Fellow-Citizens:
There is no constitutional or legal requirement that the President shall take the
oath of
office in the presence of the people, but there is so manifest an appropriateness in the
public induction to office of the chief executive officer of the nation that from
the
beginning of the Government the people, to whose service the official oath consecrates
the officer, have been called to witness the solemn ceremonial. The oath taken in the
presence of the people becomes a mutual covenant. The officer covenants to serve the
whole body of the people by a faithful execution of the laws, so that they may be
the
unfailing defense and security of those who respect and observe them, and that neither
wealth, station, nor the power of combinations shall be able to evade their just
penalties or to wrest them from a beneficent public purpose to serve the ends of cruelty
or selfishness.
My promise is spoken; yours unspoken, but not the less real and solemn. The people
of
every State have here their representatives. Surely I do not misinterpret the spirit
of
the occasion when I assume that the whole body of the people covenant with me and
with
each other to-day to support and defend the Constitution and the Union of the States, to
yield willing obedience to all the laws and each to every other citizen his equal civil
and political rights. Entering thus solemnly into covenant with each other, we may
reverently invoke and confidently expect the favor and help of Almighty God—that He
will
give to me wisdom, strength, and fidelity, and to our people a spirit of fraternity
and
a love of righteousness and peace.
This occasion derives peculiar interest from the fact that
the Presidential term which begins this day is the twenty-sixth under our
Constitution. The first inauguration of President Washington took place in New York,
where Congress was then sitting, on the 30th day of April, 1789, having been
deferred by reason of delays attending the organization of the Congress and the
canvass of the electoral vote. Our people have already worthily observed the
centennials of the Declaration of Independence, of the battle of Yorktown, and of
the
adoption of the Constitution, and will shortly celebrate in New York the institution
of
the second great department of our constitutional scheme of government. When the
centennial of the institution of the judicial department, by the organization of the
Supreme Court, shall have been suitably observed, as I trust it will be, our nation
will
have fully entered its second century.
I will not attempt to note the marvelous and in great part happy contrasts between
our
country as it steps over the threshold into its second century of organized existence
under the Constitution and that weak but wisely ordered young nation that looked
undauntedly down the first century, when all its years stretched out before it.
Our people will not fail at this time to recall the
incidents which accompanied the institution of government under the Constitution,
or
to find inspiration and guidance in the teachings and example of Washington and his
great associates, and hope and courage in the contrast which thirty-eight
populous and prosperous States offer to the thirteen States, weak in everything except
courage and the love of liberty, that then fringed our Atlantic seaboard.
The Territory of Dakota has now a population greater than any
of the original States (except Virginia) and greater than the aggregate of five of
the smaller States in 1790. The center of population when our national capital was
located was east of Baltimore, and it was argued by many well-informed persons that
it would move eastward rather than westward; yet in 1880 it was found to be near
Cincinnati, and the new census about to be taken will show another stride to the
westward. That which was the body has come to be only the rich fringe of the
nation’s robe. But our growth has not been limited to territory, population and
aggregate wealth, marvelous as it has been in each of those directions. The masses
of our people are better fed, clothed, and housed than their fathers were. The
facilities for popular education have been vastly enlarged and more generally
diffused.
The virtues of courage and patriotism have given recent proof of
their continued presence and increasing power in the hearts and over the lives of
our people. The influences of religion have been multiplied and strengthened. The
sweet offices of charity have greatly increased. The virtue of temperance is held
in
higher estimation. We have not attained an ideal condition. Not all of our
people are happy and prosperous; not all of them are virtuous and law-abiding. But
on
the whole the opportunities offered to the individual to secure the comforts of life
are
better than are found elsewhere and largely better than they were here one hundred
years
ago.
