years. We have reduced infant mortality, we have vastly decreased the days of illness and suffering in the life of every man and woman. We have improved the facilities for the care of the crippled and helpless and deranged. From our increasing resources we have expanded our educational system in eight years from an outlay of 1,200 millions to 2,700 millions of dollars. The education of our youth has become almost our largest and certainly our most important activity. From our greater income and thus our ability to free youth from toil we have increased the attendance in our grade schools by 14 per cent, in our high schools by 80 per cent, and in our institutions of higher learning by 95 per cent. Today we have more youth in these institutions of higher learning twice over than all the rest of the world put together. We have made notable progress in literature, in art and in public taste. We have made progress in the leadership of every branch of American life. Never in our history was the leadership in our economic life more distinguished in its abilities than today, and it has grown greatly in its consciousness of public responsibility. Leadership in our professions—and in moral and spiritual affairs of our country was never of a higher order. And our magnificent educational system is bringing forward a host of recruits for the succession to this leadership. I do not need to recite more figures and more evidence. I cannot believe that the American people wish to abandon or in any way to weaken the principles of economic freedom and self-government which have been maintained by the Republican Party and which have produced results so amazing and so stimulating to the spiritual as well as to the material advance of the nation. Your city has been an outstanding beneficiary of this great progress and of these safeguarded principles. With its suburbs it has, during the last seven and a half years, grown by over a million and a half of people until it has become the largest metropolitan district of all the world. Here you have made abundant opportunity not only for the youth of the land but for the immigrant from foreign shores. This city is the commercial center of the United States. It is the commercial agent of the American people. It is a great organism of specialized skill and leadership in finance, industry and commerce, which reaches every spot in our country. Its progress and its beauty are the pride of the whole American people. It leads our nation in its benevolences to charity, to education and scientific research. It is the center of art, music, literature and drama. It has come to have a more potent voice than any other city in the United States. But when all is said and done the very life, progress and prosperity of this city is wholly dependent on the prosperity of the 115,000,000 people who dwell in our mountains and valleys across the 3,000 miles to the Pacific Ocean. Every activity of this city is sensitive to every evil and every favorable tide that sweeps this great nation of ours. Be there a slackening of industry in any place it affects New York far more than any other part of the country. In a time of depression one-quarter of all the unemployed in the United States can be numbered in this city. In a time of prosperity the citizens of the great interior of our country pour into your city for business and entertainment at the rate of 150,000 a day. In fact, so much is this city the reflex of the varied interests of our country that the concern of everyone of your citizens for national stability, for national prosperity, for national progress, for preservation of our American system, is far greater than that of any other single part of our country. We still have great problems if we would achieve the full economic advancement of our country. In these past few years some groups in our country have lagged behind others in the march of progress. I refer more particularly to those engaged in the textile, coal and in the agricultural industries. We can assist in solving these problems by cooperation of our Government. To the agricultural industry we shall need to advance initial capital to assist them to stabilize their industry. But this proposal implies that they shall conduct it themselves, and not by the Government. It is in the interest of our cities that we shall bring agriculture and all industries into full stability and prosperity. I know you will gladly cooperate in the faith that in the common prosperity of our country lies its future. In bringing this address to a conclusion I should like to restate to you some of the fundamental things I have endeavored to bring out. The foundations of progress and prosperity are dependent as never before upon the wise policies of government, for government now touches at a thousand points the intricate web of economic and social life. Under administration by the Republican Party in the last 7 1/2 years our country as a whole has made unparalleled progress and this has been in generous part reflected to this great city. Prosperity is no idle expression. It is a job for every worker; it is the safety and the safeguard of every business and every home. A continuation of the policies of the Republican Party is fundamentally necessary to the further advancement of this progress and to the further building up of this prosperity. I have dwelt at some length on the principles of relationship between the Government and business. I make no apologies for dealing with this subject. The first necessity of any nation is the smooth functioning of the vast business machinery for employment, feeding, clothing, housing and providing luxuries and comforts to a people. Unless these basic elements are properly organized and function, there can be no progress in business in education, literature, music or art. There can be no advance in the fundamental ideals of a people. A people cannot make progress in poverty. I have endeavored to present to you that the greatness of America has grown out of a political and social system and a method of control of economic forces distinctly its own—our American system—which has carried this great experiment in human welfare farther than ever before in all history. We are nearer today to the ideal of the abolition of poverty and fear from the lives of men and women than ever before in any land. And I again repeat that the departure from our American system by injecting principles destructive to it which our opponents propose will jeopardize the very liberty and freedom of our people, will destroy equality of opportunity not alone to ourselves but to our children. To me the foundation of American life rests upon the home and the family. I read into these great economic forces, these intricate and delicate relations of the Government with business and with our political and social life, but one supreme end—that we reinforce the ties that bind together the millions of our families, that we strengthen the security, the happiness and the independence of every home. My conception of America is a land where men and women may walk in ordered freedom in the independent conduct of their occupations; where they may enjoy the advantages of wealth, not concentrated in the hands of the few but spread through the lives of all, where they build and safeguard their homes, and give to their children the fullest advantages and opportunities of American life; where every man shall be respected in the faith that his conscience and his heart direct him to follow; where a contented and happy people, secure in their liberties, free from poverty and fear, shall have the leisure and impulse to seek a fuller life. Some may ask where all this may lead beyond mere material progress. It leads to a release of the energies of men and women from the dull drudgery of life to a wider vision and a higher hope. It leads to the opportunity for greater and greater service, not alone from man to man in our own land, but from our country to the whole world. It leads to an America, healthy in body, healthy in spirit, unfettered, youthful, eager—with a vision searching beyond the farthest horizons, with an open mind sympathetic and generous. It is to these higher ideals and for these purposes that I pledge myself and the Republican Party. Source: https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/october-22-1928-principles-and-ideals-united-states-government

Executive Order By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose.  The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift.  The Fourteenth Amendment states:  “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”  That provision rightly repudiated the Supreme Court of the United States’s shameful decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford , 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), which misinterpreted the Constitution as permanently excluding people of African descent from eligibility for United States citizenship solely based on their race.  But the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.  The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”  Consistent with this understanding, the Congress has further specified through legislation that “a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is a national and citizen of the United States at birth, 8 U.S.C. 1401, generally mirroring the Fourteenth Amendment’s text.   Among the categories of individuals born in the United States and not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States:   (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth. Sec. 2.  Policy.   (a)  It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons:   (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth. (b)  Subsection (a) of this section shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order. (c)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to affect the entitlement of other individuals, including children of lawful permanent residents, to obtain documentation of their United States citizenship.  Sec. 3.  Enforcement.   (a)  The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Commissioner of Social Security shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the regulations and policies of their respective departments and agencies are consistent with this order, and that no officers, employees, or agents of their respective departments and agencies act, or forbear from acting, in any manner inconsistent with this order. (b)  The heads of all executive departments and agencies shall issue public guidance within 30 days of the date of this order regarding this order’s implementation with respect to their operations and activities. Sec. 4.  Definitions.  As used in this order: (a)  “Mother” means the immediate female biological progenitor. (b)  “Father” means the immediate male biological progenitor. Sec. 5.  General Provisions.   (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. THE WHITE HOUSE,     January 20, 2025. Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM Via Teleconference      11:06 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much, Klaus.  And hello to everyone in beautiful Davos.      This has been a truly historic week in the United States.  Three days ago, I took the oath of office, and we began the golden age of America.  The recent presidential election was won by millions of votes and all seven — every one of them — all seven swing states.  It was a massive mandate from the American people like hasn’t been seen in many years.  And some of the political pundits, even some of my so-called enemies, said it was the most consequential election victory in 129 years.  That’s quite nice.      What the world has witnessed in the past 72 hours is nothing less than a revolution of common sense.  Our country will soon be stronger, wealthier, and more united than ever before, and the entire planet will be more peaceful and prosperous as a result of this incredible momentum and what we’re doing and going to do.     My administration is acting with unprecedented speed to fix the disasters we’ve inherited from a totally inept group of people and to solve every single crisis facing our country.  