Fellow-Citizens:
Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and voluntary
suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and most responsible office on
earth. I am deeply impressed with gratitude for the confidence reposed in me.
Honored with this distinguished consideration at an earlier period of life than
any of my predecessors, I can not disguise the diffidence with which I am about
to enter on the discharge of my official duties.
If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of President of the
United States even in the infancy of the Republic distrusted their ability to
discharge the duties of that exalted station, what ought not to be the
apprehensions of one so much younger and less endowed now that our domain
extends from ocean to ocean, that our people have so greatly increased in
numbers, and at a time when so great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to
the principles and policy which should characterize the administration of our
Government? Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring
responsibilities on which may depend our country’s peace and prosperity, and in
some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.
In assuming responsibilities so
vast I fervently invoke the aid of that Almighty
Ruler of the Universein whose hands are the destinies of
nations and of men to guard this Heaven-favored land against the
mischiefs
which without Hisguidance might arise from an unwise public
policy.With a
firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotenceto
sustain and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to
pursue,I stand in the presence of this assembled multitude
of my countrymen to take upon myself the solemn obligation “to the best of my
ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States.”
A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the administrative
policy of the Government is not only in accordance with the examples set me by
all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting the occasion.
The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative
compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the
bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and
independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed.
It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true spirit of that
instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly granted or clearly implied in
its terms. The Government of the United States is one of delegated and limited
powers, and it is by a strict adherence to the clearly granted powers and by
abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied powers that we
have the only sure guaranty against the recurrence of those unfortunate
collisions between the Federal and State authorities which have occasionally so
much disturbed the harmony of our system and even threatened the perpetuity of
our glorious Union.
“To the States, respectively, or to the people” have been reserved “the powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the
States.” Each State is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved
powers. The Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated
authority, is also a complete sovereignty. While the General Government should
abstain from the exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, the States
should be equally careful that in the maintenance of their rights they do not
overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the most distinguished
of my predecessors attached deserved importance to “the support of the State
governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for our
domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against antirepublican tendencies,”
and to the “preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional
vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad.”
To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive management
of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields a few general enumerated powers.
It does not force reform on the States. It leaves individuals, over whom it
casts its protecting influence, entirely free to improve their own condition by
the legitimate exercise of all their mental and physical powers. It is a common
protector of each and all the States; of every man who lives upon our soil,
whether of native or foreign birth; of every religious sect,in their worship of the Almightyaccording to the dictates of their own
conscience; of every shade of opinion, and the most free
inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation consistent with the laws of the
States. And we rejoice in the general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of
our country, which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of power.
This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-government among men
ever devised by human minds has been tested by its successful operation for
more than half a century, and if preserved from the usurpations of the Federal
Government on the one hand and the exercise by the States of powers not
reserved to them on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, endure for
ages to come and dispense the blessings of civil and religious liberty to
distant generations. To effect objects so dear to every patriot I shall devote
myself with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that most
fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system which consists
in substituting the mere discretion and caprice of the Executive or of
majorities in the legislative department of the Government for powers which
have been withheld from the Federal Government by the Constitution. By the
theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or
unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the
Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was
to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their
just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield
against such oppression.
That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be enjoyed alike
by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been wisely invested with a
qualified veto upon the acts of the Legislature. It is a negative power, and is
conservative in its character. It arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or
unconstitutional legislation, invites reconsideration, and transfers questions
at issue between the legislative and executive departments to the tribunal of
the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When judiciously
and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction
and the rights of all preserved and protected.
