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Fellow Citizens:
The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I
cheerfully fulfill—to accompany the first and solemn act of my
public trust with an avowal of the principles that will guide me in
performing it and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge
so responsible and vast. In imitating their example I tread in the
footsteps of illustrious men, whose superiors it is our happiness to
believe are not found on the executive calendar of any country.
Among th em we recognize the earliest and firmest pillars of the
Republic—those by whom our national independence was first
declared, him who above all others contributed to establish it on
the field of battle, and those whose expanded intellect and
patriotis m constructed, improved, and perfected the inestimable
institutions under which we live. If such men in the position I now
occupy felt themselves overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude for this
the highest of all marks of their country's confidence, and by a
consciousness of their inability adequately to discharge the duties
of an office so difficult and exalted, how much more must these
considerations affect one who can rely on no such claims for favor
or forbearance! Unlike all who have preceded me, the Re volution
that gave us existence as one people was achieved at the period of
my birth; and whilst I contemplate with grateful reverence that
memorable event, I feel that I belong to a later age and that I may
not expect my countrymen to weigh my actions wi th the same kind and
partial hand.
So sensibly,
fellow-citizens, do these circumstances press themselves upon me
that I should not dare to enter upon my path of duty did I not look
for the generous aid of those who will be associated with me in the
various and coordinat e branches of the Government; did I not repose
with unwavering reliance on the patriotism, the intelligence, and
the kindness of a people who never yet deserted a public servant
honestly laboring their cause; and, above all, did I not permit
myself humbly to hope for the sustaining support of an ever-watchful
and beneficent Providence.
To the confidence
and consolation derived from these sources it would be ungrateful
not to add those which spring from our present fortunate condition.
Though not altogether exempt from embarrassments that disturb our
tranquillity at h ome and threaten it abroad, yet in all the
attributes of a great, happy, and flourishing people we stand
without a parallel in the world. Abroad we enjoy the respect and,
with scarcely an exception, the friendship of every nation; at home,
while our Gover nment quietly but efficiently performs the sole
legitimate end of political institutions—in doing the greatest
good to the greatest number—we present an aggregate of human
prosperity surely not elsewhere to be found.
How imperious, then,
is the obligation imposed upon every citizen, in his own sphere of
action, whether limited or extended, to exert himself in
perpetuating a condition of things so singularly happy! All the
lessons of history and exp erience must be lost upon us if we are
content to trust alone to the peculiar advantages we happen to
possess. Position and climate and the bounteous resources that
nature has scattered with so liberal a hand—even the diffused
intelligence and elevat ed character of our people—will avail us
nothing if we fail sacredly to uphold those political institutions
that were wisely and deliberately formed with reference to every
circumstance that could preserve or might endanger the blessings we
enjoy. Th e thoughtful framers of our Constitution legislated for
our country as they found it. Looking upon it with the eyes of
statesmen and patriots, they saw all the sources of rapid and
wonderful prosperity; but they saw also that various habits,
opinions, and institutions peculiar to the various portions of so
vast a region were deeply fixed. Distinct sovereignties were in
actual existence, whose cordial union was essential to the welfare
and happiness of all. Between many of them there was, at least to
some extent, a real diversity of interests, liable to be exaggerated
through sinister designs; they differed in size, in population, in
wealth, and in actual and prospective resources and power; they
varied in the character of their industry and staple product ions,
and [in some] existed domestic institutions which, unwisely
disturbed, might endanger the harmony of the whole. Most carefully
were all these circumstances weighed, and the foundations of the new
Government laid upon principles of reciprocal concess ion and
equitable compromise. The jealousies which the smaller States might
entertain of the power of the rest were allayed by a rule of
representation confessedly unequal at the time, and designed forever
to remain so. A natural fear that the broad scope of general
legislation might bear upon and unwisely control particular
interests was counteracted by limits strictly drawn around the
action of the Federal authority, and to the people and the States
was left unimpaired their sovereign power over the inn umerable
subjects embraced in the internal government of a just republic,
excepting such only as necessarily appertain to the concerns of the
whole confederacy or its intercourse as a united community with the
other nations of the world.
