

      101st Congress, 1st Session          Senate Document 101-10

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                                  FROM
                         GEORGE WASHINGTON 1789
                                   TO
                            GEORGE BUSH 1989

                          BICENTENNIAL EDITION

                UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
                            WASHINGTON, D.C.
                                  1989

   JOINT CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON INAUGURAL CEREMONIES

      Wendell H. Ford, Chairman, U.S. Senate, Kentucky.
      George J. Mitchell, U.S. Senate, Maine.
      Ted Stevens, U.S. Senate, Alaska.
      Jim Wright, U.S. House of Representatives, Texas.
      Thomas S. Foley, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington
      Robert H. Michel, U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois.

      Michael J. Ruehling, Executive Director
      James O. King, Director

   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS No. 19
      [Submitted by Mr. Ford of Kentucky and Mr. Stevens of Alaska]

   IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE
      March 9, 1989
      Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),

      That there shall be printed as a Senate document, with appropriate 
      illustrations, a collection of the inaugural addresses of the 
      Presidents of the United States, from George Washington, 1789, to 
      George Bush, 1989, compiled by the Congressional Research Service 
      of the Library of Congress. In addition to the usual number, there 
      shall be printed 16,000 additional copies of the document which 
      shall be made available for a period of 60 days, as follows: 5,000 
      additional copies for the use of individual Senators, pro rata, 
      and 11,000 copies for the use of individual Members of the House 
      of Representatives, pro rata. If, at the end of that period, any 
      of the additional number of copies are not used, such copies shall 
      be transferred to the document room of the Senate or the House of 
      Representatives, as appropriate.

      Passed June 19, 1989

      For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government 
      Printing Office  Washington, DC 20402

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

   FORWARD

      From George Washington to George Bush, Presidents have used 
      inaugural addresses to articulate their hopes and dreams for a 
      nation. Collectively, these addresses chronicle the course of this 
      country from its earliest days to the present.

      Inaugural addresses have taken various tones, themes and forms. 
      Some have been reflective and instructive, while others have 
      sought to challenge and inspire. Washington's second inaugural 
      address on March 4, 1793 required only 135 words and is the 
      shortest ever given. The longest on record--8,495 words--was 
      delivered in a snowstorm March 4, 1841 by William Henry Harrison.

      Invoking a spirit of both history and patriotism, inaugural 
      addresses have served to reaffirm the liberties and freedoms that 
      mark our remarkable system of government. Many memorable and 
      inspiring passages have originated from these addresses. Among the 
      best known are Washington's pledge in 1789 to protect the new 
      nation's "liberties and freedoms" under "a government instituted 
      by themselves," Abraham Lincoln's plea to a nation divided by 
      Civil War to heal "with malice toward none, with charity toward 
      all," Franklin D. Roosevelt's declaration "that the only thing to 
      have to fear is fear itself," and John F. Kennedy's exhortation to 
      "ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for 
      your country."

      This collection is being published in commemoration of the 
      Bicentennial Presidential Inauguration that was observed on 
      January 20, 1989. Dedicated to the institution of the Presidency 
      and the democratic process that represents the peaceful and 
      orderly transfer of power according to the will of the people, it 
      is our hope that this volume will serve as an important and 
      valuable reference for historians, scholars and the American 
      people.

      WENDELL H. FORD, Chairman
         Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
         Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies for the 
            Bicentennial Presidential Inaugural, 1789-1989

   PRESIDENTS WHO WERE NOT INAUGURATED

      JOHN TYLER

         Vice President John Tyler became President upon William Henry 
         Harrison's death one month after his inauguration. U.S. Circuit 
         Court Judge William Cranch administered the oath to Mr. Tyler 
         at his residence in the Indian Queen Hotel on April 6, 1841.

      MILLARD FILLMORE

         Judge William Cranch administered the executive oath of office 
         to Vice President Millard Fillmore on July 10, 1850 in the Hall 
         of the House of Representatives. President Zachary Taylor had 
         died the day before.

      ANDREW JOHNSON

         On April 15, 1865, after visiting the wounded and dying 
         President Lincoln in a house across the street from Ford's 
         Theatre, the Vice President returned to his rooms at Kirkwood 
         House. A few hours later he received the Cabinet and Chief 
         Justice Salmon Chase in his rooms to take the executive oath of 
         office.

      CHESTER A. ARTHUR

         On September 20, 1881, upon the death of President Garfield, 
         Vice President Arthur received a group at his home in New York 
         City to take the oath of office, administered by New York 
         Supreme Court Judge John R. Brady. The next day he again took 
         the oath of office, administered by Chief Justice Morrison 
         Waite, in the Vice President's Office in the Capitol in 
         Washington, D.C.

      GERALD R. FORD

         The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives became Vice 
         President upon the resignation of Spiro Agnew, under the 
         process of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. When 
         President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Vice President Ford 
         took the executive oath of office, administered by Chief 
         Justice Warren Burger, in the East Room of the White House.

   EXECUTIVE OATH OF OFFICE

      "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute 
      the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best 
      of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of 
      the United States."

      United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 8

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                           George Washington

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

   THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1789
      __________________________________________________________________
      The Nation's first chief executive took his oath of office in 
      April in New York City on the balcony of the Senate Chamber at 
      Federal Hall on Wall Street. General Washington had been 
      unanimously elected President by the first electoral college, and 
      John Adams was elected Vice President because he received the 
      second greatest number of votes. Under the rules, each elector 
      cast two votes. The Chancellor of New York and fellow Freemason, 
      Robert R. Livingston administered the oath of office. The Bible on 
      which the oath was sworn belonged to New York's St. John's Masonic 
      Lodge. The new President gave his inaugural address before a joint 
      session of the two Houses of Congress assembled inside the Senate 
      Chamber.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

      Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled 
      me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was 
      transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the 
      present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, 
      whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a 
      retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in 
      my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of 
      my declining years--a retreat which was rendered every day more 
      necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to 
      inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the 
      gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the 
      magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my 
      country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and 
      most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his 
      qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who 
      (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the 
      duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious 
      of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare 
      aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from 
      a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be 
      affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I 
      have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former 
      instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent 
      proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too 
      little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the 
      weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by 
      the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my 
      country with some share of the partiality in which they 
      originated.

      Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the 
      public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be 
      peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent 
      supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, 
      who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential 
      aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may 
      consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the 
      United States a Government instituted by themselves for these 
      essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in 
      its administration to execute with success the functions allotted 
      to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of 
      every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses 
      your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-
      citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to 
      acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the 
      affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by 
      which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation 
      seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential 
      agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the 
      system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and 
      voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the 
      event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which 
      most governments have been established without some return of 
      pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future 
      blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, 
      arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too 
      strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I 
      trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of 
      which the proceedings of a new and free government can more 
      auspiciously commence.

      By the article establishing the executive department it is made 
      the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration such 
      measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The 
      circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from 
      entering into that subject further than to refer to the great 
      constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, 
      in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your 
      attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those 
      circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which 
      actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of 
      particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the 
      rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected 
      to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I 
      behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices 
      or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will 
      misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch 
      over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on 
      another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid 
      in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the 
      preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the 
      attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and 
      command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with 
      every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can 
      inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than 
      that there exists in the economy and course of nature an 
      indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and 
      advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous 
      policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; 
      since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles 
      of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the 
      eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; 
      and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the 
      destiny of the republican model of government are justly 
      considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the 
      experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

      Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will 
      remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the 
      occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the 
      Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the 
      nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or 
      by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead 
      of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in 
      which I could be guided by no lights derived from official 
      opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in 
      your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure 
      myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which 
      might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, 
      or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a 
      reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard 
      for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your 
      deliberations on the question how far the former can be 
      impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously 
      promoted.

      To the foregoing observations I have one to add, which will be 
      most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It 
      concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When 
      I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, 
      then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the 
      light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should 
      renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have 
      in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions 
      which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any 
      share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably 
      included in a permanent provision for the executive department, 
      and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the 
      station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be 
      limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be 
      thought to require.

      Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been 
      awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my 
      present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign 
      Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has 
      been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for 
      deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for 
      deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for 
      the security of their union and the advancement of their 
      happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in 
      the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise 
      measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                           George Washington

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

   MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1793
      __________________________________________________________________
      President Washington's second oath of office was taken in the 
      Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia on March 4, the 
      date fixed by the Continental Congress for inaugurations. Before 
      an assembly of Congressmen, Cabinet officers, judges of the 
      federal and district courts, foreign officials, and a small 
      gathering of Philadelphians, the President offered the shortest 
      inaugural address ever given. Associate Justice of the Supreme 
      Court William Cushing administered the oath of office.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow Citizens:

      I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the 
      functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it 
      shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I 
      entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which 
      has been reposed in me by the people of united America.

      Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the 
      Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about 
      to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my 
      administration of the Government I have in any instance violated 
      willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides 
      incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings 
      of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                               John Adams

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

   SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1797
      __________________________________________________________________
      The first Vice President became the second President of the United 
      States. His opponent in the election, Thomas Jefferson, had won 
      the second greatest number of electoral votes and therefore had 
      been elected Vice President by the electoral college. Chief 
      Justice Oliver Ellsworth administered the oath of office in the 
      Hall of the House of Representatives in Federal Hall before a 
      joint session of Congress.
      __________________________________________________________________

      When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course 
      for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign 
      legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of 
      reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable 
      power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from 
      those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise 
      concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole 
      and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on 
      the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and 
      the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling 
      Providence which had so signally protected this country from the 
      first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of 
      little more than half its present number, not only broke to pieces 
      the chains which were forging and the rod of iron that was lifted 
      up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and 
      launched into an ocean of uncertainty.

      The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revolutionary war, 
      supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order 
      sufficient at least for the temporary preservation of society. The 
      Confederation which was early felt to be necessary was prepared 
      from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the 
      only examples which remain with any detail and precision in 
      history, and certainly the only ones which the people at large had 
      ever considered. But reflecting on the striking difference in so 
      many particulars between this country and those where a courier 
      may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single 
      day, it was then certainly foreseen by some who assisted in 
      Congress at the formation of it that it could not be durable.

      Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, 
      if not disobedience to its authority, not only in individuals but 
      in States, soon appeared with their melancholy consequences--
      universal languor, jealousies and rivalries of States, decline of 
      navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, 
      universal fall in the value of lands and their produce, contempt 
      of public and private faith, loss of consideration and credit with 
      foreign nations, and at length in discontents, animosities, 
      combinations, partial conventions, and insurrection, threatening 
      some great national calamity.

      In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not abandoned 
      by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or 
      integrity. Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more 
      perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
      provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and 
      secure the blessings of liberty. The public disquisitions, 
      discussions, and deliberations issued in the present happy 
      Constitution of Government.

      Employed in the service of my country abroad during the whole 
      course of these transactions, I first saw the Constitution of the 
      United States in a foreign country. Irritated by no literary 
      altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party 
      animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of 
      good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better 
      adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this 
      nation and country than any which had ever been proposed or 
      suggested. In its general principles and great outlines it was 
      conformable to such a system of government as I had ever most 
      esteemed, and in some States, my own native State in particular, 
      had contributed to establish. Claiming a right of suffrage, in 
      common with my fellow-citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a 
      constitution which was to rule me and my posterity, as well as 
      them and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of 
      it on all occasions, in public and in private. It was not then, 
      nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind that the 
      Executive and Senate were not more permanent. Nor have I ever 
      entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it but such 
      as the people themselves, in the course of their experience, 
      should see and feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their 
      representatives in Congress and the State legislatures, according 
      to the Constitution itself, adopt and ordain.

      Returning to the bosom of my country after a painful separation 
      from it for ten years, I had the honor to be elected to a station 
      under the new order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself 
      under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution. 
      The operation of it has equaled the most sanguine expectations of 
      its friends, and from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in 
      its administration, and delight in its effects upon the peace, 
      order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation I have acquired an 
      habitual attachment to it and veneration for it.

      What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our 
      esteem and love?

      There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that congregations 
      of men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objects in 
      the sight of superior intelligences, but this is very certain, 
      that to a benevolent human mind there can be no spectacle 
      presented by any nation more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or 
      august, than an assembly like that which has so often been seen in 
      this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Government in which 
      the Executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of 
      the Legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular 
      periods by their neighbors to make and execute laws for the 
      general good. Can anything essential, anything more than mere 
      ornament and decoration, be added to this by robes and diamonds? 
      Can authority be more amiable and respectable when it descends 
      from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity 
      than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an 
      honest and enlightened people? For it is the people only that are 
      represented. It is their power and majesty that is reflected, and 
      only for their good, in every legitimate government, under 
      whatever form it may appear. The existence of such a government as 
      ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general 
      dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of 
      the people. And what object or consideration more pleasing than 
      this can be presented to the human mind? If national pride is ever 
      justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or 
      riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national 
      innocence, information, and benevolence.

      In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to 
      ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our 
      liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the 
      purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If 
      an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, 
      and that can be procured by a party through artifice or 
      corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its 
      own ends, not of the nation for the national good. If that 
      solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery 
      or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or 
      venality, the Government may not be the choice of the American 
      people, but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations who 
      govern us, and not we, the people, who govern ourselves; and 
      candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice would have 
      little advantage to boast of over lot or chance.

      Such is the amiable and interesting system of government (and such 
      are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed) which the 
      people of America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of 
      the wise and virtuous of all nations for eight years under the 
      administration of a citizen who, by a long course of great 
      actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and 
      fortitude, conducting a people inspired with the same virtues and 
      animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty to 
      independence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled 
      prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, 
      commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured 
      immortal glory with posterity.

      In that retirement which is his voluntary choice may he long live 
      to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude 
      of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, 
      which are daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the 
      future fortunes of this country which is opening from year to 
      year. His name may be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he 
      lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of his 
      country's peace. This example has been recommended to the 
      imitation of his successors by both Houses of Congress and by the 
      voice of the legislatures and the people throughout the nation.

      On this subject it might become me better to be silent or to speak 
      with diffidence; but as something may be expected, the occasion, I 
      hope, will be admitted as an apology if I venture to say that if a 
      preference, upon principle, of a free republican government, 
      formed upon long and serious reflection, after a diligent and 
      impartial inquiry after truth; if an attachment to the 
      Constitution of the United States, and a conscientious 
      determination to support it until it shall be altered by the 
      judgments and wishes of the people, expressed in the mode 
      prescribed in it; if a respectful attention to the constitutions 
      of the individual States and a constant caution and delicacy 
      toward the State governments; if an equal and impartial regard to 
      the rights, interest, honor, and happiness of all the States in 
      the Union, without preference or regard to a northern or southern, 
      an eastern or western, position, their various political opinions 
      on unessential points or their personal attachments; if a love of 
      virtuous men of all parties and denominations; if a love of 
      science and letters and a wish to patronize every rational effort 
      to encourage schools, colleges, universities, academies, and every 
      institution for propagating knowledge, virtue, and religion among 
      all classes of the people, not only for their benign influence on 
      the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of 
      society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our 
      Constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, 
      the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy of 
      corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence, which is the 
      angel of destruction to elective governments; if a love of equal 
      laws, of justice, and humanity in the interior administration; if 
      an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce, and manufacturers 
      for necessity, convenience, and defense; if a spirit of equity and 
      humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America, and a 
      disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining them to be 
      more friendly to us, and our citizens to be more friendly to them; 
      if an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable 
      faith with all nations, and that system of neutrality and 
      impartiality among the belligerent powers of Europe which has been 
      adopted by this Government and so solemnly sanctioned by both 
      Houses of Congress and applauded by the legislatures of the States 
      and the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise ordained by 
      Congress; if a personal esteem for the French nation, formed in a 
      residence of seven years chiefly among them, and a sincere desire 
      to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honor 
      and interest of both nations; if, while the conscious honor and 
      integrity of the people of America and the internal sentiment of 
      their own power and energies must be preserved, an earnest 
      endeavor to investigate every just cause and remove every 
      colorable pretense of complaint; if an intention to pursue by 
      amicable negotiation a reparation for the injuries that have been 
      committed on the commerce of our fellow-citizens by whatever 
      nation, and if success can not be obtained, to lay the facts 
      before the Legislature, that they may consider what further 
      measures the honor and interest of the Government and its 
      constituents demand; if a resolution to do justice as far as may 
      depend upon me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain 
      peace, friendship, and benevolence with all the world; if an 
      unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and resources of the 
      American people, on which I have so often hazarded my all and 
      never been deceived; if elevated ideas of the high destinies of 
      this country and of my own duties toward it, founded on a 
      knowledge of the moral principles and intellectual improvements of 
      the people deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not 
      obscured but exalted by experience and age; and, with humble 
      reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the 
      religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, 
      and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for 
      Christianity among the best recommendations for the public 
      service, can enable me in any degree to comply with your wishes, 
      it shall be my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction 
      of the two Houses shall not be without effect.

      With this great example before me, with the sense and spirit, the 
      faith and honor, the duty and interest, of the same American 
      people pledged to support the Constitution of the United States, I 
      entertain no doubt of its continuance in all its energy, and my 
      mind is prepared without hesitation to lay myself under the most 
      solemn obligations to support it to the utmost of my power.

      And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, 
      the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the 
      world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation 
      and its Government and give it all possible success and duration 
      consistent with the ends of His providence.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Thomas Jefferson

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN THE WASHINGTON, D.C.

   WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1801
      __________________________________________________________________
      Chief Justice John Marshall administered the first executive oath 
      of office ever taken in the new federal city in the new Senate 
      Chamber (now the Old Supreme Court Chamber) of the partially built 
      Capitol building. The outcome of the election of 1800 had been in 
      doubt until late February because Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, 
      the two leading candidates, each had received 73 electoral votes. 
      Consequently, the House of Representatives met in a special 
      session to resolve the impasse, pursuant to the terms spelled out 
      in the Constitution. After 30 hours of debate and balloting, Mr. 
      Jefferson emerged as the President and Mr. Burr the Vice 
      President. President John Adams, who had run unsuccessfully for a 
      second term, left Washington on the day of the inauguration 
      without attending the ceremony.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Friends and Fellow-Citizens:

      Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office 
      of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of 
      my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful 
      thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look 
      toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is 
      above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and 
      awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the 
      weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread 
      over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the 
      rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with 
      nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to 
      destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye--when I contemplate these 
      transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the 
      hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue, and the 
      auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble 
      myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, 
      should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see 
      remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our 
      Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of 
      zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, 
      gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of 
      legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with 
      encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to 
      steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst 
      the conflicting elements of a troubled world.

      During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the 
      animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an 
      aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and 
      to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided 
      by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of 
      the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under 
      the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common 
      good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that 
      though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that 
      will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess 
      their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate 
      would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one 
      heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that 
      harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself 
      are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished 
      from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so 
      long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we 
      countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and 
      capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes 
      and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms 
      of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-
      lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the 
      billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that 
      this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, 
      and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every 
      difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have 
      called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are 
      all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us 
      who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican 
      form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with 
      which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free 
      to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a 
      republican government can not be strong, that this Government is 
      not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide 
      of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far 
      kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that 
      this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want 
      energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the 
      contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only 
      one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the 
      standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order 
      as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not 
      be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be 
      trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in 
      the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this 
      question.

      Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal 
      and Republican principles, our attachment to union and 
      representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide 
      ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; 
      too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; 
      possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants 
      to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due 
      sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the 
      acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our 
      fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions 
      and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, 
      professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them 
      inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of 
      man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by 
      all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of 
      man here and his greater happiness hereafter--with all these 
      blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a 
      prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens--a wise 
      and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one 
      another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own 
      pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the 
      mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good 
      government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our 
      felicities.

      About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which 
      comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you 
      should understand what I deem the essential principles of our 
      Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its 
      Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass 
      they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its 
      limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state 
      or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest 
      friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the 
      support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most 
      competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest 
      bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of 
      the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the 
      sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous 
      care of the right of election by the people--a mild and safe 
      corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution 
      where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in 
      the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, 
      from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and 
      immediate parent of despotism; a well disciplined militia, our 
      best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till 
      regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the 
      military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may 
      be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred 
      preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, 
      and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and 
      arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom 
      of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the 
      protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially 
      selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has 
      gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution 
      and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes 
      have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of 
      our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone 
      by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we 
      wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to 
      retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to 
      peace, liberty, and safety.

      I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. 
      With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the 
      difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect 
      that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire 
      from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring 
      him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you 
      reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose 
      preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his 
      country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume 
      of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give 
      firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I 
      shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I 
      shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not 
      command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my 
      own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support 
      against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not 
      if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage 
      is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future 
      solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have 
      bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them 
      all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness 
      and freedom of all.

      Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with 
      obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become 
      sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And 
      may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe 
      lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue 
      for your peace and prosperity.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Thomas Jefferson

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1805
      __________________________________________________________________
      The second inauguration of Mr. Jefferson followed an election 
      under which the offices of President and Vice President were to be 
      separately sought, pursuant to the newly adopted 12th Amendment to 
      the Constitution. George Clinton of New York was elected Vice 
      President. Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of 
      office in the Senate Chamber at the Capitol.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Proceeding, fellow-citizens, to that qualification which the 
      Constitution requires before my entrance on the charge again 
      conferred on me, it is my duty to express the deep sense I 
      entertain of this new proof of confidence from my fellow-citizens 
      at large, and the zeal with which it inspires me so to conduct 
      myself as may best satisfy their just expectations.

      On taking this station on a former occasion I declared the 
      principles on which I believed it my duty to administer the 
      affairs of our Commonwealth. MY conscience tells me I have on 
      every occasion acted up to that declaration according to its 
      obvious import and to the understanding of every candid mind.

      In the transaction of your foreign affairs we have endeavored to 
      cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those 
      with which we have the most important relations. We have done them 
      justice on all occasions, favored where favor was lawful, and 
      cherished mutual interests and intercourse on fair and equal 
      terms. We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, 
      that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly 
      calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties, 
      and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is 
      trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to 
      bridle others.

      At home, fellow-citizens, you best know whether we have done well 
      or ill. The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless 
      establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our 
      internal taxes. These, covering our land with officers and opening 
      our doors to their intrusions, had already begun that process of 
      domiciliary vexation which once entered is scarcely to be 
      restrained from reaching successively every article of property 
      and produce. If among these taxes some minor ones fell which had 
      not been inconvenient, it was because their amount would not have 
      paid the officers who collected them, and because, if they had any 
      merit, the State authorities might adopt them instead of others 
      less approved.

      The remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign articles is 
      paid chiefly by those who can afford to add foreign luxuries to 
      domestic comforts, being collected on our seaboard and frontiers 
      only, and incorporated with the transactions of our mercantile 
      citizens, it may be the pleasure and the pride of an American to 
      ask, What farmer, what mechanic, what laborer ever sees a 
      taxgatherer of the United States? These contributions enable us to 
      support the current expenses of the Government, to fulfill 
      contracts with foreign nations, to extinguish the native right of 
      soil within our limits, to extend those limits, and to apply such 
      a surplus to our public debts as places at a short day their final 
      redemption, and that redemption once effected the revenue thereby 
      liberated may, by a just repartition of it among the States and a 
      corresponding amendment of the Constitution, be applied in time of 
      peace to rivers, canals, roads, arts, manufactures, education, and 
      other great objects within each State. In time of war, if 
      injustice by ourselves or others must sometimes produce war, 
      increased as the same revenue will be by increased population and 
      consumption, and aided by other resources reserved for that 
      crisis, it may meet within the year all the expenses of the year 
      without encroaching on the rights of future generations by 
      burthening them with the debts of the past. War will then be but a 
      suspension of useful works, and a return to a state of peace, a 
      return to the progress of improvement.

      I have said, fellow-citizens, that the income reserved had enabled 
      us to extend our limits, but that extension may possibly pay for 
      itself before we are called on, and in the meantime may keep down 
      the accruing interest; in all events, it will replace the advances 
      we shall have made. I know that the acquisition of Louisiana had 
      been disapproved by some from a candid apprehension that the 
      enlargement of our territory would endanger its union. But who can 
      limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate 
      effectively? The larger our association the less will it be shaken 
      by local passions; and in any view is it not better that the 
      opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own 
      brethren and children than by strangers of another family? With 
      which should we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly 
      intercourse?

      In matters of religion I have considered that its free exercise is 
      placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the 
      General Government. I have therefore undertaken on no occasion to 
      prescribe the religious exercises suited to it, but have left 
      them, as the Constitution found them, under the direction and 
      discipline of the church or state authorities acknowledged by the 
      several religious societies.

      The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded with 
      the commiseration their history inspires. Endowed with the 
      faculties and the rights of men, breathing an ardent love of 
      liberty and independence, and occupying a country which left them 
      no desire but to be undisturbed, the stream of overflowing 
      population from other regions directed itself on these shores; 
      without power to divert or habits to contend against it, they have 
      been overwhelmed by the current or driven before it; now reduced 
      within limits too narrow for the hunter's state, humanity enjoins 
      us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts; to encourage 
      them to that industry which alone can enable them to maintain 
      their place in existence and to prepare them in time for that 
      state of society which to bodily comforts adds the improvement of 
      the mind and morals. We have therefore liberally furnished them 
      with the implements of husbandry and household use; we have placed 
      among them instructors in the arts of first necessity, and they 
      are covered with the aegis of the law against aggressors from 
      among ourselves.

      But the endeavors to enlighten them on the fate which awaits their 
      present course of life, to induce them to exercise their reason, 
      follow its dictates, and change their pursuits with the change of 
      circumstances have powerful obstacles to encounter; they are 
      combated by the habits of their bodies, prejudices of their minds, 
      ignorance, pride, and the influence of interested and crafty 
      individuals among them who feel themselves something in the 
      present order of things and fear to become nothing in any other. 
      These persons inculcate a sanctimonious reverence for the customs 
      of their ancestors; that whatsoever they did must be done through 
      all time; that reason is a false guide, and to advance under its 
      counsel in their physical, moral, or political condition is 
      perilous innovation; that their duty is to remain as their Creator 
      made them, ignorance being safety and knowledge full of danger; in 
      short, my friends, among them also is seen the action and 
      counteraction of good sense and of bigotry; they too have their 
      antiphilosophists who find an interest in keeping things in their 
      present state, who dread reformation, and exert all their 
      faculties to maintain the ascendancy of habit over the duty of 
      improving our reason and obeying its mandates.

      In giving these outlines I do not mean, fellow-citizens, to 
      arrogate to myself the merit of the measures. That is due, in the 
      first place, to the reflecting character of our citizens at large, 
      who, by the weight of public opinion, influence and strengthen the 
      public measures. It is due to the sound discretion with which they 
      select from among themselves those to whom they confide the 
      legislative duties. It is due to the zeal and wisdom of the 
      characters thus selected, who lay the foundations of public 
      happiness in wholesome laws, the execution of which alone remains 
      for others, and it is due to the able and faithful auxiliaries, 
      whose patriotism has associated them with me in the executive 
      functions.

      During this course of administration, and in order to disturb it, 
      the artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged 
      with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These 
      abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science are 
      deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its 
      usefulness and to sap its safety. They might, indeed, have been 
      corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved to and provided by 
      the laws of the several States against falsehood and defamation, 
      but public duties more urgent press on the time of public 
      servants, and the offenders have therefore been left to find their 
      punishment in the public indignation.

      Nor was it uninteresting to the world that an experiment should be 
      fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion, unaided by 
      power, is not sufficient for the propagation and protection of 
      truth--whether a government conducting itself in the true spirit 
      of its constitution, with zeal and purity, and doing no act which 
      it would be unwilling the whole world should witness, can be 
      written down by falsehood and defamation. The experiment has been 
      tried; you have witnessed the scene; our fellow-citizens looked 
      on, cool and collected; they saw the latent source from which 
      these outrages proceeded; they gathered around their public 
      functionaries, and when the Constitution called them to the 
      decision by suffrage, they pronounced their verdict, honorable to 
      those who had served them and consolatory to the friend of man who 
      believes that he may be trusted with the control of his own 
      affairs.

      No inference is here intended that the laws provided by the States 
      against false and defamatory publications should not be enforced; 
      he who has time renders a service to public morals and public 
      tranquillity in reforming these abuses by the salutary coercions 
      of the law; but the experiment is noted to prove that, since truth 
      and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in 
      league with false facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no 
      other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false 
      reasoning and opinions on a full hearing of all parties; and no 
      other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty 
      of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there be 
      still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its 
      supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion.

      Contemplating the union of sentiment now manifested so generally 
      as auguring harmony and happiness to our future course, I offer to 
      our country sincere congratulations. With those, too, not yet 
      rallied to the same point the disposition to do so is gaining 
      strength; facts are piercing through the veil drawn over them, and 
      our doubting brethren will at length see that the mass of their 
      fellow-citizens with whom they can not yet resolve to act as to 
      principles and measures, think as they think and desire what they 
      desire; that our wish as well as theirs is that the public efforts 
      may be directed honestly to the public good, that peace be 
      cultivated, civil and religious liberty unassailed, law and order 
      preserved, equality of rights maintained, and that state of 
      property, equal or unequal, which results to every man from his 
      own industry or that of his father's. When satisfied of these 
      views it is not in human nature that they should not approve and 
      support them. In the meantime let us cherish them with patient 
      affection, let us do them justice, and more than justice, in all 
      competitions of interest; and we need not doubt that truth, 
      reason, and their own interests will at length prevail, will 
      gather them into the fold of their country, and will complete that 
      entire union of opinion which gives to a nation the blessing of 
      harmony and the benefit of all its strength.

      I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have 
      again called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those 
      principles which they have approved. I fear not that any motives 
      of interest may lead me astray; I am sensible of no passion which 
      could seduce me knowingly from the path of justice, but the 
      weaknesses of human nature and the limits of my own understanding 
      will produce errors of judgment sometimes injurious to your 
      interests. I shall need, therefore, all the indulgence which I 
      have heretofore experienced from my constituents; the want of it 
      will certainly not lessen with increasing years. I shall need, 
      too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our 
      fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them 
      in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of 
      life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our 
      riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask 
      you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the 
      minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their 
      measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and 
      shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all 
      nations.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                              James Madison

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1809
      __________________________________________________________________
      Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office in the 
      Hall of the House of Representatives (now National Statuary Hall). 
      Subsequently the oath by Presidents-elect, with few exceptions, 
      was taken in the House Chamber or in a place of the Capitol 
      associated with the Congress as a whole. The Vice Presidential 
      oath of office for most administrations was taken in the Senate 
      Chamber. President Jefferson watched the ceremony, but he joined 
      the crowd of assembled visitors since he no longer was an office-
      holder. The mild March weather drew a crowd of about 10,000 
      persons.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Unwilling to depart from examples of the most revered authority, I 
      avail myself of the occasion now presented to express the profound 
      impression made on me by the call of my country to the station to 
      the duties of which I am about to pledge myself by the most solemn 
      of sanctions. So distinguished a mark of confidence, proceeding 
      from the deliberate and tranquil suffrage of a free and virtuous 
      nation, would under any circumstances have commanded my gratitude 
      and devotion, as well as filled me with an awful sense of the 
      trust to be assumed. Under the various circumstances which give 
      peculiar solemnity to the existing period, I feel that both the 
      honor and the responsibility allotted to me are inexpressibly 
      enhanced.

      The present situation of the world is indeed without a parallel 
      and that of our own country full of difficulties. The pressure of 
      these, too, is the more severely felt because they have fallen 
      upon us at a moment when the national prosperity being at a height 
      not before attained, the contrast resulting from the change has 
      been rendered the more striking. Under the benign influence of our 
      republican institutions, and the maintenance of peace with all 
      nations whilst so many of them were engaged in bloody and wasteful 
      wars, the fruits of a just policy were enjoyed in an unrivaled 
      growth of our faculties and resources. Proofs of this were seen in 
      the improvements of agriculture, in the successful enterprises of 
      commerce, in the progress of manufacturers and useful arts, in the 
      increase of the public revenue and the use made of it in reducing 
      the public debt, and in the valuable works and establishments 
      everywhere multiplying over the face of our land.

      It is a precious reflection that the transition from this 
      prosperous condition of our country to the scene which has for 
      some time been distressing us is not chargeable on any 
      unwarrantable views, nor, as I trust, on any involuntary errors in 
      the public councils. Indulging no passions which trespass on the 
      rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the true glory 
      of the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and 
      to entitle themselves to the respect of the nations at war by 
      fulfilling their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous 
      impartiality. If there be candor in the world, the truth of these 
      assertions will not be questioned; posterity at least will do 
      justice to them.

      This unexceptionable course could not avail against the injustice 
      and violence of the belligerent powers. In their rage against each 
      other, or impelled by more direct motives, principles of 
      retaliation have been introduced equally contrary to universal 
      reason and acknowledged law. How long their arbitrary edicts will 
      be continued in spite of the demonstrations that not even a 
      pretext for them has been given by the United States, and of the 
      fair and liberal attempt to induce a revocation of them, can not 
      be anticipated. Assuring myself that under every vicissitude the 
      determined spirit and united councils of the nation will be 
      safeguards to its honor and its essential interests, I repair to 
      the post assigned me with no other discouragement than what 
      springs from my own inadequacy to its high duties. If I do not 
      sink under the weight of this deep conviction it is because I find 
      some support in a consciousness of the purposes and a confidence 
      in the principles which I bring with me into this arduous service.

      To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations having 
      correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere neutrality toward 
      belligerent nations; to prefer in all cases amicable discussion 
      and reasonable accommodation of differences to a decision of them 
      by an appeal to arms; to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign 
      partialities, so degrading to all countries and so baneful to free 
      ones; to foster a spirit of independence too just to invade the 
      rights of others, too proud to surrender our own, too liberal to 
      indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves and too elevated not to look 
      down upon them in others; to hold the union of the States as the 
      basis of their peace and happiness; to support the Constitution, 
      which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in 
      its authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to 
      the States and to the people as equally incorporated with and 
      essential to the success of the general system; to avoid the 
      slightest interference with the right of conscience or the 
      functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction; 
      to preserve in their full energy the other salutary provisions in 
      behalf of private and personal rights, and of the freedom of the 
      press; to observe economy in public expenditures; to liberate the 
      public resources by an honorable discharge of the public debts; to 
      keep within the requisite limits a standing military force, always 
      remembering that an armed and trained militia is the firmest 
      bulwark of republics--that without standing armies their liberty 
      can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe; to promote by 
      authorized means improvements friendly to agriculture, to 
      manufactures, and to external as well as internal commerce; to 
      favor in like manner the advancement of science and the diffusion 
      of information as the best aliment to true liberty; to carry on 
      the benevolent plans which have been so meritoriously applied to 
      the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors from the degradation 
      and wretchedness of savage life to a participation of the 
      improvements of which the human mind and manners are susceptible 
      in a civilized state--as far as sentiments and intentions such as 
      these can aid the fulfillment of my duty, they will be a resource 
      which can not fail me.

      It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path in which I am to 
      tread lighted by examples of illustrious services successfully 
      rendered in the most trying difficulties by those who have marched 
      before me. Of those of my immediate predecessor it might least 
      become me here to speak. I may, however, be pardoned for not 
      suppressing the sympathy with which my heart is full in the rich 
      reward he enjoys in the benedictions of a beloved country, 
      gratefully bestowed or exalted talents zealously devoted through a 
      long career to the advancement of its highest interest and 
      happiness.

      But the source to which I look or the aids which alone can supply 
      my deficiencies is in the well-tried intelligence and virtue of my 
      fellow-citizens, and in the counsels of those representing them in 
      the other departments associated in the care of the national 
      interests. In these my confidence will under every difficulty be 
      best placed, next to that which we have all been encouraged to 
      feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose 
      power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been 
      so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we 
      are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as 
      our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                              James Madison

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1813
      __________________________________________________________________
      Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office in the 
      Hall of the House of Representatives. The United States was at war 
      with Great Britain at the time of James Madison's second 
      inauguration. Most of the battles had occurred at sea, and the 
      physical reminders of war seemed remote to the group assembled at 
      the Capitol. In little more than a year, however, both the Capitol 
      and Executive Mansion would be burned by an invading British 
      garrison, and the city thrown into a panic.
      __________________________________________________________________

      About to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations imposed 
      by a second call to the station in which my country heretofore 
      placed me, I find in the presence of this respectable assembly an 
      opportunity of publicly repeating my profound sense of so 
      distinguished a confidence and of the responsibility united with 
      it. The impressions on me are strengthened by such an evidence 
      that my faithful endeavors to discharge my arduous duties have 
      been favorably estimated, and by a consideration of the momentous 
      period at which the trust has been renewed. From the weight and 
      magnitude now belonging to it I should be compelled to shrink if I 
      had less reliance on the support of an enlightened and generous 
      people, and felt less deeply a conviction that the war with a 
      powerful nation, which forms so prominent a feature in our 
      situation, is stamped with that justice which invites the smiles 
      of Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful 
      termination.

      May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption when we 
      reflect on the characters by which this war is distinguished?

      It was not declared on the part of the United States until it had 
      been long made on them, in reality though not in name; until 
      arguments and postulations had been exhausted; until a positive 
      declaration had been received that the wrongs provoking it would 
      not be discontinued; nor until this last appeal could no longer be 
      delayed without breaking down the spirit of the nation, destroying 
      all confidence in itself and in its political institutions, and 
      either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering or regaining 
      by more costly sacrifices and more severe struggles our lost rank 
      and respect among independent powers.

      On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty on the 
      high seas and the security of an important class of citizens whose 
      occupations give the proper value to those of every other class. 
      Not to contend for such a stake is to surrender our equality with 
      other powers on the element common to all and to violate the 
      sacred title which every member of the society has to its 
      protection. I need not call into view the unlawfulness of the 
      practice by which our mariners are forced at the will of every 
      cruising officer from their own vessels into foreign ones, nor 
      paint the outrages inseparable from it. The proofs are in the 
      records of each successive Administration of our Government, and 
      the cruel sufferings of that portion of the American people have 
      found their way to every bosom not dead to the sympathies of human 
      nature.

      As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its 
      objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying 
      it on no principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized 
      nations, no precept of courtesy or humanity, have been infringed. 
      The war has been waged on our part with scrupulous regard to all 
      these obligations, and in a spirit of liberality which was never 
      surpassed.

      How little has been the effect of this example on the conduct of 
      the enemy!

      They have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the United 
      States not liable to be so considered under the usages of war.

      They have refused to consider as prisoners of war, and threatened 
      to punish as traitors and deserters, persons emigrating without 
      restraint to the United States, incorporated by naturalization 
      into our political family, and fighting under the authority of 
      their adopted country in open and honorable war for the 
      maintenance of its rights and safety. Such is the avowed purpose 
      of a Government which is in the practice of naturalizing by 
      thousands citizens of other countries, and not only of permitting 
      but compelling them to fight its battles against their native 
      country.

      They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the hatchet 
      and the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have 
      let loose the savages armed with these cruel instruments; have 
      allured them into their service, and carried them to battle by 
      their sides, eager to glut their savage thirst with the blood of 
      the vanquished and to finish the work of torture and death on 
      maimed and defenseless captives. And, what was never before seen, 
      British commanders have extorted victory over the unconquerable 
      valor of our troops by presenting to the sympathy of their chief 
      captives awaiting massacre from their savage associates. And now 
      we find them, in further contempt of the modes of honorable 
      warfare, supplying the place of a conquering force by attempts to 
      disorganize our political society, to dismember our confederated 
      Republic. Happily, like others, these will recoil on the authors; 
      but they mark the degenerate counsels from which they emanate, and 
      if they did not belong to a sense of unexampled inconsistencies 
      might excite the greater wonder as proceeding from a Government 
      which founded the very war in which it has been so long engaged on 
      a charge against the disorganizing and insurrectional policy of 
      its adversary.

      To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous, 
      the reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and 
      strongest manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress. 
      The sword was scarcely out of the scabbard before the enemy was 
      apprised of the reasonable terms on which it would be resheathed. 
      Still more precise advances were repeated, and have been received 
      in a spirit forbidding every reliance not placed on the military 
      resources of the nation.

      These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an 
      honorable issue. Our nation is in number more than half that of 
      the British Isles. It is composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, 
      and an intelligent people. Our country abounds in the necessaries, 
      the arts, and the comforts of life. A general prosperity is 
      visible in the public countenance. The means employed by the 
      British cabinet to undermine it have recoiled on themselves; have 
      given to our national faculties a more rapid development, and, 
      draining or diverting the precious metals from British circulation 
      and British vaults, have poured them into those of the United 
      States. It is a propitious consideration that an unavoidable war 
      should have found this seasonable facility for the contributions 
      required to support it. When the public voice called for war, all 
      knew, and still know, that without them it could not be carried on 
      through the period which it might last, and the patriotism, the 
      good sense, and the manly spirit of our fellow-citizens are 
      pledges for the cheerfulness with which they will bear each his 
      share of the common burden. To render the war short and its 
      success sure, animated and systematic exertions alone are 
      necessary, and the success of our arms now may long preserve our 
      country from the necessity of another resort to them. Already have 
      the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world our 
      inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one element. If the 
      reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds on the other, 
      presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us that nothing is 
      wanting to correspondent triumphs there also but the discipline 
      and habits which are in daily progress.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                              James Monroe

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1817
      __________________________________________________________________
      Because the Capitol was under reconstruction after the fire, 
      President-elect Monroe offered to take his oath of office in the 
      House Chamber of the temporary "Brick Capitol," located on the 
      site where the Supreme Court building now stands. A controversy 
      resulted from the inaugural committees proposals concerning the 
      use of the House Chamber on the second floor of the brick 
      building. Speaker Henry Clay declined the use of the hall and 
      suggested that the proceedings be held outside. The President's 
      speech to the crowd from a platform adjacent to the brick building 
      was the first outdoor inaugural address. Chief Justice John 
      Marshall administered the oath of office.
      __________________________________________________________________

      I should be destitute of feeling if I was not deeply affected by 
      the strong proof which my fellow-citizens have given me of their 
      confidence in calling me to the high office whose functions I am 
      about to assume. As the expression of their good opinion of my 
      conduct in the public service, I derive from it a gratification 
      which those who are conscious of having done all that they could 
      to merit it can alone feel. MY sensibility is increased by a just 
      estimate of the importance of the trust and of the nature and 
      extent of its duties, with the proper discharge of which the 
      highest interests of a great and free people are intimately 
      connected. Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on these 
      duties without great anxiety for the result. From a just 
      responsibility I will never shrink, calculating with confidence 
      that in my best efforts to promote the public welfare my motives 
      will always be duly appreciated and my conduct be viewed with that 
      candor and indulgence which I have experienced in other stations.

      In commencing the duties of the chief executive office it has been 
      the practice of the distinguished men who have gone before me to 
      explain the principles which would govern them in their respective 
      Administrations. In following their venerated example my attention 
      is naturally drawn to the great causes which have contributed in a 
      principal degree to produce the present happy condition of the 
      United States. They will best explain the nature of our duties and 
      shed much light on the policy which ought to be pursued in future.

      From the commencement of our Revolution to the present day almost 
      forty years have elapsed, and from the establishment of this 
      Constitution twenty-eight. Through this whole term the Government 
      has been what may emphatically be called self-government. And what 
      has been the effect? To whatever object we turn our attention, 
      whether it relates to our foreign or domestic concerns, we find 
      abundant cause to felicitate ourselves in the excellence of our 
      institutions. During a period fraught with difficulties and marked 
      by very extraordinary events the United States have flourished 
      beyond example. Their citizens individually have been happy and 
      the nation prosperous.

      Under this Constitution our commerce has been wisely regulated 
      with foreign nations and between the States; new States have been 
      admitted into our Union; our territory has been enlarged by fair 
      and honorable treaty, and with great advantage to the original 
      States; the States, respectively protected by the National 
      Government under a mild, parental system against foreign dangers, 
      and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a wise partition of 
      power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improved their 
      police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and 
      maturity which are the best proofs of wholesome laws well 
      administered. And if we look to the condition of individuals what 
      a proud spectacle does it exhibit! On whom has oppression fallen 
      in any quarter of our Union? Who has been deprived of any right of 
      person or property? Who restrained from offering his vows in the 
      mode which he prefers to the Divine Author of his being? It is 
      well known that all these blessings have been enjoyed in their 
      fullest extent; and I add with peculiar satisfaction that there 
      has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on 
      anyone for the crime of high treason.

      Some who might admit the competency of our Government to these 
      beneficent duties might doubt it in trials which put to the test 
      its strength and efficiency as a member of the great community of 
      nations. Here too experience has afforded us the most satisfactory 
      proof in its favor. Just as this Constitution was put into action 
      several of the principal States of Europe had become much agitated 
      and some of them seriously convulsed. Destructive wars ensued, 
      which have of late only been terminated. In the course of these 
      conflicts the United States received great injury from several of 
      the parties. It was their interest to stand aloof from the 
      contest, to demand justice from the party committing the injury, 
      and to cultivate by a fair and honorable conduct the friendship of 
      all. War became at length inevitable, and the result has shown 
      that our Government is equal to that, the greatest of trials, 
      under the most unfavorable circumstances. Of the virtue of the 
      people and of the heroic exploits of the Army, the Navy, and the 
      militia I need not speak.

      Such, then, is the happy Government under which we live--a 
      Government adequate to every purpose for which the social compact 
      is formed; a Government elective in all its branches, under which 
      every citizen may by his merit obtain the highest trust recognized 
      by the Constitution; which contains within it no cause of discord, 
      none to put at variance one portion of the community with another; 
      a Government which protects every citizen in the full enjoyment of 
      his rights, and is able to protect the nation against injustice 
      from foreign powers.

      Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to 
      cherish our Union and to cling to the Government which supports 
      it. Fortunate as we are in our political institutions, we have not 
      been less so in other circumstances on which our prosperity and 
      happiness essentially depend. Situated within the temperate zone, 
      and extending through many degrees of latitude along the Atlantic, 
      the United States enjoy all the varieties of climate, and every 
      production incident to that portion of the globe. Penetrating 
      internally to the Great Lakes and beyond the sources of the great 
      rivers which communicate through our whole interior, no country 
      was ever happier with respect to its domain. Blessed, too, with a 
      fertile soil, our produce has always been very abundant, leaving, 
      even in years the least favorable, a surplus for the wants of our 
      fellow-men in other countries. Such is our peculiar felicity that 
      there is not a part of our Union that is not particularly 
      interested in preserving it. The great agricultural interest of 
      the nation prospers under its protection. Local interests are not 
      less fostered by it. Our fellow-citizens of the North engaged in 
      navigation find great encouragement in being made the favored 
      carriers of the vast productions of the other portions of the 
      United States, while the inhabitants of these are amply 
      recompensed, in their turn, by the nursery for seamen and naval 
      force thus formed and reared up for the support of our common 
      rights. Our manufactures find a generous encouragement by the 
      policy which patronizes domestic industry, and the surplus of our 
      produce a steady and profitable market by local wants in less-
      favored parts at home.

      Such, then, being the highly favored condition of our country, it 
      is the interest of every citizen to maintain it. What are the 
      dangers which menace us? If any exist they ought to be ascertained 
      and guarded against.

      In explaining my sentiments on this subject it may be asked, What 
      raised us to the present happy state? How did we accomplish the 
      Revolution? How remedy the defects of the first instrument of our 
      Union, by infusing into the National Government sufficient power 
      for national purposes, without impairing the just rights of the 
      States or affecting those of individuals? How sustain and pass 
      with glory through the late war? The Government has been in the 
      hands of the people. To the people, therefore, and to the faithful 
      and able depositaries of their trust is the credit due. Had the 
      people of the United States been educated in different principles 
      had they been less intelligent, less independent, or less virtuous 
      can it be believed that we should have maintained the same steady 
      and consistent career or been blessed with the same success? 
      While, then, the constituent body retains its present sound and 
      healthful state everything will be safe. They will choose 
      competent and faithful representatives for every department. It is 
      only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they 
      degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising 
      the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an 
      usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing 
      instruments of their own debasement and ruin. Let us, then, look 
      to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full force. Let 
      us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence 
      among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties.

      Dangers from abroad are not less deserving of attention. 
      Experiencing the fortune of other nations, the United States may 
      be again involved in war, and it may in that event be the object 
      of the adverse party to overset our Government, to break our 
      Union, and demolish us as a nation. Our distance from Europe and 
      the just, moderate, and pacific policy of our Government may form 
      some security against these dangers, but they ought to be 
      anticipated and guarded against. Many of our citizens are engaged 
      in commerce and navigation, and all of them are in a certain 
      degree dependent on their prosperous state. Many are engaged in 
      the fisheries. These interests are exposed to invasion in the wars 
      between other powers, and we should disregard the faithful 
      admonition of experience if we did not expect it. We must support 
      our rights or lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our 
      liberties. A people who fail to do it can scarcely be said to hold 
      a place among independent nations. National honor is national 
      property of the highest value. The sentiment in the mind of every 
      citizen is national strength. It ought therefore to be cherished.

      To secure us against these dangers our coast and inland frontiers 
      should be fortified, our Army and Navy, regulated upon just 
      principles as to the force of each, be kept in perfect order, and 
      our militia be placed on the best practicable footing. To put our 
      extensive coast in such a state of defense as to secure our cities 
      and interior from invasion will be attended with expense, but the 
      work when finished will be permanent, and it is fair to presume 
      that a single campaign of invasion by a naval force superior to 
      our own, aided by a few thousand land troops, would expose us to 
      greater expense, without taking into the estimate the loss of 
      property and distress of our citizens, than would be sufficient 
      for this great work. Our land and naval forces should be moderate, 
      but adequate to the necessary purposes--the former to garrison and 
      preserve our fortifications and to meet the first invasions of a 
      foreign foe, and, while constituting the elements of a greater 
      force, to preserve the science as well as all the necessary 
      implements of war in a state to be brought into activity in the 
      event of war; the latter, retained within the limits proper in a 
      state of peace, might aid in maintaining the neutrality of the 
      United States with dignity in the wars of other powers and in 
      saving the property of their citizens from spoliation. In time of 
      war, with the enlargement of which the great naval resources of 
      the country render it susceptible, and which should be duly 
      fostered in time. of peace, it would contribute essentially, both 
      as an auxiliary of defense and as a powerful engine of annoyance, 
      to diminish the calamities of war and to bring the war to a speedy 
      and honorable termination.

      But it ought always to be held prominently in view that the safety 
      of these States and of everything dear to a free people must 
      depend in an eminent degree on the militia. Invasions may be made 
      too formidable to be resisted by any land and naval force which it 
      would comport either with the principles of our Government or the 
      circumstances of the United States to maintain. In such cases 
      recourse must be had to the great body of the people, and in a 
      manner to produce the best effect. It is of the highest 
      importance, therefore, that they be so organized and trained as to 
      be prepared for any emergency. The arrangement should be such as 
      to put at the command of the Government the ardent patriotism and 
      youthful vigor of the country. If formed on equal and just 
      principles, it can not be oppressive. It is the crisis which makes 
      the pressure, and not the laws which provide a remedy for it. This 
      arrangement should be formed, too, in time of peace, to be the 
      better prepared for war. With such an organization of such a 
      people the United States have nothing to dread from foreign 
      invasion. At its approach an overwhelming force of gallant men 
      might always be put in motion.

      Other interests of high importance will claim attention, among 
      which the improvement of our country by roads and canals, 
      proceeding always with a constitutional sanction, holds a 
      distinguished place. By thus facilitating the intercourse between 
      the States we shall add much to the convenience and comfort of our 
      fellow-citizens, much to the ornament of the country, and, what is 
      of greater importance, we shall shorten distances, and, by making 
      each part more accessible to and dependent on the other, we shall 
      bind the Union more closely together. Nature has done so much for 
      us by intersecting the country with so many great rivers, bays, 
      and lakes, approaching from distant points so near to each other, 
      that the inducement to complete the work seems to be peculiarly 
      strong. A more interesting spectacle was perhaps never seen than 
      is exhibited within the limits of the United States--a territory 
      so vast and advantageously situated, containing objects so grand, 
      so useful, so happily connected in all their parts!

      Our manufacturers will likewise require the systematic and 
      fostering care of the Government. Possessing as we do all the raw 
      materials, the fruit of our own soil and industry, we ought not to 
      depend in the degree we have done on supplies from other 
      countries. While we are thus dependent the sudden event of war, 
      unsought and unexpected, can not fail to plunge us into the most 
      serious difficulties It is important, too, that the capital which 
      nourishes our manufacturers should be domestic, as its influence 
      in that case instead of exhausting, as it may do in foreign hands, 
      would be felt advantageously on agriculture and every other branch 
      of industry Equally important is it to provide at home a market 
      for our raw materials, as by extending the competition it will 
      enhance the price and protect the cultivator against the 
      casualties incident to foreign markets.

      With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly 
      relations and to act with kindness and liberality in all our 
      transactions. Equally proper is it to persevere in our efforts to 
      extend to them the advantages of civilization.

      The great amount of our revenue and the flourishing state of the 
      Treasury are a full proof of the competency of the national 
      resources for any emergency, as they are of the willingness of our 
      fellow-citizens to bear the burdens which the public necessities 
      require. The vast amount of vacant lands, the value of which daily 
      augments, forms an additional resource of great extent and 
      duration. These resources, besides accomplishing every other 
      necessary purpose, put it completely in the power of the United 
      States to discharge the national debt at an early period. Peace is 
      the best time for improvement and preparation of every kind; it is 
      in peace that our commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most 
      easily paid, and that the revenue is most productive.

      The Executive is charged officially in the Departments under it 
      with the disbursement of the public money, and is responsible for 
      the faithful application of it to the purposes for which it is 
      raised. The Legislature is the watchful guardian over the public 
      purse. It is its duty to see that the disbursement has been 
      honestly made. To meet the requisite responsibility every facility 
      should be afforded to the Executive to enable it to bring the 
      public agents intrusted with the public money strictly and 
      promptly to account. Nothing should be presumed against them; but 
      if, with the requisite facilities, the public money is suffered to 
      lie long and uselessly in their hands, they will not be the only 
      defaulters, nor will the demoralizing effect be confined to them. 
      It will evince a relaxation and want of tone in the Administration 
      which will be felt by the whole community. I shall do all I can to 
      secure economy and fidelity in this important branch of the 
      Administration, and I doubt not that the Legislature will perform 
      its duty with equal zeal. A thorough examination should be 
      regularly made, and I will promote it.

      It is particularly gratifying to me to enter on the discharge of 
      these duties at a time when the United States are blessed with 
      peace. It is a state most consistent with their prosperity and 
      happiness. It will be my sincere desire to preserve it, so far as 
      depends on the Executive, on just principles with all nations, 
      claiming nothing unreasonable of any and rendering to each what is 
      its due.

      Equally gratifying is it to witness the increased harmony of 
      opinion which pervades our Union. Discord does not belong to our 
      system. Union is recommended as well by the free and benign 
      principles of our Government, extending its blessings to every 
      individual, as by the other eminent advantages attending it. The 
      American people have encountered together great dangers and 
      sustained severe trials with success. They constitute one great 
      family with a common interest. Experience has enlightened us on 
      some questions of essential importance to the country. The 
      progress has been slow, dictated by a just reflection and a 
      faithful regard to every interest connected with it. To promote 
      this harmony in accord with the principles of our republican 
      Government and in a manner to give them the most complete effect, 
      and to advance in all other respects the best interests of our 
      Union, will be the object of my constant and zealous exertions.

      Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor 
      ever was success so complete. If we look to the history of other 
      nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so 
      rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy. In 
      contemplating what we have still to perform, the heart of every 
      citizen must expand with joy when he reflects how near our 
      Government has approached to perfection; that in respect to it we 
      have no essential improvement to make; that the great object is to 
      preserve it in the essential principles and features which 
      characterize it, and that is to be done by preserving the virtue 
      and enlightening the minds of the people; and as a security 
      against foreign dangers to adopt such arrangements as are 
      indispensable to the support of our independence, our rights and 
      liberties. If we persevere in the career in which we have advanced 
      so far and in the path already traced, we can not fail, under the 
      favor of a gracious Providence, to attain the high destiny which 
      seems to await us.

      In the Administrations of the illustrious men who have preceded me 
      in this high station, with some of whom I have been connected by 
      the closest ties from early life, examples are presented which 
      will always be found highly instructive and useful to their 
      successors. From these I shall endeavor to derive all the 
      advantages which they may afford. Of my immediate predecessor, 
      under whom so important a portion of this great and successful 
      experiment has been made, I shall be pardoned for expressing my 
      earnest wishes that he may long enjoy in his retirement the 
      affections of a grateful country, the best reward of exalted 
      talents and the most faithful and meritorious service. Relying on 
      the aid to be derived from the other departments of the 
      Government, I enter on the trust to which I have been called by 
      the suffrages of my fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the 
      Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that 
      protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our 
      favor.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                              James Monroe

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1821
      __________________________________________________________________
      In 1821, March 4 fell on a Sunday for the first time that 
      presidential inaugurations had been observed. Although his 
      previous term had expired on Saturday, the President waited until 
      the following Monday upon the advice of Chief Justice Marshall, 
      before going to the newly rebuilt Hall of the House of 
      Representatives to take the oath of office. Because the weather 
      was cold and wet, the ceremonies were conducted indoors. The 
      change in the location caused some confusion and many visitors and 
      dignitaries were unable to find a place to stand inside the 
      building.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      I shall not attempt to describe the grateful emotions which the 
      new and very distinguished proof of the confidence of my fellow-
      citizens, evinced by my reelection to this high trust, has excited 
      in my bosom. The approbation which it announces of my conduct in 
      the preceding term affords me a consolation which I shall 
      profoundly feel through life. The general accord with which it has 
      been expressed adds to the great and never-ceasing obligations 
      which it imposes. To merit the continuance of this good opinion, 
      and to carry it with me into my retirement as the solace of 
      advancing years, will be the object of my most zealous and 
      unceasing efforts.

      Having no pretensions to the high and commanding claims of my 
      predecessors, whose names are so much more conspicuously 
      identified with our Revolution, and who contributed so 
      preeminently to promote its success, I consider myself rather as 
      the instrument than the cause of the union which has prevailed in 
      the late election In surmounting, in favor of my humble 
      pretensions, the difficulties which so often produce division in 
      like occurrences, it is obvious that other powerful causes, 
      indicating the great strength and stability of our Union, have 
      essentially contributed to draw you together. That these powerful 
      causes exist, and that they are permanent, is my fixed opinion; 
      that they may produce a like accord in all questions touching, 
      however remotely, the liberty, prosperity and happiness of our 
      country will always be the object of my most fervent prayers to 
      the Supreme Author of All Good.

      In a government which is founded by the people, who possess 
      exclusively the sovereignty, it seems proper that the person who 
      may be placed by their suffrages in this high trust should declare 
      on commencing its duties the principles on which he intends to 
      conduct the Administration. If the person thus elected has served 
      the preceding term, an opportunity is afforded him to review its 
      principal occurrences and to give such further explanation 
      respecting them as in his judgment may be useful to his 
      constituents. The events of one year have influence on those of 
      another, and, in like manner, of a preceding on the succeeding 
      Administration. The movements of a great nation are connected in 
      all their parts. If errors have been committed they ought to be 
      corrected; if the policy is sound it ought to be supported. It is 
      by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject that our fellow-
      citizens are enabled to judge correctly of the past and to give a 
      proper direction to the future.

      Just before the commencement of the last term the United States 
      had concluded a war with a very powerful nation on conditions 
      equal and honorable to both parties. The events of that war are 
      too recent and too deeply impressed on the memory of all to 
      require a development from me. Our commerce had been in a great 
      measure driven from the sea, our Atlantic and inland frontiers 
      were invaded in almost every part; the waste of life along our 
      coast and on some parts of our inland frontiers, to the defense of 
      which our gallant and patriotic citizens were called, was immense, 
      in addition to which not less than $120,000,000 were added at its 
      end to the public debt.

      As soon as the war had terminated, the nation, admonished by its 
      events, resolved to place itself in a situation which should be 
      better calculated to prevent the recurrence of a like evil, and, 
      in case it should recur, to mitigate its calamities. With this 
      view, after reducing our land force to the basis of a peace 
      establishment, which has been further modified since, provision 
      was made for the construction of fortifications at proper points 
      through the whole extent of our coast and such an augmentation of 
      our naval force as should be well adapted to both purposes. The 
      laws making this provision were passed in 1815 and 1816, and it 
      has been since the constant effort of the Executive to carry them 
      into effect.

      The advantage of these fortifications and of an augmented naval 
      force in the extent contemplated, in a point of economy, has been 
      fully illustrated by a report of the Board of Engineers and Naval 
      Commissioners lately communicated to Congress, by which it appears 
      that in an invasion by 20,000 men, with a correspondent naval 
      force, in a campaign of six months only, the whole expense of the 
      construction of the works would be defrayed by the difference in 
      the sum necessary to maintain the force which would be adequate to 
      our defense with the aid of those works and that which would be 
      incurred without them. The reason of this difference is obvious. 
      If fortifications are judiciously placed on our great inlets, as 
      distant from our cities as circumstances will permit, they will 
      form the only points of attack, and the enemy will be detained 
      there by a small regular force a sufficient time to enable our 
      militia to collect and repair to that on which the attack is made. 
      A force adequate to the enemy, collected at that single point, 
      with suitable preparation for such others as might be menaced, is 
      all that would be requisite. But if there were no fortifications, 
      then the enemy might go where he pleased, and, changing his 
      position and sailing from place to place, our force must be called 
      out and spread in vast numbers along the whole coast and on both 
      sides of every bay and river as high up in each as it might be 
      navigable for ships of war. By these fortifications, supported by 
      our Navy, to which they would afford like support, we should 
      present to other powers an armed front from St. Croix to the 
      Sabine, which would protect in the event of war our whole coast 
      and interior from invasion; and even in the wars of other powers, 
      in which we were neutral, they would be found eminently useful, 
      as, by keeping their public ships at a distance from our cities, 
      peace and order in them would be preserved and the Government be 
      protected from insult.

      It need scarcely be remarked that these measures have not been 
      resorted to in a spirit of hostility to other powers. Such a 
      disposition does not exist toward any power. Peace and good will 
      have been, and will hereafter be, cultivated with all, and by the 
      most faithful regard to justice. They have been dictated by a love 
      of peace, of economy, and an earnest desire to save the lives of 
      our fellow-citizens from that destruction and our country from 
      that devastation which are inseparable from war when it finds us 
      unprepared for it. It is believed, and experience has shown, that 
      such a preparation is the best expedient that can be resorted to 
      prevent war. I add with much pleasure that considerable progress 
      has already been made in these measures of defense, and that they 
      will be completed in a few years, considering the great extent and 
      importance of the object, if the plan be zealously and steadily 
      persevered in.

      The conduct of the Government in what relates to foreign powers is 
      always an object of the highest importance to the nation. Its 
      agriculture, commerce, manufactures, fisheries, revenue, in short, 
      its peace, may all be affected by it. Attention is therefore due 
      to this subject.

      At the period adverted to the powers of Europe, after having been 
      engaged in long and destructive wars with each other, had 
      concluded a peace, which happily still exists. Our peace with the 
      power with whom we had been engaged had also been concluded. The 
      war between Spain and the colonies in South America, which had 
      commenced many years before, was then the only conflict that 
      remained unsettled. This being a contest between different parts 
      of the same community, in which other powers had not interfered, 
      was not affected by their accommodations.

      This contest was considered at an early stage by my predecessor a 
      civil war in which the parties were entitled to equal rights in 
      our ports. This decision, the first made by any power, being 
      formed on great consideration of the comparative strength and 
      resources of the parties, the length of time, and successful 
      opposition made by the colonies, and of all other circumstances on 
      which it ought to depend, was in strict accord with the law of 
      nations. Congress has invariably acted on this principle, having 
      made no change in our relations with either party. Our attitude 
      has therefore been that of neutrality between them, which has been 
      maintained by the Government with the strictest impartiality. No 
      aid has been afforded to either, nor has any privilege been 
      enjoyed by the one which has not been equally open to the other 
      party, and every exertion has been made in its power to enforce 
      the execution of the laws prohibiting illegal equipments with 
      equal rigor against both.

