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Presidents 1,173 words
Cold weather and the President's poor health caused
the second inauguration to be much quieter than the first. The
President's speech was delivered to a large assembly inside the Hall
of the House of Representatives. Chief Justice John Marshall
administered the oath of office for the ninth, and last, time.
Fellow-Citizens: The will of the American people, expressed through their
unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through
the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties
of President of the United States for another term. For
their approbation of my public conduct through a period
which has not been without its difficulties, and for this
renewed expression of their confidence in my good
intentions, I am at a loss for terms adequate to the
expression of my gratitude. It shall be displayed to the
extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to
administer the Government as to preserve their liberty and
promote their happiness. So many events have occurred within the last four years
which have necessarily called forth--sometimes under
circumstances the most delicate and painful--my views of the
principles and policy which ought to be pursued by the
General Government that I need on this occasion but allude
to a few leading considerations connected with some of
them. The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon after
the formation of our present Constitution, and very
generally pursued by successive Administrations, has been
crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our
character among the nations of the earth. To do justice to
all and to submit to wrong from none has been during my
Administration its governing maxim, and so happy have been
its results that we are not only at peace with all the
world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of
minor importance, remaining unadjusted. In the domestic policy of this Government there are two
objects which especially deserve the attention of the people
and their representatives, and which have been and will
continue to be the subjects of my increasing solicitude.
They are the preservation of the rights of the several
States and the integrity of the Union. These great objects are necessarily connected, and can
only be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of
each within its appropriate sphere in conformity with the
public will constitutionally expressed. To this end it
becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic
submission to the laws constitutionally enacted, and thereby
promote and strengthen a proper confidence in those
institutions of the several States and of the United States
which the people themselves have ordained for their own
government. My experience in public concerns and the observation of a
life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since
imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State governments
or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns
of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy,
and finally to despotism and military domination. In
proportion, therefore, as the General Government encroaches
upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does
it impair its own power and detract from its ability to
fulfill the purposes of its creation. Solemnly impressed
with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me
ready to exercise my constitutional powers in arresting
measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the
rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political
power in the General Government. But of equal, and, indeed,
of incalculable, importance is the union of these States,
and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation
by a liberal support of the General Government in the
exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely admonished
to "accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as
of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity,
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety,
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that
it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning
upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any
portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the
sacred ties which now link together the various parts."
Without union our independence and liberty would never have
been achieved; without union they never can be maintained.
Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of
separate communities, we shall see our internal trade
burdened with numberless restraints and exactions;
communication between distant points and sections obstructed
or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the
fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne
down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies,
and military leaders at the head of their victorious legions
becoming our lawgivers and judges. The loss of liberty, of
all good govesnment, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must
inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting
it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman
and the philanthropist. The time at which I stand before you is full of interest.
The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event
of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of
mankind of the practicability of our federal system of
government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is
the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the
United States. Let us realize the importance of the attitude
in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise
forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country from
the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the
lessons they inculcate. Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations,
and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am
about to take, I shall continue to exert all my faculties to
maintain the just powers of the Constitution and to transmit
unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union.
At the same time, it will be my aim to inculcate by my
official acts the necessity of exercising by the General
Government those powers only that are clearly delegated; to
encourage simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the
Government; to raise no more money from the people than may
be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will
best promote the interests of all classes of the community
and of all portions of the Union. Constantly bearing in mind
that in entering into society "individuals must give up a
share of liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire
so to discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in
all parts of the country a spirit of liberal concession and
compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow-citizens to those
partial sacrifices which they must unavoidably make for the
preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable
Government and Union to the confidence and affections of the
American people. Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty
Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His
hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day,
that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and
inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be
preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a
united and happy people.
March 4, 1833