i^rvative element which bound hearts though it could not reconcile
Digitized by
Google
110 .
ofMotons. Without that:eieiiitDt -the Union woold not have been
created then. Without it, the Union cannot be preserved now.
Indiana, acantral State, has always, maintained a high, conserva-
tive position, especially on that exciting question of the day; which
has threatened, more seriously than any other, the integrity of pur
Qonfederacy of States* She is« indeed, convinced, that she has
wisely selected her own donaestic policy. She. is satisfied with the
d^pree of prosperity, which under that free policy, she has attained..
Our State was the nineteenth admitted into the Union. In wealth
in agricaltural and commercial importance she is now the fifth, if
indeMl^e be not the fourth. Of the eighteen States which com-,
poeed the Union when we were admitted, four, at most, are now in
aur advance : and not one of those since admitted has come within
sight of us. Maintaining her position ahead of all her younger sisters,
Indiana has walked quietly in advance of fourteen of the older
States. In our onward progress we have uniformly acted toward-
each, equal to equal. Our compacts with the Great confederacy to
which we belong and every member of it, have been faithfully kept
in letter and in spirit* Neither by legislative act nor otherwise have
we withheld from any citizen of the Union the rights which, under
the federal compact, are assured to him. To this day no cause of
complaint has beeen given; nor, so far as I. know, has complaint been
made, against Indiana, by any State in the Union.
Above all, Indiana recognizes the imperative duty, by every good
dtizen, of obedience to the laws of the land.
Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the late compro-
mise measures enacted by Congress, however ultra men in the North
or in the South <nay oppose or denounce them, there is but .one
course of action for the true patriot to pursue; and that is, unhesi-
tatingly and in good faith to carry out their enactments.
There is no safety for property, for liberty, nor for life, except in the :
absolute supremacy of the law. There is no higher duty of the citizen
than to maintain, by word and deed, that supremacy. As we value the
heritage, rich beyond all price, purchased not with silver .or gold,:
but with the life's blood of the good and braye — that heritage be-
queathed to us by our fathers, and which we, in turn, must bequeath
inviolate to our descendants — let us bear in mind, this great truth .
that the first public act of disobedience to law, is the first fatal step
on the downward road to anarchy.
The Constitution of this great Confederacy, written on parchment,
may be rent asunder, if it be not written also on the hearts and
affections of the people. It is written on ours. We love, we re- .
spect it, we give it our highest sanction, alike for the sake, of the
sacred principles, guardian of human liberty, embodied in its provis-
ions, for the unnumbered blessings we. have enjoyed under its rule;
and in memory also of that band of great and good men, who con- :
ceived and established it. Tbis truth should be undeiistopd by our
' people, that this Union cannot be preserved by force. If it could,
Digitized by
Google
•15^ /!'
it would not be worth preserving. The bonds and ligaments that
bind as togefher, are moral and not physical. Our glorious Union
is one of consent and not of force. It is a Union of confidence, of
trust, of love, and of affection. When these are gone, the Union
loses all its attraction and value.
At no hour of our history have we required, more than at the
present, an infusion into our councils of that spirit in which the
articles of our confederacy were first conceived. As Representa-
tives, as citizens of Indiana, as citizens of the United States, we have
difficult, delicate, important duties to perform. Foremost amoiu(
these is the obligation to oppose, by every lawful means, that spirit
of factious fanaticism alike suicidal wherever it has birth, .which
insidiously assunpes the garb, in one section, of philanthropy, in
another, of State rights* By speech, by action, by concession, by
forbearance, by compromise, by the influence of moral suasion and
the.strong power of kindness, by each and all of these meansi lei us
seek to allay the spirit of lawless misrule, that spirit which instab
each man's opinion the arbiter of constitutional rights, or which
coolly estimates the value of this Union, and looks with steady eya
on a separation of these States, the certain herald of bloodshed
and a thousand horrors, a separation to be surely and speedily fol-
lowed by war, in its most odious form, servile, perhaps, as well as
civil, — war among those of the same race, the same name, the same
blood, — ^war that shall brin^ together in hostile array, neighbor
against neighbor, brother agamst brother, son against sire. _
To avert calamities so direful, Indiana will cast, even to the lastt
the entire weight of her influence. She will be just to each and
every member of the confederacy— just to the Constitution— just to
the laws. She will abide by that Constitution — abide by the laws;
and above all, she will abide by the comprombes made by our
fathers — the compromises made by the great and ^ood men of tlus
day. She will hope, she will pray, that the same kind and overruling
Providence which watched over our Fathers at the adoption of the
Constitution, and has sustained in every crisis and cheered in every
hour of darkness since, will direct their sons also in the paths of
wisdom and of peace, and enable us to transmit to posterity that
sacred instrument, a guide and a blessing in the Future, as it has ever
beeoi in the Past.
