both of your home and foreign affairs.

Whether the elements of inherent force in the Republic have kept pace
with its unparalleled progression in territory, population, and wealth
has been the subject of earnest thought and discussion on both sides of
the ocean. Less than sixty-four years ago the Father of his Country
made "the" then "recent accession of the important State of North
Carolina to the Constitution of the United States" one of the subjects
of his special congratulation. At that moment, however, when the
agitation consequent upon the Revolutionary struggle had hardly
subsided, when we were just emerging from the weakness and
embarrassments of the Confederation, there was an evident consciousness
of vigor equal to the great mission so wisely and bravely fulfilled by
our fathers. It was not a presumptuous assurance, but a calm faith,
springing from a clear view of the sources of power in a government
constituted like ours. It is no paradox to say that although
comparatively weak the new-born nation was intrinsically strong.
Inconsiderable in population and apparent resources, it was upheld by a
broad and intelligent comprehension of rights and an all-pervading
purpose to maintain them, stronger than armaments. It came from the
furnace of the Revolution, tempered to the necessities of the times.
The thoughts of the men of that day were as practical as their
sentiments were patriotic. They wasted no portion of their energies
upon idle and delusive speculations, but with a firm and fearless step
advanced beyond the governmental landmarks which had hitherto
circumscribed the limits of human freedom and planted their standard,
where it has stood against dangers which have threatened from abroad,
and internal agitation, which has at times fearfully menaced at home.
They proved themselves equal to the solution of the great problem, to
understand which their minds had been illuminated by the dawning lights
of the Revolution. The object sought was not a thing dreamed of; it was
a thing realized. They had exhibited only the power to achieve, but,
what all history affirms to be so much more unusual, the capacity to
maintain. The oppressed throughout the world from that day to the
present have turned their eyes hitherward, not to find those lights
extinguished or to fear lest they should wane, but to be constantly
cheered by their steady and increasing radiance.

In this our country has, in my judgment, thus far fulfilled its highest
duty to suffering humanity. It has spoken and will continue to speak,
not only by its words, but by its acts, the language of sympathy,
encouragement, and hope to those who earnestly listen to tones which
pronounce for the largest rational liberty. But after all, the most
animating encouragement and potent appeal for freedom will be its own
history - its trials and its triumphs. Preeminently, the power of our
advocacy reposes in our example; but no example, be it remembered, can
be powerful for lasting good, whatever apparent advantages may be
gained, which is not based upon eternal principles of right and
justice. Our fathers decided for themselves, both upon the hour to
declare and the hour to strike. They were their own judges of the
circumstances under which it became them to pledge to each other "their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" for the acquisition of
the priceless inheritance transmitted to us. The energy with which that
great conflict was opened and, under the guidance of a manifest and
beneficent Providence the uncomplaining endurance with which it was
prosecuted to its consummation were only surpassed by the wisdom and
patriotic spirit of concession which characterized all the counsels of
the early fathers.

One of the most impressive evidences of that wisdom is to be found in
the fact that the actual working of our system has dispelled a degree
of solicitude which at the outset disturbed bold hearts and
far-reaching intellects. The apprehension of dangers from extended
territory, multiplied States, accumulated wealth, and augmented
population has proved to be unfounded. The stars upon your banner have
become nearly threefold their original number; your densely populated
possessions skirt the shores of the two great oceans; and yet this vast
increase of people and territory has not only shown itself compatible
with the harmonious action of the States and Federal Government in
their respective constitutional spheres, but has afforded an additional
guaranty of the strength and integrity of both.

With an experience thus suggestive and cheering, the policy of my
Administration will not be controlled by any timid forebodings of evil
from expansion. Indeed, it is not to be disguised that our attitude as
a nation and our position on the globe render the acquisition of
certain possessions not within our jurisdiction eminently important for
our protection, if not in the future essential for the preservation of
the rights of commerce and the peace of the world. Should they be
obtained, it will be through no grasping spirit, but with a view to
obvious national interest and security, and in a manner entirely
consistent with the strictest observance of national faith. We have
nothing in our history or position to invite aggression; we have
everything to beckon us to the cultivation of relations of peace and
amity with all nations. Purposes, therefore, at once just and pacific
will be significantly marked in the conduct of our foreign affairs. I
intend that my Administration shall leave no blot upon our fair record,
and trust I may safely give the assurance that no act within the
legitimate scope of my constitutional control will be tolerated on the
part of any portion of our citizens which can not challenge a ready
justification before the tribunal of the civilized world. An
Administration would be unworthy of confidence at home or respect
abroad should it cease to be influenced by the conviction that no
apparent advantage can be purchased at a price so dear as that of
national wrong or dishonor. It is not your privilege as a nation to
speak of a distant past. The striking incidents of your history,
replete with instruction and furnishing abundant grounds for hopeful
confidence, are comprised in a period comparatively brief. But if your
past is limited, your future is boundless. Its obligations throng the
unexplored pathway of advancement, and will be limitless as duration.
Hence a sound and comprehensive policy should embrace not less the
distant future than the urgent present.

