|
| |
Welcome to U.S. history!
James Monroe's Second Inaugural Address:
| Fellow-Citizens: I
SHALL not attempt to describe the grateful emotions which the new
and very distinguished proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, evinced by my
reelection to this high trust, has excited in my bosom. The approbation which it announces
of my conduct in the preceding term affords me a consolation which I shall profoundly feel
through life. The general accord with which it has been expressed adds to the great and
never-ceasing obligations which it imposes. To merit the continuance of this good opinion,
and to carry it with me into my retirement as the solace of advancing years, will be the
object of my most zealous and unceasing efforts. |
| Having no pretensions to the high and commanding
claims of my predecessors, whose names are so much more conspicuously identified with our
Revolution, and who contributed so preeminently to promote its success, I consider myself
rather as the instrument than the cause of the union which has prevailed in the late
election. In surmounting, in favor of my humble pretensions, the difficulties which so
often produce division in like occurrences, it is obvious that other powerful causes,
indicating the great strength and stability of our Union, have essentially contributed to
draw you together. That these powerful causes exist, and that they are permanent, is my
fixed opinion; that they may produce a like accord in all questions touching, however
remotely, the liberty, prosperity, and happiness of our country will always be the object
of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of All Good. |
| In a government which is founded by the people, who
possess exclusively the sovereignty, it seems proper that the person who may be placed by
their suffrages in this high trust should declare on commencing its duties the principles
on which he intends to conduct the Administration. If the person thus elected has served
the preceding term, an opportunity is afforded him to review its principal occurrences and
to give such further explanation respecting them as in his judgment may be useful to his
constituents. The events of one year have influence on those of another, and, in like
manner, of a preceding on the succeeding Administration. The movements of a great nation
are connected in all their parts. If errors have been committed they ought to be
corrected; if the policy is sound it ought to be supported. It is by a thorough knowledge
of the whole subject that our fellow-citizens are enabled to judge correctly of the past
and to give a proper direction to the future. |
| Just before the commencement of the last term the
United States had concluded a war with a very powerful nation on conditions equal and
honorable to both parties. The events of that war are too recent and too deeply impressed
on the memory of all to require a development from me. Our commerce had been in a great
measure driven from the sea, our Atlantic and inland frontiers were invaded in almost
every part; the waste of life along our coast and on some parts of our inland frontiers,
to the defense of which our gallant and patriotic citizens were called, was immense, in
addition to which not less than $120,000,000 were added at its end to the public debt. |
| As soon as the war had terminated, the nation,
admonished by its events, resolved to place itself in a situation which should be better
calculated to prevent the recurrence of a like evil, and, in case it should recur, to
mitigate its calamities. With this view, after reducing our land force to the basis of a
peace establishment, which has been further modified since, provision was made for the
construction of fortifications at proper points through the whole extent of our coast and
such an augmentation of our naval force as should be well adapted to both purposes. The
laws making this provision were passed in 1815 and 1816, and it has been since the
constant effort of the Executive to carry them into effect. |
| The advantage of these fortifications and of an
augmented naval force in the extent contemplated, in a point of economy, has been fully
illustrated by a report of the Board of Engineers and Naval Commissioners lately
communicated to Congress, by which it appears that in an invasion by 20,000 men, with a
correspondent naval force, in a campaign of six months only, the whole expense of the
construction of the works would be defrayed by the difference in the sum necessary to
maintain the force which would be adequate to our defense with the aid of those works and
that which would be incurred without them. The reason of this difference is obvious. If
fortifications are judiciously placed on our great inlets, as distant from our cities as
circumstances will permit, they will form the only points of attack, and the enemy will be
detained there by a small regular force a sufficient time to enable our militia to collect
and repair to that on which the attack is made. A force adequate to the enemy, collected
at that single point, with suitable preparation for such others as might be menaced, is
all that would be requisite. But if there were no fortifications, then the enemy might go
where he pleased, and, changing his position and sailing from place to place, our force
must be called out and spread in vast numbers along the whole coast and on both sides of
every bay and river as high up in each as it might be navigable for ships of war. By these
fortifications, supported by our Navy, to which they would afford like support, we should
present to other powers an armed front from St. Croix to the Sabine, which would protect
in the event of war our whole coast and interior from invasion; and even in the wars of
other powers, in which we were neutral, they would be found eminently useful, as, by
keeping their public ships at a distance from our cities, peace and order in them would be
preserved and the Government be protected from insult. |
| It need scarcely be remarked that these measures have
not been resorted to in a spirit of hostility to other powers. Such a disposition does not
exist toward any power. Peace and good will have been, and will hereafter be, cultivated