This begins with confronting the economic chaos caused by the failed policies of the last administration.  Over the past four years, our government racked up $8 trillion in wasteful deficit spending and inflicted nation-wrecking energy restrictions, crippling regulations, and hidden taxes like never before.  The result is the worst inflation crisis in modern history and sky-high interest rates for our citizens and even throughout the world.  Food prices and the price of almost every other thing known to mankind went through the roof.      President Biden totally lost control of what was going on in our country but, in particular, with our high-inflation economy and at our border.  Because of these ruinous policies, total government spending this year is $1.5 trillion higher than was projected to occur when I left office just four years ago.  Likewise, the cost of servicing the debt is more than 230 percent higher than was projected in 2020.      The inflation rate we are inheriting remains 50 percent higher than the historic target.  It was the highest inflation probably in the history of our country.  That’s why, from the moment I took office, I’ve taken rapid action to reverse each and every one of these radical left policies that created this calamity — in particular, with immigration, crime, and inflation.      On day one, I signed an executive order directing every member of my Cabinet to marshal all powers at their disposal to defeat inflation and reduce the cost of daily life.  I imposed a federal hiring freeze, a federal regulation freeze, a foreign aid freeze, and I created the new Department of Government Efficiency.      I terminated the ridiculous and incredibly wasteful Green New Deal — I call it the “Green New Scam”; withdrew from the one-sided Paris Climate Accord; and ended the insane and costly electric vehicle mandate.  We’re going to let people buy the car they want to buy.      I declared a national em- — energy emergency — and it’s so important — national energy emergency to unlock the liquid gold under our feet and pave the way for rapid approvals of new energy infrastructure.  The United States has the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we’re going to use it.      Not only will this reduce the cost of virtually all goods and services, it will make the United States a manufacturing superpower and the world capital of artificial intelligence and crypto. My administration has also begun the largest deregulation campaign in history, far exceeding even the record-setting efforts of my last term.      In total, the Biden administration imposed $50,000 in additional regulatory costs on the average American household over the last four years.  I have promised to eliminate 10 old regulations for every new regulation, which will soon put many thousands of dollars back in the pockets of American families.     To further unleash our economy, our majorities in the House and Senate — which we also took, along with the presidency — are going to pass the largest tax cut in American history, including massive tax cuts for workers and family and big tax cuts for domestic producers and manufacturers.  And we’re working with the Democrats on getting an extension of the original Trump tax cuts, as you probably know by just reading any paper.     My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth.  We’re bringing them down very substantially, even from the original Trump tax cuts.  But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts, but a tariff — which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our Treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt.      Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on Earth to create jobs, build factories, or grow a company than right here in the good old USA. Already, American’s economic — and you can see this, I think, maybe even in your — in your wonderful, wonderful room that you’re all gathered together — so many of my friends — but, Americans, the economic confidence is soaring like we haven’t seen in many, many decades, maybe not at all.      Upon my election, it was just announced that small-business optimism skyrocketed by 41 points in a single month.  That’s the highest ever.  There’s never been anything like that.      SoftBank has announced between a $100 and $200 billion investment in the U.S. economy because of the election result.  And just two days ago, Oracle, SoftBank, and OpenAI announced a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure.  Other companies, likewise, have announced billions and billions and billions — adding up to trillions — of investment in America, in the United States. And it’s also reported today in the papers that Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America.  But I’ll be asking the crown prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion.  I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.  And I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil.  You got to bring it down, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election.  That didn’t show a lot of love by them not doing it.  I was a little surprised by that. If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.  Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue.  You got to bring down the oil price; you’re going to end that war.  They should have done it long ago.  They’re very responsible, actually, to a certain extent, for what’s taking place — millions of lives are being lost. With oil prices going down, I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And, likewise, they should be dropping all over the world.  Interest rates should follow us. All over, the progress that you’re seeing is happening because of our historic victory in a recent presidential election, one that has become quite well known throughout the world.  I think a lot of things are happening to a lot of countries.  They say that there’s light shining all over the world since the election.  And even countries that we aren’t particularly friendly with are happy because they understand what — there is a future and th- — how great the future will be. Under our leadership, America is back and open for business.  And this week, I’m also taking swift action to stop the invasion at our southern border.  They allowed people to come in at levels that nobody has ever seen before.  It was ridiculous.  I decided a — and declared to dec- — to — to do — and very, very importantly — a national emergency on our border; immediately halted all entry of illegal border crossers, of which there were many; and began properly returning the illegal trespassers back to the place from which they came.  That action, as you’ve probably seen, has already started very strongly.  I have deployed active-duty U.S. military and National Guard troops to the border to assist in repelling the invasion.  It was really an invasion.  We will not allow our territory to be violated.  After four long years, the United States is strong and sovereign and a beautiful nation once again. It’s a strong, sovereign nation. In addition, I’m pleased to report that America is also a free nation once again.  On day one, I signed an executive order to stop all government censorship.  No longer will our government label the speech of our own citizens as misinformation or disinformation, which are the favorite words of censors and those who wish to stop the free exchange of ideas and, frankly, progress.  We have saved free speech in America, and we’ve saved it strongly. With another historic executive order this week, I also ended the weaponization of law enforcement against the American people — and, frankly, against politicians — and restored the fair, equal, and impartial rule of law.  My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense — and these are policies that were absolute nonsense — throughout the government and the private sector.  With the recent, yet somewhat unexpected, great Supreme Court decision just made, America will once again become a merit-based country.  You have to hear that word: merit-based country.  And I’ve made it official — an official policy of the United States that there are only two genders, male and female, and we will have no men participating in women’s sports, and transgender operations, which became the rage, will occur very rarely.  Finally, as we restore common sense in America, we’re moving quickly to bring back strength and peace and stability abroad.  I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago — it was only at 2 percent, and most nations didn’t pay until I came along; I insisted that they pay, and they did — because the United States was really paying the difference at that time, and it’s — it was unfair to the United States.  But many, many things have been unfair for many years to the United States.  Before even taking office, my team negotiated a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East, which wouldn’t have happened without us, as I think most of the people in the room know.  Earlier this week, the hostages began to return to their families.  They are returning, and it’s a beautiful sight.  And they’ll be coming in more and more.  They started coming back on Sunday. Our efforts to secure a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine are now, hopefully, underway.  It’s so important to get that done.  That is an absolute killing field.  Millions of soldiers are being killed.  Nobody has seen anything like it since World War II.  They’re laying dead all over the flat fields.  It’s a flat field — farmland, and there’s millions of Russians and millions of Ukrainians.  Nobody’s seen anything like it since World War II.  It’s time to end it.  And here in America, we have big events coming up.  Next year we have the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.  I’m so honored to be president during that.  That’s been a big event.  They’ve been talking about it for 10 years.  We also have the World Cup, and I understand Gianni — Gianni is in the room — Infantino.  He was very instrumental in helping us get it — he’s there with you someplace, I think — and I want to thank him for that.  And then we have the Olympics coming up, which I was instrumental in getting, also, in my first term.  And who would have known that by skipping a term, I would get the Olympics?  I was upset.  I said, “You know, I got the Olympics to come and I won’t be president.”  But it turned out, through a stroke of luck or whatever you might call it, that I’m going to be president during the World Cup and the Olympics and the 250th anniversary.  So, that’s going to be three big events. And we’ve accomplished more in less than four days — we have really been working — four days — than other administrations have accomplished in four years, and we’re just getting started.  It’s really an amazing thing to see, and the spirit and the light over our country has been incredible.  Under the last administration, our nation has suffered greatly, but we are going to bring it back and make it greater, bigger, stronger, better than ever before.  I want to thank everybody for being with you.  I would have been there myself, except the inauguration was two days ago.  I thought it might be a little bit quick to make it the first stop, but we’ll get there one day.  We hope to get there.  But I — I do appreciate — I heard the audience is fantastic, and many of my friends are in the audience.  And I will be taking questions now from some very distinguished people.  Thank you all very much.  (Applause.) MR. BRENDE:  Thank you.  Thank you very much, Mr.  President, for that very powerful speech, and I think you could hear the applause all the way from Davos to the White House.  But next year, it will be even better, because then you can get the applause here in Davos.  So, we wish you welcome to our village next year.  We hope to see you.  THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  MR. BRENDE:  So, we also know, Mr. President, that you open up for interaction here.  