Fellow-Citizens:
We
stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks a hundred
years of national life a century crowded with perils,
but crowned with the triumphs of liberty and law. Before
continuing the onward march let us pause on this height
for a moment to strengthen our faith and renew our hope by
a glance at the pathway along which our people have
traveled.
It
is now three days more than a hundred years since the
adoption of the first written constitution of the United
States the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual
Union. The new Republic was then beset with danger on
every hand. It had not conquered a place in the family of
nations. The decisive battle of the war for independence,
whose centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully
celebrated at Yorktown, had not yet been fought. The
colonists were struggling not only against the armies of a
great nation, but against the settled opinions of mankind;
for the world did not then believe that the supreme
authority of government could be safely entrusted to the
guardianship of the people themselves.
We
can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the
intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with
which our fathers made the great experiment of
self-government. When they found, after a short trial,
that the confederacy of States, was too weak to meet the
necessities of a vigorous and expanding republic, they
boldly set it aside, and in its stead established a
National Union, founded directly upon the will of the
people, endowed with full power of self-preservation and
ample authority for the accomplishment of its great
object.
Under
this Constitution the boundaries of freedom have been
enlarged, the foundations of order and peace have been
strengthened, and the growth of our people in all the
better elements of national life has indicated the wisdom
of the founders and given new hope to their descendants.
Under this Constitution our people long ago made
themselves safe against danger from without and secured
for their mariners and flag equality of rights on all the
seas. Under this Constitution twenty-five States have been
added to the Union, with constitutions and laws, framed
and enforced by their own citizens, to secure the manifold
blessings of local self-government.
The
jurisdiction of this Constitution now covers an area fifty
times greater than that of the original thirteen States
and a population twenty times greater than that of 1780.
The
supreme trial of the Constitution came at last under the
tremendous pressure of civil war. We ourselves are
witnesses that the Union emerged from the blood and fire
of that conflict purified and made stronger for all the
beneficent purposes of good government.
And
now, at the close of this first century of growth, with
the inspirations of its history in their hearts, our
people have lately reviewed the condition of the nation,
passed judgment upon the conduct and opinions of political
parties, and have registered their will concerning the
future administration of the Government. To interpret and
to execute that will in accordance with the Constitution
is the paramount duty of the Executive.
Even
from this brief review it is manifest that the nation is
resolutely facing to the front, resolved to employ its
best energies in developing the great possibilities of the
future. Sacredly preserving whatever has been gained to
liberty and good government during the century, our people
are determined to leave behind them all those bitter
controversies concerning things which have been
irrevocably settled, and the further discussion of which
can only stir up strife and delay the onward march.
The
supremacy of the nation and its laws should be no longer a
subject of debate. That discussion, which for half a
century threatened the existence of the Union, was closed
at last in the high court of war by a decree from which
there is no appeal that the Constitution and the laws
made in pursuance thereof are and shall continue to be the
supreme law of the land, binding alike upon the States and
the people. This decree does not disturb the autonomy of
the States nor interfere with any of their necessary
rights of local self-government, but it does fix and
establish the permanent supremacy of the Union.
The
will of the nation, speaking with the voice of battle and
through the amended Constitution, has fulfilled the great
promise of 1776 by proclaiming "liberty throughout
the land to all the inhabitants thereof."
The
elevation of the Negro race from slavery to the full
rights of citizenship is the most important political
change we have known since the adoption of the
Constitution of 1787. NO thoughtful man can fail to
appreciate its beneficent effect upon our institutions and
people. It has freed us from the perpetual danger of war
and dissolution. It has added immensely to the moral and
industrial forces of our people. It has liberated the
master as well as the slave from a relation which wronged
and enfeebled both. It has surrendered to their own
guardianship the manhood of more than 5,000,000 people,
and has opened to each one of them a career of freedom and
usefulness. It has given new inspiration to the power of
self-help in both races by making labor more honorable to
the one and more necessary to the other. The influence of
this force will grow greater and bear richer fruit with
the coming years.
No
doubt this great change has caused serious disturbance to
our Southern communities. This is to be deplored, though
it was perhaps unavoidable. But those who resisted the
change should remember that under our institutions there
was no middle ground for the negro race between slavery
and equal citizenship. There can be no permanent
disfranchised peasantry in the United States. Freedom can
never yield its fullness of blessings so long as the law
or its administration places the smallest obstacle in the
pathway of any virtuous citizen.
