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Presidents 2,216 words
The second inauguration was a patriotic celebration of
the successes of the recently concluded Spanish American War. The new
Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was a popular figure from the
War. President McKinley again had defeated William Jennings Bryan,
but the campaign issue was American expansionism overseas. Chief
Justice Melville Fuller administered the oath of office on a covered
platform erected in front of the East Portico o fthe Capitol. The
parade featured soldiers from the campaigns in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and
the Philippines. An inaugural ball was held that evening in the
Pension Building.
My Fellow-Citizens: When we assembled here on the 4th of March, 1897, there
was great anxiety with regard to our currency and credit.
None exists now. Then our Treasury receipts were inadequate
to meet the current obligations of the Government. Now they
are sufficient for all public needs, and we have a surplus
instead of a deficit. Then I felt constrained to convene the
Congress in extraordinary session to devise revenues to pay
the ordinary expenses of the Government. Now I have the
satisfaction to announce that the Congress just closed has
reduced taxation in the sum of $41,000,000. Then there was
deep solicitude because of the long depression in our
manufacturing, mining, agricultural, and mercantile
industries and the consequent distress of our laboring
population. Now every avenue of production is crowded with
activity, labor is well employed, and American products find
good markets at home and abroad. Our diversified productions, however, are increasing in
such unprecedented volume as to admonish us of the necessity
of still further enlarging our foreign markets by broader
commercial relations. For this purpose reciprocal trade
arrangements with other nations should in liberal spirit be
carefully cultivated and promoted. The national verdict of 1896 has for the most part been
executed. Whatever remains unfulfilled is a continuing
obligation resting with undiminished force upon the
Executive and the Congress. But fortunate as our condition
is, its permanence can only be assured by sound business
methods and strict economy in national administration and
legislation. We should not permit our great prosperity to
lead us to reckless ventures in business or profligacy in
public expenditures. While the Congress determines the
objects and the sum of appropriations, the officials of the
executive departments are responsible for honest and
faithful disbursement, and it should be their constant care
to avoid waste and extravagance. Honesty, capacity, and industry are nowhere more
indispensable than in public employment. These should be
fundamental requisites to original appointment and the
surest guaranties against removal. Four years ago we stood on the brink of war without the
people knowing it and without any preparation or effort at
preparation for the impending peril. I did all that in honor
could be done to avert the war, but without avail. It became
inevitable; and the Congress at its first regular session,
without party division, provided money in anticipation of
the crisis and in preparation to meet it. It came. The
result was signally favorable to American arms and in the
highest degree honorable to the Government. It imposed upon
us obligations from which we cannot escape and from which it
would be dishonorable to seek escape. We are now at peace
with the world, and it is my fervent prayer that if
differences arise between us and other powers they may be
settled by peaceful arbitration and that hereafter we may be
spared the horrors of war. Intrusted by the people for a second time with the office
of President, I enter upon its administration appreciating
the great responsibilities which attach to this renewed
honor and commission, promising unreserved devotion on my
part to their faithful discharge and reverently invoking for
my guidance the direction and favor of Almighty God. I
should shrink from the duties this day assumed if I did not
feel that in their performance I should have the
co-operation of the wise and patriotic men of all parties.
It encourages me for the great task which I now undertake to
believe that those who voluntarily committed to me the trust
imposed upon the Chief Executive of the Republic will give
to me generous support in my duties to "preserve, protect,
and defend, the Constitution of the United States" and to
"care that the laws be faithfully executed." The national
purpose is indicated through a national election. It is the
constitutional method of ascertaining the public will. When
once it is registered it is a law to us all, and faithful
observance should follow its decrees. Strong hearts and helpful hands are needed, and,
fortunately, we have them in every part of our beloved
country. We are reunited. Sectionalism has disappeared.
Division on public questions can no longer be traced by the
war maps of 1861. These old differences less and less
disturb the judgment. Existing problems demand the thought
and quicken the conscience of the country, and the
responsibility for their presence, as well as for their
righteous settlement, rests upon us all--no more upon me
than upon you. There are some national questions in the
solution of which patriotism should exclude partisanship.
Magnifying their difficulties will not take them off our
hands nor facilitate their adjustment. Distrust of the
capacity, integrity, and high purposes of the American
people will not be an inspiring theme for future political
contests. Dark pictures and gloomy forebodings are worse
than useless. These only becloud, they do not help to point
the way of safety and honor. "Hope maketh not ashamed." The
prophets of evil were not the builders of the Republic, nor
in its crises since have they saved or served it. The faith
of the fathers was a mighty force in its creation, and the
faith of their descendants has wrought its progress and
furnished its defenders. They are obstructionists who
despair, and who would destroy confidence in the ability of
our people to solve wisely and for civilization the mighty
problems resting upon them. The American people, intrenched
in freedom at home, take their love for it with them
wherever they go, and they reject as mistaken and unworthy
the doctrine that we lose our own liberties by securing the
enduring foundations of liberty to others. Our institutions
will not deteriorate by extension, and our sense of justice
will not abate under tropic suns in distant seas. As
heretofore, so hereafter will the nation demonstrate its
fitness to administer any new estate which events devolve
upon it, and in the fear of God will "take occasion by the
hand and make the bounds of freedom wider yet." If there are
those among us who would make our way more difficult, we
must not be disheartened, but the more earnestly dedicate
ourselves to the task upon which we have rightly entered.