We have a great panel with some of the most distinguished businesspeople in the world.  Let me start with someone that you know really well, that I think is almost a neighbor of you in Mal-a- — in — in Florida, Mr. Steve Schwarzman, chairman, CEO, and cofounder of Blackstone Group.  So, Steve, floor is yours. MR. SCHWARZMAN:  Well, Mr. President — THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Steve.  MR. SCHWARZMAN:  — I’m sure the crown prince of Saudi Arabia will be really glad you gave this speech today.  (Laughter.)  THE PRESIDENT:  I hope so. MR. SCHWARZMAN:  You’ve had the busiest four days that anybody can imagine, and congratulations for that.  And my question is — is about some of the things I’ve observed here at Davos.  It’s a terrific forum.  I’ve met lots of people, as usual.  I think I’ve been here 30 years.  And a lot of the European businesspeople have expressed enormous frustration with the regulatory regime in the EU, and they attribute slower growth rates here because of numerous factors, but especially because of regulations.  And you’ve taken a completely different approach in this area.  And if you could explain the theory of what you’re doing, how you’re going to do it, and what you expect the outcome to be, I’d appreciate it. THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  And congratulations, Steve — you’re a friend of mine — but on a great career.  You have had an amazing career and continues.  So, I just want to congratulate you.  Very inspirational to a lot of people.  I want to talk about the EU, because you mentioned specifically that I’ve also had a lot of friends and leaders of countries.  I’ve gotten to know them all my first term and a little bit during this period of four years and know them well, like them a lot, but they’re very frustrated because of the time everything seems to take to get approved — environmental impact statements for things that you shouldn’t even have to do that, and many, many other ways that it takes.  And I’m going to give you a quick little example.  I w- — in the private life, my beautiful private life — before I had all these things happening — the world is a little different — I had a nice, simple life.  You knew that.  But when I had that simple life, I did projects, and I had a big project in Ireland, and it had to get approval on something that would have made it even better.  And I got the approval from Ireland in a period of a week, and it was a very, very, very efficient, good approval.  And they informed me, though, “The problem is you’re going to have to get it from the EU, and we think that’ll take five to six years.”  And I said, “You have to be kidding.”  And this was before politics.  And I said, “Wait a minute.  It’s not that important.  I don’t want to go five or six years.”  But it would have been a big investment.  It would have been nice, and it would have been good for the project.  And I sent the people to the EU to see if they could speed it up, and basically it was a five- or six-year wait just to get a simple approval that Ireland gave me in a period of, literally, not much more than a week.  And I realized right then — that was the first time I really was involved with the EU, but I realized right then, that’s a problem, and I didn’t even bother applying to do it, and — or if I did, I pulled it very quickly.  I don’t wa- — I have to be very accurate, because I don’t want to be criticized.  “He did apply, actually.”  No, I want to be very accurate.  So, I don’t think I did, but if I did, I pulled it very quickly.  It was just something you — you couldn’t wait five years or six years to get an approval.  So, a lot of — in a very big business sense, a lot of people are — are claiming that’s the problem.      From the standpoint of America, the EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly.  They have a large tax that we know about and — a VAT tax — and it’s a very substantial one.  They don’t take our far- — essentially, don’t take our farm products and they don’t take our cars.  Yet, they send cars to us by the millions. They put tariffs on things that we want to do, like, for instance, I think they actually — in terms of these are noneconomic or nonmonetary tariffs, and — and those are very bad, and they make it very difficult to bring products into Europe, and yet they expect to be selling and they do sell their products in the United States.  So, we have, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of deficits with the EU, and nobody is happy with it.  And we’re going to do something about it, but nobody is happy with it.  So, I think the EU has to speed up their process.  Friends of mine that are in some of the nations within the EU, great people, they — they want to be able to compete better, and you can’t compete when you can’t get — go through the approval process fast.  There’s no reason why it can’t go faster.  So, you know, I’m — I’m trying to be constructive, because I love Europe.  I love the countries of Europe.  But the process is a very cumbersome one, and th- — and they do treat the United States of America very, very unfairly with the VAT taxes and all of the other taxes they impose. One other — just to finish up, I got a call from the head of a major airline, one of the biggest airlines in the world.  And he said, “Sir, could you help us?”  “What?” “Landing in Europe is brutal.  They charge us fees for everything, and it’s so unfair.”  I said, “How does it compare to China?”  He said, “It’s — it’s much worse.”  And the other thing, as you know, they took court cases with Apple, and they supposedly won a case that most people didn’t think was much of a case.  They won $15 or $16 billion from Apple.  They won billions from Google.  I think they’re after Facebook for billions and billions.  These are American companies.  Whether you like them or not, they’re — they’re American companies, and they shouldn’t be doing that.  And that’s — as far as I’m concerned, it’s a form of taxation.  So, we have some very big complaints with the EU.      Thank you. MR. BRENDE:  Tha- — thank you very much, Mr. President.  We’ll now go to one of your friends in the EU, Patrick Pouyanné.  He’s the chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies.      I guess you have a question ready, Patrick, for the president. MR. POUYANNÉ:  Mr. President, as we understand, energy is at the top of your agenda, and it’s an honor for me to represent the energy industry tonight in this panel.  Total Energies is indeed the fourth largest oil and gas and electricity company in the world.  I will not ask you a question about the oil price.  It’s quite clear what you expect from us.  I will more go to gas more.  And we, our company, is the largest, number one exporter LNG from the U.S. company.  We are a strong contributor to and we invest in mammoth LNG projects in Texas, $20 billion.  It’s far from $200, but it’s $20 billion.  And we contribute with that to security of supply to Europe as we export this LNG to Europe.  Some experts fear that if there are too many projects developed in the U.S. on LNG, this could have an inflat- — inflationary impact on the U.S. domestic gas price, and they recommend a pause on these projects.  I would ask you the following question: What are your views on — about such a pause on investments on LNG in the U.S.?  What would happen if you would observe an increased domestic gas price because of these exports?  And final question, which is important for Europe: Would you agree to guarantee security of supplies of U.S. LNG to Europe? THE PRESIDENT:  Well, on the last part of your question, yes, I would.  I would make sure that you get it.  If we make a deal, we make a deal; you’ll get it.  Because a lot of people do have that problem.  They make a deal, and then it can’t get supplied because of war-type problems and other problems.  So, we would absolutely do that.  LNG is very interesting, because when I took office for the first term, one of the first things I looked at was two — there were two very massive plants in Louisiana, a state that has been very good to me.  I won it by many, many points, and I felt strongly indebted to it, actually.  And they said there are two plants that have been under environmental consideration for more than 10 years, and they were costing — as you say, you know how expensive those plants are — but they were costing like $12 billion and, I think, $14 or $15 billion.  But they couldn’t get their permits.  It was — they were in review for years — many, many years — like a decade or more.  And I said, “So ridiculous.”  I know so much about that, because in the construction industry, I had to go through it too, but I got good at it after a while.  But I — I went — I saw the projects, and you’re talking about a total investment of $25 to $30 billion, and it looked like it was going to end.  They couldn’t get their permits, and I got them done in less than a week.  It was done, completed.  In fact, when they called them to announce that it was done, the countries — largely countries — Japan was involved and — and another country and some very big investors — they couldn’t believe it.  They actually couldn’t believe it.  And I said, “Just do yourself one favor.  Don’t pay any consultants, because the only one that got it done was me.”  I got it done because it was the right thing to do for the U.S. and for the world, but the consultants had nothing to do with it, you know?  The consultants go in and they say, “Give us millions of dollars because Trump did it.”  Nobody called me about it.  I just heard it was a problem for years, and I got it done because it was the right thing to do for the U.S. and the right thing to do for beyond.  It had to do with energy — very important.  So, I think it’s very important.  I think the — the — you know, I disagree with one.  I think the more that you do, the lower the price is going to go.  And what I’d like to see is rapid approvals.  We’re going to give very rapid approvals in the United States, like with the AI plants, talking to — many people want to build them.  That’s going to be a very big thing.  We’re going to build electric generating facilities — they are going to build.  I’m going to get them the approval.  Under emergency declaration, I can get the approvals done myself without having to go through years of waiting.  And the big problem is we need double the energy we currently have in the United States — can you imagine? — for AI to really be as big as we want to have it.  Because it’s a very competitive — it will be very competitive with China and others.  So, I’m going to give emergency declarations so that they can start building them almost immediately.  And I’m — I’m — I think it was largely my idea, because nobody thought this was possible.  It wasn’t that they were not smart, because they’re the smartest, but I told them that what I want you to do is build your electric generating plant right next to your plant as a separate building, connected.  And they said, “Wow, you’re kidding.”  And I said, “No, no.  I’m not kidding.”  You don’t have to hook into the grid, which is old and, you know, could be taken out.  If it’s taken out, they wouldn’t have any way to get any electricity.  So, we are going to allow them to go on a very rapid bas- — basis to build their plant — build the electric generating plant.  They can fuel it with anything they want, and they may have coal as a backup.  Good, clean coal.  You know, if there were a problem with a — with a pipe coming in — as an example, you’re going with gas — oil or gas — and a pipe gets blown up or, for some reason, doesn’t work, there are some companies in the U.S. that have coal sitting right by the plant so that if there’s an emergency, they can go to that short-term basis and use our very clean coal.  So, that’s something else that a lot of people didn’t even know about.  But nothing can destroy coal — not the weather, not a bomb — nothing.  It might make it a little smaller, might make it a little different shape.  But coal is very strong as a backup.  It’s a great backup to have that facility, and it wouldn’t cost much more — more money.  