The great objects of our pursuit as a people are best to be attained by
peace, and are entirely consistent with the tranquillity and interests
of the rest of mankind. With the neighboring nations upon our continent
we should cultivate kindly and fraternal relations. We can desire
nothing in regard to them so much as to see them consolidate their
strength and pursue the paths of prosperity and happiness. If in the
course of their growth we should open new channels of trade and create
additional facilities for friendly intercourse, the benefits realized
will be equal and mutual. Of the complicated European systems of
national polity we have heretofore been independent. From their wars,
their tumults, and anxieties we have been, happily, almost entirely
exempt. Whilst these are confined to the nations which gave them
existence, and within their legitimate jurisdiction, they can not
affect us except as they appeal to our sympathies in the cause of human
freedom and universal advancement. But the vast interests of commerce
are common to all mankind, and the advantages of trade and
international intercourse must always present a noble field for the
moral influence of a great people.

With these views firmly and honestly carried out, we have a right to
expect, and shall under all circumstances require, prompt reciprocity.
The rights which belong to us as a nation are not alone to be regarded,
but those which pertain to every citizen in his individual capacity, at
home and abroad, must be sacredly maintained. So long as he can discern
every star in its place upon that ensign, without wealth to purchase
for him preferment or title to secure for him place, it will be his
privilege, and must be his acknowledged right, to stand unabashed even
in the presence of princes, with a proud consciousness that he is
himself one of a nation of sovereigns and that he can not in legitimate
pursuit wander so far from home that the agent whom he shall leave
behind in the place which I now occupy will not see that no rude hand
of power or tyrannical passion is laid upon him with impunity. He must
realize that upon every sea and on every soil where our enterprise may
rightfully seek the protection of our flag American citizenship is an
inviolable panoply for the security of American rights. And in this
connection it can hardly be necessary to reaffirm a principle which
should now be regarded as fundamental. The rights, security, and repose
of this Confederacy reject the idea of interference or colonization on
this side of the ocean by any foreign power beyond present jurisdiction
as utterly inadmissible.

The opportunities of observation furnished by my brief experience as a
soldier confirmed in my own mind the opinion, entertained and acted
upon by others from the formation of the Government, that the
maintenance of large standing armies in our country would be not only
dangerous, but unnecessary. They also illustrated the importance - I
might well say the absolute necessity - of the military science and
practical skill furnished in such an eminent degree by the institution
which has made your Army what it is, under the discipline and
instruction of officers not more distinguished for their solid
attainments, gallantry, and devotion to the public service than for
unobtrusive bearing and high moral tone. The Army as organized must be
the nucleus around which in every time of need the strength of your
military power, the sure bulwark of your defense - a national militia -
may be readily formed into a well-disciplined and efficient
organization. And the skill and self-devotion of the Navy assure you
that you may take the performance of the past as a pledge for the
future, and may confidently expect that the flag which has waved its
untarnished folds over every sea will still float in undiminished
honor. But these, like many other subjects, will be appropriately
brought at a future time to the attention of the coordinate branches of
the Government, to which I shall always look with profound respect and
with trustful confidence that they will accord to me the aid and
support which I shall so much need and which their experience and
wisdom will readily suggest.