      By this equality between the parties their public vessels have 
      been received in our ports on the same footing; they have enjoyed 
      an equal right to purchase and export arms, munitions of war, and 
      every other supply, the exportation of all articles whatever being 
      permitted under laws which were passed long before the 
      commencement of the contest; our citizens have traded equally with 
      both, and their commerce with each has been alike protected by the 
      Government.

      Respecting the attitude which it may be proper for the United 
      States to maintain hereafter between the parties, I have no 
      hesitation in stating it as my opinion that the neutrality 
      heretofore observed should still be adhered to. From the change in 
      the Government of Spain and the negotiation now depending, invited 
      by the Cortes and accepted by the colonies, it may be presumed, 
      that their differences will be settled on the terms proposed by 
      the colonies. Should the war be continued, the United States, 
      regarding its occurrences, will always have it in their power to 
      adopt such measures respecting it as their honor and interest may 
      require.

      Shortly after the general peace a band of adventurers took 
      advantage of this conflict and of the facility which it afforded 
      to establish a system of buccaneering in the neighboring seas, to 
      the great annoyance of the commerce of the United States, and, as 
      was represented, of that of other powers. Of this spirit and of 
      its injurious bearing on the United States strong proofs were 
      afforded by the establishment at Amelia Island, and the purposes 
      to which it was made instrumental by this band in 1817, and by the 
      occurrences which took place in other parts of Florida in 1818, 
      the details of which in both instances are too well known to 
      require to be now recited. I am satisfied had a less decisive 
      course been adopted that the worst consequences would have 
      resulted from it. We have seen that these checks, decisive as they 
      were, were not sufficient to crush that piratical spirit. Many 
      culprits brought within our limits have been condemned to suffer 
      death, the punishment due to that atrocious crime. The decisions 
      of upright and enlightened tribunals fall equally on all whose 
      crimes subject them, by a fair interpretation of the law, to its 
      censure. It belongs to the Executive not to suffer the executions 
      under these decisions to transcend the great purpose for which 
      punishment is necessary. The full benefit of example being 
      secured, policy as well as humanity equally forbids that they 
      should be carried further. I have acted on this principle, 
      pardoning those who appear to have been led astray by ignorance of 
      the criminality of the acts they had committed, and suffering the 
      law to take effect on those only in whose favor no extenuating 
      circumstances could be urged.

      Great confidence is entertained that the late treaty with Spain, 
      which has been ratified by both the parties, and the ratifications 
      whereof have been exchanged, has placed the relations of the two 
      countries on a basis of permanent friendship. The provision made 
      by it for such of our citizens as have claims on Spain of the 
      character described will, it is presumed, be very satisfactory to 
      them, and the boundary which is established between the 
      territories of the parties westward of the Mississippi, heretofore 
      in dispute, has, it is thought, been settled on conditions just 
      and advantageous to both. But to the acquisition of Florida too 
      much importance can not be attached. It secures to the United 
      States a territory important in itself, and whose importance is 
      much increased by its bearing on many of the highest interests of 
      the Union. It opens to several of the neighboring States a free 
      passage to the ocean, through the Province ceded, by several 
      rivers, having their sources high up within their limits. It 
      secures us against all future annoyance from powerful Indian 
      tribes. It gives us several excellent harbors in the Gulf of 
      Mexico for ships of war of the largest size. It covers by its 
      position in the Gulf the Mississippi and other great waters within 
      our extended limits, and thereby enables the United States to 
      afford complete protection to the vast and very valuable 
      productions of our whole Western country, which find a market 
      through those streams.

      By a treaty with the British Government, bearing date on the 20th 
      of October, 1818, the convention regulating the commerce between 
      the United States and Great Britain, concluded on the 3d of July, 
      1815, which was about expiring, was revived and continued for the 
      term of ten years from the time of its expiration. By that treaty, 
      also, the differences which had arisen under the treaty of Ghent 
      respecting the right claimed by the United States for their 
      citizens to take and cure fish on the coast of His Britannic 
      Majesty's dominions in America, with other differences on 
      important interests, were adjusted to the satisfaction of both 
      parties. No agreement has yet been entered into respecting the 
      commerce between the United States and the British dominions in 
      the West Indies and on this continent. The restraints imposed on 
      that commerce by Great Britain, and reciprocated by the United 
      States on a principle of defense, continue still in force.

      The negotiation with France for the regulation of the commercial 
      relations between the two countries, which in the course of the 
      last summer had been commenced at Paris, has since been 
      transferred to this city, and will be pursued on the part of the 
      United States in the spirit of conciliation, and with an earnest 
      desire that it may terminate in an arrangement satisfactory to 
      both parties.

      Our relations with the Barbary Powers are preserved in the same 
      state and by the same means that were employed when I came into 
      this office. As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a 
      squadron into the Mediterranean for the protection of our commerce 
      and no period has intervened, a short term excepted, when it was 
      thought advisable to withdraw it. The great interests which the 
      United States have in the Pacific, in commerce and in the 
      fisheries, have also made it necessary to maintain a naval force 
      there In disposing of this force in both instances the most 
      effectual measures in our power have been taken, without 
      interfering with its other duties, for the suppression of the 
      slave trade and of piracy in the neighboring seas.

      The situation of the United States in regard to their resources, 
      the extent of their revenue, and the facility with which it is 
      raised affords a most gratifying spectacle. The payment of nearly 
      $67,000,000 of the public debt, with the great progress made in 
      measures of defense and in other improvements of various kinds 
      since the late war, are conclusive proofs of this extraordinary 
      prosperity, especially when it is recollected that these 
      expenditures have been defrayed without a burthen on the people, 
      the direct tax and excise having been repealed soon after the 
      conclusion of the late war, and the revenue applied to these great 
      objects having been raised in a manner not to be felt. Our great 
      resources therefore remain untouched for any purpose which may 
      affect the vital interests of the nation. For all such purposes 
      they are inexhaustible. They are more especially to be found in 
      the virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of our fellow-citizens, 
      and in the devotion with which they would yield up by any just 
      measure of taxation all their property in support of the rights 
      and honor of their country.

      Under the present depression of prices, affecting all the 
      productions of the country and every branch of industry, 
      proceeding from causes explained on a former occasion, the revenue 
      has considerably diminished, the effect of which has been to 
      compel Congress either to abandon these great measures of defense 
      or to resort to loans or internal taxes to supply the deficiency. 
      On the presumption that this depression and the deficiency in the 
      revenue arising from it would be temporary, loans were authorized 
      for the demands of the last and present year. Anxious to relieve 
      my fellow-citizens in 1817 from every burthen which could be 
      dispensed with and the state of the Treasury permitting it, I 
      recommended the repeal of the internal taxes, knowing that such 
      relief was then peculiarly necessary in consequence of the great 
      exertions made in the late war. I made that recommendation under a 
      pledge that should the public exigencies require a recurrence to 
      them at any time while I remained in this trust, I would with 
      equal promptitude perform the duty which would then be alike 
      incumbent on me. By the experiment now making it will be seen by 
      the next session of Congress whether the revenue shall have been 
      so augmented as to be adequate to all these necessary purposes. 
      Should the deficiency still continue, and especially should it be 
      probable that it would be permanent, the course to be pursued 
      appears to me to be obvious. I am satisfied that under certain 
      circumstances loans may be resorted to with great advantage. I am 
      equally well satisfied, as a general rule, that the demands of the 
      current year, especially in time of peace, should be provided for 
      by the revenue of that year.

      I have never dreaded, nor have I ever shunned, in any situation in 
      which I have been placed making appeals to the virtue and 
      patriotism of my fellow-citizens, well knowing that they could 
      never be made in vain, especially in times of great emergency or 
      for purposes of high national importance. Independently of the 
      exigency of the case, many considerations of great weight urge a 
      policy having in view a provision of revenue to meet to a certain 
      extent the demands of the nation, without relying altogether on 
      the precarious resource of foreign commerce. I am satisfied that 
      internal duties and excises, with corresponding imposts on foreign 
      articles of the same kind, would, without imposing any serious 
      burdens on the people, enhance the price of produce, promote our 
      manufactures, and augment the revenue, at the same time that they 
      made it more secure and permanent.

      The care of the Indian tribes within our limits has long been an 
      essential part of our system, but, unfortunately, it has not been 
      executed in a manner to accomplish all the objects intended by it. 
      We have treated them as independent nations, without their having 
      any substantial pretensions to that rank. The distinction has 
      flattered their pride, retarded their improvement, and in many 
      instances paved the way to their destruction. The progress of our 
      settlements westward, supported as they are by a dense population, 
      has constantly driven them back, with almost the total sacrifice 
      of the lands which they have been compelled to abandon. They have 
      claims on the magnanimity and, I may add, on the justice of this 
      nation which we must all feel. We should become their real 
      benefactors; we should perform the office of their Great Father, 
      the endearing title which they emphatically give to the Chief 
      Magistrate of our Union. Their sovereignty over vast territories 
      should cease, in lieu of which the right of soil should be secured 
      to each individual and his posterity in competent portions; and 
      for the territory thus ceded by each tribe some reasonable 
      equivalent should be granted, to be vested in permanent funds for 
      the support of civil government over them and for the education of 
      their children, for their instruction in the arts of husbandry, 
      and to provide sustenance for them until they could provide it for 
      themselves. My earnest hope is that Congress will digest some 
      plan, founded on these principles, with such improvements as their 
      wisdom may suggest, and carry it into effect as soon as it may be 
      practicable.

      Europe is again unsettled and the prospect of war increasing. 
      Should the flame light up in any quarter, how far it may extend it 
      is impossible to foresee. It is our peculiar felicity to be 
      altogether unconnected with the causes which produce this menacing 
      aspect elsewhere. With every power we are in perfect amity, and it 
      is our interest to remain so if it be practicable on just 
      conditions. I see no reasonable cause to apprehend variance with 
      any power, unless it proceed from a violation of our maritime 
      rights. In these contests, should they occur, and to whatever 
      extent they may be carried, we shall be neutral; but as a neutral 
      power we have rights which it is our duty to maintain. For like 
      injuries it will be incumbent on us to seek redress in a spirit of 
      amity, in full confidence that, injuring none, none would 
      knowingly injure us. For more imminent dangers we should be 
      prepared, and it should always be recollected that such 
      preparation adapted to the circumstances and sanctioned by the 
      judgment and wishes of our constituents can not fail to have a 
      good effect in averting dangers of every kind. We should recollect 
      also that the season of peace is best adapted to these 
      preparations.

      If we turn our attention, fellow-citizens, more immediately to the 
      internal concerns of our country, and more especially to those on 
      which its future welfare depends, we have every reason to 
      anticipate the happiest results. It is now rather more than forty-
      four years since we declared our independence, and thirty-seven 
      since it was acknowledged. The talents and virtues which were 
      displayed in that great struggle were a sure presage of all that 
      has since followed. A people who were able to surmount in their 
      infant state such great perils would be more competent as they 
      rose into manhood to repel any which they might meet in their 
      progress. Their physical strength would be more adequate to 
      foreign danger, and the practice of self-government, aided by the 
      light of experience, could not fail to produce an effect equally 
      salutary on all those questions connected with the internal 
      organization. These favorable anticipations have been realized.

      In our whole system, national and State, we have shunned all the 
      defects which unceasingly preyed on the vitals and destroyed the 
      ancient Republics. In them there were distinct orders, a nobility 
      and a people, or the people governed in one assembly. Thus, in the 
      one instance there was a perpetual conflict between the orders in 
      society for the ascendency, in which the victory of either 
      terminated in the overthrow of the government and the ruin of the 
      state; in the other, in which the people governed in a body, and 
      whose dominions seldom exceeded the dimensions of a county in one 
      of our States, a tumultuous and disorderly movement permitted only 
      a transitory existence. In this great nation there is but one 
      order, that of the people, whose power, by a peculiarly happy 
      improvement of the representative principle, is transferred from 
      them, without impairing in the slightest degree their sovereignty, 
      to bodies of their own creation, and to persons elected by 
      themselves, in the full extent necessary for all the purposes of 
      free, enlightened and efficient government. The whole system is 
      elective, the complete sovereignty being in the people, and every 
      officer in every department deriving his authority from and being 
      responsible to them for his conduct.

      Our career has corresponded with this great outline. Perfection in 
      our organization could not have been expected in the outset either 
      in the National or State Governments or in tracing the line 
      between their respective powers. But no serious conflict has 
      arisen, nor any contest but such as are managed by argument and by 
      a fair appeal to the good sense of the people, and many of the 
      defects which experience had clearly demonstrated in both 
      Governments have been remedied. By steadily pursuing this course 
      in this spirit there is every reason to believe that our system 
      will soon attain the highest degree of perfection of which human 
      institutions are capable, and that the movement in all its 
      branches will exhibit such a degree of order and harmony as to 
      command the admiration and respect of the civilized world.

      Our physical attainments have not been less eminent. Twenty-five 
      years ago the river Mississippi was shut up and our Western 
      brethren had no outlet for their commerce. What has been the 
      progress since that time? The river has not only become the 
      property of the United States from its source to the ocean, with 
      all its tributary streams (with the exception of the upper part of 
      the Red River only), but Louisiana, with a fair and liberal 
      boundary on the western side and the Floridas on the eastern, have 
      been ceded to us. The United States now enjoy the complete and 
      uninterrupted sovereignty over the whole territory from St. Croix 
      to the Sabine. New States, settled from among ourselves in this 
      and in other parts, have been admitted into our Union in equal 
      participation in the national sovereignty with the original 
      States. Our population has augmented in an astonishing degree and 
      extended in every direction. We now, fellow-citizens, comprise 
      within our limits the dimensions and faculties of a great power 
      under a Government possessing all the energies of any government 
      ever known to the Old World, with an utter incapacity to oppress 
      the people.

      Entering with these views the office which I have just solemnly 
      sworn to execute with fidelity and to the utmost of my ability, I 
      derive great satisfaction from a knowledge that I shall be 
      assisted in the several Departments by the very enlightened and 
      upright citizens from whom I have received so much aid in the 
      preceding term. With full confidence in the continuance of that 
      candor and generous indulgence from my fellow-citizens at large 
      which I have heretofore experienced, and with a firm reliance on 
      the protection of Almighty God, I shall forthwith commence the 
      duties of the high trust to which you have called me.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                           John Quincy Adams

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1825
      __________________________________________________________________
      The only son of a former President to be elected to the Nation's 
      highest office, John Quincy Adams was chosen by the House of 
      Representatives when the electoral college could not determine a 
      clear winner of the 1824 election. The outcome was assured when 
      Henry Clay, one of the front-runners, threw his support to Mr. 
      Adams so that Andrew Jackson's candidacy would fail. General 
      Jackson had polled more popular votes in the election, but he did 
      not gain enough electoral votes to win outright. The oath of 
      office was administered by Chief Justice John Marshall inside the 
      Hall of the House of Representatives.
      __________________________________________________________________

      In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our 
      Federal Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my 
      predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I 
      appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence and in that of Heaven 
      to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the 
      faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station 
      to which I have been called.

      In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be 
      governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will 
      be to that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my 
      ability to preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument 
      enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive 
      Magistrate, and in its first words declares the purposes to which 
      these and the whole action of the Government instituted by it 
      should be invariably and sacredly devoted--to form a more perfect 
      union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide 
      for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure 
      the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union in their 
      successive generations. Since the adoption of this social compact 
      one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our 
      forefathers. Administered by some of the most eminent men who 
      contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in 
      the annals of the world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace 
      and war incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not 
      disappointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious 
      benefactors of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting 
      welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has to an extent far 
      beyond the ordinary lot of humanity secured the freedom and 
      happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious 
      inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its 
      establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left 
      us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of 
      their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding 
      generation.

      In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national 
      covenant was instituted a body of laws enacted under its authority 
      and in conformity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and 
      carried into practical operation its effective energies. 
      Subordinate departments have distributed the executive functions 
      in their various relations to foreign affairs, to the revenue and 
      expenditures, and to the military force of the Union by land and 
      sea. A coordinate department of the judiciary has expounded the 
      Constitution and the laws, settling in harmonious coincidence with 
      the legislative will numerous weighty questions of construction 
      which the imperfection of human language had rendered unavoidable. 
      The year of jubilee since the first formation of our Union has 
      just elapsed that of the declaration of our independence is at 
      hand. The consummation of both was effected by this Constitution.

      Since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to 
      twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended 
      from sea to sea. New States have been admitted to the Union in 
      numbers nearly equal to those of the first Confederation. Treaties 
      of peace, amity, and commerce have been concluded with the 
      principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, 
      inhabitants of regions acquired not by conquest, but by compact, 
      have been united with us in the participation of our rights and 
      duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has fallen by the 
      ax of our woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the tillage 
      of our farmers; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The 
      dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the 
      invention of our artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in 
      hand. All the purposes of human association have been accomplished 
      as effectively as under any other government on the globe, and at 
      a cost little exceeding in a whole generation the expenditure of 
      other nations in a single year.

      Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a 
      Constitution founded upon the republican principle of equal 
      rights. To admit that this picture has its shades is but to say 
      that it is still the condition of men upon earth. From evil--
      physical, moral, and political--it is not our claim to be exempt. 
      We have suffered sometimes by the visitation of Heaven through 
      disease; often by the wrongs and injustice of other nations, even 
      to the extremities of war; and, lastly, by dissensions among 
      ourselves--dissensions perhaps inseparable from the enjoyment of 
      freedom, but which have more than once appeared to threaten the 
      dissolution of the Union, and with it the overthrow of all the 
      enjoyments of our present lot and all our earthly hopes of the 
      future. The causes of these dissensions have been various, founded 
      upon differences of speculation in the theory of republican 
      government; upon conflicting views of policy in our relations with 
      foreign nations; upon jealousies of partial and sectional 
      interests, aggravated by prejudices and prepossessions which 
      strangers to each other are ever apt to entertain.

      It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to 
      observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory 
      of human rights has at the close of that generation by which it 
      was formed been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine 
      expectations of its founders. Union, justice, tranquillity, the 
      common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of 
      liberty--all have been promoted by the Government under which we 
      have lived. Standing at this point of time, looking back to that 
      generation which has gone by and forward to that which is 
      advancing, we may at once indulge in grateful exultation and in 
      cheering hope. From the experience of the past we derive 
      instructive lessons for the future. Of the two great political 
      parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our 
      country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have 
      contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent 
      patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and 
      administration of this Government, and that both have required a 
      liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. The 
      revolutionary wars of Europe, commencing precisely at the moment 
      when the Government of the United States first went into operation 
      under this Constitution, excited a collision of sentiments and of 
      sympathies which kindled all the passions and imbittered the 
      conflict of parties till the nation was involved in war and the 
      Union was shaken to its center. This time of trial embraced a 
      period of five and twenty years, during which the policy of the 
      Union in its relations with Europe constituted the principal basis 
      of our political divisions and the most arduous part of the action 
      of our Federal Government. With the catastrophe in which the wars 
      of the French Revolution terminated, and our own subsequent peace 
      with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party strife was 
      uprooted. From that time no difference of principle, connected 
      either with the theory of government or with our intercourse with 
      foreign nations, has existed or been called forth in force 
      sufficient to sustain a continued combination of parties or to 
      give more than wholesome animation to public sentiment or 
      legislative debate. Our political creed is, without a dissenting 
      voice that can be heard, that the will of the people is the source 
      and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate 
      government upon earth; that the best security for the beneficence 
      and the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the 
      freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections; that 
      the General Government of the Union and the separate governments 
      of the States are all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-
      servants of the same masters, uncontrolled within their respective 
      spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments upon each other; that the 
      firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the 
      defenses of war; that a rigorous economy and accountability of 
      public expenditures should guard against the aggravation and 
      alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the military 
      should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power; that 
      the freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be 
      inviolate; that the policy of our country is peace and the ark of 
      our salvation union are articles of faith upon which we are all 
      now agreed. If there have been those who doubted whether a 
      confederated representative democracy were a government competent 
      to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a 
      mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled; if there have 
      been projects of partial confederacies to be erected upon the 
      ruins of the Union, they have been scattered to the winds; if 
      there have been dangerous attachments to one foreign nation and 
      antipathies against another, they have been extinguished. Ten 
      years of peace, at home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities 
      of political contention and blended into harmony the most 
      discordant elements of public opinion There still remains one 
      effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to 
      be made by the individuals throughout the nation who have 
      heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that 
      of discarding every remnant of rancor against each other, of 
      embracing as countrymen and friends, and of yielding to talents 
      and virtue alone that confidence which in times of contention for 
      principle was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge of party 
      communion.

      The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative 
      opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in 
      their nature transitory. Those which are founded on geographical 
      divisions, adverse interests of soil, climate, and modes of 
      domestic life are more permanent, and therefore, perhaps, more 
      dangerous. It is this which gives inestimable value to the 
      character of our Government, at once federal and national. It 
      holds out to us a perpetual admonition to preserve alike and with 
      equal anxiety the rights of each individual State in its own 
      government and the rights of the whole nation in that of the 
      Union. Whatsoever is of domestic concernment, unconnected with the 
      other members of the Union or with foreign lands, belongs 
      exclusively to the administration of the State governments. 
      Whatsoever directly involves the rights and interests of the 
      federative fraternity or of foreign powers is of the resort of 
      this General Government. The duties of both are obvious in the 
      general principle, though sometimes perplexed with difficulties in 
      the detail. To respect the rights of the State governments is the 
      inviolable duty of that of the Union; the government of every 
      State will feel its own obligation to respect and preserve the 
      rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly 
      entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the 
      jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the composition and 
      functions of the great national councils annually assembled from 
      all quarters of the Union at this place. Here the distinguished 
      men from every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate 
      upon the great interests of those by whom they are deputed, learn 
      to estimate the talents and do justice to the virtues of each 
      other. The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union 
      is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits 
      of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed 
      between the representatives of its several parts in the 
      performance of their service at this metropolis.

      Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions 
      of the Federal Constitution and their results as indicating the 
      first traces of the path of duty in the discharge of my public 
      trust, I turn to the Administration of my immediate predecessor as 
      the second. It has passed away in a period of profound peace, how 
      much to the satisfaction of our country and to the honor of our 
      country's name is known to you all. The great features of its 
      policy, in general concurrence with the will of the Legislature, 
      have been to cherish peace while preparing for defensive war; to 
      yield exact justice to other nations and maintain the rights of 
      our own; to cherish the principles of freedom and of equal rights 
      wherever they were proclaimed; to discharge with all possible 
      promptitude the national debt; to reduce within the narrowest 
      limits of efficiency the military force; to improve the 
      organization and discipline of the Army; to provide and sustain a 
      school of military science; to extend equal protection to all the 
      great interests of the nation; to promote the civilization of the 
      Indian tribes, and to proceed in the great system of internal 
      improvements within the limits of the constitutional power of the 
      Union. Under the pledge of these promises, made by that eminent 
      citizen at the time of his first induction to this office, in his 
      career of eight years the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty 
      millions of the public debt have been discharged; provision has 
      been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent 
      among the surviving warriors of the Revolution; the regular armed 
      force has been reduced and its constitution revised and perfected; 
      the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been 
      made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, 
      and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific Ocean; the 
      independence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has been 
      recognized, and recommended by example and by counsel to the 
      potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defense of the 
      country by fortifications and the increase of the Navy, toward the 
      effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves; in 
      alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of 
      the soil and of the mind, in exploring the interior regions of the 
      Union, and in preparing by scientific researches and surveys for 
      the further application of our national resources to the internal 
      improvement of our country.

      In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my 
      immediate predecessor the line of duty for his successor is 
      clearly delineated To pursue to their consummation those purposes 
      of improvement in our common condition instituted or recommended 
      by him will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations. To the 
      topic of internal improvement, emphatically urged by him at his 
      inauguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. It is that from 
      which I am convinced that the unborn millions of our posterity who 
      are in future ages to people this continent will derive their most 
      fervent gratitude to the founders of the Union; that in which the 
      beneficent action of its Government will be most deeply felt and 
      acknowledged. The magnificence and splendor of their public works 
      are among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The 
      roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of all after 
      ages, and have survived thousands of years after all her conquests 
      have been swallowed up in despotism or become the spoil of 
      barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to 
      the powers of Congress for legislation upon objects of this 
      nature. The most respectful deference is due to doubts originating 
      in pure patriotism and sustained by venerated authority. But 
      nearly twenty years have passed since the construction of the 
      first national road was commenced. The authority for its 
      construction was then unquestioned. To how many thousands of our 
      countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has 
      it ever proved an injury? Repeated, liberal, and candid 
      discussions in the Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and 
      approximated the opinions of enlightened minds upon the question 
      of constitutional power. I can not but hope that by the same 
      process of friendly, patient, and persevering deliberation all 
      constitutional objections will ultimately be removed. The extent 
      and limitation of the powers of the General Government in relation 
      to this transcendently important interest will be settled and 
      acknowledged to the common satisfaction of all, and every 
      speculative scruple will be solved by a practical public blessing.

      Fellow-citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar 
      circumstances of the recent election, which have resulted in 
      affording me the opportunity of addressing you at this time. You 
      have heard the exposition of the principles which will direct me 
      in the fulfillment of the high and solemn trust imposed upon me in 
      this station. Less possessed of your confidence in advance than 
      any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that 
      I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence. 
      Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare of our 
      country, and the unceasing application of all the faculties 
      allotted to me to her service are all the pledges that I can give 
      for the faithful performance of the arduous duties I am to 
      undertake. To the guidance of the legislative councils, to the 
      assistance of the executive and subordinate departments, to the 
      friendly cooperation of the respective State governments, to the 
      candid and liberal support of the people so far as it may be 
      deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever 
      success may attend my public service; and knowing that "except the 
      Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with fervent 
      supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit 
      with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future 
      destinies of my country.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Andrew Jackson

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1829
      __________________________________________________________________
      The election of Andrew Jackson was heralded as a new page in the 
      history of the Republic. The first military leader elected 
      President since George Washington, he was much admired by the 
      electorate, who came to Washington to celebrate "Old Hickory's" 
      inauguration. Outgoing President Adams did not join in the 
      ceremony, which was held for the first time on the East Portico of 
      the Capitol building. Chief Justice John Marshall administered the 
      oath of office. After the proceedings at the Capitol, a large 
      group of citizens walked with the new President along Pennsylvania 
      Avenue to the White House, and many of them visited the executive 
      mansion that day and evening. Such large numbers of people arrived 
      that many of the furnishings were ruined. President Jackson left 
      the building by a window to avoid the crush of people.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been appointed 
      to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of this 
      customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude which their 
      confidence inspires and to acknowledge the accountability which my 
      situation enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests 
      convinces me that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have 
      conferred, it admonishes me that the best return I can make is the 
      zealous dedication of my humble abilities to their service and 
      their good.

      As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will devolve on 
      me for a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, 
      to superintend their foreign and their confederate relations, to 
      manage their revenue, to command their forces, and, by 
      communications to the Legislature, to watch over and to promote 
      their interests generally. And the principles of action by which I 
      shall endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties it is now 
      proper for me briefly to explain.

      In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in 
      view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power 
      trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without 
      transcending its authority. With foreign nations it will be my 
      study to preserve peace and to cultivate friendship on fair and 
      honorable terms, and in the adjustment of any differences that may 
      exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful 
      nation rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people.

      In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to the 
      rights of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper 
      respect for those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not 
      to confound the powers they have reserved to themselves with those 
      they have granted to the Confederacy.

      The management of the public revenue--that searching operation in 
      all governments--is among the most delicate and important trusts 
      in ours, and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share of 
      my official solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be 
      considered it would appear that advantage must result from the 
      observance of a strict and faithful economy. This I shall aim at 
      the more anxiously both because it will facilitate the 
      extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of 
      which is incompatible with real independence, and because it will 
      counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a 
      profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to 
      engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable 
      end are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of 
      Congress for the specific appropriation of public money and the 
      prompt accountability of public officers.

      With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with a 
      view to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, 
      caution and compromise in which the Constitution was formed 
      requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and 
      manufactures should be equally favored, and that perhaps the only 
      exception to this rule should consist in the peculiar 
      encouragement of any products of either of them that may be found 
      essential to our national independence.

      Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as 
      they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal 
      Government, are of high importance.

      Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in 
      time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present 
      establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political 
      experience which teaches that the military should be held 
      subordinate to the civil power. The gradual increase of our Navy, 
      whose flag has displayed in distant climes our skill in navigation 
      and our fame in arms; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and 
      dockyards, and the introduction of progressive improvements in the 
      discipline and science of both branches of our military service 
      are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for 
      omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their 
      importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national 
      militia, which in the present state of our intelligence and 
      population must render us invincible. As long as our Government is 
      administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their 
      will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of 
      property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth 
      defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic 
      militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries 
      and occasional mortifications we may be subjected to, but a 
      million of armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never 
      be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, 
      calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country I 
      shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power.

      It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the 
      Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to 
      give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and 
      their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government 
      and the feelings of our people.

      The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list 
      of Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, 
      the task of reform, which will require particularly the correction 
      of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal 
      Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the 
      counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful 
      course of appointment and have placed or continued power in 
      unfaithful or incompetent hands.

      In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall 
      endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in 
      their respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending 
      for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity 
      and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers.

      A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will 
      teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue 
      left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the 
      lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that 
      reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for 
      instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the 
      Government, and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-
      citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the goodness of that 
      Power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, 
      and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, 
      encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He will 
      continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care 
      and gracious benediction.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Andrew Jackson

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1833
      __________________________________________________________________
      Cold weather and the President's poor health caused the second 
      inauguration to be much quieter than the first. The President's 
      speech was delivered to a large assembly inside the Hall of the 
      House of Representatives. Chief Justice John Marshall administered 
      the oath of office for the ninth, and last, time.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      The will of the American people, expressed through their 
      unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the 
      solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of 
      President of the United States for another term. For their 
      approbation of my public conduct through a period which has not 
      been without its difficulties, and for this renewed expression of 
      their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms 
      adequate to the expression of my gratitude. It shall be displayed 
      to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to 
      administer the Government as to preserve their liberty and promote 
      their happiness.

      So many events have occurred within the last four years which have 
      necessarily called forth--sometimes under circumstances the most 
      delicate and painful--my views of the principles and policy which 
      ought to be pursued by the General Government that I need on this 
      occasion but allude to a few leading considerations connected with 
      some of them.

      The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon after the 
      formation of our present Constitution, and very generally pursued 
      by successive Administrations, has been crowned with almost 
      complete success, and has elevated our character among the nations 
      of the earth. To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from 
      none has been during my Administration its governing maxim, and so 
      happy have been its results that we are not only at peace with all 
      the world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of minor 
      importance, remaining unadjusted.

      In the domestic policy of this Government there are two objects 
      which especially deserve the attention of the people and their 
      representatives, and which have been and will continue to be the 
      subjects of my increasing solicitude. They are the preservation of 
      the rights of the several States and the integrity of the Union.

      These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only be 
      attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within 
      its appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will 
      constitutionally expressed. To this end it becomes the duty of all 
      to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws 
      constitutionally enacted and thereby promote and strengthen a 
      proper confidence in those institutions of the several States and 
      of the United States which the people themselves have ordained for 
      their own government.

      My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life 
      somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, 
      that the destruction of our State governments or the annihilation 
      of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead 
      directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and 
      military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the General 
      Government encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same 
      proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its 
      ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation. Solemnly 
      impressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find 
      me ready to exercise my constitutional powers in arresting 
      measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights 
      of the States or tend to consolidate all political power in the 
      General Government. But of equal and, indeed, of incalculable, 
      importance is the union of these States, and the sacred duty of 
      all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the 
      General Government in the exercise of its just powers. You have 
      been wisely admonished to "accustom yourselves to think and speak 
      of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and 
      prosperity, watching for its preservation with Jealous anxiety, 
      discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can 
      in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first 
      dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from 
      the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together 
      the various parts." Without union our independence and liberty 
      would never have been achieved; without union they never can be 
      maintained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of 
      separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened 
      with numberless restraints and exactions; communication between 
      distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made 
      soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace; 
      the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to 
      support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of 
      their victorious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges. The 
      loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and 
      happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In 
      supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the 
      freeman and the philanthropist

      The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The eyes 
      of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the 
      existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the 
      practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the 
      stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must 
      rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the 
      importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let 
      us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country 
      from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the 
      lessons they inculcate.

      Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and under 
      the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, I 
      shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just 
      powers of the Constitution and to transmit unimpaired to posterity 
      the blessings of our Federal Union. At the same time, it will be 
      my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of 
      exercising by the General Government those powers only that are 
      clearly delegated; to encourage simplicity and economy in the 
      expenditures of the Government; to raise no more money from the 
      people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner 
      that will best promote the interests of all classes of the 
      community and of all portions of the Union. Constantly bearing in 
      mind that in entering into society "individuals must give up a 
      share of liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire so to 
      discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in all parts of 
      the country a spirit of liberal concession and compromise, and, by 
      reconciling our fellow-citizens to those partial sacrifices which 
      they must unavoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, 
      to recommend our invaluable Government and Union to the confidence 
      and affections of the American people.

      Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being 
      before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the 
      infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so 
      overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of 
      my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all 
      kinds and continue forever a united and happy people.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Martin Van Buren

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1837
      __________________________________________________________________
      The ailing President Jackson and his Vice President Van Buren rode 
      together to the Capitol from the White House in a carriage made of 
      timbers from the U.S.S. Constitution. Chief Justice Roger Taney 
      administered the oath of office on the East Portico of the 
      Capitol. For the first and only time, the election for Vice 
      President had been decided by the Senate, as provided by the 
      Constitution, when the electoral college could not select a 
      winner. The new Vice President, Richard M. Johnson, took his oath 
      in the Senate Chamber.
      __________________________________________________________________

      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 them 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 patriotism 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 Revolution 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 with 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 coordinate 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 home 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 Government 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 experience 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 elevated 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. The 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 
      productions, 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 concession 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 innumerable 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 community 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 while 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 and 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 conflicts 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, looking 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 maintain 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 wanting 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 anticipate 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 expenses 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 discordant 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 sometimes 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 exactions 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 criminal 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-citizens 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 in 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 those 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 possess, 
      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 
      opinion 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 beyond 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 have 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 circle 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 functions 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 subject, 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 patriotism 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 reflection 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 before 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 me. 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 in 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 only 
      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, and 
      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 that 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 devotion 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 which 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 timid, 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 
      excitement 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 
      institutions 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 beloved 
      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 it. 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 relate 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 known 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 equal 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 neutrality 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 maintain 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, conscious 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 pray 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!

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         William Henry Harrison

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1841
      __________________________________________________________________
      President Harrison has the dual distinction among all the 
      Presidents of giving the longest inaugural speech and of serving 
      the shortest term of office. Known to the public as "Old 
      Tippecanoe," the former general of the Indian campaigns delivered 
      an hour-and-forty-five-minute speech in a snowstorm. The oath of 
      office was administered on the East Portico of the Capitol by 
      Chief Justice Roger Taney. The 68-year-old President stood outside 
      for the entire proceeding, greeted crowds of well-wishers at the 
      White House later that day, and attended several celebrations that 
      evening. One month later he died of pneumonia.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Called from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for 
      the residue of my life to fill the chief executive office of this 
      great and free nation, I appear before you, fellow-citizens, to 
      take the oaths which the Constitution prescribes as a necessary 
      qualification for the performance of its duties; and in obedience 
      to a custom coeval with our Government and what I believe to be 
      your expectations I proceed to present to you a summary of the 
      principles which will govern me in the discharge of the duties 
      which I shall be called upon to perform.

      It was the remark of a Roman consul in an early period of that 
      celebrated Republic that a most striking contrast was observable 
      in the conduct of candidates for offices of power and trust before 
      and after obtaining them, they seldom carrying out in the latter 
      case the pledges and promises made in the former. However much the 
      world may have improved in many respects in the lapse of upward of 
      two thousand years since the remark was made by the virtuous and 
      indignant Roman, I fear that a strict examination of the annals of 
      some of the modern elective governments would develop similar 
      instances of violated confidence.

      Although the fiat of the people has gone forth proclaiming me the 
      Chief Magistrate of this glorious Union, nothing upon their part 
      remaining to be done, it may be thought that a motive may exist to 
      keep up the delusion under which they may be supposed to have 
      acted in relation to my principles and opinions; and perhaps there 
      may be some in this assembly who have come here either prepared to 
      condemn those I shall now deliver, or, approving them, to doubt 
      the sincerity with which they are now uttered. But the lapse of a 
      few months will confirm or dispel their fears. The outline of 
      principles to govern and measures to be adopted by an 
      Administration not yet begun will soon be exchanged for immutable 
      history, and I shall stand either exonerated by my countrymen or 
      classed with the mass of those who promised that they might 
      deceive and flattered with the intention to betray. However strong 
      may be my present purpose to realize the expectations of a 
      magnanimous and confiding people, I too well understand the 
      dangerous temptations to which I shall be exposed from the 
      magnitude of the power which it has been the pleasure of the 
      people to commit to my hands not to place my chief confidence upon 
      the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto protected me and 
      enabled me to bring to favorable issues other important but still 
      greatly inferior trusts heretofore confided to me by my country.

      The broad foundation upon which our Constitution rests being the 
      people--a breath of theirs having made, as a breath can unmake, 
      change, or modify it--it can be assigned to none of the great 
      divisions of government but to that of democracy. If such is its 
      theory, those who are called upon to administer it must recognize 
      as its leading principle the duty of shaping their measures so as 
      to produce the greatest good to the greatest number. But with 
      these broad admissions, if we would compare the sovereignty 
      acknowledged to exist in the mass of our people with the power 
      claimed by other sovereignties, even by those which have been 
      considered most purely democratic, we shall find a most essential 
      difference. All others lay claim to power limited only by their 
      own will. The majority of our citizens, on the contrary, possess a 
      sovereignty with an amount of power precisely equal to that which 
      has been granted to them by the parties to the national compact, 
      and nothing beyond. We admit of no government by divine right, 
      believing that so far as power is concerned the Beneficent Creator 
      has made no distinction amongst men; that all are upon an 
      equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern is an 
      express grant of power from the governed. The Constitution of the 
      United States is the instrument containing this grant of power to 
      the several departments composing the Government. On an 
      examination of that instrument it will be found to contain 
      declarations of power granted and of power withheld. The latter is 
      also susceptible of division into power which the majority had the 
      right to grant, but which they do not think proper to intrust to 
      their agents, and that which they could not have granted, not 
      being possessed by themselves. In other words, there are certain 
      rights possessed by each individual American citizen which in his 
      compact with the others he has never surrendered. Some of them, 
      indeed, he is unable to surrender, being, in the language of our 
      system, unalienable. The boasted privilege of a Roman citizen was 
      to him a shield only against a petty provincial ruler, whilst the 
      proud democrat of Athens would console himself under a sentence of 
      death for a supposed violation of the national faith--which no one 
      understood and which at times was the subject of the mockery of 
      all--or the banishment from his home, his family, and his country 
      with or without an alleged cause, that it was the act not of a 
      single tyrant or hated aristocracy, but of his assembled 
      countrymen. Far different is the power of our sovereignty. It can 
      interfere with no one's faith, prescribe forms of worship for no 
      one's observance, inflict no punishment but after well-ascertained 
      guilt, the result of investigation under rules prescribed by the 
      Constitution itself. These precious privileges, and those scarcely 
      less important of giving expression to his thoughts and opinions, 
      either by writing or speaking, unrestrained but by the liability 
      for injury to others, and that of a full participation in all the 
      advantages which flow from the Government, the acknowledged 
      property of all, the American citizen derives from no charter 
      granted by his fellow-man. He claims them because he is himself a 
      man, fashioned by the same Almighty hand as the rest of his 
      species and entitled to a full share of the blessings with which 
      He has endowed them. Notwithstanding the limited sovereignty 
      possessed by the people of the United Stages and the restricted 
      grant of power to the Government which they have adopted, enough 
      has been given to accomplish all the objects for which it was 
      created. It has been found powerful in war, and hitherto justice 
      has been administered, and intimate union effected, domestic 
      tranquillity preserved, and personal liberty secured to the 
      citizen. As was to be expected, however, from the defect of 
      language and the necessarily sententious manner in which the 
      Constitution is written, disputes have arisen as to the amount of 
      power which it has actually granted or was intended to grant.

      This is more particularly the case in relation to that part of the 
      instrument which treats of the legislative branch, and not only as 
      regards the exercise of powers claimed under a general clause 
      giving that body the authority to pass all laws necessary to carry 
      into effect the specified powers, but in relation to the latter 
      also. It is, however, consolatory to reflect that most of the 
      instances of alleged departure from the letter or spirit of the 
      Constitution have ultimately received the sanction of a majority 
      of the people. And the fact that many of our statesmen most 
      distinguished for talent and patriotism have been at one time or 
      other of their political career on both sides of each of the most 
      warmly disputed questions forces upon us the inference that the 
      errors, if errors there were, are attributable to the intrinsic 
      difficulty in many instances of ascertaining the intentions of the 
      framers of the Constitution rather than the influence of any 
      sinister or unpatriotic motive. But the great danger to our 
      institutions does not appear to me to be in a usurpation by the 
      Government of power not granted by the people, but by the 
      accumulation in one of the departments of that which was assigned 
      to others. Limited as are the powers which have been granted, 
      still enough have been granted to constitute a despotism if 
      concentrated in one of the departments. This danger is greatly 
      heightened, as it has been always observable that men are less 
      jealous of encroachments of one department upon another than upon 
      their own reserved rights. When the Constitution of the United 
      States first came from the hands of the Convention which formed 
      it, many of the sternest republicans of the day were alarmed at 
      the extent of the power which had been granted to the Federal 
      Government, and more particularly of that portion which had been 
      assigned to the executive branch. There were in it features which 
      appeared not to be in harmony with their ideas of a simple 
      representative democracy or republic, and knowing the tendency of 
      power to increase itself, particularly when exercised by a single 
      individual, predictions were made that at no very remote period 
      the Government would terminate in virtual monarchy. It would not 
      become me to say that the fears of these patriots have been 
      already realized; but as I sincerely believe that the tendency of 
      measures and of men's opinions for some years past has been in 
      that direction, it is, I conceive, strictly proper that I should 
      take this occasion to repeat the assurances I have heretofore 
      given of my determination to arrest the progress of that tendency 
      if it really exists and restore the Government to its pristine 
      health and vigor, as far as this can be effected by any legitimate 
      exercise of the power placed in my hands.

      I proceed to state in as summary a manner as I can my opinion of 
      the sources of the evils which have been so extensively complained 
      of and the correctives which may be applied. Some of the former 
      are unquestionably to be found in the defects of the Constitution; 
      others, in my judgment, are attributable to a misconstruction of 
      some of its provisions. Of the former is the eligibility of the 
      same individual to a second term of the Presidency. The sagacious 
      mind of Mr. Jefferson early saw and lamented this error, and 
      attempts have been made, hitherto without success, to apply the 
      amendatory power of the States to its correction. As, however, one 
      mode of correction is in the power of every President, and 
      consequently in mine, it would be useless, and perhaps invidious, 
      to enumerate the evils of which, in the opinion of many of our 
      fellow-citizens, this error of the sages who framed the 
      Constitution may have been the source and the bitter fruits which 
      we are still to gather from it if it continues to disfigure our 
      system. It may be observed, however, as a general remark, that 
      republics can commit no greater error than to adopt or continue 
      any feature in their systems of government which may be calculated 
      to create or increase the lover of power in the bosoms of those to 
      whom necessity obliges them to commit the management of their 
      affairs; and surely nothing is more likely to produce such a state 
      of mind than the long continuance of an office of high trust. 
      Nothing can be more corrupting, nothing more destructive of all 
      those noble feelings which belong to the character of a devoted 
      republican patriot. When this corrupting passion once takes 
      possession of the human mind, like the love of gold it becomes 
      insatiable. It is the never-dying worm in his bosom, grows with 
      his growth and strengthens with the declining years of its victim. 
      If this is true, it is the part of wisdom for a republic to limit 
      the service of that officer at least to whom she has intrusted the 
      management of her foreign relations, the execution of her laws, 
      and the command of her armies and navies to a period so short as 
      to prevent his forgetting that he is the accountable agent, not 
      the principal; the servant, not the master. Until an amendment of 
      the Constitution can be effected public opinion may secure the 
      desired object. I give my aid to it by renewing the pledge 
      heretofore given that under no circumstances will I consent to 
      serve a second term.

      But if there is danger to public liberty from the acknowledged 
      defects of the Constitution in the want of limit to the 
      continuance of the Executive power in the same hands, there is, I 
      apprehend, not much less from a misconstruction of that instrument 
      as it regards the powers actually given. I can not conceive that 
      by a fair construction any or either of its provisions would be 
      found to constitute the President a part of the legislative power. 
      It can not be claimed from the power to recommend, since, although 
      enjoined as a duty upon him, it is a privilege which he holds in 
      common with every other citizen; and although there may be 
      something more of confidence in the propriety of the measures 
      recommended in the one case than in the other, in the obligations 
      of ultimate decision there can be no difference. In the language 
      of the Constitution, "all the legislative powers" which it grants 
      "are vested in the Congress of the United States." It would be a 
      solecism in language to say that any portion of these is not 
      included in the whole.

      It may be said, indeed, that the Constitution has given to the 
      Executive the power to annul the acts of the legislative body by 
      refusing to them his assent. So a similar power has necessarily 
      resulted from that instrument to the judiciary, and yet the 
      judiciary forms no part of the Legislature. There is, it is true, 
      this difference between these grants of power: The Executive can 
      put his negative upon the acts of the Legislature for other cause 
      than that of want of conformity to the Constitution, whilst the 
      judiciary can only declare void those which violate that 
      instrument. But the decision of the judiciary is final in such a 
      case, whereas in every instance where the veto of the Executive is 
      applied it may be overcome by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses 
      of Congress. The negative upon the acts of the legislative by the 
      executive authority, and that in the hands of one individual, 
      would seem to be an incongruity in our system. Like some others of 
      a similar character, however, it appears to be highly expedient, 
      and if used only with the forbearance and in the spirit which was 
      intended by its authors it may be productive of great good and be 
      found one of the best safeguards to the Union. At the period of 
      the formation of the Constitution the principle does not appear to 
      have enjoyed much favor in the State governments. It existed but 
      in two, and in one of these there was a plural executive. If we 
      would search for the motives which operated upon the purely 
      patriotic and enlightened assembly which framed the Constitution 
      for the adoption of a provision so apparently repugnant to the 
      leading democratic principle that the majority should govern, we 
      must reject the idea that they anticipated from it any benefit to 
      the ordinary course of legislation. They knew too well the high 
      degree of intelligence which existed among the people and the 
      enlightened character of the State legislatures not to have the 
      fullest confidence that the two bodies elected by them would be 
      worthy representatives of such constituents, and, of course, that 
      they would require no aid in conceiving and maturing the measures 
      which the circumstances of the country might require. And it is 
      preposterous to suppose that a thought could for a moment have 
      been entertained that the President, placed at the capital, in the 
      center of the country, could better understand the wants and 
      wishes of the people than their own immediate representatives, who 
      spend a part of every year among them, living with them, often 
      laboring with them, and bound to them by the triple tie of 
      interest, duty, and affection. To assist or control Congress, 
      then, in its ordinary legislation could not, I conceive, have been 
      the motive for conferring the veto power on the President. This 
      argument acquires additional force from the fact of its never 
      having been thus used by the first six Presidents--and two of them 
      were members of the Convention, one presiding over its 
      deliberations and the other bearing a larger share in consummating 
      the labors of that august body than any other person. But if bills 
      were never returned to Congress by either of the Presidents above 
      referred to upon the ground of their being inexpedient or not as 
      well adapted as they might be to the wants of the people, the veto 
      was applied upon that of want of conformity to the Constitution or 
      because errors had been committed from a too hasty enactment.

      There is another ground for the adoption of the veto principle, 
      which had probably more influence in recommending it to the 
      Convention than any other. I refer to the security which it gives 
      to the just and equitable action of the Legislature upon all parts 
      of the Union. It could not but have occurred to the Convention 
      that in a country so extensive, embracing so great a variety of 
      soil and climate, and consequently of products, and which from the 
      same causes must ever exhibit a great difference in the amount of 
      the population of its various sections, calling for a great 
      diversity in the employments of the people, that the legislation 
      of the majority might not always justly regard the rights and 
      interests of the minority, and that acts of this character might 
      be passed under an express grant by the words of the Constitution, 
      and therefore not within the competency of the judiciary to 
      declare void; that however enlightened and patriotic they might 
      suppose from past experience the members of Congress might be, and 
      however largely partaking, in the general, of the liberal feelings 
      of the people, it was impossible to expect that bodies so 
      constituted should not sometimes be controlled by local interests 
      and sectional feelings. It was proper, therefore, to provide some 
      umpire from whose situation and mode of appointment more 
      independence and freedom from such influences might be expected. 
      Such a one was afforded by the executive department constituted by 
      the Constitution. A person elected to that high office, having his 
      constituents in every section, State, and subdivision of the 
      Union, must consider himself bound by the most solemn sanctions to 
      guard, protect, and defend the rights of all and of every portion, 
      great or small, from the injustice and oppression of the rest. I 
      consider the veto power, therefore given by the Constitution to 
      the Executive of the United States solely as a conservative power, 
      to be used only first, to protect the Constitution from violation; 
      secondly, the people from the effects of hasty legislation where 
      their will has been probably disregarded or not well understood, 
      and, thirdly, to prevent the effects of combinations violative of 
      the rights of minorities. In reference to the second of these 
      objects I may observe that I consider it the right and privilege 
      of the people to decide disputed points of the Constitution 
      arising from the general grant of power to Congress to carry into 
      effect the powers expressly given; and I believe with Mr. Madison 
      that "repeated recognitions under varied circumstances in acts of 
      the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the 
      Government, accompanied by indications in different modes of the 
      concurrence of the general will of the nation," as affording to 
      the President sufficient authority for his considering such 
      disputed points as settled.

      Upward of half a century has elapsed since the adoption of the 
      present form of government. It would be an object more highly 
      desirable than the gratification of the curiosity of speculative 
      statesmen if its precise situation could be ascertained, a fair 
      exhibit made of the operations of each of its departments, of the 
      powers which they respectively claim and exercise, of the 
      collisions which have occurred between them or between the whole 
      Government and those of the States or either of them. We could 
      then compare our actual condition after fifty years' trial of our 
      system with what it was in the commencement of its operations and 
      ascertain whether the predictions of the patriots who opposed its 
      adoption or the confident hopes of its advocates have been best 
      realized. The great dread of the former seems to have been that 
      the reserved powers of the States would be absorbed by those of 
      the Federal Government and a consolidated power established, 
      leaving to the States the shadow only of that independent action 
      for which they had so zealously contended and on the preservation 
      of which they relied as the last hope of liberty. Without denying 
      that the result to which they looked with so much apprehension is 
      in the way of being realized, it is obvious that they did not 
      clearly see the mode of its accomplishment The General Government 
      has seized upon none of the reserved rights of the States. AS far 
      as any open warfare may have gone, the State authorities have 
      amply maintained their rights. To a casual observer our system 
      presents no appearance of discord between the different members 
      which compose it. Even the addition of many new ones has produced 
      no jarring. They move in their respective orbits in perfect 
      harmony with the central head and with each other. But there is 
      still an undercurrent at work by which, if not seasonably checked, 
      the worst apprehensions of our antifederal patriots will be 
      realized, and not only will the State authorities be overshadowed 
      by the great increase of power in the executive department of the 
      General Government, but the character of that Government, if not 
      its designation, be essentially and radically changed. This state 
      of things has been in part effected by causes inherent in the 
      Constitution and in part by the never-failing tendency of 
      political power to increase itself. By making the President the 
      sole distributer of all the patronage of the Government the 
      framers of the Constitution do not appear to have anticipated at 
      how short a period it would become a formidable instrument to 
      control the free operations of the State governments. Of trifling 
      importance at first, it had early in Mr. Jefferson's 
      Administration become so powerful as to create great alarm in the 
      mind of that patriot from the potent influence it might exert in 
      controlling the freedom of the elective franchise. If such could 
      have then been the effects of its influence, how much greater must 
      be the danger at this time, quadrupled in amount as it certainly 
      is and more completely under the control of the Executive will 
      than their construction of their powers allowed or the forbearing 
      characters of all the early Presidents permitted them to make. But 
      it is not by the extent of its patronage alone that the executive 
      department has become dangerous, but by the use which it appears 
      may be made of the appointing power to bring under its control the 
      whole revenues of the country. The Constitution has declared it to 
      be the duty of the President to see that the laws are executed, 
      and it makes him the Commander in Chief of the Armies and Navy of 
      the United States. If the opinion of the most approved writers 
      upon that species of mixed government which in modern Europe is 
      termed monarchy in contradistinction to despotism is correct, 
      there was wanting no other addition to the powers of our Chief 
      Magistrate to stamp a monarchical character on our Government but 
      the control of the public finances; and to me it appears strange 
      indeed that anyone should doubt that the entire control which the 
      President possesses over the officers who have the custody of the 
      public money, by the power of removal with or without cause, does, 
      for all mischievous purposes at least, virtually subject the 
      treasure also to his disposal. The first Roman Emperor, in his 
      attempt to seize the sacred treasure, silenced the opposition of 
      the officer to whose charge it had been committed by a significant 
      allusion to his sword. By a selection of political instruments for 
      the care of the public money a reference to their commissions by a 
      President would be quite as effectual an argument as that of 
      Caesar to the Roman knight. I am not insensible of the great 
      difficulty that exists in drawing a proper plan for the safe-
      keeping and disbursement of the public revenues, and I know the 
      importance which has been attached by men of great abilities and 
      patriotism to the divorce, as it is called, of the Treasury from 
      the banking institutions It is not the divorce which is complained 
      of, but the unhallowed union of the Treasury with the executive 
      department, which has created such extensive alarm. To this danger 
      to our republican institutions and that created by the influence 
      given to the Executive through the instrumentality of the Federal 
      officers I propose to apply all the remedies which may be at my 
      command. It was certainly a great error in the framers of the 
      Constitution not to have made the officer at the head of the 
      Treasury Department entirely independent of the Executive. He 
      should at least have been removable only upon the demand of the 
      popular branch of the Legislature. I have determined never to 
      remove a Secretary of the Treasury without communicating all the 
      circumstances attending such removal to both Houses of Congress.

      The influence of the Executive in controlling the freedom of the 
      elective franchise through the medium of the public officers can 
      be effectually checked by renewing the prohibition published by 
      Mr. Jefferson forbidding their interference in elections further 
      than giving their own votes, and their own independence secured by 
      an assurance of perfect immunity in exercising this sacred 
      privilege of freemen under the dictates of their own unbiased 
      judgments. Never with my consent shall an officer of the people, 
      compensated for his services out of their pockets, become the 
      pliant instrument of Executive will.

      There is no part of the means placed in the hands of the Executive 
      which might be used with greater effect for unhallowed purposes 
      than the control of the public press. The maxim which our 
      ancestors derived from the mother country that "the freedom of the 
      press is the great bulwark of civil and religious liberty" is one 
      of the most precious legacies which they have left us. We have 
      learned, too, from our own as well as the experience of other 
      countries, that golden shackles, by whomsoever or by whatever 
      pretense imposed, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds of 
      despotism. The presses in the necessary employment of the 
      Government should never be used "to clear the guilty or to varnish 
      crime." A decent and manly examination of the acts of the 
      Government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged.

      Upon another occasion I have given my opinion at some length upon 
      the impropriety of Executive interference in the legislation of 
      Congress--that the article in the Constitution making it the duty 
      of the President to communicate information and authorizing him to 
      recommend measures was not intended to make him the source in 
      legislation, and, in particular, that he should never be looked to 
      for schemes of finance. It would be very strange, indeed, that the 
      Constitution should have strictly forbidden one branch of the 
      Legislature from interfering in the origination of such bills and 
      that it should be considered proper that an altogether different 
      department of the Government should be permitted to do so. Some of 
      our best political maxims and opinions have been drawn from our 
      parent isle. There are others, however, which can not be 
      introduced in our system without singular incongruity and the 
      production of much mischief, and this I conceive to be one. No 
      matter in which of the houses of Parliament a bill may originate 
      nor by whom introduced--a minister or a member of the opposition--
      by the fiction of law, or rather of constitutional principle, the 
      sovereign is supposed to have prepared it agreeably to his will 
      and then submitted it to Parliament for their advice and consent. 
      Now the very reverse is the case here, not only with regard to the 
      principle, but the forms prescribed by the Constitution. The 
      principle certainly assigns to the only body constituted by the 
      Constitution (the legislative body) the power to make laws, and 
      the forms even direct that the enactment should be ascribed to 
      them. The Senate, in relation to revenue bills, have the right to 
      propose amendments, and so has the Executive by the power given 
      him to return them to the House of Representatives with his 
      objections. It is in his power also to propose amendments in the 
      existing revenue laws, suggested by his observations upon their 
      defective or injurious operation. But the delicate duty of 
      devising schemes of revenue should be left where the Constitution 
      has placed it--with the immediate representatives of the people. 
      For similar reasons the mode of keeping the public treasure should 
      be prescribed by them, and the further removed it may be from the 
      control of the Executive the more wholesome the arrangement and 
      the more in accordance with republican principle.

      Connected with this subject is the character of the currency. The 
      idea of making it exclusively metallic, however well intended, 
      appears to me to be fraught with more fatal consequences than any 
      other scheme having no relation to the personal rights of the 
      citizens that has ever been devised. If any single scheme could 
      produce the effect of arresting at once that mutation of condition 
      by which thousands of our most indigent fellow-citizens by their 
      industry and enterprise are raised to the possession of wealth, 
      that is the one. If there is one measure better calculated than 
      another to produce that state of things so much deprecated by all 
      true republicans, by which the rich are daily adding to their 
      hoards and the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an exclusive 
      metallic currency. Or if there is a process by which the character 
      of the country for generosity and nobleness of feeling may be 
      destroyed by the great increase and neck toleration of usury, it 
      is an exclusive metallic currency.

      Amongst the other duties of a delicate character which the 
      President is called upon to perform is the supervision of the 
      government of the Territories of the United States. Those of them 
      which are destined to become members of our great political family 
      are compensated by their rapid progress from infancy to manhood 
      for the partial and temporary deprivation of their political 
      rights. It is in this District only where American citizens are to 
      be found who under a settled policy are deprived of many important 
      political privileges without any inspiring hope as to the future. 
      Their only consolation under circumstances of such deprivation is 
      that of the devoted exterior guards of a camp--that their 
      sufferings secure tranquillity and safety within. Are there any of 
      their countrymen, who would subject them to greater sacrifices, to 
      any other humiliations than those essentially necessary to the 
      security of the object for which they were thus separated from 
      their fellow-citizens? Are their rights alone not to be guaranteed 
      by the application of those great principles upon which all our 
      constitutions are founded? We are told by the greatest of British 
      orators and statesmen that at the commencement of the War of the 
      Revolution the most stupid men in England spoke of "their American 
      subjects." Are there, indeed, citizens of any of our States who 
      have dreamed of their subjects in the District of Columbia? Such 
      dreams can never be realized by any agency of mine. The people of 
      the District of Columbia are not the subjects of the people of the 
      States, but free American citizens. Being in the latter condition 
      when the Constitution was formed, no words used in that instrument 
      could have been intended to deprive them of that character. If 
      there is anything in the great principle of unalienable rights so 
      emphatically insisted upon in our Declaration of Independence, 
      they could neither make nor the United States accept a surrender 
      of their liberties and become the subjects--in other words, the 
      slaves--of their former fellow-citizens. If this be true--and it 
      will scarcely be denied by anyone who has a correct idea of his 
      own rights as an American citizen--the grant to Congress of 
      exclusive jurisdiction in the District of Columbia can be 
      interpreted, so far as respects the aggregate people of the United 
      States, as meaning nothing more than to allow to Congress the 
      controlling power necessary to afford a free and safe exercise of 
      the functions assigned to the General Government by the 
      Constitution. In all other respects the legislation of Congress 
      should be adapted to their peculiar position and wants and be 
      conformable with their deliberate opinions of their own interests.

      I have spoken of the necessity of keeping the respective 
      departments of the Government, as well as all the other 
      authorities of our country, within their appropriate orbits. This 
      is a matter of difficulty in some cases, as the powers which they 
      respectively claim are often not defined by any distinct lines. 
      Mischievous, however, in their tendencies as collisions of this 
      kind may be, those which arise between the respective communities 
      which for certain purposes compose one nation are much more so, 
      for no such nation can long exist without the careful culture of 
      those feelings of confidence and affection which are the effective 
      bonds to union between free and confederated states. Strong as is 
      the tie of interest, it has been often found ineffectual. Men 
      blinded by their passions have been known to adopt measures for 
      their country in direct opposition to all the suggestions of 
      policy. The alternative, then, is to destroy or keep down a bad 
      passion by creating and fostering a good one, and this seems to be 
      the corner stone upon which our American political architects have 
      reared the fabric of our Government. The cement which was to bind 
      it and perpetuate its existence was the affectionate attachment 
      between all its members. To insure the continuance of this 
      feeling, produced at first by a community of dangers, of 
      sufferings, and of interests, the advantages of each were made 
      accessible to all. No participation in any good possessed by any 
      member of our extensive Confederacy, except in domestic 
      government, was withheld from the citizen of any other member. By 
      a process attended with no difficulty, no delay, no expense but 
      that of removal, the citizen of one might become the citizen of 
      any other, and successively of the whole. The lines, too, 
      separating powers to be exercised by the citizens of one State 
      from those of another seem to be so distinctly drawn as to leave 
      no room for misunderstanding. The citizens of each State unite in 
      their persons all the privileges which that character confers and 
      all that they may claim as citizens of the United States, but in 
      no case can the same persons at the same time act as the citizen 
      of two separate States, and he is therefore positively precluded 
      from any interference with the reserved powers of any State but 
      that of which he is for the time being a citizen. He may, indeed, 
      offer to the citizens of other States his advice as to their 
      management, and the form in which it is tendered is left to his 
      own discretion and sense of propriety. It may be observed, 
      however, that organized associations of citizens requiring 
      compliance with their wishes too much resemble the recommendations 
      of Athens to her allies, supported by an armed and powerful fleet. 
      It was, indeed, to the ambition of the leading States of Greece to 
      control the domestic concerns of the others that the destruction 
      of that celebrated Confederacy, and subsequently of all its 
      members, is mainly to be attributed, and it is owing to the 
      absence of that spirit that the Helvetic Confederacy has for so 
      many years been preserved. Never has there been seen in the 
      institutions of the separate members of any confederacy more 
      elements of discord. In the principles and forms of government and 
      religion, as well as in the circumstances of the several Cantons, 
      so marked a discrepancy was observable as to promise anything but 
      harmony in their intercourse or permanency in their alliance, and 
      yet for ages neither has been interrupted. Content with the 
      positive benefits which their union produced, with the 
      independence and safety from foreign aggression which it secured, 
      these sagacious people respected the institutions of each other, 
      however repugnant to their own principles and prejudices.

      Our Confederacy, fellow-citizens, can only be preserved by the 
      same forbearance. Our citizens must be content with the exercise 
      of the powers with which the Constitution clothes them. The 
      attempt of those of one State to control the domestic institutions 
      of another can only result in feelings of distrust and jealousy, 
      the certain harbingers of disunion, violence, and civil war, and 
      the ultimate destruction of our free institutions. Our Confederacy 
      is perfectly illustrated by the terms and principles governing a 
      common copartnership There is a fund of power to be exercised 
      under the direction of the joint councils of the allied members, 
      but that which has been reserved by the individual members is 
      intangible by the common Government or the individual members 
      composing it. To attempt it finds no support in the principles of 
      our Constitution.