The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by all. By this
system of united and confederated States our people are permitted collectively
and individually to seek their own happiness in their own way, and the
consequences have been most auspicious. Since the Union was formed the number
of the States has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have
taken their position as members of the Confederacy within the last week. Our
population has increased from three to twenty millions. New communities and
States are seeking protection under its aegis, and multitudes from the Old
World are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its
benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and miseries
of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the world. Mind, no
longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist schemes of ambition,
usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man’s true interests in
developing his faculties and powers and the capacity of nature to minister to
his enjoyments. Genius is free to announce its inventions and discoveries, and
the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives not incompatible
with the rights of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have
been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms
of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No
union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is
guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our Federal Union. To
perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits
to the achievements of free minds and free hands under the protection of this
glorious Union? No treason to mankind since the organization of society would
be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to destroy it. He
would overthrow the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself
and his fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free government and involve
his country either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of
liberty, which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions and invites all
the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he say that error and wrong
are committed in the administration of the Government, let him remember that
nothing human can be perfect, and that under no other system of government
revealed by Heaven or devised by man has reason been allowed so free and broad
a scope to combat error. Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer
instrument of reform in government than enlightened reason? Does he expect to
find among the rains of this Union a happier abode for our swarming millions
than they now have under it? Every lover of his country must shudder at the
thought of the possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the
patriotic sentiment, “Our Federal Union—it must be preserved.” To preserve it
the compromises which alone enabled our fathers to form a common constitution
for the government and protection of so many States and distinct communities,
of such diversified habits, interests, and domestic institutions, must be
sacredly and religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb or destroy these
compromises, being terms of the compact of union, can lead to none other than
the most ruinous and disastrous consequences.
It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country misguided
persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations whose object is
the destruction of domestic institutions existing in other
sections—institutions which existed at the adoption of the Constitution and
were recognized and protected by it. All must see that if it were possible for
them to be successful in attaining their object the dissolution of the Union
and the consequent destruction of our happy form of government must speedily
follow.
I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation there has
existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our people a devotion
to the Union of the States which will shield and protect it against the moral
treason of any who would seriously contemplate its destruction. To secure a
continuance of that devotion the compromises of the Constitution must not only
be preserved, but sectional jealousies and heartburnings must be
discountenanced, and all should remember that they are members of the same
political family, having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our
people to the Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to
favor monopolies or the peculiar interests of sections or classes must operate
to the prejudice of the interest of their fellow-citizens, and should be
avoided. If the compromises of the Constitution be preserved, if sectional
jealousies and heartburnings be discountenanced, if our laws be just and the
Government be practically administered strictly within the limits of power
prescribed to it, we may discard all apprehensions for the safety of the
Union.
With these views of the nature, character, and objects of the Government and the
value of the Union, I shall steadily oppose the creation of those institutions
and systems which in their nature tend to pervert it from its legitimate
purposes and make it the instrument of sections, classes, and individuals. We
need no national banks or other extraneous institutions planted around the
Government to control or strengthen it in opposition to the will of its
authors. Experience has taught us how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of
the public authorities—how impotent for good and how powerful for mischief.
Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal government, and I shall regard it to be
my duty to recommend to Congress and, as far as the Executive is concerned, to
enforce by all the means within my power the strictest economy in the
expenditure of the public money which may be compatible with the public
interests.
A national debt has become almost an institution of European monarchies. It is
viewed in some of them as an essential prop to existing governments. Melancholy
is the condition of that people whose government can be sustained only by a
system which periodically transfers large amounts from the labor of the many to
the coffers of the few. Such a system is incompatible with the ends for which
our republican Government was instituted. Under a wise policy the debts
contracted in our Revolution and during the War of 1812 have been happily
extinguished. By a judicious application of the revenues not required for other
necessary purposes, it is not doubted that the debt which has grown out of the
circumstances of the last few years may be speedily paid off.
I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the credit of the
General Government of the Union and that of many of the States. Happy would it
be for the indebted States if they were freed from their liabilities, many of
which were incautiously contracted. Although the Government of the Union is
neither in a legal nor a moral sense bound for the debts of the States, and it
would be a violation of our compact of union to assume them, yet we can not but
feel a deep interest in seeing all the States meet their public liabilities and
pay off their just debts at the earliest practicable period. That they will do
so as soon as it can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on their
citizens there is no reason to doubt. The sound moral and honorable feeling of
the people of the indebted States can not be questioned, and we are happy to
perceive a settled disposition on their part, as their ability returns after a
season of unexampled pecuniary embarrassment, to pay off all just demands and
to acquiesce in any reasonable measures to accomplish that object.
One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the practical
administration of the Government consists in the adjustment of our revenue laws
and the levy of the taxes necessary for the support of Government. In the
general proposition that no more money shall be collected than the necessities
of an economical administration shall require all parties seem to acquiesce.