The
emancipated race has already made remarkable progress.
With unquestioning devotion to the Union, with a patience
and gentleness not born of fear, they have "followed
the light as God gave them to see the light." They
are rapidly laying the material foundations of
self-support, widening their circle of intelligence, and
beginning to enjoy the blessings that gather around the
homes of the industrious poor. They deserve the generous
encouragement of all good men. So far as my authority can
lawfully extend they shall enjoy the full and equal
protection of the Constitution and the laws.
The
free enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in question, and
a frank statement of the issue may aid its solution. It is
alleged that in many communities Negro citizens are
practically denied the freedom of the ballot. In so far as
the truth of this allegation is admitted, it is answered
that in many places honest local government is impossible
if the mass of uneducated Negroes are allowed to vote.
These are grave allegations. So far as the latter is true,
it is the only palliation that can be offered for opposing
the freedom of the ballot. Bad local government is
certainly a great evil, which ought to be prevented; but
to violate the freedom and sanctities of the suffrage is
more than an evil. It is a crime which, if persisted in,
will destroy the Government itself. Suicide is not a
remedy. If in other lands it be high treason to compass
the death of the king, it shall be counted no less a crime
here to strangle our sovereign power and stifle its voice.
It
has been said that unsettled questions have no pity for
the repose of nations. It should be said with the utmost
emphasis that this question of the suffrage will never
give repose or safety to the States or to the nation until
each, within its own jurisdiction, makes and keeps the
ballot free and pure by the strong sanctions of the law.
But
the danger which arises from ignorance in the voter can
not be denied. It covers a field far wider than that of Negro
suffrage and the present condition of the race. It
is a danger that lurks and hides in the sources and
fountains of power in every state. We have no standard by
which to measure the disaster that may be brought upon us
by ignorance and vice in the citizens when joined to
corruption and fraud in the suffrage.
The
voters of the Union, who make and unmake constitutions,
and upon whose will hang the destinies of our governments,
can transmit their supreme authority to no successors save
the coming generation of voters, who are the sole heirs of
sovereign power. If that generation comes to its
inheritance blinded by ignorance and corrupted by vice,
the fall of the Republic will be certain and remediless.
The
census has already sounded the alarm in the appalling
figures which mark how dangerously high the tide of
illiteracy has risen among our voters and their children.
To
the South this question is of supreme importance. But the
responsibility for the existence of slavery did not rest
upon the South alone. The nation itself is responsible for
the extension of the suffrage, and is under special
obligations to aid in removing the illiteracy which it has
added to the voting population. For the North and South
alike there is but one remedy. All the constitutional
power of the nation and of the States and all the
volunteer forces of the people should be surrendered to
meet this danger by the savory influence of universal
education.
It
is the high privilege and sacred duty of those now living
to educate their successors and fit them, by intelligence
and virtue, for the inheritance which awaits them.
In
this beneficent work sections and races should be
forgotten and partisanship should be unknown. Let our
people find a new meaning in the divine oracle which
declares that "a little child shall lead them,"
for our own little children will soon control the
destinies of the Republic.
My
countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment
concerning the controversies of past generations, and
fifty years hence our children will not be divided in
their opinions concerning our controversies. They will
surely bless their fathers and their fathers' God that the
Union was preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that
both races were made equal before the law. We may hasten
or we may retard, but we can not prevent, the final
reconciliation. Is it not possible for us now to make a
truce with time by anticipating and accepting its
inevitable verdict?
Enterprises
of the highest importance to our moral and material
well-being unite us and offer ample employment of our best
powers. Let all our people, leaving behind them the
battlefields of dead issues, move forward and in their
strength of liberty and the restored Union win the grander
victories of peace.
The
prosperity which now prevails is without parallel in our
history. Fruitful seasons have done much to secure it, but
they have not done all. The preservation of the public
credit and the resumption of specie payments, so
successfully attained by the Administration of my
predecessors, have enabled our people to secure the
blessings which the seasons brought.
By
the experience of commercial nations in all ages it has
been found that gold and silver afford the only safe
foundation for a monetary system. Confusion has recently
been created by variations in the relative value of the
two metals, but I confidently believe that arrangements
can be made between the leading commercial nations which
will secure the general use of both metals. Congress
should provide that the compulsory coinage of silver now
required by law may not disturb our monetary system by
driving either metal out of circulation. If possible, such
an adjustment should be made that the purchasing power of
every coined dollar will be exactly equal to its
debt-paying power in all the markets of the world.