The surrender of a large measure of sovereignty to the General Government, effected
by
the adoption of the Constitution, was not accomplished until the suggestions of reason
were strongly reinforced by the more imperative voice of experience. The divergent
interests of peace speedily demanded a “more perfect union.” The merchant, the
shipmaster, and the manufacturer discovered and disclosed to our statesmen and to
the
people that commercial emancipation must be added to the political freedom which had
been so bravely won. The commercial policy of the mother country had not relaxed any
of
its hard and oppressive features. To hold in check the development of our commercial
marine, to prevent or retard the establishment and growth of manufactures in the States,
and so to secure the American market for their shops and the carrying trade for their
ships, was the policy of European statesmen, and was pursued with the most selfish
vigor.
Petitions poured in upon Congress urging the imposition of discriminating duties that
should encourage the production of needed things at home. The patriotism of the people,
which no longer found afield of exercise in war, was energetically directed to the
duty
of equipping the young Republic for the defense of its independence by making its people
self-dependent. Societies for the promotion of home manufactures and for encouraging the
use of domestics in the dress of the people were organized in many of the States.
The
revival at the end of the century of the same patriotic interest in the preservation
and
development of domestic industries and the defense of our working people against
injurious foreign competition is an incident worthy of attention. It is not a departure
but a return that we have witnessed. The protective policy had then its opponents. The
argument was made, as now, that its benefits inured to particular classes or
sections.
If the question became in any sense or at any time sectional, it was only because
slavery
existed in some of the States. But for this there was no reason why the cotton-producing
States should not have led or walked abreast with the New England States in the
production of cotton fabrics. There was this reason only why the States that divide
with
Pennsylvania the mineral treasures of the great southeastern and central mountain
ranges
should have been so tardy in bringing to the smelting furnace and to the mill the
coal
and iron from their near opposing hillsides. Mill fires were lighted at the funeral
pile
of slavery. The emancipation proclamation was heard in the depths of the earth as
well
as in the sky; men were made free, and material things became our better servants.
The sectional element has happily been eliminated from the tariff discussion. We have no
longer States that are necessarily only planting States. None are excluded from
achieving that diversification of pursuits among the people which brings wealth and
contentment. The cotton plantation will not be less valuable when the product is spun
in
the country town by operatives whose necessities call for diversified crops and create
a
home demand for garden and agricultural products. Every new mine, furnace, and factory
is an extension of the productive capacity of the State more real and valuable than
added territory.
Shall the prejudices and paralysis of slavery continue to hang upon the skirts of
progress? How long will those who rejoice that slavery no longer exists cherish or
tolerate the incapacities it put upon their communities? I look hopefully to the
continuance of our protective system and to the consequent development of manufacturing
and mining enterprises in the States hitherto wholly given to agriculture as a potent
influence in the perfect unification of our people. The men who have invested their
capital in these enterprises, the farmers who have felt the benefit of their
neighborhood, and the men who work in shop or field will not fail to find and to defend
a community of interest.
Is it not quite possible that the farmers and the promoters of the great mining and
manufacturing enterprises which have recently been established in the South may yet find
that the free ballot of the workingman, without distinction of race, is needed for
their
defense as well as for his own? I do not doubt that if those men in the South who now
accept the tariff views of Clay and the constitutional expositions of Webster would
courageously avow and defend their real convictions they would not find it difficult,
by
friendly instruction and cooperation, to make the black man their efficient and safe
ally, not only in establishing correct principles in our national administration,
but in
preserving for their local communities the benefits of social order and economical
and
honest government. At least until the good offices of kindness and education have
been
fairly tried the contrary conclusion can not be plausibly urged.
I have altogether rejected the suggestion of a special Executive policy for any section
of our country. It is the duty of the Executive to administer and enforce in the methods
and by the instrumentalities pointed out and provided by the Constitution all the
laws
enacted by Congress. These laws are general and their administration should be uniform
and equal. As a citizen may not elect what laws he will obey, neither may the Executive
eject which he will enforce. The duty to obey and to execute embraces the Constitution
in its entirety and the whole code of laws enacted under it. The evil example of permitting individuals,
corporations, or communities to nullify the laws because they cross some selfish or
local interest or prejudices is full of danger, not only to the nation at large, but
much more to those who use this pernicious expedient to escape their just
obligations or to obtain an unjust advantage over others. They will
presently themselves be compelled to appeal to the law for protection, and those who
would use the law as a defense must not deny that use of it to others.
