My Countrymen:
It is a relief to feel that no heart but my own can know the personal regret and bitter
sorrow over which I have been borne to a position so suitable for others rather than
desirable for myself.
The circumstances under which I have been called for a limited period to preside over
the
destinies of the Republic fill me with a profound sense of responsibility, but with
nothing like shrinking apprehension. I repair to the post assigned me not as to one
sought, but in obedience to the unsolicited expression of your will, answerable only
for
a fearless, faithful, and diligent exercise of my best powers. I ought to be, and
am,
truly grateful for the rare manifestation of the nation’s confidence; but this, so
far
from lightening my obligations, only adds to their weight. You have summoned me in
my
weakness; you must sustain me by your strength. When looking for the fulfillment of
reasonable requirements, you will not be unmindful of the great changes which have
occurred, even within the last quarter of a century, and the consequent augmentation
and
complexity of duties imposed in the administration both of your home and foreign
affairs.
Whether the elements of inherent force in the Republic have kept pace with its
unparalleled progression in territory, population, and wealth has been the subject
of
earnest thought and discussion on both sides of the ocean. Less than sixty-four years
ago the Father of his Country made “the” then “recent accession of the important State
of North Carolina to the Constitution of the United States” one of the subjects of
his
special congratulation. At that moment, however, when the agitation consequent upon
the
Revolutionary struggle had hardly subsided, when we were just emerging from the weakness
and embarrassments of the Confederation, there was an evident consciousness of vigor
equal to the great mission so wisely and bravely fulfilled by our fathers. It was
not a
presumptuous assurance, but a calm faith, springing from a clear view of the sources
of
power in a government constituted like ours. It is no paradox to say that although
comparatively weak the new-born nation was intrinsically strong. Inconsiderable in
population and apparent resources, it was upheld by a broad and intelligent
comprehension of rights and an all-pervading purpose to maintain them, stronger than
armaments. It came from the furnace of the Revolution, tempered to the necessities
of
the times. The thoughts of the men of that day were as practical as their sentiments
were patriotic. They wasted no portion of their energies upon idle and delusive
speculations, but with a firm and fearless step advanced beyond the governmental
landmarks which had hitherto circumscribed the limits of human freedom and planted
their
standard, where it has stood against dangers which have threatened from abroad, and
internal agitation, which has at times fearfully menaced at home. They proved themselves
equal to the solution of the great problem, to understand which their minds had been
illuminated by the dawning lights of the Revolution. The object sought was not a thing
dreamed of; it was a thing realized. They had exhibited only the power to achieve,
but,
what all history affirms to be so much more unusual, the capacity to maintain. The
oppressed throughout the world from that day to the present have turned their eyes
hitherward, not to find those lights extinguished or to fear lest they should wane,
but
to be constantly cheered by their steady and increasing radiance.
In this our country has, in my judgment, thus far fulfilled its highest duty to suffering
humanity. It has spoken and will continue to speak, not only by its words, but by
its
acts, the language of sympathy, encouragement, and hope to those who earnestly listen
to
tones which pronounce for the largest rational liberty. But after all, the most
animating encouragement and potent appeal for freedom will be its own history—its
trials
and its triumphs. Preeminently, the power of our advocacy reposes in our example;
but no
example, be it remembered, can be powerful for lasting good, whatever apparent
advantages may be gained, which is not based upon eternal principles of right and
justice. Our fathers decided for themselves, both upon the hour to declare and the
hour
to strike. They were their own judges of the circumstances under which it became them
to
pledge to each other “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” for the
acquisition of the priceless inheritance transmitted to us. >The energy with which
that great conflict was opened and, under
the guidance of a manifest and beneficent Providence the
uncomplaining endurance with which it was prosecuted to its consummation were only
surpassed by the wisdom and patriotic spirit of concession which characterized all
the counsels of the early fathers.
One of the most impressive evidences of that wisdom is to be found in the fact that
the
actual working of our system has dispelled a degree of solicitude which at the outset
disturbed bold hearts and far-reaching intellects. The apprehension of dangers from
extended territory, multiplied States, accumulated wealth, and augmented population
has
proved to be unfounded. The stars upon your banner have become nearly threefold their
original number; your densely populated possessions skirt the shores of the two great
oceans; and yet this vast increase of people and territory has not only shown itself
compatible with the harmonious action of the States and Federal Government in their
respective constitutional spheres, but has afforded an additional guaranty of the
strength and integrity of both.
