spirit of concord and harmony among the various parts of our
Confederacy. Experience has abundantly taught us that the agitation by
citizens of one part of the Union of a subject not confided to the
General Government, but exclusively under the guardianship of the local
authorities, is productive of no other consequences than bitterness,
alienation, discord, and injury to the very cause which is intended to
be advanced. Of all the great interests which appertain to our country,
that of union - cordial, confiding, fraternal union - is by far the
most important, since it is the only true and sure guaranty of all
others.
In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and the currency,
some of the States may meet with difficulty in their financial
concerns. However deeply we may regret anything imprudent or excessive
in the engagements into which States have entered for purposes of their
own, it does not become us to disparage the States governments, nor to
discourage them from making proper efforts for their own relief. On the
contrary, it is our duty to encourage them to the extent of our
constitutional authority to apply their best means and cheerfully to
make all necessary sacrifices and submit to all necessary burdens to
fulfill their engagements and maintain their credit, for the character
and credit of the several States form a part of the character and
credit of the whole country. The resources of the country are abundant,
the enterprise and activity of our people proverbial, and we may well
hope that wise legislation and prudent administration by the respective
governments, each acting within its own sphere, will restore former
prosperity.
Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may sometimes be between
the constituted authorities of the citizens of our country in relation
to the lines which separate their respective jurisdictions, the results
can be of no vital injury to our institutions if that ardent
patriotism, that devoted attachment to liberty, that spirit of
moderation and forbearance for which our countrymen were once
distinguished, continue to be cherished. If this continues to be the
ruling passion of our souls, the weaker feeling of the mistaken
enthusiast will be corrected, the Utopian dreams of the scheming
politician dissipated, and the complicated intrigues of the demagogue
rendered harmless. The spirit of liberty is the sovereign balm for
every injury which our institutions may receive. On the contrary, no
care that can be used in the construction of our Government, no
division of powers, no distribution of checks in its several
departments, will prove effectual to keep us a free people if this
spirit is suffered to decay; and decay it will without constant
nurture. To the neglect of this duty the best historians agree in
attributing the ruin of all the republics with whose existence and fall
their writings have made us acquainted. The same causes will ever
produce the same effects, and as long as the love of power is a
dominant passion of the human bosom, and as long as the understandings
of men can be warped and their affections changed by operations upon
their passions and prejudices, so long will the liberties of a people
depend on their own constant attention to its preservation. The danger
to all well-established free governments arises from the unwillingness
of the people to believe in its existence or from the influence of
designing men diverting their attention from the quarter whence it
approaches to a source from which it can never come. This is the old
trick of those who would usurp the government of their country. In the
name of democracy they speak, warning the people against the influence
of wealth and the danger of aristocracy. History, ancient and modern,
is full of such examples. Caesar became the master of the Roman people
and the senate under the pretense of supporting the democratic claims
of the former against the aristocracy of the latter; Cromwell, in the
character of protector of the liberties of the people, became the
dictator of England, and Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited power
with the title of his country's liberator. There is, on the contrary,
no instance on record of an extensive and well-established republic
being changed into an aristocracy. The tendencies of all such
governments in their decline is to monarchy, and the antagonist
principle to liberty there is the spirit of faction - a spirit which
assumes the character and in times of great excitement imposes itself
upon the people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and, like the false
Christs whose coming was foretold by the Savior, seeks to, and were it
possible would, impose upon the true and most faithful disciples of
liberty. It is in periods like this that it behooves the people to be
most watchful of those to whom they have intrusted power. And although
there is at times much difficulty in distinguishing the false from the
true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation will detect the
counterfeit, as well by the character of its operations as the results
that are produced. The true spirit of liberty, although devoted,
persevering, bold, and uncompromising in principle, that secured is
mild and tolerant and scrupulous as to the means it employs, whilst the
spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive,
and intolerant, and totally reckless as to the character of the allies
which it brings to the aid of its cause. When the genuine spirit of
liberty animates the body of a people to a thorough examination of
their affairs, it leads to the excision of every excrescence which may
have fastened itself upon any of the departments of the government, and
restores the system to its pristine health and beauty. But the reign of
an intolerant spirit of party amongst a free people seldom fails to
result in a dangerous accession to the executive power introduced and
established amidst unusual professions of devotion to democracy.
