Polk_Letter_146_50100

His Excellency The Governor of the State of Tennessee

In the General Assembly of the State of Delaware, January Session, 1841. The committee to whom was refered so much of the governor's message as relates to the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the several states, &c., Report, That the citizens of this state consider the public lands as an inheritance purchased by the toil, sufferings, blood and treasure of our revolutionary fathers, and bequeathed to their successors, in which the people of all the states have and equal right; and that their interest therin is of too much value and too highly appreciated by them to be relinquished without an adequate equivalent: that they view with deep solicitude the continual efforts in the national legilature, to deprice the original states of their just and wquitable rights in the public lands, by either ceding hem to the new stats, or disposing of them at pirces merely nominal. That the people of Delaware look forward with anxiety, but not without hope, to the time when the reveue arising from the sales of public lands shall be distributed among the states generally, accoding to their population, and applied to the purposes of education, thereby promoting the general welfare, by giving safety and permanence to out free institutions, the best security of which, will always be found in the knowlede and intelligences od the people. Your committee, therefore, recommend the adopiton of the following resolutions:- Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delawre in General Assembly met, That this legislature views witht a jealous eye, every attempt to make a partial distribution of the proceeds of the public lands of the untion among the stats, whether by a direct grant to a state, or by sales at prices far bwlow their value to the citizens thereof. Resolved, That the proceeds of the sales of the public domain, should be entirely separated from the general revenue, and distributed among the severl states according to their population, to be by the applied to the purposes od education. Resolved, That we consider the public lands as the common property of all the staes, and therefore, solemnly protest against any partial distribution of the proceeds thereof. Resolved, That our senators in congress by instucte, and our representative in congress be requested, to make use of their best efforts to procure the passae of a law for the ditrivution of the proceeds of the public lands aong the several states, to be appropriated by them, so as to promost ehe cause of general education. Resolved, that the foregoing report and resolutions be signed by the speaker of the senate and by the speaker of the House of Representatives; and that a copy of transmitted to seach of our senators and our representatives in congress to be laid before their respective houses; and thatthe executive of each state be furnished with a copy by the governor of the state, and requested to lay the same before their respective legislatures. Robert Houston, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Charles Polk Speaker of the Senate House of Represenatives, January 15 1841, reported, read and adoped unanimously. Joseph P Comegys, Clerk. In Senate, January 16, 1840, Presented, read and concurred in unanimously, George P Fisher, Clerk.