of intelligence it may well be hoped that they will constantly diminish
in frequency and violence. The generous patriotism and sound common
sense of the great mass of our fellow-ci tizens will assuredly in time
produce this result; for as every assumption of illegal power not only
wounds the majesty of the law, but furnishes a pretext for abridging
the liberties of the people, the latter have the most direct and
permanent interest i n preserving the landmarks of social order and
maintaining on all occasions the inviolability of those constitutional
and legal provisions which they themselves have made.

In a supposed unfitness of our institutions for those hostile
emergencies which no country can always avoid their friends found a
fruitful source of apprehension, their enemies of hope. While they
foresaw less promptness of action than in governments differently
formed, they overlooked the far more important consideration that with
us war could never be the result of individual or irresponsible will,
but must be a measure of redress for injuries sustained, voluntarily
resorted to by th ose who were to bear the necessary sacrifice, who
would consequently feel an individual interest in the contest, and
whose energy would be commensurate with the difficulties to be
encountered. Actual events have proved their error; the last war, far
from impairing, gave new confidence to our Government, and amid recent
apprehensions of a similar conflict we saw that the energies of our
country would not be wanting in ample season to vindicate its rights.
We may not possess, as we should not desire to poss ess, the extended
and ever-ready military organization of other nations; we may
occasionally suffer in the outset for the want of it; but among
ourselves all doubt upon this great point has ceased, while a salutary
experience will prevent a contrary opini on from inviting aggression
from abroad.

Certain danger was foretold from the extension of our territory, the
multiplication of States, and the increase of population. Our system
was supposed to be adapted only to boundaries comparatively narrow.
These have been widened beyon d conjecture; the members of our
Confederacy are already doubled, and the numbers of our people are
incredibly augmented. The alleged causes of danger have long surpassed
anticipation, but none of the consequences have followed. The power and
influence of the Republic have arisen to a height obvious to all
mankind; respect for its authority was not more apparent at its ancient
than it is at its present limits; new and inexhaustible sources of
general prosperity have been opened; the effects of distance ha ve been
averted by the inventive genius of our people, developed and fostered
by the spirit of our institutions; and the enlarged variety and amount
of interests, productions, and pursuits have strengthened the chain of
mutual dependence and formed a circ le of mutual benefits too apparent
ever to be overlooked.

The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and
disaster supposed to lurk in our political condition was the
institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers were deeply impressed
with the delicacy of this subje ct, and they treated it with a
forbearance so evidently wise that in spite of every sinister
foreboding it never until the present period disturbed the tranquillity
of our common country. Such a result is sufficient evidence of the
justice and the patriot ism of their course; it is evidence not to be
mistaken that an adherence to it can prevent all embarrassment from
this as well as from every other anticipated cause of difficulty or
danger. Have not recent events made it obvious to the slightest
reflectio n that the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance is
injurious to every interest, that of humanity included? Amidst the
violence of excited passions this generous and fraternal feeling has
been sometimes disregarded; and standing as I now do befo re my
countrymen, in this high place of honor and of trust, I can not refrain
from anxiously invoking my fellow-citizens never to be deaf to its
dictates. Perceiving before my election the deep interest this subject
was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty fully to make
known my sentiments in regard to it, and now, when every motive for
misrepresentation has passed away, I trust that they will be candidly
weighed and understood. At least they will be my standard of conduct in
the path before m e. I then declared that if the desire of those of my
countrymen who were favorable to my election was gratified "I must go
into the Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent
of every attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery i n the
District of Columbia against the wishes of the slaveholding States, and
also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest
interference with it in the States where it exists." I submitted also
to my fellow-citizens, with fullness and frankness, the reasons which
led me to this determination. The result authorizes me to believe that
they have been approved and are confided in by a majority of the people
of the United States, including those whom they most immediately
affect. It now onl y remains to add that no bill conflicting with these
views can ever receive my constitutional sanction. These opinions have
been adopted in the firm belief that they are in accordance with the
spirit that actuated the venerated fathers of the Republic, an d that
succeeding experience has proved them to be humane, patriotic,
expedient, honorable, and just. If the agitation of this subject was
intended to reach the stability of our institutions, enough has
occurred to show that it has signally failed, and th at in this as in
every other instance the apprehensions of the timid and the hopes of
the wicked for the destruction of our Government are again destined to
be disappointed. Here and there, indeed, scenes of dangerous excitement
have occurred, terrifying instances of local violence have been
witnessed, and a reckless disregard of the consequences of their
conduct has exposed individuals to popular indignation; but neither
masses of the people nor sections of the country have been swerved from
their devoti on to the bond of union and the principles it has made
sacred. It will be ever thus. Such attempts at dangerous agitation may
periodically return, but with each the object will be better
understood. That predominating affection for our political system wh
ich prevails throughout our territorial limits, that calm and
enlightened judgment which ultimately governs our people as one vast
body, will always be at hand to resist and control every effort,
foreign or domestic, which aims or would lead to overthrow our
institutions.