With an experience thus suggestive and cheering, the policy of my Administration will
not
be controlled by any timid forebodings of evil from expansion. Indeed, it is not to
be
disguised that our attitude as a nation and our position on the globe render the
acquisition of certain possessions not within our jurisdiction eminently important
for
our protection, if not in the future essential for the preservation of the rights
of
commerce and the peace of the world. Should they be obtained, it will be through no
grasping spirit, but with a view to obvious national interest and security, and in a
manner entirely consistent with the strictest observance of national faith. We have
nothing in our history or position to invite aggression; we have everything to beckon
us
to the cultivation of relations of peace and amity with all nations. Purposes,
therefore, at once just and pacific will be significantly marked in the conduct of
our
foreign affairs. I intend that my Administration shall leave no blot upon our fair
record, and trust I may safely give the assurance that no act within the legitimate
scope of my constitutional control will be tolerated on the part of any portion of
our
citizens which can not challenge a ready justification before the tribunal of the
civilized world. An Administration would be unworthy of confidence at home or respect
abroad should it cease to be influenced by the conviction that no apparent advantage
can
be purchased at a price so dear as that of national wrong or dishonor. It is not your
privilege as a nation to speak of a distant past. The striking incidents of your
history, replete with instruction and furnishing abundant grounds for hopeful
confidence, are comprised in a period comparatively brief. But if your past is limited,
your future is boundless. Its obligations throng the unexplored pathway of advancement,
and will be limitless as duration. Hence a sound and comprehensive policy should embrace
not less the distant future than the urgent present.
The great objects of our pursuit as a people are best to be attained by peace, and
are
entirely consistent with the tranquillity and interests of the rest of mankind. With the
neighboring nations upon our continent we should cultivate kindly and fraternal
relations. We can desire nothing in regard to them so much as to see them consolidate
their strength and pursue the paths of prosperity and happiness. If in the course
of
their growth we should open new channels of trade and create additional facilities
for
friendly intercourse, the benefits realized will be equal and mutual. Of the complicated
European systems of national polity we have heretofore been independent. From their
wars, their tumults, and anxieties we have been, happily, almost entirely exempt.
Whilst
these are confined to the nations which gave them existence, and within their legitimate
jurisdiction, they can not affect us except as they appeal to our sympathies in the
cause of human freedom and universal advancement. But the vast interests of commerce are
common to all mankind, and the advantages of trade and international intercourse must
always present a noble field for the moral influence of a great people.
With these views firmly and honestly carried out, we have a right to expect, and shall
under all circumstances require, prompt reciprocity. The rights which belong to us
as a
nation are not alone to be regarded, but those which pertain to every citizen in his
individual capacity, at home and abroad, must be sacredly maintained. So long as he
can
discern every star in its place upon that ensign, without wealth to purchase for him
preferment or title to secure for him place, it will be his privilege, and must be
his
acknowledged right, to stand unabashed even in the presence of princes, with a proud
consciousness that he is himself one of a nation of sovereigns and that he can not
in
legitimate pursuit wander so far from home that the agent whom he shall leave behind
in
the place which I now occupy will not see that no rude hand of power or tyrannical
passion is laid upon him with impunity. He must realize that upon every sea and on
every
soil where our enterprise may rightfully seek the protection of our flag American
citizenship is an inviolable panoply for the security of American rights. And in this
connection it can hardly be necessary to reaffirm a principle which should now be
regarded as fundamental. The rights, security, and repose of this Confederacy reject
the
idea of interference or colonization on this side of the ocean by any foreign power
beyond present jurisdiction as utterly inadmissible.
The opportunities of observation furnished by my brief experience as a soldier confirmed
in my own mind the opinion, entertained and acted upon by others from the formation
of
the Government, that the maintenance of large standing armies in our country would be
not only dangerous, but unnecessary. They also illustrated the importance—I might well
say the absolute necessity—of the military science and practical skill furnished in
such
an eminent degree by the institution which has made your Army what it is, under the
discipline and instruction of officers not more distinguished for their solid
attainments, gallantry, and devotion to the public service than for unobtrusive bearing
and high moral tone. The Army as organized must be the nucleus around which in every
time of need the strength of your military power, the sure bulwark of your defense—a
national militia—may be readily formed into a well-disciplined and efficient
organization. And the skill and self-devotion of the Navy assure you that you may
take
the performance of the past as a pledge for the future, and may confidently expect
that
the flag which has waved its untarnished folds over every sea will still float in
undiminished honor. But these, like many other subjects, will be appropriately brought
at a future time to the attention of the coordinate branches of the Government, to
which
I shall always look with profound respect and with trustful confidence that they will
accord to me the aid and support which I shall so much need and which their experience
and wisdom will readily suggest.
In the administration of domestic affairs you expect a devoted integrity in the public
service and an observance of rigid economy in all departments, so marked as never
justly
to be questioned. If this reasonable expectation be not realized, I frankly confess that
one of your leading hopes is doomed to disappointment, and that my efforts in a very
important particular must result in a humiliating failure. Offices can be properly
regarded only in the light of aids for the accomplishment of these objects, and as
occupancy can confer no prerogative nor importunate desire for preferment any claim,
the
public interest imperatively demands that they be considered with sole reference to
the
duties to be performed. Good citizens may well claim the protection of good laws and
the
benign influence of good government, but a claim for office is what the people of
a
republic should never recognize. No reasonable man of any party will expect the
Administration to be so regardless of its responsibility and of the obvious elements
of
success as to retain persons known to be under the influence of political hostility
and
partisan prejudice in positions which will require not only severe labor, but cordial
cooperation. Having no implied engagements to ratify, no rewards to bestow, no
resentments to remember, and no personal wishes to consult in selections for official
station, I shall fulfill this difficult and delicate trust, admitting no motive as
worthy either of my character or position which does not contemplate an efficient
discharge of duty and the best interests of my country. I acknowledge my obligations
to
the masses of my countrymen, and to them alone. Higher objects than personal
aggrandizement gave direction and energy to their exertions in the late canvass, and
they shall not be disappointed. They require at my hands diligence, integrity, and
capacity wherever there are duties to be performed. Without these qualities in their
public servants, more stringent laws for the prevention or punishment of fraud,
negligence, and peculation will be vain. With them they will be unnecessary.