Indiana takes her stand in the ranks, not of Southern destiny^ nor
yet of NoRTHXRii dbbtiht. She plants herself on the basis of the
Constitution ; and takes her stand in the ranks of American DBsmnr.
JOSEPH A. WRIGHT.
December 31, 1850.
, Digitized by
Google
\ii
TABULAR £STIMAT&-^EB PAGE 6.
Ymr.
JautaUfMtm
Ammuu^ rimiift
iaeriMMS^vemt
rindMl
KpHfafaiL
1853
500,000 00
100,000 00
100,000 00
1854
515,000 00
120,000 00
230,000 00
1855
530.450 00
141.450 00
361,450 00
1856
546,363 50
164,436 00
525386 00
1857
562,754 40
189,048 70
714,934 70
1858
579,637 03
215,383 76
930318 4S
1859
597,026 14
243,542 06
1.173360 52
18«0
614,936 92
273,629 94
1,447,490 46
1861
633,385 02
305,759 54
1,753,250 00
1862
652,386 57
340,049 07
2,093,299 07
1863
671,958 16
376,623 11
2,469,922 18
1864
692,116 90
415,613 00
2385335 18
1865
712,880 40
457,157 15
3342,692 33
1866
734,266 81
501,401 42
3344.093 75
1867
756,294 81
548,499 49
4392393 24
1868
778,983 65
598,613 31
4,991,206 55
1869
802353 15
651,903 47
5,643,110 03
1870
856,423 74
708,579 24
6351,689 26
1871
851,216 45
768300 61
7,120,490 17
Digitized by
Google
Ot^ff'f
WASHINGTON'S
FAREWELL ADDRESS.
TOTHK
PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1796.
(APPKHDKD TO THK GOVERNOR'S MES8AGB, ACCORDIRO TO A LAW OF l8iB.)
Faimsim aicd Fbllow Citizens:
The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the exec^
utive government of the United States, being not far distant, and
the time actually arrived \vhen your thoughts must be employed in
designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust;
it appears to me proper, e.<pecially as it may conduce to a more dis-
tiact expression of the public voice, that I should now apprize you
of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among
the Dumber of those out of whom a choice is to be made.
I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured^
that thb resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all
the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful
citizen to his country ; and that, in withdrawing the tender of ser-
vice, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by
tui diminution of zeal for your future interest — no deficiency of grate-
ful respect for your past kindness ; but am supported by a full con*
Tiction. that the step is compatible with^'both.
The acceptance of, and a continuance hitherto in, the oflice to
which your suflTrages have twice called me, have been a uniform'
sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference to
what appeared to be your desire. 1 constantly hoped that it wootii
2D14
Digitized by
Google
130
have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which
I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from
which 1 have been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclina*
tion to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the pre-
paration of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on
the then perplexed and critical posture of our aflaira with foreign na-
tions, and the unanimous ad vice of persons entitled to my confidence,
impelled me to abandon the idea.
1 rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as inter-
nal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with
the sentiment of duty or propriety; and am. persuaded, whatever
partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present cir-
cumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determina-
tion to retire.
Thf impressions with which 1 first undertook the arduous trusty
Were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this
trust, I will only say, that 1 have, with good intention, contributed
towards the organization and administration of the government, the
best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not
unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications,
experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others,
has strengthened the motives to diffidence to myself; and every day
the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that
the shade of retirement is as necessar> for me, as it will be welcome.
Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my
services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that
while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patri-
otism does not forbid it.