What can be more gratifying than such a retrospect as this? We look
back on obstacles avoided and dangers overcome, on expectations more
than realized and prosperity perfectly secured. To the hopes of the
hostile, the fears of the timi d, and the doubts of the anxious actual
experience has given the conclusive reply. We have seen time gradually
dispel every unfavorable foreboding and our Constitution surmount every
adverse circumstance dreaded at the outset as beyond control. Present
ex citement will at all times magnify present dangers, but true
philosophy must teach us that none more threatening than the past can
remain to be overcome; and we ought (for we have just reason) to
entertain an abiding confidence in the stability of our ins titutions
and an entire conviction that if administered in the true form,
character, and spirit in which they were established they are
abundantly adequate to preserve to us and our children the rich
blessings already derived from them, to make our belove d land for a
thousand generations that chosen spot where happiness springs from a
perfect equality of political rights.

For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will
govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict
adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was
designed by those who framed i t. Looking back to it as a sacred
instrument carefully and not easily framed; remembering that it was
throughout a work of concession and compromise; viewing it as limited
to national objects; regarding it as leaving to the people and the
States all power not explicitly parted with, I shall endeavor to
preserve, protect, and defend it by anxiously referring to its
provision for direction in every action. To matters of domestic
concernment which it has intrusted to the Federal Government and to
such as rel ate to our intercourse with foreign nations I shall
zealously devote myself; beyond those limits I shall never pass.

To enter on this occasion into a further or more minute exposition of
my views on the various questions of domestic policy would be as
obtrusive as it is probably unexpected. Before the suffrages of my
countrymen were conferred upon me I submitted to them, with great
precision, my opinions on all the most prominent of these subjects.
Those opinions I shall endeavor to carry out with my utmost ability.

Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform and intelligible as to
constitute a rule of Executive conduct which leaves little to my
discretion, unless, indeed, I were willing to run counter to the lights
of experience and the know n opinions of my constituents. We sedulously
cultivate the friendship of all nations as the conditions most
compatible with our welfare and the principles of our Government. We
decline alliances as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial
relations on e qual terms, being ever willing to give a fair equivalent
for advantages received. We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with
openness and sincerity, promptly avowing our objects and seeking to
establish that mutual frankness which is as beneficial in the dealings
of nations as of men. We have no disposition and we disclaim all right
to meddle in disputes, whether internal or foreign, that may molest
other countries, regarding them in their actual state as social
communities, and preserving a strict neutr ality in all their
controversies. Well knowing the tried valor of our people and our
exhaustless resources, we neither anticipate nor fear any designed
aggression; and in the consciousness of our own just conduct we feel a
security that we shall never be called upon to exert our determination
never to permit an invasion of our rights without punishment or redress.

In approaching, then, in the presence of my assembled countrymen, to
make the solemn promise that yet remains, and to pledge myself that I
will faithfully execute the office I am about to fill, I bring with me
a settled purpose to main tain the institutions of my country, which I
trust will atone for the errors I commit.

In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my
illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and
so well, I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with
equal ability and success. But united as I have been in his counsels, a
daily witness of his exclusive and unsurpassed devotion to his
country's welfare, agreeing with him in sentiments which his countrymen
have warmly supported, and permitted to partake largely of his
confidence, I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering approbation
will be found to attend upon my path. For him I but express with my own
the wishes of all, that he may yet long live to enjoy the brilliant
evening of his well-spent life; and for myself, consciou s of but one
desire, faithfully to serve my country, I throw myself without fear on
its justice and its kindness. Beyond that I only look to the gracious
protection of the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly
solicit, and whom I fervently pra y to look down upon us all. May it be
among the dispensations of His providence to bless our beloved country
with honors and with length of days. May her ways be ways of
pleasantness and all her paths be peace!


