Every message bore the full imprint of Henry Clay's national improvement
policy, a sentiment in which Adams could readily join. The attention
of Congress was called from time to time to the reports of surveys
made by the engineers under the act of April, 1824. These reports
contemplated roads and canals, river and harbour improvements, "needing
the assistance of means and resources more comprehensive than individual
enterprise can command," as Adams said. He called especial attention
to the fact that from three to four million dollars were being spent
annually on the public works without intrenching upon the necessities
of the Treasury, adding to the public debt, or stopping its gradual
discharge. When the State of New York, grown weary of soliciting
national aid, constructed a canal from the tide-water of the Hudson
to Lake Erie, really around the northern end of the Allegheny Mountains,
Adams seized the opportunity of asking whether the representative
authorities of the whole Union should fall behind the single members
of the confederation in exercising the trust imposed by the people.
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