In lookin^r forward to the moment which is intended to terminate
the career ot my pub'ic life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend
tlu^ deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to
my beloved country, for the many honora it has conferred upon me ;
still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported
me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed, of manifesting
my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering,
though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to
oui: country from these services, let it always be remembered to your
praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under cir«-
ciimstances in wh'ch the passions, agitated in every direction, were
liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes ' dubious, viciasl'^
tudes of fortune often discouraging, in 8ittuiti<Hks in which, not uo^
frequently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism,
the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the eflTorti,
and a guaranty of the plans by which they were efiected. Profound*
]y. penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as
a strong excitement to unceasing vows, that Heaven may continue
to. you the choicest tokens of its beneiicenre ; that yotir union. and
brotherly affection may be perpetual ; that the free constitutiM,
Digitized by
Google
which ii the work of your haiulv, may be sacredly malDtaroed ; that
its adiiiinistnitioii, in every department, ihay be stamped with wis-
dom aad tirtue ; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these
States^ ander the auspices oflibertv, may be made complete by so
eareful a preservation, and so prudent ause of this blessing, as witl'
acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, ttie'
affectioD, and the adoption of eiery nation which is yet a stranger
\6lt.
Here, perhaps, 1 ought to stop ; but a soiicitode for your welfare,
which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger
natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present*
to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your
frequent review, some sentiments, which are the result of much re-*
flection, of noinconsiderabie observation, and which appear to me all
important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These
will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see ia
them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly
have no personal motive to bias his counsel ; nor can I forget, as an
encoam^ement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a'
former and not dissimilar occasion.
Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your^
heart, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm'
the attachment.
The unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is
rftto now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a'main pillar in the'
edifice of your real independence ; the support of your tranquility at
home, your peace abroad ; ol your safety ; of your proi^perity ; of
that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to
foresee, that from different causes and from different quarters, much
pains will betaken, many artifices employed, to weaken, in your'
minds, the conviction of this truth ; as this is the point in your polit-
ical fortress against which the batteries of internal and etternal ene-
mies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and'
insidiously) directed* it is of infinite moment that you should properly
estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective
and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual,
and immoveable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think
and spedk of it as of the palladium of your political safety and pros-*
perity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discouo-
tenandng whatever may surest even a suspicion that it can, in any
event, be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawn-'
ing of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from
the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the
varieuBi parts.
For thb you have every inducement of sympathy and interest
Citizens, by birth, or choice, of a common country, that country has
a right to concentrate your affections. The nnnie o( American ^ which'
taiUa|(t to you in your national capacity, most aiwap exalt the just*
Digitized by
Google
m
pride of patriotum* more than any appellation derived froip local
discriminations. With slight shades of diflTerence, you have the
same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have,
in a CO. union cause, fought and, triumphed together; the independ*
^M^e and liberty you possess are the work of joint counciU and joint
e0Qrts, of common dangers, sufferings and successes.
But these considerations, however powerfully they address them*
selves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those v^hich ap*
ply more. immediately to your interest ; here every portion of our
country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding
and preserving the union of the whole.
The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protect^
ed by the equal laws of a Common government, finds in the prpduc*
tions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and com*
ipercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry.
The South, in the same intercourse, benefitting by the agency of the
North, sees its agriculture grow, and its commerce expand. Turn«>
if(g partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it fin/tln its
particular navigation invigorated : and while it contributes, in differ*
ent ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national
naviffaiion, it looks forward, to the protection of a maritime, strength,
to which itself is equally adapted. The East, in like intercourse with
tne West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of inte-
rior communications by land and water, will more and more find a
valuab'e vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, .or
maniifactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies
requisite to its growth and comfort ; and what is pei ha|is ot still
greater consequence, it must, of necessity, owe the secure enjoyment
oJT indispensable outlets for itsown productions, to the weight, iuflu*
ence, andthe future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the
(fnioo, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one na*
tion. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential
]|dvantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from
an apostate and unnatural connexion with any foreign power, must
he intrinsically precarious
' While, then, every p^n of our country thus feels an immediate
and particular interest m union, all the parts combined cannot fail to
find, in the united mass of means and efforts, greater strength, great*
er resource^ proportionably greater security from external danger, a
less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations: and what
is of inestimable valued they must derive from union, an exemption
from those broils and wai*s between themselves, which so frequently
afflict neighboring countries, not tied together by the ^me .govern*
ment, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to pro*
duQe, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues,
would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise! they will avoid the
i^ecessity of those overgrown military establishn>ents, wh|ch, under
any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are
Digitized by VjOOQIC
to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty ; in thn
tense it is* that your union ought to be considered as a mnin prop of
your liberty, and that the love oftheone ought to endear to you the
preservation cvf the other.
