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Presidents 1,124 words
General Grant was the first of many Civil War officers
to become President of the United States. He refused to ride in the
carriage to the Capitol with President Johnson, who then decided not
to attend the ceremony. The oath of office was administered by Chief
Justice Salmon Chase on the East Portico. The inaugural parade
boasted eight full divisions of the Army--the largest contingent yet
to march on such an occasion. That evening, a ball was held in the
Treasury Building.
Citizens of the United States: Your suffrages having elected me to the office of
President of the United States, I have, in conformity to the
Constitution of our country, taken the oath of office
prescribed therein. I have taken this oath without mental
reservation and with the determination to do to the best of
my ability all that is required of me. The responsibilities
of the position I feel, but accept them without fear. The
office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties
untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious desire and
determination to fill it to the best of my ability to the
satisfaction of the people. On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will
always express my views to Congress and urge them according
to my judgment, and when I think it advisable will exercise
the constitutional privilege of interposing a veto to defeat
measures which I oppose; but all laws will be faithfully
executed, whether they meet my approval or not. I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, but
none to enforce against the will of the people. Laws are to
govern all alike--those opposed as well as those who favor
them. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or
obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent
execution. The country having just emerged from a great rebellion,
many questions will come before it for settlement in the
next four years which preceding Administrations have never
had to deal with. In meeting these it is desirable that they
should be approached calmly, without prejudice, hate, or
sectional pride, remembering that the greatest good to the
greatest number is the object to be attained. This requires security of person, property, and free
religious and political opinion in every part of our common
country, without regard to local prejudice. All laws to
secure these ends will receive my best efforts for their
enforcement. A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and
our posterity the Union. The payment of this, principal and
interest, as well as the return to a specie basis as soon as
it can be accomplished without material detriment to the
debtor class or to the country at large, must be provided
for. To protect the national honor, every dollar of
Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless
otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be
understood that no repudiator of one farthing of our public
debt will be trusted in public place, and it will go far
toward strengthening a credit which ought to be the best in
the world, and will ultimately enable us to replace the debt
with bonds bearing less interest than we now pay. To this
should be added a faithful collection of the revenue, a
strict accountability to the Treasury for every dollar
collected, and the greatest practicable retrenchment in
expenditure in every department of Government. When we compare the paying capacity of the country now,
with the ten States in poverty from the effects of war, but
soon to emerge, I trust, into greater prosperity than ever
before, with its paying capacity twenty-five years ago, and
calculate what it probably will be twenty-five years hence,
who can doubt the feasibility of paying every dollar then
with more ease than we now pay for useless luxuries? Why, it
looks as though Providence had bestowed upon us a strong box
in the precious metals locked up in the sterile mountains of
the far West, and which we are now forging the key to
unlock, to meet the very contingency that is now upon
us. Ultimately it may be necessary to insure the facilities
to reach these riches and it may be necessary also that the
General Government should give its aid to secure this
access; but that should only be when a dollar of obligation
to pay secures precisely the same sort of dollar to use now,
and not before. Whilst the question of specie payments is in
abeyance the prudent business man is careful about
contracting debts payable in the distant future. The nation
should follow the same rule. A prostrate commerce is to be
rebuilt and all industries encouraged. The young men of the country--those who from their age
must be its rulers twenty-five years hence--have a peculiar
interest in maintaining the national honor. A moment's
reflection as to what will be our commanding influence among
the nations of the earth in their day, if they are only true
to themselves, should inspire them with national pride. All
divisions--geographical, political, and religious--can join
in this common sentiment. How the public debt is to be paid
or specie payments resumed is not so important as that a
plan should be adopted and acquiesced in. A united
determination to do is worth more than divided counsels upon
the method of doing. Legislation upon this subject may not
be necessary now, or even advisable, but it will be when the
civil law is more fully restored in all parts of the country
and trade resumes its wonted channels. It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith,
to collect all revenues assessed, and to have them properly
accounted for and economically disbursed. I will to the best
of my ability appoint to office those only who will carry
out this design. In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as
equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other,
and I would protect the law-abiding citizen, whether of
native or foreign birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized
or the flag of our country floats. I would respect the
rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own.
If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us,
we may be compelled to follow their precedent. The proper treatment of the original occupants of this
land--the Indians one deserving of careful study. I will
favor any course toward them which tends to their
civilization and ultimate citizenship. The question of suffrage is one which is likely to
agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens of
the nation are excluded from its privileges in any State. It
seems to me very desirable that this question should be
settled now, and I entertain the hope and express the desire
that it may be by the ratification of the fifteenth article
of amendment to the Constitution. In conclusion I ask patient forbearance one toward
another throughout the land, and a determined effort on the
part of every citizen to do his share toward cementing a
happy union; and I ask the prayers of the nation to Almighty
God in behalf of this consummation.
March 4, 1869