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Martin Van Buren's
Inaugural Address
| Fellow-Citizens: The practice of all my predecessors
imposes on me an obligation I cheerfully fulfill—to accompany the first and solemn
act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles that will guide me in performing
it and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge so responsible and vast. In
imitating their example I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men, whose superiors it is
our happiness to believe are not found on the executive calendar of any country. Among th
em we recognize the earliest and firmest pillars of the Republic—those by whom our
national independence was first declared, him who above all others contributed to
establish it on the field of battle, and those whose expanded intellect and patriotis m
constructed, improved, and perfected the inestimable institutions under which we live. If
such men in the position I now occupy felt themselves overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude
for this the highest of all marks of their country's confidence, and by a consciousness of
their inability adequately to discharge the duties of an office so difficult and exalted,
how much more must these considerations affect one who can rely on no such claims for
favor or forbearance! Unlike all who have preceded me, the Re volution that gave us
existence as one people was achieved at the period of my birth; and whilst I contemplate
with grateful reverence that memorable event, I feel that I belong to a later age and that
I may not expect my countrymen to weigh my actions wi th the same kind and partial hand. |
| So sensibly, fellow-citizens, do these
circumstances press themselves upon me that I should not dare to enter upon my path of
duty did I not look for the generous aid of those who will be associated with me in the
various and coordinat e branches of the Government; did I not repose with unwavering
reliance on the patriotism, the intelligence, and the kindness of a people who never yet
deserted a public servant honestly laboring their cause; and, above all, did I not permit
myself humbly to hope for the sustaining support of an ever-watchful and beneficent
Providence. |
| To the confidence and consolation derived from
these sources it would be ungrateful not to add those which spring from our present
fortunate condition. Though not altogether exempt from embarrassments that disturb our
tranquillity at h ome and threaten it abroad, yet in all the attributes of a great, happy,
and flourishing people we stand without a parallel in the world. Abroad we enjoy the
respect and, with scarcely an exception, the friendship of every nation; at home, while
our Gover nment quietly but efficiently performs the sole legitimate end of political
institutions—in doing the greatest good to the greatest number—we present an
aggregate of human prosperity surely not elsewhere to be found. |
| How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed
upon every citizen, in his own sphere of action, whether limited or extended, to exert
himself in perpetuating a condition of things so singularly happy! All the lessons of
history and exp erience must be lost upon us if we are content to trust alone to the
peculiar advantages we happen to possess. Position and climate and the bounteous resources
that nature has scattered with so liberal a hand—even the diffused intelligence and
elevat ed character of our people—will avail us nothing if we fail sacredly to uphold
those political institutions that were wisely and deliberately formed with reference to
every circumstance that could preserve or might endanger the blessings we enjoy. Th e
thoughtful framers of our Constitution legislated for our country as they found it.
Looking upon it with the eyes of statesmen and patriots, they saw all the sources of rapid
and wonderful prosperity; but they saw also that various habits, opinions, and
institutions peculiar to the various portions of so vast a region were deeply fixed.
Distinct sovereignties were in actual existence, whose cordial union was essential to the
welfare and happiness of all. Between many of them there was, at least to some extent, a
real diversity of interests, liable to be exaggerated through sinister designs; they
differed in size, in population, in wealth, and in actual and prospective resources and
power; they varied in the character of their industry and staple product ions, and [in
some] existed domestic institutions which, unwisely disturbed, might endanger the harmony
of the whole. Most carefully were all these circumstances weighed, and the foundations of
the new Government laid upon principles of reciprocal concess ion and equitable
compromise. The jealousies which the smaller States might entertain of the power of the
rest were allayed by a rule of representation confessedly unequal at the time, and
designed forever to remain so. A natural fear that the broad scope of general legislation
might bear upon and unwisely control particular interests was counteracted by limits
strictly drawn around the action of the Federal authority, and to the people and the
States was left unimpaired their sovereign power over the inn umerable subjects embraced
in the internal government of a just republic, excepting such only as necessarily
appertain to the concerns of the whole confederacy or its intercourse as a united
community with the other nations of the world. |
| This provident forecast has been verified by
time. Half a century, teeming with extraordinary events, and elsewhere producing
astonishing results, has passed along, but on our institutions it has left no injurious
mark. From a small co mmunity we have risen to a people powerful in numbers and in
strength; but with our increase has gone hand in hand the progress of just principles. The
privileges, civil and religious, of the humblest individual are still sacredly protected