And we have more coal than anybody.  We also have more oil and gas than anybody.  So, we’re going to make it so that the plants will have their own electric generating facilities attached right to their plant.  They don’t have to worry about a utility.  They don’t have to worry about anything.  And we’re going to get very rapid approvals. MR. BRENDE:  Thank you.  Thank you so much, Mr. President.  We’ll now go to another CEO that you know very well: Brian Moynihan, the CEO and chair of Bank of America. MR. MOYNIHAN:  Good afternoon, Mr. President, and congratulations — an obviously eventful week for you and your family.  If you remember, five years ago, you came here and we walked among 150 CEOs from all over the world, and you engaged with them about your policies and your procedures. This year, you’re not here.  And yet this week was eventful, from the orders that you mentioned earlier — literally a wave of orders coming out on immigration, on trade, and many other matters.  And so, as a representative of the United States here, we got a lot of questions about what does all this mean and how would the president square this with his clear focus on growth, prosperity, market gro- — stock market growth, a good bond market, and bringing down prices.  So, how do you think about the impact of all these orders and how fast they come out and how you’re going to balance them with that scorecard of being successful on both contan- — continuing GDP growth, bringing down inflation, and also having a good stock price appreciation for the American citizen? THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it’s going to actually bring down inflation.  It’s going to bring up jobs.  We’re going to have a lot of jobs.  We’re going to have a lot of companies moving in.  You know, Brian, we’re at 21 percent.  It was at 40 percent, and I got it down to 21 percent — the corporate tax.  And it was — actually, if you look at state and city, it was, in many cases, much higher than 40 percent.  I got it down to 21 percent.  And now we’re going to bring it down from 21 to 15 percent if — this is a big “if” — if you make your product in the U.S. So, we’re going to have the lowest — just about the lowest rate.  It will be — the 21 is on the low side worldwide; the 15 is about as low as it gets, and by far the lowest of a large country — a large, you know, rich, powerful country — by far, not even a contest.  So, we’re going to bring it down to 15 percent if you make your product in the USA.  So, that’s going to create a — a tremendous buzz.  We’re also probably going back to the one-year deduction, where we deduct — you know, we — we did that originally, and that was amazing what — the impact that that had, the one-year deduction, which built up over a period of time and then it expires.  But we’re going to go back to that when we do the renewal of the Trump tax plan.  We have to get Democrats to approve it.  But, you know, if the Democrats didn’t approve it, I don’t know how they can survive with about a 45 percent tax increase, because that’s what it would be.  And so, I think they’re going to b- — w- — we’ve been working along with them pretty well.  I think it’s very hard for a political group to say, “Let’s charge people 45 percent more.”  So, I think we’re in good shape. But we’re actually doing a reduction for business and small businesses, where you’re going to b- — bring it down to 15 percent, which is really something.  And, by the way, speaking of you — and you’ve done a fantastic job — but I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America.  This conserve- — they don’t take conservative business.  And I don’t know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie and everybody, I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives, because what you’re doing is wrong.      MR. MOYNIHAN:  Mr. President —     MR. BRENDE:  (Inaudible.)      MR. MOYNIHAN:  — I’ll say that your friend Gianni was — said hello — told me tell you hello, and we look forward to sponsoring the World Cup when it comes, both this summer for the club and next year.  So, thank you for getting that for the United States. THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much, Brian. MR. BRENDE:  Thank you, Mr. President.  We’ll now go to Ana Botín.  She’s the executive chairman of Banco Santander, one of the big European banks and also in the U.S.  So, Ana. MS. BOTÍN:  Mr. President, congratulations on a historic victory.  THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  MS. BOTÍN:  I believe you don’t know me as well as my fellow panelists, so a few words.  Santander is one of the largest banks in the world by number of customers, 170 million.  That’s more than my friend Brian or my friend Jamie have.  (Laughter.) THE PRESIDENT:  Wow. MS. BOTÍN:  And those — (applause) — MR. MOYNIHAN:  If they fix the regulation (inaudible). MS. BOTÍN:  That’s coming.  That’s coming.  MR. BRENDE:  That was cheeky.  (Laughter.)   MS. BOTÍN:  We are — we are a big investor in the United States.  We have many million customer, 12,000 employees.  We’re one of the largest auto lenders, and we recently launched a fully digital bank called Openbank.  We strongly believe banks have a pivotal role in the economy, and we can accelerate growth and help many more customers.  That’s what we do in the United States.  So, as Brian pointed out, we very much welcome your focus on deregulation and reducing bureaucracy.  So, my question is: What are your priorities in this regard, and how fast is this going to happen?  Thank you very much.  THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think it’s going to — thank you and congratulations.  I know very much about your bank, and you’ve done a fantastic job.  Congratulations.  We are going to move very quickly.  We’ve moved very quickly.  We’ve done things in the last three days that nobody thought were possible to do in years.  And it’s all taken — it’s all taken effect.  It’s going to have a huge impact on the economy, a huge positive impact.  Money was being wasted on crazy things.  I mean, the Green New Deal was such a total disgrace — what — what — how that was perpetrated.  And it was conceived of by people that were average students — less than average students, I might add — and never even took a course in energy or the environment.  It was just a game.  Remember, the world was going to end in 12 years?  Remember that?  Well, the 12 years has come and gone.  It was going to end.  It was going to all foam into earth.  But, you know, the time has come. The — these people — and they — they really — they really scared the Democrats large- — I can’t say the Republicans.  Republicans maybe could have fought harder to stop it, but it’s been a tremendous waste of — a tremendous waste of money.  You know, during my four years, we had the cleanest air, we had the cleanest water, and yet we had the most productive economy in the history of our country.  We had the most productive economy.  Until COVID came, we had the most productive in the history of our country, by far.  And — and actually, you could look worldwide, we — we’re — we were beating everybody from China to everybody else.  So — and we think we really — now, with what we have learned and all of the other things that have taken place, we think we can even far surpass that — a- — actually, far, far surpass it.  But we do — one thing we’re going to be demanding is we’re going to — be demanding respect from other nations.  Canada.  We have a tremendous deficit with Canada.  We’re not going to have that anymore.  We can’t do it.  It’s — it’s — I don’t know if it’s good for them.  As you probably know, I say, “You can always become a state, and if you’re a state, we won’t have a deficit.  We won’t have to tariff you, et cetera, et cetera.”  But Canada has been very tough to deal with over the years, and it’s not fair that we should have a $200 billion or $250 billion deficit.  We don’t need them to make our cars, and they make a lot of them.  We don’t need their lumber because we have our own forests, et cetera, et cetera.  We don’t need their oil and gas.  We have our — we have more than anybody.  So, you know, just as an example, with Mexico — we’re dealing with Mexico, I think, very well.  And we’re just — you know, w- — we just want to be treated fairly with other nations, because there’s hardly a nation in the world — and I blame this on us, and I blame it on politicians that for some reason — and probably mostly it’s stupidity, but you could also say other reasons, but mostly stupidity — they’ve allowed other nations to take advantage of the U.S.  And w- — we can’t allow that to happen anymore.  You know, we have debt.  It’s a very small debt when you compare it to value — the value of the assets that we have, but we don’t want to do that.  We want to just have debt be obliterated, and we’ll be able to do that fairly rapidly.  And a lot of good things are going to happen.  And — and honestly, good things are going to happen for the world, and good things are going to happen for the people that are dealing with us — allies and beyond allies.  One thing — very important — I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war end — ended, and — and that’s not from the standpoint of economy or anything else.  It’s from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted.  Beautiful, young people are being shot in the battlefield.  You know, the bullet — a very flat land, as I said, and the bullet goes — there’s no — there’s no hiding.  And a bullet — the only thing going to stop the bullet is a human body.  And you have to see — I’ve seen pictures of what’s taken place.  It’s a carnage.  And we really have to stop that war.  That war is horrible.  And I’m not talking economy, I’m not talking economics, I’m not talking about natural resource.  I’m just talking about: There’s so many young people being killed in this war, and that’s not including the people that have been killed as the cities are being, you know, knocked down building by building.  So, we really should get that stopped.  Likewise, in the Middle East, I think we’ve made a lot of progress in the Middle East, and I think that’s going to — that’s going to come along pretty well. Thank you very much.  MR. BRENDE:  Thank you, Mr. President.  We know that most consequential relationship in the world is between the U.S. and China.  U.S., 28 percent of the global economy; China close to 20.  That’s almost half of the global GDP.  And we know that you called President Xi Jinping last Friday.  We heard that you had a good discussion.  How do you see the relationship between the U.S. and China in the next four years under your leadership? THE PRESIDENT:  He called me.  But I see it very good.  I think that we’re going to have a very good relationship.  All we want is fairness.  We just want a level playing field.  We don’t want to take advantage.  We’ve been having massive deficits with China.  Biden allowed it to get out of hand.  He’s — $1.1 trillion deficit.  It’s ridiculous, and it’s just an unfair relationship.  And we have to make it just fair.  We don’t have to make it phenomenal.  We have to make it a fair relationship.  Right now, it’s not a fair relationship.  The deficit is massive, as it is with other countries — a lot of Asian countries, actually.  But we have deficits that are very big, and we can’t keep doing that, so we’re not going to keep doing that.  But I like President Xi very much.  I’ve always liked him.  We always had a very good relationship.  It was very strained with COVID coming out of Wuhan.  Obviously, that strained it.  I’m sure it strained it with a lot of people, but that strained our relationship.  But we always had a great relationship, I would say, and we look forward to doing very well with China and getting along with China.       Hopefully, China can help us stop the war with, in particular, Russia-Ukraine.  And they have a great deal of power over that situation, and we’ll work with them.  And I mentioned that with — during our phone conversation with President Xi, and hopefully we could work together and get that stopped.  