But these are not the only points to which you look for vigilant watchfulness. The
dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy
so
vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded. You have a right, therefore, to expect
your agents in every department to regard strictly the limits imposed upon them by
the
Constitution of the United States. The great scheme of our constitutional liberty
rests
upon a proper distribution of power between the State and Federal authorities, and
experience has shown that the harmony and happiness of our people must depend upon
a
just discrimination between the separate rights and responsibilities of the States
and
your common rights and obligations under the General Government; and here, in my
opinion, are the considerations which should form the true basis of future concord
in
regard to the questions which have most seriously disturbed public tranquillity. If
the
Federal Government will confine itself to the exercise of powers clearly granted by
the
Constitution, it can hardly happen that its action upon any question should endanger
the
institutions of the States or interfere with their right to manage matters strictly
domestic according to the will of their own people.
In expressing briefly my views upon an important subject rich has recently agitated
the
nation to almost a fearful degree, I am moved by no other impulse than a most earnest
desire for the perpetuation of that Union which has made us what we are, showering
upon
us blessings and conferring a power and influence which our fathers could hardly have
anticipated, even with their most sanguine hopes directed to a far-off future. The
sentiments I now announce were not unknown before the expression of the voice which
called me here. My own position upon this subject was clear and unequivocal, upon
the
record of my words and my acts, and it is only recurred to at this time because silence
might perhaps be misconstrued. With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are
entwined. Without it what are we individually or collectively? What becomes of the
noblest field ever opened for the advancement of our race in religion, in government,
in
the arts, and in all that dignifies and adorns mankind? From that radiant constellation
which both illumines our own way and points out to struggling nations their course,
let
but a single star be lost, and, if these be not utter darkness, the luster of the
whole
is dimmed. Do my countrymen need any assurance that such a catastrophe is not to
overtake them while I possess the power to stay it? It is with me an earnest and vital
belief that as the Union has
been the source, under Providence, of our prosperity to
this time, so it is the surest pledge of a continuance of the blessings we have
enjoyed, and which we are sacredly bound to transmit undiminished to our
children. The field of calm and free discussion in our country is open,
and will always be so, but never has been and never can be traversed for good in a
spirit of sectionalism and uncharitableness. The founders of the Republic dealt with
things as they were presented to them, in a spirit of self-sacrificing patriotism,
and,
as time has proved, with a comprehensive wisdom which it will always be safe for us
to
consult. Every measure tending to strengthen the fraternal feelings of all the members
of our Union has had my heartfelt approbation. To every theory of society or government,
whether the offspring of feverish ambition or of morbid enthusiasm, calculated to
dissolve the bonds of law and affection which unite us, I shall interpose a ready
and
stern resistance. I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in different
States
of this Confederacy, is recognized by the Constitution. I believe that it stands like
any other admitted right, and that the States where it exists are entitled to efficient
remedies to enforce the constitutional provisions. I hold that the laws of 1850,
commonly called the “compromise measures,” are strictly constitutional and to be
unhesitatingly carried into effect. I believe that the constituted authorities of
this
Republic are bound to regard the rights of the South in this respect as they would
view
any other legal and constitutional right, and that the laws to enforce them should
be
respected and obeyed, not with a reluctance encouraged by abstract opinions as to
their
propriety in a different state of society, but cheerfully and according to the decisions
of the tribunal to which their exposition belongs. Such have been, and are, my
convictions, and upon them I shall act. I fervently hope that the question is at rest,
and that no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement may again threaten the
durability of our institutions or obscure the light of our prosperity.
But let not the foundation of our hope rest upon man’s wisdom. It will not be sufficient
that sectional prejudices find no place in the public deliberations. It will not be
sufficient that the rash counsels of human passion are rejected.It must be felt that
there is no national security
but in the nation’s humble, acknowledged dependence upon God
and His overruling providence.
We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis. Wise counsels, like those
which
gave us the Constitution, prevailed to uphold it. Let the period be remembered as
an
admonition, and not as an encouragement, in any section of the Union, to make
experiments where experiments are fraught with such fearful hazard. Let it be impressed
upon all hearts that, beautiful as our fabric is, no earthly power or wisdom could
ever
reunite its broken fragments. Standing, as I
do, almost within view of the green slopes of Monticello, and, as it were, within
reach of the tomb of Washington, with all the cherished memories of the past
gathering around me like so many eloquent voices of exhortation
from heaven,
I can express no better hope for my
country than that the kind Providence which smiled upon
our fathers may enable their children to preserve the blessings they have
inherited.