      It should be our constant and earnest endeavor mutually to 
      cultivate a spirit of concord and harmony among the various parts 
      of our Confederacy. Experience has abundantly taught us that the 
      agitation by citizens of one part of the Union of a subject not 
      confided to the General Government, but exclusively under the 
      guardianship of the local authorities, is productive of no other 
      consequences than bitterness, alienation, discord, and injury to 
      the very cause which is intended to be advanced. Of all the great 
      interests which appertain to our country, that of union--cordial, 
      confiding, fraternal union--is by far the most important, since it 
      is the only true and sure guaranty of all others.

      In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and the 
      currency, some of the States may meet with difficulty in their 
      financial concerns. However deeply we may regret anything 
      imprudent or excessive in the engagements into which States have 
      entered for purposes of their own, it does not become us to 
      disparage the States governments, nor to discourage them from 
      making proper efforts for their own relief. On the contrary, it is 
      our duty to encourage them to the extent of our constitutional 
      authority to apply their best means and cheerfully to make all 
      necessary sacrifices and submit to all necessary burdens to 
      fulfill their engagements and maintain their credit, for the 
      character and credit of the several States form a part of the 
      character and credit of the whole country. The resources of the 
      country are abundant, the enterprise and activity of our people 
      proverbial, and we may well hope that wise legislation and prudent 
      administration by the respective governments, each acting within 
      its own sphere, will restore former prosperity.

      Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may sometimes be 
      between the constituted authorities of the citizens of our country 
      in relation to the lines which separate their respective 
      jurisdictions, the results can be of no vital injury to our 
      institutions if that ardent patriotism, that devoted attachment to 
      liberty, that spirit of moderation and forbearance for which our 
      countrymen were once distinguished, continue to be cherished. If 
      this continues to be the ruling passion of our souls, the weaker 
      feeling of the mistaken enthusiast will be corrected, the Utopian 
      dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and the complicated 
      intrigues of the demagogue rendered harmless. The spirit of 
      liberty is the sovereign balm for every injury which our 
      institutions may receive. On the contrary, no care that can be 
      used in the construction of our Government, no division of powers, 
      no distribution of checks in its several departments, will prove 
      effectual to keep us a free people if this spirit is suffered to 
      decay; and decay it will without constant nurture. To the neglect 
      of this duty the best historians agree in attributing the ruin of 
      all the republics with whose existence and fall their writings 
      have made us acquainted. The same causes will ever produce the 
      same effects, and as long as the love of power is a dominant 
      passion of the human bosom, and as long as the understandings of 
      men can be warped and their affections changed by operations upon 
      their passions and prejudices, so long will the liberties of a 
      people depend on their own constant attention to its preservation. 
      The danger to all well-established free governments arises from 
      the unwillingness of the people to believe in its existence or 
      from the influence of designing men diverting their attention from 
      the quarter whence it approaches to a source from which it can 
      never come. This is the old trick of those who would usurp the 
      government of their country. In the name of democracy they speak, 
      warning the people against the influence of wealth and the danger 
      of aristocracy. History, ancient and modern, is full of such 
      examples. Caesar became the master of the Roman people and the 
      senate under the pretense of supporting the democratic claims of 
      the former against the aristocracy of the latter; Cromwell, in the 
      character of protector of the liberties of the people, became the 
      dictator of England, and Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited 
      power with the title of his country's liberator. There is, on the 
      contrary, no instance on record of an extensive and well-
      established republic being changed into an aristocracy. The 
      tendencies of all such governments in their decline is to 
      monarchy, and the antagonist principle to liberty there is the 
      spirit of faction--a spirit which assumes the character and in 
      times of great excitement imposes itself upon the people as the 
      genuine spirit of freedom, and, like the false Christs whose 
      coming was foretold by the Savior, seeks to, and were it possible 
      would, impose upon the true and most faithful disciples of 
      liberty. It is in periods like this that it behooves the people to 
      be most watchful of those to whom they have intrusted power. And 
      although there is at times much difficulty in distinguishing the 
      false from the true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation 
      will detect the counterfeit, as well by the character of its 
      operations as the results that are produced. The true spirit of 
      liberty, although devoted, persevering, bold, and uncompromising 
      in principle, that secured is mild and tolerant and scrupulous as 
      to the means it employs, whilst the spirit of party, assuming to 
      be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive, and intolerant, and 
      totally reckless as to the character of the allies which it brings 
      to the aid of its cause. When the genuine spirit of liberty 
      animates the body of a people to a thorough examination of their 
      affairs, it leads to the excision of every excrescence which may 
      have fastened itself upon any of the departments of the 
      government, and restores the system to its pristine health and 
      beauty. But the reign of an intolerant spirit of party amongst a 
      free people seldom fails to result in a dangerous accession to the 
      executive power introduced and established amidst unusual 
      professions of devotion to democracy.

      The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively to matters 
      connected with our domestic concerns. It may be proper, however, 
      that I should give some indications to my fellow-citizens of my 
      proposed course of conduct in the management of our foreign 
      relations. I assure them, therefore, that it is my intention to 
      use every means in my power to preserve the friendly intercourse 
      which now so happily subsists with every foreign nation, and that 
      although, of course, not well informed as to the state of pending 
      negotiations with any of them, I see in the personal characters of 
      the sovereigns, as well as in the mutual interests of our own and 
      of the governments with which our relations are most intimate, a 
      pleasing guaranty that the harmony so important to the interests 
      of their subjects as well as of our citizens will not be 
      interrupted by the advancement of any claim or pretension upon 
      their part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. Long 
      the defender of my country's rights in the field, I trust that my 
      fellow-citizens will not see in my earnest desire to preserve 
      peace with foreign powers any indication that their rights will 
      ever be sacrificed or the honor of the nation tarnished by any 
      admission on the part of their Chief Magistrate unworthy of their 
      former glory. In our intercourse with our aboriginal neighbors the 
      same liberality and justice which marked the course prescribed to 
      me by two of my illustrious predecessors when acting under their 
      direction in the discharge of the duties of superintendent and 
      commissioner shall be strictly observed. I can conceive of no more 
      sublime spectacle, none more likely to propitiate an impartial and 
      common Creator, than a rigid adherence to the principles of 
      justice on the part of a powerful nation in its transactions with 
      a weaker and uncivilized people whom circumstances have placed at 
      its disposal.

      Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say something to you on 
      the subject of the parties at this time existing in our country. 
      To me it appears perfectly clear that the interest of that country 
      requires that the violence of the spirit by which those parties 
      are at this time governed must be greatly mitigated, if not 
      entirely extinguished, or consequences will ensue which are 
      appalling to be thought of.

      If parties in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of 
      vigilance sufficient to keep the public functionaries within the 
      bounds of law and duty, at that point their usefulness ends. 
      Beyond that they become destructive of public virtue, the parent 
      of a spirit antagonist to that of liberty, and eventually its 
      inevitable conqueror. We have examples of republics where the love 
      of country and of liberty at one time were the dominant passions 
      of the whole mass of citizens, and yet, with the continuance of 
      the name and forms of free government, not a vestige of these 
      qualities remaining in the bosoms of any one of its citizens. It 
      was the beautiful remark of a distinguished English writer that 
      "in the Roman senate Octavius had a party and Anthony a party, but 
      the Commonwealth had none." Yet the senate continued to meet in 
      the temple of liberty to talk of the sacredness and beauty of the 
      Commonwealth and gaze at the statues of the elder Brutus and of 
      the Curtii and Decii, and the people assembled in the forum, not, 
      as in the days of Camillus and the Scipios, to cast their free 
      votes for annual magistrates or pass upon the acts of the senate, 
      but to receive from the hands of the leaders of the respective 
      parties their share of the spoils and to shout for one or the 
      other, as those collected in Gaul or Egypt and the lesser Asia 
      would furnish the larger dividend. The spirit of liberty had fled, 
      and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought protection 
      in the wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; and so under the operation 
      of the same causes and influences it will fly from our Capitol and 
      our forums. A calamity so awful, not only to our country, but to 
      the world, must be deprecated by every patriot and every tendency 
      to a state of things likely to produce it immediately checked. 
      Such a tendency has existed--does exist. Always the friend of my 
      countrymen, never their flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to 
      them from this high place to which their partiality has exalted me 
      that there exists in the land a spirit hostile to their best 
      interests--hostile to liberty itself. It is a spirit contracted in 
      its views, selfish in its objects. It looks to the aggrandizement 
      of a few even to the destruction of the interests of the whole. 
      The entire remedy is with the people. Something, however, may be 
      effected by the means which they have placed in my hands. It is 
      union that we want, not of a party for the sake of that party, but 
      a union of the whole country for the sake of the whole country, 
      for the defense of its interests and its honor against foreign 
      aggression, for the defense of those principles for which our 
      ancestors so gloriously contended As far as it depends upon me it 
      shall be accomplished. All the influence that I possess shall be 
      exerted to prevent the formation at least of an Executive party in 
      the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of no 
      member of that body to any measure of mine that does not satisfy 
      his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds his 
      appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people but 
      that asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to 
      the legal administration of their affairs."

      I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to 
      justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound 
      reverence for the Christian religion and a thorough conviction 
      that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of 
      religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true 
      and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us 
      by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and 
      prospered the labors of our fathers and has hitherto preserved to 
      us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other 
      people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our 
      beloved country in all future time.

      Fellow-citizens, being fully invested with that high office to 
      which the partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an 
      affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes 
      the remembrance of the pledge I have this day given to discharge 
      all the high duties of my exalted station according to the best of 
      my ability, and I shall enter upon their performance with entire 
      confidence in the support of a just and generous people.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            James Knox Polk

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1845
      __________________________________________________________________
      The inaugural ceremonies of former Tennessee Governor and Speaker 
      of the House James Knox Polk were conducted before a large crowd 
      that stood in the pouring rain. The popular politician had been 
      nominated on the ninth ballot as his party's candidate. His name 
      had not been in nomination until the third polling of the 
      delegates at the national convention. The outgoing President 
      Tyler, who had taken office upon the death of William Henry 
      Harrison, rode to the Capitol with Mr. Polk. The oath of office 
      was administered on the East Portico by Chief Justice Roger Taney. 
      The events of the ceremony were telegraphed to Baltimore by Samuel 
      Morse on his year-old invention.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free 
      and voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and 
      most responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with 
      gratitude for the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this 
      distinguished consideration at an earlier period of life than any 
      of my predecessors, I can not disguise the diffidence with which I 
      am about to enter on the discharge of my official duties.

      If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of 
      President of the United States even in the infancy of the Republic 
      distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of that exalted 
      station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much 
      younger and less endowed now that our domain extends from ocean to 
      ocean, that our people have so greatly increased in numbers, and 
      at a time when so great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to 
      the principles and policy which should characterize the 
      administration of our Government? Well may the boldest fear and 
      the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may 
      depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the 
      hopes and happiness of the whole human family.

      In assuming responsibilities so vast I fervently invoke the aid of 
      that Almighty Ruler of the Universe in whose hands are the 
      destinies of nations and of men to guard this Heaven-favored land 
      against the mischiefs which without His guidance might arise from 
      an unwise public policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of 
      Omnipotence to sustain and direct me in the path of duty which I 
      am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence of this assembled 
      multitude of my countrymen to take upon myself the solemn 
      obligation "to the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and 
      defend the Constitution of the United States."

      A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the 
      administrative policy of the Government is not only in accordance 
      with the examples set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently 
      befitting the occasion.

      The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard 
      of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and 
      compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this 
      great and increasing family of free and independent States, will 
      be the chart by which I shall be directed.

      It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true 
      spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly 
      granted or clearly implied in its terms. The Government of the 
      United States is one of delegated and limited powers, arid it is 
      by a strict adherence to the clearly granted powers and by 
      abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied 
      powers that we have the only sure guaranty against the recurrence 
      of those unfortunate collisions between the Federal and State 
      authorities which have occasionally so much disturbed the harmony 
      of our system and even threatened the perpetuity of our glorious 
      Union.

      "To the States, respectively, or to the people" have been reserved 
      "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution 
      nor prohibited by it to the States." Each State is a complete 
      sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers. The 
      Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated 
      authority, is also a complete sovereignty. While the General 
      Government should abstain from the exercise of authority not 
      clearly delegated to it, the States should be equally careful that 
      in the maintenance of their rights they do not overstep the limits 
      of powers reserved to them. One of the most distinguished of my 
      predecessors attached deserved importance to "the support of the 
      State governments in all their rights, as the most competent 
      administration for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwark 
      against antirepublican tendencies," and to the "preservation of 
      the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the 
      sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad."

      To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the 
      exclusive management of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields 
      a few general enumerated powers. It does not force reform on the 
      States. It leaves individuals, over whom it casts its protecting 
      influence, entirely free to improve their own condition by the 
      legitimate exercise of all their mental and physical powers. It is 
      a common protector of each and all the States; of every man who 
      lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign birth; of every 
      religious sect, in their worship of the Almighty according to the 
      dictates of their own conscience; of every shade of opinion, and 
      the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation 
      consistent with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the 
      general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our country, 
      which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of power.

      This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-
      government among men ever devised by human minds has been tested 
      by its successful operation for more than half a century, and if 
      preserved from the usurpations of the Federal Government on the 
      one hand and the exercise by the States of powers not reserved to 
      them on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, endure for 
      ages to come and dispense the blessings of civil and religious 
      liberty to distant generations. To effect objects so dear to every 
      patriot I shall devote myself with anxious solicitude. It will be 
      my desire to guard against that most fruitful source of danger to 
      the harmonious action of our system which consists in substituting 
      the mere discretion and caprice of the Executive or of majorities 
      in the legislative department of the Government for powers which 
      have been withheld from the Federal Government by the 
      Constitution. By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but 
      this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to 
      be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in 
      conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to 
      restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon 
      their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the 
      Constitution as a shield against such oppression.

      That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may 
      be enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has 
      been wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the 
      Legislature. It is a negative power, and is conservative in its 
      character. It arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or 
      unconstitutional legislation, invites reconsideration, and 
      transfers questions at issue between the legislative and executive 
      departments to the tribunal of the people. Like all other powers, 
      it is subject to be abused. When judiciously and properly 
      exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction 
      and the rights of all preserved and protected.

      The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and 
      acknowledged by all. By this system of united and confederated 
      States our people are permitted collectively arid individually to 
      seek their own happiness in their own way, and the consequences 
      have been most auspicious. Since the Union was formed the number 
      of the States has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight; two of 
      these have taken their position as members of the Confederacy 
      within the last week. Our population has increased from three to 
      twenty millions. New communities and States are seeking protection 
      under its aegis, and multitudes from the Old World are flocking to 
      our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its benign 
      sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and 
      miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended 
      throughout the world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to 
      accomplish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, 
      is devoting itself to man's true interests in developing his 
      faculties and powers and the capacity of nature to minister to his 
      enjoyments. Genius is free to announce its inventions and 
      discoveries, and the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head 
      conceives not incompatible with the rights of a fellow-being. All 
      distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All 
      citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of 
      precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal 
      protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect 
      freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.

      These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our 
      Federal Union. To perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to 
      preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free 
      minds and free hands under the protection of this glorious Union? 
      No treason to mankind since the organization of society would be 
      equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to 
      destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of human 
      wisdom, which protects himself and his fellow-man. He would stop 
      the progress of free government and involve his country either in 
      anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty, 
      which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions and invites 
      all the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he say 
      that error and wrong are committed in the administration of the 
      Government, let him remember that nothing human can be perfect, 
      and that under no other system of government revealed by Heaven or 
      devised by man has reason been allowed so free and broad a scope 
      to combat error. Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or 
      surer instrument of reform in government than enlightened reason? 
      Does he expect to find among the ruins of this Union a happier 
      abode for our swarming millions than they now have under it? Every 
      lover of his country must shudder at the thought of the 
      possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the 
      patriotic sentiment, "Our Federal Union--it must be preserved." To 
      preserve it the compromises which alone enabled our fathers to 
      form a common constitution for the government and protection of so 
      many States and distinct communities, of such diversified habits, 
      interests, and domestic institutions, must be sacredly and 
      religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb or destroy these 
      compromises, being terms of the compact of union, can lead to none 
      other than the most ruinous and disastrous consequences.

      It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country 
      misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and 
      agitations whose object is the destruction of domestic 
      institutions existing in other sections--institutions which 
      existed at the adoption of the Constitution and were recognized 
      and protected by it. All must see that if it were possible for 
      them to be successful in attaining their object the dissolution of 
      the Union and the consequent destruction of our happy form of 
      government must speedily follow.

      I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a 
      nation there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great 
      mass of our people a devotion to the Union of the States which 
      will shield and protect it against the moral treason of any who 
      would seriously contemplate its destruction. To secure a 
      continuance of that devotion the compromises of the Constitution 
      must not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies and 
      heartburnings must be discountenanced, and all should remember 
      that they are members of the same political family, having a 
      common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to the 
      Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to 
      favor monopolies or the peculiar interests of sections or classes 
      must operate to the prejudice of the interest of their fellow-
      citizens, and should be avoided. If the compromises of the 
      Constitution be preserved, if sectional jealousies and 
      heartburnings be discountenanced, if our laws be just and the 
      Government be practically administered strictly within the limits 
      of power prescribed to it, we may discard all apprehensions for 
      the safety of the Union.

      With these views of the nature, character, and objects of the 
      Government and the value of the Union, I shall steadily oppose the 
      creation of those institutions and systems which in their nature 
      tend to pervert it from its legitimate purposes and make it the 
      instrument of sections, classes, and individuals. We need no 
      national banks or other extraneous institutions planted around the 
      Government to control or strengthen it in opposition to the will 
      of its authors. Experience has taught us how unnecessary they are 
      as auxiliaries of the public authorities--how impotent for good 
      and how powerful for mischief.

      Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal government, and I shall 
      regard it to be my duty to recommend to Congress and, as far as 
      the Executive is concerned, to enforce by all the means within my 
      power the strictest economy in the expenditure of the public money 
      which may be compatible with the public interests.

      A national debt has become almost an institution of European 
      monarchies. It is viewed in some of them as an essential prop to 
      existing governments. Melancholy is the condition of that people 
      whose government can be sustained only by a system which 
      periodically transfers large amounts from the labor of the many to 
      the coffers of the few. Such a system is incompatible with the 
      ends for which our republican Government was instituted. Under a 
      wise policy the debts contracted in our Revolution and during the 
      War of 1812 have been happily extinguished. By a judicious 
      application of the revenues not required for other necessary 
      purposes, it is not doubted that the debt which has grown out of 
      the circumstances of the last few years may be speedily paid off.

      I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the 
      credit of the General Government of the Union and that of many of 
      the States. Happy would it be for the indebted States if they were 
      freed from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously 
      contracted. Although the Government of the Union is neither in a 
      legal nor a moral sense bound for the debts of the States, and it 
      would be a violation of our compact of union to assume them, yet 
      we can not but feel a deep interest in seeing all the States meet 
      their public liabilities and pay off their just debts at the 
      earliest practicable period. That they will do so as soon as it 
      can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on their citizens 
      there is no reason to doubt. The sound moral and honorable feeling 
      of the people of the indebted States can not be questioned, and we 
      are happy to perceive a settled disposition on their part, as 
      their ability returns after a season of unexampled pecuniary 
      embarrassment, to pay off all just demands and to acquiesce in any 
      reasonable measures to accomplish that object.

      One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the 
      practical administration of the Government consists in the 
      adjustment of our revenue laws and the levy of the taxes necessary 
      for the support of Government. In the general proposition that no 
      more money shall be collected than the necessities of an 
      economical administration shall require all parties seem to 
      acquiesce. Nor does there seem to be any material difference of 
      opinion as to the absence of right in the Government to tax one 
      section of country, or one class of citizens, or one occupation, 
      for the mere profit of another. "Justice and sound policy forbid 
      the Federal Government to foster one branch of industry to the 
      detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion 
      to the injury of another portion of our common country." I have 
      heretofore declared to my fellow-citizens that "in my judgment it 
      is the duty of the Government to extend, as far as it may be 
      practicable to do so, by its revenue laws and all other means 
      within its power, fair and just protection to all of the great 
      interests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, 
      the mechanic arts, commerce, and navigation." I have also declared 
      my opinion to be "in favor of a tariff for revenue," and that "in 
      adjusting the details of such a tariff I have sanctioned such 
      moderate discriminating duties as would produce the amount of 
      revenue needed and at the same time afford reasonable incidental 
      protection to our home industry," and that I was "opposed to a 
      tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue."

      The power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" 
      was an indispensable one to be conferred on the Federal 
      Government, which without it would possess no means of providing 
      for its own support. In executing this power by levying a tariff 
      of duties for the support of Government, the raising of revenue 
      should be the object and protection the incident. To reverse this 
      principle and make protection the object and revenue the incident 
      would be to inflict manifest injustice upon all other than the 
      protected interests. In levying duties for revenue it is doubtless 
      proper to make such discriminations within the revenue principle 
      as will afford incidental protection to our home interests. Within 
      the revenue limit there is a discretion to discriminate; beyond 
      that limit the rightful exercise of the power is not conceded. The 
      incidental protection afforded to our home interests by 
      discriminations within the revenue range it is believed will be 
      ample. In making discriminations all our home interests should as 
      far as practicable be equally protected. The largest portion of 
      our people are agriculturists. Others are employed in 
      manufactures, commerce, navigation, and the mechanic arts. They 
      are all engaged in their respective pursuits and their joint 
      labors constitute the national or home industry. To tax one branch 
      of this home industry for the benefit of another would be unjust. 
      No one of these interests can rightfully claim an advantage over 
      the others, or to be enriched by impoverishing the others. All are 
      equally entitled to the fostering care and protection of the 
      Government. In exercising a sound discretion in levying 
      discriminating duties within the limit prescribed, care should be 
      taken that it be done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few 
      at the expense of the toiling millions by taxing lowest the 
      luxuries of life, or articles of superior quality and high price, 
      which can only be consumed by the wealthy, and highest the 
      necessaries of life, or articles of coarse quality and low price, 
      which the poor and great mass of our people must consume. The 
      burdens of government should as far as practicable be distributed 
      justly and equally among all classes of our population. These 
      general views, long entertained on this subject, I have deemed it 
      proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which conflicting 
      interests of sections and occupations are supposed to exist, and a 
      spirit of mutual concession and compromise in adjusting its 
      details should be cherished by every part of our widespread 
      country as the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful 
      acquiescence of all in the operation of our revenue laws. Our 
      patriotic citizens in every part of the Union will readily submit 
      to the payment of such taxes as shall be needed for the support of 
      their Government, whether in peace or in war, if they are so 
      levied as to distribute the burdens as equally as possible among 
      them.

      The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our 
      Union, to form a part of our Confederacy and enjoy with us the 
      blessings of liberty secured and guaranteed by our Constitution. 
      Texas was once a part of our country--was unwisely ceded away to a 
      foreign power--is now independent, and possesses an undoubted 
      right to dispose of a part or the whole of her territory and to 
      merge her sovereignty as a separate and independent state in ours. 
      I congratulate my country that by an act of the late Congress of 
      the United States the assent of this Government has been given to 
      the reunion, and it only remains for the two countries to agree 
      upon the terms to consummate an object so important to both.

      I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to 
      the United States and Texas. They are independent powers competent 
      to contract, and foreign nations have no right to interfere with 
      them or to take exceptions to their reunion. Foreign powers do not 
      seem to appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union 
      is a confederation of independent States, whose policy is peace 
      with each other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to 
      extend the dominions of peace over additional territories and 
      increasing millions. The world has nothing to fear from military 
      ambition in our Government. While the Chief Magistrate and the 
      popular branch of Congress are elected for short terms by the 
      suffrages of those millions who must in their own persons bear all 
      the burdens and miseries of war, our Government can not be 
      otherwise than pacific. Foreign powers should therefore look on 
      the annexation of Texas to the United States not as the conquest 
      of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence, 
      but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own, by 
      adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of 
      that member, thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to 
      them new and ever-increasing markets for their products.

      To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong protecting 
      arm of our Government would be extended over her, and the vast 
      resources of her fertile soil and genial climate would be speedily 
      developed, while the safety of New Orleans and of our whole 
      southwestern frontier against hostile aggression, as well as the 
      interests of the whole Union, would be promoted by it.

      In the earlier stages of our national existence the opinion 
      prevailed with some that our system of confederated States could 
      not operate successfully over an extended territory, and serious 
      objections have at different times been made to the enlargement of 
      our boundaries. These objections were earnestly urged when we 
      acquired Louisiana. Experience has shown that they were not well 
      founded. The title of numerous Indian tribes to vast tracts of 
      country has been extinguished; new States have been admitted into 
      the Union; new Territories have been created and our jurisdiction 
      and laws extended over them. As our population has expanded, the 
      Union has been cemented and strengthened. AS our boundaries have 
      been enlarged and our agricultural population has been spread over 
      a large surface, our federative system has acquired additional 
      strength and security. It may well be doubted whether it would not 
      be in greater danger of overthrow if our present population were 
      confined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original 
      thirteen States than it is now that they are sparsely settled over 
      a more expanded territory. It is confidently believed that our 
      system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our 
      territorial limits, and that as it shall be extended the bonds of 
      our Union, so far from being weakened, will become stronger.

      None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if 
      Texas remains an independent state or becomes an ally or 
      dependency of some foreign nation more powerful than herself. Is 
      there one among our citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace 
      with Texas to occasional wars, which so often occur between 
      bordering independent nations? Is there one who would not prefer 
      free intercourse with her to high duties on all our products and 
      manufactures which enter her ports or cross her frontiers? Is 
      there one who would not prefer an unrestricted communication with 
      her citizens to the frontier obstructions which must occur if she 
      remains out of the Union? Whatever is good or evil in the local 
      institutions of Texas will remain her own whether annexed to the 
      United States or not. None of the present States will be 
      responsible for them any more than they are for the local 
      institutions of each other. They have confederated together for 
      certain specified objects. Upon the same principle that they would 
      refuse to form a perpetual union with Texas because of her local 
      institutions our forefathers would have been prevented from 
      forming our present Union. Perceiving no valid objection to the 
      measure and many reasons for its adoption vitally affecting the 
      peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both countries, I shall 
      on the broad principle which formed the basis and produced the 
      adoption of our Constitution, and not in any narrow spirit of 
      sectional policy, endeavor by all constitutional, honorable, and 
      appropriate means to consummate the expressed will of the people 
      and Government of the United States by the reannexation of Texas 
      to our Union at the earliest practicable period.

      Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain 
      by all constitutional means the right of the United States to that 
      portion of our territory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. 
      Our title to the country of the Oregon is "clear and 
      unquestionable," and already are our people preparing to perfect 
      that title by occupying it with their wives and children. But 
      eighty years ago our population was confined on the west by the 
      ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that period--within the lifetime, 
      I might say, of some of my hearers--our people, increasing to many 
      millions, have filled the eastern valley of the Mississippi, 
      adventurously ascended the Missouri to its headsprings, and are 
      already engaged in establishing the blessings of self-government 
      in valleys of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world 
      beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To 
      us belongs the duty of protecting them adequately wherever they 
      may be upon our soil. The jurisdiction of our laws and the 
      benefits of our republican institutions should be extended over 
      them in the distant regions which they have selected for their 
      homes. The increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring 
      the States, of which the formation in that part of our territory 
      can not be long delayed, within the sphere of our federative 
      Union. In the meantime every obligation imposed by treaty or 
      conventional stipulations should be sacredly respected.

      In the management of our foreign relations it will be my aim to 
      observe a careful respect for the rights of other nations, while 
      our own will be the subject of constant watchfulness. Equal and 
      exact justice should characterize all our intercourse with foreign 
      countries. All alliances having a tendency to jeopard the welfare 
      and honor of our country or sacrifice any one of the national 
      interests will be studiously avoided, and yet no opportunity will 
      be lost to cultivate a favorable understanding with foreign 
      governments by which our navigation and commerce may be extended 
      and the ample products of our fertile soil, as well as the 
      manufactures of our skillful artisans, find a ready market and 
      remunerating prices in foreign countries.

      In taking "care that the laws be faithfully executed," a strict 
      performance of duty will be exacted from all public officers. From 
      those officers, especially, who are charged with the collection 
      and disbursement of the public revenue will prompt and rigid 
      accountability be required. Any culpable failure or delay on their 
      part to account for the moneys intrusted to them at the times and 
      in the manner required by law will in every instance terminate the 
      official connection of such defaulting officer with the 
      Government.

      Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of 
      necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles 
      and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the 
      President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United 
      States. While he executes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks 
      from no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the 
      executive department of the Government the principles and policy 
      of those who have chosen him, he should not be unmindful that our 
      fellow-citizens who have differed with him in opinion are entitled 
      to the full and free exercise of their opinions and judgments, and 
      that the rights of all are entitled to respect and regard.

      Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the coordinate 
      departments of the Government in conducting our public affairs, I 
      enter upon the discharge of the high duties which have been 
      assigned me by the people, again humbly supplicating that Divine 
      Being who has watched over and protected our beloved country from 
      its infancy to the present hour to continue His gracious 
      benedictions upon us, that we may continue to be a prosperous and 
      happy people.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Zachary Taylor

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1849
      __________________________________________________________________
      For the second time in the history of the Republic, March 4 fell 
      on a Sunday. The inaugural ceremony was postponed until the 
      following Monday, raising the question as to whether the Nation 
      was without a President for a day. General Taylor, popularly known 
      as "Old Rough and Ready," was famous for his exploits in the 
      Mexican War. He never had voted in a national election until his 
      own contest for the Presidency. Outgoing President Polk 
      accompanied the general to the ceremony at the Capitol. The oath 
      of office was administered by Chief Justice Roger Taney on the 
      East Portico. After the ceremony, the new President attended 
      several inaugural celebrations, including a ball that evening in a 
      specially built pavilion on Judiciary Square.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Elected by the American people to the highest office known to our 
      laws, I appear here to take the oath prescribed by the 
      Constitution, and, in compliance with a time-honored custom, to 
      address those who are now assembled.

      The confidence and respect shown by my countrymen in calling me to 
      be the Chief Magistrate of a Republic holding a high rank among 
      the nations of the earth have inspired me with feelings of the 
      most profound gratitude; but when I reflect that the acceptance of 
      the office which their partiality has bestowed imposes the 
      discharge of the most arduous duties and involves the weightiest 
      obligations, I am conscious that the position which I have been 
      called to fill, though sufficient to satisfy the loftiest 
      ambition, is surrounded by fearful responsibilities. Happily, 
      however, in the performance of my new duties I shall not be 
      without able cooperation. The legislative and judicial branches of 
      the Government present prominent examples of distinguished civil 
      attainments and matured experience, and it shall be my endeavor to 
      call to my assistance in the Executive Departments individuals 
      whose talents, integrity, and purity of character will furnish 
      ample guaranties for the faithful and honorable performance of the 
      trusts to be committed to their charge. With such aids and an 
      honest purpose to do whatever is right, I hope to execute 
      diligently, impartially, and for the best interests of the country 
      the manifold duties devolved upon me.

      In the discharge of these duties my guide will be the 
      Constitution, which I this day swear to "preserve, protect, and 
      defend." For the interpretation of that instrument I shall look to 
      the decisions of the judicial tribunals established by its 
      authority and to the practice of the Government under the earlier 
      Presidents, who had so large a share in its formation. To the 
      example of those illustrious patriots I shall always defer with 
      reverence, and especially to his example who was by so many titles 
      "the Father of his Country."

      To command the Army and Navy of the United States; with the advice 
      and consent of the Senate, to make treaties and to appoint 
      ambassadors and other officers; to give to Congress information of 
      the state of the Union and recommend such measures as he shall 
      judge to be necessary; and to take care that the laws shall be 
      faithfully executed--these are the most important functions 
      intrusted to the President by the Constitution, and it may be 
      expected that I shall briefly indicate the principles which will 
      control me in their execution.

      Chosen by the body of the people under the assurance that my 
      Administration would be devoted to the welfare of the whole 
      country, and not to the support of any particular section or 
      merely local interest, I this day renew the declarations I have 
      heretofore made and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain to 
      the extent of my ability the Government in its original purity and 
      to adopt as the basis of my public policy those great republican 
      doctrines which constitute the strength of our national existence.

      In reference to the Army and Navy, lately employed with so much 
      distinction on active service, care shall be taken to insure the 
      highest condition of efficiency, and in furtherance of that object 
      the military and naval schools, sustained by the liberality of 
      Congress, shall receive the special attention of the Executive.

      As American freemen we can not but sympathize in all efforts to 
      extend the blessings of civil and political liberty, but at the 
      same time we are warned by the admonitions of history and the 
      voice of our own beloved Washington to abstain from entangling 
      alliances with foreign nations. In all disputes between 
      conflicting governments it is our interest not less than our duty 
      to remain strictly neutral, while our geographical position, the 
      genius of our institutions and our people, the advancing spirit of 
      civilization, and, above all, the dictates of religion direct us 
      to the cultivation of peaceful and friendly relations with all 
      other powers. It is to be hoped that no international question can 
      now arise which a government confident in its own strength and 
      resolved to protect its own just rights may not settle by wise 
      negotiation; and it eminently becomes a government like our own, 
      founded on the morality and intelligence of its citizens and 
      upheld by their affections, to exhaust every resort of honorable 
      diplomacy before appealing to arms. In the conduct of our foreign 
      relations I shall conform to these views, as I believe them 
      essential to the best interests and the true honor of the country.

      The appointing power vested in the President imposes delicate and 
      onerous duties. So far as it is possible to be informed, I shall 
      make honesty, capacity, and fidelity indispensable prerequisites 
      to the bestowal of office, and the absence of either of these 
      qualities shall be deemed sufficient cause for removal.

      It shall be my study to recommend such constitutional measures to 
      Congress as may be necessary and proper to secure encouragement 
      and protection to the great interests of agriculture, commerce, 
      and manufactures, to improve our rivers and harbors, to provide 
      for the speedy extinguishment of the public debt, to enforce a 
      strict accountability on the part of all officers of the 
      Government and the utmost economy in all public expenditures; but 
      it is for the wisdom of Congress itself, in which all legislative 
      powers are vested by the Constitution, to regulate these and other 
      matters of domestic policy. I shall look with confidence to the 
      enlightened patriotism of that body to adopt such measures of 
      conciliation as may harmonize conflicting interests and tend to 
      perpetuate that Union which should be the paramount object of our 
      hopes and affections. In any action calculated to promote an 
      object so near the heart of everyone who truly loves his country I 
      will zealously unite with the coordinate branches of the 
      Government.

      In conclusion I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, upon the 
      high state of prosperity to which the goodness of Divine 
      Providence has conducted our common country. Let us invoke a 
      continuance of the same protecting care which has led us from 
      small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy, and let us 
      seek to deserve that continuance by prudence and moderation in our 
      councils, by well-directed attempts to assuage the bitterness 
      which too often marks unavoidable differences of opinion, by the 
      promulgation and practice of just and liberal principles, and by 
      an enlarged patriotism, which shall acknowledge no limits but 
      those of our own widespread Republic.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Franklin Pierce

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1853
      __________________________________________________________________
      On religious grounds, former Senator and Congressman Franklin 
      Pierce chose "to affirm" rather than "to swear" the executive oath 
      of office. He was the only President to use the choice offered by 
      the Constitution. Famed as an officer of a volunteer brigade in 
      the Mexican War, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate in 
      the national convention on the 49th ballot. His name had not been 
      placed in nomination until the 35th polling of the delegates. 
      Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the oath of office on the 
      East Portico of the Capitol. Several weeks before arriving in 
      Washington, the Pierces' only surviving child had been killed in a 
      train accident.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Countrymen:

      It a relief to feel that no heart but my own can know the personal 
      regret and bitter sorrow over which I have been borne to a 
      position so suitable for others rather than desirable for myself.

      The circumstances under which I have been called for a limited 
      period to preside over the destinies of the Republic fill me with 
      a profound sense of responsibility, but with nothing like 
      shrinking apprehension. I repair to the post assigned me not as to 
      one sought, but in obedience to the unsolicited expression of your 
      will, answerable only for a fearless, faithful, and diligent 
      exercise of my best powers. I ought to be, and am, truly grateful 
      for the rare manifestation of the nation's confidence; but this, 
      so far from lightening my obligations, only adds to their weight. 
      You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your 
      strength. When looking for the fulfillment of reasonable 
      requirements, you will not be unmindful of the great changes which 
      have occurred, even within the last quarter of a century, and the 
      consequent augmentation and complexity of duties imposed in the 
      administration both of your home and foreign affairs.

      Whether the elements of inherent force in the Republic have kept 
      pace with its unparalleled progression in territory, population, 
      and wealth has been the subject of earnest thought and discussion 
      on both sides of the ocean. Less than sixty-four years ago the 
      Father of his Country made "the" then "recent accession of the 
      important State of North Carolina to the Constitution of the 
      United States" one of the subjects of his special congratulation. 
      At that moment, however, when the agitation consequent upon the 
      Revolutionary struggle had hardly subsided, when we were just 
      emerging from the weakness and embarrassments of the 
      Confederation, there was an evident consciousness of vigor equal 
      to the great mission so wisely and bravely fulfilled by our 
      fathers. It was not a presumptuous assurance, but a calm faith, 
      springing from a clear view of the sources of power in a 
      government constituted like ours. It is no paradox to say that 
      although comparatively weak the new-born nation was intrinsically 
      strong. Inconsiderable in population and apparent resources, it 
      was upheld by a broad and intelligent comprehension of rights and 
      an all-pervading purpose to maintain them, stronger than 
      armaments. It came from the furnace of the Revolution, tempered to 
      the necessities of the times. The thoughts of the men of that day 
      were as practical as their sentiments were patriotic. They wasted 
      no portion of their energies upon idle and delusive speculations, 
      but with a firm and fearless step advanced beyond the governmental 
      landmarks which had hitherto circumscribed the limits of human 
      freedom and planted their standard, where it has stood against 
      dangers which have threatened from abroad, and internal agitation, 
      which has at times fearfully menaced at home. They proved 
      themselves equal to the solution of the great problem, to 
      understand which their minds had been illuminated by the dawning 
      lights of the Revolution. The object sought was not a thing 
      dreamed of; it was a thing realized. They had exhibited only the 
      power to achieve, but, what all history affirms to be so much more 
      unusual, the capacity to maintain. The oppressed throughout the 
      world from that day to the present have turned their eyes 
      hitherward, not to find those lights extinguished or to fear lest 
      they should wane, but to be constantly cheered by their steady and 
      increasing radiance.

      In this our country has, in my judgment, thus far fulfilled its 
      highest duty to suffering humanity. It has spoken and will 
      continue to speak, not only by its words, but by its acts, the 
      language of sympathy, encouragement, and hope to those who 
      earnestly listen to tones which pronounce for the largest rational 
      liberty. But after all, the most animating encouragement and 
      potent appeal for freedom will be its own history--its trials and 
      its triumphs. Preeminently, the power of our advocacy reposes in 
      our example; but no example, be it remembered, can be powerful for 
      lasting good, whatever apparent advantages may be gained, which is 
      not based upon eternal principles of right and justice. Our 
      fathers decided for themselves, both upon the hour to declare and 
      the hour to strike. They were their own judges of the 
      circumstances under which it became them to pledge to each other 
      "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" for the 
      acquisition of the priceless inheritance transmitted to us. The 
      energy with which that great conflict was opened and, under the 
      guidance of a manifest and beneficent Providence the uncomplaining 
      endurance with which it was prosecuted to its consummation were 
      only surpassed by the wisdom and patriotic spirit of concession 
      which characterized all the counsels of the early fathers.

      One of the most impressive evidences of that wisdom is to be found 
      in the fact that the actual working of our system has dispelled a 
      degree of solicitude which at the outset disturbed bold hearts and 
      far-reaching intellects. The apprehension of dangers from extended 
      territory, multiplied States, accumulated wealth, and augmented 
      population has proved to be unfounded. The stars upon your banner 
      have become nearly threefold their original number; your densely 
      populated possessions skirt the shores of the two great oceans; 
      and yet this vast increase of people and territory has not only 
      shown itself compatible with the harmonious action of the States 
      and Federal Government in their respective constitutional spheres, 
      but has afforded an additional guaranty of the strength and 
      integrity of both.

      With an experience thus suggestive and cheering, the policy of my 
      Administration will not be controlled by any timid forebodings of 
      evil from expansion. Indeed, it is not to be disguised that our 
      attitude as a nation and our position on the globe render the 
      acquisition of certain possessions not within our jurisdiction 
      eminently important for our protection, if not in the future 
      essential for the preservation of the rights of commerce and the 
      peace of the world. Should they be obtained, it will be through no 
      grasping spirit, but with a view to obvious national interest and 
      security, and in a manner entirely consistent with the strictest 
      observance of national faith. We have nothing in our history or 
      position to invite aggression; we have everything to beckon us to 
      the cultivation of relations of peace and amity with all nations. 
      Purposes, therefore, at once just and pacific will be 
      significantly marked in the conduct of our foreign affairs. I 
      intend that my Administration shall leave no blot upon our fair 
      record, and trust I may safely give the assurance that no act 
      within the legitimate scope of my constitutional control will be 
      tolerated on the part of any portion of our citizens which can not 
      challenge a ready justification before the tribunal of the 
      civilized world. An Administration would be unworthy of confidence 
      at home or respect abroad should it cease to be influenced by the 
      conviction that no apparent advantage can be purchased at a price 
      so dear as that of national wrong or dishonor. It is not your 
      privilege as a nation to speak of a distant past. The striking 
      incidents of your history, replete with instruction and furnishing 
      abundant grounds for hopeful confidence, are comprised in a period 
      comparatively brief. But if your past is limited, your future is 
      boundless. Its obligations throng the unexplored pathway of 
      advancement, and will be limitless as duration. Hence a sound and 
      comprehensive policy should embrace not less the distant future 
      than the urgent present.

      The great objects of our pursuit as a people are best to be 
      attained by peace, and are entirely consistent with the 
      tranquillity and interests of the rest of mankind. With the 
      neighboring nations upon our continent we should cultivate kindly 
      and fraternal relations. We can desire nothing in regard to them 
      so much as to see them consolidate their strength and pursue the 
      paths of prosperity and happiness. If in the course of their 
      growth we should open new channels of trade and create additional 
      facilities for friendly intercourse, the benefits realized will be 
      equal and mutual. Of the complicated European systems of national 
      polity we have heretofore been independent. From their wars, their 
      tumults, and anxieties we have been, happily, almost entirely 
      exempt. Whilst these are confined to the nations which gave them 
      existence, and within their legitimate jurisdiction, they can not 
      affect us except as they appeal to our sympathies in the cause of 
      human freedom and universal advancement. But the vast interests of 
      commerce are common to all mankind, and the advantages of trade 
      and international intercourse must always present a noble field 
      for the moral influence of a great people.

      With these views firmly and honestly carried out, we have a right 
      to expect, and shall under all circumstances require, prompt 
      reciprocity. The rights which belong to us as a nation are not 
      alone to be regarded, but those which pertain to every citizen in 
      his individual capacity, at home and abroad, must be sacredly 
      maintained. So long as he can discern every star in its place upon 
      that ensign, without wealth to purchase for him preferment or 
      title to secure for him place, it will be his privilege, and must 
      be his acknowledged right, to stand unabashed even in the presence 
      of princes, with a proud consciousness that he is himself one of a 
      nation of sovereigns and that he can not in legitimate pursuit 
      wander so far from home that the agent whom he shall leave behind 
      in the place which I now occupy will not see that no rude hand of 
      power or tyrannical passion is laid upon him with impunity. He 
      must realize that upon every sea and on every soil where our 
      enterprise may rightfully seek the protection of our flag American 
      citizenship is an inviolable panoply for the security of American 
      rights. And in this connection it can hardly be necessary to 
      reaffirm a principle which should now be regarded as fundamental. 
      The rights, security, and repose of this Confederacy reject the 
      idea of interference or colonization on this side of the ocean by 
      any foreign power beyond present jurisdiction as utterly 
      inadmissible.

      The opportunities of observation furnished by my brief experience 
      as a soldier confirmed in my own mind the opinion, entertained and 
      acted upon by others from the formation of the Government, that 
      the maintenance of large standing armies in our country would be 
      not only dangerous, but unnecessary. They also illustrated the 
      importance--I might well say the absolute necessity--of the 
      military science and practical skill furnished in such an eminent 
      degree by the institution which has made your Army what it is, 
      under the discipline and instruction of officers not more 
      distinguished for their solid attainments, gallantry, and devotion 
      to the public service than for unobtrusive bearing and high moral 
      tone. The Army as organized must be the nucleus around which in 
      every time of need the strength of your military power, the sure 
      bulwark of your defense--a national militia--may be readily formed 
      into a well-disciplined and efficient organization. And the skill 
      and self-devotion of the Navy assure you that you may take the 
      performance of the past as a pledge for the future, and may 
      confidently expect that the flag which has waved its untarnished 
      folds over every sea will still float in undiminished honor. But 
      these, like many other subjects, will be appropriately brought at 
      a future time to the attention of the coordinate branches of the 
      Government, to which I shall always look with profound respect and 
      with trustful confidence that they will accord to me the aid and 
      support which I shall so much need and which their experience and 
      wisdom will readily suggest.

      In the administration of domestic affairs you expect a devoted 
      integrity in the public service and an observance of rigid economy 
      in all departments, so marked as never justly to be questioned. If 
      this reasonable expectation be not realized, I frankly confess 
      that one of your leading hopes is doomed to disappointment, and 
      that my efforts in a very important particular must result in a 
      humiliating failure. Offices can be properly regarded only in the 
      light of aids for the accomplishment of these objects, and as 
      occupancy can confer no prerogative nor importunate desire for 
      preferment any claim, the public interest imperatively demands 
      that they be considered with sole reference to the duties to be 
      performed. Good citizens may well claim the protection of good 
      laws and the benign influence of good government, but a claim for 
      office is what the people of a republic should never recognize. No 
      reasonable man of any party will expect the Administration to be 
      so regardless of its responsibility and of the obvious elements of 
      success as to retain persons known to be under the influence of 
      political hostility and partisan prejudice in positions which will 
      require not only severe labor, but cordial cooperation. Having no 
      implied engagements to ratify, no rewards to bestow, no 
      resentments to remember, and no personal wishes to consult in 
      selections for official station, I shall fulfill this difficult 
      and delicate trust, admitting no motive as worthy either of my 
      character or position which does not contemplate an efficient 
      discharge of duty and the best interests of my country. I 
      acknowledge my obligations to the masses of my countrymen, and to 
      them alone. Higher objects than personal aggrandizement gave 
      direction and energy to their exertions in the late canvass, and 
      they shall not be disappointed. They require at my hands 
      diligence, integrity, and capacity wherever there are duties to be 
      performed. Without these qualities in their public servants, more 
      stringent laws for the prevention or punishment of fraud, 
      negligence, and peculation will be vain. With them they will be 
      unnecessary.

      But these are not the only points to which you look for vigilant 
      watchfulness. The dangers of a concentration of all power in the 
      general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too 
      obvious to be disregarded. You have a right, therefore, to expect 
      your agents in every department to regard strictly the limits 
      imposed upon them by the Constitution of the United States. The 
      great scheme of our constitutional liberty rests upon a proper 
      distribution of power between the State and Federal authorities, 
      and experience has shown that the harmony and happiness of our 
      people must depend upon a just discrimination between the separate 
      rights and responsibilities of the States and your common rights 
      and obligations under the General Government; and here, in my 
      opinion, are the considerations which should form the true basis 
      of future concord in regard to the questions which have most 
      seriously disturbed public tranquillity. If the Federal Government 
      will confine itself to the exercise of powers clearly granted by 
      the Constitution, it can hardly happen that its action upon any 
      question should endanger the institutions of the States or 
      interfere with their right to manage matters strictly domestic 
      according to the will of their own people.

      In expressing briefly my views upon an important subject rich has 
      recently agitated the nation to almost a fearful degree, I am 
      moved by no other impulse than a most earnest desire for the 
      perpetuation of that Union which has made us what we are, 
      showering upon us blessings and conferring a power and influence 
      which our fathers could hardly have anticipated, even with their 
      most sanguine hopes directed to a far-off future. The sentiments I 
      now announce were not unknown before the expression of the voice 
      which called me here. My own position upon this subject was clear 
      and unequivocal, upon the record of my words and my acts, and it 
      is only recurred to at this time because silence might perhaps be 
      misconstrued. With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are 
      entwined. Without it what are we individually or collectively? 
      What becomes of the noblest field ever opened for the advancement 
      of our race in religion, in government, in the arts, and in all 
      that dignifies and adorns mankind? From that radiant constellation 
      which both illumines our own way and points out to struggling 
      nations their course, let but a single star be lost, and, if these 
      be not utter darkness, the luster of the whole is dimmed. Do my 
      countrymen need any assurance that such a catastrophe is not to 
      overtake them while I possess the power to stay it? It is with me 
      an earnest and vital belief that as the Union has been the source, 
      under Providence, of our prosperity to this time, so it is the 
      surest pledge of a continuance of the blessings we have enjoyed, 
      and which we are sacredly bound to transmit undiminished to our 
      children. The field of calm and free discussion in our country is 
      open, and will always be so, but never has been and never can be 
      traversed for good in a spirit of sectionalism and 
      uncharitableness. The founders of the Republic dealt with things 
      as they were presented to them, in a spirit of self-sacrificing 
      patriotism, and, as time has proved, with a comprehensive wisdom 
      which it will always be safe for us to consult. Every measure 
      tending to strengthen the fraternal feelings of all the members of 
      our Union has had my heartfelt approbation. To every theory of 
      society or government, whether the offspring of feverish ambition 
      or of morbid enthusiasm, calculated to dissolve the bonds of law 
      and affection which unite us, I shall interpose a ready and stern 
      resistance. I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in 
      different States of this Confederacy, is recognized by the 
      Constitution. I believe that it stands like any other admitted 
      right, and that the States where it exists are entitled to 
      efficient remedies to enforce the constitutional provisions. I 
      hold that the laws of 1850, commonly called the "compromise 
      measures," are strictly constitutional and to be unhesitatingly 
      carried into effect. I believe that the constituted authorities of 
      this Republic are bound to regard the rights of the South in this 
      respect as they would view any other legal and constitutional 
      right, and that the laws to enforce them should be respected and 
      obeyed, not with a reluctance encouraged by abstract opinions as 
      to their propriety in a different state of society, but cheerfully 
      and according to the decisions of the tribunal to which their 
      exposition belongs. Such have been, and are, my convictions, and 
      upon them I shall act. I fervently hope that the question is at 
      rest, and that no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement 
      may again threaten the durability of our institutions or obscure 
      the light of our prosperity.

      But let not the foundation of our hope rest upon man's wisdom. It 
      will not be sufficient that sectional prejudices find no place in 
      the public deliberations. It will not be sufficient that the rash 
      counsels of human passion are rejected. It must be felt that there 
      is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged 
      dependence upon God and His overruling providence.

      We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis. Wise 
      counsels, like those which gave us the Constitution, prevailed to 
      uphold it. Let the period be remembered as an admonition, and not 
      as an encouragement, in any section of the Union, to make 
      experiments where experiments are fraught with such fearful 
      hazard. Let it be impressed upon all hearts that, beautiful as our 
      fabric is, no earthly power or wisdom could ever reunite its 
      broken fragments. Standing, as I do, almost within view of the 
      green slopes of Monticello, and, as it were, within reach of the 
      tomb of Washington, with all the cherished memories of the past 
      gathering around me like so many eloquent voices of exhortation 
      from heaven, I can express no better hope for my country than that 
      the kind Providence which smiled upon our fathers may enable their 
      children to preserve the blessings they have inherited.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             James Buchanan

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1857
      __________________________________________________________________
      The Democratic Party chose another candidate instead of their 
      incumbent President when they nominated James Buchanan at the 
      national convention. Since the Jackson Administration, he had a 
      distinguished career as a Senator, Congressman, Cabinet officer, 
      and ambassador. The oath of office was administered by Chief 
      Justice Roger Taney on the East Portico of the Capitol. A parade 
      had preceded the ceremony at the Capitol, and an inaugural ball 
      was held that evening for 6,000 celebrants in a specially built 
      hall on Judiciary Square.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      I appear before you this day to take the solemn oath "that I will 
      faithfully execute the office of President of the United States 
      and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend 
      the Constitution of the United States."

      In entering upon this great office I must humbly invoke the God of 
      our fathers for wisdom and firmness to execute its high and 
      responsible duties in such a manner as to restore harmony and 
      ancient friendship among the people of the several States and to 
      preserve our free institutions throughout many generations. 
      Convinced that I owe my election to the inherent love for the 
      Constitution and the Union which still animates the hearts of the 
      American people, let me earnestly ask their powerful support in 
      sustaining all just measures calculated to perpetuate these, the 
      richest political blessings which Heaven has ever bestowed upon 
      any nation. Having determined not to become a candidate for 
      reelection, I shall have no motive to influence my conduct in 
      administering the Government except the desire ably and faithfully 
      to serve my country and to live in grateful memory of my 
      countrymen.

      We have recently passed through a Presidential contest in which 
      the passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to the highest 
      degree by questions of deep and vital importance; but when the 
      people proclaimed their will the tempest at once subsided and all 
      was calm.

      The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner prescribed by 
      the Constitution, was heard, and instant submission followed. Our 
      own country could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a 
      spectacle of the capacity of man for self-government.

      What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this 
      simple rule, that the will of the majority shall govern, to the 
      settlement of the question of domestic slavery in the Territories. 
      Congress is neither "to legislate slavery into any Territory or 
      State nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof 
      perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in 
      their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United 
      States."

      As a natural consequence, Congress has also prescribed that when 
      the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State it "shall be 
      received into the Union with or without slavery, as their 
      constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission."

      A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time 
      when the people of a Territory shall decide this question for 
      themselves.

      This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. 
      Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to 
      the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now 
      pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally 
      settled. To their decision, in common with all good citizens, I 
      shall cheerfully submit, whatever this may be, though it has ever 
      been my individual opinion that under the Nebraska-Kansas act the 
      appropriate period will be when the number of actual residents in 
      the Territory shall justify the formation of a constitution with a 
      view to its admission as a State into the Union. But be this as it 
      may, it is the imperative and indispensable duty of the Government 
      of the United States to secure to every resident inhabitant the 
      free and independent expression of his opinion by his vote. This 
      sacred right of each individual must be preserved. That being 
      accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave the people of a 
      Territory free from all foreign interference to decide their own 
      destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the 
      United States.

      The whole Territorial question being thus settled upon the 
      principle of popular sovereignty--a principle as ancient as free 
      government itself--everything of a practical nature has been 
      decided. No other question remains for adjustment, because all 
      agree that under the Constitution slavery in the States is beyond 
      the reach of any human power except that of the respective States 
      themselves wherein it exists. May we not, then, hope that the long 
      agitation on this subject is approaching its end, and that the 
      geographical parties to which it has given birth, so much dreaded 
      by the Father of his Country, will speedily become extinct? Most 
      happy will it be for the country when the public mind shall be 
      diverted from this question to others of more pressing and 
      practical importance. Throughout the whole progress of this 
      agitation, which has scarcely known any intermission for more than 
      twenty years, whilst it has been productive of no positive good to 
      any human being it has been the prolific source of great evils to 
      the master, to the slave, and to the whole country. It has 
      alienated and estranged the people of the sister States from each 
      other, and has even seriously endangered the very existence of the 
      Union. Nor has the danger yet entirely ceased. Under our system 
      there is a remedy for all mere political evils in the sound sense 
      and sober judgment of the people. Time is a great corrective. 
      Political subjects which but a few years ago excited and 
      exasperated the public mind have passed away and are now nearly 
      forgotten. But this question of domestic slavery is of far graver 
      importance than any mere political question, because should the 
      agitation continue it may eventually endanger the personal safety 
      of a large portion of our countrymen where the institution exists. 
      In that event no form of government, however admirable in itself 
      and however productive of material benefits, can compensate for 
      the loss of peace and domestic security around the family altar. 
      Let every Union-loving man, therefore, exert his best influence to 
      suppress this agitation, which since the recent legislation of 
      Congress is without any legitimate object.

      It is an evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to 
      calculate the mere material value of the Union. Reasoned estimates 
      have been presented of the pecuniary profits and local advantages 
      which would result to different States and sections from its 
      dissolution and of the comparative injuries which such an event 
      would inflict on other States and sections. Even descending to 
      this low and narrow view of the mighty question, all such 
      calculations are at fault. The bare reference to a single 
      consideration will be conclusive on this point. We at present 
      enjoy a free trade throughout our extensive and expanding country 
      such as the world has never witnessed. This trade is conducted on 
      railroads and canals, on noble rivers and arms of the sea, which 
      bind together the North and the South, the East and the West, of 
      our Confederacy. Annihilate this trade, arrest its free progress 
      by the geographical lines of jealous and hostile States, and you 
      destroy the prosperity and onward march of the whole and every 
      part and involve all in one common ruin. But such considerations, 
      important as they are in themselves, sink into insignificance when 
      we reflect on the terrific evils which would result from disunion 
      to every portion of the Confederacy--to the North, not more than 
      to the South, to the East not more than to the West. These I shall 
      not attempt to portray, because I feel an humble confidence that 
      the kind Providence which inspired our fathers with wisdom to 
      frame the most perfect form of government and union ever devised 
      by man will not suffer it to perish until it shall have been 
      peacefully instrumental by its example in the extension of civil 
      and religious liberty throughout the world.

      Next in importance to the maintenance of the Constitution and the 
      Union is the duty of preserving the Government free from the taint 
      or even the suspicion of corruption. Public virtue is the vital 
      spirit of republics, and history proves that when this has decayed 
      and the love of money has usurped its place, although the forms of 
      free government may remain for a season, the substance has 
      departed forever.

      Our present financial condition is without a parallel in history. 
      No nation has ever before been embarrassed from too large a 
      surplus in its treasury. This almost necessarily gives birth to 
      extravagant legislation. It produces wild schemes of expenditure 
      and begets a race of speculators and jobbers, whose ingenuity is 
      exerted in contriving and promoting expedients to obtain public 
      money. The purity of official agents, whether rightfully or 
      wrongfully, is suspected, and the character of the government 
      suffers in the estimation of the people. This is in itself a very 
      great evil.

      The natural mode of relief from this embarrassment is to 
      appropriate the surplus in the Treasury to great national objects 
      for which a clear warrant can be found in the Constitution. Among 
      these I might mention the extinguishment of the public debt, a 
      reasonable increase of the Navy, which is at present inadequate to 
      the protection of our vast tonnage afloat, now greater than that 
      of any other nation, as well as to the defense of our extended 
      seacoast.

      It is beyond all question the true principle that no more revenue 
      ought to be collected from the people than the amount necessary to 
      defray the expenses of a wise, economical, and efficient 
      administration of the Government. To reach this point it was 
      necessary to resort to a modification of the tariff, and this has, 
      I trust, been accomplished in such a manner as to do as little 
      injury as may have been practicable to our domestic manufactures, 
      especially those necessary for the defense of the country. Any 
      discrimination against a particular branch for the purpose of 
      benefiting favored corporations, individuals, or interests would 
      have been unjust to the rest of the community and inconsistent 
      with that spirit of fairness and equality which ought to govern in 
      the adjustment of a revenue tariff.

      But the squandering of the public money sinks into comparative 
      insignificance as a temptation to corruption when compared with 
      the squandering of the public lands.

      No nation in the tide of time has ever been blessed with so rich 
      and noble an inheritance as we enjoy in the public lands. In 
      administering this important trust, whilst it may be wise to grant 
      portions of them for the improvement of the remainder, yet we 
      should never forget that it is our cardinal policy to reserve 
      these lands, as much as may be, for actual settlers, and this at 
      moderate prices. We shall thus not only best promote the 
      prosperity of the new States and Territories, by furnishing them a 
      hardy and independent race of honest and industrious citizens, but 
      shall secure homes for our children and our children's children, 
      as well as for those exiles from foreign shores who may seek in 
      this country to improve their condition and to enjoy the blessings 
      of civil and religious liberty. Such emigrants have done much to 
      promote the growth and prosperity of the country. They have proved 
      faithful both in peace and in war. After becoming citizens they 
      are entitled, under the Constitution and laws, to be placed on a 
      perfect equality with native-born citizens, and in this character 
      they should ever be kindly recognized.

      The Federal Constitution is a grant from the States to Congress of 
      certain specific powers, and the question whether this grant 
      should be liberally or strictly construed has more or less divided 
      political parties from the beginning. Without entering into the 
      argument, I desire to state at the commencement of my 
      Administration that long experience and observation have convinced 
      me that a strict construction of the powers of the Government is 
      the only true, as well as the only safe, theory of the 
      Constitution. Whenever in our past history doubtful powers have 
      been exercised by Congress, these have never failed to produce 
      injurious and unhappy consequences. Many such instances might be 
      adduced if this were the proper occasion. Neither is it necessary 
      for the public service to strain the language of the Constitution, 
      because all the great and useful powers required for a successful 
      administration of the Government, both in peace and in war, have 
      been granted, either in express terms or by the plainest 
      implication.

      Whilst deeply convinced of these truths, I yet consider it clear 
      that under the war-making power Congress may appropriate money 
      toward the construction of a military road when this is absolutely 
      necessary for the defense of any State or Territory of the Union 
      against foreign invasion. Under the Constitution Congress has 
      power "to declare war," "to raise and support armies," "to provide 
      and maintain a navy," and to call forth the militia to "repel 
      invasions." Thus endowed, in an ample manner, with the war-making 
      power, the corresponding duty is required that "the United States 
      shall protect each of them [the States] against invasion." Now, 
      how is it possible to afford this protection to California and our 
      Pacific possessions except by means of a military road through the 
      Territories of the United States, over which men and munitions of 
      war may be speedily transported from the Atlantic States to meet 
      and to repel the invader? In the event of a war with a naval power 
      much stronger than our own we should then have no other available 
      access to the Pacific Coast, because such a power would instantly 
      close the route across the isthmus of Central America. It is 
      impossible to conceive that whilst the Constitution has expressly 
      required Congress to defend all the States it should yet deny to 
      them, by any fair construction, the only possible means by which 
      one of these States can be defended. Besides, the Government, ever 
      since its origin, has been in the constant practice of 
      constructing military roads. It might also be wise to consider 
      whether the love for the Union which now animates our fellow-
      citizens on the Pacific Coast may not be impaired by our neglect 
      or refusal to provide for them, in their remote and isolated 
      condition, the only means by which the power of the States on this 
      side of the Rocky Mountains can reach them in sufficient time to 
      "protect" them "against invasion." I forbear for the present from 
      expressing an opinion as to the wisest and most economical mode in 
      which the Government can lend its aid in accomplishing this great 
      and necessary work. I believe that many of the difficulties in the 
      way, which now appear formidable, will in a great degree vanish as 
      soon as the nearest and best route shall have been satisfactorily 
      ascertained.

      It may be proper that on this occasion I should make some brief 
      remarks in regard to our rights and duties as a member of the 
      great family of nations. In our intercourse with them there are 
      some plain principles, approved by our own experience, from which 
      we should never depart. We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and 
      friendship with all nations, and this not merely as the best means 
      of promoting our own material interests, but in a spirit of 
      Christian benevolence toward our fellow-men, wherever their lot 
      may be cast. Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither 
      seeking to obtain more nor accepting less than is our due. We 
      ought to cherish a sacred regard for the independence of all 
      nations, and never attempt to interfere in the domestic concerns 
      of any unless this shall be imperatively required by the great law 
      of self-preservation. To avoid entangling alliances has been a 
      maxim of our policy ever since the days of Washington, and its 
      wisdom's no one will attempt to dispute. In short, we ought to do 
      justice in a kindly spirit to all nations and require justice from 
      them in return.