***

William Henry Harrison
Inaugural Address
Thursday, March 4, 1841

CALLED from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for the
residue of my life to fill the chief executive office of this great and
free nation, I appear before you, fellow-citizens, to take the oaths
which the Constitution prescribes as a necessary qualification for the
performance of its duties; and in obedience to a custom coeval with our
Government and what I believe to be your expectations I proceed to
present to you a summary of the principles which will govern me in the
discharge of the duties which I shall be called upon to perform.

It was the remark of a Roman consul in an early period of that
celebrated Republic that a most striking contrast was observable in the
conduct of candidates for offices of power and trust before and after
obtaining them, they seldom carrying out in the latter case the pledges
and promises made in the former. However much the world may have
improved in many respects in the lapse of upward of two thousand years
since the remark was made by the virtuous and indignant Roman, I fear
that a strict examination of the annals of some of the modern elective
governments would develop similar instances of violated confidence.

Although the fiat of the people has gone forth proclaiming me the Chief
Magistrate of this glorious Union, nothing upon their part remaining to
be done, it may be thought that a motive may exist to keep up the
delusion under which they may be supposed to have acted in relation to
my principles and opinions; and perhaps there may be some in this
assembly who have come here either prepared to condemn those I shall
now deliver, or, approving them, to doubt the sincerity with which they
are now uttered. But the lapse of a few months will confirm or dispel
their fears. The outline of principles to govern and measures to be
adopted by an Administration not yet begun will soon be exchanged for
immutable history, and I shall stand either exonerated by my countrymen
or classed with the mass of those who promised that they might deceive
and flattered with the intention to betray. However strong may be my
present purpose to realize the expectations of a magnanimous and
confiding people, I too well understand the dangerous temptations to
which I shall be exposed from the magnitude of the power which it has
been the pleasure of the people to commit to my hands not to place my
chief confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto
protected me and enabled me to bring to favorable issues other
important but still greatly inferior trusts heretofore confided to me
by my country.

The broad foundation upon which our Constitution rests being the people
- a breath of theirs having made, as a breath can unmake, change, or
modify it - it can be assigned to none of the great divisions of
government but to that of democracy. If such is its theory, those who
are called upon to administer it must recognize as its leading
principle the duty of shaping their measures so as to produce the
greatest good to the greatest number. But with these broad admissions,
if we would compare the sovereignty acknowledged to exist in the mass
of our people with the power claimed by other sovereignties, even by
those which have been considered most purely democratic, we shall find
a most essential difference. All others lay claim to power limited only
by their own will. The majority of our citizens, on the contrary,
possess a sovereignty with an amount of power precisely equal to that
which has been granted to them by the parties to the national compact,
and nothing beyond. We admit of no government by divine right,
believing that so far as power is concerned the Beneficent Creator has
made no distinction amongst men; that all are upon an equality, and
that the only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power
from the governed. The Constitution of the United States is the
instrument containing this grant of power to the several departments
composing the Government. On an examination of that instrument it will
be found to contain declarations of power granted and of power
withheld. The latter is also susceptible of division into power which
the majority had the right to grant, but which they do not think proper
to intrust to their agents, and that which they could not have granted,
not being possessed by themselves. In other words, there are certain
rights possessed by each individual American citizen which in his
compact with the others he has never surrendered. Some of them, indeed,
he is unable to surrender, being, in the language of our system,
unalienable. The boasted privilege of a Roman citizen was to him a
shield only against a petty provincial ruler, whilst the proud democrat
of Athens would console himself under a sentence of death for a
supposed violation of the national faith - which no one understood and
which at times was the subject of the mockery of all - or the
banishment from his home, his family, and his country with or without
an alleged cause, that it was the act not of a single tyrant or hated
aristocracy, but of his assembled countrymen. Far different is the
power of our sovereignty. It can interfere with no one's faith,
prescribe forms of worship for no one's observance, inflict no
punishment but after well-ascertained guilt, the result of
investigation under rules prescribed by the Constitution itself. These
precious privileges, and those scarcely less important of giving
expression to his thoughts and opinions, either by writing or speaking,
unrestrained but by the liability for injury to others, and that of a
full participation in all the advantages which flow from the
Government, the acknowledged property of all, the American citizen
derives from no charter granted by his fellow-man. He claims them
because he is himself a man, fashioned by the same Almighty hand as the
rest of his species and entitled to a full share of the blessings with
which He has endowed them. Notwithstanding the limited sovereignty
possessed by the people of the United States and the restricted grant
of power to the Government which they have adopted, enough has been
given to accomplish all the objects for which it was created. It has
been found powerful in war, and hitherto justice has been administered,
and intimate union effected, domestic tranquillity preserved, and
personal liberty secured to the citizen. As was to be expected,
however, from the defect of language and the necessarily sententious
manner in which the Constitution is written, disputes have arisen as to
the amount of power which it has actually granted or was intended to
grant.