In the administration of domestic affairs you expect a devoted
integrity in the public service and an observance of rigid economy in
all departments, so marked as never justly to be questioned. If this
reasonable expectation be not realized, I frankly confess that one of
your leading hopes is doomed to disappointment, and that my efforts in
a very important particular must result in a humiliating failure.
Offices can be properly regarded only in the light of aids for the
accomplishment of these objects, and as occupancy can confer no
prerogative nor importunate desire for preferment any claim, the public
interest imperatively demands that they be considered with sole
reference to the duties to be performed. Good citizens may well claim
the protection of good laws and the benign influence of good
government, but a claim for office is what the people of a republic
should never recognize. No reasonable man of any party will expect the
Administration to be so regardless of its responsibility and of the
obvious elements of success as to retain persons known to be under the
influence of political hostility and partisan prejudice in positions
which will require not only severe labor, but cordial cooperation.
Having no implied engagements to ratify, no rewards to bestow, no
resentments to remember, and no personal wishes to consult in
selections for official station, I shall fulfill this difficult and
delicate trust, admitting no motive as worthy either of my character or
position which does not contemplate an efficient discharge of duty and
the best interests of my country. I acknowledge my obligations to the
masses of my countrymen, and to them alone. Higher objects than
personal aggrandizement gave direction and energy to their exertions in
the late canvass, and they shall not be disappointed. They require at
my hands diligence, integrity, and capacity wherever there are duties
to be performed. Without these qualities in their public servants, more
stringent laws for the prevention or punishment of fraud, negligence,
and peculation will be vain. With them they will be unnecessary.

But these are not the only points to which you look for vigilant
watchfulness. The dangers of a concentration of all power in the
general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to
be disregarded. You have a right, therefore, to expect your agents in
every department to regard strictly the limits imposed upon them by the
Constitution of the United States. The great scheme of our
constitutional liberty rests upon a proper distribution of power
between the State and Federal authorities, and experience has shown
that the harmony and happiness of our people must depend upon a just
discrimination between the separate rights and responsibilities of the
States and your common rights and obligations under the General
Government; and here, in my opinion, are the considerations which
should form the true basis of future concord in regard to the questions
which have most seriously disturbed public tranquillity. If the Federal
Government will confine itself to the exercise of powers clearly
granted by the Constitution, it can hardly happen that its action upon
any question should endanger the institutions of the States or
interfere with their right to manage matters strictly domestic
according to the will of their own people.

In expressing briefly my views upon an important subject rich has
recently agitated the nation to almost a fearful degree, I am moved by
no other impulse than a most earnest desire for the perpetuation of
that Union which has made us what we are, showering upon us blessings
and conferring a power and influence which our fathers could hardly
have anticipated, even with their most sanguine hopes directed to a
far-off future. The sentiments I now announce were not unknown before
the expression of the voice which called me here. My own position upon
this subject was clear and unequivocal, upon the record of my words and
my acts, and it is only recurred to at this time because silence might
perhaps be misconstrued. With the Union my best and dearest earthly
hopes are entwined. Without it what are we individually or
collectively? What becomes of the noblest field ever opened for the
advancement of our race in religion, in government, in the arts, and in
all that dignifies and adorns mankind? From that radiant constellation
which both illumines our own way and points out to struggling nations
their course, let but a single star be lost, and, if these be not utter
darkness, the luster of the whole is dimmed. Do my countrymen need any
assurance that such a catastrophe is not to overtake them while I
possess the power to stay it? It is with me an earnest and vital belief
that as the Union has been the source, under Providence, of our
prosperity to this time, so it is the surest pledge of a continuance of
the blessings we have enjoyed, and which we are sacredly bound to
transmit undiminished to our children. The field of calm and free
discussion in our country is open, and will always be so, but never has
been and never can be traversed for good in a spirit of sectionalism
and uncharitableness. The founders of the Republic dealt with things as
they were presented to them, in a spirit of self-sacrificing
patriotism, and, as time has proved, with a comprehensive wisdom which
it will always be safe for us to consult. Every measure tending to
strengthen the fraternal feelings of all the members of our Union has
had my heartfelt approbation. To every theory of society or government,
whether the offspring of feverish ambition or of morbid enthusiasm,
calculated to dissolve the bonds of law and affection which unite us, I
shall interpose a ready and stern resistance. I believe that
involuntary servitude, as it exists in different States of this
Confederacy, is recognized by the Constitution. I believe that it
stands like any other admitted right, and that the States where it
exists are entitled to efficient remedies to enforce the constitutional
provisions. I hold that the laws of 1850, commonly called the
"compromise measures," are strictly constitutional and to be
unhesitatingly carried into effect. I believe that the constituted
authorities of this Republic are bound to regard the rights of the
South in this respect as they would view any other legal and
constitutional right, and that the laws to enforce them should be
respected and obeyed, not with a reluctance encouraged by abstract
opinions as to their propriety in a different state of society, but
cheerfully and according to the decisions of the tribunal to which
their exposition belongs. Such have been, and are, my convictions, and
upon them I shall act. I fervently hope that the question is at rest,
and that no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement may again
threaten the durability of our institutions or obscure the light of our
prosperity.