      It is our glory that whilst other nations have extended their 
      dominions by the sword we have never acquired any territory except 
      by fair purchase or, as in the case of Texas, by the voluntary 
      determination of a brave, kindred, and independent people to blend 
      their destinies with our own. Even our acquisitions from Mexico 
      form no exception. Unwilling to take advantage of the fortune of 
      war against a sister republic, we purchased these possessions 
      under the treaty of peace for a sum which was considered at the 
      time a fair equivalent. Our past history forbids that we shall in 
      the future acquire territory unless this be sanctioned by the laws 
      of justice and honor. Acting on this principle, no nation will 
      have a right to interfere or to complain if in the progress of 
      events we shall still further extend our possessions. Hitherto in 
      all our acquisitions the people, under the protection of the 
      American flag, have enjoyed civil and religious liberty, as well 
      as equal and just laws, and have been contented, prosperous, and 
      happy. Their trade with the rest of the world has rapidly 
      increased, and thus every commercial nation has shared largely in 
      their successful progress.

      I shall now proceed to take the oath prescribed by the 
      Constitution, whilst humbly invoking the blessing of Divine 
      Providence on this great people.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Abraham Lincoln

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1861
      __________________________________________________________________
      The national upheaval of secession was a grim reality at Abraham 
      Lincoln's inauguration. Jefferson Davis had been inaugurated as 
      the President of the Confederacy two weeks earlier. The former 
      Illinois Congressman had arrived in Washington by a secret route 
      to avoid danger, and his movements were guarded by General 
      Winfield Scott's soldiers. Ignoring advice to the contrary, the 
      President-elect rode with President Buchanan in an open carriage 
      to the Capitol, where he took the oath of office on the East 
      Portico. Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the executive oath 
      for the seventh time. The Capitol itself was sheathed in 
      scaffolding because the copper and wood "Bulfinch" dome was being 
      replaced with a cast iron dome designed by Thomas U. Walter.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens of the United States:

      In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I 
      appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your 
      presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United 
      States to be taken by the President "before he enters on the 
      execution of this office."

      I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those 
      matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety 
      or excitement.

      Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern 
      States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their 
      property and their peace and personal security are to be 
      endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such 
      apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has 
      all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is 
      found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now 
      addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I 
      declare that--

      I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the 
      institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I 
      have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.

      Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that 
      I had made this and many similar declarations and had never 
      recanted them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for 
      my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and 
      emphatic resolution which I now read:

      Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the 
      States, and especially the right of each State to order and 
      control its own domestic institutions according to its own 
      judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on 
      which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; 
      and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of 
      any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the 
      gravest of crimes.

      I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press 
      upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which 
      the case is susceptible that the property, peace, and security of 
      no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming 
      Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, 
      consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given will 
      be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for 
      whatever cause--as cheerfully to one section as to another.

      There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives 
      from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written 
      in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:

      No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
      thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or 
      regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but 
      shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
      or labor may be due.

      It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by 
      those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive 
      slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members 
      of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution--to this 
      provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that 
      slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause "shall be 
      delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make 
      the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal 
      unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that 
      unanimous oath?

      There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be 
      enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that 
      difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be 
      surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to 
      others by which authority it is done. And should anyone in any 
      case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely 
      unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?

      Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards 
      of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be 
      introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a 
      slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law 
      for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which 
      guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to 
      all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States"?

      I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and 
      with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any 
      hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify 
      particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest 
      that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private 
      stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand 
      unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity 
      in having them held to be unconstitutional.

      It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a 
      President under our National Constitution. During that period 
      fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in 
      succession administered the executive branch of the Government. 
      They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with 
      great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter 
      upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years 
      under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal 
      Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.

      I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the 
      Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is 
      implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national 
      governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever 
      had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. 
      Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National 
      Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being 
      impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in 
      the instrument itself.

      Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an 
      association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as 
      a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who 
      made it? One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to 
      speak--but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?

      Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition 
      that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by 
      the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the 
      Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of 
      Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the 
      Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and 
      the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and 
      engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of 
      Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared 
      objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to 
      form a more perfect Union."

      But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the 
      States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before 
      the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.

      It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion 
      can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to 
      that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any 
      State or States against the authority of the United States are 
      insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.

      I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws 
      the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall 
      take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, 
      that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the 
      States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and 
      I shall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful 
      masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means 
      or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this 
      will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose 
      of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain 
      itself.

      In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and 
      there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national 
      authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, 
      and possess the property and places belonging to the Government 
      and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be 
      necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using 
      of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to 
      the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and 
      universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding 
      the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious 
      strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal 
      right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these 
      offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly 
      impracticable withal that I deem it better to forego for the time 
      the uses of such offices.

      The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all 
      parts of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall 
      have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to 
      calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be 
      followed unless current events and experience shall show a 
      modification or change to be proper, and in every case and 
      exigency my best discretion will be exercised, according to 
      circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope of a 
      peaceful solution of the national troubles and the restoration of 
      fraternal sympathies and affections.

      That there are persons in one section or another who seek to 
      destroy the Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do 
      it I will neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need 
      address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the 
      Union may I not speak?

      Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our 
      national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its 
      hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? 
      Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility 
      that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? 
      Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all 
      the real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so 
      fearful a mistake?

      All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional 
      rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly 
      written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, 
      the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the 
      audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in 
      which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever 
      been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should 
      deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it 
      might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would 
      if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the 
      vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly 
      assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and 
      prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise 
      concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a 
      provision specifically applicable to every question which may 
      occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor 
      any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for 
      all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered 
      by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not 
      expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? 
      The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect 
      slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly 
      say.

      From questions of this class spring all our constitutional 
      controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and 
      minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, 
      or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative, for 
      continuing the Government is acquiescence on one side or the 
      other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than 
      acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide and 
      ruin them, for a minority of their own will secede from them 
      whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For 
      instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year or 
      two hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the 
      present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish 
      disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of 
      doing this.

      Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to 
      compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed 
      secession?

      Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A 
      majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and 
      limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of 
      popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a 
      free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy 
      or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority, 
      as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, 
      rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some 
      form is all that is left.

      I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional 
      questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny 
      that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties 
      to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also 
      entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel 
      cases by all other departments of the Government. And while it is 
      obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any 
      given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to 
      that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and 
      never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than 
      could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the 
      candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government 
      upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be 
      irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant 
      they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal 
      actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having 
      to that extent practically resigned their Government into the 
      hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any 
      assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they 
      may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, and 
      it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to 
      political purposes.

      One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to 
      be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to 
      be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-
      slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression 
      of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as 
      any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the 
      people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the 
      people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few 
      break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and 
      it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the 
      sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly 
      suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one 
      section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, 
      would not be surrendered at all by the other.

      Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our 
      respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall 
      between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the 
      presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different 
      parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face 
      to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must 
      continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that 
      intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after 
      separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than 
      friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced 
      between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, 
      you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides 
      and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old 
      questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.

      This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who 
      inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing 
      Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of 
      amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow 
      it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and 
      patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National 
      Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of 
      amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people 
      over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes 
      prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing 
      circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being 
      afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to 
      me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows 
      amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of 
      only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by 
      others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not 
      be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I 
      understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution--which 
      amendment, however, I have not seen--has passed Congress, to the 
      effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the 
      domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons 
      held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I 
      depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so 
      far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied 
      constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express 
      and irrevocable.

      The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, 
      and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the 
      separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if 
      also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do with 
      it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to 
      his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.

      Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate 
      justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the 
      world? In our present differences, is either party without faith 
      of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His 
      eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on 
      yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely 
      prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American 
      people.

      By the frame of the Government under which we live this same 
      people have wisely given their public servants but little power 
      for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return 
      of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While 
      the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by 
      any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the 
      Government in the short space of four years.

      My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole 
      subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be 
      an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you 
      would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by 
      taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of 
      you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution 
      unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own 
      framing under it; while the new Administration will have no 
      immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were 
      admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the 
      dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate 
      action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm 
      reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are 
      still competent to adjust in the best way all our present 
      difficulty.

      In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, 
      is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not 
      assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the 
      aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the 
      Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, 
      protect, and defend it."

      I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not 
      be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our 
      bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from 
      every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and 
      hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of 
      the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the 
      better angels of our nature.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Abraham Lincoln

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1865
      __________________________________________________________________
      Weeks of wet weather preceding Lincoln's second inauguration had 
      caused Pennsylvania Avenue to become a sea of mud and standing 
      water. Thousands of spectators stood in thick mud at the Capitol 
      grounds to hear the President. As he stood on the East Portico to 
      take the executive oath, the completed Capitol dome over the 
      President's head was a physical reminder of the resolve of his 
      Administration throughout the years of civil war. Chief Justice 
      Salmon Chase administered the oath of office. In little more than 
      a month, the President would be assassinated.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Countrymen:

      At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential 
      office there is less occasion for an extended address than there 
      was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course 
      to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of 
      four years, during which public declarations have been constantly 
      called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which 
      still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the 
      nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our 
      arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the 
      public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory 
      and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no 
      prediction in regard to it is ventured.

      On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts 
      were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, 
      all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being 
      delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union 
      without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it 
      without war--seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by 
      negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would 
      make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would 
      accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

      One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not 
      distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the 
      southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and 
      powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the 
      cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this 
      interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the 
      Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do 
      more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither 
      party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it 
      has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the 
      conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself 
      should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less 
      fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to 
      the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may 
      seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's 
      assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's 
      faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of 
      both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered 
      fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world 
      because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but 
      woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose 
      that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the 
      providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued 
      through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He 
      gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to 
      those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any 
      departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a 
      living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do 
      we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. 
      Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by 
      the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil 
      shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash 
      shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three 
      thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the 
      Lord are true and righteous altogether."

      With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in 
      the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to 
      finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care 
      for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his 
      orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting 
      peace among ourselves and with all nations.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Ulysses S. Grant

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1869
      __________________________________________________________________
      General Grant was the first of many Civil War officers to become 
      President of the United States. He refused to ride in the carriage 
      to the Capitol with President Johnson, who then decided not to 
      attend the ceremony. The oath of office was administered by Chief 
      Justice Salmon Chase on the East Portico. The inaugural parade 
      boasted eight full divisions of the Army--the largest contingent 
      yet to march on such an occasion. That evening, a ball was held in 
      the Treasury Building.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Citizens of the United States:

      Your suffrages having elected me to the office of President of the 
      United States, I have, in conformity to the Constitution of our 
      country, taken the oath of office prescribed therein. I have taken 
      this oath without mental reservation and with the determination to 
      do to the best of my ability all that is required of me. The 
      responsibilities of the position I feel, but accept them without 
      fear. The office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties 
      untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious desire and determination to 
      fill it to the best of my ability to the satisfaction of the 
      people.

      On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will always 
      express my views to Congress and urge them according to my 
      judgment, and when I think it advisable will exercise the 
      constitutional privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures 
      which I oppose; but all laws will be faithfully executed, whether 
      they meet my approval or not.

      I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, but none to 
      enforce against the will of the people. Laws are to govern all 
      alike--those opposed as well as those who favor them. I know no 
      method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective 
      as their stringent execution.

      The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many 
      questions will come before it for settlement in the next four 
      years which preceding Administrations have never had to deal with. 
      In meeting these it is desirable that they should be approached 
      calmly, without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering 
      that the greatest good to the greatest number is the object to be 
      attained.

      This requires security of person, property, and free religious and 
      political opinion in every part of our common country, without 
      regard to local prejudice. All laws to secure these ends will 
      receive my best efforts for their enforcement.

      A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our 
      posterity the Union. The payment of this, principal and interest, 
      as well as the return to a specie basis as soon as it can be 
      accomplished without material detriment to the debtor class or to 
      the country at large, must be provided for. To protect the 
      national honor, every dollar of Government indebtedness should be 
      paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the 
      contract. Let it be understood that no repudiator of one farthing 
      of our public debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go 
      far toward strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in 
      the world, and will ultimately enable us to replace the debt with 
      bonds bearing less interest than we now pay. To this should be 
      added a faithful collection of the revenue, a strict 
      accountability to the Treasury for every dollar collected, and the 
      greatest practicable retrenchment in expenditure in every 
      department of Government.

      When we compare the paying capacity of the country now, with the 
      ten States in poverty from the effects of war, but soon to emerge, 
      I trust, into greater prosperity than ever before, with its paying 
      capacity twenty-five years ago, and calculate what it probably 
      will be twenty-five years hence, who can doubt the feasibility of 
      paying every dollar then with more ease than we now pay for 
      useless luxuries? Why, it looks as though Providence had bestowed 
      upon us a strong box in the precious metals locked up in the 
      sterile mountains of the far West, and which we are now forging 
      the key to unlock, to meet the very contingency that is now upon 
      us.

      Ultimately it may be necessary to insure the facilities to reach 
      these riches and it may be necessary also that the General 
      Government should give its aid to secure this access; but that 
      should only be when a dollar of obligation to pay secures 
      precisely the same sort of dollar to use now, and not before. 
      Whilst the question of specie payments is in abeyance the prudent 
      business man is careful about contracting debts payable in the 
      distant future. The nation should follow the same rule. A 
      prostrate commerce is to be rebuilt and all industries encouraged.

      The young men of the country--those who from their age must be its 
      rulers twenty-five years hence--have a peculiar interest in 
      maintaining the national honor. A moment's reflection as to what 
      will be our commanding influence among the nations of the earth in 
      their day, if they are only true to themselves, should inspire 
      them with national pride. All divisions--geographical, political, 
      and religious--can join in this common sentiment. How the public 
      debt is to be paid or specie payments resumed is not so important 
      as that a plan should be adopted and acquiesced in. A united 
      determination to do is worth more than divided counsels upon the 
      method of doing. Legislation upon this subject may not be 
      necessary now, or even advisable, but it will be when the civil 
      law is more fully restored in all parts of the country and trade 
      resumes its wonted channels.

      It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to 
      collect all revenues assessed, and to have them properly accounted 
      for and economically disbursed. I will to the best of my ability 
      appoint to office those only who will carry out this design.

      In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as 
      equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other, and I 
      would protect the law-abiding citizen, whether of native or 
      foreign birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized or the flag of 
      our country floats. I would respect the rights of all nations, 
      demanding equal respect for our own. If others depart from this 
      rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow 
      their precedent.

      The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land--the 
      Indians one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course 
      toward them which tends to their civilization and ultimate 
      citizenship.

      The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the 
      public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are 
      excluded from its privileges in any State. It seems to me very 
      desirable that this question should be settled now, and I 
      entertain the hope and express the desire that it may be by the 
      ratification of the fifteenth article of amendment to the 
      Constitution.

      In conclusion I ask patient forbearance one toward another 
      throughout the land, and a determined effort on the part of every 
      citizen to do his share toward cementing a happy union; and I ask 
      the prayers of the nation to Almighty God in behalf of this 
      consummation.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Ulysses S. Grant

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1873
      __________________________________________________________________
      Frigid temperatures caused many of the events planned for the 
      second inauguration to be abandoned. The thermometer did not rise 
      much above zero all day, persuading many to avoid the ceremony on 
      the East Portico of the Capitol. The oath of office was 
      administered by Chief Justice Salmon Chase. A parade and a display 
      of fireworks were featured later that day, as well as a ball in a 
      temporary wooden structure on Judiciary Square. The wind blew 
      continuously through the ballroom and many of the guests at the 
      ball never removed their coats.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      Under Providence I have been called a second time to act as 
      Executive over this great nation. It has been my endeavor in the 
      past to maintain all the laws, and, so far as lay in my power, to 
      act for the best interests of the whole people. My best efforts 
      will be given in the same direction in the future, aided, I trust, 
      by my four years' experience in the office.

      When my first term of the office of Chief Executive began, the 
      country had not recovered from the effects of a great internal 
      revolution, and three of the former States of the Union had not 
      been restored to their Federal relations.

      It seemed to me wise that no new questions should be raised so 
      long as that condition of affairs existed. Therefore the past four 
      years, so far as I could control events, have been consumed in the 
      effort to restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all the 
      arts of peace and progress. It is my firm conviction that the 
      civilized world is tending toward republicanism, or government by 
      the people through their chosen representatives, and that our own 
      great Republic is destined to be the guiding star to all others.

      Under our Republic we support an army less than that of any 
      European power of any standing and a navy less than that of either 
      of at least five of them. There could be no extension of territory 
      on the continent which would call for an increase of this force, 
      but rather might such extension enable us to diminish it.

      The theory of government changes with general progress. Now that 
      the telegraph is made available for communicating thought, 
      together with rapid transit by steam, all parts of a continent are 
      made contiguous for all purposes of government, and communication 
      between the extreme limits of the country made easier than it was 
      throughout the old thirteen States at the beginning of our 
      national existence.

      The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave 
      and make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil 
      rights which citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and 
      should be corrected. To this correction I stand committed, so far 
      as Executive influence can avail.

      Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon, nor shall 
      I ask that anything be done to advance the social status of the 
      colored man, except to give him a fair chance to develop what 
      there is good in him, give him access to the schools, and when he 
      travels let him feel assured that his conduct will regulate the 
      treatment and fare he will receive.

      The States lately at war with the General Government are now 
      happily rehabilitated, and no Executive control is exercised in 
      any one of them that would not be exercised in any other State 
      under like circumstances.

      In the first year of the past Administration the proposition came 
      up for the admission of Santo Domingo as a Territory of the Union. 
      It was not a question of my seeking, but was a proposition from 
      the people of Santo Domingo, and which I entertained. I believe 
      now, as I did then, that it was for the best interest of this 
      country, for the people of Santo Domingo, and all concerned that 
      the proposition should be received favorably. It was, however, 
      rejected constitutionally, and therefore the subject was never 
      brought up again by me.

      In future, while I hold my present office, the subject of 
      acquisition of territory must have the support of the people 
      before I will recommend any proposition looking to such 
      acquisition. I say here, however, that I do not share in the 
      apprehension held by many as to the danger of governments becoming 
      weakened and destroyed by reason of their extension of territory. 
      Commerce, education, and rapid transit of thought and matter by 
      telegraph and steam have changed all this. Rather do I believe 
      that our Great Maker is preparing the world, in His own good time, 
      to become one nation, speaking one language, and when armies and 
      navies will be no longer required.

      My efforts in the future will be directed to the restoration of 
      good feeling between the different sections of our common country; 
      to the restoration of our currency to a fixed value as compared 
      with the world's standard of values--gold--and, if possible, to a 
      par with it; to the construction of cheap routes of transit 
      throughout the land, to the end that the products of all may find 
      a market and leave a living remuneration to the producer; to the 
      maintenance of friendly relations with all our neighbors and with 
      distant nations; to the reestablishment of our commerce and share 
      in the carrying trade upon the ocean; to the encouragement of such 
      manufacturing industries as can be economically pursued in this 
      country, to the end that the exports of home products and 
      industries may pay for our imports--the only sure method of 
      returning to and permanently maintaining a specie basis; to the 
      elevation of labor; and, by a humane course, to bring the 
      aborigines of the country under the benign influences of education 
      and civilization. It is either this or war of extermination: Wars 
      of extermination, engaged in by people pursuing commerce and all 
      industrial pursuits, are expensive even against the weakest 
      people, and are demoralizing and wicked. Our superiority of 
      strength and advantages of civilization should make us lenient 
      toward the Indian. The wrong inflicted upon him should be taken 
      into account and the balance placed to his credit. The moral view 
      of the question should be considered and the question asked, Can 
      not the Indian be made a useful and productive member of society 
      by proper teaching and treatment? If the effort is made in good 
      faith, we will stand better before the civilized nations of the 
      earth and in our own consciences for having made it.

      All these things are not to be accomplished by one individual, but 
      they will receive my support and such recommendations to Congress 
      as will in my judgment best serve to carry them into effect. I beg 
      your support and encouragement.

      It has been, and is, my earnest desire to correct abuses that have 
      grown up in the civil service of the country. To secure this 
      reformation rules regulating methods of appointment and promotions 
      were established and have been tried. My efforts for such 
      reformation shall be continued to the best of my judgment. The 
      spirit of the rules adopted will be maintained.

      I acknowledge before this assemblage, representing, as it does, 
      every section of our country, the obligation I am under to my 
      countrymen for the great honor they have conferred on me by 
      returning me to the highest office within their gift, and the 
      further obligation resting on me to render to them the best 
      services within my power. This I promise, looking forward with the 
      greatest anxiety to the day when I shall be released from 
      responsibilities that at times are almost overwhelming, and from 
      which I have scarcely had a respite since the eventful firing upon 
      Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, to the present day. My services were 
      then tendered and accepted under the first call for troops growing 
      out of that event.

      I did not ask for place or position, and was entirely without 
      influence or the acquaintance of persons of influence, but was 
      resolved to perform my part in a struggle threatening the very 
      existence of the nation. I performed a conscientious duty, without 
      asking promotion or command, and without a revengeful feeling 
      toward any section or individual.

      Notwithstanding this, throughout the war, and from my candidacy 
      for my present office in 1868 to the close of the last 
      Presidential campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and 
      slander scarcely ever equaled in political history, which to-day I 
      feel that I can afford to disregard in view of your verdict, which 
      I gratefully accept as my vindication.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                          Rutherford B. Hayes

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1877
      __________________________________________________________________
      The outcome of the election of 1876 was not known until the week 
      before the inauguration itself. Democrat Samuel Tilden had won the 
      greater number of popular votes and lacked only one electoral vote 
      to claim a majority in the electoral college. Twenty disputed 
      electoral votes, however, kept hopes alive for Republican Governor 
      Hayes of Ohio. A fifteen-member Electoral Commission was appointed 
      by the Congress to deliberate the outcome of the election. By a 
      majority vote of 8 to 7 the Commission gave all of the disputed 
      votes to the Republican candidate, and Mr. Hayes was elected 
      President on March 2. Since March 4 was a Sunday, he took the oath 
      of office in the Red Room at the White House on March 3, and again 
      on Monday on the East Portico of the Capitol. Chief Justice 
      Morrison Waite administered both oaths.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      We have assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun by 
      Washington, observed by all my predecessors, and now a time-
      honored custom, which marks the commencement of a new term of the 
      Presidential office. Called to the duties of this great trust, I 
      proceed, in compliance with usage, to announce some of the leading 
      principles, on the subjects that now chiefly engage the public 
      attention, by which it is my desire to be guided in the discharge 
      of those duties. I shall not undertake to lay down irrevocably 
      principles or measures of administration, but rather to speak of 
      the motives which should animate us, and to suggest certain 
      important ends to be attained in accordance with our institutions 
      and essential to the welfare of our country.

      At the outset of the discussions which preceded the recent 
      Presidential election it seemed to me fitting that I should fully 
      make known my sentiments in regard to several of the important 
      questions which then appeared to demand the consideration of the 
      country. Following the example, and in part adopting the language, 
      of one of my predecessors, I wish now, when every motive for 
      misrepresentation has passed away, to repeat what was said before 
      the election, trusting that my countrymen will candidly weigh and 
      understand it, and that they will feel assured that the sentiments 
      declared in accepting the nomination for the Presidency will be 
      the standard of my conduct in the path before me, charged, as I 
      now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them out in 
      the practical administration of the Government so far as depends, 
      under the Constitution and laws on the Chief Executive of the 
      nation.

      The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and 
      by such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its 
      citizens in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights 
      is now the one subject in our public affairs which all thoughtful 
      and patriotic citizens regard as of supreme importance.

      Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous revolution which 
      has passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable 
      benefits which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and 
      generous acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution 
      have not yet been realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions 
      meet us at the threshold of this subject. The people of those 
      States are still impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of 
      wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is not fully 
      enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the cause 
      of this condition of things, the fact is clear that in the 
      progress of events the time has come when such government is the 
      imperative necessity required by all the varied interests, public 
      and private, of those States. But it must not be forgotten that 
      only a local government which recognizes and maintains inviolate 
      the rights of all is a true self-government.

      With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to 
      each other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and 
      perplexities which exist in those States, it must be a government 
      which guards the interests of both races carefully and equally. It 
      must be a government which submits loyally and heartily to the 
      Constitution and the laws--the laws of the nation and the laws of 
      the States themselves--accepting and obeying faithfully the whole 
      Constitution as it is.

      Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the 
      superstructure of beneficent local governments can be built up, 
      and not otherwise. In furtherance of such obedience to the letter 
      and the spirit of the Constitution, and in behalf of all that its 
      attainment implies, all so-called party interests lose their 
      apparent importance, and party lines may well be permitted to fade 
      into insignificance. The question we have to consider for the 
      immediate welfare of those States of the Union is the question of 
      government or no government; of social order and all the peaceful 
      industries and the happiness that belongs to it, or a return to 
      barbarism. It is a question in which every citizen of the nation 
      is deeply interested, and with respect to which we ought not to 
      be, in a partisan sense, either Republicans or Democrats, but 
      fellow-citizens and fellowmen, to whom the interests of a common 
      country and a common humanity are dear.

      The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large 
      portion of our country and the advance of 4,000,000 people from a 
      condition of servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal 
      footing with their former masters, could not occur without 
      presenting problems of the gravest moment, to be dealt with by the 
      emancipated race, by their former masters, and by the General 
      Government, the author of the act of emancipation. That it was a 
      wise, just, and providential act, fraught with good for all 
      concerned, is not generally conceded throughout the country. That 
      a moral obligation rests upon the National Government to employ 
      its constitutional power and influence to establish the rights of 
      the people it has emancipated, and to protect them in the 
      enjoyment of those rights when they are infringed or assailed, is 
      also generally admitted.

      The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or 
      remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, 
      actuated by motives of mutual sympathy and regard; and while in 
      duty bound and fully determined to protect the rights of all by 
      every constitutional means at the disposal of my Administration, I 
      am sincerely anxious to use every legitimate influence in favor of 
      honest and efficient local self-government as the true resource of 
      those States for the promotion of the contentment and prosperity 
      of their citizens. In the effort I shall make to accomplish this 
      purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of all who cherish an 
      interest in the welfare of the country, trusting that party ties 
      and the prejudice of race will be freely surrendered in behalf of 
      the great purpose to be accomplished. In the important work of 
      restoring the South it is not the political situation alone that 
      merits attention. The material development of that section of the 
      country has been arrested by the social and political revolution 
      through which it has passed, and now needs and deserves the 
      considerate care of the National Government within the just limits 
      prescribed by the Constitution and wise public economy.

      But at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as for every 
      other part of the country, lies the improvement of the 
      intellectual and moral condition of the people. Universal suffrage 
      should rest upon universal education. To this end, liberal and 
      permanent provision should be made for the support of free schools 
      by the State governments, and, if need be, supplemented by 
      legitimate aid from national authority.

      Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my 
      earnest desire to regard and promote their truest interest--the 
      interests of the white and of the colored people both and 
      equally--and to put forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil 
      policy which will forever wipe out in our political affairs the 
      color line and the distinction between North and South, to the end 
      that we may have not merely a united North or a united South, but 
      a united country.

      I ask the attention of the public to the paramount necessity of 
      reform in our civil service--a reform not merely as to certain 
      abuses and practices of so-called official patronage which have 
      come to have the sanction of usage in the several Departments of 
      our Government, but a change in the system of appointment itself; 
      a reform that shall be thorough, radical, and complete; a return 
      to the principles and practices of the founders of the Government. 
      They neither expected nor desired from public officers any 
      partisan service. They meant that public officers should owe their 
      whole service to the Government and to the people. They meant that 
      the officer should be secure in his tenure as long as his personal 
      character remained untarnished and the performance of his duties 
      satisfactory. They held that appointments to office were not to be 
      made nor expected merely as rewards for partisan services, nor 
      merely on the nomination of members of Congress, as being entitled 
      in any respect to the control of such appointments.

      The fact that both the great political parties of the country, in 
      declaring their principles prior to the election, gave a prominent 
      place to the subject of reform of our civil service, recognizing 
      and strongly urging its necessity, in terms almost identical in 
      their specific import with those I have here employed, must be 
      accepted as a conclusive argument in behalf of these measures. It 
      must be regarded as the expression of the united voice and will of 
      the whole country upon this subject, and both political parties 
      are virtually pledged to give it their unreserved support.

      The President of the United States of necessity owes his election 
      to office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, 
      the members of which cherish with ardor and regard as of essential 
      importance the principles of their party organization; but he 
      should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his 
      party best who serves the country best.

      In furtherance of the reform we seek, and in other important 
      respects a change of great importance, I recommend an amendment to 
      the Constitution prescribing a term of six years for the 
      Presidential office and forbidding a reelection.

      With respect to the financial condition of the country, I shall 
      not attempt an extended history of the embarrassment and 
      prostration which we have suffered during the past three years. 
      The depression in all our varied commercial and manufacturing 
      interests throughout the country, which began in September, 1873, 
      still continues. It is very gratifying, however, to be able to say 
      that there are indications all around us of a coming change to 
      prosperous times.

      Upon the currency question, intimately connected, as it is, with 
      this topic, I may be permitted to repeat here the statement made 
      in my letter of acceptance, that in my judgment the feeling of 
      uncertainty inseparable from an irredeemable paper currency, with 
      its fluctuation of values, is one of the greatest obstacles to a 
      return to prosperous times. The only safe paper currency is one 
      which rests upon a coin basis and is at all times and promptly 
      convertible into coin.

      I adhere to the views heretofore expressed by me in favor of 
      Congressional legislation in behalf of an early resumption of 
      specie payments, and I am satisfied not only that this is wise, 
      but that the interests, as well as the public sentiment, of the 
      country imperatively demand it.

      Passing from these remarks upon the condition of our own country 
      to consider our relations with other lands, we are reminded by the 
      international complications abroad, threatening the peace of 
      Europe, that our traditional rule of noninterference in the 
      affairs of foreign nations has proved of great value in past times 
      and ought to be strictly observed.

      The policy inaugurated by my honored predecessor, President Grant, 
      of submitting to arbitration grave questions in dispute between 
      ourselves and foreign powers points to a new, and incomparably the 
      best, instrumentality for the preservation of peace, and will, as 
      I believe, become a beneficent example of the course to be pursued 
      in similar emergencies by other nations.

      If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time during 
      the period of my Administration arise between the United States 
      and any foreign government, it will certainly be my disposition 
      and my hope to aid in their settlement in the same peaceful and 
      honorable way, thus securing to our country the great blessings of 
      peace and mutual good offices with all the nations of the world.

      Fellow-citizens, we have reached the close of a political contest 
      marked by the excitement which usually attends the contests 
      between great political parties whose members espouse and advocate 
      with earnest faith their respective creeds. The circumstances 
      were, perhaps, in no respect extraordinary save in the closeness 
      and the consequent uncertainty of the result.

      For the first time in the history of the country it has been 
      deemed best, in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, 
      that the objections and questions in dispute with reference to the 
      counting of the electoral votes should be referred to the decision 
      of a tribunal appointed for this purpose.

      That tribunal--established by law for this sole purpose; its 
      members, all of them, men of long-established reputation for 
      integrity and intelligence, and, with the exception of those who 
      are also members of the supreme judiciary, chosen equally from 
      both political parties; its deliberations enlightened by the 
      research and the arguments of able counsel--was entitled to the 
      fullest confidence of the American people. Its decisions have been 
      patiently waited for, and accepted as legally conclusive by the 
      general judgment of the public. For the present, opinion will 
      widely vary as to the wisdom of the several conclusions announced 
      by that tribunal. This is to be anticipated in every instance 
      where matters of dispute are made the subject of arbitration under 
      the forms of law. Human judgment is never unerring, and is rarely 
      regarded as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the 
      contest.

      The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled 
      a dispute in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and 
      the law no less than as to the proper course to be pursued in 
      solving the question in controversy is an occasion for general 
      rejoicing.

      Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public sentiment--that 
      conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and 
      peaceably adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general 
      acquiescence of the nation ought surely to follow.

      It has been reserved for a government of the people, where the 
      right of suffrage is universal, to give to the world the first 
      example in history of a great nation, in the midst of the struggle 
      of opposing parties for power, hushing its party tumults to yield 
      the issue of the contest to adjustment according to the forms of 
      law.

      Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the 
      destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, 
      Senators, Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and 
      everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort to secure to our 
      country the blessings, not only of material prosperity, but of 
      justice, peace, and union--a union depending not upon the 
      constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free 
      people; "and that all things may be so ordered and settled upon 
      the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth 
      and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for 
      all generations."

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                           James A. Garfield

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1881
      __________________________________________________________________
      Snow on the ground discouraged many spectators from attending the 
      ceremony at the Capitol. Congressman Garfield had been nominated 
      on his party's 36th ballot at the convention; and he had won the 
      popular vote by a slim margin. The former Civil War general was 
      administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Morrison Waite on 
      the snow-covered East Portico of the Capitol. In the parade and 
      the inaugural ball later that day, John Philip Sousa led the 
      Marine Corps band. The ball was held at the Smithsonian 
      Institution's new National Museum (now the Arts and Industries 
      Building).
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      We stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks a hundred years 
      of national life--a century crowded with perils, but crowned with 
      the triumphs of liberty and law. Before continuing the onward 
      march let us pause on this height for a moment to strengthen our 
      faith and renew our hope by a glance at the pathway along which 
      our people have traveled.

      It is now three days more than a hundred years since the adoption 
      of the first written constitution of the United States--the 
      Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The new Republic 
      was then beset with danger on every hand. It had not conquered a 
      place in the family of nations. The decisive battle of the war for 
      independence, whose centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully 
      celebrated at Yorktown, had not yet been fought. The colonists 
      were struggling not only against the armies of a great nation, but 
      against the settled opinions of mankind; for the world did not 
      then believe that the supreme authority of government could be 
      safely intrusted to the guardianship of the people themselves.

      We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the 
      intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which our 
      fathers made the great experiment of self-government. When they 
      found, after a short trial, that the confederacy of States, was 
      too weak to meet the necessities of a vigorous and expanding 
      republic, they boldly set it aside, and in its stead established a 
      National Union, founded directly upon the will of the people, 
      endowed with full power of self-preservation and ample authority 
      for the accomplishment of its great object.

      Under this Constitution the boundaries of freedom have been 
      enlarged, the foundations of order and peace have been 
      strengthened, and the growth of our people in all the better 
      elements of national life has indicated the wisdom of the founders 
      and given new hope to their descendants. Under this Constitution 
      our people long ago made themselves safe against danger from 
      without and secured for their mariners and flag equality of rights 
      on all the seas. Under this Constitution twenty-five States have 
      been added to the Union, with constitutions and laws, framed and 
      enforced by their own citizens, to secure the manifold blessings 
      of local self-government.

      The jurisdiction of this Constitution now covers an area fifty 
      times greater than that of the original thirteen States and a 
      population twenty times greater than that of 1780.

      The supreme trial of the Constitution came at last under the 
      tremendous pressure of civil war. We ourselves are witnesses that 
      the Union emerged from the blood and fire of that conflict 
      purified and made stronger for all the beneficent purposes of good 
      government.

      And now, at the close of this first century of growth, with the 
      inspirations of its history in their hearts, our people have 
      lately reviewed the condition of the nation, passed judgment upon 
      the conduct and opinions of political parties, and have registered 
      their will concerning the future administration of the Government. 
      To interpret and to execute that will in accordance with the 
      Constitution is the paramount duty of the Executive.

      Even from this brief review it is manifest that the nation is 
      resolutely facing to the front, resolved to employ its best 
      energies in developing the great possibilities of the future. 
      Sacredly preserving whatever has been gained to liberty and good 
      government during the century, our people are determined to leave 
      behind them all those bitter controversies concerning things which 
      have been irrevocably settled, and the further discussion of which 
      can only stir up strife and delay the onward march.

      The supremacy of the nation and its laws should be no longer a 
      subject of debate. That discussion, which for half a century 
      threatened the existence of the Union, was closed at last in the 
      high court of war by a decree from which there is no appeal--that 
      the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof are and 
      shall continue to be the supreme law of the land, binding alike 
      upon the States and the people. This decree does not disturb the 
      autonomy of the States nor interfere with any of their necessary 
      rights of local self-government, but it does fix and establish the 
      permanent supremacy of the Union.

      The will of the nation, speaking with the voice of battle and 
      through the amended Constitution, has fulfilled the great promise 
      of 1776 by proclaiming "liberty throughout the land to all the 
      inhabitants thereof."

      The elevation of the negro race from slavery to the full rights of 
      citizenship is the most important political change we have known 
      since the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. NO thoughtful man 
      can fail to appreciate its beneficent effect upon our institutions 
      and people. It has freed us from the perpetual danger of war and 
      dissolution. It has added immensely to the moral and industrial 
      forces of our people. It has liberated the master as well as the 
      slave from a relation which wronged and enfeebled both. It has 
      surrendered to their own guardianship the manhood of more than 
      5,000,000 people, and has opened to each one of them a career of 
      freedom and usefulness. It has given new inspiration to the power 
      of self-help in both races by making labor more honorable to the 
      one and more necessary to the other. The influence of this force 
      will grow greater and bear richer fruit with the coming years.

      No doubt this great change has caused serious disturbance to our 
      Southern communities. This is to be deplored, though it was 
      perhaps unavoidable. But those who resisted the change should 
      remember that under our institutions there was no middle ground 
      for the negro race between slavery and equal citizenship. There 
      can be no permanent disfranchised peasantry in the United States. 
      Freedom can never yield its fullness of blessings so long as the 
      law or its administration places the smallest obstacle in the 
      pathway of any virtuous citizen.

      The emancipated race has already made remarkable progress. With 
      unquestioning devotion to the Union, with a patience and 
      gentleness not born of fear, they have "followed the light as God 
      gave them to see the light." They are rapidly laying the material 
      foundations of self-support, widening their circle of 
      intelligence, and beginning to enjoy the blessings that gather 
      around the homes of the industrious poor. They deserve the 
      generous encouragement of all good men. So far as my authority can 
      lawfully extend they shall enjoy the full and equal protection of 
      the Constitution and the laws.

      The free enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in question, and a 
      frank statement of the issue may aid its solution. It is alleged 
      that in many communities negro citizens are practically denied the 
      freedom of the ballot. In so far as the truth of this allegation 
      is admitted, it is answered that in many places honest local 
      government is impossible if the mass of uneducated negroes are 
      allowed to vote. These are grave allegations. So far as the latter 
      is true, it is the only palliation that can be offered for 
      opposing the freedom of the ballot. Bad local government is 
      certainly a great evil, which ought to be prevented; but to 
      violate the freedom and sanctities of the suffrage is more than an 
      evil. It is a crime which, if persisted in, will destroy the 
      Government itself. Suicide is not a remedy. If in other lands it 
      be high treason to compass the death of the king, it shall be 
      counted no less a crime here to strangle our sovereign power and 
      stifle its voice.

      It has been said that unsettled questions have no pity for the 
      repose of nations. It should be said with the utmost emphasis that 
      this question of the suffrage will never give repose or safety to 
      the States or to the nation until each, within its own 
      jurisdiction, makes and keeps the ballot free and pure by the 
      strong sanctions of the law.

      But the danger which arises from ignorance in the voter can not be 
      denied. It covers a field far wider than that of negro suffrage 
      and the present condition of the race. It is a danger that lurks 
      and hides in the sources and fountains of power in every state. We 
      have no standard by which to measure the disaster that may be 
      brought upon us by ignorance and vice in the citizens when joined 
      to corruption and fraud in the suffrage.

      The voters of the Union, who make and unmake constitutions, and 
      upon whose will hang the destinies of our governments, can 
      transmit their supreme authority to no successors save the coming 
      generation of voters, who are the sole heirs of sovereign power. 
      If that generation comes to its inheritance blinded by ignorance 
      and corrupted by vice, the fall of the Republic will be certain 
      and remediless.

      The census has already sounded the alarm in the appalling figures 
      which mark how dangerously high the tide of illiteracy has risen 
      among our voters and their children.

      To the South this question is of supreme importance. But the 
      responsibility for the existence of slavery did not rest upon the 
      South alone. The nation itself is responsible for the extension of 
      the suffrage, and is under special obligations to aid in removing 
      the illiteracy which it has added to the voting population. For 
      the North and South alike there is but one remedy. All the 
      constitutional power of the nation and of the States and all the 
      volunteer forces of the people should be surrendered to meet this 
      danger by the savory influence of universal education.

      It is the high privilege and sacred duty of those now living to 
      educate their successors and fit them, by intelligence and virtue, 
      for the inheritance which awaits them.

      In this beneficent work sections and races should be forgotten and 
      partisanship should be unknown. Let our people find a new meaning 
      in the divine oracle which declares that "a little child shall 
      lead them," for our own little children will soon control the 
      destinies of the Republic.

      My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning the 
      controversies of past generations, and fifty years hence our 
      children will not be divided in their opinions concerning our 
      controversies. They will surely bless their fathers and their 
      fathers' God that the Union was preserved, that slavery was 
      overthrown, and that both races were made equal before the law. We 
      may hasten or we may retard, but we can not prevent, the final 
      reconciliation. Is it not possible for us now to make a truce with 
      time by anticipating and accepting its inevitable verdict?

      Enterprises of the highest importance to our moral and material 
      well-being unite us and offer ample employment of our best powers. 
      Let all our people, leaving behind them the battlefields of dead 
      issues, move forward and in their strength of liberty and the 
      restored Union win the grander victories of peace.

      The prosperity which now prevails is without parallel in our 
      history. Fruitful seasons have done much to secure it, but they 
      have not done all. The preservation of the public credit and the 
      resumption of specie payments, so successfully attained by the 
      Administration of my predecessors, have enabled our people to 
      secure the blessings which the seasons brought.

      By the experience of commercial nations in all ages it has been 
      found that gold and silver afford the only safe foundation for a 
      monetary system. Confusion has recently been created by variations 
      in the relative value of the two metals, but I confidently believe 
      that arrangements can be made between the leading commercial 
      nations which will secure the general use of both metals. Congress 
      should provide that the compulsory coinage of silver now required 
      by law may not disturb our monetary system by driving either metal 
      out of circulation. If possible, such an adjustment should be made 
      that the purchasing power of every coined dollar will be exactly 
      equal to its debt-paying power in all the markets of the world.

      The chief duty of the National Government in connection with the 
      currency of the country is to coin money and declare its value. 
      Grave doubts have been entertained whether Congress is authorized 
      by the Constitution to make any form of paper money legal tender. 
      The present issue of United States notes has been sustained by the 
      necessities of war; but such paper should depend for its value and 
      currency upon its convenience in use and its prompt redemption in 
      coin at the will of the holder, and not upon its compulsory 
      circulation. These notes are not money, but promises to pay money. 
      If the holders demand it, the promise should be kept.

      The refunding of the national debt at a lower rate of interest 
      should be accomplished without compelling the withdrawal of the 
      national-bank notes, and thus disturbing the business of the 
      country.

      I venture to refer to the position I have occupied on financial 
      questions during a long service in Congress, and to say that time 
      and experience have strengthened the opinions I have so often 
      expressed on these subjects.

      The finances of the Government shall suffer no detriment which it 
      may be possible for my Administration to prevent.

      The interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the 
      Government than they have yet received. The farms of the United 
      States afford homes and employment for more than one-half our 
      people, and furnish much the largest part of all our exports. As 
      the Government lights our coasts for the protection of mariners 
      and the benefit of commerce, so it should give to the tillers of 
      the soil the best lights of practical science and experience.

      Our manufacturers are rapidly making us industrially independent, 
      and are opening to capital and labor new and profitable fields of 
      employment. Their steady and healthy growth should still be 
      matured. Our facilities for transportation should be promoted by 
      the continued improvement of our harbors and great interior 
      waterways and by the increase of our tonnage on the ocean.

      The development of the world's commerce has led to an urgent 
      demand for shortening the great sea voyage around Cape Horn by 
      constructing ship canals or railways across the isthmus which 
      unites the continents. Various plans to this end have been 
      suggested and will need consideration, but none of them has been 
      sufficiently matured to warrant the United States in extending 
      pecuniary aid. The subject, however, is one which will immediately 
      engage the attention of the Government with a view to a thorough 
      protection to American interests. We will urge no narrow policy 
      nor seek peculiar or exclusive privileges in any commercial route; 
      but, in the language of my predecessor, I believe it to be the 
      right "and duty of the United States to assert and maintain such 
      supervision and authority over any interoceanic canal across the 
      isthmus that connects North and South America as will protect our 
      national interest."

      The Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom. Congress 
      is prohibited from making any law respecting an establishment of 
      religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Territories 
      of the United States are subject to the direct legislative 
      authority of Congress, and hence the General Government is 
      responsible for any violation of the Constitution in any of them. 
      It is therefore a reproach to the Government that in the most 
      populous of the Territories the constitutional guaranty is not 
      enjoyed by the people and the authority of Congress is set at 
      naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense of 
      manhood by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the administration 
      of justice through ordinary instrumentalities of law.

      In my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting to the 
      uttermost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of 
      every citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all criminal 
      practices, especially of that class which destroy the family 
      relations and endanger social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical 
      organization be safely permitted to usurp in the smallest degree 
      the functions and powers of the National Government.

      The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis 
      until it is regulated by law. For the good of the service itself, 
      for the protection of those who are intrusted with the appointing 
      power against the waste of time and obstruction to the public 
      business caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the 
      protection of incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at 
      the proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor 
      offices of the several Executive Departments and prescribe the 
      grounds upon which removals shall be made during the terms for 
      which incumbents have been appointed.

      Finally, acting always within the authority and limitations of the 
      Constitution, invading neither the rights of the States nor the 
      reserved rights of the people, it will be the purpose of my 
      Administration to maintain the authority of the nation in all 
      places within its jurisdiction; to enforce obedience to all the 
      laws of the Union in the interests of the people; to demand rigid 
      economy in all the expenditures of the Government, and to require 
      the honest and faithful service of all executive officers, 
      remembering that the offices were created, not for the benefit of 
      incumbents or their supporters, but for the service of the 
      Government.

      And now, fellow-citizens, I am about to assume the great trust 
      which you have committed to my hands. I appeal to you for that 
      earnest and thoughtful support which makes this Government in 
      fact, as it is in law, a government of the people.

      I shall greatly rely upon the wisdom and patriotism of Congress 
      and of those who may share with me the responsibilities and duties 
      of administration, and, above all, upon our efforts to promote the 
      welfare of this great people and their Government I reverently 
      invoke the support and blessings of Almighty God.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Grover Cleveland

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1885
      __________________________________________________________________
      On the East Portico of the Capitol, the former Governor of New 
      York was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Morrison 
      Waite. A Democrat whose popularity, in part, was the result that 
      he was not part of the Washington political establishment, Mr. 
      Cleveland rode to the Capitol with President Arthur, who had taken 
      office upon the assassination of President Garfield. After the 
      ceremony, a fireworks display at the White House and a ball at the 
      Pension Building on Judiciary Square were held for the public.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      In the presence of this vast assemblage of my countrymen I am 
      about to supplement and seal by the oath which I shall take the 
      manifestation of the will of a great and free people. In the 
      exercise of their power and right of self-government they have 
      committed to one of their fellow-citizens a supreme and sacred 
      trust, and he here consecrates himself to their service.

      This impressive ceremony adds little to the solemn sense of 
      responsibility with which I contemplate the duty I owe to all the 
      people of the land. Nothing can relieve me from anxiety lest by 
      any act of mine their interests may suffer, and nothing is needed 
      to strengthen my resolution to engage every faculty and effort in 
      the promotion of their welfare.

      Amid the din of party strife the people's choice was made, but its 
      attendant circumstances have demonstrated anew the strength and 
      safety of a government by the people. In each succeeding year it 
      more clearly appears that our democratic principle needs no 
      apology, and that in its fearless and faithful application is to 
      be found the surest guaranty of good government.

      But the best results in the operation of a government wherein 
      every citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper limitation 
      of purely partisan zeal and effort and a correct appreciation of 
      the time when the heat of the partisan should be merged in the 
      patriotism of the citizen.

      To-day the executive branch of the Government is transferred to 
      new keeping. But this is still the Government of all the people, 
      and it should be none the less an object of their affectionate 
      solicitude. At this hour the animosities of political strife, the 
      bitterness of partisan defeat, and the exultation of partisan 
      triumph should be supplanted by an ungrudging acquiescence in the 
      popular will and a sober, conscientious concern for the general 
      weal. Moreover, if from this hour we cheerfully and honestly 
      abandon all sectional prejudice and distrust, and determine, with 
      manly confidence in one another, to work out harmoniously the 
      achievements of our national destiny, we shall deserve to realize 
      all the benefits which our happy form of government can bestow.

      On this auspicious occasion we may well renew the pledge of our 
      devotion to the Constitution, which, launched by the founders of 
      the Republic and consecrated by their prayers and patriotic 
      devotion, has for almost a century borne the hopes and the 
      aspirations of a great people through prosperity and peace and 
      through the shock of foreign conflicts and the perils of domestic 
      strife and vicissitudes.

      By the Father of his Country our Constitution was commended for 
      adoption as "the result of a spirit of amity and mutual 
      concession." In that same spirit it should be administered, in 
      order to promote the lasting welfare of the country and to secure 
      the full measure of its priceless benefits to us and to those who 
      will succeed to the blessings of our national life. The large 
      variety of diverse and competing interests subject to Federal 
      control, persistently seeking the recognition of their claims, 
      need give us no fear that "the greatest good to the greatest 
      number" will fail to be accomplished if in the halls of national 
      legislation that spirit of amity and mutual concession shall 
      prevail in which the Constitution had its birth. If this involves 
      the surrender or postponement of private interests and the 
      abandonment of local advantages, compensation will be found in the 
      assurance that the common interest is subserved and the general 
      welfare advanced.

      In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be guided 
      by a just and unstrained construction of the Constitution, a 
      careful observance of the distinction between the powers granted 
      to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to 
      the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those functions 
      which by the Constitution and laws have been especially assigned 
      to the executive branch of the Government.

      But he who takes the oath today to preserve, protect, and defend 
      the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn 
      obligation which every patriotic citizen--on the farm, in the 
      workshop, in the busy marts of trade, and everywhere--should share 
      with him. The Constitution which prescribes his oath, my 
      countrymen, is yours; the Government you have chosen him to 
      administer for a time is yours; the suffrage which executes the 
      will of freemen is yours; the laws and the entire scheme of our 
      civil rule, from the town meeting to the State capitals and the 
      national capital, is yours. Your every voter, as surely as your 
      Chief Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a 
      different sphere, exercises a public trust. Nor is this all. Every 
      citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of 
      its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their 
      fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the people's will impressed upon 
      the whole framework of our civil polity--municipal, State, and 
      Federal; and this is the price of our liberty and the inspiration 
      of our faith in the Republic.

      It is the duty of those serving the people in public place to 
      closely limit public expenditures to the actual needs of the 
      Government economically administered, because this bounds the 
      right of the Government to exact tribute from the earnings of 
      labor or the property of the citizen, and because public 
      extravagance begets extravagance among the people. We should never 
      be ashamed of the simplicity and prudential economies which are 
      best suited to the operation of a republican form of government 
      and most compatible with the mission of the American people. Those 
      who are selected for a limited time to manage public affairs are 
      still of the people, and may do much by their example to 
      encourage, consistently with the dignity of their official 
      functions, that plain way of life which among their fellow-
      citizens aids integrity and promotes thrift and prosperity.

      The genius of our institutions, the needs of our people in their 
      home life, and the attention which is demanded for the settlement 
      and development of the resources of our vast territory dictate the 
      scrupulous avoidance of any departure from that foreign policy 
      commended by the history, the traditions, and the prosperity of 
      our Republic. It is the policy of independence, favored by our 
      position and defended by our known love of justice and by our 
      power. It is the policy of peace suitable to our interests. It is 
      the policy of neutrality, rejecting any share in foreign broils 
      and ambitions upon other continents and repelling their intrusion 
      here. It is the policy of Monroe and of Washington and Jefferson--
      "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; 
      entangling alliance with none."

      A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the people 
      demands that our finances shall be established upon such a sound 
      and sensible basis as shall secure the safety and confidence of 
      business interests and make the wage of labor sure and steady, and 
      that our system of revenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve the 
      people of unnecessary taxation, having a due regard to the 
      interests of capital invested and workingmen employed in American 
      industries, and preventing the accumulation of a surplus in the 
      Treasury to tempt extravagance and waste.

      Care for the property of the nation and for the needs of future 
      settlers requires that the public domain should be protected from 
      purloining schemes and unlawful occupation.

      The conscience of the people demands that the Indians within our 
      boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the 
      Government and their education and civilization promoted with a 
      view to their ultimate citizenship, and that polygamy in the 
      Territories, destructive of the family relation and offensive to 
      the moral sense of the civilized world, shall be repressed.

      The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration 
      of a servile class to compete with American labor, with no 
      intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and 
      retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization.

      The people demand reform in the administration of the Government 
      and the application of business principles to public affairs. As a 
      means to this end, civil-service reform should be in good faith 
      enforced. Our citizens have the right to protection from the 
      incompetency of public employees who hold their places solely as 
      the reward of partisan service, and from the corrupting influence 
      of those who promise and the vicious methods of those who expect 
      such rewards; and those who worthily seek public employment have 
      the right to insist that merit and competency shall be recognized 
      instead of party subserviency or the surrender of honest political 
      belief.

      In the administration of a government pledged to do equal and 
      exact justice to all men there should be no pretext for anxiety 
      touching the protection of the freedmen in their rights or their 
      security in the enjoyment of their privileges under the 
      Constitution and its amendments. All discussion as to their 
      fitness for the place accorded to them as American citizens is 
      idle and unprofitable except as it suggests the necessity for 
      their improvement. The fact that they are citizens entitles them 
      to all the rights due to that relation and charges them with all 
      its duties, obligations, and responsibilities.

      These topics and the constant and ever-varying wants of an active 
      and enterprising population may well receive the attention and the 
      patriotic endeavor of all who make and execute the Federal law. 
      Our duties are practical and call for industrious application, an 
      intelligent perception of the claims of public office, and, above 
      all, a firm determination, by united action, to secure to all the 
      people of the land the full benefits of the best form of 
      government ever vouchsafed to man. And let us not trust to human 
      effort alone, but humbly acknowledging the power and goodness of 
      Almighty God, who presides over the destiny of nations, and who 
      has at all times been revealed in our country's history, let us 
      invoke His aid and His blessings upon our labors.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                           Benjamin Harrison

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1889
      __________________________________________________________________
      Nominated on the 8th ballot of the Republican convention, the 
      Civil War veteran, jurist, and Senator from Indiana was the only 
      grandson of a President to be elected to the office, as well as 
      the only incumbent to lose in the following election to the person 
      he had defeated. In a rainstorm, the oath of office was 
      administered by Chief Justice Melville Fuller on the East Portico 
      of the Capitol. President Cleveland held an umbrella over his head 
      as he took the oath. John Philip Sousa's Marine Corps band played 
      for a large crowd at the inaugural ball in the Pension Building.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      There is no constitutional or legal requirement that the President 
      shall take the oath of office in the presence of the people, but 
      there is so manifest an appropriateness in the public induction to 
      office of the chief executive officer of the nation that from the 
      beginning of the Government the people, to whose service the 
      official oath consecrates the officer, have been called to witness 
      the solemn ceremonial. The oath taken in the presence of the 
      people becomes a mutual covenant. The officer covenants to serve 
      the whole body of the people by a faithful execution of the laws, 
      so that they may be the unfailing defense and security of those 
      who respect and observe them, and that neither wealth, station, 
      nor the power of combinations shall be able to evade their just 
      penalties or to wrest them from a beneficent public purpose to 
      serve the ends of cruelty or selfishness.

      My promise is spoken; yours unspoken, but not the less real and 
      solemn. The people of every State have here their representatives. 
      Surely I do not misinterpret the spirit of the occasion when I 
      assume that the whole body of the people covenant with me and with 
      each other to-day to support and defend the Constitution and the 
      Union of the States, to yield willing obedience to all the laws 
      and each to every other citizen his equal civil and political 
      rights. Entering thus solemnly into covenant with each other, we 
      may reverently invoke and confidently expect the favor and help of 
      Almighty God--that He will give to me wisdom, strength, and 
      fidelity, and to our people a spirit of fraternity and a love of 
      righteousness and peace.

      This occasion derives peculiar interest from the fact that the 
      Presidential term which begins this day is the twenty-sixth under 
      our Constitution. The first inauguration of President Washington 
      took place in New York, where Congress was then sitting, on the 
      30th day of April, 1789, having been deferred by reason of delays 
      attending the organization of the Congress and the canvass of the 
      electoral vote. Our people have already worthily observed the 
      centennials of the Declaration of Independence, of the battle of 
      Yorktown, and of the adoption of the Constitution, and will 
      shortly celebrate in New York the institution of the second great 
      department of our constitutional scheme of government. When the 
      centennial of the institution of the judicial department, by the 
      organization of the Supreme Court, shall have been suitably 
      observed, as I trust it will be, our nation will have fully 
      entered its second century.

      I will not attempt to note the marvelous and in great part happy 
      contrasts between our country as it steps over the threshold into 
      its second century of organized existence under the Constitution 
      and that weak but wisely ordered young nation that looked 
      undauntedly down the first century, when all its years stretched 
      out before it.

      Our people will not fail at this time to recall the incidents 
      which accompanied the institution of government under the 
      Constitution, or to find inspiration and guidance in the teachings 
      and example of Washington and his great associates, and hope and 
      courage in the contrast which thirty-eight populous and prosperous 
      States offer to the thirteen States, weak in everything except 
      courage and the love of liberty, that then fringed our Atlantic 
      seaboard.

      The Territory of Dakota has now a population greater than any of 
      the original States (except Virginia) and greater than the 
      aggregate of five of the smaller States in 1790. The center of 
      population when our national capital was located was east of 
      Baltimore, and it was argued by many well-informed persons that it 
      would move eastward rather than westward; yet in 1880 it was found 
      to be near Cincinnati, and the new census about to be taken will 
      show another stride to the westward. That which was the body has 
      come to be only the rich fringe of the nation's robe. But our 
      growth has not been limited to territory, population and aggregate 
      wealth, marvelous as it has been in each of those directions. The 
      masses of our people are better fed, clothed, and housed than 
      their fathers were. The facilities for popular education have been 
      vastly enlarged and more generally diffused.

      The virtues of courage and patriotism have given recent proof of 
      their continued presence and increasing power in the hearts and 
      over the lives of our people. The influences of religion have been 
      multiplied and strengthened. The sweet offices of charity have 
      greatly increased. The virtue of temperance is held in higher 
      estimation. We have not attained an ideal condition. Not all of 
      our people are happy and prosperous; not all of them are virtuous 
      and law-abiding. But on the whole the opportunities offered to the 
      individual to secure the comforts of life are better than are 
      found elsewhere and largely better than they were here one hundred 
      years ago.

      The surrender of a large measure of sovereignty to the General 
      Government, effected by the adoption of the Constitution, was not 
      accomplished until the suggestions of reason were strongly 
      reenforced by the more imperative voice of experience. The 
      divergent interests of peace speedily demanded a "more perfect 
      union." The merchant, the shipmaster, and the manufacturer 
      discovered and disclosed to our statesmen and to the people that 
      commercial emancipation must be added to the political freedom 
      which had been so bravely won. The commercial policy of the mother 
      country had not relaxed any of its hard and oppressive features. 
      To hold in check the development of our commercial marine, to 
      prevent or retard the establishment and growth of manufactures in 
      the States, and so to secure the American market for their shops 
      and the carrying trade for their ships, was the policy of European 
      statesmen, and was pursued with the most selfish vigor.

      Petitions poured in upon Congress urging the imposition of 
      discriminating duties that should encourage the production of 
      needed things at home. The patriotism of the people, which no 
      longer found afield of exercise in war, was energetically directed 
      to the duty of equipping the young Republic for the defense of its 
      independence by making its people self-dependent. Societies for 
      the promotion of home manufactures and for encouraging the use of 
      domestics in the dress of the people were organized in many of the 
      States. The revival at the end of the century of the same 
      patriotic interest in the preservation and development of domestic 
      industries and the defense of our working people against injurious 
      foreign competition is an incident worthy of attention. It is not 
      a departure but a return that we have witnessed. The protective 
      policy had then its opponents. The argument was made, as now, that 
      its benefits inured to particular classes or sections.

      If the question became in any sense or at any time sectional, it 
      was only because slavery existed in some of the States. But for 
      this there was no reason why the cotton-producing States should 
      not have led or walked abreast with the New England States in the 
      production of cotton fabrics. There was this reason only why the 
      States that divide with Pennsylvania the mineral treasures of the 
      great southeastern and central mountain ranges should have been so 
      tardy in bringing to the smelting furnace and to the mill the coal 
      and iron from their near opposing hillsides. Mill fires were 
      lighted at the funeral pile of slavery. The emancipation 
      proclamation was heard in the depths of the earth as well as in 
      the sky; men were made free, and material things became our better 
      servants.

      The sectional element has happily been eliminated from the tariff 
      discussion. We have no longer States that are necessarily only 
      planting States. None are excluded from achieving that 
      diversification of pursuits among the people which brings wealth 
      and contentment. The cotton plantation will not be less valuable 
      when the product is spun in the country town by operatives whose 
      necessities call for diversified crops and create a home demand 
      for garden and agricultural products. Every new mine, furnace, and 
      factory is an extension of the productive capacity of the State 
      more real and valuable than added territory.

      Shall the prejudices and paralysis of slavery continue to hang 
      upon the skirts of progress? How long will those who rejoice that 
      slavery no longer exists cherish or tolerate the incapacities it 
      put upon their communities? I look hopefully to the continuance of 
      our protective system and to the consequent development of 
      manufacturing and mining enterprises in the States hitherto wholly 
      given to agriculture as a potent influence in the perfect 
      unification of our people. The men who have invested their capital 
      in these enterprises, the farmers who have felt the benefit of 
      their neighborhood, and the men who work in shop or field will not 
      fail to find and to defend a community of interest.

      Is it not quite possible that the farmers and the promoters of the 
      great mining and manufacturing enterprises which have recently 
      been established in the South may yet find that the free ballot of 
      the workingman, without distinction of race, is needed for their 
      defense as well as for his own? I do not doubt that if those men 
      in the South who now accept the tariff views of Clay and the 
      constitutional expositions of Webster would courageously avow and 
      defend their real convictions they would not find it difficult, by 
      friendly instruction and cooperation, to make the black man their 
      efficient and safe ally, not only in establishing correct 
      principles in our national administration, but in preserving for 
      their local communities the benefits of social order and 
      economical and honest government. At least until the good offices 
      of kindness and education have been fairly tried the contrary 
      conclusion can not be plausibly urged.

      I have altogether rejected the suggestion of a special Executive 
      policy for any section of our country. It is the duty of the 
      Executive to administer and enforce in the methods and by the 
      instrumentalities pointed out and provided by the Constitution all 
      the laws enacted by Congress. These laws are general and their 
      administration should be uniform and equal. As a citizen may not 
      elect what laws he will obey, neither may the Executive eject 
      which he will enforce. The duty to obey and to execute embraces 
      the Constitution in its entirety and the whole code of laws 
      enacted under it. The evil example of permitting individuals, 
      corporations, or communities to nullify the laws because they 
      cross some selfish or local interest or prejudices is full of 
      danger, not only to the nation at large, but much more to those 
      who use this pernicious expedient to escape their just obligations 
      or to obtain an unjust advantage over others. They will presently 
      themselves be compelled to appeal to the law for protection, and 
      those who would use the law as a defense must not deny that use of 
      it to others.

      If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their 
      legal limitations and duties, they would have less cause to 
      complain of the unlawful limitations of their rights or of violent 
      interference with their operations. The community that by concert, 
      open or secret, among its citizens denies to a portion of its 
      members their plain rights under the law has severed the only safe 
      bond of social order and prosperity. The evil works from a bad 
      center both ways. It demoralizes those who practice it and 
      destroys the faith of those who suffer by it in the efficiency of 
      the law as a safe protector. The man in whose breast that faith 
      has been darkened is naturally the subject of dangerous and 
      uncanny suggestions. Those who use unlawful methods, if moved by 
      no higher motive than the selfishness that prompted them, may well 
      stop and inquire what is to be the end of this.