This is more particularly the case in relation to that part of the
instrument which treats of the legislative branch, and not only as
regards the exercise of powers claimed under a general clause giving
that body the authority to pass all laws necessary to carry into effect
the specified powers, but in relation to the latter also. It is,
however, consolatory to reflect that most of the instances of alleged
departure from the letter or spirit of the Constitution have ultimately
received the sanction of a majority of the people. And the fact that
many of our statesmen most distinguished for talent and patriotism have
been at one time or other of their political career on both sides of
each of the most warmly disputed questions forces upon us the inference
that the errors, if errors there were, are attributable to the
intrinsic difficulty in many instances of ascertaining the intentions
of the framers of the Constitution rather than the influence of any
sinister or unpatriotic motive. But the great danger to our
institutions does not appear to me to be in a usurpation by the
Government of power not granted by the people, but by the accumulation
in one of the departments of that which was assigned to others. Limited
as are the powers which have been granted, still enough have been
granted to constitute a despotism if concentrated in one of the
departments. This danger is greatly heightened, as it has been always
observable that men are less jealous of encroachments of one department
upon another than upon their own reserved rights. When the Constitution
of the United States first came from the hands of the Convention which
formed it, many of the sternest republicans of the day were alarmed at
the extent of the power which had been granted to the Federal
Government, and more particularly of that portion which had been
assigned to the executive branch. There were in it features which
appeared not to be in harmony with their ideas of a simple
representative democracy or republic, and knowing the tendency of power
to increase itself, particularly when exercised by a single individual,
predictions were made that at no very remote period the Government
would terminate in virtual monarchy. It would not become me to say that
the fears of these patriots have been already realized; but as I
sincerely believe that the tendency of measures and of men's opinions
for some years past has been in that direction, it is, I conceive,
strictly proper that I should take this occasion to repeat the
assurances I have heretofore given of my determination to arrest the
progress of that tendency if it really exists and restore the
Government to its pristine health and vigor, as far as this can be
effected by any legitimate exercise of the power placed in my hands.

I proceed to state in as summary a manner as I can my opinion of the
sources of the evils which have been so extensively complained of and
the correctives which may be applied. Some of the former are
unquestionably to be found in the defects of the Constitution; others,
in my judgment, are attributable to a misconstruction of some of its
provisions. Of the former is the eligibility of the same individual to
a second term of the Presidency. The sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson
early saw and lamented this error, and attempts have been made,
hitherto without success, to apply the amendatory power of the States
to its correction. As, however, one mode of correction is in the power
of every President, and consequently in mine, it would be useless, and
perhaps invidious, to enumerate the evils of which, in the opinion of
many of our fellow-citizens, this error of the sages who framed the
Constitution may have been the source and the bitter fruits which we
are still to gather from it if it continues to disfigure our system. It
may be observed, however, as a general remark, that republics can
commit no greater error than to adopt or continue any feature in their
systems of government which may be calculated to create or increase the
lover of power in the bosoms of those to whom necessity obliges them to
commit the management of their affairs; and surely nothing is more
likely to produce such a state of mind than the long continuance of an
office of high trust. Nothing can be more corrupting, nothing more
destructive of all those noble feelings which belong to the character
of a devoted republican patriot. When this corrupting passion once
takes possession of the human mind, like the love of gold it becomes
insatiable. It is the never-dying worm in his bosom, grows with his
growth and strengthens with the declining years of its victim. If this
is true, it is the part of wisdom for a republic to limit the service
of that officer at least to whom she has intrusted the management of
her foreign relations, the execution of her laws, and the command of
her armies and navies to a period so short as to prevent his forgetting
that he is the accountable agent, not the principal; the servant, not
the master. Until an amendment of the Constitution can be effected
public opinion may secure the desired object. I give my aid to it by
renewing the pledge heretofore given that under no circumstances will I
consent to serve a second term.

But if there is danger to public liberty from the acknowledged defects
of the Constitution in the want of limit to the continuance of the
Executive power in the same hands, there is, I apprehend, not much less
from a misconstruction of that instrument as it regards the powers
actually given. I can not conceive that by a fair construction any or
either of its provisions would be found to constitute the President a
part of the legislative power. It can not be claimed from the power to
recommend, since, although enjoined as a duty upon him, it is a
privilege which he holds in common with every other citizen; and