with all, and by the most faithful regard to justice. They have been dictated by a love of
peace, of economy, and an earnest desire to save the lives of our fellow-citizens from
that destruction and our country from that devastation which are inseparable from war when
it finds us unprepared for it. It is believed, and experience has shown, that such a
preparation is the best expedient that can be resorted to prevent war. I add with much
pleasure that considerable progress has already been made in these measures of defense,
and that they will be completed in a few years, considering the great extent and
importance of the object, if the plan be zealously and steadily persevered in. |
| The conduct of the Government in what relates to
foreign powers is always an object of the highest importance to the nation. Its
agriculture, commerce, manufactures, fisheries, revenue, in short, its peace, may all be
affected by it. Attention is therefore due to this subject. |
| At the period adverted to the powers of Europe, after
having been engaged in long and destructive wars with each other, had concluded a peace,
which happily still exists. Our peace with the power with whom we had been engaged had
also been concluded. The war between Spain and the colonies in South America, which had
commenced many years before, was then the only conflict that remained unsettled. This
being a contest between different parts of the same community, in which other powers had
not interfered, was not affected by their accommodations. |
| This contest was considered at an early stage by my
predecessor a civil war in which the parties were entitled to equal rights in our ports.
This decision, the first made by any power, being formed on great consideration of the
comparative strength and resources of the parties, the length of time, and successful
opposition made by the colonies, and of all other circumstances on which it ought to
depend, was in strict accord with the law of nations. Congress has invariably acted on
this principle, having made no change in our relations with either party. Our attitude has
therefore been that of neutrality between them, which has been maintained by the
Government with the strictest impartiality. No aid has been afforded to either, nor has
any privilege been enjoyed by the one which has not been equally open to the other party,
and every exertion has been made in its power to enforce the execution of the laws
prohibiting illegal equipments with equal rigor against both. |
| By this equality between the parties their public
vessels have been received in our ports on the same footing; they have enjoyed an equal
right to purchase and export arms, munitions of war, and every other supply, the
exportation of all articles whatever being permitted under laws which were passed long
before the commencement of the contest; our citizens have traded equally with both, and
their commerce with each has been alike protected by the Government. |
| Respecting the attitude which it may be proper for
the United States to maintain hereafter between the parties, I have no hesitation in
stating it as my opinion that the neutrality heretofore observed should still be adhered
to. From the change in the Government of Spain and the negotiation now depending, invited
by the Cortes and accepted by the colonies, it may be presumed, that their differences
will be settled on the terms proposed by the colonies. Should the war be continued, the
United States, regarding its occurrences, will always have it in their power to adopt such
measures respecting it as their honor and interest may require. |
| Shortly after the general peace a band of adventurers
took advantage of this conflict and of the facility which it afforded to establish a
system of buccaneering in the neighboring seas, to the great annoyance of the commerce of
the United States, and, as was represented, of that of other powers. Of this spirit and of
its injurious bearing on the United States strong proofs were afforded by the
establishment at Amelia Island, and the purposes to which it was made instrumental by this
band in 1817, and by the occurrences which took place in other parts of Florida in 1818,
the details of which in both instances are too well known to require to be now recited. I
am satisfied had a less decisive course been adopted that the worst consequences would
have resulted from it. We have seen that these checks, decisive as they were, were not
sufficient to crush that piratical spirit. Many culprits brought within our limits have
been condemned to suffer death, the punishment due to that atrocious crime. The decisions
of upright and enlightened tribunals fall equally on all whose crimes subject them, by a
fair interpretation of the law, to its censure. It belongs to the Executive not to suffer
the executions under these decisions to transcend the great purpose for which punishment
is necessary. The full benefit of example being secured, policy as well as humanity
equally forbids that they should be carried further. I have acted on this principle,
pardoning those who appear to have been led astray by ignorance of the criminality of the
acts they had committed, and suffering the law to take effect on those only in whose favor
no extenuating circumstances could be urged. |
| Great confidence is entertained that the late treaty
with Spain, which has been ratified by both the parties, and the ratifications whereof
have been exchanged, has placed the relations of the two countries on a basis of permanent
friendship. The provision made by it for such of our citizens as have claims on Spain of
the character described will, it is presumed, be very satisfactory to them, and the
boundary which is established between the territories of the parties westward of the
Mississippi, heretofore in dispute, has, it is thought, been settled on conditions just
and advantageous to both. But to the acquisition of Florida too much importance can not be
attached. It secures to the United States a territory important in itself, and whose
importance is much increased by its bearing on many of the highest interests of the Union.