      An unlawful expedient can not become a permanent condition of 
      government. If the educated and influential classes in a community 
      either practice or connive at the systematic violation of laws 
      that seem to them to cross their convenience, what can they expect 
      when the lesson that convenience or a supposed class interest is a 
      sufficient cause for lawlessness has been well learned by the 
      ignorant classes? A community where law is the rule of conduct and 
      where courts, not mobs, execute its penalties is the only 
      attractive field for business investments and honest labor.

      Our naturalization laws should be so amended as to make the 
      inquiry into the character and good disposition of persons 
      applying for citizenship more careful and searching. Our existing 
      laws have been in their administration an unimpressive and often 
      an unintelligible form. We accept the man as a citizen without any 
      knowledge of his fitness, and he assumes the duties of citizenship 
      without any knowledge as to what they are. The privileges of 
      American citizenship are so great and its duties so grave that we 
      may well insist upon a good knowledge of every person applying for 
      citizenship and a good knowledge by him of our institutions. We 
      should not cease to be hospitable to immigration, but we should 
      cease to be careless as to the character of it. There are men of 
      all races, even the best, whose coming is necessarily a burden 
      upon our public revenues or a threat to social order. These should 
      be identified and excluded.

      We have happily maintained a policy of avoiding all interference 
      with European affairs. We have been only interested spectators of 
      their contentions in diplomacy and in war, ready to use our 
      friendly offices to promote peace, but never obtruding our advice 
      and never attempting unfairly to coin the distresses of other 
      powers into commercial advantage to ourselves. We have a just 
      right to expect that our European policy will be the American 
      policy of European courts.

      It is so manifestly incompatible with those precautions for our 
      peace and safety which all the great powers habitually observe and 
      enforce in matters affecting them that a shorter waterway between 
      our eastern and western seaboards should be dominated by any 
      European Government that we may confidently expect that such a 
      purpose will not be entertained by any friendly power.

      We shall in the future, as in the past, use every endeavor to 
      maintain and enlarge our friendly relations with all the great 
      powers, but they will not expect us to look kindly upon any 
      project that would leave us subject to the dangers of a hostile 
      observation or environment. We have not sought to dominate or to 
      absorb any of our weaker neighbors, but rather to aid and 
      encourage them to establish free and stable governments resting 
      upon the consent of their own people. We have a clear right to 
      expect, therefore, that no European Government will seek to 
      establish colonial dependencies upon the territory of these 
      independent American States. That which a sense of justice 
      restrains us from seeking they may be reasonably expected 
      willingly to forego.

      It must not be assumed, however, that our interests are so 
      exclusively American that our entire inattention to any events 
      that may transpire elsewhere can be taken for granted. Our 
      citizens domiciled for purposes of trade in all countries and in 
      many of the islands of the sea demand and will have our adequate 
      care in their personal and commercial rights. The necessities of 
      our Navy require convenient coaling stations and dock and harbor 
      privileges. These and other trading privileges we will feel free 
      to obtain only by means that do not in any degree partake of 
      coercion, however feeble the government from which we ask such 
      concessions. But having fairly obtained them by methods and for 
      purposes entirely consistent with the most friendly disposition 
      toward all other powers, our consent will be necessary to any 
      modification or impairment of the concession.

      We shall neither fail to respect the flag of any friendly nation 
      or the just rights of its citizens, nor to exact the like 
      treatment for our own. Calmness, justice, and consideration should 
      characterize our diplomacy. The offices of an intelligent 
      diplomacy or of friendly arbitration in proper cases should be 
      adequate to the peaceful adjustment of all international 
      difficulties. By such methods we will make our contribution to the 
      world's peace, which no nation values more highly, and avoid the 
      opprobrium which must fall upon the nation that ruthlessly breaks 
      it.

      The duty devolved by law upon the President to nominate and, by 
      and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all 
      public officers whose appointment is not otherwise provided for in 
      the Constitution or by act of Congress has become very burdensome 
      and its wise and efficient discharge full of difficulty. The civil 
      list is so large that a personal knowledge of any large number of 
      the applicants is impossible. The President must rely upon the 
      representations of others, and these are often made 
      inconsiderately and without any just sense of responsibility. I 
      have a right, I think, to insist that those who volunteer or are 
      invited to give advice as to appointments shall exercise 
      consideration and fidelity. A high sense of duty and an ambition 
      to improve the service should characterize all public officers.

      There are many ways in which the convenience and comfort of those 
      who have business with our public offices may be promoted by a 
      thoughtful and obliging officer, and I shall expect those whom I 
      may appoint to justify their selection by a conspicuous efficiency 
      in the discharge of their duties. Honorable party service will 
      certainly not be esteemed by me a disqualification for public 
      office, but it will in no case be allowed to serve as a shield of 
      official negligence, incompetency, or delinquency. It is entirely 
      creditable to seek public office by proper methods and with proper 
      motives, and all applicants will be treated with consideration; 
      but I shall need, and the heads of Departments will need, time for 
      inquiry and deliberation. Persistent importunity will not, 
      therefore, be the best support of an application for office. Heads 
      of Departments, bureaus, and all other public officers having any 
      duty connected therewith will be expected to enforce the civil-
      service law fully and without evasion. Beyond this obvious duty I 
      hope to do something more to advance the reform of the civil 
      service. The ideal, or even my own ideal, I shall probably not 
      attain. Retrospect will be a safer basis of judgment than 
      promises. We shall not, however, I am sure, be able to put our 
      civil service upon a nonpartisan basis until we have secured an 
      incumbency that fair-minded men of the opposition will approve for 
      impartiality and integrity. As the number of such in the civil 
      list is increased removals from office will diminish.

      While a Treasury surplus is not the greatest evil, it is a serious 
      evil. Our revenue should be ample to meet the ordinary annual 
      demands upon our Treasury, with a sufficient margin for those 
      extraordinary but scarcely less imperative demands which arise now 
      and then. Expenditure should always be made with economy and only 
      upon public necessity. Wastefulness, profligacy, or favoritism in 
      public expenditures is criminal. But there is nothing in the 
      condition of our country or of our people to suggest that anything 
      presently necessary to the public prosperity, security, or honor 
      should be unduly postponed.

      It will be the duty of Congress wisely to forecast and estimate 
      these extraordinary demands, and, having added them to our 
      ordinary expenditures, to so adjust our revenue laws that no 
      considerable annual surplus will remain. We will fortunately be 
      able to apply to the redemption of the public debt any small and 
      unforeseen excess of revenue. This is better than to reduce our 
      income below our necessary expenditures, with the resulting choice 
      between another change of our revenue laws and an increase of the 
      public debt. It is quite possible, I am sure, to effect the 
      necessary reduction in our revenues without breaking down our 
      protective tariff or seriously injuring any domestic industry.

      The construction of a sufficient number of modern war ships and of 
      their necessary armament should progress as rapidly as is 
      consistent with care and perfection in plans and workmanship. The 
      spirit, courage, and skill of our naval officers and seamen have 
      many times in our history given to weak ships and inefficient guns 
      a rating greatly beyond that of the naval list. That they will 
      again do so upon occasion I do not doubt; but they ought not, by 
      premeditation or neglect, to be left to the risks and exigencies 
      of an unequal combat. We should encourage the establishment of 
      American steamship lines. The exchanges of commerce demand stated, 
      reliable, and rapid means of communication, and until these are 
      provided the development of our trade with the States lying south 
      of us is impossible.

      Our pension laws should give more adequate and discriminating 
      relief to the Union soldiers and sailors and to their widows and 
      orphans. Such occasions as this should remind us that we owe 
      everything to their valor and sacrifice.

      It is a subject of congratulation that there is a near prospect of 
      the admission into the Union of the Dakotas and Montana and 
      Washington Territories. This act of justice has been unreasonably 
      delayed in the case of some of them. The people who have settled 
      these Territories are intelligent, enterprising, and patriotic, 
      and the accession these new States will add strength to the 
      nation. It is due to the settlers in the Territories who have 
      availed themselves of the invitations of our land laws to make 
      homes upon the public domain that their titles should be speedily 
      adjusted and their honest entries confirmed by patent.

      It is very gratifying to observe the general interest now being 
      manifested in the reform of our election laws. Those who have been 
      for years calling attention to the pressing necessity of throwing 
      about the ballot box and about the elector further safeguards, in 
      order that our elections might not only be free and pure, but 
      might clearly appear to be so, will welcome the accession of any 
      who did not so soon discover the need of reform. The National 
      Congress has not as yet taken control of elections in that case 
      over which the Constitution gives it jurisdiction, but has 
      accepted and adopted the election laws of the several States, 
      provided penalties for their violation and a method of 
      supervision. Only the inefficiency of the State laws or an unfair 
      partisan administration of them could suggest a departure from 
      this policy.

      It was clearly, however, in the contemplation of the framers of 
      the Constitution that such an exigency might arise, and provision 
      was wisely made for it. The freedom of the ballot is a condition 
      of our national life, and no power vested in Congress or in the 
      Executive to secure or perpetuate it should remain unused upon 
      occasion. The people of all the Congressional districts have an 
      equal interest that the election in each shall truly express the 
      views and wishes of a majority of the qualified electors residing 
      within it. The results of such elections are not local, and the 
      insistence of electors residing in other districts that they shall 
      be pure and free does not savor at all of impertinence.

      If in any of the States the public security is thought to be 
      threatened by ignorance among the electors, the obvious remedy is 
      education. The sympathy and help of our people will not be 
      withheld from any community struggling with special embarrassments 
      or difficulties connected with the suffrage if the remedies 
      proposed proceed upon lawful lines and are promoted by just and 
      honorable methods. How shall those who practice election frauds 
      recover that respect for the sanctity of the ballot which is the 
      first condition and obligation of good citizenship? The man who 
      has come to regard the ballot box as a juggler's hat has renounced 
      his allegiance.

      Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let 
      those who would die for the flag on the field of battle give a 
      better proof of their patriotism and a higher glory to their 
      country by promoting fraternity and justice. A party success that 
      is achieved by unfair methods or by practices that partake of 
      revolution is hurtful and evanescent even from a party standpoint. 
      We should hold our differing opinions in mutual respect, and, 
      having submitted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should 
      accept an adverse judgment with the same respect that we would 
      have demanded of our opponents if the decision had been in our 
      favor.

      No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and 
      love or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, 
      and so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor. God 
      has placed upon our head a diadem and has laid at our feet power 
      and wealth beyond definition or calculation. But we must not 
      forget that we take these gifts upon the condition that justice 
      and mercy shall hold the reins of power and that the upward 
      avenues of hope shall be free to all the people.

      I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush 
      along our path, but we have uncovered and vanquished them all. 
      Passion has swept some of our communities, but only to give us a 
      new demonstration that the great body of our people are stable, 
      patriotic, and law-abiding. No political party can long pursue 
      advantage at the expense of public honor or by rude and indecent 
      methods without protest and fatal disaffection in its own body. 
      The peaceful agencies of commerce are more fully revealing the 
      necessary unity of all our communities, and the increasing 
      intercourse of our people is promoting mutual respect. We shall 
      find unalloyed pleasure in the revelation which our next census 
      will make of the swift development of the great resources of some 
      of the States. Each State will bring its generous contribution to 
      the great aggregate of the nation's increase. And when the 
      harvests from the fields, the cattle from the hills, and the ores 
      of the earth shall have been weighed, counted, and valued, we will 
      turn from them all to crown with the highest honor the State that 
      has most promoted education, virtue, justice, and patriotism among 
      its people.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Grover Cleveland

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1893
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      A light snowfall the night before the inauguration discouraged 
      many spectators from attending President Cleveland's second 
      inauguration. The Democrat had decisively defeated President 
      Harrison in the election of 1892. Chief Justice Melville Fuller 
      administered the oath of office on the East Portico of the 
      Capitol. The inaugural ball at the Pension Building featured the 
      new invention of electric lights.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Fellow-Citizens:

      In obedience of the mandate of my countrymen I am about to 
      dedicate myself to their service under the sanction of a solemn 
      oath. Deeply moved by the expression of confidence and personal 
      attachment which has called me to this service, I am sure my 
      gratitude can make no better return than the pledge I now give 
      before God and these witnesses of unreserved and complete devotion 
      to the interests and welfare of those who have honored me.

      I deem it fitting on this occasion, while indicating the opinion I 
      hold concerning public questions of present importance, to also 
      briefly refer to the existence of certain conditions and 
      tendencies among our people which seem to menace the integrity and 
      usefulness of their Government.

      While every American citizen must contemplate with the utmost 
      pride and enthusiasm the growth and expansion of our country, the 
      sufficiency of our institutions to stand against the rudest shocks 
      of violence, the wonderful thrift and enterprise of our people, 
      and the demonstrated superiority of our free government, it 
      behooves us to constantly watch for every symptom of insidious 
      infirmity that threatens our national vigor.

      The strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health courts the 
      sternest activities of life and rejoices in the hardihood of 
      constant labor may still have lurking near his vitals the unheeded 
      disease that dooms him to sudden collapse.

      It can not be doubted that,our stupendous achievements as a people 
      and our country's robust strength have given rise to heedlessness 
      of those laws governing our national health which we can no more 
      evade than human life can escape the laws of God and nature.

      Manifestly nothing is more vital to our supremacy as a nation and 
      to the beneficent purposes of our Government than a sound and 
      stable currency. Its exposure to degradation should at once arouse 
      to activity the most enlightened statesmanship, and the danger of 
      depreciation in the purchasing power of the wages paid to toil 
      should furnish the strongest incentive to prompt and conservative 
      precaution.

      In dealing with our present embarrassing situation as related to 
      this subject we will be wise if we temper our confidence and faith 
      in our national strength and resources with the frank concession 
      that even these will not permit us to defy with impunity the 
      inexorable laws of finance and trade. At the same time, in our 
      efforts to adjust differences of opinion we should be free from 
      intolerance or passion, and our judgments should be unmoved by 
      alluring phrases and unvexed by selfish interests.

      I am confident that such an approach to the subject will result in 
      prudent and effective remedial legislation. In the meantime, so 
      far as the executive branch of the Government can intervene, none 
      of the powers with which it is invested will be withheld when 
      their exercise is deemed necessary to maintain our national credit 
      or avert financial disaster.

      Closely related to the exaggerated confidence in our country's 
      greatness which tends to a disregard of the rules of national 
      safety, another danger confronts us not less serious. I refer to 
      the prevalence of a popular disposition to expect from the 
      operation of the Government especial and direct individual 
      advantages.

      The verdict of our voters which condemned the injustice of 
      maintaining protection for protection's sake enjoins upon the 
      people's servants the duty of exposing and destroying the brood of 
      kindred evils which are the unwholesome progeny of paternalism. 
      This is the bane of republican institutions and the constant peril 
      of our government by the people. It degrades to the purposes of 
      wily craft the plan of rule our fathers established and bequeathed 
      to us as an object of our love and veneration. It perverts the 
      patriotic sentiments of our countrymen and tempts them to pitiful 
      calculation of the sordid gain to be derived from their 
      Government's maintenance. It undermines the self-reliance of our 
      people and substitutes in its place dependence upon governmental 
      favoritism. It stifles the spirit of true Americanism and 
      stupefies every ennobling trait of American citizenship.

      The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better 
      lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and 
      cheerfully support their Government its functions do not include 
      the support of the people.

      The acceptance of this principle leads to a refusal of bounties 
      and subsidies, which burden the labor and thrift of a portion of 
      our citizens to aid ill-advised or languishing enterprises in 
      which they have no concern. It leads also to a challenge of wild 
      and reckless pension expenditure, which overleaps the bounds of 
      grateful recognition of patriotic service and prostitutes to 
      vicious uses the people's prompt and generous impulse to aid those 
      disabled in their country's defense.

      Every thoughtful American must realize the importance of checking 
      at its beginning any tendency in public or private station to 
      regard frugality and economy as virtues which we may safely 
      outgrow. The toleration of this idea results in the waste of the 
      people's money by their chosen servants and encourages prodigality 
      and extravagance in the home life of our countrymen.

      Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a 
      crime against the citizen, and the contempt of our people for 
      economy and frugality in their personal affairs deplorably saps 
      the strength and sturdiness of our national character.

      It is a plain dictate of honesty and good government that public 
      expenditures should be limited by public necessity, and that this 
      should be measured by the rules of strict economy; and it is 
      equally clear that frugality among the people is the best guaranty 
      of a contented and strong support of free institutions.

      One mode of the misappropriation of public funds is avoided when 
      appointments to office, instead of being the rewards of partisan 
      activity, are awarded to those whose efficiency promises a fair 
      return of work for the compensation paid to them. To secure the 
      fitness and competency of appointees to office and remove from 
      political action the demoralizing madness for spoils, civil-
      service reform has found a place in our public policy and laws. 
      The benefits already gained through this instrumentality and the 
      further usefulness it promises entitle it to the hearty support 
      and encouragement of all who desire to see our public service well 
      performed or who hope for the elevation of political sentiment and 
      the purification of political methods.

      The existence of immense aggregations of kindred enterprises and 
      combinations of business interests formed for the purpose of 
      limiting production and fixing prices is inconsistent with the 
      fair field which ought to be open to every independent activity. 
      Legitimate strife in business should not be superseded by an 
      enforced concession to the demands of combinations that have the 
      power to destroy, nor should the people to be served lose the 
      benefit of cheapness which usually results from wholesome 
      competition. These aggregations and combinations frequently 
      constitute conspiracies against the interests of the people, and 
      in all their phases they are unnatural and opposed to our American 
      sense of fairness. To the extent that they can be reached and 
      restrained by Federal power the General Government should relieve 
      our citizens from their interference and exactions.

      Loyalty to the principles upon which our Government rests 
      positively demands that the equality before the law which it 
      guarantees to every citizen should be justly and in good faith 
      conceded in all parts of the land. The enjoyment of this right 
      follows the badge of citizenship wherever found, and, unimpaired 
      by race or color, it appeals for recognition to American manliness 
      and fairness.

      Our relations with the Indians located within our border impose 
      upon us responsibilities we can not escape. Humanity and 
      consistency require us to treat them with forbearance and in our 
      dealings with them to honestly and considerately regard their 
      rights and interests. Every effort should be made to lead them, 
      through the paths of civilization and education, to self-
      supporting and independent citizenship. In the meantime, as the 
      nation's wards, they should be promptly defended against the 
      cupidity of designing men and shielded from every influence or 
      temptation that retards their advancement.

      The people of the United States have decreed that on this day the 
      control of their Government in its legislative and executive 
      branches shall be given to a political party pledged in the most 
      positive terms to the accomplishment of tariff reform. They have 
      thus determined in favor of a more just and equitable system of 
      Federal taxation. The agents they have chosen to carry out their 
      purposes are bound by their promises not less than by the command 
      of their masters to devote themselves unremittingly to this 
      service.

      While there should be no surrender of principle, our task must be 
      undertaken wisely and without heedless vindictiveness. Our mission 
      is not punishment, but the rectification of wrong. If in lifting 
      burdens from the daily life of our people we reduce inordinate and 
      unequal advantages too long enjoyed, this is but a necessary 
      incident of our return to right and justice. If we exact from 
      unwilling minds acquiescence in the theory of an honest 
      distribution of the fund of the governmental beneficence treasured 
      up for all, we but insist upon a principle which underlies our 
      free institutions. When we tear aside the delusions and 
      misconceptions which have blinded our countrymen to their 
      condition under vicious tariff laws, we but show them how far they 
      have been led away from the paths of contentment and prosperity. 
      When we proclaim that the necessity for revenue to support the 
      Government furnishes the only justification for taxing the people, 
      we announce a truth so plain that its denial would seem to 
      indicate the extent to which judgment may be influenced by 
      familiarity with perversions of the taxing power. And when we seek 
      to reinstate the self-confidence and business enterprise of our 
      citizens by discrediting an abject dependence upon governmental 
      favor, we strive to stimulate those elements of American character 
      which support the hope of American achievement.

      Anxiety for the redemption of the pledges which my party has made 
      and solicitude for the complete justification of the trust the 
      people have reposed in us constrain me to remind those with whom I 
      am to cooperate that we can succeed in doing the work which has 
      been especially set before us only by the most sincere, 
      harmonious, and disinterested effort. Even if insuperable 
      obstacles and opposition prevent the consummation of our task, we 
      shall hardly be excused; and if failure can be traced to our fault 
      or neglect we may be sure the people will hold us to a swift and 
      exacting accountability.

      The oath I now take to preserve, protect, and defend the 
      Constitution of the United States not only impressively defines 
      the great responsibility I assume, but suggests obedience to 
      constitutional commands as the rule by which my official conduct 
      must be guided. I shall to the best of my ability and within my 
      sphere of duty preserve the Constitution by loyally protecting 
      every grant of Federal power it contains, by defending all its 
      restraints when attacked by impatience and restlessness, and by 
      enforcing its limitations and reservations in favor of the States 
      and the people.

      Fully impressed with the gravity of the duties that confront me 
      and mindful of my weakness, I should be appalled if it were my lot 
      to bear unaided the responsibilities which await me. I am, 
      however, saved from discouragement when I remember that I shall 
      have the support and the counsel and cooperation of wise and 
      patriotic men who will stand at my side in Cabinet places or will 
      represent the people in their legislative halls.

      I find also much comfort in remembering that my countrymen are 
      just and generous and in the assurance that they will not condemn 
      those who by sincere devotion to their service deserve their 
      forbearance and approval.

      Above all, I know there is a Supreme Being who rules the affairs 
      of men and whose goodness and mercy have always followed the 
      American people, and I know He will not turn from us now if we 
      humbly and reverently seek His powerful aid.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            William McKinley

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1897
      __________________________________________________________________
      A Civil War officer, and a Governor and Congressman from Ohio, Mr. 
      McKinley took the oath on a platform erected on the north East 
      Front steps at the Capitol. It was administered by Chief Justice 
      Melville Fuller. The Republican had defeated Democrat William 
      Jennings Bryan on the issue of the gold standard in the currency. 
      Thomas Edison's new motion picture camera captured the events, and 
      his gramophone recorded the address. The inaugural ball was held 
      in the Pension Building.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Fellow-Citizens:

      In obedience to the will of the people, and in their presence, by 
      the authority vested in me by this oath, I assume the arduous and 
      responsible duties of President of the United States, relying upon 
      the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty 
      God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon 
      the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American 
      people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so 
      long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.

      The responsibilities of the high trust to which I have been 
      called--always of grave importance--are augmented by the 
      prevailing business conditions entailing idleness upon willing 
      labor and loss to useful enterprises. The country is suffering 
      from industrial disturbances from which speedy relief must be had. 
      Our financial system needs some revision; our money is all good 
      now, but its value must not further be threatened. It should all 
      be put upon an enduring basis, not subject to easy attack, nor its 
      stability to doubt or dispute. Our currency should continue under 
      the supervision of the Government. The several forms of our paper 
      money offer, in my judgment, a constant embarrassment to the 
      Government and a safe balance in the Treasury. Therefore I believe 
      it necessary to devise a system which, without diminishing the 
      circulating medium or offering a premium for its contraction, will 
      present a remedy for those arrangements which, temporary in their 
      nature, might well in the years of our prosperity have been 
      displaced by wiser provisions. With adequate revenue secured, but 
      not until then, we can enter upon such changes in our fiscal laws 
      as will, while insuring safety and volume to our money, no longer 
      impose upon the Government the necessity of maintaining so large a 
      gold reserve, with its attendant and inevitable temptations to 
      speculation. Most of our financial laws are the outgrowth of 
      experience and trial, and should not be amended without 
      investigation and demonstration of the wisdom of the proposed 
      changes. We must be both "sure we are right" and "make haste 
      slowly." If, therefore, Congress, in its wisdom, shall deem it 
      expedient to create a commission to take under early consideration 
      the revision of our coinage, banking and currency laws, and give 
      them that exhaustive, careful and dispassionate examination that 
      their importance demands, I shall cordially concur in such action. 
      If such power is vested in the President, it is my purpose to 
      appoint a commission of prominent, well-informed citizens of 
      different parties, who will command public confidence, both on 
      account of their ability and special fitness for the work. 
      Business experience and public training may thus be combined, and 
      the patriotic zeal of the friends of the country be so directed 
      that such a report will be made as to receive the support of all 
      parties, and our finances cease to be the subject of mere partisan 
      contention. The experiment is, at all events, worth a trial, and, 
      in my opinion, it can but prove beneficial to the entire country.

      The question of international bimetallism will have early and 
      earnest attention. It will be my constant endeavor to secure it by 
      co-operation with the other great commercial powers of the world. 
      Until that condition is realized when the parity between our gold 
      and silver money springs from and is supported by the relative 
      value of the two metals, the value of the silver already coined 
      and of that which may hereafter be coined, must be kept constantly 
      at par with gold by every resource at our command. The credit of 
      the Government, the integrity of its currency, and the 
      inviolability of its obligations must be preserved. This was the 
      commanding verdict of the people, and it will not be unheeded.

      Economy is demanded in every branch of the Government at all 
      times, but especially in periods, like the present, of depression 
      in business and distress among the people. The severest economy 
      must be observed in all public expenditures, and extravagance 
      stopped wherever it is found, and prevented wherever in the future 
      it may be developed. If the revenues are to remain as now, the 
      only relief that can come must be from decreased expenditures. But 
      the present must not become the permanent condition of the 
      Government. It has been our uniform practice to retire, not 
      increase our outstanding obligations, and this policy must again 
      be resumed and vigorously enforced. Our revenues should always be 
      large enough to meet with ease and promptness not only our current 
      needs and the principal and interest of the public debt, but to 
      make proper and liberal provision for that most deserving body of 
      public creditors, the soldiers and sailors and the widows and 
      orphans who are the pensioners of the United States.

      The Government should not be permitted to run behind or increase 
      its debt in times like the present. Suitably to provide against 
      this is the mandate of duty--the certain and easy remedy for most 
      of our financial difficulties. A deficiency is inevitable so long 
      as the expenditures of the Government exceed its receipts. It can 
      only be met by loans or an increased revenue. While a large annual 
      surplus of revenue may invite waste and extravagance, inadequate 
      revenue creates distrust and undermines public and private credit. 
      Neither should be encouraged. Between more loans and more revenue 
      there ought to be but one opinion. We should have more revenue, 
      and that without delay, hindrance, or postponement. A surplus in 
      the Treasury created by loans is not a permanent or safe reliance. 
      It will suffice while it lasts, but it can not last long while the 
      outlays of the Government are greater than its receipts, as has 
      been the case during the past two years. Nor must it be forgotten 
      that however much such loans may temporarily relieve the 
      situation, the Government is still indebted for the amount of the 
      surplus thus accrued, which it must ultimately pay, while its 
      ability to pay is not strengthened, but weakened by a continued 
      deficit. Loans are imperative in great emergencies to preserve the 
      Government or its credit, but a failure to supply needed revenue 
      in time of peace for the maintenance of either has no 
      justification.

      The best way for the Government to maintain its credit is to pay 
      as it goes--not by resorting to loans, but by keeping out of 
      debt--through an adequate income secured by a system of taxation, 
      external or internal, or both. It is the settled policy of the 
      Government, pursued from the beginning and practiced by all 
      parties and Administrations, to raise the bulk of our revenue from 
      taxes upon foreign productions entering the United States for sale 
      and consumption, and avoiding, for the most part, every form of 
      direct taxation, except in time of war. The country is clearly 
      opposed to any needless additions to the subject of internal 
      taxation, and is committed by its latest popular utterance to the 
      system of tariff taxation. There can be no misunderstanding, 
      either, about the principle upon which this tariff taxation shall 
      be levied. Nothing has ever been made plainer at a general 
      election than that the controlling principle in the raising of 
      revenue from duties on imports is zealous care for American 
      interests and American labor. The people have declared that such 
      legislation should be had as will give ample protection and 
      encouragement to the industries and the development of our 
      country. It is, therefore, earnestly hoped and expected that 
      Congress will, at the earliest practicable moment, enact revenue 
      legislation that shall be fair, reasonable, conservative, and 
      just, and which, while supplying sufficient revenue for public 
      purposes, will still be signally beneficial and helpful to every 
      section and every enterprise of the people. To this policy we are 
      all, of whatever party, firmly bound by the voice of the people--a 
      power vastly more potential than the expression of any political 
      platform. The paramount duty of Congress is to stop deficiencies 
      by the restoration of that protective legislation which has always 
      been the firmest prop of the Treasury. The passage of such a law 
      or laws would strengthen the credit of the Government both at home 
      and abroad, and go far toward stopping the drain upon the gold 
      reserve held for the redemption of our currency, which has been 
      heavy and well-nigh constant for several years.

      In the revision of the tariff especial attention should be given 
      to the re-enactment and extension of the reciprocity principle of 
      the law of 1890, under which so great a stimulus was given to our 
      foreign trade in new and advantageous markets for our surplus 
      agricultural and manufactured products. The brief trial given this 
      legislation amply justifies a further experiment and additional 
      discretionary power in the making of commercial treaties, the end 
      in view always to be the opening up of new markets for the 
      products of our country, by granting concessions to the products 
      of other lands that we need and cannot produce ourselves, and 
      which do not involve any loss of labor to our own people, but tend 
      to increase their employment.

      The depression of the past four years has fallen with especial 
      severity upon the great body of toilers of the country, and upon 
      none more than the holders of small farms. Agriculture has 
      languished and labor suffered. The revival of manufacturing will 
      be a relief to both. No portion of our population is more devoted 
      to the institution of free government nor more loyal in their 
      support, while none bears more cheerfully or fully its proper 
      share in the maintenance of the Government or is better entitled 
      to its wise and liberal care and protection. Legislation helpful 
      to producers is beneficial to all. The depressed condition of 
      industry on the farm and in the mine and factory has lessened the 
      ability of the people to meet the demands upon them, and they 
      rightfully expect that not only a system of revenue shall be 
      established that will secure the largest income with the least 
      burden, but that every means will be taken to decrease, rather 
      than increase, our public expenditures. Business conditions are 
      not the most promising. It will take time to restore the 
      prosperity of former years. If we cannot promptly attain it, we 
      can resolutely turn our faces in that direction and aid its return 
      by friendly legislation. However troublesome the situation may 
      appear, Congress will not, I am sure, be found lacking in 
      disposition or ability to relieve it as far as legislation can do 
      so. The restoration of confidence and the revival of business, 
      which men of all parties so much desire, depend more largely upon 
      the prompt, energetic, and intelligent action of Congress than 
      upon any other single agency affecting the situation.

      It is inspiring, too, to remember that no great emergency in the 
      one hundred and eight years of our eventful national life has ever 
      arisen that has not been met with wisdom and courage by the 
      American people, with fidelity to their best interests and highest 
      destiny, and to the honor of the American name. These years of 
      glorious history have exalted mankind and advanced the cause of 
      freedom throughout the world, and immeasurably strengthened the 
      precious free institutions which we enjoy. The people love and 
      will sustain these institutions. The great essential to our 
      happiness and prosperity is that we adhere to the principles upon 
      which the Government was established and insist upon their 
      faithful observance. Equality of rights must prevail, and our laws 
      be always and everywhere respected and obeyed. We may have failed 
      in the discharge of our full duty as citizens of the great 
      Republic, but it is consoling and encouraging to realize that free 
      speech, a free press, free thought, free schools, the free and 
      unmolested right of religious liberty and worship, and free and 
      fair elections are dearer and more universally enjoyed to-day than 
      ever before. These guaranties must be sacredly preserved and 
      wisely strengthened. The constituted authorities must be 
      cheerfully and vigorously upheld. Lynchings must not be tolerated 
      in a great and civilized country like the United States; courts, 
      not mobs, must execute the penalties of the law. The preservation 
      of public order, the right of discussion, the integrity of courts, 
      and the orderly administration of justice must continue forever 
      the rock of safety upon which our Government securely rests.

      One of the lessons taught by the late election, which all can 
      rejoice in, is that the citizens of the United States are both 
      law-respecting and law-abiding people, not easily swerved from the 
      path of patriotism and honor. This is in entire accord with the 
      genius of our institutions, and but emphasizes the advantages of 
      inculcating even a greater love for law and order in the future. 
      Immunity should be granted to none who violate the laws, whether 
      individuals, corporations, or communities; and as the Constitution 
      imposes upon the President the duty of both its own execution, and 
      of the statutes enacted in pursuance of its provisions, I shall 
      endeavor carefully to carry them into effect. The declaration of 
      the party now restored to power has been in the past that of 
      "opposition to all combinations of capital organized in trusts, or 
      otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our 
      citizens," and it has supported "such legislation as will prevent 
      the execution of all schemes to oppress the people by undue 
      charges on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the 
      transportation of their products to the market." This purpose will 
      be steadily pursued, both by the enforcement of the laws now in 
      existence and the recommendation and support of such new statutes 
      as may be necessary to carry it into effect.

      Our naturalization and immigration laws should be further improved 
      to the constant promotion of a safer, a better, and a higher 
      citizenship. A grave peril to the Republic would be a citizenship 
      too ignorant to understand or too vicious to appreciate the great 
      value and beneficence of our institutions and laws, and against 
      all who come here to make war upon them our gates must be promptly 
      and tightly closed. Nor must we be unmindful of the need of 
      improvement among our own citizens, but with the zeal of our 
      forefathers encourage the spread of knowledge and free education. 
      Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain that 
      high destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations of the 
      world which, under Providence, we ought to achieve.

      Reforms in the civil service must go on; but the changes should be 
      real and genuine, not perfunctory, or prompted by a zeal in behalf 
      of any party simply because it happens to be in power. As a member 
      of Congress I voted and spoke in favor of the present law, and I 
      shall attempt its enforcement in the spirit in which it was 
      enacted. The purpose in view was to secure the most efficient 
      service of the best men who would accept appointment under the 
      Government, retaining faithful and devoted public servants in 
      office, but shielding none, under the authority of any rule or 
      custom, who are inefficient, incompetent, or unworthy. The best 
      interests of the country demand this, and the people heartily 
      approve the law wherever and whenever it has been thus 
      administrated.

      Congress should give prompt attention to the restoration of our 
      American merchant marine, once the pride of the seas in all the 
      great ocean highways of commerce. To my mind, few more important 
      subjects so imperatively demand its intelligent consideration. The 
      United States has progressed with marvelous rapidity in every 
      field of enterprise and endeavor until we have become foremost in 
      nearly all the great lines of inland trade, commerce, and 
      industry. Yet, while this is true, our American merchant marine 
      has been steadily declining until it is now lower, both in the 
      percentage of tonnage and the number of vessels employed, than it 
      was prior to the Civil War. Commendable progress has been made of 
      late years in the upbuilding of the American Navy, but we must 
      supplement these efforts by providing as a proper consort for it a 
      merchant marine amply sufficient for our own carrying trade to 
      foreign countries. The question is one that appeals both to our 
      business necessities and the patriotic aspirations of a great 
      people.

      It has been the policy of the United States since the foundation 
      of the Government to cultivate relations of peace and amity with 
      all the nations of the world, and this accords with my conception 
      of our duty now. We have cherished the policy of non-interference 
      with affairs of foreign governments wisely inaugurated by 
      Washington, keeping ourselves free from entanglement, either as 
      allies or foes, content to leave undisturbed with them the 
      settlement of their own domestic concerns. It will be our aim to 
      pursue a firm and dignified foreign policy, which shall be just, 
      impartial, ever watchful of our national honor, and always 
      insisting upon the enforcement of the lawful rights of American 
      citizens everywhere. Our diplomacy should seek nothing more and 
      accept nothing less than is due us. We want no wars of conquest; 
      we must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression. War should 
      never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed; 
      peace is preferable to war in almost every contingency. 
      Arbitration is the true method of settlement of international as 
      well as local or individual differences. It was recognized as the 
      best means of adjustment of differences between employers and 
      employees by the Forty-ninth Congress, in 1886, and its 
      application was extended to our diplomatic relations by the 
      unanimous concurrence of the Senate and House of the Fifty-first 
      Congress in 1890. The latter resolution was accepted as the basis 
      of negotiations with us by the British House of Commons in 1893, 
      and upon our invitation a treaty of arbitration between the United 
      States and Great Britain was signed at Washington and transmitted 
      to the Senate for its ratification in January last. Since this 
      treaty is clearly the result of our own initiative; since it has 
      been recognized as the leading feature of our foreign policy 
      throughout our entire national history--the adjustment of 
      difficulties by judicial methods rather than force of arms--and 
      since it presents to the world the glorious example of reason and 
      peace, not passion and war, controlling the relations between two 
      of the greatest nations in the world, an example certain to be 
      followed by others, I respectfully urge the early action of the 
      Senate thereon, not merely as a matter of policy, but as a duty to 
      mankind. The importance and moral influence of the ratification of 
      such a treaty can hardly be overestimated in the cause of 
      advancing civilization. It may well engage the best thought of the 
      statesmen and people of every country, and I cannot but consider 
      it fortunate that it was reserved to the United States to have the 
      leadership in so grand a work.

      It has been the uniform practice of each President to avoid, as 
      far as possible, the convening of Congress in extraordinary 
      session. It is an example which, under ordinary circumstances and 
      in the absence of a public necessity, is to be commended. But a 
      failure to convene the representatives of the people in Congress 
      in extra session when it involves neglect of a public duty places 
      the responsibility of such neglect upon the Executive himself. The 
      condition of the public Treasury, as has been indicated, demands 
      the immediate consideration of Congress. It alone has the power to 
      provide revenues for the Government. Not to convene it under such 
      circumstances I can view in no other sense than the neglect of a 
      plain duty. I do not sympathize with the sentiment that Congress 
      in session is dangerous to our general business interests. Its 
      members are the agents of the people, and their presence at the 
      seat of Government in the execution of the sovereign will should 
      not operate as an injury, but a benefit. There could be no better 
      time to put the Government upon a sound financial and economic 
      basis than now. The people have only recently voted that this 
      should be done, and nothing is more binding upon the agents of 
      their will than the obligation of immediate action. It has always 
      seemed to me that the postponement of the meeting of Congress 
      until more than a year after it has been chosen deprived Congress 
      too often of the inspiration of the popular will and the country 
      of the corresponding benefits. It is evident, therefore, that to 
      postpone action in the presence of so great a necessity would be 
      unwise on the part of the Executive because unjust to the 
      interests of the people. Our action now will be freer from mere 
      partisan consideration than if the question of tariff revision was 
      postponed until the regular session of Congress. We are nearly two 
      years from a Congressional election, and politics cannot so 
      greatly distract us as if such contest was immediately pending. We 
      can approach the problem calmly and patriotically, without fearing 
      its effect upon an early election.

      Our fellow-citizens who may disagree with us upon the character of 
      this legislation prefer to have the question settled now, even 
      against their preconceived views, and perhaps settled so 
      reasonably, as I trust and believe it will be, as to insure great 
      permanence, than to have further uncertainty menacing the vast and 
      varied business interests of the United States. Again, whatever 
      action Congress may take will be given a fair opportunity for 
      trial before the people are called to pass judgment upon it, and 
      this I consider a great essential to the rightful and lasting 
      settlement of the question. In view of these considerations, I 
      shall deem it my duty as President to convene Congress in 
      extraordinary session on Monday, the 15th day of March, 1897.

      In conclusion, I congratulate the country upon the fraternal 
      spirit of the people and the manifestations of good will 
      everywhere so apparent. The recent election not only most 
      fortunately demonstrated the obliteration of sectional or 
      geographical lines, but to some extent also the prejudices which 
      for years have distracted our councils and marred our true 
      greatness as a nation. The triumph of the people, whose verdict is 
      carried into effect today, is not the triumph of one section, nor 
      wholly of one party, but of all sections and all the people. The 
      North and the South no longer divide on the old lines, but upon 
      principles and policies; and in this fact surely every lover of 
      the country can find cause for true felicitation.

      Let us rejoice in and cultivate this spirit; it is ennobling and 
      will be both a gain and a blessing to our beloved country. It will 
      be my constant aim to do nothing, and permit nothing to be done, 
      that will arrest or disturb this growing sentiment of unity and 
      cooperation, this revival of esteem and affiliation which now 
      animates so many thousands in both the old antagonistic sections, 
      but I shall cheerfully do everything possible to promote and 
      increase it. Let me again repeat the words of the oath 
      administered by the Chief Justice which, in their respective 
      spheres, so far as applicable, I would have all my countrymen 
      observe: "I will faithfully execute the office of President of the 
      United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 
      protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." This 
      is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord Most 
      High. To keep it will be my single purpose, my constant prayer; 
      and I shall confidently rely upon the forbearance and assistance 
      of all the people in the discharge of my solemn responsibilities.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            William McKinley

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1901
      __________________________________________________________________
      The second inauguration was a patriotic celebration of the 
      successes of the recently concluded Spanish American War. The new 
      Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was a popular figure from the 
      War. President McKinley again had defeated William Jennings Bryan, 
      but the campaign issue was American expansionism overseas. Chief 
      Justice Melville Fuller administered the oath of office on a 
      covered platform erected in front of the East Portico of the 
      Capitol. The parade featured soldiers from the campaigns in Cuba, 
      Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. An inaugural ball was held that 
      evening in the Pension Building.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Fellow-Citizens:

      When we assembled here on the 4th of March, 1897, there was great 
      anxiety with regard to our currency and credit. None exists now. 
      Then our Treasury receipts were inadequate to meet the current 
      obligations of the Government. Now they are sufficient for all 
      public needs, and we have a surplus instead of a deficit. Then I 
      felt constrained to convene the Congress in extraordinary session 
      to devise revenues to pay the ordinary expenses of the Government. 
      Now I have the satisfaction to announce that the Congress just 
      closed has reduced taxation in the sum of $41,000,000. Then there 
      was deep solicitude because of the long depression in our 
      manufacturing, mining, agricultural, and mercantile industries and 
      the consequent distress of our laboring population. Now every 
      avenue of production is crowded with activity, labor is well 
      employed, and American products find good markets at home and 
      abroad.

      Our diversified productions, however, are increasing in such 
      unprecedented volume as to admonish us of the necessity of still 
      further enlarging our foreign markets by broader commercial 
      relations. For this purpose reciprocal trade arrangements with 
      other nations should in liberal spirit be carefully cultivated and 
      promoted.

      The national verdict of 1896 has for the most part been executed. 
      Whatever remains unfulfilled is a continuing obligation resting 
      with undiminished force upon the Executive and the Congress. But 
      fortunate as our condition is, its permanence can only be assured 
      by sound business methods and strict economy in national 
      administration and legislation. We should not permit our great 
      prosperity to lead us to reckless ventures in business or 
      profligacy in public expenditures. While the Congress determines 
      the objects and the sum of appropriations, the officials of the 
      executive departments are responsible for honest and faithful 
      disbursement, and it should be their constant care to avoid waste 
      and extravagance.

      Honesty, capacity, and industry are nowhere more indispensable 
      than in public employment. These should be fundamental requisites 
      to original appointment and the surest guaranties against removal.

      Four years ago we stood on the brink of war without the people 
      knowing it and without any preparation or effort at preparation 
      for the impending peril. I did all that in honor could be done to 
      avert the war, but without avail. It became inevitable; and the 
      Congress at its first regular session, without party division, 
      provided money in anticipation of the crisis and in preparation to 
      meet it. It came. The result was signally favorable to American 
      arms and in the highest degree honorable to the Government. It 
      imposed upon us obligations from which we cannot escape and from 
      which it would be dishonorable to seek escape. We are now at peace 
      with the world, and it is my fervent prayer that if differences 
      arise between us and other powers they may be settled by peaceful 
      arbitration and that hereafter we may be spared the horrors of 
      war.

      Intrusted by the people for a second time with the office of 
      President, I enter upon its administration appreciating the great 
      responsibilities which attach to this renewed honor and 
      commission, promising unreserved devotion on my part to their 
      faithful discharge and reverently invoking for my guidance the 
      direction and favor of Almighty God. I should shrink from the 
      duties this day assumed if I did not feel that in their 
      performance I should have the co-operation of the wise and 
      patriotic men of all parties. It encourages me for the great task 
      which I now undertake to believe that those who voluntarily 
      committed to me the trust imposed upon the Chief Executive of the 
      Republic will give to me generous support in my duties to 
      "preserve, protect, and defend, the Constitution of the United 
      States" and to "care that the laws be faithfully executed." The 
      national purpose is indicated through a national election. It is 
      the constitutional method of ascertaining the public will. When 
      once it is registered it is a law to us all, and faithful 
      observance should follow its decrees.

      Strong hearts and helpful hands are needed, and, fortunately, we 
      have them in every part of our beloved country. We are reunited. 
      Sectionalism has disappeared. Division on public questions can no 
      longer be traced by the war maps of 1861. These old differences 
      less and less disturb the judgment. Existing problems demand the 
      thought and quicken the conscience of the country, and the 
      responsibility for their presence, as well as for their righteous 
      settlement, rests upon us all--no more upon me than upon you. 
      There are some national questions in the solution of which 
      patriotism should exclude partisanship. Magnifying their 
      difficulties will not take them off our hands nor facilitate their 
      adjustment. Distrust of the capacity, integrity, and high purposes 
      of the American people will not be an inspiring theme for future 
      political contests. Dark pictures and gloomy forebodings are worse 
      than useless. These only becloud, they do not help to point the 
      way of safety and honor. "Hope maketh not ashamed." The prophets 
      of evil were not the builders of the Republic, nor in its crises 
      since have they saved or served it. The faith of the fathers was a 
      mighty force in its creation, and the faith of their descendants 
      has wrought its progress and furnished its defenders. They are 
      obstructionists who despair, and who would destroy confidence in 
      the ability of our people to solve wisely and for civilization the 
      mighty problems resting upon them. The American people, intrenched 
      in freedom at home, take their love for it with them wherever they 
      go, and they reject as mistaken and unworthy the doctrine that we 
      lose our own liberties by securing the enduring foundations of 
      liberty to others. Our institutions will not deteriorate by 
      extension, and our sense of justice will not abate under tropic 
      suns in distant seas. As heretofore, so hereafter will the nation 
      demonstrate its fitness to administer any new estate which events 
      devolve upon it, and in the fear of God will "take occasion by the 
      hand and make the bounds of freedom wider yet." If there are those 
      among us who would make our way more difficult, we must not be 
      disheartened, but the more earnestly dedicate ourselves to the 
      task upon which we have rightly entered. The path of progress is 
      seldom smooth. New things are often found hard to do. Our fathers 
      found them so. We find them so. They are inconvenient. They cost 
      us something. But are we not made better for the effort and 
      sacrifice, and are not those we serve lifted up and blessed?

      We will be consoled, to, with the fact that opposition has 
      confronted every onward movement of the Republic from its opening 
      hour until now, but without success. The Republic has marched on 
      and on, and its step has exalted freedom and humanity. We are 
      undergoing the same ordeal as did our predecessors nearly a 
      century ago. We are following the course they blazed. They 
      triumphed. Will their successors falter and plead organic 
      impotency in the nation? Surely after 125 years of achievement for 
      mankind we will not now surrender our equality with other powers 
      on matters fundamental and essential to nationality. With no such 
      purpose was the nation created. In no such spirit has it developed 
      its full and independent sovereignty. We adhere to the principle 
      of equality among ourselves, and by no act of ours will we assign 
      to ourselves a subordinate rank in the family of nations.

      My fellow-citizens, the public events of the past four years have 
      gone into history. They are too near to justify recital. Some of 
      them were unforeseen; many of them momentous and far-reaching in 
      their consequences to ourselves and our relations with the rest of 
      the world. The part which the United States bore so honorably in 
      the thrilling scenes in China, while new to American life, has 
      been in harmony with its true spirit and best traditions, and in 
      dealing with the results its policy will be that of moderation and 
      fairness.

      We face at this moment a most important question that of the 
      future relations of the United States and Cuba. With our near 
      neighbors we must remain close friends. The declaration of the 
      purposes of this Government in the resolution of April 20, 1898, 
      must be made good. Ever since the evacuation of the island by the 
      army of Spain, the Executive, with all practicable speed, has been 
      assisting its people in the successive steps necessary to the 
      establishment of a free and independent government prepared to 
      assume and perform the obligations of international law which now 
      rest upon the United States under the treaty of Paris. The 
      convention elected by the people to frame a constitution is 
      approaching the completion of its labors. The transfer of American 
      control to the new government is of such great importance, 
      involving an obligation resulting from our intervention and the 
      treaty of peace, that I am glad to be advised by the recent act of 
      Congress of the policy which the legislative branch of the 
      Government deems essential to the best interests of Cuba and the 
      United States. The principles which led to our intervention 
      require that the fundamental law upon which the new government 
      rests should be adapted to secure a government capable of 
      performing the duties and discharging the functions of a separate 
      nation, of observing its international obligations of protecting 
      life and property, insuring order, safety, and liberty, and 
      conforming to the established and historical policy of the United 
      States in its relation to Cuba.

      The peace which we are pledged to leave to the Cuban people must 
      carry with it the guaranties of permanence. We became sponsors for 
      the pacification of the island, and we remain accountable to the 
      Cubans, no less than to our own country and people, for the 
      reconstruction of Cuba as a free commonwealth on abiding 
      foundations of right, justice, liberty, and assured order. Our 
      enfranchisement of the people will not be completed until free 
      Cuba shall "be a reality, not a name; a perfect entity, not a 
      hasty experiment bearing within itself the elements of failure."

      While the treaty of peace with Spain was ratified on the 6th of 
      February, 1899, and ratifications were exchanged nearly two years 
      ago, the Congress has indicated no form of government for the 
      Philippine Islands. It has, however, provided an army to enable 
      the Executive to suppress insurrection, restore peace, give 
      security to the inhabitants, and establish the authority of the 
      United States throughout the archipelago. It has authorized the 
      organization of native troops as auxiliary to the regular force. 
      It has been advised from time to time of the acts of the military 
      and naval officers in the islands, of my action in appointing 
      civil commissions, of the instructions with which they were 
      charged, of their duties and powers, of their recommendations, and 
      of their several acts under executive commission, together with 
      the very complete general information they have submitted. These 
      reports fully set forth the conditions, past and present, in the 
      islands, and the instructions clearly show the principles which 
      will guide the Executive until the Congress shall, as it is 
      required to do by the treaty, determine "the civil rights and 
      political status of the native inhabitants." The Congress having 
      added the sanction of its authority to the powers already 
      possessed and exercised by the Executive under the Constitution, 
      thereby leaving with the Executive the responsibility for the 
      government of the Philippines, I shall continue the efforts 
      already begun until order shall be restored throughout the 
      islands, and as fast as conditions permit will establish local 
      governments, in the formation of which the full co-operation of 
      the people has been already invited, and when established will 
      encourage the people to administer them. The settled purpose, long 
      ago proclaimed, to afford the inhabitants of the islands self-
      government as fast as they were ready for it will be pursued with 
      earnestness and fidelity. Already something has been accomplished 
      in this direction. The Government's representatives, civil and 
      military, are doing faithful and noble work in their mission of 
      emancipation and merit the approval and support of their 
      countrymen. The most liberal terms of amnesty have already been 
      communicated to the insurgents, and the way is still open for 
      those who have raised their arms against the Government for 
      honorable submission to its authority. Our countrymen should not 
      be deceived. We are not waging war against the inhabitants of the 
      Philippine Islands. A portion of them are making war against the 
      United States. By far the greater part of the inhabitants 
      recognize American sovereignty and welcome it as a guaranty of 
      order and of security for life, property, liberty, freedom of 
      conscience, and the pursuit of happiness. To them full protection 
      will be given. They shall not be abandoned. We will not leave the 
      destiny of the loyal millions the islands to the disloyal 
      thousands who are in rebellion against the United States. Order 
      under civil institutions will come as soon as those who now break 
      the peace shall keep it. Force will not be needed or used when 
      those who make war against us shall make it no more. May it end 
      without further bloodshed, and there be ushered in the reign of 
      peace to be made permanent by a government of liberty under law!

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                           Theodore Roosevelt

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1905
      __________________________________________________________________
      The energetic Republican President had taken his first oath of 
      office upon the death of President McKinley, who died of an 
      assassin's gunshot wounds on September 14, 1901. Mr. Roosevelt had 
      been President himself for three years at the election of 1904. 
      The inaugural celebration was the largest and most diverse of any 
      in memory--cowboys, Indians (including the Apache Chief Geronimo), 
      coal miners, soldiers, and students were some of the groups 
      represented. The oath of office was administered on the East 
      Portico of the Capitol by Chief Justice Melville Fuller.
      __________________________________________________________________

      My fellow-citizens, no people on earth have more cause to be 
      thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of 
      boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver 
      of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled 
      us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. 
      To us as a people it has been granted to lay the foundations of 
      our national life in a new continent. We are the heirs of the 
      ages, and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old 
      countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization. 
      We have not been obliged to fight for our existence against any 
      alien race; and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort 
      without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away. Under 
      such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed; and the 
      success which we have had in the past, the success which we 
      confidently believe the future will bring, should cause in us no 
      feeling of vainglory, but rather a deep and abiding realization of 
      all which life has offered us; a full acknowledgment of the 
      responsibility which is ours; and a fixed determination to show 
      that under a free government a mighty people can thrive best, 
      alike as regards the things of the body and the things of the 
      soul.

      Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from 
      us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can 
      shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact 
      of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the 
      earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such 
      responsibilities. Toward all other nations, large and small, our 
      attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friendship. We must 
      show not only in our words, but in our deeds, that we are 
      earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward 
      them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all their 
      rights. But justice and generosity in a nation, as in an 
      individual, count most when shown not by the weak but by the 
      strong. While ever careful to refrain from wrongdoing others, we 
      must be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves. We 
      wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of 
      righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not 
      because we are afraid. No weak nation that acts manfully and 
      justly should ever have cause to fear us, and no strong power 
      should ever be able to single us out as a subject for insolent 
      aggression.

      Our relations with the other powers of the world are important; 
      but still more important are our relations among ourselves. Such 
      growth in wealth, in population, and in power as this nation has 
      seen during the century and a quarter of its national life is 
      inevitably accompanied by a like growth in the problems which are 
      ever before every nation that rises to greatness. Power invariably 
      means both responsibility and danger. Our forefathers faced 
      certain perils which we have outgrown. We now face other perils, 
      the very existence of which it was impossible that they should 
      foresee. Modern life is both complex and intense, and the 
      tremendous changes wrought by the extraordinary industrial 
      development of the last half century are felt in every fiber of 
      our social and political being. Never before have men tried so 
      vast and formidable an experiment as that of administering the 
      affairs of a continent under the forms of a Democratic republic. 
      The conditions which have told for our marvelous material well-
      being, which have developed to a very high degree our energy, 
      self-reliance, and individual initiative, have also brought the 
      care and anxiety inseparable from the accumulation of great wealth 
      in industrial centers. Upon the success of our experiment much 
      depends, not only as regards our own welfare, but as regards the 
      welfare of mankind. If we fail, the cause of free self-government 
      throughout the world will rock to its foundations, and therefore 
      our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world as it is 
      to-day, and to the generations yet unborn. There is no good reason 
      why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we 
      should face it seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the 
      gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach these 
      problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them 
      aright.

      Yet, after all, though the problems are new, though the tasks set 
      before us differ from the tasks set before our fathers who founded 
      and preserved this Republic, the spirit in which these tasks must 
      be undertaken and these problems faced, if our duty is to be well 
      done, remains essentially unchanged. We know that self-government 
      is difficult. We know that no people needs such high traits of 
      character as that people which seeks to govern its affairs aright 
      through the freely expressed will of the freemen who compose it. 
      But we have faith that we shall not prove false to the memories of 
      the men of the mighty past. They did their work, they left us the 
      splendid heritage we now enjoy. We in our turn have an assured 
      confidence that we shall be able to leave this heritage unwasted 
      and enlarged to our children and our children's children. To do so 
      we must show, not merely in great crises, but in the everyday 
      affairs of life, the qualities of practical intelligence, of 
      courage, of hardihood, and endurance, and above all the power of 
      devotion to a lofty ideal, which made great the men who founded 
      this Republic in the days of Washington, which made great the men 
      who preserved this Republic in the days of Abraham Lincoln.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                          William Howard Taft

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1909
      __________________________________________________________________
      A blizzard the night before caused the ceremonies to be moved into 
      the Senate Chamber in the Capitol. The oath of office was 
      administered for the sixth time by Chief Justice Melville Fuller. 
      The new President took his oath on the Supreme Court Bible, which 
      he used again in 1921 to take his oaths as the Chief Justice of 
      the Supreme Court. An inaugural ball that evening was held at the 
      Pension Building.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Fellow-Citizens:

      Anyone who has taken the oath I have just taken must feel a heavy 
      weight of responsibility. If not, he has no conception of the 
      powers and duties of the office upon which he is about to enter, 
      or he is lacking in a proper sense of the obligation which the 
      oath imposes.

      The office of an inaugural address is to give a summary outline of 
      the main policies of the new administration, so far as they can be 
      anticipated. I have had the honor to be one of the advisers of my 
      distinguished predecessor, and, as such, to hold up his hands in 
      the reforms he has initiated. I should be untrue to myself, to my 
      promises, and to the declarations of the party platform upon which 
      I was elected to office, if I did not make the maintenance and 
      enforcement of those reforms a most important feature of my 
      administration. They were directed to the suppression of the 
      lawlessness and abuses of power of the great combinations of 
      capital invested in railroads and in industrial enterprises 
      carrying on interstate commerce. The steps which my predecessor 
      took and the legislation passed on his recommendation have 
      accomplished much, have caused a general halt in the vicious 
      policies which created popular alarm, and have brought about in 
      the business affected a much higher regard for existing law.

      To render the reforms lasting, however, and to secure at the same 
      time freedom from alarm on the part of those pursuing proper and 
      progressive business methods, further legislative and executive 
      action are needed. Relief of the railroads from certain 
      restrictions of the antitrust law have been urged by my 
      predecessor and will be urged by me. On the other hand, the 
      administration is pledged to legislation looking to a proper 
      federal supervision and restriction to prevent excessive issues of 
      bonds and stock by companies owning and operating interstate 
      commerce railroads.

      Then, too, a reorganization of the Department of Justice, of the 
      Bureau of Corporations in the Department of Commerce and Labor, 
      and of the Interstate Commerce Commission, looking to effective 
      cooperation of these agencies, is needed to secure a more rapid 
      and certain enforcement of the laws affecting interstate railroads 
      and industrial combinations.

      I hope to be able to submit at the first regular session of the 
      incoming Congress, in December next, definite suggestions in 
      respect to the needed amendments to the antitrust and the 
      interstate commerce law and the changes required in the executive 
      departments concerned in their enforcement.

      It is believed that with the changes to be recommended American 
      business can be assured of that measure of stability and certainty 
      in respect to those things that may be done and those that are 
      prohibited which is essential to the life and growth of all 
      business. Such a plan must include the right of the people to 
      avail themselves of those methods of combining capital and effort 
      deemed necessary to reach the highest degree of economic 
      efficiency, at the same time differentiating between combinations 
      based upon legitimate economic reasons and those formed with the 
      intent of creating monopolies and artificially controlling prices.

      The work of formulating into practical shape such changes is 
      creative word of the highest order, and requires all the 
      deliberation possible in the interval. I believe that the 
      amendments to be proposed are just as necessary in the protection 
      of legitimate business as in the clinching of the reforms which 
      properly bear the name of my predecessor.

      A matter of most pressing importance is the revision of the 
      tariff. In accordance with the promises of the platform upon which 
      I was elected, I shall call Congress into extra session to meet on 
      the 15th day of March, in order that consideration may be at once 
      given to a bill revising the Dingley Act. This should secure an 
      adequate revenue and adjust the duties in such a manner as to 
      afford to labor and to all industries in this country, whether of 
      the farm, mine or factory, protection by tariff equal to the 
      difference between the cost of production abroad and the cost of 
      production here, and have a provision which shall put into force, 
      upon executive determination of certain facts, a higher or maximum 
      tariff against those countries whose trade policy toward us 
      equitably requires such discrimination. It is thought that there 
      has been such a change in conditions since the enactment of the 
      Dingley Act, drafted on a similarly protective principle, that the 
      measure of the tariff above stated will permit the reduction of 
      rates in certain schedules and will require the advancement of 
      few, if any.

      The proposal to revise the tariff made in such an authoritative 
      way as to lead the business community to count upon it necessarily 
      halts all those branches of business directly affected; and as 
      these are most important, it disturbs the whole business of the 
      country. It is imperatively necessary, therefore, that a tariff 
      bill be drawn in good faith in accordance with promises made 
      before the election by the party in power, and as promptly passed 
      as due consideration will permit. It is not that the tariff is 
      more important in the long run than the perfecting of the reforms 
      in respect to antitrust legislation and interstate commerce 
      regulation, but the need for action when the revision of the 
      tariff has been determined upon is more immediate to avoid 
      embarrassment of business. To secure the needed speed in the 
      passage of the tariff bill, it would seem wise to attempt no other 
      legislation at the extra session. I venture this as a suggestion 
      only, for the course to be taken by Congress, upon the call of the 
      Executive, is wholly within its discretion.

      In the mailing of a tariff bill the prime motive is taxation and 
      the securing thereby of a revenue. Due largely to the business 
      depression which followed the financial panic of 1907, the revenue 
      from customs and other sources has decreased to such an extent 
      that the expenditures for the current fiscal year will exceed the 
      receipts by $100,000,000. It is imperative that such a deficit 
      shall not continue, and the framers of the tariff bill must, of 
      course, have in mind the total revenues likely to be produced by 
      it and so arrange the duties as to secure an adequate income. 
      Should it be impossible to do so by import duties, new kinds of 
      taxation must be adopted, and among these I recommend a graduated 
      inheritance tax as correct in principle and as certain and easy of 
      collection.

      The obligation on the part of those responsible for the 
      expenditures made to carry on the Government, to be as economical 
      as possible, and to make the burden of taxation as light as 
      possible, is plain, and should be affirmed in every declaration of 
      government policy. This is especially true when we are face to 
      face with a heavy deficit. But when the desire to win the popular 
      approval leads to the cutting off of expenditures really needed to 
      make the Government effective and to enable it to accomplish its 
      proper objects, the result is as much to be condemned as the waste 
      of government funds in unnecessary expenditure. The scope of a 
      modern government in what it can and ought to accomplish for its 
      people has been widened far beyond the principles laid down by the 
      old "laissez faire" school of political writers, and this widening 
      has met popular approval.

      In the Department of Agriculture the use of scientific experiments 
      on a large scale and the spread of information derived from them 
      for the improvement of general agriculture must go on.

      The importance of supervising business of great railways and 
      industrial combinations and the necessary investigation and 
      prosecution of unlawful business methods are another necessary tax 
      upon Government which did not exist half a century ago.

      The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation 
      of our resources, so far as they may be within the jurisdiction of 
      the Federal Government, including the most important work of 
      saving and restoring our forests and the great improvement of 
      waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve 
      large expenditure if properly performed. While some of them, like 
      the reclamation of arid lands, are made to pay for themselves, 
      others are of such an indirect benefit that this cannot be 
      expected of them. A permanent improvement, like the Panama Canal, 
      should be treated as a distinct enterprise, and should be paid for 
      by the proceeds of bonds, the issue of which will distribute its 
      cost between the present and future generations in accordance with 
      the benefits derived. It may well be submitted to the serious 
      consideration of Congress whether the deepening and control of the 
      channel of a great river system, like that of the Ohio or of the 
      Mississippi, when definite and practical plans for the enterprise 
      have been approved and determined upon, should not be provided for 
      in the same way.

      Then, too, there are expenditures of Government absolutely 
      necessary if our country is to maintain its proper place among the 
      nations of the world, and is to exercise its proper influence in 
      defense of its own trade interests in the maintenance of 
      traditional American policy against the colonization of European 
      monarchies in this hemisphere, and in the promotion of peace and 
      international morality. I refer to the cost of maintaining a 
      proper army, a proper navy, and suitable fortifications upon the 
      mainland of the United States and in its dependencies.

      We should have an army so organized and so officered as to be 
      capable in time of emergency, in cooperation with the national 
      militia and under the provisions of a proper national volunteer 
      law, rapidly to expand into a force sufficient to resist all 
      probable invasion from abroad and to furnish a respectable 
      expeditionary force if necessary in the maintenance of our 
      traditional American policy which bears the name of President 
      Monroe.

