This source of national independence and wealth I anxiously recommend to the prompt and constant guardianship of Congress.

The late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress, had become a necessary resort to assert the rights and independence of the nation.

Experience has taught us that neither the pacific dispositions of the American people nor the pacific character of their political institutions can altogether exempt them from that strife which appears beyond the ordinary lot of nations.

Peace, at all times a blessing, is peculiarly welcome.

I congratulate you and our constituents upon an event which is highly honorable to the nation.

I, James Madison, President as aforesaid, have caused the premises to be made public; and I do hereby enjoin all persons bearing office, civil or military, within the United States and all others citizens or inhabitants thereof or being…

I lose no time, therefore, in submitting the treaty to the Senate for their advice and approbation.

And I do hereby further authorize and direct all suits, indictments, and prosecutions for fines, penalties, and forfeitures against any person or persons who shall be entitled to the benefit of this full pardon forthwith to be stayed…

Waiving the question of the constitutional authority of the Legislature to establish an incorporated bank

In discharging this painful duty of stating objections to a measure which has undergone the deliberations and received the sanction of the two Houses of the National Legislature

I am constrained by a deep and solemn conviction that the bill ought not to become a law

The most the bank could effect, would be to keep the institution alive by limited and local transactions

The bank proposed will be free from all legal obligation to cooperate with the public measures

I transmit, for the information of Congress, the communications last received from the ministers extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States at Ghent, explaining the course and actual state of their negotiations with the…

His blessing on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace

They will be invited by the same solemn occasion to call to mind the distinguished favors conferred on the American people

The instructions to those plenipotentiaries, disclosing the grounds on which they were authorized to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace, will be the subject of another communication.

I lay before Congress communications just received from the plenipotentiaries of the United States charged with negotiating peace with Great Britain, showing the conditions on which alone that Government is willing to put an end to the war.