Two of the objects for
which provision is made were by me considered so important that I felt
it my duty to direct to them the attention of Congress. In my annual
message in December last I urged the vital importance of legislation for
the reclamation of the marshes and for the establishment of the harbor
lines along the Potomac front. In April last, by special message,
I recommended an appropriation for the improvement of the Mississippi
River. It is not necessary that I say that when my signature would make
the bill appropriating for these and other valuable national objects
a law it is with great reluctance and only under a sense of duty that
I withhold it.
My principal objection to the bill is that it contains appropriations
for purposes not for the common defense or general welfare, and which
do not promote commerce among the States. These provisions, on the
contrary, are entirely for the benefit of the particular localities
in which it is proposed to make the improvements. I regard such
appropriation of the public money as beyond the powers given by the
Constitution to Congress and the President.
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