      Our fortifications are yet in a state of only partial 
      completeness, and the number of men to man them is insufficient. 
      In a few years however, the usual annual appropriations for our 
      coast defenses, both on the mainland and in the dependencies, will 
      make them sufficient to resist all direct attack, and by that time 
      we may hope that the men to man them will be provided as a 
      necessary adjunct. The distance of our shores from Europe and Asia 
      of course reduces the necessity for maintaining under arms a great 
      army, but it does not take away the requirement of mere prudence--
      that we should have an army sufficiently large and so constituted 
      as to form a nucleus out of which a suitable force can quickly 
      grow.

      What has been said of the army may be affirmed in even a more 
      emphatic way of the navy. A modern navy can not be improvised. It 
      must be built and in existence when the emergency arises which 
      calls for its use and operation. My distinguished predecessor has 
      in many speeches and messages set out with great force and 
      striking language the necessity for maintaining a strong navy 
      commensurate with the coast line, the governmental resources, and 
      the foreign trade of our Nation; and I wish to reiterate all the 
      reasons which he has presented in favor of the policy of 
      maintaining a strong navy as the best conservator of our peace 
      with other nations, and the best means of securing respect for the 
      assertion of our rights, the defense of our interests, and the 
      exercise of our influence in international matters.

      Our international policy is always to promote peace. We shall 
      enter into any war with a full consciousness of the awful 
      consequences that it always entails, whether successful or not, 
      and we, of course, shall make every effort consistent with 
      national honor and the highest national interest to avoid a resort 
      to arms. We favor every instrumentality, like that of the Hague 
      Tribunal and arbitration treaties made with a view to its use in 
      all international controversies, in order to maintain peace and to 
      avoid war. But we should be blind to existing conditions and 
      should allow ourselves to become foolish idealists if we did not 
      realize that, with all the nations of the world armed and prepared 
      for war, we must be ourselves in a similar condition, in order to 
      prevent other nations from taking advantage of us and of our 
      inability to defend our interests and assert our rights with a 
      strong hand.

      In the international controversies that are likely to arise in the 
      Orient growing out of the question of the open door and other 
      issues the United States can maintain her interests intact and can 
      secure respect for her just demands. She will not be able to do 
      so, however, if it is understood that she never intends to back up 
      her assertion of right and her defense of her interest by anything 
      but mere verbal protest and diplomatic note. For these reasons the 
      expenses of the army and navy and of coast defenses should always 
      be considered as something which the Government must pay for, and 
      they should not be cut off through mere consideration of economy. 
      Our Government is able to afford a suitable army and a suitable 
      navy. It may maintain them without the slightest danger to the 
      Republic or the cause of free institutions, and fear of additional 
      taxation ought not to change a proper policy in this regard.

      The policy of the United States in the Spanish war and since has 
      given it a position of influence among the nations that it never 
      had before, and should be constantly exerted to securing to its 
      bona fide citizens, whether native or naturalized, respect for 
      them as such in foreign countries. We should make every effort to 
      prevent humiliating and degrading prohibition against any of our 
      citizens wishing temporarily to sojourn in foreign countries 
      because of race or religion.

      The admission of Asiatic immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with 
      our population has been made the subject either of prohibitory 
      clauses in our treaties and statutes or of strict administrative 
      regulation secured by diplomatic negotiation. I sincerely hope 
      that we may continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from 
      such immigration without unnecessary friction and by mutual 
      concessions between self-respecting governments. Meantime we must 
      take every precaution to prevent, or failing that, to punish 
      outbursts of race feeling among our people against foreigners of 
      whatever nationality who have by our grant a treaty right to 
      pursue lawful business here and to be protected against lawless 
      assault or injury.

      This leads me to point out a serious defect in the present federal 
      jurisdiction, which ought to be remedied at once. Having assured 
      to other countries by treaty the protection of our laws for such 
      of their subjects or citizens as we permit to come within our 
      jurisdiction, we now leave to a state or a city, not under the 
      control of the Federal Government, the duty of performing our 
      international obligations in this respect. By proper legislation 
      we may, and ought to, place in the hands of the Federal Executive 
      the means of enforcing the treaty rights of such aliens in the 
      courts of the Federal Government. It puts our Government in a 
      pusillanimous position to make definite engagements to protect 
      aliens and then to excuse the failure to perform those engagements 
      by an explanation that the duty to keep them is in States or 
      cities, not within our control. If we would promise we must put 
      ourselves in a position to perform our promise. We cannot permit 
      the possible failure of justice, due to local prejudice in any 
      State or municipal government, to expose us to the risk of a war 
      which might be avoided if federal jurisdiction was asserted by 
      suitable legislation by Congress and carried out by proper 
      proceedings instituted by the Executive in the courts of the 
      National Government.

      One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming 
      administration is a change of our monetary and banking laws, so as 
      to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency available 
      for trade and to prevent the limitations of law from operating to 
      increase the embarrassment of a financial panic. The monetary 
      commission, lately appointed, is giving full consideration to 
      existing conditions and to all proposed remedies, and will 
      doubtless suggest one that will meet the requirements of business 
      and of public interest.

      We may hope that the report will embody neither the narrow dew of 
      those who believe that the sole purpose of the new system should 
      be to secure a large return on banking capital or of those who 
      would have greater expansion of currency with little regard to 
      provisions for its immediate redemption or ultimate security. 
      There is no subject of economic discussion so intricate and so 
      likely to evoke differing views and dogmatic statements as this 
      one. The commission, in studying the general influence of currency 
      on business and of business on currency, have wisely extended 
      their investigations in European banking and monetary methods. The 
      information that they have derived from such experts as they have 
      found abroad will undoubtedly be found helpful in the solution of 
      the difficult problem they have in hand.

      The incoming Congress should promptly fulfill the promise of the 
      Republican platform and pass a proper postal savings bank bill. It 
      will not be unwise or excessive paternalism. The promise to repay 
      by the Government will furnish an inducement to savings deposits 
      which private enterprise can not supply and at such a low rate of 
      interest as not to withdraw custom from existing banks. It will 
      substantially increase the funds available for investment as 
      capital in useful enterprises. It will furnish absolute security 
      which makes the proposed scheme of government guaranty of deposits 
      so alluring, without its pernicious results.

      I sincerely hope that the incoming Congress will be alive, as it 
      should be, to the importance of our foreign trade and of 
      encouraging it in every way feasible. The possibility of 
      increasing this trade in the Orient, in the Philippines, and in 
      South America are known to everyone who has given the matter 
      attention. The direct effect of free trade between this country 
      and the Philippines will be marked upon our sales of cottons, 
      agricultural machinery, and other manufactures. The necessity of 
      the establishment of direct lines of steamers between North and 
      South America has been brought to the attention of Congress by my 
      predecessor and by Mr. Root before and after his noteworthy visit 
      to that continent, and I sincerely hope that Congress may be 
      induced to see the wisdom of a tentative effort to establish such 
      lines by the use of mail subsidies.

      The importance of the part which the Departments of Agriculture 
      and of Commerce and Labor may play in ridding the markets of 
      Europe of prohibitions and discriminations against the importation 
      of our products is fully understood, and it is hoped that the use 
      of the maximum and minimum feature of our tariff law to be soon 
      passed will be effective to remove many of those restrictions.

      The Panama Canal will have a most important bearing upon the trade 
      between the eastern and far western sections of our country, and 
      will greatly increase the facilities for transportation between 
      the eastern and the western seaboard, and may possibly 
      revolutionize the transcontinental rates with respect to bulky 
      merchandise. It will also have a most beneficial effect to 
      increase the trade between the eastern seaboard of the United 
      States and the western coast of South America, and, indeed, with 
      some of the important ports on the east coast of South America 
      reached by rail from the west coast.

      The work on the canal is making most satisfactory progress. The 
      type of the canal as a lock canal was fixed by Congress after a 
      full consideration of the conflicting reports of the majority and 
      minority of the consulting board, and after the recommendation of 
      the War Department and the Executive upon those reports. Recent 
      suggestion that something had occurred on the Isthmus to make the 
      lock type of the canal less feasible than it was supposed to be 
      when the reports were made and the policy determined on led to a 
      visit to the Isthmus of a board of competent engineers to examine 
      the Gatun dam and locks, which are the key of the lock type. The 
      report of that board shows nothing has occurred in the nature of 
      newly revealed evidence which should change the views once formed 
      in the original discussion. The construction will go on under a 
      most effective organization controlled by Colonel Goethals and his 
      fellow army engineers associated with him, and will certainly be 
      completed early in the next administration, if not before.

      Some type of canal must be constructed. The lock type has been 
      selected. We are all in favor of having it built as promptly as 
      possible. We must not now, therefore, keep up a fire in the rear 
      of the agents whom we have authorized to do our work on the 
      Isthmus. We must hold up their hands, and speaking for the 
      incoming administration I wish to say that I propose to devote all 
      the energy possible and under my control to pushing of this work 
      on the plans which have been adopted, and to stand behind the men 
      who are doing faithful, hard work to bring about the early 
      completion of this, the greatest constructive enterprise of modern 
      times.

      The governments of our dependencies in Porto Rico and the 
      Philippines are progressing as favorably as could be desired. The 
      prosperity of Porto Rico continues unabated. The business 
      conditions in the Philippines are not all that we could wish them 
      to be, but with the passage of the new tariff bill permitting free 
      trade between the United States and the archipelago, with such 
      limitations on sugar and tobacco as shall prevent injury to 
      domestic interests in those products, we can count on an 
      improvement in business conditions in the Philippines and the 
      development of a mutually profitable trade between this country 
      and the islands. Meantime our Government in each dependency is 
      upholding the traditions of civil liberty and increasing popular 
      control which might be expected under American auspices. The work 
      which we are doing there redounds to our credit as a nation.

      I look forward with hope to increasing the already good feeling 
      between the South and the other sections of the country. My chief 
      purpose is not to effect a change in the electoral vote of the 
      Southern States. That is a secondary consideration. What I look 
      forward to is an increase in the tolerance of political views of 
      all kinds and their advocacy throughout the South, and the 
      existence of a respectable political opposition in every State; 
      even more than this, to an increased feeling on the part of all 
      the people in the South that this Government is their Government, 
      and that its officers in their states are their officers.

      The consideration of this question can not, however, be complete 
      and full without reference to the negro race, its progress and its 
      present condition. The thirteenth amendment secured them freedom; 
      the fourteenth amendment due process of law, protection of 
      property, and the pursuit of happiness; and the fifteenth 
      amendment attempted to secure the negro against any deprivation of 
      the privilege to vote because he was a negro. The thirteenth and 
      fourteenth amendments have been generally enforced and have 
      secured the objects for which they are intended. While the 
      fifteenth amendment has not been generally observed in the past, 
      it ought to be observed, and the tendency of Southern legislation 
      today is toward the enactment of electoral qualifications which 
      shall square with that amendment. Of course, the mere adoption of 
      a constitutional law is only one step in the right direction. It 
      must be fairly and justly enforced as well. In time both will 
      come. Hence it is clear to all that the domination of an ignorant, 
      irresponsible element can be prevented by constitutional laws 
      which shall exclude from voting both negroes and whites not having 
      education or other qualifications thought to be necessary for a 
      proper electorate. The danger of the control of an ignorant 
      electorate has therefore passed. With this change, the interest 
      which many of the Southern white citizens take in the welfare of 
      the negroes has increased. The colored men must base their hope on 
      the results of their own industry, self-restraint, thrift, and 
      business success, as well as upon the aid and comfort and sympathy 
      which they may receive from their white neighbors of the South.

      There was a time when Northerners who sympathized with the negro 
      in his necessary struggle for better conditions sought to give him 
      the suffrage as a protection to enforce its exercise against the 
      prevailing sentiment of the South. The movement proved to be a 
      failure. What remains is the fifteenth amendment to the 
      Constitution and the right to have statutes of States specifying 
      qualifications for electors subjected to the test of compliance 
      with that amendment. This is a great protection to the negro. It 
      never will be repealed, and it never ought to be repealed. If it 
      had not passed, it might be difficult now to adopt it; but with it 
      in our fundamental law, the policy of Southern legislation must 
      and will tend to obey it, and so long as the statutes of the 
      States meet the test of this amendment and are not otherwise in 
      conflict with the Constitution and laws of the United States, it 
      is not the disposition or within the province of the Federal 
      Government to interfere with the regulation by Southern States of 
      their domestic affairs. There is in the South a stronger feeling 
      than ever among the intelligent well-to-do, and influential 
      element in favor of the industrial education of the negro and the 
      encouragement of the race to make themselves useful members of the 
      community. The progress which the negro has made in the last fifty 
      years, from slavery, when its statistics are reviewed, is 
      marvelous, and it furnishes every reason to hope that in the next 
      twenty-five years a still greater improvement in his condition as 
      a productive member of society, on the farm, and in the shop, and 
      in other occupations may come.

      The negroes are now Americans. Their ancestors came here years ago 
      against their will, and this is their only country and their only 
      flag. They have shown themselves anxious to live for it and to die 
      for it. Encountering the race feeling against them, subjected at 
      times to cruel injustice growing out of it, they may well have our 
      profound sympathy and aid in the struggle they are making. We are 
      charged with the sacred duty of making their path as smooth and 
      easy as we can. Any recognition of their distinguished men, any 
      appointment to office from among their number, is properly taken 
      as an encouragement and an appreciation of their progress, and 
      this just policy should be pursued when suitable occasion offers.

      But it may well admit of doubt whether, in the case of any race, 
      an appointment of one of their number to a local office in a 
      community in which the race feeling is so widespread and acute as 
      to interfere with the ease and facility with which the local 
      government business can be done by the appointee is of sufficient 
      benefit by way of encouragement to the race to outweigh the 
      recurrence and increase of race feeling which such an appointment 
      is likely to engender. Therefore the Executive, in recognizing the 
      negro race by appointments, must exercise a careful discretion not 
      thereby to do it more harm than good. On the other hand, we must 
      be careful not to encourage the mere pretense of race feeling 
      manufactured in the interest of individual political ambition.

      Personally, I have not the slightest race prejudice or feeling, 
      and recognition of its existence only awakens in my heart a deeper 
      sympathy for those who have to bear it or suffer from it, and I 
      question the wisdom of a policy which is likely to increase it. 
      Meantime, if nothing is done to prevent it, a better feeling 
      between the negroes and the whites in the South will continue to 
      grow, and more and more of the white people will come to realize 
      that the future of the South is to be much benefited by the 
      industrial and intellectual progress of the negro. The exercise of 
      political franchises by those of this race who are intelligent and 
      well to do will be acquiesced in, and the right to vote will be 
      withheld only from the ignorant and irresponsible of both races.

      There is one other matter to which I shall refer. It was made the 
      subject of great controversy during the election and calls for at 
      least a passing reference now. My distinguished predecessor has 
      given much attention to the cause of labor, with whose struggle 
      for better things he has shown the sincerest sympathy. At his 
      instance Congress has passed the bill fixing the liability of 
      interstate carriers to their employees for injury sustained in the 
      course of employment, abolishing the rule of fellow-servant and 
      the common-law rule as to contributory negligence, and 
      substituting therefor the so-called rule of "comparative 
      negligence." It has also passed a law fixing the compensation of 
      government employees for injuries sustained in the employ of the 
      Government through the negligence of the superior. It has also 
      passed a model child-labor law for the District of Columbia. In 
      previous administrations an arbitration law for interstate 
      commerce railroads and their employees, and laws for the 
      application of safety devices to save the lives and limbs of 
      employees of interstate railroads had been passed. Additional 
      legislation of this kind was passed by the outgoing Congress.

      I wish to say that insofar as I can I hope to promote the 
      enactment of further legislation of this character. I am strongly 
      convinced that the Government should make itself as responsible to 
      employees injured in its employ as an interstate-railway 
      corporation is made responsible by federal law to its employees; 
      and I shall be glad, whenever any additional reasonable safety 
      device can be invented to reduce the loss of life and limb among 
      railway employees, to urge Congress to require its adoption by 
      interstate railways.

      Another labor question has arisen which has awakened the most 
      excited discussion. That is in respect to the power of the federal 
      courts to issue injunctions in industrial disputes. As to that, my 
      convictions are fixed. Take away from the courts, if it could be 
      taken away, the power to issue injunctions in labor disputes, and 
      it would create a privileged class among the laborers and save the 
      lawless among their number from a most needful remedy available to 
      all men for the protection of their business against lawless 
      invasion. The proposition that business is not a property or 
      pecuniary right which can be protected by equitable injunction is 
      utterly without foundation in precedent or reason. The proposition 
      is usually linked with one to make the secondary boycott lawful. 
      Such a proposition is at variance with the American instinct, and 
      will find no support, in my judgment, when submitted to the 
      American people. The secondary boycott is an instrument of 
      tyranny, and ought not to be made legitimate.

      The issue of a temporary restraining order without notice has in 
      several instances been abused by its inconsiderate exercise, and 
      to remedy this the platform upon which I was elected recommends 
      the formulation in a statute of the conditions under which such a 
      temporary restraining order ought to issue. A statute can and 
      ought to be framed to embody the best modern practice, and can 
      bring the subject so closely to the attention of the court as to 
      make abuses of the process unlikely in the future. The American 
      people, if I understand them, insist that the authority of the 
      courts shall be sustained, and are opposed to any change in the 
      procedure by which the powers of a court may be weakened and the 
      fearless and effective administration of justice be interfered 
      with.

      Having thus reviewed the questions likely to recur during my 
      administration, and having expressed in a summary way the position 
      which I expect to take in recommendations to Congress and in my 
      conduct as an Executive, I invoke the considerate sympathy and 
      support of my fellow-citizens and the aid of the Almighty God in 
      the discharge of my responsible duties.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Woodrow Wilson

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1913
      __________________________________________________________________
      The election of 1912 produced a Democratic victory over the split 
      vote for President Taft's Republican ticket and Theodore 
      Roosevelt's Progressive Party. The Governor of New Jersey and 
      former Princeton University president was accompanied by President 
      Taft to the Capitol. The oath of office was administered on the 
      East Portico by Chief Justice Edward White.
      __________________________________________________________________

      There has been a change of government. It began two years ago, 
      when the House of Representatives became Democratic by a decisive 
      majority. It has now been completed. The Senate about to assemble 
      will also be Democratic. The offices of President and Vice-
      President have been put into the hands of Democrats. What does the 
      change mean? That is the question that is uppermost in our minds 
      to-day. That is the question I am going to try to answer, in 
      order, if I may, to interpret the occasion.

      It means much more than the mere success of a party. The success 
      of a party means little except when the Nation is using that party 
      for a large and definite purpose. No one can mistake the purpose 
      for which the Nation now seeks to use the Democratic Party. It 
      seeks to use it to interpret a change in its own plans and point 
      of view. Some old things with which we had grown familiar, and 
      which had begun to creep into the very habit of our thought and of 
      our lives, have altered their aspect as we have latterly looked 
      critically upon them, with fresh, awakened eyes; have dropped 
      their disguises and shown themselves alien and sinister. Some new 
      things, as we look frankly upon them, willing to comprehend their 
      real character, have come to assume the aspect of things long 
      believed in and familiar, stuff of our own convictions. We have 
      been refreshed by a new insight into our own life.

      We see that in many things that life is very great. It is 
      incomparably great in its material aspects, in its body of wealth, 
      in the diversity and sweep of its energy, in the industries which 
      have been conceived and built up by the genius of individual men 
      and the limitless enterprise of groups of men. It is great, also, 
      very great, in its moral force. Nowhere else in the world have 
      noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty 
      and the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their 
      efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in 
      the way of strength and hope. We have built up, moreover, a great 
      system of government, which has stood through a long age as in 
      many respects a model for those who seek to set liberty upon 
      foundations that will endure against fortuitous change, against 
      storm and accident. Our life contains every great thing, and 
      contains it in rich abundance.

      But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold has been 
      corroded. With riches has come inexcusable waste. We have 
      squandered a great part of what we might have used, and have not 
      stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of nature, without which 
      our genius for enterprise would have been worthless and impotent, 
      scorning to be careful, shamefully prodigal as well as admirably 
      efficient. We have been proud of our industrial achievements, but 
      we have not hitherto stopped thoughtfully enough to count the 
      human cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies overtaxed 
      and broken, the fearful physical and spiritual cost to the men and 
      women and children upon whom the dead weight and burden of it all 
      has fallen pitilessly the years through. The groans and agony of 
      it all had not yet reached our ears, the solemn, moving undertone 
      of our life, coming up out of the mines and factories, and out of 
      every home where the struggle had its intimate and familiar seat. 
      With the great Government went many deep secret things which we 
      too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with candid, fearless 
      eyes. The great Government we loved has too often been made use of 
      for private and selfish purposes, and those who used it had 
      forgotten the people.

      At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as a whole. We 
      see the bad with the good, the debased and decadent with the sound 
      and vital. With this vision we approach new affairs. Our duty is 
      to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, to correct the evil without 
      impairing the good, to purify and humanize every process of our 
      common life without weakening or sentimentalizing it. There has 
      been something crude and heartless and unfeeling in our haste to 
      succeed and be great. Our thought has been "Let every man look out 
      for himself, let every generation look out for itself," while we 
      reared giant machinery which made it impossible that any but those 
      who stood at the levers of control should have a chance to look 
      out for themselves. We had not forgotten our morals. We remembered 
      well enough that we had set up a policy which was meant to serve 
      the humblest as well as the most powerful, with an eye single to 
      the standards of justice and fair play, and remembered it with 
      pride. But we were very heedless and in a hurry to be great.

      We have come now to the sober second thought. The scales of 
      heedlessness have fallen from our eyes. We have made up our minds 
      to square every process of our national life again with the 
      standards we so proudly set up at the beginning and have always 
      carried at our hearts. Our work is a work of restoration.

      We have itemized with some degree of particularity the things that 
      ought to be altered and here are some of the chief items: A tariff 
      which cuts us off from our proper part in the commerce of the 
      world, violates the just principles of taxation, and makes the 
      Government a facile instrument in the hand of private interests; a 
      banking and currency system based upon the necessity of the 
      Government to sell its bonds fifty years ago and perfectly adapted 
      to concentrating cash and restricting credits; an industrial 
      system which, take it on all its sides, financial as well as 
      administrative, holds capital in leading strings, restricts the 
      liberties and limits the opportunities of labor, and exploits 
      without renewing or conserving the natural resources of the 
      country; a body of agricultural activities never yet given the 
      efficiency of great business undertakings or served as it should 
      be through the instrumentality of science taken directly to the 
      farm, or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to its 
      practical needs; watercourses undeveloped, waste places 
      unreclaimed, forests untended, fast disappearing without plan or 
      prospect of renewal, unregarded waste heaps at every mine. We have 
      studied as perhaps no other nation has the most effective means of 
      production, but we have not studied cost or economy as we should 
      either as organizers of industry, as statesmen, or as individuals.

      Nor have we studied and perfected the means by which government 
      may be put at the service of humanity, in safeguarding the health 
      of the Nation, the health of its men and its women and its 
      children, as well as their rights in the struggle for existence. 
      This is no sentimental duty. The firm basis of government is 
      justice, not pity. These are matters of justice. There can be no 
      equality or opportunity, the first essential of justice in the 
      body politic, if men and women and children be not shielded in 
      their lives, their very vitality, from the consequences of great 
      industrial and social processes which they can not alter, control, 
      or singly cope with. Society must see to it that it does not 
      itself crush or weaken or damage its own constituent parts. The 
      first duty of law is to keep sound the society it serves. Sanitary 
      laws, pure food laws, and laws determining conditions of labor 
      which individuals are powerless to determine for themselves are 
      intimate parts of the very business of justice and legal 
      efficiency.

      These are some of the things we ought to do, and not leave the 
      others undone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be-neglected, 
      fundamental safeguarding of property and of individual right. This 
      is the high enterprise of the new day: To lift everything that 
      concerns our life as a Nation to the light that shines from the 
      hearthfire of every man's conscience and vision of the right. It 
      is inconceivable that we should do this as partisans; it is 
      inconceivable we should do it in ignorance of the facts as they 
      are or in blind haste. We shall restore, not destroy. We shall 
      deal with our economic system as it is and as it may be modified, 
      not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper to write upon; 
      and step by step we shall make it what it should be, in the spirit 
      of those who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and 
      knowledge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement of 
      excursions whither they can not tell. Justice, and only justice, 
      shall always be our motto.

      And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. The Nation has 
      been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by the 
      knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, of government too often 
      debauched and made an instrument of evil. The feelings with which 
      we face this new age of right and opportunity sweep across our 
      heartstrings like some air out of God's own presence, where 
      justice and mercy are reconciled and the judge and the brother are 
      one. We know our task to be no mere task of politics but a task 
      which shall search us through and through, whether we be able to 
      understand our time and the need of our people, whether we be 
      indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the pure 
      heart to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our high 
      course of action.

      This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here 
      muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of humanity. Men's 
      hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's hopes 
      call upon us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to the 
      great trust? Who dares fail to try? I summon all honest men, all 
      patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, I 
      will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me!

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Woodrow Wilson

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1917
      __________________________________________________________________
      March 4 was a Sunday, but the President took the oath of office at 
      the Capitol in the President's Room that morning. The oath was 
      taken again the next day, administered by Chief Justice Edward 
      White on the East Portico of the Capitol. The specter of war with 
      Germany hung over the events surrounding the inauguration. A 
      Senate filibuster on arming American merchant vessels against 
      submarine attacks had closed the last hours of the Sixty-fourth 
      Congress without passage. Despite the campaign slogan "He kept us 
      out of war," the President asked Congress on April 2 to declare 
      war. It was declared on April 6.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Fellow Citizens:

      The four years which have elapsed since last I stood in this place 
      have been crowded with counsel and action of the most vital 
      interest and consequence. Perhaps no equal period in our history 
      has been so fruitful of important reforms in our economic and 
      industrial life or so full of significant changes in the spirit 
      and purpose of our political action. We have sought very 
      thoughtfully to set our house in order, correct the grosser errors 
      and abuses of our industrial life, liberate and quicken the 
      processes of our national genius and energy, and lift our politics 
      to a broader view of the people's essential interests.

      It is a record of singular variety and singular distinction. But I 
      shall not attempt to review it. It speaks for itself and will be 
      of increasing influence as the years go by. This is not the time 
      for retrospect. It is time rather to speak our thoughts and 
      purposes concerning the present and the immediate future.

      Although we have centered counsel and action with such unusual 
      concentration and success upon the great problems of domestic 
      legislation to which we addressed ourselves four years ago, other 
      matters have more and more forced themselves upon our attention--
      matters lying outside our own life as a nation and over which we 
      had no control, but which, despite our wish to keep free of them, 
      have drawn us more and more irresistibly into their own current 
      and influence.

      It has been impossible to avoid them. They have affected the life 
      of the whole world. They have shaken men everywhere with a passion 
      and an apprehension they never knew before. It has been hard to 
      preserve calm counsel while the thought of our own people swayed 
      this way and that under their influence. We are a composite and 
      cosmopolitan people. We are of the blood of all the nations that 
      are at war. The currents of our thoughts as well as the currents 
      of our trade run quick at all seasons back and forth between us 
      and them. The war inevitably set its mark from the first alike 
      upon our minds, our industries, our commerce, our politics and our 
      social action. To be indifferent to it, or independent of it, was 
      out of the question.

      And yet all the while we have been conscious that we were not part 
      of it. In that consciousness, despite many divisions, we have 
      drawn closer together. We have been deeply wronged upon the seas, 
      but we have not wished to wrong or injure in return; have retained 
      throughout the consciousness of standing in some sort apart, 
      intent upon an interest that transcended the immediate issues of 
      the war itself.

      As some of the injuries done us have become intolerable we have 
      still been clear that we wished nothing for ourselves that we were 
      not ready to demand for all mankind--fair dealing, justice, the 
      freedom to live and to be at ease against organized wrong.

      It is in this spirit and with this thought that we have grown more 
      and more aware, more and more certain that the part we wished to 
      play was the part of those who mean to vindicate and fortify 
      peace. We have been obliged to arm ourselves to make good our 
      claim to a certain minimum of right and of freedom of action. We 
      stand firm in armed neutrality since it seems that in no other way 
      we can demonstrate what it is we insist upon and cannot forget. We 
      may even be drawn on, by circumstances, not by our own purpose or 
      desire, to a more active assertion of our rights as we see them 
      and a more immediate association with the great struggle itself. 
      But nothing will alter our thought or our purpose. They are too 
      clear to be obscured. They are too deeply rooted in the principles 
      of our national life to be altered. We desire neither conquest nor 
      advantage. We wish nothing that can be had only at the cost of 
      another people. We always professed unselfish purpose and we covet 
      the opportunity to prove our professions are sincere.

      There are many things still to be done at home, to clarify our own 
      politics and add new vitality to the industrial processes of our 
      own life, and we shall do them as time and opportunity serve, but 
      we realize that the greatest things that remain to be done must be 
      done with the whole world for stage and in cooperation with the 
      wide and universal forces of mankind, and we are making our 
      spirits ready for those things.

      We are provincials no longer. The tragic events of the thirty 
      months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed have 
      made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back. Our 
      own fortunes as a nation are involved whether we would have it so 
      or not.

      And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. We shall be 
      the more American if we but remain true to the principles in which 
      we have been bred. They are not the principles of a province or of 
      a single continent. We have known and boasted all along that they 
      were the principles of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are 
      the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace:

      That all nations are equally interested in the peace of the world 
      and in the political stability of free peoples, and equally 
      responsible for their maintenance; that the essential principle of 
      peace is the actual equality of nations in all matters of right or 
      privilege; that peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an armed 
      balance of power; that governments derive all their just powers 
      from the consent of the governed and that no other powers should 
      be supported by the common thought, purpose or power of the family 
      of nations; that the seas should be equally free and safe for the 
      use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agreement and 
      consent, and that, so far as practicable, they should be 
      accessible to all upon equal terms; that national armaments shall 
      be limited to the necessities of national order and domestic 
      safety; that the community of interest and of power upon which 
      peace must henceforth depend imposes upon each nation the duty of 
      seeing to it that all influences proceeding from its own citizens 
      meant to encourage or assist revolution in other states should be 
      sternly and effectually suppressed and prevented.

      I need not argue these principles to you, my fellow countrymen; 
      they are your own part and parcel of your own thinking and your 
      own motives in affairs. They spring up native amongst us. Upon 
      this as a platform of purpose and of action we can stand together. 
      And it is imperative that we should stand together. We are being 
      forged into a new unity amidst the fires that now blaze throughout 
      the world. In their ardent heat we shall, in God's Providence, let 
      us hope, be purged of faction and division, purified of the errant 
      humors of party and of private interest, and shall stand forth in 
      the days to come with a new dignity of national pride and spirit. 
      Let each man see to it that the dedication is in his own heart, 
      the high purpose of the nation in his own mind, ruler of his own 
      will and desire.

      I stand here and have taken the high and solemn oath to which you 
      have been audience because the people of the United States have 
      chosen me for this august delegation of power and have by their 
      gracious judgment named me their leader in affairs.

      I know now what the task means. I realize to the full the 
      responsibility which it involves. I pray God I may be given the 
      wisdom and the prudence to do my duty in the true spirit of this 
      great people. I am their servant and can succeed only as they 
      sustain and guide me by their confidence and their counsel. The 
      thing I shall count upon, the thing without which neither counsel 
      nor action will avail, is the unity of America--an America united 
      in feeling, in purpose and in its vision of duty, of opportunity 
      and of service.

      We are to beware of all men who would turn the tasks and the 
      necessities of the nation to their own private profit or use them 
      for the building up of private power.

      United alike in the conception of our duty and in the high resolve 
      to perform it in the face of all men, let us dedicate ourselves to 
      the great task to which we must now set our hand. For myself I beg 
      your tolerance, your countenance and your united aid.

      The shadows that now lie dark upon our path will soon be 
      dispelled, and we shall walk with the light all about us if we be 
      but true to ourselves--to ourselves as we have wished to be known 
      in the counsels of the world and in the thought of all those who 
      love liberty and justice and the right exalted.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                           Warren G. Harding

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1921
      __________________________________________________________________
      Senator Harding from Ohio was the first sitting Senator to be 
      elected President. A former newspaper publisher and Governor of 
      Ohio, the President-elect rode to the Capitol with President 
      Wilson in the first automobile to be used in an inauguration. 
      President Wilson had suffered a stroke in 1919, and his fragile 
      health prevented his attendance at the ceremony on the East 
      Portico of the Capitol. The oath of office was administered by 
      Chief Justice Edward White, using the Bible from George 
      Washington's first inauguration. The address to the crowd at the 
      Capitol was broadcast on a loudspeaker. A simple parade followed.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Countrymen:

      When one surveys the world about him after the great storm, noting 
      the marks of destruction and yet rejoicing in the ruggedness of 
      the things which withstood it, if he is an American he breathes 
      the clarified atmosphere with a strange mingling of regret and new 
      hope. We have seen a world passion spend its fury, but we 
      contemplate our Republic unshaken, and hold our civilization 
      secure. Liberty--liberty within the law--and civilization are 
      inseparable, and though both were threatened we find them now 
      secure; and there comes to Americans the profound assurance that 
      our representative government is the highest expression and surest 
      guaranty of both.

      Standing in this presence, mindful of the solemnity of this 
      occasion, feeling the emotions which no one may know until he 
      senses the great weight of responsibility for himself, I must 
      utter my belief in the divine inspiration of the founding fathers. 
      Surely there must have been God's intent in the making of this 
      new-world Republic. Ours is an organic law which had but one 
      ambiguity, and we saw that effaced in a baptism of sacrifice and 
      blood, with union maintained, the Nation supreme, and its concord 
      inspiring. We have seen the world rivet its hopeful gaze on the 
      great truths on which the founders wrought. We have seen civil, 
      human, and religious liberty verified and glorified. In the 
      beginning the Old World scoffed at our experiment; today our 
      foundations of political and social belief stand unshaken, a 
      precious inheritance to ourselves, an inspiring example of freedom 
      and civilization to all mankind. Let us express renewed and 
      strengthened devotion, in grateful reverence for the immortal 
      beginning, and utter our confidence in the supreme fulfillment.

      The recorded progress of our Republic, materially and spiritually, 
      in itself proves the wisdom of the inherited policy of 
      noninvolvement in Old World affairs. Confident of our ability to 
      work out our own destiny, and jealously guarding our right to do 
      so, we seek no part in directing the destinies of the Old World. 
      We do not mean to be entangled. We will accept no responsibility 
      except as our own conscience and judgment, in each instance, may 
      determine.

      Our eyes never will be blind to a developing menace, our ears 
      never deaf to the call of civilization. We recognize the new order 
      in the world, with the closer contacts which progress has wrought. 
      We sense the call of the human heart for fellowship, fraternity, 
      and cooperation. We crave friendship and harbor no hate. But 
      America, our America, the America builded on the foundation laid 
      by the inspired fathers, can be a party to no permanent military 
      alliance. It can enter into no political commitments, nor assume 
      any economic obligations which will subject our decisions to any 
      other than our own authority.

      I am sure our own people will not misunderstand, nor will the 
      world misconstrue. We have no thought to impede the paths to 
      closer relationship. We wish to promote understanding. We want to 
      do our part in making offensive warfare so hateful that 
      Governments and peoples who resort to it must prove the 
      righteousness of their cause or stand as outlaws before the bar of 
      civilization.

      We are ready to associate ourselves with the nations of the world, 
      great and small, for conference, for counsel; to seek the 
      expressed views of world opinion; to recommend a way to 
      approximate disarmament and relieve the crushing burdens of 
      military and naval establishments. We elect to participate in 
      suggesting plans for mediation, conciliation, and arbitration, and 
      would gladly join in that expressed conscience of progress, which 
      seeks to clarify and write the laws of international relationship, 
      and establish a world court for the disposition of such 
      justiciable questions as nations are agreed to submit thereto. In 
      expressing aspirations, in seeking practical plans, in translating 
      humanity's new concept of righteousness and justice and its hatred 
      of war into recommended action we are ready most heartily to 
      unite, but every commitment must be made in the exercise of our 
      national sovereignty. Since freedom impelled, and independence 
      inspired, and nationality exalted, a world supergovernment is 
      contrary to everything we cherish and can have no sanction by our 
      Republic. This is not selfishness, it is sanctity. It is not 
      aloofness, it is security. It is not suspicion of others, it is 
      patriotic adherence to the things which made us what we are.

      Today, better than ever before, we know the aspirations of 
      humankind, and share them. We have come to a new realization of 
      our place in the world and a new appraisal of our Nation by the 
      world. The unselfishness of these United States is a thing proven; 
      our devotion to peace for ourselves and for the world is well 
      established; our concern for preserved civilization has had its 
      impassioned and heroic expression. There was no American failure 
      to resist the attempted reversion of civilization; there will be 
      no failure today or tomorrow.

      The success of our popular government rests wholly upon the 
      correct interpretation of the deliberate, intelligent, dependable 
      popular will of America. In a deliberate questioning of a 
      suggested change of national policy, where internationality was to 
      supersede nationality, we turned to a referendum, to the American 
      people. There was ample discussion, and there is a public mandate 
      in manifest understanding.

      America is ready to encourage, eager to initiate, anxious to 
      participate in any seemly program likely to lessen the probability 
      of war, and promote that brotherhood of mankind which must be 
      God's highest conception of human relationship. Because we cherish 
      ideals of justice and peace, because we appraise international 
      comity and helpful relationship no less highly than any people of 
      the world, we aspire to a high place in the moral leadership of 
      civilization, and we hold a maintained America, the proven 
      Republic, the unshaken temple of representative democracy, to be 
      not only an inspiration and example, but the highest agency of 
      strengthening good will and promoting accord on both continents.

      Mankind needs a world-wide benediction of understanding. It is 
      needed among individuals, among peoples, among governments, and it 
      will inaugurate an era of good feeling to make the birth of a new 
      order. In such understanding men will strive confidently for the 
      promotion of their better relationships and nations will promote 
      the comities so essential to peace.

      We must understand that ties of trade bind nations in closest 
      intimacy, and none may receive except as he gives. We have not 
      strengthened ours in accordance with our resources or our genius, 
      notably on our own continent, where a galaxy of Republics reflects 
      the glory of new-world democracy, but in the new order of finance 
      and trade we mean to promote enlarged activities and seek expanded 
      confidence.

      Perhaps we can make no more helpful contribution by example than 
      prove a Republic's capacity to emerge from the wreckage of war. 
      While the world's embittered travail did not leave us devastated 
      lands nor desolated cities, left no gaping wounds, no breast with 
      hate, it did involve us in the delirium of expenditure, in 
      expanded currency and credits, in unbalanced industry, in 
      unspeakable waste, and disturbed relationships. While it uncovered 
      our portion of hateful selfishness at home, it also revealed the 
      heart of America as sound and fearless, and beating in confidence 
      unfailing.

      Amid it all we have riveted the gaze of all civilization to the 
      unselfishness and the righteousness of representative democracy, 
      where our freedom never has made offensive warfare, never has 
      sought territorial aggrandizement through force, never has turned 
      to the arbitrament of arms until reason has been exhausted. When 
      the Governments of the earth shall have established a freedom like 
      our own and shall have sanctioned the pursuit of peace as we have 
      practiced it, I believe the last sorrow and the final sacrifice of 
      international warfare will have been written.

      Let me speak to the maimed and wounded soldiers who are present 
      today, and through them convey to their comrades the gratitude of 
      the Republic for their sacrifices in its defense. A generous 
      country will never forget the services you rendered, and you may 
      hope for a policy under Government that will relieve any maimed 
      successors from taking your places on another such occasion as 
      this.

      Our supreme task is the resumption of our onward, normal way. 
      Reconstruction, readjustment, restoration all these must follow. I 
      would like to hasten them. If it will lighten the spirit and add 
      to the resolution with which we take up the task, let me repeat 
      for our Nation, we shall give no people just cause to make war 
      upon us; we hold no national prejudices; we entertain no spirit of 
      revenge; we do not hate; we do not covet; we dream of no conquest, 
      nor boast of armed prowess.

      If, despite this attitude, war is again forced upon us, I 
      earnestly hope a way may be found which will unify our individual 
      and collective strength and consecrate all America, materially and 
      spiritually, body and soul, to national defense. I can vision the 
      ideal republic, where every man and woman is called under the flag 
      for assignment to duty for whatever service, military or civic, 
      the individual is best fitted; where we may call to universal 
      service every plant, agency, or facility, all in the sublime 
      sacrifice for country, and not one penny of war profit shall inure 
      to the benefit of private individual, corporation, or combination, 
      but all above the normal shall flow into the defense chest of the 
      Nation. There is something inherently wrong, something out of 
      accord with the ideals of representative democracy, when one 
      portion of our citizenship turns its activities to private gain 
      amid defensive war while another is fighting, sacrificing, or 
      dying for national preservation.

      Out of such universal service will come a new unity of spirit and 
      purpose, a new confidence and consecration, which would make our 
      defense impregnable, our triumph assured. Then we should have 
      little or no disorganization of our economic, industrial, and 
      commercial systems at home, no staggering war debts, no swollen 
      fortunes to flout the sacrifices of our soldiers, no excuse for 
      sedition, no pitiable slackerism, no outrage of treason. Envy and 
      jealousy would have no soil for their menacing development, and 
      revolution would be without the passion which engenders it.

      A regret for the mistakes of yesterday must not, however, blind us 
      to the tasks of today. War never left such an aftermath. There has 
      been staggering loss of life and measureless wastage of materials. 
      Nations are still groping for return to stable ways. Discouraging 
      indebtedness confronts us like all the war-torn nations, and these 
      obligations must be provided for. No civilization can survive 
      repudiation.

      We can reduce the abnormal expenditures, and we will. We can 
      strike at war taxation, and we must. We must face the grim 
      necessity, with full knowledge that the task is to be solved, and 
      we must proceed with a full realization that no statute enacted by 
      man can repeal the inexorable laws of nature. Our most dangerous 
      tendency is to expect too much of government, and at the same time 
      do for it too little. We contemplate the immediate task of putting 
      our public household in order. We need a rigid and yet sane 
      economy, combined with fiscal justice, and it must be attended by 
      individual prudence and thrift, which are so essential to this 
      trying hour and reassuring for the future.

      The business world reflects the disturbance of war's reaction. 
      Herein flows the lifeblood of material existence. The economic 
      mechanism is intricate and its parts interdependent, and has 
      suffered the shocks and jars incident to abnormal demands, credit 
      inflations, and price upheavals. The normal balances have been 
      impaired, the channels of distribution have been clogged, the 
      relations of labor and management have been strained. We must seek 
      the readjustment with care and courage. Our people must give and 
      take. Prices must reflect the receding fever of war activities. 
      Perhaps we never shall know the old levels of wages again, because 
      war invariably readjusts compensations, and the necessaries of 
      life will show their inseparable relationship, but we must strive 
      for normalcy to reach stability. All the penalties will not be 
      light, nor evenly distributed. There is no way of making them so. 
      There is no instant step from disorder to order. We must face a 
      condition of grim reality, charge off our losses and start afresh. 
      It is the oldest lesson of civilization. I would like government 
      to do all it can to mitigate; then, in understanding, in mutuality 
      of interest, in concern for the common good, our tasks will be 
      solved. No altered system will work a miracle. Any wild experiment 
      will only add to the confusion. Our best assurance lies in 
      efficient administration of our proven system.

      The forward course of the business cycle is unmistakable. Peoples 
      are turning from destruction to production. Industry has sensed 
      the changed order and our own people are turning to resume their 
      normal, onward way. The call is for productive America to go on. I 
      know that Congress and the Administration will favor every wise 
      Government policy to aid the resumption and encourage continued 
      progress.

      I speak for administrative efficiency, for lightened tax burdens, 
      for sound commercial practices, for adequate credit facilities, 
      for sympathetic concern for all agricultural problems, for the 
      omission of unnecessary interference of Government with business, 
      for an end to Government's experiment in business, and for more 
      efficient business in Government administration. With all of this 
      must attend a mindfulness of the human side of all activities, so 
      that social, industrial, and economic justice will be squared with 
      the purposes of a righteous people.

      With the nation-wide induction of womanhood into our political 
      life, we may count upon her intuitions, her refinements, her 
      intelligence, and her influence to exalt the social order. We 
      count upon her exercise of the full privileges and the performance 
      of the duties of citizenship to speed the attainment of the 
      highest state.

      I wish for an America no less alert in guarding against dangers 
      from within than it is watchful against enemies from without. Our 
      fundamental law recognizes no class, no group, no section; there 
      must be none in legislation or administration. The supreme 
      inspiration is the common weal. Humanity hungers for international 
      peace, and we crave it with all mankind. My most reverent prayer 
      for America is for industrial peace, with its rewards, widely and 
      generally distributed, amid the inspirations of equal opportunity. 
      No one justly may deny the equality of opportunity which made us 
      what we are. We have mistaken unpreparedness to embrace it to be a 
      challenge of the reality, and due concern for making all citizens 
      fit for participation will give added strength of citizenship and 
      magnify our achievement.

      If revolution insists upon overturning established order, let 
      other peoples make the tragic experiment. There is no place for it 
      in America. When World War threatened civilization we pledged our 
      resources and our lives to its preservation, and when revolution 
      threatens we unfurl the flag of law and order and renew our 
      consecration. Ours is a constitutional freedom where the popular 
      will is the law supreme and minorities are sacredly protected. Our 
      revisions, reformations, and evolutions reflect a deliberate 
      judgment and an orderly progress, and we mean to cure our ills, 
      but never destroy or permit destruction by force.

      I had rather submit our industrial controversies to the conference 
      table in advance than to a settlement table after conflict and 
      suffering. The earth is thirsting for the cup of good will, 
      understanding is its fountain source. I would like to acclaim an 
      era of good feeling amid dependable prosperity and all the 
      blessings which attend.

      It has been proved again and again that we cannot, while throwing 
      our markets open to the world, maintain American standards of 
      living and opportunity, and hold our industrial eminence in such 
      unequal competition. There is a luring fallacy in the theory of 
      banished barriers of trade, but preserved American standards 
      require our higher production costs to be reflected in our tariffs 
      on imports. Today, as never before, when peoples are seeking trade 
      restoration and expansion, we must adjust our tariffs to the new 
      order. We seek participation in the world's exchanges, because 
      therein lies our way to widened influence and the triumphs of 
      peace. We know full well we cannot sell where we do not buy, and 
      we cannot sell successfully where we do not carry. Opportunity is 
      calling not alone for the restoration, but for a new era in 
      production, transportation and trade. We shall answer it best by 
      meeting the demand of a surpassing home market, by promoting self-
      reliance in production, and by bidding enterprise, genius, and 
      efficiency to carry our cargoes in American bottoms to the marts 
      of the world.

      We would not have an America living within and for herself alone, 
      but we would have her self-reliant, independent, and ever nobler, 
      stronger, and richer. Believing in our higher standards, reared 
      through constitutional liberty and maintained opportunity, we 
      invite the world to the same heights. But pride in things wrought 
      is no reflex of a completed task. Common welfare is the goal of 
      our national endeavor. Wealth is not inimical to welfare; it ought 
      to be its friendliest agency. There never can be equality of 
      rewards or possessions so long as the human plan contains varied 
      talents and differing degrees of industry and thrift, but ours 
      ought to be a country free from the great blotches of distressed 
      poverty. We ought to find a way to guard against the perils and 
      penalties of unemployment. We want an America of homes, illumined 
      with hope and happiness, where mothers, freed from the necessity 
      for long hours of toil beyond their own doors, may preside as 
      befits the hearthstone of American citizenship. We want the cradle 
      of American childhood rocked under conditions so wholesome and so 
      hopeful that no blight may touch it in its development, and we 
      want to provide that no selfish interest, no material necessity, 
      no lack of opportunity shall prevent the gaining of that education 
      so essential to best citizenship.

      There is no short cut to the making of these ideals into glad 
      realities. The world has witnessed again and again the futility 
      and the mischief of ill-considered remedies for social and 
      economic disorders. But we are mindful today as never before of 
      the friction of modern industrialism, and we must learn its causes 
      and reduce its evil consequences by sober and tested methods. 
      Where genius has made for great possibilities, justice and 
      happiness must be reflected in a greater common welfare.

      Service is the supreme commitment of life. I would rejoice to 
      acclaim the era of the Golden Rule and crown it with the autocracy 
      of service. I pledge an administration wherein all the agencies of 
      Government are called to serve, and ever promote an understanding 
      of Government purely as an expression of the popular will.

      One cannot stand in this presence and be unmindful of the 
      tremendous responsibility. The world upheaval has added heavily to 
      our tasks. But with the realization comes the surge of high 
      resolve, and there is reassurance in belief in the God-given 
      destiny of our Republic. If I felt that there is to be sole 
      responsibility in the Executive for the America of tomorrow I 
      should shrink from the burden. But here are a hundred millions, 
      with common concern and shared responsibility, answerable to God 
      and country. The Republic summons them to their duty, and I invite 
      co-operation.

      I accept my part with single-mindedness of purpose and humility of 
      spirit, and implore the favor and guidance of God in His Heaven. 
      With these I am unafraid, and confidently face the future.

      I have taken the solemn oath of office on that passage of Holy 
      Writ wherein it is asked: "What doth the Lord require of thee but 
      to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" 
      This I plight to God and country.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Calvin Coolidge

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1925
      __________________________________________________________________
      In 1923 President Coolidge first took the oath of office, 
      administered by his father, a justice of the peace and a notary, 
      in his family's sitting room in Plymouth, Vermont. President 
      Harding had died while traveling in the western States. A year 
      later, the President was elected on the slogan "Keep Cool with 
      Coolidge." Chief Justice William Howard Taft administered the oath 
      of office on the East Portico of the Capitol. The event was 
      broadcast to the nation by radio.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Countrymen:

      No one can contemplate current conditions without finding much 
      that is satisfying and still more that is encouraging. Our own 
      country is leading the world in the general readjustment to the 
      results of the great conflict. Many of its burdens will bear 
      heavily upon us for years, and the secondary and indirect effects 
      we must expect to experience for some time. But we are beginning 
      to comprehend more definitely what course should be pursued, what 
      remedies ought to be applied, what actions should be taken for our 
      deliverance, and are clearly manifesting a determined will 
      faithfully and conscientiously to adopt these methods of relief. 
      Already we have sufficiently rearranged our domestic affairs so 
      that confidence has returned, business has revived, and we appear 
      to be entering an era of prosperity which is gradually reaching 
      into every part of the Nation. Realizing that we can not live unto 
      ourselves alone, we have contributed of our resources and our 
      counsel to the relief of the suffering and the settlement of the 
      disputes among the European nations. Because of what America is 
      and what America has done, a firmer courage, a higher hope, 
      inspires the heart of all humanity.

      These results have not occurred by mere chance. They have been 
      secured by a constant and enlightened effort marked by many 
      sacrifices and extending over many generations. We can not 
      continue these brilliant successes in the future, unless we 
      continue to learn from the past. It is necessary to keep the 
      former experiences of our country both at home and abroad 
      continually before us, if we are to have any science of 
      government. If we wish to erect new structures, we must have a 
      definite knowledge of the old foundations. We must realize that 
      human nature is about the most constant thing in the universe and 
      that the essentials of human relationship do not change. We must 
      frequently take our bearings from these fixed stars of our 
      political firmament if we expect to hold a true course. If we 
      examine carefully what we have done, we can determine the more 
      accurately what we can do.

      We stand at the opening of the one hundred and fiftieth year since 
      our national consciousness first asserted itself by unmistakable 
      action with an array of force. The old sentiment of detached and 
      dependent colonies disappeared in the new sentiment of a united 
      and independent Nation. Men began to discard the narrow confines 
      of a local charter for the broader opportunities of a national 
      constitution. Under the eternal urge of freedom we became an 
      independent Nation. A little less than 50 years later that freedom 
      and independence were reasserted in the face of all the world, and 
      guarded, supported, and secured by the Monroe doctrine. The narrow 
      fringe of States along the Atlantic seaboard advanced its 
      frontiers across the hills and plains of an intervening continent 
      until it passed down the golden slope to the Pacific. We made 
      freedom a birthright. We extended our domain over distant islands 
      in order to safeguard our own interests and accepted the 
      consequent obligation to bestow justice and liberty upon less 
      favored peoples. In the defense of our own ideals and in the 
      general cause of liberty we entered the Great War. When victory 
      had been fully secured, we withdrew to our own shores 
      unrecompensed save in the consciousness of duty done.

      Throughout all these experiences we have enlarged our freedom, we 
      have strengthened our independence. We have been, and propose to 
      be, more and more American. We believe that we can best serve our 
      own country and most successfully discharge our obligations to 
      humanity by continuing to be openly and candidly, in tensely and 
      scrupulously, American. If we have any heritage, it has been that. 
      If we have any destiny, we have found it in that direction.

      But if we wish to continue to be distinctively American, we must 
      continue to make that term comprehensive enough to embrace the 
      legitimate desires of a civilized and enlightened people 
      determined in all their relations to pursue a conscientious and 
      religious life. We can not permit ourselves to be narrowed and 
      dwarfed by slogans and phrases. It is not the adjective, but the 
      substantive, which is of real importance. It is not the name of 
      the action, but the result of the action, which is the chief 
      concern. It will be well not to be too much disturbed by the 
      thought of either isolation or entanglement of pacifists and 
      militarists. The physical configuration of the earth has separated 
      us from all of the Old World, but the common brotherhood of man, 
      the highest law of all our being, has united us by inseparable 
      bonds with all humanity. Our country represents nothing but 
      peaceful intentions toward all the earth, but it ought not to fail 
      to maintain such a military force as comports with the dignity and 
      security of a great people. It ought to be a balanced force, 
      intensely modem, capable of defense by sea and land, beneath the 
      surface and in the air. But it should be so conducted that all the 
      world may see in it, not a menace, but an instrument of security 
      and peace.

      This Nation believes thoroughly in an honorable peace under which 
      the rights of its citizens are to be everywhere protected. It has 
      never found that the necessary enjoyment of such a peace could be 
      maintained only by a great and threatening array of arms. In 
      common with other nations, it is now more determined than ever to 
      promote peace through friendliness and good will, through mutual 
      understandings and mutual forbearance. We have never practiced the 
      policy of competitive armaments. We have recently committed 
      ourselves by covenants with the other great nations to a 
      limitation of our sea power. As one result of this, our Navy ranks 
      larger, in comparison, than it ever did before. Removing the 
      burden of expense and jealousy, which must always accrue from a 
      keen rivalry, is one of the most effective methods of diminishing 
      that unreasonable hysteria and misunderstanding which are the most 
      potent means of fomenting war. This policy represents a new 
      departure in the world. It is a thought, an ideal, which has led 
      to an entirely new line of action. It will not be easy to 
      maintain. Some never moved from their old positions, some are 
      constantly slipping back to the old ways of thought and the old 
      action of seizing a musket and relying on force. America has taken 
      the lead in this new direction, and that lead America must 
      continue to hold. If we expect others to rely on our fairness and 
      justice we must show that we rely on their fairness and justice.

      If we are to judge by past experience, there is much to be hoped 
      for in international relations from frequent conferences and 
      consultations. We have before us the beneficial results of the 
      Washington conference and the various consultations recently held 
      upon European affairs, some of which were in response to our 
      suggestions and in some of which we were active participants. Even 
      the failures can not but be accounted useful and an immeasurable 
      advance over threatened or actual warfare. I am strongly in favor 
      of continuation of this policy, whenever conditions are such that 
      there is even a promise that practical and favorable results might 
      be secured.

      In conformity with the principle that a display of reason rather 
      than a threat of force should be the determining factor in the 
      intercourse among nations, we have long advocated the peaceful 
      settlement of disputes by methods of arbitration and have 
      negotiated many treaties to secure that result. The same 
      considerations should lead to our adherence to the Permanent Court 
      of International Justice. Where great principles are involved, 
      where great movements are under way which promise much for the 
      welfare of humanity by reason of the very fact that many other 
      nations have given such movements their actual support, we ought 
      not to withhold our own sanction because of any small and 
      inessential difference, but only upon the ground of the most 
      important and compelling fundamental reasons. We can not barter 
      away our independence or our sovereignty, but we ought to engage 
      in no refinements of logic, no sophistries, and no subterfuges, to 
      argue away the undoubted duty of this country by reason of the 
      might of its numbers, the power of its resources, and its position 
      of leadership in the world, actively and comprehensively to 
      signify its approval and to bear its full share of the 
      responsibility of a candid and disinterested attempt at the 
      establishment of a tribunal for the administration of even-handed 
      justice between nation and nation. The weight of our enormous 
      influence must be cast upon the side of a reign not of force but 
      of law and trial, not by battle but by reason.

      We have never any wish to interfere in the political conditions of 
      any other countries. Especially are we determined not to become 
      implicated in the political controversies of the Old World. With a 
      great deal of hesitation, we have responded to appeals for help to 
      maintain order, protect life and property, and establish 
      responsible government in some of the small countries of the 
      Western Hemisphere. Our private citizens have advanced large sums 
      of money to assist in the necessary financing and relief of the 
      Old World. We have not failed, nor shall we fail to respond, 
      whenever necessary to mitigate human suffering and assist in the 
      rehabilitation of distressed nations. These, too, are requirements 
      which must be met by reason of our vast powers and the place we 
      hold in the world.

      Some of the best thought of mankind has long been seeking for a 
      formula for permanent peace. Undoubtedly the clarification of the 
      principles of international law would be helpful, and the efforts 
      of scholars to prepare such a work for adoption by the various 
      nations should have our sympathy and support. Much may be hoped 
      for from the earnest studies of those who advocate the outlawing 
      of aggressive war. But all these plans and preparations, these 
      treaties and covenants, will not of themselves be adequate. One of 
      the greatest dangers to peace lies in the economic pressure to 
      which people find themselves subjected. One of the most practical 
      things to be done in the world is to seek arrangements under which 
      such pressure may be removed, so that opportunity may be renewed 
      and hope may be revived. There must be some assurance that effort 
      and endeavor will be followed by success and prosperity. In the 
      making and financing of such adjustments there is not only an 
      opportunity, but a real duty, for America to respond with her 
      counsel and her resources. Conditions must be provided under which 
      people can make a living and work out of their difficulties. But 
      there is another element, more important than all, without which 
      there can not be the slightest hope of a permanent peace. That 
      element lies in the heart of humanity. Unless the desire for peace 
      be cherished there, unless this fundamental and only natural 
      source of brotherly love be cultivated to its highest degree, all 
      artificial efforts will be in vain. Peace will come when there is 
      realization that only under a reign of law, based on righteousness 
      and supported by the religious conviction of the brotherhood of 
      man, can there be any hope of a complete and satisfying life. 
      Parchment will fail, the sword will fail, it is only the spiritual 
      nature of man that can be triumphant.

      It seems altogether probable that we can contribute most to these 
      important objects by maintaining our position of political 
      detachment and independence. We are not identified with any Old 
      World interests. This position should be made more and more clear 
      in our relations with all foreign countries. We are at peace with 
      all of them. Our program is never to oppress, but always to 
      assist. But while we do justice to others, we must require that 
      justice be done to us. With us a treaty of peace means peace, and 
      a treaty of amity means amity. We have made great contributions to 
      the settlement of contentious differences in both Europe and Asia. 
      But there is a very definite point beyond which we can not go. We 
      can only help those who help themselves. Mindful of these 
      limitations, the one great duty that stands out requires us to use 
      our enormous powers to trim the balance of the world.

      While we can look with a great deal of pleasure upon what we have 
      done abroad, we must remember that our continued success in that 
      direction depends upon what we do at home. Since its very outset, 
      it has been found necessary to conduct our Government by means of 
      political parties. That system would not have survived from 
      generation to generation if it had not been fundamentally sound 
      and provided the best instrumentalities for the most complete 
      expression of the popular will. It is not necessary to claim that 
      it has always worked perfectly. It is enough to know that nothing 
      better has been devised. No one would deny that there should be 
      full and free expression and an opportunity for independence of 
      action within the party. There is no salvation in a narrow and 
      bigoted partisanship. But if there is to be responsible party 
      government, the party label must be something more than a mere 
      device for securing office. Unless those who are elected under the 
      same party designation are willing to assume sufficient 
      responsibility and exhibit sufficient loyalty and coherence, so 
      that they can cooperate with each other in the support of the 
      broad general principles, of the party platform, the election is 
      merely a mockery, no decision is made at the polls, and there is 
      no representation of the popular will. Common honesty and good 
      faith with the people who support a party at the polls require 
      that party, when it enters office, to assume the control of that 
      portion of the Government to which it has been elected. Any other 
      course is bad faith and a violation of the party pledges.

      When the country has bestowed its confidence upon a party by 
      making it a majority in the Congress, it has a right to expect 
      such unity of action as will make the party majority an effective 
      instrument of government. This Administration has come into power 
      with a very clear and definite mandate from the people. The 
      expression of the popular will in favor of maintaining our 
      constitutional guarantees was overwhelming and decisive. There was 
      a manifestation of such faith in the integrity of the courts that 
      we can consider that issue rejected for some time to come. 
      Likewise, the policy of public ownership of railroads and certain 
      electric utilities met with unmistakable defeat. The people 
      declared that they wanted their rights to have not a political but 
      a judicial determination, and their independence and freedom 
      continued and supported by having the ownership and control of 
      their property, not in the Government, but in their own hands. As 
      they always do when they have a fair chance, the people 
      demonstrated that they are sound and are determined to have a 
      sound government.

      When we turn from what was rejected to inquire what was accepted, 
      the policy that stands out with the greatest clearness is that of 
      economy in public expenditure with reduction and reform of 
      taxation. The principle involved in this effort is that of 
      conservation. The resources of this country are almost beyond 
      computation. No mind can comprehend them. But the cost of our 
      combined governments is likewise almost beyond definition. Not 
      only those who are now making their tax returns, but those who 
      meet the enhanced cost of existence in their monthly bills, know 
      by hard experience what this great burden is and what it does. No 
      matter what others may want, these people want a drastic economy. 
      They are opposed to waste. They know that extravagance lengthens 
      the hours and diminishes the rewards of their labor. I favor the 
      policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I 
      wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil 
      are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar 
      that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the 
      more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their 
      life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its 
      most practical form.

      If extravagance were not reflected in taxation, and through 
      taxation both directly and indirectly injuriously affecting the 
      people, it would not be of so much consequence. The wisest and 
      soundest method of solving our tax problem is through economy. 
      Fortunately, of all the great nations this country is best in a 
      position to adopt that simple remedy. We do not any longer need 
      wartime revenues. The collection of any taxes which are not 
      absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt 
      contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized 
      larceny. Under this republic the rewards of industry belong to 
      those who earn them. The only constitutional tax is the tax which 
      ministers to public necessity. The property of the country belongs 
      to the people of the country. Their title is absolute. They do not 
      support any privileged class; they do not need to maintain great 
      military forces; they ought not to be burdened with a great array 
      of public employees. They are not required to make any 
      contribution to Government expenditures except that which they 
      voluntarily assess upon themselves through the action of their own 
      representatives. Whenever taxes become burdensome a remedy can be 
      applied by the people; but if they do not act for themselves, no 
      one can be very successful in acting for them.

      The time is arriving when we can have further tax reduction, when, 
      unless we wish to hamper the people in their right to earn a 
      living, we must have tax reform. The method of raising revenue 
      ought not to impede the transaction of business; it ought to 
      encourage it. I am opposed to extremely high rates, because they 
      produce little or no revenue, because they are bad for the 
      country, and, finally, because they are wrong. We can not finance 
      the country, we can not improve social conditions, through any 
      system of injustice, even if we attempt to inflict it upon the 
      rich. Those who suffer the most harm will be the poor. This 
      country believes in prosperity. It is absurd to suppose that it is 
      envious of those who are already prosperous. The wise and correct 
      course to follow in taxation and all other economic legislation is 
      not to destroy those who have already secured success but to 
      create conditions under which every one will have a better chance 
      to be successful. The verdict of the country has been given on 
      this question. That verdict stands. We shall do well to heed it.