at home, and w hile the valor and fortitude of our people have removed far from us the
slightest apprehension of foreign power, they have not yet induced us in a single instance
to forget what is right. Our commerce has been extended to the remotest nations; the value
a nd even nature of our productions have been greatly changed; a wide difference has
arisen in the relative wealth and resources of every portion of our country; yet the
spirit of mutual regard and of faithful adherence to existing compacts has continued to
prevail in our councils and never long been absent from our conduct. We have learned by
experience a fruitful lesson—that an implicit and undeviating adherence to the
principles on which we set out can carry us prosperously onward through all the co nflicts
of circumstances and vicissitudes inseparable from the lapse of years. |
| The success that has thus attended our great
experiment is in itself a sufficient cause for gratitude, on account of the happiness it
has actually conferred and the example it has unanswerably given. But to me, my
fellow-citizens, look ing forward to the far-distant future with ardent prayers and
confiding hopes, this retrospect presents a ground for still deeper delight. It impresses
on my mind a firm belief that the perpetuity of our institutions depends upon ourselves;
that if we mai ntain the principles on which they were established they are destined to
confer their benefits on countless generations yet to come, and that America will present
to every friend of mankind the cheering proof that a popular government, wisely formed, is
w anting in no element of endurance or strength. Fifty years ago its rapid failure was
boldly predicted. Latent and uncontrollable causes of dissolution were supposed to exist
even by the wise and good, and not only did unfriendly or speculative theorists a
nticipate for us the fate of past republics, but the fears of many an honest patriot
overbalanced his sanguine hopes. Look back on these forebodings, not hastily but
reluctantly made, and see how in every instance they have completely failed. |
| An imperfect experience during the struggles of
the Revolution was supposed to warrant the belief that the people would not bear the
taxation requisite to discharge an immense public debt already incurred and to pay the
necessary expen ses of the Government. The cost of two wars has been paid, not only
without a murmur, but with unequaled alacrity. No one is now left to doubt that every
burden will be cheerfully borne that may be necessary to sustain our civil institutions or
guard our honor or welfare. Indeed, all experience has shown that the willingness of the
people to contribute to these ends in cases of emergency has uniformly outrun the
confidence of their representatives. |
| In the early stages of the new Government, when
all felt the imposing influence as they recognized the unequaled services of the first
President, it was a common sentiment that the great weight of his character could alone
bind the dis cordant materials of our Government together and save us from the violence of
contending factions. Since his death nearly forty years are gone. Party exasperation has
been often carried to its highest point; the virtue and fortitude of the people have som
etimes been greatly tried; yet our system, purified and enhanced in value by all it has
encountered, still preserves its spirit of free and fearless discussion, blended with
unimpaired fraternal feeling. |
| The capacity of the people for self-government,
and their willingness, from a high sense of duty and without those exhibitions of coercive
power so generally employed in other countries, to submit to all needful restraints and
exaction s of municipal law, have also been favorably exemplified in the history of the
American States. Occasionally, it is true, the ardor of public sentiment, outrunning the
regular progress of the judicial tribunals or seeking to reach cases not denounced as c
riminal by the existing law, has displayed itself in a manner calculated to give pain to
the friends of free government and to encourage the hopes of those who wish for its
overthrow. These occurrences, however, have been far less frequent in our country than in
any other of equal population on the globe, and with the diffusion of intelligence it may
well be hoped that they will constantly diminish in frequency and violence. The generous
patriotism and sound common sense of the great mass of our fellow-ci tizens will assuredly
in time produce this result; for as every assumption of illegal power not only wounds the
majesty of the law, but furnishes a pretext for abridging the liberties of the people, the
latter have the most direct and permanent interest i n preserving the landmarks of social
order and maintaining on all occasions the inviolability of those constitutional and legal
provisions which they themselves have made. |
| In a supposed unfitness of our institutions for
those hostile emergencies which no country can always avoid their friends found a fruitful
source of apprehension, their enemies of hope. While they foresaw less promptness of
action than in governments differently formed, they overlooked the far more important
consideration that with us war could never be the result of individual or irresponsible
will, but must be a measure of redress for injuries sustained, voluntarily resorted to by
th ose who were to bear the necessary sacrifice, who would consequently feel an individual
interest in the contest, and whose energy would be commensurate with the difficulties to
be encountered. Actual events have proved their error; the last war, far from impairing,
gave new confidence to our Government, and amid recent apprehensions of a similar conflict
we saw that the energies of our country would not be wanting in ample season to vindicate
its rights. We may not possess, as we should not desire to poss ess, the extended and