If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal limitations
and
duties, they would have less cause to complain of the unlawful limitations of their
rights or of violent interference with their operations. The community that by concert,
open or secret, among its citizens denies to a portion of its members their plain
rights
under the law has severed the only safe bond of social order and prosperity. The evil
works from a bad center both ways. It demoralizes those who practice it and destroys
the
faith of those who suffer by it in the efficiency of the law as a safe protector.
The
man in whose breast that faith has been darkened is naturally the subject of dangerous
and uncanny suggestions. Those who use unlawful methods, if moved by no higher motive
than the selfishness that prompted them, may well stop and inquire what is to be the
end
of this.
An unlawful expedient can not become a permanent condition of government. If the educated
and influential classes in a community either practice or connive at the systematic
violation of laws that seem to them to cross their convenience, what can they expect
when the lesson that convenience or a supposed class interest is a sufficient cause
for
lawlessness has been well learned by the ignorant classes? A community where law is
the
rule of conduct and where courts, not mobs, execute its penalties is the only attractive
field for business investments and honest labor.
Our naturalization laws should be so amended as to
make the inquiry into the character and good disposition of persons applying for
citizenship more careful and searching. Our existing laws have been in their
administration an unimpressive and often an unintelligible form. We accept
the man as a citizen without any knowledge of his fitness, and he assumes the duties
of
citizenship without any knowledge as to what they are. The privileges of American
citizenship are so great and its duties so grave that we may well insist upon a good
knowledge of every person applying for citizenship and a good knowledge by him of
our
institutions. We should not cease to be hospitable to immigration, but we should cease
to be careless as to the character of it. There are men of all races, even the best,
whose coming is necessarily a burden upon our public revenues or a threat to social
order. These should be identified and excluded.
We have happily maintained a policy of avoiding all
interference with European affairs. We have been only interested spectators of their
contentions in diplomacy and in war, ready to use our friendly offices to
promote peace, but never obtruding our advice and never attempting unfairly to coin
the
distresses of other powers into commercial advantage to ourselves. We have a just
right
to expect that our European policy will be the American policy of European courts.
It is so manifestly incompatible with those precautions for our peace and safety which
all the great powers habitually observe and enforce in matters affecting them that
a
shorter waterway between our eastern and western seaboards should be dominated by
any
European Government that we may confidently expect that such a purpose will not be
entertained by any friendly power.
We shall in the future, as in the past, use every endeavor to maintain and enlarge
our
friendly relations with all the great powers, but they will not expect us to look
kindly
upon any project that would leave us subject to the dangers of a hostile observation
or
environment. We have not sought to dominate or to absorb any of our weaker neighbors,
but rather to aid and encourage them to establish free and stable governments resting
upon the consent of their own people. We have a clear right to expect, therefore,
that
no European Government will seek to establish colonial dependencies upon the territory
of these independent American States. That which a sense of justice restrains us from
seeking they may be reasonably expected willingly to forego.
It must not be assumed, however, that our interests are so exclusively American that
our
entire inattention to any events that may transpire elsewhere can be taken for granted.
Our citizens domiciled for purposes of trade in all countries and in many of the islands
of the sea demand and will have our adequate care in their personal and commercial
rights. The necessities of our Navy require convenient coaling stations and dock and
harbor privileges. These and other trading privileges we will feel free to obtain
only
by means that do not in any degree partake of coercion, however feeble the government
from which we ask such concessions. But having fairly obtained them by methods and
for
purposes entirely consistent with the most friendly disposition toward all other powers,
our consent will be necessary to any modification or impairment of the concession.
