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Welcome to U.S. history!
James A. Garfield's Inaugural Address:
| 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 intrusted 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 intrusted 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. |
Back
to James Garfield
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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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
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