But let not the foundation of our hope rest upon man's wisdom. It will
not be sufficient that sectional prejudices find no place in the public
deliberations. It will not be sufficient that the rash counsels of
human passion are rejected. It must be felt that there is no national
security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God
and His overruling providence.

We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis. Wise
counsels, like those which gave us the Constitution, prevailed to
uphold it. Let the period be remembered as an admonition, and not as an
encouragement, in any section of the Union, to make experiments where
experiments are fraught with such fearful hazard. Let it be impressed
upon all hearts that, beautiful as our fabric is, no earthly power or
wisdom could ever reunite its broken fragments. Standing, as I do,
almost within view of the green slopes of Monticello, and, as it were,
within reach of the tomb of Washington, with all the cherished memories
of the past gathering around me like so many eloquent voices of
exhortation from heaven, I can express no better hope for my country
than that the kind Providence which smiled upon our fathers may enable
their children to preserve the blessings they have inherited.


***

James Buchanan
Inaugural Address
Wednesday, March 4, 1857

Fellow-Citizens:

I APPEAR before you this day to take the solemn oath "that I will
faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and
will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States."

In entering upon this great office I must humbly invoke the God of our
fathers for wisdom and firmness to execute its high and responsible
duties in such a manner as to restore harmony and ancient friendship
among the people of the several States and to preserve our free
institutions throughout many generations. Convinced that I owe my
election to the inherent love for the Constitution and the Union which
still animates the hearts of the American people, let me earnestly ask
their powerful support in sustaining all just measures calculated to
perpetuate these, the richest political blessings which Heaven has ever
bestowed upon any nation. Having determined not to become a candidate
for reelection, I shall have no motive to influence my conduct in
administering the Government except the desire ably and faithfully to
serve my country and to live in grateful memory of my countrymen.

We have recently passed through a Presidential contest in which the
passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to the highest degree by
questions of deep and vital importance; but when the people proclaimed
their will the tempest at once subsided and all was calm.

The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner prescribed by the
Constitution, was heard, and instant submission followed. Our own
country could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a spectacle of
the capacity of man for self-government.

What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this simple
rule, that the will of the majority shall govern, to the settlement of
the question of domestic slavery in the Territories. Congress is
neither "to legislate slavery into any Territory or State nor to
exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to
form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject
only to the Constitution of the United States."

As a natural consequence, Congress has also prescribed that when the
Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a State it "shall be received
into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may
prescribe at the time of their admission."

A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time when
the people of a Territory shall decide this question for themselves.

This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. Besides,
it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme
Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it
is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in
common with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit, whatever this
may be, though it has ever been my individual opinion that under the
Nebraska-Kansas act the appropriate period will be when the number of
actual residents in the Territory shall justify the formation of a
constitution with a view to its admission as a State into the Union.
But be this as it may, it is the imperative and indispensable duty of
the Government of the United States to secure to every resident
inhabitant the free and independent expression of his opinion by his
vote. This sacred right of each individual must be preserved. That
being accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave the people of a
Territory free from all foreign interference to decide their own
destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the United
States.

The whole Territorial question being thus settled upon the principle of
popular sovereignty - a principle as ancient as free government itself
- everything of a practical nature has been decided. No other question
remains for adjustment, because all agree that under the Constitution
slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human power except
that of the respective States themselves wherein it exists. May we not,
then, hope that the long agitation on this subject is approaching its
end, and that the geographical parties to which it has given birth, so
much dreaded by the Father of his Country, will speedily become
extinct? Most happy will it be for the country when the public mind
shall be diverted from this question to others of more pressing and
practical importance. Throughout the whole progress of this agitation,
which has scarcely known any intermission for more than twenty years,
whilst it has been productive of no positive good to any human being it
has been the prolific source of great evils to the master, to the
slave, and to the whole country. It has alienated and estranged the
people of the sister States from each other, and has even seriously
endangered the very existence of the Union. Nor has the danger yet
entirely ceased. Under our system there is a remedy for all mere
political evils in the sound sense and sober judgment of the people.
Time is a great corrective. Political subjects which but a few years
ago excited and exasperated the public mind have passed away and are
now nearly forgotten. But this question of domestic slavery is of far
graver importance than any mere political question, because should the
agitation continue it may eventually endanger the personal safety of a
large portion of our countrymen where the institution exists. In that
event no form of government, however admirable in itself and however
productive of material benefits, can compensate for the loss of peace
and domestic security around the family altar. Let every Union-loving