We’d like to see denuclearization.  In fact, with President Putin, prior to a — an election result, which was, frankly, ridiculous, we were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along.  China has a — a much smaller, right now, nuclear armament than us or field than us, but they’re — they’re going to be catching it at some point over the next four or five years.  And I will tell you that President Putin really liked the idea of — of cutting way back on nuclear.  And I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow.  And China would have come along too.  China also liked it.  Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it.  It’s too depressing.  So, we want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think that’s very possible.  And I can tell you that President Putin wanted to do it.  He and I wanted to do it.  We had a good conversation with China.  They would have been involved, and that would have been an unbelievable thing for the planet. And I hope — MR. BRENDE:  Mr. President, when you’re — THE PRESIDENT:  — it can be started up again. MR. BRENDE:  — back here in Davos next year, will — will there be then a peace agreement with — with Ukraine and Russia by then? THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you’re going to have to ask Russia.  Ukraine is ready to — to make a deal.  Just so you understand, this is a war that should have never started.  If I were president, it would never have started.  This is a war that should have never, ever been started.  And — and it wasn’t started during my — there was never even talk about it.  I knew that it was the apple of President Putin’s eye, but I also knew that there was no way he was going in, and he wasn’t going to go in.  And then, when I was out, bad things happened, bad things were said, a lot of stupidity all around, and you end up with what you have.  Now you have all these bombed-out cities — they look like demolition sites — with many people killed.  I think the — the thing that you’ll see about Ukraine is that far — far more people have died than is being reported.  And I’ve seen that.  But far, far more people have died. When you look at a city that’s become a demolition site, where big buildings have been collapsed by missiles hitting them and everything else, and they say, “One person was slightly injured.”  No, no, many people were killed.  Those are big buildings.  I was surprised at how — that was my business.  These are buildings that go two and three blocks long.  They’re 20 stories high.  They’re big, powerful buildings.  Then they were knocked down, and there were a lot of people in those buildings.  They had announced that two people were injured.  That’s not true.  So, I think you’re going to find that there were many more people killed in Ukraine and the Ukraine war than anybody has any idea.  But if you look now, so many of the — the people being killed are soldiers just facing each other with guns, rifles, and drones — the new form of warfare — drones.  And it’s a very sad thing to see. And when you see pictures of the fields that I see, nobody wants to see it.  You’ll never be the same. MR. BRENDE:  Thank you very much, Mr. President.  On behalf of all the 3,000 participants here in Davos, we really, really underline that joining us, the third day in your presidency, live, taking questions here, it’s so appreciated.  And we are already ready for receiving you next year in person.  So, thank you very much, and all the best from Davos.  (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  (Applause.)                              END                11:49 A.M. EST Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/01/remarks-by-president-trump-at-the-world-economic-forum/

Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden December 18, 1860 Whereas, serious and alarming dissensions have arisen between the Northern and Southern States, concerning the rights and security of the rights of the slaveholding States, and especially their rights in the common territory of the United States; and whereas it is eminently desirable and proper that these dissensions, which now threaten the very existence of this Union, should be permanently quieted and settled by constitutional provisions, which shall do equal justice to all sections, and thereby restore to the people that peace and good will which ought to prevail between all the citizens of the United States: Therefore, Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following articles be, and are hereby, proposed and submitted as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of said Constitution, when ratified by conventions of three-fourths of the several States: ARTICLE I. In all the territory of the United States now held, or hereafter acquired, situated north of latitude 36° 30', slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain under territorial government. In all the territory south of said line of latitude, slavery of the African race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Congress, but shall be protected as property by all the departments of the territorial government during its continuance. And when any Territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a member of Congress according to the then Federal ratio of representation of the people of the United States, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States, with or without slavery, as the constitution of such new State may provide. ARTICLE II. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of States that permit the holding of slaves. ARTICLE III. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery within the District of Columbia, so long as it exists in the adjoining States of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor without the consent of the inhabitants, nor without just compensation first made to such owners of slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall Congress at any time prohibit officers of the Federal Government, or members of Congress, whose duties require them to be in said District, from bringing with them their slaves, and holding them as such, during the time their duties may require them to remain there, and afterward taking them from the District. ARTICLE IV. Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the transportation of slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory in which slaves are by law permitted to be held, whether that transportation be by land, navigable rivers, or by the sea. ARTICLE V. That in addition to the provisions of the third paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States, Congress shall have power to provide by law, and it shall be its duty so to provide, that the United States shall pay to the owner who shall apply for it, the full value of his fugitive slave in all cases when the marshal or other officer whose duty it was to arrest said fugitive was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation, or when, after arrest, said fugitive was rescued by force, the owner thereby prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his remedy for the recovery of his fugitive slave under the said clause of the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof. And in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such fugitive, they shall have the right, in their own name, to sue the county in which said violence, intimidation, or rescue was committed, and to recover from it, with interest and damages, the amount paid by them for said fugitive slave. And the said county, after it has paid said amount to the United States may, for its indemnity, sue and recover from the wrongdoers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from the recovery of his fugitive slave, in like manner as the owner himself might have sued and recovered. ARTICLE VI. No future amendment of the Constitution shall affect the five preceding articles; nor the third paragraph of the second section of the first article of the Constitution, nor the third paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of said Constitution and no amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with slavery in any of the States by whose laws it is, or may be allowed or permitted. And whereas, also, besides these causes of dissension embraced in the foregoing amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States, there are others which come within the jurisdiction of Congress, as far as its power will extend, to remove all just cause for the popular discontent and agitation which now disturb the peace of the country, and threaten the stability of its institutions: Therefore, 1. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled That the laws now in force for the recovery of fugitive slaves are in strict pursuance of the plain and mandatory provisions of the Constitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and constitutional by the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, that the slaveholding States are entitled to the faithful observance and execution of those laws, and that they ought not to be repealed, or so modified or changed as to impair their efficiency; and that laws ought to be made for the punishment of those who attempt by rescue of the slave, or other illegal means, to hinder or defeat the clue execution of said laws, 2. That all State laws which conflict with the fugitive slave acts of Congress, or any other constitutional acts of Congress, or which, in their operation, impede, hinder, or delay the free course and due execution of any of said acts, are null and void by the plain provisions of the Constitution of the United States; yet those State laws, void as they are, have given color to practice, and led to consequences which have obstructed the due administration and execution of acts of Congress, and especially the acts for the delivery of fugitive slaves, and have thereby contributed much to the discord and commotion now prevailing. Congress, therefore, in the present perilous juncture, does not deem it improper respectfully and earnestly to recommend the repeal of those laws to the several States which have enacted them, or such legislative corrections or explanations of them as may prevent their being used or perverted to such mischievous purposes. 3. That the act of the 18th of September, 1850, commonly called the fugitive slave law , ought to be so amended as to make the fee of the commissioner, mentioned in the eighth section of the act equal in amount, in the cases decided by claimant. And to avoid misconstruction, the last clause of the fifth section of said act which authorizes the person holding a warrant for the arrest or detention of a fugitive slave, to summon to his aid the posse comitatus, and which declares it to be the duty of all good citizens to assist hen in its execution, ought to be so amended as to expressly limit the authority and duty to cases in which there shall be resistance or danger of resistance or rescue. 4, That the laws for the suppression of the African slave-trade and especially those prohibiting the importation of slaves in the United States, ought to be made effectual, and ought to be thoroughly executed; and all further enactments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly made. Source: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/critten.asp