The path of progress is seldom smooth. New things are often
found hard to do. Our fathers found them so. We find them
so. They are inconvenient. They cost us something. But are
we not made better for the effort and sacrifice, and are not
those we serve lifted up and blessed? We will be consoled, too, with the fact that opposition
has confronted every onward movement of the Republic from
its opening hour until now, but without success. The
Republic has marched on and on, and its step has exalted
freedom and humanity. We are undergoing the same ordeal as
did our predecessors nearly a century ago. We are following
the course they blazed. They triumphed. Will their
successors falter and plead organic impotency in the nation?
Surely after 125 years of achievement for mankind we will
not now surrender our equality with other powers on matters
fundamental and essential to nationality. With no such
purpose was the nation created. In no such spirit has it
developed its full and independent sovereignty. We adhere to
the principle of equality among ourselves, and by no act of
ours will we assign to ourselves a subordinate rank in the
family of nations. My fellow-citizens, the public events of the past four
years have gone into history. They are too near to justify
recital. Some of them were unforeseen; many of them
momentous and far-reaching in their consequences to
ourselves and our relations with the rest of the world. The
part which the United States bore so honorably in the
thrilling scenes in China, while new to American life, has
been in harmony with its true spirit and best traditions,
and in dealing with the results its policy will be that of
moderation and fairness. We face at this moment a most important question that of
the future relations of the United States and Cuba. With our
near neighbors we must remain close friends. The declaration
of the purposes of this Government in the resolution of
April 20, 1898, must be made good. Ever since the evacuation
of the island by the army of Spain, the Executive, with all
practicable speed, has been assisting its people in the
successive steps necessary to the establishment of a free
and independent government prepared to assume and perform
the obligations of international law which now rest upon the
United States under the treaty of Paris. The convention
elected by the people to frame a constitution is approaching
the completion of its labors. The transfer of American
control to the new government is of such great importance,
involving an obligation resulting from our intervention and
the treaty of peace, that I am glad to be advised by the
recent act of Congress of the policy which the legislative
branch of the Government deems essential to the best
interests of Cuba and the United States. The principles
which led to our intervention require that the fundamental
law upon which the new government rests should be adapted to
secure a government capable of performing the duties and
discharging the functions of a separate nation, of observing
its international obligations of protecting life and
property, insuring order, safety, and liberty, and
conforming to the established and historical policy of the
United States in its relation to Cuba. The peace which we are pledged to leave to the Cuban
people must carry with it the guaranties of permanence. We
became sponsors for the pacification of the island, and we
remain accountable to the Cubans, no less than to our own
country and people, for the reconstruction of Cuba as a free
commonwealth on abiding foundations of right, justice,
liberty, and assured order. Our enfranchisement of the
people will not be completed until free Cuba shall "be a
reality, not a name; a perfect entity, not a hasty
experiment bearing within itself the elements of
failure." While the treaty of peace with Spain was ratified on the
6th of February, 1899, and ratifications were exchanged
nearly two years ago, the Congress has indicated no form of
government for the Philippine Islands. It has, however,
provided an army to enable the Executive to suppress
insurrection, restore peace, give security to the
inhabitants, and establish the authority of the United
States throughout the archipelago. It has authorized the
organization of native troops as auxiliary to the regular
force. It has been advised from time to time of the acts of
the military and naval officers in the islands, of my action
in appointing civil commissions, of the instructions with
which they were charged, of their duties and powers, of
their recommendations, and of their several acts under
executive commission, together with the very complete
general information they have submitted. These reports fully
set forth the conditions, past and present, in the islands,
and the instructions clearly show the principles which will
guide the Executive until the Congress shall, as it is
required to do by the treaty, determine "the civil rights
and political status of the native inhabitants." The
Congress having added the sanction of its authority to the
powers already possessed and exercised by the Executive
under the Constitution, thereby leaving with the Executive
the responsibility for the government of the Philippines, I
shall continue the efforts already begun until order shall
be restored throughout the islands, and as fast as
conditions permit will establish local governments, in the
formation of which the full co-operation of the people has
been already invited, and when established will encourage
the people to administer them. The settled purpose, long ago
proclaimed, to afford the inhabitants of the islands
self-government as fast as they were ready for it will be
pursued with earnestness and fidelity. Already something has
been accomplished in this direction. The Government's
representatives, civil and military, are doing faithful and
noble work in their mission of emancipation and merit the
approval and support of their countrymen. The most liberal
terms of amnesty have already been communicated to the
insurgents, and the way is still open for those who have
raised their arms against the Government for honorable
submission to its authority. Our countrymen should not be
deceived. We are not waging war against the inhabitants of
the Philippine Islands. A portion of them are making war
against the United States. By far the greater part of the
inhabitants recognize American sovereignty and welcome it as
a guaranty of order and of security for life, property,
liberty, freedom of conscience, and the pursuit of
happiness. To them full protection will be given. They shall
not be abandoned. We will not leave the destiny of the loyal
millions the islands to the disloyal thousands who are in
rebellion against the United States. Order under civil
institutions will come as soon as those who now break the
peace shall keep it. Force will not be needed or used when
those who make war against us shall make it no more. May it
end without further bloodshed, and there be ushered in the
reign of peace to be made permanent by a government of
liberty under law!
March 4, 1901