This provident
forecast has been verified by time. Half a century, teeming with
extraordinary events, and elsewhere producing astonishing results,
has passed along, but on our institutions it has left no injurious
mark. From a small co mmunity we have risen to a people powerful in
numbers and in strength; but with our increase has gone hand in hand
the progress of just principles. The privileges, civil and religious,
of the humblest individual are still sacredly protected at home, and
w hile the valor and fortitude of our people have removed far from
us the slightest apprehension of foreign power, they have not yet
induced us in a single instance to forget what is right. Our
commerce has been extended to the remotest nations; the value a nd
even nature of our productions have been greatly changed; a wide
difference has arisen in the relative wealth and resources of every
portion of our country; yet the spirit of mutual regard and of
faithful adherence to existing compacts has continued to prevail in
our councils and never long been absent from our conduct. We have
learned by experience a fruitful lesson—that an implicit and
undeviating adherence to the principles on which we set out can
carry us prosperously onward through all the co nflicts of
circumstances and vicissitudes inseparable from the lapse of years.
The success that
has thus attended our great experiment is in itself a sufficient
cause for gratitude, on account of the happiness it has actually
conferred and the example it has unanswerably given. But to me, my
fellow-citizens, look ing forward to the far-distant future with
ardent prayers and confiding hopes, this retrospect presents a
ground for still deeper delight. It impresses on my mind a firm
belief that the perpetuity of our institutions depends upon
ourselves; that if we mai ntain the principles on which they were
established they are destined to confer their benefits on countless
generations yet to come, and that America will present to every
friend of mankind the cheering proof that a popular government,
wisely formed, is w anting in no element of endurance or strength.
Fifty years ago its rapid failure was boldly predicted. Latent and
uncontrollable causes of dissolution were supposed to exist even by
the wise and good, and not only did unfriendly or speculative
theorists a nticipate for us the fate of past republics, but the
fears of many an honest patriot overbalanced his sanguine hopes.
Look back on these forebodings, not hastily but reluctantly made,
and see how in every instance they have completely failed.
An imperfect
experience during the struggles of the Revolution was supposed to
warrant the belief that the people would not bear the taxation
requisite to discharge an immense public debt already incurred and
to pay the necessary expen ses of the Government. The cost of two
wars has been paid, not only without a murmur, but with unequaled
alacrity. No one is now left to doubt that every burden will be
cheerfully borne that may be necessary to sustain our civil
institutions or guard our honor or welfare. Indeed, all experience
has shown that the willingness of the people to contribute to these
ends in cases of emergency has uniformly outrun the confidence of
their representatives.
In the early stages
of the new Government, when all felt the imposing influence as they
recognized the unequaled services of the first President, it was a
common sentiment that the great weight of his character could alone
bind the dis cordant materials of our Government together and save
us from the violence of contending factions. Since his death nearly
forty years are gone. Party exasperation has been often carried to
its highest point; the virtue and fortitude of the people have som
etimes been greatly tried; yet our system, purified and enhanced in
value by all it has encountered, still preserves its spirit of free
and fearless discussion, blended with unimpaired fraternal feeling.
The capacity of the
people for self-government, and their willingness, from a high sense
of duty and without those exhibitions of coercive power so generally
employed in other countries, to submit to all needful restraints and
exaction s of municipal law, have also been favorably exemplified in
the history of the American States. Occasionally, it is true, the
ardor of public sentiment, outrunning the regular progress of the
judicial tribunals or seeking to reach cases not denounced as c
riminal by the existing law, has displayed itself in a manner
calculated to give pain to the friends of free government and to
encourage the hopes of those who wish for its overthrow. These
occurrences, however, have been far less frequent in our country
than in any other of equal population on the globe, and with the
diffusion of intelligence it may well be hoped that they will
constantly diminish in frequency and violence. The generous
patriotism and sound common sense of the great mass of our fellow-ci
tizens will assuredly in time produce this result; for as every
assumption of illegal power not only wounds the majesty of the law,
but furnishes a pretext for abridging the liberties of the people,
the latter have the most direct and permanent interest i n
preserving the landmarks of social order and maintaining on all
occasions the inviolability of those constitutional and legal
provisions which they themselves have made.