Washington, D.C. June 10, 1963 President Anderson, members of the faculty, board of trustees, distinguished guests, my old colleague, Senator Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of attending night law school, while I am earning mine in the next 30 minutes, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: It is with great pride that I participate in this ceremony of the American University, sponsored by the Methodist Church, founded by Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, and first opened by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. This is a young and growing university, but it has already fulfilled Bishop Hurst's enlightened hope for the study of history and public affairs in a city devoted to the making of history and the conduct of the public's business. By sponsoring this institution of higher learning for all who wish to learn, whatever their color or their creed, the Methodists of this area and the Nation deserve the Nation's thanks, and I commend all those who are today graduating. Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support. "There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university," wrote John Masefield in his tribute to English universities--and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to spires and towers, to campus greens and ivied walls. He admired the splendid beauty of the university, he said, because it was "a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see." I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived--yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace. What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children--not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace for all time. I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn. Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles--which can only destroy and never create--is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace. I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war--and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task. Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament--and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitude--as individuals and as a Nation--for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward--by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home. First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable--that mankind is doomed--that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade--therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable--and we believe they can do it again. I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal. Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace-- based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions--on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace--no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process--a way of solving problems. With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor--it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors. So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it. Second: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write. It is discouraging to read a recent authoritative Soviet text on Military Strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims--such as the allegation that "American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of wars . . . that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union . . . [and that] the political aims of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries . . . [and] to achieve world domination . . . by means of aggressive wars." Truly, as it was written long ago: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." Yet it is sad to read these Soviet statements--to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning--a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats. No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. As Americans, we find communism profoundly repugnant as a negation of personal freedom and dignity. But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements--in science and space, in economic and industrial growth, in culture and in acts of courage. Among the many traits the peoples of our two countries have in common, none is stronger than our mutual abhorrence of war. Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other. And no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union suffered in the course of the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and farms were burned or sacked. A third of the nation's territory, including nearly two thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland--a loss equivalent to the devastation of this country east of Chicago. Today, should total war ever break out again--no matter how--our two countries would become the primary targets. It is an ironic but accurate fact that the two strongest powers are the two in the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for, would be destroyed in the first 24 hours. And even in the cold war, which brings burdens and dangers to so many nations, including this Nation's closest allies--our two countries bear the heaviest burdens. For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combating ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons. In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours--and even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest. So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal. Third: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the cold war, remembering that we are not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different. We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy--or of a collective death-wish for the world. To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self- restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility. For we can seek a relaxation of tension without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove that we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people--but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth. Meanwhile, we seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system--a system capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished. At the same time we seek to keep peace inside the non-Communist world, where many nations, all of them our friends, are divided over issues which weaken Western unity, which invite Communist intervention or which threaten to erupt into war. Our efforts in West New Guinea, in the Congo, in the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent, have been persistent and patient despite criticism from both sides. We have also tried to set an example for others--by seeking to adjust small but significant differences with our own closest neighbors in Mexico and in Canada. Speaking of other nations, I wish to make one point clear. We are bound to many nations by alliances. Those alliances exist because our concern and theirs substantially overlap. Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished because of the identity of our vital interests. The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge. Our interests converge, however, not only in defending the frontiers of freedom, but in pursuing the paths of peace. It is our hope-- and the purpose of allied policies--to convince the Soviet Union that she, too, should let each nation choose its own future, so long as that choice does not interfere with the choices of others. The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that, if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured. This will require a new effort to achieve world law--a new context for world discussions. It will require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves. And increased understanding will require increased contact and communication. One step in this direction is the proposed arrangement for a direct line between Moscow and Washington, to avoid on each side the dangerous delays, misunderstandings, and misreadings of the other's actions which might occur at a time of crisis. We have also been talking in Geneva about the other first-step measures of arms control designed to limit the intensity of the arms race and to reduce the risks of accidental war. Our primary long range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament-- designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms. The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920's. It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects may be today, we intend to continue this effort--to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are. The one major area of these negotiations where the end is in sight, yet where a fresh start is badly needed, is in a treaty to outlaw nuclear tests. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. It would increase our security--it would decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards. I am taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard. First: Chairman Khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking toward early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history--but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind. Second: To make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on the matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it. Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude toward peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives--as many of you who are graduating today will have a unique opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home. But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because the freedom is incomplete. It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government--local, State, and National--to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within their authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever that authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of all others and to respect the law of the land. All this is not unrelated to world peace. "When a man's ways please the Lord," the Scriptures tell us, "he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights--the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation--the right to breathe air as nature provided it--the right of future generations to a healthy existence? While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can--if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement and if it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers--offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race. The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough--more than enough--of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on--not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace. Source: https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610

Proclamation of Congress respecting the Definitive Treaty. BY THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, A PROCLAMATION. Whereas definitive articles of peace and friendship between the United States of America and his Britannic majesty were concluded and signed at Paris on the third day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, by the plenipotentiaries of the said United States and of his said Britannic majesty, duly and respectively authorized for that purpose; which definitive articles are in the words following: [ Definitive Treaty of Peace ] And we, the United States in Congress assembled, having seen and duly considered the definitive articles aforesaid, did, by a certain act, under the seal of the United States, bearing date this 14th day of January, 1784, approve, ratify, and confirm the same, and every part and clause thereof, engaging and promising that we would sincerely and faithfully perform and observe the sane, and never suffer them to be violated by any one, or transgressed in any manner, as far as should be in our power; and being sincerely disposed to carry the said articles into execution truly, honestly, and with good faith, according to the intent and meaning thereof, we have thought proper by these presents to notify the premises to all the good citizens of the United States, hereby requiring and enjoining all bodies of magistracy, legislative, executive, and judiciary, all persons bearing office, civil or military, of whatever ram`, degree, and powers, and all others the good citizens of these states of every vocation and condition, that, reverencing those stipulations entered into on their behalf, under the authority of that federal bond by which their existence as an independent people is bound up together, and is known and acknowledged the nations of the world, and with that good faith which is every man's surest guide, within their several offices, jurisdictions, and vocations, they carry into effect the said definitive articles, and every clause and sentence thereof, sincerely, strictly, and completely. Given under the seal of the United States. Witness his excellent Thomas Mifflin, our President, at Annapolis, this fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, and of the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America the eighth. Resolved, unanimously (nine States being present), That it be, and it is hereby, earnestly recommended to the legislatures of the respective states to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects; and also of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in districts which were in the possession of his Britannic majesty's arms at any time between the thirtieth day of November, 1782, and the 14th day of January, 1784, and who have not borne arms against the said United States; and that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights, and properties as bray have been confiscated; and it is also hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to reconsider and revise all their acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation which7 on the return of the blessings of peace, should universally prevail; and it is hereby also earnestly recommended to the several States that the estates, rights, and properties of such last-mentioned persons should be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights, or properties since the confiscation. Ordered , That a copy of the proclamation of this date, together with the recommendation, be transmitted to the several States by the secretary. Source: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/parispr2.asp