Nor does there seem to be any material difference of opinion as to the absence
of right in the Government to tax one section of country, or one class of
citizens, or one occupation, for the mere profit of another. “Justice and sound
policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one branch of industry to the
detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury
of another portion of our common country.” I have heretofore declared to my
fellow-citizens that “in my judgment it is the duty of the Government to
extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its revenue laws and all
other means within its power, fair and just protection to all of the great
interests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic
arts, commerce, and navigation.” I have also declared my opinion to be “in
favor of a tariff for revenue,” and that “in adjusting the details of such a
tariff I have sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as would produce
the amount of revenue needed and at the same time afford reasonable incidental
protection to our home industry,” and that I was “opposed to a tariff for
protection merely, and not for revenue.”
The power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises” was an
indispensable one to be conferred on the Federal Government, which without it
would possess no means of providing for its own support. In executing this
power by levying a tariff of duties for the support of Government, the raising
of revenue should be the object and protection the incident. To reverse this
principle and make protection the object and revenue the incident would be to
inflict manifest injustice upon all other than the protected interests. In
levying duties for revenue it is doubtless proper to make such discriminations
within the revenue principle as will afford incidental protection to our home
interests. Within the revenue limit there is a discretion to discriminate;
beyond that limit the rightful exercise of the power is not conceded. The
incidental protection afforded to our home interests by discriminations within
the revenue range it is believed will be ample. In making discriminations all
our home interests should as far as practicable be equally protected. The
largest portion of our people are agriculturists. Others are employed in
manufactures, commerce, navigation, and the mechanic arts. They are all engaged
in their respective pursuits and their joint labors constitute the national or
home industry. To tax one branch of this home industry for the benefit of
another would be unjust. No one of these interests can rightfully claim an
advantage over the others, or to be enriched by impoverishing the others. All
are equally entitled to the fostering care and protection of the Government. In
exercising a sound discretion in levying discriminating duties within the limit
prescribed, care should be taken that it be done in a manner not to benefit the
wealthy few at the expense of the toiling millions by taxing lowest the
luxuries of life, or articles of superior quality and high price, which can
only be consumed by the wealthy, and highest the necessaries of life, or
articles of coarse quality and low price, which the poor and great mass of our
people must consume. The burdens of government should as far as practicable be
distributed justly and equally among all classes of our population. These
general views, long entertained on this subject, I have deemed it proper to
reiterate. It is a subject upon which conflicting interests of sections and
occupations are supposed to exist, and a spirit of mutual concession and
compromise in adjusting its details should be cherished by every part of our
widespread country as the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful
acquiescence of all in the operation of our revenue laws. Our patriotic
citizens in every part of the Union will readily submit to the payment of such
taxes as shall be needed for the support of their Government, whether in peace
or in war, if they are so levied as to distribute the burdens as equally as
possible among them.
The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our Union, to form a
part of our Confederacy and enjoy with us the blessings of liberty secured and
guaranteed by our Constitution. Texas was once a part of our country—was
unwisely ceded away to a foreign power—is now independent, and possesses an
undoubted right to dispose of a part or the whole of her territory and to merge
her sovereignty as a separate and independent state in ours. I congratulate my
country that by an act of the late Congress of the United States the assent of
this Government has been given to the reunion, and it only remains for the two
countries to agree upon the terms to consummate an object so important to
both.
I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States
and Texas. They are independent powers competent to contract, and foreign
nations have no right to interfere with them or to take exceptions to their
reunion. Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our
Government. Our Union is a confederation of independent States, whose policy is
peace with each other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to extend the
dominions of peace over additional territories and increasing millions. The
world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government. While the
Chief Magistrate and the popular branch of Congress are elected for short terms
by the suffrages of those millions who must in their own persons bear all the
burdens and miseries of war, our Government can not be otherwise than pacific.
Foreign powers should therefore look on the annexation of Texas to the United
States not as the conquest of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms
and violence, but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own, by
adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of that member,
thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to them new and
ever-increasing markets for their products.
To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong protecting arm of our
Government would be extended over her, and the vast resources of her fertile
soil and genial climate would be speedily developed, while the safety of New
Orleans and of our whole southwestern frontier against hostile aggression, as
well as the interests of the whole Union, would be promoted by it.
In the earlier stages of our national existence the opinion prevailed with some
that our system of confederated States could not operate successfully over an
extended territory, and serious objections have at different times been made to
the enlargement of our boundaries. These objections were earnestly urged when
we acquired Louisiana. Experience has shown that they were not well founded.