ever-ready military organization of other nations; we may occasionally suffer in the
outset for the want of it; but among ourselves all doubt upon this great point has ceased,
while a salutary experience will prevent a contrary opini on from inviting aggression from
abroad. |
| Certain danger was foretold from the extension
of our territory, the multiplication of States, and the increase of population. Our system
was supposed to be adapted only to boundaries comparatively narrow. These have been
widened beyon d conjecture; the members of our Confederacy are already doubled, and the
numbers of our people are incredibly augmented. The alleged causes of danger have long
surpassed anticipation, but none of the consequences have followed. The power and
influence of the Republic have arisen to a height obvious to all mankind; respect for its
authority was not more apparent at its ancient than it is at its present limits; new and
inexhaustible sources of general prosperity have been opened; the effects of distance ha
ve been averted by the inventive genius of our people, developed and fostered by the
spirit of our institutions; and the enlarged variety and amount of interests, productions,
and pursuits have strengthened the chain of mutual dependence and formed a circ le of
mutual benefits too apparent ever to be overlooked. |
| In justly balancing the powers of the Federal
and State authorities difficulties nearly insurmountable arose at the outset and
subsequent collisions were deemed inevitable. Amid these it was scarcely believed possible
that a scheme of government so complex in construction could remain uninjured. From time
to time embarrassments have certainly occurred; but how just is the confidence of future
safety imparted by the knowledge that each in succession has been happily removed!
Overlooking partial and temporary evils as inseparable from the practical operation of all
human institutions, and looking only to the general result, every patriot has reason to be
satisfied. While the Federal Government has successfully performed its appropriate f
unctions in relation to foreign affairs and concerns evidently national, that of every
State has remarkably improved in protecting and developing local interests and individual
welfare; and if the vibrations of authority have occasionally tended too much toward one
or the other, it is unquestionably certain that the ultimate operation of the entire
system has been to strengthen all the existing institutions and to elevate our whole
country in prosperity and renown. |
| The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent
sources of discord and disaster supposed to lurk in our political condition was the
institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers were deeply impressed with the delicacy
of this subje ct, and they treated it with a forbearance so evidently wise that in spite
of every sinister foreboding it never until the present period disturbed the tranquillity
of our common country. Such a result is sufficient evidence of the justice and the patriot
ism of their course; it is evidence not to be mistaken that an adherence to it can prevent
all embarrassment from this as well as from every other anticipated cause of difficulty or
danger. Have not recent events made it obvious to the slightest reflectio n that the least
deviation from this spirit of forbearance is injurious to every interest, that of humanity
included? Amidst the violence of excited passions this generous and fraternal feeling has
been sometimes disregarded; and standing as I now do befo re my countrymen, in this high
place of honor and of trust, I can not refrain from anxiously invoking my fellow-citizens
never to be deaf to its dictates. Perceiving before my election the deep interest this
subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty fully to make known my
sentiments in regard to it, and now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed
away, I trust that they will be candidly weighed and understood. At least they will be my
standard of conduct in the path before m e. I then declared that if the desire of those of
my countrymen who were favorable to my election was gratified "I must go into the
Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt on the part
of Congress to abolish slavery i n the District of Columbia against the wishes of the
slaveholding States, and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest
interference with it in the States where it exists." I submitted also to my
fellow-citizens, with fullness and frankness, the reasons which led me to this
determination. The result authorizes me to believe that they have been approved and are
confided in by a majority of the people of the United States, including those whom they
most immediately affect. It now onl y remains to add that no bill conflicting with these
views can ever receive my constitutional sanction. These opinions have been adopted in the
firm belief that they are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the venerated
fathers of the Republic, an d that succeeding experience has proved them to be humane,
patriotic, expedient, honorable, and just. If the agitation of this subject was intended
to reach the stability of our institutions, enough has occurred to show that it has
signally failed, and th at in this as in every other instance the apprehensions of the
timid and the hopes of the wicked for the destruction of our Government are again destined
to be disappointed. Here and there, indeed, scenes of dangerous excitement have occurred,
terrifying instances of local violence have been witnessed, and a reckless disregard of
the consequences of their conduct has exposed individuals to popular indignation; but
neither masses of the people nor sections of the country have been swerved from their
devoti on to the bond of union and the principles it has made sacred. It will be ever