      These questions involve moral issues. We need not concern 
      ourselves much about the rights of property if we will faithfully 
      observe the rights of persons. Under our institutions their rights 
      are supreme. It is not property but the right to hold property, 
      both great and small, which our Constitution guarantees. All 
      owners of property are charged with a service. These rights and 
      duties have been revealed, through the conscience of society, to 
      have a divine sanction. The very stability of our society rests 
      upon production and conservation. For individuals or for 
      governments to waste and squander their resources is to deny these 
      rights and disregard these obligations. The result of economic 
      dissipation to a nation is always moral decay.

      These policies of better international understandings, greater 
      economy, and lower taxes have contributed largely to peaceful and 
      prosperous industrial relations. Under the helpful influences of 
      restrictive immigration and a protective tariff, employment is 
      plentiful, the rate of pay is high, and wage earners are in a 
      state of contentment seldom before seen. Our transportation 
      systems have been gradually recovering and have been able to meet 
      all the requirements of the service. Agriculture has been very 
      slow in reviving, but the price of cereals at last indicates that 
      the day of its deliverance is at hand.

      We are not without our problems, but our most important problem is 
      not to secure new advantages but to maintain those which we 
      already possess. Our system of government made up of three 
      separate and independent departments, our divided sovereignty 
      composed of Nation and State, the matchless wisdom that is 
      enshrined in our Constitution, all these need constant effort and 
      tireless vigilance for their protection and support.

      In a republic the first rule for the guidance of the citizen is 
      obedience to law. Under a despotism the law may be imposed upon 
      the subject. He has no voice in its making, no influence in its 
      administration, it does not represent him. Under a free government 
      the citizen makes his own laws, chooses his own administrators, 
      which do represent him. Those who want their rights respected 
      under the Constitution and the law ought to set the example 
      themselves of observing the Constitution and the law. While there 
      may be those of high intelligence who violate the law at times, 
      the barbarian and the defective always violate it. Those who 
      disregard the rules of society are not exhibiting a superior 
      intelligence, are not promoting freedom and independence, are not 
      following the path of civilization, but are displaying the traits 
      of ignorance, of servitude, of savagery, and treading the way that 
      leads back to the jungle.

      The essence of a republic is representative government. Our 
      Congress represents the people and the States. In all legislative 
      affairs it is the natural collaborator with the President. In 
      spite of all the criticism which often falls to its lot, I do not 
      hesitate to say that there is no more independent and effective 
      legislative body in the world. It is, and should be, jealous of 
      its prerogative. I welcome its cooperation, and expect to share 
      with it not only the responsibility, but the credit, for our 
      common effort to secure beneficial legislation.

      These are some of the principles which America represents. We have 
      not by any means put them fully into practice, but we have 
      strongly signified our belief in them. The encouraging feature of 
      our country is not that it has reached its destination, but that 
      it has overwhelmingly expressed its determination to proceed in 
      the right direction. It is true that we could, with profit, be 
      less sectional and more national in our thought. It would be well 
      if we could replace much that is only a false and ignorant 
      prejudice with a true and enlightened pride of race. But the last 
      election showed that appeals to class and nationality had little 
      effect. We were all found loyal to a common citizenship. The 
      fundamental precept of liberty is toleration. We can not permit 
      any inquisition either within or without the law or apply any 
      religious test to the holding of office. The mind of America must 
      be forever free.

      It is in such contemplations, my fellow countrymen, which are not 
      exhaustive but only representative, that I find ample warrant for 
      satisfaction and encouragement. We should not let the much that is 
      to do obscure the much which has been done. The past and present 
      show faith and hope and courage fully justified. Here stands our 
      country, an example of tranquillity at home, a patron of 
      tranquillity abroad. Here stands its Government, aware of its 
      might but obedient to its conscience. Here it will continue to 
      stand, seeking peace and prosperity, solicitous for the welfare of 
      the wage earner, promoting enterprise, developing waterways and 
      natural resources, attentive to the intuitive counsel of 
      womanhood, encouraging education, desiring the advancement of 
      religion, supporting the cause of justice and honor among the 
      nations. America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force. 
      No ambition, no temptation, lures her to thought of foreign 
      dominions. The legions which she sends forth are armed, not with 
      the sword, but with the cross. The higher state to which she seeks 
      the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine 
      origin. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of 
      Almighty God.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Herbert Hoover

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1929
      __________________________________________________________________
      Popular opinion for the engineer, humanitarian, and Secretary of 
      Commerce brought the President-elect to office with expectations 
      of continued national growth and prosperity. Chief Justice William 
      Howard Taft administered the oath of office on the East Portico of 
      the Capitol. On taking his first elective office, the new 
      President addressed a large crowd in the drizzling rain. 
      Dirigibles and aircraft flew over the Capitol to mark the 
      occasion.
      __________________________________________________________________

   My Countrymen:

      This occasion is not alone the administration of the most sacred 
      oath which can be assumed by an American citizen. It is a 
      dedication and consecration under God to the highest office in 
      service of our people. I assume this trust in the humility of 
      knowledge that only through the guidance of Almighty Providence 
      can I hope to discharge its ever-increasing burdens.

      It is in keeping with tradition throughout our history that I 
      should express simply and directly the opinions which I hold 
      concerning some of the matters of present importance.

   OUR PROGRESS

      If we survey the situation of our Nation both at home and abroad, 
      we find many satisfactions; we find some causes for concern. We 
      have emerged from the losses of the Great War and the 
      reconstruction following it with increased virility and strength. 
      From this strength we have contributed to the recovery and 
      progress of the world. What America has done has given renewed 
      hope and courage to all who have faith in government by the 
      people. In the large view, we have reached a higher degree of 
      comfort and security than ever existed before in the history of 
      the world. Through liberation from widespread poverty we have 
      reached a higher degree of individual freedom than ever before. 
      The devotion to and concern for our institutions are deep and 
      sincere. We are steadily building a new race--a new civilization 
      great in its own attainments. The influence and high purposes of 
      our Nation are respected among the peoples of the world. We aspire 
      to distinction in the world, but to a distinction based upon 
      confidence in our sense of justice as well as our accomplishments 
      within our own borders and in our own lives. For wise guidance in 
      this great period of recovery the Nation is deeply indebted to 
      Calvin Coolidge.

      But all this majestic advance should not obscure the constant 
      dangers from which self-government must be safeguarded. The strong 
      man must at all times be alert to the attack of insidious disease.

   THE FAILURE OF OUR SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

      The most malign of all these dangers today is disregard and 
      disobedience of law. Crime is increasing. Confidence in rigid and 
      speedy justice is decreasing. I am not prepared to believe that 
      this indicates any decay in the moral fiber of the American 
      people. I am not prepared to believe that it indicates an 
      impotence of the Federal Government to enforce its laws.

      It is only in part due to the additional burdens imposed upon our 
      judicial system by the eighteenth amendment. The problem is much 
      wider than that. Many influences had increasingly complicated and 
      weakened our law enforcement organization long before the adoption 
      of the eighteenth amendment.

      To reestablish the vigor and effectiveness of law enforcement we 
      must critically consider the entire Federal machinery of justice, 
      the redistribution of its functions, the simplification of its 
      procedure, the provision of additional special tribunals, the 
      better selection of juries, and the more effective organization of 
      our agencies of investigation and prosecution that justice may be 
      sure and that it may be swift. While the authority of the Federal 
      Government extends to but part of our vast system of national, 
      State, and local justice, yet the standards which the Federal 
      Government establishes have the most profound influence upon the 
      whole structure.

      We are fortunate in the ability and integrity of our Federal 
      judges and attorneys. But the system which these officers are 
      called upon to administer is in many respects ill adapted to 
      present-day conditions. Its intricate and involved rules of 
      procedure have become the refuge of both big and little criminals. 
      There is a belief abroad that by invoking technicalities, 
      subterfuge, and delay, the ends of justice may be thwarted by 
      those who can pay the cost.

      Reform, reorganization and strengthening of our whole judicial and 
      enforcement system, both in civil and criminal sides, have been 
      advocated for years by statesmen, judges, and bar associations. 
      First steps toward that end should not longer be delayed. Rigid 
      and expeditious justice is the first safeguard of freedom, the 
      basis of all ordered liberty, the vital force of progress. It must 
      not come to be in our Republic that it can be defeated by the 
      indifference of the citizen, by exploitation of the delays and 
      entanglements of the law, or by combinations of criminals. Justice 
      must not fail because the agencies of enforcement are either 
      delinquent or inefficiently organized. To consider these evils, to 
      find their remedy, is the most sore necessity of our times.

   ENFORCEMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT

      Of the undoubted abuses which have grown up under the eighteenth 
      amendment, part are due to the causes I have just mentioned; but 
      part are due to the failure of some States to accept their share 
      of responsibility for concurrent enforcement and to the failure of 
      many State and local officials to accept the obligation under 
      their oath of office zealously to enforce the laws. With the 
      failures from these many causes has come a dangerous expansion in 
      the criminal elements who have found enlarged opportunities in 
      dealing in illegal liquor.

      But a large responsibility rests directly upon our citizens. There 
      would be little traffic in illegal liquor if only criminals 
      patronized it. We must awake to the fact that this patronage from 
      large numbers of law-abiding citizens is supplying the rewards and 
      stimulating crime.

      I have been selected by you to execute and enforce the laws of the 
      country. I propose to do so to the extent of my own abilities, but 
      the measure of success that the Government shall attain will 
      depend upon the moral support which you, as citizens, extend. The 
      duty of citizens to support the laws of the land is coequal with 
      the duty of their Government to enforce the laws which exist. No 
      greater national service can be given by men and women of good 
      will--who, I know, are not unmindful of the responsibilities of 
      citizenship--than that they should, by their example, assist in 
      stamping out crime and outlawry by refusing participation in and 
      condemning all transactions with illegal liquor. Our whole system 
      of self-government will crumble either if officials elect what 
      laws they will enforce or citizens elect what laws they will 
      support. The worst evil of disregard for some law is that it 
      destroys respect for all law. For our citizens to patronize the 
      violation of a particular law on the ground that they are opposed 
      to it is destructive of the very basis of all that protection of 
      life, of homes and property which they rightly claim under other 
      laws. If citizens do not like a law, their duty as honest men and 
      women is to discourage its violation; their right is openly to 
      work for its repeal.

      To those of criminal mind there can be no appeal but vigorous 
      enforcement of the law. Fortunately they are but a small 
      percentage of our people. Their activities must be stopped.

   A NATIONAL INVESTIGATION

      I propose to appoint a national commission for a searching 
      investigation of the whole structure of our Federal system of 
      jurisprudence, to include the method of enforcement of the 
      eighteenth amendment and the causes of abuse under it. Its purpose 
      will be to make such recommendations for reorganization of the 
      administration of Federal laws and court procedure as may be found 
      desirable. In the meantime it is essential that a large part of 
      the enforcement activities be transferred from the Treasury 
      Department to the Department of Justice as a beginning of more 
      effective organization.

   THE RELATION OF GOVERNMENT TO BUSINESS

      The election has again confirmed the determination of the American 
      people that regulation of private enterprise and not Government 
      ownership or operation is the course rightly to be pursued in our 
      relation to business. In recent years we have established a 
      differentiation in the whole method of business regulation between 
      the industries which produce and distribute commodities on the one 
      hand and public utilities on the other. In the former, our laws 
      insist upon effective competition; in the latter, because we 
      substantially confer a monopoly by limiting competition, we must 
      regulate their services and rates. The rigid enforcement of the 
      laws applicable to both groups is the very base of equal 
      opportunity and freedom from domination for all our people, and it 
      is just as essential for the stability and prosperity of business 
      itself as for the protection of the public at large. Such 
      regulation should be extended by the Federal Government within the 
      limitations of the Constitution and only when the individual 
      States are without power to protect their citizens through their 
      own authority. On the other hand, we should be fearless when the 
      authority rests only in the Federal Government.

   COOPERATION BY THE GOVERNMENT

      The larger purpose of our economic thought should be to establish 
      more firmly stability and security of business and employment and 
      thereby remove poverty still further from our borders. Our people 
      have in recent years developed a new-found capacity for 
      cooperation among themselves to effect high purposes in public 
      welfare. It is an advance toward the highest conception of self-
      government. Self-government does not and should not imply the use 
      of political agencies alone. Progress is born of cooperation in 
      the community--not from governmental restraints. The Government 
      should assist and encourage these movements of collective self-
      help by itself cooperating with them. Business has by cooperation 
      made great progress in the advancement of service, in stability, 
      in regularity of employment and in the correction of its own 
      abuses. Such progress, however, can continue only so long as 
      business manifests its respect for law.

      There is an equally important field of cooperation by the Federal 
      Government with the multitude of agencies, State, municipal and 
      private, in the systematic development of those processes which 
      directly affect public health, recreation, education, and the 
      home. We have need further to perfect the means by which 
      Government can be adapted to human service.

   EDUCATION

      Although education is primarily a responsibility of the States and 
      local communities, and rightly so, yet the Nation as a whole is 
      vitally concerned in its development everywhere to the highest 
      standards and to complete universality. Self-government can 
      succeed only through an instructed electorate. Our objective is 
      not simply to overcome illiteracy. The Nation has marched far 
      beyond that. The more complex the problems of the Nation become, 
      the greater is the need for more and more advanced instruction. 
      Moreover, as our numbers increase and as our life expands with 
      science and invention, we must discover more and more leaders for 
      every walk of life. We can not hope to succeed in directing this 
      increasingly complex civilization unless we can draw all the 
      talent of leadership from the whole people. One civilization after 
      another has been wrecked upon the attempt to secure sufficient 
      leadership from a single group or class. If we would prevent the 
      growth of class distinctions and would constantly refresh our 
      leadership with the ideals of our people, we must draw constantly 
      from the general mass. The full opportunity for every boy and girl 
      to rise through the selective processes of education can alone 
      secure to us this leadership.

   PUBLIC HEALTH

      In public health the discoveries of science have opened a new era. 
      Many sections of our country and many groups of our citizens 
      suffer from diseases the eradication of which are mere matters of 
      administration and moderate expenditure. Public health service 
      should be as fully organized and as universally incorporated into 
      our governmental system as is public education. The returns are a 
      thousand fold in economic benefits, and infinitely more in 
      reduction of suffering and promotion of human happiness.

   WORLD PEACE

      The United States fully accepts the profound truth that our own 
      progress, prosperity, and peace are interlocked with the progress, 
      prosperity, and peace of all humanity. The whole world is at 
      peace. The dangers to a continuation of this peace to-day are 
      largely the fear and suspicion which still haunt the world. No 
      suspicion or fear can be rightly directed toward our country.

      Those who have a true understanding of America know that we have 
      no desire for territorial expansion, for economic or other 
      domination of other peoples. Such purposes are repugnant to our 
      ideals of human freedom. Our form of government is ill adapted to 
      the responsibilities which inevitably follow permanent limitation 
      of the independence of other peoples. Superficial observers seem 
      to find no destiny for our abounding increase in population, in 
      wealth and power except that of imperialism. They fail to see that 
      the American people are engrossed in the building for themselves 
      of a new economic system, a new social system, a new political 
      system all of which are characterized by aspirations of freedom of 
      opportunity and thereby are the negation of imperialism. They fail 
      to realize that because of our abounding prosperity our youth are 
      pressing more and more into our institutions of learning; that our 
      people are seeking a larger vision through art, literature, 
      science, and travel; that they are moving toward stronger moral 
      and spiritual life--that from these things our sympathies are 
      broadening beyond the bounds of our Nation and race toward their 
      true expression in a real brotherhood of man. They fail to see 
      that the idealism of America will lead it to no narrow or selfish 
      channel, but inspire it to do its full share as a nation toward 
      the advancement of civilization. It will do that not by mere 
      declaration but by taking a practical part in supporting all 
      useful international undertakings. We not only desire peace with 
      the world, but to see peace maintained throughout the world. We 
      wish to advance the reign of justice and reason toward the 
      extinction of force.

      The recent treaty for the renunciation of war as an instrument of 
      national policy sets an advanced standard in our conception of the 
      relations of nations. Its acceptance should pave the way to 
      greater limitation of armament, the offer of which we sincerely 
      extend to the world. But its full realization also implies a 
      greater and greater perfection in the instrumentalities for 
      pacific settlement of controversies between nations. In the 
      creation and use of these instrumentalities we should support 
      every sound method of conciliation, arbitration, and judicial 
      settlement. American statesmen were among the first to propose and 
      they have constantly urged upon the world, the establishment of a 
      tribunal for the settlement of controversies of a justiciable 
      character. The Permanent Court of International Justice in its 
      major purpose is thus peculiarly identified with American ideals 
      and with American statesmanship. No more potent instrumentality 
      for this purpose has ever been conceived and no other is 
      practicable of establishment. The reservations placed upon our 
      adherence should not be misinterpreted. The United States seeks by 
      these reservations no special privilege or advantage but only to 
      clarify our relation to advisory opinions and other matters which 
      are subsidiary to the major purpose of the court. The way should, 
      and I believe will, be found by which we may take our proper place 
      in a movement so fundamental to the progress of peace.

      Our people have determined that we should make no political 
      engagements such as membership in the League of Nations, which may 
      commit us in advance as a nation to become involved in the 
      settlements of controversies between other countries. They adhere 
      to the belief that the independence of America from such 
      obligations increases its ability and availability for service in 
      all fields of human progress.

      I have lately returned from a journey among our sister Republics 
      of the Western Hemisphere. I have received unbounded hospitality 
      and courtesy as their expression of friendliness to our country. 
      We are held by particular bonds of sympathy and common interest 
      with them. They are each of them building a racial character and a 
      culture which is an impressive contribution to human progress. We 
      wish only for the maintenance of their independence, the growth of 
      their stability, and their prosperity. While we have had wars in 
      the Western Hemisphere, yet on the whole the record is in 
      encouraging contrast with that of other parts of the world. 
      Fortunately the New World is largely free from the inheritances of 
      fear and distrust which have so troubled the Old World. We should 
      keep it so.

      It is impossible, my countrymen, to speak of peace without 
      profound emotion. In thousands of homes in America, in millions of 
      homes around the world, there are vacant chairs. It would be a 
      shameful confession of our unworthiness if it should develop that 
      we have abandoned the hope for which all these men died. Surely 
      civilization is old enough, surely mankind is mature enough so 
      that we ought in our own lifetime to find a way to permanent 
      peace. Abroad, to west and east, are nations whose sons mingled 
      their blood with the blood of our sons on the battlefields. Most 
      of these nations have contributed to our race, to our culture, our 
      knowledge, and our progress. From one of them we derive our very 
      language and from many of them much of the genius of our 
      institutions. Their desire for peace is as deep and sincere as our 
      own.

      Peace can be contributed to by respect for our ability in defense. 
      Peace can be promoted by the limitation of arms and by the 
      creation of the instrumentalities for peaceful settlement of 
      controversies. But it will become a reality only through self-
      restraint and active effort in friendliness and helpfulness. I 
      covet for this administration a record of having further 
      contributed to advance the cause of peace.

   PARTY RESPONSIBILITIES

      In our form of democracy the expression of the popular will can be 
      effected only through the instrumentality of political parties. We 
      maintain party government not to promote intolerant partisanship 
      but because opportunity must be given for expression of the 
      popular will, and organization provided for the execution of its 
      mandates and for accountability of government to the people. It 
      follows that the government both in the executive and the 
      legislative branches must carry out in good faith the platforms 
      upon which the party was entrusted with power. But the government 
      is that of the whole people; the party is the instrument through 
      which policies are determined and men chosen to bring them into 
      being. The animosities of elections should have no place in our 
      Government, for government must concern itself alone with the 
      common weal.

   SPECIAL SESSION OF THE CONGRESS

      Action upon some of the proposals upon which the Republican Party 
      was returned to power, particularly further agricultural relief 
      and limited changes in the tariff, cannot in justice to our 
      farmers, our labor, and our manufacturers be postponed. I shall 
      therefore request a special session of Congress for the 
      consideration of these two questions. I shall deal with each of 
      them upon the assembly of the Congress.

   OTHER MANDATES FROM THE ELECTION

      It appears to me that the more important further mandates from the 
      recent election were the maintenance of the integrity of the 
      Constitution; the vigorous enforcement of the laws; the 
      continuance of economy in public expenditure; the continued 
      regulation of business to prevent domination in the community; the 
      denial of ownership or operation of business by the Government in 
      competition with its citizens; the avoidance of policies which 
      would involve us in the controversies of foreign nations; the more 
      effective reorganization of the departments of the Federal 
      Government; the expansion of public works; and the promotion of 
      welfare activities affecting education and the home.

      These were the more tangible determinations of the election, but 
      beyond them was the confidence and belief of the people that we 
      would not neglect the support of the embedded ideals and 
      aspirations of America. These ideals and aspirations are the 
      touchstones upon which the day-to-day administration and 
      legislative acts of government must be tested. More than this, the 
      Government must, so far as lies within its proper powers, give 
      leadership to the realization of these ideals and to the fruition 
      of these aspirations. No one can adequately reduce these things of 
      the spirit to phrases or to a catalogue of definitions. We do know 
      what the attainments of these ideals should be: The preservation 
      of self-government and its full foundations in local government; 
      the perfection of justice whether in economic or in social fields; 
      the maintenance of ordered liberty; the denial of domination by 
      any group or class; the building up and preservation of equality 
      of opportunity; the stimulation of initiative and individuality; 
      absolute integrity in public affairs; the choice of officials for 
      fitness to office; the direction of economic progress toward 
      prosperity for the further lessening of poverty; the freedom of 
      public opinion; the sustaining of education and of the advancement 
      of knowledge; the growth of religious spirit and the tolerance of 
      all faiths; the strengthening of the home; the advancement of 
      peace.

      There is no short road to the realization of these aspirations. 
      Ours is a progressive people, but with a determination that 
      progress must be based upon the foundation of experience. Ill-
      considered remedies for our faults bring only penalties after 
      them. But if we hold the faith of the men in our mighty past who 
      created these ideals, we shall leave them heightened and 
      strengthened for our children.

   CONCLUSION

      This is not the time and place for extended discussion. The 
      questions before our country are problems of progress to higher 
      standards; they are not the problems of degeneration. They demand 
      thought and they serve to quicken the conscience and enlist our 
      sense of responsibility for their settlement. And that 
      responsibility rests upon you, my countrymen, as much as upon 
      those of us who have been selected for office.

      Ours is a land rich in resources; stimulating in its glorious 
      beauty; filled with millions of happy homes; blessed with comfort 
      and opportunity. In no nation are the institutions of progress 
      more advanced. In no nation are the fruits of accomplishment more 
      secure. In no nation is the government more worthy of respect. No 
      country is more loved by its people. I have an abiding faith in 
      their capacity, integrity and high purpose. I have no fears for 
      the future of our country. It is bright with hope.

      In the presence of my countrymen, mindful of the solemnity of this 
      occasion, knowing what the task means and the responsibility which 
      it involves, I beg your tolerance, your aid, and your cooperation. 
      I ask the help of Almighty God in this service to my country to 
      which you have called me.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         Franklin D. Roosevelt

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1933
      __________________________________________________________________
      The former Governor of New York rode to the Capitol with President 
      Hoover. Pressures of the economy faced the President-elect as he 
      took his oath of office from Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes on 
      the East Portico of the Capitol. He addressed the nation by radio 
      and announced his plans for a New Deal. Throughout that day the 
      President met with his Cabinet designees at the White House.
      __________________________________________________________________

      I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction 
      into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a 
      decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is 
      preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly 
      and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in 
      our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has 
      endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me 
      assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear 
      itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes 
      needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour 
      of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met 
      with that understanding and support of the people themselves which 
      is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give 
      that support to leadership in these critical days.

      In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common 
      difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. 
      Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our 
      ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by 
      serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in 
      the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial 
      enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their 
      produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are 
      gone.

      More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim 
      problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little 
      return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the 
      moment.

      Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are 
      stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which 
      our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not 
      afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers 
      her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our 
      doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of 
      the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange 
      of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and 
      their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and 
      abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand 
      indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts 
      and minds of men.

      True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the 
      pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they 
      have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure 
      of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false 
      leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully 
      for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation 
      of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision 
      the people perish.

      The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple 
      of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient 
      truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which 
      we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

      Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the 
      joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and 
      moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad 
      chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all 
      they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be 
      ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow 
      men.

      Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of 
      success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief 
      that public office and high political position are to be valued 
      only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and 
      there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which 
      too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and 
      selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for 
      it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of 
      obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; 
      without them it cannot live.

      Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This 
      Nation asks for action, and action now.

      Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no 
      unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can 
      be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government 
      itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a 
      war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing 
      greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our 
      natural resources.

      Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance 
      of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a 
      national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better 
      use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can 
      be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural 
      products and with this the power to purchase the output of our 
      cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy 
      of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our 
      farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and 
      local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be 
      drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief 
      activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and 
      unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision 
      of all forms of transportation and of communications and other 
      utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many 
      ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely 
      by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.

      Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require 
      two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; 
      there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and 
      investments; there must be an end to speculation with other 
      people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but 
      sound currency.

      There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new 
      Congress in special session detailed measures for their 
      fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the 
      several States.

      Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our 
      own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our 
      international trade relations, though vastly important, are in 
      point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a 
      sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting 
      of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world 
      trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at 
      home cannot wait on that accomplishment.

      The basic thought that guides these specific means of national 
      recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a 
      first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various 
      elements in all parts of the United States--a recognition of the 
      old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit 
      of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate 
      way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.

      In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the 
      policy of the good neighbor--the neighbor who resolutely respects 
      himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others--
      the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the 
      sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

      If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we 
      have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that 
      we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to 
      go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to 
      sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without 
      such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes 
      effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives 
      and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a 
      leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, 
      pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a 
      sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in 
      time of armed strife.

      With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of 
      this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack 
      upon our common problems.

      Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of 
      government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our 
      Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always 
      to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement 
      without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional 
      system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political 
      mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress 
      of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter 
      internal strife, of world relations.

      It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and 
      legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the 
      unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented 
      demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary 
      departure from that normal balance of public procedure.

      I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the 
      measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world 
      may require. These measures, or such other measures as the 
      Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, 
      within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

      But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these 
      two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still 
      critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will 
      then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining 
      instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war 
      against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given 
      to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

      For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the 
      devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.

      We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of 
      the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old 
      and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes 
      from the stem performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim 
      at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.

      We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people 
      of the United States have not failed. In their need they have 
      registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They 
      have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They 
      have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit 
      of the gift I take it.

      In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. 
      May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the 
      days to come.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         Franklin D. Roosevelt

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1937
      __________________________________________________________________
      For the first time the inauguration of the President was held on 
      January 20, pursuant to the provisions of the 20th amendment to 
      the Constitution. Having won the election of 1936 by a wide 
      margin, and looking forward to the advantage of Democratic gains 
      in the House and Senate, the President confidently outlined the 
      continuation of his programs. The oath of office was administered 
      on the East Portico of the Capitol by Chief Justice Charles Evans 
      Hughes.
      __________________________________________________________________

      When four years ago we met to inaugurate a President, the 
      Republic, single-minded in anxiety, stood in spirit here. We 
      dedicated ourselves to the fulfillment of a vision--to speed the 
      time when there would be for all the people that security and 
      peace essential to the pursuit of happiness. We of the Republic 
      pledged ourselves to drive from the temple of our ancient faith 
      those who had profaned it; to end by action, tireless and 
      unafraid, the stagnation and despair of that day. We did those 
      first things first.

      Our covenant with ourselves did not stop there. Instinctively we 
      recognized a deeper need--the need to find through government the 
      instrument of our united purpose to solve for the individual the 
      ever-rising problems of a complex civilization. Repeated attempts 
      at their solution without the aid of government had left us 
      baffled and bewildered. For, without that aid, we had been unable 
      to create those moral controls over the services of science which 
      are necessary to make science a useful servant instead of a 
      ruthless master of mankind. To do this we knew that we must find 
      practical controls over blind economic forces and blindly selfish 
      men.

      We of the Republic sensed the truth that democratic government has 
      innate capacity to protect its people against disasters once 
      considered inevitable, to solve problems once considered 
      unsolvable. We would not admit that we could not find a way to 
      master economic epidemics just as, after centuries of fatalistic 
      suffering, we had found a way to master epidemics of disease. We 
      refused to leave the problems of our common welfare to be solved 
      by the winds of chance and the hurricanes of disaster.

      In this we Americans were discovering no wholly new truth; we were 
      writing a new chapter in our book of self-government.

      This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
      Constitutional Convention which made us a nation. At that 
      Convention our forefathers found the way out of the chaos which 
      followed the Revolutionary War; they created a strong government 
      with powers of united action sufficient then and now to solve 
      problems utterly beyond individual or local solution. A century 
      and a half ago they established the Federal Government in order to 
      promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to 
      the American people.

      Today we invoke those same powers of government to achieve the 
      same objectives.

      Four years of new experience have not belied our historic 
      instinct. They hold out the clear hope that government within 
      communities, government within the separate States, and government 
      of the United States can do the things the times require, without 
      yielding its democracy. Our tasks in the last four years did not 
      force democracy to take a holiday.

      Nearly all of us recognize that as intricacies of human 
      relationships increase, so power to govern them also must 
      increase--power to stop evil; power to do good. The essential 
      democracy of our Nation and the safety of our people depend not 
      upon the absence of power, but upon lodging it with those whom the 
      people can change or continue at stated intervals through an 
      honest and free system of elections. The Constitution of 1787 did 
      not make our democracy impotent.

      In fact, in these last four years, we have made the exercise of 
      all power more democratic; for we have begun to bring private 
      autocratic powers into their proper subordination to the public's 
      government. The legend that they were invincible--above and beyond 
      the processes of a democracy--has been shattered. They have been 
      challenged and beaten.

      Our progress out of the depression is obvious. But that is not all 
      that you and I mean by the new order of things. Our pledge was not 
      merely to do a patchwork job with secondhand materials. By using 
      the new materials of social justice we have undertaken to erect on 
      the old foundations a more enduring structure for the better use 
      of future generations.

      In that purpose we have been helped by achievements of mind and 
      spirit. Old truths have been relearned; untruths have been 
      unlearned. We have always known that heedless self-interest was 
      bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. Out of the 
      collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality 
      has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality 
      pays. We are beginning to wipe out the line that divides the 
      practical from the ideal; and in so doing we are fashioning an 
      instrument of unimagined power for the establishment of a morally 
      better world.

      This new understanding undermines the old admiration of worldly 
      success as such. We are beginning to abandon our tolerance of the 
      abuse of power by those who betray for profit the elementary 
      decencies of life.

      In this process evil things formerly accepted will not be so 
      easily condoned. Hard-headedness will not so easily excuse 
      hardheartedness. We are moving toward an era of good feeling. But 
      we realize that there can be no era of good feeling save among men 
      of good will.

      For these reasons I am justified in believing that the greatest 
      change we have witnessed has been the change in the moral climate 
      of America.

      Among men of good will, science and democracy together offer an 
      ever-richer life and ever-larger satisfaction to the individual. 
      With this change in our moral climate and our rediscovered ability 
      to improve our economic order, we have set our feet upon the road 
      of enduring progress.

      Shall we pause now and turn our back upon the road that lies 
      ahead? Shall we call this the promised land? Or, shall we continue 
      on our way? For "each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is 
      coming to birth."

      Many voices are heard as we face a great decision. Comfort says, 
      "Tarry a while." Opportunism says, "This is a good spot." Timidity 
      asks, "How difficult is the road ahead?"

      True, we have come far from the days of stagnation and despair. 
      Vitality has been preserved. Courage and confidence have been 
      restored. Mental and moral horizons have been extended.

      But our present gains were won under the pressure of more than 
      ordinary circumstances. Advance became imperative under the goad 
      of fear and suffering. The times were on the side of progress.

      To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult. Dulled 
      conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless self-interest already 
      reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of 
      disaster! Prosperity already tests the persistence of our 
      progressive purpose.

      Let us ask again: Have we reached the goal of our vision of that 
      fourth day of March 1933? Have we found our happy valley?

      I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great 
      wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people 
      are at peace among themselves; they are making their country a 
      good neighbor among the nations. I see a United States which can 
      demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national 
      wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts 
      hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised 
      far above the level of mere subsistence.

      But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see 
      tens of millions of its citizens--a substantial part of its whole 
      population--who at this very moment are denied the greater part of 
      what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of 
      life.

      I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager 
      that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.

      I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue 
      under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society 
      half a century ago.

      I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity 
      to better their lot and the lot of their children.

      I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and 
      factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to 
      many other millions.

      I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.

      It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for 
      you in hope--because the Nation, seeing and understanding the 
      injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to 
      make every American citizen the subject of his country's interest 
      and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding 
      group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress 
      is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have 
      much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too 
      little.

      If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will 
      not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We will carry 
      on.

      Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of good will; 
      men and women who have more than warm hearts of dedication; men 
      and women who have cool heads and willing hands of practical 
      purpose as well. They will insist that every agency of popular 
      government use effective instruments to carry out their will.

      Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees 
      for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps 
      abreast of all the facts. It can obtain justified support and 
      legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of 
      all that government does.

      If I know aught of the will of our people, they will demand that 
      these conditions of effective government shall be created and 
      maintained. They will demand a nation uncorrupted by cancers of 
      injustice and, therefore, strong among the nations in its example 
      of the will to peace.

      Today we reconsecrate our country to long-cherished ideals in a 
      suddenly changed civilization. In every land there are always at 
      work forces that drive men apart and forces that draw men 
      together. In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in 
      our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we 
      all go up, or else we all go down, as one people.

      To maintain a democracy of effort requires a vast amount of 
      patience in dealing with differing methods, a vast amount of 
      humility. But out of the confusion of many voices rises an 
      understanding of dominant public need. Then political leadership 
      can voice common ideals, and aid in their realization.

      In taking again the oath of office as President of the United 
      States, I assume the solemn obligation of leading the American 
      people forward along the road over which they have chosen to 
      advance.

      While this duty rests upon me I shall do my utmost to speak their 
      purpose and to do their will, seeking Divine guidance to help us 
      each and every one to give light to them that sit in darkness and 
      to guide our feet into the way of peace.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         Franklin D. Roosevelt

   THIRD INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1941
      __________________________________________________________________
      The only chief executive to serve more than two terms, President 
      Roosevelt took office for the third time as Europe and Asia 
      engaged in war. The oath of office was administered by Chief 
      Justice Charles Evans Hughes on the East Portico of the Capitol. 
      The Roosevelts hosted a reception for several thousand visitors at 
      the White House later that day.
      __________________________________________________________________

      On each national day of inauguration since 1789, the people have 
      renewed their sense of dedication to the United States.

      In Washington's day the task of the people was to create and weld 
      together a nation.

      In Lincoln's day the task of the people was to preserve that 
      Nation from disruption from within.

      In this day the task of the people is to save that Nation and its 
      institutions from disruption from without.

      To us there has come a time, in the midst of swift happenings, to 
      pause for a moment and take stock--to recall what our place in 
      history has been, and to rediscover what we are and what we may 
      be. If we do not, we risk the real peril of inaction.

      Lives of nations are determined not by the count of years, but by 
      the lifetime of the human spirit. The life of a man is three-score 
      years and ten: a little more, a little less. The life of a nation 
      is the fullness of the measure of its will to live.

      There are men who doubt this. There are men who believe that 
      democracy, as a form of Government and a frame of life, is limited 
      or measured by a kind of mystical and artificial fate that, for 
      some unexplained reason, tyranny and slavery have become the 
      surging wave of the future--and that freedom is an ebbing tide.

      But we Americans know that this is not true.

      Eight years ago, when the life of this Republic seemed frozen by a 
      fatalistic terror, we proved that this is not true. We were in the 
      midst of shock--but we acted. We acted quickly, boldly, 
      decisively.

      These later years have been living years--fruitful years for the 
      people of this democracy. For they have brought to us greater 
      security and, I hope, a better understanding that life's ideals 
      are to be measured in other than material things.

      Most vital to our present and our future is this experience of a 
      democracy which successfully survived crisis at home; put away 
      many evil things; built new structures on enduring lines; and, 
      through it all, maintained the fact of its democracy.

      For action has been taken within the three-way framework of the 
      Constitution of the United States. The coordinate branches of the 
      Government continue freely to function. The Bill of Rights remains 
      inviolate. The freedom of elections is wholly maintained. Prophets 
      of the downfall of American democracy have seen their dire 
      predictions come to naught.

      Democracy is not dying.

      We know it because we have seen it revive--and grow.

      We know it cannot die--because it is built on the unhampered 
      initiative of individual men and women joined together in a common 
      enterprise--an enterprise undertaken and carried through by the 
      free expression of a free majority.

      We know it because democracy alone, of all forms of government, 
      enlists the full force of men's enlightened will.

      We know it because democracy alone has constructed an unlimited 
      civilization capable of infinite progress in the improvement of 
      human life.

      We know it because, if we look below the surface, we sense it 
      still spreading on every continent--for it is the most humane, the 
      most advanced, and in the end the most unconquerable of all forms 
      of human society.

      A nation, like a person, has a body--a body that must be fed and 
      clothed and housed, invigorated and rested, in a manner that 
      measures up to the objectives of our time.

      A nation, like a person, has a mind--a mind that must be kept 
      informed and alert, that must know itself, that understands the 
      hopes and the needs of its neighbors--all the other nations that 
      live within the narrowing circle of the world.

      And a nation, like a person, has something deeper, something more 
      permanent, something larger than the sum of all its parts. It is 
      that something which matters most to its future--which calls forth 
      the most sacred guarding of its present.

      It is a thing for which we find it difficult--even impossible--to 
      hit upon a single, simple word.

      And yet we all understand what it is--the spirit--the faith of 
      America. It is the product of centuries. It was born in the 
      multitudes of those who came from many lands--some of high degree, 
      but mostly plain people, who sought here, early and late, to find 
      freedom more freely.

      The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human 
      history. It is human history. It permeated the ancient life of 
      early peoples. It blazed anew in the middle ages. It was written 
      in Magna Charta.

      In the Americas its impact has been irresistible. America has been 
      the New World in all tongues, to all peoples, not because this 
      continent was a new-found land, but because all those who came 
      here believed they could create upon this continent a new life--a 
      life that should be new in freedom.

      Its vitality was written into our own Mayflower Compact, into the 
      Declaration of Independence, into the Constitution of the United 
      States, into the Gettysburg Address.

      Those who first came here to carry out the longings of their 
      spirit, and the millions who followed, and the stock that sprang 
      from them--all have moved forward constantly and consistently 
      toward an ideal which in itself has gained stature and clarity 
      with each generation.

      The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either 
      undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth.

      We know that we still have far to go; that we must more greatly 
      build the security and the opportunity and the knowledge of every 
      citizen, in the measure justified by the resources and the 
      capacity of the land.

      But it is not enough to achieve these purposes alone. It is not 
      enough to clothe and feed the body of this Nation, and instruct 
      and inform its mind. For there is also the spirit. And of the 
      three, the greatest is the spirit.

      Without the body and the mind, as all men know, the Nation could 
      not live.

      But if the spirit of America were killed, even though the Nation's 
      body and mind, constricted in an alien world, lived on, the 
      America we know would have perished.

      That spirit--that faith--speaks to us in our daily lives in ways 
      often unnoticed, because they seem so obvious. It speaks to us 
      here in the Capital of the Nation. It speaks to us through the 
      processes of governing in the sovereignties of 48 States. It 
      speaks to us in our counties, in our cities, in our towns, and in 
      our villages. It speaks to us from the other nations of the 
      hemisphere, and from those across the seas--the enslaved, as well 
      as the free. Sometimes we fail to hear or heed these voices of 
      freedom because to us the privilege of our freedom is such an old, 
      old story.

      The destiny of America was proclaimed in words of prophecy spoken 
      by our first President in his first inaugural in 1789--words 
      almost directed, it would seem, to this year of 1941: "The 
      preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the 
      republican model of government are justly considered ... deeply, 
      ... finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of 
      the American people."

      If we lose that sacred fire--if we let it be smothered with doubt 
      and fear--then we shall reject the destiny which Washington strove 
      so valiantly and so triumphantly to establish. The preservation of 
      the spirit and faith of the Nation does, and will, furnish the 
      highest justification for every sacrifice that we may make in the 
      cause of national defense.

      In the face of great perils never before encountered, our strong 
      purpose is to protect and to perpetuate the integrity of 
      democracy.

      For this we muster the spirit of America, and the faith of 
      America.

      We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As 
      Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the 
      will of God.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         Franklin D. Roosevelt

   FOURTH INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1945
      __________________________________________________________________
      The fourth inauguration was conducted without fanfare. Because of 
      the expense and impropriety of festivity during the height of war, 
      the oath of office was taken on the South Portico of the White 
      House. It was administered by Chief Justice Harlan Stone. No 
      formal celebrations followed the address. Instead of renominating 
      Vice President Henry Wallace in the election of 1944, the 
      Democratic convention chose the Senator from Missouri, Harry S. 
      Truman.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, my friends, you will 
      understand and, I believe, agree with my wish that the form of 
      this inauguration be simple and its words brief.

      We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing 
      through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage--of 
      our resolve--of our wisdom--our essential democracy.

      If we meet that test--successfully and honorably--we shall perform 
      a service of historic importance which men and women and children 
      will honor throughout all time.

      As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in 
      the presence of my fellow countrymen--in the presence of our God--
      I know that it is America's purpose that we shall not fail.

      In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a 
      just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and 
      fight for total victory in war.

      We can and we will achieve such a peace.

      We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it 
      immediately--but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes--but 
      they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart 
      or abandonment of moral principle.

      I remember that my old schoolmaster, Dr. Peabody, said, in days 
      that seemed to us then to be secure and untroubled: "Things in 
      life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising 
      toward the heights--then all will seem to reverse itself and start 
      downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of 
      civilization itself is forever upward; that a line drawn through 
      the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always 
      has an upward trend."

      Our Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument; it is not 
      perfect yet. But it provided a firm base upon which all manner of 
      men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid 
      structure of democracy.

      And so today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons--
      at a fearful cost--and we shall profit by them.

      We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own 
      well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far 
      away. We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, 
      nor as dogs in the manger.

      We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human 
      community.

      We have learned the simple truth, as Emerson said, that "The only 
      way to have a friend is to be one." We can gain no lasting peace 
      if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear.

      We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the 
      confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.

      The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has given 
      our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike 
      mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given to our country a 
      faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguished 
      world.

      So we pray to Him now for the vision to see our way clearly--to 
      see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all 
      our fellow men--to the achievement of His will to peace on earth.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            Harry S. Truman

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1949
      __________________________________________________________________
      A former county judge, Senator and Vice President, Harry S. Truman 
      had taken the oath of office first on April 12, 1945, upon the 
      death of President Roosevelt. Mr. Truman's victory in the 1948 
      election was so unexpected that many newspapers had declared the 
      Republican candidate, Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York, the 
      winner. The President went to the East Portico of the Capitol to 
      take the oath of office on two Bibles--the personal one he had 
      used for the first oath, and a Gutenberg Bible donated by the 
      citizens of Independence, Missouri. The ceremony was televised as 
      well as broadcast on the radio.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Mr. Vice President, Mr. Chief Justice, and fellow citizens, I 
      accept with humility the honor which the American people have 
      conferred upon me. I accept it with a deep resolve to do all that 
      I can for the welfare of this Nation and for the peace of the 
      world.

      In performing the duties of my office, I need the help and prayers 
      of every one of you. I ask for your encouragement and your 
      support. The tasks we face are difficult, and we can accomplish 
      them only if we work together.

      Each period of our national history has had its special 
      challenges. Those that confront us now are as momentous as any in 
      the past. Today marks the beginning not only of a new 
      administration, but of a period that will be eventful, perhaps 
      decisive, for us and for the world.

      It may be our lot to experience, and in large measure to bring 
      about, a major turning point in the long history of the human 
      race. The first half of this century has been marked by 
      unprecedented and brutal attacks on the rights of man, and by the 
      two most frightful wars in history. The supreme need of our time 
      is for men to learn to live together in peace and harmony.

      The peoples of the earth face the future with grave uncertainty, 
      composed almost equally of great hopes and great fears. In this 
      time of doubt, they look to the United States as never before for 
      good will, strength, and wise leadership.

      It is fitting, therefore, that we take this occasion to proclaim 
      to the world the essential principles of the faith by which we 
      live, and to declare our aims to all peoples.

      The American people stand firm in the faith which has inspired 
      this Nation from the beginning. We believe that all men have a 
      right to equal justice under law and equal opportunity to share in 
      the common good. We believe that all men have the right to freedom 
      of thought and expression. We believe that all men are created 
      equal because they are created in the image of God.

      From this faith we will not be moved.

      The American people desire, and are determined to work for, a 
      world in which all nations and all peoples are free to govern 
      themselves as they see fit, and to achieve a decent and satisfying 
      life. Above all else, our people desire, and are determined to 
      work for, peace on earth--a just and lasting peace--based on 
      genuine agreement freely arrived at by equals.

      In the pursuit of these aims, the United States and other like-
      minded nations find themselves directly opposed by a regime with 
      contrary aims and a totally different concept of life.

      That regime adheres to a false philosophy which purports to offer 
      freedom, security, and greater opportunity to mankind. Misled by 
      this philosophy, many peoples have sacrificed their liberties only 
      to learn to their sorrow that deceit and mockery, poverty and 
      tyranny, are their reward.

      That false philosophy is communism.

      Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and 
      inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore 
      requires the rule of strong masters.

      Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and 
      intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern 
      himself with reason and justice.

      Communism subjects the individual to arrest without lawful cause, 
      punishment without trial, and forced labor as the chattel of the 
      state. It decrees what information he shall receive, what art he 
      shall produce, what leaders he shall follow, and what thoughts he 
      shall think.

      Democracy maintains that government is established for the benefit 
      of the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of 
      protecting the rights of the individual and his freedom in the 
      exercise of his abilities.

      Communism maintains that social wrongs can be corrected only by 
      violence.

      Democracy has proved that social justice can be achieved through 
      peaceful change.

      Communism holds that the world is so deeply divided into opposing 
      classes that war is inevitable.

      Democracy holds that free nations can settle differences justly 
      and maintain lasting peace.

      These differences between communism and democracy do not concern 
      the United States alone. People everywhere are coming to realize 
      that what is involved is material well-being, human dignity, and 
      the right to believe in and worship God.

      I state these differences, not to draw issues of belief as such, 
      but because the actions resulting from the Communist philosophy 
      are a threat to the efforts of free nations to bring about world 
      recovery and lasting peace.

      Since the end of hostilities, the United States has invested its 
      substance and its energy in a great constructive effort to restore 
      peace, stability, and freedom to the world.

      We have sought no territory and we have imposed our will on none. 
      We have asked for no privileges we would not extend to others.

      We have constantly and vigorously supported the United Nations and 
      related agencies as a means of applying democratic principles to 
      international relations. We have consistently advocated and relied 
      upon peaceful settlement of disputes among nations.

      We have made every effort to secure agreement on effective 
      international control of our most powerful weapon, and we have 
      worked steadily for the limitation and control of all armaments.

      We have encouraged, by precept and example, the expansion of world 
      trade on a sound and fair basis.

      Almost a year ago, in company with 16 free nations of Europe, we 
      launched the greatest cooperative economic program in history. The 
      purpose of that unprecedented effort is to invigorate and 
      strengthen democracy in Europe, so that the free people of that 
      continent can resume their rightful place in the forefront of 
      civilization and can contribute once more to the security and 
      welfare of the world.

      Our efforts have brought new hope to all mankind. We have beaten 
      back despair and defeatism. We have saved a number of countries 
      from losing their liberty. Hundreds of millions of people all over 
      the world now agree with us, that we need not have war--that we 
      can have peace.

      The initiative is ours.

      We are moving on with other nations to build an even stronger 
      structure of international order and justice. We shall have as our 
      partners countries which, no longer solely concerned with the 
      problem of national survival, are now working to improve the 
      standards of living of all their people. We are ready to undertake 
      new projects to strengthen the free world.

      In the coming years, our program for peace and freedom will 
      emphasize four major courses of action.

      First, we will continue to give unfaltering support to the United 
      Nations and related agencies, and we will continue to search for 
      ways to strengthen their authority and increase their 
      effectiveness. We believe that the United Nations will be 
      strengthened by the new nations which are being formed in lands 
      now advancing toward self-government under democratic principles.

      Second, we will continue our programs for world economic recovery.

      This means, first of all, that we must keep our full weight behind 
      the European recovery program. We are confident of the success of 
      this major venture in world recovery. We believe that our partners 
      in this effort will achieve the status of self-supporting nations 
      once again.

      In addition, we must carry out our plans for reducing the barriers 
      to world trade and increasing its volume. Economic recovery and 
      peace itself depend on increased world trade.

      Third, we will strengthen freedom-loving nations against the 
      dangers of aggression.

      We are now working out with a number of countries a joint 
      agreement designed to strengthen the security of the North 
      Atlantic area. Such an agreement would take the form of a 
      collective defense arrangement within the terms of the United 
      Nations Charter.

      We have already established such a defense pact for the Western 
      Hemisphere by the treaty of Rio de Janeiro.

      The primary purpose of these agreements is to provide unmistakable 
      proof of the joint determination of the free countries to resist 
      armed attack from any quarter. Each country participating in these 
      arrangements must contribute all it can to the common defense.

      If we can make it sufficiently clear, in advance, that any armed 
      attack affecting our national security would be met with 
      overwhelming force, the armed attack might never occur.

      I hope soon to send to the Senate a treaty respecting the North 
      Atlantic security plan.

      In addition, we will provide military advice and equipment to free 
      nations which will cooperate with us in the maintenance of peace 
      and security.

      Fourth, we must embark on a bold new program for making the 
      benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress 
      available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.

      More than half the people of the world are living in conditions 
      approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of 
      disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their 
      poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more 
      prosperous areas.

      For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge 
      and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people.

      The United States is pre-eminent among nations in the development 
      of industrial and scientific techniques. The material resources 
      which we can afford to use for the assistance of other peoples are 
      limited. But our imponderable resources in technical knowledge are 
      constantly growing and are inexhaustible.

      I believe that we should make available to peace-loving peoples 
      the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help 
      them realize their aspirations for a better life. And, in 
      cooperation with other nations, we should foster capital 
      investment in areas needing development.

      Our aim should be to help the free peoples of the world, through 
      their own efforts, to produce more food, more clothing, more 
      materials for housing, and more mechanical power to lighten their 
      burdens.

      We invite other countries to pool their technological resources in 
      this undertaking. Their contributions will be warmly welcomed. 
      This should be a cooperative enterprise in which all nations work 
      together through the United Nations and its specialized agencies 
      wherever practicable. It must be a worldwide effort for the 
      achievement of peace, plenty, and freedom.

      With the cooperation of business, private capital, agriculture, 
      and labor in this country, this program can greatly increase the 
      industrial activity in other nations and can raise substantially 
      their standards of living.

      Such new economic developments must be devised and controlled to 
      benefit the peoples of the areas in which they are established. 
      Guarantees to the investor must be balanced by guarantees in the 
      interest of the people whose resources and whose labor go into 
      these developments.

      The old imperialism--exploitation for foreign profit--has no place 
      in our plans. What we envisage is a program of development based 
      on the concepts of democratic fair-dealing.

      All countries, including our own, will greatly benefit from a 
      constructive program for the better use of the world's human and 
      natural resources. Experience shows that our commerce with other 
      countries expands as they progress industrially and economically.

      Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace. And the key 
      to greater production is a wider and more vigorous application of 
      modern scientific and technical knowledge.

      Only by helping the least fortunate of its members to help 
      themselves can the human family achieve the decent, satisfying 
      life that is the right of all people.

      Democracy alone can supply the vitalizing force to stir the 
      peoples of the world into triumphant action, not only against 
      their human oppressors, but also against their ancient enemies--
      hunger, misery, and despair.

      On the basis of these four major courses of action we hope to help 
      create the conditions that will lead eventually to personal 
      freedom and happiness for all mankind.

      If we are to be successful in carrying out these policies, it is 
      clear that we must have continued prosperity in this country and 
      we must keep ourselves strong.

      Slowly but surely we are weaving a world fabric of international 
      security and growing prosperity.

      We are aided by all who wish to live in freedom from fear--even by 
      those who live today in fear under their own governments.

      We are aided by all who want relief from the lies of propaganda--
      who desire truth and sincerity.

      We are aided by all who desire self-government and a voice in 
      deciding their own affairs.

      We are aided by all who long for economic security--for the 
      security and abundance that men in free societies can enjoy.

      We are aided by all who desire freedom of speech, freedom of 
      religion, and freedom to live their own lives for useful ends.

      Our allies are the millions who hunger and thirst after 
      righteousness.

      In due time, as our stability becomes manifest, as more and more 
      nations come to know the benefits of democracy and to participate 
      in growing abundance, I believe that those countries which now 
      oppose us will abandon their delusions and join with the free 
      nations of the world in a just settlement of international 
      differences.

      Events have brought our American democracy to new influence and 
      new responsibilities. They will test our courage, our devotion to 
      duty, and our concept of liberty.

      But I say to all men, what we have achieved in liberty, we will 
      surpass in greater liberty.

      Steadfast in our faith in the Almighty, we will advance toward a 
      world where man's freedom is secure.

      To that end we will devote our strength, our resources, and our 
      firmness of resolve. With God's help, the future of mankind will 
      be assured in a world of justice, harmony, and peace.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                          Dwight D. Eisenhower

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1953
      __________________________________________________________________
      The Republican Party successfully promoted the candidacy of the 
      popular General of the Army in the 1952 election over the 
      Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson. The oath of office was 
      administered by Chief Justice Frederick Vinson on two Bibles--the 
      one used by George Washington at the first inauguration, and the 
      one General Eisenhower received from his mother upon his 
      graduation from the Military Academy at West Point. A large parade 
      followed the ceremony, and inaugural balls were held at the 
      National Armory and Georgetown University's McDonough Hall.
      __________________________________________________________________

      My friends, before I begin the expression of those thoughts that I 
      deem appropriate to this moment, would you permit me the privilege 
      of uttering a little private prayer of my own. And I ask that you 
      bow your heads:

      Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future associates 
      in the executive branch of government join me in beseeching that 
      Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of 
      the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere.

      Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, 
      and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by 
      the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall 
      be for all the people regardless of station, race, or calling.

      May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who, 
      under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing 
      political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved 
      country and Thy glory. Amen.

   My fellow citizens:

      The world and we have passed the midway point of a century of 
      continuing challenge. We sense with all our faculties that forces 
      of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before 
      in history.

      This fact defines the meaning of this day. We are summoned by this 
      honored and historic ceremony to witness more than the act of one 
      citizen swearing his oath of service, in the presence of God. We 
      are called as a people to give testimony in the sight of the world 
      to our faith that the future shall belong to the free.

      Since this century's beginning, a time of tempest has seemed to 
      come upon the continents of the earth. Masses of Asia have 
      awakened to strike off shackles of the past. Great nations of 
      Europe have fought their bloodiest wars. Thrones have toppled and 
      their vast empires have disappeared. New nations have been born.

      For our own country, it has been a time of recurring trial. We 
      have grown in power and in responsibility. We have passed through 
      the anxieties of depression and of war to a summit unmatched in 
      man's history. Seeking to secure peace in the world, we have had 
      to fight through the forests of the Argonne, to the shores of Iwo 
      Jima, and to the cold mountains of Korea.

      In the swift rush of great events, we find ourselves groping to 
      know the full sense and meaning of these times in which we live. 
      In our quest of understanding, we beseech God's guidance. We 
      summon all our knowledge of the past and we scan all signs of the 
      future. We bring all our wit and all our will to meet the 
      question:

      How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness toward 
      light? Are we nearing the light--a day of freedom and of peace for 
      all mankind? Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon 
      us?

      Great as are the preoccupations absorbing us at home, concerned as 
      we are with matters that deeply affect our livelihood today and 
      our vision of the future, each of these domestic problems is 
      dwarfed by, and often even created by, this question that involves 
      all humankind.

      This trial comes at a moment when man's power to achieve good or 
      to inflict evil surpasses the brightest hopes and the sharpest 
      fears of all ages. We can turn rivers in their courses, level 
      mountains to the plains. Oceans and land and sky are avenues for 
      our colossal commerce. Disease diminishes and life lengthens.

      Yet the promise of this life is imperiled by the very genius that 
      has made it possible. Nations amass wealth. Labor sweats to 
      create--and turns out devices to level not only mountains but also 
      cities. Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, 
      the power to erase human life from this planet.

      At such a time in history, we who are free must proclaim anew our 
      faith. This faith is the abiding creed of our fathers. It is our 
      faith in the deathless dignity of man, governed by eternal moral 
      and natural laws.

      This faith defines our full view of life. It establishes, beyond 
      debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man's inalienable 
      rights, and that make all men equal in His sight.

      In the light of this equality, we know that the virtues most 
      cherished by free people--love of truth, pride of work, devotion 
      to country--all are treasures equally precious in the lives of the 
      most humble and of the most exalted. The men who mine coal and 
      fire furnaces and balance ledgers and turn lathes and pick cotton 
      and heal the sick and plant corn--all serve as proudly, and as 
      profitably, for America as the statesmen who draft treaties and 
      the legislators who enact laws.

      This faith rules our whole way of life. It decrees that we, the 
      people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve. It asserts that we 
      have the right to choice of our own work and to the reward of our 
      own toil. It inspires the initiative that makes our productivity 
      the wonder of the world. And it warns that any man who seeks to 
      deny equality among all his brothers betrays the spirit of the 
      free and invites the mockery of the tyrant.

      It is because we, all of us, hold to these principles that the 
      political changes accomplished this day do not imply turbulence, 
      upheaval or disorder. Rather this change expresses a purpose of 
      strengthening our dedication and devotion to the precepts of our 
      founding documents, a conscious renewal of faith in our country 
      and in the watchfulness of a Divine Providence.

      The enemies of this faith know no god but force, no devotion but 
      its use. They tutor men in treason. They feed upon the hunger of 
      others. Whatever defies them, they torture, especially the truth.

      Here, then, is joined no argument between slightly differing 
      philosophies. This conflict strikes directly at the faith of our 
      fathers and the lives of our sons. No principle or treasure that 
      we hold, from the spiritual knowledge of our free schools and 
      churches to the creative magic of free labor and capital, nothing 
      lies safely beyond the reach of this struggle.

      Freedom is pitted against slavery; lightness against the dark.

      The faith we hold belongs not to us alone but to the free of all 
      the world. This common bond binds the grower of rice in Burma and 
      the planter of wheat in Iowa, the shepherd in southern Italy and 
      the mountaineer in the Andes. It confers a common dignity upon the 
      French soldier who dies in Indo-China, the British soldier killed 
      in Malaya, the American life given in Korea.

      We know, beyond this, that we are linked to all free peoples not 
      merely by a noble idea but by a simple need. No free people can 
      for long cling to any privilege or enjoy any safety in economic 
      solitude. For all our own material might, even we need markets in 
      the world for the surpluses of our farms and our factories. 
      Equally, we need for these same farms and factories vital 
      materials and products of distant lands. This basic law of 
      interdependence, so manifest in the commerce of peace, applies 
      with thousand-fold intensity in the event of war.

      So we are persuaded by necessity and by belief that the strength 
      of all free peoples lies in unity; their danger, in discord.

      To produce this unity, to meet the challenge of our time, destiny 
      has laid upon our country the responsibility of the free world's 
      leadership.

      So it is proper that we assure our friends once again that, in the 
      discharge of this responsibility, we Americans know and we observe 
      the difference between world leadership and imperialism; between 
      firmness and truculence; between a thoughtfully calculated goal 
      and spasmodic reaction to the stimulus of emergencies.

      We wish our friends the world over to know this above all: we face 
      the threat--not with dread and confusion--but with confidence and 
      conviction.

      We feel this moral strength because we know that we are not 
      helpless prisoners of history. We are free men. We shall remain 
      free, never to be proven guilty of the one capital offense against 
      freedom, a lack of stanch faith.

      In pleading our just cause before the bar of history and in 
      pressing our labor for world peace, we shall be guided by certain 
      fixed principles.

      These principles are:

      (1) Abhorring war as a chosen way to balk the purposes of those 
      who threaten us, we hold it to be the first task of statesmanship 
      to develop the strength that will deter the forces of aggression 
      and promote the conditions of peace. For, as it must be the 
      supreme purpose of all free men, so it must be the dedication of 
      their leaders, to save humanity from preying upon itself.

      In the light of this principle, we stand ready to engage with any 
      and all others in joint effort to remove the causes of mutual fear 
      and distrust among nations, so as to make possible drastic 
      reduction of armaments. The sole requisites for undertaking such 
      effort are that--in their purpose--they be aimed logically and 
      honestly toward secure peace for all; and that--in their result--
      they provide methods by which every participating nation will 
      prove good faith in carrying out its pledge.

      (2) Realizing that common sense and common decency alike dictate 
      the futility of appeasement, we shall never try to placate an 
      aggressor by the false and wicked bargain of trading honor for 
      security. Americans, indeed all free men, remember that in the 
      final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a 
      prisoner's chains.

      (3) Knowing that only a United States that is strong and immensely 
      productive can help defend freedom in our world, we view our 
      Nation's strength and security as a trust upon which rests the 
      hope of free men everywhere. It is the firm duty of each of our 
      free citizens and of every free citizen everywhere to place the 
      cause of his country before the comfort, the convenience of 
      himself.

      (4) Honoring the identity and the special heritage of each nation 
      in the world, we shall never use our strength to try to impress 
      upon another people our own cherished political and economic 
      institutions.

      (5) Assessing realistically the needs and capacities of proven 
      friends of freedom, we shall strive to help them to achieve their 
      own security and well-being. Likewise, we shall count upon them to 
      assume, within the limits of their resources, their full and just 
      burdens in the common defense of freedom.

      (6) Recognizing economic health as an indispensable basis of 
      military strength and the free world's peace, we shall strive to 
      foster everywhere, and to practice ourselves, policies that 
      encourage productivity and profitable trade. For the 
      impoverishment of any single people in the world means danger to 
      the well-being of all other peoples.

      (7) Appreciating that economic need, military security and 
      political wisdom combine to suggest regional groupings of free 
      peoples, we hope, within the framework of the United Nations, to 
      help strengthen such special bonds the world over. The nature of 
      these ties must vary with the different problems of different 
      areas.

      In the Western Hemisphere, we enthusiastically join with all our 
      neighbors in the work of perfecting a community of fraternal trust 
      and common purpose.

      In Europe, we ask that enlightened and inspired leaders of the 
      Western nations strive with renewed vigor to make the unity of 
      their peoples a reality. Only as free Europe unitedly marshals its 
      strength can it effectively safeguard, even with our help, its 
      spiritual and cultural heritage.

      (8) Conceiving the defense of freedom, like freedom itself, to be 
      one and indivisible, we hold all continents and peoples in equal 
      regard and honor. We reject any insinuation that one race or 
      another, one people or another, is in any sense inferior or 
      expendable.

      (9) Respecting the United Nations as the living sign of all 
      people's hope for peace, we shall strive to make it not merely an 
      eloquent symbol but an effective force. And in our quest for an 
      honorable peace, we shall neither compromise, nor tire, nor ever 
      cease.

      By these rules of conduct, we hope to be known to all peoples.

      By their observance, an earth of peace may become not a vision but 
      a fact.

      This hope--this supreme aspiration--must rule the way we live.

      We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not 
      long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must 
      acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose.

      We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept 
      whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values 
      its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

      These basic precepts are not lofty abstractions, far removed from 
      matters of daily living. They are laws of spiritual strength that 
      generate and define our material strength. Patriotism means 
      equipped forces and a prepared citizenry. Moral stamina means more 
      energy and more productivity, on the farm and in the factory. Love 
      of liberty means the guarding of every resource that makes freedom 
      possible--from the sanctity of our families and the wealth of our 
      soil to the genius of our scientists.