The title of numerous Indian tribes to vast tracts of country has been
extinguished; new States have been admitted into the Union; new Territories
have been created and our jurisdiction and laws extended over them. As our
population has expanded, the Union has been cemented and strengthened. As our
boundaries have been enlarged and our agricultural population has been spread
over a large surface, our federative system has acquired additional strength
and security. It may well be doubted whether it would not be in greater danger
of overthrow if our present population were confined to the comparatively
narrow limits of the original thirteen States than it is now that they are
sparsely settled over a more expanded territory. It is confidently believed
that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial
limits, and that as it shall be extended the bonds of our Union, so far from
being weakened, will become stronger.
None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an
independent state or becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more
powerful than herself. Is there one among our citizens who would not prefer
perpetual peace with Texas to occasional wars, which so often occur between
bordering independent nations? Is there one who would not prefer free
intercourse with her to high duties on all our products and manufactures which
enter her ports or cross her frontiers? Is there one who would not prefer an
unrestricted communication with her citizens to the frontier obstructions which
must occur if she remains out of the Union? Whatever is good or evil in the
local institutions of Texas will remain her own whether annexed to the United
States or not. None of the present States will be responsible for them any more
than they are for the local institutions of each other. They have confederated
together for certain specified objects. Upon the same principle that they would
refuse to form a perpetual union with Texas because of her local institutions
our forefathers would have been prevented from forming our present Union.
Perceiving no valid objection to the measure and many reasons for its adoption
vitally affecting the peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both countries,
I shall on the broad principle which formed the basis and produced the adoption
of our Constitution, and not in any narrow spirit of sectional policy, endeavor
by all constitutional, honorable, and appropriate means to consummate the
expressed will of the people and Government of the United States by the
reannexation of Texas to our Union at the earliest practicable period.
Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain by all
constitutional means the right of the United States to that portion of our
territory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to the country of
the Oregon is “clear and unquestionable,” and already are our people preparing
to perfect that title by occupying it with their wives and children. But eighty
years ago our population was confined on the west by the ridge of the
Alleghanies. Within that period—within the lifetime, I might say, of some of my
hearers—our people, increasing to many millions, have filled the eastern valley
of the Mississippi, adventurously ascended the Missouri to its headsprings, and
are already engaged in establishing the blessings of self-government in valleys
of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world beholds the peaceful
triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To us belongs the duty of protecting
them adequately wherever they may be upon our soil. The jurisdiction of our
laws and the benefits of our republican institutions should be extended over
them in the distant regions which they have selected for their homes. The
increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the States, of which the
formation in that part of our territory can not be long delayed, within the
sphere of our federative Union. In the meantime every obligation imposed by
treaty or conventional stipulations should be sacredly respected.
In the management of our foreign relations it will be my aim to observe a careful
respect for the rights of other nations, while our own will be the subject of
constant watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should characterize all our
intercourse with foreign countries. All alliances having a tendency to jeopard
the welfare and honor of our country or sacrifice any one of the national
interests will be studiously avoided, and yet no opportunity will be lost to
cultivate a favorable understanding with foreign governments by which our
navigation and commerce may be extended and the ample products of our fertile
soil, as well as the manufactures of our skillful artisans, find a ready market
and remunerating prices in foreign countries.
In taking “care that the laws be faithfully executed,” a strict performance of duty
will be exacted from all public officers. From those officers, especially, who
are charged with the collection and disbursement of the public revenue will
prompt and rigid accountability be required. Any culpable failure or delay on
their part to account for the moneys intrusted to them at the times and in the
manner required by law will in every instance terminate the official connection
of such defaulting officer with the Government.
Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by
a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official
action he should not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people
of the United States. While he executes the laws with an impartial hand,
shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the
executive department of the Government the principles and policy of those who
have chosen him, he should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have
differed with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of
their opinions and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to
respect and regard.
Confidently relying upon the aid
and assistance of the coordinate departments of the Government in
conducting our public affairs, I enter upon the discharge of the high
duties which have been assigned me by the people, again humbly
supplicating that Divine Beingwho has watched
over and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present
hour to continue Hisgracious benedictions upon
us, that we may continue to be a prosperous and happy
people.