It opens to several of the neighboring States a free passage to the ocean, through the
Province ceded, by several rivers, having their sources high up within their limits. It
secures us against all future annoyance from powerful Indian tribes. It gives us several
excellent harbors in the Gulf of Mexico for ships of war of the largest size. It covers by
its position in the Gulf the Mississippi and other great waters within our extended
limits, and thereby enables the United States to afford complete protection to the vast
and very valuable productions of our whole Western country, which find a market through
those streams. |
| By a treaty with the British Government, bearing date
on the 20th of October, 1818, the convention regulating the commerce between the United
States and Great Britain, concluded on the 3d of July, 1815, which was about expiring, was
revived and continued for the term of ten years from the time of its expiration. By that
treaty, also, the differences which had arisen under the treaty of Ghent respecting the
right claimed by the United States for their citizens to take and cure fish on the coast
of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America, with other differences on important
interests, were adjusted to the satisfaction of both parties. No agreement has yet been
entered into respecting the commerce between the United States and the British dominions
in the West Indies and on this continent. The restraints imposed on that commerce by Great
Britain, and reciprocated by the United States on a principle of defense, continue still
in force. |
| The negotiation with France for the regulation of the
commercial relations between the two countries, which in the course of the last summer had
been commenced at Paris, has since been transferred to this city, and will be pursued on
the part of the United States in the spirit of conciliation, and with an earnest desire
that it may terminate in an arrangement satisfactory to both parties. |
| Our relations with the Barbary Powers are preserved
in the same state and by the same means that were employed when I came into this office.
As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a squadron into the Mediterranean for the
protection of our commerce, and no period has intervened, a short term excepted, when it
was thought advisable to withdraw it. The great interests which the United States have in
the Pacific, in commerce and in the fisheries, have also made it necessary to maintain a
naval force there. In disposing of this force in both instances the most effectual
measures in our power have been taken, without interfering with its other duties, for the
suppression of the slave trade and of piracy in the neighboring seas. |
| The situation of the United States in regard to their
resources, the extent of their revenue, and the facility with which it is raised affords a
most gratifying spectacle. The payment of nearly $67,000,000 of the public debt, with the
great progress made in measures of defense and in other improvements of various kinds
since the late war, are conclusive proofs of this extraordinary prosperity, especially
when it is recollected that these expenditures have been defrayed without a burthen on the
people, the direct tax and excise having been repealed soon after the conclusion of the
late war, and the revenue applied to these great objects having been raised in a manner
not to be felt. Our great resources therefore remain untouched for any purpose which may
affect the vital interests of the nation. For all such purposes they are inexhaustible.