Articles agreed upon, by and between Richard Oswald  Esquire, the Commissioner of his Britannic Majesty, for treating of Peace with the Commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said Majesty, on the one part; and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, four of the Commissioners of the said States, for treating of Peace with the Commissioner of his said Majesty, on their Behalf, on the other part. To be inserted in, and to constitute the Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded, between the Crown of Great Britain, and the said United States; but which Treaty is not to be concluded, untill Terms of a Peace shall be agreed upon, between Great Britain and France; and his Britannic Majesty shall be ready to conclude such Treaty accordingly. Whereas reciprocal Advantages, and mutual Convenience are found by Experience, to form the only permanent foundation of Peace and Friendship between States; It is agreed to form the Articles of the proposed Treaty, on such Principles of liberal Equity, and Reciprocity, as that partial Advantages, (those Seeds of Discord!) being excluded, such a beneficial and satisfactory Intercourse between the two Countries, may be establish'd, as to promise and secure to both perpetual. ARTICLE 1 His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, Viz New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free Sovereign and independent States; That he treats with them as such; And for himself, his Heirs and Successors, relinquishes all Claims to the Government, Propriety, and territorial Rights of the same, and every part thereof; and that all Disputes which might arise in future, on the Subject of the Boundaries of the said United States, may be prevented, It is hereby agreed and declared that the following are, and shall be their Boundaries Viz. ARTICLE 2 From the north west Angle of Nova Scotia, Viz that Angle which is form'd by a Line drawn due north, from the Source of St. Croix River to the Highlands, along the said Highlands which divide those Rivers that empty themselves into the River St Laurence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost Head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that River to the 45th Degree of North Latitude; from thence by a Line due West on said Latitude, untill it strikes the River Iroquois, or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said River into Lake Ontario; through the middle of said Lake, untill it strikes the Communication by Water between that Lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said Communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said Lake, until it arrives at the Water Communication between that Lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into the Lake Huron; thence through the middle of said Lake to the Water Communication between that Lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal & Phelipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake, and the water Communication between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods, thence through the said Lake to the most Northwestern point thereof, and from thence on a due west Course to the River Missisippi; thence by a Line to be drawn along the middle of the said River Missisippi, untill it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 31st Degree of North Latitude. South, by a Line to be drawn due East, from the Determination of the Line last mentioned, in the Latitude of 31 Degrees North of the Equator, to the middle of the River Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof, to its junction with the Flint River; thence strait to the Head of St. Mary's River, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean. East, by a Line to be drawn along the middle of the River St Croix, from its Mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its Source; and from its Source directly North, to the aforesaid Highlands which divide the Rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean, from those which fall into the River Se Laurence; comprehending all Islands within twenty Leagues of any part of the Shores of the united States, and lying between Lines to be drawn due East from the points where the aforesaid Boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy, and the Atlantic Ocean; excepting such Islands as now are, or heretofore have been within the Limits of the said Province of Nova Scotia. ARTICLE 3d It is agreed, that the People of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the Right to take Fish of every kind on the Grand Bank, and on all the other Banks of Newfoundland; Also in the Gulph of St Laurence, and at all other Places in the Sea where the Inhabitants of both Countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And also that the Inhabitants of the united States shall have Liberty to take Fish of every kind on such part of the Coast of Newfoundland, as British Fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that Island,) and also on the Coasts, Bays, and Creeks of all other of his Britannic Majesty's Dominions in America, and that the American Fishermen shall have Liberty to dry and cure Fish in any of the unsettled Bays Harbours and Creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled; but so soon as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said Fishermen to dry or cure Fish at such Settlement, without a previous Agreement for that purpose with the Inhabitants Proprietors or Possessors of the Ground. ARTICLE 4th It is agreed that Creditors on either side, shall meet with no lawful Impediment to the Recovery of the full value in Sterling Money of all bond fide Debts heretofore contracted. ARTICLE 5th It is agreed that the Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the Legislatures of the respective States, to provide for the Restitution of all Estates, Rights, and Properties which have been confiscated, belonging to real British Subjects; and also of the Estates Rights and Properties of Persons resident in Districts in the Possession of his Majesty's Arms; and who have not borne Arms against the said United States: And that Persons of any other Description shall have free Liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their Endeavours to obtain the Restitution of such of their Estates, Rights and Properties as may have been confiscated; And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States a Reconsideration and Revision of all Acts or Iaws regarding the premises, so as to render the said Laws or Acts perfectly consistent not only with Justice and Equity, but with that spirit of Conciliation which on the Return of the Blessings of Peace should universaly prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States, that the Estates Rights and Properties of such last mentioned Persons shall be restored to them; they refunding to any Persons who may be now in Possession the bond fide Price, (where any has been given,) which such Persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said Lands, Rights, or Properties since the Confiscation. And it is agreed that all Persons who have any Interest in confiscated Lands, either by Debts, Marriage Settlements or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful Impediment in the prosecution of their just Rights. ARTICLE 6th That there shall be no future Confiscations made, nor any prosecutions commenced against any Person or Persons, for or by reason of the Part which he or they may have taken in the present War, and that no person shall on that account suffer any future Loss or Damage either in his Person, Liberty or Property; and that those who may be in confinement on such charges, at the time of the Ratification of the Treaty in America, shall be immediately set at Liberty, and the Prosecutions so commenced be discontinued. ARTICLE 7th There shall be a firm and perpetual Peace, between his Britannic Majesty and the said States, and between the Subjects of the one and the Citizens of the other, Wherefore all Hostilities both by Sea and Land shall then immediately cease: All Prisoners on both sides shall be set at Liberty, & his Britannic Majesty shall, with all convenient speed, & without causing any Destruction or carrying away any Negroes, or other Property of the American Inhabitants withdraw all his Armies Garrisons and Fleets from the said United States, and from every Port, Place, and Harbour within the same; leaving in all Fortifications the American Artillery that may be therein: And shall also order and cause all Archives, Records, Deeds and Papers belonging to any of the said States, or their Citizens, which in the Course of the War may have fallen into the hands of his Officers to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper states and persons to whom they belong. ARTICLE 8th The Navigation of the River Mississippi from its Source to the Ocean, shall for ever remain free and open to the Subjects of Great Britain and the Citizens of the United States. ARTICLE 9th In case it should so happen that any Place or Territory belonging to Great Britain, or to the United States, should be conquered by the Arms of either, from the other, before the Arrival of these Articles in America, It is agreed that the same shall be restored, without Difficulty, and without requiring any Compensation. Done at Paris, the thirtieth day of November, in the year One thousand Seven hundred Eighty Two RICHARD OSWALD [Seal] JOHN ADAMS. [Seal] B FRANKLIN [Seal] JOHN JAY [Seal] HENRY LAURENS. [Seal] [On the page of the original next after the above signatures, is the following, the brackets being in the original.] Witness The Words [and Henry Laurens] between the fifth and sixth Lines of the first Page; and the Words [or carrying away any Negroes, or other Property of the American Inhabitants] between the seventh and eighth Lines of the eighth Page, being first interlined CALEB WHITEFOORD  Secretary to the British Commission. W. T. FRANKLIN Sec. to the American Commission Source: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/prel1782.asp