The
chief duty of the National Government in connection with
the currency of the country is to coin money and declare
its value. Grave doubts have been entertained whether
Congress is authorized by the Constitution to make any
form of paper money legal tender. The present issue of
United States notes has been sustained by the necessities
of war; but such paper should depend for its value and
currency upon its convenience in use and its prompt
redemption in coin at the will of the holder, and not upon
its compulsory circulation. These notes are not money, but
promises to pay money. If the holders demand it, the
promise should be kept.
The
refunding of the national debt at a lower rate of interest
should be accomplished without compelling the withdrawal
of the national-bank notes, and thus disturbing the
business of the country.
I
venture to refer to the position I have occupied on
financial questions during a long service in Congress, and
to say that time and experience have strengthened the
opinions I have so often expressed on these subjects.
The
finances of the Government shall suffer no detriment which
it may be possible for my Administration to prevent.
The
interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the
Government than they have yet received. The farms of the
United States afford homes and employment for more than
one-half our people, and furnish much the largest part of
all our exports. As the Government lights our coasts for
the protection of mariners and the benefit of commerce, so
it should give to the tillers of the soil the best lights
of practical science and experience.
Our
manufacturers are rapidly making us industrially
independent, and are opening to capital and labor new and
profitable fields of employment. Their steady and healthy
growth should still be matured. Our facilities for
transportation should be promoted by the continued
improvement of our harbors and great interior waterways
and by the increase of our tonnage on the ocean.
The
development of the world's commerce has led to an urgent
demand for shortening the great sea voyage around Cape
Horn by constructing ship canals or railways across the
isthmus which unites the continents. Various plans to this
end have been suggested and will need consideration, but
none of them has been sufficiently matured to warrant the
United States in extending pecuniary aid. The subject,
however, is one which will immediately engage the
attention of the Government with a view to a thorough
protection to American interests. We will urge no narrow
policy nor seek peculiar or exclusive privileges in any
commercial route; but, in the language of my predecessor,
I believe it to be the right "and duty of the United
States to assert and maintain such supervision and
authority over any interoceanic canal across the isthmus
that connects North and South America as will protect our
national interest."
The
Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom.
Congress is prohibited from making any law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof. The Territories of the United States are subject
to the direct legislative authority of Congress, and hence
the General Government is responsible for any violation of
the Constitution in any of them. It is therefore a
reproach to the Government that in the most populous of
the Territories the constitutional guaranty is not enjoyed
by the people and the authority of Congress is set at
naught. The Mormon Church not only offends the moral sense
of manhood by sanctioning polygamy, but prevents the
administration of justice through ordinary
instrumentalities of law.
In
my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting
to the uttermost the conscientious convictions and
religious scruples of every citizen, to prohibit within
its jurisdiction all criminal practices, especially of
that class which destroy the family relations and endanger
social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical organization be
safely permitted to usurp in the smallest degree the
functions and powers of the National Government.
The
civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis
until it is regulated by law. For the good of the service
itself, for the protection of those who are entrusted with
the appointing power against the waste of time and
obstruction to the public business caused by the
inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection of
incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at the
proper time ask Congress to fix the tenure of the minor
offices of the several Executive Departments and prescribe
the grounds upon which removals shall be made during the
terms for which incumbents have been appointed.
Finally,
acting always within the authority and limitations of the
Constitution, invading neither the rights of the States
nor the reserved rights of the people, it will be the
purpose of my Administration to maintain the authority of
the nation in all places within its jurisdiction; to
enforce obedience to all the laws of the Union in the
interests of the people; to demand rigid economy in all
the expenditures of the Government, and to require the
honest and faithful service of all executive officers,
remembering that the offices were created, not for the
benefit of incumbents or their supporters, but for the
service of the Government.
And
now, fellow-citizens, I am about to assume the great trust
which you have committed to my hands. I appeal to you for
that earnest and thoughtful support which makes this
Government in fact, as it is in law, a government of the
people.
I
shall greatly rely upon the wisdom and patriotism of
Congress and of those who may share with me the
responsibilities and duties of administration, and, above
all, upon our efforts to promote the welfare of this great
people and their Government I reverently invoke the
support and blessings of Almighty God.
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