We shall neither fail to respect the flag of any friendly nation or the just rights
of
its citizens, nor to exact the like treatment for our own. Calmness, justice, and
consideration should characterize our diplomacy. >The offices of an intelligent diplomacy
or of friendly arbitration in proper cases should be adequate to the peaceful adjustment
of all international difficulties. By such methods we will make our contribution to
the
world’s peace, which no nation values more highly, and avoid the opprobrium which
must
fall upon the nation that ruthlessly breaks it.
The duty devolved by law upon the President to nominate and, by and with the advice
and
consent of the Senate, to appoint all public officers whose appointment is not otherwise
provided for in the Constitution or by act of Congress has become very burdensome
and
its wise and efficient discharge full of difficulty. The civil list is so large that
a
personal knowledge of any large number of the applicants is impossible. The President
must rely upon the representations of others, and these are often made inconsiderately
and without any just sense of responsibility. I have a right, I think, to insist that
those who volunteer or are invited to give advice as to appointments shall exercise
consideration and fidelity. A high sense of duty and an ambition to improve the service
should characterize all public officers.
There are many ways in which the convenience and comfort of those who have business
with
our public offices may be promoted by a thoughtful and obliging officer, and I shall
expect those whom I may appoint to justify their selection by a conspicuous efficiency
in the discharge of their duties. Honorable party service will certainly not be esteemed
by me a disqualification for public office, but it will in no case be allowed to serve
as a shield of official negligence, incompetency, or delinquency. It is entirely
creditable to seek public office by proper methods and with proper motives, and all
applicants will be treated with consideration; but I shall need, and the heads of
Departments will need, time for inquiry and deliberation. Persistent importunity will
not, therefore, be the best support of an application for office. Heads of Departments,
bureaus, and all other public officers having any duty connected therewith will be
expected to enforce the civil-service law fully and without evasion. Beyond this obvious
duty I hope to do something more to advance the reform of the civil service. The ideal,
or even my own ideal, I shall probably not attain. Retrospect will be a safer basis
of
judgment than promises. We shall not, however, I am sure, be able to put our civil
service upon a nonpartisan basis until we have secured an incumbency that fair-minded
men of the opposition will approve for impartiality and integrity. As the number of
such
in the civil list is increased removals from office will diminish.
While a Treasury surplus is not the greatest evil, it is
a serious evil. Our revenue should be ample to meet the ordinary annual demands upon
our Treasury, with a sufficient margin for those extraordinary but scarcely less
imperative demands which arise now and then. Expenditure should always be
made with economy and only upon public necessity. Wastefulness, profligacy, or
favoritism in public expenditures is criminal. But there is nothing in the condition of
our country or of our people to suggest that anything presently necessary to the public
prosperity, security, or honor should be unduly postponed.
It will be the duty of Congress wisely to forecast and estimate these extraordinary
demands, and, having added them to our ordinary expenditures, to so adjust our revenue
laws that no considerable annual surplus will remain. We will fortunately be able to
apply to the redemption of the public debt any small and unforeseen excess of revenue.
This is better than to reduce our income below our necessary expenditures, with the
resulting choice between another change of our revenue laws and an increase of the
public debt. It is quite possible, I am sure, to effect the necessary reduction in
our
revenues without breaking down our protective tariff or seriously injuring any domestic
industry.
The construction of a sufficient number of modern war
ships and of their necessary armament should progress as rapidly as is consistent
with care and perfection in plans and workmanship. The spirit, courage, and
skill of our naval officers and seamen have many times in our history given to weak
ships and inefficient guns a rating greatly beyond that of the naval list. That they
will again do so upon occasion I do not doubt; but they ought not, by premeditation
or
neglect, to be left to the risks and exigencies of an unequal combat. We should
encourage the establishment of American steamship lines. The exchanges of commerce
demand stated, reliable, and rapid means of communication, and until these are provided
the development of our trade with the States lying south of us is impossible.
