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Andrew Jackson's Second Inaugural Address
| Fellow-Citizens: THE will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited
suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon
myself the duties of President of the United States for another term. For their
approbation of my public conduct through a period which has not been without its
difficulties, and for this renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I
am at a loss for terms adequate to the expression of my gratitude. It shall be displayed
to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to administer the Government
as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness. |
| So many events have occurred within the last four
years which have necessarily called forth—sometimes under circumstances the most
delicate and painful—my views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued
by the General Government that I need on this occasion but allude to a few leading
considerations connected with some of them. |
| The foreign policy adopted by our Government soon
after the formation of our present Constitution, and very generally pursued by successive
Administrations, has been crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our
character among the nations of the earth. To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from
none has been during my Administration its governing maxim, and so happy have been its
results that we are not only at peace with all the world, but have few causes of
controversy, and those of minor importance, remaining unadjusted. |
| In the domestic policy of this Government there are
two objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and their
representatives, and which have been and will continue to be the subjects of my increasing
solicitude. They are the preservation of the rights of the several States and the
integrity of the Union. |
| These great objects are necessarily connected, and
can only be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within its
appropriate sphere in conformity with the public will constitutionally expressed. To this
end it becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws
constitutionally enacted, and thereby promote and strengthen a proper confidence in those
institutions of the several States and of the United States which the people themselves
have ordained for their own government. |
| My experience in public concerns and the observation
of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the
destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their control over the local
concerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to
despotism and military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the General Government
encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does it impair its own
power and detract from its ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation. Solemnly
impressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my
constitutional powers in arresting measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon
the rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political power in the General
Government. But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable, importance is the union of these
States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support
of the General Government in the exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely
admonished to "accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as of the
palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with
jealous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any
event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to
alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now
link together the various parts." Without union our independence and liberty would
never have been achieved; without union they never can be maintained. Divided into
twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal
trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; communication between distant
points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the
fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes
to support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of their victorious legions
becoming our lawgivers and judges. The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace,
plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting
it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist. |
| The time at which I stand before you is full of
interest. The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the existing
crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our federal
system of government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility
which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the
attitude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let
us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the
lessons they inculcate. |
| Deeply impressed with the truth of these
observations, and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, I
shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just powers of the Constitution
and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union. At the same
time, it will be my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising by
the General Government those powers only that are clearly delegated; to encourage
simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the Government; to raise no more money from
the people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will best promote
the interests of all classes of the community and of all portions of the Union. Constantly
bearing in mind that in entering into society "individuals must give up a share of
liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire so to discharge my duties as to
foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit of liberal concession and
compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow-citizens to those partial sacrifices which they
must unavoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable
Government and Union to the confidence and affections of the American people. |
| Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that
Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy
of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions
and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all
kinds and continue forever a united and happy people. |
Back
to Andrew Jackson
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
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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
last updated
02/19/07
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