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 offleets 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 thewhole 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 anoverruling 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 theties 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
toits authority, not only in individuals but in States, soon appeared with their melancholy consequences—universal languor, jealousies and
rivalries of States, declineof navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary
manufactures, universal fall inthe value of lands and their produce, contempt of
public and private faith, loss ofconsideration and credit with foreign nations, and
at length in discontents,animosities, combinations, partial conventions, and
insurrection, threatening some greatnational calamity.
In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not
abandoned by their usual goodsense, 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 ofliberty. 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 inparticular, 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 acquiredan 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 asours 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 best
ill 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 giveit all possible success and duration consistent
with the ends of His providence.