      And so each citizen plays an indispensable role. The productivity 
      of our heads, our hands, and our hearts is the source of all the 
      strength we can command, for both the enrichment of our lives and 
      the winning of the peace.

      No person, no home, no community can be beyond the reach of this 
      call. We are summoned to act in wisdom and in conscience, to work 
      with industry, to teach with persuasion, to preach with 
      conviction, to weigh our every deed with care and with compassion. 
      For this truth must be clear before us: whatever America hopes to 
      bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of 
      America.

      The peace we seek, then, is nothing less than the practice and 
      fulfillment of our whole faith among ourselves and in our dealings 
      with others. This signifies more than the stilling of guns, easing 
      the sorrow of war. More than escape from death, it is a way of 
      life. More than a haven for the weary, it is a hope for the brave.

      This is the hope that beckons us onward in this century of trial. 
      This is the work that awaits us all, to be done with bravery, with 
      charity, and with prayer to Almighty God.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                          Dwight D. Eisenhower

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1957
      __________________________________________________________________
      January 20 occurred on a Sunday, so the President took the oath in 
      the East Room at the White House that morning. The next day he 
      repeated the oath of office on the East Portico of the Capitol. 
      Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office on the 
      President's personal Bible from West Point. Marian Anderson sang 
      at the ceremony at the Capitol. A large parade and four inaugural 
      balls followed the ceremony.
      __________________________________________________________________

   THE PRICE OF PEACE

      Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Speaker, 
      members of my family and friends, my countrymen, and the friends 
      of my country, wherever they may be, we meet again, as upon a like 
      moment four years ago, and again you have witnessed my solemn oath 
      of service to you.

      I, too, am a witness, today testifying in your name to the 
      principles and purposes to which we, as a people, are pledged.

      Before all else, we seek, upon our common labor as a nation, the 
      blessings of Almighty God. And the hopes in our hearts fashion the 
      deepest prayers of our whole people.

      May we pursue the right--without self-righteousness.

      May we know unity--without conformity.

      May we grow in strength--without pride in self.

      May we, in our dealings with all peoples of the earth, ever speak 
      truth and serve justice.

      And so shall America--in the sight of all men of good will--prove 
      true to the honorable purposes that bind and rule us as a people 
      in all this time of trial through which we pass.

      We live in a land of plenty, but rarely has this earth known such 
      peril as today.

      In our nation work and wealth abound. Our population grows. 
      Commerce crowds our rivers and rails, our skies, harbors, and 
      highways. Our soil is fertile, our agriculture productive. The air 
      rings with the song of our industry--rolling mills and blast 
      furnaces, dynamos, dams, and assembly lines--the chorus of America 
      the bountiful.

      This is our home--yet this is not the whole of our world. For our 
      world is where our full destiny lies--with men, of all people, and 
      all nations, who are or would be free. And for them--and so for 
      us--this is no time of ease or of rest.

      In too much of the earth there is want, discord, danger. New 
      forces and new nations stir and strive across the earth, with 
      power to bring, by their fate, great good or great evil to the 
      free world's future. From the deserts of North Africa to the 
      islands of the South Pacific one third of all mankind has entered 
      upon an historic struggle for a new freedom; freedom from grinding 
      poverty. Across all continents, nearly a billion people seek, 
      sometimes almost in desperation, for the skills and knowledge and 
      assistance by which they may satisfy from their own resources, the 
      material wants common to all mankind.

      No nation, however old or great, escapes this tempest of change 
      and turmoil. Some, impoverished by the recent World War, seek to 
      restore their means of livelihood. In the heart of Europe, Germany 
      still stands tragically divided. So is the whole continent 
      divided. And so, too, is all the world.

      The divisive force is International Communism and the power that 
      it controls.

      The designs of that power, dark in purpose, are clear in practice. 
      It strives to seal forever the fate of those it has enslaved. It 
      strives to break the ties that unite the free. And it strives to 
      capture--to exploit for its own greater power--all forces of 
      change in the world, especially the needs of the hungry and the 
      hopes of the oppressed.

      Yet the world of International Communism has itself been shaken by 
      a fierce and mighty force: the readiness of men who love freedom 
      to pledge their lives to that love. Through the night of their 
      bondage, the unconquerable will of heroes has struck with the 
      swift, sharp thrust of lightning. Budapest is no longer merely the 
      name of a city; henceforth it is a new and shining symbol of man's 
      yearning to be free.

      Thus across all the globe there harshly blow the winds of change. 
      And, we--though fortunate be our lot--know that we can never turn 
      our backs to them.

      We look upon this shaken earth, and we declare our firm and fixed 
      purpose--the building of a peace with justice in a world where 
      moral law prevails.

      The building of such a peace is a bold and solemn purpose. To 
      proclaim it is easy. To serve it will be hard. And to attain it, 
      we must be aware of its full meaning--and ready to pay its full 
      price.

      We know clearly what we seek, and why.

      We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom. And 
      now, as in no other age, we seek it because we have been warned, 
      by the power of modern weapons, that peace may be the only climate 
      possible for human life itself.

      Yet this peace we seek cannot be born of fear alone: it must be 
      rooted in the lives of nations. There must be justice, sensed and 
      shared by all peoples, for, without justice the world can know 
      only a tense and unstable truce. There must be law, steadily 
      invoked and respected by all nations, for without law, the world 
      promises only such meager justice as the pity of the strong upon 
      the weak. But the law of which we speak, comprehending the values 
      of freedom, affirms the equality of all nations, great and small.

      Splendid as can be the blessings of such a peace, high will be its 
      cost: in toil patiently sustained, in help honorably given, in 
      sacrifice calmly borne.

      We are called to meet the price of this peace.

      To counter the threat of those who seek to rule by force, we must 
      pay the costs of our own needed military strength, and help to 
      build the security of others.

      We must use our skills and knowledge and, at times, our substance, 
      to help others rise from misery, however far the scene of 
      suffering may be from our shores. For wherever in the world a 
      people knows desperate want, there must appear at least the spark 
      of hope, the hope of progress--or there will surely rise at last 
      the flames of conflict.

      We recognize and accept our own deep involvement in the destiny of 
      men everywhere. We are accordingly pledged to honor, and to strive 
      to fortify, the authority of the United Nations. For in that body 
      rests the best hope of our age for the assertion of that law by 
      which all nations may live in dignity.

      And, beyond this general resolve, we are called to act a 
      responsible role in the world's great concerns or conflicts--
      whether they touch upon the affairs of a vast region, the fate of 
      an island in the Pacific, or the use of a canal in the Middle 
      East. Only in respecting the hopes and cultures of others will we 
      practice the equality of all nations. Only as we show willingness 
      and wisdom in giving counsel--in receiving counsel--and in sharing 
      burdens, will we wisely perform the work of peace.

      For one truth must rule all we think and all we do. No people can 
      live to itself alone. The unity of all who dwell in freedom is 
      their only sure defense. The economic need of all nations--in 
      mutual dependence--makes isolation an impossibility; not even 
      America's prosperity could long survive if other nations did not 
      also prosper. No nation can longer be a fortress, lone and strong 
      and safe. And any people, seeking such shelter for themselves, can 
      now build only their own prison.

      Our pledge to these principles is constant, because we believe in 
      their rightness.

      We do not fear this world of change. America is no stranger to 
      much of its spirit. Everywhere we see the seeds of the same growth 
      that America itself has known. The American experiment has, for 
      generations, fired the passion and the courage of millions 
      elsewhere seeking freedom, equality, and opportunity. And the 
      American story of material progress has helped excite the longing 
      of all needy peoples for some satisfaction of their human wants. 
      These hopes that we have helped to inspire, we can help to 
      fulfill.

      In this confidence, we speak plainly to all peoples.

      We cherish our friendship with all nations that are or would be 
      free. We respect, no less, their independence. And when, in time 
      of want or peril, they ask our help, they may honorably receive 
      it; for we no more seek to buy their sovereignty than we would 
      sell our own. Sovereignty is never bartered among freemen.

      We honor the aspirations of those nations which, now captive, long 
      for freedom. We seek neither their military alliance nor any 
      artificial imitation of our society. And they can know the warmth 
      of the welcome that awaits them when, as must be, they join again 
      the ranks of freedom.

      We honor, no less in this divided world than in a less tormented 
      time, the people of Russia. We do not dread, rather do we welcome, 
      their progress in education and industry. We wish them success in 
      their demands for more intellectual freedom, greater security 
      before their own laws, fuller enjoyment of the rewards of their 
      own toil. For as such things come to pass, the more certain will 
      be the coming of that day when our peoples may freely meet in 
      friendship.

      So we voice our hope and our belief that we can help to heal this 
      divided world. Thus may the nations cease to live in trembling 
      before the menace of force. Thus may the weight of fear and the 
      weight of arms be taken from the burdened shoulders of mankind.

      This, nothing less, is the labor to which we are called and our 
      strength dedicated.

      And so the prayer of our people carries far beyond our own 
      frontiers, to the wide world of our duty and our destiny.

      May the light of freedom, coming to all darkened lands, flame 
      brightly--until at last the darkness is no more.

      May the turbulence of our age yield to a true time of peace, when 
      men and nations shall share a life that honors the dignity of 
      each, the brotherhood of all.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                            John F. Kennedy

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1961
      __________________________________________________________________
      Heavy snow fell the night before the inauguration, but thoughts 
      about cancelling the plans were overruled. The election of 1960 
      had been close, and the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts was 
      eager to gather support for his agenda. He attended Holy Trinity 
      Catholic Church in Georgetown that morning before joining 
      President Eisenhower to travel to the Capitol. The Congress had 
      extended the East Front, and the inaugural platform spanned the 
      new addition. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice 
      Earl Warren. Robert Frost read one of his poems at the ceremony.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President 
      Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend 
      clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, 
      but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end, as well as a 
      beginning--signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn 
      I before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears l 
      prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

      The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands 
      the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of 
      human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our 
      forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief 
      that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, 
      but from the hand of God.

      We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first 
      revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to 
      friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new 
      generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, 
      disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient 
      heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of 
      those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, 
      and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

      Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we 
      shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support 
      any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and 
      the success of liberty.

      This much we pledge--and more.

      To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, 
      we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little 
      we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is 
      little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at 
      odds and split asunder.

      To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we 
      pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have 
      passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We 
      shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we 
      shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own 
      freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly 
      sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

      To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe 
      struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best 
      efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is 
      required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because 
      we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society 
      cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are 
      rich.

      To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special 
      pledge--to convert our good words into good deeds--in a new 
      alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in 
      casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of 
      hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our 
      neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression 
      or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power 
      know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own 
      house.

      To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, 
      our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far 
      outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of 
      support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for 
      invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and 
      to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

      Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, 
      we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew 
      the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction 
      unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental 
      self-destruction.

      We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are 
      sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they 
      will never be employed.

      But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take 
      comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the 
      cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread 
      of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain 
      balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

      So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is 
      not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. 
      Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to 
      negotiate.

      Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of 
      belaboring those problems which divide us.

      Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise 
      proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the 
      absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control 
      of all nations.

      Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of 
      its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the 
      deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage 
      the arts and commerce.

      Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the 
      command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the 
      oppressed go free."

      And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of 
      suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a 
      new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are 
      just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

      All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it 
      be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this 
      Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. 
      But let us begin.

      In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest 
      the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was 
      founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give 
      testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans 
      who answered the call to service surround the globe.

      Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, 
      though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we 
      are--but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, 
      year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in 
      tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: 
      tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

      Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, 
      North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful 
      life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

      In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been 
      granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum 
      danger. I do not shank from this responsibility--I welcome it. I 
      do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other 
      people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the 
      devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country 
      and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light 
      the world.

      And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for 
      you--ask what you can do for your country.

      My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for 
      you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

      Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the 
      world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice 
      which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, 
      with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead 
      the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing 
      that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         Lyndon Baines Johnson

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1965
      __________________________________________________________________
      President Johnson had first taken the oath of office on board Air 
      Force One on November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was 
      assassinated in Dallas. The election of 1964 was a landslide 
      victory for the Democratic Party. Mrs. Johnson joined the 
      President on the platform on the East Front of the Capitol; she 
      was the first wife to stand with her husband as he took the oath 
      of office. The oath was administered by Chief Justice Earl Warren. 
      Leontyne Price sang at the ceremony.
      __________________________________________________________________

      My fellow countrymen, on this occasion, the oath I have taken 
      before you and before God is not mine alone, but ours together. We 
      are one nation and one people. Our fate as a nation and our future 
      as a people rest not upon one citizen, but upon all citizens.

      This is the majesty and the meaning of this moment.

      For every generation, there is a destiny. For some, history 
      decides. For this generation, the choice must be our own.

      Even now, a rocket moves toward Mars. It reminds us that the world 
      will not be the same for our children, or even for ourselves m a 
      short span of years. The next man to stand here will look out on a 
      scene different from our own, because ours is a time of change--
      rapid and fantastic change bearing the secrets of nature, 
      multiplying the nations, placing in uncertain hands new weapons 
      for mastery and destruction, shaking old values, and uprooting old 
      ways.

      Our destiny in the midst of change will rest on the unchanged 
      character of our people, and on their faith.

   THE AMERICAN COVENANT

      They came here--the exile and the stranger, brave but frightened--
      to find a place where a man could be his own man. They made a 
      covenant with this land. Conceived in justice, written in liberty, 
      bound in union, it was meant one day to inspire the hopes of all 
      mankind; and it binds us still. If we keep its terms, we shall 
      flourish.

   JUSTICE AND CHANGE

      First, justice was the promise that all who made the journey would 
      share in the fruits of the land.

      In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless 
      poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go 
      hungry. In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer 
      and die unattended. In a great land of learning and scholars, 
      young people must be taught to read and write.

      For the more than 30 years that I have served this Nation, I have 
      believed that this injustice to our people, this waste of our 
      resources, was our real enemy. For 30 years or more, with the 
      resources I have had, I have vigilantly fought against it. I have 
      learned, and I know, that it will not surrender easily.

      But change has given us new weapons. Before this generation of 
      Americans is finished, this enemy will not only retreat--it will 
      be conquered.

      Justice requires us to remember that when any citizen denies his 
      fellow, saying, "His color is not mine," or "His beliefs are 
      strange and different," in that moment he betrays America, though 
      his forebears created this Nation.

   LIBERTY AND CHANGE

      Liberty was the second article of our covenant. It was self-
      government. It was our Bill of Rights. But it was more. America 
      would be a place where each man could be proud to be himself: 
      stretching his talents, rejoicing in his work, important in the 
      life of his neighbors and his nation.

      This has become more difficult in a world where change and growth 
      seem to tower beyond the control and even the judgment of men. We 
      must work to provide the knowledge and the surroundings which can 
      enlarge the possibilities of every citizen.

      The American covenant called on us to help show the way for the 
      liberation of man. And that is today our goal. Thus, if as a 
      nation there is much outside our control, as a people no stranger 
      is outside our hope.

      Change has brought new meaning to that old mission. We can never 
      again stand aside, prideful in isolation. Terrific dangers and 
      troubles that we once called "foreign" now constantly live among 
      us. If American lives must end, and American treasure be spilled, 
      in countries we barely know, that is the price that change has 
      demanded of conviction and of our enduring covenant.

      Think of our world as it looks from the rocket that is heading 
      toward Mars. It is like a child's globe, hanging in space, the 
      continents stuck to its side like colored maps. We are all fellow 
      passengers on a dot of earth. And each of us, in the span of time, 
      has really only a moment among our companions.

      How incredible it is that in this fragile existence, we should 
      hate and destroy one another. There are possibilities enough for 
      all who will abandon mastery over others to pursue mastery over 
      nature. There is world enough for all to seek their happiness in 
      their own way.

      Our Nation's course is abundantly clear. We aspire to nothing that 
      belongs to others. We seek no dominion over our fellow man. but 
      man's dominion over tyranny and misery.

      But more is required. Men want to be a part of a common 
      enterprise--a cause greater than themselves. Each of us must find 
      a way to advance the purpose of the Nation, thus finding new 
      purpose for ourselves. Without this, we shall become a nation of 
      strangers.

   UNION AND CHANGE

      The third article was union. To those who were small and few 
      against the wilderness, the success of liberty demanded the 
      strength of union. Two centuries of change have made this true 
      again.

      No longer need capitalist and worker, farmer and clerk, city and 
      countryside, struggle to divide our bounty. By working shoulder to 
      shoulder, together we can increase the bounty of all. We have 
      discovered that every child who learns, every man who finds work, 
      every sick body that is made whole--like a candle added to an 
      altar--brightens the hope of all the faithful.

      So let us reject any among us who seek to reopen old wounds and to 
      rekindle old hatreds. They stand in the way of a seeking nation.

      Let us now join reason to faith and action to experience, to 
      transform our unity of interest into a unity of purpose. For the 
      hour and the day and the time are here to achieve progress without 
      strife, to achieve change without hatred--not without difference 
      of opinion, but without the deep and abiding divisions which scar 
      the union for generations.

   THE AMERICAN BELIEF

      Under this covenant of justice, liberty, and union we have become 
      a nation--prosperous, great, and mighty. And we have kept our 
      freedom. But we have no promise from God that our greatness will 
      endure. We have been allowed by Him to seek greatness with the 
      sweat of our hands and the strength of our spirit.

      I do not believe that the Great Society is the ordered, 
      changeless, and sterile battalion of the ants. It is the 
      excitement of becoming--always becoming, trying, probing, falling, 
      resting, and trying again--but always trying and always gaining.

      In each generation, with toil and tears, we have had to earn our 
      heritage again.

      If we fail now, we shall have forgotten in abundance what we 
      learned in hardship: that democracy rests on faith, that freedom 
      asks more than it gives, and that the judgment of God is harshest 
      on those who are most favored.

      If we succeed, it will not be because of what we have, but it will 
      be because of what we are; not because of what we own, but, rather 
      because of what we believe.

      For we are a nation of believers. Underneath the clamor of 
      building and the rush of our day's pursuits, we are believers in 
      justice and liberty and union, and in our own Union. We believe 
      that every man must someday be free. And we believe in ourselves.

      Our enemies have always made the same mistake. In my lifetime--in 
      depression and in war--they have awaited our defeat. Each time, 
      from the secret places of the American heart, came forth the faith 
      they could not see or that they could not even imagine. It brought 
      us victory. And it will again.

      For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert 
      and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and 
      the harvest sleeping in the unplowed ground. Is our world gone? We 
      say "Farewell." Is a new world coming? We welcome it--and we will 
      bend it to the hopes of man.

      To these trusted public servants and to my family and those close 
      friends of mine who have followed me down a long, winding road, 
      and to all the people of this Union and the world, I will repeat 
      today what I said on that sorrowful day in November 1963: "I will 
      lead and I will do the best I can."

      But you must look within your own hearts to the old promises and 
      to the old dream. They will lead you best of all.

      For myself, I ask only, in the words of an ancient leader: "Give 
      me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before 
      this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?"

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         Richard Milhous Nixon

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1969
      __________________________________________________________________
      An almost-winner of the 1960 election, and a close winner of the 
      1968 election, the former Vice President and California Senator 
      and Congressman had defeated the Democratic Vice President, Hubert 
      Humphrey, and the American Independent Party candidate, George 
      Wallace. Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office 
      for the fifth time. The President addressed the large crowd from a 
      pavilion on the East Front of the Capitol. The address was 
      televised by satellite around the world.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Senator Dirksen, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, President 
   Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, my fellow Americans--and my fellow 
   citizens of the world community:

      I ask you to share with me today the majesty of this moment. In 
      the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps 
      us free.

      Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique. 
      But some stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are 
      set that shape decades or centuries.

      This can be such a moment.

      Forces now are converging that make possible, for the first time, 
      the hope that many of man's deepest aspirations can at last be 
      realized. The spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate, 
      within our own lifetime, advances that once would have taken 
      centuries.

      In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new 
      horizons on earth.

      For the first time, because the people of the world want peace, 
      and the leaders of the world are afraid of war, the times are on 
      the side of peace.

      Eight years from now America will celebrate its 200th anniversary 
      as a nation. Within the lifetime of most people now living, 
      mankind will celebrate that great new year which comes only once 
      in a thousand years--the beginning of the third millennium.

      What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live 
      in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours 
      to determine by our actions and our choices.

      The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. 
      This honor now beckons America--the chance to help lead the world 
      at last out of the valley of turmoil, and onto that high ground of 
      peace that man has dreamed of since the dawn of civilization.

      If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now living that 
      we mastered our moment, that we helped make the world safe for 
      mankind.

      This is our summons to greatness.

      I believe the American people are ready to answer this call.

      The second third of this century has been a time of proud 
      achievement. We have made enormous strides in science and industry 
      and agriculture. We have shared our wealth more broadly than ever. 
      We have learned at last to manage a modern economy to assure its 
      continued growth.

      We have given freedom new reach, and we have begun to make its 
      promise real for black as well as for white.

      We see the hope of tomorrow in the youth of today. I know 
      America's youth. I believe in them. We can be proud that they are 
      better educated, more committed, more passionately driven by 
      conscience than any generation in our history.

      No people has ever been so close to the achievement of a just and 
      abundant society, or so possessed of the will to achieve it. 
      Because our strengths are so great, we can afford to appraise our 
      weaknesses with candor and to approach them with hope.

      Standing in this same place a third of a century ago, Franklin 
      Delano Roosevelt addressed a Nation ravaged by depression and 
      gripped in fear. He could say in surveying the Nation's troubles: 
      "They concern, thank God, only material things."

      Our crisis today is the reverse.

      We have found ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit; 
      reaching with magnificent precision for the moon, but falling into 
      raucous discord on earth.

      We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by division, 
      wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment. 
      We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.

      To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.

      To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves.

      When we listen to "the better angels of our nature," we find that 
      they celebrate the simple things, the basic things--such as 
      goodness, decency, love, kindness.

      Greatness comes in simple trappings.

      The simple things are the ones most needed today if we are to 
      surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us.

      To lower our voices would be a simple thing.

      In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of 
      words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can 
      deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; 
      from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading.

      We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one 
      another--until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be 
      heard as well as our voices.

      For its part, government will listen. We will strive to listen in 
      new ways--to the voices of quiet anguish, the voices that speak 
      without words, the voices of the heart--to the injured voices, the 
      anxious voices, the voices that have despaired of being heard.

      Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in.

      Those left behind, we will help to catch up.

      For all of our people, we will set as our goal the decent order 
      that makes progress possible and our lives secure.

      As we reach toward our hopes, our task is to build on what has 
      gone before--not turning away from the old, but turning toward the 
      new.

      In this past third of a century, government has passed more laws, 
      spent more money, initiated more programs, than in all our 
      previous history.

      In pursuing our goals of full employment, better housing, 
      excellence in education; in rebuilding our cities and improving 
      our rural areas; in protecting our environment and enhancing the 
      quality of life--in all these and more, we will and must press 
      urgently forward.

      We shall plan now for the day when our wealth can be transferred 
      from the destruction of war abroad to the urgent needs of our 
      people at home.

      The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.

      But we are approaching the limits of what government alone can do.

      Our greatest need now is to reach beyond government, and to enlist 
      the legions of the concerned and the committed.

      What has to be done, has to be done by government and people 
      together or it will not be done at all. The lesson of past agony 
      is that without the people we can do nothing; with the people we 
      can do everything.

      To match the magnitude of our tasks, we need the energies of our 
      people--enlisted not only in grand enterprises, but more 
      importantly in those small, splendid efforts that make headlines 
      in the neighborhood newspaper instead of the national journal.

      With these, we can build a great cathedral of the spirit--each of 
      us raising it one stone at a time, as he reaches out to his 
      neighbor, helping, caring, doing.

      I do not offer a life of uninspiring ease. I do not call for a 
      life of grim sacrifice. I ask you to join in a high adventure--one 
      as rich as humanity itself, and as exciting as the times we live 
      in.

      The essence of freedom is that each of us shares in the shaping of 
      his own destiny.

      Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself, no man is 
      truly whole.

      The way to fulfillment is in the use of our talents; we achieve 
      nobility in the spirit that inspires that use.

      As we measure what can be done, we shall promise only what we know 
      we can produce, but as we chart our goals we shall be lifted by 
      our dreams.

      No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not. To go forward 
      at all is to go forward together.

      This means black and white together, as one nation, not two. The 
      laws have caught up with our conscience. What remains is to give 
      life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born 
      equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before 
      man.

      As we learn to go forward together at home, let us also seek to go 
      forward together with all mankind.

      Let us take as our goal: where peace is unknown, make it welcome; 
      where peace is fragile, make it strong; where peace is temporary, 
      make it permanent.

      After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of 
      negotiation.

      Let all nations know that during this administration our lines of 
      communication will be open.

      We seek an open world--open to ideas, open to the exchange of 
      goods and people--a world in which no people, great or small, will 
      live in angry isolation.

      We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to 
      make no one our enemy.

      Those who would be our adversaries, we invite to a peaceful 
      competition--not in conquering territory or extending dominion, 
      but in enriching the life of man.

      As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to the new worlds 
      together--not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new 
      adventure to be shared.

      With those who are willing to join, let us cooperate to reduce the 
      burden of arms, to strengthen the structure of peace, to lift up 
      the poor and the hungry.

      But to all those who would be tempted by weakness, let us leave no 
      doubt that we will be as strong as we need to be for as long as we 
      need to be.

      Over the past twenty years, since I first came to this Capital as 
      a freshman Congressman, I have visited most of the nations of the 
      world.

      I have come to know the leaders of the world, and the great 
      forces, the hatreds, the fears that divide the world.

      I know that peace does not come through wishing for it--that there 
      is no substitute for days and even years of patient and prolonged 
      diplomacy.

      I also know the people of the world.

      I have seen the hunger of a homeless child, the pain of a man 
      wounded in battle, the grief of a mother who has lost her son. I 
      know these have no ideology, no race.

      I know America. I know the heart of America is good.

      I speak from my own heart, and the heart of my country, the deep 
      concern we have for those who suffer, and those who sorrow.

      I have taken an oath today in the presence of God and my 
      countrymen to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United 
      States. To that oath I now add this sacred commitment: I shall 
      consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can 
      summon, to the cause of peace among nations.

      Let this message be heard by strong and weak alike:

      The peace we seek to win is not victory over any other people, but 
      the peace that comes "with healing in its wings"; with compassion 
      for those who have suffered; with understanding for those who have 
      opposed us; with the opportunity for all the peoples of this earth 
      to choose their own destiny.

      Only a few short weeks ago, we shared the glory of man's first 
      sight of the world as God sees it, as a single sphere reflecting 
      light in the darkness.

      As the Apollo astronauts flew over the moon's gray surface on 
      Christmas Eve, they spoke to us of the beauty of earth--and in 
      that voice so clear across the lunar distance, we heard them 
      invoke God's blessing on its goodness.

      In that moment, their view from the moon moved poet Archibald 
      MacLeish to write:

      "To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in 
      that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as 
      riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness 
      in the eternal cold--brothers who know now they are truly 
      brothers."

      In that moment of surpassing technological triumph, men turned 
      their thoughts toward home and humanity--seeing in that far 
      perspective that man's destiny on earth is not divisible; telling 
      us that however far we reach into the cosmos, our destiny lies not 
      in the stars but on Earth itself, in our own hands, in our own 
      hearts.

      We have endured a long night of the American spirit. But as our 
      eyes catch the dimness of the first rays of dawn, let us not curse 
      the remaining dark. Let us gather the light.

      Our destiny offers, not the cup of despair, but the chalice of 
      opportunity. So let us seize it, not in fear, but in gladness--
      and, "riders on the earth together," let us go forward, firm in 
      our faith, steadfast in our purpose, cautious of the dangers; but 
      sustained by our confidence in the will of God and the promise of 
      man.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                         Richard Milhous Nixon

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1973
      __________________________________________________________________
      The election of 1972 consolidated the gains that the President had 
      made with the electorate in 1968. Although the Democratic Party 
      maintained majorities in the Congress, the presidential ambitions 
      of South Dakota Senator George McGovern were unsuccessful. The 
      oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Warren Burger on 
      a pavilion erected on the East Front of the Capitol.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, Senator Cook, 
   Mrs. Eisenhower, and my fellow citizens of this great and good 
   country we share together:

      When we met here four years ago, America was bleak in spirit, 
      depressed by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of 
      destructive conflict at home.

      As we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of 
      peace in the world.

      The central question before us is: How shall we use that peace? 
      Let us resolve that this era we are about to enter will not be 
      what other postwar periods have so often been: a time of retreat 
      and isolation that leads to stagnation at home and invites new 
      danger abroad.

      Let us resolve that this will be what it can become: a time of 
      great responsibilities greatly borne, in which we renew the spirit 
      and the promise of America as we enter our third century as a 
      nation.

      This past year saw far-reaching results from our new policies for 
      peace. By continuing to revitalize our traditional friendships, 
      and by our missions to Peking and to Moscow, we were able to 
      establish the base for a new and more durable pattern of 
      relationships among the nations of the world. Because of America's 
      bold initiatives, 1972 will be long remembered as the year of the 
      greatest progress since the end of World War II toward a lasting 
      peace in the world.

      The peace we seek in the world is not the flimsy peace which is 
      merely an interlude between wars, but a peace which can endure for 
      generations to come.

      It is important that we understand both the necessity and the 
      limitations of America's role in maintaining that peace.

      Unless we in America work to preserve the peace, there will be no 
      peace.

      Unless we in America work to preserve freedom, there will be no 
      freedom.

      But let us clearly understand the new nature of America's role, as 
      a result of the new policies we have adopted over these past four 
      years.

      We shall respect our treaty commitments.

      We shall support vigorously the principle that no country has the 
      right to impose its will or rule on another by force.

      We shall continue, in this era of negotiation, to work for the 
      limitation of nuclear arms, and to reduce the danger of 
      confrontation between the great powers.

      We shall do our share in defending peace and freedom in the world. 
      But we shall expect others to do their share.

      The time has passed when America will make every other nation's 
      conflict our own, or make every other nation's future our 
      responsibility, or presume to tell the people of other nations how 
      to manage their own affairs.

      Just as we respect the right of each nation to determine its own 
      future, we also recognize the responsibility of each nation to 
      secure its own future.

      Just as America's role is indispensable in preserving the world's 
      peace, so is each nation's role indispensable in preserving its 
      own peace.

      Together with the rest of the world, let us resolve to move 
      forward from the beginnings we have made. Let us continue to bring 
      down the walls of hostility which have divided the world for too 
      long, and to build in their place bridges of understanding--so 
      that despite profound differences between systems of government, 
      the people of the world can be friends.

      Let us build a structure of peace in the world in which the weak 
      are as safe as the strong--in which each respects the right of the 
      other to live by a different system--in which those who would 
      influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and 
      not by the force of their arms.

      Let us accept that high responsibility not as a burden, but 
      gladly--gladly because the chance to build such a peace is the 
      noblest endeavor in which a nation can engage; gladly, also, 
      because only if we act greatly in meeting our responsibilities 
      abroad will we remain a great Nation, and only if we remain a 
      great Nation will we act greatly in meeting our challenges at 
      home.

      We have the chance today to do more than ever before in our 
      history to make life better in America--to ensure better 
      education, better health, better housing, better transportation, a 
      cleaner environment--to restore respect for law, to make our 
      communities more livable--and to insure the God-given right of 
      every American to full and equal opportunity.

      Because the range of our needs is so great--because the reach of 
      our opportunities is so great--let us be bold in our determination 
      to meet those needs in new ways.

      Just as building a structure of peace abroad has required turning 
      away from old policies that failed, so building a new era of 
      progress at home requires turning away from old policies that have 
      failed.

      Abroad, the shift from old policies to new has not been a retreat 
      from our responsibilities, but a better way to peace.

      And at home, the shift from old policies to new will not be a 
      retreat from our responsibilities, but a better way to progress.

      Abroad and at home, the key to those new responsibilities lies in 
      the placing and the division of responsibility. We have lived too 
      long with the consequences of attempting to gather all power and 
      responsibility in Washington.

      Abroad and at home, the time has come to turn away from the 
      condescending policies of paternalism--of "Washington knows best."

      A person can be expected to act responsibly only if he has 
      responsibility. This is human nature. So let us encourage 
      individuals at home and nations abroad to do more for themselves, 
      to decide more for themselves. Let us locate responsibility in 
      more places. Let us measure what we will do for others by what 
      they will do for themselves.

      That is why today I offer no promise of a purely governmental 
      solution for every problem. We have lived too long with that false 
      promise. In trusting too much in government, we have asked of it 
      more than it can deliver. This leads only to inflated 
      expectations, to reduced individual effort, and to a 
      disappointment and frustration that erode confidence both in what 
      government can do and in hat people can do.

      Government must learn to take less from people so that people an 
      do more for themselves.

      Let us remember that America was built not by government, but by 
      people--not by welfare, but by work--not by shirking 
      responsibility, but by seeking responsibility.

      In our own lives, let each of us ask--not just what will 
      government do for me, but what can I do for myself?

      In the challenges we face together, let each of us ask--not just 
      how can government help, but how can I help?

      Your National Government has a great and vital role to play. And I 
      pledge to you that where this Government should act, we will act 
      boldly and we will lead boldly. But just as important is the role 
      that each and every one of us must play, as an individual and as a 
      member of his own community.

      From this day forward, let each of us make a solemn commitment in 
      his own heart: to bear his responsibility, to do his part, to live 
      his ideals--so that together, we can see the dawn of a new age of 
      progress for America, and together, as we celebrate our 200th 
      anniversary as a nation, we can do so proud in the fulfillment of 
      our promise to ourselves and to the world.

      As America's longest and most difficult war comes to an end, let 
      us again learn to debate our differences with civility and 
      decency. And let each of us reach out for that one precious 
      quality government cannot provide--a new level of respect for the 
      rights and feelings of one another, a new level of respect for the 
      individual human dignity which is the cherished birthright of 
      every American.

      Above all else, the time has come for us to renew our faith in 
      ourselves and in America.

      In recent years, that faith has been challenged.

      Our children have been taught to be ashamed of their country, 
      ashamed of their parents, ashamed of America's record at home and 
      of its role in the world.

      At every turn, we have been beset by those who find everything 
      wrong with America and little that is right. But I am confident 
      that this will not be the judgment of history on these remarkable 
      times in which we are privileged to live.

      America's record in this century has been unparalleled in the 
      world's history for its responsibility, for its generosity, for 
      its creativity and for its progress.

      Let us be proud that our system has produced and provided more 
      freedom and more abundance, more widely shared, than any other 
      system in the history of the world.

      Let us be proud that in each of the four wars in which we have 
      been engaged in this century, including the one we are now 
      bringing to an end, we have fought not for our selfish advantage, 
      but to help others resist aggression.

      Let us be proud that by our bold, new initiatives, and by our 
      steadfastness for peace with honor, we have made a break-through 
      toward creating in the world what the world has not known before--
      a structure of peace that can last, not merely for our time, but 
      for generations to come.

      We are embarking here today on an era that presents challenges 
      great as those any nation, or any generation, has ever faced.

      We shall answer to God, to history, and to our conscience for the 
      way in which we use these years.

      As I stand in this place, so hallowed by history, I think of 
      others who have stood here before me. I think of the dreams they 
      had for America, and I think of how each recognized that he needed 
      help far beyond himself in order to make those dreams come true.

      Today, I ask your prayers that in the years ahead I may have God's 
      help in making decisions that are right for America, and I pray 
      for your help so that together we may be worthy of our challenge.

      Let us pledge together to make these next four years the best four 
      years in America's history, so that on its 200th birthday America 
      will be as young and as vital as when it began, and as bright a 
      beacon of hope for all the world.

      Let us go forward from here confident in hope, strong in our faith 
      in one another, sustained by our faith in God who created us, and 
      striving always to serve His purpose.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                              Jimmy Carter

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1977
      __________________________________________________________________
      The Democrats reclaimed the White House in the 1976 election. The 
      Governor from Georgia defeated Gerald Ford, who had become 
      President on August 9, 1974, upon the resignation of President 
      Nixon. The oath of office was taken on the Bible used in the first 
      inauguration by George | Washington; it was administered by Chief 
      Justice Warren Burger on the East Front of the Capitol. The new 
      President and his family surprised the spectators by walking from 
      the Capitol to the White House after the ceremony.
      __________________________________________________________________

      For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for 
      all he has done to heal our land.

      In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the 
      inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school 
      teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: "We must adjust to 
      changing times and still hold to unchanging principles."

      Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first 
      President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on 
      the Bible my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless 
      admonition from the ancient prophet Micah:

      "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord 
      require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk 
      humbly with thy God." (Micah 6: 8)

      This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication 
      within our Government, and a new spirit among us all. A President 
      may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can 
      provide it.

      Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long 
      quest for freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited 
      the founders of this Nation still awaits its consummation. I have 
      no new dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in 
      the old dream.

      Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of 
      both spirituality and of human liberty. It is that unique self-
      definition which has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also 
      imposes on us a special obligation, to take on those moral duties 
      which, when assumed, seem invariably to be in our own best 
      interests.

      You have given me a great responsibility--to stay close to you, to 
      be worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are. Let us create 
      together a new national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength 
      can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to 
      minimize my mistakes.

      Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and 
      pray together, confident that in the end we will triumph together 
      in the right.

      The American dream endures. We must once again have full faith in 
      our country--and in one another. I believe America can be better. 
      We can be even stronger than before.

      Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic 
      principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own 
      government we have no future. We recall in special times when we 
      have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no 
      prize was beyond our grasp.

      But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory. We cannot afford to 
      drift. We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an 
      inferior quality of life for any person. Our Government must at 
      the same time be both competent and compassionate.

      We have already found a high degree of personal liberty, and we 
      are now struggling to enhance equality of opportunity. Our 
      commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our 
      natural beauty preserved; the powerful must not persecute the 
      weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.

      We have learned that "more" is not necessarily "better," that even 
      our great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can 
      neither answer all questions nor solve all problems. We cannot 
      afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we 
      meet the future. So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice 
      for the common good, we must simply do our best.

      Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home. And 
      we know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to 
      demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of 
      emulation.

      To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not 
      behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards 
      here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is 
      essential to our strength.

      The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit. Peoples more 
      numerous and more politically aware are craving and now demanding 
      their place in the sun--not just for the benefit of their own 
      physical condition, but for basic human rights.

      The passion for freedom is on the rise. Tapping this new spirit, 
      there can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to 
      undertake on this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just 
      and peaceful world that is truly humane.

      We are a strong nation, and we will maintain strength so 
      sufficient that it need not be proven in combat--a quiet strength 
      based not merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of 
      ideas.

      We will be ever vigilant and never vulnerable, and we will fight 
      our wars against poverty, ignorance, and injustice--for those are 
      the enemies against which our forces can be honorably marshaled.

      We are a purely idealistic Nation, but let no one confuse our 
      idealism with weakness.

      Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of 
      freedom elsewhere. Our moral sense dictates a clearcut preference 
      for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for 
      individual human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is 
      clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would 
      be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all 
      people.

      The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to 
      ensure continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries. 
      We pledge perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the 
      world's armaments to those necessary for each nation's own 
      domestic safety. And we will move this year a step toward ultimate 
      goal--the elimination of all nuclear weapons from this Earth. We 
      urge all other people to join us, for success can mean life 
      instead of death.

      Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a 
      serious and purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the 
      hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might 
      say this about our Nation:

      - that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search 
      for humility, mercy, and justice;

      - that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of 
      different race and region and religion, and where there had been 
      mistrust, built unity, with a respect for diversity;

      - that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;

      - that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis 
      of our society;

      - that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment 
      under the law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the 
      poor;

      - and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own 
      Government once again.

      I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had 
      built a lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on 
      international policies which reflect our own most precious values.

      These are not just my goals, and they will not be my 
      accomplishments, but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing 
      moral strength and our belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding 
      American dream.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Ronald Reagan

   FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1981
      __________________________________________________________________
      For the first time, an inauguration ceremony was held on the 
      terrace of the West Front of the Capitol. Chief Justice Warren 
      Burger administered the oath of office to the former broadcaster, 
      screen actor, and Governor of California. In the election of 1980, 
      the Republicans won the White House and a majority in the Senate. 
      On inauguration day, American hostages held by the revolutionary 
      government of Iran were released.
      __________________________________________________________________

      Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President 
      Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, 
      Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here 
      today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in 
      the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The 
      orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution 
      routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few 
      of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many 
      in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is 
      nothing less than a miracle.

      Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did 
      to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the 
      transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a 
      united people pledged to maintaining a political system which 
      guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, 
      and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining 
      the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.

      The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are 
      confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We 
      suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations 
      in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, 
      penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-
      income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of 
      millions of our people.

      Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human 
      misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair 
      return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful 
      achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

      But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public 
      spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, 
      mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary 
      convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to 
      guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic 
      upheavals.

      You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our 
      means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we 
      think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that 
      same limitation?

      We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be 
      no misunderstanding--we are going to begin to act, beginning 
      today.

      The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several 
      decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they 
      will go away. They will go away because we, as Americans, have the 
      capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to 
      be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

      In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our 
      problem.

      From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society 
      has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government 
      by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the 
      people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, 
      then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of 
      us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The 
      solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out 
      to pay a higher price.

      We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a 
      special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows 
      no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it 
      crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who 
      raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our 
      factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we 
      are sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, 
      cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people," 
      this breed called Americans.

      Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, 
      growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, 
      with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting 
      America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. 
      Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of 
      runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of 
      this "new beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a revived 
      economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our 
      system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous 
      America at peace with itself and the world.

      So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a 
      government--not the other way around. And this makes us special 
      among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except 
      that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the 
      growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the 
      consent of the governed.

      It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal 
      establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between 
      the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to 
      the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that 
      the Federal Government did not create the States; the States 
      created the Federal Government.

      Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention 
      to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work-work 
      with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. 
      Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; 
      foster productivity, not stifle it.

      If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved 
      so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because 
      here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius 
      of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom 
      and the dignity of the individual have been more available and 
      assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this 
      freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling 
      to pay that price.

      It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are 
      proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that 
      result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is 
      time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit 
      ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us 
      believe, loomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a 
      fate that will all on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a 
      fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the 
      creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national 
      renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our 
      strength. And let us renew; our faith and our hope.

      We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we 
      are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to 
      look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory 
      gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed 
      all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a 
      counter--and they are on both sides of that counter. There are 
      entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who 
      create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals 
      and families whose taxes support the Government and whose 
      voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and 
      education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values 
      sustain our national life.

      I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these 
      heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing the 
      heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land. 
      Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, 
      the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.

      We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your 
      makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, 
      and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when 
      they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self-
      sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?

      Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an 
      unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I 
      did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of 
      presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

      In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have 
      slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken 
      aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of 
      government. Progress may be slow--measured in inches and feet, not 
      miles--but we will progress. Is it time to reawaken this 
      industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to 
      lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first 
      priorities, and on these principles, there will be no compromise.

      On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have 
      been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph 
      Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his 
      fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be 
      despaired of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to 
      decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and 
      the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."

      Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act 
      worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure 
      happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our 
      children's children.

      And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as 
      having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the 
      exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now 
      have freedom.

      To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will 
      strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and 
      firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will 
      strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our 
      friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for or own sovereignty 
      is not for sale.

      As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential 
      adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest 
      aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, 
      sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it--now or ever.

      Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for 
      conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action 
      is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We 
      will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing 
      that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use 
      that strength.

      Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the 
      arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral 
      courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in 
      today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do 
      have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and 
      prey upon their neighbors.

      I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held 
      on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation 
      under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would 
      be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in 
      future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

      This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been 
      held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. 
      Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this 
      city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall 
      are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

      Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George 
      Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to 
      greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory 
      into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to 
      Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his 
      eloquence.

      And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the 
      Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the 
      meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

      Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the 
      far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with 
      its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of 
      David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has 
      been paid for our freedom.

      Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I 
      spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, 
      The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on 
      Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in 
      a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.

      Under one such marker lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left 
      his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with 
      the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was 
      killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy 
      artillery fire.

      We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf 
      under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: 
      "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I 
      will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my 
      utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me 
      alone."

      The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of 
      sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were 
      called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, 
      and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our 
      capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with 
      God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now 
      confront us.

      And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. 
      God bless you, and thank you.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                             Ronald Reagan

   SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1985
      __________________________________________________________________
      January 20 was a Sunday, and the President took the oath of 
      office, administered by Chief Justice Warren Burger, in the Grand 
      Foyer of the White House. Weather that hovered near zero that 
      night and on Monday forced the planners to cancel many of the 
      outdoor events for the second inauguration. For the first time a 
      President took the oath of office in the Capitol Rotunda. The oath 
      was again administered by Chief Justice Burger. Jessye Norman sang 
      at the ceremony.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Senator Mathias, Chief Justice Burger, Vice President Bush, Speaker 
   O'Neill, Senator Dole, Reverend Clergy, members of my family and 
   friends, and my fellow citizens:

      This day has been made brighter with the presence here of one who, 
      for a time, has been absent--Senator John Stennis.

      God bless you and welcome back.

      There is, however, one who is not with us today: Representative 
      Gillis Long of Louisiana left us last night. I wonder if we could 
      all join in a moment of silent prayer. (Moment of silent prayer.) 
      Amen.

      There are no words adequate to express my thanks for the great 
      honor that you have bestowed on me. I will do my utmost to be 
      deserving of your trust.

      This is, as Senator Mathias told us, the 50th time that we the 
      people have celebrated this historic occasion. When the first 
      President, George Washington, placed his hand upon the Bible, he 
      stood less than a single day's journey by horseback from raw, 
      untamed wilderness. There were 4 million Americans in a union of 
      13 States. Today we are 60 times as many in a union of 50 States. 
      We have lighted the world with our inventions, gone to the aid of 
      mankind wherever in the world there was a cry for help, journeyed 
      to the Moon and safely returned. So much has changed. And yet we 
      stand together as we did two centuries ago.

      When I took this oath four years ago, I did so in a time of 
      economic stress. Voices were raised saying we had to look to our 
      past for the greatness and glory. But we, the present-day 
      Americans, are not given to looking backward. In this blessed 
      land, there is always a better tomorrow.

      Four years ago, I spoke to you of a new beginning and we have 
      accomplished that. But in another sense, our new beginning is a 
      continuation of that beginning created two centuries ago when, for 
      the first time in history, government, the people said, was not 
      our master, it is our servant; its only power that which we the 
      people allow it to have.

      That system has never failed us, but, for a time, we failed the 
      system. We asked things of government that government was not 
      equipped to give. We yielded authority to the National Government 
      that properly belonged to States or to local governments or to the 
      people themselves. We allowed taxes and inflation to rob us of our 
      earnings and savings and watched the great industrial machine that 
      had made us the most productive people on Earth slow down and the 
      number of unemployed increase.

      By 1980, we knew it was time to renew our faith, to strive with 
      all our strength toward the ultimate in individual freedom 
      consistent with an orderly society.

      We believed then and now there are no limits to growth and human 
      progress when men and women are free to follow their dreams.

      And we were right to believe that. Tax rates have been reduced, 
      inflation cut dramatically, and more people are employed than ever 
      before in our history.

      We are creating a nation once again vibrant, robust, and alive. 
      But there are many mountains yet to climb. We will not rest until 
      every American enjoys the fullness of freedom, dignity, and 
      opportunity as our birthright. It is our birthright as citizens of 
      this great Republic, and we'll meet this challenge.

      These will be years when Americans have restored their confidence 
      and tradition of progress; when our values of faith, family, work, 
      and neighborhood were restated for a modern age; when our economy 
      was finally freed from government's grip; when we made sincere 
      efforts at meaningful arms reduction, rebuilding our defenses, our 
      economy, and developing new technologies, and helped preserve 
      peace in a troubled world; when Americans courageously supported 
      the struggle for liberty, self-government, and free enterprise 
      throughout the world, and turned the tide of history away from 
      totalitarian darkness and into the warm sunlight of human freedom.

      My fellow citizens, our Nation is poised for greatness. We must do 
      what we know is right and do it with all our might. Let history 
      say of us, "These were golden years--when the American Revolution 
      was reborn, when freedom gained new life, when America reached for 
      her best."

      Our two-party system has served us well over the years, but never 
      better than in those times of great challenge when we came 
      together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans united 
      in a common cause.

      Two of our Founding Fathers, a Boston lawyer named Adams and a 
      Virginia planter named Jefferson, members of that remarkable group 
      who met in Independence Hall and dared to think they could start 
      the world over again, left us an important lesson. They had become 
      political rivals in the Presidential election of 1800. Then years 
      later, when both were retired, and age had softened their anger, 
      they began to speak to each other again through letters. A bond 
      was reestablished between those two who had helped create this 
      government of ours.

      In 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 
      they both died. They died on the same day, within a few hours of 
      each other, and that day was the Fourth of July.

      In one of those letters exchanged in the sunset of their lives, 
      Jefferson wrote: "It carries me back to the times when, beset with 
      difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same 
      cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right to 
      self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave 
      ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless 
      ... we rode through the storm with heart and hand."

      Well, with heart and hand, let us stand as one today: One people 
      under God determined that our future shall be worthy of our past. 
      As we do, we must not repeat the well-intentioned errors of our 
      past. We must never again abuse the trust of working men and 
      women, by sending their earnings on a futile chase after the 
      spiraling demands of a bloated Federal Establishment. You elected 
      us in 1980 to end this prescription for disaster, and I don't 
      believe you reelected us in 1984 to reverse course.

      At the heart of our efforts is one idea vindicated by 25 straight 
      months of economic growth: Freedom and incentives unleash the 
      drive and entrepreneurial genius that are the core of human 
      progress. We have begun to increase the rewards for work, savings, 
      and investment; reduce the increase in the cost and size of 
      government and its interference in people's lives.

      We must simplify our tax system, make it more fair, and bring the 
      rates down for all who work and earn. We must think anew and move 
      with a new boldness, so every American who seeks work can find 
      work; so the least among us shall have an equal chance to achieve 
      the greatest things--to be heroes who heal our sick, feed the 
      hungry, protect peace among nations, and leave this world a better 
      place.

      The time has come for a new American emancipation--a great 
      national drive to tear down economic barriers and liberate the 
      spirit of enterprise in the most distressed areas of our country. 
      My friends, together we can do this, and do it we must, so help me 
      God.-- From new freedom will spring new opportunities for growth, 
      a more productive, fulfilled and united people, and a stronger 
      America--an America that will lead the technological revolution, 
      and also open its mind and heart and soul to the treasures of 
      literature, music, and poetry, and the values of faith, courage, 
      and love.

      A dynamic economy, with more citizens working and paying taxes, 
      will be our strongest tool to bring down budget deficits. But an 
      almost unbroken 50 years of deficit spending has finally brought 
      us to a time of reckoning. We have come to a turning point, a 
      moment for hard decisions. I have asked the Cabinet and my staff a 
      question, and now I put the same question to all of you: If not 
      us, who? And if not now, when? It must be done by all of us going 
      forward with a program aimed at reaching a balanced budget. We can 
      then begin reducing the national debt.

      I will shortly submit a budget to the Congress aimed at freezing 
      government program spending for the next year. Beyond that, we 
      must take further steps to permanently control Government's power 
      to tax and spend. We must act now to protect future generations 
      from Government's desire to spend its citizens' money and tax them 
      into servitude when the bills come due. Let us make it 
      unconstitutional for the Federal Government to spend more than the 
      Federal Government takes in.

      We have already started returning to the people and to State and 
      local governments responsibilities better handled by them. Now, 
      there is a place for the Federal Government in matters of social 
      compassion. But our fundamental goals must be to reduce dependency 
      and upgrade the dignity of those who are infirm or disadvantaged. 
      And here a growing economy and support from family and community 
      offer our best chance for a society where compassion is a way of 
      life, where the old and infirm are cared for, the young and, yes, 
      the unborn protected, and the unfortunate looked after and made 
      self

      And there is another area where the Federal Government can play a 
      part. As an older American, I remember a time when people of 
      different race, creed, or ethnic origin in our land found hatred 
      and prejudice installed in social custom and, yes, in law. There 
      is no story more heartening in our history than the progress that 
      we have made toward the "brotherhood of man" that God intended for 
      us. Let us resolve there will be no turning back or hesitation on 
      the road to an America rich in dignity and abundant with 
      opportunity for all our citizens.

      Let us resolve that we the people will build an American 
      opportunity society in which all of us--white and black, rich and 
      poor, young and old--will go forward together arm in arm. Again, 
      let us remember that though our heritage is one of blood lines 
      from every corner of the Earth, we are all Americans pledged to 
      carry on this last, best hope of man on Earth.

      I have spoken of our domestic goals and the limitations which we 
      should put on our National Government. Now let me turn to a task 
      which is the primary responsibility of National Government-the 
      safety and security of our people.

      Today, we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer 
      for peace on Earth. Yet history has shown that peace will not 
      come, nor will our freedom be preserved, by good will alone. There 
      are those in the world who scorn our vision of human dignity and 
      freedom. One nation, the Soviet Union, has conducted the greatest 
      military buildup in the history of man, building arsenals of 
      awesome offensive weapons.

      We have made progress in restoring our defense capability. But 
      much remains to be done. There must be no wavering by us, nor any 
      doubts by others, that America will meet her responsibilities to 
      remain free, secure, and at peace.

      There is only one way safely and legitimately to reduce the cost 
      of national security, and that is to reduce the need for it. And 
      this we are trying to do in negotiations with the Soviet Union. We 
      are not just discussing limits on a further increase of nuclear 
      weapons. We seek, instead, to reduce their number. We seek the 
      total elimination one day of nuclear weapons from the face of the 
      Earth.

      Now, for decades, we and the Soviets have lived under the threat 
      of mutual assured destruction; if either resorted to the use of 
      nuclear weapons, the other could retaliate and destroy the one who 
      had started it. Is there either logic or morality in believing 
      that if one side threatens to kill tens of millions of our people, 
      our only recourse is to threaten killing tens of millions of 
      theirs?

      I have approved a research program to find, if we can, a security 
      shield that would destroy nuclear missiles before they reach their 
      target. It wouldn't kill people, it would destroy weapons. It 
      wouldn't militarize space, it would help demilitarize the arsenals 
      of Earth. It would render nuclear weapons obsolete. We will meet 
      with the Soviets, hoping that we can agree on a way to rid the 
      world of the threat of nuclear destruction.

      We strive for peace and security, heartened by the changes all 
      around us. Since the turn of the century, the number of 
      democracies in the world has grown fourfold. Human freedom is on 
      the march, and nowhere more so than our own hemisphere. Freedom is 
      one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit. 
      People, worldwide, hunger for the right of self-determination, for 
      those inalienable rights that make for human dignity and progress.

      America must remain freedom's staunchest friend, for freedom is 
      our best ally.

      And it is the world's only hope, to conquer poverty and preserve 
      peace. Every blow we inflict against poverty will be a blow 
      against its dark allies of oppression and war. Every victory for 
      human freedom will be a victory for world peace.

      So we go forward today, a nation still mighty in its youth and 
      powerful in its purpose. With our alliances strengthened, with our 
      economy leading the world to a new age of economic expansion, we 
      look forward to a world rich in possibilities. And all this 
      because we have worked and acted together, not as members of 
      political parties, but as Americans.

      My friends, we live in a world that is lit by lightning. So much 
      is changing and will change, but so much endures, and transcends 
      time.

      History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey. And 
      as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before 
      us. We stand together again at the steps of this symbol of our 
      democracy--or we would have been standing at the steps if it 
      hadn't gotten so cold. Now we are standing inside this symbol of 
      our democracy. Now we hear again the echoes of our past: a general 
      falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely 
      President paces the darkened halls, and ponders his struggle to 
      preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to 
      each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song 
      echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air.

      It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, 
      daring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song. 
      We sing it still. For all our problems, our differences, we are 
      together as of old, as we raise our voices to the God who is the 
      Author of this most tender music. And may He continue to hold us 
      close as we fill the world with our sound--sound in unity, 
      affection, and love--one people under God, dedicated to the dream 
      of freedom that He has placed in the human heart, called upon now 
      to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world.

      God bless you and may God bless America.

 

      INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                              George Bush

   INAUGURAL ADDRESS

   FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1989
      __________________________________________________________________
      The 200th anniversary of the Presidency was observed as George 
      Bush took the executive oath on the same Bible George Washington 
      used in 1789. The ceremony occurred on a platform on the terrace 
      of the West Front of the Capitol. The oath of office was 
      administered by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. After the 
      ceremony the President and Mrs. Bush led the inaugural parade from 
      the Capitol to the White House, walking along several blocks of 
      Pennsylvania Avenue to greet the spectators.
      __________________________________________________________________

   Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Quayle, Senator 
   Mitchell, Speaker Wright, Senator Dole, Congressman Michel, and 
   fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends:

      There is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our hearts 
      and in our history. President Reagan, on behalf of our Nation, I 
      thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for America.

      I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George 
      Washington 200 years ago, and the Bible on which I placed my hand 
      is the Bible on which he placed his. It is right that the memory 
      of Washington be with us today, not only because this is our 
      Bicentennial Inauguration, but because Washington remains the 
      Father of our Country. And he would, I think, be gladdened by this 
      day; for today is the concrete expression of a stunning fact: our 
      continuity these 200 years since our government began.

      We meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as 
      neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is 
      made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended.

      And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your 
      heads:

      Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. 
      Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the 
      shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to 
      do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our 
      hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given 
      power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in 
      the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it 
      is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord. Amen.

      I come before you and assume the Presidency at a moment rich with 
      promise. We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make 
      it better. For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by 
      freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day 
      of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old 
      ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree. A new 
      breeze is blowing, and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready 
      to push on. There is new ground to be broken, and new action to be 
      taken. There are times when the future seems thick as a fog; you 
      sit and wait, hoping the mists will lift and reveal the right 
      path. But this is a time when the future seems a door you can walk 
      right through into a room called tomorrow.

      Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the 
      door to freedom. Men and women of the world move toward free 
      markets through the door to prosperity. The people of the world 
      agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to 
      the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows.

      We know what works: Freedom works. We know what's right: Freedom 
      is right. We know how to secure a more just and prosperous life 
      for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech, free 
      elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the state.

      For the first time in this century, for the first time in perhaps 
      all history, man does not have to invent a system by which to 
      live. We don't have to talk late into the night about which form 
      of government is better. We don't have to wrest justice from the 
      kings. We only have to summon it from within ourselves. We must 
      act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In 
      crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all 
      things, generosity.

      America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place 
      we cannot help but love. We know in our hearts, not loudly and 
      proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has meaning 
      beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for good. But 
      have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are we enthralled 
      with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of work 
      and sacrifice?

      My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not 
      the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We 
      cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank 
      account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be 
      a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, 
      his neighborhood and town better than he found it. What do we want 
      the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer 
      there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? 
      Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better, and 
      stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?

      No President, no government, can teach us to remember what is best 
      in what we are. But if the man you have chosen to lead this 
      government can help make a difference; if he can celebrate the 
      quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but 
      of better hearts and finer souls; if he can do these things, then 
      he must.

      America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high 
      moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is 
      to make kinder the face of the Nation and gentler the face of the 
      world. My friends, we have work to do. There are the homeless, 
      lost and roaming. There are the children who have nothing, no 
      love, no normalcy. There are those who cannot free themselves of 
      enslavement to whatever addiction--drugs, welfare, the 
      demoralization that rules the slums. There is crime to be 
      conquered, the rough crime of the streets. There are young women 
      to be helped who are about to become mothers of children they 
      can't care for and might not love. They need our care, our 
      guidance, and our education, though we bless them for choosing 
      life.

      The old solution, the old way, was to think that public money 
      alone could end these problems. But we have learned that is not 
      so. And in any case, our funds are low. We have a deficit to bring 
      down. We have more will than wallet; but will is what we need. We 
      will make the hard choices, looking at what we have and perhaps 
      allocating it differently, making our decisions based on honest 
      need and prudent safety. And then we will do the wisest thing of 
      all: We will turn to the only resource we have that in times of 
      need always grows--the goodness and the courage of the American 
      people.

      I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others, a new 
      activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job done. We must 
      bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent of the 
      elderly and the unfocused energy of the young. For not only 
      leadership is passed from generation to generation, but so is 
      stewardship. And the generation born after the Second World War 
      has come of age.

      I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community 
      organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, 
      doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes 
      leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in 
      the White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people 
      and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will 
      ask every member of my government to become involved. The old 
      ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: 
      duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its 
      expression in taking part and pitching in.

      We need a new engagement, too, between the Executive and the 
      Congress. The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the 
      House and the Senate. We must bring the Federal budget into 
      balance. And we must ensure that America stands before the world 
      united, strong, at peace, and fiscally sound. But, of course, 
      things may be difficult. We need compromise; we have had 
      dissension. We need harmony; we have had a chorus of discordant 
      voices.

      For Congress, too, has changed in our time. There has grown a 
      certain divisiveness. We have seen the hard looks and heard the 
      statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but 
      each other's motives. And our great parties have too often been 
      far apart and untrusting of each other. It has been this way since 
      Vietnam. That war cleaves us still. But, friends, that war began 
      in earnest a quarter of a century ago; and surely the statute of 
      limitations has been reached. This is a fact: The final lesson of 
      Vietnam is that no great nation can long afford to be sundered by 
      a memory. A new breeze is blowing, and the old bipartisanship must 
      be made new again.

      To my friends--and yes, I do mean friends--in the loyal 
      opposition--and yes, I mean loyal: I put out my hand. I am putting 
      out my hand to you, Mr. Speaker. I am putting out my hand to you 
      Mr. Majority Leader. For this is the thing: This is the age of the 
      offered hand. We can't turn back clocks, and I don't want to. But 
      when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at 
      the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when 
      our mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the 
      Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on 
      which this nation could live. Let us negotiate soon and hard. But 
      in the end, let us produce. The American people await action. They 
      didn't send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the 
      merely partisan. "In crucial things, unity"--and this, my friends, 
      is crucial.

      To the world, too, we offer new engagement and a renewed vow: We 
      will stay strong to protect the peace. The "offered hand" is a 
      reluctant fist; but once made, strong, and can be used with great 
      effect. There are today Americans who are held against their will 
      in foreign lands, and Americans who are unaccounted for. 
      Assistance can be shown here, and will be long remembered. Good 
      will begets good will. Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly 
      moves on.

      Great nations like great men must keep their word. When America 
      says something, America means it, whether a treaty or an agreement 
      or a vow made on marble steps. We will always try to speak 
      clearly, for candor is a compliment, but subtlety, too, is good 
      and has its place. While keeping our alliances and friendships 
      around the world strong, ever strong, we will continue the new 
      closeness with the Soviet Union, consistent both with our security 
      and with progress. One might say that our new relationship in part 
      reflects the triumph of hope and strength over experience. But 
      hope is good, and so are strength and vigilance.

      Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel the 
      understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in 
      democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled. But my thoughts have 
      been turning the past few days to those who would be watching at 
      home to an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when 
      the flag goes by, and the women who will tell her sons the words 
      of the battle hymns. I don't mean this to be sentimental. I mean 
      that on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a 
      continuum, inescapably connected by the ties that bind.

      Our children are watching in schools throughout our great land. 
      And to them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day. For 
      democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite 
      that can go higher and higher with the breeze. And to all I say: 
      No matter what your circumstances or where you are, you are part 
      of this day, you are part of the life of our great nation.

      A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window 
      on men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, an easy-
      goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life.

      There are few clear areas in which we as a society must rise up 
      united and express our intolerance. The most obvious now is drugs. 
      And when that first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may as 
      well have been a deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body, 
      the soul of our country. And there is much to be done and to be 
      said, but take my word for it: This scourge will stop.

      And so, there is much to do; and tomorrow the work begins. I do 
      not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is ahead. For our 
      problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are 
      great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are endless, 
      God's love is truly boundless.

      Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets 
      calling, and sometimes it is that. But I see history as a book 
      with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of 
      hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the 
      story unfolds. And so today a chapter begins, a small and stately 
      story of unity, diversity, and generosity--shared, and written, 
      together.

      Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of 
      America.

 