They are more especially to be found in the virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of our
fellow-citizens, and in the devotion with which they would yield up by any just measure of
taxation all their property in support of the rights and honor of their country. |
| Under the present depression of prices, affecting all
the productions of the country and every branch of industry, proceeding from causes
explained on a former occasion, the revenue has considerably diminished, the effect of
which has been to compel Congress either to abandon these great measures of defense or to
resort to loans or internal taxes to supply the deficiency. On the presumption that this
depression and the deficiency in the revenue arising from it would be temporary, loans
were authorized for the demands of the last and present year. Anxious to relieve my
fellow-citizens in 1817 from every burthen which could be dispensed with, and the state of
the Treasury permitting it, I recommended the repeal of the internal taxes, knowing that
such relief was then peculiarly necessary in consequence of the great exertions made in
the late war. I made that recommendation under a pledge that should the public exigencies
require a recurrence to them at any time while I remained in this trust, I would with
equal promptitude perform the duty which would then be alike incumbent on me. By the
experiment now making it will be seen by the next session of Congress whether the revenue
shall have been so augmented as to be adequate to all these necessary purposes. Should the
deficiency still continue, and especially should it be probable that it would be
permanent, the course to be pursued appears to me to be obvious. I am satisfied that under
certain circumstances loans may be resorted to with great advantage. I am equally well
satisfied, as a general rule, that the demands of the current year, especially in time of
peace, should be provided for by the revenue of that year. |
| I have never dreaded, nor have I ever shunned, in any
situation in which I have been placed making appeals to the virtue and patriotism of my
fellow-citizens, well knowing that they could never be made in vain, especially in times
of great emergency or for purposes of high national importance. Independently of the
exigency of the case, many considerations of great weight urge a policy having in view a
provision of revenue to meet to a certain extent the demands of the nation, without
relying altogether on the precarious resource of foreign commerce. I am satisfied that
internal duties and excises, with corresponding imposts on foreign articles of the same
kind, would, without imposing any serious burdens on the people, enhance the price of
produce, promote our manufactures, and augment the revenue, at the same time that they
made it more secure and permanent. |
| The care of the Indian tribes within our limits has
long been an essential part of our system, but, unfortunately, it has not been executed in
a manner to accomplish all the objects intended by it. We have treated them as independent
nations, without their having any substantial pretensions to that rank. The distinction
has flattered their pride, retarded their improvement, and in many instances paved the way
to their destruction. The progress of our settlements westward, supported as they are by a
dense population, has constantly driven them back, with almost the total sacrifice of the
lands which they have been compelled to abandon. They have claims on the magnanimity and,
I may add, on the justice of this nation which we must all feel. We should become their
real benefactors; we should perform the office of their Great Father, the endearing title
which they emphatically give to the Chief Magistrate of our Union. Their sovereignty over
vast territories should cease, in lieu of which the right of soil should be secured to
each individual and his posterity in competent portions; and for the territory thus ceded
by each tribe some reasonable equivalent should be granted, to be vested in permanent
funds for the support of civil government over them and for the education of their
children, for their instruction in the arts of husbandry, and to provide sustenance for
them until they could provide it for themselves. My earnest hope is that Congress will
digest some plan, founded on these principles, with such improvements as their wisdom may
suggest, and carry it into effect as soon as it may be practicable. |
| Europe is again unsettled and the prospect of war
increasing. Should the flame light up in any quarter, how far it may extend it is
impossible to foresee. It is our peculiar felicity to be altogether unconnected with the
causes which produce this menacing aspect elsewhere. With every power we are in perfect
amity, and it is our interest to remain so if it be practicable on just conditions. I see
no reasonable cause to apprehend variance with any power, unless it proceed from a
violation of our maritime rights. In these contests, should they occur, and to whatever
extent they may be carried, we shall be neutral; but as a neutral power we have rights
which it is our duty to maintain. For like injuries it will be incumbent on us to seek
redress in a spirit of amity, in full confidence that, injuring none, none would knowingly
injure us. For more imminent dangers we should be prepared, and it should always be
recollected that such preparation adapted to the circumstances and sanctioned by the
judgment and wishes of our constituents can not fail to have a good effect in averting
dangers of every kind. We should recollect also that the season of peace is best adapted
to these preparations. |
| If we turn our attention, fellow-citizens, more
immediately to the internal concerns of our country, and more especially to those on which
its future welfare depends, we have every reason to anticipate the happiest results. It is
now rather more than forty-four years since we declared our independence, and thirty-seven
since it was acknowledged. The talents and virtues which were displayed in that great
struggle were a sure presage of all that has since followed. A people who were able to
surmount in their infant state such great perils would be more competent as they rose into
manhood to repel any which they might meet in their progress. Their physical strength
would be more adequate to foreign danger, and the practice of self-government, aided by
the light of experience, could not fail to produce an effect equally salutary on all those
questions connected with the internal organization. These favorable anticipations have
been realized. |
| In our whole system, national and State, we have
shunned all the defects which unceasingly preyed on the vitals and destroyed the ancient
Republics. In them there were distinct orders, a nobility and a people, or the people
governed in one assembly. Thus, in the one instance there was a perpetual conflict between
the orders in society for the ascendency, in which the victory of either terminated in the
overthrow of the government and the ruin of the state; in the other, in which the people
governed in a body, and whose dominions seldom exceeded the dimensions of a county in one
of our States, a tumultuous and disorderly movement permitted only a transitory existence.