In a supposed
unfitness of our institutions for those hostile emergencies which no
country can always avoid their friends found a fruitful source of
apprehension, their enemies of hope. While they foresaw less
promptness of action than in governments differently formed, they
overlooked the far more important consideration that with us war
could never be the result of individual or irresponsible will, but
must be a measure of redress for injuries sustained, voluntarily
resorted to by th ose who were to bear the necessary sacrifice, who
would consequently feel an individual interest in the contest, and
whose energy would be commensurate with the difficulties to be
encountered. Actual events have proved their error; the last war,
far from impairing, gave new confidence to our Government, and amid
recent apprehensions of a similar conflict we saw that the energies
of our country would not be wanting in ample season to vindicate its
rights. We may not possess, as we should not desire to poss ess, the
extended and ever-ready military organization of other nations; we
may occasionally suffer in the outset for the want of it; but among
ourselves all doubt upon this great point has ceased, while a
salutary experience will prevent a contrary opini on from inviting
aggression from abroad.
Certain danger was
foretold from the extension of our territory, the multiplication of
States, and the increase of population. Our system was supposed to
be adapted only to boundaries comparatively narrow. These have been
widened beyon d conjecture; the members of our Confederacy are
already doubled, and the numbers of our people are incredibly
augmented. The alleged causes of danger have long surpassed
anticipation, but none of the consequences have followed. The power
and influence of the Republic have arisen to a height obvious to all
mankind; respect for its authority was not more apparent at its
ancient than it is at its present limits; new and inexhaustible
sources of general prosperity have been opened; the effects of
distance ha ve been averted by the inventive genius of our people,
developed and fostered by the spirit of our institutions; and the
enlarged variety and amount of interests, productions, and pursuits
have strengthened the chain of mutual dependence and formed a circ
le of mutual benefits too apparent ever to be overlooked.
In justly balancing
the powers of the Federal and State authorities difficulties nearly
insurmountable arose at the outset and subsequent collisions were
deemed inevitable. Amid these it was scarcely believed possible that
a scheme of government so complex in construction could remain
uninjured. From time to time embarrassments have certainly occurred;
but how just is the confidence of future safety imparted by the
knowledge that each in succession has been happily removed!
Overlooking partial and temporary evils as inseparable from the
practical operation of all human institutions, and looking only to
the general result, every patriot has reason to be satisfied. While
the Federal Government has successfully performed its appropriate f
unctions in relation to foreign affairs and concerns evidently
national, that of every State has remarkably improved in protecting
and developing local interests and individual welfare; and if the
vibrations of authority have occasionally tended too much toward one
or the other, it is unquestionably certain that the ultimate
operation of the entire system has been to strengthen all the
existing institutions and to elevate our whole country in prosperity
and renown.
The last, perhaps
the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and disaster
supposed to lurk in our political condition was the institution of
domestic slavery. Our forefathers were deeply impressed with the
delicacy of this subje ct, and they treated it with a forbearance so
evidently wise that in spite of every sinister foreboding it never
until the present period disturbed the tranquillity of our common
country. Such a result is sufficient evidence of the justice and the
patriot ism of their course; it is evidence not to be mistaken that
an adherence to it can prevent all embarrassment from this as well
as from every other anticipated cause of difficulty or danger. Have
not recent events made it obvious to the slightest reflectio n that
the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance is injurious to
every interest, that of humanity included? Amidst the violence of
excited passions this generous and fraternal feeling has been
sometimes disregarded; and standing as I now do befo re my
countrymen, in this high place of honor and of trust, I can not
refrain from anxiously invoking my fellow-citizens never to be deaf
to its dictates. Perceiving before my election the deep interest
this subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty
fully to make known my sentiments in regard to it, and now, when
every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, I trust that
they will be candidly weighed and understood. At least they will be
my standard of conduct in the path before m e. I then declared that
if the desire of those of my countrymen who were favorable to my
election was gratified "I must go into the Presidential chair
the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt on the
part of Congress to abolish slavery i n the District of Columbia
against the wishes of the slaveholding States, and also with a
determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference
with it in the States where it exists." I submitted also to my
fellow-citizens, with fullness and frankness, the reasons which led
me to this determination. The result authorizes me to believe that
they have been approved and are confided in by a majority of the
people of the United States, including those whom they most
immediately affect. It now onl y remains to add that no bill
conflicting with these views can ever receive my constitutional
sanction. These opinions have been adopted in the firm belief that
they are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the venerated
fathers of the Republic, an d that succeeding experience has proved
them to be humane, patriotic, expedient, honorable, and just. If the
agitation of this subject was intended to reach the stability of our
institutions, enough has occurred to show that it has signally
failed, and th at in this as in every other instance the
apprehensions of the timid and the hopes of the wicked for the
destruction of our Government are again destined to be disappointed.