The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively to matters connected
with our domestic concerns. It may be proper, however, that I should
give some indications to my fellow-citizens of my proposed course of
conduct in the management of our foreign relations. I assure them,
therefore, that it is my intention to use every means in my power to
preserve the friendly intercourse which now so happily subsists with
every foreign nation, and that although, of course, not well informed
as to the state of pending negotiations with any of them, I see in the
personal characters of the sovereigns, as well as in the mutual
interests of our own and of the governments with which our relations
are most intimate, a pleasing guaranty that the harmony so important to
the interests of their subjects as well as of our citizens will not be
interrupted by the advancement of any claim or pretension upon their
part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. Long the defender
of my country's rights in the field, I trust that my fellow-citizens
will not see in my earnest desire to preserve peace with foreign powers
any indication that their rights will ever be sacrificed or the honor
of the nation tarnished by any admission on the part of their Chief
Magistrate unworthy of their former glory. In our intercourse with our
aboriginal neighbors the same liberality and justice which marked the
course prescribed to me by two of my illustrious predecessors when
acting under their direction in the discharge of the duties of
superintendent and commissioner shall be strictly observed. I can
conceive of no more sublime spectacle, none more likely to propitiate
an impartial and common Creator, than a rigid adherence to the
principles of justice on the part of a powerful nation in its
transactions with a weaker and uncivilized people whom circumstances
have placed at its disposal.
Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say something to you on the
subject of the parties at this time existing in our country. To me it
appears perfectly clear that the interest of that country requires that
the violence of the spirit by which those parties are at this time
governed must be greatly mitigated, if not entirely extinguished, or
consequences will ensue which are appalling to be thought of.
If parties in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of vigilance
sufficient to keep the public functionaries within the bounds of law
and duty, at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that they become
destructive of public virtue, the parent of a spirit antagonist to that
of liberty, and eventually its inevitable conqueror. We have examples
of republics where the love of country and of liberty at one time were
the dominant passions of the whole mass of citizens, and yet, with the
continuance of the name and forms of free government, not a vestige of
these qualities remaining in the bosoms of any one of its citizens. It
was the beautiful remark of a distinguished English writer that "in the
Roman senate Octavius had a party and Anthony a party, but the
Commonwealth had none." Yet the senate continued to meet in the temple
of liberty to talk of the sacredness and beauty of the Commonwealth and
gaze at the statues of the elder Brutus and of the Curtii and Decii,
and the people assembled in the forum, not, as in the days of Camillus
and the Scipios, to cast their free votes for annual magistrates or
pass upon the acts of the senate, but to receive from the hands of the
leaders of the respective parties their share of the spoils and to
shout for one or the other, as those collected in Gaul or Egypt and the
lesser Asia would furnish the larger dividend. The spirit of liberty
had fled, and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought
protection in the wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; and so under the
operation of the same causes and influences it will fly from our
Capitol and our forums. A calamity so awful, not only to our country,
but to the world, must be deprecated by every patriot and every
tendency to a state of things likely to produce it immediately checked.
Such a tendency has existed - does exist. Always the friend of my
countrymen, never their flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to them
from this high place to which their partiality has exalted me that
there exists in the land a spirit hostile to their best interests -
hostile to liberty itself. It is a spirit contracted in its views,
selfish in its objects. It looks to the aggrandizement of a few even to
the destruction of the interests of the whole. The entire remedy is
with the people. Something, however, may be effected by the means which
they have placed in my hands. It is union that we want, not of a party
for the sake of that party, but a union of the whole country for the
sake of the whole country, for the defense of its interests and its
honor against foreign aggression, for the defense of those principles
for which our ancestors so gloriously contended. As far as it depends
upon me it shall be accomplished. All the influence that I possess
shall be exerted to prevent the formation at least of an Executive
party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of
no member of that body to any measure of mine that does not satisfy his
judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds his
appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people but that
asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to the legal
administration of their affairs."
I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to
justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for
the Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals,
religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are
essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that
good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious
freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers and
has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence
those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every
interest of our beloved country in all future time.
Fellow-citizens, being fully invested with that high office to which
the partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an
affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the
remembrance of the pledge I have this day given to discharge all the
high duties of my exalted station according to the best of my ability,
and I shall enter upon their performance with entire confidence in the
support of a just and generous people.
***
James Knox Polk
Inaugural Address
Tuesday, March 4, 1845
Fellow-Citizens:
WITHOUT solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and
voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and most
responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with gratitude for
the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this distinguished
consideration at an earlier period of life than any of my predecessors,
I can not disguise the diffidence with which I am about to enter on the
discharge of my official duties.
If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of
President of the United States even in the infancy of the Republic
distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of that exalted
station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much younger
and less endowed now that our domain extends from ocean to ocean, that
our people have so greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so
great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and
policy which should characterize the administration of our Government?
Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring
responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and
prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole
human family.
