Friends and Fellow-Citizens: CALLED upon to undertake the dutiesof the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presenceof that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to expressmy grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to looktoward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above mytalents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentimentswhich the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justlyinspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversingall the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commercewith nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destiniesbeyond the reach of mortal eye—when I contemplate these transcendentobjects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this belovedcountry committed to the issue, and the auspices of this day, I shrink fromthe contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking.Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I heresee remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our ConstitutionI shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to relyunder all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with thesovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, Ilook with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable usto steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst theconflicting elements of a troubled world. | 1 |
| During the contest of opinion through which we have passed theanimation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect whichmight impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to writewhat 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 effortsfor 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 willto be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equalrights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let usrestore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which libertyand even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, havingbanished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind solong bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a politicalintolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloodypersecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, duringthe agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughterhis long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billowsshould reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be morefelt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions asto measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a differenceof 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 uswho would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form,let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error ofopinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know,indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not bestrong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honestpatriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a governmentwhich has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fearthat this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energyto preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongestGovernment on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the callof the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasionsof the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said thatman can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, betrusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the formsof kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. | 2 |
| Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federaland Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government.Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havocof one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradationsof the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendantsto the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense ofour equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions ofour own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resultingnot from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightenedby a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms,yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and thelove of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which byall its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man hereand his greater happiness hereafter—with all these blessings, whatmore is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still onething more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shallrestrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise freeto regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall nottake from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum ofgood government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. | 3 |
| About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties whichcomprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you shouldunderstand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequentlythose which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them withinthe narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, butnot all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whateverstate or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honestfriendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the supportof the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrationsfor our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublicantendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutionalvigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealouscare of the right of election by the people—a mild and safe correctiveof abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remediesare 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 disciplinedmilitia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, tillregulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the militaryauthority; 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 diffusionof 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 theprotection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected.These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before usand guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdomof 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 shouldwe wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retraceour steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, andsafety. | 4 |
| I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assignedme. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficultiesof this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarelyfall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputationand the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that highconfidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character,whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country'slove 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 legaladministration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect ofjudgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positionswill not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for myown errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against theerrors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all itsparts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation tome for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinionof those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others bydoing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happinessand freedom of all. | 5 |
| Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advancewith obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you becomesensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may thatInfinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councilsto what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. | 6 |