Here and there, indeed, scenes of dangerous excitement have occurred,
terrifying instances of local violence have been witnessed, and a
reckless disregard of the consequences of their conduct has exposed
individuals to popular indignation; but neither masses of the people
nor sections of the country have been swerved from their devoti on
to the bond of union and the principles it has made sacred. It will
be ever thus. Such attempts at dangerous agitation may periodically
return, but with each the object will be better understood. That
predominating affection for our political system wh ich prevails
throughout our territorial limits, that calm and enlightened
judgment which ultimately governs our people as one vast body, will
always be at hand to resist and control every effort, foreign or
domestic, which aims or would lead to overthrow our institutions.
What can be more
gratifying than such a retrospect as this? We look back on obstacles
avoided and dangers overcome, on expectations more than realized and
prosperity perfectly secured. To the hopes of the hostile, the fears
of the timi d, and the doubts of the anxious actual experience has
given the conclusive reply. We have seen time gradually dispel every
unfavorable foreboding and our Constitution surmount every adverse
circumstance dreaded at the outset as beyond control. Present ex
citement will at all times magnify present dangers, but true
philosophy must teach us that none more threatening than the past
can remain to be overcome; and we ought (for we have just reason) to
entertain an abiding confidence in the stability of our ins
titutions and an entire conviction that if administered in the true
form, character, and spirit in which they were established they are
abundantly adequate to preserve to us and our children the rich
blessings already derived from them, to make our belove d land for a
thousand generations that chosen spot where happiness springs from a
perfect equality of political rights.
For myself,
therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will govern
me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict
adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was
designed by those who framed i t. Looking back to it as a sacred
instrument carefully and not easily framed; remembering that it was
throughout a work of concession and compromise; viewing it as
limited to national objects; regarding it as leaving to the people
and the States all power not explicitly parted with, I shall
endeavor to preserve, protect, and defend it by anxiously referring
to its provision for direction in every action. To matters of
domestic concernment which it has intrusted to the Federal
Government and to such as rel ate to our intercourse with foreign
nations I shall zealously devote myself; beyond those limits I shall
never pass.
To enter on this
occasion into a further or more minute exposition of my views on the
various questions of domestic policy would be as obtrusive as it is
probably unexpected. Before the suffrages of my countrymen were
conferred upon me I submitted to them, with great precision, my
opinions on all the most prominent of these subjects. Those opinions
I shall endeavor to carry out with my utmost ability.
Our course of
foreign policy has been so uniform and intelligible as to constitute
a rule of Executive conduct which leaves little to my discretion,
unless, indeed, I were willing to run counter to the lights of
experience and the know n opinions of my constituents. We sedulously
cultivate the friendship of all nations as the conditions most
compatible with our welfare and the principles of our Government. We
decline alliances as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial
relations on e qual terms, being ever willing to give a fair
equivalent for advantages received. We endeavor to conduct our
intercourse with openness and sincerity, promptly avowing our
objects and seeking to establish that mutual frankness which is as
beneficial in the dealings of nations as of men. We have no
disposition and we disclaim all right to meddle in disputes, whether
internal or foreign, that may molest other countries, regarding them
in their actual state as social communities, and preserving a strict
neutr ality in all their controversies. Well knowing the tried valor
of our people and our exhaustless resources, we neither anticipate
nor fear any designed aggression; and in the consciousness of our
own just conduct we feel a security that we shall never be called
upon to exert our determination never to permit an invasion of our
rights without punishment or redress.
In approaching,
then, in the presence of my assembled countrymen, to make the solemn
promise that yet remains, and to pledge myself that I will
faithfully execute the office I am about to fill, I bring with me a
settled purpose to main tain the institutions of my country, which I
trust will atone for the errors I commit.
In receiving from
the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious
predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well,
I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal
ability and success. But united as I have been in his counsels, a
daily witness of his exclusive and unsurpassed devotion to his
country's welfare, agreeing with him in sentiments which his
countrymen have warmly supported, and permitted to partake largely
of his confidence, I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering
approbation will be found to attend upon my path. For him I but
express with my own the wishes of all, that he may yet long live to
enjoy the brilliant evening of his well-spent life; and for myself,
consciou s of but one desire, faithfully to serve my country, I
throw myself without fear on its justice and its kindness. Beyond
that I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being
whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently
pra y to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of
His providence to bless our beloved country with honors and with
length of days. May her ways be ways of pleasantness and all her
paths be peace!
  
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