thus. Such attempts at dangerous agitation may periodically return, but with each the
object will be better understood. That predominating affection for our political system wh
ich prevails throughout our territorial limits, that calm and enlightened judgment which
ultimately governs our people as one vast body, will always be at hand to resist and
control every effort, foreign or domestic, which aims or would lead to overthrow our
institutions. |
| What can be more gratifying than such a
retrospect as this? We look back on obstacles avoided and dangers overcome, on
expectations more than realized and prosperity perfectly secured. To the hopes of the
hostile, the fears of the timi d, and the doubts of the anxious actual experience has
given the conclusive reply. We have seen time gradually dispel every unfavorable
foreboding and our Constitution surmount every adverse circumstance dreaded at the outset
as beyond control. Present ex citement will at all times magnify present dangers, but true
philosophy must teach us that none more threatening than the past can remain to be
overcome; and we ought (for we have just reason) to entertain an abiding confidence in the
stability of our ins titutions and an entire conviction that if administered in the true
form, character, and spirit in which they were established they are abundantly adequate to
preserve to us and our children the rich blessings already derived from them, to make our
belove d land for a thousand generations that chosen spot where happiness springs from a
perfect equality of political rights. |
| For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that
the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a
strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was designed by those
who framed i t. Looking back to it as a sacred instrument carefully and not easily framed;
remembering that it was throughout a work of concession and compromise; viewing it as
limited to national objects; regarding it as leaving to the people and the States all
power not explicitly parted with, I shall endeavor to preserve, protect, and defend it by
anxiously referring to its provision for direction in every action. To matters of domestic
concernment which it has intrusted to the Federal Government and to such as rel ate to our
intercourse with foreign nations I shall zealously devote myself; beyond those limits I
shall never pass. |
| To enter on this occasion into a further or more
minute exposition of my views on the various questions of domestic policy would be as
obtrusive as it is probably unexpected. Before the suffrages of my countrymen were
conferred upon me I submitted to them, with great precision, my opinions on all the most
prominent of these subjects. Those opinions I shall endeavor to carry out with my utmost
ability. |
| Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform
and intelligible as to constitute a rule of Executive conduct which leaves little to my
discretion, unless, indeed, I were willing to run counter to the lights of experience and
the know n opinions of my constituents. We sedulously cultivate the friendship of all
nations as the conditions most compatible with our welfare and the principles of our
Government. We decline alliances as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial relations
on e qual terms, being ever willing to give a fair equivalent for advantages received. We
endeavor to conduct our intercourse with openness and sincerity, promptly avowing our
objects and seeking to establish that mutual frankness which is as beneficial in the
dealings of nations as of men. We have no disposition and we disclaim all right to meddle
in disputes, whether internal or foreign, that may molest other countries, regarding them
in their actual state as social communities, and preserving a strict neutr ality in all
their controversies. Well knowing the tried valor of our people and our exhaustless
resources, we neither anticipate nor fear any designed aggression; and in the
consciousness of our own just conduct we feel a security that we shall never be called
upon to exert our determination never to permit an invasion of our rights without
punishment or redress. |
| In approaching, then, in the presence of my
assembled countrymen, to make the solemn promise that yet remains, and to pledge myself
that I will faithfully execute the office I am about to fill, I bring with me a settled
purpose to main tain the institutions of my country, which I trust will atone for the
errors I commit. |
| In receiving from the people the sacred trust
twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully
and so well, I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability
and success. But united as I have been in his counsels, a daily witness of his exclusive
and unsurpassed devotion to his country's welfare, agreeing with him in sentiments which
his countrymen have warmly supported, and permitted to partake largely of his confidence,
I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering approbation will be found to attend upon my
path. For him I but express with my own the wishes of all, that he may yet long live to
enjoy the brilliant evening of his well-spent life; and for myself, consciou s of but one
desire, faithfully to serve my country, I throw myself without fear on its justice and its
kindness. Beyond that I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being whose
strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pra y to look down upon us
all. May it be among the dispensations of His providence to bless our beloved country with
honors and with length of days. May her ways be ways of pleasantness and all her paths be
peace! |
Back
to Martin Van Buren
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 44
Barack H. Obama
last updated
07/14/09
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