In assuming responsibilities so vast I fervently invoke the aid of that
Almighty Ruler of the Universe in whose hands are the destinies of
nations and of men to guard this Heaven-favored land against the
mischiefs which without His guidance might arise from an unwise public
policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain
and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I
stand in the presence of this assembled multitude of my countrymen to
take upon myself the solemn obligation "to the best of my ability to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the
administrative policy of the Government is not only in accordance with
the examples set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting
the occasion.
The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our
federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding
together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing
family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I
shall be directed.
It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true
spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly
granted or clearly implied in its terms. The Government of the United
States is one of delegated and limited powers, and it is by a strict
adherence to the clearly granted powers and by abstaining from the
exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied powers that we have the
only sure guaranty against the recurrence of those unfortunate
collisions between the Federal and State authorities which have
occasionally so much disturbed the harmony of our system and even
threatened the perpetuity of our glorious Union.
"To the States, respectively, or to the people" have been reserved "the
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor
prohibited by it to the States." Each State is a complete sovereignty
within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union,
acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete
sovereignty. While the General Government should abstain from the
exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be
equally careful that in the maintenance of their rights they do not
overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the most
distinguished of my predecessors attached deserved importance to "the
support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most
competent administration for our domestic concerns and the surest
bulwark against antirepublican tendencies," and to the "preservation of
the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet
anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad."
To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive
management of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields a few general
enumerated powers. It does not force reform on the States. It leaves
individuals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, entirely free
to improve their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their
mental and physical powers. It is a common protector of each and all
the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or
foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the
Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every
shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and
occupation consistent with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in
the general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our country,
which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of power.
This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-government
among men ever devised by human minds has been tested by its successful
operation for more than half a century, and if preserved from the
usurpations of the Federal Government on the one hand and the exercise
by the States of powers not reserved to them on the other, will, I
fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come and dispense the
blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To
effect objects so dear to every patriot I shall devote myself with
anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that most
fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system which
consists in substituting the mere discretion and caprice of the
Executive or of majorities in the legislative department of the
Government for powers which have been withheld from the Federal
Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our Government
majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one.
It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and
in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to
restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon
their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the
Constitution as a shield against such oppression.
That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be
enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been
wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the Legislature.
It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It
arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional
legislation, invites reconsideration, and transfers questions at issue
between the legislative and executive departments to the tribunal of
the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When
judiciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be
saved from infraction and the rights of all preserved and protected.
The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by
all. By this system of united and confederated States our people are
permitted collectively and individually to seek their own happiness in
their own way, and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since
the Union was formed the number of the States has increased from
thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as
members of the Confederacy within the last week. Our population has
increased from three to twenty millions. New communities and States are
seeking protection under its aegis, and multitudes from the Old World
are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its
benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and
miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the
world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist
schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to
man's true interests in developing his faculties and powers and the
capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments. Genius is free to
announce its inventions and discoveries, and the hand is free to
accomplish whatever the head conceives not incompatible with the rights
of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been
abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon
terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal
protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect
freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our
Federal Union. To perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to preserve it.
Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free
hands under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to
mankind since the organization of society would be equal in atrocity to
that of him who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow
the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and his
fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free government and involve
his country either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the
fire of liberty, which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions
and invites all the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he
say that error and wrong are committed in the administration of the
Government, let him remember that nothing human can be perfect, and
that under no other system of government revealed by Heaven or devised
by man has reason been allowed so free and broad a scope to combat
error. Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer
instrument of reform in government than enlightened reason? Does he
expect to find among the ruins of this Union a happier abode for our
swarming millions than they now have under it? Every lover of his
country must shudder at the thought of the possibility of its
dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic sentiment, "Our
Federal Union - it must be preserved." To preserve it the compromises
which alone enabled our fathers to form a common constitution for the
government and protection of so many States and distinct communities,
of such diversified habits, interests, and domestic institutions, must
be sacredly and religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb or destroy
these compromises, being terms of the compact of union, can lead to
none other than the most ruinous and disastrous consequences.
It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country
misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations
whose object is the destruction of domestic institutions existing in
other sections - institutions which existed at the adoption of the
Constitution and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that
if it were possible for them to be successful in attaining their object
the dissolution of the Union and the consequent destruction of our
happy form of government must speedily follow.
I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation
there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our
people a devotion to the Union of the States which will shield and
protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously
contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion
the compromises of the Constitution must not only be preserved, but
sectional jealousies and heartburnings must be discountenanced, and all
should remember that they are members of the same political family,
having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to
the Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to
favor monopolies or the peculiar interests of sections or classes must
operate to the prejudice of the interest of their fellow-citizens, and
should be avoided. If the compromises of the Constitution be preserved,
if sectional jealousies and heartburnings be discountenanced, if our