These considemtions spealc a persuasive language to every reflect-
ing and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of that union as
a primary opject of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a
common government can embrace so large a sphere T Let experience
•olve'ic. To listen to mere speculotion in such a case, were criminal
We are authorized to hope, that a proper orsar.ization of the whole,
with the auxiliary aeency of governments lor the respective subdi-
visions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is welt wortb
a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives
to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall
not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will alwas be rea-
son to distrust the patriotism of those, who, in any quarter, may en-
deavor to weaken its bands.
In contemplating the causes which may disturb our union, it occurs
asmatter of serious concern, that any ground sliould have been fur-
nished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations; —
Northern and Southern — Atlantic and Western ; ^\ hence designing
men may endeavor to excite the belief that there is a real difierence
of local interests and views. Orle of the expedients of parly to ac-
quire in6ueQce within particular districts is, to misrepresent the opin-^
ions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too
much against the jealousies and heat*t- burnings which spring from
these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each otheir
those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The
inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on
this head ; they have seen in the n^otiation by the executive, and
by the unanimous ratification by the ^nate,of ihe treaty with Spain,
and in the universal sati<yfaction at that event throughout the United
Slates, a dedsive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagat-
ed among them, of a policy in the general government, and in the
AtlaUtic States, unfriendly to their interests, in regard to the Missis-
sippi: they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties;
that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to theni
every thing they coulJ desire in respect to our foreign relations, to*
wards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to
rely for the preservation of these advantages, on the union bv whic-
they were pi*ocured t Will they not henceforth be deaf to those ad
risers, if auch there are, who would sever theni from their brethren
and connect them with aliens?
To* the efficacy and permanency of your union, a government for
the whole is indispensable. No alliances, howeyel* strict, between
the parts, can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably expe*
rience the infractions and intei'ruptions which all alliances, in all
liniei, have ekperienced. Sensible of thb mom^ntoiis truth, you have
Digitized by
Google
s
1^
improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitulipn of
government better calculated than your formeri for an intimate un*
.ion, and for the efficacious management of your common coqcerns.
This government, the offspring of your own choice, uninfluenced and
unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation,
completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its poiprers,
juniting secujity with energy, and containing within itself a provision
for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your
support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acqtii*
escence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental max-
ims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is th^ right
f the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government:
»ut, the coistitution which at any time exists, till changed by an ex-
plicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory
upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people te
establish government, pre-supposes the duty of every individual to
obey the established government.
All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations find
associations, under whatever plausibly character, with the real de-
sign to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation
and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fun-
damental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize
faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the
place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often
js small but artful and enterprising minority of the community s and,
according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the
public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
projects ol' faction, rather than the organ of consistent and whole-
IK^me plans, digested by common councils and modified by mutual
interests.
tiowever combinations or associations of the above description
may now and then answer popular ends, they are likelv, ^n tb9
course of time and things, to become potent engines, by wMch cun-
ning, ambitious, and unprincipled men, will be enabled to subvert
the |Kiwer of tbe people, and to usurp for themselves the reins g(
government, destroying, afterwards^ tbe very engines which hav^
ufted them to unjust dominion.
Towards the preservation of your government, i^nd the permanent
fy of vour present happy st^te, it is requisite, not onlv that voj^
steadily discountenance irregular opposition to its acknf>wle4ge4
authority, but also that you resist with care, the spirit of inuovatmi
upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of
assault may be, to effect, in the forms of th^ con^titutiou, alteratiom
which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undern)ine
what cannot be directly overthrown. In all tbe changes to whicb
you may be invited, remember, that time and habit are t|t least 9f
necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other hu*
man institutions ; that experience is the surest standard by which t^