Our pension laws should give more adequate and discriminating relief to the Union
soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. Such occasions as this should
remind us that we owe everything to their valor and sacrifice.
It is a subject of congratulation that there is a near prospect of the admission into
the
Union of the Dakotas and Montana and Washington Territories. This act of justice has
been unreasonably delayed in the case of some of them. The people who have settled these
Territories are intelligent, enterprising, and patriotic, and the accession these
new
States will add strength to the nation. It is due to the settlers in the Territories who
have availed themselves of the invitations of our land laws to make homes upon the
public domain that their titles should be speedily adjusted and their honest entries
confirmed by patent.
It is very gratifying to observe the general
interest now being manifested in the reform of our election laws. Those who have
been for years calling attention to the pressing necessity of throwing about the
ballot box and about the elector further safeguards, in order that our elections
might not only be free and pure, but might clearly appear to be so, will welcome the
accession of any who did not so soon discover the need of reform. The
National Congress has not as yet taken control of elections in that case over which
the
Constitution gives it jurisdiction, but has accepted and adopted the election laws
of
the several States, provided penalties for their violation and a method of supervision.
Only the inefficiency of the State laws or an unfair partisan administration of them
could suggest a departure from this policy.
It was clearly, however, in the contemplation of the framers of the Constitution that
such an exigency might arise, and provision was wisely made for it. The freedom of
the
ballot is a condition of our national life, and no power vested in Congress or in
the
Executive to secure or perpetuate it should remain unused upon occasion. The people
of
all the Congressional districts have an equal interest that the election in each shall
truly express the views and wishes of a majority of the qualified electors residing
within it. The results of such elections are not local, and the insistence of electors
residing in other districts that they shall be pure and free does not savor at all
of
impertinence.
If in any of the States the public security is thought to be
threatened by ignorance among the electors, the obvious remedy is education. The
sympathy and help of our people will not be withheld from any community struggling
with special embarrassments or difficulties connected with the suffrage if the
remedies proposed proceed upon lawful lines and are promoted by just and honorable
methods. How shall those who practice election frauds recover that respect for the
sanctity of the ballot which is the first condition and obligation of good
citizenship? The man who has come to regard the ballot box as a juggler’s hat has
renounced his allegiance.
Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let those who would die for
the flag on the field of battle give a better proof of their patriotism and a higher
glory to their country by promoting fraternity and justice. A party success that is
achieved by unfair methods or by practices that partake of revolution is hurtful and
evanescent even from a party standpoint. We should hold our differing opinions in mutual
respect, and, having submitted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an
adverse judgment with the same respect that we would have demanded of our opponents
if
the decision had been in our favor.
No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love or a land
so
magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of generous suggestion
to
enterprise and labor. God has placed upon our head a diadem and has laid at our feet
power and wealth beyond definition or calculation. But we must not forget that we take
these gifts upon the condition that justice and mercy shall hold the reins of power
and
that the upward avenues of hope shall be free to all the people.
I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush along our path,
but we
have uncovered and vanquished them all. Passion has swept some of our communities,
but
only to give us a new demonstration that the great body of our people are stable,
patriotic, and law-abiding. No political party can long pursue advantage at the expense
of public honor or by rude and indecent methods without protest and fatal disaffection
in its own body. The peaceful agencies of commerce are more fully revealing the
necessary unity of all our communities, and the increasing intercourse of our people
is
promoting mutual respect. We shall find unalloyed pleasure in the revelation which
our
next census will make of the swift development of the great resources of some of the
States. Each State will bring its generous contribution to the great aggregate of
the
nation’s increase. And when the harvests from the fields, the cattle from the hills,
and
the ores of the earth shall have been weighed, counted, and valued, we will turn from
them all to crown with the highest honor the State that has most promoted education,
virtue, justice, and patriotism among its people.