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President James K. Polk, Excerpt, Third Annual Message,
Dec. 7, 1847.
...I recommend to Congress that an appropriation be made to be paid to the Spanish
Government for the purpose of distribution among the claimants in the Amistad
case. I entertain the conviction that this is due to Spain under the treaty of the
20th of October, 1795, and, moreover, that from the earnest manner in which the claim
continues to be urged so long as it shall remain unsettled it will be a source of
irritation and discord between the two countries, which may prove highly prejudicial
to the interests of the United States. Good policy, no less than a faithful compliance
with our treaty obligations, requires that the inconsiderable appropriation demanded
should be made.
Source: James D. Richardson, ed. Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1787-1897,
Washington, D. C., 1898 (vol. 4).