In this great nation there is but one order, that of the people, whose power, by a
peculiarly happy improvement of the representative principle, is transferred from them,
without impairing in the slightest degree their sovereignty, to bodies of their own
creation, and to persons elected by themselves, in the full extent necessary for all the
purposes of free, enlightened and efficient government. The whole system is elective, the
complete sovereignty being in the people, and every officer in every department deriving
his authority from and being responsible to them for his conduct. |
| Our career has corresponded with this great outline.
Perfection in our organization could not have been expected in the outset either in the
National or State Governments or in tracing the line between their respective powers. But
no serious conflict has arisen, nor any contest but such as are managed by argument and by
a fair appeal to the good sense of the people, and many of the defects which experience
had clearly demonstrated in both Governments have been remedied. By steadily pursuing this
course in this spirit there is every reason to believe that our system will soon attain
the highest degree of perfection of which human institutions are capable, and that the
movement in all its branches will exhibit such a degree of order and harmony as to command
the admiration and respect of the civilized world. |
| Our physical attainments have not been less eminent.
Twenty-five years ago the river Mississippi was shut up and our Western brethren had no
outlet for their commerce. What has been the progress since that time? The river has not
only become the property of the United States from its source to the ocean, with all its
tributary streams (with the exception of the upper part of the Red River only), but
Louisiana, with a fair and liberal boundary on the western side and the Floridas on the
eastern, have been ceded to us. The United States now enjoy the complete and uninterrupted
sovereignty over the whole territory from St. Croix to the Sabine. New States, settled
from among ourselves in this and in other parts, have been admitted into our Union in
equal participation in the national sovereignty with the original States. Our population
has augmented in an astonishing degree and extended in every direction. We now,
fellow-citizens, comprise within our limits the dimensions and faculties of a great power
under a Government possessing all the energies of any government ever known to the Old
World, with an utter incapacity to oppress the people. |
| Entering with these views the office which I have
just solemnly sworn to execute with fidelity and to the utmost of my ability, I derive
great satisfaction from a knowledge that I shall be assisted in the several Departments by
the very enlightened and upright citizens from whom I have received so much aid in the
preceding term. With full confidence in the continuance of that candor and generous
indulgence from my fellow-citizens at large which I have heretofore experienced, and with
a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God, I shall forthwith commence the duties
of the high trust to which you have called me. |
Back
to James Monroe
Executive Oath of Office
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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."
United States Constitution, Article II,
Section 1, Clause 8
nextPage
back in Time
1George Washington, 2John
Adamsl, 3Thomas Jefferson, 4James Madison, 5James
Monroe, 6John Quincy Adams, 7Andrew Jackson, 8Martin
Van Buren,9William H Harrison,10John Tyler,11James K
Polk, 12Zachary Taylor, 13Millard Fillmore,14Franklin
Pierce,15James Buchanan,16Abraham Lincoln, 17Andrew
Johnson, 18Ulysses S Grant,19Rutherford B Hayes, 20James A Garfield, 21Chester
A. Arthur, 22Grover
Cleveland,23Benjamin Harrison, 24Grover Cleveland, 25William
McKinley,26Theodore Roosevelt, 27William H. Taft,28Woodrow Wilson, 29Warren
G. Harding,30Calvin Coolidge,31Herbert Hoover,32Franklin
D Roosevelt,33Harry S.
Truman, 34Dwight D Eisenhower,35John F Kennedy, 36Lyndon
B Johnson, 37RichardN. Nixon, 38Gerald R Ford, 39James E
Carter,40Ronald
W. Reagan, 41George
HerbertW. Bush, 42Bill Clinton,
43George Walker Bush 44
Barack H. Obama
last updated
07/14/09
|
|
|
|
