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Andrew
Jackson's First Inaugural Address
Wednesday, March 4, 1829 |
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Fellow-Citizens:
About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been appointed
to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of
this customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude
which their confidence inspires and to acknowledge the
accountability which my situation enjoins. While the magnitude
of their interests convinces me that no thanks can be adequate
to the honor they have conferred, it admonishes me that the best
return I can make is the zealous dedication of my humble
abilities to their service and their good. As the instrument of
the Federal Constitution it will devolve on me for a stated
period to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend
their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their
revenue, to command their forces, and, by communications to the
Legislature, to watch over and to promote their interests
generally. And the principles of action by which I shall
endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties it is now proper
for me briefly to explain. In administering the laws of Congress
I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the
extent of the Executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the
functions of my office without transcending its authority. With
foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace and to
cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the
adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit
the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the
sensibility belonging to a gallant people. In such measures as I
may be called on to pursue in regard to the rights of the
separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for
those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to
confound the powers they have reserved to themselves with those
they have granted to the Confederacy.
The management of the public revenue-that searching operation in
all governments-is among the most delicate and important trusts
in ours, and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share
of my official solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be
considered it would appear that advantage must result from the
observance of a strict and faithful economy. This I shall aim at
the more anxiously both because it will facilitate the
extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of
which is incompatible with real independence, and because it
will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy
which a profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but
too apt to engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of
this desirable end are to be found in the regulations provided
by the wisdom of Congress for the specific appropriation of
public money and the prompt account ability of public officers.
With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with
a view to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of
equity, caution, and compromise in which the Constitution was
formed re quires that the great interests of agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures should be equally favored, and that
perhaps the only exception to this rule should consist in the
peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that
may be found essential to our national independence. Internal
improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can
be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal
Government, are of high importance. Considering standing armies
as dangerous to free governments in time of peace, I shall not
seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard that
salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the
military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The
gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in
distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the
preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the
introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline and
science of both branches of our military service are so plainly
prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for omitting
their mention sooner than for enlarging on their importance. But
the bulwark of our defense is the national militia, which in the
present state of our intelligence and population must render us
invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the
good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as
it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty
of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and
so long as it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover
it with an impenetrable aegis. Partial injuries and occasional
mortifications we may be subjected to, but a million of armed
freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be conquered
by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, calculated to
strengthen this natural safeguard of the country I shall
cheerfully lend all the aid in my power. It will be my sincere
and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within
our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane
and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which
is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings
of our people. The recent demonstration of public sentiment
inscribes on the list of Executive duties, in characters too
legible to be overlooked, the task of reform, which will require
particularly the correction of those abuses that have brought
the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with the
freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes
which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have
placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands. In
the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall
endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure
in their respective stations able and faithful cooperation,
depending for the advancement of the public service more on the
integrity and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers.
A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will
teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue
left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the
lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that
reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for
instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the
Government, and for the indulgence and support of my
fellow-citizens generally. And a firm reliance on the goodness
of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our national
infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various
vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications
that He will continue to make our beloved country the object of
His divine care and gracious benediction. |
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