INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED
STATES FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON 1789 TO GEORGE BUSH
1989
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 th