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 ofthe 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 cannot 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, ye tall of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the
love
ofman; 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
ofour 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
itis in your power to make. And
maythat Infinite Power which rules the destinies of
theuniverse lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for
yourpeace and prosperity.