January 08, 1861   To the Senate and House of Representatives: At the opening of your present session I called your attention to the dangers which threatened the existence of the Union. I expressed my opinion freely concerning the original causes of those dangers, and recommended such measures as I believed would have the effect of tranquilizing the country and saving it from the peril in which it had been needlessly and most unfortunately involved. Those opinions and recommendations I do not propose now to repeat. My own convictions upon the whole subject remain unchanged. The fact that a great calamity was impending over the nation was even at that time acknowledged by every intelligent citizen. It had already made itself felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. The necessary consequences of the alarm thus produced were most deplorable. The imports fell off with a rapidity never known before, except in time of war, in the history of our foreign commerce; the Treasury was unexpectedly left without the means which it had reasonably counted upon to meet the public engagements; trade was paralyzed; manufactures were stopped; the best public securities suddenly sunk in the market; every species of property depreciated more or less, and thousands of poor men who depended upon their daily labor for their daily bread were turned out of employment. I deeply regret that I am not able to give you any information upon the state of the Union which is more satisfactory than what I was then obliged to communicate. On the contrary, matters are still worse at present than they then were. When Congress met, a stronge hope pervaded the whole public mind that some amicable adjustment of the subject would speedily be made by the representatives of the States and of the people which might restore peace between the conflicting sections of the country. That hope has been diminished by every hour of delay, and as the prospect of a bloodless settlement fades away the public distress becomes more and more aggravated. As evidence of this it is only necessary to say that the Treasury notes authorized by the act of 17th of December last were advertised according to the law and that no responsible bidder offered to take any considerable sum at par at a lower rate of interest than 12 per cent. From these facts it appears that in a government organized like ours domestic strife, or even a well-grounded fear of civil hostilities, is more destructive to our public and private interests than the most formidable foreign war. In my annual message I expressed the conviction, which I have long deliberately held, and which recent reflection has only tended to deepen and confirm, that no State has a right by its own act to secede from the Union or throw off its federal obligations at pleasure. I also declared my opinion to be that even if that right existed and should be exercised by any State of the Confederacy the executive department of this Government had no authority under the Constitution to recognize its validity by acknowledging the independence of such State. This left me no alternative, as the chief executive officer under the Constitution of the United States, but to collect the public revenues and to protect the public property so far as this might be practicable under existing laws. This is still my purpose. My province is to execute and not to make the laws. It belongs to Congress exclusively to repeal, to modify, or to enlarge their provisions to meet exigencies as they may occur. I possess no dispensing power. I certainly had no right to make aggressive war upon any State, and I am perfectly satisfied that the Constitution has wisely withheld that power even from Congress. But the right and the duty to use military force defensively against those who resist the Federal officers in the execution of their legal functions and against those who assail the property of the Federal Government is clear and undeniable. But the dangerous and hostile attitude of the States toward each other has already far transcended and cast in the shade the ordinary executive duties already provided for by law, and has assumed such vast and alarming proportions as to place the subject entirely above and beyond Executive control. The fact can not be disguised that we are in the midst of a great revolution. In all its various bearings, therefore, I commend the question to Congress as the only human tribunal under Providence possessing the power to meet the existing emergency. To them exclusively belongs the power to declare war or to authorize the employment of military force in all cases contemplated by the Constitution, and they alone possess the power to remove grievances which might lead to war and to secure peace and union to this distracted country. On them, and on them alone, rests the responsibility. The Union is a sacred trust left by our Revolutionary fathers to their descendants, and never did any other people inherit so rich a legacy. It has rendered us prosperous in peace and triumphant in war. The national flag has floated in glory over every sea. Under its shadow American citizens have found protection and respect in all lands beneath the sun. If we descend to considerations of purely material interest, when in the history of all time has a confederacy been bound together by such strong ties of mutual interest? Each portion of it is dependent on all and all upon each portion for prosperity and domestic security. Free trade throughout the whole supplies the wants of one portion from the productions of another and scatters wealth everywhere. The great planting and farming States require the aid of the commercial and navigating States to send their productions to domestic and foreign markets and to furnish the naval power to render their transportation secure against all hostile attacks. Should the Union perish in the midst of the present excitement, we have already had a sad foretaste of the universal suffering which would result from its destruction. The calamity would be severe in every portion of the Union and would be quite as great, to say the least, in the Southern as in the Northern States. The greatest aggravation of the evil, and that which would place us in the most unfavorable light both before the world and posterity, is, as I am firmly convinced, that the secession movement has been chiefly based upon a misapprehension at the South of the sentiments of the majority in several of the Northern States. Let the question be transferred from political assemblies to the ballot box, and the people themselves would speedily redress the serious grievances which the South have suffered. But, in Heaven's name, let the trial be made before we plunge into armed conflict upon the mere assumption that there is no other alternative. Time is a great conservative power. Let us pause at this momentous point and afford the people, both North and South, an opportunity for reflection. Would that South Carolina had been convinced of this truth before her precipitate action! I therefore appeal through you to the people of the country to declare in their might that the Union must and shall be preserved by all constitutional means. I most earnestly recommend that you devote yourselves exclusively to the question how this can be accomplished in peace. All other questions, when compared to this, sink into insignificance. The present is no time for palliations. Action, prompt action, is required. A delay in Congress to prescribe or to recommend a distinct and practical proposition for conciliation may drive us to a point from which it will be almost impossible to recede. A common ground on which conciliation and harmony can be produced is surely not unattainable. The proposition to compromise by letting the North have exclusive control of the territory above a certain line and to give Southern institutions protection below that line ought to receive universal approbation. In itself, indeed, it may not be entirely satisfactory, but when the alternative is between a reasonable concession on both sides and a destruction of the Union it is an imputation upon the patriotism of Congress to assert that its members will hesitate for a moment. Even now the danger is upon us. In several of the States which have not yet seceded the forts, arsenals, and magazines of the United States have been seized. This is by far the most serious step which has been taken since the commencement of the troubles. This public property has long been left without garrisons and troops for its protection, because no person doubted its security under the flag of the country in any State of the Union. Besides, our small Army has scarcely been sufficient to guard our remote frontiers against Indian incursions. The seizure of this property, from all appearances, has been purely aggressive, and not in resistance to any attempt to coerce a State or States to remain in the Union. At the beginning of these unhappy troubles I determined that no act of mine should increase the excitement in either section of the country. If the political conflict were to end in a civil war, it was my determined purpose not to commence it nor even to furnish an excuse for it by any act of this Government. My opinion remains unchanged that justice as well as sound policy requires us still to seek a peaceful solution of the questions at issue between the North and the South. Entertaining this conviction, I refrained even from sending reenforcements to Major Anderson, who commanded the forts in Charleston Harbor, until an absolute necessity for doing so should make itself apparent, lest it might unjustly be regarded as a menace of military coercion, and thus furnish, if not a provocation, at least a pretext for an outbreak on the part of South Carolina. No necessity for these reenforcements seemed to exist. I was assured by distinguished and upright gentlemen of South Carolina that no attack upon Major Anderson was intended, but that, on the contrary, it was the desire of the State authorities as much as it was my own to avoid the fatal consequences which must eventually follow a military collision. And here I deem it proper to submit for your information copies of a communication, dated December 28, 1860, addressed to me by R.W. Barnwell, J. H. Adams, and James L. Orr, "commissioners" from South Carolina, with the accompanying documents, and copies of my answer thereto, dated December 31. In further explanation of Major Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, it is proper to state that after my answer to the South Carolina "commissioners" the War Department received a letter from that gallant officer, dated on the 27th of December, 1860, the day after this movement, from which the following is an extract: I will add as my opinion that many things convinced me that the authorities of the State designed to proceed to a hostile act. Evidently referring to the orders, dated December 11, of the late Secretary of War. Under this impression I could not hesitate that it was my solemn duty to move my command from a fort which we could not probably have held longer than forty-eight or sixty hours to this one, where my power of resistance is increased to a very great degree. It will be recollected that the concluding part of these orders was in the following terms: The smallness of your force will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts, but an attack on or attempt to take possession of either one of them will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command into either of them which you may deem most proper to increase its power of resistance. You are also authorized to take similar defensive steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act. It is said that serious apprehensions are to some extent entertained (in which I do not share) that the peace of this District may be disturbed before the 4th of March next. In any event, it will be my duty to preserve it, and this duty shall be performed. In conclusion it may be permitted to me to remark that I have often warned my countrymen of the dangers which now surround us. This may be the last time I shall refer to the subject officially. I feel that my duty has been faithfully, though it may be imperfectly, performed, and, whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country. JAMES BUCHANAN. Source: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-2771